Oration to the Greeks 12

We know two different kinds of spirit, one of which is called the soul, while the other is greater than the soul, being the image and likeness of God. Both were present in the first human beings, so that in one respect they were material and in the other above matter. It is like this. One can see that the whole structure of the world, and all creation, came into being from matter, and that matter itself was brought forth by God; so that one may think of it as, in one state, rough and formless before it was separated out, and in the other as ordered and well arranged after the division within it. In it, then, are the heaven, made from matter, and the stars in it; and the earth and everything thought of as coming from it has the same constitution, so that all things have a common origin. This being so, there are certain differences among the things made from matter, so that one thing is more beautiful, and another is beautiful in itself but surpassed by something better. Consider the body: its constitution forms a single ordered whole, and the cause of its coming into being lies within it; yet there are differences of rank within it, and one part is an eye, another an ear, another the arrangement of the hair and the ordering of the entrails and the framework of marrow and bones and sinews; and though each part differs from the other, there is a harmony, an ordered concord. In the same way the world too, which by the power of its maker has some things more brilliant and others unlike them, has by the will of the Creator received a share of material spirit. The details can be understood by anyone who does not in his conceit scornfully dismiss the most divine interpretations, which, set down in writing over the course of time, have made those who attend to them very dear to God. The demons, then, as you call them, having received a structure made from matter and acquired the spirit that comes from it, have become profligate and greedy; some of them turned to what is purer, while others chose the inferior part of matter and conduct themselves in keeping with it. These, men of Greece, are the ones you worship, beings that came from matter but were found far from good order. For those I have mentioned, turning in their folly to vainglory and throwing off the reins, were eager to become robbers of divinity; but the Lord of all things has let them run riot until the world comes to its end and is dissolved, and the Judge comes, and all human beings who, despite the rebellion of the demons, strive for knowledge of the perfect God receive through their struggles a more perfect testimony on the day of judgment. There is, then, a spirit in the stars, a spirit in angels, a spirit in plants and waters, a spirit in human beings, a spirit in animals; and though it is one and the same, it has differences within itself. We say these things not from the tongue, nor from plausible notions and sophistic composition, but using the words of a more divine utterance; so you who wish to learn, make haste. And you who do not scornfully dismiss Anacharsis the Scythian, do not think it beneath you now to be taught by those who follow a barbarian law. Make use of our teachings, even if only as you would of the Babylonians' art of prediction; listen to us when we speak, even if only as to a prophesying oak. The teachings mentioned before are the counterfeit wisdom of frenzied demons; but those of our instruction are above worldly understanding.