Against Celsus 3.22
Summary: Celsus contrasts the deified Greek heroes with the risen Jesus; Origen asks whether Celsus thinks those heroes exist at all, and argues from their own stories that they could not have become gods.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:218–219
Οὐδὲν δὲ εἶδος τοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν διασυρμοῦ καὶ καταγέλωτος καταλιπὼν ὁ βωμολόχος Κέλσος ἐν τῷ καθʼ ἡμῶν λόγῳ Διοσκούρους καὶ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Διόνυσον ὀνομάζει, τοὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων πεπιστευμένους παρʼ Ἕλλησι γεγονέναι θεοὺς. καὶ φησιν οὐκ ἀνέχεσθαι μὲν ἡμᾶς τούτους νομίζειν θεοὺς. ὅτι ἄνθρωποι ἦσαν καὶ πρῶτοι. καίτοι πολλὰ ἐπιδειξαμένους καὶ γενναῖα ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων· τὸν δʼ Ἰησοῦν ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων θιασωτῶν ὦφθαί φαμεν· προσκατηγορεῖ δʼ ἡμῶν καὶ ὡς λεγόντων αὐτὸν ὦφθαι, καὶ ταῦτα σκιάν. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ φήσομεν ὅτι δεινῶς ὁ Κέλσος οὔτε σαφῶς παρέστησε μὴ σέβειν τούτους ὡς θεοὺς (εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἐντευξομένων αὐτοῦ τῇ γραφῇ. ὑποληψομένων αὐτὸν ἄθεον, εἴ τι τῆς φαινομένης αὐτῷ ἀληθείας ἐπρέσβευεν). οὔτʼ αὖ προσεποιήσατο καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοὺς θεοὺς νομίζειν· πρὸς ἑκάτερον γὰρ ἂν αὐτῶν ἀπεκρινάμεθα. φέρε οὖν πρὸς μὲν τοὺς μὴ νομίζοντας αὐτοὺς εἶναι θεοὺς ταῦτʼ εἴπωμεν. ἆρʼ οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχήν εἰσιν οὗτοι, ἀλλʼ, ὥσπερ οἴονταί τινες περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχῆς ὡς παραχρῆμα διαφθειρομένης, διεφθάρη καὶ τούτων ἡ ψυχή· ἢ κατὰ τὴν δόξαν τῶν λεγόντων ἐπιδιαμένειν ἢ ἀθάνατον αὐτὴν εἶναι ἐπιδιαμένουσιν οὗτοι ἢ ἀθάνατοί εἰσι, καὶ θεοὶ μὲν οὐκ εἰσὶν ἥρωες δέ· ἢ οὐδὲ ἥρωες ἀλλʼ ἁπαξαπλῶς ψυχαί; εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνετε αὐτοὺς. τὸν προηγούμενον ἡμῖν περὶ ψυχῆς κατασκευαστέον λόγον· εἰ δὲ εἰσὶ, καὶ οὕτω τὸν περὶ ἀθανασίας ἀποδεκτέον οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν καλῶς περὶ αὐτῆς εἰπόντων Ἑλλήνων ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀρέσκον τοῖς θείοις μαθήμασι. καὶ δείξομεν ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε τούτους πολυθέους γενομένους ἐν χώρᾳ καὶ μερίδι κρείττονι γεγονέναι μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαλλαγὴν, φέροντες τὰς περὶ αὐτῶν ἱστορίας, ἐν αἷς ἀναγέγραπται πολλὴ Ἡρακλέους ἀκολασία καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν Ὀμφάλην γυναικείως δουλεία, καὶ τὰ περὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ὡς κεραυνῷ βληθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς αὐτῶν. λελέξεται δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν Διοσκούρων, ὡς ἄλλοτε μὲν ζώουσʼ ἑτερήμεροι, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὖτε τεθνᾶσιν· τιμὴν δὲ λελόγχασιν ἶσα θεοῖσιν οἱ πολλάκις ἀποθνῄσκοντες. πῶς οὖν οἴονται κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον τούτων νομισθῆναί τινα θεὸν ἢ ἥρωα;
English · Claude translation
Leaving no kind of disparagement and ridicule of us untried, the buffoon Celsus in his book against us names the Dioscuri, Heracles, Asclepius, and Dionysus, who are believed among the Greeks to have become gods from being men; and he says that “we cannot bear to consider these gods, because they were men at first, even though they displayed many noble deeds on behalf of mankind; but we say that Jesus, after he died, was seen by his own band of followers.” He further accuses us of saying that he was seen, “and that as a shadow.” To this we shall say that Celsus has cleverly neither made it plain that he does not worship these as gods (for he was wary of the opinion of those who would read his book, who would suppose him an atheist if he championed what seemed to him the truth), nor on the other hand pretended that he himself considers them gods; for we would have answered either position. Come, then, let us say this to those who do not consider them gods. “Do these not exist at all, but, as some think of the human soul, that it perishes immediately, did their soul too perish? Or, according to the opinion of those who say it survives or is immortal, do they survive or are they immortal, and are not gods but heroes? Or not even heroes, but simply souls? If you suppose that they do not exist, we must establish our principal doctrine about the soul; if they do exist, we must still accept the doctrine of immortality, not only from those Greeks who spoke well about it but also according to the divine teachings. And we shall show that it is not possible that these, who were polytheists, came to a better place and portion after their departure from here, citing the stories about them, in which is recorded much licentiousness of Heracles and his womanish servitude to Omphale, and the story that Asclepius was struck by a thunderbolt from their Zeus.” And the story of the Dioscuri will be cited too, that “now they live on alternate days, and now again they are dead; and they have received honor equal to the gods,” though they die many times. How then do they think any of these can reasonably be considered a god or a hero?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- In Celsus's words καὶ πρῶτοι is taken as “at first” (they began as men), as the following καίτοι (“even though”) requires. The quotation about the Dioscuri is Homer, Odyssey 11.303–304. Heracles' servitude to Omphale and Zeus's thunderbolt against Asclepius are standard myths.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/22/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/22/).
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