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But God alone was spirit, altogether luminous, at once both all-powerful and immaterial. And He made angels, principalities and powers, the Cherubim and Seraphim, dominions, thrones and the unnameable orders ministering to Him and standing by in fear and trembling. Afterward He brought forth heaven as a vault, material and visible, perceptible and solid, and in an instant He stretched it out, as He alone saw fit. And at the same time He made the earth and waters and all the abysses in its midst by the same single thought alone, such as all things are now seen by us. And the perceptible heaven, stretched out, remained, not having the immaterial light within, as I said, it did not cut off the splendors of the immaterial light. For being material, as has been said, it was found to be outside of the immaterial things, not entirely in place, but in nature and essence. For the immaterial is separated from material things, (291) not having its own place, for it is uncircumscribed; He Himself by His word brings forth all things in Himself and by nature is entirely separated from created things, and bearing all things in Himself, He is outside of all things. For just as a mind and an angel are not kept out of a house by walls and doors, nor are held within, so the Maker of these things is not at all outside, nor within heaven nor in another place, but God is certainly everywhere, separated from all material and created things brought forth by Him. So heaven became material and was separated by nature, as has been said, from the immaterial light and remained without light, just like a great house. But the Master of all kindled the sun and the moon, so that it might shine perceptibly for perceptible things, and He has given also light in the hands for shining at night, ineffably born from iron and stone. But He is separated from all light, beyond light, beyond splendor, unbearable to all creation; for as the stars do not appear when the sun is shining, so, if the Master of the sun should wish to shine, no living thing will withstand His rising. Therefore He joined the mind to the material dust and has placed all of us humans among material things,

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πνεῦμα δέ μόνον ὁ Θεός, φωτοειδές εἰς ἅπαν, ὁμοῦ τε παντοδύναμον καί ἄϋλον ὑπῆρχεν. Ἐποίησεν ἀγγέλους δέ, ἀρχάς καί ἐξουσίας, τά Χερουβίμ καί Σεραφίμ, κυριότητας, θρόνους καί τά ἀκατονόμαστα τάγματα λειτουργοῦντα αὐτῷ καί παριστάμενοα ἐν φόβῳ τε καί τρόμῳ. Ὕστερον δέ παρήγαγεν οὐρανόν ὡς καμάραν, ὑλικόν καί ὁρώμενον, αἰσθητόν καί παχύν τε καί ἐν ῥιπῇ ἐξέτεινε τοῦτον, ὡς εἶδε μόνος. Γῆν τε ὁμοῦ καί ὕδατα καί ἁπάσας ἀβύσσους μέσον αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐννοήματι μόνῳ πεποίηκεν, οἷα καί νῦν πάντα ἡμῖν ὁρῶνται. Καί ἔμεινεν, ἔνδον τό φῶς τό ἄϋλον μή ἔχων, ὁ οὐρανός ἐκτανυσθείς αἰσθητός , καθώς εἶπον, οὐ περιέκοψε φωτός ἀΰλου λαμπηδόνας. Ἔνυλος γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, ὤν, τῶν ἀΰλων ἔξω, οὐ τόπῳ πάντως, φύσει δέ εὑρέθη καί οὐσίᾳ. Ἐνύλων γάρ ὁ ἄϋλος ἔστι κεχωρισμένος, (291) οὐκ ἔχων τόπον ἴδιον, ἀπερίγραπτος γάρ ὤν˙ αὐτός λόγῳ τά σύμπαντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ παράγει καί φύσει ἔστι τῶν κτιστῶν πάντῃ κεχωρισμένος καί φέρων πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ ἔξω ἐστί τῶν πάντων. Ὥσπερ γάρ νοῦς καί ἄγγελος τοίχοις καί θύραις ἔξω οἰκίας οὐκ ἀπείργονται οὐδέ κρατοῦνται ἔνδον, οὕτως ὁ τούτων ποιητής ὅλως οὐκ ἔξω πέλει, οὐκ ἔνδοθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐδ᾿ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ, ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι πάντως πανταχοῦ Θεός κεχωρισμένος ἐνύλων πάντων καί κτιστῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ παραχθέντων. Ἐγένετο οὖν οὐρανός ἔνυλος καί διέστη τῇ φύσει, καθώς εἴρηται, τοῦ φωτός τοῦ ἀΰλου καί ἔμεινε δίχα φωτός, οἶκος καθάπερ μέγας. Ὁ δέ ∆εσπότης τοῦ παντός τόν ἥλιον ἀνῆψε καί τήν σελήνην, αἰσθητοῖς αἰσθητῶς ὅπως λάμπῃ, δέδωκε δέ καί ἐν χερσί φῶς ἐν νυκτί τοῦ φαίνειν, ἀπό σιδήρου λίθου τε τικτόμενον ἀρρήτως. Ἐκεῖνος δέ παντός φωτός ἐστί κεχωρισμένος, ὑπέρφωτος, ὑπέρλαμπρος, ἄστεκτος πάσῃ κτίσει˙ ὡς γάρ ἠλίου λάμποντος οὐ φαίνονται τά ἄστρα, οὕτως, εἰ λάμψαι βουληθῇ ἡλίου ὁ ∆εσπότης, οὐχ ὑποστήσεται πᾶς ζῶν ἀνατολήν τήν τούτου. ∆ιό συνέζευξε τόν νοῦν τῷ χοΐ τῷ ἐνύλῳ καί ἐν ἐνύλοις τέθηκεν ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπους πάντας,