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Contra Celsum, Book 5

Against Celsus

About this book
Chapter 52

The passage of Celsus that we now wish to examine reads as follows: "Let us pass over, then, the arguments by which they are refuted about their teacher; and let him be regarded as truly an angel. Did he come first and alone, or did others come before? If they said that he alone came, they would be convicted of lying and contradicting themselves. For they say that others too came often, and indeed sixty or seventy together, who became wicked and are punished, being cast in chains under the earth, which is why the hot springs are their tears.⁠ And moreover an angel came to this man's own tomb (some say one, others two) who answered the women that he had risen. For the child of God, it seems, could not open the tomb, but needed another to roll away the rock. And again, about Mary's pregnancy an angel came to the carpenter, and another angel so that they might snatch up the infant and flee. And why need I go through everything in detail, and count up those said to have been sent to Moses and others among them? If, then, others too were sent, it is clear that this one also came from the same God. But let him be regarded as announcing something more, as though the Jews were doing wrong, or debasing piety, or not doing holy things; for this is what they hint."

Book 6

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 67:11 and Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Origen describes a tradition in which warm springs are linked to an underground place of punishment for fallen angels, a view matching the scene in 1 Enoch where shifting spring temperatures highlight the angels’ judgment.

Passages

1 Enoch 67:11

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
10 The judgment upon them comes because they indulge the desires of their body and deny the Spirit of the Lord. 11 These waters will change in those days; when those angels are punished in these waters, the springs will shift in temperature, and when the angels rise, the water of the springs will turn cold. 12 I heard Michael say: 'This judgment on the angels serves as a testament to the kings and the mighty who possess the earth.' 13 These waters of judgment contribute to the healing of the kings' bodies and the indulgence of their bodily desires; thus, they will not recognize nor believe that these waters will transform into an eternal fire.'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

Early Christian · Against Celsus
The passage of Celsus that we now wish to examine reads as follows: "Let us pass over, then, the arguments by which they are refuted about their teacher; and let him be regarded as truly an angel. Did he come first and alone, or did others come before? If they said that he alone came, they would be convicted of lying and contradicting themselves. For they say that others too came often, and indeed sixty or seventy together, who became wicked and are punished, being cast in chains under the earth, which is why the hot springs are their tears. And moreover an angel came to this man's own tomb (some say one, others two) who answered the women that he had risen. For the child of God, it seems, could not open the tomb, but needed another to roll away the rock. And again, about Mary's pregnancy an angel came to the carpenter, and another angel so that they might snatch up the infant and flee. And why need I go through everything in detail, and count up those said to have been sent to Moses and others among them? If, then, others too were sent, it is clear that this one also came from the same God. But let him be regarded as announcing something more, as though the Jews were doing wrong, or debasing piety, or not doing holy things; for this is what they hint."
248 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Origen, Contra Celsum 5

References

"... Origen (Cels. 5.52-55) appears to refer to the present passage or the tradition from which it derives, when he states that Celsus associated certain warm springs with the subterranean place of punishment for fallen angels ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 290.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 67:11 and Origen, Contra Celsum 5.52

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