Against Celsus 2.33
Summary: Origen points to the signs at Jesus' death recorded in the Gospels and by the historian Phlegon, and to healings still done in Jesus' name, as his noble deeds.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:159–160
Τί δὲ, φησὶ, καὶ γενναῖον ἔδρασεν οἷον θεὸς, καταφρονῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ διαγελῶν καὶ παίζων τὸ συμβαῖνον ὁ Ἰησοῦς; πυνθανομένῳ δὴ αὐτῷ πόθεν ἂν ἀποκρινοίμεθα. κἂν ἔχωμεν παριστάνειν τὸ γενναῖον καὶ τὸ παράδοξον ἐπὶ τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ. ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων. ὅτι „ἡ γῆ ἐσείσθη καὶ αἱ πέτραι ἐσχίσθησαν καὶ τὰ μνημεῖα ἠνεῴχθη“ „καὶ τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ ἐσχίσθη ἀπὸ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω“ „καὶ σκοτία ἐγένετο“ ἐν καιρῷ ἡμέρας „τοῦ ἡλίου ἐκλιπόντος“; ἀλλʼ ἐὰν πιστεύῃ μὲν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κέλσος, ὅπου κατηγορεῖν καὶ Χριστιανῶν οἴεται. ἀπιστῇ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν συνιστάντων τὴν ἐν Ἰησοῦ θεότητα, φήσομεν αὐτῷ· ὦ οὗτος, ἢ πᾶσιν ἀπίστει καὶ μηδʼ ἐγκαλεῖν νόμιζε. ἢ πιστεύων πᾶσι θαύμαζε θεοῦ λόγον ἐνανθρωπήσαντα καὶ ὅλον τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ὠφελῆσαι βουληθέντα. γενναῖον δʼ ἔργον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὸ μέχρι σήμερον θεραπεύεσθαι τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ οὓς ὁ θεὸς βούλεται. περὶ δὲ τῆς ἐπὶ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἐκλείψεως, οὗ βασιλεύοντος καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἔοικεν ἐσταυρῶσθαι. καὶ περὶ τῶν μεγάλων τότε γενομένων σεισμῶν τῆς γῆς ἀνέγραψε καὶ Φλέγων ἐν τῷ τρισκαιδεκάτῳ ἢ τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῳ οἶμαι τῶν Χρονικῶν.
English · Claude translation
“What noble deed did Jesus do,” he says, “like a god, despising men and laughing and making sport of what befell him?” To his question, where should we answer from, even if we are able to show the noble and marvelous in what befell him, but from the Gospels? That “the earth shook and the rocks were split and the tombs were opened,” “and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom,” “and darkness came” in the daytime “as the sun failed.” But if Celsus believes the Gospels where he thinks he can accuse Christians, and disbelieves them where they establish the divinity in Jesus, we shall say to him: “Sir, either disbelieve them all and do not think to accuse us, or, believing them all, marvel at the Word of God who became man and wished to benefit the whole human race.” A noble deed of Jesus is that to this day those whom God wills are healed in his name. As for the eclipse in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus seems to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes that took place then, Phlegon too recorded them, in the thirteenth or fourteenth book, I think, of his Chronicles.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 27:51–52, Matt 27:51 (Mark 15:38), and Luke 23:44–45. Phlegon of Tralles wrote Olympiads (Chronicles) in the second century; the work survives only in fragments, and Origen himself is unsure of the book number.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/33/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/33/).
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