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that Moses would not be the cause for them, nor any other of the prophets, but a certain new and recent man sent from God. 1.6.48 But with the altar being changed contrary to what seemed good to Moses, it is altogether necessary for a change of the law of Moses also to occur. Then indeed, the Egyptians, sacrificing to the God over all, will surely be counted worthy of the priesthood. Indeed, with Egyptians serving as priests, the things ordained by Moses concerning the Levites and the successors of Aaron would no longer be useful to the Egyptians. 1.6.49 Therefore, it is now time for a new legislation for the establishment of the things being declared. What then? Have these things been uttered in vain? Or has an end also been brought to the words? Consider then, if not today, I mean in our own time, are seen with our eyes not only Egyptians, but also every race of men formerly idolaters, whom the prophecy hinted at through the Egyptians, delivered from the polytheistic and demonic error, and calling upon the God of the prophets. 1.6.50 And they pray no longer to many lords, but to the one and only Lord according to the sacred oracle, and to him an altar of bloodless and spiritual sacrifices according to the new mysteries of the new and recent covenant has been raised throughout the whole inhabited world of men, both in Egypt itself and in the other nations who behave like Egyptians according to their superstitious error. 1.6.51 Now in our time the knowledge of the God of all, shining through, seals the indisputable faith of the things prophesied. Seeing these things being accomplished in deeds and no longer expected by hearing, you will find by seeking no other time from which these events have received their beginning than that of the saving epiphany. 1.6.52 This, then, was he whom the oracle declared, saying that the God and Lord of all would send to the Egyptians 'a man, who will save them,' whom also the oracles of Moses declared, through which he said: 'A man shall come forth from his seed, and shall rule over many nations,' 1.6.53 among which nations the Egyptians would surely be counted. But concerning these things the account would be long, to be more fully rendered at a fitting opportunity; but for the present let it be observed that the preceding things were fulfilled at no other time than after the epiphany of Jesus our Savior. 1.6.54 For from that time until now, among Egyptians and among Persians, Syrians and Armenians, and among the barbarians who inhabit the ends of the earth, and among the nations that were formerly most uncivilized and beastly, yes, and among those who inhabit the islands—for the prophecy saw fit to make mention of these as well—that very polity according to Abraham and the most ancient and primeval way of piety is zealously followed. 1.6.55 And who would not be astonished at the paradox of the matter, if indeed those who from ages past bestowed venerable honor on stones and wood and demons, and on man-eating beasts, and venomous reptiles, and all kinds of animals, and hideous monsters, and on fire and earth, and on the lifeless elements of the universe, after the coming of our Savior, call upon the most high God, the creator of heaven and earth, even the very Lord of the prophets, the God of Abraham and of his forefathers? 1.6.56 And those who a little while before were wallowing in marriages with mothers and intercourse with daughters, and in mutual corruption and all kinds of bloody pollutions, those differing in no way in their manner from savage beasts, now, having been changed through the divine power of our Savior, and having become, as it were, different people from what they were, do they learn the teachings of virtue and the lessons of temperance by coming together in the common schools? so that not only men but also women, the poor and the rich, the learned and the unlearned, even to children and slaves, are instructed in their daily lives in the city and the country in the highest philosophy, which exhorts not even to look with licentious eyes, nor to be indifferent as far as words, nor to do the common things familiar to all, and to learn the true way, in which it is fitting... the God over all

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Μωσέα αἴτιον οὐδ' ἕτερον τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῖς γενήσεσθαι, ἀλλά τινα καινὸν καὶ νέον ἄνθρωπον θεόθεν ἀπεσταλμένον. 1.6.48 μετατιθεμένου δὲ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου παρὰ τὰ τῷ Μωσεῖ δοκοῦντα, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου μεταβολὴν γενέσθαι. εἶτα δὲ θύοντες Αἰγύπτιοι τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ πάντως που καὶ ἱερωσύνης ἀξιωθήσονται. ἱερωμένων δῆτα Αἰγυπτίων, τὰ περὶ Λευιτῶν καὶ τῶν ἐκ διαδοχῆς Ἀαρὼν Μωσεῖ διατεταγμένα οὐκέτ' ἂν γένοιτο τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις χρήσιμα. 1.6.49 Ὥρα δὴ οὖν καινῆς νομοθεσίας δεῖν εἰς τὴν τῶν δηλουμένων σύστασιν. τί δέ; ἆρα εἰκῆ ταῦτ' ἀναπεφώνηται; ἢ καὶ τέλος ἐπενήνεκται τοῖς λόγοις; σκέψαι δ' οὖν, εἰ μὴ σήμερον, λέγω δὴ καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτούς, ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρῶνται οὐ μόνον Αἰγύπτιοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶν γένος τῶν πρὶν εἰδωλολατρῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὓς ἡ πρόρρησις διὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ᾐνίττετο, τῆς μὲν πολυθέου καὶ δαιμονικῆς ἀπηλλαγμένον πλάνης, τὸν δὲ τῶν προφητῶν θεὸν ἀνακαλούμενον. 1.6.50 καὶ εὔχονται δὲ οὐκέτι πλείοσι κυρίοις, ἑνὶ δὲ τῷ μόνῳ κυρίῳ κατὰ τὸ ἱερὸν λόγιον, καὶ τούτῳ θυσιαστήριον ἀναίμων καὶ λογικῶν θυσιῶν κατὰ τὰ καινὰ μυστήρια τῆς νέας καὶ καινῆς διαθήκης καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης ἀνεγήγερται ἐν αὐτῇ τε Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσι τὸν τρόπον αἰγυπτιάζουσι κατὰ τὴν δεισιδαίμονα πλάνην. 1.6.51 νῦν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ γνῶσις διαλάμπουσα τὴν πίστιν ἀναμφίλεκτον τῶν προθεσπισθέντων ἐπισφραγίζεται. ταῦτα δὲ ἔργοις ἐπιτελούμενα ὁρῶν ἀλλ' οὐκέτ' ἀκοῇ προσδοκώμενα, τὸν καιρόν, ὁπόθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν πραγμάτων εἴληχεν, οὐδ' ἄλλον ἀναζητήσας εὑρήσεις ἢ τὸν τῆς σωτηρίου ἐπιφανείας. 1.6.52 αὐτὸς ἄρα οὗτος ἦν ἐκεῖνος, ὃν ὁ χρησμὸς ἐδήλου, φήσας ἀποστέλλειν τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν καὶ κύριον τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις «ἄνθρωπον, ὃς σώσει αὐτούς», ὃν καὶ τὰ Μωσέως ἐδήλου λόγια, δι' ὧν ἔφησεν· «ἐξελεύσεται ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν», 1.6.53 ἐν οἷς ἔθνεσι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι δήπουθεν καταριθμοῖντ' ἄν. Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων μακρὸς ἂν εἴη λόγος, ἐπ' οἰκείας σχολῆς ἐντελέστερον ἀποδοθησόμενος· τό γε μὴν παρὸν ἐπιτετηρήσθω ὅτι τὰ προηγούμενα οὐδ' ἄλλοτε ἢ μετὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπληροῦτο. 1.6.54 ἐξ ἐκείνου γάρ τοι καὶ εἰς δεῦρο παρὰ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ παρὰ Πέρσαις Σύροις τε καὶ Ἀρμενίοις, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς τῆς γῆς οἰκοῦσι βαρβάροις, αὐτοῖς τε τοῖς τὸ πρὶν ἀνημερωτάτοις καὶ θηριωδεστάτοις ἔθνεσι, ναὶ μὴν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς τὰς νήσους οἰκοῦσιν ὅτι δὴ καὶ τούτων ἠξίωσε μνήμην ἡ προφητεία ποιήσασθαι αὐτὴ ἐκείνη ἡ κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ πολιτεία καὶ ὁ παλαίτατος καὶ πάντων ἀρχαιότατος τῆς θεοσεβείας τρόπος σπουδάζεται. 1.6.55 καὶ τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐκπλαγείη τὸ παράδοξον τοῦ πράγματος, εἰ δὴ οἱ ἐξ αἰῶνος λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις καὶ δαίμοσι, θηρίοις τε ἀνθρωποβόροις, καὶ ἑρπετοῖς ἰοβόλοις, ζῴοις τε παντοίοις, καὶ εἰδεχθέσι κνωδάλοις, πυρί τε καὶ γῇ, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ παντὸς ἀψύχοις στοιχείοις τὴν σεβάσμιον τιμὴν περιτιθέντες, τὸν ὕψιστον θεὸν τὸν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς δημιουργόν, αὐτὸν δὴ τὸν τῶν προφητῶν κύριον, τὸν θεὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῶν τούτου προπατόρων, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρουσίαν ἀνακαλοῦνται; 1.6.56 καὶ οἱ μικρῷ πρόσθεν μητρογαμίαις καὶ θυγατρομιξίαις, ἀλληλοφθορίαις τε καὶ παντοίαις μιαιφονίαις ἐγκαλινδούμενοι, οἱ μηδέν τι ἀνημέρων θηρίων τὸν τρόπον διαφέροντες, νυνὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐνθέου δυνάμεως μεταβληθέντες καὶ ὥσπερ ἐξ ἑτέρων ἕτεροι γεγονότες, λόγους ἀρετῆς καὶ σωφροσύνης παιδεύματα συνιόντες εἰς τὰ κοινὰ διδασκαλεῖα μανθάνουσιν; ὡς τὴν ἀνωτάτω φιλοσοφίαν, τὴν μηδ' ἐμβλέπειν ἀκολάστοις ὀφθαλμοῖς μηδὲ μέχρι λόγων ἀδιαφορεῖν μηδὲ τὰ κοινὰ καὶ τοῖς πᾶσι συνήθη διαπράττεσθαι παραινοῦσαν, ἄνδρας οὐ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκας, πένητάς τε καὶ πλουσίους, λογίους τε καὶ ἰδιώτας, μέχρι καὶ παίδων καὶ ἀνδραπόδων, ἐν ταῖς κατὰ πόλιν καὶ κατ' ἀγροὺς διατριβαῖς παιδεύεσθαι, μανθάνειν τε ἀληθῆ τρόπον, καθ' ὃν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων προσήκει θεὸν