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of the truth to be destroyed by error. On the fourth day the luminaries came into being. since God, being prescient, knew the babblings of the foolish philosophers, that they were going to say that the things growing on the earth are from the luminaries, in order to deny God; in order, therefore, that the truth might be shown, the plants and the seeds came into being before the luminaries; for the things that come after cannot produce the things that are before them. And these things hold a sign and a type of a great mystery. For the sun is in the type of God, and the moon of man. And just as the sun differs much from the moon in power and glory, so God differs much from humanity. and just as the sun always remains full, not becoming less, so God always remains perfect, being full of all power and understanding and wisdom and immortality and all good things; but the moon wanes monthly and in a sense dies, being in the type of man, then is reborn and waxes as a sign of the resurrection that is to be. Likewise also the three days that came into being before the luminaries are types of the Trinity, of God and His Word and His Wisdom. And in the fourth place is man, who is in need of light, so that there might be God, Word, Wisdom, man. For this reason also on the fourth day the luminaries came into being. The position of the stars has the economy and order of the just and pious and those who keep the law and the commandments of God. For the prominent and brilliant stars are in imitation of the prophets; for this reason they also remain fixed, not moving from place to place. And those having another order of brightness are types of the people of the just. But those, in turn, moving and fleeing from place to place, which are also called planets, they too are a type of the men who fall away from God, abandoning His law and His commandments. On the fifth day the living creatures from the waters came into being, through which, in these also, the manifold wisdom of God is shown. For who could number the multitude and manifold generation in them? Moreover, the things born from the waters were also blessed by God, so that this might be a sign that men were to receive repentance and remission of sins through water and the bath of regeneration—all who come to the truth and are born again and receive a blessing from God. But also the sea-monsters and the flesh-eating birds happen to be in the likeness of the covetous and transgressors. For just as, being from one nature, the aquatic and the winged creatures, some indeed remain in what is according to nature, not wronging their own weaker ones, but keep the law of God and eat from the seeds of the earth, but some of them transgress the law of God by eating flesh, and wrong their own weaker ones, so also the just, keeping the law of God, bite or wrong no one, living piously and justly,

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ἀληθείας ἐξαπόλλυσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς πλάνης. Τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγένοντο οἱ φωστῆρες. ἐπειδὴ ὁ θεὸς προγνώσ- της ὢν ἠπίστατο τὰς φλυαρίας τῶν ματαίων φιλοσόφων, ὅτι ἤμελλον λέγειν ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων εἶναι τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς φυόμενα, πρὸς τὸ ἀθετεῖν τὸν θεόν· ἵν' οὖν τὸ ἀληθὲς δειχθῇ, προγενέστερα γέγονεν τὰ φυτὰ καὶ τὰ σπέρματα τῶν στοιχείων· τὰ γὰρ μεταγενέστερα οὐ δύναται ποιεῖν τὰ αὐτῶν προγενέστερα. ταῦτα δὲ δεῖγμα καὶ τύπον ἐπέχει μεγάλου μυστηρίου. ὁ γὰρ ἥλιος ἐν τύπῳ θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ σελήνη ἀνθρώπου. καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ ἥλιος πολὺ διαφέρει τῆς σελήνης δυνάμει καὶ δόξῃ, οὕτως πολὺ διαφέρει ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ καθάπερ ὁ ἥλιος πλήρης πάντοτε διαμένει μὴ ἐλάσσων γινόμενος, οὕτως πάντοτε ὁ θεὸς τέλειος διαμένει, πλήρης ὢν πάσης δυνάμεως καὶ συνέσεως καὶ σοφίας καὶ ἀθανασίας καὶ πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἡ δὲ σελήνη κατὰ μῆνα φθίνει καὶ δυνάμει ἀποθνήσκει, ἐν τύπῳ οὖσα ἀνθρώπου, ἔπειτα ἀναγεννᾶται καὶ αὔξει εἰς δεῖγμα τῆς μελ- λούσης ἔσεσθαι ἀναστάσεως. Ὡσαύτως καὶ αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι πρὸ τῶν φωστήρων γεγονυῖαι τύποι εἰσὶν τῆς τριάδος, τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ λόγου αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς σοφίας αὐτοῦ. τετάρτῳ δὲ τόπῳ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος ὁ προσδεὴς τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα ᾖ θεός, λόγος, σοφία, ἄνθρωπος. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐγενήθησαν φωστῆρες. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἄστρων θέσις οἰκονομίαν καὶ τάξιν ἔχει τῶν δικαίων καὶ εὐσεβῶν καὶ τηρούντων τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ. οἱ γὰρ ἐπιφανεῖς ἀστέρες καὶ λαμπροί εἰσιν εἰς μίμησιν τῶν προφητῶν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μένουσιν ἀκλινεῖς, μὴ μεταβαίνοντες τόπον ἐκ τόπου. οἱ δὲ ἑτέραν ἔχοντες τάξιν τῆς λαμπρότητος τύποι εἰσὶν τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν δικαίων. οἱ δ' αὖ μεταβαίνοντες καὶ φεύγοντες τόπον ἐκ τόπου, οἱ καὶ πλάνητες καλούμενοι, καὶ αὐτοὶ τύπος τυγχάνουσιν τῶν ἀφισταμένων ἀνθρώπων ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, καταλιπόντων τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰ προστάγματα αὐτοῦ. Τῇ δὲ πέμπτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τὰ ἐκ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐγενήθη ζῶα, δι' ὧν καὶ ἐν τούτοις δείκνυται ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ. τίς γὰρ δύναιτ' ἂν τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς πληθὺν καὶ γονὴν παμποίκιλον ἐξ- αριθμῆσαι; ἔτι μὴν καὶ εὐλογήθη ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ ἐκ τῶν ὑδάτων γενόμενα, ὅπως ᾖ καὶ τοῦτο εἰς δεῖγμα τοῦ μέλλειν λαμβάνειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους μετάνοιαν καὶ ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν διὰ ὕδατος καὶ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας πάντας τοὺς προσιόντας τῇ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἀνα- γεννωμένους καὶ λαμβάνοντας εὐλογίαν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ κήτη καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τὰ σαρκοβόρα ἐν ὁμοιώματι τυγχάνει τῶν πλεονεκτῶν καὶ παραβατῶν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ μιᾶς φύσεως ὄντα τὰ ἔνυδρα καὶ τὰ πετεινά, ἔνια μὲν μένει ἐν τῷ κατὰ φύσιν μὴ ἀδικοῦντα τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἀσθενέστερα, ἀλλὰ τηρεῖ νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σπερμάτων τῆς γῆς ἐσθίει, ἔνια δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν παραβαίνει τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ σαρκοβοροῦντα, καὶ ἀδικεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἀσθενέστερα, οὕτως καὶ οἱ δίκαιοι φυλάσσοντες τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδένα δάκνουσιν ἢ ἀδικοῦσιν, ὁσίως καὶ δικαίως ζῶντες,