Against Celsus 3.29
Summary: Origen explains that demons opposed the spread of the gospel because it ended their sacrifices, but God made churches arise everywhere, which even at their worst are better than the civic assemblies around them.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:226–227
Ὁ μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸν Κέλσον Ἀπόλλων βούλεται τοὺς Μεταποντίνους ἐν θεῶν μοίρᾳ νέμειν τὸν Ἀριστέαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ Μεταποντῖνοι τὴν περὶ τοῦ Ἀριστέου ἀνθρώπου καὶ τάχα οὐ σπουδαίου ἐνάργειαν κρείττονα ἐνόμιζον εἶναι τοῦ περὶ αὐτοῦ χρησμοῦ ὡς θεοῦ ἢ θείων τιμῶν ἀξίου, διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐβούλοντο πείθεσθαι τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι, καὶ οὕτως τὸν Ἀριστέαν οὐδεὶς νομίζει θεόν. περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἴποιμεν ἂν, ἐπεὶ συμφέρον ἦν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει παραδέξασθαι αὐτὸν ὡς υἱὸν θεοῦ, θεὸν ἐληλυθότα ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι, καὶ οὐκ ἐδόκει τοῦτο τῇ λιχνείᾳ τῶν φιλοσωμάτων δαιμόνων καὶ τῶν νομιζόντων αὐτοὺς θεοὺς εἶναι λυσιτελὲς, διὰ τοῦθʼ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς δαίμονες. παρὰ τοῖς μὴ παιδευθεῖσι περὶ δαιμόνων νομιζόμενοι εἶναι θεοὶ. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ θεραπεύοντες αὐτοὺς ἐβουλήθησαν κωλῦσαι τὴν νομὴν τῆς Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίας· ἑώρων γὰρ τὰς λοιβὰς καὶ τὰς κνίσσας, ἐφʼ αἷς λίχνως ἥδοντο, καθαιρουμένας ἐκ τοῦ κρατεῖν τὰ Ἰησοῦ μαθήματα. ὁ δὲ πέμψας τὸν Ἰησοῦν θεὸς ἐκλύσας πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιβουλὴν ἐποίησε πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ διορθώσεως κρατῆσαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον Ἰησοῦ καὶ γενέσθαι πανταχοῦ ἐκκλησίας ἀντιπολιτευομένας ἐκκλησίαις δεισιδαιμόνων καὶ ἀκολάστων καὶ ἀδίκων· τοιαῦτα γὰρ τὰ πανταχοῦ πολιτευόμενα ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῶν πόλεων πλήθη. αἱ δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ Χριστῷ μαθητευθεῖσαι ἐκκλησίαι, συνεξεταζόμεναι ταῖς ὧν παροικοῦσι δήμων ἐκκλησίαις, „ὡς φωστῆρές“ εἰσιν „ἐν κόσμῳ.“ τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαι καὶ τοὺς χείρους τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ συγκρίσει βελτιόνων ἐλάττους πολλῷ κρείττους τυγχάνειν τῶν ἐν τοῖς δήμοις ἐκκλησιῶν;
English · Claude translation
Celsus's Apollo, then, wishes the Metapontines to count Aristeas among the gods. But since the Metapontines thought the evidence about Aristeas, a man and perhaps not a good one, stronger than the oracle about him as a god or worthy of divine honors, they would not obey Apollo, and so no one considers Aristeas a god. About Jesus we would say: since it was beneficial to the human race to accept him as the Son of God, God come in a human soul and body, and this did not seem advantageous to the gluttony of the body-loving daemons and of those who consider them gods, therefore the daemons on earth, thought to be gods by those not instructed about daemons, and also those who serve them, wished to prevent the spread of Jesus' teaching; for they saw the libations and the savor of sacrifice, in which they greedily delighted, being done away with as Jesus' teachings prevailed. But the God who sent Jesus, undoing every plot of the daemons, made the gospel of Jesus prevail everywhere in the world for the conversion and correction of mankind, and made churches arise everywhere, living as rival communities to the assemblies of the superstitious, licentious, and unjust; for such are the multitudes that everywhere take part in the assemblies of the cities. But the churches of God, made disciples by Christ, when compared with the assemblies of the peoples among whom they live as sojourners, are “as lights in the world.” For who would not acknowledge that even the worse members of the church, who are much inferior compared with the better, are far superior to the assemblies of the peoples?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Phil 2:15. Origen plays on ἐκκλησία, meaning both “church” and a city's “assembly”; the translation uses “church” and “assembly” accordingly.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/29/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.29 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/29/).
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