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50

And in the center: These are examples confirming the principle. Note how even from linear things he clarifies matters concerning God, likening him to a center.

(14S_230> United uniformly: He has put "uniformly" here instead of "simply" and "similarly"; for not differently.

But also in the whole of wholes: It is clear that the parts are in the whole; therefore, the principles of the powers or movements existing in them, which are observed naturally in each of the beings, are observed in the nature that is taken universally, he says; for example, the proponents of secular philosophy brought all things that exist in themselves and are observed in others, which we call animate and inanimate, under one category, calling it "substance"; in such a term are included also the properties of each substance, and the principles remain unconfused; for the principle of animate things is one, and of inanimate things another; likewise also of sentient beings, that is, both rational and irrational, although united according to the principle of substance, that is, of simply being, But he said "in the soul singularly," signifying that the vital power given from the soul to the whole body is one, acting in various ways in the members.

§ 7. For it is the beginning of beings: If the cause is that on account of which the thing that comes to be comes to be, then reasonably all things pre-existed in the cause of all, as in an idea and a paradigm, as we have said before, both together and uniformly, and the opposites, as it is said, are contemplated in God. And how they are both united and opposite, you will understand thus: the ordered world has its form divided, as in the cosmos, the stars in one place, and man in another; and again, fire in another place, and water in another. For being opposites, if they should come together, they are destroyed together; but in the thoughts of God all things both existed together and unconfusedly, and not in a place; for they are not bodies, nor in a body, but in eternal thoughts, which (14S_232> are paradigms; whence also God is the beginning of all things; for a beginning is everything that pre-exists that which comes to be, and among other things, it is also the order of things that are ordered; and order is the working out of a likeness of all beings to one another, and a symmetry becoming a cause of communion of every being with one another, but also every rest and every motion of beings is God. But these must be understood differently: and in the case of intelligible and intellectual things, nature, being a beginning of motion and rest, or stillness, for it is the same, signifies an activity; for the motion which is for divine ministries and the teaching of inferiors is a vital activity, and the stillness and rest, being eternal and unchanging, signifies that the minds are acting in their proper way and are filled with divine things. But in the case of sensible things, nature, being a beginning of motion and rest, or stillness, signifies motion as a production into being, and rest, or stillness, as the cessation or change of being through corruption. And these things are said to be God, as he is himself the cause in a super-essential way. And motion in God is the providential procession in goodness into the things from him and through him, while rest is his always being in the same state and, without departing from himself, possessing unknowable stillness and unshaken tranquility. But it should be noted that he called the intelligible powers eternal, as partaking of eternity, and the Scripture that says this is: "for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." And the things that exist in others are, for example, holiness, immortality, well-being; for these things in intelligible and intellectual substances are such, but are said by conception to be in intelligible things and in us, as gods and lords and angels mighty in strength by participation, and men.

(14S_234> Every definition and the rest: As many things as are beings by virtue of being, these, he says, exist as observed in others, and not in themselves; for substances (for these he called beings) are among the things that exist in themselves, which immortality, wisdom, order, harmony, and the things with them characterize, which are said to exist in others; just as also the things according to

50

Καί ἐν κέντρῳ: Ταῦτα βεβαιωτικά τοῦ λόγου ὑποδείγματα. Σημείωσαι, ὡς καί ἀπό τῶν γραμμικῶν τά περί Θεοῦ σαφηνίζει, κέντρῳ αὐτόν περεικάζων.

(14S_230> Ἑνοειδῶς ἡνωμένας: Τό ἑνοειδῶς ἐνταῦθα τέθεικεν ἀντί τοῦ ἁπλῶς καί ὁμοίως· οὐ γάρ ἑτεροίως.

Ἀλλά καί ἐν τῇ ὅλῃ τῶν ὅλων: Πρόδηλον ὅτι ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ τά μέρη· οὐκοῦν οἱ ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων φυσικῶς θεωρούμενοι τῶν ἐνυπαρχουσῶν αὐτοῖς δυνάμεων ἤ κινήσεων λόγοι ἐν τῇ καθόλου λαμβανομένῃ φύσει θεωροῦνται, φησίν· οἷον οἱ τῆς ἔξω φιλοσοφίας πάντα τά καθ' ἑαυτῶν ὑπάρχοντα καί ἐν ἄλλοις θεωρούμενα, ἅ ἔμψυχά τε καί ἄψυχά φαμεν· ταῦτα πάντα ὑπό μίαν κατηγορίαν ἤγαγον, εἰπόντες οὐσίαν· ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ φωνῇ περιλαμβάνονται καί τά τῆς καθ' ἕκαστον οὐσίας ἰδιώματα, καί οἱ λόγοι ἀσύγχυτοι μένοντες· ἕτερος γάρ τῶν ἐμψύχων, καί ἄλλος τῶν ἀψύχων ὁ λόγος· ὡσαύτως καί τῶν αἰσθητικῶν, τουτέστι λογικῶν τε καί ἀλόγων, καίτοι κατά τόν τῆς οὐσίας, ἤτοι τοῦ ἁπλῶς εἶναι, συνηνωμένοι λόγον, Τό δέ ἐν ψυχῇ μονοειδῶς εἴρηκε, σημαίνων μίαν εἶναι τήν ἐκ ψυχῆς ἐνδιδομένην ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι ζωτικήν δύναμιν, ποικίλως ἐνεργοῦσαν ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν.

§ 7. Ἀρχή γάρ ἐστι τῶν ὄντων: Εἰ αἴτιον ἐστι τό δι' ὅ γίνεται τό γινόμενον, εἰκότως ἐν τῷ πάντων αἰτίῳ πάντα προϋφέστηκεν, ὡς ἐν ἰδέᾳ καί παραδείγματι, καθά προέφημεν ὁμοῦ καί ἑνοειδῶς, καί τά ἐναντία, ὡς ἐν τῷ Θεῷ εἴρηται ἐπιθεωρούμενα. Πῶς δέ καί ἡνωμένως καί ἐναντία, οὕτω νοήσεις· τό κοσμηθέν ἔχει τό εἶδος μεμερισμένον, ὡς ἐν τῶ κόσμῳ, ἀλλαχοῦ τά ἄστρα, καί ἀλλαχοῦ τόν ἄνθρωπον· καί αὖθις ἄλλῃ τό πῦρ, καί ἄλλῃ τό ὕδωρ. Ἐναντία γάρ ὄντα, ἐάν ὁμοῦ γένωνται, συμφθείρονται· ἐν δέ ταῖς νοήσεσι τοῦ Θεοῦ καί πάντα ὁμοῦ ἦσαν ὄντα καί ἀσυγχύτως, καί οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ· οὐ γάρ σώματά εἰσιν, οὔτε ἐν σώματι, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀϊδίοις νοήσεσιν, αἵτινές (14S_232> εἰσι παραδείγματα· ὅθεν καί πάντων ἀρχή ὁ Θεός· ἀρχή γάρ ἐστι πᾶν τό προϋφεστώς τοῦ γινομένου, καί πρός τοῖς ἄλλοις, καί τάξις ἐστί τῶν ὡς τεταγμένων· τάξις δέ ἐστιν ἐργασία ὁμοιότητος πρός ἄλληλα πάντων τῶν ὄντων, καί συμμετρία γινομένη αἰτία κοινωνίας τῶν πρός ἄλληλα παντός τοῦ ὄντος, ἀλλά καί πᾶσα στάσις καί πᾶσα κίνησίς ἐστι τῶν ὄντων ὁ Θεός. ∆ιαφόρως δέ ταύτας νοητέον· καί ἐπί μέν τῶν νοητῶν καί τῶν νοερῶν ἡ φύσις, ἀρχή οὖσα κινήσεως καί στάσεως, ἤτοι ἠρεμίας, ταὐτόν γάρ ἐστι, ἐνέργειαν δηλοῖ· ἥ τε γάρ κίνησις ἡ εἰς διακονίας θείας καί διδασκαλίας τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων ἐνέργειά ἐστι ζωτική, ἥ τε ἠρεμία καί στάσις αἰώνιος οὖσα καί ἄτρεπτος, τά οἰκεῖα ἐνεργεῖν δηλοῖ τούς νόας καί τῶν θείων ἐμφορεῖσθαι. Ἐπί δέ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἡ φύσις ἀρχή οὖσα κινήσεως καί στάσεως, ἤτοι ἠρεμίας, τήν μέν κίνησιν δηλοῖ εἰς τό εἶναι παραγωγήν, τήν δέ στάσιν, ἤτοι ἠρεμίαν, τήν διά τῆς φθορᾶς τοῦ εἶναι ἤ παῦσιν ἤ μετεβολήν. Λέγεται δέ ταῦτα εἶναι ὁ Θεός, ὡς αἴτιος αὐτός ὑπάρχων ὑπερουσίως. Κίνησις δέ ἐπί Θεοῦ ἡ εἰς τά ἐξ αὐτοῦ καί δι' αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγαθότητι προνοητική πρόοδος, στάσις δέ τό ἀεί ὡσαύτως ἔχειν καί ἀνεκφοιτήτως ἑαυτοῦ τήν ἀνεπίγνωστον ἠρεμίαν καί ἀτρεμῇ ἀοχλησίαν κεκτῆσθαι. Σημειωτέον δέ, ὅτι τάς νοητάς δυνάμεις αἰωνίας ἐκάλεσεν, ὡς αἰῶνος μετεχούσας, ἡ δέ τοῦτο λέγουσα Γραφή ἐστι· «τά γάρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα, τά δέ μή βλεπόμενα αἰώνια». Τά δ' ἐν ἑτέροις ὑπάρχοντά εἰσιν, οἷον ἁγιασμός, ἀθανασία, εὐζωία· ταῦτα γάρ ἐν νοηταῖς καί νοεραῖς οὐσίαις τοιαῦτά εἰσι, κατ' ἐπίνοιαν δέ λέγονται ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς καί ἡμῖν, ὡς θεοί καί κύριοι καί δυνατοί ἰσχύϊ ἄγγελοι κατά μέθεξιν καί ἄνθρωποι.

(14S_234> Πᾶς ὅρος καί τά ἄλλα: Ὅσα τῷ εἶναι ὄντα εἰσί, ταῦτά φησιν ἐν ἑτέροις θεωρούμενα ὑπάρχειν, καί οὐ καθ' ἑαυτά· αἱ γάρ οὐσίαι (ταῦτα γάρ ἐκάλεσεν ὄντα), τῶν καθ' ἑαυτά εἰσι, ἅστινας χαρακτηρίζουσιν ἀθανασία, σοφία, τάξις, ἁρμονία, καί τά σύν αὐτοῖς, ἅπερ ἐν ἑτέροις ὑπάρχειν λέγονται· ὥσπερ καί τά κατ'