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

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 and animation of the whole, movement of all circles. Behold, he clearly says that the God of all is one, and the beginning of all things, the worker of his own powers, a luminary and animation, that is, the life-giving of the whole, and the movement of all circles; for nothing is self-moved, but all things have been produced by him, and it appears they have received their motion from non-being into being. And Plato speaks something like this: For to find the father and maker of this universe is a task, and having found him it is impossible to declare him to all. Very rightly indeed; for 'The glory of the Lord conceals a matter,' as it is written, and every word about him is weak and falls short of his worth; for he is beyond all conception, but we see things concerning him through a mirror and in a riddle, as the all-wise Paul says. 1.43 And Porphyry says in the fourth book of his History of Philosophy that Plato both believed and also stated again concerning one God, that no name applies to him nor can human knowledge comprehend him, but that the so-called appellations are predicated of him improperly from his effects. But if we must dare to say anything at all about him from the names we use, the appellation of 'the One' and that of 'the Good' should rather be assigned to him. For 'the One' indicates his simplicity and for this reason his self-sufficiency; for he needs nothing, not parts, not substance, not powers, not energies, but is the cause of all these things, and 'the Good' shows that from him is everything whatsoever that is good, with other things imitating as far as possible his, if one must say so, unique property and being saved through it. And Hermes Trismegistus says something like this: To comprehend God is difficult, but to express him is impossible, even for one who is able to comprehend; for it is impossible to signify the incorporeal with a body, and it is not possible for the perfect to be comprehended by the imperfect, and it is difficult for the eternal to associate with the short-lived; for the one always is, while the other passes away, and the one is true, while the other is shadowed by appearance. Therefore, by as much as the weaker is distant from the stronger and the lesser from the greater, so much is the mortal from the divine and immortal. If, then, there is an incorporeal eye, let it go forth from the body to the vision of the beautiful, and let it fly up, and be suspended, seeking to behold not shape, not body, not ideas, but rather that which is the maker of these, the quiet, the calm, the stable, the unchangeable, the same all and only, the one, the same from itself, the same in itself, that which is like to itself, which is neither like another, nor unlike itself. 1.44 And again the same: Therefore, thinking about that one and only good, never say that anything is impossible; for all power is he, nor should you think of him as being in anything, nor again as outside of anything; for he, being boundless, is the boundary of all things, and being contained by nothing, he contains all things. For what difference is there between bodies and the incorporeal, and between created things and the uncreated, and between things subject to necessity and the self-determining, or between earthly things and heavenly, and between corruptible things and the eternal? Is it not that the one is self-determining, while the other is subject to necessity, and that the things below, being imperfect, are corruptible? But indeed Sophocles also speaks thus about God: In truth, there is one, one God, who fashioned both the heaven and the broad earth, and the gleaming swell of the sea, and the might of the winds; But we mortals, many, wandering in heart, have set up consolations for our woes, images of gods from stones and wood, or figures of gold-wrought or ivory, and performing sacrifices to these and empty festivals, thus we think to be pious. And indeed also the most wise Xenophon: He who shakes and stills all things, great and powerful as he is, is manifest; but what sort of form he has, is unmanifest; nor

ἐστι, κρᾶσις ὢν τῶν ὅλων αἰώνων, καὶ φῶς τῶν αὑτοῦ δυνάμεων καὶ ἔργων, ἀρχὰ πάντων, ἐν οὐρανῷ φωστήρ, καὶ πάντων πατήρ, νοῦς καὶ ψύχωσις τῶν ὅλων, κύκλων πάντων κίνασις. Ἰδοὺ δὴ σαφῶς ἕνα τε εἶναι λέγει τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν, καὶ πάντων ἀρχήν, ἐργάτην τε τῶν αὑτοῦ δυνάμεων, φωστῆρα καὶ ψύχωσιν ἤτοι ζωοποίησιν τῶν ὅλων, καὶ κύκλων πάντων κίνησιν· αὐτοκίνητον γὰρ οὐδέν, παρῆκται δὲ τὰ πάντα παρ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι κίνησιν λαχόντα φαίνεται. Ὁ δὲ Πλάτων ὧδέ πη φθέγγεται· Τὸν γὰρ πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τοῦδε τοῦ πάντος εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον, καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἐξειπεῖν ἀδύνατον. Ὀρθῶς δὴ μάλα· ∆όξα γὰρ Κυρίου κρύπτει λόγον, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, καὶ πᾶς περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος ἀσθενεῖ καὶ τῆς ἀξίας κατόπιν ἔρχεται· ἔστι γὰρ ἁπάσης ἐννοίας ἐπέκεινα, βλέπομεν δὲ δι' ἐσόπτρου καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ, καθά φησιν ὁ πάνσοφος Παῦλος. 1.43 Πορφύριος δέ φησιν ἐν βιβλίῳ τετάρτῳ Φιλοσόφου ἱστορίας δοξάσαι τε τὸν Πλάτωνα καὶ μὴν καὶ φράσαι πάλιν περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ, ὄνομα μὲν αὐτῷ μηδὲν ἐφαρμόττειν μηδὲ γνῶσιν ἀνθρωπίνην αὐτὸν καταλαβεῖν, τὰς δὲ λεγομένας προσηγορίας ἀπὸ τῶν ὑστέρων καταχρηστικῶς αὐτοῦ κατηγορεῖν. Εἰ δὲ ὅλως ἐκ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ὀνομάτων χρή τι τολμῆσαι λέγειν περὶ αὐτοῦ, μᾶλλον τὴν τοῦ ἑνὸς προσηγορίαν καὶ τὴν τἀγαθοῦ τακτέον ἐπ' αὐτοῦ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἓν ἐμφαίνει τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἁπλότητα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτάρκειαν· χρῄζει γὰρ οὐδενός, οὐ μερῶν, οὐκ οὐσίας, οὐ δυνάμεων, οὐκ ἐνεργειῶν, ἀλλ' ἔστι πάντων τούτων αἴτιος, τἀγαθὸν δὲ παρίστησιν ὅτι ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πᾶν ὅ τί περ ἀγαθόν ἐστιν, ἀπομιμουμένων κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν ἄλλων τὴν ἐκείνου, εἰ χρὴ φάναι, ἰδιότητα καὶ δι' αὐτῆς σῳζομένων. Ὁ δὲ τρισμέγιστος Ἑρμῆς οὕτω πώς φησι· Θεὸν νοῆσαι μὲν χαλεπόν, φράσαι δὲ ἀδύνατον ᾧ καὶ νοῆσαι δυνάτον· τὸ γὰρ ἀσώματον σώματι σημῆναι ἀδύνατον, καὶ τὸ τέλειον τῷ ἀτελεῖ καταλαμβάνεσθαι οὐ δυνατόν, καὶ τὸ ἀΐδιον τῷ ὀλιγοχρονίῳ συγγενέσθαι δύσκολον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀεὶ ἔστι, τὸ δὲ παρέρχεται, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀληθές ἐστι, τὸ δὲ ὑπὸ φαντασίας σκιάζεται. Ὅσῳ οὖν τὸ ἀσθενέστερον τοῦ ἰσχυροτέρου καὶ τὸ ἔλαττον τοῦ κρείττονος διέστηκε, τοσούτῳ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦ θείου καὶ ἀθανάτου. Εἴ τις οὖν ἀσώματος ὀφθαλμός, ἐξερχέσθω τοῦ σώματος ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν τοῦ καλοῦ, καὶ ἀναπτήτω, καὶ αἰωρηθήτω, μὴ σχῆμα, μὴ σῶμα, μὴ ἰδέας ζητῶν θεάσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον τὸ τούτων ποιητικόν, τὸ ἥσυχον, τὸ γαληνόν, τὸ ἑδραῖον, τὸ ἄτρεπτον, τὸ αὐτὸ πάντα καὶ μόνον, τὸ ἕν, τὸ αὐτὸ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν ἑαυτῷ, τὸ ἑαυτῷ ὅμοιον, ὃ μήτε ἄλλῳ ὅμοιόν ἐστι, μήτε ἑαυτῷ ἀνόμοιον. 1.44 Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτός· Μηδὲν οὖν περὶ ἐκείνου πώποτε τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ μόνου ἀγαθοῦ ἐννοούμενος ἀδύνατον εἴπῃς· ἡ πᾶσα γὰρ δύναμις αὐτός ἐστι, μηδὲ ἔν τινι αὐτὸν διανοηθῇς εἶναι, μηδὲ πάλιν κατεκτός τινος· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀπέραντος ὢν πάντων ἐστὶ πέρας, καὶ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ἐμπεριεχόμενος πάντα ἐμπεριέχει. Ἐπεὶ τίς διαφορά ἐστι τῶν σωμάτων πρὸς τὸ ἀσώματον, καὶ τῶν γενητῶν πρὸς τὸ ἀγένητον, καὶ τῶν ἀνάγκῃ ὑποκειμένων πρὸς τὸ αὐτεξούσιον, ἢ τῶν ἐπιγείων πρὸς τὰ ἐπουράνια, καὶ τῶν φθαρτῶν πρὸς τὰ ἀΐδια; οὐχ ὅτι τὸ μὲν αὐτεξούσιόν ἐστι, τὸ δὲ ἀνάγκῃ ὑποκείμενον, τὰ δὲ κάτω ἀτελῆ ὄντα φθαρτά ἐστιν; Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ Σοφοκλῆς οὕτω φησὶ περὶ θεοῦ· Εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστιν θεός, Ὃς οὐρανόν τ' ἔτευξε καὶ γαῖαν μακράν, Πόντου τε χαροπὸν οἶδμα, κἀνέμων βίας· Θνητοὶ δὲ πολλοί, καρδίᾳ πλανώμενοι Ἱδρυσάμεσθα πημάτων παραψυχάς, Θεῶν ἀγάλματ' ἐκ λίθων τε καὶ ξύλων, Ἢ χρυσοτεύκτων ἢ 'λεφαντίνων τύπους, Θυσίας τε τούτοις καὶ κενὰς πανηγύρεις Τεύχοντες, οὕτως εὐσεβεῖν νομίζομεν. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος Ξενοφῶν· Ὁ γοῦν πάντα σείων καὶ ἀτρεμίζων, ὥσπερ μέγας τις καὶ δυνατός, φανερός· ὁποῖος δέ τις μορφήν, ἀφανής· οὔτε