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

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 things, and they serve the powers of the Cyprus-born. There are therefore very many things from him against us; but he talks nonsense excessively also against the all-wise Moses and makes no small denunciation of his writing. For he says that the one composing the book of the creation of the world said absolutely nothing true, but simply compiled old wives' tales, and that what was fitting to consider of all account, all these things he made of no account, and having simply stitched things together at random, he seemed to say something wise and worth hearing. But he has admired the opinions of the wise among the Greeks on this subject, and above all others he crowns Plato's with praises and applause. 2.14 But I, that he is not moderately arrogant, I will again refrain from saying in this matter, but that he raises his eyebrow in vain at the clever inventions of the Greeks, I will try to explain as best I can. But I think it necessary to set forth again, having selected from their own books the opinion of each, which they thought fit to hold concerning the constitution of the world, and then to bring up Moses' cosmogony in comparison; for in this way both the nonsense of their idle talk and the pure truth of Moses' writings will be seen by the readers. Plutarch, therefore, a man who was not insignificant among them, in the second book of his Collection of the Doctrines of the Physicists, says thus concerning the world: Pythagoras was the first to call the whole compass of things 'cosmos' from the order within it. Thales and his followers, one world; Democritus and Epicurus and his teacher Metrodorus, infinite worlds in the infinite in every direction; Empedocles, that the circuit of the sun is the boundary of the limit of the world; Seleucus, the world is infinite; Diogenes, the all is infinite, but the world is finite; the Stoics, that 'the all' and 'the whole' differ; for 'the all' is that which is with the infinite void, but 'the whole' is the world without the void; so that 'the whole' and the 'world' are the same. 2.15 Then concerning the shape of the world he says again as follows: The Stoics, the world is spherical, others cone-shaped, others egg-shaped; Epicurus, that it is possible for the worlds to be spherical, and it is possible for them to have other formations. And he spoke again, setting forth for explanation the opinions of the philosophers among the Greeks whether the world is ensouled or not, thus: All the others said the world is ensouled and governed by providence; but Democritus and Epicurus and as many as introduce atoms and the void, that it is neither ensouled nor governed by providence, but by some irrational nature; Aristotle, that it is neither ensouled through and through nor rational nor intelligent nor governed by providence; for the heavenly things partake of all these; for they contain ensouled and living spheres, but the things around the earth partake of none of them, and of good order they partake incidentally, not primarily. And so much for these matters. But since it was their aim to examine again whether the world might ever be perishable by nature or not, they have held opinions as follows on this too: Pythagoras and the Stoics, that the world is both created by God, and perishable as far as its nature is concerned; for it is perceptible because it is also corporeal, but it will not indeed be destroyed, by the providence and preservation of God; Epicurus, that it is perishable because it is also created, like an animal, like a plant; Xenophanes, the world is uncreated and eternal and imperishable; Aristotle, the part of the world beneath the moon is subject to change, in which also earthly things perish. 2.16 Hear, O men, and understand henceforth how much nonsense there is in these things. For opposing each other's opinions, this and that confusedly, simply and unthinkingly

ἐδωδίμων ἀποπέμπονταί τινα, δεδίασι δὲ τῶν ἐκτόπων οὐδέν. Καὶ πρός γε δὴ τούτῳ κατευφραίνουσι τὸν ὕπατον ∆ία, τὰ αὐτοῦ τιμᾶν ᾑρημένοι, καὶ τὰ τῆς Κυπρογενοῦς θεραπεύουσι κράτη. Πλεῖστα μὲν οὖν ὅσα τὰ καθ' ἡμῶν παρ' ἐκείνου· ἀκυρολογεῖ δὲ λίαν καὶ κατὰ τοῦ πανσόφου Μωσέως καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ συγγραφῆς οὐ μετρίαν ποιεῖται τὴν κατάρρησιν. Φησὶ γὰρ τὸ τῆς κοσμοποιίας συντιθέντα βιβλίον εἰπεῖν μὲν ὅλως τῶν ἀληθῶν οὐδέν, ὕθλους δὲ ἁπλῶς συμφορῆσαι γεγηρακότας, καὶ ἃ μὲν ἦν εἰκὸς τοῦ παντὸς ἀξιῶσαι λόγου, ταῦτα δὴ πάντα ποιήσασθαι παρ' οὐδέν, εἰκῆ δὲ ἁπλῶς ἐρραψῳδηκότα δόξαι τι λέγειν σοφόν τε καὶ ἀξιάκουστον. Τεθαύμακε δὲ τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι σοφῶν τὰς ἐπὶ τούτῳ δόξας, μάλιστα δὲ τῶν ἄλλων εὐφημίαις καὶ κρότοις τὴν Πλάτωνος στεφανοῖ. 2.14 Ἐγὼ δέ, ὅτι μὲν οὐ μετρίως σοβαρεύεται, κἀν τούτῳ δὴ πάλιν παρήσω λέγειν, ὅτι δὲ εἰκαίαν ἐπὶ ταῖς Ἑλλήνων εὑρεσιεπείαις ἀνασπᾷ τὴν ὀφρύν, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ πειράσομαι διειπεῖν. Χρῆναι δὲ οἶμαι παραθεῖναι πάλιν ἐκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς βιβλίων ἀπολεξάμενον τὴν ἑκάστου δόξαν, ἣν ἔχειν ἠξίουν περὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου κατασκευῆς, εἶτα τὴν Μωσέως κοσμογένειαν ἀνθυπενεγκεῖν· ὀφθήσεται γὰρ οὕτω τοῖς ἐντευξομένοις καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων στενολεσχίας ὁ λῆρος καὶ τῶν Μωσέως γραμμάτων τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς εἰς ἀλήθειαν. Πλούταρχος τοίνυν, ἀνὴρ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἄσημος γεγονώς, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ βιβλίῳ τῆς τῶν Φυσικῶν δογμάτων συναγωγῆς, οὕτω φησὶ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου· Πυθαγόρας πρῶτος ὠνόμασε τὴν τῶν ὅλων περιοχὴν κόσμον ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ τάξεως. Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἕνα τὸν κόσμον· ∆ημόκριτος καὶ Ἐπίκουρος καὶ ὁ τούτου καθηγητὴς Μητρόδωρος ἀπείρους κόσμους ἐν τῷ ἀπείρῳ κατὰ πᾶσαν περίστασιν· Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὸν τοῦ ἡλίου περίδρομον εἶναι περιγραφὴν τοῦ πέρατος τοῦ κόσμου· Σέλευκος ἄπειρον τὸν κόσμον· ∆ιογένης τὸ μὲν πᾶν ἄπειρον, τὸν δὲ κόσμον πεπεράνθαι· οἱ στωϊκοὶ διαφέρειν τὸ πᾶν καὶ τὸ ὅλον· ἅπαν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸ σὺν τῷ κενῷ τῷ ἀπείρῳ, ὅλον δὲ χωρὶς τοῦ κενοῦ τὸν κόσμον· ὥστε τὸ αὐτὸ εἶναι καὶ τὸ ὅλον καὶ τὸν κόσμον. 2.15 Εἶτα περὶ τοῦ σχήματος τοῦ κόσμου ὧδε πάλιν φησίν· Οἱ μὲν στωϊκοὶ σφαιροειδῆ τὸν κόσμον, ἄλλοι δὲ κωνοειδῆ, οἱ δὲ ᾠοειδῆ· Ἐπίκουρος δὲ ἐνδέχεσθαι μὲν εἶναι σφαιροειδεῖς τοὺς κόσμους, ἐνδέχεσθαι δὲ καὶ ἑτέροις σχηματισμοῖς κεχρῆσθαι. Ἔφη δὲ πάλιν τὰς τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλοσόφων δόξας εἰς ἐξήγησιν προτιθεὶς εἰ ἔμψυχος ὁ κόσμος ἢ μή, οὕτως· Οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι πάντες ἔμψυχον τὸν κόσμον καὶ προνοίᾳ διοικούμενον εἶπον· ∆ημόκριτος δὲ καὶ Ἐπίκουρος καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ἄτομα εἰσηγοῦνται καὶ τὸ κενόν, οὔτε ἔμψυχον οὔτε προνοίᾳ διοικεῖσθαι, φύσει δέ τινι ἀλόγῳ· Ἀριστοτέλης οὔτ' ἔμψυχον ὅλον δι' ὅλων οὔτε λογικὸν οὔτε νοερὸν οὔτε προνοίᾳ διοικούμενον· τὰ μὲν γὰρ οὐράνια τούτων πάντων κοινωνεῖν· σφαίρας γὰρ περιέχειν ἐμψύχους καὶ ζωτικάς, τὰ δὲ περίγεια μηδενὸς αὐτῶν, τῆς δὲ εὐταξίας κατὰ συμβεβηκός, οὐ προηγουμένως, μετέχειν. Καὶ ταυτὶ μὲν περὶ τούτων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ σκοπὸς ἦν αὐτοῖς βασανίσαι πάλιν τὸ πότερόν ποτε φθαρτὸς ἂν εἴη κατὰ φύσιν ὁ κόσμος ἢ μή, δεδοξάκασιν ὧδε καὶ περὶ τούτου· Πυθαγόρας καὶ οἱ στωϊκοὶ καὶ γενητὸν ὑπὸ θεοῦ τὸν κόσμον, καὶ φθαρτὸν μὲν ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ φύσει· αἰσθητὸν γὰρ εἶναι διότι καὶ σωματικός, οὐ μὴν δὴ φθαρησόμενόν γε, προνοίᾳ καὶ συνοχῇ Θεοῦ· Ἐπίκουρος φθαρτὸν ὅτι καὶ γεννητός, ὡς ζῷον, ὡς φυτόν· Ξενοφάνης ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἄφθαρτον τὸν κόσμον· Ἀριστοτέλης τὸ ὑπὸ τὴν σελήνην μέρος τοῦ κόσμου παθητόν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια κηραίνεται. 2.16 Ἀκούετε, ὦ ἄνδρες, καὶ συνίετε λοιπὸν πόσος ἐν τούτοις ὁ λῆρος. Ταῖς γὰρ ἀλλήλων ἀντανιστάμενοι δόξαις, τοῦτό τε κἀκεῖνο φύρδην ἁπλῶς καὶ ἀκατασκέπτως