Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus

The remarks which we have made not only answer the statements of Celsus regarding the superintending spirits, but anticipate in some measure what he afterwards brings forward, when he says: “Let the second party come forward; and I shall ask them whence they come, and whom they regard as the originator of their ancestral customs. They will reply, No one, because they spring from the same source as the Jews themselves, and derive their instruction and superintendence1118 χοροστάτην. from no other quarter, and notwithstanding they have revolted from the Jews.” Each one of us, then, is come “in the last days,” when one Jesus has visited us, to the “visible mountain of the Lord,” the Word that is above every word, and to the “house of God,” which is “the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”1119 Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 15. And we notice how it is built upon “the tops of the mountains,” i.e., the predictions of all the prophets, which are its foundations. And this house is exalted above the hills, i.e., those individuals among men who make a profession of superior attainments in wisdom and truth; and all the nations come to it, and the “many nations” go forth, and say to one another, turning to the religion which in the last days has shone forth through Jesus Christ: “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in them.”1120 Cf. Isa. ii. 3. For the law came forth from the dwellers in Sion, and settled among us as a spiritual law. Moreover, the word of the Lord came forth from that very Jerusalem, that it might be disseminated through all places, and might judge in the midst of the heathen, selecting those whom it sees to be submissive, and rejecting1121 ἐλέγχῃ. the disobedient, who are many in number. And to those who inquire of us whence we come, or who is our founder,1122 ἀρχηγέτην. we reply that we are come, agreeably to the counsels of Jesus, to “cut down our hostile and insolent ‘wordy’1123 συγκόψαι τὰς πολεμικὰς ἡμῶν λογικὰς μαχαίρας καὶ ὑβριστικὰς εἰς ἄροτρα, καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸ πρότερον ἡμῶν μάχιμον ζιβύνας εἰς δρέπανα μετασκευάζομεν. swords into ploughshares, and to convert into pruning-hooks the spears formerly employed in war.”1124 Cf. Isa. ii. 4. For we no longer take up “sword against nation,” nor do we “learn war any more,” having become children of peace, for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader, instead of those whom our fathers followed, among whom we were “strangers to the covenant,” and having received a law, for which we give thanks to Him that rescued us from the error (of our ways), saying, “Our fathers honoured lying idols, and there is not among them one that causeth it to rain.”1125 Cf. Jer. xvi. 19 and xiv. 22: ὡς ψευδῆ ἐκτήσαντο οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν εἴδωλα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑετίζων. Our Superintendent, then, and Teacher, having come forth from the Jews, regulates the whole world by the word of His teaching. And having made these remarks by way of anticipation, we have refuted as well as we could the untrue statements of Celsus, by subjoining the appropriate answer.

Ταῦτα δέ, οὐ μόνον πρὸς τὰ ἐκκείμενα περὶ τῶν ἐποπτῶν ἡμῖν λέλεκται, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετρίως προλαμβάνουσι τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κέλσου πρὸς ἡμᾶς λεγόμενα, ἐν οἷς φησιν· Ἴτω δὲ ὁ δεύτερος· ἐρήσομαι δὲ αὐτούς, πόθεν ἥκουσιν ἢ τίνα ἔχουσιν ἀρχηγέτην πατρίων νόμων. Οὐδένα φήσουσιν, οἵ γε ἐκεῖθεν μὲν ὥρμηνται καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὸν διδάσκαλόν τε καὶ χοροστάτην οὐκ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν φέρουσιν· ὅμως δ' ἀφεστήκασιν Ἰουδαίων. Ἥκομεν οὖν ἡμεῖς ἕκαστος "ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις", ὅτε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἡμῶν ἐπιδεδήμηκεν, εἰς "τὸ ἐμφανὲς ὄρος κυρίου", τὸν "ὑπεράνω" παντὸς λόγου λόγον, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον "τοῦ θεοῦ", ὅς "ἐστιν ἐκκλησία θεοῦ ζῶντος, στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας". Καὶ ὁρῶμεν τίνα τρόπον οὗτος οἰκοδομεῖται "ἐπὶ ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων", πάντων τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων, οἵτινες αὐτοῦ θεμέλιός εἰσιν. Ὑψοῦται δ' οὗτος "ὁ οἶκος" "ὑπε ράνω τῶν βουνῶν", τῶν δοκούντων τι ἐξαίρετον παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἐν σοφίᾳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι. Καὶ ἐρχόμεθα "πάντα τὰ ἔθνη" ἐπ' αὐτόν, καὶ πορευόμεθα τὰ πολλὰ ἔθνη, καὶ λέγομεν ἀλλήλοις, προτρέποντες ἐπὶ τὴν "ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις" ἀναλάμψασαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ θεοσέβειαν· "∆εῦτε καὶ ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ κυρίου καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πορευσόμεθα ἐν αὐτῇ". Ἐξῆλθε γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν "Σιὼν" "νόμος" καὶ μετέστη ἐφ' ἡμᾶς πνευματικός. Ἀλλὰ καὶ "ὁ λόγος κυρίου" ἐξῆλθεν ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς "Ἱερουσαλήμ", ἵνα πανταχοῦ νεμηθῇ καὶ κρίνῃ "ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἐθνῶν", ἐκλεγόμενος μὲν οὓς ὁρᾷ εὐπειθεῖς ἐλέγχῃ δὲ "λαὸν πολὺν" τὸν ἀπειθῆ. Καί φαμέν γε πρὸς τοὺς ἐρομένους ἡμᾶς, πόθεν ἥκομεν ἢ τίνα ἔχομεν ἀρχηγέτην, ὅτι ἤλθομεν κατὰ τὰς Ἰησοῦ ὑποθήκας συγκόψαι "τὰς" πολεμικὰς ἡμῶν λογικὰς "μαχαίρας" καὶ ὑβριστικὰς "εἰς ἄροτρα", καὶ "τὰς" κατὰ τὸ πρότερον ἡμῶν μάχιμον "ζιβύνας εἰς δρέπανα" μετασκευάζειν. Οὐκέτι γὰρ λαμβάνομεν "ἐπ' ἔθνος μάχαι ραν" οὐδὲ μανθάνομεν "ἔτι πολεμεῖν", γενόμενοι διὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν υἱοὶ τῆς εἰρήνης, ὅς ἐστιν ἡμῶν ἀρχηγός, ἀντὶ τῶν πατρίων, ἐν οἷς "ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν" ἐτυγχάνομεν, λαμβάνοντες νόμον, ἐφ' ᾧ χάριτας ὁμολογοῦντες τῷ ἡμᾶς ῥυσαμένῳ ἀπὸ τῆς πλάνης λέγομεν· "Ὡς ψευδῆ ἐκτήσαντο οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν εἴδωλα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑετίζων." Ὁ χοροστάτης οὖν ἡμῶν καὶ διδάσκαλος ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων ἐξελθὼν ὅλην νέμεται τῷ λόγῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἑαυτοῦ τὴν οἰκουμένην. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν προλαβόντες πολλοῖς ἐπιφε ρομένην τοῦ Κέλσου λέξιν ὅση δύναμις ἀνετρέψαμεν, συνάπ τοντες τοῖς ἐκκειμένοις αὐτοῦ ῥητοῖς.