• Oceanus:
  • Letter of Pammachius and Oceanus to Jerome about Rufinus' Translation of Origen: The authors suspect Origen of heresy, based on the Latin edition of First Principles, and further suspect the original Greek, which they can't read, contains worse errors suppressed by the translator. They request Jerome to investigate. ---CCEL
• Olaf II, King of Norway, (XI Century):
  • The Heimskringla of Snorri Sturlesson: Olaf Haraldson's Saga. S. Laing translation, 1844. --- OMACL
• Origen, Alexandrian theologian and philosopher, later in Palestine, (II/III Centuries):
  • Against Celsus: Written at the request of St. Ambrose, a refutation of the most famous pagan attack on Christianity. Celsus regarded Christians as illiterate and superstitious peasants; Origen argues that Christianity is instead the most profound of philosophies. [TO FIND TEXT, SCROLL DOWN CONTENTS PAGE TO "AGAINST CELSUS"] --- CCEL
  • Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (excerpts): --- NA
  • Commentary on the Gospel of John: --- NA
  • First Principles: Origen's most famous work, containing his elaborate speculative theology which was later condemned as heretical. The text is largely a reconstruction, as no complete copies of the original seem to have survived. Passages acceptable to Orthodoxy were published by Basil and Gregory, and a toned-down paraphrase of the entire work was made by Rufinus; anti-Origenist writers like Jerome quoted other, less conventional passages. [TO FIND TEXT, SCROLL DOWN CONTENTS PAGE TO "DE PRINCIPIIS"] --- CCEL
  • Letter to Africanus about the Book of Susanna: See also Africanus' original letter. Africanus had noticed that parts of the Book of Daniel as found in the Septuagint contain anomalies, such as Greek puns which seemed unlikely to work in Hebrew. He therefore suggested that the Susanna story might be a forgery. Origen, after summarizing differences between the Greek and Hebrew versions of the Old Testament in general, argues for acceptance of the Apocrypha on the grounds that God is guiding His Church, and that the Jews have tampered with the Hebrew version. --- CCEL
  • Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus: About the usefulness of philosophy; a famous document in the history of Christian intellectual life. --- CCEL
  • Letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus on Classical Learning --- MSBP
  • Secondary Sources:
    • Fifth Ecumenical Council:
      • Council's Anathemas against Origen: Schaff-Wace translation. --- CCEL
      • Justinian's Anathemas against Origen: Schaff-Wace translation. --- CCEL
    • Jerome:
      • Preface to Origen's Homilies on the Song of Songs ---CCEL
    • Rufinus:
      • Preface to Origen's Commentary on Psalms 36, 37, and 38: ---CCEL
      • Preface to Origen's Commentary on Romans: ---CCEL
      • Peroration Appended to Origen's Commentary on Romans: ---CCEL
      • Preface to Origen's First Principles ---CCEL
      • Preface to Origen's Homilies on Numbers: ---CCEL
• Otfrid of Weissenburg, German monk and poet, (IX Century):
  • Letter about the Translation of the Gospels: Otfrid wrote a life of Christ in rhyming German verse at the request of the noblewoman Judith. This letter to the Archbishop of Mainz describes the work, as well the challenges of creating one of the first long written documents in the Germanic language. Latin original followed by Marchand translation, 1992. --- UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
• Ouen (Dado), Bishop of Rouen, (VI/VII Centuries):
  • The Life of St. Eligius. Ouen knew Eligius personally; this life is believed however to have been reworked somewhat in Carolingian times. The translation, (though very welcome, as this vita is a major document of life in the Merovingian church, previously unavailable in English), contains some minor errors, e.g. confusing Bretons with Britons. McNamara translation, 1997. --- MSBP

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