Philocalia or Selections from the works of Origen made by Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus (ch. 23, 25-27)

 of those concerning the stars, so that what is said by them may not be an unproven declaration, let them try to bring us more compellingly, by present

 to her a sign, saying: This is the sign which the Lord spoke, saying: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the fat that is upon it shall be poured out

 of certain observations, or also from the teaching of angels who had transgressed their own order and, for the ruin of our race, taught certain things

 to be mistaken, but it is possible concerning things that are contingent to happen and not to happen to think that they happen and that they do not ha

 these past events are not in our power, it being possible on the basis of the same past events to do other things than what we do. But if anyone seeks

 It is fated for you to have children or not to have children in vain then you have relations with a woman. For just as in this case, since it is impo

 they will reasonably agree that nothing concerning human affairs comes from the stars, but, as we have said before, if anything, they are signified A

 argument, that humans are able to comprehend the heavenly configurations and the signs and what they are signs of, let us now examine if this is true.

 of human nature, not in a human way but in a divine way they are taught the secrets just as Paul, saying: I heard unspeakable words, which it is not

 they read the book of God and thus they do what is incumbent upon them. But as we said before, what we do, or what the opposing energies accomplish i

 they do away with sayings, also using the one: “The sinners were estranged from the womb,” spoken in the psalms. Now to this it is easy to reply, by a

 troubling our argument since Paul says: “But we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called accordin

 the deeds foreknown beforehand but happening later, each from the apostolic preparation and choice. But now to apply this to the saying from the psalm

 Health, of course, and bodily strength are a good. The text reads thus: ‘If you will not hearken to do all the words of this law that are written in t

 it is necessary to raise a further question to those who suppose, whether the prophets, whose sins are not spoken against, have kept the law for exam

 of whom the prophet also finds fault with those who are in such states, saying: 'From the feet to the head, there is neither wound, nor bruise, nor fe

 who was once the morning star, rising in the morning, but later was shattered upon the earth. For not only among the sons of men, if one is perfect, i

 that the sound account concerning this Scripture is also among the hidden things. But those who claim there is another god besides the creator wish hi

 they suppose concerning God, nor to what they dogmatize concerning natures, does the argument from the reading now under examination contribute, as th

 leading him into the open and perhaps exhausting him through the action, so that having brought to completion all the outbursts of his indwelling wick

 chasten me” the one praying these things is asking not to need the reproof that comes through the wrath of God and the chastisement that comes throug

 Good masters, being long-suffering toward their sinning servants, are accustomed to say: I have ruined you and: I have made you wicked showing with

 the heart of Pharaoh” whether they believe that these things are said truly by God through the inspired Moses or falsely. For if falsely, then accord

they read the book of God; and thus they do what is incumbent upon them. But as we said before, what we do, or what the opposing energies accomplish in us, we do by our own free choice; disorderly, when we sin; but in a disciplined way, not without angels nor divine letters nor holy ministers, when we do things pleasing to God. 23.22v And Clement of Rome, a disciple of the apostle Peter, speaking in harmony with these things on the present problem to his father in Laodicea in the *Circuits*, says something most necessary at the end of the arguments concerning this, about the things that seem to have resulted from the nativity, in the 14th discourse. And the father: Forgive me, child; for your words yesterday, being true, persuaded me to agree with you; but my conscience, like a small remnant of a fever, briefly tortures me toward disbelief; for I am conscious that all the things of my nativity have been fulfilled for me. And I answered: Understand with me, father, what sort of nature the science has, from what I advise you. Having met with an astrologer, first say to him that 'Such and such bad things happened to me at this time; I wanted to learn from which of the stars this happened to me.' And he will tell you that the malefic Ares or Kronos succeeded to the times, or one of these became apocatastatic, or that some planet aspected this year from a square or an opposition, or was in conjunction, or in a cardine, or contrary to its sect. Nevertheless, he has countless other things to say. In addition to these, either a benefic was connected with a malefic, or was unaspected, or in a figure, or contrary to its sect, or in an eclipse, or unconnected, or among dim stars. And yet, there being many pretexts, he is able to provide proofs for what he heard. Therefore, after this astrologer, approaching another, say the opposite: that 'This good thing happened to me at this time'; but you say the same time; and demand from which part of the nativity this happened. And yet, as I said before, though you lied, he is able, from many configurations, to find one configuration, and a second, and a third, and more, as being the very thing that acted, from which he will say the good things came to be. For it is impossible in every nativity of men that at every hour of the stars some are not well-placed and others badly; for it is a circle of equal parts, variegated, having countless pretexts on the basis of which each person can say what he wants. For just as with ambiguous dreams we sometimes understand nothing, but when they have come to pass we offer a most fitting interpretation; so also the science, before something is fulfilled, can reveal nothing clear to us, but after the account of what has happened, then the cause of the outcome appears manifest. Often, therefore, those who foretell err, and after the outcome they blame themselves, saying, 'This was what caused it, and we did not see it.' So, that even the very knowledgeable err happens because they do not know, as I said yesterday, which causes of the nativity come to be in every case, and which not in every case, and which things we desire to do in every case, but do not do in every case. That this cause is clear to us who have learned the mystery; that, having free reason <sometimes giving in to desire we are defeated,> sometimes having determined to restrain it we have conquered. But the astrologers, not knowing this mystery itself, having declared from the beginning about every choice, when they erred they invented the climacterics, rendering the choice into obscurity, as we showed yesterday. But you, for the rest, if you have anything to say to these things, speak. And the father, swearing an oath, answered that nothing was truer than these things which you have said. 25.1v That being set apart out of foreknowledge does not do away with free will. From the 1st volume of the commentaries on Romans, on: "Set apart for the gospel of God." Third, it is possible to see: "Set apart for the gospel of God"; and in the letter to the Galatians the apostle says such things about himself: "But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb, to reveal his son in me." But those take hold of such expressions who do not understand him who was predestined from God's foreknowledge, being the cause of the foreknown things coming to be; and they think through these to introduce those who are saved by constitution and nature. And some also that which is in our power from such things

ἀναγινώσκουσι τὴν βίβλον τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ οὕτως ποιοῦσι τὰ αὐτοῖς ἐπιβάλλοντα. Ὡς προείπομεν δέ, ἡμεῖς ἃ ποιοῦμεν, ἢ αἱ ἀντικείμεναι ἐνέργειαι ἃ ἐπιτελοῦσιν εἰς ἡμᾶς, ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει ποιοῦμεν· ἀτάκτῳ μέν, ὅτε ἁμαρτάνομεν· πεπαιδευμένῃ δέ, οὐκ ἄτερ ἀγγέλων οὐδὲ θείων γραμμάτων οὐδὲ ὑπηρετῶν ἁγίων, ὅτε θεῷ εὐάρεστα πράττομεν. 23.22ν Καὶ Κλήμης δὲ ὁ Ῥωμαῖος, Πέτρου τοῦ ἀποστόλου μαθητής, συνῳδὰ τούτοις ἐν τῷ παρόντι προβλήματι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ εἰπὼν ἐν ταῖς Περιόδοις, ἀναγκαιότατόν τι ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν περὶ τούτου λόγων φησὶν περὶ τῶν τῆς γενέσεως δοκούντων ἐκβεβηκέναι, λόγῳ ιδʹ. Καὶ ὁ πατήρ· Σύγγνωθί μοι, τέκνον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ χθές σου λόγοι ἀληθεῖς ὄντες συνελογίσαντό με συνθέσθαι σοι· ἡ δὲ ἐμὴ συνείδησις μικρά με ὥσπερ πυρετοῦ ἔλλειμμα πρὸς ἀπιστίαν βραχέα βασανίζει· σύνοιδα γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ τὰ τῆς γενέσεως πάντα μοι ἀποτελεσθέντα. Κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Συννόησόν μοι, πάτερ, οἵαν φύσιν ἔχει τὸ μάθημα, ἐξ ὧν ἐγώ σοι συμβουλεύω. Μαθηματικῷ συμβαλών, εἰπὲ πρῶτον αὐτῷ ὅτι Τάδε μοι φαῦλα ἐν τῷδε τῷ χρόνῳ γέγονεν· ἐκ τίνος ἄρα μοι τῶν ἀστέρων γέγονε μαθεῖν ἤθελον. Καὶ ἐρεῖ σοι ὅτι τοὺς χρόνους κακοποιὸς διεδέξατο Ἄρης ἢ Κρόνος, ἢ τούτων τις ἀποκαταστατικὸς ἐγένετο, ἢ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτόν τις ἐπεθεώρησεν ἐκ τετρα γώνου ἢ διαμέτρου ἢ συνὼν ἢ κεκεντρωμένος ἢ παρὰ αἵρεσιν. Ὅμως καὶ ἄλλα μυρία εἰπεῖν ἔχει. Πρὸς τούτοις δὲ ἢ ἀγαθοποιὸς κακῷ σύνδετος ἦν ἢ ἀνεπιθεώρητος ἢ ἐν σχήματι ἢ παρὰ αἵρεσιν ἢ ἐν ἐκλείψει ἢ ἀνεπισύναφος ἢ ἐν ἀμαυροῖς ἄστροις. Καὶ ὅμως πολλῶν προφάσεων οὐσῶν πρὸς ἃ ἤκουσε τὰς ἀποδείξεις παρασχεῖν ἔχει. Μετὰ τοῦτον οὖν τὸν μαθηματικὸν ἑτέρῳ προσελθὼν τὰ ἐναντία εἰπέ· ὅτι Τόδε μοι ἀγαθὸν ἐν τῷδε τῷ χρόνῳ γέγονε· σὺ δὲ τὸν χρόνον τὸν αὐτὸν λέγε· ἀπαίτει δὲ ἐκ τίνος ἄρα τῆς γενέσεως τοῦτο γέγονε. Καὶ ὅμως ὡς προεῖπον ἔχει, σοῦ καταψευσα μένου, αὐτὸς ἐκ πολλῶν σχημάτων ἕν τι εὑρεῖν σχῆμα καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον καὶ πλείονα, ὡς αὐτὸ τὸ ἐνεργῆσαν ὅθεν τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἐρεῖ γεγενῆσθαι. Ἀδύνατον γὰρ ἐν πάσῃ γενέσει ἀνθρώπων μὴ ἐν πάσῃ ὥρᾳ τῶν ἀστέρων τοὺς μὲν καλῶς κεῖσθαι τοὺς δὲ κακῶς· κύκλος γὰρ ἔστιν ἰσομερής, ποικίλος, ἀπείρους ἔχων τὰς προφάσεις πρὸς ἃς ἕκαστος εἰπεῖν ἔχει ὃ θέλει. Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον ἐπὶ τῶν λοξῶν ὀνείρων ἐνίοτε οὐδὲν νοοῦμεν, ἀποβάντων δὲ οἰκειοτάτην προσφέρομεν ἐπίλυσιν· οὕτως καὶ τὸ μάθημα πρὸ τοῦ τι ἀποτελεσθῆναι οὐδὲν σαφὲς ἡμῖν μηνῦσαι δύναται, μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ γενομένου ἱστορίαν τότε πρόδηλος ἡ τῆς ἐκβάσεως αἰτία φαίνεται. Πολλάκις μὲν οὖν οἱ προλέγοντες πταίουσι, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἔκβασιν ἑαυτοὺς μέμφονται λέγοντες ὅτι Τόδε ἦν τὸ ποιῆσαν, καὶ οὐκ εἴδομεν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν καὶ τοὺς πάνυ ἐπιστήμονας πταίειν γίνεται διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι, ὡς χθὲς ἔφην, ποῖα πάντως τῆς γενέσεως αἴτια γίνεται, ποῖα δὲ οὐ πάντως, καὶ ποῖα πάντως ποιῆσαι ἐπιθυμοῦμεν, οὐ πάντως δὲ ποιοῦμεν. Ὅτι ἥδε ἡ αἰτία ἡμῖν τοῖς τὸ μυστήριον μεμα θηκόσι σαφές ἐστιν· ὅτι, ἐλεύθερον ἔχοντες λογισμὸν <ἐνίοτε συγχωρήσαντες τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἡττήμεθα,> ἐνίοτε ἐπέχειν ταύτην βουλευσάμενοι νενικήκαμεν. Οἱ δὲ ἀστρο λόγοι, τοῦτο αὐτὸ τὸ μυστήριον οὐκ εἰδότες, περὶ πάσης προαιρέσεως ἀποφηνάμενοι ἐξ ἀρχῆς, πταίσαντες τοὺς κλιμακτῆρας ἐπενόησαν, εἰς ἀδηλότητα ποιούμενοι τὴν προαίρεσιν, ὡς χθὲς ἐπεδείξαμεν. Σὺ δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ πρὸς ταῦτα εἴ τι ἔχεις εἰπεῖν, λέγε. Καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὀμόσας ἀπεκρίνατο μηδὲν τούτων ἀλη θέστερον εἶναι, ὧν εἶπες. 25.1ν Ὅτι ὁ ἐκ προγνώσεως ἀφορισμὸς οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. Ἐκ τοῦ αʹ τόμου τῶν εἰς τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐξηγητικῶν, εἰς τό· «Ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ.» Τρίτον ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τό· «Ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ»· καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας ὁ ἀπόστολος περὶ ἑαυτοῦ τοιαῦτά φησιν· «Ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεός, ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοί.» Ἐπιλαμβάνονται δὲ τῶν τοιούτων λέξεων οἱ μὴ συνιέντες τὸν ἐκ προγνώσεως θεοῦ προωρισμένον αἴτιον τυγχάνοντα τοῦ γίνεσθαι τὰ προγινωσκόμενα· καὶ οἴονται διὰ τούτων εἰσάγειν τοὺς ἐκ κατασκευῆς καὶ φύσεως σῳζομένους. Τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων