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being shown. 4.9.1 And so these things were arranged; but the things of the opposing and apostate power, whether of demons or of other worse spirits, varying in degrees of wickedness, and furthermore of some terrible great demon, the ruler of all these, who were the first to be shaken from their piety towards the divine and have fallen from their proper station, out of envy for the salvation of men, drew the opposite course, with all sorts of contrivances of evil, plotting against all the nations and even the Lord's own inheritance through envy of their blessings. 4.9.2 So then, the godless and impious reasoning of the great demon the prophetic spirit in Isaiah refutes in this way, saying: “For he said: By my strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will plunder their strength; and I will shake inhabited cities. And I will seize the whole world in my hand like a nest, and I will take it as abandoned eggs; and there will be none who will escape me or contradict me.” 4.9.3 These are the words of the one who fights against God, boasting in the strength of his wickedness, and threatening to plunder and confound the boundaries of the nations established for the angels by the Most High, and boasting that he will plunder the world and shake up and displace the entire human race from its former good order. 4.9.4 And hear what he thought of himself when he made such boasts, from the same prophecy speaking again about him thus: “How the morning star, that rises early, has fallen from heaven! He who sends to all the nations is crushed to the earth. But you said in your mind: I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne. I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High. But now you will go down to Hades and to the foundations of the earth.” 4.9.5 Indeed, the Word reveals very many things through these words: the insanity of the one mentioned, his fall from better things to worse, the end of his fall. And having threatened terrible things against all the nations, he found men susceptible to his designs, having through their free choice a ready and willing fall into evil. 4.9.6 Indeed, he shook the cities from their better state, and with the baits of pleasure he drew down the souls of the many into every kind of wickedness, leaving no manner of device untried, with shameful myths about gods and licentious stories he set forth things dear and pleasant to those who were captured, through the crafty deceit of demons. 4.9.7 And in this way, having taken the whole world, he held it subject to him, and he obliterated the boundaries of the nations, just as he had threatened to do, saying: “I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will plunder their strength, and I will shake inhabited cities, and I will seize the whole world in my hand like a nest.” 4.9.8 From then on, he ruled over all men through deceit, and wicked demons were stationed in every place and city and country under their own ruler. And so, the entire life of men was enslaved to earthly powers and wicked spirits, instead of to the former ministers of God, since all had given themselves over at once and readily to the slippery paths of pleasure; so that they now even transgressed the boundaries of nature, at one time corrupting one another, at another performing unspeakable acts, and things which it is not lawful even to conceive in thought, these things they not only did, but also attributed to the beliefs about their own gods, and even more so, they committed licentious acts with greater ease, as if they were dear to the gods. 4.9.9 From this point, according to the holy apostle, no longer stopping at even the brilliant creations of God in heaven, “they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God, basing themselves on created things, for a likeness of an image of mortal man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.” 4.9.10 That in the most ancient times, to the heavenly luminaries alone the

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παρεμφαινομένης. 4.9.1 Καὶ τὰ μὲν ὧδε διέκειτο· τὰ δὲ τῆς ἀντιπάλου καὶ ἀποστατικῆς δυνάμεως εἴτε δαιμόνων εἴτε καὶ χειρόνων ἄλλων πνευμάτων, ἐν κακίᾳ τὸ πλέον καὶ ἧττον ἀποφερομένων, ἔτι τε καὶ τοῦ πάντων ἐν τούτοις ἄρχοντος δεινοῦ τινος μεγαλοδαίμονος, οἳ πρῶτοι τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας σαλεύσαντες τῆς οἰκείας λήξεως ἀποπεπτώκασιν, φθόνῳ τῆς ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας τὴν ἐναντίαν εἷλκεν, παντοίαις κακίας μηχαναῖς πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ τοῦ κυρίου κλήρῳ βασκανίᾳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιβουλεύοντα. 4.9.2 τὸν δὴ οὖν τοῦ μεγαλοδαίμονος ἄθεον καὶ ἀσεβῆ λογισμὸν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικὸν ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ ὧδέ πως ἀπελέγχει λέγον· «εἶπεν γάρ· ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ ποιήσω, καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ τῆς συνέσεως ἀφελῶ ὅρια ἐθνῶν, καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῶν προνομεύσω· καὶ σείσω πόλεις κατοικουμένας. καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην καταλήψομαι τῇ χειρὶ ὡς νοσσιάν, καὶ ὡς καταλελειμμένα ὠὰ ἀρῶ· καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὃς διαφεύξεταί με ἢ ἀντείπῃ μοι» 4.9.3 αὗται αἱ τοῦ θεομάχου φωναί, ἐπὶ κακίας ἰσχύϊ μεγαλαυχουμένου, καὶ τὰς πρὸς τοῦ ὑψίστου τοῖς ἀγγέλοις παραδοθείσας τῶν ἐθνῶν ὁροθεσίας διαρπάσαι καὶ συγχεῖν ἀπειλοῦντος, προνομεύσειν τε τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ πᾶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος διεκσείσειν καὶ μεταστήσειν τῆς προτέρας εὐταξίας ἀπαυθαδιαζομένου. 4.9.4 ὁποῖα δὲ φρονῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἠλαζονεύετο, ἄκουε τῆς αὐτῆς προφητείας ὧδε πάλιν περὶ αὐτοῦ φραζούσης· «πῶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ ἑωσφόρος, ὁ πρωῒ ἀνατέλλων; συνετρίβη εἰς τὴν γῆν ὁ ἀποστέλλων πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. σὺ δὲ εἶπας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι, ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ θήσομαι τὸν θρόνον μου. ἀναβήσομαι ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν, ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ ὑψίστῳ. νῦν δὲ εἰς ᾅδην καταβήσῃ καὶ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς.» 4.9.5 Ὁμοῦ δὴ πλεῖστα διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος ἐμφαίνει· τὴν τοῦ μένου φρενοβλάβειαν, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω κατάπτωσιν, τὸ τῆς ἐκπτώσεως τέλος. δεινὰ δὲ κατὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων ἀπειλήσας, θατέρᾳ ληπτοὺς τοῖς προβουλίοις τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εὕρατο, πρόχειρον καὶ ἐξ οἰκείας γνώμης τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κακὸν ἔμπτωσιν δι' αὐτεξούσιον προαίρεσιν κεκτημένους. 4.9.6 ἔσειε δῆτα τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων στάσεως τὰς πόλεις, καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἡδονῆς δελέασιν ἐπὶ πᾶν εἶδος φαυλότητος τὰς τῶν πολλῶν κατέσπα ψυχάς, οὐδένα τε μηχανῆς καταλιπὼν τρόπον, μύθοις περὶ θεῶν αἰσχροῖς καὶ διηγήμασιν ἀκολάστοις τὰ φίλα καὶ πρὸς ἡδονὴν τῶν ἁλισκομένων δι' ἐντέχνου δαιμόνων ἀπάτης προυβάλλετο. 4.9.7 ταύτῃ τε τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἑλὼν ὑποχείριον συνεῖχεν, καὶ ἠφάνιζεν τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ὅρια, ὅπερ καὶ ποιήσειν ἠπείλει εἰπών· «ἀφελῶ ὅρια ἐθνῶν, καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῶν προνομεύσω, καὶ σείσω πόλεις κατοικουμένας, καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην καταλήψομαι τῇ χειρὶ ὡς νοσσιάν». 4.9.8 ἔνθεν ἤδη λοιπὸν πάντων ἀνθρώπων κατεκράτει πλάνῃ, δαίμονές τε πονηροὶ κατὰ πάντα τόπον καὶ πόλιν καὶ χώραν ὑπὸ τῷ οἰκείῳ ἄρχοντι κατετάττοντο· καὶ δῆτα δυνάμεσιν χθονίαις καὶ πονηροῖς πνεύμασιν ἀντὶ τῶν προτέρων τοῦ θεοῦ λειτουργῶν ὁ πᾶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος καταδεδούλωτο, πάντων ἀθρόως καὶ ἐπιρρεπῶς τοῖς τῆς ἡδονῆς ὀλίσθοις ἐπιδεδωκότων· ὥστε ἤδη καὶ τοὺς τῆς φύσεως ὑπερβαίνειν ὅρους, καὶ τοτὲ μὲν ἀλληλοφθορεῖν, τοτὲ δὲ ἀρρητοποιεῖν, καὶ ἃ μηδὲ λογισμῷ θέμις ἐννοεῖν, ταῦτα οὐ μόνον πράττειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς περὶ τῶν οἰκείων θεῶν δόξαις ἀνατιθέναι, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ὡς ἂν θεοῖς φίλα τὰ ἀκόλαστα σὺν ῥαστώνῃ πλείονι διαπράττεσθαι. 4.9.9 ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη, κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν ἀπόστολον, οὐδ' ἐπὶ τοῖς κατ' οὐρανὸν ἔτι λαμπροῖς τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργήμασιν ἱστάμενοι, «ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐσκοτίσθη ἡ ἀσύνετος αὐτῶν καρδία. φάσκοντες εἶναι σοφοὶ ἐμωράνθησαν, καὶ ἤλλαξαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ δημιουργήμασιν ἱστάμενοι ἐν ὁμοιώματι εἰκόνος φθαρτοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν.» 4.9.10 ὅτι δὲ κατὰ τὸ παλαιότατον τοῖς οὐρανίοις φωστῆρσι μόνοις οἱ