Against Celsus 3.37
Summary: Origen says Christians refuse to compare Jesus with Zeus or Apollo, whom they know to be demons that feed on sacrifices, and explains that some fallen spirits, like deluded philosophers, proclaim themselves gods, so that one should trust only the God over all and Christ.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:233–234
Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν οὖν διδαχθέντες τὸν Ἀντίνουν σέβειν, ἐὰν παραβάλῃς (αὐτῷ) Ἀπόλλωνα ἢ Δία, ἀνέξονται, σεμνύνοντες τὸν Ἀντίνουν διὰ τοῦ ἐκείνοις αὐτὸν συναριθμεῖν· καὶ ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ὁ Κέλσος σαφῶς ψεύδεται λέγων· κἂν παραβάλῃς αὐτῷ τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἢ τὸν Δία, οὐκ ἀνέξονται. Χριστιανοῖς δὲ μεμαθηκόσι τὴν αἰώνιον αὐτοῖς εἶναι ζωὴν ἐν τῷ γινώσκειν „τὸν μόνον“ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν „ἀληθινὸν θεὸν καὶ ὃν“ ἐκεῖνος ἀπέστειλεν „Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, “ μαθοῦσι δὲ καὶ „ὅτι πάντες μὲν οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσι δαιμόνια“ λίχνα καὶ περὶ τὰς θυσίας καὶ τὰ αἵματα καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν ἀποφορὰς καλινδούμενα ἐπὶ ἀπάτῃ τῶν μὴ προσπεφευγότων τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ, οἱ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ θεῖοι καὶ ἅγιοι ἄγγελοι ἄλλης εἰσὶ φύσεως καὶ προαιρέσεως παρὰ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς πάντας δαίμονας, καὶ ὅτι οὗτοι σφόδρα ὀλίγοις γινώσκονται τοῖς περὶ τῶν τοιούτων συνετῶς καὶ ἐπιμελῶς ζητήσασιν, ἐὰν παραβάλῃς Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ Δία ἤ τινα τῶν μετὰ κνίσσης καὶ αἵματος καὶ θυσιῶν προσκυνουμένων, οὐκ ἀνέξονται· τινὲς μὲν διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἁπλότητα μὴ εἰδότες μὲν δοῦναι λόγον περὶ ὧν ποιοῦσιν εὐγνωμόνως δὲ τηροῦντες ἃ παρειλήφασιν, ἕτεροι δὲ μετʼ οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτων λόγων ἀλλὰ καὶ βαθυτέρων καὶ, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις Ἕλλην, ἐσωτερικῶν καὶ ἐποπτικῶν, ἐν οἷς πολύς ἐστι λόγος περὶ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν τετιμημένων ἀπὸ θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς θεοῦ λόγου μετοχῇ θεότητος διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὀνόματι. πολὺς δὲ ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ περὶ τῶν θείων ἀγγέλων καὶ ὁ περὶ τῶν ἐναντίων μὲν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἠπατημένων δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀπάτης αὐτοὺς ἀναγορευόντων θεοὺς ἢ ἀγγέλους θεοῦ ἢ δαίμονας ἀγαθοὺς ἢ ἥρωας ἐκ μεταβολῆς συστάντας ἀγαθῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς. οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτοι Χριστιανοὶ εἶναι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἤτοι ἑαυτοὺς ὥσπερ πολλοὶ ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ δοκοῦσιν εἶναι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἤτοι ἑαυτοὺς κατασοφισάμενοι λόγοις πιθανοῖς ἢ τοῖς ὑφʼ ἑτέρων προσαγομένοις καὶ εὑρεθεῖσι συγκαταθέμενοι προπετῶς, οὕτως εἰσὶ καὶ [αἱ] ἐν ταῖς ἔξω σωμάτων ψυχαῖς καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ δαίμοσί τινες, ὑπὸ τῶν πιθανοτήτων ἑλκυσθέντες πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοὺς ἀναγορεῦσαι θεούς. καὶ διὰ τοὺς τοιούτους γε λόγους κατὰ τὸ ἀκριβὲς τελείως ἐν ἀνθρώποις μὴ δυναμένους εὑρεθῆναι ἀσφαλὲς ἐνομίσθη τὸ μηδενὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐμπιστεῦσαι ἄνθρωπον ὄντα ὡς θεῷ, πλὴν μόνου τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὡς διαιτητοῦ, τοῦ βαθύτατα ταῦτα καὶ θεωρήσαντος καὶ ὀλίγοις παραδόντος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
English · Claude translation
The Egyptians, then, taught to worship Antinous, will tolerate it if you compare Apollo or Zeus with (him), exalting Antinous by numbering him with them; for here too Celsus plainly lies when he says, “Even if you compare Apollo or Zeus with him, they will not tolerate it.” But Christians, who have learned that eternal life for them is to know “the only true God” over all “and Jesus Christ whom” he “has sent,” and have learned that “all the gods of the nations are demons,” gluttonous, rolling about sacrifices, blood, and the portions from the sacrifices, to deceive those who have not fled for refuge to the God over all, while the divine and holy angels of God are of another nature and will than all the demons on earth, and that these are known to very few who have inquired into such matters intelligently and carefully: Christians will not tolerate it if you compare Apollo and Zeus, or any of those worshiped with the savor of sacrifice, blood, and offerings. Some do so from great simplicity, not knowing how to give an account of what they do, but faithfully keeping what they have received; others with arguments not to be despised, deeper, and, as a Greek might say, esoteric and belonging to the higher initiation, in which there is much teaching about God and about those honored by God, through the only-begotten God the Word, with a share in divinity and therefore also in the name. There is much teaching too about the divine angels and about those who oppose the truth, who have been deceived and out of deception proclaim themselves gods, or angels of God, or good daemons, or heroes formed by a good transformation of a human soul. Such Christians … will show that, just as many in philosophy think they are in the truth, either deceiving themselves with plausible arguments or rashly assenting to those offered and devised by others, so also among souls outside bodies, angels, and daemons there are some who have been drawn by plausibilities to proclaim themselves gods. And because such matters cannot be found out with perfect exactness among human beings, it was considered safe that no one, being a man, should entrust himself to anyone as to God except to Jesus Christ alone, who is, as it were, the arbiter over all, and who contemplated these things most deeply and handed them on to a few.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 17:3 and Ps 96:5 (95:5 LXX). “The only-begotten God the Word” echoes John 1:18. The digital text is disordered in the sentence beginning “οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτοι Χριστιανοὶ εἶναι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἤτοι ἑαυτοὺς ὥσπερ πολλοὶ…” (apparently a misplaced or doubled line); it is marked “…”, and the evident sense (“such Christians will show that, as many in philosophy…”), which ANF also gives, is translated. In the last sentence τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ὡς διαιτητοῦ refers to Jesus Christ (“the one who is, as it were, arbiter over all”), not to the Father. The editor deletes the square-bracketed αἱ; the bracketed αὐτῷ is an editorial supplement.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/37/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/37/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text