Origen of Alexandria, Against Celsus

Mark now, whether he who charges us with having committed errors of the most impious kind, and with having wandered away from the (true meaning) of the divine enigmas, is not himself clearly in error, from not observing that in the writings of Moses, which are much older not merely than Heraclitus and Pherecydes, but even than Homer, mention is made of this wicked one, and of his having fallen from heaven. For the serpent1414 Cf. Gen. iii.—from whom the Ophioneus spoken of by Pherecydes is derived—having become the cause of man’s expulsion from the divine Paradise, obscurely shadows forth something similar, having deceived the woman1415 τὸ θηλύτερον γένος. by a promise of divinity and of greater blessings; and her example is said to have been followed also by the man. And, further, who else could the destroying angel mentioned in the Exodus of Moses1416 Cf. Ex. xii. 23. be, than he who was the author of destruction to them that obeyed him, and did not withstand his wicked deeds, nor struggle against them? Moreover (the goat), which in the book of Leviticus1417 Cf. Lev. xvi. 8. is sent away (into the wilderness), and which in the Hebrew language is named Azazel, was none other than this; and it was necessary to send it away into the desert, and to treat it as an expiatory sacrifice, because on it the lot fell. For all who belong to the “worse” part, on account of their wickedness, being opposed to those who are God’s heritage, are deserted by God.1418 ἐναντίοι ὄντες τοῖς ἁπὸ τοῦ κλήρου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔρημοί εἰσι Θεοῦ. Nay, with respect to the sons of Belial in the book of Judges,1419 [Judg. xix. 22. S.] whose sons are they said to be, save his, on account of their wickedness? And besides all these instances, in the book of Job, which is older even than Moses himself,1420 [See the elaborate articles on the book of Job, by Canon Cook, in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i. pp. 1087–1100. S.] the devil is distinctly described as presenting himself before God,1421 Cf. Job i. 11. and asking for power against Job, that he might involve him in trials1422 περιστάσεσί. of the most painful kind; the first of which consisted in the loss of all his goods and of his children, and the second in afflicting the whole body of Job with the so-called disease of elephantiasis.1423 ἀγρίῳ ἐλέφαντι. I pass by what might be quoted from the Gospels regarding the devil who tempted the Saviour, that I may not appear to quote in reply to Celsus from more recent writings on this question. In the last (chapter)1424 Cf. Job xl. 20. also of Job, in which the Lord utters to Job amid tempest and clouds what is recorded in the book which bears his name, there are not a few things referring to the serpent. I have not yet mentioned the passages in Ezekiel,1425 Cf. Ezek. xxxii. 1–28. where he speaks, as it were, of Pharaoh, or Nebuchadnezzar, or the prince of Tyre; or those in Isaiah,1426 Isa. xiv. 4 sqq. where lament is made for the king of Babylon, from which not a little might be learned concerning evil, as to the nature of its origin and generation, and as to how it derived its existence from some who had lost their wings,1427 πτεροῤῥυησάντων. Cf. supra, bk. iv. cap. xl. p. 516. and who had followed him who was the first to lose his own.

Ὅρα οὖν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐγκαλῶν ἡμῖν [ὡς] σφαλλομένοις ἀσεβέστατα καὶ ἀποπεπλανημένοις θείων αἰνιγμάτων αὐτὸς σαφῶς σφάλλεται, μὴ κατανοήσας ὅτι τὰ πολλῷ οὐ μόνον Ἡρακλείτου καὶ Φερεκύδου ἀρχαιότερα ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὁμήρου Μωϋσέως γράμματα εἰσήγαγε τὸν περὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ τούτου καὶ ἐκπεσόντος τῶν οὐρανίων λόγον. Ὁ γὰρ "ὄφις", παρ' ὃν ὁ παρὰ τῷ Φερεκύδῃ γέγονεν Ὀφιονεύς, αἴτιος γενόμενος τοῦ ἐκβληθῆναι τοῦ θείου παραδείσου τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοιαῦτά τινα αἰνίσσεται, ἐπαγγελίᾳ θεότητος καὶ μειζόνων ἀπατήσας τὸ θηλύτερον γένος· ᾧ συνηκολουθηκέναι λέγεται καὶ ὁ ἀνήρ. Καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ Μωϋσέως δὲ Ἐξόδῳ ὀλεθρευτὴς τίς ἄλλος εἴη ἢ ὁ τοῦ ὀλέθρου τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ ἀνθισταμένοις αὐτοῦ τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ μὴ ἀνταγωνιζομένοις αἴτιος; Ἔτι δὲ ὁ ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ ἀποπομπαῖος, ὃν ἡ ἑβραϊκὴ γραφὴ ὠνόμασεν Ἀζαζήλ, οὐδεὶς ἕτερος ἦν· [ὃν] ἀποπέμπεσθαι καὶ ἀποτροπιάζεσθαι ἔδει τὸν κλῆρον ἔχοντα ἐν ἐρήμῳ· πάντες γὰρ οἱ τῆς τοῦ χείρονος διὰ τὴν κακίαν μερίδος ἐναντίοι ὄντες τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ κλήρου τοῦ θεοῦ ἔρημοί εἰσι θεοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν τοῖς Κριταῖς υἱοὶ Βελίαρ τίνος ἄλλου ἢ τούτου λέγονται εἶναι υἱοὶ διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν; Σαφῶς δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα πάντα ἐν τῷ ἀρχαιοτέρῳ καὶ Μωϋσέως αὐτοῦ Ἰὼβ "ὁ διάβολος" ἀναγέγραπται παρίστασθαι τῷ θεῷ καὶ αἰτεῖν τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἐξουσίαν, ἵν' αὐτὸν περιβάλῃ περιστάσεσι βαρυτάταις, πρώτῃ μὲν τῇ κατὰ πάντων τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτῷ καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτοῦ ἀπωλείᾳ, δευτέρᾳ δὲ κατὰ τὸ περιβαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀγρίῳ ἐλέφαντι, τῷ οὕτω καλουμένῳ νοσήματι, πᾶν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰώβ. Ἐῶ γὰρ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων περὶ τοῦ πειράζοντος τὸν σωτῆρα διαβόλου, ἵνα μὴ δόξω ἀπὸ νεωτέρων γραφῶν φέρειν τὰ περὶ τοῦ ζητουμένου πρὸς τὸν Κέλσον. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς τελευταίοις δὲ τοῦ Ἰώβ, ἐν οἷς ὁ κύριος διὰ λαίλαπος καὶ νεφελῶν εἶπε τῷ Ἰὼβ τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα ἐν τῇ ὁμωνύμῳ βίβλῳ αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ὀλίγα ἐστὶ περὶ δράκοντος εἰρημένα λαβεῖν. Οὔπω λέγω καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ὡς περὶ "Φαραὼ" ἢ "Ναβουχοδονόσορ" ἢ ἄρχοντος "Τύρου", ἢ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου, ἐν οἷς θρηνεῖται ὁ βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος· ἀφ' ὧν οὐκ ὀλίγα τις ἂν μανθάνοι περὶ τῆς κακίας, ποίαν ἔσχεν ἀρχὴν καὶ γένεσιν, καὶ ὅτι ἀπό τινων πτερορρυησάντων καὶ κατακολουθησάντων τῷ πρώτῳ πτερορρυήσαντι ὑπέστη ἡ κακία.