Against Celsus 3.60
Summary: Origen adapts the formulas of the mysteries: those with clean hands, wise speech, and a long-purified soul are admitted to Christianity's deeper mysteries, while the wicked are first called to healing.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:254–255
Καὶ διδάσκοντες „ὅτι εἰς κακότεχνον ψυχὴν οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται σοφία οὐδὲ κατοικήσει ἐν σώματι κατάχρεῳ ἁμαρτίας“ φαμέν· ὅστις χεῖρας καθαρὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐπαίρων „χεῖρας ὁσίους“ τῷ θεῷ καὶ παρὰ τὸ διηρμένα καὶ οὐράνια ἐπιτελεῖν δύναται λέγειν· „ἔπαρσις τῶν χειρῶν μου θυσία ἑσπερινὴ“, ἡκέτω πρὸς ἡμᾶς· καὶ ὅστις φωνὴν συνετὸς τῷ μελετᾶν τὸν νόμον κυρίου „ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς“ καὶ τῷ „διὰ τὴν ἕξιν τὰ αἰσθητήρια γεγυμνασμένα“ ἐσχηκέναι „πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ“ μὴ ὀκνείτω προσιέναι στερεαῖς λογικαῖς τροφαῖς καὶ ἁρμοζούσαις ἀθληταῖς εὐσεβείας καὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς, ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ „ἡ χάρις“ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστι „μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ ἀγαπώντων“ τὸν διδάσκαλον τῶν τῆς ἀθανασίας μαθημάτων, ὅστις ἁγνὸς οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ παντὸς μύσους ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων εἶναι νομιζομένων ἁμαρτημάτων, θαῤῥῶν μυείσθω τὰ μόνοις ἁγίοις καὶ καθαροῖς εὐλόγως παραδιδόμενα μυστήρια τῆς κατὰ Ἰησοῦν θεοσεβείας, ὁ μὲν οὖν Κέλσου μύστης φησίν· ὅτῳ οὐδὲν ἡ ψυχὴ σύνοιδε κακὸν, ἡκέτω· ὁ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν μυσταγωγῶν τῷ θεῷ τοῖς κεκαθαρμένοις τὴν ψυχὴν ἐρεῖ· ὅτῳ πολλῷ χρόνῳ ἡ ψυχὴ οὐδὲν σύνοιδε κακὸν, καὶ μάλιστα ἀφʼ οὗ προσελήλυθε τῇ τοῦ λόγου θεραπείᾳ, οὗτος καὶ τῶν κατʼ ἰδίαν λελαλημένων ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῖς γνησίοις μαθηταῖς ἀκουέτω, οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐν οἷς ἀντιπαρατίθησι τὰ τῶν μυούντων ἐν Ἕλλησι τοῖς διδάσκουσι τὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ οἶδε διαφορὰν καλουμένων ἐπὶ μὲν θεραπείαν φαύλων ἐπὶ δὲ τὰ μυστικώτερα τῶν ἤδη καθαρωτάτων.
English · Claude translation
And teaching “that wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil, nor dwell in a body involved in sin,” we say: Whoever has clean hands, and for that reason lifts up “holy hands” to God, and because he offers lofty and heavenly things can say, “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice,” let him come to us. And whoever has wise speech, through meditating on the law of the Lord “day and night,” and through having “by habit his faculties trained to distinguish good and evil,” let him not hesitate to come to the solid, rational food suited to athletes of piety and of every virtue. And since “the grace” of God is “with all who love” in incorruption the teacher of the lessons of immortality, whoever is pure not only from all defilement but also from what are thought to be lesser sins, let him boldly be initiated into the mysteries of the worship of God according to Jesus, which are reasonably handed on only to the holy and pure. Celsus's initiator says, “Whoever's soul is conscious of no evil, let him come”; but the one who, according to Jesus, leads people into the mysteries of God will say to those whose souls have been purified: “Whoever's soul has for a long time been conscious of no evil, especially since he came to the healing of the word, let him hear also the things spoken privately by Jesus to his genuine disciples.” So even in contrasting the practices of those who initiate among the Greeks with those who teach the things of Jesus, he does not know the difference between the wicked, who are called to healing, and those already most pure, who are called to the more mystical teachings.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Wis 1:4, 1 Tim 2:8, Ps 141:2 (140:2 LXX), Ps 1:2, Heb 5:14, and Eph 6:24 (loosely applied). The meaning of παρὰ τὸ διηρμένα … ἐπιτελεῖν (“because he offers lofty things”) is uncertain.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent in the digital text): καὶ οστις φωνὴν → καὶ ὅστις φωνὴν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/60/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/60/).
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