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Lord, they provide the proofs to bring back this saying; they will be able to show neither that the meaning of the saying from the Hebrew scripture leads to this signification, since the other interpreters have rendered *He possessed* and *He established* instead of *He created*, nor, if the word were so in the original scripture, would the meaning have been ready and clear, since proverbial teaching indicates the purpose of what is said not openly, but with concealment through indirect emphasis, as one may recognize the difficulty of comprehending the saying from the context of what is said concerning this passage, in which it says *When he set apart his own throne 1.1.300 upon the winds* and all such things. For what is God’s throne, whether it is material or intelligible? And what are the winds, whether these common and familiar ones, which those who study nature say are formed from vapors and exhalations, or understood in another way, which human custom does not recognize, which he says become a base for the throne? And what is the seat of the incorporeal and uncircumscribed and unformed God? And who could comprehend all such things from the usual meaning of these words? 1.1.301 It is clear, then, that the things said are certain riddles containing a contemplation deeper than the ready meaning, so that from these things, the suspicion that the Lord was created does not in any way arise from this scripture for those who reason piously, especially for those educated by the lofty voice of the Evangelist who says that all things that have come to be 1.1.302 have come to be through him and subsist in him. For, he says, *All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made in him*, he would not have defined this, if he had believed the Lord himself to be one of the things that have come to be. For how are all things made through him and in him do the things that have come to be have their subsistence, unless the Maker, being altogether something other than the nature of the things made, made not himself but the creation? 1.1.303 For if creation is through him, but the Lord himself is not through himself, he is altogether something else and not creation. Therefore, since the Evangelist has said that *All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made in him*, and through these words has clearly shown that things that came to be came to be in the Son and did not have their passage into being 1.1.304 through any other, Paul takes up this saying, and so that he might leave no pretext for the blasphemous voice that counts the nature of the Spirit among the things that have come to be, he brings all things under number, what these things are which are both said and understood as "all things" by the Evangelist. And just as the great David, having said that all things were subjected to man, also added the specifics, what things were included in the word "all things", that is, the land, water, and air animals, so too the Apostle, the expounder of divine doctrines, having said that all things were made in him, defines the concept of "all things" by those that are enumerated. 1.1.305 For *visible*, he says, *and invisible*, through the visible, as has been said, embracing in the name the things known by the senses, and through the invisible, indicating the nature of intelligible things. 1.1.306 But concerning sensible things, there was no need to go through them in detail by name. For no one is so carnal or beastly as to suspect the Holy Spirit to be among sensible things. But having mentioned invisible things, since the nature of the Spirit is also intellectual and incorporeal, so that no one might suppose the Spirit to subsist among these things because of the commonality of being invisible, he makes a very clear division between the things that have come to be through creation and the substance that is beyond 1.1.307 creation. For the created things are enumerated in the discourse, speaking of certain thrones and principalities and authorities and dominions, making the teaching about these invisible powers with certain general and comprehensive names, but that which is beyond creation he separates from the 1.1.308 number of created things by his very silence. just as if someone, having been ordered over a camp, the

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κύριον ἀναγαγεῖν τὸν λόγον τοῦτον τὰς ἀποδείξεις παρέχονται· οὔτε τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἑβραίων γραφῆς εἰς τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον φέρουσαν ἐπιδεῖξαι δυνήσονται, τῶν λοιπῶν ἑρμηνέων τὸ Ἐκτήσατο καὶ Κατέστησεν ἀντὶ τοῦ Ἔκτισεν ἐκδεδωκότων, οὔτε δέ, εἰ οὕτως εἶχεν ἡ λέξις ἐν τῇ πρω τοτύπῳ γραφῇ, πρόχειρος ἂν ἦν καὶ σαφὴς ἡ διάνοια, τῆς παροιμιακῆς διδασκαλίας οὐ προδήλως, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐπικρύ ψεως τὸν τῶν λεγομένων σκοπὸν ἐνδεικνυμένης διὰ πλαγίας ἐμφάσεως, ὡς ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον συμφράσεως τῶν εἰρημένων πάρεστιν ἐπιγνῶναι τοῦ λόγου τὸ δυσθεώ ρητον, ἐν οἷς φησιν Ἡνίκα ἀφώριζε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θρόνον 1.1.300 ἐπ' ἀνέμων καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. τίς γὰρ θεοῦ θρόνος, εἴτε ὑλικός τις οὗτος εἴτε νοητός; καὶ τίνες ἄνεμοι, πότερον οἱ συνήθεις οὗτοι καὶ γνώριμοι, οὓς ἐκ τῶν ἀτμῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἀναθυμιάσεων συνίστασθαι λέγουσιν οἱ ταῦτα φυσιολογοῦντες, εἴτε καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον ὑπονοούμενοι, ὃν οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκει ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη συνήθεια, οὕς φησιν ἀντὶ βάσεως τῷ θρόνῳ γίνεσθαι; καὶ τίς καθέδρα τοῦ ἀσωμάτου καὶ ἀπεριγράπτου καὶ ἀσχηματίστου θεοῦ; καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα τίς ἂν ἐκ τῆς συνήθους τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων σημασίας κατανοήσειε; 1.1.301 ∆ῆλον οὖν ὅτι αἰνίγματα τινῶν ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα βα θυτέραν τινὰ τῆς προχείρου διανοίας τὴν θεωρίαν ἐμπεριέ χοντα, ὡς ἐκ τούτων μηδενὶ λόγῳ τὴν τοῦ ἐκτίσθαι τὸν κύριον ὑπόνοιαν ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς ταύτης τοῖς εὐσεβῶς λογι ζομένοις ἐγγίνεσθαι, τοῖς πεπαιδευμένοις μάλιστα διὰ τῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ μεγαλοφωνίας τοῦ πάντα τὰ γεγονότα δι' 1.1.302 αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ συνεστάναι λέγοντος. Πάντα γάρ, φησί, δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἂν τοῦτο διορισάμενος, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν κύριον ἓν τῶν γεγονότων ἐπίστευε. πῶς γὰρ δι' ἐκείνου πάντα γίνεται καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὰ γεγονότα τὴν σύστασιν ἔχει, εἰ μὴ πάντως ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὴν τῶν πεποιημένων φύσιν ὁ ποιητὴς ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἀλλὰ τὴν κτίσιν 1.1.303 εἰργάσατο; εἰ γὰρ ἡ κτίσις δι' ἐκείνου, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ κύριος οὐ δι' ἑαυτοῦ, ἄλλο τι πάντως καὶ οὐχὶ κτίσις ἐστί. τοῦ τοίνυν εὐαγγελιστοῦ φήσαντος, ὅτι Πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ φανερῶς διὰ τούτων ἐνδειξαμένου, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ τὰ γενόμενα γέγονε καὶ οὐ δι' ἑτέρου τινὸς τὴν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι 1.1.304 πάροδον ἔσχεν, ἐκδέχεται τὸν λόγον τοῦτον ὁ Παῦλος, καὶ ὡς ἂν μηδεμίαν καταλίποι πρόφασιν τῇ βλασφήμῳ φωνῇ τοῦ συναριθμεῖν τοῖς γεγονόσι καὶ τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος φύσιν, ὑπ' ἀριθμὸν ἄγει τὰ πάντα, ποῖά ἐστι ταῦτα ἃ πάντα τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ καὶ εἴρηται καὶ νενόηται· καὶ κα θάπερ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ πάντα ὑποτετάχθαι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φήσας καὶ τὸ κατ' εἶδος προσέθηκε, ποῖα ἦν τὰ ἐμπερι λαμβανόμενα τῇ τῶν πάντων φωνῇ, τουτέστι τὰ χερσαῖα καὶ τὰ ἔνυδρα καὶ τὰ ἐναέρια ζῷα, οὕτω καὶ ὁ τῶν θείων δογμάτων ἐξηγητὴς ὁ ἀπόστολος πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ γεγε νῆσθαι εἰπὼν περιγράφει τοῖς ὑπαριθμηθεῖσι τῶν πάν 1.1.305 των τὴν ἔννοιαν. Ὁρατὰ γάρ, φησί, καὶ ἀόρατα, διὰ μὲν τῶν ὁρατῶν καθὼς εἴρηται τὰ τῇ αἰσθήσει γνώριμα πε ριλαβὼν τῷ ὀνόματι, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀοράτων τὴν τῶν νοητῶν ἐνδειξάμενος φύσιν. 1.1.306 Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν αἰσθητῶν οὐδὲν ἐδεήθη λεπτομερῶς διεξελθεῖν ἐπ' ὀνόματος. οὐδεὶς γὰρ οὕτω σάρκινος οὐδὲ κτηνώδης ἐστίν, ὡς ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὑποπτεῦσαι καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἶναι. τῶν δὲ ἀοράτων μνησθείς, ἐπειδὴ νοερὰ καὶ ἀσώματος καὶ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος φύσις ἐστίν, ὡς ἂν μή τις ἐν τούτοις ὑπονοήσειεν ὑφεστάναι τὸ πνεῦμα διὰ τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀόρατον κοινωνίαν, ἐναργεστάτην ποιεῖται τὴν διαίρεσιν τῶν τε διὰ τῆς κτίσεως γεγονότων καὶ τῆς ὑπὲρ 1.1.307 τὴν κτίσιν οὐσίας. τὰ μὲν γὰρ κτισθέντα καταριθμεῖται τῷ λόγῳ, θρόνους τινὰς καὶ ἀρχὰς καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ κυριό τητας λέγων, γενικοῖς τισι καὶ περιληπτικοῖς ὀνόμασι τῶν ἀοράτων τούτων δυνάμεων τὴν διδασκαλίαν ποιούμενος, τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν κτίσιν δι' αὐτῆς τῆς σιωπῆς ἀποχωρίζει τοῦ 1.1.308 ἀριθμοῦ τῶν κτισθέντων. ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις προσταχθεὶς ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου τὰς