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struck by many, would not produce a harmonious sound, unless there were one skilled artist striking it. Therefore, since creation is one, and the world is one, and its order is one, we must conceive that its king and creator, the Lord, is also one. For this is why the Creator himself has made the entire world one, so that by the existence of many worlds, many creators might not be supposed, but since the work is one, its maker also may be believed to be one. And it is not because the Creator is one that the world is also one; for God could have made other worlds as well. But because the world that has come into being is one, it is necessary to believe that its creator is also one.

40 Who might this be? For it is especially necessary to declare and state this, lest someone, being led astray by ignorance concerning him, should suppose another, and fall back again into the same godlessness as those before. But I think that no one has a doubtful mind about this. For if indeed our argument has shown that the so-called gods of the poets are not gods, and has convicted those who deify creation of being in error, and has demonstrated that the idolatry of the gentiles is altogether godlessness and impiety; it is altogether necessary, with these things being refuted, that what remains with us is the pious religion, and that he who is worshipped and proclaimed by us is alone the true God, the Lord of creation and creator of every substance. Who then is this, but the all-holy and transcendent beyond all created essence, the Father of Christ, who, just like an excellent pilot, by his own wisdom and his own Word, our Lord and Savior Christ, governs all things everywhere unto salvation and orders them, and does as seems good to him? And it is good, as it has become and as we see things becoming, since this is what he wills; and this no one could disbelieve. For if the movement of creation were irrational, and the universe were borne along simply; one might well have disbelieved what is said. But if it subsists by reason and wisdom and skill, and is ordered with all order, it is necessary that the one presiding over and ordering it be none other than the Word of God. But by Word I do not mean that which is interwoven and inherent in each of the created things, which some are accustomed to call seminal, being without soul and neither reasoning nor thinking, but only acting by an external art according to the skill of the one who applies it; nor such a word as the rational race possesses, which is composed of syllables, and signified in the air; but I mean the living and active Word of the good God of all, God the Word-in-himself, who is other than created things and all creation, but is the proper and only Word of the good Father, who ordered this universe and enlightens it by his own providence. For being the good Word of a good Father, he himself ordered the arrangement of all things, joining opposites to opposites, and from these ordering a single harmony. This one, being the power of God and the wisdom of God, makes the heaven revolve, and having suspended the earth, he has established it upon nothing by his own will. By him the sun, being lit, illuminates the inhabited world, and the moon has its measured light. Through him also the water is hung upon the clouds, and rains flood the earth, and the sea is bounded, and the earth is luxuriant with all kinds of plants and is green. And if any unbeliever should inquire concerning what is said, whether there is a Word of God at all, such a person would be mad to doubt concerning the Word of God; yet he has nevertheless from things that are seen the proof that all things subsist by the Word and Wisdom of God, and nothing that has been made would have been established, if it had not come to be by the Word, and by the divine Word, as was said.

41 But being the Word, he is not, as I said, composed of syllables after the likeness of men; but he is the exact image of his own Father.

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πολλῶν κρουομένη σύμφωνον ἀποτελέσει τὸν ἦχον, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ ταύτην πλήττων εἴη τεχνίτης. οὐκοῦν μιᾶς οὔσης τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ ἑνὸς ὄντος κόσμου, καὶ μιᾶς τῆς τούτου τάξεως, ἕνα δεῖ νοεῖν εἶναι καὶ τὸν ταύτης βασιλέα καὶ δημιουργὸν Κύριον. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ δημιουργὸς ἕνα τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον πεποίηκεν, ἵνα μὴ τῇ τῶν πολλῶν συστάσει πολλοὶ καὶ οἱ δημιουργοὶ νομίζοιντο, ἀλλ' ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ ποιήματος, εἷς καὶ ὁ τούτου ποιητὴς πιστεύηται. καὶ οὐχ ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ δημιουργός, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ εἷς ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος· ἠδύνατο γὰρ καὶ ἄλλους κόσμους ποιῆσαι ὁ Θεός. ἀλλ' ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος ὁ γενόμενος, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸν τούτου δημιουργὸν ἕνα πιστεύειν εἶναι.

40 Τίς ἂν εἴη οὗτος; καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον μάλιστα δηλῶσαι καὶ λέγειν, ἵνα μή, τῇ περὶ τοῦτον ἀγνοίᾳ πλανηθείς τις, ἕτερον ὑπολάβῃ, καὶ εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν πάλιν τοῖς πρότερον ἀθεότητα ἐμπέσῃ. νομίζω δὲ μηδένα περὶ τούτου τὴν διάνοιαν ἀμφίβολον ἔχειν. εἰ γὰρ δὴ τοὺς παρὰ ποιηταῖς λεγομένους θεοὺς οὐκ εἶναι θεοὺς ὁ λόγος ἔδειξε, καὶ τοὺς τὴν κτίσιν θεοποιοῦντας ἤλεγξε πλανωμένους, καὶ καθόλου τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰδωλολατρείαν ἀθεότητα καὶ ἀσέβειαν οὖσαν ἀπέδειξεν· ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τούτων ἀναιρουμένων, λοιπὸν παρ' ἡμῖν εἶναι τὴν εὐσεβῆ θρησκείαν, καὶ τὸν παρ' ἡμῶν προσκυνού μενον, καὶ κηρυττόμενον τοῦτον μόνον εἶναι Θεὸν ἀληθῆ, τὸν καὶ τῆς κτίσεως Κύριον καὶ πάσης ὑποστάσεως δημιουργόν. τίς δὴ οὖν ἐστιν οὗτος, ἀλλ' ἢ ὁ πανάγιος καὶ ὑπερέκεινα πάσης γενητῆς οὐσίας, ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Πατήρ, ὅστις, καθάπερ ἄριστος κυβερνήτης, τῇ ἰδίᾳ σοφίᾳ καὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ Λόγῳ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν καὶ Σωτῆρι Χριστῷ, τὰ πανταχοῦ διακυβερνᾷ σωτηρίως καὶ διακοσμεῖ, καὶ ποιεῖ ὡς ἂν αὐτῷ καλῶς ἔχειν δοκῇ; ἔχει δὲ καλῶς, ὡς γέγονε καὶ ὁρῶμεν γιγνόμενα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τοῦτο βούλεται· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἄν τις ἀπιστή σειεν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλογος ἦν ἡ τῆς κτίσεως κίνησις, καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐφέρετο τὸ πᾶν· καλῶς ἄν τις καὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἠπίστησεν· εἰ δὲ λόγῳ καὶ σοφίᾳ καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ συνέστηκε, καὶ παντὶ κόσμῳ δια κεκόσμηται, ἀνάγκη τὸν ἐπικείμενον καὶ διακοσμήσαντα τοῦτον οὐκ ἄλλον τινὰ ἢ Λόγον εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Λόγον δέ φημι οὐ τὸν ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν γενομένων συμπεπλεγμένον καὶ συμπεφυκότα, ὃν δὴ καὶ σπερματικόν τινες εἰώθασι καλεῖν, ἄψυχον ὄντα καὶ μηδὲν λογιζόμενον μήτε νοοῦντα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἔξωθεν τέχνῃ μόνον ἐνεργοῦντα κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐπιβάλλοντος αὐτὸν ἐπιστή μην· οὐδὲ οἷον ἔχει τὸ λογικὸν γένος λόγον τὸν ἐκ συλλαβῶν συγκεί μενον, καὶ ἐν ἀέρι σημαινόμενον· ἀλλὰ τὸν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ζῶντα καὶ ἐνεργῆ Θεὸν αὐτολόγον λέγω, ὃς ἄλλος μὲν ἔστι τῶν γενητῶν καὶ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, ἴδιος δὲ καὶ μόνος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ Πατρὸς ὑπάρχει Λόγος, ὃς τόδε τὸ πᾶν διεκόσμησε καὶ φωτίζει τῇ ἑαυτοῦ προνοίᾳ. ἀγαθοῦ γὰρ πατρὸς ἀγαθὸς Λόγος ὑπάρχων, αὐτὸς τὴν τῶν πάντων διεκόσμησε διάταξιν, τὰ μὲν ἐναντία τοῖς ἐναντίοις συνάπτων, ἐκ τούτων δὲ μίαν διακοσμῶν ἁρμονίαν. οὗτος, Θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία ὤν, οὐρανὸν μὲν περιστρέφει, γῆν δὲ ἀν αρτήσας, καὶ ἐπὶ μηδενὸς κειμένην τῷ ἰδίῳ νεύματι ἥδρασε. τούτῳ φωτιζόμενος ἥλιος τὴν οἰκουμένην καταυγάζει, καὶ σελήνη μεμετρη μένον ἔχει τὸ φῶς. διὰ τοῦτον καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπὶ νεφελῶν κρεμᾶται, καὶ ὑετοὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπικλύζουσι, καὶ ἡ μὲν θάλαττα περιορίζεται, ἡ δὲ γῆ παντοίοις φυτοῖς κομᾷ καὶ χλοηφορεῖ. καὶ εἴ τις ἄπιστος ζητοίη περὶ τῶν λεγομένων, εἰ ὅλως ἐστὶ Λόγος Θεοῦ, μαίνοιτο μὲν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀμφιβάλλων περὶ Λόγου Θεοῦ· ἔχει δὲ ὅμως ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, ὅτι πάντα Λόγῳ Θεοῦ καὶ Σοφίᾳ συνέστηκε, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἡδράσθη τι τῶν γενομένων, εἰ μὴ Λόγῳ ἐγεγόνει καὶ Λόγῳ τῷ θείῳ, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη.

41 Λόγος δὲ ὤν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁμοιότητα, ὥσπερ εἶπον, ἐστὶ συγκείμενος ἐκ συλλαβῶν· ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ Πατρός ἐστιν εἰκὼν ἀπαράλλακτος.