Against Celsus 1.32
Summary: The Jewish story that Mary bore Jesus by a soldier named Panthera betrays that Jesus was not Joseph's son; even on Platonic assumptions, so great a soul would have a pure and exceptional birth.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:83–84
Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπανέλθωμεν εἰς τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου προσωποποιΐαν, ἐν ᾗ ἀναγέγραπται ἡ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μήτηρ ὡς ἐξωσθεῖσα ὑπὸ τοῦ μνηστευσαμένου αὐτὴν τέκτονος, ἐλεγχθεῖσα ἐπὶ μοιχείᾳ καὶ τίκτουσα ἀπό τινος στρατιώτου Πανθήρα τοὔνομα· καὶ ἴδωμεν εἰ μὴ τυφλῶς οἱ μυθοποιήσαντες τὴν μοιχείαν τῆς παρθένου καὶ τοῦ Πανθήρα καὶ τὸν τέκτονα ἐξωσάμενον αὐτὴν ταῦτα πάντα ἀνέπλασαν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τῆς παραδόξου ἀπὸ ἁγίου πνεύματος συλλήψεως· ἐδύναντο γὰρ ἄλλως ψευδοποιῆσαι διὰ τὸ σφόδρα παράδοξον τὴν ἱστορίαν καὶ μὴ ὡσπερεὶ ἀκουσίως συγκαταθέσθαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ συνήθων ἀνθρώποις γάμων ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐγεννήθη. καὶ ἀκόλουθόν γε ἦν τοὺς μὴ συγκαταθεμένους τῇ παραδόξῳ γενέσει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πλάσαι τι ψεῦδος· τὸ δὲ μὴ πιθανῶς αὐτοὺς τοῦτο ποιῆσαι ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ τηρῆσαι ὅτι οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ παρθένος συνέλαβε τὸν Ἰησοῦν, τοῖς ἀκούειν καὶ ἐλέγχειν ἀναπλάσματα δυναμένοις ἐναργὲς ἦν ψεῦδος. ἆρα γὰρ εὔλογον τὸν τοσαῦτα ὑπὲρ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων τολμήσαντα, ἵνα τὸ ὅσον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ πάντες Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι κρίσιν θείαν προσδοκήσαντες ἀποστῶσι μὲν τῆς κακίας πάντα δὲ πράττωσιν ἀρεσκόντως τῷ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργῷ, παράδοξον μὲν μὴ ἐσχηκέναι γένεσιν πασῶν δὲ γενέσεων παρανομωτάτην καὶ αἰσχίστην; ἐρῶ δὲ ὡς πρὸς Ἕλληνας καὶ μάλιστα Κέλσον, εἴτε φρονοῦντα εἴτε μὴ, πλὴν παρατιθέμενον τὰ Πλάτωνος· ἆρα ὁ καταπέμπων ψυχὰς εἰς ἀνθρώπων σώματα τὸν τοσαῦτα τολμήσοντα καὶ τοσούτους διδάξοντα καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χύσεως τῆς κατὰ τὴν κακίαν μεταστήσοντα πολλοὺς ἀνθρώπων ἐπὶ τὴν πασῶν αἰσχροτέραν γένεσιν ὤθει, μηδὲ διὰ γάμων γνησίων αὐτὸν εἰσαγαγὼν εἰς τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον; ἢ εὐλογώτερον ἑκάστην ψυχὴν κατά τινας ἀποῤῥήτους λόγους (λέγω δὲ ταῦτα νῦν κατὰ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα, οὓς πολλάκις ὠνόμασεν ὁ Κέλσος, ) εἰσκρινομένην σώματι κατʼ ἀξίαν εἰσκρίνεσθαι καὶ κατὰ τὰ πρότερα ἤθη; εἰκὸς οὖν καὶ ταύτην τὴν ψυχὴν, πολλῶν (ἵνα μὴ συναρπάζειν δοκῶ, λέγων πάντων) ἀνθρώπων ὠφελιμωτέραν τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιδημοῦσαν, δεδεῆσθαι σώματος, οὐ μόνον ὡς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνοις σώμασι διαφέροντος ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ πάντων κρείττονος.
English · Claude translation
But let us return to the speech put in the mouth of the Jew, in which the mother of Jesus is described as having been driven out by the carpenter who was betrothed to her, having been convicted of adultery and giving birth by a certain soldier named Panthera. Let us see whether those who concocted the tale of the adultery of the virgin with Panthera, and of the carpenter driving her out, did not blindly fabricate all this to overthrow the miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit. For they could have falsified the story in another way, because it is so very miraculous, and not, as it were unwillingly, have agreed that Jesus was not born of an ordinary human marriage. It was natural that those who did not assent to the miraculous birth of Jesus should invent some falsehood; but that they did not do this plausibly, but kept the fact that the virgin did not conceive Jesus by Joseph, made the falsehood evident to those able to hear and refute fabrications. Is it reasonable that one who dared so much for the human race—so that, as far as lay in him, all Greeks and barbarians, expecting divine judgment, might turn from wickedness and do everything in a way pleasing to the maker of the universe—should not have had a miraculous birth, but the most lawless and shameful birth of all? I will speak as to Greeks, and especially to Celsus, whether or not he holds these views, since he quotes Plato: would the one who sends souls down into human bodies thrust one who was to dare so much, to teach so many, and to turn many human beings from the flood of wickedness, into the most shameful birth of all, not even bringing him into human life through a lawful marriage? Or is it more reasonable that each soul, according to certain secret reasons (I speak now according to Pythagoras, Plato, and Empedocles, whom Celsus often named), is put into a body according to its merit and its former character? It is likely, then, that this soul too, which came to dwell in human life to be of more benefit than many human beings (not to seem to beg the question by saying "all"), needed a body not only superior among human bodies but also better than all.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Panthera story appears first here; it is Celsus's report of an anti-Christian Jewish tale. Origen argues ad hominem from the Platonic and Pythagorean doctrine that souls enter bodies according to merit, stating that he speaks "according to Pythagoras, Plato, and Empedocles"; it is not offered as Christian teaching.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 1.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/32/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 1.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/1/32/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text