Fifth Christian question to the Hellenes. If heaven is uncreated and God is uncreated and God dwells in heaven, how is God not insulted dwelling in things that are not his? For the heaven which he did not make is not his. Hellenic response to the Christians. That God is uncreated and heaven is uncreated is clear both from what has now been said superficially and from what has been nobly demonstrated by many. But that it is not reasonable to say that God dwells in heaven, let us examine in this way. For first, what is inhabited has come to be for the salvation of the inhabitant; so that, if the cosmos is a dwelling, and God is the dweller, it is clear that the cosmos saves God, and God is saved by the cosmos, which is the most absurd thing of all. Moreover, the superior contains the inferior, but the inferior is contained by the superior. But indeed the dweller is contained by the dwelling, and so the dwelling will contain God; and from this argument God will be in the inferior rank, and the creation in the superior. Moreover, what is contained is in a place, and everything that is in a place is a body; and so God, if he is in a place, will be a body. How then will it, being a lesser body, insofar as it is contained, hold together the greater body? It is absurd to say. But that the inhabitant is contained in a place by the house is surely clear to everyone, even to one who is blind from the start. What then? you might say. How does Homer call heaven the dwelling of the creator? Because, having seen the radiance of God everywhere throughout the cosmos, he called the cosmos the dwelling of God, as being the receptacle of all the making and creation of God. But they call heaven so especially, because it is agreed by all that heaven is the highest part of the whole cosmos. A refutation of the response, it not having been made correctly. To say that God is the creator, but the cosmos is uncreated; for "uncreated" is equivalent to "unbegotten," and the substitution of equivalents is unhindered; and to say "The uncreated God makes uncreated things," which is equivalent to "the unbegotten God unbegottenly makes unbegotten things"; and to say that God is eternal, but the cosmos is co-eternal, and that God and the cosmos are brought into existence from non-existence of their own accord; for "brought forth of its own accord," when said of God and of the cosmos, has the same meaning; and to say the cosmos is brought forth of its own accord and guarded by another; for "God-guarded" means "guarded by another" (for the cosmos is one thing and the God who guards the cosmos is another, which cosmos, being brought forth of its own accord, must necessarily also be self-guarded); and to say God and the cosmos are unbegotten and self-begotten; for "brought forth of its own accord," when said of God and of the cosmos, means "self-begotten"; and to say "God made the things here," and again "He did not make them"; for "he made" is as temporal as
Πέμπτη ἐρώτησις χριστιανικὴ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας. Eἰ ἀγένητος ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἀγένητος ὁ θεὸς καὶ οἰκεῖ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ θεός, πῶς κατοικῶν ἐν τοῖς οὐκ αὐτοῦ ὁ θεὸς οὐχ ὑβρίζεται; Ὃν γὰρ οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐρανόν, οὗτος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτοῦ. Ἀπόκρισις ἑλληνικὴ πρὸς τοὺς Χριστιανούς. Ὅτι μὲν ἀγένητος ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἀγένητος ὁ οὐρανός, δῆλον ἔκ τε τῶν ἐπιπολαίως τανῦν εἰρημένων καὶ ἐκ τῶν παρὰ πολ λῶν γενναίως ἀποδεδειγμένων. Ὅτι δὲ τὸν θεὸν φᾶναι κατοι κεῖν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ οὐκ ἔστιν εὔλογον, σκοπήσωμεν τῇδε. Πρῶ τον μὲν γὰρ τὸ οἰκούμενον τοῦ οἰκοῦντος πρὸς σωτηρίαν γέ γονεν· ὥστε, εἰ ὁ μὲν κόσμος οἰκητήριον, ὁ δὲ θεὸς οἰκῶν, δῆλον ὅτι ὁ μὲν κόσμος σώζει τὸν θεόν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς σώζεται ὑπὸ τοῦ κόσμου, ὅπερ ἐστὶ πάντων ἀτοπώτατον. Ἄλλως τε τὸ κρεῖττον τοῦ καταδεεστέρου ἐστὶ περιεκτικόν, τὸ δὲ κατα δεέστερον ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείττονος περιέχεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν τὸ οἰ κοῦν ὑπὸ τῆς οἰκήσεως περιέχεται, καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἄρα περιέξει τὸ οἰκητήριον· καὶ ἔσται ἐκ τούτου τοῦ λόγου ὁ μὲν θεὸς ἐν τῇ χείρονι τάξει, τὸ δὲ δημιούργημα ἐν τῇ κρείττονι. Ἄλλως τε καὶ τὸ περιεχόμενον ἐν τόπῳ ἐστί, πᾶν δὲ ἐν τόπῳ ὂν σῶμά ἐστι· καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἄρα, εἰ ἐν τόπῳ ἐστί, σῶμα ἔσται. Πῶς οὖν συνέξει σῶμα ὂν ἔλαττον, καθὸ περιέχεται, τὸ μεῖζον σῶμα; Ἄτοπον λέγειν. Ὅτι δὲ τὸ οἰκοῦν ἐν τόπῳ περιεχό μενόν ἐστι τῇ οἰκίᾳ, παντί που δῆλον, καὶ τῷ αὐτόθεν τυ φλώττοντι. Τί οὖν; φαίης ἄν. Πῶς Ὅμηρος λέγει τοῦ δη μιουργοῦ οἴκημα τὸν οὐρανόν; Ὅτι, πανταχοῦ μὲν τὴν ἔλ λαμψιν τοῦ θεοῦ θεασάμενος περὶ τὸν κόσμον, οἴκησιν τὸν κόσμον ἐκάλεσε τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς ὑποδοχὴν ὄντα τῆς ποιήσεως καὶ δημιουργίας πάσης τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν κα λοῦσι, διότι τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου τὸ ἀκρότατον τὸν οὐρανὸν πᾶσιν εἶναι ὡμολόγηται. Ἔλεγχος τῆς ἀποκρίσεως οὐκ ὀρθῶς γεγενημένης. Τὸ λέγειν δημιουργὸν μὲν τὸν θεόν, ἀδημιούργητον δὲ τὸν κόσμον· τὸ γὰρ ἀδημιούργητον ἴσον δύναται τῷ ἀγενήτῳ, καὶ τῶν ἰσοδυναμούντων ἀκώλυτος ἡ μετάληψις· καὶ τὸ λέγειν Ὁ ἀδημιούργητος θεὸς ἀδημιούργητα ποιεῖ, ὃ ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ τὸν ἀγένητον θεὸν ἀγενήτως ἀγένητα ποιεῖν· καὶ τὸ λέγειν ἀΐδιον μὲν τὸν θεόν, συναΐδιον δὲ τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἀνυ παρξίας εἰς ὕπαρξιν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν κόσμον αὐτοπαράκτως παραγόμενον· τὸ γὰρ αὐτοπάρακτον, ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ κόσμου λεγόμενον, ταὐτὴν ἔχει τὴν δήλωσιν· καὶ τὸ λέγειν αὐτοπάρακτον καὶ ἑτεροφρούρητον τὸν κόσμον· τὸ γὰρ θεο φρούρητον δηλοῖ τὸ ἑτεροφρούρητον (ἕτερος γὰρ ὁ κόσμος καὶ ἕτερος ὁ θεὸς ὁ τὸν κόσμον φρουρῶν, ὃν αὐτοπάρακτον ὄντα ἀναγκαίως ἐχρῆν καὶ αὐτοφρούρητον εἶναι)· καὶ τὸ λέγειν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸν κόσμον ἀγενήτους καὶ αὐτογενήτους· τὸ γὰρ αὐτοπάρακτον, ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ κόσμου λεγόμενον, δηλοῖ τὸ αὐτογένητον· καὶ τὸ λέγειν Ποιήσας τὰ τῇδε ὁ θεός, καὶ πάλιν τὸ Oὐκ ἐποίησεν· ἔγχρονον γὰρ ὡς τὸ ἐποίησεν οὕτως