Origen and the Worship of Angels

Chapter 2

We have now, then, to refute that statement of his which runs as follows: O Jews and Christians, no God or son of a God either came or will come down (to earth). But if you mean that certain angels did so, then what do you call them? Are they gods, or some other race of beings? Some other race of beings (doubtless), and in all probability demons. Now as Celsus here is guilty of repeating himself (for in the preceding pages such assertions have been frequently advanced by him), it is unnecessary to discuss the matter at greater length, seeing what we have already said upon this point may suffice. We shall mention, however, a few considerations out of a greater number, such as we deem in harmony with our former arguments, but which have not altogether the same bearing as they, and by which we shall show that in asserting generally that no God, or son of God, ever descended (among men), he overturns not only the opinions entertained by the majority of mankind regarding the manifestation of Deity, but also what was formerly admitted by himself. For if the general statement, that no God or son of God has come down or will come down, be truly maintained by Celsus, it is manifest that we have here overthrown the belief in the existence of gods upon the earth who had descended from heaven either to predict the future to mankind or to heal them by means of divine responses; and neither the Pythian Apollo, nor Æsculapius, nor any other among those supposed to have done so, would be a god descended from heaven. He might, indeed, either be a god who had obtained as his lot (the obligation) to dwell on earth for ever, and be thus a fugitive, as it were, from the abode of the gods, or he might be one who had no power to share in the society of the gods in heaven; or else Apollo, and Æsculapius, and those others who are believed to perform acts on earth, would not be gods, but only certain demons, much inferior to those wise men among mankind, who on account of their virtue ascend to the vault of heaven…

Chapter 4

But since he says, in the next place, as if the Jews or Christians had answered regarding those who come down to visit the human race, that they were angels: But if you say that they are angels, what do you call them? he continues, Are they gods, or some other race of beings? and then again introduces us as if answering, Some other race of beings, and probably demons,— let us proceed to notice these remarks. For we indeed acknowledge that angels are ministering spirits, and we say that they are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation; and that they ascend, bearing the supplications of men, to the purest of the heavenly places in the universe, or even to supercelestial regions purer still; and that they come down from these, conveying to each one, according to his deserts, something enjoined by God to be conferred by them upon those who are to be the recipients of His benefits. Having thus learned to call these beings angels from their employments, we find that because they are divine they are sometimes termed god in the sacred Scriptures, but not so that we are commanded to honour and worship in place of God those who minister to us, and bear to us His blessings. For every prayer, and supplication, and intercession, and thanksgiving, is to be sent up to the Supreme God through the High Priest, who is above all the angels, the living Word and God. And to the Word Himself shall we also pray and make intercessions, and offer thanksgivings and supplications to Him, if we have the capacity of distinguishing between the proper use and abuse of prayer.

Chapter 5

For to invoke angels without having obtained a knowledge of their nature greater than is possessed by men, would be contrary to reason. But, conformably to our hypothesis, let this knowledge of them, which is something wonderful and mysterious, be obtained. Then this knowledge, making known to us their nature, and the offices to which they are severally appointed, will not permit us to pray with confidence to any other than to the Supreme God, who is sufficient for all things, and that through our Saviour the Son of God, who is the Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and everything else which the writings of God’s prophets and the apostles of Jesus entitle Him. And it is enough to secure that the holy angels of God be propitious to us, and that they do all things on our behalf, that our disposition of mind towards God should imitate as far as it is within the power of human nature the example of these holy angels, who again follow the example of their God; and that the conceptions which we entertain of His Son, the Word, so far as attainable by us, should not be opposed to the clearer conceptions of Him which the holy angels possess, but should daily approach these in clearness and distinctness. But because Celsus has not read our holy Scriptures, he gives himself an answer as if it came from us, saying that we assert that the angels who come down from heaven to confer benefits on mankind are a different race from the gods, and adds that in all probability they would be called demons by us: not observing that the name demons is not a term of indifferent meaning like that of men, among whom some are good and some bad, nor yet a term of excellence like that of the gods, which is applied not to wicked demons, or to statues, or to animals, but (by those who know divine things) to what is truly divine and blessed; whereas the term demons is always applied to those wicked powers, freed from the encumbrance of a grosser body, who lead men astray, and fill them with distractions and drag them down from God and supercelestial thoughts to things here below.

Chapter 6

He next proceeds to make the following statement about the Jews:— The first point relating to the Jews which is fitted to excite wonder, is that they should worship the heaven and the angels who dwell therein, and yet pass by and neglect its most venerable and powerful parts, as the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and planets, as if it were possible that ‘the whole’ could be God, and yet its parts not divine; or (as if it were reasonable) to treat with the greatest respect those who are said to appear to such as are in darkness somewhere, blinded by some crooked sorcery, or dreaming dreams through the influence of shadowy spectres, while those who prophesy so clearly and strikingly to all men, by means of whom rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunder (to which they offer worship), and lightnings, and fruits, and all kinds of productiveness, are brought about — by means of whom God is revealed to them — the most prominent heralds among those beings that are above — those that are truly heavenly angels — are to be regarded as of no account! In making these statements, Celsus appears to have fallen into confusion, and to have penned them from false ideas of things which he did not understand; for it is patent to all who investigate the practices of the Jews, and compare them with those of the Christians, that the Jews who follow the law, which, speaking in the person of God, says, You shall have no other gods before Me: you shall not make unto you an image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, worship nothing else than the Supreme God, who made the heavens, and all things besides. Now it is evident that those who live according to the law, and worship the Maker of heaven, will not worship the heaven at the same time with God. Moreover, no one who obeys the law of Moses will bow down to the angels who are in heaven; and, in like manner, as they do not bow down to sun, moon, and stars, the host of heaven, they refrain from doing obeisance to heaven and its angels, obeying the law which declares: Lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has divided unto all nations.

Chapter 7

Having, moreover, assumed that the Jews consider the heaven to be God, he adds that this is absurd; finding fault with those who bow down to the heaven, but not also to the sun, and moon, and stars, saying that the Jews do this, as if it were possible that the whole should be God, and its several parts not divine. And he seems to call the heaven a whole, and sun, moon, and stars its several parts. Now, certainly neither Jews nor Christians call the heaven God. Let it be granted, however, that, as he alleges, the heaven is called God by the Jews, and suppose that sun, moon, and stars are parts of heaven,— which is by no means true, for neither are the animals and plants upon the earth any portion of it — how is it true, even according to the opinions of the Greeks, that if God be a whole, His parts also are divine? Certainly they say that the Cosmos taken as the whole is God, the Stoics calling it the First God, the followers of Plato the Second, and some of them the Third. According to these philosophers, then, seeing the whole Cosmos is God, its parts also are divine; so that not only are human beings divine, but the whole of the irrational creation, as being  portions of the Cosmos; and besides these, the plants also are divine. And if the rivers, and mountains, and seas are portions of the Cosmos, then, since the whole Cosmos is God, are the rivers and seas also gods? But even this the Greeks will not assert. Those, however, who preside over rivers and seas (either demons or gods, as they call them), they would term gods. Now from this it follows that the general statement of Celsus, even according to the Greeks, who hold the doctrine of Providence, is false, that if any whole be a god, its parts necessarily are divine. But it follows from the doctrine of Celsus, that if the Cosmos be God, all that is in it is divine, being parts of the Cosmos. Now, according to this view, animals, as flies, and gnats, and worms, and every species of serpent, as well as of birds and fishes, will be divine, — an assertion which would not be made even by those who maintain that the Cosmos is God. But the Jews, who live according to the law of Moses, although they may not know how to receive the secret meaning of the law, which is conveyed in obscure language, will not maintain that either the heaven or the angels are God.

Chapter 8

As we allege, however, that he has fallen into confusion in consequence of false notions which he has imbibed, come and let us point them out to the best of our ability, and show that although Celsus considers it to be a Jewish custom to bow down to the heaven and the angels in it, such a practice is not at all Jewish, but is in violation of Judaism, as it also is to do obeisance to sun, moon, and stars, as well as images. You will find at least in the book of Jeremiah the words of God censuring by the mouth of the prophet the Jewish people for doing obeisance to such objects, and for sacrificing to the queen of heaven, and to all the host of heaven. The writings of the Christians, moreover, show, in censuring the sins committed among the Jews, that when God abandoned that people on account of certain sins, these sins (of idol-worship) also were committed by them. For it is related in the Acts of the Apostles regarding the Jews, that God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O you house of Israel, have you offered to Me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which you made to worship them. And in the writings of Paul, who was carefully trained in Jewish customs, and converted afterwards to Christianity by a miraculous appearance of Jesus, the following words may be read in the Epistle to the Colossians: Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind; and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joint and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God. But Celsus, having neither read these verses, nor having learned their contents from any other source, has represented, I know not how, the Jews as not transgressing their law in bowing down to the heavens, and to the angels therein.

Chapter 9

And still continuing a little confused, and not taking care to see what was relevant to the matter, he expressed his opinion that the Jews were induced by the incantations employed in jugglery and sorcery (in consequence of which certain phantoms appear, in obedience to the spells employed by the magicians) to bow down to the angels in heaven, not observing that this was contrary to their law, which said to them who practised such observances: Regard not them which have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. He ought, therefore, either not to have at all attributed this practice to the Jews, seeing he has observed that they keep their law, and has called them those who live according to their law; or if he did attribute it, he ought to have shown that the Jews did this in violation of their code. But again, as they transgress their law who offer worship to those who are said to appear to them who are involved in darkness and blinded by sorcery, and who dream dreams, owing to obscure phantoms presenting themselves; so also do they transgress the law who offer sacrifice to sun, moon, and stars. And there is thus great inconsistency in the same individual saying that the Jews are careful to keep their law by not bowing down to sun, and moon, and stars, while they are not so careful to keep it in the matter of heaven and the angels.

Chapter 10

And if it be necessary for us to offer a defense of our refusal to recognise as gods, equally with angels, and sun, and moon, and stars, those who are called by the Greeks manifest and visible divinities, we shall answer that the law of Moses knows that these latter have been apportioned by God among all the nations under the heaven, but not among those who were selected by God as His chosen people above all the nations of the earth. For it is written in the book of Deuteronomy: And lest you lift up your eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has divided unto all nations unto the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken us, and brought us forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as you are this day. The Hebrew people, then, being called by God a chosen generation, and a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, and a purchased people, regarding whom it was foretold to Abraham by the voice of the Lord addressed to him, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if you are able to number them: and He said to him, So shall your seed be; and having thus a hope that they would become as the stars of heaven, were not likely to bow down to those objects which they were to resemble as a result of their understanding and observing the law of God. For it was said to them: The Lord our God has multiplied us; and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. In the book of Daniel, also, the following prophecies are found relating to those who are to share in the resurrection: And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that has been written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and (those) of the many righteous as the stars for ever and ever, etc. And hence Paul, too, when speaking of the resurrection, says: And there are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. 

It was not therefore consonant to reason that those who had been taught sublimely to ascend above all created things, and to hope for the enjoyment of the most glorious rewards with God on account of their virtuous lives, and who had heard the words, You are the light of the world, and, Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in heaven, and who possessed through practice this brilliant and unfading wisdom, or who had secured even the very reflection of everlasting light, should be so impressed with the (mere) visible light of sun, and moon, and stars, that, on account of that sensible light of theirs, they should deem themselves (although possessed of so great a rational light of knowledge, and of the true light, and the light of the world, and the light of men) to be somehow inferior to them, and to bow down to them; seeing they ought to be worshipped, if they are to receive worship at all, not for the sake of the sensible light which is admired by the multitude, but because of the rational and true light, if indeed the stars in heaven are rational and virtuous beings, and have been illuminated with the light of knowledge by that wisdom which is the reflection of everlasting light. For that sensible light of theirs is the work of the Creator of all things, while that rational light is derived perhaps from the principle of free-will within them.

Chapter 11

But even this rational light itself ought not to be worshipped by him who beholds and understands the true light, by sharing in which these also are enlightened; nor by him who beholds God, the Father of the true light — of whom it has been said, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Those, indeed, who worship sun, moon, and stars because their light is visible and celestial, would not bow down to a spark of fire or a lamp upon earth, because they see the incomparable superiority of those objects which are deemed worthy of homage to the light of sparks and lamps. So those who understand that God is light, and who have apprehended that the Son of God is the true light which lights every man that comes into the world, and who comprehend also how He says, I am the light of the world, would not rationally offer worship to that which is, as it were, a spark in sun, moon, and stars, in comparison with God, who is light of the true light. Nor is it with a view to depreciate these great works of God’s creative power, or to call them, after the fashion of Anaxagoras, fiery masses, that we thus speak of sun, and moon, and stars; but because we perceive the inexpressible superiority of the divinity of God, and that of His only-begotten Son, which surpasses all other things. And being persuaded that the sun himself, and moon, and stars pray to the Supreme God through His only-begotten Son, we judge it improper to pray to those beings who themselves offer up prayers (to God), seeing even they themselves would prefer that we should send up our requests to the God to whom they pray, rather than send them downwards to themselves, or apportion our power of prayer between God and them. And here I may employ this illustration, as bearing upon this point: Our Lord and Saviour, hearing Himself on one occasion addressed as Good Master, referring him who used it to His own Father, said, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God the Father. Matthew 19:17 And since it was in accordance with sound reason that this should be said by the Son of His Father’s love, as being the image of the goodness of God, why should not the sun say with greater reason to those that bow down to him, Why do you worship me? for you will worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve; for it is He whom I and all who are with me serve and worship. And although one may not be so exalted (as the sun), nevertheless let such an one pray to the Word of God (who is able to heal him), AND STILL MORE TO HIS FATHER, who also to the righteous of former times sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Chapter 12

God accordingly, in His kindness, condescends to mankind, not in any local sense, but through His providence; while the Son of God, not only (when on earth), but at all times, is with His own disciples, fulfilling the promise, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. And if a branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, it is evident that the disciples also of the Word, who are the rational branches of the Word’s true vine, cannot produce the fruits of virtue unless they abide in the true vine, the Christ of God, who is with us locally here below upon the earth, and who is with those who cleave to Him in all parts of the world, and is also in all places with those who do not know Him. Another is made manifest by that John who wrote the Gospel, when, speaking in the person of John the Baptist, he said, There stands one among you whom you know not; He it is who comes after me. And it is absurd, when He who fills heaven and earth, and who said, Do I not fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord, is with us, and near us (for I believe Him when He says, I am a God near at hand, and not afar off, says the Lord ) to seek to pray to sun or moon, or one of the stars, whose influence does not reach the whole of the world. But, to use the very words of Celsus, let it be granted that the sun, moon, and stars do foretell rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders, why, then, if they really do foretell such great things, ought we not rather to do homage to God, whose servant they are in uttering these predictions, and show reverence to Him rather than His prophets? Let them predict, then, the approach of lightnings, and fruits, and all manner of productions, and let all such things be under their administration; yet we shall not on that account worship those who themselves offer worship, as we do not worship even Moses, and those prophets who came from God after him, and who predicted better things than rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders, and lightnings, and fruits, and all sorts of productions visible to the senses. Nay, even if sun, and moon, and stars were able to prophesy better things than rain, not even then shall we worship them, but the Father of the prophecies which are in them, and the Word of God, their minister. But grant that they are His heralds, and truly messengers of heaven, why, even then ought we not to worship the God whom they only proclaim and announce, rather than those who are the heralds and messengers?

Chapter 13

Celsus, moreover, assumes that sun, and moon, and stars are regarded by us as of no account. Now, with regard to these, we acknowledge that they too are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, being for the present subjected to the vanity of their material bodies, by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope. But if Celsus had read the innumerable other passages where we speak of sun, moon, and stars, and especially these —Praise Him, all you stars, and you, O light, and, Praise Him, you heaven of heavens, — he would not have said of us that we regard such mighty beings, which greatly praise the Lord God, as of no account. Nor did Celsus know the passage: For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And with these words let us terminate our defense against the charge of not worshipping sun, moon, and stars. And let us now bring forward those statements of his which follow, that we may, God willing, address to him in reply such arguments as shall be suggested by the light of truth.

Chapter 13

He further supposes, that because we join along with the worship of God the worship of His Son, it follows that, in our view, not only God, but also the servants of God, are to be worshipped. If he had meant this to apply to those who are truly the servants of God, after His only-begotten Son, — to Gabriel and Michael, and the other angels and archangels, and if he had said of these that they ought to be worshipped, — if also he had clearly defined the meaning of the word worship, and the duties of the worshippers, — we might perhaps have brought forward such thoughts as have occurred to us on so important a subject. But as he reckons among the servants of God the demons which are worshipped by the heathen, he cannot induce us, on the plea of consistency, to worship such as are declared by the word to be servants of the evil one, the prince of this world, who leads astray from God as many as he can. We decline, therefore, altogether to worship and serve those whom other men worship, for the reason that they are not servants of God. For if we had been taught to regard them as servants of the Most High, we would not have called them demons. Accordingly, we worship with all our power the one God, and His only Son, the Word and the Image of God, by prayers and supplications; and we offer our petitions to the God of the universe through His only-begotten Son. To the Son we first present them, and beseech Him, as the propitiation for our sins, and our High Priest, to offer our desires, and sacrifices, and prayers, to the Most High. Our faith, therefore, is directed to God through His Son, who strengthens it in us; and Celsus can never show that the Son of God is the cause of any sedition or disloyalty in the kingdom of God. We honour the Father when we admire His Son, the Word, and Wisdom, and Truth, and Righteousness, and all that He who is the Son of so great a Father is said in Scripture to be. So much on this point…

Chapter 57

Celsus supposes that men discharge the duties of life until they are loosened from its bonds, when, in accordance with commonly received customs, they offer sacrifices to each of the gods recognised in the state; and he fails to perceive the true duty which is fulfilled by an earnest piety. For we say that he truly discharges the duties of life who is ever mindful who is his Creator, and what things are agreeable to Him, and who acts in all things so that he may please God. Again, Celsus wishes us to be thankful to these demons, imagining that we owe them thank-offerings. But we, while recognising the duty of thankfulness, maintain that we show no ingratitude by refusing to give thanks to beings who do us no good, but who rather set themselves against us when we neither sacrifice to them nor worship them. We are much more concerned lest we should be ungrateful to God, who has loaded us with His benefits, whose workmanship we are, who cares for us in whatever condition we may be, and who has given us hopes of things beyond this present life. And we have a symbol of gratitude to God in the bread which we call the Eucharist. Besides, as we have shown before, the demons have not the control of those things which have been created for our use; we commit no wrong, therefore, when we partake of created things, and yet refuse to offer sacrifices to beings who have no concern with them. Moreover, as we know that it is not demons, but angels, who have been set over the fruits of the earth, and over the birth of animals, it is the latter that we praise and bless, as having been appointed by God over the things needful for our race; yet even to them we will not give the honour which is due to God. For this would not be pleasing to God, nor would it be any pleasure to the angels themselves to whom these things have been committed. Indeed, they are much more pleased if we refrain from offering sacrifices to them than if we offer them; for they have no desire for the sacrificial odours which rise from the earth…

Chapter 64

There is therefore One whose favour we should seek, and to whom we ought to pray that He would be gracious to us — the Most High God, whose favour is gained by piety and the practice of every virtue. And if he would have us to seek the favour of others after the Most High God, let him consider that, as the motion of the shadow follows that of the body which casts it, so in like manner it follows, that when we have the favour of God, we have also the good-will of all angels and spirits who are friends of God. For they know who are worthy of the divine approval, and they are not only well disposed to them, but they co-operate with them in their endeavours to please God: they seek His favour on their behalf; with their prayers they join their own prayers and intercessions for them. We may indeed boldly say, that men who aspire after better things have, when they pray to God, tens of thousands of sacred powers upon their side. These, even when not asked, pray with them, they bring succour to our mortal race, and if I may so say, take up arms alongside of it: for they see demons warring and fighting most keenly against the salvation of those who devote themselves to God, and despise the hostility of demons; they see them savage in their hatred of the man who refuses to serve them with the blood and fumes of sacrifices, but rather strives in every way, by word and deed, to be in peace and union with the Most High through Jesus, who put to flight multitudes of demons when He went about healing, and delivering all who were oppressed by the devil. (BOOK VIII; emphasis mine)

7. (1) “The heavens were opened.”¹¹⁰ It is not enough for one heaven to be opened; very many are opened, so that not from one heaven but from all the heavens, angels may come down to those who are to be saved—the angels who ascended and descended upon the Son of Man,¹¹¹ and came to him, and ministered to him.¹¹² Moreover, the angels descended because Christ had descended earlier, fearing to descend before the Lord of all Powers¹¹³ and of [all] things went ahead of them.¹¹⁴ When they saw, however, the leader of the heavenly host lingering in earthly places, then they came out through the opened way, following their Lord, and obeying the will of the one who apportioned them as guardians of those who believe in his name. Yesterday you were subject to a demon; today you are under an angel. The Lord says, “Do not despise one of these smallest ones” who are in the Church; “truly I say to you that their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in the heavens.”¹¹⁵ The angels devote themselves to your salvation; they have declared themselves¹¹⁶ for the service of the Son of God, and they say to each other, “If he descended, and descended into a body, if he was clothed with mortal flesh and endured the cross, and died on behalf of mankind, why do we rest? Why do we spare ourselves? Come, let us all descend, all the angels, from heaven!” For this reason, too, there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising and glorifying God, when Christ was born.¹¹⁷

(2) All things are full of angels: Come, angel, take up an old man who has been converted from his original error, from the teaching of demons, from iniquity speaking loftily,¹¹⁸ and as you take him up, cherish and instruct him like a good physician. He is a little child: today an old man is born, an old man who becomes a little boy again. And when you have taken him up, grant him the baptism of second birth,¹¹⁹ and summon to yourself others as companions¹²⁰ in your mission,¹²¹ so that you may all together give an education in faith to those who at one time were deceived. For “there is more joy in the heavens over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need repentance.”¹²² All creation exults, rejoices together, and applauds those who are to be saved. For “the expectation of the creation awaits the revealing of the children of God.”¹²³ And although those who have adulterated¹²⁴ the Apostolic Scriptures do not wish there to be in their books statements of this sort, by which Jesus Christ could be proved to be the Creator,¹²⁵ nevertheless in that passage all creation awaits the children of God—awaits the time when they will be freed from transgression, when they will be taken out of the hands of the devil,¹²⁶ when they will be regenerated by Christ.

But it is now time also to touch on some matters regarding the passage before us. The prophet sees not a vision, but visions of God.¹²⁷ Why does he not see one, but many visions? Listen to the Lord, who says as a promise, “I have multiplied visions.”¹²⁸

110. Ezek. 1.1.

111. Cf. Jn. 1.51.

112. Cf. Mt. 4.11.

113. Lat. virtutum. Cf. Ps. 47[48].9[8] etc. The phrase Dominus virtutum is the equivalent of “Lord of Hosts.”

114. Lat. praeciperet, which could alternatively be translated “commanded”—so Borret: “avant que l’eût ordonnée…” and Scheck: “…before ‘the Lord’…had ordered them to.”

115. Mt. 18.10, slightly adapted.

116. Lat. confessi sunt. Borret translates “ils se sont déclarés…”; Scheck, “they have pledged themselves…” Migne’s text has concessi sunt (“they were granted”); although Baehrens does not indicate a variant reading here, I wonder whether concessi is not in fact the correct reading. Either way, the text is somewhat problematic.

117. Cf. Lk. 2.13.

118. Cf. Ps. 72[73].8. Perhaps one should emend iniquitate to iniquitatem, in conformity with the Biblical text? Scheck implicitly does so.

119. Lat. secunda generatio. Cf. Tit. 3.5.

120. Lat. socii.

121. Lat. ministerium.

122. Lk. 15.7, slightly adapted.

123. Rom. 8.19.

124. Lat. interpolaverunt; Borret argues that this refers to removing material here, rather than adding it.

125. Borret, with a different interpretation: “…ne veuillent pas que des paroles de ce genre soient dans les livres de ceux par qui le Christ Jesus peut être prouvé Créateur…” (“…do not wish there to be statements of this sort in the books of those by whom Christ Jesus can be proved to be the Creator…”). Harnack, Der kirchengeschichtliche Ertrag, 2: 67, takes this to mean that Marcion excised Rom. 8.19 from his text.

126. Lat. Zabulus, a variant of the Greek διάβολος that appears in some Latin authors (e.g., Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors 16.5, 10). This should not be confused with the Israelite patriarch / tribe Zebulun / Zabulon.

127. Ezek. 1.1 128. Hos. 12.11[10]. (Origen of Alexandria: Exegetical works on Ezekiel – The Fourteen Homilies and the Greek fragments of the Homilies, Commentaries and Scholia Text (Ancient Texts in Translation) 2, edited by Roger Pearse, translated and annotated by Mischa Hooker[Chieftain Publishing Ltd, 2014], Homily 1, pp. 37, 39, 41; emphasis mine)