← Work overview Chapter 24 of 68

First Apology

Varieties of pagan worship

Chapter 24

About 1 min in English

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24

First, though we say things similar to the Greeks, we alone are hated because of the name of Christ; and though we do no wrong, we are put to death as sinners, while other people in different places worship trees, rivers, mice, cats, crocodiles, and many irrational animals. Nor are the same things honored by everyone: one thing is worshiped in one place and another elsewhere, so that all are impious in one another’s judgment because they do not worship the same things. The only charge you can bring against us is that we do not worship the same gods as you and do not bring libations and the smoke of fat to the dead, or wreaths for images, or sacrifices. You know very well that the same things are regarded by some as gods, by others as wild animals, and by still others as sacrificial victims.

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