Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 6.33

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

Summary: Origen describes more of the Ophite diagram, including a picture of the flaming sword guarding paradise, and says he has given their formulas to show how alien they are to Christianity.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:102–103

Εἶθʼ ἑξῆς ἄλλους μύθους ὁ Κέλσος ἐκτίθεται, ὥς τινων εἰς τὰς ἀρχοντικὰς μορφὰς ἐπανερχομένων, ὥστε τινὰς μὲν γίνεσθαι λέοντας ἄλλους δὲ ταύρους καὶ ἄλλους δράκοντας ἢ ἀετοὺς ἢ ἄρκους ἢ κύνας. εὕρομεν δὲ ἐν ᾧ εἴχομεν διαγράμματι καὶ ὃ ὠνόμασε Κέλσος τετράγωνον σχῆμα καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῶν τοῦ παραδείσου πυλῶν λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀθλίων ἐκείνων. ἐζωγραφεῖτο δὲ ὡς διάμετρος κύκλου τινὸς πυροειδοῦς ἡ φλογίνη ῥομφαία ὡς δορυφορουμένη τῷ τε τῆς γνώσεως ξύλῳ καὶ τῆς ζωῆς. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κέλσος οὐκ ἠθέλησε τὰς δημηγορίας ἢ οὐκ ἐδυνήθη ἐκθέσθαι, ἃς καθʼ ἑκάστην πύλην κατὰ τοὺς τῶν ἀσεβῶν μύθους ἐροῦσιν οἱ διϊόντες αὐτάς· ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πεποιήκαμεν, ἵνα τὸ τῆς ἀτελέστου τελετῆς πέρας δείξωμεν τῷ Κέλσῳ καὶ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τῇ γραφῇ ἐγνωκέναι ὡς ἀλλότριον τῆς Χριστιανῶν περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας.

English · Claude translation

Then next Celsus sets out other myths, about some people returning to the archontic forms, so that some become lions, others bulls, others serpents or eagles or bears or dogs. We also found in the diagram we had what Celsus called the square figure, and what those wretched people say about the gates of paradise. The flaming sword was painted as the diameter of a fiery circle, as though it were guarding the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. Celsus either did not wish or was not able to set out the speeches which, according to the myths of the impious, those who pass through each gate will make; but we have done this too, in order to show Celsus and the readers of his book that we know the end of this rite which is no rite, and know it as foreign to the piety of Christians toward God.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:102–103 · 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
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is to Gen 3:24. “This rite which is no rite” renders a play on ἀτελέστου τελετῆς (an “uninitiating initiation”).

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 6.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/33/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/33/).

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