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to consider heaven and earth. For thus also heaven is called God's throne, from the fact that the heavenly powers have the knowledge of God firmly established in them. And the earth, a footstool, because the people on earth are barely able to comprehend the last things concerning God. In this sense it is said: A clever man, a throne of perception; but a throne of dishonor, a woman who hates righteous things. Just as a throne of perception is one who is perceptive and sensible, so a throne of God is one who has comprehended the highest narrative about God. Because the Lord has spoken. It is a fearful thing to disobey the words of God. 1.13 I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rejected me. Oh, the loving-kindness! The Master justifies himself, so that after the proofs he may bring on what is deserved. I have begotten and exalted sons. Man is a composite of soul and body; the flesh, from the earth; the soul, heavenly. Since, therefore, his kinship is with both, he reproves sin in his most intimate parts. I have begotten and exalted sons. There are two kinds of birth. The one, the formation according to God, accomplished from works and acceptance of doctrines; as Paul gives birth through the Gospel, and is in labor for those who have fallen, and reshapes them, fashioning them anew into godliness. The other is the entrance into life, as in "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth." He therefore brings both forward against them, and reproaches them, because having been brought from non-being into existence, and having been made in the image of God (for this is to be both begotten and exalted) you have neither given thanks to him as Creator, nor have you made yourselves like him as father; but through the turn toward the worse they rejected God, and made the devil their father. For everyone who commits sin has been born of the devil. And the Lord says to those who do evil: You are of your father the devil. Great, then, is the accusation, for the son, who has also received physical birth, to be ungrateful toward the one who begot him. But worthy of unbearable hatred is the one who, having been exalted by becoming a partaker of heavenly things, did not even so persist in love toward his benefactor. 1.14 The ox knew its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel did not know me, and my people did not understand me. He who rejects God is compared to an ox and a donkey. For since, "Being in honor, he did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts and was made like them." Such are those who live not according to reason, but according to passion, being carried away by irrationality to a beastly life. He has taken animals that are companions and familiar to humans for the image, so that we may be ashamed, being more foolish than these, and not ourselves imparting to the one who created us even that goodwill which we receive from the irrational animals. For the ox, given to us as a co-worker in agriculture, both perceives the voice of the one who feeds it and recognizes the one who usually brings it its food. And the donkey spontaneously rushes to its usual places of rest. If, therefore, irrational animals have such familiarity with the one who cares for them, how great a measure of love for God will be required of a rational nature? Observe, that the ox is testified to have more understanding than the donkey; for the one knew its owner, but the other only its manger, the word showing that the gluttonous animal knows only the place of pleasure; but the other has some understanding even of the good and the useful itself. Wherefore, as the animals are unsuited to each other, in Deuteronomy it is forbidden to plow with a calf and a donkey together; that is, do not yoke the proud and industrious part of the soul with the pleasure-loving and passionate part. For God is not concerned about oxen; but it was written entirely for our sake. But elsewhere again it is yoked together; For "Blessed is he who sows on every water, where ox and donkey tread," that is, he who by the teaching word both stirs up the industrious part of the soul, and heals its pleasure-loving part. For just as the beast is a burden-bearer, so also the appetitive part of the soul by the weight of sin

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νομίζειν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ θρόνος Θεοῦ λέγεται ὁ οὐρανὸς, ἐκ τοῦ τὰς ἐπουρανίους δυνάμεις παγίως ἐν αὐταῖς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν ἐνιδρυμένην ἔχειν. Καὶ ἡ γῆ, ὑποπόδιον, διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς ἀνθρώπους τὰ τελευταῖα τῶν περὶ Θεοῦ μόλις χωρῆσαι δύνασθαι. Κατὰ τοῦτο εἴρηται· Ἀνὴρ πανοῦργος, θρόνος αἰσθήσεως· θρόνος δὲ ἀτιμίας, γυνὴ μισοῦσα δίκαια. Ὥσπερ καὶ αἰσθήσεως θρόνος, ὁ αἰσθητικὸς καὶ ἔμφρων, οὕτως Θεοῦ θρόνος, ὁ χω ρήσας τὰ ἀνωτάτω περὶ Θεοῦ διηγήσεως. Ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησε. Φοβερὸν τὸ παρακούειν τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγων. 1.13 Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν. Ὢ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας. ∆ικαιολογεῖται ὁ ∆εσπότης, ἵνα μετὰ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἐπαγάγῃ τὰ πρὸς ἀξίαν. Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα. Σύνθετος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος· ἡ σάρξ, ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς· ἡ ψυχὴ, οὐρανία. Ἐπεὶ οὖν πρὸς ἀμφότερα αὐτῷ ἡ συγγένειά ἐστιν, ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκειοτάτων αὐτοῦ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐλέγχει. Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα. Γενέσεως εἴδη δύο. Ἡ μὲν, ἡ κατὰ Θεὸν μόρφωσις, ἐξ ἔργων καὶ παραδοχῆς δογμάτων ἐπιτελουμένη· ὡς γεννᾷ Παῦλος διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, καὶ τοὺς ἐκπεσόντας ὠδίνει, καὶ διαμορφοῖ ἀναπλάσσων αὐτοὺς εἰς εὐσέβειαν. Ἡ δέ τίς ἐστιν, ἡ εἰς τὸν βίον εἴσοδος, ὡς τὸ Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος γενέσεως οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς. Ἀμφοτέρας οὖν αὐτοῖς προφέρει, καὶ ὀνειδίζει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς γένεσιν ἀχθέντες, καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γενόμενοι (τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ καὶ γεννηθῆναι καὶ ὑψωθῆναι) οὔτε ὡς Κτίστῃ ηὐχαριστήσατε, οὔτε ὡς πατρὶ ἑαυτοὺς ὡμοιώσατε· ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον τροπῆς ἠθέτησαν μὲν τὸν Θεὸν, πατέρα δὲ ἑαυτῶν ἐποίησαν τὸν διάβολον. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἐκ τοῦ δια βόλου γεγέννηται. Καὶ ὁ Κύριος δὲ τοῖς πονηρευομένοις φησίν· Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστέ. Μεγάλη μὲν οὖν κατηγορία, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ὄντα καὶ τῆς σω ματικῆς γενέσεως τετυχηκότα, ἀγνώμονα εἶναι περὶ τὸν γεννήσαντα. Ἀφορήτου δὲ μίσους ἄξιος ὁ καὶ ὑψωθεὶς τῷ γενέσθαι τῶν οὐρανίων μέτοχος, καὶ μηδὲ οὕτως ἐπιμένων τῇ πρὸς τὸν εὐεργέτην ἀγάπῃ. 1.14 Ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ· Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκε. Βοῒ καὶ ὄνῳ συγκρίνεται ὁ ἀθετήσας Θεόν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ἐν τιμῇ ὢν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνησι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Τοιοῦτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ μὴ κατὰ λόγον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ πάθος ζῶντες, ἐκ τῆς ἀλογίας πρὸς τὸν κτηνώδη βίον ὑποφερόμενοι. Τὰ σύντροφα δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώ ποις καὶ γνώριμα πρὸς τὴν εἰκόνα παρέλαβεν, ἵνα αἰσχυνώ μεθα, καὶ τούτων ὄντες ἀσυνετώτεροι, καὶ μηδὲ ἧς παρὰ τῶν ἀλόγων εὐνοίας τυγχάνομεν, ταύτης αὐτοὶ τῷ κτίσαντι ἡμᾶς μεταδιδόντες. Βοῦς μὲν γὰρ, ὁ συνεργὸς ἡμῖν εἰς γεωργίαν παραδοθεὶς, καὶ φωνῆς τοῦ τρέφοντος ἐπαισθά νεται καὶ τὸν συνήθως αὐτῷ προσφέροντα τὴν τροφὴν ἐπι γινώσκει. Ὄνος δὲ αὐτομάτως ἐπὶ τοὺς τῆς καταλύσεως συνήθεις τόπους ὁρμᾷ. Εἰ οὖν τοῖς ἀλόγοις τοσαύτη πρὸς τὸν ἐπιμελούμενον ἡ συνήθεια, πόσον ἡ λογικὴ φύσις τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπης τὸ μέτρον ἀπαιτηθήσεται; Παρατήρει δὲ, ὅτι ὁ βοῦς πλείονα τὴν σύνεσιν ἔχειν παρὰ τὸν ὄνον μεμαρτύρηται· ὁ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔγνω τὸν κτησάμε νον, ὁ δὲ τὴν φάτνην μόνον, δεικνύντος τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι τὸ γαστρίμαργον ζῶον τὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς μόνον γνωρίζει τόπον· ὁ δὲ ἔχει τινὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ὠφελίμου σύνεσιν. ∆ιόπερ, ὡς ἀνοικείως ἐχόντων τῶν ζώων πρὸς ἄλληλα, ἐν ∆ευτερονομίῳ ἀπηγόρευται ἀροτριᾷν ἐν μόσχῳ καὶ ὄνῳ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό· τουτέστι, τὸ γαῦρον τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ φιλόπονον τῷ φιληδόνῳ καὶ παθητικῷ μὴ συζεύξῃς. Οὐ γὰρ τῶν βοῶν μέλει τῷ Θεῷ· ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς πάντως ἐγράφη. Ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ πάλιν συνέζευκται· Μακάριος γὰρ ὁ σπείρων ἐπὶ πᾶν ὕδωρ, οὗ βοῦς καὶ ὄνος πατεῖ, τουτέστι ὁ τῷ διδακτικῷ λόγῳ τό τε φιλόπονον τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεγείρων, καὶ τὸ φιλή δονον αὐτῆς θεραπεύων. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ζῶον ἀχθοφορικὸν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ βάρει τῆς ἁμαρτίας