Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 4.10

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

Summary: Christians do not frighten people with bogeymen like the Bacchic mysteries; they seek to correct humanity by warning of real punishments and promising the kingdom of God to the good.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:280–281

Μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν, ὡς σύνηθές ἐστιν αὐτῷ, μηδὲν κατασκευάσας μηδʼ ἀποδείξας ὁ Κέλσος, ὡσπερεὶ οὐχ ὁσίως ἡμῶν οὐδʼ εὐαγῶς περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ θρυλούντων, φησίν· ὅτι μὲν οὖν οὐχ ὁσίως οὐδὲ εὐαγῶς ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ θρυλοῦσιν εὔδηλον, καὶ οἴεταί γε ἐπὶ θάμβει τῶν ἰδιωτῶν ταῦθʼ ἡμᾶς ποιεῖν, οὐχὶ δὲ τἀληθῆ περὶ κολάσεων λέγοντας ἀναγκαίων τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσι· διόπερ ἐξομοιοῖ ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἐν ταῖς Βακχικαῖς τελεταῖς τὰ φάσματα καὶ τὰ δείματα προεισάγουσι. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν Βακχικῶν τελετῶν εἴτε τις ἐστὶ πιθανὸς λόγος εἴτε μηδεὶς τοιοῦτος, λεγέτωσαν Ἕλληνες καὶ ἀκουέτω Κέλσος καὶ οἱ συνθιασῶται αὐτοῦ· ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀπολογούμεθα, λέγοντες ὅτι τὸ προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἐπανορθοῦν τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἴτε διὰ τῶν περὶ κολάσεων ἀπειλῶν, ἃς πεπείσμεθα ἀναγκαίας εἶναι τῷ παντὶ τάχα δὲ καὶ τοῖς πεισομένοις αὐτὰς οὐκ ἀχρήστους, εἴτε διὰ τῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς καλῶς βεβιωκότας ἐπαγγελιῶν, περιεχουσῶν τὰ περὶ τῆς μακαρίας ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῖς ἀξίοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ βασιλεύεσθαι διεξαγωγῆς.

English · Claude translation

After this again, as is his habit, Celsus, without establishing or proving anything, says, as if we babbled about God in a way neither holy nor pure: “That they babble these things about God in a way neither holy nor pure is quite clear.” And he thinks that we do these things to astonish ordinary people, and do not speak the truth about the punishments necessary for those who have sinned; that is why he likens us to those who in the Bacchic mysteries bring in apparitions and terrors beforehand. Now whether there is some plausible account of the Bacchic mysteries or none, let the Greeks say, and let Celsus and his fellow worshipers listen; but we defend our own teaching, saying that our aim is to correct the human race, whether by threats of punishments, which we are persuaded are necessary for the whole, and perhaps not useless even for those who will suffer them, or by promises to those who have lived well, which include the blessed life in the kingdom of God for those worthy to be ruled by him.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:280–281 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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
Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The remark that punishments may be “not useless even for those who will suffer them” reflects Origen's view of punishment as corrective.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 4.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/10/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/10/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage