ABSTRACT
A host of ancient authorities along with the bulk of modern scholarship gaze askance at Demetrius “the Vinedresser,” the third-century Archbishop of Alexandria (189-232 ce).1 Demetrius’s rancorous interactions with Origen (d. ca. 253),2 coupled with his meager literary output, have relegated him to the footnotes of history,3 while his prominent rival has experienced a resurgence of late, inspiring an abundance of monograph-length studies, a series of international conferences, and a sizable bibliography of critical editions and modern translations.4 Even within the bounds of the Coptic Orthodox Church, where Origen’s mere mention had traditionally evoked an onslaught of epithets, his writings and persona have been largely rehabilitated due to the publications of Fr. Tadros Y. Malaty, whose monograph-length commentaries on each book of the Bible consistently draw upon Origen’s works. Moreover, Malaty’s 550-page anthology-like study of Origen’s biblical insights and theological outlook has made the figure and his thought highly accessible to a Coptic lay readership.5 Today, Origen is typically referenced as “the scholar” (Ar. al-callāmah; cf. magister) in the Coptic Church – a far cry from the labels of “pest” and “heretic” that have been adjoined to his name in Alexandrian literature across the past sixteen centuries.6
