THE STORY OF THE COPTS - THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT

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strengthening weakened souls and winning new ones to the
Faith. But the torments of a prolonged martyrdom and the
activities of a life so laborious and so agitated at last sapped
his energies. The town of Tyre, in Phoenicia, was his last
stage on this earth. There he died and was buried in one of
the churches. When the news of his passing away reached
Alexandria, Abba Dionysius wrote a most touching eulogy
about him, paying homage to the teacher he loved so well.
The Church of Tyre realised the value of the treasure it
guarded; William of Tyre and other authoritative writers
testify that the tomb of the great "Athlete of God" could still
be visited up to the 13th century. It faced the altar of the
church named after the Holy Sepulchre; over it was a marble
slab, decorated with gold and precious stones, bearing the
words: "Here lies the Great Origen".^25



  1. Origen was discussed at length even while he yet
    lived, and has never ceased to be a subject of great interest
    to many church historians. Friends and adversaries alike
    have confessed that he has had an immense influence in the
    building of the Church Universal, not only while he was alive
    on this earth, but long after he left it. The third and fourth
    centuries abounded with his disciples. Foremost among
    them were: Eusebius of Caesarea, the father of ecclesiastical
    history; Didymus, the blind Seer of Alexandria who
    continued his work of exegesis and mysticism; Gregory, the
    Wonder-Worker, the recipient of his intellectual legacy and
    its faithful transmitter to the Cappadocians; Basil the Great,
    and his spiritual brother Gregory of Nazianza, who compiled
    selections from his writings along with those of the most
    prominent Fathers entitling it "Philocalia," which is still
    extant; Gregory of Nyssus, who imbibed his theology and
    his mysticism; Evagrius of Pontus, one of the greatest of
    speculative spirituals who spread his doctrines.^26 Through

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