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Translated from the Greek original by Frederick Crombie.
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128 Pages
Page 55
But he who examines such matters more profoundly will say, that there being, as the Scripture calls it, a kind of general divine perception which the blessed man alone knows how to discover, according to the saying of Solomon, "Thou shalt find the knowledge of God;" [3149] and as there are various forms of this perceptive power, such as a faculty of vision which can naturally see things that are better than bodies, among which are ranked the cherubim and seraphim; and a faculty of hearing which can perceive voices which have not their being in the air; and a sense of taste which can make use of living bread that has come down from heaven, and that giveth life unto the world; and so also a sense of smelling, which scents such things as leads Paul to say that he is a sweet savour of Christ unto God; [3150] and a sense of touch, by which John says that he "handled with his hands of the Word of life;" [3151] --the blessed prophets having discovered this divine perception, and seeing and hearing in this divine manner, and tasting likewise, and smelling, so to speak, with no sensible organs of perception, and laying hold on the Logos by faith, so that a healing effluence from it comes upon them, saw in this manner what they record as having seen, and heard what they say they heard, and were affected in a similar manner to what they describe when eating the roll of a book that was given them. [3152] And so also Isaac smelled the savour of his son's divine garments, [3153] and added to the spiritual blessing these words: "See, the savour of my son is as the savour of a full field which the Lord blessed." [3154] And similarly to this, and more as a matter to be understood by the mind than to be perceived by the senses, Jesus touched the leper, [3155] to cleanse him, as I think, in a twofold sense,--freeing him not only, as the multitude heard, from the visible leprosy by visible contact, but also from that other leprosy, by His truly divine touch. It is in this way, accordingly, that John testifies when he says, "I beheld the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not; but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom you will see the Spirit descending, and abiding on Him, the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear witness, that this is the Son of God." [3156]
[3149] Cf. Prov. ii. 5.
[3150] Cf. 2 Cor. ii. 15.
[3151] Cf. 1 John i. 1.
[3152] Cf. Ezek. iii. 2, 3.
[3153] 'Osphranthe tes osmes ton tou huiou theioteron himation.
[3154] Cf. Gen. xxvii. 27.
[3155] Cf. Matt. viii. 3.
[3156] Cf. John i. 32-34.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/against-celsus.asp?pg=55
