Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 5.56

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: The Gospels' one angel and two angels at Jesus' tomb do not contradict each other, since they describe different moments; their deeper meaning belongs to commentary on the Gospels.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:59–60

Εἶτα ἑξῆς τὰ ἄμικτα καὶ ἀνόμοια μιγνὺς καὶ ἐξομοιῶν ἀλλήλοις ἐπιφέρει τῷ περὶ τῶν, ὥς φησι, καταβεβηκότων ἑξήκοντα ἢ ἑβδομήκοντα ἀγγέλων λόγῳ. πηγὰς θερμῶν κατὰ αὐτὸν δακρυσάντων, ὅτι καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τὸν τάφον ἱστόρηνται ἐληλυθέναι ὑπό τινων μὲν ἄγγελοι δύο ὑπό τινων δὲ εἷς· οὐκ οἶμαι τηρήσας Ματθαῖον μὲν καὶ Μάρκον ἕνα ἱστορηκέναι, Λουκᾶν δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννην δύο. ἅπερ οὐκ ἦν ἐναντία. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀναγράφαντες ἕνα τὸν ἀποκυλίσαντα „τὸν λίθον“ ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου τοῦτόν φασιν εἶναι, οἱ δὲ τοὺς δύο τοὺς ἐπιστάντας „ἐν ἐσθῆτι ἀστραπτούσῃ“ ταῖς γενομέναις ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον γυναιξὶν ἢ τοὺς θεωρηθέντας ἔνδον „ἐν λευκοῖς καθεζομένους.“ ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων νῦν παραδεικνύναι δυνατὸν καὶ γεγενημένον καὶ δηλωτικόν τινος εἶναι τροπολογίας, τῆς περὶ τῶν προφαινομένων τοῖς τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ λόγου θεωρεῖν παρεσκευασμένοις, οὐ τῆς παρούσης ἐστὶ πραγματείας ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τῶν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐξηγητικῶν.

English · Claude translation

Then, next, mixing and likening things that cannot be mixed and are unlike, he adds to his account of the sixty or seventy angels who, as he says, came down and wept hot springs, as he would have it, that some report two angels and some one as having come to the tomb of Jesus himself. He did not observe, I think, that Matthew and Mark reported one, and Luke and John two; which are not contradictory. For those who recorded one say that this is the one who rolled away "the stone" from the tomb; the others speak of the two who stood by the women who came to the tomb "in dazzling clothing," or who were seen inside "sitting in white." To show now that each of these both happened and indicates some figurative meaning, concerning what appears to those prepared to contemplate the resurrection of the Word, belongs not to the present treatise but rather to commentaries on the Gospel.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:59–60 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The references are Matt 28:2, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4, and John 20:12.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 5.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/56/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 5.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/5/56/).

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