Against Celsus 8.26
Summary: Christians must die rather than obey or sacrifice to demons; city laws that command it are not true laws, and prayer belongs to God alone, offered through the Son as high priest.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:242–243
οὔτε πιστευτέον δαίμοσι, κἂν Κέλσος ἐπὶ τούτους ἡμᾶς παρακαλῇ. ἀλλʼ ἀποθανητέον πρὶν πεισθῆναι δαίμοσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ὑπομενετέον πειθόμενον θεῷ. οὕτως δὲ οὐδὲ καλλιερητέον δαίμοσι· καὶ γὰρ ἀδύνατόν ἐστι τοῖς φαύλοις καὶ ἀνθρώπων κακωτικοῖς καλλιερεῖν. ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ ποίους νόμους ἡμᾶς βούλεται Κέλσος καλλιερεῖν τοῖς δαίμοσιν; εἰ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τοὺς κειμένους ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι, κατασκευαζέτω ὅτι συνᾴδουσι τοῖς θείοις νόμοις· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ δύναται (οὐ γὰρ κἂν ἀλλήλοις ταὐτὰ λέγουσιν οἱ τῶν πολλῶν πόλεων νόμοι), δηλονότι οὐδὲ κυρίως νόμους ἢ φαύλων νόμους, οἷς οὐ πιστευτέον· „πειθαρχεῖν“ γὰρ „δεῖ μᾶλλον θεῷ ἢ ἀνθρώποις.“ ἄπαγε δὴ τὴν τοῦ Κέλσου συμβουλὴν, λέγοντος προσευκτέον εἶναι δαίμοσι, καὶ οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν ἀκουστέον αὐτῆς· μόνῳ γὰρ προσευκτέον τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ, καὶ προσευκτέον γε τῷ μονογενεῖ καὶ πρωτοτόκῳ „πάσης κτίσεως“ λόγῳ θεοῦ. καὶ ἀξιωτέον αὐτὸν ὡς ἀρχιερέα τὴν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν φθάσασαν ἡμῶν εὐχὴν ἀναφέρειν ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ θεὸν ἡμῶν καὶ πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ πατέρα τῶν βιούντων κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐκ ἂν βουλοίμεθα εὐμενεῖς ἔχειν ἀνθρώπους τοὺς βουλομένους ἡμᾶς βιοῦν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν κακίαν. ἐὰν μηδενὶ τυγχάνωσιν ὄντες εὐμενεῖς τῶν τὰ ἐναντία αὐτοῖς αἱρουμένων. ἐπεὶ ἡ εὐμένεια αὐτῶν ἐχθροὺς ἡμᾶς ποιεῖ θεῷ. τάχα μὴ γινομένῳ εὐμενεῖ τοῖς θέλουσι τοὺς τοιούτους ἔχειν εὐμενεῖς· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον οἱ νοήσαντες δαιμόνων φύσιν καὶ προαίρεσιν καὶ κακίαν οὐκ ἄν ποτε βούλοιντο εὐμενεῖς ἔχειν τοὺς δαίμονας.
English · Claude translation
Nor must we trust demons, even if Celsus urges us to do so; rather we must die before we obey demons, and endure anything whatever in obedience to God. So too we must not sacrifice to demons; for it is impossible to sacrifice acceptably to beings that are wicked and harmful to men. And according to what laws does Celsus want us to sacrifice to the demons? If according to those established in the cities, let him prove that they agree with the divine laws; and if he cannot (for the laws of the many cities do not even say the same things as each other), it is clear that they are not laws in the proper sense, or are laws of the wicked, which must not be obeyed; for “we must obey God rather than men.” Away, then, with the advice of Celsus, who says we must pray to demons, and let us not listen to it in the least; for we must pray to the God over all alone, and we must pray also to the only-begotten Word of God, the firstborn “of all creation,” and ask him as high priest to bring our prayer, when it has reached him, to his God and our God, and to his Father and the Father of those who live according to the Word of God. And just as we would not wish to have favourable to us men who want us to live according to their wickedness, if they are favourable to none of those who choose the opposite, since their favour makes us enemies of God, who perhaps is not favourable to those who wish to have such men favourable; in the same way those who have understood the nature, will, and wickedness of demons would never wish to have the demons favourable to them.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Acts 5:29, Col 1:15, and John 20:17; compare Heb 4:14 (high priest). “Pray also to the only-begotten Word” reflects Origen's view, stated in On Prayer 15, that prayer in the strict sense is addressed to the Father through the Son.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/26/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/26/).
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