Against Celsus 5.6
Summary: Celsus charges the Jews with worshipping heaven and angels but not the sun and stars; Origen replies that the Law forbids worshipping any created thing, heavenly bodies and angels alike.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:5–6
Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ τοιαύτην ἐκτίθεται περὶ Ἰουδαίων λέξιν· πρῶτον οὖν τῶν Ἰουδαίων θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, εἰ τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷδε ἀγγέλους σέβουσι, τὰ σεμνότατα δὲ αὐτοῦ μέρη καὶ δυνατώτατα, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀστέρας ἀπλανεῖς τε καὶ πλανήτας, ταῦτα παραπέμπουσιν· ὡς ἐνδεχόμενον τὸ μὲν ὅλον εἶναι θεὸν, τὰ δὲ μέρη αὐτοῦ μὴ θεῖα. ἢ τοὺς μὲν ἐν σκότῳ που ἐκ γοητείας οὐκ ὀρθῆς τυφλώττουσιν ἢ διʼ ἀμυδρῶν φασμάτων ὀνειρώττουσιν ἐγχρίμπτειν λεγομένους εὖ μάλα θρησκεύειν, τοὺς δʼ ἐναργῶς οὕτως καὶ λαμπρῶς ἅπασι προφητεύοντας, διʼ ὧν ὑετούς τε καὶ θάλπη καὶ νέφη καὶ βροντὰς, ἃς προσκυνοῦσι, καὶ ἀστραπὰς καὶ καρποὺς καὶ γονὰς ἁπάσας ταμιεύεσθαι, διʼ ὧν αὐτοῖς ἀνακαλύπτεσθαι τὸν θεὸν, τοὺς φανερωτάτους τῶν ἄνω κήρυκας, τοὺς ὡς ἀληθῶς οὐρανίους ἀγγέλους, τούτους ἡγεῖσθαι τὸ μηδέν, ἐν τούτοις δὲ δοκεῖ μοι συγκεχύσθαι ὁ Κέλσος καὶ ἀπὸ παρακουσμάτων ἃ μὴ ᾔδει γεγραφέναι· σαφὲς γὰρ τοῖς τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἐξετάζουσι καὶ τὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐκείνοις συνάπτουσιν ὅτι τῷ μὲν νόμῳ ἀκολουθοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, λέγοντι ἐκ προσώπου θεοῦ· „οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι (θεοὶ) ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ, οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς· οὐ προσκυνήσεις αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ μὴ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, “ οὐδὲν ἄλλο σέβουσιν ἢ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸν, ὃς ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα, δῆλον δʼ ὅτι οἱ κατὰ τὸν νόμον βιοῦντες σέβοντες τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸν οὐρανὸν οὐ συσσέβουσι τῷ θεῷ τὸν οὐρανόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀγγέλους οὐδεὶς τῶν δουλευόντων τῷ Μωϋσέως νόμῳ προσκυνεῖ· ὁμοίως δὲ τῷ μὴ προσκυνεῖν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, „τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ“, ἀπέχονται τοῦ προσκυνεῖν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγγέλους, πειθόμενοι τῷ λέγοντι νόμῳ· „καὶ μὴ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς καὶ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ἃ ἀπένειμε κύριος ὁ θεός σου αὐτὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν.“
English · Claude translation
After this he sets out a passage about the Jews such as this: "First, then, one may wonder at the Jews, that they revere heaven and the angels in it, but pass over its most venerable and powerful parts, the sun and moon and the other stars, fixed and wandering, as though it were possible for the whole to be God but its parts not divine; or that they worship very devoutly those who are said to approach people who are blinded in darkness somewhere by crooked sorcery or who dream through dim phantoms, while those who prophesy so clearly and brightly to all, through whom rains and heat, clouds and thunders (which they worship), lightnings, crops, and all generation are dispensed, through whom God is revealed to them, the most manifest heralds of the things above, the truly heavenly angels, these they count as nothing." In this Celsus seems to me to be confused, and to have written, from things he misheard, what he did not know. For it is clear to those who examine the practices of the Jews and compare those of the Christians with them that the Jews, following the law, which says in the person of God: "You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them," revere nothing other than the God over all, who made heaven and all the rest. And it is clear that those who live according to the law, revering the one who made heaven, do not revere heaven together with God; and none of those who serve the law of Moses worships the angels in heaven either. In the same way that they do not worship the sun and moon and the stars, "the ornament of heaven," they refrain from worshipping heaven and the angels in it, obeying the law that says: "And lest, looking up to heaven and seeing the sun and the moon and the stars, all the ornament of heaven, you be led astray and worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations."
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Exod 20:3–5 and Deut 4:19. The parenthetical (θεοὶ) is the editor's supplement. Celsus's "heralds" (κήρυκας) and "angels" play on the literal sense of ἄγγελος, "messenger."
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split by a stray space in the digital text): ὡς ἐνδεχόμε νον → ὡς ἐνδεχόμενον.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/6/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/6/).
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