, by intense study, was constantly adding to his
intellectual treasures, he also improved his mind by travelling. When
about twenty-six years of age he made a journey to Rome; and he
subsequently visited Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece.
As he passed through Palestine in A.D. 228, when he was in the
forty-third year of his age, he was ordained a presbyter by some of the
bishops of that country. He was now teacher of the catechetical school
of Alexandria--an office in which he had succeeded Clement--and his
ordination by the foreign pastors gave great offence to Demetrius, his
own bishop. It has been said that this haughty churchman was galled by
the superior reputation of the great scholar; and Origen, on his return
to Egypt, was exposed to an ecclesiastical persecution. An indiscreet
act of his youth was now converted into a formidable accusation, [377:1]
whilst some incautious speculations in which he had indulged were urged
as evidences of his unsoundness in the faith. His ordination was
pronounced invalid; he was deprived of his appointment as president of
the catechetical school; and he was excommunicated as a heretic. He now
retired to Caesarea, where he appears to have spent the greater portion
of the remainder of his life. The sentence of excommunication was
announced by Demetrius to the Churches abroad; but though it was
approved at Rome and elsewhere, it was not recognised in Palestine,
Phoenice, Arabia, and Achaia. At Caesarea, Origen established a
theological seminary such as that over which he had so long presided at
Alexandria; and, in this institute, some of the most eminent pastors of
the third century received their education.

This great man throughout life practised extraordinary self-denial. His
clothing was scarcely sufficient to protect him from the cold; he slept
on the ground; he confined himself to the simplest fare; and for years
he persisted in going barefoot. [377:2] But his austerities did not
prevent him from acquiring a world-wide reputation. Pagan philosophers
attended his lectures, and persons of the highest distinction sought his
society. When Julia Mammaea, the mother of Alexander Severus, invited
him to visit her, and when, in compliance with this summons, he
proceeded to Antioch [377:3] escorted by a military guard, he must have
been an object of no little curiosity to the Imperial courtiers. It
could now no longer be said that the Christians were an illiterate
genera