CHAPTER XXI.
Let us see what Celsus further says of God, and how he urges us to the use of those things which are properly called idol offerings, or, still better, offerings to demons, although, in his ignorance of what true sanctity is, and what sacrifices are well-pleasing to God, he call them “holy sacrifices.” His words are, “ God is the God of all alike; He is good, He stands in need of nothing, and He is without jealousy. What, then, is there to hinder those who are most devoted to His service from taking part in public feasts?” I cannot see the connec- tion which he fancies between God's being good, and indepen- dent, and free from jealousy, and His devoted servants taking part in public feasts. I confess, indeed, that from the fact Book viri. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 509 that God is good, and without want of anything, and free from jealousy, it would follow as a consequence that we might take part in public feasts, if it were proved that the public feasts had nothing wrong in them, and were grounded upon true views of the character of God, so that they resulted naturally from a devout service of God. If, however, the so-called public festivals can in no way be shown to accord with the service of God, but may on the contrary be proved to have been devised by men when occasion offered to commemorate some human events, or to set forth certain qualities of water or earth, or the fruits of the earth,—in that case, it is clear that those who wish to offer an enlightened worship to the Divine Being will act according to sound reason, and not take part in the public feasts. For “to keep a feast,” as one of the wise men of Greece has well said, “is nothing else than to do one’s duty;"! and that man truly celebrates a feast who does his duty and prays always, offering up continually bloodless sacrifices in prayer to God. That therefore seems to me a most noble saying of Paul, “ Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."?
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
If it be objected to us on this subject that we ourselves are ‘accustomed to observe certain days, as for example the Lord's day, the Preparation, the Passover, or Pentecost, I have to answer, that to the perfect Christian, who is ever in his thoughts, words, and deeds serving his natural Lord, God the Word, all his days are the Lord's, and he is always keeping the Lord's day. He also who is unceasingly preparing himself for the true life, and abstaining from the pleasures of this life which lead astray so many,—who is not indulging the lust of the flesh, but * keeping under his body, and bringing it into subjection,” —such a one is always keeping Preparation-day. Again, he who considers that “ Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us,” and that it is his duty to keep the feast by eating of the flesh of the Word, never ceases to keep the paschal feast; for the pascha means a “ passover," and he is ever striving in all his 510 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. (Boox vm.
thoughts, words, and deeds, to pass over from the things of this life to God, and is hastening towards the city of God. And, finally, he who can truly say, * We are risen with Christ," and “He hath exalted us, and made us to sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ,” is always living in the season of Pentecost; and most of all, when going up to the upper cham- ber, like the apostles of Jesus, he gives himself to supplication and prayer, that he may become worthy of receiving * the mighty wind rushing from heaven," which is powerful to destroy sin and its fruits among men, and worthy of having some share of the tongue of fire which God sends.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
But the majority of those who are accounted believers are not of this advanced class; but from being either unable or unwilling to keep every day in this manner, they require some sensible memorials to prevent spiritual things from passing alto- gether away from their minds. It is to this practice of setting apart some days distinct from others, that Paul seems to me to refer in the expression, * part of the feast;”* and by these words he indicates that a life in accordance with the divine word con- sists not “in a part of the feast," but in one entire and never- ceasing festival. Again, compare the festivals, observed among us as these have been described above, with the public feasts of Celsus and the heathen, and say if the former are not much more sacred observances than those feasts in which the lust of the flesh runs riot, and leads to drunkenness and debauchery. It would be too long for us at present to show why we are required by the law of God to keep its festivals by eating “the bread of affliction,"? or “leaven with bitter herba,"* or why it says, ^ Humble your souls," and such like. For it is impos sible for man, who is a compound being, in which “ the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,"* to Col ii. 16. The whole passage in the English version is, ** Let no map judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday" (ἐν μέρει ἕορτα). Origen's interpretation is not followed by any modern expositors. It is adopted by Chrysostom and Theodoret.
3 Deut. xvi. 3. 8 Ex. xii. 8.
Book vit. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 511 keep the feast with his whole nature; for either he keeps the feast with his spirit and afflicts the body, which through the lust of the flesh is unfit to keep it along with the spirit, or else he keeps it with the body, and the spirit is unable to share in it. But we have for the present said enough on the subject of feasts.
CHAPTER XXIV.
. Let us now see on what grounds Celsus urges us to make use of the idol offerings and the public sacrifices in the public feasts. His words are, “If these idols are nothing, what harm will there be in taking part in the feast? On the other hand, if they are demons, it is certain that they too are God's creatures, and that we must believe in them, sacrifice to them according to the laws, and pray to them that they may be propitious." In reference to this statement, it would be profitable for us to take up and clearly explain the whole passage of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in which Paul treats of offerings to idols! The apostle draws from the fact that “an idol is nothing in the world," the consequence that it is injurious to use things offered to idols; and he shows to those who have ears to hear on such subjects, that he who partakes of things offered to idols is worse than a murderer, for he destroys his own brethren, for whom Christ died. And further, he main- tains that the sacrifices are made to demons; and from that he proceeds to show that those who join the table of demons become associated with the demons; and he concludes that a man cannot both be a partaker of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. But since it would require a whole treatise to set forth fully all that is contained on this subject in the Epistle to the Corinthians, we shall content ourselves with this brief statement of the argument; for it will be evident to any one who carefully considers what has been said, that even if idols are nothing, nevertheless it is an awful thing to join in idol festivals. And even supposing that there are such beings as demons to whom the sacrifices are offered, it has been clearly shown that we are forbidden to take part in these festivals, when we know the difference between the table 512. ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vri.
of the Lord and the table of demons. And knowing this, we endeavour as much as we can to be always partakers of the Lord's table, and beware to the utmost of joining at any time the table of demons.
CHAPTER XXV.
Celsus says that “the demons belong to God, and are there- fore to be believed, to be sacrificed to according to laws, and to be prayed to that they may be propitious.” Those who are disposed to learn, must know that the word of God nowhere says of evil things that they belong to God, for it judges them unworthy of such a Lord. Accordingly, it is not all men who bear the name of “men of God," but only those who are worthy of God,—such as Moses and Elias, and any others who are so called, or such as resemble those who are so called in Scripture. In the same way, all angels are not said to be angels of God, but only those that are blessed: those that have fallen away into sin are called “angels of the devil,” just as bad men are called * men of sin,” “sons of perdition,” or “ sons of iniquity.” Since, then, among men some are good and others bad, and the former are said to be God’s and the latter the devil’s, so among angels some are angels of God, and others angels of the devil. But among demons there is no such dis- tinction, for all are said to be wicked. We do not therefore hesitate to say that Celsus is false when he says, “If they are demons, it is evident that they must also belong to God.” He must either show that this distinction of good and bad among angels and men has no foundation, or else that a similar distinction may be shown to hold among demons. If that is impossible, it is plain that demons do not belong to God; for their prince is not God, but, as holy Scripture says, « Beelzebub."
CHAPTER XXVI.
And we are not to believe in demons, although Celsus urges us to do so; but if we are to obey God, we must die, or endure anything sooner than obey demons. In the same way, we are not to propitiate demons; for it is impossible to propitiate beings that are wicked and that seek the injury of men. Besides, Book vit. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 513 what are the laws in accordance with which Celsus would have us propitiate the demons? For if he means laws enacted in states, he must show that they are in agreement with the divine laws. Butif that cannot be done, as the laws of many states are quite inconsistent with each other, these laws, therefore, must of necessity either be no laws at all in the proper sense of the word, or else the enactments of wicked men; and these we must not obey, for “we must obey God rather than men." Away, then, with this counsel, which Celsus gives us, to offer prayer to demons: it is not to be listened to for a moment; for our duty is to pray to the Most High God alone, and to the only-begotten, the first-born of the whole creation, and to ask Him as our High Priest to present the prayers which ascend to Him from us, to His God and our God, to His Father and the Father of those who direct their lives according to His word. And as we would have no desire to enjoy the favour of those men who wish us to follow their wicked lives, and who give us their favour only on condition that we choose nothing opposed to their wishes, because their favour would make us enemies of God, who cannot be pleased with those who have such men for their friends, —in the same way those who are acquainted with the nature, the purposes, and the wickedness of demons; can never wish to obtain their favour.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
And Christians have nothing to fear, even if demons should not be well-disposed to them; for they are protected by the sugreme God, who is well pleased with their piety, and who sets His divine angels to watch over those who are worthy of such guardianship, so that they can suffer nothing from demons. He who by his piety possesses the favour of the Most High, who has accepted the guidance of Jesus, the * Ángel of the great counsel,” being well contented with the favour of God through Christ Jesus, may say with confidence that he has nothing to suffer from the whole host of demons. ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I beafraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.”?
514 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vur.
So much, then, in reply to those statements of Celsus: “If they are demons, they too evidently belong to God, and they are to be believed, to be sacrificed to according to the laws, and prayers are to be offered to them that they may be propitious.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
We shall now proceed to the next statement of Celsus, and examine it with care: “ If in obedience to the traditions of their fathers they abstain from such victims, they must also abstain from all animal food, in accordance with the opinions of Pythagoras, who thus showed his respect for the soul and its bodily organs. But if, as they say, they abstain that they may not eat along with demons, I admire their wisdom, in having at length discovered, that whenever they eat they eat with demons, although they only refuse to do so when they are looking upon a slain victim; for when they eat bread, or drink wine, or taste fruits, do they not receive these things, as well as the water they drink and the air they breathe, from certain demons, to whom have been assigned these different provinces of nature?” Here I would observe that I cannot see how those whom he speaks of as abstaining from certain victims, in accordance with the traditions of their fathers, are consequently bound to abstain from the flesh of all animals. We do not indeed deny that the divine word does seem to command some- thing similar to this, when to raise us to a higher and purer life it says, * It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak;"! and again, “ Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died;"? and again, “If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”* CHAPTER XXIX.
Bat it is to be observed that the Jews, who claim for them- selves a correct understanding of the law of Moses, carefally restrict their food to such things as are accounted clean, and abstain from those that are unclean. They also do not use in their food the blood of an animal nor the flesh of an animal * Book vm.] ^ ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 515 torn by wild beasts, and some other things which it would take too long for us at present to detail. But Jesus, wishing to lead all men by His teaching to the pure worship and service of God, and anxious not to throw any hindrance in the way of many who might be benefited by Christianity, through the imposition of a burdensome code of rules in regard to food, has laid it down, that “ not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth; for whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught. But those things which proceed out of the mouth are evil thoughts when spoken, murders, adulteries, for- nications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies."! Paul also says, * Meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” 5 Wherefore, as there is some obscurity about this matter, with- out some explanation is given, it seemed good to the apostles of Jesus and the elders assembled together at Antioch, and also, as they themselves say, to the Holy Spirit, to write a letter to the Gentile believers, forbidding them to partake of those things from which alone they say it is necessary to abstain, namely, * things offered to idols, things strangled, and blood."?
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
For that which is offered to idols is sacrificed to demons, and a man of God must not join the table of demons. As to things strangled, we are forbidden by Scripture to partake of them, because the blood is still in them; and blood, especially the odour arising from blood, is said to be the food of demons. Perhaps, then, if we were to eat of strangled animals, we might have such spirits feeding along with us. And the reason which forbids the use of strangled animals for food is also applicable to the use of blood. And it may not be amiss, as bearing on this point, to recall a beautiful saying in the writings of Sextus, which is known to most Christians: “ The eating of animals,” says he, “is a matter of indifference; but to abstain from them is more agreeable to reason." It is not, therefore, simply on account of some traditions of our fathers that we refrain 8 Acta xv. 28, 29. It was at Jerusalem.
516 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vit.
from eating victims offered to those called gods or heroes or demons, but for other reasons, some of which I have here men- tioned. It is not to be supposed, however, that we are to ab- stain from the flesh of animals in the same way as we are bound to abstain from all vice and wickedness: we are indeed to abstain not only from the flesh of animals, but from all other kinds of food, if we cannot partake of them without incurring evil, and the consequences of evil. For we are to avoid eating for gluttony, or for the mere gratification of the appetite, with- out regard to the health and sustenance of the body. We do not believe that souls pass from one body to another, and that they may descend so low as to enter the bodies of the brutes. If we abstain at times from eating the flesh of animals, it is evidently, therefore, not for the same reason as Pythagoras; for it is the reasonable soul alone that we honour, and we commit its bodily organs with due honours to the grave. For it is not right that the dwelling-place of the rational soul should be cast aside anywhere without honour, like the carcases of brute beasts; and so much the more when we believe that the respect paid to the body redounds to the honour of the person who received from God a soul which has nobly employed the organs of the body in which it resided. In regard to the question, * How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?" we have already answered it briefly, as our purpose required.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Celsus afterwards states what is adduced by Jews and. Chris- tians alike in defence of abstinence from idol sacrifices, namely, that it is wrong for those who have dedicated themselves to the Most High God to eat with demons. What he brings forward against this view, we have already seen. In our opinion, a man can only be said to eat and drink with demons when he eats the flesh of what are called sacred victims, and when he drinks the wine poured out to the honour of the demons. But Celsus thinks that we cannot eat bread or drink wine in any way whatever, or taste fruits, or even take a draught of water, with- out eating and drinking with demons. He adds also, that the air which we breathe is received from demons, and that not an Book vu.] | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 517 animal can breathe without receiving the air from the demons who are set over the air. If any one wishes to defend this statement of Celsus, let him show that it is not the divine angels of God, but demons, the whole race of whom are bad, that have been appointed to communicate all those blessings which have been mentioned. We indeed also maintain with regard not only to the fruits of the earth, but to every flowing stream and every breath of air, that the ground brings forth those things which are said to grow up naturally,—that the water springs in fountains, and refreshes the earth with run- ning streams,—that the air is kept pure, and supports the life of those who breathe it only in consequence of the agency and control of certain beings whom we may call invisible husband- men and guardians; but we deny that those invisible agents are demons. And if we might speak boldly, we would say that if demons have any share at all in these things, to them belong famine, blasting of the vine and fruit trees, pestilence among men and beasts: all these are the proper occupations of demons, who in the capacity of public executioners receive power at certain times to carry out the divine judgments, for the restoration of those who have plunged headlong into wicked- ness, or for the trial and discipline of the souls of the wise. For those who through all their afflictions preserve their piety pure and unimpaired, show their true character to all spectators, whether visible or invisible, who behold them; while those who are otherwise minded, yet conceal their wickedness, when they have their true character exposed by misfortunes, become manifest to themselves as well as to those whom we may also call spectators.
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Psalmist bears witness that divine justice employs cer- tain evil angels to inflict calamities upon men: “ He cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, sent by evil angels.” Whether demons ever go beyond this when they are suffered to do what they are ever ready, though through the restraint put upon them they are not always able to do, is a question to be solved by that man who can con- 1 Ps, Ixxviii. 49.
518 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boo viri.
ceive, in so far as human nature will allow, how it accords with the divine justice, that such multitudes of human souls are separated from the body while walking in the paths which lead to certain death. “For the judgments of God are so great,” that a soul which is still clothed with a mortal body cannot comprehend them; * and they cannot be expressed: therefore by unnurtured souls"! they are not in any measure to be understood. And hence, too, rash spirits, by their ignorance in these matters, and by recklessly setting themselves against the Divine Being, multiply impious objections against providence. It is not from demons, then, that men receive any of those things which meet the necessities of life, and least of all ourselves, who have been taught to make a proper use of these things. And they who partake of corn and wine, and the fruits of trees, of water and of air, do not feed with demons, but rather do they feast with divine angels, who are appointed for this pur- pose, and who are as it were invited to the table of the pious man, who hearkens to the precept of the word, which says, * Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God."? And again, in another place it is written, * Do all things in the name of God."? When, therefore, we eat and drink and breathe to the glory of God, and act in all things according to what is right, we feast with no demons, but with divine angels: “ For every creature is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”* But it could not be good, and it could not be sanctified, if these things were, as Celsus supposes, entrusted to the charge of demons.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
From this it is evident that we have already met the next statement of Celsus, which is as follows: ‘ We must either not live, and indeed not come into this life at all, or we must do so on condition that we give thanks and first-fruits and prayers to demons, who have been set over the things of this world: and that we must do as long as we live, that they may prove good and kind.” We must surely live, and we must live according 1 Wisdom of Sol. xvii. 1. 3 Col. iii. 17.
4 Boox vii. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 519 to the word of God, as far as we are enabled todo so. And we are thus enabled to live, when, “ whether we eat or drink, we do all to the glory of God;” and we are not to refuse to enjoy those things which have been created for our use, but must receive them with thanksgiving to the Creator. And it is under these conditions, and not such as have been imagined by Celsus, that we have been brought into life by God; and we are not placed under demons, but we are under the government of the Most High God, through Him who hath brought us to God—Jesus Christ. It is not according to the law of God that any demon has had a share in worldly affairs, but it was by their own law- lessness that they perhaps sought out for themselves places destitute of the knowledge of God and of the divine life, or places where there are many enemies of God. Perhaps also, as being fit to rule over and punish them, they have been set by the Word, who governs all things, to rule over those who sub- jected themselves to evil and: not to God. For this reason, then, let Celsus, as one who knows not God, give thank-offerings to demons. But we give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along with thanksgiving and prayer for the blessings we have received, we also eat the bread presented to us; and this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it. | CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Celsus would also have us to offer first-fruits todemons. But we would offer them to Him who said, “ Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth."! And to Him to whom we offer first-fruits we also send up our prayers, “having a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” and “ we hold fast this profes- sion”? as long as we live; for we find God and His only-begot- ten Son, manifested to us in Jesus, to be gracious and kind to us. And if we would wish to have besides a great number of beings who shall ever prove friendly to us, we are taught that * thousand thousands stood before Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministered unto Him."? And these, regarding 520 " ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vm.
all as their relations and friends who imitate their piety towards God, and in prayer call upon Him with sincerity, work along with them for their salvation, appear unto them, deem it their office and duty to attend to them, and as if by common agree- ment they visit with all manner of kindness and deliverance those who pray to God, to whom they themselves also pray: * For they are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation.” Leet the learned Greeks say that the human soul at its birth is placed under the charge of demons: Jesus has taught us not to despise even the little ones in His church, saying, * Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”* And the prophet says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.”* We do not, then, deny that there are many demons upon earth, but we maintain that they exist and exercise power among the wicked, as a punish- ment of their wickedness. But they have no power over those who *have put on the whole armour of God," who have received strength to ^ withstand the wiles of the devil,"* and who are ever engaged in contests with them, knowing that “ we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."?