Against Celsus 7.64
Summary: Jews and Christians reject temples and images for different reasons from the barbarians: because of God's commandments against other gods and idols, for which they will even die.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:213–214
Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ἓν τοῦτο πρᾶγμα, ἡ τῆς μοιχείας ἀποχὴ, ἓν εἶναι δοκοῦσα πολλὰ ἁλίσκεται τυγχάνουσα παρὰ τὰ διάφορα δόγματα καὶ τὰς προθέσεις, οὕτως καὶ τῶν μὴ ἀνεχομένων παρὰ βωμοῖς καὶ ναοῖς καὶ ἀγάλμασι σέβειν τὸ θεῖον Σκύθαι μὲν ἢ Λιβύων οἱ Νομάδες ἢ Σῆρες οἱ ἄθεοι ἢ Πέρσαι ἀπὸ δογμάτων τοῦτο πράττουσιν ἄλλων, ἢ ὧν Χριστιανοὶ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι οὐκ ἀνέχονται τῆς τοιαύτης ὑπολαμβανομένης εἰς τὸ θεῖον θεραπείας· οὐδεὶς ἐκείνων διὰ τὸ ἐκκλίνειν καὶ κατασπᾶν καὶ κατάγειν τὴν περὶ τὸ θεῖον θρησκείαν ἐπὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ὕλην οὑτωσὶ ἐσχηματισμένην οὐκ ἀνέχεται βωμῶν καὶ ἀγαλμάτων οὐδὲ διὰ τὸ διειληφέναι περὶ δαιμόνων ὅτι τοιοῖσδε παρακαθέζονται σχήμασι καὶ χωρίοις, ἤτοι ὑπό τινων μαγγανειῶν κατακλιθέντες ἢ καὶ ἄλλως δυνηθέντες προκαταλαβεῖν ἑαυτοῖς τόπους, ἐν οἷς τῆς τῶν θυομένων ἀποφορᾶς λίχνως μεταλαμβάνοντες παράνομον ἡδονὴν καὶ παρανόμους θηράσονται· Χριστιανοὶ δὲ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι διὰ τὸ „κύριον τὸν θεόν σου φοβηθήσῃ καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις“ (καὶ) διὰ τὸ „οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ“ καὶ „οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ (ἄνω) καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῷ ὕδατι ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς· οὐ προσκυνήσεις αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ μὴ λατρεύσεις αὐτοῖς“ καὶ διὰ τὸ „κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις“ καὶ ἄλλα πλείονα τούτοις παραπλήσια οὐ μόνον ἐκτρέπονται νεὼς καὶ βωμοὺς καὶ ἀγάλματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀποθνῄσκειν, ὅτε δεῖ, ἑτοίμως ἔρχονται ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ μολῦναι τὴν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὑπόληψιν διά τινος τοιούτου παρανομήματος.
English · Claude translation
Just as, then, this one thing, abstention from adultery, though it seems one, turns out to be many according to different doctrines and purposes, so too among those who cannot bear to worship the divine at altars and temples and images, the Scythians, the Nomads of Libya, the godless Seres, and the Persians do this from doctrines other than those from which Christians and Jews cannot bear such supposed service of the divine. None of those peoples refuses altars and images because he avoids pulling down and bringing down the worship of the divine to matter shaped in such a way, nor because he has understood that demons settle beside such shapes and places, having been bound there by certain spells or otherwise able to take possession of places for themselves, where, greedily partaking of the offerings of the sacrifices, they will hunt for lawless pleasure and lawless people. But Christians and Jews, because of “You shall fear the Lord your God and serve him only,” and because of “You shall have no other gods besides me,” and “You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them,” and because of “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only,” and many other sayings like these, not only turn away from temples and altars and images, but also go readily to death, when they must, so as not to defile their conception of the God of the universe by any such transgression.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Deut 6:13, Exod 20:3–5 (Deut 5:7–9), and Matt 4:10 (Luke 4:8).
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/64/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/64/).
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