June 12, 2012: The Vatican newspaper reported Tuesday that 29 previously unpublished
homilies said to be the work of one of the most important and prolific early church
fathers have been discovered in a German library. The 3rd Century theologian Origen
of Alexandria is considered to have played a critical role in the development of Christian
thought.
Pope Benedict XVI, himself a theologian, dedicated two of his 2007
weekly church teaching sessions to the importance of Origen's life and work. Vatican
newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said that despite Origen's importance, few of his original
texts remain in part because he was condemned by the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople
in 553 C.E.
The newspaper said an Italian scholar, Marina Molin Pradel, discovered
the homilies in the Bavarian State Library in April while reading an 11th Century
Byzantine code. She noticed that some homilies were similar to a Latin translation
of Origen's work. After further study, the newspaper said, she concluded the originals
were his.