Worshipping heaven and angels breaks the Jewish law
Since we say that he was confused by certain things he misheard, come, let us for our part make these points clear too, as far as we can, and show that, though Celsus thinks it a Jewish practice to worship heaven and the angels in it, such a practice is not Jewish but a transgression of Judaism, as is the worship of the sun, the moon and the stars, and of images too. You will find, at any rate, especially in Jeremiah, the word of God reproaching the Jewish people through the prophet for worshipping such things and for sacrificing “to the queen of heaven” (Jeremiah 44:17–19) and “to all the host of heaven” (Jeremiah 19:13).
The writings of the Christians also show, when they denounce the sins committed among the Jews, that once God had abandoned that people for certain sins, they committed these sins as well. For in the Acts of the Apostles it is written about the Jews: “But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did you offer me slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the figures which you made in order to worship them” (Acts 7:42–43; Amos 5:25–26).
And in Paul, who was strictly trained in the ways of the Jews (Acts 22:3) and later became a Christian through an extraordinary appearance of Jesus (Acts 9:3–6), such things are said in the letter to the Colossians: “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on humility and the worship of angels, dwelling on what he has seen, puffed up without cause by the mind of his flesh, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, supplied and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:18–19).
But Celsus, having neither read nor learned these things, has represented the Jews, I do not know how, as worshipping heaven and the angels in it without breaking the law.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δὲ φάσκομεν αὐτὸν συγκεχύσθαι ἔκ τινων παρακουσμάτων, φέρε καὶ ταῦτα ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἡμῖν τρανώσωμεν καὶ παραστήσωμεν ὅτι, Κέλσου νομίζοντος Ἰουδαϊκὸν εἶναι τὸ προσκυνεῖν οὐρανῷ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγγέλοις, οὐκ Ἰουδαϊκὸν μὲν τὸ τοιοῦτον, παραβατικὸν δὲ ἰουδαϊσμοῦ ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ προσκυνεῖν ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ ἄστροις ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἀγάλμασιν. εὑρήσεις γοῦν μάλιστα ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, διὰ τοῦ προφήτου μεμφόμενον τῷ Ἰουδαίων λαῷ ὡς προσκυνοῦντι τὰ τοιαῦτα καὶ θύοντι „τῇ βασιλίσσῃ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ“ καὶ „πάσῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.“ δηλοῦσι δὲ καὶ οἱ Χριστιανῶν λόγοι, κατηγοροῦντες τῶν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις ἁμαρτανομένων, ὅτι θεοῦ ἐγκαταλιπόντος τὸν λαὸν ἐκεῖνον ἐπί τισιν ἁμαρτήμασι καὶ ταῦτ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἡμαρτάνετο. ἐν μὲν γὰρ ταῖς Πράξεσι γέγραπται τῶν ἀποστόλων περὶ Ἰουδαίων ὅτι „ἔστρεψε δὲ ὁ θεὸς καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς λατρεύειν τῇ στρατιᾷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν προφητῶν· μὴ σφάγια καὶ θυσίας προσηνέγκατέ μοι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη, οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀνελάβετε τὴν σκηνὴν Μολὸχ καὶ τὸ ἄστρον τοῦ θεοῦ ῾Ρομφᾶ. τοὺς τύπους, οὓς ἐποιήσατε προσκυνεῖν αὐτοῖς;“ παρὰ δὲ τῷ Παύλῳ, ἀκριβῶς τὰ Ἰουδαίων παιδευθέντι καὶ ὕστερον ἐκ παραδόξου ἐπιφανείας Ἰησοῦ χριστιανίσαντι. τοιαῦτ᾿ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κολασσαεῖς λέλεκται· „μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω θέλων ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ ἑώρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῇ φυσιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον αὔξει τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ θεοῦ.“ ταῦτα δὲ μήτ᾿ ἀναγνοὺς μήτε μαθὼν ὁ Κέλσος οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως πεποίηκεν ὡς οὐ παρανομοῦντας Ἰουδαίους προσκυνεῖν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγγέλοις.