Wisdom Made Foolish

Καὶ ὅλως πότε τῶν Ἔλλήνων ἡ σοφία μεμώρανται, εἰ μὴ ὅτε ἠ ἀληθὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία ἐπὶ γῆς ἑαυτὴν ἐφανέρωσι; Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ πᾶσα ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ πᾶς τόπος τῇ θρησκείᾳ τῶν εἰδώλων ἐπλανᾶτο, καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ τὰ εἴδωλα θεοὺς ἐνόμιζον οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Νῦν δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, τὴν μὲν τῶν εἰδώλων δεισιδαιμονίαν καταλιμπάνουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν Χριστὸν καταφεύγουσι, καὶ Θεὸν αὐτὸν προσκυνοῦντες, δι᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὃν οὐκ ᾔδεισαν Πατέρα γινώσκουσι. Καὶ τό γε θαυμαστόν, διαφόρων ὄντων καὶ μυρίων σεβασμάτων, καὶ ἑκάστου τόπου τὸ ἴδιον ἔχοντος εἴδωλον, καὶ μὴ ἰσχύοντος τοῦ παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς λεγομένου θεοῦ τὸν πλησίον ὑπερβῆναι τόπον, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἐκ γειτόνων πεῖσαι σέβειν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ μόλις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις θρησκευομένου οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἄλλος τὸν τοῦ γείτονος ἐσέβετο θεόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστος τὸ ἴδιον ἐφύλαττεν εἴδωλον, νομίζων τῶν πάντων αὐτὸ κύριον εἶναι, μόνος ὁ Χριστὸς παρὰ πᾶσιν εἷς καὶ πανταχοῦ ὁ αὐτὸς προσκυνεῖται· καὶ ὃ μὴ δεδύνηται τῶν εἰδώλων ἡ ἀσθένεια ποιῆσαι, ὥστε κἂν τοὺς πλησίον οἰκοῦντας πεῖσαι, τοῦτο ὁ Χριστὸς πεποίηκεν, οὐ μόνον τοὺς πλησίον ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσαν ἁπλῶς τὴν οἰκουμένην πείσας ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν Κύριον σέβειν, καὶ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ Θεὸν τὸν αὐτοῦ Πατέρα. Καὶ πάλαι μὲν τὰ πανταχοῦ τῆς ἀπάτης τῶν μαντείων ἐπεπλήρωτο, καὶ τὰ ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ Δωδώνῃ καὶ Βοιωτίᾳ καὶ Λυκίᾳ καὶ Λιβύῃ καὶ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ Καβίροις μαντεύματα καὶ ἡ Πυθία ἐθαυμάζοντο τῇ φαντασίᾳ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· νῦν δὲ ἀφ᾿ οὗ Χριστὸς καταγγέλλεται πανταχοῦ, πέπαυται καὶ τούτων ἡ μανία, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι λοιπὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὁ μαντευόμενος. Καὶ πάλαι μὲν δαίμονες ἐφαντασιοκόπουν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, προκαταλαμβάνοντες πηγὰς ἢ ποταμοὺς ἢ ξύλα ἢ λίθους, καὶ οὕτως ταῖς μαγγανείαις ἐξέπληττον τοὺς ἄφρονας. Νῦν δὲ τῆς θείας ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Λόγου γεγενημένης πέπαυται τούτων ἡ φαντασία. Τῷ γὰρ σημείῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ μόνον ὁ ἄνθρωπος χρώμενος, ἀπελαύνει τούτων τὰς ἀπάτας. Καὶ πάλαι μὲν τοὺς παρὰ ποιηταῖς λεγομένους θεούς, Δία καὶ Κρόνον καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα καὶ ἥρωας, ἐνόμιζον οἱ ἄνθρωποι θεούς, καὶ τούτους ἐπλανῶντο σέβοντες· ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐν ἀνθρώποις φανέντος, ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐγνώσθησαν ὄντες ἄνθρωποι θνητοί, μόνος δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐγνωρίσθη Θεὸς ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ Θεὸς Λόγος. Τί δὲ περὶ τῆς θαυμαζομένης παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς μαγείας ἄν τις εἴποι; Ὅτι πρὶν μὲν ἐπιδημῆσαι τὸν Λόγον, ἴσχυε καὶ ἐνήργει παρ᾿ Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Χαλδαίοις καὶ Ἰνδοῖς αὕτη καὶ ἐξέπληττε τοὺς ὁρῶντας· τῇ δὲ παρουσίᾳ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τοῦ Λόγου διηλέγχθη καὶ αὕτη, καὶ κατηργήθη παντελῶς. Περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς τῶν φιλοσόφων μεγαλοφωνίας, νομίζω μηδένα τοῦ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν δεῖσθαι λόγου, ἐπ᾿ ὄψει πάντων ὄντος τοῦ θαύματος, ὅτι τοσαῦτα γραψάντων τῶν παρ᾿ Ἕλλησι σοφῶν καὶ μὴ δυνηθέντων πεῖσαι κἂν ὀλίγους ἐκ τῶν πλησίον τόπων περὶ ἀθανασίας καὶ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν βίου, μόνος ὁ Χριστὸς δι᾿ εὐτελῶν ῥημάτων, καὶ δι᾿ ἀνθρώπων οὐ κατὰ τὴν γλῶτταν σοφῶν, κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην παμπληθεῖς ἐκκλησίας ἔπεισεν ἀνθρώπων καταφρονεῖν μὲν θανάτου, φρονεῖν δὲ ἀθάνατα, καὶ τὰ μὲν πρόσκαιρα παρορᾶν, εἰς δὲ τὰ αἰώνια ἀποβλέπειν, καὶ μηδὲν μὲν ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς δόξαν, μόνης δὲ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἀντιποιεῖσθαι Ἅγιος Αθανάσιος ο Μέγας, Λόγος περί της Ενανθρωπίσεως του Λόγου Source: Migne PG 25.177d-181a

And when was the wisdom of the Greeks made foolish, but when the true wisdom of God manifested itself on earth? For formerly the whole world and every place was deceived by idols worship, and men thought nothing else but that the idols were gods, but now over the whole world men are abandoning the superstition of idols and fleeing to Christ and worshipping Him as God, and through Him coming to know the Father who they did not know. And, as another wonder, whereas the objects of worship were once various and many, and each place had its own idol, and he who was reckoned a god among them was not able to pass over to a neighbouring place to persuade neighbouring peoples to worship him, but he was even barely revered among his own people, for no one else worshipped another's god, but rather each kept to his own idol, thinking it was the lord of all, now Christ alone is worshipped as one and the same among all the peoples, and what the weakness of the idols was unable to do, that is, to persuade even those dwelling nearby, Christ has accomplished, not only persuading those close at hand, but even the whole world, to revere one and the same Lord, and through Him God His Father. Again once every place was filled with the deceits of oracles, and those in Delphi and Boeotia and Lycia and Egypt and those of the Cabiri and the Pythoness, were held in awe in men's imagination, but now that Christ is preached everywhere, their madness has ceased and there is none among them to give prophecy. And once demons used to delude men, occupying wells or rivers, or trees or stones, and thus they imposed upon the simple minded with tricks, but now, after the Divine revelation, their deception has ceased, for by the sign of the Cross, if a man but use it, their deceits are driven off. And when once through the words of poets men thought Zeus and Cronos and Apollo were gods, and were deceived into revering them, now that the Saviour has appeared among men, those others have been understood to be but mortal men, and Christ alone has been understood among men to be the true God, the Word of God. And what is one to say of the magic thought wonderful among them? That before the Word dwelt among us it was strong and active among the Egyptians, and the Chaldeans, and Indians, and those who saw it were astonished, but then with the presence of the Truth and the appearance of the Word, it also has been refuted and utterly reduced. And as for the Gentile wisdom and the loud proclamations of philosophers, I think no word of ours is needed, since the wonder is before everyone's eyes, that despite so much being written by those who were wise among the Greeks, they were unable to persuade even a few from among their own neighbours about immortality and the virtuous life, but Christ alone, with common language, and through men who were not clever in their tongues, persuaded churches full of men throughout the whole world to despise death and to give thought to eternal things, even to look beyond what is temporal and to look to what is eternal, and to account earthly glory nothing and to strive for heavenly glory alone. Saint Athanasius the Great, On The Incarnation of The Word