Against Celsus 2.27 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Koetschau 1:156

Μετὰ ταῦτά τινας τῶν πιστευόντων φησὶν ὡς ἐκ μέθης ἥκοντας εἰς τὸ ἐφεστάναι αὑτοῖς μεταχαράττειν ἐκ τῆς πρώτης γραφῆς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τριχῇ καὶ τετραχῇ καὶ πολλαχῇ καὶ μεταπλάττειν, ἵνʼ ἔχοιεν πρὸς τοὺς ἐλέγχους ἀρνεῖσθαι. μεταχαράξαντας δὲ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἄλλους οὐκ οἶδα ἢ τοὺς ἀπὸ Μαρκίωνος καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Λουκάνου. τοῦτο δὲ λεγόμενον οὐ τοῦ λόγου ἐστὶν ἔγκλημα ἀλλὰ τῶν τολμησάντων ῥᾳδιουργῆσαι τὰ εὐαγγέλια. καὶ ὥσπερ οὐ φιλοσοφίας ἔγκλημά εἰσιν οἱ σοφισταὶ ἢ οἱ Ἐπικούρειοι ἢ οἱ Περιπατητικοὶ ἢ οἵτινές ποτʼ ἂν ὦσιν οἱ ψευδοδοξοῦντες, οὕτως οὐ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ ἔγκλημα οἱ μεταχαράττοντες τὰ εὐαγγέλια καὶ αἱρέσεις ξένας ἐπεισάγοντες τῷ βουλήματι τῆς Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίας.

English · Claude translation

After this he says that some of the believers, as if coming from drunkenness to laying hands on themselves, have altered the Gospel from its first writing three and four and many times, and remodeled it, so as to be able to deny things in the face of refutations. I know of no others who have altered the Gospel than the followers of Marcion and those of Valentinus, and I think also those of Lucanus. But this, if said, is a charge not against the teaching but against those who dared to tamper with the Gospels. And just as sophists, Epicureans, Peripatetics, or whoever hold false opinions are not a charge against philosophy, so those who alter the Gospels and bring in heresies foreign to the intent of Jesus' teaching are not a charge against true Christianity.

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 1:156 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Topics

Heresy, Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The Greek phrase ὡς ἐκ μέθης ἥκοντας εἰς τὸ ἐφεστάναι αὑτοῖς is obscure (perhaps “as if in drunkenness, to the point of turning against themselves”); rendered literally. Lucanus (Lucan) was a follower of Marcion. Origen names the Epicureans and Peripatetics among philosophers who “hold false opinions.”

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 2.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/27/).

Plain text

Origen, Cels. 2.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/27/).