Against Celsus 7.48
Summary: Many simple Christians keep complete chastity without the hemlock used by the Athenian hierophant, and Christian virgins keep virginity not for honour or pay but out of devotion to God.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:199–200
Οἱ δʼ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ ἰδιωτείᾳ ἐξουθενούμενοι καὶ μωροὶ καὶ ἀνδράποδα εἶναι λεγόμενοι, κἂν μόνον πιστεύωσιν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ. παραδεξάμενοι τὴν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίαν τοσοῦτον ἀποδέουσιν ἀσελγείας καὶ ἀκαθαρσίας καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐν συνουσίαις ἀσχημοσύνης, ὡς καὶ τρόπον τελείων ἱερέων, πᾶσαν συνουσίαν ἀποστραφέντων, πολλοὺς αὐτῶν παντελῶς καθαρεύειν, οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ πάσης μίξεως. καὶ εἷς μέν που παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις ἱεροφάντης, οὐδὲ πιστευόμενος ἑαυτοῦ τὰς ἀρσενικὰς ὀρέξεις ὡς κύριος αὐτῶν εἶναι δυνάμενος καὶ κρατεῖν αὐτῶν ἐς ὅσον βούλεται, κωνειασθεὶς τὰ ἄρσενα μέρη καθαρὸς εἶναι νομίζεται πρὸς τὴν νενομισμένην παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις ἁγιστείαν· ἔστι δʼ ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἰδεῖν ἄνδρας μὴ δεηθέντας κωνείου, ἵνα τὸ θεῖον καθαρῶς θεραπεύσωσιν, ἀλλʼ ἀρκουμένους λόγῳ ἀντὶ κωνείου, ὡς πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν ἀπὸ τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν ἐξελάσαντες τὸ θεῖον εὐχαῖς θεραπεύωσι. παρʼ ἄλλοις δὲ νομιζομένοις εἶναι θεοῖς παρθένοι πάνυ εὐαρίθμητοι, εἴτε ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων φρουρούμεναι εἴτε καὶ μὴ (οὐ γὰρ τοῦτο πρόκειται νῦν ἐξετάζειν). δοκοῦσι διατελεῖν ἐν τῇ διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸ θεῖον τιμὴν καθαρότητι· ἐν δὲ Χριστιανοῖς οὐ διὰ τὰς παρʼ ἀνθρώποις τιμὰς, οὐ διὰ μισθοὺς καὶ ἀργύρια οὐδὲ διὰ δοξάριον ἀσκοῦσι τὴν παντελῆ παρθενίαν, καὶ ὡς „ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, “ τηροῦνται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν δοκίμῳ νῷ καὶ τῷ „ποιεῖν τὰ“ „καθήκοντα, “ πληρούμεναι πάσης δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἀγαθότητος.
English · Claude translation
But those whom they despise as simple and call fools and slaves, if only they entrust themselves to God and receive the teaching of Jesus, are so far from licentiousness and impurity and all indecency in sexual intercourse that, like perfect priests who have turned away from all intercourse, many of them keep themselves entirely pure, not only from all sexual union … Somewhere among the Athenians there is one hierophant who, not trusting himself to be master of his male desires and to control them as far as he wishes, has his male parts treated with hemlock and is then considered pure for the worship customary among the Athenians; but among Christians one can see men who have had no need of hemlock in order to serve the divine purely, but for whom the Word suffices instead of hemlock, so that, having driven every desire from their minds, they serve the divine with prayers. Among others who are thought to be gods there are virgins, very few in number, whether guarded by men or not (for that is not the question to examine now), who appear to live on in purity for the sake of the honour of the deity; but among Christians it is not for honours among men, not for wages and money, nor for a little glory that they practise complete virginity; and since “they have seen fit to acknowledge God,” they are kept by God in an approved mind and in “doing what is” “fitting,” filled with all righteousness and goodness.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Rom 1:28, turned from its negative sense to a positive one. The clause “not only from all sexual union” (οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ πάσης μίξεως) has no “but also” in the Greek and seems incomplete; ANF supplies “in act and in thought.” The Athenian hierophant of the Eleusinian mysteries was said to use hemlock to suppress desire.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/48/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.48 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/48/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text