Against Celsus, Book IV · §33 · Origen of Alexandria

The fathers named in prayers and spells

Next after this, Celsus, running over the contents of the first book of Moses, which is entitled Genesis, says that “they set about tracing their descent back to a first stock of sorcerers and deceivers, calling to witness faint and ambiguous sayings hidden away somewhere in darkness, and misinterpreting them to the ignorant and foolish; and this though, in all the long time before, no one had ever so much as laid claim to such a thing.” In these words he seems to me to have stated what he meant very obscurely. And it is likely that he contrived the obscurity of this passage on purpose, since he saw that the argument which establishes that the Jewish nation comes from these particular ancestors is strong; and yet, on the other hand, he did not want to seem ignorant of a matter concerning the Jews and their race that is not to be lightly dismissed.

It is clear, then, that the Jews trace their descent from the three fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their names, joined to the title of God, have such power that the formula “the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6) is used not only by those of that nation in their prayers to God and in charming away demons, but also by nearly all who busy themselves with spells and magic. For in magical writings this kind of invocation of God is found in many places, as is the use of the name of God as proper to these men, in dealings against the demons. These facts, then, which Jews and Christians bring forward as proof that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of the Jewish nation, were holy men, Celsus seems to me not to have been wholly ignorant of, and yet not to have set out clearly, since he could not answer the argument.

Greek

Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος ἐπιτρέχων τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης βίβλου Μωϋσέως. ἥτις ἐπιγέγραπται Γένεσις, φησὶν ὡς ἄρα ἐπεχείρησαν γενεαλογεῖν αὑτοὺς ἀπὸ πρώτης σπορᾶς γοήτων καὶ πλάνων ἀνθρώπων, ἀμυδρὰς καὶ ἀμφιβόλους φωνὰς ἐν σκότῳ που κρυφίους ἐπιμαρτυρόμενοι καὶ τοῖς ἀμαθέσι καὶ ἀνοήτοις παρεξηγούμενοι, καὶ ταῦτα μηδὲ πώποτ᾿ ἐν πολλῷ τῷ πρόσθεν χρόνῳ τοῦ τοιοῦδε μηδ᾿ ἀμφισβητηθέντος. πάνυ δ᾿ ἀσαφῶς ἐν τούτοις δοκεῖ μοι εἰρηκέναι ὅπερ ἐβούλετο. εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἀσάφειαν ἐπιτετηδευκέναι αὐτὸν, ἐπείπερ ἑώρα ἰσχυρὸν τὸν λόγον τὸν κατασκευάζοντα ἀπὸ τοιωνδὶ προγόνων εἶναι τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος· πάλιν τ᾿ αὖ ἐβουλήθη μὴ δοκεῖν ἀγνοεῖν πρᾶγμα περὶ Ἰουδαίων καὶ τοῦ γένους αὐτῶν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον. σαφὲς δὴ ὅτι καὶ γενεαλογοῦνται Ἰουδαῖοι ἀπὸ τῶν τριῶν πατέρων τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακώβ· ὧν τοσοῦτον δύναται τὰ ὀνόματα συναπτόμενα τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ προσηγορίᾳ, ὡς οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους χρῆσθαι ἐν ταῖς πρὸς θεὸν εὐχαῖς καὶ ἐν τῷ κατεπᾴδειν δαίμονας τῷ ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακὼβ ἀλλὰ γὰρ σχεδὸν καὶ πάντας τοὺς τὰ τῶν ἐπῳδῶν καὶ μαγειῶν πραγματευομένους. εὑρίσκεται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς μαγικοῖς συγγράμμασι πολλαχοῦ ἡ τοιαύτη τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπίκλησις καὶ παράληψις τοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ὀνόματος ὡς οἰκείου τοῖς ἀνδράσι τούτοις εἰς τὰ κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων. ταῦτ᾿ οὖν δοκεῖ μοι, ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν προσαγόμενα εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ἱερούς τινας ἄνδρας γεγονέναι τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τὸν Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τὸν Ἰακὼβ, τοὺς πατέρας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους. μὴ πάντῃ μὲν ἠγνοηκέναι ὁ Κέλσος οὐ μὴν σαφῶς ἐκτεθεῖσθαι, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐδύνατο ἀπαντῆσαι πρὸς τὸν λόγον.

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Origen answers Celsus’s scorn for the belief that God or his Son comes down to the world, showing that the Word comes down without change and that God’s threats and punishments are a cure, not a fit of temper. He then defends the stories of Genesis and the patriarchs, read in their deeper sense, against the charge that they are silly tales, and rejects Celsus’s claim that the world was made no more for man than for the animals, which Celsus thought nearer to God than men.

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 a separate review. No earlier English translation was consulted.

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Translated from Koetschau GCS 2 – 3 (1899) — Greek (Greek · Book IV, chapters 1 – 99)

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