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of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and having girded our loins in truth, and having shod our feet in the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all having taken up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, let us engage in the contests, and let the divine trumpet sound, supporting our weakness. But let us from the very starting-line inquire of our adversaries, why on earth they contradict the doctrine of providence, and this while claiming that he is their creator. For let our discourse at present be directed to these men. From where have you rushed into this impiety? What of the things seen appears disordered to you? What of the things that have come to be is observed as disorderly? Which part of creation is lacking in harmony? Which is in need of beauty, or size? What, not moving harmoniously, has generated this impiety in us? Examine now at least, if not before, the nature of things seen, their position, order, stability, motion, rhythm, harmony, season, beauty, size, usefulness, delight, variety, alteration, the return again to the same state, the endurance in perishable things. Behold the providence of God itself, peeking through each part of creation, and appearing, and speaking, and through the things themselves all but shouting, and stopping your unguarded mouths, and bridling your unbridled tongues. Behold it in heaven, and in the heavenly luminaries, the sun, I say, and moon, and stars; in the air, and in the clouds, in the earth, and in the sea, and in all things around the earth; in plants and herbs, and seeds; in living creatures rational and irrational, walking and flying, and swimming, and creeping, and amphibious, both tame and wild, domesticated and untamable. Consider among

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yourselves, who is it that holds together the heavenly vaults; how for so many thousands of years the heaven has remained ageless, having received no change from time, and this, though it has a passible nature, as the blessed David teaches: "They (the heavens), he says, will perish, but you remain; and all will grow old like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, and they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not fail." But nevertheless, having both a passible and a perishable substance, it has remained as it was, being held by the word of the one who made it. For the word that created it holds it together and restrains it, and bestows on it stability and firmness for as long as he wishes. For this reason, although so much fire is borne about it—I mean the sun, and moon, and the other luminaries—in so many cycles of years it does not melt, is not dried up, is not set on fire; for the nature of fire received these effects from its maker. For gold, and silver, and iron, and bronze, and lead, and tin, and wax, and pitch, and as many such things, it melts and dissolves, and transfers into a fluid nature; but clay, and the marshy parts of waters, it dries, consuming the moisture. And it bakes stones, and takes away their solidity, and reveals their most solid nature to be dust; and wood, and grass, and stubble it very easily sets on fire. But the heaven endures none of these things. For so great a substance of fire does not melt its crystalline nature, nor does it damage its smoothness, nor does it make loose its spherical shape; but the position which it obtained from the beginning, this it preserves to the end. For he who established it like a vault, and stretched it out like a tent to be inhabited, brought together opposing natures into friendship. And neither is the nature of fire extinguished by the multitude of waters, nor is the crystalline, or airy, or cloudy heavenly body melted and destroyed by the very great substance of fire; but dwelling as neighbors to one another, the hostile

3

τῆς δικαιο σύνης, τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως, τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου, καὶ περιζωσάμενοι τὴν ὀσφὺν ἐν ἀλη θείᾳ, καὶ ὑποδυσάμενοι τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑτοιμασίᾳ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς εἰρήνης, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀναλα βόντες τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστι ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, τῶν ἀγώνων ἐφαψώμεθα, καὶ ὑπηχείτω μὲν ἡ θεία σάλπιγξ, τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀσθένειαν ὑπερείδουσα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς βαλβίδος τῶν ἀντιπάλων πυθώμεθα, τί δήποτε τῷ τῆς προνοίας ἀντιλέγουσι λόγῳ, καὶ ταῦτα ποιητὴν αὐτῶν εἶναι φάσκοντες. Πρὸς γὰρ τούτους ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος γι νέσθω. Πόθεν ἐπὶ ταύτην ὡρμήθητε τὴν ἀσέβειαν; Τί τῶν ὁρωμένων ὑμῖν ἄκοσμον διαφαίνεται; Τί τῶν γενομένων ἄτακτον καθορᾶται; Ποῖον τῆς κτίσεως μέρος ἐνδεὲς ἁρμονίας; Ποῖον κάλλους, ἢ μεγέθους προσδεῖται; Ποῖον οὐκ εὐαρμόστως κινούμενον ταύ την ἐν ἡμῖν ἐγέννησε τὴν ἀσέβειαν; Ἐπισκέψα σθε νῦν γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρότερον, τῶν ὁρωμένων τὴν φύσιν, τὴν θέσιν, τὴν τάξιν, τὴν στάσιν, τὴν κίνη σιν, τὸν ῥυθμὸν, τὴν ἁρμονίαν, τὴν ὥραν, τὸ κάλλος, τὸ μέγεθος, τὴν χρείαν, τὴν τέρψιν, τὴν ποικιλίαν, τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν, τὴν εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν ἐπάνοδον, τὴν ἐν φθαρτοῖς διαμονήν. Βλέπετε αὐτὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρόνοιαν, δι' ἑκάστου μορίου τῆς κτίσεως διακύπτου σαν, καὶ φαινομένην, καὶ φθεγγομένην, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων μονονουχὶ βοῶσαν, καὶ τὰ ἀθύρωτα ὑμῶν ἐπιστομίζουσαν στόματα, καὶ τὰς ἀχαλινώτους ὑμῶν χαλινοῦσαν γλώττας. Βλέπετε αὐτὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ τοῖς κατ' οὐρανὸν φωστῆρσιν, ἡλίῳ, φημὶ, καὶ σε λήνῃ, καὶ ἄστρασιν· ἐν ἀέρι, καὶ ἐν νέφεσιν, ἐν γῇ, καὶ ἐν θαλάσσῃ, καὶ τοῖς περὶ τὴν γῆν ἅπασιν· ἐν φυτοῖς καὶ βοτάναις, καὶ σπέρμασιν· ἐν ζώοις λογι κοῖς καὶ ἀλόγοις, πεζοῖς καὶ πτηνοῖς, καὶ νηκτοῖς, καὶ ἑρπετοῖς, καὶ ἀμφιβίοις, ἡμέροις τε καὶ ἀγρίοις, χειροήθεσί τε καὶ ἀτιθασσεύτοις. Σκοπήσατε παρ' 83.564 ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς, τίς ὁ συνέχων τὰς οὐρανίους ἁψίδας· πῶς ἐν τοσαύταις ἐτῶν χιλιάσιν ἀγήρως ἔμεινεν ὁ οὐ ρανὸς, οὐδεμίαν μεταβολὴν ἐκ τοῦ χρόνου δεξάμενος, καὶ ταῦτα παθητὴν ἔχων τὴν φύσιν, ὡς ὁ μακάριος διδάσκει ∆αβίδ· «Αὐτοὶ (οὐρανοὶ) φησὶν, ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις, καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσον ται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀλλα γήσονται, σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν.» Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ παθητὴν ἔχων καὶ φθαρτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν, ἔμεινεν οἷός περ ἦν, τῷ τοῦ πε ποιηκότος κατεχόμενος λόγῳ. Ὁ γὰρ δημιουργήσας αὐτὸν λόγος, συνέχει καὶ κατέχει, καὶ τὸ σταθερὸν αὐτῷ καὶ ἑδραῖον μέχρις ἂν ἐθέλῃ χαρίζεται. Τούτου χάριν, τοσούτου περὶ αὐτὸν πυρὸς ὀχουμένου, ἡλίου φημὶ, καὶ σελήνης, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φωστήρων, ἐν τοσ ούτοις ἐνιαυτῶν κύκλοις οὐ τήκεται, οὐ ξηραίνεται, οὐκ ἐμπίπραται· ταύτας γὰρ τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ φύσις τὰς ἐνεργείας ὑπὸ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐδέξατο. Χρυσὸν μὲν γὰρ, καὶ ἄργυρον, καὶ σίδηρον, καὶ χαλκὸν, καὶ μόλι βδον, καὶ κασσίτερον, καὶ κηρὸν, καὶ πίσσαν, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, τήκει καὶ διαλύει, καὶ εἰς τὴν ῥοώδη μετα φέρει φύσιν· πηλὸν δὲ, καὶ τὰ τελματώδη τῶν ὑδά των, ξηραίνει, τὸ ὑγρὸν δαπανῶσα. Λίθους δὲ ἕψει, καὶ τὸ στερέμνιον αὐτῶν ἀφαιρεῖται, καὶ τὴν στεῤῥο τάτην φύσιν ἀποδείκνυσι κόνιν· ξύλα δὲ, καὶ χόρτον, καὶ καλάμην μάλα ῥᾳδίως ἐμπίπρησιν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑπομένει. Οὐ τήκει γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸ κρυσταλλῶδες τοσαύτη οὖσα τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ οὐσία, οὐδὲ λυμαίνεται τῇ λειότητι, οὐδὲ χαλαρὸν ποιεῖ τὸ σφαι ροειδὲς αὐτοῦ σχῆμα· ἀλλ' ἣν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔλαχε στάσιν, ταύτην εἰς τέλος διαφυλάττει. Ὁ γὰρ στήσας αὐτὸν ὡσεὶ καμάραν, καὶ διατείνας αὐτὸν ὡς σκηνὴν κατοι κεῖσθαι, τὰς ἐναντίας φύσεις εἰς φιλίαν συνήγαγε. Καὶ οὔτε τοῦ πυρὸς ἡ φύσις ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους σβέν νυται τῶν ὑδάτων, οὔτε τὸ κρυσταλλῶδες, ἢ ἀερῶδες, ἢ νεφελῶδες οὐράνιον σῶμα, τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς οὐσίᾳ πλείστῃ οὔσῃ τήκεται καὶ φθείρεται· ἀλλ' ἐκ γειτόνων ἀλλήλοιν οἰκοῦντες, τὰς πολεμίας