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a more corporeal existence and substance, but of heaven the rational. At any rate, it is also said in other places: "The heaven of heaven is the Lord's." And heaven can be not this visible one, not only the one in our sight, but every one. But the "heaven of heaven" that is divided into seven is the divine state; for God is said to be in heaven, not that He is in a place. At any rate, it is said in the Gospel: "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man." And Jesus alone descended from the true heaven, that is, from the state befitting God, from the as it were vantage point of God. Certainly, at any rate, the devil happened to be in heaven; for from there he fell with those who blasphemed and were lifted up. At any rate, it is said to him: "You said: 'I will ascend into heaven.'" Being in heaven, how does he ascend into heaven? He was in heaven, in which also are other divine and blessed substances. But he conceived the fantasy and desire to be God. Thinking he would become "like the Most High," he named the likeness to the Most High "heaven." Therefore, God alone is in this so-called heaven, not that it is a place or some body or a creation, but a state, as it were a state of God, a vantage point of God. He who therefore conceived the vain desire of becoming God thought that he was able "to ascend above the clouds and to place his throne above the stars and to become as the Most High." By saying at all, "I will be like the Most High," he ought to have understood that likeness to the Most High is not in the future. But He bears the same existence infinitely, from infinity and to infinity He is the same, He is without beginning and without end. But he who says "I will be" showed that for the present he is not. And he who is not thus God will never become so. Therefore, the matter stopped for him at desire, and he fell even from what he had; for he was otherwise in heaven, and by saying: "I will ascend into 235 heaven," he fell from the heaven he had; for "how has the morning star, that rises early, fallen from heaven"? By saying, "how has he fallen?" he showed that he was in heaven, but by saying, "I will ascend into heaven and I will be," he showed that he longed to be in another heaven. It is fitting to understand the clouds in a way corresponding to heaven. We said yesterday that the name of the clouds often signifies divine natures; for when God says concerning Israel, as being a vineyard, that instead of grapes it produced thorns—instead of suitable fruit it brought forth shameful desires; and these the Savior called thorns—, He says that: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." But this rain is not perceptible, hence neither are the clouds that flow upon it. At any rate, it has been said: "Let the clouds rain down righteousness." But righteousness flows and comes down not from perceptible clouds. And I will say something strange: there is a certain truth, which does not primarily dwell with God. Paul says: "the truth of Jesus is in me," as if there is another truth, which is not properly called of Jesus; for all things are His, He is the creator of all. But His creations, being knowable, have an inherent knowledge and truth, which one can receive from the knowable things. There is therefore a truth, say, in grammar and in geometry and in the other sciences. He does not for the moment call that the truth of Jesus, not that it too is not His; for the knowable things, in which are knowledge and truth, are His creations. And I say: let some mechanic construct a clock. There is certainly in the constructed thing a knowledge according to which it was made; for having mechanical knowledge he constructed it. And there is a truth in the construction, when it has the proportions according to which it becomes a faultless clock. If someone, therefore, receives that knowledge from that visible clock, he has received the knowledge of the one who constructed it. And the clock is indeed a medium between these two states, of the...

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σω̣ματικωτέραν ὕπαρξιν καὶ οὐσίαν, τοῦ δὲ οὐρανοῦ τὴν λογικήν. λέγεται γοῦν καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις· "ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ". καὶ δύναται οὐρανὸς εἶναι οὐχ οὗτος ὁ φαινόμενος οὐκ ὁ ἐν ὄψει ἡμῶν μόνος ἀλλὰ πᾶς. ὁ ἑπτὰ δὲ σχιζόμενος "οὐρανὸς τοῦν οὐρανοῦ" ἡ θεικὴ κατάστασις· λέγεται γὰρ ἐν οὐρανῷ ὁ θεὸς εἶναι οὐχ ὅτι ἐν τόπῳ ἐστίν. λέγεται γοῦν ἐν εὐαγγελίῳ· "οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου". κατέβη δὲ μόνος Ἰησοῦς ἐκ τοῦ ἀληθῶς οὐρανοῦ, τουτέστιν τῆς καταστάσεως τῆς ἁρμοζούσης θεῷ, τῆς ὡσανεὶ περιωπῆς τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀμέλει γοῦν ὁ διάβολος ἐν οὐρανῷ τυγχάνων ἦν· ἐκεῖ θεν γὰρ ἐξέπεσεν μετὰ τῶν βλασφημησάντων καὶ ἐπαρθέντων. λέγεται γοῦν πρὸς αὐτόν· "σὺ εἶπας· εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι". ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὤν, πῶς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀναβαίνει; ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἦν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἄλλαι θεῖαι καὶ μακάριαι οὐσίαι εἰσίν. φαντασίαν δὲ καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν ἔλαβεν τοῦ θεὸς εἶναι. δοκῶν "ὅμοιος τῷ ὑψίστῳ" γενήσεσθαι τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὕψιστον ὁμοίωσιν οὐρανὸν ὠνόμασεν. μόνος οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ λεγομένῳ οὐρανῷ ἐστιν, οὐχ ὅτι τόπος ἐστὶν ἢ σῶμά τι ἢ ποίημα, ἀλλὰ κατάστασις, ὡσανεὶ κατάστασις θεοῦ, περιωπὴ θεοῦ. ὁ ἐπιθυμίαν οὖν λαβὼν τοῦ ἔσεσθαι θεὸς ματαίαν ἔδοξεν, ὅτι οἷός τέ ἐστιν "ἀναβῆναι ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν καὶ θεῖναι τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων καὶ γενήσεσθαι ὡς ὁ ὕψιστος". διὰ τοῦ ὅλως εἰπεῖν· "ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ ὑψίστῳ", ἔδει αὐτὸν ἔννοιαν λαβεῖν ὅτι ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου ὁμοίωσις οὐκ ἐπὶ μέλλοντί ἐστιν. ἄπειρον δὲ φέρει τὴν αὐτὴν ὕπαρξιν, ἐξ ἀπείρου καὶ ἐπ' ἄπειρον ὁ αὐτός ἐστιν, ἄναρχος καὶ ἀτελεύτητός ἐστιν. ὁ δὲ λέγων "ἔσομαι" ἔδειξεν ὅτι τέως οὐκ ἐ´̣σ̣τ̣ιν. ὁ δὲ μὴ ὢν τὸ οὕτω θεὸς οὐδὲ γενήσεταί ποτε. μέχρις οὖν ἐπιθυμίας ἔστη αὐτῷ τὸ πρᾶγμα̣, καὶ ἐξέπεσεν καὶ τοῦ παρόντος· ἦν γὰρ ἄλλως ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ εἰπών· "εἰς 235 τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι", ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ εἶχεν οὐρανοῦ· "πῶς" γὰρ "ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωὶ ἀνατέλλων"; διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν· "πῶς ἐξέπεσεν"; ἔδειξεν ἐν οὐρανῷ εἶναι αὐτόν, τῷ δὲ λέγειν· "εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι καὶ ἔσομαι", ἔδειξεν ὅτι ἐν οὐρανῷ ἄλλῳ ἐπόθησεν γενέσθαι. καταλλήλως τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τὰς νεφέλας ἐκλαβεῖν προσήκει. ἐλέγομεν χθές, ὅτι θείας φύσεις σημαίνει πολλάκις τὸ τῶν νεφελῶν ὄνομα· ὅταν γὰρ λέγῃ θεὸς περὶ τοῦ Ἰσρα̣ὴλ ὡς ὄντος ἀμπελῶνος, καὶ ὅτι ἀντὶ σταφυλῆς ἤγαγεν ἀκάνθας-ἀντὶ τοῦ καταλλήλου καρποῦ ἤνεγκεν ἐπιθυμίας αἰσχράς· ταύτας δὲ ἀκάνθας εἶπεν ὁ σωτήρ-, λέγει ὅτι· "ἐντελοῦμαι ταῖς νεφέλαις τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτὸν ὑετόν". ὁ ὑετὸς δὲ οὗτος οὐκ αἰσθητός ἐστιν, ὅθεν οὐδὲ αἱ ῥέουσαι εἰς αὐτὸν νεφέλαι. εἴρηται γοῦν· "αἱ νεφέλαι ῥανάτωσαν δικαιοσύνην". δικαιοσύνη δὲ ῥεῖ καὶ κατέρχεται οὐκ ἀπὸ αἰσθητῶν νεφῶν. καὶ παράδοξον ἐρῶ· ἔστιν τις ἀλήθεια, ἥτις οὐ προηγουμένως οἰκεῖ παρὰ θεῷ. λέγει Παῦλος· "ἔστιν ἀλήθεια τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν ἐμοί", ὡς οὔσης ἄλλης ἀληθείας, ἥτις οὐ κυρίως τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λέγεται· πάντα̣ μὲν γ̣ὰρ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν, πάντων δημιουργός ἐστιν. τὰ δὲ δημιουργήματα αὐτοῦ ἐπιστητὰ ὄντα ἔχουσιν ἐπιστήμην ἐνκ̣ε̣ι̣μένην καὶ ἀλήθειαν, ἥν τις δύναται λαμβάνειν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιστητῶν. ἔστιν οὖν ἀλήθεια, φέρε, ἐν γραμματικῇ καὶ ἐν γεωμετρίᾳ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐπιστήμαις. οὐκ ἐκείνην τὴν ἀλήθειαν τέως τοῦ Ἰησοῦ λέγει, οὐχ ὅτι οὔκ ἐστιν καὶ αὐτὴ αὐτοῦ· τὰ γὰρ ἐπιστητά, ἐν οἷς ἡ ἐπιστήμη καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, αὐτοῦ δημιουργήματά ἐστιν. καὶ λέγω· κατασκευαζέτω μηχανικός τις ὡρολόγιον. ἔστιν πάντως ἐν τῷ κατασκευασθέντι ἐπιστήμη καθ' ἣν γέγονεν· σχὼν γὰρ ἐπιστήμην μηχανικὴν κατεσκεύασεν αὐτό. καὶ ἔστιν ἀ λήθεια ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ, ὅταν οὕτως ἔχῃ τὰς ἀναλογίας, καθ' ἃς γίνεται ἄμεμπτον ὡρολόγιον. ἐάν τις τοίνυν ἐκείνην λάβῃ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀπὸ τοῦ φαινομένου ὡρολογίου ἐκείνου, τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἔσχεν. καὶ ἔστιν γε μέσον τὸ ὡρολόγιον τῶν δύο τούτων ἕξεων τοῦ τε