Should all the faithful care for the salvation of their souls?

On many occasions, Origen expressed his concern for the church (in Caesarea), rebuking his listeners with love. He expected that all the believers and the new converts would be present in the daily morning gatherings and liturgies, but instead he found that many had been too lazy to attend, others were inattentive and left directly after the reading of the Gospel.

Origen says, “Many come to the banquet, but few recline at the table (Luke 14:24).”¹⁰⁷⁰ And he says, “Does it not cause her[the Church] sadness and sorrow when you do not gather to hear the word of God? And scarcely on feast days do you proceed to the Church, and you do this not so much from a desire for the word as from a fondness for the festival and to obtain, in a certain manner, common relaxation.”¹⁰⁷¹

“Tell me, you who come to church only on festal days, are the other days not festal days? … Christians eat the flesh of the lamb every day, that is, they consume daily the flesh of the Word.”¹⁰⁷²

Origen’s annoyance grew as his congregation became even more impatient with his homilies on the book of Exodus: “But what would it profit should [other things] be discussed by our vast toil indeed, but be despised by hearers who are preoccupied and can scarcely stand in the presence of the word of God a fraction of an hour, and come to nothing? … there are some who understand in heart what is read; there are others who do not at all understand what is said, but their mind and heart are on business dealings or on acts of the world or on counting their profit. And especially, how do you think women understand in heart, who

1068 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 7.2 (FOTC 83:138).

1069 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 7.2 (FOTC 83:139).

1070 Origen, PG 13:1524.

1071 Origen, Homilies on Genesis 10.1 (FOTC 71:157).

1072 Origen, Homilies on Genesis 10.3 (FOTC 71:162-63).

chatter so much, who disturb with their stories so much that they do not allow any silence? Now what shall I say about their mind, what shall I say about their heart, if they are thinking about their infants or wool or the needs of their household?”¹⁰⁷³

“Some of you leave immediately as soon as you have heard the texts which are selected readings … Some do not even patiently wait while the texts are being read in church. Others do not even know if they are read, but are occupied with mundane stories in the furthest corners of the Lord's house.”¹⁰⁷⁴