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above the heavens," that he might say, of heaven; having now distinctly spoken of the things above, he is clearly aware that the former things are below. 7.55 Then, having said that all things in the heavens praise God, he adds the reason for which they ought to hymn Him, and says: "For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created; he established them for ever and for ever and ever; he made a decree, and it shall not pass away." Then, finally, he proceeds to the earth and speaks of all things that dwell in the air and in the waters and on the earth, in which he also placed man, and again he exhorts, saying: "Let them praise the name of the Lord," for which reason he says: "For his name alone is exalted." Finally, he joins all things together, saying: "His confession is upon earth and heaven," showing at the same time that all things are within earth and heaven, having spoken in the same way as Moses, who said: "For in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all things in them," showing even more clearly that all the angels are within heaven and earth and are circumscribed by them. 7.56 Again, in another place, David says: "Stretching out the heaven as a curtain, who covers his upper chambers with waters," clearly speaking of the firmament as being in the place of a roof for us, on the back of which are the waters; for the things that cover the tent from above are properly called curtains, whether they be garments or of hair. 7.57 Then he adds and says: "Who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks upon the wings of the winds, who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire"; again, after mentioning the clouds and winds below the firmament, he added that the angels are there together, calling them also ministers; and this is from David. Let us now turn to the most brilliant prophet Daniel. What does he say in the person of the hymn of the three youths? "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord; bless the Lord, O heavens; bless the Lord, O angels of the Lord; bless the Lord, all ye waters that are above the heaven," he too, after the heavens, mentioning the angels, but not leaving unmentioned the waters that are above the heaven. 7.58 Again, using the sequence, he took up the word, and after mentioning the angels from below, he called them Powers, among which he included the sun and moon and stars and rains and dews and winds and fire and cold and heat and clouds and snows and lightnings and all things concerning the air and the waters and the earth; following both David and Moses, he himself later spoke about man, for whom all the former things were made; for man, being a certain bond of all creation and a pledge of friendship of the whole world, of necessity contains all the aforesaid things according to a certain analogy. For it has been well said by those outside that man is a little world. 7.59 All the God-bearing men, therefore, both prophets and apostles, adorned with a most venerable life and having given themselves over for piety to countless sufferings and deaths, as it is written, "of whom the world was not worthy," and moreover having worked many paradoxical things not subject to reason and various powers, and having been made sufficient by God to teach and persuade and to travel throughout the world under heaven and to draw all the nations to piety, have spoken concerning these two states, not mentioning another, and all together they declared this place to be for angels and men, and likewise they declared the higher place to be for angels and men after the resurrection from the dead. 7.60 What defense, then, do the counterfeit Christians have, who disbelieve all these things and say that the heavens are to be dissolved, in which is our firm and permanent and indissoluble hope, which is laid up for us by God? Concerning which Paul cries out: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him," and

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ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἵνα εἴπῃ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· διαρρήδην νῦν τὰ ἐπάνω εἰρηκώς, εὔδηλός ἐστιν εἰδὼς τὰ πρότερα ὑποκάτω. 7.55 Εἶτα πάντα εἰπὼν τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς αἰνεῖν τὸν Θεόν, τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιφέρει, δι' ἣν αὐτὸν ὤφειλον ὑμνεῖν, καί φησιν· "Ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπε, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν· αὐτὸς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν· ἔστησεν αὐτὰ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος· πρόσταγμα ἔθετο, καὶ οὐ παρελεύσεται"· εἶτα λοιπὸν μετέρχεται καὶ περὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ λέγει πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι καὶ τοῖς ὕδασι καὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ διαιτώμενα, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔταξε, καὶ πάλιν ἐγκελεύεται λέγων· "Αἰνεσάτωσαν τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου", δι' ἣν αἰτίαν φησίν· "Ὅτι ὑψώθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μόνου"· λοιπὸν τὰ πάντα συνάπτει λέγων· "Ἡ ἐξομολόγησις αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ", ἅμα δηλώσας ὅτι καὶ ἔσωθεν γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ εἰσι πάντα, ὁμοίως καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ Μωϋσῇ εἰρηκώς, ὃς ἔφησεν· "Ἐν γὰρ ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς", ἔτι φανερώτερον δηλώσας πάντας τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἔσωθεν ὄντας οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς καὶ περιγραφομένους ὑπ' αὐτῶν. 7.56 Ἔτι πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ λέγει ὁ ∆αυΐδ· "Ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ δέρριν, ὁ στεγάζων ἐν ὕδασι τὰ ὑπερῷα αὐτοῦ", σαφῶς περὶ τοῦ στερεώματος εἰπὼν ὡς ἐν τάξει στέγης ἡμῶν ὑπάρχοντος, ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν ἐπὶ νώτου τὰ ὕδατα· δέρριδες γὰρ κυρίως καλοῦνται τὰ ἄνωθεν σκέποντα τὴν σκηνήν, εἴτε ἱμάτια εἶεν, εἴτε ἀπὸ τριχῶν. 7.57 Εἶτα ἐπισυνάπτει καί φησιν· "Ὁ τιθεὶς νέφη τὴν ἐπίβασιν αὐτοῦ, ὁ περιπατῶν ἐπὶ πτερύγων ἀνέμων, ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὸς φλόγα"· πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ στερεώματος ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω νεφῶν καὶ ἀνέμων μνημονεύσας ἐπήγαγεν ὁμοῦ εἶναι καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους, τοὺς αὐτοὺς καὶ λειτουργοὺς καλέσας· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ ∆αυΐδ. Μετέλθωμεν δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μεγαλοφυέστατον ∆ανιὴλ τὸν προφήτην. Τί φησιν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ ὕμνου τῶν τριῶν παίδων; "Εὐλογεῖτε, πάντα τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου, τὸν Κύριον· εὐλογεῖτε, οὐρανοί, τὸν Κύριον· εὐλογεῖτε, ἄγγελοι Κυρίου, τὸν Κύριον· εὐλογεῖτε, ὕδατα πάντα τὰ ἐπάνω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὸν Κύριον", καὶ αὐτὸς μετὰ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς τῶν ἀγγέλων μνημονεύσας, μὴ καταλιπὼν δὲ ἀμνημόνευτα καὶ τὰ ἐπάνω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὄντα ὕδατα. 7.58 Τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ πάλιν χρησάμενος ἀνέλαβε τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὑποκάτωθεν δευτερώσας τοὺς ἀγγέλους ∆υνάμεις αὐτοὺς ἐξεῖπεν, ἐν οἷς ἐπισυνῆψεν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἄστρα καὶ ὄμβρους καὶ δρόσους καὶ ἀνέμους καὶ πῦρ καὶ ψῦχος καὶ καῦμα καὶ νεφέλας καὶ νιφετοὺς καὶ ἀστραπὰς καὶ πάντα τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀέρα καὶ τὰ ὕδατα καὶ τὴν γῆν· ἑπόμενος τῷ τε ∆αυῒδ καὶ τῷ Μωϋσῇ ὕστερον καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἴρηκε, δι' ὃν τὰ πρότερα πάντα γεγόνασι· σύνδεσμος γάρ τις ὢν ὁ ἄνθρωπος πάσης τῆς κτίσεως καὶ ἐνέχυρον φιλίας παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου ἐξ ἀνάγκης πάντα τὰ προειρημένα περιέχει κατά τινα ἀναλογίαν. Εὖ γὰρ εἴρηται παρὰ τοῖς ἔξωθεν μικρὸς κόσμος ὁ ἄνθρωπος. 7.59 Πάντες τοίνυν οἱ θεοφόροι ἄνθρωποι, προφῆταί τε καὶ ἀπόστολοι, σεμνοτάτῳ βίῳ κατακεκοσμημένοι καὶ παραδεδωκότες ἑαυτοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυρίοις παθήμασι καὶ θανάτοις, καθὰ γέγραπται, "ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος", ἔτι δὲ καὶ παράδοξα πάμπολλα λόγῳ μὴ ὑποβαλλόμενα καὶ δυνάμεις ποικίλας ἐργασάμενοι, καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ ἱκανοὶ γενόμενοι εἰς τὸ διδάξαι καὶ πεῖσαι καὶ περινοστῆσαι τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν καὶ ἑλκύσαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν, περὶ τῶν τοιούτων δύο καταστάσεων εἰρήκασιν ἑτέρας μὴ μνημονεύσαντες, καὶ πάντες ὁμοῦ τὸν χῶρον τοῦτον ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἐξεῖπον, καὶ τὸν ἀνώτερον χῶρον ὁμοίως ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν ἀπεφήναντο. 7.60 Ποίαν οὖν ἀπολογίαν ἔχουσιν οἱ πεπλασμένοι χριστιανοὶ οἱ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἀπιστοῦντες καὶ καταλύεσθαι λέγοντες τοὺς οὐρανούς, ἐν οἷς ἡ βεβαία καὶ μόνιμος καὶ ἀκατάλυτος ἡμῶν ἐλπὶς τυγχάνει, ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῖν ἀποκειμένη; Περὶ ἧς βοᾷ ὁ Παῦλος· "Ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν", καὶ