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Contra Celsum

35.

Καὶ ὅρα ὁ ἐντυγχάνων τῇ Κέλσου γραφῇ εἰ μὴ ταῦτ' αἰνίττεται τὸ καὶ ἐπεχείρησαν γενεαλογῆσαι αὑτοὺς ἀπὸ πρώτης σπορᾶς γοήτων καὶ πλάνων ἀνθρώπων, ἀμυδρὰς καὶ ἀμφιβόλους φωνὰς ἐν σκότῳ που κρυφίους ἐπιμαρτυρόμενοι. Κρύφια γὰρ καὶ οὐκ ἐν φωτὶ καὶ γνώσει πολλῶν ἐστι τὰ ὀνόματα ταῦτα, καθ' ἡμᾶς μὲν οὐκ ἀμφίβολα, κἂν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρὶων τῆς ἡμετέρας θεοσεβείας παραλαμβάνηται· κατὰ δὲ Κέλσον, οὐ παριστάντα τὸ τῶν φωνῶν ἀμφίβολον, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως παρέῤῥιπται. Καίτοι γε ἐχρῆν αὐτόν, εἴπερ εὐγνωμόνως ἀνατρέπειν ἐβούλετο ἣν ᾠήθη ἀναισχυντότατα παρειλῆφθαι γενεαλογίαν Ἰουδαίοις αὐχοῦσι τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τοὺς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ὅλα ἐκθέσθαι τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον καὶ πρότερον συναγορεῦσαι ᾗ ἐνόμιζε πιθανότητι καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο γενναίως ἀνατρέψαι τῇ φαινομένῃ αὐτῷ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς λογίοις τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον. Ἀλλ' οὔτε Κέλσος οὔτ' ἄλλος τις δυνήσεται τὰ περὶ φύσεως ὀνομάτων εἰς δυνάμεις παραλαμβανομένων διαλαμβάνων τὸν ἀκριβῆ περὶ τούτων παραστῆσαι λόγον καὶ ἐλέγξαι, ὡς εὐκαταφρόνητοι γεγόνασιν ἄνθρωποι, ὧν καὶ αἱ ὀνομασίαι μόνον οὐ παρὰ τοῖς οἰκείοις μόνοις ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις δύνανται.

Ἔδει δ' αὐτὸν παραθέσθαι, πῶς ἡμεῖς μὲν τοῖς ἀμαθέσι καὶ ἀνοήτοις παρεξηγούμενοι τὰ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων ἀπατῶμεν, ὡς οἴεται, τοὺς ἀκούοντας, αὐτὸς δέ, ὁ αὐχῶν εἶναι μὴ ἀμαθὴς μηδὲ ἀνόητος, τὴν ἀληθῆ λέγει περὶ τούτων ἑρμηνείαν. Παρέῤῥιψε δ' ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὰ ὀνόματα ταῦτα, ἀφ' ὧν γενεαλογοῦνται Ἰουδαῖοι, ὅτι οὐδὲ πώποτ' ἐν πολλῷ τῷ πρόσθεν χρόνῳ ἀμφισβήτησις γεγένηται περὶ τῶν τοιῶνδε ὀνομάτων, ἀλλὰ νῦν Ἰουδαῖοι πρὸς ἑτέρους τινάς, οὓς οὐκ ὠνόμασε, περὶ τούτων ἀμφισβητοῦσι. Δεικνύτω γὰρ ὁ βουλόμενος, τίνες οἱ ἐπιδικαζόμενοι καὶ κἂν πιθανότητι χρώμενοι κατὰ Ἰουδαίων πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὑγιῶς μὲν Ἰουδαίους καὶ Χριστιανοὺς τὰ περὶ τούτων ἀπαγγέλλειν, καθ' ὧν κεῖται τὰ ὀνόματα, ἑτέρους δ' εἶναι τοὺς <τὰ> σοφώτατα καὶ τὰ ἀληθέστατα περὶ τούτων διειληφότας. Ἀλλὰ πεπείσμεθα ὅτι οὐ δυνήσονται τὸ τοιοῦτον ποιῆσαί τινες, ἐναργοῦς ὄντος τοῦ τὰ ὀνόματα ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑβραίων εἰλῆφθαι διαλέκτου, παρὰ μόνοις Ἰουδαίοις εὑρισκομένης.

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Origen Against Celsus

Chapter XXXV.

And let any one who peruses the treatise of Celsus observe whether it does not convey some such insinuation as the above, when he says: "And they attempted to derive their origin from the first race of jugglers and deceivers, appealing to the testimony of dark and ambiguous words, whose meaning was veiled in obscurity." For these names are indeed obscure, and not within the comprehension and knowledge of many, though not in our opinion of doubtful meaning, even although assumed by those who are aliens to our religion; but as, according to Celsus, they do not ¹ convey any ambiguity, I am at a loss to know why he has rejected them. And yet, if he had wished honestly to overturn the genealogy which he deemed the Jews to have so shamelessly arrogated, in boasting of Abraham and his descendants (as their progenitors), he ought to have quoted all the passages bearing on the subject; and, in the first place, to have advocated his cause with such arguments as he thought likely to be convincing, and in the next to have bravely ² refuted, by means of what appeared to him to be the true meaning, and by arguments in its favour, the errors existing on the subject. But neither Celsus nor any one else will be able, by their discussions regarding the nature of names employed for miraculous purposes, to lay down the correct doctrine regarding them, and to demonstrate that those men were to be lightly esteemed whose names merely, not among their countrymen alone, but also amongst foreigners, could accomplish (such results). He ought to have shown, moreover, how we, in misinterpreting ³ the passages in which these names are found, deceive our hearers, as he imagines, while he himself, who boasts that he is not ignorant or unintelligent, gives the true interpretation of them. And he hazarded the assertion, ⁴ in speaking of those names, from which the Jews deduce their genealogies, that "never, during the long antecedent period, has there been any dispute about these names, but that at the present time the Jews dispute about them with certain others," whom he does not mention. Now, let him who chooses show who these are that dispute with the Jews, and who adduce even probable arguments to show that Jews and Christians do not decide correctly on the points relating to these names, but that there are others who have discussed these questions with the greatest learning and accuracy. But we are well assured that none can establish anything of the sort, it being manifest that these names are derived from the Hebrew language, which is found only among the Jews.