Against Celsus 7.67 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Christians rightly refuse to serve demons; far from serving them, they drive them out by prayer and Scripture from souls, places, and even animals.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:216

Εἶθʼ ἑξῆς φησι περὶ Χριστιανῶν ὅτι συνθήσονται μὲν εἶναι ταῦτʼ ἐπὶ τιμῇ τινων, ἢ ὁμοίων ἢ ἀνομοίων τὸ εἶδος, οὔτε δὲ θεοὺς εἶναι, οἷς ταῦτʼ ἀνάκειται, ἀλλὰ δαίμονας, οὔτε χρῆναι θεραπεύειν δαίμονας ὅστις σέβει θεόν. καὶ εἰ ἠπίστατό γε τὸν περὶ δαιμόνων λόγον καὶ ὧν ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ἐνεργεῖ. εἴτε καλούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ ταῦτα δεινῶν εἴτε καὶ ἑκουσίως ἐπιδιδοὺς ἑαυτὸν ᾗ βούλεται καὶ δύναται ἐνεργείᾳ, καὶ διειλήφει τὸν περὶ δαιμόνων λόγον, πολὺν ὄντα καὶ δύσληπτον τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, οὐκ ἂν ἐνεκάλεσεν ἡμῖν, φάσκουσιν ὅτι οὐ χρὴ θεραπεύειν δαίμονας ὅστις σέβει τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεόν. καὶ τοσοῦτόν γε ἀποδέομεν τοῦ θεραπεύειν δαίμονας, ὥστε καὶ ἀπελαύνειν αὐτοὺς εὐχαῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων μαθήμασιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ψυχῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τόπων. ἐν οἷς αὑτοὺς ἱδρύκασιν, ἔσθʼ ὅτε δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ζῴων. πολλάκις γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ λύμῃ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐνεργοῦσί τινα οἱ δαίμονες.

English · Claude translation

Then next he says of Christians that “they will agree that these things are for the honour of certain beings, whether like or unlike them in form, but that those to whom they are dedicated are not gods but demons, and that whoever worships God must not serve demons.” If he had understood the doctrine of demons and what each of them brings about, whether summoned by those skilled in such things or giving himself willingly to whatever activity he wishes and is able, and had grasped the doctrine of demons, which is extensive and hard for human nature to comprehend, he would not have blamed us for saying that whoever worships the God over all must not serve demons. And we are so far from serving demons that we even drive them out, by prayers and by the lessons of the sacred writings, from human souls and from the places where they have established themselves, and sometimes from animals too; for the demons often work something for the harm of these as well.

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 2:216 · 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)

Topics

Prayer

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 7.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/67/).

Plain text

Origen, Cels. 7.67 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/67/).