Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 2.40

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Origen says Celsus wrongly thinks greatness means escaping death, whereas Jesus' death became an example for those who die for true piety.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:164

Καὶ ἀφιλόσοφον δέ τι παθὼν ὁ Κέλσος τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὑπεροχὴν οὐκ ἐν λόγῳ σωτηρίῳ καὶ ἤθει καθαρῷ φαντάζεται εἶναι. ἀλλὰ ἐν τῷ παρὰ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν οὗ ἀνείληφε προσώπου ποιῆσαι καὶ ἀνειληφότα τὸ θνητὸν μὴ ἀποθανεῖν, ἢ ἀποθανεῖν μὲν οὐχὶ δὲ θάνατον τὸν δυνάμενον παράδειγμα γενέσθαι τοῖς καὶ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἔργου εἰσομένοις ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀποθνῄσκειν καὶ παῤῥησιάζεσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ πρὸς τοὺς ἐσφαλμένους ἐν τῷ περὶ εὐσεβείας καὶ ἀσεβείας τόπῳ καὶ νομίζοντας τοὺς μὲν εὐσεβεῖς εἶναι ἀσεβεστάτους τοὺς δὲ πλανωμένους περὶ θεοῦ καὶ παντὶ μᾶλλον ἢ θεῷ ἐφαρμόζοντας τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀδιάστροφον ἔννοιαν ὑπολαμβάνοντας εἶναι εὐσεβεστάτους· καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀναιρεῖν ὁρμῶσι τοὺς τῇ ἐναργείᾳ τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ ἑαυτοὺς ὅλῃ ψυχῇ „μέχρι θανάτου“ ἐπιδεδωκότας.

English · Claude translation

Celsus, in an unphilosophical way, imagines that pre-eminence among human beings lies not in saving teaching and a pure character, but in acting contrary to the part one has taken on, so that one who has taken on what is mortal should not die; or should die, but not a death able to become an example to those who would learn from the very deed to die for piety and to speak boldly for it before those who have gone astray in the matter of piety and impiety, who think the pious most impious, and suppose that those who err about God and apply their undistorted notion of him to anything rather than to God are most pious; and especially when they rush to kill those who, in the clear light of the one God over all, have given themselves with their whole soul “even to death.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:164 · 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)
Scripture
Topics
Christology, Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Even to death” echoes Phil 2:8.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 2.40 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/40/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.40 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/40/).

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