Against Celsus, Book VI · §45 · Origen of Alexandria

Two extremes: Christ and the Antichrist

Since Celsus also tosses in, in passing, what is said about the one called Antichrist, though he has not read what is said of him in Daniel (Daniel 8:23–25) or in Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3–12), or what the Saviour prophesied in the Gospels about his coming (Matthew 24:23–26), we must say a little about this too. Since “just as faces are not like faces, so neither are hearts like the hearts of men” (Proverbs 27:19), it is clear that there would be differences in “the hearts of men” both among those who have inclined toward the good, since they have not all been stamped and shaped toward it equally and alike, and among those who through neglect of the good rush toward the opposite. For among these also wickedness is poured out in great measure in some, and in others to a lesser degree.

What is absurd, then, in there being among men two extremes, if I may so call them, one of good and the other of its opposite, so that the extreme of good is in the man discerned in Jesus, from whom so great a conversion, healing and betterment flowed to the human race, and the extreme of the opposite is in the man discerned in the one called Antichrist? God, who has embraced all things in his foreknowledge and has seen what concerns both of these, willed to make these things known to men through the prophets, so that those who understand their words might be drawn close to the better and guard themselves against the opposite.

It was fitting that one of the two extremes, the best, should be proclaimed Son of God because of his surpassing excellence, and the one diametrically opposite to him the son of the evil demon, Satan, the devil. Then, since evil is most clearly marked as being at the outpouring of wickedness and at its height when it plays the part of the better, for this reason signs and wonders and powers of falsehood attend the worse one, through the help of his father the devil (2 Thessalonians 2:9). For beyond the help that demons give to sorcerers, who deceive men for the basest ends, there comes help from the devil himself for deceiving the human race.

Paul speaks about this one called Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3–12), teaching and showing, with a certain reserve, in what way he will come among the human race, and when, and why. And see whether Paul does not set these things out with the greatest dignity, in a way that deserves not even the slightest mockery.

Greek

Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ καλουμένου ἀντιχρίστου παραῤῥιπτεῖ ὁ Κέλσος. ουτε τὰ ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ οὔτε τὰ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ ἀναγνοὺς περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰρημένα οὔτε τὰ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος προφητευθέντα περὶ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, ὀλίγα καὶ περὶ τούτου λεκτέον. ὅτι „ὥσπερ οὐχ ὅμοια πρόσωπα προσώποις. οὕτως οὐδὲ αἱ καρδίαι ὅμοιαι ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων.“ δῆλον ὅτι εἶεν ἂν ἐν „ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων“ διαφοραὶ καὶ τῶν πρὸς τὸ καλὸν νενευκότων, οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἴσης καὶ παραπλησίως ἀλλήλοις πάντων τυπωθέντων καὶ μορφωθέντων πρὸς αὐτὸ, καὶ τῶν δι᾿ ἀμέλειαν τοῦ καλοῦ ἐπὶ τὰ ἐναντία ᾀττόντων· καὶ ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ἐν οἷς μέν ἐστι σφόδρα κεχυμένη ἡ κακία ἐν οἷς δ᾿ ἐπ᾿ ἔλαττον· τί οὖν ἄτοπον δύο, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ἀκρότητας. τὴν μὲν τοῦ καλοῦ τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου, ἐν ἀνθρώποις γίνεσθαι, ὥστε τὴν μὲν τοῦ καλοῦ ἀκρότητα εἶναι ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν νοουμένῳ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἀφ᾿ ου ἡ τοσαύτη ἔῤῥευσε τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιστροφὴ καὶ θεραπεία καὶ βελτίωσις, τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν ὀνομαζόμενον ἀντίχριστον; πάντα δὲ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ προγνώσει ἐκπεριλαβὼν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἰδὼν τὰ περὶ ἀμφοτέρων τούτων ἐβουλήθη περὶ τούτων γνωρίσαι διὰ τῶν προφητῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἵνα οἱ συνιέντες τῶν λόγων αὐτῶν οἰκειωθῶσι μὲν τῷ κρείττονι. φυλάξωνται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐναντίου. ἐχρῆν δὲ τὸν μὲν ἕτερον τῶν ἄκρων καὶ βέλτιστον υἱὸν ἀναγορεύεσθαι τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν, τὸν δὲ τούτῳ κατὰ διάμετρον ἐναντίον υἱὸν τοῦ πονηροῦ δαίμονος καὶ Σατανᾶ καὶ διαβόλου. εἶτ᾿ ἐπεὶ τότε μάλιστα τὸ φαῦλον ἐν τῇ χύσει τῆς κακίας καὶ τῇ ἀκρότητι αὐτῆς εἶναι χαρακτηρίζεται, ὅτε ὑποκρίνεται τὸ κρεῖττον, διὰ τοῦτο περὶ τὸν χείρονα γίνεται ἐκ συνεργίας τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ διαβόλου σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα καὶ δυνάμεις ψεύδους. ὑπὲρ γὰρ τὰς εἰς τοὺς γόητας γινομένας ἀπὸ δαιμόνων συνεργίας πρὸς τὰ φαυλότατα τῶν ἀνθρώπους ἀπατώντων γίνεται συνεργία ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐπὶ ἀπάτῃ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Λέγει δὲ ὁ Παῦλος περὶ τούτου τοῦ καλουμένου ἀντιχρίστου διδάσκων καὶ παριστὰς μετά τινος ἐπικρύψεως, τίνα τρόπον ἐπιδημήσει καὶ πότε τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ διὰ τί· καὶ ὅρα εἰ μὴ σεμνότατα περὶ τούτων ὁ Παῦλος ἐκτίθεται καὶ οὐκ ἀξίως χλεύης τινὸς κἂν ἐλαχίστης·

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About this text

Celsus claims that the best Christian teachings were taken from Plato and said better by the Greeks, and he charges Christians with the diagram of an obscure sect and with a crude reading of Genesis. Origen answers that the plain speech of Scripture serves everyone, that the prophets spoke before Plato, and that the God of the Christians is spirit, not body, and is made known through His Word.

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 VI, chapters 1 – 81)

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