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is infinitely distant from us and incomparably surpasses us, how would it not be of the utmost madness, for us, while acknowledging His wisdom and power to be infinite, and divine and incomprehensible, to demand from Him an account for each of the things that happen, as if concerning some human craft? But having left aside reasonings, let us return to the unshakeable rock: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Stand upon this foundation; lest anyone should lead you down into the confusion of human reasonings. For the reasonings of mortals are timid, and their thoughts are uncertain. Do not then, leaving aside the solid, entrust the salvation of your soul to the unsound and uncertain; but remain in what you have learned and have been assured of, and say: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Even if a Manichean should approach, or a Marcionite, or those who ail with the teachings of Valentinus, or any other whatsoever, put forth this saying. and if you see him laughing, you weep for him as one who is mad. Πύ 54.585 They have a boxwood-pale complexion, and a downcast brow, and gentleness of words; but flee the bait, and perceive the wolf hiding in the sheep's skin. For this reason especially hate him, because towards you his fellow servant he seems to be affable and gentle, but towards the common Master of us all he is wilder than raging dogs, bringing an undeclared battle to heaven and a truceless war, and setting up some opposing power against God. Flee the venom of wickedness, hate the poisonous drugs; and what you have received as an inheritance from the fathers, the faith and teaching from the divine Scriptures, hold fast to this with much security. In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. What is this? first the heaven, then the earth? first the roof, then the floor? For He is not subject to the necessity of nature, nor is He a slave to the sequence of art. For indeed the will of God is the creator and craftsman of nature and of art and of all things that exist. But the earth was invisible and unformed. For what reason did He bring forth the heaven perfected, but Moses says that He crafted the earth little by little? So that having learned His power in the better element, you may be fully convinced that He was also able, just as with that one, to bring this one forth perfected. But for your sake and for your salvation He did not do so. How for my sake and for my salvation, he says? A common table and fatherland and nurse and mother of all is the earth, and a common city and tomb. For indeed our bodies are from it, and nourishment for our bodies is from there, and our dwelling and way of life is in it, and after death there is a return to it again. In order that, then, the necessity of its use may not cause you to admire it beyond its worth, and the multitude of its benefits may not trip you up into impiety, He shows you, before it came to be, it formless and unshaped, so that seeing its weakness, you may admire the One who brought it forth, and put all this power into it; so that you may glorify the one who has prepared so many things for our comfort. But God is glorified not through right doctrines only, but also through the best manner of life; For let your light shine before men, He says, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 4. I wished to add words concerning almsgiving; but it seems to me to be superfluous to teach you with words, while he who is able to instruct you through works is now sitting in our midst, our common father and teacher, who, his ancestral home, as if having received it from his ancestors for this very purpose, that he might provide it for the care of strangers, so has always opened it to those driven from all sides for the sake of the truth, and he receives, and he cares for them in every kind of way; so that I do not know whether one ought to call this house his rather than the strangers'; or rather for this reason

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ἀπείρως ἡμῶν διέστηκε καὶ ἀσυγκρίτως ὑπερέχει, πῶς οὐκ ἐσχάτης ἂν εἴη μανίας, ἄπειρον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ὁμολογοῦντας, καὶ θείαν καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, ὡς περὶ ἀνθρωπίνης τινὸς τέχνης, οὕτω καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν γινομένων ἀπαιτεῖν εὐθύνας αὐτόν; Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀφέντες τοὺς λογισμοὺς, ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν ἐπανέλθωμεν τὴν ἀῤῥαγῆ· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Ἐπὶ τούτῳ στῆθι τῷ θεμελίῳ· μή τίς σε εἰς λογισμῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ταραχὴν καταγάγῃ· Λογισμοὶ γὰρ θνητῶν δειλοὶ, καὶ ἐπισφαλεῖς αἱ ἐπίνοιαι αὐτῶν. Μὴ τοίνυν τὸ στεῤῥὸν ἀφεὶς, τῷ σαθρῷ καὶ ἐπισφαλεῖ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐγχειρίσῃς τῆς σῆς ψυχῆς· ἀλλὰ μένε ἐν οἷς ἔμαθες καὶ ἐπιστώθης, καὶ λέγε· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Κἂν Μανιχαῖος προσέλθῃ, κἂν Μαρκίων, κἂν οἱ τὰ Οὐαλεντίνου νοσοῦντες, κἂν ὁστισοῦν ἕτερος, τοῦτο προβάλλου τὸ ῥῆμα· κἂν ἴδῃς γελῶντα, σὺ δάκρυσον αὐτὸν ὡς μαινόμενον. Πύ 54.585 ξινον ἔχουσιν ἐκεῖνοι τὸ χρῶμα, καὶ κατεσταλμένην τὴν ὀφρὺν, καὶ ῥημάτων ἐπιείκειαν· ἀλλὰ φύγε τὸ δέλεαρ, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῇ δορᾷ τοῦ προβάτου κρυπτόμενον καταμάνθανε λύκον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν μάλιστα μίσησον, ὅτι πρὸς μὲν τὸν ὁμόδουλόν σε προσηνὴς καὶ ἥμερος εἶναι δοκεῖ, πρὸς δὲ τὸν κοινὸν ἡμῶν ἁπάντων ∆εσπότην κυνῶν λυττώντων ἐστὶν ἀγριώτερος, ἀκήρυκτον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν μάχην εἰσάγων καὶ πόλεμον ἄσπονδον, καὶ δύναμίν τινα ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀντικαθιστῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Φύγε τὸν ἰὸν τῆς πονηρίας, μίσησον τὰ δηλητήρια φάρμακα· καὶ ἢν παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ἐδέξω κληρονομίαν, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν πίστιν καὶ διδασκαλίαν, ταύτην κάτεχε μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀσφαλείας. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Τί τοῦτο; πρῶτον τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἶτα τὴν γῆν; πρῶτον τὸν ὄροφον, εἶτα τὸ ἔδαφος; Οὐ γὰρ ἀνάγκῃ φύσεως ὑπόκειται, οὐδὲ ἀκολουθίᾳ τέχνης δουλεύει. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ φύσεως καὶ τέχνης καὶ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἡ βούλησις τοῦ Θεοῦ δημιουργὸς καὶ τεχνίτης ἐστί. Ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος. Τίνος ἕνεκεν τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν ἀπαρτισθέντα παρήγαγε, τὴν δὲ γῆν κατὰ μικρὸν τεχνεύειν αὐτόν φησιν ὁ Μωϋσῆς; Ἵνα ἐν τῷ βελτίονι στοιχείῳ μαθὼν αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν πληροφορηθῇς ὅτι καὶ ταύτην ἠδύνατο, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνον, ἀπηρτισμένην παραγαγεῖν. Ἀλλὰ διὰ σὲ καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν σὴν οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὕτω. Πῶς δι' ἐμὲ καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν ἐμὴν, φησί; Κοινὴ τράπεζα καὶ πατρὶς καὶ τροφὸς καὶ μήτηρ ἁπάντων ἐστὶν ἡ γῆ, καὶ πόλις καὶ τάφος κοινός. Καὶ γὰρ τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ τροφὴ τοῖς σώμασιν ἡμῶν ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ οἴκησις ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ διαγωγὴ, καὶ μετὰ θάνατον πρὸς αὐτὴν πάλιν ἐπάνοδος. Ἵν' οὖν μὴ τὸ τῆς χρείας ἀναγκαῖον ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν σε θαυμάζειν αὐτὴν παρασκευάσῃ, καὶ τὸ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν πλῆθος πρὸς ἀσέβειαν ὑποσκελίσῃ, δείκνυσί σοι, πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι, αὐτὴν ἀμόρφωτον καὶ ἀδιατύπωτον, ἵνα τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἰδὼν, θαυμάσῃς τὸν παραγαγόντα αὐτὴν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐνθέντα αὐτῇ τὴν δύναμιν ταύτην· ἵνα δοξάσῃς τὸν τὰ τοσαῦτα πρὸς ἡμετέραν ἄνεσιν κατεσκευακότα. ∆οξάζεται δὲ ὁ Θεὸς οὐ διὰ δογμάτων ὀρθῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ πολιτείας ἀρίστης· Λαμψάτω γὰρ ὑμῶν, φησὶ, τὸ φῶς ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅπως ἴδωσιν ὑμῶν τὰ καλὰ ἔργα, καὶ δοξάσωσι τὸν Πατέρα ὑμῶν τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. δʹ. Ἐβουλόμην τοὺς περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης προσθεῖναι λόγους· ἀλλὰ περιττόν μοι δοκεῖ εἶναι λόγῳ διδάσκειν ὑμᾶς, τοῦ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ὑμᾶς παιδεύειν δυναμένου νῦν ἐν μέσῳ καθημένου, τοῦ κοινοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ διδασκάλου, ὃς τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν πατρῴαν, ὥσπερ εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο παρὰ τῶν προγόνων δεξάμενος, ἵνα ταῖς τῶν ξένων αὐτὴν θεραπείαις παράσχῃ, οὕτω διαπαντὸς τοῖς πάντοθεν ἐλαυνομένοις ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνῆκε, καὶ ὑποδέχεται, καὶ θεραπεύει θεραπείας τρόπῳ παντοδαπῷ· ὥστε οὐκ οἶδα εἰ χρὴ τούτου μᾶλλον, ἢ τῶν ξένων καλεῖν τὴν οἰκίαν τὴν τούτου· μᾶλλον δὲ διὰ τοῦτο