Origen on Demonic Executioners and the Problem of Evil

Origen believed that God’s providence makes good use of everything, including the actions of wicked demons, which serve to discipline sinners and test the righteous. This Element, which focuses on the disciplinary function of demons, will show that Origen’s position was the synthesis and development of a long Jewish and early Christian tradition -- a fact not recognized in most scholarship. Disciplinary demons were an important part of Origen’s theodicy. According to him, the suffering sinners experience is not the direct action of supposed divine anger, but the wicked attack of demons that is directed (but not caused) by God. Origen’s belief that even rebel demons do not escape from fulfilling the divine purpose avoids dualism. This contradicts the frequently expressed view that early Christian intellectuals (particularly Origen) overemphasized Satan’s autonomy and endangered the supremacy of God.