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

it was necessary to hide in the city of the Sun in Sippar. And Xisuthros, having accomplished these things, immediately sailed to Armenia, and straightaway the things from God overtook him. On the third day, when the rain stopped, he sent out some of the birds, making a test to see if they might see land emerging from the water; but they, with an invisible sea awaiting them, being at a loss where they might settle, were brought back to Xisuthros, and others after them; and when he had success with the third sending—for they came back with their feet covered in mud—the gods made him disappear from among men. The vessel was in Armenia and provided the local people with wooden amulets as protection against evil. 1.8 They call Noah Xisuthros, perhaps according to the Assyrian language, and in this again they have erred from the truth, saying that Cronos commanded him instead of the God over all, and it is no wonder; for they have not come to share in the divine light, nor have they seen with the eyes of the mind the holy beauty of the truth. So Noah, having come out of the ark, made a sacrifice, and he lodged there with his beloved ones. And three sons were born to him, and very many others from them, and they became a second beginning for those on the earth, and at first they dwelt together, and only in the land towards the east, but after this they were scattered everywhere, when the God over all divided them into many languages; for he was angry at the construction of the tower. And that those we have just named also make mention of this story we shall know no less from what they have written. 1.9 For Alexander says thus: The Sibyl says that, when all men were of one language, some of them built a tower of immense height, in order that they might ascend to heaven, but that god, sending winds against the tower, overthrew it and gave to each his own language; for which reason the city was called Babylon. And Abydenus again: Here they say the first men arose, puffed up with strength and size and thinking themselves mightier than the gods, they raised a high tower, where Babylon now is; and when it was already near heaven, the winds, assisting the gods, overthrew the structure upon them; its ruins are called Babylon, and whereas they had formerly been of one language, they received from the gods a confused medley of tongues. 1.10 So, when the descendants of Noah had been scattered, and then after some time had passed, Ninus son of Arbelus is said to have been the first to rule illustriously over the Assyrians, after whom the city of Nineveh is named, whose walls Semiramis, having married Ninus, magnificently built. Therefore, when Ninus was governing the kingdom of the Assyrians, and Europs that of the Sicyonians, they say that the blessed Abraham was born, a man of all wisdom and great learning, and one of those who were most earnest in their desire to know the truth, and who is the creator and lord of all things. For he put aside and cast far away the beliefs of the Assyrians, I mean those concerning the polytheistic error. And having supposed that the knowledge of the truth would be sufficient for him for all prosperity, he was accepted by God; for he heard: Go out from your kindred and from your father's house, and come to the land that I will show you. What manner of life he lived, therefore, and how many were born from him, I shall for the present omit to say, since the occasion necessarily directs our discourse to other things. But having passed over those in between on account of the multitude of stories and names, I will come in haste to the hierophant Moses himself. 1.11 For in the four hundred and twenty-fifth year after the divine Abraham, Moses was born in Egypt, the descendants of Abraham having sojourned there. And while he was still young and having come to an experience of the wisdom of the Egyptians, such as

ἐχόμενον ἦν ἐν Ἡλίου πόλει τῇ ἐν Σιπαροῖσιν ἀποκρύψαι. Ξίσουθρος δὲ ταῦτα ἐπιτελέα ποιήσας ἰθέως ἐπ' Ἀρμενίης ἀνέπλωσε, καὶ παραυτίκα μιν κατελάμβανε τὰ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τρίτῃ δὲ ἡμέρῃ, ἐπεί τε ὕων ἐκόπασε, μεθίει τῶν ὀρνίθων πείρην ποιούμενος εἴπου γῆν ἴδοιεν τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκδῦσαν· αἱ δέ, ἐκδεκομένου σφέας πελάγεος ἀφανέος, ἀπορέουσαι ὅκη καθορμίσονται, παρὰ τὸν Ξίσουθρον ὀπίσω κομίζονται, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῇσιν ἕτεραι· ὡς δὲ τῇσι τρίτῃσιν εὐτύχεεν φίκατο γὰρ δὴ πηλοῦ κατάπλεῳ τοὺς ταρσούς θεοί μιν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίζουσι. Τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἐν Ἀρμενίῃ ἦν καὶ περίαπτα ξύλων ἀλεξιφάρμακα τοῖσιν ἐπιχωρίοισι παρείχετο. 1.8 Ξίσουθρον μὲν οὖν ὀνομάζουσι τὸν Νῶε τάχα που κατὰ φωνὴν Ἀσσυρίων, κἀν τούτῳ δὲ πάλιν ἡμαρτήκασι τἀληθοῦς τὸν Κρόνον αὐτῷ χρῆσαι λέγοντες ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεοῦ, καὶ θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· οὐ γὰρ ἐν μεθέξει γεγόνασι τοῦ θείου φωτὸς οὔτε μὴν τοῖς ὄμμασι τῆς διανοίας τὸ σεπτὸν τῆς ἀληθείας κάλλος τεθέανται. Οὐκοῦν τέθυκε μὲν ὁ Νῶε τῆς κιβωτοῦ προελθών, ηὐλίζετο δὲ αὐτόθι φιλτάτοις ὁμοῦ. Καὶ τρεῖς μὲν ἦσαν αὐτῷ φύντες υἱοί, πλεῖστοί γε μὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἕτεροι, καὶ ἀρχὴ δευτέρα γεγόνασι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, κατῳκήκασι δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ὁμόσε, καὶ ἐν μόνῃ τῇ πρὸς ἀκτῖνα γῇ, κατεσκηδάσθησαν δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο πανταχῆ, καταδιελόντος αὐτοὺς εἰς πολυγλωσσίαν τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντας Θεοῦ· ἠγανάκτει γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ πύργου κατασκευῇ. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ταυτησὶ τῆς ἱστορίας διαμέμνηνται οἱ ἀρτίως ἡμῖν ὠνομασμένοι ἐξ ὧν γεγράφασιν οὐδὲν ἧττον εἰσόμεθα. 1.9 Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν γὰρ ὡδί φησι· Σίβυλλα δέ φησιν, ὁμοφώνων ὄντων ἁπάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τινὰς τούτων πύργον ὑπερμεγέθη οἰκοδομῆσαι, ὅπως εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνα βῶσι, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ ἀνέμους τῷ πύργῳ ἐμφυσήσαντος, ἀνατρέψαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἰδίαν δοῦναι φωνὴν ἑκάστοις· διὸ δὴ Βαβυλῶνα τὴν πόλιν κληθῆναι. Ἀβυδηνὸς δὲ πάλιν· Ἐν τῇδε λέγουσι τοὺς πρώτους ἀνασχόντας, ῥώμῃ τε καὶ μεγέθει χαυνωθέντας καὶ δὴ θεῶν κάρτα φρονήσαντας ἀμείνονας εἶναι, τύρσιν ἠλίβατον ἀείρειν, ἵνα νῦν Βαβυλών ἐστιν· ἤδη τε ἆσσον εἶναι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τοὺς ἀνέμους θεοῖσι βωθέοντας ἀνατρέψαι περὶ αὐτοῖσι τὸ μηχάνημα· τοῦ δὴ τὰ ἐρείπια λέγεσθαι Βαβυλῶνα, τέως τε ὄντας ὁμογλώσσους ἐκ θεῶν πολύθροον φωνὴν ἐνείκασθαι. 1.10 Κατεσκεδασμένων δὴ οὖν τῶν ἐξ αἵματος Νῶε, εἶτα καιροῦ διϊππεύσαντος πρῶτος Ἀσσυρίων ἐπιφανῶς βασιλεῦσαι λέγεται Νίνος ὁ Ἀρβήλου παῖς, οὗ καὶ ἐπώνυμος ἡ Νινευὶ πόλις, ἧς τὰ τείχη Σεμίραμις Νίνῳ συνοικήσασα μεγαλοφυῶς ἐσκευάσατο. Νίνου τοίνυν τὴν Ἀσσυρίων διέποντος βασιλείαν, Εὔρωπος δὲ τὴν Σικυωνίων, γενέσθαι φασὶ τὸν μακάριον Ἀβραάμ, ἄνδρα πανσύνετον καὶ πολυΐστορα, καὶ τῶν ὅτι μάλιστα κατεσπουδασμένων ποιεῖσθαι προθυμούμενον τὸ δεῖν εἰδέναι τὸ ἀληθές, καὶ τίς ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἐστὶ δημιουργὸς καὶ κύριος. Ἀπεσκευάζετο μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀπωτάτω μεθίει τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὰς δόξας, τὰς ἐπί γέ φημι τῇ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ. Τῆς γε μὴν ἀληθείας τὴν γνῶσιν ἀρκέσειν αὐτῷ πρὸς πᾶσαν εὐημερίαν ὑπειληφώς, προσεδέχθη παρὰ Θεοῦ· ἤκουε γάρ· Ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, καὶ δεῦρο εἰς γῆν ἣν ἄν σοι δείξω. Τίνα μὲν οὖν διεβίω τρόπον, ὅσοι τε γεγόνασιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ, παρήσω λέγειν εἰς τὸ παρόν, μεθιστάντος ἡμῖν ἀναγκαίως τὸν λόγον ἐφ' ἕτερα τοῦ καιροῦ. Παρελάσας δὲ τοὺς μεταξὺ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἱστοριῶν καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἥξω δρομαῖος τὸν ἱεροφάντην Μωσέα. 1.11 Ἔτους μὲν γὰρ διαγεγονότος τετρακοσιοστοῦ πέμπτου τε καὶ εἰκοστοῦ μετὰ τὸν θεσπέσιον Ἀβραάμ, τίκτεται μὲν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ Μωσῆς, παρῳκηκότων αὐτόθι τῶν ἐξ αἵματος Ἀβραάμ. Νέος δὲ ὢν ἔτι καὶ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων σοφίας εἰς πεῖραν ἐλθών, οἷόν τι