Against Celsus 7.45
Summary: Celsus sets out Plato's teaching on being and becoming and on the Good as the sun of the intelligible world, and tells Christians, whom he calls lame in soul, to be silent if they cannot follow it.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:196–197
Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ ἅ φησιν ἡμᾶς διδάξειν, εἰ ἄρα ἀκολουθῆσαι αὐτοῖς δυνησόμεθα, ἐν οἷς λέγει ἡμᾶς παντελῶς ἐνδεδέσθαι τῇ σαρκὶ, τοὺς, ἐὰν βιῶμεν ὀρθῶς καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦ λόγον, ἀκούοντας τὸ „ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ἀλλʼ ἐν πνεύματι, εἴπερ πνεῦμα θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν.“ φησὶ δʼ ἡμᾶς καὶ μηδὲν καθαρὸν βλέπειν, τοὺς πειρωμένους μηδὲ μέχρι τῶν λογισμῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων τῆς κακίας μολύνεσθαι καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ λέγοντας· „καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ πνεῦμα εὐθὲς ἐγκαίνισον ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις μου, “ ἵνα τῇ μόνῃ πεφυκυίᾳ βλέπειν θεὸν „καρδίᾳ καθαρᾷ“ θεασώμεθα αὐτόν. ἃ δὲ λέγει, τοιαῦτά ἐστιν· οὐσία καὶ γένεσις νοητὸν, ὁρατόν· μετὰ οὐσίας μὲν ἀλήθεια, μετὰ δὲ γενέσεως πλάνη. περὶ ἀλήθειαν μὲν οὖν ἐπιστήμη. περὶ δὲ θάτερον δόξα· καὶ νοητοῦ μέν ἐστι νόησις, ὁρατοῦ δὲ ὄψις. γινώσκει δὲ νοητὸν μὲν νοῦς, ὁρατὸν δὲ ὀφθαλμός. ὅπερ οὖν ἐν τοῖς ὁρατοῖς ἥλιος, οὔτʼ ὀφθαλμὸς ὢν οὔτʼ ὄψις ἀλλʼ ὀφθαλμῷ τε τοῦ ὁρᾶν αἴτιος καὶ ὄψει τοῦ διʼ αὐτὸν συνίστασθαι καὶ ὁρατοῖς τοῦ ὁρᾶσθαι, πᾶσιν αἰσθητοῖς τοῦ γίνεσθαι, καὶ μὴν αὐτὸς αὑτῷ τοῦ βλέπεσθαι, τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς ἐκεῖνος, ὅσπερ οὔτε νοῦς οὔτε νόησις οὔτʼ ἐπιστήμη, ἀλλὰ νῷ τε τοῦ νοεῖν αἴτιος καὶ νοήσει τοῦ διʼ αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ τοῦ διʼ αὐτὸν γινώσκειν καὶ νοητοῖς ἅπασι καὶ αὐτῇ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ αὐτῇ οὐσίᾳ τοῦ εἶναι, πάντων ἐπέκεινα ὢν, ἀῤῥήτῳ τινὶ δυνάμει νοητός. ταῦτʼ εἴρηται μὲν ἀνθρώποις νοῦν ἔχουσιν· εἰ δέ τι αὐτῶν καὶ ὑμεῖς συνίετε. εὖ ὑμῖν ἔχει. καὶ πνεῦμα εἴ τι οἴεσθε κατιὸν ἐκ θεοῦ προαγγέλλειν τὰ θεῖα, τοῦτʼ ἂν εἴη τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ταῦτα κηρύττον, οὗ δὴ πλησθέντες ἄνδρες παλαιοὶ πολλὰ κἀγαθὰ ἤγγειλαν· ὧν εἰ μὴ δύνασθε ἐπαΐειν, σιωπᾶτε καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀμαθίαν ἐγκαλύπτετε καὶ μὴ λέγετε τυφλώττειν τοὺς βλέποντας καὶ χωλοὺς εἶναι τοὺς τρέχοντας. αὐτοὶ πάντῃ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀποκεχωλευμένοι καὶ ἠκρωτηριασμένοι καὶ τῷ σώματι ζῶντες, τουτέστι τῷ νεκρῷ.
English · Claude translation
Let us see also what he says he will teach us, if indeed we shall be able to follow it, where he says that we are wholly bound to the flesh, we who, if we live rightly and according to the word of Jesus, hear, “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” He says too that we see nothing pure, we who try not to be defiled by thoughts of evil even in our reasonings, and who say in prayer, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me,” so that we may behold him with “a pure heart,” which alone is able to see God. What he says is as follows: “Being and becoming, intelligible and visible. With being is truth, with becoming is error. Knowledge is concerned with truth, opinion with the other. And of the intelligible there is thought, of the visible sight. Mind knows the intelligible, the eye the visible. What the sun is among visible things, being neither eye nor sight, but the cause to the eye of its seeing, and to sight of its coming to be through him, and to visible things of their being seen, and to all sensible things of their coming into being, and indeed to himself of his being seen, that is what he is among intelligible things, who is neither mind nor thought nor knowledge, but the cause to mind of its thinking, and to thought of its being through him, and to knowledge of its knowing through him, and to all intelligible things and to truth itself and being itself of their being, being beyond all things, intelligible by a certain ineffable power. These things have been said for people of intelligence; if you understand any of them, it is well with you. And if you think that some spirit coming down from God foretells divine things, this would be the spirit that proclaims these things, filled with which men of old announced many good things; and if you cannot understand them, be silent, and hide your own ignorance, and do not say that those who see are blind and those who run are lame, when you yourselves are wholly lamed and mutilated in your souls, and live by the body, that is, by what is dead.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 8:9, Ps 51:10 (50:12 LXX), and Matt 5:8. Celsus paraphrases Plato, Timaeus 27d–28a and Republic 508b–509b (the analogy of the sun).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing accent in the digital text): πάντῃ τας ψυχὰς → πάντῃ τὰς ψυχὰς.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/45/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.45 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/45/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text