of...having been established, which was made known to us through the foretelling and teaching of both the prophets and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and of his apostles, by words witnessed by divine powers. Question. Does God make, or did He make, or is He going to make? And if He makes, is it with counsel or without counsel? Answer. God made and makes and will make through His own will. For He made creation when it did not exist before, He Himself having willed it, which by His own providence He preserves in being, which is 'He makes,' which also He is going to re-create and to bring to a better state through the re-creation, which is 'He will make,' in order that He may cleanse it from every absurdity that happened to it from the despondency of rational beings, not having found what is better later on from judgment and examination, but from above and before the creation of the world it was decreed by Him to do this. For it is not possible for anything to be added to God later, either in knowledge or in power, which He did not have before. And a proof that God makes the world by His will is this: that, while God was able to make more suns, He did not make more, but made only one; for he who is not able to make more suns is not able to make even one, and he who is able to make the one sun is by necessity able to make more as well. How then did God not make more suns, which He was able to make, unless perhaps He did not wish to make more suns? But if the suns which He did not make, He did not make by His will, it is clear then that also the one which He did make, He made by His will, and just as with the sun, so also all the remaining parts of creation, both the incorruptible and the corruptible, have from the will of God both their being and their being such as they are. Question. Is the incorporeal better than the corporeal? Answer. If the body is given life and becomes intelligent, not by the presence of another body but by that of the incorporeal, how is the incorporeal not better than the body? Another. If all corporeal substance is from matter and form, and form is not from matter but comes to matter from elsewhere, how is the incorporeal not better than matter, from which the form comes into the matter? Another. If it is not possible for the equal to be known when the unequal is unknown, how is it possible for the body to be known when the incorporeal is unknown? Another. If all corporeal things exist in a body imagistically, but the soul rationally, how is the soul not incorporeal? Another. If it is possible for the soul to act according to the mind, and the soul does act according to the mind, when it separates itself from all sensation,

σεως ὑποστησαμένου, τοῦ ἡμῖν γνωσθέντος διὰ προῤῥήσεως καὶ διδασκαλίας προφητῶν τε καὶ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀποστόλων λόγοις θείαις δυνάμεσι μεμαρτυρημένοις. Ἐρώτησις. Eἰ ποιεῖ θεὸς ἢ ἐποίησεν ἢ μέλλει ποιεῖν; Καὶ εἰ ποιεῖ, μετὰ βουλῆς ἢ ἄνευ βουλῆς; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ποιεῖ καὶ ποιήσει διὰ τῆς οἰκείας βουλήσεως. Ἐποίησε γὰρ τὴν κτίσιν οὐκ οὖσαν πρότερον βουληθεὶς αὐτός, ἣν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ προνοίᾳ ἐν τῷ εἶναι διατη ρεῖ, ὅπερ ἐστὶ ποιεῖ, ἣν καὶ μέλλει ἀνακτίζειν καὶ εἰς τὴν βελτίονα ἀγαγεῖν κατάστασιν διὰ τῆς ἀνακτίσεως, ὅπερ ἐστὶ ποιήσει, ἵνα καθαρίσῃ αὐτὴν ἀπὸ πάσης ἀτοπίας τῆς ἐκ τῆς τῶν λογικῶν ·ᾳθυμίας συμβάσης αὐτῇ, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἐπικρίσεώς τε καὶ ἐπισκέψεως ὕστερον εὑρὼν τὸ βέλτιον, ἀλλὰ ἄνωθεν καὶ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ποιήσεως ἦν αὐτῷ δεδογμένον τοῦτο ποιεῖν. Oὔτε γὰρ πρὸς γνῶσιν οὔτε πρὸς δύναμιν δυνατὸν προσγενέσθαι τῷ θεῷ ὕστερον ὃ μὴ πρότερον εἶχε. ∆εῖγμα δὲ τοῦ βουλήσει τὸν θεὸν ποιεῖν τὸν κόσμον τοῦτό ἐστι, τό, δυναμένου τοῦ θεοῦ πλείονας ποιεῖν ἡλίους, οὐκ ἐποίησε πλείο νας, ἀλλ' ἕνα μόνον ἐποίησεν· ὁ γὰρ μὴ δυνάμενος πλείονας ποιῆσαι ἡλίους οὐδὲ ἕνα δύναται ποιεῖν, καὶ ὁ τὸν ἕνα ἥλιον δυνάμενος ποιῆσαι ἐξ ἀνάγκης καὶ πλείονας δύναται ποιεῖν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς πλείονας ἡλίους, οὓς ἐδύνατο ποιεῖν, εἰ μή τι ἄρα οὐκ ἐβούλετο πλείονας ποιεῖν ἡλίους; Eἰ δὲ οὓς οὐκ ἐποίησεν ἡλίους βουλήσει οὐκ ἐποίησε, δῆλον ἄρα ὅτι καὶ ὃν ἐποίησε βουλήσει ἐποίησε, καὶ καθάπερ τὸν ἥλιον, οὕτως καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα τὰ μέρη τῆς κτίσεως, τά τε ἄφθαρτα καὶ τὰ φθαρτά, τὰ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βουλῆς τό τε εἶναι καὶ τὸ τοιάδε εἶναι ἔχοντα. Ἐρώτησις. Eἰ κάλλιον τὸ ἀσώματον τοῦ σώματος; Ἀπόκρισις. Eἰ ζωοῦται τὸ σῶμα καὶ διανοητικὸν γίνεται, οὐ σώματος ἑτέρου παρουσίᾳ ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ ἀσωμάτου, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τὸ ἀσώ ματον τοῦ σώματος ὑπάρχον κάλλιον; Ἄλλο. Eἰ ἐκ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τοῦ εἴδους ἐστὶ πᾶσα ἡ σω ματικὴ οὐσία, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ὕλης τὸ εἶδος ἀλλ' ἀλλαχόθεν παραγίνεται τῇ ὕλῃ, πῶς οὐκ ἔστι τὸ ἀσώματον κάλλιον τῆς ὕλης, ἐξ οὗ παραγίνεται εἰς τὴν ὕλην τὸ εἶδος; Ἄλλο. Eἰ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται γνωσθῆναι τὸ ἴσον τοῦ ἀνίσου ἀγνοουμένου, πῶς ἐνδέχεται γνωσθῆναι τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀσωμά του ἀγνοουμένου; Ἄλλο. Eἰ τὰ σωματικὰ πάντα ἐν σώματι μὲν ὑπάρχει εἰδωλικῶς, ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ λογικῶς, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ψυχὴ ἀσώ ματος; Ἄλλο. Eἰ δυνατὸν τῇ ψυχῇ κατὰ νοῦν ἐνεργεῖν, ἐνεργεῖ δὲ κατὰ νοῦν ἡ ψυχή, ὅταν χωρίζῃ ἑαυτὴν πάσης αἰσθήσεως,