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

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 say, or deeming our affairs worthy of no account; but these things would be, as I think, entirely foreign to the highest of all substances. 2.37 For if the Creator is good, how could any indolence arise in him about anything at all? For thus Plato himself says somewhere: He was good, and in the good no envy arises about anything. But to say that he disdained it would be nothing other than to attribute pride to him and to draw up a charge of arrogance. And how would he choose to rule over those whose genesis he disdains? Or in what way does he delight in the worship from us, if he did not even deign to create us at all in the beginning? And that he wishes to be honored by us, and demands our obedience, and wills that human nature be made like unto himself through all virtue, I could adduce, and very easily, very many and true testimonies from the divinely inspired Scripture. But since Julian finds his own sources more trustworthy, I say that Porphyry has written in the second book of *On Abstinence from Animal Food* as follows: Let us then also sacrifice, but let us sacrifice as is fitting, to the God who is over all, as a certain wise man said, neither offering incense nor naming any sensible thing. For there is nothing material that is not immediately impure to the immaterial; wherefore neither is spoken word proper to him, nor the inner word, when it is stained by a passion of the soul, but let us worship him through pure silence and pure thoughts about him. It is necessary, then, having been united and made like unto him, to bring our own conduct as a sacred sacrifice to God, which is both a hymn and our salvation. In impassibility, therefore, and in the contemplation of God, this sacrifice is perfected. 2.38 God, then, wishes to be honored by us, and through a holy life to be intellectually marked out towards him, inscribing his beauty on our own souls. Then how, tell me, does he ask these things of us, having all but cast us aside to other creators and, so to speak, depriving us of the direct creation which was granted to all other creatures? And for what reason at all does he provide for things on earth, even though, according to Plato's opinion, they were given as a plaything to other gods? For that he does provide, with his care and gentleness extending even to the most insignificant things, he who knows his own Father God will teach, saying: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground without our Father who is in heaven? But perhaps he himself, as it is not true, will reject the saying (for he fights against God exceedingly), but he will accept those who have become his own, I mean, in respect of being deceived. Alexander, the student of Aristotle, therefore writes in his work *On Providence* thus: But to say that God does not wish to provide for the things here, is entirely foreign to God; for it is of some envy and an altogether strange nature for one who is able not to do what is better. Since both of these are foreign to God, neither both nor either one could be about him. It remains, therefore, that the divine is both able and willing to provide for the things here; and if it is both willing and able, it is clear that it also provides; it is reasonable, then, that not even the most chance things happen without the divine knowledge and will. 2.39 Some say that Plato also held this opinion, but Zeno of Citium and those from the Stoa openly advocate this doctrine. That the highest God, who is by nature and alone God of all, therefore also takes thought for our affairs, they themselves have also testified. Then what is the matter, one might say? And yet it was for him who deigns to provide, not to deprive the human race of that which is best of all, and this is to be created by him rather than having as creators certain created beings from without, who have been allotted the bare and mere name of God, even if especially also of the divine itself

ὁ τῶν ὅλων ∆ημιουργὸς ἑτέροις θεοῖς ἐνεχείρισε τὸ χρῆναι πονεῖν περὶ τὴν τῶν τριῶν γενῶν δημιουργίαν; Ὀκνήσας ἄρα, φαῖεν ἄν, ἢ λόγου τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀξιώσας οὐδενός· εἶεν δ' ἄν, ὥς γε οἶμαι, ταυτὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω πασῶν οὐσίας ἀλλότρια παντελῶς. 2.37 Εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ἀγαθὸς ὁ ∆ημιουργός, πῶς ἂν αὐτῷ καὶ ὄκνος ἐγγένοιτό τις περί τινος ὅλως; οὕτω γάρ αὐτός πού φησιν ὁ Πλάτων ἀγαθὸς ἦν, ἀγαθῷ δὲ φθόνος οὐδεὶς περὶ οὐδενὸς ἐγγίνεται. Τό γε μὴν ἀπαξιῶσαι λέγειν αὐτὸν εἴη ἂν ἕτερον οὐδὲν ἢ τῦφον αὐτῷ προσνέμειν καὶ ὑπεροψίας καθο ρίσαι γραφήν. Πῶς δ' ἂν ἕλοιτο κρατεῖν ὧν ἀτιμάζει τὴν γένεσιν; Ἢ τίνα δὴ τρόπον ταῖς παρ' ἡμῶν λατρείαις ἐπιγάννυται, εἰ μηδὲ κτίζειν ὅλως ἠξίωσε τὴν ἀρχήν; Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τιμᾶσθαι βούλεται πρὸς ἡμῶν, καὶ τὸ εὐήνιον ἀπαιτεῖ, καὶ διὰ πάσης ἀρετῆς ἀφομοιοῦσθαι δεῖν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ἐθέλει, παραθείην μὲν ἄν, καὶ μάλα ῥᾳδίως, πλείστας τε ὅσας καὶ ἀληθεῖς μαρτυρίας τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ μᾶλλόν εἰσιν Ἰουλιανῷ πιστὰ τὰ αὐτοῦ, γεγραφέναι φημὶ Πορφύριον ἐν βιβλίῳ δευτέρῳ Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων ὡδί· Θύσωμεν τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ θύσωμεν ὡς προσήκει, Θεῷ μὲν τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, ὥς τις ἀνὴρ σοφὸς ἔφη, μηδὲν αἰσθητὸν μήτε θυμιῶντες μήτε ἐπονομάζοντες. Οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἔνυλον ὃ μὴ τῷ ἀνύλῳ εὐθὺς ἀκάθαρτον· διὸ οὐδὲ λόγος τούτῳ ὁ κατὰ φωνὴν οἰκεῖος, οὐδὲ ὁ ἔνδον, ὅταν πάθει ψυχῆς ᾖ μεμιασμένος, διὰ δὲ σιγῆς καθαρᾶς καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ καθαρῶν ἐννοιῶν θρησκεύωμεν αὐτόν. ∆εῖ δὲ ἄρα συναφθέντας καὶ ὁμοιωθέντας αὐτῷ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀγωγὴν θυσίαν ἱερὰν προσάγειν τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν αὐτὴν δὲ καὶ ὑμνοῦσαν καὶ ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν. Ἐν ἀπαθείᾳ ἄρα, τοῦ δὲ Θεοῦ θεωρίᾳ, ἡ θυσία αὕτη τελεῖται. 2.38 Τιμᾶσθαι δὴ οὖν πρὸς ἡμῶν ἐθέλει Θεός, καὶ δι' εὐαγοῦς πολιτείας ἀποσημήνασθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν νοερῶς, ταῖς ἰδίαις ψυχαῖς τὸ αὐτοῦ κάλλος ἐγγράφοντας. Εἶτα πῶς, εἰπέ μοι, ταυτὶ παρ' ἡμῶν αἰτεῖ, μονονουχὶ παραρρίψας ἡμᾶς ἑτέροις δημιουργοῖς καί, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, τῆς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι κτίσμασι δεδωρημένης αὐτουργίας ἀποστερῶν; Προνοεῖ δὲ ὅλως ἀνθ' ὅτου τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καίτοι, κατά γε τὸ Πλάτωνι δοκοῦν, ἄθυρμα θεοῖς δοθέντων ἑτέροις; Ὅτι γὰρ προνοεῖ, καὶ μέχρι τῶν εὐτελεστάτων διηκούσης τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ φειδοῦς τε καὶ ἡμερότητος, διδάξει λέγων αὐτὸς ὁ εἰδὼς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα Θεόν· Οὐχὶ δύο στρουθία ἀσσαρίου πωλεῖται, καὶ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ πεσεῖται ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἄνευ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς; Ἀλλ' ἴσως αὐτός, ὡς οὐκ οὖσαν ἀληθῆ, παραγράψεται τὴν φωνήν (θεομαχεῖ γὰρ ἐκτόπως), παραδέξεται δὲ τοὺς οἰκείους αὐτῷ γεγονότας, κατά γε τὸ πεπλανῆσθαί φημι. Γράφει τοίνυν Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀριστοτέλους μαθητὴς ἐν τῷ Περὶ προνοίας οὕτω· Τὸ δὲ λέγειν μὴ βούλεσθαι τὸν Θεὸν τῶν ἐνταῦθα προνοεῖν, παντελῶς ἀλλότριον Θεοῦ· φθόνου γάρ τινος καὶ παντάπασιν ἀτόπου φύσεως τὸ τὰ βελτίω μὴ ποιεῖν δυνάμενον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἑκάτερον τούτων ἀλλότριον Θεοῦ, οὔτ' ἂν ἄμφω εἴη περὶ αὐτὸν οὔτε θἄτερον. Λείπεται τοίνυν τὸ καὶ δύνασθαι καὶ βούλεσθαι προνοεῖν τὸ θεῖον τῶν ἐνταῦθα· εἰ δὲ βούλεταί τε καὶ δύναται, δῆλον ὡς καὶ προνοεῖ· οὐδὲν ἄρα οὐδὲ τῶν τυχόντων εὔλογον χωρὶς τῆς θείας γενέσθαι γνώμης τε καὶ βουλήσεως. 2.39 Ταύτης δὲ τῆς δόξης φασὶ μὲν εἶναί τινες καὶ Πλάτωνα, φανερῶς δὲ Ζήνων τε ὁ Κιτιεὺς καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς πρεσβεύουσι τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ποιεῖται πρόνοιαν ὁ ἀνωτάτω καὶ φύσει τε καὶ μόνος τῶν ὅλων Θεός, μεμαρτυρήκασι καὶ αὐτοί. Εἶτα τί τὸ χρῆμα, φαίη τις ἄν; Καίτοι τοῦ προνοεῖν ἀξιοῦντος ἦν, οὐ τοῦ πάντων ἀρίστου τὸ γένος ἀποστερεῖν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ παρ' αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι μᾶλλον καὶ μὴ γενητούς τινας καὶ θύραθεν ἔχοντας ψιλὴν καὶ μόνην τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κλῆσιν λαχεῖν τοὺς δημιουργούς, εἰ καὶ ὅ τι μάλιστα καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς θείας