Demetrius to Alexandria, to resume his work of education.
Origen hastened to obey. Once back in Alexandria, he not
only recommenced his teaching, but set to writing his books.
His prolific productivity is still an object of amazement.
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamin, in Cyprus, says that Origen
wrote six thousand books, while Jerome says that however
fond a person may be of reading, he can never read all of
Origen's books, because they are so numerous. The most
outstanding of his accomplishments is his Octapla, a feat of
great scholarliness. It is the Old Testament, written for
comparative study, in eight parallel columns, as follows: the
Hebrew in Hebrew characters, the Hebrew in Greek
characters, the version of Aquila, that of Symmachus, that of
the seventy, or Septuagint, that of Theodotian, then two
other versions discovered by Origen himself, and called the
Vth and VIth, because their authors were unknown. This
work, a monument of biblical erudition would alone have
marked its author with a seal of greatness.
Yet to Origen, it was only preliminary to other and
greater works. To realise his thoughts in tangible form,
seven tachygraphers (old-time stenographers) noted down
what he dictated, then gave it over to as many copyists to
transcribe it. When these finished their work, an equal
number of girls, well-trained in calligraphy, wrote it out in its
final form.l7
All these workers were amply provided for by
Ambrose, a rich Alexandrian who had been converted by
Origen and was one of his great admirers.
- Like Clement; Origen interpreted the Scriptures in
the Spiritual sense; he contended that the proper duty of the
exegetic is to extract from the shell of words the pearl of
great beauty, and to present it to others in a way by which
they may perceive its lustrous loveliness. For this reason, he