Origenes: Werke mit deutscher Übersetzung / Briefe

Of the originally over a hundred letters of Origen (185-254), which, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, were present in the estate of Origen in the church library of Caesarea, only two have been preserved in the Greek original: In the letter to Julius Africanus, whose brief letter to Origen is also available, the authenticity of the Susanna narrative is discussed, which Julius Africanus disputed, while Origen sought to demonstrate it in detail. In the letter to his former student Gregory the Wonderworker, which is preserved as a chapter in the Philokalia, the discussion revolves around both the value and indispensable benefit, as well as the risks of pagan education for a Christian. In addition to these two texts, there is a longer Latin fragment from a letter of Origen to his friends in Alexandria, from which Jerome and Rufinus of Aquileia provide various but overlapping excerpts, as well as some small fragments and references from various late antique authors. These few remnants of Origen's collection of letters are being published for the first time in a separate edition, translated, commented upon, and accompanied by a detailed introduction.