Editing Unknown God (section)

== In Neoplatonism ==
For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is "[[Neoplatonism#The One|the One]]", an utterly simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source of the Universe<ref name="Brenk 2016">{{cite book |last=Brenk |first=Frederick |date=January 2016 |title="Theism" and Related Categories in the Study of Ancient Religions |chapter=Pagan Monotheism and Pagan Cult |chapter-url=https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/147/abstract/pagan-monotheism-and-pagan-cult |publisher=[[Society for Classical Studies]] ([[University of Pennsylvania]]) |series=SCS/AIA Annual Meeting |location=[[Philadelphia]] |volume=75 |issue=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506035740/https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/147/abstract/pagan-monotheism-and-pagan-cult |archive-date=6 May 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=14 October 2020 |quote=Historical authors generally refer to "the divine" (''to theion'') or "the supernatural" (''to daimonion'') rather than simply "God." [...] The [[Stoicism|Stoics]], believed in a God identifiable with the ''[[logos]]'' or ''hegemonikon'' (reason or leading principle) of the universe and downgraded the [[Ancient Greek religion|traditional gods]], who even disappear during the conflagration (''[[ekpyrosis]]''). Yet, the Stoics apparently did not practice a cult to this God. [[Middle Platonism|Middle]] and Later Platonists, who spoke of a supreme God, in philosophical discourse, generally speak of this God, not the gods, as responsible for the creation and providence of the universe. They, too, however, do not seem to have directly practiced a religious cult to their God.}}</ref> and the teleological end of all existing things.