Early Christian Views on Astrology

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen Direct teaching

... steel, or this universe, are gods? And why, while speaking proudly in this much-praised science of astrology, not astronomy, to people who have truly gone astray, do you speak of the wandering stars as gods? It is the Lord of the spirits, the Lord of the fire, the Maker of the universe, the One who lit up the sun, whom I desire. I seek God, not the works of God. Whom shall I take as a helper in my search? If you do not object, we do not completely reject Plato. How then is God to be searched out, O Plato? For both to find the Father and Maker of this universe is difficult, and after finding Him, to declare Him fully is impossible.

Tertullian, On Idolatry Direct teaching

... and masters. But Magi and astrologers came from the east. We know the mutual alliance of magic and astrology. The interpreters of the stars, then, were the first to announce Christ's birth, and the first to offer Him gifts. By this bond, I suppose, should I imagine that they put Christ under obligation to themselves? What then? Shall the religion of those Magi now also act as patron to astrologers? Astrology nowadays, of course, deals with Christ. It is the science of the stars of Christ, not of Saturn, or Mars, or any others of that same class of the dead, to whom it pays observance and whom it proclaims. However, that science was allowed until the Gospel, so that after Christ's birth no one should from then on interpret anyone's nativity by heaven. For that is why they offered the infant Lord frankincense and myrrh and gold, so that these might be, as it were, the close of worldly sacrifice and glory, which Christ was about to do away. What then? The dream, sent no doubt by the will of God, suggested to those same Magi that they should go home by another way, not by the way they came. It means this: that they should not walk in their ancient path. Not that Herod should not pu

Minucius Felix, Octavius Direct teaching

Fate is nothing, except in so far as fate is God. A man's mind is free, and therefore his actions are free as well. His birth is not brought into judgment. It is not something shameful, but something glorious, that Christians are spoken against because of their poverty. And the fact that they suffer bodily troubles is not a punishment, but a form of discipline.

Justin Martyr, The Second Apology Direct teaching

...t believe everything changes into one another, which we find degrading. We also do not believe that fate controls human actions or suffering, but that each person, through free will, chooses to act rightly or sin. Wicked demons cause earnest men like Socrates to suffer persecution and bondage, while people like Sardanapalus and Epicurus seem to prosper in wealth and glory. The Stoics, not noticing this, claim everything happens due to the necessity of fate. But God created angels and humans with free will from the beginning, so they rightly suffer eternal fire for their sins. Everything created has the potential for vice and virtue, for nothing is praiseworthy unless there is the ability to choose between them. This is evident from everyone who has made laws or philosophized according to right reason, by commanding some actions and prohibiting others. Even the Stoic philosophers, in their moral teachings, honor the same values, showing they are not very consistent in their principles and incorporeal matters. If they claim human actions happen by fate, they imply either that God is merely things constantly changing, and dissolving, focusing only on destructible things, and seeing

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness

For the whole company of the learned will straightway swoop upon us, who, asserting and proving that whatever happens, happens according to the decrees of fate, snatch out of our hands that opinion, and assert that we are putting our trust in vain beliefs.

Tatian, Address to the Greeks Direct teaching

Such are the demons. These are the ones who laid down the teaching of Fate. Their basic principle was the placing of animals in the heavens. They gave heavenly honor to the creeping things on the earth, the creatures that swim in the waters, and the four-footed animals on the mountains, with which they lived when they were expelled from heaven. They did this so that they themselves might seem to remain in heaven. By placing the constellations there, they also made the irrational course of life on earth appear rational. Thus the high-spirited and the one crushed with toil, the temperate and the intemperate, the poor and the rich, are what they are simply because of the controllers of their birth. For the marking out of the zodiacal circle is the work of gods. And when the light of one of them becomes stronger, as they say, it takes away honor from all the rest. The one who is conquered now gains the upper hand at another time. And the seven planets are pleased with them, as if they were amusing themselves with dice. But we are above Fate. Instead of wandering demons, we have learned to know one Lord who does not wander. And since we do not follow the guidance of Fate, we reject its

Tatian, Address to the Greeks Supporting witness

...y. After showing people a scheme for the positions of the stars, like dice players, they introduced Fate, which is a clear injustice. For by Fate, the judge and the one being judged are made what they are. The murderers and those who are murdered, the rich and the poor, all come from the same Fate. And every birth is treated like a theatrical show by those beings of whom Homer says—

Tatian, Address to the Greeks Supporting witness

How, then, can I accept this birth according to Fate, when I see the ones who manage Fate? I do not want to be a king. I am not eager to be rich. I refuse military command. I hate sexual immorality. I am not driven by a never-ending love of money to go to sea. I do not compete for crowns. I am free from a wild thirst for fame. I despise death. I am above every kind of disease. Grief does not eat away at my soul. Am I a slave? I endure slavery. Am I free? I do not boast about my noble birth. I see that the same sun is for everyone, and one death comes to everyone, whether they live in pleasure or in poverty. The rich man sows, and the poor man shares in the same crop. The richest people die, and beggars have the same limit to their life. The rich lack many things, and are honored only because people think highly of them. But the poor man, and the man who has only moderate desires, since he seeks only the things suited to his condition, reaches his goal more easily. Why is it that you are fated to lie awake because of greed? Why are you fated to keep grabbing for things again and again, and again and again to die? Die to the world, rejecting the madness in it. Live to God, and by com

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Direct teaching

... rush at us. They claim and try to prove that whatever happens, happens according to the decrees of fate. They take that opinion out of our hands and say that we are trusting in empty beliefs. “Whatever has been done in the world,” they will say, “whatever is being done, and whatever will be done, was settled and fixed long ago. It has causes that cannot be moved. By these, events have been joined together and form an unbreakable chain of unchangeable necessity between the past and the future.” If it has been determined and fixed what evil or good should come upon each person, then it is already certain. But if this is certain and fixed, then there is no place for any help from the gods, or for their hatred and favor. For they are just as unable to do for you what cannot be done as they are to prevent what must happen, unless perhaps they are able, if they choose, to strongly weaken that belief which you hold. In that case, they say that even the gods themselves are worshiped by you in vain, and that the prayers with which you address them are unnecessary. For if they cannot turn aside the course of events or change what has been appointed by fate, what reason, what cause, is th

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

...shamed and come to their senses through barbarian demonstration, so that, although late, they may clearly see what kind of intellectual attainments they travel across the seas to gain. The things they have stolen must be pointed out, so that we may bring down their pride. And for the things they boast that they discovered by investigation, we must provide a refutation. As a result, we must also discuss what is called the course of study, and how far it is useful, and also astrology, mathematics, magic, and sorcery. For all the Greeks boast of these as the highest sciences. He who boldly corrects is a peacemaker. We have often said already that we have neither practiced nor do we study expressing ourselves in pure Greek, for this suits those who lead the crowd away from the truth. But true philosophical demonstration will help not the tongues of the hearers, but their minds. And in my opinion, the person who cares about truth should not shape his language with cleverness and careful polish, but should only try to express his meaning as best he can. For those who are overly concerned about words and spend their time on them miss the things themselves. It is the skill of a gardener

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness

... reward of immortality from which they had fallen. They also brought forward astrology, augury, and divination. Although these things are false in themselves, they, being the authors of evils, manage and direct them in such a way that people believe they are true. They also invented the tricks of magic to deceive the eyes. By their help, it happens that what is seems not to be, and what is not seems to be. They themselves invented necromancies, responses, and oracles, to mislead the minds of people with false divination through ambiguous outcomes. They are present in temples and at all sacrifices. By showing certain deceptive wonders, to the amazement of those who are present, they deceive people so completely that they believe a divine power is present in images and statues. They even secretly enter into bodies, since they are slight spirits. They stir up diseases in corrupted limbs, and then, when they have been appeased with sacrifices and vows, they remove them again. They send dreams filled with terror, so that they themselves may be called on, or dreams whose outcomes match the truth, so that they may increase the honor paid to themselves. Sometimes they also show some act

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

First, then, let us learn how the Peratists, taking this teaching from astrologers, treat Christ with contempt and bring ruin on those who follow them in this kind of error. For the astrologers, claiming that there is one world, divide it into the twelve fixed parts of the zodiac signs. They call the world of the fixed zodiac signs one unmoving world. And they say that the other is a world of wandering signs, different in power, position, and number, and that it extends as far as the moon. They also teach that one world receives a certain power from the other world, and a mutual sharing in that power, and that the lower parts receive this sharing from the higher parts. However, so that what is said here may be clear, I will use, one by one, those very expressions used by the astrologers. In doing this, I will only be reminding my readers of statements made earlier in the part of this work where we explained the whole art of the astrologers. What, then, the opinions are that those thinkers hold is as follows:

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

... the same teachings. More than that, with excessive zeal, they devoted themselves to the art of the astrologers. For the astrologers also speak about the boundaries of the stars, within which they claim that the ruling stars have greater power. For example, they say that some stars act harmfully on certain people, while on others they act favorably. And they call some of these stars malicious and others beneficent. The stars are also said to look upon one another and to be in harmony with one another, so that they appear in the form of a triangle or a square. Stars that look on one another are arranged in the form of a triangle when the distance between them is three zodiacal signs. But when the interval is two zodiacal signs, they are arranged in the form of a square. And their teaching is that, just as in a man the lower parts sympathize with the head, and the head likewise sympathizes with the lower parts, so all earthly things sympathize with things above the moon. But the astrologers go even further than this. For according to them, there is a certain difference and incompatibility between these things, so that they do not involve one and the same union. This blending and s

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

...gested from other sources. Yet they have unskillfully organized the whole imaginary teaching of the astrologers about the stars. Since they have introduced an idea full of enormous error, they will be refuted by means of our admirable arrangement. For I will set down, alongside the Chaldean art of the astrologers mentioned earlier, some of the Peratic writings. By comparing them, there will be an opportunity to see that the doctrines of the Peratics are plainly those of the astrologers, not of Christ.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

...n made clear to everyone that the heresy of the Peratae is changed in name only from the art of the astrologers. The rest of the books of these heretics contain the same method, if anyone is willing to work through all of them. For, as I said, they suppose that the causes of the generation of all begotten things are things unbegotten and above them. They also say that the world among us has been produced in the way of emanation, and they call this world formal. And they hold that all the stars together that are seen in the firmament were causes in the generation of this world. They have, however, changed the names of these things, as anyone may see from the Proastioi by comparing the two systems. Second, according to the same method by which the world was made from a higher emanation, they say that things here receive from the emanation of the stars their generation, corruption, and arrangement. Since astrologers know the horoscope, the meridian, the setting, and the point opposite the meridian, and since these stars occupy different places in space at different times because of the universe's continual revolution, there are necessarily at different times different declinations

Deuteronomy 4:19 Direct teaching

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Jeremiah 10:2 Supporting witness

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Deuteronomy 18:14 Supporting witness

For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

Daniel 4:7 Supporting witness

Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.

Daniel 2:2 Supporting witness

Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

Daniel 5:7 Supporting witness

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Daniel 2:27 Supporting witness

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked,

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

Do not be a diviner, for that leads to idolatry. For Samuel says, "Divination is sin," in 1 Samuel 15:23, and, "There shall be no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel," in Numbers 23:23. You shall not use enchantments or purifications for your child. You shall not be a soothsayer or a diviner by great or small birds. Nor shall you learn wicked arts, for the law has forbidden all these things. Do not be one who wishes for evil, for you will be led into unbearable sins. You shall not speak obscenely, or use lustful glances, or be a drunkard, for from such things come whoredoms and adulteries. Do not be a lover of money, lest you serve mammon instead of God, as in Matthew 6:24. Do not be vainglorious, or haughty, or high-minded. For arrogance springs from all these things. Remember him who said, "Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. I have not occupied myself with great matters, nor with things too high for me. But I was humble."

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...and the pomps of the heathens, their enchantments, observations of omens, soothsayings, purgations, divinations, observations of birds, their necromancies, and their invocations. For it is written, "There is no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel," Numbers 23:23. And again, "Divination is iniquity." And elsewhere, "You shall not be soothsayers, and follow observers of omens, nor diviners, nor dealers with familiar spirits. You shall not preserve alive wizards," Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10. Therefore Jeremiah exhorts, saying, "Walk not according to the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven." So it is the duty of a believer to avoid the assemblies of the ungodly, of the heathen, and of the Jews, and of the rest of the heretics, lest by joining ourselves to them we bring snares on our own souls, so that by joining in their feasts, which are celebrated in honor of demons, we may not be partakers with them in their impiety. You are also to avoid their public meetings, and those sports which are celebrated in them. For a believer ought not to go to any of those public meetings, unless to purchase a slave and save a soul, and at the same time t

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background

...onomy 5. And so on. These things must be kept, along with whatever else is commanded in reading the Bible. And by Isaiah He commands us: "Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean. Put away wickedness from your souls before my eyes. Learn to do good. Seek judgment. Rescue the wronged. Judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, and let us reason together," says the Lord. And we will find many examples in other places also. For example, about prayer, Scripture says, "Good works are an acceptable prayer to the Lord." And the manner of prayer is described: "If you see the naked, cover him, and do not overlook those who belong to your own seed. Then your light shall break forth early, and your healing shall spring up quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you." What, then, is the fruit of such prayer? "Then you shall call, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say, 'I am here.'"

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

for says Samuel, Divination is sin; 1 Samuel 15:23 and, There shall be no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

...as from the lineage of David’s body, that is, from the virgin of David's house, and Emmanuel; whose star Balaam also prophesied about: "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a leader shall rise in Israel." But Matthew says that the Magi, coming from the east, exclaimed, "For we have seen His star in the east, and have come to worship Him;" and that, having been led by the star to the house of Jacob to Emmanuel, they showed, by these gifts they offered, who it was that was worshipped: myrrh, because it was He who would die and be buried for the mortal human race; gold, because He was a King, "of whose kingdom there is no end;" and frankincense, because He was God, who also "was made known in Judea," and was "declared to those who did not seek Him."

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Direct teaching

...her of their mother, effectively their grandfather. They, the later grandchildren, believe that the search for the Father brings truth, perfection, stability, and deliverance from unstable matter, reconciling them to the Father. Yet, they say that the same search led their grandfather to ignorance, passion, terror, and confusion, from which they claim the substance of matter was formed. Therefore, to assert that the search for and investigation of the perfect Father, and the desire for communion and union with Him, were beneficial to them, but caused dissolution and destruction to an Æon, from whom they also originate, is completely inconsistent, foolish, and irrational. Those who listen to these teachers are truly blind, possessing blind guides, and justly fall with them into the abyss of ignorance beneath them.

Ignatius, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (Short Version) Supporting witness

...ned mysteries, which were carried out in silence by God. How, then, was He revealed to the world? A star shone in heaven above all other stars, its light inexpressible, while its novelty astonished people. All the other stars, along with the sun and moon, joined in a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly greater than them all. There was a stir about where this new spectacle came from, so unlike anything else in the heavens. As a result, every kind of magic was destroyed, and every bond of wickedness vanished; ignorance was removed, and the old kingdom was abolished, with God Himself manifested in human form for the renewal of eternal life. And now what took place had been prepared by God. From then on, all things were in a state of tumult, because He intended the abolition of death.

Ignatius, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (Long Version) Supporting witness

...he Lord; three renowned mysteries, which were accomplished quietly, but have been revealed to us. A star shone in heaven above all that came before it, and its light was indescribable, while its newness astonished people. All the other stars, along with the sun and moon, joined together in a chorus to this star. It far outshone them all in brightness, and there was a sense of wonder about where this new spectacle came from. Thus, worldly wisdom became foolishness; conjuring was seen as trivial; and magic became utterly absurd. Every law of wickedness vanished; the darkness of ignorance was dispelled; and tyrannical authority was destroyed, God being manifested as a man, and man showing power as God. Yet neither was the first a mere imagination, nor did the second imply a simple humanity; but the one was absolutely true, and the other a purposeful arrangement. Now that began which was perfected by God. From then on, everything was in a state of upheaval, because He planned the abolition of death.

Tertullian, On Idolatry Supporting witness

Astrology now-a-days, forsooth, treats of Christ — is the science of the stars of Christ;