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a cessation of all worldly activity for those being deified; for in the case of intellectual beings, every movement and every activity and every rest is active, and for eternal and incorporeal beings, the existing states of rest and stillness, and the cessations of activities, cause them to act according to nature, which is conducive to untroubledness and perfection into a unity.

Cessation: For it is impossible to be united to God and in a certain way to become god, unless one ceases from material activities, both in sense and in thought.

14S_044 Of the abstraction of beings: He calls the abstraction of all beings the not comparing of the Divine to any of the beings, but he says that it is not a body, not a state, not a power, and all the rest, as he has indicated through the following.

But it is nothing: That God is nothing is to be understood in this way, as being none of the things that are; for the cause of beings is beyond beings. Hence God is spoken of theologically as both everywhere and nowhere. Since, therefore, he is nowhere, all things are both through him, and in him, as being none of all things; and again in him, as being everywhere, but all things are distinct from him, because he is nowhere. And he fills all things, as being everywhere, according to the prophet, but is nowhere according to another who says: “or what is the place of my rest?”. For if he were only everywhere, he would be all things and in all things locally. Thus, therefore, he is also nothing, as being beyond beings.

But as of every state: A state is a permanent disposition; motion is that which is contrasted with rest, posited among many things; life, that which shows these things to be active; imagination, that which forms impressions in the mind; opinion, a fully formed conception; and intellection differs from discursive thought, because the one pertains to the intellectual part of the soul, while the other signifies the motion of the intellectual part. All these and the other things that are enumerated with them are not substance, but are observed in connection with substance; hence he also distinguished it from these.

The providence of the Thearchy: From these things the foolish opinions of those who dared to say that the creative power is inherent in God by some nature, as weaving is to spiders, are refuted. For he says that God produced the universe through goodness alone. Therefore, all 14S_046 theologians do not dare to hymn him from the things of God himself, that is, from his substance, for they are unknowable; but from his procession to external things, which is providence, the effects, that is, the things constituted from him as cause, they sing hymns to God's providence over all things. For all things desire the divine providence, through which they both exist and are sustained, but intellectual and rational beings desire it knowingly. And they are called intellectual, inasmuch as, being intellect, they apprehend the transcendent intelligibles; for the intelligible is that which is apprehended, which is also the food of the intellectual being that apprehends it. Therefore, all things that, being intellectual, apprehend as intellect, these, being rational, by applying themselves knowingly to the providence of God, desire God in an analogous way. But as for those things that are subordinate to intellectual beings, and are the sensitive soul—I speak of beasts and all animate but irrational bodies, whose soul is constituted from the elements and from material fire, and has its being in a material spirit—these, being driven only by sensation to hunger and thirst, naturally desire the provider in a sensory way, as in, “All look to you to give them their food in due season”; and you will find many such things in Job and in David. And indeed, all other things that have only a vegetative, that is, vital, motion, insensibly and inanimately, such as all plants and all herbs, which also have only a vital spirit constituting their own substance without sensation, as all trees, as has been said, and such things, when they wither, being deprived of the vegetative spirit, through which they are moved to growth and flourishing; for this reason, these also seem to desire the divine providence, by which they are sustained and flourish; whence also

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ἀπόπαυσιν πάσης ἐνεργείας κοσμικῆς ἐκθεουμένους· ἐπί γάρ τῶν νοερῶν πᾶν κίνημα καί πᾶσα ἐνέργεια καί πᾶσα ἠρεμία ἐνεργῶς ἐστι, καί πρός αἰωνίοις καί ἀσωμάτοις αἱ οὖσαι ἠρεμίαι καἰ ἡσυχίαι, καί τῶν ἐνεργειῶν αἱ ἀποπαύσεις, τό κατά φύσιν πράττειν ποιοῦσιν, ὅπερ ἐστί τῆς ἀνενοχλησίας καί τελειότητος εἰς ἑνάδα πρόξενον.

Ἀπόπαυσιν: Ἀδύνατον γάρ ἑνωθῆναι Θεῷ καί θεόν τρόπον τινά γενέσθαι, εἰ μή παύσεταί τις τῶν ὑλικῶν ἐνεργειῶν κατά τε αἴσθησιν καί κατά διάνοιαν.

14S_044 Τῶν ὄντων ἀφαιρέσεως: Ἀφαίρεσιν πάντων τῶν ὄντων καλεῖ τό πρός μηδέν τῶν ὄντων παραβάλλειν τό Θεῖον, ἀλλά λέγει, ὅτι οὐ σῶμα, οὐχ ἕξις, οὐ δύναμις, καί τά λοιπά πάντα, καθώς διά τῶν ἑξῆς ἐσήμανεν.

Αὐτό δέ οὐδέν: Τό οὐδέν εἶναι τόν Θεόν οὕτω νοητέον, ὡς τῶν ὄντων μηδέν ὄντα· ὑπέρ γάρ τά ὄντα ὁ αἴτιος τῶν ὄντων· ὅθεν ὁ Θεός καί πανταχοῦ καί οὐδαμοῦ θεολογεῖται· ἐπεί γοῦν οὐδαμοῦ ἐστι, πάντα μέν δι' αὐτοῦ, καί ἐν αὐτῷ, ὡς μή ὄντι μηδέν τῶν πάντων· καί ἐν αὐτῷ πάλιν, ὡς πανταχοῦ ὄντι, ἕτερα δέ δι' αὐτοῦ τά πάντα, ὅτι αὐτός οὐδαμοῦ· καί πληροῖ μέν τά πάντα, ὡς πανταχοῦ ὤν, κατά τόν προφήτην, οὐδαμοῦ δέ ἐστι καθ' ἕτερον λέγοντα· «ἤ ποῖος τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου;». Εἰ γάρ μόνον ἦν πανταχοῦ, αὐτός ἄν ἦν τά πάντα καί ἐν πᾶσι τοπικῶς· οὕτως οὖν καί οὐδέν, ὡς ὑπέρ τά ὄντα.

Ἀλλ' ὡς πάσης ἕξεως: Ἕξις μέν ἐστι διάθεσις ἔμμονος· κίνησις δέ ἐστι τό ἀντιδιαστελλόμενον τῇ ἠρεμίᾳ μετά πολλῶν τιθέμενον· ζωή δέ, τό ταῦτα δεικνύον ἐνεργά· φαντασία δέ τό ἐν διανοίᾳ ἀνατυπωτικόν· δόξα δέ, πεπληροφορημένη ὑπόληψις· διαφέρει δέ νόησις διανοίας, ὅτι τό μέν ἔστιν ἐπί τοῦ διανοητικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς, τό δέ τήν τοῦ διανοητικοῦ κίνησιν δηλοῖ. Ταῦτα δέ πάντα καί τά ἄλλα ὅσα τούτοις συγκατείλεκται οὐκ οὐσία ἐστίν, ἀλλά περί οὐσίαν ὁρᾶται· ὅθεν καί διεῖλεν αὐτήν ἀπό τούτων.

Τῆς θεαρχίας πρόνοια: Ἐκ τούτων αἱ ἀνόητοι δοξαι ἐκλύονται τῶν τολμησάντων λέγειν τό δημιουργικόν φύσει τινί ἐνεῖναι τῷ Θεῷ, ὡς καί τοῖς ἀραχνίοις τό ὑφαίνειν· φησί γάρ διά μόνην ἀγαθότητα τό πᾶν παραγαγεῖν τόν Θεόν· διό καί πάντες 14S_046 οἱ θεολόγοι ἐκ μέν τῶν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ, οὐ τολμῶσιν ὑμνεῖν αὐτόν, ἀνεπίγνωστα γάρ, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς εἰς τά ἔξω προόδου, ἥτις ἐστί πρόνοια, τά αἰτιατά, τουτέστι τά ἐξ αἰτίου αὐτοῦ συστάντα, τήν περί τά πάντα πρόνοιαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμνολογοῦσι· τά γάρ πάντα τῆς θείας προνοίας ἐφίεται, δι' ἧς καί ὑπάρχει καί συνίσταται, ἀλλά τά μέν νοερά καί λογικά γνωστικῶς· νοερά δέ λέγεται, ὅσα διά τό νοῦς εἶναι, νοεῖ τά ὑπερκείμενα νοητά· νοητόν γάρ ἐστι τό νοούμενον, ὅπερ καί τροφή ἐστι τοῦ νοεροῦ ἀντί τούτου νοοῦντος. Ὅσα οὖν κατά τό νοερά εἶναι ἅτε νοῦς νοεῖ, ταῦτα λογικά ὄντα, γνωστικῶς ἐπιβάλλοντα τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίᾳ ἀναλόγως ἐφίεται τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὅσα δέ ὑποβέβηκε τά νοερά, καί εἰσί ψυχή αἰσθητική, θηρίων λέγω καί πάντων, ἐμψύχων μέν σωμάτων, ἀλόγων δέ, ὧν ἡ ψυχή ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων καί τοῦ ἐνύλου πυρός συνεστῶσα, ἐν πνεύματι ἐνύλῳ ἔχει τό εἶναι· ταῦτα, μόνον ἐκ τῆς αἰσθήσεως συνελαυνόμενα εἰς τό πεινῇν καί διψῇν, ἐφίεται εἰκότως αἰσθητῶς τοῦ χορηγοῦντος, ὡς τό· «πάντα πρός σέ προσδοκῶσι τοῦ δοῦναι τήν τροφήν αὐτῶν εἰς εὔκαιρον»· καί τοιαῦτα πολλά καί παρά τῷ Ἰώβ καί τῷ ∆αυίδ εὑρήσεις. Καί τά ἄλλα μέντοι ὅσα τήν φυτικήν, ἤτοι ζωτικήν, μόνην ἀναισθήτως τε καί ἀψύχως ἔχει κίνησιν, ὡς τά φυτά πάντα καί βοτάναι πᾶσαι, ἅτινα καί ζωτικόν πνεῦμα μόνον συνιστῶν ἔχουσι, τήν ἑαυτῶν οὐσίαν ἄνευ αἰσθήσεως, ὡς τά δένδρα πάντα, ὡς εἴρηται, καί τά τοιαῦτα κατά τό ἀποξηραίνεσθαι τοῦ φυτικοῦ πνεύματος στερούμενα, δι' οὗ κονοῦνται πρός αὔξην καί εὐθάλειαν· διά τοῦτο δοκεῖ καί ταῦτα ἐφίεσθαι τῆς θείας προνοίας, ἐφ' ᾧ καί συνεστάναι καί ἀνθεῖν· ὅθεν καί