If the God of all things is able to make things that have already happened and been done to have never happened, according to the saying, "No word will be impossible for him."

for we do not say as not having happened, but as not having happened from the beginning; for example, if he is able to make the prostitute a virgin from her mother's womb, so that the one who fornicated might not be a prostitute, because "the things impossible with men are possible with God."

SOLUTION. We ought to inquire into the power of God, whether it is great and wonderful, when what is done is not unfitting to the divine glory. For not because he can do all things is it fitting for him to be seen as a doer of absurd things. For we understand that it is absurd to say: If God is able to make himself not be God, if he is able to make himself susceptible to sin, if he is able to make himself not be good or life or just. Therefore it is necessary to reject with all strength such absurd questions.

But why is God not able to make the one who fornicated to have never been a prostitute? Because he is not able to make 566 a falsehood truth. And this is not an accusation of weakness, but a proof of nature, which does not endure to suffer anything that is not fitting for it. But falsehood is entirely foreign to God, for it is a falsehood to make the one who has fornicated to have never fornicated.

But it is necessary, as I said, not even to entertain in the first place such foolish questions that contain much absurdity; these things should not even have been written down, but for the sake of your reverence, encountering them by yourself and having your own thoughts in good order, I knew the points on each of the chapters, I was eager to clarify them as much as possible.

Εἰ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τὰ γινόμενα ἤδη καὶ πραχθέντα δύναται ποιῆσαι μὴ

γενέσθαι ποτὲ, κατὰ τό "Οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει αὐτῷ πᾶν ῥῆμα." οὐ γὰρ λέγομεν ὡς μὴ γενόμενα, ἀλλὰ μὴ γεγενῆσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν· οἷον, εἰ τὴν πόρνην δύναται παρθένον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ποιῆσαι, ἵνα μὴ πόρνη ᾖ ἡ πορνεύσασα, ὅτι "τὰ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα δυνατὰ "παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ."

ΕΠΙΛΥΣΙΣ. Ζητεῖσθαι χρὴ παρ' ἡμῶν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν, εἰ μεγάλη καὶ

ἀξιάγαστος, ὅτε τὸ δρώμενόν ἐστιν οὐκ ἀπεοικὸς τῇ θείᾳ δόξῃ. οὐ γὰρ ὅτι πάντα δύναται, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ἀτόπων ἐργάτην αὐτὸν ὁρᾶσθαι προσήκει. ἐννοῶμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἄτοπόν ἐστι τὸ λέγειν Εἰ δύναται ὁ Θεὸς ἑαυτὸν ποιῆσαι μὴ εἶναι Θεὸν, εἰ δύναται ἑαυτὸν ποιῆσαι ἁμαρτίας δεκτικὸν, εἰ δύναται ἑαυτὸν ποιῆσαι μὴ εἶναι ἀγαθὸν ἢ ζωὴν ἢ δίκαιον. δεῖ τοίνυν παραιτεῖσθαι παντὶ σθένει τὰς ἀτόπους οὕτω τῶν ἐρωτήσεων. διὰ τί δὲ ὁ Θεὸς οὐ δύναται τὴν πορνεύσασαν ποιῆσαι μὴ γεγενῆσθαί ποτε πόρνην; ὅτι οὐ δύναται τὸ 566 ψεῦδος ἀλήθειαν ποιῆσαι. καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενείας ἔγκλημα τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ φύσεως ἀπόδειξις, οὐκ ἀνεχομένης τι παθεῖν ὃ μὴ αὐτῇ πρέπει· ἀλλότριον δὲ Θεοῦ τὸ ψεῦδος παντελῶς, ψεῦσμα γάρ ἐστι τὸ τὴν πορνεύσασαν ποιῆσαι μὴ πορνεῦσαί ποτε.

∆εῖ δὲ, ὡς ἔφην, τὰς οὕτως εὐήθεις τῶν ἐρωτήσεων καὶ πολὺ τὸ ἄτοπον ἐχούσας μηδὲ προσίεσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν· ταῦτα οὐδὲ ἐγγράφως ἐχρῆν γενέσθαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ τὴν σὴν εὐλάβειαν καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἐντυχοῦσαν εὖ ἔχουσας τὰς ἑαυτῆς ἐννοίας, ᾔδειν τὰ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν κεφαλαίων ὡς ἔνι σαφηνίσαι προεθυμήθην.