Against Celsus 5.2
Summary: Celsus's claim that no god or son of God ever comes down would also rule out Apollo and Asclepius, whom pagans believe visit earth, or reduce them to demons.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:2–3
Πρόκειται οὖν νῦν τὴν οὕτως ἔχουσαν αὐτοῦ ἀνατρέψαι λέξιν· θεὸς μὲν. ὦ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ Χριστιανοὶ, καὶ θεοῦ παῖς οὐδεὶς οὔτε κατῆλθεν οὔτε κατέλθοι. εἰ δέ τινας ἀγγέλους φατὲ, τίνας τούτους λέγετε, θεοὺς ἢ ἄλλο τι γένος; ἄλλο τι ὡς εἰκὸς, τοὺς δαίμονας. πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ παλιλλογοῦντι τῷ Κέλσῳ (ἀνωτέρω γὰρ ἤδη πολλάκις ταῦτʼ αὐτῷ λέλεκται) οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἐπὶ πλεῖον διαλεχθῆναι· ἀρκέσει γὰρ τὰ εἰς τοῦθʼ ἡμῖν λελεγμένα. ὀλίγα δʼ ἀπὸ πλειόνων, ἃ δοκοῦμεν εἶναι συνᾴδοντα μὲν τοῖς προειρημένοις οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ πάντῃ ἐκείνοις ἔχοντα νοῦν, ἐκθησόμεθα· ἐν οἷς παραστήσομεν ὅτι καθολικῶς ἀποφηνάμενος θεὸν οὐδένα πρὸς ἀνθρώπους κατεληλυθέναι ἢ θεοῦ παῖδα ἀναιρεῖ καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν περὶ θεοῦ ἐπιφανείας δοξαζόμενα καὶ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω προειρημένα. εἰ γὰρ καθόλου λελεγμένον τὸ θεὸς καὶ θεοῦ παῖς οὐδεὶς κατῆλθεν οὐδὲ κατέλθοι ἀληθῶς τῷ Κέλσῳ εἴρηται, δηλονότι ἀνῄρηται τὸ εἶναι θεοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς, κατελθόντας ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. ἵνα ἤτοι μαντεύσωνται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἢ διὰ χρησμῶν θεραπεύσωσι, καὶ οὔτε ὁ Πύθιος οὔτʼ Ἀσκληπιὸς οὔτʼ ἄλλος τις τῶν νενομισμένων τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν θεὸς ἂν εἴη καταβὰς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἢ θεὸς μὲν εἴη ἂν ἀεὶ δὲ λαχὼν οἰκεῖν τὴν γῆν καὶ ὡσπερεὶ φυγὰς τοῦ τόπου τῶν θεῶν, ἤ τις τῶν μὴ ἐξουσίαν ἐχόντων κοινωνεῖν τοῖς ἐκεῖ θείοις εἴη ἂν. ἢ οὐ θεοὶ εἶεν ὁ Ἀπόλλων καὶ ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς καὶ ὅσοι ἐπὶ γῆς τι ποιεῖν πεπιστευμένοι εἰσὶν ἀλλά τινες δαίμονες, τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις σοφῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἁψῖδα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀναβαινόντων πολλῷ χείρους.
English · Claude translation
Our task now, then, is to overturn his passage, which runs thus: "O Jews and Christians, no god and no child of God has come down or would come down. And if you speak of certain angels, whom do you call these, gods or some other race? Some other race, probably: the demons." Since Celsus repeats himself here (for he has already said this many times above), there is no need to discuss it further; what we have said on this will suffice. We will set out a few things out of many, which we think agree with what was said before but do not have wholly the same sense; in them we will show that, by declaring universally that no god or child of God has come down to human beings, he also does away with what most people believe about God's appearances, and what he himself said earlier. For if the universal statement "no god and no child of God has come down or would come down" has been truly said by Celsus, then clearly the existence of gods on earth, who came down from heaven either to give oracles to human beings or to heal them through oracles, has been done away with; and neither the Pythian nor Asclepius nor any other of those believed to do such things would be a god who came down from heaven; or else he would be a god who has always been allotted to dwell on earth, like an exile from the place of the gods, or one of those who have no right to share with the divine beings there. Or else Apollo and Asclepius and all those believed to do something on earth would not be gods, but certain demons, much worse than the wise among human beings who by virtue ascend even to the vault of heaven.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- "The Pythian" is Apollo of Delphi. "The vault of heaven" echoes Plato, Phaedrus 247b.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/2/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/2/).
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