ABSTRACT
The strongest condemnations of Origen in the twentieth century have been prompted by his handling of the scriptures. Allegory is generally contrasted, not with the surface of the text, but with its 'literal sense'; for this reason it is frequently regarded, both in ancient and modern treatments, as a branch of metaphor. To the deposit Alexandrian Christians had subjoined a more arcane one, handed down through a chain of privileged apostles whether as oral testimony or as text. Whatever Origen learned from the Platonists it was not the art of commentary: Porphyry says as much when he accuses him of filching his allegories from the Stoics. One might compare the appeals to prayer and sacraments in doctrinal controversy among the Christians of the fourth century; but for Origen, as we shall see when we come to his sermon On the Pasch, practice acquires authority only as an extension of the written word.
