Origen and Justinian.
The crisis under Justinian was in fact the second time Origen was condemned for his teachings.
Origenist monks in Palestine, referred to by their enemies as "Isochristoi" ("those who would assume equality with Christ"), saw Origen's teaching of the pre-existence of souls to mean all souls were originally perfect and equal, thus the same as Christ's, and would be equal again with the final restoration of all things back to their primordial perfection at the end of time (apokatastasis).
Another Origenist school insisted that Christ was the "leader of many brethren", the first-created being. These were referred to as "Protoktistoi" ("first createds"). Both factions accused the other of heresy, and other Christians accused both of them of heresy.
The Protoktistoi appealed to Justinian to condemn the Isochristoi of heresy. A local synod concluded that the Isochristoi were heretical and, their claiming Origen as their inspiration, denounced Origen as well. Justinian ordered all of Origen's writings to be burned.
The Second Council of Constantinople (553AD) was hampered because Pope Vigilius refused to participate despite being held prisoner by Justinian.
In his absence, the bishops at the council ratified an open letter condemning Origen as the leader of the Isochristoi.
Here's where it gets involved:
The letter was not part of the official acts of the council, it more or less repeated the edict of the local synod ten years previously. It cites objectionable writings attributed to Origen, but were actually written by Evagrius Ponticus. The council opened, with Pope Vigillius still refusing to take part.
Under duress from Justinian, the attending bishops drew up a list of anathemata (condemnations). In the official text of the eleventh anathema, Origen is condemned as a Christological heretic, but his name does not appear at all in the first draft of the anathemata issued by the imperial chancery. Nor does it appear in the version of the conciliar proceedings eventually signed by Pope Vigillius, a long time afterwards.
It would appear that Origen's name may have been retrospectively inserted into the text after the Council. Even if Origen's name did appear in the original text of the anathema, the teachings attributed to Origen were actually the ideas of later Origenists, seemingly with little grounding in anything Origen had actually written. Popes Vigilius, and subsequently Pelagius I, Pelagius II, and Gregory the Great seem unaware of Origenism or universalism, nor of its condemnation.
Postscript:
The Council of 553 is generally regarded as defective – the pope wasn't present, Justinian was forcing his opinion by threats, the council papers were subsequently tampered with. In The Councils of the Church, the standard work compiled from original documents by Norman P Tanner in 1999, the anathemata are not recorded, the whole issue treated as unreliable, so the condemnation of Origen by Justinian is in fact false.
Today it's believed Origen was orthodox and no-one more devoted to the cause of the Christian faith.
As a result of these condemnations, only a fraction of his prodigious writings have survived. Nonetheless, these still amount to a massive number of texts. Many more writings survive in fragments through quotations from later theologians. It is quite likely that Origen's most unusual and speculative ideas have been lost, making it nearly impossible to determine whether he was the heretic the anathemas ascribed him to be.
Nonetheless, in spite of that, the church remained enamoured of him and he remained a central figure of Christian theology throughout the first millennium and remains so to this day.
