Against Celsus, Book VI · §20 · Origen of Alexandria

Seeing the unseen beyond the heavens

For to those able to hear he states it plainly, calling the things of sense “what is seen,” and naming the intelligible things, grasped by the mind alone, “what is not seen.” He also knows that the things of sense, the things “seen,” are “temporary,” and that the intelligible things, the things “not seen,” are “eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). And since he wished to be engaged in contemplating those things, helped by his longing for them he counted every affliction as nothing and as something light. In the very time of “affliction” and toil he was in no way weighed down by them; because of his contemplation of those things he made light of every hardship.

For we too have “a great high priest,” who by the greatness of his power and of his mind “has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (Hebrews 4:14). He has promised those who have truly learned divine things and have lived worthily of them that he will lead them on to what lies beyond the world. For he says: “so that where I am going, you also may be” (John 14:3).

For this reason we hope, after the toils and the contests here, to reach the very heights of the heavens. Having received, according to the teaching of Jesus, springs of “water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14), and having made room for rivers of contemplation (John 7:38), we hope to be with the waters said to be “above the heavens,” which praise “the name of the Lord” (Psalm 148:4–5). And as long as we praise him, we shall not be carried round by the revolving of heaven, but shall always be engaged in contemplating the invisible things of God, no longer understood by us “from the creation of the world through the things that are made” (Romans 1:20), but as the true disciple of Jesus put it, when he said, “but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12), and, “when what is perfect comes, what is partial will be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10).

Greek

Ἄντικρυς γὰρ τοῖς ἀκούειν δυναμένοις παρίστησι τὰ μὲν αἰσθητὰ λέγων αὐτὰ „βλεπόμενα,“ τὰ δὲ νοητὰ καὶ νῷ μόνῳ καταληπτὰ ὀνομάζων „μὴ βλεπόμενα.“ οὗτος δὲ καὶ „πρόσκαιρα“ μὲν οἶδε τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ „βλεπόμενα,“ „αἰώνια“ δὲ τὰ νοητὰ καὶ „μὴ βλεπόμενα“· καὶ βουλόμενος πρὸς τῇ ἐκείνων θέᾳ γενέσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα πόθου βοηθούμενος πᾶσαν θλῖψιν τὸ οὐδὲν καὶ ἐλαφράν τινα ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι· καὶ παρ᾿ αὐτὸν τὸν „τῆς θλίψεως“ καὶ τῶν πόνων καιρὸν μηδαμῶς μὲν βαρούμενος ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν, ἐπελαφρίζων δὲ διὰ τὴν περὶ ἐκεῖνα θέαν πᾶσαν περίστασιν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἔχομεν ἡμεῖς „ἀρχιερέα μέγαν“ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς δυνάμεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦ αὐτοῦ „διεληλυθότα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, Ἰησοῦν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ,“ ἐπαγγειλάμενον τοῖς γνησίως μαθοῦσι τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἀξίως αὐτῶν βιώσασι προάξειν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ ὑπερκόσμια· φησὶ γάρ· „ἵν᾿ ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω καὶ ὑμεῖς ἦτε.“ διὰ τοῦτο ἡμεῖς μετὰ τοὺς ἐνταῦθα πόνους καὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐλπίζομεν πρὸς ἄκροις γενέσθαι τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ πηγὰς „ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον“ ἀναλαβόντες κατὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίαν ποταμούς τε χωρήσαντες τῶν θεωρημάτων σὺν τοῖς λεγομένοις ὕδασιν „ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν.“ αἰνοῦσι „τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου,“ ἔσεσθαι. καὶ ὅσον γε αἰνοῦμεν αὐτὸν, οὐ περιαχθησόμεθα ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιφορᾶς, ἀεὶ δὲ πρὸς τῇ θέᾳ ἐσόμεθα τῶν ἀοράτων τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐκέτι „ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι“ νοουμένων ἡμῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὠνόμασεν ὁ γνήσιος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαθητὴς λέγων· „τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον“ καὶ τό· „ἐὰν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται.“

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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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