Chapter XXI.

The Scriptures which are current in the Churches1315    [Bishop Pearson, in his Exposition of the Creed, Art. IX., notes that “Origen for the most part speaks of the Church in the plural number, αι ἐκκλησίαι.”  S.] of God do not speak of “seven” heavens, or of any definite number at all,1316    [But see 2 Cor. xii. 2, and also Irenæus, vol. i. p. 405.] but they do appear to teach the existence of “heavens,” whether that means the “spheres” of those bodies which the Greeks call “planets,” or something more mysterious.  Celsus, too, agreeably to the opinion of Plato,1317    Cf. Plato in Timæo, p. 42. asserts that souls can make their way to and from the earth through the planets; while Moses, our most ancient prophet, says that a divine vision was presented to the view of our prophet Jacob,1318    Cf. Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.—a ladder stretching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord supported1319    ἐπεστηριγμένον. upon its top,—obscurely pointing, by this matter of the ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had in view, or to something greater than these.  On this subject Philo has composed a treatise which deserves the thoughtful and intelligent investigation of all lovers of truth.

Ἑπτὰ δὲ οὐρανοὺς ἢ ὅλως περιωρισμένον ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν αἱ φερόμεναι ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀπαγ γέλλουσι γραφαί, ἀλλ' οὐρανούς, εἴτε τὰς σφαίρας τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι λεγομένων πλανήτων εἴτε καὶ ἄλλο τι ἀπορ ρητότερον ἐοίκασι διδάσκειν οἱ λόγοι. Καὶ τὸ ὁδὸν δὲ εἶναι ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐς γῆν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς Κέλσος μὲν κατὰ Πλάτωνά φησι γίνεσθαι διὰ τῶν πλανήτων· Μωϋσῆς δέ, ὁ ἀρχαιότατος ἡμῶν προφήτης, ἐν ὄψει τοῦ πατριάρχου ἡμῶν Ἰακώβ φησιν ἑωρᾶσθαι θεῖον ἐνύπνιον, κλίμακα "εἰς οὐρανὸν" φθάνουσαν καὶ ἀγγέλους "τοῦ θεοῦ" ἀναβαίνοντας καὶ καταβαίνοντας ἐπ' αὐτῆς, τὸν δὲ κύριον ἐπεστηριγμένον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄκροις αὐτῆς, εἴτε ταῦτα εἴτε τινὰ μείζονα τούτων αἰνιττόμενος ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς κλίμακος λόγῳ· περὶ ἧς καὶ τῷ Φίλωνι συντέτακται βιβλίον, ἄξιον φρονίμου καὶ συνετῆς παρὰ τοῖς φιλαλήθεσιν ἐξετάσεως.