Against Celsus 5.10
Summary: God allotted the heavenly bodies to the nations but chose Israel for himself; his people, promised to shine like stars in the resurrection and possessing the true light of Christ, have no reason to worship sun, moon, or stars.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:9–11
Εἰ δὲ χρὴ ἀπολογήσασθαι ἡμᾶς, ἐπʼ ἴσης μὴ προσκυνοῦντας ἀγγέλους καὶ ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἄστρα, περὶ τοῦ μηδὲ τοὺς λεγομένους ὑφʼ Ἑλλήνων ἐμφανεῖς θεοὺς καὶ αἰσθητοὺς προσκυνεῖν, φήσομεν ὅτι καὶ ὁ Μωϋσέως νόμος ἐπίσταται τούτους ἀπονεμηθέντας μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ „πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ“ οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τοῖς εἰς ἐξαίρετον μερίδα ληφθεῖσι τῷ θεῷ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ἔθνη. γέγραπται γοῦν ἐν Δευτερονομίῳ· „καὶ μή ποτε ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς καὶ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ἃ ἀπένειμε κύριος ὁ θεός σου πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς ὑποκάτω παντὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. ἡμᾶς δʼ ἔλαβε κύριος ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς, ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, εἶναι λαὸν αὐτῷ ἔγκληρον ὡς ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ.“ „γένος“ τοίνυν „ἐκλεκτὸν“ καὶ „βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα“ καὶ „ἔθνος ἅγιον“ καὶ „λαὸς εἰς περιποίησιν“ κληθέντες ὑπὸ θεοῦ εἶναι ὁ Ἑβραίων λαὸς, περὶ οὗ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ προείρητο ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν τοῦ κυρίου φωνῆς· „ἀνάβλεψον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἀρίθμησον τοὺς ἀστέρας, εἰ δυνήσῃ ἐξαριθμῆσαι αὐτούς. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· οὕτως. ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου, “ οὐκ ἔμελλε τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχων οὕτω γενέσθαι ὡς οἱ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἀστέρες προσκυνεῖν ἐκείνους, οἷς ἐκ τοῦ συνιέναι καὶ τηρεῖν τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι ἔμελλον. καὶ γὰρ λέλεκται πρὸς αὐτούς· „κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν ἐπλήθυνεν ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἰδού ἐστε σήμερον ὡσεὶ τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ πλήθει.“ καὶ ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ δὲ προφητεύεται τοιαῦτα περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν· „καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ σωθήσεται ὁ λαός σου πᾶς ὁ γεγραμμένος ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ· καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν καθευδόντων ἐν γῆς χώματι ἐξεγερθήσονται, οὗτοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ οὗτοι εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον· καὶ οἱ συνιέντες ἐκλάμψουσιν ὡς ἡ λαμπρότης τοῦ στερεώματος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν δικαίων τῶν πολλῶν ὡς οἱ ἀστέρες εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας καὶ ἔτι.“ ὅθεν καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λαβὼν ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἀναστάσεώς φησι· „καὶ σώματα ἐπουράνια καὶ σώματα ἐπίγεια· ἀλλʼ ἑτέρα μὲν ἡ τῶν ἐπουρανίων δόξα, ἑτέρα δὲ ἡ τῶν ἐπιγείων. ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα ἀστέρων· ἀστὴρ γὰρ ἀστέρος διαφέρει ἐν δόξῃ. οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν.“ οὐ τοίνυν ἦν εὔλογον τοὺς διδαχθέντας μεγαλοφυῶς ὑπεραναβαίνειν πάντα τὰ δημιουργήματα καὶ ἐλπίζειν τὰ ἄριστα περὶ αὐτῶν παρὰ τῷ θεῷ ἐπὶ τῷ καλλίστῳ βίῳ καὶ ἀκούσαντας τὸ „ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου“ καὶ τὸ „λαμψάτω τὸ φῶς ὑμῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅπως ἴδωσι τὰ καλὰ ὑμῶν ἔργα καὶ δοξάσωσι τὸν πατέρα ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, “ ἀσκοῦντας ἔχειν τὴν λαμπρὰν καὶ ἀμάραντον σοφίαν ἢ καὶ ἀνειληφότας αὐτὴν οὖσαν „ἀπαύγασμα“ „φωτὸς ἀϊδίου, “ καταπλαγῆναι τὸ αἰσθητὸν ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἄστρων φῶς ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ὥστε διὰ τὸ αἰσθητὸν φῶς ἐκείνων νομίσαι ἑαυτοὺς κάτω που εἶναι, ἔχοντας τηλικοῦτον νοητὸν γνώσεως φῶς καὶ „φῶς ἀληθινὸν“ καὶ „φῶς τοῦ κόσμου“ καὶ „φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, “ κἀκείνοις προσκυνῆσαι· οὓς εἰ ἄρα προσκυνεῖσθαι ἐχρῆν. οὐ διὰ τὸ θαυμαζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν αἰσθητὸν φῶς ἐχρῆν προσκυνεῖσθαι ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ νοητὸν καὶ ἀληθινὸν, εἴπερ καὶ οἱ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἀστέρες ζῷά εἰσι λογικὰ καὶ σπουδαῖα καὶ ἐφωτίσθησαν τῷ φωτὶ τῆς γνώσεως ὑπὸ τῆς σοφίας, ἥτις ἐστὶν „ἀπαύγασμα“ „φωτὸς ἀϊδίου.“ καὶ γὰρ τὸ μὲν αἰσθητὸν φῶς αὐτῶν ἔργον ἐστὶ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργοῦ· τὸ δὲ νοητὸν τάχα καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς αὐτεξουσίου ἐληλυθός.
English · Claude translation
And if we must defend ourselves, since we equally do not worship angels, or sun, moon, and stars, for not worshipping even those whom the Greeks call the manifest and perceptible gods, we will say that the law of Moses too knows that these have been allotted by God "to all the nations under heaven," but not to those who have been taken as God's special portion in preference to all the nations on earth. At any rate, it is written in Deuteronomy: "And lest, looking up to heaven and seeing the sun and the moon and the stars, all the ornament of heaven, you be led astray and worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord God took us and brought us out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his inheritance, as on this day." The people of the Hebrews, then, called by God "a chosen race" and "a royal priesthood" and "a holy nation" and "a people for his own possession," of whom it was said beforehand to Abraham by the voice of the Lord to him: "Look up to heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And he said to him: So shall your offspring be," were not, while having the hope of becoming like the stars in heaven, going to worship those whom, by understanding and keeping the law of God, they would come to resemble. For it has been said to them: "The Lord your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are today like the stars of heaven in multitude." And in Daniel too such things are prophesied about the resurrection: "And at that time your people shall be saved, everyone who is written in the book; and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproach and everlasting shame; and those who understand shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and some of the many righteous like the stars, for ever and ever." Hence Paul too, taking this up, says in his discussion of the resurrection: "There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." It was not reasonable, then, that those who had been taught to rise nobly above all created things and to hope for the best things from God for a most beautiful life, and who had heard "You are the light of the world" and "Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven," who train themselves to have the bright and unfading wisdom, or have already received it, which is "the radiance of eternal light," should be so struck with amazement at the perceptible light of the sun, moon, and stars as to think themselves somewhere beneath them because of their perceptible light, when they have so great an intelligible light of knowledge, and "the true light," and "the light of the world," and "the light of human beings," and should worship them. If they ought to be worshipped at all, they ought to be worshipped not for the perceptible light admired by the many, but for the intelligible and true light, if indeed the stars in heaven are rational and good living beings, and have been enlightened with the light of knowledge by Wisdom, which is "the radiance of eternal light." For their perceptible light is the work of the Creator of the universe; but their intelligible light has perhaps come from themselves as well, from the free will in them.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Deut 4:19–20, 1 Pet 2:9 (echoing Exod 19:6), Gen 15:5, Deut 1:10, Dan 12:1–3 (Theodotion), 1 Cor 15:40–42, Matt 5:14, 16, Wis 7:26 (also Heb 1:3), John 1:9, 8:12, and 1:4. Origen's suggestion that the stars are rational beings is his own speculative view.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent in the digital text): α ἀπένειμε → ἃ ἀπένειμε; περὶ ου τῷ → περὶ οὗ τῷ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/10/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/10/).
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