Against Celsus 6.64
Summary: God has no shape, colour, or motion; he is not a partaker of being but is partaken of, and Origen raises the question whether God is even beyond being, with the Son as the being of beings.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:134–135
Πάλιν δὲ αὖ ἑαυτῷ συνείρει πλείονα λέγων ὡς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν διδόμενα, ἅπερ οὐδεὶς τῶν ἐν Χριστιανοῖς νοῦν ἐχόντων δίδωσιν. οὐ γάρ φησι τὶς ἡμῶν ὅτι μετέχει σχήματος ὁ θεὸς ἢ χρώματος, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ κινήσεως μετέχει ὁ διὰ τὸ ἑστηκέναι καὶ βεβαίαν εἶναι τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ προκαλούμενος καὶ τὸν δίκαιον ἐπὶ τὰ παραπλήσια καὶ λέγων· „σὺ δὲ αὐτοῦ στῆθι μετʼ ἐμοῦ.“ εἰ δέ τινες λέξεις οἱονεὶ κίνησίν τινα παριστᾶσιν αὐτοῦ, ὡς καὶ ἡ λέγουσα· „ἤκουσαν κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ περιπατοῦντος ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τὸ δειλινὸν, “ οὕτως ἀκουστέον τῶν τοιούτων ὡς κινουμένου νοουμένου τοῦ θεοῦ τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν, ἢ οὕτως ἀκουστέον τῶν τοιούτων ὡς καὶ ὕπνου θεοῦ τροπικῶς λεγομένου ἢ ὀργῆς ἤ τινος τῶν παραπλησίων. ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ οὐσίας μετέχει ὁ θεός· μετέχεται γὰρ μᾶλλον ἢ μετέχει, καὶ μετέχεται ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχόντων „πνεῦμα θεοῦ“. καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν οὐ μετέχει μὲν δικαιοσύνης, „δικαιοσύνη“ δὲ ὢν μετέχεται ὑπὸ τῶν δικαίων. πολὺς δʼ ὁ περὶ τῆς οὐσίας λόγος καὶ δυσθεώρητος καὶ μάλιστα, ἐὰν ἡ κυρίως οὐσία ἡ ἑστῶσα καὶ ἀσώματος ᾖ· ἵνʼ εὑρεθῇ, πότερον ἐπέκεινα οὐσίας ἐστὶ πρεσβείᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ὁ θεὸς μεταδιδοὺς οὐσίας οἷς μεταδίδωσι κατὰ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον καὶ αὐτῷ λόγῳ, ἢ καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν οὐσία, πλὴν τῇ φύσει ἀόρατος λέγεται ἐν τῷ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος λόγῳ φάσκοντι· „ὅς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, “ σημαίνεται δὲ ἐκ τῆς „ἀοράτου“ φωνῆς ὁ ἀσώματος. ζητητέον δὲ καὶ, εἰ οὐσίαν μὲν οὐσιῶν λεκτέον καὶ ἰδέαν ἰδεῶν καὶ ἀρχὴν τὸν μονογενῆ καὶ πρωτότοκον „πάσης κτίσεως“ ἐπέκεινα δὲ πάντων τούτων τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ θεόν.
English · Claude translation
Again, he strings together for himself many things as though granted by us, which none of the Christians who have sense grants. For none of us says that God partakes of shape or colour. Nor does he partake even of motion, he who because he stands firm and his nature is stable calls the righteous man too to something similar, saying: “But you, stand here with me.” And if some expressions seem to represent a kind of motion in him, like the one that says, “They heard the Lord God walking in the paradise in the evening,” such things must be understood as God being thought of as moving by those who have sinned, or understood in the same way as sleep or anger or something similar is said of God figuratively. Nor does God partake of being; for he is partaken of rather than partakes, and he is partaken of by those who have “the Spirit of God.” And our Saviour does not partake of righteousness, but, being “righteousness,” is partaken of by the righteous. The subject of being is vast and hard to contemplate, especially if being in the proper sense is that which is stable and incorporeal: so as to find whether God is beyond being in dignity and power, giving a share of being to those to whom he gives it according to his Word, and to the Word himself; or whether he himself too is being, yet is said to be invisible by nature in the passage about the Saviour which says, “who is the image of the invisible God,” where by the word “invisible” the incorporeal is meant. One must also inquire whether the only-begotten and firstborn “of all creation” should be called being of beings, idea of ideas, and first principle, and his Father and God beyond all these.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Deut 5:31, Gen 3:8, Rom 8:9, 1 Cor 1:30, and Col 1:15. “Beyond being in dignity and power” echoes Plato, Republic 509b. οὐσία is rendered “being.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent in the digital text): Πάλιν δὲ αυ → Πάλιν δὲ αὖ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/64/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/64/).
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