Oracles, Demons, Gods and Magic Exposed

In the past every place was full of the deceit of the oracles. The oracles at Delphi and Dodona, and in Boeotia, Lycia, Libya and Egypt, and those of the Cabiri, and the Pythian priestess, were held in high regard by people’s imagination. But now, since Christ began to be preached everywhere, their madness too has ceased, and there is no one among them who gives oracles any more. In the past demons used to deceive people’s imaginations, taking over springs or rivers, trees or stones, and so they imposed on simple people with their trickery. But now, since the divine visit of the Word, their deception has ceased. For by the sign of the cross, if a person merely uses it, he drives out their deceits. In the past people held Zeus and Cronos and Apollo, and the heroes the poets speak of, to be gods, and went astray in honoring them. But now that the Savior has appeared among men, those others have been exposed as mortal men, and Christ alone has been recognized among men as the true God, the Word of God. [a]

And what is one to say of the magic they admire? Before the Word came to stay among us, it was strong and active among the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Indians, and filled those who saw it with awe. But by the presence of the Truth and the appearing of the Word, it too has been thoroughly refuted and brought to nothing. As for the wisdom of the pagans and the grand claims of the philosophers, I do not think anyone needs our argument, since the wonder is before everyone’s eyes. The wise men among the Greeks wrote so much, yet could not persuade even a few in their own neighborhood about immortality and a life of virtue. Christ alone, using ordinary language and men who were not clever speakers, has persuaded whole churches full of people throughout the world to despise death and to set their minds on the things of immortality; to overlook what is temporary and turn their eyes to what is eternal; to think nothing of earthly glory and to strive only for the heavenly.