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in rivers, and lakes, except if some of the springs, having a superficial supply of water, and gushing from outbursts of rain or snow, which in the manner of a torrent both cease and increase together with the inflow from above. But in those from which the stream flows perpetually, with no decrease or increase occurring, it is necessarily acknowledged that none of the moist substance is consumed. For it is not possible for that which is being spent to remain perpetually in the same measure; but neither would fire, if it were in reality consumptive of water, remain at its own measure, unincreased and unnourished. For it is not possible for the nature of fire not to increase with the matter it consumes. If then you, being busied with these and such things, you who stretch out to all lofty things, and to the things lying in the darkness of Moses' vision, could both see for yourself with your own wisdom, not looking to another, but to the grace in you, and with the spirit of revelation that is revealed to you through prayers, investigate the divine depths. But since it is necessary for us, according to the apostolic law, to yield to one another through love; and it is characteristic of praiseworthy service to carry the commandments into effect, as briefly as is possible, I will try to reveal my opinion on these matters, using your prayer as an ally for my discourse. Let this be testified by me before the undertaking, that we in no way dogmatize against Saint Basil, concerning the things about which he philosophized regarding the creation of the world, not even if the argument should arrive at another interpretation from some logical sequence; but let those things hold fast, and take second place only to the God-breathed Testament; but let our own things, as in a certain scholastic exercise scholastically attempted, be set before the readers, with no harm accruing to anyone through these things, if anything should be found in what is said contrary to the common opinion. For we are not making the discourse a dogma, so as to give a pretext to slanderers; but we confess only to be exercising our own thought upon the proposed concepts, not laying down an exegetical teaching for those who come after. Therefore let no one demand of my discourse to engage with the objections put before us from Holy Scripture, and from the readily available interpretations by our teacher, whatever seems not to agree with the common opinions. For this is not my purpose, to devise some defense for the contradictions that appear at first glance; but let it be granted to me freely for my own purpose to examine the meaning of the sayings; if somehow it might become possible for us, with the alliance of God, while the letter remains with its own significance, to conceive some connected and coherent contemplation in the creation of the things that have come to be. "In the beginning," it says, "God made the heaven and the earth," and what follows, all that the account of the world's creation contains, these are the things that came to be during the Hexaemeron. But it is necessary, I think, before the examination of what is written, for this to be acknowledged in the discussion, that in the divine nature power is concurrent with will, and the will of God becomes the measure of his power; and the will is wisdom. And it is characteristic of wisdom, to be ignorant of nothing as to how each thing might come to be. And with knowledge power is also naturally joined; so that as soon as he knew what ought to come to be, the power that fashions existing things ran with it, bringing what was conceived into actuality, and lagging in nothing after the knowledge, but the work is displayed joined and without interval together with the will.

For the will is at the same time power, both pre-counselling how existing things should come to be, and providing the starting-points for the existence of the things conceived. So that all things of God concerning creation are conceived together: the will, the wisdom, the power, the essence of existing things. And this being the case, one would no longer be at a loss when inquiring about matter, seeking the how and the whence; such things as one can hear said: If God is immaterial, whence comes matter? How comes the quantitative from the non-quantitative, and the visible from the invisible, and from that which is without magnitude and undefined, the

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ποταμοῖς, καὶ λίμναις, πλὴν εἴ τινες τῶν πηγῶν ἐπιπολαίαν ἔχουσαι τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος χο ρηγίαν, καὶ διαπηδήσεως ὄμβρων ἢ χιόνων πηγάζου σιν αἳ χειμάῤῥου τρόπον τῇ ἄνωθεν ἐπιῤῥοῇ συν απολήγουσί τε καὶ συναύξονται. Ἐφ' ὧν δὲ ἀένναον προχεῖται τὸ ῥεῖθρον, μηδεμιᾶς ἐλαττώσεως ἢ αὐξή σεως γενομένης, ἀναγκαίως τὸ μηδὲν ἀναλίσκεσθαι τῆς ὑγρᾶς οὐσίας ὁμολογεῖται. Οὐ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται τὸ δαπανώμενον ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ μέτρῳ πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς διαμένειν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ πῦρ, εἴπερ τῷ ὄντι δαπανη τικὸν τοῦ ὕδατος ἦν, ἔμενεν ἂν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰδίου μέτρου ἄναυξές τε καὶ ἄτροφον. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν τῇ δαπανωμένῃ ὕλῃ τοῦ πυρὸς μὴ συναύξεσθαι φύσιν. Εἰ οὖν ταῦτα σὺ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πολυπραγμονῶν, ὁ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς ἐπεκτεινόμενος, καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς τοῦ Μωϋσέως ὀπτασίας κείμενα, αὐτός τε ἰδεῖν τῇ φρονήσει σου, μὴ πρὸς ἄλλον βλέπειν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐν σοὶ χάριν, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως τῷ διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν σοι φανερουμένῳ, τὰ θεῖα βάθη διερευνᾶσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ χρὴ κατὰ τὸν ἀποστολικὸν νόμον εἴκειν ἀλλήλοις δι' ἀγάπης ἡμᾶς· ἴδιον δὲ τῆς ἐπαινετῆς δουλείας ἐστὶ, τὸ εἰς ἔργον ἀγαγεῖν τὰ ἐπιτάγματα, διὰ βραχέων ὡς ἔστι δυνα τὸν, τὴν περὶ τούτων ὑπόληψιν ἐκκαλύψαι πειράσο μαι, τῇ σῇ προσευχῇ συμμάχῳ πρὸς τὸν λόγον χρώ μενος. Τοῦτο δέ μοι πρὸ τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως διαμεμαρ τυρήσθω, τὸ μηδὲν ἡμᾶς ἀντιδογματίζειν τῷ ἁγίῳ Βασιλείῳ, περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν κοσμογονίαν αὐτῷ φι λοσοφηθέντων, μηδ' ἂν πρὸς ἑτέραν ἐξήγησιν ἔκ τινος ἀκολουθίας ὁ λόγος ἔλθῃ· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα μὲν κε κρατήσθω, καὶ μόνης τῆς θεοπνεύστου ∆ιαθήκης τὰ δευτερεῖα φερέσθω· τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα ὡς ἐν γυμνασίῳ τινὶ σχολαστικῶς ἐπιχειρούμενα τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι προκείσθω, μηδεμιᾶς μηδενὶ διὰ τούτων βλάβης προσγινομένης, εἴ τι παρὰ τὴν κοινὴν ὑπόληψιν ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις εὑρίσκοιτο. Οὐ γὰρ δόγμα τὸν λόγον ποιούμεθα, ὥστε ἀφορμὴν δοῦναι τοῖς διαβάλλουσιν· ἀλλ' ὁμολογοῦμεν ἐγγυμνάζειν μόνον ἑαυτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν, τοῖς προκειμένοις νοήμασιν, οὐ διδασκαλίαν ἐξηγητικὴν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς ἀποτίθεσθαι. Τὸ μὲν οὖν συμπλέκεσθαι πρὸς τὰς ἐνστάσεις τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ἡμῖν προτεινομένας, καὶ ἐκ τῶν περὶ πόδα παρὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν ἑρμηνευθέντων, ὅσα δοκεῖ μὴ συμβαίνειν ταῖς κοιναῖς ὑπολήψεσι, μηδεὶς ἀπαιτείτω τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον. Οὐ γὰρ τοῦτό μοι πρόκειται, τὸ, συνηγορίαν τινὰ τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου φαινομένοις ἐναντιώμασιν ἐπινοῆσαι· ἀλλά μοι συγχωρηθήτω κατ' ἐξουσίαν πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον σκοπὸν τὴν τῶν ῥητῶν ἐξετάσαι διάνοιαν· εἴπως ἡμῖν γένοιτο δυνατὸν, συμμαχίᾳ Θεοῦ, μενούσης τῆς λέξεως ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐμφάσεως, συνηρτημένην τινὰ καὶ ἀκόλουθον ἐν τῇ κτίσει τῶν γεγονότων ἐπινοῆσαι τὴν θεωρίαν «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησε, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν,» καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς ὅσα περι έχει τῆς κοσμογονίας ὁ λόγος, τὰ μὲν δὴ γεγενημένα κατὰ τὴν Ἑξαήμερον ταῦτα. Χρὴ δὲ, οἶμαι, πρὸ τῆς ἐξετάσεως τῶν γεγραμμένων, ἐκεῖνο διομολογη 69 θῆναι τῷ λόγῳ, ὅτι ἐπὶ τῆς θείας φύσεως σύνδρομός ἐστι τῇ βουλήσει ἡ δύναμις, καὶ μέτρον τῆς δυνά μεως τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ θέλημα γίνεται· τὸ δὲ θέλημα σοφία ἐστίν. Σοφίας δὲ ἴδιον, τὸ μηδὲν ἀγνοεῖν ὅπως ἂν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον γένοιτο. Τῇ δὲ γνώσει συμπέφυκε καὶ ἡ δύναμις· ὥστε ὁμοῦ ἔγνω τὸ δέον γενέσθαι, συνέδραμεν ἡ ἐξεργαστικὴ τῶν ὄντων ἰσχὺς, τὸ νο ηθὲν εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἄγουσα, καὶ οὐδὲν μετὰ τὴν γνῶσιν ὑφεστερίζουσα, ἀλλὰ συνημμένως καὶ ἀδια στάτως συναναδείκνυται τῇ βουλῇ καὶ τὸ ἔργον.

∆ύναμις γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βουλὴ κατὰ ταυτὸν, καὶ ὅπως ἂν τὰ ὄντα γένοιτο προβουλεύουσα, καὶ τὰς ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοηθέντων ὕπαρξιν ἐκπορίζουσα. Ὡς ὁμοῦ τὰ πάντα τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τὴν κτίσιν νοεῖσθαι, τὸ θέλημα, τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν δύναμιν, τὴν οὐσίαν τῶν ὄντων. Τούτου δὲ οὕτως ἔχοντος, οὐκέτ' ἄν τις στε νοχωροῖτο περὶ τῆς ὕλης διερευνώμενος, τὸ πῶς καὶ τὸ πόθεν ἐπιζητῶν· οἷα δὴ λεγόντων ἔστιν ἀκούειν, Εἰ ἄῦλός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, πόθεν ἡ ὕλη, πῶς τὸ ποσὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἀπόσου, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀόπτου τὸ ὁρατὸν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἀμεγέθους τε καὶ ἀορίστου, τὸ