Cassiodorus : "But Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said," etc. Paul, set in the midst of the Areopagus, poured out the honey of heavenly philosophy, starting his speech beautifully with the fact that among their various idols he had found an inscription that read "to the unknown god". He said that they should, therefore, seek the one whom they themselves declared to be unknown to them. He preached, in order, the Lord Christ, who with all his power made the heaven and the earth and all things in them, and he showed to them that even examples from their own authors made it clear that, being the "offspring of God," they should not worship things made with hands. When they heard, among other things, about the resurrection of the dead, many believed it, while others thought it was a lie. After these things, going down from Athens, he came to Corinth, where, preaching the Lord Savior to Jews and Greeks, he taught the dogmas of the Christian religion. — Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles Clement of Alexandria : Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have said to the Areopagites, "I perceive that ye are more than ordinarily religious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him; though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we also are His offspring." Whence it is evident that the apostle, by availing himself of poetical examples from the Phenomena of Aratus, approves of what had been well spoken by the Greeks; and intimates that, by the unknown God, God the Creator was in a roundabout way worshipped by the Greeks; but that it was necessary by positive knowledge to apprehend and learn Him by the Son. — The Stromata Book 1 John Chrysostom : Paul found an altar, on which the words "to an unknown god" were engraved: who was that unknown god but Christ? Do you see the wisdom in changing the name? Do you see the reason he released the inscription from captivity?… To save and benefit them. What else? Perhaps one might say that the Athenians wrote these words for Christ?… They certainly wrote that with a different meaning, but he was, nevertheless, able to change it.… Why did they write it? They had many gods, or rather many demons, "All the gods of the Gentiles are demons," and some of them were native, others were foreign.… They had received some of their gods from their fathers, others from the neighboring nations, such as the Scythians, the Thracians and the Egyptians.… What did they do then? They erected an altar and inscribed it with the words "to an unknown god" in order to signify through the inscription: If by any chance there is another god who is still unknown to us, we will worship him too. See their immoderate superstition! For this reason Paul said from the beginning, "I see how extremely religious you are in every way … you not only worship the gods who are known to you, but also those who are still unknown to you." Therefore they had written, "To an unknown god." … The unknown God is none other than Christ. — CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17.23 John Chrysostom : "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I look upon you as being in all things" - he puts it by way of encomium: the word does not seem to mean anything offensive - "more religiously disposed." For the cities were full of gods: this is why he says "more religiously disposed." "For as I passed by and viewed the objects of your worship" - he does not say simply the demons or deities, but paves the way for his discourse. — Homily on Acts 38