Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 6.21

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

Summary: Scripture speaks of “heavens” but never of seven; for the soul's passage between earth and heaven Origen points to Jacob's ladder rather than to the planetary path of Plato and Celsus.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:91

Ἑπτὰ δὲ οὐρανοὺς ἢ ὅλως περιωρισμένον ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν αἱ φερόμεναι ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀπαγγέλλουσι γραφαὶ, ἀλλʼ οὐρανοὺς, εἴτε τὰς σφαίρας τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι λεγομένων πλανήτων εἴτε καὶ ἄλλο τι ἀποῤῥητότερον ἐοίκασι διδάσκειν οἱ λόγοι. καὶ τὸ ὁδὸν δὲ εἶναι ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐς γῆν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς Κέλσος μὲν κατὰ Πλάτωνά φησι γίνεσθαι διὰ τῶν πλανήτων· Μωϋσῆς δὲ, ὁ ἀρχαιότατος ἡμῶν προφήτης. ἐν ὄψει τοῦ πατριάρχου ἡμῶν Ἰακώβ φησιν ἑωρᾶσθαι θεῖον ἐνύπνιον, κλίμακα „εἰς οὐρανὸν“ φθάνουσαν καὶ ἀγγέλους „τοῦ θεοῦ“ ἀναβαίνοντας καὶ καταβαίνοντας ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, τὸν δὲ κύριον ἐπεστηριγμένον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄκροις αὐτῆς, εἴτε ταῦτα εἴτε τινὰ μείζονα τούτων αἰνιττόμενος ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς κλίμακος λόγῳ· περὶ ἧς καὶ τῷ Φίλωνι συντέτακται βιβλίον, ἄξιον φρονίμου καὶ συνετῆς παρὰ τοῖς φιλαλήθεσιν ἐξετάσεως.

English · Claude translation

The Scriptures that are current in the churches of God do not speak of seven heavens or of any fixed number of them at all; but the words seem to teach “heavens,” whether they mean the spheres of what the Greeks call the planets or something else more secret. And Celsus says, following Plato, that the path of souls to earth and from earth passes through the planets. But Moses, our most ancient prophet, says that a divine dream was seen in a vision by our patriarch Jacob: a ladder reaching “to heaven,” and angels “of God” ascending and descending on it, and the Lord standing firm at its top; whether in the account of the ladder he was hinting at these things or at something greater than these. Philo too composed a book about it, which deserves wise and intelligent examination by lovers of truth.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:91 · 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)
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Philo, Somn. 1 (Philo of Alexandria (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The biblical passage is Gen 28:12–13. Philo's book is On Dreams, Book 1. Celsus's Platonic source is uncertain (perhaps Timaeus 41d–42b).

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 6.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/21/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/21/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage