Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 8.27

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Christians need not win the demons' favour, since God guards them by his angels and they can say with the psalmist, “The Lord is my light; whom shall I fear?”

Greek text · Koetschau 2:243

Οὐδὲ γὰρ. κἂν μὴ ὦσιν αὐτοῖς εὐμενεῖς οἱ δαίμονες, πάσχειν ἄν τι ὑπʼ αὐτῶν δύναιντο. φρουρούμενοι ὑπὸ τοῦ εὐμενοῦς αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς θείους αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλους ἐφιστάντος τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ φρουρεῖσθαι. ἵνα μηδὲν πάσχωσιν ἀπὸ τῶν δαιμόνων. ὁ δʼ ἔχων τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸν διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν εὐσέβειαν εὐμενῆ καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν τῆς „μεγάλης βουλῆς“ ἄγγελον τοῦ θεοῦ παραδεδέχθαι κύριον Ἰησοῦν, ἀρκούμενος τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εὐμενείᾳ λέγοι ἂν θαῤῥῶν ὡς οὐδὲν πεισόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς τοῦ τῶν δαιμόνων στρατοπέδου· „κύριος φωτισμός μου καὶ σωτήρ μου, τίνα φοβηθήσομαι; κύριος ὑπερασπιστὴς τῆς ζωῆς μου. ἀπὸ τίνος δειλιάσω;“ ἐρεῖ δὲ καὶ τό· „ἐὰν παρατάξηται ἐπʼ ἐμὲ παρεμβολὴ, οὐ φοβηθήσεται ἡ καρδία μου.“ τοσαῦτα καὶ εἰς τὸ εἰ δʼ εἰσί τινες δαίμονες. δηλονότι καὶ οὗτοι τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσι (ν. οἷς) καὶ πιστευτέον καὶ καλλιερητέον κατὰ νόμους καὶ προσευκτέον. ἵνʼ εὐμενεῖς ὦσιν.

English · Claude translation

For even if the demons are not favourable to them, they could suffer nothing from them, since they are guarded by the God over all, who is favourable to them because of their piety and who sets his divine angels over those worthy of being guarded, so that they may suffer nothing from the demons. And whoever has the God over all favourable to him because of his piety toward him, and because he has received the Lord Jesus, the angel of God's “great counsel,” content with God's favour through Christ Jesus, could say with confidence, as one who will suffer nothing from the whole army of demons: “The Lord is my light and my Saviour; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” And he will also say: “If an army is drawn up against me, my heart shall not fear.” So much in answer to “And if there are some demons, clearly these too belong to God, and one must both trust them, and sacrifice to them according to the laws, and pray to them, so that they may be favourable.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:243 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
  • Isa 9:6 (9:5 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 27:1 (26:1 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 27:3 (26:3 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 91:11 (90:11 LXX) · allusion, medium confidence
Topics
Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Isa 9:6 (9:5 LXX, “angel of great counsel”), Ps 27:1 (26:1 LXX), and Ps 27:3 (26:3 LXX); compare Ps 91:11 (90:11 LXX) on guardian angels.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 8.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/27/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/27/).

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