at Jerusalem, he had chosen for his subject: "But unto the
wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my
statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy
mouth”.^20 Having read the verse, and realising that the
people had concluded that he was directing it at Abba
Demetrius, he suddenly broke into bitter tears. The whole
congregation wept with him. But this manifestation of his
inner unrest had come too late. Abba Demetrius died very
soon after, and Origen had no chance to ask his
forgiveness.^21
- The two immediate successors of Abba Demetrius to
the Chair of St. Mark were Heraclas and Dionysius, both of
whom had been students of the illustrious Origen. Each of
them, in turn, pardoned him and sent to him a plea to come
back to Alexandria and resume his work as Dean of the
School. But Origen refused the pleas of both. He said that
he thought it more propitious to carry on his mission in
Caesarea, in the School which he had founded there.
Apostleship continued to be his unique object in life, and. so
the twenty three years of his voluntary exile were the most
fruitful of his earthly existence. He journeyed through the
towns of Palestine, through Phoenicia, then into Greece,
from whence he went as far as Arabia, always to teach and
preach the Christian Faith and win new converts from among
the pagans and the heretics.^22 - Origen had barely finished his great and immortal
apology for Christianity: "Treatise against Celsum" than the
Emperor Philip the Arab died and was succeeded by Decius.
The new Emperor unleashed another persecution against the
Christians, a persecution marked by the most deliberate
cruelty. Hitherto executioners cut short the lives of believers
and when the tormented reached the end of their endurance,