Word: origen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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First there was Peter, who had denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed and who finally was martyred, according to Origen's histories, crucified upside down on a hillside. Then came St. Linus, St. Anacletus and St. Clement I, who may or may not have been drowned off Crimea with an anchor around his neck. These were the first of the heirs of St. Peter, the Popes of Rome, some of them loved, some feared, some venerated, some murdered. One of the proudest and most powerful, Innocent III (1198-1216), started calling himself the Vicar of Christ because...
Early Christians condemned birthday celebrations as a repugnant heathen custom and kept no record of the anniversary of Christ's birth. As late as 245 A.D., the African church father and philosopher Origen wrote that it was sinful even to contemplate observing Jesus's birthday "as though he were a King Pharaoh...