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Chapter
XXXVII.
The Egyptians, then, having been taught to worship
Antinous, will, if you compare him with Apollo or Zeus, endure such a
comparison, Antinous being magnified in their estimation through being
classed with these deities; for Celsus is clearly convicted of
falsehood when he says, “that they will not endure his being
compared with Apollo or Zeus.” Whereas Christians (who have
learned that their eternal life consists in knowing the only true God,
who is over all, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent; and who have
learned also that all the gods of the heathen are greedy demons, which
flit around sacrifices and blood, and other sacrificial
accompaniments,3553 in order to deceive
those who have not taken refuge with the God who is over all, but that
the divine and holy angels of God are of a different nature and
will3554 from all the demons on earth, and that they
are known to those exceedingly few persons who have carefully and
intelligently investigated these matters) will not endure a comparison
to be made between them and Apollo or Zeus, or any being worshipped
with odour and blood and sacrifices; some of them, so acting from their
extreme simplicity, not being able to give a reason for their conduct,
but sincerely observing the precepts which they have received; others,
again, for reasons not to be lightly regarded, nay, even of a profound
description, and (as a Greek would say) drawn from the inner nature of
things;3555
3555 ἐσωτερικῶν
καὶ
ἐποπτικῶν. | and amongst the
latter of these God is a frequent subject of conversation, and those
who are honoured by God, through His only-begotten Word, with
participation in His divinity, and therefore also in His name.
They speak much, too, both regarding the angels of God and those who
are opposed to the truth, but have been deceived; and who, in
consequence of being deceived, call them gods or angels of God, or good
demons, or heroes who have become such by the transference into them of
a good human soul.3556
3556 ἢ ἥρωας ἐκ
μεταβολῆς
συστάντας
ἀγαθῆς
ἀνθρωπίνης
ψυχῆς. | And such
Christians will also show, that as in philosophy there are many who
appear to be in possession of the truth, who have yet either deceived
themselves by plausible arguments, or by rashly assenting to what was
brought forward and discovered by others; so also, among those souls
which exist apart from bodies, both angels and demons, there are some
which have been induced by plausible reasons to declare themselves
gods. And because it was impossible that the reasons of such
things could be discovered by men with perfect exactness, it was deemed
safe that no mortal should entrust himself to any being as to God, with
the exception of Jesus Christ, who is, as it were, the Ruler over all
things, and who both beheld these weighty secrets, and made them known
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