Tradition, or “the Canon of Faith,” is for Origen the currently prevailing body of beliefs accepted by Christians. The scholar Origen states that “one must guard the ecclesiastical preaching, handed down from the apostles through the order of succession and remaining in the churches to the present.”238 And in his commentary on the Holy Bible, he refers to tradition and to the writings of the elders or priests (presbyters), by which he means the Fathers of the Church.
For example, concerning the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), he writes, “One of the elders wanted to interpret the parable as follows: the man who was going down [to Jericho] is Adam. Jerusalem is Paradise, and Jericho is the world. The robbers are hostile powers … and the Samaritan is Christ.”239 Jean Daniélou points out that this same interpretation had indeed appeared in Irenaeus240 but since it is doubtful that Origen would call Irenaeus “one of the elders,” the common source of both passages must be a shared tradition.241 Origen believes that true understanding of the Holy Bible is found only in the Church. He says, “The true disciple of Jesus is he who enters the house, that is to say, the Church. He enters by thinking as the Church does, and living as she does; this is how he understands the Word. The key of the Scriptures must be received from the tradition of the Church, as from the Lord Himself.”242
234 Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 6.13.8, 9 (FOTC 29:25–26).
235 St. Clement of Alexandria , The Stromata, or Miscellanies 7.16 (ANF 2:554).
236 St. Clement of Alexandria , The Stromata, or Miscellanies 7.16 (ANF 2:551).
237 St. Clement of Alexandria , The Stromata, or Miscellanies 6.7.61 (ANF 2:494).
238 Origen, On First Principles, Volume 1 , trans. John Behr (Oxford University Press, 2017), Praef. 2: p. 13.
239 Origen, Homilies on Luke 34.3 (FOTC 94:138).
240 J. Daniélou, “Le Bon Samaritan” in Mel Robert (Paris: Tournai, 1957): pp. 457–465.
241 J. Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1964): p. 49.
242 Yves Congar, Tradition and the Life of the Church (London: Burns and Oats, 1964): p. 83.