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to be laughed at, but rather to be mourned? For your works are of madness, not of piety. 484 For one who practiced war, setting up an idol in imitation of a military figure, called it Ares; and one who fashioned his soul with the desire of madness for women, deified the passion, calling it Aphrodite. Another, for the sake of his own love of wine, fashioned an idol, which he called Dionysus. And likewise, those who desired other evils set up idols of their own passions; for they named their passions gods. And for this reason, by their altars are voluptuous dances, sounds of lewd songs, and frenzied impulses. Who could recount in order their abominable practices? Who, by listing their shameful words, would endure to defile his own mouth? But these things are clear to all, even if we are silent. These are your objects of worship, Theudas, more senseless than your idols, you command me to adore these, to worship these. This plan is truly of your wickedness and foolish mind; but may you become like them, you and all who trust in them. But I will serve my God, and to Him I will offer my whole self, to God the creator and provider of all things through our Lord Jesus Christ our hope, through whom we have had access to the Father of lights in the Holy Spirit, through whom we were redeemed from bitter slavery by his blood. For if he had not humbled himself even to the form of a slave, we would not have been deemed worthy of adoption as sons. Therefore he was humbled for our sake, not considering divinity something to be grasped, but he remained what he was, and he took on what he was not, 486 he conversed with men, he went up on the cross in his flesh, he was placed in a tomb for three days, he went down into Hades, and brought out those whom the terrible ruler of the world held captive, who had been sold under sin. What harm, then, came to him from these things, that you seem to mock? Do you not see this sun, upon how many useless and filthy places it sends down its ray? How many stinking bodies of the dead does it look upon? Does any blame attach to it? Does it not dry and harden the filthy and rotten things, and illuminate the darkened things, while it itself remains entirely unharmed and unsusceptible to any filth? And what of fire? Does it not take iron that is black and cold into itself and make it entirely flame-like and glowing hot? Did it take on any of the properties of the iron? When the iron is struck with hammers and beaten, does the fire suffer anything or sustain any harm at all? If, then, these created and corruptible things by nature suffer nothing from association with lowlier things, for what reason, you foolish and stone-hearted man, do you dare to mock me when I say that the Son and Word of God, in no way departing from the Father's glory, but being the same God, for the salvation of men took on a human body, so that He might make men partakers of the divine and intelligent nature, and leading our substance out from the subterranean regions of Hades, might honor it with heavenly glory, so that by baiting the ruler of the darkness of this age with the assumption of the flesh, He might overcome him, and free our race from his tyranny. For this reason also He impassibly approaches 488 the passion of the cross, displaying His two natures: for as man He is crucified, but as God He darkens the sun, shakes the earth, and raises many bodies that had fallen asleep from the tombs; again as man He dies, but as God He rises up, having despoiled Hades. Therefore the prophet also cried out: Hades was embittered when it met you below. For it was embittered and mocked, thinking it had taken a mere man, but encountering God, and suddenly it became empty and captive. Therefore He rises as God, and ascends into the heavens, from which He was in no way separated. And our lowly nature, the most foolish of all, the ungrateful and dishonored, He has made higher than all things, and has established it on a throne of glory, gleaming with immortal glory.

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καταγελᾶσθαι, μᾶλλον δὲ πενθεῖσθαι; μανίας γὰρ τὰ ἔργα ὑμῶν, οὐκ εὐσε 484 βείας ἐστίν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ πόλεμον ἀσκήσας, στρατιωτικῆς ἀντίμιμον ἰδέας ξόανον ἱδρύσας, ἐκάλεσεν Ἄρην· ὁ δὲ γυναικομανοῦς ἐπιθυμίας τὴν ψυχὴν ἀνατυπωσάμενος, ἐθεοποίησε τὸ πάθος, Ἀφροδίτην προσαγορεύσας. ἄλλος, τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φιλοινίας ἕνεκεν, ἔπλασεν εἴδωλον, ὅπερ ἐκάλεσε ∆ιόνυσον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν ἐπιθυμηταὶ τῶν ἰδίων παθῶν ἔστησαν εἴδωλα· τὰ πάθη γὰρ αὐτῶν θεοὺς ὠνόμασαν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρὰ τοῖς αὐτῶν βωμοῖς ἡδυπαθεῖς εἰσιν ὀρχήσεις, πορνικῶν ἀσμάτων ἦχοι καὶ μανιώδεις ὁρμαί. τίς δὲ αὐτῶν καθεξῆς τὴν βδελυρὰν ἐξείποι πρᾶξιν; τίς ἀνέξεται, τὰς ἐκείνων αἰσχρολογίας καταλέγων, τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μολῦναι στόμα; ἀλλὰ πᾶσι δῆλα, κἂν ἡμεῖς σιωπῶμεν. ταῦτά σου τὰ σεβάσματα, Θευδᾶ τῶν ξοάνων σου ἀναισθητότερε, τούτοις με ἐπιτρέπεις προσκυνεῖν, ταῦτα σέβεσθαι. τῆς σῆς ὄντως κακουργίας καὶ ἀσυνέτου γνώμης ἡ βουλή· ἀλλ' ὅμοιος αὐτῶν γένοιο, σύ τε καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. Ἐγὼ δὲ τῷ Θεῷ μου λατρεύσω, καὶ αὐτῷ θύσω ὅλον ἐμαυτόν, τῷ Θεῷ τῷ κτίστῃ καὶ προνοητῇ τῶν ἁπάντων διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμῶν, δι' οὗ τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἐσχήκαμεν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα τῶν φώτων ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ, δι' οὗ ἐξηγοράσθημεν τῆς πικρᾶς δουλείας ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ. εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν μέχρι καὶ δούλου μορφῆς, οὐκ ἂν ἡμεῖς τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἠξιώθημεν. ἐταπεινώθη γοῦν δι' ἡμᾶς, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγούμενος τὴν θεότητα, ἀλλ' ὃ ἦν διέμεινε, καὶ ὃ οὐκ ἦν 486 προσέλαβεν, ὡμίλησε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἀνῆλθεν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, ἐτέθη τάφῳ ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἡμέραις, κατῆλθεν ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ, καὶ ἐξήγαγεν οὓς κατεῖχε δεσμίους ὁ δεινὸς κοσμοκράτωρ πεπραμένους ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. τίς οὖν ἐγένετο βλάβη αὐτῷ ἐκ τούτων, ὅ τι χλευάζειν δοκεῖς; οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὸν ἥλιον τοῦτον, πόσοις καταπέμπει τὴν ἀκτῖνα τόποις ἀχρήστοις καὶ ῥυπαροῖς; πόσα ἐπιβλέπει σώματα νεκρῶν ὀδωδότα; μή τις αὐτῷ προστρίβεται μῶμος; οὐ τὰ ῥυπαρὰ μὲν καὶ σεσηπότα ξηραίνει καὶ συσφίγγει, τὰ ἐσκοτισμένα δὲ φωτίζει, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀσινὴς πάντη καὶ ἀνεπίδεκτος παντὸς ὑπάρχει ῥύπου; τί δὲ τὸ πῦρ; οὐ τὸν σίδηρον μέλανα λαβὼν ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ ψυχρόν, φλογοειδῆ ὅλον καὶ πεπυρακτωμένον ἐργάζεται; μή τι μετέλαβε τῶν ἰδιωμάτων τοῦ σιδήρου; μή, τυπτομένου τοῦ σιδήρου σφύραις καὶ μαστιζομένου, πάσχει τι τὸ πῦρ ἢ βλάβην ὅλως ὑφίσταται; Εἰ οὖν τὰ κτιστὰ ταῦτα καὶ φθαρτὰ οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς κοινωνίας τῶν εὐτελεστέρων πάσχειν πέφυκε, τίνι λόγῳ, ἀνόητε σὺ καὶ λιθοκάρδιε, χλευάζειν με τολμᾷς λέγοντα ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς καὶ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐδόλως ἐκστὰς τῆς πατρικῆς δόξης, ἀλλ' ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν Θεός, ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνείληφε σῶμα ἀνθρώπινον, ἵνα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κοινωνοὺς ποιήσῃ τῆς θείας καὶ νοερᾶς φύσεως, καὶ ἐκ τῶν καταχθονίων τοῦ ᾅδου ἐξαγαγὼν τὴν ἡμῶν οὐσίαν, τῇ οὐρανίῳ τιμήσῃ δόξῃ ἵνα τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ σκότους τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, τῇ προσλήψει τῆς σαρκὸς δελεάσας, χειρώσηται, καὶ τὸ γένος ἡμῶν τῆς αὐτοῦ τυραννίδος ἐλευθερώσειεν. ἔνθεν τοι καὶ ἀπαθῶς προσ 488 ομιλεῖ τῷ πάθει τοῦ σταυροῦ, τὰς δύο παριστῶν φύσεις αὐτοῦ· ὡς μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος σταυροῦται, ὡς θεὸς δὲ σκοτίζει τὸν ἥλιον, κλονεῖ τὴν γῆν, καὶ πολλὰ κεκοιμημένα ἐγείρει σώματα ἐκ τῶν μνημάτων· πάλιν ὡς ἄνθρωπος θνήσκει, ὡς δὲ θεὸς ἐξανίσταται σκυλεύσας τὸν ᾅδην. διὸ καὶ κέκραγεν ὁ προφήτης· Ὁ ᾅδης ἐπικράνθη συναντήσας σοι κάτω. ἐπικράνθη γὰρ καὶ ἐνεπαίχθη ἄνθρωπον δοκῶν λαβεῖν ψιλόν, τῷ Θεῷ δὲ περιτυχών, καὶ κενὸς ἐξαίφνης γεγονὼς καὶ αἰχμάλωτος. ἐγείρεται τοιγαροῦν ὡς Θεός, καὶ ἀνέρχεται εἰς οὐρανούς, ὅθεν οὐδαμῶς ἐχωρίσθη. καὶ τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν τὴν εὐτελῆ, τὴν πάντων ἀσυνετωτέραν, τὴν ἀγνώμονα καὶ ἠτιμωμένην, τῶν πάντων ἀνωτέραν πεποίηκε, καὶ ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης ἐνίδρυσε, δόξης ἀποστίλβουσαν ἀθανάτου.