11
However, in his work against Celsus, he demotes the Son to a status less than full divinity.
36
And
since Origen does not treat the Spirit as having the same power and majesty as the Son, he probably
did not place Him in the Godhead.
37
Our third Alexandrian Christian Platonist is Dionysius. Following along the same thoughts
as his teacher, Dionysius, was able to continue Origen`s work, setting the theological tradition for
the area. Under his reign, the Alexandrian See expanded its control over all of Egypt and Cyrenaica.
Around 255, the Monarchians in Cyrenaica came to the attention of Dionysius.
38
In a fit of anger he
wrote the bishop in Rome, Pope Sixtus II, rebuking the Monarchians. However, in the letter he
affirms the Alexandrian tradition that the Son was a creature, sparking a fire between the two Sees,
which intensified with the new Roman pope--also named Dionysius.
39
The Cyreniacans coined the
now familiar term, homoousios, which the Alexandrian Bishop rejected as non-Scriptural.
40
About this
Frend summarizes, Dionysius moved Origen`s Trinitarian teaching further along the road toward
Arianism. Indeed, with Dionysius`s letter in mind, Arius became explicable.
41
Dionysius set the
table for the controversy that followed.
The next group of three characters is made up of two churchmen and one politician. The
last two two church officials were the Bishop and a presbyter, Alexander and Arius, but without the
36
Khaled Anotolios, Christ, Scripture, and the Christian Story of Meaning in Origen,
Gregorianum. 78, no. 1 (1997): 60-1.
37
Kihan McDonnell, Does Origen Have a Trinitarian Doctrine of the Holy Spirit?
Gregorianum. 75, no. 1 (1994): 34.
38
Kelly, 133-34.
39
Frend, The Rise of Christianity, 383.
40
Kelly, 135.
41
Frend, The Rise of Christianity, 383.