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For men, being composed of parts, and having come into being out of nothing, have a reason that is composite and dissoluble; but God is Being, and not composite; wherefore His Word is also Being, and not composite; but one and only-begotten God, who as good from the Father as from a good fountain has come forth, ordering and holding together all things. And the cause why the Word of God has condescended at all to things that have come to be, is truly wonderful, and makes known that it was not fitting for it to be otherwise than so, as indeed it is. For the nature of created things, having come into being out of non-existence, is, when considered by itself, a thing that flows, and is weak, and mortal; but the God of all is by nature good and exceeding fair. Wherefore He is also a lover of mankind. For to the good there can be no envy concerning anything; whence He grudges not existence to any, but wills all to be, that He may be able to exercise His love for mankind. Seeing, therefore, all created nature, as far as its own principles go, to be flowing and dissolving; lest it should suffer this, and the universe be dissolved again into non-existence, for this cause, having made all things by His own eternal Word, and having given substance to creation, He did not abandon it to be borne and tossed about by its own nature, lest it should run the risk of returning to non-existence; but, as being good, by His own Word, who is also God, He governs and establishes the whole, that creation, being enlightened by the governance and providence and ordering of the Word, might be able to abide securely, as partaking of the Word of the Father who is truly Being, and being helped by Him to exist; lest it should suffer what it would have suffered, if the Word had not preserved it, I mean non-existence, for He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for through Him and in Him all things were created, both visible and invisible, and He is the head of the Church, as the ministers of the truth teach in holy writings.

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For He, the almighty and all-perfect holy Word of the Father, descending upon all things and everywhere extending His own powers, and enlightening all things visible and invisible, holds and binds them together in Himself, leaving nothing void of His own power, but giving life to and preserving all things and through all things, both each one individually and all together collectively; and blending together into one the principles of every sensible substance, which are hot and cold and wet and dry, He causes them not to oppose one another, but to produce a single and concordant harmony. Through Him and His power fire does not fight with cold, nor wet with dry; but, as friends and brothers, things which in themselves are opposite, coming together, they both give life to visible things and become the principles of existence for bodies. Obeying this God, the Word, things on earth are quickened, and things in heaven are established. And through Him the whole sea and the great ocean have their movement within their own bounds; and all the dry land puts forth grass and is adorned with all sorts and kinds of plants, as I said before. And that I may not linger by naming each particular among things that are plain, there is nothing among things that are and that come to be, which has not come to be and been established in Him and through Him, as the theologian says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made. For just as if a musician, having tuned a lyre and by his art brought together the low notes with the high, and the middle notes with the others, should produce a single melody; so also the Wisdom of God, holding the whole universe as a lyre, and bringing together the things in the air with those on the earth, and the things in heaven with those in the air, and joining the whole with the parts and ordering them by His nod and will, produces well and harmoniously one world and one order of it, Himself remaining unmoved with the Father, but moving all things by His ordering, as seems good to His own Father for each one. For this is the paradox of His divinity, that by one and the same nod all things at once and not from

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ἄνθρωποι μὲν γὰρ ἐκ μερῶν συγκείμενοι, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γενόμενοι, συγκείμενον ἔχουσι καὶ διαλυόμενον τὸν ἑαυτῶν λόγον· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ὤν ἐστι, καὶ οὐ σύνθετος· διὸ καὶ ὁ τούτου Λόγος ὤν ἐστι, καὶ οὐ σύνθετος· ἀλλ' εἷς καὶ μονογενὴς Θεός, ὁ ἐκ Πατρὸς οἷα πηγῆς ἀγαθῆς ἀγαθὸς προελθών, τὰ πάντα διακοσμεῖ καὶ συνέχει. ἡ δὲ αἰτία, δι' ἣν ὅλως ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τοῖς γενο μένοις ἐπιβέβηκεν, ἐστὶν ἀληθῶς θαυμαστὴ καὶ γνωρίζουσα ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλως ἔπρεπεν ἢ οὕτω γενέσθαι, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔστι. τῶν μὲν γὰρ γενητῶν ἐστιν ἡ φύσις, ἅτε δὴ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ὑποστᾶσα, ῥευστή τις καὶ ἀσθενὴς καὶ θνητὴ καθ' ἑαυτὴν συγκρινομένη τυγχάνει· ὁ δὲ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς ἀγαθὸς καὶ ὑπέρκαλος τὴν φύσιν ἐστί. διὸ καὶ φιλάνθρωπός ἐστιν. ἀγαθῷ γὰρ περὶ οὐδενὸς ἂν γένοιτο φθόνος· ὅθεν οὐδὲ τὸ εἶναί τινι φθονεῖ, ἀλλὰ πάντας εἶναι βούλεται, ἵνα καὶ φιλανθρω πεύεσθαι δύνηται. ὁρῶν οὖν τὴν γενητὴν πᾶσαν φύσιν, ὅσον κατὰ τοὺς ἰδίους αὐτῆς λόγους, ῥευστὴν οὖσαν καὶ διαλυομένην· ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο πάθῃ, καὶ πάλιν εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀναλυθῇ τὸ ὅλον, τούτου ἕνεκεν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἀϊδίῳ Λόγῳ ποιήσας τὰ πάντα, καὶ οὐσιώσας τὴν κτίσιν, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτὴν τῇ ἑαυτῆς φύσει φέρεσθαι καὶ χειμάζεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ καὶ κινδυνεύσῃ πάλιν εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι· ἀλλ' ὡς ἀγαθὸς τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Λόγῳ καὶ αὐτῷ ὄντι Θεῷ τὴν σύμπασαν δια κυβερνᾷ καὶ καθίστησιν, ἵνα τῇ τοῦ Λόγου ἡγεμονίᾳ καὶ προνοίᾳ καὶ διακοσμήσει φωτιζομένη ἡ κτίσις βεβαίως διαμένειν δυνηθῇ, ἅτε δὴ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος ἐκ Πατρὸς Λόγου μεταλαμβάνουσα καὶ βοηθου μένη δι' αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ εἶναι· μὴ ἄρα πάθῃ ὅπερ ἂν ἔπαθεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Λόγος αὐτὴν ἐτήρει, λέγω δὴ τὸ μὴ εἶναι, ὅς ἐστι γὰρ εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως· ὅτι δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκε τὰ πάντα τά τε ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὡς οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας διάκονοι διδάσκουσιν ἐν ἁγίοις γράμμασιν.

42 Αὐτὸς γοῦν ὁ παντοδύναμος καὶ παντέλειος ἅγιος ὁ τοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος, ἐπιβὰς τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ πανταχοῦ τὰς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεις ἐφα πλώσας, καὶ φωτίσας τά τε φαινόμενα καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα πάντα, εἰς ἑαυτὸν συνέχει καὶ συσφίγγει, μηδὲν ἔρημον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεως ἀπολελοιπώς, ἀλλὰ πάντα καὶ διὰ πάντων, καὶ ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ, καὶ ἀθρόως ὁμοῦ τὰ ὅλα ζωοποιῶν καὶ διαφυλάττων· τάς τε ἀρχὰς πάσης αἰσθητῆς οὐσίας, αἵπερ εἰσὶ θερμὴ καὶ ψυχρὰ καὶ ὑγρὰ καὶ ξηρὰ εἰς ἓν συγκεραννύων, ποιεῖ μὴ ἀντιστατεῖν, ἀλλὰ μίαν καὶ σύμφωνον ἀποτελεῖν ἁρμονίαν. δι' αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν οὔτε τὸ πῦρ τῷ ψυχρῷ μάχεται, οὔτε τὸ ὑγρὸν τῷ ξηρῷ· ἀλλ' ὡς φίλα καὶ ἀδελφὰ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὰ ὄντα ἐναντία, συνελθόντα ὁμοῦ, τά τε φαινόμενα ζωογονοῦσι, καὶ τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς σώμασιν ἀρχαὶ γίνονται. τούτῳ τῷ Θεῷ Λόγῳ πειθόμενα τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς ζωογονεῖται, τὰ δὲ ἐν οὐρανοῖς συνίσταται. καὶ διὰ τοῦτον θάλαττα μὲν πᾶσα καὶ ὁ μέγας ὠκεανὸς ὅροις ἰδίοις ἔχουσι τὴν ἑαυτῶν κίνησιν· ἡ δὲ ξηρὰ πᾶσα χλοηφορεῖ καὶ κομᾷ παντοίοις καὶ διαφόροις φυτοῖς, ὡς προ εῖπον. καὶ ἵνα μὴ τὸ καθέκαστον ἐπὶ φανεροῖς ὀνομάζων ἐνδιατρίβω, οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ὄντων καὶ γινομένων ὃ μὴ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ γέγονε καὶ ἕστηκεν, ᾗ φησι καὶ ὁ θεολόγος ἀνήρ· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. Οἷον γὰρ εἴ τις, λύραν μουσικὸς ἁρμοσάμενος καὶ τὰ βαρέα τοῖς ὀξέσι, καὶ τὰ μέσα τοῖς ἄλλοις τῇ τέχνῃ συναγαγών, ἓν τὸ σημαινό μενον μέλος ἀποτελοίη· οὕτω καὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία, τὸ ὅλον ὡς λύραν ἐπέχων, καὶ τὰ ἐν ἀέρι τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς συναγαγών, καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ τοῖς ἐν ἀέρι, καὶ τὰ ὅλα τοῖς κατὰ μέρος συνάπτων καὶ περιάγων τῷ ἑαυτοῦ νεύματι καὶ θελήματι, ἕνα τὸν κόσμον καὶ μίαν τὴν τούτου τάξιν ἀποτελεῖ καλῶς καὶ ἡρμοσμένως, αὐτὸς μὲν ἀκίνητος μένων παρὰ τῷ Πατρί, πάντα δὲ κινῶν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ συστάσει, ὡς ἂν ἕκαστον τῷ ἑαυτοῦ Πατρὶ δοκῇ. τὸ γὰρ παράδοξον αὐτοῦ τῆς θεότητος τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι ἑνὶ καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ νεύματι πάντα ὁμοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἐκ