Letter 240

To Theocleianus. "But for us," says the Apostle [Paul, 1 Corinthians 8:6], "there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him." How then shall there be a multiplicity of gods, and many first principles? Therefore the Maker of all things is one, and there are neither many gods, as you say, nor many aeons, both male and female. For the blessed Paul said, "Even if there are so-called many gods" [1 Corinthians 8:5] -- and by saying "so-called" he declared concerning things that do not exist. For the sun and the moon and the stars and the rest of created things are not gods; yet those who have gone astray make gods of them.

« Ἀλλ’ ἡμῖν, » φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, « εἷς Θεὸς ὁ Πατήρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτόν· καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἡμεῖς δι’ αὐτοῦ. » Πῶς οὖν πολυθεΐα ἔσται, καὶ πολλαὶ ἀρχαί; Οὐκοῦν εἷς ὑπάρχει ὁ Ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων, καὶ οὔτε πολλοὶ θεοί, καθὼς ὑμεῖς λέγετε, οὔτε πολλοὶ αἰῶνες, ἄῤῥενές τε καὶ θήλειαι. Ἔφη γὰρ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, ὅτι « Εἴπερ εἰσὶ λεγόμενοι πολλοὶ θεοί, » τὸ δέ, λεγόμενοι, ὡς περὶ μὴ ὑπαρχόντων ἀπεφήνατο. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰσὶν ἥλιος, καὶ σελήνη, καὶ ἀστέρες, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς κτίσματα. Καὶ οἱ πεπλανημένοι θεοποιοῦσιν αὐτά.