Against Celsus 3.31
Summary: Origen contrasts the purposeless marvel of Abaris riding an arrow with Jesus' ascension in glory, which served to commend his teaching and turn people to God.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:228
Εἰ δὲ ταῦθʼ οὕτως ἔχει, πῶς οὐκ εὔλογον μὲν νομίζειν περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, τοσαῦτα συστῆσαι δεδυνημένου, ὅτι οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα θειότης ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ, οὐκέτι δὲ οὔτε ἐν τῷ Προκοννησίῳ Ἀριστέᾳ. κἂν ὁ Ἀπόλλων αὐτὸν βούληται ἐν θεῶν μοίρᾳ νέμειν, οὔτʼ ἐν οἷς ἐξαριθμεῖται ὁ Κέλσος λέγων ὅτι οὐδεὶς νομίζει θεὸν Ἄβαριν τὸν Ὑπερβόρειον, ὃς δύναμιν εἶχε τοσήνδε, ὥστε ὀϊστῷ [βέλει] συμφέρεσθαι; τί γὰρ βουλομένη ἡ χαρισαμένη θειότης τῷ Ὑπερβορείῳ Ἀβάριδι ὀϊστῷ συμφέρεσθαι τὸ τηλικοῦτον αὐτῷ ἐδωρεῖτο· ἵνα τι ὠφεληθῇ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος; ἢ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος τί ὤνατο ὀϊστῷ συμφέρεσθαι; ἵνα καὶ συγχωρηθῇ ταῦτα μηδαμῶς εἶναι πλάσματα ἀλλὰ κατά τινα δαιμονίου συνεργίαν γεγονέναι. ἐὰν δὲ ὁ ἐμὸς Ἰησοῦς ἀναλαμβάνεσθαι „ἐν δόξῃ“ λέγηται, ὁρῶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν, ὅτι τοῖς θεωρήσασι συνίστη τὸν διδάσκαλον ὁ τοῦτʼ ἐνεργήσας γενέσθαι θεός· ἵνʼ ὡς οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρωπίνων μαθημάτων ἀλλὰ θείας διδασκαλίας ἀγωνιζόμενοι ὅση δύναμις ἑαυτοὺς ἀναθῶσι τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ καὶ πάντα πράττωσιν ὑπὲρ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀρεσκείας, ὡς ἀποληψόμενοι κατʼ ἀξίαν ἐν θείῳ δικαστηρίῳ ἅπερ ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ εὖ ἢ κακῶς πεποιήκασιν.
English · Claude translation
If this is so, how is it not reasonable to think of Jesus, who was able to establish so much, that no ordinary divinity was in him, but not so in Aristeas of Proconnesus, even if Apollo wishes to count him among the gods, nor in those Celsus lists when he says that “no one considers a god Abaris the Hyperborean, who had such power that he was carried along on an arrow”? For with what purpose did the divinity that granted Abaris the Hyperborean to be carried on an arrow bestow so great a gift on him? So that the human race might be benefited in some way? Or what did he himself gain from being carried on an arrow? This even granting that these things are not fictions at all but happened through some cooperation of a daemon. But if my Jesus is said to have been taken up “in glory,” I see the dispensation: the God who brought this about commended the teacher to those who saw it, so that, contending not for human lessons but for divine teaching, they might dedicate themselves as far as possible to the God over all and do everything to please him, as those who will receive in the divine court according to their deserts what they have done well or badly in this life.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The legend of Abaris is in Herodotus 4.36. The quotation is 1 Tim 3:16; the judgment “according to what they have done” echoes 2 Cor 5:10. The editor deletes the square-bracketed βέλει (a gloss on ὀϊστῷ, “arrow”); it is not translated.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/31/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/31/).
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