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by the preaching, and how in Byzantium he built a city named for himself, calling it New Rome, and transferred the empire from the elder Rome to this one; and who reigned in it after him, and what sort each was in character, but also in piety, and how long he held the rule, and how he departed this life; and who presided over the church in Constantinople, and for 1.11 how long each one, and which of them held to the orthodox dogma, and which became heterodox, and how each of them passed from here; and under which emperors and patriarchs and against whom the synods were convened. And so the account, coming down to the emperors of our own time, concludes the history, mentioning in the midst many other and apocryphal stories. But I must begin this history making its beginning the first principle, the cause of all things, which is without beginning and without time, and the production and generation of those things brought forth by it from non-being into subsistence and being. 1.12 THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST BOOK, BEGINNING FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. God is a nature that lacks nothing, self-sufficient for itself unto glory and unto comprehension, neither needing glory from others nor comprehensible by another, unless one might say that its infinity and incomprehensibility are comprehensible. And in speaking of God I mean Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, which is the Godhead according to the great father, Gregory the Theologian. The divine, being such, first gives being to the angelic powers and heavenly ministers and singers of the splendor above, not as needing them, but so that it might not be moved by the contemplation of itself alone, but that the good might be poured out and proceed, and beneficence might extend to more; for this belonged to the highest goodness; then it also establishes this world, the material and visible one. And in the beginning he made the heaven and the earth. But since the earth was covered in invisibility, because there was darkness and water was upon its surface, God brought forth the light. And he separated the light and the darkness, and the light he called day, but the darkness he named night; whose beginning he named evening, and morning he named the first 1.13 dawning of the day. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. I know, therefore, that it is written in the Book of Jubilees that on the first day the heavenly powers also came into being before the others from the creator of all things, but because this Book of Jubilees is not numbered among the books of the Hebrew wisdom approved by the divine fathers, I consider nothing of what is written in it to be certain, nor do I agree with its account. Then he established the firmament, stretching it in the midst of the waters, so that some were left above it, and the others were poured around the earth below. And it was called firmament because its body is solid, and does not have a thin or rare nature like the waters from which it had its composition; which was also named heaven. These things happened on the second day. And on the third, God commanded the water covering the whole face of the earth to be gathered together, and the dry land to appear. And the word became deed and deep hollows, coming into being, received the waters. And the land he named dry, and the gatherings of the waters, seas. And on this day both plants and seeds were brought forth from the earth. For it was necessary that the earth, being unadorned, be adorned with grasses and countless shoots and with flowers and with all kinds of fruits and with the graces of trees. And the fourth day had the genesis of the luminaries, of the sun and moon and the remaining stars. And with these the creator adorned the heaven, and the light that had been brought forth on the first day he placed in these luminaries, appointing 1.14 for them motions, risings, courses, and settings, so that through them the region around the earth might be illuminated and time might be counted by their risings and settings, and that they might provide signs through them to those who attend to their appearances most directly and not too curiously

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κηρύγματι, καὶ οπως ἐν τῷ Βυζαντίῳ πόλιν ἑαυτῷ ἐπώνυμον ᾠκοδόμησε, Νέαν ̔Ρώμην ὀνομάσας αὐτήν, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκ τῆς πρεσβυτέρας ̔Ρώμης εἰς ταύτην μετήνεγκε· καὶ τίνες μετ' ἐκεῖνον ἐν αὐτῇ ἐβασίλευσαν, καὶ οιος εκαστος ην τοὺς τρόπους, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸ σέβας, καὶ οσον ἐκράτησε τῆς ἀρχῆς, καὶ οπως μετήλλαξε τὴν ζωήν· τίνες τε τῆς ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει προέστησαν ἐκκλησίας, καὶ ἐφ' 1.11 οσον εκαστος, καὶ τίνες αὐτῶν τοῦ ὀρθοῦ ἀντείχοντο δόγματος, τίνες δὲ γεγόνασιν ἑτερόδοξοι, καὶ οπως τῶν τῇδε μετελήλυθεν εκαστος· καὶ ἐπὶ τίνων αὐτοκρατόρων καὶ πατριαρχῶν καὶ κατὰ τίνων αἱ σύνοδοι συγκεκρότηνται. ουτω τε κατιὼν ὁ λόγος μέχρι τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς γεγονότων αὐτοκρατόρων, περαίνει τὴν συγγραφήν, πολλῶν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καὶ ἀποκρύφων αλλων μεμνημένος ἱστοριῶν. ἀρκτέον δέ μοι τῆς συγγραφῆς ἀρχὴν ταύτης ποιουμένῳ τὴν πρώτην ἀρχὴν τὴν τῶν ολων αἰτίαν τὴν αναρχόν τε καὶ αχρονον, καὶ τῶν ὑπ' ἐκείνης παραχθέντων ἐκ τοῦ μὴ οντος εἰς ὑπόστασιν καὶ οὐσίωσιν τήν τε παραγωγὴν καὶ τὴν γένεσιν. 1.12 ΑΡΧΗ ΤΟΥ ΠΡΩΤΟΥ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΟΜΕΝΟΥ ΑΠ' ΑΡΧΗΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΠΟΙΙΑΣ. Θεός ἐστι μὲν ἀνενδεὴς φύσις, αὐτὴ ἑαυτῇ αὐτάρκης εἰς δόξαν καὶ εἰς κατάληψιν, ουτε τῆς παρ' ἑτέρων δεομένη δόξης ουθ' ἑτέρῳ καταληπτή, εἰ μή τις φαίη καταληπτὸν ειναι τὸ απειρον αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ ἀκατάληπτον. θεὸν δὲ λέγων πατέρα φημὶ καὶ υἱὸν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ αγιον, α ἡ θεότης κατὰ τὸν μέγαν πατέρα τὸν θεολόγον Γρηγόριον. ουτω δ' εχον τὸ θεῖον πρῶτον μὲν τὰς ἀγγελικὰς οὐσιοῖ δυνάμεις καὶ οὐρανίους λειτουργούς τε καὶ ὑμνῳδοὺς τῆς ανω λαμπρότητος, οὐχ ὡς τούτων δεόμενον, ἀλλ' ινα μὴ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ μόνον θεωρίᾳ κινοῖτο, χεθῇ δὲ καὶ ὁδεύσῃ τὸ ἀγαθόν, καὶ ἡ εὐεργεσία χωρήσῃ πρὸς πλείονας· τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ακρας ην ἀγαθότητος· ειτα καὶ τόνδε τὸν κόσμον ὑφίστησι τὸν ὑλικὸν καὶ ὁρώμενον. καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. τῆς γῆς δὲ ἀορασίᾳ καλυπτομένης, ἐπεὶ καὶ σκότος ην καὶ υδωρ αὐτῆ ἐπεπόλαζε, τὸ φῶς παρήγαγεν ὁ θεός. καὶ διεχώρισε τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸ σκότος, καὶ τὸ μὲν φῶς ἡμέραν ἐκάλεσε, τὸ δὲ σκότος νύκτα ὠνόμασεν· ου τῇ ἀρχῇ ἑσπέραν, πρωὶ δὲ τῇ πρώτῃ 1.13 φαύσει τῆς ἡμέρας ονομα εθετο. καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωὶ ἡμέρα μία. Οιδα μὲν ουν ἐν τῇ Λεπτῇ Γενέσει γεγραμμένον ὡς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ αἱ οὐράνιοι δυνάμεις πρὸ τῶν αλλων ὑπέστησαν παρὰ τοῦ τῶν ολων δημιουργοῦ, ἀλλ' οτι μὴ ταῖς παρὰ τῶν θείων πατέρων ἐγκεκριμέναις βίβλοις τῆς ̔Εβραϊκῆς σοφίας καὶ ἡ Λεπτὴ αυτη συνηρίθμηται Γένεσις, οὐδέν τι τῶν ἐν ἐκείνῃ γεγραμμένων λογίζομαι βέβαιον, οὐδὲ τῷ λόγῳ συντίθεμαι. Ειτα τὸ στερέωμα ὑπεστήσατο, ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ὑδάτων διατείνας αὐτό, ωστε τὰ μὲν ανω αὐτοῦ ἐναποληφθῆναι, τὰ δὲ κάτω περικεχύσθαι τῇ γῇ. στερέωμα δ' ἐκλήθη οτι στεγανὸν τὸ σῶμα τούτου, καὶ οὐ λεπτὴν οὐδ' ἀραιὰν τὴν φύσιν εχει κατὰ τὰ υδατα, ἐξ ων τὴν σύστασιν εσχηκεν· ο καὶ οὐρανὸς ὠνομάσθη. ταῦτα ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγένετο. ἐν δὲ τῇ τρίτῃ τὸ υδωρ τὸ τῆς γῆς απαν καλύπτον πρόσωπον ἐκέλευσεν ὁ θεὸς συναχθῆναι, καὶ ὀφθῆναι τὴν ξηράν. καὶ ὁ λόγος εργον ἐγένετο καὶ κοιλότητες βαθεῖαι γενόμεναι τὰ υδατα εἰσεδέξαντο. καὶ τὴν μὲν γῆν ξηρὰν κατωνόμασε, θαλάσσας δὲ τὰ τῶν ὑδάτων συστήματα. κατὰ ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν φυτά τε γῆθεν ἀνεδόθη καὶ σπέρματα. εδει γὰρ ακοσμον ουσαν τὴν γῆν κοσμηθῆναι ταῖς πόαις καὶ τοῖς μυρίοις βλαστήμασι καὶ τοῖς ανθεσι καὶ τοῖς παντοίοις καρποῖς καὶ τῶν δένδρων ταῖς χάρισιν. ἡ δὲ τετάρτη ἡμέρα τὴν τῶν φωστήρων εσχηκε γένεσιν, ἡλίου τε καὶ σελήνης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀστέρων. καὶ τούτοις τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁ δημιουργὸς κατηγλάϊσε, καὶ τὸ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν παραχθὲν φῶς τοῖς φωστῆρσι τούτοις ἐνέθετο, κινήσεις αὐτοῖς ἐπιτολάς τε καὶ δρόμους καὶ καταδύσεις δια1.14 ταξάμενος, ινα τε φωτίζοιτο δι' αὐτῶν τὸ περίγειον καὶ ὁ χρόνος ἀπαριθμοῖτο ταῖς τούτων ἀνατολαῖς καὶ ταῖς δύσεσι, καὶ σημεῖα παρέχοιντο δι' αὐτῶν τοῖς εὐθύτατα ταῖς αὐτῶν προσέχουσι φαύσεσι καὶ μὴ περιεργότερον