Against Celsus, Book III · §18 · Origen of Alexandria

Egyptian symbols and the gifts of the Spirit

Then he says that the things of the Egyptians, who speak with solemnity even about the irrational animals and claim that they are in some way symbols of a god, or whatever those who are styled their prophets like to call them, give those who have learned these things the impression that they were not initiated in vain.

But as for the things in our teaching that are presented to the deeply learned in Christianity from what Paul calls a gift, in the “word of wisdom” given “through the Spirit” and in the “word of knowledge” given “according to the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:8), Celsus does not seem to me even to have imagined them. I judge this not only from these remarks but also from what he says later, when he accuses the Christian body of driving every wise man away from the teaching of their faith and inviting only the senseless and the slavish. We shall see about this in due course, when we reach that passage.

Greek

Εἶτα τὰ μὲν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, σεμνολογούντων καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων καὶ φασκόντων εἶναί τινα αὐτὰ θεοῦ σύμβολα ἢ ὅπως φίλον ὀνομάζειν τοῖς χρηματίζουσιν αὐτῶν προφήταις, φησὶ φαντασίαν ἐξαποστέλλειν τοῖς ταῦτα μεμαθηκόσιν, ὅτι μὴ μάτην μεμύηνται· τὰ δ᾿ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις ἀπὸ τοῦ καλουμένου παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ χαρίσματος ἐν τῷ „διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος“ λόγῳ σοφίας καὶ ἐν τῷ „κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα“ λόγῳ γνώσεως παριστάμενα τοῖς ἐν χριστιανισμῷ πολυμαθέσιν οὐδὲ πεφαντάσθαι μοι ὁ Κέλσος δοκεῖ οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τούτων ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ ὧν ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς κατηγορῶν τοῦ συστήματος Χριστιανῶν λέγει, ὡς πάντα μὲν σοφὸν ἀπελαυνόντων τοῦ λόγου τῆς πίστεως αὐτῶν μόνους δὲ ἀνοήτους καὶ τοὺς ἀνδραποδώδεις καλούντων, περὶ ὧν κατὰ καιρὸν εἰσόμεθα. γενόμενοι κατὰ τὸν τόπον.

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About this text

Origen answers the charges Celsus makes in his own voice: that Jews and Christians quarrel over an ass’s shadow, that the Church began in revolt and splits into sects, and that Jesus is no greater than the heroes and wonder-workers of the Greeks. He then defends the Gospel’s call to sinners and the unlearned, showing that Christians welcome the wise as well and lead each hearer from healing to the deeper teaching.

Translated from the Greek of Koetschau, GCS 2–3 (1899), via the Perseus digital text, which serves as the base text. Each chapter was translated from the Greek and then checked clause by clause against it in an independent review. No earlier English translation was consulted.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek (Greek · Book III, chapters 1 – 81)

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