Against Celsus 8.76
Summary: Origen closes his eight books against Celsus, addressed to his patron Ambrose, inviting readers to judge which work breathes more of the true God, and asking Ambrose to send Celsus's promised second treatise if it exists.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:292–296
Ἔχεις δʼ ἐν τούτοις, ἱερὲ Ἀμβρόσιε, τὸ τέλος κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ἡμῖν καὶ δοθεῖσαν δύναμιν τῶν προστεταγμένων ὑπὸ σοῦ. καὶ περιεγράψαμεν ἐν ὀκτὼ βιβλίοις πάντα, ὅσα πρέπον εἶναι ἐνομίσαμεν ὑπαγορεῦσαι πρὸς τὸν ἐπιγεγραμμένον Κέλσου ἀληθῆ λόγον. τοῦ δʼ ἐντυγχάνοντός ἐστι τῷ ἐκείνου συγγράμματι καὶ οἷς ἡμεῖς κατʼ αὐτοῦ ὑπηγορεύσαμεν κρῖναι, ὁπότερα μᾶλλον πνεῖ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ τρόπου τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους φθανούσης ὑγιῶν δογμάτων προτρεπομένων ἐπὶ τὸν ἄριστον βίον ἀληθείας. ἴσθι μέντοι ἐπαγγελλόμενον τὸν Κέλσον ἄλλο σύνταγμα μετὰ τοῦτο ποιήσειν, ἐν ᾧ διδάξειν ἐπηγγείλατο, ὅπῃ βιωτέον τοὺς βουλομένους αὐτῷ καὶ δυναμένους πείθεσθαι. εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἔγραψεν ὑποσχόμενος τὸν δεύτερον λόγον, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι ἀρκεῖσθαι ἡμᾶς τοῖς ὀκτὼ πρὸς τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ ὑπαγορευθεῖσι βιβλίοις· εἰ δὲ κἀκεῖνον ἀρξάμενος συνετέλεσε, ζήτησον καὶ πέμψον τὸ σύγγραμμα. ἵνα καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο ἅπερ ἂν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας διδῷ ἡμῖν πατὴρ ὑπαγορεύσαντες καὶ τὴν ἐν ἐκείνῳ ψευδοδοξίαν ἀνατρέψωμεν, εἰ δέ που τι ἀληθὲς λέγεται, τούτῳ ἀφιλονείκως ὡς καλῶς εἰρημένῳ μαρτυρήσωμεν.
English · Claude translation
In these words you have, holy Ambrose, the completion, according to the power present in us and given to us, of what you commanded. And we have set out in eight books all that we thought fitting to dictate in answer to Celsus's work entitled The True Word. It is for the reader of his treatise and of what we have dictated against it to judge which of the two breathes more of the true God, and of the way of piety toward him, and of the truth that reaches men through sound doctrines urging them to the best life. Know, however, that Celsus promised to write another treatise after this one, in which he promised to teach how those who wish and are able to obey him ought to live. If, then, he did not write the second work he promised, it would be well for us to be content with the eight books dictated against his work; but if he began and finished that one too, seek out the treatise and send it, so that we may dictate against it too whatever the Father of truth gives us, and overturn the false opinion in it, and, if anything true is said somewhere in it, bear witness to it without contention as well said.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Ambrose was Origen's patron, who commissioned this work (see the Preface). Celsus's promised second treatise is not known to have survived.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 8.76 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/76/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 8.76 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/8/76/).
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