" [Cont. Cels. lib. viii. Sec. 34.
(Benedict, p. 766.)]
After these multiplied declarations of Origen, not only confessing that
Christians did not pray to the angels, but vindicating them from the
charge of impiety brought against them by their enemies for their
neglect of the worship of angels, is it possible to regard him as a
witness in favour of prayer to angels?
But it has been said that Origen in another passage (Cont. Cels. lib.
viii. Sec. 13. p. 751.) {144} plainly implies, that he would not be
unwilling to discuss the question of some worship being due to angels
and archangels, provided the idea of that worship, and the acts of the
worshippers, were first cleared of all misapprehension. And I would not
that any Catholic, whether in communion with the Church of England or of
Rome, should make any other answer than Origen here gave to Celsus. Let
me speak freely on this point. I should not respect the memory of Origen
as I do, had he taught differently. The word which he uses is the Greek
word "therapeusis," precisely the same word with that which the learned
in medicine now use to describe the means of healing diseases. It is a
word of very wide import. It signifies the care which a physician takes
of his patient; the service paid to a master; the attention given to a
superior; the affectionate attendance of a friend; the allegiance of a
subject; the worship of the Supreme Being.
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