Against Celsus 8.12
Summary: Celsus charges Christians with worshipping a recent man; Origen answers that Father and Son are one, two in subsistence but one in concord and will, and the Son who is the Truth existed before Abraham.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:229–230
Δόξαι δʼ ἄν τις ἑξῆς τούτοις πιθανόν τι καθʼ ἡμῶν λέγειν ἐν τῷ· εἰ μὲν δὴ μηδένα ἄλλον ἐθεράπευον οὗτοι πλὴν ἕνα θεὸν, ἦν ἄν τις αὐτοῖς ἴσως πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀτενὴς λόγος· νυνὶ δὲ τὸν ἔναγχος φανέντα τοῦτον ὑπερθρησκεύουσι καὶ ὅμως οὐδὲν πλημμελεῖν νομίζουσι περὶ τὸν θεὸν, εἰ καὶ ὑπηρέτης αὐτοῦ θεραπευθήσεται. λεκτέον δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ὅτι, εἴπερ νενοήκει ὁ Κέλσος τὸ „ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν“ καὶ τὸ ἐν εὐχῇ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ „ὡς ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, “ οὐκ ἂν ᾤετο ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄλλον θεραπεύειν παρὰ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεόν. „ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ, “ φησὶν, „ἐν ἐμοὶ, κἀγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί.“ εἰ δέ τις ἐκ τούτων περισπασθήσεται, μή πῃ αὐτομολῶμεν πρὸς τοὺς ἀναιροῦντας δύο εἶναι ὑποστάσεις, πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν, ἐπιστησάτω τῷ „ἦν δὲ πάντων τῶν πιστευσάντων ἡ καρδία καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ μία, “ ἵνα θεωρήσῃ τὸ „ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν.“ ἕνα οὖν θεὸν. ὡς ἀποδεδώκαμεν, τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν θεραπεύομεν. καὶ μένει ἡμῖν ὁ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀτενὴς λόγος, καὶ οὐ τὸν ἔναγχός γε φανέντα ὡς πρότερον οὐκ ὄντα ὑπερθρησκεύομεν. αὐτῷ γὰρ πειθόμεθα τῷ εἰπόντι· „πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι“ καὶ λέγοντι· „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀλήθεια“· καὶ οὐχ οὕτως τις ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἀνδράποδον, ὡς οἴεσθαι ὅτι ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας οὐσία πρὸ τῶν χρόνων τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείας οὐκ ἦν. θρησκεύομεν οὖν τὸν πατέρα τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὄντα δύο τῇ ὑποστάσει πράγματα, ἓν δὲ τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ καὶ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ καὶ τῇ ταυτότητι τοῦ βουλήματος· ὡς τὸν ἑωρακότα τὸν υἱὸν ὄντα „ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης“ καὶ χαρακτῆρα „τῆς ὑποστάσεως“ τοῦ θεοῦ ἑωρακέναι ἐν αὐτῷ ὄντι εἰκόνι τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν θεόν.
English · Claude translation
Next after this he might seem to say something plausible against us in the words: “If these people served no one else but one God, they might perhaps have a firm argument against the others; but in fact they give excessive worship to this man who appeared recently, and yet they think they commit no offence against God if his servant too is served.” To this too we must say that if Celsus had understood “I and the Father are one,” and what was said in prayer by the Son of God in “as I and you are one,” he would not have thought that we serve anyone else besides the God over all. “For the Father,” he says, “is in me, and I in the Father.” And if anyone is troubled by these words, lest we somehow go over to those who deny that there are two subsistences, Father and Son, let him attend to “And the heart and soul of all who believed was one,” so that he may understand “I and the Father are one.” We worship, then, one God, as we have explained, the Father and the Son; and our firm argument against the others remains, and we do not give excessive worship to one who appeared recently as though he did not exist before. For we believe him who said, “Before Abraham came to be, I am,” and who says, “I am the truth”; and none of us is such a slave as to think that the substance of truth did not exist before the time of Christ's appearing. We worship, then, the Father of the truth and the Son who is the truth, being two things in subsistence, but one in concord, in agreement, and in identity of will; so that whoever has seen the Son, who is “the radiance of the glory” and the exact representation “of the subsistence” of God, has seen God in him who is the image of God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are John 10:30, John 17:22, John 10:38 (14:10–11), Acts 4:32, John 8:58, John 14:6, and Heb 1:3. “Subsistence” renders ὑπόστασις; Origen here rejects those who deny the distinct subsistence of Father and Son (Monarchians). His description of their unity as one of concord and will reflects pre-Nicene terminology.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/12/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/12/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text