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

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 absolutely all of those accustomed to think rightly agree that this is a thing that adorns us most of all? For what, tell me, is better than to say that the divine likeness has been imprinted upon us? For do we not say that the divine substance is the highest and most supreme of all things, flashing with ineffable glory, and being itself every form and beauty of virtue? Then how is what I said not clear to all? Why then does he laugh at things so excellent, and for what reason does he mock the fact that the intelligent and rational and most godlike of the creatures on earth, I mean man, ought to be honored with dominion over all? And yet the very nature of things agrees with the words spoken through Moses; but he takes no account of what is probable, and has perversely turned aside even in this to the necessity of adhering only to the words of Plato. And indeed he holds in admiration, and this unthinkingly, the public speech, fabricated by him I know not how, which he says the God of all made to certain created and falsely named gods. 2.35 But I think it is necessary for us also to say this to him. For if in these things Plato is depicting character and, according to the custom of poets, puts into the person of God such words as he thinks befit Him, he has missed the mark not moderately, and one might blame him for not knowing how to use personification in the proper way. But if he pretends to have heard it from a god, let him be dismissed for his nonsense; for it is not right to say that the God who has power over all things permitted gods who are not true to partake of the good repute that properly and uniquely belongs to Him. For He said: My glory I will not give to another, nor my praises to graven images. And come, let us set the truth against the words of Plato and briefly say this. For let it be granted, if you will, that the powers above, the intellectual powers, having come from God, have been honored with the title of 'god'; for we say there are some in heaven called both gods and lords. But we ourselves also have been crowned with such a title, God saying to us: I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But there is in these things a most necessary reason for the matter, and the reason for the honor from God towards us would be most correct; for the Creator of all, since He made the intellectual and rational creation in His own image and likeness, being good, has also honored it with the title of 'god,' and this is not at all unreasonable. For we ourselves are accustomed, for example, to call an image of a man 'man' by the same name. 2.36 Therefore, the intellectual and rational creation, since it is held in greater esteem by God than that which is not rational and intellectual, appears to have obtained the better glory, being gilded with the title of 'god'. But of the other created things, none at all has been named 'god'. For that the heaven, or the cosmos simply, is neither a living being, nor indeed ensouled at all, even if one of our own initiates might not choose to say it, Plato's own student Aristotle is sufficient for a refutation, apart from the others who they say are wise. For he said, as we have already insisted before, that the cosmos as a whole is neither ensouled throughout, nor rational, nor intellectual. That the cosmos as a whole throughout, or whatever this universe is (for so he himself called it), is neither ensouled nor indeed intellectual, the power of truth allows him to say; he has, as I said, from his own side, and especially from those most closely associated with him, a most sufficient opposition. But that God would not have said that it was necessary to create for gods who are not at all ensouled or intellectual, the very nature of the matter would show us, proceeding through fitting tests. For what having at all considered in himself

ἐξηγγελμένην καὶ σμικρὸν οἴεται τῇ ἀνθρώπου φύσει δεδόσθαι παρὰ Θεοῦ τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ὁμοίωσιν γενέσθαι παρ' αὐτοῦ. Καίτοι πῶς οὐχ ἁπαστισοῦν τῶν εὖ φρονεῖν εἰωθότων συμφήσειεν ἂν ὡς τῶν ὅ τι μάλιστα κατακαλλύνειν εἰδότων τὸ χρῆμά ἐστι; Τί γὰρ ἄμεινον, εἰπέ μοι, τοῦ τὴν θείαν ἡμῖν ὁμοίωσιν ἐνσεσημάνθαι λέγειν; Ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ τὸ πάντων ἀκρότατόν τε καὶ ἀνωτάτω τὴν θείαν εἶναί φαμεν οὐσίαν, ἀφράστῳ δόξῃ περιαστράπτουσαν, καὶ αὐτόχρημα πᾶν εἶδός τε καὶ κάλλος ὑπάρχον ἀρετῆς; Εἶτα πῶς οὐχ ἅπασιν ἐναργὲς ὅπερ ἔφην; Τί τοίνυν διαγελᾷ τὰ οὕτως ἐξαίρετα, κατασκώπτει δὲ ἀνθ' ὅτου καὶ τό γε δὴ δεῖν ἀρχῇ τετιμῆσθαι τῇ κατὰ πάντων τὸ ἔννουν τε καὶ λογικὸν καὶ θεοειδέστατον τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῴων, φημὶ δὴ τὸν ἄνθρωπον; Καὶ μὴν τοῖς διὰ Μωσέως λόγοις ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ τῶν πραγμάτων ὁμολογεῖ· ἀλλ' οὐδένα μὲν τοῦ εἰκότος ποιεῖται λόγον, ἀπονένευκε δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἀσχέτως ἐπὶ τὸ χρῆναι μόναις ταῖς τοῦ Πλάτωνος προσκεῖσθαι φωναῖς. Καὶ δὴ καὶ θαυμάσας ἔχει, καὶ τοῦτο ἀκατασκέπτως, τὴν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως αὐτῷ πεπλασμένην δημηγορίαν, ἣν δὴ πεποιῆσθαί φησι τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν πρὸς γενητούς τινας καὶ ψευδωνύμους θεούς. 2.35 Οἶμαι δὲ δεῖν καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτῷ πρὸς τοῦτο εἰπεῖν. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τούτοις ἠθοποιεῖ Πλάτων καὶ κατὰ νόμον τῶν ποιητῶν τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ περιτίθησι λόγους οὕσπερ ἂν οἴηται πρέπειν αὐτῷ, διημάρτηκεν οὐ μετρίως τοῦ σκοποῦ, καὶ καταμωμήσαιτ' ἄν τις αὐτὸν προσωποποιεῖν οὐκ εἰδότα καθ' ὃν ἔδει τρόπον. Εἰ δὲ σκήπτεται τὸ θεοκλυτεῖν, χαιρέτω ληρῶν· οὐ γάρ τοι θέμις εἰπεῖν θεοῖς οὐκ ἀληθέσι τῆς ἰδικῶς αὐτῷ τε καὶ μόνῳ πρεπούσης εὐκλείας ἐφεῖναι μεταλαχεῖν τὸν τῶν ὅλων κατεξουσιάζοντα Θεόν. Ἔφη γὰρ ὅτι· Τὴν δόξαν μου ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω, οὐδὲ τὰς ἀρετάς μου τοῖς γλυπτοῖς. Καὶ φέρε διὰ βραχέων τοῖς Πλάτωνος λόγοις ἀντεξάγοντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐκεῖνο λέγωμεν. Συγκεχωρήσθω γάρ, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὰς ἄνω τε καὶ νοερὰς δυνάμεις παρὰ Θεοῦ γενομένας τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ τετιμῆσθαι κλήσει· φαμὲν γὰρ εἶναί τινας ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ θεοὺς καὶ κυρίους ὠνομασμένους. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ τῇ τοιᾷδε κλήσει κατεστέμμεθα, Θεοῦ λέγοντος πρὸς ἡμᾶς· Ἐγὼ εἶπα, Θεοί ἐστε, καὶ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου πάντες. Ἀλλ'ἔστι τις ἐν τούτοις ἀναγκαιοτάτη τοῦ πράγματος αἰτία, καὶ τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ φιλοτιμίας ὁ εἰς ἡμᾶς λόγος ἔχοι ἂν ὀρθῶς ὅ τι μάλιστά γε· ὁ γάρ τοι τῶν ὅλων ∆ημιουργός, ἐπεί τοι κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν νοεράν τε καὶ λογικὴν εἰργάσατο κτίσιν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ ἀγαθὸς ὑπάρχων, καὶ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ τετίμηκε κλήσει, καὶ τὸ ἀπεικὸς οὐδέν. Εἰθίσμεθα γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀνθρώπου φέρε εἰπεῖν εἰκόνα ὁμωνύμως ἄνθρωπον ὀνομάζειν. 2.36 Οὐκοῦν ἡ μὲν νοερὰ καὶ λογικὴ κτίσις, ἅτε δὴ καὶ ἐν λόγῳ μείζονι κειμένη παρὰ Θεῷ τῆς οὐκ οὔσης λογικῆς τε καὶ νοερᾶς, τὴν ἀμείνω δόξαν λαχοῦσα φαίνεται, τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ κλήσει κεχρυσωμένη. Τῶν γε μὴν ἑτέρων κτισμάτων οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν ὠνόμασται θεός. Ὅτι γὰρ οὔτε ζῷόν ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανὸς ἤγουν ὁ κόσμος ἁπλῶς, οὔτε μὴν ἔμψυχος ὅλως, κἂν εἰ μή τις ἕλοιτο λέγειν τῶν τελούντων ἐν ἡμῖν, ἀποχρὴ πρὸς ἔλεγχον καὶ δίχα τῶν ἄλλων οὕς φασιν εἶναι σοφοὺς ὁ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Πλάτωνος φοιτητὴς Ἀριστοτέλης. Ἔφη γάρ, ὡς ἤδη φθάσαντες διϊσχυρισάμεθα, οὔτε ἔμψυχον ὅλον δι' ὅλου τὸν κόσμον οὔτε λογικὸν οὔτε νοερόν. Ὅτι μὲν τοίνυν ὅλον δι' ὅλου τὸν κόσμον, ἢ ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι τόδε τὸ πᾶν (ἔφη γὰρ οὕτως αὐτός) οὔτε ἔμψυχον οὔτε μὴν νοερὸν εἶναι λέγειν ἐφίησιν αὐτῷ τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ δύναμις, οἴκοθεν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ παρά γε τῶν οἰκειοτάτων ὅ τι μάλιστα αὐτῷ, διαρκεστάτην ἔχει τὴν ἀντίστασιν. Τοῖς γε μὴν οὐκ οὖσιν ὅλως θεοῖς ἐμψύχοις ἢ νοεροῖς ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἔφη Θεὸς τὸ χρῆναι δημιουργεῖν, ἐκδείξειεν ἂν ἡμῖν ἡ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πράγματος φύσις, διὰ βασάνων ἰοῦσα συμμέτρων. Τί γὰρ ὅλως καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐννενοηκὼς