Chapter LXX.

But how is it that this Jew of Celsus could say that Jesus concealed Himself?  For his words regarding Him are these:  “And who that is sent as a messenger ever conceals himself when he ought to make known his message?”  Now, He did not conceal Himself, who said to those who sought to apprehend Him, “I was daily teaching openly in the temple, and ye laid no hold upon Me.”  But having once already answered this charge of Celsus, now again repeated, we shall content ourselves with what we have formerly said.  We have answered, also, in the preceding pages, this objection, that “while he was in the body, and no one believed upon him, he preached to all without intermission; but when he might have produced a powerful belief in himself after rising from the dead, he showed himself secretly only to one woman, and to his own boon companions.”324    τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ θιασώταις.  Now it is not true that He showed Himself only to one woman; for it is stated in the Gospel according to Matthew, that “in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre.  And, behold, there had been a great earthquake:  for the angel of the Lord had descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone.”325    Matt. xxviii. 1, 2.  And, shortly after, Matthew adds:  “And, behold, Jesus met them”—clearly meaning the afore-mentioned Marys—“saying, All hail.  And they came and held Him by the feet, and worshipped Him.”326    Matt. xxviii. 9.  And we answered, too, the charge, that “while undergoing his punishment he was seen by all, but after his resurrection only by one,” when we offered our defence of the fact that “He was not seen by all.”  And now we might say that His merely human attributes were visible to all men but those which were divine in their nature—I speak of the attributes not as related, but as distinct327    λέγω δὲ οὐ περὶ τῶν σχέσιν πρὸς ἕτερα ἐχόντων, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν κατὰ διαφοράν.—were not capable of being received by all.  But observe here the manifest contradiction into which Celsus falls.  For having said, a little before, that Jesus had appeared secretly to one woman and His own boon companions, he immediately subjoins:  “While undergoing his punishment he was seen by all men, but after his resurrection by one, whereas the opposite ought to have happened.”  And let us hear what he means by “ought to have happened.”  The being seen by all men while undergoing His punishment, but after His resurrection only by one individual, are opposites.328    ἐναντίον τὸν μὲν κολαζόμενον πᾶσιν ἑωρᾶσθαι, ἀναστάντα δὲ ἑνί.  The Benedictine editor reads τὸν μὲν κολαζόμενον, and Bohereau proposes ἐναντίον τῷ κολαζόμενον μὲν, etc.  Now, so far as his language conveys a meaning, he would have that to take place which is both impossible and absurd, viz., that while undergoing His punishment He should be seen only by one individual, but after His resurrection by all men! or else how will you explain his words, “The opposite ought to have happened?”

Πόθεν δὲ τῷ Κέλσου Ἰουδαίῳ λέλεκται ὅτι ἐκρύπτετο Ἰησοῦς; Λέγει γὰρ περὶ αὐτοῦ· Τίς δὲ πώποτε πεμφθεὶς ἄγγελος, δέον ἀγγέλλειν τὰ κεκελευσμένα, κρύπτεται; Οὐ γὰρ ἐκρύπτετο ὁ εἰπὼν τοῖς ζητοῦσιν αὐτὸν συλλαβεῖν· "Καθ' ἡμέραν ἤμην ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ παρρησίᾳ διδάσκων, καὶ οὐκ ἐκρατεῖτέ με." Πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἑξῆς παλιλλογούμενον ὑπὸ τοῦ Κέλσου ἡμεῖς ἅπαξ ἀπολογησάμενοι ἀρκεσθησόμεθα τοῖς προειρημένοις. Γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἢ ὅτε μὲν ἠπιστεῖτο [ὢν] ἐν σώματι, πᾶσιν ἀνέδην ἐκήρυττεν· ὅτε δὲ πίστιν ἂν ἰσχυρὰν παρεῖχεν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάς, ἑνὶ μόνῳ γυναίῳ καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ θιασώταις κρύβδην παρεφαίνετο; Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ὅτι ἑνὶ μόνῳ γυναίῳ ἐφάνη, ἀληθές ἐστιν· γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ματθαῖον εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι "Ὀψὲ σαββάτων, τῇ ἐπιφωσκούσῃ εἰς μίαν σαββάτων, ἦλθε Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ ἡ ἄλλη Μαρία, θεωρῆσαι τὸν τάφον. Καὶ ἰδοὺ σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας· ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου καταβὰς ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ προσελθὼν ἀπεκύλισε τὸν λίθον." Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον φησὶν ὁ Ματθαῖος· "Καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὑπήντησεν αὐταῖς"–δῆλον δ' ὅτι ταῖς προειρημέναις Μαρίαις–"λέγων· Χαίρετε. Αἱ δὲ προσελθοῦσαι ἐκράτησαν αὐτοῦ τοὺς πόδας καὶ προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ." Λέλεκται δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὸ κολαζόμενος μὲν ἄρα πᾶσιν ἑωρᾶτο, ἀναστὰς δὲ ἑνί, ὅτε ἀπελογούμεθα πρὸς τὸ οὐ πᾶσιν ἑωρᾶτο. Καὶ νῦν δὲ φήσομεν ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἀνθρώπινα αὐτοῦ πᾶσιν ἦν ὁρατά, τὰ δὲ θειότερα–λέγω δὲ οὐ περὶ τῶν σχέσιν πρὸς ἕτερα ἐχόντων ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν κατὰ διαφοράν– οὐ πᾶσι χωρητά. Πρόσχες δὲ καὶ τῇ παρὰ πόδας τοῦ Κέλσου ἐναντιότητι πρὸς ἑαυτόν. Προειπὼν γοῦν ἑνὶ γυναίῳ καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ θιασώταις κρύβδην αὐτὸν παραπεφάνθαι εὐθέως ἐπιφέρει· Κολαζόμενος μὲν ἄρα πᾶσιν ἑωρᾶτο, ἀναστὰς δὲ ἑνί, οὗπερ ἐχρῆν τοὐναντίον. Τί δὲ καὶ νομίζει τὸ ἐχρῆν, ἀκούσωμεν, ἐναντίον τοῦ μὲν κολαζόμενον πᾶσιν ἑωρᾶσθαι, ἀναστάντα δὲ ἑνί· ὅσον γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ λέξει ἑαυτοῦ ἤθελε καὶ ἀδύνατόν [τι] καὶ ἄλογον, κολαζόμενον μὲν ἑνὶ ὁρᾶσθαι, ἀναστάντα δὲ πᾶσιν· ἢ πῶς διηγήσῃ τὸ οὗπερ ἐχρῆν τοὐναντίον;