Against Celsus, Book III · §17 · Origen of Alexandria

Egyptian temples and the Christian faith

He wants to compare the things of our faith with the practices of the Egyptians. Among them, as one approaches, there are splendid sacred precincts and groves, great and beautiful gateways, wonderful temples, magnificent pavilions all around, and rites deeply devout and full of mystery; but once one has gone in and further inside, what one sees being worshipped is a cat, or an ape, or a crocodile, or a goat, or a dog.

What, then, is there among us that corresponds to the things of the Egyptians that look solemn to those approaching, and what corresponds to the irrational animals worshipped inside, beyond the solemn gateways? Or are the prophecies, the God over all, and the teaching against images the things that even he counts solemn, while Jesus Christ crucified corresponds to the irrational animal that is worshipped? If he says this (and I do not think he will say anything else), we will answer that a good deal has already been said by us above in support of what concerns Jesus: that even what seems to have befallen him as a man has come about for the good of the universe and for the salvation of the whole world.

Greek

Παραβάλλειν δὲ τὰ τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων θέλει πράγμασι· παρ᾿ οἷς προσιόντι μέν ἐστι λαμπρὰ τεμένη καὶ ἄλση καὶ προπυλαίων μεγέθη τε καὶ κάλλη καὶ νεῲ θαυμάσιοι καὶ σκηναὶ πέριξ ὑπερήφανοι καὶ θρησκεῖαι μάλα δεισιδαίμονες καὶ μυστηριώτιδες, ἤδη δὲ εἰσιόντι καὶ ἐνδοτέρω γινομένῳ θεωρεῖται προσκυνούμενος αἴλουρος ἢ πίθηκος ἢ κροκόδειλος ἢ τράγος ἢ κύων. τί γὰρ τὸ ἀνάλογον τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς προσιόντας σεμνοφανέσιν Αἰγυπτίων ἐστὶ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν, τί δὲ τὸ ἀνάλογον τοῖς ἔνδον μετὰ τὰ σεμνὰ προπύλαια ἀλόγοις ζῴοις προσκυνουμένοις; ἢ τὰς μὲν προφητείας καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸν καὶ τὰ κατὰ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων †ἐστὶ τὰ καὶ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν σεμνὰ, Ἰησοῦς δὲ Χριστὸς ἐσταυρωμένος τὸ ἀνάλογον τῷ προσκυνουμένῳ ἀλόγῳ ζῴῳ; ἀλλ᾿ ἐὰν τοῦτο λέγῃ (οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι οἶμαι φήσειν αὐτὸν), ἀπαντήσομεν ὅτι πλείονα ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω ἡμῖν εἰς κατασκευὴν τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἴρηται, ὅτι καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα κατ᾿ ἄνθρωπον αὐτῷ συμβεβηκέναι χρησίμως γέγονεν [ἐν] τῷ παντὶ καὶ σωτηρίως τῷ ὅλῳ κόσμῳ.

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About this text

Origen answers the charges Celsus makes in his own voice: that Jews and Christians quarrel over an ass’s shadow, that the Church began in revolt and splits into sects, and that Jesus is no greater than the heroes and wonder-workers of the Greeks. He then defends the Gospel’s call to sinners and the unlearned, showing that Christians welcome the wise as well and lead each hearer from healing to the deeper teaching.

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 III, chapters 1 – 81)

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