Against Celsus, Book I · §58 · Origen of Alexandria

Magi, not Chaldaeans, and the new star

After this, Celsus’s Jew, in place of the magi in the Gospel (Matthew 2:1–2), says that Jesus has told of Chaldaeans: that they were stirred at his birth and came to worship him as God while he was still an infant, and made this known to Herod the tetrarch; and that Herod sent men to kill those born at that same time, thinking that he would destroy Jesus along with them, for fear that, if he lived long enough, he might become king (Matthew 2:16).

Notice here, then, the misunderstanding of a man who does not distinguish magi from Chaldaeans, and has not observed that their professions are different, and so has told lies about the Gospel Scripture. I do not know how it is that he has also kept silent about what moved the magi, and has not said that it was a “star” seen by them “in the East,” as it is written (Matthew 2:2). Let us see, then, what must be said in answer to this too.

We think that the “star” seen “in the East” (Matthew 2:2) was new, and not like any of the familiar ones, neither those in the sphere of the fixed stars nor those in the lower spheres; but that it was of the same kind as the comets that appear from time to time, or the beams, or the bearded stars, or the jars, or whatever names the Greeks like to give to their different kinds. We establish this point in the following way.

Greek

Μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος ἀντὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ μάγων Χαλδαίους φησὶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λελέχθαι κινηθέντας ἐπὶ τῇ γενέσει αὐτοῦ ἐληλυθέναι. προσκυνήσοντας αὐτὸν ἔτι νήπιον ὡς θεόν· καὶ Ἡρώδῃ τῷ τετράρχῃ τοῦτο δεδηλωκέναι· τὸν δὲ πέμψαντα ἀποκτεῖναι τοὺς ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ γεγεννημένους, οἰόμενον καὶ τοῦτον ἀνελεῖν σὺν αὐτοῖς, μή πως τὸν αὐτάρκη ἐπιβιώσας χρόνον βασιλεύσῃ. ὅρα οὖν ἐν τούτῳ τὸ παράκουσμα τοῦ μὴ διακρίνοντος μάγους Χαλδαίων μηδὲ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας διαφόρους οὔσας αὐτῶν θεωρήσαντος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καταψευσαμένου τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς γραφῆς. οὐκ οἶδα δ᾿ ὅπως καὶ τὸ κινῆσαν τοὺς μάγους σεσιώπηκε καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν αὐτὸ εἶναι „ἀστέρα“ ὀφθέντα ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν „ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ“ κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. ἴδωμεν οὖν καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τί λεκτέον. τὸν ὀφθέντα „ἀστέρα ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ“ καινὸν εἶναι νομίζομεν καὶ μηδενὶ τῶν συνήθων παραπλήσιον, οὔτε τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀπλανεῖ οὔτε τῶν ἐν ταῖς κατωτέρω σφαίραις, ἀλλὰ τῷ γένει τοιοῦτον γεγονέναι, ὁποῖοι κατὰ καιρὸν γινόμενοι κομῆται ἢ δοκίδες ἢ πωγωνίαι ἢ πίθοι ἢ ὅπως ποτὲ φίλον Ἕλλησιν ὀνομάζειν τὰς διαφορὰς αὐτῶν. κατασκευάζομεν δὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τὸ τοιοῦτον.

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About this text

Origen answers Celsus’s opening charges: that Christians meet in secret against the law, that their teaching is barbarian and borrowed, and that they ask for faith without reasons. He then answers the Jew whom Celsus sets against Jesus, meeting the slander about Jesus’ birth and the charge of magic with the prophecies of the virgin, of Bethlehem and of the suffering Servant, and with the lives Jesus changed.

Base text: Paul Koetschau's edition, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig, 1899), read in the Perseus Digital Library digital text. The English is translated from that Greek, chapter by chapter, and each chapter was then checked clause by clause against the Greek. Koetschau's supplements are followed.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek, Perseus digital text (Greek · Book I, chapters 1 – 71)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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