Not even the sun asks to be worshipped
But not even that light of theirs should be worshipped by one who sees and understands the true light, by sharing in which these too, it seems, have been given light; nor by one who sees God, the Father of the true light. Of him it is well said: “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Those who worship the sun, the moon and the stars because their light is visible and heavenly would not worship a spark of fire or a lamp on earth, for they see how beyond comparison the things they think worthy of worship surpass the light of sparks and lamps. In the same way, those who have understood in what sense “God is light” (1 John 1:5), who have grasped in what sense the Son of God is “the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world” (John 1:9), and who understand too in what sense he says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), could not reasonably worship what is, so to speak, a tiny spark of true light in the sun, the moon and the stars, set beside the light that God is.
Nor do we say such things about the sun, the moon and the stars because we despise these great works of God, or because we call the sun, the moon and the stars “a red-hot mass”, as Anaxagoras did. We say them because we perceive the divinity of God, whose pre-eminence is beyond words, and also how his Only-begotten surpasses all the rest. And since we are persuaded that the sun itself, and the moon and the stars, pray to the God who is over all through his Only-begotten, we judge that we ought not to pray to those who are themselves praying. For they themselves wish to send us up to the God to whom they pray, rather than draw us down to themselves, or split our power of prayer, turning part of it away from God and toward themselves.
Here I will also use the following example about them. Our Saviour and Lord, hearing himself once addressed as “Good Teacher” (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18), sent the speaker back to his own Father and said: “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, God the Father” (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). If the Son of the Father’s “love” (Colossians 1:13), being the “image” of God’s goodness (Wisdom of Solomon 7:26), had good reason to say this, how much more reason would the sun have to say to those who worship it: “Why do you worship me? For ‘you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve’ (Matthew 4:10; Deuteronomy 6:13); and him I too, and all who are with me, worship and serve.”
And even if someone is not so great, let such a one none the less pray to the Word of God, who is able to heal him, and much more to his Father, who for the righteous of earlier times also “sent forth his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction” (Psalm 107:20).
Greek
Οὐ χρὴ δὲ οὐδ᾿ αὐτὸ προσκυνεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ βλέποντος καὶ συνιέντος τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς, οὗ μετοχῇ καὶ ταυτὶ ἄρα πεφώτισται, οὐδ᾿ ὑπὸ τοῦ βλέποντος τὸν πατέρα τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς θεὸν. περὶ οὗ καλῶς λέλεκται τό· „ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστι, καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία.“ καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ διὰ τὸ φῶς αἰσθητὸν καὶ οὐράνιον εἶναι προσκυνοῦντες ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἄστρα οὐκ ἂν προσκυνήσαιεν σπινθῆρα πυρὸς ἢ λύχνον ἐπὶ γῆς, ὁρῶντες τὴν ἀσύγκριτον ὑπεροχὴν τῶν νομιζομένων ἀξίων προσκυνεῖσθαι παρὰ τὸ τῶν σπινθήρων καὶ τῶν λύχνων φῶς· οὕτως οἱ νοήσαντες, πῶς „ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστι,“ καταλαβόντες δὲ, πῶς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ „φῶς ἀληθινόν“ ἐστιν, „ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον,“ συνιέντες δὲ καὶ, πῶς οὗτός φησι τό· „ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου,“ οὐκ ἂν εὐλόγως προσκυνήσαιεν τὸν οἱονεὶ βραχὺν σπινθῆρα ὡς πρὸς φῶς τὸν θεὸν ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἐν ἡλίῳ καὶ σελήνῃ καὶ ἄστροις. καὶ οὐκ ἀτιμάζοντές γε τὰ τηλικαῦτα τοῦ θεοῦ δημιουργήματα οὐδ᾿ Ἀναξαγορείως „μύδρον διάπυρον“ λέγοντες εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας τοιαῦτά φαμεν περὶ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων, ἀλλ᾿ αἰσθανόμενοί τε τῆς ἀφάτῳ ὑπεροχῇ ὑπερεχούσης θειότητος τοῦ θεοῦ ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ ὑπερέχοντος τὰ λοιπά. πειθόμενοι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας εὔχεσθαι τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ, κρίνομεν μὴ δεῖν εὔχεσθαι τοῖς εὐχομένοις· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀναπέμπειν ἡμᾶς βούλονται μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν, ᾧ εὔχονται. ἢ κατάγειν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς ἢ μερίζειν ἡμῶν τὴν εὐκτικὴν δύναμιν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτούς. χρήσομαι δὲ καὶ τούτῳ περὶ αὐτῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον παραδείγματι· ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ κύριος ἀκούσας ποτέ· „διδάσκαλε ἀγαθὲ,“ ἀναπέμπων τὸν λέγοντα τοῦτο ἐπὶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ πατέρα φησί· „τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεὸς ὁ πατήρ.“ εἴπερ δὲ τοῦτ᾿ εὐλόγως ὡς „εἰκὼν“ τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ θεοῦ τυγχάνων εἴρηκεν ὁ υἱὸς „τῆς ἀγάπης“ τοῦ πατρὸς, πῶς οὐχὶ εὐλογώτερον ἂν τοῖς προσκυνοῦ σιν εἶπεν ἥλιος· τί με προσκυνεῖς; „κύριον γὰρ τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις·“ ᾧ κἀγὼ καὶ πάντες οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ προσκυνοῦμεν καὶ λατρεύομεν. κἂν μὴ τηλικοῦτος δέ τις ᾖ, οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ ὁ τοιοῦτος εὐχέσθω τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, δυναμένῳ αὐτὸν ἰάσασθαι, καὶ πολλῷ πλέον τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ, ὃς καὶ τοῖς πρότερον δικαίοις „ἐξαπέστειλε τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰάσατο αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐῤῥύσατο αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν διαφθορῶν αὐτῶν.“