When did people begin to abandon the worship of idols, except from the time when God, the true Word of God, came among them? And when did the oracles among the Greeks and everywhere else cease and become empty, except when the Savior revealed Himself on earth?
When did those whom the poets call gods and heroes begin to be exposed as mere mortal human beings, except from the time when the Lord set up His trophy over death and kept incorruptible the body He had taken, raising it from the dead?
When did the deception and madness of demons fall into contempt, except when the Word, the Power of God and Master of them all, condescended because of human weakness and appeared on earth? When did the art and schools of magic begin to be trampled down, except when the divine appearance of the Word took place among people?
And in a word, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolish, except when the true Wisdom of God revealed Himself on earth? Formerly the whole world and every place was led astray by the worship of idols, and people regarded nothing but idols as gods. But now, throughout the whole world, people abandon the superstition of idols and take refuge in Christ; worshiping Him as God, through Him they also come to know the Father whom they did not know.
And this is remarkable: although objects of worship were countless and varied, and every place had its own idol, the god so called in one place had no power to cross into a neighboring region and persuade those nearby to worship him; he was barely worshiped even among his own people. No one worshiped a neighbor's god; each kept to his own idol, thinking it lord of all. But Christ alone is worshiped by everyone, one and the same everywhere. What the weakness of idols could not do—persuade even those living nearby—Christ has done, persuading not only neighbors but the whole world to worship one and the same Lord, and through Him God His Father.