Origen Says I'm an Animal

These, therefore, who are dedicated to the study of the word of God and of reasonable doctrine, are called men. But those who are lving without such studies and do not want exercises of knowledge, but are nevertheless faithful, are called animals, though to be sure, clean ones. For just as some are men of God, so some are sheep of God.

-Origen, Third Homily on Leviticus

So there you are. Many of your suspicions about me were right.

***********

One more rant, continued from yesterday: Why do people who convert to the Catholicism or Orthodoxy always say that reading Patristics made them come to the conclusion that Orthodoxy or Catholicism is the seat of the True Church? I always have thought the opposite, maybe because I was raised as a cradle Catholic. I have had so many Protestant moments reading Origen, the Cappadocian Fathers, St. Ireneus, or even St. Maximus Confessor. It's not like they are invoking the Immaculate Conception, relics, and icons every thirty seconds. True, many of the "Catholic/Orthodox" things are in there IF you are looking for them, but they always seemed to be very much in the margin for me when I read the texts.

I now understand people who, in spite of reading Patristics, remain in Reformed Churches. Perhaps you can argue that they have cut themselves off from "doctrinal developments" since the Patristic period (yes, I have read Newman and appreciate him as a great advocate of this doctrine), but are all of these developments really important?