Contra Julianum Of the blessed Cyril, archbishop of Alexandria, an address to

 a fine thing for those who will encounter it, and for those who have a heart easily led astray and most readily carried away to things that are not fi

 1.1 Book One The wise and discerning, and those knowledgeable in the sacred doctrines, marvel at the beauty of the truth, and in every discourse have

 those after them would know the things of the first, and not rather those before them the things of the later Therefore, since the sons of the Hellen

 it was necessary to hide in the city of the Sun in Sippar. And Xisuthros, having accomplished these things, immediately sailed to Armenia, and straigh

 he made human affairs a preliminary exercise for more divine ones. Having brought the times down from Abraham to Moses, let us therefore begin here ag

 Azariah, also called Uzziah, governing the affairs of the Hebrews, and Arbaces of the Medes, and Proca Silvius of the Latins. 1.14 Therefore, from the

 coming together into a harmony of sound, Osirapis, so that in the same name Osiris and Apis might be understood. For both of these a death and a buria

 brought to them from Phoenicia, except that the things of Moses had been written And Solon, the discoverer of the laws in Athens, and indeed Plato hi

 stars and the elements of the world, fire and water, air and earth, from which all individual things are said to be composed but others again, having

 a time for the increase of what he had rightly learned sharpened his mind, then indeed, then he was taught the doctrines concerning the divinity more

 but the divine Abraham running up did not speak as to three: Lords, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant, but named the

 Upon the Sodomites who had sinned unbearably he sent the fire he rained, it says, upon Sodom fire and brimstone, the Lord from the Lord. 1.29 But to

 of nature and preeminence and worth would be reckoned both creator and creation, generated and ungenerated nature, incorruptible and under corruption,

 we are accustomed to grant the proper place, far from it but we also reckon ourselves among the children of Abraham. For we are the sons according to

 full of various counsels, and likewise that Leto suggests forgetfulness, and Hermes both memory and reason. Then he takes up natural philosophy and ex

 to them, and are some torn apart so as to think and say different things? But I would say, O excellent one, that those who were the first and earliest

 is, being a mixture of all the ages, and light of his own powers and works, the beginning of all things, a luminary in heaven, and father of all, mind

 Indeed, the sun which seems all-shining does not even seem to allow one to see himself, but if anyone gazes upon him shamelessly, he takes away his si

 what has been said by them concerning the Holy Spirit. For Porphyry says, setting forth the opinion of Plato, that the divine substance proceeded as f

 that not a few of the wise men among the Greeks, being self-willed, have gone astray, and have held opinions that rise up against each other, but ther

 found saying, setting this forth both in the middle and at the end, he would show that the arguments of his refutation were not, I suppose, produced i

 they set up their plot for the souls of the more simple. For they deceived those throughout all the earth, saying that the heaven and the other elemen

 having contrasted them with the Greeks' as being superior, how does he demand that we be silent, and make no mention at all of the things among them,

 Then do you think you have deliberated well, and not rather that you will suffer the very worst of all evil reputation? But if he should wish to under

 they reject certain foods, but they fear none of the strange things. And in addition to this they delight the supreme Zeus, having chosen to honor his

 belching forth according to what seems right to each, how could they not be thought to be guessers rather than men of knowledge of the truth? For some

 Of Plato. Consider, then, what he says about the creator and what words he puts in his mouth in the cosmogony, so that we may compare the cosmogony of

 distributed to all upon the earth, Moses was a helper and was shown to be an introducer of the most beautiful teachings to all, first by having cried

 it is not easy even for those who have known him to say he is capable in all things. And again, elsewhere: To this common conception of all men there

 the earth, and Apollo the sun and the golden-spindled, resounding one, that is Artemis, the moon? And simply applying to each of the things made by Go

 The supreme nature is understood and exists beyond all, beyond mind, reason, and wonder, having willed to make the living being like itself, as far as

 I will place upon you who are under me this commandment given to you through my Word for this law you have. For as I said just now, the Creator estab

 proclaimed, and thinks it a small thing to have been given by God to human nature to be made by Him in His image and likeness. And yet how would not a

 Did the Creator of all things entrust to other gods the necessity of laboring over the creation of the three kinds? From indolence, then, they might s

 it will campaign against His glory to think that others are also able to create and to call into existence the things that once were not for it is no

 of all nature. If, then, two things are acknowledged as existing, that which comes into being and that which makes, they are one by union, the one pre

 weave mortal to it? It is clear, then, that the demiurgic gods, having received creative power from their own father, generated the mortal animals upo

 of the ruling substances, and so he says: For Empedocles, Strife divides, and Friendship unites and this is also incorporeal for him, but the element

 of others, whatever things may have been made, and reaching even to the most insignificant of them. Is this not then a joke, tell me, and babbling hen

 if each one should need it, and showing that such a great and immeasurable creation is not without a superintendent, through which things it is well-o

 of God, and the earth his footstool. Rightly so, o noble one for I will recall God himself saying through one of the holy prophets. Heaven is my thro

a fine thing for those who will encounter it, and for those who have a heart easily led astray and most readily carried away to things that are not fitting, a most necessary remedy, but for those who are well-grounded in the faith, a kind of staff able to support them so that they must be more firmly fixed and hold unshaken the tradition of the orthodox faith. Who then is it that has fought against the glory of Christ? Very many indeed at various times have been brought down to this through the wickedness of the devil, but most of all Julian, who once shone with the splendors of the empire, but was ignorant of Christ, the giver of the empire and of the power to rule. For before the time of his reign he was numbered among the believers, and was deemed worthy even of holy baptism, and was trained also in the sacred books. prol.4 But I know not how certain profane and superstitious men, having become his acquaintances, let fall words on behalf of apostasy, then, taking Satan as their accomplice in this, they led him astray to the customs of the Greeks and made him a worshiper of unclean demons, him who had been brought up in holy churches and monasteries; for evil communications corrupt good manners, as the all-wise Paul says. And I say that those wishing to have a steadfast mind and to keep the tradition of the orthodox faith in their mind like a pearl must give no entry or place of confidence to those who wish to be superstitious; for it is written: With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with an innocent man thou shalt be innocent, and with the elect thou shalt be elect, and with the froward thou shalt be froward. So then the most excellent Julian, having a clever tongue, sharpened it against Christ, the Savior of us all; and indeed he wrote three books against the holy gospels and against the pious religion of the Christians, and through them he shakes many, and has done no small injury. The fickle and easily seduced fall readily into his ways and become sweet prey to demons; but sometimes even those who are established in the faith are disturbed somehow; for they think that he knows the holy and divine Scriptures, since from them he heaps up very many testimonies for his own arguments, though he does not know what he is saying. prol.5 But since very many of the superstitious, meeting those who believe in Christ, reproach them up and down, putting forward his writings against us, asserting that their cleverness is unassailable, and that no one of our teachers has ever been able to contradict or refute his words, many urged me to this, and indeed taking courage in God who says even now: Go, and I will open your mouth, I have set myself to the task of pulling down the Greek brow raised against the glory of Christ, and to defend as possible those who have been deceived and to show that he who accused Christ, the Savior of us all, was led astray and did not know the divine Scriptures. I have dedicated these treatises on this matter to your Christ-loving and most pious majesty, whom may God always keep in unshakable cheerfulness, making you great over your enemies, and having all things under your feet, and passing on the pious kingdom to your children's children, with the consent of Christ, through whom and with whom to God the Father be glory with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever, amen.

1.t Of our Father among the saints Cyril, archbishop of Alexandria, on behalf of the pious religion of the Christians, against the writings of the atheist

Julian

καλοῦ τοῖς ἐντευξομένοις, καὶ τοῖς μὲν εὐπαρακόμιστον ἔχουσι τὴν καρδίαν καὶ ἐφ' ἃ μὴ προσῆκεν ἑτοιμότατα συναρπαζομένην ἐπικούρημα χρειωδέστατον, τοῖς γε μὴν εὖ βεβηκόσι περὶ τὴν πίστιν ῥάβδος οἵα τις ἀνέχειν ἰσχύουσα πρός γε τὸ χρῆναι διαπεπῆχθαι μειζόνως καὶ ἀκράδαντον ἔχειν τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως τὴν παράδοσιν. Τίς οὖν ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξῃ μεμαχημένος; Πλεῖστοι μὲν οὖν ὅσοι κατὰ καιροὺς οἱ πρός γε τοῦτο διὰ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου σκαιότητος κατενηνεγμένοι, μάλιστα δὲ πάντων ὁ τῆς βασιλείας αὐχήμασιν ἐμπρέψας ποτὲ Ἰουλιανός, ἀγνοήσας δὲ τὸν τῆς βασιλείας καὶ τοῦ δύνασθαι κρατεῖν δοτῆρα Χριστόν. Ἦν μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τῶν τῆς βασιλείας καιρῶν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν ἐναρίθμιος, ἠξιώθη δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος, ἐνήσκητο δὲ καὶ βίβλοις ταῖς ἱεραῖς. προλ.4 Ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἄνδρες αὐτῷ μιαροί τε καὶ δεισιδαίμονες γεγονότες γνώριμοι τοὺς ὑπέρ γε τῆς ἀποστασία καθῆκαν λόγους, εἶτα σύνοπλον εἰς τοῦτο λαβόντες τὸν Σατανᾶν παρεκόμισαν εἰς τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἔθη καὶ λάτριν ἀπέφηναν δαιμονίων ἀκαθάρτων τὸν ἐν ἁγίαις ἐκκλησίαις καὶ μοναστηρίοις ἐντεθραμμένον· φθείρουσι γὰρ ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί, καθά φησιν ὁ πάνσοφος Παῦλος. Χρῆναι δέ φημι τοὺς ἑδραῖον ἔχειν ἐθέλοντας φρόνημα καὶ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως τὴν παράδοσιν καθάπερ τινὰ μαργαρίτην τηροῦντας εἰς νοῦν μηδεμίαν διδόναι παρείσδυσιν ἤγουν παρρησίας τόπον τοῖς ἐθέλουσι δεισιδαιμονεῖν· γέγραπται γάρ· Μετὰ ὁσίου ὅσιος ἔσῃ, καὶ μετὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀθῴου ἀθῷος ἔσῃ, καὶ μετὰ ἐκλεκτοῦ ἐκλεκτὸς ἔσῃ, καὶ μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέψεις. Ἔχων τοίνυν εὐφυᾶ τὴν γλῶτταν ὁ κράτιστος Ἰουλιανὸς κατέθηξεν αὐτὴν τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ· καὶ δὴ καὶ τρία συγγέγραφε βιβλία κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελίων καὶ κατὰ τῆς εὐαγοῦς τῶν Χριστιανῶν θρησκείας, κατασείει δὲ δι' αὐτῶν πολλούς, καὶ ἠδίκηκεν οὐ μετρίως. Οἱ μὲν ἐλαφροί τε καὶ εὐπάροιστοι πίπτουσι ῥᾳδίως εἰς τὰ αὐτοῦ καὶ γλυκὺ τοῖς δαιμονίοις γίνονται θήραμα· θορυβοῦνται δέ πως ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ οἱ βεβηκότες ἐν πίστει· νομίζουσι γὰρ αὐτὸν τὰς ἱερὰς καὶ θείας εἰδέναι Γραφάς, ἐπείπερ ἐξ αὐτῶν τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις παμπόλλους ἐπισωρεύει τὰς μαρτυρίας, καίτοι μὴ εἰδὼς ἃ λέγει. προλ.5 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πλεῖστοί τινες τῶν δεισιδαιμόνων, τοῖς τὰ Χριστοῦ φρονοῦσι περιτυγχάνοντες, ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω κατονειδίζουσι, τὰς ἐκείνου καθ' ἡμῶν προβαλλόμενοι συγγραφάς, φάσκοντες ἀπρόσβλητον αὐτὰς ἔχειν τὴν δείνωσιν, καὶ οὐδένα πώποτε τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν διδασκάλων ἢ ἀντειπεῖν ἰσχύσαι ἤγουν ἀνατρέψαι τὰ αὐτοῦ, προτρεψάντων εἰς τοῦτο πολλῶν καὶ δὴ καὶ θαρσήσας λέγοντι τῷ Θεῷ καὶ νῦν· Πορεύου, καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου, καθῆκα μὲν ἐμαυτὸν ἐπί γε τὸ δεῖν κατασπάσαι μὲν ὀφρὺν ἑλληνικὴν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξης ἐπαιρομένην, ἐπαμῦναι δὲ ὡς ἔνι τοῖς ἠπατημένοις καὶ πεπλανημένον ἀποφῆναι καὶ τὰς θείας οὐκ εἰδότα Γραφὰς τὸν τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ κατηγορευκότα. Ἀνατέθεικα δὲ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τούτου λόγους τῇ φιλοχρίστῳ καὶ εὐαγεστάτῃ ὑμῶν κορυφῇ, ἣν ἀεὶ φυλάττοι Θεὸς ἐν ἀκλονήτοις εὐθυμίαις κατευμεγεθοῦσαν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ πάντας ἔχουσαν ὑπὸ πόδας, καὶ εἰς παῖδας παίδων παραπέμπουσαν τὴν εὐαγῆ βασιλείαν, κατανεύοντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ καὶ μεθ' οὗ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα σὺν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.

1.t Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις Πατρὸς ἡμῶν Κυρίλλου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν εὐαγοῦς θρησκείας πρὸς τὰ τοῦ ἐν ἀθέοις

Ἰουλιανοῦ