Where Celsus’s phrases came from
For to use the words of prophets is indeed our practice: we show that Jesus is the Christ proclaimed beforehand by them, and we prove from the prophetic writings that what the Gospels record about Jesus was fulfilled. To speak of “circles upon circles” perhaps belongs to the heresy mentioned before, which encloses within one circle, which they say is the soul of the universe and Leviathan, the seven circles of the archons. Or perhaps it is a mishearing of Ecclesiastes, who says: “Circling round and round the wind goes, and on its circles the wind returns” (Ecclesiastes 1:6).
“Emanations of an earthly church and of circumcision” was perhaps taken from the claim made by some that the church on earth is an emanation of a heavenly church and a higher aeon, and that the circumcision written in the law is a symbol of a circumcision performed there in a certain rite of cleansing. The followers of Valentinus give the name Prunicus to a certain Wisdom, in keeping with their own wisdom that has gone astray, and they want the woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years to be a symbol of her (Matthew 9:20; Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43). The man who jumbles together everything from Greeks and barbarians and those in the heresies misheard this and spoke of “the flowing power of a certain virgin, Prunicus”.
“A living soul” has perhaps been said in secret teachings by some of the followers of Valentinus of the one they call “the psychic demiurge”; or perhaps the soul of one who is being saved has been called, not unworthily, “the living soul” by some, to distinguish it from a dead soul. But I do not know of any talk of “a heaven slain”, or “an earth slain with a sword”, or “many slain that they may live”; and it is not unlikely that Celsus brought these in out of his own head.
Greek
Τὸ μὲν γὰρ χρῆσθαι προφητῶν λόγοις ἡμῶν ἐστι, τῶν παριστάντων Ἰησοῦν εἶναι τὸν προκεκηρυγμένον ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν Χριστὸν καὶ ἀποδεικνύντων ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν τὰ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πληρωθέντα. τὸ δὲ κύκλους ἐπὶ κύκλοις λέγειν τάχα μὲν καὶ τῆς προειρημένης ἐστὶν αἱρέσεως, κύκλῳ περιλαμβανούσης ἑνὶ, ἥν φασιν εἶναι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ψυχὴν καὶ Λευϊαθὰν, τοὺς ἑπτὰ τῶν ἀρχοντικῶν κύκλους. τάχα δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐκκλησιαστοῦ ἐστι παράκουσμα λέγοντος· „κυκλοῖ κυκλῶν πορεύεται τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ ἐπὶ κύκλους αὐτοῦ ἐπιστρέφει τὸ πνεῦμα.“ τὸ δ᾿ ἀποῤῥοίας ἐκκλησίας ἐπιγείου καὶ περιτομῆς τάχα ἐλήφθη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑπό τινων λέγεσθαι ἐκκλησίας τινὸς ἐπουρανίου καὶ κρείττονος αἰῶνος ἀπόῤῥοιαν εἶναι τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ περιτομῆς τινος ἐν καθαρσίῳ τινὶ ἐκεῖ γεγενημένης σύμβολον εἶναι τὴν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γεγραμμένην. Προυνικὸν δέ τινα σοφίαν οἱ ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου ὀνομάζουσι κατὰ τὴν πεπλανημένην ἑαυτῶν σοφίαν, ης σύμβολον εἶναι βούλονται καὶ δώδεκα ἔτεσιν αἱμοῤῥοοῦσαν· ἣν παρακούσας ὁ ἅμα πάντα φύρων τὰ Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων καὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν εἶπε τό· Προυνικοῦ τινος δύναμιν ῥέουσαν παρθένου. ψυχὴ δὲ ζῶσα τάχα μὲν ἐν ἀποῤῥήτοις λέλεκται παρά τισι τῶν ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου εἰς τὸν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν ὀνομαζόμενον „ψυχικὸν δημιουργὸν,“ τάχα δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν ψυχῆς νεκρᾶς ἡ ζῶσα ψυχὴ οὐκ ἀγεννῶς παρά τισι λέλεκται ἡ τοῦ σῳζομένου. σφαζόμενον δ᾿ οὐκ οἶδα οὐρανὸν λελεγμένον ἢ γῆν σφαζομένην μαχαίρᾳ καὶ πολλοὺς σφαζομένους, ἵνα ζήσωσι. καὶ οὐκ ἀπεικός ἐστιν ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ταῦτα κεκομικέναι τὸν Κέλσον.