Against Celsus 3.17

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

Summary: Celsus compares Christianity to Egyptian temples that are grand outside but worship animals within; Origen replies that even Christ's human sufferings served the salvation of the whole world.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Koetschau 1:215–216

Παραβάλλειν δὲ τὰ τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων θέλει πράγμασι· παρʼ οἷς προσιόντι μέν ἐστι λαμπρὰ τεμένη καὶ ἄλση καὶ προπυλαίων μεγέθη τε καὶ κάλλη καὶ νεῲ θαυμάσιοι καὶ σκηναὶ πέριξ ὑπερήφανοι καὶ θρησκεῖαι μάλα δεισιδαίμονες καὶ μυστηριώτιδες, ἤδη δὲ εἰσιόντι καὶ ἐνδοτέρω γινομένῳ θεωρεῖται προσκυνούμενος αἴλουρος ἢ πίθηκος ἢ κροκόδειλος ἢ τράγος ἢ κύων. τί γὰρ τὸ ἀνάλογον τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς προσιόντας σεμνοφανέσιν Αἰγυπτίων ἐστὶ παρʼ ἡμῖν, τί δὲ τὸ ἀνάλογον τοῖς ἔνδον μετὰ τὰ σεμνὰ προπύλαια ἀλόγοις ζῴοις προσκυνουμένοις; ἢ τὰς μὲν προφητείας καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων †ἐστὶ τὰ καὶ κατʼ αὐτὸν σεμνὰ, Ἰησοῦς δὲ Χριστὸς ἐσταυρωμένος τὸ ἀνάλογον τῷ προσκυνουμένῳ ἀλόγῳ ζῴῳ; ἀλλʼ ἐὰν τοῦτο λέγῃ (οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι οἶμαι φήσειν αὐτὸν), ἀπαντήσομεν ὅτι πλείονα ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ἡμῖν εἰς κατασκευὴν τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἴρηται, ὅτι καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα κατʼ ἄνθρωπον αὐτῷ συμβεβηκέναι χρησίμως γέγονεν [ἐν] τῷ παντὶ καὶ σωτηρίως τῷ ὅλῳ κόσμῳ.

English · Claude translation

He wishes to compare the things of our faith with those of the Egyptians. Among them, “as you approach, there are splendid precincts and groves, great and beautiful gateways, wonderful temples, magnificent tents around them, and very superstitious and mysterious rites; but when you have entered and come further inside, a cat or an ape or a crocodile or a goat or a dog is seen being worshiped.” What among us corresponds to the imposing things the Egyptians show those who approach, and what corresponds to the irrational animals worshiped inside after the imposing gateways? Or are the prophecies, the God over all, and the teaching against images … the things that are imposing even in his view, and Jesus Christ crucified what corresponds to the irrational animal that is worshiped? But if he says this (for I do not think he will say anything else), we shall answer that we have said a good deal above in support of what concerns Jesus: that even what seemed to befall him as a man has happened usefully for the universe and for the salvation of the whole world.

About this passage

Source: Koetschau 1:215–216 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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)
Topics: Christology

Notes

Translation notes

The text is corrupt at “†ἐστὶ τὰ καὶ κατʼ αὐτὸν σεμνὰ”; κατʼ αὐτὸν is taken, as ANF also takes it, as “in his (Celsus's) view”; the sense is given, with “…” marking the corruption. The editor deletes the square-bracketed ἐν before “the universe”; it is not translated.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/17/).

Plain text

Origen, Cels. 3.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/17/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage