Chapter LIX.

Celsus then continues:  “The Jews accordingly, and these (clearly meaning the Christians), have the same God;” and as if advancing a proposition which would not be conceded, he proceeds to make the following assertion:  “It is certain, indeed, that the members of the great Church1181    τῶν ἀπὸ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας. admit this, and adopt as true the accounts regarding the creation of the world which are current among the Jews, viz., concerning the six days and the seventh;” on which day, as the Scripture says, God “ceased”1182    κατέπαυσεν. from His works, retiring into the contemplation of Himself, but on which, as Celsus says (who does not abide by the letter of the history, and who does not understand its meaning), God “rested,”1183    ἀναπαυσάμενος.—a term which is not found in the record.  With respect, however, to the creation of the world, and the “rest1184    σαββατισμοῦ. which is reserved after it for the people of God,” the subject is extensive, and mystical, and profound, and difficult of explanation.  In the next place, as it appears to me, from a desire to fill up his book, and to give it an appearance of importance, he recklessly adds certain statements, such as the following, relating to the first man, of whom he says:  “We give the same account as do the Jews, and deduce the same genealogy from him as they do.”  However, as regards “the conspiracies of brothers against one another,” we know of none such, save that Cain conspired against Abel, and Esau against Jacob; but not Abel against Cain, nor Jacob against Esau:  for if this had been the case, Celsus would have been correct in saying that we give the same accounts as do the Jews of “the conspiracies of brothers against one another.”  Let it be granted, however, that we speak of the same descent into Egypt as they, and of their return1185    τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπάνοδον. thence, which was not a “flight,”1186    φυγήν. as Celsus considers it to have been, what does that avail towards founding an accusation against us or against the Jews?  Here, indeed, he thought to cast ridicule upon us, when, in speaking of the Hebrew people, he termed their exodus a “flight;” but when it was his business to investigate the account of the punishments inflicted by God upon Egypt, that topic he purposely passed by in silence.

Εἶθ' ἑξῆς φησιν ὁ Κέλσος· Οὐκοῦν ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ τοῖσδε, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς· καὶ ὡσπερεὶ τὸ οὐκ ἂν διδόμενον συνάγων τοῦτό φησι· Σαφῶς γε τῶν ἀπὸ μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας τοῦτο ὁμολογούντων καὶ τὰ τῆς παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις φερομένης κοσμογονίας προσιε μένων ὡς ἀληθῆ περί γε τῶν ἓξ ἡμερῶν καὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης, ἐν ᾗ, ὡς μὲν ἡ γραφὴ λέγει, "κατέπαυσεν" "ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἑαυτοῦ" ὁ θεὸς ἀναχωρῶν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ περιωπήν, ὡς δ' ὁ Κέλσος μὴ τηρήσας τὰ γεγραμμένα μηδὲ συνιεὶς αὐτά φησιν, ἀναπαυσάμενος, ὅπερ οὐ γέγραπται. Περὶ δὲ τῆς κοσμοποιΐας καὶ τοῦ μετ' αὐτὴν ἀπολειπομένου σαββατισμοῦ τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ "πολὺς" ἂν εἴη καὶ μυστικὸς καὶ βαθὺς καὶ "δυσερμήνευτος λόγος". Εἶτα δοκεῖ μοι τὸ βιβλίον συμπληρῶσαι θέλων καὶ μέγα δοκεῖν εἶναι ποιῶν εἰκῇ προστιθέναι τινά, ὁποῖά ἐστι καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἄρα λέγομεν τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι ὡς καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ τὴν ἀπ' ἐκείνου διαδοχὴν ὁμοίως αὐτοῖς γενεαλογοῦμεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἀλλήλους μὲν ἐπι βουλήν ἀδελφῶν οὐκ ἴσμεν, τὸν δὲ Κάϊν ἐπιβεβουλευκέναι τῷ Ἄβελ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ· οὐ γὰρ Ἄβελ τῷ Κάϊἐπεβούλευσεν οὐδὲ ὁ Ἰακὼβ τῷ Ἠσαῦ· ὅπερ εἰ ἐγεγόνει, ἀκολούθως ἂν εἶπεν ὁ Κέλσος τὰς εἰς ἀλλήλους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπιβουλὰς τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμᾶς Ἰουδαίοις ἱστορεῖν. Ἔστω δὲ καὶ τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἡμᾶς ἀποδημίαν τὴν αὐτὴν λέγειν ἐκείνοις καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἐπάνοδον καὶ οὐ φυγήν, ὡς ὁ Κέλσος νομίζει· τί οὖν ταῦτα συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν ἢ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων κατηγορίαν; Ἔνθα μὲν οὖν ᾤετο χλευάσειν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν Ἑβραίων λόγῳ, φυγὴν ὠνόμαζεν· ὅπου δ' ἦν τὸ πραγματικὸν ἐξετάσαι περὶ τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων μαστίγων ἐπεληλυθέναι τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦθ' ἑκὼν ἐσιώπησεν.