Against Celsus 3.10
Summary: Origen answers Celsus's claim that Christians were few and united at first: even then crowds of thousands, including women and children, followed Jesus, and being few says nothing about unwillingness to persuade all.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:210–211
Ὅρα δὲ καὶ τί φησιν εἶναι τούτου τεκμήριον· ὅτι ἀρχόμενοι μὲν, φησὶν, ὀλίγοι τε ἦσαν καὶ ἓν ἐφρόνουν· εἰς πλῆθος δὲ σπαρέντες αὖθις αὖ τέμνονται καὶ σχίζονται καὶ στάσεις ἰδίας ἔχειν ἕκαστοι θέλουσι· τούτου γὰρ ἀρχῆθεν ἔχρῃζον. ὅτι μὲν οὖν συγκρίσει τοῦ ἑξῆς πλήθους ὀλίγοι ἦσαν ἀρχόμενοι Χριστιανοὶ δῆλον, καίτοι οὐ πάντῃ ἦσαν ὀλίγοι, τὸ γὰρ κινῆσαν φθόνον τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ διερεθίσαν Ἰουδαίους πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τούτου ἐπιβουλὴν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους ἦν, πεντακισχιλίων καὶ τετρακισχιλίων ἀνδρῶν αὐτῷ ἀκολουθούντων χωρὶς τοῦ τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τῶν παιδίων ἀριθμοῦ, τοσαύτη γάρ τις ἴϋγξ ἦν ἐν τοῖς Ἰησοῦ λόγοις, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἄνδρας ἕπεσθαι θέλειν αὐτῷ εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκας, οὐχ ὑποτεμνομένας τὴν γυναικείαν ἀσθένειαν καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐν τῷ ἀκολουθεῖν εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας τῷ διδασκάλῳ· ἀπαθέστατα δὲ παιδία, ἤτοι τοῖς γεννήσασιν ἑπόμενα ἢ τάχα καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς θειότητος αὐτοῦ ἀγόμενα, ἵνα αὐτοῖς ἐνσπαρῇ θειότης, ἠκολούθει μετὰ τῶν γεγεννηκότων, ἀλλʼ ἔστω ὀλίγους γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν· τί τοῦτο συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἂν ἐθελῆσαι Χριστιανοὺς ἐμποιῆσαι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις περὶ τοῦ λόγου πειθώ;
English · Claude translation
See also what he says is the proof of this: “When they began,” he says, “they were few and of one mind; but having spread into a multitude, they are divided and split again and again, and each wish to have their own factions; for this is what they wanted from the beginning.” That Christians at the beginning were few compared with the later multitude is clear; yet they were not altogether few. For what stirred envy against Jesus and provoked the Jews to plot against him was the multitude of those who followed him into the deserts, five thousand and four thousand men following him, not counting women and children. For there was such a charm in Jesus' words that not only men wished to follow him into the deserts, but also women, not heeding their womanly weakness and appearances in following the Teacher into the deserts; and children too, least affected by such things, followed with their parents, either following those who begot them or perhaps also led by his divinity, so that divinity might be sown in them. But grant that there were few at the beginning: how does this contribute to showing that Christians would not wish to bring all people to be persuaded of the word?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The crowds are Matt 14:21 and 15:38. ἴϋγξ (“charm”) is literally a magic wheel used in love charms, here figurative. The word ἀπαθέστατα applied to the children is obscure; rendered “least affected by such things.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing accent and breathing in the digital text): ὀλίγοι ησαν → ὀλίγοι ἦσαν; εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους ην → εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους ἦν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/10/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/10/).
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