YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
Presented by
R.L. & A. Stuart
1875

THE WRITINGS

0 R I G E N.

TRANSLATED BY THE

REV. FREDERICK CROMBIE, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM, ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, ST. ANDREWS.

VOLUME II.
OKIGEN CONTRA CELSUM,
BOOKS II. -VIII.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLAEK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET.
MDCCCLXXII.

Books vil. and vill. have been translated by the late W. H. Cairns,
M.A., Rector of the Dumfries Academy, and the rest by
Professor Crombie.

ANTE-NICENE
CHRISTIAN LIBEARY:

TRANSLATIONS OF
THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS
DOWN TO A.D. 325.

EDITED BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D.,
AND
JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D.

VOL. XXIII.
OBIGEN CONTKA CELSUM.

EDINBUEGH:
T. & T. CLAEK, 38, GEOEGE STEEET.
MDCCCLXXII.

PRIKTED BY MURRAY AXD GIBB,
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T. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH.
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ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

VOLUME I.
PAGB
BOOK I., . ... . . . 393-478
Preface. — Origen undertakes this treatise at the desire of
Ambrose, but thinks it unnecessary, as the facts and doctrines
of Christianity form its best defence — work begun on one plan
and carried on on another.
First objection of Celsus is, that Christians enter into secret t-^
associations, some of which are illegal, — his object being to discredit
the " love-feasts " of the Christians : Answer of Origen — chap. i. ^^
Second objection of Celsus, that Judaism, on which Christianity
depends, had a barbarous origin : Answer — chap. ii. Celsus objects
that Christians practise their doctrines in secret to avoid the penalty
of death : Answer — chap. iii. Morality of Christianity neither vene
rable nor new : Answer — chap. iv. Celsus approves of the views of
Christians respecting idolatry, but asserts that these views are prior
to Christianity : Answer — chap. v. Asserts that the miracles of Chris
tianity were performed by means of the invocation of demons : Answer
— chap. vi. That Christianity is a secret system of belief : Answer
— chap. vii. Maintains that a man should die for his belief ; inconsis
tency of this with his profession as an Epicurean — chap. viii. Main
tains that reason ought to be the guide of men in adopting opinions,
and charges Christians with inculcating a blind belief : Answer —
chaps, ix.-xi. Boast of Celsus, that he is acquainted with all the
opinions of the Christians, shown to be unfounded — chap. xii. Mis
representation by Celsus of the statement in 1 Cor. iii. 18, 19 : Cor
rection and explanation — chap. xiii. Inconsistency of Celsus in accept
ing the accounts of Greeks and barbarians as to their antiquity, while
rejecting the histories of the Jews — chaps, xiv.-xvi. Celsus objects
to giving an allegorical signification to the Jewish history ; incon
sistency of this — chap. xvii. Challenges a comparison between the
writings of Linus, Musseus, etc., and the laws of Moses: Answer —
chap, xviii. Celsus holds that the world was uncreated, and yet is
led to admit that it is comparatively modern — chaps, xix., xx. Celsus
asserts that Moses borrowed his doctrines from wise nations and
eloquent men, and thus obtained the reputation of divinity : Answer

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

— chap. xxi. Circumcision, according to Celsus, first practised by
the Egyptians : Answer — chap. xxii. The followers of Moses, shep
herds and herdsmen, were led to believe in the unity of God through
delusion and vulgar conceit : Answer— chap, xxiii. Various names
. 'gTronToThTone'Gocrby the followers of Moses, all evincing their
ignorance of His nature : Discussion regarding the significance of
the divine names in various languages — chaps, xxiv., xxv. Celsus
charges the Jews with worshipping angels and practising sorcery :
Answer — chaps, xxvi., xxvii. Inconsistency of Celsus in introducing
a Jew, as an opponent of Jesus, who does not maintain the character
of a Jew throughout the discussion : This Jew represented as
accusing Jesus of having "invented his birth from a virgin," and
upbraiding Him with " being born in a certain Jewish village of a
poor woman of the country who gained her subsistence by spinning,
and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by
trade, because she was convicted of adultery ; and after being
driven away by her husband and wandering about for a time, she
disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who, having
hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty,
and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the
Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country,
highly elated on account of them, and by help of them proclaimed
himself a god " — chap, xxviii. Preliminary remarks to a full an
swer to these charges — chaps, xxix.-xxxii. Proof that the birth of
Christ from a virgin was predicted by the prophets — chaps, xxxiii.-
xxxv. Proof that prophets existed among the Jews — chap, xxxvi.
Possibility of the miraculous birth of Christ — chap, xxxvii. Answer
to the assertion that Jesus wrought His miracles by magic, and not
by divine power — chap, xxxviii. Scoffs of Celsus regarding the
mother of Jesus not deserving of answer — chap, xxxix. Celsus
charges the narrative in Matthew regarding the dove which alighted
upon the Saviour at His baptism with being fictitious ; shows great
want of method and order in the manner in which he brings his
charges — chap. xl. Answer — chaps, xli.-xlviii. Celsus sets aside
the fact that the coming of Jesus was predicted by the Jewish
prophets, perhaps because he was not acquainted with the prophecies
relating to Christ : Inconsistency of representing the Jew as saying,
" My prophet once declared in Jerusalem that the Son of God will
come as the judge of the righteous and the punisher of the
wicked " — chaps, xlix. , 1. Detailed eviden ce from prophecy respecting
the birth of Christ— chaps, li.-liii. Answer to objection of Celsus
regarding the sufferings of Christ— chaps, liv.-lvi. Celsus asserts
that every man, born according to the decree of divine Providence,
is a son of God : Answer— chap. lvii. The Jew of Celsus goes on
to misrepresent the Gospel account of the visit of the Magi, and of
the slaughter of the innocents by Herod : Answer— chaps, lviii.-lxi.

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. vii
l'AGIC
Calumnies of Celsus regarding the number and character and con
duct of the disciples of Jesus : Answer — chaps. Ixii.-lxv. The
absurdity of the story of our Lord's removal when an infant, is,
according to Celsus, a proof that He was not divine : Answer — chap.
Ixvi. Celsus denies that the works of Jesus were at all remarkable as
compared with those attributed to Perseus and Amphion, and other
mythological personages, but admits afterwards that some of them
were remarkable, — such as His cures, and His resurrection, and the
feeding of the multitude, — although he immediately afterwards com
pares them to the tricks of jugglers, and denies that they can fur
nish any proof of His being " Son of God :'' Answer — chaps, lxvii.,
lxviii. Objection of Celsus that the body of Jesus could not have
been that of a god, nor could be nourished with such food as
Jesus partook of : Answer — chaps, lxix., lxx. Declares that opinions
of Jesus were those of a wicked and God-hated sorcerer : Answer —
chap. lxxi.
VOLUME II.
BOOK II.,  1-84
This book contains Origen's answers to the charges which Celsus,
in, the person of a Jew, brings against the converts from Judaism
to Christianity. Main charge is, that " they have forsaken the law
of their fathers, in consequence of their minds being led captive by
Jesus ; that they have been most ridiculously deceived ; and that
they have become deserters to another name and to another mode of
life." Answer to these charges — chap. i. Digression upon certain
declarations of Jesus in the Gospels — chap. ii. Ignorance of Celsus
evinced by the manner in which he represents the Jew as addressing
the Israelitish converts — chap. iii. Objection of Jew, that Chris
tianity takes its origin from Judaism, and that after a certain point
it discards Judaism : Answer — chap. iv. Assertion of Celsus, that
Jesus was punished by the Jews for His crimes, already answered —
chap. v. Observance by Jesus of Jewish usages and sacrificial ob
servances, no argument against His recognition as the Son of God
— chap. vi. Language of Jesus furnishes not the slightest evi
dence, but the reverse, of arrogance : Quotations — chap. vii. Alle
gation, that when men are willing to be deceived, many persons like
Jesus would find a friendly reception ; inconsistency of this ; various
other charges disposed of — chap. viii. Assertion of Celsus, that
Jesus could not be deemed a god because he was currently reported
to have performed none of his promises, and, after conviction and
sentence, was found attempting to conceal himself and endeavouring
to escape, and was then betrayed by his disciples ; impossibility of
such things, according to Celsus, happening to a god : Answer to
these calumnies and objections — chaps, ix.-xi. Assertion of Celsus,

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

that Jesus was inferior to a brigand chief, because He was betrayed
by His disciples : Answer — chap. xii. Celsus asserts that he omits
mention of many things in the life of Christ which he could state to
His disadvantage ; challenged to produce such : Several predictions
of Jesus quoted and commented on — chap. xiii. Celsus makes light
of the admission that future events were predicted by Jesus : Re
marks of Origen in answer — chap. xiv. Assertion of Celsus, that
the disciples of Jesus devised the fiction that He foreknew everything
before it happened : Answer — chap. xv. Asserts that the disciples
wrote the accounts they have given by way of extenuating the '
charges against Him : Answer — chap. xvi. Celsus alleges that a
prudent man — much more a god or spirit — would have tried to
escape dangers that were foreseen, whereas Jesus did the reverse :
Answer — chap. xvii. Objection of Celsus, that the announcements
which Jesus made regarding those disciples who were to betray and
deny Him had not the effect of deterring them from their treason
and perjury, shown to be self-contradictory — chap, xviii. Further
statement of Celsus, that in such cases intending criminals abandon
their intentions, shown to be untrue — chap. xix. Objection, that if
Jesus had been a God, His predictions must infallibly have come to
pass ; and assertion, that He plotted against the members of His own
table : Refuted— chaps, xx.-xxii. Assertion, that the things which He
suffered could have been neither painful nor distressing, because He
submitted to them voluntarily and as a God— chap, xxiii. Misre
presentation of Celsus as to the language employed by Jesus during
His sufferings — chaps, xxiv., xxv. Celsus charges the disciples with
having invented statements : Answer — chap. xxvi. Alleges that
Christian believers have corrupted the gospel in order to be able to
reply to objections : Answer — chap, xxvii. The Jew of Celsus re
proaches Christians with making use of the prophets : Answer —
chap, xxviii. Assertion of Celsus, that from such signs and misin
terpretations, and from proofs so mean, no one could prove Jesus to
be God and the Son of God : Answer — chap. xxx. Charges Chris
tians with sophistical reasoning in saying that the Son of God is the
Logos Himself : Refutation — chap. xxxi. Objection of Celsus to our
Lord's genealogy: Refutation— chap, xxxii. Celsus ridicules the
actions of Jesus as unworthy of a God : Refutation — chap, xxxiii.
Inconsistency of Celsus in representing the Jew as conversant with
Greek literature ; various remarks of Celsus answered — chap, xxxiv.
Question of Celsus, why Jesus does not give some manifestation of
His divinity by taking vengeance upon those who insult Him and
His Father: Answered — chap. xxxv. Celsus scoffingly inquires,
"What was the nature of the ichor in the body of Jesus? and asserts
that Jesus rushed with open mouth to drink of the vinegar and gall :
Answer — chaps, xxxvi., xxxvii. Sneer of the Jew, that Christians
find fault with Jews for not recognising Jesus as God : Answer 

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

PAOB

chap, xxxviii. Falsehood of the assertion of this Jew of Celsus, that
Jesus gained over to His cause no one during His life, not even His
own disciples — chap, xxxix. Jew goes on to assert that Jesus did
not show Himself to be pure from all evil : Answer — chaps, xli., xlii.
Falsity of the statement, that Jesus, after failing to gain over those
who were in this world, went to Hades to gain over those who were
there — chap, xliii. Celsus asserts further, that other individuals who
have been condemned and died miserable deaths ought to be re
garded as greater and more divine messengers of heaven than Jesus :
Answer — chap. xliv. Argument of Celsus against the truth of
Christianity, from the different behaviour of the actual followers of
Jesus during His life and that of Christians at the present day :
Answer — chap. xlv. Falsehood of the assertion, that Jesus when
on earth gained over to Himself only sailors and tax-gatherers of
the most worthless character — chap. xlvi. Answer to the question,
By what train of argument were Christians led to regard Jesus as
the Son of God ? — chap, xlvii. Assertion of Celsus, that Jesus is
deemed by Christians to be the Son of God because He healed the
lame and the blind and is asserted to have raised the dead : Answer
— chap, xlviii. Statement of Celsus, that Jesus convicted Himself
of being a sorcerer : Refuted by His predictions regarding false pro
phets, etc. — chaps, xlix., 1. No resemblance between the works of
Jesus and those of a sorcerer — chap. li. Inconsistency of the Jew
in raising the objections which he does, seeing that the same ob
jections might be raised against the divinity of Mosaism — chaps, lii-
liv. Jew objects further, that the predictions, although actually
uttered, prove nothing, because many have been deceived by jug
gling tricks ; asserts also, that there is no satisfactory evidence of
the resurrection of Jesus, the report of which can be explained in
other ways : Answer — chaps, lv.-lxii. Celsus proceeds to bring, as
a serious charge against Jesus, that He did not appear after His
resurrection to those who had ill-treated Him and condemned Him,
and to men in general : Answer — chaps, lxiii-lxvii. Celsus asserts,
that it would have helped to manifest His divinity if He had at once
disappeared from the cross : Answer — chaps, lxviii., lxix. Incon
sistency of Celsus' statement (that Jesus concealed Himself) with the
facts of the case, pointed out — chap. lxx. Certain declarations of
Jesus regarding Himself, noticed — chap. lxxi. Celsus asks why,
if Jesus wished to remain hid, a voice was heard from heaven pro
claiming Him to be the Son of God ? or, if He did not seek conceal
ment, why was He punished ? or, why did He die ? Answer — chap.
lxxii. Celsus asserts, that no witness is needed to refute the state
ments of the Christians, because these are taken from their own
books, which are self-contradictory : Answer — chap, lxxiv. Impos
sibility, according to Celsus, that a god, who was expected to appear
among men, should be received with incredulity on his coming, or

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

should fail to be recognised by those who have been looking for
him : Answer— chap. Ixxv. All objections brought by the Jew
against Christianity might be retorted on himself : Illustrations —
chap, lxxvi. Jew professes his belief in a bodily resurrection and
in eternal life— chap, lxxvii. Asks if Jesus came into the world to
produce unbelief in the minds of men : Answer — chap, lxxviii. Con
clusion of the Jew is that everything proves Jesus to have been a
man : General refutation.
BOOK III., .  85-160
Object of Book Third to "refute the charges which Celsus makes
against Christianity in his own person. Assertion of Celsus that the
controversy between Jews and Christians is most foolish ; that there
is nothing of importance in the investigations of Jews and Christians ;
because, although both believe that a Saviour was predicted, yet
they do not agree on the point whether He has actually come or not.
Refutation of these statements generally — chaps, i.-iv. Celsus al
leges that both Judaism and Christianity originated in rebellion
against the State ; impossibility of this — chaps, v.- vii. Jews shown
from their language not to be Egyptians— chap. viii. Falsehood of
the assertion that Christians do not desire to convert all men, even if
they could — chap. ix. Proof of Celsus in support of his assertion :
Answer — chaps, x.-xiii. Union of Christians alleged to rest upon
no substantial reason, save on rebellion and fear of external enemies :
Answer — chaps, xiv., xv. Falsity of the charge that Christians in
vent terrors — chap. xvi. Comparison of the articles of the Christian
faith to Egyptian temples, where, after passing through imposing
avenues, nothing is found as an object of worship save a cat, or an
ape, or a crocodile, or a goat, or a dog : Refutation of this — chaps.
xvii.-xxi. Celsus asserts that the Dioscuri, and Hercules, and
iEsculapius, and Dionysus, are believed by the Greeks to have be
come gods after being men ; but that we refuse to recognise them as
such, although they manifested many noble qualities, displayed for
the benefit of mankind : General answer — chap. xxii. Comparison
of our Lord's character with that of individuals referred to — chap.
xxiii. Unfairness of Celsus in requiring Christians to believe the
> stories regarding such beings, and yet refusing his assent to the
credibility of the Gospel narratives regarding Jesus — chap. xxiv.
Examiuation of the case of iEsculapius — chaps, xxv., xxvi. ; of Aris-
teas of Proconnesus — chaps, xxvi.-xxix. Superiority of the churches
of God over the public assemblies — chaps, xxix., xxx. Comparison of
the cases of Abaris the Hyperborean and of the Clazomenian with
Jesus — chaps, xxxi., xxxii. Examination of the story of Cleomedes of
Astypalea — chap, xxxiii. Celsus alleges that there are many other
similar instances : This statement, even if true, shown to be inapplic
able — chap, xxxiv. Celsus challenged to say whether he believes

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

such beings really to be demons, or heroes, or gods : Consequences
which will follow — chap. xxxv. Comparison of case of Antinous,
the favourite of Hadrian, shown to be absurd — chaps, xxxvi.-xxxviii.
Allegation of Celsus that faith alone leads Christians to give their
assent to the doctrines of Jesus : Examination of this statement —
chaps, xxxix.-xli. Comparison of mortal flesh of Jesus to gold,
silver, or stone, shown to be inept — chap. xlii. Celsus asserts, that
in ridiculing the worshippers of Jupiter, who was buried in Crete,
while worshipping Jesus, who rose from the grave, we are guilty of
inconsistency: Answer — chap, xliii. Various objections against
Christianity, gathered from the more unintelligent Christians, ad
duced by Celsus ; enumeration of these : Answers — chaps, xliv., xlv.
Christians do desire that there should be wise men among them —
chaps, xlv.-xlviii. Allegation that only the low, and the vile, and
the ignorant, with women and children, are desired as converts,
shown to be false in the sense in which it is advanced by Celsus —
chaps, xlix.-liv. Charge brought against teachers of Christianity of
surreptitiously inculcating their doctrines upon children without
the knowledge of their parents — chap. lv. Examination of this
charge — chaps. Ivi.-lviii. Answer to charge of Celsus, that Chris
tians invite the wicked alone to participation in their sacred rites —
chaps. lix.-lxii. Refutation of the charge that God does not decide
in accordance with truth, but with flattery — chap, lxiii. Answer
to question of Celsus, why sinners are preferred over others — chap.
lxiv. Falsehood of the assertion that Christians are able to gain
over none but sinners — chap. Ixv. Error of Celsus in denying the t
possibility of a complete transformation of character — chap. Ixvi.
His meaning probably was, that such transformation could not be
effected by punishment ; this shown to be false — chap, lxvii. Trans
formation of character, in certain cases, by means of philosophical
discourses, not a matter to excite surprise : character of Christian
preaching — chap, lxviii. Examination of Celsus' statement, that to
change a nature entirely is exceedingly difficult — chap. lxix. God
can do all that it is possible for Him to do without ceasing to be God
— chap. lxx. Falsity of statement that God alleviates the sufferings
of the wicked through pity for their wailings, but casts off the good
— chap. Ixxi. No truly wise man could be misled by any statements
of an unintelligent Christian — chap. Ixxii. Falsity of statements,
that the ambassador of Christianity relates only ridiculous things-
chap, lxxiii. That he seeks after the unintelligent alone — chap, lxxiv.
That he acts like a person who promises to restore patients to bodily
health, but who prevents them from consulting skilled physicians,
who would expose his ignorance — chap. lxxv. That the Christian
teacher acts like a drunken man, who should enter a company of
drunkards, and accuse those who were sober of being drunk- — chap.
lxxvj. That he is like one suffering from ophthalmia, who should

xii ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
accuse the "clear-sighted of blindness- Assertion of Celsus that
Christians lead on men by empty hopes: Answer,— chap, lxxvii.
Character of those who become converts — chap, lxxviii. Christianity
the best system which men were capable of receiving — chaps, lxxix.-
lxxxi.
BOOK IV.,  161-267
Subject of Fourth Book mainly to show that the prophecies re
garding Christ are true predictions — chap. i. The position main
tained by certain Christians, that there has already descended upon
the earth a certain God, or Son of a God, who will make the inhabit
ants of the earth righteous, and by the Jews, that the advent of this
being is still future, asserted by Celsus to be false: Answer — chap.
ii. Question of Celsus as to the meaning of such a descent : An
swered — chap. iii. Argument of Celsus turned against himself —
chap. iv. Celsus misrepresents Christians as saying that God Himself
will come down to men, and that it follows that He has left His
own abode — chap. v. Celsus represents the object of God's descent
to be a desire to make Himself known, and to make trial of men ; and
this, he alleges, testifies to an excessive and mortal ambition on the
part of God : Answer — chaps, vi.-ix. Celsus asserts, that Christians
talk of God in a way that is neither holy nor reverential, and likens
them to those who in the Bacchic mysteries introduce phantoms and
objects of terror : Answer — chap. x. Celsus endeavours to prove
that the statements in the Christian records regarding floods and
conflagrations are neither new nor wonderful, but may be paralleled
and explained from the accounts of the Greeks : Answer — chaps, xi.-
xiii. Celsus returns to the subject of the descent of God, alleging
that if He came down among men, He must have undergone a
change from better to worse, which is impossible in the case of an
immortal being : Answer — chaps, xiv.-xvi. Superiority of the scrip
tural accounts of these matters over those of the Greek mythology —
chap. xvii. Celsus repeats his objections : Answer — chaps, xviii.,
xix. Celsus' representation of the manner in which the Jews main
tain that the advent of Jesus is still future — chap. xx. Absurdity
of the statement of Celsus that the overturning of the tower of Babel
had the same object as the Deluge, viz. the purification of the earth
— chap. xxi. Proof that Jews brought on themselves the divine
wrath, because of their treatment of Jesus — chap. xxii. Celsus
insolently compares Jews and Christians to bats, and ants, and
frogs, and worms, etc. — chap, xxiii. Answer — chaps, xxiv., xxv.
Superiority of Christians in their opinions and practice to idolaters
— chaps, xxvi., xxvii. Celsus misrepresents the language of Chris
tians as to God's descent among men, and His intercourse with them 
chaps, xxviii., xxix. Celsus, not understanding the words, " Let us
make man in our image and likenessj" has represented Christians as

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. xiii
PAOB
saying that they resemble God because created by Him : Answer — chap.
xxx. Celsus again asserts that the Jews were fugitives from Egypt,
who never performed anything of note, and were never held in any
account: Answer — chaps, xxxi., xxxii. Celsus, in very ambiguous
language, asserts that the Jews endeavoured to derive their origin
from the first race of jugglers and deceivers, and appealed to the
testimony of dark and ambiguous words : Answer — chaps, xxxiii.-
xxxv. Celsus adduces instances of alleged great antiquity put
forth by other nations, and asserts that the Jews wove together
some most incredible and stupid stories, regarding the creation of
man, the formation of the woman, the issuing of certain commands by
God, the opposition of the serpent, and the defeat of God, who is
thus shown to have been weak at the very beginning of things, and
unable to persuade a single individual to obey His will: Detailed
answers to these misrepresentations — chaps, xxxvi.-xl. Celsus next
ridicules the accounts of the Deluge and the Ark : Answers — chaps.
xli., xlii. Goes on to carp at the histories of Abraham and Sarah,
of Cain and Abel, of Esau and Jacob, of Laban and Jacob — chap.
xliii. Explanation of the statement that "God gave wells to the
righteous;" other matters, also, to be allegorically understood — chap.
xliv. Celsus does not recognise the love of truth which characterizes
the writers of Scripture ; figurative signification of Sodom, and of
Lot and his daughters ; discussion on the nature of actions— chap, /y^
xlv. Spirit of hostility which characterizes Celsus, in selecting fron ,.
the narratives of Scripture whatever may serve as ground of accusa
tion against Christians, while passing without notice whatever
may redound to their credit : Instances — chap. xlvi. Celsus refers
vaguely to the dreams of the butler and baker in the history of
Joseph, and endeavours to find ground of objection in the history
of Joseph's conduct towards his brethren — chap, xlvii. Asserts that
the more modest among Jews and Christians endeavour to give
these things an allegorical meaning, because they are ashamed of
them : Answer — chap, xlviii. Falsity of his assertion that the scrip -
tural writings are incapable of receiving an allegorical meaning —
chaps, xlix., 1. The treatises which give allegorical explanations of
the law of Moses evidently unknown to Celsus, otherwise he could
not have said that these allegorical explanations were more shame
ful than the fables themselves : Illustrations — chap. li. Celsus refers
to the work entitled " Controversy between Papiscus and Jason,"
in support of his assertions — chaps. Iii., liii. Celsus conceals his l^
real opinions, although he ought to have avowed them, when quot
ing from the Timxus of Plato, to the effect that God made immortal
things alone, while mortal things are the work of others ; that the
soul is the work of God, while the body is different ; that there is
no difference between the body of a man, and that of a bat : Exa
mination of these statements — chaps, liv.-lix. Asserts that a common

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

nature pervades all bodies, and that no product of matter is im
mortal : Answers — chaps, lx. , lxi. Maintains that the amount of evil is
a fixed quantity, which has never varied : Answers— chaps, lxii.-lxiv.
That it is difficult for any but a philosopher to ascertain the origin
of evils, but that it is sufficient for the multitude to say that they
do not proceed from God, but cleave to matter; and that, as the
cause of mortal events never varies, the same things must always
return, according to the appointed cycles: Answers — chaps. Ixv.-lxix.
Assertion of Celsus that a thing which seems to be evil may not
necessarily be so : Examined — chap. lxx. Celsus misunderstands the
anthropopathic language of Scripture : Explanation — chaps. Ixxi.-
lxxiii. Celsus finds fault with Christians for asserting that God
made all things for the sake of man, whereas they were made as
much for the sake of the irrational animals : Answer — chap, lxxiv.
Celsus holds that thunders, and lightnings, and rains are not the
works of God ; that even if they were, they were brought into
existence as much for the sake of plants, and trees, and herbs, as
for that of human beings : Answer — chaps, lxxv., lxxvi. Celsus main
tains that the verse of Euripides, viz. "The sun and night are to
mortals slaves," is untrue, as these luminaries may be said to be
created for the use of ants and flies as much as of man : Answer —
chap, lxxvii. Asserts that we may be said to be created as much
on account of irrational animals as they on our account : Answer —
chaps, lxxviii.-lxxx. Celsus maintains that the superiority of man
over irrational animals in building cities and founding political
communities is only apparent : Examination of this assertion — chaps.
Ixxxi.-lxxxiv. No great difference, according to Celsus, between
the actions of men, and those of ants and bees — chap, lxxxv. Cer
tain irrational animals, according to Celsus, possess the power of
sorcery ; instances : Examination of these — chaps. Ixxxvi., lxxxvii.
Assertion that the thoughts entertained of God by irrational animals
are not inferior to those of men; illustrations: Answer — chaps.
lxxxviii., lxxxix. Degrading views of Celsus— chaps, xc.-xcix.
BOOK V.,  268-335
Continuation of the subject — chap. i. Celsus repeats his denial
that no God, or son of God, has either come, or will come, to earth ;
that if certain angels did come, by what name are they to be called ?
whether by that of gods or some other race of beings? in all proba
bility such angels were demons : Refutation — chaps, ii.-v. Celsus
proceeds to express surprise that the Jews should worship heaven
and angels, and yet pass by the heavenly bodies, as the sun and
moon ; which procedure is, according to his view, most unreason
able : Refutation — chaps, vi.-x. Defence of Christians against the
same charge— chaps, x.-xiii. Celsus declares the Christian belief
iu the future conflagration of the world, in the salvation of the

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. xv
PAGE
righteous, in the resurrection of the body, most foolish and irra
tional, alleging that this belief is not held by some of the Christian
believers, and adducing certain considerations regarding the cha
racter of God and the nature of bodies which render such things
impossible — chap. xiv. Refutation in detail of these objections —
chaps, xv.-xxiv. Examination of Celsus' statement that the various
quarters of the earth were from the beginning allotted to different
superintending spirits, and that in this way the administration of
the world is carried on — chaps, xxv.-xxviii. Considerations of a pro-
founder kind may be stated regarding the original distribution of the
various quarters of the earth among different superintending spirits,
which considerations may be shown to be free from the absurd con
sequences which would follow from the views of Celsus ; enumera
tion of these — chaps, xxix.-xxxiii. Statement of Celsus regarding
the request of the people of Marea and Apis to the oracle of Ammon,
as related by Herodotus, and the inference which he seems to draw
from it and other similar instances adduced by him, examined and
refuted — chaps, xxxiv.-xxxix. Examination of Celsus' quotation
from Pindar, that " Law is king of all things " — chap. xl. Celsus
goes on to state objections which apply to Jews much more than to
Christians, viz. that the Jewish doctrine regarding heaven is not
peculiar to them, but has long ago been received by the Persians ;
and proceeds to observe that it makes no difference by what name
the Supreme Being is called ; nor are the Jews to be deemed holier
than other nations because abstaining from swine's flesh, etc. Detailed
examination and refutation of these statements — chaps, xli.-xlix.
Celsus denies that the Jews were regarded by God with greater
favour than other nations : Answer — chap. 1. Statement of Celsus
that, admitting Jesus to have been an angel, He was not the first
who came to visit men, for the histories relate that there have been
many instances, several of which he enumerates — chap. Iii. Refutation
— chaps. liii.-lviii. Conclusion of Celsus that Jews and Christians
have the same God, and that the latter adopt the Jewish accounts
regarding the six days ; other points of agreement mentioned : exa
mination of these statements, as well as of his admission that certain
Christians will admit the identity, while others will deny it — chaps.
lix.-lxii. Argument of Celsus against Christianity, founded upon
the existence of those who have worshipped demons as their teacher,
and of sects that have hated each other, examined and refuted —
chap, lxiii. Celsus has misunderstood the prediction of the apostle
that deceivers will come in the last times — chap. lxiv. Falsity of
Celsus' statement that all who differ so widely may be heard saying,
" The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world " — chap. Ixv.
BOOK VI.,  336-424
Object of Sixth Book specially to refute those objections which
2

xvi ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

l/Q"

Celsus brings against Christians, and not those derived from writers
on philosophy — chap. i. Explanation of the reasons which led the
^riters of Scripture to adopt a simple style of address — chap. ii.
Quotation from Plato regarding the " chief good," and remarks upon
it — chap. iii. Inconsistent conduct of those who can so express
themselves pointed out — chap. iv. Comparison of the Platonic
phraseology, regarding the kindling of a light in the soul, with the
language of Scripture — chap. v. Examination of the question
whether Plato was acquainted with doctrines more profound than
¦those which are contained in his writings, and demonstration of the
fact that the prophets did know of greater things than any in Scrip
ture, but did not commit them to writing — chaps. vi.-x. Celsus
inquires whether, amid the perplexity arising from the existence of
different Christs, men are to cast the dice to divine which of them
they ought to follow ? Answer — chap. xi. Perversion of the lan
guage of Paul regarding wisdom corrected — chaps, xii., xiii. Exa
mination of Celsus' charge that Christians are uninstructed, servile,
and ignorant — chap. xiv. Sneer of Celsus at the humility of Chris-
/^tlans answered — chap. xv. Celsus charges Jesus with having per
verted the language of Plato in His saying regarding the impossibility
of a rich man's entering the kingdom of heaven : Answer — chap. xvi.
Comparison of some points of Scripture doctrine with statements of
Plato — chaps, xvii., xviii. Charge of Celsus that Christians have
misunderstood language of Plato, in boasting of a " super-celestial "
-God : Answer — chap. xix. Explanation of certain terms referring
to heaven — chaps, xx., xxi. Assertion of Celsus, that the Persian
mysteries of Mithras contain many obscure allusions to those heavenly
things mentioned in the Christian writings ; absurdity of his state
ments — chaps, xxii., xxiii. Celsus refers to a certain diagram, the
statements regarding which he appears to have borrowed from the
sect of the Ophites ; which statements, however, are of no credibility
— chap. xxiv. Description of said diagram, and explanation of the
names inscribed in it — chaps, xxv., xxvi. Certain statements of
Celsus regarding the " seal " examined — chap, xxvii. Celsus asserts
that Christians term the Creator an " accursed " divinity, and asks
what could be more foolish or insane than such senseless wisdom ?
Examination of these statements — chaps, xxviii., xxix. Celsus returns
to the subject of the seven ruling demons, and makes reference to
the diagram — chap. xxx. Quotations illustrating the manner of in
voking said demons — chap. xxxi. Remarks on the procedure of
Celsus — chap, xxxii. Further statements of Celsus — chap, xxxiii.
Continuation of statements of Celsus, to the effect that Christians
heap together one thing after another, — discourses of prophets, circles
upon circles, effluents from an earthly church, and from circum
cision ; and a power flowing from one Prunicos, a virgin and living
soul ; and a heaven slain in order to live, etc. etc. — chap, xxxiv.

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

Detailed examination and answer to these statements — chaps, xxxv.-
xxxvii. Celsus introduces other charges, stating that there are in
scriptions in the diagram containing two words, " a greater and a
less," which are referred to Father and Son : Answer — chap, xxxviii.
Statement of Celsus, that names of demons among the Greeks are
different from what they are among the Scythians ; gives illustra
tions: Answer — chap, xxxix. Statement of Celsus, on the autho
rity of Dionysius, an Egyptian magician, that magic arts have no
power over philosophers, but only over uneducated men and persons
of corrupt morals : Falsity of this shown — chap. iii. Allegation of
Celsus, that Christians haw% invented the fiction of the devil or
Satan, as an adversary to God, who counterworks' His plans and
defeats them ; that the Son of God, even, has been vanquished by
the devil ; and that the devil will exhibit great and marvellous
works, and claim for himself the glory of God : Examination and
refutation of these statements — chaps, xlii. -xliv. Celsus has
misunderstood the statements of Scripture regarding Antichrist :
Explanation of these — chaps, xlv., xlvi. Celsus perverts the lan
guage of Christians regarding the " Son of God : " Answer —
chap, xlvii. Mystical meaning of "Son of God" explained — chap.
xlviii. Celsus characterizes the Mosaic cosmogony as extremely silly,
and alleges that Moses and the prophets, from ignorance, have
woven together a web of sheer nonsense : Answers — chaps, xlix.-li.
Celsus will not decide whether the world was uncreated and inde
structible, or created but not destructible — chap. Iii. Brings for
ward objections that were raised against Marcion, and after several
disparaging observations on the manner of the divine procedure
towards men, asks how it is that God created evil, etc. — chap. liii.
Answer to the foregoing — chaps, liv.-lix. Celsus repeats charges
formerly made regarding the days of creation — chaps, lx., lxi. Com
ments on the expression, " The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it : "
Answer — chap. lxii. Asserts that "the first-born of every creature "
is the image of God, and that God did not make man in His image,
because he is unlike to any other species of being ; explanation of
the expression, " Man is made after the image of God " — chap, lxiii.
God partakes neither of form nor colour, nor can motion be predi
cated of Him ; explanation of passages that seem to imply the reverse
— chap. lxiv. Inconsistency of Celsus with his declared opinions, in
saying that God is the source of all things ; asserts that He cannot
be reached by word : Explanation and distinction — chap. Ixv. Celsus
asks, in the person of another, how it is possible to know God, or to
learn the way that leads to Him, because darkness is thrown before
the eyes, and nothing distinctly seen : Answer to this query,
and remark of Celsus retorted upon himself — chaps, lxvi.-lxviii.
Celsus represents our answer as being this : " Since God is great
and difficult to see, He put His own Spirit into a body that resem-

xviii ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
bled ours, and sent it down to us, that we might be enabled to hear
Him, and become acquainted with Him :" Examination of this state
ment — chaps. Ixix., lxx. According to Celsus, our doctrine regard
ing the spirit is the same as that of the Stoics, who maintain that
"God is a spirit, diffused through all things, and containing all
things within Himself : " Answer— chap. lxxi. Assertion that -the
Son of God would not be immortal, because He was a spirit exist
ing in a human body : Answer — chap, lxxii. Criticises, in scoffing
language, the incarnation ; exposure of his errors — chap, lxxiii. Re
turns to the subject of Marcionvs opinions ; introduces " two sons of
God," and speaks scoffingly of the supposed controversies between
them — chap, lxxiv. Maintains that the body of Jesus must have
been different from that of other beings, in virtue of His divine
qualities. Consideration of the prophecies regarding Jesus : Answers
to his statements — chaps, lxxv.-lxxvii. Celsus ridicules the sending
of God's Spirit into one corner of the world alone, and compares God
to Jupiter in the comedy, who sent Mercury to the Athenians and
Lacedemonians: Answer — chaps, lxxviii., lxxix. Celsus terms the
Chaldeans a divinely-inspired nation ; speaks of the Egyptian people
as also inspired, although he condemned them formerly, and refuses
this title to the Jews ; inconsistency of all this — chap. lxxx. Pre
tends not to understand how God could send His Son amongst
wicked men, who were to inflict punishment upon Him : Answer —
chap, lxxxi.
BOOK VII.,  425-491
Celsus denies that the Jewish prophets predicted any of the events
which occurred in the life of Christ, and asserts that those who
believe in the existence of another God, besides that of the Jews.
cannot refute his objections ; while Christians, who recognise the
God of the Jews, rely for their defence on the alleged predictions
regarding Christ: Remarks — chap. ii. Celsus declares Christians
inconsistent in rejecting the ancient Grecian oracles of Delphi,
Dodona, Clarus, Branchidse, Jupiter Ammon, etc., which neverthe
less were of high importance, while insisting that the sayings uttered
in Judea are marvellous and unchangeably true : Detailed answer to
this objection— chaps, iii.-viii. Asserts that many individuals assume
the attitude of inspiration, and claim to be God, or the Son of God,
or the divine Spirit, and to have come down to save a perishing
world, and promise rewards to those who do them homage, and
threaten vengeance upon others ; and, moreover, to these promises
add strange and unintelligible words, which may be applied by any
impostor to his own purposes— chap. ix. Answer to these charges-
chaps. x.-xii. Falsity of Celsus' statement that God favours the
commission of evil— chap. xiii. Celsus objects, that even if the
prophets foretold that the great God would become a slave, or die,

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

there was no necessity that He should do so simply because such
things had been predicted : Answers — chaps, xiv.-xvii. Celsus objects
further, that if the prophets of the God of the Jews foretold that
Jesus was to be the Son of the same God, how could commands
have been given through Moses that the Jews should accumulate
wealth, extend their dominion, fill the earth, put their enemies to
the sword, under threat of being treated by God as His enemies ;
whilst the man of Nazareth, His Son, delivered commands of a totally
opposite kind ? Errors of Celsus pointed out in detail, and the nature
of the two dispensations explained — chaps, xviii.-xxvi. Falsity of
assertion that Christians believe the Divine Being to be corporeal in
His nature, and to possess a body like a man — chap, xxvii. Celsus
alleges that the idea of a better land than this, to which Christians
hope to go after death, has been borrowed from the divine men of a
former age, and quotes from Homer and Plato in support of his
assertion: .Answers — chaps, xxviii.-xxxi. Celsus next assails the
doctrine of the resurrection, and asserts that we uphold this doctrine
in order that we may see and know God : Answer — chaps, xxxii.-
xxxiv. The oracles of Trophonius, etc., to which Celsus would
direct Christians, assuring them that there they would see God
distinctly, shown to be demons — chap. xxxv. Language of Chris
tians as to the manner in which they see God misrepresented by
Celsus — chaps, xxxvi.-xxxix. Language of Celsus quite inappro
priate as addressed to Christians, and applicable only to those whose
doctrines differ widely from theirs — chap. xl. Celsus recommends
Christians to follow the guidance of divinely inspired poets, wise
men, and philosophers, without mentioning their names : Remarks
on this — chap. xli. Proceeds to name Plato as an effective teacher
of theological truth, quoting from the Timxus to the effect that it
is a hard matter to find out the Maker and Father of the universe,
and an impossibility to make Him known to all after having found
Him ; and remarking that Christians cannot follow the example of
Plato and others, who proceed by analysis and synthesis, because
they are wedded to the flesh : Answers— chaps, xlii.-xlv. General
remarks upon the tone in which Christians carry on controversy with
their opponents — chap. xlvi. Actions of those who, although seeming
to be wise, did not yield themselves to the divine teaching — chap.
xlvii. Purity of life exhibited by Christians — chap, xlviii. Even by
those who are unable to investigate the deeper questions of theology
— chap. xlix. Explanation of certain scriptural expressions regard
ing "birth" or "generation" — chap. 1. Difference between
Christians and those who received a portion of the divine Spirit
before the dispensation of Christianity — chap. li. Celsus proceeds
to say to Christians that they would have done better to have
selected as the object of their homage some one who had died a
glorious death, whose divinity might have received the support -of

xx ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

some myth to perpetuate his memory, and names Hercules, JSscu-
lapius, Anaxarchus, and Epictetus, as instances, alleging that Jesus
never uttered under suffering any words that could be compared to
their utterances — chap. liii. Answers— chaps, liv.-lv. Sneering
remark of Celsus that we might better have given the name of Son of
God to the Sibyl than to Jesus — chap. lvi. Scoffing advice of Celsus,
that we had better choose Jonah than Jesus for our God : Answer
— chap. lvii. Celsus asserts that the Christian precept, " Whoso
ever shall strike thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also,"
is an ancient saying, admirably expressed long ago, and reported by
Christians in a coarser way, and quotes from Plato in support of
his statement : Answer — chaps, lviii.-lxi. Celsus goes onto say that
Christians cannot tolerate temples, altars, or images, and that in this
peculiarity they resemble Scythians and other barbarous nations,
adducing quotations from Herodotus and Heraclitus in support of
his opinion that none, save those who are utterly childish, can take
these things for gods — chap. lxii. Detailed answer — chaps, lxiii.-
lxvi. Celsus remarks that Christians will not admit that these
images are erected in honour of certain beings who are gods, but
maintain that these are demons, and ought not to be worshipped :
Remarks in answer — chap, lxvii. Asks why demons are not to be
worshipped, and asserts that everything, whether the work of
angels, demons, or heroes, is part of the providential government of
the Most High God : Answers — chaps, lxviii.-lxx.
BOOK VIII.,  492-559
Celsus, after his question regarding the worship of demons, pro
ceeds to represent us as saying that it is impossible to serve many
masters, and remarks that this is the language of sedition, and used
only by those ¦ who stand aloof from all human society, etc. Con
sideration of the true language of Scripture upon this and kindred
points, in answer to this statement — chaps, ii.-viii. Reckless lan
guage of Celsus, who would have us believe that we are led by our
worship of God to that of other things which belong to God, with
out injury to ourselves, and who yet adds, " We may honour none
except those to whom that right has been given by God : " Remarks
— chap. ix. Nature of the honour which Christians pay to the Son
of God — chap. x. Celsus asserts that those who uphold the unity of
God are guilty of impiety : Answer— chap. xi. That if Christians
worshipped one God alone, they would have valid arguments against
the worship of others, but they pay excessive reverence to one who
is the servant of God : Refutation — chaps. xii.-xiv. Celsus quotes
from the opinions of some obscure heretical sect, contained in what
is called a Heavenly Dialogue, to the effect that we suppose another
God, who is above the heavens, to be the father of Him whom we
honour, in order that we may honour the Son of Man alone ; whom

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
also we assert to be stronger than God, who rules the world and
who rules over them : Answers — chaps, xv.-xvi. Celsus goes on to
say, that our shrinking from raising altars, statues, and temples, has
been agreed upon among us as the badge of a secret society : Answer —
chaps, xvii.-xx. Assertion of Celsus, that those devoted to the service
of God may take part in public feasts or idol offerings : Answer —
chap. xxi. Answer to objection that Christians themselves observe
certain days, as the Preparation, the Passover, and Pentecost —
— chaps, xxii., xxiii. Reasons urged by Celsus why Christians may
make use of idol offerings and public sacrifices at public feasts;
examination of these — chaps, xxi v.— xxvii. Celsus proceeds to state
that if Christians abstain from idol offerings, they ought, in consis
tency, to abstain from all animal food, like the Pythagoreans :
Answer — chaps, xxviii.-xxxii. Celsus alleges that if we come into
the world at all, we must give thanks, and first-fruits, and prayers
to demons, that they may prove good and kind : Answer — chaps.
xxxiii., xxxiv. Celsus remarks that the satraps of a Persian or
Roman monarch could do great injury to those who despised them,
and asks, will the satraps and ministers of air and earth be insulted
with impunity? Answer — chaps, xxxv., xxxvi. Asserts that if Chris
tians invoke those whom they address by barbarous names they will
have power, but not if invoked in Latin and Greek ; falsity and
absurdity of this statement — chap, xxxvii. Misrepresents the lan
guage addressed by Christians to the Grecian statues — chap, xxxviii.
Scoffing language of Celsus to the Christians on the rejection of
Jesus, whom he terms a demon, and on his inability to save His fol
lowers from being put to death — chap, xxxix. Contrast between the
Christian and heathen doctrine of punishment — chap. xl. Railing
address of Celsus, to the effect that although Christians may revile
the statues of the gods, they would not have reviled the gods them
selves with impunity ; that nothing happened to those who crucified
Jesus; that no father was ever so inhuman as was the father of
Jesus, etc. etc. : Answers — chaps, xli.-xliv. Celsus asserts that it is
of no use to collect all the oracular responses that have been deli
vered, for the world is full of them, and many remarkable events
have happened in consequence of them, which establish their reality
and divinity ; general remark in answer — chap. xlv. Contrast be
tween conduct of Pythian priestess, who frequently allowed herself
to be bribed, and that of the prophets, who were admired for their
downright truthfulness — chap. xlvi. Assertion of Greeks, that the
Jewish history contains fabulous accounts, refuted — chap, xlvii.
Endeavour of Celsus to show that the doctrines delivered at the cele
bration of the pagan mysteries are the same as those of the Chris- ,
tians ; absurdity of this — chap, xlviii. Celsus reproaches Christians (/
with inconsistency in their treatment of the body : Answer — chaps.
xlix., 1. Celsus approves the Christian doctrine that the righteous

xxii ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

shall enjoy everlasting life, and the wicked shall suffer everlasting
punishment ; inconsistency of this on the part of Celsus — chap. li.
Anxiety of Origen to bring all men to receive the whole system of
Christian truth — chap. Iii. Doubtful manner in which Celsus speaks
of certain weighty matters, and reluctance on his part to set down
any of them as false ; inconsistency of this with the manner in which
he treats the doctrines of Christianity, which he regards with a hos
tile spirit — chaps, liii., liv. Celsus asserts that Christians must make
their choice between two alternatives ; nature of these : Answer —
chaps, lv.-lvii. Seeks to degrade the souls of men to the worship of
demons, by referring to certain practices and beliefs prevalent among
the Egyptians : Answer — chaps, lviii.-lix. Admits that there is a
dangerous tendency in demon-worship : Remarks — chaps. lx.-lxii.
Yet adds that the more just opinion is that demons desire and need
nothing, but that they take pleasure in those who discharge towards
them offices of piety : Answer — chaps, lxiii.-lxv. Celsus admits that
no worshipper of God should submit to anything base, but should
encounter any torments or death, rather than do anything unworthy
of God ; and yet to celebrate the sun, or the praises of Minerva, is
only to render higher praise to God ; inconsistency of this — chaps.
Ixvi., lxvii. Maintains that the Homeric saying must be observed,
"Let one be king, whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed ; " sense
in which this must be understood by Christians — chap, lxviii. In
consistency on the part of Celsus, after what he has said, in asking
whether God would fight for the Romans, if they were to become
converts to the worship of the Most High — chaps. Ixix., lxx. Further
misrepresentations of Celsus pointed out — chap. lxxi. Time will
come when the Word will change every soul into His own perfec
tions — chap, lxxii. Celsus enjoins us to help the king with all our
might, and, if required, to fight under him, or lead an army along
with him : Answer — chap, lxxiii. Also to take office in the govern
ment of the country, if necessary for the maintenance of the laws
and the support of religion : Answer — chap. lxxv. Conclusion, in
which Origen mentions that Celsus had announced his intention of
writing a second treatise, which Origen requests Ambrose to send
him if he should have carried his intentions into execution.

LIFE OE ORIGEN.

i RIGEN was born in all probability at Alexandria,
about the year 185 a.d.1 Notwithstanding that
his name is derived from that of an Egyptian deity
(Horus or Or2), there seems no reason to doubt
that his parents were Christian at the time of his birth. His
father Leonides was probably, as has been conjectured,3 one of
the many teachers of rhetoric or grammar who abounded in
that city of Grecian culture, and appears to have been a man
of decided piety. Under his superintendence, the youthful
Origen was not only educated in the various branches of
Grecian learning, but was also required daily to commit to
memory and to repeat portions of Scripture prescribed him by
his father ; and while under this training, the spirit of inquiry
into the meaning of Scripture, which afterwards formed so strik
ing a feature in the literary character of the great Alexandrine,
began to display itself. Eusebius4 relates that he was not
satisfied with the plain and obvious meaning of the text, but
sought to penetrate into its deeper signification, and caused his
father trouble by the questions which he put to him regarding
the sense of particular passages of Holy Writ. Leonides, like
many parents, assumed the appearance of rebuking the curiosity
of the boy for inquiring into things which were beyond his
youthful capacity, and recommended him to be satisfied with
the simple and apparent meaning of Scripture, while he is
1 Cf. Redepenning's Origenes, vol. i. pp. 417-420 (Erste Beilage : fiber
Origenes Geburtsjahr und den Ort, wo er geboren wurde).
2 Cf. Ibid. (Zweite Beilage : fiber Namen und Beinamen der Origenes).
3 Encyclopaedie der Kaiholischen Theologie, s.v. Origenes.
4 Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. ii. § 9.

xxiv LIFE OF ORIGEN.
described as inwardly rejoicing at the signs of talent exhibited
by his son, and as giving thanks to God for having made him
the parent of such a child.1 But this state of things was not
to last; for in the year 202, when Origen was about seventeen
years of age, the great persecution of the Christians under
Septimius Severus broke out, and among the victims was his
father Leonides, who was apprehended and put in prison.
Origen wished to share the fate of his father, but was pre
vented from quitting his home by the artifice of his mother,
who was obliged to conceal his clothes to prevent him from
carrying out his purpose ! He wrote to his father, however,
a letter, exhorting him to constancy under his trials, and en
treating him not to change «his convictions for the sake of his
family.2 By the death of his father, whose property was con
fiscated to the imperial treasury, Origen was left, with his
mother and six younger brothers dependent upon him for
support. At this juncture, a wealthy and benevolent lady of
Alexandria opened to him her house, of which he became an
inmate for a short time. The society, however, which he
found there was far from agreeable to the feelings of the
youth. The lady had adopted as her son one Paul of Antioch,
whom Eusebius terms an " advocate of the heretics then exist
ing at Alexandria." The eloquence of the man drew crowds
to hear him, although Origen could never be induced to regard
him with any favour, nor even to join with him in any act of
worship, giving then, as Eusebius remarks, " unmistakeable
specimens of the orthodoxy of his faith." 3
Finding his position in this household so uncomfortable, he
resolved to enter upon the career of a teacher of grammar, and
to support himself by his own exertions. As he had been
carefully instructed by his father in Grecian literature, and
had devoted himself to study after his death, he was enabled
successfully to carry out his intention. And now begins the
second stadium of his career.
The diligence and ability with which Origen prosecuted his
profession speedily attracted attention and brought him many
1 Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. ii. §§ 10, 11.
2 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. ii. : "E*exe, pil,' fats «*ao t; tppotfon.
8 TJJJ !| szttuov Trip] tyiv vlaTin 6ptloSo£las hapyq irapilictto Zsiy/*XTU.

LIFE OF OBIGEN. xxv
pupils. Among others who sought to avail themselves of his
instructions in the principles of the Christian religion, were
two young men, who afterwards became distinguished in the
history of the Church, — Plutarch, who died the death of martyr
dom, and Heraclas, who afterwards became bishop of Alex
andria. It was not, however, merely by his success as a teacher
that Origen gained a reputation. The brotherly kindness and
unwearied affection which he displayed to all the victims of the
persecution, which at that time was raging with peculiar severity
at Alexandria under the prefect Aquila, and in which many
of his old pupils and friends were martyred, are described as
being so marked and conspicuous, as to draw down upon him
the fury of the mob, so that he was obliged on several occasions
to flee from house to house to escape instant death. It is easy
to understand that services of this kind could not fail to attract
the attention of the heads of the Christian community at Alex
andria ; and partly, no doubt, because of these, but chiefly on
account of his high literary reputation, Bishop Demetrius
appointed him to the office of master in the Catechetical
School, which was at that time vacant (by the departure of
Clement, who had quitted the city on the outbreak of the per
secution), although he was still a layman, and had not passed
his eighteenth year. The choice of Demetrius was amply
justified by the result. Origen discontinued his instructions in
literature, in order to devote himself exclusively to the work
of teaching in the Catechetical School. For his labours he
refused all remuneration. He sold the books which he pos
sessed, — many of them manuscripts which he himself had copied,
— on condition of receiving from the purchaser four obols1 a day ;
and on this scanty pittance he subsisted, leading for many years
a life of the greatest asceticism and devotion to study. After a
day of labour in the school, he used to devote the greater part
of the night to the investigation of Scripture, sleeping on the
bare ground, and keeping frequent fasts. He carried out lite
rally the command of the Saviour, not to possess two coats, or to
wear shoes, and consummated his work of mortification of the
flesh by an act of self-mutilation, springing from a perverted
interpretation of our Lord's words in Matt. xix. 12, and under-
1 The obol was about three-halfpence of our money.

xxvi LIFE OF ORIGEN.
taken from a desire to place himself beyond the reach of
temptation in the intercourse which he necessarily had to hold
with his youthful female catechumens.1 This act was destined
to exercise a baneful influence upon his future fortunes in the
Church. During the episcopate of Zephyrinus (201-218) Origen
visited Rome, and on his return again resumed his duties in
the Catechetical School, transferring the care of the younger
catechumens to his friend and former pupil Heraclas, that he
might devote himself with less distraction to the instruction of
the more advanced, and to the more thorough investigation and
exposition of Scripture. With a view to accomplish this more
successfully, it is probable that about this time he set himself
to acquire a knowledge of the Hebrew language, the fruit of
which may be seen in the fragments which remain to us of
his magnum opus, the Hexapla ; and as many among the more
cultured heathens, attracted by his reputation, seem to have
attended his lectures, he felt it necessary to make himself more
extensively acquainted with the doctrines of the Grecian schools,
that he might meet his opponents upon their own ground, and
for this purpose he attended the prelections of Ammonius Saccas,
at that time in high repute at Alexandria as an expounder of
the Neo-Platonic philosophy, of which school he has generally
been considered the founder. The influence which the study
of philosophical speculations exerted upon the mind of Origen
may be traced in the whole course of his after development,
and proved the fruitful source of many of those errors which
were afterwards laid to his charge, and the controversies
arising out of which disturbed the peace of the Church during
the two following centuries. As was to be expected, the fame
of the great Alexandrine teacher was not confined to his native
city, but spread far and wide ; and an evidence of this was the
request made by the Roman governor of the province of Arabia
to Demetrius and to the prefect of Egypt, that they would send
Origen to him that he might hold an interview with one whose
1 For a full discussion of the doubts which have been thrown upon the
credibility of Eusebius in this matter by Schnitzer and Baur, cf. Rede-
penning, Origenes, vol. i. pp. 444-458, and Hefele, Encyclopaedic der
Katholischen Theologie, s.v. Origenes.

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxvii
reputation was so great. We have no details of this visit, for
all that Eusebius relates is that, " having accomplished the
objects of his journey, he again returned to Alexandria."1 It
was in the year 216 that the Emperor Caracalla visited Alex
andria, and directed a bloody persecution against its inhabitants,
especially the literary members of the community, in revenge
for the sarcastic verses which had been composed against him
for the murder of his brother Geta, a crime which he had per
petrated under circumstances of the basest treachery and cruelty.
Origen occupied too prominent a position in the literary
society of the city to be able to remain with safety, and there
fore withdrew to Palestine to his friend Bishop Alexander of
Jerusalem, and afterwards to Csesarea, where he received an
honourable welcome from Bishop Theoctistus. This step proved
the beginning of his after troubles. These two men, filled with
becoming admiration for the most learned teacher in the Church,
requested him to expound the Scriptures in their presence in a
public assembly of the Christians. Origen, although still a
layman, and without any sacerdotal dignity in the Church,
complied with the request. When this proceeding reached the
ears of Demetrius, he was filled with the utmost indignation.
'• Such an act was never either heard or done before, that lay
men should deliver discourses in the presence of the bishops," 2
was his indignant remonstrance to the two offending bishops,
and Origen received a command to return immediately to Alex
andria. He obeyed, and for some years appears to have devoted
himself solely to his studies in his usual spirit of self-abnegation.
It was probably during this period that the commencement of
his friendship with Ambrosius is to be dated. Little is known
of this individual. Eusebius3 states that he had formerly been
an adherent of the Valentinian heresy, but had been converted
by the arguments and eloquence of Origen to the orthodox faith
of the Church. They became intimate friends; and as Ambrose
seems to have been possessed of large means, and entertained an
unbounded admiration of the learning and abilities of his friend,
it was his delight to bear the expenses attending the transcrip
tion and publication of the many works which he persuaded him
1 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 19, § 16. 2 Ibid. b. vi. c. 19.
3 Ibid. b. vi. c. 18.

xxviii LIFE OF ORIGEN.
to give to the world. He furnished him " with more than seven
amanuenses, who relieved each other at stated times, and with
an equal number of transcribers, along with young girls who
had been practised in caligraphy,"1 to make fair copies for pub
lication of the works dictated by Origen. The literary activity
of these years must have been prodigious, and probably they
were among the happiest which Origen ever enjoyed. Engaged
in his favourite studies, surrounded by many friends, adding
yearly to his own stores of learning, and enriching the litera
ture of the Church with treatises of the highest value in the
department of sacred criticism and exegesis, it is difficult to
conceive a condition of things more congenial to the mind of
a true scholar. Only one incident of any importance seems to
have taken place during these peaceful years, — his visit to Julia
Mammsea, the pious mother of Alexander Severus. This noble
lady had heard of the fame of Origen, and invited him to visit
her at Antioch, sending a military escort to conduct him from
Alexandria to the Syrian capital. He remained with her some
time, " exhibiting innumerable illustrations of the glory of the
Lord, and of the excellence of divine instruction, and then
hastened back to his accustomed studies."2
These happy years, however, were soon to end. Origen was
called to Greece, probably about the year 228,3 upon what
Eusebius vaguely calls " the pressing need of ecclesiastical
affairs," * but which has generally been understood 5 to refer to
the prevalence of heretical views in the Church there, for the
eradication of which the assistance of Origen was invoked.
Before entering on this journey, he obtained letters of recom
mendation from his bishop.0 He passed through Palestine on
his way to Greece, and at Csesarea received at the hands of his
friends Alexander and Theoctistus the consecration to the
office of presbyter, — an honour which proved to him afterwards
1 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 23.
^ 2 Euseb. Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 21 : rxp J, wimv Wpty«f, a-Xe«rr* ts
ha, eis rqn tou Kvplov oo'fjai/ xxi rfc roX> hiov ZiiiwxccXuov UpST^s irilti£iL-
fili/os, i%\ rx; avvyiii; lamvle Zixrpi^a;.
8 Cf. Hefele, Encyclopaedic, etc., s.v. Origenes.
4 'Ews<yoiWr XPl>*S Ixxhwixorixoi/ htx.cc npayfixruv. '
5 Cf. Redepenning, vol. i. p. 406, etc. « Cf. ibid.

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxix
the source of much persecution and annoyance. No doubt the
motives of his friends were of the highest kind, and among
them may have been the desire to take away the ground of
objection formerly raised by Demetrius against the public
preaching of a mere layman in the presence of a bishop. But
they little dreamed of the storm which this act of theirs was to
raise, and of the consequences which it was to bring upon the
head of him whom they had sought to honour. After com
pleting his journey through Greece, Origen returned to Alex
andria about the year 230. Lie there found his bishop greatly
incensed against him for what had taken place at Csesarea.
Nor did his anger expend itself in mere objurgations and
rebukes. In the year 231 a synod was summoned by Deme
trius, composed of Egyptian bishops and Alexandrian presbyters,
who declared Origen unworthy to hold the office of teacher,
and excommunicated him from the fellowship of the church of
Alexandria. Even this did not satisfy the vindictive feeling
of Demetrius. He summoned a second synod, in which the
bishops alone were permitted to vote, and by their suffrages
Origen was degraded from the office of presbyter, and intima
tion of this sentence was ordered to be made by encyclical letter
to the various churches. The validity of the sentence was recog
nised by all of them, with the exception of those in Palestine,
Phoenicia, Arabia, and Achaia, — a remarkable proof of the
position of influence which was at that time held by the church
of Alexandria. Origen appears to have quitted the city before
the bursting of the storm, and betook himself to Csesarea, which
henceforth became his home, and the seat of his future labours
for a period of nearly a quarter of a century. The motives
which impelled Demetrius to this treatment of Origen have
been variously stated and variously criticised. Eusebius1 refers
his readers for a full account of all the matters involved to the
treatise which he and Pamphilus composed in his defence ; but
this work has not come down to us,2 although we possess a brief
notice of it in the Bibliotheca of Photius,3 from which we derive
our knowledge of the proceedings of the two synods. There
1 Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 22 and c. 33.
2 With the exception of the first book ; cf. Migne, vol. ix. pp. 542-632.
8 Cf. Photii Bibliotheca, ed. Hoeschel, p. 298.

xxx LIFE OF ORIGEN.
seems little reason to doubt that jealousy of interference on
the part of the bishops of another diocese was one main cause
of the resentment displayed by Demetrius ; while it is also
possible that another alleged cause, the heterodox character of
some of Origen's opinions, as made known in his already pub
lished works, among which were his Stromata and De Principiis,1
may have produced some effect upon the minds of the hostile
bishops. Hefele2 asserts that the act of the Palestinian bishops
was contrary to the Church law of the time, and that Demetrius
was justified on that ground for his procedure against him.
But it may well be doubted whether there was any generally
understood law or practice existing at so early a period of the
Church's history. If so, it is difficult to understand how it
should have been unknown to the Palestinian bishops ; or, on the
supposition of any such existing law or usage, it is equally
difficult to conceive that either they themselves or Origen
should have agreed to disregard it, knowing as they did the
jealous temper of Demetrius, displayed on the occasion of
Origen's preaching at Csesarea already referred to, and which
had drawn from the Alexandrine bishop an indignant remon
strance, in which he had asserted that such an act was " quite
unheard-of bsfore."3 To this statement the Cassarean bishops
had replied in a letter, in which they enumerated several in
stances of laymen who had addressed the congregation.4 The
probabilities, therefore, are in favour of there being no gene
rally understood law or practice on the subject, and that the
procedure, therefore, was dictated by hierarchical jealousy on
the part of Demetrius. According to Eusebius,5 indeed, the
act of mutilation already referred to was made a ground of
accusation against Origen ; and there seems no doubt that
there existed an old canon of the Church,6 based upon the words
in Deut. xxiii. 1, which rendered one who had committed such
an act ineligible for office in the Church. But there is no trace
1 Eusebius expressly mentions that both these works, among others,
were published before he left Alexandria. — Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 24.
2 s.v. Origenes.
3 Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 19. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. b. vi. c. 8.
6 o xxpcnnpiaax; iavrou pit ytviaQu x'Krjiiixo;. Cf. Redepennino' vol i
pp. 208, 216, 218.

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxxi
of this act, as disqualifying Origen for the office of presbyter,
having been urged by Demetrius, so far as can be discovered
from the notices of the two synods which have been pre
served by Rufinus and Photius ; and it seems extremely probable,
as Redepenning remarks,1 that if Demetrius were acquainted
with this act of Origen, as Eusebius says he was,2 he made no
public mention of it, far less that he made it a pretence for his
deposition. Demetrius did not long survive the execution of his ven
geance against his unfortunate catechist. He died about a
year afterwards, and was succeeded by Heraclas, the friend
and former pupil of Origen. It does not, however, appear that
Heraclas made any effort to have the sentence against Origen
recalled, so that he might return to the early seat of his labours.
Origen devoted himself at Csesarea chiefly to exegetical studies
upon the books of Scripture, enjoying the countenance and
friendship of the two bishops Alexander and Theoctistus, who
are said by Eusebius " to have attended him the whole time as
pupils do their master." He speedily raised the theological
school of that city to a degree of reputation which attracted
many pupils. Among those who placed themselves under his
instructions were two young Cappadocians, who had come to
Csesarea with other intentions, but who were so attracted by
the whole character and personality of Origen, that they im
mediately became his pupils. The former of these, afterwards
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of New Csesarea, has left us,
in the panegyric which he wrote after a discipleship of five
years, a full and admiring account of the method of his great
master. The persecution under the Emperor Maximin obliged Origen
to take refuge in Csesarea in Cappadocia, where he remained
in concealment about two years in the house of a Christian
lady named Juliana, who was the heiress of Symmachus, the
Ebionite translator of the Septuagint, and from whom he ob
tained several MSS. which had belonged to him. Here, also,
he composed his Exhortation to Martyrdom, which was expressly
written for the sake of his friends Ambrosius and Protoctetus,
who had been imprisoned on account of their Christian pro-
1 Cf. Redepenning, vol. i. p. 409, note 2. 2 Hist. Eccles. b. vi. c. 8.
3

xxxii LIFE OF ORIGEN.
fession, but who recovered their freedom after the death of
Maximin, — an event which allowed Origen to return to the
Palestinian Csesarea and to the prosecution of his labours. A
visit to Athens, where he seems to have remained some time,
and to Bostra in Arabia, in order to bring back to the true faith
Bishop Beryllus, who had expressed heterodox opinions upon
the subject of the divinity of Christ, and in which attempt he
proved successful, were the chief events of his life during the
next five years. On the outbreak of the Decian persecution,
however, in 249, he was imprisoned at Tyre, to which city he
had gone from Csesarea for some unknown reason, and was
made to suffer great cruelties by his persecutors. The effect
of these upon a frame worn out by ascetic labours may be
easily conceived. Although he survived his imprisonment, his
body was so weakened by his sufferings, that he died at Tyre
in 254, in the seventieth year of his age.
The character of Origen is singularly pure and noble ; for
his moral qualities are as remarkable as his intellectual gifts.
The history of the church records the names of few whose
patience and meekness under unmerited suffering were more
conspicuous than his. How very differently would Jerome
have acted under circumstances like those which led to Origen's
banishment from Alexandria ! and what a favourable contrast
is presented by the self-denying asceticism of his whole life, to
the sins which stained the early years of Augustine prior to his
conversion ! The impression which his whole personality made
upon those who came within the sphere of his influence is
evidenced in a remarkable degree by the admiring affection
displayed towards him by his friend Ambrose and his pupil
Gregory. Nor was it friends alone that he so impressed. To
him belongs the rare honour of convincing heretics of their
errors, and of leading them back to the church, — a result which
must have been due as much to the gentleness and earnestness
of his Christian character, as to the prodigious learning, mar
vellous acuteness, and logical power, which entitle him to be
regarded as the greatest of the Fathers. It is singular, indeed,
that a charge of heresy should have been brought, not only
after his death, but even during his life, against one who ren
dered such eminent services to the cause of orthodox Chris-

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxxiii
tianity. But this charge must be considered in reference to the
times when he lived and wrote. No General Council had yet
been held to settle authoritatively the doctrine of the church
upon any of those great questions, the discussion of which con
vulsed the Christian world during the two following centu
ries ; and in these circumstances greater latitude was naturally
permissible than would have been justifiable at a later period.
Moreover, a mind so speculative as that of Origen, and so
engrossed with the deepest and most difficult problems of human
thought, must sometimes have expressed itself in a way liable
to be misunderstood. But no doubt the chief cause of his
being regarded as a heretic is to be found in the haste with
which he allowed many of his writings to be published. Had
he considered more carefully what he intended to bring before
the public eye, less occasion would have been furnished to
objectors, and the memory of one of the greatest scholars and
most devoted Christians that the world has ever seen would have
been freed, to a great extent at least, from the reproach of heresy.
Origen was a very voluminous author. Jerome says that he
wrote more than any individual could read ; and Epiphanius
[Hares. Ixiv. 63) relates that his writings amounted to 6000
volumes, by which statement we are probably to understand
that every individual treatise, large or small, including each of
the numerous homilies, was counted as a separate volume.
The admiration entertained for him by his friend Ambrosius,
and the readiness with which the latter bore all the expenses of
transcription and publication, led Origen to give to the world
much which otherwise would never have seen the light.
The works of the great Adamantinus may be classed under
the following divisions : —
EXEGETICAL WORKS.
These comprise ^^oXia, brief notes on Scripture, of which
only fragments remain : Tofioi, Commentaries, lengthened ex
positions, of which we possess considerable portions, including
those on Matthew, John, and Epistle to the Romans ; and
about 200 Homilies, upon the principal books of the Old and
New Testaments, a full list of which may be seen in Migne's

xxxiv LIFE OF ORIGEN.
edition. In these works his peculiar system of interpretation
found ample scope for exercise ; and although he carried out hi?
principle of allegorizing many things, which in their historical
and literal signification offended his exegetical sense, he never
theless maintains that " the passages which hold good in their
historical acceptation are much more numerous than those
which contain a purely spiritual meaning ; " 1 and the student
will find much that is striking and suggestive in his remarks
upon the various passages which he brings under review. For
an account of his method of interpreting Scripture, and the
grounds on which he based it, the reader may consult the fourth
book of the treatise On the Principles.
CRITICAL WORKS.
The great critical work of Origen was the Hexapla or Six-
columned Bible, — an attempt to provide a revised text of the
Septuagint translation of Old Testament Scripture. On this
undertaking he is said to have spent eight-and-twenty years of
his life, and to have acquired a knowledge of Hebrew in order
to qualify himself for the task. Each page of this work con
sisted, with the exception to be noticed immediately, of sis
columns. In the first was placed the current Hebrew text;
in the second, the same represented in Greek letters ; in the
third, the version of Aquila ; in the fourth, that of Symmachus;
in the fifth, the text of the LXX., as it existed at the time ;
and in the sixth, the version of Theodotion. Having come into
possession also of certain other Greek translations of some of
the books of Scripture, he added these in their appropriate
place, so that the work presented in some parts the appearance
of seven, eight, or nine columns, and was termed Heptapla,
Octopla, or Enneapla, in consequence. He inserted critical
marks in the text of the LXX., an asterisk to denote what
ought to be added, and an obelus to denote what ought to
be omitted ; taking the additions chiefly from the version of
Theodotion. The work, with the omission of the Hebrew
column, and that representing the Hebrew in Greek letters,
was termed Tetrapla ; and with regard to it, it is uncertain
1 Origen's Works, vol. i. pp. 323-4 (Ante-Nicene Library).

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxxv
whether it is to be considered a preliminary work on the part
of Origen, undertaken by way of preparation for the larger, or
merely as an excerpt from the latter. The whole extended, it
is said, to nearly fifty volumes, and was, of course, far too bulky
for common use, and too costly for transcription. It was placed
in some repository in the city of Tyre, from which it was re
moved after Origen's death to the library at Csesarea, founded
by Pamphilus, the friend of Eusebius. It is supposed to have
been burnt at the capture of Csesarea by the Arabs in 653 a.d.
The column, however, containing the version of the LXX. had
been copied by Pamphilus and Eusebius, along with the critical
marks of Origen, although, owing to carelessness on the part
of subsequent transcribers, the text was soon again corrupted.
The remains of this work were published by Montfaucon at
Paris, 1713, 2 vols, folio ; by Bahrdt at Leipsic in 1769 ; and
is at present again in course of publication from the Clarendon
Press, Oxford, under the editorship of Mr. Field, who has made
use of the Syriac-Hexaplar version, and has added various
fragments not contained in prior editions. (For a full and
critical account of this work, the English reader is referred to
Dr. Sam. Davidson's Biblical Criticism, vol. i. ch. xii., which
has been made use of for the above notice.)
APOLOGETICAL WORKS.
His great apologetical work was the treatise undertaken at
the special request of his friend Ambrosius, in answer to the
attack of the heathen philosopher Celsus on the Christian
religion, in a work which he entitled Aoyos aXrjOijs, or A True
Discourse. Origen states that he had heard that there were
two individuals of this name, both of them Epicureans, the
earlier of the two having lived in the time of Nero, and the
other in the time of Adrian, or later.1 Redepenning is of
opinion that Celsus must have composed his work in the time
of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 a.d.), on account of his supposed
mention of the Marcionites (whose leader did not make his
appearance at Rome before 142 A.D.), and of the Marcellians
(followers of the Carpocratian Marcellina), a sect which was
1 Cf. Contra Celsum, i. c. viii. ad Jin.

xxxvi LIFE OF ORIGEN.
founded after the year 155 a.d. under Bishop Anicetus.1
Origen believed his opponent to be an Epicurean, but to have
adopted other doctrines than, those of Epicurus, because he
thought that by so doing he could assail Christianity to greater
advantage.2 The work which Origen composed in answer to
the so-styled True Discourse consists of eight books, and be
longs to the latest years of his life. It has always been regarded
as the great apologetic work of antiquity ; and no one can
peruse it without being struck by the multifarious reading, won
derful acuteness, and rare subtlety of mind which it displays.
But the rule which Origen prescribed to himself, of not allow
ing a single objection of his opponent to remain unanswered,
leads him into a minuteness of detail, and into numerous repeti
tions, which fatigue the reader, and detract from the interest
and unity of the work. He himself confesses that he began it
on one plan, and carried it out on another.3 No doubt, had
he lived to re-write and condense it, it would have been more
worthy of his reputation. But with all its defects, it is a great
work, and well deserves the notice of the students of Apolo
getics. The table of contents prefixed to the translation will
convey a better idea of its nature than any description which
o ur limits would permit us to give.
DOGMATIC WORKS.
These include the HTpco/jLaTeis, a work composed in imitation
of the treatise of Clement of the same name, and consisting
originally of ten books, of which only three fragments exist
in a Latin version by Jerome (Migne, vol. i. pp. 102-107) ; a
treatise on the Resurrection, of which four fragments remain
(Migne, vol. i. pp. 91-100) ; and the treatise lie pi 'ApX&v, De
Principiis, which contains Origen's views on the various ques
tions of systematic theology. The work has come down to us
in the Latin translation of his admirer Rufinus ; but, from a
comparison of the few fragments of the original Greek which
have been preserved, we see that Rufinus was justly chargeable
1 Cf. Redepenning, vol. ii. p. 131, note 2.
2 Contra Celsum, i. ch. viii.
3 Preface, § 6 ; cf. vol. i. p. 397.

LIFE OF ORIGEN. xxxvii
with altering many of Origen's expressions, in order to bring
his doctrine on certain points more into harmony with the
orthodox views of the time. The De Principiis consists of
four books, and is translated in the first volume of the works
of Origen in this series, to which we refer the reader.
PRACTICAL WORKS.
Under this head we place the little treatise Ilepl Ev^rj<;, On
Prayer, written at the instance of his friend Ambrose, and
which contains an exposition of the Lord's Prayer ; the A6yo<;
•7rpoTpeTTTiKo<> et? fiapTvpiov, Exhortation to Martyrdom, com
posed at the outbreak of the persecution by Maximian, when
his friends Ambrose and Protoctetus Were imprisoned. Of his
numerous letters only two have come down entire, viz. that
which was addressed to Julius Africanus, who had questioned
the genuineness of the history of Susanna in the apocryphal
additions to the book of Daniel, and that to Gregory Thauma-
turgus on the use of Greek philosophy in the explanation of
Scripture, although, from the brevity of the latter, it is ques
tionable whether it is more than a fragment of the original.
(Both of these are translated in the first volume of Origen's
works in this series.) The <fri\oKa\ia, Philocalia, was a com
pilation from the writings of Origen, intended to explain the
difficult passages of Scripture, and executed by Basil the Great
and Gregory of Nazianzus; large extracts of which have been
preserved, especially of that part which was taken from the
treatise against Celsus. The remains were first printed at
Paris in 1618, and again at Cambridge in 1676, in the reprint
of Spencer's edition of the Contra Celsum. In the Benedictine
edition, and in Migne's reprint, the various portions are quoted
in footnotes under the respective passages of Origen's writings.
EDITIONS OP ORIGEN.
The first published works of Origen were his Homilies, which
appeared in 1475, although neither the name of the publisher
nor the place of publication is given. These were followed by
the treatise against Celsus in the translation of Christopher
Persana, which appeared at Rome in 1481 ; and this, again, by

xxxviii LIFE OF ORIGEN.
an edition of the Homilies at Venice in 1503, containing those
on the four first books of Moses, Joshua, and Judges. The
first collective edition of the whole works was given to the
world in a Latin translation by James Merlin, and was pub
lished in two folio volumes, first at Paris in 1512 and 1519,
and afterwards at Paris in 1522 and 1530. A revision of
Merlin's edition was begun by Erasmus, and completed, after
his death, by Beatus Rhenanus. This appeared at Basle in
1536 in two folio volumes, and again in 1557 and 1571. A
much better and more complete edition was undertaken by the
Benedictine Gilbertus Genebrardus, which was published also in
two volumes folio at Paris in 1574, and again in 1604 and 1619.
Hoeschel published the treatise against Celsus at Augsburg in
1605 ; Spencer, at Cambridge in 1658 and 1677, to which was
added ,the Philocalia, which had first appeared in a Latin trans
lation by Genebrardus, and afterwards in Greek by Tarinus at
Paris in 1618 and 1624, in quarto. Huet, Bishop of Avranches,
published the exegetical writings in Greek, including the Com
mentaries on Matthew and John, in two volumes folio, of which
the one appeared at Rouen in 1668, and the other at Paris in
1679. The great edition by the two learned Benedictines of
St. Maur — Charles de la Rue, and his nephew Vincent de la
Rue — was published at Paris between the years 1733 and 1759.
This is a work of immense industry and labour, and remains
the standard to the present time. It has been reprinted by
Migne in his series of the Greek Fathers, in nine volumes, large
8vo. In Oberthiir's series of the Greek Fathers, seven volumes
contain the chief portion of Origen's writings; while Lom-
matzsch has published the whole in twenty-five small volumes,
Berlin 1831-48, containing the Greek text alone. — [Abridged
from Redepenning.]
For further information upon the life and opinions of Origen,
the reader may consult Redepenning's Origenes, 2 vols., Bonn
1841, 1846 ; the articles in Herzog's Encyclopddie and Wetzer's
and Wette's Kirclien-Lexikon, by Kling and Hefele respectively;
the brilliant sketch by Pressense in his Martyrs and Apologists
(Harwood's translation) ; and the learned compilation of Huet,
entitled Origeniana, to be found in the ninth volume of Migne's
edition.

ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS.

BOOK II.

Chapter i.

| HE first book of our answer to the treatise of Celsus,
entitled A True Discourse, which concluded with
the representation of the Jew addressing Jesus,
having now extended to a sufficient length, we in
tend the present part as a reply to the charges brought by him
against those who have been converted from Judaism to Chris
tianity. And we call attention, in the first place, to this
special question, viz. why Celsus, when he had once resolved
upon the introduction of individuals upon the stage of his book,
did not represent the Jew as addressing the converts from
heathenism rather than those from Judaism, seeing that his
discourse, if directed to us, would have appeared more likely
to produce an impression.1 But probably this claimant to
universal knowledge does not know what is appropriate in the
matter of such representations ; and therefore let us proceed
to consider what he has to say to the converts from Judaism.
He asserts that " they have forsaken the law of their fathers,
in consequence of their minds being led captive by Jesus ;
that they have been most ridiculously deceived, and that they
have become deserters to another name and to another mode of
liie." Here he has not observed that the Jewish converts have
not deserted the law of their fathers, inasmuch as they live
according to its prescriptions, receiving their very name from
the poverty of the law, according to the literal acceptation of
the word ; for Ebion signifies " poor" among the Jews,2 and
those Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the
name of Ebionites. Nay, Peter himself seems to have observed
1 KtDxi/ClTXTOS. 2 J113X.
ORIG. — VOL. II. A

2 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
for a considerable time the Jewish observances enjoined by the
law of Moses, not having yet learned from Jesus to ascend
from the law that is regulated according to the letter, to that
which is interpreted according to the spirit, — a fact which we
learn from the Acts of the Apostles. For on the day after the
angel of God appeared to Cornelius, suggesting to him "to
send to Joppa, to Simon surnamed Peter," Peter "went up
into the upper room to pray about the sixth hour. And he
became very hungry, and would have eaten : but while they
made ready he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and
a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great
sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth;
wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping
things of the earth, and fowls of the air. And there came a
voice to him, Rise, Peter ; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not
so, Lord ; for I have never eaten anything that is common or
unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second
time, What God hath cleansed, that call thou not common." 1
Now observe how, by this instance, Peter is represented as still
observing the Jewish customs respecting clean and unclean
animals. And from the narrative that follows, it is manifest
that he, as being yet a Jew, and living according to their tradi
tions, and despising those who were beyond the pale of Judaism,
stood in need of a vision to lead him to communicate to Cor
nelius (who was not an Israelite according to the flesh), and to
those who were with him, the word of faith. Moreover, in the
Epistle to the Galatians, Paul states that Peter, still from fear
of the Jews, ceased upon the arrival of James to eat with (he
Gentiles, and " separated himself from them, fearing them that
were of the circumcision;"2 and the rest of the Jews, and
Barnabas also, followed the same course. And certainly it
was quite consistent that those should not abstain from the
observance of Jewish usages who were sent to minister to the
circumcision, when they who " seemed to be pillars" gave the
right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas, in order that,
while devoting themselves to the circumcision, the latter might
preach to the Gentiles. And why do I mention that they who
preached to the circumcision withdrew and separated them-
i Cf. Acts x. 9-15. 2 Cf. Gal. ii. 12.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 3
selves from the heathen, when even Paul himself " became as a
Jew to the Jews, that he might gain the Jews % " Wherefore
also in the Acts of the Apostles it is related that he even
brought an offering to the altar, that he might satisfy the Jews
that he was no apostate from their law.1 Now, if Celsus had
been acquainted with all these circumstances, he would not
have represented the Jew holding such language as this to the
converts from Judaism : " What induced you, my fellow-
citizens, to abandon the law of your fathers, and to allow your
minds to be led captive by him with whom we have just con
versed, and thus be most ridiculously deluded, so as to become
deserters from us to another name, and to the practices of
another life?" Chapter ii.
Now, since we are upon the subject of Peter, and of the
teachers of Christianity to the circumcision, I do not deem it
out of place to quote a certain declaration of Jesus taken from
the Gospel according to John, and to give the explanation of
the same. For it is there related that Jesus said : " I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide
you into all the truth : for He shall not speak of Himself ; but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." 2 And when
we inquire what were the "many things" referred to in the
passage which Jesus had to say to His disciples, but which
they were not then able to bear, I have to observe that, pro
bably because the apostles were Jews, and had been trained
up according to the letter of the Mosaic law, He was unable
to tell them what was the true law, and how the Jewish wor
ship consisted in the pattern and shadow of certain heavenly
things, and how future blessings were foreshadowed by the
injunctions regarding meats and drinks, and festivals, and new
moons, and sabbaths. These were many of the subjects which
He had to explain to them ; but as He saw that it was a work
of exceeding difficulty to root out of the mind opinions that
have been almost born with a man, and amid which he has
been brought up till he reached the period of maturity, and
1 Cf. Acts xxi. 26. 2 John xvi. 12, 13.

4 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
which have produced in those who have adopted them the
belief that they are divine, and that it is an act of impiety to
overthrow them ; and to demonstrate by the superiority of
Christian doctrine, that is, by the truth, in a manner to.
convince the hearers, that such opinions were but "loss and
dung," He postponed such a task to a future season — to that,
namely, which followed His passion and resurrection. For the
bringing of aid unseasonably to those who were not yet capable
of receiving it, might have overturned the idea which they had
already formed of Jesus, as the Christ, and the Son of the
living God. And see if there is not some well-grounded
reason for such a statement as this, " I have many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now :" seeing there are
many points in the law which require to be explained and
cleared up in a spiritual sense, and these the disciples were in
a manner unable to bear, having been born and brought up
amongst Jews. I am of opinion, moreover, that since these
rites were typical, and the truth was that which was to be
taught them by the Holy Spirit, these words were added,
" When He is come who is the Spirit of truth, He will lead
you into all the truth;" as if He had said, into all the truth
about those things which, being to you but types, ye believed
to constitute a true worship which ye rendered unto God.
And so, according to the promise of Jesus, the Spirit of truth
came to Peter, saying to him, with regard to the four-footed
beasts, and creeping things of the earth, and fowls of the air:
"Arise, Peter; kill, and eat." And the Spirit came to him
while he was still in a state of superstitious ignorance ; for he
said, in answer to the divine command, " Not so, Lord ; for I
have never yet eaten anything common or unclean." He in
structed him, however, in the true and spiritual meaning of
meats, by saying, " What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common." And so, after that vision, the Spirit of truth, which
conducted Peter into all the truth, told him the many things
which he was unable to bear when Jesus was still with him in
the flesh. But I shall have another opportunity of explaining
those matters, which are connected with the literal acceptation
of the Mosaic law.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 5
Chapter hi.
Our present object, however, is to expose the ignorance of
Celsus, who makes this Jew of his address his fellow-citizen
and the Israelitish converts in the following manner : " What
induced you to abandon the law of your fathers ? " etc. Now,
how should they have abandoned the law of their fathers, who
are in the habit of rebuking those who do not listen to its com
mands, saying, " Tell me, ye who read the law, do ye not hear
the law ? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons ; " and
so on, down to the place, " which things are an allegory," 1 etc. ?
And how have they abandoned the law of their fathers, who
are ever speaking of the usages of their fathers in such words
as these : " Or does not the law say these things also % For
it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the
mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God care
for oxen ? or saith He it altogether for our sakes ? for for our
sakes it was written," and soon?2 Now, how confused is the
reasoning of the Jew in regard to these matters (although he
had it in his power to speak with greater effect) when he says :
" Certain among you ,have abandoned the usages of our fathers
under a pretence of explanations and allegories ; and some of you,
although, as ye pretend, interpreting them in a spiritual manner,
nevertheless do observe the customs of our fathers ; and some of
you, without any such interpretation, are willing to accept Jesus
as the subject of prophecy, and to keep the law of Moses accord
ing to the customs of the fathers, as having in the words the
whole mind of the Spirit." Now how was Celsus able to see
these things so clearly in this place, when in the subsequent parts
of his work he makes mention of certain godless heresies alto
gether alien from the doctrine of Jesus, and even of others which
leave the Creator out of account altogether, and does not appear
to know that there are Israelites who are converts to Chris
tianity, and who have not abandoned the law of their fathers ?
It was not his object to investigate everything here in the spirit
of truth, and to accept whatever he might find to be useful ;
but he composed these statements in the spirit of an enemy, and
with a desire to overthrow everything as soon as he heard it.
1 Gal. iv. 21, 22. 2 1 Cor. ix. 8.

6 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
Chapter iv.
The Jew, then, continues his address to converts from his
own nation thus : " Yesterday and the day before, when we
visited with punishment the man who deluded you, ye became
apostates from the law of your fathers ; " showing by such state
ments (as we have just demonstrated) anything but an exact
knowdedge of the truth. But what he advances afterwards
seems to have some force, when he says : " How is it that you
take the beginning of your system from our worship, and when
you have made some progress you treat it with disrespect,
although you have no other foundation to show for your doc
trines than our law?" Now, certainly the introduction to
Christianity is through the Mosaic worship and the prophetic
writings ; and after the introduction, it is in the interpretation
and explanation of these that progress takes place, while those
who are introduced prosecute their investigations into "the
mystery according to revelation, which was kept secret since
the world began, but now is made manifest in the Scriptures
of the prophets," 1 and by the appearance of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But they who advance in the knowledge of Chris
tianity do not, as ye allege, treat the things written in the
law with disrespect. On the contrary, they bestow upon them
greater honour, showing what a depth of wise and mysterious
reasons is contained in these writings, which are not fully
comprehended by the Jews, who treat them superficially, and
as if they were in some degree even fabulous.2 And what
absurdity should there be in our system — that is, the gospel-
having the law for its foundation, when even the Lord Jesus
Himself said to those who would not believe upon Him : " If
ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote
of me. But if ye do not believe his writings, how shall ye believe
my words?"8 Nay, even one of the evangelists— Mark-
says: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it
is written in the prophet Isaiah, Behold, I send my messenger
before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee,"4
1 Rom. xvi. 25.
2 -rav iictTrahxio-nptm x,at (tvOtxurspoii aiiro'ig hrvyxxnurau.
8 John ?• 46, 47. i Mark i. 1, 2.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 7
which shows that the beginning of the gospel is connected
with the Jewish writings. What force, then, is there in the
objection of the Jew of Celsus, that " if ' any one predicted
to us that the Son of God was to visit mankind, he was one of
our prophets, and the prophet of our God ? " Or how is it a
charge against Christianity, that John, who baptized Jesus, was
a Jew? For although Lie was a Jew, it does not follow that
every believer, whether a convert from heathenism or from
Judaism, must yield a literal obedience to the law of Moses.
Chapter v.
After these matters, although Celsus becomes tautological in
his statements about Jesus, repeating for the second time that
"he was punished by the Jews for his crimes," we shall not
again take up the defence, being satisfied with what we have
already said. But, in the next place, as this Jew of his dis
parages the doctrine regarding the resurrection of the dead, and
the divine judgment, and of the rewards to be bestowed upon
the just, and of the fire which is to devour the wicked, as being
stale1 opinions,. and thinks that he will overthrow Christianity
by asserting that there. is nothing new in its teaching upon
these points, we have to say to him, that our Lord, seeing the
conduct of the Jews not to be at all in keeping with the teaching
of the prophets, inculcated by a parable that the kingdom of
God would be taken from them, and given to the converts from
heathenism. For which reason, now, we may also see of a
truth that all the doctrines of the Jews of the present day are
mere trifles and fables,2 since they have not the light that pro
ceeds from the knowledge of the Scriptures ; whereas those of
the Christians are the truth, having power to raise and elevate
the soul and understanding of man, and to persuade him to
seek a citizenship, not like the earthly 3 Jews here below, but in
heaven. And this result shows itself among those who are able
to see the grandeur of the ideas contained in the law and the
prophets, and who are able to commend them to others.
Chapter vi.
But let it be granted that Jesus observed all the Jewish
1 iu'hc. 2 fiiiSov; xxi "h'/jpavi. 3 to/? xxtu ' lovixiois.

8 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
usages, including even their sacrificial observances, what does
that avail to prevent our recognising Him as the Son of God ?
Jesus, then, is the Son of God, who gave the law and the pro
phets ; and we, who belong to the church, do not transgress the
law, but have escaped the mythologizings 1 of the Jews, and
have our minds chastened and educated by the mystical con
templation of the law and the prophets. For the prophets
themselves, as not resting the sense of these words in the plain
history which they relate, nor in the legal enactments taken
according to the word and letter, express themselves somewhere,
when about to relate histories, in words like this, " I will open
my mouth-in parables, I will utter hard sayings of old ; " 2 and
in another place, when offering up a prayer regarding the law
as being obscure, and needing divine help for its comprehension,
they offer up this prayer, " Open Thou mine eyes, that I may
behold wondrous things out of Thy law." 3
Chapter vii.
Moreover, let them show where there is to be found even
the appearance of language dictated by arrogance,4 and pro
ceeding from Jesus. For how could an arrogant man thus
express himself, " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of
heart, and you shall find rest for your souls ? " 5 or how can
He be styled arrogant, who after supper laid aside His garments
in the presence of His disciples, and, after girding Himself
with a towel, and pouring water into a basin, proceeded to wash
the feet of each disciple, and rebuked him who was unwilling
to allow them to be washed, with the words, " Except I wash
thee, thou hast no part with me?"6 Or how could He be
called such who said, "I was amongst you, not as he that
sitteth at meat, but as he that serveth ? " 7 And let any one
show what were the falsehoods which He uttered, and let him
point out what are great and what are small falsehoods, that he
may prove Jesus to have been guilty of the former. And there
is yet another way in which we may confute him. For as one
falsehood is not less or more false than another, so one truth
is not less or more true than another. And what charges of
1 pvSo-Koylxs. 2 Ps. lxxvii. 2. « Ps. cxix. 18. * *x«£W«.
5 Matt. xi. 29. « John msl,, ? Luke xxii. 27

Book ii.] ORIGEN A GAINST CELSUS. 9
impiety he has to bring against Jesus, let the Jew of Celsus
especially bring forward. Was it impious to abstain from cor
poreal circumcision, and from a literal Sabbath, and literal
festivals, and literal new moons, and from clean and unclean
meats, and to turn the mind to the good and true and spiritual
law of God, while at the same time he who was an ambassador
for Christ knew how to become to the Jews as a Jew, that he
might gain the Jews, and to those who are under the law, as
under the law, that he might gain those who are under the law ?
Chapter viii.
He says, further, that " many other persons would appear
such as Jesus was, to those who were willing to be deceived."
Let this Jew of Celsus then show us, not many persons, nor
even a few, but a single individual, such as Jesus was, intro
ducing among the human race, with the power that was mani
fested in Him, a system of doctrine and opinions beneficial to
human life, and which converts men from the practice of
wickedness. He says, moreover, that this charge is brought
against the Jews by the Christian converts, that they have not
believed in Jesus as in God. Now on this point we have, in
the preceding pages, offered a preliminary defence, showing at
the same time in what respects we understand Him to be God,
and in what we take Him to be man. " How should we," he
continues, " who have made known to all men that there is to
come from God one who is to punish the wicked, treat him with
disregard when he came ? " And to this, as an exceedingly
silly argument, it does not seem to me reasonable to offer any
answer. It is as if some one were to say, " How could we, who
teach temperance, commit any act of licentiousness ? or we,
who are ambassadors for righteousness, be guilty of any wicked
ness ? " For as these inconsistencies are found among men,
so, to say that they believed the prophets when speaking of the
future advent of Christ, and yet refused their belief to Him
when He came, agreeably to prophetic statement, was quite in
keeping with human nature. And since we must add another
reason, we shall remark that this very result was foretold by
the prophets. Isaiah distinctly declares : " Hearing ye shall
hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and

10 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
shall not perceive : for the heart of this people has become
fat,"1 etc. And let them explain why it was predicted to the
Jews, that although they both heard and saw, they would
not understand what was said, nor perceive what was seen as
they ought. For it is indeed manifest, that when they beheld
Jesus they did not see who He was ; and when they heard Him,
'they did not understand from Llis words the divinity that was
in Him, and which transferred God's providential care, hitherto
exercised over the Jews, to His converts from the heathen.
Therefore we may see, that after the advent of Jesus the Jews
were altogether abandoned, and possess now none of what
were considered their ancient glories, so that there is no indi
cation of any Divinity abiding amongst them. For they have
no longer prophets nor miracles, traces of which to a consider
able extent are still found among Christians, and some of them
more remarkable than any that existed among the Jews ; and
these we ourselves have witnessed, if our testimony may be
received. But the Jew of Celsus exclaims : " Why did we
treat him, whom we announced beforehand, with dishonour ?
Was it that we might be chastised more than others ? " To
which we have to answer, that on account of their unbelief,
and the other insults which they heaped upon Jesus, the Jews
will not only suffer more than others in that judgment which
is believed to impend over the world, but have even already
endured such sufferings. For what nation is an exile from
their own metropolis, and from the place sacred to the worship
of their fathers, save the Jews alone ? And these calamities
they have suffered, because they were a most wicked nation,
which, although guilty of many other sins, yet has been punished
so severely for none, as for those that were committed against
our Jesus. Chapter ix.
_ The Jew continues his discourse thus : " How should we
deem him to be a God, who not only in other respects, as was
currently reported, performed none of his promises, but who also,
after we had convicted him, and condemned him as deserving
of punishment, was found attempting to conceal himself, and
1 Isa. vi. 9.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 11
endeavouring to escape in a most disgraceful manner, and who
was betrayed by those whom he called disciples ? And yet,"
he continues, " he who was a God could neither flee nor be
led away a prisoner ; and least of all could he be deserted and
delivered up by those who had been his associates, and had
shared all things in common, and had had him for their teacher,
who was deemed to be a Saviour, and a Son of the greatest
God, and an angel." To which we reply, that even we do not
suppose the body of Jesus, which was then an object of sight
and perception, to have been God. And why do I say His
body ? Nay, not even His soul, of which it is related, " My
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."1 But as, accord
ing to the Jewish manner of speaking, " I am the Lord, the
God of all flesh," and, " Before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me," God is believed to be He
who employs the soul and body of the prophet as an instru
ment ; and as, according to the Greeks, he who says,
" I know both the number of the sand, and the measures of the sea,
And I understand a dumb man, and hear him who does not speak,"2
is considered to be a god when speaking, and making himself
heard through the Pythian priestess ; so, according to our view,
it was the Logos God, and Son of the God of all things, who
spake in Jesus these words, " I am the way, and the truth,
and the life ;" and these, " I am the door ; " and these, " I am
the living bread that came down from heaven ;" and other
expressions similar to these. We therefore charge the Jews
with not acknowledging Him to be God, to whom testimony
was borne in many passages by the prophets, to the effect that
He was a mighty power, and a God next to3 the God and
1 Matt. xxvi. 38. s Herodot. b. i. 47.
3 xxi ©esV x.xtx roy -ran ohuv ©ton xxi Kxripx. " Ex mente Origenis,
inquit Boherellus, vertendum ' Secundo post universi Deum atque paren-
tem loco ;' non cnm interprete Gelenio, ' Ipsius rerum universarum Dei
atque Parentis testimonio.' Nam si hie esset sensus, frustra post vvo ran
•npatywosv, adderetur xxrx rou ©sou. Prseterea, hsec epitheta, to* rZu ohuv
©ton xxi Trxrkpx, manifestam continent antithesih ad ista, ptyxhtw oi/rx
livxfiiu xxi ©tiv, ut Pater supra Filium evehatur, quemadmodum evehitur
ab Origene infra libro octavo, num. 15. ToS, xxra, iaferiorem ordinem
denotantis exempla afferre supersedeo, cum obvia sint." — RlUEUS.

12 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
Father of all things. For we assert that it was to Him the
Father gave the command, when in the Mosaic account of the
creation He uttered the words, " Let there be light," and
" Let there be a firmament," and gave the injunctions with
regard to those other creative acts which were performed ; and
that to Him also were addressed the words, " Let us make
man in our own image and likeness ;" and that the Logos,
when commanded, obeyed all the Father's will. And we make
these statements not from our own conjectures, but because we
believe the prophecies circulated among the Jews, in which it
is said of God, and of the works of creation, in express words,
as follows : " He spake, and they were made ; He commanded,
and they were created."1 Now if God gave the command, and
the creatures were formed, who, according to the view of the
spirit of prophecy, could he be that was able to carry out such
commands of the Father, save Him who, so to speak, is the
living Logos and the Truth ? And that the Gospels do not
consider him who in Jesus said these words, " I am the way,
and the truth, and the life," to have been of so circumscribed
a nature,2 as to have an existence nowhere out of the soul and
body of Jesus, is evident both from many considerations, and
from a few instances of the following kind which we shall
quote. John the Baptist, when predicting that the Son of God
was to appear immediately, not in that body and soul, but as
manifesting Himself everywhere, says regarding Him : " There
stands in the midst of you One whom ye know not, who cometh
after me." 3 For if he had thought that the Son of God was
only there, where was the visible body of Jesus, how could he
have said, " There stands in the midst of you One whom ye
know not ? " And Jesus Himself, in raising the minds of His
disciples to higher thoughts of the Son of God, says : " Where
two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of you."4 And of the same nature is His promise to
His disciples : " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end
of the world."5 And we quote these passages, making no dis
tinction between the Son of God and Jesus. - For the soul and
body of Jesus formed, after the ol/covo/j,ia, one being with the
1 Ps. cxlviii. 5. 2 Ti-spiyiypx/xpchov tiux. s John i. 26.
4 Matt, xviii. 20. s Matt, xxviii. 20.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 13
Logos of God. Now if, according to Paul's teaching, " he
that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit," 1 every one who
understands what being joined to the Lord is, and who has been
actually joined to Him, is one spirit with the Lord ; how should
net that being be one in a far greater and more divine degree,
which was once united with the Logos of God ? 2 He, indeed,
manifested Himself among the Jews as the power of God, by
the miracles which He performed, which Celsus suspected were
accomplished by sorcery, but which by the Jews of that time
were attributed, I know not why, to Beelzebub, in the words :
" He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of the
devils." 3 But these our Saviour convicted of uttering the
greatest absurdities, from the fact that the kingdom of evil was
not yet come to an end. And this will be evident to all intelli-
' gent readers of the Gospel narrative, which it is not now the
time to explain.
Chapter x.
But what promise did Jesus make which He did not per
form ? Let Celsus produce any instance of such, and make
good his charge. But he will be unable to do so, especially
since it is from mistakes, arising either from misapprehension
of the Gospel narratives, or from Jewish stories, that he
thinks to derive the charges which he brings against Jesus or
against ourselves. Moreover, again, when the Jew says, " We
both found him guilty, and condemned him as deserving of
death," let them show how they who sought to concoct false
witness against Him proved Him to be guilty. Was not the
great charge against Jesus, which His accusers brought for
ward, this, that He said, " I am able to destroy the temple of
God, and after three days to raise it up again? "4 But in so
saying, He spake of the temple of His body ; while they thought,
not being able to understand the meaning of the speaker, that
1 1 Cor. vi. 16.
2 si yxp XX7X rojy Hxvhov Zthxaxx'Kixii, "KtyovTOi' " 6 xoTChupczvoq ru xvpia,
\ti irvivpcx iurf" irx; 6 voqaas ii to xoXkxaDui tZ xvpi'a, xxi xoXXjj^ei? xvtu,
tv tuTt Twivfix irpoz TO'J xvpiov' -Trcjg ov toAAw pixKhou QsiOTtpug xxi fm'^ovuiq
't» ISTI TO 5T0T£ SVv6tT0U irpog tou T\oyov Toil ©toil ;
3 Matt. xii. 24. 4 Matt. xxvi. 61.

14 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
His reference was to the temple of stone, which was treated by
the Jews with greater respect than He was who ought to have
been honoured as the true Temple of God — the Word, and the
Wisdom, and the Truth. And who can say that " Jesus
attempted to make His escape by disgracefully concealing
Himself ? " Let any one point to an act deserving to be called
disgraceful. And when he adds, " he was taken prisoner,"
I would say that, if to be taken prisoner implies an act done
against one's will, then Jesus was not taken prisoner ; for at
the fitting time He did not prevent Himself falling into the
hands of men, as the Lamb of God, that He might take away
the sin of the world. For, knowing all things that were to
come upon Him, He went forth, and said to them, " Whom
seek ye? " and they answered, " Jesus of Nazareth;" and He
said unto them, " I am He." And Judas also, who betrayed
Him, was standing with them. When, therefore, He had said
to them, " I am He," they went backwards and fell to the
ground. Again He asked them, " Whom seek ye ? " and they
said again, " Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, " I told
you I am Lie ; if then ye seek me, let these go away." x Nay,
even to him who wished to help Llim, and who smote the high
priest's servant, and cut off his ear, He said : " Put up thy
sword into its sheath : for all they who draw the sword shall
perish by the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot even now
pray to my Father, and He will presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels ? But how then should the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be ? " 2 And if any one imagines
these statements to be inventions of the writers of the Gospels,
why should not those statements rather be regarded as inven
tions which proceeded from a spirit of hatred and hostility
against Jesus and the Christians ? and these the truth, which
proceed from those who manifest the sincerity of their feelings
towards Jesus, by enduring everything, whatever it may be, for
the sake of His words ? For the reception by the disciples of
such power of endurance and resolution continued even to death,
with a disposition of mind that would not invent regarding their
Teacher what was not true, is a very evident proof to all candid
judges that they were fully persuaded of the truth of what they
1 John xviii. 4 sqq. 2 jjatt. xxvi. 52-54.

Book n.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 15
wrote, seeing they submitted to trials so numerous and so severe,
for the sake of Him whom they believed to be the Son of God.
Chapter xi.
In the next place, that He was betrayed by those whom He
called His disciples, is a circumstance which the Jew of Celsus
learned from the Gospels ; calling the one Judas, however,
" many disciples," that he might seem to add force to the accu
sation. Nor did he trouble himself to take note of all that is
related concerning Judas; how this Judas, having come to
entertain opposite and conflicting opinions regarding his Master,
neither opposed Him with his whole soul, nor yet with his
whole soul preserved the respect due by a pupil to his teacher.
For he that betrayed Him gave to the multitude that came to
apprehend Jesus, a sign, saying, " Whomsoever I shall kiss, it
is he ; seize ye him," — retaining still some element of respect for
his Master : for unless he had done so, he would have betrayed
Him, even publicly, without any pretence of affection. This
circumstance, therefore, will satisfy all with regard to the pur
pose of Judas, that along with his covetous disposition, and his
wicked design to betray his Master, he had still a feeling of a
mixed character in his mind, produced in him by the words of
Jesus, which had the appearance (so to speak) of some remnant
of good. For it is related that, " when Judas, who betrayed
Him, knew that He was condemned, he repented, and brought
back the thirty pieces of silver to the high priest and elders,
saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. But they said, What is that to us ? see thou to that ; " x
— and that, having thrown the money down in the temple, he
departed, and went and hanged himself. But if this covetous
Judas, who also stole the money placed in the bag for the relief
of the poor, repented, and brought back the thirty pieces of
silver to the chief priests and elders, it is clear that the instruc
tions of Jesus had been able to produce some feeling of repent
ance in his mind, and were not altogether despised and loathed
by this traitor. Nay, the declaration, " I have sinned, in that
I have betrayed the innocent blood," was a public acknowledg
ment of his crime. Observe, also, how exceedingly passionate 2
1 Matt, xxvii. 3-5. 2 Oixirvpo; xxi o-cpoZpx.

16 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
was the sorrow for his sins that proceeded from that repentance,
and which would not suffer him any longer to live ; and how,
after he had cast the money down in the temple, he withdrew,
and went away and hanged himself : for he passed sentence upon
himself, showing what a power the teaching of Jesus had over
this sinner Judas, this thief and traitor, who could not always
treat with contempt what he had learned from Jesus. Will
Celsus and his friends now say that those proofs which show
that the apostasy of Judas was not a complete apostasy, even
after his attempts against his Master, are inventions, and that
this alone is true, viz. that one of His disciples betrayed Him ;
and will they add to the scriptural account that he betrayed
Him also with his whole heart ? To act in this spirit of hostility
with the same writings, both as to what we are to believe and
what we are not to believe, is absurd.1 And if we must make
a statement regarding Judas which may overwhelm our oppo
nents with shame, we would say that, in the book of Psalms,
the whole of the 108th contains a prophecy about Judas, the
beginning of which is this : " O God, hold not Thy peace be
fore my praise; for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of
the crafty man, are opened against me." 2 And it is predicted
in this psalm, both that Judas separated himself from the num
ber of tile apostles on account of his sins, and that another was
selected in his place ; and this is shown by the words : " And
his bishopric let another take."3 But suppose now that He
had been betrayed by some one of His disciples, who was
possessed by a worse spirit than Judas, and who had completely
poured out, as it were, all the words which he had heard from
Jesus, what would this contribute to an accusation against
Jesus or the Christian religion? And how will this demon
strate its doctrine to be false ? We have replied in the preced
ing chapter to the statements which follow this, showing that
Jesus was not taken prisoner when attempting to flee, but that
Lie gave Himself up voluntarily for the sake of us all. Whence
it follows, that even if He were bound, He was bound agree
ably to His own will ; thus teaching us the lesson that we should
undertake similar things for the sake of religion in no spirit of
unwillingness. 2 Ps. cix. 1, 2. 3 Ps. cix. 8.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 17
Chapter xii.
And the following appear to me to be childish assertions, viz.
that " no good general and leader of great multitudes was ever
betrayed ; nor even a wicked captain of robbers and commander
of very wicked men, who seemed to be of any use to his asso
ciates ; but Jesus, having been betrayed by his subordinates,
neither governed like a good general, nor, after deceiving his
disciples, produced in the minds of the victims of his deceit
that feeling of good-will which, so to speak, would be mani
fested towards a brigand chief." Now one might find many
accounts of generals who were betrayed by their own soldiers,
and of robber chiefs who were captured through the instru
mentality of those who did not keep their bargains with them.
But grant that no general or robber chief was ever betrayed,
what does that contribute to the establishment of the fact as a
charge against Jesus, that one of His disciples became His be
trayer ? And since Celsus makes an ostentatious exhibition of
philosophy, I would ask of him, If, then, it was a charge against
Plato, that Aristotle, after being his pupil for twenty years,
went away and assailed his doctrine of the immortality of the
soul, and styled the ideas of Plato the merest trifling?1 And
if I were still in doubt, I would continue thus : Was Plato no
longer mighty in dialectics, nor able to defend his views, after
Aristotle had taken his departure ; and, on that account, are the
opinions of Plato false ? Or may it not be, that while Plato
is true, as the pupils of his philosophy would maintain, Aristotle
was guilty of wickedness and ingratitude towards his teacher ?
Nay, Chrysippus also, in many places of his writings, appears
to assail Cleanthes, introducing novel opinions opposed to his
views, although the latter had been his teacher when he was a
young man, and began the study of philosophy. Aristotle,
indeed, is said to have been Plato's pupil for twenty years, and
no inconsiderable period was spent by Chrysippus in the school
of Cleanthes ; while Judas did not remain so much as three
years with Jesus. But from the narratives of the lives of
philosophers we might take many instances similar to those on
which Celsus founds a charge against Jesus on account of
1 TipiTlOl&XTa.
ORIOI — VOL. II. B

18 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
Judas. Even the Pythagoreans erected cenotaphs1 to those
who, after betaking themselves to philosophy, fell back again
into their ignorant mode of life ; and yet neither was Pythagoras
nor his followers, on that account, weak in argument and de
monstration.
Chapter xiii.
This Jew of Celsus continues, after the above, in the follow
ing fashion : " Although he could state many- things regarding
the events of the life of Jesus which are true, and not like those
which are recorded by the disciples, he willingly omits them."
What, then, are those true statements, unlike the accounts in
the Gospels, which the Jew of Celsus passes by without men
tion ? Or is he only employing what appears to be a figure of
speech,2 in pretending to have something to say, while in reality
he had nothing to produce beyond the Gospel narrative which
could impress the hearer with a feeling of its truth, and furnish
a clear ground of accusation against Jesus and His doctrine?
And he charges the disciples with having invented the state
ment that Jesus foreknew and foretold all that happened to
Him; but the truth of this statement we shall establish, although?
Celsus may not like it, by means of many other predictions
uttered by the Saviour, in which He foretold what would befall
the Christians in after generations. And who is there who
would not be astonished at this prediction : " Ye shall be
brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testi
mony against them and the Gentiles ;"3 and at any others which
He may have delivered respecting the future persecution of His
disciples? For what system of opinions ever existed among
men on account of which others are punished, so that any
one of the accusers of Jesus could say that, foreseeing the
impiety or falsity of his opinions to be the ground of an accu
sation against them, he thought that this would redound to his
credit, that he had so predicted regarding it long before ? Now
if any deserve to be brought, on account of their opinions,:
before governors and kings, what others are they, save the
Epicureans, who altogether deny the existence of providence?
1 Cf. Clem. Alex. Strom, v. c. ix.
2 Zoxowy Iuvotuti pnTopixvj. 3 jfatt. x. 18.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 19
And also the Peripatetics, who say that prayers are of no
avail, and sacrifices offered as to the Divinity ? But some one
will say that the Samaritans suffer persecution because of their
religion. In answer to whom we shall state that the Sicarians,1
on account of the practice of circumcision, as mutilating them
selves contrary to the established laws and the customs per
mitted to the Jews alone, are put to death. And you never
hear a judge inquiring whether a Sicarian who strives to live
according to this established religion of his will be released
from punishment if he apostatizes, but will be led away to
death if he continues firm; for the evidence of the circum
cision is sufficient to ensure the death of him who has under
gone it. But Christians alone, according to the prediction of
their Saviour, " Ye shall be brought before governors and kings
for my sake," are urged up to their last breath by their judges
to deny Christianity, and to sacrifice according to the public
customs ; and after the oath of abjuration, to return to their
homes, and to live in safety. And observe whether it is not
with great authority that this declaration is uttered : " Whoso
ever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess
also before my Father who is in heaven. And whosoever shall
deny me before men," 2 etc. And go back with me in thought
to Jesus when He uttered these words, and see His predictions
not yet accomplished. Perhaps you will say, in a spirit of
incredulity, that he is talking folly, and speaking to no purpose,
for his words will have no fulfilment ; or, being in doubt about
assenting to his words, you will say, that if these predictions
be fulfilled, and the doctrine of Jesus be established, so that
governors and kings think of destroying those who acknowledge
Jesus, then we shall believe that he utters these prophecies as
one who has received great power from God to implant this doc
trine among the human race, and as believing that it will prevail.
And who will not be filled with wonder, when he goes back in
thought to Him who then taught and said, " This gospel shall
be preached throughout the whole world, for a testimony against
1 Modestinus, lib. vi. Regularum, ad legem Corneliam de Sicariis: " Cir-
cumeidere filios suos Judseis tantum rescripto divi Pii permittitur : in non
ejusdem religionis qui hoc fecerit, castrantis poena irrogatur.''
2 Matt. x. 18.

20 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
them and the Gentiles," and beholds, agreeably to His words;
the gospel of Jesus Christ preached in the whole world under
heaven to Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish alike ? For
the word, spoken with power, has gained the mastery over men
of all sorts of nature, and it is impossible to see any race of
men which has escaped accepting the teaching of Jesus. But
let this Jew of Celsus, who does not believe that He foreknew
all that happened to Him, consider how, while Jerusalem was
still standing, and the whole Jewish worship celebrated in it,
Jesus foretold what would befall it from the hand of the
Romans. For they will not maintain that the acquaintances
and pupils of Jesus Himself handed down His teaching con
tained in the Gospels without committing it to writing, and
left His disciples without the memoirs of Jesus contained in
their works. Now in these it is recorded, that " when ye shall
see Jerusalem compassed about with armies, then shall ye know
that the desolation thereof is nigh." 1 But at that time there
were no armies around Jerusalem, encompassing and enclosing
and besieging it ; for the siege began in the reign of Nero,
and lasted till the government of Vespasian, whose son Titus
destroyed Jerusalem, on account, as Josephus says, of James
the Just, the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, but in
reality, as the truth makes clear, on account of Jesus Christ
the Son of God.
Chapter xiv.
Celsus, however, accepting or granting that Jesus foreknew
what would befall Him, might think to make light of the ad
mission, as he did in the case of the miracles, when he alleged
that they were wrought by means of sorcery ; for he might say
that many persons by means of divination, either by auspices,
or auguries, or sacrifices, or nativities, have come to the know
ledge of what was to happen. But this concession he would
not make, as being too great a one ; and although he somehow
granted that Jesus worked miracles, he thought to weaken the
force of this by the charge of sorcery. Now Phlegon, in the
thirteenth or fourteenth book, I think, of his Chronicles, not
only ascribed to Jesus a knowledge of future events (although
1 Matt. xxiv. 14.

Book ii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 21
falling into confusion about some things which refer to Peter,
as if they referred to Jesus), but also testified that the result
corresponded to His predictions. So that he also, by these
very admissions regarding foreknowledge, as if against his
will, expressed his opinion that the doctrines taught by the
fathers of our system were not devoid of divine power.
Chapter xv.
Celsus continues : " The disciples of Jesus, having no un
doubted fact on which to rely, devised the fiction that he
foreknew everything before it happened;" not observing, or
not wishing to observe, the love of truth which actuated the
writers, who acknowledged that Jesus had told His disciples
beforehand, "All ye shall be offended because of me this
night," — a statement which was fulfilled by their all being
offended ; and that He predicted to Peter, " Before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice," which was followed by
Peter's threefold denial. Now if they had not been lovers of
truth, but, as Celsus supposes, inventors of fictions, they would
not have represented Peter as denying, nor His disciples as
being offended. For although these events actually happened,
who could have proved that they turned out in that manner ?
And yet, according to all probability, these were matters which
ought to have been passed over in silence by men who wished
to teach the readers of the Gospels to despise death for the sake
of confessing Christianity. But now, seeing that the word, by
its power, will gain the mastery over men, they related those
facts which they have done, and which, I know not how, were
neither to do any harm to their readers, nor to afford any pre
text for denial.
Chapter xvi.
Exceedingly weak is his assertion, that "the disciples of
Jesus wrote such accounts regarding him, by way of extenuat
ing the charges that told against him : as if," he says, " any
one were to say that a certain person was a just man, and yet
were to show that he was guilty of injustice ; or that he was
pious, and yet had committed murder; or that he was im
mortal, and yet was dead ; subjoining to all these statements

22 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
the remark that he had foretold all these things." Now his
illustrations are at once seen to be inappropriate ; for there is
no absurdity in Him who had resolved that He would become
a living pattern to men, as to the manner in which they were
to regulate their lives, showing also how they ought to die for
the sake of their religion, apart altogether from the fact that His
death on behalf of men was a benefit to the whole world, as we
proved in the preceding book. He imagines, moreover, that
the whole of the confession of the Saviour's sufferings confirms
his objection instead of weakening it. For he is not acquainted
either with the philosophical remarks of Paul,1 or the state
ments of the prophets, on this subject. And it escaped him
that certain heretics have declared that Jesus underwent His
sufferings in appearance, not in reality. For had he known,
he would not have said : " For ye do not even allege this, that
he seemed to wicked men to suffer this punishment, though
not undergoing it in reality ; but, on the contrary, ye acknow
ledge that he openly suffered." But we do not view His suf
ferings as having been merely in appearance, in order that His
resurrection also may not be a false, but a real event. For he
who really died, actually arose, if he did arise ; whereas he
who appeared only to have died, did not in reality arise. But
since the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a subject of mockery
to unbelievers, we shall quote the words of Plato,2 that Herus
the son of Armenius rose from the funeral pile twelve days
after he had been laid upon it, and gave an account of what
he had seen in Hades ; and as we are replying to unbelievers,
it will not be altogether useless to refer in this place to what
Heraclides 3 relates respecting the woman who was deprived of
life. And many persons are recorded to have risen from their
tombs, not only on the day of their burial, but also on the day
following. What wonder is it, then, if in the case of one who
performed many marvellous things, both beyond the power of
man and with such fulness of evidence, that he who could not
deny their performance, endeavoured to calumniate them by
comparing them to acts of sorcery, should have manifested also
in His death some greater display of divine power, so that His
1 oax ittpl tovtov xxi "rcxpac tu Tlxv'kq •KttyChoioty-rrtxi.
a Cf. Plato, de Rep. x. 3 Cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. vii. c. 52.

Booku.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 23
soul, if it pleased, might leave its body, and having performed
certain offices out of it, might return again at pleasure? And
such a declaration is Jesus said to have made in the Gospel of
John, when He said : " No man taketh my life from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again."1 And perhaps it was on this
account that He hastened His departure from the body, that
He might preserve it, and that His legs might not be broken,
as were those of the robbers who were crucified with Him.
" For the soldiers broke the legs of the first, and of the other
who was crucified with Him ; but when they came to Jesus,
and saw that He was dead, they brake" not His legs." 2 We
have accordingly answered the question, " How is it credible
that Jesus could have predicted these things?" And with
respect to this, " How could the dead man be immortal ?"
let him who wishes to understand know, that it is not the
dead man who is immortal, but He who rose from the dead.
So far, indeed, was the dead man from being immortal, that
even the Jesus before His decease — the compound being, who
was to suffer death — was not immortal.3 For no one is im
mortal who is destined to die; but he is immortal when he
shall no longer be subject to death. But " Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more : death hath no more dominion
over Him;"4 although those may be unwilling to admit this
who cannot understand how such things should be said.
Chapter xvii.
Extremely foolish also is his remark, " What God, or spirit,
or prudent man would not, on foreseeing that such events were
to befall him, avoid them if he could ; whereas he threw him
self headlong into those things which he knew beforehand were
to happen ? " And yet Socrates knew that he would die after
drinking the hemlock, and it was in his power, if he had
allowed himself to be persuaded by Crito, by escaping from
prison, to avoid these calamities ; but nevertheless he decided,
1 John x. 18. • 2 John xix. 52.
8 Ou pcos/oy ovv oirfc 6 vsxpog xdxvxTOg, xKK1 ovh''6 irpo tov titxpov 'Iviffovg 6
eiudtTog xOxi/xto; %t>, o? yi tpcth'he Tthii^taSxi.
i Rom. vi. 9.

24 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
as it appeared to him consistent with right reason, that it was
better for him to die as became a philosopher, than to retain his
life in a manner unbecoming one. Leonidas also, the Lace
demonian general, knowing that he was on the point of dying
with his followers at Thermopylae, did not make any effort
to preserve his life by disgraceful means, but said to his com
panions, " Let us go to breakfast, as we shall sup in Hades."
And those who are interested in collecting stories of this kind,
will find numbers of them. Now, where is the wonder if
Jesus, knowing all things that were to happen, did not avoid
them, but encountered what He foreknew ; when Paul, His
own disciple, having heard what would befall him when he
went up to Jerusalem, proceeded to face the danger, reproach
ing those who were weeping around him, and endeavouring to
prevent him from going up to Jerusalem ? Many also of our
contemporaries, knowing well that if they made a confession
of Christianity they would be put to death, but that if they
denied it they would be liberated, and their property restored,
despised life, and voluntarily selected death for the sake of
their religion. Chapter xviii.
After this the Jew makes another silly remark, saying,
" How is it that, if Jesus pointed out beforehand both the
traitor and the perjurer, they did not fear him as a God, and
cease, the one from his intended treason, and the other from
his perjury ? " Here the learned Celsus did not see the con
tradiction in his statement : for if Jesus foreknew events as a
God, then it was impossible for His foreknowledge to prove
untrue; and therefore it was impossible for him who was
known to Him as going to betray Him not to execute his
purpose, nor for him who was rebuked as going to deny Him
not to have been guilty of that crime. For if it had' been
possible for the one to abstain from the act of betrayal, and
the other from that of denial, as having been warned of the
consequences of these actions beforehand, then His words were
no longer true, who predicted that the one would betray Him
and the other deny Him. For if He had foreknowledge of
the traitor, He knew the wickedness in which the treason

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 25
originated, and this wickedness was by no means taken away
by the foreknowledge. And, again, if He had ascertained
that one would deny Him, He made that prediction from
seeing the weakness out of which that act of denial would
arise, and yet this weakness was not to be taken away thus
at once1 by the foreknowledge. But whence he derived the
statement, " that these persons betrayed and denied him with
out manifesting any concern about him," I know not ; for it
was proved, with respect to the traitor, that it is false to say
that he betrayed his master without an exhibition of anxiety
regarding Him. And this was shown to be equally true of
him who denied Him ; for he went out, after the denial, and
wept bitterly.
Chapter xix.
Superficial also is his objection, that " it is always the case
when a man against whom a plot is formed, and. who comes
to the knowledge of it, makes known to the conspirators that
he is acquainted with their design, that the latter are turned
from their purpose, and keep upon their guard." For many
have continued to plot even against those who were acquainted
with their plans. And then, as if bringing his argument to a
conclusion, he says : " Not because these things were predicted
did they come to pass, for that is impossible ; but since they
have come to pass, their being predicted is shown to be a
falsehood : for it is altogether impossible that those who heard
beforehand of the discovery of their designs, should carry out
their plans of betrayal and denial ! " But if his premisses are
overthrown, then his conclusion also falls to the ground, viz.
" that we are not to believe, because these things were predicted,
that they have come to pass." Now we maintain that they not
only came to pass as being possible, but also that, because they
came to pass, the fact of their'being predicted is shown to be
true ; for the truth regarding future events is judged of by
results. It is false, therefore, as asserted by him, that the pre
diction of these events is proved to be untrue ; and it is to no
purpose that he says, " It is altogether impossible for those who
heard beforehand that their designs were discovered, to carry
out their plans of betrayal and denial."
1 oy'ra? ciSpoug.

26 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS, [Bookii.
Chapter xx.
Let us see how he continues after this : " These events," he
says, " he predicted as being a God, and the prediction must
by all means come to pass. God, therefore, who above all
others ought to do good to men, and especially to those of
his own household, led on his own disciples and prophets,
with whom he was in the habit of eating and drinking, to
such a degree of wickedness, that they became impious and
unholy men. Now, of a truth, he who shared a man's table
would not be guilty of conspiring against him ; but after ban
queting with God, he became a conspirator. And, what is still
more absurd, God himself plotted against the members of his
own table, by converting them into traitors and villains ! "
Now, since you wish me to answer even those charges of
Celsus which seem to me frivolous,1 the following is our
reply to such statements. Celsus imagines that an event, pre
dicted through foreknowledge, comes to pass because it was
predicted ; but we do not grant this, maintaining that he who
foretold it was not the cause of its happening, because he fore
told it would happen ; but the future event itself, which would
have taken place though not predicted, afforded the occasion to
him, who was endowed with foreknowledge, of foretelling its
occurrence. Now, certainly this result is present to the fore
knowledge of him who predicts an event, when it is possible
that it may or may not happen, viz. that one or other of these
things will take place. For we do not assert that he who fore
knows an event, by secretly taking away the possibility of its
happening or not, makes any such declaration as this : " This
shall infallibly happen, and it is impossible that it can be other
wise." And this remark applies to all the foreknowledge of
events dependent upon ourselves, whether contained in the
sacred Scriptures or in the histories of the Greeks. Now, what
is called by logicians an " idle argument," 2 which is a sophism,
will be no sophism as far as Celsus can help, but according to
sound reasoning it is a sophism. And that this may be seen, I
shall take from the Scriptures the predictions regarding Judas,
or the foreknowledge of our Saviour regarding him as the
traitor ; and from the Greek histories the oracle that was given
1 iVTthiai.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 27
to Laius, conceding for the present its truth, since it does
not affect the argument. Now, in Ps. cix., Judas is spoken
of by the mouth of the Saviour, in words beginning thus:
" Hold not Thy peace, O God of my praise ; for the mouth of
the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against
me." Now, if you carefully observe the contents of the psalm,
you will find that, as it was foreknown that he would betray the
Saviour, so also was he considered to be himself the cause of
the betrayal, and deserving, on account of his wickedness, of the
imprecations contained in the prophecy. For let him suffer
these things, " because," says the psalmist, " he remembered
not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man."
Wherefore it was possible for him to show mercy, and not to
persecute him whom he did persecute. But although he might
have done these things, he did not do them, but carried out the
act of treason, so as to merit the curses pronounced against him
in the prophecy.
And in answer to the Greeks we shall quote the following
oracular response to Laius, as recorded by the tragic poet,
either in the exact words of the oracle or in equivalent terms.
Future events are thus made known to him by the oracle :
"Do not try to beget children against the will of the gods.
For if you beget a son, your son shall murder you ; and all your
household shall wade in blood." x Now from this it is clear
that it was within the power of Laius not to try to beget chil
dren, for the oracle would not have commanded an impossi
bility ; and it was also in his power to do the opposite, so that
neither of these courses was compulsory. And the consequence
of his not guarding against the begetting of children was, that
he suffered from so doing the calamities described in the
tragedies relating to GDdipus and Jocasta and their sons.
Now that which is called the " idle argument," being a quibble,
is such as might be applied, say in the case of a sick man, with
the view of sophistically preventing him from employing a
physician to promote his recovery ; and it is something like
this : " If it is decreed that you should recover from your
disease, you will recover whether you call in a physician or
not ; but if it is decreed that you should not recover, you will
1 Euripid. Phmnissx, 18-20.

28 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
not recover whether you call in a physician or no. But it
is certainly decreed either that you should recover, or that
you should not recover ; and therefore it is in vain that you
call in a physician." Now with this argument the following
may be wittily compared: "If it is decreed that you should
beget children, you will beget them, whether you have inter
course with a woman or not. But if it is decreed that you
should not beget children, you will not do so, whether you have
intercourse with a woman or no. Now, certainly, it is decreed
either that you should beget children or not ; therefore it is in
vain that you have intercourse with a woman." For, as in the
latter instance, intercourse with a woman is not employed in
vain, seeing it is an utter impossibility for him who does not
use it to beget children ; so, in the former, if recovery from
disease is to be accomplished by means of the healing art, of
necessity the physician is summoned, and it is therefore false
to say that " in vain do you call in a physician." We have
brought forward all these illustrations on account of the asser
tion of this learned Celsus, that "being a God he predicted
these things, and the predictions must by all means come to
pass." Now, if by " by all means " he means " necessarily" we
cannot admit this. For it was quite possible, also, that they
might not come to pass. But if he uses " by all means " in the
sense of " simple futurity," 1 which nothing hinders from being
true (although it was possible that they might not happen),' he
does not at all touch my argument ; nor did it follow, from
Jesus having predicted the acts of the traitor or the perjurer,
that it was the same thing with His being the cause of such
impious and unholy proceedings. For He who was amongst
us, and knew what was in man, seeing his evil disposition, and
foreseeing what he would attempt from his spirit of covetous-
ness, and from his want of stable ideas of duty towards his
Master, along with many other declarations, gave utterance to
this also : " He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the
same shall betray me." 2
Chapter xxi.
Observe also the superficiality and manifest falsity of such
1 cciiti tqu taTXi. 2 Matt. xxvi. 23.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 29
a statement of Celsus, when he asserts " that he who was par
taker of a man's table would not conspire against him ; and if
he would not conspire against a man, much less would he plot
against a God after banqueting with him." For who does not
know that many persons, after partaking of the salt on the
table,1 have entered into a conspiracy against their entertainers?
The whole of Greek and barbarian history is full of such in
stances. And the Iambic poet of Paros,2 when upbraiding
Lycambes with having violated covenants confirmed by the salt
of the table, says to him :
" But thou hast broken a mighty oath — that, viz., by the salt of the table."
And they who are interested in historical learning, and who
give themselves wholly to it, to the neglect of other branches
of knowledge more necessary for the conduct of life,3 can quote
numerous instances; showing that they who shared in the hos
pitality of others entered into conspiracies against them.
Chapter xxii.
He adds to this, as if he had brought together an argu
ment with conclusive demonstrations and consequences, the
following : " And, which is still more absurd, God himself
conspired against those who sat at his table, by converting
them into traitors and impious men." But how Jesus could
either conspire or convert His disciples into traitors or impious
men, it would be impossible for him to prove, save by means of
su6h a deduction as any one could refute with the greatest ease.
Chapter xxih.
He continues in this strain : " If he had determined upon
these things, and underwent chastisement in obedience- to his
Father, it is manifest that, being a God, and submitting volun
tarily, those things that were done agreeably to his own deci
sion were neither painful nor distressing." But he did not
observe that here he was at once contradicting himself. For
if he granted that He was chastised because He had deter
mined upon these things, and had submitted Himself to His
Father, it is clear that He actually suffered punishment, and it
1 xhuv xal Tpx7rt£vig. 2 Archilochus.
3 Guietus would expunge these words as " inept."

30 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
was impossible that what was inflicted on Him by His chastisers
should not be painful, because pain is an involuntary thing.
But if, because He was willing to suffer, His inflictions were
neither painful nor distressing, how did He grant that " He was
chastised?" He did not perceive that when Jesus had once,
by His birth, assumed a body, He assumed one which was
capable both of suffering pains, and those distresses incidental to
humanity, if we are to understand by distresses what no one
voluntarily chooses. Since, therefore, He voluntarily assumed
a body, not wholly of a different nature from that of human
flesh, so along with His body He assumed also its sufferings and
distresses, which it was not in His power to avoid enduring, it
being in the power of those who inflicted them to send upon
Him things distressing and painful. And in the preceding
pages we have already shown, that He would not have come into
the hands of men had He not so willed. But He did come,
because He was willing to come, and because it was manifest
beforehand that His dying upon behalf of men would be of
advantage to the whole human race.
Chapter xxiv.
After this, wishing to prove that the occurrences which befell
Him were painful and distressing, and that it was impossible for
Him, had He wished, to render them otherwise, he proceeds :
" Why does he mourn, and lament, and pray to escape the fear
of death, expressing himself in terms like these : ' O Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me?'"1 Now in these
words observe the malignity of Celsus, how not accepting the
love of truth which actuates the writers of the Gospels (who
might have passed over in silence those points which, as Celsus
thinks, are censurable, but who did not omit them for many
reasons, which any one, in expounding the Gospel, can give in
their proper place), he brings an accusation against the Gospel
statement, grossly exaggerating the facts, and quoting what is
not written in the Gospels, seeing it is nowhere found that
Jesus lamented. And he changes the words in the expression,
" Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," and does
not give what follows immediately after, which manifests at
1 Matt. xxvi. 39.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 31
once the ready obedience of Jesus to His Father, and His
greatness of mind, and which runs thus : " Nevertheless, not as
I will, but as Thou wilt." 1 Nay, even the cheerful obedience
of Jesus to the will of His Father in those things which He
was condemned to suffer, exhibited in the declaration, " If this
cup cannot pass from me except I drink it, Thy will be done,"
he pretends not to have observed, acting here like those wicked
individuals who listen to the Holy Scriptures in a malignant
spirit, and " who talk wickedness with lofty head." For they
appear to have heard the declaration, " I kill," 2 and they often
make it to us a subject of reproach ; but the words, " I will
make alive," they do not remember, — the whole sentence show
ing that those who live amid public wickedness, and who work
wickedly, are put to death by God, and that a better life is
infused into them instead, even one which God will give to
those who have died to sin. And so also these men have heard
the words, "I will smite ;" but they do not see these, "and I
will heal," which are like the words of a physician, who cuts
bodies asunder, and inflicts severe wounds, in order to extract
from them substances that are injurious and prejudicial to
health, and who does not terminate his work with pains and
lacerations, but by his treatment restores the body to that state
of soundness which he has in view. Moreover, they have hot
heard the whole of the announcement, " For He maketh sore,
and again bindeth up ; " but only this part, " He maketh sore."
So in like manner acts this Jew of Celsus, who quotes the
words, " O Father, would that this cup might pass from me ; "
but who does not add what follows, and which exhibits the
firmness of Jesus, and His preparedness for suffering. But
these matters, which afford great room for explanation from
the wisdom of God, and which may reasonably be pondered
over 3 by those whom Paul calls " perfect" when he said, " We
speak wisdom among them who are perfect," 4 we pass by for
the present, and shall speak for a little of those matters which
are useful for our present purpose.
1 Matt. xxvi. 39. 2 Deut. xxxii. 39.
3 xxi t«St« Si,, iro'h'k'/i!) t)coi)TX liiqyriaiv kto aotpixg ©sou olg 6 Tlxv'Kos
avopcxat TtKiiaig tv'Koyug TxpxboQwOfisiiriii.
4 1 Cor. ii. 6.

32 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
Chapter xxv.
We have mentioned in the preceding pages that there are
some of the declarations of Jesus which refer to that Being in
Him which was the " first-born of every creature," such as, " I
am the way, and the truth, and the life," and such like ; and
others, again, which belong to that in Him which is understood
to be man, such as, " But now ye seek to kill me, a man that
hath told you the truth which I have heard of the Father." 1
And here, accordingly, he describes the element of weakness
belonging to human flesh, and that of readiness of spirit which
existed in His humanity: the element of weakness in the
expression, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;"
the readiness of the spirit in this, " Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as Thou wilt." And since it is proper to observe the order
of our quotations, observe that, in the first place, there is men
tioned only the single instance, as one would say, indicating the
weakness of the flesh ; and afterwards those other instances,
greater in number, manifesting the willingness of the spirit.
For the expression, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me," is only one : whereas more numerous are those others,
viz., " Not as I will, but as Thou wilt ;" and, " O my Father, if
this cup cannot pass from me except I drink it, Thy will be
done." It is to be noted also, that the words are not, " let this
cup depart from me ; " but that the whole expression is marked
by a tone of piety and reverence, " Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me." I know, indeed, that there is another
explanation of this passage to the following effect : — The
Saviour, foreseeing the sufferings which the Jewish people and
the city of Jerusalem were to undergo in requital of the wicked
deeds which the Jews had dared to perpetrate upon Him, from
no other motive than that of the purest philanthropy towards
them, and from a desire that they might escape the impending
calamities, gave utterance to the prayer, " Father, if it be pos
sible, let this cup pass from me." It is as if He had said, "Because
of my drinking this cup of punishment, the whole nation will
be forsaken by Thee, I pray, if it be possible, that this cup may
pass from me, in order that Thy portion, which was guilty of
1 John viii. 40.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 33
such crimes against me, may not be altogether deserted by
Thee." But if, as Celsus would allege, " nothing at that time
was done to Jesus which was either painful or distressing," how
could men afterwards quote the example of Jesus as enduring
sufferings for the sake of religion, if He did not suffer what are
human sufferings, but only had the appearance of so doing ?
Chapter xxvi.
This Jew of Celsus still accuses the disciples of Jesus of
having invented these statements, saying to them : " Even
although guilty of falsehood, ye have not been able to give a
colour of credibility to your inventions." In answer to which we
have to say, that there was an easy method of concealing these
occurrences, — that, viz., of not recording them at all. For if
the Gospels had not contained the accounts of these things,
who could have reproached us with Jesus having spoken such
words during His stay upon the earth ? Celsus, indeed, did not
see that it was an inconsistency for the same persons both to be
deceived regarding Jesus, believing Him to be God, and the
subject of prophecy, and to invent fictions about Him, knowing
manifestly that these statements were false. Of a truth, there
fore, they were not guilty of inventing untruths, but such were
their real impressions, and they recorded them truly ; or else
they were guilty of falsifying the histories, and did not enter
tain these views, and were not deceived when they acknow
ledged Him to be God.
Chapter xxvii.
After this he says, that certain of the Christian believers,
like persons who in a fit of drunkenness lay violent hands upon
themselves, have corrupted the Gospel from its original inte
grity, to a threefold, and fourfold, and many-fold degree, and
have remodelled it, so that they might be able to answer objec
tions. Now I know of no others who have altered the Gospel,
save the followers of Marcion, and those of Valentinus, and, I
think, also those of Lucian. But such an allegation is no
charge against the Christian system, but against those who
dared so to trifle with the Gospels. And as it is no ground
of accusation against philosophy, that there exist Sophists, or
ORIG. — VOL. II. C

34 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
Epicureans, or Peripatetics, or any others, whoever they may
be, who hold false opinions ; so neither is it against genuine
Christianity that there are some who corrupt the Gospel his
tories, and who introduce heresies opposed to the meaning of
the doctrine of Jesus. Chapter xxviii.
And since this Jew of Celsus makes it a subject of reproach
that Christians should make use of the prophets, who predicted
the events of Christ's life, we have to say, in addition to what
we have already advanced upon this head, that it became him
to spare individuals, as he says, and to expound the prophecies
themselves ; and after admitting the probability of the Chris
tian interpretation of them, to show how the use which they
make of them may be overturned.1 For in this way he would
not appear hastily to assume so important a position on small
grounds, and particularly when he asserts that the " prophe
cies agree with ten thousand other things more credibly than
with Jesus." And he ought to have carefully met this power
ful argument of the Christians, as being the strongest which
they adduce, and to have demonstrated with regard to each
particular prophecy, that it can apply to other events with
greater probability than to Jesus. He did not, however, per
ceive that this was a plausible argument to be advanced against
the Christians only by one who was an opponent of the pro
phetic writings ; but Celsus has here put in the mouth of a
Jew an objection which a Jew would not have made. For a
Jew will not admit that the prophecies may be applied to
countless other things with greater probability than to Jesus ;
but he will endeavour, after giving what appears to him the
meaning of each, to oppose the Christian interpretation, not
indeed by any means adducing convincing reasons, but only
attempting to do so.
1 The original here is probably corrupt : "Or/ Ixpiju xvtoh (2? <p»w)
(ptilopctuou xvdpawciv aiiTxg ixiia&xi t«? irpoVnruxg, xxi avvxyoptvaxinx T«l$
WlQxi/OTWIl' XVTUU, TijV <PxiVOft,tVyii XVTUl) x«XTp017%'J T))? %pq6iUg TUV ITftl-
Vnxtxuv txOitsOxi. For tpttli/nttioti Boherellus would read xt^opcivw, and
tsjk <pxitiopt,ivni> ai/Tu di/XTpo7r'/iu.

Book n.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 35
Chapter xxix.
In the preceding pages we have already spoken of this
point, viz. the prediction that there were to be two advents of
Christ to the human race, so that it is not necessary for us to
reply to the objection, supposed to be urged by a Jew, that
" the prophets declare the coming one to be a mighty poten
tate, Lord of all nations and armies." But it is in the spirit of
a Jew, I think, and in keeping with their bitter animosity, and
baseless and even improbable calumnies against Jesus, that
he adds : " Nor did the prophets predict such a pestilence." :
For neither Jews, nor Celsus, nor any other, can bring any
argument to prove that a pestilence converts men from the
practice of evil to a life which is according to nature, and dis
tinguished by temperance and other virtues.
Chapter xxx.
This objection also is cast in our teeth by Celsus : " From
such signs and misinterpretations, and from proofs so mean,
no one could prove him to be God, and the Son of God." Now
it was his duty to enumerate the alleged misinterpretations,
and to prove them to be such, and to show by reasoning the
meanness of the evidence, in order that the Christian, if any
of his objections should seem to be plausible, might be able to
answer and confute his arguments. What he said, however,
regarding Jesus, did indeed come to pass, because He was a
mighty potentate, although Celsus refuses to see that it so hap
pened, notwithstanding that the clearest evidence proves it true
of Jesus. " For as the sun," he says, " which enlightens all
other objects, first makes himself visible, so ought the Son of
God., to have done." We would say in reply, that so He did ;
for righteousness has arisen in His days, and there is abundance
of peace, which took its commencement at His birth, God pre
paring the nations for His teaching, that they might be under
one prince, the king of the Romans, and that it might not,
owing to the want of union among the nations, caused by the
existence of many kingdoms, be more difficult for the apostles
of Jesus to accomplish the task enjoined upon them by their
1 oteDpev.

36 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
Master, -when He said, " Go and teach all nations." Moreover it
is certain that Jesus was born in the reign of Augustus, who, so
to speak, fused together into one monarchy the many popula
tions of the earth. Now the existence of many kingdoms
would have been a hindrance to the spread of the doctrine of
Jesus throughout the entire world ; not only for the reasons
mentioned, but also on account of the necessity of men every
where engaging in war, and fighting on behalf of their native
country, which was the case before the times of Augustus, and
in periods still more remote, when necessity arose, as when the
Peloponnesians and Athenians warred against each other, and
other nations in like manner. How, then, was it possible for
the gospel doctrine of peace, which does not permit men to
take vengeance even upon enemies, to prevail throughout the
world, unless at the advent of Jesus a milder spirit had been
everywhere introduced into the conduct of things ?
Chapter xxxi.
He next charges the Christians with being " guilty of sophis
tical reasoning, in saying that the Son of God is the Logos
Himself." And he thinks that he strengthens the accusation,
because " when we declare the Logos to be the Son of God,
we do not present to view a pure and holy Logos, but a
most degraded man, who was punished by scourging and cruci- ,
fixion." Now, on this head we have briefly replied to the
charges of Celsus in the preceding pages, where Christ was
shown to be the first-born of all creation, who assumed a body
and a human soul ; and that God gave commandment respect
ing the creation of such mighty things in the world, and they
were created; and that He who received the command was
God the Logos. And seeing it is a Jew who makes these
statements in the work of Celsus, it will not be out of place to
quote the declaration, "He sent His word, and healed them, and
delivered them from their destruction," 1— a passage of which
we spoke a little ago. Now, although I have conferred with
many Jews who professed to be learned men, I never heard
any one expressing his approval of the statement that the Logos
is the Son of God, as Celsus declares they do, in putting into
1 Ps. cvi. 20.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 37
the mouth of the Jew such a declaration as this : " If your
Logos is the Son of God, we also give our assent to the same."
Chapter xxxii.
We have already shown that Jesus can be regarded neither
as an arrogant man, nor a sorcerer ; and therefore it is un
necessary to repeat our former arguments, lest, in replying to
the tautologies of Celsus, we ourselves should be guilty of need
less repetition. And now, in finding fault with our Lord's
genealogy, there are certain points which occasion some diffi
culty even to Christians, and which, owing to the discrepancy
between the- genealogies, are advanced by some as arguments
against their correctness, but which Celsus has not even men
tioned. For Celsus, who is truly a braggart, and who professes
to be acquainted with all matters relating to Christianity, does
not know how to raise doubts in a skilful manner against the
credibility of Scripture. But he asserts that the " framers of
the genealogies, from a feeling of pride, made Jesus to be de
scended from the first man, and from the kings of the Jews."
And he thinks that he makes a notable charge when he adds,
that " the carpenter's wife could not have been ignorant of the
fact, had she been of such illustrious descent." But what has
this to do with the question ? Granted that she was not
ignorant of her descent, how does that affect the result ? Sup
pose that she were ignorant, how could her ignorance prove
that she was not descended from the first man, or could not
derive her origin from the Jewish kings ? Does Celsus imagine
that the poor must always be descended from ancestors who
are poor, or that kings are always born of kings ? But it
appears folly to waste time upon such an argument as this,
seeing it is well known that, even in our own days, some who ,
are poorer than Mary are descended from ancestors of wealth
and distinction, and that rulers of nations and kings have
sprung from persons of no reputation.
Chapter xxxiii.
" But," continues Celsus, " what great deeds did Jesus per
form as being a God ? Did he put his enemies to shame, or
bring to a ridiculous conclusion what was designed against

38 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
him?" Now to this question, although we are able to show
the striking and miraculous character of the events which be
fell Him, yet from what other source can we. furnish an answer
than from the Gospel narratives, which state that " there was
an earthquake, and that the rocks were split asunder, and the
tombs opened, and the veil of the temple rent in twain from
top to bottom, and that darkness prevailed in the day-time, the
sun failing to give light?"1 But if Celsus believe the Gospel
accounts when he thinks that he can find in them matter of
charge against the Christians, and refuse to believe them when
they establish the divinity of Jesue, our answer to him is : " Sir,8
either disbelieve all the Gospel narratives, and then no longer
imagine that you can found charges upon them ; or, in yielding
your belief to their statements, look in admiration on the Logos
of God, who became incarnate, and who desired to confer
benefits upon the whole human race. And this feature
evinces the nobility of the work of Jesus, that, down to the
present time, those whom God wills are healed by His name.
And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar,
in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and
the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon too, I
think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his
Chronicles."3
Chapter xxxiv.
This Jew of Celsus, ridiculing' Jesus, as he imagines, is
described as being acquainted with the Bacchas of Euripides,
in which Dionysus says :
" The divinity himself will liberate me whenever I wish."4
Now the Jews are not much acquainted with Greek literature;
but suppose that there was a Jew so well versed in it [as to
make such a quotation on his part appropriate], how [does it
follow] that Jesus could not liberate Himself, because He did
not do so ? For let him believe from our own Scriptures that
1 Cf. Matt, xxvii. 51, 52 ; cf. Luke xxiii. 44, 45.
9 r v
o> ovrog.
8 On Phlegon, cf. note in Migne, pp. 823, 854.
* Eurip. Bacchse, v. 498 (ed. Dindorf).

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 39
Peter obtained his freedom after having been bound in prison,
an angel having loosed his chains ; and that Paul, having been
bound in the stocks along with Silas in Philippi of Macedonia,
was liberated by divine power, when the gates of the prison
were opened. But it is probable that Celsus treats these ac
counts with ridicule, or that he never read them ; for he would
probably say in reply, that there are certain sorcerers who are
able by incantations to unloose chains and to open doors, so that
he would liken the events related in our histories to the doings
of sorcerers. " But," he continues, " no calamity happened
even to him who condemned him, as there did to Pentheus,
viz. madness or discerption." l And yet he does not know
that it was not so much Pilate that condemned Llim (who knew
that " for envy the Jews had delivered Him "), as the Jewish
nation, which has been condemned by God, and rent in pieces,
and dispersed over the whole earth, in a degree far beyond
what happened to Pentheus. Moreover, why did he inten
tionally omit what is related of Pilate's wife, who beheld a
vision, and who was so moved by it as to send a message to her
husband, saying : " Have thou nothing to do with that just
man ; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream be
cause of him?"2 And again, passing by in silence the proofs
of the divinity of Jesus, Celsus endeavours to cast reproach
upon Him from the narratives in the Gospel, referring to those
who mocked Jesus, and put on Him the purple robe, and the
crown of thorns, and placed the reed in His hand. From what
source now, Celsus, did you derive these statements, save from
the Gospel narratives ? And did you, accordingly, see that they
were fit matters for reproach, while they who recorded them
did not think that you, and such as you, would turn them into
ridicule ; but that others would receive from them an example
how to despise those who ridiculed and mocked Him on account of
His religion, who appropriately laid down His life for its sake ?
Admire rather their love of truth, and that of the Being who
bore these things voluntarily for the sake of men, and who
endured them with all constancy and long-suffering. For it is
not recorded that He uttered any lamentation, or that after His
condemnation He either did or uttered anything unbecoming.
1 Cf. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. b. ii. c. vii. 2 Matt, xxvii. 19.

40 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.

Chapter xxxv.
But in answer to this objection, " If not before, yet why
now, at least, does he not give some manifestation of his
divinity, and free himself from this reproach, and take ven
geance upon those who insult both him and his Father?"
We have to reply, that it would be the same thing as if we
were to say to those among the Greeks who accept the doctrine
of providence, and who believe in portents, Why does God not
punish those who insult the Divinity, and subvert the doctrine
of providence ? For as the Greeks would answer such objec
tions, so would we, in the same, or a more effective manner.
There was not only a portent from heaven — the eclipse of the
sun — but also the other miracles, which show that the crucified
One possessed something that was divine, and greater than was
possessed by the majority of men.
Chapter xxxvi.
Celsus next says : "What is the nature of the ichor in the
body of the crucified Jesus ? Is it ' such as flows in the bodies
of the immortal gods ? ' " 1 He puts this question iii a spirit
of mockery ; but we shall show from the serious narratives of
the Gospels, although Celsus may not like it, that it was no
mythic and Homeric ichor which flowed from the body of
Jesus, but that, after His death, " one of the soldiers with a
spear pierced His side, and there came thereout blood and
water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true,
and he knoweth that he saith the truth." 2 Now, in other dead
bodies the blood congeals, and pure water does not flow forth;
but the miraculous feature in the case of the dead body of
Jesus was, that around the dead body blood and water flowed
forth from the side. But if this Celsus, who, in order to find
matter of accusation against Jesus and the Christians, extracts
from the Gospel even passages which are incorrectly inter
preted, but passes over in silence the evidences of the divinity
of Jesus, would listen to divine portents, let him read the
Gospel, and see that even the centurion, and they who with
him kept watch over Jesus, on seeing the earthquake, and the
1 Cf. Iliad, vi. 340. 2 Cf. John xix. 34, 35.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 41
events that occurred, were greatly afraid, saying, " This man
was the son of God." : Chapter xxxvii.
After this, he who extracts from the Gospel narrative those
statements on which he thinks he can found an accusation,
makes the vinegar and the gall a subject of reproach to Jesus,
saying that " he rushed with open mouth 2 to drink of them,
and could not endure his thirst as any ordinary man frequently
endures it." Now this matter admits of an explanation of a
peculiar and figurative kind ; but on the present occasion, the
statement that the prophets predicted this very incident may be
accepted as the more common answer to the objection. For in
the sixty-ninth Psalm there is written, with reference to Christ :
"And they gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink." 3 Nowr, let the Jews say who it is that
the prophetic writing represents as uttering these words ; and
let them adduce from history one who received gall for his food,
and to wdiom vinegar was given as drink. Would they venture
to assert that the Christ whom they expect still to come might
be placed in such circumstances ? Then we would say, What
prevents the prediction from having been already accomplished ?
For this very prediction was uttered many ages before, and is
sufficient, along with the other prophetic utterances, to lead him
who fairly examines the whole matter to the conclusion that
Jesus is He who was prophesied of as Christ, and as the Son of
God. Chapter xxxviii.
The Jew next remarks : " You, O sincere believers,4 find
fault with us, because we do not recognise this individual as
God, nor agree with you that he endured these [sufferings]
for the benefit of mankind, in order that we also might despise
punishment." Now, in answer to this, we say that we blame
the Jews, who have been brought up under the training of the
law and the prophets (which foretell the coming of Christ),
because they neither refute the arguments which we lay before
them to prove that He is the Messiah,5 adducing such refuta-
1 Cf. Matt, xxvii. 54. 2 %xaaou.
8 PS. Ixix. 21. * 01 fftO-TOTXTOl. 6 TO'J ~X.pt/TTOII.

42 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
tion as a defence of their unbelief ; nor yet, while not offering
any refutation, do they believe in Him who was the subject of
prophecy, and who clearly manifested through His disciples, even
after the period of His appearance in the flesh, that Lie under
went these things for the benefit of mankind; having, as the
object of His first advent, not to condemn men and their actions1
before He had instructed them, and pointed out to them their
duty,2 nor to chastise the wicked and save the good, but to dis
seminate His doctrine in an extraordinary 3 manner, and with
the evidence of divine power, among the whole human race, as
the prophets also have represented these things. And we blame
them, moreover, because they did not believe in Him who gave
evidence of the power that was in Him, but asserted that He
cast out demons from the souls of men through Beelzebub the
prince of the demons ; and we blame them because they slander
the philanthropic character of Him, who overlooked not only
no city, but not even a single village in Judea, that He might
everywhere announce the kingdom of God, accusing Him of
leading the wandering life of a vagabond, and passing an anxious
existence in a disgraceful body. But there is no disgrace in
enduring such labours for the benefit of all those who may be
able to understand Him.
Chapter xxxix.
And how can the following assertion of this Jew of Celsus
appear anything else than a manifest falsehood, viz. that Jesus
" having gained over no one during his life, not even his own
disciples, underwent these punishments and sufferings?" For
from what other source sprang the envy which was aroused
against Llim by the Jewish high priests, and elders, and scribes,
save from the fact that multitudes obeyed and followed Him,
and were led into the deserts not only by the persuasive 4 lan
guage of Him whose words were always appropriate to His
hearers, but who also by His miracles made an impression on
those who were not moved to belief by Llis words ? And is it
not a manifest falsehood to say that "he did not gain over even
his own disciples," who exhibited, indeed, at that time some
1 T" *»fyuwa>. 2 fixpTOpxo-Sxt wtpl tZv TrpxxTicv.
TrapxMt-a;. 4 7jjs T2„ xo'yaji xi/Toii dxo~Kov6ixg.

Book ii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 43
symptoms of human weakness arising from cowardly fear — for
they had not yet been disciplined to the exhibition of full
courage — but who by no means abandoned the judgments
which they had formed regarding Him as the Christ? For
Peter, after his denial, perceiving to what a depth of wicked
ness he had fallen, " went out and wrept bitterly ;" while the
others, although stricken with dismay on account of what had
happened to Jesus (for they still continued to admire Him),
had, by His glorious appearance,1 their belief more firmly
established than before that He was the Son of God.
Chapter xl.
It is, moreover, in a very unphilosophical spirit that Celsus
imagines our Lord's pre-eminence among men to consist, not
in the preaching of salvation and in a pure morality, but in
acting contrary to the character of that personality which He had
taken upon Him, and in not dying, although He had assumed
mortality ; or, if dying, yet at least not such a death as might
serve as a pattern to those who were to learn by that very act
how to die for the sake of religion, and to comport themselves
boldly through its help, before those who hold erroneous views
on the subject of religion and irreligion, and who regard religious
men as altogether irreligious, but imagine those to be most reli
gious who err regarding God, and who apply to everything rather
than to God the ineradicable 2 idea of Him [which is implanted
in the human mind], and especially when they eagerly rush to
destroy those who have yielded themselves up with their whole
soul (even unto death), to the clear evidence of one God who is
over all things.
Chapter xli.
In the person of the Jew, Celsus continues to find fault
with Jesus, alleging that " he did not show himself to be pure
from all evil." Let Celsus state from what " evil " our Lord
did not show Himself to be pure. If he means that He was
not pure from what is properly termed " evil," let him clearly
prove the existence of any wicked work in Him. But if he
deems poverty and the cross to be evils, and conspiracy on the
part of wicked men, then it is clear that he would say that evil
1 ticitpx'jtixg. 2 T'/ji> vrtpl xvtov xhixaTpotpoii hvoixa.

44 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book n.
had happened also to Socrates, who was unable to show himself
pure from evils. And how great also the other band of poor
men is among the Greeks, who have given themselves to
philosophical pursuits, and have voluntarily accepted a life of
poverty, is known to many among the Greeks from what is re
corded of Democritus, who allowed his property to become
pasture for sheep ; and of Crates, who obtained his freedom by
bestowing upon the Thebans the price received for the sale of
his possessions. Nay, even Diogenes himself, from excessive
poverty, came to live in a tub ; and yet, in the opinion of no
one possessed of moderate understanding, was Diogenes on
that account considered to be in an evil (sinful) condition.
Chapter xlii.
But further, since Celsus will have it that " Jesus was not
irreproachable," let him instance any one of those who adhere
to His doctrine, who has recorded anything that could truly
furnish ground of reproach against Jesus ; or if it be not from
these that he derives his matter of accusation against Him, let
him say from what quarter he has learned that which has in
duced him to say that He is not free from reproach. Jesus,
however, performed all that He promised to do, and by which
He conferred benefits upon His adherents. And we, continu
ally seeing fulfilled all that was predicted by Him before it
happened, viz. that this gospel of His should be preached
throughout the whole world, and that His disciples should go
among all nations and announce His doctrine ; and, moreover,
that they should be brought before governors and kings on no
other account than because of His teaching; we are lost in
wonder at Him, and have our faith in Him daily confirmed.
And I know not by what greater or more convincing proofs
Celsus would have Llim confirm His predictions ; unless, in
deed, as seems to be the case, not understanding that the Logos "
had become the man Jesus, he would have Him to betubject
to no human weakness, nor to become an illustrious pattern to
men of the manner in which they ought to bear the calamities
of life, although these appear to Celsus to be most lamentable
and disgraceful occurrences, seeing that he regards labour 1 to

Book ii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 45
be the greatest of evils, and pleasure the perfect good,, — a view
accepted by none of those philosophers who admit the doctrine
of providence, and who allow that courage, and fortitude, and
magnanimity are virtues. Jesus, therefore, by His sufferings
cast no discredit upon the faith of which Lie was the object ;
but rather confirmed the same among those who would approve
of manly courage, and among those who were taught by Him
that what was truly and properly the happy life was not here
below, but was to be found in that which was called, according
to His own words, the "coming world;" whereas in what is
called the " present world " life is a calamity, or at least the
first and greatest struggle of the soul.1
Chapter xliii.
Celsus next addresses to us the following remark : " You
will not, I suppose, say of him, that, after failing to gain over
those who were in this world, he went to Hades to gain over
those who were there." But whether he like it or not, we
assert that not only while Jesus was in the body did He win
over not a few persons merely, but so great a number, that a
conspiracy was formed against Him on account of the multi
tude of Llis followers ; but also, that when He became a soul,
without the covering of the body, He dwelt among those souls
which were without bodily covering, converting such of them
as were willing to Himself, or those whom He saw, for reasons
known to Him alone, to be better adapted to such a course.
Chapter xliv.
Celsus in the next place says, with indescribable silliness :
" If, after inventing defences which are absurd, and by which
ye were ridiculously deluded, ye imagine that you really make
a good defence, what prevents you from regarding those other
individuals who have been condemned, and have died a miser
able death, as greater and more divine messengers of heaven
[than Jesus] ? " Now, that manifestly and clearly there is no
similarity between Jesus, who suffered what is described, and
those who have died a wretched death on account of their
sorcery, or whatever else be the charge against them, is patent
1 ccywjx Toy izpuTOy x.xl pctyitjTO'J Tqg Tpvjcqg.

46 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
to every one. For no one can point to any acts of a sorcerer
which turned away souls from the practice of the many sins
which prevail among men, and from the flood of wickedness
(in the world).1 But since this Jew of Celsus compares Him
to robbers, and says that " any similarly shameless fellow
might be able to say regarding even a robber and murderer
whom punishment had overtaken, that such an one was not a
robber, but a god, because he predicted to his fellow-robbers
that he would suffer such punishment as he actually did suffer,"
it might, in the first place, be answered, that it is not because
He predicted that He would suffer such things that we enter
tain those opinions regarding Jesus which lead us to have con
fidence in Him, as one who has come down to us from God.
And, in the second place, we assert that this very comparison2
has been somehow foretold in the Gospels; since God was
numbered with the transgressors by wicked men, who desired
rather a " murderer" (one who for sedition and murder had
been cast into prison) to be released unto them, and Jesus to be
crucified, and who crucified Him between two robbers. Jesns,
indeed, is ever crucified with robbers among His genuine dis
ciples and witnesses to the truth, and suffers the same condem
nation which they do among men. And we say, that if those
persons have any resemblance to robbers, who on account of
their piety towards God suffer all kinds of injury and death,
that they may keep it pure and unstained, according to the
teaching of Jesus, then it is clear also that Jesus, the author
of such teaching, is with good reason compared by Celsus to the
captain of a band of robbers. But neither was He who died
for the common good of mankind, nor they who suffered
because of their religion, and alone of all men were persecuted
because of what appeared to them the right way of honouring
God, put to death in accordance with justice, nor was Jesus
persecuted without the charge of impiety being incurred by His
persecutors.
Chapter xlv.
But observe the superficial nature of his argument respect
ing the former disciples of Jesus, in which he says : " In the
next place, those who were his associates while alive, and who
1 7% xxtcc T«i» xxxixy (piiatug. 2 xa,l TXvt«.

Book ii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 47
listened to his voice, and enjoyed his instructions as their
teacher, on seeing him subjected to punishment and death,
neither died with him, nor for him, nor were even induced to
regard punishment with contempt, but denied even that they
were his disciples, whereas now ye die along with him."
And here he believes the sin which was committed by the dis
ciples while they were yet beginners and imperfect, and which
is recorded in the Gospels, to have been actually committed,
in order that he may have matter of accusation against the
gospel ; but their upright conduct after their transgression,
when they behaved with courage before the Jews, and suffered
countless cruelties at their hands, and at last suffered death for
the doctrine of Jesus, he passes by in silence. For he would
neither hear the words of Jesus, when He predicted to Peter,
" When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands," 1
etc., to which the Scripture adds, " This spake He, signifying
by what death he should glorify. God ;" nor how James the
brother of John — an apostle, the brother of an apostle — was
slain with the sword by Herod for the doctrine of Christ ; nor
even the many instances of boldness displayed by Peter and
the other apostles because of the gospel, and " how they went
forth from the presence of the Sanhedrim after being scourged,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for
His name," 2 and so surpassing many of the instances related
by the Greeks of the fortitude and courage of their philo
sophers. From the very beginning, then, this was inculcated
as a precept of Jesus among His hearers, which taught men
to despise the life which is eagerly sought after by the multi
tude, but to be earnest in living the life which resembles that
of God.
Chapter xlvi.
But how can this Jew of Celsus escape the charge of false
hood, when he says that Jesus, " when on earth, gained over to
himself only ten sailors and tax-gatherers of the most worthless
character, and not even the whole of these ? " Now it is cer
tain that the Jews themselves would admit that He drew over
not ten persons merely, nor a hundred, nor a thousand, but
1 John xxi. 18. 2 Acts v. 41.

48 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
on one occasion five thousand at once, and on another four
thousand ; and that He attracted them to such a degree that
they followed Him even into the deserts, which alone could
contain the assembled multitude of those who believed in God
through Jesus, and where He not only addressed to them dis
courses, but also manifested to them His works. And now,
through his tautology, he compels us also to be tautological,
since we are careful to guard against being supposed to pass
over any of the charges advanced by him ; and therefore, in
reference to the matter before us, following the order of his
treatise as we have it, he says : " Is it not the height of absur
dity to maintain, that if, while he himself was alive, he won
over not a single person to his views, after his death any who
wish are able to gain over such a multitude of individuals?"
Whereas he ought to have said, in consistency with truth, that
if, after His death, not simply those who will, but they who
have the will and the power, can gain over so many proselytes,
how much more consonant to reason is it, that while He was
alive He should, through the greater power of His words and
deeds, have won over to Himself manifold greater numbers of
adherents ?
Chapter xlvii.
He represents, moreover, a statement of his own as if it
were an answer to one of his questions, in which he asks : " By
what train of argument were you led to regard him as the Son
of God ? " For he makes us answer that "we were won over
to him, because1 we know that his punishment was undergone
to bring about the destruction of the father of evil." Now
we were won over to Llis doctrine by innumerable other con
siderations, of which we have stated only the smallest part in
the preceding pages ; but, if God permit, we shall continue to
enumerate them, not only while dealing with the so-called True,
Discourse of Celsus, but also on many other occasions. And,
as if we said that we consider Him to be the Son of God be
cause He suffered punishment, he asks : " What then ? have
not many others, too, been punished, and that not less disgrace-
1 The reading in the text is d xxi i'o-pcty ; for which both Bohereau and De
la Rue propose ml Uy.iv, which has been adopted in the translation : cf.
iisil ixoWeusiti, infra.

BooKir.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 49
fully?" And here Celsus acts like the most contemptible
enemies of the gospel, and like those who imagine that it fol
lows as a consequence from our history of the crucified Jesus,
that we should worship those who have undergone crucifixion !
Chapter xlviii.
Celsus, moreover, unable to resist the miracles which Jesus is
recorded to have performed, has already on several occasions
spoken of them slanderously as works of sorcery ; and we also
on several occasions have, to the best of our ability, replied to
his statements. And now he represents us as saying that " we
deemed Jesus to be the Son of God, because he healed the
lame and the blind." And he adds : " Moreover, as you assert,
he raised the dead." That He healed the lame and the blind,
and that therefore we hold Him to be the Christ and the Son
of God, is manifest to us from what is contained in the pro
phecies : " Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf shall hear ; then shall the lame man leap as an
hart." x And that He also raised the dead, and that it is no
fiction of those who composed the Gospels, is shown by this,
that if it had been a fiction, many individuals would have been
represented as having risen from the dead, and these, too,
such as had been many years in their graves. But as it is
no fiction, they are very easily counted of whom this is related
to have happened ; viz. the daughter of the ruler of the syna
gogue (of whom I know not why He said, " She is not dead,
but sleepeth," stating regarding her something which does not
apply to all who die) ; and the only son of the widow, on whom
He took compassion and raised him up, making the bearers of
the corpse to stand still ; and the third instance, that of Laza
rus, who had been four days in the grave. Now, regarding
these cases we would say to all persons of candid mind, and
especially to the Jew, that as there were many lepers in the
; days of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was healed save
' Naaman the Syrian, and many widows in the days of Elijah
the prophet, to none of whom was Elijah sent save to Sarepta
;' in Sidonia (for the widow there had been deemed worthy by a
t divine decree of the miracle which was wrought by the pro-
' x Cf. Isa. xxxv. 5, 6.
ORIG. — VOL II. D

50 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
phet in the matter of the bread) ; so also there were many
dead in the days of Jesus, but those only rose from the grave
whom the Logos knew to be fitted for a resurrection, in order
that the works done by the Lord might not be merely symbols
of certain things, but that by the very acts themselves He
might gain over many to the marvellous doctrine of the gospel.
I would say, moreover, that, agreeably to the promise of Jesus,
His disciples performed even greater works than these miracles of
Jesus, which were perceptible only to the senses.1 For the eyes
of those who are blind in soul are ever opened ; and the ears of
those who were deaf to virtuous words, listen readily to the
doctrine of God, and of the blessed life with Him ; and many,
too, who were lame in the feet of the " inner man," as Scrip
ture calls it, having now been healed by the word, do not simply
leap, but leap as the hart, which is an animal hostile to serpents,
and stronger than all the poison of vipers. And these lame
who have been healed, receive from Jesus power to trample,
with those feet in which they were formerly lame, upon the
serpents and scorpions of wickedness, and generally upon all
the power of the enemy ; and though they tread upon it, they
sustain no injury, for they also have become stronger than the
poison of all evil and of demons.
Chapter xlix.
Jesus, accordingly, in turning away the minds of His dis
ciples, not merely from giving heed to sorcerers in general,
and those who profess in any other manner to work miracles—
for Llis disciples did not need to be so warned — but from such
as gave themselves out as the Christ of God, and who tried by
certain apparent2 miracles to gain over to them the disciples of
Jesus, said in a certain passage : " Then, if any man shall say
unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For
there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall sho?
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possibles,
they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you
before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is
in the desert, go not forth ; behold, he is in the secret chambers;
believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and
1 av'lmovg alo-Snrav. 2 QxvTcustZy.

Book ii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 51
shineth even to the west, so also shall the coming of the Son
of man be."1 And in another passage : "Many will say unto
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten and drunk in
Thy name, and by Thy name have cast out demons, and done
many wonderful works ? And then will I say unto them, De
part from me, because ye are workers of iniquity."2 But
Celsus, wishing to assimilate the miracles of Jesus to the works
of human sorcery, says in express terms as follows : " O
light and truth ! he distinctly declares, with his own voice, as
ye yourselves have recorded, that there will come to you even
others, employing miracles of a similar kind, who are wicked
men, and sorcerers ; and he calls him who makes use of such
devices, one Satan. So that Jesus himself does not deny that
these works at least are not at all divine, but are the acts of
wicked men ; and being compelled by the force of truth, he at
the same time not only laid open the doings of others, but con
victed himself of the same acts. Is it not, then, a miserable
inference, to conclude from the same works that the one is God
and the others sorcerers ? Why ought the others, because of
these acts, to be accounted wicked rather than this man, seeing
they have him as their witness against himself ? For he has
himself acknowledged that these are not the works of a divine
nature, but the inventions of certain deceivers, and of thoroughly
wicked men." Observe, now, whether Celsus is not clearly
convicted of slandering the gospel by such statements, since
what Jesus says regarding those who are to work signs and
wonders is different from what this Jew of Celsus alleges it to
be. For if Jesus had simply told His disciples to be on their
guard against those who professed to work miracles, without
declaring what they would give themselves out to be, then
perhaps there would have been some ground for his suspicion.
But since those against whom Jesus would have us to be on our
guard give themselves out as the Christ — which is not a claim
put forth by sorcerers — and since he says that even some who
lead wicked lives will perform miracles in the name of Jesus,
and expel demons out of men, sorcery in the case of these
individuals, or any suspicion of such, is rather, if we may so
1 Matt. xxiv. 23-27.
2 Cf. Matt. vii. 22, 23, with Luke xiii. 26,' 27.

52 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ii.
speak, altogether banished, and the divinity of Christ established,
as well as the divine mission1 of Llis disciples ; seeing that it is
possible that one who makes use of His name, and who is
wrought upon by some power, in some way unknown, to make
the pretence that he is the Christ, should seem to perform
miracles like those of Jesus, while others through His name
should do works resembling those of His genuine disciples.
Chapter l.
Paul, moreover, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians,
shows in what manner there will one day be revealed " the man
of sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that he
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2
And again he says to the Thessalonians : " And now ye know
what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work : only He who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way : and then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord will consume
with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the bright
ness of His coming : even him, whose coming is after the work
ing of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish."3
And in assigning the reason why the man of sin is permitted to
continue in existence, he says : " Because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie ; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness." * Let any one now say
whether any of the statements in the Gospel, or in the writings
of the apostle, could give occasion for the suspicion that there is
therein contained any prediction of ' sorcery. Any one, more
over, who likes may find the prophecy in Daniel respecting
antichrist.5 But Celsus falsifies the words of Jesus, since He
did not say that others would come working similar miracles to
Llimself, but who are wicked men and sorcerers, although
Gelsus asserts that He uttered such words. For as the power
1 hioTtig, lit. divinity. 2 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 3 2 Thess. ii. C-10.
* 2 Thess. ii. 10-12. s Cf. Dan. vii. 26.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 53
of the Egyptian magicians was not similar to the divinely-
bestowed grace of Moses, but the issue clearly proved that the
acts of the former were the effect of magic, while those of
Moses were wrought by divine power ; so the proceedings of
the antichrists, and of those who feign that they can work
miracles as being the disciples of Christ, are said to be lying
signs and wonders, prevailing with all deceivableness of un
righteousness among them that perish ; whereas the works of
Christ and His disciples had for their fruit, not deceit, but
the salvation of human souls. And who would rationally f"
maintain that an improved moral life, which daily lessened the
number of a man's offences, could proceed from a system of \
deceit ?
Chapter lt.
Celsus, indeed, evinced a slight knowledge of Scripture
when he made Jesus say, that it is " a certain Satan who con
trives such devices ; " although he begs the question a when he
asserts that " Jesus did not deny that these works have in them
nothing of divinity, but proceed from wicked men," for he
makes things which differ in kind to be the same. Now, as a
wolf is not of the same species as a dog, although it may appear
to have some resemblance in the figure of its body and in its
voice, nor a common wood-pigeon 2 the same as a dove,3 so there
is no resemblance between what is done by the power of God
and what is the effect of sorcery. And we might further say,
in answer to the calumnies of Celsus, Are those to be regarded
as miracles which are wrought through sorcery by wicked demons,
but those not which are performed by a nature that is holy and
divine? and does human life endure the worse, but never
receive the better ? Now it appears to me that we must lay it
down as a general principle, that as, wherever anything that is
evil would make itself to be of the same nature with the good,
there must by all means be something that is good opposed to
the evil ; so also, in opposition to those things which are brought
about by sorcery, there must also of necessity be some things
in human life which are the result of divine power. And it
follows from the same, that we must either annihilate both, and
assert that neither exists, or, assuming the one, and particularly
1 ovyxpirafyt Toy Woyov. (pa.ua a.

54 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
the evil, admit also the reality of the good. Now, if one were
to lay it down that works are wrought by means of sorcery, but
would not grant that there are also works which are the pro
duct of divine power, he would seem to me to resemble him
who should admit the existence of sophisms and plausible argu
ments, which have the appearance of establishing the truth,
although really undermining it, while denying that truth had
anywhere a home among men, or a dialectic which differed from
sophistry. But if we once admit that it is consistent with the
existence of magic and sorcery (which derive their power from
evil demons, who are spell-bound by elaborate incantations, and
become subject to sorcerers) that some works must be found
among men which proceed from a power that is divine, why
shall we not test those who profess to perform them by their
lives and morals, and the consequences of their miracles, viz.
whether they tend to the injury of men or to the reformation
of conduct ? What minister of evil demons, e.g., can do such
things? and by means of what incantations and magic arts?
And who, on the other hand, is it that, having his soul and his
spirit, and I imagine also his body, in a pure and holy state,
receives a divine spirit, and performs such works in order to
benefit men, and to lead them to believe on the true God?
But if we must once investigate (without being carried away
by the miracles themselves) who it is that performs them by
help of a good, and who by help of an evil power, so that we
may neither slander all without discrimination, nor yet admire
and accept all as divine, will it not be manifest, from what
occurred in the times of Moses and Jesus, when entire nations
were established in consequence of their miracles, that these
men wrought by means of divine power what they are recorded
to have performed ? For wickedness and sorcery would not
have led a whole nation to rise not only above idols and images
erected by men, but also above all created things, and to ascend
to the uncreated origin of the God of the universe.
Chapter lii.
But since it is a Jew who makes these assertions in the
treatise of Celsus, we would say to him : Pray, friend, why do
you believe the works which are recorded in your writings as

Book n.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 55
having been performed by God through the instrumentality of
Moses to be really divine, and endeavour to refute those who
slanderously assert that they were wrought by sorcery, like
those of the Egyptian magicians ; while, in imitation of your
Egyptian opponents, you charge those which were done by
Jesus, and which, you admit, were actually performed, with not
being divine ? For if the final result, and the founding of an
entire nation by the miracles of Moses, manifestly demonstrate
that it was God who brought these things to pass in the time of
Moses the Hebrew lawgiver, why should not such rather be
shown to be the case with Jesus, who accomplished far greater
works than those of Moses ? For the former took those of his
own nation, the descendants of Abraham, who had observed
the rite of circumcision transmitted by tradition, and who were
careful observers of the Abrahamic usages, and led them out
of Egypt, enacting for them those laws which you believe to
be divine ; whereas the latter ventured upon a greater under
taking, and superinduced upon the pre-existing constitution,
and upon ancestral customs and modes of life agreeable to the
existing laws, a constitution in conformity with the gospel.
And as it was necessary, in order that Moses should find credit
not only among the elders, but the common people, that there
should be performed those miracles which he is recorded to
have performed, why should not Jesus also, in order that He
may be believed on by those of the people who had learned to
ask for signs and wonders, require to work such miracles as, on
account of their greater grandeur and divinity (in comparison
with those of Moses), were able to convert men from Jewish
fables, and from the human traditions which prevailed among
them, and make them admit that He who taught and did such
things was greater than the prophets ? For how was not He
greater than the prophets, who was proclaimed by them to be
the Christ, and the Saviour of the human race ?
Chapter liii.
All the arguments, indeed, which this Jew of Celsus ad
vances against those who believe on Jesus, may, by parity of
reasoning, be urged as ground of accusation against Moses : so
that there is no difference in asserting that the sorcery prac-

56 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
tised by Jesus and that by Moses were similar to each other,1 —
both of them, so far as the language of this Jew of Celsus is
concerned, being liable to the same charge ; as, e.g., when this
Jew says of Christ, " But, O light and truth ! Jesus with his
own voice expressly declares, as you yourselves have recorded,
that there will appear among you others also, who will perform
miracles like mine, but who are wicked men and sorcerers,"
some one, either Greek or Egyptian, or any other party who
disbelieved the Jew, might say respecting Moses, " But, 0
light and truth ! Moses with his own voice expressly declares,
as ye also have recorded, that there will appear among you
others also, who will perform miracles like mine, but who are
wicked men and sorcerers. For it is written in your law, ' If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and
giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder come to
pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other
gods which thou hast not known, and let us serve them ; thou
shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet or dreamer of
dreams,' "2 etc. Again, perverting the words of Jesus, he says,
"And he terms him who devises such things, one Satan ;" while
one, applying this to Moses, might say, " And he terms him
who devises such things, a prophet who dreams dreams." And
as this Jew asserts regarding Jesus, that " even he himself
does not deny that these works have in them nothing of divi
nity, but are the acts of wicked men ;" so any one who disbe
lieves the writings of Moses might say, quoting what has been
already said, the same thing, viz., that " even Moses does not
deny that these works have in them nothing of divinity, but are
the acts of wicked men." And he will do the same thing also
with respect to this : " Being compelled by the force of truth,
Moses at the same time both exposed the doings of others, and
convicted himself of the same." And when the Jew says,
" Is it not a wretched inference from the same acts, to con
clude that the one is a God, and the others sorcerers ? " one
might object to him, on the ground of those words of Moses
already quoted, " Is it not then a wretched inference from
1 lioTt fi-ffcv hxQsptiu ¦nxpxK'kyioioy tiuxi *iyuy yor,riixy t'w ' lnaov T?
"Mauaiog. 2 Deut. xiii. 1-3.

Book ii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 57
the same acts, to conclude that the one is a prophet and servant
of God, and the others sorcerers ? " But when, in addition to
those comparisons which I have already mentioned, Celsus,
dwelling upon the subject, adduces this also : " Why from
these works should the others be accounted wicked, rather than
this man, seeing they have him as a witness against himself?"
— we, too, shall adduce the following, in addition to what has
been already said : " Why, from those passages in which Moses
forbids us to believe those who exhibit signs and wonders, ought
we to consider such persons as wicked, rather than Moses,
because he calumniates some of them in respect of their signs
and wonders?" And urging more to the same effect, that he
may appear to strengthen his attempt, he says : " He himself
acknowledged" that these were not the works of a divine nature,
but were the inventions of certain deceivers, and of very wicked
men." Who, then, is "himself?" You, O Jew, say that it
is Jesus ; but he who accuses you as liable to the same charges,
will transfer this " himself" to the person of Moses.
Chapter liv.
After this, forsooth, the Jew of Celsus, to keep up the
character assigned to the Jew from the beginning, in his
address to those of his countrymen who had become believers,
says : " By what, then, were you induced [to become his fol
lowers] ? Was it because he foretold that after his death he
would rise again ? " Now this question, like the others, can be
retorted upon Moses. For we might say to the Jew : " By
what, then, were you induced [to become the follower of
Moses] ? Was it because he put on record the following state
ment about his own death : ' And Moses, the servant of the
Lord, died there, in the land of Moab, according to the word
of the Lord ; and they buried him in Moab, near the house of
Phogor : and no one knoweth his sepulchre until this day V " 1
For as the Jew casts discredit upon the statement, that " Jesus
foretold that after His death He would rise again," another
person might make a similar assertion about Moses, and would
say in reply, that Moses also put on record (for the book of
Deuteronomy is his composition) the statement, that " no one
1 Cf. Deut. xxxiv. 5, 6.

58 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
knoweth his sepulchre until this day," in order to magnify and
enhance the importance of his place of burial, as being un
known to mankind.
Chapter lv.
The Jew continues his address to those of his countrymen
who are converts, as follows : " Come now, let us grant to you
that the prediction was actually uttered. Yet how many others
are there who practise such juggling tricks, in order to deceive
their simple hearers, and who make gain by their deception ?—
as was the case, they say, with Zamolxis1 in Scythia, the slave
of Pythagoras ; and with Pythagoras himself in Italy ; and with
Rhampsinitus2 in Egypt (the latter of whom, they say, played
at dice with Demeter in Hades, and returned to the upper
world with a golden napkin which he had received from her as
a gift) ; and also with Orpheus3 among the Odrysians, and
Protesilaus in Thessaly, and Hercules4 at Cape Tssnarus, and
Theseus. But the question is, whether any one who was really
dead ever rose with a veritable body.6 Or do you imagine the
statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the
appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and
credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross,
when he breathed his last, and in the earthquake and the dark
ness ? That while alive he was of no assistance to himself,
but that when dead he rose again, and showed the marks of
his punishment, and how his hands were pierced with nails:
who beheld this? A half-frantic6 woman, as you state, and
some other one, perhaps, of those who were engaged in the
same system of delusion, who had either dreamed so, owing to
a peculiar state of mind,7 or under the influence of a wandering
imagination had formed to himself an appearance according to
his own wishes,8 which has been the case with numberless
individuals ; or, which is most probable, one who desired to
impress others with this portent, and by such a falsehood to
furnish an occasion to impostors like himself."
1 Cf. Herodot. iv. 95. 2 Cf. Herodot. ii. 122.
3 Cf. Diodor. iv. Bibl. Hist. * Cf. Diodor. iv. Bibl. Hist.
6 xiitu oapcxTi. c yui/jj irxpota-Tpog. 7 xxrx tivx T>tx6taty imipi^ccg.
8 ij xxrx T'/jv xinov (iovTwio-iy So|i5 Trfir'kxy/\pcty»i ipxyTXatuStl;.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 59
Now, since it is a Jew who makes these statements, we shall
conduct the defence of our Jesus as if we were replying to a
Jew, still continuing the comparison derived from the accounts
regarding Moses, and saying to him : " How many others are
there who practise similar juggling tricks to those of Moses, in
order to deceive their silly hearers, and who make gain by their
deception ?" Now this objection would be more appropriate in
the mouth of one who did not believe in Moses (as we might
quote the instances of Zamolxis and Pythagoras, who were
engaged in such juggling tricks) than in that of a Jew, who is
not very learned in the histories of the Greeks. An Egyptian,
moreover, who did not believe the miracles of Moses, might
credibly adduce the instance of Rhampsinitus, saying that it was
far more credible that he had descended to Hades, and had
played at dice with Demeter, and that after stealing from her
a golden napkin he exhibited it as a sign of his having been in
Hades, and of his having returned thence, than that Moses
should have recorded that he entered into the darkness, where
God was, and that he alone, above all others, drew near to God.
For the following is his statement : " Moses alone shall come
near the Lord; but the rest shall not come nigh."1 We, then,
who are the disciples of Jesus, say to the Jew who urges these
objections : " While assailing our belief in Jesus, defend your
self, and answer the Egyptian and the Greek objectors : what
will you say to those charges which you brought against our
Jesus, but which also might be brought against Moses first ?
And if you should make a vigorous effort to defend Moses,
as indeed his history does admit of a clear and powerful
defence, you will unconsciously, in your support of Moses, be
an unwilling assistant in establishing the greater divinity of :
Jesus."
Chapter lvi.
But since the Jew says that these histories of the alleged
descent of heroes to Hades, and of their return thence, are
juggling impositions,2 maintaining that these heroes disap
peared for a certain time, and secretly withdrew themselves from
1 Cf. Ex. xxiv. 2.

60 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
the sight of all men, and gave themselves out afterwards as
having returned from Hades, — for such is the meaning which
his words seem to convey respecting the Odrysian Orpheus, and
the Thessalian Protesilaus, and the Tamarian Hercules, and
Theseus also, — let us endeavour to show that the account of
Jesus being raised from the dead cannot possibly be compared
to these. For each one of the heroes respectively mentioned
might, had he wished, have secretly withdrawn himself from
the sight of men, and returned again, if so determined, to those
whom he had left ; but seeing that Jesus was crucified before
all the Jews, and His body slain in the presence of His nation,
how can they bring themselves to say that He practised a
similar deception1 with those heroes who are related to have
gone down to Hades, and to have returned thence ? But we
say that the following consideration might be adduced, perhaps,
as a defence of the public crucifixion of Jesus, especially in
connection with the existence of those stories of heroes who are
supposed to have been compelled2 to descend to Hades : that
if we were to suppose Jesus to have died an obscure death, so
that the fact of His decease was not patent to the whole nation
of the Jews, and afterwards to have actually risen from the
dead, there would, in such a case, have been ground for the same
suspicion entertained regarding the heroes being also enter
tained regarding Himself. Probably, then, in addition to other
causes for the crucifixion of Jesus, this also may have con
tributed to His dying a conspicuous death upon the cross, that
no one might have it in his power to say that He voluntarily
withdrew from the sight of men, and seemed only to die, with
out really doing so; but, appearing again, made a juggler's
trick3 of the resurrection from the dead. But a clear and un-
mistakeable proof of the fact I hold to be the undertaking of
His disciples, who devoted themselves to the teaching of a
doctrine which was attended with danger to human life, — a
doctrine which they would not have taught with such courage
had they invented the resurrection of Jesus from the dead;
trag oiovtxi to %xpxrx~hviaioy ¦x'KxuxijQxt "ktysty xvToy Toig ioropovxhoig,
etc. 2 xxTx/ii/ZYixivxi fhix. Bohereau proposes the omission of /3/«.
a STtpXTtUGXTO.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 61
and who also, at the same time, not only prepared others to
despise death, but were themselves the first to manifest their
disregard for its terrors. Chapter lvii.
But observe whether this Jew of Celsus does not talk very
blindly, in saying that it is impossible for any one to rise from
the dead with a veritable body, his language being : " But this
is the question, whether any one who was really dead ever rose
again with a veritable body ? " Now a Jew would not have
uttered these words, who believed what is recorded in the third
and fourth books of Kings regarding little children, of whom
the one was raised up by Elijah,1 and the other by Elisha.2
And on this account, too, I think it was that Jesus appeared to
no other nation than the Jews, who had become accustomed
to miraculous occurrences ; so that, by comparing what they
themselves believed with the works which were done by Him,
and with what was related of Him, they might confess that
He, in regard to whom greater things were done", and by whom
mightier marvels were performed, was greater than all those
who preceded Him. Chapter lviii.
Further, after these Greek stories which the Jew adduced
respecting those who were guilty of juggling practices,3 and
who pretended to have risen from the dead, he says to those
Jews who are converts to Christianity : " Do you imagine the
statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the
appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and
credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross,
when he breathed his last?" We reply to the Jew: "What
you adduce as myths, we regard also as such ; but the state
ments of the Scriptures which are common to us both, in which
not you only, but we also, take pride, we do not at all regard as
myths. And therefore we accord our belief to those who have
therein related that some rose from the dead, as not being
guilty of imposition ; and to Him especially there mentioned
1 Cf. 1 Kings xvii. 21, 22. 2 Cf. 2 Kings iv. 34, 35.

62 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
as having risen, who both predicted the event Himself, and
was the subject of prediction by others. And His resurrection
is more miraculous than that of the others in this respect, that
they were raised by the prophets Elijah and Elisha, while He
was raised by none of the prophets, but by His Father in
heaven. And therefore His resurrection also produced greater
results than theirs. For what great good has accrued to the
world from the resurrection of the children through the instru
mentality of Elijah and Elisha, such as has resulted from the
preaching of the resurrection of Jesus, accepted as an article
of belief, and as effected through the agency of divine
power?"
Chapter lix.
He imagines also that both the earthquake and the darkness
were an invention j1 but regarding these, we have in the pre
ceding pages made our defence, according to our ability, ad
ducing the testimony of Phlegon, who relates that these events
took place at the time when our Saviour suffered. And he
goes on to say, that " Jesus, while alive, was of no assistance to
himself, but that he arose after death, and exhibited the marks
of his punishment, and showed how his hands had been pierced
by nails." We ask him what he means by the expression, " was
of no assistance to himself? " For if he means it to refer to want
of virtue, we reply that He was of very great assistance. For
He neither uttered nor committed anything that was improper,
but was truly " led as a sheep to the slaughter, and was dumb
as a lamb before the shearer;"2 and the Gospel testifies that He
opened not His mouth. But if Celsus applies the expression
to things indifferent and corporeal,3 [meaning that in such
Jesus could render no help to Himself,] we say that we have
proved from the Gospels that He went voluntarily to encounter
His sufferings. Speaking next of the statements in the Gospels,
that after Llis resurrection He showed the marks of His punish
ment, and how His hands had been pierced, he asks, " Who
beheld this?" And discrediting the narrative of Mary Mag
dalene, who is related to have seen Him, he replies, " A half-
1 TtpxTtixv. 2 Isa. liii. 7.
8 ti 0£ to u 'fTTtipxto-lv" ocxo Tuy pckaay xxi au/iXTIxay T^xpcjiccytl.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 63
frantic woman, as ye state." And because she is not the only
one who is recorded to have seen the Saviour after His resur
rection, but others also are mentioned, this Jew of Celsus
calumniates these statements also in adding, " And some one
else of those engaged in the same system of deception !"
Chapter lx.
In the next place, as if this were possible, viz. that the image
of a man who was dead could appear to another as if he were
still living, he adopts this opinion as an Epicurean, and says,
" That some one having so dreamed owing to a peculiar state
of mind, or having, under the influence of a perverted imagi
nation, formed such an appearance as he himself desired, re
ported that such had been seen ; and this," he continues, " has
been the case with numberless individuals." But even if this
statement of his seems to have a considerable degree of force,
it is nevertheless only fitted to confirm a necessary doctrine,
that the soul of the dead exists in a separate state [from the
body] ; and he who adopts such an opinion does not believe
without good reason in the immortality, or at least continued
existence, of the soul, as even Plato says in his treatise on the
Soul that shadowy phantoms of persons already dead have ap
peared to some around their sepulchres. Now the phantoms
which exist about the soul of the dead are produced by some
substance, and this substance is in the soul, which exists apart
in a body said to be of splendid appearance.1 But Celsus, un
willing to admit any such view, will have it that some dreamed
a waking dream,2 and, under the influence of a perverted ima
gination, formed to themselves such an image as they desired.
Now it is not irrational to believe that a dream may take place
while one is asleep ; but to suppose a waking vision in the case
of those who are not altogether out of their senses, and under
the influence of delirium or hypochondria, is incredible. And
Celsus, seeing this, called the woman "half-mad," — a state
ment which is not made by the history recording the fact, but
1 too p>.ty ovy ytvopava irtpl -^/wxflg Tttlyi\xoTuy (pxyTXirftxTX xtco Tiyog vtto-
xsifiiyov yiviTUi, tov xxtoo t'/jv vtyto-Tqxvixy ly Ttj> xxAOVfttva xvyotiiti aafoxTi
¦tyv-jwy. Cf. note in Benedictine ed.
2 virap.

64 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
from which he took occasion to charge the occurrences with
being untrue. Chapter lxi.
Jesus accordingly, as Celsus imagines, exhibited after His
death only the appearance of wounds received on the cross, and
was not in reality so wounded as He is described to have been ;
whereas, according to the teaching of the Gospel — some por
tions of which Celsus arbitrarily accepts, in order to find ground
of accusation, and other parts of which he rejects — Jesus called
to Him one of His disciples who was sceptical, and who deemed
the miracle an impossibility. That individual had, indeed, ex
pressed his belief in the statement of the woman who said that
she had seen Him, because he did not think it impossible that
the soul of a dead man could be seen ; but he did not yet con
sider the report to be true that He had been raised in a body,
which was the antitype of the former.1 And therefore he did
not merely say, "Unless I see, I will not believe;" but he added,
" Unless I put my hand into the print of the nails, and lay my
hands upon His side, I will not believe." These words were
spoken by Thomas, who deemed it possible that the body of
the soul might be seen by the eye of sense, resembling in all
respects its former appearance,
" Both in size, and in beauty of eyes,
And in voice ;"
and frequently, too,
"Having, also, such garments around the person5 [as when alive]."
Jesus accordingly, having called Thomas, said, " Reach hither
thy finger, and beholdmy hands ; and reach hither thy hand,
and thrust it into my side : and be not faithless, but believ-
ing."4
Chapter lxii.
Now it followed from all the predictions which were uttered
regarding Him — amongst which was this prediction of the
resurrection — and from all that was done by Him, and from
1 ty aoipcxTi xvtitvtto) iyyjyipdxi. 2 -d/v^g aciux.
s Cf. Homer, Iliad, xxiii. 66, 67. 4 Cf. John xx. 27.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 65
all the events which befell Him, that this event should be
marvellous above all others. For it had been said beforehand
by the prophet in the person of Jesus : " My flesh shall rest in
hope, and Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, and wilt not
suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." x And truly, after
His resurrection, He existed in a body intermediate, as it were,
between the grossness of that which He had before His suffer
ings, and the appearance of a soul . uncovered by such a body.
And hence it was, that when Llis disciples were together, and
Thomas with them, there " came Jesus, the doors being shut,
and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then
saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy -finger,"2 etc. And in
the Gospel of Luke also, while Simon and Cleopas were con
versing with each other respecting all that had happened to
them, Jesus " drew near, and went with them. And their
eyes were holden, that they should not know Him. And He
said unto them, What manner of communications are these
that ye have one to another, as ye walk?" And when their
eyes were opened, and they knew Him, then the Scripture says,
in express words, "And He vanished out of their sight."3 And
although Celsus may wish to place what is told of Jesus, and
of those who saw Him after His resurrection, on the same level
with imaginary appearances of a different kind, and those who
have invented such, yet to those who institute a candid and
intelligent examination, the events will appear only the more
miraculous. Chapter lxiii.
After these points, Celsus proceeds to bring against the
Gospel narrative a charge which is not to be lightly passed
over, saying that " if Jesus desired to show that his power was
really divine, he ought to have appeared to those who had ill-
treated him, and to him who had condemned him, and to all men
universally." For it appears to us also to be true, according
to the Gospel account, that He was not seen after His resur
rection in the same manner as He used formerly to show Him
self — publicly, and to all men. But it is recorded in the Acts,
that " being seen during forty days," He expounded to His
1 Ps. xvi. 9, 10. 2 John xx. 26, 27. 8 Luke xxiv. 15, 31.
ORIG. — VOL. II. E

66 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
disciples " the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 1
And in the Gospels 2 it is not stated that He was always with
them ; but that on one occasion He appeared in their midst,
after eight days, when the doors were shut, and on another in
some similar fashion. And Paul also, in the concluding por
tions of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, in reference to His
not having publicly appeared as He did in the period before
He suffered, writes as follows : " For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures ; and that He was seen of
Cephas, then of the twelve : after that He was seen of above
five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
unto the present time, but some are fallen asleep. After that
He was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of
all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."3
I am of opinion now that the statements in this passage con
tain some great and wonderful mysteries, which are beyond
the grasp not merely of the great multitude of ordinary be
lievers, but even of those who are far advanced [in Christian
knowledge], and that in them the reason would be explained
why He did not show Himself, after Llis resurrection from the
dead, in the same manner as before that event. And in a
treatise of this nature, composed in answer to a work directed
against the Christians, and their faith, observe whether we are
able to adduce a few rational arguments out of a greater
number, and thus make an impression upon the hearers of this
apology.
Chapter lxiv.
Although Jesus was only a single individual, He was never
theless more things than one, according to the different stand
point from which He might be regarded ;4 nor was He seen in
the same way by all who beheld Him. Now, that He was more
things than one, according to the varying point of view, is clear
from this statement, " I am the way, and the truth, and the
life ;" and from this, " I am the bread ;" and this, " I am the
door," and innumerable others. And that when seen He did
1 Acts i. 3. 2 Cf. John xx 26-
3 1 Cor. xv. 3-8. * TTAtioyx rij stciuoik ko.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 67
not appear in like fashion to all those who saw Him, but
according to their several ability to receive Llim, will be clear
to those who notice why, at the time when He was about to
be transfigured on the high mountain, He did not admit all
His apostles [to this sight], but only Peter, and James, and
John, because they alone were capable of beholding His glory
on that occasion, and of observing the glorified appearance of
Moses and Elijah, and of listening to their conversation, and to
the voice from the heavenly cloud. I am of opinion, too, that
before He ascended the mountain where His disciples came to
Him alone, and where He taught them the beatitudes, when
He was somewhere in the lower part of the mountain, and
when, as it became late, He healed those who were brought to
Him, freeing them from all sickness and disease, He did not
appear the same person to the sick, and to those who needed
His healing aid, as . to those who were able by reason of their
strength to go up the mountain along with Him. Nay, even
when He interpreted privately to His own disciples the parables
which were' delivered to the multitudes without, from whom the
explanation was withheld, as they who heard them explained
were endowed with higher organs of hearing than they who heard
them without explanation, so was it altogether the same with
the eyes of their soul, and, I think, also with those of their body.1
And the following statement shows that He had not always the
same appearance, viz. that Judas, when about to betray Him,
said to the multitudes who were setting out with him, as not
being acquainted with Him, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same
is he."2 And I think that the Saviour Himself indicates the
same thing by the words : " I was daily with you, teaching in
the temple, and ye laid no hold on me." 3 Entertaining, then,
such exalted views regarding Jesus, not only with respect to
the Deity within, and which was hidden from the view of the
multitude, but with respect to the transfiguration of His body,
which took place when and to whom He would, we say, that
before Jesus had " put off the governments and powers," i and
1 auTa xxi Taig ofyial -xxyTug poty tsjj -tyvyflg, tyu S' qyovpcxt, oti xxi tow
aapcxTog. 2 Matt. xxvi. 48. s Matt. xxvi. 55.
* Toy pc'/j dirtxlvG-xpttyoi/, etc. Cf. Alford, in loco (Col. ii. .15).

68 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
while as yet He was not dead unto sin, all men were capable
of seeing Him ; but that, when He had " put off the govern
ments and powers," and had no longer anything which was
capable of being seen by the multitude, all who had formerly
seen Him were not now able to behold Him. And therefore,
sparing them, He did not show Himself to all after His resur
rection from the dead.
Chapter lxv.
And why do I say " to all ? " For even with His own
apostles and disciples He was not perpetually present, nor did
He constantly show Himself to them, because they were not able
without intermission1 to receive His divinity. For His deity
was more resplendent after He had finished the economy2 [of
salvation] : and this Peter, surnamed Cephas, the first-fruits
as it were of the apostles, was enabled to behold, and along
with him the twelve (Matthias having been substituted in room
of Judas) ; and after them He appeared to the five hundred
brethren at once, and then to James, and subsequently to all
the others besides the twelve apostles, perhaps to the seventy
also, and lastly to Paul, as to one born out of due time, and who
knew well how to say, " Unto me, who am less than the least
of all saints, is this grace given ;" and probably the expression
" least of all " has the same meaning with " one born out of
due time." For as no one could reasonably blame Jesus for
not having admitted all His apostles to the high mountain, but
only the three already mentioned, on the occasion of His trans
figuration, when He was about to manifest the splendour which
appeared in Llis garments, and the glory of Moses and Elias
talking with Him, so none could reasonably object to the state
ments of the apostles, wdio introduce the appearance of Jesus
after His resurrection as having been made not to all, but to
those only whom He knew to have received eyes capable of
seeing His resurrection. I think, moreover, that the following
statement regarding Him has an apologetic value ' in reference
to our subject, viz. : " For to this end Christ died, and rose
again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."4
1 vtYivtxoig. 2 T'f^y olxoyopctxy TtAtcxyTOg.
3 Xpqvlfiop <SV olpcxi 7rp6g oazoAoylxy toi'j npoxtipoiyuy. * Cf. Roni. xiv. 9.

Book ii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 69
For observe, it is conveyed in these words, that Jesus died
that He might be Lord of the dead ; and that He rose again
to be Lord not only of the dead, but also of the living. And
the apostle understands, undoubtedly, by the dead over whom
Christ is to be Lord, those who are so called in the first
Epistle to the Corinthians, " For the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible ; " ] and by the living,
those who are to be changed, and who are different from the
dead who are to be raised. And respecting the living the words
are these, " And we shall be changed ; " an expression which
follows immediately after the statement, " The dead shall be
raised first." 2 Moreover, in the first Epistle to the Thessa
lonians, describing the same change in different words, he says
that they who sleep are not the same as those who are alive ;
his language being, "I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them who are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep." 3
The explanation which appeared to us to be appropriate to
this passage, we gave in the exegetical remarks which we have
made on the first Epistle to the Thessalonians.
Chapter lxvi.
And be not surprised if all the multitudes who have be
lieved on Jesus do not behold His resurrection, when Paul,
writing to the Corinthians, can say to them, as being incapable
of receiving greater matters, " For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ; " 4
which is the same as saying, " Hitherto ye were not able,
neither yet now are ye able, for ye are still carnal."5 The
Scripture, therefore, doing everything by appointment of God,
has recorded of Jesus, that before His sufferings He appeared
to all indifferently, but not always ; while after Llis sufferings
He no longer appeared to all in the same way, but with a certain
1 1 Cor. xv. 52. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 52 with 1 Thess. iv. 16.
3 Cf. 1 Thess. iv. 13-15. 4 1 Cor. ii. 2. 5 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 2, 3.

70 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
discrimination which measured out to each his due. And as it
is related that " God appeared to Abraham," or to one of the
saints, and this " appearance" was not a thing of constant occur
rence, but took place at intervals, and not to all, so understand
that the Son of God appeared in the one case on the same prin
ciple that God appeared to the latter.1
Chapter lxvii.
To the best of our ability, therefore, as in a treatise of this
nature, we have answered the objection, that " if Jesus had
really wished to manifest his divine power, he ought to have
shown himself to those who ill-treated him, and to the judge
who condemned him, and to all without reservation." There
was, however, no obligation on Him to appear either to the
judge who condemned Him, or to those who ill-treated Him.
For Jesus spared both the one and the other, that they might
not be smitten with blindness, as the men of Sodom were when
they conspired against the beauty of the angels entertained by
Lot. And here is the account of the matter : " But the men
put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them,
and shut to the door. And they smote the men who were at
the door of the house with blindness, both small and great ; so
that they wearied themselves to find the door." 2 Jesus, ac
cordingly, wished to show that His power was divine to each
one who was capable of seeing it, and according to the measure
of His capability. And I do not suppose that He guarded
against being seen on any other ground than from a regard to
the fitness of those who were incapable of seeing Him. And
it is in vain for Celsus to add, " For he had no longer occasion
to fear any man after his death, being, as you say, a God ; nor
was he sent into the world at all for the purpose of being hid."
Yet He was sent into the world not only to become known, but
also to be hid. For all that He was, was not known even to
those to whom Lie was known, but a certain part of Him
remained concealed even from them ; and to some He was not
known at all. And He opened the gates of light to those who
1 ovto) piot yoti xxi tov vioyTov ©tov utpQxiTri izxpx-KKtiaicptlgTo irtpl txtlmili
tig to citpQxt xvTolg tov ©svv, xpiost.
- Cf. Gen. xix. 10, 11.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 71
were the sons of darkness and of night, and had devoted them
selves to becoming the sons of light and of the day. For our
Saviour Lord, like a good physician, came rather to us who
were full of sins, than to those who were righteous.
Chapter lxviii.
But let us observe how this Jew of Celsus asserts that, " if
this at least would have helped to manifest his divinity, he
ought accordingly to have at once disappeared from the cross."
Now this seems to me to be like the argument of those who
oppose the doctrine of providence, and who arrange things
differently from what they are, and allege that the world would
be better if it were as they arrange it. Now, in those instances
in which their arrangement is a possible one, they are proved
to make the world, so far as depends upon them, worse by their
arrangement than it actually is ; while in those cases in which
they do not portray things worse than they really are, they
are shown to desire impossibilities ; so that in either case they
are deserving of ridicule. And here, accordingly, that there
was no impossibility in His coming, as a being of diviner
nature, in order to disappear when He chose, is clear from the
very nature of the case ; and is certain, moreover, from what
is recorded of Him, in the judgment of those who do not adopt
certain portions merely of the narrative that they may have
ground for accusing Christianity, and who consider other por
tions to be fiction. For it is related in St. Luke's Gospel, that
Jesus after His resurrection took bread, and blessed it, and
breaking it, distributed it to Simon and Cleopas ; and when
they had received the bread, " their eyes were opened, and
they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight." x
Chapter lxix.
But we wish to show that His instantaneous bodily disappear
ance from the cross was not better fitted to serve the purposes
of the whole economy of salvation [than His remaining upon
it was]. For the mere- letter and narrative of the events which
happened to Jesus do not present the whole view of the truth.
For each one of them can be shown, to those who have an in-
1 Cf. Luke xxiv. 30, 31.

72 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
telligent apprehension of Scripture, to be a symbol of something
else. Accordingly, as His crucifixion contains a truth, repre
sented in the words, " I am crucified with Christ," and inti
mated also in these, " God forbid that I should glory, save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is cru
cified to me, and I unto the world ; " 1 and as His death was
necessary, because of the statement, " For in that He died, He
died unto sin once," 2 and this, " Being made conformable to
His death," 3 and this, " For if we be dead with Him, we shall
also live with Him :" * so also His burial has an application to
those who have been made conformable to His death, who
have been both crucified with Him, and have died with Him ;
as is declared by Paul, " For we were buried with Him by bap
tism, and have also risen with Him."5 These matters, how
ever, which relate to His burial, and his sepulchre, and him
who buried Him, we shall expound at greater length on a more
suitable occasion, when it will be our professed purpose to
treat of such things. But, for the present, it is sufficient to
notice the clean linen in which the pure body of Jesus was to
be enwrapped, and the new tomb which Joseph had hewn out
of the rock, where "no one was yet lying,"6 or, as John ex
presses it, " wherein was never man yet laid." 7 And observe
whether the harmony of the three evangelists here is not fitted to
make an impression : for they have thought it right to describe
the tomb as one that was " quarried or hewn out of the rock;"
so that he who examines the words of the narrative may see
something worthy of consideration, both in them and in the
neioness of the tomb, — a point mentioned by Matthew and
John,s — and in the statement of Luke and John,9 that no one
had ever been interred therein before. For it became Him,
who was unlike other dead men (but who even in death mani
fested signs of life in the water and the blood), and who was,
so to speak, a new dead man, to be laid in a new and clean
1 Cf. Gal. vi. 14. 2 Rom. vi. 10. 3 Phil. iii. 10.
4 2 Tim. ii. 11. 5 Cf. Rom. vi. 4.
6 Luke xxiii. 53, ovx riv aviroi ov&tlg xtt'pitvog.
7 John xix. 41, iv u ouSsttw o&titlg iTtSvi.
8 Cf. Matt, xxvii. GO with John xix. 41.
9 Cf. Luke xxiii. 53 with John xix. 41.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 73
tomb, in order that, as His birth was purer than any other (in
consequence of His being born, not in the way of ordinary
generation, but of a virgin), His burial also might have the
purity symbolically indicated in His body being deposited in
a sepulchre which was new, not built of stones gathered from
various quarters, and having no natural unity, but quarried
and hewed out of one rock, united together in all its parts.
Regarding the explanation, however, of these points, and the
method of ascending from the narratives themselves to the
things which they symbolized, one might treat more profoundly,
and in a manner more adapted to their divine character, on a
more suitable occasion, in a work expressly devoted to such
subjects. The literal narrative, however, one might thus ex
plain, viz. that it was appropriate for Him who had resolved to
endure suspension upon the cross, to maintain all the accom
paniments of the character He had assumed, in order that He
who as a man had been put to death, and who as a man had
died, might also as a man be buried. But even if it had been
related in the Gospels, according to the view of Celsus, that
Jesus had immediately disappeared from the cross, he and other
unbelievers would have found fault with the narrative, and
would have brought against it some such objection as this :
" Why, pray, did he disappear after he had been put upon
the cross, and not disappear before he suffered ? " If, then,
after learning from the Gospels that He did not at once dis
appear from the cross, they imagine that they can find fault
with the narrative, because it did not invent, as they consider
it ought to have done, any such instantaneous disappearance,
but gave a true account of the matter, is it not reasonable that
they should accord their faith also to His resurrection, and
should believe that He, according to. His pleasure, on one occa
sion, when the doors were shut, stood in the midst of His dis
ciples, and on another, after distributing bread to two of His
acquaintances, immediately disappeared from view, after He
had spoken to them certain words ?
Chapter lxx.
But how is it that this Jew of Celsus could say that Jesus
concealed Himself ? For his words regarding Him are these :

74 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
" And who that is sent as a messenger ever conceals himself
when he ought to make known his message?" Now, He did
not conceal Himself, who said to those who sought to appre
hend Him, " I was daily teaching openly in the temple, and ye
laid no hold upon me." But having once already answered this
charge of Celsus, now again repeated, we shall content ourselves
with what we have formerly said. We have answered, also, in
the preceding pages, this objection, that " while he was in the
body, and no one believed upon him, he preached to all without
intermission; but when he might have produced a powerful
belief in himself after rising from the dead, he showed himself
secretly only to one woman, and to his own boon companions." l
Now it is not true that He showed Himself only to one woman ;
for it is stated in the Gospel according to Matthew, that " in the
end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day
of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to
see the sepulchre. And, behold, there had been a great earth
quake : for the angel of the Lord had descended from heaven,
and come and rolled back the stone." 2 And, shortly after,
Matthew adds: " And, behold, Jesus met them" — clearly mean
ing the afore-mentioned Marys — " saying, All hail. And they
came and held Llim by the feet, and worshipped Him." 3 And
we answered, too, the charge, that " while undergoing his
punishment he was seen by all, but after his resurrection only
by one," when we offered our defence of the fact that " He was
not seen by all." And now we might say that His merely
human attributes were visible to all men, but those which were
divine in their nature — I speak of the attributes not as related,
but as distinct4 — were not capable of being received by all.
But observe here the manifest contradiction into wdiich Celsus
falls. For having said, a little before, that Jesus had appeared
secretly to one woman and His own boon companions, he
immediately subjoins : " While undergoing his punishment he
was seen by all men, but after his resurrection by one, whereas
the opposite ought to have happened." And let us hear what
he means by " ought to have happened." The being seen by
1 Toig ixvTov DixauTxig. 2 Matt, xxviii. 1, 2. 3 Matt, xxviii. 9.
4 Atyoi St oil Tttpl toiv <s-)(f<stv Tpog 'irtpx txo'JTOiy, xKhx 7!tpl Toy xxrx <S/«;
Qooxv.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 75
all men while undergoing His punishment, but after Llis
resurrection only by one individual, are opposites.1 Now,
so far as his language conveys a meaning, he would have that
to take place which is both impossible and absurd, viz., that
while undergoing His punishment He should be seen only
by one individual, but after His resurrection by all men ! or
else how will you explain his words, " The opposite ought to
have happened ? "
Chapter lxxi.
Jesus taught us who it was that, sent Him, in the words,
"None knoweth the Father but the Son;"2 and in these,
" No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."3
He, treating of Deity, stated to His true disciples the doctrine
regarding God ; and we, discovering traces of such teaching in
the Scripture narratives, take occasion from such to aid our
theological conceptions,4 hearing it declared in one passage, that
" God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all ;"s and
in another, " God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth." 6 But the purposes for
which the Father sent Him are innumerable ; and these any
one may ascertain who chooses, partly from the prophets who
prophesied of Him, and partly from the narratives of the
evangelists. And not a few things also will he learn from the
apostles, and especially from Paul. Moreover, those who are
pious He leadeth to the light, and those who sin He will
punish, — a circumstance which Celsus not observing, has repre
sented Him " as one who will lead the pious to the light, and
who will have mercy on others, whether they sin or repent."7
1 tyxvTtov to poty zoAxfypcsvov 7rcco-{v soipxadxt, xvxgtxvtx os irxaty. The
Benedictine editor reads tov poty xoAa^opitvov, and Bohereau proposes hxv-
Ttov toi xoAx'^opotyov poty, etc.
2 Cf. Luke x. 22. 3 John i. 18.
4 av i'x,y/i iv Toig ytypxpopoiyoig svplaxovTSg xtyopiiccg i^opotv StoAoysiv.
6 1 John i. 5. 6 John iv. 24.
7 The text is, Toiig tit tScpoxpTxvovTxg % pisTxyvovrxg iAs'/jaoiv. Bohereau
would read poij piSTxyvovrxg, or would render the passage as if the
reading were ij xpcxpTxvovTxg, % potTctyvovTxg. This suggestion has been
adopted in the translation.

76 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
Chapter lxxii.
After the above statements, he continues : " If he wished to
remain hid, why was there heard a voice from heaven pro
claiming him to be the Son of God ? And if he did not seek
to remain concealed, why was he punished? or why did he
die?" Now, by such questions he thinks to convict the his
tories of discrepancy, not observing that Jesus neither desired
all things regarding Himself to be known to all whom He hap
pened to meet, nor yet all things to be unknown. Accordingly,
the voice from heaven which proclaimed Him to be the Son of
God, in the words, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased,"1 is not stated to have been audible to the multi
tudes, as this Jew of Celsus supposed. The voice from the
cloud on the high mountain, moreover, was heard only by those
wdio had gone up with Him. For the divine voice is of such a
I nature, as to be heard only by those whom the speaker wishes
to hear it. And I maintain, that the voice of God which is
referred to, is neither air which has been struck, nor any con-
; cussion of the air, nor anything else which is mentioned in
I treatises on the voice ;2 and therefore it is heard by a better
! and more divine organ of hearing than that of sense. And
when the speaker will not have his voice to be heard by all, he
that has the finer ear hears the voice of God, while he who has
the ears of his soul deadened does not perceive that it is God
who speaks. These things I have mentioned because of his
asking, " Why was there heard a voice from heaven -proclaim
ing him to be the Son of God?" while with respect to the
query, " Why was he punished, if he wished to remain hid?"
what has been stated at greater length in the preceding pages
on the subject of His sufferings may suffice.
Chapter lxxiii.
The Jew proceeds, after this, to state as a consequence what
does not follow from the premises ; for it does not follow from
" His having wished, by the punishments which He underwent,
to teach us also to despise death," that after His resurrection
1 Matt. iii. 17.
2 ovhs7roi 0£ Atyoi, oti oil irxvTOig IgtIv xyp iziirAviypCivog, % vAviyyi xtpog,
$1 oti "TTOTt AtytTXl ty Tolg irtpi {pcjyrig.

Book ii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 77
He should openly summon all men to the light, and instruct
them in the object of His coming. For He had formerly sum
moned all men to the light in the words, " Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." *
And the object of His coming had been explained at great
length in His discourses on the beatitudes, and in the announce
ments which followed them, and in the parables, and in His
conversations with the scribes and Pharisees. And the instruc
tion afforded us by the Gospel of John, shows that the elo
quence of Jesus consisted not in words, but in deeds ; while it
is manifest from the Gospel narratives that His speech was
"with power," on which account also they marvelled at Him.
Chapter lxxiv.
In addition to all this, the Jew further says : " All these
statements are taken from your own books, in addition to which
we need no other witness ; for ye fall upon your own swords."2
Now we have proved that many foolish assertions, opposed to
the narratives of our Gospels, occur in the statements of the
Jew, either with respect to Jesus or ourselves. And I do not
think that he has shown that " we fall upon our own swords ;"
but he only so imagines. And when the Jew adds, in a general
way, this to his former remarks : " O most high and heavenly
one ! what God, on appearing to men, is received with incre
dulity?" we must say to him, that according to the accounts in
the law of Moses, God is related to have visited the Hebrews
in a most public manner, not only in the signs and wonders
performed in Egypt, and also in the passage of the Red Sea,
and in the pillar of fire and cloud of light, but also when the
Decalogue was announced to the whole people, and yet was
received with incredulity by those who saw these things :
for had they believed what they saw and heard, they would
not have fashioned the calf, nor changed their own glory into
the likeness of a grass-eating calf ; nor would they have said to
one another with reference to the calf, " These be thy gods,
O Israel, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."3
And observe whether it is not entirely in keeping with the
1 Cf. Matt. xi. 28. 2 cciiTol yxp 'txvTolg ittpnriirTtTt.
* Cf. Ex-, xxxii. 4.

78 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
character of the same people, who formerly refused to believe
such wonders and such appearances of divinity, throughout
the whole period of wandering in the wilderness, as they are
recorded in the law of the Jews to have done, to refuse to be
convinced also, on occasion of the glorious advent of Jesus, by
the mighty words which were spoken by Him with authority,
and the marvels which He performed in the presence of all the
people.
Chapter lxxv.
I think what has been stated is enough to convince any one
that the unbelief of the Jews with regard to Jesus was in
keeping with what is related of this people from the beginning.
For I would say in reply to this Jew of Celsus, when he asks,
" What God that appeared among men is received with incre
dulity, and that, too, when appearing to those who expect him ?
or why, pray, is he not recognised by those who have been
long looking for him ? " what answer, friends, would you have
us return to your x questions ? Which class of miracles, in your
judgment, do you regard as the greater ? Those which were
wrought in Egypt and the wilderness, or those which we declare
that Jesus performed among you? For if the former are
in your opinion greater than the latter, does it not appear
from this very fact to be in conformity with the character of
those who disbelieved the greater to despise the less? And
this is the opinion entertained with respect to our accounts of
the miracles of Jesus. ¦ But if those related of Jesus are con
sidered to be as great as those recorded of Moses, what strange
thing has come to pass among a nation which has manifested
incredulity with regard to the commencement of both dispensa
tions ? 2 For the beginning of the legislation was in the time
of Moses, in whose work are recorded the sins of the unbe
lievers and wicked among you, while the commencement of our
legislation and second covenant is admitted to have been in
the time of Jesus. And by your unbelief of Jesus ye show
that ye are the sons of those who in the desert discredited the
1 The text reads ijpoZy, for which Bohereau and the Benedictine editor
propose either ipoxg or iifixg, the former of which is preferred by Lom-
matzsch. 2 kxt dfttpoTtpxg t«j dp%xg tuv irpxyptxTUy d-KWTovvTi.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 79
divine appearances ; and thus what was spoken by our Saviour
will be applicable also to you who believed not on Him :
"Therefore ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your
fathers."1 And there is fulfilled among you also the prophecy
which said : " Your life shall hang in doubt before your eyes,
and you will have no assurance of your life." 2 For ye did not
believe in the life which came to visit the human race.
Chapter lxxvi.
Celsus, in adopting the character of a Jew, could not dis
cover any objections to be urged against the gospel which might
not be retorted on him as liable to be brought also against the
law and the prophets. For he censures Jesus in such words as
the following : " He makes use of threats, and reviles men on
light grounds, when he says, ' Woe unto you,' and ' I tell you
beforehand.' For by such expressions he manifestly acknow
ledges his inability to persuade ; and this would not be the
case with a God, or even a prudent man." Observe, now,
whether these charges do not manifestly recoil upon the Jew.
For in the writings of the law and the prophets God makes use
of threats and revilings, when He employs language of not less
severity than that found in the Gospel, such as the following
expressions of Isaiah : " Woe unto them that join house to
house, and lay field to field ; " 3 and, " Woe unto them that rise
up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink ; " *
and, " Woe unto them that draw their sins after them as with
a long rope ; " 5 and, " Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil ; " 6 and, " Woe unto those of you who are mighty to
drink wine ; " 7 and innumerable other passages of the same
kind. And does not the following resemble the threats of
which he speaks : " Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with
iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that are corrupters ? "
and so on, to which he subjoins such threats as are equal in
severity to those which, he says, Jesus made use of. For is it
not a threatening, and a great one, which declares, " Your
country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire : your land,
i Cf. Luke xi. 48. 2 Cf. Deut. xxviii. 66. 3 Isa. v. 8.
* Isa. v. 11. 5 Isa. v. 18. 6 Isa. v. 20.
¦> Isa. v. 22. 8 Cf. Isa. i. 4.

80 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as over
thrown by strangers ? " l And are there not revilings in
Ezekiel directed against the people, when the Lord says to the
prophet, "Thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions?"2 Were
you serious, then, Celsus, in representing the Jew as saying of
Jesus, that "he makes use of threats and revilings on slight
grounds, when he employs the expressions, ' Woe unto you,'
and ' I tell you beforehand ? ' " Do you not see that the charges
which this Jew of yours brings against Jesus might be brought
by him against God ? For the God who speaks in the pro
phetic writings is manifestly liable to the same accusations, as
Celsus regards them, of inability to persuade. I might, more
over, say to this Jew, who thinks that he makes a good charge
against Jesus by such statements, that if he undertakes, in sup
port of the scriptural account, to defend the numerous curses
recorded in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, we should
make as good, or better, a defence of the revilings and threaten-
ings which are regarded as having been spoken by Jesus. And
as respects the law of Moses itself, we are in a position to make
a better defence of it than the Jew is, because we have been
taught by Jesus to have a more intelligent apprehension of the
writings of the law. Nay, if the Jew perceive the meaning of
the prophetic Scriptures, he will be able to show that it is for
no light reason that Gro.d employs threatenings and revilings,'
when He says, " Woe unto you," and " I tell you beforehand."
And how should God employ such expressions for the conver
sion of men, which Celsus thinks that even a prudent man would
not have recourse to ? But Christians, who know only one God
— the same who spoke in the prophets and in the Lord [Jesus]
— can prove the reasonableness of those threatenings and revil
ings, as Celsus considers and entitles them. And here a few
remarks shall be addressed to this Celsus, who professes both
to be a philosopher, and to be acquainted with all our system.
How is it, friend, when Hermes, in Llomer, says to Odysseus,
" Why, now, wretched man, do you come wandering alone
over the mountain-tops ? " 3
that you are satisfied with the answer, which explains that the
1 Isa. i. 7. 2 Ezek. ii. 6. 3 Cf. Odyss. x. 281.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 81
Homeric Hermes addresses such language to Odysseus to remind
him of his duty,1 because it is characteristic of the Sirens to
flatter and to say pleasing things, around whom
" Is a huge heap of bones," 2
and who say,
" Come hither, much lauded Odysseus, great glory of the Greeks ; " 3
whereas, if our prophets and Jesus Himself, in order to turn
their hearers from evil, make use of such expressions as " Woe
unto you," and what you regard as revilings, there is no con
descension in such language to the circumstances of the hearers,
nor any application of such words to them as healing4 medicine ?
Unless, indeed, you would have God, or one who partakes of
the divine nature, when conversing with men, to have regard to
His own nature alone, and to what is worthy of Llimself, but
to have no regard to what is fitting to be brought before men
who are under the dispensation and leading of His word, and
with each one of whom He is to converse agreeably to his indi
vidual character. And is it not a ridiculous assertion regard
ing Jesus, to say that He was unable to persuade men, when
you compare the state of matters not only among the Jews,
who have many such instances recorded in the prophecies, but
also among the Greeks, among whom all of those who have
attained great reputation for their wisdom have been unable to
persuade those who conspired against them, or to induce their
judges or accusers to cease from evil, and to endeavour to attain
to virtue by the way of philosophy ?
Chapter lxxvii.
After this the Jew remarks, manifestly in accordance with
the Jewish belief : " We certainly hope that there will be a
bodily resurrection, and that we shall enjoy an eternal life ;
and the example and archetype of this will be He who is
sent to us, and who will show that nothing is impossible with
God." We do not know, indeed, whether the Jew would say
of the expected Christ, that He exhibits in Himself an example
of the resurrection ; but let it be supposed that he both thinks
1 uirsp tTriGTpotpij;. 2 Cf. Odyss. xii. 45.
3 Ibid. xii. 184. * itxiuviay (pxppcaxov.
ORIG. — VOL. II. F

82 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
and says so. We shall give this answer, then, to him who has
told us that he drew his information from our own writings :
" Did you read those writings, friend, in which you think you
discover matter of accusation against us, and not find there the
resurrection of Jesus, and the declaration that He was the first
born from the dead ? Or because you will not allow such things
to have been recorded, were they not actually recorded?" But
as the Jew still admits the resurrection of the body, I do not
consider the present a suitable time to discuss the subject with
one who both believes and says that there is a bodily resurrec
tion, whether he has an articulate1 understanding of such a
topic, and is able to plead well on its behalf,2 or not, but has
only given his assent to it as being of a legendary character.3
Let the above, then, be our reply to this Jew of Celsus. And
when he adds, " Where, then, is he, that we may see him and
believe upon him ? " we answer : Where is He now who spoke
in the prophecies, and who wrought miracles, that we may see
and believe that He is part of God ? Are you to be allowed to
meet the objection, that God does not perpetually show Him
self to the Hebrew nation, while we are not to be permitted the
same defence with regard to Jesus, who has both once risen
Himself, and led His disciples to believe in His resurrection,
and so thoroughly persuaded them of its truth, that they show
to all men by their sufferings how they are able to laugh at all
the troubles of life, beholding the life eternal and the resur
rection clearly demonstrated to them both in word and deed?
Chapter lxxviii.
The Jew continues : " Did Jesus come into the world for
this purpose, that we should not believe him ? " To which we*
immediately answer, that He did not come with the object of
producing incredulity among the Jews ; but knowing before
hand that such would be the result, He foretold it, and made
use of their unbelief for the calling of the Gentiles. For
through their sin salvation came to the Gentiles, respecting
whom the Christ who speaks in the prophecies says, " A people
1 sire o~txp6povvTX to" TOIOVTOV WXp' tXVTtp.
2 xxl ovvxpctvoy irptG^tvGXi mpl tou Aoyov xxAag.
8 dTTd pcvhxotrtpoy avyxxrxTi6ipotyoy tu Aoya.

Bookii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 83
whom I did not know became subject to me : they were obedient
to the hearing of my ear ; " 1 and, " I was found of them who
sought me not ; I became manifest to those who inquired not
after me." 2 It is certain, moreover, that the Jews were punished
even in this present life, after treating Jesus in the manner in
which they did. And let the Jews assert what they will when
we charge them with guilt, and say, " Is not the providence and
goodness of God most wonderfully displayed in your punish
ment, and in your being deprived of Jerusalem, and of the
sanctuary, and of your splendid worship ? " For whatever they
may say in reply with respect to the providence of God, we
shall be able more effectually to answer it by remarking, that
the providence of God was wonderfully manifested in using the
transgression of that people for the purpose of calling into the
kingdom of God, through Jesus Christ, those from among the
Gentiles who were strangers to the covenant and aliens to the
promises. And these things were foretold by the prophets, who
said that, on account of the transgressions of the Hebrew nation,
God would make choice, not of a nation, but of individuals
chosen from all lands ; 3 and, having selected the foolish things
of the world, would cause an ignorant nation to become ac
quainted with the divine teaching, the kingdom of God being
taken from the one and given to the other. And out of a
larger number it is sufficient on the present occasion to adduce
the prediction from the song in Deuteronomy regarding the
calling of the Gentiles, which i^ as follows, being spoken in
the person of the Lord : " They have moved me to jealousy
with those who are not gods ; they have provoked me to anger
with their idols : and I will move them to jealousy with those
who are not a people ; I will provoke them to anger with a
foolish nation."4
Chapter lxxix.
The conclusion of all these arguments regarding Jesus is thus
stated by the Jew : " He was therefore a man, and of such a
nature, as the truth itself proves, and reason demonstrates him
to be." I do not know, however, whether a man who had the
courage to spread throughout the entire world his doctrine of
1 Cf . 2 Sam. xxii. 44, 45. 2 Cf. Isa.. Ixv. 1.
3 ai>xl iDvog, dAWd Aoyxlxg KxyTecxobiv. 4 Cf. Deut. xxxii. 21.

84 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookii.
religious worship and teaching,1 could accomplish what he
wished without the divine assistance, and could rise superior to
all who withstood the progress of his doctrine — kings and rulers,
and the Roman senate, and governors in all places, and the
common people. And how could the nature of a man possessed
of no inherent excellence convert so vast a multitude ? For it
would not be wonderful if it were only the wise who were so con
verted ; but it is the most irrational of men, and those devoted
to their passions, and who, by reason of their irrationality,
change with the greater difficulty so as to adopt a more tem
perate course of life. And yet it is because Christ was the
power of God and the wisdom of the Father that He accom
plished, and still accomplishes, such results, although neither
the Jews nor Greeks who disbelieve His word will so admit.
And therefore we shall not cease to believe in God, according
to the precepts of Jesus Christ, and to seek to convert those
who are blind on the subject of religion, although it is they who
are truly blind themselves that charge us with blindness : and
they, whether Jews or Greeks, who lead astray those that follow
them, accuse us of seducing men — a good seduction, truly !—
that they may become temperate instead of dissolute, or at least
may make advances to temperance ; may become just instead of
unjust, or at least may tend to become so ; prudent instead of
foolish, or be on the way to become such; and instead of cowar
dice, meanness, and timidity, may exhibit the virtues of fortitude
and courage, especially displayed in the struggles undergone for
the sake of their religion towards God, the Creator of all things.
Jesus Christ therefore came announced beforehand, not by
one prophet, but by all ; and it was a proof of the ignorance of
Celsus, to represent a Jew as saying that one prophet only had
predicted the advent of Christ. But as this Jew of Celsus,
after being thus introduced, asserting that these things were
indeed in conformity with his own law, has somewhere here
ended his discourse, with a mention of other matters not worthy
of remembrance, I too shall here terminate this second book of
my answer to his- treatise. But if God permit, and the power
of Christ abide in my soul, I shall endeavour in the third book
to deal with the subsequent statements of Celsus.
1 tviv xxt aiiToy DsotssjZtixv xxi o'la'xGXXAtxo.

BOOK III.
Chapter i.
jN the first book of our answer to the work of Celsus,
who had boastfully entitled the treatise which he
had composed against us A True Discourse, we have
gone through, as you enjoined, my faithful Am
brosius, to the best of our ability, his preface, and the parts
immediately following it, testing each one of his assertions as
we went along, until we finished with the tirade1 of this Jew
of his, feigned to have been delivered against Jesus. And in
the second book we met, as we best could, all the charges con
tained in the invective1 of the said Jew, which were levelled at
us who are believers in God through Christ ; and now we enter
upon this third division of our discourse, in which our object is
to refute the allegations which he makes in his own person.
He gives it as his opinion, that " the controversy between
Jews and Christians is a most foolish one," and asserts that
" the discussions which we have with each other regarding
Christ differ in no respect from what is called in the proverb
' a fight about the shadow of an ass ;' " 2 and thinks that
" there is nothing of importance3 in the investigations of the
Jews and Christians : for both believe that it was predicted by
the Divine Spirit that one was to come as a Saviour to the
human race, but do not yet agree on the point whether the
person predicted has actually come or not." For we Christians,
indeed, have believed in Jesus, as He who came according to
the predictions of the prophets. But the majority of the Jews
1 any.-nyoplx ; cf. book i. c. 71.
2 xxtx TVfj irxpoipilxv xxAovpotvvig ovou Gxixg poxxfig. On this proverb,
see Zenobius, Centuria Sexta, adag. 28, and the note of Schottius. Cf. also
Suidas, s.v. 6'yov axlx. — De LA Rue.
3 GtpOVOV. 85

86 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
are so far from believing in Him, that those of them who lived
at the time of His coming conspired against Him ; and those
of the present day, approving of what the Jews of former
times dared to do against Him, speak evil of Him, asserting
that it was by means of sorcery1 that he passed himself off for
Him who was predicted by the prophets as the One who was to
come, and who was called, agreeably to the traditions of the
Jews,2 the Christ. Chapter ii.
But let Celsus, and those who assent to his charges, tell us
whether it is at all like " an ass's shadow," that the Jewish
prophets should have predicted the birth-place of Him who was
to be the ruler of those who had lived righteous lives, and who
are called the " heritage" of God ;3 and that Emmanuel should be
conceived by a virgin ; and that such signs and wonders should
be performed by Him who was the subject of prophecy; and that
His word should have such speedy course, that the voice of His
apostles should go forth into all the earth ; and that He should
undergo certain sufferings after His condemnation by the Jews ;
and that He should rise again from the dead. For was it
by chance4 that the prophets made these announcements, with
no persuasion of their truth in their minds,5 moving them not
only to speak, but to deem their announcements worthy of
being committed to writing ? And did so great a nation as
that of the Jews, who had long ago received a country of
their own wherein to dwell, recognise certain men as prophets,
and reject others as utterers of false predictions, without any
conviction of the soundness of the distinction ? 5 And was
there no motive which induced them to class with the books of
Moses, which were held as sacred, the words of those persons
who were afterwards deemed to be prophets ? And can those
who charge the Jews and Christians with folly, show us how the
Jewish nation could have continued to subsist, had there existed
among them no promise of the knowledge of future events?
and how, while each, of the surrounding nations believed,
1 S/a Tivog yoYiTtixg. 2 xxtx tx ' lovhxiuv »t^«.
8 tZv ;<,fnpixTi£6vToiv pcspta'og ©tov.
* apx yxp ug tTvxt. i avy ovl'-ptix iriQxvoTvrri.

Book hi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 87
agreeably to their ancient institutions, that they received oracles
and predictions from those whom they accounted gods, this
people alone, who were taught to view with contempt all those
who were considered gods by the heathen, as not being gods,
but demons, according to the declaration of the prophets, <; For
all the gods of the nations are demons,"1 had among theia no
one who professed to be a prophet, and who could restrain
such as, from a desire to know the future, were ready to desert2
to the demons1 of other nations? Judge, then, whether it
were not a necessity, that as the whole nation had been taught
to despise the deities of other lands, they should have had an
abundance of prophets, who made known events which were of
far greater importance in themselves,3 and which surpassed
the oracles of all other countries.
Chapter hi.
In the next place, miracles were performed in all countries,
or at least in many of them, as Celsus himself admits, in
stancing the case of Esculapius, who conferred benefits on
many, and who foretold future events to entire cities, which
were dedicated to him, such as Tricca, and Epidaurus, and
Cos, and Pergamus ; and along with Esculapius he mentions
Aristeas of Proconnesus, and a certain Clazomenian, and
Cleomedes of Astypalasa. But among the Jews alone, who say
they are dedicated to the God of all things, there was wrought
no miracle or sign which might help to confirm their faith in
the Creator of all things, and strengthen their hope of another
and better life ! But how can they imagine such a state of
things ? For they would immediately have gone over to the
worship of those demons which gave oracles and performed
cures, and deserted the God who was believed, as far as words
went,4 to assist them, but who never manifested to them His
1 Ps. xcvi. 5, o~xipc6vtx ; " idols," Auth. Vers. "We have in this passage,
and in many others, the identification of the Ixipiovtg or gods of the heathen
with the Ixlfiovsg or lxipi.6yix, "evil spirits," or angels, supposed to be
mentioned in Gen. vi. 2.
2 The reading in the text is xinapooAftv, on which Bohereau, with whom
the Benedictine editor agrees, remarks that we must either read aliTopooA^r
vovTxg, or understand some such word as tToipoovg before xiiTopooAttv.
3 to potl^ov xiiToHty.

88 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.
visible presence. But if this result has not taken place, and
if, on the contrary, they have suffered countless calamities
rather than renounce Judaism and their law, and have been
cruelly treated, at one time in Assyria, at another in Persia,
and at another under Antiochus, is it not in keeping with the
probabilities of the case1 for those to suppose who do not yield
their belief to their miraculous histories and prophecies, that
the events in question could not be inventions, but that a
certain divine Spirit being in the holy souls of the prophets, as
of men who underwent any labour for the cause of virtue, did
move them to prophesy some things relating to their contempo
raries, and others to their posterity, but chiefly regarding a cer
tain personage who was to come as a Saviour to the human race?
Chapter iv.
And if the above be the state of the case, how do Jews and
Christians search after " the shadow of an ass," in seeking to
ascertain from those prophecies which they believe in common,
whether He who was foretold has come, or has not yet arrived,
and is still an object of expectation ? But even suppose2 it be
granted to Celsus that it was not Jesus who was announced by
the prophets, then, even on such a hypothesis, the investigation
of the sense of the prophetic writings is no search after " the
shadow of an ass," if he who was spoken of can be clearly
pointed out, and it can be shown both what sort of person he
was predicted to be, and what he was to do, and, if possible,
when he was to arrive. But in the preceding pages we have
already spoken on the point of Jesus being the individual who
was foretold to be the Christ, quoting a few prophecies out of
a larger number. Neither Jews nor Christians, then, are
wrong in assuming that the prophets spoke under divine in
fluence ;3 but they are in error who form erroneous opinions
respecting Him wdio was expected by the prophets to come, and
whose person and character were made known in their " true
discourses."
Chapter v.
Immediately after these points, Celsus, imagining that the
1 irZg oy^i e| tixoruv xuTXGxtva^irxt. 2 xxff V7r66iaiv. 3 6tohv.

Book m. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 89
Jews are Egyptians by descent, and had abandoned Egypt, after
revolting against the Egyptian state, and despising the customs of
that people in matters of worship, says that " they suffered from
the adherents of Jesus, who believed in Him as the Christ, the
same treatment which they had inflicted upon the Egyptians ;
and that the cause which led to the new state of things 1 in
either instance was rebellion against the state." Now let us
observe what Celsus has here done. The ancient Egyptians,
after inflicting many cruelties upon the Hebrew race, who had
settled in Egypt owing to a famine which had broken out in
Judea, suffered, in consequence of their injustice to strangers
and suppliants, that punishment which divine Providence had
decreed was to fall on the whole nation for having combined
against an entire people, who had been their guests, and who had
done them no harm ; and after being smitten by plagues from
God, they allowed them, with difficulty, and after a brief period,
to go wherever they liked, as being unjustly detained in slavery.
Because, then, they were a selfish people, who honoured those
who were in any degree related to them far more than they did
strangers of better lives, there is not an accusation which they
have omitted to bring against Moses and the Hebrews, — not alto-
gether denying, indeed, the miracles and wonders done by him,
but alleging that they were wrought by sorcery, and not by
divine power. Moses, however, not as a magician, but as a
devout man, and one devoted to the God of all things, and a
partaker in the divine Spirit, both enacted laws for the Hebrews,
according to the suggestions of the Divinity, and recorded events
as they happened with perfect fidelity.
Chapter vi.
Celsus, therefore, not investigating in a spirit of impartiality
the facts, which are related by the Egyptians in one way, and
by the Hebrews in another, but being bewitched, as it were,2
in favour of the former, accepted as true the statements of
those who had oppressed the strangers, and declared that the
Hebrews, who had been unjustly treated, had departed from
Egypt after revolting against the Egyptians, — not observing how
1 Trig xxivoropoixg.
2 TlpoxXTXAviQ&tlg ug viro tpiATpav Tay KlywXTiav.

90 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iii.
impossible it was for so great a multitude of rebellious Egyp
tians to become a nation, which, dating its origin from the
said revolt, should change its language at the time of its rebel
lion, so that those who up to that time made use of the
Egyptian tongue, should' completely adopt, all at once, the
language of the Hebrews ! Let it be granted, however,
according to his supposition, that on abandoning Egypt they
did conceive a hatred also of their mother tongue,1 how did it
happen that after so doing they did not rather adopt the
Syrian or Phoenician language, instead of preferring the
Hebrew, which is different from both ? But reason seems to
me to demonstrate that the statement is false, which makes
those who were Egyptians by race to have revolted against
Egyptians, and to have left the country, and to have proceeded
to Palestine, and occupied the land now called Judea. For
Hebrew was the language of their fathers before their descent
into Egypt ; and the Hebrew letters, employed by Moses in
writing those five books which are deemed sacred by the Jews,
were different from those of the Egyptians.
Chapter vii.
In like manner, as the statement is false " that the Hebrews,
being [originally] Egyptians, dated the commencement [of
their political existence] from the time of their rebellion," so
also is this, " that in the days of Jesus others who were Jews
rebelled against the Jewish state, and became His followers ;"
for neither Celsus nor they who think with him are able to
point out any act on the part of Christians which savours of
rebellion. And yet, if a revolt had led to the formation of the
Christian commonwealth, so that it derived its existence in this
way from that of the Jews, who were permitted to take up arms
in defence of the members of their families, and to slay their
enemies, the Christian Lawgiver would not have altogether for
bidden the putting of men to death ; and yet He nowhere
teaches that it is right for His own disciples to offer violence to
any one, however wicked. For He did not deem it in keeping
with such laws as His, which were derived from a divine source,
to allow the killing of any individual whatever. Nor would
1 Tr,y aiiVTpotpoy ip&intjr.

Book hi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 91
the Christians, had they owed their origin to a rebellion, have
adopted laws of so exceedingly mild a character as not to
allow them, when it was their fate to be slain as sheep, on any
occasion to resist their persecutors. And truly, if we look a
little deeper into things, we may say regarding the exodus from
Egypt, that it is a miracle if a whole nation at once adopted the
language called Hebrew, as if it had been a gift from heaven,
when one of their own prophets said, "As they went forth
from Egypt, they heard a language which they did not under
stand." 1 Chapter viii.
In the following way, also, we may conclude that they who
came out of Egypt with Moses were not Egyptians ; for if they
had been Egyptians, their names also would be Egyptian,
because in every language the designations [of persons and
things] are kindred to the language.2 But if it is certain, from
the names being Hebrew, that the people were not Egyptians, —
and the Scriptures are full of Hebrew names, and these be
stowed, too, upon their children while they were in Egypt, — it
is clear that the Egyptian account is false, which asserts that
they were Egyptians, and went forth from Egypt with Moses.
Now it is absolutely certain3 that, being descended, as the
Mosaic history records, from Hebrew ancestors, they employed
a language from which they also took the names which they
conferred upon their children. But with regard to the Chris
tians, because they were taught not to avenge themselves
upon their enemies (and have thus observed laws of a mild and
philanthropic character) ; and because they would not, although
able, have made war even if they had received authority to do
so, — they have obtained this reward from God, that He has
always warred in their behalf, and on certain occasions has
restrained those who rose up against them and desired to
destroy them. For in order to remind others, that by seeing a
few engaged in a struggle for their religion, they also might be
better fitted to despise death, some, on special occasions, and
these individuals who can be easily numbered, have endured
death for the sake of Christianity, — God not permitting the
1 Cf. Ps. Ixxxi. 5. 2 "Svyysvslg s'igiv xi irpouiiyopixi. 3 IxtyZg iyxpyig.

92 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.
whole nation to be exterminated, but desiring that it should
continue, and that the whole world should be filled with this
salutary and religious doctrine. And again, on the other hand,
that those who were of weaker minds might recover their
courage and rise superior to the thought of death, God inter
posed His providence on behalf of believers, dispersing by an
act of His will alone all the conspiracies formed against them ;
so that neither kings, nor rulers, nor the populace, might be
able to rage against them beyond a certain point. Such, then,
is our answer to the assertions of Celsus, " that a revolt was
the original commencement of the ancient Jewish state, and
subsequently of Christianity."
Chapter ix.
But since he is manifestly guilty of falsehood in the state
ments which follow, let us examine his assertion when he says,
" If all men wished to become Christians, the latter would not
desire such a result." Now that the above statement is false
is clear from this, that Christians do not neglect, as far as
in them lies, to take measures to disseminate their doctrine
throughout the whole world. Some of them, accordingly, have
made it their business to itinerate not only through cities, but
even villages and country houses,1 that they might make con
verts to God. And no one would maintain that they did this
for the sake of gain, when sometimes they would not accept
even necessary sustenance ; or if at any time they were pressed
by a necessity of this sort, were contented with the mere supply
of their wants, although many were willing to share [their
abundance] with them, and to bestow help upon them far above
their need. At the present day, indeed, when, owing to the
multitude of Christian believers, not only rich men, but persons
of rank, and delicate and high-born ladies, receive the teachers
of Christianity, some perhaps will dare to say that it is for the
sake of a little glory2 that certain individuals assume the office
of Christian instructors. It is impossible, however, rationally
to entertain such a suspicion with respect to Christianity in
its beginnings, when the danger incurred, especially by its
teachers, was great ; while at the present day the discredit
l'E7rxvAiig. 2 Ao^xptoy.

Book iii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 93
attaching to it among the rest of mankind is greater than any
supposed honour enjoyed among those wdio hold the same
belief, especially when such honour is not shared by all. It is
false, then, from the very nature of the case, to say that " if
all men wished to become Christians, the latter would not
desire such a result."
Chapter x.
But observe what he alleges as a proof of his statement :
" Christians at first were few in number, and held the same
opinions ; but when they grew to be a great multitude, they
were divided and separated, each wishing to have his own
individual party i1 for this was their object from the beginning."
That Christians at first were few in number, in comparison
with the multitudes who subsequently became Christian, is un
doubted ; and yet, all things considered, they were not so very
few.2 For what stirred up the envy of the Jews against Jesus,
and aroused them to conspire against Him, was the great
number of those who followed Him into the wilderness, — five
thousand men on one occasion, and four thousand on another,
having attended Him thither, without including the women and
children. For such was the charm3 of Jesus' words, that not
only were men willing to follow Him to the wilderness, but
women also, forgetting 4 the weakness of their sex and a regard
for outward propriety6 in thus following their Teacher into
desert places. Children, too, who are altogether unaffected
by such emotions,6 either following their parents, or perhaps
attracted also by His divinity, in order that it might be im
planted within them, became His followers along with their
parents. But let it be granted that Christians were few in
number at the beginning, how does that help to prove that
Christians would be unwilling to make all men believe the doc
trine of the gospel ?
1 GTXGSig fbixg. 2 xx'itoi oil tixvt/i '/igxv oAiyoi. 3 /"uyf.
4 The reading in Spencer's and the Benedictine edition is vTroTtpcvopttvxg,
for which Lommatzsch reads vicopitpcvtipttyxg.
i xxi to "hoxoiy. 6 dnxSiaTxTX.

94 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iii.
Chapter xi.
He says, in addition, that " all the Christians were of one
mind," not observing, even in this particular, that from the
beginning there were differences of opinion among believers
regarding the meaning 1 of the books held to be divine. At all
events, while the apostles were still preaching, and while eye
witnesses of [the works of] Jesus were still teaching Llis doc
trine, there was no small discussion among the converts from
Judaism regarding Gentile believers, on the point whether they
ought to observe Jewish customs, or should reject the burden
of clean and unclean meats, as not being obligatory on those
who had abandoned their ancestral Gentile customs, and had
become believers in Jesus. Nay, even in the epistles of Paul,
who was contemporary with those who had seen Jesus, certain
particulars are found mentioned as having been the subject of
dispute, — viz. respecting the resurrection,2 and whether it were
already past, and the day of the Lord, whether it were nigh at
hand 3 or not. Nay, the very exhortation to " avoid profane
and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
which some professing, have erred concerning the faith,"4 is
enough to show that from the very beginning, when, as Celsus
imagines, believers were few in number, there were certain doc
trines interpreted in different ways.5
Chapter xii.
In the next place, since he reproaches us with the existence
of heresies in Christianity as being a ground of accusation
against it, saying that " when Christians had greatly increased
in numbers, they were divided and split up into factions, each
individual desiring to have his own party ; " and further, that
" being thus separated through their numbers, they confute
one another, still having, so to speak, one name in common, if
indeed they still retain it. And this is the only thing which
they are yet ashamed to abandon, while other matters are
determined in different ways by the various sects." In reply
to which, we say that heresies of different kinds have never
1 'Exloxiv. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 12 sqq. 3 Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 2.
* Cf. 1 Tim. vi. 20, s Tivsg vxpsxloxxl.

Book iii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 95
originated from any matter in which the principle involved
was not important and beneficial to human life. For since the
science of medicine is useful and necessary to the human race,
and many are the points of dispute in it respecting the manner
of curing bodies, there are found, for this reason, numerous
heresies confessedly prevailing in the science of medicine among
the Greeks, and also, I suppose, among those barbarous nations
who profess to employ medicine. And, again, since philosophy
makes a profession of the truth, and promises a knowledge of
existing things with a view to the regulation of life, and
endeavours to teach what is advantageous to our race, and since
the investigation of these matters is attended with great differ
ences of opinion,1 innumerable heresies have consequently
sprung up in philosophy, some of which are more celebrated
than others. Even Judaism itself afforded a pretext for the
origination of heresies, in the different acceptation accorded to
the writings of Moses and those of the prophets. So, then,
seeing Christianity appeared an object of veneration to men,
not to the more servile class alone, as Celsus supposes, but to
many among the Greeks who were devoted to literary pursuits,2
there necessarily originated heresies, — not at all, however, as the
result of faction and strife, but through the earnest desire of
many literary men to become acquainted with the doctrines of
Christianity. The consequence of which was, that, taking in
different acceptations those discourses which were believed by
all to be divine, there arose heresies, which received their names
from those individuals who admired, indeed, the origin of
Christianity, but who were led, in some way or other, by certain
plausible reasons, to discordant views. And yet no one would
act rationally in avoiding medicine because of its heresies ; nor
would he who aimed at that which is seemly3 entertain a hatred
of philosophy, and adduce its many heresies as a pretext for his
antipathy. And so neither are the sacred books of Moses and
the prophets to be condemned on account of the heresies in
Judaism. Chapter xiii.
Now, if these arguments hold good, why should we not
1 %(iAA'iiV «%£/ 5/oA*sjy. 2 (ptAoAoyuii. 3 to apt

pticov.

98 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
defend, in the same way, the existence of heresies in Chris
tianity ? And respecting these, Paul appears to me to speak
in a very striking manner when he says, " For there must be
heresies among you, that they who are approved may be made
manifest among you." 1 For as that man is "approved" in medi
cine who, on account of his experience in various [medical]
heresies, and his honest examination of the majority of them,
has selected the preferable system, — and as the great proficient
in philosophy is he who, after acquainting himself experimen
tally with the various views, has given in his adhesion to the
best, — so I would say that the wisest Christian was he who had
carefully studied the heresies both of Judaism and Christianity.
Whereas he who finds fault with Christianity because of its
heresies would find fault also with the teaching of Socrates,
from whose school have issued many others of discordant views.
Nay, the opinions of Plato might be chargeable with error, on
account of Aristotle's having separated from his school, and
founded a new one, — on which subject we have remarked injhs
preceding book. But it appears to me that Celsus has become
acquainted with certain heresies which do not possess even the
name of Jesus in common with us. Perhaps he had heard of
the sects called Ophites and Cainites, or some others of a
similar nature, which had departed in all points from the
teaching of Jesus. And yet surely this furnishes no ground
for a charge against the Christian doctrine.
Chapter xiv.
After this he continues : " Their union is the more wonderful,
the more it can be shown to be based on no substantial reason.
And yet rebellion is a substantial reason, as well as the advan
tages which accrue from it, and the fear of external enemies.
Such are the causes which give stability to their faith." To
this we answer, that our union does thus rest upon a reason, or
rather not upon a reason, but upon the divine working,2 so that
its commencement was God's teaching men, in the prophetical
writings, to expect the advent of Christ, who was to be the
Saviour of mankind. For in so far as this point is not really
refuted (although it may seem to be by unbelievers), in the
1 1 Cor. xi. 19. 2 kixg hspytix;.

Book hi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 97
same proportion is the doctrine commended as the doctrine of
God, and Jesus shown to be the Son of God both before and
after His incarnation. I maintain, moreover, that even after
His incarnation, He is always found by those who possess the
acutest spiritual vision to be most God-like, and to have really
come down to us from God, and to have derived His origin or
subsequent development not from human wisdom, but from
the manifestation 1 of God within Him, who by His manifold
wisdom and miracles established Judaism first, and Christianity
afterwards ; and the assertion that rebellion, and the advantages
attending it, were the originating causes of a doctrine which has
converted and improved so many men was effectually refuted.
Chapter xv.
But again, that it is not the fear of external enemies which
strengthens our union, is plain from the fact that this cause,
by God's will, has already, for a considerable time, ceased to
exist. And it is probable that the secure existence, so far as
regards the world, enjoyed by believers at present, will come
to an end, since those who calumniate Christianity in every
way are again attributing the present frequency of rebellion to
the multitude of believers, and to their not being persecuted by
the authorities as in old times. For we have learned from the
gospel neither to relax our efforts in days of peace, and to give
ourselves up to repose, nor, when the world makes war upon
us, to become cowards, and apostatize from the love of the God
of all things which is in Jesus Christ. And we clearly mani
fest the illustrious nature of our origin, and do not (as Celsus
imagines) conceal it, when we impress upon the minds of our
first converts a contempt for idols, and images of all kinds, and,
besides this, raise their thoughts from the worship of created
things instead of God, and elevate them to the universal Creator;
clearly showing Him to be the subject of prophecy, both from
the predictions regarding Him — of which there are many — and
from those traditions which have been carefully investigated by
such as are able intelligently to understand the Gospels, and
the declarations of the apostles. 1 tTritpxvtixg.
ORIG. — VOL. II. G

98 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.

Chapter xvi.
" But what the legends are of every kind which we gather
together, or the terrors which we invent," as Celsus without
proof asserts, he who likes may show. I know not, indeed,
what he means by " inventing terrors," unless it be our doctrine of
God as Judge, and of the condemnation of men for their deeds,
with the various proof_s__derived partly from Scriptm^ partly
from probable reason._ AnoTyet^for truth is precious— Celsus
says, at the close, " Forbid that either I, or these, or any other
individual should ever reject the doctrine respecting the future
punishment of the wicked and the reward of the good !" What
terrors, then, if you except the doctrine of punishment, do we
invent and impose upon mankind ? And if he should reply
that " we weave together erroneous opinions drawn from
ancient sources, and trumpet them aloud, and sound them be
fore men, as the priests of Cybele clash their cymbals in the
ears of those who are being initiated in their mysteries ; " x we
shall ask him in reply, " Erroneous opinions from what ancient
sources? " For, whether he refers to Grecian accounts, which
taught the existence of courts of justice under the earth, or
Jewish, which, among other things, predicted the life that follows
the present one ; he will be unable to show that we who, striving^
to_believe on grounds of reason, regulate our lives in conformity
with such doctrines, have failed correctly to ascertain the truth.2

Chapter

xvii.

He wishes, indeed, to compare the articles of our faith to
those of the Egyptians ; " among whom, as you approach their
sacred edifices, are to be seen splendid enclosures, and groves,
and large and beautiful gateways,3 and wonderful temples, and
magnificent tents around them, and ceremonies of worship full
of superstition and mystery ; but when you have entered, and
1 TX TOV TtXAXlOV AOyOV -TTXpxXOVGpCXTX GV pc'TTAxTTOVTtg, TOVTOtg tfjPO*05*"
TXVAovpotv xxi TpoxXTvixovftlii TOvg dvSpuirovg' Zg o/' TOt/g xopvjixvTi^op^'"''
7rtpij3ofi/3ovvTtg. 2 oiix xv txoi itxpxGTViaxi, oti •tipciig polv iv xxpxxovapoxGi ytvopotvoi TK «?""
Dtlxg, ogoi yt irsipapotdx potTx Aoyov wiGTiVtiv, i:pog tx toixvtx £Zpctv 8oV^*r*'
8 irptnrvAxiav payiin Tt xxi xxAAri.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 99
passed within, the object of worship is seen to be a cat, or an
ape, or a crocodile, or a goat, or a dog ! " Now, what is the
resemblance 1 between us and the splendours of Egyptian wor
ship which are seen by those who draw near their temples?
And where is the resemblance to those irrational animals which
are worshipped within, after you pass through the splendid
gateways ? Are our prophecies, and the God of all things, and
the injunctions against images, objects of reverence in the view
of Celsus also, and Jesus Christ crucified, the analogue to the
worship of the irrational animal ? But if he should assert this
— and I do not think that he will maintain anything else — we
shall reply that we have spoken in the preceding pages at
greater length in defence of those charges affecting Jesus,
showing that what appeared to have happened to Him in the
capacity of His human nature, was fraught with benefit to all
men, and with salvation to the whole world.
Chapter xviii.
In the next place, referring to the statements of the Egyp
tians, who talk loftily about irrational animals, and who assert
that they are a sort of symbols of God, or anything else which
their prophets, so termed, are accustomed to call them, Celsus
says that " an impression is produced in the minds of those
who have learned these things ; that they have not been ini
tiated in vain ; " 2 while with regard to the truths which are
taught in our writings to those who have made progress in the
study of Christianity (through that which is called by Paul the
gift consisting in the "word of wisdom" through the Spirit,
and in the " word of knowledge " according to the Spirit), Celsus
does not seem even to have formed an idea,3 judging not only
from what he has already said, but from what he subsequently
adds in his attack upon the Christian system, when he asserts
that Christians "repel every wise man from the doctrine of
their faith, and invite only the ignorant and the vulgar ; " on
which assertions we shall remark in due time, when we come to
the proper place.
1 to dvxAoyov.
3 (Pxvtxgi'xv it-airoGTtAAeiv to/? txvtx pttpixDyxoGiv, oti poq pcxTtiv potpovnvTxi.
8 mtyccvTXGQxi.

3 00 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.

Chapter xix.
He says, indeed, that " we ridicule the Egyptians, although
they present many by no means contemptible mysteries1 for
our consideration, when they teach us that such rites are acts
of worship offered to eternal ideas, and not, as the multitude
think, to ephemeral animals ; and that we are silly, because we
introduce nothing nobler than the goats and dogs of the Egyp
tian worship in our narratives about Jesus." Now to this we
reply, " Good sir,2 [suppose that] you are right in eulogizing
the fact that the Egyptians present to view many by no means
contemptible mysteries, and obscure explanations about the
animals [worshipped] among them, you nevertheless do not act
consistently in accusing us as if you believed that we had
nothing to state which was worthy of consideration, but that all
our doctrines were contemptible and of no account, seeing we
unfold3 the narratives concerning Jesus according to the
' wisdom of the word ' to those who are ' perfect ' in Chris
tianity. Regarding whom, as being competent to understand
the wisdom that is in Christianity, Paul says : ' We speak
wisdom among them that are perfect ; yet not the wisdom of
this world, nor of the princes of this world, who come to nought,
but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our
glory, which none of the princes of this world knew.' "4
Chapter xx.
And we say to those who hold similar opinions to those of
Celsus : " Paul then, we are to suppose, had before his mind
the idea of no pre-eminent wisdom when he professed to speak
wisdom among them that are perfect?" Now, as he spoke
with his customary boldness when in making such a profession
he said that he was possessed of no wisdom, we shall say in
reply : first of all examine the epistles of him who utters these
words, and look carefully at the meaning of each expression
in them — say, in those to the Ephesians, and Colossians, and
Thessalonians, and Philippians, and Romans, — and show two
things, both that you understand Paul's words, and that you
1 aiviypoxTX. 2 a ytvvxis. 3 list-oosvapisii. * 1 Cor. ii. 6-8.

Book in] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 101
can demonstrate any of them to be silly or foolish. For if
any one give himself to their attentive perusal, I am well
assured either that he will be amazed at the understanding of
the man who can clothe great ideas in common language ; or
if he be not amazed, he will only exhibit himself in a ridiculous
light, whether he simply state the meaning of the writer as if
he had comprehended it, or try to controvert and confute what
he only imagined that he understood !
Chapter xxi.
And I have not yet spoken of the observance 1 of all that is
written in the Gospels, each one of which contains much
doctrine difficult to be understood, not merely by the multitude,
but even by certain of the more intelligent, including a very
profound explanation of the parables which Jesus delivered to
" those without," while reserving the exhibition of their full
meaning 2 for those who had passed beyond the stage of *
exoteric teaching, and who came to Him privately in the house.
And when he comes to understand it, he will admire the
reason why some are said to be " without," and others " in the
house." And again, who would not be filled with astonishment
that is able to comprehend the movements3 of Jesus ; ascending
at one time a mountain for the purpose of delivering certain
discourses, or of performing certain miracles, or for His own
transfiguration, and descending again to heal the sick and those
who were unable to follow Him whither His disciples went ?
But it is not the appropriate time to describe at present the
truly venerable and divine contents of the Gospels, or the mind
of Christ — that is, the wisdom and the word — contained in the
writings of Paul. But what we have said is sufficient by way
of answer to the unphilosophie sneers4 of jCelsus, in comparing
the inner mysteries of the church of God to the cats, and apes,
and crocodiles, and goats, and dogs of Egypt,
Chapter xxii.
But this low jester5 Celsus, omitting no species of mockery
id ridicule which can be employed against us, mentions in his

an 1

TYipqGSug. * axlpiivsixv. 3 pitTX/ixGttg.
* xQiAoaoQov xAtiriv. 5 /ioipcoAoxog.

102 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iii.
treatise the Dioscuri, and Hercules, and ^Esculapius, and
Dionysus, who are believed by the Greeks to have become
gods after being men, and says that " we cannot bear to call
such beings gods, because they were at first men,1 and yet they
manifested many noble qualities, which were displayed for the
benefit of mankind, while we assert that Jesus was seen after
His death by His own followers ;" and he brings against us an
additional charge, as if we said that " He was seen indeed, but
was only a shadow ! " Now to this we reply, that it was very
artful of Celsus not here clearly to indicate that he did not
regard these beings as gods, for he was afraid of the opinion
of those who might peruse his treatise, and who might suppose
him to be an atheist ; whereas, if he had paid respect to what
appeared to him to be the truth, he would not have feigned to
regard them as gods.2 Now to either of the allegations we are
ready with an answer. Let us, accordingly, to those who do
not regard them as gods reply as follows : These beings, then,
are not gods at all ; but agreeably to the view of those who
think that the soul of man perishes immediately [after death],
the souls of these men also perished ; or according to the
opinion of those who say that the soul continues to subsist or
is immortal, these men continue to exist or are immortal, and
they are not gods but heroes, — or not even heroes, but simply
souls. If, then, on the one hand, you suppose them not to exist,
we shall have to prove the doctrine of the soul's immortality,
which is to us a doctrine of pre-eminent importance;3 if, on
the other, they do exist, we have still to prove4 the doctrine of
immortality, not only by what the Greeks have so well said
regarding it, but also in a manner agreeable to the teaching of
Holy ScrnDture. And we shall demonstrate that it is impos
sible for those who were polytheists during their lives to obtain
1 The reading in the text is xxi irpuToi, for which Bohereau proposes
to TrpZTov, which we have adopted in the translation.
2 We have followed in the translation the emendation of Guietus, who
proposes ii 8e t%v (pxivopotvyv xiiToi xAijSsixv iirptG/isvGtv, oix xv, x.t.A., instead
of the textual reading, si' te t«j? (pxivopotvng xiirZ xAydtixg 't7rosG^tvatv, om
XV, X.T.A. to» xpoviyovfttiiov qpuv vtpl -i/vx'ig xxtxgxivxgtsov Aoyov.
4 Bohereau conjectures, with great probability, that instead of xirolU-
tiov, we ought to read x^oluxTiov.

Book iii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 103
a better country and position after their departure from this
world, by quoting the histories that are related of them, in
which is recorded the great dissoluteness of Hercules, and his
effeminate bondage with Omphale, together with the statements
regarding JEsculapius, that their Zeus struck him dead by a
thunderbolt. And of the Dioscuri, it will be said that they
die often —
" At one time live on alternate days, and at another
Die, and obtain honour equally with the gods." 1
How, then, can they reasonably imagine that one of these is to
be regarded as a god or a hero ?
Chapter xxiii.
But we, in proving the facts related of our Jesus from the
prophetic Scriptures, and comparing afterwards His history
with them, demonstrate that no dissoluteness on his part is re
corded. For even they who conspired against Him, and who
sought false witnesses to aid them, did not find even any
plausible grounds for advancing a false charge against Him,
so as to accuse Him of licentiousness; but His death was
indeed the result of a conspiracy, and bore no resemblance to
the death of JEsculapius by lightning. And what is there that is
venerable in the madman Dionysus, and his female garments,
that he should be worshipped as a god? And if they who
would defend such beings betake themselves to allegorical
interpretations, we must examine each individual instance, and
ascertain whether it is well founded,2 and also in each particular
case, whether those beings can have a real existence, and are
deserving of respect and worship who were torn by the Titans,
and cast down from their heavenly throne. Whereas our
Jesus, who appeared to the members of His own troop 3 — for I
will take the word that Celsus employs — did really appear, and
Celsus makes a false accusation against the gospel in saying
that what appeared was a shadow. And let the statements of
their histories and that of Jesus be carefully compared together.
Will Celsus have the former to be true, but the latter, although
recorded by eye-witnesses who showed by their acts that they
1 Cf. Horn. Odyss. xi. 303 and 304. 2 tl to vytsc ixovaiv.
3 OiXGUTaig.

104 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
clearly understood the nature of what they had seen, and who
manifested their state of mind by what they cheerfully under
went for the sake of His gospel, to be inventions ? Now, who is
there that, desiring to act always in conformity with right reason,
would yield his assent at random x to what is related of the one,
but would rush to the history of Jesus, and without examination
refuse to believe what is recorded of Him ? 2
Chapter xxiv.
And again, when it is said of ^Esculapius that a great multi
tude both of Greeks and barbarians acknowledge that they
have frequently seen, and still see, no mere phantom, but
JEsculapius himself, healing and doing good, and foretelling
the future; Celsus requires us to believe this, and finds no
fault with the believers in Jesus, when we express our belief
in such stories, but when we give our assent to the disciples,
and eye-witnesses of the miracles of Jesus, who clearly mani
fest the honesty of their convictions (because we see their
guilelessness, as far as it is possible to see the conscience re
vealed in writing), we are called by him a set of "silly" indi
viduals, although he cannot demonstrate that an incalculable3
number, as he asserts, of Greeks and barbarians acknowledge
the existence of JEsculapius ; while we, if we deem this a matter
of importance, can clearly show a countless multitude of Greeks
and barbarians who acknowledge the existence of Jesus. And
some give evidence of their having received through this faith
a marvellous power by the cures which they perform, invoking
no other name over those who need their help than that of the
God of all things, and of Jesus, along with a mention of His
history. For by these means we too have seen many persons
freed from grievous calamities, and from distractions of mind,4
and madness, and countless other ills, which could be cured
neither by men nor devils.
Chapter xxv.
Now, in order to grant that there did exist a healing spirit
1 x7T0XAYip01TtxZg.
2 tig it TX TTSpl TOVTOV X'Jt^tTXGTOJg appouv dirlGT>lGXt to?? nipl xilTOV.
3 xpoiSnTOV. i SXGTXGlilV.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 105
named Esculapius, who used to cure the bodies of men, I would
say to those who are astonished at such an occurrence, or at
the prophetic knowledge of Apollo, that since the cure of bodies
is a thing indifferent,1 and a matter within the reach not merely
of the good,2 but also of the bad ; and as the foreknowledge of
the future is also a thing indifferent — for the possessor of fore
knowledge does not necessarily manifest the possession of virtue
— you must show that they who practise healing or who fore
tell the future are in no respect wicked, but exhibit a perfect
pattern of virtue, and are not far from being regarded as gods.
But they will not be able to show that they are virtuous who
practise the art of healing, or who are gifted with foreknowledge,
seeing many who are not fit to live are related to have been
healed ; and these, too, persons whom, as leading improper lives,
no wise physician would wish to heal. And in the responses
of the Pythian oracle also you may find some injunctions which
are not in accordance with reason, two of which we wii) adduce
on the present occasion ; viz. when it gave commandment that
Cleomedes3 — the boxer, I suppose — should be honoured with
divine honours, seeing some great importance or other attaching
to his pugilistic skill, but did not confer either upon Pythagoras
or upon Socrates the honours which it awarded to pugilism ;
and also when it called Archilochus " the servant of the
Muses" — a man who employed his poetic powers upon topics
of the most wicked and licentious nature, and whose public
character was dissolute and impure — and entitled him " pious,"4
in respect of his being the servant of the Muses, who are deemed
to be goddesses ! Now I am inclined to think that no one
would assert that he was a " pious " man who was not adorned
with all moderation and virtue, or that a decorous 5 man would
utter such expressions as are contained in the unseemly6 iambics
of Archilochus. And if nothing that is divine in itself is shown
to belong either to the healing skill of Esculapius or the pro
phetic power of Apollo, how could any one, even were I to
grant that the facts are as alleged, reasonably worship them as
pure divinities ? — and especially when the prophetic spirit of
Apollo, pure from any body of earth, secretly enters through
1 potGov. 2 xGTSiovg. 3 Cf. Smith's Diet, of Biograpli. s.v.
4 tvGtftq. b xoapoiog. 6 oi pcy atpovol.

106 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
the private parts the person of her who is called the priestess,
as she is seated at the mouth of the Pythian cave ! 1 Whereas
regarding Jesus and His power we have no such notion ; for
the body which was born of the Virgin was composed of
human material, and capable of receiving human wounds and
death.
Chapter xxvi.
Let us see what Celsus says next, when he adduces from
history marvellous occurrences, which in themselves seem to
be incredible, but which are not discredited by him, so far at
least as appears from his words. And, in the first place, re
garding Aristeas of Proconnesus, of whom he speaks as follows :
" Then, with respect to Aristeas of Proconnesus, who disap
peared from among men in a manner so indicative of divine
intervention,2 and who showed himself again in so unmistake-
able a fashion, and on many subsequent occasions visited many
parts of the world, and announced marvellous events, and whom
Apollo enjoined the inhabitants of Metapontium to regard
as a god, no one considers him to be a god." This account
he appears to have taken from Pindar and Herodotus. It will
be sufficient, however, at present to quote the statement of the
latter writer from the fourth book of his histories, which is to
the following effect : " Of what country Aristeas, who made
these verses, was, has already been mentioned, and I shall now
relate the account I heard of him in Proconnesus and Cyzicus.
They say that Aristeas, who was inferior to none of the citizens
by birth, entering into a fuller's shop in Proconnesus, died
suddenly, and that the fuller, having closed his workshop, went
to acquaint the relatives of the deceased. When the report
had spread through the city that Aristeas was dead, a certain
Cyzicenian, arriving from Artace, fell into a dispute with those
who made the report, affirming that he had met and conversed
with him on his way to Cyzicus, and he vehemently disputed
1 oTt S/« Toi/ Tlvljiov uToptiov Trtpixxdii^opoiv'fl ty xxAovpokv/j wpolpiiTm
irvtvpcx Old tZv ywxixti'av iiirtwipxiTxt to poxvTtxov, 6 ' 'A.7t6AAav, to xaQcopw
xizo yrilvov vZpoxTog. Boherellus conjectures to poxvTixov tov ' AiroAAomog to
xxQxpov. 2 outw ixipoovi'ag.

Book m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 107
the truth of the report ; but the relations of the deceased went
to the fuller's shop, taking with them what was necessary for
the purpose of carrying the body away ; but when the house
was opened, Aristeas was not to be seen, either dead or alive.
They say that afterwards, in the seventh ' year, he appeared in
Proconnesus, composed those verses which by the Greeks are
now called Arimaspian, and having composed them, disappeared
a second time. Such is the story current in these cities. But
these things I know happened to the Metapontines in Italy
340 years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I dis
covered by computation in Proconnesus and Metapontium.
The Metapontines say that Aristeas himself, having appeared
in their country, exhorted them to erect an altar to Apollo, and
to place near it a statue bearing the name of Aristeas the Pro-
connesian ; for he said that Apollo had visited their country
only of all the Italians, and that he himself, who was now
Aristeas, accompanied him ; and that when he accompanied
the god he was a crow; and after saying this he vanished.
And the Metapontines say they sent to Delphi to inquire of
the god what the apparition of the man meant ; but the
Pythian bade them obey the apparition, and if they obeyed it
would conduce to their benefit. They accordingly, having re
ceived this answer, fulfilled the injunctions. And now, a statue
bearing the name of Aristeas is placed near the image of
Apollo, and around it laurels are planted : the image is placed
in the public square. Thus much concerning Aristeas." x
Chapter xxvii.
Now, in answer to this account of Aristeas, we have to say,
that if Celsus had adduced it as history, without signifying his
own assent to its truth, it is in a different way that we should
have met his argument. But since he asserts that he " disappeared
through the intervention of the divinity," and " showed himself
again in an unmistakeable manner," and " visited many parts
of the world," and " made marvellous announcements ; " and,
moreover, that there was " an oracle of Apollo, enjoining the
Metapontines to treat Aristeas as a god," he gives the accounts
relating to him as upon his own authority, and with his full
1 Herod, book iv. chap. 14 and 15 (Cary's transl.).

108 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
assent. And [this being the case], we ask, How is it possible
that, while supposing the marvels related by the disciples of
Jesus regarding their Master to be wholly fictitious, and find
ing fault with those who believe them, you, O Celsus, do not
regard these stories of yours to be either products of jugglery1
or inventions ? And how,2 while charging others with an irra
tional belief in the marvels recorded of Jesus, can you show
yourself justified in giving credence to such statements . as the
above, without producing some proof or evidence of the alleged
occurrences having taken place ? Or do Herodotus and Pindar
appear to you to speak the truth, while they who have made it
their concern to die for the doctrine of Jesus, and who have
left to their successors writings so remarkable on the truths
which they believed, entered upon a struggle for the sake
of " fictions " (as you consider them), and " myths," and
" juggler'es>" which entails a life of danger and a death of
violence? Place yourself, then, as a neutral party, between
what is related of Aristeas and what is recorded of Jesus, and
see whether, from the result, and from the benefits which have
accrued to the reformation of morals, and to the worship of
the God who is over all things, it is not allowable to conclude
that we must believe the events recorded of Jesus not to have
happened without the divine intervention, but that this was
not the case with the story of Aristeas the Proconnesian.
Chapter xxviii.
For with what purpose in view did Providence accomplish
the marvels related of Aristeas ? And to confer what benefit
upon the human race did such remarkable events, as you re
gard them, take place ? You cannot answer. But we, when
we relate the events of the history of Jesus, have no ordinary
defence to offer for their occurrence ; — this, viz., that God
desired to commend the doctrine of Jesus as a doctrine which
was to save mankind, and which was based, indeed, upon the
apostles as foundations of the rising 3 edifice of Christianity,
but which increased in magnitude also in the succeeding ages,

2 Guietus conjectures, xxi irZg, a aZgti.
3 Tijf xxTXIixAAoftsvvig o/xoSo^ijf.

Book m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 109
in which not a few cures are wrought in the name of Jesus,
and certain other manifestations of no small moment have
taken place. Now what sort of person is Apollo, who enjoined
the Metapontines to treat Aristeas as a god ? And with what
object does he do this? And what advantage was he pro
curing to the Metapontines from this divine worship, if they
were to regard him as a god, who a little ago was a mortal ?
And yet the recommendations of Apollo (viewed by us as a
demon who has obtained the honour of libation and sacrificial
odours 1) regarding this Aristeas appear to you to be worthy of
consideration ; while those of the God of all things, and of His
holy angels, made known beforehand through the prophets
— not after the birth of Jesus, but before He appeared among
men — do not stir you up to admiration, not merely of the
prophets who received the Divine Spirit, but of Him also who
was the object of their predictions, whose entrance into life was
so clearly predicted many years beforehand by numerous pro
phets, that the whole Jewish people who were hanging in ex
pectation of the coming of Him who was looked for, did, after
the advent of Jesus, fall into a keen dispute with each other ;
and that a great multitude of them acknowledged Christ, and
believed Him to be the object -of prophecy, while others did
not believe in Him, but, despising the meekness of those who,
on account of the teaching of Jesus, were unwilling to cause
even the most trifling sedition, dared to inflict on Jesus those
cruelties which His disciples have so truthfully and candidly
recorded, without secretly omitting from their marvellous his
tory of Him what seems to the multitude to bring disgrace
upon the doctrine of Christianity. But both Jesus Himself :
and His disciples desired that His followers should believe not
merely in His Godhead and miracles, as if He had not also
been a partaker of human nature, and had assumed the human
flesh which "lusteth against the Spirit;"2 but they saw also
that the power which had descended into human nature, and
into the midst of human miseries, and which had assumed a
human soul and body, contributed through faith, along with
1 tov xxS' i)poxg "hxipoovog, Aa.xovTOg yipxg Aoijiijg ts xv'iGGVig ts.
2 ag oil xoivoiv/jGXVTog TVt dv&puirivvj Qvgsi, oiio xvxAxfiovTog T'hv sv dvQpuirotg
cccpxx i^iSvpoovaxv xxtx tow irvsvpixrog.

110 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
its divine elements, to the salvation of believers,1 when they see
that from Him there began the union of the divine with the
human nature, in order that the human, by communion with
the divine, might rise to be divine, not in Jesus alone, but in
; all those who not only believe, but 2 enter upon the life which
| Jesus taught, and which elevates to friendship with God and
i communion with Him every one who lives according to the
(precepts of Jesus.
Chapter xxix.
According to Celsus, then, Apollo wished the Metapontines
to treat Aristeas as a god. But as the Metapontines con
sidered the evidence in favour of Aristeas being a man — and
probably not a virtuous one — to be stronger than the declara
tion of the oracle to the effect that he was a god or worthy of
divine honours, they for that reason would not obey Apollo,
and consequently no one regarded Aristeas as a god. But with
respect to Jesus we would say that, as it was of advantage to
the human race to accept him as the Son of God — God come
in a human soul and body — and as this did not seem to be
advantageous to the gluttonous appetites 3 of the demons which
love bodies, and to those who deem them to be gods on that
account, the demons that are on earth (which are supposed
to be gods by those who are not instructed in the nature of
demons), and also their worshippers, were desirous to prevent
the spread of the doctrine of Jesus ; for they saw that the
libations and odours in which they greedily delighted were
being swept away by the prevalence of the instructions of
Jesus. But the God who sent Jesus dissipated all the con
spiracies of the demons, and made the gospel of Jesus to
prevail throughout the whole world for the conversion and
reformation of men, and caused churches to be everywhere
established in opposition to those of superstitious and licentious
and wicked men ; for such is the character of the multitudes
1'AA?i« yxp xxi Ttjv xXTxfixGXV tig dvUpaTivyv (fvaiv xxi tig dvSpairivxc
irtpiGTXGStg tvvxpotv, xxi dvxAxfioiiaxv ipvxvjv xxi aZpcx xvQpufftvov, supow sic
TOV IClGTiVSG^Xl pond tZv BstoTtpuv Gvpc/SxAAopituriv tig GOlTiipiXV To7g SWTSWVW.
2 pocTd tow irisTtvsiv. Others read, putk to ¦x-igtivsiv.
3 AI%Vll<f,

Book in. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. Ill
who constitute the citizens1 in the assemblies of the various
cities. Whereas the churches of God which are instructed by
Christ, when carefully contrasted with the assemblies of the
districts in which they are situated, are as beacons2 in the
world ; for who would not admit that even the inferior mem
bers of the church, and those who in comparison with the
better are less worthy, are nevertheless more excellent than
many of those who belong to the assemblies in the different
districts ?
Chapter xxx.
For the church3 of God, e.g. which is at Athens, is a meek
and stable body, as being one which desires to please God, who
is over all things ; whereas the assembly4 of the Athenians is
given to sedition, and is not at all to be compared to the church
of God in that city. And you may say the same thing of the
church of God at Corinth, and of the assembly of the Corin
thian people ; and also of the church of God at Alexandria,
and of the assembly of the people of Alexandria. And if he
who hears this be a candid man, and one who investigates
things with a desire to ascertain the truth, he will be filled with
admiration of Him who not only conceived the design, but also
was able to secure in all places the establishment of churches
of God alongside 5 of the assemblies of the people in each city.
In like manner, also, in comparing the council6 of the church
of God with the council in any city, you would find that
certain councillors7 of the church are worthy to rule in the city
of God, if there be any such city in the whole world ;8 whereas
the councillors in all other places exhibit in their characters
no quality worthy of the conventional9 superiority which they
appear to enjoy over their fellow-citizens. And so, too, you
must compare the ruler of the church in each city with the
1 toixvtx yxp tx itxvtxxov iroAnsvopotvx iv Txlg ixxAi/jGixig tojv iroAtoiv
wTiijoV 2 (puaTqpsg. 3 sxkAyigIx. 4 sxxAnalx.
5 Tcxpoixovaag. 6 /iovAviv. 7 jiovASVTXl.
8 tvpotg xv Ttvtg pciv TVig ixxAyoixg j3ovAsvtxI x\\ioi tiatv, si' Tig icTtv iv Tip
txvti itliAig tow ©tov, iv ixsivri ttoAitivigBxi. Boherellus conjectures svpoig xv
oti Tivsg pciv, x.T.Ti.

112 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book m.
ruler of the people of the city, in order to observe that even
amongst those councillors and rulers of the church of God who
come very far short of their duty, and who lead more indolent
lives than others who are more energetic, it is nevertheless
possible to discover a general superiority in what relates to the
progress of virtue over the characters of the councillors and
rulers in the various cities.1 Chapter xxxi.
Now if these things be so, why should it not be consistent
with reason to hold with regard to Jesus, who was able to
effect results so great, that there dwelt . in Him no ordinary
divinity ? while this was not the case either with the Procon-
nesian Aristeas (although Apollo would have him regarded as
a god), or with the other individuals enumerated by Celsus
when he says, " No one regards Abaris the Hyperborean as a
god, who was possessed of such power as to be borne along like
an arrow from a bow." 2 For with what object did the deity
who bestowed upon this Hyperborean Abaris the power of
being carried along like an arrow, confer upon him such a gift?
Was it that the human race might be benefited thereby,3 or
did he himself obtain any advantage from the possession of
such a power ? — always supposing it to be conceded that these
statements are not wholly inventions, but that the thing
actually happened through the co-operation of some demon.
But if it be recorded that my Jesus was received up into
glory,4 I perceive the divine arrangement5 in such an act, viz.
because God, who brought this to pass, commends in this way
the Teacher to those who witnessed it, in order that as men who
are contending not for human doctrine, but for divine teaching,
1 oti xxi iitl tZv atpiipx diroTVyxxvoposvav /3ovAivtZv xxi upxontiv
sxxAYiGixg ©tov, xxi pxQvpcoTspov irxpx Toitg siiTOVOiTtpoig (Sioii/VTXg, oiiiisv y/TTOH
sgtiv svpslv Zg iirlirxv imspox'hv, Tqv iv tij Isri rxg xptTxg irpoxoicr,, irapot t«
ijfoi .ran iv Tx~ig iroAtGi (SovAsvtZv xxi dpxovTuv. Boherellus conjectures
pxdvpooTtpuv. z oaTt 6\'oT<i> fitAti avpotpipsoOxi. Spencer and Bohereau would delete
fisAu as a gloss.
3 Guietus would insert % before 'ivx ti ZqitAiidr,. This emendation is
adopted in the translation.
4 Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16. * T!j„ oixovopoi'xv.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 113
they may devote themselves as far as possible to the God who
is over all, and may do all things in order to please Him, as
those who are to receive in the divine judgment the reward of
the good or evil wdiich they have wrought in this life.
Chapter xxxii.
But as Celsus next mentions the case of the Clazomenian,
subjoining to the story about him this remark, " Do they not
report that his soul frequently quitted his body, and flitted
about in an incorporeal form ? and yet men did not regard him
as a god," we have to answer that probably certain wicked
demons contrived that such statements should be committed to
writing (for I do not believe that they contrived that such a
thing should actually take place), in order that the predictions
regarding Jesus, and the discourses uttered by Him, might
either be evil spoken of, as inventions like these, or might
excite no surprise, as not being more remarkable than other
occurrences. But my Jesus said regarding His own soul (which
was separated from the body, not by virtue of any human
necessity, but by the miraculous power which was given Him
also for this purpose) : " No one taketh my life from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again."1 For as He had power to lay it
down, He laid it down when He said, " Father, why hast Thou
forsaken me ? And when He had cried with a loud voice, He
gave up the ghost,"2 anticipating the public executioners of the
crucified, who break the legs of the victims, and who do so in
order that their punishment may not be further prolonged.
And He " took His life," when He manifested Llimself to His
disciples, having in their presence foretold to the unbelieving
Jews, " Destroy this temple, ,and in three days I will raise it
up again,"3 and " He spake this of the temple of His body ;" the
prophets, moreover, having predicted such a result in many
other passages of their writings, and in this, " My flesh also
shall rest in hope : for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt Thou suffer thine holy One to see corruption."4
i Cf. John x. 18. 2 Cf. Matt, xxvii. 40-50
3Cf. Johnii. 19. 4 Ps. xvi. 9, 10.
ORIG. — VOL. II. H

114 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.

Chapter xxxiii.
Celsus, however, shows that he has read a good many
Grecian histories, when he quotes further what is told of Cleo-
medes of Astypalea, " who," he relates, " entered into an ark,
and although shut up within it, was not found therein, but
through some arrangement of the divinity, flew out, when
certain persons had cut open the ark in order to apprehend
him." Now this story, if an invention, as it appears to be,
cannot be compared with what is related of Jesus, since in
the lives of such men there is found no indication of their
possessing the divinity which is ascribed to them ; whereas the
divinity of Jesus is established both by the existence of the
churches of the saved,1 and by the prophecies uttered con
cerning Him, and by the cures wrought in His name, and by
the wisdom and knowledge which are in Him, and the deeper
truths which are discovered by those who know how to ascend
from a simple faith, and to investigate the meaning which lies
in the divine Scriptures, agreeably to the injunctions of Jesus,
who said, " Search the Scriptures," 2 and to the wish of Paul,
who taught that "we ought to know how to answer every
man ; " 3 nay, also of him who said, " Be ready always to give
an answer to every man that asketh of you a reason of the
faith 4 that is in you." 5 If he wishes to have it conceded, how
ever, that it is not a fiction, let him show with what object this
supernatural power made him, through some arrangement of
the divinity, flee from the ark. For if he will adduce any
reason worthy of consideration, and point out any purpose
worthy of God in conferring such a power on Cleomedes, we
will decide on the answer which we ought to give ; but if he
fail to say anything convincing on the point, clearly because no
reason can be discovered, then we shall either speak slightingly
of the story to those who have not accepted it, and charge it
with being false, or we shall say that some demoniac power,
casting a glamour over the eyes, produced, in the case of the
Astypalean, a result like that which is produced by the per-
1 tZv ZiptAovp&ivM. 2 John v. 39.
3 Cf. Col. iv. 6. 4 vioTtug.
6 1 Pet. iii. 15.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 115
formers of juggling tricks,1 while Celsus thinks that with
respect to him he has spoken like an oracle, when he said
that " by some divine arrangement he flew away from the
ark."
Chapter xxxiv.
I am, however, of opinion that these individuals are the only
instances with which Celsus was acquainted. And yet, that he
might appear voluntarily to pass by other similar cases, he says,
" And one might name many others of the same kind." Let
it be granted, then, that many such persons have existed who
conferred no benefit upon the human race : what would each
one of their acts be found to amount to in comparison with the
work of Jesus, and the miracles related of Him, of which we
have already spoken at considerable length? He next imagines
that, " in worshipping him who," as he says, " was taken
prisoner and put to death, we are acting like the Getse who
worship Zamolxis, and the Cilicians who worship Mopsus, and
the Acarnanians who pay divine honours to Amphilochus, and
like the Thebans who do the same to Amphiaraus, and the
Lebadians to Trophonius." Now in these instances we shall
prove that he has compared us to the foregoing without good
grounds. For these different tribes erected temples and statues
to those individuals above enumerated, whereas we have re
frained from offering to the divinity honour by any such means
(seeing they are adapted rather to demons, which are somehow
fixed in a certain place which they prefer to any other, or
which take up their dwelling, as it were, after being removed
[from one place to another] by certain rites and incantations),
and are lost in reverential wonder at Jesus, who has recalled
our minds from all sensible things, as being not only cor
ruptible, but destined to corruption, and elevated them to
honour the God who is over all with prayers and a righteous
life, which we offer to Him as being intermediate between the
1 %toi oixfixAovposv To7g xvt'/iv pi.ii irxpxOt^xposvoig, xxi iyxxAssopotv tJj
iGTopix ug ovx dAvilSsl' % o~xipo6vioii ti (fijGoposv irxpxicA'/tGiov Tolg imo'stxvvposvoig
yonaiv xjtxtyi 6<p6xApcZv Kt-Koinxivxi xxi itspl tou ' AgtwhtxAxisx. Spencer
in his edition includes po'/j in brackets, and renders, " Aut eos incusabimus,
qui istam virtutem admiserint."

116 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
nature of the uncreated and that of all created things,1 and
who bestows upon us the benefits which come from the Father,
and who as High Priest conveys our prayers to the supreme
God.
Chapter xxxv.
But I should like, in answer to him who for some unknown
reason advances such statements as the above, to make in a
conversational way 2 some such remarks as the following, which
seem not inappropriate to him. Are then those persons whom
you have mentioned nonentities, and is there no power in
Lebadea connected with Trophonius, nor in Thebes with the
temple of Amphiaraus, nor in Acarnania with Amphilochus,
nor in Cilicia with Mopsus ? Or is there in such persons some
being, either a demon, or a hero, or even a god, working works
which are beyond the reach of man ? For if he answer that
there is nothing either demoniacal or divine about these indi
viduals more than others, then let him at once make known his
own opinion, as being that of an Epicurean, and of one who
does not hold the same views with the Greeks, and who neither
recognises demons nor worships gods as do the Greeks; and
let it be shown that it was to no purpose that he adduced the
instances previously enumerated (as if he believed them to be
true), together with those which he adds in the following pages.
But if he will assert that the persons spoken of are either
demons, or heroes, or even gods, let him notice that he will
establish by what he has admitted a result which he does not
desire, viz. that Jesus also was some such being; for which
reason, too, he was able to demonstrate to not a few that He
had come down from God to visit the human race. And if he
once admit this, see whether he will not be forced to confess
that He is mightier than those individuals with whom he classed
Him, seeing none of the latter forbids the offering of honour
1 o'ig TrpoGxyoy.iv xi/ru, Zg oix pot-x^ii SvTOg Tijj tov xytv/jTov xxi t"k tu'J
ysvmZv kxvtuv cpvGsag. " Hoeschel (itemque Spencerus ad marg.) sus-
picabatur legendum : Zg 3ij pctTx^v oWog. Male. Nihil mutari necesse est.
Agitur quippe de precibus, quas offerimus Deo ' per eum, qui veluti medius
est inter increatam naturam et creatam.' " — Rubers.
2 xhoAtGxr.'iool.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 117
to the others ; while He, having confidence in Llimself, because
He is more powerful than all those others, forbids them to
be received as divine 1 because they are wicked demons, who
have taken possession of places on earth, through inability to
rise to the purer and diviner region, whither the grossnesses of
earth and its countless evils cannot reach.
Chapter xxxvi.
But as he next introduces the case of the favourite of Adrian
(I refer to the accounts regarding the youth Antinous, and the
honours paid him by the inhabitants of the city of Antinous in
Egypt), and imagines that the honour paid to him falls little
short of that which we render to Jesus, let us show in what a
spirit of hostility this statement is made. For what is there in
common between a life lived among the favourites of Adrian,
by one who did not abstain even from unnatural lusts, and that
of the venerable Jesus, against whom even they who brought
countless other charges, and who told so many falsehoods, were
not able to allege that He manifested, even in the slightest
degree, any tendency to what was licentious ? 2 Nay, further,
if one were to investigate, in a spirit of truth and impartiality,
the stories relating to Antinous, he would find that it was due
to the magical arts and rites of the Egyptians that there was
even the appearance of his performing anything [marvellous]
in the city which bears his name, and that too only after his
decease, — an effect which is said to have been produced in other
temples by the Egyptians, and those who are skilled in the arts
which they practise. For they set up in certain places demons
claiming prophetic or healing power, and which frequently
torture those who seem to have committed any mistake about
ordinary kinds of food, or about touching the dead body of a
man, that they may have the appearance of alarming the un
educated multitude. Of this nature is the being that is con
sidered to be a god in Antinoopolis in Egypt, whose [reputed]
virtues are the lying inventions of some who live by the gain
derived therefrom ; 3 while others, deceived by the demon placed
1 TXg tovtuv xTolioxxg.
2 Zg xxv to tvxov xxoAxolxg xxv iiP oAtyov ysvaxfiivov ;
8 ow xptTxg 01 fiiV TlVSg XV/itUTlXUTtpOV ZZvTSg XXTX-tytvboVTXI.

118 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
there, and others again convicted by a weak conscience, actually
think that they are paying a divine penalty inflicted by An
tinous. Of such a nature also are the mysteries which they
perform, and the seeming predictions which they utter. Far
different from such are those of Jesus. For it was no company
of sorcerers, paying court to a king or ruler at his bidding,
who seemed to have made him a god ; but the Architect of the
universe Himself, in keeping with the marvellously persuasive
power of His words,1 commended Him as worthy of honour,
not only to those men who were well disposed, but to demons
also, and other unseen powers, which even at the present time
show that they either fear the name of Jesus as that of a being of
superior power, or reverentially accept Him as their legal ruler.2
For if the commendation had not been given Him by God, the
demons would not have withdrawn from those whom they had
assailed, in obedience to the mere mention of His name.
Chapter xxxvii.
The Egyptians, then, having been taught to worship An
tinous, will, if you compare him with Apollo or Zeus, endure
such a comparison, Antinous being magnified in their estima
tion through being classed with these deities; for Celsus is
clearly convicted of falsehood when he says, " that they will
not endure his being compared with Apollo or Zeus." Whereas
Christians (who have learned that their eternal life consists in
knowing the only true God, who is over all, and Jesus Christ,
whom He has sent ; and who have learned also that all the gods
of the heathen are greedy demons, which flit around sacrifices
and blood, and other sacrificial accompaniments,3 in order to
deceive those who have not taken refuge with the God who is
over all, but that the divine and holy angels of God are of a
different nature and will4 from all the demons on earth, and
that they are known to those exceedingly few persons who have
carefully and intelligently investigated these matters) will not
endure a comparison to be made between them and Apollo
or Zeus, or any being worshipped with odours and blood and
xxoAovSag tvi iv tZ Atystv TSpxGTmg itigtixyi 'hvvxpoti.
2 Zg xxtx vopcovg xvtZv xpxovTog.
3 dwoQopdg. 4 ¦FpoxiptGsag.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 119
sacrifices ; some of them, so acting from their extreme simpli
city, not being able to give a reason for their conduct, but
sincerely observing the precepts which they have received ;
others, again, for reasons not to be lightly regarded, nay, even
of a profound description, and (as a Greek would say) drawn
from the inner nature of things ;x and amongst the latter of
these God is a frequent subject of conversation, and those who
are honoured by God, through His only-begotten Word, with
participation in His divinity, and therefore also in His name.
They speak much, too, both regarding the angels of God and
those who are opposed to the truth, but have been deceived ;
and who, in consequence of being deceived, call them gods or
angels of God, or good demons, or heroes who have become such
by the transference into them of a good human soul.2 And
such Christians will also show, that as in philosophy there are
many who appear to be in possession of the truth, who have yet
either deceived themselves by plausible arguments, or by rashly
assenting to what was brought forward and discovered by
others ; so also, among those souls which exist apart from
bodies, both angels and demons, there are some which have been
induced by plausible reasons to declare themselves gods. And
because it was impossible that the reasons of such things could
be discovered by men with perfect exactness, it was deemed
safe that no mortal should entrust himself to any being as to
God, with the exception of Jesus Christ, who is, as it were, the
Ruler over all things, and who both beheld these weighty
secrets, and made them known to a few.
Chapter xxxviii.
The belief, then, in Antinous, or any other such person,
whether among the Egyptians or the Greeks, is, so to speak,
unfortunate ; while the belief in Jesus would seem to be either
a fortunate one, or the result of thorough investigation, having
the appearance of the former to the multitude, and of the
latter to exceedingly few.3 And when I speak of a certain
belief being, as the multitude would call it, unfortunate, I in
1 tGOTtptxZv xxi i'TrO'TTTiXOlV.
2 '/) iipoixg ix potTx(ioAvjg avGTxnxg xyx&qg dvdpcnrly/ig \pv%qg.
3 %tpl (is TOW ' I'/jGOV 'JjTOt OO^XGX XII SlVXl SVTVX^g, '4 xxi fitfixoXVIGpcivOig

-120 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.
such a case refer the cause to God, who knows the reasons of
the various fates allotted to each one who enters human life.
The Greeks, moreover, will admit that even amongst those who
are considered to be most largely endowed with wisdom, good
fortune has had much to do, as in the choice of teachers of one
kind rather than another, and in meeting with a better class
of instructors (there being teachers who taught the most
opposite doctrines), and in being brought up in better circum
stances ; for the bringing up of many has been amid surround
ings of such a kind-, that they were prevented from ever
receiving any idea of better things, but constantly passed their
life, from their earliest youth, either as the favourites of licen
tious men or of tyrants, or in some other wretched condition
which forbade the soul to look upwards. And the causes of
these varied fortunes, according to all probability, are to be
found in the reasons of providence, though it is not easy for
men to ascertain these ; but I have said what I have done by
way of digression from the main body of my subject, on
account of the proverb, that " such is the power of faith,
because it seizes that which first presents itself."1 For it was
necessary, owing to the different methods of education, to speak
of the differences of belief among men, some of whom are more,
others less fortunate in their belief ; and from this to proceed
to show that what is termed good or bad fortune would appear
to contribute, even in the case of the most talented, to their
appearing to be more fully endowed with reason, and to give
their assent on grounds of reason to the majority of human
opinions. But enough on these points.
Chapter xxxix.
We must notice the remarks which Celsus next makes, when
he says to us, that " faith, having taken possession of our
. minds, makes us yield the assent which we give to the doctrine
of Jesus ; " for of a truth it is faith which does produce such an
assent. Observe, however, whether that faith does not of itself
exhibit what is worthy of praise, seeing we entrust ourselves to
i^nTXGpoiy/i, Ioxovgx pciv s&TVxig Trxpx Taig TroAAolg, llt(ixGxviGfitvag Is i&TtVi-
ptAvti itxpx iroovv oAtyoiTXTOtg.
1 T0O0UT01/ TTOIti VlGTlg, 07?01X 8») TTpOXXTXGXOVGCC.

Book iii.] ORIQ%0

ST CELSUS.

121

not have attempted or vJlecoii^jrfis,
divine assistance. And,we$^afe,
tions of the writers of tb

ging our gratitude to Him
d declaring that He could

conscientiousness, manif
nothing

that is spurious/
for it is evident to us
artifices which are taug'
Greeks (which is character
ness), and by the kind of
justice, would not have bee
which are fitted of themselv'
in keeping with faith. An

the God wdio is over
who has led us to such a result without the
fidence also in the inten-
bserving their piety and
writings, which contain
or false, or cunning ;
acquainted with those
ning sophistry of the
plausibility and acute-
igue in the courts of
o invent occurrences
to faith, and to a life
am of opinion that it was on
this account that Jesus wished to employ such persons as
teachers of His doctrines, viz. that there might be no ground
for any suspicion of plausible sophistry, but that it might
clearly appear to all who were capable of understandings ijwtf, |
the guileless purpose of the writers bein^r, so to spealty Hiarlced s
with great simplicity, was deemed worthy of being accompanied .
by a diviner power, which accomplished far more thmit5se'§iried
possible could be accomplished by a periphrasis of words^ and a
weaving of sentences, accompanied by all the disti&cftons of'
Grecian art.
Chapter xl.
But observe whether the principles of our faith, harmonizing
with the general ideas implanted in our minds at birth, do not
produce a change upon those who listen candidly to its state
ments ; for although a perverted view of things, with the aid
of much instruction to the same effect, has been able to implant
in the minds of the multitude the belief that images are gods,
and that things made of gold, and silver, and ivory, and stone
are deserving of worship, yet common sense2 forbids the sup
position that God is at all a piece of corruptible matter, or is
honoured when made to assume by men a form embodied in
dead matter, fashioned according to some image or symbol of
His appearance. And therefore we say at once of images that

XVfaVTIXOV.

'/) X0IV7) tVVOlX.

122 ORIGEN AGAIN St CELSUS. [Book in.
>f\..'
they are not gods, and of su<SbV,«retirionsr (of art) that they are
not to be compared with th^Crea^r,' Tbjtot are small in contrast
with the God who is over'il}, 'and wKo created, and upholds,
and governs the universe. An'd.th'e rational soul recognising,
as it were, its relationship [to ;.t^d.ivine], at once rejects what
it for a time supposed to be goTSfe;;««d resumes its*natural love1
for its Creator; and becUuse'-of its affection towards Him,
receives Him also who-\first presented these truths to all
nations through the disciples , whom He had appointed, and
whom He sent forth, furjifehed witK-divme power and authority,
to proclaim the doctrine" "regarding -God and His kingdom.
;"ChAPTER;XLI.
But since he has charged us, Xknow not how often already,
" with regarding this Jesus, who was but a mortal body, as a
God, and with supposing that we act piously in so doing," it is
superfluous to say any more in answer to this, as a great deal
.h^s.been said in the preceding pages. And yet let those who
Ma&& -this charge understand that He whom we regard and
believe td have been from the beginning God, and the Son of
G'6djvis the very Logos, and the very Wisdom, and the very
Truth f 4nd with respect to His mortal body, and the human
soul wfficii it contained, we assert that not by their communion
merely with Him, but by their unity and intermixture,2 they
received the highest powers, and after participating in His
divinity, were changed into God. And if any one should feel
a difficulty at our saying this regarding His body, let him
attend to what is said by the Greeks regarding matter, which,
properly speaking, being without qualities, receives such as the
Creator desires to invest it with, and which frequently divests
itself of those which it formerly possessed, and assumes others
of a different and higher kind. And if these opinions be cor
rect, what is there wonderful in this, that the mortal quality of
the body of Jesus, if the providence of God has so willed it,
should have been changed into one that was ethereal and divine?
Chapter xlii.
Celsus, then, does not speak as a good reasoner,3 when he
1 (plATpov (Pvgixov. 2 dAAx xxi ivZan xxi xvxxoxgsi. 3 b'txAtx.Tlx.og.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 123
compares the mortal flesh of Jesus to gold, and silver, and stone,
asserting that the former is more liable to corruption than the
latter. For, to speak correctly, that which is incorruptible is
not more free from corruption than another thing which is
incorruptible, nor that which is corruptible more liable to cor
ruption than another corruptible thing. But, admitting that
there are degrees of corruptibility, we can say in answer, that
if it is possible for the matter which underlies all qualities to
exchange some of them, how should it be impossible for the
flesh of Jesus also to exchange qualities, and to become such as
it was proper for a body to be which had its abode in the ether
and the regions above it, and possessing no longer the infirmi
ties belonging to the flesh, and those properties which Celsus
terms " impurities," and in so terming them, speaks unlike a
philosopher ? For that which is properly impure, is so because
of its wickedness. Now the nature of body is not impure ; for
in so far as it is bodily nature, it does not possess vice, which is
the generative principle of impurity. But, as he had a sus
picion of the answer which we would return, he says with respect
to the change of the body of Jesus, " Well, after he has laid
aside these qualities, he will be a God : " [and if so], why not
rather .ZEsculapius, and Dionysus, and Hercules? To which
we reply, "What great deed has ^Esculapius, or Dionysus, or
Hercules wrought?" And what individuals will they be able
to point out as having been improved in character, and made
better by their words and lives, so that they may make good *
their claim to be gods ? For let us peruse the many narratives
regarding them, and see whether they were free from licen
tiousness, or injustice, or folly, or cowardice. And if nothing
of that kind be found in them, the argument of Celsus might
have force, which places the forenamed individuals upon an
equality with Jesus. But if it is certain that, although some
things are reported of them as reputable, they are recorded,
nevertheless, to have done innumerable things which are con

trary to rightxeasgn^how could you any longer say, with any
show of reason, that these men, on putting aside their mortal
body, became gods rather than Jesus ?

124 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
Chapter xliii.
He next says of us, that "we ridicule those who worship
Jupiter, because his tomb is pointed out in the island of Crete ;
and yet we worship him who rose from the tomb,1, although
ignorant of the grounds2 on wdiich the Cretans observe such a
custom." Observe now that he thus undertakes the defence of
the Cretans, and of Jupiter, and of his tomb, alluding obscurely
to the allegorical notions, in conformity with which the myth
regarding Jupiter is said to have been invented; while he
assails us who acknowledge that our Jesus has been buried,
indeed, but who maintain that He has also been raised from
the tomb, — a statement which the Cretans have not yet made
regarding Jupiter. But since he appears to admit that the
tomb of Jupiter is in Crete, when he says that " we are igno
rant of the grounds on which the Cretans observe such a cus
tom," we reply that Callimachus the Cyrenian, who had read
innumerable poetic compositions, and nearly the whole of Greek
history, was not acquainted with any allegorical meaning which
was contained in the stories about Jupiter and his tomb ; and
accordingly he accuses the Cretans in his hymn addressed to
Jupiter, in the words : 3
" The Cretans are always liars : for thy tomb, 0 king,
The Cretans have reared ; and yet thou didst not die,
For thou ever livest."
'Now he who said, "Thou didst not die, for thou ever livest"
in denying that Jupiter's tomb was in Crete, records never
theless that in Jupiter there was the beginning of death.4 But
birth upon earth is the beginning of death. And his words
run : "And Rhea bore thee among the Parrhasians ; "' —
whereas he ought to have seen, after denying that the birth of
Jupiter took place in Crete because of his tomb, that it was
quite congruous with his birth in Arcadia that he who was born
should also die. And the following is the manner in which
1 TOV XT.O TOV TutyoV.
2 ovx tiioTig TrZg xxi xx6o.
3 Cf. Callimach. Hymn i. Cf. also Tit. i. 12.
T?,v dpx"4V toS Sxvxtov ysyovivxi Trspl to* A/«.

Book in.} ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 125
Callimachus speaks of these things : " O Jupiter, some say
that thou wert born on the mountains of Ida, others in Arcadia.
Which of them, O father, have lied ? The Cretans are always
liars," etc. Now it is Celsus who made us discuss these topics,
by the unfair manner in which he deals with Jesus, in giving
his assent to what is related about His death and burial, but
regarding as an invention His resurrection from the dead,
although this was not only foretold by innumerable prophets,
but many proofs also were given of His having appeared after
death.
Chapter xliv.
After these points Celsus quotes some objections against the
doctrine of Jesus, made by a very few individuals who are
considered Christians, not of the more intelligent, as he sup
poses, but of the more ignorant class, and asserts that " the
following are the rules laid down by them. Let no one come
to us who has been instructed, or who is wise or prudent (for
such qualifications are deemed evil by us) ; but if there be any
ignorant, or unintelligent, or uninstructed, or foolish persons,
let them come with confidence. By which words, acknowledging
that such individuals are worthy of their God, they manifestly
show that they desire and are able to gain over only the silly,
and the mean, and the stupid, with women and children." In
reply to which, we say that, as if, while Jesus teaches con
tinence, and says, " Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust
after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his
heart," one were to behold a few of those who are deemed to
be Christians living licentiously, he would most justly blame
them for living contrary to the teaching of Jesus, but would
act most unreasonably if he were to charge the gospel with
their censurable conduct ; so, if he found nevertheless that the
doctrine of the Christians invites men to wisdom, the blame
then must remain with those who rest in their own ignorance,
and who utter, not what Celsus relates (for although some of
them are simple and ignorant, they do not speak so shamelessly
as he alleges), but other things of much less serious import,
which, however, serve to turn aside men from' the practice of
wisdom.

126 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.
Chapter xlv.
But that the object of Christianity 1 is that we should be
come wise, can be proved not only from the ancient Jewish
writings, which we also use, but especially from those which
were composed after the time of Jesus, and which are believed
among the churches to be divine. Now, in the fiftieth Psalm,
David is described as saying in his prayer to God these words:
"The unseen and secret things of Thy wisdom Thou hast
manifested to me."2 Solomon, too, because he asked for
wisdom, received it ; and if any one were to peruse the Psalms,
he would find the book filled with many maxims of wisdom ;
and the evidences of his wisdom may be seen in his treatises,
which contain a great amount of wisdom expressed in few
words, and in which you will find many laudations of wisdom,
and encouragements towards obtaining it. So wise, moreover,
was Solomon, that " the queen of Sheba, having heard his
name, and the name of the Lord, came to try him with difficult
questions, and spake to him all things, whatsoever were in her
heart ; and Solomon answered her all her questions. There
was no question omitted by the king which he did not answer
her. And the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon,
and the possessions which he had,3 and there was no more
spirit in her.4 And she said to the king, The report is
true which I heard in mine own land regarding thee and thy
wisdom ; and I believed not them who told me, until I had
come, and mine eyes have seen it. And, lo, they did not tell
me the half. Thou hast added wisdom and possessions above
all the report which I heard."5 It is recorded also of him, that
" God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding
much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the
sea-shore. And the wisdom that was in Solomon greatly
excelled the wisdom of all the ancients, and of all the wise men
of Egypt ; and he was wiser than all men, even than Gethan
the Ezrahite, and Emad, and Chalcadi, and Aradab, the sons
of Madi. And he was famous among all the nations round
1 6 Aoyog.
2 tos xhyAx xxi tx xpvQtx T^g GoCpi'xg gov i^'/jAaaxg fioi.
3 tx xxt1 xvtov. i xxi it- xvrqg iytvin. 5 Cf. 1 Kings X. 1-9.

Book hi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 127
about. And Solomon spake three thousand proverbs, and his
songs were five thousand. And he spake of trees, from the
cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop which springeth
out of the wall; and also of fishes and of beasts. And all
nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all
the kings of the earth who had heard of the fame of his
wisdom."1 And to such a degree does the gospel desire that there should
be wise men among believers, that for the sake of exercising
the understanding of its hearers, it has spoken certain truths
in enigmas, others in what are called " dark " sayings, others in
parables, and others in problems.2 And one of the prophets —
Hosea — says at the end of his prophecies : " Who is wise, and
he will understand these things? or prudent, and he shall
know them ? " 3 Daniel, moreover, and his fellow-captives,
made such progress in the learning which the wise men around
the king in Babylon cultivated, that they were shown to excel
all of them in a tenfold degree. And in the book of Ezekiel
it is said to the ruler of Tyre, who greatly prided himself on
his wisdom, " Art thou wiser than Daniel ? Every secret was
not revealed to thee."4
Chapter xlvi.
And if you come to the books written after the time of Jesus,
you will find that those multitudes of believers who hear the
parables are, as it were, " without," and worthy only of exoteric_
doctrines, while the disciples learn in private the explanation of
the parables. For, privately, to His own disciples did Jesus
open up all things, esteeming above the multitudes those who
desired to know His wisdom. And He promises to those who
believe upon Him to send them wise men and scribes, saying,
" Behold, I will send unto you wise men and scribes, and some
of them they shall kill and crucify."6 And Paul also, in the
catalogue of " Charismata" bestowed by God, placed first " the
word of wisdom," and second, as being inferior to it, " the word
1 Cf. 1 Kings iv. 29-34. The text reads, irspl ttxvtoiv t2i/ BxaiAiau Tns
yijj, for which irxpd has been substituted.
2 xxi a£>iA« 5/« irpo/SAnpoxTOiv. 3 Hos. X. 9.
4 Cf. Bzek. xx. 3. * Cf. Matt, xxiii. 34.

128 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
of knowledge," but third, and lower down, "faith."1 And
because he regarded " the word " as higher than miraculous
powers, he for that reason places "workings of miracles" and
" gifts of healings " in a lower place than the gifts of the word.
And in the Acts of the Apostles Stephen bears witness to the
great learning of Moses, which he had obtained wholly from
ancient writings not accessible to the multitude. For he says :
" And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."2
And therefore, with respect to his miracles, it was suspected
that he wrought thern perhaps, not in virtue of his professing
to come from God, but by means of his Egyptian knowledge,
in which he was well versed. For the king, entertaining such
a suspicion, summoned the Egyptian magicians, and wise men,
and enchanters, who were found to be of no avail as against
the wisdom of Moses, which proved superior to all the wisdom
of the Egyptians.
Chapter xlvh.
But it is probable that what is written by Paul in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians,3 as being addressed to Greeks who
prided themselves greatly on their Grecian wisdom, has moved
some to believe that it was not the object of the gospel to win
wise men. Now, let him who is of this opinion understand that
the gospel, as censuring wicked men, says of them that they
are wise not in things which relate to the understanding, and
which are unseen and eternal ; but that in busying themselves
about things of sense alone, and regarding these as all-important,
they are wise men of the world : for as there are in existence
a multitude of opinions, some of them espousing the cause of
matter and bodies,4 and asserting that everything is corporeal
which has a substantial existence,5 and that besides these nothing
else exists, whether it be called invisible or incorporeal, it says
also that these constitute the wisdom of the world, which perishes
and fades away, and belongs only to this age, while those
opinions which raise the soul from things here to the blessed
ness which is with God, and to His kingdom, and which teach
men to despise all sensible and visible things as existing only
1 Cf. 1 Cor. xii. 8. 2 Acts vii. 22. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 18, etc.
' tx f/Jv avvxyoptvovTX vAy xxi aZpoxct. 6 tx irpoyyovpoivug CQsGr/ixol*.

Book m.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 129
for a season, and to hasten on to things invisible, and to have
regard to those things which are not seen, — these, it says, con
stitute the wisdom of God. But Paul, as a lover of truth, says
of certain wise men among the Greeks, when their statements
are true, that " although they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful." 1 And he bears witness
that they knew God, and says, too, that this did not happen to
them without divine permission, in these words : " For God
showed it unto them ; " 2 dimly alluding, I think, to those who
ascend from things of sense to those of the understanding,
when he adds, " For the invisible things of God from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead ;
so that they are without excuse : because that, when they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful." 3
Chapter xlviii.
And perhaps also from the words, "For ye see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble, are called : but God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and the
base things, and the things which are despised, hath God chosen,
and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are,
that no flesh may glory in His presence ; " 4 some have been
led to suppose that no one who is instructed, or wise, or prudent,
embraces the gospel. Now, in answer to such an one, we would
say that it has not been stated that "no wise man according to the
flesh," but that " not many wise men according to the flesh," are
called. It is manifest, further, that amongst the characteristic
qualifications of those who are termed " bishops," Paul, in de
scribing what kind of man the bishop ought to be, lays down as
a qualification that he should also be a teacher, saying that he
ought to be able to convince the gainsayers, that by the wisdom
which is in him he may stop the mouths of foolish talkers and
deceivers.5 And as he selects for the episcopate a man who has
been once married 6 rather than he who has twice entered the
1 Cf. Rom. i. 21. 2 Rom. i. 19. s Cf. Rom. i. 20-22.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 26-28. « Cf. Tit. i. 9, 10.
6 Movoyxpcov. Cf. Can. Apost. C. xvii. : " 6 tval yxpootg GVparAxxtlg poiTx
ORIG.— VOL. II. I

130 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
married state, and a man of blameless life rather than one who
is liable to censure, and a sober man rather than one who is not
such, and a prudent man rather than one who is not prudent, and
a man whose behaviour is decorous rather than he who is open
to the charge even of the slightest indecorum, so he desires that
he who is to be chosen by preference for the office of a bishop
should be apt to teach, and able to convince the gainsayers. How
then can Celsus justly charge us with saying, " Let no one come
to us who is 'instructed,' or ' wise,' or 'prudent?'" Nay, let him
who wills come to us "instructed," and "wise," and "prudent;"
and none the less, if any one be ignorant and unintelligent,
and uninstructed and foolish, let him also come : for it is these
whom the gospel promises to cure, when they come, by render
ing them all worthy of God.
Chapter xlix.
This statement also is untrue, that it is " only foolish and
low individuals, and persons devoid of perception, and slaves,
and women, and children, of whom the teachers of the divine
word wish to make converts." Such indeed does the gospel
invite, in order to make them better ; but it invites also others
who are very different from these, since Christ is the Saviour
of all men, and especially of them that believe, whether they
be intelligent or simple ; and " He is the propitiation with the
Father for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world." 1 After this it is superfluous for us
to wish to offer a reply to such statements of Celsus as the
following : " For why is it an evil to have been educated, and
to have studied the best opinions, and to have both the reality
and appearance of wisdom? What hindrance does this offer
to the knowledge of God? Why should it not rather be an
assistance, and a means by which one might be better able to
arrive at the truth ? " Truly it is no evil to have been educated,
.for education is the way to virtue ; but to rank those amongst
the number of the educated who hold erroneous opinions is
v
to (ixftTtGpox, ii irxAAxxviv XTtiGxptsvog, ou Zvvxtxi tivxi Wiaxoirog, ij ^P'"'
fiiiTtpog, ij o~ixxovog, jj oXtif toS xxTXAoyov tow itpxTixov." Cf. note in Bene
dictine ed.
1 Cf . 1 John ii. 2.

Book m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 131
what even the wise men among the Greeks would not do. On
the other hand, who would not admit that to have studied the
best opinions is a blessing ? But what shall we call the best,
save those which are true, and which incite men to virtue? More
over, it is an excellent thing for a man to be wise, but not to
seem so, as Celsus says. And it is no hindrance to the know
ledge of God, but an assistance, to have been educated, and to
have studied the best opinions, and to be wise. And it becomes
us rather than Celsus to say this, especially if it be shown that
he is an Epicurean.
Chapter l.
But let us see what those statements of his are which follow
next in these wrords : " Nay, we see, indeed, that even those
individuals, who in the market-places perform the most dis
graceful tricks, and who gather crowds around them, would
never approach an assembly of wise men, nor dare to exhibit
their arts among them ; but wherever they see young men,
and a mob of slaves, and a gathering of unintelligent persons,
thither they thrust themselves in, and show themselves off."
Observe, now, how he slanders us in these words, comparing us
to those who in the market-places perform the most disreputable
tricks, and gather crowds around them ! What disreputable
tricks, pray, do we perform ? Or what is there in our conduct
that resembles theirs, seeing that by means of readings, and
explanations of the things read, we lead men to the worship
of the God of the universe, and to the cognate virtues, and
turn them away from contemning Deity, and from all things
contrary to right reason ? Philosophers verily would wish
to collect together such hearers of their discourses as exhort
men to virtue, — a practice which certain of the Cynics especially
have followed, who converse publicly with those whom thejr
happen to meet. Will they maintain, then, that these who do
not gather together persons who are considered to have been
educated, but who invite and assemble hearers from the public
street, resemble those who in the market-places perform the most
disreputable tricks, and gather crowds around them ? Neither
Celsus, however, nor any one who holds the same opinions,
will blame those who, agreeably to what they regard as a feel-

132 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS- [Book m.
ing of philanthropy, address their arguments to the ignorant
populace.
Chapter li.
And if they are not to be blamed for so doing, let us see
whether Christians do not exhort multitudes to the practice of
virtue in a greater and better degree than they. For the
philosophers who converse in public do not pick and choose
their hearers, but he who likes stands and listens. The Chris
tians, however, having previously, so far as possible, tested the
souls of those who wish to become their hearers, and having
previously instructed1 them in private, when they appear
(before entering the community) to have sufficiently evinced
their desire towards a virtuous life, introduce them then, and
not before, privately forming one class of those who are be
ginners, and are receiving admission, but who have not yet
obtained the mark of complete purification ; and another of
those who have manifested to the best of their ability their
intention to desire no other things than are approved by Chris
tians ; and among these there are certain persons appointed
to make inquiries regarding the lives and behaviour of those
who join them, in order that they may prevent those who
commit acts of infamy from coming into their public assem
bly, while those of a different character they receive with their
whole heart, in order that they may daily make them better.
And this is their method of procedure, both with those who
are sinners, and especially with those who lead dissolute lives,
whom they exclude from their community, although, according
to Celsus, they resemble those who in the market-places per
form the most shameful tricks. Now the venerable school of
the Pythagoreans used to erect a cenotaph to those who had
apostatized from their system of philosophy, treating them as
dead ; but the Christians lament as dead those who have been
vanquished by licentiousness or any other sin, because they are
lost and dead to God, and as being risen from the dead (if
they manifest a becoming change) they receive them after
wards, at some future time, after a greater interval than in
the case of those who were admitted at first, but not placing

Book m.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 133
in any office or post of rank in the church of God those wdio,
after professing the gospel, lapsed and fell.
Chapter lii.
Observe now with regard to the following statement of Celsus,
" We see also those persons who in the market-places perform
most disreputable tricks, and collect crowds around them,"
whether a manifest falsehood has not been uttered, and things
compared which have no resemblance. He says that these indi
viduals, to whom he compares us, who " perform the most dis
reputable tricks in the market-places and collect crowds, would
never approach an assembly of wise men, nor dare to show off
their tricks before them ; but wdierever they see young men, and
a mob of slaves, and a gathering of foolish people, thither do
they thrust themselves in and make a display." Now, in
speaking thus he does nothing else than simply load us with
abuse, like the women upon the public streets, whose object is
to slander one another ; for we do everything in our power
to secure that our meetings should be composed of wise men,
and those things among us which are especially excellent and
divine we then venture to bring forward publicly in our discus
sions when we have an abundance of intelligent hearers, while
we congeal and pass by in silence the truths of deeper import
when we see that our audience is composed of simpler minds,
which need such instruction as is figuratively termed " milk."
Chapter liii.
For the word is used by our Paul in writing to the Corin
thians, who were Greeks, and not yet purified in their morals :
" I have fed you with milk, not with meat ; for hitherto ye
were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for ye
are yet carnal : for whereas there is among you envying and
strife, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?" Now the same
writer, knowing that there was a certain kind of nourishment
better adapted for the soul, and that the food of those young 1
persons who were admitted was compared to milk, continues :
" And ye are become such as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the

134 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
word of righteousness ; for he is a babe. But strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil." 1 Would then those who believe these words to be
well spoken, suppose that the noble doctrines of our faith would
never be mentioned in an assembly of wise men, but that
wherever [our instructors] see young men, and a mob of slaves,
and a collection of foolish individuals, they bring publicly
forward divine and venerable truths, and before such persons
make a display of themselves in treating of them? But it
is clear to him who examines the whole spirit of our writings,
that Celsus is animated with a hatred against the human race
resembling that of the ignorant populace, and gives utterance
to these falsehoods without examination.
Chapter liv.
We acknowledge, however, although Celsus will not have it
so, that we do desire to instruct all men in the word of God,
so as to give to young men the exhortations which are appro
priate to them, and to show to slaves how they may recover
freedom of thought,2 and be ennobled by the word. And those
amongst us who are the ambassadors of Christianity sufficiently
declare that they are debtors3 to Greeks and barbarians, to
wise men and fools, (for they do not deny their obligation to
cure the souls even of foolish persons,) in order that as far as
possible they may lay aside their ignorance, and endeavour to
obtain greater prudence, by listening also to the words of Solo
mon: "Oh, ye fools, be of an understanding heart,"4 and "Who
is the most simple among you, let him turn unto me ; " 5 and
wisdom exhorts those who are devoid of understanding in the
words, " Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I
have mixed for you. Forsake folly that ye may live, and
correct understanding in knowledge."6 This too would I say
(seeing it bears on the point),7 in answer to the statement of
Celsus : Do not philosophers invite young men to their lectures?
and do they not encourage young men to exchange a wicked
1 Heb. V. 12-14. 2 iAsihpov xvxAxfiovTsg (ppovvifix.
3 Cf. Rom. i. 14. * Cf. Pro v. viii. 5. 6 Cf. Prov. ix. 4.
6 Cf. Prov. ix. 5, 6. 7 lid tx iyxti'posvx.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 135
life for a better ? and do they not desire slaves to learn philo
sophy ? Must we find fault, then, with philosophers who have
exhorted slaves to the practice of virtue ? with Pythagoras for
having so done with Zamolxis, Zeno with Perseus, and with those
who recently encouraged Epictetus to the study of philosophy?
Is it indeed permissible for you, O Greeks, to call youths and
slaves and foolish persons to the study of philosophy, but if we
do so, we do not act from philanthropic motives in wishing to
heal every rational nature with the medicine of reason, and to
bring them into fellowship with God, the Creator of all things ?
These remarks, then, may suffice in answer to what are slanders
rather than accusations 1 on the part of Celsus.
Chapter lv.
But as Celsus delights to heap up calumnies against us, and,
in addition to those which he has already uttered, has added
others, let us examine these also, and see whether it be the
Christians or Celsus who have reason to be ashamed of what is
said. He asserts, " We see, indeed, in private houses workers
in wool and leather, and fullers, and persons of the most
uninstructed and rustic character, not venturing to utter a
word in the presence of their elders and wiser masters ; 2 but
when they get hold of the children privately, and certain
women as ignorant as themselves, they pour forth wonderful
statements, to the effect that they ought not to give heed to
their father and to their teachers, but should obey them ; that
the former are foolish and stupid, and neither know nor can
perform anything that is really good, being preoccupied with
empty trifles ; that they alone know how men ought to live,
and that, if the children obey them, they will both be happy
themselves, and will make their home happy also. And while
thus speaking, if they see one of the instructors of youth
1 Aoihopixg pcxAAov Vj xx~-/\yoptxg.
2 The allusion is to the practice of wealthy Greeks and Romans having
among their slaves artificers of various kinds, for whose service there was
constant demand in the houses and villas of the rich, and who therefore
had their residence in or near the dwelling of their master. Many of these
artificers seem, from the language of Celsus, to have been converts to
Christianity.

136 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
approaching, or one of the more intelligent class, or even the
father himself, the more timid among them become afraid,
while the more forward incite the children to throw off the
yoke, whispering that in the presence of father and teachers
they, neither will nor can explain to them any good thing,
seeing they turn away with aversion from the silliness and
stupidity of such persons as being altogether corrupt, and far
advanced in wickedness, and such as wTould inflict punishment
upon them ; but that if they wish [to avail themselves of their
aid,] they must leave their father and their instructors, and go
with the. women and their playfellows to the women's apart
ments, or to the leather shop, or to the fuller's shop, that they
may attain to perfection ; — and by words like these they gain
them over." Chapter lvi.
Observe now how by such statements he depreciates those
amongst us who are teachers of the word, and who strive in
every way to raise the soul to the Creator of all things, and
who show that we ought to despise things "sensible," and
" temporal," and " visible," and to do our utmost to reach
communion with God, and the contemplation of things that
are " intelligent," and " invisible," and a blessed life with God,
and the friends of God ; comparing them to " workers in wool
in private houses, and to leather-cutters, and to fullers, and to
the most rustic of mankind, who carefully incite young boys to
wickedness, and women to forsake their fathers and teachers,
and follow them." Now let Celsus point out from what wise
parent, or from what teachers, we keep away children and
women, and let him ascertain by comparison among those
children and women who are adherents of our doctrine, whether
any of the opinions which they formerly heard are better than
ours, and in what manner we draw away children and women
from noble and venerable studies, and incite them to worse
things. But he will not be able to make good any such charge
against us, seeing that, on the contrary, we turn away women
from a dissolute life, and from being at variance with those
with whom they live, from all mad desires after theatres and
dancing, and from superstition; while we train to habits of self-

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 137
restraint boys just reaching the age of puberty, and feeling a
desire for sexual pleasures, pointing out to them not only the
disgrace which attends those sins, but also the state to which
the soul of the wicked is reduced through practices of that
kind, and the judgments which it will suffer, and the punish
ments which will be inflicted. Chapter lvii.
But wdio are the teachers whom we call triflers and fools,
whose defence is undertaken by Celsus, as of those who teach
better things ? [I know not,] unless he deem those to be good
instructors of women, and no triflers, who invite them to super
stition and to unchaste spectacles, and those, moreover, to be
teachers not devoid of sense who lead young men to the com
munion of all those disorderly acts which we know are often
committed by them. We indeed call away these also, as far as
we can, from the dogmas of philosophy to our worship of God,
by showing forth its excellence and purity. But as Celsus, by
his statements, has declared that we do not do so, but that we
call only the foolish, I would say to him, "If you had charged
us with withdrawing from the study of philosophy those who
were already preoccupied with it, you would not have spoken
the truth, and yet your charge would have had an appearance
of probability ; but when you now say that we draw away our
adherents from good teachers, show who are those other
teachers save the teachers of philosophy, or those who have been
appointed to give instruction in some useful branch of study." 1
He will be unable, however, to show any such ; while we
promise, openly and not in secret, that they will be happy who
live according to the word of God, and who look to Him in all
things, and who do everything, whatever it is, as if in the pre
sence of God. Are these the instructions of workers in wool,
and of leather-cutters, and fullers, and uneducated rustics?
But such an assertion he cannot make good.
Chapter lviii.
But those who, in the opinion of Celsus, resemble the
1 TlxpxGTwov TOiig IHxaxxAovg «X?voi/s itxpx TOvg (fiiAoaotpixg liiaGxxAovg,
ij Toiig xxtx ti tZv xpnGipcuv irtiroinpcfaovg.

138 • ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book

hi.

workers in wool in private houses, and the leather-cutters, and
fullers, and uneducated rustics, will, he alleges, in the presence
of father or teachers be unwilling to speak, or unable to explain
to the boys anything that is good. In answer to which, we
would say, What kind of father, my good sir, and what kind of
teacher, do you mean? If you mean one who approves of
virtue, and turns away from vice, and welcomes what is better,
then know, that with the greatest boldness will we declare our
opinions to the children, because we will be in good repute with
such a judge. But if, in the presence of a father who has a
hatred of virtue and goodness, we keep silence, and also before
those who teach what is contrary to sound doctrine, do not blame
us for so doing, since you will blame us without good reason.
You, at all events, in a case where fathers deemed the mysteries
of philosophy an idle and unprofitable occupation for their sons,
and for young men in general, would not, in teaching philosophy,
make known its secrets before worthless parents ; but, desiring
to keep apart those sons of wicked parents who had been turned
towards the study of philosophy, you would observe the proper
seasons, in order that the doctrines of philosophy might reach
the minds of the young men. And we say the same regarding
our teachers. For if we turn [our hearers] away from those
instructors who teach obscene comedies and licentious iambics,
and many other things which neither improve the speaker nor
benefit the hearers (because the latter do not know how to listen
to poetry in a philosophic frame of mind, nor the former how to
say to each of the young men what tends to his profit), we are
not, in following such a course, ashamed to confess what we do.
But if you will show me teachers who train young men for
philosophy, and who exercise them in it, I will not from such
turn away young men, but will try to raise them, as those who
have been previously exercised in the whole circle of learning
and in philosophical subjects, to the venerable and lofty height
of eloquence which lies hid 'from the multitude of Christians,
where are discussed topics of the greatest- importance, and where
it is demonstrated and shown that they have been treated philo
sophically both by the prophets of God and the apostles of
Jesus.

Book m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 139

Chapter lix.
Immediately after this, Celsus, perceiving that he has slan
dered us with too great bitterness, as if by way of defence
expresses himself as follows : " That I bring no heavier charge
than what the truth compels me, any one may see from the
following remarks. Those who invite to participation in other
mysteries, make proclamation as follows : ' Every one who has
clean hands, and a prudent tongue;'1 others again thus: 'He
who is pure from all pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no
evil, and who has lived well and justly.' Such is the proclama
tion made by those who promise purification from sins. But let
us hear what kind of persons these Christians invite. Every
one, they say, who is a sinner, who is devoid of understanding,
who is a child, and, to speak generally, whoever is unfortunate,
him will the kingdom of God receive. Do you not call him a
sinner, then, who is unjust, and a thief, and a housebreaker, and
a poisoner, and a committer of sacrilege, and a robber of the
dead ? What others would a man invite if he were issuing a
proclamation for an assembly of robbers?" Now, in answer to
such statements, we say that it is not the same thing to invite
those who are sick in soul to be cured, and those who are in
health to the knowledge and study of divine things. We, how
ever, keeping both these things in view, at first invite all men
to be healed, and exhort those who are sinners to come to the
consideration of the doctrines which teach men not to sin, and
those who are devoid of understanding to those which beget
wisdom, and those who are children to rise in their thoughts to
manhood, and those who are simply2 unfortunate to good
fortune,3 or — which is the more appropriate term to use — to
blessedness.4 And when those who have been turned towards
virtue have made progress, and have shown that they have been
purified by the word, and have led as far as they can a better
life, then and not before do we invite them to participation in
our mysteries. " For we speak wisdom among them that are
perfect." 5
1 (poiviiv GWtTog. 2 cmAug. " siihxipooviav.
4 poxxxpioTYiTa. 5 Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 6.

140 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iii.

Chapter lx.
And as we teach, moreover, that "wisdom will not enter
into the soul of a base man, nor dwell in a body that is involved
in sin," 1 we say, Whoever has clean hands, and therefore lifts
up holy hands to God, and by reason of being occupied with
elevated and heavenly things, can say, " The lifting up of my
hands is as the evening sacrifice," 2 let him come to us ; and
whoever has a wise tongue through meditating on the law of
the Lord day and night, and by "reason of. habit has his senses
exercised to discern between good and evil," let him havenrnr
reluctance in coming to the strong and rational"" susgnance
which is adapted to those who are athletes^ in piety and every
virtue. And since the grace of God is with all those who love
with a pure affection the teacher of the doctrines of immor
tality, whoever is pure not only from all defilement, but from
what are regarded as lesser transgressions, let him be boldly
initiated in the mysteries of Jesus, which properly are made
known only to the holy and the pure. The initiated of Celsus
accordingly says, " Let him wdiose soul is conscious of no evil
come." But he who acts as initiator, according to the. precepts
of Jesus, will say to those who have been purified in heart,
" He whose soul has, for a long time, been conscious of no evil,
and especially since he yielded himself to the healing of the .
word, let such an one hear the doctrines which were spoken in
private by Jesus to His genuine disciples." Therefore in the
comparison which he institutes between the procedure of the
initiators into the Grecian mysteries, and the teachers of the
doctrine of Jesus, he does not know the difference between
inviting the wicked to be healed, and initiating those already
purified into the sacred mysteries !
Chapter lxi.
Not to participation in mysteries, then, and to fellowship in
the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which God ordained before the
world to the glory of His saints,3 do we invite the wicked man,
and the thief, and the housebreaker, and the poisoner, and the
committer of sacrilege, and the plunderer of the dead, and all
1 Wisd. Solom. i. 4. = Cf. Ps. cxli. 2. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 7.

Book m. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 141
those others whom Celsus may enumerate in his exaggerating
style, but such as these we invite to be healed. For there are
in the divinity of the word some helps towards the cure of those
who are sick, respecting which the word says, " They that be
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick ; " l others,
again, which to the pure in soul and body exhibit " the revela
tion of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world
began, but now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the pro
phets,"2 and "by the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,"3
which "appearing" is manifested to each one of those who
are perfect, and which enlightens the reason4 in the fa'ue5
knowledge of things. But as he exaggerates the charges against
us, adding, after his list of those vile individuals whom he has
mentioned, this remark, " What other persons would a robber
summon to himself by proclamation?" we answer such a
question by saying that a robber summons around him indivi
duals of such a character, in order to make use of their villany
against the men whom they desire to slay and plunder. A
Christian, on the other hand, even though he invite those whom
the robber invites, invites them to a very different vocation,
viz. to bind up these wounds by His word, and to apply to the
soul, festering amid evils, the drugs obtained from the word,
and which are analogous to the wine and oil, and plasters, and
other healing appliances which belong to the art of medicine.
Chapter lxh.
In the next place, throwing a slur 6 upon the exhortations
spoken and written to those who have led wicked lives, and
which invite them to repentance and reformation of heart, he
asserts that we say " that it was to sinners that God has been
sent." Now this statement of his is much the same as if he
were to find fault with certain persons for saying that on
account of the sick who were living in a city, a physician had
been sent them by a very benevolent monarch. God the Word
was sent, indeed, as a physician to sinners, but as a teacher of
divine mysteries to those who are already pure and who sin no
more. But Celsus, unable to see this distinction, — for, he had no
1 Matt. ix. 12. 2 Rom. xvi. 25, 26. 3 Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 10.
4 to' qyspcovixov. ° dtptvo'yi. 6 gvxo<PxvtZv.

142 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book m.

;il

jdesire to be animated with a love of truth, — remarks, "Why
„ was he not sent to those who were without sin ? What evil is
it not to have committed sin ? " To which we reply, that if by
those "who were without sin" he means those who sin no
more, then our Saviour Jesus was sent even to such, but not
as a physician. While if by those " who were without sin" he
means such as have never at any time sinned, — for he made no
distinction in his statement, — we reply that it is impossible for
a man thus to be without sin. And this we say, excepting, of
course, the man understood to be in Christ Jesus,1 who " did no
sin." It is with a malicious intent, indeed, that Celsus says of
us that we assert that " God will receive the unrighteous man
if he humble himself on account of his wickedness, but that
He will not receive the righteous man, although he look up to
Him, [adorned] with virtue from the beginning." Now we assert
that it is impossible for a man to look up to God [adorned] .
with virtue from the beginning. For wickedness must neces
sarily first exist in men. As Paul also says, " When the com
mandment came, sin revived, and I died."2 Moreover, we do
not teach regarding the unrighteous man, that it is sufficient
for him to humble himself on account of his wickedness in
order to his being accepted by God, but that God will accept
him if, after passing condemnation upon himself for his past
conduct, he walk humbly on account. of it, and in a becoming
manner for the time to come.

Chapter

LXIII.

After this, not understanding how it has been said that
" every one who exalteth himself shall be abased ; " 3 nor
(although taught even by Plato) that " the good and virtuous
man walketh humbly and orderly;" and ignorant, moreover, that
we give the injunction, " Humble yourselves, therefore, under
the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time;"4
he says that " those persons who preside properly over a trial
make those individuals who bewail before them their evil deeds
to cease from their piteous wailings, lest their decisions should
be determined rather by compassion than by a regard to truth;
1 vwtgxipopcsvov TOW XXTd tov Znoovv voovpoivov dyipZirov.
2 Rom. vii. 9. 3 Cf. Matt, xxiii. 12. 4 1 Pet. v. 6.

Book iii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 143
whereas God does not decide in accordance with truth, but in
accordance with flattery." 1 Now, what words of flattery and
piteous wailing are contained in the Holy Scriptures when the
sinner says in his prayers to God, " I have acknowledged my
sin, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgression to the Lord," etc. etc. ? For is he able to show
that a procedure of this kind is not adapted to the conversion of
sinners, who humble themselves in their prayers under the hand
of God ? And, becoming confused by his effort to accuse us,
he contradicts himself ; appearing at one time to know a man
"without sin," and "a righteous man, who can look up to God
[adorned] with virtue from the beginning ; " and at another
time accepting our statement that there is no man altogether
righteous, or without sin ; 2 for, as if he admitted its truth, he
remarks, " This is indeed apparently true, that somehow the
human race is naturally inclined to sin." In the next place, as
if all men were not invited by the word, he says, " All men,
then, without distinction, ought to be invited, since all indeed
are sinners." And yet, in the preceding pages, we have pointed
out the words of Jesus : "Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."3 All men, there
fore, labouring and being heavy laden on account of the nature
of sin, are invited to the rest spoken of in the word of God,
" for God sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them
from their destructions." 4
Chapter lxiv.
But since he says, in addition to this, "What is this pre
ference of sinners over others ? " and makes other remarks
of a similar nature, we have to reply that absolutely a
sinner is not preferred before one who ' is not a sinner ;
but that sometimes a sinner, who has become conscious of
his own sin, and for that reason comes to repentance, being
humbled on account of his sins, is preferred before one
1 irpog xoAxxsixv.
2 In the text it is put interrogatively : Tig xvdpomog TsAsag Xixxiog; »j Tig
xvxpt,xpTriTog ; The allusion seems to be to Job xv. 14 : Tig yxp Z'v fipoTog,
oti svtxi xposp'titTog ,' $ Zg iaoposvog oixxtog ytWYiTog yvvxtxog.
3 Matt. xi. 28. 4 Ps. cvii. 20.

144 • ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
who is accounted a lesser sinner, but who does not consider
himself one, but exalts himself on the ground of certain good
qualities which he thinks he possesses, and is greatly elated
on their account. And this is manifest to those who are
willing to peruse the Gospels in a spirit of fairness, by the
parable of the publican, who said, " Be merciful to me a
sinner,"1 and of the Pharisee who boasted with a certain wicked
self-conceit in the words, " I thank Thee that I am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this pub
lican." 2 For Jesus subjoins to His narrative of them both the
words : " This man went down to his house justified rather
than the other : for every one that exalteth himself shall be
abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 3 We
utter no blasphemy, then, against God, neither are we guilty of
falsehood, when we teach that every man, whoever he may be, is
conscious of human infirmity in comparison with the greatness
of God, and that we must ever ask from Him, who alone is able to
supply our deficiencies, what is wanting to our [mortal] nature.
Chapter lxv.
He imagines, however, that we utter these exhortations for
the conversion of sinners, because we are able to gain over no
one who is really good and righteous, and therefore open our
gates to the most unholy and abandoned of men. But if any
one will fairly observe our assemblies, we can present a greater
number of those who have been converted from not a very
wicked life, than of those who have committed the most
abominable sins. For naturally those who are conscious to
themselves of better things, desire that those promises may be
true which are declared by God regarding the reward of the
righteous, and thus assent more readily to the statements [of
Scripture] than those do who have led very wicked lives, and
who are prevented by their very consciousness [of evil] from
admitting that they will be punished by the Judge of all with
such punishment as befits those who have sinned so greatly, and
as would not be inflicted by the Judge of all contrary to rjght-
jeason.4 Sometimes, also, when very abandoned men are willing
1 Luke xviii. 13. 2 Luke xviii. 11. 3 Luke xviii. 14.
4 xxi oil irxpx tov opiov Aoyov irpoGxyoiro ii%o tov iirl tcxgi Xixxgtov.

Book hi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 145
to accept the doctrine of [future] punishment, on account of
the hope which is based upon repentance, they are prevented
from so doing by their habit of sinning, being constantly
dipped, and, as it were, dyed in wickedness, and possessing no
longer the power to turn from it easily to a proper life, and
one regulated according to right reason. And although Celsus
observes this, he nevertheless, L know not why, expresses him
self in the following terms : " And yet, indeed, it is manifest
to every one that no one by chastisement, much less by merciful
treatment, could effect a complete change in those who are
sinners both by nature and custom, for to change nature is an
exceedingly difficult thing. But they who are without sin are
partakers of a better life."
Chapter lxvi.
Now here Celsus appears to me to have committed a great
error, in refusing to those who are sinners by nature, and also
by habit, the possibility of a complete transformation, alleging
that they cannot be cured even by punishment. For it clearly
appears that all men are inclined to sin by nature, and some
not only by nature but by practice, while not all men are incap
able of an entire transformation. For there are found in every
philosophical sect, and in the word of God, persons who are
related to have undergone so great a change that they may be
proposed as a model of excellence of life. Among the names
of the heroic age some mention Hercules and Ulysses, among
those of later times, Socrates, and of those who have lived very
recr^y, Musonius.1 Not only against us, then, did Celsus
utter the calumny, when he said that " it was manifest to every
one that those who were given to sin by nature and habit
could not by any means — even by punishments — be completely
changed for the better," but also against the noblest names in
philosophy, who have not denied that the recovery of virtue was
a possible thing for men. But although he did not express his
meaning with exactness, we shall nevertheless, though giving his
words a more favourable construction, convict him of unsound
reasoning. For his words were : " Those who are inclined to
1 He is said to have been either a Babylonian or Tyrrhenian, and to have
lived in the reign of Nero. Cf. Philostratus, iv. 12.— Rileus.
ORIG. — VOL. JJ. K

146 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
sin by nature and habit, no one could completely reform even
by chastisement ; " and his words, as we understood them, we
refuted to the best of our ability.1
Chapter lxvii.
It is probable, however, that he meant to convey some such
meaning as this, that those who were both by nature and habit
given to the commission of those sins which are committed by
the most abandoned of men, could not be completely trans
formed even by punishment. And yet this is shown to be false
from the history of certain philosophers. For who is there that
would not rank among the most abandoned of men the indivi
dual who somehow submitted to yield himself to his master,
when he placed him in a brothel,2 that he might allow himself
to be polluted by any one who liked ? And yet such a circum
stance is related of Phsedo ! And who will not agree that he
who burst, accompanied with a flute-player and a party of
revellers, his profligate associates, into the school of the vener
able Xenocrates, to insult a man who was the admiration of his
friends, was not one of the greatest miscreants 3 among man
kind ? Yet, notwithstanding this, reason was powerful enough
to effect their conversion, and to enable them to make such
progress in philosophy, that the one was deemed worthy by
Plato to recount the discourse of Socrates on immortality, and
to record his firmness in prison, when he evinced his contempt
of the hemlock, and with all fearlessness and tranquillity of
mind treated of subjects so numerous and important, that it is
difficult even for those to follow them who are giving £eir
utmost attention, and who are disturbed by no distraction ; while
Polemon, on the other hand, who from a profligate became a
man of most temperate life, was successor in the school of Xeno
crates, so celebrated for his venerable character. Celsus then
does not speak the truth when he says " that sinners by nature
and habit cannot be completely reformed even by chastisement."
Chapter lxviii.
That philosophical discourses, however, distinguished by
1 xxi to i%xxoviptsvoii dico tjjj Asfsac, Zg Ivvxtov iipiiv, dvtTptyxftsv.
3 pctxpuTXTOV dvUpZvav.

Book m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 147
orderly arrangement and elegant expression,1 should produce
such results in the case of those individuals just enumerated,
and upon others 3 who have led wicked lives, is not at all to be
wondered at. But when we consider that those discourses,
which Celsus terms " vulgar," 3 are filled with power, as if they
were spells, and see that they at once convert multitudes from
a life of licentiousness to one of extreme regularity,4 and from
a life of wickedness to a better, and from a state of cowardice
or unmanliness to one of such high-toned courage as to lead
men to despise even death through the piety which shows itself
within them, why should we not justly admire the power which
they contain ? For the words of those who at the first assumed
the office of [Christian] ambassadors, and who gave their
labours to rear up the churches of God, — nay, their preaching
also, — were accompanied with a persuasive power, though not
like that found among those who profess the philosophy of
Plato, or of any other merely human philosopher, which pos
sesses no other qualities than those of human nature. But the
demonstration which followed the wordsof the apostles of
Jesus was given from God, and was accredited s by the Spirit
and by power. And therefore their word ran swiftly and
speedily, or rather the word of God through their instrumen
tality, transformed numbers of persons who had been sinners
both by nature and habit, whom no one could have reformed
by punishment, but who were changed • by the word, which
moulded and transformed them according to its pleasure.
Chapter lxix.
Celsus continues in his usual manner, asserting that " to
change a nature entirely is exceedingly difficult." We, how
ever, who know, of qnly*one nature in every rational soul^ and
who maintain that none has been created evil by the Author of
all things, but that many have become wicked through educa
tion, and perverse example, and surrounding influences,6 so
1 'AXAx t'qv pcsv tx^I'j xxi avvdsasv xxi (ppcoGlv tuv dito (piAOGOfpixg Aoyuv.
2 The reading in the text is a'TiAinj, for which oiAAovg has been conjectured
by Ruseus and Boherellus, and which has been adopted in the translation.
3 ITjlUTIXOVg. 4 IVGTXHSOTXTO'J. S ICIGTIX'/I XKO %VSVpCXT0g.
6 irxpx t«j dvaTpoQdg, xal Txg XiXGrpoCpxg, xxi Txg irtpinxilGSig.

148 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in,
that wickedness has been naturalized1 in some individuals, are
persuaded that for the word of God to change a nature in
which evil has been naturalized is not only not impossible, but
is even a work of no very great difficulty, if a man only believe
that he must entrust himself to the God of all things, and do
everything with a view to please Him with whom
" Both good and bad are not in the same honour,
Nor do the idle man and he who has laboured much
Perish alike." 2
But even if it be exceedingly difficult to effect a change in
some persons, the cause must be held to lie in their own will,
which is reluctant to accept the belief that the God over all
things is a just Judge of all the deeds done during life. For
deliberate choice and practice 3 avail much towards the accom
plishment of things which appear to be very difficult, and, to
speak hyperbolically, almost impossible. Has the nature of
man, when desiring to walk along a rope extended in the air
through the middle of the theatre, and to carry at the same
time numerous and heavy weights, been able by practice and
attention to accomplish such a feat ; but when desiring to live
"Tn3'conformity with the practice of virtue, does it find it impos
sible to do so, although formerly it may have been exceedingly
wicked ? See whether he who holds such views does not bring
a charge against the nature of the Creator of the rational
animal 4 rather than against the creature, if He has formed the
"nature of man with powers for the attainment of things of such
difficulty, and of no utility whatever, but has rendered it in
capable of securing its own blessedness. But these remarks may
suffice as an answer to the assertion that " entirely to change
a nature is exceedingly difficult." He alleges, in the next place,
that " they who are without sin are partakers of a better life ;"
not making it clear what he means by " those who are without
sin," whether those who are so from the beginning [of their
lives], or those who become so by a transformation. Of those
who were so from the beginning of their lives, there cannot
possibly be any ; while those who are so after a transformation
[of heart] are found to be few in number, being those who
1 cPvgw^vxi. 2 Cf. Iliad, ix. 319, 320.
3 ispoaiptGig xxi xGxriaiS. 4 tow Aoyixov CZou.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 149
have become so after giving in their allegiance to the saving
word. And they were not such when they gave in their alle
giance. For, apart from the aid of the word, and that too the
word of perfection, it is impossible for a man to become free
from sin.
Chapter lxx.
In the next place, he objects to the statement, as if it were
maintained by us, that " God will be able to do all things," not
seeing even here how these words are meant, and what " the
all things " are which are included in it, and how it is said that
God " will be able." But on these matters it is not necessary
now to speak ; for although he might with a show of reason
have opposed this proposition, he has not done so. Perhaps j
he did not understand the arguments which might be plausibly '
used against it, or if he did, he saw the answers that might be ;
returned. Now in our judgment God can do everything which
it is possible for Him to do without ceasing to be God, and,
good, and wise. But Celsus asserts — not comprehending thel
meaning of the expression "God can do all things" — "that.
He will not desire to do anything wicked," admitting that He !
has the power^ but not the will, to commit evil. We, on the ¦
contrary, maintain that as that which by nature possesses the
property of sweetening other things through its own inherent
sweetness cannot produce bitterness contrary to its own pecu
liar nature,1 nor that whose nature it is to produce light
through its being light can cause darkness ; so neither is God
able to commit wickedness, for the power of doing evil is con
trary to His deity and its omnipotence. Whereas if any one
among existing things is able to commit wickedness from being
inclined to wickedness by nature, it does so from not having in
its nature the ability not to do evil.
Chapter lxxi.
He next assumes what is not granted by the more rational
class of believers, but what perhaps is considered to be true
by some who are devoid of intelligence, — viz. that " God, like
1 &G%tp oil ovvxtxi to irstyvxog yAvxxivtiv Tfj yAvxii TVyxo'-vnv irtxpxfytv,
KUpX T'/IV xinov poov/jv xhlxv.

150 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
those who are overcome with pity, being Himself overcome,
alleviates the sufferings of the wicked through pity for their
wailings, and casts off the good, who do nothing of that kind,
which is the height of injustice." Now, in our judgment, God
lightens the suffering of no wicked man who has not betaken
himself to a virtuous life, and casts off no one who is already
good, nor yet alleviates the suffering of any one who mourns,
simply because he utters lamentation, or takes pity upon him,
to use the word pity in its more common acceptation.1 But
those who have passed severe condemnation upon themselves
because of their sins, and who, as on that account, lament and
bewail themselves as lost, so far as their previous conduct is
concerned, and who 'have manifested a satisfactory change, are
received by God on account of their repentance, as those who
have undergone a transformation from a life of great wicked
ness. For virtue, taking up her abode in the souls of these
persons, and expelling the wickedness which had previous pos
session of them, produces an oblivion of the past. And even
although virtue do not effect an entrance, yet if a considerable
progress take place in the soul, even that is sufficient, in the pro
portion that it is progressive, to drive out and destroy the flood
of wickedness, so that it almost ceases to remain in the soul.
Chapter lxxii.
In the next place, speaking as in the person of a teacher
of our doctrine, he expresses himself as follows : " Wise men
reject what we say, being led into error, and ensnared by their
wisdom." In reply to which we say that, since wisdom is the
knowledge of divine and human things and of their causes, or,
as it is defined by the word of God, " the breath of the power
of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the
Almighty, and the brightness of the everlasting light, and the
unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His
goodness,"2 no one who was really wise would reject what is said
by a Christian acquainted with the principles of Christianity,
or would be led into error, or ensnared by it. For true wisdom
\does not mislead, but ignorance does, while of existing things
i 1 * / ~ , / ,
I -1 ivx xoivoTtpov to) tAtti xpriicipoxi.
2 Cf. Wisd. of Solom. vii. 25, 26.

Book m.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 151
knowledge^alone is permanent, and the truth which is derived
from wisdom. But if, contrary to the definition of wisdom,
you call any one whatever who dogmatizes with sophistical
opinions wise, we answer that in conformity with what you
call wisdom, such an one rejects the words of God, being
misled and ensnared by plausible sophisms. And since,
according to our doctrine, wisdom is not the knowledge of
evil, but the knowledge of evil, so to speak, is in those
who hold false opinions and who are deceived by them, I
would therefore in such persons term it ignorance rather than
wisdom. Chapter lxxiii.
After this he again slanders the ambassador of Christianity,
and gives out regarding him that he relates " ridiculous things,"
although he does not show or clearly point out what are the
things which he calls "ridiculous." And in his slanders he
says that " no wise man believes the gospel, being driven away
by the multitudes who adhere to it." And in this he acts -
like one who should say that owing to the multitude of those
ignorant persons who are brought into subjection to the laws,
no wise man would yield obedience to Solon, for example, or
to Lycurgus, or Zaleucus, or any other legislator, and espe
cially if by wise man he means one who is wise [by living] in
conformity with virtue. For, as with regard to these ignorant
persons, the legislators, according to their ideas of utility,
caused them to be surrounded with appropriate guidance and
laws, so God, legislating through Jesus Christ for men in all
parts of the world, brings to Himself even those who are not
wise in the way in which it is possible for such persons to be
brought to a better life. And God, well knowing this, as we
have already shown in the preceding pages, says in the books
of Moses : " They have moved me to jealousy with that which
is not God ; they have provoked me to anger with their idols :
and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a
people ; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." 1
And Paul also, knowing this, said, " But God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise," 2 calling, in
1 Cf. Deut. xxxii. 21. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. 1. 27.

152 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iii.
a general way, wise all who appear to have made advances in
knowledge, but have fallen into an atheistic polytheism, since
" professing themselves to be wise they became fools, and
changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image
made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed
beasts, and creeping things." J
Chapter lxxiv.
He accuses the Christian teacher, moreover, of "seeking
after the unintelligent." In answer, we ask, Whom do you
mean by the " unintelligent?" For, to_speak accurately, every
wicked man is "unintelligent." If then by "unintelligent
you mean the wicked, do you, in drawing men to philosophy,
seek to gain the wicked or the virtuous ? 2 But it is impossible
to gain the virtuous, because they have already given them
selves to philosophy. The wicked, then, [you try to gain;] but
if they are wicked, are they " unintelligent ? " And many such
you seek to win over to philosophy, and you therefore seek
the " unintelligent." But if I seek after those who are thus
termed " unintelligent," I act like a benevolent physician, who
should seek after the sick in order to help and cure them. If,
however, by "unintelligent" you mean persons who are not
clever,3 but the inferior class of men intellectually,4 I shall
answer that I endeavour to improve such also to the best
of my ability, although I would not desire to build up the
Christian community out of such materials. For I seek in
preference those who are more clever and acute, because they
are able to comprehend the meaning of the hard sayings, and
of those passages in the law, and prophecies, and Gospels, which
are expressed with obscurity, and which you have despised as
not containing anything worthy of notice, because you have
not ascertained the meaning which they contain, nor tried to
enter into the aim of the writers.
Rom. 1. 22, 23. 2 xGTtiovg. 3 tovj port ivTpsxtig.
4 The reading in the text is TtpxTaltGTspovg, of which Ruseus remarks,
" Hie nullum habet locum." KxTxhtGTtpovg has been conjectured instead,
and has been adopted in the translation.

Book hi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 153

Chapter lxxv.
But as he afterwards says that "the teacher of Christianity
acts like a person who promises to restore patients to bodily
health, but who prevents them from consulting skilled phy
sicians, by whom his ignorance would be exposed," we shall
inquire in reply, " What are the physicians to whom you refer,
from whom we turn away ignorant individuals ? For you do
not suppose that we exhort those to embrace the gospel who are
devoted to philosophy, so that you would regard the latter as
the physicians from whom we keep away such as we invite to
come to the word of God." He indeed will make no answer,
because he cannot name the physicians ; or else he will be
obliged to betake himself to those of them who are ignorant,
and who of their own accord servilely yield themselves to
the worship of many gods, and to whatever other opinions
are entertained by ignorant individuals. In either case, then,
he will be shown to have employed to no purpose in his
argument the illustration of "one who keeps others away
from skilled physicians." But if, in order to preserve from
the philosophy of Epicurus, and from such as are considered
physicians after his system, those who are deceived by them,
why should we not be acting most reasonably in keeping
such away from a dangerous disease caused by the physi
cians of Celsus, — that, viz., which leads to the annihilation
of providence, and the introduction of pleasure as a good?
But let it be conceded that we do keep away those whom
we encourage to become our disciples from other philo
sopher-physicians, — from the'HPeripatetics, for example, who
deny the existence of providence and the relation of Deity to
man, — why shall we not piously train and heal those who have
been Jthus encouraged^ persuading them to devote themselves
to the God of all things, and free those who yield obedience to
rns from the great wounds inflicted by the words of such as are
deemed to be philosophers? Nay, let it also be admitted that
we turn away from physicians of the sect of the Stoics, who
introduce a corruptible god, and assert that his essence consists
1 For siiGtliiig in the text, Boherellus conjectures siitrtfiZg.

154 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book hi.
of a body, which is capable of being changed and altered in
all its parts,1 and who also maintain that all things will one
day perish, and that God alone will be left ; why shall we not
even thus emancipate our subjects from evils, and bring them
by pious arguments to devote themselves to the Creator, and
to admire the Father of the Christian system, who has so
arranged that instruction of the most benevolent kind, and
fitted for the conversion of souls,2 should be distributed
throughout the whole human race ? Nay, if we should cure
those who have fallen into the folly of believing in the trans
migration of souls through the teaching of physicians, who will
have it that the rational nature descends sometimes into all
kinds of irrational animals, and sometimes into that state
of being which is incapable of using the imagination,3 why
should we not improve the souls of our subjects by means of a
doctrine which does not teach that a state of insensibility or
irrationalism is produced in the wicked instead of punishment,
but which shows that the labours and chastisements inflicted
upon the wicked by God are a kind of medicines leading to
conversion ? For those who are intelligent Christians,4 keeping
this in view, deal with the simple-minded, as parents do with
very young s children. We do not betake ourselves then to
young persons and silly rustics, saying to them, " Flee from
physicians." Nor do we say, " See that none of you lay hold
of knowledge ; " nor do we assert that " knowledge is an evil;"
nor are we mad enough to say that " knowledge causes men
to lose their soundness of mind." We would not even say that
any one ever perished through wisdom ; and although we give

TOV ttGXyOVTOlV, XXI TtjV OVGIXV 05UTOI/ ASyOVTUV GOlpOX TptZTM
otoAov xxi xAAoioitov, xxi pCtTx(5A-/]T0V.
2 The words in the text are, tpiAxvSpoiiroTXTa iiriGTpnrTixov, xxi ij/vpi»
poxdqptxTx oixovopoqGxvTx, for which we have adopted in the translation
the emendation of Boherellus, qsiAxvSpoiKOTXTx xxi -tyvxZv ssr/orpsmW
pcxQqpoxTX. 3 aTiAa x'xv Toils irsitavlSoTxg T'/\v rrtpl tijj posTsyGOipoxTUGtug xvoia'J ««
ixTpom, toiv xxTxIiifix^ovTOiv Ttjv Aoyix'/jv Qvgiv ots posy iirl T4)n xAoyov Koitiw,
OTt Is xxi iirl TY1V dtyx'JTXGTOV.
4 Instead of oi' (ppoviptag XpiaTixvol ^Zvrsg, as in the text, Ruseus and
Boherellus conjecture oi tppovipoug XpiaTixvi^ovTtg, etc.
s Toiig xofiiln vriiriovg.

Book .m.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 155
instruction, we never say, " Give heed to me," but "Give heed
to the God of all things, and to Jesus, the giver of instruction
concerning Him." And none of us is so great a braggart 1 as
to say what Celsus put in the mouth of one of our teachers to
his acquaintances, " I alone will save you." Observe here the
lies which he utters against us ! Moreover, we do not assert that
" true physicians destroy those whom they promise to cure."
Chapter lxxvi.
And he produces a second illustration to our disadvantage,
saying that "our teacher acts like a drunken man, who,
entering a company of drunkards, should accuse those who are
sober of being drunk." But let him show, say from the writ
ings of Paul, that the apostle of Jesus gave way to drunken
ness, and that his words were not those of soberness ; or from
the writings of John, that his thoughts do not breathe a spirit
of temperance and of freedom from the intoxication of evil.
No one, then, who is of sound mind, and teaches the doctrines
of Christianity, gets drunk with wine ; but Celsus utters these
calumnies against us in a spirit very unlike that of a philo
sopher. Moreover, let Celsus say who those " sober" persons
are whom the ambassadors of Christianity accuse. For in
our judgment all are intoxicated who address themselves to in
animate objects as to God. And why do I say "intoxicated?"
"Insane" would be the more appropriate word for those who
hasten to temples and worship images or animals as divinities.
And they too are not less insane who think that images,
fashioned by men of worthless and sometimes most wicked
character, confer any honour upon genuine divinities.
Chapter lxxvii.
He next likens our teacher to one suffering from ophthalmia,
and his disciples to those suffering from the same disease, and
says that " such an one amongst a company of those who are
afflicted with ophthalmia, accuses those who are sharp-sighted
of being blind." Who, then, would we ask, O Greeks, are
they who in our judgment do not see, save those who are un
able to look up from the exceeding greatness of the world and
xAxi^Zv.

156 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiii.
its contents, and from the beauty of created things, and to see
that they ought to worship, and admire, and reverence Him
alone who ¦ made these things, and that it is not befitting to
treat with reverence anything contrived by man, and applied
to the honour of God, whether it be without a reference to the
Creator, or with one ? x For, to compare with that illimitable
excellence, which surpasses all created being, things which ought
not to be brought into comparison With it, is the act of those
whose understanding is darkened. We do not then say that
those who are sharp-sighted are suffering from ophthalmia or
blindness ; but we assert that those who, in ignorance of God,
give themselves to temples and images, and so-called sacred
seasons,2 are blinded in their minds, and especially when, in
addition to their impiety, they live also in licentiousness, not
even inquiring after any honourable work whatever, but doing
everything that is of a disgraceful character.
Chapter lxxviii.
After having brought against us charges of so serious a kind,
he wishes to make it appear that, although he has others to
adduce, he passes them by in silence. His words are as follow :
" These charges I have to bring against them, and others of a
similar nature, not to enumerate them one by one, and I affirm
that they are in error, and that they act insolently towards God,
in order to lead on wicked men by empty hopes, and to persuade
them to despise better things, saying that if they refrain from
them it will be better for them." In answer to which, it might
be said that from the power which shows itself in those who
are converted to Christianity, it is not at all the " wicked " who
are won over to the gospel, as the more simple class of persons,
and, as many would term them, the " unpolished." 3 For such
individuals, through fear of the punishments that are threat
ened, which arouses and exhorts them to refrain from those
actions which are followed by punishments, strive to yield them
selves up to the Christian religion, being influenced by the
tht xoiplg tov Xnpoiovpyov 6sov t'ht xxi posr ixslvov. 2 itpopowiai.
3 The reading in the text is xopo-^oi, which is so opposed to the sense of
the passage, that the conjecture of Guietus, xxopo^oi, has been adopted in
the translation.

Book in.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 157
power of the word to such a degree, that through fear of what
are called in the word " everlasting punishments," they despise
all the tortures which are devised against them among men, —
even death itself, with countless other evils, — which no wise
man would say is the act of persons of wicked mind. How can
temperance and sober-mindedness, or benevolence and liberality,
be practised by a man of wicked mind ? Nay, even the fear
of God cannot be felt by such an one, with respect to which,
because it is useful to the many, the gospel encourages those
who are not yet able to choose that which ought to be chosen
for its own sake, to select it as the greatest blessing, and one
above all promise; for this principle cannot be implanted in
him who prefers to live in wickedness.
Chapter lxxix.
But if in these matters any one were to imagine that it is
superstition rather than wickedness which appears in the mul
titude of those who believe the word, and should charge our
doctrine with making men superstitious, we shall answer him
by saying that, as a certain legislator replied to the question of
one who asked him whether he had enacted for his citizens the
best laws, that he had not given them absolutely the best, but
the best which they were capable of receiving ; so it might be
said by the Father of the Christian doctrine, I have given the
best laws and instruction for the improvement of morals of
which the many were capable, not threatening sinners with
imaginary labours and chastisements, but with such as are real,
and necessary to be applied for the correction of those who
offer resistance, although they do not at all understand the
object of him who inflicts the punishment, nor the effect of the
labours. For the doctrine of punishment is both attended with
utility, and is agreeable to truth, and is stated in obscure terms
with advantage. Moreover, as for the most part it is not the
wicked whom the ambassadors of Christianity gain over, neither
do we insult God. For we speak regarding Him both what is
true, and what appears to be clear to the multitude, but not so
clear to them as it is to those few who investigate the truths of
the gospel in a philosophical manner.

158 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
Chapter lxxx.
Seeing, however, that Celsus alleges that " Christians are
won over by us through vain hopes," we thus reply to him
when he finds fault with our doctrine of the blessed life, and
of communion with God : " As for you, good sir, they also are
won over by vain hopes who have accepted the doctrine of
Pythagoras and Plato regarding the soul, that it is its nature
to ascend to the vault1 of heaven, and in the super-celestial
space to behold the sights which are seen by the blessed spec
tators above. According to you, O Celsus, they also who have
accepted the doctrine of the duration of the soul [after death],
and who lead a life through which they become heroes, and
make their abodes with the gods, are won over by vain hopes.
Probably also they who are persuaded that the soul comes
[into the body] from without, and that it will be withdrawn
from the power of death,2 would be said by Celsus to be won
over by empty hopes. Let him then come forth to the con
test, no longer concealing the sect to which he belongs, but
confessing himself to be an Epicurean, and let him meet the
arguments, which are not lightly advanced among Greeks and
barbarians, regarding the immortality of the soul, or its dura
tion [after death], or the immortality of the thinking principle;3
and let him prove that these are words which deceive with
empty hopes those who give their assent to them ; but that the
adherents of his philosophical system are pure from empty
hopes, and that they indeed lead to hopes of good, or — what is
more in keeping with .his opinions — give birth to no hope at
all, on account of the immediate and complete destruction of
the soul [after death]. Unless, perhaps, Celsus and the Epi
cureans will deny that it is a vain hope which they entertain
regarding their end, — pleasure, — which, according to them, is
1 xip'io'x.
2 Txxx <Ss xxi oi vsiGdivTtg irspl tov dtipxkv vov, Zg Sxvxtov xxtvov S;sf-
ayayiiv s'iofTOf, etc. Locus certe obscurus, cui lucem afferre conatur Bohe
rellus, legendo divisim Zg 6xvxtov xxi vov iisixyuynv 'i^ovTog, ut sensus sit
"morti etiam mentem subductum iri." Nam si DupxDsv %xu voiig, consectuens
est ut HxvdTov xxi voiig iit^xyoiyiiv ixfi. Cf. Aristot. lib. ii. c. 3, de genera-
tione animalium. — Spencek.
3 »j Tjjj tou vov dQuvxoixg,

Book in] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 159
the supreme good, and which consists in the permanent health
of the body, and the hope regarding it which is entertained by
Epicurus.1
Chapter lxxxi.
And do not suppose that it is not in keeping with the
Christian religion for me to have accepted, against Celsus, the
opinions of those philosophers who have treated of the immor
tality or after-duration of the soul ; for, holding certain views
in common with them, we shall more conveniently establish
our position, that the future life of blessedness shall be for
those only who have accepted the religion which is according
to Jesus, and that devotion towards the Creator of all things
which is pure and sincere, and unmingled with any created
thing whatever. And let him who likes show what " better
things" we persuade men to despise, and let him compare the
blessed end with God in Christ, — that is, the word, and the
wisdom, and all virtue, — which, according to our view, shall be
bestowed, by the gift of God, on those wdio have lived a pure
and blameless life, and who have felt a single and undivided
love for the God of all things, with that end which is to
follow according to the teaching of each philosophic sect,
whether it be Greek or barbarian, or according to the pro
fessions of religious mysteries ; 2 and let him prove that the
end which is predicted by any of the others is superior to that
which we promise, and consequently that that is true, and ours
not befitting the gift of God, nor those who have lived a good
life ; or let him prove that these words were not spoken by the
divine Spirit, who filled the souls of the holy prophets. And
let him who Jikes show that those words which are acknow
ledged among all men to be human, are superior to those which
are proved to be divine, and uttered by inspiration. And what
are the " better" things from which we teach those who receive
them that it would be better to abstain? For if it be not
1 E/ poq xpx KtAGog xxi oi ^'Ririxovpaoi oi CP'/igovgi xovipnv sivxi tAirihx tyiv
irtpl tow tIAohj xvtZv tsjj qliovij;, sjT/f xxt xiiToig ioTl to dyxdov, to Tijg axpxog
tilGTxdtg X.XTXGTYIpOX, X.xl TO ITtpl TXVTYig ItlGTOV E^ IXOli 'pip tAltlGpoX.
2 to) xxff ixxoTnv QiAoGotpuv x'ipSGiv iv "EAa?igiv '/j /bxpfixpotg, 5) fiVGTnpiaiii
ivxyysAixv, TlAti.

160 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book in.
arrogant so to speak, it is self-evident that nothing can be
denied which is better than to entrust oneself to the God of all
and yield oneself up to the doctrine which raises us above all
created things, and brings us, through the animate and living
word — which is also living wisdom and the Son of God — to
God who is over all. However, as the third book of our
answers to the treatise of Celsus has extended to a sufficient
length, we shall here bring our present remarks to a close, and
in what is to follow shall meet what Celsus has subsequently
written.

BOOK IV.
Chapter i.
jIAVING, in the three preceding books, fully stated
what occurred to us by way of answer to the
treatise of Celsus, we now, reverend Ambrosius,
with prayer to God through Christ, offer this
fourth book as a reply to what follows. And we pray that
words may be given us, as it is written in the book of Jeremiah
that the Lord said to the prophet : " Behold, I have put my
words in thy mouth as fire. See, I have set thee this day over
the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull
down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build and
to plant." x For we need words now which will root out of
every wounded soul the reproaches uttered against the truth by
this treatise of Celsus, or which proceed from opinions like his.
And we need also thoughts which will pull down all edifices
based on false opinions, and especially the edifice raised by
Celsus in his work, which resembles the building of those who
said, " Come, let us build us a city, and a tower whose top shall
reach to heaven." 2 Yea, we even require a wisdom which
will throw down all high things that rise against the knowledge
of God,3 and especially that height of arrogance which Celsus
displays against us. And in the next place, as we must not stop
with rooting out and pulling down the hindrances which have
just been mentioned, but must, in room of what has been rooted
out, plant the plants of " God's husbandry ;" 4 and in place of
what has been pulled down, rear up the building of God, and the
temple of His glory, — we must for that reason pray also to the
Lord, who bestowed the gifts named in the book of Jeremiah,
that He may grant even to us words adapted both for building
up the [temple] of Christ, and for planting the spiritual law,
1 Cf. Jer. i. 9, 10. 2 Cf. Gen. xi. 4.
8 Cf. 2 Cor. x. 5. 4 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 9.
ORIG. — VOL. II. L

162 ORIGEN A GA INST CELS US. [Book i v.
and the prophetic words referring to the same.1 And above
all is it necessary to show, as against the assertions of Celsus
which follow those he has already made, that the prophecies
regarding Christ are true predictions. For, arraying himself
at the same time against both parties — against the Jews on the
one hand, who deny that the advent of Christ has taken place,
but who expect it as future, and against Christians on the
other, who acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ spoken of in
prophecy — he makes the following statement : —
Chapter ii.
"But that certain Christians and [all] Jews should main
tain, the former that there has already descended, the latter
that there will descend, upon the earth a certain God, or
Son of a God, who will make the inhabitants of the earth
righteous,2 is a most shameless assertion, and one the refuta
tion of which does not need many words." Now here he
appears to pronounce correctly regarding not "certain" of the
Jews, but all of them, that they imagine that there is a certain
[God] who will descend upon the earth ; and with regard to
Christians, that certain of them say that he has already come
down. For he means those who prove from the Jewish Scrip
tures that the advent of Christ has already taken place, and
he seems to know that there are certain heretical sects which
deny that Christ Jesus was predicted by the prophets. In the
preceding pages, however, we have already discussed, to the
best of our ability, the question of Christ having been the sub
ject of prophecy, and therefore, to avoid tautology, we do not
repeat much that might be advanced upon this head. Observe,
now, that if he had wished with a kind of apparent force3 to
subvert faith in the prophetic writings, either with regard to
the future or past advent of Christ, he ought to have set forth
the prophecies themselves which we Christians and Jews quote
in our discussions with each other. For in this way he would
have appeared to turn aside those who are carried away by the
plausible character 4 of the prophetic statements, as he regards
it, from assenting to their truth, and from believing, on account
1 Toiig dvxAoyov xvtZ irpo<pt)Tixovg Tvoyoff. " Ww*
3 dxoAovQiag. * ^idavorittog.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 163
of these prophecies, that Jesus is the Christ; whereas now,
being unable to answer the prophecies relating to Christ, or else
not knowing at all what are the prophecies relating to Him,
he brings forward no prophetic declaration, although there are
countless numbers which refer to Christ; but he thinks that he
prefers an accusation against the prophetic Scriptures, while he
does not even state what he himself would call their "plausible
character !" He is not, however, aware that it is not at all the
Jews who say that Christ will descend as a God, or the Son of
a God, as we have shown in the foregoing pages. And when
he asserts that " he is said by us to have already come, but by
the Jews that his advent as Messiah1 is still future," he appears
by the very charge to censure our statement as one that is most
shameless, and which needs no lengthened refutation.
Chapter hi.
And he continues : " What is the meaning of such a descent
upon the part of God ? " not observing that, according to our
teaching, the meaning of the descent is pre-eminently to con
vert what are called in the Gospel the lost " sheep of the house
of Israel ; " and secondly, to take away from them, on account
of their disobedience, what is called the "kingdom of God,"
and to give to other husbandmen than the ancient Jews, viz.
to the Christians, who will render to God the fruits of Llis
kingdom in due season (each action being a " fruit of the
kingdom ").2 We shall therefore, out of a greater number,
select a few remarks by way of answer to the question of
Celsus, when he says, " What is the meaning of such a descent
upon the part of God ? " And Celsus here returns to himself
an answer which would have been given neither by Jews nor
by us, when he asks, " Was it in order to learn what goes on
amongst men ? " For not one of us asserts that it was in order
to learn what goes on amongst men that Christ, entered into
this life. Immediately after, however, as if some would reply
that it icas " in order to learn what goes on among men," he
makes this objection to his own statement : " Does he not know
1 Aixxiarqg, not AixXGrig.
2 to!/? xxpitoiig Tij? tov ©tov fixaiAsixg xiro&uaovai to} ©tip, iv Tolg kxxoTrig
yrpx%tug oiiang xxpirov T«j? fixiriA.tixg xxipolg.

164 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
all things?" Then, as if we were to answer that He does
know all things, he raises a new question, saying, " Then he
does know, but does not make [men] better, nor is it possible
for him by means of his divine power to make [men] better."
Now all this on his part is silly talk;1 for God, by means
of His word, which is continually passing from generation to
generation into holy souls, and constituting them friends of
God and prophets, does improve those who listen to His words;
and Jjy the coming of Christ He improves, through the doctrine
of Christianity, not those who are unwilling, but those who
have chosen the better life, and that which is pleasing to God.
I do not know, moreover, what kind of improvement Celsus
wished to take place when he raised the objection, asking, "Is
it then not possible for him, by means of his divine power,
to make [men] better, unless he send some one for that special
purpose?"1 Would he then have the improvement to take
place by God's filling the minds of men with new ideas,
removing at once the [inherent] wickedness, and implanting
virtue [in its stead] ? 3 Another person now would inquire
whether this was not inconsistent or impossible in the very
nature of things ; we, however, would say, " Grant it to be so,
and let it be possible." Where, then, is our free will?4 and
, what credit is there in assenting to the truth ? or how is the
rejection of what is false praiseworthy ? But even if it were
\ once granted that such a course was not only possible, but
Icould be accomplished with propriety [by God], why would not
'one rather inquire (asking a question like that of Celsus) why
it was not possible for God, by means of His divine power, to
create men who needed no improvement, but who were of
themselves virtuous and perfect, evil being altogether non
existent? These questions may perplex ignorant and foolish
individuals, but not him who sees into the nature of things;

2 The word tpvosi which is found in the text seems out of place, and
has been omitted in the translation, agreeably to the emendation of
Boherellus. 3 rApx yxp i)6iAt (pxvTxaiovpoivoig toi? dvdpuvolg vtto ©tov, xtthAyi^otos (*>
dSpooig tvi-j xxxixv, ifitpvovTo; Is t'w xost'/iv, t%v iirxvooSaGiv ysvkSxi ;
4 itov ovv to !<p' ijfiiv ;

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 165
for if you take away the spontaneity of virtue, you destroy its)
essence. But it would need an entire treatise to discuss these
matters ; and on this subject the Greeks have expressed them
selves at great length in their works on providence. They
truly would not say what Celsus has expressed in words, that
" God knows [all things] indeed, but does not make [men]
better, nor is able to do so by His divine power." We our
selves have spoken in many parts of our writings on these
points to the best of our ability, and the Holy Scriptures have
established the same to those who are able to understand them.
Chapter iv.
The argument which Celsus employs against us and the
Jews will be turned against himself thus : My good sir, does
the God who is over all things know what takes place among
men, or does He not know ? Now if you admit the existence
of a God and of providence, as your treatise indicates, He must
of necessity know. And if He does know, why does He not
make [men] better ? Is it obligatory, then, on us to defend
God's procedure in not making men better, although He knows
their state, but not equally binding on you, who do not dis
tinctly show by your treatise that you are an Epicurean, but
pretend to recognise a providence, to explain why God,
although knowing all that takes place among men, does not
make them better, nor by divine power liberate all men from
evil ? We are not ashamed, however, to say that God is con
stantly sending [instructors] in order to make men better ; for
there are to be found amongst men reasons1 given by God
which exhort them to enter on a better life. But there are
many diversities amongst those who serve God, and they are
few in number who are perfect and pure ambassadors of the
truth, and who produce a complete reformation, as did Moses
and the prophets. But above all these, great was the reforma
tion effected by Jesus, who desired to heal not only those who
lived in one corner of the world, but as far as in Him lay, men
in every country, for He came as the Saviour of all men.
1 0/ yxp iirl tx fliATIGTX TpoxxAovpotvoi Acyot, ©tov xvTOVg Xthuxorog, tialv
iv xvOpuToig.

1G6 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
Chapter v.
The illustrious1 Celsus, taking occasion I know not from
what, next raises an additional objection against us, as if we
asserted that " God Himself will come down to men." He
imagines also that it follows from this, that " He has left His
own abode ;" for he does not know the power of God, and that
"the Spirit of the Lord filleth the world, and that which
upholdeth all things hath knowledge of the voice."2 Nor is
he able to understand the words, " Do I not fill heaven and
earth? saith the Lord." 3 Nor does he see that, according to
the doctrine of Christianity, we all " in Him live, and move,
and have our being,"4 as Paul also taught in his address to the
Athenians ; and therefore, although the God of the universe
should through His own power descend with Jesus into the life
of men, and although the Word which was in the beginning
with God, which is also God Himself, should come to us, He
does not give His place or vacate His own seat, so that one
place should be empty of Him, and another which did not
formerly contain Him be filled. But the power and divinity
of God comes through him whom God chooses, and resides
in him in whom it finds a place, not changing its situation, nor
leaving its own place empty and filling another : for, in speak
ing of His quitting one place and occupying another, we do
not mean such expressions to be taken topically ; but we say
that the soul of the bad man, and of him who is over
whelmed in wickedness, is abandoned by God, while we mean
that the soul of him who wishes to live virtuously, or of him
who is making progress [in a virtuous life], or who is already-
living conformably thereto, is filled with or becomes a partaker
of the Divine Spirit. It is not necessary, then, for the descent
of Christ, or for the coming of God to men, that He should
abandon a greater seat, and that things on earth should be
changed, as Celsus imagines when he says, " If you were to
change a single one, even the least, of things on earth, all
things would be overturned and disappear." And if we must
1 ysvvxtOTXTog.
Wisd. Solom. i. 7, xxi to awtxin tx ttxvtx yvuviv ixtt <pav%g.
3 Cf. Jer. xxiii. 24. " Cf. Acts xvii. 28. '

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 167
speak of a change in any one by the appearing of the power of
God, and by the entrance of the word among men, we shall
not be reluctant to speak of changing from a wicked to a
virtuous, from a dissolute to a temperate, and from a super
stitious to a religious life, the person who has allowed the word
of God to find entrance into his soul.
Chapter vi.
But if you will have us to meet the most ridiculous among
the charges of Celsus, listen to him when he says : " Now God,
being unknown amongst men, and deeming himself on that
account to have less than his due,1 would desire to make him
self known, and to make trial both of those who believe upon
him and of those who do not, like those of mankind who have
recently come into the possession of riches, and who make a
display of their wealth ; and thus they testify to an excessive
but very mortal ambition on the part of God." 2 We answer,
then, that God, not being known by wicked men, would desire
to make Himself known, not because He thinks that He meets
with less than His due, but because the knowledge of Him
will free the possessor from unhappiness. Nay, not even with
the desire to try those who do or who do not believe upon Him,
does He, by His unspeakable and divine power, Himself take
up His abode in certain individuals, or send His Christ ; but He
does this in order to liberate from all their wretchedness those
who do believe upon Llim, and who accept His divinity, and
that those who do not believe may no longer have this as a
ground of excuse, viz. that their unbelief is the consequence
of their not having heard the word of instruction. What argu
ment, then, proves that it follows from our views that God,
according to our representations, is " like those of mankind who
have recently come into the possession of riches, and who make
a display of their wealth?" For God makes no display towards
us, from a desire that we should understand and consider His
pre-eminence ; but desiring that the blessedness which results
from His being known by us should be implanted in our souls,
1 -xxi i7xpx tovt"1 sAxttov 'iyjiv XoxZv.
2 xxQxusp oi vsinAovTOt tZv dvtopZirciv sitiitixTioivrtg, t:oaAviv tivx xxi
1TXVV 6vY,T'iiV <ptAOTip0lXV TOV ©SOV XXTXpOXpTVpOVGl.

168 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
He brings it to pass through Christ, and His ever-indwelling
word, that we come to an intimate fellowship x with Him. No
mortal ambition, then, does the Christian doctrine testify as
existing on the part of God.
Chapter vii.
I do not know how it is, that after the foolish remarks which
he has made upon the subject which we have just been discuss
ing, he should add the following, that " God does not desire to
make himself known for his own sake, but because he wishes
to bestow upon us the knowledge of himself for the sake of
our salvation, in order that those who accept it may become
virtuous and be saved, while those who do not accept may be .
shown to be wicked and be punished." And yet, after making
such a statement, he raises a new objection, saying : " After so
long a period of time,2 then, did God now bethink himself
of making men live righteous lives,3 but neglect to do so be
fore ?" To which we answer, that there never was a time when
God did not wish to make men live righteous lives ; but He
continually evinced His care for the improvement of the rational
animal,4 by affording him occasions for the exercise of virtue.
For in every generation the wisdom of God, passing into those
souls which it ascertains to be holy, converts them into friends
and prophets of God. And there may be found in the sacred
books [the names of] those who in each generation were holy,
and were recipients of the Divine Spirit, and who strove to
convert their contemporaries so far as in their power.
Chapter viii.
And it is not matter of surprise that in certain generations
there have existed prophets who, in the reception of divine
influence,6 surpassed, by means of their stronger and more
powerful [religious] life, other prophets who were their contem
poraries, and others also who lived before and after them.
And so it is not at all wonderful that there should also have
been a time when something of surpassing excellence6 took up
oixSIOlGIV. 2 pcSTX TOGOVTOV xiaVX.
3 oixaiZaxi. 4 T0- Aoylx^ r^ov.
5 iv Tfi -irxpxloxy T~/tg 6sioTr,Tog. 6 's£alpST0P Tl' xp'^a-

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 169
its abode among the human race, and which was distinguished
above all that preceded or even that followed it. But there is
an element of profound mystery in the account of these things,
and one which is incapable of being received by the popular
understanding. And in order that these difficulties should be
made to disappear, and that the objections raised against the
advent of Christ should be answered — viz. that, " after so long
a period of time, then, did God now bethink himself of making
men live righteous lives, but neglect to do so before ? " — it is
necessary to touch upon the narrative of the divisions [of the
nations], and to make it evident why it was, that " when the
Most High divided the nations, when He separated the sons
of Adam, He set the bounds of the nations according to the
number of the angels of God, and the portion of the Lord was
His people Jacob, Israel the cord of His inheritance ; " x and it
will be necessary to state the reason why the birth of each man
took place within each particular boundary, under him who
obtained the boundary by lot, and how it rightly happened that
" the portion of the Lord was His people Jacob, and Israel
the cord of His inheritance," and why formerly the portion of
the Lord was His people Jacob, and Israel the cord of His
inheritance. But with respect to those who come after, it is
said to the Saviour by the Father, " Ask of me, and I will give
Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for Thy possession." 2 For there are certain
connected and related reasons, bearing upon the different
treatment of human souls, which are difficult to state and to
investigate.3 Chapter ix.
There came, then, although Celsus may not wish to admit
it, after the numerous prophets who were the reformers of that
well-known Israel, the Christ, the Reformer of the whole world,
who did not need to employ against men whips, and chains,
and tortures, as was the case under- the former economy. For
when the sower went forth to sow, the doctrine sufficed to sow
1 Deut. xxxii. 8, 9 (according to the LXX.). 2 Cf. Ps. ii. 8.
3 EfV) yap Tlvtg tippool xxi xxoAovdixi x0xtoi xxi xvexo'i'/iynroi irtpl TVjg
xxtx Txg xvdpo)-7rivxg tj/vxxg Zixpopov oixovopcixg.

170 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
the word everywhere. But if there is a time coming which
will necessarily circumscribe the duration of the world, by
reason of its having had a beginning, and if there is to be an
end to the world, and after the end a just judgment of all
things, it will be incumbent on him who treats the declarations
of the Gospels philosophically, to establish these doctrines by
arguments of all kinds, not only derived directly from the
sacred Scriptures, but also by inferences deducible from them ;
while the more numerous and simpler class of believers, and
those who are unable to comprehend the many varied aspects
of the divine wisdom, must entrust, themselves to God, and
to the Saviour of our race, and be contented with His "ipse
dixit," x instead of this or any other demonstration whatever.
Chapter x.
In the next place, Celsus, as is his custom, having neither
proved nor established anything, proceeds to say, as if we talked
of God in a manner that was neither holy nor pious, that "it
is perfectly manifest that they babble about God in a way that
is neither holy nor reverential;" and he imagines that we do
these things to excite the astonishment of the ignorant, and
that we do not speak the truth regarding the necessity of
punishments for those who have sinned. And accordingly he
likens us to those who " in the Bacchic mysteries introduce
phantoms and objects of terror." With respect to the mys
teries of Bacchus, whether there is any reliable account of
them, or none that is such, let the Greeks tell, and let Celsus
and his boon-companions2 listen. But we defend our own pro
cedure, when we say that our object is to reform the human
race, either by the threats of punishments which we are per
suaded are necessary for the whole world,3 and which perhaps
are not without use4 to those who are to endure them; or by
the promises made to those who have lived virtuous lives, and
in which are contained the statements regarding the blessed
termination which is to be found in the kingdom of God,
reserved for those who are worthy of becoming His subjects.
1 xiiTog ttpx. 2 gvv6ixgZ~«.i. 3 tZ itxvti.
4 oiix dxpiiGTovg. On Origen's views respecting rewards and punishments,
cf. Huct's Origeniana, Book ii. question xi.

Book rv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 171

"T Chapter xi.
After this, being dej anii to show that it is nothing either
wonderful or new whic He|stat;e regarding floods or conflagra
tions, but that, from nViing*erstanding the accounts of these
things which are currenb^among Greeks or barbarous nations,
we have accorded our belief to our own Scriptures when treat
ing of them, he writes asrf ollows : " The belief has spread among
them, from a misunderstanding of the accounts of these
occurrences, that after lengthened cycles of time, and the
returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations and floods
are wont to happen, and because after the last flood, which
took place in the time of Deucalion, the lapse of time, agree
ably to the vicissitude of all things, requires a conflagration ;
and this made them giv*-sjtterance to the erroneous opinion
that God will descend, bl «Ting fire like a torturer." Now
in answer to this we say, that I do not understand how Celsus,
who has read a great deal, and who shows that he has per
used many histories, had not his attention arrested1 by the
antiquity of Moses, who is related by certain Greek historians
to have lived about the time of Inachus the son of Phoroneus,
and is acknowledged by the Egyptians to be a man of great
antiquity, as well as by those who have studied the history of
the Phoenicians. And any one who likes may peruse the two
books of Flavius Josephus on the antiquities of the Jews, in
order that he may see in what way Moses was more ancient
than those who asserted that floods and conflagrations take place
in the world after long intervals of time; which statement
Celsus alleges the Jews and Christians to have misunderstood,
and, not comprehending what was said about a conflagration,
to have declared that " God will descend, brimnno; fire like a
torturer." 2
Chapter xii.
Whether, then, there are cycles of time, and floods, or con
flagrations which occur periodically or not, and whether the
Scripture is aware of this, not only in many passages, but
especially where Solomon says, " What is the thing which
2 iixviv /3xgxvigtov Tvp. (p'tpav.

172 ORIGEN A GAINS'^" CELSUS. [Book iv.
hath been? Even that which shall bu°-is Ajui what is the thing
which hath been done? Even thal(ura'"wi shall be done,"1
etc. etc., belongs not to the presesft^ ,asion to discuss. For
it is sufficient only to observe, thajend jes ^d certain of the
prophets, being men of very greaV,.w]"iquity, did not receive
from others the statements relating ^.-» the [future] conflagra
tion of the world ; but, on the contrary (if we must attend to
the matter of time2), others rather miff^nderstanding them, and
not inquiring accurately into theirmtatemerits, invented the
fiction of the same events recurrivig at certain intervals, and
differing neither in their essen.'cial nor accidental qualities.3
But we do not refer either the/deluge or the conflagration to
cycles and planetary periods r, but the cause of them we declare
to be the extensive prevalence of wickedness,4 and its [consequent]
removal by a deluge or a confiagrati/* x And if the voices of the
prophets say that God " comes dojps," who has said, " Do I not
fill heaven and earth? saith the 'Lord,"6 the term is used in a
figurative sense. For God " comes down " from His own height
and greatness when He arranges the affairs of men, and espe
cially those of the wicked. And as custom leads men to say
that teachers "condescend" 6 to children, and wise men to those
youths who have just betaken themselves to philosophy, not by
" descending" in a bodily manner; so, if God is said anywhere '
in the Lloly Scriptures to " come down," it is understood as
spoken in conformity with the usage which so employs the
word, and in like manner also with the expression "go up."
Chapter xiii.
But as it is in mockery that Celsus says we speak of " God
coming down like a torturer bearing fire," and thus compels us
unseasonably to investigate words of deeper meaning, we shall
make a few remarks, sufficient to enable our hearers to form an
idea 7 of the defence which disposes of the ridicule of Celsus
against us, and then we shall turn to what follows. The divine
Kjt. HiCCles. 1. J. - ti XP'4 iirtGTYjGXVTX Toig xpovotg siTtiv.
3 dviwAxGXv xxtx irspioiovg TXvror;;TXg, xxi xirxpxAAxxTovg Toig Bioi;
•zoioig xxi Toig ovpofitfinxoGiv xvToig.
4 xxxixv iirl wAshv xtopoivnv. « Cf. Jer. xiii. 24.
6 GV/XXTX/3'xiVtlV. 7 ysJ5a(_

Book iv. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 173
word says that our God is " a consuming fire," J and that " He
draws rivers of fire before Him ;" 2 nay, that He even entereth
in as " a refiner's fire, and as a fuller's herb," 3 to purify His
own people. But when He is said to be a " consuming fire," we
inquire what are the things which are appropriate to be con
sumed by God. And we assert that they are wickedness, and
the works which result from it, and which, being figuratively
called " wood, hay, stubble," 4 God consumes as a fire. The
wicked man, accordingly, is said to build up on the previously-
laid foundation of reason, " wood, and hay, and stubble." If,
then, any one can show that these words were differently under
stood by the writer, and can prove that the wicked man literally^
builds up " wood, or hay, or stubble," it is evident that the fire
must be understood to be material, and an object of sense. But
if, on the contrary, the works of the wicked man are spoken of
figuratively under the names of " wood, or hay, or stubble," why
does it not at once occur [to inquire] in what sense the word
"fire" is to be taken, so that "wood" of such a kind should be
consumed? for [the Scripture] says: "The fire will try each
man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which
he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any
man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss." G But what work
can be spoken of in these words as being " burned," save all
that results from wickedness ? Therefore our God is a " con
suming fire " in the sense in which we have taken the word ;
and thus He enters in as a " refiner's fire," to refine the
rational nature, which has been filled with the lead of wicked
ness, and to free it from the other impure materials, which
adulterate the natural gold or silver, so to speak, of the soul.7
And, in like manner, "rivers of fire" are said to be before
God, who will thoroughly cleanse away the evil which is inter
mingled throughout the whole soul. But these remarks are
sufficient in answer to the assertion, " that thus they were made
to give expression to the erroneous opinion that God will come
down bearing fire like a torturer."
1 Cf. Deut. iv. 24, ix. 3. 2 Cf. Dan. vii. 10. 3 Cf. Mai. iii. 2.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 12. 5 Guy.xTixZg. 6 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 13-15.
7 t'/iv tov XPW0V (<"' OVTOig ovopoctGOi), tpvoai tOj; \pvxqg, q T'/iv dpyvpov,
ioAaGXVTav.

174 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.

Chapter xiv.
But let us look at what Celsus next with great ostentation
announces in the following fashion : " And again," he says,
"let us resume the subject from the beginning, with a larger
array of proofs. And I make no new statement, but say what
has been long settled. God is good, and beautiful, and blessed,
and that in the best and most beautiful degree.1 But if he
come down among men, he must undergo a change, and a
change from good to evil, from virtue to vice, from happiness
to misery, and from best to worst. Who, then, would make
choice of such a change ? It is the nature of a mortal, indeed,
to undergo change and remoulding, but of an immortal to re
main the same and unaltered. God, then, could not admit of
such a change." Now it appears to me that the fitting answer
has been returned to these objections, when I have related
what is called in Scripture the "condescension"2 of God to
human affairs ; for which purpose He did not need to undergo a
transformation, as Celsus thinks we assert, nor a change from
good to evil, nor from virtue to vice, nor from happiness to
misery, nor from best to worst. For, continuing unchangeable in
His essence, He condescends to human affairs by the economy
of His providence.3 We show, accordingly, that the Holy Scrip
tures represent God as unchangeable, both by such words as
"Thou art the same,"4 and "I change not;"5 whereas the
gods of Epicurus, being composed of atoms, and, so far as
their structure is concerned, capable of dissolution, endeavour to
throw off the atoms which contain the elements of destruction.
Nay, even the god of the Stoics, as being corporeal, at one
time has his whole essence composed of the guiding principle6
when the conflagration [of the world] takes place ; and at
another, when a rearrangement of things occurs, he again be
comes partly material.7 For even the Stoics were unable dis-
O ©sog dyxSog sgti, xxi x«XoV, xxi tiioaipiav, xxi iv T$ xtiAAlGTtp xxi
dp'iaTa. 2 XXTXJiXGlV. 3 TJ7 TpOVOIX Xxi T>7 oixOVOpClX. 4 Ps. ClL 27.
* Mai. iii. 6. 6 iiytpoovixov.
7 The reading in the text is, l%\ piipovg yivsTxi air^s, which is thus cor
rected by Guietus: iirtpotp'/jg yivtTXi xiiTog.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 175
tinctly to comprehend the natural idea of God, as of a being
altogether incorruptible and simple, and uncompounded and
indivisible. Chapter xv.
And with respect to His having descended among men, He
was " previously in the form of God;"1 and through bene
volence, divested Himself [of His glory], that Lie might be
capable of being received by men. But He did not, I imagine,
undergo any change from " good to evil," for " Lie did no
sin ; " 2 nor from " virtue to vice," for " He knew no sin." 3
Nor did He pass from "happiness to misery," but He humbled
Himself, and nevertheless was blessed, even when His humilia
tion was undergone in order to benefit our race. Nor was there
any change in Him from " best to worst," for how can good
ness and benevolence be of " the worst ? " Is it befitting to
say of the physician, who looks on dreadful sights and handles
unsightly objects in order to cure the sufferers, that he passes
from " good to evil," or from " virtue to vice," or from " hap
piness to misery ? " And yet the physician, in looking on
dreadful sights and handling unsightly objects, does not wholly
escape the possibility of being involved in the same fate. But
He who heals the wounds of our souls, through the word of
God that is in Him, is Himself incapable of admitting any
wickedness. But if the immortal God — the Word — by assuming
a mortal body and a human soul, appears to Celsus to undergo
a change and transformation, let him learn that the Word, still
remaining essentially the Word, suffers none of those things
which are suffered by the body or the soul ; but, condescending
occasionally to [the weakness of] him who is unable to look
upon the splendours and brilliancy of Deity, He becomes as
it were flesh, speaking with a literal voice, until he who has
received Him in such a form is able, through being elevated in
some slight degree by the teaching of the Word, to gaze upon
what is, so to speak, His real and pre-eminent appearance.4
1 Cf. Phil. ii. 6, 7. 2 Cf. 1 Pet. ii. 22.
8 Cf. 2 Cor. v. 21. 4 nspoYiyovpcsytiV,

176 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.

Chapter xvi.
For there are different appearances, as it were, of the Word,
according as He shows Himself to each one of those who come
to His doctrine; and this in a manner corresponding to the
condition of him who is just becoming a disciple, or of him
who has made a little progress, or of him who has advanced
further, or of him who has already nearly attained to virtue, or
who has even already attained it. And hence it is not the
case, as Celsus and those like him would have it, that our God
was transformed, and ascending the lofty mountain, showed
that His real appearance was something different, and far
more excellent than what those who remained below, and were
unable to follow Him on high, beheld. For those below did
not possess eyes capable of seeing the transformation of the
Word into His glorious and more divine condition. But with
difficulty were they able to receive Him as He was ; so that it
might be said of Him by those who were unable to behold His
more excellent nature : " We saw Him, and He had no form
nor comeliness ; but His form was mean,1 and inferior to that
of the sons of men." 2 And let these remarks be an answer
to the suppositions of Celsus, who does not understand the
changes or transformations of Jesus, as related in the histories,
nor Llis mortal and immortal nature.
Chapter xvii.
But will not those narratives, especially when they are under
stood in their proper sense, appear far more worthy of respect
than the story that Dionysus was deceived by the Titans, and
expelled from the throne of Jupiter, and torn in pieces by them,
and his remains being afterwards put together again, he re
turned as it were once more to life, and ascended to heaven ?
Or are the Greeks at liberty to refer such stories to the doctrine
of the soul, and to interpret them figuratively, while the door
of a consistent explanation, and one everywhere in accord and
harmony with the writings of the Divine Spirit, who had His
abode in pure souls, is closed against us ? Celsus, then, is alto
gether ignorant of the purpose of our writings, and it is there- ,
1 xticoov. " ixAsiirov.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 177
fore upon his own acceptation of them that he casts discredit,
and not upon their real meaning ; whereas, if he had reflected
on what is appropriate1 to a soul which is to enjoy an everlasting
life, and on the opinion which we are to form of its essence
and principles, he would not so have ridiculed the entrance
of the immortal into a mortal body, which took place not
according to the metempsychosis of Plato, but agreeably to
another and higher view of things. And he would have ob
served one " descent," distinguished by its great benevolence,
undertaken to convert (as the Scripture mystically terms them)
the " lost sheep of the house of Israel," which had strayed down
from the mountains, and to which the Shepherd is said in
certain parables to have gone down, leaving on the mountains
those " which had not strayed." Chapter xviii.
But Celsus, lingering over matters which he does not under
stand, leads us to be guilty of tautology, as we do not wish
even in appearance to leave any one of his objections unex
amined. He proceeds, accordingly, as follows : " God either
really changes himself, as these assert, into a mortal body, and
the impossibility of that has been already declared ; or else he
does not undergo a change, but only causes the beholders to
imagine so, and thus deceives them, and is guilty of falsehood.
Now deceit and falsehood are nothing but evils, and would only
be employed as a medicine, either in the case of sick and lunatic
friends, with a view to their cure, or in that of enemies when
one is taking measures to escape danger. But no sick man or
lunatic is a friend of God, nor does God fear any one to such
a degree as to shun danger by leading him into error." Now
the answer to these statements might have respect partly to the
nature of the Divine Word, who is God, and partly to the soul
of Jesus. As respects the nature of the Word, in the same way
as the quality of the food changes in the nurse into milk with
reference to the nature of the child, or is arranged by the
physician with a view to the good of his health in the case of a
sick man, or [is specially] prepared for a stronger man, because
he possesses greater vigour, so does God appropriately change,
1 t/ dxoAovStl.
ORIG. — VOL. II. M

178 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
in the case of each individual, the power of the Word to which
belongs the natural property of nourishing the human soul.
And to one is given, as the Scripture terms it, "the sincere
milk of the word;" and to another, who is weaker, as it were,
"herbs;" and to another who is full-grown, "strong meat."
And the Word does not, I imagine, prove false to His own
nature, in contributing nourishment to each one, according as
he is capable of receiving Him. Nor does He mislead or prove
false. But if one were to take the change as referring to the
soul of Jesus after it had entered a body, we would inquire in
what sense the term " change " is used. For if it be meant to
apply to its essence, such a supposition is inadmissible, not only
in relation to the soul of Jesus, but also to the rational soul of
any other being. And if it be alleged that it suffers anything
from the body when united with it, or from the place to which
it has come, then what inconvenience * can happen to the Word
who, in great benevolence, brought down a Saviour to the
human race ? — seeing none of those who formerly professed to
effect a cure could accomplish so much as that soul showed it
could do, by what it performed, even by voluntarily descending
to the level of human destinies for the benefit of our race.
And the Divine Word, well knowing this, speaks to that effect
in many passages of Scripture, although it is sufficient at pre
sent to quote one testimony of Paul to the following effect :
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus;
who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took
upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself, and became obedier-^v^n death, even the death of
the cross. Wherefor<^sei'srai'ds pjuJ; highly exalted Him, and
given Him a narg whicKre to ™ve every1 name." 2
\y,to rt
tfOiiifer'TER xix.
Other tnen niav /Concede to Celsus that God does not un
dergo cnarlo-e hv^ leads the spectators to imagine that He
^oe • whereas we; w^10 are persuaded that the advent of Jesus
am>ri£r men was. no mei'e appearance, but a real manifestation,
,' - ¦. / xtokov. 2 Phil. ii. 5-9.

Bookiv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 179
are not affected by this charge of Celsus. We nevertheless
will attempt a reply, because you assert, Celsus, do you not,
that it is sometimes allowable to employ deceit and falsehood
by way, as it were, of medicine ? x Where, then, is the ab
surdity, if such a saving result were to be accomplished,
that some such events should have taken place ? For certain
words, when savouring of falsehood, produce upon such cha
racters a corrective effect (like the similar declarations of phy
sicians to their patients), rather than when spoken in the spirit
of truth. This, however, must be our defence against other
opponents. For there is no absurdity in Him who healed sick
friends, healing the dear human race by means of such reme
dies as Lie would not employ preferentially, but only according
to circumstances.2 The human race, moreover, when in a state
of mental alienation, had to be cured by methods which the
Word saw would aid in bringing back those so afflicted to a
sound state of mind. But Celsus says also, that " one acts
thus towards enemies when taking measures to escape danger.
But God does not fear any one, so as to escape danger by
leading into error those who conspire against him." Now it
is altogether unnecessary and absurd to answer a charge which
is advanced by no one against our Saviour. And we have
already replied, when answering other charges, to the state
ment that " no one who is either in a state of sickness or
mental alienation is a friend of God." For the answer is, that
such arrangements have been made, not for the sake of those
who, being already friends, afterwards fell sick or became
afflicted with mental disease, but in order that those who were
still enemies through sickness of the soul, and alienation of the
natural reason, might become the friends of God. For it is
distinctly stated that Jesus endured all things on behalf of
sinners, that He might free them from sin, and convert them
to righteousness.
Chapter xx.
In the next place, as he represents the Jews accounting in
1 Sfiag if diroKoywopcsHx, oti oil (prig, a YLiAgs, a; iv (pxppcdxov pooipx irori
olioTxi xPVgQxi to itAxvxv xxi to ¦^/svZsgSxi.
irpOYiyov pc'svug, dAA' ix ntpiaTacatug.

180 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
a way peculiar to themselves for their belief that the advent of
Christ among them is still in the future, and the Christians as
maintaining in their way that the coming of the Son of God
into the life of men has already taken place, let us, as far as
we can, briefly consider these points. According to Celsus, the
Jews say that " [human] life, being filled with all wickedness,
needed one sent from God, that the wicked might be punished,
and all things purified in a manner analogous to the first deluge
which happened." And as the Christians are said to make
statements additional to this, it is evident that he alleges that
they admit these. Now, where is the absurdity in the coming
of one who is, on account of the prevailing flood of wickedness,
to purify the world, and to treat every one according to his
deserts ? For it is not in keeping with the character of God
that the diffusion of wickedness should not cease, and all things
be renewed. The Greeks, moreover, know of the earth's being
purified at certain times by a deluge or a fire, as Plato, too,
says somewhere to this effect : " And when the gods over
whelm the earth, purifying it with water, some of them on the
mountains," J etc. etc. Must it be said, then, that if the Greeks
make such assertions, they are to be deemed worthy of respect
and consideration, but that if we too maintain certain of these
views, which are quoted with approval by the Greeks, they
cease to be honourable ? And yet they who care to attend to
the connection and truth of all our records, will endeavour to
establish not only the antiquity of the writers, but the venerable
nature of their writings, and the consistency of their several parts.
Chapter xxi.
But I do not understand how he can imagine the overturning
of the tower [of Babel] to have happened with a similar object
to that of the deluge, which effected a purification of the earth,
according to the accounts both of Jews and Christians. For,
in order that the narrative contained in Genesis respecting the
tower may be held to convey no secret meaning, but, as Celsus
supposes, may be taken as true to the letter,2 the event does not
on such a view appear to have taken place for the purpose of
purifying the earth ; unless, indeed, he imagines that the so-
1 Cf. Plato in the Timxus, and Book iii. de legibns. 2 GaQiig.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 181
called confusion of tongues is such a purificatory process. But
on this point, he who has the opportunity will treat more season
ably when his object is to show not only what is the meaning
of the narrative in its historical connection, but what meta
phorical meaning may be deduced from it.1 Seeing that he
imagines, however, that Moses, who wrote the account of the
tower, and the confusion of tongues, has perverted the story of
the sons of Aloeus,2 and referred it to the tower, we must remark
that I do not think any one prior to the time of Homer3 has
mentioned the sons of Aloeus, while I am persuaded that what
is related about the tower has been recorded by Moses as being
much older not only than Homer, but even than the invention
of letters among the Greeks. Who, then, are the perverters
of each other's narratives ? Whether do they who relate the
story of the Aloadse pervert the history of the time, or he who
wrote the account of the tower and the confusion of tongues the
story of the Aloadse ? Now to impartial hearers Moses appears
to be more ancient than Homer. The destruction by fire,
moreover, of Sodom and Gomorrha on account of their sins,
related by Moses in Genesis, is compared by Celsus to the story
of Phaethon, — all these statements of his resulting from one
blunder, viz. his not attending to the [greater] antiquity of
Moses. For they who relate the story of Phaethon seem to be
younger even than Homer, who, again, is much younger than
Moses. We do not deny, then, that the purificatory fire and
the destruction of the world took place in order that evil might
be swept away, and all things be renewed ; for we assert that
we have learned these things from the sacred books of the
prophets. But since, as we have said in the preceding pages,
the prophets, in uttering many predictions regarding future
events, show that they have spoken the truth concerning many
things that are past, and thus give evidence of the indwelling
of the Divine Spirit, it is manifest that, with respect to things
still future, we should repose faith in them, or rather in the
Divine Spirit that is in them.
1 'E;r«y to irpoxsfpitvov v] irxpaGT^GXi xxi tx tijj xxtx tov tottov ioropixg
Tivx sxoi Aoyov, x,xl tx Tqg irspl xvtov dvxyoiyyig.
2 Otus and Ephialtes. Cf. Smith's Diet, of Myth, and Biog. s.v.
3 Cf. Horn. Odyss. xi. 305.

182 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
Chapter xxii.
But, according to Celsus, " the Christians, making certain
additional statements to those of the Jews, assert that the Son of
God has been already sent on account of the sins of the Jews;
and that the Jews having chastised Jesus, and given him gall to
drink, have brought upon themselves the divine wrath." And
any one who likes may convict this statement of falsehood, if it
be not the case that the whole Jewish nation was overthrown
within one single generation after Jesus had undergone these
sufferings at their hands. For forty and two years, I think,
after the date of the crucifixion of Jesus, did the destruction
of Jerusalem take place. Now it has never been recorded,
since the Jewish nation began to exist, that they have been
expelled for so long, a period from their venerable temple-wor
ship1 and service, and enslaved by more powerful nations; for
if at any time they appeared to be abandoned because of their
sins, they were notwithstanding visited [by God],2 and re
turned to their own country, and recovered their possessions,
and performed unhindered the observances of their law. One
fact, then, which proves that Jesus was something divine and
sacred,3 is this, that Jews should have suffered on His account
now for a lengthened time calamities of such severity. And
we say with confidence that they will never be restored to their
former condition.4 For they committed a crime of the most
unhallowed kind, in conspiring against the Saviour of the
human race in that city where they offered up to God a wor
ship containing the symbols of mighty mysteries. It accord
ingly behoved that city where Jesus underwent these sufferings
to perish utterly, and the Jewish nation to be overthrown, and
the invitation to happiness offered them by God to pass to
others, — the Christians, I mean, to whom has come the doctrine
of a pure and holy worship, and who have obtained new laws,
in harmony with the established constitution in all countries ; 6
seeing those which were formerly imposed, as on a single
1 xyiGTSixg. 2 iirsGX07tnHaav.
©tiov ti xxi ispov xpypox ytyovivxt tov Vwov'j.
4 OVO Xir0XXTXaTxdl}G0VTXt.
Xxi XppOQ^OVTXg Til TXVTXXOV XxdtGTUG^ IToAlTEtop.

Book rv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 183
nation which was ruled by princes of its own race and of similar
manners,1 could not now be observed in all their entireness.
Chapter xxiii.
In the next place, ridiculing after his usual style the race
of Jews and Christians, he compares them all " to a flight of
bats or to a swarm of ants issuing out of their nest, or to frogs
holding council in a marsh, or to worms crawling together in
the corner of a dunghill, and quarrelling with one another as
to which of them were the greater sinners, and asserting that
God shows and announces to us all things beforehand ; and
that, abandoning the whole world, and the regions of heaven,2
and this great earth, he becomes a citizen 3 among us alone, and
to us alone makes his intimations, and does not cease sending
and inquiring, in what way we may be associated with him for
ever." And in his fictitious representation, he compares us to
" worms which assert that there is a God, and that immediately
after him, we who are made by him are altogether like unto
God, and that all things have been made subject to us, — earth,
and water, and air, and stars, — and that all things exist for our
sake, and are ordained to be subject to us." And, according to
his representation, the worms — that is, we ourselves — say that
"now, since certain amongst us commit sin, God will come or
will send his Son to consume the wicked with fire, that the
rest of us may have eternal life with him." And to all this
he subjoins the remark, that " such wranglings would be more
endurable amongst worms and frogs than betwixt Jews and
Christians."
Chapter xxiv.
In reply to these, we ask of those who accept such aspersions
as are scattered against us, Do you regard all men as a collection
of bats, or as frogs, or as worms, in consequence of the pre
eminence of God ? or do you not include the rest of mankind
in this proposed comparison, but on account of their possession
of reason, and of the established laws, treat them as men, while
you hold, cheap4 Christians and Jews, because their opinions
1 viro alxtlav xecl opooqDau. 2 t$v oiipxviov ipopdv.
3 ipCTTOAtTSVlTXI. 4 If iVTiAlCflVTlg.

184 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
are distasteful to you, and compare them to the animals above
mentioned? And whatever answer you may return to our
question, we shall reply by endeavouring to show that such
assertions are most unbecoming, whether spoken of all men in
general, or of us in particular. For, let it be supposed that you
say justly that all men, as compared with God, are [rightly]
likened to these worthless1 animals, since their littleness is not
at all to be compared with the superiority of God, wdiat then
do you mean by littleness? Answer me, good sirs. If you
refer to littleness of body, know that superiority and inferiority,
i if truth is to be judge, are not determined by a bodily standard.2
' For, on such a view, vultures 3 and elephants would be superior
to us men ; for they are larger, and stronger, and longer-lived
;than we. But no sensible person would maintain that these
irrational creatures are superior to rational beings, merely on
. account of their bodies : for the possession of reason raises a
j rational being to a vast superiority over all irrational creatures.
1 Even the race of virtuous and blessed beings would admit this,
whether they are, as ye say, good demons, or, as we are accus
tomed to call them, the angels of God, or any other natures
whatever superior to that of man, since the rational faculty
within them has been made perfect, and endowed with all
virtuous qualities.4
Chapter xxv.
But if you depreciate the littleness of man, not on account of
his body, but of his soul, regarding it as inferior to that of other
rational beings, and especially of those who are virtuous ; and
inferior, because evil dwells in it, — why should those among
Christians who are wicked, and those among the Jews who
lead sinful lives, be termed a collection of bats, or ants, or
worms, or frogs, rather than those individuals among other
nations who are guilty of wickedness ? — seeing, in this respect,
any individual whatever, especially if carried away by the tide
of evil, is, in comparison with the rest of mankind, a bat, and
worm, and frog, and ant. And although a man may be an
orator like Demosthenes, yet, if stained with wickedness like
siiTtAtGI. 2 oiix IV GupCXTI XpiViTXI.
ywirsg; ypvwtgl 4 xxi xxtx ttxgxv xpsr'/iv irsiroiciTxi.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 185
his,1 and guilty of deeds proceeding, like his, from a wicked
nature ; or an Antiphon, who was also considered to be indeed
an orator, yet who annihilated the doctrine of providence in his
writings, which were entitled Concerning Truth, like that dis
course of Celsus, — such individuals are notwithstanding worms,
rolling in a corner of the dung-heap of stupidity and ignorance.
Indeed, whatever be the nature of the rational faculty, it could
not reasonably be compared to a worm, because it possesses
capabilities of virtue.2 For these adumbrations 3 towards virtue
do not allow of those who possess the power of acquiring it,
and who are incapable of wholly losing its seeds, to be likened
to a worm. It appears, therefore, that neither can men in
general be deemed worms in comparison with God. For <
reason, having its beginning in the reason of God, cannot
allow of the rational animal being considered wholly alien from <
Deity. Nor can those among Christians and Jews who are
wicked, and who, in truth, are neither Christians nor Jews, be
compared, more than other wicked men, to worms rolling in a
corner of a dunghill. And if the nature of reason will not
permit of such comparisons, it is manifest that we must not
calumniate human nature, which has been formed for virtue,
even if it should sin through ignorance, nor liken it to animals
of the kind described.
Chapter xxvi.
But if it is on account of those opinions of the Christians
and Jews which displease Celsus (and which he does not at all
appear to understand) that they are to be regarded as worms
and ants, and the rest of mankind as different, let us examine
the acknowledged opinions of Christians and Jews,4 and com
pare them with those of the rest of mankind, and see whether
it will not appear to' those who have once admitted that certain
men are worms and ants, that they are the worms and ants and
frogs who have fallen away from sound views of God, and,
1 The allusion may possibly be to his flight from the field of Chseronea,
or to his avarice, or to the alleged impurity of his life, which is referred to
by Plutarch in his Lives of the Ten Orators. — Spencek.
* dlpoppcxg ixov irpog dptT'ijv. 3 imroTwnaGiig.
ird xinohv wxGt % poty xivi poty x XoypoxTX 'XcigtixvZv xxi 'lovixiav.

186 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
under a vain appearance of piety,1 worship either irrational
animals, or images, or other objects, the works of men's hands;2
whereas, from the beauty of such, they ought to admire the
Maker of them, and worship Him : while those are indeed men,
and more honourable than men (if there be anything that is
so), who, in obedience to their reason, are able to ascend from
stocks and stones,3 nay, even from what is reckoned the most
precious of all matter — silver and gold ; and who ascend up
also from the beautiful things in the world to the Maker of all,
and entrust themselves to Him who alone is able to satisfy4 all
existing tilings, and to overlook the thoughts of all, and to hear
the prayers of all ; who send up their prayers to Him, and do
all things as in the presence of Him who beholds everything,
and who are careful, as in the presence of the Hearer of all
things, to say nothing which might not with propriety be reported
to God. Will not such piety as this — which can be overcome
neither by labours, nor by the dangers of death, nor by logical
plausibilities5 — be of no avail in preventing those who have
obtained it from being any longer compared to worms, even if
they had been so represented before their assumption of a piety
so remarkable ? Will they who subdue that fierce longing for
sexual pleasures which has reduced the souls of many to a weak
and feeble condition, and who subdue it because they are per
suaded that they cannot otherwise have communion with God,
unless they ascend to Him through the exercise of temperance,
appear to you to be the brothers of worms, and relatives of
ants, and to bear a likeness to frogs ? What ! is the brilliant
quality of justice, which keeps inviolate the rights common to
our neighbour, and our kindred, and which observes fairness,
and benevolence, and goodness, of no avail in saving him who
practises it from being termed a bird of the night ? And are
not they who wallow in dissoluteness, as do the majority of
mankind, and they who associate promiscuously with common
harlots, and who teach that such practices are not wholly con
trary to propriety, worms who roll in mire? — especially when
they are compared with those who have been taught not to take
the " members of Christ," and the body inhabited by the Word,
1 (pxvTxoix §' tiiGffisi'xg. 2 sj xxi tx Irifctovpy'JiftxTX. s Ai6a» xxi {-vAav.
Qixoxtiv. 6 v-Tro AoyixZv irt^xvoT^Tav.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 187
and make them the "members of a harlot;" and who have
already learned that the body of the rational being, as conse
crated to the God of all things, is the temple of the God whom
they worship, becoming such from the pure conceptions which
they entertain of the Creator, and who also, being careful not
to corrupt the temple of God by unlawful pleasure, practise
temperance as constituting piety towards God 1
Chapter xxvii.
And I have not yet spoken of the other evils which prevail
amongst men, from which even those who have the appearance
of philosophers are not speedily freed, for in philosophy there
are many pretenders. Nor do I say anything on the point that
many such evils are found to exist among those who are neither
Jews nor Christians. Of a truth, such evil practices do not at
all prevail among Christians, if you properly examine what con
stitutes a Christian. Or, if any persons of that kind should be
discovered, they are at least not to be found among those who
frequent the assemblies, and come to the public prayers, with
out their being excluded from them, unless it should happen,
and that rarely, that some one individual of such a character
escapes notice in the crowd. We, then, are not worms who
assemble together ; who take our stand against the Jews on
those Scriptures which they believe to be divine, and who show-
that He who was spoken of in prophecy lias come, and that
they have been abandoned on account of the greatness of their
sins, and that we who have accepted the Word have the highest
hopes in God, both because of our faith in Him, and of His
ability to receive us into His communion pure from all evil and
wickedness of life. If a man, then, should call himself a Jew
or a Christian, he would not say without qualification that God
had made the whole world, and the vault of heaven1 for us in
particular. But if a man is, as Jesus taught, pure in heart,
and meek, and peaceful, and cheerfully submits to dano-ers for
the sake of his religion, such an one might reasonably have con
fidence in .God, and with a full apprehension of the word con
tained in the prophecies, might say this also : " All these things
has God shown beforehand, and announced to us who believe."
1 T'QV oiipxvtov popxy.

188 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.

Chapter xxviii.
But since he has represented those whom he regards as
worms, viz. the Christians, as saying that " God, having
abandoned the heavenly regions, and despising this great earth,
takes up His abode amongst us alone, and to us alone makes
His announcements, and ceases not His messages and inquiries
as to how we may become His associates for ever," we have to
answer that he attributes to us words which we never uttered,
seeing we both read and know that God loves all existing
things, and loathes1 nothing which He has made, for He would
not have created anything in hatred. We have, moreover, read
the declaration : " And Thou sparest all things, because they
are Thine, O lover of souls. For Thine incorruptible Spirit
is in all. And therefore those also who have fallen away for
a little time Thou rebukest, and admonishest, reminding them
of their sins."2 How can we assert that " God, leaving the
regions of heaven, and the whole world, and despising this
great earth, takes up His abode amongst us only," when we
have found that all thoughtful persons must say in their
prayers, that " the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord," 3
and that "the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh;"4 and
that God, being good, " maketh His sun to arise upon the evil
and the good, and sendeth Llis rain upon the just and the
unjust ; " 6 and that He encourages us to a similar course of
action, in order that we may become His sons, and teaches us
to extend the benefits which we enjoy, so far as in our power,
to all men ? For He Himself is said to be the Saviour of all
men, especially of them that believe;6 and His Christ to be the
" propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world." 7 And this, then, is our answer
to the allegations of Celsus. Certain other statements, in
keeping with the character of the Jews, might be made by
some of that nation, but certainly not by the Christians, who
have been taught that "God commendeth His love towards us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ; " 8 and
1 (UsAvggstxi. 2 Cf. Wisd. of Solom. xi. 26, xii. 1, 2.
3 Ps. xxxiii. 5. 4 Ecclus. xviii. 13. 5 Cf. Matt. v. 45.
6 Cf. 1 Tim. iv. 10. i Cf. 1 John ii. 2. 3 Cf. Rom. v. 8.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 189
although " scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per-
adventure for a good man some would even dare to die." l
But now is Jesus declared to have come for the sake of sinners
in all parts of the world (that they may forsake their sin, and
entrust themselves to God), being called also, agreeably to an
ancient custom of these Scriptures, the " Christ of God."
Chapter xxix.
But Celsus perhaps has misunderstood certain of those
whom he has termed " worms," when they affirm that " God
exists, and that we are next to Him." And he acts like those
who would find fault with an entire sect of philosophers, on
account of certain words uttered by some rash youth who, after
a three days' attendance upon the lectures of a philosopher,
should exalt himself above other people as inferior to himself,
and devoid of philosophy. For we know that there are many
creatures more honourable2 than man; and we have read that
" God standeth in the congregation of gods," 3 but of gods who
are not worshipped by the nations, " for all the gods of the
nations are idols." 4 We have read also, that " God, standing
in the congregation of the gods, judgeth among the gods." 5
We know, moreover, that "though there be that are called
gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many and
lords many), but to us there is one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and we in Him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom are all things, and we by Him." 6 And we know that
in this way the angels are superior to men ; so that men, when
made perfect, become like the angels. " For irt the resurrection
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but the righteous
are as the angels in heaven," 7 and also become " equal to the
angels." 8 We know, too, that in the arrangement of the uni
verse there are certain beings termed "thrones," and others
" dominions," and others " powers," and others " principalities ;"
and we see that we men, who are far inferior to these, may
entertain the hope that by a virtuous life, and by acting in all
things agreeably to reason, we may rise to a likeness with all
1 Cf. Bom. v. 7. 2 TipowTspx. 3 Cf. Ps. lxxxii. 1.
4 Ixipoovix. Cf. Ps. xcvi. 5. s Cf. Ps. lxxxii. 1. e 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
7 Cf. Matt. xxii. 30. 8 Cf. Luke xx. 36.

190 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
these. And, lastly, because " it doth not yet appear what we
shall be ; but we know that when Lie shall appear, we shall be
like God, and shall see Him as He is." x And if any one were
to maintain what is asserted by some (either by those who
possess intelligence or who do not, but have ^misconceived
j sound reason), that " God exists, and we are next to Llim," I
would interpret the word " we," by using in its stead, " We who
act according to reason," or rather, " We virtuous, MTho act
according to reason." 2 For, in our opinion, the same virtue
belongs to all the blessed, so that the virtue of man and of
God is identical.3 And therefore we are taught to become
"perfect," as our Father in heaven is perfect.4 No good and
virtuous man, then, is a "worm rolling in filth," nor is a pious
man an " ant," nor a righteous man a " frog ; " nor could one
whose soul is enlightened with the bright lirdit of truth be
reasonably likened to a " bird of the night."
Chapter xxx.
It appears to me that Celsus has also misunderstood this
statement, "Let us make man in our image and likeness;"5
and has therefore represented the "worms" as saying that,
being created' by God, we altogether resemble Him. If, how
ever, he had known the difference between man being created
" in the image of God " and " after His likeness," and that God
is recorded to have said, " Let us make man after our image
and likeness," but that He made man "after the image" of
God, but not then also " after His likeness," 6 he would not
have represented us as saying that " we are altogether like
Him." Moreover, we do not assert that the stars are subject
to us ; since the resurrection which is called the " resurrection
1 Cf. 1 John iii. 2.
2 xxi tovto y' xv tpponvtvoipoi, to " ripit7g " "Atyav xvtI tov oi Aoyixol, xal
sti pcxXAov, oi Girovlxiot Aoytxoi.
3 oiots xxi ij xvtyi dpsTYi dvipairov xxi 0eo5. Cf . Cicero, de leg. i. : " Jam
vero virtus eadem in homine ac deo est, neque ullo alio in genio praterea.
Est autem virtus nihil aliud, quam in se perfecta, et ad summum perducta
natura. Est igitur homini cum Deo similitude" Cf. also Clemens Alex.
Strom. Vil. . Ov yxp, xxdcnrtp oi 2Tdixol, xSiag," vrxvv t^v aiiryv xostyiv
xvipuirov Atyopcsv xxi Qsov. Cf. Theodoret, Sei-m. xi. — SrENCEB.
4 Cf. Matt. v. 48. « Cf. Gen. i. 26. « Cf. Gen. i. 27.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 191
of the just," and which is understood by wise men, is compared
to the sun, and moon, and stars, by him who said, " There is
one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from another
star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead."1
Daniel also prophesied long ago regarding these things.2
Celsus says further, that we assert that " all things have been
arranged so as to be subject to us," having perhaps heard some
of the intelligent among us speaking to that effect, and per
haps also not understanding the saying, that " he who is the
greatest amongst us is the servant of all." 3 And if the Greeks
say, " Then sun and moon are the slaves of mortal men," 4 thty
express approval of the statement, and give an explanation of
its meaning ; but since such a statement is either not made at
all by us, or is expressed in a different way, Celsus here too
falsely accuses us. Moreover, we who, according to Celsus, are
" worms," are represented by him as saying that, " seeing some
among us are guilty of sin, God will come to us, or will send
His own Son, that He may consume the wicked, and that we
other frogs may enjoy eternal life with Him." Observe how
this venerable philosopher, like a low buffoon,6 turns into ridi
cule and mockery, and a subject of laughter, the announce
ment of a divine judgment, and of the punishment of the
wicked, and of the reward of the righteous ; and subjoins to all
this the remark, that "such statements would be more endur
able if made by worms and frogs than by Christians and Jews
who quarrel with one another ! " We shall not, however,
imitate his example, nor say similar things regarding those
philosophers who profess to know the nature of all things, and
who discuss with each other the manner in which all things
were created, and how the heaven and earth originated, and all
things in them ; and how the souls [of men], being either un-
begotten, and not created by God, are yet governed by Him,
and pass from one body to another ; 6 or being formed at the
same time with the body, exist for ever or pass away. For
instead of treating with respect and accepting the intention of
these who have devoted themselves to the investigation of the
1 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. 2 Cf. Dan. xii. 3. 3 Cf. Matt. xx. 28.
4 Cf. Eurip. Phceniss. 512. s pxupooAoxog. e xxi dpcsipovGi Gupcxra.

192 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
truth, one might mockingly and revilingly say that such men
were " worms," who did not measure themselves by their corner
of their dung-heap in human life, and who accordingly gave
forth their opinions on matters of such importance as if they
understood them, and who strenuously assert that they have
•obtained a view of those things which cannot be seen without
a higher inspiration and a diviner power. " For no man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is
in him: even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God." x We are not, however, mad, nor do we com
pare such human wisdom (I use the word "wisdom" in the
common acceptation), which busies itself not about the affairs
of the multitude, but in the investigation of truth, to the
wrigglings of worms or any other such creatures ; but in the
spirit of truth, we testify of certain Greek philosophers that they
knew God, seeing " He manifested Himself to them," 2 although
" they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but
became vain in their imaginations ; and professing themselves
to be wise, they became foolish, and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,
and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." 3
Chapter xxxi.
After this, wishing to prove that there is no difference
between Jews and Christians, and those animals previously
enumerated by him, he asserts that the Jews were " fugitives
from Egypt, who never performed anything worthy of note,
and never were held in any reputation or account." 4 Now,
on the point of their not being fugitives, nor Egyptians, but
Hebrews who settled in Egypt, we have spoken in the pre
ceding pages. But if he thinks his statement, that "they
were never held in any reputation or account," to be proved,
because no remarkable event in their history is found recorded
by the Greeks, we would answer, that if one will examine their
polity from its first beginning, and the arrangement of their
laws, he will find that they were men who represented upon
earth the shadow of a heavenly life, and that amongst them
1 Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 11. 2 Cf. Bom. i. 19. 3 Rom. i. 21-23.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 193
God is recognised as nothing else, save He who is over all
things, and that amongst them no maker of images was per
mitted to enjoy the rights of citizenship.1 For neither painter
nor image-maker existed in their state, the law expelling all
such from it; that there might be no pretext for the con
struction of images, — an art which attracts the attention of
foolish men, and which drags down the eyes of the soul from
God to earth. There was, accordingly, amongst them a law to
the following effect : " Do not transgress the law, and make to
yourselves a graven image, any likeness of male or female ;
either a likeness of any one of the creatures that are upon the
earth, or a likeness of any winged fowl that flieth under the
heaven, or a likeness of any creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth, or a likeness of any of the fishes which are in the
waters under the earth." 2 The law, indeed, wished them to
have regard to the truth of each individual thing, and not to
form representations of things contrary to reality, feigning the
appearance merely of what was really male or really female,
or the nature of animals, or of birds, or of creeping things, or
of fishes. Venerable, too, and grand was this prohibition of
theirs : " Lift not up thine eyes unto heaven, lest, when thou
seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the host of
heaven, thou shouldst be led astray to worship them, and serve
them." 3 And what a regime* was that under which the whole
nation was placed, and which rendered it impossible for any
effeminate person to appear in public ;5 and worthy of admira
tion, too, was the arrangement by which harlots were removed
out of the state, those incentives to the passions of the youth !
Their courts of justice also were composed of men of the
strictest integrity, who, after having for a lengthened period
set the example of an unstained life, were entrusted with the
duty of presiding over the tribunals, and who, on account of
the superhuman purity of their character,6 were said to be gods,
in conformity with an ancient Jewish usage of speech. Here
was the spectacle of a whole nation devoted to philosophy ; and
in order that there might be leisure to listen to their sacred
1 i-xoAiTiisTo. 2 Cf. Deut. iv. 16-18. 3 Cf. Deut. iv. 19.
4 iroAnsix. 6 ovhi (pxivso&xi 6/iAvXpixv oTov t qv.
6 oi Tivsg Xix to xx&xpov qQog, xxi to vwsp xv&poi'xov.
ORIG. — VOL. II. N

194 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv-
laws, the days termed " Sabbath," and the other festivals which
existed among them, were instituted. And why need I speak
of the orders of their priests and sacrifices, which contain in
numerable indications [of deeper truths] to those who wish to
ascertain the signification of things ?
. Chapter xxxh.
But since nothing belonging to human nature is permanent,
this polity also must gradually be corrupted and changed.
And Providence, having remodelled their venerable system
where it needed to be changed, so as to adapt it to men of all
countries, gave to believers of all nations, in place of the Jews,
the venerable religion of Jesus, who, being adorned not only
with understanding, but also with a share of divinity,1 and
having overthrown the doctrine regarding earthly demons, who
delight in frankincense, and blood, and in the exhalations of
sacrificial odours, and who, like the fabled Titans or Giants,
drag down men from thoughts of God; and having Himself dis
regarded their plots, directed chiefly against the better class of
men, enacted laws which ensure happiness to those who live ac
cording to them, and who do not flatter the demons by means
of sacrifices, but altogether despise them, through help of the
word of God, which aids those who look upwards to Him. And
as it was the will of God that the doctrine of Jesus should pre
vail amongst men, the demons could effect nothing, although
straining every nerve2 to accomplish the destruction of Chris
tians ; for they stirred up both princes, and senates, and rulers
in every place, — nay, even nations themselves, who did not
perceive the irrational and wicked procedure of the demons, —
against the word, and those who believed in it ; yet, notwith
standing, the word of God, which is more powerful than all
other things, even when meeting with opposition, deriving from
the opposition, as it were, a means of increase, advanced onwards,
and won many souls, such being the will of God. And we have
offered these remarks by way of a necessary digression. For
we wished to answer the assertion of Celsus concerning the
Jews, that they were " fugitives from Egypt, and that these
men, beloved by God, never accomplished anything worthy of
2 xxhoiys irdvrx xcthuv xivqexvTtf.

Book iv. j ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 195
note." And further, in answer to the statement that " they were
never held in any reputation or account," we say, that living
apart as a "chosen nation and a royal priesthood," and shunning
intercourse with the many nations around them, in order that
their morals might escape corruption, they enjoyed the protection
of the divine power, neither coveting like the most of mankind
the acquisition of other kingdoms, nor yet being abandoned
so as to become, on account of their smallness, an easy object
of attack to others, and thus be altogether destroyed ; and this
lasted so long as they were worthy of the divine protection.
But when it became necessary for them, as a nation wholly
given to sin, to be brought back by their sufferings to their
God, they were abandoned [by Him], sometimes for a longer,
sometimes for a shorter period, until in the time of the
Romans, having committed the greatest of sins in putting
Jesus to death, they were completely deserted.
Chapter xxxiii.
Immediately after this, Celsus, assailing the contents of the
first book of Moses, which is entitled " Genesis," asserts that
" the Jews accordingly endeavoured to derive their origin from
the first race of jugglers and deceivers,1 appealing to the
testimony of dark and ambiguous words, whose meaning was
veiled in obscurity, and which they misinterpreted 2 to the un
learned and ignorant, and that, too, when such a point had never
been called in question during the long preceding period."
Now Celsus appears to me in these words to have expressed
very obscurely the meaning which he intended to convey. It is
probable, indeed, that his obscurity on this subject is inten
tional, inasmuch as he saw the strength of the argument which
establishes the descent of the Jews from their ancestors ; while
again, on the other hand, he wished not to appear ignorant that
the question regarding the Jews and their descent was one that
could not be lightly disposed of. It is certain, however, that the
Jews trace their genealogy back to the three fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. And the names of these individuals possess
such efficacy, when united with the name of God, that not
1 dico irpZrrig GTopxg yaqTav xxi itaxvuv dvllpZituv.
2 lixps^/iyovpcsvoi.

196 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
only do those belonging to the nation employ in their prayers
to God, and in the exorcising of demons, the words, " God of
Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob," but so also
do almost all those who occupy themselves with incantations
and magical rites. For there is found in treatises on magic in
many countries such an invocation of God, and assumption of
the divine name, as implies a familiar use of it by these men in
their dealings with demons. These facts, then — adduced by
Jews and Christians to prove the sacred character of Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the Jewish race — appear
to me not to have been altogether unknown to Celsus, but
not to have been distinctly set forth by him, because he was
unable to answer the argument which might be founded on
them.
Chapter xxxiv.
For we inquire of all those who employ such invocations of
God, saying : Tell us, friends, who was Abraham, and what sort
of person was Isaac, and what power did Jacob possess, that the
appellation " God," when joined with their name, could effect
such wonders ? And from whom have you learned, or can you
learn, the facts relating to these individuals ? And who has
occupied himself with writing a history about them, either
directly magnifying these men by ascribing to them mysterious
powers, or hinting obscurely at their possession of certain great
and marvellous qualities, patent to those who are qualified to
see them?1 And when, in answer to our inquiry, no one can
show from what history — whether Greek or barbarian — or, if
not a history, yet at least from what mystical narrative,2 the
accounts of these men are derived, we shall bring forward the
book entitled " Genesis," which contains the acts of these men,
and the divine oracles addressed to them, and will say, Does
not the use by you of the names of these three ancestors of
the race, establishing in the clearest manner that effects not to
be lightly regarded are produced by the invocation of them,
1 s'ht XXi XVTO&SV GtpOVVVOVGXV iv diropp^TOig Toiig xvXpxg, sits xxi 01
VITOVOlZ'J xilllGGOpcivYIV TIVX piSyxAX Xxi QxVpLXGlX TOIJ OtUpqGXI xi/TX XwX-
poivotg. 2 pcVGTUvig xvxypx<fi;g.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 197
evidence the divinity of the men?1 And yet we know them
from no other source than the sacred books of the Jews !
Moreover, the phrases, " the God of Israel," and " the God of
the Hebrews," and " the God who drowned in the Red Sea the
king of Egypt and the Egyptians," are formula; frequently
employed against demons and certain wicked powers. And we
learn the history of the names and their interpretation from
those Hebrews, who in their national literature and national
tongue dwell with pride upon these things, and explain their
meaning. How, then, should the Jews attempt to derive their
origin from the first race of those whom Celsus supposed to
be jugglers and deceivers, and shamelessly endeavour to trace
themselves and their beginning back to these? — whose names,
being Hebrew, are an evidence to the Hebrews, who have their
sacred books written in the Hebrew language and letters, that
their nation is akin to these men. For up to the present time,
the Jewish names belonging to the Hebrew language were
either taken from their writings, or generally from words the
meaning of which was made known by the Hebrew language.
Chapter xxxv.
And let any one who peruses the treatise of Celsus observe
whether it does not convey some such insinuation as the above,
when he says: " And they attempted to derive their origin from
the first race of jugglers and deceivers, appealing to the testi
mony of dark and ambiguous words, whose meaning was veiled
in obscurity." For these names are indeed obscure, and not
within the comprehension and knowledge of many, though not
in our opinion of doubtful meaning, even although assumed by
those who are aliens to our religion ; but as, according to Celsus,
they do not 2 convey any ambiguity, I am at a loss to know why
he has rejected them. And yet, if he had wished honestly to
overturn the genealogy which he deemed the Jews to have
so shamelessly arrogated, in boasting of Abraham and his
1 ipoVpitV TS' OTI pO'/fuOTS TO xxi ilp' vpCOIV VXpXAXpcfixVtGQxi TX OVopOXTas 7«l
Tpioiv tovtoiv ytvxpxZv tov 'ihovg, T)5 ivxpysix xxTxAxpojixvovTOiv, oiix svxarx-
ppivmx xvvsgIIxi ix Tqg xxTf7!ixA'/jGtag xiiToiv, KxpioTWi to dtiov tZv xvn'pZvi
Guietus would expunge the words tjj ivxpysix xxTxAxpolixvovTuv.
2 xxtx Si YLsAgov, oil irxpiGTxvTx. Libri editi ad Oram Zg wxpigtxvtx.

198 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
descendants [as their progenitors], he ought to have quoted all
the passages bearing on the subject ; and, in the first place, to
have advocated his cause with such arguments as he thought
likely to be convincing, and in the next to have bravely1 refuted,
by means of what appeared to him to be the true meaning, and
by arguments in its favour, the errors existing on the subject.
But neither Celsus nor any one else will be able, by their discus
sions regarding the nature of names employed for miraculous
purposes, to lay down the correct doctrine regarding them, and
to demonstrate that those men were to be lightly esteemed whose
names merely, not among their countrymen alone, but also
amongst foreigners, could accomplish [such results]. He ought
to have shown, moreover, how we, in misinterpreting2 the
passages in which these names are found, deceive our hearers,
as he imagines, while he himself, who boasts that he is not
ignorant or unintelligent, gives the true interpretation of them.
And he hazarded the assertion,3 in speaking of those names,
from which the Jews deduce their genealogies, that "never,
during the long antecedent period, has there been any dispute
about these names, but that at the present time the Jews
dispute about them with certain others," whom he does not
mention. Now, let him who chooses show who these are
that dispute with the Jews, and who adduce even probable
arguments to show that Jews and Christians do not decide cor
rectly on the points relating to these names, but that there are
others who have discussed these questions with the greatest
learning and accuracy. But we are well assured that none can
establish anything of the sort, it being manifest that these
names are derived from the Hebrew language, which is found
only among the Jews.
Chapter xxxvi.
Celsus in the next place, producing from history other than
that of the divine record, those passages which bear upon the
claims to great antiquity put forth by many nations, as the
Athenians, and Egyptians, and Arcadians, and Phrygians, wdio
assert that certain individuals have existed among them who
sprang from the earth, and who each adduce proofs of these
ytvvxiug. " nxpsiyiyovposvoi. 3 •zxp'tpfiftyi.

Bookiv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 199
assertions, says : " The Jews, then, leading a grovelling life x
in some corner of Palestine, and being a wholly uneducated
people, wdio had not heard that these matters had been com
mitted to verse long ago by Hesiod and innumerable other
inspired men, wove together some most incredible and insipid
stories,2 viz. that a certain man was formed by the hands of
God, and had breathed into him the breath of life, and that a
woman was taken from his side, and that God issued certain
commands, and that a serpent opposed these, and gained a
victory over the commandments of God ; thus relating certain
old wives' fables, and most impiously representing God as weak
at the very beginning [of things], and unable to convince even
a single human being whom He Himself had formed." By
these instances, indeed, this deeply read and learned Celsus,
who accuses Jews and Christians of ignorance and want of
instruction, clearly evinces the accuracy of his knowledge of
the chronology of the respective historians, whether Greek or
Barbarian, since he imagines that Hesiod and the " innumer
able " others, whom he styles " inspired " men, are older than
Moses and his writings — that very Moses who is shown to
be much older than the time of the Trojan war ! It is not
the Jews, then, who have composed incredible and insipid
stories regarding the birth of man from the earth, but these
"inspired" men of Celsus, Hesiod and his other "innumer
able" companions, who, having neither learned nor heard of
the far older and most venerable accounts existing in Palestine,
have written such histories as their Theogonies, attributing,
so far as in their power, " generation " to their deities, and
innumerable other absurdities. And these are the writers
whom Plato expels from his " State" as being corrupters of the
youth,3 — Homer, viz., and those who have composed poems of
a similar description ! Now it is evident that Plato did not
regard as "inspired" those men who had left behind them such
works. But perhaps it was from a desire to cast reproach upon
us, that this Epicurean Celsus, who is better able to judge than
Plato (if it be the same Celsus who composed two other books
against the Christians), called those individuals "inspired"
whom he did not in reality regard as such.
1 ovyxvipxiiTtg. 2 dpcovGOTxrx. 3 Cf. Plato, de Repub. Book ii. etc.

200 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.

Chapter xxxvii.
He charges us, moreover, with introducing " a man formed
by the hands of God," although the book of Genesis has made
no mention of the " hands " of God, either when relating the
creation or the " fashioning " x of the man ; while it is Job and
David who have used the expression, " Thy hands have made
me and fashioned me ; " 2 with reference to which it would
need a lengthened discourse to point out the sense in which
these words were understood by those who used them, both as
regards the difference between "making" and "fashioning,"
and also the " hands " of God. For those who do not under
stand these and similar expressions in the sacred Scriptures,
imagine that we attribute to the God who is over all things a
form 3 such as that of man ; and according to their conceptions,
it follows that we consider the body of God to be furnished
with wings, since the Scriptures, literally understood, attribute
such appendages to God. The subject before us, however,
does not require us to interpret these expressions ; for, in our
explanatory remarks upon the book of Genesis, these matters
have been made, to the best of our ability, a special subject of
investigation. Observe next the malignity4 of Celsus in what
follows. For the Scripture, speaking of the " fashioning " 5 of
the man, says, " And breathed into his face the breath of life,
and the man became a living soul." e Whereon Celsus, wish
ing maliciously to ridicule the " inbreathing into his face of
the breath of life," and not understanding the sense in which
the expression was employed, states that " they composed a
story that a man was fashioned by the hands of God, and was
inflated by breath blown into him," 7 in order that, taking the
word " inflated " to be used in a similar way to the inflation of
skins, he might ridicule the statement, " He breathed into his
face the breath of life," — terms which are used figuratively,
and require to be explained in order to show that God com-
1 ixl Tijf TrAxGtoig. 2 Cf. Job x. 8 and Ps. cxix. 73.
3 Gxvpox. 4 xxxoqDsixv.
5 irAxGtoig. G Gen. ii. 7 ; Heb. V3N3, LXX. irpoGa-ov.
7 ipctpvGZpotvov.

Book iv. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 201
municated to man of Llis incorruptible Spirit ; as it is said,
" For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things." x
Chapter xxxviii.
In the next place, as it is his object to slander our Scriptures,
he ridicules the following statement : " And God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and He took one of his
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which
He had taken from the man, made He a woman," 2 and so on ;
without quoting the words, which would give the hearer the
impression that they are spoken with a figurative meaning. He
would not even have it appear that the words were used alle-
gorically, although he says afterwards, that " the more modest
among Jews and Christians are ashamed of these things, and
endeavour to give them somehow an allegorical signification."
Now we might say to him, Are the statements of your "inspired"
Hesiod, which he makes regarding the woman in the form of a
myth, to be explained allegorically, in the sense that she was
given by Jove to men as an evil thing, and as a retribution for

a

the theft of "the fire;"3 while that regarding the woman who
was taken from the side of the man (after he had been buried
in deep slumber), and was formed by God, appears to you to be
related without any rational meaning and secret signification ? 4
But is it not uncandid, not to ridicule the former as myths,
but to admire them as philosophical ideas in a mythical dress,
and to treat with contempt 5 the latter, as offending the under
standing, and to declare that they are of no account ? For if,
because of the mere phraseology, we are to find fault with what
is intended to have a secret meaning, see whether the following
lines of Hesiod, a man, as you say, " inspired," are not better
fitted to excite laughter :
" ' Son of Iapetus ! ' with wrathful heart,
Spake the cloud-gatherer : ' Oh, unmatched in art !
Exultest thou in this the flame retrieved,
And dost thou triumph in the God deceived?
But thou, with the posterity of man,
Shalt rue the fraud whence mightier ills began ;
1 Wisd. of Solom. xii. 1. 2 Cf. Gen. ii. 21, 22. 3 xvtI tou irvpog.
4 xaP'S KXVTog Aoyov xxi tivo; iirixpi^ptoig. 5 p/.oxQiQ-iv.

202 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
I will send evil for thy stealthy fire,
While all embrace it, and their bane desire.'
The sire, who rules the earth, and sways the pole,
Had said, and laughter fill'd his secret soul.
He bade the artist-god his hest obey,
And mould with tempering waters ductile clay:
Infuse, as breathing life and form began,
The supple vigour, and the voice of man :
Her aspect fair as goddesses above,
A virgin's likeness, with the brows of love.
He bade Minerva teach the skill that dyes
The web with colours, as the shuttle flies ;
He called the magic of Love's Queen to shed
A nameless grace around her courteous head;
Instil the wish that longs with restless aim,
And cares of dress that feed upon the frame :
Bade Hermes last implant the craft refined
Of artful manners, and a shameless mind.
He said ; their king th' inferior powers obeyed:
The fictile likeness of a bashful maid
Rose from the temper'd earth, by Jove's behest,
Under the forming God ; the zone and vest
Were clasp'd and folded by Minerva's hand :
The heaven-born graces, and persuasion bland
Deck'd her round limbs with chains of gold : the hours
Of loose locks twined her .temples with spring flowers.
The whole attire Minerva's curious care
Form'd to her shape, and fitted to her air.
But in her breast the herald from above,
Full of the counsels of deep thundering Jove,
Wrought artful manners, wrought perfidious lies,
And speech that thrills the blood, and lulls the wise.
Her did th' interpreter of Gods proclaim,
And named the woman with Pandora's name ;
Since all the gods conferr'd their gifts, to charm,
For man's inventive race, this beauteous harm." l
Moreover, what is said also about the casket is fitted of itself
to excite laughter ; for example :
" Whilome on earth the sons of men abode
From ills apart, and labour's irksome load,
And sore diseases, bringing age to man ;
Now the sad life of mortals is a span.
1 Hesiod, Works and Days, i. v. 73-114 (Elton's translation).

Book iv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 203
The woman's hands a mighty casket bear ;
She lifts the lid ; she scatters griefs in air :
Alone, beneath the vessels' rims detained,
Hope still within th' unbroken cell remained,
Nor fled abroad ; so will'd cloud-gatherer Jove :
The woman's hand had dropp'd the lid above." 1
Now, to him who would give to these lines a grave allegorical
meaning (whether any such meaning be contained in them or
not), we would say : Are the Greeks alone at liberty to con
vey a philosophic meaning in a secret covering? or perhaps
also the Egyptians, and those of the barbarians who pride
themselves upon their mysteries and the truth [which is con
cealed within them] ; while the Jews alone, with their lawgiver
and historians, appear to you the most unintelligent of men ?
And is this the only nation which has not received a share of
divine power, and which yet was so grandly instructed how to
rise upwards to the uncreated nature of God, and to gaze on
Him alone, and to expect from Him alone [the fulfilment of]
their hopes?
Chapter xxxix.
But as Celsus makes a jest also of the serpent, as counter
acting the injunctions given by God to the man, taking the
narrative to be an old wife's fable,2 and has purposely neither
mentioned the paradise3 of God, nor stated that God is said to
have planted it in Eden towards the east, and that there after
wards sprang up from the earth every tree that was beautiful
to the sight, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst
of the paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, and the other statements which follow, which might of
themselves lead a candid reader to see that all these things
had not inappropriately an allegorical meaning, let us contrast
with this the words of Socrates regarding Eros in the Sympo
sium of Plato, and which are put in the mouth of Socrates as
being more appropriate than what was said regarding him by
all the others at the Symposium. The words of Plato are as
1 Hesiod, Works and Days, i. v. 125-134 (Elton's translation).
2 " povdov tivx" itapxirAqaiav To7g icxpxXiXoposvoig Tx7g ypxvalv.
3 iixpxXiiGOg.

204 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
follow : " When Aphrodite was born, the gods held a banquet,
and there was present, along with the others, Porus the son of
Metis. And after they had dined, Penia1 came to beg for
something (seeing there was an entertainment), and she stood
at the gate. Porus meantime, having become intoxicated with
the nectar (for there was then no wine), went into the garden
of Zeus, and being heavy with liquor, lay down to sleep.
Penia accordingly formed a secret plot, with a view of freeing
herself from her condition of poverty,2 to get a child by Porus,
and accordingly lay down beside him, and became pregnant
with Eros. And on this account Eros has become the follower
and attendant of Aphrodite, having been begotten on her birth
day feast,3 and being at the same time by nature a lover of
the beautiful, because Aphrodite too is beautiful. Seeing, then,
that Eros is the son of Porus and Penia, the following is his
condition.4 In the first place, he is always poor, and far from
being delicate and beautiful, as most persons imagine; but is
withered, and sunburnt,5 and unshod, and without a home,
sleeping always upon the ground, and without a covering ;
lying in the open air beside gates, and on public roads ; possess
ing the nature of his mother, and dwelling continually with
indigence.0 But, on the other hand, in conformity with the
character of his father, he is given to plotting against the
beautiful and the good, being courageous, and hasty, and vehe
ment ; 7 a keen 8 hunter, perpetually devising contrivances ;
both much given to forethought, and also fertile in resources;9
acting like a philosopher throughout the whole of his life ; a
terrible 10 sorcerer, and dealer in drugs, and a sophist as well ;
neither immortal by nature nor yet mortal, but on the same
day, at one time he flourishes and lives when he has plenty,
and again at another time dies, and once more is recalled to
life through possessing the nature of his father. But the sup
plies furnished to him are always gradually disappearing, so
that he is never at any time in want, nor yet rich ; and, on the
other hand, he occupies an intermediate position between wis-
1 Penia, poverty ; Porus, abundance. 2 oid t%v «i/t«j? x-aopixv.
3 iv To7g ixtivi/ig ysvi&Atotg. 4 iv TotxvTvi Tvxyi xxQiaTvxs.
5 GxAnpog xxi xvxpcnpdg. 6 ivXsix. 7 otivTOiiog.
8 Xtivog. 2 xxi (ppov/totug iviQvpcnT'/ig xxi Kopipcog. 10 Xsivog yortg.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 205
dom and ignorance." Now, if those who read these words \
were to imitate the malignity of Celsus — which be it far from
Christians to do ! — they would ridicule the myth, and would
turn this_great Plato into a subject of jest ; but if, on investi- \
gating in a philosophic spirit what is conveyed in the dress of
a myth, they should be able to discover the meaning of Plato,
[they will admire] x the manner in which he was able to con
ceal, on account of the multitude, in the form of this myth, the
great ideas which presented themselves to him, and to speak
in a befitting manner to those who know how to ascertain from
the myths the true meaning of him who wove them together.
Now I have brought forward this myth occurring in the
writings of Plato, because of the mention in it of the garden of
Zeus, which appears to bear some resemblance to the paradise
of God, and of the comparison between Penia and the serpent,
and the plot against Porus by Penia, which may be compared
with the plot of the serpent against the man. It is not very
clear, indeed, whether Plato fell in with these stories by chance,
or whether, as some think, meeting during his visit to Egypt
with certain individuals who philosophized on the Jewish mys
teries, and learning some things from them, he may have pre
served a few of their ideas, and thrown others aside, being
careful not to offend the Greeks by a complete adoption of all
the points of the philosophy of the Jews, who were in bad
repute with the multitude, on account of the foreign character
of their laws and their peculiar polity. The present, however,
is not the proper time for explaining either the myth of Plato,
or the story of the serpent and the paradise of God, and all
that is related to have taken place in it, as in our exposition of
the book of Genesis we have especially occupied ourselves as
we best could with these matters.
Chapter xl.
But as he asserts that " the Mosaic narrative most impiously
represents God as in a state of weakness from the very com
mencement [of things], and as unable to gain over [to obe
dience] even one single man whom He Himself had formed,"
1 Boherellus, quern Ruseus sequitur, in notis ; " Ante voces : t'ivx t/joVoi/,
videtur deesse : 6xvpoxgovtxi, aut quid simile." — Lommatzsch.

206 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
we say in answer that the objection x is much the same as if one
were to find fault with the existence of evil, which God has not
been able to prevent even in the case of a single individual,
so that one man might be found from the very beginning of
things who was born into the world untainted by sin. For as
those whose business it is to defend the doctrine of providence
do so by means of arguments which are not to be despised,2
so also the subjects of Adam and his s^n will be philosophically i
dealt with by those who are aware that in the Hebrew language
Adam signifies man ; and that in those parts of the narrative
which appear to refer to Adam as an individual, Moses is dis
coursing upon the nature of man in general.3 For " in Adam"
(as the Scripture 4 says) " all die," and were condemned in |he
likeness of Adam's transgression, the word of God asserting
this not so much of one particular individual as of the whole
human race. For in the connected series of statements which
appears to apply as to one particular individual, the curse
pronounced upon Adam is regarded as common to all [the
members of the race], and what was spoken with reference to
the woman is spoken of every woman without exception.5 And
the expulsion of the man and woman from paradise, and their
being clothed with tunics of skins (which God, because of the
transgression of men, made for those who had sinned), contain
a certain secret and mystical doctrine (far transcending that of
Plato) of the soul's losing its wings,6 and being borne down
wards to earth, until it can lay hold of some stable resting-place.
Chapter xli.
After this he continues as follows : " They speak, in the
next place, of a deluge, and of a monstrous 7 ark, having within
it all things, and of a dove and a crow8 as messengers, falsi
fying and recklessly altering ° the story of Deucalion ; not ex-
1 to Asyifisvov. " tiixxTxppov/iTaii.
3 pVGIoAoyti MoiVGy/g Toi irtpl Tr/g Tow xvOpuirov OiJGSoig.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 22 with Rom. v. 14. 5 aiix tart xxff1 Tig oi AsytTXt.
0 TTTspoppvovGng. This is a correction for irTspotpvovang, the textual reading
in the Benedictine and Spencer's edd.
7 «?iXo'xotoj<. 8 xopZvn.
8 vxpax^pxTTOVTig xxi pxiiovpyovvTig.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 207
pecting, I suppose, that these things would come to light, but
imagining that they were inventing stories merely for young
children." Now in these remarks observe the hostility — so
unbecoming a philosopher — displayed by this man towards this
very ancient Jewish narrative. For, not being able to say any
thing against the history of the deluge, and not perceiving what
he might have urged against the ark and its dimensions, —
viz. that, according to the general opinion, which accepted the
statements that it was three hundred cubits in length, and fifty
in breadth, and thirty in height, it was impossible to maintain
that it contained [all] the animals that were upon the earth,
fourteen specimens of every clean and four of every unclean
beast, — he merely termed it " monstrous, containing all things
within it." Now wherein was its " monstrous " character, seeing
it is related to have been a hundred years in building, and to
have had the three hundred cubits of its length and the fifty of
its breadth contracted, until the thirty cubits of its height ter
minated in a top one cubit long and one cubit broad ? Why
should we not rather admire a structure which resembled an
extensive city, if its measurements be taken to mean what they
are capable of meaning,1 so that it was nine myriads of cubits
long in the base, and two thousand five hundred in breadth ?
And why should we not admire the design evinced in having
it so compactly built, and rendered capable of sustaining a
tempest which caused a deluge ? For it was not daubed with
pitch, or any material of that kind, but was securely coated
with bitumen. And is it not a subject of admiration, that by
the providential arrangement of God, the elements of all the
races were brought into it, that the earth might receive again
the seeds of all living things, while God made use of a most
righteous man to be the progenitor of those who were to be
born after the deluge ?
Chapter xlii.
In order to show that he had read the book of Genesis, Celsus
rejects the story of the dove, although unable to adduce any
reason which might prove it to be a fiction. In the next place,
as his habit is, in order to put the narrative in a more ridiculous
1 to Xvvxpcsi AtysaSxt tx pcirpx.

208 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
light, he converts the " raven " into a " crow," and imagines that
Moses so wrote, having recklessly altered the accounts related
of the Grecian Deucalion ; unless perhaps he regards the nar
rative as not having proceeded from Moses, but from several
individuals, as appears from his employing the plural number
in the expressions, " falsifying and recklessly altering the story
of Deucalion," x as well as from the words, " For they did not
expect, I suppose, that these things would come to light." But
how should they, who gave their Scriptures to the whole nation,
not expect that they would come to light, and who predicted,
moreover, that this religion should be proclaimed to all nations ?
Jesus declared, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from
you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof;"2
and in uttering these words to the Jews, what other meaning
did He intend to convey than this, viz. that He Himself should,
through His divine power, bring forth into light the whole of
the Jewish Scriptures, which contain the mysteries of the king
dom of God? If, then, they peruse the Theogonies of the
Greeks, and the stories about the twelve gods, they impart to
them an air of dignity, by investing them with an allegorical
signification ; but when they wish to throwr contempt upon our
biblical narratives, they assert that they are fables, clumsily
invented for infant children !
Chapter xliii.
" Altogether absurd, and out of season," 3 he continues, " is
the [account of the] begetting of children," where, although he
has mentioned no names, it is evident that he is referring to the
history of Abraham and Sarah. Cavilling also at the " con
spiracies of the brothers," he alludes either to the story of Cain
plotting against Abel,4 or, in addition, to that of Esau against
Jacob ; 5 and [speaking] of " a father's sorrow," he probably
refers to that of Isaac on account of the absence of Jacob, and
perhaps also to that of Jacob because of Joseph having been
sold into Egypt. And when relating the " crafty procedure of
mothers," I suppose he means the conduct of Rebecca, who
contrived that the blessing of Isaac should descend, not upon
1 nxpxxxpxTTOVTtg xxi pxXiovpyovvTsg. ? Cf. Matt. xxi. 43.
3 iiapov. 4 Cf. Gen. iv. 8. * Cf. Gen. xxi. 2.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 209
Esau, but upon Jacob. Now if we assert that in all these cases
God interposed in a very marked degree,1 what absurdity do we
commit, seeing we are persuaded that He never withdraws His
providence2 from those who devote themselves to Him in an
honourable and vigorous3 life? He ridicules, moreover, the
acquisition of property made by Jacob while living with Laban,
not understanding to what these words refer : " And those
which had no spots were Laban's, and those which were spotted
were Jacob's ;"4 and he says that " God presented his sons with
asses, and sheep, and camels," 5 and did not see that " all these
things happened unto them for ensamples, and were written for
our sake, upon whom the ends of the world are come." e The
varying customs [prevailing among the different nations] be
coming famous,7 are regulated by the word of God, being given
as a possession to him who is figuratively termed Jacob. For
those who become converts to Christ from among the heathen,
are indicated by the history of Laban and Jacob.
Chapter xliv.
And erring widely from the meaning of Scripture, he says
that " God gave wells 8 also to the righteous." Now he did
not observe that the righteous do not construct cisterns,9 but
dig wells, seeking to discover the inherent ground and source
of potable blessings,10 inasmuch as they receive in a figurative
sense the commandment which enjoins, "Drink waters from
your own vessels, and from your own wells of fresh water.
Let not your water be poured out beyond your own fountain,
1 xyyjGTx Xi Toinoig ^xnt GVpiiroAntvopotvov. 2 6st6r/iTX.
3 ippoipcivoig.
4 Cf. Gen. xxx. 42 (LXX.). " The feebler were Laban's, and the
stronger Jacob's " (Auth. Vers.).
5 Cf. Gen. xxx. 43.
« Cf. 1 Cor. x. 11.
irxp olg tx iroixiAx %Qn iiziG'tip^x ysvopisvx, to) AoyZ tov ©tov iroAirtvtTxi,
<Sv&!/t« xrv)Gig tZ TpoirixZg xxAovfisva 'Ixx&li: WiGnpox is the term employed
to denote the " spotted " cattle of Laban, and is here used by Origen in its
figurative sense of " distinguished," thus playing on the double meaning of
the word.
8 (Ppsxrx. » Tvaxxouj.
10 ty)v ivvn-xpxovGXV yqv xxi xpxqv tZv acoripcuv xyxiZv. Boherellus pro
poses : t))» ivvTTxpxovGXV %ny%v xxi xpx'Av tZv troriftw vXxtuv.
ORIG.— VOL. II. O

210 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book i v.
but let it pass into your own streets. Let it belong to you
alone, and let no alien partake with thee."1 Scripture fre
quently makes use of the histories of real events, in order to
present to view more important truths, which are but obscurely
intimated ; and of this kind are the narratives relating to the
" wells," and to the " marriages," and to the various acts of
" sexual intercourse " recorded of righteous persons, respecting
which, however, it will be more seasonable to offer an explana
tion in the exegetical^ writings referring to those very passages.
But that wells were constructed by righteous men in the land
of the Philistines, as related in the book of Genesis,2 is manifest
from the wonderful wells which are shown ' at Ascalon, and
which are deserving of mention on account of their structure,
so foreign and peculiar compared with that of other wells.
Moreover, that both young women 3 and female servants are to
be understood metaphorically, is not our doctrine merely, but
one which we have received from the beginning from wise
men, among whom a certain one said, when exhorting his
hearers to investigate the figurative meaning: "Tell me, ye
that read the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written
that Abraham had two sons ; the one by a bond maid, the other
by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was
born after the flesh ; but he of the free woman was by promise.
Which things are an allegory : for these are the two covenants ;
the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Agar." 4 And a little after, "But Jerusalem which
is above is free, which is the mother of us all." And any one
who will take up the Epistle to the Galatians may learn how
the passages relating to the "marriages," and the intercourse
with " the maid-servants," have been allegorized ; the Scripture
desiring us to imitate not the literal acts of those who did these
things, but (as the apostles of Jesus are accustomed to call
them) the spiritual. Chapter xlv.
And whereas Celsus ought to have recognised the love of
truth displaj'ed by the writers of sacred Scripture, who have
1 Cf. Prov. v. 15-17. 2 Cf. Gen. xxvi. 15.
3 vvpcpxg. * Cf. Gal. iv. 21-24.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 211
not concealed even what is to their discredit,1 and thus been led
to accept the other and more marvellous accounts as true, he
has done the reverse, and has characterized the story of Lot
and his daughters (without examining either its literal or its
figurative meaning) as "worse than the crimes of Thyestes."
The figurative signification of that passage of history it is not
necessary at present to explain, nor what is meant by Sodom,
and by the words of the angels to him who was escaping thence,
when they said : " Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in
all the surrounding district ; escape to the mountain, lest thou
be consumed;"2 nor what is intended by Lot and his wife,
who became a pillar of salt because she turned back ; nor by
his daughters intoxicating their father, that they might become
mothers by him. But let us in a few words soften down the
repulsive features of the history. The nature of actions — good,
bad, and indifferent — has been investigated by the Greeks ; and
the more successful of such investigators 3 lay dowTn the prin
ciple that intention alone gives to actions the character of good
or bad, and that all things which are done without a purpose
are, strictly speaking, indifferent; that when the intention is
directed to a becoming end, it is praiseworthy; when the re
verse, it is censurable. They have said, accordingly, in the
section relating to "things indifferent," that, strictly speaking,
for a man to have sexual intercourse with his daughters is a
thing indifferent, although such a thing ought not to take place
in established communities. And for the sake of hypothesis,
in order to show that such an act belongs to the class of things
indifferent, they have assumed the case of a wise man being
left with an only daughter, the entire human race besides
having perished ; and they put the question whether the father
can fitly have intercourse with his daughter, in order, agree
ably to the supposition, to prevent the extermination of man
kind. Is this to be accounted sound reasoning among the
Greeks, and to be commended by the influential 4 sect of the
Stoics ; but when young maidens, who had heard of the burning
oftne world, though without comprehending [its full meaning],
saw fire devastating their city and country, and supposing that
1 tx xTtpiQxivovTx. 2 Gen. xix. 17.
3 oi s-xiTVyxxvovrtg ys avTai). i oiix tiixxTxtppoiiyiTOg xvTo7g.

212 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
the only means left of rekindling the flame1 of human life lay
in their father and themselves, should, on such a supposition,
conceive the desire that the world should continue, shall their
conduct be deemed worse than that of the wise man who,
according to the hypothesis of the Stoics, acts becomingly in
having intercourse with his daughters in the case already sup
posed, of all men having been destroyed ? I am not unaware,
however, that some have taken offence at the desire 2 of Lot's
daughters, and have regarded their conduct as very wicked;
and have said that two accursed nations — Moab and Ammon —
have sprung from that unhallowed intercourse. And yet truly
sacred Scripture is nowhere found distinctly approving of their
conduct as good, nor yet passing sentence upon it as blame
worthy. Nevertheless, whatever be the real state of the case,
it admits not only of a figurative meaning, but also of being
defended on its own merits.3
Chapter xlvi.
Celsus, moreover, sneers at the " hatred " of Esau (to which,
I suppose, he refers) against Jacob, although he was a man
who, according to the Scriptures, is acknowledged to have been
wicked ; and not clearly stating the story of Simeon and Levi,
who sallied out [on the Shechemites] on account of the insult
offered to their sister, who had been violated by the son of the
Shechemite king, he inveighs against their conduct. And pass
ing on, he speaks of "brothers selling [one another]," alluding
to the sons of Jacob ; and of " a brother sold," Joseph to wit ;
and of " a father deceived," viz. Jacob, because he entertained
no suspicion of his sons when they showed him Joseph's coat
of many colours, but believed their statement, and mourned for
his son, who was a slave in Egypt, as if he were dead. And
observe in what a spirit of hatred and falsehood Celsus collects
together the statements of the sacred history ; so that wherever
it appeared to him to contain a ground of accusation he pro
duces the passage, but wherever there is any exhibition of
virtue worthy of mention — as when Joseph would not gratify
the lust of his mistress, refusing alike her allurements and her
1 ^Zirvpov. 2 (SovAi)pcxTi.
3 ixsi Xi tivx xxi xxff xvto diroAoyixv.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 213
threats — he does not even mention the circumstance ! He
should see, indeed, that the conduct of Joseph was far superior
to what is related of Bellerophon,1 since the former chose
rather to be shut up in prison than do violence to his virtue.
For although he might have offered a just defence against
his accuser, he magnanimously remained silent, entrusting his
cause to God.
Chapter xlvii.
Celsus next, for form's sake,2 and with great want of pre
cision, speaks of "the dreams of the chief butler and chief
baker, and of Pharaoh, and of the explanation of them, in con
sequence of which Joseph was taken out of prison in order to
be entrusted by Pharaoh with the second place in Egypt."
What absurdity, then, did the history contain, looked at even
in itself, that it should be adduced as matter of accusation by
this Celsus, who gave the title of True Discourse to a treatise
not containing doctrines, but full of charges against Jews and
Christians ? He adds : " He who had been sold behaved kindly
to his brethren (who had sold him), when they were suffering
from hunger, and had been sent with their asses to purchase
[provisions];" although he has not related these occurrences [in
his treatise]. But he does mention the circumstance of Joseph
.making himself known to his brethren, although I know not
with what view, or what absurdity he can point out in such an
occurrence ; since it is impossible for Momus himself, we might
say, to find any reasonable fault with events which, apart from
their figurative meaning, present so much that is attractive.
He relates, further, that " Joseph, who had been sold as a slave,
was restored to liberty, and went up with a solemn procession
to his father's funeral," and thinks that the narrative furnishes
matter of accusation against us, as he makes the following
remark : " By whom (Joseph, namely) the illustrious and
divine nation of the Jews, after growing up in Egypt to be a
multitude of people, was commanded to sojourn somewhere
beyond the limits of the kingdom, and to pasture their flocks
in districts of no repute." Now the words, " that they were
commanded to pasture their flocks in districts of no repute,"
1 Cf. Homer, Iliad, vi. 160.

214 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
are an addition, proceeding from his own feelings of hatred ;
for he has not shown that Goshen, the district of Egypt, is a
place of no repute. The exodus of the people from Egypt he
calls a flight, not at all remembering what is written in the
book of Exodus regarding the departure of the Hebrews from
the land of Egypt. We have enumerated these instances to
show that what, literally considered, might appear to furnish
ground of accusation, Celsus has not succeeded in proving to
be either objectionable or foolish, having utterly failed to estab
lish the evil character, as he regards it, of our Scriptures.
, j* Chapter xlviii.
In the next place, as if he had devoted himself solely to the
manifestation of his hatred and dislike of the Jewish and
Christian doctrine, he says : " The more modest of Jewish and
Christian writers give all these things an allegorical meaning ;"
and, "Because they are ashamed of these things, they take
refuge in allegory." Now one might say to him, that if we
must admit fables and fictions, whether written with a con
cealed meaning or with any other object, to be shameful narra
tives when taken in their literal acceptation,1 of what histories
can this be said more truly than of the Grecian? In these
histories, gods who are sons castrate the gods who are their
fathers, and gods who are parents devour their own children,
and a goddess-mother gives to the "father of gods and men"
a stone to swallow instead of his own son, and a father has
intercourse with his daughter, and a wife binds her own husband,
having as her allies in the work the brother of the fettered god
and his own daughter! But why should I enumerate these
absurd stories of the Greeks regarding their gods, which are
most shameful in themselves, even though invested with an
allegorical meaning? [Take the instance] where Chrysippus
of Soli, who is considered to be an ornament of the Stoic sect,
on account of his numerous and learned treatises, explains a
picture at Samos, in which Juno was represented as committing
unspeakable abominations with Jupiter. This reverend philo
sopher says in his treatises, that matter receives the spermatic
words2 of the god, and retains them within herself, in order to
1 kxtx ty\v wpuTYiv ixXox'tv. 2 touj GKsppcxTixoiig Aoyovg.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 215
ornament the universe. For in the picture at Samos Juno
represents matter, and Jupiter God. Now it is on account
of these, and of countless other similar fables, that we would
not even in word call the God of all things Jupiter, or
the sun Apollo, or the moon Diana. But we offer to the
Creator a worship which is pure, and speak with religious
respect of His noble works of creation, not contaminating even
in word the things of God ; approving of the language of Plato
in the Philebus, who would not admit that pleasure was a
goddess, "so great is my reverence, Protarchus," he says, "for
the very names of the gods." We verily entertain such reve
rence for the name of God, and for His noble works of creation,
that we would not, even under pretext of an allegorical mean
ing, admit any fable which might do injury to the young.
Chapter xlix.
If Celsus had read the Scriptures in an impartial spirit,
he would not have said that " our writings are incapable of
admitting an allegorical meaning." For from the prophetic
Scriptures, in which historical events are recorded (not from
the historical), it is possible to be convinced that the historical
portions also were written with an allegorical purpose, and were
most skilfully adapted not only to the multitude of the simpler
believers, but also to the few who are able or willing to inves
tigate matters in an intelligent spirit. If, indeed, those writers
at the present day who are deemed by Celsus the " more modest
of the Jews and Christians " were the [first] allegorical inter
preters of our Scriptures, he would have the appearance, per
haps, of making a plausible allegation. But since the very
fathers and authors of the doctrines themselves give them an
allegorical signification, what other inference can be drawn than
that they were composed so as to be allegorically understood
in their chief signification ? x And we shall adduce a few
instances out of very many to show that Celsus brings an empty
charge against the Scriptures, when he says " that they are
incapable of admitting an allegorical meaning." Paul, the
apostle of Jesus, says : " It is written in the law, Thou shalt
not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.
1 xxrx tov Toonyovpcsvov vovv.

2 1 6 ORIGEN A GAINST CELS US. [Book iv.
Doth God take care for oxen ? or saith He it altogether for our
sakes ? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he that
plougheth should plough in hope, and he that thresheth in hope
of partaking." x And in another passage f.he same Paul says :
" For it is written, For this cause shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they two shall
be one flesh. This is a great mystery ; but I speak concerning
Christ and the church."2 And again, in another place: "We
know that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud,
and in the sea."3 Then, explaining the history relating to the
manna, and that referring to the miraculous issue of the water
from the rock, he continues as follows : "And they did all eat
the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ."4 Asaph, moreover, who, in
showing the histories in Exodus and Numbers to be full of
difficulties and parables,5 begins in the following manner, as
recorded in the book of Psalms, where he is about to make
mention of these things : " Give ear, O my people, to my law :
incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my
mouth in parables ; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we
have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." 6
Chapter l.
Moreover, if the law of Moses had contained nothing which
was to be understood as having a secret meaning, the prophet
would not have said in his prayer to God, " Open Thou mine
eyes, and I will behold wondrous things out of Thy law ; " 7
whereas he knew that there was a veil of ignorance lying upon
the heart of those who read but do not understand the figurative
meaning, which veil is taken away by the gift of God, when
JHe hears him who has done all that he can,s and whojjyreason
of habit has his senses exercised to distinguish between good
1 Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10, and Deut. xxv. 4.
2 Cf. Eph. y. 31, 32. Cf. Gen. ii. 24. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. 5 Tpo/iA'/ipoxTX xxi irxpx/3oAxi.
e Cf. Ps. Ixxxvii. 1, 2. 7 Cf. Ps. cxix. 18.
3 i'KXV i'KXXOVGYl TOV ITXp tXVTOV 17XVTX TTOl'fGXVTOg.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 217
and evil, and who continually utters the prayer, " Open Thou
mine eyes, and I will behold wondrous things out of Thy law."
And who is there that, on reading of the dragon that lives in
the Egyptian river,1 and of the fishes which lurk in his scales,
or of the excrement of Pharaoh which fills the mountains of
Egypt,2 is not led at once to inquire who he is that fills the
Egyptian mountains with his stinking excrement, and what the
Egyptian mountains are ; and what the rivers in Egypt are, of
which the aforesaid Pharaoh boastfully says, " The rivers are
mine, and I have made them ; " 3 and who the dragon is, and
the fishes in its scales, — and this so as to harmonize with the
interpretation to be given of the rivers? But why establish
at greater length what needs no demonstration ? For to these
things applies the saying: "Who is wise, and he shall under
stand these things? or who is prudent, and he shall know
them ? " 4 Now I have gone at some length into the subject,
because I wished to show the unsoundness of the assertion of
Celsus, that " the more modest among the Jews and Christians
endeavour somehow to give these stories an allegorical significa
tion, although some of them do not admit of this, but on the
contrary are exceedingly silly inventions." Much rather are
the stories of the Greeks not only very silly, but very impious
inventions. For our narratives keep expressly in view the
multitude of simpler believers, which was not done by those
who invented the Grecian fables. And therefore not without
propriety does Plato expel from his state all fables and poems
of such a nature as those of which we have been speaking.
Chapter li.
Celsus appears to me to have heard that there are treatises
in existence which contain allegorical explanations of the law
of Moses. These, however, he could not have read ; for if he
had, he would not have said : " The allegorical explanations,
however, which have been devised, are much more shameful
and absurd than the fables themselves, inasmuch as they endea
vour to unite with marvellous and altogether insensate folly
things which cannot at all be made to harmonize." Lie seems
1 Cf. Ezek. xxix. 3. 2 Cf. Ezek. xxxii. 6.
3 Cf. Ezek. xxix. 3. 4 Cf. Hos. xiv. 9.

218 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv. ,
to refer in these words to the works of Philo, or to those of
still older writers, such as Aristobulus. But I conjecture that
Celsus has not read their books, since it appears to me that in
many passages they have so successfully hit the meaning [of
the sacred writers], that even Grecian philosophers would have
been captivated by 'their explanations ; for in their writings
we find not only a polished style, but exquisite thoughts and
doctrines, and a rational use of what Celsus imagines to be
fables in the sacred writings. I know, moreover, that Nume-
nius the Pythagorean — a surpassingly excellent expounder of
Plato, and who held a foremost place as a teacher of the
doctrines of Pythagoras — in many of his works quotes from the
writings of Moses and the prophets, and applies to the passages
in question a not improbable allegorical meaning, as in his work
called Epops, and in those which treat of " Numbers " and of
" Place." And in the third book of his dissertation on The Good,
he quotes also a narrative regarding Jesus — without, however,
mentioning His name — and gives it an allegorical signification,
whether successfully or the reverse I may state on another
occasion. He relates also the account respecting Moses, and
Jannes, and Jambres.1 But w7e are not elated on account of
this instance, though we express our approval of Numenius,
rather than of Celsus and other Greeks, because he was willing
to investigate our histories from a desire to acquire knowledge,
and was [duly] affected by them as narratives which were to be
allegorically understood, and which did not belong to the cate
gory of foolish compositions. Chapter lii.
After this, selecting from all the treatises which contain
allegorical explanations and interpretations, expressed in a lan
guage and style not to be despised, the least important,2 such
as might contribute, indeed, to strengthen the faith of the
multitude of simple believers, but were not adapted to impress
those of more intelligent mind, he continues : " Of such a
nature do I know the work to be, entitled Controversy between
one Papiscus and Jason, which is fitted to excite pity and hatred
instead of laughter. It is not my purpose, however, to confute
1 Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 8. 2 to siiTsAtGTtpov.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 219
the statements contained in such works ; for their fallacy is
manifest to all, especially if any one will have the patience to
read the books themselves. Rather do I wish to show that
Nature teaches this, that God made nothing that is mortal, but.
that His works, whatever they are, are immortal, and theirs
mortal. And the soul x is the work of God, while the nature
of the body is different. And in this respect there is no differ
ence between the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog,
and that of a man ; for the matter 2 is the same, and their cor
ruptible part is alike." Nevertheless I could wish that every
one who heard Celsus declaiming and assertins; that the treatise
entitled Controversy between Jason and Papiscus regarding
Christ was fitted to excite not laughter, but hatred, could take
the work into his hands, and patiently listen to its contents ;
that, finding in it nothing to excite hatred, he might condemn
Celsus out of the book itself. For if it be impartially perused,
it will be found that there is nothing to excite even laughter in
a work in which a Christian is described as conversing with a
Jew on the subject of the Jewish Scriptures, and proving that
the predictions regarding Christ fitly apply to Jesus ; although
the other disputant maintains the discussion in no ignoble style,
and in a manner not unbecoming the character of a Jew.
Chapter liii.
I do not know, indeed, how he could conjoin things that do
not admit of union, and which cannot exist together at the
same time in human nature, in saying, as he did, that "the
above treatise deserved to be treated both with pity and hatred."
For every one will admit that he who is the object of pity is
not at the same moment an object of hatred, and that he who
is the object of hatred is not at the same time a subject of pity.
Celsus, moreover, says that it was not his purpose to refute such
statements, because he thinks that their absurdity is evident to
all, and that, even before offering any logical refutation, they
will appear to be bad, and to merit both pity and hatred. But
we invite him who peruses this reply of ours to the charges of
Celsus to have ' patience, and to listen to our sacred writings
themselves, and, as far as possible, to form an opinion from
1 i^vxA. 2 vAyi.

220 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
their contents of the purpose of the writers, and of their
consciences and disposition of mind ; for he will discover that
they are men who strenuously contend for what they uphold, and
that some of them show that the history which they narrate
is one which they have both seen and experienced,1 which was
miraculous, and worthy of being recorded for the advantage of
their future hearers. Will any one indeed venture to say that
it is not the source and fountain of all blessing2 [to men] to
believe in the God of all things, and to perform all our actions
with the view of pleasing Him in everything whatever, and
not to entertain even a thought unpleasing to Him, seeing that
not only our words and deeds, but our very thoughts, will
be the subject of future judgment? And what other argu
ments would more effectually lead human nature to adopt a
virtuous life, than the belief or opinion that the supreme God
beholds all things, not only what is said and done, but even
what is thought by us ? And let any one who likes com
pare any other system which at the same time converts and
ameliorates, not merely one or two individuals, but, as far as
in it lies, countless numbers, that by the comparison of both
methods he may form a correct idea of the arguments which
dispose to a virtuous life.
Chapter liv.
But as in the words which I quoted from Celsus, which are a
paraphrase from the Timmus, certain expressions occur, such
as, " God made nothing mortal, but immortal things alone,
while mortal things are the works of others, and the soul is a
work of God, but the nature of the body is different, and there
is no difference between the body of a man and that of a bat,
or of a worm, or of a frog ; for the matter is the same, and
their corruptible part alike," — let us discuss these points for
a little ; and let us show that Celsus either does not disclose
his Epicurean opinions, or, as might be said by one person,
has exchanged them for better, or, as another might say, has
1 The reading in the text of Spencer and of the Benedictine ed. is x»t«-,
Ast(pfo7oxv, for which Lommatzsch has adopted the conjecture of Boherellus,
KXTXAYltySiiGXV. 2 o>$sAsixg.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 221
nothing in common save the name, with Celsus, the Epicurean.
For he ought, in giving expression to such opinions, and in
proposing to contradict not only us, but the by no means
obscure sect of philosophers who are the adherents of Zeno of
Citium, to have proved that the bodies of animals are not the
work of God, and that the great skill displayed in their con
struction did not proceed from the highest intelligence. And
he ought also, with regard to the countless diversities of plants,
which are regulated by an inherent, incomprehensible nature,1
and which have been created for the by no means despicable2
use of man in general, and of the animals which minister to
man, whatever other reasons may be adduced for their exist
ence,3 not only to have stated his opinion, but also to have
shown us that it was no perfect intelligence which impressed
these qualities upon the matter of plants. And when he had
once represented [various] divinities as the creators of all the
bodies, the soul alone being the work of God, why did not
he, who separated these great acts of creation, and apportioned
them among a plurality of creators, next demonstrate by some
convincing reason the existence of these diversities among divi
nities, some of which construct the bodies of men, and others
— those, say, of beasts of burden, and others — those of wild ani
mals ? And he who saw that some divinities were the creators
of dragons, and of asps, and of basilisks, and others of each
plant and herb according to its species, ought to have explained
the causes of these diversities. For probably, had he given
himself carefully to the investigation of each particular point,
he would either have observed that it was one God who was the
creator of all, and who made each thing with a certain object
and for a certain reason ; or if he had failed to observe this, he
would have discovered the answer which he ought to return to
those who assert that corruptibility is a -thing indifferent in
its nature ; and that there was no absurdity in a world which
consists of diverse materials, being formed by one architect,
who constructed the different kinds of things so as to secure
the good of the whole. Or, finally, he ought to have expressed
no opinion at all on so important a doctrine, since he did not
* inr* SVV~XpXOVGYig XpXVTXGTOV (pvctoig XlOlXOVpCSVUV.
2 irpog xpsiocv ovx tvxxTx(pp6v/irov. 3 oirug -s-ots ccTiXwj Svtuv.

222 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
intend to prove what he professed to demonstrate ; unless, in
deed, he who censures others for professing a simple faith, would
have us to believe his mere assertions, although he gave out that
he would not merely assert, but would prove his assertions.
Chapter lv.
But I maintain that, if he had had the patience (to use his own'
expression) to listen to the writings of Moses and the prophets, he*''
would have had his attention arrested by the circumstance that
the expression " God made" is applied to heaven and earth,
and to what is called the firmament, and also to the lights and
stars ; and after these, to the great fishes, and to every living
thing among creeping animals which the waters brought forth
after their kinds, and to every fowl of heaven after its kind ;
and after these, to the wild beasts of the earth after their kind,
and the beasts after their kind, and to every creeping thing upon
the earth after its kind ; and last of all to man. The expres
sion "made," however, is not applied to other things; but it is
deemed sufficient to say regarding light, " And it was light;"
and regarding the one gathering together of all the waters that
are under" the whole heaven, " It was so." And in like manner.
also, with regard to what grew upon the earth, where it is said,
" The earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after
its kind and after its likeness, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit,
whose seed is in itself, after its kind, upon the earth." Lie
would have inquired, moreover, whether the recorded commands
of God respecting the coming into existence of each part of the
world were addressed to one thing or to several;1 and he would
not lightly have charged with being unintelligible, and as having
no secret meaning, the accounts related in these books, either
by Moses, or, as ioe would say, by the Divine Spirit speaking in
Moses, from whom also he derived the power of prophesying ;
since he "knew both the present, and the future, and the
past," in a higher degree than those priests who are alleged by
the poets to have possessed a knowledge of these things.
Chapter lvi.
Moreover, since Celsus asserts that "the soul is the work

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 223
of God, but that the nature of body is different ; and that in
this respect there is no difference between the body of a bat, or
of a worm, or of a frog, and that of a man, for the matter is
the same, and their corruptible part alike," — we have to say in
answer to this argument of his, that if, since the same matter
underlies the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog, or of a
man, these bodies will differ in no respect from one another, it
is evident then that these bodies also will differ in no respect
from the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or the sky, or any other
thing which is called by the Greeks a god, cognisable by the
senses.1 For the same matter, underlying aZiHbodies, is, pro
perly speaking, without qualities and without form, and derives
its qualities from some [other] source, I know not whence, since
Celsus will have it that nothing corruptible can be the work of
God. Now the corruptible part of everything whatever, being
produced from the same underlying matter, must necessarily
be the same, by Celsus' own showing ; unless, indeed, finding
himself here hard pressed, he should desert Plato, who makes
the soul arise from a certain bowl,2 and take refuge with
Aristotle and the Peripatetics^jvho maintain that the ether is
immaterial,3 and consists of a fifth nature, separate from the
other four elements,4 against which view both the Platonists and
the Stoics have nobly protested. And we too, who are despised
by Celsus, will contravene it, seeing we are required to explain
and maintain the following statement of the prophet : " The
heavens shall perish, but Thou remainest : and they all shall
wax old as a garment ; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them
up, and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same."5 These
remarks, however, are sufficient in reply to Celsus, when he
asserts that " the soul is the work of God, but that the nature
of body is different ;" for from his argument it follows that
there is no difference between the body of a bat, or of a worm,
or of a frog, and that of a heavenly6 being.
Chapter lvii.
See, then, whether we ought to yield to one who, holding
1 xia6-fiTov faov. 2 Cf. Plato in Timxo. 3 xiiAov.

4 KspoirTug wxpx tx TSGGccpx GTOixsix livxt (piiGtug.
5 Cf. Ps. cii. 26, 27. • e

xtotptov..

224 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
such opinions, calumniates the Christians, and thus abandon a
doctrine which explains the difference existing among bodies
as due to the different qualities, internal and external, which
are implanted in them. For we, too, know that there are
"bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial;" and that "the glory
of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial another ;"
and that even the glory of the celestial bodies is not alike : for
" one is the glory of the sun, and another the glory of the
stars ;" and among the stars themselves, "one star differeth from
another star in glory."1 And therefore, as those who expect
the resurrection of the dead, we assert that the qualities which
are in bodies undergo change : since some bodies, which are sown
in corruption, are raised in incorruption ; and others, sown in dis
honour, are raised in glory ; and others, again, sown in weakness,
are raised in power ; and those which are sown natural bodies,
are raised as spiritual.2 That the matter which underlies bodies
is capable of receiving those qualities which the Creator pleases
to bestow, is a point which all of us who accept the doctrine of
providence firmly hold ; so that, if God so willed, one quality
is at the present time implanted in this portion of matter, and
afterwards another of a different and better kind. But since
there are, from the beginning of the world, laws3 established
for the purpose of regulating the changes of bodies, and which
will continue while the world lasts, I do not know whether,
when a new and different order of things has succeeded4 after
the destruction of the world, and what our Scriptures call the
end5 [of the ages], it is not wonderful that at the present time
a snake should be formed out of a dead man, growing, as the
multitude affirm, out of the marrow of the back,6 and that a
bee should spring from an ox, and a wasp from a horse, and a
beetle from an ass, and, generally, worms from the most of
bodies. Celsus, indeed, thinks that this can be shown to be
the consequence of none of these bodies being the work of God,
i Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 41, etc. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 44. 3 oloi.
4 xxivijg XixXt£,xpciv*g o'SoD xxi a?i?io/«?, etc. For XixXtt-xpcivvg, Boherellus
would read XixXsiopoivng. Cf. Origen, de Princip. iii. c. v.
5 GVVTSASIX.
6 Cf. Pliny, x. c. 66 : " Anguem ex medulla hominis spina? gigni accepi-
mus a multis." Cf. also Ovid, Metamorphos. xv. fab. iv.

Book iv. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 225
and that qualities (I know not whence it was so arranged that
one should spring out of another) are not the work of a divine
intelligence, producing the changes which occur in the qualities
of matter. Chapter lviii.
But we have something more to say to Celsus, when he
declares that " the soul is the work of God, and that the nature
of body is different," and puts forward such an opinion not
only without proof, but even without clearly defining his mean
ing ; for he did not make it evident whether he meant that
every soul is the work of God, or only the rational soul. This,
then, is what we have to say : If every soul is the work of God,
it is manifest that those of the meanest irrational animals are
God's work, so that the nature of all bodies is different from
that of the soul. He appears, however, in what follows, where
he says that "irrational animals are more beloved by God than
we, and have a purer knowledge of divinity," to maintain that
not only is the soul of man, but in a much greater degree
that of irrational animals, the work of God ; for this follows
from their being said to be more beloved by God than we.
Now if the rational soul alone be the work of God, then, in the
first place, he did not clearly indicate that such was his opinion ;
and in the second place, this deduction follows from his indefi
nite language regarding the soul — viz. whether not every one,
but only the rational, is the work of God — that neither is the
nature of all bodies different [from the soul]. But if the nature
of all bodies be not different, although the body of each animal
correspond to its soul, it is evident that the body of that animal
whose soul was the work of God, would differ from the body of
that animal in which dwells a soul which was not the work of
God. And so the assertion will be false, that there is no differ
ence between the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog,
and that of a man. Chapter lix.
For it would, indeed, be absurd that certain stones and
buildings should be regarded as more sacred or more profane
than others, according as they were constructed for the honour
ORIG.  VOL. II. p

226 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
of God, or for the reception of dishonourable and accursed
persons;1 while bodies should not differ from bodies, according
as they are inhabited by rational or irrational beings, and
according as these rational beings are the most virtuous or
most worthless of mankind. Such a principle of distinction,
indeed, has led some to deify the bodies of distinguished men,2
as having received a virtuous soul, and to reject and treat with
dishonour those of very wicked individuals. I do not maintain
that such a principle has been always soundly exercised, but
that it had its origin in a correct idea. Would a wise man,
indeed, after the death of Anytus and Socrates, think of bury
ing the bodies of both with like honours ? And would he
raise the same mound or tomb to the memory of both ? These
instances we have adduced because of the language of Celsus,
that "none of these is the work of God" (where the words
" of these" refer to the body of a man, or to the snakes which
come out of the body ; and to that of an ox, or of the bees
which come from the body of ail ox ; and to that of a horse,
or of an ass, and to the wasps which come from a horse, and
the beetles which proceed from an ass) ; for which reason we
have been obliged to return to the consideration of his state
ment, that " the soul is the work of God, but that the nature
of body is different."
Chapter lx.
Lie next proceeds to say, that " a common nature pervades
all the previously mentioned bodies, and one which goes and
returns the same amid recurring changes." s In answer to this,
it is evident from what has been already said, that not only
does a common nature pervade those bodies which have been
previously enumerated, but the heavenly bodies as well. And
if this is the case, it is clear also that, according to Celsus
(although I do not know whether it is according to truth), it is
one nature which goes and returns the same through all bodies
amid recurring changes. It is evident also that this is the case
in the opinion of those who hold that the world is to perish ;
while those also who hold the opposite view will endeavour to
1 GOIpCXTM. 2 tZv XlXpSpOVTUV.
8 xxi poix tig dpcoifinv iraAivTpoirov iovax xxi iirxviovaa.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 227
show, without the assumption of a fifth substance,1 that in their
judgment too it is one nature " which goes and returns the
same through all bodies amid recurring changes." And thus,
even that which is perishable remains in order to undergo a
change ;2 for the matter which underlies [all things], while its
properties perish, still abides, according to the opinion of those
who hold it to be uncreated. If, however, it can be shown by
any arguments not to be uncreated, but to have been created
for certain purposes, it is clear that it will not have the same
nature of permanency which it would possess on the hypothesis
of being uncreated. But it is not our object at present, in
answering the charges of Celsus, to discuss these questions of
natural philosophy.
Chapter lxi.
He maintains, moreover, that "no product of matter is
immortal." Now, in answer to this it may be said, that if no
product of matter is immortal, then either the whole world is
immortal, and thus not a product of matter, or it is not im
mortal. If, accordingly, the world is immortal (which is agree
able to the view of those who say that the soul alone is the
work of God, and was produced from a certain bowl), let
Celsus show that the world was not produced from a matter
devoid of qualities, remembering his own assertion that "no
product of matter is immortal." If, however, the world is not
immortal (seeing it is a product of matter), but mortal, does it
also perish, or does it not ? For if it perish, it will perish as
being a work of God; and then, in the event of the world
perishing, what will become of the soul, which is also a work
of God? Let Celsus answer* this! But if, perverting the
notion of immortality, he will assert that, although perishable,
it is immortal, because it does not really perish; that it is
capable of dying, but does not actually die, — it is evident that,
according to him, there will exist something which is at the
same time mortal and immortal, by being capable of both con
ditions ; and that which does not die will be mortal, and that
which is not immortal by nature will be termed in a peculiar
sense immortal, because it does not die ! According to what
1 oZpcx. 2 ovtoi Xs xxi to x7roAAvpitvov tig potTxfioAv]v Xtxpoivst.

228 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
distinction, then, in the meaning of words, will he maintain
that no product of matter is immortal? And thus you see
that the ideas contained in his writings, when closely examined
and tested, are proved not to be sound and incontrovertible.1
And after making these assertions he adds : " On this point
these remarks are sufficient ; and if any one is capable of
hearing and examining further, he will come to know [the
truth]." Let us, then, who in his opinion are unintelligent
individuals, see what will result from our being able to listen to
him for a little, and so continue our investigation.
Chapter lxii.
After these matters, then, he thinks that he can make us
acquainted in a few words with the questions regarding the
nature of evil, which have been variously discussed in many
important treatises, and which have received very opposite
explanations. His words are : " There neither were formerly,
nor are there now, nor will there be again, more or few7er evils
in the world [than have always been]. For the»nature of all
things is one and the same, and the generation of evils is
always the same." He seems to have paraphrased these words
from the discussions in the Thecetetus, where Plato makes
Socrates say : " It is neither possible for evils to disappear from
among men, nor for them to become established among the
gods," and so on. But he appears to me not to have under
stood Plato correctly, although professing to include all truth 2
in this one treatise, and giving to his own book against us the
title of A True Discourse. For the language in the Timceus,
where it is said, " When the gods purify the earth with water,"
shows that the earth, when purified with water, contains less
evil than it did before its purification. And this assertion, that
there at one time were fewer evils in the world, is one which
we make, in harmony with the opinion of Plato, because of the
language in the Theadetus, where he says that " evils cannot
disappear from among men."
1 XisAsyxSTXi oiix iiriXtxopotvx to ytvvxiov xxi xvxVTippYtTOv.
2 6 Tijf dAqfoixv ixictptAxpojixvuv.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 229
Chapter lxiti.
I do not understand how Celsus, while admitting the existence
of Providence, at least so far as appears from the language of this
book, can say that there never existed [at any time] either more
or fewer evils, but, as it were, a fixed number ; thus annihilat
ing the beautiful doctrine regarding the indefinite x nature of
evil, and asserting that evil, even in its own nature,2 is infinite.
Now it appears to follow from the position, that there never
have been, nor are now, nor ever will be, more or fewer evils
in the world ; that as, according to the view of those who hold
the indestructibility of the world, the equipoise of the elements
is maintained by a Providence (which does not permit one to
gain the preponderance over the others, in order to prevent the
destruction of the world), so a kind of Providence presides, as
it were, over evils (the number of which is fixed),3 to prevent
their being either increased or diminished ! In other ways,
too, are the arguments of Celsus concerning evil confuted, by
those philosophers who have investigated the subjects of good
and evil, and who have proved also from history that in former
times it was without the city, and with their faces concealed by
masks, that loose women hired themselves to those who wanted
them ; that subsequently, becoming more impudent, they laid
aside their masks, though not being permitted by the laws to
enter the cities, they [still] remained without them, until, as
the dissoluteness of manners daily increased, they dared [finally]
even to enter the cities. Such accounts are given by Chrysippus
in the introduction to his work on Good and Evil. From this
also it may be seen that evils both increase and decrease, viz.
that those individuals who were called "Ambiguous"4 used
formerly to present themselves openly to view, suffering and
committing all shameful things, while subserving the passions
of those who frequented their society ; but recently they have
been expelled [from the city] by the authorities.5 And of
countless evils which, owing to the spread of wickedness, have
made their appearance in human life, we may say that formerly
they did not exist. For the most ancient histories, which brin"-
1 xooigtov. " xxi tZ iXia Aoyoi. 3 togo7gXs Tvy-/,xvovGiv.
4 'A,«<p//3o?io/. 5 'Ayopxvopcoi.

230 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
innumerable other accusations against sinful men, know nothing
of the perpetrators of abominable x crimes.
Chapter lxiv.
And now, after these arguments, and others of a similar kind,
how can Celsus escape appearing in a ridiculous light, when he
imagines that there never has been in the past, nor will be in
the future, a greater or less number of evils ? For although
the nature of all things is one and the same, it does not at all
follow that the production of evils is a constant quantity.2
For although the nature of a certain individual is one and the
same, yet his mind, and his reason, and his actions, are not
always alike:3 there being a time when he had not yet attained
to reason ; and another, when, with the possession of reason, he
had become stained with wickedness, and when this increased
to a greater or less degree ; and again, a time when he devoted
himself to virtue, and made greater or less progress therein,
attaining sometimes the very summit of perfection, through
longer or shorter periods of contemplation.4 In like manner, we
may make the same assertion in a higher degree of the nature
of fhe"Tmiverse,5 that although it is one and the same in kind,
yet neither do exactly the same things, nor yet things that are
similar, occur in it ; for we neither have invariably productive
^ nor unproductive seasons, nor yet periods of continuous rain or
of drought. And so in the same way, with regard to virtuous
souls, there are neither appointed periods of fertility nor of
barrenness ; and the same is the case with the greater or less ¦
spread of evil. And those who desire to investigate all things
to the best of their ability, must keep in view this estimate of
evils, that their amount is not always the same, owing to the
working of a Providence which either preserves earthly things,
or purges them by means of floods and conflagrations ; and
effects this, perhaps, not merely with reference to things on
earth, but also to the whole universe of things 6 which stands in

3 oiix dsl tx xiiTX sot/ irspl to v)yspcovixov -xi/TOv, xxi toV Aoyov xvtqv, xxi
T«; Kpx'£,stg.
4 dsupixig. ' tZv oAuv. 6 tx iv oAos tZ xoopoos.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 231
need of purification, when the wickedness that is in it has
become great.
Chapter lxv.
After this Celsus continues : " It is not easy, indeed, for one
who is not a philosopher to ascertain the origin of evils, though
it is sufficient for the multitude to say that they do not proceed
from God, but cleave to matter, and have their abode among
mortal things ; while the course x of mortal things being the
same from beginning to end, the same things must always,
agreeably to the appointed cycles,2 recur in the past, present,
and future." Celsus here observes that it is not easy for one
who is not a philosopher to ascertain the origin of evils, as if
it were an easy matter for a philosopher to gain this knowledge,
while for one who is not a philosopher it was difficult, though still
possible, for such an one, although with great labour, to attain
it. Now, to this we say, that the origin of evils is a subject '
which is not easy even for a philosopher to master, and that
perhaps it is impossible even for such to attain a clear under
standing of it, unless it be revealed to them by divine inspira
tion, both what evils are, and how they originated, and how
they shall be made to disappear. But although ignorance of '
God is an evil, and one of the greatest of these is not to know
how God is to be served and worshipped, yet, as even Celsus
would admit, there are undoubtedly some philosophers who
have been ignorant of this, as is evident from the views of the
different philosophical sects ; whereas, according to our judg
ment, no one is capable of ascertaining the origin of evils who
does not know that it is wicked to suppose that piety is preserved
uninjured amid the laws that are established in different states,
in conformity with the generally prevailing ideas of government.3
No one, moreover, who has not heard what is related of him
who is called " devil," and of his " angels," and what he was
before he became a devil, and how he became such, and what
was the cause of the simultaneous apostasy of those who are
termed his angels, will be able to ascertain the origin of evils.
1 ¦xspioXog. 2 xxrx Tdg TtTxypcivxg dvxxvxA'/jGStg.
3 ftv] iyvuxug xxxov sTvxi to vopci^tiv svas/isixv oZ^taSxt iv to/? xxDtGTWxoal
xxtx Tug xoivoTspov voovpcivxg iroAiTilxg vopooig.

232 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
But he who would attain to this knowledge must learn more
accurately the nature of demons, and know that they are not
the work of God so far as respects their demoniacal nature, but
only in so far as they are possessed of reason ; and also what
their origin was, so that they became beings of such a nature,
that while converted into demons, the powers of their mind1
remain. And if there be any topic of human investigation
which is difficult for our nature to grasp, certainly the origin of
evils may be considered to be such.
Chapter lxvi.
Celsus in the next place, as if he were able to tell certain
secrets regarding the origin of evils, but chose rather to keep
silence, and say only what was suitable to the . multitude, con
tinues as follows : " It is sufficient to say to the multitude
regarding the origin of evils, that they do not proceed from
God, but cleave to matter, and dwell among mortal things."
It is true, certainly, that evils do not proceed from God ; for
according to Jeremiah, one of our prophets, it is certain that
" out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil
and good." 2 But to maintain that matter, dwelling among
mortal things, is the cause of evils, is in our opinion not true.
For it is the mind of each individual which is the cause of the
evil which arises in him, and this is evil in the abstract;3 while
the actions which proceed from it are wicked, and there is, to
speak with accuracy, nothing else in our view that is evil. I
.am aware, however, that this topic requires very elaborate treat
ment, which (by the grace of God enlightening the mind)
may be successfully attempted by him who is deemed by God
worthy to attain the necessary knowledge on this subject.
Chapter lxvii.
I do not understand how Celsus should deem it of advantage,
in writing a treatise against us, to adopt an opinion which
requires at least much plausible reasoning to make it appear,
as far as he can do so, that " the course of mortal things is the
same from beginning to end, and that the same things must
always, according to the appointed cycles, recur in the past,
2 Cf. Lam. iii. 38. 3 Jjt/s 'sgt'i to xxx.iv.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 233
present, and future." Now, if this be true, our free-will is
annihilated.1 For if, in the revolution of mortal things, the
same events must perpetually occur in the past, present, and
future, according to the appointed cycles, it is clear that, of
necessity, Socrates will always be a philosopher, and be con
demned for introducing strange gods and for corrupting the
youth. And Anytus and Melitus must always be his accusers,
and the council of the Areopagus must ever condemn him to
death by hemlock. And in the same way, according to the
appointed cycles, Phalaris must always play the tyrant, and
Alexander of Pherse commit the same acts of cruelty, and
those condemned to the [torture of the brazen] bull of Phalaris
continually pour forth their wailings from it. But if these
things be granted, I do not see how our free-will can be pre
served, or how praise or blame can be administered with pro
priety. We may say further to Celsus, in answer to such a
view, that " if the course of mortal things be always the same
from beginning to end, and if, according to the appointed
cycles, the same events must always occur in the past, present,
and future," then, according to the appointed cycles, Moses
must again come forth from Egypt with the Jewish people,
and Jesus again come to dwell in human life, and perform the
same actions which, [according to this view], he has done not
once, but countless times, as the periods have revolved. Nay,
Christians too will be the same in the appointed cycles ; and
Celsus will again write this treatise of his, which he has done
innumerable times before !
Chapter lxviii.
Celsus, however, says that it is only " the course of mortal
things which, according to the appointed cycles, must always
be the same in the past, present, and future;" whereas the
majority of the Stoics maintain that this is the case not only
with the course of mortal, but also with that of immortal things,
and of those whom they regard as gods. For after the con
flagration of the world,2 which has taken place countless times
in the past, and will happen countless times in the future, there
has been, and will be, the same arrangement of all things from

234 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
the beginning to the end. The Stoics, indeed, in endeavouring
to parry, I don't know how, the objections raised to their views,
allege that as cycle after cycle returns, all men will be alto
gether unchanged1 from those who lived in former cycles; so that
Socrates will not live again, but one altogether like to Socrates,
who will marry a wife exactly like Xanthippe, and will be ac
cused by men exactly like Anytus and Melitus. I do not under
stand, however, how the world is to be always the same, and one
individual not different from another, and yet the things in it
not the same, though exactly alike. But the main argument in
answer to the statements of Celsus and of the Stoics will be
more appropriately investigated elsewhere, since on the present
occasion it is not consistent with the purpose we have in view
to expatiate on these points.
Chapter lxix.
He continues to say, that "neither have visible things2 been
given to man [by God], but each individual thing comes into
existence and perishes for the sake of the safety of the whole,
passing agreeably to the change, which I have already men
tioned, from one thing to another." It is unnecessary, however,
to linger over the refutation of these statements, which have
been already refuted to the best of my ability. And the fol
lowing, too, has been answered, viz. that " there will neither be
more nor less good and evil among mortals." This point also
has been referred to, viz. that " God does not need to amend
His work afresh." 3 But it is not as a man who has imperfectly
designed some piece of workmanship, and executed it unskil
fully, that God administers correction to the world, in purifying
it by a flood or by a conflagration, but in order to prevent the
tide of evil from rising to a greater height ; and, moreover, I am
of opinion that it is at periods which are precisely determined
beforehand that He sweeps wickedness away, so as to contribute
to the good of the whole world.4 If, however, he should assert
that, after the disappearance of evil, it again comes into exist
ence, such questions will have to be examined in a special
treatise. It is, then, always in order to repair what has become
1 xKxpxAAxxTovg. 2 TX opZpctvx. 3 oiiTt t$ ©tZ xxivorspxg Ss? XiopduGSug.
4 ot/ xxi icxvrii TSTxypoivag avT'iiv dpxvi'^uv ovpotytpovTosg rZ itxvTi.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 235
faulty1 that God desires to amend His work afresh. For
although, in the creation of the world, all things had been
arranged by Him in the most beautiful and stable manner, He
nevertheless needed to exercise some healing power upon those
who were labouring under the disease of wickedness, and upon
a whole world, which was polluted as it were thereby. But
nothing has been neglected by God, or will be neglected by
Him ; for He does at each particular juncture what it becomes
Him to do in a perverted and changed world. And as a hus
bandman performs different acts of husbandry upon the soil
and its productions, according to the' varying seasons of the
year, so God administers entire ages of time, as if they were,
so to speak, so many individual years, performing during each
one of them what is requisite with a reasonable regard to the
care of the world; and this, as it is truly understood by God
alone, so also is it accomplished by Him.
Chapter lxx.
Celsus has made a statement regarding evils of the following
nature, viz., that " although a thing may seem to you to be evil,
it is by no means certain that it is so ; for you do not know what
is of advantage to yourself, or to another, or to the whole world."
Now this assertion is made with a certain degree of caution ; 2
and it hints that the nature of evil is not wholly wicked, because
that which may be considered so in individual cases, may con
tain something which is of advantage to the whole community.
However, lest any one should mistake my words, and find a
pretence of wrongdoing, as if his wickedness were profitable to
the world, or at least might be so, we have to say, that although
God, who preserves the free-will of each individual, may make
use of the evil of the wicked for the administration of the
world, so disposing them as to conduce to the benefit of the
whole ; yet, notwithstanding, such an individual is deserving of
censure, and as such has been appointed for a use, which is a
subject of loathing to each separate individual, although of
advantage to the whole community.3 It is as if one were to say
1 tx otyxApcXTX dvxAxpifixvsiy. 2 'ixti tI siiAx/iig.
3 xxi Zg ipsxTog xxtxt'ctxxtxi tig j#>£/'«> dirtvxTxlxv pch ixxGTO), xpi"''
fiOV Xt Tip KXVTt.

236 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
that in the case of a city, a man who had committed certain
crimes, and on account of these had been condemned to serve in
public works that were useful to the community, did something
that was of advantage to the entire city, while he himself was
engaged in an abominable task,1 in which no one possessed of
moderate understanding would wish to be engaged. Paul also,
the apostle of Jesus, teaches us that even the very wicked will
contribute to the good of the whole, while in themselves they
will be amongst the vile, but that the most virtuous men, too, will
be of the greatest advantage to the world, and will therefore on
that account occupy the noblest position. His words are : " But
in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver,
but also of wood and of earth ; and some to honour, and some
to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself, he shall be a
vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, pre
pared unto every good work." 2 These remarks I have thought it
necessary to make in reply to the assertion, that " although a
thing may seem to you to be evil, it is by no means certain that
it is so, for you do not know what is of advantage either to
yourself or to another," in order that no one may take occasion
from what has been said on the subject to commit sin, on the
pretext that he will thus be useful to the world.
Chapter lxxi.
But as, in what follows, Gelsus, not understanding that the
language of Scripture regarding God is adapted to an anthro-
popathic point of view, ridicules tRose passages which speak of
words of anger addressed to the ungodly, and of threatenings
directed against sinners, we have to say that, as we ourselves,
when talking with very young children, do not aim at exerting
our own power of eloquence,3 but, adapting ourselves to the
weakness of our charge, both say and do those things which
may appear to us useful for the correction and improvement
of the children as children, so the word of God appears to have
dealt with the history, making the capacity of the hearers, and
the benefit which they were to receive, the standard of the
appropriateness of its announcements [regarding Him]. And,
1 iv dirtvxTxiip npxypcxTi. 2 Cf. 1 Tim. ii. 20, 21.
8 oil TOV 'tXVTUV iv tZ Atysiv GTOxxfypctSx Xvvxtov. .

Book iv. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 237
generally, with regard to such a style of speaking about God,
we find in the book of Deuteronomy the following : " The
Lord thy God bare with your manners, as a man would bear
with the manners of his son." 2 It is, as it were, assuming the
manners of a man in order to secure the advantage of men that
the Scripture makes use of such expressions; for it would not
have been suitable to the condition of the multitude, that what
God had to say to them should be spoken by Him in a manner
more befitting the majesty of His own person. And yet he
who is anxious to attain a true understanding of Holy Scripture,
will discover the spiritual truths which are spoken by it to those
who are called " spiritual," by comparing the meaning of what
is addressed to those of weaker mind with what is announced
to such as are of acuter understanding, both meanings being
frequently found in the same passage by him who is capable
of comprehending it.
Chapter lxxii.
We speak, indeed, of the "wrath" of God. We do not,
however, assert that it indicates any " passion " on His part,
but that it is something which is assumed in order to discipline
by stern means those sinners who have committed many and
grievous sins. For that which is called God's "wrath," and
" anger," is a means of discipline; and that such a view is agree
able to Scripture, is evident from what is said in the sixth Psalm,
" O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in
Thy hot displeasure;" 2 and also in Jeremiah, " O Lord, correct
me, but with judgment : not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring
me to nothing." 3 Any one, moreover, who reads in the second
book of Kings of the " wrath " of God, inducing David to
number the people, and finds from the first book of Chronicles
that it was the devil who suggested this measure, will, on com
paring together the two statements, easily see for what purpose
the " wrath " is mentioned, of which " wrath," as the Apostle
Paul declares, all men are children : " We were by nature
1 Cf. Deut. i. 31. Origen appears to have read, not irpofpop-msv, the com
mon reading (Heb. xtW), but 'tT,poKotpopr,Gtv, the reading of the Codex
Alex. 2 Cf. Ps. vi. 1. a Cf. Jer> x. 24-

238 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
children of wrath, even as others." x Moreover, that " wrath "
is no passion on the part of God, but that each one brings it
upon himself by his sins, will be clear from the further state
ment of Paul : " Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness,
and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ? But after thy
hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judg
ment of God." How, then, can any one treasure up for himself
" wrath" against a "day of wrath," if " wrath" be understood in
the sense of "passion?" or how can the "passion of wrath" be
a help to discipline ? Besides, the Scripture, which tells us not
to be angry at all, and which says in the thirty-seventh Psalm,
"Cease from anger, and forsake wrath,"2 and which commands
us by the mouth of Paul to "put off all these, anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication," 3 would not involve
God in the same passion from which it would have us to be
altogether free. It is manifest, further, that the language used
regarding the wrath of God is to be understood figuratively from
what is related of His " sleep," from which, as if awaking Him,
the prophet says : " Awake, why sleepest Thou, Lord ? " 4 and
again : " Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a
mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine." 5 If, then, " sleep"
must mean something else, and not what the first acceptation of
the word conveys, why should not " wrath" also be understood
in a similar way? The "threatenings," again, are intimations
of the [punishments] which are to befall the wicked : for it is
as if one were to call the words of a physician " threats,"
when he tells his patients, " I will have to use the knife, and
apply cauteries, if you do not obey my prescriptions, and
regulate your diet and mode of life in such a way as I direct
you." It is no human passions, then, which we ascribe to God,
nor impious opinions which we entertain of Him ; nor do we
err when we present the various narratives concerning Him,
drawn from the Scriptures themselves, after careful comparison
one with another. For those who are wise ambassadors of the
" word " have no other object in view than to free as far as
1 Cf. Eph. ii. 3. ' 2 Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 8. 3 Cf. Col. iii. 8.
4 Ps. xliv. 23. 5 Cf. Ps. Ixxviii. 65.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 239
they can their hearers from weak opinions, and to endue them
with intelligence. Chapter lxxiii.
And as a sequel to his non-understanding of the statements
regarding the " wrath " of God, he continues : " Is it not
ridiculous to suppose that, whereas a man, who became angry
with the Jews, slew them all from the youth upwards, and
burned their city (so powerless were they to resist him), the
mighty God, as they say, being angry, and indignant, and
uttering threats, should, [instead of punishing them,] send His
own Son, who endured the sufferings which He did?" If the
Jews, then, after the treatment which they dared to inflict upon
Jesus, perished with all their youth, and had their city consumed
by fire, they suffered this punishment in consequence of no
other wrath than that which they treasured up for themselves ;
for the judgment of God against them, which was determined
by the divine appointment, is termed "wrath" agreeably to a
traditional usage of the Hebrews. And what the Son of the
mighty God suffered, He suffered voluntarily for the salvation
of men, as has been stated to the best of my ability in the pre
ceding pages. He then continues : " But that I may speak
not of the Jews alone (for that is not my object), but of the
whole of nature, as I promised, I will bring out more clearly
what has been already stated." Now what modest man, on
reading these words, and knowing the weakness of humanity,
would not be indignant at the offensive nature of the promise
to give an account of the " whole of nature," and at an arro
gance like that which prompted him to inscribe upon his book
the title which he ventured to give it [of a True Discourse] ?
But let us see what he has to say regarding the " whole of
nature," and what he is to place " in a clearer light."
Chapter lxxiv.
He next, in many words, blames us for asserting that God
made all things for the sake of man. Because from the history
of animals, and from the sagacity manifested by them, he would
show that all things came into existence not more for the sake
of man than of the irrational animals. And here he seems to

240 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
me to speak in a similar manner to those who, through dislike of
their enemies, accuse them of the same things for which their
own friends are commended. For as, in the instance referred
to, hatred blinds these persons from seeing that they are accusing
their very dearest friends by the means through which they
think they are slandering their enemies ; so in the same way,
Celsus also, becoming confused in his argument, does not see
that he is bringing a charge against the philosophers of the
Porch, who, not amiss, place man in the foremost rank, and
rational nature in general before irrational animals, and who
maintain that Providence created all things mainly on account
of rational nature. Rational beings, then, as being the principal
ones, occupy the place, as it were, of children in the womb,
while irrational and soulless beings hold that of the envelope
which is created along with the child.1 I think, too, that as in
cities the superintendents of the goods and market discharge
their duties for the sake of no other than human beings, while
dogs and other irrational animals have the benefit of the super
abundance ; so Providence provides in a special manner for
rational creatures ; while this also follows, that irrational
creatures likewise enjoy the benefit of what is done for the
sake of man. And as he is in error who alleges that the super
intendents of the markets make provision in no greater degree
for men than for dogs, because dogs also get their share of the
goods ; so in a far greater degree are Celsus and they who
think with him guilty of impiety towards the God who makes
provision for rational beings, in asserting that His arrangements
are made in no greater degree for the sustenance of human
beings than for that of plants, and trees, and herbs, and
thorns.
Chapter lxxv.
For, in the first place, he is of opinion that " thunders, and
lightnings, and rains are not the works of God," — thus showing
more clearly at last his Epicurean leanings ; and in the second
place, that " even if one were to grant that these were the
xxi Aoyov posv txst TxAoyixd, xitsp IgtI irpoyiyovpomx, vrxtXav ysvvoip'Avoiv'
tx o xAoyx xxi tx xipvxx xoipiov cvyxTl^opotvov tZ TXtXlO).

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 241
works of God, they are brought into existence not more for
the support of us who are human beings, than for that of
Plants, and trees, and herbs, and thorns," — maintaining, like a
true Epicurean, that these things are the product of chance,
aSnd not the work of Providence. For if these things are of
na more use to us than to plants, and trees, and herbs, and
th«rns, it is evident either that they do not proceed from Provi
dence at all, or from a providence which does not provide for us
in aty;reater degree than for trees, and herbs, and thorns. Now,
eithe.* of these suppositions is impious in itself, and it would be
fooh's. Ii to refute such statements by answering any one who
brongi Wit against us the charge of impiety ; for it is manifest to
every c n\ne, from what has been said, who is the person guilty of
impiety^- In the next place, he adds : " Although you may say
that tl Bhese things, viz. plants, and trees, and herbs, and thorns,
groy\ .it! for the use of men, why will you maintain that they grow
for (mettie use of men rather than for that of the most savage of
irrati sajonal animals?" Let Celsus then say distinctly that the
gre- at diversity among the products of the earth is not the work
of * Providence, but that a certain fortuitous concurrence of
a/ Aoms1 gave birth to qualities so diverse, and that it was owing
t f\ chance that so many kinds of plants, and trees, and herbs re-
semoif! one another, and that no disposing reason gave existence
to them,2 and that they do not derive their origin from an under
standing that is beyond all admiration. We Christians, however,
who are devoted to the worship of the only God, who created
these things, feel grateful for them to Him who made them, be
cause not only for us, but also (on our account) for the animals
which are subject to us, He has prepared such a home,3 seeing
" He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the
service of man, that He may bring forth food out of the earth,
and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make
his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."4
But that He should have provided food even for the most
savage animals is not matter of surprise, for these very animals
are said by some who have philosophized [upon the subject] to
have been created for the purpose of affording exercise to the
1 gvvtvxi'x Tig xTopiuv. 2 oi/Xsig Koyog tsxmxo; vnioTYiotv xvtx.
3 Igtixv. 4 Cf. Ps. civ. 14, 15.
ORIG. — VOL. II. Q

242 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
rational creature. And one of our own wise men says some
where : " Do not say, What is this ? or Wherefore is that ? for
all things have been made for their uses. And do not say,
What is this ? or Wherefore is that ? for everything shall ba
sought out in its season." 1
Chapter lxxvi.
After this, Celsus, desirous of maintaining that Provide/nce
created the products of the earth, not more on our acc/bunt
than on that of the most savage animals, thus proceeds : 1« We
indeed by labour and suffering earn a scanty and toilsome
subsistence,2 while all things are produced for them vifothout
their sowing and ploughing." He does not observe thfT\t God,
wishing to exercise the human understanding in all c »0untries
(that it might not remain idle and unacquainted with thel , arts),
created man a being full of wants,3 in order that by v J-rU-tue
of his very needy condition he might be compelled to bcr *j the
inventor of arts, some of which minister to his subsistence FP, and
others to his protection. For it was better that those » x who
would not have sought out divine things, nor engaged in i7a,:1ie
study of philosophy, should be placed in a condition of war|ie 't,
in order that they might employ their understanding in thf- \s
invention of the arts, than that they should altogether 7eglect
the cultivation of their minds, because their condition was one
of abundance. The want of the necessaries of human life led to
the invention on the one hand of the art of husbandry, on the
other to that of the cultivation of the vine ; again, to the art of
gardening, and the arts of carpentry and smithwork, by means
of which were formed the tools required for the arts which mini
ster to the support of life. The want of covering, again, intro
duced the art of weaving, which followed that of wool-carding
and spinning ; and again, that of house-building : and thus the
intelligence of men ascended even to the art of architecture. The
want of necessaries caused the products also of other places to be
conveyed, by means of the arts of sailing and pilotage,4 to those
who were without them ; so that even on that account one
might admire the Providence which made the rational being
1 Cf. Ecclus. xxxix. 21, and 16, 17. 2 pcoAig xxi iiwrovag.
3 imXtq. 4 Xix vxvTixqg xxi xv^tpvrrrtxv)s.

Bookiv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 243
subject to want in a far higher degree than the irrational
animals, and yet all with a view to his advantage. For the
irrational animals have their food provided for them, because
there is not in them even an impulse1 towards the invention
of the arts. They have, besides, a natural covering ; for they
are provided either with hair, or wings, or scales, or shells.
Let the above, then, be our answer to the assertions of Celsus,
when he says that " we indeed by labour and suffering earn a
scanty and toilsome subsistence, while all things are produced
for them without their sowing and ploughing."
Chapter lxxvii.
In the next place, forgetting that his object is to accuse both
Jews and Christians, he quotes against himself an iambic verse
of Euripides, which is opposed to his view, and joining issue
with the words, charges them with being an erroneous state
ment. His words are as follow : "But if you will quote the
saying of Euripides, that
' The Sun and Night are to mortals slaves,'2
why should they be so in a greater degree to us than to
ants and flies? For the night is created for them in order
that they may rest, and the day that they may see and re
sume their work." Now it is undoubted, that not only have
certain of the Jews and Christians declared that the sun and
the heavenly bodies 3 are our servants ; but he also has said this,
who, according to some, is the philosopher of the stage,4 and
who was a hearer of the lectures on the philosophy of nature
delivered by Anaxagoras. But this man asserts that all
things in the world are subject to all rational beings, — one
rational nature being taken to represent all, on the principle of
a part standing for the whole ;5 which, again, clearly appears
from the verse :
" The Sun and Night are to mortals slaves."
Perhaps the tragic poet meant the day when he said the sun,
1 dtpoppoviv. 2 Cf. Eurip. Phceniss. v. 512. 3 t<£ iv ovpxvcp.
4 6 xxtx Tivxg 'SxYivtxog <piAiiGo<pog. Euripides himself is the person alluded
to. He is called by Athenanis and Clemens Alexandrinus {Strom, v.), 6 Wl
Ti)g GXYivqg (piAoGOpog. — De LA EUE.
5 avvsxXoxnoZg.

244 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
inasmuch as it is the cause of the day, — teaching that those
things which most need the day and night are the things which
are tinder the moon, and other things in a less degree than
those which are upon the earth. Day and night, then, are
subject to mortals, being created for the sake of rational beings.
And if ants and flies, which labour by day and rest by night,
have, besides, the benefit of those things which were created
for the sake of men, we must not say that day and night were
brought into being for the sake of ants and flies, nor must
we suppose that they were created for the sake of nothing, but,
agreeably to the design of Providence, were formed for the
sake of man. Chapter lxxviii.
He next proceeds further to object against himself1 what is
said on behalf of man, viz. that the irrational animals were
created on his account, saying : " If one were to call us the
lords of the animal creation because we hunt the other animals
and live upon their flesh, we would say, Why were not we
rather created on their account, since they hunt and devour us?
Nay, we require nets and weapons, and the assistance of many
persons, along with dogs, when engaged in the chase ; while
they are immediately and spontaneously provided by nature with
weapons which easily bring us under their power." And'here
we may observe, that the gift of understanding has been be
stowed upon us as a mighty aid, far superior to any weapon
which wild beasts may seem to possess. We, indeed, who are
far weaker in bodily strength than the beasts, and shorter in
stature than some of them, yet by means of our understanding
obtain the mastery, and capture the huge elephants. We
subdue by our gentle treatment those animals whose nature it
is to be tamed, while with those whose nature is different, or
which do not appear likely to be of use to us when tamed,
we take such precautionary measures, that when we desire it,
we keep such wild beasts shut up ; and when we need the flesh
of their bodies for food, we slaughter them, as we do those
beasts which are not of a savage nature. The Creator, then,
has constituted all things the servants of the rational being
1 kuvrZ. du(}v7?o(pip$t.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 245
and of his natural understanding. For some purposes we
require dogs, say as guardians of our sheep-folds, or of our
cattle-yards, or goat-pastures, or of our dwellings ; and for
other purposes we need oxen, as for agriculture ; and for others,
again, we make use of those which bear the yoke, or beasts of
burden. And so it may be said that the race of lions, and
bears, and leopards, and wild boars, and such like, has been
given to us in order to call into exercise the elements of the
manly character that exists within us.
Chapter lxxix.
In the next place, in answer to the human race, who per
ceive their own superiority, which far exceeds that of the irra
tional animals, he says : " With respect to your assertion, that
God gave you the power to capture wild beasts, and to make
your own use of them, we would say that, in all probability,
before cities were built, and arts invented, and societies such
as now exist were formed, and weapons and nets employed,
men were generally caught and devoured by wild beasts, while
wild beasts were very seldom captured by men." Now, in
reference to this, observe that although men catch wild beasts,
and wild beasts make prey of men, there is a great difference
between the case of such as by means of their understanding
obtain the mastery over those whose superiority consists in their
savage and cruel nature, and that of those who do not make
use of their understanding to secure their safety from injury
by wild beasts. But when Celsus says, "before cities were
built, and arts invented, and societies such as now exist were
formed," he appears to have forgotten what he had before said,
that "the world was uncreated and incorruptible, and that it
was only the things on earth which underwent deluges and con
flagrations, and that all these things did not happen at the same
time." Now let it be granted that these admissions on his
part are entirely in harmony with our views, though not at all
with him and his statements made above ; yet what does it all
avail to prove that in the beginning men were mostly captured
and devoured by wild beasts, while wild beasts were never
caught by men ? For, since the world was created in con
formity with the will of Providence, and God presided over the

246 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
universe of things, it was necessary that the elements1 of the
human race should at the commencement of its existence be
placed under some protection of the higher powers, so that
there might be formed from the beginning a union of the
divine nature with that of men. And the poet of Ascra, per
ceiving this, sings :
" For common then were banquets, and common were seats,
Alike to immortal gods and mortal men." 2
Chapter lxxx.
Those Holy Scriptures, moreover, which bear the name of
Moses, introduce the first men as hearing divine voices and
oracles, and beholding sometimes the angels of God coming
to visit them. For it was probable that in the beginning
of the world's existence human nature would be assisted to a
greater degree [than afterwards], until progress had been made
towards the attainment of understanding and the other virtues,
and the invention of the arts, and they should thus be able to
maintain life of themselves, and no longer stand in need of
superintendents, and of those to guide them who do so with a
miraculous manifestation of the means which subserve the will
of God. Now it follows from this, that it is false that "in
the beginning men were captured and devoured by wild beasts,
while wild beasts were very seldom caught by men." And
from this, too, it is evident that the following statement of
Celsus is untrue, that " in this way God rather subjected men
to wild beasts." For God did not subject men to wild beasts,
but gave wild beasts to be a prey to the understanding of man,
and to the arts, which are directed against them, and which are
the product of the understanding. For it was not without the
help of God3 that men desired for themselves the means of
protection against wild beasts, and of securing the mastery over
them.
Chapter lxxxi.
Our noble opponent, however, not observing how many
philosophers there are who admit the existence of Providence,
1 ^UTCVpX.
2 Cf. Hesiod, Fragmenta Incerta, ed. Goettling, p. 231.
3 ou yxp xtossi.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 247
and who hold that' Providence created all things for the sake
of rational beings, overturns as far as he can those doctrines
which are of use in showing the harmony that prevails in these
matters between Christianity and philosophy ; nor does he see
how great is the injury done to religion from accepting the
statement that before God there is no difference between a
man and an ant or a bee, but proceeds to add, that " if men
appear to be superior to irrational animals on this account, that
they have built cities, and make use of a political constitution,
and forms of government, and sovereignties,1 this is to say
nothing to the purpose, for ants and bees do the same. Bees,
indeed, have a sovereign, who has followers and attendants ; and
there occur among them wars and victories, and slaughterings
of the vanquished,2 and cities and suburbs, and a succession of
labours, and judgments passed upon the idle and the wicked ;
for the drones are driven away and punished." Now here he]
did not observe the difference that exists between what is donei
after 'reason and consideration, and what is the result of an I
irrational nature, and is purely mechanical. For the origin of j
these things is not explained by the existence of any rational
principle in those who make them, because they do not possess
any such principle ; but the most ancient Being, who. is also the
Son of God, and the King of all things that exist, has created
an irrational nature, which, as being irrational, acts as a help to
those who are deemed worthy of reason. Cities, accordingly,
were established among men, with many arts and well-arranged
laws ; while constitutions, and governments, and sovereignties
among men are either such as are properly so termed, and
which exemplify certain" virtuous tendencies and workings, or
they are those which are improperly so called, and which were
devised, so far as could be done, in imitation of the former :
for it was by contemplating these that the most successful
legislators established the best constitutions, and governments,
and sovereignties. None of these things, however, can be
found among irrational animals, although Celsus may transfer

" Nota xipiatig hoc loco sumi pro internecioni-
bus, cjedibus. Haud Scio an alibi repenatur pari significatu. Forte etiam
scribendum xxQxioiGtig" — Ru^os.

248 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookiv.
rational names, and arrangements which belong to rational
beings, as cities and constitutions, and rulers and sovereignties,
even to ants and bees ; in respect to which matters, however, ants
and bees merit no approval, because they do not act from reflec
tion. But we ought tcradmire the divine nature, which extended
even to irrational animals the capacity, as it were, of imitating
rational beings, perhaps with a view of putting rational beings
to shame ; so that by looking upon ants, for instance, they
might become more industrious and more thrifty in the man
agement of their goods ; while, by considering the bees, they
might place themselves in subjection to their Ruler, and take
their respective parts in those constitutional duties which are
of use in ensuring the safety of cities.
Chapter lxxxii.
Perhaps also the so-called wars among the bees convey in
struction as to the manner in which wars, if ever there arise
a necessity for them, should be waged in a just and orderly
way among men. But the bees have no cities or suburbs ;
while their hives and hexagonal cells, and succession of labours,
are for the sake of men, who require honey for many purposes,
both for cure of disordered bodies, and as a pure article of
food. Nor ought we to compare the proceedings taken by the
bees against the drones with the judgments and punishments
inflicted on the idle and wicked in cities. But, as I formerly
said, we ought on the one hand in these things to admire the
divine nature, and on the other to express our admiration of
man, who is capable of considering and admiring all things (as
co-operating with Providence), and who executes not merely
the works which are determined by the providence of God, but
also those which are the consequences of his own foresight.
Chafter lxxxiii.
After Celsus has finished speaking of the bees, in order to
depreciate (as far as he can) the cities, and constitutions, and
governments, and sovereignties not only of us Christians, but
of all mankind, as well as the wars which men undertake on
behalf of their native countries, he proceeds, by way of digres
sion, to pass a eulogy upon the ants, in order that, while

Book iv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 249
praising them, he may compare the measures which men take
to secure their subsistence with those adopted by these insects,1
and so evince his contempt for the forethought which makes
provision for winter, as being nothing higher than the irrational
providence of the ants, as he regards it. Now might not some
of the more simple-minded, and such as know not how to look
into the nature of all things, be turned away (so far, at least, as
Celsus could accomplish it) from helping those who are weighed
down with the burdens [of life], and from sharing their toils,
when he says of the ants, that " they help one another with
their loads, when they see one of their number toiling under
them ?" For he who needs to be disciplined by the word, but
who does not at all understand2 its voice, will say : " Since,
then, there is no difference between us and the ants, even when
we help those who are weary with bearing their heavy burdens,
why should we continue to do so to no purpose ? " And would
not the ants, as being irrational creatures, be greatly puffed up,
and think highly of themselves, because their works were com
pared to those of men ? while men, on the other hand, who
by means of their reason are enabled to hear how their philan
thropy3 towards others is contemned, would be injured, so
far as could be effected by Celsus and his arguments : for he
does not perceive that, while he wishes to turn away from
Christianity those who read his treatise, he turns away also the
sympathy of those who are not Christians from those who bear
the heaviest burdens [of life]. Whereas, had he been a philo
sopher, who was capable of perceiving the good which men may
do each other, he ought, in addition to not removing along with
Christianity the blessings which are found amongst men, to have
lent his aid to co-operate (if he had it in his power) with those
principles of excellence which are common to Christianity and
the rest of mankind. Moreover, even if the ants set apart in a
place by themselves those grains which sprout forth, that they
may not swell into bud, but may continue throughout the year
as their food, this is not to be deemed as evidence of the exist
ence of reason among ants, but as the work of the universal
1 TrxpxfixAvi Tip Aoyip irpog Toiig povppoyixxg. " Verba ". to Aoyop irpog Toig
pcippi,Y,xxg addititia vidcntur et recidenda." — Bu^us.
2 tTrxi'av.

250 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
mother, Nature, which adorned even irrational animals, so
that even the most insignificant is not omitted, but bears traces
of the reason implanted in it by nature. Unless, indeed, by
these assertions Celsus means obscurely to intimate (for in.
many instances he would like to adopt Platonic ideas) that all
souls are of the same species, and that there is no difference
between that of a man and those of ants and bees, which is the
act of one wdio would bring down the soul from the vault of
heaven, and cause it to enter not only a human body, but that
of an animal. Christians, however, will not yield their assent
to such opinions : for they have been instructed before now that
the human soul was created in the image of God ; and they see
that it is impossible for a nature fashioned in the divine image
to have its [original] features altogether obliterated, and to
assume others, formed after I know not what likeness of irra
tional animals.
Chapter lxxxiv.
And since he asserts that, " when ants die, the survivors set
apart a special place [for their interment], and that their ancestral
sepulchres such a place is," we have to answer, that the greater
the laudations which he heaps upon irrational animals, so much
the more does he magnify (although against his will) the work
of that reason which arranged all things in order, and points
out the skill1 which exists among men, and which is capable
of adorning by its reason even the gifts which are bestowed by
nature on the irrational creation. But why do I say "irrational,"
since Celsus is of opinion that these animals, which, agreeably
to the common ideas of all men, are termed irrational, are not
really so ? Nor does he regard the ants as devoid of reason,
who professed to speak of " universal nature," and who boasted
of his truthfulness in the inscription of his book. For, speak
ing of the ants conversing with one another, he uses the fol
lowing language: "And when they meet one another they
enter into conversation, for which reason they never mistake
their way; consequently they possess a full endowment of
reason, and some common ideas on certain general subjects, and
a voice by which they express themselves regarding accidental
1 ivrpsxsixii.

Bookiv.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 251
things."1 Now conversation between one man and another is
...
carried on by means of a voice, which gives expression to the
meaning intended, and which also gives utterances concerning
what are called " accidental things ; " but to say that this was
the case with ants would be a most ridiculous assertion.
Chapter lxxxv.
He is not ashamed, moreover, to say, in addition to these
statements (that the unseemly character2 of his opinions may
be manifest to those who will live after him) : " Come now, if
one were to look down from heaven upon earth, in what respect
would our actions appear to differ from those of ants and
bees ? " Now does he who, according to his own supposition,
looks from heaven upon the proceedings of men and ants, look
upon their bodies alone, and not rather have regard to the con
trolling reason which is called into action by reflection ; 3
while, on the other hand, the guiding principle of the latter is
irrational, and set in motion irrationally by impulse and fancy,
in conjunction with a certain natural apparatus?4 But it
is absurd to suppose that he who looks from heaven upon
earthly things would desire to look from such a distance upon
the bodies of men and ants, and would not rather consider the
nature of the guiding principles, and the source of impulses,
whether that be rational or irrational. And if he once look
upon the source of all impulses, it is manifest that he would
behold also the difference which exists, and the superiority of
man, not only over ants, but even over elephants. For he who
looks from heaven will see among irrational creatures, however
large their bodies, no other principle 6 than, so to speak, irration
ality ;6 while amongst rational beings he will discover reason, the
common possession of men, and of divine and heavenly beings,
and perhaps of the supreme God Himself, on account of which
1 oiixovv xxi Aoyov GvpoirA'/ipoiGig 'tGit Trap'1 xiiToig, xxi xoivxl sviioixt xxSoAi-
xZv, tivoiv xxi (pavr), -xxi TvyxxvovTX GYipcxivoposvx.
2 dGXYIptoovviiv.
3 oil xxTXVOti Xs to Aoyixov Yiytpoovixov xxi AoyiapoZ xivovpisvov ;
1 pi-ZTX Ttvog <p\
' dpx'hv.
6 ty]v dAoyixv.

252 ORIGEN A GAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
man is said to have been created in the image of God, for the
image of the Supreme God is his reason.1
Chapter lxxxvi.
Immediately after this, as if doing his utmost to reduce the
human race to a still lower position, and to bring them to the
level of the irrational animals, and desiring to omit not a single
circumstance related of the latter which manifests their great
ness, he declares that "in certain individuals among the irra
tional creation there exists the power of sorcery ; " so that even
in this particular men cannot specially pride themselves, nor
wish to arrogate a superiority over irrational creatures. And
the following are his words : " If, however, men entertain lofty
notions because of their possessing the power of sorcery, yet
even in that respect are serpents and eagles their superiors in
wisdom; for they are acquainted with many prophylactics against
persons and diseases, and also with the virtues of certain stones
which help to preserve their young. If men, however, fall in
with these, they think that they have gained a wonderful pos
session." Now, in the first place, I know not why he should
designate as sorcery the knowledge of natural prophylactics
displayed by animals, — whether that knowdedge be the result
of experience, or of some natural power of apprehension ; 2 for
the term " sorcery " has by usage been assigned to something
else. Perhaps, indeed, he wishes quietly, as an Epicurean, to
censure the entire use of such arts, as resting only on the
professions of sorcerers. However, let it be granted him that
men do pride themselves greatly upon the knowledge of such
arts, whether they are sorcerers or not: how can serpents
be in this respect wiser than men, when they make use of the
well-known fennel3 to sharpen their power of vision and to
produce rapidity of movement, having obtained this natural
power not from the exercise of reflection, but from the con
stitution of their body,4 while men do not, like serpents,
arrive at such knowledge merely by nature, but partly by
experiment, partly by reason, and sometimes by reflection and
knowledge ? So, if eagles, too, in order to preserve their young
1 Aoyog. 2 pvotx'/iv tivx xxtxAy}\J/iv.
3 TO) pOXOxdp'p. i «7vA' SX XXTXGXSVVjg.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 253
in the nest, carry thither the eagle-stone when they have dis
covered it, how does it appear that they are wise, and more
intelligent than men, who find out by the exercise of their
reflective powers and of their understanding what has been
bestowed by nature upon eagles as a gift?
Chapter lxxxvii.
Let it be granted, however, that there are other prophylac
tics against poisons known to animals : what does that avail to
prove that it is not nature, but reason, which leads to the dis
covery of such things among them ? For if reason were the
discoverer, this one thing (or, if you will, one or two more
things) would not be (exclusive1 of all others) the sole discovery
made by serpents, and some other thing the sole discovery of
the eagle, and so on with the rest of the animals ; but as many
discoveries would have been made amongst them as among
men. But now it is manifest from the determinate inclina
tion of the nature of each animal towards certain kinds of
help, that they possess neither wisdom nor reason, but a natural
constitutional tendency implanted by the Logos2 towards such
things in order to ensure the preservation of the animal. And,
indeed, if I wished to join issue with Celsus in these matters, I
might quote the words of Solomon from the book of Proverbs,
which run thus : " There be four things which are little upon
the earth, but these are wiser than the wise : The ants are a
people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer ;
the conies3 are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses
in the rocks ; the locusts have no king, yet go they forth in
order at one command ; and the spotted lizard,4 though lean
ing upon its hands, and being easily captured, dwelleth in kings'
fortresses." 5 I do not quote these words, however, as taking
them in their literal signification, but, agreeably to the title of
the book (for it is inscribed " Proverbs "), I investigate them
as containing a secret meaning. For it is the custom of these

2 viro tov Aoyov ysytvY/poiy/].
3 x0'P0'/P^AA'°'. Heb. D'l335!'.
4 xGxxAx/3o)TYig.
6 Cf. Prov. xxx. 24-28.

254 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
writers [of Scripture] to distribute into many classes those writ
ings which express one sense when taken literally,1 but which
convey a different signification as their hidden meaning ; and
one of these kinds of writing is "Proverbs." And for this
reason, in our Gospels too, is our Saviour described as saying :
" These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, but the time
cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs."2
It is not, then, the visible ants which are " wiser even than the
wise," but they who are indicated as such under the "pro
verbial" style of expression. And such must be our conclusion
regarding the rest of the animal creation, although Celsus
regards the books of the Jews and Christians as exceedingly
simple and commonplace,3 and imagines that those who give
them an allegorical interpretation do violence to the meaning
of the writers. By what we have said, then, let it appear
that Celsus calumniates us in vain, and let his assertions that
serpents and eagles are wiser than men also receive their
refutation. Chapter lxxxviii.
And wishing to show at greater length that even the thoughts
of God entertained by the human race are not superior to those
of all other mortal creatures, but that certain of the irrational
animals are capable of thinking about Him regarding whom
opinions so discordant have existed among the most acute of
mankind — Greeks and Barbarians — he continues: "If, because
man has been able to grasp the idea of God, he is deemed
superior to the other animals, let those who hold this opinion
know that this capacity will be claimed by many of the other
animals ; and with good reason : for what would any one main
tain to be more divine than the power of foreknowing and pre
dicting future events ? Men accordingly acquire the art from
the other animals, and especially from birds. And those who
listen to the indications furnished by them, become possessed of
the gift of prophecy. If, then, birds, and the other prophetic
animals, which are enabled by the gift of God to foreknow
events, instruct us by means of signs, so much the nearer do
they seem to be to the society of God, and to be endowed with
1 xiirokv. 2 John xvi. 25. 3 iXtarixx.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 255
greater wisdom, and to be more beloved by Llim. The more
intelligent of men, moreover, say that the animals hold meet
ings which are more sacred than our assemblies, and that
they know what is said at these meetings, and show that in
reality they possess this knowledge, when, having previously
stated that the birds have declared their intention of departing
to some particular place, and of doing this thing or the other,
the truth of their assertions is established by the departure of
the birds to the place in question, and by their doing what was
foretold. And no race of animals appears to be more observant
of oaths than the elephants are, or to show greater devotion to
divine things ; and this, I presume, solely because they have
some knowledge of God." See here now how he at once lays
hold of, and brings forward as acknowledged facts, questions
which are the subject of dispute among those philosophers, not
only among the Greeks, but also among the Barbarians, who have
either discovered or learned from certain demons some things
about birds of augury and other animals, by which certain
prophetic intimations are said to be made to men. For, in the
first place, it has been disputed whether there is an art of
augury, and, in general, a method of divination by animals, or
not. And, in the second place, they who admit that there is an
art of divination by birds, are not agreed about the manner of
the divination ; since some maintain that it is from certain
demons or gods of divination1 that the animals receive their
impulses to action — the birds to flights and sounds of different
kinds, and the other animals to movements of one sort or
another. Others, again, believe that their souls are more
divine in their nature, and fitted to operations of that kind,
which is a most incredible supposition.
Chapter lxxxix.
Celsus, however, seeing he wished to prove by the foregoing
statements that the irrational animals are more divine and
intelligent than human beings, ought to have established at
greater length the actual existence of such an art of divina
tion, and in the next place have energetically undertaken its
defence, and effectually refuted the arguments of those who
1 hZv piavTlxZy.

256 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
would annihilate such arts of divination, and have overturned
in a convincing manner also the arguments of those who say
that it is from demons or from gods that animals receive
the movements which lead them to divination, and to have
proved in the next place that the soul of irrational animals is
more divine than that of man. For, had he done so, and
manifested a philosophical spirit in dealing with such things,
we should to the best of our power have met his confident
assertions, refuting in the first place the allegation that irra
tional animals are wiser than men, and showing the falsity of
the statement that they have ideas of God more sacred than
ours, and that they hold among themselves certain sacred assem
blies. But now, on the contrary, he who accuses us because
we believe in the Supreme God, requires us to believe that the
souls of birds entertain ideas of God more divine and distinct
than those of men. Yet if this is true, the birds have clearer
ideas of God than Celsus himself ; and it is not matter of sur
prise that it should be so with him, wdio so greatly depreciates
human beings. Nay, so far as Celsus can make it appear, the
birds possess grander and more divine ideas than, I do not
say we Christians do, or than the Jews, who use the same
Scriptures with ourselves, but even than are possessed by the
theologians among the Greeks, for they were only human
beings. According to Celsus, indeed, the tribe of birds that
practise divination, forsooth, understand the nature of the
Divine Being better than Pherecydes, and Pythagoras, and
Socrates, and Plato ! We ought then to go to the birds as our
teachers, in order that as, according to the view of Celsus, they
instruct us by their power of divination in the knowledge of
future events, so also they may free men from doubts regarding
the Divine Being, by imparting to them the clear ideas which they
have obtained respecting Him ! It follows, accordingly, that
Celsus, who regards birds as superior to men, ought to employ
them as his instructors, and not one of the Greek philosophers !
Chapter xc.
But we have a few remarks to make^ out of a larger number,
in answer to these statements of Celsus, that we may show the
ingratitude towards his Maker which is involved in his holding

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 257
these false opinions.1 For Celsus, although a man, and " being
in honour," 2 does not possess understanding, and therefore he
did not compare himself with the birds and the other irrational
animals, which he regards as capable of divining ; but yielding
to them the foremost place, he lowered himself, and as far as
he could the whole human race with him (as entertaining lower
and inferior views of God than the irrational animals), beneath
the Egyptians, who worship irrational animals as divinities. Let
the principal point of investigation, however, be this : whether
there actually is or not an art of divination, by means of birds
and other living things believed to have such power. For the
arguments which tend to establish either view are not to be
despised. On the one hand, it is pressed upon us not to
admit such an art, lest the rational being should abandon
the divine oracles, and betake himself to birds ; and on the
• other, there is the energetic testimony of many, that nume
rous individuals have been saved from the greatest dangers
by putting their trust in divination by birds. For the pre
sent, however, let it be granted that an art of divination
does exist, in order that I may in this way show to those who
are prejudiced on the subject, that if this be admitted, the
superiority of man over irrational animals, even over those that
are endowed with power of divination, is great, and beyond all
reach of comparison with the latter. We have then to say,
that if there was in them any divine nature capable of fore
telling future events, and so rich [in that knowledge] as out
of its superabundance to make them known to any man who
wished to know them, it is manifest that they would know
what concerned themselves far sooner [than what concerned
others] ; and had they possessed this knowledge, they would
have been upon their guard against flying to any particular
place where men had planted snares and nets to catch them, or
where archers took aim and shot at them in their flight. And
especially, were eagles aware beforehand of the designs formed
against their young, either by serpents crawling up to their
nests and destroying them, or by men who take them for
their amusement, or for any other useful purpose or service,
they would not have placed their young in a spot where they
1 t'/iv dxxpiGTOv \ptvooXo%ixv. 2 Ps. xlix. 12.
ORIG— VOL. II. R

258 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
were to be attacked ; and, in general, not one of these animals
would have been captured by men, because they were more
divine and intelligent than they.
Chapter xci.
But besides, if birds of augury converse with one another,1 as
Celsus maintains they do, the prophetic birds having a divine
nature, and the other rational animals also ideas of the divinity
and foreknowledge of future events ; and if they had communi
cated this knowledge to others, the sparrow mentioned in Homer
would not have built her nest in the spot where a serpent was
to devour her and her young ones, nor would the serpent in
the writings of the same poet have failed to take precautions
against being captured by the eagle. For this wonderful poet
says, in his poem regarding the former :
"A mighty dragon shot, of dire portent;
From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent.
Straight to the three his sanguine spires he rolled,
And curled around in many a winding fold.
The topmost branch a mother bird possessed ;
Eight callow infants filled the mossy nest ;
Herself the ninth : the serpent, as he hung,
Stretched his black jaws, and crushed the dying young ;
While hovering near, with miserable moan,
The drooping mother wailed her children gone.
The mother last, as round the nest she flew,
Seized by the beating wing, the monster slew :
Nor long survived : to marble turned, he stands
A lasting prodigy on Aulis sands.
Such was the will of Jove ; and hence we dare
Trust in his omen, and support the war."2
And regarding the second — the bird — the poet says :
"Jove's bird on rounding pinions beat the skies,
A bleeding serpent of enormous size,
His talons twined ; alive, and curling round,
He stung the bird, whose throat received the wound.
Mad with the smart, he drops the fatal prey,
In airy circles wings his painful way,
1 ii-Ktp oiavol oiavoig pcxxovTxi. For poxxovTxt Ruseus conjectures XixAi-
•/ovtxi, which is adopted by Lommatzsch.
2 Homer, Ilias, ii. 308 sq. (Pope's translation.)

BtfOKiv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 259
Floats on the winds, and rends the heaven with cries ;
Amidst the host, the fallen serpent lies.
They, pale with terror, mark its spires unrolled,
And Jove's portent with beating hearts behold."1
Did the eagle, then, possess the power of divination, and the
serpent (since this animal also is made use of by the augurs)
not ? But as this distinction can be easily refuted, cannot the
assertion that both were capable of divination be refuted also ?
For if the serpent had possessed this knowledge, would not he
have been on his guard against suffering what he did from the
eagle ? And innumerable other instances of a similar character
may be found, to show that animals do not possess a prophetic
soul, but that, according to the poet and the majority of man
kind, it is the " Olympian himself who sent him to the light."
And it is with a symbolical meaning2 that Apollo employs the
hawk3 as his messenger, for the hawk4 is called the "swift
messenger of Apollo." 5
Chapter xch.
In my opinion, however, it is certain wicked demons, and, so
to speak, of the race of Titans or Giants, who have been guilty
of impiety towards the true God, and towards the angels in
heaven, and who have fallen from it, and who haunt the
denser parts of bodies, and frequent unclean places upon earth,
and who, possessing some power of distinguishing future events,
because they are without bodies of earthly material, engage in
an employment of this kind, and desiring to lead the human
race away from the true God, secretly enter the bodies of the
more rapacious and savage and wicked of animals, and stir
them up to do whatever they choose, and at whatever time they
choose : either turning the fancies of these animals to make
flights and movements of various kinds, in order that men may
be caught by the divining power that is in the irrational
animals, and neglect to seek after the God who contains all
n Homer, Mas, xii. 290 sq. (Pope's translation.)
2 XXTX Xi T/ G-/ip0t70V. 3 HpX%.
4 xipxog, "the hen-harrier," "Falco," or " Circus pygargus." Cf. Liddell
and Scott, s.v.
6 Cf. Homer, Odyss. xv. v. 526.

260 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
things ; or to search after the pure worship of God, but allow
their reasoning powers to grovel on the earth, and amongst
birds and serpents, and even foxes and wolves. For it has
been observed by those who are skilled in such matters, that
the clearest prognostications are obtained from animals of this
kind ; because the demons cannot act so effectively in the
milder sort of animals as they can in these, in consequence
of the similarity between them in point of wickedness ; and
yet it is not wickedness, but something like wickedness,1 which
exists in these animals. Chapter xciii.
For which reason, whatever else there may be in the writings
of Moses which excites my wonder, I would say that the fol
lowing is worthy of admiration, viz. that Moses, having observed
the varying natures of animals, and having either learned from
God what was peculiar to them, and to the demons which are
kindred to each of the animals, or having himself ascertained
these things by his own wisdom, has, in arranging the differ
ent kinds of animals, pronounced all those which are sup
posed by the Egyptians and the rest of mankind to possess
the power of divination to be unclean, and, as a general rule,
all that are not of that class to be clean. And amongst the
unclean animals mentioned by Moses are the wolf, and fox, and
serpent, and eagle, and hawk, and such like. And, generally
speaking, you will find that not only in the law, but also in
the prophets, these animals are employed as examples of all
that is most wicked ; and that a wolf or a fox is never men
tioned for a good purpose. Each species of demon, conse
quently, would seem to possess a certain affinity with a certain
species of animal. And as among men there are some who
are stronger than others, and this not at all owing to their
moral character, so, in the same way, some demons will be
more powerful in things indifferent than others ;2 and one class
of them employs one kind of animal for the purpose of delud
ing men, in accordance with the wall of him who is called in
our Scriptures the " prince of this world," wdiile others predict
future events by means of another kind of animal. Observe,
1 xxi oil xxxixv posy, oiovtl Xi xxnixv ovguv. 2 iv pi.kaaig.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 261
moreover, to what a pitch of wickedness the demons proceed, so
that they even assume the bodies of weasels in order to reveal
the future ! And now, consider with yourself whether it is better
to accept the belief that it is the Supreme God and His Son
who stir up the birds and the other living creatures to divina
tion, or that those who stir up these creatures, and not human
beings (although they are present before them), are wicked,
and, as they are called by our Scriptures, unclean demons.
Chapter xciv.
But if the soul of birds is to be esteemed divine because
future events are predicted by them, why should we not rather
maintain, that when omens1 are accepted by men, the souls
of those are divine through which the omens are heard ?
Accordingly, among such would be ranked the female slave
mentioned in Homer, who ground the corn, when she said
regarding the suitors :
" For the very last time, now, will they sup here." 2
This slave, then, was divine, while the great Ulysses, the friend
of Homer's Pallas Athene, was not divine, but understanding
the words spoken by this " divine" grinder of corn as an omen,
rejoiced, as the poet says :
" The divine Ulysses rejoiced at the omen."3
Observe, now, as the birds are possessed of a divine soul, and
are capable of perceiving God, or, as Celsus says, the gods, it
is clear that when we men also sneeze, we do so in consequence
of a kind of divinity that is within us, and which imparts a
prophetic power to our soul. For this belief is testified by
many witne*es, and therefore the poet also says :
"And while he prayed, he sneezed."4
And Penelope, too, said :
" Perceiv'st thou not that at every word my son did sneeze ?" 5

1 xAyjOovig.
- Cf! Homer, Odyss. iv. v. 685 ; cf. also xx. vv. 116, 119.
3 Cf. Homer, Odyss. xx. 120. 4 Cf. Homer, Odyss. xvii. 541
5 Cf. Homer, Odyss. xvii. 545.

262 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.

Chapter xcv.
The true God, however, neither employs irrational animals,
nor any individuals whom chance may offer,1 to convey a
knowledge of the future ; but, on the contrary, the most pure
and holy of human souls, whom He inspires and endows with
prophetic power. And therefore, whatever else in the Mosaic
writings may excite our wonder, the following must be con
sidered as fitted to do so : " Ye shall not practise augury, nor
observe the flight of birds ; "2 and in another place : " For the
nations whom the Lord thy God will destroy from before thy
face, shall listen to omens and divinations ; but as for thee, the
Lord thy God has not suffered thee to do so." 3 And he adds :
" A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from
among your brethren."4 On one occasion, moreover, God,
wishing by means of an augur to turn away [His people] from
the practice of divination, caused the spirit that was in the
augur to speak as follows : " For there is no enchantment in
Jacob, nor is there divination in Israel. In due time will it be
declared to Jacob and Israel what the Lord will do."5 And
now, we who knew these and similar sayings wish to observe
this precept with the mystical meaning, viz. " Keep thy heart
with all diligence," 6 that nothing of a demoniacal nature may
enter into our minds, or any spirit of our adversaries turn our
imagination whither it chooses. But we pray that the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God may shine in our hearts,
and that the Spirit of God may dwell in our imaginations, and
lead them to contemplate the things of God ; for " as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." 7
Chapter xcvi.
We ought to take note, however, that the power of foreknow
ing the future is by no means a proof of divinity ; for in itself
it is a thing indifferent, and is found occurring amongst both
good and bad. Physicians, at any rate, by means of their pro-
1 oiiTt To7g tv%ovgi tZv xvOpairav.
2 Cf. Lev. xix. 26. The Septuagint here differs from the Masoretic text.
3 Cf. Deut. xviii. 14, cf. 12. 4 Cf. Deut. xviii. 15.
6 Cf. Num. xxiii. 23. 6 Prov. iv. 23. 7 Cf. Rom. viii. 14.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 263
fessional skill foreknow certain things, although their character
may happen to be bad. And in the same way also pilots, al
though perhaps wicked men, are able to foretell the signs1 [of
good or bad weather], and the approach of violent tempests
of wind, and atmospheric changes,2 because they gather this
knowledge from experience and observation, although I do
not suppose that on that account any one would term them
" gods" if their characters happened to be bad. The assertion,
then, of Celsus is false, when he says : " What could be called
more divine than the power of foreknowing and foretelling the
future ?" And so also is this, that " many of the animals claim
to have ideas of God ;" for none of the irrational animals
possess any idea of God. And wholly false, too, is his asser
tion, that " the irrational animals are nearer the society of God
[than men]," when even men who are still in a state of wicked
ness, however great their progress in knowledge, are far
removed from that society. It is, then, those alone who are
truly wise and sincerely religious who are nearer to God's
society ; such persons as were our prophets, and Moses, to
the latter of whom, on account of his exceeding purity, the
Scripture said : " Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but
the rest shall not come nigh." 3
Chapter xcvii.
How impious, indeed, is the assertion of this man, who
charges us with impiety, that " not only are the irrational
animals wiser than the human race, but that they are more
beloved by God [than they] !" And who vyould not be repelled
[by horror] from paying any attention to a man who declared
that a serpent, and a fox, and a wolf, and an eagle, and a hawk,
were more beloved by God than the human race? For it
follows from his maintaining such a position, that if these
animals be more beloved by God than human beings, it is
manifest that they are dearer to God than Socrates, and Plato,
and Pythagoras, and Pherecydes, and those theologians whose
praises he had sung a little before. And one might address him
with the prayer : " If these animals be dearer to God than men,
may you be beloved of God along with them, and be made
2 Tpo7rxg. 3 Cf. Ex. xxiv. 2.

264 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
like to those whom you consider as dearer to Him than human
beings ! " And let no one suppose that such a prayer is meant
as an imprecation ; for who would not pray to resemble in all
respects those whom he believes to be dearer to God than
others, in order that he, like them, may enjoy the divine love ?
And as Celsus is desirous to show that the assemblies of the
irrational animals are more sacred than ours, he ascribes the
statement to that effect not to any ordinary individuals, but
to persons of intelligence. Yet it is the virtuous alone who
are truly wise, for no wicked man is so. He speaks, accord
ingly, in the following style : " Intelligent men say that these
animals hold assemblies which are more sacred than ours, and
that they know what is spoken at them, and actually prove that
they are not without such knowledge, when they mention
beforehand that the birds have announced their intention of
departing to a particular place, or of doing this thing or that,
and then show that they have departed to the place in question,
and have done the particular thing which was foretold." Now-,
truly, no person of intelligence ever related such things ; nor
did any wise man ever say that the assemblies of the irrational
animals were more sacred than those of men. But if, for the
purpose of examining [the soundness of] his statements, we
look to their consequences, it is evident that, in his opinion,
the assemblies of the irrational animals are more sacred than
those of the venerable Pherecydes, and Pythagoras, and
Socrates, and Plato, and of philosophers in general; which
assertion is not only incongruous1 in itself, but full of absurdity.
In order that we may believe, however, that certain individuals
do learn from the indistinct sound of birds that they are
about to take their departure, and do this thing or that, and
announce these things beforehand, we would say that this
information is imparted to men by demons by means of signs,
with the view of having men deceived by demons, and having
their understanding dragged down from God and heaven to
earth, and to places lower still.
Chapter xcviii.
I do not know, moreover, how Celsus could hear of the ele-

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 265
phants' [fidelity to] oaths, and of their great devotedness to
our God, and of the knowledge which they possess of Him.
For I know many wonderful things which are related of
the nature of this animal, and of its gentle disposition. But I
am not aware that any one has spoken of its observance of
oaths ; unless indeed to its gentle disposition, and its observance
of compacts, so to speak, when once concluded between it and
man, he give the name of keeping its oath, which statement
also in itself is false. For although rarely, yet sometimes it
has been recorded that, after their apparent tameness, they have
broken out against men in the most savage manner, and have
committed murder, and have been on that account condemned
to death, because no longer of any use. And seeing that after
this, in order to establish (as he thinks he does) that the stork
is more pious than any human being, he adduces the accounts
which are narrated regarding that creature's display of filial
affection1 in bringing food to its parents for their support, we
have to say in reply, that this is done by the storks, not from a
regard to what is proper, nor from reflection, but from a natural
instinct ; the nature which formed them being desirous to show
an instance among the irrational animals which might put men
to shame, in the matter of exhibiting their gratitude to their
parents. And if Celsus had known how great the difference is
between acting in this way from reason, and from an irrational
natural impulse, he would not have said that storks are more
pious than human beings. But further, Celsus, as still con
tending for the piety of the irrational creation, quotes the
instance of the Arabian bird the phoenix, which after many
years repairs to Egypt, and bears thither its parent, when dead
and buried in a ball of myrrh, and deposits its body in the
Temple of the Sun. Now this story is indeed recorded, and, if
it be true, it is possible that it may occur in consequence of
some provision of nature ; divine providence freely displaying
to human beings, by the differences which exist among living
things, the variety of constitution which prevails in the world,
and which extends even to birds, and in harmony with which
He has brought into existence one creature, the only one of its
A xvt iTsAxpyovvTog.

266 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book iv.
kind, in order that by it men may be led to admire, not 'the
creature, but Him who created it.
Chapter xcix.
In addition to all that he has already said, Celsus subjoins
the following : " All things, accordingly, were not made for
man, any more than they were made for lions, or eagles, or
dolphins, but that this world, as being God's work, might be per
fect and entire in all respects. For this reason all things have
been adjusted, not with reference to each other, but with regard
to their bearing upon the whole.1 And God takes care of the
whole, and [His] providence will never forsake it ; and it does
not become worse ; nor does God after a time bring it back to
himself ; nor is He angry on account of men any more than on
account of apes or flies ; nor does He threaten these beings, each
one of which has received its appointed lot in its proper place."
Let us then briefly reply to these statements. I think, indeed,
that I have shown in the preceding pages that all things were
created for man, and every rational being, and that it was
chiefly for the sake of the rational creature that the creation
took place. Celsus, indeed, may say that this was done not
more for man than for lions, or the other creatures which he
mentions ; but we maintain that the Creator did not form these
things for lions, or eagles, or dolphins, but all for the sake of
the rational creature, and " in order that this world, as being
God's work, might be perfect and complete in all things." For
to this sentiment we must yield our assent as being well said.
And God takes care, not, as Celsus supposes, merely of the
whole, but beyond the whole, in a special degree of every
rational being. Nor will Providence ever abandon the whole ;
for although it should become more wicked, owing to the sin
of the rational being, which is a portion of the whole, He makes
arrangements to purify it, and after a time to bring back the
whole to Himself. Moreover, He is not angry with apes or
flies ; but on human beings, as those who have transgressed the
laws of nature, He sends judgments and chastisements, and
threatens them by the mouth of the prophets, and by the
1 dAA^ si pcv) vxv tpyov. " Gelenius does not recognise these words, and
Guietus regards them as superfluous." They are omitted in the translation.

Book iv.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 267
Saviour who came to visit the whole human race, that those
who hear the threatenings may be converted by them, while
those who neglect these calls to conversion may deservedly
suffer those punishments which it becomes God, in conformity
with that will of His which acts for the advantage of the
whole, to inflict upon those who need such painful discipline
and correction. But as our fourth book has now attained suffi
cient dimensions, we shall here terminate our discourse. And
may God grant, through His Son, who is God the Word, and
Wisdom, and Truth, and Righteousness, and everything else
which the sacred Scriptures when speaking of God call Him,
that we may make a good beginning of the fifth book, to the
benefit of our readers, and may bring it to a successful conclu
sion, with the aid of His word abiding in our soul.

BOOK Y.
Chapter i.
jlT is not, my reverend Ambrosius, because we seek
after many words — a thing which is forbidden, and
in the indulgence of which it is impossible to avoid
sin x — that we now begin the fifth book of our reply
to the treatise of Celsus, but with the endeavour, so far as may
be within our power, to leave none of his statements without
examination, and especially those in which it might appear to
some that he had skilfully assailed us and the Jews. If it were
possible, indeed, for me to enter along with my words into the
conscience of every one without exception who peruses this
work, and to extract each dart which wounds him who is not
completely protected with the "whole armour" of God, and
apply a rational medicine to cure the wound inflicted by Celsus,
which prevents those who listen to his words from remaining
" sound in the faith," I would do so. But since it is the work
of God alone, in conformity with His own Spirit, and along
with that of Christ, to take up His abode invisibly in those
persons whom He judges worthy of being visited ; so, on the
other hand, is our object to try, by means of arguments and
treatises, to confirm men in their faith, and to earn the name
of " workmen needing not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth."2 And there is one thing above all which
it appears to us we ought to do, if we would discharge faith
fully the task enjoined upon us by you, and that is to overturn
to the best of our ability the confident assertions of Celsus.
Let us then quote such assertions of his as follow those wdiich
we have already refuted (the reader must decide whether we
have done so successfully or not), and let us reply to them.
1 Cf. Prov. x. 19. 2 Cf. 2 Tim. ii. 15.
-25S

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 269
And may God grant that we approach not our subject with
our understanding and reason empty and devoid of divine in
spiration, that the faith of those whom we wish to aid may not
depend upon human wisdom, but that, receiving the " mind"
of Christ from His Father, who alone can bestow it, and being
strengthened by participating in the word of God, we may pull
down " every high thing that exalteth itself against the know
ledge of God,"1 and the imagination of Celsus, who exalts him
self against us, and against Jesus, and also against Moses and
the prophets, in order that He who "gave the word to those
who published it with great power"2 may supply us also, and
bestow upon us "great power," so that faith in the word and
power of God may be implanted in the minds of all who will
peruse our work. Chapter ii.
We have now, then, to refute that statement of his which
runs as follows : " O Jews and Christians, no God or son of
a God either came or will come down [to earth]. But if you
mean that certain angels did so, then what do you call them ?
Are they gods, or some other race of beings? Some other race
of beings [doubtless], and in all probability demons." Now
as Celsus here is guilty of repeating himself (for in the pre
ceding pages such assertions have been frequently advanced
by him), it is unnecessary to discuss the matter at greater
length, seeing what we have already said upon this point may
suffice. We shall mention, however, a few considerations out
of a greater number, such as we deem in harmony with our
former arguments, but which have not altogether the same
bearing as they, and by which we shall show that in assert
ing generally that no God, or son of God, ever descended
[among men], he overturns not only the opinions entertained
by the majority of mankind regarding the manifestation of
Deity, but also what was formerly admitted by himself. For
if the general statement, that "no God or son of God has
come down or will come down," be truly maintained by Celsus,
it is manifest that we have here overthrown the belief in the
existence of gods upon the earth who had descended from
1 Cf. 2 Cor. x. 5. 2 Cf. Ps. Ixviii. 11.

270 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
heaven either to predict the future to mankind or to heal them
by means of divine responses ; and neither the Pythian Apollo,
nor Esculapius, nor any other among those supposed to have
done so, would be a god descended from heaven. He might,
indeed, either be a god who had obtained as his lot [the obliga
tion] to dwell on earth for ever, and be thus a fugitive, as it
were, from the abode of the gods, or he might be one who had
no power to share in the society of the gods in heaven -,1 or else
Apollo, and Esculapius, and those others who are believed to
perform acts on earth, would not be gods, but only certain
demons, much inferior to those wise men among mankind, who
on account of their virtue ascend to the vault2 of heaven.
Chapter iii.
But observe how, in his desire to subvert our opinions, he
who never acknowledged himself throughout his whole treatise
to be an Epicurean, is convicted of being a deserter to that
sect. And now is the time for you, [reader], who peruse the
works of Celsus, and give your assent to what has been ad
vanced, either to overturn the belief in a God who visits the
human race, and exercises a providence over each individual
man, or to grant this, and prove the falsity of the assertions of
Celsus. If you, then, wholly annihilate providence, you will
falsify those assertions of his in which he grants the existence
of " God and a providence," in order that you may maintain
the truth of your own position ; but if, on the other hand, you
still admit the existence of providence, because you do not
assent to the dictum of Celsus, that " neither has a God nor
the son of a God come down nor is to come down3 to man
kind," why not rather carefully ascertain from the statements
made regarding Jesus, and the prophecies uttered concerning
Llim, who it is that we are to consider as having come down to
the human race as God, and the Son of God ? — whether that
Jesus who said and ministered so much, or those who, under
pretence of oracles and divinations, do not reform the morals
of their worshippers, but who have besides apostatized from the
pure and holy worship and honour due to the Maker of all
things, and who tear away the souls of those who give heed to
1 to/j ixt7 #so/f. 2 xipiXx. 3 xxTspxtaSxi.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 271
them from the one only visible and true God, under a pretence
of paying honour to a multitude of deities ?
Chapter iv.
But since he says, in the next place, as if the Jews or
Christians had answered regarding those who come down to
visit the human race, that they were angels : " But if ye say
that they are angels, what do you call them?" he continues,
" Are they gods, or some other race of beings ? " and then
again introduces us as if answering, " Some other race of
beings, and probably demons," — let us proceed to notice these
remarks. For we indeed acknowledge that angels are " mini
stering spirits," and we say that " they are sent forth to minister
for them who shall be heirs of salvation ;" x and that they ascend,
bearing the supplications of men, to the purest of the heavenly
places in the universe, or even to supercelestial regions purer
still; 2 and that they come down from these, conveying to each
one, according to his deserts, something enjoined by God to
be conferred by them upon those who are to be the recipients
of His benefits. Having thus learned to call these beings
"angels" from their employments, we find that because they
are divine they are sometimes termed "God" in the sacred
Scriptures,3 but not so that we are commanded to honour and
worship in place of God those who minister to us, and bear to
us His blessings. For every prayer, and supplication, and inter
cession, and thanksgiving, is to be sent up to the Supreme God
through the High Priest, who is above all the angels, the living
Word and God. And to the Word Himself shall we also pray
and make intercessions, and offer thanksgivings and supplica
tions to Him, if we have the capacity of distinguishing between
the proper use and abuse of prayer.4
Chapter v.
For to invoke angels without having obtained a knowledge
1 Cf. Heb. i. 14.
2 iv To7g xxQxponxTOig tov xoapiov y^oipioig iicovpxvioig, I] xxi to/V tovtuv
y.xdxpbiTtpotg virtpovpxviotg.
3 Cf. Ps. lxxxvi. 8, xcvi. 4, cxxxvi. 2.
4 ixv XvvoipcsSx XXTXXOVSIV Tij? irtpl wpoatvxYig xvpioAs^i'xg xxi xxTXxpilGtag.

272 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
of their nature greater than is possessed by men, would be
contrary to reason. But, conformably to our hypothesis, let
this knowledge of them, which is something wonderful and
mysterious, be obtained. Then this knowledge, making known
to us their nature, and the offices to which they are severally
appointed, will not permit us to pray with confidence to any
other than to the Supreme God, who is sufficient for all things,
and that through our Saviour the Son of God, who is the
Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and everything else which the
writings of God's prophets and the apostles of Jesus entitle
Him. And it is enough to secure that the holy angels of God
be propitious to us, and that they do all things on our behalf,
that our disposition of mind towards God should imitate as far
as it is within the power of human nature the example of these
holy angels, who again follow the example of their God ; and
that the conceptions which we entertain of His Son, the Word,
so far as attainable by us, should not be opposed to the clearer
conceptions of Him which the holy angels possess, but should
daily approach these in clearness and distinctness. But because
Celsus has not read our Holy Scriptures, he gives himself an
' answer as if it came from us, saying that we " assert that the
angels who come down from heaven to confer benefits on man
kind are a different race from the gods," and adds that " in all
probability they would be called demons by us :" not observing
that the name " demons " is not a term of indifferent meaning
like that of " men," among whom some are good and some bad,
nor yet a term of excellence like that of " the gods," which is
applied not to wicked demons, or to statues, or to animals, but
(by those who know divine things) to what is truly divine and
blessed; whereas the term "demons" is always applied to
those wicked powers, freed from the encumbrance of a grosser
body, who lead men astray, and fill them with distractions,
and drag them down from God and supercelestial thoughts to
things here below.
Chapter vi.
He next proceeds to make the following statement about the
Jews : — " The first point relating to the Jews which is fitted
to excite wonder, is that they should worship the heaven and

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 273
the angels who dwell therein, and yet pass by and neglect its
most venerable and powerful parts, as the sun, and moon, and
the other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and planets, as if it
were possible that ' the whole ' could be God, and yet its
parts not divine ; or [as if it were reasonable] to treat with the
greatest respect those who are said to appear to such as are
in darkness somewhere, blinded by some crooked sorcery, or
dreaming dreams through the influence of shadowy spectres,1
while those who prophesy so clearly and strikingly to all men,
by means of whom rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunder
(to which they offer worship), and lightnings, and fruits,
and all kinds of productiveness, are brought about, — by means
of whom God is revealed to them, — the most prominent
heralds among those beings that are above, — those that are
truly heavenly angels, — are to be regarded as of no account !"
In making these statements, Celsus appears to have fallen into
confusion, and to have penned them from false ideas of things
which he did not understand ; for it is patent to all who inves
tigate the practices of the Jews, and compare them with those
of the Christians, that the Jews who follow the law, which,
speaking in the person of God, says, "Thou shalt have no
other gods before me : thou shalt not make unto thee an
image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the
earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them,"2
worship nothing else than the Supreme God, who made the
heavens, and all things besides. Now it is evident that those
who live according to the law, and worship the Maker of
heaven, will not worship the heaven at the same time with
God. Moreover, no one who obeys the law of Moses will bow
down to the angels who are in heaven ; and, in like manner,
as they do not bow down to sun, moon, and stars, the host of
heaven, they refrain also from doing obeisance to heaven and
its angels, obeying the law which declares : " Lest thou lift up
thine eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the
moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be
1 v\ Toiig poiv iv gxotu irov ix yoriTtiag oiix 6p8i)g tvPAuttovgiv, sj Xi dpcvXpZv
(PXGpcXTUV OVtlpUTTOVGlV syxp'ipoTnstv Atyoposvovg, sv pcxAx 6f/\GXtVtlV.
2 Cf. Ex. xx. 3, 4, 5.
ORIG. — VOL. II. S

274 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy
God hath divided unto all nations." x
Chapter vii.
Having, moreover, assumed that the Jews consider the
heaven to be God, he adds that this is absurd ; finding fault
with those who bow down to the heaven, but not also to the
sun, and moon, and stars, saying that the Jews do this, as if it
were possible that "the whole" should be God, and its several
parts not divine. And he seems to call the heaven " a whole,"
and sun, moon, and stars its several parts. Now, certainly
neither Jews nor Christians call the " heaven " God. Let it
be granted, however, that, as he alleges, the heaven is called
God by the Jews, and suppose that sun, moon, and stars are
parts of " heaven," — which is by no means true, for neither are
the animals and plants upon the earth any portion of it, — how-
is it true, even according to the opinions of the Greeks, that if
God be a whole, His parts also are divine ? Certainly they say
that the Cosmos taken as the whole2 is God, the Stoics calling
it the First God, the followers of Plato the Second, and some of
them the Third. According to these philosophers, then, seeing
-the whole Cosmos is God, its parts also are divine ; so that not
only are human beings divine, but the whole of the irrational
creation, as being "portions " of the Cosmos ; and besides these,
the plants also are divine. And if the rivers, and mountains,
and seas are portions of the Cosmos, then, since the whole
Cosmos is God, are the rivers and seas also gods? But this
even the Greeks will not assert. Those, however, who preside
over rivers and seas (either demons or gods, as they call them),
they would term gods. Now from this it follows that the
general statement of Celsus, even according to the Greeks,
who hold the doctrine of Providence, is false, that if any
"whole" be a god, its parts necessarily are divine. But it
follows from the doctrine of Celsus, that if the Cosmos be God,
all that is in it is divine, being parts of the Cosmos. Now,
according to this view, animals, as flies, and gnats, and worms,
and every species of serpent, as well as of birds and fishes, will
be divine, — an assertion which would not be made even by those
1 Cf. Deut. iv. 19. 2 to oAoj 6 xoGftog.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 275
who maintain that the Cosmos is God. But the Jews, who
live according to the law of Moses, although they may not
know how to receive the secret meaning of the law, which is
conveyed in obscure language, will not maintain that either the
heaven or the angels are God.
Chapter viii.
As we allege, however, that he has fallen into confusion in
consequence of false notions which he has imbibed, come and
let us point them out to the best of our ability, and show that
although Celsus considers it to be a Jewish custom to bow
clown to the heaven and the angels in it, such a practice is not
at all Jewish, but is in violation of Judaism, as it also is to do
obeisance to sun, moon, and stars, as well as images. You will
find at least in the book of Jeremiah the words of God cen
suring by the mouth of the prophet the Jewish people for
doing obeisance to such objects, and for sacrificing to the queen
of heaven, and to all the host of heaven.1 The writings of the
Christians, moreover, show, in censuring the sins committed
among the Jews, that when God abandoned that people on
account of certain sins, these sins [of idol-worship] also were
committed by them. For it is related in the Acts of the
Apostles regarding the Jews, that " God turned, and gave
them up to worship the host of heaven ; as it is written in the
book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to
me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the
wilderness ? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and
the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to
worship them."2 And in the writings of Paul, who was care
fully trained in Jewish customs, and converted afterwards to
Christianity by a miraculous appearance of Jesus, the following
words may be read in the Epistle to the Colossians : " Let no
man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and
worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he
hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind ; and not
holding the head, from which all the body by joint and bands
having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth
with the increase of God." 3 But Celsus, having neither read
1 Cf. Jer. vii. 17, 18. 2 Cf. Acts vii. 42, 43. 3 Cf. Col. ii. 18, 19.

276 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
these verses, nor having learned their contents from any other
source, has represented, I know not how, the Jews as not trans
gressing their law in bowing down to the heavens, and to the
angels therein.
Chapter ix.
And still continuing a little confused, and not taking care to
see what was relevant to the matter, he expressed his opinion
that the Jews were induced by the incantations employed in
jugglery and sorcery (in consequence of which certain phan
toms appear, in obedience to the spells employed by the magi
cians) to bow down to the angels in heaven, not observing that
this was contrary to their law, which said to them who practised
such observances : " Regard not them which have familiar
spirits,1 neither seek after wizards,2 to be defiled by them : I am
the Lord your God."3 He ought, therefore, either not to
have at all attributed this practice to the Jews, seeing he has
observed that they keep their law, and has called them " those
who live according to their law;" or if he did attribute it, he
ought to have shown that the Jews did this in violation of
their code. But again, as they transgress their law who offer
worship to those who are said to appear to them who are in
volved in darkness and blinded by sorcery, and who dream
dreams, owing to obscure phantoms presenting themselves ; so
also do they transgress the law who offer sacrifice to sun, moon,
and stars.4 And there is thus great inconsistency in the same
individual saying that the Jews are careful to keep their law
by not bowing down to sun, and moon, and stars, while they
are not so careful to keep it in the matter of heaven and the
angels.
Chapter x.
And if it be necessary for us to offer a defence of our refusal
to recognise as gods, equally with angels, and sun, and moon,
and stars, those who are called by the Greeks "manifest and
visible" divinities, we shall answer that the law of Moses knows
1 iyyxoTpipivSoig. 2 tTxoiXoig. 3 Cf. Lev. xix. 31.
4 The emendations of Ruseus have been adopted in the translation, the
text being probably corrupt. Cf. Ruaaus, in loc.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 277
that these latter have been apportioned by God among all the
nations under the heaven, but not amongst those who were
selected by God as His chosen people above all the nations of
the earth. For it is written in the book of Deuteronomy :
"And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou
seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of
heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them,
which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under
the whole heaven. But the Lord hath taken us, and brought
us forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto
Him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day."1 The Hebrew
people, then, being called by God a " chosen generation, and a
royal priesthood, and a holy nation, and a purchased people,"2
regarding whom it was foretold to Abraham by the voice of
the Lord addressed to him, " Look now towards heaven, and
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them : and He said
unto him, So shall- thy seed be;"3 and having thus a hope
that they would become as the stars of heaven, were not likely
to bow down to those objects which they were to resemble as a
result of their understanding and observing the law of God.
For it was said to them : " The Lord our God hath multiplied
us ; and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for
multitude."4 In the book of Daniel, also, the following
prophecies are found relating to those who are to share in the
resurrection : " And at that time thy people shall be delivered,
every one that has been written in the book. And many of
them that sleep in the dust5 of the earth shall awake ; some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma
ment, and [those] of the many righteous6 as the stars for ever
and ever,"7 etc. And hence Paul, too, when speaking of the
resurrection, says: "And there are also celestial bodies, and
bodies terrestrial : but the glory of the celestial is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the
sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the
stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So
1 Cf. Deut. iv. 19, 20. 2 Cf. 1 Pet. ii. 9. 3 Cf. Gen. xv. 5.
4 Cf. Deut. i. 10. 5 xZ/xxti.
e diso tZv Xixxlav tZv iroAAZv. 7 Cf. Dan. xii. 1, 2, 3.

278 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
also is the resurrection of the dead."1 It was not therefore
consonant to reason that those who had been taught sublimely2
to ascend above all created things, and to hope for the enjoy
ment of the most glorious rewards with God on account of their
virtuous lives, and who had heard the words, " Ye are the light
of the world,"3 and, "Let your light so shine before men, that
they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is
in heaven,"4 and who possessed through practice this brilliant
and unfading wisdom, or who had secured even the " very
reflection of everlasting light," 5 should be so impressed with the
[mere] visible light of sun, and moon, and stars, that, on account
of that sensible light of theirs, they should deem themselves
(although possessed of so great a rational light of knowledge,
and of the true light, and the light of the world, and the light
of men) to be somehow inferior to them, and to bow down to
them; seeing they ought to be worshipped, if they are to receive
worship at all, not for the sake of the sensible light which is
admired by the multitude, but because of the rational and true
light, if indeed the stars in heaven are rational and virtuous
beings, and have been illuminated with the light of knowledge
by that wisdom which is the " reflection of everlasting light."
For that sensible light of theirs is the work of the Creator of
all things, while that rational light is derived perhaps from the
principle of free-will within them.6
Chapter xi.
But even this rational light itself ought not to be worshipped
by him who beholds and understands the true light, by sharing
in which these also are enlightened ; nor by him who beholds
God, the Father of the true light, — of whom it has been said,
" God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." 7 Those,
indeed, who worship sun, "moon, and stars because their light is
visible and celestial, would not bow down to a spark of fire or a
lamp upon earth, because they see the incomparable superiority
of those objects which are deemed worthy of homage to the
1 Cf. 1 Cor. XV. 40-42. 2 pctyxAopvZg.
3 Matt. v. 14. 4 Cf. Matt. v. 16.
5 Cf . Origen, de Principiis, i. c. vii. 7 Cf. 1 John i. 5.

Book v.] • ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 279
light of sparks and lamps. So those who understand that God
is light, and who have apprehended that the Son of God is
" the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world," and who comprehend also how He says, "I am the light
of the world," would not rationally offer worship to that which
is, as it were, a spark in sun, moon, and stars, in comparison
with God, who is light of the true light. Nor is it with a view
to depreciate these great works of God's creative power, or to
call them, after the fashion of Anaxagoras, "fiery masses,"1
that we thus speak of sun, and moon, and stars ; but because
we perceive the inexpressible superiority of the divinity of God,
and that of His only-begotten Son, which surpasses all other
things. And being persuaded that the sun himself, and moon,
and stars pray to the Supreme God through His only-begotten
Son, we judge it improper to pray to those beings who them
selves offer up prayers [to God], seeing even they themselves
would prefer that we should send up our requests to the God
to whom they pray, rather than send them downwards to them
selves, or apportion our power of prayer2 between God and
them. And here I may employ this illustration, as bearing
upon this point : Our Lord and Saviour, hearing Himself on
one occasion addressed as " Good Master,"3 referring him who
used it to His own Father, said, " Why callest thou me good ?
There is none good but one, that is, God the Father."4 And
since it was in accordance with sound reason that this should
be said by the Son of His Father's love, as being the image of
the goodness of God, why should not the sun say with greater
reason to those that bow down to him, Why do you worship
me ? " for thou wilt worship the Lard thy God, and Him only
shait thou serve ;"5 for it is He -whom I and all who are with
me serve and worship. And although one may not be so
exalted [as the sun], nevertheless let such an one pray to the
Word of God (who is able to heal him), and still more to His
Father, who also to the righteous of former times " sent His
word, and healed them, and delivered them from their de
structions."6 1 piiXpov Xixirvpov. 2 ty)v tiixTixviv Xvvxpciv.
3 Cf. Matt. xix. 17 ; cf. Mark x. 18. 4 Ibid.
s Cf. Deut. vi. 13. c Cf. Ps. cvii. 20.

280 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.

Chapter xii.
God accordingly, in His kindness, condescends to mankind,
not in any local sense, but through His providence ; x while the
Son of God, not only [when on earth], but at all times, is with
His own disciples, fulfilling the promise, " Lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the world."2 And if a branch cannot
bear fruit except it abide in the vine, it is evident that the dis
ciples also of the Word, who are the rational branches of the
Word's true vine, cannot produce the fruits of virtue unless they
abide in the true vine, the Christ of God, who is with us locally
here below upon the earth, and who is with those who cleave
to Him in all parts of the world, and is also in all places with
those who do not know Him. Another is made manifest by
that John who wrote the Gospel, when, speaking in the person
of John the Baptist, he said, " There standeth one among you
whom ye know not ; He it is who cometh after me." 3 And
it is absurd, when He who fills heaven and earth, and who
said, "Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,"4 is with
us, and near us (for I believe Him when He says, "I am a
God nigh at hand, and not afar off, saith the Lord" 5), to seek
to pray to "sun or moon, or one of the stars, whose influence
does not reach the whole of the world.6 But, to use the very
words of Celsus, let it be granted that " the sun, moon, and
stars do foretell rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders," why,
then, if they really do foretell such great things, ought we not
rather to do homage to God, whose servant they are in uttering
these predictions, and show reverence to Him rather than His
prophets ? Let them predict, then, the approach of lightnings,
and fruits, and all manner of productions, and let all such
things be under their administration ; yet we shall not on that
account worship those who themselves offer worship, as we do
not worship even Moses, and those prophets who came from God
after him, and who predicted better things than rain, and heat,
and clouds, and thunders, and lightnings, and fruits, and all sorts
of productions visible to the senses. Nay, even if sun, and
1 fpovor.TixZg. " Matt, xxviii. 20. 3 Cf. John i. 26, 27.
4 Cf. Jer. xxiii. 24. 5 Cf. Jer. xxiii. 23.
6 Qnrtiv tvxtoSxi tZ pcvi PSxvovti iirl tx Gvpnrxvra.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 281
moon, and stars were able to prophesy better things than rain,
not even then shall we worship them, but the Father of the
prophecies which are in them, and the Word of God, their
minister. But grant that they are His heralds, and truly mes
sengers of heaven, why, even then ought we not to worship
the God whom they only proclaim and announce, rather than
those who are the heralds and messengers ?
Chapter xiii.
Celsus, moreover, assumes that sun, and moon, and stars are
regarded by us as of no account. Now, with regard to these,
we acknowledge that they too are " waiting for the manifesta
tion of the sons of God," being for the present subjected to
the " vanity " of their material bodies, " by reason of Him who
has subjected the same in hope."1 But if Celsus had read the
innumerable other passages where we speak of sun, moon, and
stars, and especially these, — " Praise Him, all ye stars, and thou,
O light,"2 and, "Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens," — he would
not have said of us that we regard such mighty beings, which
" greatly praise " the Lord God, as of no account. Nor did
Celsus know the passage : " For the earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope; because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." "
And with these words let us terminate our defence against the
charge of not worshipping sun, moon, and stars. And let us
now bring forward those statements of his which follow, that
we may, God willing, address to him in reply such arguments
as shall be suggested by the light of truth.
Chapter xiv.
The following, then, are his words : " It is folly on their part
to suppose that when God, as if He were a cook,4 introduces
the fire [which is to consume the world], all the rest of the
human race will be burnt up, while they alone will remain, not
i Cf. Rom. viii. 19-21. 2 Cf. Ps. cxlviii. 3.
3 Cf. Rom. viii. 19-21. 4 uoirtp pcxysipog.

282 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
only such of them as are then alive, but also those who are long
since dead, which latter will arise from the earth clothed with
the self-same flesh [as during life] ; for such a hope is simply
one which might be cherished by worms. For what sort of
human soul is that which would still long for a body that had
been subject to corruption? Whence, also, this opinion of
yours is not shared by some of the Christians, and they pro
nounce it to be exceedingly vile, and loathsome, and impossible ;
for what kind of body is that which, after being completely
corrupted, can return to its original nature, and to that self
same first condition out of which it fell into dissolution ?
Being unable to return any answer, they betake themselves
to a most absurd refuge, viz. that all things are possible to
God. And yet God cannot do things that are disgraceful, nor
does He wish to do things that are contrary to His nature ; nor,
if (in accordance with the wickedness of your own heart) you
desired anything that was evil, would God accomplish it ; nor
must you believe at once that it will be done. For God does
not rule the world in order to satisfy inordinate desires, or to
allow disorder and confusion, but to govern a nature that is
upright and just.1 For the soul, indeed, He might be able to
provide an everlasting life ; while dead bodies, on the contrary,
are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless than dung. God,
however, neither can nor will declare, contrary to all reason,
that the flesh, which is full of those things which it is not even
honourable to mention, is to exist for ever. For He is the
reason of all things that exist, and therefore can do nothing
either contrary to reason or contrary to Himself."
Chapter xv.
Observe, now, here at the very beginning, how, in ridiculing
the doctrine of a conflagration of the world, held by certain of
the Greeks who have treated the subject in a philosophic spirit
not to be depreciated, he would make us, " representing God, as
it were, as a cook, hold the belief in a general conflagration ; "
not perceiving that, as certain Greeks were of opinion (perhaps
having received their information from the ancient nation of
1 oil yxp TYig irAYipcpctAovg opt^tag, oiiXi'Ttjg irtirAxvYipcivng xxoapoixg, ccAAu
rijj opQqg xxi Xixxixg (piotoig ©£o'; 'sgtiv ccpxYiyirrig.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 283
the Hebrews), it is a purificatory fire which is brought upon the
world, and probably also on each one of those who stand in
need of chastisement by the fire and healing at the same time,
seeing it burns indeed, but does not consume, those who are
without a material body,1 which needs to be consumed by that
fire, and which burns and consumes those who by their actions,
words, and thoughts have built up wood, or hay, or stubble, in
that which is figuratively termed a " building."2 And the Holy
Scriptures say that the Lord will, like a refiner's fire and
fuller's soap,3 visit each one of those who require purification,
because of the intermingling in them of a flood of wicked
matter proceeding from their evil nature ; who need fire, I
mean, to refine, as it were, [the dross of] those who are inter
mingled with copper, and tin, and lead. And he who likes
may learn this from the prophet Ezekiel.4 But that we say
that God brings fire upon the world, not like a cook, but like a
God, who is the benefactor of them who stand in need of the
discipline of fire,5 will be testified by the prophet Isaiah, in
whose writings it is related that a sinful nation was thus ad
dressed : " Because thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them :
they shall be to thee a help." 6 Now the Scripture is appro
priately adapted to the multitudes of those who are to peruse
it, because it speaks obscurely of things that are sad and gloomy,7
in order to terrify those who cannot by any other means be
saved from the flood of their sins, although even then the
attentive reader will clearly discover the end that is to be accom
plished by these sad and painful punishments upon those who
endure them. It is sufficient, however, for the present to quote
the words of Isaiah : " For my name's sake will I show mine
anger, and my glory I will bring upon thee, that I may not
destroy thee."8 We have thus been under the necessity of
referring in obscure terms to questions not fitted to the capacity
of simple believers, who require a simpler instruction in words,
that we might not appear to leave unrefuted the accusation of
Celsus, that " God introduces the fire, [which is to destroy the
world], as if He were a cook."
1 iAr,v. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 12. 3 Cf. Mai. iii. 2.
* Cf. Ezek. xxii. 18, 20. 5 ^Uv xxi nrvpig. e Cf. Isa. xlvii. 14, 15.
7 t« axvQpomx. 8 Cf. Isa. xlviii. 9 (Septuagint).

284 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
Chapter xvi.
From what has been said, it will be manifest to intelligent
hearers how we have to answer the following : " All the rest
of the race will be completely burnt up, and they alone will
remain." It is not to be wondered at, indeed, if such thoughts
have been entertained by those amongst us who are called in
Scripture the " foolish things " of the world, and " base things,"
and " things which are despised," and " things which are not,"
because " by the foolishness of preaching it pleased God to
save them that believe on Him, after that, in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom knew not God," x — because such
individuals are unable to see distinctly the sense of each par
ticular passage,2 or unwilling to devote the necessary leisure to
the investigation of Scripture, notwithstanding the injunction of
Jesus, " Search the Scriptures." 3 The following, moreover,
are his ideas regarding the fire which is to be brought upon
the world by God, and the punishments which are to befall
sinners. And perhaps, as it is appropriate to children that
some things should be addressed to them in a manner befitting
their infantile condition, to convert them, as being of very
tender age, to a better course of life; so, to those whom the word
terms " the foolish things of the world," and " the base," and
" the despised," the just and obvious meaning of the passages
relating to punishments is suitable, inasmuch as they cannot
receive any other mode of conversion than that which is by
fear and the presentation of punishment, and thus be saved
from the many evils [which would befall them].4 The Scrip
ture accordingly declares that only those who are unscathed by
the fire and the punishments are to remain, — those, viz., whose
opinions, and morals, and mind have been purified to the
highest degree ; while, on the other hand, those of a different
nature — those, viz., who, according to their deserts, require the
administration of punishment by fire — will be involved in these
sufferings with a view to an end which it is suitable for God
to bring upon those who have been created in His image, but
who have lived in opposition to the will of that nature which
Of. 1 Cor. 1, 21. 2 tx xxtx Toiig TO%ovg.
Cf. John V. 39. 4 xxi TO)V •ZOAAZv XXxZv XTTOXYiV.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 285
is according to His image. And this is our answer to the state
ment, " All the rest of the race will be completely burnt up,
but they alone are to remain." Chapter xvii.
Then, in the next place, having either himself misunderstood
the sacred Scriptures, or those [interpreters] by whom they were
not understood, he proceeds to assert that " it is said by us that
there will remain at the time of the visitation which is to come
upon the world by the fire of purification, not only those who
are then alive, but also those who are long ago dead ; " not ob
serving that it is with a secret kind of wisdom that it was said
by the apostle of Jesus : " We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Now he ought
to have noticed what was the meaning of him who uttered
these words, as being one who was by no means dead, who
made a distinction between himself and those like him and the
dead, and who said afterwards, " The dead shall be raised
incorruptible," and " we shall be changed." And as a proof
that such was the apostle's meaning in writing those words
which I have quoted from the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
I will quote also from the First to the Thessalonians, in which
Paul, as one who is alive and awake, and different from those
who are asleep, speaks as follows : " For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who are
asleep ; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God." 2 Then, again, after this, knowing that there were
others dead in Christ besides himself and such as he, he sub
joins the words, " The dead in Christ shall rise first ; then
we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 3
1 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.
2 Cf. 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16.
3 Cf. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17.

286 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
Chapter xviii.
But since he has ridiculed at great length the doctrine of
the resurrection of the flesh, which has been preached in the
churches, and which is more clearly understood by the more
intelligent believer ; and as it is unnecessary again to quote his
words, which have been already adduced, let us, with regard to
the problem1 (as in an apologetic work directed against an
alien from the faith, and for the sake of those who are still
" children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti
ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive " 2), state and establish
to the best of our ability a few points expressly intended for
our readers. Neither we, then, nor the Holy Scriptures, assert
that with the same bodies, without a change to a higher con
dition, " shall those who were long dead arise from the earth
and live again ; " for in so speaking, Celsus makes a false
charge against us. For we may listen to many passages of
Scripture treating of the resurrection in a manner worthy of
God, although it may suffice for the present to quote the
language of Paul from the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
where he says : " But some man will say, How are the dead
raised up ? and with what body do they come ? Thou fool, that
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. And that
which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but
bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain ;
but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every
seed his own body." 3 Now, observe how in these words he
says that there is sown, " not that body that shall be;" but that
of the body which is sown and cast naked into the earth (God
giving to each seed its own body), there takes place as it were
a resurrection : from the seed that was cast into the ground
there arising a stalk, e.g. among such plants as the following,
viz. the mustard plant, or of a larger tree, as in the olive,4 or
one of the fruit-trees.
Chapter xix.
God, then, gives to each thing its own body as He pleases :
1 ¦jrtpl tov l7rpofiAv)poxTog tovtov. 2 Cf. Eph. iv. 14.
3 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 35-38. 4 iv tAxixg irvpvivi.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 287
as in the case of plants that are sown, so also in the case of
those beings wdio are, as it were, sown in dying, and who in
due time receive, out of what has been "sown," the body
assigned by God to each one according to his deserts. And we
may hear, moreover, the Scripture teaching us at great length
the difference between that which is, as it were, " sown," and
that which is, as it were, "raised" from it, in these words: "It
is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in
dishonour, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power ; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body."1 And let him who has the capacity understand the
meaning of the words : " As is the earthy, such are they also
that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that
are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."2 And although
the apostle wished to conceal the secret meaning of the passage,
which was not adapted to the simpler class of believers, and to
the understanding of the common people, who are led by their
faith to enter on a better course of life, he was nevertheless
obliged afterwards to say (in order that we might not mis
apprehend his meaning), after " Let us bear the image of the
heavenly," these words also : " Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither
doth corruption inherit incorruption."3 Then, knowing that
there was a secret and mystical meaning in the passage, as was
becoming in one who was leaving, in his epistles, to those who
were to come after him words full of significance, he subjoins
the following, " Behold, I show you a mystery ; "4 which is his
usual style in introducing matters of a profounder and more
mystical nature, and such as are fittingly concealed from the
multitude, as is written in the book of Tobit : " It is good to
keep close the secret of a king, but honourable to reveal the
works of God,"5 — in a way consistent with truth and God's
glory, and so as to be to the advantage of the multitude. Our
hope, then, is not " the hope of worms, nor does our soul long
for a body that has seen corruption ;" for although it may
1 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43. - Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 48, 49.
3 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 49. ' 4 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 50.
6 Cf. Tobit xii. 7.

288 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
require a body, for the sake of moving from place to place,1
yet it understands (as having meditated on the wisdom [that
is from above], agreeably to the declaration, " The mouth of
the righteous will speak wisdom"-2) the difference between the
" earthly house," in which is the tabernacle of the building that
is to be dissolved, and that in which the righteous do groan,
being burdened, — not wishing to "put off" the tabernacle, but
to be " clothed therewith," that by being clothed upon, mor
tality might be swallowed up of life. For, in virtue of the
whole nature of the body being corruptible, the corruptible
tabernacle must put on incorruption ; and its other part, being
mortal, and becoming liable to the death which follows sin,
must put on immortality, in order that, when the corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and the mortal immortality,
then shall come to pass what was predicted of old by the
prophets, — the annihilation of the " victory" of death (because
it had conquered and subjected us to his sway), and of its
" sting," with which it stings the imperfectly defended soul,
and inflicts upon it the wounds which result from sin.
Chapter xx.
But since our views regarding the resurrection have, as far
as time would permit, been stated in part on the present occa
sion (for we have systematically examined the subject in greater
detail in other parts of our writings) ; and as now we must
by means of sound reasoning refute the fallacies of Celsus,
who neither understands the meaning of our Scripture, nor has
the capacity of judging that the meaning of our wise men is
not to be determined by those individuals who make no pro
fession of anything more than of a [simple] faith in the Chris
tian system, let us show that men, not to be lightly esteemed on
account of their reasoning powers and dialectic subtleties, have
given expression to very absurd3 opinions. And if we must
sneer4 at them as contemptible old wives' fables, it is at them
rather than at our narrative that we must sneer. The dis
ciples of the Porch assert, that after a period of years there
will be a conflagration of the world, and after that an arrange-
1 Xtd t«j TOTixdg potrxjixatig. - Cf. Ps. XXXvii. 30.
8 atpoXp'1 dvr'.fipxivovTX. 4 povx&ifyiv.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 289
ment of things in which everything will be unchanged, as
compared with the former arrangement of the world. Those
of them, however, who evinced their respect for this doctrine
have said that there will be ' a change, although exceedingly
slight, at the end of the cycle, from what prevailed during the
preceding. And these men maintain, that in the succeeding
cycle the same things will occur, and Socrates will be again the
son of Sophroniscus, and a native of Athens ; and Phamarete,
being married to Sophroniscus, will again become his mother.
And although they do not mention the word " resurrection,"
they show in reality that Socrates, who derived his origin from
seed, will spring from that of Sophroniscus, and will be
fashioned in the womb of Phsenarete ; and being brought up
at Athens, will practise the study of philosophy, as if his former
philosophy had arisen again, and were to be in no respect dif
ferent from what it was before. Anytus and Melitus, too, will
arise again as accusers of Socrates, and the Council of Areo
pagus will condemn him to death ! But what is more ridiculous
still, is that Socrates will clothe himself with garments not at
all different from those which he wore during the former cycle,
and will live in- the same unchanged state of poverty, and in
the same unchanged city of Athens ! And Phalaris will again
play the tyrant, and his brazen bull will pour forth its bellow-
ings from the voices of victims within, unchanged from those
who were condemned in the former cycle ! And Alexander of
Pheras, too, will again act the tyrant with a cruelty unaltered
from the former time, and will condemn to death the same
" unchanged" individuals as before. But what need is there to
go into detail upon the doctrine held by the Stoic philosophers
on such things, and which escapes the ridicule of Celsus, and
is perhaps even venerated by him, since he regards Zeno as a
wiser man than Jesus ?
Chapter xxi.
The disciples of Pythagoras, too, and of Plato, although they
appear to hold the incorruptibility of the world, yet fall into
similar errors. For as the planets, after certain definite cycles,
assume the same positions, and hold the same relations to one
another, all things on earth will, they assert, be like what they
ORIG. — VOL. II. T

290 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
were at the time when the same state of planetary relations
existed in the world. From this view it necessarily follows,
that when,, after the lapse of a lengthened cycle, the planets
'come to occupy towards each other the same relations which
they occupied in the time of Socrates, Socrates will again be
born of the same parents, and suffer the same treatment, being
accused by Anytus and Melitus, and condemned by the Council
of Areopagus ! The learned among the Egyptians, moreover,
hold similar views,, and yet they are treated with respect, and
do not incur the ridicule of Celsus and such as he ; while we,
who maintain that all things are administered by God in pro
portion to the relation of the free-will of each individual, and are
ever being brought into a better condition, so far as they admit
of being so,1 and who know that the nature of our free-will ad
mits of the occurrence of contingent events2 (for it is incapable
of receiving the wholly unchangeable character of God), yet
do not appear to say anything worthy of a testing examination.
Chapter xxii.
Let no one, however, suspect that, in speaking as we do, we
belong to those who are indeed called Christians, but who set
aside the doctrine of the resurrection as it is taught in Scrip
ture. For these persons cannot, so far as their principles
apply, at all establish that the stalk or tree which springs up
comes from the grain of wheat, or anything else [which was
cast into the ground] ; whereas we, who believe that that
which is "sown" is not "quickened" unless it die, and that
there is sown not that body that shall be (for God gives it a
body as it pleases Him, raising it in incorruption after it is
sown in corruption ; and after it is sown in dishonour, raising
it in glory ; and after it is sown in weakness, raising it in
power ; and after it is sown a natural body, raising it a spiritual),
— we preserve both the doctrine3 of the church of Christ and
the grandeur of the divine promise, proving also the possibility
of its accomplishment not by mere assertion, but by arguments ;
knowing that although heaven and earth, and the things that
1 XXTX TO SvXiXOpCtVOV.
2 xxi ty)v toS £<p' ijpoiv pVGiv yiyvZaxovrs; ivotxoposvov x svXsxstxi.
3 fiovAYipox.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 291
are in them, may pass away, yet His words regarding each
individual thing, being, as parts of a whole, or species of a
genus, the utterances of Him who was God the Word, who
was in the beginning with God, shall by no means pass away.
For we desire to listen to Llim who said : " Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."1
Chapter xxiii.
We, therefore, do not maintain that the body which has
undergone corruption resumes its original nature, any more
than the grain of wheat which has decayed returns to its former
condition. But we do maintain, that as above the grain of wheat
there arises a stalk, so a certain power2 is implanted in the
body, which is not destroyed, and from which the body is raised
up in incorruption. The philosophers of the Porch, however,
in consequence of the opinions which they hold regarding the
unchangeableness of things after a certain cycle, assert that the
body, after undergoing complete corruption, will return to its
original condition, and will again assume that first nature from
which it passed into a state of dissolution, establishing these
points, as they think, by irresistible arguments.3 We, however,
do not betake ourselves to a most absurd refuge, saying that
with God all things are possible ; for we know how to under
stand this word " all " as not referring either to things that are
"non-existent" or that are inconceivable. But we maintain,
at. the same time, that God cannot do what is disgraceful, since
then He would be capable of ceasing to be God ; for if He do
anything that is disgraceful, He is not God. Since, however,
he lays it down as a principle, that'*' God does not desire what
is contrary to nature," we have to make a distinction, and say
that if anyone asserts that "wickedness is contrary to nature,
while we maintain that " God does not desire what is contrary
to nature," — either what springs from wickedness or from an
irrational principle, — yet, If such things happen according to
the word and will of God, we must at once necessarily hold that
they are not contrary to nature. Therefore things which are
done by God, although they may be, or may appear to some to
1 Cf. Matt. xxiv. 35 ; cf. Mark xiii. 31.
2 Aoyog. XtxAsxTixxig dvxyxxig.

292 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
be incredible, are not contrary to nature. And if we must press
the force of words,1 we would say that, in comparison with what is
generally understood as " nature," there are certain things which
are beyond its power, which God could at any time do; as, e.g., in
raising man above the'fevel of human nature, and causing him
to pass into a better and more divine condition, and preserving
him in the same, so long as he who is the object of His care
shows by his actions that he desires [the continuance of His help].
Chapter xxiv.
Moreover, as we have already said that for God to desire any
thing unbecoming Himself would be destructive of His existence
as Deity, we will add that if man, agreeably to the wickedness of
his nature, should desire anything that is abominable,2 God can
not grant it. And now it is from no spirit of contention that wre
answer the assertions of Celsus ; but it is in the spirit of truth
that we investigate them, as assenting to his view that " He is
the God, not of inordinate desires, nor of error and disorder,
but of a nature just and upright," because He is the source of
all that is good. And that He is able to provide an eternal
life for the soul we acknowledge ; and that He possesses not
only the " power," but the " will." In view, therefore, of these
considerations, we are not at all distressed by the assertion of
Heraclitus, adopted by Celsus, that " dead bodies are to be cast
out as more worthless than dung ; " and yet, with reference even
to this, one might say that dung, indeed, ought to be cast out,
while the dead bodies of men, on account of the soul by which
they were inhabited, especially if it had been virtuous, ought
not to be cast out. For, in harmony with those laws which are
based upon the principles of equity, bodies are deemed worthy
of sepulture, with the honours accorded on such occasions, that
no insult, so far as can be helped, may be offered to the soul
which dwelt within, by casting forth the body (after the soul
has departed) like that of the animals. Let it not then be
held, contrary to reason, that it is the will of God to declare
that the grain of wheat is not immortal, but the stalk which
springs from it, while the body which is sown in corruption is
not, but that which is raised by Him in incorruption. But
1 si Xs x?"h tbiSixaxivug ovopoxGxi. 2 (iXtAvpov.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 293
according to Celsus, God Himself is the reason of all things,
while according to our view it is Llis Son, of whom we say in
philosophic language, " In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; " x while in
our judgment also, God cannot do anything which is contrary
to reason, or contrary to Himself.
Chapter xxv.
Let us next notice the statements of Celsus, which follow
the preceding, and which are as follow : " As the Jews, then,
became a peculiar people, and enacted laws in keeping with the
customs of their country,2 and maintain them up to the present
time, and observe a mode of worship which, whatever be its
nature,. is yet derived from their fathers, they act in these re
spects like other men, because each nation retains its ancestral
customs, whatever they are, if they happen to be established
among them. And such an arrangement appears to be advan
tageous, not only because it has occurred to the mind of other
nations to decide some things differently, but also because it is
a duty to protect what has been established for the public ad
vantage ; and also because, in all probability, the various quar
ters of the earth were from the beginning allotted to different
superintending spirits,3 and were thus distributed among certain
governing powers,4 and in this manner the administration of the
world is carried on. And whatever is done among each nation
in this way would be rightly done, wherever it was agreeable to
the wishes [of the superintending powers], while it would be an
act of impiety to get rid of 5 the institutions established from the
beginning in the various places." By these words Celsus shows
that the Jews, who were formerly Egyptians, subsequently
became a " peculiar people," and enacted laws which they care
fully preserve. And not to repeat his statements, which have
been already before us, he says that it is advantageous to the
Jews to observe their ancestral worship, as other nations care
fully attend to theirs. And he further states a deeper reason
why it is of advantage to the Jews to cultivate their ancestral
1 Cf. John i. 1. 2 xxi xxtx to iTrix^piov vopoovg Qixtvoi.
3 tx poipvi Ti)g yv)g If; dpxYig ctKAa «?i?iO/j i^oiTTXig vtvtpo-fipr.ivx.
4 xxi xxtx Tivxg imxpxTtixg XitiAripopoivx. 5 irxpxAvsiv.

294 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
customs, in hinting dimly that those to whom was allotted the
office of superintending the country which was being legis
lated for, enacted the laws of each land in co-operation with its
legislators. Lie appears, then, to indicate that both the country
of the Jews, and the nation which inhabits it, are superintended
by one or more beings, who, whether they were one or more,
co-operated with Moses, and enacted the laws of the Jews.
Chapter xxvi.
" We must," he says, " observe the laws, not only because
it has occurred to the mind of others to decide some things
differently, but because it is a duty to protect what has been
enacted for the public advantage, and also because, in all
probability, the various quarters of the earth were from the
beginning allotted to different superintending spirits, and were
distributed among certain governing powers, and in this manner
the administration of the world is carried on." Thus Celsus,
as if he had forgotten what he had said against the Jews, now
includes them in the general eulogy which he passes upon all
who observe their ancestral customs, remarking : " And what
ever is done among each nation in this wTay, would be rightly
done whenever agreeable to the wishes [of the superintendents]."
And observe here, whether he does not openly, so far as he can,
express a wish that the Jew should live in the observance of
his own laws, and not depart from them, because he would
commit an act of impiety if he apostatized ; for his words are :
" It would be an act of impiety to get rid of the institutions
established from the beginning in the various places." Now I
should like to ask him, and those who entertain his views, who
it was that distributed the various quarters of the earth from
the beginning among the different superintending spirits ; and
especially, who gave the country of the Jews, and the Jewish
people themselves, to the one or more superintendents to whom
it was allotted ? Was it, as Celsus would say, Jupiter who
assigned the Jewish people and their country to a certain spirit
or spirits? And was it his wish, to whom they were thus
assigned, to enact among them the laws which prevail, or was
it against his will that it was done ? You will observe that,
whatever be his answer, he is in a strait. But if the various

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 295
quarters of the earth were not allotted by some one being to the
various superintending spirits, then each one at random, and
without the superintendence of a higher power, divided the
earth according to chance ; and yet such a view is absurd, and
destructive in no small degree of the providence of the God
who presides over all things. Chapter xxvii.
Any one, indeed, who chooses, may relate how the various
quarters of the earth, being distributed among certain governing
powers, are administered by those who superintend them ; but
let him tell us also how what is done among each nation is
done rightly when agreeable to the wishes of the superin
tendents. Let him, for example, tell us whether the laws of
the Scythians, which permit the murder of parents, are right
laws ; or those of the Persians, which do not forbid the mar
riages of sons with their mothers, or of daughters with their
own fathers. But what need is there for me to make selections
from those who have been engaged in the business of enacting
laws among the different nations, and to inquire how the laws
are rightly enacted among each, according as they please the
superintending powers ? Let Celsus, however, tell us how it
would be an act of impiety to get rid of those ancestral laws
which permit the marriages of mothers and daughters ; or
which pronounce a man happy who puts an end to his life by
hanging, or declare that they undergo entire purification who
deliver themselves over to the fire, and who terminate their
existence by fire ; and how it is an act of impiety to do away
with those laws which, for example, prevail in the Tauric
Chersonese, regarding the offering up of strangers in sacrifice
to Diana, or among certain of the Libyan tribes regarding the
sacrifice of children to Saturn. Moreover, this inference fol
lows from the dictum of Celsus, that it is an act of impiety on
the part of the Jews to do away with those ancestral laws
which forbid the worship of any other deity than the Creator of
all things. And it will follow, according to his view, that piety
is not divine by its own nature, but by a certain [external]
arrangement and appointment. For it is an act of piety among
certain tribes to worship a crocodile, and to eat what is an

296 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
object of adoration among other tribes ; while, again, with others
it is a pious act to worship a calf, and among others, again, to
regard the goat as a god. And, in this way, the same indi
vidual will be regarded as acting piously according to one set
of laws, and impiously according to another; and this is the
most absurd result that can be conceived !
Chapter xxviii.
It is probable, however, that to such remarks as the above,
the answer returned would be, that he was pious who kept the
laws of his own country, and not at all chargeable with impiety
for the non-observance of those of other lands; and that, again,
he who was deemed guilty of impiety among certain nations
was not really so, when he worshipped his own gods, agreeably
to his country's laws, although he made war against, and even
feasted on,1 those who were regarded as divinities among those
nations which possessed laws of an opposite kind. Now, observe
here whether these statements do not exhibit the greatest con
fusion of mind regarding the nature of what is just, and holy,
and religious ; since there is no accurate definition laid down of
these things, nor are they described as having a peculiar cha
racter of their own, and stamping as religious those who act •
according to their injunctions. If, then, religion, and piety,
! and righteousness belong to those things which are so only by
comparison, so that the same act may be both pious and impious,
according to different relations and different laws, see whether
i it will not follow that temperance 2 also is a thing of compari
son, and courage as well, and prudence, and the other virtues,
than which nothing could be more absurd! What we have
said, however, is sufficient for the more general and simple
class of answers to the allegations of Celsus. But as we think
it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper
investigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay
down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a
mystical and secret view respecting the original distribution of
the various quarters of the earth among different superintending
spirits ; and let us prove to the best of our ability, that our
doctrine is free from the absurd consequences enumerated above.
1 XXTXtloiVXTXI. 2 OOiPOOGVllYl

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 297
CnAPTER XXIX.
It appears to me, indeed, that Celsus has misunderstood some
of the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement of terrestrial
affairs, some of which are touched upon1 even in Grecian his
tory, when certain of those who are considered to be gods are
introduced as having contended with each other about the
possession of Attica ; while in the writings of the Greek poets
also, some who are called gods are represented as acknowledging
that certain places here are preferred by them 2 before others.
The history of barbarian nations, moreover, and especially that
of Egypt, contains some such allusions to the division of the
so-called Egyptian nomes, when it states that Athena, who
obtained Sais by lot, is the same who also has possession of
Attica. And the learned among the Egyptians can enumerate
innumerable instances of this kind, although I do not know
whether they include the Jews and their country in this
division. And now, so far as testimonies outside the word of
God bearing on this point are concerned, enough have been
adduced for the present. We say, moreover, that our prophet
of God and His genuine servant Moses, in his, song in the book
of Deuteronomy, makes a statement regarding the portioning
out of the earth in the following terms : " When the Most
High divided the nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam,
He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
angels of God ; and the Lord's portion was His people Jacob,
and Israel the cord of His inheritance." 3 And regarding the
distribution of the nations, the same Moses, in his work entitled
Genesis, thus expresses himself in the style of a historical
narrative : " And the whole earth was of one language and
of one speech ; and it came to pass, as they journeyed from
the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and
they dwelt there." 4 A little further on he continues : " And
the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men had built. And the Lord said, Behold, the
people is one, and they have all one language ; and this they
have begun to do : and now nothing will be restrained from
1 itpxTTTtTXI. 2 oixttOTtpoVC.
3 Cf. Deut. xxxii. 8, 9 (LXX.). 4 Cf. Gen. xi. 1, 2.

298 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down,
and there confound their language, that they may not under
stand one another's speech. And the Lord scattered them
abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they
left off to build the city and the tower. Therefore is the
name of it called Confusion ; x because the Lord did there
confound the language of all the earth : and from thence did
tdie Liord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." '
In the treatise of Solomon, moreover, on " Wisdom," and on
the events at the time of the confusion of languages, when the
division of the earth took place, we find the following regard
ing Wisdom : " Moreover, the nations, in their wicked con
spiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and
preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong in his
tender compassion towards his son." 3 But on these subjects
much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said ; in keeping
with which is the following : " It is good to keep close the
secret of a king," 4 — in order that the doctrine of the entrance
of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration
from one body into another) may not be thrown before the
common understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs,
nor pearls be cast before swine. For such a procedure would
be impious, being equivalent to a betrayal of the mysterious
declarations of God's wisdom, of wdiich it has been well said :
" Into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter, nor dwell in a
body subject to sin." 5 It is sufficient, however, to represent
in the style of a historic narrative what is intended to convey
a secret meaning in the garb of history, that those who have
the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates to the
subject.
Chapter xxx.
[The narrative, then, may be understood as follows.] All
the people upon the earth are to be regarded as having used
one divine language, and so long as they lived harmoniously
together were preserved in the use of this divine language ,
and they remained without moving from the east so long as
1 aiyxuatg. 2 Cf. Gen. xi. 5-9. 3 Cf. "Wisd. of Sol. x. 5.
4 Cf . Tobit xii. 7. * Cf. Wisd. of Sol. i. 4.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 299
they were imbued with the sentiments of the " light," and of
the " reflection" of the eternal light.1 But when they departed
from the east, and began to entertain sentiments alien to those
of the east,2 they found a place in the land of Shinar (which,
when interpreted, means " gnashing of teeth," by way of indi
cating symbolically that they had lost the means of their sup
port), and in it they took up their abode. Then, desiring to
gather together material things,3 and to join to heaven what
had no natural affinity for it, that by means of material things
they might conspire against such as were immaterial, they said,
" Come, let us make bricks, and burn them with fire." Accord
ingly, when they had hardened and compacted these materials
of clay and matter, and had shown their desire to make brick
into stone, and clay into bitumen, and by these means to build
a city and a tower, the head of which was, at least in their con
ception, to reach up to the heavens, after the manner of the
" high things which exalt themselves against the knowledge of
God," each one was handed over (in proportion to the greater
or less departure from the east which had taken place among
them, and in proportion to the extent in which bricks had been
converted into stones, and clay into bitumen, and building
carried on out of these materials) to angels of character more
or less severe, and of a nature more or less stern, until they
had paid the penalty of their daring deeds; and they were
conducted by those angels, who imprinted on each his native
language, to the different parts of the earth according to their
deserts : some, for example, to a region of burning heat,
others to a country which chastises its inhabitants by its cold ;
others, again, to a land exceedingly difficult of cultivation,
others to one less so in degree ; while a fifth were brought into
a land filled with wild beasts, and a sixth to a country com
paratively free of these.
Chapter xxxi.
Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity, let him
understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which
contains some things that are, literally true, while yet it conveys
1 ig ogo'j i'igI tx tov (pcnog xxi tov xko (ponog xiXiov x-itxvyxGpcxrog (ppo-
vovvTsg. 2 dAAoTpix xvxtoAZv (ppovovvTsg.

300 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
a deeper meaning, those who preserved their original language
continued, by reason of their not having migrated from the
east, in possession of the east, and of their eastern language.
And let him notice, that these alone became the portion of the
Lord, and His people who were called Jacob, and Israel the
cord of His inheritance ; and these alone were governed by a
ruler who did not receive those who were placed under him
for the purpose of punishment, as was the case with the others.
Let him also, who has the capacity to perceive as far as mortals
may, observe that in the body politic1 of those who were
assigned to the Lord as His pre-eminent portion, sins were
committed, first of all, such as might be forgiven, and of
such a nature as not to make the sinner worthy of entire
desertion, while subsequently they became more numerous,
though still of a nature to be pardoned. And while remarking
that this state of matters continued for a considerable time,
and that a remedy was always applied, and that after certain
intervals these persons returned to their duty, let him notice
that they were given over, in proportion to their transgressions,
to those to whom had been assigned the other quarters of the
earth ; and that, after being at first slightly punished, and
having made atonement,2 they returned, as if they had under
gone discipline,3 to their proper habitations. Let him notice also
that afterwards they were delivered over to rulers of a severer
character — to Assyrians and Babylonians, as the Scriptures
would call them. In the next place, notwithstanding that
means of healing were being applied, let him observe that they
were still multiplying their transgressions, and that they were
on that account dispersed into other regions by the rulers of
the nations that oppressed them. And their own ruler inten
tionally overlooked their oppression at the hands of the rulers
of the other nations, in order that he also with good reason, as
avenging himself, having obtained power to tear away from
the other nations as many as he can, may do so, and enact for
them laws, and point out a manner of life agreeably to which
they ought to live, that so he may conduct them to the end to
which those of the former people were conducted who did not
commit sin.
1 xoAiTlix. - xxi TiGXvrxg Xixyiv. 3 ZGWtptl KXiXsvDsvTXg.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 301
Chapter xxxii.
And by this means let those who have the capacity of com
prehending truths so profound, learn that he to whom were
allotted those who had not formerly sinned is far more power
ful than the others, since he has been able to make a selection
of individuals from the portion of the whole,1 and to separate
them from those who received them for the purpose of punish
ment, and to bring them under the influence of laws, and of a
mode of life which helps to produce an oblivion of their former
transgressions. But, as we have previously observed, these
remarks are to be understood as being made by us with a con
cealed meaning, by way of pointing out the mistakes of those
who asserted that " the various quarters of the earth were from
the beginning distributed among different superintending spirits,
and being allotted among certain governing powers, were ad
ministered in this way ;" from which statement Celsus took
occasion to make the remarks referred to. But since those who
wandered away from the east were delivered over, on account
of their sins, to " a reprobate mind," and to " vile affections,"
and to "uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts,"2
in order that, being sated with sin, they might hate it, we shall
refuse our assent to the assertion of Celsus, that "because of
the superintending spirits distributed among the different parts
of the earth, what is done among each nation is rightly done ; "
for our desire is to do what is not agreeable to these spirits.3
For we see that it is a religious act to do away with the cus
toms originally established in the various places by means of
laws of a better and more divine character, which were enacted
by Jesus, as one possessed of the greatest power, who has res
cued us " from the present evil world," and " from the princes
of the world that come to nought;" and that it is a mark of
irreligion not to throw ourselves at the feet of Him who has
manifested Himself to be holier and more powerful than all
other rulers, and to whom God said, as the prophets many
generations before predicted : "Ask of me, and I shall give Thee
the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of
1 «57o Tijf irxvTuv pctplXog. 2 Cf. Rom. i. 24, 20, 28.
3 ciTiTios xxi /SovAopcsQx, ovx offij yi ixtivoig p'tAov, nroitiv tx sxtivav.

302 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
the earth for Thy possession."1 For He, too, has become the
" expectation" of us who from among the heathen have believed
upon Him, and upon His Father, who is God over all things.
Chapter xxxiii.
The remarks which we have made not only answer the
statements of Celsus regarding the superintending spirits, but
anticipate in some measure what he afterwards brings forward,
when he says : " Let the second party come forward ; and I
shall ask them whence they come, and whom they regard as the
originator of their ancestral customs. They will reply, No one,
because they spring from the same source as the Jews them
selves, and derive their instruction and superintendence 2 from
no other quarter, and notwithstanding they have revolted from
the Jews." Each one of us, then, is come " in the last days,"
when one Jesus has visited us, to the " visible mountain' of
the Lord," the Word that is above every word, and to the
" house of God," which is " the church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of the truth." 3 And we notice how it is
built upon " the tops of the mountains," i.e. the predictions of
all the prophets, which are its foundations. And this house
is exalted above the hills, i.e. those individuals among men who
make a profession of superior attainments in wisdom and truth;
and all the nations come to it, and the " many nations " go
forth, and say to one another, turning to the religion w:hich in
the last days has shone forth through Jesus Christ : " Come ye,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob ; and He will teach us of His ways, and we
will walk in them."4 For the law came forth from the dwellers
in Sion, and settled among us as a spiritual law. Moreover, the
word of the Lord came forth from that very Jerusalem, that it
might be disseminated through all places, and might judge in
the midst of the heathen, selecting those whom it sees to be
submissive, and rejecting5 the disobedient, who are many in
number. And to those who inquire of us whence we come,
or who is our founder,6 we reply that we are come, agreeably
to the counsels of Jesus, to " cut down our hostile and inso-
1 Ps. ii. 8. 2 x°P°ctxtw. 3 Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 15.
Cf. Isa. ii. 3. 5 iAiyx}]. G dpxYiysTYiv.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 303
lent ' wordy ' x swords into ploughshares, and to convert into
pruning-hooks the spears formerly employed in war." 2 For we
no longer take up " sword against nation," nor do we " learn
war any more," having become children of peace, for the sake
of Jesus, who is our leader, instead of those whom our fathers
followed, among whom we were " strangers to the covenant,"
and having received a law, for which we give thanks to Him
that rescued us from the error [of our ways], saying, " Our
fathers honoured lying idols, and there is not among them one
that causeth it to rain." s Our Superintendent, then, and
Teacher, having come forth from the Jews, regulates the whole
world by the word of His teaching. And having made these
remarks by way of anticipation, we have refuted as well as we
could the untrue statements of Celsus, by subjoining the
appropriate answer.
Chapter xxxiv.
But, that we may not pass without notice what Celsus has
said between these and the preceding paragraphs, let us quote
his words : " We might adduce Her°dotus as a witness on this
point, for he expresses himself as follows : ' For the people of
the cities Marea and Apis, who inhabit those parts of Egypt
that are adjacent to Libya, and who look upon themselves as
Libyans, and not as Egyptians, finding their sacrificial worship
oppressive, and wishing not to be excluded from the use of
cows' flesh, sent to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, saying that
there was no relationship between them and the Egyptians,
that they dwelt outside the Delta, that there was no community
of sentiment between them and the Egyptians, and that they
wished to be allowed to partake of all kinds of food. But the
god would not allow them to do as they desired, saying that that
country was a part of Egypt, which was watered by the inun
dation of the Nile, and that those were Egyptians who dwell
1 GVyxoipxi t«; 7?oAspiixxg qpcZv Aoyixxg pixxxipxg xxi v/SpteTixdg si;
xporpx, xxi t«j xxtx to ¦upoTtpov YipoZv pcxxipoov tyfivvxg sig Xpivxvx pcsrx-
GXSVXl^OpOSV. 2 Cf. Isa. ii. 4.
3 Cf. Jer. xvi. 19 and xiv. 22 ; Zg ^/svXv) ixtyigxvto oi isxTtpsg v)poZ»
tfXaAX, Xxi OVX tGTlV 'tV XVToTg CtTl^ilV.

304 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
to the south of the city of Elephantine, and drink of the river
Nile.' x Such is the narrative of Herodotus. But," continues
Celsus, " Ammon in divine things would not make a worse am
bassador than the angels of the Jews,2 so that there is nothing
wrong in each nation observing its established method of wor-
• ship. Of a truth, we shall find very great differences prevailing
among the nations, and yet each seems to deem its own by far
the best. Those inhabitants of Ethiopia who dwell in Meroe
worship Jupiter and Bacchus alone ; the Arabians, Urania and
Bacchus only ; all the Egyptians, Opus and Isis ; the Saites,
Minerva ; while the Naucratites have recently classed Serapis
among their deities, and the rest according to their respective
laws. And some abstain from the flesh of sheep, and others
from that of crocodiles ; others, again, from that of cows, while
they regard swine's flesh with loathing. The Scythians, indeed,
regard it as a noble act to banquet upon human beings. Among
the Indians, too, there are some who deem themselves discharg
ing a holy duty in eating their fathers, and this is mentioned
in a certain passage by Herodotus. For the sake of credibility,
I shall again quote his very words, for he writes as follows :
' For if any one were to make this proposal to all men, viz.
to bid him select out of all existing laws the best, each would
choose, after examination, those of his own country. Men
each consider their own laws much the best, and therefore it
is not likely that any other than a madman would make these
things a subject of ridicule. But that such are the conclusions
of all men regarding the laws, may be determined by manv
other evidences, and especially by the following illustration.
Darius, during his reign, having summoned before him those
Greeks who happened to be present at the time, inquired of
them for how much they would be willing to eat their deceased
fathers ; their answer was, that for no consideration would they
do such a thing. After this, Darius summoned those Indians
who are called Callatians, who are in the habit of eating their
parents, and asked of them in the presence of these Greeks,
who learned what passed through an interpreter, for what
1 Cf. Herodot. ii. 18.
3 6 Xs 'Apoftuv oiiXiv t/ xxxiay XiXTpso/itVGXi tx Xxipoovix, ij oi 'lovXxiav
xyysAoi.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 305
amount of money they would undertake to burn their deceased
fathers with fire ; on which they raised a loud shout, and bade
the king say no more.' x Such is the way, then, in which these
matters are regarded. And Pindar appears to me to be right
in saying that ' law ' is the king of all things." 2
Chapter xxxv.
The argument of Celsus appears to point by these illustra
tions to this conclusion : that it is " an obligation incumbent on
all men to live according to their country's customs, in which
case they will escape censure; whereas the Christians, who have
abandoned their native usages, and who are not one nation
like the Jews, are to be blamed for giving their adherence to
the teaching of Jesus." Let him then tell us whether it is a
becoming thing for philosophers, and those who have been
taught not to yield to superstition, to abandon their country's
customs, so as to eat of those articles of food which are pro
hibited in their respective cities ? or whether this proceeding
of theirs is opposed to what is becoming ? For if, on account
of their philosophy, and the instructions which they have re
ceived against superstition, they should eat, in disregard of
their native laws, what was interdicted by their fathers, why
should the Christians (since the gospel requires them not to
busy themselves about statues and images, or even about any of
the created works of God, but to ascend on high, and present
the soul to the Creator), when acting in a similar manner to
the philosophers, be censured for so doing ? But if, for the
sake of defending the theses which he has proposed to himself,
Celsus, or those who think with him, should say, that even one
who had studied philosophy would keep his country's laws, then
philosophers in Egypt, for example, would act most ridiculously
in avoiding the eating of onions, in order to observe their
country's laws, or certain parts of the body, as the head and
shoulders, in order not to transgress the traditions of their
fathers. And I do not speak of those Egyptians who shudder
with fear at the discharge of wind from the body, because if
any one of these were to become a philosopher, and still observe
the laws of his country, he would be a ridiculous philosopher,
1 tbcpnpotiv posv ixiAsvov. 2 Cf. Herodot. iii. 38.
ORIG. — VOL. II. U

306 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
acting very unphilosophically.1 In the same way, then, lie who
has been led by the gospel to worship the God of all things, and,
from regard to his country's laws, lingers here below among
images and statues of men, and does not desire to ascend to the
Creator, will resemble those who have indeed learned philo
sophy, but who are afraid of things which ought to inspire no
terrors, and who regard it as an act of impiety to eat of those
things which have been enumerated.
Chapter xxxvi.
But what sort of being is this Amnion of Herodotus, whose
words Celsus has quoted, as if by way of demonstrating how
each one ought to keep his country's laws ? For this Amnion
would not allow the people of the cities of Marea and Apis,
who inhabit the districts adjacent to Libya, to treat as a matter
of indifference the use of cows' flesh, which is a thing not only
indifferent in its own nature, but which does not prevent a man
from being noble and virtuous. If Ammon, then, forbade
the use of cows' flesh, because of the advantage which results
from the use of the animal in the cultivation of the ground,
and in addition to this, because it is by the female that the
breed is increased, the account would possess more plausibility.
But now he simply requires that those who drink of the Nile
should observe the laws of the Egyptians regarding kine.
And hereupon Celsus, taking occasion to pass a jest upon the
employment of the angels among the Jews as the ambassadors
of God, says that " Ammon did not make a worse ambassador
of divine things than did the angels of the Jews," into the
meaning of whose words and manifestations he instituted no
investigation ; otherwise he would have seen, that it is not for
oxen that God is concerned, even where He may appear to
legislate for them, or for irrational animals, but that what is
written for the sake of men, under the appearance of relating
to irrational animals, contains certain truths of nature.2 Celsus,
moreover, says that no wrong is committed by any one who
wishes to observe the religious worship sanctioned by the laws
of his country ; and it follows, according to his view, that the
Scythians commit no wrong, when, in conformity with their
1 ytAoiog xv stYi QiAoGopog dlptAoootpx irpxTTUV. 2 (pVGio\oyixv.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 307
country's laws, they eat human beings. And those Indians
who eat their own fathers are considered, according to Celsus,
to do a religious, or at least not a wicked act. He adduces,
indeed, a statement of Herodotus which favours the principle
that each one ought, from a sense of what is becoming, to obey
his country's laws ; and he appears to approve of the custom
of those Indians called Callatians, who in the time of Darius
devoured their parents, since, on Darius inquiring for how
great a sum of money they would be willing to lay aside this
usage, they raised a loud shout, and bade the king say no more.
Chapter xxxvii.
_As there are, then, generally two laws presented to us,
the one being the law of nature, of which God would be the
legislator, and the other being the written law of cities, it is a
proper thing, when the written law is not opposed to that of
God, for the citizens not to abandon it under pretext of foreign
customs ; but when the law of nature, that is, the law of God,
commands what is opposed to the written law, observe wdiether
reason will not tell us to bid a long farewell to the written code,
and to the desire of its legislators, and to give ourselves up to
the legislator God, and to choose a life agreeable to His word,
although in doing so it may be necessary to encounter dangers,
and countless labours, and even death and dishonour.] For
when there are some laws in harmony with the will of God,
which are opposed to others which are in force in cities, and
when it is impracticable to please God (and those who admi
nister laws of the kind referred to), it would be absuLit' vi©
contemn those acts by means of which we may pleas
Creator of all things, and to select those by which
become displeasing to God, though we may satisfy unhol
and those who love them. But since it is reasonable
matters to, prefer the law of nature, which is the law^
before the written law, which has been enacted by njiaj
spirit of opposition to the law of God, why should
this still more in the case of those laws which relate
Neither shall we, like the Ethiopians who inhabit
about Meroe, worship, as is their pleasure, Jupiter
only ; nor shall we at all reverence Ethiopian

308 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
Ethiopian manner ; nor, like the Arabians, shall we regard
Urania and Bacchus alone as divinities ; nor in any degree at
all deities in which the difference of sex has been a ground
of distinction (as among the Arabians, who worship Urania as a
female, and Bacchus as a male deity) ; nor shall we, like all the
Egyptians, regard Osiris and Isis as gods ; nor shall wo enu
merate Athena among these, as the Saites are pleased to do.
And if to the ancient inhabitants of Naucratis it seemed good to
worship other divinities, while their modern descendants have
begun quite recently to pay reverence to Serapis, who never was
a god at all, we shall not on that account assert that a new being
who was not formerly a god, nor at all known to men, is a deity.
For the Son of God, " the First-born of all creation," although
He seemed recently to have become incarnate, is not by any
means on that account recent. For the Holy Scriptures know
Him to be the most ancient of all the works of creation -,1 for
it was to Him that God said regarding the creation of man,
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."2
Chapter xxxviii.
I wish, however, to show how Celsus asserts without any good
reason, that each one reveres his domestic and native institu
tions. For he declares that "those Ethiopians who inhabit
Meroe know only of two gods, Jupiter and Bacchus, and
worship these alone ; and that the Arabians also know only of
two, viz. Bacchus, who is also an Ethiopian deity, and Urania,
whose worship is confined to them." According to his account,
neither do the Ethiopians worship Urania, nor the Arabians
Jupiter. If, then, an Ethiopian were from any accident to
lfaii: into the hands of the Arabians, and were to be judged
gHriltyjpf impiety because he did not worship Urania, and for
thiV*re5dson should incur the danger of death, would it be
prow. :f or the Ethiopian to die, or to act contrary to his
-'COunVy's laws, and do obeisance to Urania ? Now, if it would
"be^.Mjrtet for him to act contrary to the laws of his country,
he wif cfo-what is not right, so far as the language of Celsus is
s^agfStran^rd ; while, if he should be led away to death, let him
Vsliow'the reasonableness of selecting such a fate. I know not
; i d$&&fopT<» kxvtuv tZv XnpciovpyYipi.xToiv. 2 Cf. Gen. i. 26.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 309
whether, if the Ethiopian doctrine taught men to philosophize
on the immortality of the soul, and the honour which is paid to
religion, they would reverence those as deities who are deemed
to be such by the laws of the country.1 A similar illustration
may be employed in the case of the Arabians, if from any
accident they happened to visit the Ethiopians about Meroe.
For, having been taught to worship Urania and Bacchus alone,
they will not worship Jupiter along with the Ethiopians ; and
if, adjudged guilty of impiety, they should be led away to death,
let Celsus tell us what it would be reasonable on their part to
do. And with regard to the fables which relate to Osiris and
Isis, it is superfluous and out of place at present to enumerate
them. For although an allegorical meaning may be given to the
fables, they will nevertheless teach us to offer divine worship to
cold water, and to the earth, which is subject to men, and all
the animal creation. For in this way, I presume, they refer
Osiris to water, and Isis to earth ; while with regard to Serapis
the accounts are numerous and conflicting, to the effect that
very recently he appeared in public, agreeably to certain jug
gling tricks performed at the desire of Ptolemy, who wished
to show to the people of Alexandria as it were a visible god.
And we have read in the writings of Numenius the Pytha
gorean regarding his formation, that he partakes of the essence
of all the animals and plants that are under the control of
nature, that he may appear to have been fashioned into a god,
not by the makers of images alone, with the aid of profane
mysteries, and juggling tricks employed to invoke demons, but
also by magicians and sorcerers, and those demons who are
bewitched by their incantations.2
Chapter xxxix.
We must therefore inquire what may be fittingly eaten or
not by the rational and gentle3 animal, which acts always in
1 This sentence is regarded by Guietus as an interpolation, which should
be struck out of the text.
2 "l'JX X6^Y] piSTX tZv XTtASGTUV TtASTOIV, XXI T01V XX7.0VG01V Xx'lpOOVXg
uxyyxvtiZv, ovx viro xyxApoxTOiroioiv poovoiv xxTXGxtvx^tudxt dsog, a?iAo:
xxi vtto pcxyoiv, -xxi (pxppcxxuv, xxi tZv iiroiXxig x'jtZv xyjAovpoivuv Xxtpoovuv.
3 Yjpiipo).

310 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
conformity with reason ; and not worship at random, sheep, or
goats, or kine ; to abstain from which is an act of moderation,1
for much advantage is derived by men from these animals.
Whereas, is it not the most foolish of all things to spare croco
diles, and to treat them as sacred to some fabulous divinity or
other? For it is a mark of exceeding stupidity to spare those
animals which do not spare us, and to bestow care on those which
make a prey of human beings. But Celsus approves of those
who, in keeping with the laws of their country, worship and
tend crocodiles, and not a word does he say against them, while
the Christians appear deserving of censure, who have been
taught to loath evil, and to turn away from wicked works, and
to reverence and honour virtue as being generated by God,
and as being His Son. For we must not, on account of their
feminine name and nature, regard wisdom and righteousness as
females ;2 for these things are in our view the Son of God, as
His genuine disciple has shown, when he said of Him, " Who
of God is made to us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi-
cation, and redemption."3 And although wo may call Him a
"second" God, let men know that by the term "second God"
we mean nothing else than a virtue capable of including all
other virtues, and a reason capable of containing all reason what
soever which exists in all things, which have arisen naturally,
directly, and for the general advantage, and which "reason,"
we say, dwelt in the soul of Jesus, and was united to Him in
a degree far above all other souls, seeing He alone was enabled
completely to receive the highest share in the absolute reason,
and the absolute wisdom, and the absolute righteousness.
Chapter xl.
But since, after Celsus had spoken to the above effect of the
different kinds of laws, he adds the following remark, "Pindar
appears to me to be correct in saying that law is king of all.
things," let us proceed to discuss this assertion. What law do
you mean to say, good sir, is " king of all things ? " If you
1 po'tTpiOV.
- oil yxp Tttpx to' 6-fPkvxov ovopcx, xxi tyi oiiaix @y)Asixv vopciGTtov sivxi T'«j»
0~0(plXV, XO'.l TY)tl XlxXlOGllVYlV.
3 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 30.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 311
mean those which exist in the various cities, then such an asser
tion is not true. For all men are not governed by the same
law. You ought to have said that " laws are kings of all men,"
for in every nation some law is king of all. But if you mean
that which is law in the proper sense, then it is this which
is by nature "king of all things;" although there are some
individuals who, having like robbers abandoned the law, deny
its validity, and live lives of violence and injustice. We
Christians, then, who have come to the knowledge of the law
which is by nature "king of all things," and which is the same
with the law of God, endeavour to regulate our lives by its
prescriptions, having bidden a long farewell to those of an un
holy kind.
Chapter xli.
Let us notice the charges which are next advanced by Celsus,
in which there is exceedingly little that has reference to the
Christians, as most of them refer to the Jews. Llis words are :
"If, then, in these respects the Jews were carefully to pre
serve their own law, they are not to be blamed for so doing,
but those persons rather who have forsaken their own usages,
and adopted those of the Jews. And if they pride themselves
on it, as being possessed of superior wisdom, and keep aloof
from intercourse with others, as not being equally pure with
themselves, they have already heard that their doctrine con
cerning heaven is not peculiar to them, but, to pass by all
others, is one which has long ago been received by the Persians,
as Herodotus somewhere mentions. ' For they have a custom,'
he says, ' of going up to the tops of the mountains, and of
offering sacrifices to Jupiter, giving the name of Jupiter to
the whole circle of the heavens.'1 And I think," continues
Celsus, "that it makes no difference whether you call the
highest being Zeus, or Zen, or Adonai, or Sabaoth, or Am-
moun like the Egyptians, or Pappseus like the Scythians.
Nor would they be deemed at all holier than others in this
respect, that they observe the rite of circumcision, for this was
done by the Egyptians and Colchians before them ; nor because
they abstain from swine's flesh, for the Egyptians practised
1 Cf. Herodot. i. 135.

312 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
abstinence not only from it, but from the flesh of goats, and
sheep, and oxen, and fishes as well ; while Pythagoras and his
disciples do not eat beans, nor anything that contains life. It
is not probable, however, that they enjoy God's favour, or are
loved by Llim differently from others, or that angels wore
sent from heaven to them alone, as if they had had allotted to
them ' some region of the blessed,' J for we see both themselves
and the country of which they were deemed worthy. Let this
band,2 then, take its departure, after paying the penalty of its
vaunting, not having a knowledge of the great God, but being
led away and deceived by the artifices of Moses, having become
his pupil to no good end."
Chapter xlii.
It is evident that, by the preceding remarks, Celsus charges
the Jews with falsely giving themselves out as the chosen por
tion of the Supreme God above all other nations. And he
accuses them of boasting, because they gave out that they knew
the great God, although they did not really know Him, but
were led away by the artifices of Moses, and were deceived
by him, and became his disciples to no good end. Now we
have in the preceding pages already spoken in part of the
venerable and distinguished polity of the Jews, when it existed
amongst them as a symbol of the city of God, and of His
temple, and of the sacrificial worship offered in it and at the
altar of sacrifice. But if any one were to turn his attention
to the meaning of the legislator, and to the constitution which
he established, and were to examine the various points relating
to him, and compare them with the present method of worship
among other nations, there are none which he would admire
to a greater degree ; because, so far as can be accomplished
among mortals, everything that was not of advantage to the
human race was withheld from them, and only those things
which are useful bestowed. And for this reason they had
neither gymnastic contests, nor scenic representations, nor horse
races ; nor were there among them women who sold their
beauty to any one who wished to have sexual intercourse with
out offspring, and to cast contempt upon the nature of human
0/0* oil tivx poaxxpav xZpxv Axxovatv. 2 jcopo;.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 313
generation. And what an advantage was it to be taught from
their tender years to ascend above all visible nature, and to
hold the belief that God was not fixed anywhere within its
limits, but to look for Him on high, and beyond the sphere of
all bodily substance ! x And how great was the advantage
which they enjoyed in being instructed almost from their birth,
and as soon as they could speak,2 in the immortality of the soul,
and in the existence of courts of justice under the earth, and
in the rewards provided for those who have lived righteous
lives! These truths, indeed, were proclaimed in the veil
of fable to children, and to those whose views of things were
childish ; while to those who were already occupied in inves
tigating the truth, and desirous of making progress therein,
these fables, so to speak, were transfigured into the truths which
were concealed within them. And I consider that it was in a
manner worthy of their name as the "portion of God" that
they despised all kinds of divination, as that which bewitches
men to no purpose, and which proceeds rather from wicked
demons than from anything of a better nature ; and sought the
knowledge of future events in the souls of those who, owing to
their high degree of purity, received the spirit of the Supreme
God. Chapter xliii.
But what need is there to point out how agreeable to sound
reason, and unattended with injury either to master or slave,
was the law that one of the same faith3 should not be allowed
to continue in slavery more than six years?4 The Jews, then,
cannot be said to preserve their own law in the same points with
the other nations. For it would be censurable in them, and
would involve a charge of insensibility to the superiority of
their law, if they were to believe that they had been legislated
for in the same way as the other nations among the heathen.
And although Celsus will not admit it, the Jews nevertheless are
possessed of a wisdom superior not only to that of the multi
tude, but also of those who have the appearance of philosophers;
1 virsp TX GZptXTX. 2 OVpCtAYlpUGil tov Aoyov.
3 TOV dvro T01V XVT01V OpOlpCSVOV OOypCXTOlV.
4 Cf. Ex. xxi. 2 and Jer. xxxiv. 14.

314 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
because those who engage in philosophical pursuits, after the
utterance of the most venerable philosophical sentiments, fall
away into the worship of idols and demons, whereas the very
lowest Jew directs his look to the Supreme God alone ; and
they do well, indeed, so far as this point is concerned, to pride
themselves thereon, and to keep aloof from the society of others
as accursed and impious. And would that they had not sinned,
and transgressed the law, and slain the prophets in former
times, and in these latter days conspired against Jesus, that we
might be in possession of a pattern of a heavenly city which
even Plato would have sought to describe ; although I doubt
whether he could have accomplished as much as was done by
Moses and those who followed him, who nourished a " chosen
generation," and " a holy nation," dedicated to God, with words
free from all superstition. Chapter xliv.
But as Celsus would compare the venerable customs of the
Jews with the laws of certain nations, let us proceed to look at
them. He is of opinion, accordingly, that there is no difference
betwoen the doctrine regarding " heaven" and that regarding
" God ; " and he says that " the Persians, like the Jews, offer
sacrifices to Jupiter upon the tops of the mountains," — not
observing that, as the Jews were acquainted with one God, so
they had only one holy house of prayer, and one altar of whole
burnt-offerings, and one censer for incense, and one high priest
of God. The Jews, then, had nothing in common with the
Persians, who ascend the summits of their mountains, which are
many in number, and offer up sacrifices which have nothing
in common with those which are regulated by the Mosaic code,
— in conformity to which the Jewish priests " served unto the
example and shadow of heavenly things," explaining enigmati
cally the object of the law regarding the sacrifices, and the
things of which these sacrifices were the symbols. The Per
sians therefore may call the " whole circle of heaven " Jupiter ;
but we maintain that "the heaven" is neither Jupiter nor God,
as we indeed know that certain beings of a class inferior to
God have ascended above the heavens and all visible nature :
and in this sense we understand the words, "Praise God, ye

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 315
heaven of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens ;
let them praise the name of the Lord."1
I Chapter xlv.
As Celsus, however, is of opinion that it matters nothing
whether the highest being be called Jupiter, or Zen, or Adonai,
or Sabaoth, or Ammoun (as the Egyptians term him), or Pap-
pseus (as the Scythians entitle him), let us discuss the point
for a little, reminding the reader at the same time of what
has been said above upon this question, when the language of
Celsus led us to consider the subject. And now we maintain
that the nature of names is not, as Aristotle supposes, an enact
ment of those who impose them.2 For the languages which
are prevalent among men do not derive their origin from men,
as is evident to those who are able to ascertain ¦ the nature of
the charms which are appropriated by the inventors of the lan
guages differently, according to the various tongues, and to the
varying pronunciations of the names, on which we have spoken
briefly in the preceding pages, remarking that when those names
which in a certain language were possessed of a natural power
were translated into another, they were no longer able to accom
plish what they did before when uttered in their native tongues.
And the same peculiarity is found to apply to men ; for if we
were to translate the name of one who was called from his
birth by a certain appellation in the Greek language into the
Egyptian or Roman, or any other tongue, we could not make
him do or suffer the same things which he would have done or
suffered under the appellation first bestowed upon him. Nay,
even if we translated into the Greek language the name of
an individual who had been originally invoked in the Roman
tongue, we could not produce the result which the incantation
professed itself capable of accomplishing had it preserved the
name first conferred upon him. And if these statements are
true when spoken of the names of men, what are we to think
of those which are transferred, for any cause whatever, to
the Deity ? For example, something is transferred3 from the
1 Cf. Ps. cxlviii. 4, 5. 2 oti >y) tZv ovopoxrav tpiiaig oil fapoivav i'igI vofiot.
3 pcsTxAxy.fixvsTxi yxp ti, psp t'n:tiv. In the editions of Hoeschel and
Spencer, t; is wanting.

316 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
name Abraham when translated into Greek, and something is
signified by that of Isaac, and also by that of Jacob; and
accordingly, if any one, either in an invocation or in swearing
an oath, were to use the expression, " the God of Abraham," '
and "the God of Isaac," and "the God of Jacob," he would
produce certain effects, either owing to the nature of these
names or to their powers, since even demons are vanquished and
become submissive to him who pronounces these names; whereas
if we say, " the god of the chosen father of the echo, and the
god of laughter, and the god of him who strikes with the heel,"1
the mention of the name is attended with no result, as is the
case with other names possessed of no power. And in the same
way, if we translate the word " Israel " into Greek or any
other language, we shall produce no result ; but if we retain it
as it is, and join it to those expressions to which such as are
skilled in these matters think it ought to be united, there
would then follow some result from the pronunciation of the
word which would accord with the -professions of those who
employ such invocations. And we may say the same also of
the pronunciation of " Sabaoth," a word which is frequently
employed in incantations ; for if we translate the term into
" Lord of hosts," or " Lord of armies," or " Almighty" (dif
ferent acceptations of it having been proposed by the inter
preters), we shall accomplish nothing ; whereas if we retain
the original pronunciation, we shall, as those who are skilled in
such matters maintain, produce some effect. And the same ob
servation holds good of Adonai. If, then, neither " Sabaoth"
nor "Adonai," when rendered into what appears to be their
meaning in the Greek tongue, can accomplish anything, how
much less would be the result among those who regard it as
a matter of indifference whether the highest being be called
Jupiter, or Zen, or Adonai, or Sabaoth !
Chapter xlvi.
It was for these and similar mysterious reasons, with which
Moses and the prophets were acquainted, that they forbade the
name of other gods to be pronounced by him who bethought
1 6 ^to'f iTXTpog ixAsxTOv j'/jg vixovg, xxi 6 hog tov y'iAurog, xxi 6 6sog Toy
iTTspviGTov. Cf. note in Benedictine ed.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 317
himself cf praying to the one Supreme God alone, or to be re
membered by a heart which had been taught to be pure from
all foolish thoughts and words. And for these reasons we
should prefer to endure all manner of suffering rather than
acknowledge Jupiter to be God. For we do not consider
Jupiter and Sabaoth to be the same, nor Jupiter to be at all
divine, but that some demon, unfriendly to men and to the true
God, rejoices under this title.1 And although the Egyptians
were to hold Ammon before us under threat of death, we
would rather die than address him as God, it being a name
used in all probability in certain Egyptian incantations in which
this demon is invoked. And although the Scythians may call
Pappseus the supreme God, yet we will not yield our assent to
this ; granting, indeed, that there is a Supreme Deity, although
we do not give the name Pappseus to Him as Llis proper title,
but regard it as one which is agreeable to the demon to whom
was allotted the desert of Scythia, with its people and its
language. He, howover, who gives God His title in the
Scythian tongue, or in the Egyptian or in any language in
which he has been brought u,p, will not be guilty of sin.
Chapter xlvii.
Now the reason why circumcision is practised among the
Jews is not the same as that which explains its existence among
the Egyptians and Colchians, and therefore it is not to be con
sidered the same circumcision. And as he who sacrifices does
not sacrifice to the same god, although he appears to perform
the rite of sacrifice in a similar manner, and he who offers up
prayer does not pray to the same divinity, although he asks the
same things in bis supplication ; so, in the same way, if one per
forms the rite of circumcision, it by no means follows that it is
not a different act from the circumcision performed upon an
other. For the purpose, and the law, and the wish of him who
performs the rite, place the act in a different category. But
that the whole subject may be still better understood, we have
to remark that the term for " righteousness " 2 is the same
among all the Greeks ; but righteousness is shown to be one
thing according to the view of Epicurus ; and another accord-
1 Xxipiova Xi tivx xotipsiv ovTag ovopoxCpposvov. 2 Xixxiogvv/i.

318 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
ing to the Stoics, who deny the threefold division of the soul ;
and a different thing again according to the followers of Plato,
who hold that righteousness is the proper business of the parts
of the soul.1 And so also the "courage"2 of Epicurus is
one thing, who would undergo some labours in order to escape
from a greater number ; and a different thing that of the
philosopher of the Porch, who would choose all virtue for its
own sake ; and a different thing still that of Plato, who main
tains that virtue itself is the act of the irascible part of the soul,
and who assigns to it a place about the breast.3 And so cir
cumcision will be a different thing according to the varying
opinions of those who undergo it. But on such a subject it is
unnecessary to speak on this occasion in a treatise like the
present ; for whoever desires to see what led us to the subject,
can read what wo have said upon it in the Epistle of Paul to
the Romans. Chapter xlviii.
Although the Jews, then, pride themselves on circumcision,
they will separate it not only from that of the Colchians and
Egyptians, but also from that of the Arabian Ishmaelites ; and
yet the latter was derived from their ancestor Abraham, the
father of Ishmael, who underwent the rite of circumcision along
with his father. The Jews say that the circumcision per
formed on the eighth day is the principal circumcision, and
that which is performed according to circumstances is different ;
and probably it was performed on account of the hostility of
some angel towards the Jewish nation, who had the power to
injure such of them as wore not circumcised, but was powerless
against those who had undergone the rite. This may be said to
appear from what is written in the book of Exodus, where the
angel before the circumcision of Eliezer4 was able to work
against 5 Moses, but could do nothing after his son was circum
cised. And when Zipporah had learned this, she took a pebble
and circumcised her child, and is recorded, according to the
1 IXiovpxyfxv tZv pospZv T%g -tyvxYig. 2 dvXosix.
3 tov Qvpcixoii pcipov; ty)s -^/vxYig (pxGXOVTog xiiTo sTvxi dptT'/jv, xxi diroTxGoov-
TOg xvtyi toitov Ton 'Ktpl tov Supxxx.
4 Cf. Ex. iv. 24, 25. Eliezer was one of the two sons of Moses. Cf. Ex.
xviii. 4. ° ivtpytiv xxtx Mavaiug.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 319
reading of the common copies, to have said, " The blood of my
child's circumcision is stayed," but according to the Hebrew
text, "A bloody husband art thou to me."1 For she had
known the story about a certain angel having power before
the shedding of the blood, but who became powerless through
the blood of circumcision. For which reason the words were
addressed to Moses, " A bloody husband art thou to me." But
these things, which appear rather of a curious nature, and not
level to the comprehension of the multitude, I have ventured to
treat at such length ; and now I shall only add, as becomes
a Christian, one thing more, and shall then pass on to what
follows. For this angel might have had power, I think, over
those of the people who were not circumcised, and generally
over all who worshipped only the Creator ; and this power lasted
so long as Jesus had not assumed a human body. But when
He had done this, and had undergone the rite of circumcision in
His own person, all the power of the angel over those who prac
tise the same worship, but are not circumcised,2 was abolished ;
for Jesus reduced it to nought by [the power of] His unspeak
able divinity. And therefore His disciples are forbidden to
circumcise themselves, and are reminded [by the apostle] : " If
ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." 3
Chapter xlix.
But neither do the Jews pride themselves upon abstaining
from swine's flesh, as if it were some great thing ; but upon their
having ascertained the nature of clean and unclean animals,
and the cause of the distinction, and of swine being classed
among the unclean. And these distinctions were signs of cer
tain things until the advent of Jesus ; after whose coming it
was said to His disciple, who did not yet comprehend the doc
trine concerning these matters, but who said, " Nothing that
is common or unclean hath entered into my mouth," 4 " What
God hath cleansed, call not thou common." It therefore in
no way affects either the Jews or us that the Egyptian priests
1 Cf. Ex. iv. 25, 26.
2 xxtx tZv iv tyi ISsoGsPsix txvtyj ftspiTspcvopohav Xivxpctg. Boherellus
inserts per) before ^spiTspcvopcsvav, which has been adopted in the text.
3 Gal. v. 2. 4 Cf. Acts x. 14.

320 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
abstain not only from the flesh of swine, but also from that of
goats, and sheep, and oxen, and fish. But since it is not that
" which entereth into the mouth that defiles a man," and since
" meat does not commend us to God," we do not set great store
on refraining from eating, nor yet are we induced to eat from
a gluttonous appetite. And therefore, so far as we are con
cerned, the followors of Pythagoras, who abstain from all things
that contain life, may do as they please ; only observe the dif
ferent reason for abstaining from things that have life on the
part of the Pythagoreans and our ascetics. For the former
abstain on account of the fable about the transmigration of
souls, as the poet says :
" And some one, lifting up his beloved son,
Will slay him after prayer ; 0 how foolish he ! " 1
We, however, when we do abstain, do so because " we keep
under our body, and bring it into subjection,"2 and desire
" to mortify our members that are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence;"3 and we
use every effort to " mortify the deeds of the flesh." 4
Chapter l.
Celsus, still expressing his opinion regarding the Jews, says :
" It is not probable that they are in great favour with God, or
are regarded by Him with more affection than others, or that
angels are sent by Him to them alone, as if to them had been
allotted some region of the blessed. For we may see both the
people themselves, and the country of which they were deemed
worthy." We shall refute this, by remarking that it is evident
that this nation teas in great favour with God, from the fact
that the God who presides over all things was called the God of
the Hebrews, even by those who were aliens to our faith. And
because they were in favour with God, they were not abandoned
by Him ;5 but although few in number, they continued to enjoy
1 xxi Tig piAov viov xt'ipxg,
apx~£,si ivrtvxoposvog pekyx VYjTlOg.
— A verse of Empedocles, quoted by Plutarch, .de Superstitione, c. xii.
Spencer. Cf. note in loc. in Benedictine edition.
2 Cf . 1 Cor. ix. 27. 3 Cf. Col. iii. 5. 4 Cf. Rom. viii. 13.
5 xxi Zg tiiXoxipoovvTsg ys oaov oiix iyxxTsAsiTavTo. The negative particle
{oiix) is wanting in the editions of Hoeschel and Spencer, but is found in

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 321
the protection of the divine power, so that in the reign of
Alexander of Macedon they sustained no injury from him,
although they refused, on account of certain covenants and
oaths, to take up arms against Darius. They say that on that
occasion the Jewish high priest, clothed in his sacred robe,
received obeisance from Alexander, who declared that he had
beheld an individual arrayed in this fashion, who announced to
him in his sleep that he was to be the subjugator of the whole
of Asia. Accordingly, we Christians maintain that "it was
the fortune of that people in a remarkable degree to enjoy
God's favour, and to be loved by Him in a way different from
others ;" but that this economy of things and this divine favour
were transferred to us, after Jesus had conveyed the power
which had been manifested among the Jews to those who had
become converts to Him from among the heathen. And for
this reason, although the Romans desired to perpetrate many
atrocities against the Christians, in order to ensure their ex
termination, they were unsuccessful ; for there was a divine
hand which fought on their behalf, and whose desire it was
that the word of God should spread from one corner of the
land of Judea throughout the whole human race.
Chapter li.
But seeing that we have answered to the best of our ability
the charges brought by Celsus against the Jews and their
doctrine, let us proceed to consider what follows, and to prove
that it is no empty boast on our part when we make a profes
sion of knowing the great God, and that we have not been led
away by any juggling tricks x of Moses (as Celsus imagines),
or even of our own Saviour Jesus ; but that for a good end we
listen to the God who speaks in Moses, and have accepted
Jesus, whom he testifies to be God, as the Son of God, in hope
of receiving the best rewards if we regulate our lives according
to His word. And we shall willingly pass over what we have
already stated by way of anticipation on the points, " whence
the Royal, Basil, and Vatican MSS. Guietus would delete ogov (which
emendation has been adopted in the translation), while Boherellus would
read oaot instead. — Ru^US.
1 yOYITtix.
ORIG. — VOL. II. X

322 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
we came, and who is our leader, and what law proceeded from
Him." And if Celsus would maintain that there is no differ
ence between us and the Egyptians, who worship the goat, or
the ram, or the crocodile, or the ox, or the river-horse, or the
dog-faced baboon,1 or the cat, he can ascertain if it be so, and
so may any other who thinks alike on the subject. We, how
ever, have to the best of our ability defended ourselves at great
length in the preceding pages on the subject of the honour
which we render to our Jesus, pointing out that we have found
the better part;2 and that in showing that the truth which is
contained in the teaching of Jesus Christ is pure and unmixed
with error, we are not commending ourselves, but our Teacher,
to whom testimony was borne through many witnesses by the
Supreme God and the prophetic writings among the Jews, and
by the very clearness of the case itself, for it is demonstrated
that He could not have accomplished such mighty works with
out the divine help. Chapter lii.
But the statement of Celsus which we wish to examine at
present is the following : " Let us then pass over the refuta
tions which might be adduced against the claims of their
'teacher, and let him be regarded as really an angel. But is he
the first and only one who came [to men], or were there others
before him ? If they should say that he is the only one, they
would be convicted of telling lies against themselves. For
they assert that on many occasions others came, and sixty or
seventy of them together, and that these became wicked, and
were cast under the earth and punished with chains, and that
from this source originate the warm springs, which are their
tears ; and, moreover, that there came an angel to the tomb
of this said being — according to some, indeed, one, but accord
ing to others, two — who answered the women that he had
arisen. For the Son of God could not himself, as it seems,
open the tomb, but needed the help of another to roll away the
stone. And again, on account of the pregnancy of Mary,
there came an angel to the carpenter, and once more another
angel, in order that they might take up the young child and
1 TO/l XVVOXilpXAOV. 2 OTI xptiTTOV iVpOpOtV.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 323
flee away [into Egypt]. But what need is there to particularize
everything, or to count up the number of angels said to have
been sent to Moses, and others amongst them ? If, then, others
were sent, it is manifest that he also came from the same God.
But he may be supposed to have the appearance of announcing
something of greater importance [than those who preceded
him], as if the Jews had been committing sin, or corrupting
their religion, or doing deeds of impiety ; for these things are
obscurely hinted at." Chapter liii.
The preceding remarks might suffice as an answer to the
charges of Celsus, so far as regards those points in which our
Saviour Jesus Christ is made the subject of special investigation.
But that wo may avoid the appearance of intentionally passing
over any portion of his work, as if we wore unable to meet him,
let us, even at the risk of being tautological (since we are
challenged to this by Celsus), endeavour as far as we can
with all due brevity to continue our discourse, since perhaps
something either more precise or more novel may occur to us
upon the several topics. He says, indeed, that " he has omitted
the refutations which have been adduced against the claims
which Christians advance on behalf of their teacher," although
he has not omitted anything which he was able to bring for
ward, as is manifest from his previous language, but makes this
statement only as an empty rhetorical device. That we are
not refuted, however, on the subject of our great Saviour,
although the accuser may appear to refute us, will be manifest
to those who peruse in a spirit of truth-loving investigation all
that is predicted and recorded of Him. And, in the next place,
since he considers that he makes a concession in saying of the
Saviour, " Let him appear to be really an angel," we reply
that wo do not accept of such a concession from Celsus ; but
we look to the work of Him who came to visit the whole human
race in His word and teaching, as each one of His adherents
was capable of receiving Him. And this was the work of one
who, as the prophecy regarding Him said, was not simply an
angel, but the " Angel of the great council :"1 for He announced
1 Cf. Isa. ix. 6.

324 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
to men the great counsel of the God and Father of all things
regarding them, [saying] of those who yield themselves up to a
life of pure religion, that they ascend by means of their great
deeds to God ; but of those who do not adhere to Him, that
they place themselves at a distance from God, and journey on
to destruction through their unbelief of Him. He then con
tinues : " If even the angel came to men, is he the first and
only one who came, or did others come on former occasions?"
And he thinks he can meet either of these dilemmas at great
length, although there is not a single real Christian who asserts
that Christ was the only being that visited the human race.
For, as Celsus says, " If they should say the only one," there
are others who appeared to different individuals.
Chapter liv.
In the next place, he proceeds to answer himself as he
thinks fit in the following terms : " And so he is not the only
one who is recorded to have visited the human race, as even
those who, under pretext of teaching in the name of Jesus,
have apostatized from the Creator as an inferior being, and
have given in their adherence to one wdio is a superior God and
father of him who visited [the world], assert that before him
certain beings came from the Creator to visit the human race."
Now, as it is in the spirit of truth that we investigate all that
relates to the subject, we shall remark that it is asserted by
Apelles, the celebrated disciple of Marcion, who became the
founder of a certain sect, and who treated the writings of the
Jews as fabulous, that Jesus is the only one that came to visit
the human race. Even against him, then, who maintained that
Jesus was the only one that came from God to men, it would
be in vain for Celsus to quote the statements regarding the
descent of other angels, seeing Apelles discredits, as we have
already mentioned, the miraculous narratives of the Jewish
Scriptures ; and much more will he decline to admit what
Celsus has adduced, from not understanding the contents of the
book of Enoch. No one, then, convicts us of falsehood, or of
making contradictory assertions, as if we maintained both that
our Saviour was the only being that ever came to men, and
yet that many others came on different occasions. And in a

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 325
most confused manner, moreover, does he adduce, when examin
ing the subject of the visits of angels to men, what he has
derived, without seeing its meaning, from the contents of the
book of Enoch; for he does not appear to have read the passages
in question, nor to have been aware that the books which bear
the name of Enoch do not at all circulate in the churches as
divine, although it is from this source that he might be sup
posed to have obtained the statement, that " sixty or seventy
angels descended at the same time, who fell into a state of
wickedness."
Chapter lv.
But, that we may grant to him in a spirit of candour what he
has not discovered in the contents of the book of Genesis, that
" the sons of God, seeing the daughters of men, that they were
fair, took to them wives of all whom they chose," we shall
nevertheless even on this point persuade those who are capable
of understanding the meaning of the prophet, that even before
us there was one who referred this narrative to the doctrine
regarding souls, which became possessed with a desire for the
corporeal life of men, and this in metaphorical language, he
said, was termed " daughters of men." But whatever may be
the meaning of the " sons of God desiring to possess the
daughters of men," it will not at all contribute to prove that
Jesus was not the only one who visited mankind as an angel,
and who manifestly became the Saviour and benefactor of all
those wrho depart from the flood of wickedness. Then, mixing
up and confusing whatever he had at any time heard, or had
anywhere found written — whether held to be of divine origin
among Christians or not — he adds : " The sixty or seventy
who descended together were cast under the earth, and were
punished with chains." And he quotes (as from the book of
Enoqh, but without naming it) the following : " And hence it
is that the tears of these angels are warm springs," — a thing
neither mentioned nor heard of in the churches of God ! For
no one was ever so foolish as to materialize into human tears
those which were shed by the angels who had come down from
heaven. And if it wore right to pass a jest upon what is
advanced against us in a serious spirit by Celsus, we might

326 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
observe that no one would ever have said that hot springs, the
greater part of which are fresh water, were the tears of the
angels, since tears are saltish in their nature, unless indeed the
, angels, in the opinion of Celsus, shed tears which are fresh.
Chapter lvi.
Proceeding immediately after to mix up and compare with
one another things that are dissimilar, and incapable of being
united, he subjoins to his statement regarding the sixty or
seventy angels who came down from heaven, and who, accord
ing to him, shed fountains of warm water for tears, the
following : " It is related also that there came to the tomb of
Jesus himself, according to some, two angels, according to
others, one ; " having failed to notice, I think, that Matthew and
Mark speak of one, and Luke and John of two, which state
ments are not contradictory. For they who mention " one,"
say that it was he who rolled away the stone from the sepulchre;
while they who mention " two," refer to those who appeared in
shining raiment to the women that repaired to the sepulchre, or
who were seen within sitting in white garments. Each of these
occurrences might now be demonstrated to have actually taken
place, and to be indicative of a figurative meaning existing in
these " phenomena," [and intelligible] to those who were pre
pared to behold the resurrection of the Word. Such a task,
however, does not belong to our present purpose, but rather to
an exposition of the gospel. Chapter lvii.
Now, that miraculous appearances have sometimes been
witnessed by human beings, is related by the Greeks; and not
only by those of them who might be suspected of composing
fabulous narratives, but also by those who have given every
evidence of being genuine philosophers, and of having related
with perfect truth what had happened to them. Accounts of
this kind we have read in the writings of Chrysippus of Soli,
and also some things of the same kind relating to Pythagoras ;
as well as in some of the more recent writers who lived a very
short time ago, as in the treatise of Plutarch of Chseronea " on
the Soul," and in the second book of the work of Numenius

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 327
the Pythagorean on the " Incorruptibility of the Soul." Now,
when such accounts are related by the Greeks, and especially
by the philosophers among them, they are not to be received
with mockery and ridicule, nor to be regarded as fictions and
fables ; but when those -who are devoted to the God of all
things, and who endure all kinds of injury, even to death itself,
rather than allow a falsehood to escape their lips regarding God,
announce the appearances of angels which they have themselves
witnessed, they are to be deemed unworthy of belief, and their
words are not to be regarded as true ! Now it is opposed to
sound reason to judge in this way whether individuals are
speaking truth or falsehood. For those who act honestly, only
after a long and careful examination into the details of a subject,
slowly and cautiously express their opinion of the veracity or
falsehood of this or that person with regard to the marvels
which they may relate; since it is the case that neither do all men
show themselves worthy of belief, nor do all make it distinctly
evident that they are relating to men only fictions and fables.
Moreover, regarding the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
we have this remark to make, that it is not at all wonderful
if, on such an occasion, either one or two angels should have
appeared to announce that Jesus had risen from the dead, and
to provide for the safety of those who believed in such an event
to the advantage of their souls. Nor does it appear to me at
all unreasonable, that those who believe in the resurrection of
Jesus, and who manifest, as a fruit of their faith not to be
lightly esteemed, their possession of a virtuous x life, and their
withdrawal from the flood of evils, should not be unattended by
angels who lend their help in accomplishing their conversion to
God. Chapter lviii.
But Celsus challenges the account also that an angel rolled
away the stone from the sepulchre where the body of Jesus
lay, acting like a lad at school, who should bring a charge
against any one by help of a string of commonplaces. And, as if
he had discovered some clever objection to the narrative, he re
marks : " The Son of God, then, it appears, could not open his
1 toV ipp'upcivov /iiov.

328 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
tomb, but required the aid of another to roll away the stone."
Now, not to overdo the discussion of this matter, or to have the
appearance of unreasonably introducing philosophical remarks,
by explaining the figurative meaning at present, I shall simply
say of the narrative alone, that it does appear in itself a more
respectful proceeding, that the servant and inferior should have
rolled away the stone, than that such an act should have been
performed by Him whose resurrection was to be for the advan
tage of mankind. I do not speak of the desire of those who
conspired against the Word, and who wished to put Him to death,
and to show to all men that He was dead and non-existent,1
that His tomb should not be opened, in order that no one might
behold the Word alive after their conspiracy ; but the " Angel
of God" who came into the world for the salvation of men,
with the help of another angel, proved more powerful than
the conspirators, and rolled away the weighty stone, that those
who deemed the Word to be dead might be convinced that He
is. not with the " departed," but is alive, and precedes those who
are willing to follow Him, that He may manifest to them those
truths which come after those which He formerly showed them
at the time of their first entrance [into the school of Chris
tianity], when they were as yet incapable of receiving deeper
instruction. In the next place, I do not understand what
advantage he thinks will accrue to his purpose when he ridi
cules the account of " the angel's visit to Joseph regarding the
pregnancy of Mary;" and again, that of the angel to warn
the parents "to take up the new-born child, whose life was
in danger, and to flee with it into Egypt." Concerning these
matters, however, wo have in the preceding pages answered
his statements. But what does Celsus mean by saying, that
" according to the Scriptures, angels are recorded to have been
sent to Moses, and others as well?" For it appears to me to
contribute nothing to his purpose, and especially because none
of them made any effort to accomplish, as far as in his power,
the conversion of the human race from their sins. Let it be
granted, however, that other angels were sent from God, but
that he came to announce something of greater importance
[than any others who preceded him] ; and when the Jews had
1 xxi TO povjXiv TVyXXVOVTX.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 329
fallen into sin, and corrupted their religion, and had done
unholy deeds, transferred the kingdom „of God to other
husbandmen, who in all the churches take special care of
themselves,1 and use every endeavour by means of a holy life,
and by a doctrine conformable thereto, to win over to the God
of all things those who would rush away from the teaching of
Jesus.2
Chapter lix.
Celsus then continues : " The Jews accordingly, and these
(clearly meaning the Christians), have the same God ; " and as
if advancing a proposition which would not be conceded, he
proceeds to make the following assertion : " It is certain,
indeed, that the members of the great church 3 admit this, and
adopt as true the accounts regarding the creation of the world
which are current among the Jews, viz. concerning the six
days and the seventh ;" on which day, as the Scripture says,
God " ceased"4 from His works, retiring into the contemplation
of Himself, but on which, as Celsus says (who does not abide
by the letter of the history, and who does not understand its
meaning), God " rested," 5 — a term which is not found in the
record. With respect, however, to the creation of the world,
and the " rest6 which is reserved after it for the people of
God," the subject is extensive, and mystical, and profound, and
difficult of explanation. In the next place, as it appears to me,
from a desire to fill up his book, and to give it an appearance
of importance, he recklessly adds certain statements, such as
the following, relating to the first man, of whom he says : " We
give the same account as do the Jews, and deduce the same
genealogy from him as they do." However, as regards " the
conspiracies of brothers against one another," we know of none
such, save that Cain conspired against Abel, and Esau against
Jacob ; but not Abel against Cain, nor Jacob against Esau :
for if this had been the case, Celsus would have been correct
1 sxvtZv. Guietus would read xvtZv, to agree with tZv 'sxxAyigiZv.
2 Instead of Txg diro TYig XiXxoxxAixg tov ''Iyigov dpoppoxg, Boherellus con
jectures Toiig . . . dtpoppcZvTxg, which has been adopted in the translation.
3 tZv xiro pxsyxA'fig ixxAyGixg. 4 xxTtirxvasv.
6 GX/ifixTIGpiOV.

330 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
in saying that we give the same accounts as do the Jews of
" the conspiracies of brothers against one another." Let it
be granted, however, that we speak of the same descent into
Egypt as they, and of their return1 thence, which was not a
"flight,"2 as Celsus considers it to have been, what does that
avail towards founding an accusation against us or against the
Jews ? Here, indeed, he thought to cast ridicule upon us,
when, in speaking of the Hebrew people, he termed their
exodus a "flight ;" but when it was his business to investigate
the account of the punishments inflicted by God upon Egypt,
that topic he purposely passed by in silence.
Chapter lx.
If, however, it be necessary to express ourselves with pre
cision in our answer to Celsus, who thinks that we hold the
same opinions on the matters in question as do the Jews, we
would say that wo both agree that the books [of Scripture]
were written by the Spirit of God, but that we do not agree
about the meaning of their contents; for wo do not regulate our
lives like the Jews, because we are of opinion that the literal
acceptation of the laws is not that which conveys the meaning
of the legislation. And we maintain, that "'when Moses is read,
the veil is upon their heart,"3 because the meaning of the
law of Moses has been concealed from those who have not
welcomed4 the way which is by Jesus Christ. But wo know
that if one turn to the Lord (for "the Lord is that Spirit"),
the veil being taken away, " he beholds, as in a mirror with
unveiled face, the glory of the Lord" in those thoughts which
are concealed in their literal expression, and to his own glory
becomes a participator of the divine glory ; the term " face "
being used figuratively for the " understanding," as one would
call it without a figure, in which is the face of the " inner
man," filled with light and glory, flowing from the true com
prehension of the contents of the law.
Chapter lxi.
After the above remarks he proceeds as follows : " Let no
1 TYjV sxsihv WZsoXov. 2 (pvy/iv.
2 Cor. iii. 15. 4 xGTrxGXuivoig.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 331
one suppose that I am ignorant that some of them will concede
that their God is the same as that of the Jews, while others
will maintain that he is a different one, to whom the latter is
in opposition, and that it was from the former that the Son
came." Now, if he imagine that the existence of numerous
heresies among the Christians is a ground of accusation against
Christianity, why, in a similar way, should it not be a ground
of accusation against philosophy, that the various sects of philo
sophers differ from each other, not on small and indifferent
points, but upon those of the highest importance ? Nay,
medicine also ought to be a subject of attack, on account of
its many conflicting schools. Let it be admitted, then, that
there are amongst us some who deny that our God is the same
as that of the Jews : nevertheless, on that account those are not
to be blamed who prove from the same Scriptures that one and
the same Deity is the God of the Jews and of the Gentiles
alike, as Paul, too, distinctly says, who was a convert from
Judaism to Christianity, " I thank my God, whom I serve from
my forefathers with a pure conscience."1 And let it be
admitted also, that there is a third class who call certain per
sons " carnal," and others " spiritual " (I think he here means
the followers of Vulentinus) : yet what does this avail against
us, wdio belong to the church, and who make it an accusation
against such as hold that certain natures are saved, and that
others perish in consequence of their natural constitution?2
And let it be admitted further, that there are some who give
themselves out as Gnostics, in the same way as those Epicu
reans who call themselves philosophers : yet neither will they
who annihilate the doctrine of providence be deemed true
philosophers, nor those true Christians who introduce monstrous
inventions, which are disapproved of by those who are the dis
ciples of Jesus. Let it be admitted, moreover, that there are
some who accept Jesus, and who boast on that account of being
Christians, and yet would regulate their lives, like the Jewish
multitude, in accordance with the Jewish law, — and these are
the twofold sect of Ebionites, who either acknowledge with us
that Jesus was born of a virgin, or deny this, and maintain
that He was begotten like other human beings, — what does
1 2 Tim. i. 3. s tx xxTxaxtvyg.

332 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
-* that avail by way of charge against such as belong to the
church, and whom Celsus has styled "those of the multi
tude?"1 He adds, also, that certain of the Christians are
believers in the Sibyl,2 having probably misunderstood some
who blamed such as believed in the existence of a prophetic
Sibyl, and termed those who held this belief Sibyllists.
Chapter lxii.
He next pours down upon us a heap of names, saying that
he knows of the existence of certain Simonians who worship
Helene, or Helenus, as their teacher, and are called Helenians.
But it has escaped the notice of Celsus that the Simonians do
not at all acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God, but term
Simon the " power " of God, regarding whom they relate cer
tain marvellous stories, saying that he imagined that if he could
become possessed of similar powers to those with which he
believed Jesus to be endowed, he too would become as power
ful among men as Jesus was amongst the multitude. But
neither Celsus nor Simon could comprehend how Jesus, like a
good husbandman of the word of God, was able to sow the
greater part of Greece, and of barbarian lands, with His
doctrine, and to fill these countries with words which transform
the soul from all that is evil, and bring it back to the Creator
of all things. Celsus knows, moreover, certain Marcellians,
so called from Marcellina, and Llarpocratians from Salome,
and others who derive their name from Mariamne, and others
again from Martha. We, however, wdio from a love of learn-
¦ ing examine to the utmost of our ability not only the contents
I of Scripture, and the differences to which they give rise, but
have also, from love to the truth, investigated as far as we
could the opinions of philosophers, have never at any time
met in with these sects. He makes mention also of the Mar-
cionites, whose leader was Marcion.
Chapter lxiii
In the next place, that he may have the appearance of
knowing still more than he has yet mentioned, he says, agree
ably to his usual custom, that "there are others who have
1 diro tov ¦z-AtiGovg. 2 HifivAAieTxg.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 333
wickedly invented some being as their teacher and demon,
and who wallow about in a great darkness, more unholy and
accursed than that of the companions of the Egyptian Anti
nous." And he seems to me, indeed, in touching on these
matters, to say with a certain degree of truth, that there are
certain others who have wickedly invented another demon, and
who have found him to be their lord, as they wallow about in the
great darkness of their ignorance. With respect, however, to
Antinous, who is compared with our Jesus, we shall not repeat
what we have already said in the preceding pages. " More
over," he continues, " these persons utter against one another
dreadful blasphemies, saying all manner of things shameful
to be spoken ; nor will they yield in the slightest point for the
sake of harmony, hating each other with a perfect hatred."
Now, in answer to this, we have already said that in philosophy
and medicine sects are to be found warring against sects. We,
however, who are followers of the word of Jesus, and have
exercised ourselves in thinking, and saying, and doing what is
in harmony with His words, " when reviled, bless ; being perse
cuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat;"1 and we would
not utter " all manner of things shameful to be spoken" against
those who have adopted different opinions from ours, but, if
possible, use every exertion to raise them to a better condition
through adherence to the Creator alone, and lead them to
perform every act as those who will [one day] be judged. And
if those who hold different opinions will not be convinced, we
observe the injunction laid down for the treatment of such :
" A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition,
reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth,
being condemned of himself."2 Moreover, we who know
the maxim, " Blessed are the peacemakers," and this also,
" Blessed are the meek," would not regard with hatred the
corrupters of Christianity, nor term those who had fallen into
error Circes and flattering deceivers.3
Chapter lxiv.
Celsus appears to me to have misunderstood the statement of
1 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13. 2 Tit. iii. 10.
3 Kipxxg xxi xvxYiSpx xipcv'Ax.

334 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
the apostle, which declares that " in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and
doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their con
science seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and com
manding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them who believe -,"1 and to have
misunderstood also those who employed these declarations of
the apostle against such as had corrupted the doctrines of
Christianity. And it is owing to this cause that Celsus has
said that " certain among the Christians are called ' cauterized
in the ears;' "2 and also that some are termed " enigmas,"3 — a
term which we have never met. The expression " stumbling-
block"4 is, indeed, of frequent occurrence in these writings, —
an appellation which we are accustomed to apply to those who
turn away simple persons, and those who are easily deceived,
from sound doctrine. But neither we, nor, I imagine, any
other, whether Christian or heretic, know of any who are
styled Sirens, who betray and deceive,5 and stop their ears,
and change into swine those whom they delude. And yet this
man, who affects to know everything, uses such language as
the following: "You may hear," he says, "all those who
differ so widely, and who assail each other in their disputes
with the most shameless language, uttering the words, ' The
World is crucified to me, and I unto the world.' " And this is
the only phrase which, it appears, Celsus could remember out
of Paul's writings ; and yet why should we not also employ
innumerable other quotations from the Scriptures, such as,
" For though we do walk in the flesh, we do not war after the
flesh ; (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,) cast
ing down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God ? " 6
Chapter lxv.
But since he asserts that " you may hear all those who differ
1 Cf. 1 Tim. iv. 1-3.
2 xxovig xxvoT'iipix. Cf. note in Benedictine ed.
3 xiviypoxTx. Cf. note in Benedictine ed:
4 gxxvXxAov. 6 i%opxovfiivxg xxi oolpiaTpixg. 6 Cf. 2 Cor. X. 3.

Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 335
so widely saying, ' The world is crucified to me, and I unto the
world,' " we shall show the falsity of such a statement. For
there are certain heretical sects which do not receive the
epistles of the Apostle Paul, as the two sects of Ebionites, and
those who are termed Eucratites. Those, then, who do not
regard the apostle as a holy and wise man, will not adopt his
language, and say, " The world is crucified to me, and I unto
the world." And consequently in this point, too, Celsus is
guilty of falsehood. He continues, moreover, to linger over the
accusations which he brings against the diversity of sects which
exist, but does not appear to me to be accurate in the language
which he employs, nor to have carefully observed or understood
how it is that those Christians who have made progress in their
studies say that they are possessed of greater knowledge than
the Jews ; and also, whether they acknowledge the same Scrip
tures, but interpret them differently, or whether they do not
recognise these books as divine. For we find both of these views
prevailing among the sects. Lie then continues : " Although
they have no foundation for their doctrine, let us examine
the system itself; and, in the first place, let us mention the
corruptions which they have made through ignorance and mis
understanding, when in the discussion of elementary principles
they express their opinions in the most absurd manner on things
which they do not understand, such as the following." And
then, to certain expressions which are continually in the mouths
of the believers in Christianity, he opposes certain others from
the writings of the philosophers, with the object of making it
appear that the noble sentiments which Celsus supposes to be
used by Christians have been expressed in better and clearer
language by the philosophers, in order that he might drag
away to the study of philosophy those wdio are caught by
opinions which at once evidence their noble and religious
character. We shall, however, here terminate the fifth book,
and begin the sixth with what follows.

BOOK VI.
Chapter i.
jN beginning this our sixth book, we desire, my
reverend Ambrosius, to answer in it those accusa
tions which Celsus brings against the Christians,
not, as might be supposed, those objections which
he has adduced from writers on philosophy. For he has quoted
a considerable number of passages, chiefly from Plato, and has
placed alongside of these such declarations of Holy Scripture
as are fitted to impress even the intelligent mind; subjoining
the assertion, that " these things are stated much better among
the Greeks [than in the Scriptures], and in a manner which is
free from all exaggerations1 and promises on the part of God,
or the Son of God." Now we maintain, that if it is the
object of the ambassadors of the truth to confer benefits upon
the greatest possible number, and, so far as they can, to win
over to its side, through their love to men, every one without
exception — intelligent as well as simple — not Greeks only, but
also barbarians (and great, indeed, is the humanity wdiich should
succeed in converting the rustic and the ignorant2), it is mani
fest that they must adopt a style of address fitted to do good
to all, and to gain over to them men of every sort. Those, on
the other hand, who turn away3 from the ignorant as being
mere slaves,4 and unable to understand the flowing periods of a
polished and logical discourse, and so devote their attention solely
to such as have been brought up amongst literary pursuits,5

'2 ttoAv 6i to qpcspov ixv . . . 0/0? TS Tig yivYiTXi iirtGTpspstv.
3 iroAAx xxiptiv OpxoxvTtg. 4 dvXpxiroXoig.
xxi pc'/i o'ioig ts xxtxxovsiv TYig iv ppxGti Aoyav xxi tx%,ii d7cxyysAAo-
poivav xx.oAovl)i'xg, poovav ippiuriaxv toiv dvxTpxptVTUv iv Aoyoig xxi pox^Yj-
pCXGlV. 036

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 337
confine their views of the public good within very strait and
narrow limits. Chapter ii.
I have made these remarks in reply to the charges which
Celsus and others bring against the simplicity of the language
of Scripture, which appears to be thrown into the shade by the
splendour of polished discourse. For our prophets, and Jesus
Himself, and His apostles, were careful to adopt 1 a style of
address which should not merely convey the truth, but which
should be fitted to gain over the multitude, until each one,
attracted and led onwards, should ascend as far as he could
towards the comprehension of those mysteries which are con
tained in these apparently simple words. For, if I may venture
to say so, few have been benefited (if they have indeed been
benefited at all) by the beautiful and polished style of Plato, and
those who have written like him ; while, on the contrary, many
have received advantage from those who wrote and taught in a
simple and practical manner, and with a view to the wants of
the multitude. It is easy, indeed, to observe that Plato is found
only in the hands of those who profess to be literary men ; 2
while Epictetus is admired by persons of ordinary capacity,
who have a desire to be benefited, and who perceive the im
provement which may be derived from his writings. Now wo
make these remarks, not to disparage Plato (for the great world
of men has found even him useful), but to point out the aim
of those who said : " And my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of
the Spirit and of power, that our faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 8 For the word of
God declares that the preaching (although in itself true and
most worthy of belief) is not sufficient to reach the human
heart, unless a certain power be imparted to the speaker from
God, and a grace appear upon his words ; and it is only by the
divine agency that this takes place in those who speak effectu
ally. The prophet says in the sixty-seventh Psalm, that " the
Lord will give a word with great power to them who preach." 4
1 ivsiXov. 2 CpiAoAoyav. 3 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5.
4 Such is the reading of the Septuagint version. The Masofetic text has :
ORIG. — VOL. II. T

338 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
If, then, it should be granted with respect to certain points,
that the same doctrines are found among the Greeks as in our
own Scriptures, yet they do not possess the same power of
attracting and disposing the souls of men to follow them. And
therefore the disciples of Jesus, men ignorant so far as regards
Grecian philosophy, yet traversed many countries of the world,
impressing, agreeably to the desire of the Logos, each one of
their hearers according to his deserts, so that they received a
moral amelioration in proportion to the inclination of their will
to accept of that which is good.
Chapter hi.
Let the ancient sages, then, make known their sayings to
those who are capable of understanding them. Suppose that
Plato, for example, the son of Ariston, in one of his Epistles,
j is discoursing about the " chief good," and that he says, " The
Ichief good can by no means be described in words, but is pro-
fduced by long habit, and bursts forth suddenly as a light in the
soul, as from a fire which had leapt forth." We, then, on hear-
jing these words, admit that they are well said, for it is God
jwho revealed to men these as well as all other noble expressions.
And for this reason it is that we maintain that those who have
entertained correct ideas regarding God, but who have not
offered to Him a worship in harmony with the truth, are liable
to the punishments which fall on sinners. For respecting such
Paul says in express words : " The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness ; because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them ; for God
hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Llim
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under
stood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead ; so that they are without excuse : because that, when
they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible
" The Lord gave a word ; of them who published it there was a great

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 339
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." x The truth, then,
is verily held [in unrighteousness], as our Scriptures testify,
by those who are of opinion that " the chief good cannot be
described in words," but who assert that, " after long custom
and familiar usage,2 a light becomes suddenly kindled in the
soul, as if by a fire springing forth, and that it now supports
itself alone."
Chapter iv.
Notwithstanding, those who have written in this manner
regarding the " chief good " will go down to the Piraeus and
offer prayer to Artemis, as if she were God, and will look
[with approval] upon the solemn assembly held by ignorant
men ; and after giving utterance to philosophical remarks of
such profundity regarding the soul, and describing its passage
[to a happier world] after a virtuous life, they pass from those
great topics which God has revealed to them, and adopt mean
and trifling thoughts, and offer a cock to Esculapius ! 3 And
although they had been enabled to form representations both
of the "invisible things" of God and of the "archetypal
forms " of things from the creation of the world, and from [the
contemplation of] sensible things, from which they ascend to
those objects which are comprehended by the understanding
alone, — and although they had no mean glimpses of His
"eternal power and Godhead,"4 they nevertheless became
" foolish in their imaginations," and their " foolish heart " was
involved in darkness and ignorance as to the [true] worship of
God. Moreover, we may see those who greatly pride them
selves upon their wisdom and theology worshipping the image
of a corruptible man, in honour, they say, of Him, and some
times even descending, with the Egyptians, to the worship of
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things! And
1 Cf. Rom. i. 18-23.
2 ix iroAAqg GWOVGixg ytvoposvYig rrspl to irpxypix xiiTO, xxi tov gv^yiv.
3 Cf. Plato, Phxdo.
4 XXI TX XOpXTX TOV ©tov, xxi T«J iX'sxg (PxVTXGdiVTSg X1TO TYjg XTlGSOig TOV
xoGptov, xxi tZv xigHyitZv, dp' Zv xvxiSxivovGtv iirl tx voovpctvx' T'i]V Ti di'Xiov
aiiToii Xiivxpoiv xxi StOTYtrx oiix xytvvZg iXovTtg, etc.

340 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
although some may appear to have risen above such practices,
nevertheless they will be found to have changed the truth of
God into a lie, and to worship and serve the " creature more
than the Creator." x As the wise and learned among the Greeks,
then, commit errors in the service which they render to God,
God " chose the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise ; and base things of the world, and things that are woak,
and things which are despised, and things which are not, to
bring to nought things that are ; " 2 and this, truly, " that no
flesh should glory in the presence of God." Our wise men,
however, — Moses, the most ancient of them all, and the pro
phets who followed him, — knowing that the chief good could
by no means be described in words, were the first who wrote
that, as God manifests Himself to the deserving, and to those
who are qualified to behold Him,3 He appeared to Abraham,
or to Isaac, or to Jacob. But who He w-as that appeared, and
of what form, and in what manner, and like to which of mortal
beings,4 they have left to be investigated by those who are
able to show that they resemble those persons to whom God
showed Himself : for He was seen not by their bodily eyes,
but by the pure heart. For, according to the declaration of
our Jesus, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God."6
Chapter v.
But that a light is suddenly kindled in the soul, as by a fire
j leaping forth, is a fact known long ago to our Scriptures; as
j when the prophet said, " Light ye for yourselves the light of
knowledge."6 John also, who lived after him, said, "That
(which was in the Logos was life, and the life was the light of
• Rom. i. 25. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 27, 28, 29.
3 iiriTYiXtioig.
4 xxi tivi tZv iv ijpoiv. Boherellus understands opcotog, which has been
adopted in the translation.
5 Cf. Matt. v. 8.
6 Hos. x. 12. (poniGXTs ixvToig pZg yvoiGsug (LXX.). The Masoretic
text is, nVl "V3 03? rW, where for njTi {and time) the Septuagint translator
apparently read njn {knowledge), ~] and \ being interchanged from their
similarity.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 341
men ; " x which " true light lighteneth every man that cometh
into the world " (i.e. the true world, which is perceived by the
understanding 2), and maketh him a light of the world : " For
this light shone in our hearts, to give the light of the glorious
gospel of God in the face of Christ Jesus." 3 And therefore
that very ancient prophet, who prophesied many generations
before the reign of Cyrus (for he was older than he by more
than fourteen generations), expressed himself in these words :
" The Lord is my light and my salvation : whom shall I fear ? "4
and, " Thy law is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path ; " 5 and again, " The light of Thy countenance, O Lord,
was manifested towards us ; " e and, " In Thy light we shall
see light." 7 And the Logos, exhorting us to come to this
light, says, in the prophecies of Isaiah : " Enlighten thyself,
enlighten thyself, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." 8 The same prophet
also, when predicting the advent of Jesus, who was to turn
away men from the worship of idols, and of images, and of
demons, says, " To those that sat in the land and shadow of
death, upon them hath the light arisen ; " 9 and again, " The
people that sat in darkness saw a great light." 10 Observe now
the difference between the fine phrases of Plato respecting the
" chief good," and the declarations of our prophets regarding
the "light" of the blessed; and notice that the truth as it is
contained in Plato concerning this subject did not at all help
his readers to attain to a pure worship of God, nor even him
self, who could philosophize so grandly about the " chief good,"
whereas the simple language of the Lloly Scriptures has led to
their honest readers being filled with a divine spirit ;n and this
light is nourished within them by the oil, which in a certain
parable is said to have preserved the light of the torches of the
five wise virgins.12
1 Cf. John i. 3, 4. * tov xA-iiSivov xxi voy,tov. s Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 6.
4 Ps. xxvii. 1 (attributed to David). 5 Ps. cxix. 105.
0 Ps. iv. 6 (Heb. " Lift upon us," etc.). T Ps. xxxvi. 9.
8 Cf. Isa. Ix. 1. ° Cf. Isa. ix. 2. " Cf. Isa. ix. 2.
11 i-JovGi&v. 12 Cf. Matt. xxv. 4.

342 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

Chapter vi.
Seeing, however, that Celsus quotes from an epistle of Plato
another statement to the following effect, viz. : " If it appeared
to me that these matters could be adequately explained to the
multitude in writing and in oral address, what nobler pursuit
in life could have been followed by me, than to commit to
writing what was to prove of such advantage to human beings,
and to lead the nature of all men onwards to the light ? " — let us
then consider this point briefly, viz. whether or not Plato were
acquainted with any doctrines more profound than are con
tained in his writings, or more divine than those which he has
left behind him, leaving it to each one to investigate the subject
according to his ability, while we demonstrate that our prophets
did know of greater things than any in the Scriptures, but which
they did not commit to writing. Ezekiel, e.g., received a roll,1
written within and without, in which were contained " lamen
tations," and " songs," and " denunciations ;"2 but at the com
mand of the Logos he swallowed the book, in order that its
contents might not be written, and so made known to unworthy
persons. John also is recorded to have seen and done a similar
thing.3 Nay, Paul even heard " unspeakable words, which it
is not lawful for a man to utter."4 And it is related of Jesus,
who was greater than all these, that He conversed with His
disciples in private, and especially in their secret retreats, con
cerning the gospel of God ; but the words which He uttered
have not been preserved, because it appeared to the evangelists
that they could not be adequately conveyed to the multitude in
writing or in speech. And if it were not tiresome to repeat
the truth regarding these illustrious individuals, I would say
that they saw better than Plato (by means of the intelligence
which they received by the grace of God), what things More to
be committed to ivriting, and how this was to be done, and what
was by no means to be written to the multitude, and what
was to be expressed in words, and what was not to be so con
veyed. And once more, John, in. teaching us the difference
between what ought to be committed to writing and what not,
1 xsipaAiXx fiiiiAiov. 2 oiixi; cf. Ezek. ii. 9, 10.
3 Cf. Apoc. x. 9. i 2 Cor. xii. 4.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 343
declares that he heard seven thunders instructing him on cer
tain matters, and forbidding him to commit their words to
writing.1 Chapter vii.
There might also be found in the writings of Moses and of
the prophets, who are older not only than Plato, but even than
Homer and the invention of letters among the Greeks, pas
sages worthy of the grace of God bestowed upon them, and
filled with great thoughts, to which they gave utterance, but
not because they understood Plato imperfectly, as Celsus ima
gines. For how was it possible that they should have heard
one who was not yet born ? And if any one should apply the
words of Celsus to the apostles of Jesus, who were younger
than Plato, say whether it is not on the very face of it an
incredible assertion, that Paul the tentmaker, and Peter the
fisherman, and John who left his father's nets, should, through
misunderstanding the language of Plato in his Epistles, have
expressed themselves as they have done regarding God ? But
as Celsus now, after having often required of us immediate
assent [to his views], as if he were babbling forth something
new in addition to what he has already advanced, only repeats
himself,2 what we have said in reply may suffice. Seeing, how
ever, he produces another quotation from Plato, in which he
asserts that the employment of the method of question and
answer sheds light on the thoughts of those who philosophize
like him, let us show from the Holy Scriptures that the word
of God also encourages us to the practice of dialectics : Solomon,
e.g., declaring in onp passage, that " instruction unquestioned
goes astray;"3 and Jesus the son of Sirach, who has left us
the treatise called " Wisdom," declaring in another, that " the
knowledge of the unwise is as words that will not stand in-
1 Cf. Apoc. x. 4.
2 isoAAxxig XI YiXn 6 KtAGOg DpvAA'ijGxg Zg xfyoipisvov tiiDiag iriGrsvtiv, Zg
xxivov ti irxpd tx TrpoTtpov sipyposvx. Guietus thus amends the passage :
icoAy.xxig Xi tjZn o' KtAaog d^iovpcsvog liiStoig iriGTtvsiv, Zg xxivov ti icxpd tx
¦xpoTtpov tipYipcivx 6pvAA-/,Gxg, etc. Boherellus would change d^ioipotvov into
d^iovpctv. 3 KxiXsix dvs^tAsyxTog kAxvxtxi ; cf. Prov. x. 17.

344 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
vestigation." x Our methods of discussion, however, are rather
of a gentle kind ; for we have learned that he who presides
over the preaching of the word ought to be able to confute
gainsayers. But if some continue indolent, and do not train
themselves so as to attend to the reading of the word, and
" to search the Scriptures," and, agreeably to the command of
Jesus, to investigate the meaning of the sacred writings, and
to ask of God concerning them, and to keep " knocking " at
what may be closed within them, the Scripture is not on that
account to be regarded as devoid of wisdom.
Chapter viii.
In the next place, after other Platonic declarations, which
demonstrate that " the good " can be known by few, he adds :
" Since the multitude, being puffed up with a contempt for
others, which is far from right, and being filled with vain and
lofty hopes, assert that, because they have come to the know
ledge of some venerable doctrines, certain things are true."
" Yet although Plato predicted these things, he nevertheless does
not talk marvels,2 nor shut the mouth of those who wish to ask
him for information on the subject of his promises ; nor does
he command them to come at once and believe that a God of a
particular kind exists, and that he has a son of a particular
nature, who descended [to earth] and conversed with me."
Now, in answer to this we have to say, that with regard to
Plato, it is Aristander, I think, who has related that he was not
the son of Ariston, but of a phantom, which approached Am-
phictione in the guise of Apollo. And there are several other
of the followers of Plato who, in their lives of their master,
have made the same statement. What are we to say, more
over, about Pythagoras, who relates the greatest possible
amount of wonders, and who, in a general assembly of the
Greeks, showed his ivory thigh, and asserted that he recognised
the shield which he wore when he was Euphorbus, and who is
said to have appeared on one day in two different cities !
Lie, moreover, who will declare that what is related of Plato
and Socrates belongs to the marvellous, will quote the story of
1 yvoiaig xgvvstov, xXtt^i-xaToi Atiyot ; cf. Ecclus. xxi. 18.

OV TtfXTtViTXt.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 345
the swan which was recommended to Socrates while he was
asleep, and of the master saying when he met the young man,
" This, then, was the swan I"1 Nay, the third eye which Plato
saw that he himself possessed, he will refer to the category of
prodigies.2 But occasion for slanderous accusations will never
be wanting to those who are ill-disposed, and who wish to speak
evil of what has happened to such as are raised above the
multitude. Such persons will deride as a fiction even the
demon of Socrates. We do not, then, relate marvels when we
narrate the history of Jesus, nor have His genuine disciples
recorded any such stories of Him ; whereas this Celsus, who
professes universal knowledge, and who quotes many of the
sayings of Plato, is, I think, intentionally silent on the dis
course concerning the Son of God which is related in Plato's
epistle to Hermeas and Coriscus. Plato's words are as follows :
" And calling to witness the God of all things — the ruler both
of things present and things to come, father and lord both of
the ruler and cause — whom, if we are philosophers indeed, wo
shall all clearly know, so far as it is possible for happy human
beings to attain such knowledge." 3
Chapter ix.
Celsus quotes another saying of Plato to the following
effect : " It has occurred to me to speak once more upon these
subjects at greater length, as perhaps I might express my
self about them more clearly than I have already done : for
there is a certain ' real ' cause, which proves a hindrance in the
way of him who has ventured, even to a slight extent, to write
on such topics ; and as this has been frequently mentioned by
me on former occasions, it appears to me that it ought to be
stated now. In each of existing things, which are necessarily
employed in the acquisition of knowledge, there are three ele-
1 The night before Ariston brought Plato to Socrates as his pupil, the
latter dreamed that a swan from the altar of Cupid alighted on his bosom.
Cf. Pausanias in Atticis, p. 58.
2 " Alicubi forsan occurrit : me vero uspiam legisse non memini. Credo
Platonem per tertium oculum suam KaAvpcxhixv et scientiam, qua ceteris
anteibat, denotare voluisse." — Spencer.
3 Plato, Epist. vi.

346 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
ments ; knowledge itself is the fourth ; and that ought to be
laid down as the fifth which is both capable of being known
and is true. Of these, one is ' name ;' the second is ' word ;'
the third, ' image ;' the fourth, ( knowledge.' " x Now, accord
ing to this division, John is introduced before Jesus as the
voice of one crying in the wilderness, so as to correspond with
the " name " of Plato ; and the second after John, who is
pointed out by him, is Jesus, with whom agrees the statement,
" The Word became flesh," and that corresponds to the " word"
of Plato. Plato terms the third " image ;" but we, who apply
the expression "image" to something different, would say
with greater precision, that the mark of the wounds which is
made in the soul by the word is the Christ which is in each
one of us, and this mark is impressed by Christ the Word.2
And whether Christ, the wisdom which is in those of us
who are perfect, correspond to the " fourth " element — know
ledge — will become known to him who has the capacity to
ascertain it.
Chapter x.
He next continues : " You see how Plato, although main
taining that [the chief good] cannot be described in words, yet,
to avoid the appearance of retreating to an irrefutable position,
subjoins a reason in explanation of this difficulty, as even
'nothing'3 might perhaps be explained in words." But as
Celsus adduces this to prove that we ought not to yield a
simple assent, but to furnish a reason for our belief, we shall
quote also the words of Paul, where he says, in censuring the
hasty4 believer, "unless ye have believed inconsiderately."5
Now, through his practice of repeating himself, Celsus, so far
as he can, forces us to be guilty of tautology, reiterating, after
the boastful language which has been quoted, that " Plato is
not guilty of boasting and falsehood, giving out that he has
made some new discovery, or that he has come down from
1 uv iv p>Av, ovopox' Xsinspov Xi, Tio'yof to Ss rphov, tiXa'AoV to TtTxpTov Xs,
iieiGTYipo'l- 2 TpXVOTSpOV <p'/lG0potV 'tV TYI ''I'VXYI ylVopOtVOV pctTX TO!/ AoyOV tZv TpXVpCXTOlV
TV7T0U, TOVTOV t'lVXt TOV SV 'tXXGTOl ^KptGTOV, X170 XplGTQV AoyOV.
3 to po/ioiv. 4 tixYi irioTtvovri. 6 1 Cor. XV. 2.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 347
heaven to announce it, but acknowdedges whence these state
ments are derived." Now, if one wished to reply to Celsus,
one might say in answer to such assertions, that even Plato is
guilty of boasting, when in the Timceus he puts the following
language in the mouth of Zeus : " Gods of gods, whose creator
and father I am," and so on. And if any one will defend such
language oh account of the meaning which is conveyed under
the name of Zeus, thus speaking in the dialogue of Plato, why
should not he who investigates the meaning of the words of the
Son of God, or those of the Creator1 in the prophets, express a
profounder meaning than any conveyed by the words of Zeus/
in the Timceus f For the characteristic of divinity is the an
nouncement of future events, predicted not by human power,
but shown by the result to be due to a divine spirit in him who
made the announcement. Accordingly, we do not say to each '
of our hearers, "Believe, first of all, that He whom I intro
duce to thee is the Son of God ;" but we put the gospel before
each one, as his character and disposition may fit him to receive
it, inasmuch as we have learned to know " how we ought to
answer every man." 2 And there are some who are capable of
receiving nothing more than an exhortation to believe, and to
these we address that alone ; while we approach others, again,
as far as possible, in the way of demonstration, by means of
question and answer. Nor do we at all say, as Celsus scoff- ;
ingly alleges, "Believe that He whom I introduce to thee isj
the Son of God, although He was shamefully bound, and dis
gracefully punished, and very recently 3 was most contume-
liously treated before the eyes of all men;" neither do we add,
"Believe it even the more [on that account]." For it is our
endeavour to state, on each individual point, arguments more
numerous even than we have brought forward in the preceding
pages.
Chapter xi.
After this Celsus continues : " If these (meaning the Chris
tians) bring forward this person, and others, again, a different
individual [as the Christ], while the common and ready cry4 of
tov XYipciovpyov. 2 Cf. Col. iv. 6. 3 x@h XK' irpuYiv.
4 xatvov Xi ¦7rxvTav y) xxi irpoxsipov. For ij, Boherellus reads jj.

348 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
all parties is, ' Believe, if thou wilt be saved, or else begone,'
what shall those do who are in earnest about their salvation ?
Shall they cast the dice, in order to divine whither they may
betake themselves, and whom they shall join?" Now we shall
answor this objection in the following manner, as the clearness
of the case impels us to do. If it had been recorded that
several individuals had appeared in human life as sons of God
in the manner in which Jesus did, and if each of them had
drawn a party of adherents to his side, so that, on account of
the similarity of the profession [in the case of each individual]
that he was the Son of God, he to whom his followers bore
testimony to that effect was an object of dispute, there would
have been ground for his saying, " If these bring forward this
person, and others a different individual, while the common and
ready cry of all parties is, ' Believe, if thou wilt be saved, or
else begone,' " and so on ; whereas it has been proclaimed to
the entire world that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God who
visited the human race : for those who, like Celsus, have sup
posed that [the acts of Jesus] were a series of prodigies,1 and
who for that reason wished to perform acts of the same kind,2
that they, too, might gain a similar mastery over the minds of
men, were convicted of being utter nonentities.3 Such were
Simon, the Magus of Samaria, and Dositheus, who was a
native of the same place ; since the former gave out that he
was the power of God that is called great,4 and the latter that
he was the Son of God. Now Simonians are found nowhere
throughout the world ; and yet, in order to gain over to himself
many followers, Simon freed his disciples from the danger of
death, which the Christians were taught to prefer, by teach
ing them to regard idolatry as a matter of indifference. But
even at the beginning of their existence the followers of Simon
were not exposed to persecution. For that wicked demon who
was conspiring against the doctrine of Jesus, was well aware
that none of his own maxims would be weakened by the teach-
01 yxp ipooiug KsAffw iiiroAxfiovTsg TSTSpXTSvaixi. The word opooiug for
merly stood, in the text of Spencer and Ruseus, before TtTspxTtm^xi, but
is properly expunged, as arising from the preceding opooiug. Boherellus
remarks : " Forte aliud quid exciderit, verbi gratia, tx tou IhooD."
2 TtpxTsvoxodxt, 3 to oiioiv. * Cf. Acts viii. 10.

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 319
ing of Simon. The Dositheans, again, even in former times,
did not rise to any eminence, and now they are completely
extinguished, so that it is said their whole number does not
amount to thirty. Judas of Galilee also, as Luke relates in
the Acts of the Apostles,1 wished to call himself some great
personage, as did Theudas before him ; but as their doctrine was
not of God, they were destroyed, and all who obeyed them were
immediately dispersed. We do not, then, "cast the dice in
order to divine whither we shall betake ourselves, and whom
we shall join," as if there were many claimants able to draw us
after them by the profession of their having come down from
God to visit the human race. On these points, however, we
have said enough. Chapter xii.
Accordingly, let us pass on to another charge made by
Celsus, who is not even acquainted with the words [of our
sacred books], but who, from misunderstanding them, has said
that " we declare the wisdom that is among men to be foolish
ness with God ; " Paul having said that " the wisdom of the
world is foolishness with God." 2 Celsus says that " the reason
of this has been stated long ago." And the reason he imagines
to be, " our desire to win over by means of this saying the
ignorant and foolish alone." But, as he himself has intimated,
he has said the same thing before ; and we, to the best of our
ability, replied to it. Notwithstanding this, however, he wished
to show that this statement was an invention3 of ours, and
borrowed from the Grecian sages, who declare that human
wisdom is of one kind, and divine of another. And he quotes
the words of Heraclitus, where he says in one passage, that
" man's method of action is not regulated by fixed principles,
but that of God is ; " 4 and in another, that " a foolish man
listens to a demon, as a boy does to a man." He quotes, more
over, -the following from the Apology of Socrates, of which
Plato was the author : " For I, O men of Athens, have obtained ,
this name by no other means than by my wisdom. And of|
what sort is this wisdom? Such, probably, as is human; fori
1 Cf. Acts v. 36, 37. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 19. B irtTAxGpoivov iipciv.
4 i)8og yxp dvOpuTsiov pciv oiix sxsi yvZpoxg, 8siov Xi txsi.

350 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

in that respect I venture to think that Lam in reality wise." x
Such are the passages adduced by Celsus; But I shall subjoin
also the following from Plato's letter^o Hermeas, and Erastus,
and , Coriscus : " To Erastus and Coriscus I say, although I

am an old man, that, in addition to this noble knowledge of
'forms' [which they possess], they need a wisdom, with regard
to the class of wicked and unjust persons, which may serve as
a protective and repelling force against them. For they are
inexperienced, in consequence of having passed a large portion
of their lives with us, who are moderate2 individuals, and not
wicked. I have accordingly said that they need these things,
in order that they may not be compelled to neglect the true
wisdom, and to apply themselves in a greater degree than is
proper to that which is necessary and human."
Chapter xiii.
According to the foregoing, then, the one kind of wisdom is
human, and the other divine. Now the " human" wisdom is
that which is termed by us the wisdom of the " world," which
is " foolishness with God ; " whereas the " divine" — being dif
ferent from the "human," because it is "divine" — comes,
through the grace of God who bestows it, to those who have
evinced their capacity for receiving it, and especially to those
who, from knowing the difference between either kind of wis
dom, say, in their prayers to God, " Even if one among the
sons of men be perfect, while the wisdom is wanting that comes
from Thee, he shall be accounted as nothing." 3 We maintain,
indeed, that "human" wisdom is an exercise for the soul, but
that " divine " wisdom is the " end," being also termed the
" strong" meat of the soul by him who has said that " strong
meat belongeth to them that are perfect,4 even those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good
and evil." 5 This opinion, moreover, is truly an ancient one,
its antiquity not being referred back, as Celsus thinks, merely
to Heraclitus and Plato. For before these individuals lived,
the prophets distinguished between the two kinds of wisdom.
It is sufficient for the present to quote from the words of David
1 Cf. Plato's Apolog. 2 pcsTplav ovtoiu. a Cf. Wisd. of Sol. ix. 6.
4 TtAtioi. c Heb. v. 14.

Book yi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 351
what he says regarding the man wdio is wise, according to divine
wisdom, that " he will not see corruption when he beholds wise
men dying." 1 Divine wisdom, accordingly, being different '
from faith, is the "first" of the so-called "charismata" of
God ; and the " second" after it — in the estimation of those
who know how to distinguish such things accurately — is what
is called "knowledge;"2 and the "third" — seeing that even
the more simple class of men wdio adhere to the service of God,
so far as they can, must be saved — is faith. And therefore
Paul says : " To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom,
to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another
faith by the same Spirit." 3 And therefore it is no ordinary
individuals whom you will find to have participated in the
" divine " wisdom, but the more excellent and distinguished
among those who have given in their adherence to Chris
tianity ; for it is not " to the most ignorant, or servile, or most
uninstructed of mankind," that one would discourse upon the
topics relating to the divine wisdom.
Chapter xiv.
In designating others by the epithets of "uninstructed, and
servile, and ignorant," Celsus, I suppose, means those who are
not acquainted with his laws, nor trained in the branches of
Greek learning ; while we, on the other hand, deem those to be
" uninstructed" who are not ashamed to address [supplications]
to inanimate objects, and to call upon those for health that
have no strength, and to ask the dead for life, and to entreat
the helpless for assistance.4 And although some may say that
these objects are not gods, but only imitations and symbols of
real divinities, nevertheless these very individuals, in imagining
that the hands of low mechanics5 can frame imitations of
divinity, are " uninstructed, and servile, and ignorant ;" for we
assert that the lowest6 among us have been set free from this
ignorance and want of knowledge, while the most intelligent
1 Ps. xlix. 9, 10 (LXX.). 2 yvZGig. 3 1 Cor. xii. 8, 9. ,
4 Toiig pcYj xiGxvvoposvovg iv tZ Toig dtyiixoig 'zpouAxAsiv, xxi irspl posv iiysixg
To xaQsvsg iirixxAovfiivovg, ftspl Xi I^UYig to vsxpov x^tovvrxg, irtpl Xi iinxovpixg
TO XTTOpolTXTOV 'iXSTSVOVTXg.
6 fixvxvauv.

352 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
can understand and grasp the divine hope. We do not main
tain, however, that it is impossible for one who has not been
trained in earthly wisdom to receive the " divine," but we do
acknowledge that all human wisdom is " folly " in comparison
with the " divine." In the next place, instead of endeavouring
to adduce reasons, as he ought, for his assertions, he terms us
" sorcerers," x and asserts that " we flee away with headlong
speed2 from the more polished3 class of persons, because they
are not suitable subjects for our impositions, while we seek to
decoy4 those who are more rustic." Now he did not observe
that from the very beginning our wise men were trained in the
external branches of learning : Moses, e.g., in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians ; Daniel, and Ananias, and Azariah, and
Mishael, in all Assyrian learning, so that they wore found to
surpass in tenfold degree all the wise men of that country. At
the present time, moreover, the churches have, in proportion to
the multitudes [of ordinary believers], a few " wise" men, who
have come over to them from that wisdom which is said by us
to be " according to the flesh ; " 5 and they have also some who
have advanced from it to that wisdom which is " divine."
Chapter xv.
Celsus, in the next place, as one who has heard the subject
of humility greatly talked about,6 but who has not been at the
pains to understand it,7 would wish to speak evil of that humility
which is practised among us, and imagines that it is boriowed
from some words of Plato imperfectly understood, where he
expresses himself in the Laws as follows : " Now God, according
to the ancient account, having in Himself both the beginning
and end and middle of all existing things, proceeds according to
nature, and marches straight on.8 He is constantly followed by
justice, which is the avenger of all breaches of the divine law :
he who is about to become happy follows her closely in humility,
and becomingly adorned."9 He did not observe, however, that
1 yomxg. 2 irpoTpoirxXYiv. s Toiig x"opitGTtpovg.
4 ¦KxAtiioposv. 5 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 26.
6 Zg wspiYixYihlg tx rrspl t xittivo(PpoGVVY\g.
7 jxyi iffifisAZg x\ity\v voYioxg.
8 siifoix irspxivti xxtx (fiiGtv irxpxitoptvopctvog. ° Plato, de Legibus, iv.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 353
in writers much older than Plato the following words occur in
a prayer : " Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty,
neither do I walk in great matters, nor in things too wonderful
for me ; if I had not been humble," x etc. Now these words
show that he who is of humble mind does not by any means
humble himself in an unseemly or inauspicious manner, falling
down upon his knees, or casting himself headlong on the ground,
putting on the dress of the miserable, or sprinkling himself with
dust. But he who is of humble mind in the sense of the
prophet, while " walking in great and wonderful things," which
are above his capacity — viz. those doctrines that are truly great,
and those thoughts that are wonderful — " humbles himself
under the mighty hand of God." If there are some, however,
who through their stupidity 2 have not clearly understood the
doctrine of humiliation, and act as they do, it is not our doctrine
which is to be blamed ; but we must extend our forgiveness to
the stupidity2 of those who aim at higher things, and owing to
their fatuity of mind3 fail to attain them. He who is " humble
and becomingly adorned," is so in a greater degree than Plato's
" humble and becomingly adorned " individual : for he is be
comingly adorned, on the one hand, because " he walks in things
great and wonderful," which are beyond his capacity; and
humble, on the other hand, because, while being in the midst of
such, he yet voluntarily humbles himself, not under any one at
random, but under " the mighty hand of God," through Jesus
Christ,, the teacher of such instruction, "who did not deem
equality with God a thing to be eagerly clung to, but made
Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a
servant, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself,
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."4
And so great is this doctrine of humiliation, that it has no
ordinary individual as its teacher ; but our great Saviour Him
self says : " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart,
and ye shall find rest for your souls."0
1 Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2 (LXX.). The clause, " If I had not been humble,"
seems to belong to the following verse.
2 TiJ iXlUTi'lX. 3 XlX TOV iXlUTlGpCOV.
4 Cf. Phil. ii. 6, 8. 5 Cf. Matt. xi. 20.
ORIG.  VOL. II. Z

354 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

Chapter xvi.
In the next place, with regard to the declaration of Jesus
against rich men, when He said, " It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God,"1 Celsus alleges that this saying manifestly
proceeded from Plato, and that Jesus perverted the words of
the philosopher, which were, that " it was impossible to be dis
tinguished for goodness, and at the same time for riches." 2 Now
who is there that is capable of giving even moderate attention
to affairs — not merely among the believers on Jesus, but among
the rest of mankind — that would not laugh at Celsus, on hear
ing that Jesus, who was born and brought up among the Jews,
and was supposed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, and
who had not studied literature — not merely that of the Greeks,
but not even that of the Hebrews — as the truth-loving Scriptures
testify regarding Him,3 had read Plato, and being pleased with
the opinion he expressed regarding rich men, to the effect that
" it was impossible to be distinguished for goodness and riches
at the same time," had perverted this, and changed it into, " It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God !" Now, if Celsus
had not perused the Gospels in a spirit of hatred and dislike, but
had been imbued with a love of truth, he would have turned
his attention to the point why a camel — that one oi animals
which, as regards its physical structure, is crooked — was phosen
as an object of comparison with a rich man, and what signifi
cation the " narrow eye of a needle " had for him who saw that
"strait and narrow was the way that leadeth unto life;"4 and
to this point also, that this animal, according to the law, is
described as " unclean," having one element of acceptability,
viz. that it ruminates, but one of condemnation, viz. that it does
not divide the hoof. He would have inquired, moreover, how
often the camel was adduced as an object of comparison in the
sacred Scriptures, and in reference to what objects, that he
might thus ascertain the meaning of the Logos concerning the
1 Cf. Matt. xix. 24. 2 Cf. Plato, v. de Legibus.
3 Cf. Matt. xiii. 54, Mark vi. 2, and John vii. 15.
4 Cf. Matt. vii. 14.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 355
rich men. Nor would he have left without examination the
fact that " the poor " are termed " blessed " by Jesus, while
" the rich" are designated as " miserable ; " and whether these
words refer to the rich and poor who are visible to the senses,
or whether there is any kind of poverty known to the Logos
which is to be deemed " altogether blessed," and any rich man
who is to be wholly condemned. For even a common individual
would not thus indiscriminately have praised the poor, many of
whom lead most wicked lives. But on this point we have said
enough.
Chapter xvii.
Since Celsus, moreover, from a desire to depreciate the
accounts which our Scriptures give of the kingdom of God,
has quoted none of them, as if they were unworthy of being
recorded by him (or perhaps because he was unacquainted with
them), while, on the other hand, he "quotes the sayings of
Plato, both from his Epistles and the Phcedrus, as if these were
divinely inspired, but our Scriptures were not, let us set forth
a few points, for the sake of comparison with these plausible
declarations of Plato, which did not, however, dispose the
philosopher to worship in a manner worthy of him the Maker
of all things. For he ought not to have adulterated or polluted
this worship with what we call " idolatry," but what the many
would describe by the term " superstition." Now, according to
a Hebrew figure of speech, it is said of God in the eighteenth
Psalm, that " He made darkness His secret place,"1 to signify
that those notions which should be worthily entertained of God
are invisible and unknowable, because God conceals Himself
in darkness, as it were, from those who cannot endure the splen
dours of His knowledge, or are incapable of looking at them,
partly owing to the pollution of their understanding, which is
clothed with the body of mortal lowliness, and partly owing
to its feebler power of comprehending God. And in order that
it may appear that the knowledge of God has rarely been
vouchsafed to men, and has been found in very few individuals,
Moses is related to have entered into the darkness where God
was.2 And again, with regard to Moses it is said : " Moses
1 Cf. Ps. xviii. 11. l Cf. Ex. xx. 21.

35G ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
alone shall come near the Lord, but the rest shall not come
nigh."1 And again, that the prophet may show the depth of
the doctrines which relate to God, and which is unattainable
by those who do not possess the " Spirit which searcheth all
things, even the deep things of God," he added : " The abyss
like a garment is His covering."2 Nay, our Lord and Saviour,
the Logos of God, manifesting that the greatness of the know
ledge of the Father is appropriately comprehended and known
pre-eminently by Him alone, and in the second place by those
whose minds are enlightened by the Logos Himself and God,
declares : " No man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; neither
knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he to whom
soever the Sou will reveal Him." 3 For no one can worthily
know the "uncreated"4 and first-born of all created nature like
the Father who begat Him, nor any one the Father like the
living Logos, and His Wisdom and Truth. By sharing in Him
who takes away from the Father what is called " darkness,"
which He " made His secret place," and " the abyss," which is
called His " covering," and in this way unveiling the Father,
every one knows the Father who5 is capable of knowing Him.
Chapter xviii.
I thought it right to quote these few instances from a much
larger number of passages, in which our sacred writers express
their ideas regarding God, in order to show that, to those who
have eyes to behold the venerable character of Scripture, the
sacred writings of the prophets contain things more worthy of
reverence than those sayings of Plato which Celsus admires.
Now the declaration of Plato, quoted by Celsus, runs as fol
lows : " All things are around the King of all, and all things
exist for his sake, and he is the cause of all good things.
With things of the second rank he is second, and with those
of the third rank he is third. The human soul, accordingly,
i Cf. Ex. xxiv. 2. 2 Cf. Ps. civ. 6. 3 Cf. Matt. xi. 27.
4 xysvvnov. Locus diligenter notandus, ubi filius e creaturarum numero
diserte eximitur, dum dyivmog dicitur. At non dissimulandum in unico
Cod. Anglicano secundo legi : to'j/ ytvvYiTov : cf. Oriyenianorum, lib. ii.
qusestio 2, num. 23. — Rileus.
4 otz' ttot' xv xuPV yiyiZoxuv. Boherellus proposes 6Vt/j itot xv xaPh e*a

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 357
is eager to learn what these things are, looking to such things
as are kindred to itself, none of which is perfect. But as
regards the King and those things which I mentioned, there is
nothing which resembles them." * I might have mentioned,
moreover, what is said of those beings which are called seraphim
by the Hebrews, and described in Isaiah,2 who cover the face
and feet of God, and of those called cherubim, whom Ezekiel 3
has described, and the postures of these, and of the manner in
which God is said to be borne upon the cherubim. But since
they are mentioned in a very mysterious manner, on account
of the unworthy and the indecent, who are unable to enter into
the great thoughts and venerable nature of theology, I have
not deemed it becoming to discourse of them in this treatise.
Chapter xix.
Celsus in the next place alleges, that " certain Christians,
having misunderstood the words of Plato, loudly boast of a
' super-celestial' God, thus ascending beyond the heaven of the
Jews." By these words, indeed, he does not make it clear
whether they also ascend beyond the God of the Jews, or only
beyond the heaven by which they swear. It is not our purpose
at present, however, to speak of those who acknowledge another
god than the one worshipped by the Jews, but to defend our
selves, and to show that it was impossible for the prophets of
the Jews, whose writings are reckoned among ours, to have
boriowed anything from Plato, because they were older than
he. They did not then borrow from him the declaration, that
'•' all things are around the King of all, and that all exist on
account of him ;" for we have learned that nobler thoughts
than these have been uttered by the prophets, by Jesus Him
self and His disciples, who have clearly indicated the meaning
of the spirit that was in them, which was none other than the
spirit of Christ. Nor was the philosopher the first to present
to view the " super-celestial" place ; for David long ago brought
to view the profundity and multitude of the thoughts concern
ing God entertained by those who have ascended above visible
things, when he said in the book of Psalms : " Praise God, ye
1 Cf. Plato, Epist. ii. ad Dionys. 2 Cf. Isa. vi. 2.
3 Cf. Ezek. i. and x.

358 ORIGEN A GAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
heaven of heavens ; and ye waters that be above the heavens,
let them praise the name of the Lord." x I do not, indeed, deny
that Plato learned from certain Hebrews the words quoted from
the Phmdrus, or even, as some have recorded, that he quoted
them from a perusal of our prophetic writings, when he said :
" No poet here below has ever sung of the super-celestial place,
or ever will sing in a becoming manner," and so on. And in
the same passage is the following : " For the essence, which is
both colourless and formless, and which cannot be touched,
which really exists, is the pilot of the soul, and is beheld by the
understanding alone ; and around it the genus of true know
ledge holds this place."2 Our Paul, moreover, educated by
these words, and longing after things " supra-mundane" and
" super-celestial," and doing his utmost for their sake to attain
them, says in the second Epistle to the Corinthians : " For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; while we look
not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal ; but
the things which are unseen are eternal." 3
Chapter xx.
Now, to those who are capable of understanding him, the
apostle manifestly presents to view " things which are the
objects of perception," calling them "things seen;" while he
terms " unseen," things which are the object of the under
standing, and cognisable by it alone. He knows, also, that
things " seen " and visible are " temporal," but that things
cognisable by the mind, and " not seen," are " eternal ;" and
desiring to remain in the contemplation of these, and being
assisted by his earnest longing for them, he deemed all afflic
tion as " light " and as " nothing," and during the season of
afflictions and troubles was not at all bowed down by them, but
by his contemplation of [divine] things deemed every calamity
a light thing, seeing we also have " a great High Priest," who
by the greatness of His power and understanding " has passed
through the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God," who has
promised to all that have truly learned divine things, and have
1 Ps. cxlviii. 4. 2 Cf. Plato in Phxdro. 3 Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 359
lived lives in harmony with them, to go before them to the
things that are supra-mundane ; for His words are : " That
where I go, ye may be also."1 And therefore we hope, after
the troubles and struggles which we suffer here, to reach the
highest heavens,2 and receiving, agreeably to the teaching of
Jesus, the fountains of water that spring up unto eternal life,
and being filled with the rivers of knowledge,3 shall be united
with those waters that are said to be above the heavens, and
which praise His name. And as many of us4 as praise Him
shall not be carried about by the revolution of the heaven, but
shall be ever engaged in the contemplation of the invisible
things of God, which are no longer understood by us through
the things which He hath made from the creation of the world,
but seeing, as it was expressed by the true disciple of Jesus in
these words, "then face to face;" 5 and in these, "When that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be done
away." 6
Chapter xxi.
The Scriptures which are current in the churches of God do
not speak of " seven " heavens, or of any definite number at all,
but they do appear to teach the existence of " heavens," whether
that means the " spheres" of those bodies which the Greeks call
"planets," or something more mysterious. Celsus, too, agreeably
to the opinion of Plato,7 asserts that souls can make their way
to and from the earth through the planets ; while Moses, our
most ancient prophet, says that a divine vision was presented to
the view of our prophet Jacob,8 — a ladder stretching to heaven,
and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and
the Lord supported 9 upon its top, — obscurely pointing, by this
matter of the ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had
in view, or to something greater than these. On this subject
1 Cf. John xiv. 3. 2 irpog xxpoig Toig oiipxvoig.
3 vroTxpcoiig tZv Qtoip'qpoxTOiv.
4 For oaov yt Boherellus proposes ooo; ys, which is adopted in the trans
lation. 6 Cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 6 Cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 10.
7 Cf. Plato in Timseo. 8 Cf. Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.

360 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
Philo has composed a treatise which deserves the thoughtful
and intelligent investigation of all lovers of truth.
Chapter xxii.
After this, Celsus, desiring to exhibit his learning in his
treatise against us, quotes also certain Persian mysteries, where
he says : " These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts
of the Persians, and especially in the mysteries of Mithras,
which are celebrated amongst them. For in the latter there
is a representation of the two heavenly revolutions, — of the
movement, viz., of the fixed1 stars, and of that which takes
place among the planets, and of the passage of the soul through
these. The representation is of the following nature : There
is a ladder with lofty gates,2 and on the top of it an eighth gate.
The first gate consists of lead, the second of tin, the third of
copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of a mixture of metals,3
the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. The first gate
they assign to Saturn, indicating by the 'lead' the slowness of
this star ; the second to Venus, comparing her to the splendour
and softness of tin ; the third to Jupiter, being firm4 and solid ;
the fourth to Mercury, for both Mercury and iron are fit to
endure all things, and are money -making and laborious;5
the fifth to Mars, because, being composed of a mixture of
metals, it is varied and unequal; the sixth, of silver, to the
Moon ; the seventh, of gold, to the Sun, — thus imitating the
different colours of the two latter." He next proceeds to
examine the reason of the stars being arranged in this order,
which is symbolized by the names of the rest of matter.6 Musical
reasons, moreover, are added or quoted by the Persian theology;
and to these, again, he strives to add a second explanation, con
nected also with musical considerations. But it seems to me,
that to quote the language of Celsus upon these matters would
be absurd, and similar to what he himself has done, when, in
1 TYig T£ xirAxvoiig.
2 xAipoxZ, Ci^iwAog. Boherellus conjectures in-TxirvAog.
3 xtpxGToi vopoiapcxrog. 4 ty]v x"-AKOfidTYiv xxi orsppxv.
5 TAYipoovx ydp tpyav xkxvtoki, xxi xPYI,xxtigty)v, xxi woAvxpoYiTov shxi, to'ji
Ti GiXripov xxi TOV ' VLppcv\v.
6 Tijj AoivYn iiAYig. For iiAri;, another reading is iri/Ang.

Book vi. j ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 3d
his accusations against Christians and Jews, he quoted, most
inappropriately, not only the words of Plato ; but, dissatisfied
even with these,1 he adduced in addition the mysteries of the
Persian Mithras, and the explanation of them. Now, whatever
be the case with regard to these, — whether the Persians and those
who conduct the mysteries of Mithras give false or true accounts
regarding them, — why did he select these for quotation, rather
than some of the other mysteries, with the explanation of them?
For the mysteries of Mithras do not appear to be more famous
among the Greeks than those of Eleusis, or than those in
Egina, where individuals are initiated in the rites of Hecate.
O 1
But if he must introduce barbarian mysteries with their ex
planation, why not rather those of the Egyptians, which are
highly regarded by many,2 or those of the Cappadocians re
garding the Comanian Diana, or those of the Thracians, or
even those of the Romans themselves, who initiate the noblest
members of their senate?3 But if he deemed it inappropriate to
institute a comparison with any of these, because they furnished
no aid in the way of accusing Jews or Christians, why did it
not also appear to him inappropriate to adduce the instance of
the mysteries of Mithras? Chapter xxiii.
If one wished to obtain means for a profounder contem
plation of the entrance of souls into divine things, not from
the statements of that very insignificant sect from which he
quoted, but from books — partly those of the Jews, which are
read in their synagogues, and adopted by Christians, and
partly from those of Christians alone — let him peruse, at the
end of Ezekiel's prophecies, the visions beheld by the pro
phet, in which gates of different kinds are enumerated,4 which
obscurely refer to the different modes in which divine souls
enter into a better world ; 5 and let him peruse also, from
the Apocalypse of John, what is related of the city of
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and of its foundations and
1 For Zg ixsivoig dpxitirOcti, Spencer introduced into his text, oio' ixtivoig
dpxtiGllxi, which has been adopted in the translation.
2 iv oi; iroAAol otpcvvvovTXi. " xiro Tfj? gv/xAy,tov fiovAqg.
4 Cf. Ezek. xlviii. 4 i^l tx xpshrovx.

362 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
gates.1 And if he is capable of finding out also the road,
which is indicated by symbols, of those who will march on to
divine things, let him read the book of Moses entitled Numbers,
and let him seek the help of one who is capable of initiating him
into the meaning of the narratives concerning the encampments
of the children of Israel ; viz. of what sort those were which
were arranged towards the east, as was the case with the first ;
and what those towards the south-west and south ; and what
towards the sea ; and what the last were, which wore stationed
towards the north. For he will see that there is in the respec
tive places a meaning2 not to be lightly treated, nor, as Celsus
imagines, such as calls only for silly and servile listeners : but
he will distinguish in the encampments certain things relating
to the numbers that are enumerated, and which are specially
adapted to each tribe, of which the present does not appear to us
to be the proper time to speak. Let Celsus know, moreover, as
well as those who read his book, that in no part of the genuine
and divinely accredited Scriptures are " seven " heavens men
tioned ; neither do our prophets, nor the apostles of Jesus, nor
the Son of God Himself, repeat anything which they borrowed
from the Persians or the Cabiri.
Chapter xxiv.
After the instance boriowed from the Mithraic mysteries,
Celsus declares that he who would investigate the Christian
mysteries, along with the aforesaid Persian, will, on comparing
the two together, and on unveiling the rites of the Christians,
see in this way the difference between them. Now, wherever he
was able to give the names of the various sects, he was nothing
loth to quote those with which he thought himself acquainted ;
but when he ought most of all to have done this, if they
were really known to him, and to have informed us which was
the sect that makes use of the diagram he has drawn, he has
not done so. It seems to me, however, that it is from some
statements of a very insignificant sect called Ophites, which he
has misunderstood, that, in my opinion, he has partly borrowed
what he says about the diagram.s Now, as we have always been
1 Cf. Apoc. xxi. 2 hapyipixTa.
3 "Utinam exstaret! Multum enim lucis procul dubio antiquissimorum

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 363
animated by a love of learning,1 we have fallen in with this
diagram, and we have found in it the representations of men
who, as Paul says, " creep into houses, and lead captive silly
women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts ; ever learn
ing, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2
The diagram was, however, -so destitute of all credibility, that
neither these easily deceived women, nor the most rustic class of
men, nor those who wore ready to be led away by any plausible
pretender whatever, ever gave their assent to the diagram. Nor,
indeed, have we ever met any individual, although we have
visited many parts of the earth, and have sought out all those
who anywhere made profession of knowledge, that placed any
faith in this diagram.
Chapter xxv.
In this diagram wore described ten circles, distinct from each
other, but united by one circle, which was said to be the soul
of all things, and was called " Leviathan." 3 This Leviathan,
the Jewish Scriptures say, whatever they mean by the expres
sion, was created by God for a plaything ;4 for we find in the
Psalms : " In wisdom hast Thou made all things : the earth is
full of Thy creatures ; so is this great and wide sea. There
go the ships ; small animals with great ; there is this dragon,
which Thou hast formed to play therein."5 Instead of the
word "dragon," the term "leviathan" is in the Hebrew. This
impious diagram, then, said of this leviathan, which is so clearly
depreciated by the psalmist, that it was the soul which had
travelled through all things ! We observed, also, in the dia
gram, the being named " Behemoth," placed as it were under
the lowest circle. The inventor of this accursed diagram
had inscribed this leviathan at its circumference and centre,
thus placing its name in two separate places. Moreover,
Celsus says that the diagram was " divided by a thick black
line, and this line he asserted was called Gehenna, which is
Tartarus." Now as wo found that Gehenna was mentioned
Patrum libris, priscse ecclesite temporibus, et quibusdam sacrse Scripturas
locis, accederet."— Spencee.
1 xxtx to <piAopcx6sg iipcZv. 2 Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 6, 7.
3 Cf. note in Spencer's ed. 4 irxiyviov. ° Cf. Ps. civ. 24-26.

364 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
in the Gospel as a place of punishment, wo searched to see
whether it is mentioned anywhere in the ancient Scriptures, and
especially because the Jews too use the word. And we ascer
tained that where the valley of the son of Ennom was named in
Scripture in the Llebrew, instead of " valley," with fundamen
tally the same meaning, it was termed both the valley of Ennom
and also Geenna. And continuing our researches, we find that
what was termed " Geenna," or " the valley of Ennom," was
included in the lot of the tribe of Benjamin, in which Jeru
salem also was situated. And seeking to ascertain what might
be, the inference from the heavenly Jerusalem belonging to the
lot of Benjamin and the valley of Ennom, we find a certain
confirmation of what is said regarding the place of punishment,
intended for the purification of such souls as are to be purified
by torments, agreeably to the saying : " The Lord cometh like
a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap : and He shall sit as a
refiner and purifier of silver and of gold." x
Chapter xxvi.
It is in the precincts of Jerusalem, then, that punishments
will be inflicted upon those who undergo the process of purifica
tion,2 who have received into the substance of their soul the
elements of wickedness, which in a certain place3 is figuratively
termed " lead," and on that account iniquity is represented in
Zechariah as sitting upon a " talent of lead."4 But the remarks
which might be made on this topic are neither to be made to
all, nor to be uttered on the present occasion ; for it is not
unattended with danger to commit to writing the explanation
of such subjects, seeing the multitude need no further instruc
tion than that which relates to the punishment of sinners ;
while to ascend beyond this is not expedient, for the sake of
those who are with difficulty restrained, even by fear of eternal
punishment, from plunging into any degree of wickedness, and
into the flood of evils which result from sin. The doctrine of
Geenna, then, is unknown both to the Diagram and to Celsus:
for had it been otherwise, the framers of the former would not
have boasted of their pictures of animals and diagrams, as if the
1 Cf. Mai. iii. 2, 3. 2 xoivtvopoivav.
3 vol. 4 Cf. Zech. v. 7.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 3G5
truth were represented by these ; nor would Celsus, in his trea
tise against the Christians, have introduced among the charges
directed against them statements which they never uttered,
instead of what was spoken by some who perhaps are no longer
in existence, but have altogether disappeared, or been reduced
to a very few individuals, and these easily counted. And as it
does not beseem those who profess the doctrines of Plato to offer
a defence of Epicurus and his impious opinions, so neither is
it for us to defend the diagram, or to refute the accusations
brought against it by Celsus. We may therefore allow his
charges on these points to pass as superfluous and useless,1 for
we would censure more severely than Celsus any who should
be carried away by such opinions.
Chapter xxvii.
After the matter of the Diagram, he brings forward certain
monstrous statements, in the form of question and answer,2
regarding what is called by ecclesiastical writers the " seal,"
statements which did not arise from imperfect information ;
such as that " he who impresses the seal is called father, and
he who is sealed is called young man and son ;" and who
answers, " I have been anointed with white ointment from the
tree of life," — things which wo never heard to have occurred
even among the heretics. In the next place, he determines
even the number mentioned by those who deliver over the seal,
as that " of seven angels, who attach themselves to both sides of
the soul of the dying body ; the one party being named angels
of light, the others ' archontics;'" 3 and he asserts that the
" ruler of those named ' archontics ' is termed the ' accursed '
God." Then, laying hold of the expression, he assails, not
without reason, those who venture to use such language ; and
on that account we entertain a similar feeling of indignation
with those who censure such individuals, if indeed there exist
any who call the God of the Jews — who sends rain and thunder,
and who is the Creator of this world, and the God of Moses, and
of the cosmogony which he records — an " accursed " divinity.
Celsus, however, appears to have had in view, in employing
1 poxT/iv ixxtipctvx. 2 «7i?io'«ot« xxi xpcoifixixg <puvxg.
3 dpxovTixZv.

366 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
these expressions, not a rational1 object, but one of a most
irrational kind, arising out of his hatred towards us, which is
so unlike a philosopher. For his aim was, that those who are
unacquainted with our customs should, on perusing his treatise,
at once assail us as if we called the noble Creator of this world
an "accursed divinity." He appears to me, indeed, to have
acted like those Jews who, when Christianity began to be first
preached, scattered abroad false reports of the gospel, such as
that " Christians offered up an infant in sacrifice, and partook
of its flesh;" and again, "that the professors of Christianity,
wishing to do the ' works of darkness,' used to extinguish the
lights [in their meetings], and each one to have sexual inter
course with any woman whom he chanced to meet." These
calumnies have long exercised, although unreasonably, an influ
ence over the minds of very many, leading those who are aliens
to the gospel to believe that Christians are men of such a
character ; and even at the present day they mislead some, and
prevent them from entering even into the simple intercourse of
conversation with those who are Christians.
Chapter xxviii.
With some such object as this in view does Celsus seem to
have been actuated, when he alleged that Christians term the
Creator an "accursed divinity;" in order that he who believes
these charges of his against us, should, if possible, arise and
exterminate the Christians as the most impious of mankind.
Confusing, moreover, things that are distinct,2 he states also
the reason why the God of the Mosaic cosmogony is termed
" accursed," asserting that " such is his character, and worthy
of execration in the opinion of those who so regard him, inas
much as he pronounced a curse upon the serpent, who intro
duced the first human beings to the knowledge of good and
evil." Now he ought to have known that those who have
espoused the cause of the serpent, because he gave good advice
to the first human beings, and who go far beyond the Titans and
Giants of fable, and are on this account called Ophites, are so
far from being Christians, that they bring accusations against
oiix tvyvupcov dAAx . . . trxvv dyvapcovioTXTQV.
2 pvpuv Xi TX vpxypiXTX.

Book vi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 367
Jesus to as great a degree as Celsus himself ; and they do not
admit any one into their assembly1 until he has uttered male
dictions against Jesus. See, then, how irrational is the pro
cedure of Celsus, who, in his discourse against the Christians,
represents as such those who will not even listen to the name of
Jesus, or admit even that He was a wise man, or a person of
virtuous2 character ! What, then, could evince greater folly or
madness, not only on the part of those who wish to derive their
name from the serpent as the author of good,3 but also on the
part of Celsus, who thinks that the accusations with which the
Ophites4 are charged, are chargeable also against the Christians!
Long ago, indeed, that Greek philosopher who preferred a state
of poverty,5 and who exhibited the pattern of a happy life,
showing that he was not excluded from happiness although he
was possessed of nothing,6 termed himself jLQgixic-, while these
impious wretches, as not being human beings, whose enemy
the serpent is, but as being serpents, pride themselves upon
being called Ophites from the serpent, which is an animal
most hostile to and greatly dreaded by man, and boast of one
Euphrates7 as the introducer of these unhallowed opinions.
Chapter xxix.
In the next place, as if it were the Christians whom he was
calumniating, he continues his accusations against those who
termed the God of Moses and of his law an " accursed" divinity ;
and imagining that it is the Christians who so speak, he ex
presses himself thus : " What could be more foolish or insane
than such senseless8 wisdom ? For what blunder has the Jewish
lawgiver committed? and why do you accept, by means, as
you say,9 of a certain allegorical and typical method of inter
pretation, the cosmogony which he gives, and the law of the
Jews, while it is with unwillingness, O most impious man, that
1 GVvsXpiov. 2 pctrpiog tx %6y}. 3 dpxYiyoii tZv xxAZv.
4 'Optxvot ; cf. Irenaeus, vol. i. pp. 104-112 {Ante-Nicene Library).
5 ttjv tiiTSAsixv dyxirviGXg.
6 diro TYig •TTXVTSAovg dxTYipooavvYig.
7 "Euphraten hujus hseresis auctorem solus Origenes tradit." — Spencer;
cf. note in Spencer's ed.
8 .dvxioQiiTov. 9 Boherellus proposes <pjjj for the textual reading (pr.Gi.

368 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
you give praise to the Creator of the world, who promised to
give them all things ; who promised to multiply their race to
the ends of the earth, and to raise them up from the dead
with the same flesh and blood, and who gave inspiration1 to
their prophets ; and, again, you slander Him ! When you feel
the force of such considerations, indeed, you acknowledge that
you worship the same God ; but when jour teacher Jesus and
the Jewish Moses give contradictory decisions,2 you seek another
God, instead of Him, and the Father!" Now, by such state
ments, this illustrious philosopher Celsus distinctly slanders the
Christians, aserting that, when the Jews press them hard, they
acknowdedge the same God as they do ; but that when Jesus
legislates differently from Moses, they seek another god instead
of Him. Now, whether we are conversing with the Jews, or
are alone with ourselves, we know of only one and the same
God, whom the Jews also worshipped of old time, and still pro
fess to worship as God, and we are guilty of no impiety towards
Him. We do not assert, however, that God will raise men
from the dead with the same flesh and blood, as has been shown
in the preceding pages ; for we do not maintain that the natural3
body, which is sown in corruption, and in dishonour, and in
weakness, will rise again such as it was sown. On such sub
jects, however, we have spoken at adequate length in the fore
going pages.
Chapter xxx.
He next returns to the subject of the Seven ruling Demons,4
whose names are not found among Christians, but who, I think,
are accepted by the Ophites. We found, indeed, that in the
Diagram, which on their account we procured a sight of, the
same order was laid down as that which Celsus has given.
Celsus says that " the goat was shaped like a lion," not men
tioning the name given him by those who are truly the most
impious of individuals ; whereas ice discovered that He who is
honoured in Holy Scripture as the angel of the Creator is called
xxi Toig 7i-po<pviTxig iptirviovTX.
otxv Xs tx ivxvrix 6 oog XtXxaxxAog 'Ino-oE?, xxi 6 'lovXxluv Mawjij?, vopto-
0STYI. 3 ipvxixov. * Cf. Spencer's note, as quoted in Benedictine ed.

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 369
by this accursed Diagram Michael the Lion-like. Again,
Celsus says that the " second in order is a bull ; " whereas the
Diagram which we possessed made him to be Suriel, the bull
like. Further, Celsus termed the third " an amphibious sort
of animal, and one that hissed frightfully;" while the Diagram
described the third as Raphael, the serpent-like. Moreover,
Celsus asserted that the " fourth had the form of an eagle ; "
the Diagram representing him as Gabriel, the eagle-like. Again,
the " fifth," according to Celsus, " had the countenance of a
bear ;" and this, according to the Diagram, was Thauthabaoth,1
the bear-like. Celsus continues his account, that the " sixth
was described as having the face of a dog ;" and him the
Diagram called Erataoth. The " seventh," he adds, " had the
countenance of an ass, and was named Thaphabaoth or Onoel;"
whereas wo discovered that in the Diagram he is called Onoel,
or Thartharaoth, being somewhat asinine in appearance. We
have thought it proper to be exact in stating these matters, that
we might not appear to be ignorant of those things which Cel
sus professed to know, but that we Christians, knowing them
better than he, may demonstrate that these are not the words
of Christians, but of those who are altogether alienated from
salvation, and who neither acknowledge Jesus as Saviour, nor
God, nor teacher, nor Son of God.
Chapter xxxi.
Moreover, if any one would wish to become acquainted with
the artifices of those sorcerers, through which they desire to
lead men away by their teaching (as if they possessed the know
ledge of certain secret rites), but are not at all successful in so
doing, let him listen to the instruction which they receive after
passing through what is termed the " fence of wickedness,"2 —
gates which are subjected to the world of ruling spirits.3 [The
following, then, is the manner in which they proceed] : " I
1 " Nescio, an hseresium Scriptores hujus Thauthabaoth, Erataoth, Tha
phabaoth, Onoeles, et Thartharaoth, usquam meminerint. Hujus generis
vocabula innumera invenies apud Epiphan. Hxr. 31, qua? est Valentini-
anorum, pp. 165-171."— Spexcek.
" (ppxypcov xxxtxg.
3 irvAxg dpxovTUti xiZvi XtXtpoivxg.
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 A

370 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
salute the one-formed1 king, the bond of blindness, complete2
oblivion, the first power, preserved by the spirit of providence
and by wisdom, from whom I am sent forth pure, being already
part of the light of the son and of the father : grace be with me ;
yea, O father, let it be with me." They say also that the begin
nings of the Ogdoad 3 are derived from this. In the next place,
they are taught to say as follows, while passing through what
they call Ialdabaoth : " Thou, O first and seventh, who art born
to command with confidence, thou, O Ialdabaoth, who art the
rational ruler of a pure mind, and a perfect work to son and
father, bearing the symbol of life in the character of a type, and
opening to the world the gate which thou didst close against
thy kingdom, I pass again in freedom through thy realm. Let
grace be with me ; yea, O father, let it be with me." They
say, moreover, that the star Phsenon4 is in sympathy5 with the
lion-like ruler. They next imagine that he who has passed
through Ialdabaoth and arrived at Iao ought thus to speak :
" Thou, O second Iao, who shinest by night,6 who art the ruler
of the secret mysteries of son and father, first prince of death,
and portion of the innocent, bearing now mine own beard as
symbol, I am ready to pass through thy realm, having strength
ened him who is born of thee by the living word. Grace be
with me ; father, let it be with me." They next come to Sabaoth,
to whom they think the following should be addressed : " 0
governor of the fifth realm, powerful Sabaoth, defender of the
law of thy creatures, who are liberated by thy grace through
the help of a more powerful Pentad,7 admit me, seeing the
faultless symbol of their art, preserved by the stamp of an
image, a body liberated by a Pentad. Let grace be with me,
O father, let grace be with me." And after Sabaoth they
come to Astaphasus, to whom they believe the following prayer
should be offered : " O Astaphseus, ruler of the third gate,
1 pooVOTpOKOV. 2 AY1&YIV XTTSpiGXtTTTO'l.
3 'OyXoxXog. Cf. Tertullian, de prescript, adv. Hxreticos, c. 33 (Ante-
Nicene Library ; Writings of Tertullian, vol. ii. p. 39), and other references
in Benedictine ed.
4 toxlvav. " Ea, qua? Saturni stella dicitur, Qxivav a Grsecis dicitur." —
Cicero, de Nat. Deorum, book ii.
6 VVXTOpXYlg. 7 kivtxXi XvvxTon'spcp.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 371
overseer of the first principle of water, look upon me as one of
thine initiated,1 admit me who am purified with the spirit of a
virgin, thou who seest the essence of the world. Let grace be
with me, O father, let grace be with me." After him comes
Alojeus, who is to be thus addressed : " O Aloseus, governor
of the second gate, let me pass, seeing I bring to thee the sym
bol of thy mother, a grace which is hidden by the powers of
the realms.2 Let grace be with me, O father, let it be with
me." And last of all they name Horseus, and think that the
following prayer ought to be offered to him : " Thou who didst
fearlessly overleap the rampart of fire, O Horseus, who didst
obtain the" government of the first gate, let me pass, seeing
thou beholdest the symbol of thine own power, sculptured3 on
the figure of the tree of life, and formed after this image, in
the likeness of innocence. Let grace be with me, O father,
let grace be with me."
Chapter xxxii.
The supposed great learning of Celsus, which is composed,
however, rather of curious trifles and silly talk than anything
else, has made us touch upon these topics, from a wish to show
to every one who peruses his treatise and our reply, that we have
no lack of information on those subjects, from which he takes
occasion to calumniate the Christians, who neither are acquainted
with, nor concern themselves about, such matters. For we, too,
desired both to learn and set forth these things, in order that
sorcerers might not, under pretext of knowing more than wo,
delude those who are easily carried away by the glitter4 of
names. And I could have given many more illustrations to
show that we are acquainted with the opinions of these de-
luders,5 and that we disown them, as being alien to ours, and
impious, and not in harmony with the doctrines of true Chris
tians, of which we are ready to make confession even to the
death. It must be noticed, too, that those who have drawn up
this array of fictions, have, from neither understanding maoic,
1 p>.VGT-flV. 2 X^P'" ''PVTTTOpoSV/iV XwxpOSGIV S^OVGlZv.
3 For xxtxAvOsv Boherellus conjectures xxTxyAvpOiv, which has been
adopted in the translation.
4 pXVTXGtXg.

372 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
nor discriminating the meaning of Holy Scripture, thrown every
thing into confusion; seeing that they have borrowed from
magic the names of Ialdabaoth, and Astaphaaus, and Horseus,
and from the Hebrew Scriptures him who is termed in Hebrew
Iao or Jah, and, Sabaoth, and Adonasus, and Eloasus. Now the
names taken from the Scriptures are names of one and the
same God ; which, not being understood by the enemies of God,
as even themselves acknowledge, led to their imagining that Iao
was a different God, and Sabaoth another, and Adonseus, whom
the Scriptures term Adonai, a third besides, and that Eloams,
whom the prophets name in Hebrew Eloi, was also different.
Chapter xxxiii.
Celsus next relates other fables, to the effect that " certain
persons return to the shapes of the archontics,1 so that some are
called lions, others bulls, others dragons, or eagles, or bears, or
dogs." We found also in the Diagram which we possessed,
and which Celsus called the "square pattern," the statements2
made by these unhappy beings concerning the gates of Paradise.
The flaming sword was depicted as the diameter of a flaming
circle, and as if mounting guard over the tree of knowledge and
of life. Celsus, however, either would not or could not repeat
the harangues which, according to the fables of these impious
individuals, are represented as spoken at each of the gates by
those who pass through them ; but this we have done in order
to show to Celsus and those who read his treatise, that we know
the depth of these unhallowed mysteries,3 and that they are
far removed from the worship which Christians offer up to
God.
Chapter xxxiv.
After finishing the foregoing, and those analogous matters
which we ourselves have added, Celsus continues as follows :
" They continue to heap together one thing after another, —
discourses of prophets, and circles upon circles, and effluents4
1 tig t«j dpxovTixxg pcoppxg.
2 Guietus thinks that some word has been omitted here, as £i<pog, which
seems very probable.
3 to TYig xtsAiotov T£A£Tijs' ^spxg. 4 diroppoixg.

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 373
from an earthly church, and from circumcision ; and a powor
flowing from one Prunicos, a virgin and a living soul ; and a
heaven slain in order to live, and an earth slaughtered by the
sword, and many put to death that they may live, and death
ceasing in the world, when the sin of the world is dead; and,
again, a narrow way, and gates that open spontaneously. And
in all their writings [is mention made] of the tree of life, and
a resurrection of the flesh by means1 of the 'tree,' because, I
imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross, and was a carpenter
by trade ; so that if he had chanced to have been cast from a
precipice, or thrust into a pit, or suffocated by hanging, or had
been a leather-cutter, or stone-cutter, or worker in iron, there
would have been [invented] a precipice of life beyond the
heavens, or a pit of» resurrection, or a cord of immortality, or a
blessed stone, or an iron of love, or a sacred leather ! Now
what old woman would not be ashamed to utter such things in
a whisper, even when making stories to lull an infant to sleep?"
In using such language as this, Celsus appears to me to con
fuse together matters which he has imperfectly heard. For it
seems likely that, even supposing that he had heard a few words
traceable to some existing heresy, he did not clearly understand
the meaning intended to be conveyed ; but heaping the words
together, he wished to show before those who knew nothing
either of our opinions or of those of the heretics, that he was
acquainted with all the doctrines of the Christians. And this
is evident also from the foregoing words.
Chapter xxxv.
It is our practice, indeed, to make use of the words of the
prophets, who demonstrate that Jesus is the Christ predicted
by them, and who show from the prophetic writings that the
events in the Gospels regarding Jesus have been fulfilled. But
when Celsus speaks of " circles upon circles," [he perhaps bor
rowed the expression] from the aforementioned heresy, which
includes in one circle (which they call the soul of all things,
and Leviathan) the seven circles of archontic demons, or per
haps it arises from misunderstanding the preacher, when he
says : " The wind goeth in a circle of circles, and returneth again
1 duo | iiAov.

374 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
upon its circles." x The expression, too, " effluents of an earthly
church and of circumcision," was probably taken from the fact
that the church on earth was called by some an effluent from a
heavenly church and a better world ; and that the circumcision
described in the law was a symbol of the circumcision performed
there, in a certain place set apart for purification. The adher
ents of Valentinus, moreover, in keeping with their system of
error,2 give the name of Prunicos to a certain kind of wisdom,
of which they would have the woman afflicted with the twelve
years' issue of blood to be the symbol; so that Celsus, who
confuses together all sorts of opinions — Greek, Barbarian, and
Heretical — having heard of her, asserted that it was a power
flowing forth from one Prunicos, a virgin. The " living soul,"
again, is perhaps mysteriously referred by some of the followors
of Valentinus to the being whom they term the psychic3 creator
of the world; or perhaps, in contradistinction to a " dead"
soul, the " living " soul is termed by some, not inelegantly,4 the
soul of " him who is saved." I know nothing, however, of a
" heaven which is said to be slain," or of an " earth slaughtered
by the sword," or of many persons slain in order that they
might live ; for it is not unlikely that these wore coined by
Celsus out of his own brain.
Chapter xxxvi.
We would say, moreover, that death ceases in the world when
the sin of the world dies, referring the saying to the mystical
words of the apostle, which run as follows : " When He shall
have put all enemies under His feet, then the last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death."5 And also: "When this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 6 The
" strait descent," 7 again, may perhaps be referred by those
who hold the doctrine of transmigration of souls to that view of
things. And it is not incredible that the gates which are said
1 Eccles. i. 6 (literally rendered).
" XXTX TYjV 1TS77Axyy]pcivYlV SXVTOIV GO(ptXV.
3 ipvxixov Xrifiiovpyov. i oiix xysvvZg.
6 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26. ° Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 54 ; cf. Hos. xiii. 14.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 375
to open spontaneously are referred obscurely by some to the
words, " Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may
go into them, and praise the Lord ; this gate of the Lord, into
it the righteous shall enter;"1 and again, to what is said in the
ninth psalm, " Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death,
that I may show forth all Thy praise in the gates of the
daughter of Zion." 2 The Scripture further gives the name of
" gates of death" to those sins which lead to destruction, as it
terms, on the contrary, good actions the " gates of Zion." So
also " the gates of righteousness," which is an equivalent expres
sion to " the gates of virtue," and these are ready to be opened
to him who follows after virtuous pursuits. The subject of the
" tree of life" will be more appropriately explained when we
interpret the statements in the book of Genesis regarding the
paradise planted by God. Celsus, moreover, has often mocked
at the subject of a resurrection, — a doctrine which he did not
comprehend; and on the present occasion, not satisfied with
what he has formerly said, he adds, " And there is said to be
a resurrection of the flesh by means of the tree ; " not under
standing, I think, the symbolical expression, that " through the
tree came death, and through the tree comes life," 3 because
death was in Adam, and life in Christ. He next scoffs at the
" tree," assailing it on two grounds, and saying, " For this
reason is the tree introduced, either because our teacher was
nailed to a cross, or because he was a carpenter by trade ; " not
observing that the tree of life is mentioned in the Mosaic writ
ings, and being blind also to this, that in none of the Gospels
current in the churches is Jesus Himself ever described as
being a carpenter.4
Chapter xxxvii.
Celsus, moreover, thinks that we have invented this " tree
of life " to give an allegorical meaning to the cross ; and in
consequence of his error upon this point, he adds : " If he had
happened to be cast down a precipice, or shoved into a pit, or
suffocated by hanging, there would have been invented a pre
cipice of life far beyond the heavens, or a pit of resurrection, or
1 Cf. Ps. cxviii. 19, 20. 2 Cf. Ps. ix. 13, 14.
3 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 4 Cf., however, Mark vi. 3.

376 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
a cord of immortality." And again: "If the 'tree of life'
were an invention, because he (Jesus) [is reported] to have
been a carpenter, it would follow that if he had been a leather-
cutter, something would have been said about holy leather;
or had he been a stone-cutter, about a blessed stone ; or if a
worker in iron, about an iron of love." Now, who does not see
at once J the paltry nature of his charge, in thus calumniating
men whom he professed to convert on the ground of their
being deceived? And after these remarks, he goes on to
speak in a way quite in harmony with the tone of those who
have invented the fictions of lion-like, and ass-headed, and ser
pent-like ruling angels,2 and other similar absurdities, but which
does not affect those who belong to the church. Of a truth,
even a drunken old woman would be ashamed to chaunt or
whisper to an infant, in order to lull him to sleep, any such
fables as those have clone who invented the beings with asses'
heads, and the harangues, so to speak, which- are delivered
at each of the gates. But Celsus is not acquainted with the
doctrines of the members of the church, which very few have
been able to comprehend, even of those who have devoted all
their lives, in conformity with the command of Jesus, to the
searching of the Scriptures, and have laboured to investigate
the meaning of the sacred books, to a greater degree than Greek
philosophers in their efforts to attain a so-called wisdom.
Chapter xxxviii.
Our noble [friend], moreover, not satisfied with the objec
tions which he has drawn from the Diagram, desires, in order
to strengthen his accusations against us, who have nothing in
common with it, to introduce certain other charges, which he
adduces from the same [heretics], but yet as if they were from
a different source. His words are : " And that is not the least
of their marvels, for there are between the upper circles — those
that are above the heavens — certain inscriptions of which they
give the interpretation, and among others two words especially,
'a greater and a less,' which they refer to Father and Son."0
Now, in the Diagram referred to, we found the greater and
1 xvTohv. 2 dpxovTXg.
3 «AA« ts, xxi Xiio xrrx, pisi^ov ts xccl pcixpi.Ttpov viov xxi HXTpil.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 377
the lesser circle, upon the diameter of which was inscribed
"Father and Son;" and between the greater circle (in which
the lesser was contained) and another x composed of two circles,
— the outer one of which was yellow, and the inner blue, — a
barrier inscribed in the shape of a hatchet. And above it, a
short circle, close to the greater of the two former, having the
inscription "Love;" and lower down, one touching the same
circle, with the word " Life." And on the second circle, which
was intertwined with and included two other circles, another
figure, like a rhomboid, [entitled] " The foresight of wisdom."
And within their point of common section was " The nature of
wisdom." And above their point of common section was a
circle, on which was inscribed "Knowledge ;" and lower down
another, on which was the inscription, " Understanding." We
have introduced these matters into our reply to Celsus, to show
to our readers that we know better than he, and not by mere
report, those things, even although we also disapprove of them.
Moreover, if those who pride themselves upon such matters
profess also a kind of magic and sorcery, — which, in their
opinion, is the summit of wisdom, — wo, on the other hand,
make no affirmation about it, seeing wo never have discovered
anything of the kind. Let Celsus, however, who has been
already often convicted of false witness and irrational accusa
tions, see whether he is not guilty of falsehood in these also, or
whether he has not extracted and introduced into his treatise,
statements taken from the writings of those wdio are foreigners
and strangers to our Christian faith.
Chapter xxxix.
In the next place, speaking of those who employ the arts
of magic and sorcery, and who invoke the barbarous names of
demons, he remarks that such persons act like those who, in
reference to the same things,2 perform marvels before those
who are ignorant that the names of demons among the Greeks
are different from what they are among the Scythians. He
1 For aAXofs-, the textual reading, Gelenius, with the approval of
Boherellus, proposes xxi «A?iow avyxtipcivov, which has been followed in the
translation. 3 Wi Toig xxnaig vitoxsipoivoig.

378 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
then quotes a passage from Herodotus, stating that "Apollo
is called Gongosyrus by the Scythians ; Poseidon, Thagima-
sada ; Aphrodite, Argimpasan ; Hestia, Tahiti." x Now, he who
has the capacity can inquire whether in these matters Celsus
and Herodotus ate not both wrong ; for the Scythians do not
understand the same thing as the Greeks, in what relates to
those beings which are deemed to be gods. For how is it
credible2 that Apollo should be called Gongosyrus by the
Scythians? I do not suppose that Gongosyrus, when trans
ferred into the Greek language, yields the same etymology as
Apollo ; or that Apollo, in the dialect of the Scythians, has
the signification of Gongosyrus. Nor has any such assertion
hitherto been made regarding the other names,3 for the Greeks
took occasion from different circumstances and etymologies to
give to those who are by them deemed gods the names which
they bear; and the Scythians, again, from another set of cir
cumstances ; and the same also was the case with the Persians,
or Indians, or Ethiopians, or Libyans, or with those who delight
to bestow names [from fancy], and who do not abide by the
just and pure idea of the Creator of all things. Enough, how
ever, has been said by us in the preceding pages, where we
wished to demonstrate that Sabaoth and Zeus were not the
same deity, and where also we made some remarks, derived
from the Holy Scriptures, regarding the different dialects. We
willingly, then, pass by these points, on which Celsus would
make us repeat ourselves. In the next place, again, mixing
up together matters which belong to magic and sorcery, and
referring them perhaps to no one, — because of the non-existence
of any who practise magic under pretence of a worship of this
character, — and yet, perhaps, having in view some who do
employ such practices in the presence of the simple (that they
may have the appearance of acting by divine power), he adds :
" What need to number up all those who have taught methods
of purification, or expiatory hymns, or spells for averting evil,
or [the making of] images, or resemblances of demons, or the
1 Cf. Herodot. iv. 9.
2 7rolx yxp TridxvoTYig.
3 For the textual reading, oii-no Xi oiiXi vrspl tZu AoiitZv txvtov ti ipti,
Boherellus conjectures tip-r^xi, which has been adopted in the translation.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 379
various sorts of antidotes against poison [to be found] x in
clothes, or in numbers, or stones, or- plants, or roots, or generally
in all kinds of things?" In respect to these matters, reason
does not require us to offer any defence, since we are not liable
in the slightest degree to suspicions of such a nature.
Chapter xl.
After these things, Celsus appears to me to act like those
who, in their intense hatred of the Christians, maintain, in the
presence of those who are utterly ignorant of the Christian
faith, that they have actually ascertained that Christians devour
the flesh of infants, and give themselves without restraint to
sexual intercourse with their women. Now, as these statements
have been condemned as falsehoods invented against the Chris
tians, and this admission made by the multitude and those alto
gether aliens to our faith ; so would the following statements
of Celsus be found to be calumnies invented against the Chris
tians, where he says that " he has seen in the hands of certain
presbyters belonging to our faith 2 barbarous books, containing
the names and marvellous doings of demons;" asserting further,
that " these presbyters of our faith professed to do no good,
but all that was calculated to injure human beings." Would,
indeed, that all that is said by Celsus against the Christians
was of such a nature as to be refuted by the multitude, who
have ascertained by experience that such things are untrue,
seeing that most of them have lived as neighbours with the
Christians, and have not even heard of the existence of any
such alleged practices !
Chapter xli.
In the next place, as if he had forgotten that it was his
object to write against the Christians, he says that, " having
become acquainted with one Dionysius, an Egyptian musician,
the latter told him, with respect to magic arts, that it was only
over the uneducated and men of corrupt morals that they had
any power, while on philosophers they were unable to produce
1 For xiohrZv, Lommatzsch adopts the conjecture of Boherellus, approved
by Ruseus, Io^toi/.
2 oo'lus.

380 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
any effect, because they were careful to observe a healthy man
ner of life." If, now, it had been our purpose to treat of magic,
we could have added a few remarks in addition to what we
have already said on this topic ; but since it is only the more
important matters which we have to notice in answer to Celsus,
we shall say of magic, that any one who chooses to inquire
whether philosophers were ever led captive by it or not, can
read what has been written by Moiragenes regarding the
memoirs of the magician and philosopher Apollonius of Tyana,
in which this individual, who is not a Christian, but a philoso
pher, asserts that some philosophers of no mean note were won
over by the magic power possessed by Apollonius, and resorted
to him as a sorcerer ; and among these, I think, he especially
mentioned Euphrates and a certain Epicurean. Now we, on
the other hand, affirm, and have learned by experience, that
they who worship the God of all things in conformity with the
Christianity which comes by Jesus, and who live according to
His gospel, using night and day, continuously and becomingly,
the prescribed prayers, are not carried away either by magic or
demons. For verily " the angel of the Lord encamps round
about them that fear Him, and delivereth them"1 from all
evil ; and the angels of the little ones in the church, who are
appointed to watch over them, are said always to behold the
face of their Father who is in heaven,2 whatever be the mean
ing of "face" or of "behold." Chapter xlii.
After these matters, Celsus brings the following charges
against us from another quarter : " Certain most impious errors,"
he says, " are committed by them, due to their extreme igno
rance, in which they have wandered away from the meaning of
the divine enigmas, creating an adversary to God, the devil,
and naming him in the Hebrew tongue, Satan. Now, of a
truth, such statements are altogether of mortal invention,3 and
not even proper to be repeated, viz. that the mighty God, in
His desire to confer good upon men, has yet one counterwork-
1 Cf. Ps. xxxiv. 7. 2 Cf. Matt, xviii. 10.
3 Qvyitx. Instead of this reading, Guietus conjectures 7tt>i*t«, which is
approved of by Ruseus.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 381
ing Him, and is helpless. The Son of God, it follows, is van
quished by the devil ; and being punished by him, teaches us
also to despise the punishments which he inflicts, telling us
beforehand that Satan, after appearing to men as He Himself
had done, will exhibit great and marvellous works, claiming for
himself the glory of God, but that those who wish to keep him
at a distance ought to pay no attention to these works of Satan,
but to place their faith in Him alone. Such statements are
manifestly the words of a deluder, planning and manoeuvring
against those who are opposed to his views, and who rank them
selves against them." In the next place, desiring to point out
the " enigmas," our mistakes regarding which lead to the intro
duction of our views concerning Satan, he continues : " The
ancients allude obscurely to a certain war among the gods,
Heraclitus speaking thus of it : ' If one must say that there is
a general war and discord, and that all things are done and
administered in strife.' Pherecydes, again, who is much
older than Heraclitus, relates a myth of one army drawn up in
hostile array against another, and names Kronos as the leader
of the one, and Ophioneus of the other, and recounts their
challenges and struggles, and mentions that agreements were
entered into between them, to the end that whichever party
should fall into the Ocean x should be held as vanquished, while
those who had expelled and conquered them should have pos
session of heaven. The mysteries relating to the Titans and
Giants also had some such [symbolical] meaning, as well as
the Egyptian mysteries of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris."
After having made such statements, and not having got over
the difficulty 2 as to the way in which these accounts contain a
higher view of things, while our accounts are erroneous copies of
them, he continues his abuse of us, remarking that " these are
not like the stories which are related of a devil, or demon, or,
as he remarks with more truth, of a man who is an impostor,
who wishes to establish an opposite doctrine." And in the same
way he understands Homer, as if he referred obscurely to
matters similar to those mentioned by Lleraclitus, and Phere
cydes, and the originators of the mysteries about the Titans
1 'Viynvov, i.e. in Oceanum, Hesych. ; 'flynj, Zxtxvig, Suid.
2 xxi poq icxpxpov$YiGxpotvog.

382 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
and Giants, in those words which Hephsestus addresses to
Hera, as follows :
" Once in your cause I felt his matchless might,
Hurled headlong downward from the ethereal height." 1
And in those of Zeus to Hera :
" Hast thou forgot, when bound and fix'd on high
From the vast concave of the spangled sky,
I hung thee trembling on a golden chain,
And all the raging gods opposed in vain ?
Headlong I hurled them from the Olympian hall,
Stunn'd in the whirl, and breathless with the fall." 2
Interpreting, moreover, the words of Homer, he adds : " The
words of Zeus addressed to Hera are the words of God addressed
to matter; and the words addressed to matter obscurely signify
that the matter which at the beginning was in a state of discord
[with God], was taken by Him, and bound together and arranged
under laws, which may be analogically compared to chains;3 and
that by way of chastising the demons who create disorder in it,
he hurls them down headlong to this lower world." These words
of Homer, he alleges, were so understood by Pherecydes, when
he said that beneath that region is the region of Tartarus,
which is guarded by the Harpies and Tempest, daughters of
Boreas, and to which Zeus banishes any one of the gods who be
comes disorderly. With the same ideas also are closely connected
the peplos of Athena, which is beheld by all in the procession
of the Panathencea. For it is manifest from this, he continues,
that a motherless and unsullied demon 4 has the mastery over
the daring of the Giants. While accepting, moreover, the
fictions of the Greeks, he continues to heap against us such
accusations as the following, viz., that " the Son of God is
punished by the devil, and teaches us that we also, when
punished by him, ought to endure it. Now these statements are
altogether ridiculous. For it is the devil, I think, who ought
rather to be punished, and those human beings who are calum
niated by him ought not to be threatened with chastisement."
1 Cf. Iliad, book i. v. 590, Pope's translation.
2 Cf. Iliad, book xv. vv. 18-24, Pope's translation.
° dvxAoyixig Tial ovviXvjot xxi ixoGpoYiGtv 6 ©tog.
xy.YjTup Tig xxi xxpxvTOg Xxipcov.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 383
Chapter xliii.
Mark now, whether he who charges us with having com
mitted errors of the most impious kind, and with having
wandered away from the [true meaning] of the divine enig
mas, is not himself clearly in error, from not observing that
in the writings of Moses, which are much older not merely
than Heraclitus and Pherecydes, but even than Homer, men
tion is made of this wicked one, and of his having fallen
from heaven. For the serpent x — from whom the Ophioneus
spoken of by Pherecydes is derived — having become the cause
of man's expulsion from the divine Paradise, obscurely shadows
forth something similar, having deceived the woman 2 by a
promise of divinity and of greater blessings ; and her example
is said to have been followod also by the man. And, further,
who else could the destroying angel mentioned in the Exodus
of Moses3 be, than he who was the author of destruction
to them that obeyed him, and did not withstand his wicked
deeds, nor struggle against them? Moreover, [the goat],
which in the book of Leviticus 4 is sent away [into the wilder
ness], and which in the Hebrew language is named Azazel,
was none other than this ; and it was necessary to send it away
into the desert, and to treat it as an expiatory sacrifice, because
on it the lot fell. For all who belong to the " worse " part, on
account of their wickedness, being opposed to those who are
God's heritage, are deserted by God. Nay, with respect to the
sons of Belial in the book of Judges,5 whose' sons are they said
to be, save his, on account of their wickedness ? And besides
all these instances, in the book of Job, which is older even
than Moses himself, the devil is distinctly described as present
ing himself before God,6 and asking for power against Job,
that he might involve him in trials 7 of the most painful kind ;
the first of which consisted in the loss of all his goods and of
his children, and the second in afflicting the whole body of
Job with the so-called disease of elephantiasis.8 I pass by
1 Cf. Gen. iii. 2 T0' ^iiTspov yivog.
3 Cf. Ex. xii. 23. 4 Cf. Lev. xvi. 8.
4 ivxvTi'01 ilvTtg Toig diro tov xA'ipov tow ©tov, spYipcoi s'igi ©soii.
6 Cf. Job i., ii. 7 VSpiGTXGSGI. 8 dypirp iAtpXVTI.

384 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
what might be quoted from the Gospels regarding the devil
who tempted the Saviour, that I may not appear to quote in
reply to Celsus from more recent writings on this question.
In the last [chapter] x also of Job, in which the Lord utters to
Job amid tempest and clouds what is recorded in the book
which bears his name, there are not a few things referring to
the serpent. I have not yet mentioned the passages in Ezekie],2
where he speaks, as it were, of Pharaoh, or Nebuchadnezzar,
or the prince of Tyre ; or those in Isaiah,3 where lament is
made for the king of Babylon, from which not a little might
be learned concerning evil, as to the nature of its origin and
generation, and as to how it derived its existence from some
who had lost their wings,4 and who had followed him who was
the first to lose his own. Chapter xliv.
For it is impossible that the good which is the result of
accident, or of communication, should be like that good which
comes by nature ; and yet the former will never be lost by him
who, so to speak, partakes of the " living " bread with a view to
his own preservation. But if it should fail any one, it must
be through his own fault, in being slothful to partake of this
" living bread " and " genuine drink," by means of which the
wings, nourished and watered, are fitted for their purpose, even
according to the saying of Solomon, the wisest of men, con
cerning the truly rich man, that " he made to himself wings
like an eagle, and returns to the house of his patron." 5 For
it became God, who knows how to turn to proper account even
those who in their wickedness have apostatized from Him, to
place wickedness of this sort in some part of the universe, and
to appoint a training-school of virtue, wherein those must
exercise themselves who would desire to recover in a " lawful
manner " 6 the possession [which they had lost] ; in order that
being tested, like gold in the fire, by the wickedness of these,
and having exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent any
thing base injuring their rational nature, they may appear
1 Cf. Job xl. 20. 2 Cf . Ezek. xxxii. 1-28. 3 Isa. xiv. 4 sqq.
4 irTspoppvYioxvTav. Cf. Book iv. c. 40. 6 Cf. Prov xxiii 5
6 Cf . 1 Tim. ii. 5.

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 385
deserving of an ascent to divine things, and may be elevated
by the Word to the blessedness which is above all things, and
so to speak, to the very summit of goodness. Now he who in
the Hebrew language is named Satan, and by some Satanas —
as being more in conformity with the genius of the Greek
language — signifies, when translated into Greek, " adversary."
But every one who prefers vice and a vicious life, is (because
acting in a manner contrary to virtue) Satanas, that is, an
" adversary " to the Son of God, who is righteousness, and
truth, and wisdom.1 With more propriety, however, is he
called "adversary," who was the first among those that wore
living a peaceful and happy life to lose his wings, and to fall
from blessedness ; he who, according to Ezekiel, walked fault
lessly in all his ways, " until iniquity was found in him," 2 and
who being the " seal of resemblance " and the " crown of
beauty " in the paradise of God, being filled as it were with
good things, fell into destruction, in accordance with the word
which said to him in a mystic sense : " Thou hast fallen into
destruction, and shalt not abide for ever." 3 We have ventured
somewhat rashly to make these few remarks, although in so
doing we have added nothing of importance to this treatise.
If any one, however, who has leisure for the examination of
the sacred writings, should collect together from all sources
and form into one body of doctrine what is recorded concern
ing the origin of evil, and the manner of its dissolution, he
would see that the views of Moses and the prophets regarding
Satan had not been even dreamed of either by Celsus or any
one of those whose soul had been dragged down, and torn
away from God, and from right views of Him, and from His
word, by this wicked demon.
Chapter xlv.
But since Celsus rejects the statements concerning Anti
christ, as it is termed, having neither read what is said of him
in the book of Daniel 4 nor in the writings of Paul,5 nor what
the Saviour in the Gospels e has predicted about his coming, we
must make a few remarks upon this subject also ; because, " as
1 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cf. Ezek. xxviii. 15. 3 Cf. Ezek. xxviii. 19.
4 Cf. Dan. viii. 23. 4 Cf . 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 6 Cf . Matt. xxiv. 4.
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 B

386 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
faces do not resemble faces," x so also neither do men's " hearts "
resemble one another. It is certain, then, that there will be
diversities amongst the hearts of men, — those which are inclined
to virtue not being all modelled and shaped towards it in the
same or like degree ; while others, through neglect of virtue,
rush to the opposite extreme. And amongst the latter are some
in whom evil is deeply engrained, and others in whom it is less
deeply rooted. Where is the absurdity, then, in holding that
there exist among men, so to speak, two extremes,2 — the one of
virtue, and the other of its opposite ; so that the perfection of
virtue dwells in the man who realizes the ideal given in Jesus,
from whom there flowed to the human race so great a conver
sion, and healing, and amelioration, while the opposite extreme
is in the man who embodies the notion of him that is named
Antichrist ? For God, comprehending all things by means of
His foreknowledge, and foreseeing what consequences would
result from both of these, wished to make these known to man
kind by His prophets, that those who understand their words
might be familiarized with the good, and be on their guard
against its opposite. It was proper, moreover, that the one of
these extremes, and the best of the two, should be styled the
Son of God, on account of His pre-eminence ; and the other,
who is diametrically opposite, be termed the son of the wicked
demon, and of Satan, and of the devil. And, in the next place,
since evil is specially characterized by its diffusion, and attains
its greatest height when it simulates the appearance of the
good, for that reason are signs, and marvels, and lying miracles
found to accompany evil, through the co-operation of its father
the devil. For, far surpassing the help which these demons
give to jugglers (who deceive men for the basest of purposes),
is the aid which the devil himself affords in order to deceive the
human race. Paul, indeed, speaks of him who is called Anti
christ, describing, though with a certain reserve,3 both the
manner, and time, and cause of his coming to the human race.
And notice whether his language on this subject is not most
becoming, and undeserving of being treated with even the
slightest degree of ridicule.
1 Cf. Prov. xxvii. 19.
3 pcsTX Tivog iirtxpvipsag. Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 9.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 387

Chapter xlvi.
It is thus that the apostle expresses himself : " We beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken
in mind, or be troubled, neither by word, nor by spirit, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let
no man deceive you by any means : for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth him
self above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that
he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is
God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told
you these things ? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he
might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work : only He who now letteth will let, until he be
taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming : even him,
whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power,
and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should be
lieve a lie ; that they all might be damned who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." x To explain each
particular here referred to does not belong to our present pur
pose. The prophecy also regarding Antichrist is stated in the
book of Daniel, and is fitted to make an intelligent and candid
reader admire the words as truly divine and prophetic ; for in
them are mentioned the things relating to the coming king
dom, beginning with the times of Daniel, and continuing to
the destruction of the world. And any one who chooses may
read it. Observe, however, whether the prophecy regarding
Antichrist be not as follows : " And at the latter time of their
kingdom, when their sins are coming to the full, there shall arise
a king, bold in countenance, and understanding riddles. And
his power shall be great, and he shall destroy wonderfully, and
1 2 Thess. ii. 1-12.

388 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
prosper, and practise ; and shall destroy mighty men, and the
holy people. And the yoke of his chain shall prosper : there
is craft in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart,
and by craft shall destroy many ; and he shall stand up for
the destruction of many, and shall crush them as eggs in his
hand." x What is stated by Paul in the words quoted from
him, where he says, " so that he sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God,"2 is in Daniel referred to
in the following fashion : " And on the temple shall be the
abomination of desolations, and at the end of the time an end
shall be put to the desolation." 3 So many, out of a greater
number of passages, have I thought it right to adduce, that
the hearer may understand in some slight degree the meaning
of Holy Scripture, when it gives us information concerning the
devil and Antichrist ; and being satisfied with what we have
quoted for this purpose, let us look at another of the charges
of Celsus, and reply to it as we best may.
Chapter xlvii.
Celsus, after what has been said, goes on as follows : " I
can tell how the very thing occurred, viz. that they should call
him ' Son of God.' Men of ancient times termed this world,
as being born of God, both his child and his son.4 Both the
one and other ' Son of God,' then, greatly resembled each
other." He is therefore of opinion that we employed the ex
pression " Son of God," having perverted 5 what is said of the
world, as being born of God, and being His " Son," and " a God."
For he was unable so to consider the times of Moses and the
prophets, as to see that the Jewish prophets predicted generally
that there was a " Son of God " long before the Greeks and
those men of ancient time of whom Celsus speaks. Nay, he
would not even quote the passage in the letters of Plato, to
which we referred in the preceding pages, concerning Him who
so beautifully arranged this world, as being the Son of God ;
lest he too should be compelled by Plato, whom he often men
tions with respect, to admit that the architect of this world is
the Son of God, and that His Father is the first God and Sove-
1 Cf. Dan. viii. 23-25 (LXX.). 2 Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 4. 3 Cf. Dan. ix. 27.
4 %xi<IX TI xilTOV Xxi ifii'hov. 6 ITXpXHOIYjGXVTXg.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 389
reign Ruler over all things. Nor is it at all wonderful if we
maintain that the soul of Jesus is made one with so great a Son
of God through the highest union with Him, being no longer
in a state of separation from Him. For the sacred language
of Holy Scripture knows of other things also, which, although
" dual " in their own nature, are considered to be, and really are,
"one" in respect to one another. It is said of husband and
wife, " They are no longer twain, but one flesh ; " 1 and of the
perfect man, and of him who is joined to the true Lord, Word,
and Wisdom, and Truth, that " he who is joined to the Lord is
one spirit."2 And if he who "is joined to the Lord is one spirit,"
who has been joined to the Lord, the Very Word, and Wisdom,
and Truth, and Righteousness, in a more intimate union, or even
in a manner at all approaching to it than the soul of Jesus ?
And if this be so, then the soul of Jesus and God the Word —
the first-born of every creature — are no longer two, [but one].
Chapter xlviii.
In the next place, when the philosophers of the Porch, who
assert that the virtue of God and man is the same, maintain
that the God who is over all things is not happier than their
wise man, but that the happiness of both is equal, Celsus
neither ridicules nor scoffs at their opinion. If, however, Lloly
Scripture says that the perfect man is joined to and made one
with the Very Word by means of virtue, so that we infer that
the soul of Jesus is not separated from the first-born of all
creation, he laughs at Jesus being called " Son of God," not
observing what is said of Him with a secret and mystical signi
fication in the Holy Scriptures. But that we may win over to
the reception of our views those who are willing to accept the
inferences which flow from our doctrines, and to be benefited
thereby, we say that the Holy Scriptures declare the body of
Christ, animated by the Son of God, to be the whole church
of God, and the members of this body — considered as a whole
— to consist of those who are believers ; since, as a soul vivifies
and moves the body, which of itself has not the natural power
of motion like a living being, so the Word, arousing and moving
the whole body, the church, to befitting action, awakens, more-
1 Cf. Gen. ii. 24. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. vi. 17.

390 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
over, each individual member belonging to the church, so
that they do nothing apart from the Word. Since all this,
then, follows by a train of reasoning not to be depreciated, where
is the difficulty in maintaining that, as the soul of Jesus is
joined in a perfect and inconceivable manner with the very
Word, so the person of Jesus, generally speaking,1 is not sepa
rated from the only-begotten and first-born of all creation, and
is not a different being from Him? But enough here on this
subject.
Chapter xlix.
Let us notice now what follows, where, expressing in a single
word his opinion regarding the Mosaic cosmogony, without
offering, however, a single argument in its support, he finds
fault with it, saying: " Moreover, their cosmogony is extremely
silly." 2 Now, if he had produced some credible proofs of its
silly character, we should have endeavoured to answer them ; but
it does not appear to me reasonable that I should be called upon
to demonstrate, in answer to his mere assertion, that it is not
" silly." If any one, however, wishes to see the reasons which
led us to accept the Mosaic account, and the arguments by
which it may be defended, he may read what we have written
udoii Genesis, from the beginning of the book up to the pas
sage, "And this is the book of the generation of men,"3 where
we have tried to show from the Holy Scriptures themselves
what the " heaven " was which was created in the beginning ;
and what the " earth," and the " invisible part of the earth,"
and that which was " without form ; " 4 and what the " deep "
was, and the " darkness " that was upon it ; and what the
" water " was, and the " Spirit of God " which was " borne
over it ; " and what the " light " which was created, and what
the " firmament," as distinct from the " heaven " which was
created in the beginning ; and so on with the other subjects
that follow. Celsus has also expressed his opinion that the
narrative of the creation of man is " exceedingly silly," with
out stating any proofs, or endeavouring to answer our argu
ments ; for he had no evidence, in my judgment, which was
1 xirxZ,xirAug. 2 pixAx siinSix^.
\jl. Geil. V. 1. 4 XXXTXGXSVXGTOV.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 391
fitted to overthrow the statement that " man has been made in
the image of God." 1 He does not even understand the mean
ing of the " Paradise " that was planted by God, and of the
life which man first led in it ; and of that which resulted from
accident,2 when man was cast forth on account of his sin, and
was settled opposite the Paradise of delight. Now, as he asserts
that these are silly statements, let him turn his attention not
merely to each one of them [in general], but to this in parti
cular, " He placed the cherubim, and the flaming sword, which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," 3 and
say whether Moses wrote these words with no serious object in
view, but in the spirit of the writers of the old Comedy, who
have sportively related that " Prcetus slew Bellerophon," and
that " Pegasus came from Arcadia." Now their object was
to create laughter in composing such stories ; whereas it is in
credible that he who left behind him laws 4 for a whole nation,
regarding which he wished to persuade his subjects that they
were given by God, should have written words so little to the
purpose,6 and have said without any meaning, " He placed the
cherubim, and the flaming sword, which turned every way, to
keep the way of the tree of life," or made any other state
ment regarding the creation of man, which is the subject of
philosophic investigation by the Hebrew sages.
Chapter l.
In the next place, Celsus, after heaping together, simply as
mere assertions, the varying opinions of some of the ancients
regarding the world, and the origin of man, alleges that " Moses
and the prophets, who have left to us our books, not knowing
at all what the nature of the world is, and of man, have woven
together a web of sheer nonsense." e If he had shown, now,
how it appeared to him that the Holy Scriptures contained
" sheer nonsense," we should have tried to demolish the argu
ments which appeared to him to establish their nonsensical
character ; but on the present occasion, following his own ex
ample, we also sportively give it as our opinion that Celsus,
Cf. (*en. i. 2b. 2 r^v i^ ^zpiGTXGtaig ysvopcsvYiv.
3 Gen. iii. 24. 4 ypxcpdg.
5 dirpoaAoyx. 6 GVvhivxi AYipov I$x6iv.

392 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
knowing nothing at all about the nature of the meaning and
language of the prophets,1 composed a work which contained
" sheer nonsense," and boastfully gave it the title of a " true
discourse." And since he makes the statements about the " days
of creation " ground of accusation, — as if he understood them
clearly and correctly, some of which elapsed before the creation
of light and heaven, and sun, and moon, and stars, and some
of them after the creation of these, — we shall only make this
observation, that Moses must then have forgotten that he had
said a little before, " that in six days the creation of the world
had been finished," and that in consequence of this act of for-
getf ulness he subjoins to these words the following : " This is
the book of the creation of man, in the day when God made
the heaven and the earth ! " But it is not in the least credible,
that after what he had said respecting the six days, Moses
should immediately add, without a special meaning, the words,
"in the day that God made the heavens and the earth ;" and
if any one thinks that these words may be referred to the state
ment, " In the beginning, God made the heaven and the earth,"
let him observe that before the words, " Let there be light, and
there was light," and these, " God called the light day," it has
been stated that " in the beginning God made the heaven and
the earth."
Chapter li.
On the present occasion, however, it is not our object to
enter into an explanation of the subject of intelligent and
sensible beings,2 nor of the manner in which the different kinds3
of days were allotted to both sorts, nor to investigate the details
which belong to the subject, for we should need whole treatises
for the exposition of the Mosaic cosmogony ; and that work we
had already performed, to the best of our ability, a consider
able time before the commencement of this answer to Celsus,
when we discussed with such measure of capacity as we then
possessed the question of the Mosaic cosmogony of the six
days. We must keep in mind, however, that the Word pro
mises to the righteous through the mouth of Isaiah, that days
oti Tig iroTi sgtiv y) tpvaig tow vov, xxi toS iv toi? wpotpYirxig Aoyov.
2 ictpl vomoiv xxi x'ig8y,tZv. 3 xi piiGttg tZv ijpotpZv.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 393
will come1 when not the sun, but the Lord Himself, will be to
them an everlasting light, and God will be their glory.2 And
it is from misunderstanding, I think, some pestilent heresy
which gave an erroneous interpretation to the words, " Let there
be light," as if they were the expression of a ivish3 merely on
the part of the Creator, that Celsus made the remark : " The
Creator did not borrow light from above, like those persons
who kindle their lamps at those of their neighbours." Mis
understanding, moreover, another impious heresy, he has said :
" If, indeed, there did exist an accursed god opposed to the great
God, who did this contrary to his approval, why did he lend
him the light ? " So far are we from offering a defence of
such puerilities, that we desire, on the contrary, distinctly to
arraign the statements of these heretics as erroneous, and to
undertake to refute, not those of their opinions with which we
are unacquainted, as Celsus does, but those of which we have
attained an accurate knowledge, derived in part from the state
ments of their own adherents, and partly from a careful perusal
of their writings.
Chapter lii.
Celsus proceeds as follows : " With regard to the origin of
the world and its destruction, whether it is to be regarded as
uncreated and indestructible, or as created indeed, but not de
structible, or the reverse, I at present say nothing." For this
reason we too say nothing on these points, as the work in hand
does not require it. Nor do wo allege that the Spirit of the
universal God mingled itself in things here below as in things
alien to itself,4 as might appear from the expression, " The
Spirit of God moved upon the water ; " nor do we assert that
certain wicked devices directed against His Spirit, as if by a
different creator from the great God, and which were tolerated
by the Supreme Divinity, needed to be completely frustrated.
And, accordingly, I have nothing further to say to those5 who
utter such absurdities ; nor to Celsus, who does not refute them
with ability. For he ought either not to have mentioned such
matters at all, or else, in keeping with that character for
1 iv xxtxgtxoii tGtoSxi i)pcipxg. 2 Cf. Isa. Ix. 19. 3 siiXTixZg.
4 Zg iv dAAoTpioig Toig TYiXt. 5 p&xxpxv ^«/o£T/yo"«/'.

394 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
philanthropy which he assumes, have carefully set them forth,
and then endeavoured to rebut these impious assertions. Nor
have we ever heard that the great God, after giving his spirit
to the creator, demands it back again. Proceeding next fool
ishly to assail these impious assertions, he asks : " What god
gives anything with the intention of demanding it back ? For
it is the mark of a needy person to demand back [what he has
given], whereas God stands in need of nothing." To this he
adds, as if saying something clever against certain parties :
" Why, when he lent [his spirit], was he ignorant that he was
lending it to an evil being ? " He asks, further : " Why does
he pass without notice1 a wicked creator who was counter
working his purposes ? " Chapter liii.
In the next place, mixing up together various heresies, and
not observing that some statements are the utterances of one
heretical sect, and others of a different one, he brings fprward
the objections which we raised against Marcion.2 And, pro
bably, having heard them from some paltry and ignorant
individuals,3 he assails the very arguments which combat
them, but not in a way that shows much intelligence. Quot
ing then our arguments against Marcion, and not observing
that it is against Marcion that he is speaking, he asks : " Why
does he send secretly, and destroy the works which he has
created ? Why does he secretly employ force, and persuasion,
and deceit ? Why does he allure those who, as ye assert,
have been condemned or accused by him, and carry them
away like a slave-dealer ? Why does he teach them to steal
away from their Lord ? Why to flee from their father ? Why
does he claim them for himself against the father's will?
Why does he profess to be the father of strange children ? "
To these questions he subjoins the following remark, as if by
way of expressing his surprise : 4 " Venerable, indeed, is the
1 Ttpiopx. > \ 2 Cf. Book v. c. 54.
8 The textual reading is, x-i tivuv siiTsAug xxi iXiomxZg, for which Ruseus
roads, dieo tivuv tiiTtAZv xxi IXiutixZv, which emendation has been adopted
in the translation.
4 oiovtl QxvpcxoTixZg.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 395
god who desires to be the father of those sinners who are con
demned by another [god], and of the needy,1 and, as them
selves say, of the very offscourings2 [of men], and who is
unable to capture and punish his messenger, who escaped
from him ! " After this, as if addressing us who acknowledge
that this world is not the work of a different and strange god,
he continues in the following strain : " If these are his works,
how is it that God created evil ? And how is it that he can
not persuade and admonish [men] ? And how is it that he
repents on account of the ingratitude and wickedness of men ?
He finds fault, moreover, with his own handwork,3 and hates,
and threatens, and destroys his own offspring? Whither can
he transport them out of this world, which he himself has
made ? " Now it does not appear to me that by these remarks
he makes clear what " evil " is ; and although there have been
among the Greeks many sects who differ as to the nature of
good and evil, he hastily concludes, as if it were a consequence
of our maintaining that this world also is a work of the uni
versal God, that in our judgment God is the author of evil.
Let it be, however, regarding evil as it may — whether created
by God or not — it nevertheless follows only as a result when
you compare the principal design.4 And I am greatly surprised
if the inference regarding God's authorship of evil, which he
thinks follows from our maintaining that this world also is the
work of the universal God, does not follow too from his own
statements. For one might say to Celsus : " If these are Llis
works, how is it that God created evil ? and how is it that
He cannot persuade and admonish men ? " It is indeed the
greatest error in reasoning to accuse those who are of different
opinions of holding unsound doctrines, when the accuser him
self is much more liable to the same charge with regard to his
own.
Chapter liv.
Let us see, then, briefly what Lloly Scripture has to say re
garding good and evil, and what answor we are to return to the
questions, " How is it that God created evil ? " and, " How
1 xxAYipav. 2 GxvfixAav. 3 Ttxvnv-
4 ix KxpxxoAovSvjGsag ysyivrjTxi T'/j; irpog tx Trpoqyovpcsyx.

396 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
is He incapable of persuading and admonishing men? " Now,
according to Holy Scripture, properly speaking, virtues and
virtuous actions are good, as, properly speaking, the reverse of
these are evil. We shall be satisfied with quoting on the pre
sent occasion some verses from the 34th Psalm, to the following
effect : " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me ; I will teach you
the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and
loveth many days, that he may see good ? Keep thy tongue
from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil,
and do good." x Now, the injunctions to " depart from evil, and
to do good," do not refer either to corporeal evils or corporeal
blessings, as they are termed by some, nor to external things at
all, but to blessings and evils of a spiritual kind ; since he who
departs from such evils, and performs such virtuous actions,
will, as one who desires the true life, come to the enjoyment
of it ; and as one loving to see " good days," in which the word
of righteousness will be the Sun, he will see them, God taking
him away from this " present evil world," 2 and from those evil
days concerning which Paul said : " Redeeming the time, be
cause the davs are evil." 3
Chapter lv.
Passages, indeed, might be found where corporeal and exter
nal [benefits] are improperly4 called "good," — those things, viz.,
which contribute to the natural life, while those which do the
reverse are termed " evil." It is in this sense that Job says
to his wife : " If we have received good at the hand of the
Lord, shall we not also receive evil ? " 5 Since, then, there is
found in the sacred Scriptures, in a certain passage, this state
ment put into the mouth of God, " I make peace, and create
evil ;" 6 and again another, where it is said of Him that " evil
came down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, the noise
of chariots and horsemen,"7 — passages which have disturbed
many readers of Scripture, who are unable to see what Scrip-
1 Cf. Ps. xxxiv. 10-14. 2 Cf. Gal. i. 4. 3 Cf. Eph. v. 16.
4 xxTxxpiGTtxZTtpov. B Cf. Job ii. 10. c Cf. Isa. xlv. 7.
7 Cf. Mic. i. 12, 13. The rendering of the Heb. in the first clause of
the thirteenth verse is different from that of the LXX.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 397
ture means by "good" and "evil," — it is probable that Celsus,
being perplexed thereby, gave utterance to the question, " LIow
is it that God created evil?" or, perhaps, having heard some one
discussing the matters relating to it in an ignorant manner, he
made this statement which we have noticed. We, on the other
hand, maintain that " evil," or " wickedness," and the actions
which proceed from it, were not created by God. For if God
created that which is really evil, how was it possible that the pro
clamation regarding [the last] judgment should be confidently
announced,1 which informs us that the wicked are to be punished
for their evil deeds in proportion to the amount of their wicked
ness, while those who have lived a virtuous life, or performed
virtuous actions, will be in the enjoyment of blessedness, and
will receive rewards from God ? I am well aware that those
who would daringly assert that these evils were created by God
will quote certain expressions of Scripture [in their support],
because wo are not able to show one consistent series2 of pas
sages; for although Scripture [generally] blames the wicked
and approves of the righteous, it nevertheless contains some
statements which, although comparatively3 few in number,
seem to disturb the minds of ignorant readers of Holy Scrip
ture. I have not, however, deemed it appropriate to my present
treatise to quote on the present occasion those discordant state
ments, which are many in number,4 and their explanations, which
would require a long arrray of proofs. Evils, then, if those be
meant which are properly so called, were not created by God ;
but some, although few in comparison with the order of the
whole world, have resulted from His principal works, as there
follow from the chief works of the carpenter such things as spiral
shavings and sawdust,5 or as architects might appear to be the
cause of the rubbish 6 which lies around their buildings in the
form of the filth which drops from the stones and the plaster.
1 vxpf/iGixv txsiv. 2 i'(poj.
3 oAiyx must be taken comparatively, on account of the ffo?a«j that fol
lows afterwards.
4 iroAAxg. See note 3. 4 tx 'sAixosiXyj ^sapcXTX xxi irpiGpcxTX.
6 tx irxpxxtipotvx.

398 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

Chapter lvi.
If we speak, however, of what are called " corporeal " and
"external" evils, — which are improperly so termed, — then it
may be granted that there are occasions when some of these
have been called into existence by God, in order that by their
means the conversion of certain individuals might be effected.
And what absurdity would follow from such a course ? For as,
if we should hear those sufferings x improperly termed " evils "
which are inflicted by fathers, and instructors, and pedagogues
upon those who are under their care, or upon patients who are
operated upon or cauterized by the surgeons in order to effect
a cure, we were to say that a father was ill-treating his son,.
or pedagogues and instructors their pupils, or physicians their
patients, no blame would be laid upon the operators or chas-
tisers ; so, in the same way, if God is said to bring upon men
such evils for the conversion and cure of those who need this
discipline, there would be no absurdity in the view, nor would
" evils come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem,"2
— which evils consist of the punishments inflicted upon the
Israelites by their enemies with a view to their conversion ; nor
would one visit " with a rod the transgressions of those who for
sake the law of the Lord, and their iniquities with stripes ; " 3
nor could it be said, " Thou hast coals of fire to set upon them;
they shall be to thee a help." 4 In the same way also we explain
the expressions, " I, who make peace, and create evil ; " 5 for
He calls into existence " corporeal" or "external" evils, while
purifying and training those who would not be disciplined by
the word and sound doctrine. This, then, is our answer to the
question, " How is it that God created evil? "
Chapter lvii.
With respect to the question, " How is he incapable of per
suading and admonishing men?" it has been already stated that,
if such an objection were really a ground of charge, then the
objection of Celsus might be brought against those who accept
the doctrine of providence. Any one might answer the charge
1 vovovg. 2 Cf. Mic. i. 12. 3 Cf. Ps. lxxxix. 32.
4 Cf. Isa. xlvii. 14, 15. o Cf. Isa. xlv. 7.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 399
that God is incapable of admonishing men ; for He conveys His
admonitions throughout the whole of Scripture, and by means
of those persons who, through God's gracious appointment, are
the instructors of His hearers. Unless, indeed, some peculiar
meaning be understood • to attach to the word " admonish," as
if it signified both to penetrate into the mind of the person
admonished, and to make him hear the words of his x instruc
tor, which is contrary to the usual meaning of the word. To
the objection, "How is he incapable of persuading?" — which
also might be brought against all who believe in providence, —
we have to make the following remarks. Since the expression
" to be persuaded " belongs to those words which are termed,
so to speak, "reciprocal"2 (compare the phrase "to shave a
man," when he makes an effort to submit himself to the barber 3),
there is for this reason needed not merely the effort of him
who persuades, but also the submission, so to speak, which is
to be yielded to the persuader, or the acceptance of what is
said by him. And therefore it must not be said that it is
because God is incapable of persuading men that they are not
persuaded, but because they will not accept the faithful words
of God. And if one were to apply this expression to men who
are the "artificers of persuasion,"4 he would not be wrong; for
it is possible for a man who has thoroughly learned the prin
ciples of rhetoric, and who employs them properly, to do his
utmost to persuade, and yet appear to fail, because he cannot
overcome the will of him who ought to yield to his persuasive
arts. Moreover, that persuasion does not come from God,
although persuasive words may be uttered by him, is distinctly
taught by Paul, when he says : " This persuasion cometh not
of him that calleth you." 5 Such also is the view indicated by
these words : " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land ; but if ye refuse and rebel, a sword shall de
vour you."6 For that one may [really] desire what is addressed
to him by one who admonishes, and may become deserving of
1 to xxi iirnvyxxvtiv iv tZ yovStrovpcsvoi xxi xxovstv to'i/ tow XiXxaxovrog
Aoyov. 2 ZoTtpsl tZv xxAovpoivuv dvTITfiTOvSoTUV SGTIV.
3 dvxAoyov toi xsipsaSxt xvdpanov, ivtpyovvTX to itxpsxsiv ixvnv t5 xtipovri.
4 irubovg XnpctovpyZv. 5 Cf. Gal. v. 8. 6 Cf. Isa. i. 19, 20.

400 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookvi.
those promises of God which he hears, it is necessary to secure
the will of the hearer, and his inclination to what is addressed
to him. And therefore it appears to me, that in the book of
Deuteronomy the following words are uttered with peculiar
emphasis : "And now, O Israel, whatdoth the Lord thy God
require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in
all His ways, and to love Him, and to keep His command
ments?"1 Chapter lviii.
There is next to be answered the following query : " And
how is it that he repents when men become ungrateful and
wicked ; and finds fault with his own handwork, and hates,
and threatens, and destroys his own offspring ? " Now Celsus
here calumniates and falsifies what is written in the book of
Genesis to the following effect : " And the Lord God, seeing
that the wickedness of men upon the earth was increasing,
and that every one in his heart carefully meditated to do evil
continually, was grieved 2 He had made man upon the earth.
And God meditated in His heart, and said, I will destroy man,
whom I have made, from the face of the earth, both man
and beast, and creeping thing, and fowd of the air, because I
am grieved 3 that I made them ; " 4 quoting words which are
not written in Scripture, as if they conveyed the meaning of
what was actually written. For there is no mention in these
words of the repentance of God, nor of His blaming and hating
His own handwork. And if there is the appearance of God
threatening the catastrophe of the deluge, and thus destroying
His own children in it, we have to answer that, as the soul of
man is immortal, the supposed threatening has for its object
the conversion of the hearers, while the destruction of men by
the flood is a purification of the earth, as certain among the
Greek philosophers of no mean repute have indicated by the
expression : " When the gods purify the earth." 5 And with
1 Cf. Deut. x. 12, 13.
2 ivt6vpi.YiSYi, in all probability a corruption for MvpoZHv, which Hoeschel
places in the text, and Spencer in the margin of his ed. : Heb. Dn3sV
3 ivtHvpcYjUnv. Cf. remark in note 2.
4 Cf. Gen. vi. 5, 6. 4 Cf. Plato in Timseo.

Bookvi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 401
respect to the transference to God of those anthropopathic
phrases, some remarks have been already made by us in the
preceding pages.
Chapter lix.
Celsus, in the next place, suspecting, or perhaps seeing
clearly enough, the answer which might be returned by those
who defend the destruction of men by the deluge, continues :
" But if he does not destroy his own offspring, whither does
he convey them out of this world x which he himself created ? "
To this we reply, that God by no means removes out of the
whole world, consisting of heaven and earth, those who suffered
death by the deluge, but removes them from a life in the flesh,
and, having set them free from their bodies, liberates them at
the same time from an existence upon earth, which in many
parts of Scripture it is usual to call the " world." In the
Gospel according to John especially, we may frequently find
the regions of earth 2 termed " world," as in the passage, " He
was the true light, which lighteneth every man that cometh
into the 'world;'"3 as also in this, "In the world ye shall
have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world."4 If, then, we understand by "removing out of the
world" a transference from "regions on earth," there is nothing
absurd in the expression. If, on the contrary, the system of
things which consists of heaven and earth be termed " world,"
then those who perished in the deluge are by no means removed
out of the so-called "world." And yet, indeed, if we have regard
to the words, " Looking not at the things which are seen, but
at the things which are not seen;"0 and also to these, "For
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," 6 —
we might say that he who dwells amid the " invisible " things,
and what are called generally " things not seen," is gone out
of the world, the Word having removed him hence, and trans
ported him to the heavenly regions, in order to behold all
beautiful things.
1 xoapcog. 2 toV irtplytiov tottov.
3 Cf. John i. 9. 4 Cf. John xvi. 33.
5 Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 18. 6 Cf. Rom. i. 20.
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 O

402 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

Chapter lx.
But after this investigation of his assertions, as if his object
were to swell his book by many words, he repeats, in different
language, the same charges which 'we have examined a little
ago, saying : " By far the most silly thing is the distribution of
the creation of the world over certain days, before days existed:
for, as the heaven was not yet created, nor the foundation of
the earth yet laid,1 nor the sun yet revolving,2 how could there
be days V Now, what difference is there between these words
and the following : " Moreover, taking and looking at these
things from the beginning, would it not be absurd in the first
and greatest God to issue the command, Let this [first thing]
come into existence, and this second thing, and this [third] ;
and after accomplishing so much on the first day, to do so much
more again on the second, and third, and fourth, and fifth, and
sixth? " We answered to the best of our ability this objection
to God's " commanding this first, second, and third thing to be
created," when we quoted the words, " Lie said, and it was
done ; He commanded, and all things stood fast ; " 3 remarking
that the immediate 4 Creator, and, as it were, very Maker 5 of
the world was the Word, the Son of God ; while the Father
of the Word, by commanding His own Son — the Word — to
create the world, is primarily Creator. And with regard to
the creation of the light upon the first day, and of the firma
ment upon the second, and of the gathering together of the
waters that are under the heaven into their several reservoirs 6
on the third (the earth thus causing to sprout forth those
[fruits] which are under the control of nature alone7), and of
the [great] lights and stars upon the fourth, and of aquatic8
animals upon the fifth, and of land animals and man upon the
sixth, we have treated to the best of our ability in our notes
upon Genesis, as well as in the foregoing pages, when we found
fault with those who, taking the words in their apparent signi
fication, said that the time of six days was occupied in the
creation of the world, and quoted the words : " These are the
1 ipnpilGfiivYig. 2 TYlXt (pSpOpOSVOV. 3 Cf.' Ps. XXxiii. 9.
4 TO!/ irpoosxZg Xnpoiovpyov. s aiiTOvpyov. 6 avvxyaydg.
7 tx inro pcovrig QvGSOig Xioixovpcsvx. 8 tx vyixtx.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 403
generations of *the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the
heavens." x Chapter lxi.
Again, not understanding the meaning of the words, " And
God ended on the sixth day His works which He had made,
and ceased 2 on the seventh day from all His works which He
had made : and God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it,
because on it He had ceased 2 from all His works which He
had begun to make;"3 and imagining the expression, " He
ceased on the seventh day," to be the same as this, " He rested*
on the seventh day," he makes the remark : " After this,
indeed, he is weary, like a very bad workman, who stands in
need of rest to refresh himself ! " For he knows nothing of
the day of the Sabbath and rest of God, which follows the
completion of the world's creation, and which lasts during the
duration of the world, and in which all those will keep festival
with God who have done all their works in their six days, and
who, because they have omitted none of their duties,6 will
ascend to the contemplation [of celestial things], and to the
assembly of righteous and blessed beings. In the next place,
as if either the Scriptures made such a statement, or as if we
ourselves so spoke of God as having rested from fatigue, he
continues: "It is not in keeping with the fitness of things6
that the first God should feel fatigue, or work with His hands,7
or give forth commands." Celsus says, that " it is not in keep
ing with the fitness of things that the first God should feel
fatigue." Now we would say that neither does God the Word
feel fatigue, nor any of those beings who belong to a better
and diviner order of things, because the sensation of fatigue is
peculiar to those who are in the body. You can examine
whether this is true of those who possess a body of any kind, or
of those who have an earthly body, or one a little better than
this. But " neither is it consistent with the fitness of things that
the first God should work with His own hands." If you under-
1 Cf. Gen. ii. 4. 2 xxTtirxvatv. 3 Cf. Gen. ii. 2, 3.
4 dvticxiiGxro. s tZv iirtjixAAoiiTav. 6 oil Dipcif.
7 xtipovpytin.

404 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
stand the words "work with His own hands" literally, then
neither are they applicable to the second God, nor to any other
being partaking of divinity. But suppose that they are spoken
in an improper and figurative sense, so that wo may translate the
following expressions, " And the firmament showeth forth His
handywork," x and " the heavens are the work of Thy hands," 2
and any other similar phrases, in a figurative manner, so far as
respects the " hands " and " limbs " of Deity, where is the absur
dity in the words, " God thus working with His own hands?"
And as there is no absurdity in God thus working, so neither is
i there in His issuing " commands ; " so that what is done at His
ibidding should be beautiful and praiseworthy, because it was
God who commanded it to be performed.
Chapter lxii.
Celsus, again, having perhaps misunderstood the words, " For
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,"3 or perhaps because
some ignorant individuals had rashly ventured upon the ex
planation of such things, and not understanding, moreover, on
what principles parts called after the names of the bodily
members are assigned to the attributes4 of God, asserts : " He
has neither mouth nor voice." Truly, indeed, God can have no
voice, if the voice is a concussion of the air, or a stroke on the
air, or a species of air, or any other definition which may be
given to the voice by those who are skilled in such matters ; but
what is called the " voice of God" is said to be seen as " God's
voice" by the people in the passage, " And all the people saw
the voice of God;"5 the word " saw" being taken, agreeably
to the custom of Scripture, in a spiritual sense. Moreover, he
alleges that " God possesses nothing else of which we have any
knowledge ;" but of what things we have knowledge he gives
no indication. If he means " limbs," we agree with him, under
standing the things " of which we have knowledge" to be those
called corporeal, and pretty generally so termed. But if we are
to understand the words "of which we have knowledge" in a uni
versal sense, then there are many things of which we have know-
1 Cf. Ps. xix. 1. 2 Cf. Ps. cii. 25.
Cf. Isa. i. 20. 4 skI tuv *hvva,friayt
5 Cf. Ex. xx. 18 (LXX.). The Masoretic text is different.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 405
ledge, [and which may be attributed to God] ; for He possesses
virtue, and blessedness, and divinity. If we, however, put a
higher meaning upon the words, " of which we have knowledge,"
since all that we know is less than God, there is no absurdity in
our also admitting that God possesses none of those things " of
which we have knowledge." For the attributes which belong
to God are far superior to all things with which not merely the
nature of man is acquainted, but even that of those who have
risen far above it. And if he had read the writings of the
prophets, David on the one hand saying, " But Thou art the
same," x and Malachi on the other, " I am [the Lord], and change
not,"2 he would have observed that none of us assert that there
is any change in God, either in act or thought. For abiding
the same, He administers mutable things according to their
nature, and His word elects to undertake their administration.
Chapter lxiii.
Celsus, not observing the difference between " after the
image of God " and " God's image," next asserts that the
" first-born of every creature" is the image of God, — the very
word and truth, and also the very wisdom, being the image of
His goodness, while man has been created after the image of
God ; moreover, that every man whose head is Christ is the
image and glory of God ; — and further, not observing to which
of the characteristics of humanity the expression " after the
image of God" belongs, and that it consists in a nature which
never had or no longer has " the old man with his deeds,"
being called " after the image of Him who created it," from
its not possessing these qualities, — he maintains : " Neither did
He make man His image ; for God is not such an one, nor like
any other species of [visible] being." Is it possible to suppose
that the element which is " after the image of God " should
exist in the inferior part — I mean the body — of a compound
being like man, because Celsus has explained that to be made
after the image of God ? For if that which is " after the
image of God " be in the body only, the better part, the soul,
has been deprived of that which is " after His image," and this/
[distinction] exists in the corruptible body, — an assertion which
1 Cf. Ps. cii. 27. 2 Cf. Mai. iii. 6.

406 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
is made by none of us. But if that which is " after the image
of God " be in both together, then God must necessarily be a
compound being, and consist, as it were, of soul and body, in
order that the element which is " after God's image," the better
part, may be in the soul; while the inferior part, and that which
"is according to the body," may be in the body, — an assertion,
again, which is made by none of us. It remains, therefore, that
that which is " after the image of God " must be understood to
be in our " inner man," which is also renewed, and whose nature
it is to be " after the image of Him who created it," when a
man becomes " perfect," as " our Father in heaven is perfect,"
and hears the command, " Be ye holy, for I the Lord your
God am holy," x and learning the precept, " Be ye followers of
God,"2 receives into his virtuous soul the traits of God's image.
The body, moreover, of him who possesses such a soul is a
temple of God ; and in the soul God dwells, because it has been
made after His image.3
Chapter lxiv.
Celsus, again, brings together a number of statements, which
he gives as admissions on our part, but which no intelligent
Christian would allow. For not one of us asserts that " God
partakes of form or colour." Nor does He even partake of
" motion," because He stands firm, and His nature is perma
nent, and He invites the righteous man also to do the same,
saying : " But as for thee, stand thou here by me."4 And if
certain expresssions indicate a kind of motion, as it were, on his
part, such as this, " They heard the voice of the Lord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day,"5 we must under
stand them in this way, that it is by sinners that God is under
stood as moving, or as we understand the " sleep " of God,
which is taken in a figurative sense, or His " anger," or any
other similar attribute. But " God does not partake even of
1 Lev. xi. 44. 2 Cf. Eph. v. 1 (pci,xr,Txi).
3 The words as they stand in the text are probably corrupt : we have
adopted in the translation the emendation of Guietus : 'in xxi vxog sot/ toS
Qtoii TO GOipCX TOV toixvtyjv txovTog ifivx'ijv, xxi iv tij \j/vxfi Xix to xxt tixovx,
TOV ©tOV.
4 Deut. v. 31. s Cf. Gen. iiL s.

Book vi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 407
substance." x For Lie is partaken of [by others] rather than
that Himself partakes of them, and He is partaken of by those
who have the Spirit of God. Our Saviour, also, does not par
take of righteousness ; but being Himself " righteousness," He
is partaken of by the righteous. A discussion about " substance"
would be protracted and difficult, and especially if it were a
question whether that which is permanent and immaterial be
" substance" properly so called, so that it would be found that
God is beyond " substance," communicating of His " sub
stance," by means of office and power,2 to those to whom Lie
communicates Himself by His Word, as He does to the Word
Himself ; or even if He is " substance," yet He is said to be
in His nature " invisible," in these words respecting our Saviour,
who is said to be " the image of the invisible God," 3 while from
the term " invisible" it is indicated that He is " immaterial." It
is also a question for investigation, whether the " only-begotten"
and " first-born of every creature" is to be called " substance
of substances," and " idea of ideas," and the " principle of all
things," while above all there is His Father and God.
' Chapter lxv.
Celsus proceeds to say of God that " of Him are all things,"
abandoning [in so speaking], I know not how, all his principles ;4
while our Paul declares, that " of Him, and through Him, and
to Him are all things," 5 showing that He is the beginning of
the substance of all things by the words " of Him," and the
bond of their subsistence by the expression " through Him,"
and their final end by the terms " to Him." Of a truth, God
is of nothing. But when Celsus adds, that " He is not to be
reached by word," 6 I make a distinction, and say that if he
means the word that is in us — whether the word conceived in
the mind, or the word that is uttered 7 — I, too, admit that God
is not to be reached by word. If, however, we attend to the
passage, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
1 oiiGi'x. 2 irpsG^tiot xxi Xviixpost. 3 Cf. Col. i. 15.
4 For xiiToii Boherellus conjectures xvroii, and translates, " Propria ipse
principia, quae sunt Epicuri, subruens."
5 Rom. xi. 36. 6 oi/Xs A.oyZ ipixrog.
7 t'tTt ivXlxdtTlp i'lTi XXI TtpoVopixZ.

408 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
with God, and the Word was God," x we are of opinion that
God is to be reached by this Word, and is comprehended not
by Him only, but by any one whatever to whom He may reveal
the Father ; and thus we shall prove the falsity of the assertion
of Celsus, when he says, " Neither is God to be reached by
word." The statement, moreover, that " He cannot be ex
pressed by name," requires to be taken with a distinction. If
he means, indeed, that there is no word or sign 2 that can re
present the attributes of God, the statement is true, since there
are many qualities which cannot be indicated by words. Who,
for example, could describe in words the difference betwixt the
quality of sweetness in a palm and that in a fig? And who
could distinguish and set forth in words the peculiar qualities
of each individual thing? It is no wonder, then, if in this
way God cannot be described by name. But if you take the
phrase to mean that it is possible to represent by words some
thing of God's attributes, in order to lead the hearer by the
hand,3 as it were, and so enable him to comprehend something
of God, so far as attainable by human nature, then there is no
absurdity in saying that " He can be described by name." And
we make a similar distinction with regard to the expression,
" for He has undergone no suffering that can be conveyed by
words." It is true that the Deity is beyond all suffering. And
so much on this point.
Chapter lxvi.
Let us look also at his next statement, in which he intro
duces, as it were, a certain person, who, after hearing what has
been said, expresses llimself in the following manner, " How,
then, shall I know God ? and how shall I learn the way that
leads to Him ? And how will you show Him to me ? Because
now, indeed, you throw darkness before my eyes, and I see
nothing distinctly." He then answers, as it were, the indi
vidual who is thus perplexed, and thinks that he assigns the
reason why darkness has been poured upon the eyes of him
who uttered the foregoing words, when he asserts that " those
whom one would lead forth out of darkness into the brightness
of light, being unable to withstand its splendours, have their
John l. i. 2 oiiXiv t5» iv "Ai%,SGi xxi ayipoxtvopcivoig. 3 ^s/oayayijoes/.

Book vi. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 409
power of vision affected x and injured, and so imagine that they
are smitten with blindness." In answer to this, we would say
that all those indeed sit in darkness, and are rooted in it, who fix
their gaze upon the evil handiwork of painters, and moulders
and sculptors, and who will not look upwards, and ascend in
thought from all visible and sensible things, to the Creator
of all things, who is light ; while, on the other hand, every
one is in light who has followed the radiance of the Word, who
has shown in consequence of what ignorance, and impiety, and
want of knowledge of divine things these objects were wor
shipped instead of God, and who has conducted the soul of him
who desires to be saved towards the uncreated God, who is over
all. For " the people that sat in darkness — the Gentiles — saw
a great light, and to them who sat in the region and shadow of
death light is sprung up,"2 — the God Jesus. No Christian,
then, would give Celsus, or any accuser of the divine Word,
the answer, " How shall I know God ? " for each one of them
knows God according to his capacity. And no one asks,
" How shall I learn the way which leads to Him ? " because he
has heard Him who says, " I am the way, and the truth, and
the life,"3 and has tasted, in the course of the journey, the
happiness which results from it. And not a single Christian
would say to Celsus, " How will you show me God ? "
Chapter lxvii.
The remark, indeed, was true which Celsus made, that any
one, on hearing his words, would answer, seeing that his words
are words of darkness, " You pour darkness before my eyes."
Celsus verily, and those like him, do desire to pour darkness
before our eyes : we, however, by means of the light of the
Word, disperse the darkness of their impious opinions. The
Christian, indeed, could retort on Celsus, who says nothing
that is distinct or true, " I see nothing that is distinct among
all your statements." It is not, therefore, " out of darkness "
into " the brightness of light " that Celsus leads us forth : he
wishes, on the contrary, to transport us from light into darkness,
making the darkness light and the light darkness, and exposing
himself to the woe woll described by the prophet Isaiah in the
1 xoAx&6xi. 2 Cf. Matt. iv. 16 and Isa. ix. 2. 3 John xiv. 6.

410 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
following manner: "Woe unto them that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness." x But we, the eyes of whose soul have
been opened by the Word, and who see the difference between
light and darkness, prefer by all means to take our stand " in
the light," and will have nothing to do with darkness at all.
The true light, moreover, being endued with life, knows to
whom his full splendours are to be manifested, and to whom
his light ; for he does not display his brilliancy on account of
the still existing weakness in the eyes of the recipient. And
if we must speak at all of " sight being affected and injured,"
what other eyes shall we say are in this condition, than his who
is involved in ignorance of God, and who is prevented by his
passions from seeing the truth? Christians, however, by no
means consider that they are blinded by the words of Celsus,
or any other who is opposed to the worship of God. But let
those who perceive that they are blinded by following multi
tudes who are in error, and tribes of those who keep festivals
to demons, draw near to the Word, who can bestow the gift of
sight,2 in order that, like those poor and blind who had thrown
themselves down by the wayside, and who were healed by Jesus
because they said to Him, " Son of David, have mercy upon
me," they too may receive mercy and recover their eyesight,3
fresh and beautiful, as the Word of God can create it.
Chapter lxviii.
Accordingly, if Celsus were to ask us how we think we
know God, and how we shall be saved by Him, we would
answer that the Word of God, which entered into those who
seek Him, or who accept Him when He appears, is able to
make known and to reveal the Father, who was not seen [by
any one] before the appearance of the Word. And who else is
able to save and conduct the soul of man to the God of all
things, save God the Word, who, "being in the beginning
with God," became flesh for the sake of those who had cleaved
to the flesh, and had become as flesh, that He might be received
by those who could not behold Him, inasmuch as He was the
Word, and was with God, and was God? And discoursing
in human form,4 and announcing Himself as flesh, He calls to
1 Cf. Isa. V. 20. 2 o<P'6xApt,ovg. B dqQxAjAovg.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 411
Llimself those who are flesh, that He may in the first place
cause them to be transformed according to the Word that was
made flesh, and afterwards may lead them upwards to behold
Him as He was before He became flesh ; so that they, receiv
ing the benefit, and ascending from their great introduction to
Him, which was according to the flesh, say, " Even if we
have known Christ after the flesh, yet henceforth know we
Him no more." Therefore He became flesh, and having be
come flesh, " He tabernacled among us," not dwelling without
us ; and after tabernacling and dwelling within us, He did not
continue in the form in which He first presented Himself, but
caused us to ascend to the lofty mountain of His word, and
showed us His own glorious form, and the splendour of His
garments ; and not His own form alone, but that also of the
spiritual law, which is Moses, seen in glory along with Jesus.
He showed to us, moreover, all prophecy, which did not perish
even after His incarnation, but was received up into heaven,
and whose symbol was Elijah. And he who beheld these
things could say, " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." x Celsus,
then, has exhibited considerable ignorance in the imaginary
answer to his question which he puts into our mouth, " How
we think we can know God ? and how we know we shall be
saved by Him ? " for our answer is what we have just stated.
Chapter lxix.
Celsus, however, asserts that the answor which we give
is based upon a probable conjecture,2 admitting that he de
scribes our answer in the following terms : " Since God is
great and difficult to see,3 He put His own Spirit into a body
that resembled ours, and sent it down to us, that we might be
enabled to hear Him and become acquainted with Him." But
the God and Father of all things is not the only being that is
great in our judgment ; for He has imparted [a share] of
Himself and His greatness to His only-begotten and first-born
of every creature, in order that He, being the image of the
invisible God, might preserve, even in His greatness, the image
of the Father. For it was not possible that there could exist
1 Cf. John i. 14. 2 tixhi gtoxxgjxZ. 3 XvadiZprnog.

412 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookvi.
a woll-proportioned,1 so to speak, and beautiful image of the
invisible God, which did not at the same time preserve the
image of His greatness. God, moreover, is in our judgment
invisible, because He is not a body, wdiile He can be seen by
those wdio see with the heart, that is, the understanding; not
indeed with any kind of heart, but with one which is pure.
For it is inconsistent with the fitness of things that a polluted
heart should look upon God ; for that must be itself pure which
would worthily behold that which is pure. Let it be granted,
indeed, that God is " difficult to see," yet He is not the only
being who is so; for His Only-begotten also is "difficult to see."
For God the Word is " difficult to see," and so also is His 2 wis
dom, by which God created all things. For who is capable of
seeing the wisdom which is displayed in each individual part of
: the whole system of things, and by which God created every
r individual thing? It was not, then, because God was " difficult
to see " that He sent God His Son to be an object " easy to be
seen." 3 And because Celsus does not understand this, he has
represented us as saying, " Because God was ' difficult to see,'
He put His own Spirit in a body resembling ours, and sent it
down to us, that we might be enabled to hear Him and become
acquainted with Him." Now, as we have stated, the Son also is
" difficult to see," because He is God the Word, through whom
all things were made, and who " tabernacled amongst us."
Chapter lxx.
If Celsus, indeed, had understood our teaching regarding
the Spirit of God, and had known that " as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God,"4 he would
not have returned to himself the answor wdiich he represents
as coming from us, that " God put His own Spirit into a body,
and sent it down to us ; " for God is perpetually bestowing of
His own Spirit to those who are capable of receiving it,
although it is not by way of division and separation that He
dwells in [the hearts of] the deserving. Nor is the Spirit, in
our opinion, a " body," any more than fire is a " body," which
1 GVfipcSTpOV.
2 For oCtoioI we have adopted the conjecture of Guietus, toiItow.
4 Rom. viii. 14.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 413
God is said to be in the passage, " Our God is a consuming
fire." 1 For all these are figurative expressions, employed to
denote the nature of " intelligent beings " by means of familiar
and corporeal terms. In the same way, too, if sins are called
" wood, and straw, and stubble," we shall not maintain that
sins are corporeal ; and if blessings are termed " gold, and
silver, and precious stones," 2 we shall not maintain that bless
ings are "corporeal;" so also, if God be said to be a fire that
consumes wood, and straw, and stubble, and all substance 3 of
sin, we shall not understand Him to be a "body," so neither
do we understand Him to be a body if He should be called
" fire." In this way, if God be called " spirit," 4 we do not
mean that He is a " body." For it is the custom of Scripture
to give to " intelligent beings " the names of " spirits '' and
"spiritual things," by way of distinction from those which
are the objects of " sense; " as when Paul says, " But our suf
ficiency is of God, who hath also made us able ministers of
the New Testament ; not of the letter, but of the spirit ; for
the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," 5 where by the
"letter" he means that "exposition of Scripture which is ap
parent to the senses," 6 while by the " spirit " that which is
the object of the " understanding." It is the same, too, with
the expression, " God is a Spirit." And because the prescrip
tions of the law were obeyed both by Samaritans and Jews in
a corporeal and literal 7 manner, our Saviour said to the Sama
ritan woman, " The hour is coming, when neither in Jerusalem,
nor in this mountain, shall ye worship the Father. God is a
Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth." 8 And by these words He taught men that God
must be worshipped not in the flesh, and with fleshly sacrifices,
but in the spirit. And He will be understood to be a Spirit in
proportion as the worship rendered to Him is rendered in spirit,
and with understanding. It is not, however, with images 9 that
1 Cf. Heb. xii. 29. 2 Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 12. 3 kxgxv ovgi'xv.
4 ifvtvpox. There is an allusion to the two meanings of wvtvpox, " wind "
and " spirit."
5 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. 6 ty)v x'ig6yityiv ixXox'i'J.
7 TV7rtxZg here evidently must have the above meaning
8 Cf. John iv. 21, 24. 9 iv rviroig.

414 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
we are to worship the Father, but " in truth," which " came by
Jesus Christ," after the giving of the law by Moses. For when
we turn to the Lord (and the Lord is a Spirit1), He takes away
the veil which lies upon the heart when Moses is read.
Chapter lxxi.
Celsus accordingly, as not understanding the doctrine relat
ing to the Spirit of God (" for the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him ;
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually dis
cerned"2), weaves together [such a web] as pleases himself,3 ima
gining that we, in calling God a Spirit, differ in no respect in
this particular from the Stoics among the Greeks, who main
tain that " God is a Spirit, diffused through all things, and
containing all things within Himself." Now the superintend
ence and providence of God does extend through all things,
but not in the way that spirit does, according to the Stoics.
Providence indeed contains all things that are its objects, and
comprehends them all, but not as a containing body includes
its contents, because they also are " body," 4 but as a divine
power does it comprehend what it contains. According to the
philosophers of the Porch, indeed, who assert that principles
are " corporeal," and who on that account make all things
perishable, and who venture even to make the God of all things
capable of perishing, the very Word of God, who descends
even to the lowest of mankind, would be — did it not appear to
them to be too gross an incongruity5 — nothing else than a
" corporeal " spirit ; whereas, in our opinion, — who endeavour
to demonstrate that the rational soul is superior to all " cor
poreal " nature, and that it is an invisible substance, and incor
poreal, — God the Word, by whom all things were made, who
came, in order that all things might be made by the Word,
not to men only, but to what are deemed the very lowest of
things, under the dominion of nature alone, would be no body.
The Stoics, then, may consign all things to destruction by fire ;
we, however, know of no incorporeal substance that is destructible
1 Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 17. a Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 14. 3 sxvtZ gvvxxtu.
i.oi>x oig Goipox Xi irtpisxov irtpiixtl, oti xxi oZptx sgti to intpnxoposvov.
6 7TXVV X'KtpOpxivOV.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 415
by fire, nor [do we believe] that the soul of man, or the sub
stance of " angels," or of " thrones," or " dominions," or
" principalities," or " powers," can be dissolved by fire.
Chapter lxxii.
It is therefore in vain that Celsus asserts, as one who knows
not the nature of the Spirit of God, that " as the Son of God,
who existed in a human body, is a Spirit, this very Son of God
would not be immortal." He next becomes confused in his
statements, as if there were some of us who did not admit that
God is a Spirit, but maintain that only with regard to His Son,
and he thinks that he can answer us by saying that there " is
no kind of spirit which lasts for ever." This is much the same
as if, when we term God a " consuming fire," he were to say
that there " is no kind of fire which lasts for ever ; " not observ
ing the sense in which we say that our God is a fire, and what
the things are which He consumes, viz. sins, and wickedness.
For it becomes a God of goodness, after each individual has
shown, by his efforts, what kind of combatant he has been, to
consume vice by the fire of His chastisements. He proceeds,
in the next place, to assume what we do not maintain, that
" God must necessarily have given up the ghost ; " from which
also it follows that Jesus could not have risen again with His
body. For God would not have received back the spirit which
He had surrendered after it had been stained by contact with
the body. It is foolish, however, for us to answer statements
as ours which were never made by us.
Chapter lxxiii.
He proceeds to repeat himself, and after saying a great deal
which he had said before, and ridiculing the birth of God from
a virgin, — to which we have already replied as we best could, —
he adds the following : " If God had wished to send down His
Spirit from Himself, what need was there to breathe it into the
womb of a woman ? For as one who knew already how to
form men, He could also have fashioned a body for this person,
without casting His own Spirit into so much pollution ; x and in
this way He would not have been received with incredulity, if
1 tig togovtov poixGpoa.

416 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
He had derived His existence immediately from above." He
has made these remarks, because he knows not the pure and
virgin birth, unaccompanied by any corruption, of that body
which was to minister to the salvation of men. For, quoting
the sayings of the Stoics,1 and affecting not to know the doctrine
about " things indifferent," he thinks that the divine nature
was cast amid pollution, and was stained either by being in the
body of a woman, until a body was formed around it, or by
assuming a body. And in this he acts like those who imagine
that the sun's rays are polluted by dung and by foul-smelling
bodies, and do not remain pure amid such things. If, however,
according to the view of Celsus, the body of Jesus had been
fashioned without generation, those who beheld the body would
at once have believed that it had not been formed by genera
tion ; and yet an object, when seen, does not at the same time
indicate the nature of that from which it has derived its origin.
For example, suppose that there were some honey [placed be
fore one] which had not been manufactured by bees, no one
could tell from the taste or sight that it was not their work
manship, because the honey which comes from bees does not
make known its origin by the senses,2 but experience alone can
tell that it does not proceed from them. In the same way, too,
experience teaches that wine comes from the vine, for taste
does not enable us to distinguish [the wine] which comes from
the vine. In the same manner, therefore, the visible3 body
does not make known the manner of its existence. And you
will be induced to accept this view,4 by [regarding] the heavenly
bodies, whose existence and splendour we perceive as we gaze
at them ; and yet, I presume, their appearance does not suggest
to us whether they are created or uncreated ; and accordingly
different opinions have existed on these points. And yet those
who say that they are created are not agreed as to the manner
of their creation, for their appearance does not suggest it,
although the force of reason 5 may have discovered that they
are created, and how their creation was effected.
1 Cf . Book iv. cc. 14 and 68. 2 tj5 x'igQyigsi t%v dpxYiv.
3 to xiohrov GZpox. 4 TrpoGXxiilGYj Xs Top Atyopoivot.
0 xxv fiixaxpctvog 6 Aoyog tiipq.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 417

Chapter lxxiv.
After this he returns to the subject of Marcion's opinions
(having already spoken frequently of them), and states some
of them correctly, while others he has misunderstood; these,
however, it is not necessary for us to answer or refute. Again,
after this he brings forward the various arguments that may be
urged on Marcion's behalf, and also against him, enumerating
what the opinions are which exonerate him from the charges,
and what expose him to them ; and when he desires to support
the statement which declares that Jesus has been the subject of
prophecy, — in order to found a charge against Marcion and his
followers, — he distinctly asks, " How could he, who was punished
in such a manner, be shown to be God's Son, unless these things
had been predicted of him?" He next proceeds to jest, and,
as his custom is, to pour ridicule upon the subject, introducing
" two sons of God, one the son of the Creator,1 and the other
the son of Marcion's God ; and he portrays their single com
bats, saying that the Theomachies of the Fathers are like the
battles between quails ;2 or that the Fathers, becoming useless
through age, and falling into their dotage,3 do not meddle at all
with one another, but leave their sons to fight it out." The
remark which he made formerly wo will turn against himself :
"What old woman would not be ashamed to lull a child to sleep
with such stories as he has inserted in the work which he entitles
A True Discourse? For when he ought seriously4 to apply
himself to argument, he, leaves serious argument aside, and
betakes himself to jesting and buffoonery, imagining that he
is writing mimes or scoffing verses ; not observing that such a
method of procedure defeats his purpose, which is to make us
abandon Christianity and give in our adherence to his opinions,
which, perhaps, had they been stated with some degree of
gravity,5 would have appeared more likely to convince, whereas,
since he continues to ridicule, and scoff, and play the buffoon,
we answer that it is because he has no argument of weight6 (for
such he neither had, nor could understand) that he has betaken
himself to such drivelling."7
1 Tov Xripoiovpyov. 2 oprvyuv. 3 AYipovvrxg. 4 irpxypcxTixoig.
s tGtpcvoAoysi. 6 GtpcvZv "Aoyav. 7 togxvtyiv pAvxpixv
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 D

418 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.

Chapter lxxv.
To the preceding remarks he adds the following : " Since a
divine Spirit inhabited the body [of Jesus], it must certainly
have been different from that of other beings, in respect of
grandeur, or beauty, or strength, or voice, or impressiveness,1
or persuasiveness. For it is impossible that He, to whom was
imparted some divine quality beyond other beings, should not
differ from others ; whereas this person did not differ in any
respect from another, but was, as they report, little, and ill-
favoured, and ignoble."2 Now it is evident by these words,
that when Celsus wishes to bring a charge against Jesus, he
adduces the sacred writings, as one who believed them to be
writings apparently fitted to afford a handle for a charge against
Him; but wherever, in the same writings, statements would
appear to be made opposed to those charges which are adduced,
he pretends not even to know them ! There are, indeed, ad
mitted to be recorded some statements respecting the body of
Jesus having been " ill-favoured ;" not, however, " ignoble," as
has been stated, nor is there any certain evidence that he was
"little." The language of Isaiah runs as follows, who pro
phesied regarding Him that He would come and visit the mul
titude, not in comeliness of form, nor in any surpassing beauty :
" Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom was the arm
of the Lord revealed? He made announcement before Him,
as a child, as a root in a thirsty ground. He has no form nor
glory, and we beheld Him, and He had no form nor beauty ;
but His form was without honour, and inferior to that of the
sons of men." 3 These passages, then, Celsus listened to, be
cause he thought they were of use to him in bringing a charge
against Jesus; but he paid no attention to the words of the
45th Psalm, and why it is then said, " Gird Thy sword upon
Thy thigh, O most mighty, with Thy comeliness and beauty,
and continue, and prosper, and reign." 4
Chapter lxxvi.
Let it be supposed, however, that he had not read the pro-
1 x.xtx%Ay&iv. 2 dysvig.
3 Cf. Isa. liii. 1-3 (LXX.). 4 Cf. Ps. xlv. 3, 4 (LXX.).

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 419
phecy, or that he had read it, but had been drawn away by
those who misinterpreted it as not being spoken of Jesus Christ.
What has he to say of the Gospel, in the narratives of which
Jesus ascended up into a high mountain, and was transfigured
before the disciples, and was seen in glory, when both Moses
and Elias, " being seen in glory, spake of the decease which He
was about to accomplish at Jerusalem ? " or when the prophet
says, " We beheld Him, and He had no form nor beauty," etc.?
and Celsus accepts this prophecy as referring to Jesus, being
blinded in so accepting it, and not seeing that it is a great
proof that the Jesus who appeared to be " without form " was
the Son of God, that His very appearance should have been
made the subject of prophecy many years before His birth.
But if another prophet speak of His comeliness and beauty, he
will no longer accept the prophecy as referring to Christ !
And if it were to be clearly ascertained from the Gospels that
" He had no form nor beauty, but that His appearance was
without honour, and inferior to that of the sons of men," it
might be said that it was not with reference to the prophetic
writings, but to the Gospels, that Celsus made his remarks.
But now, as neither the Gospels nor the apostolic writings in
dicate that " He had no form nor beauty," it is evident that we
must accept the declaration of the prophets as true of Christ,
and this will prevent the charge against Jesus from being
advanced.1 Chapter lxxvii.
But again, how did he who said, "Since a divine Spirit
inhabited the body [of Jesus], it must certainly have been
different from that of other beings in respect of grandeur, or
voice, or strength, or impressiveness, or persuasiveness," not
observe the changing relation of His body according to the
capacity of the spectators (and therefore its corresponding
utility), inasmuch as it appeared to each one of such a nature
as it was requisite for him to behold it ? Moreover, it is not a
subject of wonder that the matter, which is by nature suscep
tible of being altered and changed, and of being transformed
into anything which the Creator chooses, and is capable of

420 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
receiving all the qualities which the Artificer desires, should
at one time possess a quality, agreeably to which it is said,
" He had no form nor beauty," and at another, one so glorious,
and majestic, and marvellous, that the spectators of such sur
passing loveliness — three disciples who had ascended [the
mount] with Jesus — should fall upon their faces. He will say,
howover, that these are inventions, and in no respect different
from myths, as are also the other marvels related of Jesus ;
which objection we have answered at greater length in what
has gone before. But there is also something mystical in this
doctrine, which announces that the varying appearances of
Jesus are to be referred to the nature of the divine Word, who
does not show Himself in the same manner to the multitude
as He does to those who are capable of following Him to the
high mountain which we have mentioned ; for to those who
still remain below, and are not yet prepared to ascend, the
Word " has neither form nor beauty," because to such persons
His form is " without honour," and inferior to the words given
forth by men, which are figuratively termed " sons of men."
For we might say that the words of philosophers — who are
" sons of men " — appear far more beautiful than the Word of
God, who is proclaimed to the multitude, and who also ex
hibits [what is called] the " foolishness of preaching," and on
account of this apparent " foolishness of preaching " those who
look at this alone say, " We saw Him, but He had no form
nor beauty." To those, indeed, who have received power to
follow Him, in order that they may attend Him even when
He ascends to the " lofty mount," He has a diviner appearance,
which they behold, if there happens to be [among them] a
Peter, who has received within himself the edifice of the
church based upon the Word, and who has gained such
a habit [of goodness] that none of the gates of Hades will
prevail against him, having been exalted by the Word from the
gates of death, that he may " publish the praises of God in the
gates of the daughter of Sion," and any others who have derived
their birth from impressive preaching,1 and who are not at all
inferior to " sons of thunder." But how can Celsus and the
enemies of the divine Word, and those who have not examined
xai ti Tivig siaiv ix Aoyoiv tyiv yivtGiv T^xxovTtg fityxAo(pZvoiv.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 421
the doctrines of Christianity in the spirit of truth, know the
meaning of the different appearances of Jesus ? And I refer
also to the different stages of His life, and to any actions
performed by Him before His sufferings, and after His resur
rection from the dead.
Chapter lxxvih.
Celsus next makes certain observations of the following
nature : " Again, if God, like Jupiter in the comedy, should,
on awaking from a lengthened slumber, desire to rescue the
human race from evil, why did He send this Spirit of which you
speak into one corner [of the earth] ? He ought to have
breathed it alike into many bodies, and have sent them out
into all the world. Now the comic poet, to cause laughter in
the theatre, wrote that Jupiter, after awakening, despatched
Mercury to the Athenians and Lacedaemonians ; but do not
you think that you have made the Son of God more ridiculous
in sending Him to the Jews ? " Observe in such language as
this the irreverent character of Celsus, who, unlike a philo
sopher, takes the writer of a comedy, whose business is to
cause laughter, and compares our God, the Creator of all
things, to the being who, as represented in the play, on awak
ing, despatches Mercury [on an errand] ! We stated, indeed,
in what precedes, that it was not as if awakening from a
lengthened slumber that God sent Jesus to the human race,
who has now, for good reasons, fulfilled the economy of His
incarnation, but who has always conferred benefits upon the
human race. For no noble deed has ever been performed
amongst men, where the divine Word did not visit the souls of
those who were capable, although for a little time, of admitting
such operations of the divine Word. Moreover, the advent of
Jesus apparently to one corner [of the earth] was founded on
good reasons, since it was necessary that He who was the sub
ject of prophecy should make His appearance among those
who had become acquainted with the doctrine of one God, and
who perused the writings of His prophets, and who had come
to know the announcement of Christ, and that He should come
to them at a time when the Word was about to be diffused from
one corner over the whole world.

422 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
Chapter lxxix.
And therefore there was no need that there should every
where exist many bodies, and many spirits like Jesus, in order
that the whole world of men might be enlightened by the Word
of God. For the one Word was enough, having arisen as the
" Sun of righteousness," to send forth from Judea His coming
rays into the soul of all who were willing to receive Him. But
if any one desires to see many bodies filled with a divine Spirit,
similar to the one Christ, ministering to the salvation of men
everywhere, let him take note of those who teach the gospel of
Jesus in all lands in soundness of doctrine and uprightness of
life, and who are themselves termed " christs " by the Holy
Scriptures, in the passage, " Touch not mine anointed,1 and
do not my prophets any harm." 2 For as we have heard that
Antichrist cometh, and yet have learned that there are many
antichrists in the world, in the same way, knowing that Christ
has come, we see that, owing to Him, there are many christs
in the world, who, like Him, have loved righteousness and hated
iniquity, and therefore God, the God of Christ, anointed them
also with the " oil of gladness." But inasmuch as He loved
righteousness and hated iniquity above those who were His
partners,3 He also obtained the first-fruits of His anointing,
and, if we must so term it, the entire unction of the oil of glad
ness ; while they who were His partners shared also in His
unction, in proportion to their individual capacity. Therefore,
since Christ is the head of the church, so that Christ and the
church form one body, the ointment descended from the head to
the beard of Aaron, — the symbols of the perfect man, — and this
ointment in its descent reached to the very skirt of his garment.
This is my answer to the irreverent language of Celsus when
he says, " He ought to have breathed [His Spirit] alike into
many bodies, and have sent it forth into all the world." The
comic poet, indeed, to cause laughter, has represented Jupiter
asleep and awaking from slumber, and despatching Mercury
to the Greeks ; but the Word, knowing that the nature of God
is unaffected by sleep, may teach us that God administers in
2 Cf. 1 Chron. xvi. 22 and Ps. cv. 15.

Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 423
due season, and as right reason demands, the affairs of the
world. It is not, however, a matter of surprise that, owing to
the greatness and incomprehensibility1 of the divine judgments,
ignorant persons should make mistakes, and Celsus among them.
There is therefore nothing ridiculous in the Son of God having
been sent to the Jews, amongst whom the prophets had ap
peared, in order that, making a commencement among them in
a bodily shape, He might arise with might and power upon a
world of souls, which no longer desired to remain deserted
by God.
Chapter lxxx.
After this, it seemed proper to Celsus to term the Chaldeans
a most divinely-inspired nation from the very earliest times,2
from whom the delusive system of astrology3 has spread abroad
among men. Nay, he ranks the Magi also in the same cate
gory, from whom the art of magic derived its name and has
been transmitted to other nations, to the corruption and de
struction of those who employ it. In the preceding part of
this work, [we mentioned] that, in the opinion even of Celsus,
the Egyptians also were guilty of error, because they had indeed
solemn enclosures around what they considered their temples,
while within them there was nothing save apes, or crocodiles,
or goats, or asps, or some other animal ; but on the present
occasion it pleases him to speak of the Egyptian people too as
most divinely inspired, and that, too, from the earliest times, —
perhaps because they made war upon the Jews from an early
date. The Persians, moreover, who marry their own mothers,
and have intercourse with their own daughters, are, in the
opinion of Celsus, an inspired race ; nay, even the Indians are
so, some of whom, in the preceding, he mentioned as eaters of
human flesh. To the Jews, however, especially those of ancient
times, who employ none of these practices, he did not merely
refuse the name of inspired, but declared that they would imme
diately perish. And this prediction he uttered respecting them,
as being doubtless endued with prophetic power, not observing
that the whole history of the Jews, and their ancient and vene
rable polity, were administered by God ; and that it is by their
1 XvaXr/iyYlTOvg tx; xp'msig. 2 i't dpxng. s ytvtoAixAoyix.

424 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
fall that salvation has come to the Gentiles, and that " their
fall is the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the
riches of the Gentiles," x until the fulness of the Gentiles come,
that after that the whole of Israel, whom Celsus does not know,
may be saved.
Chapter lxxxi.
I do not understand, however, how he should say of God,
that although " knowing all things, He was not aware of this,
that He was sending His Son amongst wicked men, who were
both to be guilty of sin, and to inflict punishment upon Him."
Certainly he appears, in the present instance, to have forgotten
that all the sufferings which Jesus was to undergo wore fore
seen by the Spirit of God, and foretold by His prophets ; from
which it does not follow that " God did not know that He was
sending His Son amongst wicked and sinful men, who were
also to inflict punishment upon Him." He immediately adds,
however, that " our defence on this point is that all these things
were predicted." But as our sixth book has now attained suffi
cient dimensions, we shall stop here, and begin, God willing,
the argument of the seventh, in which we shall consider the
reasons which he thinks furnish an answer to our statement,
that everything regarding Jesus was foretold by the prophets ;
and as these are numerous, and require to be answered at
length, we wished neither to cut the subject short, in conse
quence of the size of the present book, nor, in order to avoid
doing so, to swell this sixth book beyond its proper proportions.
1 Cf. Rom. xi. 11, 12.

BOOK VII.
Chapter i.
}N the six former books we have endeavoured, reverend
brother Ambrosius, according to our ability to meet
the charges brought by Celsus against the Chris
tians, and have as far as possible passed over nothing
without first subjecting it to a full and close examination.
And now, while we enter upon the seventh book, we call upon
God through Jesus Christ, whom Celsus accuses, that He who
is the truth of God would shed light into our hearts and scatter
the darkness of error, in accordance with that saying of the
prophet which we now offer as our prayer, " Destroy them by
Thy truth."1 For it is evidently the words and reasonings
opposed to the truth that God destroys by His truth ; so that
when these are destroyed, all who are delivered from deception
may go on with the prophet to say, " I will freely sacrifice unto
Thee," 2 and may offer to the Most High a reasonable and
smokeless sacrifice. Chapter ii.
Celsus now sets himself to combat the views of those who say
that the Jewish prophets foretold events which happened in
the life of Christ Jesus. At the outset let us refer to a notion
he has, that those who assume the existence of another God
besides the God of the Jews have no ground on which to answer
his objections ; while we who recognise the same God rely for
our defence on the prophecies which were delivered concerning
Jesus Christ. His words are : " Let us see how they can raise
a defence. To those who admit another God, no defence is
possible ; and they who recognise the same God will always
fall back upon the same reason, ' This and that must have
1 Ps. liv. 5. 2 Ps. liv. 6.
425

426 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
happened.' And why ? ' Because it had been predicted long
before.' " To this we answer, that the arguments recently
raised by Celsus against Jesus and Christians were so utterly
feeble, that they might easily be overthrown even by those who
are impious enough to bring in another God. Indeed, were
it not dangerous to give to the weak any excuse for embracing
false notions, we could furnish the answer ourselves, and show
Celsus how unfounded is his opinion, that those who admit
another God are not in a position to meet his arguments.
However, let us for the present confine ourselves to a defence
of the prophets, in continuation of what we have said on the
subject before.
Chapter hi.
Celsus goes on to say of us: " They set no value on the oracles
of the Pythian priestess, of the priests of Dodona, of Clarus, of
Branchidse, of Jupiter Ammon, and of a multitude of others ;
although under their guidance we may say that colonies wore
sent forth, and the whole world peopled. But those sayings
which were uttered or not uttered in Judea, after the manner
of that country, as indeed they are still delivered among the
people of Phoenicia and Palestine — these they look upon as
marvellous sayings, and unchangeably true." In regard to the
oracles here enumerated, we reply that it would be possible for
us to gather from the writings of Aristotle and the Peripatetic
school not a few things to overthrow the authority of the
Pythian and the other oracles. From Epicurus also, and his
followers, we could quote passages to show that even among the
Greeks themselves there were some who utterly discredited the
oracles which were recognised and admired throughout the
whole of Greece. But let it be granted that the responses
delivered by the Pythian and other oracles were not the utter
ances of false men who pretended to a divine inspiration ; and
let us see if, after all, we cannot convince any sincere inquirers
that there is no necessity to attribute these oracular responses
to any divinities, but that, on the other hand, they may be traced
to wicked demons — to spirits which are at enmity with the
human race, and which in this way wish to hinder the soul
from rising upwards, from following the path of virtue, and

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 427
from returning to God iri sincere piety. It is said of the
Pythian priestess, whose Oracle seems to have been the most
celebrated, that when._sk€ sat down at the mouth of the Cas-
talian cave, the prophetic spirit of Apollo entered her private
parts;, and when she was filled with it, she gave utterance to
responses which are regarded with awe as divine truths. Judge
bj this whether that spirit does not show its profane and
inpure nature, by choosing to enter the soul of the prophetess
not through the more becoming medium of the bodily pores
Ivhich are both open and invisible, but by means of what no
jnodest man would ever see or speak of. And this occurs not
pnce or twice, which would be more permissible, but as often as
phe was believed to receive inspiration from Apollo. Moreover,
[it is not the part of a divine spirit to drive the prophetess into
|such a state of ecstasy and madness that she loses control of
herself. For he who is under the influence of the Divine
Spirit ought to be the first to receive the beneficial effects ; and
these ought not to be first enjoyed by the persons who consult
the oracle about the concerns of natural or civil life, or for pur
poses of temporal gain or interest; and, moreover, that should
be the time of clearest perception, when a person is in close
intercourse with the Deity.
Chapter iv.
Accordingly, we can show from an examination of the sacred
Scriptures, that the Jewish prophets, who were enlightened as
far as was necessary for their prophetic work by the Spirit of
God, were the first to enjoy the benefit of the inspiration ; and
by the contact — if I may so say — of the Holy Spirit they be
came clearer in mind, and their souls were filled with a brighter
light. And the body no longer served as a hindrance to a
virtuous life ; for to that which wo call " the lust of the flesh "
it was deadened. For we are persuaded that the Divine Spirit
"mortifies the deeds of the body," and destroys that enmity
against God which the carnal passions serve to excite. If, then,
the Pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies,
what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her
judgment with darkness, unless it be of the same order with
those demons which many Christians cast out of persons

428 ORIGEN AGAINST^ CELSUS. [Book vii.
possessed with them? And this, we may observe, they do
without the use of any curious arts ;0f magic, or incantations
but merely by prayer- and simple adjura^, ^^ the ]a[nest'
person can use. Because for the most part it is ^nieft i
persons who perform this work ; thus making manif*. . ,
grace which is in the word of Christ, and the despicable w.^ ,
ness of demons, which, in order to be overcome and driven ov
of the bodies and souls of men, do not require the powor anl
i wisdom of those who are mighty in argument, and most learneq
in matters of faith.
Chapter v.
Moreover, if it is believed not only among Christians andj
Jews, but also by many others among the Greeks and barbarians,
that the human soul lives and subsists after its separation from
the body ; and if reason supports the idea that pure souls which
are not weighed down with sin as with a weight of lead ascend
on high to the region of purer and more etherial bodies, leaving
here below their grosser bodies along with their impurities ;
whereas souls that are polluted and dragged down to the earth
by their sins, so that they are unable even to breathe upwards,
wander hither and thither, at some times about sepulchres, where
they appear as the apparitions of shadowy spirits, at others among
other objects on the ground; — if this is so, what are we to think
of those spirits that are attached for entire ages, as I may say,
to particular dwellings and places, whether by a sort of magical
force or by their own natural wickedness ? Are we not com
pelled by reason to set down as evil such spirits as employ the
powor of prophesying — a power in itself neither good nor bad —
for the purpose of deceiving men, and thus turn them away
from God, and from the purity of His service ? It is moreover
evident that this is their character, when wo add that they
delight in the blood of victims, and in the smoke and odour of
sacrifices, and that they feed their bodies on these, and that
they take pleasure in such haunts as these, as though they
sought in them the sustenance of their lives ; in this resem
bling those depraved men who despise the purity of a life apart
from the senses, and who have no inclination except for the
pleasures of the body, and for that earthly and bodily life in

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 429
which these pleasures are found. If the Delphian Apollo were
a god, as the Greeks suppose, would he not rather have chosen
as his prophet some wise man ? or if such an one was not to be
found, then one who was endeavouring to become wise ? How
came he not to prefer a man to a woman for the utterance of
his prophecies ? And if he preferred the latter sex, as though
he could only find pleasure in the breast of a woman, why did
he not choose among women a virgin to interpret his will ?
Chapter vi.
But no ; the Pythian, so much admired among the Greeks,
judged no wise man, nay, no man at all, worthy of the divine
possession, as they call it. And among women he did not
choose a virgin, or one recommended by her wisdom, or by her
attainments in philosophy.; but he selects a common woman.
Perhaps the better class of men were too good to become the
subjects of the inspiration. Besides, if he were a god, he
should have employed his prophetic power as a bait, so to speak,
with which he might draw men to a change of life, and to the
practice of virtue. But history nowhere makes mention of
anything of the kind. For if the oracle did call Socrates the
wisest of all men, it takes from the value of that eulogy by what
is said in regard to Euripides and Sophocles. The words are :
" Sophocles is wise, and Euripides is wiser,
But wiser than all men is Socrates."1
As, then, he gives the designation "wise" to the tragic poets, it
is not 011 account of his philosophy that he holds up Socrates
to veneration, or because of his love of truth and virtue. It is
poor praise of Socrates to say that he prefers him to men who
for a paltry reward compete upon the stage, and who by their
representations excite the spectators at one time to tears and
grief, and at another to unseemly laughter (for such is the inten
tion of the satiric drama). And perhaps it was not so much
in regard to his philosophy that he called Socrates the wisest
of all men, as on account of the victims which he sacrificed
to him and the other demons. For it seems that the demons
pay more regard in distributing their favours to the sacrifices
which are offered them than to deeds of virtue. Accordingly,
1 Suidas in 2o<po'f.

430 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vil
Homer, the best of the poets, who describes what usually took
place, when, wishing to show us what most influenced the
demons to grant an answer to the wishes of their votaries,
introduces Chryses, who, for a few garlands and the thighs of
bulls and goats, obtained an answer to his prayers for his
daughter Chryseis, so that the Greeks were driven by a pesti
lence to restore her back to him. And I remember reading in
the book of a certain Pythagorean, when writing on the hidden
meanings in that poet, that the pjayer of Chryses to Apollo, and
the plague which Apollo afterwards sent upon the Greeks, are
proofs that Homer knew of certain evil demons who delight
in the smoke of sacrifices, and who, to reward those who offer
them, grant in answer to their prayers the destruction of others.
" He," that is, Jupiter, " who rules over wintry Dodona, where
his prophets have ever unwashed feet, and sleep upon the
ground,"1 has rejected the male sex, and, as Celsus observes,
employs the women of Dodona for the prophetic office. Grant
ing that there are oracles similar to these, as that at Clarus,
another in Branchidse, another in the temple of Jupiter Am
mon, or anywhere else ; yet how shall it be proved that these
are gods, and not demons ?
Chapter vii.
In regard to the prophets among the Jews, some of them
were wise men before they became divinely inspired prophets,
while others became wise by the illumination which their minds
received when divinely inspired. They were selected by
Divine Providence to receive the Divine Spirit, and to be the
depositaries of His holy oracles, on the ground of their leading
a life of almost unapproachable excellence, intrepid, noble,
unmoved by danger or death. For reason teaches that such
ought to be the character of the prophets of' the Most High, in
comparison with which the firmness of Antisthenes, Crates,
and Diogenes will seem but as child's play. It was therefore
for their firm adherence to truth, and their faithfulness in the
reproof of the wicked, that they were "stoned; they were
sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword ; they
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
1 Homer, Iliad, xvi. 234, etc.

Bookvh.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 431
afflicted, tormented ; they wandered in deserts and in mountains,
and in dens and caves of the earth, of whom the world was not
worthy : " x for they looked always to God and to His blessings,
which, being invisible, and not to be perceived by the senses, are
eternal. We have the history of the life of each of the prophets;
but it will be enough at present to direct attention to the life of
Moses, whose prophecies are contained in the law ; to that of
Jeremiah, as it is given in the book which bears his name; to
that of Isaiah, who with unexampled austerity walked naked and
barefooted for the space of three years. Bead and consider the
severe life of those children, Daniel and his companions, how
they abstained from flesh, and lived on water and pulse. Or
if you will go back to more remote times, think of the life of
Noah, who prophesied ; and of Isaac, who gave his son a' pro
phetic blessing ; or of Jacob, who addressed each of his twolve
sons, beginning with " Come, that I may tell you what shall
befall you in the last days." These, and a multitude of others,
prophesying on behalf of God, foretold events relating to Jesus
Christ. We therefore for this reason set at nought the oracles
of the Pythian priestess, or those delivered at Dodona, at Clarus,
at Branchidse, at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, or by a multi
tude of other so-called prophets ; whilst we regard with reverent
awe the Jewish prophets : for we see that the noble, earnest,
and devout lives of these men were worthy of the inspiration of
the Divine Spirit, whose wonderful effects were widely different
from the divination of demons. Chapter viii.
I do not know what led Celsus, when saying, " But what
things were spoken or not spoken in the land of Judea, accord
ing to the custom of the country," to use the words " or not
spoken," as though implying that he was incredulous, and
that he suspected that those things which wore written were
never spoken. In fact, he is unacquainted with these times ;
and he does not know that those prophets who foretold the com
ing of Christ, predicted a multitude of other events many years
beforehand. He adds, with the view of casting a slight upon
the ancient prophets, that " they prophesied in the same way
1 Heb. xi. 37, 38.

432 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
as we find them still doing among the inhabitants of Phoenicia
and Palestine." But he does not tell us whether he refers to
persons who are of different principles from those of the Jews
and Christians, or to persons whose prophecies are of the same
character as those of the Jewish prophets. However it be, his
statement is false, taken in either way. For never have any
of those who have not embraced our faith done anything ap
proaching to what was done by the ancient prophets ; and in
more recent times, since the coming of Christ, no prophets
have arisen among the Jews, who have confessedly been aban
doned by the Holy Spirit on account of their impiety towards
God, and towards Him of whom their prophets spoke. More
over, the Holy Spirit gave signs of Llis presence at the begin
ning of Christ's ministry, and after His ascension He gave
still more ; but since that time these signs have diminished,
although there are still traces of His presence in a few who
have had their souls purified by the gospel, and their actions
regulated by its influence. " For the holy spirit of discipline
will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are -without
understanding." x Chapter ix.
But as Celsus promises to give an account of the manner
in which prophecies are delivered in Phoenicia and Palestine,
speaking as though it were a matter with which he had a full
and personal acquaintance, let us see what he has to say on the
subject. First he lays it down that there are several kinds of
prophecies, but he does not specify what they are ; indeed, he
could not do so, and the statement is a piece of pure ostentation.
However, let us see what he considers the most perfect kind of
prophecy among these nations. " There are many," he says,
" who, although of no name, with the greatest facility and
on the slightest occasion, whether within or without temples,
assume the motions and gestures of inspired persons ; while
others do it in cities or among armies, for the purpose of
attracting attention and exciting surprise. These are accus
tomed to say, each for himself, ' I am God ; I am the Son of
God ; or, I am the Divine Spirit ; I have come because the world
1 Wisd. of Sol. i. 5.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 433
is perishing, and you, O men, are perishing for your iniquities.
But I wish to save you, and you shall see me returning again
with heavenly power. Blessed is he who now does me homage.
On all the rest I will send down eternal fire, both on cities and
on countries. And those who know not the punishments which
await them shall repent and grieve in vain ; while those who
are faithful to me I will preserve eternally.' " Then he goes
on to say : " To these promises are added strange, fanatical, and
quite unintelligible words, of which no rational person can find
the meaning : for so dark are they, as to have no meaning at
all ; but they give occasion to every fool or impostor to apply
them to suit his own purposes."
Chapter x.
But if he were dealing honestly in his accusations, he ought
to have given the exact terms of the prophecies, whether those
in which the speaker is introduced as claiming to be God
Almighty, or those in which the Son of God speaks, or finally
those under the name of the Holy Spirit. For thus he might
have endeavoured to overthrow these assertions, and have shown
that there was no divine inspiration in those words which urged
men to forsake their sins, which condemned the past and fore
told the future. For the prophecies were recorded and preserved
by men living at the time, that those who came after might read
and admire them as the oracles of God, and that they might
profit not only by the warnings and admonitions, but also by the
predictions, which being shown by events to have proceeded
from the Spirit of God, bind men to the practice of piety as set
forth in the law and the prophets. The prophets have therefore,
as God commanded them, declared with all plainness those
things which it was desirable that the hearers should understand
at once for the regulation of their conduct ; while in regard
to deeper and more mysterious subjects, which lay beyond
the reach of the common understanding, they set them forth
in the form of enigmas and allegories, or of what are called
dark sayings, parables, or similitudes. And this plan they have
followed, that those who are ready to shun no labour and spare
no pains in their endeavours after truth and virtue might search
into their meaning, and having found it, might apply it as reason
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 E

434 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookvii.
requires. But Celsus, ever vigorous in his denunciations, as
though he were angry at his inability to understand the lan
guage of the prophets, scoffs at them thus : " To these grand
promises are added strange, fanatical, and quite unintelligible
words, of which no rational person can find the meaning ; for
so dark are they as to have no meaning at all ; but they give
occasion to every fool or impostor to apply them so as to_sjiit
his own purposes." This statement of Celsus seems ingeniously
designed to dissuade readers from attempting any inquiry or
careful search into their meaning. And in this he is not unlike
certain persons, who said to a man whom a prophet had visited
to announce future events, " Wherefore came this mad fellow
to thee ? " x
Chapter xi.
I am convinced, indeed, that much better arguments could be
adduced than any I have been able to bring forward, to show
the falsehood of these allegations of Celsus, and to set forth the
divine inspiration of the prophecies ; but we have according to
our ability, in our commentaries on Isaiah, Ezekiel, and some
of the twelve minor prophets, explained literally and in detail
what he calls " those fanatical and utterly unintelligible
passages." And if God give us grace in the time that He
appoints for us, to advance in the knowledge of His word, we
shall continue our investigation into the parts which remain, or
into such at least as we are able to make plain. And other
persons of intelligence who wish to study Scripture may also
find out its meaning for themselves ; for although there are
many places in which the meaning is not obvious, yet there
are none where, as Celsus affirms, " there is no sense at all."
Neither is it true that " any fool or impostor can explain the
passages so as to make them suit his own purposes." For it
belongs only to those who are wise in the truth of Christ (and
to all them it does belong) to unfold the connection and mean
ing of even the obscure parts of prophecy, " comparing spiritual
things with spiritual," and interpreting each passage according
to the usage of Scripture writers. And Celsus is not to be
believed when he says that he has heard such men prophesy :
1 2 Kings ix. 11.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 435
for no prophets bearing any resemblance to the ancient pro
phets have appeared in the time of Celsus. If there had been
any, those who heard and admired them would have followed
the example of the ancients, and have recorded the prophecies
in writing. And it seems quite clear that Celsus is speaking
falsely, when he says that " those prophets whom he had heard,
on being pressed by him, confessed their true motives, and
acknowledged that the ambiguous words they used really meant
nothing." He ought to have given the names of those whom
he says he had heard, if he had any to give, so that those who
were competent to judge might decide whether his allegations
were true or false.
Chapter xii.
He thinks, besides, that those who support the cause of Christ
by a. reference to the writings of the prophets can give no
•proper answor in regard to statements in them which attribute
to God that which is wicked, shameful, or impure ; and assum
ing that no answer can be given, he proceeds to draw a whole
train of inferences, none of which can be allowed. But he
ought to know that those who wish to live according to the
teaching of sacred Scripture understand the saying, "The
knowledge of the unwise is as talk without sense,"1 and have
learnt "to be ready always to give an answor to every one
that asketh us a reason for the hope that is in us." 2 And they
are not satisfied with affirming that such and such things have
been predicted ; but they endeavour to remove any apparent
inconsistencies, and to show that, so far from there being any
thing evil, shameful, or impure in these predictions, everything
is worthy of being received by those who understand the sacred
Scriptures. But Celsus ought to have adduced from the pro
phets examples of wbat he thought bad, or shameful, or impure,
if he saw any such passages ; for then his argument would
have had much more force, and would have furthered his pur
pose much better. He gives no instances, however, but con
tents himself with loudly asserting the false charge that these
things are to be found in Scripture. There is no reason, then,
for us to defend ourselves against groundless charges, which
1 Ecclus. xxi. 18. 2 1 Pet. iii. 15.

436 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
are but empty sounds, or to take the trouble of showing that
in the writings of the prophets there is nothing evil, shameful,
impure, or abominable. Chapter xiii.
And there is no truth in the statement of Celsus, that " God
does the most shameless deeds, or suffers the most shameless
sufferings," or that "He favours the commission of evil ;" for
whatever he may say, no such things have ever been foretold.
He ought to have cited from the prophets the passages in which
God is represented as favouring evil, or as doing and enduring
the most shameless deeds, and not have sought without founda
tion to prejudice the minds of his readers. The prophets, indeed,
foretold what Christ should suffer, and set forth the reason why
He should suffer. God therefore also knew what Christ would
suffer ; but where has he learnt that those things which the
Christ of God should suffer were most base and dishonourable?
He goes on to explain what those most shameful and degrading
things were which Christ suffered, in these words : " For what
better was it for God to eat the flesh of sheep, or to drink
vinegar and gall, than to feed on filth?" But God, according
to us, did not eat the flesh of sheep ; and while it may seem that
Jesus ate, He did so only as possessing a body. But in regard
to the vinegar and gall mentioned in the prophecy, " They
gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink," x we have already referred2 to this point ; and
as Celsus compels us to recur to it again, we would only say
further, that those who resist the word of truth do ever offer
to Christ the Son of God the gall of their own wickedness, and
the vinegar of their evil inclinations ; but though He tastes of
it, yet He will not drink it.
Chapter xiv.
In the next place, wishing to shake the faith of those who
believe in Jesus on the ground of the prophecies which were
delivered in regard to Him, Celsus says : " But pray, if the
prophets foretold that the great God — not to put it more
harshly — would become a slave, or become sick, or die ; would
1 Ps. lxix. 21. 2 Book ii. chap. 37.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 437
there be therefore any necessity that God should die, or suffer
sickness, or become a slave, simply because such things had
been foretold ? Must he die in order to prove his divinity ?
But the prophets never would utter predictions so wicked and
impious. We need not therefore inquire whether a thing has
been predicted or not, but whether the thing is honourable in
itself, and worthy of God. In that which is evil and base,
although it seemed that all men in the world had foretold it in
a fit of madness, we must not believe. How then can the pious
mind admit that those things which are said to have happened
to him, could have happened to one who is God ?" From this
it is plain that Celsus feels the argument from prophecy to be
very effective for convincing those to whom Christ is preached ;
but he seems to endeavour to overthrow it by an opposite pro
bability, namely, " that the question is not whether the prophets
uttered these predictions or not." But if he wished to reason
justly and without evasion, he ought rather to have said, " We
must show that these things were never predicted, or that those
things which were predicted of Christ have never been fulfilled
in him," and in that way he would have established the posi
tion which he holds. In that way it would have been made
plain what those prophecies are which we apply to Jesus, and
how Celsus could justify himself in asserting that that appli
cation was false. And we should thus have seen whether he
fairly disproved all that wo bring from the prophets in behalf
of Jesus, or whether he is himself convicted of a shameless
endeavour to resist the plainest truths by violent assertions.
Chapter xv.
After assuming that some things were foretold which are
impossible in themselves, and inconsistent with the character
of God, he says : " If these things were predicted of the Most
High God, are we bound to believe them of God simply be
cause they were predicted ? " And thus he thinks he proves,
that although the prophets may have foretold truly such things
of the Son of God, yet it is impossible for us to believe in those
prophecies declaring that He would do or suffer such things.
To this our answer is that the supposition is absurd, for it com
bines two lines of reasoning which are opposed to each other, and

438 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
therefore mutually destructive. This may be shown as follows.
The one argument is : " If any true prophets of the Most
High say that God will become a slave, or suffer sickness, or
die, these things will come to God ; for it is impossible that the
prophets of the great God should utter lies." The other is :
" If even true prophets of the Most High God say that these
same things shall come to pass, seeing that these things fore
told are by the nature of things impossible, the prophecies are
not true, and therefore those things which have been foretold
will not happen to God." When, then, we find two processes
of reasoning in both of which the major premiss is the same,
leading to two contradictory conclusions, we use the form of
argument called " the theorem of two propositions," x to prove
that the major premiss is false, which in the case before us is
this, " that the prophets have foretold that the great God should
become a slave, suffer sickness, or die." We conclude, then, that
the prophets never foretold such things ; and the argument is
formally expressed as follows : 1st, Of two things, if the first
is true, the second is true ; 2d, if the first is 2 true, the second is
not true, therefore the first is not true. The concrete example
which the Stoics give to illustrate this form of argument is the
following : 1st, If you know that you are dead, you are dead ;
2d, if you know that you are dead, you are not dead. And the
conclusion is — " you do not know that you are dead." These
propositions are worked out as follows : If you know that you
are dead, that which you know is certain ; therefore you are
dead. Again, if you know that you are dead, your death is
an object of knowledge ; but as the dead know nothing, your
knowing this proves that you are not dead. Accordingly, by
joining the two arguments together, you arrive at the con
clusion — "you do not know that you are dead." Now the
hypothesis of Celsus which we have given above is much of the
same kind.
Chapter xvi.
But besides, the prophecies which he introduces into his argu-
* Xix Xvo TpomxZy dtapqpcx.
2 We follow Bouhereau and Valesius, who expunge the negative particle
in this clause.

Book vii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 439
ment are very different from what the prophets actually foretold
of Jesus Christ. For the prophecies do not foretell that God
will be crucified, when they say of Him who should suffer, " We
beheld Him, and He had no form or comeliness ; but His form
was dishonoured and marred more than the sons of men ; He
was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." 1 Observe,
then, how distinctly they say that it was a man who should
endure these human sufferings. And Jesus Himself, who knew
perfectly that one who was to die must be a man, said to His
accusers : " But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath spoken
unto you the truth which I heard of God." 2 And if in that
man as He appeared among men there was something divine,
namely the only-begotten Son of God, the first-born of all
creation, one who said of Himself, " I am the truth," " I am
the life," " I am the door," " I am the way," " I am the living
bread which came down from heaven," of this Being and His
nature we must judge and reason in a way quite different from
that in which we judge of the man who was seen in Jesus
Christ. Accordingly, you will find no Christian, however
simple he may be, and however little versed in critical studies,
who would say that He who died was " the truth," " the life,"
" the way," " the living bread which came down from heaven,"
" the resurrection ; " for it was He who appeared to us in the
form of the man Jesus, who taught us, saying, " I am the re
surrection." There is no one amongst us, I say, so extravagant
as to affirm " the Life died," " the Resurrection died." The
supposition of Celsus would have some foundation if we were
to say that it had been foretold by the prophets that death would
befall God the Word, the Truth, the Life, the Besurrection, or
any other name which is assumed by the Son of God.
Chapter xvii.
In one point alone is Celsus correct in his statements on this
subject. It is that in which he says: "The prophets would
not foretell this, because it involves that which is wicked and
impious," — namely, that the great God should become a slave
or suffer death. But that which is predicted by the prophets
is worthy of God, that He who is the brightness and express
1 Isa. liii. 2, 3. 2 John viii. 40.

440 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
image of the divine nature should come into the world with the
holy human soul which was to animate the body of Jesus, to sow
the seed of His word, which might bring all who received and
cherished it into union with the Most High God, and which
would lead to perfect blessedness all those who felt within
them the power of God the Word, who was to be in the body and
soul of a man. He was to be in it indeed, but not in such a
way as to confine therein all the rays of His glory ; and we are
not to suppose that the light of Him who is God the Word is
shed forth in no other way than in this. If, then, we consider
Jesus in relation to the divinity that was in Him, the things
which He did in this capacity present nothing to offend our
ideas of God, nothing but what is holy ; and if we consider
Him as man, distinguished beyond all other men by an intimate
communion with the Eternal Word, with absolute Wisdom, He
suffered as one who was wise and perfect, whatever it behoved
Llim to suffer who did all for the good of the human race, yea,
even for the good of all intelligent beings. And there is nothing
absurd in a man having died, and in His death being not only
an example of death endured for the sake of piety, but also
the first blow in the conflict which is to overthrow the power
of that evil spirit the devil, who had obtained dominion over
the whole world. For we have signs and pledges of the destruc
tion of his empire, in those who through the coming of Christ
are everywhere escaping from the power of demons, and who,
after their deliverance from this bondage in which they were
held, consecrate themselves to God, and earnestly devote them
selves day by day to advancement in a life of piety.
Chapter xviii.
Celsus adds : " Will they not besides make this reflection ?
If the prophets of the God of the Jews foretold that he who
should come into the world would be the Son of this same God,
how could he command them through Moses to gather wealth,
to extend their dominion, to fill the earth, to put their enemies
of every age to the sword, and to destroy them utterly, which
indeed he himself did — as Moses says — threatening them,
moreover, that if they did not obey his commands, he would
¦ treat them as his avowed enemies ; whilst, on the other hand,

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 441
his Son, the man of Nazareth, promulgated laws quite opposed
to these, declaring that no one can come to the Father who
loves powor, or riches, or glory ; that men ought not to be more
careful in providing food than the ravens ; that they were to
be less concerned about their raiment than the lilies ; that to
him who has given them one blow, they should offer to receive
another ? Whether is it Moses or Jesus who teaches falsely ?
Did the Father, when he sent Jesus, forget the commands
which he had given to Moses ? Or did he change his mind,
condemn his own laws, and send forth a messenger with
counter instructions ? " Celsus, with all his boasts of universal
knowledge, has here fallen into the most vulgar of errors, in
supposing that in the law and the prophets there is not a
meaning deeper than that afforded by a literal rendering of the
words. He does not see how manifestly incredible it is that
worldly riches should be promised to those who lead upright
lives, when it is a matter of common observation that the best
of men have lived in extreme poverty. Indeed, the prophets
themselves, who for the purity of their lives received the Divine
Spirit, " wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented : they wandered in deserts, and
in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." x For, as
the Psalmist says, " many are the afflictions of the righteous."2
If Celsus had read the writings of Moses, he would, I daresay,
have supposed that when it is said to him who kept the law,
" Thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou thyself shalt
not borrow,"3 the promise is made to the just man, that his
temporal riches should be so abundant, that he would be able to
lend not only to the Jews, not only to two or three nations, but
" to many nations." What, then, must have been the wealth
which the just man received according to the law for his
righteousness, if he could lend to many nations ? And must
we not suppose also, in accordance with this interpretation,
that the just man would never borrow anything? For it is
written, " and thou shalt thyself borrow nothing." Did then
that nation remain for so long a period attached to the religion
which was taught by Moses, whilst, according to the supposi
tion of Celsus, they saw themselves so grievously deceived by
1 Heb. xi. 37, 38. 2 Ps. xxxiv. 19. 3 Deut. xxviii. 12.

442 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
that lawgiver? For nowhere is it said of any one that he
was so rich as to lend to many nations. It is not to be be
lieved that they would have fought so zealously in defence of
a law whose promises had proved glaringly false, if they under
stood them in the sense which Celsus gives to them. And if
any one should say that the sins which are recorded to have
been committed by the people are a proof that they despised
the law, doubtless from the feeling that they had been deceived
by it, we may reply that we have only to read the history of
the times in order to find it shown that the whole people, after
having done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,
returned afterwards to their duty, and to the religion prescribed
by the law. Chapter xix.
Now if these words in the law, " Thou shalt have dominion
over many nations, and no one shall rule over thee," were
simply a promise to them of dominion, and if they contain no
deeper meaning than this, then it is certain that the people
would have had still stronger grounds for despising the promises
of the law. Celsus brings forward another passage, although
he changes the terms of it, where it is said that the whole
earth shall be filled with the Hebrew race ; which indeed,
according to the testimony of history, did actually happen after
the coming of Christ, although rather as a result of God's
anger, if I may so say, than of His blessing. As to the pro
mise made to the Jews that they should slay their enemies, it
may be answered that any one who examines carefully into the
meaning of this passage will find himself unable to interpret it
literally. It is sufficient at present to refer to the manner in
which in the Psalms the just man is represented as saying,
among other things, " Every morning will I destroy the wicked
of the land, that I may cut off all workers of iniquity from the
city of Jehovah."1 Judge, then, from the words and spirit of
the speaker, whether it is conceivable that, after having in
the preceding part of the Psalm, as any one may read for
himself, uttered the noblest thoughts and purposes, he should
in the sequel, according to the literal rendering of his words,
1 Ps. ci. 9.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 443
say that in the morning, and at no other period of the day, he
would destroy all sinners from the earth, and leave none of
them alive, and that he would slay every one in Jerusalem who
did iniquity. And there are many similar expressions to be
found in the law, as this, for example : " We left not anything
alive."1
Chapter xx.
Celsus adds, that it was foretold to the Jews,. that if they did
not obey the law, they would be treated in the same way as
they treated their enemies ; and then he quotes from the teach
ing of Christ some precepts which he considers contrary to
those of the law, and uses that as an argument against us.
But before proceeding to this point, we must speak of that
which precedes. We hold, then, that the law has a twofold
sense, — the one literal, the other spiritual, — as has been
shown by some before us. Of the first or literal sense it is
said, not by us, but by God, speaking in one of the prophets,
that " the statutes are not good, and the judgments not good ;"2
whereas, taken in a spiritual sense, the same prophet makes
God say that " His statutes are good, and His judgments
good." Yet evidently the prophet is not saying things which
are contradictory of each other. Paul in like manner says,
that " the letter killeth, and the spirit giveth life,"3 meaning by
"the letter" the literal sense, and by "the spirit" the spiritual
sense of Scripture. We may therefore find in Paul, as well
as in the prophet, apparent contradictions. Indeed, if Ezekiel
says in one place, " I gave them commandments which were
not good, and judgments whereby they should not live," and
in another, " I gave them good commandments and judg
ments, which if a man shall do, he shall live by them," Paul
in like manner, when he wishes to disparage the law taken
literally, says, " If the ministration of death, written and en
graven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel
could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of
his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall
not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?"4 But
1 Deut. ii. 34. 2 Ezek. xx. 25.
3 2 Cor. iii. 6. 4 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8.

444 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookvii.
when in another place he wishes to praise and recommend the
law, he calls it " spiritual," and says, " We know that the law
is spiritual ; " and, " Wherefore the law is holy, and the com
mandment holy, and just, and good."1
Chapter xxi.
When, then, the letter of the law promises riches to the just,
Celsus may follow the letter which killeth, and understand it
of worldly riches, which blind men ; but we say that it refers to
those riches which enlighten the eyes, and which enrich a man
" in all utterance and in all knowledge." And in this sense
we " charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not
high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy ; that they do
good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, will
ing to communicate."2 For, as Solomon says, "riches" are
the true good, which " are the ransom of the life of a man ;"
but the poverty which is the opposite of these riches is destruc
tive, for by it " the poor cannot bear rebuke." 3 And what has
been said of riches applies to dominion, in regard to which
it is said, " The just man shall chase a thousand, and two
put ten thousand to flight."4 Now if riches are to be taken
in the sense we have just explained, consider if it is not
according to God's promise that he who is rich in all utter
ance, in all knowdedge, in all wisdom, in all good works, may
not out of these treasures of utterance, of wisdom, and of
knowledge, lend to many nations. It was thus that Paul lent
to all the nations that he visited, "carrying the gospel of
Christ from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum."5
And as the divine knowdedge was given to him by revelation,
and his mind was illumined by the Divine Word, he himself
therefore needed to borrow from no one, and required not the
ministry of any man to teach him the word of truth. Thus,
as it had been written, " Thou shalt have dominion over many
nations, and they shall not have dominion over thee," he ruled
over the Gentiles whom he brought under the teaching of
Jesus Christ ; and he never " gave place by subjection to men,
1 Rom. vii. 12, 14. 2 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. 3 Prov. xiii. 8.
4 Deut. xxxii. 30. ° Rom. xv. 19.

Bookvii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 445
no, not for an hour,"1 as being himself mightier than they.
And thus also he " filled the earth."
Chapter xxii.
If I must now explain how the just man " slays his enemies,"
and prevails everywhere, it is to be observed that, when he
says, " Every morning will I destroy the wicked of the land,
that I may cut off all workers of iniquity from the city of
Jehovah," by " the land" he means the flesh whose lusts are
at enmity with God ; and by " the city of Jehovah " he desig
nates his own soul, in which was the temple of God, containing
the true idea and conception of God, which makes it to be
admired by all who look upon it. As soon, then, as the rays of
the Sun of righteousness shine into his soul, feeling strengthened
and invigorated by their influence, he sets himself to destroy
all the lusts of the flesh, which are called " the wicked of the
land," and drives out of that city of the Lord which is in his
soul all thoughts which work iniquity, and all suggestions which
are opposed to the truth. And in this way also the just give
up to destruction all their enemies, which are their vices, so
that they do not spare even the children, that is, the early
beginnings and promptings of evil. In this sense also we
understand the language of the 137th Psalm : " O daughter
of Babylon, who art to be destroyed ; happy shall he be that
rewardeth thee as thou hast served us : happy shall he be that
taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."2 For
"the little ones" of Babylon (which signifies confusion) are
those troublesome sinful thoughts which arise in the soul ; and
he who subdues them by striking, as it were, their heads against
the firm and solid strength of reason and truth, is the man who
" dasheth the little ones against the stones ; " and he is there
fore truly blessed. God may therefore have commanded men
to destroy all their vices utterly, even at their birth, without
having enjoined anything contrary to the teaching of Christ ;
and He may Himself have destroyed before the eyes of those
who were " Jews inwardly " 3 all the offspring of evil as His
enemies. And, in like manner, those who disobey the law and
word of God may well be compared to His enemies led astray
1 Gal. ii. 5. 2 Ps. cxxxvii. 8, 9. 3 Rom. ii. 29.

446 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
by sin ; and they may well be said to suffer the same fate as
they deserve who have proved traitors to the truth of God.
Chapter xxiii.
From what has been said, it is clear then that Jesus, " the
man of Nazareth," did not promulgate laws opposed to those
just considered in regard to riches, when He said, "It is hard
for the rich man to enter into the kingdom of God ; " x whether
we take the word " rich " in its simplest sense, as referring to the
man whose mind is distracted by his wealth, and, as it were,
entangled with thorns, so that he brings forth no spiritual fruit ;
or whether it is the man who is rich in the sense of abounding
in false notions, of whom it is written in the Proverbs, " Better
is the poor man who is just, than the rich man who is false." 2
Perhaps it is the following passages which have led Celsus to
suppose that Jesus forbids ambition to His disciples : " Who
ever of you will be the chief est shall be servant of all ; " 3 " The
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them," 4 and
"they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors." 5
But there is nothing here inconsistent with the promise, " Thou
shalt rule over many nations, and they shall not rule over thee,"
especially after the explanation which we have given of these
words. Celsus next throws in an expression in regard to wis
dom, as though he thought that, according to the teaching of
Christ, no wise man could come to the Father. But we would
ask in what sense he speaks of a wise man. For if he means
one who is wise in " the wisdom of this world," as it is called,
" which is foolishness with God," 6 then we would agree with
him in saying that access to the Father is denied to one who
is wise in that sense. But if by wisdom any one means Christ,
who is " the power and wisdom of God," far from such a wise
man being refused access to the Father, we hold that he who
is adorned by the Holy Spirit with that gift which is called
" the word of wisdom," far excels all those who have not
received the same grace.
1 Matt. xix. 23. 2 Prov. xxviii. 6. 3 Mark x. 44.
4 Matt. xx. 25. * Luke xxii. 25. « 1 Cor. iii. 19.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 447

Chapter xxi v.
The pursuit of human glory, we maintain, is forbidden not
only by the teaching of Jesus, but also by the Old Testament.
Accordingly we find one of the prophets, when imprecating
upon himself certain punishments for the commission of certain
sins, includes among the punishments this one of earthly glory.
He says, " O Lord my God, if I have done this ; if there be
iniquity in my hands ; if I have rewarded evil unto him that
was at peace with me ; (yea, rather, I have delivered him that
without cause is mine enemy ;) let the enemy persecute my soul,
and take it ; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth,
and set my glory up on high."1 And these precepts of our Lord,
" Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.
Behold the fowls of the air, or behold the ravens : for they
sow not, neither do they reap ; yet your heavenly Father
f eedeth them. How much better are ye than they ! And why
take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field ;" 2
— these precepts, and those which follow, are not inconsistent
with the promised blessings of the law, which teaches that the
just "shall eat their bread to the full;"3 nor with that saying
of Solomon, " The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his
soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want." 4 For we must
consider the food promised in the law as the food of the soul,
which is to satisfy not both parts of man's nature, but the soul
only. And the words of the Gospel, although probably con
taining a deeper meaning, may yet be taken in their more
simple and obvious sense, as teaching us not to be disturbed
with anxieties about our food and clothing, but, while living
in plainness, and desiring only what is needful, to put our trust
in the providence of God.
Chapter xxv.
Celsus then extracts from the Gospel the precept, " To him
who strikes thee once, thou shalt offer thyself to be struck again,"
although without giving any passage from the Old Testament
1 Ps. vii. 3-5. Origen follows the reading tig xovv instead of tig x«ivv,
" make my glory abide in the dust."
2 Matt. vi. 25-28. 3 Lev. xxvi. 5. " Prov. xiii. 25.

448 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS [Book vii.
which he considers opposed to it. On the one hand, we know
that "it was said to them in old time, An eye for an eye, and
a tooth for a tooth ;"1 and on the other, we have read, " I say
unto you, Whoever shall smite thee on the one cheek, turn to
him the other also." 2 But as there is reason to believe that
Celsus produces the objections which he has heard from those
who wish to make a difference between the God of the gospel
and the God of the law,_we must say in reply, that this pre
cept, " Whosoever shall strike thee on the one cheek, turn to
him the other," is not unknown to the older Scriptures. For
thus, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, it is said, "It is good for
a man that he beareth the yoke in his youth : he sitteth alone,
and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him : he
giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him ; he is filled full with
reproach." 3 There is no discrepancy, then, between the God of
the gospel and the God of the law, even when we take literally
the precept regarding the blow on the face. So, then, we in
fer that neither " Jesus nor Moses has taught falsely." The
Father in sending Jesus did not " forget the commands which
He had given to Moses : " He did not " change His mind,
condemn His own laws, and send by His messenger counter
instructions"
Chapter xxvi.
However, if we must refer briefly to the difference between
the constitution which was given to the Jews of old by Moses,
and that which the Christians, under the direction of Christ's
teaching, wish now to establish, we would observe that it must
be impossible for the legislation of Moses, taken literally, to
harmonize with the calling of the Gentiles, and with their sub
jection to the Roman government ; and on the other hand, it
would be impossible for the Jews to preserve their civil economy
unchanged, supposing that they should embrace the gospel.
For Christians could not slay their enemies, or condemn to be
burned or stoned, as Moses commands, those who had broken
the law, and were therefore condemned as deserving of these
punishments ; since the Jews themselves, however desirous of
carrying out their law, are not able to inflict these punishments.
1 Ex. xxi. 24. 2 Matt. v. 39. 3 Lam. iii. 27, 29, 30.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 449
But in the case of the ancient Jews, who had a land and a form
of government of their own, to take from them the right of
making war upon their enemies, of fighting for their country, of
putting to death or otherwise punishing adulterers, murderers,
or others who were guilty of similar crimes, would be to sub
ject them to sudden and utter destruction whenever the enemy
fell upon them ; for their very laws would in that case restrain
them, and prevent them from resisting the enemy. And that
same providence which of old gave the law, and has now given
the gospel of Jesus Christ, not wishing the Jewish state to con
tinue longer, has destroyed their city and their temple : it has
abolished the worship which was offered to God in that temple
by the sacrifice of victims, and other ceremonies which He had
prescribed. And as it has destroyed these things, not wishing
that they should longer continue, in like manner it has extended
day by day the Christian religion, so that it is now preached
everywhere with boldness, and that in spite of the numerous
obstacles which oppose the spread of Christ's teaching in the
world. But since it was the purpose of God that the nations
should receive the benefits of Christ's teaching, all the devices
of men against Christians have been brought to nought ; for
the more that kings, and rulers, and peoples have persecuted
them everywhere, the more have they increased in number
and grown in strength.
Chapter xxvii.
After this Celsus relates at length opinions which he ascribes
to us, but which we do not hold, regarding the Divine Being,
to the effect that " he is corporeal in his nature, and possesses
a body like a man." As he undertakes to refute opinions
which are none of ours, it would be needless to give either the
opinions themselves or their refutation. Indeed, if we did hold
those views of God which he ascribes to us, and which he
opposes, we would be bound to quote his words, to adduce our
own arguments, and to refute his. But if he brings forward
opinions which he has either heard from no one, or if it be
assumed that he has heard them, it must have been from those
who are very simple and ignorant of the meaning of Scripture,
then we need not undertake so superfluous a task as that of
ORIG.  VOL. II. 2 F

450 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
refuting them. For the Scriptures plainly speak of God as of
a being without body. Hence it is said, " No man hath seen
God at any time ; " x and the First-born of all creation is
called "the image of the invisible God,"2 which is the same
as if it were said that He is incorporeal. However, we have
already said something on the nature of God while examining
into the meaning of the words, " God is a Spirit, and they who
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Chapter xxviii.
After thus misrepresenting our views of the nature of God,
Celsus goes on to ask of us " where we hope to go after death ; "
and he makes our answer to be, " to another land better than
this." On this he comments as follows : " The divine men of
a former age have spoken of a happy life reserved for the souls
of the blessed. Some designated it ' the isles of the blest,'
and others 'the Elysian plain,' so called because they were
there to be delivered from their present evils. Thus Homer
says : ' But the gods shall send thee to the Elysian plain, on
the borders of the earth, where they lead a most quiet life.'3
Plato also, who believed in the immortality of the soul, dis
tinctly gives the name 'land' to the place where it is sent.
' The extent of it,'4 says he, ' is immense, and wo only occupy
a small portion of it, from the Phasis to the Pillars of Hercules,
where we dwell along the shores of the sea, as grasshoppers
and frogs beside a marsh. But there are many other places
inhabited in like manner by other men. For there are in
different parts of the earth cavities, varying in form and in
magnitude, into which run water, and clouds, and air. But that
land which is pure lies in the pure region of heaven.' " Celsus
therefore supposes that what we say of a land which is much
better and more excellent than this, has been borrowed from
certain ancient writers whom he styles " divine," and chiefly
from Plato, who in his Phcedon discourses on the pure land
lying in a pure heaven. But he does not see that Moses, who
is much older than the Greek literature, introduces God as
promising to those who lived according to His law the holy
1 John i. 18. 2 Col. i. 15.
3 Odys. iv. 563. 4 Phxdon, p. 109.

Bookvh.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 451
land, which is " a good land and a large, a land flowing with
milk and honey ; " 1 which promise is not to be understood to
refer, as some suppose, to that part of the earth which we call
Judsea; for it, however good it may be, still forms part of
the earth, which was originally cursed for the transgression
of Adam. For these words, " Cursed shall the ground be for
what thou hast done ; with grief, that is, with labour, shalt thou
eat of the fruit of it all the days of thy life," 2 were spoken
of the whole earth, the fruit of which every man who died in
Adam eats with sorrow or labour all the days of his life. And
as all the earth has been cursed, it brings forth thorns and
briers all the days of the life of those who in Adam were
driven out of paradise ; and in the sweat of his face every man
eats bread until he returns to the ground from which he was
taken. For the full exposition of all that is contained in this
passage much might be said ; but we have confined ourselves to
these few words at present, which are intended to remove the
idea, that what is said of the good land promised by God to
the righteous, refers to the land of Judaea.
Chapter xxix.
If, then, the whole earth has been cursed in the deeds of
Adam and of those who died in him, it is plain that all parts
of the earth share in the curse, and among others the land of
Judasa ; so that the words, " a good land and a large, a land
flowing with milk and honey," cannot apply to it, although we
may say of it, that both Judasa and Jerusalem were the shadow
and figure of that pure land, goodly and large, in the pure
region of heaven, in which is the heavenly Jerusalem. And it
is in reference to this Jerusalem that the apostle spoke, as one
who, " being risen with Christ, and seeking those things] which
are above," had found a truth which formed no part of the
Jewish mythology. " Ye are come," says he, " unto Mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru
salem, and to an innumerable company of angels." 3 And in
order to be assured that our explanation of " the good and large
land " of Moses is not contrary to the intention of the Divine
Spirit, we have only to read in all the prophets what they say
1 Ex. iii. 8. 2 Gen. iii. 17. 3 Heb. xii. 22.

452 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
of those who, after having left Jerusalem, and wandered astray
from it, should afterwards return and be settled in the place
which is called the habitation and city of God, as in the words,
" His dwelling is in the holy place ; " x and, " Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the moun
tain of His holiness, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole
earth." 2 It is enough at present to quote the words of the thirty-
seventh Psalm, which speaks thus of the land of the righteous,
" Those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth ; "
and a little after, " But the meek shall inherit the earth, and
shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace ; " and again,
"Those who bless Him shall inherit the earth;" and, "The
righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever." :
And\ consider whether it is not evident to intelligent readers
that the following words from this same Psalm refer to the pure
land in the pure heaven : " Wait on the Lord, and keep His
way ; and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land."
Chapter xxx.
It seems to me also that that fancy of Plato, that those stones
which we call precious stones derive their lustre from a reflection,
as it were, of the stones in that better land, is taken from the
words of Isaiah in describing the city of God, " I will make
thy battlements of jasper, thy stones shall be crystal, and thy
borders of precious stones;"4 and, "I will lay thy foundations
with sapphires." Those who hold in greatest reverence the
teaching of Plato, explain this myth of his as an allegory.
And the prophecies from which, as we conjecture, Plato has
borrowed, will be explained by those who, leading a godly life
like that of the prophets, devote all their time to the study
of the sacred Scriptures, to those who are qualified to learn
by purity of life, and their desire to advance in divine know
ledge. For our part, our purpose has been simply to say that
what we affirm of that sacred land has not been taken from
Plato or any of the Greeks, but that they rather — living as
they did not only after Moses, who was the oldest, but even
1 Ps. lxxvi. 2 ; English version, " In Salem is His tabernacle."
2 Ps. xlviii. 1, 2. 3 Ps. xxxvii. 9, 11, 22, 29, 34.
4 Isa. liv. 12, 11.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 453
after most of the prophets — borrowed from them, and in so
doing either misunderstood their obscure intimations on such
subjects, or else endeavoured, in their allusions to the better
land, to imitate those portions of Scripture which had fallen
into their hands. Haggai expressly makes a distinction be
tween the earth and the dry land, meaning by the latter the
land in which we live. He says : " Yet once, and I will shake
the heavens and the earth, and the dry land, and the sea."1
Chapter xxxi.
Referring to the passage in the Phcedon of Plato, Celsus
says : " It is not easy for every one to understand the meaning
of Plato's words, when he says that on account of our weakness
and slowness we are unable to reach the highest region of the
air ; but that if our nature were capable of so sublime a con
templation, we would then be able to understand that that is
the true heaven, and that the true light." As Celsus has
deferred to another opportunity the explanation of Plato's idea,
we also think that it does not fall within our purpose at pre
sent to enter into any full description of that holy and good
land, and of the city of God which is in it ; but reserve the
consideration of it for our Commentary on the Prophets, having
already in part, according to our power, treated of the city of
God in our remarks on the forty-sixth and forty-eighth Psalms.
The writings of Moses and the prophets — the most ancient of
all books — teach us that all things here on earth which are in
common use among men, have other things corresponding to
them in name which are alone real. Thus, for instance, there
is the true light, and another heaven beyond the firmament,
and a Sun of righteousness other than the sun we see. In a
word, to distinguish those things from the objects of sense,
which have no true reality, they say of God that " His works
are truth;"2 thus making a distinction betwoen the works of
God and the works of God's hands, which latter are of an
inferior sort. Accordingly, God in Isaiah complains of men,
that "they regard not the works of the Lord, nor consider the
operation of His hands."3 But enough on this point.
1 Hagg. ii. 6. 2 Dan. iv. 37. 3 Isa. v. 12.

454 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
Chapter xxxii.
Celsus next assails the doctrine of the resurrection, which is
a high and difficult doctrine, and one which more than others
requires a high and advanced degree of wisdom to set forth
how worthy it is of God ; and how sublime a truth it is which
teaches us that there is a seminal principle lodged in that which
Scripture speaks of as the " tabernacle " of the soul, in which
the righteous "do groan, being burdened, not for that they
would be unclothed, but clothed upon."1 Celsus ridicules this
doctrine because he does not understand it, and because he has
learnt it from ignorant persons, who wore unable to support it
on any reasonable grounds. It will be profitable, therefore,
that in addition to what wo have said above, we should make
this one remark. Our teaching on the subject of the resurrec
tion is not, as Celsus imagines, derived from anything that we
have heard on the doctrine of metempsychosis ; but we know
that the soul, which is immaterial and invisible in its nature,
exists in no material place, without having a body suited to
the nature of that place. Accordingly, it at one time puts off
one body which was necessary before, but which is no longer
adequate in its changed state, and it exchanges it for a second;
and at another time it assumes another in addition to the
former, which is needed as a better covering, suited to the
purer etherial regions of heaven. When it comes into the
world at birth, it casts off the integuments which it needed
in the womb ; and before doing this, it puts on another body
suited for its life upon earth. Then, again, as there is "a
tabernacle" and "an earthly house" which is in some sort
necessary for this tabernacle, Scripture teaches us that " the
earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved," but that
the tabernacle shall " be clothed upon with a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens."2 The men of God say
also that "the corruptible shall put on incorruption,"3 which is
a different thing from " the incorruptible ; " and " the mortal
shall put on immortality," which is different from " the immor
tal." Indeed, what "wisdom" is to " the wise," and "justice"
to "the just," and "peace" to "the peaceable," the same
1 2 Cor. v. 1, 4. 2 2 Cor. v. 1. 3 1 Cor. xv. 53.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 455
relation does " incorruption " hold to " the incorruptible," and
"immortality" to "the immortal." Behold, then, to what a
prospect Scripture encourages us to look, when it speaks to us
of being clothed with incorruption and immortality, which are,
as it were, vestments which will not suffer those who are covered
with them to come to corruption or death. Thus far I have
taken the liberty of referring to this subject, in answer to one
who assails the doctrine of the resurrection without under
standing it, and who, simply because he knew nothing about
it, made it the object of contempt and ridicule.
Chapter xxxiii.
As Celsus supposes that we uphold the doctrine of the resur
rection in order that we may see and know God, he thus follows
out his notions on the subject : " After they have been utterly
refuted and vanquished, they still, as if regardless of all objec
tions, come back again to the same question, ' How then shall
wo see and know God ? how shall we go to Him ? ' " Let any,
however, who are disposed to hear us observe, that if we have
need of a body for other purposes, as for occupying a material
locality to which this body must be adapted, and if on that
account the "tabernacle" is clothed in the way wo have shown,
we have no need of a body in order to know God. For thatf
which sees God is not the eye of the body ; it is the mind which
is made in the image of the Creator,1 and which God has in
His providence rendered capable of that knowledge. To see
God belongs to the pure heart, out of which no longer proceed
" evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies, the evil eye," 2 or any other evil thing.
Wherefore it is said, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God."3 But as the strength of our will is not sufficient
to procure the perfectly pure heart, and as we need that God
should create it, he therefore who prays as he ought, offers this
petition to God, " Create in me a clean heart, O God." 4
1 Bouhereau follows the reading, " the mind which sees what is made in
the image of the Creator."
2 Matt. xv. 19 and vi. 23. 3 Matt. v. 8. 4 Ps. Ii. 10.

456 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.

Chapter xxxiv.
And we do not ask the question, " How shall we go to God ? "
as though we thought that God existed in some place. God is
of too excellent a nature for any place : He holds all things in
His power, and is Himself not confined by anything whatever.
The precept, therefore, " Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy
God," 1 does not command a bodily approach to God ; neither
does the prophet refer to physical nearness to God, when he says
in his prayer, " My soul followeth hard after Thee." 2 Celsus
therefore misrepresents us, when he says that we expect to see
God with our bodily eyes, to hear Him with our ears, and to
touch Him sensibly with our hands. We know that the holy
Scriptures make mention of eyes, of ears, and of hands, which
have nothing but the name in common with the bodily organs ;
and what is more wonderful, they speak of a diviner sense, which
is very different from the senses as commonly spoken of. For
when the prophet says, " Open Thou mine eyes, that I may
behold wondrous things out of Thy law," 3 or, " The command
ment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes," 4 or, " Lighten
mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death," 5 no one is so foolish
as to suppose that the eyes of the body behold the wonders of
the divine law, or that the law of the Lord gives light to the
bodily eyes, or that the sleep of death falls on the eyes of the
body. When our Saviour says, " He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear," 6 any one will understand that the ears spoken of
are of a diviner kind. When it is said that the word of the
Lord was " in the hand " of Jeremiah or of some other prophet ;
or when the expression is used, " the law by the hand of
Moses," or, " I sought the Lord with my hands, and was not
deceived," 7 — no one is so foolish as not to see that the word
" hands " is taken figuratively, as when John says, " Our hands
have handled the Word of life." l And if you wish further to
learn from the sacred writings that there is a diviner sense
1 Deut. xiii. 4. 2 Ps. lxiii. 8.
3 Ps. cxix. 18. 4 Ps. xix. 8.
5 Ps. xiii. 3. 6 Matt. xiii. 9.
7 Ps. lxxvii. 2, according to the LXX.
8 1 John i. 1.

Bookvii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 457
than the senses of the body, you have only to hear what Solo
mon says, " Thou shalt find a divine sense." x
Chapter xxxv.
Seeking God, then, in this way, we have no need to visit the
oracles of Trophonius, of Amphiaraus, and of Mopsus, to which
Celsus would send us, assuring us that we would there " see the
gods in human form, appearing to us with all distinctness, and
without illusion." For we know that these are demons, feeding
on the blood, and smoke, and odour of victims, and shut up by
their base desires in prisons, which the Greeks call temples of the
gods, but which we know are only the dwollings of deceitful
demons. To this Celsus maliciously adds, in regard to these
gods which, according to him, are in human form, " they do not
show themselves for once, or at intervals, like him who has de
ceived men, but they are ever open to intercourse with those
who desire it." From this remark, it would seem that Celsus
supposes that the appearance of Christ to His disciples after
His resurrection was like that of a spectre flitting before their
eyes ; whereas these gods, as he calls them, in human shape
always present themselves to those who desire it. But how is
it possible that a phantom wdiich, as he describes it, flew past
to deceive the beholders, could produce such effects after it
had passed away, and could so turn the hearts of men as to lead
them to regulate their actions according to the will of God, as
in view of being hereafter judged by Him ? And how could
a phantom drive away demons, and show other indisputable
evidences of power, and that not in any one place, like these
so-called gods in human form, but making its divine power felt
through the whole world, in drawing and congregating together
all who are found disposed to lead a good and noble life ?
Chapter xxxvi.
After these remarks of Celsus, which we have endeavoured
to answer as we could, he goes on to say, speaking of us : "Again
they will ask, ' How can we know God, unless by the perception
of the senses ? for how otherwise than through the senses are we
able to gain any knowdedge ? ' " To this he replies : " This is
1 Prov. ii. 5. E. V. and LXX., " Thou shalt find the knowledge of God."

458 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
not the language of a man ; it comes not from the soul, but
from the flesh. Let them hearken to us, if such a spiritless
and carnal race are able to do so : if, instead of exercising the
senses, you look upwards with the soul ; if, turning away the eye
of the body, you open the eye of the mind, thus and thus only
will you be able to see God. And if you seek one to be your
guide along this way, you must shun all deceivers and jugglers,
who will introduce you to phantoms. Otherwise you will be
acting the most ridiculous part, if, whilst you pronounce impre
cations upon those others that are recognised as gods, treating
them as idols, you yet do homage to a more wretched idol than
any of these, which indeed is not even an idol or a phantom,
but a dead man; and you seek a father like to him." The first
remark which we have to make on this passage is in regard to
his use of personification, by which he makes us defend in this
way the doctrine of the resurrection. This figure of speech
is properly employed when the character and sentiments of
the person introduced are faithfully preserved ; but it is an
abuse of the figure when these do not agree with the character
and opinions of the speaker. Thus we should justly condemn
a man wdio put into the mouths of barbarians, slaves, or un
educated people the language of philosophy ; because we know
that the philosophy belonged to the author, and not to such
persons, who could not know anything of philosophy. And
in like manner we should condemn a man for introducing per
sons who are represented as wise and well versed in divine
knowledge, and should make them give expression to language
which could only come out of the mouths of those who are
ignorant or under the influence of vulgar passions. Hence
Homer is admired, among other things, for preserving a con
sistency of character in his heroes, as in Nestor, Ulysses,
Diomede, Agamemnon, Telemachus, Penelope, and the rest.
Euripides, on the contrary, was assailed in the comedies of
Aristophanes as a frivolous talker, often putting into the mouth
of a barbarian woman, a wretched slave, the wise maxims which
he had learned from Anaxagoras or some other philosophers.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 459

Chapter xxxvii.
Now if this is a true account of what constitutes the right
and the wrong use of personification, have we not grounds for
holding Celsus up to ridicule for thus ascribing to Christians
words which they never uttered ? For if those whom he
represents as speaking are the unlearned, how is it possible that
such persons could distinguish betwoen " sense " and " reason,"
between "objects of sense" and "objects of the reason?" To
argue in this way, they would require to have studied under the
Stoics, who deny all intellectual existences, and maintain that all
that we apprehend is apprehended through the senses, and that
all knowledge comes through the senses. But if, on the other
hand, he puts these words into the mouth of philosophers who
search carefully into the meaning of Christian doctrines, the
statements in question do not agree with their character and
principles. For no one who has learnt that God is invisible, and
that certain of His works are invisible, that is to say, appre
hended by the reason,1 can say, as if to justify his faith in a
resurrection, "How can they know God, except by the perception
of the senses ? " or, " How otherwise than through the senses
can they gain any knowledge ? " For it is not in any secret
writings, perused only by a few wise men, but in such as are
most widely diffused and most commonly known among the
people, that these words are written : " The invisible things of
God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made."2 From whence it is
to be inferred, that though men who live upon the earth have
to begin with the use of the senses upon sensible objects, in
order to go on from them to a knowledge of the nature of things
intellectual, yet their knowledge must not stop short with the
objects of sense. And thus, while Christians would not say that
it is impossible to have a knowledge of intellectual objects with
out the senses, but rather that the senses supply the first means
of obtaining knowledge, they might well ask the question, " Who
can gain any knowledge without the senses?" without deserving
1 voyitx, falling under the province of vovg , the reason. For convenience, we
translate it elsewhere " intellectual."
2 Rom. i. 20.

460 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
the abuse of Celsus, when he adds, " This is not the language of
a man ; it comes not from the soul, but from the flesh."
Chapter xxxvih.
Since we hold that the great God is in essence simple, invi
sible, and incorporeal, Himself pure intelligence, or something
transcending intelligence and existence, wo can never say that
God is apprehended by any other means than through the in
telligence which is formed in His image, though now, in the
words of Paul, " we see in a glass obscurely, but then face to
face." 1 And if we use the expression " face to face," let no one
pervert its meaning ; but let it be explained by this passage,
" Beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, we are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory," which shows
that wo do not use the word in this connection to mean the
visible face, but take it figuratively, in the same way as we have
shown that the eyes, the ears, and the other parts of the body
are employed. And it is certain that a man — I mean a soul
using a body, otherwise called " the inner man," or simply
" the soul " — would answer, not as Celsus makes us answer, but
as the man of God himself teaches. It is certain also that a
Christian will not make use of " the language of the flesh,"
having learnt as he has "to mortify the deeds of the body"2 by
the spirit, and " to bear about in his body the dying of Jesus ;" 3
and " mortify your members which are on the earth,"4 and with
a true knowdedge of these words, " My Spirit shall not always
strive with man, for that he also is flesh,"5 and again, "They that
are in the flesh cannot please God," e he strives in every way to live
no longer according to the flesh, but only according to the Spirit.
Chapter xxxix.
Now let us hear what it is that he invites us to learn, that we
may ascertain from him how wo are to know God, although he
thinks that his words are beyond the capacity of all Christians.
" Let them hear," says he, " if they are able to do so." We
have then to consider what the philosopher wishes us to hear
from him. But instead of instructing us as he ought, he abuses
1 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 2 Rom. viii. 13. 3 2 Cor. iv. 10.
4 Col. iii. 5. » Gen. vi. 3. G Rom. viii. 8.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 461
us ; and while he should have shown his goodwill to those
whom he addresses at the outset of his discourse, he stigmatizes
as "a cowardly race" men who would rather die than abjure
Christianity even by a word, and who are ready to suffer every
form of torture, or any kind of death. He also applies to us
the epithet "carnal" or "flesh-indulging," "although," as we
are wont to say, " we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now henceforth we know Him no more,"1 and although we are
so ready to lay down our lives for the cause of religion, that no
philosopher could lay aside his robes more readily. He then ad
dresses to us these words : " If, instead of exercising your senses,
you look upwards with the soul ; if, turning away the eye of the
body, you open the eye of the mind, thus and thus only you
will be able to see God." He is not aware that this reference
to the two eyes, the eye of the body and the eye of the mind,
which he has borrowed from the Greeks, was in use among our
own writers ; for Moses, in his account of the creation of the
world, introduces man before his transgression as both seeing
and not seeing : seeing, when it is said of the woman, " The
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise;"2
and again not seeing, as when he introduces the serpent saying
to the woman, as if she and her husband had been blind, " God
knows that on the day that ye eat thereof your eyes shall be
opened ;"3 and also when it is said, " They did eat, and the eyes
of both of them were opened."4 The eyes of sense were then
opened, which they had done well to keep shut, that they might
not be distracted, and hindered from seeing with the eyes of the
mind ; and it was those eyes of the mind which in consequence
of sin, as I imagine, were then closed, with which they had up to
that time enjoyed the delight of beholding G od and His paradise.
This twofold kind of vision in us was familiar to our Saviour,
who says, " For judgment I am come into this world, that they
which see not might see, and that they which see might be
made blind,"5 — meaning by the eyes that see not the eyes of the
mind, which are enlightened by His teaching; and the eyes
which see are the eyes of sense, which His words do render blind,
1 2 Cor. v. 16. 2 Gen. iii. 6. 3 Gen. iii. 5.
4 Gen. iii. 7. 5 John ix. 39.

462 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
in order that the soul may look without distraction upon proper
objects. All true Christians therefore have the eye of the
mind sharpened, and the eye of sense closed ; so that each one,
according to the degree in which his better eye is quickened,
and the eye of sense darkened, sees and knows the Supreme
God, and His Son, who is the Word, Wisdom, and so forth.
Chapter xl.
Next to the remarks of Celsus on which we have already
commented, come others which he addresses to all Christians,
but which, if applicable to any, ought to be addressed to persons
whose doctrines differ entirely from those taught by Jesus. For
it is the Ophians who, as we have before shown,1 have utterly
renounced Jesus, and perhaps some others of similar opinions
who are " the impostors and jugglers, leading men away to idols
and phantoms ; " and it is they who with miserable pains learn
off the names of the heavenly doorkeepers. These words are
therefore quite inappropriate as addressed to Christians : " If
you seek one to be your guide along this way, you must shun
all deceivers and jugglers, who will introduce you to phantoms."
And, as though quite unaware that these impostors entirely
agree with him, and are not behind him in speaking ill of Jesus
and Llis religion, he thus continues, confounding us with them :
" otherwise you will be acting the most ridiculous part, if, whilst
you pronounce imprecations upon those other recognised gods,
treating them as idols, you yet do homage to a more wretched
idol than any of these, which indeed is not even an idol or a
phantom, but a dead man, and you seek a father like to him
self." That he is ignorant of the wide difference between our
opinions and those of the inventors of these fables, and that he
imagines the charges which he makes against them applicable
to us, is evident from the following passage : " For the sake of
such a monstrous delusion, and in support of those wonderful
advisers, and those wonderful words which you address to the
lion, to the amphibious creature, to the creature in the form
of an ass, and to others, for the sake of those divine doorkeepers
whose names you commit to memory with such pains, in such a
cause as this you suffer cruel tortures, and perish at the stake."
1 See Book vi. chap. xxx. etc.

Book vil] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 463
Surely, then, he is unaware that none of those who regard beings
in the form of an ass, a lion, or an amphibious animal, as the
doorkeepers or guides on the way to heaven, ever expose them
selves to death in defence of that which they think the truth.
That excess of zeal, if it may be so called, which leads us for
the sake of religion to submit to every kind of death, and to
perish at the stake, is ascribed by Celsus to those who endure
no such sufferings ; and he reproaches us who suffer crucifixion
for our faith, with believing in fabulous creatures — in the lion,
the amphibious animal, and other such monsters. If we reject
all these fables, it is not out of deference to Celsus, for we have
never at any time held any such fancies ; but it is in accordance
with the teaching of Jesus that we oppose all such notions, and
will not allow to Michael, or to any others that have been
referred to, a form and figure of that sort.
Chapter xli.
But let us consider who those persons are whose guidance
Celsus would have us to follow, so that we may not be in want
of guides who are recommended both by their antiquity and
sanctity. He refers us to divinely inspired poets, as he calls
them, to wise men and philosophers, without mentioning their
names ; so that, after promising to point out those who should
guide us, he simply hands us over in a general way to divinely
inspired poets, wise men, and philosophers. If he had specified
their names in particular, we should have felt ourselves bound
to show him that he wished to give us as guides men who were
blinded to the truth, and who must therefore lead us into error;
or that if not wholly blinded, yet they are in error in many
matters of belief. But whether Orpheus, Parmenides, Em-
pedocles, or even Homer himself, and Llesiod, are the persons
whom he means by " inspired poets," let any one show how those
who follow their guidance walk in a better way, or lead a more
excellent life, than those who, being taught in the school of Jesus
Christ, have rejected all images and statues, and even all Jewish
superstition, that they may look upward through the Word of
God to the one God, who is the Father of the Word. Who, then,
are those wise men and philosophers from whom Celsus would
have us to learn so many divine truths, and for whom we are to

464 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
give up Moses the servant of God, the prophets of the Creator
of the world, who have spoken so many things by a truly divine
inspiration, and even Him who has given light and taught the
way of piety to the whole human race, so that no one can
reproach Him if he remains without a share in the knowledge of
His mysteries ? Such, indeed, was the abounding love which He
had for men, that He gave to the more learned a theology capable
of raising the soul far above all earthly things ; while with no
less consideration He comes down to the weaker capacities of
ignorant men, of simple women, of slaves, and, in short, of all
those who from Jesus alone could have received that help for
the better regulation of their lives which is supplied by His
instructions in regard to the Divine Being, adapted to their
wants and capacities.
Chapter xlii.
Celsus next refers us to Plato as to a more effective teacher
of theological truth, and quotes the following passage from the
Timwus : " It is a hard matter to find out the Maker and
Father of this universe ; and after having found Him, it is
impossible to make Him known to all." To which he himself
adds this remark : " You perceive, then, how divine men seek
after the way of truth, and how woll Plato knew that it was
impossible for all men to walk in it. But as wise men have
found it for the express purpose of being able to convey to us
some notion of Him who is the first, the unspeakable Being, —
a notion, namely, which may represent Him to us through the
medium of other objects, — they endeavour either by synthesis,
which is the combining of various qualities, or by analysis,
which is the separation and setting aside of some qualities, or
finally by analogy ; — in these ways, I say, they endeavour to set
before us that which it is impossible to express in words. I
should therefore be surprised if you could follow in that course,
since you are so completely wedded to the flesh as to be in
capable of seeing aught but what is impure." These words of
Plato are noble and admirable ; but see if Scripture does not
give us an example of a regard for mankind still greater in
God the Word, who was "in the beginning with God," and
" who was made flesh," in order that He might reveal to all men

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 4C5
truths which, according to Plato, it would be impossible to make
known to all men, even after he had found them himself.
Plato may say that " it is a hard thing to find out the Creator
and Father of this universe ; " by which language he implies
that it is not wholly beyond the power of human nature to
attain to such a knowledge as is either worthy of God, or if
not, is far beyond that which is commonly attained (although
if it were true that Plato or any other of the Greeks had found
God, they would never have given homage and worship, or
ascribed the name of God, to any other than to Him : they
would have abandoned all others, and would not have asso
ciated with this great God objects which can have nothing in
common with Him). For ourselves, we maintain that human
nature is in no way able to seek after God, or to attain a clear
knowledge of Him without the help of Him whom it seeks.
He makes Himself known to those who, after doing all that
their powers will allow, confess that they need help from Him,
who discovers Himself to those whom He approves, in so far as
it is possible for man and the soul still dwelling in the body to
know God. i
Chapter xliii.
Observe that when Plato says, that "after having found out
the Creator and Father of the universe, it is impossible to make
Him known to all men," he does not speak of Him as unspeak
able, and as incapable of being expressed in words. On the
contrary, he implies that He may be. spoken of, and that there
are a few to whom He may be made known. But Celsus, as
if forgetting the language which he had just quoted from Plato,
immediately gives God the name of " the unspeakable." He
says : " since the wise men have found out this way, in order to
be able to give us some idea of the First of Beings, who is
unspeakable." For ourselvesj we hold that not God alone is
unspeakable, but other things also which are inferior to Him.
Such are the things which Paul labours to express when he
says, " I heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a
man to utter,"1 where the word "heard" is used in the sense
of " understood ;" as in the passage, " He who hath ears to hear,
1 2 Cor. xii. 4.
ORIG.— VOL. II. 2 G

466 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
let him hear." We also hold that it is a hard matter to see the
Creator and Father of the universe ; but it is possible to see
Him in the way thus referred to, "Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God;"1 and not only so, but also in the
sense of the words of Him " who is the image of the invisible
God ; " " He who hath seen me hath seen the Father who sent
me." 2 No sensible person could suppose that these last words
were spoken in reference to His bodily presence, which was
open to the view of all ; otherwise all those who said, " Cru
cify him, crucify him," and Pilate, who had power over the
humanity of Jesus, were among those who saw God the Father,
which is absurd. Moreover, that these words, " He that hath
seen me, hath seen the Father who sent me," are not to be
taken in their grosser sense, is plain from the answer which
He gave to Philip, " Have I been so long time with you, and
yet dost thou not know me, Philip ? " after Philip had asked,
" Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." He, then, who per
ceives how these words, " The Word was made flesh," are to be
understood of the only-begotten Son of God, the first-born of
all creation, will also understand how, in seeing the image of
the invisible God, wo see "the Creator and Father of the
universe." Chapter xliv.
Celsus supposes that we may arrive at a knowledge of God
either by combining or separating certain things after the
methods which mathematiciai. * call synthesis and analysis, or
again by analogy, which is employed by them also, and that in
this way we may as it were gain admission to the chief good.
But when the Word of God says, " No man knoweth the Father
but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him," 3
He declares that no one can know God but by the help of
divine grace coming from above, with a certain divine inspira
tion. Indeed, it is reasonable to suppose that the knowdedge of
God is beyond the reach of human nature, and hence the many
errors into which men have fallen in their views of God. It is,
then, through the goodness and love of God to mankind, and
by a marvellous exercise of divine grace to those whom He saw
1 Matt. v. 8. 2 John xiv. 9. 3 Matt. xi. 27.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 467
in His foreknowledge, and knew that they would walk worthy ^
of Him who had made Himself known to them, and that they
would never swerve from a faithful attachment to His service,
although they were condemned to death or held up to ridicule
by those who, in ignorance of what true religion is, give that
name to what deserves to be called anything rather than reli
gion. God doubtless saw the pride and arrogance of those who,
with contempt for all others, boast of their knowledge of God,
and of their profound acquaintance with divine things obtained
from philosophy, but who still, not less even than the most
ignorant, run after their images, and temples, and famous
mysteries; and seeing this, He "has chosen the foolish things
of this world"1 — the simplest of Christians, who lead, however,
a life of greater moderation and purity than many philosophers
— "to confound the wise," who are not ashamed to address
inanimate things as gods or images of the gods. For what
reasonable man can refrain from smiling when he sees that one
who has learned from philosophy such profound and noble
sentiments about God or the gods, turns straightway to images
and offers to them his prayers, or imagines that by gazing upon
these material things he can ascend from the visible symbol to
that which is spiritual and immaterial. But a Christian, even \
of the common people, is assured that every place forms part
of the universe, and that the whole universe is God's temple.
In whatever part of the world he is, he prays ; but he rises
above the universe, "shutting the eyes of sense, and raising
upwards the eyes of the soul." And he stops not at the vault
of heaven ; but passing in thought beyond the heavens, under
the guidance of the Spirit of God, and having thus as it were
gone beyond the visible universe, he offers prayers to God.
But he prays for no trivial blessings,, for he has learnt from
Jesus to seek for nothing small or mean, that is, sensible ob
jects, but to ask only for what is great and truly divine ; and
these things God grants to us, to lead us to that blessedness which
is found only with Him through His Son, the Word, who is God..
Chapter xlv.
But let us see further what the things are which he proposes
1 1 Cor. i. 27.

468 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vir.
to teach us, if indeed we can comprehend them, since he speaks
of us as being "utterly wedded to the flesh;" although if we
live well, and in accordance with the teaching of Jesus, we hear
this said of us : " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." x He says also that we
look upon nothing that is pure, although our endeavour is to
keep even our thoughts free from all defilement of sin, and
although in prayer wo say, " Create in me a clean heart, 0
God, and renew a right spirit within me," 2 so that we may
behold Him with that " pure heart " to which alone is granted
the privilege of seeing Him. This, then, is what he proposes
for our instruction : " Things are either intelligible, which we
call substance — being ; or visible, which we call becoming ;3 with
the former is truth ; from the latter arises error. Truth is the
object of knowledge; truth and error form opinion. Intelli
gible objects are known by the reason, visible objects by the
eyes ; the action of the reason is called intelligent perception,
that of the eyes vision. As, then, among visible things the sun
is neither the eye nor vision, but that which enables the eye to
see, and renders vision possible, and in consequence of it visible
things are seen, all sensible things exist, and itself is rendered
visible ; so among things intelligible, that which is neither rea
son, nor intelligent perception, nor knowdedge, is yet the cause
which enables the reason to know, which renders intelligent per
ception possible ; and in consequence of it knowledge arises,
all things intelligible, truth itself and substance have their exist
ence ; and itself, which is above all these things, becomes .in-
some ineffable way intelligible. These things are offered to the
consideration of the intelligent ; and if even you can understand
any of them, it is well. And if you think that a Divine Spirit
has descended from God to announce divine things to men, it
is doubtless this jyune Spirit that reveals these truths, and it
was under the same influence that men of old made known
many important truths. But if you cannot comprehend these
things, then keep silence ; do not expose your own ignorance,
and do not accuse of blindness those who see, or of lameness
1 Bom. viii. 9. 2 Ps. Ii. 10.
3 yivsaig. For the distinction between oboix and yivtaig, see Plato's
SopMsta, p. 246.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 469
those who run, while you yourselves are utterly lamed and
mutilated in mind, and lead a merely animal life — the life of
the body, which is the dead part of our nature."
Chapter xlvi.
We are careful not to oppose fair arguments even if they
proceed from those who are not of our faith ; we strive not to
be captious, or to seek to overthrow any sound reasonings. But
here wo have to reply to those who slander the character of
persons wishing to do their best in the service of God, who
accepts the faith which the meanest place in Him, as well as
the more refined and intelligent piety of the learned; seeing
that both alike address to the Creator of the world their prayers
and thanksgivings through the High Priest who has set before
men the nature of pure religion. We say, then, that those who
are stigmatized as " lamed and mutilated in spirit," as " living
only for the sake of the body which is dead," are persons whose
endeavour it is to say with sincerity : " For though we live x in
the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh ; for the weapons
of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God." It is
for those who throw out such vile accusations against men who
desire to be God's servants, to beware lest, by the calumnies
which they cast upon others who strive to live well, they " lame "
their own souls, and " mutilate " the inner man, by severing from
it that justice and moderation of mind which the Creator has
planted in the nature of all His rational creatures. As for
those, however, who, along with other lessons given by the Divine
Word, have learned and practised this, " when reviled to bless,
when persecuted to endure, when defamed to entreat,"2 they
may be said to be walking in spirit in the ways of uprightness,
to be purifying and setting in order the whole soul. They dis
tinguish — and to them the distinction is not one of words
merely — between " substance," or that which is, and that
which is " becoming ; " between things apprehended by reason,
and things apprehended by sense ; and they connect truth with
the one, and avoid the errors arising out of the other ; looking,
as they have been taught, not at the things " becoming " or
1 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. The received text has "walk" instead of " live.7'
2 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12.

470 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
phenomenal, which are seen, and therefore temporary, but at
better things than these, whether we call them " substance,"
or " spiritual " things, as being apprehended by reason, or " in
visible," because they lie out of the reach of the senses. The
disciples of Jesus regard these phenomenal things only that
they may use them as steps to ascend to the knowledge of the
things of reason. For " the invisible things of God," that is, the
objects of the reason, " from the creation of the world are clearly
seen " by the reason, " being understood by the things that are
made." And when they have risen from the created things of
this world to the invisible things of God, they do not stay there ;
but after they have sufficiently exercised their minds upon these,
and have understood their nature, they ascend to " the eternal
power of God," in a word, to His divinity. For they know that
God, in His love to men, has " manifested " His truth, and " that
which is known of Him," not only to those who devote them
selves to Llis service, but also to some who are far removed from
the purity of worship and service which He requires ; and that
some of those who by the providence of God had attained a
knowledge of these truths, were yet doing things unworthy of
that knowledge, and "holding the truth in unrighteousness,"
and who are unable to find any excuse before God after the
knowledge of such great truths which He has given them.
Chapter xlvii.
For Scripture testifies, in regard to those who have a know
ledge of those things of which Celsus speaks, and who profess
a philosophy founded on these principles, that they, " when they
knew God, glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations ; " and notwithstanding
the bright light of knowledge with which God had enlightened
them, "their foolish heart" was carried away, and became
" darkened."1 Thus we may see how those who accounted them
selves wise gave proofs of great folly, when, after such grand
arguments delivered in the schools on God and on things appre
hended by the reason, they " changed the glory of the incorrup
tible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."2 As, then,
1 Rom. i. 21. 2 Rom. i. 25.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 471
they lived in a way unworthy of the knowdedge which they had
received from God, His providence leaving them to themselves,
they were given " up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their
own hearts to dishonour their own bodies,"1 in shamelessness
and licentiousness, because they " changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than
the Creator." Chapter xlviii.
But those who are despised for their ignorance, and set down
as fools and abject slaves, no sooner commit themselves to God's
guidance by accepting the teaching of Jesus, than, so far from
defiling themselves by licentious indulgence or the gratification
of shameless passion, they in many cases, like perfect priests, for
whom such pleasures have no charm, keep themselves in act and
in thought in a state of virgin purity. The Athenians have one
hierophant, who, not having confidence in his power to restrain
his passions within the limits he prescribed for himself, deter
mined to check them at their seat by the application of hemlock ;
and thus he was accounted pure, and fit for the celebration of
religious worship among the Athenians. But among Christians
may be found men who have no need of hemlock to fit them for
the pure service of God, and for whom the Word in place of
hemlock is able to drive all evil desires from their thoughts, so
that they may present their prayers to the Divine Being. And
attached to the other so-called gods are a select number of
virgins, who are guarded by men, or it may be not guarded (for
that is not the point in question at present), and who are
supposed to live in purity for the honour of the god they serve.
But among Christians, those who maintain a perpetual virginity
do so for no human honours, for no fee or reward, from no
motive of vainglory ; but " as they choose to retain God in their
knowledge,"2 they are preserved by God in a spirit well-pleasing
to Him, and in the discharge of every duty, being filled with all
righteousness and goodness.
Chapter xlix.
What I have now said, then, is offered not for the purpose of
1 Eom. i. 24, 25. 2 Rom. i. 28.

472 ORIGEN 'AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
cavilling with any right opinions or sound doctrines held even
by Greeks, but with the desire of showing that the same things,
and indeed much better and diviner things than these, have
been said by those divine men, the prophets of God and the
apostles of Jesus. These truths are fully investigated by all
who wish to attain a perfect knowdedge of Christianity, and who
know that " the mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and
his tongue talketh of judgment ; the law of his God is in his
heart." x But even in regard to those who, either from deficiency
of knowledge or want of inclination, or from not having Jesus
to lead them to a rational view of religion, have not gone into
these deep questions, we find that they believe in the Most High
God, and in His onfy-begotten Son, the Word and God, and that
they often exhibit in their character a high degree of gravity,
of purity, and integrity ; while those who call themselves wise
have despised these virtues, and have wallowed in the filth of
sodomy, in lawless lust, " men with men working that which is
unseemly." 2
Chapter l.
Celsus has not explained how error accompanies the " becom
ing," or product of generation ; nor has he expressed himself
w.ith sufficient clearness to enable us to compare his ideas with
ours, and to pass judgment on them. But the prophets, who
have given some wise suggestions on the subject of things pro
duced by generation, tell us that a sacrifice for sin was offered
even for new-born infants, as not being free from sin. They say,
" I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me ; "3 also, " They are estranged from the womb ; " which is
followed by the singular expression, " They go astray as soon as
they are born, speaking lies."4 Besides, our wise men have such
a contempt for all sensible objects, that sometimes they speak of
all material things as vanity : thus, " For the creature was made
subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that sub
jected the same in hope ; "5 at other times as vanity of vanities,
" Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity."6 Who
has given so severe an estimate of the life of the human soul
1 Ps. xxxvii. 30, 31. 2 Rom. i. 27. 3 Ps. Ii. 5.
4 Ps. lviii. 3. » Rom. viii. 20. e Eccles. i. 2.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 473
here on earth, as he who says : " Verily every man at his best
estate is altogether vanity?"1 He does not hesitate at all as
to the difference between the present life of the soul and that
which it is to lead hereafter. He does not say, " Who knows
if to die is not to live, and if to live is not death? "2 But he
boldly proclaims the truth, and says, " Our soul is bowed down
to the dust;"3 and, "Thou hast brought me into the dust of
death ; "4 and similarly, " Who will deliver me from the body of
this death? "5 also, " Who will change the body of our humilia
tion."6 It is a prophet also who says, " Thou hast brought us
down in a place of affliction ;"7 meaning by the " place of afflic
tion " this earthly region, to which Adam, that is to say, man,
came after he was driven out of paradise for sin. Observe also
how well the different life of the soul here and hereafter has
been recognised by him who says, " Now we see in a glass, ob
scurely, but then face to face ; "s and, " Whilst we are in our
home in the body, we are away from our home in the Lord ; "
wherefore " we are well content to go from our home in the
body, and to come to our home with the Lord."9
Chapter li.
But what need is there to quote any more passages against
Celsus, in order to prove that his words contain nothing which
was not said long before among ourselves, since that has been
sufficiently established by what we have said ? It seems that
what follows has some reference to this : " If you think that a
Divine Spirit has descended from God to announce divine things
to men, it is doubtless this same Spirit that reveals these truths ;
and it was under the same influence that men of old made
known many important truths." But he does not know how
great is the difference between those things and the clear and
certain teaching of those who say to us, y Thine incorruptible
spirit is in all things, wherefore G od chasteneth them by little and
little that offend ;"10 and of those who, among their other instruc
tions, teach us that the words, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," u
1 Ps. xxxix. 5. 2 Euripides. 3 Ps. xliv. 25.
4 Ps. xxii. 15. 5 Rom. vii. 24. 6 Phil. iii. 21.
7 Ps. xliii. 19, LXX. « 1 Cor. xiii. 12. » 2 Cor. v. 6, 8.
10 Wisd. xii. 1, 2, n John xx. 22.

474 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
refer to a degree of spiritual influence higher than that in the
passage, " Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence." x But it is a difficult matter, even after much care
ful consideration, to perceive the difference between those who
have received a knowledge of the truth and a notion of God at
different intervals and for short periods of time, and those who
are more fully inspired by God, who have constant communion
with Him, and are always led by His Spirit. Had Celsus set
himself to understand this, he would not have reproached us
with ignorance, or forbidden us to characterize as " blind " those
who believe that religion shows itself in such products of man's
mechanical art as images. For every one who sees with the eyes
of his soul serves the Divine Being in no other way than in that
which leads him ever to have regard to the Creator of all, to
address his prayers to Him alone, and to do all things as in the
sight of God, who sees us altogether, even to our thoughts. Our
earnest desire then is both to see for ourselves, and to be leaders
of the blind, to bring them to the Word of God, that He may
take away from their minds the blindness of ignorance. And
if our actions are worthy of Him who taught His disciples, " Ye
are the light of the world," 2 and of the Word, who says, " The
light shineth in darkness,"3 then we shall be light to those who
are in darkness; wo shall give wisdom to those who are without
it, and we shall instruct the ignorant.
Chapter lii.
And let not Celsus be angry if we describe as lame and
mutilated in soul those who run to the temples as to places
having a real sacredness, and who cannot see that no mere
mechanical work of man can be truly sacred. Those whose
piety is grounded on the teaching of Jesus also run until they
come to the end of their course, when they can say in all truth
and confidence : " I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness." 4 And each of us runs " not
as uncertain," and he so fights with evil " not as one beating
the air," 5 but as against those who are subject to " the prince
1 Acts i. 5. 2 Matt. v. 14. 3 John i. 5.
4 2 Tim. iv. 7. « 1 Cor. ix. 26.

Bookvii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 475
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the chil
dren of disobedience." x Celsus may indeed say of us that we
" live with the body which is a dead thing ; " but we have learnt,
" If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but if ye by the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live ; " 2 and, " If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." 3 Would
that we might convince him by our actions that he did us wrong,
when he said that we " live with the body which is dead ! "
Chapter liii.
After these remarks of Celsus, which we have done our best
to refute, he goes on to address us thus : " Seeing you are so
eager for some novelty, how much better it would have been if
you had chosen as the object of your zealous homage some one
of those who died a glorious death, and whose divinity might
have received the support of some myth to perpetuate his
memory ! Why, if you were not satisfied with Hercules or
Esculapius, and other heroes of antiquity, you had Orpheus,
who was confessedly a divinely inspired man, who died a vio
lent death. But perhaps some others have taken him up before
you. You may then take Anaxarchus, who, when cast into a
mortar, and beaten most barbarously, showed a noble contempt
for his suffering, and said, ' Beat, beat the shell of Anaxarchus,
for himself you do not beat,' — a speech surely of a spirit truly
divine. But others were before you in following his interpre
tation of the laws of nature. Might you not, then , take Epictetus,
who, when his master was twisting his leg, said, smiling and
unmoved, ' You will break my leg ; ' and when it was broken,
he added, ' Did I not tell you that you would break it ? ' What
saying equal to these did your god utter under suffering ? If
you had said even of the Sibyl, whose authority some of you
acknowledge, that she was a child of God, you would have said
something more reasonable. But you have had the presump
tion to include in her writings many impious things, and set up
as a god one who ended a most infamous life by a most miser
able death. How much more suitable than he would have
been Jonah in the whale's belly, or Daniel delivered from the
wild beasts, or any of a still more portentous kind ! "
1 Eph. ii. 2. 2 Rom. viii. 13. 3 Gal. v. 25.

476 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
Chapter liv.
But since he sends us to Hercules, let him repeat to us any
of his sayings, and let him justify his shameful subjection to
Omphale. Let him show that divine honours should be paid
to one who, like a highway robber, carries off a farmer's ox by
force, and afterwards devours it, amusing himself meanwhile
with the curses of the owner ; in memory of which even to
this day sacrifices offered to the demon of Hercules are accom
panied with curses. Again he proposes ^Esculapius to us, as if
to oblige us to repeat what we have said already ; but we for
bear. In regard to Orpheus, what does he admire in him to
make him assert that, by common consent, he was regarded as
a divinely inspired man, and lived a noble life ? I am greatly
deceived if it is not the desire which Celsus has to oppose us
and put down Jesus that leads him to sound forth the praises
of Orpheus ; and whether, when he made himself acquainted
with his impious fables about the gods, he did not cast them
aside as deserving, even more than the poems of Homer, to be
excluded from a well-ordered state. For, indeed, Orpheus says
much worse things than Homer of those whom they call gods.
Noble, indeed, it was in Anaxarchus to say to Aristocreon,
tyrant of Cyprus, " Beat on, beat the shell of Anaxarchus,"
but it is the one admirable incident in the life of Anaxarchus
known to the Greeks ; and although, on the strength of that,
some like Celsus might deservedly honour the man for his
courage, yet to look up to Anaxarchus as a god is not consistent
with reason. He also directs us to Epictetus, whose firmness
is justly admired, although his saying when his leg was broken
by his master is not to be compared with the marvellous acts
and words of Jesus which Celsus refuses to believe ; and these
words were accompanied by such a divine power, that even to
this day they convert not only some of the more ignorant and
simple, but many also of the most enlightened of men.
Chapter lv.
When, to his enumeration of those to whom he would send
us, he adds, " What saying equal to these did your god utter
under sufferings ? " we would reply, that the silence of Jesus

Book vn. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 477
under scourgings, and amidst all His sufferings, spoke more for
His firmness and submission than all that was said by the Greeks
when beset by calamity. Perhaps Celsus may believe what
was recorded with all sincerity by trustworthy men, who, while
giving a truthful account of all the wonders performed by Jesus,
specify among these the silence which He preserved when sub
jected to scourgings ; showing the same singular meekness
under the insults which were heaped upon Him, when they put
upon Him the purple robe, and set the crown of thorns upon
His head, and when they put in His hand a reed in place of
a sceptre : no unworthy or angry word escaped Him against
those who subjected Him to such outrages. Since, then, He
received the scourgings with silent firmness, and bore with
meekness all the insults of those who outraged Him, it cannot
be said, as is said by some, that it was in cowardly weakness
that He uttered the words : " Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou
wilt." x The prayer which seems to be contained in these words
for the removal of what He calls " the cup" bears a sense
which we have elsewhere examined and set forth at large. But
taking it in its more obvious sense, consider if it be not a prayer
offered to God with all piety. For no man naturally regards j
anything which may befall him as necessary and inevitable ; !
though he may submit to what is not inevitable, if occasion re- I
quires. Besides, these words, "nevertheless, not as I will, but
as Thou wilt," are not the language of one wdio yielded to neces
sity, but of one who was contented with what was befalling
Him, and who submitted with reverence to the arrangements
of Providence.
Chapter lvi.
Celsus then adds, for what reason I know not, that instead
of calling Jesus the Son of God, we had better have given that
honour to the Sibyl, in whose books he maintains we have in
terpolated many impious statements, though he does not men
tion what those interpolations are. He might have proved his
assertion by producing some older copies which are free from
the interpolations which he attributes to us ; but he does not
1 Matt. xxvi. 39,

478 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
do so even to justify his statement that these passages are of
an impious character. Moreover, he again speaks of the life
of Jesus as " a most infamous life," as he has done before, not
once or twice, but many times, although he does not stay to
specify any of the actions of Llis life which he thinks most
infamous. He seems to think that he may in this way make
assertions without proving them, and rail against one of whom
he knows nothing. Had he set himself to show what sort of
infamy he found in the actions of Jesus, we should have repelled
the several charges brought against Him. Jesus did indeed meet
with a most sad death ; but the same might be said of Socrates,
and of Anaxarchus, whom he had just mentioned, and a mul
titude of others. If the death of Jesus was a miserable one,
was not that of the others so too? And if their death was not
miserable, can it be said that the death of Jesus was ? You
see from this, then, that the object of Celsus is to vilify the
character of Jesus ; and I can only suppose that he is driven
to it by some spirit akin to those whose power has been broken
and vanquished by Jesus, and which now finds itself deprived
of the smoke and blood on which it lived, whilst deceiving those
who sought for God here upon earth in images, instead of
looking up to the true God, the Governor of all things.
Chapter lvii.
After this, as though his object was to swell the size of his
book, he advises us " to choose Jonah rather than Jesus as our
God ;" thus setting Jonah, who preached repentance to the
single city of Nineveh, before Jesus, who has preached repent
ance to the whole world, and with much greater results. He
would have us to regard as God a man who, by a strange
miracle, passed three days and three nights in the whale's belly ;
and he is unwilling that He who submitted to death for the sake
of men, He to whom God bore testimony through the prophets,
and who has done great things in heaven and earth, should
receive on that ground honour second only to that which is
given to the Most High God. Moreover, Jonah was swallowed
by the whale for refusing to preach as God had commanded
him ; while Jesus suffered death for men after He had given
the instructions which God wished Him to give. Still further,

Book vii J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 479
he adds that Daniel rescued from the lions is more worthy of
our adoration than Jesus, who subdued the fierceness of every
opposing power, and gave to us " authority to tread on serpents
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy."1 Finally,
having no other names to offer us, he adds, " and others of a
still more monstrous kind," — thus casting a slight upon both
Jonah and Daniel ; for the spirit which is in Celsus cannot
speak well of the righteous. Chapter lviii.
Let us now consider what follows. " They have also," says
he, " a precept to this effect, that we ought not to avenge our
selves on one who injures us, or, as he expresses it, ' Whosoever
shall strike thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.'
This is an ancient saying, which had been admirably expressed
long before, and which they have only reported in a coarser
way. For Plato introduces Socrates conversing with Crito as
follows: 'Must we never do injustice to any?' ' Certainly not.'
' And since we must never do injustice, must wo not return
injustice for an injustice that has been done to us, as most
people think ? ' 'It seems to me that we should not.' ' But tell
me, Crito, may we do evil to any one or not ? ' ' Certainly not,
O Socrates.' ' Well, is it just, as is commonly said, for one
who has suffered wrong to do wrong in return, or is it unjust? '
' It is unjust. Yes ; for to do harm to a man is the same as
to do him injustice.' ' You speak truly. We must then not
do injustice in return for injustice, nor must we do evil to any
one, whatever evil we may have suffered from him.' Thus
Plato speaks ; and he adds, ' Consider, then, whether you are
at one with me, and whether, starting from this principle, we
may not come to the conclusion that it is never right to do
injustice, even in return for an injustice which has been re
ceived ; or whether, on the other hand, you differ from me, and
do not admit the principle from which we started. That has
always been my opinion, and is so still.'2 Such are the senti
ments of Plato, and indeed they were held by divine men
before his time. But let this suffice as one example of the way
in which this and other truths have been borrowed and cor-
1 Luke x. 19. 2 Plato's Crito, p. 49.

480 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
rupted. Any one who wishes can easily by searching find more
of them."
Chapter lix.
When Celsus here or elsewhere finds himself unable to dis
pute the truth of what we say, but avers that the same things
were said by the Greeks, our answer is, that if the doctrine be
sound, and the effect of it good, whether it was made known to the
Greeks by Plato or any of the wise men of Greece, or whether
it was delivered to the Jews by Moses or any of the prophets,
or whether it was given to the Christians in the recorded
teaching of Jesus Christ, or in the instructions of His apostles,
that does not affect the value of the truth communicated. It
is no objection to the principles of Jews or Christians, that the
same things were also said by the Greeks, especially if it be
proved that the writings of the Jews are older than those of
the Greeks. And further, we are not to imagine that a truth
adorned with the graces of Grecian speech is necessarily better
than the same when expressed in the more humble and unpre
tending language used by Jews and Christians, although indeed
the language of the Jews, in which the prophets wrote the
books which have come down to us, has a grace of expression
peculiar to the genius of the Hebrew tongue. And even if
we were required to show that the same doctrines have been
better expressed among the Jewish prophets or in Christian
writings, however paradoxical it may seem, we are prepared to
prove this by an illustration taken from different kinds of food,
and from the different modes of preparing them. Suppose
that a kind of food which is wholesome and nutritious has been
prepared and seasoned in such a way as to be fit, not for the
simple tastes of peasants and poor labourers, but for those only
who are rich and dainty in their tastes. Suppose, again, that
that same food is prepared not to suit the tastes of the more
delicate, but for the peasants, the poor labourers, and the com
mon people generally, in short, so that myriads of persons
might eat of it. Now if, according to the supposition, the food
prepared in the one way promotes the health of those only who
are styled the better classes, while none of the others could
taste it, whereas when prepared in the other way it promoted

Book vii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 481
the health of great multitudes of men, which shall we esteem
as most contributing to the public welfare, — those who prepare
food for persons of mark, or those who prepare it for the mul
titudes ? — taking for granted that in both cases the food is
equally wholesome and nourishing ; while it is evident that the
welfare of mankind and the common good are promoted better
by that physician who attends to the health of the many, than
by one who confines his attention to a few.
Chapter lx.
Now, after understanding this illustration, we have to apply
it to the qualities of spiritual food with which the rational part
of man is nourished. See, then, if Plato and the wise men
among the Greeks, in the beautiful things they say, are not
like those physicians who confine their attentions to what are
called the better classes of society, and despise the multitude ;
whereas the prophets among the Jews, and the disciples of
Jesus, who despise mere elegances of style, and what is called
in Scripture " the wisdom of men," " the wisdom according to
the flesh," which delights in what is obscure, resemble those
who study to provide the most wholesome food for the largest
number of persons. For this purpose they adapt their lan
guage and style to the capacities of the common people, and
avoid whatever would seem foreign to them, lest by the intro
duction of strange forms of expression they should produce a
distaste for their teaching. Indeed, if the true use of spiritual
food, to keep up the figure, is to produce in him who partakes
of it the virtues of patience and gentleness, must that discourse
not be better prepared when it produces patience and gentleness
in multitudes, or makes them grow in these virtues, than that
which confines its effects to a select few, supposing that it does
really make them gentle and patient ? If a Greek wished by
wholesome instruction to benefit people who understood only
Egyptian or Syriac, the first thing that he would do would be
to learn their language ; and he would rather pass for a bar
barian among the Greeks, by speaking as the Egyptians or
Syrians, in order to be useful to them, than always remain
Greek, and be without the means of helping them. In the
same way the divine nature, having the purpose of instructing
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 H

482 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
not only those who are reputed to be learned in the literature
of Greece, but also the rest of mankind, accommodated itself
to the capacities of the simple multitudes whom it addressed.
It seeks to win the attention of the more ignorant by the use
of language which is familiar to them, so that they may easily
be induced, after their first introduction, to strive after an
acquaintance with the deeper truths which lie hidden in Scrip
ture. For even the ordinary reader of Scripture may see that
it contains many things which are too deep to be apprehended
at first ; but these are understood by such as devote themselves
to a careful study of the divine word, and they become plain
to them in proportion to the pains and zeal which they expend
upon its investigation.
Chapter lxi.
From these remarks it is evident, that when Jesus said
" coarsely," as Celsus terms it, " To him who shall strike thee
on the one cheek, turn the other also ; and if any man be
minded to sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him
have thy cloak also,"1 He expressed Himself in such a way as
to make the precept have more practical effect than the words
of Plato in the Crito ; for the latter is so far from being intel
ligible to ordinary persons, that even those have a difficulty in
understanding him, who have been brought up in the schools of
learning, and have been initiated into the famous philosophy of •
Greece. It may also be observed, that the precept enjoining
patience under injuries is in no way corrupted or degraded by
the plain and simple language which our Lord employs, but
that in this, as in other cases, it is a mere calumny against our
religion which he utters when he says : " But let this suffice as
one example of the way in which this and other truths have
been borrowed and corrupted. Any one who wishes can easily
by searching find more of them."
Chapter lxh.
Let us now see what follows. " Let us pass on," says he, " to
another point. They cannot tolerate temples, altars, or images.
In this they are like the Scythians, the nomadic tribes of Libya,
1 Matt. v. 39, 40.

Book vii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 483
the Seres who worship no god, and some other of the most bar
barous and impious nations in the world. That the Persians
hold the same notions is shown by Herodotus in these words : ' I
know that among the Persians it is considered unlawful to erect
images, altars, or temples ; but they charge those with folly who
do so, because, as I conjecture, they do not, like the Greeks,
suppose the gods to be of the nature of men.'1 Heraclitus
also says in one place : ' Persons who address prayers to these
images act like those who speak to the walls, without knowing
who the gods or the heroes are.' And what wiser lesson have
they to teach us than Heraclitus? He certainly plainly enough
implies that it is a foolish thing for a man to offer prayers to
images, whilst he knows not who the gods and heroes are. This
is the opinion of Heraclitus ; but as for them, they go further,
and despise without exception all images. If they merely mean
that the stone, wood, brass, or gold which has been wrought by
this or that workman cannot be a god, they are ridiculous with
their wisdom. For who, unless he be utterly childish in his
simplicity, can take these for gods, and not for offerings conse
crated to the service of the gods, or images representing them ?
But if we are not to regard these as representing the Divine
Being, seeing that God has a different form, as the Persians
concur with them in saying, then let them take care that they
do not contradict themselves ; for they say that God made man
His own image, and that He gave him a form like to Himself.
However, they will admit that these images, whether they are
like or not, are made and dedicated to the honour of certain
beings. But they will hold that the beings to whom they are
dedicated are not gods, but demons, and that a worshipper of
God ought not to worship demons."
Chapter lxiii.
To this our answer is, that if the Scythians, the nomadic
tribes of Libya, the Seres, who according to Celsus have no
god, if those other most barbarous and impious nations in the
world, and if the Persians even cannot bear the sight of temples,
altars, and images, it does not follow because we cannot suffer
them any more than they, that the grounds on which we object
1 Herod, i. 131.

484 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
to them are the same as theirs. We must inquire into the
principles on which the objection to temples and images is
founded, in order that wo may approve of those who object on
sound principles, and condemn those whose principles are false.
For one and the same thing may be done for different reasons.
For example, the philosophers who follow Zeno of Citium
abstain from committing adultery, the followers of Epicurus do
so too, as well as others again who do so on no philosophical
principles ; but observe what different reasons determine the
conduct of these different classes. The first consider the inte
rests of society, and hold it to be forbidden by nature that a
man who is a reasonable being should corrupt a woman whom
the laws have already given to another, and should thus break
up the household of another man. The Epicureans do not
reason in this way; but if they abstain from adultery, it is
because, regarding pleasure as the chief end of man, they per
ceive that one who gives himself up to adultery, encounters
for the sake of this one pleasure a multitude of obstacles to
pleasure, such as imprisonment, exile, and death itself. They
often, indeed, run considerable risk at the outset, while watching
for the departure from the house of the master and those in
his interest. So that, supposing it possible for a man to com
mit adultery, and escape the knowledge of the husband, of his
servants, and of others wdiose esteem he would forfeit, then the
Epicurean would yield to the commission of the crime for the
sake of pleasure. The man of no philosophical system, again,
who abstains from adultery when the opportunity comes to him,
does so generally from dread of the law and its penalties, and not
for the sake of enjoying a greater number of other pleasures.
You see, then, that an act which passes for being one and the
same — namely, abstinence from adultery — is not the same, but
differs in different men according to the motives which actuate
it : one man refraining for sound reasons, another for such bad
and impious ones as those of the Epicurean, and the common
person of whom we have spoken.
Chapter lxiv.
As, then, this act of self-restraint, which in appearance is
one and the same, is found in fact to be different in different

Bookvii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 485
persons, according to the principles and motives which lead to
it; so in the same way with those who cannot allow in the
worship of the Divine Being altars, or temples, or images. The
Scythians, the nomadic Libyans, the godless Seres, and the
Persians, agree in this with the Christians and Jews, but they
are actuated by very different principles. For none of these
former abhor altars and images on the ground that they are
afraid of degrading the worship of God, and reducing it to
the worship of material things wrought by the hands of men.
Neither do they object to them from a belief that the demons
choose certain forms and places, whether because they are
detained there by virtue of certain charms, or because for some
other possible reason they have selected these haunts, where
they may pursue their criminal pleasures, in partaking of the
smoke of sacrificial victims. But Christians and Jews have
regard to this command, " Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,
and serve Him alone;"1 and this other, " Thou shalt have no
other gods before me : thou shalt not make unto thee any
graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them;"2 and again, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve."3 It is in consideration
of these and many other such commands, that they not only
avoid temples, altars, and images, but are ready to suffer death
when it is necessary, rather than debase by any such impiety
the conception which they have of the Most High God.
Chapter lxv.
In regard to the Persians, we have already said that though
they do not build temples, yet they worship the sun and the
other works of God. This is forbidden to us, for we have
been taught not to worship the creature instead of the Creator,
but to know that "the creation shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the
children of God;" and "the earnest expectation of the creation
is waiting for the revelation of the sons of God;" and "the
creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason
1 Deut. vi. 13. ' 2 Ex. xx. 3, 4. 3 Matt. iv. 10.

486 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
of him who made it subject, in hope." x We believe, therefore,
that things "under the bondage of corruption," and "subject
to vanity," which remain in this condition "in hope" of a
better state, ought not in our worship to hold the place of God,
the all-sufficient, and of- His Son, the first-born of all creation.
Let this suffice, in addition to what we have already said of
the Persians, who abhor altars and images, but who serve the
creature instead of the Creator. As to the passage quoted by
Celsus from Heraclitus, the purport of which he represents as
being, "that it is childish folly for one to offer prayers to
images, whilst he knows not who the gods and heroes are," we
may reply that it is easy to know that God and the only-be
gotten Son of God, and those whom God has honoured with
the title of God, and who partake of His divine nature, are
very different from all the gods of the nations which are
demons ; but it is not possible at the same time to know God
and to address prayers to images.
Chapter lxvi.
And the charge of folly applies not only to those who offer
prayers to images, but also to such as pretend to do so in com
pliance with the example of the multitude : and to this class
belong the Peripatetic philosophers and the followers of Epi
curus and Democritus. For there is no falsehood or pretence
in the soul which is possessed with true piety towards God.
Another reason also why we abstain from doing honour to
images, is that we may give no support to the notion that the
images are gods. It is on this ground that we condemn Celsus,
and all others who, while admitting that they are not gods, yet,
with the reputation of being wise men, render to them what
passes for homage. In this way they lead into sin the multi
tude who follow their example, and who worship these images
not simply out of deference to custom, but from a belief into
which they have fallen that they are true gods, and that those
are not to be listened to who hold that the objects of their
worship are not true gods. Celsus, indeed, says that " they
do not take them for gods, but only as offerings dedicated to
the gods." But he does not prove that they are not rather
1 Rom. viii. 19-21.

i i

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 487
dedicated to men than, as he says, to the honour of the gods
themselves ; for it is clear that they are the offerings of men
who wore in error in their views of the Divine Being. More
over, we do not imagine that these images are representations
of God, for they cannot represent a being who is invisible and
incorporeal. But as Celsus supposes that we fall into a con
tradiction, whilst on the one hand we say that God has not a
human form, and on the other we profess to believe that God
made man the image of Himself, and created man the image
of God ; our answer is the same as has been given already,
that we hold the resemblance to God to be preserved in the
reasonable soul, which is formed to virtue, although Celsus,
who does not see the difference between " being the image of
God," and " being created after the image of God," pretends
that we said, " God made man His own image, and gave him
a form like to His own." But this also has been examined
before.
Chapter lxvh.
His next remark upon the Christians is : " They will admit
that these images, whether they are like or not, are made and
dedicated to the honour of certain beings ; but they will hold
that the beings to whom they are dedicated are not gods, but
demons, and that a worshipper of God ought not to worship
demons." If he had been acquainted with the nature of demons,
and with their several operations, whether led on to them by the
conjurations of those who are skilled in the art, or urged on
by their own inclination to act according to their power and
inclination ; if, I say, he had thoroughly understood this subject,
which is both wide in extent and difficult for human compre
hension, he would not have condemned us for saying that those
who worship the Supreme Being should not serve demons.
For ourselves, so far are we from wishing to serve demons,
that by the use of prayers and other means which we learn
from Scripture, wo drive them out of the souls of men, out of
places where they have established themselves, and even some
times from the bodies of animals ; for even these creatures
often suffer from injuries inflicted upon them by demons.

488 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
Chapter lxviii.
After all that we have already said concerning Jesus, it
would be a useless repetition for us to answer these words of
Celsus : " It is easy to convict them of worshipping not a god,
not even demons, but a dead person." Leaving, then, this ob
jection for the reason assigned, let us pass on to what follows :
"In the first place, I would ask why we are not to serve
demons ? Is it not true that all things are ordered according
to God's will, and that His providence governs all things?
Is not everything which happens in the universe, whether it
be the work of God, of angels, of other demons, or of heroes,
regulated by the law of the Most High God ? Have these
not had assigned them various departments of which they were
severally deemed worthy ? Is it not just, therefore, that he who
worships God should serve those also to whom God has assigned
such power ? Yet it is impossible, he says, for a man to servo
many masters." Observe here again how he settles at once a
number of questions which require considerable research, and a
profound acquaintance with what is most mysterious in the
government of the universe. For we must inquire into the
meaning of the statement, that " all things are ordered accord
ing to God's will," and ascertain whether sins are or are not
included among the things which God orders. For if God's
government extends to sins not only in men, but also in demons
and in any other spiritual beings who are capable of sin, it is
for those who speak in this manner to see how inconvenient is
the expression that " all things are ordered by the will of God."
For it follows from it that all sins and all their consequences
are ordered by the will of God, which is a different thing from
saying that they come to pass with God's permission. For if
we take the word " ordered " in its proper signification, and
say that " all the results of sin were ordered," then it is evident
that all things are ordered according to God's will, and that
all, therefore, who do evil do not offend against His government.
And the same distinction holds in regard to " providence."
When we say that " the providence of God regulates all things,"
we utter a great truth if we attribute to that providence no
thing but what is just and right. But if we ascribe to the

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 489
providence of God all things whatsoever, however unjust they
may be, then it is no longer true that the providence of God
regulates all things, unless wo refer directly to God's providence
things which flow as results from His arrangements. Celsus
maintains also, that " whatever happens in the universe, whether
it be the work of God, of angels, of other demons, or of heroes,
is regulated by the law of the Most High God." But this also
is incorrect ; for we cannot say that transgressors follow the law
of God when they transgress ; and Scripture declares that it is
not only wicked men who are transgressors, but also wicked
demons and wicked angels. Chapter lxix.
And it is not we alone who speak of wicked demons, but
almost all who acknowledge the existence of demons. Thus,
then, it is not true that all observe the law of the Most High ;
for all who fall away from the divine law, whether through
heedlessness, or through depravity and vice, or through igno
rance of what is right, all such do not keep the law of God, but,
to use a new phrase which we find in Scripture, " the law of sin."
I say, then, that in the opinion of most of those who believe in
the existence of demons, some of them are wicked ; and these,
instead of keeping the law of God, offend against it. But,
according to our belief, it is true of all demons, that they -were
not demons originally, but they became so in departing from
the true way ; so that the name " demons " is given to those
beings who have fallen away from God. Accordingly, those
who worship God must not serve demons. We may also learn
the true nature of demons if we consider the practice of those
who call upon them by charms to prevent certain things, or for
many other purposes. For this is the method they adopt, in
order by means of incantations and magical arts to invoke the
demons, and induce them to further their wishes. Wherefore
the worship of all demons would be inconsistent in us who
worship the supreme God ; and the service of demons is the
service of so-called gods, for " all the gods of the heathen are
demons." x The same thing also appears from the fact that the
dedication of the most famous of the so-called sacred places,
1 Ps. xcvi. 5 (LXX.).

490 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vii.
whether temples or statues, was accompanied by curious magical
incantations, which were performed by those who zealously served
the demons with magical arts. Llence we are determined to
avoid the worship of demons even as we would avoid death; and
we hold that the worship, which is supposed among the Greeks
to be rendered to gods at the altars, and images, and temples, is
in reality offered to demons.
Chapter lxx.
His next remark was, " Have not these inferior powers had
assigned to them by God different departments, according as
each was deemed worthy ? " But this is a question which re
quires a very profound knowledge. For we must determine
whether the Word of God, who governs all things, has appointed
wicked demons for certain employments, in the same way as in
states executioners are appointed, and other officers with cruel
but needful duties to discharge ; or whether as among robbers,
who infest desert places, it is customary for them to choose out of
their number one who may be their leader, — so the demons, who
are scattered as it were in troops in different parts of the earth,
have chosen for themselves a chief under whose command they
may plunder and pillage the souls of men. To explain this
fully, and to justify the conduct of the Christians in refusing
homage to any object except the Most High God, and the
First-born of all creation, who is His Word and God, we must
quote this from Scripture, " All that ever came before me are
thieves and robbers ; but the sheep did not hear them ; " and
again, " The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy;" x and other similar passages, as, " Behold, I have
given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any
means hurt you;"2 and again, " Thou shalt tread upon the
lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou
trample under feet." 3 But of these things Celsus knew nothing,
or he would not have made use of language like this : " Is not
everything which happens in the universe, whether it be the
work of God, of angels, of other demons, or of heroes, regu
lated by the law of the Most High God ? Have these not
1 John x. 8-10. a Luke x. 19. 3 Ps. xci. 13.

Book vii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 491
had assigned to them various departments of which they were
severally deemed worthy? Is it not just, therefore, that he
who serves God should serve those also to whom God has
assigned such power ? " To which he adds, " It is impossible,
they say, for a man to serve many masters." This last point
we must postpone to the next book ; for this, which is the
seventh book which we have written in answer to the treatise
of Celsus, is already of sufficient length.

BOOK VIII.
Chapter i.
jAVING completed seven books, I now propose to
begin the eighth. And may God and His only-
begotten Son the Word be with us, to enable us
effectively to refute the falsehoods which Celsus
has published under the delusive title of A True Discourse,
and at the same time to unfold the truths of Christianity with
such fulness as our purpose requires. And as Paul said, " We
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us,"1 so would we in the same spirit and language earnestly
desire to be ambassadors for Christ to men, even as the Word
of God beseeches them to the love of Himself, seeking to win
over to righteousness, truth, and the other virtues, those who,
until they receive the doctrines of Jesus Christ, live in darkness
about God and in ignorance of their Creator. Again, then, I
would say, may God bestow upon us His pure and true Word,
even " the Lord strong and mighty in battle"2 against sin.
We must now proceed to state the next objection of Celsus, and
afterwards to answer it. Chapter ii.
In a passage previously quoted Celsus asks us why we do
not worship demons, and to his remarks on demons we gave
such an answer as seemed to us in accordance with the divine
word. After having put this question for the purpose of leading
us to the worship of demons, he represents us as answering that
it is impossible to serve many masters. " This," he goes on to
say, " is the language of sedition, and is only used by those who
separate themselves and stand aloof from all human society.
Those who speak in this way ascribe," as he supposes, " their
* 2 Cor. v. 20. 2 Ps. xxiv> 8.
492

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 493
own feelings and passions to God. It does hold true among
men, that he who is in the service of one master cannot woll
serve another, because the service which he renders to the one
interferes with that which he owes to the other ; and no one,
therefore, who has already engaged himself to the service of one,
must accept that of another. And, in like manner, it is impos
sible to serve at the same time heroes or demons of different
natures. But in regard to God, who is subject to no suffering
or loss, it is, " he thinks, " absurd to be on our guard against
serving more gods, as though we had to do with demi-gods,
or other spirits of that sort." He says also, " He who serves
many gods does that which is pleasing to the Most High,
because he honours that which belongs to Him." And he adds,
" It is indeed wrong to give honour to any to whom God has
not given honour." "Wherefore," he says, " in honouring and
worshipping all belonging to God, we will not displease Him to
whom they all belong."
Chapter hi.
Before proceeding to the next point, it may be well for us to
see whether we do not accept with approval the saying, "'No
man can serve two masters," with the addition, " for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the
one, and despise the other," and further, " Ye cannot serve God
and mammon."1 The defence of this passage will lead us to
a deeper and more searching inquiry into the meaning and
application of the words " gods " and " lords." Divine Scrip
ture teaches us that there is " a great Lord above all gods."2
And by this name " gods" we are not to understand the objects
of heathen worship (for we know that " all the gods of the
heathen are demons"3), but the gods mentioned by the prophets
as forming an assembly, whom God " judges," and to each of
whom He assigns his proper work. For " God standeth in the
assembly of the gods : He judgeth among the gods."4 For
" God is Lord of gods," who by His Son " hath called the earth
from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof."5 We
are also commanded to "give thanks to the God of gods."6
1 Matt, vi. 24. 2 Ps. xcvii. 9. 3 Ps. xcvi. 5.
4 Ps. lxxxii. 1. 6 Ps. 1. 1. 6 Ps. cxxxvi. 2.

494 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookvih.
Moreover, we are taught that " God is not the God of the
dead, but of the living."1 Nor are these the only passages to
this effect ; but there are very many others.
Chapter iv.
The sacred Scriptures teach us to think, in like manner, of
the Lord of lords. For they say in one place, " Give thanks to
the God of gods, for His mercy endureth for ever. Give
thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endureth for ever ;"
and in another, " God is King of kings, and Lord of lords."
For Scripture distinguishes between those gods which are such
only in name and those which are truly gods, whether they are
called by that name or not ; and the same is true in regard to
the use of the word " lords." To this effect Paul says, " For
though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in
earth, as there are gods many, and lords many."2 But as the
God of gods calls whom He pleases through Jesus to his in
heritance, " from the east and from the west," and the Christ
of God thus shows His superiority to all rulers by entering into
their several provinces, and summoning men out of them to
be subject to Himself, Paul therefore, with this in view, goes on
to say, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom
are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all
things, and we by Him ;" adding, as if with a deep sense of the
marvellous and mysterious nature of the doctrine, " Howbeit,
there is not in every man that knowledge." When he says,
" To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all
things ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,"
by " us" he means himself and all those who have risen up
to the supreme God of gods and to the supreme Lord of
lords. Now he has risen to the supreme God who gives Him
an entire and undivided worship through His Son — the word
and wisdom of God made manifest in Jesus. For it is the Son
alone who leads to God those who are striving, by the purity
of their thoughts, words, and deeds, to come near to God the
Creator of the universe. I think, therefore, that the prince of
this world, who " transforms himself into an angel of light," 3
was referring to this and such like statements in the words,
1 Matt. xxii. 32. 2 1 Cor. viii. 5, etc. 3 2 Cor. xi. 14.

Book vm. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 495
" Him follows a host of gods and demons, arranged in eleven
bands." Speaking of llimself and the philosophers, he says,
" We are of the party of Jupiter ; others belong to other
demons." x
Chapter v.
Whilst there are thus many gods and lords, whereof some are
such in reality, and others are such only in name, we strive to
rise not only above those whom the nations of the earth worship
as gods, but also beyond those spoken of as gods in Scripture, of
whom they are wholly ignorant who are strangers to the cove
nants of God given by Moses and by our Saviour Jesus, and
who have no part in the promises which He has made to us
through them. That man rises above all demon-worship who
does nothing that is pleasing to demons ; and he rises to a
blessedness beyond that of those whom Paul calls " gods," if he
is enabled, like them, or in any way he may, " to look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen."
And he who considers that "the earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, not
willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the same in hope,"
whilst he praises the creature, and sees how " it shall be freed
altogether from the bondage of corruption, and restored to the
glorious liberty of the children of God,"2 — such a one cannot be
induced to combine with the service of God the service of any
other, or to serve two masters. There is therefore nothing
seditious or factious in the language of those who hold these
views, and who refuse to serve more masters than ' one. To
them Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Lord, who Himself in
structs them, in order that when fully instructed He may form
them into a kingdom worthy of God, and present them to God
the Father. But indeed they do in a sense separate themselves
and stand aloof from those who are aliens from the common
wealth of God and strangers to His covenants, in order that
they may live as citizens of heaven, " coming to the living God,
and to the city of God, the. heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and
church of the first-born, which are written in heaven." 3
1 Plato, Phiedrus, p. 246. 2 Rom. viii. 19, 20. " Heb. xii. 22, 23.

496 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.

Chapter vi.
But when we refuse to serve any other than God through
His word and wisdom, we do so, not as though we would thereby
be doing any harm or injury to God, in the same way as
injury would be done to a man by his servant entering into
the service of another, but wo fear that we ourselves should
suffer harm by depriving ourselves of our portion in God,
through which we live in the participation of the divine
blessedness, and are imbued with that excellent spirit of
adoption which in the sons of the heavenly Father cries, not
with words, but with deep effect in the inmost heart, " Abba,
Father." The Lacedaemonian ambassadors, when brought before
the king of Persia, refused to prostrate themselves before him,
when the attendants endeavoured to compel them to do so, out
of respect for that which alone had authority and lordship over
them, namely, the law of Lycurgus.1 But they who have a much
greater and diviner embassy in " being ambassadors for Christ "
should not worship any ruler among Persians, or Greeks, or
Egyptians, or of any nation whatever, even although their
officers and ministers, demons and angels of the devil, should
seek to compel them to do so, and should urge them to set at
nought a law which is mightier than all the laws upon earth.
For the Lord of those who are " ambassadors for Christ " is
Christ Himself, whose ambassadors they are, and who is " the
Word, who was in the beginning, was with God, and was God." 2
Chapter vii.
But when Celsus speaks of heroes and demons, he starts a
deeper question than he is aware of. For after the statement
which he made in regard to service among men, that " the first
master is injured when any of his servants wishes at the same
time to serve another," he adds, that " the same holds true of
heroes, and other demons of that kind." Now we must in
quire of him what nature he thinks those heroes and demons
possess of whom he affirms that he who serves one hero may
not serve another, and he who serves one demon may not serve
another, as though the former hero or demon would be injured
1 Herod, vii. 136. 2 John i. 1.

Book viii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 497
in the same way as men are injured when they who serve them
first afterwards give themselves to the service of others. Let
him also state what loss he supposes those heroes or demons
will suffer. For he will be driven either to plunge into endless
absurdities, and first repeat, then retract his previous statements ;
or else to abandon his frivolous conjectures, and confess that
he understands nothing of the nature of heroes and demons.
And in regard to his statement, that men suffer injury when
the servant of one man enters the service of a second master,
the question arises: " What is the nature of the injury which is
done to the former master by a servant who, while serving him,
wishes at the same time to serve another? "
Chapter viii.
For if he answers, as one who is unlearned and ignorant
of philosophy, that the injury sustained is one which regards
things that are outside of us, it will be plainly manifest that
he knows nothing of that famous saying of Socrates, " Anytus
and Melitus may kill me, but they cannot injure me ; for it is
impossible that the better should ever be injured by the worse."
But if by injury he means a wicked impulse or an evil habit, it
is plain that no injury of this kind would befall the wise, by one
man serving two wise men in different places. If this sense
does not suit his purpose, it is evident that his endeavours are
vain to weaken the authority of the passage, " No man can
serve two masters ; " for these words can be perfectly true only
when they refer to the service which we render to the Most
High through His Son, who leadeth us to God. And we will
not serve God as though He stood in need of our service, or
as though He would be made unhappy if we ceased to serve
Him ; but we do it because we are ourselves benefited by the
service of God, and because we are freed from griefs and
troubles by serving the Most High God through His only
begotten Son, the Word and Wisdom.
Chapter ix.
And observe the recklessness of that expression, " For if
thou worship any other of the things in the universe," as though
he would have us believe that we are led by our service of God
ORIG.  VOL. II. 2 I

498 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
to the worship of any other things which belong to God, without
any injury to ourselves. But, as if feeling his error, he corrects
the words, " If thou worship any other of the things in the
universe," by adding, " We may honour none, however, except
those to whom that right has been given by God." And we
would put to Celsus this question in regard to those who are
honoured as gods, as demons, or as heroes : " Now, sir, can you
prove that the right to be honoured has been given to these
by God, and that it has not arisen from the ignorance and
folly of men who in their wanderings have fallen away from
Him to whom alone worship and service are properly due?
You said a little ago, O Celsus, that Antinous, the favourite
of Adrian, is honoured; but surely you will not say that the
right to be worshipped as a god was given to him by the God
of the universe ? And so of the others, we ask proof that the
right to be worshipped was given to them by the Most High
God." But if the same question is put to us in regard to the
worship of Jesus, we will show that the right to be honoured
was given to Him by God, " that all may honour the Son, even
as they honour the Father." x For all the prophecies which
preceded His birth were preparations for His worship. And
the wonders which He wrought — through no magical art, as
Celsus supposes, but by a divine power, which was foretold by
the prophets — have served* as a testimony from God in behalf
of the worship of Christ. He who honours the Son, who is
the Word and Reason, acts in nowise contrary to reason, and
gains for himself great good ; he who honours Him, who is the
Truth, becomes better by honouring truth : and this we may
say of honouring wisdom, righteousness, and all the other
names by which the sacred Scriptures are wont to designate the
Son of God.
Chapter x.
But that the honour which we pay to the Son of God, as
well as that which we render to God the Father, consists of an
upright course of life, is plainly taught us by the passage, " Thou
that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law
dishonourest thou God ? " 2 and also, " Of how much sorer
1 John v. 23. 2 Rom. ii. 23.

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 499
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood
of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace ? " x For if he who
transgresses the law dishonours God by his transgression, and
he who treads under foot the word treads under foot the Son
of God, it is evident that he who keeps the law honours God,
and that the worshipper of God is he whose life is regulated by
the principles and precepts of the divine word. Had Celsus
known who they are who are God's people, and that they alone
are wise, — and who they are who are strangers to God, and that
these are all the wicked who have no desire to give themselves
to virtue, — he would have considered before he gave expression
to the words, " How can he who honours any of those whom
God acknowledges as His own be displeasing to God, to whom
they all belong?"
Chapter xi.
He adds, " And indeed he who, when speaking of God,
asserts that there is only one who may be called Lord, speaks
impiously, for he divides the kingdom of God, and raises a sedi
tion therein, implying that there are separate factions in the
divine kingdom, and that there exists one who is His enemy."
He might speak after this fashiori,»if he could prove by con
clusive arguments that those who are worshipped as gods by
the heathens are truly gods, and not merely evil spirits, which
are supposed to haunt statues and temples and altars. But
we desire not onlv to understand the nature of that divine king-
dom of which wo are continually speaking and writing, but
also ourselves to be of those who are under the rule of God
alone, so that the kingdom of God may be ours. Celsus, how
ever, who teaches us to worship many gods, ought in consist
ency not to speak of " the kingdom of God," but of " the
kingdom of the gods." There are therefore no factions in the
kingdom of God, nor is there any god who is an adversary to
Him, although there are some who, like the giants and Titans,
in their wickedness wish to contend with God in company with
Celsus, and those who declare war against Him who has by in-
1 Heb. x. 29.

500 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
numerable proofs established the claims of Jesus, and against
Him who, as the Word, did, for the salvation of our race, show
Himself before all the world in such a form as each was able
to receive Him. Chapter xii.
In what follows, some may imagine that he says something
plausible against us. " If," says he, " these people worshipped
one God alone, and no other, they would perhaps have some
valid argument against the worship of others. But they pay
excessive reverence to one who has but lately appeared among
men, and they think it no offence against God if they worship
also His servant." To this we reply, that if Celsus had known
that saying, " I and my Father are one,"1 and the words used
in prayer by the Son of God, "As Thou and I are one,"2 he
would not have supposed that we worship any other besides
Him who is the supreme God. " For," says He, " my Father
is in me, and I in Him."3 And if any should from these words
be afraid of our going over to the side of those who deny that
the Father and the Son are two persons, let him weigh that
passage, " And the multitude ef them that believed were of one
heart and of one soul,"4 that he may understand the meaning of
the saying, "I and my Father are one." We worship one God,
the Father and the Son, therefore, as we have explained ; and our
argument against the worship of other gods still continues valid.
And we do not " reverence beyond measure one who has but
lately appeared," as though He did not exist before ; for we
believe Himself when He says, "Before Abraham was, I am."5
Again He says, "I am the truth ;"6 and surely none of us is
so simple as to suppose that truth did not exist before the time
v when Christ appeared. We worship, therefore, the Father of
I truth, and the Son, who is the truth ; and these, while they
t are two, considered as persons or subsistences, are one in unity
j of thought, in harmony and in identity of will. So entirely are
they one, that he who has seen the Son, " who is the bright
ness of God's glory, and the express image of His person," 7 has
seen in Him who is the image of God, God Himself.
1 John x. 30. 2 John xvii. 22. 3 John xiv. 11, and xvii. 21.
4 Acts iv. 32. B John viii. 58. 6 John xiv. 6. 7 Heb. i. 3.

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 501
Chapter xiii.
He further supposes, that " because we join along with the
worship of God the worship of His Son, it follows that, in our
view, not only God, but also the servants of God, are to be
worshipped." If he had meant this to apply to those who are
truly the servants of God, after His only-begotten Son, — to
Gabriel and Michael, and the other angels and archangels, —
and if he had said of these that they ought to be worshipped,
— if also he had clearly defined the meaning of the word "wor
ship," and the duties of the worshippers, — we might perhaps have
brought forward such thoughts as have occurred to us on so
important a subject. But as he reckons among the servants
of God the demons which are worshipped by the heathen, he
cannot induce us, on the plea of consistency, to worship such as
are declared by the word to be servants of the evil one, the
prince of this world, who leads astray from God as many as
he can. We decline, therefore, altogether to worship and serve
those whom other men worship, for the reason that they are
not servants of God. For if we had been taught to regard
them as servants of the Most High, we would not have called
them demons. Accordingly, wo worship with all our powor
the one God, and His only Son, the Word and the Image of
God, by prayers and supplications ; and we offer our petitions
to the God of the universe through Llis only-begotten Son.
To the Son we first present them, and beseech Him, as " the
propitiation for our sins,"1 and our High Priest, to offer our
desires, and sacrifices, and prayers, to the Most High. Our
faith, therefore, is directed to God through His Son, who
strengthens it in us ; and Celsus can never show that the Son
of God is the cause of any sedition or disloyalty in the king
dom of God. We honour the Father when we admire His
Son, the Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and Righteousness, and
all that He who is the Son of so great a Father is said in Scrip
ture to be. So much on this point.
Chapter xiv.
Again Celsus proceeds : " If you should tell them that Jesus
is not the Son of God, but that God is the Father of all, and
1 1 John ii. 2.

502 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
that He alone ought to be truly worshipped, they would not
consent to discontinue their worship of him who is their leader
in the sedition. And they call him Son of God, not out of
any extreme reverence for God, but from an extreme desire to
extol Jesus Christ." We, however, have learned who the Son
of God is, and know that He is " the brightness of His glory,
and the express image of His person," and " the breath of the
power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of
the Almighty ; " moreover, " the brightness of the everlasting
light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image
of His goodness."1 We know, therefore, that He is the Son of
God, and that God is His Father. And there is nothing ex
travagant or unbecoming the character of God in the doctrine
that Lie should have begotten such an only Son ; and no one
will persuade us that such a one is not a Son of the unbe-
gotten God and Father. If Celsus has heard something of
certain persons holding that the Son of God is not the Son of
the Creator of the universe, that is a matter which lies between
him and the supporters of such an opinion. Jesus is, then,
not the leader of any seditious movement, but the promoter of
peace. For He said to His disciples, " Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you ;" and as He knew that it would be
men of the world, and not men of God, who would wage war
against us, he added, " Not as the world giveth peace, do I give
peace unto you."2 And even although we are oppressed in the
world, we have confidence in Him who said, " In the world ye
shall have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world." And it is He whom we call Son of God — Son of
that God, namely, whom, to quote the words of Celsus, " we
most highly reverence ;" and He is the Son who has been most
highly exalted by the Father. Grant that there may be some
individuals among the multitudes of believers who are not in
entire agreement with us, and who incautiously assert that the
Saviour is the Most High God ; however, we do not hold with
them, but rather believe Him when He says, " The Father who
sent me is greater than I."8 We would not therefore make
Him whom we call Father inferior — as Celsus accuses us of
doing — to the Son of God.
1 Wisd. vii. 25, 26. 2 John xiv. 27. 3 John xiv. 28.

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. , 503
Chapter xv.
Celsus goes on to say : " That I may give a true representa
tion of their faith, I will use their own words, as given in what
is called A Heavenly Dialogue : ' If the Son is mightier than
God, and the Son of man is Lord over Him, who else than
the Son can be Lord over that God who is the ruler over all
things ? How comes it, that while so many go about the well,
no one goes down into it ? Why art thou afraid when thou
hast gone so far on the way ? Answer : Thou art mistaken,
for I lack neither courage nor weapons.' Is it not evident,
then, that their views are precisely such as I have described
them to be ? They suppose that another God, who is above
the heavens, is the Father of him whom with one accord they
honour, that they may honour this Son of man alone, whom
they exalt under the form and name of the great God, and
whom they assert to be stronger than God, who rules the world,
and that he rules over Him. And hence that maxim of theirs,
' It is impossible to serve two masters,' is maintained for the
purpose of keeping up the party who are on the side of this
Lord." Here, again, Celsus quotes opinions from some most
obscure sect of heretics, and ascribes them to all Christians.
I call it " a most obscure sect ; " for although we have often
contended with heretics, yet we are unable to discover from
what set of opinions he has taken this passage, if indeed he
has quoted it from any author, and has not rather concocted it
himself, or added it as an inference of his own. For we who
say that the visible world is under the government of Him
who created all things, do thereby declare that the Son is not
mightier than the Father, but inferior to Him. And this
belief we ground on the saying of Jesus Himself, " The Father
who sent me is greater than I." And none of us is so insane
as to affirm that the Son of man is Lord over God. But when
we regard the Saviour as God the Word, and Wisdom, and
Righteousness, and Truth, we certainly do say that He has
dominion over all things which have been subjected to Him in
this capacity, but not that His dominion extends over the God
and Father who is Ruler over all. Besides, as the Word rules
over none against their will, there are still wicked beings — not

504 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
only men, but also angels, and all demons — over whom we say
that in a sense He does not rule, since they do not yield Him
a willing obedience ; but, in another sense of the word, He rules
even over them, in the same way as wo say that man rules over
the irrational animals, — not by persuasion, but as one who tames
and subdues lions and beasts of burden. Nevertheless, He
leaves no means untried to persuade even those who are still
disobedient to submit to His authority. So far as wo are con
cerned, therefore, wo deny the truth of that which Celsus
quotes as one of our sayings, " Who else than He can be Lord
over Him who is God over all?"
Chapter xvi.
The remaining part of the extract given by Celsus seems to
have been taken from some other form of heresy, and the whole
jumbled together in strange confusion : " How is it, that while
so many go about the well, no one goes down into it ? Why
dost thou shrink with fear when thou hast gone so far on the
way? Answer : Thou art mistaken, for I lack neither courage
nor weapons." We who belong to the church which takes its
name from Christ, assert that none of these statements are true.
For he seems to have made them simply that they might har
monize with what he had said before ; but they have no reference
1 to us. For it is a principle with us, not to worship any god whom
iwe merely " suppose" to exist, but Him alone who is the Creator
\of this universe, and of all things besides which are unseen by
the eye of sense. These remarks of Celsus may apply to those
who go on another road and tread other paths from us, — men
who deny the Creator, and make to themselves another god
under a new form, having nothing but the name of God, whom
they esteem higher than the Creator ; and with these may be
joined any that there may be who say that the Son is greater
than the God who rules all things. In reference to the precept
that we ought not to serve two masters, we have already shown
what appears to us the principle contained in it, when we proved
that no sedition or disloyalty could be charged against the fol
lowers of Jesus their Lord, who confess that they reject every
other lord, and serve Him alone who is the Son and Word of
God.

Book vm.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 505

Chapter xvii.
Celsus then proceeds to say that " wo shrink from raising
altars, statues, and temples; and this," he thinks, " has been
agreed upon among us as the badge or distinctive mark of a
secret and forbidden society." He does not perceive that we
regard the spirit of every good man as an altar from which
arises an incense wdiich is truly and spiritually swoet-smelling,
namely, the prayers ascending from a pure conscience. There
fore it is said by John in the Revelation, " The odours are the
prayers of saints ; " x and by the Psalmist, " Let my prayer
come up before Thee as incense." 2 And the statues and gifts
which are fit offerings to God are the work of no common
mechanics, but are wrought and fashioned in us by the Word
of God, to wit, the virtues in wdiich we imitate " the First-born
of all creation," who has set us an example of justice, of tem
perance, of courage, of wisdom, of piety, and of the other
virtues. In all those, then, who plant and cultivate within
their souls, according to the divine word, temperance, justice,
wisdom, piety, and other virtues, these excellences are their
statues they raise, in which we are persuaded that it is becom
ing for us to honour the model and prototype of all statues :
" the image of the invisible God," God the only- begotten.
And again, they who " put off the old man with his deeds, and
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of Him that hath created him," in taking upon them the
image of Him who hath created them, do raise within them
selves a statue like to what the Most High God Himself desires.
And as among statuaries there are some who are marvellously
perfect in their art, as for example Pheidias and Polycleitus,
and among painters, Zeuxis and Apelles, whilst others make in
ferior statues, and others, again, are inferior to the second-rate
artists, — so that, taking all together, there is a wide difference
in the execution of statues and pictures, — in the same way there
are some who form images of the Most High in a better manner
and with a more perfect skill ; so that there is no comparison
even between the Olympian Jupiter of Pheidias and the man
who has been fashioned according to the image of God the
1 Rev. v. 8. 2 Ps. cxli. 2.

506 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
Creator. But by far the most excellent of all these through
out the whole of creation is that image in our Saviour who
said, " My Father is in me."
Chapter xviii.
And every one who imitates Him according to his ability,
does by this very endeavour raise a statue according to the
image of the Creator, for in the contemplation of God with a
pure heart they become imitators of Him. And, in general,
we see that all Christians strive to raise altars and statues as
we have described them, and these not of a lifeless and sense
less kind, and not to receive greedy spirits intent upon lifeless
things, but to be filled with the Spirit of God who dwells in
the images of virtue of which we have spoken, and takes His
abode in the soul which is conformed to the image of the
Creator. Thus the Spirit of Christ dwells in those who bear,
so to say, a resemblance in form and feature to Himself. And
the Word of God, wishing to set this clearly before us, repre
sents God as promising to the righteous, " I will dwell in them,
and walk among them ; and I will be their God, and they shall
be my people."1 And the Saviour says, " If any man hear
my words, and do them, I and my Father will come to him, and
make our abode with him." 2 Let any one, therefore, who chooses
compare the altars which I have described with those spoken
of by Celsus, and the images in the souls of those who worship
the Most Lligh God with the statues of Pheidias, Polycleitus,
and such like, and he will clearly perceive, that while the latter
are lifeless things, and subject to the ravages of time, the
former abide in the immortal spirit as long as the reasonable
soul wishes to preserve them.
Chapter xix.
And if, further, temples are to be compared with temples,
that we may prove to those who accept the opinions of Celsus
that we do not object to the erection of temples suited to the
images and altars of which we have spoken, but that we do re
fuse to build lifeless temples to the Giver of all life, let any
one who chooses learn how we are taught, that our bodies
1 2 Cor. vi. 16. 2 John xiv. 23.

Bookviii.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 507
are the temple of God, and that if any one by lust or sin
defiles the temple of God, he will himself be destroyed, as
acting impiously towards the true temple. Of all the temples
spoken of in this sense, the best and most excellent was the
pure and holy body of our Saviour Jesus Christ. When He
knew that wicked men might aim at the destruction of the
temple of God in Him, but that their purposes of destruction
would not prevail against the divine power which had built that
temple, He says to them, " Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it again. . . . This He said of the temple of
His body." x And in other parts of holy Scripture where it
speaks of the mystery of the resurrection to those whose ears
are divinely opened, it says that the temple which has been
destroyed shall be built up again of living and most precious
stones, thereby giving us to understand that each of those who
are led by the word of God to strive together in the duties of
piety, will be a precious stone in the one great temple of God.
Accordingly, Peter says, " Ye also, as lively stones, are built up
a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacri
fices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ;"2 and Paul also says,
" Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ our Lord being the chief corner-stone."3 And
there is a similar hidden allusion in this passage in Isaiah,
which is addressed to Jerusalem : " Behold, I will lay thy stones
with carbuncles, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And
I will make thy battlements of jasper, and thy gates of crystal,
and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be the peace of
thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established." 4
Chapter xx.
There are, then, among the righteous some who are car
buncles, others sapphires, others jaspers, and others crystal,
and thus there is among the righteous every kind of choice and
precious stone. As to the spiritual meaning of the different
stones, — what is their nature, and to what kind of soul the name
of each precious stone especially applies, — we cannot at present
i John ii. 19, 21. 2 1 Pet. ii. 5.
3 Eph. ii. 20. 4 Isa. liv. 11-14.

508 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
stay to examine. We have only felt it necessary to show thus
briefly what we understand by temples, and what the one
Temple of God built of precious stones truly means. For as
if in some cities a dispute should arise as to which had the
finest temples, those who thought their own were the best
would do their utmost to show the excellence of their own
temples and the inferiority of the others, — in like manner, when
they reproach us for not deeming it necessary to worship the
Divine Being by raising lifeless temples, we set before them our
temples, and show to such at least as are not blind and sense
less, like their senseless gods, that there is no comparison be
tween our statues and the statues of the heathen, nor between our
altars, with what we may call the incense ascending from them,
and the heathen altars, with the fat and blood of the victims ;
nor, finally, between the temples of senseless gods, admired by
senseless men, who have no divine faculty for perceiving God,
and the temples, statues, and altars which are worthy of God.
It is not therefore true that we object to building altars,
statues, and temples, because we have agreed to make this the
badge of a secret and forbidden society ; but wo do so, because
we have learnt from Jesus Christ the true way of serving God,
and we shrink from whatever, under a pretence of piety, leads
to utter impiety those who abandon the way marked out for us
by Jesus Christ. For it is Lie who alone is the way of piety,
as He truly said, " I am the way, the truth, the life."
Chapter xxi.
Let us see what Celsus further says of God, and how he
urges us to the use of those things which are properly called
idol offerings, or, still better, offerings to demons, although, in
his ignorance of what true sanctity is, and what sacrifices are
well-pleasing to God, he call them " holy sacrifices." His
words are, " God is the God of all alike ; He is good, He stands
in need of nothing, and He is without jealousy. What, then,
is there to hinder those who are most devoted to His service
from taking part in public feasts ? " I cannot see the connec
tion which he fancies between God's being good, and indepen
dent, and free from jealousy, and His devoted servants taking
part in public feasts. I confess, indeed, that from the fact

Book viii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 509
that God is good, and without want of anything, and free from
jealousy, it would follow as a consequence that we might take
part in public feasts, if it were proved that the public feasts
had nothing wrong in them, and were grounded upon true
views of the character of God, so that they resulted naturally
from a devout service of God. If, however, the so-called public
festivals can in no way be shown to accord with the service of
God, but may on the contrary be proved to have been devised
by men when occasion offered to commemorate some human
events, or to set forth certain qualities of water or earth, or the
fruits of the earth,' — in that case, it is clear that those who
wish to offer an enlightened worship to the Divine Being will
act according to sound reason, and not take part in the public
feasts. For " to keep a feast," as one of the wise men of
Greece has well said, "is nothing else than to do one's duty ;"x
and that man truly celebrates a feast who does his duty and
prays always, offering up continually bloodless sacrifices in
prayer to God. That therefore seems to me a most noble
saying of Paul, " Ye observe days, and months, and times,
and years. I am afraid of you, lest I^have bestowed upon
you labour in vain." 2
Chapter xxii.
If it be objected to us on this subject that we ourselves are
accustomed to observe certain days, as for example the Lord's
day, the Preparation, the Passover, or Pentecost, I have to
answer, that to the perfect Christian, who is ever in his thoughts,
words, and deeds serving his natural Lord, God the Word, all
his days are the Lord's, and he is always keeping the Lord's
day. He also who is unceasingly preparing himself for the
true life, and abstaining from the pleasures of this life which
lead astray so many,— who is not indulging the lust of the flesh,
but " keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection,"
— such a one is always keeping Preparation-day. Again, he
who considers that " Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us "
and that it is his duty to keep the feast by eating of the flesh
of the Word, never ceases to keep the paschal feast ; for the
pascha means a " passover," and he is ever striving in all his
1 Thucyd. i. 2 Gal. iv. 10, 11.

510 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
thoughts, words, and deeds, to pass over from the things of
this life to God, and is hastening towards the city of God.
And, finally, he who can truly say, " We are risen with Christ,"
and " He hath exalted us, and made us to sit with Him in
heavenly places in Christ," is always living in the season of
Pentecost ; and most of all, when going up to the upper cham
ber, like the apostles of Jesus, he gives himself to supplication
and prayer, that he may become worthy of receiving "the
mighty wind rushing from heaven," which is powerful to
destroy sin and its fruits among men, and worthy of having
some share of the tongue of fire which God sends.
Chapter xxiii.
But the majority of those who are accounted believers are
not of this advanced class ; but from being either unable or
unwilling to keep every day in this manner, they require some
sensible memorials to prevent spiritual things from passing alto
gether away from their minds. It is to this practice of setting
apart some days distinct from others, that Paul seems to me to
refer in the expression, "part of the feast ;"1 and by these words
he indicates that a life in accordance with the divine word con
sists not " in a part of the feast," but in one entire and never-
ceasing festival. Again, compare the festivals, observed among
us as these have been described above, with the public feasts of
Celsus and the heathen, and say if the former are not much
more sacred observances than those feasts in which the lust of
the flesh runs riot, and leads to drunkenness and debauchery.
It would be too long for us at present to show why we are
required by the law of God to keep its festivals by eating " the
bread of affliction," 2 or " leaven with bitter herbs," 3 or why it
says, " Humble your souls," 4 and such like. For it is impos
sible for man, who is a compound being, in which " the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh," 5 to
1 Col. ii. 16. The whole passage in the English version is, " Let no man
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday " (iv pcipsi hprYig).
Origen's interpretation is not followed by any modern expositors. It is
adopted by Chrysostom and Theodoret.
2 Deut. xvi. 3. s Ex. xii. 8.
4 Lev. xvi. 29. 6 Qal. v. 17.

Book vni.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 511
keep the feast with his whole nature ; for either he keeps the
feast with his spirit and afflicts the body, which through the
lust of the flesh is unfit to keep it along with the spirit, or else
he keeps it with the body, and the spirit is unable to share in
it. But we have for the present said enough on the subject of
feasts.
Chapter xxiv.
Let us now see on what grounds Celsus urges us to make
use of the idol offerings and the public sacrifices in the public
feasts. His words are, " If these idols are nothing, what harm
will there be in taking part in the feast ? On the other hand, if
they are demons, it is certain that they too are God's creatures,
and that we must believe in them, sacrifice to them according
to the laws, and pray to them that they may be propitious."
In reference to this statement, it would be profitable for us to
take up and clearly explain the whole passage of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, in which Paul treats of offerings
to idols.1 The apostle draws from the fact that "an idol is
nothing in the world," the consequence that it is injurious to
use things offered to idols ; and he shows to those who have
ears to hear on such subjects, that he who partakes of things
offered to idols is worse than a murderer, for he destroys his
own brethren, for whom Christ died. And further, he main
tains that the sacrifices are made to demons; and from that
he proceeds to show that those who join the table of demons
become associated with the demons ; and he concludes that a
man cannot both be a partaker of the table of the Lord and
of the table of demons. But since it would require a whole
treatise to set forth fully all that is contained on this subject
in the Epistle to the Corinthians, we shall content ourselves
with this brief statement of the argument ; for it will be
evident to any one who carefully considers what has been said,
that even if idols are nothing, nevertheless it is an awful thing
to join in idol festivals. And even supposing that there are
such beings as demons to whom the sacrifices are offered, it
has been clearly shown that we are forbidden to take part in
these festivals, when we know the difference between the table
1 1 Cor. viii. 4, 11.

512 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
of the Lord and the table of demons. And knowing this, we
endeavour as much as we can to be always partakers of the
Lord's table, and beware to the utmost of joining at any time
the table of demons.
Chapter xxv.
Celsus says that " the demons belong to God, and are there
fore to be believed, to be sacrificed to according to laws, and to
be prayed to that they may be propitious." Those who are
disposed to learn, must know that the word of God nowhere
says of evil things that they belong to God, for it judges them
unworthy of such a Lord. Accordingly, it is not all men who
bear the name of " men of God," but only those who are
worthy of God, — such as Moses and Elias, and any others who
are so called, or such as resemble those who are so called in
Scripture. In the same way, all angels are not said to be
angels of God, but only those that are blessed : those that have
fallen away into sin are called " angels of the devil," just as
bad men are called " men of sin," " sons of perdition," or " sons
of iniquity." Since, then, among men some are good and
others bad, and the former are said to be God's and the latter
the devil's, so among angels some are angels of God, and others
angels of the devil. But among demons there is no such dis
tinction, for all are said to be wicked. We do not therefore
hesitate to say that Celsus is false when he says, " If they are
demons, it is evident that they must also belong to God." He
must either show that this distinction of good and bad among
angels and men has no foundation, or else that a similar
distinction may be shown to hold among demons. If that
is impossible, it is plain that demons do not belong to God;
for their prince is not God, but, as holy Scripture says,
" Beelzebub."
Chapter xxvi.
And we are not *o believe in demons, although Celsus urges
us to do so ; but if we are to obey God, we must die, or endure
anything sooner than obey demons. In the same way, wo are
not to propitiate demons ; for it is impossible to propitiate beings
that are wicked and that seek the injury of men. Besides,

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 513
what are the laws in accordance with which Celsus would have
us propitiate the demons ? For if he means laws enacted in
states, he must show that they are in agreement with the divine
laws. But if that cannot be done, as the laws of many states
are quite inconsistent with each other, these laws, therefore,
must of necessity either be no laws at all in the proper sense of
the word, or else the enactments of wicked men ; and these we
must not obey, for "we must obey God rather than men."
Away, then, with this counsel, which Celsus gives us, to offer
prayer to demons : it is not to be listened to for a moment ; for
our duty is to pray to the Most High God alone, and to the
only-begotten, the first-born of the whole creation, and to ask
Him as our High Priest to present the prayers which ascend to
Him from us, to His God and our God, to His Father and the
Father of those who direct their lives according to His word.
And as we would have no desire to enjoy the favour of those
men who wish us to follow their wicked lives, and who give us
their favour only on condition that we choose nothing opposed
to their wishes, because their favour would make us enemies of
God, who cannot be pleased with those who have such men for
their friends, — in the same way those who are acquainted with
the nature, the purposes, and the wickedness of demons, can
never wish to obtain their favour.
Chapter xxvii.
And Christians have nothing to fear, even if demons should
not be well-disposed to them ; for they are protected by the
supreme God, who is woll pleased with their piety, and who
sets His divine angels to watch over those who are worthy of
such guardianship, so that they can suffer nothing from demons.
He who by his piety possesses the favour of the Most High,
who has accepted the guidance of Jesus, the " Angel of the
great counsel," x being well contented with the favour of God
through Christ Jesus, may say with confidence that he has
nothing to suffer from the whole host of demons. " The Lord
is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear ? The Lord
is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? Though
an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." 2
i Isa. ix. 6 (LXX.). 2 Ps. xxvii. 1, 3.
ORIG.— VOL. II. 2 K

514 ORIGEN AG4INST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
So much, then, in reply to those statements of Celsus : " If
they are demons, they too evidently belong to God, and they
are to be believed, to be sacrificed to according to the laws, and
prayers are to be offered to them that they may be propitious."
Chapter xxviii.
We shall now proceed to the next statement of Celsus, and
examine it with care : " If in obedience to the traditions of
their fathers they abstain from such victims, they must also
abstain from all animal food, in accordance with the opinions
of Pythagoras, who thus showed his respect for the soul and
its bodily organs. But if, as they say, they abstain that they
may not eat along with demons, I admire their wisdom, in
having at length discovered, that whenever they eat they eat
with demons, although they only refuse to do so when they are
looking upon a slain victim ; for when they eat bread, or drink
wine, or taste fruits, do they not receive these things, as well as
the water they drink and the air they breathe, from certain
demons,, to whom have been assigned these different provinces
of nature ? " Here I would observe that I cannot see how
those whom he speaks of as abstaining from certain victims, in
accordance with the traditions of their fathers, are consequently
bound to abstain from the flesh of all animals. We do not
indeed deny that the divine word does seem to command some
thing similar to this, when to raise us to a higher and purer life
it says, " It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor
anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is
made weak ;"x and again, " Destroy not him with thy meat, for
whom Christ died;"2 and again, "If meat make my brother to
offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make
my brother to offend."3
Chapter xxix.
But it is to be observed that the Jews, who claim for them
selves a correct understanding of the law of Moses, carefully
restrict their food to such things as are accounted clean, and
abstain from those that are unclean. They also do not use in
their food the blood of an animal nor the flesh of an . animal
1 Rom. xiv. 21. 2 Rom. xiv. 15. 3 1 Cor. viii. 13.

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 515
torn by wild beasts, and some other things which it would take
too long for us at present to detail. But Jesus, wishing to lead
all men by His teaching to the pure worship and service of God,
and anxious not to throw any hindrance in the way of many
who might be benefited by Christianity, through the imposition
of a burdensome code of rules in regard to food, has laid it
down, that " not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a
man, but that which cometh out of the mouth ; for whatsoever
entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out
into the draught. But those things which proceed out of the
mouth are evil thoughts when spoken, murders, adulteries, for
nications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."1 Paul also says,
" Meat commendeth us not to God : for neither, if we eat, are
we the better ; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse." 2
Wherefore, as there is some obscurity about this matter, with
out some explanation is given, it seemed good to the apostles of
Jesus and the elders assembled together at Antioch, and also,
as they themselves say, to the Holy Spirit, to write a letter to
the Gentile believers, forbidding them to partake of those things
from which alone they say it is necessary to abstain, namely,
" things offered to idols, things strangled, and blood." 3
Chapter xxx.
For that which is offered to idols is sacrificed to demons, and
a man of God must not join the table of demons. As to things
strangled, we are forbidden by Scripture to partake of them,
because the blood is still in them; and blood, especially the
odour arising from blood, is said to be the food of demons.
Perhaps, then, if we were to eat of strangled animals, we might
have such spirits feeding along with us. And the reason which
forbids the use of strangled animals for food is also applicable
to the use of blood. And it may not be amiss, as bearing on
this point, to recall a beautiful saying in the writings of Sextus,
which is known to most Christians : " The eating of animals "
says he, " is a matter of indifference ; but to abstain from
them is more agreeable to reason." It is not, therefore, simply
on account of some traditions of our fathers that we refrain
1 Matt. xv. 11, 17-19. 2 1 Cor. viii. 8.
3 Acts xv. 28, 29. It was at Jerusalem.

51G ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
from eating victims offered to those called gods or heroes or
demons, but for other reasons, some of which I have here men
tioned. It is not to be supposed, however, that we are to ab
stain from the flesh of animals in the same way as we are bound
to abstain from all vice and wickedness : we are indeed to
abstain not only from the flesh of animals, but from all other
kinds of food, if we cannot partake of them without incurring
evil, and the consequences of evil. For we are to avoid eating
for gluttony, or for the mere gratification of the appetite, with
out regard to the health and sustenance of the body. We do
not believe that souls pass from one body to another, and that
they may descend so low as to enter the bodies of the brutes.
If we abstain at times from eating the flesh of animals, it is
evidently, therefore, not for the same reason as Pythagoras ; for
it is the reasonable soul alone that wo honour, and we commit
its bodily organs with due honours to the grave. For it is not
right that the dwelling-place of the rational soul should be cast
aside anywhere without honour, like the carcases of brute
beasts ; and so much the more when we believe that the respect
paid to the body redounds to the honour of the person who
received from God a soul which has nobly employed the organs
of the body in which it resided. In regard to the question,
" How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they
come ? " we have already answered it briefly, as our purpose
required.
Chapter xxxi.
Celsus afterwards states what is adduced by Jews and Chris
tians alike in defence of abstinence from idol sacrifices, namely,
that it is wrong for those who have dedicated themselves to the
Most High God to eat with demons. What he brings forward
against this view, we have already seen. In our opinion, a man
can only be said to eat and drink with demons when he eats
the flesh of what are called sacred victims, and when he drinks
the wine poured out to the honour of the demons. But Celsus
thinks that we cannot eat bread or drink wine in any way
whatever, or taste fruits, or even take a draught of water, with
out eating and drinking with demons. He adds also, that the
air which we breathe is received from demons, and that not an

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 517
animal can breathe without receiving the air from the demons
who are set over the air. If any one wishes to defend this
statement of Celsus, let him show that it is not the divine
angels of God, but demons, the whole race of whom are bad,
that have been appointed to communicate all those blessings
which have been mentioned. We indeed also maintain with
regard not only to the fruits of the earth, but to every flowing ,
stream and every breath of air, that the ground brings forth
those things which are said to grow up naturally, — that the
water springs in fountains, and refreshes the earth with run
ning streams, — that the air is kept pure, and supports the life
of those who breathe it only in consequence of the agency and
control of certain beings whom we may call invisible husband
men and guardians ; but we deny that those invisible agents
are demons. And if we might speak boldly, we would say that
if demons have any share at all in these things, to them belong
famine, blasting of the vine and fruit trees, pestilence among
men and beasts : all these are the proper occupations of
demons, who in the capacity of public executioners receive
power at certain times to carry out the divine judgments, for
the restoration of those who have plunged headlong into wicked
ness, or for the trial and discipline of the souls of the wise.
For those who through all their afflictions preserve their piety
pure and unimpaired, show their true character to all specta
tors, whether visible or invisible, who behold them ; while those
who are otherwise minded, yet conceal their wickedness, when
they have their true character exposed by misfortunes, become
manifest to themselves as well as to those whom we may also
call spectators.
Chapter xxxii.
The Psalmist bears witness that divine justice employs cer
tain evil angels to inflict calamities upon men : " He cast upon
them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and
trouble, sent by evil angels."1 Whether demons ever go beyond
this when they are suffered to do what they are ever ready,
though through the restraint put upon them they are not always
able to do, is a question to be solved by that man who can con-
1 Ps. lxxviii. 49.

518 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
ceive, in so far as human nature will allow, how it accords with
the divine justice, that such multitudes of human souls are
separated from the body while walking in the paths which lead
to certain death. " For the judgments of God are so great,"
that a soul which is still clothed with a mortal body cannot
comprehend them ; " and they cannot be expressed : therefore
by unnurtured souls"1 they are not in any measure to be
understood. And hence, too, rash spirits, by their ignorance in
these matters, and by recklessly setting themselves against the
Divine Being, multiply impious objections against providence.
It is not from demons, then, that men receive any of those things
which meet the necessities of life, and least of all ourselves,
who have been taught to make a proper use of these things.
And they who partake of corn and wine, and the fruits of
trees, of water and of air, do not feed with demons, but rather
do they feast with divine angels, who are appointed for this pur
pose, and who are as it were invited to the table of the pious
man, who hearkens to the precept of the word, which says,
" Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the
glory of God."2 And again, in another place it is written,
" Do all things in the name of God."3 When, therefore, we
eat and drink and breathe to the glory of God, and act in all
things according to what is right, we feast with no demons, but
with divine angels : " For every creature is good, and nothing
to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving : for it is
sanctified by the word of God and prayer."4 But it could not
be good, and it could not be sanctified, if these things were, as
Celsus supposes, entrusted to the charge of demons.
Chapter xxxiii.
From this it is evident that we have already met the next
statement of Celsus, which is as follows : " We must either not
live, and indeed not come into this life at all, or we must do so
on condition that we give thanks and first-fruits and prayers
to demons, who have been set over the things of this world : and
that we must do as long as we live, that they may prove good
and kind." We must surely live, and we must live according
1 Wisdom of Sol. xvii. 1. 2 Col. iii. 17.
3 1 Cor. x. 31. 4 1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.

Bookviii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 519
to the word of God, as far as we are enabled to do so. And we
are thus enabled to live, when, "whether we eat or drink, we do
all to the glory of God ; " and we are not to refuse to enjoy those
things which have been created for our use, but must receive
them with thanksgiving to the Creator. And it is under these
conditions, and not such as have been imagined by Celsus, that
we have been brought into life by God ; and we are not placed
under demons, but we are under the government of the Most
High God, through Him who hath brought us to God — Jesus
Christ. It is not according to the law of God that any demon
has had a share in worldly affairs, but it was by their own law
lessness that they perhaps sought out for themselves places
destitute of the knowledge of God and of the divine life, or
places where there are many enemies of God. Perhaps also, as
being fit to rule over and punish them, they have been set by
the Word, who governs all things, to rule over those who sub
jected themselves to evil and not to God. For this reason, then,
let Celsus, as one who knows not God, give thank-offerings to
demons. But we give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along
with thanksgiving and prayer for the blessings we have received,
we also eat the bread presented to us ; and this bread becomes
by prayer a sacred body, which sanctifies those who sincerely
partake of it.
Chapter xxxiv.
Celsus would also have us to offer first-fruits to demons. But
we would offer them to Him who said, " Let the earth bring
forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding
fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth."1
And to Him to whom we offer first-fruits we also send up our
prayers, " having a great high priest, that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God," and " we hold fast this profes
sion"2 as long as we live ; for we find God and His only-begot
ten Son, manifested to us in Jesus, to be gracious and kind to
us. And if we would wish to have besides a great number of
beings who shall ever prove friendly to us, we are taught that
" thousand thousands stood before Him, and ten thousand times
ten thousand ministered unto Him."3 And these, regarding
1 Gen. i. 11. 2 Heb. iv. 14. 3 Dan. vii. 10.

520 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
all as their relations and friends who imitate their piety towards
God, and in prayer call upon Him with sincerity, work along
with them for their salvation, appear unto them, deem it their
office and duty to attend to them, and as if by common agree
ment they visit with all manner of kindness and deliverance
those who pray to God, to whom they themselves also pray :
" For they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
those who shall be heirs of salvation."1 Let the learned Greeks
say that the human soul at its birth is placed under the charge
of demons : Jesus has taught us not to despise even the little
ones in His church, saying, " Their angels do always behold the
face of my Father which is in heaven."2 And the prophet
says, " The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear Him, and delivereth them."3 We do not, then, deny
that there are many demons upon earth, but we maintain that
they exist and exercise power among the wicked, as a punish
ment of their wickedness. But they have no power over those
who " have put on the whole armour of God," who have
received strength to '? withstand the wiles of the devil,"4 and
who are ever engaged in contests with them, knowing that " we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places."5
Chapter xxxv.
Now let us consider another saying of Celsus, which is as
follows : " The satrap of a Persian or Roman monarch, or
ruler or general or governor, yea, even those who fill lower
offices of trust or service in the state, would be able to do great
injury to those who despised them ; and will the satraps and
ministers of earth and air be insulted with impunity ? " Observe
now how he introduces servants of the Most High — rulers,
generals, governors, and those filling lower offices of trust and
service — as, after the manner of men, inflicting injury upon
those who insult them. For he does not consider that a wise
man would not wish to do harm to any, but would strive to the
utmost of his power to change and amend them ; unless, indeed,
1 Heb. i. 14. 2 Matt, xviii. 10. 8 Ps. xxxiv. 7.
4 Eph. vi. 11. B Eph. vi. 12.

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 521
it be that those whom Celsus makes servants and rulers
appointed by the Most High are behind Lycurgus, the law
giver of the Lacedaemonians, or Zeno of Citium. For when
Lycurgus had had his eye put out by a man, he got the offender
into his power; but instead of taking revenge upon him, he
ceased not to use all his arts of persuasion until he induced him
to become a philosopher. And Zeno, on the occasion of some
one saying, " Let me perish rather than not have my revenge
on thee," answered him, "But rather let me perish if I do not
make a friend of thee." And I am not yet speaking of those
whose characters have been formed by the teaching of Jesus,
and who have heard the words, " Love your enemies, and pray
for them which despitefully use you, that ye may be the children
of your Father which is in heaven ; for He maketh His sun to
rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust."1 And in the prophetical writings the
righteous man says, " O Lord my God, if I have done this ; if
there be iniquity in my hands ; if I have returned evil to those
who have done evil to me, let me fall helpless under mine
enemies : let my enemy persecute my soul, and take it ; yea, let
him tread down my life upon the earth." 2
Chapter xxxvi.
But the angels, who are the true rulers and generals and
ministers of God, do not, as Celsus supposes, " injure those
who offend them;" and if certain demons, whom Celsus had
in mind, do inflict evils, they show that they are wicked, and
that they have received no office of the kind from God. And
they even do injury to those who are under them, and who
have acknowledged them as their masters ; and accordingly,
as it would seem that those who break through the regulations
which prevail in any country in regard to matters of food,
suffer for it if they are under the demons of that place, while
those who are not under them, and have not submitted to their
power, are free from all harm, and bid defiance to such spirits ;
although if, in ignorance of certain things, they have come
under the power of other demons, they may suffer punishment
from them. But the Christian — the true Christian, I mean —
1 Matt. v. 44, 45. 2 Ps. vii. 3-6.

522 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
who has submitted to God alone and His Word, will suffer
nothing from demons, for He is mightier than demons. And
the Christian will suffer nothing, for " the angel of the Lord
will encamp about them that fear Him, and will deliver them,"1
and his " angel," who " always beholds the face of his Father
in heaven,"2 offers up his prayers through the one High Priest
to the God of all, and also joins his own prayers with those of
the man who is committed to his keeping. Let not, then, Celsus
try to scare us with threats of mischief from demons, for we
despise them. And the demons, when despised, can do no
harm to those who are under the protection of Him who can
alone help all who deserve His aid ; and He does no less than
set His own angels over His devout servants, so that none of
the hostile angels, nor even he who is called " the prince of this
world,"3 can effect anything against those who have given
themselves to God.
Chapter xxxvii.
In the next place, Celsus forgets that he is addressing
Christians, who pray to God alone through Jesus ; and mixing
up other notions with theirs, he absurdly attributes them all to
Christians. " If," says he, "they who are addressed are called
upon by barbarous names, they will have power, but no longer
will they have any if they are addressed in Greek or Latin."
Let him, then, state plainly whom we call upon for help by
barbarous names. Any one will be convinced that this is a
false charge which Celsus brings against us, when he considers
that Christians in prayer do not even use the precise names
which divine Scripture applies to God ; but the Greeks use
Greek names, the Romans Latin names, and every one prays
and sings praises to God as he best can, in his mother tongue.
For the Lord of all the languages of the earth hears those who
pray to Him in each different tongue, hearing, if I may so say,
but one voice, expressing itself in various dialects. For the
Most High is not as one of those who selectraone language, bar
barian or Greek, knowing nothing of any other, and caring
nothing for those who speak in other tongues.
1 Ps. xxxiv. 7. 2 ]yratt. xviii. 10. s John xiv. 30.

Bookviii.] , ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 523

Chapter xxxviii.
He next represents Christians as saying what he never
heard from any Christian ; or if he did, it must have been from
one of the most ignorant and lawless of the people. " Behold,"
they are made to say, "I go up to a statue of Jupiter or
Apollo, or some other god : I revile it, and beat it, yet it takes
no vengeance on me." He is not aware that among the pro
hibitions of the divine law is this, " Thou shalt not revile the
gods," l and this is intended to prevent the formation of the
habit of reviling any one whatever ; for we have been taught,
" Bless, and curse not," 2 and it is said that " revilers shall not
inherit the kingdom of God." 3 And who amongst us is so
foolish as to speak in the way Celsus describes, and to fail to
see that such contemptuous language can be of no avail for
removing prevailing notions about the gods ? For it is matter
of observation that there are men who utterly deny the exist
ence of a God or of an overruling providence, and who by
their impious and destructive teaching have founded sects
among those who are called philosophers, and yet neither they
themselves, nor those who have embraced their opinions, have
suffered any of those things which mankind generally account
evils : they are both strong in body and rich in possessions.
And yet if we ask what loss they have sustained, we shall find
that they have suffered the most certain injury. For what
greater injury can befall a man than that he should be unable
amidst the order of the world to see Him who has made it?
and what sorer affliction can come to any one than that blind
ness of mind which prevents him from seeing the Creator and
Father of every soul? Chapter xxxix.
After putting such words into our mouth, and maliciously
charging Christians with sentiments which they never held, he
then proceeds to give to this supposed expression of Christian
feeling an answer, which is indeed more a mockery than an
answer, when he says, " Do you not see, good sir, that even
your own demon is not only reviled, but banished from every
1 Ex. xxii. 28. 2 Rom. xii. 14. 3 1 Cor. vi. 10.

524 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
land and sea, and you yourself, who are as it were an image
dedicated to him, are bound and led to punishment, and fastened
to the stake, whilst your demon — or, as you call him, ' the Son
of God' — takes no vengeance on the evil-doer?" This answer
would be admissible if we employed such language as he
ascribes to us ; although even then he would have no right to
call the Son of God a demon. For as we hold that all demons
are evil, He who turns so many men to God is in our view no
demon, but God the Word, and the Son of God. And I know
not how Celsus has so far forgotten himself as to call Jesus
Christ a demon, when he nowhere alludes to the existence of
i any evil demons. And finally, as to the punishments threat-
\ ened against the ungodly, these will come upon them after
' they have refused all remedies, and have been, as we may say,
visited with an incurable malady of sinfulness.
Chapter xl.
Such is our doctrine of punishment ; and the inculcation of
this doctrine turns many from their sins. But let us see, on the
other hand, what is the response given on this subject by the
priest of Jupiter or Apollo of whom Celsus speaks. It is this :
" The mills of God grind slowly."1 Another describes punish
ment as reaching " to children's children, and to those who came
after them." 2 How much better are those words of Scripture :
" The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the
children for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for
his own sin."3 And again, " Every man that eateth the sour
grape, his teeth shall be set on edge."4 And, "The son shall
not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
him."5 If any shall say that the response, "To children's
children, and to those who come after them," corresponds with
that passage, " Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate
1 "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind to powder"
(Plutarch). 2 Horn. II. xx. 308. a Deut. xxiv. 16.
4 Jer. xxxi. 30. s Ezek. xviii. 20.

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 525
me,"1 let him learn from Ezekiel that this language is not to be
taken literally ; for he reproves those who say, " Our fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,"2
and then he adds, " As I live, saith the Lord, every one shall
die for his own sin." As to the proper meaning of the figurative
language about sins being visited unto the third and fourth
generation, we cannot at present stay to explain.
Chapter xli.
He then goes on to rail against us after the manner of old
wives. " You," says he, " mock and revile the statues of our
gods ; but if you had reviled Bacchus or Hercules in person, you
would not perhaps have done so with impunity. But those who
crucified your God when present among men, suffered nothing
for it, either at the time or during the whole of their lives. And
what new thing has there happened since then to make us be
lieve that he was not an impostor, but the Son of God? And
forsooth, he who sent his Son with certain instructions for
mankind, allowed him to be thus cruelly treated, and his in
structions to perish with him, without ever during all this long
time showing the slightest concern. What father was ever so
inhuman ? Perhaps, indeed, you may say that he suffered so
much, because it was his wish to bear what came to him. But
it is open to those whom you maliciously revile, to adopt the
same language, and say that they wish to be reviled, and there
fore they bear it with patience ; for it is best to deal equally
with both sides, — although these [gods] severely punish the
scorner, so that he must either flee and hide himself, or be taken
and perish." Now to these statements I would answer that wo
revile no one, for we believe that " revilers will not inherit the
kingdom of God."3 And we read, " Bless them that curse you ;
bless, and curse not ; " also, " Being reviled, we bless." And
even although the abuse which we pour upon another may seem
to have some excuse in the wrong which we have received from
him, yet such abuse is not allowed by the word of God. And
how much more ought we to abstain from reviling others, when
we consider what a great folly it is ! And it is equally foolish
to apply abusive language to stone or gold or silver, turned into
1 Ex. xx. 5. 2 Ezek. xviii. 2-4. » 1 Cor. vi. 10.

526 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
what is supposed to be the form of God by those who have no
knowledge of God. Accordingly, we throw ridicule not upon
lifeless images, but upon those only who worship them. More
over, if certain demons reside in certain images, and one of them
passes for Bacchus, another for Hercules, we do not vilify them :
for, on the one hand, it would be useless ; and, on the other, it
does not become one who is meek, and peaceful, and gentle in
spirit, and who has learnt that no one among men or demons
is to be reviled, however wicked he may be.
Chapter xlii.
There is an inconsistency into which, strangely enough, Celsus
has fallen unawares. Those demons or gods whom he extolled
a little before, he now shows to be in fact the vilest of creatures,
punishing more for their own revenge than for the improvement
of those who revile them. His words are, " If you had reviled
Bacchus or Hercules when present in person, you would not have
escaped with impunity." How any one can hear without being
present in person, I leave any one who will to explain ; as also
those other questions, " Why he is sometimes present, and some
times absent?" and, " What is the business which takes demons
away from place to place?" Again, when he says, " Those who
crucified your God himself, suffered no harm for doing so," he
supposes that it is the body of Jesus extended on the cross and
slain, and not His divine nature, that we call God ; and that it
was as God that Jesus was crucified and slain. As we have
already dwelt at length on the sufferings which Jesus suffered as
a man, we shall purposely say no more here, that we may not
repeat what we have said already. But when he goes on to say
that " those who inflicted death upon J esus suffered nothing
afterwards through so long a time," we must inform him, as well
as all who are disposed to learn the truth, that the city in which
the Jewish people called for the crucifixion of Jesus with shouts
of " Crucify him, crucify him,"1 preferring to have the robber
set free, who had been cast into prison for sedition and murder,
and Jesus, who had been delivered through envy, to be crucified,
— that this city not long afterwards was attacked, and, after
a long siege, was utterly overthrown and laid waste ; for God
1 Luke xxiii. 21, 25.

Book via J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 527
judged the inhabitants of that place unworthy of living together
the life of citizens. And yet, though it may seem an incredible
thing to say, God spared this people in delivering1 them to their
enemies ; for He saw that they were incurably averse to any
amendment, and were daily sinking deeper and deeper into evil.
And all this befell them, because the blood of Jesus was shed at
their instigation and on their land ; and the land was no longer
able to bear those who wore guilty of so fearful a crime against
Jesus. Chapter xliii.
Some new thing, then, has come to pass since the time that
Jesus suffered, — that, I mean, which has happened to the city,
to the whole nation, and in the sudden and general rise of a
Christian community. And that, too, is a new thing, that those
who were strangers to the covenants of God, with no part in
His promises, and far from the truth, have by a divine power
been enabled to embrace the truth. These things were not
the work of an impostor, but were the work of God, who sent
His Word, Jesus Christ, to make known His purposes.1 The
sufferings and death which Jesus endured with such fortitude
and meekness, show the cruelty and injustice of those who
inflicted them, but they did not destroy the announcement of
the purposes of God; indeed, if we may so say, they served rather
to make them known. For Jesus Himself taught us this when
He said, " Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth by itself alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit."2 Jesus, then, who is this grain of wheat, died,
and brought forth much fruit. And the Father is ever looking
forward for the results of the death of the grain of wheat, both
those which are arising now, and those which shall arise here
after. The Father of Jesus is therefore a tender and loving
Father, though " He spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up" as His lamb "for us all,"3 that so "the Lamb of
God," by dying for all men, might " take away the sin of the
world." It was not by compulsion, therefore, but willingly, that
1 dyyiApcxTaii. Spencer reads dyxApcxTuv in this and the following
sentences. 2 John xii. 24. 3 Rom. viii. 32.

528 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
He bore the reproaches of those who reviled Him. Then Celsus,
returning to those who apply abusive language to images, says :
" Of those whom you load with insults, you may in like manner,
say that they voluntarily submit to such treatment, and therefore
they bear insults with patience ; for it is best to deal equally
with both sides. Yet these severely punish the scorner, so that
he must either flee and hide himself, or be taken and perish."
It is not, then, because Christians cast insults upon demons that
they incur their revenge, but because they drive them away out
of the images, and from the bodies and souls of men. And here,
although Celsus perceives it not, he has on this subject spoken
something like the truth ; for it is true that the souls of those
who condemn Christians, and betray them, and rejoice in perse
cuting them, are filled with wicked demons.
Chapter xliv.
But when the souls of those who die for the Christian faith
depart from the body with great glory, they destroy the power
of the demons, and frustrate their designs against men. Where
fore I imagine, that as the demons have learnt from experience
that they are defeated and overpowered by the martyrs for the
truth, they are afraid to have recourse again to violence. And
thus, until they forget the defeats they have sustained, it is
probable that the world will be at peace with the Christians.
But when they recover their power, and, with eyes blinded by
sin, wish again to take their revenge on Christians, and persecute
them, then again they will be defeated, and then again the souls
of the godly, who lay down their lives for the cause of godliness,
shall utterly destroy the army of the wicked one. And as the
demons perceive that those who meet death victoriously for the
sake of religion destroy their authority, while those who give
way under their sufferings, and deny the faith, come under
their power, I imagine that at times they feel a deep interest
in Christians when on their trial, and keenly strive to gain
them over to their side, feeling as they do that their confession
is torture to them, and their denial is a relief and encourage
ment to them. And traces of the same feeling may be seen in
the demeanour of the judges ; for they are greatly distressed at
seeing those who bear outrage and torture with patience, but

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 529
are greatly elated when a Christian gives way under it. Yet
it is from no feeling of humanity that this arises. They see
well, that, while " the tongues " of those who are overpowered
by the tortures " may take the oath, the mind has not sworn." x
And this may serve as an answer to the remark of Celsus:
"But they severely punish one who reviles them, so that he
must either flee and hide himself, or be taken and perish." If
a Christian ever flees away, it is not from fear, but in obedience
to the command of his Master, that so he may preserve himself,
and employ his strength for the benefit of others.
Chapter xlv.
Let us see what Celsus next goes on to say. It is as follows :
"What need is there to collect all the oracular responses,
which have been delivered with a divine voice by priests and
priestesses, as well as by others, whether men or women, who
were under a divine influence? — all the wonderful things that
have been heard issuing from the inner sanctuary ? — all the
revelations that have been made to those who consulted the
sacrificial victims ? — and all the knowledge that has been con
veyed to men by other signs and prodigies ? To some the gods
have appeared in visible forms. The world is full of such
instances. How many cities have been built in obedience to
commands received from oracles ; how often, in the same way,
delivered from disease and famine ! Or again, how many cities,
from disregard or forgetfulness of these oracles, have perished
miserably ! How many colonies have been established and
made to flourish by following their orders ! How many princes
and private persons have, from this cause, had prosperity or
adversity ! How many who mourned over their childlessness,
have obtained the blessing they asked for ! How many have
turned away from themselves the anger of demons ! How
many who were maimed in their limbs, have had them restored !
And again, how many have met with summary punishment
for showing want of reverence to the temples — some being
instantly seized with madness, others openly confessing their
crimes, others having put an end to their lives, and others hav
ing become the victims of incurable maladies ! Yea, some have
1 Euripides, Hippolytus.
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 L

530 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
been slain by a terrible voice issuing from the inner sanctuary."
I know not how it comes that Celsus brings forward these as
undoubted facts, whilst at the same time he treats as mere
fables the wonders which are recorded and handed down to us
as having happened among the Jews, or as having been per
formed by Jesus and His disciples. For why may not our
accounts be true, and those of Celsus fables and fictions ? At
least, these latter were not believed by the followers of Demo
critus, Epicurus, and Aristotle, although perhaps these Grecian
sects would have been convinced by the evidence in support of
our miracles, if Moses or any of the prophets who wrought
these wonders, or Jesus Christ Himself, had come in their way.
Chapter xlvi.
It is related of the priestess of Apollo, that she at times
allowed herself to be influenced in her answers by bribes ; but
our prophets were admired for their plain truthfulness, not only
by their contemporaries, but also by those who lived in later
times. For through the commands pronounced by the prophets
cities were founded, men were cured, and plagues were stayed.
Indeed, the whole Jewish race went out as a colony from Egypt
to Palestine, in accordance with the divine oracles. They also,
when they followed the commands of God, were prosperous;
when they departed from them, they suffered reverses. What
need is there to quote all the princes and private persons in
Scripture history who fared well or ill according as they obeyed
or despised the words of the prophets ? If we refer to those
who were unhappy because they were childless, but who, after
offering prayers to the Creator of all, became fathers and
mothers, let any one read the accounts of Abraham and Sarah,
to whom at an advanced age was born Isaac, the father of the
whole Jewish nation : and there are other instances of the same
thing. Let him also read the account of Hezekiah, who not
only recovered from his sickness, according to the prediction of
Isaiah, but was also bold enough to say, " Afterwards I shall
beget children, who shall declare Thy righteousness." x And in
the fourth book of Kings we read that the prophet Elisha made
known to a woman who had received him hospitably, that by
1 Isa. xxxviii. 19 (according to the LXX.).

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 531
the grace of God she should have a son ; and through the
prayers of Elisha she became a mother. The maimed were
cured by Jesus in great numbers. And the books of the
Maccabees relate what punishments were inflicted upon those
who dared to profane the Jewish service in the temple at
Jerusalem. Chapter xlvii.
But the Greeks will say that these accounts are fabulous,
although two whole nations are witnesses to their truth. But
why may we not consider the accounts of the Greeks as fabu
lous rather than those? Perhaps some one, however, wishing
not to appear blindly to accept his own statements and reject
those of others, would conclude, after a close examination of the
matter, that the wonders mentioned by the Greeks were per
formed by certain demons ; those among the Jews by prophets
or by angels, or by God through the means of angels, and those
recorded by Christians by Jesus Himself, or by His power
working in His apostles. Let us, then, compare all these
accounts together ; let us examine into the aim and purpose of
those who performed them ; and let us inquire what effect was
produced upon the persons on whose account these acts of
kindness were performed, whether beneficial or hurtful, or
neither the one nor the other. The ancient Jewish people,
before they sinned against God, and were for their great
wickedness cast off by Him, must evidently have been a people
of great wisdom.1 But Christians, who have in so wonderful a
manner formed themselves into a community, appear at first to
have been more induced by miracles than by exhortations to
forsake the institutions of their fathers, and to adopt others
which were quite strange to them. And indeed, if we were
to reason from what is probable as to the first formation of the
Christian society, we should say that it is incredible that the
apostles of Jesus Christ, who were unlettered men of humble
life, could have been emboldened to preach Christian truth to
men by anything else than the power which was conferred upon
them, and the grace which accompanied their words and ren
dered them effective ; and those who heard them would not
1 (plAGG0<P0V.

532 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
have renounced the old-established usages of their fathers, and
been induced to adopt notions so different from those in which
they had been brought up, unless they had been moved by some
extraordinary power, and by the force of miraculous events.
Chapter xlviii.
In the next place, Celsus, after referring to the enthusiasm
with which men will contend unto death rather than abjure
Christianity, adds strangely enough some remarks, in which he
wishes to show that our doctrines are similar to those delivered
by the priests at the celebration of the heathen mysteries. He
says, " Just as you, good sir, believe in eternal punishments,
so also do the priests who interpret and initiate into the sacred
mysteries. The same punishments with which you threaten
others, they threaten you. Now it is worthy of examination,
which of the two is more firmly established as true ; for both
parties contend with equal assurance that the truth is on their
side. But if we require proofs, the priests of the heathen gods
produce many that are clear and convincing, partly from won
ders performed by demons, and partly from the answers given
by oracles, and various other modes of divination." He would,
then, have us believe that we and the interpreters of the mys
teries equally teach the doctrine of eternal punishment, and
that it is a matter for inquiry on which side of the two the
truth lies. Now I should say that the truth lies with those
who are able to induce their hearers to live as men who are
convinced of the truth of what they have heard. But Jews
and Christians have been thus affected by the doctrines they
hold about what we speak of as the world to come, and the re
wards of the righteous, and the punishments of the wicked.
Let Celsus then, or any one who will, show us who have been
moved in this way in regard to eternal punishments by the
teaching of heathen priests and mystagogues. For surely the
purpose of him who brought to light this doctrine was not only
to reason upon the subject of punishments, and to strike men
with terror of them, but to induce those who heard the truth
to strive with all their might against those sins which are the
causes of punishment. And those who study the prophecies
with care, and are not content with a cursory perusal of the

F f

Book viii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 533
predictions contained in them, will find them such as to con
vince the intelligent and sincere reader that the Spirit of God
was in those men, and that with their writings there is nothing
in all the works of demons, responses of oracles, or sayings of
soothsayers, for one moment to be compared.
Chapter xlix.
Let us see in what terms Celsus next addresses us : " Be
sides, is it not most absurd and inconsistent in you, on the one
hand, to make so much of the body as you do — to expect that
the same body will rise again, as though it were the best and
most precious part of us ; and yet, on the other, to expose it to
such tortures as though it were worthless ? But men who hold
such notions, and are so attached to the body, are not worthy of
being reasoned with ; for in this and in other respects they show
themselves to be gross, impure, and bent upon revolting with
out any reason from the common belief. But I shall direct my
discourse to those who hope for the enjoyment of eternal life
with God by means of the soul or mind, whether they choose
to call it a spiritual substance, an intelligent spirit, holy and
blessed, or a living soul, or the heavenly and indestructible off
spring of a divine and incorporeal nature, or by whatever name
they designate the spiritual nature of man. And they are
rightly persuaded that those who live woll shall be blessed, and
the unrighteous shall all suffer everlasting punishments. And
from this doctrine neither they nor any other should ever
swerve." Now, as he has often already reproache'd us for our
opinions on the resurrection, and as we have on these occasions
defended our opinions in what seemed to us a reasonable way,
we do not intend, at each repetition of the one objection, to go
into a repetition of our defence. Celsus makes an unfounded
charge against us when he ascribes to us the opinion that " there
is nothing in our complex nature better or more precious than
the body ; ;; for we hold that far beyond all bodies is the soul,
and especially the reasonable soul ; for it is the soul, and not
the body, which bears the likeness of the Creator. For, accord
ing to us, God is not corporeal, unless we fall into the absurd
errors of the followers of Zeno and Chrysippus.

534 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
Chapter l.
But since he reproaches us with too great an anxiety about
the body, let him know that when that feeling is a wrong one
we do not share in it, and when it is indifferent we only long
for that which God has promised to the righteous. But Celsus
considers that we are inconsistent with ourselves when we count
the body worthy of honour from God, and therefore hope for
its resurrection, and yet at the same time expose it to tortures
as though it were not worthy of honour. But surely it is not
without honour for the body to suffer for the sake of godliness,
and to choose afflictions on account of virtue : the dishonour
able thing would be for it to waste its powers in vicious indul
gence. For the divine word says: "What is an honourable
seed ? The seed of man. What is a dishonourable seed ? The
seed of man." x Moreover, Celsus thinks that he ought not to
reason with those who hope for the good of the body, as they
are unreasonably intent upon an object which can never satisfy
their expectations. He also calls them gross and impure men,
bent upon creating needless dissensions. But surely he ought,
as one of superior humanity, to assist even the rude and de
praved. For society does not exclude from its pale the coarse
and uncultivated, as it does the irrational animals, but our
Creator made us on the same common level with all mankind.
It is not an undignified thing, therefore, to reason even with the
coarse and unrefined, and to try to bring them as far as pos
sible to a higher state of refinement — to bring the impure to
the highest practicable degree of purity — to bring the unreasoning
multitude to reason, and the diseased in mind to spiritual health.
Chapter li.
In the next place, he expresses his approval of those who
" hope that eternal life shall be enjoyed with God by the soul
or mind, or, as it is variously called, the spiritual nature, the
reasonable soul, intelligent, holy, and blessed ; " and he allows
the soundness of the doctrine, that " those who had a good life
shall be happy, and the unrighteous shall suffer eternal punish-
1 Ecclus. x. 19. In the LXX. the last clause is, " What is a dishonour
able seed ? They that transgress the commandments."

Bookvui.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 535
ments." And yet I wonder at what follows, more than at any
thing that Celsus has ever said ; for he adds, " And from this
doctrine let not them or any one ever swerve." For certainly
in writing against Christians, the very essence of whose faith
is God, and the promises made by Christ to the righteous, and
His warnings of punishment awaiting the wicked, he must see
that, if a Christian were brought to renounce Christianity by
his arguments against it, it is beyond doubt that, along with
his Christian faith, he would cast off the very doctrine from
which he says that no Christian and no man should ever
swerve. But I think Celsus has been far surpassed in con
sideration for his fellow-men by Chrysippus in his treatise,
On the Subjugation of the Passions. For when he sought to
apply remedies to the affections and passions which oppress and
distract the human spirit, after employing such arguments as
seemed to himself to be strong, he did not shrink from using
in the second and third place others which he did not himself
approve of. " For," says he, " if it were held by any one that
there are three kinds of good, we must seek to regulate the
passions in accordance with that supposition ; and we must not
too curiously inquire into the opinions held by a person at the
time that he is under the influence of passion, lest, if we delay
too long for the purpose of overthrowing the opinions by which
the mind is possessed, the opportunity for curing the passion
may pass away." And he adds, " Thus, supposing that pleasure
were the highest good, or that he was of that opinion whose
mind was under the dominion of passion, we should not the less
give him help, and show that, even on the principle that pleasure
is the highest and final good of man, all passion is disallowed."
And Celsus, in like manner, after having embraced the doctrine,
" that the righteous shall be blessed, and the wicked shall suffer
eternal punishments," should have followed out his subject ; and,
after having advanced what seemed to him the chief argument,
he should have proceeded to prove and enforce by further rea
sons the truth that the unjust shall surely suffer eternal punish
ment, and those who lead a good life shall be blessed.
Chapter lii.
For wo who have been persuaded by many, yea by innume-

536 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
rable, arguments to lead a Christian life, are especially anxious
to bring all men as far as possible to receive the whole system
of Christian truth ; but when we meet with persons who are
prejudiced by the calumnies thrown out against Christians, and
who, from a notion that Christians are an impious people, will
not listen to any who offer to instruct them in the principles of
the divine word, then, on thef common principles of humanity,
we endeavour to the best of our ability to convince them of the
doctrine of the punishment of the wicked, and to induce even
those who are unwilling to become Christians to accept that
truth. And we are thus anxious to persuade them of the
rewards of right living, when we see that many things which
we teach about a healthy moral life are also taught by the
enemies of our faith. For you will find that they have not
entirely lost the common notions of right and wrong, of good
and evil. (Let all men, therefore, when they look upon
the universe, observe the constant revolution of the unerring
stars, the converse motion of the planets, the constitution of
the atmosphere, and its adaptation to the necessities of the
animals, and especially of man, with all the innumerable con
trivances for the wellbeing of mankind ; and then, after thus
-considering the order of the universe, let them beware of doing
aught which is displeasing to the Creator of this universejof
the soul and its intelligent principle ; and let them rest assured
that punishment shall be inflicted on the wicked, and rewards
shall be bestowed upon the righteous, by Him who deals with
every one as he deserves, and who will proportion His rewards
to the good that each has done, and to the account of himself
that he is able to give. And let all men know that the good
shall be advanced to a higher state, and that the wicked shall
be delivered over to sufferings and torments, in punishment of
their licentiousness and depravity, their cowardice, timidity, and
all their follies. Chapter liii.
Llaving said so much on this subject, let us proceed to an-.
Other statement of Celsus : " Since men are born united to a
body, whether to suit the order of the universe, or that they
may in that way suffer the punishment of sin ; or because the

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 537
soul is oppressed by certain passions until it is purged from
these at the appointed period of time, — for, according to Empe-
docles, all mankind must be banished from the abodes of the
blessed for 30,000 periods of time, — we must therefore believe
that they are entrusted to certain beings as keepers of this
prison-house." You will observe that Celsus, in these remarks,
speaks of such weighty matters in the language of doubtful
human conjecture. He adds also various opinions as to the
origin of man, and shows considerable reluctance to set down
any of these opinions as false. When he had once come to the
conclusion neither indiscriminately to accept nor recklessly to
reject the opinions held by the ancients, would it not have
been in accordance with that same rule of judging, if, when he
found himself not disposed to believe the doctrines taught by
the Jewish prophets and by Jesus, at any rate to have held
them as matters open to inquiry? And should he not have
considered whether it is very probable that a people who faith
fully served the Most High God, and who ofttimes encountered
numberless dangers, and even death, rather than sacrifice the
honour of God, and what they believed to be the revelations of
His will, should have been wholly overlooked by God? Should
it not rather be thought probable that people who despised the
efforts of human art to represent the Divine Being, but strove
rather to rise in thought to the knowledge of the Most High,
should have been favoured with some revelation from Himself?
Besides, he ought to have considered that the common Father
and Creator of all, who sees and hears all things, and who duly
esteems the intention of every man who seeks Him and desires
to serve Llim, will grant unto these also some of the benefits of
His rule, and will give them an enlargement of that knowledge
of Himself which He has once bestowed upon them. If this
had been remembered by Celsus and the others who hate Moses
and the Jewish prophets, and Jesus, and His faithful disciples,
who endured so much for the sake of His word, they would not
thus have reviled Moses, and the prophets, and Jesus, and His
apostles ; and they would not have singled out for their con
tempt the Jews beyond all the nations of the earth, and said
they were worse even than the Egyptians, — a people who, either
from superstition or some other form of delusion, went as far

538 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
as they could in degrading the Divine Being to the level of
brute beasts. And we invite inquiry, not as though we wished
to lead any to doubt regarding the truths of Christianity, but
in order to show that it would be better for those who in every
way revile the doctrines of Christianity, at any rate to suspend
their judgment, and not so rashly to state about Jesus and His
apostles such things as they do not know, and as they cannot
prove, either by what the Stoics call " apprehensive perception,"1
or by any other methods used by different sects of philosophers
as criteria of truth.
Chapter liv.
When Celsus adds, "We must therefore believe that men
are entrusted to certain beings who are the keepers of this
prison-house," our answer is, that the souls of those who are
called by Jeremiah " prisoners of the earth," 2 when eager in
the pursuit of virtue, are even in this life delivered from the
bondage of evil ; for Jesus declared this, as was foretold long
before His advent by the prophet Isaiah, when he said that
" the prisoners would go forth, and they that were in darkness
would show themselves." 3 And Jesus Himself, as Isaiah also
foretold of Him, arose as " a light to them that sat in darkness
and in the shadow of death,"4 so that we may therefore say,
" Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords from
us."5 If Celsus, and those who like him are opposed to us,
had been able to sound the depths of the gospel narratives, they
would not have counselled us to put our confidence in those
beings whom they call " .the keepers of the prison-house." It
is written in the Gospel that a woman was bowed together, and
could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus beheld her,
and perceived from what cause she was bowed together, he
said, " Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has
bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on
the Sabbath day?"6 And how many others are still bowed
down and bound by Satan, who hinders them from looking up
at all, and who would have us to look down also ! And no one
can raise them up, except the Word, that came by Jesus Christ,
1 xxtxAyitttixy\ Qxvtxgix. 2 Lam. iii. 34. " Isa. xlix. 9.
4 Isa. ix. 2. s ps. ii. 3. o Luke xiii. U) 16<

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 539
and that aforetime inspired the prophets. And Jesus came to
release those who were under the dominion of the devil ; and,
speaking of him, He said with that depth of meaning which
characterized His words, "Now is the prince of this world
judged." We are, then, indulging in no baseless calumnies
against demons, but are condemning their agency upon earth
as destructive to mankind, and show that, under cover of oracles
and bodily cures, and such other means, they are seeking to
separate from God the soul which has descended to this " body
of humiliation;" and those who feel this humiliation exclaim,
" 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death ? " 1 It is not in vain, therefore, that we
expose our bodies to be beaten and tortured ; for surely it is
not in vain for a man to submit to such sufferings, if by that
means he may avoid bestowing the name of gods on those
earthly spirits that unite with their worshippers to bring him to
destruction. Indeed, we think it both reasonable in itself and 1
well-pleasing to God, to suffer pain for the sake of virtue, to I
undergo torture for the sake of piety, and even to suffer death i
for the sake of holiness ; for " precious in the sight of God is \
the death of His saints ; " 2 and we maintain that to overcome '
the love of life is to enjoy a great good. But when Celsus
compares us to notorious criminals, who justly suffer punish
ment for their crimes, and does not shrink from placing so
laudable a purpose as that which we set before us upon the
same level with the obstinacy of criminals, he makes himself
the brother and companion of those who accounted Jesus among
criminals, fulfilling the Scripture, which saith, " He was num
bered with transgressors." 3
Chapter lv.
Celsus goes on to say : " They must make their choice between
two alternatives. If they refuse to render due service to the
gods, and to respect those who are set over this service, let them
not come to manhood, or marry wives, or have children, or
indeed take any share in the affairs of life ; but let them depart
hence with all speed, and leave no posterity behind them, that
such a race may become extinct from the face of the earth.
1 Rom. vii. 24. 2 Ps. cxvi. 15. 3 Isa. liii. 12.

540 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
Or, on the other hand, if they will take wives, and bring up
children, and taste of the fruits of the earth, and partake of all
the blessings of life, and bear its appointed sorrows (for nature
herself hath allotted sorrows to all men; for sorrows must
exist, and earth is the only place for them), then must they
discharge the duties of life until they are released from its
bonds, and render due honour to those beings who control the
affairs of this life, if they would not show themselves ungrateful
to them. For it would be unjust in them, after receiving the
good things which they dispense, to pay them no tribute in
return." To this we reply, that there appears to us to be no
good reason for our leaving this world, except when piety and
virtue require it ; as when, for example, those who are set as
judges, and think that they have power over our lives, place
before us the alternative either to live in violation of the com
mands of Jesus, or to die if we continue obedient to them.
But God has allowod us to marry, because all are not fit for the
higher, that is, the perfectly pure life ; and God would have us
to bring up all our children, and not to destroy any of the off
spring given us by His providence. And this does not conflict
with our purpose not to obey the demons that are on the earth ;
for, "being armed with the whole armour of God, we stand"1 as
athletes of piety against the race of demons that plot against us.
Chapter lvi.
Although, therefore, Celsus would, in his own words, "drive
us with all haste out of life," so that " such a race may become
extinct from the earth ; " yet we, along with those who worship
the Creator, will live according to the laws of God, never con
senting to obey the laws of sin. We will marry if wo wish,
and Dring up the children given to us in marriage ; and if need
be, wo will not only partake of the blessings of life, but bear its
appointed sorrows as a trial to our souls. For in this way is
divine Scripture accustomed to speak of human afflictions, by
which, as gold is tried in the fire, so the spirit of man is tried,
and is found to be worthy either of condemnation or of praise.
For those things which Celsus calls evils we are therefore
prepared, and are ready to say, " Try me, O Lord, and prove
1 Eph. vi. 11."

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 541
me; purge my reins and my heart."1 For "no one will be
crowned," unless here upon earth, with this body of humiliation,
" he strive lawfully." 2 Further, we do not pay honours sup
posed to be due to those whom Celsus speaks of as being set
over the affairs of the world. For we worship the Lord our
God, and Him only do we serve, and desire to be followers of
Christ, who, when the devil said to Him, " All these things will
I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me," answered
him by the words, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
Him only shalt thou serve." 3 Wherefore we do not render the
honour supposed to be due to those wdio, according to Celsus,
are set over the affairs of this world ; for " no man can serve
two masters," and we " cannot serve God and mammon,"
whether this name be applied to one or more. Moreover, if
any one " by transgressing the law dishonours the lawgiver,"
it seems clear to us that if the two laws, the law of God and
the law of mammon, are completely opposed to each other, it
is better for us by transgressing the law of mammon to dis
honour mammon, that we may honour God by keeping His
law, than by transgressing the law of God to dishonour God,
that by obeying the law of mammon we may honour mammon.
Chapter lvii.
Celsus supposes that men " discharge the duties of life until
they are loosened from its bonds," when, in accordance with
commonly received customs, they offer sacrifices to each of the
gods recognised in the state ; and he fails to perceive the true
duty which is fulfilled by an earnest piety. For we say that
he truly discharges the duties of life who is ever mindful who
is his Creator, and what things are agreeable to Him, and who
acts in all things so that he may please God. Again, Celsus
wishes us to be thankful to these demons, imagining that we
owe them thankofferings. But we, while recognising the duty
of thankfulness, maintain that we show no ingratitude by re
fusing to give thanks to beings who do us no good, but who
rather set themselves against us when we neither sacrifice to
them nor worship them. We are much more concerned lest
we should be ungrateful to God, who has loaded us with His
1 Ps. xxvi. 2. 2 2 Tim. ji. 5. 3 Matt. iv. 9, 10.

542 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
benefits, whose workmanship we are, who cares for us in what
ever condition we may be, and who has given us hopes of
things beyond this present life. And we have a symbol of
gratitude to God in the bread which we call the Eucharist.
Besides, as we have shown before, the demons have not the
control of those things which have been created for our use ;
we commit no wrong, therefore, when we partake of created
things, and yet refuse to offer sacrifices to beings who have no
concern with them. Moreover, as we know that it is hot
demons, but angels, who have been set over the fruits of the
earth, and over the birth of animals, it is the latter that we
praise and bless, as having been appointed by God over the
things needful for our race ; yet even to them we will not give
the honour which is due to God. For this would not be pleas
ing to God, nor would it be any pleasure to the angels them
selves to whom these things have been committed. Indeed,
they are much more pleased ^if we refrain from offering sacri
fices to them than if we offer them ; for they have no desire
for the sacrificial odours which rise from the earth.
Chapter lviii.
Celsus goes on to say : " Let any one inquire of the Egyp
tians, and he will find that everything, even to the most insig
nificant, is committed to the care of a certain demon. The
body of man is divided into thirty-six parts, and as many demons
of the air are appointed to the care of it, each having charge of
a different part, although others make the number much larger.
All these demons have in the language of that country distinct
names ; as Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, Biou, Erou,
Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor, and other such Egyptian names.
Moreover, they call upon them, and are cured of diseases of
particular parts of the body. What, then, is there to prevent
a man from giving honour to these or to others, if he would
rather be in health than be sick, rather have prosperity than
adversity, and be freed as much as possible from all plagues
• and troubles ? " In this way, Celsus seeks to degrade our souls
to the worship of demons, under the assumption that they have
possession of our bodies, and that each one has power over a
separate member. And he wishes us on this ground to put

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 543
confidence in these demons of which he speaks, and to serve
them, in order that we may be in health rather than be sick,
have prosperity rather than adversity, and may as far as possible
escape all plagues and troubles. The honour of the Most High
God, which cannot be divided or shared with another, is so
lightly esteemed by him, that he cannot believe in the ability
of God, if called upon and highly honoured, to give to those
who serve Him a power by which they may be defended from
the assaults directed by demons against the righteous. For he
has never beheld the efficacy of those words, " in the name of
Jesus," when uttered by the truly faithful, to deliver not a few
from demons and demoniacal possessions and other plagues.
Chapter lix.
Probably those who embrace the views of Celsus will smile
at us when we say, " At the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and of things
under the earth, and every tongue " is brought to " confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."1 But
although they may ridicule such a statement, yet they will re
ceive much more convincing arguments in support of it than
Celsus brings in behalf of Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Gnat,
Sicat, and the rest of the Egyptian catalogue, whom he mentions
as being called upon, and as healing the diseases of different
parts of the human body. And observe how, while seeking to
turn us away from our faith in the God of all through Jesus
Christ, die exhorts us for the welfare of our bodies to faith in six-
and-thirty barbarous demons, whom the Egyptian magi alone
call upon in some unknown way, and promise us in return great
benefits. According to Celsus, then, it would be better for us ]
now to give ourselves up to magic and sorcery than to embrace :
Christianity, and to put our faith in an innumerable multitude
of demons than in the almighty, living, self-revealing God, who
has manifested Himself by Him who by His great power has j
spread the true principles of holiness among all men throughout
the world ; yea, I may add without exaggeration, He has given
this knowledge to all beings everywhere possessed of reason,
and needing deliverance from the plague and corruption of sin.
1 Phil. ii. 10, 11.

544 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
Chapter lx.
Celsus, however, suspecting that the tendency of such teach
ing as he here gives is to lead to magic, and dreading that harm
may arise from these statements, adds : " Care, however, must
be taken lest any one, by familiarizing his mind with these
matters, should become too much engrossed with them, and lest,
through an excessive regard for the body, he should have his
mind turned away from higher things, and allow them to pass
into oblivion. For perhaps we ought not to despise the opinion
of those wise men who say that most of the earth-demons are
taken up with carnal indulgence, blood, odours, sweet sounds,
and other such sensual things ; and therefore they are unable
to do more than heal the body, or foretell the fortunes of men
and cities, and do other such things as relate to this mortal life."
If there is, then, such a dangerous tendency in this direction,
as even the enemy of the truth of God confesses, how much
better is it to avoid all danger of giving ourselves too much up
to the power of such demons, and of becoming turned aside
from higher things, and suffering them to pass into oblivion
through an excessive attention to the body ; by entrusting our
selves to the Supreme God through Jesus Christ, who has given
us such instruction, and asking of Him all help, and the guar
dianship of holy and good angels, to defend us from the earth-
spirits intent on lust, and blood, and sacrificial odours, and
strange sounds, and other sensual things ! For even, by the
confession of Celsus, they can do nothing more than cure the
body. But, indeed, I would say that it is not clear that these
demons, however much they are reverenced, can even cure the
body. But in seeking recovery from disease, a man must
either follow the more ordinary and simple method, and have
recourse to medical art ; or if he would go beyond the common
methods adopted by men, he must rise to the higher and better
way of seeking the blessing of Him who is God over all,
through piety and prayers.
Chapter lxi.
For consider with yourself which disposition of mind will be
more acceptable to the Most High, whose power is supreme

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 545
and universal, and who directs all for the welfare of mankind
in body, and in mind, and in outward things, — whether that
of the man who gives himself up to God in all things, or that
of the man who is curiously inquisitive about the names of
demons, their powers and agency, the incantations, the herbs
proper to them, and the stones with the inscriptions graven on
them, corresponding symbolically or otherwise to their tradi
tional shapes ? It is plain even to the least intelligent, that the
disposition of the man who is simple-minded, and not given to
curious inquiries, but in all things devoted to the divine will,
will be most pleasing to God, and to all those who are like God ;
but that of the man who, for the sake of bodily health, of
bodily enjoyment, and outward prosperity, busies himself about
the names of demons, and inquires by what incantations he
shall appease them, will be condemned by God as bad and im
pious, and more agreeable to the nature of demons than of men,
and will be given over to be torn and otherwise tormented by
demons. For it is probable that they, as being wicked creatures,
and, as Celsus confesses, addicted to blood, sacrificial odours,
sweet sounds, and such like, will not keep their most solemn
promises to those who supply them with these things. For if
others invoke their aid against the persons who have already
called upon them, and purchase their favour with a larger
supply of blood, and odours, and such offerings as they require,
they will take part against those who yesterday sacrificed and
presented pleasant offerings to them.
Chapter lxii.
In a former passage, Celsus had spoken at length on the sub
ject of oracles, and had referred us to their answers as being
the voice of the gods ; but now he makes amends, and confesses
that "those who foretell the fortunes of men and cities, and
concern themselves about mortal affairs, are earth-spirits, who
are given up to fleshly lust, blood, odours, sweet sounds, and
other such things, and who are unable to rise above these sen
sual objects." Perhaps, when we opposed Jhe theological teach-
4"g of. Celsus in regard to oracles, and the honour "done to
tnosecalled gods, some one might suspect us of impiety when
we alleged that these were stratagems of demoniacal powers, to
ORIG. — VOL. II. 2 M

546 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
draw men away to carnal indulgence. But any who enter
tained this suspicion against us, may now believe that the state
ments put forth by Christians were well-founded, when they
see the above passage from the writings of one who is a pro
fessed adversary of Christianity, but who now at length writes
as one who has been overcome by the spirit of truth. Although,
therefore, Celsus says that " we must offer sacrifices to them,
in so far as they are profitable to us, for to offer them indis
criminately is not allowed by reason," yet we are not to offer
sacrifices to demons addicted to blood and odours; nor is the
Divine Being to be profaned in our minds, by being brought
down to the level of wicked demons. If Celsus had carefully
weighed the meaning of the word "profitable," and had con
sidered that the truest profit lies in virtue and in virtuous
action, he would not have applied the phrase " as far as it is
profitable " to the service of such demons, as he has acknow
ledged them to be. If, then, health of body and success in life
were to come to us on condition of our serving such demons,
we should prefer sickness and misfortune accompanied with
the consciousness of our being truly devoted to the will of God.
For this is preferable to being mortally diseased in mind, and
wretched through being separate and outcasts from God, though
healthy in body and abounding in earthly prosperity. And we
would rather go for help to one who seeks nothing whatever
but the well-being of men and of all rational creatures, than to
those that delight in blood and sacrificial odours.
Chapter lxiii.
After having said so much of the demons, and of their fond
ness for blood and the odour of sacrifices, Celsus adds, as
though wishing to retract the charge he had made : " The more
just opinion is, that demons desire nothing and need nothing,
but that they take pleasure in those who discharge towards
them offices of piety." If Celsus believed this to be true,
he should have said so, instead of making his previous state
ments. But, indeed, human nature is never utterly forsaken
by God and His only -begotten Son, the truth. Wherefore
even Celsus spoke the truth when he made the demons take
pleasure in the blood and smoke of victims ; although, by the

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 547
force of his own evil nature, he falls back into his errors, and
compares demons with men who rigorously discharge every
duty, even to those who show no gratitude ; while to those
who are grateful they abound in acts of kindness. Here
# Celsus appears to me to get into confusion. At one time his
judgment is darkened by the influence of demons, and at
another he recovers from their deluding power, and gets some
glimpses of the truth. For again he adds : " We must never
in any way lose our hold of God, whether by day or by night,
whether in public or in secret, whether in word or in deed,
but in whatever we do, or abstain from doing." That is, as
I understand it, whatever we do in public, in all our actions,
in all our words, "let the soul be constantly fixed upon God."
And yet again, as though, after struggling in argument against
the insane inspirations of demons, he were completely overcome
by them, he adds : " If this is the case, what harm is there in
gaining the favour of the rulers of the earth, whether of a
nature different from ours, or human princes and kings ? For
these have gained their dignity through the instrumentality of
demons." In a former part, Celsus did his utmost to debase
our souls to the worship of demons ; and now he wishes us to
seek the favour of kings and princes, of whom, as the world and
all history are full of them, I do not consider it necessary to
quote examples. Chapter lxiv.
There is therefore One whose favour we should seek, and to
whom we ought to pray that He would be gracious to us — the
Most High God, whose favour is gained by piety and the prac
tice of every virtue. And if he would have us to seek the favour
of others after the Most High God, let him consider that, as the
motion of the shadow follows that of the body which casts it,
so in like manner it follows, that when we have the favour of
God, we have also the goodwill of all angels and spirits who
are friends of God. For they know who are worthy of the
divine approval, and they are not only well disposed to them,
but they co-operate with them in their endeavours to please
God; they seek His favour on their behalf ; with their prayers
they join their own prayers and intercessions for them. We

548 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book viii.
may indeed boldly say, that men who aspire after better things
have, when they pray to God, tens of thousands of sacred powers
upon their side. These, even when not asked, pray with them,
they bring succour to our mortal race, and if I may so say, take
up arms alongside of it: for they see demons warring and
fighting most keenly against the salvation of those who devote
themselves to God, and despise the hostility of demons ; they
see them savage in their hatred of the man who refuses to serve
them with the blood and fumes of sacrifices, but rather strives
in every way, by word and deed, to be in peace and union with
the Most High through Jesus, who put to flight multitudes of
demons when He went about "healing," and delivering "all
who were oppressed by the devil." x
Chapter lxv.
/ Moreover, we are to despise ingratiating ourselves with kings
or any other men, not only if their favour is to be won by murders,
licentiousness, or deeds of cruelty, but even if it involves impiety
towards God, or any servile expressions of flattery and obsequi
ousness, which things are unworthy of brave and high-principled
men, who aim at joining with their other virtues that highest of
virtues, ^patience and fortitude. But whilst we do nothing which
is contrary to the law and word of God, we are not so mad as to
stir up against us the wrath of kings and princes, which will
bring upon us sufferings and tortures, or even death. For we
read : " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For
there is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
/ordinance of God."2 These words we have in our exposition of
1 the Epistle to the Romans, to the best of our ability, explained
¦at length, and with various applications ; but for the present wo
have taken them in their more obvious and generally received
acceptation, to meet the saying of Celsus, that " it is not without
the power of demons that kings have been raised to their regal
dignity." Here much might be said on the constitution of kings
and rulers, for the subject is a wide one, embracing such rulers
as reign cruelly and tyrannically, and such as make the kingly
office the means of indulging in luxury and sinful pleasures.
1 Acts x. 38. 2 Rom. xiii. 1, 2.

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 549
We shall therefore, for the present, pass over the full considera
tion of this subject. We will, however, never swear by " the
fortune of the king," nor by aught else that is considered equiva
lent to God. For if the word " fortune " is nothing but an ex
pression for the uncertain course of events, as some say, although
they seem not to be agreed, we do not swear by that as God
which has no existence, as though it did really exist and was
able to do something, lest we should bind ourselves by an oath
to things which have no existence. If, on the other hand (as isx
thought by others, who say that to swear by the fortune of the )
king of the Romans is to swear by his demon), what is called/
the fortune of the king is in the power of demons, then in that,
case we must die sooner than swear by a wicked and treacherous
demon, that ofttimes sins along with the man of whom it gains
possession, and sins even more than he.
Chapter lxvi.
Then Celsus, following the example of those who are under
the influence of demons — at one time recovering, at another
relapsing, as though he were again becoming sensible — says :
" If, however, any worshipper of God should be ordered to do
anything impious, or to say anything base, such a command
should in no wise be regarded ; but we must encounter all
kinds of torment, or submit to any kind of death, rather than
say or even think anything unworthy of God." Again, how
ever, from ignorance of our principles, and in entire confusion ,
of thought, he says : " But if any one commands you to cele
brate the sun, or to sing a joyful triumphal song in praise of ,
Minerva, you will by celebrating their praises seem to render
the higher praise to God ; for piety, in extending to all things,
becomes more perfect." To this our answer is, that we do not
wait for any command to celebrate the praises of the sun ; for
we have been taught to speak well not only of those creatures
that are obedient to the will of God, but even of our enemies.
We therefore praise the sun as the glorious workmanship of
God, which obeys His laws and hearkens to the call, " Praise
the Lord, sun and moon,"1 and with all your powers show forth
the praises of the Father and Creator of all. Minerva, how-
1 Ps. cxlviii. 3.

550 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
ever, whom Celsus classes with the sun, is the subject of various
Grecian myths, whether these contain any hidden meaning or
not. They say that Minerva sprang fully armed from the brain
of Jupiter ; that when she was pursued by Vulcan, she fled from
him to preserve her honour ; and that from the seed which fell
to the ground in the heat of Vulcan's passion, there grew a
child whom Minerva brought up and called Erichthonius,
" That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid,
But from the teeming furrow took his birth,
The mighty offspring of the foodful earth." 1
It is therefore evident, that if we admit Minerva the daughter
of Jupiter, we must also admit many fables and fictions which
can be allowed by no one who discards fables and seeks after
truth.
Chapter lxvii.
And to regard these myths in a figurative sense, and consider
Minerva as representing prudence, let any one show what were
the actual facts of her history, upon which this allegory is
based. For, supposing honour was given to Minerva as having
been a woman of ancient times, by those who instituted mys
teries and ceremonies for their followers, and who wished her
name to be celebrated as that of a goddess, much more are we
forbidden to pay divine honours to Minerva, if we are not per
mitted to worship so glorious an object as the sun, although we
may celebrate its glory. Celsus, indeed, says that " we seem
to do the greater honour to the great God when we sing hymns
in honour of the sun and Minerva;" but we know it to be the
opposite of that. For we sing hymns to the Most High alone,
and His Only-begotten, who is the Word and God ; and we praise
God and His Only-begotten, as do also the sun, the moon, the
stars, and all the host of heaven. For these all form a divine
chorus, and unite with the just among men in celebrating the
praises of the Most High God and His Only-begotten. We
have already said that we must not swear by a human king, or
by what is called " the fortune of the king." It is therefore
unnecessary for us again to refute these statements: "If you
are commanded to swear by a human king, there is nothing
1 Homer's Iliad, ii. 547, 548.

Bookviii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 551
wrong in that. For to him has been given whatever there is
upon earth ; and whatever you receive in this life, you receive
from him." We deny, however, that all things which are on
the earth have been given to the king, or that whatever we
receive in this life we receive from him. For whatever we
receive rightly and honourably we receive from God, and by
His providence, as ripe fruits, and " corn which strengtheneth
man's heart, and the pleasant vine, and wine which rejoiceth
the heart of man." x And moreover, the fruit of the olive-tree,
to make his face to shine, we have from the providence of God.
Chapter lxvih.
Celsus goes on to say : " We must not disobey the ancient
writer, who said long ago,
' Let one be king, whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed ; ' " 2
and adds : " If you set aside this maxim, you will deservedly
suffer for it at the hands of the king. For if all wore to do the
same as you, there would be nothing to prevent his being left
in utter solitude and desertion, and the affairs of the earth
would fall into the hands of the wildest and most lawless bar
barians ; and then there would no longer remain among men
any of the glory of your religion or of the true wisdom." If,
then, "there shall be one lord, one king," he must be, not the
man " whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed," but the man
to whom He gave the power, who " removeth kings and setteth
up kings," 3 and who " raiseth up the useful man in time of
need upon earth." 4 For kings are not appointed by that son
of Saturn, who, according to Grecian fable, hurled his father
from his throne, and sent him down to Tartarus (whatever
interpretation may be given to this allegory), but by God, who
governs all things, and w»ho wisely arranges whatever belongs
to the appointment of kings. We therefore do set aside the
maxim contained in the line,
"Whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed;"
for we know that no god or father of a god ever devises any
thing crooked or crafty. But we are far from setting aside the
1 Ps. civ. 15. 2 Homer's Iliad, ii. 205.
3 Dan. iL 21. 4 Ecclus. x. 4.

552 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
notion of a providence, and of things happening directly or
indirectly through the agency of providence. And the king
will not " inflict deserved punishment" upon us, if we say that
not the son of crafty Saturn gave him his kingdom, but He
who "removeth and setteth up kings." And would that all
were to follow my example in rejecting the maxim of Homer,
maintaining the divine origin of the kingdom, and observing
the precept to honour the king ! In these circumstances the
king will not " be left in utter solitude and desertion," neither
will " the affairs of the world fall into the hands of the most
impious and wild barbarians." For if, in the words of Celsus,
" they do as I do," then it is evident that even the barbarians,
when they yield obedience to the word of God, will become
most obedient to the law, and most humane ; and every form of
worship will be destroyed except the religion of Christ, which
will alone prevail. And indeed it will one day triumph, as its
principles take possession of the minds of men more and more
every day.
Chapter lxix.
Celsus, then, as if not observing that he was saying anything
inconsistent with the words he had just used, " if all were
to do the same as you," adds : " You surely do not say that
if the Romans were, in compliance with your wish, to neglect
their customary duties to gods and men, and were to worship
the Most High, or whatever you please to call him, that he
will come down and fight for them, so that they shall need no
other help than his. For this same God, as yourselves say,
promised of old this and much more to those who served him,
and see in what way he has helped them and you ! They, in
place of being masters of the whole world, are left with not so
much as a patch of ground or a home ; and as for you, if any of
you transgresses even in secret, he is sought out and punished
with death." As the question started is, " What would happen
if the Romans were persuaded to adopt the principles of the
Christians, to despise the duties paid to the recognised gods and
to men, and to worship the Most High ? " this is my answer to
the question. We say that " if two" of us " shall agree on earth
as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for

Book viii.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 553
them of the Father" of the just, "which is in heaven;"1 for
God rejoices in the agreement of rational beings, and turns
away from discord. And what are we to expect, if not only a
very few agree, as at present, but the whole of the empire of
Rome ? For they will pray to the Word, who of old said to
the Hebrews, when they were pursued by the Egyptians, " The
Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace ;" 2 and
if they all unite in prayer with one accord, they will be able to
put to flight far more enemies than those who were discomfited
by the prayer of Moses when he cried to the Lord, and of those
who prayed with him. Now, if what God promised to those
who keep His law has not come to pass, the reason of its non-
fulfilment is not to be ascribed to the unfaithfulness of God.
But He had made the fulfilment of His promises to depend on
certain conditions, — namely, that they should observe and live
according to His law; and if the Jews have not a plot of
ground nor a habitation left to them, although they had received
these conditional promises, the entire blame is to be laid upon
their crimes, and especially upon their guilt in the treatment of
Jesus.

\j

Chapter lxx.

But if all the Romans, according to the supposition of Celsus,
embrace the Christian faith, they will, when they pray, overcome
their enemies ; or rather, they will not war at all, being guarded
by that divine power which promised to save five entire cities for
the sake of fifty just persons. For men of God are assuredly
the salt of the earth : they preserve the order of the world ; and
society is held together as long as the salt is uncorrupted : for
" if the salt have lost its savour, it is neither fit for the land
nor for the dunghill ; but it shall be cast out, and trodden under
foot of men. Lie that hath ears, let him hear"3 the meaning
of these words. When God gives to the tempter permission to
persecute us, then we suffer persecution ; and when God wishes
us to be free from suffering, even in the midst of a world that
hates us, we enjoy a wonderful peace, trusting in the protection
of Him who said, " Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
i Matt, xviii. 19. 2 Ex. xiv. 14.
3 Luke xiv. 34, 35 ; Matt. v. 13.

554 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
world." x And truly He has overcome the world. Wherefore
the world prevails only so long as it is the pleasure of Him
who received from the Father power to overcome the world ;
and from His victory we take courage. Should He even wish
us again to contend and struggle for our religion, let the enemy
come against us, and we will say to them, " I can do all things,
through Christ Jesus our Lord, which strengtheneth me." 2
For of " two sparrows which are sold for a farthing," as the
Scripture says, " not one of them falls on the ground without
our Father in heaven." 3 And so completely does the divine
providence embrace all things, that not even the hairs of our
head fail to be numbered by Him.
Chapter lxxi.
Celsus again, as is usual with him, gets confused, and attri
butes to us things which none of us have ever written. His
words are : " Surely it is intolerable for you to say, that if our
present rulers, on embracing your opinions, are taken by the
enemy, you will still be able to persuade those who rule after
them ; and after these have been taken you will persuade their
successors, and so on, until at length, when all who have yielded
to your persuasion have been taken, some prudent ruler shall
arise, with a foresight of what is impending; and he will destroy
you all utterly before he himself perishes." There is no need
of any answer to these allegations : for none of us says of our
present rulers, that if they embrace our opinions, and are taken
by the enemy, we shall be able to persuade their successors ;
and when these are taken, those who come after them, and so
on in succession. But on what does he ground the assertion,
that when a succession of those who have yielded to our per
suasion have been taken because they did not drive back the
enemy, some prudent ruler shall arise, with a foresight of what
is impending, who shall utterly destroy us ? But here he seems
to me to delight in inventing and uttering the wildest nonsense.
Chapter lxxii.
Afterwards he says : " If it were possible," implying at the
same time that he thought it most desirable, " that all the inha-
i John xvi. 33. 2 Phil. iv. 13. 3 Matt. x. 29, 30.

Bookvhi.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 555
bitants of Asia, Europe, and Libya, Greeks and barbarians, all
to the uttermost ends of the earth, were to come under one
law;" but judging this quite impossible, he adds, " Any one
who thinks this possible, knows nothing." It would require
careful consideration and lengthened argument to prove that it
is not only possible, but that it will surely come to pass, that all
who are endowed with reason shall come under one law. How
ever, if wo must refer to this subject, it will be with great
brevity. The Stoics, indeed, hold that, when the strongest of
the elements prevails, all things shall be turned into fire. But
our belief is, that the Word shall prevail over the entire rational
creation, and change every soul into His own perfection ; in
which state every one, by the mere exercise of his power, will
choose what he desires, and obtain what he chooses. For
although, in the diseases and wounds of the body, there are some
which no medical skill can cure, yet we hold that in the mind
there is no evil so strong that it may not be overcome by the
Supreme Word and God. For stronger than all the evils in
the soul is the Word, and the healing power that dwells in Him ;
and this healing He applies, according to the will of God, to
every man. The consummation of all things is the destruction
of evil, although as to the question whether it shall be so de
stroyed that it can never anywhere arise again, it is beyond our
present purpose to say. Many things are said obscurely in the
prophecies on the total destruction of evil, and the restoration
to righteousness ojf every soul ; but it will be enough for our
present purpose to quote the following passage from Zephaniah:
" Prepare and rise early ; all the gleanings of their vineyards
are destroyed. Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, on
the day that I rise up for a testimony ; for my determination is
to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kings, to pour
upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger : for all
the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For
then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one con
sent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even
the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my offering. In that
day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou
hast transgressed against me : for then I will take away out of

556 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride ; and thou shalt
no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. I will also
leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they
shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel
shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies ; neither shall a deceitful
tongue be found in their mouth : for they shall feed and lie
down, and none shall make them afraid." x I leave it to those
who are able, after a careful study of the whole subject, to un
fold the meaning of this prophecy, and especially to inquire
into the signification of the words, " When the whole earth is
destroyed, there will be turned upon- the peoples a language
according to their race," 2 as things were before the confusion
of tongues. Let them also carefully consider the promise,
that all shall call upon the name of the Lord, and serve
Him with one consent ; also that all contemptuous reproach
shall be taken away, and there shall be no longer any injus
tice, or vain speech, or a deceitful tongue. And thus much it
seemed needful for me to say briefly, and without entering
into elaborate details, in answer to the remark of Celsus, that
he considered any agreement between the inhabitants of Asia,
Europe, and Libya, as well Greeks as barbarians, was impos
sible. And perhaps such a result would indeed be impossible
to those who are still in the body, but not to those who are
released from it. Chapter lxxiii.
In the next place, Celsus urges us " to help the king with
all our might, and to labour with him in the maintenance of
justice, to fight for him ; and if he requires it, to fight under
him, or lead an army along with him." To this our answer is,
that we do, when occasion requires, give help to kings, and
that, so to say, a divine help, " putting on the whole armour of
God." 3 And this we do in obedience to the injunction of the
apostle, "I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all
men, for kings, and for all that are in authority ; " 4 and the
1 Zeph. iii. 7-13.
2 " A language to last as long as the world."— Bouhereau.
3 Eph. vi. 11. * 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

Book viii. J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 557
more any one excels in piety, the more effective help does he
render to kings, even more than is given by soldiers, who go
forth to fight and slay as many of the enemy as they can. And
to those enemies of our faith who require us to bear arms for
the commonwealth, and to slay men, we can reply : " Do not
those who are priests at certain shrines, and those who attend
on certain gods, as you account them, keep their hands free
from blood, that they may with hands unstained and free from
human blood offer the appointed sacrifices to your gods ; and
even when war is upon you, you never enlist the priests in the
army. If that, then, is a laudable custom, how much more so,
that while others are engaged in battle, these too should engage
as the priests and ministers of God, keeping their hands pure,
and wrestling in prayers to God on behalf of those wdio are
fighting in a righteous cause, and for the king who reigns
righteously, that whatever is opposed to those who act right
eously may be destroyed ! " And as we by our prayers van
quish all demons who stir up war, and lead to the violation of
oaths, and disturb the peace, we in this way are much more
helpful to the kings than those who go into the field to fight for
them. And we do take our part in public affairs, when along
with righteous prayers we join self-denying exercises and medi
tations, which teach us to despise pleasures, and not to be led
away by them. And none fight better for the king than wo
do. We do not indeed fight under him, although he require it ;
but we fight on his behalf, forming a special army — an army
of piety — by offering our prayers to God.
Chapter lxxiv.
And if Celsus would have us to lead armies in defence of
our country, let him know that we do this too, and that not for
the purpose of being seen by men, or of vainglory. For " in
secret," and in our own hearts, there are prayers which ascend
as from priests in behalf of our fellow-citizens. And Christians
are benefactors of their country more than others. For they
train up citizens, and inculcate piety to the Supreme Being ;
and they promote those whose lives in the smallest cities have
been good and worthy, to a divine and heavenly city, to whom
it may be said, " Thou hast been faithful in the smallest city,

558 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Bookviii.
come into a great one,"1 where " God standeth in the assembly
of the gods, and judgeth the gods in the midst;" and He
reckons thee among them, if thou no more " die as a man, or
fall as one of the princes." 2
Chapter lxxv.
Celsus also urges us to " take office in the government of the
country, if that is required for the maintenance of the laws,and
the support of religion." But we recognise in each state the
existence of another national organization,3 founded by the
Word of God, and we exhort those who are mighty in word
and of blameless life to rule over churches. Those who are
ambitious of ruling we reject ; but we constrain those who,
through excess of modesty, are not easily induced to take a
public charge in the church of God. And those who rule over
us well are under the constraining influence of the great King,
whom we believe to be the Son of God, God the Word. And
if those who govern in the church, and are called rulers of the
divine nation — that is, the church — rule well, they rule in
accordance with the divine commands, and never suffer them
selves to be led astray by worldly policy. And it is not for the
purpose of escaping public duties that Christians decline public
offices, but that they may reserve themselves for a diviner and
more necessary service in the church of God — for the salvation
of men. And this service is at once necessary and right. They
take charge of all — of those that are within, that they may day
by day lead better lives, and of those that are without, that they
may come to abound in holy words and in deeds of piety ; and
that, while thus worshipping God truly, and training up as
many as they can in the same way, they may be filled with the
word of God and the law of God, and thus be united with the
supreme God through His Son the Word, wisdom, truth, and
righteousness, who unites to God all who are resolved to con
form their lives in all things to the law of God.
Chapter lxxvi.
You have here, reverend Ambrosius, the conclusion of what
we have been enabled to accomplish by the power given to us
i Luke xix. 17. * Ps. lxxxii. 1, 7. 3 ovorripox vxTpilog.

Book vm.J ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 559
in obedience to your command. In eight books we have em
braced all that we considered it proper to say in reply to that
book of Celsus which he entitles A True Discourse. And now
it remains for the readers of his discourse and of my reply to
judge which of the two breathes most of the Spirit of the true
God, of piety towards Him, and of that truth which leads men
by sound doctrines to the noblest life. You must know, how
ever, that Celsus had promised another treatise as a sequel to
this one, in which he engaged to supply practical rules of living
to those who felt disposed to embrace his opinions. If, then,
he has not fulfilled his promise of writing a second book, we
may well be contented with these eight books which wo have
written in answer to his discourse. But if he has begun and
finished that second book, pray obtain it and send it to us, that
we may answer it as the Father of truth may give us ability,
and either overthrow the false teaching that may be in it, or
laying aside all jealousy, we may testify our approval of what
ever truth it may contain.
Glory be to Thee, our God ; Glory be to Thee.

INDEXES.

I.— INDEX OF PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE.

OLD 1

rESTAMENT.

vol.

PAGE

VOL. PAGE

xlix. 1, .

i

253

xvi. 8, . . ii. 383

Genesis.
xlix.,
i.
456
xvi. 18, . . i. 223
VOL. PAGE
xvi. 29, . . ii. 510
i. I,
i. 127, 271
Exodus.
xvii. 10, . i. 119
i.2,
i. 349
iii. 2, .
i
122
xvii. 14, . i. 118, 246
i. 11,
ii. 519
iii. 6,
i
92
xix. 26, . ii. 262
i. 24,
i. 110
iii. 8, .
ii
451
xix. 31, . i. 424, ii. 276
i. 26,
i. 202, ii. 190,
iii. 14, .
i
38
xxvi. 5, . . ii. 447
391
iv. 21, .
i
169
i. 27,
ii. 190
iv. 23, .
i
175
Numbers.
i. 27, 2S
i. 263
iv. 24, 25,
ii
31S
xv. 32, . . i. 387
ii. 2, 3,
ii. 403
iv. 24-26,
i
222
xxiii. 23, . ii. 262
ii. 4,
ii. 403
iv. 25, 26,
ii.
319
xxiv. 17, . i. 463, 464
ii- 7,
i. 39, ii. 200
vii. 3, .
i.
169
ii. 21, 25
ii. 201
viii. 28, 29,
i.
179
Deuteronomy.
ii. 24, i
109, ii. 216, 3S9
ix. 12, .
i.
175
i. 10, . . ii. 277
iii.,
i. 222, ii. 383
ix. 17, .
i.
175
ii. 34, . . ii. 443
iii. 5,
ii. 461
xii. 8, .
ii.
510
iii. 1-3, . . ii. 56
iii 6,
ii. 461
xii. 23, . i.
223, ii.
3S3
iii. 8, . . ii. 406
iii 7,
ii. 461
xvi. 29, .
i.
319
iv. 16-1S, . ii. 193
iii. 8,
ii. 406
xviii. 4,
ii.
31S
iv. 19, . ii. 193, 274
iii 17,
ii. 451
xix. 19, .
i,
216
iv. 19, 20, . ii. 277
iii. 19,
i. 269
xx. 3, 4,
ii.
485
iv. 24, i. 8, 122, ii. 173
iii 24,
ii. 391
xx. 12, . i.
94, 324 bis
vi. 13, . ii. 279, 485
iv. 8,
ii. 208
xx. 13, .
i.
324
viii. 3, . i. 148
iv. 10, .
i. 251
xx. 18, .
ii.
404
ix. 3, . . ii. 173
V. 1,
ii. 390
xx. 21, .
ii.
355
x. 12, 13, . ii. 40
v.3,
. i. 23, 119
xxi. 2, .
ii.
318
xiii. 4, . . ii. 456
vi. 3,
i. 39, ii. 460
xxi. 24, .
ii.
448
xvi. 3, . . ii. 510
vi. 5, 6,
ii. 400
xxii. 28,
ii.
523
xviii. 14, i. 436 bis, ii.
ix. 10, 1
I, . ii. 70
xxiii. 20,
i.
96
262
xi. 1, 2, .
ii. 297
xxiv. 2, .
ii. 263,
356
xviii. 15, i. 430, ii. 262
xi. 4,
ii. 161
xxv. 5, .
i.
293
xxiv. 16, ii. 524
xi. 5-7, .
ii. 298
xxv. 40,
i.
272
xxv. 4, . i. 94, 304, ii.
xv. 5, .
ii. 277
xxx. 34, 35,
ii.
273
216
xvii. 14,
i. 318
xxxii., .
i.
281
xxviii, . i. 142, 304
xix. 17, .
ii. 211
xxxii. 4,
ii.
77
xxviii. 12, . ii. 444
xxi. 2,
ii. 208
xxxii. 21,
i.
281
xxviii. 66, . ii. 79
xxvi. 15,
ii. 210
xxxiv. 2,
ii.
59
xxxii. S, . i. 46
xxvii. 12
13. ii. 359
xxxv. 2,
i.
387
xxxii. 8, 9, ii. 169, 297
xxvii. 27
, . i. 449
xxxv. 40,
i.
306
xxxii. 9, . i. 46
xxx. 42,
ii. 209
xxxii. 21, . ii. S3, 151
xxx. 43,
ii. 209
Leviti
cus.
xxxii. 23, 24, i. 434
xlviii. 22
, . i. 323
xi. 44, .
ii.
406
xxxii. 30, . ii. 444
ORIG
. — VOL. II.
2 X
562

INDEX OF TEXTS.

xxxii. 39,

VOL. PAGE
ii. 31

Joshua.
xxiv. 32, . i. 323
1 Samuel.
ix. 10, . . i. 436
xv. 11, . i. 293
xvi. 15, . . v 293
xviii. 10, . i. 293
2 Samuel.
xxii. 44, 45, ii. 83

1 Kings.

iii. 16, . i.

382, 383

iv. 29-34,

ii. 127

x. 1-9, .

ii. 126

xii. 14, .

i. 389

xiv. 12, .

i. 436

xvii. 21, 22, .

ii. 61

xix. 18,

i. 308

xxii. 19-23, .

i. 223

2 Kings.

i. 3, .

i. 436

iv. 34, 35, .

ii. 61

ix. 11, .

ii. 434

1 Chronicles.
xvi. 8, . . i. 387
xvi. 22, . . ii. 422
Job.
i. and ii. , . ii. 283
i. 10, 11, . i. 235
ii. 10, . . ii. 396
vii. 1, . . i. 236
viii. 12, . . i. 113
x. 8, . . ii. 200
xv. 14, . i. 347, ii. 143
xxv. 5, . . i. 61
xl., . . i. 284
xl. 20, . i. 53, ii. 384
xii, . . i. 284
xii. 34, . . i. 123
Psalms.

i. 1,

i. 383

ii. 2, .

i. 239

ii. 3, .

ii. 538

ii. 5, .

i. 97

ii. 8, .

ii. 169

iv. 6,

ii. 341

vi. ), .

ii. 237

vii. 3-5, .

ii. 447

vii. 3-6, .

ii. 521

viii. 3, .

i. 89

VOL. PAGE
ix. 13, 14, . ii. 375
xiii. 3, . . ii 456
xiv. 3, 4, . ii. 418
xvi. 9, 10, . ii. 65, 113
xviii. 11, . ii. 355
xix. 1, . . ii. 404
xix. 4, . . i. 467
xix. 8, . . ii. 456
xxii. 15, . ii. 473
xxii. 20, 21, . i. 120
xxiv. 8, . ii. 492
xxvi. 2, . ii. 541
xxvii. 1, . ii. 341
xxvii 1-3, . i. 234
xxvii. 1, 3, . ii. 513
xxxiii., . . ii. 402
xxxiii. 5, . ii. 188
xxxiii. 6, . i. 40, 345
xxxiv. 7, i. 66, ii. 380,
520, 522
xxxiv. 10-14, . ii. 396
xxxiv. 19, . ii. 441
xxxvi. 9, i. 8, ii. 341
xxxvii. 8, . ii. 238
xxxvii. 9, 11, 22,
29, 34, . ii. 452
xxxvii. 30, 31, ii. 472
xxxvii. 34, . i. 90
xxxix. 5, . ii. 473
xliii. 19, . ii. 473
xliv. 19, . i. 126
xliv. 23, . ii. 238
xiv. 1, 2, . i. 282
xiv. 2-5, . i. 459
xiv. 6, 7, . i. 459
xiv. 7, . i. 109, 111, 347
xiv. 8, . i. Ill
xiv. 25, . . ii. 473
xlviii. 1, 2, . ii. 452
xlix. 9, 10, . ii. 351
1. 1, . . ii. 493
li. 5, . ii. 472
li. 10, . . i. 34
li. 11, . . ii. 468
li. 12, . . ii. 455
liv. 5, . i. 478, ii. 425
liv. 6, . . ii. 425
lviii. 3, . . ii. 472
lxii. 1, . i. 283
Ixiii. 8, . . ii. 456
lxviii. 11, . i. 467
lxix. 21, . ii. 41, 436
lxxii. 7, . i. 283
lxxii. 8, . i. 283
lxxii. 11, . i. 115
lxxiii. 1, . i. 104
lxxvi. 2, . ii. 452
lxxvi. 10, . i. 230
lxxvii. 2, . ii. 8, 456

VOL. PAGE

lxxviii. 34, .

i. 102

Ixxviii. 49,

ii. 517

lxxviii. 65,

ii. 238

lxxx. 13, 14,

i. 166

Ixxxi. 5,

ii. 91

lxxxii. 1,

ii. 189 bis,

493
lxxxii. 1, 7,
ii. 558
Ixxxiv. 3,
i. 230
lxxxvi. 8,
ii. 271
Ixxxvii. 1, 2,
ii. 216
Ixxxix. 32,
ii. 398
lxxxix. 50, 51
ii. 112
xci. 13, .
ii. 490
xovi. 4, .
ii. 271
xcvi. 5, . ii. 189, 489
493
xcvii. 6,
i. 124
xcvii. 9,
ii. 493
ci. 9,
ii. 442
cii 25, .
ii. 404
cii. 26, 27,
i. 254, 271,
ii. 223
cii. 27, . i. 419
405
cii. 46, .
i. 58
civ. 4, .
i. 122
civ. 6, .
ii. 356
civ. 14, 15,
ii. 241
civ. 15, .
ii. 551
civ. 24, .
i. 29, 130
civ. 24-26,
ii. 263
civ. 29, 30,
i. 39
cv. 15, .
ii. 422
cvi. 20, .
ii. 36
cvii. 20, i. i
170, ii. 143,
279
cix.,
ii. 27
cix. 1, 2,
ii. 16
cix. 8, .
ii. 16
ex. 1,
i. 154
cxv. 13,
i. 383
cxvi.,
ii. 539
cxviii. 2,
i. 104
cxviii. 19, 20
ii. 375
cxix. 18, . ii.
8, 216, 456
cxix. 73,
ii. 200
cxix. 105,
ii. 341
exxvi., .
i. 205
exxxi. 1, 2,
ii. 353
exxxvi. 2,
ii. 271, 493
exxxvii. 8, 9,
ii. 445
exxxix.,
i. 351
cxli. ,
ii. 140, 505
cxlvii. 15,
i. 467
cxlviii. 3,
ii. 281, 549
cxlviii. 4,
ii. 358
cxlviii. 4, 5,
ii. 315
cxlviii. 5,
i. 77
INDEX OF TEXTS.

563

ii. 5,

iv. 23, .
v. 15-17,
viii. 5, .
"viii. 22-15,
ix. 1-5, .
ix. 4,
ix. 5, 6,
x. 17, .
x. 19, .
xiii. 8, .
xiii. 25,
xxii. 20, 21,
xxii. 28,
xxiii. 5,
xxvii. 19,
xxviii. 6,
xxx. 24-28,

VOL. PAGE
Proverbs. . i. 17, 355, ii.
44S, 457

i. 232
ii. 210
ii. 134
i. IS
i. 147
ii. 134
ii. 134
ii. 343
ii. 268
ii. 144
ii. 447
i. 300
ii. 374
ii. 3S4
ii. 386
ii. 446
ii 253

i 1-14,
i.2,i.6,i 9,
x.4,i.3,

Ecclesiastes.

i.4,i.7, .
i 11, .
i 13, 14,
i. 19, 20,
i 20, .
ii 2, .
iii. 24, .
iv. 4,
v.8, .
v. 11, .
v. 12, .
v. 18, .
v. 20, .
v. 22, .
vi. 1, 2,
vi. 2, .
vi 3, .
vi. 9, .
vii 10-14
vii. 11, .
vii. 14, .
vii. 15, .
vii. 16, .
viii. 4, .
viii. 8, 9,
ix. 2, .

i. 64
ii. 472
ii. 374
. i. 255, ii. 172
i. 223, 230
Song. i 11
Isaiah.

ii. 79
ii. 80
i 140
i. 119
165, ii. 399
ii. 404
i. 386
i. 86
i 143
ii. 79
ii. 79
ii. 453
ii. 79
ii. 79, 410
ii. 79
i 443
ii. 357
i. 25, 340
ii. 10
i. 434
i. 435
i. 435
i. 292
i. 110
i. 110
i. 283
ii. 341 bis, 409, 538

ix. 6, .
x. 17,
xi. 6, 7,
xiv. 4, .
xiv. V2-22,
xxv. S,
xxvii. 1,
xxviii. 19,
xxxv. 5, 6,
xii. 22, 23,
xiii. 4, .
xiii. 5, .
xliv. 11-14,
xiv. 3, .
xiv. 6, .
xiv. 7, . i
xiv. 12,
xlvii. 14, 15,
143,
xlviii 9,
xlviii. 16,
xlix. 8, 9,
xlix. 9, . i.
xlix. 12,
Iii. 3, 15,
Iii. 12, .
liii. 1-3,
liii. 1-8,
liii. 2, 3,
liii. 7, .
liii. 9, .
liv. 12, 11,
lx. 1, .
Ix. 19, .
lxiii. 17, 18,
lxiv. 8, .
Ixv. 1, .
Ixvi i, .
Ixvi. 2,
Ixvi. 16,
Ixvi. 22,

VOL. PAGE
ii. 323, 513
i. 143, 349
i. 292
ii. 384
i. 52
i. 80
i. 123, 224
ii. 530
ii. 49
i. 340
i. 456
i. 35
ii. 507
i. 335
i. 92
293, ii. 396, 398
i 61
i. 102,
ii. 2S3, 398
ii. 283
i. 456
i. 456
456, ii. 538
ii. 257
i. 457
ii. 539
ii. 418
i. 457
ii. 439
ii. 62
i. 110
ii. 452
ii 341
ii. 393
i. 182
i. 267
ii. 83
i. 74, 92
i. 89
i. 143
i. 255

i. 5, 6
i. 9,
i. 9, 10,
i. 14, .
vii. 17, 18,
vii. 18, .
x. 24, .
xiii. 24,
xv. 14,
xvii. 21-24
xx. 7, .
xxiii. 23,

Jeremiah.

242
i. 122
ii. 161
i 123
ii. 275
i. 62
ii. 237
ii. 172
i. 293
i. 387
i. 182,- 397
ii. 280

xxiii. 24, i. 74, ii. 166, 280
xxv. 15, 16, . i. 143

VOL. TAGE
xxv. 28, 29, . i. 143
xxix. 22, . i. 376
xxxi. 10, . ii. 526
xxxiv. 14, . ii. 313
Lamentations.
iii. 25, . i. 104
iii. 27, 29, 30, ii. 448
iii. 34, . ii. 538
iii. 38, . ii. 232
iv. 20, . i. 112, 339

EZEKIEL.

1.,i. 1, .
i. 19, 20,
i. 28, .
ii. 1, .
ii. 6,
ii. 9, 10,
iii. 2, 3,
x.,xi. 19, 20,
xvi. 55,
xviii. 2-4,
xviii. 3,
xviii. 4,
xviii. 4, 19,
xviii. 20,
xx. 3, .
xx. 5, .
xx. 25, .
xxii. IS, 20,
xxvi, .
xxviii. 11-19.
xxviii. 12,
xxviii. 15,
xxviii. 19,
xxix. 3,
xxxii. i-28,
xxxii. 2,
xxxii. 6,
xliii-xlvl,xlviii., . Daniel
ii. 21, .
iv. 8, .
iv. 37, .
vii. 10, .
vii. 26, .
viii. 23,
viii. 23-25,
ix. 24, .
ix. 27,
x.,xii. 1, 2, 3,
xii. 3, .

i. 357
i. 443
i 169
i. 443
i, 443
ii. 80
ii. 342
i. 449
ii. 357
i. 191
i. 102
ii. 525
ii. 99
i. 123
i. 123
ii. 524
ii. 127
ii. 525
ii. 443
ii. 283
i. 239
i. 50
i. 224
ii. 385
ii. 3S5
217 bis
ii. 384
i. 123
ii. 217
i. 387
ii. 361

ii. 551
i. 34
ii. 453
ii. 173, 519
ii. 52
ii. 385
ii. 388
i. 284
ii. 388
i. 239
ii. 277
ii. 191

564

INDEX OF TEXTS.

VOL. PAGE
Hosea.
iii. 4, . . i. 279
viii. 12, . . ii. 340
x. 9, . ii. 127
x. 12, . . i. 7
xiii. 14, i. 80, ii. 127
xiv. 9, . . ii. 217
Joel.
ii. 28, . . 150
Amos.
iii. 6, . . i. 293
ix. 3, . . i. 123
MlCAI-I.
i. 12, . i. 293, ii. 398
i. 12, 13, . ii. 396
iv. 1, . i. 387
v. 2, . i. 2S4, 453
vi. 8, . . i. 165
Haeakkuk.
iii. 2, . i. 36
Zephaniah.
iii. 7-13, . ii. 556
Haggai.
ii. 6, . . ii. 453
Zechariah.
i. 14, . . i. 230
iii. 1, . i. 224
v. 7, . . ii. 363
ix. 10, . . i. 292
Malachi.
iii. 2, . ii. 173, 283
iii. 2, 3, . ii. 364
iii. 3, . . i. 143
iii. 6, . i. 419, ii. 174, 405
APOCRYPHA. Tobit.
i. 12, . . i. 384
i. 19, . . i. 385
i. 22, . . i 385
ii. 3, . . i. 370
xii. 7, . ii. 287, 298
Wisdom.
i. 4, . ii. 140, 298
i. 5, . . ii. 432
i. 7, . . ii. 166
vii. 16, . . i 191
vii. 25, . . i. 22
vii. 25, 26, . i. 26, ii.
150, 502
ix. 6, . . ii. 350

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

x. 5,

ii. 298

v. 48, . i

. 355, ii. 190

x. 19,

ii. 534

v. 48, 49,

i. 91

xi. 17,

i. 349

vi. 9, .

i. 92

xi. 20,

i. 127

vi. 24, .

ii. 493

xi. 26,

ii. 188

vi. 25-28,

ii. 447

xii. 1,

ii. 201

vii. 7, .

i. 390

xii. 1, 2,

ii. 188, 473

vii. 14, .

ii. 354

xvii. 1,

ii. 518

vii. 18, .

i. 103

xviii. 24

i 86

vii. 22, .

i. 402

vii. 22, 23,
i. 278, ii. 51
EcCLESIASTICUS.
vii. 24, . ,
i. 166
vi. 4,
i. 123
vii. 26, .
i 167
x. 4,
ii. 551
viii. 3, .
i. 449
xvi. 21,
i 341
ix. 12, .
ii. 141
xviii. 13
ii. 188
ix. 23, .
ii. 446
xxi. 18,
ii. 344, 435
ix. 37, 38,
i. 468
xxxix. 21, 16, 17,
x. 3,
i. 466
242
x. IS, i. 5
78, ii. 18, 19
xliii. 20,
i. 123
x. 23, .
i. 471
x. 29, .
i. 236
Susannah.
x. 29, 30,
ii. 554
Ver. 52,
53, . i 376
xi. 20, .
ii. 253
Ver. 56,
i. 377
xi. 27, . i.
16, 96, 106,
ii. 466
Song or the Three
xi. 28, .
ii 77, 143
Holy Children, i. 372
xi. 29, .
ii. 8
xii. 24, .
ii. 13
2 Maccabees.
xii. 32, .
i. 34
vii. 28, .
i. 77
xii. 33, .
i. 103
xii. 35, .
i. 104
NEW TEVVUH'NT.
xii. 42, .
. i. 237, 238
xii. 44, .
i. 334
Matthew.
xiii. 9, .
ii. 456
i. 20, .
i. 472
xiii. 54,
ii. 354
i. 23,
i. 434
xv. 11, 17-19
ii. 515
ii. 6,
i. 284, 453
xv. 19, .
ii. 455
ii. 13, .
i. 472
xv. 24, .
i. 329
iii. 17, .
ii. 76
xvii. 9, .
i. 450
iv. 9, 10,
ii. 541
xviii. lO, i.
329, ii. 380,
iv. 10, .
ii. 485
520, 522
iv. 12, .
i. 170
xviii. 19,
ii. 553
iv. 16, .
i. 170
xviii. 20,
ii. 12
iv. 19, .
i 466
xix. 14, .
i. 254
v. 3,
ii. 409
xix. 17, . i
104, ii. 279
v. 5,
i. 90
xix. 24, .
ii. 354
v. 6,
i. 146
xx. 25, .
ii. 446
v. 8,
i. 17, ii. 340,
xx. 2S, .
ii. 191
455, 466
xxi. 2, .
ii. 208
v. 13,
ii. 553
xxii. 12, 13,
i. 100
v. 14,
ii. 278, 474
xxii. 30, i
345, ii. 189
v. 16,
ii. 278
xxii. 32,
i. 92, ii. 494
v. 22,
.i 166, 325
xxii. 37, 39,
40, i. 93
v. 28,
i. 325
xxiii. 12,
ii. 142
v. 34,
i. 74
xxiii. 29-36,
i. 378
v. 34, 35
i. 92
xxiii. 30,
i. 397
v. 39,
i. 166, ii. 448
xxiii. 34,
ii. 127
v. 39, 40
ii. 482
xxiv. 4, .
ii. 385
v. 44, 45
ii. 521
xxiv. 12,
i. 122
v. 45,
ii. 188
xxiv. 14,
i. 278, ii. 20
INDEX OF TEXTS.

5G5

VOL. TAGE

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

xxiv. 21,

i. 256

xiii. 26, 27,

ii. 51

x. IS, . i. 108, 1 " ¦

xxiv. 23-27,

ii. 51

xiv. 11, .

i. 1S5

ii. 23, 113
xxiv. 27,
i. 52
xiv. 34, 35,
ii. 553
x. 24, .
i. 450
xxiv. 35, i.
254, ii. 291
xvii. 20, 21,
i. 38
x. 30, .
ii. 500
xxv. 4. .
ii. 341
xviii. 11,
ii. 144
xii. 24, .
ii. 527
xxv. 29,
i. 149
xviii. 13,
ii. 144
xii. 27, .
i. 125, 340
xxv. 34,
i. 167
xviii. 14,
ii. 144
xiii. 2, .
i 232
xxv. 35,
i. 169
xix. 14, .
i. 97
xiii. 27, .
i. 224
xxvi. 3, .
i. 105
xix. 17, .
ii. 558
xiv. 2, . i.
152, ii. 359
xxvi. 23,
ii. 2S
xix. 17, 19,
i. 147
xiv. 6, i. 1,
ii. 409, 500
xxvi. 29,
i. 146
xix. 26, .
i. 149
xiv. 9, .
i. 24, 93
xxvi. 3S,
i. 125, 346,
xx. 36, . i.
315, ii. 189
xiv. 11, .
ii. 500
ii. 11
xxii. 25,
ii. 446
xiv. 16, .
i. 472
xxvi. 39, ii.
30, 31, 477
xxii. 27,
ii. 8
xiv. 23, .
i. 9, ii. 506
xxvi. 48,
ii. 67
xxiii. 21, 25,
ii. 526
xiv. 26, .
i. 36
xxvi. 52-54,
ii. 14
xxiii. 44, 45,
ii. 38
xiv. 27, .
ii. 502
xxvi. 55,
ii. 67
xxiii. 53,
ii. 72 bis
xiv. 28, .
ii. 502
xxvi. 59-61,
i. 394
xxiv. 15, 31,
ii. 65
xiv. 30, .
i. 110
xxvi. 61,
ii. 13
xxiv. 30, 31,
ii. 71
xv. 22, .
i. 3S
xxvii. 3-5,
ii. 15
xvi. 4, .
ii. 8
xxvii. 11-14,
ii. 394
Joh-
*.
xvi. 12, 13,
i. 36, ii. 3
xxvii. 17,
i. 394
i. 1, . i
i. 293, 408,
xvi. 28, .
ii. 254
xxvii. IS,
i. 394
456, 496
xvi. 33, . i. 233, ii. 401
xxvii. 19,
ii. 39
i. 1, 2,
i. 130
554
xxvii. 46-50, .
ii. 113
i. 1-3, .
i. 59
xvii. 10,
i. 29
xxvii. 51, 52,
ii. 38
i. 3, .
i. 329, 345
xvii. 16,
i. 87
xxvii. 54,
ii. 41
i. 3, 4, .
ii. 341
xvii. 20, 21,
i. 56
xxvii. 60,
ii. 72
i 5, .
ii. 75, 474
xvii. 21,
ii. 500
xxvii, 63,
i. 235
i. 9,
ii. 404
xvii. 22,
ii. 50
xxviii. 1, 2,
ii. 74
i. 14, .
ii. 411
xvii. 22, 23,
i. 56
xxviii. 9,
ii. 74
i 18, . i. 1C
, 95, ii. 75,
xvii. 24(21,25
), i. 85,
xxviii. 20,
ii. 12, 280
450
263
Mar
i. 26, .
ii. 12
xvii. 25,
i. 104
K.
i. 26, 27, i.
340, ii. 2S0
xviii. 4, etc.,
ii. 14
i 12,
ii. 6
i. 32-34, .
i. 449
xviii. 36,
i. 465
iii. 18, .
i. 466
i. 52, .
i. 450
xix. 2, .
i. 242
iv. 12, .
i. 194
ii. 16,
i. 92
xix. 11, .
i. 235
vi. 2,
ii. 354
ii. 19, .
ii. 113
xix. 34, 35,
ii. 40
vi. 3,
ii. 375
ii. 19, 21,
ii. 507
xix. 41,
ii. 72 bis
x. 8,
i. 109
iii. 8, .
ii. 36
xix. 52, .
ii. 23
A. 18, .
ii. 279
iv. 19, .
i. 31
xx. 22, i. 34
, 39, ii. 473
x. 44,
ii. 446
iv. 20, .
i. 10
xx. 26, .
ii. 66
xiii. 31, .
ii. 291
iv. 21, .
i. 8
xx. 26, 27,
ii. 65
Luk
E.
iv. 21-24,
ii. 413
xx. 27, .
ii. 64
i. 35, .
i. 34, 113
iv. 23, 24,
i 10
xxi. 18, .
ii. 47
v. 8,
i. 468
iv. 24, .
i. 75
vi. 36, .
i. 355
v. 23, .
ii. 498
Act
a.
vi. 4,
i. 25
v. 31, .
i. 450
i. 3,
ii. 66
viii. 10, .
i. 170
v. 39, i. 325
ii. 44, 284
i. 5, .
ii. 474
x.4, .
i. 320
v. 46, 47,
ii. 6
i. 8, .
. - i. 40
x. 18, .
i. 52
vii. 15, .
ii. 354
iv. 32, .
ii. 500
x. 19, i. 284,
ii. 479, 490
vii. 42, .
i. 453
v. 36, 37,
ii. 349
x. 22, .
i. 36, ii. 75
viii. 40, i.
472, ii. 32,
v. 38, 39,
i. 461
xi. 9, .
i. 39
439
v. 41, .
ii. 47
xi. 48, .
ii. 79
viii. 46, .
i. 110
vii.,
i. 98
xi. 52, .
i. 299
viii. 58, .
ii. 500
vii. 22, .
ii. 128
xii. 10, .
i. 34
ix. 39, .
ii. 461
vii. 42, 43,
ii. 275
xii. 45, 46, .
i. 376
x. 3,
i. 390
vii. 52, .
i. 379
xiii. 11, 1G, .
ii. 538
x. 8-10, .
ii. 490
viii. 10, .
ii. 348
566

INDEX OF TEXTS.

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE
viii. 18, .
i. 34
viii. 20, 21,
i. 63, 135,
iii. 12, .
i. 146, i i,
ix. 15, .
i. 233
254, 258-264
283, 413
x. 9-15, . .
ii. 2
viii. 22,
i. 63
iii. 13-15,
ii. 173
x. 14, .
ii. 319
viii. 32,
ii. 527
iii. 18, 19,
i. 410
x. 38, .
ii. 548
viii. 35-37,
ii. 395
iii. 19, .
ii.
349, 446
xv. 28, 29,
ii. 515
viii. 37,
i. 396
iv. 11, 12,
• .
ii. 469
xvii. 28, i
74, ii. 166
viii. 38, 39,
i. 233, 395
iv. 12, 13,
ii. 333
xxi. 26, .
ii. 3
ix. 6,
i. 336
v. 1, .
i. 267
ix. 6, 8,
i. 327
vi. 10, .
ii.
523, 525
Roma
NS.
ix. 8, .
i. 329
vi. 16, .
ii. 13
i. 1-4, .
i. 94
ix. 11, 12,
i. 133
vi. 17, .
i. 108, ii. 3c :
i. 3,4, .
i. 248
ix. 14, .
i. 63
vi. 20, .
i. 374
i. 14, .
ii. 134
ix. 16, .
i. 170, 203
vii. 18, .
i. 321
i. 18-23,
ii. 339
ix. 18, .
i. 171
vii. 31, .
i. 58, 86
i. 19, .
ii. 129, 192
ix. 20, 21,
i. 171
viii. 4, 11,
ii. 511
i. 20, .
ii. 401, 459
x. 6-8, .
i. 38
viii. 5, .
ii. 495
i. 20-22,
ii. 129
xi. 4,
i. 308
viii. 5, 6,
ii. 189
i 21, \
ii. 129, 470
xi. 11, 12,
ii. 424
viii. 8, .
ii. 514
i 21-23,
ii. 192
xi. 33, .
i. 339 bis
viii. 13,
,
ii. 514
i. 22, 23,
ii. 152
xi. 36, .
ii. 407
ix. 8, .
ii. 5
i. 23, .
ii. 498
xii. 11, .
i. 122
ix. 9, .
i. 304
i. 24, 25,
ii. 471
xii. 14, .
ii. 523
ix. 9, 10,
i. 305, :
i. 24, 26, 28,
ii. 301
xiii. 1, 2,
ii. 548
ix. 26, .
ii. 474
i. 25, .
ii. 340, 470
xiii. 14,
i. 81
ix. 27, .
ii. 320
i. 26-28,
ii. 129
xiv. 1, .
i. 396
x. 1, 2, .
.
ii. 216
i. 27, .
ii. 472
xiv. 9, .
ii. 68, 466
x. 3, 4, .
ii.
216, 469
i. 28, .
ii. 471
xiv. 15, i.
374, ii. 514
x. 4, .
i. 306
ii. 4, 5, .
i 181
xiv. 21,
ii. 514
x. 11, .
i.306, ii. i
ii. 4-10, .
i 168
xv. 19, .
ii. 444
x. 13, i
227,
228, 229
ii. 11, .
i. 63, 69
xvi. 15,
ii. 6
x. 18, .
i. 327
ii. 13-16,
i 141
xvi. 25, 26,
ii. 141
x. 23, .
i. 117
ii. 23, .
ii. 498
x. 31, .
.
ii. 518
ii. 2S, .
i. 327
1 Corint
HIANS.
xi. 3, .
.
i. 106
ii. 29, .
ii. 445
i. 15, .
i. 18
xi. 19, .
ii. 96
v. 7, . .
ii. 189
i. 18, .
ii. 128
xii. 3, .
i. 34, 40
v. 8, .
ii. 188
i. 21, .
ii. 284
xii. 4-7,
i. 41
v. 14, .
ii. 206
i. 23, 24,
i. 411
xii. 6,
.
i. 42
vi. 4,
ii. 72
i. 24,
i. 18, 28
xii. 8, .
ii. 128
vi. 9, .
ii. 23
i. 26, . i.
247, ii. 352
xii. 8, 9,
ii. 351
vi. 10, .
ii. 72
i. 26-28,
i. 282
xii. 11, .
ii. 41
vii. 9, .
ii. 142
i 27,
ii. 151, 467
xiii. 10,
ii. 359
vii. 12, .
i. 103
i. 27, 28, 29,
ii. 340
xiii. 12, ii
. 359, 4f
vii. 12, 14,
ii. 444
i. 29, .
i.'185
xiv. 15,
i. 121
vii. 13, .
i. 103
i. 30, .
ii. 310, 385
xv. 2, .
,
ii. 346
vii. 23, .
i. 246, 251
ii. 2, . i.
348, ii. 69
xv. 3-S,
ii. 66
vii. 24, .
ii. 473, 5.39
ii. 2, 3, .
i. 69
xv. 9,
i. 67
viii. 2, .
i. 251
ii. 4, 5, . i.
467, ii. 337
xv. 10,
i. 233
viii. 7, .
i. 252
ii. 6, i. 225
, ii. 31, 139
xv. 12, .
ii. 94
viii. 8, .
ii. 460
ii. 6, 7,
i. 301
xv. 22, .
ii.
206, 375
viii. 9, . i.
247, ii. 468
ii. 6-8, .
i. 237, 239,
xv. 25, .
,
i. 54
viii. 13, i
i. 320, 460,
304, ii. 100
xv. 25, 26,
ii. 374
475
ii. 7, . i.
237, ii. 140
xv. 2S, .
i.
260, 270
viii. 14,
ii. 262
ii. 9, .
i. 267
xv. 35-38,
ii. 286
viii. 16,
ii. 460
ii. 10, .
i. 36
xy. 39-42,
i. 138
viii. 19,
i. 63
ii. 11, .
ii. 192
xv. 40-42,
ii. 278
viii. 19, 20,
ii. 495
ii. 11, 12, 13,
i. 29S
xv. 41, .
i. 129, ii '2 !
viii. 19-21,
ii. 281 bis,
ii. 14, .
ii. 414
xv. 41, 42,
ii. 191
4S6
iii. 6, 7,
i. 207
xv. 42, .
i. 4
viii. 20,
ii. 472
iii. 9, .
ii 161
xv. 42, 43,
iL287
INDEX OF TEXTS.

567

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

xv. 44, . i.

137, ii. 224

v. 25, .

ii. 475

iv. 17, .

i. 151

xv. 48, 49,

ii. 2S7

vi. 14, .

ii. 72

Y. 14, .

i. 325

xv. 49, .

ii. 287

xv. 50, .
ii. 2S7
Ephesians.
2 Thessalonians.
xv. 51, 52,
_ ii. 285
i. 4.
i. 256
ii. 1-12,
ii. 387
xv. 52, .
. ii. 69 bis
i. 21, .
i. 45
ii. 2, .
ii. 94
xv. 53, .
ii. 454
ii. 2, . i.
151, ii. 475
ii. 3, 4, .
ii. 52, 385
xv. 53-56,
i. 80
ii. 3,
ii. 238
ii. 4, .
ii. 38S
xv. 54,
ii. 374
ii. 7, .
i. 85
ii. 6-10,
ii. 52
ii. 20, .
ii. 507
ii. 9, .
ii. 389
2 Corinthians.
iv. 10, .
i. 435
ii. 10-12,
ii. 52
i. 10, .
i. 56
iv. 13, .
i. 56
ii. 4, .
i. 116, 289
iv. 14, .
ii. 286
1 Timothy.
iii. 6,
i. 9, ii. 443
iv. 27, .
i. 232
i. 15, .
ii. 469
iii. 7, 8,
ii. 443
v. 1, .
ii. 406
ii. 1, 2, .
ii. 556
iii. 15, .
ii. 330
v. 16, .
ii. 396
ii. 5, .
ii. 384
iii. 15-17,
i. 9
v. 31, 32,
ii. 216
ii. 20, 21,
ii. 236
iv. 4,
i. 355
vi. 2, 3,
i. 94, 324
iii. 16, .
ii. 112
iv. 6,
ii. 341
vi. 11, . ii
. 520, 540,
iv. 1-3, .
i. 116, ii. 334
iv. 10, .
ii. 460
556
iv. 4, 5,
ii. 518
iv. 18, . i.
89, 267, ii.
vi. 12, . i. 225 '
iv. 10, .
ii. 188
401
520
vi. 17, 18,
ii. 444
v. 1, . I
. 89, ii. 454
vi. 13, .
i. 224
vi. 20, 21,
ii. 94
v. 1-4, .
ii. 454
v. 6, 8, .
ii. 473
Philippians.
2 Timothy.
v. 10, .
i. 213
i. 23, .
i. 64, 149
i. 3, .
i. 93, ii. 331
v. 13, .
i. 113
ii. 5-9, .
ii. 178
i 16-18,
i 212
v. 16, .
ii. 461
ii. 6, 7, i.
348, ii. 175
ii. 5, .
ii. 541
v. 20, .
ii. 492
ii. 6-8, .
ii. 353
ii. 10, .
ii. 141
v. 21, .
ii. 175
ii. 10, 11, i.
29, ii. 543
ii. 11, .
ii. 72
vi. 16, .
ii. 506
ii. 13, .
i. 170, 209
ii. 15, .
ii. 268
viii. 16,
i. 230
iii. 10, .
ii. 72
ii. 20, .
i. 135
ix. 9, 10,
i. 94
iii. 21, .
ii. 473
ii. 20, 21,
i. 214
x. 3, .
ii. 334
iv. 8, 9,
i. 101
ii. 21, .
i. 135
x. 5, i. 230,
ii. 161, 269
iv. 13, . i.
233, ii. 554
iii. 6,
ii. 363
xi. 14, .
ii. 494
iii. 8, .
ii. 218
xi. 22, .
i. 94
Colossians.
iv. 7, .
ii. 474
'xii. 2, .
ii. 450
i. 15, . i.
22, 95, 105,
xii. 4, .
ii. 342, 465
355,
ii. 407, 450
Titus.
xiii. 3, . i
3, 112, 344
i. 16, .
i. 130
i. 9, 10,
ii. 129
xiii. 4, .
i. 348
i. 16, 17,
i. 106
i. 12, .
ii. 124
i. 16-18,
i. 59
iii. 3-6, .
i. 470
Galatians.
ii. 8, .
i. 396
iii. 10, .
ii. 333
i. 4, .
ii. 396
ii. 9, .
i. 110
i. 19, .
i. 447
ii. 15, .
ii. 67
Hebrews.
ii. 5,
ii. 445
id. 16, . i.
307, ii. 510
i. 3, .
i. 22, 24, 25,
ii. 12, .
ii. 2
ii. 18, 19,
ii. 275
343
ii. 20, .
i. 344
iii. 3, .
i. 112, 347
i. 7, .
i. 122
iii. 3, .
i. 35
iii. 5,
ii. 320, 460
i. 8, .
ii. 500
iv. 10, 11,
ii. 509
iii. 8, .
ii. 238
i. 14, .
i. 45, 244, ii.
iv. 21, 22,
ii. 5
iii. 17, .
ii. 518
271, 520
iv. 21-24,
ii. 210
iv. 6,
ii. 114, 347
ii. 1, .
i. 232
iv. 26, .
i. 329
iii. 14, .
i. 390
v. 2, .
ii. 219
1 Thessalonians.
iv. 12, .
i. 20
v. 8, . i
171, ii. 399
ii. 14-16,
i. 379
iv. 14, .
ii. 519
v. 17, .
i. 227, 245,
iv. 13-15,
ii. 69
iv. 15, .
i. 110
247, ii. 510
iv. 15, 16,
ii. 285
v. 12-14,
ii. 134
v. 19-21,
i. 247
iv. 16, .
ii. 69
v. 14, .
ii. 350
v. 22, .
i. 35
iv. 16, 17,
ii 285
vi. 7, 8,
i. 177
568

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

VOL. PAGE

VOL. PAGE

, VOL. PAGE

viii. 5, .

i. 113, 271,

1 Peter.

ii. 1, 2, . i. 117

306, 307

i. 9,

i. 121

ii. 2, ii. 130, 188, 505

ix. 26,

i. 85

ii. 5,

ii. 507

ii. 6, . . i. 347

x. 29, .

ii. 499

ii. 9,

ii. 277

iii. 2, . i. 263, ii. 190

xi. 24-28,

i. 1

ii. 22, .

ii. 175

v. 19, . . i. 52, 86

xi. 28, .

i. 377

iii. 15, .

ii. 114, 435

xi. 37, 38,
ii. 431, 441
iii. 18-21,
i. 102
Revelation.
xii. 22,
ii. 451
Y. 6, .
ii. 142
i. 8, . . i. 29
xii. 22, .
i. 330, ii. 495
v. 8, .
i. 244
v. 8, . . ii. 505
xii. 29, .
ii. 413
x. 4, . . ii. 243
1
John.
x. 9, . . ii. 342
James.
i. 5, .
i. 449
xiv. 6, . . i. 339
iv. 17, .
i. 38
i. 5, i
8, 343, ii. 278
xxi., . . ii. 262
II.— INDEX OP PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.
Abaris, the Hyperborean, ii. 112.
Abraham, i. 419 ; and Isaac and Jacob,
the names of, united with that of
God, potent against demons, ii.
195-197.
Abstinence, the, practised by the
Pythagoreans and Christians, the
different reasons for, ii. 320.
Acts of Paul, The, quoted, i. 20.
Adam, not the name of an individual
but of the whole race, ii. 206.
Ader [Had ad], i. 389.
Adrian and Jesus, ii. 117, US.
Adultery, reasons why the followers
of Zeno and Epicurus abstain from,
ii. 4S4.
Advents of Christ, two, predicted, i.
459.
Esculapius and his supposed heavenly
power, ii. 102, 103, 104.
Africanus, the letter of, to Origen, i.
369, 370; reply of Origen to, 371, etc.
Ages, the, i. 85.
Allegories in Scripture, ii. 209, 210 ;
Celsus accuses Christians of having
recourse to, when ashamed of Scrip
ture histories, 214 ; Celsus' objec
tion to, refuted, 215-217.
Altar, the only, recognised by Chris
tians, ii. 505.
Altars, images, and temples, why
Christians reject and abhor, ii. 480-
487.
Ammon forbids the use of cows' flesh,
ii. 306.
Anaxarchus, anecdote of, ii. 475, 476.
Angel, the, who had power to hurt
the uncircumcised, ii. 318, 319.
Angels, doctrine of the Church re
specting, i. 7 ; how referred to by
Paul, 45 ; a particular office assigned
to each, 65 ; diversities among, the
result of merit, 66 ; capable of good
or evil, 67, 69 ; the substance of,
122, 123 ; superior to men, ii. 189,
190 ; employment and dignity of,
271,519, 520; not to be worshipped
or invoked, 272 ; that waited on
Jesus, 327, 328.
Angels, evil, ii. 517.
Animal mac, the, i. 120, 121.
Animals, irrational, the superiority of
man to, ii. 244-256 ; power of sor
cery attributed to, by Celsus, 252 ;
knowledge of God attributed to, by
Celsus, 254-256 ; division of, by
Moses, into clean and unclean, 260 ;
according to Celsus, nearer to God
and more beloved by Him than
men, 263, 264.
Annihilation of material substances
not possible, i. 58.
Anthropopathy, the, of Scripture, ii.
236, 239.
Antichrist, ii. 385-388.
Antinous, ii. 117, US, 119.
'Avti%0ove;, 1. S6.
Ants and bees asserted by Celsus to
be not inferior in intelligence to
man, ii. 246-24S.
Apollonius of Tyana, ii. 3S0.
Apopompaeus, i. 223.
Apostles, the subjects of their preach
ing, i 3, etc.
Archilochus, the poet, ii. 105.
Aristeas of Proconnesus, the story
INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

569

of, ii. 106-10S; and Jesus, 10S-
111.
Aristotle flees from persecution, i.
471.
Ark, the, of Noah, ii. 207.
Artaxerxes and Mordecai, i. 231.
Ascension of Moses, The, quoted, i. 222.
'AratftnToy, 1. 5.
Augury, ii. 252, 253, 254, 255, 256,
257 ; demons the real source of,
259-261 ; forbidden by Moses, 282.
Avenging injuries, ii. 479, 480.
Babel, the overthrow of the tower of,
ii. 180, 181.
Barnabas, The Epistle of, quoted re
specting the two ways, i. 231 ; re
specting the disciples of Jesus, 468.
Bees and ants asserted by Celsus to
be not inferior to man in intelli
gence, ii. 246-256.
Betrayal, the, of Jesus by Judas, ii.
15, etc., 17, etc. •
Bethlehem, Jesus born in, i. 453.
Birds, divination or augury by, ii. 254,
255, etc., 258, 259.
Birth, the influence of, i. 427.
Blessedness, the future, of the saints,
not carnal, i. 145, 146; but spiritual,
147-153.
Bodily nature, the perpetuity of the,
i. 77-79.
Body, the, can rational creatures live
without ? i. 80, 82 ; to be made im
mortal and incorruptible, the resur
rection of, 137, ii. 284-292; varieties
in the resurrection body, i. 138 ; a
word to weak believers respecting
the resurrection body, 139, etc. ;
as well as the soul, the work of God,
Celsus refuted, ii. 220-224, 225, 226;
Celsus misrepresents the views of
Christians respecting, 533, 534 ; the
care of, assigned by the Egyptians
to thirty-six demons, 542, 543.
Breath of the power of God, the, i.
26-28.
Brightness of the Father's glory,
Christ the, i. 24.
Calimachus, his hymn to Jupiter
quoted, ii. 124, 125.
Callatians, a horrid custom of, ii. 307.
Camel, easier for a, to go through the
eye of a needle, etc., ii. 354, 355.
Chseremon, his Treatise on Comets
cited, i. 462.
Christ, the words of, i. 1 ; apostolical
doctrine respecting, 3 ; the only-
' begotten Son of God, 18 ; the wis

dom of God, 18, 19, 20 ; the eternal
generation of, 19, 22 ; generated by
the divine will, 23 ; the image of
the invisible God, 23, 24; the
brightness of the glory of God, 24,
25 ; the figure of God's person or
subsistence, 25 ; the breath of the
power of God, 26 ; the efflux of
God's glory, 28 ; the splendour of
eternallight, 30; the stainless mirror
of God's ivipysia, 31 ; the image of
God's goodness, 31, 32 ; the incar
nation of, 106 ; His union with God,
108 ; His union with God the re
ward of His love, 109 ; possessed a
human and rational soul, 110, 111;
anointed with the oil of joy, 111,
112; and Moses, as lawgivers, 275,
etc. ; predicted, 279, etc. , 285, etc. ;
all the majesty of His divinity not
confined within the limits of the
body of, 345-347 ; Jacob's prophecy
of, 454 ; sufferings of, predicted,
456 ; two advents of, predicted,
459, etc. ; the belief of Jews and
Christians in the advent of, Celsus
answered, ii. 180. See Jesus.
Christianity, the power of, i. 277, etc.,
424, 425, 426 ; its own defence, 393,
395 ; its real evidence, 399, 400 ;
general conspiracy against, 400 ; not
a secret system, 403 ; martyrs for,
praised by Celsus, 404 ; adaptability
of, to all orders of mind, ii. 404 ;
the object of, to make all men wise,
126, 127, 128, 152 ; Celsus' slanders
of the teachers of, refuted, 153, 154,
155, 156.
Christians, the, accused of entering
into secret associations, i. 39S, 399 ;
hostility of the heathen to, 400 ;
the morals of, 400, 401 ; regulations
of, relating to idolatry, 401, 402 ;
use no incantations in casting out
demons, 402, 403 ; do not believe
without a reason, 405 ; reformed by ¦
the power of their religion, 406 ; the
points of difference between the
Jews and, not trifling, ii. 85, 86, 88 ;
not rebels against the Jewish State,
90, 91 ; the zeal of, to diffuse their
principles, 92 ; few at first, yet not
very few, 93 ; differences of opinion
among, from the first, 94 ; exist
ence of heresies among, no reproach
to, 94-96 ; the basis of the union of,
96, 97 ; charged with inventing
terrors, 98 ; the religion of, com
pared by Celsus with that of the
Egyptians, 98, 99 ; charged by

570

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

Celsus with inviting to their ranks
the ignorant only, 125-131 ; further
calumnies of Celsus against, 131,
133 ; their mode of admitting mem
bers, 132 ; instructions given by,
graduated to the capacity of the
hearers, 133; desire to instruct all
classes of men, 134 ; Celsus' calum-
niesrespecting the way their teachers
deal with the young and ignorant,
135-138 ; the worst invited by, to
do them good, 139, 140, 141 ;
slander of Celsus, that wise men
are driven from the religion of, 151 ;
charged with seeking after the un
intelligent, 152 ; other charges
against the teachers of, repelled,
153-156 ; not won by vain hopes,
158 ; Celsus' ridicule of, as bats and
ants, etc., 183, 184 ; the acknow
ledged opinions of, which make
them noble, 185, 186 ; the character
of, 187, 188 ; do not profess to
monopolize God, 188, 189 ; the argu
ment between the Jews and, 329 ;
sects and heresies among, 331, 333,
335 ; old calumnies against, 365,
366 ; Celsus confounds them with
certain silly errorists, 365, etc. ;
Celsus reviles — answer to Celsus'
revilings of, 373-376 ; their views
of God misrepresented by Celsus,
449-450 ; their hope after death,
450-451; further calumnies of Celsus,
462 ; instructed and stigmatized by
Celsus, 468, 469 ; how they live,
471 ; why they reject images,
temples, and altars, 483-487 ; not
inconsistent in their rejection of
images, 487 ; use no barbarous
words in prayer, 522 ; do not revile
the statues of the gods, 523, 524,
525 ; the loving zeal of, for the
salvation of men, 536 ; the liberty
of, 538, 539, 540 ; urged by Celsus
to help the king and fight for him —
how they do this, 556-558 ; why
they refuse to take office under
government, 558.
Christs, false, 460, 461.
Chrysippus' treatise - On the Cure of
the Passions quoted, i. 470; On
the Subjugation of the Passions, ii.
535.
Churches of the Christians, and hea
then assemblies, compared and con
trasted, ii. 110, 112.
Circumcision, i. 419; as practised by
the Jews different from that prac
tised by the Gentiles, ii. 316, 318 ;

of Moses' son, 318, 319; abolished
by Christ, 319.
Clean and unclean animals, the reason
of the Mosaic division into, ii. 260.
Clement of Rome quoted, i. 86, 87.
Cleomedes, the boxer, of Astypalea,
ii. 105, 114.
Clothing, the, of the soul and of the
body, i. 81.
Condescension, the, of God, ii. 172,
174, 175.
Conflagration, the, of the world, Cel
sus' cavils against, ii. 281-285.
Conflict, the, with the powers of evil,
i. 232, etc.
Confusion of tongues, the, at Babel, ii.
297-299.
Consummation, the, i. 53-59.
Controversy between Jason and Papis-
cus, The, concerning Christ, referred
to, 218, 219.
Conversion possible for the very worst,
ii. 145-148.
Converts from Judaism do not desert
the law of their fathers, ii. 1, 2.
Corporeal and incorporeal being, i.
59-65.
Corporeity, will it ever be destroyed ?
i. 82, 83, etc.
Corruptible, the, putting on incorrup
tion, i. 80, 81.
Cosmogony, the Mosaic, the criticism
of Celsus on, answered, ii. 390-392,
402, 403,
Cows' flesh forbidden by Ammon, ii.
306.
Creation, the, of the world in time, i.
253, etc.; objection to the creation
of the world in time answered, 255 ;
the peculiar term employed in Scrip
ture to express, 258.
Creation of man, the, ridiculed by
Celsus, ii. 199, 200 ; and of beast,
the work of God, 220-224.
Creature, the, subjected to vanity, i.
63-65, 257, 258.
Creatures, made by God in the begin
ning, i. 126 ; changeable and mut
able, 128 ; varieties of, 129, 130.
Crocodiles, Celsus has no fault to
find with the worshippers of, ii.
310.
Cup, the prayer of Jesus respecting the,
ii. 32.
Customs, ought those of our respective
countries to be followed? ii. 305,
etc. ; the variety and absurdity of,
306, etc.
Cycles of mortal things, asserted by
Celsus, refutation of the notion of,

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS."

571

ii. 232, 233 ; taught by the Stoics,
389, 390.
Dan and Bethel, i. 390.
Daniel, the wisdom of, ii. 127.
Daniel, additions to the book of, in the
LXX., i. 371, 372, 373.
Darkness, outer, i. 144.
Darkness, the rulers and powers of,
obtained their degrees of evil by
their own conduct, i. 69.
Darkness, the, round about God, ii.
355.
Days, sacred, ii 509, 510.
Death, how could the Jews in capti
vity pass the sentence of 1 i. 385.
Death, the hope of Christians after,
ii. 450, 451.
Death, the last enemy, destroyed, i.
268, 269.
Defection, the, of men, i. 43.
Deluge, the, the cavils of Celsus re
specting, ii. 206-208, 401.
Demons, formulce used against, ii. 195,
196, 197; the source of augury by
birds, etc., 259, 260, 261 ; the seven
ruling, referred to by Celsus, 368,369;
cast out by Christians, 487 ; the wor
ship of, inconsistent with the worship
of God, 488-490; eating things offered
to, 514-517; have nothing to do with
food and drink, 516-518 ; first-fruits
not to be offered to, 519 ; can inflict
no injury on Christians, 521, 522 ;
Jesus not a demon, 524; afraid of
martyrs, 528 ; not set over the fruits
of the earth, 542 ; thirty-six, among
the Egyptians, have assigned to
them the care of the human body,
542 ; caution, according to Celsus,
required in the service of, 544-546 ;
other references to, 110, 113, 114,
115, 117, 194, 232, 259, 260, 261,
264, 272, 512, 544.
Desire of knowledge, the, to be satis
fied in a future state, i. 146-151.
Deuteronomy, the book of, i. 338, 339.
Devil, the, and his angels, the doc
trine of the Church respecting, i. 5 ;
the titles of, 45 ; not incapable of
goodness, 68 ; the agency of, as set
forth in the Old Testament, 222;
as revealed in the New Testament,
224 ; not the prompter to all sins,
227-229; how he and his allied
powers tempt, 229 ; the contest
against, 232, etc.; the charges of
Celsus against the Christians in re
lation to, refuted, ii. 380-384; the
fall of, 385.

Diagram, a curious, referred to by
Celsus as in use among certain here
tics, ii. 362, 363, 368, 369, 376, 377.
Disciples, the, of Jesus, their devotion
to their Master, i. 430 ; defended
against Celsus, 466-470 ; justified
in fleeing from persecution, 471 ;
truthfulness of, ii. 21, 23.
Dionysius, ii. 103.
Dioscuri, the, and Hercules, and Ms-
culapius, no gods, ii. 102, 103.
Divination, ii. 254, 255, 256, 257, 258,
259.
Doctrine of Peter, The, the apocryphal
work so called, quoted, i. 6.
Dositheans, the, ii. 349.
Dove, the descent of a, on Jesus, i.
440, 441, 442-446.
Earth, the distribution of the several
parts of, among superintending
spirits, according to Celsus, ii. 293,
etc.; the correct view respecting,
296, 297.
Ebionite, meaning of the name, i. 329.
Ebionites, who so called, ii. 1.
Efflux of the glory of God, Christ
the, i. 28.
Egypt, how the Hebrews were de
livered from, ii. 89, 90.
Egyptians, the, what the Israelites
did with the spoil of, i. 388, 389 ;
the Jews not descended from, ii.
88-90; the religion of, foolishly
compared by Celsus to that of the
Christians, 98, 99 ; inconsistently
lauded by Celsus, 423 ; assign the
care of the human body to thirty-
six demons, 542, 543.
Elephants, the fidelity of, to oaths,
according;to Celsus, ii. 265.
End, the, when it will come, i. 54 ;
and the beginning, 55 ; what shall
be after, 58 ; admonitory remarks
respecting, 262-273.
Enemy, the last, destroyed, i. 268, 269.
Enoch, The book of, quoted, i. 352, ii.
325.
Epictetus, an anecdote of, ii. 475, 476.
Epicureans, reasons of the, for abstain
ing from adultery, ii. 484.
Eros, the story of, from the Sympo
sium of Plato, ii. 203-205.
Esaias sawn asunder, i. 377, 378.
Esoteric and exoteric doctrines of
Christianity, the, i. 403.
Eternal generation of Christ, the, i.
19, 23.
Etymological fancies in Scripture, i.
383.

572

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

Euphrates, ii. 367.
Euripides quoted, ii. 243.
Eve, the formation of, ridiculed by
Celsus, ii. 201.
Evidences of the truth of Christianity,
i. 445, 446.
Evil, or good, every rational created
nature capable of, i. 6S ; God, not
the author of, 395-398 ; what sort
of, God may be said to cause, 398 ;
the final complete destruction of,
555.
Evil beings, made such by themselves
in their respective degrees, i. 69.
Evils, nevermore nor fewer, according
to Celsus — refutation of this opinion,
ii. 228, 229, 230 ; the inquiry into
the origin of, difficult, 231, 232;
the source of, 232 ; seeming, 235,
236 ; allowed for good ends, 398.
Eyes, open and shut, — the inner and
outer, ii. 461.
Faith, the reforming power of the
Christian, i. 406; the call to, ra
tional, 407.
Faith in Jesus, ii. 120.
Fallen spirits, i. 57; the restoration
of, 57, 58.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a sum
mary of the doctrine of the, i.
342, etc.
Figure of the Father's person, Christ
the, i. 25.
Fire, eternal, the threatening of, i.
40-43.
Fire, God a consuming, i. 9; why
God is represented as, ii. 172, 173.
Flesh and spirit, i. 245-248.
Floods and conflagrations, ii. 171.
Food, spiritual, i. 147 ; different ways
of preparing, i. 480, 481.
Foolishness, the kind recommended
by Christianity, i. 410.
Foreknowledge, does not necessitate
the events foreseen, ii. 25, 26, 27,
28 ; the gift of, does not necessarily
imply virtue, 105 ; no proof of
divinity, 262, 263.
Foundation of the world, the, i. 256.
Free-will, i. 4, 132, 133 ; fullyasserted,
157, etc. ; able to resist external
causes, 161 ; proved from Scripture,
165, etc. ; passages of Scripture ap
parently opposed to, explained, 168-
221.
Gehenna, ii. 263, 264.
Generation, eternal, the, of Christ, i.
19, 22, 23.

Glory, human, forbidden, ii. 447.
God, apostolic doctrine respecting, i.
3 ; a Spirit, 8-11 ; light, ibid. ; fire,
9 ; incomprehensible, 11 ; revealed
in His works; 12, 13; simple and
uncompounded in His nature, 12,
15 ; the nature of, surpasses natu
ral bodies, 15, 16 ; invisible, — how
said to be seen, 16, 17 ; the image :
of, 23, 24, 262, 263; omnipotent,
28, 301, ii 149; nature of Hispower,
31; created all things, i. 34; the,
of the law and the prophets the
same as the Father of Jesus Christ,
91, etc. ; not a body, 91 ; anthro-
popathic expressions respecting, in
the Old Testament, explained, 96,
97 ; the justice and goodness of,
97-105; the soul of, 125, 126; nothing
happens without the permission of,
235 ; what was He doing before He
created the world ? 256 ; in the end,
all in all, 264, 265 ; one, believed in
by the Jews, 420, 421 ; His dealing
with the good and the bad, ii. 149,
150 ; His descent upon earth ob
jected to by Celsus, — meaning of
His descent, 162-166, 172 ; by de
scending on earth He does not
vacate heaven, 166 ; why He de
sires to make Himself known to
men, 167, 168 ; in every age has
passed into the souls of men, 168 ;
has revealed Himself to some pre
eminently, 169 ; Celsus accuses
Christians of babbling about, 171 ;
a consuming fire, 172, 173 ; the con
descension of, 172, 173, 174, 175 ;
further objections of Celsus to the
descent of, to earth, answered — ob
ject of the incarnation of, 177, 178 ;
figurative language used to describe,
200, 404 ; the one Creator of body
and soul, man and beast, 220-224 ;
anger, wrath, etc., ascribed to —
how this is to be understood, 237-
239 ; made all things for the sake
of man, 239, 240, 241, 242; ever
near His people, 280 ; the name
given to, is not unimportant, but
the contrary, 315 - 317 ; darkness
round about, 355 ; those who call
Him "accursed," 365, 366, 367 ; in
what sense said to make evil, 395,
397 ; not incapable of persuading
men, 398, 399 ; in what sense said
to repent, 399, 400 ; the resting at
tributed to, 403 ; man made in the
image of, 405, 406 ; can He be
reached by a word 2 408 ; how to

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

573

know, 408, 409, 410, 411 ; the Spirit
of, 413, 414 ; Celsus misrepresents
the views of Christians respecting,
449, 450 ; how seen, 455 ; not con
fined to place, 456 ; not known by
the senses, 457, etc.; hard to find
out, 464, 465 ; adapts His truth to
all classes, 464 ; seen in Christ, 465,
466 ; known by the simplest Chris
tian, through the help of divine
grace, 466, 467 ; the worship of
Christ consistent with the sole
worship of, 500, 501 ; worshipped
equally well in different languages,
' 522.
Gods, Scythian and Greek, ii. 377,
378 ; many, not to be served,
492, etc., 496-500; Christians do
not revile the statues of the,
523.
Goodness, divine, i. 32 ; and justice,
97, etc. ; consistent with the inflic
tion of punishment, 9S, etc.
Gospel, the, not perverted by Chris
tians, ii. 33.
Gospels, the, not all pure history, i.
315, 317, 320 ; their character and
authors, ii. 121.
Greek philosophy and learning to be
made subservient to Christianity,
i. 388.
Gregory Thaumaturgus, letter of
Origen to, i. 38S.
Hardening, the, of Pharaoh's heart,
i. 169, etc., 176-191.
, Healing art, the possession of the,
does not necessarily imply virtue,
ii. 105.
Heaven, i. 88, 89, 90, 152.
Heavenly bodies, the, animated and
endowed with souls, i. 59-65.
Heavenly Dialogue, A, quoted by Cel
sus, ii. 503.
Heavens, the, opened to Jesus at His
baptism, i. 448, 449, 450 ; not called
God, nor worshipped by the Jews,
ii. 275-279.
Hebrew Master, the, of Origen, cited,
i. 35.
Hebrews, the, not Egyptians by de
scent, — how freed from Egyptian
bondage, ii. 88-92.
Hercules, proposed by Celsus to
Christians as an object of homage,
— the character of, ii. 475, 476.
Heresies among Christians no re
proach, ii. 96-98, 331-333, 335.
Hernias, The Shepherd of, quoted, i.
34, 35, 230, 301.

Herod seeks to destroy the child
Jesus, i. 464, 465.
Heroes proposed by Celsus to the
Christians as objects of homage
superior to their own, ii. 475.
Hesiod quoted as to the formation of
Pandora, ii. 201, 202.
Holy Spirit, the, the apostolic doc
trine of, i. 3 ; what, 10 ; the exist
ence of, 33 ; what we are taught in
Scripture respecting, 34; not created,
35 ; one of the two seraphim of
Isaiah, ibid. ; reveals God, 36 ; the
nature of His working as distin
guished from that of the Father
and the Son, 37-40, 41, 43; taken
from the unworthy, 39; dwells in
the renewed, 39, 40 ; bestowed on
the saints, 40; one, 114; every
rational creature receives a share
of, 114, 115; the advent of, after
the ascension of Christ, 115 ; gifts
of, 116; the Paraclete, 116, 117.
Homer quoted respecting the spar
row, serpent, and eagle, ii. 258.
Hope, the, of Christians after death,
ii. 450, 451.
Human nature, the dignity of, ii. 183-
186.
Humility, ii. 352, 353.
Idol festivals, why not take part in ?
ii. 511, 512.
Idolatry, even heathen philosophers
condemn, i. 401.
Idols, abstinence from meats offered
to, ii. 514, 515, 516.
Ignorance receives no sanction from
Christianity, ii. 125-131, 154.
Image of God, the, man made in, i.
262-264, ii. 405, 487.
Image of God's goodness, the, i. 32.
Image of the invisible God, Christ
the, i. 23, 24.
Images, not gods, ii. 121 ; the making
of, forbidden to the Jews, 193 ;
why Christians reject, 4S0-487 ; the
true, of God, 505, 506.
Immortality, the, of rational natures,
i. 353.
Incantations, not used by Christians,
i. 402, 403 ; the power of names in,
ii. 315, 316.
Incarnation, the, of Christ, i. 105 ;
the wonderfulness of, 106, 107 ; the
intermediacy of Christ's soul be
tween the flesh and God in, 108,
109 ; the assumption of the soul in,
a reward of that soul's virtues, 109 ;
difficulty as to Christ's possessing a

574

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

human soul, removed, 110 ; the sub
ject illustrated, 111, 112; implies
no change in God, the object of,
ii. 174, 175, 176-179 ; cavilled at
and ridiculed by Celsus, 415, 416,
421, 422.
Incorporeal, meaningof theterm, i. 5, 6.
Inspiration, the, of the Scriptures, i.
274, 285.
Instinct and reason, ii. 250-253.
Interpretation, of the promises, not
literal, but spiritual, i. 143-148 ; of
the Scriptures, the true method of,
291-323.
Isis and Osiris, ii. 309.
Israel, the carnal and spiritual, i. 327.
Jacob, and Esau, i. 133, 134 ; wrestles
with an angel, 234 ; his prophecy of
Christ, 455.
James, the brother of our Lord, i.
447.
Jesus, His conversation with the
woman of Samaria, i. 11 ; silence
of, before His judges, 393; charge
of sorcery against, power of His
name, 402, 403 ; acted, by a divine
power, 424, 425, 426 ; Celsus intro
duces a Jew disputing with, and re
futing, 426, 427 ; Celsus' defamation
of, turned into an argument to en
hance the glory and divine power
of, 427, 430 ; the attachment of His
disciples to, and His death for men,
430, 431 ; the miraculous birth of,
vindicated against Celsus, 431, 432;
predicted to be born of a virgin,
433 ; no rational objection to the
birth of, from a virgin, 437 ; ab
surdity of imputing the miracles of,
to magic, 438, 439 ; descent of a
dove on, 440, 441, 442, 443; no
grounds for believing in Moses while
He is rejected, 444, 445 ; evidence
of the divinity of the doctrine of,
445, 446 ; the heavens open to, 448,
449, 450 ; prophecies relating to,
451, 452, etc. ; born in Bethlehem,
453 ; the disciples of, Celsus' ac
count of them, 466-470 ; flight of,
into Egypt, justified against Celsus,
472, 473 ; the miracles of, defended,
474; the miracles of, not wrought
by magic, 474-476 ; Celsus' silly
carping about the body of, exposed,
476, 477 ; His promise of the Spirit
of truth, ii. 3 ; observed the Jew
ish law, 7, 8 ; not arrogant, but
meek and lowly, 8 ; inconsistency
of the Jews in rejecting, 9, 10 ;

Celsus' impeachment of the God
head of, answered, 10, 11 ; never
broke His promise, 13 ; never at
tempted disgracefully to hide from
His enemies, 14 ; the betrayal of,
15 ; the argument of Celsus
founded on the betrayal of, an
swered, 17, etc. ; predictions re
specting, — Celsus' mode of dealing
with the predictions respecting,
refuted, 18, 21 ; the disciples of,
lovers of truth, 21 ; really suffered,
died, and was raised from the
dead, — an objection met, 22-24 ;
if He foreknew the traitor and per
jurer, why did they not desist
from their purpose ? 24, 25 ; His
foreknowledge did not compel the
events foreknown, 25-28 ; His
suffering real, and voluntarily and
submissively endured, 29-33 ; pre
dictions concerning the life of, 34,
35 ; the union of kingdoms at the
time of the birth of, 35, 36 ; objec
tion of Celsus drawn from the gene
alogies of, 37 ; ' what great deeds
did He perform, being a God 2'
answered, 37, 38; could He not
have delivered Himself from His
enemies? — punishment of the ene
mies of, 38, 39, 40; blood and
water flow from the side of, — Celsus'
mockery of this, 40 ; vinegar and
gall given to, 41 ; objection of
Celsus that He gained over no one
in His life, — why the Jews are
blamed for not believing in, 42-45 ;
Celsus' assertion that He did not
show Himself pure from evil, 43,
44; numbered with transgressors,
45, 46 ; conduct of the disciples on
His being apprehended, — Celsus'
argument founded on this refuted,
47 ; Celsus' assertion that He only
gained over ten sailors and tax-
gatherers, 47, 48; why Christians
were won over to, 48, 49 ; refuta^
tion of Celsus concerning the
miracles of, 49-57 ; and the heroes
of heathenism compared, 59, 60 ;
the resurrection of, 60 ; ought He
to have appeared after His resurrec
tion to His persecutors ? 65-70; why
did He not escape from the cross ?
71, 72 ; to whom He appeared after
His resurrection, 74 ; purposes of
His mission, 75 ; Celsus' argument
derived from the incredulity of the
Jews, answered, 77-81; censured by
Celsus for using threats, 79, etc. ;

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

575

unbelief of the Jews as to, predicted
and punished, S2, 83 ; the power of,
to diffuse His doctrine and convert
men, 83, 84 ; not to be compared with
iEsculapius, Hercules, etc., 102,
103 ; nor with Aristeas of Procon
nesus — advantages derived from,
106-111; nor with Abaris the
Hyperborean, 112 ; nor with the
Clazomenean, 113 ; nor with Cleo-
medes of Astypalea, 114 ; nor with
Zamobris, 115, 116 ; nor with
Adrian, 117, 118 ; nor with Anti
nous, 119, 120 ; the human nature
of, changed into God, 122, 123 ;
and Cretan Jove, 124, 125 ; Celsus'
objection that He was sent to
sinners, 141, 142, 143 ; suffering of
the Jews for their crime against,
182, 526, 527 ; cavils of Celsus re
specting — not the only one sent
from God to men, 321, 322 ; angels
wait on — reply to Celsus on this
point, 327, 328 ; the soul of, joined
to the Word, 389, 390 ; personal
appearance of — Celsus' reproaches
respecting this, 418-420 ; appear
ances after His resurrection not
shadowy, 456 ; conduct of, under
His sufferings, 476, 477 ; death of,
478 ; the worship of, consistent with
the worship of the one God, 500,
501; the Son of God, 501, 502;
not a demon, 523, 524 ; fruitfulness
of the death of, 527.
Jews, the, mutilated the Scriptures of
the Old Testament, i. 377, 379;
Celsus casts a slight upon, 411, 412;
Numenius and others speak favour
ably of, 412, 413 ; the antiquity of,
413 ; believe in one God, 420, 421 ;
falsely accused by Celsus of angel-
worship and sorcery, 424 ; the in
consistency of, in rejecting Jesus, —
their unbelief foretold, ii. 9, 10, 77,
82, 83 ; punishment of their un
belief, 10; what they are to be
blamed for respecting Jesus, 41 ; the
points of difference between Chris
tians and, not foolish, 85, 86, 88 ;
how they adhere to their religion,
87, 88 ; blunder of Celsus as to the
Egyptian descent of, 88, 89; the
punishment of, for their treatment
of Jesus, 182; Celsus' ridicule of
Christians and, 183 ; vindicated
against Celsus, the law and polity
of, 192, 193 ; the genealogy of,
195, 197, 198 ; do not worship the
heavens, 272, 273 ; do not consider

the heavens to be God, 274 ; do not
bow down to angels, 276, 277, 278 ;
defended against the false charges
of Celsus, 312, 313 ; have nothing
in common with the Persians in the
worship of God, 314 ; the circum
cision practised by, different from
that of other nations, 317, 318 ;
reason of their abstinence from
swine's flesh, 319, 320 ; were highly
favoured by God, 320, 321, 530,
531.
Job, additions to the book of, in the
LXX. , i. 378 ; and in the Hebrew
text, ibid.
John the Baptist referred to by
Josephus, i. 447.
Jonah and Jesus, ii. 478.
Joseph, Celsus' cavils respecting, ii.
213.
Judaism, converts from, do not desert
the law of their fathers, ii. 1, 5, 6.
Judas, the conduct of, in betraying,
and after betraying, Jesus, ii. 15,
16 ; foretold, 27.
Judea and Jerusalem, figures of a
heavenly land, ii. 451.
Jupiter, the Cretan, ii. 124, 125.
Just man, the, promised riches, ii.
444 ; how he slays and prevails,
445.
Justice and goodness, their harmony
and consistency, i. 97-105.
Kxrx/iaXri, i. 256, 258.
Kings, the favour of, according to
Celsus, to be sought, ii. 547, 548 ;
swearing by the fortune of, 549 ;
how Christians fight for and help,
556, 557.
Knowledge, the increase of, in the
future state, i. 148-151.
Kaff&os, i. 86.
Labour, the wisdom of the necessity
of, laid on man, ii. 242.
Laius, and the oracle given to, ii. 26,
27.
Land, the good, promised by God to
the righteous, ii. 450, 451, 452.
Languages, the confusion of, at Babel,
ii. 297, 298, 299.
Law, is it the king of all things ? ii.
310, 311.
Law of Moses, the, the irrationality
and impossibility of some of its pre
cepts taken literally, i. 317-320;
twofold, ii. 443, 444; promises
riches to the just, 444.
Laws, ancestral, is it impiety to aban-

576

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

don them? ii. 293-298 ; when those
of states and natural, are opposed,
which to be followed ? 307, 308.
Light, the, not to be worshipped, ii.
278, 279 ; and darkness, 409, 410.
Light, God is, i. 8, 31.
Lot and his daughters, the story of,
assailed by Celsus, — explanation of,
ii. 211, 212.
Lucifer, his fall from heaven, i. 51-53.
Magi, the visit of the, to Jesus, i.
461, 464.
Magic, the miracles of Jesus not
wrought by, i. 474-476 ; over whom
it has power, ii. 379, 380.
Man, the account of the creation of,
ridiculed by Celsus, ii. 199, 200;
all things made for the sake of, 239,
240-244 ; superiority of, over irra
tional animals, 244-256.
Marcion, ii. 324, 417.
Martyrs, demons afraid of, ii. 528.
Masters, no man can serve two, ii. 493.
Meats and drinks, abstaining from,
ii. 514, 515, 516.
Mediator, the, through whom we
come to God, ii. 271, 272.
Men, not be compared to bats and
worms, as Celsus compares them, — •
the dignity of their nature, ii. 182-
185 ; God's care over the first, 246.
Minerva, ii. 550.
Miracles of Jesus, the, their great
ness, i. 474 ; not wrought by magic,
474-476 ; vindicated against Celsus,
ii. 49-57.
Miraculous appearances, on Greek
testimony, witnessed by men, ii.
326, 327.
Mithrus, the mysteries of, referred to
by Celsus, ii. 260, 262.
Moses, his history assailed by Celsus,
i. 414, 415 ; a challenge on behalf of
the laws of, 415, 416 ; Celsus strives
to discredit his account of creation,
416 ; a divine spirit in, 417 ; excel
lency of the history transmitted by,
41S ; no reason for believing in,
while rejecting Christ, 444, 445 ;
and Jesus, the miracles of, ii. 54-
57, 58, 59; the antiquity of, 171;
his division of animals into clean
and unclean, 260, 261 ; the cos
mogony of, taken exception to by
Celsus, 390-392, 402, 403.
Name of Jesus, the power of, i. 403.
Names, the origin, power, and mys
tery of, i. 421, 422, 423 ; not unim-

portant, ii. 315 ; the power of, in
invocations, 316.
New heavens and new earth, the, i. 56,
58.
Numenius, his treatise on The Good,
i. 412.
Old Testament, the, and the New,
their teaching harmonious, ii. 444,
etc., 447.
Only-begotten Son of God, Christ the,
i. 18; the self-abasement of, 259.
Ophites, the, referred to, ii. 362, 365,
366, 367, 462.
Opposing powers, or powers of dark
ness, the, i. 222, etc.; our conflict
with, 232, etc.
Oracles, ii. 426, 456 ; and responses,
529 ; and the words of the prophets,
530.
Orpheus, proposed by Celsus to Chris
tians as an object of homage, ii.
275, 276.
Osiris and Isis, ii. 309.
Pandora, Hesiod's description of the
formation of, ii. 201, 202.
Pappseus, ii. 315-317.
Parables, why Jesus spoke in, i. 195-
202.
Paraclete, the, i. 114, 116.
Paradise, the, prepared for departed
saints, i. 151.
Passions, the, which affect the soul,
i. 141.
Pastor, The, of Hermas, quoted, i. 34,
35, 230, 301.
Paul, his desire to depart, i. 159, 160;
his wisdom, ii. 100, 101.
Persecution, Jesus and His disciples
justified in avoiding, i. 471.
Persians, and Jews hold nothing in
common in the worship of God, ii.
214 ; mysteries of the, 360 ; have
no temples, 4S3 ; worship the crea
ture, 485, 4S6.
Peter, his superstitious adherence to
Jewish observances, — howdelivered
from it, ii. 1-3.
Pharaoh, the hardening of the heart
of, i. 171-191.
Philosophers, the folly and error of,
ii. 470.
Phoenix, the, ii. 265.
Planets, the, i. 87.
Plato, quoted respecting Eros, ii. 203-
205 ; and Scripture, the respective
styles of, 336-338; the inefficacy
of his teaching compared with that
of the Scriptures, 339-341 ; Jesus

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

577

does not quote and pervert the
words of, as Celsus asserts, 354 ;
excelled by the Scriptures in his
idea of God, 355, 366 ; quoted as to
Elysium, 450 ; quoted as to certain
precious stones, 452 ; his Timceus
quoted, 464 ; on the avenging of
injuries, 479.
Potter, the, his power over the clay,
i. 211, etc.
Power of God, the, i. 26, 2S.
Prayer, to whom it is to be made, ii.
272, 273 ; Christians use no bar
barous names in, 522.
Precious stones, certain, spoken of by
Plato, ii. 452.
Predictions, respecting India, Egypt,
and Babylon, etc., 331, 332; re
specting Jesus Christ. See Pro
phecies.
Pre-existence, the, of rational crea
tures, i. 256-258.
Prejudice, the power of, i. 455.
Principalities and powers of darkness,
the, 1 68-70.
Prino-prisein and Schino-schisein diffi
culty of interpretation, the, i. 375,
381, 383.
Promises, the, of future good, not to
be interpreted literally and carnally,
i. 145-153.
Prophecies, the, the cavils of Celsus
respecting, answered, ii. 431-440,
441, etc.; relating to Christ, 451,
453, etc. ; 456-458, 459.
Prophets, the, the various ways God
spake to, i. 380 ; quoted from each
other, 386 ; necessary for the Jews,
436, 437 ; the character of, ii. 430,
431 ; power of the words of, 530.
Providence, divine, maintained against
Celsus, ii. 240-244, 266 ; incorrect
views of, rectified, 488, 489.
V»XJ, i. 123.
Punishment, future, the Christian
doctrine of, i. 140, etc., ii. 524, 532,
534, 535.
Pythagoreans, the abstinence prac
tised by, ii. 320.
Pythian oracle, the, ii. 426, 429.
Qualities always belong to sub
stances, i. 351.
Queen of Sheba, the, ii. 126.
Rational natures, various, i. 44,
45 ; capable of sin, 45 ; evil, 45,
46 ; whether any were created so
as to be incapable of sin or of vir
tue, 46, 47 ; the glory of some and
ORIG.  VOL. II.

the wickedness of others not origi
nal and essential to their being, but
the result of desert, 48, 69 ; never
sink into the condition of irrational
animals, 70; can they lead an ex
istence out of the body, 82 ; the
immortality of, 353, etc.
Repentance, attributed to God, ii. 399,
400.
Resting, predicated of God, ii. 403.
Restoration, the, of fallen beings, i.
56, 57.
Resurrection, the, of the body, i. 136;
weak believers instructed on the
subject, 139 ; ridiculed by Celsue,
explained and defended, ii. 282, 285,
286-288, 454, 455.
Resurrection, the, of Jesus, ii. 59-62 ;
the belief of, not the product of a
dream, 63 ; why did not Jesus show
Himself to His enemies after, 65-70;
His appearances after, not phantom
like, 457.
Riches, promised to the just man, in
what sense, ii. 444; Jesus gave no
laws contrary to this promise of, 440.
Samaritan woman, Jesus converses
with a, i. 11.
Satan, ii. 385 ; and Antichrist, 3S5,
3S6. See Devil.
Scriptures, the, the teaching of the
Church respecting, i. 5 ; the inspira
tion of, 274, etc., 285, etc. ; the
superhuman element in, does not
present itself to the uninstructed,
287-290 ; how to be regarded and
understood, 291, 294, 299 ; a three
fold sense in, 300 ; the soul of, SOS-
SOS ; the mysteries contained in,
308, etc. ; stumbling-blocks in, 212 ;
the histories of, not all pure history,
but some to be mystically under
stood, 313-322 ; in regard to many
things, the historical and literal
sense of, the true sense, 323 ; pas
sages of, which are true in their
historical sense, more numerous than
those which are to be spiritually
understood, 324 ; the need of care
ful search to distinguish between
what is literal in, and what is
not, 325 ; our duty to grasp the
whole meaning of, 326 ; etymologi
cal fancies in, 383 ; exhortation to
the study of, 390 ; many of the histo
ries of; allegories, ii. 209, 210 ; sim
plicity of the style of, compared
with that of Plato, 326-338 ; the
inefficacy of the teaching of Plato
2 O

578

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

compared with that of, 339-341 ; ex
ceed Plato in the idea they give of
God, 355, 356.
Scythian and Greek names of God, ii.
377, 378.
Secret associations, Christians charged
by Celsus with entering into, — reply,
i. 390.
Sects amongChristians, ii. 331-333, 335.
Seeing God, i. 16, 17, ii. 465, 466.
Sense and the senses, i. 15.
Septuagint, additions to the Scripture
in the — defence of these additions,
i. 371-373.
Seraphim, the, i. 35, 340, 341.
Serapis, ii. 309.
Seriphian and Themistocles, i. 428.
Serpent, the, Celsus ridicules the story
of the temptation by, ii. 203 ; is the
devil, 483.
Shepherd of Hermas, The, i. 34, 35,
230, 301.
Sicarians, the, ii. 19.
Silence, the, of Jesus before His
judges, i. 393.
Simonians, the, ii. 332, 348.
Sin, incentives to, ii. 226.
Sinners, Christianity invites and re
stores to virtue, ii. 139 - 144 ; a
change of life possible for, asserted
against Celsus, 145-149.
Sneezing, according to the poets, pro
phetic, ii. 261.
Socrates pronounced the wisest of
men, ii. 429.
Son, the only -begotten, of God, Christ
the, i. 18 ; self-abasement of, 257 ;
subjection of, to the Father, 260-
262 ; the 'generation of, 342, 343 ;
the advent and incarnation of, 345-
347; the dignity of, ii. 308, 388,
•v. 389, 502 ; the soul of Jesus joined
with, 3S9, 390 ; Celsus misrepre
sents the views of Christians re
specting, 503.
"Sons of God" and "daughters of
men," ii. 325.
Sorcery, Jesus charged with, by Cel
sus, i. 402, 403 ; the Jews charged
with, 424 ; the miracles of Jesus
not wrought by, ii. 49-56 ; the
power of, attributed by Celsus to
certain animals, 252, etc.
Soul, the, apostolic teaching respect
ing, i. 4 ; a lost, 121, 122 ; meaning
of the word, 123, 124; and spirit
of Christ, 125 ; why acted on some
times by evil spirits and. sometimes
by good, 242, etc.; and body alikr
the work of God, ii. 220-226.

Souls, various sorts of, 118, 119 ; ot
angels and of God, 119, 120; has
man two? — three theories discussed,
244-252 ; good and bad, ii. 428.
Spirit,— what? i. 9.
Spirit of truth, the, promised by
Jesus, ii. 3, 4; perpetually be
stowed, 412, 413.
Spirits, wicked, their mode of opera
tion, i. 241; good, their agency, 242.
Spiritual body, the, i. 266, 267.
Splendour of the eternal light, Christ
the, i. 30.
Spoiling the Egyptians, i. 388, 389.
Star, the, of the wise men, i. 462, 464.
Stars, living rational beings capable
of sin, i. 61, 62.
Stony heart, the, how taken away, i.
191, etc.
Stumbling-blocks designedly placed
in the "Scriptures, i. 312.
Subjection, the, of the Son to the
Father, i. 260, etc.
Substance, i. 350.
Suffering of Christ, the, predicted, i
456, 457.
Sun, the, and other planets endowed
with life and souls, i. 59-65.
Superiority and inferiority, not to be
decided by a bodily standard, ii.
184.
Susanna, the story of, inquiry of Af ri-
canus respecting the genuineness of,
i. 369, 370 ; Origen's defence of thu
genuineness of, 371, etc.
Swine's flesh, abstinence from, ii. 319,
320.
Temple, the true, of God, ii. 506,
507.
Temptations, proportioned to the
strength of the tempted, ii. 227-
229 ; human, treated of at large,
244, etc.
" Things in heaven, earth, and under
the earth," ii. 57.
Thomas, the scepticism of, ii. 64, 65.
Thoughts, how suggested, i. 229, 230.
Threefold sense of Scripture, the, i.
300, etc.
Thrones, dominions, etc., i. 56.
Tobias, i. 384.
Trinity, the, the unity and operations
of the persons of, i. 37-41; the sum
of the doctrine of, 342, etc.
Truth is truth, by whomsoever spoken,
ii. 4S0 ; how served up as food by
philosophers and prophets and the
disciples of Christ, 480, 481.
Typical interpretation, i. 306.

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS.

579

Tyre, the prince of, i. 49-51.
Union among Christians, the basis of,
ii. 96, etc.
Unity pi opinion, not characteristic of
Christians from the beginning, ii.
94.
Vanity, the creature made subject
to, i 63-65, 257, 258.
Variety, the, of creatures in the world,
i. 128 ; accordance of this with
righteousness and reason, 131, etc. ;
brought to pass by the free-will of
individuals, 132-136.
Veil on the heart, the, i. 9.
Vessels to honour and to dishonour, i.
213.
Vinegar and gall, the, predicted, ii.
41.
Virgin Mother, the, vilified by Celsus,
vindication of, i. 426, 427, 431, 433 ;
prediction of the birth of Christ of,
434, 435; the birth of Jesus of,
open to no fair objection, 437, 438.
Will, the free, i. 4, 132, 133, 157,
etc. ; able to resist external causes,
161 ; its freedom proved from Scrip
ture, 165.
Wisdom, threefold, i. 237; of the
world, 238 ; of the princes of the
world, 239 ; the sort condemned by
Christianity, 410 ; of Christianity,
100, 101; Christianity designed to
impart, 126, etc. ; human and divine,
350 351 352
Wisdom of God, Christ the, i 19, 20,
26, 28.
"Wood, hay, stubble," ii. 173.
Word, the incarnation of the, ii. 174,
175; different appearances of the,

176 ; final universal victory of the,
555.
Words, not to be specially considered
by searchers after truth, but the
meaning of, i. 339, 341.
Words of Christ, the, i. 1.
World, the, the doctrine of the Church
respecting, i. 5 ; the great variety
in, 72 ; cause of the variety in, 72,
73 ; the unity of, in diversity, 73,
74 ; the oneness of, proved from
Scripture, 75 ; the matter of, and
its transformations and qualities,
75 ; the matter of, not uncreated,
76, 77; the beginning of, — was there
one before, and shall there be one
after ? 79 ; this, the conclusion of
many ages, 85 ; different meanings
of the word in Scripture, 86 ; an
other besides this, 86, 87, etc. ;
comprehensiveness of, and variety
of creatures in, 128-130 ; the ac
cordance of this variety in, with
righteousness and reason, 131, etc.;
the cause of the variety in, 134-136 ;
had its beginning in time, 253 ; shall
come to an end, 255, etc.; another
shall exist after this, 255 ; the end
of, 262, etc.
Worlds, the, not similar, but dis
similar, i 84.
Worship, to be given to God alone, and
not to gods or demons, ii. 489-500 ;
of the Father and the Son, 500, 501 ;
equally acceptable to God in differ
ent languages, 522.
Wrath of God, the, ii. 237-239.
Zeno, the reasons why the followers
of, abstain from adultery, ii. 4S4.
Zipporah, and the circumcision of
Moses' son, ii. 318, 319.

END OF VOL. II.

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