Against Celsus 2.64
Summary: Origen teaches that Jesus appeared differently to different people according to their capacity, as at the Transfiguration, and that after his victory over the powers not everyone could bear to see him.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:185–187
Ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἷς ὢν πλείονα τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ ἦν. καὶ τοῖς βλέπουσιν οὐχ ὁμοίως πᾶσιν ὁρώμενος. καὶ ὅτι μὲν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ πλείονα ἦν, σαφὲς ἐκ τοῦ „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωὴ“ καὶ τοῦ „ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος“ καὶ τοῦ „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα“ καὶ ἄλλων μυρίων. ὅτι δὲ καὶ βλεπόμενος οὐχ ὡσαύτως τοῖς βλέπουσιν ἐφαίνετο. ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐχώρουν οἱ βλέποντες, σαφὲς ἔσται τοῖς ἐφιστᾶσι, διὰ τί μέλλων μεταμορφοῦσθαι ἐν τῷ ὑψηλῷ ὄρει οὐδὲ τοὺς ἀποστόλους πάντας παρείληφεν ἀλλὰ μόνους τὸν Πέτρον καὶ τὸν Ἰάκωβον καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην. ὡς μόνους χωροῦντας τὴν τότε δόξαν αὐτοῦ θεωρῆσαι. δυναμένους δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθέντας ἐν δόξῃ Μωϋσέα καὶ Ἠλίαν κατανοῆσαι καὶ ἀκοῦσαι συλλαλούντων αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τῆς νεφέλης οὐρανόθεν φωνῆς. ἐγὼ δʼ οἶμαι ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἀναβῆναι εἰς τὸ ὄρος. ἔνθα προσῆλθον αὐτῷ μόνοι οἱ μαθηταὶ καὶ ἐδίδασκεν αὐτοὺς τὰ περὶ τῶν μακαρισμῶν. ἡνίκα κάτω που ὢν τοῦ ὄρους „ὀψίας“ „γενομένης“ ἐθεράπευε τοὺς προσαχθέντας αὐτῷ. ἀπαλλάσσων πάσης νόσου καὶ πάσης μαλακίας. οὐχ ὁ αὐτὸς ἐφαίνετο τοῖς κάμνουσι καὶ δεομένοις αὐτοῦ θεραπεύοντος καὶ τοῖς διὰ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν συναναβῆναι αὐτῷ εἰς τὸ ὄρος δυνηθεῖσιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ κατʼ ἰδίαν τοῖς ἰδίοις μαθηταῖς ἐπέλυεν τὰς παραβολὰς. μετʼ ἐπικρύψεως τοῖς ἔξω ὄχλοις εἰρημένας. ὥσπερ ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἦσαν κρείττους οἱ ἀκούοντες τῆς λύσεως τῶν παραβολῶν παρὰ τοὺς ἀκούοντας τῶν χωρὶς λύσεων παραβολῶν. οὕτως καὶ ταῖς ὄψεσι πάντως μὲν τῆς ψυχῆς. ἐγὼ δʼ ἡγοῦμαι ὅτι καὶ τοῦ σώματος. δηλοῖ δὲ μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀεὶ φαίνεσθαι τὸ Ἰούδαν μέλλοντα αὐτὸν προδιδόναι εἰρηκέναι ὡς μὴ εἰδόσιν αὐτὸν τοῖς συναπερχομένοις αὐτῷ ὄχλοις· „ὃν ἐὰν φιλήσω. αὐτός ἐστι.“ τοιοῦτο δʼ οἶμαι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν σωτῆρα ἐμφαίνειν διὰ τοῦ· „καθʼ ἡμέραν μεθʼ ὑμῶν ἤμην ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων. καὶ οὐκ ἐκρατήσατέ με.“ ὡς περὶ τηλικούτου οὖν φερόμενοι ἡμεῖς τοῦ Ἰησοῦ οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὴν ἔνδον καὶ ἀποκεκρυμμένην τοῖς πολλοῖς θειότητα ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ μεταμορφούμενον σῶμα. ὅτʼ ἐβούλετο καὶ οἷς ἐβούλετο. φαμὲν ὅτι τὸν μὲν μὴ ἀπεκδυσάμενον „τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας“ Ἰησοῦν καὶ μηδέπω ἀποθανόντα „τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ“ πάντες βλέπειν ἐχώρουν. τὸν δʼ ἀπεκδυσάμενον „τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας“ καὶ μηκέτʼ ἔχοντά τι χωρητὸν ὁραθῆναι τοῖς πολλοῖς οὐχ οἷοί τε ἦσαν αὐτὸν βλέπειν οἱ πρότερον αὐτὸν ἰδόντες πάντες· ὅθεν φειδόμενος αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐφαίνετο πᾶσιν ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν.
English · Claude translation
Jesus, though one, was many in aspect, and was not seen alike by all who saw him. That he was many in aspect is clear from “I am the way and the truth and the life,” “I am the bread,” “I am the door,” and countless others. That even when seen he did not appear in the same way to those who saw him, but according to their capacity, will be clear to those who consider why, when he was about to be transfigured on the high mountain, he did not take even all the apostles, but only Peter, James, and John, as alone able to behold his glory at that time, and able also to perceive Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory, and to hear them talking together and the voice from heaven out of the cloud. And I think that even before he went up the mountain, where only the disciples came to him and he taught them the Beatitudes, when he was somewhere below the mountain and, “evening having come,” healed those brought to him, delivering them from every disease and every sickness, he did not appear the same to the sick who needed his healing as to those who, being healthy, were able to go up the mountain with him. Moreover, if he privately explained to his own disciples the parables spoken with concealment to the crowds outside, then just as those who heard the explanation of the parables were superior in hearing to those who heard the parables without explanation, so too were they in seeing: certainly with the eyes of the soul, and I think also of the body. That he did not always appear the same is shown by Judas, when about to betray him, saying to the crowds who went with him, as to people who did not know him: “The one I kiss, he is the man.” I think the Savior himself also suggests something like this in the words: “Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.” Since we hold such a view of Jesus, not only regarding the divinity within him, hidden from the many, but also regarding his body, which was transformed when he wished and for whom he wished, we say that all were able to see Jesus while he had not yet stripped off “the principalities and the powers” and had not yet died “to sin”; but when he had stripped off “the principalities and the powers” and no longer had anything that could be seen by the many, not all those who had seen him before were able to see him. Therefore, sparing them, he did not appear to all when he had risen from the dead.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- ἐπίνοια (here “aspect”) refers to the many titles or aspects under which Christ is conceived. The quotations are John 14:6, John 6:35, John 10:9, Matt 8:16, Matt 26:48, Matt 26:55, Col 2:15, and Rom 6:10; the Transfiguration is Matt 17:1–5; the teaching on the mountain is Matt 5:1–12; private explanation of parables is Mark 4:34. The view that Jesus' body appeared differently to different people is Origen's own speculation.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): ἔν δόξῃ → ἐν δόξῃ; οὐχ οἶοί τε → οὐχ οἷοί τε.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 2.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/64/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 2.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/64/).
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