and that the extreme cold from them is sent downwards, from which, when mixed with the extreme heat of the sun, the good temperament of the airs is produced for the preservation of the animals and plants on earth. But at the consummation, people do not receive the rewards for their deeds in the present heaven and on the present earth, but in the new heaven and in the new earth, according to what has been said, as in "The new heaven and the new earth, which I make, shall remain before me for ever." And again: "In the beginning you, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; and they will all grow old like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up, and they will be changed." And again: "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." And this "being shaken" indicates its removal, so that the things which are not shaken may remain unmoved. Question %d. If the Lord foretells that the heaven will be rolled up like a scroll, and the stars will fall to the earth like leaves, and the prophet proclaimed things in agreement with these, how is the complete destruction of the firmament not shown through their words? What then is the meaning of such sayings? And how can the constitution of the elements be imperishable? Answer. Just as the divine scripture has parabolically likened the making of the firmament sometimes to the stretching out of a skin, saying: "Who stretches out the heaven like a skin"; and sometimes to solidified smoke: "The heaven," it says, "was solidified like smoke"; and sometimes to the circumference of a vault: "Who has stretched out," it says, "the heaven like a vault"; so also it has parabolically likened its dissolution sometimes to a scroll being rolled up, sometimes to an element being dissolved by fire, as the apostle Peter says in his second catholic epistle, and sometimes to a garment growing old. For it is necessary that with the introduction of the better heaven which is newly made, the firmament be done away with, as being useless for that state, so that by its destruction, even then, those who have foolishly said that it is uncreated and eternal may know the vanity of the dogma being put forward concerning the uncreatedness and incorruptibility of the heaven. Question %e. If the production of creation came to be for our need and benefit, and likewise for our need some things are destroyed, while others will put on incorruptibility at the consummation, for instance, cattle and birds and beasts are destroyed, but heaven and earth are delivered from corruption; and some things are destroyed, as our body rises up being without need of them, while the aforementioned elements remain in incorruptibility, since we are to receive in them the recompense for what has been done by us; how are air and sea not useless, if they then remain incorruptible, being for neither breathing nor for commerce nor for eating fish or any other assistance

καὶ τὸ τὴν ἄκραν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω πέμπεσθαι ψυχρό τητα, ἀφ' ἧς μιγείσης τῇ ἄκρᾳ τοῦ ἡλίου θερμότητι ἀποτε λεῖται τῶν ἀέρων ἡ εὐκρασία πρὸς τὴν διαμονὴν τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζώων τε καὶ φυτῶν. Ἐν δὲ τῇ συντελείᾳ οὐκ ἐν τῷ νῦν οὐ ρανῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ νῦν γῇ κομίζονται τῶν πρακτέων τὰς ἀμοιβὰς οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ καινῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐν τῇ καινῇ γῇ κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, ὥσπερ τὸ Ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καινή, ἣν ἐγὼ ποιῶ, μένει ἐνώπιόν μου εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Καὶ πάλιν· Κατ' ἀρχὰς σύ, κύριε, τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐρανοί· καὶ αὐτοὶ μὲν ἀπολοῦν ται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτούς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἔτι ἅπαξ ἐγὼ σείω οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν. Τὸ δὲ σαλευόμενον δηλοῖ τὴν αὐτοῦ μετάστασιν, ἵνα μείνῃ τὰ μὴ σαλευόμενα ἀκίνητα. Ἐρώτησις %δ. Eἰ ὡς βιβλίον τὸν οὐρανὸν εἱλίσσεσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἄστρα ὡς φύλλα πίπτειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς προλέγει μὲν ὁ κύριος, καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ τούτοις προκατήγγειλε σύμφωνα, πῶς ἡ παντελὴς τοῦ στερεώματος ἀπώλεια διὰ τῶν ἐκείνων λόγων οὐ δείκνυ ται; Τίς οὖν ἡ τῶν τοιούτων ·ημάτων διάνοια; Καὶ πῶς τὸ τῶν στοιχείων συνίστασθαι ἄφθαρτον δύναται; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὥσπερ τοῦ στερεώματος τὴν ποίησιν παραβολικῶς ἡ θεία γραφὴ παρείκασε ποτὲ μὲν τῇ ἐκτάσει τῆς δέρεως, λέγουσα· Ὁ ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέριν· ποτὲ δὲ τῷ καπνῷ ἐστε ρεωμένῳ· Ὁ οὐρανός, φησίν, ὡσεὶ καπνὸς ἐστερεώθη· ποτὲ δὲ τῷ περιφερεῖ τῆς καμάρας· Ὁ τανύσας, φησί, τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ καμάραν· οὕτως καὶ τὴν ἀνάλυσιν αὐτοῦ παραβολικῶς παρείκασε ποτὲ μὲν βιβλίῳ εἱλισσομένῳ, ποτὲ δὲ στοιχείῳ λυομένῳ πυρί, καθά φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος Πέτρος ἐν τῇ δευ τέρᾳ αὐτοῦ καθολικῇ ἐπιστολῇ, ποτὲ δὲ ἱματίῳ παλαιουμένῳ. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τῇ εἰσαγωγῇ τοῦ κρείττονος οὐρανοῦ τοῦ καινῶς γινομένου ἀναιρεῖσθαι τὸ στερέωμα, ὡς ἄχρηστον ὂν πρὸς ἐκείνην τὴν κατάστασιν, ἵνα τῇ αὐτοῦ ἀπωλείᾳ κἂν τότε τὸ μάταιον τοῦ περὶ τῆς ἀγενεσίας καὶ ἀφθαρσίας τοῦ οὐρα νοῦ φερομένου δόγματος γινώσκωσιν ὅσοι ἀγένητόν τε καὶ ἀΐδιον κατὰ τρόπον ἄφρονα τοῦτον εἰρηκότες. Ἐρώτησις %ε. Eἰ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν χρείαν καὶ ὠφέλειαν ἡ παραγωγὴ τῆς κτίσεως γέγονε, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὁμοίως χρείαν τὰ μὲν φθείρεται, τὰ δὲ ἀφθαρσίαν ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ ἐνδύσονται, οἷον κτήνη μὲν καὶ πετεινὰ καὶ θηρία φθείρεται, οὐρανὸς δὲ καὶ ἡ γῆ φθορᾶς ἀπαλλάττεται· καὶ τὰ μὲν φθείρεται, ὡς ἀνεν δεοῦς ἡμῶν ἀνισταμένου τοῦ σώματος, ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ δὲ τὰ δη λωθέντα διαμένει στοιχεῖα, τῶν πραχθέντων ἡμῖν μελλόντων ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς κομίζεσθαι τὴν ἀντίδοσιν· ἀὴρ καὶ θάλαττα πῶς οὐκ ἄχρηστα, εἰ τότε μένει ἄφθαρτα, οὔτε εἰς ἀναπνοὰς οὔτε εἰς ἐμπορίας οὔτε ἰχθυοφαγίας ἢ ἑτέρας τινὸς βοηθείας