Against Celsus 3.81
Summary: The blessed life belongs to those who worship God through Jesus, and nothing is better than to entrust oneself to God through his living Word; so ends the third book.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:271–272
Μὴ ὑπολάβῃς δέ με οὐχ ἁρμοζόντως τῷ Χριστιανῶν λόγῳ παρειληφέναι πρὸς τὸν Κέλσον τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἢ τῆς ἐπιδιαμονῆς τῆς ψυχῆς φιλοσοφήσαντας· πρὸς οὓς κοινά τινα ἔχοντες εὐκαιρότερον παραστήσομεν ὅτι ἡ μέλλουσα μακαρία ζωὴ μόνοις ἔσται τοῖς (τὴν) κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν θεοσέβειαν καὶ εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸν εὐσέβειαν εἰλικρινῆ καὶ καθαρὰν καὶ ἄμικτον πρὸς ὅτι ποτʼ οὖν γενητὸν παραδεξαμένοις. ποίων δὲ κρειττόνων καταφρονεῖν παραπείθομεν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, παραδεικνύτω ὁ βουλόμενος· καὶ ἀντιπαραθέτω τὸ καθʼ ἡμᾶς παρὰ θεῷ ἐν Χριστῷ, τουτέστι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ καὶ πάσῃ ἀρετῇ. τέλος μακάριον τοῖς ἀμέμπτως καὶ καθαρῶς βιώσασι καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἀγάπην ἀδιαίρετον καὶ ἄσχιστον ἀνειληφόσι συμβησόμενον, καὶ δωρεᾷ θεοῦ ἀπαντησόμενον. τῷ καθʼ ἑκάστην φιλόσοφον αἵρεσιν ἐν Ἕλλησιν ἢ βαρβάροις ἢ μυστηριώδη ἐπαγγελίαν τέλει· καὶ δεικνύτω τὸ κατά τινα τῶν ἄλλων τέλος κρεῖττον τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀκόλουθον μὲν ὡς ἀληθὲς ἐκεῖνο τὸ δʼ ἡμέτερον οὐχ ἁρμόζον δωρεᾷ θεοῦ οὐδὲ τοῖς εὖ βιώσασιν. ἢ οὐχ ὑπὸ θείου πνεύματος. πληρώσαντος τὰς τῶν καθαρῶν προφητῶν ψυχὰς. ταῦτα λελέχθαι. δεικνύτω δʼ ὁ βουλόμενος κρείττονας τοὺς ὁμολογουμένους παρὰ πᾶσιν ἀνθρωπίνους λόγους τῶν ἀποδεικνυμένων θείων καὶ ἐκ θεοφορίας ἀπηγγελμένων. τίνων δὲ καὶ κρειττόνων τοὺς ἀποδεχομένους διδάσκομεν ἄμεινον ἀπαλλάξειν; εἰ γὰρ μὴ φορτικὸν εἰπεῖν, αὐτόθεν φαίνεται ὅτι οὐδὲν οὐκ ἐπινοηθῆναι ὡς κρεῖττον εἶναι δύναται τοῦ ἐμπιστεῦσαι ἑαυτὸν τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ καὶ ἀναθεῖναι διδασκαλίᾳ, παντὸς μὲν ἀφιστάσῃ γενητοῦ προσαγούσῃ δὲ διʼ ἐμψύχου καὶ ζῶντος λόγου, ὅς ἐστι καὶ σοφία ζῶσα καὶ υἱὸς θεοῦ, τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ. ἀλλὰ γὰρ αὐτάρκη περιγραφὴν ἐν τούτοις καὶ τοῦ τρίτου τόμου τῶν πρὸς τὸ Κέλσου σύγγραμμα ἡμῖν ὑπαγορευθέντων εἰληφότος, αὐτοῦ που καταπαύσομεν τὸν λόγον, ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς πρὸς τὰ μετὰ τοῦτο γεγραμμένα τῷ Κέλσῳ ἀγωνιούμενοι.
English · Claude translation
Do not suppose that I have, in a way unsuited to the Christians' teaching, brought in against Celsus those who philosophized about the immortality or survival of the soul. Having certain things in common with them, we shall more conveniently show that the future blessed life will belong only to those who have accepted the worship of God according to Jesus and a piety toward the Creator of the universe that is sincere, pure, and unmixed with anything created. And let whoever wishes show what better things we persuade men to despise, and let him compare with the end proposed in each philosophical school among Greeks or barbarians, or in the promise of the mysteries, our end, which is with God in Christ, that is, in the Word, Wisdom, and every virtue; a blessed end that will come to those who have lived blamelessly and purely and taken up an undivided and unbroken love toward the God of the universe, and that will meet them as a gift of God. And let him show that the end according to some other school is better than ours, and that it follows as true, while ours is not fitting as a gift of God, nor to those who have lived well, or that these things were not spoken by the divine Spirit who filled the souls of the pure prophets. And let whoever wishes show that words which all admit to be human are better than those demonstrated to be divine and announced by divine inspiration. And from what better things do we teach those who accept our teaching that they will be better off turning away? For, if it is not tiresome to say so, it is plain at once that nothing can be conceived as better than to entrust oneself to the God over all and to devote oneself to a teaching that draws one away from everything created and brings one, through the living and ensouled Word, who is also living Wisdom and Son of God, to the God over all. But since the third book of what we have dictated against Celsus's treatise has reached a sufficient length with these words, we shall end our discourse here, and in what follows we shall contend against what Celsus wrote after this.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The digital text reads τῆ σοφίᾳ; corrected to τῇ σοφίᾳ. Origen says he “dictated” the work.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing iota subscript in the digital text): τῆ σοφίᾳ → τῇ σοφίᾳ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/81/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.81 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/81/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text