It is the custom of the servants of God to undertake every good work, in word and in deed, in the name of Christ, since it is to be accomplished to the glory of God, the Apostle so admonishing and saying: Whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of Christ (Col. III).
Today, with the Lord's help, in the name of Christ our Saviour Himself, we draw up our battle-line against the pagans and carry heavenly weapons, about to strike the enemies of Christ with the darts of truth, and to lay low with the frequent battering-ram of faith the opposing foes, and the camps of perfidy, and the useless towers, following Christ our leader, that is, the Lord Christ, who both through Joshua the son of Nun, the successor of Moses, destroyed the walls of the proud city of Jericho, and through His apostles cast down to the very foundations the pride of this world that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Come now, let us contemplate these pagans, and bring forth their assertions into the midst. The pagans say that all things happen by fate, and that neither prayers nor supplications avail anything;
and that idols are worshipped to the honour and likeness of the gods; or they say that all the elements are gods and goddesses, and dwell in the heavens, and in the constellations, and in the stars. We see therefore, brethren, these pagans and astrologers to be truly foolish, and these stars armed with empty weapons, and destined to fall without delay in this battle. For they think themselves clad in the proud and haughty arms of their arrogance, allies of the alien races, able to throw into confusion the battle-line of God and the strength of Israel, and they do not think that they can easily be laid low by the stone of David. This stone is Christ our Lord, who both gave the victory to David himself, and by His mighty power cast down the proud brow of Goliath, raised up in the arrogance of rashness.
This is our God, this is Christ, the Lord who breaks battles, the Lord is His name (Judith XVI), who has ever been wont to be a helper to His servants who fight for His name, and who take up battle for the truth. The pagans say, then, that all things happen by fate, and that concerning the whole human race whatever fate or destiny has appointed is fixed and immovable, and that neither prayers nor supplications avail anything. To whom we say first briefly, and as it were with the single plough of faith and of sure truth, we cut round about and overturn the whole forest of their error. If then neither prayers nor supplications avail, O pagans, and all is fixed, as you say, whatever fate or destiny has given, why do you worship gods and goddesses? Why do you sacrifice to idols?
Why do you offer prayers, and incense, and victims, why do you carry all manner of gifts into the temples, if all is fixed and decreed, and nothing is granted or obtained by prayers or by petitions? Why then do you supplicate? But they say: We do these things lest they harm us. To whom we say: How can they harm, who cannot bestow anything? And that they truly can neither harm nor bestow anything, the watch of dogs about those gods whom you call yours, and the vigilance of guards, bears witness. For when thieves find them unguarded, they carry them off and drag them away broken. You say that all things happen by fate; but the things you say happen by fate — I know not by what uncertain opinion — I say happen by the will or permission of God; for God the Father has placed all things in His own power (Acts
I), and nothing comes to pass except what the Lord Himself has willed, or has permitted to be able to come to pass. Do you wish to see how great things our prophets and apostles did, not by the power of fate, but by faith and the help of the most high God, and by the divine power of Christ? Behold, they even restored the broken, whom you say are afflicted by fate; likewise they healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind and made the lame to stand upright; and they sought nothing from fate, but fulfilled all, as I said, by the sincerity of faith and by divine resources and mercies. Do you say all things happen by fate? But a fool speaks foolish things, and his heart understands vain things, and, as that Tullius (Cicero) said in the Hortensius, saying: My grandmother used to say this which you say, that all things happen by fate;
but my mother, a wise woman, did not think so. And we too can say in truth, that our grandmother, that is, ancient error and gentile folly, said this. For our mother, the wise woman, that is, mother Church, who bore us by a spiritual birth, never thought this, for she knows that the Son received from the Father all power in heaven and on earth. Therefore in His name His disciples did such great mighty works, He who also said: Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you (John XVI). Assuredly, when He said this, He was opposing errors and demons, who feign fates and contend that prayers avail nothing, so that God should not be entreated and their works undone.
For this reason the Lord drew the peoples to Himself, so that faith in God might avail most, and distrust might not prevail. Do you say, shameless one, that all things happen by fate? Do you add that neither prayers nor supplications avail anything? But how much the prayers and supplications of the faithful avail, the sacred records of all the divine volumes proclaim, and to those willing to know, an easy access to salvation is granted. Therefore nothing is carried out by fate, but all things are governed by the providence of the Maker of the world. Now concerning the idols, or the elements, which the pagans reckon to be gods, hear briefly, brethren, our blessed prophet deriding these pagans for their vanities, and saying: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands: they have a mouth, and speak not;
they have eyes, and see not; they have ears, and hear not (Ps. CXXXIV), and the rest that follows there. I ask you, pagan, whether you wish to be such as those whom you worship, without soul, without sense, without motion, without any living understanding. If then you think this a curse, cease therefore to worship such beings, whose likeness allures you, and whose worship honours you. But the pagans say: We worship and venerate the sun and moon, or the stars, and all the elements; to whom again it is said: But vain are all men in whom there is not the knowledge of God, and from the good things that are seen they could not understand Him who is; nor by attending to the works did they acknowledge who was the artificer;
but they supposed either fire, or wind, or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or overwhelming water, or the sun, or the moon, to be gods (Wisd. XIII); who, if they esteemed them thus because of their beauty, let them know how much more beautiful is the Lord than these; for the Creator of beauty established all things; or if they marvelled at their power and works, let them understand from these that He who established these things mighty is mightier than they. And the apostle Paul says: For the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, His eternal power also and divinity, so that they are without excuse;
because when they had known God, they did not worship Him as God, nor give thanks, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened: for professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things (Rom. I), etc. Therefore, he says, they supposed either fire, or wind, or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or overwhelming water, or the sun, or the moon, to be gods. The pagans worship fire, and call it a god, which is quenched by water, or pressed out by a throwing of earth. The pagans worship fire, which is nourished by the fuel of wood. The pagans worship fire, they who are to burn in eternal fire. But perhaps they worship lightnings: to what end do they worship these?
for these are moved not by their own impulses, but by the command of God, just as the sun and moon, the rains likewise and the courses of the stars, the movements of the winds and the passing of the storm-cloud. Do they then venerate the spirit of the air and of the winds? But these serve the Lord of things, as it is written: His wind shall blow, and the waters shall flow (Ps. CXLVII) . . . fire, hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which fulfil His word (ibid.). Let the pagans worship the circle of the stars, perfected by the artificer God, composed for the adornment of the world with distinctive splendour. They worship water, which is poured out by the bounty of the Creator for the use not only of men, but also of cattle and of all other things.
They worship the sun and moon, though we see the sun both rising and setting run its course just as has been appointed for it. Whence it is understood that no one can run unceasingly and persist in its service, unless it be under the Lord, and have one who commands it. For neither would the moon suffer increase or decrease, except by the will and choice of its Creator; and the sun, if it were in its own power, would shine with perpetual light . . . to serve, and the stars to follow their order; the sea also to be contained within its bounds. And therefore the most holy prophet cries out, saying to the Lord our God: How magnified are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is filled with Thy creation.
This great and wide sea, therein are creeping things innumerable, living creatures both small and great (Ps. CIII). This is the Lord our God, of whom a certain one of the saints said: Who suspended the heaven in lofty height, made firm the earth's mass cast down below, spread out the seas in flowing liquid, and set all these things in order, full and adorned with their own fitting instruments. When therefore you have seen . . . The pagans still worship mountains, and trees, and springs, and rivers, where oxen too, and sheep, and all beasts feed, and walk about, and slip. For their images and idols are covered, with fitting honour, by spiders, and are pierced through by moths or worms, and are inhabited by mice, and are trampled upon by flies;
nor do they defend themselves from fire or from rain, nor protect themselves from robbers or thieves. And therefore St. Cyprian well said to Demetrian the pagan: Be ashamed to worship those whom you yourself defend; be ashamed to hope for help from those whom you yourself protect. Or what could they bestow on their worshippers, who cannot protect themselves from those who do not worship them; for as it does not pertain to them by whom they are worshipped, so they do not feel by whom they are injured. But the pagans say: We worship gods, or goddesses, that are held to be in heaven. To whom we say: If you say or worship those gods whom we hear recited in your books, that is, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Apollo, Vulcan, Aesculapius, and countless others;
and you name as goddesses Juno, Minerva, Diana, Cybele, Latona, or the rest; then, if you call all those gods, why do you place some among the stars, and some you do not place there? For you say that Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, or Mercury are in heaven, but Neptune, Apollo, Vulcan, Aesculapius and the rest you do not say are there. Or perhaps did these sin somewhat, and those sin not at all, and therefore you assert that they possess the heavenly regions — when it is rather established that all . . . were men, and . . . to men? Behold, we know that Saturn, or Jupiter, Mars also, and Mercury, etc., committed abominable crimes. Does not Virgil, your poet, that pre-eminent one, whose songs you venerate even today, thus cry out concerning Saturn, saying:
Fleeing from Jupiter, and an exile from a kingdom taken away; whence Latium too received its name from his hiding, because he lay hidden safe upon those shores — that is, fleeing, he lay hidden in the regions of Italy. And again it says: 'Picus was father to Faunus, and these trace back their parent to you, Saturn; you are the last founder of the line.' He was the first to introduce the stamping of letters and the striking of coins in Italy; hence the treasury is called Saturn's. He was also a cultivator of country life, and so he is depicted bearing a sickle. This man, when he was seized by a mad frenzy, devoured his own sons; and with his head covered, that he might not be recognized, he fled — and so he is fashioned in your shrines. Jove, his son, snatched away from his mother, has his tomb upon an island... he lies despised... whence Virgil said:
he lies upon the island of Crete, guilty of crimes... and he briefly recalls it, saying: 'Jove's sister and consort,' he says, 'and the honours of ravished Ganymede.' See how execrable — nay rather how detestable — this Jupiter must be held, who wished to have his own sister as wife, to say nothing of his other crimes. Alas the grief! The names of piety which are held sacred among holy men have among the gods of the pagans become foul acts of sacrilege. For what shall I say of Mars, who, born among the Thracians... is said to possess the nether regions... Therefore he has no dwelling of his own, but like a wretch making use of uncertain and no fixed abodes, ever...
...they begot sons and daughters swiftly, which was not from lawful marriage but from abominable incests and adulteries, just as they themselves were born. And still you are not ashamed to say that the Sun had a daughter, and that the Moon loved Endymion. What faithful man would not be angered at such madness of yours? Who would not judge you, persevering in such things, worthy of every punishment? Just as you say Saturn was son of Heaven, and again you say Jove was his son, or rather you lie, saying that Minerva was born from a head... from a thigh, and many other things. For your goddesses you assert are to be venerated. They are held fast by the vice of obscenity: of whom you say that one alone, Venus, is in heaven, and you set her among the stars.
Why not (I ask) Juno also, and Minerva, or Diana, or the rest? Is it because you say Venus is beautiful that you record her as dwelling in heaven, while for her foulness you consign the others to earthly seats? Why do you place that most shameless woman among so many men in heaven — what does she claim for herself? Is she someone's wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter? But if she is none of these, and only because of her beauty you say she is in heaven — she who was a harlot — see how wicked it is to say that a criminal beauty is in heaven, and yet you do not say the same of Minerva, whom you call chaste and wise. It is plain that you are carnal rather than spiritual... the religion which by you the ancients...
...lights with... you take delight in such pictures and images and signs of yours. Why is it that today, to your acclamations in the theatres, most impure actors portray that very shameless Venus and adulterous Mars, and that Jove, the prince of vices, transformed by magic arts into earthly loves with his thunderbolts — now growing white, now flowing down in a golden shower...? For whoever have sinned without the law shall perish without the law, and whoever have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law (Rom. 2); and the pagans are not ashamed to name so many gods and goddesses, that Saturn begot Jove and the rest. But if the gods were born then, why are they not born today as well?
...unless perhaps, as holy Cyprian used to say, either Jupiter has grown old, or child-bearing in Juno has failed. Likewise the pagans observe the flights of birds and the voices of crows or little rooks, and inquire in entrails... but we say that what should be guarded against neither passes by, nor is it... by which impending dangers... to avoid, to whom we say: if therefore future things can be avoided by observation, then man is no longer driven under the lot of fate and an unchangeable decree, since by his own choice and caution he will be able to turn aside what is impending. But they say: they cannot be avoided. Let us say to them again: Why then do you inquire? Why do you celebrate sacrifices in vain? Why the voices of birds?
Why do you heed the flights of birds...? ...you would groan... Do you wish to know how much prayers avail, how greatly the prayers of the faithful please the Lord God? Search in our books, in books plain with clear truth; inquire of Noah, inquire of Moses, inquire of Joshua son of Nun, inquire of Elijah or Elisha, inquire of Jonah or the other holy prophets and the blessed apostles, the disciples of Christ, to whom the Lord granted everything whatsoever their faithful prayer asked; from this then you will find how much can be obtained by you... having suffered shipwreck, amid the raging waves and the crashing... of storms sporting on every side, through the sea...
...through the perils of towering waters, dreading the fearsome crests of overwhelming waves, relying on the Lord's mercy, he came through happily... and he who, pouring out his prayers to the Lord, deserved to be preserved unharmed together with all his own, so that the very tempest marveled that, while all everywhere were perishing, one alone with his own had come through as survivor. Let the pagans say, if they can, what fate could do here: did fate slay all in that flood, or did fate grant life to this one man? If fate slew all, why not this man too? If fate granted life to this one, why not to all?
But truly it was the power and might of Almighty God that did this beyond doubt — He who assigns punishments to the stubborn and the scornful, and salvation to the just and to those who keep His precepts... I shall speak of him who is known to have descended from his teacher Moses by no merit of his own valour, and who, setting out to conquer the city of Jericho, by his prayers, as by a kind of thunderbolt, cast down the walls of Jericho without delay, and leveled them to their foundations; who also by his daring held fast the swiftest course of the sun above Gibeon (Joshua 10), and by his prohibition restrained the paths of the moon above the battle-lines, until he overcame all his adversaries.
What shall I say of most holy Elijah, who by the merit of his faith carried on his lips the key of the rains, from which... he did not cease from the report of the shipwrecked; he received from the Lord everything whatsoever he asked, and like a faithful vessel it remained safe, and having been brought to shore, just as he had received it, he presented within what he had gained. All the holy prophets too, by the merit of their faith, as we have said, performed many mighty works and many wonders. The blessed apostles too restored those broken in strength, and asked nothing of fate, and healed the sick, and raised the dead; but they accomplished all things by the power of God and the help of Christ... Let us say to the gods of the pagans, beloved... let us speak of our faith... there is one...
...the Lord God, and He is holy, saying... He alone has power; this one God the Church believes in and venerates, who forms all things whatsoever exist by the word of His majesty and by wisdom, and perfects them by reason and by omnipotent power. He cannot be seen; He is brighter than sight; nor can He be estimated, being greater than the senses; and therefore we worthily esteem Him thus, while we call Him inestimable. This, I say, is the Lord our God, whom even the philosophers of the pagans, overcome by reason, though they do not venerate Him, yet acknowledge as God. Indeed they do not venerate Him, because to the injury of the Creator Himself they assert many gods, and, as we have said, they render to the creature the honour of the Creator.
Therefore now, whether they will or not, even the philosophers themselves, constrained by truth, both assert that our Lord God is invisible and all-powerful; among whom the eminent Sosthenes denies that the form of this world can be beheld, and says that true angels stand by His throne; with whom Plato too agrees by like reasoning, and proclaiming one God, calls the rest angels or daemons. Hermes Trismegistus also confesses one God, and declares Him invisible and incomprehensible. Him therefore we confess in truth, and know, and acknowledge —
the Almighty God, whose work is the worlds, who suspended the heaven like a vaulted chamber, who founded the earth upon the water, who spread out the seas from loosened liquid, and by a wondrous balance holds together on every side the whole framework of this world, He Himself the Maker. He it is who prepared the vapour-bearing... of the sun...; He it is who kindly and usefully prepared all animals with all their offspring; He, the springs and rivers and the hollow torrents; He, the spacious sea... the plains... far and wide with waves... and all things visible and invisible... He accomplished through Christ His Son, our Lord:
as it is written, that in Christ all things were created — the apostle Paul bearing witness — which are in heaven and which are on earth, visible and invisible (Col. 1). Therefore one God, brethren, is alone to be adored; as it is written: You shall adore the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve (Matt. 4); He alone is to be loved, as the Scripture says: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22). For who, I ask, is our neighbour? Who but our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was constituted in the form of God, took the form of a servant? And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1), He who said:
This is life eternal, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17). This Jesus Christ... in the beginning was the Word with God... by the Sibyl in the Greek name which means 'fish' He was signified, because He was to enter the sea of this world or age. For consider the great mystery even of the Greek letters themselves: I, iota, that is Iesous (Jesus); X, chi, that is Christos; theta, Theou (of God); Y, Yios (Son); sigma, Soter (Saviour); which is explained in Latin as Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour: in the initials of these five Greek letters this is the mystery, to be sought therefore with great... concerning the Lord Christ the blessed Peter himself...
the discourse — that whether the true prophet be willing to receive it or not... his, that is, the commandments... he has in his own power. 'We are,' he says, 'of free choice; and if this were the case, those hearing him would no longer have it in their power to do otherwise than what they had heard.' There would be a certain force of nature by which one would not be free to pass over to another opinion; or again, if of the hearers none at all received it, this too would be a force of nature which compelled some one thing to come about, and to the other side... because... he might turn aside a part... his own, and by which... the way stands firm... For from the beginning, while the kingdoms... and He gave power... of men;
so that he may become a portion of that kingdom to which he has subjected himself in obedience: and because it is determined with God that one man cannot be the servant of both kingdoms, with all zeal give diligence to run together into the covenant and laws of the good King. For this reason, at last, the true prophet, when He was present with us and had seen some of the rich negligent toward the worship of God, thus disclosed this matter... and the rest, up to this point St. Peter continues. Christ therefore said: This is life eternal, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17); in this knowledge, brethren, is life eternal. For hear the Scripture of the holy Gospels declaring concerning the most high God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ:
In the beginning, it says, was the Word, that is, the Son, and the Word was with God (John 1), with His own begetter... in what follows... saying, and the Word was made flesh, as a veil... an interpreter... He taught the will of the Father, and delivered that same most high God to be believed; and thus, His passion completed, He offered as a sacrifice to the Father that man whom He had assumed, making the redemption of the whole world. Again St....
We insert Peter's exposition: 'And know,' he says, 'the truth, and be separated... to deceive... the inscriptions... of the gods... For just as one... has under himself many — you say, for example's sake, prefects, consuls, tribunes, and the other powers. We judge things similar: only that, since God is one greater than all, these too are ordained in this world as gods after the likeness of those powers we have mentioned; subjected indeed to that greater one; and yet, because they are in this world, dispensing on our behalf.' Hear then to this, you pagans, how in these very things which you set forth for deception you confess by the arguments of truth. For you say:
'Since God holds the place of Caesar, and those who are called gods hold the place of his judges and powers' — keep then, as you have proposed, the example of Caesar; and know that just as it is lawful for none of the judges or administrators, that is, prefects or proconsuls or generals or tribunes, to take upon himself the name of Caesar (otherwise both he who assumed it and those who conferred it would perish together), so also you ought to take heed concerning this. For if anyone imposes the name of God on any other than Him, and that other receives it, they shall obtain one and the same destruction, perhaps far worse than the ministers of Caesar. For he who offends against Caesar shall suffer a temporal destruction;
but he who offends against the One who alone is the true God shall perish for the age (eternally)... Other pagans say: We do even better, who give thanks both to the most high God and to all who are with Him — to whom it must be said: This is such as if someone sick, for his own cure, should call both a physician and a poisoner; since the poisoners can indeed harm and can cure. But the true physician refuses to mix his medicines with their poisons, lest either ruin come instead of good, or... of the world... he may bestow... the light of his sorrow... and the other elements render service. Finally...
Against the goodness of the Creator, the elements, wearied by the crimes of the ungodly, are overcome; hence it comes that either the fruit of the earth is corrupted, or the temperance of the air is violated, or the heat of the sun is kindled beyond measure, or an immense force of rains or of frosts is poured out. In... and the face of death runs through in diverse forms; for eager creation would be moved to vengeance against the ungodly; yet the goodness of God restrains it, and reins it back from indignation at the ungodly, and by His mercy... to obey rather than to be inflamed at the sins and crimes of men.
For the patience of God waits, while men are in this body, for their conversion; but if to the very end of life they persist in ungodliness, then the departing soul, which is immortal, pays immortal penalties for the perseverance of its ungodliness. But we, says the holy Peter himself — whose disputation we have taken up from the history of the blessed Clement his disciple, and have joined to our own words as an aid — we, he says, have been sent for this, that we may expose to you the hidden things of the ancient serpent, and, undoing enmities, may reconcile you to God... and it may please that... but perhaps... to care for nothing, and to God... to the knowledge... we can arrive, how...
...He conducts human affairs... to be of God... for unless by a power... never would higher things minister to lower things; and by this it is taught that God has toward men not only care, but even a certain great affection, to whose ministry He has entrusted such splendid elements. But you will say: What harm is done to God, if these too are worshipped by us, if any of you renders honour...? ...or another... God is not... in these things which you could easily have perceived, you were unwilling to bend your mind to examine; it is certain that you have been hindered in the knowledge of God, not by the fault of impossibility, but of sloth.
For if you had been willing, from these very useless idols you would surely have received the way of understanding... to do harm... with daemons seducing, so that as if wondrous... they might accomplish useful things... it is a matter of statues walking, of bronze dogs and stones... fire being made through the air, being changed through various forms, and the rest, which we have learned that Simon that Magician or others did; for Jannes and Mambres also worked magic against Moses... it is granted... to the devil for a time to do certain things to seduce the unfaithful, so that... in faith... the mind of the faithful, and it may be perfected in the love and fear of God, and not be overcome by evil.
And the pythons (soothsaying spirits) speak of future and hidden things, and by... worshipping sometimes... they tell future and hidden things; they do these things indeed, not by Divinity, but by malice or curiosity; therefore, as has been said, in order to seduce, in order to deceive; they are wandering and insincere spirits, flitting about and prying. For truly those are holy servants, and truly those are ministers of God, who work signs of salvation, and give life to the dead, and put daemons to flight: whence they are truly known to belong to God, by whose light they enlighten the blind, by whose power they heal the sick, by whose mercy they raise the dead — who in the name of Christ, after His likeness, both do and have done many things by the power of faith.
Therefore let us follow the charity of these men, let us pursue their innocence, that we may keep their forbearance and gentleness, and, aided by the everlasting God, may ever render honour and eternal praises to His eternal and blessed Son; adoring and confessing the Father Himself and the Son in the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory and majesty unto the ages. Amen. Thanks be to God, always.