Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus 7

Among the Jewish prophets, some were wise before they ever received prophecy or divine inspiration, while others were enlightened through the very act of prophesying and became that kind of person. They were chosen by providence to trust the divine Spirit and the words that come from it, because their manner of life is disagreeable, extremely demanding, and free—utterly undaunted by death and danger in every respect. For the Word chooses just such people to serve as prophets of the God over all.

These prophets made a mockery of the famed endurance of Antisthenes, Crates, and Diogenes. Because they spoke the truth and freely rebuked sinners, they were stoned, sawn in two, tempted, and killed by the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated—roaming deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. The world was not worthy of them (Hebrews 11:37-38). They kept their eyes fixed on God and on the invisible realities of God—things not perceived by the senses—and for that reason those realities are eternal.

The life of each prophet is recorded, but for our present purpose it is enough to set forth the life of Moses (since his prophecies are also preserved, written in the Law), the life of Jeremiah (preserved in the prophecy that bears his name), and the life of Isaiah, who surpassed all asceticism by going naked and barefoot for three years. Consider also the vigorous life of the youths—Daniel and his companions—by reading of their abstinence from wine and the fact that their food was vegetables, since they avoided meat. If you are able, look further back at those who came before: Noah prophesying, Isaac praying prophetically over his son, and Jacob addressing each of his twelve sons: 'Come, that I may tell you what will happen in the last days.' These, and many thousands of others, prophesied to God and also foretold the things concerning Jesus the Christ.

Therefore we give no credence whatever to the words spoken by the Pythia, the Dodonian oracles, the Clarian oracle, the shrine at Branchidae, the oracle of Ammon, or by the myriads of other so-called prophets. But we do set forth the words spoken by those who prophesied in Judaea, because we see that their strenuous, free, and dignified life—empowered by the Spirit of God—was worthy of them. They prophesied in a new way that bears no resemblance whatever to the divinations that come from demons.