Speech to the Hellenes

The essay “Speech to the Hellenes” is short (only 5 chapters) and is a sharp denunciation of Greek mythology. The author himself was a convert from the pagans, and in his treatise he gives the reasons why he parted with pagan error, therefore his work has the character of a kind of “Apology for his life.” The work does not belong to the martyr Justin the Philosopher and was written, most likely, in the first half of the 3rd century. *The title of the work in Greek is Πρὸς ῞Ελληνας. *The title of the work in Latin is Oratio ad Graecos. Contents About the speech to the Hellenes Archpriest Peter Preobrazhensky Speech to the Hellenes According to Eusebius (C. Ist. IV, 18), Justin wrote, in addition to the so-called two apologies, 1 also a book against the Hellenes, in which he extensively discusses very many issues that are the subject of study by both Christians and Hellenic philosophers and talk about the nature of demons. Jerome testifies in a similar way (Cat. Scr. eccl. p. 23): “there is another work of his against the pagans, in which he discusses the nature of demons.” This is precisely the work of the publishers and researchers of the works of St. Justin (Nurri, Maran, from the newest Otto) was thought to be seen in a small apologetic work that has come down to us called “speech to the Hellenes” (λόγος προς Ελληνας). It consists of 5 chapters and contains a statement of the reasons why the author left paganism and became a Christian. He found nothing sacred in paganism: the gods, as Homer (chapter 1) and Hesiod (chapter 2) portray them, are involved in all gross vices and atrocities; the heroes are not at all courageous (chapter 3); religious meetings and celebrations provide many attractions for sensuality and licentiousness (chapter 4). Therefore, the author convinces pagans, like him, to become Christians (chapter 5). From this content of the speech to the Hellenes, it is clearly revealed that the above words of Eusebius about Justin’s writing against the Hellenes cannot apply to it: it does not contain, at least, a lengthy discussion about controversial subjects among Christians and philosophers, nor in particular about the nature of demons. On this basis, as well as due to the difference in the syllable of the “speech to the Hellenes” from the original writings of Justin, at present Catholic (Möhler, Hefele) and Protestant scholars (Semisch, Neander) do not recognize the speech to the Hellenes as the work of Justin, although their origin dates back to the time of this apologist or a little later than him. In the collection of monuments of Syrian literature (Specilegium Syriacum), published by Cureton in 1855, there is a translation of the speech to the Hellenes, in which the Syrian translator allowed himself to abbreviate here and there or spread against the original text. In the Syrian translation, the writer of this work is indicated as Ambrose, a senator who wrote it for his fellow senators, who raised a cry of indignation on the occasion of his conversion to Christianity: in this Ambrose Cureton and Nolte (Theol Quartalschr. Tὒb. 1860) see Ambrose as a friend and patron of Origen. 1. Do not think, Hellenes, that my deviation from your customs is unreasonable and unfounded. I found nothing holy or pleasing to God in them. For the very creations of your poets are nothing more than monuments of unbridledness and debauchery. And whoever turns to the wisest of them is the most unfortunate of all people. First, for example, it is said that Agamemnon, cooperating with the frenzied passion and immoderate lust of his brother 2 , willingly sacrificed his daughter 3 and threw the whole of Greece into commotion for the purpose of returning Helen, abducted by a despised shepherd. When, after the war had begun, they captured prisoners, Agamemnon himself was captured by Chryseis and also started a quarrel with the son of Thetis over Briseis. 4 The very son of Peleus 5, who jumped over the river, destroyed Troy and defeated Hector, this hero of yours became the slave of Polyxena, and was defeated by the dead Amazon; 6 when he took off the weapon prepared by God and put on his wedding clothes, he became a sacrifice of love 7 in the church of Apollo. And the son of Laertes, 8 king of Ithaca, acquired the glory of virtue only through his cunning. For he did not have true prudence, and this was shown by his swimming in places where the sirens were, because he could not close his ears with the power of prudence. Also, Ajax, the son of Telamon, who wore a seven-skinned shield, being forced to yield to Odysseus in a dispute over the weapon of Achilles, became mad. I don't want these kinds of lessons. For I do not strive for such a virtue as believing the fables of Homer, since the subject of his songs, the beginning and end of the Iliad and Odyssey, is a woman. 2. After Homer, Hesiod wrote Works and Days. Who can believe his funny Theogony? He says that Cronus, the son of Uranus, took power from his father and took possession of the scepter; then, fearing to suffer a similar fate from his children, he decided to devour them; that Zeus, hiding with the help of the Curetes, put his father in chains, and divided his power with his brothers: Zeus, as they say, got the ether, Poseidon the sea, and Pluto hell. Pluto kidnapped Kore, 9 and Demeter, 10 wandering through the desert, looking for her daughter. And this fable was glorified by the fire of Eleusis. 11 Further, Poseidon dishonored Melanippe while she was bathing, and also many Nereids, so if we list their names, we will waste a lot of words. In the same way, Zeus committed various fornications - with Antione in the form of a satyr, with Danaea in the form of gold, for Europe he changed into a bull, and for Lida he became a winged creature. His love for Semele exposed both his lust and Hera's jealousy. 12 He also kidnapped, as they say, the Phrygian Ganymede, so that he could fill the position of cupbearer. This is how the children of Crohn behaved. And your famous son Latona, 13 famous for the art of divination, exposed himself in lies. He pursued Daphne and could not overtake her; he did not predict the imminent death of the son of Ajax, who asked him during the sacrifice, I am already silent about the deeds of Athena, more characteristic of a man, about the effeminate life of Dionysus and about the fornication of Aphrodite 14 Read the Hellenes, Zeus, about the laws set against those who insult their parents, about the punishments imposed for adultery, and about vileness child molestation. Teach Athena and Artemis what is proper for a woman, and Dionysus what is proper for a man. What does a woman carrying a gun represent that is worthy of respect? What good is a man who adorns himself with wreaths, wears cymbals and women's clothing, and spends his time in drunken feasts with a crowd of women? 3. The same is the three-night Alcides, 15 famous for his bravery, the leader of battles, the son of Zeus: he killed a strong lion and struck a many-headed hydra, killed an indomitable boar, scattered flying birds that devoured people, and brought a three-headed dog out of hell, 16 cleansed the stalls of Augius from uncleanness, 17 killed bulls and deer that spewed fire from their nostrils. his own, and from the tree itself he took the golden fruit, also killed the poisonous snake (for which he killed Achelous 18 and the murderer of his guests, Busiris, it is not decent to say) jumped over the mountains to get water, which, as they say, made articulate sounds. And he, who could accomplish so many great deeds like a child, amused himself with the cymbals of satyrs, and, overcome by love for a woman, found pleasure in the fact that the smiling Lidyanka 19 flogged him. And finally, unable to take off Nessus’ tunic, 20 he made a fire for himself and ended his life. Let Hephaestus not be jealous and envious, 21 if he, an old and lame man, was hated and the young and handsome Ares was preferred to him. 22 So, your gods, the Greeks, are exposed in debauchery, your heroes are unmanly, as shown by their actions that delivered the subjects for your dramas - the crimes of Atreus, the adultery of Thyestes, the atrocities of the Pelopids, the envy of Danaus, which led to murder, and his intoxication in which he exterminates his children, the feasts of Thyestes 23 established by the Erinnyes. 24 The inspired Procne is still moaning, and her sister 25 The Athenian, deprived of her tongue, lets out a plaintive cry. Is it necessary to mention Oedipus’s legs pierced with needles, his murder of Laius, 26 his marriage to his mother and the mutual murder of his brothers, who are at the same time his children? 4. I also hated your solemn meetings. There are excessive pleasures for sensuality, there are sweet-sounding trumpets that excite to disorderly movements, there is abundant anointing with incense and decoration with wreaths. And you commit such a multitude of vicious deeds that destroy shame and darken the mind, when, driven by the power of intemperance, you go into a frenzy: you are accustomed to doing wicked and depraved intercourse. Therefore, I would tell you this: why are you, being a Hellenic, indignant at your son when, imitating Zeus, he plots against you and, like him, has desecrated your bed? Why do you consider him an enemy, but adore someone like him? Why are you angry with your wife if she lives depravedly, and you erect churches to Aphrodite? If outsiders were talking about this, it might seem like an empty accusation and not the truth; but your own poets sing about it, your own stories tell about it. 5. So come, Greeks, and partake of incomparable wisdom, accept the teaching from the Word of God and know the incorruptible King and His heroes, who do not kill people. Our very leader, the Word of God, who constantly leads us, seeks not bodily strength, not beauty of appearance, not nobility of origin, but a pure soul, protected by the holiness of life; the signs of our King are divine deeds, since through the Word a certain power is infused into the soul: (a peace-giving trumpet for a soul agitated by warfare, a weapon that drives away strong passions, a teaching that extinguishes spiritual fire): this power does not produce poets, does not make philosophers, nor famous orators; but with his influence he makes those subject to death immortal, people into gods, and transports them from the earth above Olympus. Come, then, learn; be like me, for I was like you. I became fascinated by the divine power of teaching and the power of the Word. For just as a skilled spellcaster, having summoned a terrible serpent from its hiding place, causes it to flee from itself, so the Word drives out from the interior of the soul all destructive passions, and above all lust, from which all evil is born - enmity, quarrels, envy, malice, anger and the like. When lust is expelled from the soul, then silence and tranquility are established in it. And freed from the evils that weighed on her, she goes to the One who created her. For it must return to where it came from, where it began or exists. See Rights Review for 1862 in the Appendix: on the apologies of St. Justina. Those. Menelaus, whose wife Helen was kidnapped by Paris: this was the reason for the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to the goddess Diana in order to ask her for a free exit for his army, detained by her anger in Boeotian Aulis. Briseis and Chryseis are captive girls, because of whom there was a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Gom. Iliad 1.7 and gave. Having killed the Amazonian queen, he was seduced by her beauty. Those. a victim of vengeance driven by jealous love: Achilles was killed by Paris. Sn. Minuts. Fel. Octav. 21. That is Hercules: he is called three nights because Zeus, his father, who came to his wife Alcmene in the absence of Amphitryon, united three nights into one. Augeas, king of Epean in Elis, had an extraordinary number of herds. Hercules killed Achelous because of Dianira, daughter of Darius of Aetolia. The Centaur Nessus, killed by Hercules, gave Dianira his magnificent clothes, which she sent to Hercules, considering them impregnated with a composition that bewitches love; but Nessus’s tunic was poisoned with poison, from which the body of Hercules, who wore it, suffered terribly, and in order to end his torment, he made a fire for himself, on which he burned. Those. Mars, whom Venus, the wife of Hephaestus, fell in love with. The feasts of Thyestes, at which his own children, killed by his brother Atreus, were offered to him as a treat. Or - furies, goddesses of anger and vengeance, especially for violation of family responsibilities. Laius is the father of Oedipus, and Jocasta is his mother.