Origen (185-255 AD) : The Scholar with an Iron-Will by Chris White

Origen Adamantius

 Like so many human stories, the story of Origen is deeply connected with his hometown.  In ancient times, Alexandria Egypt was known as the 2^nd City of the Roman Empire and the teacher of the world.  Its great library (which stood until Muslim control of Egypt in the 7^th century) had once been the repository of all human scholarly endeavor and was considered a wonder of the world.  As a result, Alexandria attracted scholars, philosophers, religious leaders and students from all over the Mediterranean.  200 years before Christ, Alexandria had a larger Jewish community than did Jerusalem.  It was because of this that the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek (known as the Septuagint) and this became the Bible that Jesus and his apostles would later read.  When Christianity came to Alexandria and the church became established, it was a natural thing for them to establish a school there to teach young Christians and seekers of the truth.  This school was also to be a witness in a city dedicated to higher learning.  By the time Origen was born, the School of Alexandria was considered a great center of Christian scholarship.  This reputation would only increase as the years passed and Origen became its leader.

Alexandria in Ancient Times

Born around 185 AD, Origen is said to have received his name from the mountain range or village where his devout and wealthy parents were hiding out from an early persecution of Christians.  At some point his parents returned to Alexandria and when Origen was old enough he was given the best education of his day.  As a young boy Origen was known to have memorized large portions of scripture and often astounded his parents with his penetrating questions.  Later he went to a school of Greek philosophy and then the famed School of Alexandria where he studied under the church father Clement.  Origen was also given the surname ‘Adamantius’ (from our word adamant) because of his remarkable firmness in thought and iron-will as regarding bodily discipline.

Roman persecution lasted centuries

Around the time Origen was 17, his father Leonidas was imprisoned  with other Christians during a Roman persecution in Alexandria.  Daily Origen would write his father and others he knew not to recant their faith and hold strong even if it meant certain death.  So passionate was Origen that he wanted to turn himself into the authorities and invite martyrdom.  His life was saved by his well-meaning mother who hid all his clothes from him so he couldn’t go outside.  Origen’s father was eventually put to death and the family property was confiscated leaving Origen’s mother and his 7 siblings in poverty.  Origen in those days was able to help support his family by teaching philosophy and copying manuscripts of great books for the wealthy.

Many Christian scholars including Clement fled Alexandria because of the persecution.  This huge brain drain led the bishop of Alexandria to appoint Origen as the head of the great school when he was just 18 years old.  Far from being a questionable move, the brilliance and intensity of love for the Lord by this “Teen Dean” attracted many new students to the school.

To say that Origen was intense is a bit of an understatement.  Origen was known to sleep on a bare floor after spending most of the night in prayer and study.  On the rare occasion he stopped to take a meal, he never indulged in a glass of wine or ate meat of any kind.  He went without shoes at all times, had only one coat, and refused all gifts from his students.  He had no money and took no thought at all for the morrow.  He was neither a kook or an eccentric, but rather an advocate for the idea that a disciplined body serves a disciplined mind that more readily perceives the voice and presence of God.

Scholarship was a sacred calling

At one point in his 30s, Origen did something quite controversial and had himself castrated in literal obedience to Matthew 19:12 which says that some are eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  He is said to have done this as a defense against fleshly temptation, but it may have been a matter of practicality.  He was constantly teaching and working with girls and women and such a bodily state would free him from both temptation and scandalous accusations.  The great irony in this whole affair is that Origen has never been known for literal exegesis of any passage of scripture.  It is odd that the only record we have of him interpreting scripture in this fashion is found when he emasculates
himself.

Read more about how Christianity first came to Alexandria 

For the remainder of his life Origen tried to relate Christianity to the science and philosophy of his day.  He believed that philosophy could prepare someone to understand the scriptures and used the phrase “spoiling the Egyptians” to describe his process of taking from the wealth of pagan learning to explain and defend Christianity to the people of his day.  This is not an original idea (pardon the pun) but an inherited idea from the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria.  He was the first to integrate the teaching of the Greeks with the revelation of the Old Testament and this enterprise was picked up later by the Christian church.  In his day Origen did more than anyone to promote the cause of Christian scholarship and to make the church respectable in the eyes of the learned.

Alexandria attracted scholars from all over

In his later 30s and 40s his reputation as a Christian scholar had spread well beyond Alexandria and he was invited to Rome, Greece, and Antioch to debate prominent leaders of a false religion known as Gnosticism.  Origen was also a notable preacher and was asked by many churches to speak and expound the scriptures.  Through conflict with his bishop in Alexandria over his guest speaking  (partly from jealousy over his success and partly because being castrated precluded a man from ordination in the church) , Origen eventually left his hometown of Alexandria and settled in Caesarea where he started another school of philosophy, literature, and theology that would in time eclipse the school of Alexandria.  

 

Ruins of Caesarea today

Systematic presentation of theology begins with the books of Hebrews and Romans, but Origen is to many the father of this method.  He is known for preparing short summaries of biblical teachings on various theological ideas.  He is considered by many to be the greatest Bible teacher outside the apostolic circle and the greatest biblical scholar in ancient times having done more than anyone else to master and research the text.  One of the greatest contributions to the Church was a 28 year long project where ancient manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments were collected, compared, and collated and then published for side-by-side study.  This book known as the Hexapla (the sixfold Bible) was lost forever during the Muslim invasions of Egypt in the 7^th century but was an invaluable resource to Bible scholars for centuries.  Jerome himself made extensive use of it when he translated the Bible into what is known as the Latin Vulgate.

Watch a short video here on Origen and his historic context 

Origen’s method of Biblical interpretation shaped the Church for more than a thousand years and still does to some extent today.  His interpretive formula was based on the idea that the Bible had three layers of meaning corresponding to human nature of body, soul and spirit.  This is attributed by some to Origen’s affirmation of Platonic philosophy and it certainly may be true, but it is not without any biblical precedent either.  His method called for a literal sense, a moral sense, and finally a mystical or spiritual sense.

As an example, in Numbers chapter 33, 42 stopping places for Israel in the wilderness are listed.  In the literal sense, this is a catalog of their journeys.  Morally, we must understand that our lives are a long spiritual journey to prepare us for heaven and we must not allow this time to be wasted by sloth and neglect.  Spiritually, the purpose of our journey is to end up on the banks of the Jordan.  As we arrive at the river of God, the waves of divine wisdom and knowledge of God will water us and purify us and make us ready and worthy to enter into the Promised land.

Read or download a book by Origen on prayer here 

The organizing principal is that every verse in the Bible leads the believer in his advance towards perfection.  When that insight is found, the deepest meaning of a passage is fully understood.  The strength of this idea is that it demonstrates the Old and New Testaments are rightly a guide to Christians and need to be interpreted in light of Christian doctrine.  Origen felt that in some cases the spiritual sense of a passage was the only possible interpretation.  This was especially true of passages where what is said seems to be difficult to believe or needs reconciliation with other passages that seemingly contradict it.  Origen took such passages as a cue from the Holy Spirit that a deeper sense was intended.

 The great weakness of  this method was that often the literal sense of a passage has much to say, but is ignored or undeveloped in favor of a more mystical understanding.  Such interpretive methods remained popular throughout the Middle Ages but with the Renaissance and Reformation, came a return to the emphasis on the grammatical-historical setting of a scripture verse.  However, this is not a denial of the legitimate existence of layered meaning in the scriptures.

Copying books was an art in the ancient world

Through the patronage of a wealthy Christian, as Origen taught, a staff of stenographers would write down his every word.  These notes in turn would be given to a staff of secretaries for editing and then would be turned over to calligraphers who would turn them into artfully produced books.  Using this method, Origen was able to write nearly 6000 books in his lifetime.  Most of these books presented either theology or arguments against heretics and pagans.  St. Jerome is believed to have said “all that Origen wrote was more than a person could read in a lifetime.”  Unfortunately, nearly two centuries after his death, a great controversy erupted in the church over some of his ideas and because they were not understood in their original context, he was declared a heretic at a church council (Constantinople II in 553 AD) and many of his works were destroyed or no longer copied, thus today very few of his works remain in their complete form.

Critics of Origen are many and their charge that he employed the speculative thinking of his philosophically trained mind a bit too much in his theology is not unwarranted.  Origen believed all of us pre-existed in eternity before being born on earth and that we had a Pre-fall even before the one in the Garden of Eden.  He was also one of the first Christian universalists who held that all people would be eventually redeemed by God including the possibility of even the devil repenting!  He did believe in the Trinity and believed in the divinity of Christ, however, he believed that Jesus was somehow less than the Father and the Holy Spirit somehow less than Christ.

Maybe a bit optimistic on that point!

Origen believed the redeeming work of Christ even had significance for rational creatures living on distant stars and galaxies.  He also believed that creation is eternal and is constantly going through metamorphosis.  The creation is eternal because God is eternally and a creator.

Not surprisingly Origen denied a bodily resurrection.  This was not out of incredulity or disbelief, but more from his philosophical leanings.  He didn’t think the body had much purpose in this life except to house the spirit and so looked forward to leaving it behind and having solely a spiritual existence.

Origen also did not look for a millennial reign of Christ on earth, but like many Christian teachers of his day interpreted Revelation 20 as happening in heaven and upon death, Christians are immediately transferred to the Kingdom of God which is in heaven.

Against this, it has been argued that Origen was orthodox by the standards of his time as he lived prior to the more formal creedal statements set by the Church councils.  He was an early thinker and began planting the seeds of thinking and interpretation of the Bible that would be considered orthodox at a later time.  Had he died as a martyr he probably would have been forgiven for his shortcomings and over speculation as martyrdom has always had the effect of covering a multitude of sins.

Schaff estimates Origen as a man who held erroneous views but was anything but a heretic, especially in an era where the theology of the church was still emerging and was far from fixed.  That said, Origen was not orthodox in the Catholic or Protestant sense, but more of a guide from philosophy and Gnosticism to Christianity.  He had a fertile mind and moral imagination (including a bit of over optimism it would seem) but had no heart to knowingly lead people into apostasy or error.

In 250 Origen was imprisoned and sentenced to death in another Roman persecution of Christians.  He was eventually released but his health was broken and he died in the next few years at age 70.

Since his death Origen has been vilified as a heretic for some of his doctrinal ideas and hailed as a hero by others for his pioneering efforts in critical biblical scholarship.  Even heathens and heretics admired the brilliant talent and vast learning of Origen.  

In the Eastern Church today, Origen is considered the father of Christian theology.

Sources

Cairns, Earle. E.  Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. (Grand Rapids : Academie, 1981)

Ferguson, Everett.  Christian History  vol. 1.  (Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2013)

Jenkins, Philip.  The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia----and How It Died.  (New York : HarperOne, 2008)

McManners, John.  The Oxford History of Christianity.  (Oxford: Oxford University Press,2002)

“Origen”  Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters.  Donald K. McKim ed.  (Downers Grove: Intervarsity,2007)

“Origen”  Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity vol. 2.  Angelo Di Berardino ed.  (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2014

“Origen”  Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.  McClintock and Strong Eds.  (Grand Rapids : Baker Books, 1981)

Schaff, Philip.  History of the Christian Church vol. 2.  (Grand Rapids : Eerdmans, 1994)

Justin Martyr: The Christian Philosopher by Chris White

                                                                                                                                                                   

Justin Martyr was born in Roman Palestine in the province of Samaria around 100 AD.  His parents were not Jewish by race or faith but were Greek and Roman and had migrated to Israel for reasons of employment.  As Justin grew up he knew about the Jewish and Christian religion as both had their origins in his homeland and were the faith of most of his neighbors, but as Justin began his own quest for ultimate things, he looked in the direction of philosophy and the life of the mind and was inspired to begin his journey.

The Philosopher Plato

In Justin’s day institutional universities as we understand them didn’t exist but higher learning certainly did.  Philosophers and scholars would teach pretty much any student who was a paying client.  Justin traveled through several schools of philosophy studying Aristotle, Pythagoras, Stoicism, and finally found himself at home studying Plato.  Justin truly was studying philosophy to understand the deeper meaning in life and Platonic teaching on the soul’s vision of God captured his mind.

Ephesus seaport dried up today

Justin was at the time living and studying in the seaport town of Ephesus in Asia Minor where only 30 years earlier the last of Jesus’ apostles St. John had died at the ripe old age of 100 and was buried outside of town.  It is during this period that Justin has a fateful encounter with an elderly Christian man while in the midst of meditating on the existence of God at the seashore.  There is an illustration here of Jesus’ principle that if we act on the light we are given, we will be given more (Mt. 13:12).

We don’t know the exact content of this conversation or even who really initiated it, but we know three important details.  First, that the evidence that proved convincing to Justin was how the Old Testament prophets gave detailed information about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ centuries before it happened.  Secondly that there was a gentle, yet firm confrontation of Justin’s motives in studying philosophy as being more about winning debates than seeking to live by the truth.  And finally an exhortation to seek the God of the Bible in earnest prayer asking Him in humility to reveal Himself  and Christ to his heart and mind rather than trust his own philosophic reasoning.

His encounter in Ephesus set the tone for his future ministry.  After coming to the Christian faith he became the first apologist (from the Greek apologia “a defense”) for the Christian church, writing books aimed at showing ordinary people the reasonableness of the Christianity.  Ultimately Justin ends up coming to Rome where he opens a school where he teaches Christianity as the fulfillment of all philosophy.  An interesting sidelight to this is that for the remainder of his life he wears the costume of a philosopher which makes him the first minister in the church who wore any specific clothing to conduct their ministry.

Philosophic debate a public activity in the ancient world

For what is believed to be the next 35 years, Justin studied, collected information, wrote, taught, and even debated other religionists and pagans in an effort to show Christianity was the reasonable path to take and the true philosophy.  Justin was eventually beheaded in Rome under the emperor Marcus Aurelius in 165 after being betrayed by a disgruntled critic of his work.  Justin was brought to trial and refused to renounce his faith and make a sacrifice to the Roman gods.  He famously said “you may be able to kill us (fellow Christians) but you can never actually do us any harm.”  As Justin faithfully ended his life and laid down his work here on earth, it was taken up by others and has been an important ministry in every generation of the church ever since.

You can kill us but you can't really hurt us

Although Justin is quite removed from us by time and culture, I would like to end this essay by focusing on 10 ways his thinking has become a legacy to the Church:

1.  Christ is the culmination of all partial knowledge discovered by the Greeks (in philosophy) and the completion of all Jewish history.

2. Justin believed Christ is the Logos who was present in the Greek philosophers and is in germ form in all men.  God dwells in men insofar as they are susceptible and open to Him.  To the pagan and evil man he dwells not at all.

3.  All truth, no matter where it comes from is God’s truth.

4.  Prophecy is the supernatural basis by which the Christian faith is established.

5.  While Christianity can be understood philosophically, intellectual powers alone will not make you a Christian.  You must have a changed heart.  Teaching must include reaching the mind and heart.

6.  He believed that Plato was like Abraham.  He was a Christian before Christ who acted upon the light he had by God’s universal revelation.

7.  Justin took the Apocalypse of John quite literally and believed Christ would return to earth, rebuild Jerusalem as his capitol and would reign there for 1000 years.

8. Justin one of the earliest writers to refer to the Eucharist as a sacrifice offered to God and that the bread and wine once “eucharized” become the actual flesh and blood of Christ to the faithful.

9. Oddly, virtually all the knowledge in the world today that we possess about Gnosticism and other mystery religions which were Christianity’s competitors, is found only in the writings of Justin, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus (the Church’s most important ancient apologists).  These groups themselves did not produce their own theologies.

10.  People must be reached with a language they can understand.  In Justin’s day philosophy was an important medium and culturally relevant way of communicating.  While speaking in terms of philosophy is not as important today, the principle of finding the language of a culture in evangelization remains.

Justin's burial spot today

Sources

“Apologists”  New Dictionary of Theology.  Ferguson, Wright, Packer Eds.  (Downers Grove : Intervarsity Press, 1988)

Bartlet, J. Vernon.  Early History of Christianity.  (London: Religious Tract Society, 1897)

Chadwick, Henry.  The Early Church.  (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1984)

Christie-Murray, David.  A History of Heresy. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).

Eusebius. The History of The Church.  G.A. Williamson Trans. (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965)

“Justin”  Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.  McClintock and Strong Eds.  (Grand Rapids : Baker Books, 1981)

Kelly, J.N.D.  Early Christian Doctrines.  (San Francisco : Harper and Row, 1978)

Peterson, Curtis, Lang and.  The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History.  (Grand Rapids: Revell, 1991)

Pope Benedict XVI.  The Fathers.  (Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2008)

Norwood, Frederick A.  Great Moments in Church History.  (Nashville: Graded Press, 1962)

Weiss, Johannes.  Earliest Christianity: A History of the Period AD 30-150 vol. 1.  (New York : Harper Torchbooks, 1959)

Gregory I “The Great” (540-604): Founder of the Medieval Church by Chris White

Gregory I

Rome had once been the powerful center of the civilized world.  It’s monuments attested to the military victories and political will of its leaders to expand their empire and protect and defend their holdings at any cost necessary.  But that was all in a historic past that was growing dimmer and dimmer with every year.  Rome the city was still standing and was an important symbol at least in people’s collective memories, but by now it stood alone, vulnerable, and unprotected by what remained of its own empire.

Into this time was Gregory born in the palace on the Caelian hill that had belonged to his aristocratic family for generations.  His family was well-connected to the wealth and power that remained in Rome, his father being a senator (which must have been more like a town council by this time) and his mother a part of the highest social circles.  Gregory’s family was also Christian and had been so for some time.  In the past, the family had produced two popes, but Gregory had been carefully educated in law and was prepared for a career as a public servant.  By his thirties he had reached the pinnacle of success attaining the office of prefect of Rome which was the highest authority in the city.

But as history has its turning points, often these same events become personal turning points as well.  Shortly before Gregory had become prefect of Rome, northern Italy had been invaded by a people known as the Lombards.  The Lombards were a group from Scandinavia who had been migrating south for centuries prior.  They were a Christianized people and had lived within the borders of the Roman empire for so long that they had even adopted parts of Roman culture.  But need and opportunity came together and in 568 they began to conquer and take the Italian peninsula for themselves.  Although Italy still belonged to the Roman Empire which was now situated to the east in Constantinople, they were ill-prepared to defend this territory and little resistance was able to be made against this warring people.  This problem doesn’t touch Rome or Gregory directly for nearly a decade, but year by year it draws closer and nothing seems to be able to stop it.

In the meantime, when Gregory is in his forties, his father dies and he inherits the family’s great wealth and landholdings.  As he considers the turmoil of his times and watches the great cities of Italy fall to siege, famine, and plague, he makes a rather bold decision: he decides to retire from public life and become a Christian monk.  Since a vow of poverty was part of being a monk, part and parcel with this decision was to take the family wealth and endow 6 new monasteries dedicated to St. Andrew.  Having done this, Gregory retires to the monastery in Rome and embarks on his new vocation of religious life pursuing a life of worship, prayer, contemplation, and acts of charity in preparation for eternal life.  It should be known that Gregory thought the end of the world might be near (a thought many Christians leaders have had during times of social upheaval and catastrophe) and if Christ was to return soon he wanted to be found doing the business of the kingdom of God rather than planning a better sewer and water system for Rome.

Gregory pursued his life as a monk with great enthusiasm and unfortunately, like many man in this career, undermined his health by over rigorous fasting and sleep deprivation; something that would plague him greatly in later years.  Soon Gregory was elected by his fellow monks to be their abbot or spiritual leader and as his reputation grew he was later ordained a deacon by the pope.

Monks carried the gospel to all of Europe

Later Pope Pelagius II asked him to be his representative at the Emperor’s court in Constantinople.  This was a great honor but one in which Gregory was quite ‘tone deaf.  He really never learned much Greek as Latin had by his day become the sole language of Rome and he didn’t care much for the pretensions   of the Byzantine world.  That to say, being a diplomat was not a good match Gregory, but in this time as he frequently corresponded with the pope, his writing skills were noticed and upon his recall to Rome, he was asked to become the papal secretary and in this he served with great distinction.

Gregory encounters Angle children

It is during this time that Gregory and two brother monks have an encounter that was to have an impact on the future history of Europe.  As they were passing by a slave market (and yes, slavery was still practiced in the day) Gregory was impressed with the beauty of some children that were being sold there.  Having never seen people of this race he enquired of one of his companions where they were from.  Upon being told they Angles (English), Gregory was said to have famously replied:  “Indeed they would not be Angli, but Angels if they were Christian.”   Later when he became pope he promoted and supported missions to many groups of people, but closest to his heart were the English and the mission he sent there took hold and firmly tied the Christians of England to Rome for the next thousand years until King Henry VIII made his famous break with the papacy.

In the course of time as Gregory neared his 50^th birthday, a terrible plague struck the city of Rome taking as one of its victims pope Pelagius II.  Following his death, a papal election was held and the people and clergy of Rome called on Gregory to take the office of St. Peter.  Gregory at first resisted but saw the need and in 595 AD became the first monk ever elected to the papacy.

Castel San Angelo today

One of Gregory’s first acts was to hold a public procession of humility and repentance before God in hopes of staying the plague that was continuing to rage in the city.  As the procession neared the tomb of Hadrian a vision of the archangel Michael was seen there putting his sword of destruction back in its sheath.  Hadrian’s tomb, now known as the Castel San Angelo, is decorated on top with a beautiful statue of an archangel to commemorate this event.  Surely it is only a pious legend but it is an amazing coincidence that the plague did stop that very day.

As pope, Gregory was an able administrator, tireless worker, and visionary, bringing his monastic viewpoint to bear on the life of the church as well as a mind that had been disciplined in prayer and contemplation.  His pontificate lasted just short of 14 years but in that short span, he put an impress on the church that it was hold throughout the Middle Ages and arguably in some ways still holds.  Let me share some concrete examples.

A great influence on music

Although he did not invent Gregorian chant, Gregory was a hymn writer and poet and wrote in a metered style that was easily chanted and sung by choirs.  Some of hymns are still sung in Catholic liturgy and were made part of the mass.

The Latin mass was largely shaped by Gregory I.  The theology of the Eucharist being an un-bloody but actual repetition of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of the world precedes his day but Gregory fills the idea with even greater meaning.  When it is served there is a reconciliation of heaven and earth, time and eternity and a spiritual benefit is conferred upon the living and the pious dead in a communion of the church.

In the early church there had long been the belief and practice of offering prayers for the dead.  But in the Christian east purgatory was unknown.   In the west it was an idea that was embellished and came to blossom under Gregory.  To his mind, purgatory was a foregone conclusion.  As each of the Christian faithful died there were remaining sins and infirmities that needed purging before entrance into glory.  Gregory promoted the ideas of saying 30 masses exclusively for the benefit of dead Christians as well as adding almsgiving as an efficacious means of reducing your purgatory time or that of a loved one.  The provision for this eventuality in the life of every Catholic unfortunately degenerated into a form of Holy Fire Insurance over the next millennium.

Dante was famous for his book on Purgatory

Read an excursis on the doctrine of purgatory here

Although Gregory would disclaim any jurisdiction over other bishops around the Christian world he definitely held the view that the Bishop of Rome has the commission of Peter and is above all other bishops in Christendom as a first among equals.  He certainly advised other bishops, churches, kings, queens, and nobles, as if he had jurisdiction over them and sometimes this was not greatly appreciated.  Gregory also acted as a head of state.  As Italy’s civil government continued to suffer neglect and further barbarian attacks, Pope Gregory more or less made the church the government.  He organized social welfare and military protection.  He also governed well the many papal lands around Italy, Europe, and North Africa.  This action set the stage for the development of the later Papal States which were their own country with the Pontiff as the governmental head.  Having actual territory under papal governance was a good thing under Gregory as he used the lands to finance and provide food for the poor of Rome, but later popes would become quite distracted with maintaining control of this property to the point of abandoning their spiritual mission altogether.  The point is Gregory may have disclaimed being a monarchial pope in his writings and words, but is betrayed by his actions despite his protestations.

Gregory was a prolific writer and promotes monasticism as the biographer of St. Benedict of Nursia.  He also writes a book that directs priests in their spiritual ministry called the Pastoral Rule.  This book was very insightful and for centuries the textbook on the care of souls.  Gregory is also the person who articulated the idea of the 7 deadly sins:  pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, sloth or apathy.  Although he borrowed the idea from the early church, he promoted it and transmitted in his writing to future generations.

Papal throne of Gregory I in Rome

Pope Gregory was untiring in his service to the poor caring for thousands in Rome.  He stood up for the rights of widows and orphans.  When he sat down to a meal, it was never before taking the food prepared for him off the table and giving it to the hungry.  He even sold expensive chalices and sacred vessels belonging to the church to help Rome’s impoverished.   Gregory personally punished himself if anyone died of starvation in his city.  Although some later popes were very much guilty of indulging their pleasures, this pattern of charity for the most part has remained a tradition within the papacy.

Gregory I tomb in St. Peter's today

Upon his death in 604, Gregory was immediately beatified (made a saint by the church) by popular acclamation.  In the 11^th century the church began referring to him as “the Great” a title that has only been applied to one other pope in the entire history of the church.  In the 13^th century Gregory I was declared  a Doctor of the Latin Church in 1298 by then Pope Boniface VIII (one of the few things he did right).  “Doctor” in Latin means a teacher and so this classification denotes an important contribution was made to the teaching of the church in their lifetimes or through their writings.  The Protestant 19^th century historian Philip Schaff sums up his life well:  “Goodness is the highest kind of greatness, and the church has done right in according the title of great to him rather than other popes of superior intellectual power.”

Sources

Bede.  A History of the English Church and People.  (London : Penguin Books, 1968)

Collins, Roger.  Early Medieval Europe 300-1000. (New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)

Dawson, Christopher.  Religion and the Rise of Western Culture.  (New York : Doubleday, 1957)

“Gregory I”.  Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.  McClintock and Strong Eds.  (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1981)

Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome.  The Pastoral Rule.  James Barmby D.D. trans.  (Peabody : Hendrickson Publishers, 2004)

Ferguson, Everett.  Church History Vol. 1: Christ to Pre-Reformation. (Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2013)

Kelly, J.N.D.  The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.  (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1986)

La Due, William J.  The Chair of St. Peter: A History of the Papacy.  (Maryknoll : Orbis, 1999)

Peterson, Curtis, Lang and.  The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History.  (Grand Rapids : Revell, 1994).

Schaff, Philip.  History of the Christian Church vol. 4: Medieval Christianity 590-1073. (Grand Rapids : Eerdmanns, 1994)