Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word

Which of mankind, again, after his death, or else while living, taught concerning virginity, and that this virtue was not impossible among men? But Christ, our Saviour and King of all, had such power in His teaching concerning it, that even children not yet arrived at the lawful age vow that virginity which lies beyond the law. 2. What man has ever yet been able to pass so far as to come among Scythians and Ethiopians, or Persians or Armenians or Goths, or those we hear of beyond the ocean or those beyond Hyrcania, or even the Egyptians and Chaldees, men that mind magic and are superstitious beyond nature and savage in their ways, and to preach at all about virtue and self-control, and against the worshipping of idols, as has the Lord of all, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ? 3. Who not only preached by means of His own disciples, but also carried persuasion to men’s mind, to lay aside the fierceness of their manners, and no longer to serve their ancestral gods, but to learn to know Him, and through Him to worship the Father. 4. For formerly, while in idolatry, Greeks and Barbarians used to war against each other, and were actually cruel to their own kin. For it was impossible for any one to cross sea or land at all, without arming the hand with swords152 Cf. Thucy. i. 5 6: ‘πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ ῞Ελλας ἐσιδηροφόρει,’ &c., because of their implacable fighting among themselves. 5. For the whole course of their life was carried on by arms, and the sword with them took the place of a staff, and was their support in every emergency; and still, as I said before, they were serving idols, and offering sacrifices to demons, while for all their idolatrous superstition they could not be reclaimed from this spirit. 6. But when they have come over to the school of Christ, then, strangely enough, as men truly pricked in conscience, they have laid aside the savagery of their murders and no longer mind the things of war: but all is at peace with them, and from henceforth what makes for friendship is to their liking.

Τίς οὖν ἀνθρώπων μετὰ θάνατον ἢ ὅλως ζῶν περὶ παρθενίας ἐδίδαξε, καὶ οὐκ ἐνόμισεν ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν ταύτην ἐν ἀνθρώποις; Ἀλλ' ὁ ἡμέτερος Σωτὴρ καὶ τῶν πάντων Βασιλεὺς Χριστὸς τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσεν ἐν τῇ περὶ ταύτης διδασκαλίᾳ, ὡς καὶ παιδία μήπω τῆς νομίμης ἡλικίας ἐπιβάντα τὴν ὑπὲρ τὸν νόμον ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι παρθενίαν. Τίς πώποτε ἀνθρώπων ἠδυνήθη διαβῆναι τοσοῦτον, καὶ εἰς Σκύθας καὶ Αἰθίοπας, ἢ Πέρσας, ἢ Ἀρμενίους, ἢ Γότθους, ἢ τοὺς ἐπέκεινα τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ λεγομένους, ἢ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τὴν Ὑρκανίαν ὄντας, ἢ ὅλως τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Χαλδαίους παρελθεῖν, τοὺς φρονοῦντας μὲν μαγικά, δεισιδαίμονας δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀγρίους τοῖς τρόποις, καὶ ὅλως κηρύξαι περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ τῆς κατὰ εἰδώλων θρησκείας, ὡς ὁ πάντων Κύριος, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ∆ύναμις, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός; Ὃς οὐ μόνον ἐκήρυξε διὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ μαθητῶν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἔπεισεν αὐτοὺς κατὰ διάνοιαν, τὴν μὲν τῶν τρόπων ἀγριότητα μεταθέσθαι, μηκέτι δὲ τοὺς πατρίους σέβειν θεούς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν ἐπιγινώσκειν, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν Πατέρα θρησκεύειν. Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ εἰδωλο λατροῦντες, Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐπολέ μουν, καὶ ὠμοὶ πρὸς τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἐτύγχανον. Οὐκ ἦν γάρ τινα τὸ σύνολον οὔτε τὴν γῆν οὔτε τὴν θάλασσαν διαβῆναι χωρὶς τοῦ τὴν χεῖρα ξίφεσιν ὁπλίσαι, ἕνεκα τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἀκαταλλάκτου μάχης. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡ πᾶσα τοῦ ζῆν αὐτοῖς διαγωγὴ δι' ὅπλων ἐγίνετο, καὶ ξίφος ἦν αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ βακτηρίας, καὶ παντὸς βοηθήματος ἔρεισμα· καίτοι, ὡς προεῖπον, εἰδώλοις ἐλάτρευον, καὶ δαίμοσιν ἔσπενδον θυσίας, καὶ ὅμως οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς εἰδώλων δεισιδαιμονίας ἠδυνήθησαν οἱ τοιαῦτα φρονοῦντες μεταπαιδευθῆναι. Ὅτε δὲ εἰς τὴν Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίαν μεταβεβήκασι, τότε δὴ παραδόξως ὡς τῷ ὄντι κατὰ διάνοιαν κατανυγέντες, τὴν μὲν ὠμότητα τῶν φόνων ἀπέθεντο, καὶ οὐκ ἔτι πολέμια φρονοῦσι, πάντα δὲ αὐτοῖς εἰρηναῖα, καὶ τὰ πρὸς φιλίαν καταθύμια λοιπόν ἐστι.