Against Celsus 3.18

Summary: Origen says Celsus credits Egyptian animal worship with hidden meaning but knows nothing of the wisdom and knowledge given by the Spirit to learned Christians.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:216

Εἶτα τὰ μὲν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, σεμνολογούντων καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων καὶ φασκόντων εἶναί τινα αὐτὰ θεοῦ σύμβολα ἢ ὅπως φίλον ὀνομάζειν τοῖς χρηματίζουσιν αὐτῶν προφήταις, φησὶ φαντασίαν ἐξαποστέλλειν τοῖς ταῦτα μεμαθηκόσιν, ὅτι μὴ μάτην μεμύηνται· τὰ δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις ἀπὸ τοῦ καλουμένου παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ χαρίσματος ἐν τῷ „διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος“ λόγῳ σοφίας καὶ ἐν τῷ „κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα“ λόγῳ γνώσεως παριστάμενα τοῖς ἐν χριστιανισμῷ πολυμαθέσιν οὐδὲ πεφαντάσθαι μοι ὁ Κέλσος δοκεῖ οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τούτων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς κατηγορῶν τοῦ συστήματος Χριστιανῶν λέγει, ὡς πάντα μὲν σοφὸν ἀπελαυνόντων τοῦ λόγου τῆς πίστεως αὐτῶν μόνους δὲ ἀνοήτους καὶ τοὺς ἀνδραποδώδεις καλούντων, περὶ ὧν κατὰ καιρὸν εἰσόμεθα. γενόμενοι κατὰ τὸν τόπον.

English · Claude translation

Then he says that the doctrines of the Egyptians, who speak solemnly even about the irrational animals and say they are symbols of God, or whatever their so-called prophets like to call them, give those who have learned them the impression that they have not been initiated in vain. But what is presented to those in Christianity who are learned in our writings, from what Paul calls the gift of a word of wisdom “through the Spirit” and a word of knowledge “according to the Spirit,” Celsus seems to me not even to have imagined, not only from this, but also from what he says later in accusing the Christian community, as if they drove every wise man away from the teaching of their faith and invited only the foolish and servile. We shall consider these things in due course, when we come to the passage.

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 1:216 · 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

1 Cor 12:8 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 3.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/18/).

Plain text

Origen, Cels. 3.18 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/18/).

Greek text · Koetschau 1:216

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage