Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians 9
If we rested content with such ideas, someone would take our reasoning for merely human. But the voices of the prophets confirm our thinking—and I assume you, lovers of learning and experts that you are, are not unacquainted with Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or the other prophets. Moved by the divine Spirit in their inner thoughts, they spoke what the Spirit was working in them, the Spirit using them as a flutist blows into a flute. So what do these voices declare? "The Lord our God; no other shall be reckoned beside him." Again: "I am God, the first and after these things; apart from me there is no god." Likewise: "Before me no other god was born, and after me none shall be; I am God, and there is none beside me." And concerning his greatness: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or what is the place of my rest?" I leave it to you, now that you have these very books in hand, to examine their prophecies more carefully, so that with sound reasoning you may set aside your prejudice against us.
Greek
Εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐννοίαις ἀπηρκούμεθα, ἀνθρωπικὸν ἄν τις εἶναι τὸν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐνόμισε λόγον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ αἱ φωναὶ τῶν προφητῶν πιστοῦσιν ἡμῶν τοὺς λογισμούς (νομίζω καὶ ὑμᾶς, φιλομαθεστάτους καὶ ἐπιστημονεστάτους ὄντας, οὐκ ἀνοήτους γεγονέναι οὔτε τῶν Μωσέως οὔτε τῶν Ἠσαΐου καὶ Ἱερεμίου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν, οἳ κατ᾿ ἔκστασιν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς λογισμῶν κινήσαντος αὐτοὺς τοῦ θείου πνεύματος ἃ ἐνηργοῦντο ἐξεφώνησαν, συγχρησαμένου τοῦ πνεύματος ὡσεὶ καὶ αὐλητὴς αὐτὸν ἐμπνεύσαι), τί οὖν οὗτοι; Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν· οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἐγὼ θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστι θεός. Ὁμοίως· Ἔμπροσθεν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος θεὸς καὶ μετ᾿ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται· ἐγὼ ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πάρεξ ἐμοῦ. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους· Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου. Ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου; Καταλείπω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν βιβλίων γενομένοις, ἀκριβέστερον τὰς ἐκείνων ἐξετάσαι προφητείας, ὅπως μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος λογισμοῦ τὴν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐπήρειαν ἀποσκευάσησθε.