Sophia Scriptura

Against Celsus 8.74

Origen · Against Celsus · ca. 248 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Christians serve their country as commanders of prayer, offered in secret, and benefit it more than others by teaching piety and preparing citizens for the heavenly city.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:291–292

Εἰ δὲ βούλεται ἡμᾶς ὁ Κέλσος καὶ στρατηγεῖν (ὑπὲρ) πατρίδος. ἴστω ὅτι καὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦμεν, οὐ πρὸς τὸ βλέπεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ κενοδοξεῖν ἐπʼ αὐτῶν ταῦτα πράττοντες· ἐν γὰρ τῷ κρυπτῷ ἡμῶν κατʼ αὐτὸ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν εὐχαί εἰσιν, ἀναπεμπόμεναι ὡς ἀπὸ ἱερέων ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι ἡμῶν. Χριστιανοὶ δὲ μᾶλλον εὐεργετοῦσι τὰς πατρίδας ἢ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, παιδεύοντες τοὺς πολίτας καὶ εὐσεβεῖν διδάσκοντες εἰς τὸν πολιέα θεὸν, ἀναλαμβάνοντες εἰς θείαν τινὰ καὶ ἐπουράνιον πόλιν τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἐλαχίσταις πόλεσι καλῶς βιώσαντας· πρὸς οὓς λέγοιτο ἄν· (ἐν) ἐλαχίστῃ πόλει „πιστὸς ἐγένου, “ ἧκε καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν μεγάλην, ὅπου „θεὸς ἔστη ἐν συναγωγῇ θεῶν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ θεοὺς διακρίνει, “ καὶ σὲ συναριθμῶν αὐτοῖς, ἐὰν μηκέτι ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθνῄσκῃς μηδʼ „ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀρχόντων“ πίπτῃς.

English · Claude translation

And if Celsus wishes us also to lead armies for our country, let him know that we do this too, not doing it to be seen by men and to be vainglorious over it; for in secret, in our very ruling faculty, there are prayers sent up, as by priests, for those in our country. And Christians benefit their countries more than the rest of mankind, educating the citizens and teaching them to be pious toward the God who guards the city, taking up into a divine and heavenly city those who have lived well in the least cities; to whom it might be said, “You were faithful” in a very small city; come also to the great one, where “God has taken his place in the assembly of the gods; in the midst he judges gods,” and he numbers you among them, if you no longer die like a man nor fall “like one of the rulers.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:291–292 · 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)
Scripture
Topics
Prayer, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Matt 6:5–6, Luke 19:17 (compare Matt 25:21), Ps 82:1 (81:1 LXX), and Ps 82:7 (81:7 LXX).

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 8.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/74/).

Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.74 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/74/).

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