Against Celsus 3.25
Summary: Origen argues that healing and prophecy do not prove divinity, since Apollo's oracles honored a boxer and the licentious poet Archilochus, and the Pythia's inspiration was indecent, unlike anything Christians hold of Jesus.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:221–222
Ἵνα δὲ καὶ δῶ ἰατρόν τινα δαίμονα θεραπεύειν σώματα τὸν καλούμενον Ἀσκληπιὸν, εἴποιμʼ ἂν πρὸς τοὺς θαυμάζοντας τὸ τοιοῦτο ἢ τὴν Ἀπόλλωνος μαντείαν ὅτι. εἴπερ μέσον ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν σωμάτων ἰατρικὴ καὶ πρᾶγμα πίπτον οὐκ εἰς ἀστείους μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ φαύλους. μέσον δὲ καὶ ἡ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσις (οὐ γὰρ πάντως ἐμφαίνει τὸ ἀστεῖον ὁ προγινώσκων), παραστήσατε πῶς οὐδαμῶς μέν εἰσι φαῦλοι οἱ θεραπεύοντες ἢ οἱ προγινώσκοντες παντὶ δὲ τρόπῳ ἀποδείκνυνται ἀστεῖοί τινες καὶ οὐ μακρὰν τοῦ ὑποληφθῆναι εἶναι θεοί. ἀλλʼ οὐ δυνήσονται ἀστείους ἀποδεῖξαι τοὺς θεραπεύοντας ἢ τοὺς προγινώσκοντας. πολλῶν καὶ ἀναξίων τοῦ ζῆν θεραπεύεσθαι λεγομένων, οὓς οὐκ ἂν οὐδʼ ὁ σοφὸς ἰατρὸς ὢν θεραπεῦσαι ἠθέλησεν ἀκαθηκόντως ζῶντας. καὶ ἐν τοῖς χρησμοῖς δὲ τοῦ Πυθίου εὕροις ἂν προστασσόμενά τινα οὐκ εὔλογα. ὧν δύο ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος παραθήσομαι, ὅτι Κλεομήδην μὲν, οἶμαι τὸν πύκτην, ἰσοθέοις τιμαῖς ἐκέλευε τιμᾶσθαι. οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅ τι ποτὲ σεμνὸν ἰδὼν ἐν τῇ πυκτικῇ αὐτοῦ, οὔτε δὲ Πυθαγόραν οὔτε Σωκράτην ἐτίμησε ταῖς τιμαῖς τοῦ πύκτου. ἀλλὰ καὶ „Μουσῶν θεράποντα“ εἰπὼν τὸν Ἀρχίλοχον. ἄνδρα ἐν κακίστῃ καὶ ἀσελγεστάτῃ ὑποθέσει ἐπιδειξάμενον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ποιητικὴν καὶ ἦθος ἀσελγὲς καὶ ἀκάθαρτον παραστήσαντα. ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ „θεράποντα“ εἶναι „Μουσῶν, “ νομιζομένων εἶναι θεῶν. εὐσεβῆ τινα ἀνηγόρευσεν. οὐκ οἶδα δὲ εἰ καὶ ὁ τυχὼν τὸν εὐσεβῆ φήσει μὴ πάσῃ κεκοσμῆσθαι μετριότητι καὶ ἀρετῇ, καὶ κόσμιος τοιαῦτα λέγοι ἂν, ὁποῖα περιέχουσιν οἱ μὴ σεμνοὶ τοῦ Ἀρχιλόχου ἴαμβοι. εἰ δὲ μηδὲν θεῖον αὐτόθεν ἐμφαίνεται ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσκληπιοῦ ἰατρικῆς καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος μαντικῆς, πῶς εὐλόγως ἄν τις. ἵνα καὶ δῶ ταῦθʼ οὕτως ἔχειν. ὡς θεοὺς αὐτοὺς σέβοι ἂν καθαρούς τινας; καὶ μάλισθʼ ὅτε διὰ τοῦ Πυθίου στομίου περικαθεζομένῃ τῇ καλουμένῃ προφήτιδι πνεῦμα διὰ τῶν γυναικείων ὑπεισέρχεται τὸ μαντικὸν, ὁ Ἀπόλλων, τὸ καθαρὸν ἀπὸ γηΐνου σώματος. οὐδὲν δὲ τοιοῦτον ἡμεῖς περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ δοξάζομεν. τὸ γὰρ γεγεννημένον ἀπὸ τῆς παρθένου σῶμα ἦν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ὕλης συνεστηκὸς, δεκτικὸν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων τραυμάτων καὶ θανάτου.
English · Claude translation
Even if I grant that a certain healing daemon called Asclepius heals bodies, I would say to those who admire this, or the divination of Apollo, that if the healing of bodies is an indifferent thing, falling to the lot not only of the good but also of the bad, and foreknowledge of the future is indifferent too (for the one who foreknows does not necessarily show goodness), then show how those who heal or foreknow are in no way bad, but are proved in every way to be good, and not far from being thought gods. But they will not be able to prove that those who heal or foretell are good, since many are said to be healed who are unworthy to live, whom not even a wise physician would have wished to heal, since they live improperly. And in the oracles of the Pythian god you would find some commands that are not reasonable. I shall cite two of them for the present. He ordered Cleomedes, the boxer I think, to be honored with honors equal to the gods, seeing I know not what dignity in his boxing; yet he did not honor Pythagoras or Socrates with the honors of the boxer. And by calling Archilochus “servant of the Muses,” a man who displayed his poetic art on the basest and most licentious subjects and showed a licentious and impure character, he proclaimed him pious, insofar as he was a “servant of the Muses,” who are considered goddesses. I doubt whether even an ordinary person would say that the pious man is not adorned with every moderation and virtue, and whether a decent man would say the kind of things the undignified iambics of Archilochus contain. If nothing divine is shown in itself by the healing of Asclepius and the divination of Apollo, how could anyone reasonably, even granting these things are so, worship them as gods who are pure? Especially when, through the Pythian cavern, the prophetic spirit, Apollo, the one who is pure of an earthly body, enters the so-called prophetess seated over it through her woman's parts. We hold nothing of this kind about Jesus and his power. For the body born of the virgin was composed of human matter, capable of human wounds and death.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The oracles about Cleomedes of Astypalaea (Pausanias 6.9.8) and Archilochus as “servant of the Muses” (reported by Eusebius and others) are traditional. The account of the Pythia is a hostile Christian description.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/25/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/25/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text