Vito Limone: The Soul of Christ in Origen of Alexandria

Origen of Alexandria played a key role in the formulation of the theological perspective of the Cappadocians, in particular of their Christology. Though some doctrines of the Alexandrine related to Christ were restated in the IV century, for instance the theory of the intertwining of human and divine natures in Christ, there is at least one idea which was introduced by Origen, but did not meet the approval of the IV century theological debate, namely, his conception of the soul of Christ as the subject of incarnation. The chief aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the main texts in which Origen outlines his notion of the soul of Christ, in particular PA. II 6 and CIo. XXXII 4, and to explore it in light of both his controversy with the Gnostics and his relationship with the philosophical backdrop, especially the Middle Platonism, and the Jewish tradition. As result of this investigation, the paper will point out that Origen's conception of the soul of Christ evidences the so called doctrine of the pre-existence of the souls, on the one hand, and contributes to a re-thinking of the traditional view of free will, on the other.