hello Heroes I'm looking forward to the second lecture in series 1 with you remember series 1 is Beginnings through the fall of Rome that ending is kind of a rough date goal and today I'm going to be visiting with you about lecture two which has to do with persecution and belief the belief section has to do with the development of the New Testament Canon the second century apologists the 3 Century Church fathers and some heresies you hopefully have the information on the reading with Lett and also uh nol I will add the Ladette Pages before uh this lecture turning points the introduction and chapter one and also the supplemental optional reading remember required means guidelines you can pursue whatever is of interest to you but Harald OJ Brown's book on heresies the forward introduction in chapters 1- six will be very helpful for the second part of this lecture also very helpful is Robert Walton's uh book of graphs and charts Pages 25 through 136 and those are 3 through1 for the devotional my very helpful videographer Nick is putting in a scene from The Chosen it's from season two blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven you might remember that Jesus is dictating the Beatitudes the first part of Matthew 5 and he has in his Mind's Eye uh one or two people that represent each of the Blessed ours and then he gives blessed are you when you are persecuted and I believe in his Mind's Eye he is seeing John the Baptist and then the second one talks about when people revile you and say all kinds of things against you and as you've just seen in the scene Matthew looks up and realizes Jesus is looking at him and A Tear goes down his eye down his cheek and you can imagine as a Jewish tax collector the verbal abuse and perhaps more that Matthew had gone through and was now going through as a follower of Jesus you might be under some kind of psychological persecution yourself and people saying all kinds of things against you because you were a follower of Jesus but remember Jesus spoke these words for you as well and I'd always wondered why there were two and the chosen makes sense it could have been for Matthew and for others like him down through the centuries the first part of today's lecture has to do with persecution and to a great extent it has been the norm throughout time and around the world for the Christian Church Jesus provides two Beatitudes as I've mentioned and Paul writes all who would live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer that's 2 Timothy 3:12 let's look first at persecution as it is found in the New Testament starting with the life of Jesus and see those two Beatitudes I've already mentioned Jesus himself is persecuted and ultimately killed the followers of Jesus experienced persecution as they journeyed with him Jesus is persecuted by being called the devil and demon-possessed Jesus destroys that argument with the quotation later used by Abraham Lincoln a kingdom divided among itself cannot stand the man who was born blind that Jesus was persecuted himself he is expelled or excommunicated from the synagogue because he believes in Jesus see acts 9 in John 151 18-27 Jesus teaches his closest followers that the world will hate them as it hates him if the world hates you Jesus says keep in mind that it hated me first and at the end of the passage when the counselor comes whom I will send to you from the Father the spirit of Truth who goes out from the father he will will testify about me and you also must testify for you have been with me from the beginning I was a pastor in a denomination called the United Church of Christ it is the most liberal denomination in the world God called me to be a missionary to the United Church of Christ after I had graduated from Gordon Conwell seminary in Massachusetts I moved back to Southern California started serving part-time at a church that decided to call me sort of full-time but I was working full-time I started a youth group and some other things and was preaching the gospel and so the church wanted to call me and that government of that particular denomination is I had to go to an association committee I had written about my life with Jesus how he called me in the 10th grade when I was 15 years old and what I believed and how he had used me prior to this interview and so I shared and at one point one of the members of the committee said you're just the sort of person the United Church of Christ needs you're young dedicated intelligent if only your theology were different and that was one of the few days in my life where white was black and black was white because what I my theology was I believe the Bible was and is in the inherence word of God it's without a in its originals and it is without a in all that it affirms and I believed because of that that Jesus was whom he said he was so I they gave me a second church but um when they were starting to do Financial persecution on the second church I decided for the good of both churches to resign so I took a call to an assistant pastor at another church I was ordained there and not too long after that I got plugged back into the United Church of Christ and the same committee with a few different people recognized my ordination and for some years the yearbook had me as a minister in full standing so God took me out put me back in just like he saved me in a Baptist Church put me back in my home church so that is a form of persecution if you will and in Luke 121 and 12 12 Jesus says when you are brought before synagogues rulers and authorities do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say for the holy spirit will teach you at that time what you should say in the book of Acts persecution permeates is found throughout the book written by DrLuke God also uses persecution to help move the preaching of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria area and to the ends of the Earth remember Acts 1:8 last time as far as the growth of the church persecution occurs early in Acts after Peter and John heal a beggar they are taken before the religious ruling Council the Sanhedrin at the beginning of Acts 4 Peter filled with the Holy Spirit as he was on the birthday of the church sets them straight the religious leaders tell them not to talk about what had happened but in words that echo down the centuries Peter uh and John reply judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard the leaders threaten them but cannot decide how to punish them because the people were praising God for what happened for the man who was miraculously healed was over over 40 years old the leaders threatened them but could not decide how to punish them because the people were praising God as I said then the Believers offer an amazing prayer in a house to The Sovereign Lord in a verse that holds profound balance of realism and Trust in the power of God they pray now Lord consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness followed by stretch out your hand hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus now they could have said protect us put a hedge of protection around us Sovereign lord they're persecuting us and it's not fair but instead they speak realistically Lord consider their threats and then they have their prayer requests enable your service to speak your word with great boldness and do you remember what happens after that prayer God confirmed their Prayer by shaking the house with an earthquake and they were all filled with the holy spirits and spoke the word of God boldly now I've grown up in Southern California I'm back in Southern California I've been here off and on and I felt some pretty strong earthquakes just a couple weeks ago as as far as the filming of this my wife and I were sitting in our second floor apartment and the earth started to shake and it was one of the few times that was scary because it was shallow and the epicenter was near us and being on the second floor all caused it more to shake now it was only a 4. 4 with an intensity of five but it's a reminder for how God confirmed uh their wonderful prayer and persecution continues in Acts 5 once again it comes after the apostles heal many people including Peter's Shadow falling upon some of the people many were healed and the religious leaders were jealous so they persecuted the apostles but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out but you need to recognize that God does not always rescue persecuted Christians take a look at Hebrews 11:35 the first part through verse 38 and I like what Apollo says after that the world was not worthy of them Peter and other Apostles are taken into custody again again they replied with the focus on God we must obey God rather than men we Are Witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him this infuriated the religious leaders but a wise Jewish leader who probably had been a mentor to Saul who would become Paul spoke up galel said in the present case I advise you leave these men alone let them go for if their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail but if it is from God you will not be able to stop the these men you will only find yourselves fighting against God and I had an experience somewhat similar to that a couple years ago a Spanish Church came to my congregation and they started meeting in a room and they're thriving now they had a lot of people then too but I got word that a minister in another part of McFarland was upset he said I don't understand why Pastor Phil is starting a Spanish church so I'm going to start an English church so he put up signs around town within three or four weeks it stopped but the church that came to me is like I said thriving and I spoke to them briefly I said I want you to know that man does not start a church God starts a church and I quoted galel whom I just quoted Ed to you if this is of God no one will be able to stop you and it is of god and they are thriving and even though the other leaders were persuaded by Galia they were still persecuted by being flogged they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering for the name day after day in the temple courts and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ in Acts 6 the first deacons are selected Steven whose name means Crown is seized later in the chapter now Steven A Man full of God's grace and power did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people opponents arose but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he by which he spoke or by whom false accusations are made against him at the end of Acts 6 in Acts 7 Stephen gives an impassioned message he concludes with words that outrage the religious leaders as he talks about previous persecution of God's people you stiff necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears you are just like your fathers you always resist the Holy Spirit was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute they even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one and now you have betrayed and murdered him you have received the law that was put into effect through Angels but you have not obeyed it with his eyes reflecting the Heavenly Glory of Jesus as Jesus stands to welcome him step is Stoned by his opponents the man who approved of the stoning Saul you can see it in 81 of Acts after the church is persecuted and Scattered it is indirectly carrying out the reverse chapter in verse 18 on that day a great persecution broke out against the Church of Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria Godly men buried even and mourn deeply for him but Saul began to destroy the church going from house to house he dragged off men and women and put them in prison that's persecution right there and in Acts 9: 1 and two we read meanwhile Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples he went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belonged to the way whether men or women he might take them as prisoners but God but God said Saul Saul why do you persecute me who are you Lord Paul asks or Saul I am Jesus whom you are persecuting so when people persecute you they're persecuting Jesus and Saul who would become Paul which is his Roman name and then would endure all kinds of persecution for the sake of the gospel for following and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ when it comes to what Paul went through for the cause of Christ he writes the following in 1 Corinthians 11 now this is a long list but I want you to hear it because it is all persecution of the Church of a particular Church leader the devil trying to stop him from starting so many churches that belong to Jesus are they Hebrews Paul WR so am I are they Israelites so am I are they Abraham's descendants so am I are they Servants of Christ I am out of my mind to talk like this I am more I have worked much harder been in prison more frequently been fogged more severely and been exposed to death again and again five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one three times I was beaten with rods once I was piled with stones three times I was Shipwrecked I spent a night and a day in the open sea I have been constantly on the move I have been in danger from rivers in danger from bandits in danger from my fellow Jews in danger from Gentiles in danger in the city in danger in the country in danger at Sea and in danger from false believers I have labored and toiled and have often Gone without sleep I have known hunger and thirst and have often Gone without food I have been cold and naked besides everything else I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches who is weak and I do not feel weak who was led into sin and I do not inwardly burn if I must boast Paul concludes I will boast of the things that show my weakness others were persecuted during New Testament times here is a summary of what happened to some of the first followers of Jesus and Walton has a chart about it Simon Peter was crucified upside down in Rome between 864 and 68 Andrew his brother was crucified at patros in AA James and son of Zebedee had an unknown end John was in Exile on Pat Moss where he received the Revelation from Jesus he is the only known Apostle to have died a natural death Philip is said to have been crucified in hieropolis and what is today turkey Matthew various Traditions Thomas was martyred in India and I will talk about this some more in lecture four when I talk about the history of Christianity in Asia Bartholomew was martyred after Ministry in Armenia and then James son of alfus Simon the Zealot and Mathias do not have a known outcome so let's now look at the persecution after the New Testament until ad. 313 with the Edict of Milan or 3:24 with the Council of NAA these persecutions took place in the Roman Empire this even though Christians modeled to live C John st's book on The Sermon on the Mount called Christian counterculture including rescuing adopting babies left to die on the top of Hills part of Rome's conquering strategy was to let people continue their own worship as long as they recognize the basic Roman religion of taking an action recognizing the emperor to be a god both practicing Jews and Christian were not able to follow this requirement though the Jews were given a lot of slack in the Holy Land because their beliefs in the one God were so strong and for a while Rome did not distinguish between Jews and Christians but eventually it did at that point persecutions increased and occurred off and on with various intensities and areas until 8324 here are the main years of the persecutions the emperor the nature and extent of the persecutions and some of the notable Martyrs in .
64 Nero was Emperor the area was limited to the area of the city of Rome but it was terrible Christians were made scapegoats for the great fire of Rome which Nero himself might have started the rumor goes because he wanted to build new buildings in Rome both Paul and Peter were martyred in Rome during that time between 64 and 68 depending on the early church fathers Peter is said to be buried under the altar in the Roman Catholic St Peter's Basilica where the Vatican is the center of the Roman Catholic faith between 90 and 96 Emperor de missan engaged and often on persecutions centered in Rome and Asia Minor in part of what is today turkey Christians were persecuted for refusing to offer a pinch of incense to the Emperor as an idol during this time John was put on the island of Patmos and Clement of Rome was martyred the next persecution occurred between 98 and 117 under trun it was applied often on in various areas also Christians were included with other groups whose Roman Empire Empire's patriotism was suspected Christians were to be executed when found but were not sought out those martyred include Ignatius Simeon with the Y zosimus and Rufus under hadrien who built the wall in Great Britain to keep out the northern picks known these days as Scots between 117 and 138 the persecution was enforced off and on while keeping in force the policies of Emperor Tran telis forus was martyred but this is interesting anyone who brought false witness take a look at Exodus 2016 in the Ten Commandments anyone who brought false witness against Christians themselves were to be punished Marcus aurelus became known as the philosopher Emperor he is portrayed with a great deal of fiction in the 2,000 movie Gladiator he further developed the philosophy known as stoicism regrettably and perhaps a logically with regard to his philosophy Marcus Aurelius be began and based his persecution of Christians based on philosophical grounds during his Reign from 161 through 180 Christians were blamed for natural disasters during those years Justin Martyr paus and blondina were martyred under the reign of Septimus seus the kind of persecution shifted to something that occurs in a number of countries in our day between 2002 and 2011 conversion to Christianity was forbidden between 235 and 236 Christian clergy were ordered executed Christians were opposed because they had supported the predecessor of Emperor maximinus the thran seus Alexander a lot of names I know you don't have to worry about all of these but it's important to understand it all and hear what your Christian predecessors went through Ursula and Hipp hippitus were martyred during these two years under Emperor dius between 241 and 251 Christians experienced the first First Empire wide persecution dius demanded that Christians offer the pinch of incense to a statue or Idol from the Christians perspective of the emperor the Empire saw among many people and enthusiastic return to paganism that in their opinion required the utter extermination of Christianity but that did not happen even with the martyrdom of fabianus and Alexander of Alex of Jerusalem between 257 and 260 the emperor Valyrian had Christian property confiscated additionally Christians were prohibited the right of assembly of gathering together during those years origin again spelled o r i g en cyprian and syus II were martyred the persecution of the Christians under Emperor Diocesan garius was the worst persecution of all churches were destroyed and bibles were burned all civil rights of Christians were suspended sacrifice to Gods was required during these years of 305 through 311 mauricius and Albin were martyred in 313 the Edict of Milan legalized Christianity and fostered religious tolerance though there was still persecution in various places during and between the persecutions Christians continued to develop their belief systems I'm going to first look at the development of the New Testament Canon now Canon means a group of Scrolls or books not something that's shot out of a big gun for authentic Bible Christians and I consider myself one and I imagine you heroes are also their beliefs beliefs are based on the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit guided which books would be in the Bible and then the Holy Spirit guides us the Bible is our true guide for all matters of faith and practice so I turn now to the development of the New Testament Canon and this is very important history also the New Testament Canon was basically established by ad 150 around the time of the Apostles Creed there was some sorting out of certain books including or excluding after that year but essentially Christians knew the books they could rely on just 60 years after the last books were written for the New Testament final acceptance took or official acceptance took place in the late 4th Century but let's back up now and look at two centuries of Christian theologians and then look at the heresies back then that are also around now the second century apologist did not apologize for Christianity they actually stood up for then and now for the Christian faith you might have heard the word Christian apologist back then they were helping explain the early Christian faith today apologists stand up for the historic Christian faith and the cultures were somewhat similar back then Roman society was inclusive you could be and do whatever you wanted as long as you recognize the Roman Emperor today you can do and be whatever you want as long as you believe Others May do the same regardless of their belief and behavior while Jesus accepted everyone where they were he loved them too much to leave them there he calls people to follow him and in the midst of inclusive societies then and now the words of Jesus ring out I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me here is the Miriam Webster dictionary definition of an apologist someone who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something that is typically controversial unpopular or subject to criticism in many ways and through the centuries Christianity has been at times controversial unpopular or subject to criticism while it is the Holy Spirit who calls us to Faith apologists have their place in encouraging and strengthening the faith of Christians while also explaining the truths of Christianity to non or not yet Believers you might know of some more contemporary apologists and I believe the ones I'm going to share except the next to the last one uh actually second to the last one are available in Portuguese I believe I did not check it but they are so well known I think they are you can let me know when I was a young Christian Josh McDow was very helpful he wrote the book evidence that demands a verdict and now his son continues in his Father's Footsteps it's called more evidence that demands a verdict another apologist was Paul little who wrote know what you believe and know why you believe among other titles a convert as unlikely as Paul who himself has become an apologist started out as an atheist named Lee Strobel he was a journalistic investigator like I said who was an atheist after his wife became a Christian he set out to disprove the CLA claims of Christianity especially the bodily resurrection of Jesus but the Holy Spirit worked in his life and he became a Christian his first book after becoming a Christian his first book is entitled the case for Christ recently a book came out that could be viewed as apologetic It Is by Max Lucado and is entitled what happens next a traveler's guide through the end of this age Christians want to know what the Bible teaches about the end times and non-believers might not know much about the Bible but they know about the words Antichrist and then the number 666 and so this could be a book that's apologetic for them evangelism can have elements of apologetics a couple years ago after God had told me to focus on him and my current Ministry more closely and assist assant manager at a right age store started to ask me strange questions like about UFOs and the firmaments in the Flat Earth finally I did something I have never done before I told him to look at me I kept my hands and I said the only question you have to answer is who do you say that I am and he says that it haunts me to this day but after I asked him that question he said I've got a good Bible but I don't know how to study it so within a few days I gave him some printed Bible tips and then I prayed and he said I'd like to know how Christians pray so number two was tips on prayer using the Lord's Prayer and other places in the Bible and various things to remember order of prayer and then on his birthday I did a short little thing about new birth on your birthday and he prayed the siners prayer and the four spiritual laws and he's now in a Bible study over the phone he's got a Satan worshiping friend that was looking like he was on his way to becoming a Christian then he pulled back but we're still praying for him and another young man at R Aid asked about a Bible and so my friend gave him an extra copy that he had so so uh God will give you a reason for the hope that is within [Music] you God used me but it was the Holy Spirit who did the work so do you understand what an apologist is and does now okay let's look at the second century apologist the AP ologists needed to interact with mostly Greek philosophy the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints otherwise known as Mormons claimed the church ceased to exist to be the true church around the end of the first century when the Bible was finished being WR written they believe that because it was heniz and other words it was overly influenced by Greek philosophy in a later lecture we will see how Mormonism tracks with the heresy known as aryanism but apologist and indeed all Christians through time and generations and around the world do not live in a vacuum they need to interact with the culture and beliefs they live in Jesus talks about being in but not of and that's what the apologists were that's what you my heroes are quadratus wrote a work called apology he addressed it to Emperor hadrien remember that hadrien persecuted Christians yet quadratus wrote his work for hadrien among others by comparison in his largest theological work John Calvin dedicated his Institutes of the Christian faith to the French King Francis I who was persecuting pred in France at the time in his now lost writing there are quotations from it in the works of others quadratus contrasted Christianity with Jewish and Pagan worship and another lost writing called apologetics written by someone in the early 2nd Century in Athens aristedes also addressed Emperor hadrien he was strongly influenced by Paul which is a good thing one of the top t two second century apologist the other being e ethnog gorus to whom we'll get in a little bit is Justin Martyr he wrote not one but two works with the title apology he also wrote Dialogue with trifo the Jew against heresies and against marcian who himself was a heretic about whom I will talk later in this lecture dialogue is a good tool for apologists and all Christians to use ask questions is much less threatening than telling people what they should believe and later on when I talk about aryanism I believe in lecture three I hope to share about my experience with being in numerous Mormon Evangelical dialogues that God led me into culminating with a professor from brigam Young who had been in over 60 such dialogues but the dialogue earned me the right to ask him some hard questions that were heard by perhaps 100 Mormons and 50 others Justin Martyr was trained in philosophy he was an itinerant lay teacher which means he went to various places to teach and he was not officially ordained he was personally opposed to marcion as an apologist he argued for Christianity on the basis of Prophecy Miracles and ethics he lived in the Holy Land ephes in Southwestern turkey today and Rome Justin lived approximately from ad100 until 165 he earned the name martyr when he was beheaded in Rome for his faith taan was another apologist he lived from 110 until 172 he wrote dieron to the Greeks dieron means the four gospel being put into a single narrative in our time two books that put the gospels into a single narrative are the story which has the whole Bible and the Book of God by Walter wangren Jr and there are also harmonies of the four gospels Tatian was a pupil of Justin he argued for the temporal meaning in time priority of Christianity over other religions with the dieron he produced the first Harmony of the gospels but regrettably taan fell into one of the most challenging heresies of Christianity called gnosticism as important and influential as Jus Martin was was aorus he lived in Athens and was steeped in philosophy Greek philosophy you could call him a Christian platinus or neoplatonist who Incorporated um some teachings of Plato into Christianity but it was okay he was in but not of in ad. 176 or 177 he wrote his Embassy for Christians he addressed it to the philosopher Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son commodius both of whom he flatters as conquerors but above all philosophers it was a carefully written plea according to Wikipedia for justice to the Christians made by a philosopher on philosophical grounds for a Phil philosopher aorus also wrote a book called apology it was an early attempt to use platonic ideas to interpret Christian belief for Greek and Roman cultures he provided the first strongly reasoned argument for the unity of God in Christian literature It Is supplemented by an able exposition of the Trinity as Wikipedia shares while I cannot find the exact quotation of was either athenagoras or athanasius whom we'll look at later who wrote something very profound namely that only someone who is both God and man could die on the cross to redeem people and here are three more second century apologists that I will talk about briefly Theophilus died in 181 he lived in Antioch he wrote to Aus Walton characterizes him as a SE severe pacy meaning going to war verbally against Pagan philosophers malito died in 190 he lived in Sardis according to Walton he produced the first Christian list of books of the Old Testament meito wrote 20 works all of which are lost hexus lived in Syria Greece and Rome he was a converted Jew who regrettably blamed all heresies on Judaism he collected information on the early history of the church to prove its Purity and apostolicity so C Walton's chart number five for the arguments of the apologist that chart is for your interest and edification no material found on that chart needs to be in any of your papers but Di you can just enjoy getting to know more people and church history history I come now to the third Century Church fathers irenaeus lived in smna and Gaul Gul is what is today France but he lived there in the late 2nd Century he studied under polycarp who was an Apostolic Father which is someone who knew one or more of the first century Apostles you may have read about them already the thirr century Church fathers often did the work of both apoll ologists and theologians irenaeus wrote against heresies on the unity of God and the origin of evil he was a missionary and apologist he was a strong opponent of gnosticism which we will get to soon he held premillennial views which means he believes that Jesus would return before the Millennium started and he eventually made his way to Leon in France what is today France and he was reportedly martyred there Clement was another third Century father he died approximately in ad 215 he lived in three major cities of his day Alexandria Egypt Antioch today Syria and Jerusalem he wrote exhortation to the Greeks the pedagogue which means the teacher and stromata which means miscellany or misscellaneous items he was trained in philosophy he became a Christian when he was an adult he emphasized the logos or word of God or the second person of the Trinity he approached the Bible allegorically instead of what each book's genre was he wrote the uh oldest known after the New Testament Christian hymn called Shepherd of tender for you next is tertullian who lived from around 80 160 until 120 220 excuse me he lived in Carthage which is Northern Africa on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea he wrote prescription of Heretics against marcian and against praus he was a son of a Roman army officer he was trained in the law he became a Christian in the middle life middle of his life although he joined the mous around 200 he did Lay important groundwork for the doctrine of the Trinity the next is hippolytus who lived from around 170 until 236 he spent most of his life in Rome he wrote Phil safu Mina the reputation of all heresies and numerous lost commentaries of Bible books he studied under ireneus that's philos safu Mena he opposed the Bishops of Rome he used the allegorical method of interpretation he eventually died in Exile on the island of Sardinia there were several other third Century fathers but I would like to focus on origin and I've spelled his name for you already o r i g n i find him to be intriguing he had an amazing mind if I could go back in time I would like to go back to a bunch of places but to Alexandria in the early 200s where origin lived and visit with him pick his brain as well as visit The Great Library of Alexandria remember its name for Alexander the the great who conquered to the east of Greece and Macedonia South through the holy land and into Egypt sometimes origin pushed the envelope of Orthodoxy but he also provided significant insights he has been described by wikkipedia as the greatest genius the church has ever produced the next greatest genius would be Augustine I'm talking in time because I think there were several other great minds such as John Calvin Martin Luther Jonathan Edwards and others he wrote in many areas origin did the Bible hermeneutics that's Bible interpretation theology apologetics and homiletics which is preaching he came after or succeeded Clement as a catechist or teacher teacher of new Christians he was a notable advocate of the allegorical interpretation of the Bible he was a severe aesthetic in other words he lived a life of self-denial he was exiled by his enemies in the church to cesaria origin lived from approximately ad.
