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

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 throne, and the earth is my footstool; what house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? And yet he does not say that heaven is God, but compares it to a throne, and indeed the earth to a footstool; and if someone should choose to learn the reason for the matter, it is not at all difficult to speak truthfully. For the most wise Solomon built that famous temple in Jerusalem, and the peoples of the Jews were exceedingly delighted with it, and they thought that the God of all dwelt enclosed within it; for they were always somehow slow to understand and ignorant of the doctrines concerning God, since they thought Jerusalem was the city of God, and they insisted that he dwelt in it and in it alone, because it was said through the voice of David: Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Therefore, God rebukes those who think small thoughts, and says. What house will you build for me, since I have heaven as my throne, and the earth as my footstool? For it was necessary, it was necessary to show clearly to those who supposed his nature to be confined and limited by places, that he is everywhere and that nothing contains him, but rather he passes through all things, and that heaven is full of him, and the earth is full. 2.56 That heaven is created, it is easy to show from the divinely inspired Scripture through very many testimonies; for God said somewhere. I with my hand established the heaven and I gave commandment to all the stars. And indeed the blessed David says that by the Word of the Lord the heavens were established and by the spirit of his mouth is all their power; and he knows that they declare the glory of God. How, or in what way? By what they are and have become, they are greatly admired and, as it were, use a voice such as this; for the best and most excellent of artifacts, although having no voice, all but cry aloud, revealing in themselves the knowledge of the one who crafted them. [End of the second volume of the refutations against Julian by the all-wise and blessed Archbishop of Alexandria, Cyril.]

τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποπόδιον δὲ τὴν γῆν. Ὀρθῶς, ὦ γενναῖε· μεμνήσομαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ δι' ἑνὸς τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν. Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου· ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, λέγει Κύριος, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου; Καίτοι Θεὸν μὲν οὐκ εἶναί φησι τὸν οὐρανόν, παρεικάζει δὲ θρόνῳ, καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑποποδίῳ τὴν γῆν· κἂν εἰ ἕλοιτό τις τὴν τοῦ πράγματος αἰτίαν ἀναμαθεῖν, χαλεπὸν οὐδὲν ἀληθεύοντας λέγειν. Ἀνεδείματο γὰρ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις τὸν διαβόητον ἐκεῖνον νεὼν ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομών, ἐπεγάννυντο δὲ λίαν αὐτῷ τῶν Ἰου δαίων οἱ δῆμοι, ᾤοντό τε ὅτι κατῴκηκεν ἐν αὐτῷ περιειλημμένος ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός· βραδεῖς γὰρ ἀεί πως εἰς σύνεσιν καὶ τῶν περὶ Θεοῦ λόγων ἀνεπιστήμονες, οἵ γε Θεοῦ πόλιν οἰηθέντες τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ καὶ μόνῃ διετείνοντο κατοικεῖν αὐτόν, διά τοι τὸ λέγεσθαι διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ ∆αβίδ· ∆εδοξασμένα ἐλαλήθη περὶ σοῦ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ Θεοῦ. Σμικρὰ τοιγαροῦν δοξάζοντας ἐλέγχει Θεός, καί φησι. Ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, θρόνον ἔχοντι τὸν οὐρανόν, ὑποπόδιον δὲ τὴν γῆν; Ἔδει γάρ, ἔδει τοῖς συνεστάλθαι καὶ περιωρίσθαι τόποις τὴν αὐτοῦ φύσιν ὑπειληφόσι καταδεῖξαι σαφῶς ὅτι τε εἴη πανταχῇ καὶ χωρεῖ μὲν αὐτὸν οὐδέν, ἥκει δὲ μᾶλλον διὰ πάντων αὐτός, καὶ πλήρης μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς αὐτοῦ, μεστὴ δὲ ἡ γῆ. 2.56 Ὅτι δὲ γενητός ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανός, διὰ πλείστων ὅσων μαρτυριῶν καταδεῖξαι ῥᾷον ἐκ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς· ἔφη γάρ που ὁ Θεός. Ἐγὼ τῇ χειρί μου ἐστερέωσα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἄστροις ἐνετειλάμην. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ τῷ Λόγῳ Κυρίου τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐστερεῶσθαί φησι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν εἶναι τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν· οἶδε δὲ καὶ διηγουμένους αὐτοὺς δόξαν Θεοῦ. Πῶς, ἢ τίνα τρόπον; ἀφ' ὧν εἰσι καὶ γεγόνασιν εὖ μάλα τεθαυμασμένους καὶ μονονουχὶ φωνῇ τῇ τοιᾷδε χρωμένους· τὰ γὰρ τῶν τεχνημάτων ἄριστα καὶ ἐξαίρετα, καίτοι φωνὴν οὐκ ἔχοντα, μονονουχὶ καὶ διακεκράγασι τὴν τοῦ τεχνουργήσαντος ἐπιστήμην ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς ἐκφαίνοντα. [Τέλος τοῦ δευτέρου τόμου τῶν κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ ἀντιρρητικῶν τοῦ πανσόφου καὶ μακαρίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας Κυρίλλου.]