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of the kingdom, were you not ashamed to display the actions of enemies and foes towards me? Should you not have rather obeyed me and followed my decrees, than yield to the nonsensical foolish talk of that deceitful and rotten old man, who has set before you a bitter life instead of a sweet one, and instead of the most desirable luxury, to travel a hard and rugged road, which the Son of Mary urges you to take, and do you not fear the wrath of the greatest gods, lest they strike you with a thunderbolt, or kill you with a lightning-strike, or swallow you up in a chasm of the earth, because you have pushed aside and despised those who have benefited us so greatly and adorned us with the diadem of royalty, and subjugated populous nations, and who, against hope, through my prayer and supplication, caused you 350 to be born and to partake of this most sweet light, and having pushed them aside and despised them, you have clung to the crucified one, deceived by the vain hopes of his servants, who tell myths of some new ages and babble of a resurrection of dead bodies, and introduce countless other things for the deception of the foolish? But now, dearest son, if you will obey me your father in anything, bid a long farewell to this lengthy nonsense, approach and sacrifice to the benevolent gods, and let us appease them with hecatombs and libations, so that they may grant you pardon for your offense; for they are able and strong both to do good and to punish, and as an example for you of what is being said, we who through them have come to this rule, and we offer them thanks for their beneficence, both honors to those who worship them and punishments to those who do not obey by sacrificing to them. So when the king had gone through many such babblings, ridiculing and slandering our beliefs, while eulogizing and praising those of the idols, the most divine youth, seeing that the matter no longer required a corner and concealment, but rather a lamp and a high place, so that it might be made manifest to all, being filled with boldness and courage, said. What I have done, master, I would not deny. I fled the darkness, running to the light; and I abandoned error, being made akin to the truth; and having renounced the demons, I have arrayed myself with Christ, the Son and Word of God the Father, by whose word the universe was brought forth from non- 352 being, who also, having formed man from dust, breathed into him the breath of life, and set him to dwell in the paradise of delight, but when he transgressed His commandment and became liable to death, and was brought under the power of the terrible ruler of this world, He did not desist from doing everything, wishing to restore him to his former honor. Therefore He Himself, the maker of all creation and the creator of our race, became man for our sake and, coming to earth from a holy Virgin, conversed with men, and for our sake, his ungrateful servants, the Master accepted death, even death on a cross, so that the tyranny of sin might be dissolved, so that the former condemnation might be annulled, so that the gates of heaven might be opened to us again. For there He led up our nature and has seated it upon a throne of glory, and He has bestowed the unending kingdom on those who love Him and good things beyond both word and hearing. For He is the mighty and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, whose might is invincible and whose dominion is incomparable, the only holy one who rests among the saints, who is glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in whom I have been baptized. And I confess, and I glorify and worship one God in three hypostases, consubstantial and unconfused, uncreated and immortal, eternal, infinite, uncircumscribed, bodiless, impassible, immutable, unchangeable, undefined, a fountain of goodness and righteousness and eternal light, the maker of all creatures both visible and invisible, who holds 354 all things together and preserves them, who provides for all things, and who rules and reigns over all things. For nothing of existing things came to be

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τῆς βασιλείας, τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν οὐκ ᾐδέσθης καὶ πολεμίων ἐνδείξασθαι εἰς ἐμέ; οὐκ ἔδει σε ἐμοὶ μᾶλλον πείθεσθαι καὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἕπεσθαι δόγμασιν, ἢ τοῦ δολίου καὶ σαπροῦ γέροντος εἴκειν ταῖς φληνάφοις μωρολογίαις, τοῦ πικράν σοι ἀντὶ τῆς γλυκείας ὑποθεμένου ζωήν, καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς ποθεινοτάτης τρυφῆς τὴν σκληρὰν καὶ τραχεῖαν ὁδεύειν ὁδόν, ἣν ὁ τῆς Μαρίας Υἱὸς ἰέναι προτρέπεται, οὐ δέδοικας δὲ τῶν μεγίστων θεῶν τὴν ὀργήν, μὴ κεραυνῷ σε βαλοῦσιν, ἢ σκηπτῷ θανατώσουσιν, ἢ χάσματι γῆς καταποντίσουσιν, ἀνθ' ὧν τοὺς τοσαῦτα ἡμᾶς εὐηργετηκότας καὶ διαδήματι βασιλείας κατακοσμήσαντας, καὶ ἔθνη πολυάνθρωπα ὑποτάξαντας, καὶ σὲ παρ' ἐλπίδα δι' εὐχῆς ἐμῆς καὶ δεήσεως γεννηθῆναι καὶ τοῦ γλυκυτάτου μετέχειν φωτὸς τούτου παρασκευά 350 σαντας, παρωσάμενος καὶ ἐξουθενήσας, τῷ ἐσταυρωμένῳ προσεκολλήθης, ταῖς ματαίαις ἐλπίσι τῶν αὐτοῦ θεραπόντων φενακισθείς, καινούς τινας μυθολογούντων αἰῶνας καὶ νεκρῶν σωμάτων ἀνάστασιν ληρούντων, καὶ ἄλλα μυρία πρὸς ἀπάτην τῶν ἀνοήτων παρεισαγόντων; ἀλλά γε νῦν, φίλτατε υἱέ, εἴ τι μοι πείθῃ τῷ πατρί, μακρὰν τοῖς μακροῖς τούτοις λήροις χαίρειν εἰπών, θῦσον προσελθὼν τοῖς εὐμενέσι θεοῖς, ἑκατόμβαις τε αὐτοὺς καὶ σπονδαῖς ἐκμειλιξώμεθα, ἵνα συγγνώμην σοι τοῦ πταίσματος παράσχοιντο· δυνατοὶ γάρ εἰσι καὶ ἰσχύοντες εὐεργετεῖν τε καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι, καί σοι παράδειγμα τῶν λεγομένων, ἡμεῖς οἱ δι' αὐτῶν εἰς ταύτην τὴν ἀρχὴν προελθόντες, καὶ χάριτας αὐτοῖς τῆς εὐεργεσίας, τάς τε πρὸς τοὺς σεβομένους τιμὰς καὶ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς μὴ πειθομένους αὐτοῖς θύειν κολάσεις παρέχοντες. Πολλὰς οὖν τοιαύτας βαττολογίας τοῦ βασιλέως διεξελθόντος, τὰ μὲν ἡμέτερα διακωμῳδοῦντος καὶ διαβάλλοντος, τὰ τῶν εἰδώλων δὲ ἐγκωμιάζοντος καὶ ἐπαινοῦντος, ἰδὼν ὁ θειότατος νεανίας ὡς οὐκ ἔτι δεῖται τὸ πρᾶγμα γωνίας καὶ ἐπικρύψεως, ἀλλὰ λυχνίας καὶ περιωπῆς, μᾶλλον ὥστε φανερὸν ἅπασι καταστῆναι, παρρησίας καὶ θάρσους ὑποπλησθείς, ἔφη. Ὅ μοι πέπρακται, δέσποτα, οὐκ ἂν ἀρνηθείην. τὸ σκότος ἐξέφυγον, τῷ φωτὶ προσδραμών· καὶ τὴν πλάνην ἀπέλιπον, τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οἰκειωθείς· καὶ τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἀποταξάμενος, Χριστῷ συνεταξάμην, τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς Υἱῷ καὶ Λόγῳ, οὗ τῷ ῥήματι παρήχθη τὸ πᾶν ἐκ μὴ 352 ὄντων, ὃς καί, τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ χοὸς διαπλάσας, ζωτικὴν ἐνεφύσησε πνοήν, ἐν παραδείσῳ τε τῆς τρυφῆς ἔθετο διαιτᾶσθαι, παραβάντα δὲ τὴν ἐντολὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ ὑπόδικον γενόμενον, τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ τε τοῦ δεινοῦ κοσμοκράτορος ὑπαχθέντα, οὐκ ἀπέστη πάντα ποιῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαίαν βουλόμενος ἐπαναγαγεῖν τιμήν. διὸ αὐτὸς ὁ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ποιητὴς καὶ τοῦ ἡμετέρου γένους δημιουργὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο δι' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ἐλθὼν ἐκ Παρθένου ἁγίας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστρέφετο, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἀγνωμόνων οἰκετῶν ὁ ∆εσπότης θάνατον κατεδέξατο καὶ θάνατον τὸν διὰ σταυροῦ, ὅπως λυθῇ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ τυραννίς, ὅπως ἡ προτέρα καταδίκη ἀναιρεθῇ, ὅπως ἀνοιγῶσι πάλιν ἡμῖν αἱ οὐρανοῦ πύλαι. ἐκεῖ γὰρ τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν ἀνήγαγε καὶ ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης κεκάθικε, βασιλείαν τε τὴν ἀτελεύτητον ἐδωρήσατο τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀγαπῶσι καὶ ἀγαθὰ τὰ κρείττονα καὶ λόγου καὶ ἀκοῆς. αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ κραταιὸς καὶ μόνος δυνάστης, ὁ Βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ Κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων, οὗ τὸ κράτος ἄμαχον καὶ ἡ δυναστεία ἀνείκαστος, ὁ μόνος ἅγιος καὶ ἐν ἁγίοις ἀναπαυόμενος, ὁ σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δοξαζόμενος, εἰς ἃ βεβάπτισμαι. καὶ ὁμολογῶ, δοξάζω τε καὶ προσκυνῶ ἕνα Θεὸν ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν ὁμοούσιόν τε καὶ ἀσύγχυτον, ἄκτιστόν τε καὶ ἀθάνατον, αἰώνιον, ἄπειρον, ἀπεριόριστον, ἀσώματον, ἀπαθῆ, ἄτρεπτον, ἀναλλοίωτον, ἀόριστον, πηγὴν ἀγαθότητος καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ φωτὸς ἀϊδίου, πάντων κτισμάτων ὁρατῶν τε καὶ ἀοράτων ποιητήν, συνέ 354 χοντά τε πάντα καὶ συντηροῦντα, πάντων προνοούμενον, κρατοῦντά τε πάντων καὶ βασιλεύοντα. οὔτε γὰρ ἐγένετό τι τῶν ὄντων