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

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 slipped into the uttermost ignorance of all, were brought down to such a vulgarity of reasoning as to build temples and precincts elaborately wrought with costly materials, and to set up sacred images for them and statues of men, and weeping for the dead, to consider these as gods, and to dare to honor them with libations and sacrifices. Very many, therefore, are those in this life who attribute the glory that befits God alone to the elements of the world; but the Chaldeans especially, more than others, are possessed by such a doctrine, and they most meticulously measure the movement of the stars, and make the flights of birds a pretext for divination. 1.22 But, as I have already said, the divine Abraham was different from their foolishness; for he did not deign to love the nature of God, which is highest and beyond all, by numbering it among things perceptible and visible, nor indeed, by confining it to created things, did he err from the truth, but rather, by carrying it aloft and placing it highest above everything called into being, he was rightly admired. For this reason he was also received by God; for He who was sought then made Himself manifest to him. Let us see, therefore, with what glory the forefather Abraham is seen, then who after him will be worthy to declare the faith and glory that was in him; but, I think, for this purpose Moses would suffice for us, his own descendant, who, deeming it right to hold the same thoughts he knew [Abraham] had held, also committed them to writing. 1.23 Therefore, composing the book of Genesis, he said that some had sacked the things of the Sodomites, then holding Lot captive along with the others, they rejoiced as if they had conquered, but were cheated of their hope when Abraham unexpectedly marched out against them, and having conquered them by force, released from captivity those who had once been taken. And when he returned from the slaughter of the five kings (for it is written thus), the king of Sodom, Chedorlaomer, besought him, saying: Give me the men, and take the plunder for yourself. But he, not enduring to have the losses of others as a reward for his deeds of valor, forswore the matter, saying: I will stretch out my hand to God the most high, who created the heaven and the earth, that I will not take from a thread to a sandal strap from anything of yours, so that you should not say that I have made Abram rich. And he crowned him as a victor. And the king of Salem, that is Melchizedek, blessed him saying. Blessed be Abram by God the most high, who created the heaven and the earth, and blessed be God the most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And sending one of his trusted or most loyal servants to Mesopotamia and ordering him to be a bridesman for Isaac, "I will make you swear," he says, "by the God of heaven and the God of the earth." Therefore the divine Abraham clearly knew and confessed one and only God, and he named Him most high and the creator of all things, both in heaven and on earth. 1.24 Therefore the height is not perceptible, nor indeed conceived in a place, nor such as one might apprehend corporeally, but in His standing over all things in a manner befitting God, and that by Him were made the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, and the firmament itself, and indeed the earth, I mean the element itself. And if all things have come into being from Him, He is surely also other than all things, and other in nature, since He is neither created, nor indeed from non-existent things, but rather unbegotten and eternal and older than all time and the beginning of all things. Therefore, as I just said, the divine Abraham clearly knew that there is one God, and to Him and Him alone he rendered pure and undefiled worship. But since the

ἀστέρας καὶ τὰ τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα, πῦρ τε καὶ ὕδωρ, ἀέρα καὶ γῆν, ἐξ ὧν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστα συντεθεῖσθαι λέγεται· ἕτεροι δὲ αὖ, πρὸς τὴν ἁπασῶν ἐσχάτην ἀμαθίαν ὠλισθηκότες, χυδαιότητος εἰς τοῦτο κατῴχοντο λογισμῶν ὥστε καὶ νεὼς ἀναδείμασθαι καὶ τεμένη περιειργασμένα ταῖς τῶν ὑλῶν πολυτελείαις, ἕδη τε ἱερὰ αὐτοῖς ἐνιδρύσαι καὶ στήλας ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῖς τεθνεῶσιν ἐπιδακρύσαντας καὶ τούτους ἡγεῖσθαι θεοὺς σπονδαῖς τε αὐτοὺς καὶ θυσίαις γεραίρειν ἀποτολμᾶν. Πλεῖστοι μὲν οὖν ὅσοι κατὰ τὸν βίον οἱ τὴν μόνῳ πρέπουσαν τῷ Θεῷ δόξαν τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου στοιχείοις ἀνάπτοντες· ἐνίσχηνται δὲ τοιαύτῃ γραφῇ τῶν ἄλλων μάλιστα Χαλδαῖοι, καὶ περιεργώτατα μὲν τὴν τῶν ἄστρων ἀναμετροῦσι κίνησιν, οἰωνῶν δὲ πτήσεις μαντείας ποιοῦνται πρόφασιν. 1.22 Ἀλλ', ὡς ἔφην ἤδη, ταῖς ἐκείνων ἀσυνεσίαις διάφορος ἦν ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀβραάμ· οὐ γὰρ ἠξίου τοῖς ἐν αἰσθήσει τε καὶ ὁρατοῖς ἐναρίθμιον ποιεῖσθαι φιλεῖν τὴν ἀνωτάτω τε καὶ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσιν, οὔτε μὴν τοῖς κτίσμασιν αὐτὴν ἐγκατακλείων τῆς ἀληθείας ἡμάρτανεν, ἀνακομίζων δὲ μᾶλλον ὑψοῦ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κεκλημένου πρὸς γένεσιν ἀνωτάτω τιθεὶς εἰκότως ἐθαυμάζετο. Ταύτητοι καὶ προσελήφθη παρὰ Θεοῦ· ἐμφανῆ γὰρ ἑαυτὸν αὐτῷ καθίστη λοιπὸν ὁ ζητούμενος. Ἴδωμεν τοίνυν ὁποίαν ἔχων ὁρᾶται τὴν δόξαν ὁ προπάτωρ Ἀβραάμ, εἶτα τίς τῶν μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἀξιόχρεως ἔσται πρὸς διασάφησιν τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ πίστεώς τε καὶ δόξης· ἀλλ', οἶμαι, πρὸς τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἀρκέσειεν ἂν ὁ Μωσῆς, ὁ αὐτοῦ γεγονὼς ἀπόγονος καὶ ἅπερ ἔγνω πεφρονηκότα, ταῦτα καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ φρονεῖν ἀξιῶν καὶ γραφῇ παραδούς. 1.23 Οὐκοῦν τὸ τῆς Γενέσεως συντιθεὶς βιβλίον, ἔφη μὲν ὅτι πεπορθήκασί τινες τὰ Σοδομιτῶν, εἶτα δορίληπτον ἔχοντες ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸν Λὼτ ἔχαιρον μὲν ὡς νενικηκότες, ἐσφάλλοντο δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἀδοκήτως αὐτοῖς ἀντεξάγοντος τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, καὶ ᾑρηκότος μὲν κατὰ κράτος, ἀπαλλάττοντος δὲ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τοὺς ἅπαξ ἐνειλημμένους. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὑπέστρεφεν ἀπὸ τῆς κοπῆς τῶν πέντε βασιλέων (γέγραπται γὰρ ὡδί), ἐδεῖτο μὲν αὐτοῦ λέγων βασιλεὺς Σοδόμων ὁ Χοδολογομόρ· ∆ός μοι τοὺς ἄνδρας, τὴν δὲ ἵππον λαβὲ σεαυτῷ, ὁ δέ, μισθὸν ἀνδραγαθημάτων τὰς ἑτέρων ἔχειν ζημίας οὐκ ἀνασχόμενος, ἀπώμοτον ἐποιεῖτο τὸ χρῆμα λέγων· Ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρά μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον ὃς ἔκτισε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, εἰ ἀπὸ σπαρτίου ἕως σφαιρωτῆρος ὑποδήματος λήψομαι ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν σῶν, ἵνα μὴ εἴπῃ ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐπλούτησα τὸν Ἀβραάμ, ἐστεφάνου δὲ αὐτὸν ὡς νενικηκότα. Καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Σαλήμ, τουτέστι Μελχισεδέκ, ηὐλόγησε λέγων. Εὐλογημένος Ἀβραάμ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ ὑψίστῳ ὃς ἔκτισε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ εὐλόγητος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ὕψιστος ὃς παρέδωκε τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποχειρίους σοι. Ἀποστέλλων δέ τινα τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἤτοι τῶν εὐνουστάτων οἰκετῶν εἰς τὴν μέσην τῶν ποταμῶν καὶ νυμφαγωγὸν προστάττων γενέσθαι τῷ Ἰσαάκ, Ὁρκιῶ σε, φησί, τὸν Θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τὸν Θεὸν τῆς γῆς. Ἕνα δὴ οὖν καὶ μόνον ᾔδει Θεὸν ὡμολόγει τε εἶναι σαφῶς ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀβραάμ, ὕψιστόν τε αὐτὸν ὠνόμαζε καὶ τῶν ὅλων γενεσιουργὸν τῶν τε ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς. 1.24 Οὐκοῦν τὸ ὕψος οὐκ αἰσθητόν, οὔτε μὴν ἐν τόπῳ νοούμενον, οὔτε ὁποῖον ἄν τις κατὰ σῶμα λάβοι, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐφεστάναι θεοπρεπῶς, πεποιῆσθαι δὲ παρ' αὐτοῦ τά τε ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ στερέωμα καὶ μέντοι τὴν γῆν αὐτὸ δέ φημι τὸ στοιχεῖον. Εἰ δὲ πάντα γέγονε παρ' αὐτοῦ, πάντως που καὶ ἕτερος παρὰ πάντα ἐστίν, ἕτερος δὲ κατὰ φύσιν, ἐπεὶ μήτε γενητός, μήτε μὴν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐστίν, ἀγένητος δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ ἀΐδιος καὶ χρόνου παντὸς πρεσβύτατος καὶ τῶν ὅλων ἀρχή. Θεὸν μὲν οὖν ἕνα, καθάπερ ἔφην ἀρτίως, ᾔδει τε ὄντα σαφῶς ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀβραάμ, αὐτῷ τε καὶ μόνῳ τὴν καθαρὰν καὶ ἀβέβηλον ἐποιεῖτο λατρείαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ