 For the same reason, he opposed theurgic and magic practices as they were attempts to supersede the divine providential order.Although he never mentions Christianity in his surviving works, his writings have been taken as an attempt at reconciliation between Greek religion traditions and the Christian beliefs he may have encountered in Constantinople.The collection of some 260 witticisms attributed to Hierocles and Philagrius, the "Philogelos", has no connection with Hierocles of Alexandria, but is probably a compilation of later date, founded on two older collections.