Against Celsus 6.43
Summary: Origen replies that the Bible, older than all the Greek writers, already taught about the fallen evil one: the serpent of Genesis, the destroyer of Exodus, Azazel, Belial, Satan in Job, and the figures lamented in Ezekiel and Isaiah.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:113–114
Ὅρα οὖν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐγκαλῶν ἡμῖν (ὡς) σφαλλομένοις ἀσεβέστατα καὶ ἀποπεπλανημένοις θείων αἰνιγμάτων αὐτὸς σαφῶς σφάλλεται, μὴ κατανοήσας ὅτι τὰ πολλῷ οὐ μόνον Ἡρακλείτου καὶ Φερεκύδου ἀρχαιότερα ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὁμήρου Μωϋσέως γράμματα εἰσήγαγε τὸν περὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ τούτου καὶ ἐκπεσόντος τῶν οὐρανίων λόγον. ὁ γὰρ „ὄφις“ παρʼ ὃν ὁ παρὰ τῷ Φερεκύδῃ γέγονεν Ὀφιονεὺς, αἴτιος γενόμενος τοῦ ἐκβληθῆναι τοῦ θείου παραδείσου τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοιαῦτά τινα αἰνίσσεται, ἐπαγγελίᾳ θεότητος καὶ μειζόνων ἀπατήσας τὸ θηλύτερον γένος· ᾧ συνηκολουθηκέναι λέγεται καὶ ὁ ἀνήρ. καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ Μωϋσέως δὲ Ἐξόδῳ ὀλεθρευτὴς τίς ἄλλος εἴη ἢ ὁ τοῦ ὀλέθρου τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ ἀνθισταμένοις αὐτοῦ τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ μὴ ἀνταγωνιζομένοις αἴτιος; ἔτι δὲ (ὁ) ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ ἀποπομπαῖος, ὃν ἡ Ἑβραϊκὴ γραφὴ ὠνόμασεν Ἀζαζὴλ, οὐδεὶς ἕτερος ἦν· (ὃν) ἀποπέμπεσθαι καὶ ἀποτροπιάζεσθαι ἔδει τὸν κλῆρον ἔχοντα ἐν ἐρήμῳ· πάντες γὰρ οἱ τῆς τοῦ χείρονος διὰ τὴν κακίαν μερίδος ἐναντίοι ὄντες τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ κλήρου τοῦ θεοῦ ἔρημοί εἰσι θεοῦ. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν τοῖς Κριταῖς υἱοὶ Βελίαρ τίνος ἄλλου ἢ τούτου λέγονται εἶναι υἱοὶ διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν; σαφῶς δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα πάντα ἐν τῷ ἀρχαιοτέρῳ καὶ Μωϋσέως αὐτοῦ Ἰὼβ „ὁ διάβολος“ ἀναγέγραπται παρίστασθαι τῷ θεῷ καὶ αἰτεῖν τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἐξουσίαν, ἵνʼ αὐτὸν περιβάλῃ περιστάσεσι βαρυτάταις, πρώτῃ μὲν τῇ κατὰ πάντων τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτοῦ ἀπωλείᾳ, δευτέρᾳ δὲ κατὰ τὸ περιβαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀγρίῳ ἐλέφαντι, τῷ οὕτω καλουμένῳ νοσήματι, πᾶν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰώβ. ἐῶ γὰρ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων περὶ τοῦ πειράζοντος τὸν σωτῆρα διαβόλου, ἵνα μὴ δόξω ἀπὸ νεωτέρων γραφῶν φέρειν τὰ περὶ τοῦ ζητουμένου πρὸς τὸν Κέλσον. καὶ ἐν τοῖς τελευταίοις δὲ τοῦ Ἰὼβ, ἐν οἷς ὁ κύριος διὰ λαίλαπος καὶ νεφελῶν εἶπε τῷ Ἰὼβ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα ἐν τῇ ὁμωνύμῳ βίβλῳ αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ὀλίγα ἐστὶ περὶ δράκοντος εἰρημένα λαβεῖν. οὔπω λέγω καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ὡς περὶ „Φαραὼ“ ἢ „Ναβουχοδονόσορ“ ἢ ἄρχοντος „Τύρου“, ἢ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου, ἐν οἷς θρηνεῖται ὁ βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος· ἀφʼ ὧν οὐκ ὀλίγα τις ἂν μανθάνοι περὶ τῆς κακίας, ποίαν ἔσχεν ἀρχὴν καὶ γένεσιν, καὶ ὅτι ἀπό τινων πτεροῤῥυησάντων καὶ κατακολουθησάντων τῷ πρώτῳ πτεροῤῥυήσαντι ὑπέστη ἡ κακία.
English · Claude translation
See, then, whether the man who charges us with erring most impiously and straying from divine riddles does not clearly err himself, not perceiving that the writings of Moses, which are much older not only than Heraclitus and Pherecydes but also than Homer, introduced the account of this evil one who fell from heavenly things. For the “serpent,” from which Pherecydes' Ophioneus came, having been the cause of man's expulsion from the divine paradise, hints at something like this, since he deceived the weaker sex with a promise of divinity and greater things; and the man is said to have followed her. And the destroyer in Moses' Exodus, who else could he be than the one who is the cause of destruction for those who obey him and do not resist or fight against his wickedness? Further, the scapegoat in Leviticus, whom the Hebrew Scripture named Azazel, was none other; he who had the lot had to be sent away and banished into the wilderness; for all who belong to the portion of the worse one because of their wickedness, being opposed to those of God's lot, are deserted by God. And the sons of Belial in Judges, whose sons are they said to be because of their wickedness, if not his? And, most clearly of all, in Job, who is older even than Moses himself, “the devil” is recorded to present himself before God and ask for authority over Job, to encompass him with the heaviest trials: first, the destruction of all his possessions and his children; second, covering the whole body of Job with savage elephantiasis, the disease so called. I pass over what the Gospels say about the devil who tempted the Saviour, so that I may not seem to bring against Celsus, on the point in question, evidence from more recent writings. And in the last chapters of Job, where the Lord spoke to Job through whirlwind and clouds what is recorded in the book named after him, not a few things may be found said about a dragon. I do not yet mention what is in Ezekiel, as though about “Pharaoh” or “Nebuchadnezzar” or the ruler “of Tyre,” or what is in Isaiah, where the king of Babylon is lamented; from these one might learn not a little about wickedness, what beginning and origin it had, and that wickedness came into being through certain beings who shed their wings and followed the first one who shed his wings.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Gen 3:1–6, 23–24, Exod 12:23, Lev 16:8–10, Judg 19:22 (“sons of Belial”; the Greek has “Beliar”), Job 1:6–12 and 2:1–7, Job 40–41, Matt 4:1–11, Ezek 29:3, Ezek 28:2–19, and Isa 14:4–21. Origen's view that Job lived before Moses was common in his time. The image of beings shedding their wings is Plato's (Phaedrus 246c–248c).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 6.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/43/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 6.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/6/43/).
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