Against Celsus 4.16
Summary: The Word appears differently to each person according to their spiritual progress, as at the Transfiguration, where only those who went up the mountain saw his glory.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:285–286
Εἰσὶ γὰρ διάφοροι οἱονεὶ τοῦ λόγου μορφαὶ, καθὼς ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰς ἐπιστήμην ἀγομένων φαίνεται ὁ λόγος, ἀνάλογον τῇ ἕξει τοῦ εἰσαγομένου ἢ ἐπʼ ὀλίγον προκόπτοντος ἢ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἢ καὶ ἐγγὺς ἤδη γινομένου τῆς ἀρετῆς ἢ καὶ ἐν ἀρετῇ γεγενημένου, ὅθεν οὐχ, ὡς ὁ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ παραπλήσιοι αὐτῷ βούλονται, „μετεμορφώθη“ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν καὶ „εἰς τὸ ὑψηλὸν ὄρος“ ἀναβὰς ἄλλην ἔδειξε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μορφὴν καὶ πολλῷ κρείττονα ἧς οἱ κάτω μένοντες καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι αὐτῷ εἰς ὕψος ἀκολουθεῖν ἐθεώρουν, οὐ γὰρ εἶχον οἱ κάτω ὀφθαλμοὺς δυναμένους βλέπειν τὴν τοῦ λόγου ἐπὶ τὸ ἔνδοξον καὶ θειότερον μεταμόρφωσιν· ἀλλὰ μόγις αὐτὸν ἐδύναντο χωρῆσαι τοιοῦτον, ὥστε λέγεσθαι ἂν περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ δυναμένων τὸ κρεῖττον αὐτοῦ βλέπειν τό· „εἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, “ καὶ ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς τὴν Κέλσου ὑπόληψιν, μὴ νοήσαντος τὰς ὡς ἐν ἱστορίαις λεγομένας μεταβολὰς ἢ μεταμορφώσεις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τὸ θνητὸν ἢ ἀθάνατον αὐτοῦ, λελέχθω.
English · Claude translation
For there are, as it were, different forms of the Word, according as the Word appears to each of those being led to knowledge, in proportion to the state of the one being introduced, or making a little progress, or more, or already coming near to virtue, or having come to be in virtue. Hence it is not, as Celsus and those like him would have it, that our God was transformed; but when he went up “the high mountain,” he showed another form of himself, far better than the one which those who stayed below and could not follow him to the height beheld. For those below did not have eyes able to see the transformation of the Word into what is glorious and more divine; they could scarcely receive him as he was, so that it might be said of him by those unable to see what is better in him: “We saw him, and he had no form or beauty, but his form was without honor, falling short of the sons of men.” Let this be said in reply to the supposition of Celsus, who did not understand the changes or transformations of Jesus spoken of as in histories, nor what in him was mortal or immortal.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is to the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1–2); the quotation is Isa 53:2–3.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/16/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/16/).
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