Against Celsus 8.34
Summary: Christians offer first-fruits and prayers to the Creator through Jesus the high priest, and have the friendship of countless angels who help those who pray; demons have power only over the wicked, not over those armed with God's armour.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:249–250
Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπαρχὰς Κέλσος μὲν δαιμονίοις ἀνατιθέναι βούλεται. ἡμεῖς δὲ τῷ εἰπόντι· „βλαστησάτω ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου. σπεῖρον σπέρμα κατὰ γένος καὶ καθʼ ὁμοιότητα, καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον ποιοῦν καρπὸν, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.“ ᾧ δὲ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ἀποδίδομεν. τούτῳ καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς ἀναπέμπομεν, „ἔχοντες ἀρχιερέα μέγαν, διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, Ἰησοῦν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, “ καὶ κρατοῦμεν „τῆς ὁμολογίας, “ ἕως ἂν ζῶμεν. φιλανθρώπου τυγχάνοντες τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ, ἐν Ἰησοῦ ἡμῖν φανερουμένου. εἰ δὲ καὶ πλῆθος ποθοῦμεν ὧν φιλανθρώπων τυγχάνειν θέλομεν, μανθάνομεν „ὅτι χίλιαι χιλιάδες παρειστήκεισαν αὐτῷ. καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, “ αἵτινες ὡς συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλους τοὺς μιμουμένους τὴν εἰς θεὸν αὐτῶν εὐσέβειαν ὁρῶντες συμπράττουσιν αὐτῶν τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐπικαλουμένων τὸν θεὸν καὶ γνησίως εὐχομένων, ἐπιφαινόμενοι καὶ οἰόμενοι αὐτοῖς δεῖν ἐπακούειν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐξ ἑνὸς συνθήματος ἐπιδημεῖν ἐπʼ εὐεργεσίᾳ καὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν εὐχομένων θεῷ, ᾧ καὶ αὐτοὶ εὔχονται. καὶ γὰρ „πάντες εἰσὶ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα, εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν.“ Ἑλλήνων μὲν οὖν οἱ σοφοὶ λεγέτωσαν δαίμονας εἰληχέναι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν ἀπὸ γενέσεως· ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξε μηδὲ „τῶν“ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ „μικρῶν“ καταφρονεῖν, λέγων ὅτι „οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, “ καὶ ὁ προφήτης δέ φησιν ὅτι „παρεμβαλεῖ ἄγγελος κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν καὶ ῥύσεται αὐτούς.“ οὐκ ἀναιροῦμεν οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸ πολλοὺς εἶναι δαίμονας ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλά φαμεν εἶναι μὲν αὐτοὺς καὶ δύνασθαι ἐν τοῖς φαύλοις διὰ τὴν ἐκείνων κακίαν, μηδὲν δὲ δύνασθαι πρὸς τοὺς ἐνδυσαμένους „τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ“ καὶ ἀναλαβόντας ἰσχὺν „πρὸς τὸ“ ἀντιστῆναι „πρὸς τὰς μεθοδείας τοῦ διαβόλου“ καὶ μελετῶντας ἀεὶ τὰ ἐκείνων παλαίσματα τῷ ἐγνωκέναι „ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχὰς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας, πρὸς τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τούτου, πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις.“
English · Claude translation
Celsus also wants us to offer first-fruits to demons; but we offer them to him who said, “Let the earth bring forth green herbage, yielding seed according to its kind and likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it according to its kind upon the earth.” And to him to whom we render first-fruits we also send up our prayers, “having a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” and we hold fast “the confession” as long as we live, finding God and his Only-begotten, made manifest to us in Jesus, kind to men. And if we long also for a multitude of beings whom we wish to find kind, we learn “that thousands of thousands stood before him, and myriads of myriads served him”; and they, looking upon those who imitate their piety toward God as kinsmen and friends, work together for the salvation of those who call upon God and pray sincerely, appearing to them, thinking that they ought to hear them, and coming as though by one agreed signal for the benefit and salvation of those who pray to God, to whom they themselves also pray. For “they are all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.” Let the wise men of the Greeks say, then, that demons have been allotted the human soul from birth; but Jesus taught us not to despise even “the little ones” in the church, saying that “their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven,” and the prophet says, “The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him and will deliver them.” We too, then, do not deny that there are many demons on earth; but we say that they exist and have power among the wicked because of their wickedness, but have no power against those who have put on “the whole armour of God” and have taken strength “to” stand “against the wiles of the devil,” and always study how to wrestle with them, knowing “that our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Gen 1:11, Heb 4:14, Dan 7:10, Heb 1:14, Matt 18:10, Ps 34:7 (33:8 LXX), and Eph 6:11–12. The Greek view that each soul receives a demon at birth goes back to Plato (Phaedo 107d, Republic 617e).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/34/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.34 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/34/).
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