THEOSISCyrill of Alexandria
Cyril. (God) does not allow us to become complacent but skillfully guides us toward a firm resolve to stand strong in our faith and unwavering in our devotion. At times, He instructs us through profound insights, urging us to completely abandon the practices of sacrifice and idol worship, which lead to destruction, revealing that such afflictions are laden with profound guilt and the utmost impiety. At other times, through the instillation of fear regarding punishment, He serves as a vigilant guardian, redirecting us toward what pleases Him. As the blessed Moses proclaimed in Deuteronomy, “These are the ordinances and laws which you shall endeavour to fulfil in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you to possess, all the days that you shall dwell in that land.
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You shall destroy all the places where the peoples whom you shall possess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under every branching tree; and you shall destroy their altars, and crush their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and smash the statues of their gods, and destroy their name from that place” (Deuteronomy 12:1-3).
Philosophers of Hellenistic thought and chosen individuals, particularly poets, refer to certain spirits known as nymphs, Oriads, or Amadriads. Those who sought to honor their deities in elevated locations erected altars on mountains, attended to the sacrificial offering of oxen, and set up statues and images of these deities amidst the most beautiful trees, while they partook in the slaughter of sheep. However, it was imperative that those who adhere to the true and natural God, unhindered by fear, dismantled these idols of the misled and distanced themselves as much as possible from their practices. Hence it is stated further, “When the Lord thy God shall destroy from thy face the nations to which thou goest to take possession of them, and thou, having taken them, shalt dwell in their land; then beware lest thou fall into the net, following them, after their destruction from thy face, and seek their gods, saying: ‘As these nations have served their gods, so will I do’; thou shalt not do so to the Lord thy God: for all that the Lord abhorreth, that He hates, they do to their gods: they also burn their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods” (Deut. 12:29-31).
The Lawgiver rightly prohibits the imitation of the misguided and firmly commands a departure from the merciless slaughter of children; He condemns the bloodthirsty and false gods as the destroyers of humanity, who egregiously violate even the fundamental laws of love. “He created all things for being, and everything in the world is salvific, and there is no kingdom of hell on earth... by the envy of the devil death has entered into the world” (Prem. 1:14:2:24). The Divine will subverts death, abolishes corruption, and detests the absence of existence. “He created all things for being,” as it is written; conversely, those ensnared by the delusions of demons offer sweet sacrifices and fragrant incense to Satan, in the form of life’s destruction and the death of that which was created “for being.” Thus, He sought to illustrate vividly that the works of the Gentiles were rife with profound guilt, that their nature was offended, and that the sacred laws of loving children were trampled upon. In doing so, He earnestly drew ministers of noble spirit, who despised evil, to honor and earnestly embrace His desires and teachings. Such a law was established in ancient times to eradicate wickedness among them.