First healing, then the mysteries
Then after this Celsus, aware that he has abused us rather too bitterly, says, as though defending himself: “That I am making no harsher accusation than the truth compels, let anyone judge from the following as well. Those who summon people to the other rites of initiation proclaim beforehand: ‘Whoever has clean hands and intelligent speech’; and others again: ‘Whoever is pure from every defilement, whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who has lived well and justly.’ These are the proclamations of those who promise purification from sins. But let us hear whom these people summon. ‘Whoever is a sinner,’ they say, ‘whoever is without understanding, whoever is a child, and, in a word, whoever is wretched, him the kingdom of God will receive.’ Do you not mean by ‘the sinner’ the unjust man, the thief, the housebreaker, the poisoner, the temple-robber and the grave-robber? Whom else would a robber summon by public proclamation?”
To this we reply that it is not the same thing to call those who are sick in soul to healing, and those who are healthy to the knowledge and understanding of diviner things. We know both of these. At the beginning, when we invite people to be healed, we urge sinners to come to the teachings that teach them not to sin, those without understanding to the teachings that produce understanding, children to rise in mind to manhood, and, in a word, the wretched to happiness, or, to use the more proper word, to blessedness. But when those among them who are making progress show that they have been cleansed by the Word and, as far as they can, have lived a better life, then we call them to our own rites of initiation, for “we speak wisdom among the perfect” (1 Corinthians 2:6).
Greek
Εἶτα μετὰ ταῦτα αἰσθόμενος ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Κέλσος πικρότερον ἡμῖν λοιδορησαμένου ὡσπερεὶ ἀπολογούμενος τοιαῦτά φησιν· ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲν πικρότερον ἐπαιτιῶμαι ἢ ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἡ ἀλήθεια βιάζεται, τεκμαιρέσθω καὶ τοῖσδέ τις, οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὰς ἄλλας τελετὰς καλοῦντες προκηρύττουσι τάδε· ὅστις χεῖρας καθαρὸς καὶ φωνὴν συνετὸς, καὶ αὖθις ἕτεροι· ὅστις ἁγνὸς ἀπὸ παντὸς μύσους, καὶ ὅτῳ ἡ ψυχὴ οὐδὲν σύνοιδε κακὸν, καὶ ὅτῳ εὖ καὶ δικαίως βεβίωται, καὶ ταῦτα προκηρύττουσιν οἱ καθάρσια ἁμαρτημάτων ὑπισχνούμενοι, ἐπακούσωμεν δὲ τίνας ποτὲ οὗτοι καλοῦσιν· ὅστις, φασὶν, ἁμαρτωλὸς, ὅστις ἀσύνετος, ὅστις νήπιος, καὶ ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ὅστις κακοδαίμων, τοῦτον ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ δέξεται, τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν ἆρα οὐ τοῦτον λέγετε, τὸν ἄδικον καὶ κλέπτην καὶ τοιχωρύχον καὶ φαρμακέα καὶ ἱερόσυλον καὶ τυμβωρύχον; τίνας ἂν ἄλλους προκηρύττων λῃστὴς ἐκάλεσε; καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δέ φαμεν οτι οὐ ταὐτόν ἐστι νοσοῦντας τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ θεραπείαν καλεῖν καὶ ὑγιαίνοντας ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν θειοτέρων γνῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστήμην, καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀμφότερα ταῦτα γινώσκοντες, κατ᾿ ἀρχὰς μὲν προκαλούμενοι ἐπὶ τὸ θεραπευθῆναι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους προτρέπομεν τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἥκειν ἐπὶ τοὺς διδάσκοντας λόγους μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ τοὺς ἀσυνέτους ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐμποιοῦντας σύνεσιν καὶ τοὺς νηπίους εἰς τὸ ἀναβαίνειν φρονήματι ἐπὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τοὺς ἁπλῶς κακοδαίμονας ἐπὶ εὐδαιμονίαν ἢ, ὅπερ κυριώτερόν ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, ἐπὶ μακαριότητα, ἐπὰν δ᾿ οἱ προκόπτοντες τῶν προτραπέντων παραστήσωσι τὸ κεκαθάρθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου καὶ ὅση δύναμις βέλτιον βεβιωκέναι, τὸ τηνικάδε καλοῦμεν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰς παρ᾿ ἡμῖν τελετάς· „σοφίαν γὰρ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις“.