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to those in the East. But this is characteristic of God, the most high and almighty and the one who is truly God: not only to be everywhere, but also to oversee all things and to hear all things, and moreover not even to be contained in a place; for if not, the place containing him will be found to be greater than he; for that which contains is greater than that which is contained. For God is not contained, but he himself is the place of all things. And for what reason did Zeus leave Ida? Was it because he died, or did that mountain no longer please him? And where did he go? To the heavens? No. But will you say to Crete? Yes; where also his tomb is shown to this day. Again you will say to Pisa, he who extols the hands of Phidias to this day. Let us come, then, to the writings of the philosophers and poets. Some of the Stoics deny that there is a god at all, or, if he does exist, they say that god cares for nothing except himself. And these things the foolishness of Epicurus and Chrysippus has completely declared. But others say that all things happen by chance, and that the world is uncreated and nature is eternal, and on the whole they have dared to declare that there is no providence of God, but they say that God is only each person's conscience. And others again hold as a dogma that the spirit which has penetrated through all things is God. But Plato and those of his school confess that God is uncreated and the father and maker of all things; then they suppose that both God and matter are uncreated, and they say that this latter coexisted with God. But if God is uncreated and matter is uncreated, God is no longer the maker of all things according to the Platonists, nor indeed is the monarchy of God shown, as far as they are concerned. And further, just as God, being uncreated, is also unchangeable, so too, if matter were uncreated, it would also be unchangeable and equal to God; for that which is created is subject to change and alteration, but that which is uncreated is unchangeable and unalterable. And what is so great, if God made the world out of pre-existing matter? For even a human artisan, when he takes matter from someone, makes from it whatever he wishes. But the power of God is revealed in this, that He makes whatever He wishes out of things that are not, just as also giving a soul and motion belongs to no other than God alone. For a man makes an image, but cannot give reason and breath or sensation to what has been made by him. But God possesses this to a greater degree than he, the ability to make a thing rational, living, and sentient. Therefore, just as in all these things God is more powerful than man, so also is he in making from non-existing things and having made existing things, both whatever he wishes and as he wishes. So the opinion among the philosophers and writers is discordant. For while these men have declared these things, the poet Homer is found introducing with another hypothesis the generation not only of the world but also of the gods. For he says somewhere: Oceanus, the genesis of gods, and mother Tethys, from whom indeed are all rivers and every sea. In saying which things, he no longer establishes God. For who does not know that Oceanus is water? And if he is water, he is not then a god. But God, if of the

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ἀνατολικοῖς. Θεοῦ δὲ τοῦ ὑψίστου καὶ παντοκράτορος καὶ τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ τοῦτό ἐστιν μὴ μόνον τὸ πανταχόσε εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα ἐφορᾶν καὶ πάντων ἀκούειν, ἔτι μὴν μηδὲ τὸ ἐν τόπῳ χωρεῖσθαι· εἰ δὲ μή γε, μείζων ὁ χωρῶν τόπος αὐτοῦ εὑρεθήσεται· μεῖζον γάρ ἐστιν τὸ χωροῦν τοῦ χωρουμένου· Θεὸς γὰρ οὐ χωρεῖται, ἀλλὰ αὐτός ἐστι τόπος τῶν ὅλων. Πρὸς τί δὲ καὶ καταλέλοιπεν ὁ Ζεὺς τὴν Ἴδην; πότερον τελευ- τήσας, ἢ οὐκ ἔτι ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ ἐκεῖνο τὸ ὄρος; ποῦ δὲ καὶ ἐπορεύθη; εἰς οὐρανούς; οὐχί. ἀλλὰ ἐρεῖς εἰς Κρήτην; ναί· ὅπου καὶ τάφος αὐτῷ ἕως τοῦ δεῦρο δείκνυται. πάλιν φήσεις εἰς Πεῖσαν, ὁ κλέων ἕως τοῦ δεῦρο τὰς χεῖρας Φειδίου. Ἔλθωμεν τοίνυν ἐπὶ τὰ συγγράμματα τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ ποιητῶν. Ἔνιοι μὲν τῆς στοᾶς ἀρνοῦνται καὶ τὸ ἐξ ὅλου θεὸν εἶναι, ἤ, εἰ καί ἐστιν, μηδενός φασιν φροντίζειν τὸν θεὸν πλὴν ἑαυτοῦ. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν παντελῶς Ἐπικούρου καὶ Χρυσίππου ἡ ἄνοια ἀπεφήνατο. ἕτεροι δέ φασιν αὐτοματισμὸν τῶν πάντων εἶναι, καὶ τὸν κόσμον ἀγένητον καὶ φύσιν ἀΐδιον, καὶ τὸ σύνολον πρόνοιαν μὴ εἶναι θεοῦ ἐτόλμησαν ἐξειπεῖν, ἀλλὰ θεὸν εἶναι μόνον φασὶν τὴν ἑκάστου συνείδησιν. ἄλλοι δ' αὖ τὸ δι' ὅλου κεχωρηκὸς πνεῦμα θεὸν δογματίζουσιν. Πλάτων δὲ καὶ οἱ τῆς αἱρέσεως αὐτοῦ θεὸν μὲν ὁμολογοῦσιν ἀγένητον καὶ πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων εἶναι· εἶτα ὑποτίθενται θεὸν καὶ ὕλην ἀγένητον καὶ ταύτην φασὶν συνηκμακέναι τῷ θεῷ. εἰ δὲ θεὸς ἀγένητος καὶ ὕλη ἀγένητος, οὐκ ἔτι ὁ θεὸς ποιητὴς τῶν ὅλων ἐστὶν κατὰ τοὺς Πλατωνικούς, οὐδὲ μὴν μοναρχία θεοῦ δείκνυται, ὅσον τὸ κατ' αὐτούς. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ θεός, ἀγένητος ὤν, καὶ ἀναλλοίωτός ἐστιν, οὕτως, εἰ καὶ ἡ ὕλη ἀγένητος ἦν, καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος καὶ ἰσόθεος ἦν· τὸ γὰρ γενητὸν τρεπτὸν καὶ ἀλλοιωτόν, τὸ δὲ ἀγένητον ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον. Τί δὲ μέγα, εἰ ὁ θεὸς ἐξ ὑποκειμένης ὕλης ἐποίει τὸν κόσμον; καὶ γὰρ τεχνίτης ἄνθρωπος, ἐπὰν ὕλην λάβῃ ἀπό τινος, ἐξ αὐτῆς ὅσα βούλεται ποιεῖ. θεοῦ δὲ ἡ δύναμις ἐν τούτῳ φανεροῦται ἵνα ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ποιῇ ὅσα βούλεται, καθάπερ καὶ τὸ ψυχὴν δοῦναι καὶ κίνησιν οὐχ ἑτέρου τινός ἐστιν ἀλλ' ἢ μόνου θεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος εἰκόνα μὲν ποιεῖ, λόγον δὲ καὶ πνοὴν ἢ αἴσθησιν οὐ δύναται δοῦναι τῷ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενομένῳ. θεὸς δὲ τούτου πλεῖον τοῦτο κέκτηται, τὸ ποιεῖν λογικόν, ἔμπνουν, αἰσθητικόν. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν δυνατώ- τερός ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οὕτως καὶ τὸ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ποιεῖν καὶ πεποιηκέναι τὰ ὄντα, καὶ ὅσα βούλεται καὶ ὡς βούλεται. Ὥστε ἀσύμφωνός ἐστιν ἡ γνώμη κατὰ τοὺς φιλοσόφους καὶ συγγράφεις. τούτων γὰρ ταῦτα ἀποφηναμένων, εὑρίσκεται ὁ ποιη- τὴς Ὅμηρος ἑτέρᾳ ὑποθέσει εἰσάγων γένεσιν οὐ μόνον κόσμου ἀλλὰ καὶ θεῶν. φησὶν γάρ που· Ὠκεανόν τε, θεῶν γένεσιν, καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν, ἐξ οὗ δὴ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα. ἃ δὴ λέγων οὐκ ἔτι θεὸν συνιστᾷ. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταται τὸν Ὠκεανὸν ὕδωρ εἶναι; εἰ δὲ ὕδωρ, οὐκ ἄρα θεός. ὁ δὲ θεός, εἰ τῶν