ACC ~ Acts 17 v22

THEIR SUPERSTITION. 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.

Acts