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of the future state. My argument is therefore saved, O man, that he has done nothing for the punishment of man, but for his benefit, just as he himself proclaims elsewhere: "For the Father did not send the Son to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him." The Text 3.25 Then he gathers the water into one gathering and reveals the dry land, naming it earth, which was formerly covered by the waters. And he makes the seas, that is, around this earth, and within the one beyond, the so-called Ocean, and the four gulfs from it that enter into this earth, so that the Ocean, being between the land here and the land beyond, might provide good air both to those who once dwelt beyond and to those who now dwell here, and so that the gulfs might make this world navigable and passable, always uniting the scattered nations into friendship by easily transporting necessities from nation to nation. And he commands all kinds of fruits and trees and green grass to spring forth from the earth. 3.26 And again on the fourth day he works from the light, breaking off its purer part for the sun, and the rest for the moon and stars, adorning the things in heaven according to the all-harmonious order and giving order and harmony to the universe and a task and law to the invisible Powers to serve and minister and prepare for the sake of the image of God, that is, of man and of all things that came to be for his sake, at the same time educating and accustoming them to be under law, and exercising the benevolence or malevolence of their rational nature. 3.27 Whence also some, having transgressed, were cast down from heaven and fell from their rank. "For I beheld," says the Lord, "Satan fallen like lightning from heaven." For being puffed up by the ministry entrusted to him by God, for the benefit of men and of things for man's sake, to move the air and regulate it for a useful purpose, and thinking that he had come to this on his own, seizing for himself the worship due to God, he was immediately cast down. For again the Apostle says, instructing Timothy not to quickly give rank to a neophyte, as if one newly come to the faith, he thus wrote: "Not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation and snare of the devil," which, he says, the devil suffered, being puffed up, so that he might not suffer it. The Apostle therefore clearly showed why he was cast down, as if because he was puffed up, thinking himself to be God; whence also he wished to immediately inflict his own disease upon man, saying: "You will be as gods." Note 3.28 When the almighty God had brought forth all the angels with the heaven and the earth, who did not exist before, they all stood astonished, discerning as rational beings and at the same time being amazed and reasoning who then is their creator and producer, and of those things with them; for they saw themselves being within these things and not pre-existing, and again, whether there is one creator of both them and those things, or another and another, or again whether all things were produced by chance, or who then is greater than the other. And while they were turning over their reasoning in these matters during the interval of that night—for that "darkness," as it is written, "God called night"—God, entering into their thoughts, suddenly impresses an invisible voice, saying: "Let there be light." 3.29 And at the same time as the word, the deed followed from non-being and astonished them all, and at the same time it also taught that he who brought this forth from non-being also brought them and the things with them forth from non-being. And all, bowing down, invisibly worshipped God, who had brought forth both them and all things from non-being. And the divine Scripture makes this clear in Job, speaking from the person of God: "When I made the stars, all my angels praised me with a great voice" and hymned, signifying from the one thing concerning all that followed. 3.30 It must be noted that in the sight of the angels, first of all and last of all, two substances from non-being into being

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τῆς μελλούσης καταστάσεως. Ἀποσῴζεται οὖν μοι ὁ λόγος, ὦ οὗτος, ὡς ὅτι τίποτε οὐ πεποίηκεν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ εὐεργεσίᾳ, καθὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἑτέρωθι βοᾷ· "Οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Πατὴρ τὸν Υἱόν, ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ' ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ." Τὸ κείμενον 3.25 Εἶτα συνάγει τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς μίαν συναγωγὴν καὶ φανεροῖ τὴν ξηράν, γῆν αὐτὴν ὀνομάσας, καλυπτομένην πρώην ὑπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων. Καὶ ποιεῖ τὰς θαλάσσας, τουτέστι ταύτης μὲν τῆς γῆς κυκλόθεν, τῆς δὲ πέραν ἔσωθεν, τὸν λεγόμενον Ὠκεανόν, καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἰσβάλλοντας ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ τέσσαρας κόλπους πρὸς τὸ τὸν μὲν Ὠκεανὸν μεσάζοντα μὲν τὴν ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὴν πέραν γῆν εὐαερίαν καὶ τοῖς πέραν ποτὲ οἰκοῦσι καὶ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα νῦν παρέχειν, τοὺς δὲ κόλπους πρὸς τὸ πλώϊμον καὶ διαβατικὸν κατασκευάσαι τοῦτον τὸν κόσμον, συνάπτων ἀεὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ διεσκορπισμένα εἰς φιλίαν τῷ τὰ ἐπιτήδεια εὐχερῶς μετακομίζειν ἐξ ἔθνους εἰς ἔθνος. Ἀναφύεσθαί τε κελεύει παντοδαποὺς καρποὺς καὶ ξύλα καὶ χόρτον χλωρὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς. 3.26 Καὶ πάλιν τῇ τετάρτῃ ἐργάζεται ἐκ τοῦ φωτὸς κατακερματίζων τὸ μὲν αὐτοῦ καθαρώτερον εἰς ἥλιον, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν εἰς σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας, κοσμῶν τὰ κατ' οὐρανὸν κατὰ τὴν παναρμόνιον κόσμησιν καὶ διδοὺς τάξιν καὶ ἁρμονίαν τῷ παντὶ καὶ ἔργον καὶ νόμον ταῖς ἀοράτοις ∆υνάμεσι διακονεῖν καὶ λειτουργεῖν καὶ προευτρεπίζειν εἰς λόγον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰκόνος, τουτέστι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πάντων τῶν δι' αὐτὸν γεγονότων, ἐν ταὐτῷ κἀκείνους παιδεύων καὶ ἐθίζων ὑπὸ νόμον εἶναι, καὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν ἢ κακόνοιαν τοῦ λογικοῦ αὐτῶν γυμνάζων. 3.27 Ὅθεν καί τινες παραβεβηκότες κατερρίφησαν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀξίας ἐξέπεσον. "Ἐθεώρουν γάρ", φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, "τὸν Σατανᾶν πεσόντα ὡς ἀστραπὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ". Τυφωθεὶς γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ πεπιστευμένῃ αὐτῷ παρὰ Θεοῦ διακονίᾳ, εἰς ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κινεῖν τὸν ἀέρα καὶ ῥυθμίζειν ἐπὶ χρησίμῳ, καὶ νομίσας ἑαυτὸν αὐτομάτως εἰς τοῦτο προελθεῖν, τὴν ὀφειλομένην προσκύνησιν τῷ Θεῷ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἁρπάσας εὐθέως κατερρίφη. Φησὶ γὰρ πάλιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος παραγγέλλων Τιμο θέῳ μὴ παρέχειν ταχέως ἀξίαν νεοφύτῳ, ὡσανεὶ νεωστὶ προσελθόντι τῇ πίστει, οὕτως ἐπέστειλε· "Μὴ νεόφυτον, ἵνα μὴ τυφωθεὶς εἰς κρῖμα καὶ παγίδα ἐμπέσῃ τοῦ διαβόλου", ὅπερ, φησίν, ἔπαθεν ὁ διάβολος τυφωθείς, ἵνα μὴ πάθῃ. Σαφῶς οὖν ἐδήλωσεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος διατί κατερρίφη, ὡσανεὶ ὅτι ἐτυφώθη, Θεὸν ἑαυτὸν νομίσας εἶναι· ὅθεν καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν νόσον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ εὐθέως προστρίψαι ἠβούλετο λέγων· "Ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί." Παραγραφή 3.28 Τοῦ παντοδυνάμου Θεοῦ παραγαγόντος τοὺς ἀγγέλους πάντας σὺν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τῇ γῇ, οὔπω τὸ πρότερον ὄντας, ἵσταντο πάντες ἐννεοί, διακρινόμενοι ὡς λογικοὶ ἅμα τε καὶ ξενιζόμενοι καὶ διαλογιζόμενοι τίς ἆρα ἐστὶν ὁ αὐτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἅμα αὐτοῖς δημιουργὸς καὶ παραγωγεύςἐθεώρουν γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς τούτων ἔνδον ὄντας καὶ οὐ προϋπάρχοντας, ἔτι τε πάλιν εἰ εἷς ἐστιν ἆρα ὁ δημιουργὸς αὐτῶν τε κἀκείνων, ἢ ἕτερος καὶ ἕτερος, ἢ πάλιν ἐξ αὐτομάτου παρήχθησαν ἅπαντα, ἢ τίς ἆρα μείζων ἐστὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου. Ὡς δὲ ἐν τούτοις ἦσαν ἀνακυκλοῦντες τὸν λογισμὸν ἐπὶ τῷ διαστήματι τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκείνης "τὸ" γὰρ "σκότος" ἐκεῖνο, καθὼς γέγραπται, "ὁ Θεὸς ἐκάλεσε νύκτα", ἐμβατεύων ὁ Θεὸς ταῖς αὐτῶν διανοίαις ἀθρόον φωνὴν ἀοράτως ἐκτυποῖ λέγων· "Γενηθήτω φῶς." 3.29 Ἅμα δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τὸ ἔργον ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἐπακολουθῆσαν τοὺς πάντας ἐξέπληξεν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐδίδασκεν ὡς ὁ τοῦτο ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παραγαγὼν καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ μετ' αὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παρήγαγε. Κύπτοντες δὲ πάντες ἀοράτως τῷ Θεῷ προσεκύνουν, τῷ καὶ αὐτοὺς καὶ πάντα ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος παραγαγόντι. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ τοῦτο ἡ θεία Γραφὴ ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγουσα· "Ὅτε ἐποίουν ἄστρα, ᾔνεσάν με φωνῇ μεγάλῃ πάντες ἄγγελοί μου" καὶ ὕμνησαν, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ περὶ πάντων τῶν ἐφεξῆς σημαίνουσα. 3.30 Ἐπισημαντέον δὲ ὅτι ἐπ' ὄψεσι τῶν ἀγγέλων πρῶτον πάντων καὶ ὕστερον πάντων δύο οὐσίας ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι