Against Celsus 5.24
Summary: Origen agrees that God does nothing shameful and gives the soul eternal life; human corpses deserve honorable burial because of the soul that lived in them, and what God makes eternal is the new body raised from the seed.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:25
Ἅπαξ δʼ εἰπόντες ὅτι οὐδὲν μὴ πρέπον ἑαυτῷ ὁ θεὸς βούλεται, ἀναιρετικὸν τυγχάνον τοῦ εἶναι αὐτὸν θεὸν, φήσομεν ὅτι, ἐάν τι κατὰ τὴν μοχθηρίαν ἑαυτοῦ ἄνθρωπος βδελυρὸν βούληται, τοῦτο οὐ δυνήσεται ὁ θεός. οὕτω δὲ οὐκ ἐσμὲν φιλόνεικοι πρὸς τὰ ὑπὸ Κέλσου λεγόμενα, ἀλλὰ φιλαλήθως αὐτὰ ἐξετάζοντες συμφήσομεν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τῆς πλημμελοῦς ὀρέξεως οὐδὲ τῆς πεπλανημένης ἀκοσμίας ἀλλὰ τῆς ὀρθῆς καὶ δικαίας φύσεως ὁ θεὸς, ἅτε ἀρχηγέτης τυγχάνων παντὸς καλοῦ· καὶ ἄλλο ὅτι ψυχῆς αἰώνιον βιοτὴν δύναται παρασχεῖν ὁμολογοῦμεν, καὶ οὐ μόνον δύναται ἀλλὰ καὶ παρέχει. οὐδὲν δὲ μάλιστα διὰ τὰ προειρημένα λυπεῖ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲ τὸ ὑπὸ Ἡρακλείτου λεγόμενον, ὅπερ Κέλσος παρείληφεν, ὅτι „νέκυές εἰσι κοπρίων ἐκβλητότεροι“· καίτοι γε εἴποι τις ἂν καὶ περὶ τούτου ὅτι τὰ μὲν κόπρια ἐκβλητά ἐστιν, οἱ δʼ ἐξ ἀνθρώπου νέκυες διὰ τὴν ἐνοικήσασαν ψυχὴν, καὶ μάλιστα ἐὰν ᾖ ἀστειοτέρα, οὐκ ἐκβλητοί. κατὰ γὰρ τοὺς ἀστειοτέρους τῶν νόμων μετὰ τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ὡς πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τιμῆς ταφῆς ἀξιοῦνται· ἵνα μὴ ὑβρίζωμεν τῇ δυνάμει τὴν ἐνοικήσασαν ψυχὴν, ἀποῤῥιπτοῦντες μετὰ τὸ ἐξελθεῖν ἐκείνην τὸ σῶμα ὡς καὶ τὰ τῶν κτηνῶν σώματα. μὴ βουλέσθω οὖν ὁ θεὸς παραλόγως αἰώνιον ἀποφῆναι μήτε τὸν τοῦ „σίτου“ „κόκκον“ ἀλλʼ ἢ ἄρα τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ στάχυν, μηδὲ τὸ σπειρόμενον „ἐν φθορᾷ“ ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγειρόμενον „ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τῶν πάντων λόγος ἐστὶ κατὰ μὲν Κέλσον αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς, κατὰ δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ· περὶ οὗ φιλοσοφοῦντες λέγομεν τό· „ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν οἷός τε παράλογον οὐδὲ παρʼ ἑαυτὸν ἐργάσασθαί ἐστιν ὁ θεός.
English · Claude translation
Having said once that God wills nothing unbefitting himself, which would do away with his being God, we will say that, if a man in his wickedness wills something loathsome, God will not be able to do it. We are not contentious toward what Celsus says, but, examining it with love of truth, we will agree that God is the author not of faulty appetite nor of wandering disorder, but of right and just nature, since he is the founder of everything good. And we also acknowledge that he can provide everlasting life for the soul; and not only can, but does provide it. And, especially because of what was said before, we are not at all troubled by the saying of Heraclitus that Celsus quoted, that "corpses are more fit to be thrown out than dung." Yet one might say of this too that dung is fit to be thrown out, but human corpses, because of the soul that dwelt in them, and especially if it was a better one, are not fit to be thrown out. For according to the better laws they are thought worthy of burial with such honour as is possible for such things, so that we may not, as far as in us lies, insult the soul that dwelt in the body by throwing the body away, after the soul has left it, like the bodies of cattle. Let God, then, not will to make everlasting, contrary to reason, the "grain" of "wheat," but rather the ear that comes from it; nor what is sown "in corruption," but what is raised from it "in incorruption." But the Reason (Logos) of all things is, according to Celsus, God himself; according to us, his Son, concerning whom we say in our philosophy: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." But according to us too, God cannot do anything contrary to reason or contrary to himself.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The saying is Heraclitus, fragment B96 Diels–Kranz. The quotations are 1 Cor 15:37, 42 and John 1:1. Origen answers Celsus's claim that God is "the reason (logos) of all things" by identifying the Logos with the Son.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/24/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/24/).
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