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are therefore certainly also created. And being created, they were certainly crafted by someone. But the craftsman must be uncreated; for if he too were created, he was certainly created by someone, until we arrive at something uncreated. The craftsman, therefore, being uncreated, is also certainly immutable. And what else could this be but God? And the very coherence, preservation, and governance of creation teaches us that there is a God who constituted this universe, and holds it together, and preserves it, and always provides for it; for how could contrary natures—I mean fire and water, air and earth—have come together for the completion of one world and remain indissoluble, unless some omnipotent power both brought them together and always keeps them indissoluble? What is it that ordered the heavenly and the earthly things, both those in the air and those in the water, and rather, before these, heaven and earth and air and the nature of fire and of water? Who mixed and divided these things? What is it that moved these and leads them in their unceasing and unimpeded course? Is it not their artisan, who also implanted in all things a principle by which the universe is borne along and conducted? And who is their artisan? Is it not he who made these things and brought them into being? For we will not grant such power to chance. For let coming into being be from chance; whose is the ordering? Let us grant this too, if you like; whose is it to preserve and keep them according to the principles by which they first subsisted? Clearly, of another besides chance. And what else is this if not God? 4 Concerning what God is; that He is incomprehensible That God exists, then, is clear; but what He is in essence and nature, this is utterly incomprehensible and unknowable. For that He is incorporeal is clear. For how can that which is infinite, and boundless, and formless, and intangible, and invisible, and simple, and uncompounded be a body? For how can it be venerable, if it is circumscribed and subject to passion? And how can that which is composed of elements and is resolved back into them be without passion? For composition is the beginning of conflict, conflict of division, division of dissolution; and dissolution is utterly foreign to God. And how can the saying be preserved, that God 'passes through all things and fills all things,' as the scripture says: 'Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord'? For it is impossible for a body to pass through bodies without cutting and being cut, and being intertwined and set side-by-side, just as those liquids which are mixed and blended together. But if some speak of an immaterial body, like what is called the fifth body among the wise men of the Greeks—which is impossible—it will certainly be in motion like the heaven; for they say this is the fifth body. Who then is it that moves this? For everything that is moved is moved by another. And who moves that? And this goes on to infinity, until we arrive at something unmoved; for the first mover is unmoved, which is the divine. And how is that which is moved not circumscribed in a place? Therefore, only the divine is unmoved, moving all things through its immovability. The divine must therefore be considered incorporeal. But not even this is descriptive of His essence, just as neither is 'unbegotten' and 'without beginning' and 'unchangeable' and 'incorruptible' and all such things as are said to be of God or about God; for these things do not signify what He is, but what He is not. But one who wishes to state the essence of something must declare what it is, not what it is not; however, in the case of God, it is impossible to say what He is in essence. It is more fitting, rather, to speak of Him by the removal of all things; for He is none of the things that are, not as though He were not, but as being above all things that are, and even above being itself. For if knowledge is of things that are, that which is above knowledge will also certainly be above essence, and conversely, that which is above essence will also be above knowledge. The divine, therefore, is infinite and incomprehensible, and this alone is comprehensible of it: its infinity and incomprehensibility. And all that we say affirmatively of God does not indicate His nature, but the things about His nature. Whether you say good, or just, or wise, or whatever else you might say, you are not speaking of the nature of God, but of the things about His nature. And there are also some things said affirmatively of God which have the force of a supereminent negation, as when, for instance, we speak of darkness in reference to God, we do not mean darkness, but that He is not light, but above light.

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τοίνυν ὄντα πάντως καὶ κτιστά. Κτιστὰ δὲ ὄντα πάντως ὑπό τινος ἐδημιουργήθησαν. ∆εῖ δὲ τὸν δημιουργὸν ἄκτιστον εἶναι· εἰ γὰρ κἀκεῖνος ἐκτίσθη, πάντως ὑπό τινος ἐκτίσθη, ἕως ἂν ἔλθωμεν εἴς τι ἄκτιστον. Ἄκτιστος οὖν ὢν ὁ δημιουργὸς πάντως καὶ ἄτρεπτός ἐστι. Τοῦτο δὲ τί ἂν ἄλλο εἴη ἢ θεός; Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ τῆς κτίσεως συνοχὴ καὶ συντήρησις καὶ κυβέρνησις διδάσκει ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἔστι θεὸς ὁ τόδε τὸ πᾶν συστησάμενος καὶ συνέχων καὶ συντηρῶν καὶ ἀεὶ προνοούμενος· πῶς γὰρ ἂν αἱ ἐναντίαι φύσεις, πυρὸς λέγω καὶ ὕδατος, ἀέρος καὶ γῆς, εἰς ἑνὸς κόσμου συμπλήρωσιν ἀλλήλοις συνεληλύθασι καὶ ἀδιάλυτοι μένουσιν, εἰ μή τις παντοδύναμος δύναμις ταῦτα καὶ συνεβίβασε καὶ ἀεὶ τηρεῖ ἀδιάλυτα; Τί τὸ τάξαν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ ἐπίγεια, ὅσα τε δι' ἀέρος καὶ ὅσα καθ' ὕδατος, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα καὶ φύσιν πυρός τε καὶ ὕδατος; Τίς ταῦτα ἔμιξε καὶ ἐμέρισε; Τί τὸ ταῦτα κινῆσαν καὶ ἄγον τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων καὶ λόγον ἐνθεὶς πᾶσι, καθ' ὃν τὸ πᾶν φέρεταί τε καὶ διεξάγεται; Τίς δὲ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ πεποιηκὼς ταῦτα καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών; Οὐ γὰρ τῷ αὐτομάτῳ δώσομεν τοιαύτην δύναμιν. Ἔστω γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι τοῦ αὐτομάτου· τίνος τὸ τάξαι; Καὶ τοῦτο, εἰ δοκεῖ, δῶμεν· τίνος τὸ τηρῆσαι καὶ φυλάξαι καθ' οὓς πρῶτον ὑπέστη λόγους; Ἑτέρου δηλαδὴ παρὰ τὸ αὐτόματον. Τοῦτο δὲ τί ἄλλο ἐστὶν εἰ μὴ θεός; 4 Περὶ τοῦ τί ἐστι θεός; ὅτι ἀκατάληπτον Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἔστι θεός, δῆλον· τί δέ ἐστι κατ' οὐσίαν καὶ φύσιν, ἀκατάληπτον τοῦτο παντελῶς καὶ ἄγνωστον. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἀσώματον, δῆλον. Πῶς γὰρ σῶμα τὸ ἄπειρον καὶ ἀόριστον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον καὶ ἀναφὲς καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀσύνθετον; Πῶς γὰρ σεπτόν, εἰ περιγραπτὸν καὶ παθητόν; Καὶ πῶς ἀπαθὲς τὸ ἐκ στοιχείων συγκείμενον καὶ εἰς αὐτὰ πάλιν ἀναλυόμενον; Σύνθεσις γὰρ ἀρχὴ μάχης, μάχη δὲ διαστάσεως, διάστασις δὲ λύσεως· λύσις δὲ ἀλλότριον θεοῦ παντελῶς. Πῶς δὲ καὶ σωθήσεται τὸ «διὰ πάντων ἥκειν καὶ πληροῦν τὰ πάντα θεόν», ὥς φησιν ἡ γραφή· «Οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ, λέγει κύριος»; Ἀδύνατον γὰρ σῶμα διὰ σωμάτων διήκειν μὴ τέμνον καὶ τεμνόμενον καὶ πλεκόμενον καὶ ἀντιπαρατιθέμενον, ὥσπερ ὅσα τῶν ὑγρῶν μίγνυται καὶ συγκίρναται. Εἰ δὲ καί τινές φασιν ἄυλον σῶμα ὡς τὸ παρὰ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφοῖς πέμπτον σῶμα λεγόμενον, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, κινούμενον ἔσται πάντως ὥσπερ ὁ οὐρανός· τοῦτον γὰρ πέμπτον σῶμά φασι. Τίς οὖν ὁ τοῦτον κινῶν; Πᾶν γὰρ κινούμενον ὑφ' ἑτέρου κινεῖται. Κἀκεῖνον τίς; Καὶ τοῦτο ἐπ' ἄπειρον, ἕως ἂν καταντήσωμεν εἴς τι ἀκίνητον· τὸ γὰρ πρῶτον κινοῦν ἀκίνητον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ θεῖον. Πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ περιγραπτὸν τὸ κινούμενον; Μόνον οὖν τὸ θεῖον ἀκίνητον, δι' ἀκινησίας τὰ πάντα κινοῦν. Ἀσώματον τοίνυν ὑποληπτέον τὸ θεῖον. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο τῆς οὐσίας παραστατικόν ἐστιν ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸ ἀγέννητον καὶ τὸ ἄναρχον καὶ τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον καὶ τὸ ἄφθαρτον καὶ ὅσα περὶ θεοῦ ἢ περὶ θεὸν εἶναι λέγεται· ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ τὸ τί ἐστι σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ τί οὐκ ἔστι. Χρὴ δὲ τὸν βουλόμενον τήν τινος οὐσίαν εἰπεῖν, τί ἐστι, φράσαι, οὐ τί οὐκ ἔστι· ὅμως ἐπὶ θεοῦ, τί ἐστιν, εἰπεῖν ἀδύνατον κατ' οὐσίαν. Οἰκειότερον δὲ μᾶλλον ἐκ τῆς πάντων ἀφαιρέσεως ποιεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶν οὐχ ὡς μὴ ὤν, ἀλλ' ὡς ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ ὄντα καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτόδε τὸ εἶναι ὤν. Εἰ γὰρ τῶν ὄντων αἱ γνώσεις, τὸ ὑπὲρ γνῶσιν πάντως καὶ ὑπὲρ οὐσίαν ἔσται, καὶ τὸ ἀνάπαλιν τὸ ὑπὲρ οὐσίαν καὶ ὑπὲρ γνῶσιν ἔσται. Ἄπειρον οὖν τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον, καὶ τοῦτο μόνον αὐτοῦ καταληπτόν, ἡ ἀπειρία καὶ ἡ ἀκαταληψία. Ὅσα δὲ λέγομεν ἐπὶ θεοῦ καταφατικῶς, οὐ τὴν φύσιν ἀλλὰ τὰ περὶ τὴν φύσιν δηλοῖ. Κἂν ἀγαθόν, κἂν δίκαιον, κἂν σοφόν, κἂν ὅ τι ἂν εἴπῃς, οὐ φύσιν λέγεις θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ τὰ περὶ τὴν φύσιν. Εἰσὶ δὲ καί τινα καταφατικῶς ἐπὶ θεοῦ λεγόμενα δύναμιν ὑπεροχικῆς ἀποφάσεως ἔχοντα, οἷον σκότος λέγοντες ἐπὶ θεοῦ οὐ σκότος νοοῦμεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι φῶς ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τὸ φῶς.