Against Celsus 2.56
Summary: Origen argues that Jesus' public crucifixion rules out comparison with heroes who merely disappeared and reappeared, and that the disciples' willingness to die shows they did not invent the resurrection.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:179–181
Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς ἡρωϊκὰς ἱστορίας περὶ τῶν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι λεγομένων κἀκεῖθεν ἀνεληλυθέναι τερατείας εἶναί φησιν ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος. ὡς τῶν ἡρώων ἀφανῶν γενομένων ἐπί τινα χρόνον καὶ ὑπεκκλεψάντων ἑαυτοὺς τῆς ὄψεως πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδειξάντων. ὡς ἀπὸ ᾅδου ἀνεληλυθότων (τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἔοικε περὶ τοῦ ἐν Ὀδρύσαις Ὀρφέως καὶ τοῦ ἐν Θεσσαλίᾳ Πρωτεσιλάου καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ Ἡρακλέος ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Θησέως ἐμφαίνειν αὐτοῦ ἡ λέξις), φέρε παραστήσωμεν ὅτι οὐ δύναται τὸ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἱστορούμενον ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγηγέρθαι τούτοις παραβάλλεσθαι. ἕκαστος μὲν γὰρ τῶν λεγομένων κατὰ τοὺς τόπους ἡρώων βουληθεὶς ἂν ἐδυνήθη ἑαυτὸν ὑπεκκλέψαι τῆς ὄψεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάλιν κρίνας ἐπανελθεῖν πρὸς οὓς καταλέλοιπεν· Ἰησοῦ δὲ σταυρωθέντος ἐπὶ πάντων Ἰουδαίων καὶ καθαιρεθέντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος ἐν ὄψει τοῦ δήμου αὐτῶν, πῶς οἷόν τε τὸ παραπλήσιον πλάσασθαι λέγειν αὐτὸν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἱστορουμένοις ἥρωσιν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι κἀκεῖθεν ἀνεληλυθέναι; φαμὲν δʼ ὅτι μή ποτε πρὸς ἀπολογίαν τοῦ ἐσταυρῶσθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ τοιοῦτον λέγοιτʼ ἂν, μάλιστα διὰ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἡρώων ἱστορηθέντα τῶν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι βίᾳ νομιζομένων, ὅτι εἰ καθʼ ὑπόθεσιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐτεθνήκει ἀσήμῳ θανάτῳ, οὐχ ὥστε δῆλος εἶναι ἀποθανὼν ὅλῳ τῷ δήμῳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτʼ ἀληθῶς ἦν ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, χώραν εἶχεν ἂν τὸ ὑπονοηθὲν περὶ τῶν ἡρώων καὶ περὶ τούτου λεχθῆναι. μή ποτʼ οὖν πρὸς ἄλλοις αἰτίοις τοῦ σταυρωθῆναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ τοῦτο δύναται συμβάλλεσθαι τῷ αὐτὸν ἐπισήμως ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἀποτεθνηκέναι, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἔχῃ λέγειν ὅτι ἑκὼν ὑπεξέστη τῆς ὄψεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἔδοξεν ἀποτεθνηκέναι οὐκ ἀποτέθνηκε δὲ (ἀλλ᾿), ὅτʼ ἐβουλήθη, πάλιν ἐπιφανεὶς ἐτερατεύσατο τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν; σαφὲς δʼ οἶμαι καὶ ἐναργὲς εἶναι τὸ ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιχείρημα, ἐπικινδύνῳ ὡς πρὸς τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον διδασκαλίᾳ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδεδωκότων, ἣν οὐκ ἂν πλασσόμενοι τὸ ἐγηγέρθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ νεκρῶν οὕτως εὐτόνως ἐδίδαξαν, μετὰ τοῦ καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ μόνον ἑτέρους παρασκευάζειν πρὸς τὸ θανάτου καταφρονεῖν ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ πολὺ πρότερον τοῦτο ποιεῖν.
English · Claude translation
Since the Jew in Celsus says that the heroic stories about those said to have gone down to Hades and come up from there are marvel-mongering, as if the heroes vanished for a time, stole themselves away from the sight of all people, and afterward showed themselves as though they had come up from Hades (for his words seem to suggest this about Orpheus among the Odrysians, Protesilaus in Thessaly, Heracles at Taenarum, and also Theseus), let us show that the account of Jesus' rising from the dead cannot be compared with these. Each of the heroes said to be in those places could, if he wished, have stolen himself away from people's sight and, when he decided, returned to those he had left. But since Jesus was crucified before all the Jews and his body was taken down in full view of their people, how is it possible to invent a similar story, saying that he, like the heroes of the stories, went down to Hades and came up from there? We say that perhaps this too might be said in defense of Jesus' crucifixion, especially because of the stories about heroes thought to have gone down to Hades by force: that if, hypothetically, Jesus had died an obscure death, so that his death was not evident to the whole people of the Jews, and after that had truly risen from the dead, there would have been room to say of him too what was suspected about the heroes. Perhaps, then, besides other reasons for Jesus' crucifixion, this too may contribute to his having died conspicuously on the cross: that no one could say that he deliberately withdrew from people's sight and seemed to have died but had not died, (but,) when he wished, appeared again and made a marvelous show of rising from the dead. And I think the argument from his disciples is clear and evident: they gave themselves to a teaching that was dangerous to human life, which they would not have taught so vigorously if they had invented Jesus' rising from the dead; besides which they not only prepared others to despise death but did so themselves much earlier.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The bracketed ἀλλʼ (“but”) is an editorial supplement. The phrase “he, like the heroes” renders αὐτὸν αὐτὸν (the second αὐτὸν is probably a repetition in the digital text, left unchanged).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/56/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/56/).
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