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Therefore, the beginning is yoked to the creatures. The Son of God, pre-existing creation, being wisdom, if he says, "The Lord created me," let the thought not be of his essence, but in relation to creatures. For he says he was created for works, in order to be the beginning of the creative and providential ways of God, that is, the cause, to speak yet more introductorily. The Son of God became man, taking on the form of a servant; and though he is before the ages and eternal, inasmuch as he is God the Word, he is said to be created because he had his birth from Mary, becoming flesh; so that those who wish to walk according to God and toward God might use him as a teacher, who provides an outline of the best life and teaching to his followers. And that "created" does not in all cases signify essence, David shows when he says: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." For he does not ask to receive it as if not having one, but as having defiled it, to receive it again, purified. And Paul, too, saying that the two are created into one new man, does not indicate an essential creation of men, but a union from concord; just as those who interpreted "He acquired me" have published. v. 23. Instead of, He laid down the cause and foundation of creation; according to, "In him all things hold together, and he is before all things." And the Lord himself says: "I am the beginning of the creation of God." For just as, wishing to be the foundation of the Church, he endured to become man, so that it might be established on him unshaken; so also, wishing to grant being to creation, he came into being in relation to it, introducing the aforementioned relation, becoming a beginning and cause for things that would come to be; but even if according to these things, he says, I was created, yet before all things God begets me, which is to be Son. v. 27. By throne he means his own kingdom, and by winds the intellectual spirits; or as David also: "Who walks upon the wings of the wind;" wishing to present the nimbleness and incorporeality of his substance. v. 29. See how wisdom and God divide the works. The one made, it says; and I fitted together. And strong, how? Not needing any support; for it is held together by the will of God alone. v. 35. Either that upon appearing I provide life, or that by some revelation condescending to that one's 39.1633 weakness, then he comes forth; for being life, and having come forth to those who are able to see him, he gives life; and by will he means love, or that he made us with free will to be ready to do what is necessary. v. 2. Let him turn aside, that he may receive prudence; for the imperfect one is strengthened by the words and mysteries of wisdom. v. 5. The same food is called both meat and bread and milk and wine. Except the foolish are said to partake of them as of bread and as of mixed wine; if this is so, how shall we understand it. "Man ate the bread of angels," And understand by bread for me the solid commandments of God, and by wine, the knowledge of him from the study of the divine Scriptures; and likewise also his divine body and precious blood. v. 5. The naturally intelligent man hears, "The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night." He calls the cares of life burning heat; and those dried up by it he calls grass; but the Savior through the parable indicates tribulations; and he called the things against the word and persecutions burning heat. v. 13. The wise man with a word of rebuke brings the dull of heart to his senses. v. 7. Do you see that to desire is not evil, but to desire in such a way is evil? And the hopes of the impious are also evil; for whatever he will hope for is destruction. v. 8. The phrase, "In his place," not as if the pious man is subject to justice, but since the trap is set by the evil one against the righteous, the pious man is delivered from it by God, but the impious man, abandoned by divine providence, falls into it; or that since the righteous man, as a man, is subject to some sins, the impious man, having come and done evil to the righteous man, has delivered him from his sins and future punishments, and has received the penalties upon himself, and is handed over not by another, but by his own wickedness, as one who has already handed himself over to a debased mind.

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Σύζυγος οὖν ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῖς κτίσμασι. Προὐπάρχων τῆς κτίσεως, σοφία ὢν, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐὰν λέγει· "Κύριος ἔκτισέ με," μὴ οὐσίωσιν τὴν νόησιν ἔχῃ, ἀλλ' εἰς σχέσιν τὴν πρὸς τὰ κτίσματα. Εἰς ἔργα γὰρ ἐκτίσθαι φησὶν, ἐπὶ τῷ ἀρχὴ εἶναι τῶν ποιητικῶν καὶ προνοητικῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τουτέστιν αἰτία, εἰσαγωγικῶς γε μὴν ἔτι εἰπεῖν. Ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν, ἀναλαβὼν τὴν τοῦ δούλου μορφήν· καὶ πρὸ αἰώνων ὢν καὶ ἀΐδιος, καθ' ὃ Θεὸς Λόγος ἐστὶν, ἐκτίσθαι λέγεται ὅτι γέννησιν τὴν ἐκ Μαρίας ἔσχε, γενόμενος σάρξ· ὡς ἂν οἱ θέλοντες κατὰ Θεὸν ὁδεύειν καὶ πρὸς Θεὸν, χρῶνται διδασκάλῳ, ὑπογραμμὸν ἀρίστου βίου καὶ διδασκαλίαν τοῖς ἑπομένοις παρέχοντα. Ὅτι δὲ τὸ, "ἔκτισεν," οὐ δηλοῖ πάντως οὐσίωσιν, δηλοῖ λέγων ὁ ∆αυίδ· "Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεός." Αἰτεῖ γὰρ οὐχ ὡς μὴ ἔχων, λαβεῖν, ἀλλ' ὡς ῥιπώσας αὐτὴν, ἀναλαβεῖν αὖθις κεκαθαρμένην. Καὶ Παῦλος δὲ λέγων τοὺς δύο κτίζεσθαι εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐκ οὐσίωσιν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ' ἕνωσιν ἐξ ὁμονοίας δηλοῖ· ὥσπερ οἱ ἑρμηνεύσαντες "Ἐκτίσατό με" ἐξέδωκαν. Στ. κγʹ. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Κατέβαλεν αἰτίαν τε καὶ κρηπῖδα τῶν κτισμάτων· κατὰ τὸ, "Πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκε, καὶ αὐτός ἐστι πρὸ πάντων." Καὶ αὐτὸς δέ φησιν ὁ Κύριος· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ." Ὡς γὰρ θεμέλιος βουλόμενος εἶναι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἄνθρωπος ὑπέμεινε γενέσθαι, ἵν' ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἱδρυνθῇ μὴ σαλευομένη· οὕτω καὶ τῇ κτίσει παρασχεῖν τὸ εἶναι βουλόμενος, κατ' αὐτὴν γέγονεν, τὴν προειρημένην σχέσιν εἰσάγων, γινόμενος τοῖς ἐσομένοις ἀρχὴ καὶ αἰτία· ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ κατὰ ταῦτα, φησὶν, ἐκτίσθην, ἀλλὰ πρὸ πάντων γεννᾷ με Θεὸς, ὅπερ ἐστὶν Υἱόν. Στ. κζʹ. Θρόνον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείαν, ἀνέμους δὲ τὰ νοερὰ πνεύματα λέγει· ἢ καθὼς καὶ ∆αυίδ· "Ὁ περιπατῶν ἐπὶ πτερύγων ἀνέμων·" τὸ κουφότερον αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας καὶ ἀσώματον παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος. Στ. κθʹ. Ὅρα διαιρουμένους τὰ ἔργα, τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὸν Θεόν. Ὁ μὲν ἐποίει, φησίν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἥρμοζον. Ἰσχυρὰ δὲ, πῶς; Οὐ δεόμενά τινος ὑποβάθρας· βουλήσει γὰρ μόνῃ κατέχεται τοῦ Θεοῦ. Στ. λεʹ. Ἢ ὅτι ἅμα τῷ φανῆναι παρέχω ζωὴν, ἢ ὅτι ἀποκαλύψει τινὶ συγκαταβαίνων πρὸς τὴν ἐκεί 39.1633 νου ἀσθένειαν, τότε ἐξέρχεται· ζωὴ γὰρ ὢν, καὶ ἔξω γενόμενος τοῖς δυναμένοις ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν, ζωὴν δίδωσι· θέλησιν δὲ ἢ ἀγάπην φησὶν, ἢ ὅτι ἐποίησεν ἡμᾶς αὐτεξουσίους εἰς τὸ ἑτοίμους εἶναι πράττειν ἃ δεῖ. Στ. βʹ. Ἐκκλινάτω, ἵνα φρόνησιν λάβῃ· ῥώννυται γὰρ ὁ ἀτελὴς ὑπὸ τῶν τῆς σοφίας λόγων καὶ μυστηρίων. Στ. εʹ. Ἡ αὐτὴ τροφὴ καὶ κρέα ὀνομάζεται καὶ ἄρτος καὶ γάλα καὶ οἶνος. Πλὴν οἱ ἄφρονες ὡς ἄρτου αὐτῶν μεταλαμβάνειν λέγονται καὶ ὡς οἴνου κεκερασμένου· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, πῶς νοήσομεν. "Ἄρτον ἀγγέλων ἔφαγεν ἄνθρωπος," Ἄρτον δέ μοι νόει τὰς στερεὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ οἶνον, τὴν ἐκ μελέτης τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐπίγνωσιν αὐτοῦ· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ θεῖον σῶμα καὶ τίμιον αἷμα αὐτοῦ. Στ. εʹ. Ἀκούει ὁ φυσικὸς νοήμων, "Ἡμέρας ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συγκαύσει σε, οὐδὲ ἡ σελήνη τὴν νύκτα." Τὰς βιωτικὰς φροντίδας καῦμα καλεῖ· τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δὲ ξηραινομένους καλεῖ χόρτον· ὁ δὲ Σωτὴρ διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς τὰς θλίψεις δηλοῖ· τὰς κατὰ τοῦ λόγου δὲ καὶ τοὺς διωγμοὺς ἐκάλεσε καῦμα. Στ. ιγʹ. Ὁ σοφὸς ἐπιτιμητικῷ λόγῳ εἰς αἴσθησιν ἄγει τὸν βαρυκάρδιον. Στ. ζʹ. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐ τὸ ἐπιθυμεῖν πονηρὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τοιῶσδε ἐπιθυμεῖν, πονηρόν; Τῶν δὲ ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἐλπίδες πονηραί· πᾶν γὰρ ὃ ἐλπίσει, ἀπώλεια. Στ. ηʹ. Τὸ, "Ἀντ' αὐτοῦ," οὐχ ὡς ὑποκειμένου τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς τῇ δίκῃ, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἡ παγὶς ἕστηκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ κατὰ τοῦ δικαίου, ὁ μὲν εὐσεβὴς ῥύεται ἐξ αὐτῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ ἀσεβὴς ἐγκαταλειφθεὶς παρὰ τῆς θείας προνοίας πίπτει ἐν αὐτῇ· ἢ ὅτι ἐπειδὴ ὁ δίκαιος ὑπόκειταί τισιν ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἁμαρτίαις, ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ ἀσεβὴς καὶ κακοποιήσας τὸν δίκαιον, τῶν μὲν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ τῶν μελλουσῶν κολάσεων ἐῤῥύσατο αὐτὸν, εἰς ἑαυτὸν δὲ τὰς τιμωρίας ὑπεδέξατο, παραδίδοται δὲ οὐχ ὑπό τινος ἄλλου, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας κακίας, ὡς προπαραδοὺς ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν.