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

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 there are some who did not lack the Mosaic accounts, because they went as far as Egypt for the sake of learning; these have somehow thought better than the rest, having come close to the truth, yet not having the eye of their mind entirely unclouded; whom, I think, one might call cross-eyed without erring from plausible reasoning. That therefore the Christian doctrines are both more ancient and full of truth, and are supposed to be well-esteemed by the chosen men of letters, and are incomparably better than the nonsense of the Greeks, the argument, I think, has sufficiently shown. [End of the first book of the refutations of the God-wise Cyril]

2.1 The second book of the same. Having conceived of nothing unreasonable, but rather considering it both useful and necessary to say first who came before whom in time, and indeed also what opinions each held concerning God, we have made a most accurate account of them. And perhaps someone might find fault, saying: "Why on earth, having chosen to speak in agreement with Christian doctrines, and being eager to bring the prevailing argument against Julian's blasphemies, did you not intend to walk this road, but diverting as it were the argument's impulse that goes straight to what is fitting, have you launched yourself into genealogies, and prepared yourself to be meddlesome about the opinions of Hebrews and Greeks?" Let us then put aside the accusations on these points, claiming that we have opportunely brought the argument to this point. For since he who emulated the Babylonian Rabshakeh is not afraid to mock the glory of God with an unbridled tongue, and having impiously cried out against our pure religion, he frequently mentions the wise men among the Greeks, and on the one hand crowns their evil opinions with all praise, but on the other hand is insolent towards the sacred dogmas of the Church, and on the one hand he derides the histories of Moses, but on the other he denounces absolutely all the saints, for this very reason (and quite rightly), as some sort of material for our refutations, we have heaped up beforehand the clear and most evident proof that the writing of the all-excellent Moses is more ancient than the wise men among the Greeks, and indeed that one might see the tradition of the Christian faith is, with incomparable superiority, better than the things esteemed among them. And this was so, and not otherwise, both to free the subsequent arguments from a longer digression, and from seeming at times to be carried far away from the thought of the subjects at hand. But enough of these things. 2.2 Now, therefore, we must go to his writing itself, and setting forth the lines of his text word for word, we will counter his irrational sayings with our own things in due order, having decided that it is necessary to respond not ignobly. But since, as I said, opening his mouth without a gate he has made a very great slander against the Savior of us all, Christ, and hurls abusive words against him, I will not mention such things, but having very prudently passed over those things by which someone might be defiled even if he only encountered his words, I will rise up against the necessary points, showing him everywhere to be fond of mockery and a teller of idle tales, and to have utterly failed in being able to say anything true. However, this also must be known: for in the first book he goes through a great many ideas, and does not cease turning the same things upside down and recycling them. And whatever in the beginnings

ὅτι πεπλάνηνται μὲν ἰδιογνωμονήσαντες τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν οὐκ ὀλίγοι, καὶ ἀλλήλαις ἀντανισταμένας δόξας ἐσχήκασιν, εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ τῶν μωσαϊκῶν οὐκ ἀμοιρήσαντες λόγων, διὰ τὸ μέχρις Αἰγύπτου φιλομαθείας χάριν παρελθεῖν· οὗτοι ἄμεινόν πως ἢ οἱ λοιποὶ πεφρονήκασιν, ἐγγὺς μὲν γεγονότες τὴς ἀληθείας, οὐ μὴν ἀθόλωτον παντελῶς ἐσχηκότες τῆς διανοίας τὸν ὀφθαλμόν· οὓς ἄν, οἶμαι, τὶς καὶ παραβλῶπας εἰπὼν οὐκ ἂν τοῦ εἰκότος ἁμάρτοι λογισμοῦ. Ὅτι τοίνυν καὶ πρεσβύτερα τὰ Χριστιανῶν καὶ ἀληθείας ἔμπλεα, καὶ τοῖς τῶν λογάδων ἐξειλεγμένοις εὖ ἔχειν ὑπειλημμένα, καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως ἐν ἀμείνοσι τῆς Ἑλλήνων τερθρείας, ἀποχρῶν, οἶμαι, διέδειξε λόγος. [Τέλος τοῦ πρώτου τόμου τῶν τοῦ θεοσόφου Κυρίλλου ἀντιρρητικῶν]

2.1 Τόμος δεύτερος τοῦ αὐτοῦ Οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς ἐννενοηκότες, μᾶλλον δὲ χρειῶδές τε καὶ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι νομίσαντες τὸ χρῆναι πρότερον εἰπεῖν τίνες τε πρὸ τίνων γεγόνασι κατὰ χρόνον καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁποίας ἕκαστοι τὰς δόξας περὶ Θεοῦ ἐσχήκασιν, ἀκριβεστάτην αὐτῶν πεποιήμεθα τὴν ἀφήγησιν. Καὶ ἴσως μὲν ἄν τις αἰτιάσαιτο λέγων· Τί δήποτε τοῖς Χριστιανῶν δόγμασι συνειπεῖν ᾑρημένος, καὶ ταῖς Ἰουλιανοῦ δυσφημίαις ἀνθυπενεγκεῖν τὸν ἐπικρατοῦντα λόγον προθυμούμενος, οὐχὶ ταυτηνὶ βαδίζειν διενοήθης τὴν ὁδόν, παροχετεύων δὲ ὥσπερ τοῦ λόγου τὴν εὐθὺ τοῦ πρέποντος ἰοῦσαν ὁρμήν, γενεαλογίαις σαυτὸν ἐπαφῆκας, καὶ τὰς Ἑβραίων τε καὶ Ἑλλήνων δόξας πολυπραγμονεῖν παρεσκεύασας; Ἀποσκευασώμεθα δὴ οὖν τὰς ἐπὶ τούτοις αἰτίας, εὐαφόρμως εἰς τοῦτο παρενεγκεῖν τὸν λόγον ἰσχυριζόμενοι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ τὸν βαβυλώνιον ζηλώσας Ῥαψάκην ἀχαλίνῳ γλώττῃ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν κατακερτομῶν οὐ δέδιε, καὶ τῆς εὐαγοῦς ἡμῶν θρησκείας ἀνοσίως κατακεκραγὼς τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν διαμνημονεύει συχνῶς, καὶ ἁπάσῃ μὲν εὐφημίᾳ στεφανοῖ τὰς ἐκείνων κακοδοξίας, καταθρασύνεται δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δογμάτων, καὶ τῶν μὲν Μωσέως ἱστοριῶν καταμειδιᾷ, καταγορεύει δὲ καὶ ἁπάντων ἁπαξαπλῶς τῶν ἁγίων, ταύτητοι (καὶ μάλα εἰκότως), ὕλην ὥσπερ τινὰ ταῖς ἀντιλογίαις, προεσωρεύσαμεν τὴν σαφῆ καὶ ἐναργεστάτην ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ καὶ πρεσβυτέραν τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν τὴν τοῦ παναρίστου Μωσέως γενέσθαι συγγραφήν, καὶ μὴν ὅτι τῆς Χριστιανῶν πίστεως τὴν παράδοσιν κατίδοι τις ἂν ἀσυγκρίτοις ὑπεροχαῖς ἐν ἀμείνοσι τῶν παρ' ἐκείνοις δεδοξασμένων. Ἦν δὲ δὴ οὕτω, καὶ οὐχ ἑτέρως, καὶ τοὺς ἐφεξῆς ἀπαλλάξαι λόγους μακροτέρας ἐκβολῆς, καὶ τοῦ γε δοκεῖν ἔσθ' ὅτε παρακομίζεσθαί ποι μακρὰν τῆς τῶν προκειμένων ἐννοίας. Καὶ τούτων μὲν ἅλις. 2.2 Ἐπ' αὐτὴν δὲ λοιπὸν ἰτέον τὴν ἐκείνου συγγραφήν, ἐκτιθέμενοι δὲ τοὺς στίχους ἐπὶ λέξεως αὐτῆς ἀντεποίσομεν τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν ἐν κόσμῳ τῷ δέοντι ταῖς ἐκείνου παραρρήσεσιν, ἀνταναφέρεσθαι δεῖν οὐκ ἀγεννῶς ἐγνωκότες. Ἐπειδὴ δέ, ὡς ἔφην, ἀπύλωτον ἀνοιγνὺς τὸ στόμα πλείστην ὅσην πεποίηται τὴν συκοφαντίαν κατὰ τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ καὶ παλιμφήμους ῥίπτει κατ' αὐτοῦ φωνάς, τῶν μὲν τοιούτων οὐ διαμεμνήσομαι, παρελάσας δὲ καὶ μάλα ἐμφρόνως τὰ δι' ὧν ἄν τις καταμιαίνοιτο κἂν εἰ μόνον ταῖς αὐτοῦ προσβάλλοι φωναῖς, τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις ἀνταναστήσομαι, φιλοσκώμμονά τε καὶ εἰκαιόμυθον πανταχῇ δεικνύων αὐτόν, καὶ τοῦ δύνασθαί τι τῶν ἀληθῶν εἰπεῖν ὁλοτρόπως ἡμαρτηκότα. Ἰστέον μέντοι κἀκεῖνο· ἐν γὰρ τῷ πρώτῳ λόγῳ διὰ πλείστων μὲν ὅσων ἐννοιῶν ἔρχεται, ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω τὰ αὐτὰ περιστρέφων καὶ ἀνακυκλῶν οὐ παύεται. Καὶ ὅπερ ἂν ἐν ἀρχαῖς