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God stretches out heaven and establishes the foundations of the earth, bringing from non-being into being these most cohesive creations in which also the others exist, as the hierophant says: “And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” For indeed, beginning the Cosmogony he clearly said: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth,” that is, he stretched out the heaven and established the foundations of the earth. 4.179 It has often already been contemplated what is the manner of the stretching of the heaven and of the establishing of the earth's foundations, as the words thus having it are clarified, on the one hand by God saying: “I alone stretched out the heaven,” and on the other by the hymnodist concerning the author of creation: “He established the earth upon its own security; it shall not be moved for ever and ever.” He who spread out the heaven by stretching and established the earth on foundations also created man, “forming his spirit within him,” that is, weaving and uniting the soul as is possible to the body, so that one composite living being might be completed from soul and body. 4.180 But the spirit of man is not formed at once, but within him; for it is not of a bodily nature but of a rational one. But the body of man is formed beforehand, according to what was said by Moses: “God formed man of dust from the earth.” Knowing this manner of creation, the great-souled and most courageous Job exclaimed to the author of creation: “Remember that you formed me of clay, and you turn me back again to earth.” 4.181 But also concerning the genesis of the composite being from soul and body he says: “Your hands have made me and formed me,” the body having been formed, the soul having been made, which, being called spirit, he formed in man, having partaken of a perceptive power from the composition, so that the whole man might be shown to have become an ensouled, perceptive, living being. 4.182 In addition to what has been thus considered, it might be said also in another way: the spirit of man formed in him is that about which the Apostle writes: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him,” being different from the rational soul, called the “hidden man of the heart.” 4.183 But its formation is not like that of the body, but that which the holy hymnodist prays to be brought into being in his own heart, saying: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” And a clean heart is formed, being molded according to virtue and the other holiness, so that it may both act and think clearly and rhythmically. 4.184 This being the mindset of the most courageous Judith who killed the cruel tyrant Holofernes, the most wise elders said in praise to her: “The formation of your heart is good.” The formation and the fashioning are homonymous with those of the body; for these, referring back to what is formed, signify an existing material substrate, whereas the formation of the spirit presents itself through the impression of concepts and rational images. 4.185 He who stretched out the heaven and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him threatens to lay waste and to tear down the city and country of the Jews on account of the things dared against the Savior who had come, by those who had done godless things, - for they surrounded with a cross and with scourges the one who gave his life as a ransom, the one who took away the sin of the world, - although he had come for the salvation of all. 4.186 And what are the grievous things he proclaims beforehand against those who killed Christ? “Behold, I will make,” he says, “Jerusalem like a reeling threshold and Judah to all the peoples round about,” so that it has no longer any seat or security, having been forsaken by the one who founded and guarded it, the thing proclaimed beforehand in the manner of a threat being fulfilled, on the one hand in Isaiah: “The daughter of Zion shall be left desolate,” and on the other in Jeremiah, by him who had turned away from her because of prevailing impiety, saying: “I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance, I have given my beloved

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Ἐκτείνει Θεὸς οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιοῖ τὴν γῆν, ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἄγων τὰ συνεκτικώτατα κτίσματα ταῦτα ἐν οἷς καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὑπάρχει, ᾗ φησιν ὁ ἱεροφάντης· «Καὶ συνετελέσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος αὐτῶν.» Αὐτίκα γοῦν τῆς Κοσμοποιίας ἀρχόμενος σαφῶς εἶπεν· «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν», τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐξέτεινε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν. 4.179 Πολλάκις ἤδη τεθεώρηται τίς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐκτάσεως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ τεθεμελιῶσθαι τὴν γῆν, σαφηνιζομένων τῶν οὕτως ἐχουσῶν λέξεων ὑπὸ μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντος· «Ἐξέτεινα τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος», ὑπὸ δὲ τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ περὶ τοῦ γενεσιάρχου· «Ἐθεμελίωσεν τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς, οὐ κλιθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.» Ὁ ἁπλώσας τὸν οὐρανὸν δι' ἐκτάσεως καὶ ἑδράσας ἐν θεμελίοις τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἔκτισεν, «πλάσας ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ», τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὴν ψυχὴν συμπλέκων καὶ ἑνῶν ὡς ἐνδέχεται τῷ σώματι, ἵν' ἓν σύνθετον ζῷον ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἀποτελεσθῇ. 4.180 Οὐ καθάπαξ δὲ πλάττεται τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ· οὐ γὰρ σωματικῆς φύσεως ἀλλὰ λογικῆς ἐστιν. Πλάττεται δὲ προηγουμένως τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, κατὰ τὸ ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως λεχθέν· «Ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς.» Τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον τῆς δημιουργίας γνοὺς ὁ μεγαλόψυχος καὶ ἀνδρειώτατος Ἰὼβ πρὸς τὸν γενεσιάρχην ἀνεφθέγξατο· «Μνήσθητι ὅτι πηλόν με ἔπλασας, εἰς δὲ γῆν με πάλιν ἀποστρέφεις.» 4.181 Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ συνθέτου τοῦ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος λέγει· «Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με», πλασθέντος τοῦ σώματος, ποιηθείσης τῆς ψυχῆς ἥντινα πνεῦμα καλουμένην ἔπλασεν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ μετασχοῦσαν ἐκ τῆς συνθέσεως αἰσθητικῆς δυνάμεως, ἵν' ὅλος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔμψυχος, αἰσθητικός, ζῷον γενάμενος ἀποδειχθῇ. 4.182 Πρὸς τῷ οὕτω θεωρηθέντι ῥηθείη καὶ ἑτέρως· τὸ πλαττόμενον πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν περὶ οὗ Ἀπόστολος γράφει· «Τίς οἶδεν ἀνθρώπων τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ», ἕτερον ὂν παρὰ τὴν λογικὴν ψυχὴν «κρυπτὸν ἄνθρωπον τῆς καρδίας» καλούμενον. 4.183 Πλάσις δ' αὐτοῦ οὐχ οἵα ἡ τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἐκείνη ἣν ὑπαρχθῆναι τῇ καρδίᾳ ἑαυτοῦ εὔχεται ὁ ἅγιος ὑμνῳδὸς λέγων· «Καρδίαν καθαρὰν κτίσον ἐν ἐμοί, ὁ Θεός.» Πλάττεται δὲ καρδία καθαρὰ ἡ κατὰ ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἁγιότητα τυπουμένη, ἵνα τρανῶς καὶ εὐρύθμως ἐνεργῇ τε καὶ νοῇ. 4.184 Ταύτης τῆς γνώμης τυγχανούσης τῆς κτεινάσης τὸν ὠμὸν τύραννον Ὀλοφέρνην ἀνδρειωτάτης Ἰουδίτ, οἱ σοφώτατοι πρεσβύτεροι ἐπαινοῦντες εἶπον πρὸς αὐτήν· «Ἀγαθὸν τὸ πλάσμα τῆς καρδίας σου.» Ὁμωνυμεῖ τὸ πλάσμα καὶ ἡ πλάσις τοῖς τοῦ σώματος· ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ ἀντέρεισιν πρὸς τὸ πλαττόμενον σημαίνει ὑλικὸν ὑποκείμενον ὑπάρχον, τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος πλάσεως διὰ τύπωσιν ἐννοιῶν καὶ λογικῶν φαντασιῶν παριστάσης. 4.185 Ὁ ἐκτείνας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ θεμελιώσας τὴν γῆν καὶ πλάσας τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτῷ ἀπειλεῖ ἐρημῶσαι καὶ καθελεῖν τὴν Ἰουδαίων πόλιν καὶ χώραν διὰ τὰ τολμηθέντα κατὰ τοῦ ἐπιδημήσαντος Σωτῆρος ὑπὸ τῶν ἄθεα δεδρακότων, - σταυρῷ τε γὰρ καὶ μάστιξιν περιέβαλον τὸν δόντα τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον, τὸν τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ἄραντα ἁμαρτίαν, -καίτοι ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας πάντων ἐληλυθότος. 4.186 Τί δ' ἐστὶν ἃ προαναφωνεῖ ἀνιαρὰ κατὰ τῶν χριστοκτονησάντων; «Ἰδοὺ τίθημι, φησίν, τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὡς πρόθυρα σαλευόμενα καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς κύκλῳ», ὡς μηδεμίαν ἔτι ἕδραν καὶ ἀσφάλειαν ἔχειν, ἐγκαταλειφθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεμελιώσαντος καὶ φρουροῦντος αὐτήν, πληρουμένου τοῦ ἀπειλῆς τρόπῳ προαναφωνηθέντος ἐν μὲν Ἠσαΐᾳ· «Ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται ἡ θυγάτηρ Σιών», ἐν δὲ Ἰερεμίᾳ πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀποστραφέντος αὐτὴν δι' ἐπιπολάσασαν ἀσέβειαν εἰπόντος· «Ἐγκατέλιπα τὸν οἶκόν μου, ἀφῆκα τὴν κληρονομίαν μου, ἔδωκα τὴν ἠγαπημένην