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

full of various counsels, and likewise that Leto suggests forgetfulness, and Hermes both memory and reason. Then he takes up natural philosophy and explains the difference of the elements with respect to one another, saying: For indeed against lord Poseidon stood Phoebus Apollo with his winged arrows; and against Hera the resounding one of the golden distaff... And against Hephaestus stood the great deep-eddying river. For here too, it seems to me, he meant Poseidon to be the moist substance, Apollo the sun, and Hera the air, and the resounding one of the golden distaff the moon, and Hephaestus the fire, and that the river is to be taken as in the order of the cold. 1.37 But even if his love of myth is far too great, still we shall find that he was not entirely ignorant of the truth; for he said somewhere again: ... not even if a god himself should promise me, after scraping off old age, to make me a flourishing youth... For he does not say 'even if one of the gods should promise me the selling off of old age, and youth to be taken back again'; but he has reserved this thing for the God over all alone, attributing only to His powers the ability to accomplish all things without toil, even things beyond hope and our reason. Not even if a god himself, he says, should promise me; for 'God himself' would not signify one of those fashioned in the myths, but only the truly existing God Himself. But while it seemed good to Homer to think and speak thus, let us go now to those who are pompous and supercilious, who have obtained no mean reputation for would-be wisdom, at least among the sons of the Hellenes. 1.38 Porphyry then, who poured forth bitter words against us, and almost danced upon the Christian religion, says that those who are named wise, being seven in number, seized upon this title from the following cause: for he writes thus in the first book of his History of Philosophy: Though they were nine, seven were called wise for the following reason. A fisherman having sold a catch of fish to some young men, it happened that a golden tripod was found in the net; and when the fisherman said he had sold the fish but not the tripod, and the young men attributed the finding to their own good fortune, it was decided to entrust the judgment to the god. When the oracle commanded to give the tripod to the wise man, the tripod was first offered to Thales, but he sent it on to Bias, saying that he was the wise one. And he sent it to another, and that one to another, until the tripod, having been passed around the seven and having returned again to the first, it was decided to dedicate it to the god; for he was the wisest of all. What sort of opinions, then, they held will be told by us in due course. Thales the Milesian, then, says that God is the mind of the cosmos, and Democritus of Abdera agrees in a way, but adds something else; for he too maintains that God is mind, except that it is in a spherical fire, and that this is the soul of the cosmos. But Anaximander, as if treading a completely different path, defines God to be the infinite worlds, saying I know not what. 1.39 But he who has the greatest and not unadmirable skill in the testing of thoughts, I mean Aristotle of Stagira, the student of Plato, calls God a separable form, and insists that it presides over the sphere of the universe. And indeed also the so-called Stoics say that God is a creative fire, proceeding methodically to the genesis of the cosmos. And about these things have written both Plutarch and others of their renowned authors, and that insolent Porphyry against us. Are they not then at variance with one another, and rather guessers than discerners of the truth, who are so intoxicated with manifold opinions? And yet those who have known the truth truly and unerringly ought in no way to be opposed to one another's thoughts, just as, of course, can be seen among ourselves. But to this, I suppose, someone will say: What then, my good sir? Are there not many heresies also among you

ποικιλομήτην, Λητὼ δὲ ὁμοίως τὴν λήθην ὑπονοεῖν, Ἑρμῆν δὲ μνήμην τε καὶ λόγον. Εἶτα φυσιολογίας ἅπτεται καὶ τὴν τῶν στοιχείων διαφορὰν πρὸς ἄλληλα ἐξηγεῖται λέγων· Ἦ τοι μὲν γὰρ ἔναντα Ποσειδάωνος ἄνακτος Ἵστατ' Ἀπόλλων Φοῖβος ἔχων ἰὰ πτερόεντα· Ἥρῃ δ' ἀντέστη χρυσηλάκατος κελαδεινὴ ... Ἄντα δ' ἄρ' Ἡφαίστοιο μέγας ποταμὸς βαθυδίνη. Κἀνταῦθα γάρ μοι δοκεῖ Ποσειδῶνα μὲν εἰπεῖν τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ Ἥραν τὸν ἀέρα, χρυσηλάκατον δὲ κελαδεινὴν τὴν σελήνην, Ἥφαιστόν τε τὸ πῦρ, τὸν δέ γε ποταμὸν ὡς ἐν τάξει δέχεσθαι τοῦ ψυχροῦ. 1.37 Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ πολὺ λίαν παρ' αὐτῷ τὸ φιλόμυθον, ἀλλ' οὖν οὐκ ἠγνοηκότα παντελῶς εὑρήσομεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἔφη γάρ που πάλιν· ... οὐδ' εἴ κέν μοι ὑποσταίη θεὸς αὐτός, Γῆρας ἀποξύσας, θήσειν νέον ἡβώοντα ... Οὐ γάρ πού φησιν εἰ καὶ θεῶν τις ὑπόσχοιτό μοι τοῦ μὲν γήρως τὴν ἀπεμπολήν, παλινάγρετον δὲ τὴν νεότητα· τετήρηκε δὲ τὸ χρῆμα μόνῳ τῷ ἐπὶ πάντας Θεῷ, μόναις ἀνατιθεὶς ταῖς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεσι τὸ πάντα δύνασθαι κατορθοῦν ἀμογητί, καὶ τὰ ἐλπίδος ἐπέκεινα καὶ λόγου τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς. Οὐδ' εἴ μοι φησίν ὑποσταίη θεὸς αὐτός· τὸ γάρ τοι Θεὸς αὐτός οὐκ ἐφ' ἕνα τῶν ἐν μύθοις πεπλασμένων τινά, αὐτὸν δὲ δὴ μόνον κατασημήνειεν ἂν τὸν ἀληθῶς ὄντα Θεόν. Ἀλλ' Ὁμήρῳ μὲν ὡδὶ φρονεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν ἐδόκει, ἴωμεν δὲ καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἤδη τοὺς σοβαροὺς καὶ κατωφρυωμένους, δοκησισοφίας τε δόξαν λαχόντας οὐκ ἀγεννῆ παρά γε τοῖς Ἑλλήνων παισί. 1.38 Πορφύριος μὲν οὖν, ὁ πικροὺς ἡμῶν καταχέας λόγους, καὶ τῆς Χριστιανῶν θρησκείας μονονουχὶ κατορχούμενος, τοὺς ὠνομασμένους σοφούς, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντας ἑπτά, τὴν τοιάνδε κλῆσιν ἁρπάσαι φησὶν ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε· γράφει δὲ οὕτως ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ βιβλίῳ τῆς Φιλοσόφου ἱστορίας· Ἐννέα δὲ ὄντων, ἑπτὰ κληθῆναι σοφοὺς ἐξ αἰτίας τοιαύτης. Ἁλιέως βόλον νεανίσκοις ἀποδομένου ἰχθύων, συνέβη χρυσοῦν τρίποδα ἐν τῷ βόλῳ εὑρεθῆναι· τοῦ δὲ ἁλιέως ἰχθῦς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τρίποδα πεπρακέναι λέγοντος, καὶ τῶν νεανίσκων εἰς τὴν αὑτῶν τύχην ἀναφερόντων τὴν εὕρησιν, ἔδοξε τῷ θεῷ τὴν κρίσιν ἐπιτρέψαι· τοῦ δὲ χρήσαντος διδόναι τὸν τρίποδα τῷ σοφῷ, Θάλητι πρώτῳ ὁ τρίπους προσηνέχθη, ὁ δὲ πρὸς Βίαντα ἀπέπεμψεν, ἐκεῖνον φάμενος εἶναι τὸν σοφόν· ὁ δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον πέμπει, κἀκεῖνος πρὸς ἄλλον, ἕως εἰς τοὺς ἑπτὰ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐκπεριαχθέντος καὶ πάλιν ὑποστρέψαντος ἐπὶ τὸν πρῶτον, ἔδοξεν ἀναθεῖναι τῷ θεῷ· τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι πάντων τὸν σοφώτατον. Ὁποῖαι τοίνυν αὐτῶν αἱ δόξαι γεγόνασιν, ἐπὶ καιροῦ λελέξεται πρὸς ἡμῶν· Θάλης μὲν οὖν ὁ Μιλήσιος νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου φησὶν εἶναι τὸν θεόν, ∆ημόκριτος δὲ ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης συμφέρεται κατά τι, προσεπάγει δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον· νοῦν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἰσχυρίζεται καὶ αὐτός, πλὴν ἐν πυρὶ σφαιροειδεῖ, καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν. Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ οἶμον ὥσπερ ὁλοτρόπως ἑτέραν ἰὼν θεὸν διορίζεται εἶναι τοὺς ἀπείρους κόσμους, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι λέγων. 1.39 Ὁ δὲ πλείστην ἔχων καὶ οὐκ ἔξω θαύματος εἰς βασάνους ἐννοιῶν τὴν δείνωσιν, τὸν Ἀριστοτέλη λέγω τὸν Σταγειρίτην, τὸν Πλάτωνος φοιτητήν, εἶδος μὲν χωριστὸν ὀνομάζει τὸν θεόν, ἐπιβῆναι δὲ διατείνεται τῇ τοῦ παντὸς σφαίρᾳ. Καὶ μὴν καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι στωϊκοὶ θεὸν εἶναί φασι πῦρ τεχνικὸν ὁδῷ βαδίζον ἐπὶ γενέσει κόσμου. Γεγράφασι δὲ περὶ τούτων Πλούταρχός τε καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς λογάδων, καὶ ὁ θρασὺς καθ' ἡμῶν Πορφύριος. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐ διάφοροι μὲν ἀλλήλοις εἰσί, στοχασταὶ δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἀληθείας διαγνώμονες οἱ πολυτρόποις οὕτω δόξαις καταμεθύοντες; Καίτοι τοὺς ἀληθῶς τε καὶ ἀπλανῶς ἐγνωκότας κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον ταῖς ἀλλήλων ἐννοίαις ἐχρῆν ἀντιφέρεσθαι, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἔνεστιν ἰδεῖν. Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ πρὸς τοῦτο, οἶμαί, τις· Τί οὖν, ὦ τᾶν; Οὐ γὰρ αἱρέσεις εἰσὶ πολλαὶ καὶ παρ' ὑμῖν