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
- 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