Against Celsus 5.12
Summary: God is present everywhere by providence, and Christ is always with his disciples, so it is absurd to pray to the stars; even if they announce the weather, their Lord, not his heralds, deserves worship.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:13–14
Θεὸς οὖν κατὰ τὴν χρηστότητα αὐτοῦ οὐ τοπικῶς ἀλλὰ προνοητικῶς συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. καὶ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παῖς οὐ τότε μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων μαθητῶν ἐστι, πληρῶν τὸ „ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθʼ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.“ καὶ εἴπερ „κλῆμα καρπὸν οὐ δύναται φέρειν, “ „ἐὰν μὴ ἐμμείνῃ τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, “ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ οἱ τοῦ λόγου μαθηταὶ, τὰ νοητὰ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου τοῦ λόγου „κλήματα, “ οὐ δύνανται φέρειν τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἐὰν μὴ μένωσιν ἐν τῇ ἀληθινῇ ἀμπέλῳ, τῷ Χριστῷ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μεθʼ ἡμῶν τῶν τοπικῶς κάτω ἐπὶ γῆς τυγχάνοντι, ὃς μετὰ τῶν πανταχοῦ προσπεφυκότων αὐτῷ ὢν, ἤδη δὲ καὶ μετὰ τῶν οὐκ εἰδότων αὐτὸν πανταχοῦ ἐστι. καὶ τοῦτό γε ὁ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον γράψας Ἰωάννης ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου δηλοῖ, λέγοντος· „μέσος ὑμῶν στήκει, ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε, ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος.“ ἄτοπον δʼ ἐστὶν, τοῦ πληρώσαντος τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ εἰπόντος· „οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει κύριος“ ὄντος μεθʼ ἡμῶν καὶ πλησίον ἡμῶν τυγχάνοντος (πιστεύω γὰρ αὐτῷ λέγοντι· „θεὸς ἐγγίζων ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐ θεὸς πόῤῥωθεν. λέγει κύριος“), ζητεῖν εὔχεσθαι τῷ μὴ φθάνοντι ἐπὶ τὰ σύμπαντα ἡλίῳ ἢ σελήνῃ ἤ τινι τῶν ἀστέρων. ἔστω δὲ, ἵνα αὐταῖς ταῖς λέξεσι Κέλσου χρήσωμαι, προφητεύοντας εἶναι ὑετοὺς καὶ θάλπη καὶ νέφη καὶ βροντὰς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας· ἆρʼ οὖν, εἰ προφητεύουσιν οὗτοι τὰ τηλικαῦτα, οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ, ᾧ ὑπουργοῦντες προφητεύουσι, προσκυνητέον κἀκεῖνον σεπτέον ἤπερ τοῖς προφήταις αὐτοῦ; προφητευέτωσαν οὖν καὶ ἀστραπὰς καὶ καρποὺς καὶ γονὰς ἁπάσας, καὶ πάντα ταμιευέσθωσαν τὰ τοιαῦτα· ἀλλʼ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο προσκυνήσομεν τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ὡς οὐδὲ Μωϋσέα καὶ τοὺς μετʼ αὐτὸν ἐκ θεοῦ προφητεύσαντας τὰ κρείττονα ὑετῶν τε καὶ θάλπους καὶ νεφῶν καὶ βροντῶν καὶ ἀστραπῶν καὶ καρπῶν καὶ πασῶν γονῶν αἰσθητῶν. ἀλλὰ κἂν ἔχωσιν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἀστέρες προφητεύειν προφητείας κρείττονας ὑετῶν, οὐδʼ οὕτως αὐτοὺς ἀλλὰ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς προφητειῶν καὶ τὸν διάκονον αὐτῶν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ προσκυνήσομεν. ἀλλʼ ἔστω καὶ κήρυκας αὐτοῦ εἶναι καὶ ἀληθῶς οὐρανίους ἀγγέλους, πῶς οὖν οὐχὶ καὶ οὕτως τὸν κηρυσσόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἀγγελλόμενον μᾶλλον προσκυνητέον ἢ τοὺς κήρυκας καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ;
English · Claude translation
God, then, in his goodness comes down to human beings not in place but in providence. And the child of God is not only then but always with his own disciples, fulfilling "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." And if "a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine," it is clear that the disciples of the Word too, the intelligible "branches" of the true vine, the Word, cannot bear the fruits of virtue unless they abide in the true vine, the Christ of God, who is with us who are locally down here on earth, who, being with those everywhere who have grown into him, is also already everywhere with those who do not know him. This John, who wrote the Gospel, shows in the person of John the Baptist, who says: "Among you stands one whom you do not know, who comes after me." It is absurd, when the one who has filled heaven and earth and said, "Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord," is with us and near us (for I believe him when he says: "I am a God near at hand, and not a God far off, says the Lord"), to seek to pray to the sun, or moon, or any of the stars, which do not reach to all things. But let it be granted, to use Celsus's very words, that the sun and moon and stars prophesy rains and heat and clouds and thunders: if these prophesy such great things, should not the God whom they serve in prophesying be worshipped and revered rather than his prophets? Let them prophesy lightnings too, and crops, and all generation, and dispense all such things; but we will not for that reason worship those who themselves worship, just as we do not worship Moses and those after him who by God's gift prophesied better things than rains and heat and clouds and thunders and lightnings and crops and all perceptible generation. Even if sun and moon and stars could utter prophecies better than those about rain, not even so will we worship them, but the Father of the prophecies in them, and his minister, the Word of God. But let them even be his heralds and truly heavenly angels: even so, how should not the God proclaimed and announced by them be worshipped rather than his heralds and his angels?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 28:20, John 15:4–5, John 1:26–27, Jer 23:24, and Jer 23:23 (LXX, "a God near at hand").
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/12/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/12/).
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