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

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, when we make our arguments for this very reason, wishing to speak in support of our own dogmas? 2.8 If, then, having abandoned the necessity of opposing your arguments, we had been diverted to the need to mention only the Greek things, I would say that the argument he made for this very reason was well and not without reason; but for those making a defense and wishing to respond to anything whatsoever that is said by him, how could he still justly censure us, if, having chosen to speak in concert with our own people, we are eager to expose the shame of the Greeks' impiety? For just as with colors, it is possible to see their appearance more clearly against different kinds (For "the light," he says, "shines in the darkness"), in this very same way, I think, the inherent beauties in the virtues would not become manifest to the minds of the more ignorant in any other way except through the shamefulness of their opposites alone. For the ugliness of depravity persuades one to assign the vote of necessary victory to the better things; for this reason and quite naturally he fears for his own things and does not allow the things of which he is ashamed to come into the open, and he commands us to be silent, being called to account for this, and he also accuses us in other ways, speaking thus: 2.9 {JULIAN} But it is worthwhile to recall briefly whence and how the concept of God first came to us, then to compare what is said about the divine among the Greeks and among the Hebrews, and after this to question those who are neither Greeks nor Jews, but of the Galilean sect, why they chose what is among those people instead of our things, and in addition to this, why on earth they do not even abide by theirs, but having departed from them too, they have turned to their own way, acknowledging nothing of the noble or the excellent, neither among us Greeks nor among the Hebrews from Moses, but culling from both the things that have been attached to the nations like certain plagues, atheism from the Jewish rashness, and a base and slovenly life from the indifference and vulgarity among us, this they have willed to be named the best worship of God. {CYRIL} He who says that those who encounter the slanders he might make against us must, if they should wish to speak against them, as if in a court of law, not busy themselves with anything from outside nor, as the saying goes, make a counter-accusation, clearly announces in these words that he will compare what is said about the divine among the Greeks and among the Hebrews. Therefore, where indeed does the method of his comparison look? And what would be his purpose in setting those of the Hebrews, that is to say, those of the Christians, against the dogmas of the Greeks? 2.10 For surely one would not say that, having stopped his invective and having removed himself from the need to slander, he will use his readers as upright judges, so as to wish to learn from them what is better or what is worse; but he thinks, I suppose, as is likely, that there will be no praisers of his own opinion about God unless he should malign the Christians' beliefs, so that by comparison with the Greek beliefs they would receive the more shameful verdict. But this could never happen, at least among those who know both the feebleness of falsehood and the power of truth. But observe this: for while legislating for us, as it were, the need to be silent and to make no mention of his own things when we make arguments on behalf of our own religion, he himself is found caught in the very things he forbade. But since he also introduces a question, why on earth, having abandoned the things of the Greeks, we have inclined towards the Hebrews, come, let us too say the same things to him: For what reason, pray, having abandoned the things of the Christians and having run away from the truth, do you love falsehood, and most foolishly prefer this most abominable will-worship—I mean that of the idolaters—to the accurate opinion concerning God,

Ἑλλήνων ἀντιπαραθεὶς ὡς προὔχοντα, πῶς ἡμᾶς σιωπᾶν ἀξιοῖ, μεμνῆσθαι δὲ ὅλως τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς μηδενός, ὅτε τοῖς ἰδίοις δόγμασι συναγορεύειν ἐθέλοντες τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτῷ δὴ τούτῳ ποιούμεθα λόγους; 2.8 Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀφέντες τὸ χρῆναι τοῖς σοῖς ἀντιφέρεσθαι λόγοις ἐπί γε τὸ δεῖν τῶν ἑλληνικῶν διαμεμνῆσθαι μόνων παρατετράμμεθα, φαίην ἂν ὅτι καλῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ὁ ἐπ' αὐτῷ δὴ τούτῳ πεποίηται λόγος αὐτῷ· ἀπολογουμένοις δὲ καὶ ὑπαντᾶν ἐθέλουσι πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ λεγομένων πῶς ἂν ἔτι δικαίως ἐπιτιμήσειεν, εἰ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν συνειπεῖν ᾑρημένοι καὶ τῆς Ἑλλήνων δυσσεβείας τὸ αἶσχος ἀπογυμνοῦν σπουδάζομεν; Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῶν χρωμάτων ἐν τοῖς ἑτεροειδέσι τὴν ὄψιν ἐκφανεστέραν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν (Τὸ γὰρ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, φησί), κατὰ τὸν αὐτόν, οἶμαι, τουτονὶ τρόπον καὶ τὰ ἐμπεφυκότα κάλλη ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ταῖς τῶν ἀμαθεστέρων διανοίαις γένοιτ' ἂν οὐχ ἑτέρως ἐμφανῆ πλὴν ὅτι διὰ μόνης τῆς τῶν ἐναντίων αἰσχρότητος. Ἀναπείθει γὰρ τοῖς ἀμείνοσι τὴν τοῦ χρῆναι νικᾶν ἀπονέμειν ψῆφον τὸ τῆς φαυλότητος ἀκαλλές· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μάλα εἰκότως δέδιε μὲν τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ εἰς μέσον ἥκειν οὐκ ἐᾷ τὰ ἐφ' οἷς αἰσχύνεται, σιωπᾶν δὲ κελεύει καὶ τοῦτο εὐθυνομένους, αἰτιᾶται δὲ καὶ καθ' ἑτέρους τρόπους ἡμᾶς οὕτω λέγων· 2.9 {ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΣ} Μικρὸν δὲ ἀναλαβεῖν ἄξιον ὅθεν ἡμῖν ἥκει καὶ ὅπως ἔννοια Θεοῦ τὸ πρῶτον, εἶτα παραθεῖναι τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ὑπὲρ τοῦ θείου λεγόμενα, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἐπανερέσθαι τοὺς οὔτε Ἕλληνας οὔτε Ἰουδαίους, ἀλλὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ὄντας αἱρέσεως, ἀνθ' ὅτου πρὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων εἵλοντο τὰ παρ' ἐκείνοις, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ τί δή ποτε μηδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐμμένουσιν, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνων ἀποστάντες ἰδίαν ὁδὸν ἐτράποντο, ὁμολογήσαντες μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν καλῶν οὐδὲ τῶν σπουδαίων, οὔτε τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν οὔτε τῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἀπὸ Μωσέως Ἑβραίοις, ἀπ' ἀμφοῖν δὲ τὰς παραπεπηγυίας τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὥσπερ τινὰς κῆρας δρεπόμενοι, τὴν ἀθεότητα μὲν ἐκ τῆς ἰουδαϊκῆς ῥᾳδιουργίας, φαῦλον δὲ καὶ ἐπισεσυρμένον βίον ἐκ τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ χυδαιότητος, τοῦτο τὴν ἀρίστην θεοσέβειαν ὀνομάζεσθαι ἠθέλησαν. {ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΣ} Ὁ δὴ χρῆναι λέγων τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας αἷς ἂν καθ' ἡμῶν ποιοῖτο συκοφαντίαις, εἴπερ ἀντιλέγειν ἐθέλοιεν, ὥσπερ ἐν δικαστηρίῳ μηδὲν ἔξωθεν πολυπραγμονεῖν μηδὲ τὸ λεγόμενον ἀντικατηγορεῖν, ἐπαγγέλλεται σαφῶς ἐν τούτοις παρατιθέναι τὰ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ὑπὲρ τοῦ θείου λεγόμενα. Ἆρ' οὖν ὁ τῆς ἀντιπαραθέσεως τρόπος ὅποι ποτὲ βλέπει; Καὶ τίς ἂν εἴη σκοπὸς αὐτῷ τοῖς Ἑλλήνων δόγμασιν ἀντιπαρεξάγοντι τὰ Ἑβραίων ἤγουν τὰ Χριστιανῶν; 2.10 Οὐ γάρ που φαίη τις ἂν ὅτι τὴν κατάρρησιν ἀποστήσας καὶ τοῦ χρῆναι συκοφαντεῖν ἑαυτὸν ἀπενεγκὼν ὀρθοῖς κεχρή σεται δικασταῖς τοῖς ἐντευξομένοις, ὡς καὶ ἐθελῆσαι παρ' αὐτῶν τί τὸ ἄμεινον ἢ τί τὸ χεῖρον ἀναμαθεῖν· οἴεται δέ που, κατὰ τὸ εἰκός, οὐχ ἑτέρως τῆς ἐνούσης αὐτῷ δόξης περὶ Θεοῦ ἐπαινέτας ἔσεσθαί τινας εἰ μὴ κακύνοιτο τὰ Χριστιανῶν ἀντιπαραθέσει τῶν ἑλληνικῶν τὴν αἰσχίω ψῆφον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς δεχόμενα. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦτό ποτε παρά γε τοῖς εἰδόσι καὶ τοῦ ψεύδους τὸ ἀδρανὲς καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν δύναμιν. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο ἄθρει· νομοθετῶν γὰρ ὥσπερ ἡμῖν τὸ χρῆναι σιγᾶν καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ διαμεμνῆσθαι μηδενὸς ὅτε τοὺς ὑπέρ γε τῆς ἑαυτῶν θρησκείας ποιούμεθα λόγους, οἷς ἀπέφησεν αὐτὸς ἁλοὺς εὑρίσκεται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσάγει καὶ πεῦσιν, τί δή ποτε τὰ Ἑλλήνων ἀφέντες τοῖς Ἑβραίοις προσκεκλίμεθα, φέρε καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτῷ τὰ ἴσα λέγωμεν· ἀνθ' ὅτου γὰρ δὴ τὰ Χριστιανῶν ἀφεὶς καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποδραμὼν τὸ ψεῦδος ἀγαπᾷς, καὶ τὴν οὕτω μυσαρωτάτην ἐθελοθρησκείαν τὴν τῶν εἰδωλολατρούντων φημί τῆς ἀκριβοῦς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξης ἀνοητότατα προτιθείς,