Why we shun altars, statues and temples
Some of the righteous, then, are carbuncle stone, others sapphire, others jasper, others crystal (Isaiah 54:11–12); and so the righteous are every kind of choice and precious stone. The meaning to be found in these stones, the account of their nature, and the kinds of souls to which the name of each precious stone can be applied, this is not the occasion to set out. It was necessary only to recall briefly the intent of our temples, and of the one temple of God made of precious stones.
For suppose that people in their several cities were taking pride, one against another, in what they count as temples. Those who were proud of their more costly temples would speak of the special excellences of their own in order to show up the inferior ones. In the same way, to those who accuse us because we do not think the divine should be worshipped in senseless temples, we set our own temples against theirs. And we show, at least to those who are not senseless and not like their senseless gods, that there is no comparison between our statues and the statues of the Gentiles; nor between our altars, with what I may call the incense rising from them, and their altars with the smoke of burnt fat and the blood; nor yet between the temples we have described and the temples of senseless gods, admired by senseless men who have not so much as formed a notion of the divine sense (Proverbs 2:5) by which one perceives God and his statues and temples and altars, those that are fitting for God.
It is not, then, to keep faith with a hidden and secret fellowship, nor as any token of that kind, that we shun setting up altars and statues and temples. Rather, because through the teaching of Jesus we have found the manner of piety toward the divine, we shun the things that, under a show of piety, make impious those who have strayed from the piety that comes through Jesus Christ. He alone is the “way” of piety, and he says truly: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Greek
Εἰσὶν οὖν τινες τῶν δικαίων ἄνθραξ λίθος καὶ ἄλλοι σάπφειρος καὶ ἄλλοι ἴασπις καὶ ἄλλοι κρύσταλλος· καὶ οὕτω πᾶν γένος ἐκλεκτῶν καὶ τιμίων λίθων εἰσὶν οἱ δίκαιοι. τὸν δὲ περὶ λίθων νοῦν καὶ τῆς φύσεως αὐτῶν λόγον. καὶ εἰς ποδαπὰς ψυχὰς ἀναφέρεσθαι δύναται ἐκ τοῦ τιμίου λίθου τὸ ὄνομα, οὐ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρόν ἐστι διηγήσασθαι· μόνον δ᾿ ἐχρῆν ὑπομνησθῆναι ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγον τοῦ βουλήματος τῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ναῶν καὶ ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐκ λίθων τιμίων νεὼ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὥσπερ γὰρ, εἰ ἐπὶ τοῖς νομιζομένοις ναοῖς ἕκαστοι κατὰ τὰς σφῶν πόλεις ἐσεμνύνοντο πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους, ἔλεγον ἂν οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς τιμιωτέροις ναοῖς μέγα φρονοῦντες τὰ ἐξαίρετα τῶν ἰδίων εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων· οὕτως πρὸς τοὺς ἐγκαλοῦντας ἡμῖν, ἐπεὶ μὴ νομίζομεν δεῖν σέβειν τὸ θεῖον παρ᾿ ἀναισθήτοις ναοῖς, ἀντιπαραλαμβάνομεν τοὺς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ναοὺς καὶ δείκνυμεν τοῖς γε μὴ ἀναισθήτοις μηδὲ παραπλησίοις τοῖς ἀναισθήτοις θεοῖς αὐτῶν ὅτι οὐδεμία σύγκρισίς ἐστιν οὔτε τῶν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν ἀγαλμάτων πρὸς τὰ ἀγάλματα τῶν ἐθνῶν οὔτε τῶν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν βωμῶν καὶ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, θυμιαμάτων πρὸς τοὺς ἐκείνων βωμοὺς καὶ τὰς παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς κνίσσας καὶ αἵματα ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲ τῶν ἀποδεδομένων ναῶν πρὸς τοὺς ναοὺς τῶν ἀναισθήτων, ὑπὸ αναισθήτων ἀνθρώπων θαυμαζομένων καὶ μηδὲ φαντασιωθέντων τὴν θείαν αἴσθησιν, ᾗ αἰσθάνεταί τις θεοῦ καὶ τῶν τούτου ἀγαλμάτων καὶ ναῶν καὶ βωμῶν, πρεπόντων θεῷ. οὐκ εἰς τὸ πιστὸν οὖν ἀφανοῦς καὶ ἀποῤῥήτου κοινωνίας καὶ τὸ τοιοῦτο σύνθημα φεύγομεν βωμοὺς καὶ ἀγάλματα καὶ νεὼς ἱδρύεσθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι εὑρόντες διὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίαν τὸν τρόπον τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας φεύγομεν τὰ φαντασίᾳ εὐσεβείας ἀσεβεῖς ποιοῦντα τοὺς ἐσφαλμένους ἀπὸ τῆς διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐσεβείας· ὅς ἐστι μόνος „ὁδὸς“ εὐσεβείας, ἀληθῶς λέγων τό· „ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή.“