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it threatens; another cry signifies a storm; another flying thing brings disaster upon us. For I have heard many contending and talking nonsense about these things. Is this not a corruption of Christians? For what God saw and said was very good, do not you insult them. And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven for the shining of the day and for the torch-bearing of the night.' And God made the greater light, that is, the sun, to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years. What shall we men marvel at first? The sun's unimaginable height, its size, its intensity, the immeasurable light, or the unrestrainable heat? How from one wick, and from one substance have all these things been made to shine, as it completes its course, astounding mind and thought, as in one day appearing from the east and going toward the west, no place shall be hidden from its heat? Where are the children of the Persians, who worship it as a god, and having abandoned the creator, offer honor to His creation? Does not the sun itself perpetually complete its daily course with the greatest fear and good order, and sometimes it is covered by clouds, and sometimes when the south wind blows its rays are diminished? This is your sun, in which you, trusting, offer worship. All the Lord's works are very good, and fearful and excellent; but they are established for our service, not for dominion. How also the moon was brought forth for the torch-bearing of the night by the command of the maker, and sometimes it receives increase, and sometimes it endures decrease, and sometimes shining it emits gleams 56.530 of light, and sometimes ceasing it preserves its measures unshaken with the choirs of the innumerable stars? But let us come to the sequence of the account. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. And God said, 'Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls according to their kind, and flying birds according to the firmament of heaven.' And God made the great sea creatures. Understand precisely the word of the Almighty: How many kinds of fish in the sea he presented, and what a multitude of birds in the air he prepared, the small, the greater; and marvel at the excess of his wisdom, how by one word all things were brought forth. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living soul according to its kind, four-footed creatures, creeping things and wild beasts, and every cattle according to its kind and according to its likeness.' O the greatest wisdom! O the inexpressible goodness. All the cattle and the wild beasts he made in the twinkling of an eye, the lion, the bear, the serpent, the ox, and the horse, and as many as are eagerly sought and manageable for the service of men. Do you see the understanding of the Creator? He made all things in six days, light, heaven, earth, sea, sun, moon, stars, mountains, hills and plains, wild beasts, cattle, fish, sea creatures, the things in the sea, the things on the dry land. Whence the Father of lights, He who is and who (six) was, the mind without beginning, the unbegotten to the Only-begotten; He who begot to the one begotten from him without flux, the Son, the Word, the wisdom, the incomprehensible, introduces a more honorable and very great counsel, wishing to accomplish it, saying: Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. And God made man, taking dust from the earth. And that he might not show the Holy Spirit to be alien to the creation, He breathed into his face

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ἀπειλεῖ· ἕτερον φωνῆσαν χειμῶνα σημαίνει· ἄλλο πετᾶσαν συμφορὰν ἡμῖν παρεισάγει. Πολλῶν γὰρ ἤκουσα ταῦτα φιλονεικούντων καὶ ληρωδούντων. Οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο παραγραφὴ Χριστιανῶν; Ἃ γὰρ ἰδὼν ὁ Θεὸς εἶπε καλὰ λίαν, σὺ αὐτὰ μὴ ἐνύβριζε. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς φαῦσιν τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς δᾳδουχίαν τῆς νυκτός. Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν μέγαν, ἤγουν τὸν ἥλιον, εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ τὸν φωστῆρα τὸν ἐλάσσω εἰς ἀρχὰς τῆς νυκτὸς, καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας. Καὶ ἔστωσαν εἰς σημεῖα καὶ εἰς καιροὺς, καὶ εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς ἐνιαυτούς. Τί πρῶτον θαυμάσομεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι; τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ ὕψος τὸ ἀνείκαστον, τὸ μέγεθος, τὴν σφοδρότητα, τοῦ φωτὸς τὸ ἀμέτρητον, ἢ τῆς θέρμης τὸ ἀκατάσχετον; Πῶς ἐκ μιᾶς θρυαλλίδος, καὶ ἐκ μιᾶς οὐσίας ταῦτα πάντα κατηγλάϊσται, δρόμον ἀνύοντος αὐτοῦ, νοῦν καὶ ἔννοιαν καταπλήττοντα, ὡς ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς φαινόμενος καὶ πρὸς δύσιν ἐρχόμενος, τόπος οὐδεὶς ἀποκρυβήσεται τῆς θέρμης αὐτοῦ; Ποῦ τῶν Περσῶν τὰ τέκνα, οἱ θρησκεύοντες αὐτὸν ὡς θεὸν, καὶ τὸν κτίστην καταλιπόντες, τῷ κτίσματι αὐτοῦ τὴν τιμὴν προσάγουσιν; Οὐχὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ἥλιος ἀεννάως καθ' ἡμέραν τὸν αὐτοῦ δρόμον διατελεῖ μετὰ φόβου μεγίστου καὶ εὐταξίας, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν νέφεσι καλυπτόμενος, ποτὲ δὲ νότου πνεύσαντος τὰς ἀκτῖνας σμικρύνοντος; Οὗτος ὑμῶν ὁ ἥλιος, εἰς ὃν ὑμεῖς πεποιθότες τὴν λατρείαν προσάγετε. Πάντα καλὰ λίαν τοῦ Κυρίου τὰ ἔργα, καὶ φοβερὰ καὶ ἐξαίσια· ἀλλὰ πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν ἡμῶν καθεστήκασιν, οὐχὶ δεσποτείαν. Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς δᾳδουχίαν τῆς νυκτὸς τῷ προστάγματι τοῦ ποιητοῦ παρήχθη, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν αὔξησιν δέχεται, ποτὲ δὲ μείωσιν ὑπομένει, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν λάμπουσα μαρμα 56.530 ρυγὰς φωτὸς ἐπαφίησι, ποτὲ δὲ λήγουσα αὐτῆς τὰ μέτρα ἀπαρασάλευτα διαφυλάττει μετὰ τῶν ἀστέρων τῶν πολυαριθμήτων χορῶν; Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τοῦ λόγου ἥξωμεν. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα, καὶ ἐγένετο πρωῒ, ἡμέρα τετάρτη. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐξαγαγέτω τὰ ὕδατα ἑρπετὰ ψυχῶν ζωσῶν κατὰ γένος, καὶ πετεινὰ πετόμενα κατὰ τὸ στερέωμα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ κήτη τὰ μεγάλα. Κατάμαθε ἀκριβῶς τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ Παντοκράτορος· Πόσα γένη ἰχθύων τῶν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ παρέστησε, καὶ πόσον δῆμον πετεινῶν ἐν τῷ ἀέρι παρεσκεύασε, τὰ μικρὰ, τὰ μείζονα· καὶ θαύμασον τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν, πῶς ἑνὶ λόγῳ τὰ πάντα παρήχθη. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα, καὶ ἐγένετο πρωῒ, ἡμέρα πέμπτη. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐξαγαγέτω ἡ γῆ ψυχὴν ζῶσαν κατὰ γένος, τετράποδα, ἑρπετὰ καὶ θηρία, καὶ πᾶν κτῆνος κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα. Ὢ τῆς μεγίστης σοφίας! ὢ τῆς ἀνεκδιηγήτου ἀγαθότητος. Πάντα τὰ κτήνη καὶ τὰ θηρία ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ ἐποίησε, λέοντα, ἄρκον, δράκοντα, βοῦν, καὶ ἵππον, καὶ ὅσα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν περισπούδαστα καὶ ἀγώγιμα. Ὁρᾷς τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ τὴν σύνεσιν; Πάντα ἐποίησεν ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις, φῶς, οὐρανὸν, γῆν, θάλασσαν, ἥλιον, σελήνην, ἄστρα, ὄρη, βουνοὺς καὶ πεδιάδας, θηρία, κτήνη, ἰχθύας, κήτη, τὰ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, τὰ ἐν τῇ χέρσῳ. Ὅθεν τιμιωτέραν βουλὴν καὶ ἔργον μέγιστον θέλων κατεργάσασθαι ὁ Πατὴρ τῶν φώτων, ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ (σιξ) ἦν, ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἄναρχος, ὁ ἀγέννητος πρὸς τὸν Μονογενῆ· ὁ γεννήσας πρὸς τὸν γεννηθέντα ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀῤῥεύστως τὸν Υἱὸν, τὸν Λόγον, τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν ἀκατάληπτον, θεοπρεπῆ καὶ μυστικὴν βουλὴν ἐπεισάγει λέγων· Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν, καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν· καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τῶν κτηνῶν, καὶ πάσης τῆς γῆς, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἑρπετῶν τῶν ἑρπόντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, χοῦν λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ ἵνα μὴ δείξῃ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἀλλότριον τῆς δημιουργίας, Ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ