Against Celsus 7.22
Summary: The commands to kill enemies are to be read spiritually: the righteous destroy sinful thoughts, and the “infants of Babylon” dashed on the rock are the first stirrings of sin crushed against Christ.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:173–174
Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ καταφονεύειν δεῖ διηγήσασθαι ἅμα καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τοῦ δικαίου περὶ πάντα, λεκτέον ὅτι φάσκων· „εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ἀπέκτεινον (πάντας) τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν“ γῆν μὲν τροπικῶς ἔλεγε τὴν σάρκα, ἧς „τὸ φρόνημα“ „ἔχθρα ἐστὶν εἰς θεὸν, “ πόλιν δὲ „κυρίου“ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν, ἐν ᾗ ἦν „ναὸς θεοῦ, “ χωρήσας δόξαν καὶ ὑπόληψιν ὀρθὴν περὶ θεοῦ καὶ θαυμαζομένην ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ὁρώντων αὐτήν. ἅμα οὖν ταῖς τοῦ ἡλίου „τῆς δικαιοσύνης“ αὐγαῖς ἐπιλαμπούσαις αὐτοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ ὡσπερεὶ δυναμούμενος ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ κραταιούμενος ἀνῄρει πᾶν „τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς, “ λεγόμενον „ἁμαρτωλοὺς γῆς, “ καὶ ἐξωλόθρευεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἑαυτοῦ „πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν“ λογισμοὺς καὶ τὰ ἐχθρὰ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐνθυμήματα. οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἀναιροῦσιν οἱ δίκαιοι πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ ἀπὸ κακίας ἐρχομένων „ζωγρίαν, “ ὡς μηδὲ νήπιον καὶ ἄρτι ὑποφυόμενον κακὸν καταλείπεσθαι. ἡμεῖς οὕτως ἀκούομεν καὶ τοῦ ἐν ἑκατοστῷ καὶ τριακοστῷ καὶ ἕκτῳ ψαλμῷ ῥητοῦ, οὕτως ἔχοντος· „θυγάτηρ Βαβυλῶνος ἡ ταλαίπωρος, μακάριος, ὃς ἀνταποδώσει σοι τὸ ἀνταπόδομά σου, ὃ ἀνταπέδωκας ἡμῖν· μακάριος, ὃς κρατήσει καὶ ἐδαφιεῖ τὰ νήπιά σου πρὸς τὴν πέτραν.“ „νήπια“ γὰρ „Βαβυλῶνος, “ ἑρμηνευομένης συγχύσεως, οἱ ἄρτι ὑποφυόμενοι καὶ ἀνατέλλοντες ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ εἰσιν συγχυτικοὶ λογισμοὶ οἱ ἀπὸ κακίας· ὧν ὁ κρατῶν, ὡς καὶ τῷ στερεῷ καὶ εὐτόνῳ τοῦ λόγου προσρῆξαι αὐτῶν τὰς κεφαλὰς, ἐδαφίζει „τὰ νήπια“ τῆς „Βαβυλῶνος“ „πρὸς τὴν πέτραν, “ γινόμενος διὰ τοῦτο „μακάριος.“ ἡβηδὸν οὖν τὰ τῆς κακίας καὶ παγγενεὶ κτείνειν κελευέτω ὁ θεὸς, οὐδὲν ἐναντίον διδάσκων οἷς Ἰησοῦς κατήγγειλε, καὶ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τῶν „ἐν κρυπτῷ“ Ἰουδαίων ποιείτω ὁ θεὸς τὴν τῶν πολεμίων καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀπὸ κακίας ἀναίρεσιν. καὶ τοιοῦτόν γε ἔστω τὸ τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους νόμῳ καὶ λόγῳ θεοῦ, ὁμοιωθέντας τοῖς πολεμίοις καὶ ποιωθέντας ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας, πάσχειν ταῦτα, ἅπερ ἄξιον πάσχειν τοὺς ἀποστάντας λόγων θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
And if we must also explain the slaughtering, and at the same time the power of the righteous man in all things, it must be said that when he says, “In the mornings I killed all the sinners of the land, to destroy from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity,” he figuratively called the flesh “land,” whose “mind” “is enmity toward God,” and his own soul “the city of the Lord,” in which there was “a temple of God,” since he had received a right opinion and conception of God, admired by all who saw it. At the same time, then, as the rays of the sun “of righteousness” shone on his soul, empowered and strengthened as it were by them, he killed all “the mind of the flesh,” called “sinners of the land,” and destroyed from “the city of the Lord” in his soul “all who work iniquity,” the reasonings and thoughts hostile to the truth. So too the righteous destroy every “living thing” of the enemies and of those who come from wickedness, so that not even an infant evil that has just begun to sprout is left. In this way we also understand the saying in the hundred and thirty-sixth Psalm, which runs: “Wretched daughter of Babylon, blessed is he who will repay you the recompense you repaid us; blessed is he who will seize and dash your infants against the rock.” For the “infants of Babylon,” which means confusion, are the confusing thoughts that come from wickedness, just beginning to sprout and spring up in the soul. The one who seizes them, so as to dash their heads against the firmness and strength of the Word, dashes “the infants” of “Babylon” “against the rock,” and for this reason becomes “blessed.” Let God, then, command us to kill the things of wickedness young and old and with their whole families, teaching nothing contrary to what Jesus proclaimed; and let God bring about, before the eyes of the Jews “in secret,” the destruction of the enemies and of all that comes from wickedness. And let it be so that those who do not obey the law and word of God, having become like the enemies and shaped by wickedness, suffer what those who have abandoned the words of God deserve to suffer.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Ps 101:8 (100:8 LXX), Rom 8:7, 1 Cor 3:16, Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX), Ps 137:8–9 (136:8–9 LXX), and Rom 2:29. “Babylon” is interpreted as “confusion” (cf. Gen 11:9). The rock is Christ (1 Cor 10:4).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing breathing and accent in the digital text): δυναμούμενος υπʼ → δυναμούμενος ὑπʼ.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/22/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/22/).
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