God is near; the stars are only his heralds
God, then, in his kindness comes down to men, not in a spatial sense but by his providence. And the Child of God is with his own disciples not only at that time but always, fulfilling the words, “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And if “a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine” (John 15:4), it is clear that the disciples of the Word as well, the spiritual “branches” (John 15:5) of the true vine, the Word (John 15:1), cannot bear the fruits of virtue unless they remain in the true vine, the Christ of God. He is with us too, whose place is here below on earth; and being with those everywhere who have grown into him, and indeed with those who do not know him, he is everywhere. John, who wrote the Gospel, shows this too in the person of John the Baptist, who says: “Among you stands one whom you do not know, who comes after me” (John 1:26–27).
Since he who has filled heaven and earth, and has said, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24), is with us and is near us (for I believe him when he says, “I am a God at hand, and not a God far off, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:23)), it is absurd to seek to pray to the sun or the moon or any of the stars, which do not reach to all things.
But let it be granted, to use Celsus’s very words, that the sun, the moon and the stars are “prophesying rains and heat and clouds and thunder”. If, then, they prophesy such great things, should we not rather worship God, in whose service they prophesy, and revere him rather than his prophets? Let them, then, prophesy “lightnings, too, and fruits and every kind of offspring”, and let them “dispense” all such things; yet we will not for that reason worship those who themselves worship, just as we do not worship Moses either, or those after him who prophesied from God things better than rain and heat and clouds and thunder and lightning and fruits and every offspring the senses perceive. But even if the sun, the moon and the stars were able to utter prophecies better than rains, not even so will we worship them, but the Father of the prophecies in them, and the Word of God, who is the minister of those prophecies.
But grant that they are also his “heralds” and “truly heavenly angels”. Even so, how should we not worship the God whom they herald and announce, rather than his heralds and his angels?
Greek
Θεὸς οὖν κατὰ τὴν χρηστότητα αὐτοῦ οὐ τοπικῶς ἀλλὰ προνοητικῶς συγκαταβαίνει τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. καὶ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ παῖς οὐ τότε μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀεὶ μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων μαθητῶν ἐστι, πληρῶν τὸ „ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.“ καὶ εἴπερ „κλῆμα καρπὸν οὐ δύναται φέρειν,“ „ἐὰν μὴ ἐμμείνῃ τῇ ἀμπέλῳ,“ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ οἱ τοῦ λόγου μαθηταὶ, τὰ νοητὰ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου τοῦ λόγου „κλήματα,“ οὐ δύνανται φέρειν τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἐὰν μὴ μένωσιν ἐν τῇ ἀληθινῇ ἀμπέλῳ, τῷ Χριστῷ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν τῶν τοπικῶς κάτω ἐπὶ γῆς τυγχάνοντι, ὃς μετὰ τῶν πανταχοῦ προσπεφυκότων αὐτῷ ὢν, ἤδη δὲ καὶ μετὰ τῶν οὐκ εἰδότων αὐτὸν πανταχοῦ ἐστι. καὶ τοῦτό γε ὁ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον γράψας Ἰωάννης ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ Ἰωάννου δηλοῖ, λέγοντος· „μέσος ὑμῶν στήκει, ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε, ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος.“ ἄτοπον δ᾿ ἐστὶν, τοῦ πληρώσαντος τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ εἰπόντος· „οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει κύριος“ ὄντος μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν καὶ πλησίον ἡμῶν τυγχάνοντος (πιστεύω γὰρ αὐτῷ λέγοντι· „θεὸς ἐγγίζων ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐ θεὸς πόῤῥωθεν. λέγει κύριος“), ζητεῖν εὔχεσθαι τῷ μὴ φθάνοντι ἐπὶ τὰ σύμπαντα ἡλίῳ ἢ σελήνῃ ἤ τινι τῶν ἀστέρων. ἔστω δὲ, ἵνα αὐταῖς ταῖς λέξεσι Κέλσου χρήσωμαι, προφητεύοντας εἶναι ὑετοὺς καὶ θάλπη καὶ νέφη καὶ βροντὰς ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας· ἆρ᾿ οὖν, εἰ προφητεύουσιν οὗτοι τὰ τηλικαῦτα, οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ, ᾧ ὑπουργοῦντες προφητεύουσι, προσκυνητέον κἀκεῖνον σεπτέον ἤπερ τοῖς προφήταις αὐτοῦ; προφητευέτωσαν οὖν καὶ ἀστραπὰς καὶ καρποὺς καὶ γονὰς ἁπάσας, καὶ πάντα ταμιευέσθωσαν τὰ τοιαῦτα· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο προσκυνήσομεν τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ὡς οὐδὲ Μωϋσέα καὶ τοὺς μετ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐκ θεοῦ προφητεύσαντας τὰ κρείττονα ὑετῶν τε καὶ θάλπους καὶ νεφῶν καὶ βροντῶν καὶ ἀστραπῶν καὶ καρπῶν καὶ πασῶν γονῶν αἰσθητῶν. ἀλλὰ κἂν ἔχωσιν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἀστέρες προφητεύειν προφητείας κρείττονας ὑετῶν, οὐδ᾿ οὕτως αὐτοὺς ἀλλὰ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς προφητειῶν καὶ τὸν διάκονον αὐτῶν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ προσκυνήσομεν. ἀλλ᾿ ἔστω καὶ κήρυκας αὐτοῦ εἶναι καὶ ἀληθῶς οὐρανίους ἀγγέλους, πῶς οὖν οὐχὶ καὶ οὕτως τὸν κηρυσσόμενον ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν θεὸν καὶ τὸν ἀγγελλόμενον μᾶλλον προσκυνητέον ἢ τοὺς κήρυκας καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ;