Celsus and the thirty-six Egyptian demons
After this Celsus says words to this effect: “That in these matters, down to the very least, there is someone to whom authority has been given, one may learn from what the Egyptians say. They say that thirty-six demons, or certain ethereal gods, have divided the human body among them, apportioned into that many parts (some say far more), and each has been charged to tend a different part of it. They also know the names of the demons in their native tongue, such as Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Knat, Sikat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor and Reianoor, and all the others they name in their own language; and by calling on them they heal the ailments of the parts. What then prevents anyone who so wishes from paying his respects to these and to the others, and so being healthy rather than sick, fortunate rather than unfortunate, and set free, as far as possible, from tortures and punishments?”
With these words Celsus tries to drag our soul down to the demons, as though they had received our bodies as their allotted portion, and he declares that each one presides over a part of our body. He wants us to trust the demons he speaks of and to serve them, so that we may be healthy rather than sick, fortunate rather than unfortunate, and be released from tortures to the full extent that it can be done. Yet so low is his opinion of the whole and undivided honour paid to the God of all that he does not believe that God alone, worshipped and honoured with a loud voice, is enough to give the one who honours Him, from the very act of revering Him, a power that holds back the plots of the demons against the devout. For he has not seen how the invocation of the name of Jesus by those who truly believe has healed not a few people from diseases, from possession by demons, and from other afflictions.
Greek
Μετὰ ταῦτά φησιν ὁ Κέλσος τοιαῦτα· ὅτι μὴν ἐν τοῖσδε μέχρι τῶν ἐλαχίστων ἔστιν ὅτῳ δέδοται ἐξουσία. μάθοι τις ἂν ἐξ ὧν Αἰγύπτιοι λέγουσιν. ὅτι ἄρα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ σῶμα ἓξ καὶ τριάκοντα διειληφότες δαίμονες ἢ θεοί τινες αἰθέριοι εἰς τοσαῦτα μέρη νενεμημένον (οἱ δὲ καὶ πολὺ πλείους λέγουσιν) ἄλλος ἄλλο τι αὐτοῦ νέμειν ἐπιτέτακται. καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων ἴσασι τὰ ὀνόματα ἐπιχωρίῳ φωνῇ, ὥσπερ Χνουμὴν καὶ Χναχουμὴν καὶ Κνὰτ καὶ Σικὰτ καὶ Βιοὺ καὶ Ἐροὺ καὶ Ἐρεβίου καὶ Ῥαμανὸρ καὶ Ῥειανοὸρ ὅσα τε ἄλλα τῇ ἑαυτῶν γλώσσῃ ὀνομάζουσι· καὶ δὴ ἐπικα λοῦντες αὐτοὺς ἰῶνται τῶν μερῶν τὰ παθήματα. τί ουν κωλύει τούτους τε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους δεξιούμενον, ἂν χρῄζῃ τις, ὑγιαίνειν μᾶλλον ἢ νοσεῖν καὶ εὐτυχεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ δυστυχεῖν καὶ βασανιστηρίων καὶ κολαστηρίων ὡς οἷόν τε ἀπηλλάχθαι; καὶ διὰ τούτων δὴ κατάγειν ἡμῶν πειρώμενος τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ Κέλσος ἐπὶ τοὺς δαίμονας, ὡς λαχόντας ἡμῶν τὰ σώματα, καὶ ἕνα ἕκαστον ἐπιστατεῖν ἀποφαινόμενος μέρους τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν θέλει ἡμᾶς πιστεύειν μὲν οἷς λέγει δαιμονίοις καὶ θεραπεύειν αὐτὰ, ἵνα ὑγιαίνωμεν μᾶλλον ἢ νοσῶμεν καὶ εὐτυχῶμεν μᾶλλον ἢ δυστυχῶμεν καὶ ὅση δύναμις βασανιστηρίων, ὡς οἷόν τε ἐστὶν, ἀπαλλαγῶμεν, τοσοῦτον δ᾿ ἄρα κατέγνωκε τῆς εἰς τὸν θεὸν τῶν ολων ἀσχίστου καὶ ἀδιαιρέτου τιμῆς, ὡς μὴ αὐτάρκη πιστεύων τὸν θεὸν μόνον προσκυνούμενον καὶ μεγαλοφώνως τιμώμενον παρέχειν τῷ τιμῶντι ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σέβειν αὐτὸν δύναμιν κωλυτικὴν τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων κατὰ τοῦ ὁσίου ἐπιβουλῆς· οὐ γὰρ ἑώρακε. τίνα τρόπον τὸ ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν γνησίως πιστευόντων καλούμενον οὐκ ὀλίγους ἀπὸ νόσων καὶ δαιμονισμῶν καὶ ἄλλων περιστάσεων ἰάσατο.