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            º             JOHN OF DAMASCUS                º
            º                                             º
            º  AN EXACT EXPOSITION OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH  º
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Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves 
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially 
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi = 
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute = 
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe, 
when necessary.

[Translated by the Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, D.D., F.E.I.S., Principal of the 
Free Church College, Aberdeen, assisted by James L. Salmond, M.A., M.B., 
formerly of Balliol College, Oxford.]


BOOK I

CHAPTER I.

That the Deity is incomprehensible, and that we ought not to pry into and 
meddle with tire things which have not been delivered to us by the holy 
Prophets, and Apostles, and Evangelists.

    No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, which is in 
the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him(1). The Deity, therefore, is 
ineffable and incomprehensible. For no one knoweth the Father, save the 
Son, nor the Son, save the Father(2). And the Holy Spirit, too, so knows 
the things of God as the spirit of the man knows the things that are in 
him(3). Moreover, after the first and blessed nature no one, not of men 
only, but even of supramundane powers, and the Cherubim, I say, and 
Seraphim themselves, has ever known God, save he to whom He revealed 
Himself.

    God, however, did not leave us in absolute ignorance. For the knowledge 
of God's existence has been implanted by Him in all by nature. This 
creation, too, and its maintenance, and its government, proclaim the 
majesty of the Divine nature(4). Moreover, by the Law and the Prophets(5) 
in former times and afterwards by His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, He disclosed to us the knowledge of Himself as 
that was possible for us. All things, therefore, that have been delivered 
to us by Law and Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists we receive, and 
know, and honour(6), seeking for nothing beyond these. For God, being good, 
is the cause of all good, subject neither to envy nor to any passion(7). 
For envy is far removed from the Divine nature, which is both passionless 
and only good. As knowing all things, therefore, and providing for what is 
profitable for each, He revealed that which it was to our profit to know; 
but what we were unable(8) to bear He kept secret. With these things let us 
be satisfied, and let us abide by them, not removing everlasting 
boundaries, nor overpassing the divine tradition(9).

CHAPTER II.

Concerning things utterable and things unutterable, and things knowable and 
thinks unknowable.

    It is necessary, therefore, that one who wishes to speak or to hear of 
God should understand clearly that alike in the doctrine of Deity and in 
that of the Incarnation(1), neither are all things unutterable nor all 
utterable; neither all unknowable nor all knowable(2). But the knowable 
belongs to one order, and the utterable to another; just as it is one thing 
to speak and another thing to know. Many of the things relating to God, 
therefore, that are dimly understood cannot be put into fitting terms, but 
on things above us we cannot do else than express ourselves according to 
our limited capacity; as, for instance, when we speak of God we use the 
terms sleep, and wrath, and regardlessness, hands, too, and feet, land such 
like expressions.

    We, therefore, both know and confess that God is without beginning, 
without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreate, unchangeable, invariable, 
simple, uncompound, incorporeal, invisible, impalpable, uncircumscribed, 
infinite, incognisable, indefinable, incomprehensible, good, just, maker of 
all things created, almighty, all-ruling, all-surveying, of all overseer, 
sovereign, judge; and that God is One, that is to say, one essences; and 
that He is known(4), and has His being in three subsistences, in Father, I 
say, and Son and Holy Spirit; and that the Father and the Son and the Holy 
Spirit are one in all respects, except in that of not being begotten, that 
of being begotten, and that of procession; and that the Only-begotten Son 
and Word of God and God, in His bowels of mercy, for our salvation, by the 
good pleasure of God and the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, being 
conceived without seed, was born uncorruptedly of the Holy Virgin and 
Mother of God, Mary, by the Holy Spirit, and became of her perfect Man; and 
that the Same is at once perfect God and perfect Man, of two natures, 
Godhead and Manhood, and in two natures possessing intelligence, will and 
energy, and freedom, and, in a word, perfect according to the measure and 
proportion proper to each, at once to the divinity, I say, and to the 
humanity, yet to one composite persons(5); and that He suffered hunger and 
thirst and weariness, and was crucified, and for three days submitted to 
the experience of death and burial, and ascended to heaven, from which also 
He came to us, and shall come again. And the Holy Scripture is witness to 
this and the whole choir of the Saints.

    But neither do we know, nor can we tell, what the essence(6) of God is, 
or how it is in all, or how the Only-begotten Son and God, having emptied 
Himself, became Man of virgin blood, made by another law contrary to 
nature, or how He walked with dry feet upon the waters(7). It is not within 
our capacity, therefore, to say anything about God or even to think of Him, 
beyond the things which have been divinely revealed to us, whether by word 
or by manifestation, by the divine oracles at once of the Old Testament and 
of the New(8).

CHAPTER III.

Proof that there is a God.

    That there is a God, then, is no matter of doubt to those who receive 
the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, I mean, and the New; nor indeed to 
most of the Greeks. For, as we said(9), the knowledge of the existence of 
God is implanted in us by nature. But since the wickedness of the Evil One 
has prevailed so mightily against man's nature as even to drive some into 
denying the existence of God, that most foolish and woefulest pit of 
destruction (whose folly David, revealer of the Divine meaning, exposed 
when he said(9), The fool said in his heart, There is no God), so the 
disciples of the Lord and His Apostles, made wise by the Holy Spirit and 
working wonders in His power and grace, took them captive in the net of 
miracles and drew them up out of the depths of ignorance(1) to the light of 
the knowledge of God. In like manner also their successors in grace and 
worth, both pastors and teachers, having received the enlightening grace of 
the Spirit, were wont, alike by the power of miracles and the word of 
grace, to enlighten those walking in darkness and to bring back the 
wanderers into the way. But as for us who(2) are not recipients either of 
the gift of miracles or the gift of teaching (for indeed we have rendered 
ourselves unworthy of these by our passion for pleasure), come, let us in 
connection with this theme discuss a few of those things which have been 
delivered to us on this subject by the expounders of grace, calling on the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

    All things, that exist, are either created or uncreated. If, then, 
things are created, it follows that they are also wholly mutable. For 
things, whose existence originated in change, must also be subject to 
change, whether it be that they perish or that they become other than they 
are by act of wills. But if things are uncreated they must in all 
consistency be also wholly immutable. For things which are opposed in the 
nature of their existence must also be opposed in the mode of their 
existence, that is to say, must have opposite properties: who, then, will 
refuse to grant that all existing things, not only such as come within the 
province of the senses, but even the very angels, are subject to change and 
transformation and movement of various kinds? For the things appertaining 
to the rational world, I mean angels and spirits and demons, are subject to 
changes of will, whether it is a progression or a retrogression in 
goodness, whether a struggle or a surrender; while the others suffer 
changes of generation and destruction, of increase and decrease, of quality 
and of movement in space. Things then that are mutable are also wholly 
created. But things that are created must be the work of some maker, and 
the maker cannot have been created. For if he had been created,  he also 
must surely have been created by  some one, and so on till we arrive at 
something uncreated. The Creator, then, being uncreated, is also wholly 
immutable. And what could this be other than Deity?

    And even the very continuity of the creation, and its preservation and 
government, teach us that there does exist a Deity, who supports and 
maintains and preserves and ever provides for this universe. For how(4) 
could opposite  natures, such as fire and water, air and earth, have 
combined with each other so as to form one complete world, and continue to 
abide in indissoluble union, were there not some omnipotent power which 
bound them together and always is preserving them from dissolution?

    What is it that gave order to things of heaven and things of earth, and 
all those things that move in the air and in the water, or rather to what 
was in existence before these, viz., to heaven and earth and air and the 
elements of fire and water? What(5) was it that mingled and distributed 
these? What was it that set these in motion and keeps them in their 
unceasing and unhindered course(6)? Was it not the Artificer of these 
things, and He Who hath implanted in everything the law whereby the 
universe is carried on and directed? Who then is the Artificer of these 
things? Is it not He Who created them and brought them into existence. For 
we shall not attribute such a power to the spontaneous(7). For, supposing 
their coming into existence was due to the spontaneous; what of the power 
that put all in orders(8)? And let us grant this, if you please. What of 
that which has preserved and kept them in harmony with the original laws of 
their existence(9)? Clearly it is something quite distinct from the 
spontaneous(1).And what could this be other than Deity(2) ?

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the nature of Deity: that it is incomprehensible.

    It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what He is in His essence 
anti nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. For it is 
evident that He is incorporeal(3). For how could that possess body which is 
infinite, and boundless, and formless, and intangible and invisible, in 
short, simple and not compound?  How could that be immutable(4) which is 
circumscribed and subject to passion? And how could that be passionless 
which is composed of elements and is resolved again into them? For 
combination(5) is the beginning of conflict, and conflict of separation, 
and separation of dissolution, and dissolution is altogether foreign to 
God(6).

    Again, how will it also be maintained(7) that God permeates and fills 
the universe? as the Scriptures say, Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith 
the Lords(8)? For it is an impossibility(9) that one body should permeate 
other bodies without dividing and being divided, and without being 
enveloped and contrasted, in the same way as all fluids mix and commingle.

    But if some say that the body is immaterial, in thee same way as the 
fifth body(1) of which the Greek philosophers speak (which body is an 
impossibility), it will be wholly subject to motion like the heaven. For 
that is what they mean by the fifth body. Who then is it that moves it? For 
everything that is moved is moved by another thing. And who again is it 
that moves that? and so on to infinity till we at length arrive at 
something motionless. For the first mover is motionless, and that is the 
Deity. And must not that which is moved be circumscribed in space? The 
Deity, then, alone is motionless, moving the universe by immobility(2). So 
then it must be assumed that the Deity is incorporeal.

    But even this gives no true idea of His essence, to say that He is 
unbegotten, and without beginning, changeless and imperishable, and 
possessed of such other qualities as we are wont to ascribe to God and His 
environments. For these do not indicate what He is, but what He is not(4). 
But when we would explain what the essence of anything is, we must not 
speak only negatively. In the case of God, however, it is impossible to 
explain what He is in His essence, and it befits us the rather to hold 
discourse about His absolute separation from all things(5). For He does not 
belong to the class of existing things: not that He has no existence(6), 
but that He is above all existing things, nay even above existence itself. 
For if all forms of knowledge have to do with what exists, assuredly that 
which is above knowledge must certainly be also above essence(7): and, 
conversely, that which is above essence(7) will also be above knowledge.

    God then is infinite and incomprehensible and all that is 
comprehensible about Him is His infinity and incomprehensibility. But all 
that we can affirm concerning God does not shew forth God's nature, but 
only the qualities of His nature(8). For when you speak of Him as good, and 
just, and wise, and so forth, you do not tell God's nature but only the 
qualities of His nature(9). Further there are some affirmations which we 
make concerning God which have the force of absolute negation: for example, 
when we use the term darkness, in reference to God, we do not mean darkness 
itself, but that He is not light but above light: and when we speak of Him 
as light, we mean that He is not darkness.

CHAPTER V.

Proof that God is one and not many.

    We have, then, adequately demonstrated that there is a God, and that 
His essence is incomprehensible. But that God is one(1) and not many is no 
matter of doubt to those who believe in the Holy Scriptures. For the Lord 
says in the beginning of the Law: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought 
thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shall have no other Gods before Me(2). 
And again He says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord(3). And in 
Isaiah the prophet we read For I am the first God and I am the last and 
beside Me there is no God. Before Me there was not any God, nor after Me 
will there be any God, and beside Me there is no God(4). And the Lord, too, 
in the holy gospels speaketh these words to His Father, And this is life 
eternal, that they may know Thee the only true God(5). But with those that 
do not believe in the Holy Scriptures we will reason thus.

    The Deity is perfect(6), and without blemish in goodness, and wisdom, 
and power, without beginning, without end, everlasting, uncircumscribed(7), 
and in short, perfect in all things. Should we say, then, that there are 
many Gods, we must recognise difference among the many. For if there is no 
difference among them, they are one rather than many. But if there is 
difference among them, what becomes of the perfectness? For that which 
comes short of perfection, whether it be in goodness, or power, or wisdom, 
or time, or place, could not be God. But it is this very identity in all 
respects that shews that the Deity is one and not many(8).

    Again, if there are many Gods, how can one maintain that God is 
uncircumscribed? For where the one would be, the other could not be(9).

    Further, how could the world be governed by many and saved from 
dissolution and destruction, while strife is seen to rage between the 
rulers? For difference introduces strife(1). And if any one should say that 
each rules over a part, what of that which established this order and gave 
to each his particular realm? For this would the rather be God. Therefore, 
God is one, perfect, uncircumscribed, maker of the universe, and its 
preserver and governor, exceeding and preceding all perfection.

    Moreover, it is a natural necessity that duality should originate in 
unity(2).

CHAPTER VI.

Concerning the Word and the San of God: a reasoned proof.

    So then this one and only God is not Wordless(3). And possessing the 
Word, He will have it not as without a subsistence, nor as having had a 
beginning, nor as destined to cease to be. For there never was a time when 
God was not Word: but He ever possesses His own Word, begotten of Himself, 
not, as our word is, without a subsistence and dissolving into air, but 
having a subsistence in Him and life and perfection, not proceeding out of 
Himself but ever existing within Himself(4). For where could it be, if it 
were to go outside Him? For inasmuch as our nature is perishable and easily 
dissolved, our word is also without subsistence. But since God is 
everlasting and perfect, He will have His Word subsistent in Him, and 
everlasting trod living, and possessed of all the attributes of the 
Begetter. For just as our word, proceeding as it floes out of the mind, is 
neither wholly identical with the mind nor utterly diverse from it (for so 
far as it proceeds out of the mind it is different from it, while so far as 
it reveals the mind, it is no longer absolutely diverse from the mind, but 
being one in nature with the mind, it is yet to the subject diverse from 
it), so in the same manner also the Word of Gods in its independent 
subsistence is differentiated(6) froth Him from Whom it derives its 
subsistence(7): but inasmuch as it displays in itself the same attributes 
as are seen in God, it is of the same nature as God. For just as absolute 
perfection is contemplated in the Father, so also is it contemplated in the 
Word that is begotten of Him.

CHAPTER VII.

Concerning the Holy Spirit, a reasoned proof.

    Moreover the Word must also possess Spirit(8). For in fact even our 
word is not destitute of spirit; but in our case the spirit is something 
different from our essence(9). For there is an attraction and movement of 
the air which is drawn in and poured forth that the body may be sustained. 
And it is this which in the moment of utterance becomes the articulate 
word, revealing in itself the force of the word(1).(2) But in the case of 
the divine nature, which is simple and uncompound, we must confess in all 
piety that there exists a Spirit of God, for the Word is not more imperfect 
than our own word. Now we cannot, in piety, consider the Spirit to be 
something foreign that gains admission into God from without, as is the 
case with compound natures like us. Nay, just as, when we heard(3) of the 
Word of God, we considered it to be not without subsistence, nor the 
product of learning, nor the mere utterance of voice, nor as passing into 
the air and perishing, but as being essentially subsisting, endowed with 
free volition, and energy, and omnipotence: so also, when we have learnt 
about the Spirit of God, we contemplate it as the companion of the Word and 
the revealer of His energy, and not as mere breath without subsistence. For 
to conceive of the Spirit that dwells in God as after the likeness of our 
own spirit, would be to drag down the greatness of the divine nature to the 
lowest depths of degradation. But we must contemplate it as an essential 
power, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, proceeding from 
the Father anti resting in the Word(4), and shewing forth the Word, neither 
capable of disjunction from God in Whom it exists, and the Word Whose 
companion it is, nor poured forth to vanish into nothingness(5), but being 
in subsistence in the likeness of the Word, endowed with life, free 
volition, independent movement, energy, ever willing that which is good, 
and having power to keep pace with the will in all its decrees(6), having 
no beginning and no end. For never was the Father at any time lacking in 
the Word, nor the Word in the Spirit.

    Thus because of the unity in nature, the error of the Greeks in holding 
that God is many, is utterly destroyed: and again by our acceptance of the 
Word and the Spirit, the dogma of the Jews is overthrown: and there remains 
of each party(7) only what is profitable(8). On the one hand of the Jewish 
idea we have the unity of God's nature, anti on the other, of the Greek, we 
have the distinction in subsistences and that only(9).

    But should the Jew refuse to accept the Word and the Spirit, let the 
divine Scripture confute him and curb his tongue. For concerning the Word, 
the divine David says, For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven(1). 
And again , He sent His Word and healed them(2). But the word that is 
uttered is not sent, nor is it for ever settled(3). And concerning the 
Spirit, the same David says, Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are 
created(4). And again, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and 
all the host of them by the breath of His mouth(5). Job, too, says, The 
Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me 
life(6). Now the Spirit which is sent and makes and stablishes and 
conserves, is not mere breath that dissolves, any more than the mouth of 
God is a bodily member. For the conception of both must be such as 
harmonizes with the Divine nature(7).

CHAPTER VIII.

Concerning the Holy Trinity.

    We believe, then, in One God, one beginning(8), having no beginning, 
uncreate, unbegotten, imperishable and immortal, everlasting, infinite, 
uncircumscribed, boundless, of infinite power, simple, uncompound, 
incorporeal, without flux, passionless, unchangeable, unalterable, unseen, 
the fountain of goodness and justice, the light of the mind, inaccessible; 
a power known by no measure, measurable only by His own will alone (for all 
things that He wills He can(9)), creator of all created things, seen or 
unseen, of all the maintainer and preserver, for all the provider, master 
and lord and king over all, with an endless and immortal kingdom: having no 
contrary, filling all, by nothing encompassed, but rather Himself the 
encompasser and maintainer and original possessor of the universe, 
occupying(1) all essences intact(2) and extending beyond all things, and 
being separate from all essence as being super-essential(3) and above all 
things and absolute God, absolute goodness, and absolute fulness(4): 
determining all sovereignties and ranks, being placed above all sovereignty 
and rank, above essence and life and word and thought: being Himself very 
light and goodness and life and essence, inasmuch as He does not derive His 
being from another, that is to say, of those things that exist: but being 
Himself the fountain of being to all that is, of life to the living, of 
reason to those that have reason; to all the cause of all good: perceiving 
all things even before they have become: one essence, one divinity, one 
power, one will, one energy, one beginning, one authority, one dominion, 
one sovereignty, made known in three perfect subsistences anti adored with 
one adoration, believed in and ministered to by all rational creation(5), 
united without confusion and divided without separation (which indeed 
transcends thought). (We believe) in Father and Son and Holy Spirit 
whereinto also we have been baptized(6). For so our Lord commanded the 
Apostles to baptize, saying, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit(7).

    (We believe) in one Father, the beginning(8), and cause of all: 
begotten of no one: without cause or generation, alone subsisting: creator 
of all: but Father of one only by nature, His Only-begotten Son and our 
Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Producer(9) of the most Holy 
Spirit. And in one Son of God, the Only-begotten, our Lord, Jesus Christ: 
begotten of the Father, before all the ages: Light of Light, true God of 
true God: begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through Whom 
all things are made: and when we say He was before all the ages we shew 
that His birth is without time or beginning: for the Son of God was not 
brought into being out of nothing(1), He that is the effulgence of the 
glory, the impress of the Father's subsistence(2), the living wisdom and 
power(3), the Word possessing interior subsistence(4), the essential and 
perfect and living image s of the unseen God. But always He was with the 
Father and in Him(6), everlastingly and without beginning begotten of Him. 
For there never was a time when the Father was and the Son was not, but 
always the Father and always the Son, Who was begotten of Him, existed 
together. For He could not have received the name Father apart from the 
Son: for if He were without the Son(7), He could not be the Father: and if 
He thereafter had the Son, thereafter He became the Father, not having been 
the Father prior to this, and He was changed from that which was not the 
Father and became the Father. This is the worst form of blasphemy(8). For 
we may not speak of God as destitute of natural generative power: and 
generative power means, the power of producing from one's self, that is to 
say, from one's own proper essence, that which is like in nature to one's 
self(9).

    In treating, then, of the generation of the Son, it is an act of 
impiety(1) to say that time comes into play and that the existence of the 
Son is of later origin than the Father. For we hold that it is from Him, 
that is, from the Father's nature, that the Son is generated. And unless we 
grant that the Son co-existed from the beginning with the Father, by Whom 
He was begotten, we introduce change into the Father's subsistence, 
because, not being the Father, He subsequently became the Father(2). For 
the creation, even though it originated later, is nevertheless not derived 
from the essence of God, but is brought into existence out of nothing by 
His will and power, and change does not touch God's nature. For generation 
means that the begetter produces out of his essence offspring similar in 
essence. But creation and making mean that the creator and maker produces 
from that which is external, and not out of his own essence, a creation of 
an absolutely dissimilar nature(3).

    Wherefore in God, Who alone is passionless and unalterable, and 
immutable, and ever so continueth, both begetting and creating are 
passionless(4). For being by nature passionless and not liable to flux, 
since He is simple and uncompound, He is not subject to passion or flux 
either in begetting or in creating, nor has He need of any co-operation. 
But generation in Him is without beginning and everlasting, being the work 
of nature and producing out of His own essence, that the Begetter may not 
undergo change, and that He may not be God first and God last, nor receive 
any accession: while creation in the case of God(5), being the work of 
will, is not co-eternal with God. For it is not natural that that which is 
brought into existence out of nothing should be co-eternal with what is 
without beginning and everlasting. There is this difference in fact between 
man's making and God's. Man can bring nothing into existence out of 
nothing(6), but all that he makes requires pre-existing matter for its 
basis(7), and he does not create it by will only, but thinks out first what 
it is to be and pictures it in his mind, and only then fashions it with his 
hands, undergoing labour and troubles(8), and often missing the mark and 
failing to produce to his satisfaction that after which he strives. But 
God, through the exercise of will alone, has brought all things into 
existence out of nothing. Now there is the same difference between God and 
man in begetting and generating. For in God, Who is without time and 
beginning, passionless, not liable to flux, incorporeal, alone and without 
end(1), generation is without time and beginning, passionless and not 
liable to flux, nor dependent on the union of two(2): nor has His own 
incomprehensible generation beginning or end. And it is without beginning 
because He is immutable: without flux because He is passionless and 
incorporeal: independent of the union of two again because He is 
incorporeal but also because He is the one and only God, and stands in need 
of no co-operation: and without end or cessation because He is without 
beginning, or time, or end, and ever continues the same. For that which has 
no beginning has no end: but that which through grace is endless is 
assuredly not without beginning, as, witness, the angels(3).

    Accordingly the everlasting God generates His own Word which is 
perfect, without beginning and without end, that God, Whose nature and 
existence are above time, may not engender in time. But with man clearly it 
is otherwise, for generation is with him a matter of sex, and destruction 
and flux and increase and body clothe him round about(4), and he possesses 
a nature which is male or female. For the male requires the assistance of 
the female. But may He Who surpasses all, and transcends all thought and 
comprehension, be gracious to us.

    The holy catholic and apostolic Church, then, teaches the existence at 
once of a Father: and of His Only-begotten Son, born of Him without time 
and flux and passion, in a manner incomprehensible and perceived by the God 
of the universe alone: just as we recognise the existence at once of fire 
and the light which proceeds from it: for there is not first fire and 
thereafter light, but they exist together. And just as light is ever the 
product of fire, and ever is in it and at no time is separate from it, so 
in like manner also the Son is begotten of the Father and is never in any 
ways separate from Him, but ever is in Him(6). But whereas the light which 
is produced from fire without separation, and abideth ever in it, has no 
proper subsistence of its own distinct from that of fire (for it is a 
natural quality of fire), the Only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the 
Father without separation and difference and ever abiding in Him, has a 
proper subsistence of its own distinct froth that of the Father.

    The terms, 'Word' and 'effulgence,' then, are used because He is 
begotten of the Father without the union of two, or passion, or time, or 
flux, or separation(7): and the terms 'Son' and 'impress of the Father's 
subsistence,' because He is perfect and has subsistence s and is in all 
respects similar to the Father, save that the Father is not begotten(9): 
and the term 'Only-begotten'(1) because He alone was begotten alone of the 
Father alone. For no other generation is like to the generation of the Son 
of God, since no other is Son of God. For though the Holy Spirit proceedeth 
from the Father, yet this is not generative in character but processional. 
This is a different mode of existence, alike incomprehensible and unknown, 
just as is the generation of the Son. Wherefore all the qualities the 
Father has are the Son's, save that the Father is unbegotten(2), and this 
exception involves no difference in essence nor dignity(3), but only a 
different mode of coming into existence(4). We have an analogy in Adam, who 
was not begotten (for God Himself moulded him), and Seth, who was begotten 
(for he is Adam's son), and Eve, who proceeded out of Adam's rib (for she 
was not begotten). These do not differ from each other in nature, for they 
are human beings: but they differ in the mode of coming into existence(5).

    For one must recognise that the word age'nhton with only one 'n' 
signifies "uncreate" or "not having been made," while age'nnhton written 
with double 'n' means "unbegotten." According to the first significance 
essence differs from essence: for one essence is uncreate, or age'nhton 
with one 'n,' and another is create or genhth'. But in the second 
significance there is no difference between essence and essence. For the 
first subsistence of all kinds of living creatures is age'nnhtos but not 
age'nhtos. For they were created by the Creator, being brought into being 
by His Word, but they were not begotten, for there was no pre-existing form 
like themselves from which they might have been born.

    So then in the first sense of the word the three absolutely divine 
subsistences of the Holy Godhead agree(6): for they exist as one in essence 
and uncreate(7). But with the second signification it is quite otherwise. 
For the Father alone is ingenerate(8), no other subsistence having given 
Him being. And the Son alone is generate, for He was begotten of the 
Father's essence without beginning and without time. And only the Holy 
Spirit proceedeth from the Father's essence, not having been generated but 
simply proceeding(9). For this is the doctrine of Holy Scripture. But the 
nature of the generation and the procession is quite beyond comprehension.

    And this also it behoves(1) us to know, that the names Fatherhood, 
Sonship and Procession, were not applied to the Holy Godhead by us: on the 
contrary, they were communicated to us by the Godhead, as the divine 
apostle says, Wherefore I bow the knee to the Father, from Whom is every 
family in heaven and on earth(2). But if we say(3) that the Father is the 
origin of the Son and greater than the Son, we do not suggest any 
precedence in time or superiority in nature of the Father over the Son(4) 
(for through His agency He made the ages(5)), or superiority in any other 
respect save causation. And we mean by this, that the Son is begotten of 
the Father and not the Father of the Son, and that the Father naturally is 
the cause of the Son: just as we say in the same way not that fire 
proceedeth from light, but rather light from fire. So then, whenever we 
hear it said that the Father is the origin of the Son and greater than the 
Son, let us understand it to mean in respect of causation. And just as we 
do not say that fire is of one essence and light of another, so we cannot 
say that the Father is of one essence and the Son of another: but both are 
of one and the same essence(6). And just as we say that fire has 
brightness(7) through the light proceeding from it, and do not consider the 
light of the fire as an instrument ministering to the fire, but rather as 
its natural force: so we say that the Father creates all that He creates 
through His Only-begotten Son, not as though the Son were a mere instrument 
serving(8) the Father's ends, but as His natural and subsistential 
force(9). And just as we say both that the fire shines and again that the 
light of the fire shines, So all things whatsoever the Father doeth, these 
also doeth the Son likewise(9a). But whereas light possesses no proper 
subsistence of its own, distinct from that of the fire, the Son is a 
perfect subsistence(1), inseparable from the Father's subsistence, as we 
have shewn above. For it is quite impossible to find in creation an image 
that will illustrate in itself exactly in all details the nature of the 
Holy Trinity. For how could that which is create and compound, subject to 
flux and change, circumscribed, formed and corruptible, clearly shew forth 
the super-essential divine essence, unaffected as it is in any of these 
ways? Now  it is evident that all creation is liable to most of these 
affections, and all from its very nature is subject to corruption.

    Likewise we believe also in one Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of 
Life: Who proceedeth from the Father and resteth in the Son: the object of 
equal adoration and glorification with the Father and Son, since He is co-
essential and co-eternal(2): the Spirit of God, direct, authoritative(3), 
the fountain of wisdom, and life, and holiness: God existing and addressed 
along with Father and Son: uncreate, full, creative, all-ruling, all-
effecting, all-powerful, of infinite power, Lord of all creation and not 
under any lord(4): deifying, not deified(5): filling, not filled: shared 
in, not sharing in: sanctifying, not sanctified: the intercessor, receiving 
the supplications of all: in all things like to the Father and Son: 
proceeding from the Father and communicated through the Son, and 
participated in by all creation, through Himself creating, and investing 
with essence and sanctifying, and maintaining the universe: having 
subsistence, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, 
inseparable and indivisible from Father and Son, and possessing all the 
qualities that the Father and Son possess, save that of not being begotten 
or born. For the Father is without canst and unborn: for He is derived from 
nothing, but derives from Himself His being, nor does He derive a single 
quality from another(6). Rather He is Himself the beginning and cause of 
the existence of all things in a definite and natural manner. But the Son 
is derived from the Father after the manner of generation, and the Holy 
Spirit likewise is derived from the Father, yet not after the manner of 
generation, but after that of procession. And we have learned that there is 
a difference(7) between generation and procession, but the nature of that 
difference we in no wise understand. Further, the generation of the Son 
from the Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit are simultaneous.

    All then that the Son and the Spirit have is from the Father, even 
their very being(8): and unless the Father is, neither the Son nor the 
Spirit is. And unless the Father possesses a certain attribute, neither the 
Son nor the Spirit possesses it: and through the Father(9), that is, 
because of the Father's existence(1), the Son and the Spirit exist(2), and 
through the Father, that is, because of the Father having the qualities, 
the Son and the Spirit have all their qualities, those of being unbegotten, 
and of birth and of procession being excepted(3). For in these hypostatic 
or personal properties alone do the three holy subsistences(3) differ from 
each other, being indivisibly divided not by essence but by the 
distinguishing mark of their proper and peculiar subsistence.

    Further we say that each of(4) the three has a perfect subsistence, 
that we may understand not one compound perfect nature made up of three 
imperfect elements, but one simple essence, surpassing and preceding 
perfection, existing in three perfect subsistences(5). For all that is 
composed of imperfect elements must necessarily be compound. But from 
perfect subsistences no compound can arise. Wherefore we do not speak of 
the form as from subsistences, but as in subsistences(6). But we speak of 
those things as imperfect which do not preserve the form of that which is 
completed out of them. For stone and wood and iron are each perfect in its 
own nature, but with reference to the building that is completed out of 
them each is imperfect: for none of them is in itself a house.

    The subsistences then we say are perfect, that we may not conceive of 
the divine nature as compound. For compoundness is the beginning of 
separation. And again we speak of the three subsistences as being in each 
other(7), that we may not introduce a crowd and multitude of Gods(8). Owing 
to the three subsistences, there is no compoundness or confusion: while, 
owing to their having the same essence and dwelling in one another, and 
being the same in will, and energy, and power, and authority, and movement, 
so to speak, we recognise the indivisibility and the unity of God. For 
verily there is one God, and His word and Spirit.

Marg. MS. Concerning the distinction of the three subsistences: and 
concerning the thing itself and our reason and thought in relation to it.

    One ought, moreover, to recognise that it is one thing to look at a 
matter as it is, and another thing to look at it in the light of reason and 
thought. In the case of all created things, the distinction of the 
subsistences is observed in actual fact. For in actual fact Peter is seen 
to be separate from Paul. But the community and connection and unity are 
apprehended by reason and thought. For it is by the mind that we perceive 
that Peter and Paul are of the same nature and have one common nature(9). 
For both are living creatures, rational and mortal: and both are flesh, 
endowed with the spirit of reason and understanding(1). It is, then, by 
reason that this community of nature is observed. For here indeed the 
subsistences do not exist one within the other. But each privately and 
individually, that is to say, in itself, stands quite separate, having very 
many points that divide it from the other. For they are both separated in 
space and differ in time, and are divided in thought, and power, and shape, 
or form, and habit, and temperament and dignity, and pursuits, and all 
differentiating properties, but above all, in the fact that they do not 
dwell in one another but are separated. Hence it comes that we can speak of 
two, three, or many men.

    And this may be perceived throughout the whole of creation, but in the 
case of the holy and superessential and incomprehensible Trinity, far 
removed from everything, it is quite the reverse. For there the community 
and unity are observed in fact, through the co-eternity of the 
subsistences, and through their having the same essence and energy and will 
and concord of mind(2), and then being identical in authority and power and 
goodness--I do not say similar but identical--and then movement by one 
impulse(3). For there is one essence, one goodness, one power, one will, 
one energy, one authority, one and the same, I repeat, not three resembling 
each other. But the three subsistences have one and the same movement. For 
each one of them is related as closely to the other as to itself: that is 
to say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in all 
respects, save those of not being begotten, of birth and of procession. But 
it is by thought that the difference is perceived(4). For we recognise one 
God: but only in the attributes of Fatherhood, Sonship, and Procession, 
both in respect of cause and effect and perfection of subsistence, that is, 
manner of existence, do we perceive difference(5). For with reference to 
the uncircumscribed Deity we cannot speak of separation in space, as we can 
in our own case. For the subsistences dwell in one another, in no wise 
confused but cleaving together, according to the word of the Lord, I am in 
the father, and the father in Me(6): nor can one admit difference in will 
or judgment or energy or power or anything else whatsoever which may 
produce actual and absolute separation in our case. Wherefore we do not 
speak of three Gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but rather 
of one God, the holy Trinity, the Son and Spirit being referred to one 
cause(7), and not compounded or coalesced according to the synaeresis of 
Sabellius. For, as we said, they are made one not so as to commingle, but 
so as to cleave to each other, and they have their being in each other(8) 
without any coalescence or commingling. Nor do the Son and the Spirit stand 
apart, nor are they sundered in essence according to the diaeresis of 
Arias(9). For the Deity is undivided amongst things divided, to put it 
concisely: and it is just like three suns cleaving to each other without 
separation and giving out light mingled and conjoined into one. When, then, 
we turn our eyes to the Divinity, and the first cause and the sovereignty 
and the oneness anti sameness, so to speak, of the movement and will of the 
Divinity, and the identity in essence and power and energy and lordship, 
what is seen by us is unity(1). But when we look to those things in which 
the Divinity is, or, to put it more accurately, which are the Divinity, and 
those things which are in it through the first cause without time or 
distinction in glory or separation, that is to say, the subsistences of the 
Son and the Spirit, it seems to us a Trinity that we adore(2). The Father 
is one Father, and without beginning, that is, without cause: for He is not 
derived from anything. The Son is one Son, but not without beginning, that 
is, not without cause: for He is derived from the Father. But if you 
eliminate the idea of a beginning from time, He is also without beginning: 
for the creator of times cannot be subject to time. The Holy Spirit is one 
Spirit, going forth from the Father, not in the manner of Sonship but of 
procession; so that neither has the Father lost His property of being 
unbegotten because He hath begotten, nor has the Son lost His property of 
being begotten because He was begotten of that which was unbegotten (for 
how could that be so?), nor does the Spirit change either into the Father 
or into the Son because He hath proceeded and is God. For a property is 
quite constant. For how could a property persist if it were variable, 
moveable, and could change into something else? For if the Father is the 
Son, He is not strictly the Father: for there is strictly one Father. And 
if the Son is the Father, He is not strictly the Son: for there is strictly 
one Son and one Holy Spirit.

    Further, it should be understood that we do not speak of the Father as 
derived from any one, but we speak of Him as the Father of the Son. And we 
do not speak of the Son as Cause(3) or Father, but we speak of Him both as 
from the Father, and as the Son of the Father. And we speak likewise of the 
Holy Spirit as from the Father, and call Him the Spirit of the Father. And 
we do not speak of the Spirit as from the Son(4): s but yet we call Him the 
Spirit of the Son. For if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none 
of His(6), saith the divine apostle. And we confess that He is manifested 
and imparted to us through the Son. For He breathed upon His Disciples, 
says he, and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit(7). It is just the same as in 
the case of the sun from which come both the ray and the radiance (for the 
sun itself is the source of both the ray and the radiance), and it is 
through the ray that the radiance is imparted to us, and it is the radiance 
itself by which we are lightened and in which we participate. Further we do 
not speak of the Son of the Spirit, or of the Son as derived from the 
Spirit(8).

CHAPTER IX.

Concerning what is affirmed about God.

    The Deity is simple and uncompound. But that which is composed of many 
and different elements is compound. If, then, we should speak of the 
qualities of being uncreate and without beginning and incorporeal and 
immortal and everlasting and good and creative and so forth as essential 
differences in the case of God, that which is composed of so many qualities 
will not be simple but must be compound. But this is impious in the 
extreme. Each then of the affirmations about God should be thought of as 
signifying not what He is in essence, but either something that it is 
impossible to make plain, or some relation to some of those things which 
are contrasts or some of those things that follow the nature, or an 
energy(9).

    It appears then(9a) that the most proper of all the names given to God 
is "He that is," as He Himself said in answer to Moses on  the mountain, 
Say to the sons of Israel, He that is hath sent Me(1). For He keeps all 
being in His own embrace(2), like a sea of essence infinite and unseen. Or 
as the holy Dionysius says, "He that is good(3)." For  one cannot say of 
God that He has being in the first place and goodness in the second.

    The second name of God is ho Theo's, derived from the'ein(4), to run, 
because He courses through all things, or from ai'thein, to burn: For God 
is a fire consuming all evils(5): or from thea^sthai, because He is all-
seeing(6): for nothing can escape Him, and over all He keepeth watch. For 
He saw all things before they were, holding them timelessly in His 
thoughts; and each one conformably to His voluntary anti timeless 
thought(7), which constitutes predetermination and image and pattern, comes 
into existence at the predetermined time(8).

    The first name then conveys the notion of His existence and of the 
nature of His existence: while the second contains the idea of energy. 
Further, the terms 'without beginning,' 'incorruptible,' 'unbegotten,' as 
also 'uncreate,' 'incorporeal,' 'unseen,' and so forth, explain what He is 
not: that is to say, they tell us that His being had no beginning, that He 
is not corruptible, nor created, nor corporeal, nor visible(9). Again, 
goodness and justice and piety and such like names belong to the nature(1), 
but do not explain His actual essence. Finally, Lord and King and names of 
that class indicate a relationship with their contrasts: for the name Lord 
has reference to those over whom the lord rules, and the name King to those 
under kingly authority, and the name Creator to the creatures, and the name 
Shepherd to the sheep he tends.

CHAPTER X.

Concerning divine union and separation.

    Therefore all these names must be understood as common to deity as a 
whole, and as containing the notions of sameness and simplicity and 
indivisibility and union: while the names Father, Son and Spirit, and 
cause, less and caused, and unbegotten and begotten, and procession contain 
the idea of separation: for these terms do not explain His essence, but the 
mutual relationship(2) and manner of existence(3).

    When, then, we have perceived these things and are conducted from these 
to the divine essence, we do not apprehend the essence itself but only the 
attributes of the essence: just as we have not apprehended the essence of 
the soul even when we have learnt that it is incorporeal and without 
magnitude and form: nor again, the essence of the body when we know that it 
is white or black, but only the attributes of the essence. Further, the 
true doctrine(4) teacheth that the Deity is simple and has one simple 
energy, good and energising in all things, just as the sun's ray, which 
warms all things and energises in each in harmony with its natural aptitude 
and receptive power, having obtained this form of energy from God, its 
Maker.

    But quite distinct is all that pertains to the divine and benignant 
incarnation of the divine Word. For in that neither the Father nor the 
Spirit have any part at all, unless so far as regards approval and the 
working of inexplicable miracles which the God-Word, having become man(5) 
like us, worked, as unchangeable God and son of God(6).

CHAPTER XI.

Concerning what is affirmed about God as though He had body.

    Since we find many terms used symbolically in the Scriptures concerning 
God which are more applicable to that which has body, we should recognise 
that it is quite impossible for us men clothed about with this dense 
covering of flesh to understand or speak of the divine and lofty and 
immaterial energies of the Godhead, except by the use of images and types 
and symbols derived from our own life(7). So then all the statements 
concerning God, that imply body, are symbols, but have a higher meaning: 
for the Deity is simple and formless. Hence by God's eyes and eyelids and 
sight we are to understand His power of overseeing all things and His 
knowledge, that nothing can escape: for in the case of us this sense makes 
our knowledge more complete and more full of certainty. By God's ears and 
hearing is meant His readiness to be propitiated and to receive our 
petitions: for it is this sense that renders us also kind to suppliants, 
inclining our ear to them more  graciously. God's mouth and speech are His 
means of indicating His will; for it is by the mouth and speech that we 
make clear the thoughts that are in the heart: God's food and drink are our 
concurrence to His will, for we, too, satisfy the necessities of our 
natural appetite through the sense of taste. And God's sense of smell is 
His appreciation of our thoughts of and good will towards Him, for it is 
through this sense that we appreciate sweet fragrance. And God's 
countenance is the demonstration and manifestation of Himself through His 
works, for our manifestation is through the countenance. And God's hands 
mean the effectual nature of His energy, for it is with our own hands that 
we accomplish our most useful and valuable work. And His right hand is His 
aid in prosperity, for it is the right hand that we also use when making 
anything of beautiful shape or of great value, or where much strength is 
required. His handling is His power of accurate discrimination and 
exaction, even in the minutest and most secret details, for those whom we 
have handled cannot conceal from us aught within themselves. His feet and 
walk are His advent and presence, either for the purpose of bringing 
succour to the needy, or vengeance against enemies, or to perform any other 
action, for it is by using our feet that we come to arrive at any place. 
His oath is the unchangeableness of His counsel, for it is by oath that we 
confirm our  compacts with one another. His anger and  fury are His hatred 
of and aversion to all wickedness, for we, too, hate that which is contrary 
to our mind and become enraged thereat(8). His forgetfulness and sleep and 
slumbering are His delay in taking vengeance on His enemies and the 
postponement of the accustomed help to His own. And to put it shortly, all 
the statements made about God that imply body have some hidden meaning and 
teach us what is above us by means of something familiar to ourselves, with 
the exception of any statement concerning the bodily sojourn of the God-
Word. For He for our safety took upon Himself the whole nature of man(9), 
the thinking spirit, the body, and all the properties of human nature, even 
the natural and blameless passions.

CHAPTER XII.

Concerning the Same.

    The following, then, are the mysteries which we have learned from the 
holy oracles, as the divine Dionysius the Areopagite said(1): that God is 
the cause and beginning of all: the essence of all that have essence: the 
life of the living: the reason of all rational beings: the intellect of all 
intelligent beings: the recalling and restoring of those who fall away from 
Him: the renovation and transformation of those that corrupt that which is 
natural: the holy foundation of those who are tossed in unholiness: the 
steadfastness of those who have stood firm: the way of those whose course 
is directed to Him and the hand stretched forth to guide them upwards. And 
I shall add He is also the Father of all His creatures (for God, Who 
brought us into being out of nothing, is in a stricter sense our Father 
than are our parents who have derived both being and begetting from 
Him(2)): the shepherd of those who follow and are tended by Him: the 
radiance of those who are enlightened: the initiation of the initiated: the 
deification of the deified: the peace of those at discord: the simplicity 
of those who love simplicity: the unity of those who worship unity: of all 
beginning the beginning, super-essential because above all beginnings: and 
the good revelation of what is hidden, that is, of the knowledge of Him so 
far as that is lawful for and attainable by each.

Further and more accurately concerning divine names(4).

    The Deity being incomprehensible is also assuredly nameless. Therefore 
since we know not His essence, let us not seek for a name for His essence. 
For names are explanations of actual things(5). But God, Who is good and 
brought us out of nothing into being that we might share in His goodness, 
and Who gave us the faculty of knowledge, not only did not impart to us His 
essence, but did not even grant us the knowledge of His essence. For it is 
impossible for nature to understand fully the supernatural(6). Moreover, if 
knowledge is of things that are(7), how can there be knowledge of the 
super-essential? Through His unspeakable goodness, then, it pleased Him to 
be called by names that we could understand, that we might not be 
altogether cut off from the knowlege of Him but should have some notion of 
Him, however vague. Inasmuch, then, as He is incomprehensible, He is also 
unnameable. But inasmuch as He is the cause of all and contains in Himself 
the reasons and causes of all that is, He receives names drawn from all 
that is, even from opposites: for example, He is called light and darkness, 
water and fire: in order that we may know that these are not of His essence 
but that He is super-essential and unnameable: but inasmuch as He is the 
cause of all, He receives names from all His effects.

    Wherefore, of the divine names, some have a negative signification, and 
indicate that He is super-essential(8): such are "non-essential(9)," 
"timeless," "without beginning," "invisible": not that God is inferior to 
anything or lacking in anything (for all things are His and have become 
from Him and through Him and endure in Him(9)), but that He is pre-
eminently separated from all that is. For He is not one of the things that 
are, but over all things. Some again have an affirmative signification, as 
indicating that He is the cause of all things. For as the cause of all that 
is and of all essence, He is called both Ens and Essence. And as the cause 
of all reason and wisdom, of the rational and the wise, He is called both 
reason and rational, and wisdom and wise. Similarly He is spoken of as 
Intellect and Intellectual, Life and Living, Power and Powerful, and so on 
with all the rest. Or rather those names are most appropriate to Him which 
are derived from what is most precious and most akin to Himself. That which 
is immaterial is more precious and more akin to Himself than that which is 
material, and the pure than the impure, and the holy than the unholy: for 
they have greater part in Him. So then, sun and light will be more apt 
names for Him than darkness, and day than night, and life than death, and 
fire and spirit and water, as having life, than earth, and above all, 
goodness than wickedness: which is just to say, being more than not being. 
For goodness is existence and the cause of existence, but wickedness is the 
negation of goodness, that is, of existence. These, then, are the 
affirmations and the negations, but the sweetest names are a combination of 
both: for example, the super-essential essence, the Godhead that is more 
than God, the beginning that is above beginning and such like. Further 
there are some affirmations about God which have in a pre-eminent degree 
the force of denial: for example, darkness: for this does not imply that 
God is darkness but that He is not light, but above light.

    God then is called Mind and Reason and Spirit and Wisdom and Power, as 
the cause of these, and as immaterial, and maker of all, and 
omnipotent(9b). And these names are common to the whole Godhead, whether 
affirmative or negative. And they are also used of each of the subsistences 
of the Holy Trinity in the very same and identical way and with their full 
significance(1). For when I think of one of the subsistences, I recognise 
it to be perfect God and perfect essence: but when I combine and reckon the 
three together, I know one perfect God. For the Godhead is not compound but 
in three perfect subsistences, one perfect indivisible and uncompound God. 
And when I think of the relation of the three subsistences to each other, I 
perceive that the Father is super-essential Sun, source of goodness, 
fathomless sea of essence, reason, wisdom, power, light, divinity: the 
generating and productive source of good hidden in it. He Himself then is 
mind, the depth of reason, begetter of the Word, and through the Word the 
Producer(2) of the revealing Spirit. And to put it shortly, the Father has 
no reason(3), wisdom, power, will(4), save the Son Who is the only power of 
the Father the immediate(5) cause of the creation of the universe: as 
perfect subsistence begotten of perfect subsistence in a manner known to 
Himself, Who is and is named the Son. And the Holy Spirit is the power of 
the Father revealing the hidden mysteries of His Divinity, proceeding from 
the Father through the Son in a manner known to Himself, but different from 
that of generation. Wherefore the Holy Spirit is the perfecter of the 
creation of the universe. All the terms, then, that are appropriate to the 
Father, as cause, source, begetter, are to be ascribed to the Father alone: 
while those that are appropriate to the caused, begotten Son, Word, 
immediate power, will, wisdom, are to be ascribed to the Son: and those 
that are appropriate to the caused, processional, manifesting, perfecting 
power, are to be ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Father is the source and 
cause of the Son and the Holy Spirit: Father of the Son alone and producer 
of the Holy Spirit. The Son is Son, Word, Wisdom, Power, Image, Effulgence, 
Impress of the Father and derived from the Father. But the Holy Spirit is 
not the Son of the Father but the Spirit of the Father as proceeding from 
the Father. For there is no impulse without Spirit. And we speak also of 
the Spirit of the Son, not as through proceeding from Him, but as 
proceeding through Him from the Father. For the Father alone is cause.

CHAPTER XIII.

Concerning the place of God: and that the Deity alone is uncircumscribed.

    Bodily place is the limit of that which contains, by which that which 
is contained is contained(6): for example, the air contains but the body is 
contained(7). But it is not the whole of the containing air which is the 
place of the contained body, but the limit of the containing air, where it 
comes into contact with the contained body: and the reason is clearly 
because that which contains is not within that which it contains.

    But there is also mental place where mind is active, and mental and 
incorporeal nature exists: where mind dwells and energises and is contained 
not in a bodily but in a mental fashion. For it is without form, and so 
cannot be contained as a body is. God, then, being immaterial(8) and 
uncircumscribed, has not place. For He is His own place, filling all things 
and being above all things, and Himself maintaining all things(9). Yet we 
speak of God having place and the place of God where His energy becomes 
manifest. For He penetrates everything without mixing with it, and imparts 
to all His energy in proportion to the fitness and receptive power of each: 
and by this I mean, a purity both natural and voluntary. For the immaterial 
is purer than the material, and that which is virtuous than that which is 
linked with vice. Wherefore by the place of God is meant that which has a 
greater share in His energy and grace. For this reason the Heaven is His 
throne. For in it are the angels who do His will and are always glorifying 
Him(1). For this is His rest and the earth is His footstool(2). For in it 
He dwelt in the flesh among men(3). And His sacred flesh has been named the 
foot of God. The Church, too, is spoken of as the place of God: for we have 
set this apart for the glorifying of God as a sort of consecrated place 
wherein we also hold converse with Him. Likewise also the places in which 
His energy becomes manifest to us, whether through the flesh or apart from 
flesh, are spoken of as the places of God.

    But it must be understood that the Deity is indivisible, being 
everywhere wholly in His entirety and not divided up part by part like that 
which has body, but wholly in everything and wholly above everything. Marg. 
MS. Concerning the place of angel and spirit, and concerning the 
uncircumscribed.

    The angel, although not contained in place with figured form as is 
body, yet is spoken  of as being in place because he has a mental presence 
and energises in accordance with his nature, and is not elsewhere but has 
his mental limitations there where he energises. For it is impossible to 
energise at the same time in different places. For to God alone belongs the 
power of energising everywhere at the same time. The angel energises in 
different places by the quickness of his nature and the promptness and 
speed by which he can change his place: but the Deity, Who is everywhere 
and above all, energises at the same time in diverse ways with one simple 
energy.

    Further the soul is bound up with the body. whole with whole and not 
part with part: and it is not contained by the body but contains it as fire 
does iron, and being in it energises with its own proper energies.

    That which is comprehended in place or time or apprehension is 
circumscribed: while that which is contained by none of these is 
uncircumscribed. Wherefore the Deity alone is uncircumscribed, being 
without beginning and without end, and containing all things, and in no 
wise apprehended(4). For He alone is incomprehensible and unbounded, within 
no one's knowledge and contemplated by Himself alone. But the angel is 
circumscribed alike in time (for His being had commencement) and in place 
(but mental space, as we said above) and in apprehension. For they know 
somehow the nature of each other and have their bounds perfectly defined by 
the Creator. Bodies in short are circumscribed both in beginning and end, 
and bodily place and apprehension.

Marg. MS. From various sources concerning God and the father, and the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. And concerning the Word and the Spirit.

    The Deity, then, is quite unchangeable and invariable. For all things 
which are not in our hands He hath predetermined by His foreknowledge, each 
in its own proper and  peculiar time and place. And accordingly the Father 
judgeth no one, but hath given all  judgment to the Son(5). For clearly the 
Father and the Son and also the Holy Spirit judged as God. But the Son 
Himself will descend in the body as man, and will sit on the throne of 
Glory (for descending and sitting require circumscribed body), and will 
judge all the world in justice.

    All things are far apart from God, not in place but in nature. In our 
case, thoughtfulness, and wisdom, and counsel come to pass and go away as 
states of being. Not so in the case of God: for with Him there is no 
happening or ceasing to be: for He is invariable and unchangeable: and it 
would not be right to speak of contingency in connection with Him. For 
goodness is concomitant with essence. He who longs alway after God, he 
seeth Him: for God is in all things. Existing things are dependent on that 
which is, and nothing can be unless it is in that which is. God then is 
mingled with everything, maintaining their nature: and in His holy flesh 
the God-Word is made one in subsistence and is mixed with our nature, yet 
without confusion.

No one seeth the Father, save the Son and the Spirit(6).

    The Son is the counsel and wisdom and power of the Father. For one may 
not speak of quality in connection with God, from fear of implying that He 
was a compound of essence and quality.

    The Son is from the Father, and derives from Him all His properties: 
hence He cannot do ought of Himself(7). For He has not energy peculiar to 
Himself and distinct from the Father(8).

    That God Who is invisible by nature is made visible by His energies, we 
perceive from the organisation and government of the world(9).

    The Son is the Father's image, and the Spirit the Son's, through which 
Christ dwelling in man makes him after his own image(1).

    The Holy Spirit is God, being between the unbegotten and the begotten, 
and united to the Father through the Son(2). We speak of the Spirit of God, 
the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the very 
Lord(3), the Spirit of adoption, of truth, of liberty, of wisdom (for He is 
the creator of all these): filling all things with essence, maintaining all 
things, filling the universe with essence, while yet the universe is not 
the measure of His power.

    God is everlasting and unchangeable essence, creator of all that is, 
adored with pious consideration.

    God is also Father, being ever unbegotten, for He was born of no one, 
but hath begotten His co-eternal Son: God is likewise Son, being always 
with the Father, born of the Father timelessly, everlastingly, without flux 
or passion, or separation from Him. God is also Holy Spirit, being 
sanctifying power, subsistential, proceeding from the Father without 
separation, and resting in the Son, identical in essence with Father and 
Son.

    Word is that which is ever essentially present with the Father. Again, 
word is also the natural movement of the mind, according to which it is 
moved and thinks and considers, being as it were its own light and 
radiance. Again, word is the thought that is spoken only within the heart. 
And again, word is the utterance(4) that is the messenger of thought. God 
therefore is Word(5) essential and enhypostatic: and the other three kinds 
of word are faculties of the soul, and are not contemplated as having a 
proper subsistence of their own. The first of these is the natural 
offspring of the mind, ever welling(6) up naturally out of it: the second 
is the thought: and the third is the utterance.

    The Spirit has various meanings. There is the Holy Spirit: but the 
powers of the Holy Spirit are also spoken of as spirits: the good messenger 
is also spirit: the demon also is spirit: the soul too is spirit: and 
sometimes mind also is spoken of as spirit. Finally the wind is spirit and 
the air is  spirit.

CHAPTER XIV.

The properties of the divine nature.

    Uncreate, without beginning, immortal, infinite, eternal, 
immaterial(7), good, creative, just, enlightening, immutable, passionless, 
uncircumscribed, immeasurable, unlimited, undefined, unseen, unthinkable, 
wanting in nothing, being His own rule and authority, all-ruling, life-
giving, omnipotent, of infinite power, con-raining and maintaining the 
universe and making provision for all: all these and such like attributes 
the Deity possesses by nature, not having received them from elsewhere, but 
Himself imparting all good to His own creations according to the capacity 
of each.

    The subsistences dwell and are established firmly in one another. For 
they are inseparable and cannot part from one another, but keep to their 
separate courses within one another, without coalescing or mingling, but 
cleaving to each other. For the Son is in the Father and the Spirit: and 
the Spirit in the Father and the Son: and the Father in the Son and the 
Spirit, but there is no coalescence or commingling or confusion(8)  And 
there is one and the same motion: for there is one impulse and one motion 
of the three subsistences, which is not to be observed in any created 
nature.

    Further the divine effulgence and energy, being one anti simple and 
indivisible, assuming many varied forms in its goodness among what is 
divisible and allotting to each the component parts of its own nature, 
still remains simple and is multiplied without division among the divided, 
and gathers and converts the divided into its own simplicity(9). For all 
things long after it and have their existence in it. It gives also to all 
things being according to their several natures(1), and it is itself the 
being of existing things, the life of living things, the reason of rational 
beings, the thought of thinking beings. But it is itself above mind and 
reason and life and essence.

    Further the divine nature has the property of penetrating all things 
without mixing with them and of being itself impenetrable by anything else. 
Moreover, there is the property of knowing all things with a simple 
knowledge and of seeing all things, simply with His divine, all-surveying, 
immaterial eye, both the things of the present, and the things of the past, 
and the things of the future, before they come into being(2). It is also 
sinless, and can cast sin out, and bring salvation: and all that it wills, 
it can accomplish, but does not will all it could accomplish. For it could 
destroy the universe but it does not will so to do(3).


BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

Concerning aeon or age.

    HE created the ages Who Himself was. before the ages, Whom the divine 
David thus addresses, From age to age Than art(1). The divine apostle also 
says, Through Whom He created the ages(2).

    It must then be understood that the word age has various meanings, for 
it denotes many things. The life of each man is called an age. Again, a 
period of a thousand years is called an age(3). Again, the whole course of 
the present life is called an age: also the future life, the immortal life 
after the resurrection(4), is spoken of as an age. Again, the word age is 
used to denote, not time nor yet a part of time as measured by the movement 
and course of the sun, that is to say, composed of days and nights, but the 
sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with eternity(5). 
For age is to things eternal just what time is to things temporal.

    Seven ages(6) of this world are spoken of, that is, from the creation 
of the heaven and earth till the general consummation and resurrection of 
men. For there is a partial consummation, viz., the death of each man: but 
there is also a general and complete consummation, when the general 
resurrection of men will come to pass. And the eighth age is the age to 
come.

    Before the world was formed, when there was as yet no sun dividing day 
from night, there was not an age such as could be measured(7), but there 
was the sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with 
eternity. And in this sense there is but one age, and God is spoken of as 
aiw'nios(8) and proaiw'nios, for the age or aeon itself is His creation. 
For God, Who alone is without beginning, is Himself the Creator of all 
things, whether age or any other existing thing. And when I say God, it is 
evident that I mean the Father and His Only. begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus 
Christ, and His all-holy Spirit, our one God.

    But we speak also of ages of ages, inasmuch as the seven ages of the 
present world include many ages in the sense of lives of men, and the one 
age embraces all the ages, and the present and  the future are spoken of as 
age of age. Further, everlasting (i.e. aiw'nios) life and everlasting 
punishment prove that the age or neon to come is unending(9). For time will 
not be counted by days and nights even after the resurrection, but there 
will rather be one day with no evening, wherein the Sun of Justice will 
shine brightly on the just, but for the sinful there will be night profound 
and limitless. In what way then will the period of one thousand years be 
counted which, according to Origen(1), is required for the complete 
restoration? Of all the ages, therefore, the sole creator is God Who hath 
also created the universe and Who was before the ages.

CHAPTER II.

Concerning the creation.

    Since, then, God, Who is good and more than good, did not find 
satisfaction in self-contemplation, but in fits exceeding goodness wished 
certain things to come into existence which would enjoy His benefits and 
share in His goodness, He brought all things out of nothing into being and 
created them, both what is invisible and what is visible. Yea, even man, 
who is a compound of the visible and the invisible. And it is by thought 
that He creates, and thought is the basis of the work, the Word filling it 
and the Spirit perfecting it(2).

CHAPTER III

Concerning angels.

    He is Himself the Maker and Creator of the angels: for He brought them 
out of nothing into being and created them after His own image, an 
incorporeal race, a sort of spirit or immaterial fire: in the words of the 
divine David, He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of 
fire(3): and He has described their lightness and the ardour, and heat, and 
keenness and sharpness with which they hunger for God and serve Him, and 
how they are borne to the regions above and are quite delivered from all 
material thought(4).

    An angel, then, is an intelligent essence, in perpetual motion, with 
free-will, incorporeal, ministering to God, having obtained by grace an 
immortal nature: and the Creator alone knows the form and limitation of its 
essence. But all that we can understand is, that it is incorporeal and 
immaterial. For all that is compared with God Who alone is incomparable, we 
find to be dense and material. For in reality only the Deity is immaterial 
and incorporeal.

    The angel's nature then is rational, and intelligent, and endowed with 
free-will, change. able in will, or fickle. For all that is created is 
changeable, and only that which is un-created is unchangeable. Also all 
that is rational is endowed with free-will. As it is, then, rational and 
intelligent, it is endowed with free-will: and as it is created, it is 
changeable, having power either to abide or progress in goodness, or to 
turn towards evil.

    It is not susceptible of repentance because it is incorporeal. For it 
is owing to the weakness of his body that man comes to have repentance.

    It is immortal, not by natures but by grace(6). For all that has had 
beginning comes also to its natural end. But God alone is eternal, or 
rather, He is above the Eternal: for He, the Creator of times, is not under 
the dominion of time, but above time.

    They are secondary intelligent lights derived from that first light 
which is without beginning, for they have the power of illumination; they 
have no need of tongue or hearing, but without uttering words(7) they 
communicate to each other their own thoughts and counsels(8).

    Through the Word, therefore, all the angels were created, and through 
the sanctification by the Holy Spirit were they brought to perfection, 
sharing each in proportion to his worth and rank in brightness and 
grace(9).

    They are circumscribed: for when they are in the Heaven they are not on 
the earth: and when they are sent by God down to the earth they do not 
remain in the Heaven. They are not hemmed in by walls and doors, and bars 
and seals, for they are quite unlimited. Unlimited, I repeat, for it is not 
as they really are that they reveal themselves to the worthy men(1) to whom 
God wishes them to appear, but in a changed form which the beholders are 
capable of seeing. For that alone is naturally and strictly unlimited which 
is uncreated. For every created thing is limited by God Who created it.

    Further, apart from their essence they receive the sanctification from 
the Spirit: through the divine grace they prophesy(2): they have no need of 
marriage for they are immortal.

    Seeing that they are minds they are in mental places(3), and are not 
circumscribed after the fashion of a body. For they have not a bodily form 
by nature, nor are they tended in three dimensions. But to whatever post 
they may be assigned, there they are present after the manner of a mind and 
energise, and cannot be present and energise in various places at the same 
time.

    Whether they are equals in essence or differ from one another we know 
not. God, their Creator, Who knoweth all things, alone knoweth. But they 
differ(4) from each other in brightness and position, whether it is that 
their position is dependent on their brightness, or their brightness on 
their position: and they impart brightness to one another, because they 
excel one another in rank and nature(5). And clearly the higher share their 
brightness and knowledge with the lower.

    They are mighty and prompt to fulfil the will of the Deity, and their 
nature is endowed with such celerity that wherever the Divine glance bids 
them there they are straightway found. They are the guardians of the 
divisions of the earth: they are set over nations and regions, allotted to 
them by their Creator: they govern all our affairs and bring us succour. 
And the reason surely is because they are set over us by the divine will 
and command and are ever in the vicinity of God(6).

    With difficulty they are moved to evil, yet they are not absolutely 
immoveable: but now they are altogether immoveable, not by nature but by 
grace and by their nearness to the Only Good(7).

    They behold God according to their capacity, and this is their food(8).

    They are above us for they are incorporeal, and are free of all bodily 
passion, yet are not passionless: for the Deity alone is passionless.

    They take different forms at the bidding of their Master, God, and thus 
reveal themselves to men and unveil the divine mysteries to them.

    They have Heaven for their dwelling-place, and have one duty, to sing 
God's praise and carry out His divine will.

    Moreover, as that most holy, and sacred, and gifted theologian, 
Dionysius the Areopagite(9), says, All theology, that is to say, the holy 
Scripture, has nine different names for the heavenly essences(1). These 
essences that divine master in sacred things divides into three groups, 
each containing three. And the first  group, he says, consists of those who 
are in God's presence and are said to be directly and immediately one with 
Him, viz., the Seraphim with their six wings, the many-eyed Cherubim and 
those that sit in the holiest thrones. The second group is that of the 
Dominions, and the Powers, and the Authorities; and the third, and last, is 
that of the Rulers and Archangels and Angels

    Some, indeed(2), like Gregory the Theologian, say that these were 
before the creation of other things. He thinks that the angelic and 
heavenly powers were first and that thought was their function(3). Others, 
again, hold that they were created after the first heaven was made. But all 
are agreed that it was before the foundation of man. For myself, I am in 
harmony with the theologian. For it was fitting that the mental essence 
should be the first created, and then that which can be perceived, and 
finally man himself, in whose being both parts are united.

    But those who say that the angels are creators of any kind of essence 
whatever are the mouth of their father, the devil. For since they are 
created things they are not creators. But He Who creates and provides for 
and maintains all things is God, Who alone is uncreate and is praised and 
glorified in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the devil and demons.

    He who from among these angelic powers was set over(4) the earthly 
realm, and into whose hands God committed the guardianship of the earth, 
was not made wicked in nature but was good, and made for good ends, and 
received from his Creator no trace whatever of evil in  himself. But he did 
not sustain the brightness and the honour which the Creator had bestowed(5) 
on him, and of his free choice was changed from what was in harmony to what 
was at variance with his nature, and became roused against God Who created 
him, and determined to rise in rebellion against Him(6): and he was the 
first to depart from good and become evil(7). For evil is nothing else than 
absence of goodness, just as darkness also is absence of light. For 
goodness is the light of the mind, and, similarly, evil is the darkness of 
the mind. Light, therefore, being the work of the Creator and being made 
good (for God saw all that He made, and behold they were exceeding good(8)) 
produced darkness at His free-will. But  along with him an innumerable host 
of angels subject to him were torn away and followed him and shared in his 
fall. Wherefore, being of the same nature(9) as the angels, they became 
wicked, turning away at their own free choice from good to evil(1)

    Hence they have no power or strength against any one except what God in 
His dispensation hath conceded to them, as for instance, against Job(2) and 
those swine that are mentioned in the Gospels(3). But when God has made the 
concession they do prevail, and are changed and transformed into any form 
whatever in which they wish to appear.

    Of the future both the angels of God and the demons are alike ignorant: 
yet they make predictions. God reveals the future to the angels and 
commands them to prophesy, and so what they say comes to pass. But the 
demons also make predictions, sometimes because they see what is happening 
at a distance, and sometimes merely making guesses: hence much that they 
say is false and they should not be believed, even although they do often, 
in the way we have said, tell what is true. Besides they know the 
Scriptures.

    All wickedness, then, and all impure passions are the work of their 
mind. But while the liberty to attack man has been granted to them, they 
have not the strength to over master any one: for we have it in our power 
to receive or not to receive the attack(4). Wherefore there has been 
prepared for the devil and his demons, and those who follow him, fire 
unquenchable and everlasting punishment(5).

    Note, further, that what in the case of man is death is a fall in the 
case of angels. For after the fall there is no possibility of repentance 
for them, just as after death there is for men no repentance(6).

CHAPTER V.

Concerning the visible creation.

    Our God Himself, Whom we glorify as Three in One, created the heaven 
and the earth and all that they contain(7), and brought all things out of 
nothing into being: some He made out of no pre-existing basis of matter, 
such as heaven, earth, air, fire, water: and the rest out of these elements 
that He had created, such as living creatures, plants, seeds. For these are 
made up of earth, and water, and air, and fire, at the bidding of the 
Creator.

CHAPTER VI.

Concerning the Heaven.

    The heaven is the circumference of things created, both visible and 
invisible. For within its boundary are included and marked off both the 
mental faculties of the angels and all the world of sense. But the Deity 
alone is uncircumscribed, filling all things, and surrounding all things, 
and hounding all things, for He is above all things, and has created all 
things.

    Since(8), therefore, the Scripture speaks of heaven, and heaven of 
heaven(9), and heavens of heavens(1), and the blessed Paul says that he was 
snatched away to the third heaven(2), we say that in the cosmogony of the 
universe we accept the creation of a heaven which the foreign philosophers, 
appropriating the views of Moses, call a starless sphere. But further, God 
called the firmament also heaven(3), which He commanded to be in the midst 
of the waters, setting it to divide the waters that are above the firmament 
from the waters that are below the firmament. And its nature, according to 
the divine Basilius(4), who is versed in the mysteries of divine Scripture, 
is delicate as smoke. Others, however, hold that it is watery in nature, 
since it is set in the midst of the waters: others say it is composed of 
the four elements: and lastly, others speak of it as a filth body, distinct 
from the four elements(5).

    Further, some have thought that the heaven encircles the universe and 
has the form of a sphere, and that everywhere it is the highest point, and 
that the centre of the space enclosed by it is the lowest part: and, 
further, that those bodies that are light and airy are allotted by the 
Creator the upper region: while those that are heavy and tend to descend 
occupy the lower region, which is the middle. The element, then, that is 
lightest and most inclined to soar upwards is fire, and hence they hold 
that its position is immediately after the heaven, and they call it ether, 
and after it comes the lower air. But earth and water, which are heavier 
and have more of a downward tendency, are suspended in the centre. 
Therefore, taking them in the reverse order, we have in the lowest 
situation earth and water: but water is lighter than earth, and hence is 
more easily set in motion: above these on all hands, like a covering; is 
the circle of air, and all round the air is the circle of ether, and 
outside air is the circle of the heaven.

    Further, they say that the heaven moves in a circle and so compresses 
all that is within it, that they remain firm and not liable to fall 
asunder.

    They say also that there are seven zones of the heaven(6), one higher 
than the other. And its nature, they say, is of extreme fineness, like that 
of smoke, and each zone contains one of the planets. For there are said to 
be seven planets: Sol, Luna, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus and Saturn. But 
sometimes Venus is called Lucifer and sometimes Vesper. These are called 
planets because their movements are the reverse of those of the heaven. For 
while the heaven and all other stars move from east to west, these alone 
move from west to east. And this can easily be seen in the case of the 
moon, which moves each evening a little backwards.

    All, therefore, who hold that the heaven is in the form of a sphere, 
say that it is equally removed and distant from the earth at all points, 
whether above, or sideways, or below. And by 'below' and ' sideways' I mean 
all that comes within the range of our senses. For it follows from what has 
been said, that the heaven occupies the whole of the upper region and the 
earth the whole of the lower. They say, besides, that the heaven encircles 
the earth in the manner of a sphere, and bears along with it in its most 
rapid revolutions sun, moon and stars, and that when the sun is over the 
earth it becomes day there, and when it is under the earth it is night. 
And, again, when the sun goes under the earth it is night here, but day 
yonder.

    Others have pictured the heaven as a hemisphere. This idea is suggested 
by these words of David, the singer of God, Who stretchest out the heavens 
like a curtain(7), by which word he clearly means a tent: and by these from 
the blessed Isaiah, Who hath established the heavens like a vault(8): and 
also because when the sun, moon, and stars set they make a circuit round 
the earth from west to north, and so reach once more the east(9). Still, 
whether it is this way or that, all things have been made and established 
by the divine command, and have the divine will and counsel for a 
foundation that cannot be moved. For He Himself spoke and they were made: 
He Himself commanded and they were created. He hath also established them 
for ever and ever: He hath made a decree which will not pass(1).

    The heaven of heaven, then, is the first heaven which is above the 
firmament(2). So here we have two heavens, for God called the firmament 
also Heaven(3). And it is customary in the divine Scripture to speak of the 
air also as heavens, because we see it above us. Bless Him, it says, all ye 
birds of the heaven, meaning of the air. For it is the air and not the 
heaven that is the region in which birds fly. So here we have three 
heavens, as the divine Apostle said(4). But if you should wish to look upon 
the seven zones as seven heavens there is no injury done to the word of 
truth. For it is usual in the Hebrew tongue to speak of heaven in the 
plural, that is, as heavens, and when a Hebrew wishes to say heaven of 
heaven, he usually says heavens of heavens, and this clearly means heaven 
of heaven(5), which is above the firmament, and the waters which are above 
the heavens, whether it is the air and the firmament, or the seven zones of 
the firmament, or the firmament itself which are spoken of in the plural as 
heavens according to the Hebrew custom.

    All things, then, which are brought into existence are subject to 
corruption according   to the law of their nature(6), and so even the 
heavens themselves are corruptible. But by the grace of God they are 
maintained and preserved(7). Only the Deity, however, is by nature without 
beginning and without end(8). Wherefore it has been said, They will perish, 
but Thou dost endure(1): nevertheless, the heavens will not be utterly 
destroyed. For they will wax old and be wound round as a covering, and will 
be changed, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth(2).

    For the great part the heaven is greater than the earth, but we need 
not investigate the essence of the heaven, for it is quite beyond our 
knowledge.

    It must not be supposed that the heavens or the luminaries are endowed 
with life(3). For they are inanimate and insensible(4). So that when the 
divine Scripture saith, Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad(5), 
it is the angels in heaven and the men on earth that are invited to 
rejoice. For the Scripture is familiar with the figure of personification, 
and is wont to speak of inanimate things as though they were animate: for 
example(6), The sea saw it and fled: Jordan was driven back(7). And again, 
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou, O Jordan, that thou 
was driven back(8)? Mountains, too, and hills are asked the reason of their 
leaping in the same way as we are wont to say, the city was gathered 
together, when we do not mean the buildings, but the inhabitants of the 
city: again, the heavens declare the glory of God(9), does not mean that 
they send forth a voice that can be heard by bodily ears, but that from 
their own greatness they bring before our minds the power of the Creator: 
and when we contemplate their beauty we praise the Maker as the Master-
Craftsman(1).

CHAPTER VII.

Concerning light, fire, the luminaries, sun, moon and stars.

    Fire is one of the four elements, light and with a greater tendency to 
ascend than the others. It has the power of burning and also of giving 
light, and it was made by the Creator on the first day. For the divine 
Scripture says, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light(2). 
Fire is not a different thing from what light is, as some maintain. Others 
again hold that this fire of the universe is above the air(3) and call it 
ether. In the beginning, then, that is to say on the first day, God created 
light, the ornament and glory of the whole visible creation. For take away 
light and all things remain in undistinguishable darkness, incapable of 
displaying their native beauty. And God called the light day, but the 
darkness He called night(4). Further, darkness is not any essence, but an 
accident: for it is simply absence of light. The air, indeed, has not light 
in its essence(5). It was, then, this very absence of light from the air 
that God called darkness: and it is not the essence of air that is 
darkness, but the absence of light which clearly is rather an accident than 
an essence. And, indeed, it was not night, but day, that was first named, 
so that day is first and after that comes night. Night, therefore, follows 
day. And from the beginning of day till the next day is one complete period 
of day and night. For the Scripture says, And the evening and the morning 
were one day(6).

    When, therefore, in the first three days the light was poured forth and 
reduced at the divine command, both day and night came to pass(7). But on 
the fourth day God created the great luminary, that is, the sun, to have 
rule and authority(8) over the day: for it is by it that day is made: for 
it is day when the sun is above the earth, and the duration of a day is the 
course of the sun over the earth from its rising till its setting. And He 
also created the lesser luminaries, that is, the moon and the stars, to 
have rule and authority(1) over the night, and to give light by night. For 
it is night when the sun is under the earth, and the duration of night is 
the course of the sun under the earth from its rising till its setting. The 
moon, then, and the stars were set to lighten the night: not that they are 
in the daytime under the earth, for even by day stars are in the heaven 
over the earth but the sun conceals both the stars and the moon by the 
greater brilliance of its light and prevents them from being seen.

    On these luminaries the Creator bestowed the first-created light: not 
because He was in need of other light, but that that light might not remain 
idle. For a luminary is not merely light, but a vessel for containing 
light(2).

    There are, we are told, seven planets amongst these luminaries, and 
these move in a direction opposite to that of the heaven: hence the name 
planets. For, while they say that the heaven moves from east to west, the 
planets move from west to east; but the heaven bears the seven planets 
along with it by its swifter motion. Now these are the names of the seven 
planets: Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and in each zone 
of heaven is, we are told, one of these seven planets:

In the first and highest: Saturn [symbol]

In the second: Jupiter [ symbol]

In the third: Mars [symbol]

In the fourth: Sol [symbol]

In the fifth: Venus [symbol]

In the sixth: Mercury [symbol]

In the seventh and lowest: Luna [symbol]

    The course which the Creator(3) appointed for them to run is unceasing 
and remaineth fixed as He established them. For the divine David says, The 
moan and the stars which Thou establishedst(4), and by the word 
'establishedst,' he referred to the fixity and unchangeableness of the 
order and series granted to them by God. For He appointed them for seasons, 
and signs, and days and years. It is through the Sun that the four seasons 
are brought about. And the first of these is spring: for in it God created 
all things(5), and even down to the present time its presence is evidenced 
by the bursting of the flowers into bud, and this is the equinoctial 
period, since day and night each consist of twelve hours. It is caused by 
the sun rising in the middle, and is mild and increases the blood, and is 
warm and moist, and holds a position midway between winter and summer, 
being warmer and drier than winter, but colder and moister than summer. 
This season lasts from March 21st till  June 24th. Next, when the rising of 
the sun moves towards more northerly parts, the season of summer succeeds, 
which has a place midway between spring and autumn, combining the warmth of 
spring with the dryness of autumn: for it is dry and warm, and increases 
the yellow bile. In it falls the longest day, which has fifteen hours, and 
the shortest night of all, having only nine hours. This season lasts from 
June 24th till September 25th. Then when the sun again returns to the 
middle, autumn takes the place of summer. It has a medium amount of cold 
and heat, dryness and moisture, and holds a place midway between summer and 
winter, combining the dryness of summer with the cold of winter. For it is 
cold and dry, and increases the black bile. This season, again, is 
equinoctial, both day and night consisting of twelve hours, and it lasts 
from September 25th till December 25th. And when the rising of the sun 
sinks to its smallest and lowest point, i.e. the south, winter is reached, 
with its cold and moisture. It occupies a place midway between autumn and 
spring, combining the cold of autumn and the moisture of spring. In it 
falls the shortest day, which has only nine hours, and the longest night, 
which has fifteen: and it lasts from December 25th till March 21st. For the 
Creator made this wise provision that we should not pass from the extreme 
of cold, or heat, or dryness, or moisture, to the opposite extreme, and 
thus incur grievous maladies. For reason itself teaches us the danger of 
sudden changes.

    So, then, it is the sun that makes the seasons, and through them the 
year: it likewise makes the days and nights, the days when it rises and is 
above the earth, and the nights when it sets below the earth: and it 
bestows on the other luminaries, both moon and stars, their power of giving 
forth light.

    Further, they say that there are in the heaven twelve signs made by the 
stars, and that these move in an opposite direction to the sun and moon, 
and the other five planets, and that the seven planets pass across these 
twelve signs. Further, the sun makes a complete month in each sign and 
traverses the twelve signs in the same number of months. These, then, are 
the names of the twelve signs and their respective months:--

The Ram, which receives the sun on the 21st of March.

The Bull, on the 23rd of April.

The Twins, on the 24th of May.

The Crab, on the 24th of June.

The Virgin, on the 25th of July.

The Scales, on the 25th of September.

The Scorpion, on the 25th of October.

The Archer, on the 25th of November.

Capricorn, on the 25th of December.

Aquarius, on the 25th of January.

The Fish, on the 24th of February.

    But the moon traverses the twelve signs each month, since it occupies a 
lower position and travels through the signs at a quicker rate. For if you 
draw one circle within another, the inner one will be found to be the 
lesser: and so it is that owing to the moon occupying a lower position its 
course is shorter and is sooner completed

    Now the Greeks declare that all our affairs are controlled by the 
rising and setting and collision(6) of these stars, viz., the sun and moon: 
for it is with these matters that astrology has to do. But we hold that we 
get from them signs of rain and drought, cold and heat, moisture and 
dryness, and of the various winds, and so forth(7), but no sign whatever as 
to our actions. For we have been created with free wills by our Creator and 
are masters over our own actions. Indeed, if all our actions depend on the 
courses of the stars, all we do is done of necessity(8): and necessity 
precludes either virtue or vice. But if we possess neither virtue nor vice, 
we do not deserve praise or punishment, and God, too, will turn out to be 
unjust, since He gives good things to some and afflicts others. Nay, He 
will no longer continue to guide or provide for His own creatures, if all 
things are carried and swept along in the grip of necessity. And the 
faculty of reason will be superfluous to us: for if we are not masters of 
any of our actions, deliberation is quite superfluous. Reason, indeed, is 
granted to us solely that we might take counsel, and hence all reason 
implies freedom of will.

    And, therefore, we hold that the stars are not the causes of the things 
that occur, nor of the origin of things that come to pass, nor of the 
destruction of those things that perish. They are rather signs of showers 
and changes of air. But, perhaps, some one may say that though they are not 
the causes of wars, yet they are signs of them. And, in truth, the quality 
of the air which is produced(1) by sun, and moon, and stars, produces in 
various ways different temperaments, and habits, and dispositions(2). But 
the habits are amongst the things that  we have in our own hands, for it is 
reason that rules, and directs, and changes them.

    It often happens, also, that comets arise. These are signs of the death 
of kings(3), and they are not any of the stars that were made in the 
beginning, but are formed at the same tithe by divine command and again 
dissolved(4). And so not even that star which the Magi saw at the birth of 
the Friend and Saviour of man, our Lord, Who became flesh for our sake, is 
of the number of those that were made in the beginning. And this is 
evidently the case because sometimes its course was from east to west, and 
sometimes from north to south; at one moment it was hidden, and at the next 
it was revealed: which is quite out of harmony with the order and nature of 
the stars.

    It must be understood, then, that the moon derives its light from the 
sun; not that God was unable to grant it light of its own, but in order 
that rhythm and order may be unimpressed upon nature, one part ruling, the 
other being ruled, and that we might thus be taught to live in community 
and to share our possessions with one another, and to be under subjection, 
first to our Maker and Creator, our God and Master, and then also to the 
rulers set in authority over us by Him: and not to question why this man is 
ruler and not I myself, but to welcome all that  comes from God in a 
gracious and reasonable spirit.

    The sun and the moon, moreover, suffer eclipse, and this demonstrates 
the folly of those who worship the creature in place of the Creator(5), and 
teaches us how changeable and alterable all things are For all things are 
changeable save God, and whatever is changeable is liable to corruption in 
accordance with the laws of its own nature.

    Now the cause of the eclipse of the sun is that the body of the moon is 
interposed like a partition-wall and casts a shadow, and prevents the light 
from being shed down on us(6): and the extent of the eclipse is 
proportional to the size of the moon's body that is found to conceal the 
sun. But do not marvel that the moon's body is the smaller. For many 
declare that the sun is many times larger even than the earth, and the holy 
Fathers say that it is equal to the earth: yet often a small cloud, or even 
a small hill or a wall quite conceals it.

    The eclipse of the moon, on the other hand, is due to the shadow the 
earth casts on it when it is a fifteen days' moon and the sun and moon 
happen to be at the opposite poles of the highest circle, the sun being 
under the earth and the moon above the earth. For the earth casts a shadow 
and the sun's light is prevented from illuminating the moon, and therefore 
it is then eclipsed.

    It should be understood that the moon was made full by the Creator, 
that is, a fifteen days' moon: for it was fitting that it should be made 
complete(7). But on the fourth day, as we said, the sun was created. 
Therefore the moon was eleven days in advance of the sun, because from the 
fourth to the fifteenth day there are eleven days. Hence it happens that in 
each year the twelve months of the moon contain eleven days fewer than the 
twelve months of the sun. For the twelve months of the sun contain three 
hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days, and so because the quarter 
becomes a whole, in four years an extra day is completed, which is called 
bissextile. And that year has three hundred and sixty-six days. The years 
of the moon, on the other hand, have three hundred and fifty-four days. For 
the moon wanes from the time of its origin, or renewal, till it is fourteen 
and three-quarter days' old, and proceeds to wane till the twenty-ninth and 
a half day, when it is completely void of light And then when it is once 
more connected with the sun it is reproduced and renewed, a memorial of our 
resurrection. Thus in each year the moon gives away eleven days to the sun, 
and so in three years the intercalary month of the Hebrews arises, and that 
year comes to consist of thirteen months, owing to the addition of these 
eleven days(8).

    It is evident that both sun and moon and stars are compound and liable 
to corruption according to the laws of their various natures. But of their 
nature we are ignorant. Some, indeed, say that fire when deprived of matter 
is invisible, and thus, that when it is quenched it vanishes altogether. 
Others, again, say that when it is quenched it is transformed into air(9).

    The circle of the zodiac has an oblique motion and is divided into 
twelve sections called zodia, or signs: each sign has three divisions of 
ten each, i.e. thirty divisions, and each division has sixty very minute 
subdivisions. The heaven, therefore, has three hundred and sixty-five 
degrees: the hemisphere above the earth and that below the earth each 
having one hundred and eighty degrees.

The abodes of the planets.

    The Ram and the Scorpion are the abode of Mars: the Bull and the 
Scales, of Venus(1): the Twins and the Virgin, of Mercury: the Crab, of the 
Moon: the Lion, of the Sun: the Archer and the Fish, of Jupiter: Capricorn 
and Aquarius, of Saturn.

Their altitudes.

    The Ram has the altitude of the Sun: the Bull, of the Moon: the Crab, 
of Jupiter: the Virgin, of Mars: the Scales, of Saturn: Capricorn, of 
Mercury: the Fish, of Venus.

The phases of the moon.

    It is in conjunction whenever it is in the same degree as the sun: it 
is born when it is fifteen degrees distant from the sun: it rises when it 
is crescent-shaped, and this occurs twice(2), at which times it is sixty 
degrees distant from the sun: it is half-full twice, when it is ninety 
degrees from the sun: twice it is gibbous, when it is one hundred and 
twenty degrees from the sun: it is twice a full moon, giving full light, 
when it is a hundred and fifty degrees from the sun: it is a complete moon 
when it is a hundred and eighty degrees distant from the sun. We say twice, 
because these phases occur both when the moon waxes and when it wanes. In 
two and a half days the moon traverses each sign.

CHAPTER VIII.

Concerning air and winds.

    Air is the most subtle element, and is moist and warm: heavier, indeed, 
than fire: but lighter than earth and water: it is the cause of respiration 
and voice: it is colourless, that is, it has no colour by nature: it is 
clear and transparent, for it is capable of receiving light: it ministers 
to three of our senses, for it is by its aid that we see, hear and smell: 
it has the power likewise of receiving heat and cold, dryness and moisture, 
and its movements in space are up, down, within, without, to the right and 
to the left, and the cyclical movement.

    It does not derive its light from itself, but is illuminated by sun, 
and moon, and stars, and fire. And this is just what the Scripture means 
when it says, And darkeness was upon the deep(3); for its object is to shew 
that the air has not derived its light from itself, but that it is quite a 
different essence from light.

    And wind is a movement of air: or wind is a rush of air which changes 
its name as it changes the place whence it rushes(4).

    Its place is in the air. For place is the circumference of a body. But 
what is it that surrounds bodies but air? There are, moreover, different 
places in which the movement of air originates, and from these the winds 
get their names. There are in all twelve winds. It is said that air is just 
fire after it has been extinguished, or the vapour of heated water. At all 
events, in its own special nature the air is warm, but it becomes cold 
owing to the proximity of water and earth, so that the lower parts of it 
are cold, and the higher warm(5).

    These then are the winds(6): Caecias, or Meses, arises in the region 
where the sun rises in summer. Subsolanus, where the sun rises at the 
equinoxes. Eurus, where it rises in winter. Africus, where it sets in 
winter. Favonius, where it sets at the equinoxes, and Corns, or Olympias, 
or Iapyx, where it sets in summer. Then come Auster and Aquilo, whose 
blasts oppose one another. Between Aquilo and Caecias comes Boreas: and 
tween Eurus and Auster, Phoenix or Euronotus; between Auster and Africus, 
Libonotus or Leucouotus: and lastly, between Aquilo and Corus, Thrascias, 
or Cercius, as it is called by the inhabitants of that region.

    [These(7), then, are the races which dwell at the ends of the world: 
beside Subsolanus are the Bactriani: beside Eurus, the Indians: beside 
Phoenix, the Red Sea and Ethiopia: beside Libonotus, the Garamantes, who 
are beyond Systis: beside Africus, the Ethiopians and the Western Mauri: 
beside Favonius, the columns of Hercules and the beginnings of Libya and 
Europe: beside Corus, Iberia, which is now called Spain: beside Thrascia, 
the Gauls and the neighbouring nations: beside Aquilo, the Scythians who 
are beyond Thrace: beside Boreas, Pontus, Maeotis and the Sarmatae: beside 
Caecias, the Caspian Sea and the Sacai.]

CHAPTER IX.

Concerning the waters.

    Water also is one of the four elements, the most beautiful of God's 
creations. It is both wet and cold, heavy, and with a tendency to descend, 
and flows with great readiness. It is this the Holy Scripture has in view 
when it says, And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters(8). For the deep is nothing else than 
a huge quantity of water whose limit man cannot comprehend. In the 
beginning, indeed, the water lay all over the surface of the earth. And 
first God created the firmament to divide the water above the firmament 
from the water below the firmament. For in the midst of the sea of waters 
the firmament was established at the Master's decree. And out of it God 
bade the firmament arise, and it arose. Now for what reason was it that God 
placed water above the firmament? It was because of the intense burning 
heat of the sun and ether(1). For immediately under the firmament is spread 
out the ether(2), and the sun and moon and stars are in the firmament, and 
so if water had not been put above it the firmament would have been 
consumed by the heat(3).

    Next, God bade the waters be gathered together into one mass(4). But 
when the Scripture speaks of one mass it evidently does not mean that they 
were gathered together into one place: for immediately it goes on to say, 
And the gatherings of the waters He called seas(5): but the words signify 
that the waters were separated off in a body from the earth into distinct 
groups. Thus the waters were gathered together into their special 
collections and the dry land was brought to view. And hence arose the two 
seas that surround Egypt, for it lies between two seas. These collections 
contain(6) various seas and mountains, and islands, and promontories, and 
harbours, and surround various bays and beaches, and coastlands. For the 
word beach is used when the nature of the tract is sandy, while coastland 
signifies that it is rocky and deep close into shore, getting deep all on a 
sudden In like manner arose also the sea that lies where the sun rises, the 
name of which is the Indian Sea: also the northern sea called the Caspian. 
The lakes also were formed in the same manner.

    The ocean, then, is like a river encircling the whole earth, and I 
think it is concerning it that the divine Scripture says, A river went ant 
of Paradise(7). The water of the ocean is sweet and potable(8). It is it 
that furnishes the seas with water which, because it stays a long time in 
the seas and stands unmoved, becomes bitter: for the sun and the 
waterspouts draw up always the finer parts. Thus it is that clouds are 
formed and showers take place, because the filtration makes the water 
sweet.

    This is parted into four first divisions, that is to say, into four 
rivers. The name of the first is Pheison, which is the Indian Ganges; the 
name of the second is Geon, which is the Nile flowing from Ethiopia down to 
Egypt: the name of the third is Tigris, and the name of the fourth is 
Euphrates. There are also very many other mighty rivers of which some empty 
themselves into the sea and others are used up in the earth. Thus the whole 
earth is bored through and mined, and has, so to speak, certain veins 
through which it sends up in springs the water it has received from the 
sea. The water of the spring thus depends for its character on the quality 
of the earth. For the sea water is filtered and strained through the earth 
and thus becomes sweet. But if the place from which the spring arises is 
bitter or briny, so also is the water that is sent up(9). Moreover, it 
often happens that water which has been closely pent up bursts through with 
violence, and thus it becomes warm. And this is why they send forth waters 
that are naturally warm.

    By the divine decree hollow places are made in the earth, and so into 
these the waters are gathered. And this is how mountains are formed. God, 
then, bade the first water produce living breath, since it was to be by 
water and the Holy Spirit that moved upon the waters in the beginning(1), 
that man was to be renewed. For this is what the divine Basilius said: 
Therefore it produced living creatures, small and big; whales and dragons, 
fish that swim in the waters, and feathered fowl. The birds form a link 
between water and earth and air: for they have their origin in the water, 
they live on the earth and they fly in the air. Water, then, is the most 
beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and 
not only from the filth of the body but from that of the soul, if it should 
have received the grace of the Spirit(2).

Concerning the seas(3).

    The Aegean Sea is received by the Hellespont, which ends at Abydos and 
Sestus: next, the Propontis, which ends at Chalcedon and Byzantium: here 
are the straits where the Pontus arises. Next, the lake of Maeotis. Again, 
from the beginning of Europe and Libya it is the Iberian Sea, which extends 
from the pillars of Hercules to the Pyrenees mountain. Then the Ligurian 
Sea as far as the borders of Etruria. Next, the Sardinian Sea, which is 
above Sardinia and inclines downwards to Libya. Then the Etrurian Sea, 
which begins at the extreme limits of Liguria and ends at Sicily. Then the 
Libyan Sea. Then the Cretan, and Sicilian, and Ionian, and Adriatic Seas, 
the last of which is poured out of the Sicilian Sea, which is called the 
Corinthian Gulf, or the Alcyonian Sea. The Saronic Sea is surrounded by the 
Sunian and Scylaean Seas. Next is the Myrtoan Sea and the Icarian Sea, in 
which are also the Cyclades. Then the Carpathian, and Pamphylian, and 
Egyptian Seas: and, thereafter, above the Icarian Sea, the Aegean Sea pours 
itself out. There is also the coast of Europe from the mouth of the Tanais 
River to the Pillars of Hercules, 609,709 stadia: and that of Libya from 
the Tigris, as far as the mouth of the Canobus, 209,252 stadia: and lastly, 
that of Asia from the Canobus to the Tanais, which, including the Gulf, is 
4,111 stadia. And so the full extent of the seaboard of the world that we 
inhabit with the gulfs is 1,309,072 stadia(4).

CHAPTER X.

Concerning earth and its products.

    The earth is one of the four elements, dry, cold, heavy, motionless, 
brought into being by God, out of nothing on the first day. For in the 
beginning, he said, God created the heaven and the earths(5): but the seat 
and foundation of the earth no man has been able to declare. Some, indeed, 
hold that its seat is the waters: thus the divine David says, To Him Who 
established the earth on the waters(6). Others place it in the air. Again 
some other says, fare Who hangeth the earth on nothing(7). And, again, 
David, the singer of God, says, as though the representative of God, I bear 
up the pillars of it(8), meaning by "pillars" the force that sustains it. 
Further, the expression, He hath rounded it upon the seas(9), shews clearly 
that the earth is on all hands surrounded with water. But whether we grant 
that it is established on itself, or on air or on water, or on nothing, we 
must not turn aside from reverent thought, but must admit that all things 
are sustained and preserved by the power of the Creator.

    In the beginning, then, as the Holy Scripture says(1), it was hidden 
beneath the waters, and was unwrought, that is to say, not beautified. But 
at God's bidding, places to hold the waters appeared, and then the 
mountains came into existence, and at the divine command the earth received 
its own proper adornment, and was dressed in all manner of herbs and 
plants, and on these, by the divine decree, was bestowed the power of 
growth and nourishment, and of producing seed to generate their like. 
Moreover, at the bidding of the Creator it produced also all manner of 
kinds of living creatures, creeping things, and wild beasts, and cattle. 
All, indeed, are for the seasonable use of man: but of them some are for 
food, such as stags, sheep, deer, and such like: others for service such as 
camels, oxen, horses, asses, and such like: and others for enjoyment, such 
as apes, and among birds, jays and parrots, and such like. Again, amongst 
plants and herbs some are fruit bearing, others edible, others fragrant and 
flowery, given to us for our enjoyment, for example, the rose and such 
like, and others for the healing of disease. For there is not a single 
animal or plant in which the Creator has not implanted some form of energy 
capable of being used to satisfy man's needs. For He Who knew all things 
before they were, saw that in the future man would go forward in the 
strength of his own will, and would be subject to corruption, and, 
therefore, He created all things for his seasonable use, alike those in the 
firmament, and those on the earth, and those in the waters.

    Indeed, before the transgression all things were under his power. For 
God set him as ruler over all things on the earth and in the waters. Even 
the serpent(2) was accustomed to man, and approached him more readily than 
it did other living creatures, and held intercourse with him with 
delightful motions(3). And hence it was through it that the devil, the 
prince of evil, made his most wicked suggestion to our first parents(4). 
Moreover, the earth of its own accord used to yield fruits, for the benefit 
of the animals that were obedient to man, and there was neither rain nor 
tempest on the earth. But after the transgression, when he was compared 
with the unintelligent cattle and became like to them(5), after he had 
contrived that in him irrational desire should have rule over reasoning 
mind and had become disobedient to the Master's command, the subject 
creation rose up against him whom the Creator had appointed to be ruler: 
and it was appointed for him that he should till with sweat the earth from 
which he had been taken.

    But even now wild beasts are not without their uses, for, by the terror 
they cause, they bring man to the knowledge of his Creator and lead him to 
call upon His name. And, further, at the transgression the thorn sprung out 
of the earth in accordance with the Lord's express declaration and was 
conjoined with the pleasures of the rose, that it might lead us to remember 
the transgression on account of which the earth was condemned to bring 
forth for us thorns and prickles(6).

    That this is the case is made worthy of belief from the fact that their 
endurance is secured by the word of the Lord, saying, Be fruitful and 
multiply, and replenish the earth(7).

    Further, some hold that the earth is in the form of a sphere, others 
that it is in that of a cone. At all events it is much smaller than the 
heaven, and suspended almost like a point in its midst. And it will pass 
away and be changed. But blessed is the man who inherits the earth promised 
to the meek(8).

    For the earth that is to be the possession of the holy is immortal. 
Who, then, can fitly marvel at the boundless and incomprehensible wisdom of 
the Creator? Or who can render sufficient thanks to the Giver of so many 
blessings(9) ?

    [There are also provinces, or prefectures, of the earth which we 
recognise: Europe embraces thirty four, and the huge continent of Asia has 
forty-eight of these provinces, and twelve canons as they are called(1).]

CHAPTER XI.

Concerning Paradise.

    Now when God was about to fashion man oat of the visible and invisible 
creation in His own image and likeness to reign as king and ruler over all 
the earth and all that it contains, He first made for him, so to speak, a 
kingdom in which he should live a life of happiness and prosperity(2). And 
this is the divine paradise(3), planted in Eden by the hands of God, a very 
storehouse of joy and gladness of heart (for "Eden"(4) means 
luxuriousness(5)). Its site is higher in the East than all the earth: it is 
temperate and the air that surrounds it is the rarest and purest: evergreen 
plants are its pride, sweet fragrances abound, it is flooded with light, 
and in sensuous freshness and beauty it transcends imagination: in truth 
the place is divine, a meet home for him who was created in God's image: no 
creature lacking reason made its dwelling there but man alone, the work of 
God's own hands.

    In its midst(6) God planted the tree of life and the tree of 
knowledge(7). The tree of knowledge was for trial, and proof, and exercise 
of man's obedience and disobedience: and hence it was named the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil, or else it was because to those who partook of 
it was given power to know their own nature. Now this is a good thing for 
those who are mature, but an evil thing for the immature and those whose 
appetites are too strong(8), being like solid food to tender babes still in 
need of milk(9). For our Creator, God, did not intend us to be burdened 
with care and troubled about many things, nor to take thought about, or 
make provision for, our own life. But this at length was Adam's fate: for 
he tasted and knew that he was naked and made a girdle round about him: for 
he took fig-leaves and girded himself about. But before they took of the 
fruit, They were both naked. Adam and Eve, and were not ashamed(1). For God 
meant that we should be thus free from passion, and this is indeed the mark 
of a mind absolutely void of passion. Yea, He meant us further to be free 
from care and to have but one work to perform, to sing as do the angels, 
without ceasing or intermission, the praises of the Creator, and to delight 
in contemplation of Him and to cast all our care on Him. This is what the 
Prophet David proclaimed to us when He said, Cast thy burden on the Lord, 
and He will sustain thee(2). And, again, in the Gospels, Christ taught His 
disciples saying, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, nor for 
your body what ye shall put on(3). And further, Seek ye first the Kingdom 
of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto 
you(4). And to Martha He said, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 
troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen 
that good part, which shall not be taken away from her(5), meaning, 
clearly, sitting at His feet and listening to His words.

    The tree of life, on the other hand, was a tree having the energy that 
is the cause of life, or to be eaten only by those who deserve to live and 
are not subject to death. Some, indeed, have pictured Paradise as a realm 
of sense(6), and others as a realm of mind. But it seems to me, that, just 
as man is a creature, in whom we find both sense and mind blended together, 
in like manner also man's most holy temple combines the properties of sense 
and mind, and has this twofold expression: for, as we said, the life in the 
body is spent in the most divine and lovely region, while the life in the 
soul is passed in a place far more sublime and of more surpassing beauty, 
where God makes His home, and where He wraps man about as with a glorious 
garment, and robes him in His grace, and delights and sustains him like an 
angel with the sweetest of all fruits, the contemplation of Himself. Verily 
it has been filly named the tree of life. For since the life is not cut 
short by death, the sweetness of the divine participation is imparted to 
those who share it. And this is, in truth, what God meant by every tree, 
saying, Of every tree in Paradise thou mayest freely eat(7). For the 
'every' is just Himself in Whom and through Whom the universe is 
maintained. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was for the 
distinguishing between the many divisions of contemplation, and this is 
just the knowledge of one's own nature, which, indeed, is a good thing for 
those who are mature and advanced in divine contemplation (being of itself 
a proclamation of the magnificence of God), and have no fear of falling(8), 
because they have through time come to have the habit of such 
contemplation, but it is an evil tiring to those still young and with 
stronger appetites, who by reason of their insecure bold on the better 
part, and because as yet they are not firmly established in the seat of the 
one and only good, are apt to be torn and dragged away from this to the 
care of their own body.

    Thus, to my thinking, the divine Paradise is twofold, and the God-
inspired Fathers handed down a true message, whether they taught this 
doctrine or that. Indeed, it is possible