Apology of Aristides 1

When I beheld the heaven and the earth and the sea, the sun and the moon and the rest, I marveled at the orderly arrangement of these things.

And seeing the world and all that is in it, that it moves according to necessity, I understood that the one who moves and sustains it is God.

For that which moves is stronger than that which is moved, and that which sustains is stronger than that which is sustained.

Him, therefore, I declare to be God, who framed all things and sustains them—without beginning and eternal, immortal and lacking nothing, exalted above all passions and defects, above wrath and forgetfulness and ignorance and the rest.

And through Him all things hold together.

He has no need of sacrifice or libation, nor of any of the things that appear; but all things have need of Him.

Now that these things have thus been said concerning God, in so far as it was given me to speak of Him, let us proceed also to the human race, that we may see which of them partake of the truth and which of error.

For it is evident to us, O King, that there are three races of men in this world.

Of these are the worshippers of those whom you call gods, and the Jews, and the Christians.

Again, those who worship the many gods are themselves divided into three races: Chaldeans, Greeks, and Egyptians.

For these have become the originators and teachers to the other nations of the service and worship of the many-named gods.

Let us see, then, which of these partake of the truth and which of error.

Now the Chaldeans, who did not know God, went astray after the elements and began to worship the creation rather than the Creator who made them.

Of these they made certain figures and called them a representation of the heaven and the earth and the sea, of the sun and the moon, and of the other elements or luminaries; and shutting them up in temples they worship them, calling them gods, and they guard them securely lest they be stolen by robbers, and they did not understand that everything which guards is greater than that which is guarded, and the maker is greater than the thing made.

For if their gods are powerless concerning their own preservation, how shall they bestow salvation on others? With great error, then, did the Chaldeans go astray, worshipping dead and useless images.

And it occurs to me to marvel, O King, how their so-called philosophers did not at all understand that even the elements themselves are corruptible.

But if the elements are corruptible and subject to constraint by necessity, how are they gods? And if the elements are not gods, how are the images, which were made in their honour, gods? Let us proceed, then, O King, to the elements themselves, that we may demonstrate concerning them that they are not gods, but corruptible and changeable, brought forth out of non-being at the command of the truly existing God, who is incorruptible and unchangeable and invisible.

But He Himself sees all things, and as He wills He alters and transforms them.

What, then, shall I say concerning the elements? Those who suppose the heaven to be God are deceived.

For we see it turning and moving according to necessity and composed of many parts.

Now the world is the fabrication of some craftsman.

And that which has been fabricated has a beginning and an end.

And the heaven moves according to necessity together with its luminaries.

For the stars, borne along in order and at fixed intervals from sign to sign, some setting, some rising, make their course according to the seasons so as to bring about summers and winters, just as it has been ordained for them by God; and they do not transgress their own limits, according to the inexorable necessity of nature, together with the heavenly order.

Whence it is evident that the heaven is not God, but a work of God.

And those who suppose the earth to be a goddess are deceived.

For we see it abused by men and mastered, dug up and worked over and rendered useless.

For if it be baked, it becomes dead.

For out of a potsherd nothing grows.

Moreover, if it be drenched overmuch, both it and its fruits are destroyed.

It is trodden upon by men and beasts, and is defiled with the blood of the slain; being dug up it becomes a repository of dead bodies.

These things being so, it is not possible that the earth should be a goddess, but it is a work of God for the use of men.

And those who suppose the water to be God are deceived.

For it too has come into being for the use of men, and is mastered by them; it is defiled and destroyed and altered, being boiled and changed in colour and congealed by the cold and polluted with blood.

And it is used for the washing of all unclean things.

Wherefore it is impossible that the water should be God, but it is a work of God.

And those who suppose the fire to be God are deceived.

For it too came into being for the use of men, and is mastered by them, being carried about from place to place for the boiling and roasting of all kinds of meats, and even of dead bodies.

And it is destroyed in many ways, being extinguished by men.

Wherefore it is not possible that the fire should be God, but it is a work of God.

And those who suppose the blowing of the winds to be a goddess are deceived.

For it is evident that it is in servitude to another, and has been fashioned by God for the sake of men, for the conveyance of ships and the gathering in of grain and for their other needs.

It increases and abates at the command of God.

Wherefore it is not held that the blowing of the winds is a goddess, but a work of God.

And those who suppose the sun to be God are deceived.

For we see it moving according to necessity, turning and passing from sign to sign, setting and rising so as to warm the plants and shoots for the use of men, and moreover sharing its allotted portions with the rest of the stars.

And being much less than the heaven, and suffering eclipse of its light, and having no self-rule.

Wherefore it is not held that the sun is God, but a work of God.

And those who suppose the moon to be a goddess are deceived.

For we see it moving according to necessity, turning and passing from sign to sign, setting and rising for the use of men, and being less than the sun, waxing and waning and undergoing eclipses.

Wherefore it is not held that the moon is a goddess, but a work of God.

And those who suppose man to be God are deceived.

For we see him moved and carried in the womb according to necessity, and nourished and growing old, even against his will.

And at one time he rejoices, at another he grieves, being in need of food and drink and clothing.

And he is prone to anger and jealousy and lust, and full of regret, and has many defects.

And he is destroyed in many ways by the elements and by living creatures.

And by the death that lies upon him.

It is not possible, then, that man should be God, but he is a work of God.

With great error, then, did the Chaldeans go astray after the objects of their desire.

For they worship corruptible elements and dead images, and do not perceive that they are making these things into gods.

Let us proceed, then, to the Greeks, that we may see whether they have any right understanding concerning God.

The Greeks, then, being wise, became more foolish than the Chaldeans, alleging that many gods have come into being, some male and some female, masters of all the passions and the manifold forms of wickedness; for they themselves declared them to be adulterers and murderers, wrathful and envious and passionate, slayers of fathers and brothers, thieves and plunderers, lame and maimed, sorcerers and madmen. Some of them, they say, died, and some were struck by lightning, and some became slaves to men, and some were exiles and fugitives, and some wept and mourned, and some changed into the likeness of beasts in order to commit adultery with mortal women, and some were mocked by men. They followed the evil desires of their gods, so that, having these as advocates of their wickedness, they might commit adultery, plunder, and murder, and do all manner of dreadful things.

For if their gods did such things, how shall not also the very men who give heed to them do the like? From these practices of error, then, it befell men to have frequent wars and slaughters and bitter captivities.

But further, if we should be willing to go through in detail concerning each of their gods, you will see great absurdity.

Thus there is brought in among them, before all, a god called Kronos, and to him they sacrifice their own children.

He had many children by Rhea, and in his madness used to devour his own offspring.

And they say that Zeus cut off his privy parts and cast them into the sea, whence, as the myth has it, Aphrodite was born.

Zeus, then, having bound his own father, cast him into Tartarus.

Do you see the error and lewdness which they introduce concerning their god?

Is it possible, then, that a god should be a captive and mutilated? Oh, the folly!

Who that has understanding would assert such things? Secondly, there is introduced Zeus, whom they say reigned over their gods and changed himself into animals in order to commit adultery with mortal women.

For they bring him in as changed into a bull for Europa, and into gold for Danaë, and into a swan for Leda, and into a satyr for Antiope, and into a thunderbolt for Semele.

Then by these there were born to him many children: Dionysus, and Zethus and Amphion, and Heracles, and Apollo and Artemis, and Perseus, and Castor and Helen and Polydeuces, and Minos, and Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon, and the nine daughters whom they called the Muses.

Then in like manner they bring in the story concerning Ganymede.

It came to pass, then, O King, that men imitated all these things, and became adulterers and male-mad and workers of other dreadful deeds, in imitation of their god.

How, then, is it possible that a god should be an adulterer or a sodomite or a parricide? Along with this they also bring in a certain Hephaestus to be a god, and him lame, wielding a hammer and tongs and working as a smith for the sake of his sustenance.

Is he, then, in want? But it is not possible for a god to be lame and in need of men.

Then they bring in Hermes to be a god, lustful and covetous and a magician and crippled and an interpreter of words.

But it is not possible for a god to be such a one.

And Asclepius they bring in to be a god, being a physician and preparing drugs and the compounding of plasters for the sake of his sustenance.

But afterwards he was struck by lightning by Zeus on account of Tyndareus, son of Lacedaemon, and died.

But if Asclepius, being a god and struck by lightning, was not able to help himself, how shall he help others? And Ares is brought in to be a god, a warrior and covetous of flocks and of certain other things.

But afterwards, while committing adultery with Aphrodite, he was bound by the infant Eros and by Hephaestus.

How, then, is he a god who is lustful and a warrior and a captive and an adulterer? And Dionysus they bring in to be a god, leading nocturnal festivals and a teacher of drunkenness, carrying off the wives of his neighbours, raging mad and taking to flight.

And afterwards he was slain by the Titans.

If, then, Dionysus when slain was not able to help himself, but was moreover mad and a fugitive, how could he be a god? And Heracles they bring in as having become drunk and gone mad and slaughtered his own children, then consumed by fire and so died.

Is he, then, in want? But it is not possible for a god to be needy and jealous and a harper.

And Artemis they bring in to be his sister, a huntress, holding a bow with a quiver, and roaming over the mountains alone with her dogs, in order to hunt a stag or a wild boar.

How, then, shall such a woman be a goddess, a huntress roaming about with her dogs? And Aphrodite too they call a goddess, who was an adulteress.

For at one time she had Ares as her lover, at another Anchises, at another Adonis, whose death also she bewails, seeking her beloved.

And they say that she even descended into Hades, in order to ransom Adonis from Persephone.

Have you seen, O King, a folly greater than this—to bring in as a goddess one who commits adultery and wails and weeps? And Adonis they bring in to be a god, a hunter, and one who died violently, smitten by a wild boar, and unable to help himself in his distress.

How, then, shall an adulterer and a hunter who died a violent death take thought for men? All these things and many such, and far more shameful and wicked, did the Greeks bring in, O King, inventing them concerning their gods—things which it is not lawful to utter nor at all to bring to remembrance.

Whence, taking occasion from their gods, men practised all lawlessness and lewdness and impiety, defiling both earth and air with their dreadful deeds.

But the Egyptians, being more stupid and senseless than these, went astray worse than all the nations.

For they were not content with the objects of worship of the Chaldeans and the Greeks, but further brought in even irrational animals to be gods, both of the land and of the water, and the plants and shoots, and they defiled themselves in every madness and lewdness, worse than all the nations upon the earth.

For from the beginning they worshipped Isis, who had as brother and husband Osiris, who was slain by his brother Typhon.

And on this account Isis flees with Horus her son to Byblos in Syria, seeking Osiris and bitterly lamenting, until Horus grew up and killed Typhon.

Isis, then, was not able to help her own brother and husband.

Nor was Osiris, when slain by Typhon, able to come to his own aid.

Nor was Typhon the fratricide, when being destroyed by Horus and Isis, able to rescue himself from death.

And though made known by such misfortunes, they were nevertheless reckoned to be gods by the senseless Egyptians.

And these, not being satisfied even with these or the other objects of worship of the nations, also brought in irrational animals to be gods.

For some of them worshipped the sheep, some the goat, others the calf and the swine, others the raven and the hawk and the vulture and the eagle, and others the crocodile, some the cat and the dog and the wolf and the ape and the serpent and the asp, and others the onion and the garlic and thorns and the rest of created things.

And the wretched men do not perceive concerning all these things that they have no power at all.

For seeing their gods devoured by other men, and burned and slaughtered and rotting, they did not understand concerning them that they are not gods.

With great error, then, did the Egyptians and the Chaldeans and the Greeks go astray, bringing in such gods and making images of them and deifying dumb and senseless idols.

And I marvel how, seeing their gods sawn and hewn and mutilated by the craftsmen, and worn out by time and dissolved and melted down, they did not have the sense concerning them that they are not gods.

But their poets and philosophers, both of the Chaldeans and the Greeks and the Egyptians, wishing by their poems and writings to glorify the gods among them, all the more uncovered their shame and exposed it naked before all.

For if the body of man, being composed of many parts, does not cast off any of its own members, but having an indissoluble union with all its members, is in harmony with itself, how shall there be such great strife and discord in the nature of God? For if there were one nature of the gods, a god ought not to pursue a god, nor to slay, nor to do evil.

But if the gods were pursued by gods and slain and plundered and struck by lightning, then there is no longer one nature, but divided wills, all of them evil-doing.

So that none of them is God.

It is evident, then, O King, that all this physical speculation concerning the gods is error.

And how did the wise and learned of the Greeks not understand that, in laying down laws, they are condemned by their own laws? For if the laws are just, then their gods are altogether unjust, having done unlawful things—mutual slaughters and sorceries and adulteries and thefts and acts of sodomy.

But if they acted rightly in these things, then the laws are unjust, having been framed against the gods.

But as it is, the laws are good and just, praising what is good and forbidding what is evil.

But the deeds of their gods are unlawful.

Their gods, then, are lawless and all liable to death, and impious are those who bring in such gods; for if the stories about them are mythical, they are nothing but mere words.

But if they are natural, then those who did these things and suffered them are no longer gods.

But if they are allegorical, then they are myths and nothing else.

It has been demonstrated, then, O King, that these objects of polytheistic worship are works of error and destruction.

For one ought not to name as gods things which are visible and yet cannot see.

But one ought to worship as God the invisible One who fashioned all things.

Let us proceed, then, O King, also to the Jews, that we may see what they too think concerning God.

For these, being descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, sojourned in Egypt.

And from there God brought them out.

For they worship even now the one God, the Almighty, but not according to true knowledge.

For they deny Christ the Son of God, and are like the heathen, even though they seem somehow to draw near to the truth, from which they have estranged themselves.

But the Christians trace their lineage from the Lord Jesus Christ.

And He is confessed to be the Son of God Most High, who came down from heaven in the Holy Spirit for the salvation of men, and being born of a holy virgin without seed and without corruption, took flesh and appeared among men, that He might recall them from the error of polytheism.

And having completed His wonderful economy of salvation, He tasted death through the cross by His own free will, according to a great dispensation.

And after three days He came to life again and ascended into the heavens.

The glory of His coming you may learn, O King, from the holy writing called by them the Gospel, if you should read it.

He had twelve disciples, who, after His ascension into the heavens, went out into the provinces of the inhabited world and taught His greatness.

Even as one of them went about our regions, proclaiming the doctrine of the truth.

Whence those who still minister to the righteousness of their preaching are called Christians.

And these are they who, above all the nations of the earth, have found the truth.

For they know God the Creator and Maker of all things in the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, and they worship no other God besides Him.

They keep His commandments, looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.

They do not commit adultery, they do not fornicate, they do not bear false witness, they do not covet what belongs to others; they honour father and mother, they love their neighbours, they judge justly.

Whatever they do not wish to be done to themselves, they do not do to another; they comfort those who wrong them and make them their friends; they are zealous to do good to their enemies; they are gentle and forbearing.

They abstain from all unlawful intercourse and from all impurity; they do not despise the widow nor grieve the orphan.

He who has gives ungrudgingly to him who has not.

If they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof and rejoice over him as over a true brother.

For they do not call one another brothers according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

They are ready to lay down their lives for Christ.

For they keep His commandments faithfully, living in holiness and righteousness, as the Lord their God commanded them, giving thanks to Him at every hour, for all food and drink and the rest of His good gifts.

Truly, then, this is the way of truth, which leads those who travel it into the eternal kingdom promised by Christ in the life to come.

And that you may know, O King, that I do not say these things of myself, if you stoop to look into the writings of the Christians you will find that I say nothing apart from the truth.

Rightly, then, did your son understand, and justly was he taught to serve the living God and to be saved unto the age that is to come.

For great and wonderful are the things said and done by the Christians; for they speak not the words of men, but the words of God.

But the rest of the nations go astray and lead themselves astray.

For walking in darkness they dash themselves against one another like drunken men.

Thus far, O King, is my word to you, which has been dictated by the truth in my mind.

Wherefore let your foolish wise men cease to babble vainly against the Lord.

For it is profitable for you to worship God the Creator and to give ear to His incorruptible words, that, escaping judgement and punishment, you may be shown to be heirs of imperishable life.