οὐκοῦν ἕτερος μὲν ὁ ἀνθρώπων καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, τόσοι δὲ τῶν
ἄλλων, ὅσαπερ ἂν εἶεν τὰ πεποιημένα καὶ μέχρις αὐτῶν καθικνούμενα τῶν ἄγαν εὐτελεστάτων. Ἆρ' οὖν οὐ γέλως, εἰπέ μοι, ταυτί, καὶ τερθρεία λοιπὸν ἀποφέρουσα τοῦ εἰκότος καὶ τῶν εἰς ἀλήθειαν ἐννοιῶν· εἶτα πῶς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο παντί τῳ σαφές; Ὅτι δὲ σαθραῖς καὶ ἀλλοκότοις ἐφήδεται δόξαις ὁμοῦ τοῖς ἰδίοις καθηγηταῖς, δῆλος ἂν εἴη δήπουθεν· Θεὸν γὰρ εἶναι διϊσχυριζόμενος τὸν οὐρανόν, πάλιν ὦδέ φησι· {ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΣ} Τί δεῖ μοι καλεῖν Ἕλληνας καὶ Ἑβραίους ἐνταῦθα μάρτυρας; Οὐδείς ἐστιν ὃς οὐκ ἀνατείνει μὲν εἰς οὐρανὸν τὰς χεῖρας εὐχόμενος, ὀμνύων Θεὸν ἤτοι θεούς, ἔννοιαν δ' ὅλως τοῦ θείου λαμβάνων ἐκεῖσε φέρεται. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἔπαθον· ὁρῶντες γὰρ οὔτε ἐλαττούμενόν τι τῶν περὶ τὸν οὐρανόν, οὔτε αὐξόμενον οὔτε τρεπόμενον οὔτε πάθος ὑπομένον τι τῶν ἀτάκτων, ἀλλ' ἐναρμόνιον μὲν αὐτοῦ τὴν κίνησιν, ἐμμελῆ δὲ τὴν τάξιν, ὡρισμένους δὲ θεσμοὺς σελήνης, ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατολὰς καὶ δύσεις ὡρισμένας, ἐν ὡρισμένοις ἀεὶ καιροῖς, εἰκότως Θεὸν καὶ Θεοῦ θρόνον ὑπέλαβον. Τὸ γὰρ τοιοῦτον, ἅτε μηδεμιᾷ προσθήκῃ πληθυνόμενον, μηδὲ ἐλαττούμενον ἀφαιρέσει, τῆς τε κατὰ ἀλλοίωσιν καὶ τροπὴν ἐκτὸς ἱστάμενον μεταβολῆς, πάσης καθαρεύει φθορᾶς καὶ γενέσεως. Ἀθάνατον δὲ ὂν φύσει καὶ ἀνώλεθρον, παντοίας ἐστὶ καθαρὸν κηλίδος·
Therefore the one is different—the God of humans, quite reasonably—and so many are the gods of others, as many as are the things made, reaching even to the very cheapest of them. Is this not, tell me, ridiculous, and henceforth mere bombast that carries away from what is likely and from thoughts directed toward truth? And then how would it not become clear to everyone? That he delights in rotten and outlandish opinions together with his own teachers would surely be evident. For while he insists that heaven is God, he again says as follows: {JULIAN} Why do I need to call Greeks and Hebrews here as witnesses? There is no one who does not stretch out his hands to heaven in prayer, swearing by God or gods, and who, taking any notion of the divine at all, is carried thither. And this I experienced not unreasonably; for seeing that none of the things around heaven is diminished, nor increased, nor turned, nor suffers any of the disordered passions, but that its motion is harmonious, its order well-tuned, the laws of the moon defined, and the risings and settings of the sun defined, always at defined seasons, they reasonably supposed it to be God and the throne of God. For such a thing, inasmuch as it is not multiplied by any addition nor diminished by subtraction, and stands outside alteration and change of any kind, is pure from all corruption and generation. And being by nature immortal and imperishable, it is pure from every stain.
ἀΐδιον δὲ ὂν καὶ ἀκίνητον, ὡς ὁρῶμεν, ἤτοι παρὰ ψυχῆς κρείττονος καὶ θειοτέρας ἐνοικούσης αὐτῷ φέρεται κύκλῳ περὶ τὸν μέγαν Δημιουργόν, ἢ πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν κίνησιν (ὥσπερ, οἶμαι, τὰ ἡμέτερα σώματα παρὰ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ψυχῆς), παραδεξάμενον τὸν ἄπειρον ἐξελίττει κύκλον ἀπαύστῳ καὶ αἰωνίῳ φορᾷ. {ΚΥΡΙΛΛΟΣ} Ὅτι μὲν οὖν παραπαίοντος οἱ λόγοι, καὶ τῶν εἰς ἀλήθειαν ἐννοιῶν ὁλοτρόπως ἠμοιρηκότος, οὐκ ἀσυμφανές. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀποχρήσειν αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ὑπείληφε τοῦ Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸ τὰς χεῖρας αἴρειν ὑψοῦ καὶ μέντοι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοὺς εὔχεσθαι διανοουμένους, φέρε πρὸς τοῦτο λέγωμεν αὐτῷ. Ἆρ' οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, κἂν εἴ τῳ νεφέλας καταθρῆσαι δοκοίη, πέμποι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἄνω καὶ ἐπ' αὐταῖς τὸν τοῦ σώματος ὀφθαλμόν, ἀρκέσειεν ἂν εἰς πληροφορίαν τὸ χρῆμα αὐτῷ τοῦ χρῆναι θεὰς καὶ αὐτὰς ὁμολογεῖν; Εἶτα πῶς οὐκ ἂν εἴη γελᾶσθαι πρέπων ὁ ψυχραῖς οὕτως ἐννοίαις εἰς ἀπάτην συνηρπασμένος; Ἐπειδὴ δέ, φησίν, ἐξ ὧν εἶναι πέφυκεν ὁ οὐρανὸς εἰκότως τεθαύμασται καὶ ὑπείληπται παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς καὶ Θεὸς ὑπάρχειν καὶ Θεοῦ θρόνος, διδασκέτω παρελθὼν εἰ ταὐτὸν εἶναι νενόμικε καὶ ἐν ἴσῳ τίθησι μέτρῳ τὰ ἐπ' ἀμφοῖν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν οἰηθείην πώποτε πρὸς τοῦτο αὐτὸν ἀποπληξίας ἐλθεῖν ὡς κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον διαφέρειν οἴεσθαι τὸ εἶναι Θεὸν καὶ θρόνον αὐτοῦ. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ὡς ἐν αἰσθήσει τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὔτε μὴν ὡς ἐπὶ σωμάτων νοοῖτ' ἂν εἰκότως τὰ περὶ Θεοῦ, κἂν εἰ λέγοιτο τυχὸν ἧττον ἢ χρῆν, ἐνδοιάσαι τις ἂν ἥκιστά γε.
Being eternal and, as we see, motionless, it is carried in a circle around the great Demiurge either by a superior and more divine soul dwelling in it, or having received its motion from God himself (just as, I think, our bodies are moved by the soul within us), and it rolls out its boundless circle in ceaseless and eternal motion. {CYRIL} That his arguments are those of a madman, and of one wholly deprived of conceptions leading to truth, is not unclear. But since he has supposed, I know not how, that the raising of hands on high and the lifting up of eyes in prayer will suffice him as proof that heaven is God, come, let us speak to this point. Tell me, then, if it should seem good to someone to gaze at the clouds, and he too should send the eye of his body upward and upon them, would this suffice him for the assurance that these too must be confessed to be goddesses? Then how would he not be fit to be laughed at, who is carried away into deception by such cold conceptions? And since, he says, heaven is reasonably admired for the things of which it consists, and has been supposed by the many to be both God and the throne of God, let him come forward and teach whether he has considered these two to be the same and places them on an equal measure; but I would never think that he has come to such a pitch of madness as to suppose that being God and being his throne differ in no way at all. For that the things concerning God would not reasonably be understood as in our perception, nor yet as in the case of bodies, even if it should chance to be said less fittingly than it ought—one would not doubt this in the least.
Θρόνος οὖν εἰ λέγοιτο Θεοῦ, τὴν ὑπ' αὐτῷ βασιλείαν κατασημήνειεν ἄν, καθάπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν ὡς εἴη τοῦ δεῖνος λαμπρὸς καὶ ὑπερφερὴς ὁ θρόνος, τουτέστιν ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ βασιλεία.
Εἶτα πῶς ἰσομοιρήσειεν ἂν τῷ κρατοῦντι τὸ κρατούμενον, τῇ τῶν κρατουμένων μικροπρεπείᾳ τὸ ἄρχον αὐτῶν, τοῖς ὑπεζευγμένοις τὸ ὑπερτεροῦν, τῷ πλεονεκτοῦντι τὸ μειονεκτούμενον; Πῶς οὖν ἄρα καὶ τίνα τρόπον ἢ Θεὸν εἶναί φησιν ἢ Θεοῦ θρόνον τὸν οὐρανόν; Ἀλλὰ Ναί, φησίν, εὔτακτον γὰρ καὶ ἐναρμόνιον καὶ ἐμμελῆ ποιεῖται τὴν κίνησιν, ὡρισμένους δὲ φωτισμοὺς ἥλιός τε καὶ σελήνη ποιεῖσθαι πεφύκασιν, ἄστρων τε ἀνατολαὶ καὶ δύσεις καὶ περιφοραὶ καὶ δρόμοι καὶ αἱ κατὰ τόπους κινήσεις αἱ αὐταὶ καὶ ἀπαραλλάκτως καὶ ἐν καιρῷ παντί. Εἶτα πῶς οὐ πάνυ σοφὸς ἦν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, ὡς ἀπό γε τῶν τοιούτων τὸν ἡγεμόνα καταδεικνύς, καὶ τῆς εὐταξίας τῇ κτίσει τὸν πρύτανιν, τὸν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγονόσι θεσμοθετοῦντα θεοπρεπῶς τὸ ὅπως
If, then, it should be called the throne of God, it would signify the kingdom under him, just as, to be sure, it is true to say in our own case that someone's throne is splendid and preeminent—that is, his rule and kingdom.
Then how could the ruled share equally with the ruler, the governed with their governor, the subordinate with the superior, the disadvantaged with the advantaged? How, then, and in what way does he say that heaven is either God or the throne of God? But yes, he says, for it makes its motion orderly, harmonious, and melodious, and sun and moon are naturally disposed to produce fixed illuminations, and the risings and settings of the stars, their revolutions and courses, and their movements from place to place are the same, invariably and at every season. Then how was the inspired Paul not altogether wise, in that from such things he demonstrates the Governor, and by the good order of creation the Ruler, who in a manner befitting God legislates for the things that have come to be by him, [namely] how
ἂν ἕκαστον δεήσῃ, καὶ τὴν οὕτω πολλὴν καὶ ἀμέτρητον δημιουργίαν οὐκ ἀνεπιστάτητον ἀποφήναντα, δι' ὧν εὖ ἔχει καὶ θαυμάζεται; Φησὶ γάρ· Τὰ γὰρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται, ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καὶ θειότης. Ἐδόκει δὲ ταῦτα καὶ φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ γεγονόσι καθηγηταῖς· ἔφη τοίνυν Πλούταρχος περὶ αὐτῶν, ὡς ἤδη φθάσαντες εἴπομεν· Ἔλαβον δὲ ἐκ τούτων ἔννοιαν Θεοῦ· ἀεί τε γὰρ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἄστρων τὴν ὑπόγειον ἐνεχθέντα ὅμοια μὲν ἀνατέλλει τοῖς χρώμασιν, ἴσα δὲ τοῖς μεγέθεσιν, καὶ κατὰ τόπους τοὺς αὐτούς.
Οὐκοῦν οἱ μὲν πάλαι καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ δογμάτων εὑρεταὶ γεγονότες οὐκ εἰς ἔννοιαν ἦλθον οὐρανοῦ τὸν ἡλίου δρόμον θαυμάσαντες, τεθεαμένοι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἅπασαν κτίσιν εὔτακτόν τε καὶ ἐναρμόνιον καὶ οὐκ ἐκμελῆ λαχοῦσαν τὴν κίνησιν· κατετεκμήραντο δὲ μᾶλλον τῆς τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἰσχύος, καὶ τὴν εὐκλεᾶ καὶ ὑπερηρμένην αὐτοῦ συνῆκαν ἀρχήν· ὁ δέ, πρὸς πᾶν τοὐναντίον, καὶ τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῷ δὲ τούτῳ μεθίστησι δόξαν, οὐδὲν ὑπομείνας τῶν ἀτάκτων, λέγων, ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐμμελῆ ποιεῖται τὴν τάξιν. Εἶτα τίς ὁ τάξιν αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ἐμμελῆ κίνησιν ὁρισάμενος; Τίς ὁ τοῖς τῆς σελήνης φωτισμοῖς τοὺς ἑκάστῳ πρέποντας ἀπονείμας καιρούς; Τίς ὁ μέτροις ὑποθεὶς τὸν ἡλίου δρόμον; Ἆρ' οὖν οὐχ εἷς ἁπάντων ὁ ταξίαρχος, ὡς ἔφην;
...as each one may need, and having shown the creation, so great and immeasurable, not to be without a supervisor, through the things by which it is well-ordered and admired? For he says: "For his invisible attributes from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity." And these things seemed to be both his thought and his words, and also those of the teachers who came after him; Plutarch, then, spoke concerning them, as we have already said before: "From these things I received a notion of God; for the sun and moon and the rest of the stars, carried beneath the earth, rise with the same colors, equal in magnitudes, and in the same places."
Therefore those of old who became the inventors of his doctrines did not come to a notion of heaven by marveling at the course of the sun, but having observed also all the rest of creation, well-ordered and harmonious and having received a movement not out of tune, they inferred rather the strength of the ruler, and understood his glorious and exalted rule; but he, to the very opposite, also shifts the opinion concerning this very thing, enduring nothing of the disorderly, saying that heaven makes its order harmonious. Then who is the one who defined for it its order and harmonious movement? Who is the one who assigned to the illuminations of the moon the seasons fitting for each? Who is the one who subjected the course of the sun to measures? Is it not, then, one and the same commander of all, as I said?
Τί οὖν ἀποφέρεις τῶν ἀληθεστέρων ἐννοιῶν οὐκ εἰς θεοπτίαν κελεύων τοὺς ταῦτα θαυμάζοντας, ἀλλ' εἴς γε μόνον τὸ εἰδέναι τὸν οὐρανὸν ὅτι τε εἴη Θεός, ἀλλοιώσεώς τε καὶ τρόπων ἐκτὸς ἱστάμενος καὶ μεταβολῆς ἁπάσης, καθαρεύων δὲ καὶ φθορᾶς καὶ γενέσεως, ἀθάνατός τε ὑπάρχων φύσει καὶ ἀνώλεθρος. Πῶς, εἰπέ μοι, τροπῆς τε καὶ ἀλλοιώσεως καὶ μεταβολῆς ἀμοιρῆσαι φῂς τὸν γενητὸν οὐρανόν; Εἰ γὰρ γέγονεν ὅλως, καὶ κεκίνηται, τροπὴ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ μετάστασις, προανακειμένου καθάπερ ἐν τάξει στερήσεως τοῦ μὴ εἶναί ποτε. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος τὸ γεγονός, ἀλλοίωσις καὶ τροπὴ νοοῖτ' ἂν αὐτῷ τὸ κεκλῆσθαι πρὸς γένεσιν, τὸ δὲ ὅτι γέγονεν ὡμολογημένον, πῶς ἂν ἔξω γεγονὸς εἴη φθορᾶς;
Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἀθάνατον φύσει τὸ γενέσει καὶ φθορᾷ τυραννούμενον; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἀΐδιον τὸ ἐν χρόνῳ παρενεχθέν; Καίτοι φησὶν ἐναργῶς ὁ Πλάτων ὅτι χρόνος γέγονε μετ' οὐρανοῦ, ἵνα ἅμα γενηθέντες ἅμα καὶ λυθῶσιν, ἄνπερ ἄρα λύσις αὐτῶν γίνηται. Πῶς οὖν τὸ λυόμενον ἀθάνατον φύσει; Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἀνώλεθρον τὸ ἐν μόνῃ θελήσει τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ λαχὸν τὸ μὴ φθείρεσθαι; Οὐ γάρ τοι φύσις ἐν τούτοις τὸ ἀκράδαντον ἔχει, οὔτε μὴν τὸ ἐνηρεῖσθαι καλῶς ἐν οἷς ἕκαστον εἶναι πέφυκεν ἴδιον αὐτοῖς· ἐπικουρεῖται δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τοῦτο τοῖς τοῦ διακρατοῦντος νεύμασιν. Εἶτά φησιν ὅτι παρὰ ψυχῆς κρείττονος καὶ θειοτέρας ἐνοικούσης αὐτῷ φέρεται κύκλῳ περὶ τὸν μέγαν Δημιουργόν, ἢ πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν κίνησιν ἔχει, ὥσπερ, οἶμαι, τὰ ἡμέτερα σώματα.
Why then do you refer the truer conceptions not to the vision of God, urging those who marvel at these things to do so, but only to knowing that the heaven is God, standing apart from alteration and modes and all change, and pure from corruption and generation, being by nature immortal and imperishable? Tell me, how do you say that the created heaven has no share in turning and alteration and change? For if it has come to be at all, it has also been moved, and this is a turning and a change, since not being at some time lies before it as it were in the order of privation. For if what has come to be is from what is not, the being called to generation would be understood by it as alteration and turning; and since it has come to be is agreed, how could it be outside corruption?
And how is that which is ruled by generation and corruption immortal by nature? And how is that which has passed away in time eternal? And yet Plato says clearly that time came to be with the heaven, so that having come to be together they might also be dissolved together, if indeed a dissolution of them should occur. How then is what is dissolved immortal by nature? And how is what has obtained not to be corrupted in the will alone of the Creator imperishable? For nature does not have stability in these things, nor indeed does being well founded in the things in which each is naturally disposed to be belong to them as their own; rather, they are assisted toward this by the noddings of the one who holds them fast. Then he says that by a superior and more divine soul dwelling in it, it is carried in a circle around the great Creator, or that it has its motion from God himself, just as, I think, our bodies do.
Ἀλλ', ὦ πανάριστε φαίην ἄν ὁ ἀγένητος κατὰ σέ, καὶ ἄφθαρτος καὶ ἀνώλεθρος, ὁ ἄτρεπτός τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος οὐρανός, ὁ πάσης καθαρεύων κηλίδος, ὃν δὴ φῂς καὶ ἀΐδιον, παρὰ ποίας κρείττονος ἢ θειοτέρας διοικεῖται ψυχῆς; Τί τὸ ἄμεινον ἐν αὐτῇ παρ' ἐκεῖνον, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος Θεοῦ; Τί τὸ μέγα καὶ ἐξαίρετον, ἐννοεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Οἶμαι γὰρ ἔγωγε τῆς ἀνωτάτω δόξης τὴν ἀπόρρητον τοῦ Θεοῦ μεμεστῶσθαι φύσιν. Εἰ δὴ λέγοιτο πρὸς ἡμῶν ἄφθαρτός τε εἶναι καὶ ἀνώλεθρος, ἀλλοιώσεως ἐπέκεινα καὶ τροπῆς, ἀγένητος, ἀΐδιος, κηλίδος ἁπάσης ἀπηλλαγμένη, τὸ παντέλειον ἔχουσα καὶ παντὸς ὁτουοῦν ἀπροσδεής, εἶτα τί τετήρηκας αὐτῇ, τοῖς οὕτω λαμπροῖς καὶ ὑπερφερέσιν ἀξιώμασι τὴν τῶν ποιημάτων κατασεμνύνων φύσιν; Ἀλλ' Ἑβραῖοι, φησί, τὰ περὶ οὐρανοῦ δοξάζοντες, θρόνον αὐτὸν εἶναί φασι
τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποπόδιον δὲ τὴν γῆν. Ὀρθῶς, ὦ γενναῖε· μεμνήσομαι γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ δι' ἑνὸς τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν. Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου· ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, λέγει Κύριος, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου; Καίτοι Θεὸν μὲν οὐκ εἶναί φησι τὸν οὐρανόν, παρεικάζει δὲ θρόνῳ, καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑποποδίῳ τὴν γῆν· κἂν εἰ ἕλοιτό τις τὴν τοῦ πράγματος αἰτίαν ἀναμαθεῖν, χαλεπὸν οὐδὲν ἀληθεύοντας λέγειν. Ἀνεδείματο γὰρ ἐν τοῖς Ἱεροσολύμοις τὸν διαβόητον ἐκεῖνον νεὼν ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομών, ἐπεγάννυντο δὲ λίαν αὐτῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἱ δῆμοι, ᾤοντό τε ὅτι κατῴκηκεν ἐν αὐτῷ περιειλημμένος ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός·
But, O most excellent one, I would say—the unbegotten in your view, and incorruptible and indestructible, the immutable and unalterable heaven, the one free from every stain, which you indeed call eternal—by what superior or more divine soul is it administered? What in it is better than that one, or rather than the God who created it? What is the great and exceptional thing, I cannot conceive. For I myself think that the ineffable nature of God is filled with the highest glory. If then it should be said by us that it is incorruptible and indestructible, beyond alteration and change, unbegotten, eternal, released from every stain, possessing perfection and in need of nothing whatsoever, then what have you kept for it, honoring the nature of created things with such brilliant and surpassing dignities? But the Hebrews, he says, in their beliefs about heaven, say that it is the throne of God, and the earth his footstool. Rightly, O noble one; for I will remember God himself saying through one of the holy prophets: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet; what house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? And yet he says that heaven is not God, but likens it to a throne, and indeed the earth to a footstool; and if anyone should choose to learn the reason for the matter, there is no difficulty in speaking the truth. For the most wise Solomon built that famous temple in Jerusalem, and the multitudes of the Jews rejoiced greatly in it, and they thought that the God of all things had settled in it, enclosed within it;
βραδεῖς γὰρ ἀεί πως εἰς σύνεσιν καὶ τῶν περὶ Θεοῦ λόγων ἀνεπιστήμονες, οἵ γε Θεοῦ πόλιν οἰηθέντες τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ καὶ μόνῃ διετείνοντο κατοικεῖν αὐτόν, διά τοι τὸ λέγεσθαι διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ Δαβίδ· Δεδοξασμένα ἐλαλήθη περὶ σοῦ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ Θεοῦ. Σμικρὰ τοιγαροῦν δοξάζοντας ἐλέγχει Θεός, καί φησι. Ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, θρόνον ἔχοντι τὸν οὐρανόν, ὑποπόδιον δὲ τὴν γῆν; Ἔδει γάρ, ἔδει τοῖς συνεστάλθαι καὶ περιωρίσθαι τόποις τὴν αὐτοῦ φύσιν ὑπειληφόσι καταδεῖξαι σαφῶς ὅτι τε εἴη πανταχῇ καὶ χωρεῖ μὲν αὐτὸν οὐδέν, ἥκει δὲ μᾶλλον διὰ πάντων αὐτός, καὶ πλήρης μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς αὐτοῦ, μεστὴ δὲ ἡ γῆ.
Ὅτι δὲ γενητός ἐστιν ὁ οὐρανός, διὰ πλείστων ὅσων μαρτυριῶν καταδεῖξαι ῥᾷον ἐκ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς· ἔφη γάρ που ὁ Θεός. Ἐγὼ τῇ χειρί μου ἐστερέωσα τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἄστροις ἐνετειλάμην. Καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ μακάριος Δαβὶδ τῷ Λόγῳ Κυρίου τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐστερεῶσθαί φησι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν εἶναι τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν· οἶδε δὲ καὶ διηγουμένους αὐτοὺς δόξαν Θεοῦ. Πῶς, ἢ τίνα τρόπον; ἀφ' ὧν εἰσι καὶ γεγόνασιν εὖ μάλα τεθαυμασμένους καὶ μονονουχὶ φωνῇ τῇ τοιᾷδε χρωμένους· τὰ γὰρ τῶν τεχνημάτων ἄριστα καὶ ἐξαίρετα, καίτοι φωνὴν οὐκ ἔχοντα, μονονουχὶ καὶ διακεκράγασι τὴν τοῦ τεχνουργήσαντος ἐπιστήμην ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς ἐκφαίνοντα.
For they are always somehow slow to understand and ignorant of the words concerning God—those who supposed that Jerusalem was the city of God, and maintained that he dwelt in it and in it alone, because it is said through the voice of David: "Glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God." Therefore God refutes those who glorify him in small measure, and says: "What house will you build for me, who have heaven as my throne and the earth as my footstool?" For it was necessary, it was necessary, for those who supposed that his nature was confined and bounded by places to be shown clearly that he is everywhere and that nothing contains him, but rather that he himself comes through all things, and that heaven is full of him, and the earth is filled with him.
But that heaven is created, it is easy to show from the God-inspired Scripture by very many testimonies. For God said somewhere: "I have established the heaven with my hand and have given command to all the stars." And indeed the blessed David also says that the heavens were established by the Word of the Lord, and that all their power is by the Spirit of his mouth; and he knows that they also declare the glory of God. How, or in what manner? From the things that they are and have become, being greatly admired and, as it were, using such a voice as this: for the best and most excellent of crafted works, although they have no voice, all but cry out, revealing in themselves the knowledge of the craftsman.
[Τέλος τοῦ δευτέρου τόμου τῶν κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ ἀντιρρητικῶν τοῦ πανσόφου καὶ μακαρίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας Κυρίλλου.]
End of the second volume of the Refutations against Julian by the all-wise and blessed archbishop of Alexandria, Cyril.