the four Gospels in his exegetical and critical writings. In this regard, Origen’s tendency to avoid literal harmonizations of the differences among the Gospels will require very careful explanation, since it is based in his general biblical hermeneutics. Finally, probably more than any other scholar of the early Church, Origen was aware of the textual variations among the many copies of the sacred writings in circulation. All told, Origen was the first to confront every aspect of the Synoptic Problem: