Against Celsus 8.22
Summary: Christians do keep the Lord's day, Preparation days, Easter, and Pentecost, but for the perfect every day is the Lord's day, a preparation, a passing-over to God, and a Pentecost of prayer and the Spirit.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:239–240
Ἐὰν δέ τις πρὸς ταῦτα ἀνθυποφέρῃ τὰ περὶ τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν κυριακῶν ἢ παρασκευῶν ἢ τοῦ Πάσχα ἢ τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς διʼ ἡμερῶν γινόμενα, λεκτέον καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ὅτι ὁ μὲν τέλειος, ἀεὶ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ὢν καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις καὶ τοῖς διανοήμασι τοῦ τῇ φύσει κυρίου λόγου θεοῦ. ἀεί ἐστιν αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις καὶ ἀεὶ ἄγει κυριακὰς ἡμέρας· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ παρασκευάζων ἑαυτὸν πρὸς τὸ ἀληθινῶς ζῆν καὶ ἀπεχόμενος τῶν τοῦ βίου ἡδέων καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀπατώντων καὶ μὴ τρέφων „τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς“ ἀλλʼ ὑπωπιάζων αὑτοῦ „τὸ σῶμα“ καὶ δουλαγωγῶν ἀεὶ ἄγει τὰς παρασκευάς. ἔτι δὲ ὁ νοήσας ὅτι „τὸ πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστὸς, “ καὶ χρὴ ἑορτάζειν ἐσθίοντα τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ λόγου, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε οὐ ποιεῖ τὸ πάσχα, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται διαβατήρια, διαβαίνων ἀεὶ τῷ λογισμῷ καὶ παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ πράξει ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ βίου πραγμάτων ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ σπεύδων. πρὸς τούτοις δὲ ὁ δυνάμενος μετʼ ἀληθείας λέγειν· „συνανέστημεν τῷ Χριστῷ“ ἀλλὰ καὶ τό· „συνήγειρε καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ“ ἀεί ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς ἡμέραις, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε καὶ „εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον“ ὡς οἱ ἀπόστολοι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἀναβὰς σχολάζει τῇ δεήσει καὶ „τῇ προσευχῇ, “ ὡς ἄξιος γενέσθαι τῆς „φερομένης πνοῆς βιαίας“ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, βιαζομένης ἐξαφανίσαι τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις κακίαν καὶ τὰ ἀπʼ αὐτῆς, ἄξιος δὲ καί τινος μερισμοῦ γλώσσης ἀπὸ θεοῦ πυρίνης.
English · Claude translation
If anyone objects to this with what we do on certain days, Lord's days, Preparation days, the Pasch, or Pentecost, we must say to this too that the perfect man, who is always in the words, deeds, and thoughts of the Word of God, who is by nature Lord, is always in his days and always keeps the Lord's day. Moreover, since he is always preparing himself for true life, abstaining from the pleasures of this life that deceive the many, not nourishing “the mind of the flesh” but pommelling “his body” and bringing it into subjection, he always keeps the Preparation days. Again, whoever has understood that “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed,” and that one must keep the feast by eating the flesh of the Word, there is no time when he does not keep the Pasch, which is interpreted “passing-over,” always passing over in thought and in every word and deed from the affairs of this life to God, and hastening to his city. Besides these, whoever can truly say, “We have risen with Christ,” and also, “He raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ,” is always in the days of Pentecost; and especially when, going up “into the upper room” like the apostles of Jesus, he gives himself to supplication and “prayer,” so as to become worthy of the “rushing mighty wind” from heaven, which forcefully destroys the wickedness in men and all that comes from it, and worthy also of some share of a tongue of fire from God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Rom 8:6–7, 1 Cor 9:27, 1 Cor 5:7, John 6:53–56 (eating the flesh), Col 2:12 and 3:1, Eph 2:6, Acts 1:13–14, and Acts 2:2–3. “Preparation days” (παρασκευαί) are Fridays, fast days in the early church. Origen, like Philo, derives Pascha from a Hebrew word for “passing over” (διαβατήρια).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/22/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/22/).
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