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but also their beginnings and their ends and the causes for which they came to be and what will be concerning them after the worldly diversity. Therefore, having knowledge of all things, You formed me; You placed your hand upon me, so that what is said might be first and last. Placing your hand upon me, being dust and clay, you formed me into a man, so that each of the wise says this: Your hands made me and formed me, and otherwise, Remember that you formed me from clay. It is also possible thus: having formed me, you were not content with having made me, but you also placed your hand upon me in order to improve and guard me and to be exalted by it. Indeed, therefore, he who understands this gift also advises others, saying, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, so that, you being made safe under it, no insolence or plot might be able to arise; For no one snatches from the hand of the Father. For the invisible enemies will tear apart only those who have been cast away from it. 1212 Ps 138,6 Having understood that You have knowledge of all things, I came to be amazed. But even if having understood, I marveled at your knowledge, yet as I still wished to comprehend it, it has been made too strong for me, so that I was not able to attain to it. To this agrees what is in Ecclesiastes: I said, I will be wise, and it was far from me, farther than it was, and a deep depth, who will find it? But Paul also uttered the same words, saying, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! And he himself said these things, since he is not able to attain to the knowledge of God which has been made too strong for him. The addition of 'from me' can also mean that from me and from the things concerning me your knowledge appeared wonderful to me; inasmuch as it having been strengthened, I will no longer be able to withstand or assail it. But if also concerning the knowledge of God, which the saint himself has concerning him, as he is able to comprehend, he discusses the foregoing things, you will consider. 1213 Ps 138,7.8 Having spoken theology concerning God being foreknowing and having knowledge and understanding of all things, he proceeds to say that he is everywhere. For he says to him of whom he speaks theology: If your spirit has filled the inhabited world, where will I be able to go from it? but since your face also watches over and surveys all things, where will I be able to flee from it? For having gone up to heaven, I receive the image of you being present; if I should be in hades, I see you are with me. But if your presence is known in heaven and in hades, it is clear that you are also in the places in between; Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord, as the prophet says; but also in the sea itself you appear to those who seek you, as the following phrase shows. Wherefore also one of the theologians said to each of the hearers, And you shall know in your mind that God is in heaven above and on the earth below, and there is none other besides him. And he is present everywhere not by dwelling locally, but by creatively and providentially being in all things. For it has been said concerning the only-begotten Word that indeed all things consist in him; and if all things consist in him, nothing of the things consisting in him is left apart from him. We also learn from the foregoing things that the Trinity is being spoken of in theology. For the Spirit of God has often been shown to be the Holy Spirit, and his face, his only-begotten Son, being the image of him who is the invisible God, but also called the character of the hypostasis of God himself. And from this we learn that the Spirit of God is not a creature, being joined with God himself and with his face. For it has often been shown that it is never joined with creation but always with the Father and the Son. This almost shows that, since I am created, it is mine to move locally and to ascend, but yours to be and to be established there in having made it and turning it, but I also have the power to descend into hades likewise by moving, you being there by providence

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ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰ τέλη αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς αἰτίας δι' ας γέγονε καὶ τί περὶ αὐτὰς εσται μετὰ τὴν κοσμικὴν ποικιλίαν. πάντων ουν τὴν γνῶσιν εχων πλάσας με, τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπ' ἐμὲ εθηκας, ιν' ῃ πρῶθ' υστερον τὸ λεγόμενον. θεὶς ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν χεῖρά σου χοῦν καὶ πηλὸν οντα επλασάς με ανθρωπον, ὡς εκαστον τῶν συνετῶν τοῦτο λέγειν Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ επλασάν με, καὶ αλλως Μνήσθητι οτι πηλόν με επλασας. ∆υνατὸν δὲ καὶ ουτω· πλάσας με σὺ οὐκ ἠρκέσθης τῷ πεποιηκέναι με, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἐπέθηκας ἐπὶ τῷ βελτιοῦν καὶ φρουρεῖν με καὶ ὑψοῦσθαι ὑπ' αὐτῆς. ἀμέλει γοῦν ὁ τὴν δωρεὰν ταύτην ἐπιστάμενος καὶ ἑτέροις συμβουλεύει, Ταπεινώθητε, λέγων, ὑπὸ τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ θεοῦ, ινα ὑψώσῃ ὑμᾶς ἐν καιρῷ, ωστε ὑπ' αὐτὴν ἠσφαλισμένων ὑμῶν μηδεμίαν ἐπήρειαν η ἐπιβουλὴν δύνασθαι γενέσθαι· Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἁρπάζει ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ πατρός. μόνους γὰρ τοὺς ἀπωσθέντας ἀπ' αὐτῆς διαπάσουσιν οἱ ἀόρατοι ἐχθροί. 1212 Ps 138,6 ̓Επιστήσας ὡς πάντων γνῶσιν εχεις εἰς θαυμαστὸν ηλθον. ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ ἐπιστήσας ἐθαύμασά σου τὴν γνῶσιν, ἀλλ' ουν γε ετι θέλοντός μου κατανοεῖν αὐτὴν ὑπὲρ ἐμὲ γεγενημένην κεκραταίωται, ὡς μὴ δυνηθῆναί με πρὸς αὐτήν. τούτῳ συνᾴδει τὸ ἐν τῷ ̓Εκκλησιαστῇ Ειπα Σοφισθήσομαι, καὶ αὐτὴ ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὑπὲρ ο ην, καὶ βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτήν; ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τὰς αὐτὰς ἀφῆκε φωνὰς φάσκων Ω βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ· ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ. καὶ αὐτὸς ταῦτ' ειπεν, ἐπείπερ οὐ δύναται πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ θεοῦ κραταιωθεῖσαν ὑπὲρ αὐτόν. ∆ύναται καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἐμοῦ προσκείμενον δηλοῦν οτι ἐξ ἐμοῦ καὶ τῶν κατ' ἐμὲ πραγμάτων θαυμαστὴ ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἀνεφάνη μοι· καθὸ κραταιωθείσης αὐτῆς οὐκέτι ἀντισχεῖν η προσβαλεῖν αὐτῇ δυνήσομαι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ, ης αὐτὸς εχει ὁ αγιος περὶ αὐτοῦ ὡς οιός τέ ἐστι διαλαμβάνων, τὰ προκείμενα διαλέγεται, συνεπισκέψῃ. 1213 Ps 138,7.8 Θεολογήσας τὰ περὶ τοῦ προγνώστην ειναι τὸν θεὸν καὶ πάντων ἐπιστήμην εχειν καὶ σύνεσιν, μέτεισιν ἐπὶ τὸ πανταχοῦ ειναι αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν. φησὶ γοῦν πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν θεολογούμενον· Εἰ πνεῦμά σου πεπλήρωκε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ποῦ πορευθῆναι ἀπ' αὐτῆς δυνήσομαι; ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπισκοπεῖ καὶ ἐφορᾷ τὰ ολα, ποῦ φυγεῖν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ δυνήσομαι; ἀνελθὼν γὰρ εἰς οὐρανὸν παρόντος σου λαμβάνων φαντασίαν· αν εἰς τὸν ᾳδην γένωμαι, συνόντα σε βλέπω. εἰ δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐν ᾳδῃ ἡ παρουσία σου γνωρίζεται, καὶ ἐν τοῖς μεταξὺ χωρίοις δηλονότι τυγχάνεις· Οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ, λέγει κύριος, ως φησιν ὁ προφήτης· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῖς ζητοῦσί σε ἐμφανίζῃ, ὡς ἡ ἑπομένη παρίστησι λέξις. διὸ καὶ τῶν θεολόγων τις πρὸς εκαστον τῶν ἀκροωμένων εφη Καὶ γνώσῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ οτι ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ανω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω καὶ οὐκ εστιν ετι πλὴν αὐτοῦ. παρίστησι δὲ πανταχοῦ οὐ τοπικῶς διατρίβων ἀλλὰ δημιουργικῶς καὶ προνοητικῶς τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐπιχωριάζων. ειρηται γοῦν περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς λόγου ὡς αρα πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν· εἰ δ' ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκε τὰ πάντα, οὐδὲν τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ συνεστηκότων ἀπολείπεται αὐτοῦ. Μανθάνομεν δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν προκειμένων τὴν τριάδα θεολογουμένην. πνεῦμα γὰρ θεοῦ τὸ αγιον πνεῦμα πολλάκις ειναι ἀποδέδεικται καὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, ὁ μονογενὴς αὐτοῦ υἱὸς εἰκὼν τυγχάνων αὐτοῦ οντος θεοῦ ἀοράτου, ἀλλὰ καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰρημένος. καὶ ἐντεῦθεν μανθάνομεν μὴ κτίσμα ειναι τὸ θεοῦ πνεῦμα, αὐτῷ τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ συναπτόμενον. πολλάκις γὰρ ἀποδέδεικται ὡς οὐδέποτε μετὰ τῆς κτίσεως ἀλλ' ἀεὶ μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ συνάπτεται. Μονονουχὶ τοῦτο παρίστησιν οτι, ἐμοῦ τυγχάνοντος γενητοῦ, τὸ μεταβαίνειν τοπικῶς καὶ ἀναβαίνειν, σοῦ δὲ τὸ τυγχάνειν καὶ ἱδρῦσθαι ἐκεῖ ἐν τῷ πεποιηκέναι αὐτὸν καὶ στρέφειν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ καταβῆναι εἰς τὸν ᾳδην ὁμοίως μεταβατικῶς εχω, σοῦ οντος ἐκεῖ προνοίας