Christians help the emperor by prayer
Next Celsus urges us to help the emperor with all our strength, to labour with him in what is just, to fight for him, to serve in his army if he presses us, and to share command with him.
To this too we must say that we do help emperors when there is need, with a help that is, so to speak, divine, and taking up “the whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6:13). And we do this in obedience to the apostle’s voice, which says: “I urge you, then, first to make petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). And the more pious a person is, the more effective he is in helping those who reign: more effective than the soldiers who go out to the battle lines and kill as many of the enemy as they can.
Then we might also say this to those who are strangers to the faith and who demand that we serve as soldiers for the common good and kill men: even among you, the priests of certain images and the temple-keepers of those you consider gods keep their right hands undefiled for the sake of the sacrifices, so that they may offer the customary sacrifices to those you call gods with hands free of blood and clean of killing; and surely, when war comes, you do not enlist the priests too. If, then, this is reasonably done, how much more reasonably, while others go to war, do these also wage their war as priests and servants of God, keeping their right hands clean but striving through prayers to God for those who fight in a just cause and for him who reigns justly, so that everything opposed and hostile to those who act justly may be overthrown?
And we, by our prayers overthrowing all the demons who stir up wars, break oaths and disturb peace, help those who reign more than those who seem to be soldiers do. We share the labours of public affairs, we who offer up prayers with righteousness, together with disciplines and meditations that teach us to despise pleasures and not to be led by them. We fight for the emperor even more; and we do not serve in his army, even if he presses us, but we wage war on his behalf, raising an army of our own, an army of piety, through our intercessions to the Deity.
Greek
Εἶθ᾿ ἑξῆς προτρέπεται ἡμᾶς ὁ Κέλσος ἀρήγειν τῷ βασιλεῖ παντὶ σθένει καὶ συμπονεῖν αὐτῷ τὰ δίκαια καὶ ὑπερμαχεῖν αὐτοῦ καὶ συστρατεύειν αὐτῷ, ἂν ἐπείγῃ, καὶ συστρατηγεῖν. λεκτέον δὲ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ὅτι ἀρήγομεν κατὰ καιρὸν τοῖς βασιλεῦσι θείαν, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, ἄρηξιν, καὶ „πανοπλίαν“ ἀναλαμβάνοντες „θεοῦ.“ καὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦμεν πειθόμενοι ἀποστολικῇ φωνῇ λεγούσῃ· „παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς πρῶτον ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις, προσευχὰς, ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, ὑπὲρ βασιλέων καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ὄντων.“ καὶ ὅσῳ γε τὶς εὐσεβέστερός ἐστι, τοσούτῳ ἀνυτικώτερος ἐν τῷ ἀρήγειν τοῖς βασιλεύουσι παρὰ τοὺς εἰς τὰς παρατάξεις ἐξιόντας στρατιώτας καὶ ἀναιροῦντας οὓς ἂν δύνωνται τῶν πολεμίων. εἶτα δὲ καὶ ταῦτ᾿ εἴποιμεν ἂν πρὸς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους τῆς πίστεως καὶ ἀξιοῦντας ἡμᾶς στρατεύεσθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀναιρεῖν ὅτι καὶ οἱ καθ᾿ ὑμᾶς ἱερεῖς ἀγαλμάτων τινῶν καὶ νεωκόροι ὧν νομίζετε θεῶν τηροῦσιν ἑαυτῶν ἀμίαντον τὴν δεξιὰν διὰ τὰς θυσίας, ἵν᾿ ἀναιμάκτοις χερσὶ καὶ καθαραῖς ἀπὸ φόνων προσάγωσι τὰς νενομισμένας θυσίας οἷς φατε θεοῖς· καὶ οὐ δή που πολέμου καταλαβόντος καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς στρατεύετε. εἰ ουν τοῦτ᾿ εὐλόγως γίνεται. πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἄλλων στρατευομένων καὶ οὗτοι στρατεύονται ὡς ἱερεῖς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεραπευταὶ, καθαρὰς μὲν τηροῦντες τὰς δεξιὰς ἀγωνιζόμενοι δὲ διὰ τῶν πρὸς θεὸν εὐχῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίως στρατευομένων καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίως βασιλεύοντος, ἵνα τὰ ἐναντία πάντα καὶ ἐχθρὰ τοῖς δικαίως πράττουσι καθαιρεθῇ; ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ ταῖς εὐχαῖς πάντας δαίμονας. τοὺς ἐγείροντας τὰ πολεμικὰ καὶ ὅρκους συγχέοντας καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην ταράσσοντας, καθαιροῦντες μᾶλλον βοηθοῦμεν τοῖς βασιλεύουσιν ἤπερ οἱ δοκοῦντες στρατεύεσθαι. συμπονοῦμεν δὲ τοῖς κοινοῖς πράγμασιν οἱ μετὰ δικαιοσύνης ἀναφέροντες προσευχὰς, σὺν ἀσκήσεσι καὶ μελέταις διδασκούσαις καταφρονεῖν ἡδονῶν καὶ μὴ ἄγεσθαι ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν. ἡμεῖς καὶ μᾶλλον ὑπερμαχοῦμεν τοῦ βασιλέως· καὶ οὐ συστρατευόμεθα μὲν αὐτῷ, κἂν ἐπείγῃ, στρατευόμεθα δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἴδιον στρατόπεδον εὐσεβείας συγκροτοῦντες διὰ τῶν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐντεύξεων.