Hortatory Address to the Greeks
Chapter 15: Orpheus' Evidence of Monotheism
In any case, we must remind you of what Orpheus, who was, you might say, your first teacher of polytheism, later said to his son Musaeus and to the other legitimate listeners, concerning the one and only God. And he spoke like this: “I speak to those who may lawfully hear: All others, you profane, now close the doors, And, O Musaeus! listen to me, You who are offspring of the light-bringing moon: The words I say now are truly indeed; And if you have previously seen my thoughts, Let them not rob you of the blessed life, But instead turn the depths of your own heart To the place where light and knowledge dwell.
Take the divine word to guide your steps, And walking well in the straight certain path, Look to the one and universal King— One, self-begotten, and the only One, Of whom all things and we ourselves are born. All things are open to His piercing gaze, While He Himself is still invisible. Present in all His works, though still unseen, He gives to mortals evil out of good, Sending both chilling wars and tearful griefs; And other than the great King there is none.
The clouds forever settle around His throne, And mortal eyes in mere mortal heads Are too weak to see Jove reigning over all. He sits established in the brazen heavens Upon His golden throne; under His feet He treads the earth and stretches His right hand To all the ends of the ocean, and around Tremble the mountain ranges and the streams, The depths, too, of the blue and gray sea.”
And again, in another place he says, "There is one Zeus alone, one sun, one hell, one Bacchus; and in all things but one God; nor let me speak of all these as different."
And when he swears, he says: "Now I command you by the highest heaven, the work of the great God, the only wise; and I command you by the Father's voice, which He first uttered when He established the whole world by His counsel."
What does he mean by “I adjure you by the Father’s voice, which He first uttered?” It is the Word of God he refers to as "the voice," through whom heaven, earth, and all creation were made, as the divine prophecies of the holy men teach us; and he himself also studied these in Egypt and understood that all creation was made by the Word of God. Therefore, after he states, “I adjure you by the Father’s voice, which He first uttered,” he adds, “when by His counsel He established the whole world.” He uses the term "voice" for the Word for the sake of the poetic metre. This is clear from the fact that a little further on, where the metre allows, he calls it "Word." For he said: “Take the divine Word to guide your steps.”