Theological Dissertation on the Theologoumena of Macarius Magnes

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The term Despotēs Master/Lord among the Greeks, and likewise Dominus Lord among the Romans, were not exclusively proper to the one supreme God, but were common to all gods, and indeed were frequently attributed to Roman Emperors to demonstrate their divinity, as appears even from Acts 25:26, where the Emperor Claudius is designated by Festus with this title, Kyrios Lord original: "Κυρίου" 4. Yet Saint Paul, in this passage, claims the true and proper notion of this word solely for the one true God, and specifically for Jesus Christ, for it is of him alone that it can be said: "through whom are all things, and we through him." And this is the most eminent meaning of the word Kyrios Lord, which the LXX Interpreters teach us well, when they translate the supreme and essential name of God, YHWH original: "יהוה", through this word, for example in Genesis 19:24, Psalm 110:1, and Daniel 9:17, in the sense that, properly, there is said to be only "one Lord" in our Pauline passage. Similarly, Judas in his Epistle, verse 4, emphatically calls Jesus Christ, the only King and head of the Church, "the only Master God and Lord" original: "Τὸν μόνον δεσπότην Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον". For he is called Despotēs Master with respect to creation, and Kyrios Lord in view of redemption, because he delivered us from the power of Satan into his own kingdom, and no less on account of his kingdom, in which he rules in the midst of his enemies until the end of the world, and is effective and powerful in the Church, governing and defending his own. Nor does this denomination

4) Ezechiel Spanhemius, in his Dissertation VIII on the use and excellence of coins, Vol. I, p. 758, and Henry Noris in his Pisan Cenotaphs, p. 50 ff., as well as Anton Borremans in his Vesperae Gorinchemenses, p. 2 ff., have diligently collected the locations of profane writers pertaining to this. Also, Ioannes Sartorius, who produced many examples of coins testifying to this in his work on the hypocrisy of the Gentiles regarding prayers and vows, Chapter VI, § 5, and Chapter VII, § 16, regarding their hypocrisy about statues and coins. The early Christians were not ignorant of this usage of the word Kyrios and Dominus, and for this reason could not be compelled by any threats or promises to salute the Emperors in this way, which is manifest from the single example of the martyr Saint Polycarp in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, chapter 15. Whence Tertullian also says in his Apology, chapter 34: "I will plainly call the Emperor Lord, but in the common way, but when I am not forced to say LORD IN THE PLACE OF GOD."