Against Celsus 7.31
Summary: Like Celsus with Plato's myth, Origen defers the full explanation of the holy land to his commentaries, noting that Scripture uses the same names for true, heavenly realities as for their earthly counterparts.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:181–182
Ὥσπερ δὲ αὐτὸς τὴν διήγησιν ἀνατίθεται τοῦ παρὰ Πλάτωνι μύθου, κειμένου (ἐν) τῷ Φαίδωνι. λέγων τάδε· τί δὲ διὰ τούτων ἐμφανίζει, οὐ παντὶ γνῶναι ῥᾴδιον· εἰ μὴ ὅστις ἐπαΐειν δύναιτο, τί ποτʼ ἐστὶν ἐκεῖνο ὅ φησιν· „ὑπʼ ἀσθενείας καὶ βραδυτῆτος οὐχ οἵους τε εἶναι διεξελθεῖν ἐπʼ ἔσχατον τὸν ἀέρα“· „καὶ εἰ ἡ φύσις ἱκανὴ εἴη ἀνασχέσθαι θεωροῦσα, γνῶναι ἂν ὅτι ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθῶς οὐρανὸς καὶ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς“· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰ περὶ τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἀγαθῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ πόλεως τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ κατὰ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν νομίζοντες εἶναι πραγματείαν σαφηνίσαι ὑπερτιθέμεθα εἰς τὰ ἐξηγητικὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀπὸ μέρους κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν διηγησάμενοι περὶ πόλεως θεοῦ ἐν τοῖς πραγματευθεῖσιν ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν τεσσαρακοστὸν καὶ πέμπτον ψαλμὸν καὶ τὸν τεσσαρακοστὸν καὶ ἕβδομον ψαλμόν. οἶδε δὲ ὁ ἀρχαιότατος Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν λόγος τὰ ἀληθινὰ πάντα ὁμώνυμα τοῖς τῇδε καθολικωτέροις, οἷον „ἀληθινὸν φῶς“ καὶ „οὐρανὸν“ ἕτερον παρὰ „τὸ στερέωμα“ καὶ τὸν „τῆς δικαιοσύνης“ ἥλιον ἄλλον παρὰ τὸν αἰσθητόν. καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς δέ φησιν [ὅτι] πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ὧν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀληθινὸν, τό· „θεὸς, ἀληθινὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ, “ ἐπʼ ἄλλων μὲν τάσσων τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ ἡττόνων δὲ τὰ λεγόμενα „ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν“ αὐτοῦ. μεμφόμενος γοῦν τισι διὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου φησί· „τὰ ἔργα κυρίου οὐκ ἐμβλέπουσι καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ οὐ κατανοοῦσι.“ καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον.
English · Claude translation
Just as Celsus himself defers the explanation of Plato's myth in the Phaedo, saying: What he means by this is not easy for everyone to know, unless one can understand what it is that he says: “that because of weakness and slowness we are not able to pass through to the uppermost air,” and “that if our nature were able to bear the sight, we would know that that is the true heaven and the true light”; in the same way we too, thinking it does not belong to the present treatise to clarify what concerns the holy and good land and the city of God in it, defer it to the commentaries on the prophets, having explained in part, as far as we could, what concerns the city of God in our treatises on the forty-fifth and forty-seventh Psalms. The most ancient word of Moses and the prophets knows all true things by the same names as the more general things here, such as “true light,” and a “heaven” other than “the firmament,” and a sun “of righteousness” other than the sensible sun. And in a word it says, to distinguish them from sensible things, none of which is true: “God, his works are true,” applying “the works of God” to some things and what are called “the works of his hands” to lesser things. At any rate, finding fault with some through Isaiah, he says: “They do not regard the works of the Lord, and they do not consider the works of his hands.” So much for this.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Platonic quotations are Phaedo 109d–e. The biblical passages are John 1:9, Gen 1:8, Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX), Deut 32:4, and Isa 5:12. Origen refers to his commentaries on Psalms 45 and 47 by the Greek numbering (Pss 46 and 48 in English Bibles), now lost. The editor deletes ὅτι (“that”) before the quotation “God, his works are true.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong breathing and accent in the digital text): οὐχ οἱους → οὐχ οἵους.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/31/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/31/).
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