Christian Topography, or the Opinion of the Christians Concerning the World

NOTITIA FROM FABRICIUS’S LIBRARY ON COSMAS INDICOPLEUSTES

Stephanus the mathematician, presbyter of Antioch. VI, p. 264. Syri. VII, p. 292. The Teratologists. V, pp. 205, 213. Teucer, legislator of the Locrians. XII, p. 342. Theodosius, Alexandrian schismatic dwelling in Constantinople, still alive at the time the author was writing. His sermon on the Assumption in Lent. X, p. 331. Another explanation, ibid. On the saying, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," ibid. Theophilus of Alexandria, first festal epistle. X, p. 320. Thomas of Edessa, disciple of Patricius, Archbishop and Catholicos of Persia. II, p. 125. Timaeus the philosopher (in Plato). XII, p. 340. Timotheus the Younger, predecessor of Theodosius of Alexandria. XI, p. 332 sq. Tryphon Phaleris, whom Philadelphus consulted regarding translating the sacred books of the Hebrews into the Greek language. XII, p. 344. The author calls him Tryphon instead of Demetrius, by a slip of memory, it seems. Xenophanes. II, p. 149.

V. Lost Works of Cosmas.

This author of the *Cosmographia* had written other things, some of which he mentions himself. These are as follows:

1. A Description of the Earth towards Constantine: [A book in which is written more broadly the whole earth, both that beyond the Ocean, and it itself, and all the regions, and also the southern parts from Alexandria to the southern Ocean—I speak of the river Nile and the regions and nations lying nearby, of all Egypt and Ethiopia. And furthermore also the Arabian Gulf and the regions and nations lying nearby as far as the same Ocean again, likewise also the middle land of both the river and the gulf and the nations that are in it.] Lib. I, p. 113. The loss of this work seems to Montfaucon as something to be wept for even with tears.

2. Adumbration or image of the universe and the movement of the stars made in imitation of the armillary sphere, and a book on that image [dedicated] to the deacon Homologus. [The sketch of the universe and the starry motion which took place for us in imitation of the organic sphere from without, and the discourse concerning it sent to the most God-beloved deacon, Homologus.] Lib. I, p. 114. Perhaps the same short work is referred to in VII, p. 274, where he says that he taught in another treatise that the heaven is not a sphere, nor does it move circularly.

3. Commentary or *Hypomnemata* on the Song of Songs, to Theophilus his friend. VII, p. 300.

4. Cosmas is cited in the manuscript catena of Macarius Chrysocephalus on Matthew. [Ought he to be understood as Cosmas Hierosolymitanus? For he is cited among many other old theologians, according to Lambecius, *Commentar.* III, p. 165, just as he is in codex CCI Coislin., according to Montfaucon in *Catal. bibl. Coislin.*, p. 251, in a catena or very extensive commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke. That he also wrote on Luke, Cave conjectures in *Hist. litterar.*, part II; but the passage he brings forward does not prove this, and as Fabricius observed in a manuscript note, it was taken from Book V of the *Cosmographia*, p. 217. Similarly the arguments of the four Gospels, which Matthias Flacius exhibits in his illustrious *Glossa on the N. T.* under the name of Cosmas Indicopleustes for Matthew and Mark, and under the name of Cosmas Indicopleustes for Luke and John, taken from an old codex, are, as Fabricius notes in a manuscript note, taken from the same place in the *Cosmographia* (Basel, 1570, folio, Greek and Latin). From there, perhaps, were also taken the short prefaces of Cosmas Indicopleustes to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Nanian codices VIII and XI, pp. 6 and 8 of the *Catalogi Græcorum codd. mss.* preserved among the Nani. HARL.]

5. Exposition on the Psalms, of which some things are noted as far as III. It is described at length in the Turin Library and in the catalogue of Greek manuscripts, p. 67 sqq. The editors first observed that that codex contains most extensive commentaries on the Psalms and the canticles of both Testaments, which truly seem to be the same as those that Charles Du Fresne relates in *Glossarium mediæ et intimæ Græcitatis*, p. 516, under the title that is read in the Colbertine codex: *Cosmas Indicopleustes’ explanation of the Psalms historically and anagogically*, etc. The preface with the epigraph, which bears the name of Cosmas Indicopleustes, the editors say is the same throughout as the one in the Baroccian codex in Oudin, Vol. I, p. 1412: *Cosmas Indicopleustes’ prologue to the Psalms*. Montfaucon published this preface to the Psalms in Vol. V of the *Works of Chrysostom*, p. 540, from an Ottobonian manuscript, in which it is ascribed to John Chrysostom. The second preface follows the text of the Psalms with an exposition of difficult passages. The editors of that catalogue, however, discovered a consensus with those things which Corderius published in his *Catena*. There is also a commentary of this Cosmas on the prophet David (as Plüer wrote in *Itinerarium per Hispan.*, p. 163), or on the Psalms in the Escorial Library and in codex XIX of the Greek Royal Library of Naples. HARL.] — Exposition by Cosmas on the Psalms with a protheoria on the method of the Psalms in Colbertine codex 1476. Johann Christoph Wolf, p. 23 of *De catenis Patrum*, testifies that he possesses a description from the Baroccian codex, and there he describes in Greek the exposition by Cosmas on Psalm 110:4, from Nicetas’s *Thesaurus of the Orthodox Faith*. That prologue, communicated to me by the aforementioned Wolf from the Baroccian codex XV, I saw to be nothing other than the *protheoria* which is read on p. 223 of the *Topographia*, but with a few additions after the words, p. 224. He is also praised by Allatius, p. 595, *De processione Spiritus sancti*. — [In codex XXVI, n. 2, of the Royal Library of Naples, there is Cosmas the Monk’s *Canon for Palm Sunday, for the Great Week*. HARL.]

PREFACE TO THE CHRISTIAN TOPOGRAPHY OF COSMAS EGYPTIUS, Or the opinion of the Christians concerning the world, Wherein many lost works of Athanasius appear.

PROŒMIUM.

Cosmas, who is called Indicopleustes from his voyage to India, is mentioned in the *Christian Topography* by Peter Lambeck, Imperial Librarian, Book III, Codex 9, p. 21; and it is said that it extends from folio 28 to folio 34 in the ninth codex, from which it is manifest that not the whole work, but only a fragment, exists in the Imperial collection. Indeed, in the Vatican library there is a most elegant parchment codex of the same author in uncial script, dating from about the ninth century, with figures depicted from an older exemplar, and perhaps from the autograph itself: but the twelfth book is missing from it. For, as we indicate at the end of the work, Cosmas, in the second revision of the *Christian Topography* published by himself, brought it into another form and in many places expanded it, and since he had to repel the objections of men who were aggressively and strenuously fighting against his contrary opinion, he thought it necessary to add new books, as you will discover in the course of the work. Whence it happens that the copies which stemmed from the first autograph are much shorter than others which were copied after the work was repaired and protected. Of the latter kind is the Laurentian parchment codex of the tenth century, by the reliability of which we have adorned our edition: it includes all twelve books of Cosmas, missing only the final folio of the last book. ^A Mention of this author was made by Joannes Jacobus Frisius in his *Bibliotheca Universalis*, where he is called Cosmas Indicopleustes; and by Possevinus, by whom he is called Indicoplensis through a similar slip. But they testify that they had seen a preface to the Psalter, which is prefixed in certain manuscripts: that preface, however, was excerpted from this work, as we have noted in its proper place. A much greater knowledge of Cosmas was brought to us later by the late Emericus Bigotius, who, having traveled through parts of Italy, excerpted certain things from a Florentine Laurentian codex, namely the inscription of Ptolemy Euergetes, and other items of great value pertaining to Ethiopian and Indian affairs. But as usually happens to those who prepare excerpts in passing, the learned man omitted much of the same subject matter, and indeed much that was excellent. Furthermore, since these Bigotian fragments were inserted only into travelogues written in French and published by Thevenot, they scarcely reached the notice of others. And what is more, besides Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Indian affairs, many other things occur here and there that are very worthy of light, which provide no small contribution to literary material, as will be discovered in the course of this Preface: among these are not a few fragments of ancient writers, and eleven excerpts of Athanasius from his *Festal Epistles*, which have long since perished. For these reasons we have yielded to the urging of friends who were very eager that this writer, offering the excerpts of Athanasius, should be conjoined to the Athanasian collection. For even if in so prolix a work there are not a few things which could be ignored and neglected without loss, as usually happens in the writers of this age, yet no fair judge of things would deny that very few of those who flourished from the sixth century onward disseminate as many documents of history here and there as we find in our Cosmas, as will be manifest from what follows.

CHAPTER FIRST. ON THE AGE AND WRITINGS OF COSMAS.

I. Cosmas wrote the *Christian Topography* in about the year 535, during the reign of Justinian. II. He also described a universal cosmography, now lost. III. And other minor works.

I. Cosmas Egyptius Alexandrinus, at first a merchant who, for the sake of commerce and gain, had traveled through Ethiopia, India, and other eastern regions, was, for that age, a man of paramount learning. Afterward, having entered the monastic life, he wrote many things which he mentions in various places throughout this work. Although it might seem that a calculation can be easily made from a note of time which he records in the second book of the *Christian Topography*, yet the matter presents difficulty because the same thing is read in the eleventh book. For in the first place he said, while he was writing the second book, that 25 years had elapsed since the expedition of Elesbaan, king of the Ethiopians, against the Homerites: ^B this expedition falls in the year 522: if you add 25 years to this computation, it is necessary that he wrote this in the year 547, in the reign of Justinian. But in the eleventh book, speaking about Theodosius the heretical patriarch of Alexandria, he says: [Greek text translated:] "I shall add the testimony of a certain new schismatic father of theirs, who is still living and residing in Constantinople, and doing this out of superabundance, bearing witness, whether from ignorance or compelled by the truth itself, to our writing," and afterward follows: [Greek text translated:] "Theodosius, Bishop of Alexandria." This is, "I shall bring forth from superabundance the testimony of a certain new schismatic of their father, still living and residing in Constantinople, who, whether from ignorance or compelled by the truth itself, supports our book." And on page 332: [Greek text translated:] "Passing over him also, let us move on to the one before them, who has now died, the new Timothy."

MONTEFALCONI'S PREFACE

31 ^A This (S. Theodosius) being set aside, let us come to his predecessor, who died recently, Timotheus the Younger. That Timotheus, whom Cosmas calls "the Younger" to distinguish him from Aelurus, died in the year of Christ 535. The heretic Theodosius was substituted in his place; after he had stayed in Alexandria for a short time, he went to Constantinople, and after one year and four months had passed from his ordination, because he was unwilling to subscribe to the Synod of Chalcedon, he was sent into exile in the year of Christ 536: at which time, clearly, Cosmas was finishing the eleventh book of this work; indeed, the fact that Cosmas states that Timotheus had recently died, shortly after the departure of Theodosius to Constantinople, seems to indicate that the same book was written, that is, in the year 535. How then can this note for the eleventh book, which falls in the year 535, square with that of the second book, which expresses the year about 547? And truly, in both codes, namely the Vatican ^B and the Laurentian, the same number of years is assigned. I should have thought that Cosmas, who spent a long time working on these matters, and as men of the contrary opinion opposed him, frequently revised and expanded these points, placed the final note of the year 535 then, when he was first devoting effort to these things; afterwards, however, when with the passing of much time he returned in subsequent years to his former work and reformed it as he was accustomed, he either placed the earlier note or, with one already placed, reduced it to the year in which he was working on these things.

II. Now we must proceed to the other works that Cosmas published, lost to the injury of time. First occurs that Cosmography, where the whole earth was described more broadly, as much that which is situated beyond the Ocean as this one with all its regions; and the southern parts from Alexandria to the southern Ocean, namely the river Nile and the adjacent regions, and the peoples of universal Egypt and Ethiopia; furthermore the Arabian gulf with the regions and peoples situated around it as far as the same Ocean; to this, the middle earth, ^C which lies between the river and the gulf, with the cities, regions, and peoples inhabiting it. This work was dedicated to a certain Constantine, and its loss is to be deplored even with tears: for neither Strabo, nor Ptolemy, nor any of the ancients could know the Ethiopian, Arabian, and Indian regions, in particular, as accurately as our Cosmas, who had been present in those places for many years, and with wondrous sagacity observed the locations of places, the customs of nations and their manner of trading, and the nature of animals and plants. We award the palm for discovering this most worthy work, if indeed it lies hidden anywhere, to those who nowadays institute travels to eastern parts.

III. Cosmas also sent astronomical tables to the Homologos, where he delineated the motion of the stars, according to the rationale of his system. Our writer also mentions a Commentary on the Song of Songs fashioned by himself, all of which were equally obliterated and destroyed by age.

CAPUT II.

32 ^A

COSMAS' SCOPE AND HIS OPINION ON THE FIGURE OF THE WORLD.

I. It was the opinion of many of the ancients that the figure of the world was flat, and that the heaven was erected in the manner of a vault and joined to the extremities of the earth, so that heaven and earth together made one great chamber: in this space, they thought, the motions of the stars and all phenomena ^B were circumscribed. Thus, first among writers, Herodotus, not without laughter, repudiates those who held the opinion of the sphere. Indeed, many interpret a certain place in Herodotus in *Melpomene* in this way. But to me, seriously examining the matter, it does not seem that such an opinion is expressed by the words of Herodotus as they extract from his dictation. But to discuss this matter at greater length is not the present intent. Certainly, from those ancient times, as many as devoted effort to astronomy, or were at least established at the threshold of the art, knew well that the motions of the stars, lunar eclipses, and countless other things could not be explained except according to the opinion of the sphere; others on the contrary, although grave in doctrine and erudition, since they did not observe the motions of the luminaries and stars, destitute of skill in things of this kind, not even hearing of the antipodes and antichthones walking with opposite footprints, and rain falling in the contrary direction, derided the astronomers proclaiming the sphere not without loud laughter. Whence Cicero, *Acad. Quaest.* I, iv: "He says that Xenophanes said they inhabit the moon, and that it is a land of many cities and mountains. ^C These seem like portents: but yet, neither he who said it could swear that the thing is so, nor I. Do you not also say that there are those in a region opposite to us, on the contrary part of the earth, who stand with opposing footprints against our footprints, whom you call antipodes? Why are you more angry with me, who do not reject these things, than with those who, when they hear you, judge you to be insane?" Thus finally the matter has always stood, that what astronomers proved by clear demonstrations, others unskilled in these matters rejected with mockery.

II. Then indeed almost all Christian writers, having embraced the common opinion, abhorred the very name of the sphere: and, induced both by the opinion of many of the ancients and by not a few places of sacred Scripture, which they believed could not consist with the opinion of the sphere, they thought the surface of the earth was flat. Hence Lactantius, l. III, c. 24: "What of those who think there are antipodes opposite to our footprints, do they say anything? Or is there any one so foolish who believes that there are men whose footprints are higher than their heads? ^D Or that things which lie among us hang upside down? That crops and trees grow downwards? That rains and snows and hail fall upwards to the earth? And does anyone marvel that the hanging gardens are narrated among the seven wonders; when philosophers also [claim] fields and the—

cities, and hanging mountains! And the rest that he pursues there at greater length. Similar things are reported by Augustine, *De Civitate Dei*, lib. xvi, c. 9; Chrysostom, *in Ep. ad Hebræos*; Severianus of Gabala, *serm. 2 in Hexaemeron*; Bede, and many others, whom it would be superfluous to list, since the matter is trite and known to everyone. ^A There was also another thing that swayed the Holy Fathers away from the opinion of the sphere, namely, those passages of Holy Scripture which seem to reject the spherical shape of the heavens and the earth. But in this matter, two points are chiefly to be considered: first, that passages of this kind are not set forth so clearly as not to allow for another interpretation; second, that Holy Scripture, whose one goal it is to instruct men in piety and the contempt of the fleeting things of the world, speaks of this matter according to the common opinion of the nations. "For," as Basil says (a), "it is of no interest to us whether the earth be a sphere, or a cylinder, or like a disk, and evenly turned into a circular shape from all sides, or like a fan and concave in the middle; nor, because Moses did not discourse on the circuit of the earth, on eclipses, and other things of this kind, are the oracles of the Holy Spirit to be considered inferior to the wisdom of this world; nay rather, thanks are to be given to Him who did not allow our mind to be entangled in the dogmas of vain and futile philosophy, but willed only those things to be written down which He had foreseen to be especially useful for the instruction of souls and for placing them in a tranquil state." The opinion of the flat shape of the world was indeed defended by most theologians up until the fifteenth century; so much so that Tostatus himself (b), a few years before the other hemisphere was reached, rejected the opinion of the sphere as being not safe in faith and rash.

For the reasons mentioned above, therefore, the almost unanimous opinion was that the surface of the earth was flat, yet distinguished here and there by mountains, and that the heavens were joined to the earth at their extreme parts. And, as is likely, many at least refrained from further inquiry into the matter; nor did they consider that such an opinion could in no way coincide with the course of the luminaries and stars. For how could the sun, rising on one side of the world and setting on the other, return to its original place while hidden, unless it performed a circular motion? ^B For I make no account of the ridiculous opinion of certain ancients, who thought that the sun, having fallen into the ocean, was carried through the swift channel of the waters to the opposite side of the world during the whole space of the night, and thence rose again. And likewise, in what way can the eclipses of the moon be valid, occurring with that roundness of shadow which they report, unless the earth, placed between the sun and the moon, is round? I omit other things that would overwhelm such a system. It is no wonder, therefore, that many of the Christians who were devoted to astronomy in the age of Cosmas turned to the opinion of the sphere; and it is much more astonishing that Cosmas, who was himself an astronomer and who observed the motions of the heavens and the course of the stars, fought for the opposite opinion: in which matter, however, he did us this favor, that we might understand how the Holy Fathers, at least those who had investigated the matter more deeply, explained the course of the sun, the eclipses of the moon, and the motions of the stars according to that common opinion.

Chapter III

III. Since, therefore, the astronomers whom Cosmas frequently mentions and refutes protested and asserted that the shape of the heavens and the earth was spherical, Cosmas exerted himself against them, affirming that the sphere could be consistent neither with Holy Scripture nor with reason. For he argues that it is repugnant to right reason that men should walk with opposite footprints, that rain should fall with an upward slant, etc., as others whom we mentioned above. From Holy Scripture, indeed, he strives to prove that the heavens are so joined to the earth that they form the shape of a huge and lofty vaulted chamber, fashioned like an arch, relying most of all on this place of Isaiah: *He who established the heaven like an arch, and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in*: which place, however, can be derived to the other opinion as well; and similarly he usurps this place of Job: *He inclined the heaven to the earth, and the dust was poured out like the earth: he joined it like a square stone.* Which words are indeed brought to the point by Cosmas. But these passages, taken from the version of the LXX Translators, deviate somewhat from this opinion in the Hebrew. ^C And although sometimes Holy Scripture might use words according to the opinion of Cosmas, it is clear that they are adapted to the common estimation of the nations. For if the Holy Spirit, while discoursing on the warnings of salvation and other things pertaining to the felicity of man, had introduced the sphere and the antipodes, the readers, moved by the strangeness of the matter, would have given their attention to this one statement, neglecting those things which looked to the instruction of souls and to the blessedness of man. To refute the sphere, Cosmas also uses these arguments: Holy Scripture usually says that the heaven and the earth comprehend all things, which will be true not in the least if we admit the sphere: for if that is set up, one heaven will contain all things together with the earth. To these, St. Paul said that the tabernacle built by Moses was a figure of this world; however, the tabernacle was four-square and oblong, and so it must needs have been that the world is four-square and oblong. He dwells on this argument at greater length, and in order to exhibit more accurately the conformity of the tabernacle with the earth, he explains both the whole and its individual parts, with added figures and delineations of each; which we have also taken care to have depicted, with explanations of the tables added: which thing, I hope, will be neither unpleasant nor fruitless to the reader. Cosmas thinks that the most powerful argument of all for refuting the opinion of the sphere is that God prepared from the beginning the dwelling places of both the present and the future world, namely, the earth and the heaven; but he does not think that the heaven of the blessed is to be found if the sphere and the revolution of the heavens are set posits: believing that such a perpetual revolving cannot consist with the blessed life. To this, the Christian defenders of the sphere replied that these heavens which we see, at the consummation

to be destroyed, and others to be created anew. But Cosmas replies, and demonstrates from the places of Scripture that Christ was introduced into these heavens, and that the saints are to be introduced; and since he proves that the pivot of the entire difficulty hinges on the proof of this matter, he gathers more appropriate ^A places from all the books of holy Scripture and from the holy Fathers, in order to show that God had prepared those two mansions from the beginning. Furthermore, it would be pointless to waste time in refuting the reasonings of Cosmas; for as anyone who is even moderately skilled perceives, all things are deduced either from passages incorrectly explained, or from the destruction of the heavens, which was badly conceded by his adversaries.

IV. After we have brought forward the arguments of Cosmas against the sphere, it remains for us to explain his ^B system by which he explains the movements of the stars, sun, and moon, and likewise the eclipses of the moon. Therefore, he believes the world to be flat, and the surface of the earth to be square and oblong, so that its length from east to west is twice as great as its breadth, which breadth extends from north to south. He contends that this parallelogram is enclosed by walls; and he thinks that the walls on the eastern and western sides rise straight from the bottom to the top and terminate in a semicircle; but he thinks that the walls on the northern and southern sides are also erected until they reach the semicircle, for then he says the walls curve in such a way that they fashion an oblong chamber in the manner of an arched roof. Furthermore, he reckons that the firmament, like a certain ceiling, is extended where the walls begin to curve and to bend into a semicircle, and that it separates the highest place and the seats of the blessed from the lower place. He opines, moreover, that the sun, moon, and stars are beneath the firmament. And in order to explain the order of nights, days, and eclipses, he invents a very high mountain at the extreme north: and he contends that the sun, moon, and stars complete their course around the mountain, so that when the sun looks upon the part of the mountain opposite to us, then it appears to us, and it is day; but when it completes its course behind the mountain, then it causes night. He thinks that the eclipses of the moon occur when the mountain is interposed between the sun and the moon: and since that mountain presents a hemisphere from its summit, he believes that from this it comes about that the shadow which we see on the moon terminates in a semicircle. The reason for this fiction of his may be more clearly understood by the diagram placed at the first table, where you ought to read the explanation ^C adjoined in the margin. Cosmas testifies that he borrowed this doctrine from a certain old man named Patricius; and that this itself, as is likely, is the reason and method of understanding of the Fathers, when they contend that the surface of the world is flat. And thus Severianus of Gabala explains his view, whose passage Cosmas cites in his tenth book. But since our writer delights in digressions, he brings forward many remarkable things to and fro, which will come to be explained in the following chapters: and it can truly be said to be *the secondary matter more important than the work itself.*

CHAPTER III. DE REBUS AEGYPTIACIS, AETHIOPICIS ET INDICIS APUD COSMAM.

I. Cosmas offers a very remarkable monument to those who study antiquity, when he recorded in letters the inscription of Ptolemy the Third, king of Egypt, surnamed Euergetes, which was copied by him in the furthest parts of Ethiopia which face Egypt. It recounts his every expedition, both in the East and in the parts of Ethiopia and Arabia, in such detail that a more beautiful one, and one more opportune for history, could nowhere be found. But after the inscription reported the things which Ptolemy had performed in the parts of the East, Asia, the Hellespont, and Thrace, and likewise of Mesopotamia and Babylon, it says that Ptolemy sent his forces through the canals, ^D *Δυνάμει ἀπέστειλε διὰ τῶν ἀρυχθέντων ποταμῶν*, where we translate literally as follows: "He sent his forces through the canals of the rivers made by hand." Bigotius [translates it] into French: *Et faisant des canaux, où il estoit nécessaire, pour rendre à ses troupes le passage plus aisé.* Where he explains the matter paraphrastically, and indeed, I think, not quite successfully; for the inscription, as is clear, neither expresses, nor does reason persuade, that those canals, which he traversed with his troops, were constructed by his own work. For why would he have undertaken such an arduous matter, and one of longer labor, to be finished for the passage of his troops, when it was easy for him to return by the same way he had previously crossed? Therefore, we think that the canals had long since been dug before Ptolemy crossed them. It remains, however, for us to examine which canals he crossed with his army: whether the canals of the Nile, or those by which the river discharges itself into the Mediterranean Sea, some of which were made by hand; or the canal led from the Nile to the Red Sea? It cannot even be dreamed that this is to be understood of the mouths of the Nile. Nor is it probable that here it refers to the canal which the kings of Egypt led from the Nile to the Red Sea: for it is not one canal that is expressed, but several; yet that one which was led from the Red Sea was unique. Moreover, for what purpose would he, returning from the Persian expedition, immediately send his forces through canals to the Red Sea, when he only undertook the subsequent expedition into Ethiopia, and the naval one into Arabia, after many years? Wherefore the following inscription was not carved on the same stone, but on a marble chair; and in this way it began the narrative, *Μετὰ δ᾽ ἀνδρειώσας*, "Afterwards acting bravely." Add to this the labor attempted by many on the canal which would join the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, which never succeeded for anyone as they desired. For Herodotus in *Euterpe*, c. 158, says that Necho, king of Egypt, having attempted that work, when a plague had consumed many thousands of men who were toiling at it, interrupted the matter. Diodorus Siculus, book 1, and Tzetzes, *Chiliad* vii, agree with Herodotus. But Aristotle, *Meteor.,* book 1, c. 14, narrates that Sesostris the elder attempted it, and many centuries later Darius, and that having labored in vain, they left the matter unfinished, lest the waters of the sea mixed with the fluvial waters should corrupt the Nile: and Pliny reports the same.

Still, the passage in its entirety is frequently traversed from the Egyptian sea, which is threefold: one from Pelusium, etc. Here is the whole history of such an attempted canal. From which you may infer that the canal was never in use, nor did Evergetes transport his forces through it. It remains, therefore, that the ^A *orychthentas potamous*, or man-made river channels, are the channels of the Euphrates and Tigris, whose original bed had been altered by many kings and diverted elsewhere, as Pliny and other writers attest. That the former inscription is truncated and, due to a broken corner of the stone, mutilated by a few words, is indicated both by Cosmas and by the sketch of the stone itself, which we have had engraved on copper; wherefore it can hardly be conjectured through which channels Ptolemy Evergetes sent his forces; but wherever he may have sent them, it seems clearly established that no other channels are signified here than those of the Tigris and Euphrates. Furthermore, what Evergetes magnificently narrates in this inscription concerning his having subjugated Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Persis, Media, and all the remaining regions up to Bactriana, is not to be taken literally. For in the course of this—and certainly not long-lasting—incursion, he could at most have devastated the fields and broken the forces of Seleucus Callinicus, who was then reigning, in a few successful battles; but he was unable to annihilate them completely or subject the mentioned regions to his rule, as he boastfully indicates.

II. That this Ptolemy, surnamed Evergetes, was the grandson of Lagus and the son of Philadelphus is evident from the inscription; and Cosmas (a) manifestly errs in thinking him to be Philometor, or Evergetes II, known as Dionysus, who reigned before the last Cleopatra. He arrived at this opinion because he wrongly thought that they had only reached the twenty-seventh year of their reign after Philadelphus. Eusebius in his *Chronicle* seems to support this opinion, where he assigns the death of Evergetes I to the twenty-fourth year of his reign. But the authority of the excellent inscription, which is said to have been carved in the 27th year of Ptolemy Evergetes, is to be preferred by far: and it testifies that this Ptolemy was the son of Philadelphus and the grandson of Lagus. Therefore, this Ptolemy set up the inscription in the twenty-seventh year of his reign and, it is believed, passed from the living in that same year.

III. We have noted various readings from the Vatican codex, as well as the scholia of Cosmas on the Ptolemaic inscription from the same source: all of ^B which had been overlooked by Bigot. You may notice where many other things, which were arranged differently in Bigot's papers, have been restored by us. Moreover, in the enumeration of the Ethiopian nations which the inscription claims Ptolemy conquered, you may see a great many still distinguished by the same name to this day, as we have observed in our notes. Although the Greeks, according to their usual custom, called all nations of diverse language and various rites "barbarians," there was a particular Ethiopian nation that was called Barbara, and its region Barbaria—not that which occupied the seacoast from the Strait of Gades to Egypt, which we call Barbary today, but that which was situated in interior Ethiopia beyond the strait of the Arabian Gulf, which was also called *Libanotophoros ge*, or incense-bearing land. Toward the end of the inscription, in these words which follow the enumeration of Ptolemy's infantry and naval expeditions: *Kathelthon eis ten Adoulen to Dii kai to Arei, kai to Poseidoni thysai hyper ton ploizomenon*, that is, "I descended to Adulis to sacrifice to Zeus, Ares, and Poseidon for the navigators"; or, for the successful completion of the naval expedition, I would have you observe here that the offerings were made not only for the naval but also for the infantry expeditions; for that *hyper ton ploizomenon* ("for those sailing") refers to Neptune, who was mentioned in the last place; but sacrifices were made to Zeus and Ares for other aspects of the expedition. I also wish to notify the reader that, at page 132, where Cosmas narrates his own navigation in the Red Sea as far as the Arabian Strait (which had been omitted by Bigot), and mentions that Zingium is beyond the strait, we have thought that *Zygion* is the same as the modern *Zangui* and *Zanguebar*: and this is certainly true. However, that we added that Zanguebar is the same as the sea of Zangui is not similarly approved by a certain most learned and friendly man: who, from the best documents of African affairs and from the Nubian geographer, thinks that the name Zanguebar is formed not from *Zangi* and *bahar* ("sea of Zangi"), but from *Zangi* and *bar* ("the continent of Zangi"): for the Nubian geographer sometimes calls that continent *el barr* as an absolute term. We willingly assent to his opinion.

IV. Cosmas, having traveled to the very places himself, was the first of the writers to speak clearly and accurately about the true source of the Nile, as the matter stands. To investigate its origin seemed so arduous to the ancients that it became a proverb, "to search for the source of the Nile," speaking of those who attempted things exceeding human strength. And the matter remained in doubt until almost our own time, until the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, having traveled through parts of Ethiopia for the sake of the Gospel, revealed both the location and the names of the places where the sources of the Nile were. Therefore, in the region of Agau, as Cosmas had narrated many centuries ago, and as the recent Jesuits testify, the source of the Nile is held to be. And that region is situated in the kingdom of Goiam, within the domain of the Abyssinians.

V. Our Cosmas treats of India admirably in most places, of which some were omitted by the renowned V. Bigot: for not all ^C

as he was able to exhibit, who copied out the ^A *apospasmata* (fragments) in a cursory fashion here and there. Cosmas therefore says that China, whence silk was brought, is situated at the edge of the east on the eastern Ocean: and that the journey from the head of the Persian Gulf to the island of Sielediva (Ceylon) is approximately the same as from Sielediva to China. He describes the island of Sielediva accurately, and says it is divided into two kingdoms: one of which was called the kingdom of Hyacinth, after a very famous hyacinth which was kept there in a temple in a public place; the other held the rest of the island. Our Cosmas says in more than one place that this same island of Sielediva, or Sielediva (for it is read in both ways), is what we call Taprobane, to which most ancient geographers and the vast majority of modern ones subscribe: nor do I think this can be called into doubt. He says the circuit of the island is three hundred miles: modern geographers assign only two hundred miles to the circumference of the island: but as we have observed in most places, and as has been noted before by learned men, the ancients reckoned shorter miles than the moderns. As for the rest pertaining to that island, you may read it safely, studious reader, in this work, not without pleasure. Cosmas lists the regions situated between Sielediva and China, namely Marallo, abounding ^B in snails; Caber, where the *alabandenus* is found, and another region from which the clove was brought. However, *caryophyllum* here does not signify what the name sounds like, namely "nut leaf." For, passing over the passage in Pliny and the explanation of Julius Scaliger concerning the meaning of *caryophyllum*, because these look to more ancient times; in the age of Cosmas, and indeed even of Paul of Aegina, who is older than Cosmas, *caryophyllum* was the very thing that that odorous nail is, which we call *clou de girofle*. For from *caryophyllum*, in Italian *garofolo*, and thence we form *girofle*. On this matter, see Gorraeus and Robert Stephanus in their *Thesaurus*.

On the other side of India, which we call Malabar today, these were the more famous cities and emporia: Sindu, Orrhotha, Calliana; the same, as it seems, which we call Calicut today; Sibor, and Male, having five emporia: Parti, Mangaruth, Salopatana, Nalopatana, and Pudapatana. From Male, Malabar was undoubtedly formed. For *Male barr* signifies "containing Male": and *pros antidiastolen* (by way of distinction) that Malabar series of the region positioned against the islands is called *Maldive*, that is, the islands of Male. But in the northern part of India was a very populous kingdom of the Huns, as Cosmas calls them, whose king, called Gollas, led forth two thousand elephants and much cavalry to war. When he besieged a city of the Indians surrounded by water, he captured the city after the soil had been ^C dried up by the long drinking of the elephants and horses. This event may perhaps not seem incredible to those who have read in Herodotus of rivers dried up by the drinking of the nearly infinite multitude that Xerxes had led out to suppress Greece. From these Huns, furthermore, originated those Huns who for many centuries laid waste to Europe with both formal expeditions and raids, whose seats were bordering on Bactria. And the Huns were a Scythian race, who are sometimes called Massagetae, sometimes Magyars, sometimes Avars, and are called by other names. The rest concerning Indian and Ethiopian animals, and the plants and trees of those regions, you have described in Table IV, with the added explanations. For it was the custom of Cosmas to depict the form of the remarkable things he was treating.

VI. Now indeed it remains that we should say a few words concerning the state of Christianity in India, such as Cosmas, a man experienced in these matters and for the most part an eyewitness, describes in various places. All those who lived in Persia, India, and Arabia Felix were Christians and were subject to the archbishop of Persia, by whom also the bishops of those regions were ordained. In Persia, however, he records that the preaching of the Gospel was done by the apostle Thaddaeus. This archbishop had his see at Babylon: and in the age of Cosmas himself, around the year 530, a certain Thomas of Edessa, his friend and a disciple of the old man Patritius, was elevated to the archiepiscopal ^D thrones of all Persia. But that Babylon was far different from that ancient Babylon situated on the Euphrates; which had been leveled to the ground and destroyed for many centuries now. But this Babylon was the same as Seleucia, situated on the Tigris and the capital of the kingdom of the Persians, which the Arabs call *Madayeno Cosra*, the City of Chosroes. The Arabic Nicene canons, which are to be regarded as supposititious, have mention of this archbishop or Catholicos. See Labbe, *Conc.* t. II, p. 301. In p. 328 it is read: "Let the Lord of Seleucia, which is Almodaion (read *Almadaion*), be honored above all the metropolitans of the Romans: since he is held in the place of a patriarch in the East." Under these, however, with the cities of Chosroes destroyed in the Saracen invasion, the patriarch or Catholicos of Seleucia had his reception in the city of Mosul, built not far from ancient Nineveh. The archbishop of Persia used to send a bishop ordained by himself to Calliana, which we believe to be modern Calicut. In the aforementioned emporium of Male, there was a church of Christians; and likewise in the island of Sielediva, a church of Christians, with a priest and deacon ordained in Persia, and the rest of the ecclesiastical ministry. Likewise among the Bactrians, the Huns, of whom above, the rest of the Indians, Persians, Medes, Elamites, and in all the region of Persia, there were infinite churches, bishops, and Christian people in great number, many martyrs, monks, and hesychasts. Similarly also on the island which was called Dioscorides, now *Zocotora* by a corrupted name, situated in the Indian Sea, whose inhabitants, he says, were settlers sent there by the Ptolemies and spoke Greek; there were clergy sent there from Persia, and a church of Christians who dwelt there in great number. All these things, omitted by the illustrious Bigotius, Cosmas reports; they are the more pleasant to the reader because they have perhaps been recorded in such detail by no one else. The archbishop of Persia, however, was a Nestorian, as were all the other bishops and presbyters subject to him.

Chapter IV. Miscellany of memorable things in Cosmas. I. Places of the ancients. II. Roman coins throughout the world. III. What hieroglyphics are.

IV. When letters were invented. V. The worship of Mithras among the Persians.

I. Cosmas continually cites passages from ancient writers: among these is Ephorus, a contemporary of Aristotle, who had written thirty books of history; our writer cites an excerpt from the fourth book of his histories ^A; where you may see what was the opinion of the ancients regarding the position of the globe and the nations dwelling in the extremities of the earth. They thought, therefore, that the Indians occupied the outermost edge of the east; the Celts, the west; the Scythians, the north; and the Ethiopians, the south. But the eastern and western sides are far narrower than the northern and southern, such that these latter sides occupy twice as much space. These points coincide with the opinion of Cosmas regarding the shape of the earth, as we have explained above. But whatever he adopts from the ancients regarding Pytheas of Massilia, Xenophanes, and others, you, learned reader, should observe throughout.

II. Cosmas says that the coinages and currency of the Romans are used everywhere for commerce. With their coin, he says ^B, all nations conduct trade: and in any place, from the extremities of the earth to the opposite borders, it is admitted; all men and kingdoms wonder at such currency, because in any other kingdoms whatever, nothing like it appears.

III. He notes that Egyptian hieroglyphs are not letters, but symbols of things: which indeed, I think, is the truer opinion. For as one may discover in the obelisks which still remain at Rome, those hieroglyphic letters, which appear in great numbers arranged in squares, are the very same repeated below twice, three, or four times with a certain conciseness and elegance, which would by no means have been the case if one had composed a speech or a certain narrative in a single series. Wherefore the explanation of the Roman obelisk's hieroglyphs—which is attributed to Ammianus Marcellinus, compiled by a certain Hermapion—is held by learned men to be fictitious; nor is more faith placed in Athanasius Kircher, who, having rejected Hermapion’s interpretation, adorned one far different, supported by no authority himself. Cosmas, therefore, judges that the use of letters was first brought into the world by the legislator Moses, who had been instructed in letters by God on Mount Sinai, long after many others.

IV. But he does not notice that Holy Scripture is manifestly at odds with his opinion: since even before the Law was given on Mount Sinai, after the victory won over the Amalekites, Moses is ordered to record this in letters (Exod. XVII, 14): *And the Lord said to Moses: Write this for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue: for I will blot out the memory of Amalec from under heaven.* Whence it is clear that the use of letters had already been brought into the world at that time. Moreover, things worthy of note are recounted under these heads. When, he says, the Hebrews had received the Law written by God, there they first learned letters; and as if in a certain quiet literary school for forty years, God allowed them to be exercised in drawing letters. Wherefore, in the desert of Mount Sinai and in all the wanderings of the Hebrews, one can see stones all fallen from the mountains, inscribed with Hebrew letters, as I, who have traveled1 that way, testify. Certain Jews who read them told us that these inscriptions signify: "Such a departure, from such a tribe, in such a year, in such a month"; as many people in our own age are accustomed to write in inns. But they, being people who had recently learned letters, wrote more frequently and multiplied the letters, so that all those places are full of inscribed Hebrew letters: which, as I indeed judge, are preserved to this day for the sake of unbelievers. Furthermore, it is permitted to anyone to approach these places and inspect them, or to inquire of others, so that he may learn that we tell the truth. When, therefore, the Hebrews had first been instructed and educated in letters by God through the tablets written and handed down by Him during those delays of forty years in the desert, they passed them on to their neighbors, the Phoenicians, at which time Cadmus was first reigning over the Tyrians: from whom the Greeks received letters, which thence emanated to all nations. What Cosmas reports regarding the inscriptions of this kind seen by him, I think should be called into doubt by no one, for he is a trustworthy and sincere writer if there ever was one. Whether those inscriptions were the wanderings of the ancient Hebrews in the desert is a matter we leave to the sagacious reader to judge: for our part, we judge it more probable that Cosmas was deceived by a Hebrew lie.

V. From the narration of others, he says that among the Persians, up to his own time, the celebration of Mithras, or the sun, was carried out every year in memory of the sign given under King Hezekiah: when, being in extremes, he received a granted sign of health, namely, the retrocession of the sun. But most authors report that the sun was called Mithras among the Persians, and was worshipped by them as a deity and god: and, although some recent writer may appear to call this into doubt, I do not think a matter testified by so many authors can be brought into controversy.

CAPUT V. OF MATTERS PERTAINING TO HOLY SCRIPTURE AND THE CHURCH.

I. A certain singular thing regarding the history of the LXX Interpreters. II. Regarding the place of the crossing of the Israelites through the Red Sea. III. Regarding the vestments of the Hebrews in the desert. IV. Regarding the terrestrial paradise. V. Regarding the Epistle to the Hebrews. VI. Whether souls are circumscribed. VII. Regarding the day of the Nativity of the Lord. VIII. Rites of baptism. IX. Prayer for the dead. X. Regarding the catholic Epistles.

I. It is marvelous what Cosmas ^C relates concerning the history of the Seventy Interpreters. "Thence," he says, "Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, when he had inquired curiously of Tryphon the Phalerian concerning the Jewish books and had learned the truth of the matter, he zealously sought them out: having sent to Eleazar..."

the high priest and brought them to the temple with most numerous gifts, etc. Here you see Demetrius placed in the stead of Tryphon, with no affinity of the name. Although it can scarcely come into one’s mind by what reason Demetrius could have been changed into Tryphon, since Aristeas, Philo, Josephus, and many others consistently cite Demetrius, I would prefer to believe it to be a ^A lapsus of our Cosmas.

II. Concerning the place where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land, Cosmas has this: That place is in Clysma, as they call it, on the right of those going to the mountain. Where also the tracks of chariots are seen, and they appear in a long stretch reaching to the sea, preserved to this very time as a sign for the unbelievers, though not indeed for the believers. Concerning these tracks of chariots remaining in the age of Cosmas, Paulus Orosius also treats; but regarding the place of the crossing, Philostorgius tells the same in the excerpts of Photius, book III, c. 6: “For the Red Sea, stretching out for a great distance, is divided into two gulfs; and one part of it travels toward Egypt to Clysma, where the sea that bears the name ends; through which in ancient times the Israelite people, fleeing from the Egyptians, passed over the sea bed on dry ground. But the other part reaches toward Palestine by the city of Aila, called by an ancient name,” that is, the Red Sea, extended to a greatest length, is divided into two gulfs: the one of which tends toward Egypt, named from Clysma, the place where it ends; beneath which at one time the Israelites, fleeing the Egyptians, crossed on dry land. The other part turns toward Palestine, to the city which from ancient times is called Aila. But Clysma is said by Athanasius to be in Arabia, near to the Arabian mountain, to which place Philo, the Egyptian bishop, was once sent into exile by Constantius for the Catholic faith. For although Clysma lay on the shore of the sea toward Egypt, yet by many it was reckoned to be in Arabia, and its inhabitants were counted as Arabs. For those were called Egyptians only who occupied both sides of the Nile, albeit to a certain limit on either side. That which Philostorgius says, that the Red Sea ends in two gulfs on the northern side, is asserted by modern geographers and is confirmed by the frequent access of Europeans. But the city of Aila, situated on the shore of the other gulf, is called 'Ex in the Vatican codex of the Egyptian Cosmas; but according to the Laurentian codex it is called Anha. About Clysma and Ela, Jacobus Golius has this in his notes on Alferganus, p. 144: "Colzuma, a small town on the shore of Egypt, at one time the joint defense post of it and Syria. Which seems to be nothing other than the Clysma of Ptolemy, as the site of both, and the agreement of the name and its meaning, argues. Hence the Red Sea is called Bahar el Colzum; specifically indeed in its lowest part; but also in its entirety... There it terminates into a twin gulf; the western one distinguished as Colzuma; the eastern as Elana. But the other shore of the sea, at which the Israelites arrived on dry land, was in the age of Cosmas called Phoenicon (a); that is, from the palms with which the place was planted." Elim, likewise a place in the desert, was called Raithu, where Cosmas testifies that in his own time those twelve springs mentioned in Scripture were present: but the same man relates that Raphidin is the other station of the Hebrews, and that it is called Pharan in his own age.

III. Regarding this place in Deuteronomy xxix, 5: *He led you forty years in the desert: your garments have not worn out, and your shoes have not been worn off from your feet*, Cosmas offers this interpretation, and surely not without reason: "For neither, as some tellers of portents hold, especially those who are of the circumcision, are their garments and shoes not worn out, even if Moses may seem to speak so; but," he says, "nothing was lacking to them in the desert, because merchants frequently supplied them with necessities." For let these men say, I ask, how could infants born in the desert use their fathers' garments and shoes, with such a difference in stature? Who would have been commanded to prepare the loaves of proposition fresh daily, unless merchants had brought them grain? etc., which surely no one would deny does not stray far from the plausible: and this also seems to have been the opinion of Aben-Ezra. Nevertheless, the almost unanimous opinion is that it was not without a miracle that the garments of the Hebrews remained unharmed and not worn out in the desert for forty years. And we think we must stand by this opinion.

IV. As to the location of the paradise of pleasure, ^B Cosmas reports things similar to the narrative of the ancients. For since, as we said above, he thinks that the earth is square and oblong, surrounded on all sides by the Ocean; he devises another earth beyond the Ocean, which surrounds the whole Ocean on all sides, and which is joined to the heavens at its extreme parts. In this extreme earth he thinks the paradise of pleasure was located. Moreover, he thinks that the four rivers from paradise flow through subterranean channels across the spaces of the Ocean, to permeate our earth, and where the sources of the rivers are found, they emerge from the depths of the earth, namely: Gehon, which he estimates to be the Nile, in Ethiopia; the Tigris and Euphrates, in Persarmenia; Phison, which he thinks to be the Ganges, in India. Philostorgius, book III, c. 10, and Theodoret on Genesis, report things almost similar to this, who likewise narrate that the four rivers of paradise flow for a vast distance under the earth, until they are finally brought to the places of their springs, and burst forth.

V. He says (b) that Paul wrote to the Hebrews in Hebrew: but that his Epistle was translated into the Greek language either by Luke or by Clement, and similarly the Gospel according to Matthew.

VI. He defends most pugnaciously that the souls of men are circumscribed. But if you weigh the arguments by which he strives to assert that opinion, Cosmas wants only to prove one thing, namely that the souls of men are truly in a place; so that, for example, the soul of any man truly exists in this room, and is not found outside: nor does he intend that the soul dwells in a place in such a way that part corresponds to part; which…

… [thus would be his thought, if] it were necessary to say that the soul is truly circumscribed. And so it seems clear that between Cosmas and his adversaries, against whom he inveighs sharply, the question is merely one of terminology.

VII. Furthermore, what Cosmas has to say regarding the day of the Lord’s Nativity is worthy of observation; for he speaks as follows concerning the rite of the Egyptians and the Jerusalemites: "When Zechariah had entered the temple on the seventeenth of the month, according to the tradition of the law, and had received the message concerning John who was to be born to him by Elizabeth, in the sixth month after that, the Virgin also received the message; so that at that time it was the beginning of the first month. For since Zechariah received the announcement on the seventeenth of the month, and Elizabeth conceived in that same month, it is indeed clear that six months of the year had then passed, and six remained, excluding those ten days; or perhaps two others, or three, or seven, until Zechariah departed for home, so that there remained 168, or 167, or 163 days. The beginning therefore of the Lord's conception, that is, the beginning of the first month, was the sixth month of Elizabeth's [pregnancy] according to the tradition of the Evangelists: for God has always preserved and does preserve this order. Hence it is clear that we all celebrate the birth of Christ in the ninth month after the beginning of the first month, that is, Choiac 28, or December 25th; but the Jerusalemites, as if by the authority of blessed Luke, who says that Christ was baptized at the beginning of about thirty years, celebrate the Nativity on the day of the Epiphany. And indeed both Luke and the Jerusalemites calculate correctly; yet the precise reasoning is not as they say, although the baptism did occur on the very day of the birth, as Luke and the Jerusalemites suggest. But the Church from ancient times, lest by celebrating those two solemnities on the very same day it should cause the oblivion of one or the other, has ordained that, according to the number of the apostles, twelve days should intervene, and then the solemnity of the Epiphany should be celebrated: just as it also ordered the forty-day fast of the Lord—which he fulfilled before entering into combat with the devil—to be concluded by the Lord's resurrection; so that we also, fighting according to our ability following his example, and imitating Christ, may receive the Lord's passion and resurrection, even if it did not occur on the same days. In a similar manner, therefore, it ordered the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus to be celebrated twelve days after his Nativity. The Jerusalemites alone, by probable conjecture but not by accurate reasoning, celebrate the Nativity on the day of the Epiphany; on the day of the Nativity, however, they celebrate the memory of David and James the apostle: not because both died on the same day, but, as I suspect, so that they themselves might not be neglected outside the feast of Christ’s kin, everyone honors their memory."

What Cosmas maintains, that Zechariah, the father of John, had entered the temple on the seventeenth of the month, is related in exactly the same way in the epistles of Cyril of Jerusalem to Pope Julius and in [the *apocryphal* writings] of Julius to the same, from which perhaps Cosmas borrowed this opinion. Indeed, those mutual epistles of Cyril and Julius are brought forward in the epistle of John, Archbishop of Nicaea, to Zechariah, Catholicos of Armenia. Where you may see it declared that the day of the Lord’s Nativity is to be celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December by Pope Julius. And you may note that the reasoning of this calculation is sought and adopted from a certain book of the historian Josephus, discovered, as it is said there, in Rome. These words of Josephus are brought forward as testimony: "Ὅτι ἐν μηνὶ τῷ ζ', ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ τῆς Σκηνοπηγίας, εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ ἱλασμοῦ, ὤφθη ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ κωφωθεὶς ὁ ἱερεύς," that is, in the seventh month, at the feast of Tabernacles, on the day of propitiation, the angel of God appeared. And the priest became mute, etc." Under these circumstances, John of Nicaea adduces Julius comparing the Hebrew months with the Roman. For because he found, upon the published computation, that the Annunciation and the Incarnation, being the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, fell in the Hebrew month of Nisan, he concludes from this that Christ was born on the 28th of the month of Choiac, or December 25th. See Combefis, *Hist. Monothelitarum*, p. 298.

However, the ancient Egyptians and all the Orientals, as is the common opinion of all, celebrated the feast of both the Epiphany and the Lord's Nativity with equal rite on January 6th; but toward the middle of the fourth century, a custom was introduced in those same regions to celebrate the Nativity on the twenty-fifth of December, whence Athanasius designates the birth of Christ on December 25th (supra, p. 26). But that Cosmas is a witness that this ancient custom was preserved in the Church of Jerusalem up to his own time, while others were observing the rite introduced later, is clear. And John of Nicaea confirms the very same thing when he says that the Jerusalemites assert that James, the brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, assigned the sixth day of January for celebrating the day of Christ's Nativity. Cosmas, however, either entirely ignored or deliberately remained silent about the ancient Egyptian rite, by which they celebrated the Nativity not on December 25th, but on January 6th. Although, as was said above, the Orientals did not even know of the rite of celebrating on December 25th until the middle of the fourth century, as can be seen in the sermon of Gregory of Nyssa on the day of the Nativity: "Now," he says, "throughout the whole inhabited world, a harmonious sound is heard of those celebrating the feast-day; now, indeed, not before." Moreover, in the oration on the Lord's Nativity, in volume V of the Works of Chrysostom, which some think was pronounced by him while he was still a presbyter at Antioch, it is said that the feast of the Lord's Nativity had come to the knowledge of the Orientals only a few years prior, having been brought from the Occidentals into the Orient. Among the Occidentals, however, the feast of the Nativity had not been established until after the solemnity of the Epiphany; and hence it was that in the Occident and in the city of Rome, the Epiphany was held in higher regard than the Nativity, as is read in the ancient Roman Ordinal. Nor must this be passed over, that the second Nativity of Christ (by which the Epiphany is understood), being illustrated by so many mysteries, is more honorable than the first, that is, the Nativity: which is also read verbatim in the book *De divinis Officiis*, chapter concerning the Baptism of the Lord, which is indeed ascribed to Alcuin, but is thought to have been published no earlier than after the tenth century. Nor should we pass over Cosmas, when he says, "From the tradition of the divine law," he indicates the law of Moses...

care; and to think that Zacharias entered into the sanctuary on the day of atonement, as is prescribed in the law. Furthermore, in the law, that duty is ascribed to the high priest alone: by which you may see that it was Cosmas’s opinion that Zacharias, the father of John, was indeed the high priest. Nor is it surprising that this was Cosmas’s opinion, since the same thing, though false, was believed by many of the ancients. Thus Chrysostom, in the same sermon on the Nativity of the Lord, regarding Zacharias as high priest, concludes that he entered the sanctuary on the feast of Tabernacles; or rather, on the day of Atonement, which precedes the feast of Tabernacles by only ten days, the day on which the high priest alone was permitted to perform this function. Hence, perhaps, Cosmas borrowed what he says about Zacharias. However, this sermon of Chrysostom is called into suspicion by some learned men: ^A but whatever the case may be, it is certain that the tract is very ancient and was written before the fifth century had elapsed: and from it Cosmas could have fished out what he reports about Zacharias. But as for the epistles of Pope Julius and Cyril of Jerusalem, which, as has been said above, are brought forward by John of Nicaea, I should not hesitate to point out that they are commonly and not unjustly considered to be supposititious.

VIII. Whoever was baptized (a), made a confession about the holy Trinity and about the resurrection of the flesh, which was a very ancient custom, and one also commonly accepted in the age of Saint Athanasius.

IX. In the sacred liturgy, priests prayed not only for the living, but also for the dead in this manner: "Grant rest to the soul of this person, O Lord: resurrecting also his flesh, on the day which you have decreed according to your true promises." And this, as is detected from the series in Cosmas (b), was done for certain dead persons specifically mentioned by name, whose kin offered gifts to the priest.

X. What Cosmas says about the Catholic Epistles is not to be approved in the same way: "But we dismiss in silence," says he, "that the Catholic Epistles ^B were already from ancient times placed among the doubtful by the Church. Certainly none of those who published commentaries on the divine Scriptures paid any attention to the Catholic Epistles. Furthermore, as many as have compiled a canon of the books which have a place in divine Scripture, placed them among the doubtful; namely, Irenaeus, bishop of Lugdunum, an illustrious man of most excellent life, who lived not long after the apostles; Eusebius Pamphili, Athanasius bishop of Alexandria, and Amphilochius bishop of Iconium, a friend and intimate of Saint Basil, in his iambic verses written to Seleucus, pronounced them doubtful. Likewise, Severianus, bishop of Gabala, in his book against the Jews, proscribed them. For the majority say that they are not the work of the apostles, but of certain other simple presbyters. Wherefore Eusebius Pamphili says in his Ecclesiastical History that there are two tombs in Ephesus, one of John the Evangelist, the other of John the presbyter, who wrote two of the Catholic Epistles, the second and the third; in which the inscription reads as follows: 'The Presbyter to the Elect Lady'; and, 'The Presbyter to the beloved Gaius.'" ^C For indeed, only the first of Peter and the first of John, he himself, as Irenaeus also says, are of the apostles; but others are not of the apostles, but of presbyters. For the first, second, and third of John are inscribed; as if it were manifest that those three are of the same person. Others, however, admit also the Epistle of James with these two, while others receive all of them. But among the Syrians, only the three aforesaid are found, namely of James, of Peter, and of John: for others are not even held among them. Here, certainly, Cosmas does not deal with the matter accurately. For what he says, that the Catholic Epistles were never illustrated by the commentaries of the ancients, is said falsely: for Didymus the Alexandrian published complete commentaries on those seven Epistles, as Jerome testifies. And if those were not illustrated by such a frequency of commentaries as many other books of the Scriptures, the same could be said of many other books of Sacred Scripture which are indeed undoubted. Of the canon of the Scriptures of Irenaeus, if he ever published one, nothing remains. But as to the canon of Athanasius, I am surprised that Cosmas, who had read through his Festal Epistles, many fragments of which he brings forward in the tenth book, did not notice that the canon of the Scriptures is contained in the thirty-ninth, where the seven Catholic Epistles are enumerated among the books of Sacred Scripture, and indeed those that are subject to no suspicion. Moreover, that he adds that the seven Epistles are not admitted by all Churches does not hinder their ^D authenticity. For we admit indeed that there was doubt about some of them in some Churches, just as also about some other books of Scripture; but finally all were admitted by the common vote of the Church and placed in the canon.

CHAPTER VI. ON THE FESTAL EPISTLES OF ATHANASIUS, AND OTHER FRAGMENTS OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS, WHICH EXIST IN THE TENTH BOOK OF COSMAS.

I. On the Festal Epistles of Athanasius. II. Why they are called Paschal. III. On other places of the holy Fathers brought forward by Cosmas.

I. It is clear that the Festal Epistles of Athanasius, of which some fragments survive, were once in great number, since Cosmas brings forth certain excerpts from forty-five [of them]. But in the Life of Saint Athanasius composed in Arabic by the Copts, the Latin version of which we have provided in our recent edition of Athanasius, they are numbered at forty-eight. Furthermore, we have conjectured that they were written and sent to the Alexandrian people while Athanasius was lying hidden in the desert for fear of Constantius: for it does not seem that the name of "epistle" can be adapted to the sermon or homily of a person who is present. Nevertheless, the Festal Epistles of Theophilus of Alexandria and of his successor Cyril are thought to have been recited by the authors themselves while they were present and preaching to the people, so that the same difficulty always remains: namely, why the homilies and sermons of those who are present obtain the name of "epistles."

II. But the same Festal Epistles are also called Paschal by some, because they were recited to the people especially on the days of the Pasch.

and perform them. And you may find not only those that are distinguished by the name of Paschal or Festal letters—which are customarily read during the solemnities of Pascha itself, but also those read during Lent, while the Christian people prepare themselves for the worthy celebration of holy Pascha through fasts, vigils, and other good works. Thus, the Festal letter of Athanasius, which is marked as the twenty-eighth in Cosmas, is found to have been delivered on Palm Sunday, as the paschal solemnity was imminent.

Cosmas extracted fragments from eleven of Athanasius’s Festal letters, namely from the second, fifth, sixth, twenty-second, twenty-fourth, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, fortieth, forty-second, forty-third, and forty-fifth.

III. Following those excerpts from the Festal letters of Athanasius, a few passages from Gregory Nazianzen are presented. Then, excerpts from the Festal letters of Theophilus of Alexandria; from the homilies on the Hexaemeron of Severian, bishop of Gabala, which in the Savilian edition circulate under the name of Chrysostom; and from Epiphanius, John Chrysostom, and Philo of Carpathus from his commentaries on the Canticles, as well as from his commentaries on the Hexaemeron, a work which has perished. He mentions Theodosius of Alexandria, who held the episcopate in the time of Cosmas, and then his successor, Timothy the Younger, who, as is evident from the fragments, excelled in elegance and fluency of speech. Speaking of the latter two, he lists the names of the Alexandrian churches in which they had preached. These were the one called the Great Church, the *hieron* or temple, the church of St. Serapammon, who was killed by the Arians under Constantius, the church of St. Theodore, the church of Quirinus, and the church of St. Victor. Let this be said concerning the Topography of Cosmas. But before we conclude this preface, my spirit bids me commemorate the labor performed for us in bringing these to light by Antonio Salvini the Florentine; for he was a man outstanding in learning and to be numbered among the foremost in his skill in the Greek language, and he spent many whole days with me transcribing Cosmas: he not only always assisted me when asked, but often anticipated my wishes by the performance of his duty—he is truly worthy for the benevolent reader to render, along with me, the gratitude he has earned.

INDEX OF THE BOOKS OF COSMAS

PROLOGUE I.

PROLOGUE II.

Christian Topography of the entire world, which is proven by demonstrations taken from Divine Scripture, concerning which it is not permitted for Christians to doubt.

BOOK I OF COSMAS THE MONK. Against those who, while wishing to be Christians, think and hold the opinion, in accordance with outsiders, that the heaven is spherical.

BOOK II. Christian hypotheses concerning the shape and position of the entire world, which are proven from Divine Scripture.

BOOK III. That Divine Scripture is firm and worthy of faith, and that it is in harmony with itself and consistent, both the Old and the New Testament, while it signifies the utility of the configurations of the entire world.

BOOK IV. A brief recapitulation and description of the configurations of the world according to Divine Scripture, and a refutation of the sphere.

BOOK V. In which the description of the tabernacle is contained, and the harmony of the prophets and apostles is proven.

BOOK VI, superadded. On the magnitude of the sun.

BOOK VII. On the duration of the heavens.

BOOK VIII. On the Canticle of Hezekiah and the retrogression of the sun. BOOK IX. On the course of the stars. BOOK X. Passages from the Fathers. BOOK XI. Description of Indian animals and of the island of Taprobane. BOOK XII. Another book, showing that many of the ancient external writers testify to the antiquity of the divine Scriptures published through Moses and the prophets, and that the Greeks appear to have learned letters last of all, and that they persist in a deeply rooted unbelief regarding the divine Scriptures.

The names of the writers who are praised in this work, or whose fragments are adduced. See a much more complete index of writers in Fabricius, at column 23 above.

OF COSMAS, THE EGYPTIAN MONK, CHRISTIAN TOPOGRAPHY, OR OPINION OF CHRISTIANS CONCERNING THE WORLD

1-113 This book is named by us Christian Topography, as it comprehends the whole world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, of the one God, the Trinity in three hypostases, adorable, consubstantial, and life-originating, from whom every good gift and every perfect donation descends to us from above: I, a sinner and a wretched man, open my stammering and slow-tongued lips, trusting in Him, that both on account of the humility of one asking for speech and for the benefit of the hearers, the Lord of grace and the steward of all good things—He who is God over all, blessed for ever—will bestow a spirit of wisdom and speech at the opening of my mouth. Amen.

PROLOGUE FIRST

^A First of all, I request those who are about to read this book to pursue their reading with all attention and care, and not to run through it perfunctorily; but rather to take in with study and labor the places, the figures, and the histories narrated here. And when they have finished reading this book, let them turn to the volume we have prepared, dedicated to Constantine who loves Christ, in which the whole earth is described more extensively—both that which lies beyond the Ocean and this one with all its regions, as well as the southern parts from Alexandria down to the southern Ocean: namely, the river Nile and the adjacent regions, and the peoples of all Egypt and Ethiopia; furthermore, the Arabian Gulf with the countries and peoples situated around it as far as that same Ocean; and in addition to this, the central land that lies between the river and the gulf, with the cities, regions, and peoples inhabiting it—and this to prove that the things we report are true, while our opponents, on whose account we have published this book and the present paragraphs, bring forth things that are false; ^B I mean their claims regarding the size of the sun and regarding that land scorched by the heat of the sun and uninhabited, which they boast of with concocted and fabulous stories. Let them also seek out the diagram and delineation of the universe and of the movements of the stars, which we have constructed in imitation of the organic sphere used by those outside [the Church], and let them study the treatise concerning it which we sent to the most God-fearing deacon Homologus. Whoever, with the help of God, is capable—especially when joined with this book and that volume—will have enough to overturn from the foundations the error of the Greek hypotheses. For if any Christian obtains these three works, and if by the grace of God he is well-versed in the divine Scripture, he will very easily be able to refute the madness of the myth-makers. ^C For through the figure itself, and the structure of the world, and the very nature of things, it is established that divine Scripture and the preaching of the Christians are most true. Fare well, Christians, in the Lord.

SECOND PROLOGUE

Christian Topography of the whole world, having proofs taken from divine Scripture: concerning which Christians must not doubt.

I was once reluctant to undertake, at your command, the narrative by which the structure of the whole world is described, O Pamphilus, most dear to God and lover of God and Christ. For although I wished to do so, I could not, because, as you yourself know, I was restrained by a long-lasting illness. But since I have been restored from my sickness by your frequent prayers, receive at last the preface to the chapters contained in this book; which I send both to render obedience to you, and because I am terrified by the condemnation of the slothful servant ^D which the saving Word mentioned in the Gospels. And let no one condemn me as being bold because I have composed the narrative in a humble and uneven style; for the Christian needs upright thoughts, not phrases.

^A Since many missiles, helmets, shields, and wars are moved against the Church, some who are accounted Christians, making the divine Scripture of no account and despising it, just like the outside philosophers, suppose the shape of the heaven to be spherical, being deceived by solar and lunar eclipses. Accordingly, I have appropriately divided the entire argument of the book into five parts. The first discourse is directed against those mentioned, who are led astray, arguing that it is not possible for one who wishes to be a Christian to be carried away by the persuasive error of those outside, which hypothesizes things different from the divine Scripture. For if someone should wish to test the Greek hypotheses, he will find them to be entirely fabrications, and mythical sophistries, and utterly impossible. ^B Thereafter, as if in response to the inquiry of a Christian who would undoubtedly say, "These being refuted, what true hypotheses ought to be introduced in their place?", the second book was produced, which explains Christian hypotheses, proceeding from the Holy Scripture, and describes the figure of the whole world, and declares that even some of the ancients from outside were of this opinion. Then again, as if someone were to doubt and say, "Whence is it manifest that Moses and the prophets, saying such things, spoke the truth?", the third book demonstrates how worthy of belief Moses and the prophets are, and that they did not speak from themselves but were inspired by divine revelation and proven by work and deed, having foreseen these things—thus did both those in the Old and those in the New [Testament] speak—and it shows what the utility of the tables and figures of the world is, and on what occasion the opinion of the sphere arose. ^C Then again, for the sake of those who desire to behold the figures, the fourth book was produced; it is essentially a brief recapitulation and delineation of those things which were said before, namely, the refutation of the sphere and the antipodes. Then again, the fifth book is set forth for the sake of one who seeks Christian hypotheses, declaring that we have not committed to writing figments or new myths invented by ourselves, but that we have looked upon the archetype of the whole world, fashioned by the revelation and command of God, the creator of all things; that is to say, the tabernacle constructed by Moses, which the New Testament likewise declared to be the copy of the whole world, which he, placing a veil, divided, and distributed the one into two parts; ^D just as God also from the beginning divided the one region, namely from the earth up to the first heaven, by the firmament into two regions: and just as in the outer and inner tabernacle, so there is here a supernal and an infernal region. And the lower is this world; the upper, however, is the world to come, into which the Lord Christ, after having risen from the dead according to the flesh, first of all ascended, and the just will also ascend after Him. And that from Adam until Moses, and from Moses until John, and from John all the apostles and evangelists, all with one voice, both by words and by types, spoke of these two states, and that not one of them varied… For many missiles, and helmets, and shields, and wars are moved against the Church, some who are accounted Christians, making the divine Scripture of no account and despising it, just like the outside philosophers, suppose the shape of the heaven to be spherical, being deceived by solar and lunar eclipses.

supposed that there would be a third after the second; but all, as if moved by the one divine Spirit, declared only two states. Therefore, ^D trusting in the truly divine Scripture, we have delineated the figures of the whole world, and also those places in which you will find the exodus of the Israelites themselves, and the mountain on which they received the law in writing, and were taught the skill of letters, and the description of the Tabernacle, and their possession in the land of promise: until He who was expected to arise from that people, and was proclaimed by all the ancient men and prophets, appeared, manifesting the future second state, which, when He had appeared, He showed to us all in Himself; having entered into the inner tabernacle, into the higher heavenly region, to which He will call the righteous at His second coming, saying: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Paragraphs, therefore, placed in this book, are set there for a clearer narration of the matter proposed. Whoever, therefore, has read the text first, let him read the paragraph afterwards.

BOOK I OF COSMAS THE MONK

Against those who, while wishing to be Christians, think and believe, according to those outside, that the heaven is spherical.

Whoever are affected by the desire for true knowledge, and are lovers of the true light, and hasten to be fellow-citizens of the saints in the world to come, who consider the Old and New Testament to be truly divine Scripture, who obey Moses and Christ, who follow them from the beginning to the end, who confess that the world was brought forth by God out of nothing, and believe that there will be a resurrection of men and a judgment, and that the righteous will inherit the kingdom of heaven, they examine the whole divine Scripture, to see if there are written by Moses, who wrote the creation, or by other prophets, places and figures of the whole creation, in which is also signified the place where the kingdom of heaven is; which the Lord Christ promises to bestow upon the righteous men from God. And when they find that the Old and New Testament agree with themselves, they remain firmly and immovably founded in it, and are not overturned by adversaries in any way. But those who are adorned with the wisdom of this world, and trust in their own scholastic ^D arguments to grasp its figure and position, mock all the divine Scripture as if it were fables; calling Moses and the prophets, the Lord Christ and the apostles, babblers and inventors of fantasies, and lifting up their eyebrows, as if surpassing the rest of men in wisdom by some great measure, they attribute a spherical figure and circular motion to the heaven, and [with] the methods and calculations of geometry...

^A and the trickery of worldly wisdom, they attempt to grasp the position and shape of the world from solar and lunar eclipses, wandering [themselves] and leading others into error, asserting that such things cannot occur in any other figure. But concerning such [people], there is no discourse for us now, for they refute one another sufficiently and more than enough. But those who wish to be considered Christians, and yet desire to be adorned with the eloquence, wisdom, and manifold error of this world, and who contend that both these and those things must be accepted—they appear to differ not at all from a shadow, which is wont to be formed in the light by an intermediate body; for if there is no intermediate body, it is otherwise: but when a body is bathed in light from every side, the shadow disappears ^B because of the light itself everywhere. For it is against such men that my discourse is directed, about whom, just as about those who once became settlers in Samaria, the divine Scripture cries out that they feared God, and sacrificed and rendered worship in the high places: whom if one were to call "double-formed," he would not err. For they wish to be at once with us and with them, making void the renunciation of Satan which they uttered in baptism, and retrogressing toward him. For such men can in no way be with us, but they exist as a kind of middle ground: empty houses standing somehow in mid-air, having no foundations upon the ground, ^C nor being held by anything from above. For as if they had scarcely begun, they destroy their own principles; and before they have finished destroying them, they show their own ends to be lacking a conclusion; so that they stand firm neither in this nor in that, but rather they mock everyone, and are mocked by everyone. First, indeed, having examined with them the spherical figure, we detect that it is impossible for this to be, nor does it agree with the nature of things. Some, then, of them say that the heaven is a body consisting of four elements; but others, with raised eyebrows, ^D have later constructed the heaven anew out of another fifth element, although it was formerly said to consist of the four elements; for they perceived that it is impossible for the heaven to be carried in a circle if it were composed of these. But in this they are also proven to be blind, even if they think that those who see acutely see nothing. For whereas various and diverse colors are seen in the heaven, from which the power to heat and to cool is seen to be inherent in them, they claim that the vision of all [men] is deceived on account of the excessive distance. Let, therefore, anyone who wishes come forward into the middle and answer: those stars which, according to you, are fixed to the immovable sphere—since they are distant from our sight by unequal intervals, as if the power of vision were directed from the center of the earth—why do they not appear different in color and size? Or why, when we look at that which you call Mars, which has a lower position, are many of the fixed stars [appearing] equal to it and similar, and likewise we see not a few [stars] similar to Jupiter? No, we do not even perceive the heaven itself to be similar to itself in color: for by those cloudy concretions, which [derive their name] from nothing other than the variety of color, [called] the milky...

^A way, whence could we conjecture that it appears so, if the surface, upon which the spirit of vision strikes, is one? I think, indeed, there is no one who would dare to contradict me when I say that these things are proofs of a varied composition and mixture, even among those who are lovers of falsehood, not to mention those who always set truth as their guide. But if it is not composed of a single element having its own circular motion, but was created from a mixture of the four elements, it cannot rotate rightly. For it has been stated ^B that it would move downwards, if the heavy [element] predominated in it, or would be carried towards an upward movement, if the contrary prevailed, or would stand still, if nothing within it predominated—a thing which is manifest to everyone. For who would confess that they had ever seen it moving either upwards or downwards? It remains, then, to say that it is fixed. But if they say: Whence [come] those various motions in a simple element devoid of qualities? If they should say that the planets, as they call them, maintain a course contrary to the universe, they are not mistaken; but if they think that it is done according to the times defined by the Creator, it is clear that they do not deny their progress from the east for the fulfilling of the course of the heaven.

Again, ^C shrouded in darkness and doubt, as is wont to happen to those who flee from the truth, when they find no exit, they claim that the stars perform certain retrogressions and stations. But, oh, how ingenious they are at tying and untying! If they have motion by nature, whence [comes] the station? For that which is joined to their nature is not contrary to them. And what force or necessity drives them to a motion contrary to themselves? And let no one boast to me that this is a deception of the eyes; for the space which they traverse is not small; since they are often observed to be moving from a following sign of the Zodiac into a preceding one. But what need is there to speak, when they themselves, when they move ^D to the operations of the stars, where they collide into supreme absurdity, do not understand that they also make stations and retrogressions, and are at once dull and mischievous? And someone might say that the star which is seen formerly in Aries, and now in Pisces, is not in the house of Mars, but in that of Jupiter—not that, as they are wont to babble, the star itself is in Aries, but that, as they themselves concede, it traverses Pisces. But if they do not agree with the retrogression which appears, whence then and for what reason is that motion in both directions? Perhaps, again, they will say that the cause is the epicycles which do not fall under our vision, and which they have imagined as vehicles, asserting that the stars are carried upon them. But nothing extra will be gained from this device; for we shall ask them on what account they have need of vehicles: is it because they are unable to move themselves? And how can you say that they are animate, and indeed endowed with more divine souls? Or [do you say they are] as if they were able? I think it is ridiculous even to think this. But why have the sun and the moon not attained epicycles? Is it because they are not worthy of them on account of their inferiority? Truly, to say that...

the Creator could not fashion vehicles for them from suitable material is a blasphemy that should fall upon your own heads. ^A

Cease your prating, O most wise men; these things are worth nothing. Rather, learn to obey the divine words, though it be late, and not your own unsubstantiated inventions. For tell me: how do you suppose the fixed stars hold a course contrary to the universe? Is this motion peculiar to them alone, or to the sphere in which they consist? If it is their own, how do they traverse unequal circles in equal time? And why does none of those that exist in the Milky Way appear outside of it, nor any of those outside appear closer, or within it? But if someone should say that the sphere is carried with a contrary motion, it will be found to be moving in a contrary direction to itself at the same time—and what could be imagined more absurd than this? They contend with such impudence, or rather impiety, that they leave no room for anyone to surpass them, so that they are not even ashamed to confess that there are some who dwell under the earth. What then, if someone poses a question to them, saying: "In vain is the sun carried under the earth"? Those ridiculous men, caring for nothing, will surely answer that there are *antichthones* there, their heads turned downward, and rivers that have a position contrary to ours, attempting to overturn all things upside down rather than follow the dogmas of truth—in which there is nothing of the sophistries of vanity, but all things are direct, easy, and full of godliness, and provide salvation to those who approach them wisely. ^B

You would especially reproach them with this saying: "Why is your sphere not carried from the north to the south, or from one wind to the opposite?" And do not say to me: "It seemed good to the Maker of the world that it be so; for my..." [Text illegible] ...speaking. Yet how do you seem to speak in accordance with the nature of things, when you suppose the heavens to move and be carried in a circle, and yet you do not assume any place or body outside of it, even as a fiction? For it is impossible for anything to move except in the four elements: either in earth, or in water, or in air, or in fire—whether it passes from place to place ad infinitum, or turns always in the same place. ^C But if it passes into an infinite place by rotating, it is necessary that an infinite earth be supplied on the outside, on which it may roll, slowly leaving what is behind; but if one of the other three elements is supposed, the sphere cannot roll and rotate in any of them, but rather, if cast, it would pass through with a whistling sound. If, however, it always rolls and rotates in the same place, and does not pass from place to place, it must be supported like a lathe or an organic sphere [by rests], or upon an axis, or like a machine or a chariot. But if this is said, again it must be asked upon what the rests or the axis are supported: and so on to infinity. And tell me, I pray, how are we to suppose an axis driven through the middle of the earth, and of what material is it? ^D Since, therefore, these questions concerning the nature of things are [moved]...

^A forced through a dead end, why do you utter things from the Scriptures that are incoherent and contrary to nature? For, fearing that someone might pose to you the problem, "How is such an inexpressible weight of earth able to hang in the air and not fall?" you do not produce true accounts, but rather invent myths about strange matters; you say inversely that the "middle" is "below," as if someone were to hypothesize fire in the middle instead of the earth—you would have called the middle "above" instead of "below," since fire tends upward. To me, at any rate, your first premises seem to be destroyed by your second, and your second by your first.

If, however, they were to say that because the air is equal on all sides, the earth is pushed by the whole [cosmos] and remains immovable and does not incline to any part, how is it that men and other irrational creatures, both land-dwelling and winged, are not moved together with it and do not remain inclined just as the earth does, but rather cut through the entire air as they walk, travel through the air, and walk on high? And not only such things, but even mere inanimate objects—how is it that the air cannot hold or support even the slightest feather or the smallest straw? Instead, they cut through it, because it is light and thin, and pass through it as quickly as they are driven by the force of the mover. How, then, are we to accept such false hypotheses?

^B But if anyone wishes to inquire more carefully concerning the antipodes, he will very easily reveal their old wives' tales. For if the feet of a man are joined to the feet of another on the opposite side, whether they stand on the earth, or in water, or in air, or in fire, or in any other body whatever, how could both be found standing upright? How could it be that one of them is upright according to nature, while the other is found to be upside down, contrary to nature? Such things are absurd and foreign to our nature and order. And again, when rain falls upon both, how can one say that the rain falls upon both? Should it not rather be said that it falls upon one, but ascends toward the other, or is carried against it, or is brought in, or is carried out? For to conceive of antipodes forces one to conceive of rain falling in the opposite direction upon them; and one will rightly laugh at these ridiculous hypotheses, as they speak of things that are incongruous, disordered, and unnatural.

^C If anyone also considers their other sophism—namely, that the earth is filled with breath and that earthquakes occur when the breath, being enclosed, violently shakes the earth—he would marvel at the deception and the contradiction in their own arguments. For if the earth, being pressed ^D equally by the spirit from the whole, stands unmoved and uninclined, then it ought to be heavier and to incline according to that part where it is being puffed up [with breath], following the example of a man,

^A for a man is not only shaken and made to tremble when he is puffed up with breath, but he also trembles when seized by fear, or when pressed by the drunkenness of wine, by cold, by the boiling of the blood, by anger, or by old age and weakness; and when he is puffed up with breath, he is shaken and dies. How then, according to them, does the earth, being puffed up, not fall down and lose its proper place? And why do they say that the land of Egypt is free from earthquakes, because it is loose and its furrows are porous, and that this is why it does not suffer great successions of them, even though earthquakes have often occurred in Egypt, so that cities have fallen and been leveled to the ground? Nor is this all, but even in the times of the Greeks, when they were in power and reigning—under Alexander, Seleucus, Antiochus, and Ptolemy—when they consulted many philosophers, such as Aristotle and his like, and used their counsel in many things, why, while Antioch was being founded by Seleucus and Antiochus, could they not declare that that land was not free from commotions, but rather subject to them? As we have seen it collapse often, not only Antioch, but also Corinth, to which the nation of the philosophers was near.

^C If, however, one should examine their other opinion, by which they say and strive to prove with examples that rain proceeds from moisture resolved into vapors by heat; for they say that, just as a bathhouse is resolved into vapors by heat and expresses drops, and as cucumbers, by means of tow and fire placed under them, emit vapors and moisture, so the sun resolves moisture into vapors and makes it drip in its own time, whence rain is formed; one would truly wonder at such wisdom, which deceives many with the appearance of truth. For if the bathhouse receives heat not from above, but from below, why is it resolved into vapors, or rather, why does it not instead repel them? Similarly, in a bronze vessel, which receives heat not from above, but from below, both are pushed by the heat, and by the reflection, the one drips from the roof, and the other from the lid; similarly, it happens with the cucumber, which, if it were not for the instrument itself, which forces nature and draws [moisture], would not draw it at all, even if tow and fire were cast [under it] six hundred times. ^D Likewise, if one casts green wood into a fire, the moisture is driven by the heat so much that the moisture and smoke are cast out from the other side of the wood. And if one lights a fire on the earth, one sees the moisture in the wood being carried upward by the smoke, not drawn up from above, but driven by the heat of the fire. Moreover, when one washes a garment and spreads it upon the ground, after it has been dried by the sun, when the garment is lifted, one will find the moisture emitted by the heat onto the earth, formed in the shape of the garment. Similarly, if one casts hot food into a dish, one will see the moisture being emitted from both sides, that is, upward and downward, because the heat is in the middle; for one will see the smoke ascending upward, and the dish sweating downward, and liquid at the base of the dish, shaped according to its form. Therefore

^A it is not drawn up, according to the wise men, but rather the heat pushes it.

When we propose the question to them, "Why in the Thebaid, when that region is burning with heat, is the moisture not drawn up, and does no rain fall there?" they answer by saying that it is moderate, not excessively intense, heat that is accustomed to be drawn up. To them we shall reply very briefly: "Why, then, further beyond the Thebaid in Ethiopia, where there is much more intense heat, are there frequent and copious rains?" And how can they—those many and most prominent of the wise men—claim that the sun draws up the moisture, when they assert that it is heated by the friction of its course, and do not posit that heat naturally resides within it? Moreover, even while they say that the air is moist and warm, what need is there for those wise men to quibble and say ^B that moisture is attracted from elsewhere, when they have both heat and moisture right there on high? But if anyone were to demand of them their opinion on the individual elements, or what the quality of each is, they immediately, while in doubt, attribute two qualities to each element, and say: "Earth has dryness and cold; water, cold and moisture; air has moisture and heat; fire has heat and dryness"; so that, besieged by logical straits, they speak of eight qualities of the four elements. Sometimes, however, they say that all the qualities exist in every element; and thus they contradict their own words again, by ascribing not four, but only two, qualities to each individual element. I marvel, therefore, at these most excellent men, who assert that water is cold and moist, and air is moist and warm. From where will they say that water—that is, the cold and moist—is compacted and coagulated into ice in the time of winter? Whence comes that supreme cold, which turns water into ice? And if they say that the departure of the sun produces this according to nature, why does it not then render the air, which according to nature is warm and moist, not moist, but on the contrary, most cold? And why does that very coldness, that is, the water, not coagulate the air, which is cold, but on the contrary, coagulates the water, as we see?

Since, therefore, there is much to say regarding this matter, and also regarding the examples which they, in their error, bring forward to prove this thing, I am restrained, shamed by the vanity of the things said by them, thinking that what has been brought forward above is sufficient.

^D But my spirit bids me attack another of their sophisms, which I shall now present. Since they say that the heaven is a body, they assert that the whole world is surrounded by it; and since they maintain that nothing exists outside it, they define angels and demons and souls, which are parts of the world, as being uncircumscribed, and say that they neither contain the heaven nor are contained by the heaven, not understanding what they say: for that which neither contains nor is contained is not observed in the nature of things at all. If, therefore, these things are so, let them answer regarding their own soul, whether it exists or does not exist. And if they say it does not exist, they most impudently establish themselves as inanimate; but if they say it does exist, let them answer again: "Is it within them, or is it not within them?" If

^A they say the latter, it is again senseless and foolish, no less than the former. But if they say the former, one must again ask them: Since the body is circumscribed by the heaven, why is the soul not also circumscribed along with it? And if, as they say, it illuminates the body without being circumscribed by it, one must seek where it exists while illuminating the body; for it is impossible that, being a created thing, it should not exist along with the creatures. And if they say that it is somewhere within the heaven, then again the soul, which they represent as uncircumscribed, is circumscribed by the very body of the heaven. But if they grant that it is outside, first they have refuted themselves; and then, it would exist in a part of the heaven, as if it were in a very small space; but if it is in the whole of it, it circumscribes the heaven, and it will be found to have a shape like a body, being spherical in form, as it were, and having enclosed the sphere at the extremities thereof. If, moreover, they say that it extends both inside and outside into all things as being uncircumscribed, let them not be unaware that they are introducing a plurality of gods and imagining a equality of gods. For that characteristic can belong to none other than the uncreated God, who created and formed all things. Therefore, while saying they are wise, they become foolish, according to the blessed Apostle Paul, transferring the glory of the uncircumscribed God to their own created souls, and ascribing to themselves divine glory as if it were their own. And for this reason they are most of all to be avoided. "From such people," says the Apostle, "turn away, who have a form of godliness, but deny its power." ^B

Book II

Christian hypotheses concerning the shape and position of the entire world, having proofs from divine Scripture.

How many delays I have made in writing the work on the shape of the world, ^C although excellent men were urging us to do so, you know better than all, most excellent Pamphilus, lover of God and Christ, graced worthily with the name of all the saints; you who are indeed an inhabitant of the earthly Jerusalem, but are enrolled among the firstborn and the prophets in the heavenly one; with whom I was previously connected by friendship through report and hearsay only; but now I have been accounted worthy of the sight and presence of you, since, by the providence of God, you journeyed from Jerusalem hither to the great city of Alexandria, and most vehemently urged us to this work, even though we are sickly in body, suffering from the dryness of our eyes and stomach, and having thus fallen into continuous infirmities: ^D we are also destitute of the outside encyclical education, and experts in neither the rhetorical art, nor do we know how to compose a discourse with a character of flowery language or pretentiousness, and we are caught up in the entanglements of life. And yet you made no end, even with the trouble of urging, to our writing a book about the tabernacle, which was constructed by Moses in the desert: it was the exemplar and delineation of the whole world, as I explained to you viva voce when you were present, but only in passing; not from myself, nor from my own opinion and conjecture, but with the divine.

^A it is a model and illustration of the whole world, as I have also explained to you in person by word of mouth, as if in passing, not proceeding from my own self, nor imagining or conjecturing it from myself, but instructed by the divine Scriptures, and having received it by word of mouth from that most divine man and great teacher, Patricius, who, fulfilling the Abrahamic order, arrived from Chaldea together with the disciple who was then in holy company, Thomas of Edessa, who followed him everywhere, and now, by the will of God, having passed from this life in Byzantium, he bequeathed to this same Thomas the office of pious religion and true knowledge, who now, by the grace of God, has been raised to the high and archiepiscopal thrones of all Persia, being established as the catholic bishop there. ^B Being extremely anxious about this, especially because of those who are prone to fault-finding, to whom calumny is easy, and who possess plenty of material for mocking and ridicule, I was slow to undertake the task. But you, however, insisted, and threatening heavy condemnation, urged me to write, saying that it would be a very useful work for men for instruction and for the understanding of divine dogmas, and for the refutation of Greek preconceived notions, and to show how the entire purpose of divine Scripture looks toward the future state, especially as the Apostle says: "For we know," he says, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, ^C an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." When you were saying these and such things, and I was unable to resist the commands of your godliness, I set myself to this, trusting in your prayers to assist me, and praying that divine grace might come upon us in the opening of the mouth, without which we can accomplish nothing, so that we might be able, without affected and artificial speech, but in popular and simple words which manifest the power of grace itself, to teach its disciples, and to describe eagerly and transmit abundantly—things which we ourselves have received gratuitously from God—the knowledge of divine dogmas, the lives of pleasing men, and the structure of the creation of the world without doubt. ^D Having finished, therefore, O God-loving man, the first book concerning those counterfeit Christians, and having refuted as far as I could—as I myself believe—that they attempt the impossible, not attempting to overthrow the elegance of words—far be it—but rejecting the fabrications and myths of the Greek hypotheses; and having brought that book to an end, we now, obeying your command, begin in this second book to treat of Christian hypotheses concerning the form and position of the world. Then, indeed, in the third book, we will demonstrate that the divine Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament, is firm and trustworthy, explaining itself and showing the utility of the configurations. Furthermore, in the fourth, we will provide a recapitulation and delineation of the configurations of the world; likewise in the fifth, we will provide the description of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, and the harmony of the prophets and apostles. This, then, will be the book to which we have given this title: Christian Topography, [dealing with] the whole world.

Christian Topography

^A comprehending, and having demonstrations from the truly divine Scripture, concerning which it is not permitted for Christians to doubt. Therefore, having obtained divine help through your prayers, as has been said, we begin to state our propositions. The divine cosmographer Moses says then, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." We propose, therefore, that heaven and earth together exist as the containers of the all, as encompassing everything within themselves. And that these things are so, he himself cries out again: "For in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all things that are in them"; and likewise he says again, "And the heaven and the earth and all the host of them were finished." And recapitulating again, and naming the book, he speaks thus: "This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth," as if they were the containers of them, and as if all things in them were intended to be signified together with them. For if, according to those counterfeit Christians, the heaven alone contained the all, he would not have mentioned the earth together with the heaven; but would have said, "This is the book of the generation of heaven." But since he does not appear to have done so, nor any other of the prophets, it is evident that he knows both to be the containers of the all, and the whole choir of the righteous and the prophets always represent the heaven together with the earth. And hear ^B each of them speaking: Melchizedek, first, blessing Abraham, speaks thus: "Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, who created heaven and earth"; the second, Abraham, says: "I shall stretch out my hand to God the most high, who created heaven and earth"; and again, "Put your hand under my thigh, and I will adjure you by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth." For since the most faithful Abraham wished to adjure his servant more solemnly, by circumcision, as if by a royal seal, he did so. "Put," he said, "your hand under my thigh," that is, under the royal seal, namely circumcision; and again, "The Lord God of heaven and of earth, who took me from my father’s house." Further, David: "Blessed be you by the Lord who made heaven and earth"; and, "All that he willed he has done in heaven and in earth"; and again, "You, O Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the works of your hands are the heavens." Similarly, Hosea speaks thus: "I am the Lord your God, who establishes the heaven and creates the earth: whose hands have created all the host of heaven." And Zechariah: "Stretching out the heaven and founding the earth, and forming the spirit of man within him." ^C Isaiah says thus: "The Lord God who made the heaven and fastened it, who established the earth and the things in it, and gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk in it." You should observe here that he said "who fastened it," presumably the heaven. And again: "I am the Lord who finishes all things, I stretched out the heaven alone, and ^D

^A I fastened the earth." And again: "I have made the earth and man upon it. I with my hand have fastened the heaven." And again: "Thus says the Lord who makes the heaven, thus the God who shows the earth and makes it; he determined it, he did not make it in vain, but to be inhabited." And again: "I am the first, and I am for the age, and my hand has founded the earth, and my right hand has fastened the heaven." And again: "Have you forgotten God who made you, who made the heaven and founded the earth?" And again: "Thus says the Lord: The heaven is my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hand made all these things?" And again: "I will put my words in your mouth, and under the shadow of my hand I will cover you, by which I set the heaven and founded the earth." And again: "He who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it are as locusts; he who set the heaven as an arch, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in; he who gives princes to rule for nothing, but makes the earth as nothing." He who set it, he said, not he who turns or revolves it; but he who set it as an arch. Just as an arch is able to stand, but cannot revolve. Similarly, Jeremiah speaks thus: "Thus shall you say to them: The gods who did not make the heaven and the earth, let them perish. And under this heaven the Lord, having made the earth, in his power raised up the world, in his wisdom, and in his prudence he stretched out the heaven, and a multitude of waters in the heaven, and he brought up clouds from the end of the earth, he made lightnings for rain and brought forth winds from his treasures. Every ^B man has become foolish from knowledge." In a similar way, Daniel, in the person of the three children, speaks thus: "Bless the Lord, O heavens, bless the Lord, O earth."

And the apostle Paul, teaching the superstitious Areopagites at Athens, shouts thus: "God who made the world and all things in it, he is the Lord of heaven and earth." And again in Lycaonia he cried out to those who were wandering and wishing to sacrifice to him: "We also are men of like passion with you, preaching to you to turn from these vanities to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them." But also the Lord in the Gospels says: "I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Since, therefore, the whole of divine Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, signifies this—and it is so frequently and customarily used—that all things are contained within the heaven and the earth, how can he be a Christian who does not believe these things, and says that all things are contained only within the heaven?

Since, therefore, heaven and earth ^C encompass all things, we say that the earth, by the Creator, upon its own stability ^D

according to the divine Scripture, is founded and does not lean upon any body. For it is said in Job: *Who hangeth the earth upon nothing?* ^A And again: *Where wast thou when I founded the earth? Tell me, if thou hast understanding, who set its measures, if thou knowest, or who stretched a line upon it? Upon what are its sockets fastened? Or who is it that cast a cornerstone upon it?* Likewise, it is said in David: *Thou who hast founded the earth upon its stability.* ^B We say, therefore, that it is founded and held firm by the power of God, the Creator of all things. *Upholding all things,* says the Apostle, *by the word of his power.* For if there were any body beneath it, or outside of it, it would not stand, but would collapse; since we see this happen naturally in all things. For if anyone were to suppose air, or water, or fire beneath it, it would inevitably fall into these, being heavier than them. Since, therefore, it is heavier than all bodies, God set it as the foundation of the universe, having established it upon its own stability. Just as if one were to suppose a space having a depth of one hundred cubits, and that space were filled with a thicker body, such as water, and someone took a stone and released it from above with his hand, in how much time would it reach the bottom? Someone would reply, for example, in the space of four hours. But if it be supposed that the space is filled with a thinner body, such as air, in how much time again would it arrive at the bottom? Clearly, in a shorter time, for example, about two hours. ^C And again, if a lighter body is supposed, he will say in one hour; and if it be even lighter, in half an hour. But if something still thinner is supposed, he will find it in a yet smaller space of time, until, by thinning the body down to the incorporeal, the time itself must also, of necessity, vanish into the absence of time. So here too, where there is no body at all, but rather the incorporeal, it must necessarily reach the depth of the whole space without time, and the heavy body must come to a halt. Thus, therefore, God, naturally, according to the Scripture, having hung the earth upon nothing and established it, it having grasped the depth of the space, founded it upon its stability, *it shall not be moved for ever and ever.* But if, again, anyone out of impudence should contend, and suppose a place outside the earth and the heaven, consisting of some other invisible and feigned body, that too would necessarily consist in another, to infinity. ^D Yet, with God’s help, let us meet this opinion with natural reasoning. If anyone should suppose that place to be chaos, seeing that the heaven is light and tends upward, while the earth is heavy and tends downward, but the extremities are tied to extremities—the one tending upward, the other downward—they pull against one another, support one another, and remain unmoved. Since, therefore, God founded the earth, which is oblong, upon its stability, he tied the extremities of the heaven to the extremities of the earth, setting the extremities of the heaven beneath from the four parts, and arching them very high above over the length of the earth; and to the breadth of the

earth, forming a sort of base for the extremities of heaven from the bottom to the top, as if building a wall and enclosing the space, as one might say, into a very spacious house, as it were in the fashion of an oblong vaulted dome, he completed it; for the prophet Isaiah says, "Who established heaven as a vault." ^A And that heaven is conglutinated to the earth is written in Job thus: "Heaven indeed he inclined to the earth, and it is poured out like earth, and I have conglutinated it like a square stone." That he inclined it to the earth and conglutinated it—how does this not plainly signify that it is standing, joined by its extremities to the extremities of the earth like a vault? For the act of inclining it and conglutinating it to the earth cannot be understood at all in the case of a sphere; and that he inclined it and conglutinated it to the earth cannot be understood of a sphere.

Moyses also, when describing the form of the table in the Tabernacle, which is a type of the earth, commanded its length to be of two cubits and its breadth of one cubit. Thus therefore, as Isaiah said, we maintain the figure of the first heaven, which was created on the first day along with the earth, which encompasses the universe along with the earth, and is vaulted. And just as it has been said in Job that heaven is conglutinated to the earth, so also we say. ^B And having learned from Moses that the earth extends more in length, we say so again, having learned to believe the truly divine Scripture. Further, since God brought forth at once the waters and the angels and certain other things along with the earth and the first heaven itself, He places these on the second day under their view, using them as if they were peculiar creatures, and having fashioned the second and visible heaven from the waters as from matter; in kind, though not in form, it is similar to the first heaven, and it occupies the middle height from the earth to the first heaven. ^C And there, having spread it out, he extends it throughout that whole space according to the breadth, like a middle roof, and binds the firmament to the first heaven, dividing and separating the remaining waters, leaving some above the firmament and others on the earth beneath the firmament, as the divine Moses relates, and he makes of the one space, or house, two houses, that is to say, an upper and a lower.

Again, divine Scripture speaks thus concerning the second heaven; with Moses, "And God called the firmament heaven," ^D but with the admirable David, "Stretching out the heaven like a skin"; for he adds, "Who coverest his upper chambers with waters," clearly speaking of the firmament itself. But Scripture often, encompassing both heavens, speaks of them as one in the singular, as for instance through Isaiah: "Who established the heaven as a vault, and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in"; calling the first part, "as a vault," in reference to the first heaven, and the second, "stretched out as a tent," in reference to the firmament; expressing both heavens as joined together and similar in kind, in the singular.

^A For David says thus: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth the work of his hands" (Ps. XVIII, 1), having begun in the dual, but ended in the singular. For since, according to the idiom of the Hebrew tongue, "heavens" and "heaven" are spoken of in like manner, and both are joined together as one, and are similar in respect to their form and appearance, the divine Scripture calls heaven indiscriminately in both the plural and the singular. For using this idiom of speech, the blessed David cries out: "Praise him, ye heavens of heavens" (Ps. CXLVIII, 4); as if you were to say in the singular, "heaven of heaven." For he adds: "And the water that is above the heavens" (ibid.), where he also expresses "heavens" in the plural, and points to the firmament upon which the waters are. For following the idiom, instead of saying "the heaven of heaven," he said "the heavens of heavens." For he himself says elsewhere again: "The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Ps. CXIII, 16); naming the first heaven—which is constructed in the shape of a vault, and which is the heaven of the firmament—"the heaven of heaven," as being more elevated and sublime than it. ^B The holy herald Moses also says in Deuteronomy: "Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God's, the earth also and all that therein is" (Deut. X, 14). The great apostle Paul also has used this idiom, thus crying out: "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour" (Phil. III, 20), having begun in the plural, but ended in the singular with the phrase "from whence," having spoken in the singular. David also often makes use of such an idiom, crying out: "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens" (Ps. CXLVIII, 1). And after he had said, "Praise ye the Lord from the earth," he ends thus: "His confession is above the earth and heaven" (Ps. CXXXV, 5); and again elsewhere: "To him that by wisdom made the heavens" (ibid.), and he brings forth many other things of this sort on this subject.

^C As for the shape of the earth, we have said that in length it extends from the east to the west, and in breadth from the north to the south, and that it is divided into two parts by the intermediate sea which is called "Ocean" by those outside, which surrounds this earth that we men inhabit; into this, I say, it is divided, and into that other whose extremities are joined to the extremities of heaven, which the Ocean surrounds, and which men formerly inhabited towards the east, before the deluge occurred in the times of Noah, and in which place the paradise is also situated. Men, having miraculously crossed the Ocean in the ark at the time of the deluge, settled in the land of Persia, where the ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat, having preserved Noah, his sons, and their wives, so that there ^D were four pairs; and there were three pairs of clean animals, but one pair of wild beasts. Since from the clean

offerings ^A Noah is seen to have sacrificed to God, so the humans were four pairs, the clean cattle from three pairs, and the wild ones from a single pair. And having crossed over to this land, in which we have lived from that time to this, the three sons of Noah divided the earth: Shem and his descendants from Asia as far as the eastern parts of the Ocean; and Ham and his descendants from the west of the so-called Gades as far as the Ocean of Ethiopia, which is called Barbaria, beyond the Arabian gulf; extending as far as our sea, I mean Palestine and Phoenicia, all the southern parts, and all the Arabia that is near us and that which is called Happy; and Japheth and his descendants from the northern regions, the Median, I say, and Scythian, as far as the Ocean toward the west, ^B as far as outside of Gades, just as it is written in Genesis by the inspired Moses, concerning these three in the division of the earth, speaking thus: "The sons of Japheth, Gomer and Magog, and Madai and Javan, and Elishah," so as to indicate the hyperborean nations of the Scythians and Medes. And after this the Ionians and Greeks, and likewise Tubal and Meshech and Tiras, so that he might also indicate those bordering on them. For by Tiras he means the Thracians, and he says that from these they were distributed to the islands of the nations and those nearby; for this is what Tarshish signifies. The Kittians he calls those of Cyprus, and the Rhodians those of Rhodes. And the sons of Ham, Cush and Mizraim, so as to speak of the Ethiopians and Egyptians. Then Put and Canaan, so as to speak of the Libyans and the nations nearby. And the sons of Cush, Seba and Elishah, so as to speak of the Homerites and those nearby; and likewise all the subsequent nations that are in the southern parts. And he says the Canaanites were from Mizraim, that is, the Egyptians and the Sidonians and all the nations nearby. And the sons of Shem, Elam and Asshur, that is, the Elamites and the Assyrians, and the remaining nations, and those who ^C spread out from them as far as Asia and to the east—the Persians, Huns, Bactrians, and Indians as far as the Ocean.

Thence, therefore, taking the cue, even those outside divide the whole earth into three parts: Asia, Libya, and Europe; calling Asia the East, Libya the South as far as the West, and Europe the North, as far again as the whole of the West. And there are four gulfs in this land that flow in from the Ocean, just as those outside who record this truly say: this one of ours, which flows in along Romania ^D from Gades, along the western part of the land; and the Arabian, which is called the Erythraean; and the Persian; flowing in

^A from both, from the so-called Zingium, towards the southern and more eastern part of the land from the so-called Barbaria; where also the land of Ethiopia has its end. Now those who sail across the Indian Sea know the so-called Zingium, which lies further than the incense-bearing land called Barbaria, and which the Ocean encircles, flowing in from there into both gulfs. And the fourth, which flows in from the northern part of the land, is more eastern, called the Caspian Sea, or Hyrcanian. For these are the only gulfs that are sailed, since it is impossible to sail the Ocean because of the multitude of currents and the vapors that rise up and dim the rays of the sun, and because it has wide expanses. These things I have indicated, having received them both from the divine man, as has been said, and from experience itself; for ^B for the sake of trade I sailed these three gulfs, the one along Romania, and the Arabian, and the Persian; and I have also learned them accurately from the inhabitants and those who sail these places.

Once, when we were sailing toward the interior of India, and had crossed over a little toward Barbaria, where the Zingium happens to be—for this is what they call the mouth of the Ocean—I observed to the right of us as we entered a multitude of birds flying, which they call *souspha*. They are about double the size of kites, and there was a great intemperance of the air in the place, so that it caused fear in everyone. For all who were in the ship who were experienced—pilots, sailors, and passengers—said that we were near the Ocean, and they spoke to the helmsman, "Push the ship to the left into the gulf, lest we be carried away by the currents and fall into the Ocean and perish." For the Ocean, flowing into the gulf, created a huge and extraordinary wave, and currents from the gulf drew us toward the Ocean; the sight was altogether ^C terrifying to us, and great fear gripped us. And a multitude of those birds called *souspha* flew above us and followed us for a long time, indicating that the Ocean was near.

The parts of this earth in which we live that are northern and western are very much more elevated, while the southern parts are lower in proportion. By as much width as the earth has, lying in an imperceptibly lower and humbler state, by so much is it found to have height toward the northern and western parts, which on that side have the Ocean lying deeper; but the eastern and southern parts have the Ocean further on, not at a depth, but level. And it is possible to see this from the facts themselves: that those who sail the northern and western parts are called "ascenders," as if they were going up to some height and are slow-sailing in the ascent; but in returning ^D as if from a height toward the lower parts, they are fast-sailing, and accomplish the voyage in a few days.

^A And the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, descending from the northern parts, that is to say from Persarmenia, toward the south, have very strong currents, much greater than our river Nile, that is to say the Gehon. For this river Nile, flowing from low and southern places toward the higher and northern parts, and running, as it were, upward, has a much calmer current. The eastern and southern parts, as being low and warmed by the sun, happen to be hotter; but the northern and western, as being higher and far from the sun, are colder, whence also the bodies of those who dwell there are whiter, protecting themselves because of the cold. Nor is all this earth inhabited; for the extreme northern parts, being frozen to an extremity, remain uninhabitable; and the extreme southern parts, because of their excessive heat, remain uninhabitable; for thus also the blessed David says, "For neither from the goings forth, nor from the west, nor from the desert mountains"—naming the east "goings forth," the west "the western parts," and the remaining climates "desert," as if meaning the extreme northern and the extreme southern regions; these things those from without also, when narrating, tell truly. 134 The same thing, those from without, according to the truth of the matter, say.

^B These things being so, we shall speak, taking our start from the divine Scripture, of the sun traveling from the east through the air to the southern parts, rising and appearing toward the north to the whole inhabited world. And the northern and western height of the earth, intercepting it, causes night beyond this earth along the Ocean, and the land that is beyond the Ocean in those parts. Afterward, when the sun reaches the west, hidden beneath the height of the earth, and running above the Ocean through the northern parts, it causes night there, until, circling round, it comes again to the east, and rising again toward the southern part, it will illuminate this inhabited world, ^C just as the divine Scripture says through the divine Solomon: "The sun rises, and the sun sets, and it draws to its own place; rising, it travels there toward the south, and circles, circling, and upon its circles the spirit returns." By "the spirit" he here calls the air; for, he says, circling in the air from the east to the south, and from the south to the west, and from the west to the north, and from the north to the east, it brings about nights and days and turnings. For the words "It circles, circling, and upon its circles it returns," indicated both the journey and the turnings, having spoken of them in the plural. For it does not say that the spirit circles, but the sun through the spirit, that is, the air. But also the blessed Moses, having been commanded to make the tabernacle ^D on Mount Sinai, according to the pattern which he had seen, divinely inspired said...

that the outer tabernacle was a type of this visible world. ^A Applying the interpretation, the divine Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews says that the inner tabernacle, the one within the veil, is a type of heavenly things, that is, of the kingdom of heaven, as it were of the coming state; taking the veil in place of the firmament, which divides the tabernacle into two tabernacles. Just as the firmament, occupying the space between heaven and earth, created two worlds, this one and the future one; into which future world Christ first entered as a forerunner on our behalf, having inaugurated for us a new and living way. In the first tabernacle, he describes the lampstand positioned in the southern part, furnished with seven lamps according to the number of the days of the week, being a type of the luminaries; shining toward the table placed in the north, that is, towards the earth; upon which he commanded twelve loaves of proposition to be set daily, according to the number of the twelve months, three loaves at each corner of the table, this totaling four changes, of three months each. He also commanded a round, twisted cornice to be made around the table, which signifies the multitude of waters, that is, the Ocean; and again, around the cornice, a palm-leaf border in a circle, that is, the land situated beyond and around the Ocean, ^B where in the east lies Paradise, where also the extremities of heaven are joined to the extremities of the earth. And not only from this description do we learn about the luminaries and the stars, that most of them traverse the south as they rise, but at the same time it also teaches us about the earth, that it has the Ocean surrounding it outside; and again, that further beyond the Ocean there exists land that encircles the Ocean.

But we also learn about this from the prophecy of Lamech, the father of Noah, that Noah was to bring men and brute animals through the world-bearing ark into this land; for it speaks thus: "This one will make us rest from our works, and from the sorrows of our hands, and from the earth which the Lord God cursed." For this reason also Noah named him [Noah], which means "rest." For after the first man had sinned ^C and had been cast out by God from paradise into a thorny and barren land, those ten generations suffered greatly, being under correction, not having been commanded according to the sacred Scripture to eat any longer from a fruit-bearing tree, because man had sinned through the eating of a tree. And those generations from Adam until Noah lived on truly meager sustenance, using neither oil, nor wine, nor meat for food, commanded only to eat vegetables, especially since that land was not very fertile, but they labored much in cultivating it; for thus the Scripture speaks: "Cursed is the earth in thy works: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread." ^D

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^A and fifty days the water prevailed, without diminishing, until the ark miraculously traversed into this earth. Furthermore, that the water rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountains clearly shows that this happened because of the measure of that part of the ark which was submerged, so that the ark might sit upon the mountain tops. For half the height of the ark was submerged—that is, fifteen cubits—since its entire height was thirty cubits. Therefore, it is possible to learn both from this, from the prophecy of Lamech, and from the construction of the table standing in the Tabernacle, that there exists a land beyond the Ocean which encompasses the Ocean. ^B And even the sacred herald Moses says in Deuteronomy as follows: *And you, Israel, hear the commandment which I give you today; do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring it down to us, or who shall cross the sea to bring it to us? The word is near you, in your mouth.* By saying this, he means: Do not say, "It is impossible to ascend into heaven to bring down divine commandments, or to cross the sea to bring them"; for behold, it is near you in your mouth and in your heart. By both of these, he teaches that there is a land or place beyond the Ocean, ^C and that it is impossible to cross the Ocean, just as we, while still mortal, cannot ascend into heaven. Baruch, too, the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah, in his own epistle, while offering advice concerning wisdom and having been instructed in the laws of Moses, speaks the same things as Moses and says: *Who ascended into heaven and took it, and brought it down from the clouds? Who crossed beyond the sea?*—not speaking of our own sea, for that can be crossed by men, but of the Ocean itself.

Certainly, if Paradise were in this land, many men who are eager to learn and to investigate curiously ^D would have attempted to travel that far. For if some do not hesitate, for the sake of wretched trade, to travel to the ends of the earth to bring back silk, why would they not have undertaken a journey to see Paradise itself? Now, this land of silk is located in the furthest inner India, toward the left side of those entering the Indian Ocean, far beyond the Persian Gulf, and the island called by the Indians Sielediva, but by the Greeks Taprobane. It is also called Sina, which the Ocean encompasses on the left, just as Barbariam is encompassed on the right. And the Indian philosophers, who are called Brahmans, say that if you stretch a cord from Tzinitza, which passes through Persia and reaches as far as the Roman dominion, the center of the earth is exactly described; and perhaps they speak truly. For it deflects much to the left; so that mo-

more quickly the loads of silk from those places are transported—by the succession of other nations—into Persia by land; whereas by sea, it is at a very great distance from Persia. For the distance that the Persian Gulf has, entering into Persia, is the same distance, or even more, that one traverses who directs his course to the left into Tzinitza itself; and after that, there are also significant distances from the start outside the Persian Gulf, over the whole Indian Ocean to Taprobana and beyond. Therefore, one who travels by that route from Tzinitza ^A to Persia cuts across many distances, and hence a multitude of silk is always found in Persia; but beyond Tzinitza, one neither navigates nor dwells.

If, therefore, one were to measure the length of the earth from Tzinitza to the west, as if by a line, he would find mansions of about 400, each of thirty miles. This is the way the calculation must be made: from Tzinitza to the beginning of Persia, all of Iunia, and India, and the region of the Bactrians, is about 150 mansions, if not more—certainly not less. And the whole country of the Persians is 80 mansions. And from Nisibis to Seleucia is 13 mansions; and from Seleucia to Rome, and the Gauls, and Iberia—those now called Spaniards—as far as Gades, located outside on the Ocean, is 150 mansions and more; so that the sum total becomes mansions of 400, more or less. And its breadth, from the Hyperborean regions to Byzantium, is not more than 50 mansions. ^B For from the Caspian Sea, which flows in from the Ocean, it is possible to conjecture both the uninhabited and the inhabited parts of those regions. And again, from Byzantium to Alexandria is 50 mansions; and from Alexandria to the Cataracts is 30 mansions; and from the Cataracts to Axume is 30 mansions; and from Axume to the ends of Ethiopia, the frankincense-bearing land called Barbaria, which also lies next to the Ocean—not nearby, but having the land of Sasus, which is the farthest part of the Ethiopian land, quite far away—is 50 mansions more or less, so that in total there are about 200 mansions more or less; so that even in this the divine Scripture tells the truth, posing the length of the earth as double its breadth; for you will make the table, as if it were the design of the earth, two cubits in length and one cubit in breadth. ^C

The frankincense-bearing land is situated at the ends of Ethiopia, being inland, but having the Ocean beyond it. Whence those who inhabit Barbaria, since they are nearby, go up to the interior and, making trade, bring from them most of the spices: frankincense, cassia, calamus, and many other things; and they themselves carry them by sea to Adulis, and to the Homerite region, and to inner India, and to Persia. This same thing you will also find written in the books of Kings, that the queen of Saba, that is, of the Homerite region, whom in the Gospels you ^D

^A find the Lord calling the queen of the South, brought as spices to Solomon those from the Barbaria region itself, as it is neighboring to the side beyond, and ebony rods, and apes, and gold from Ethiopia, as it is neighboring to the whole of Ethiopia, along the side beyond the Arabian Gulf. It is possible, then, again, even from the words of the Lord, to see that he calls these places the ends of the earth, as follows: "The queen of the South shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon." For the Homerite region is not far from Barbaria—a two-day voyage by sea—beyond which is the Ocean, which is called there Zingium. The region called Sasu is also near the Ocean, just as the incense-bearing land is near the Ocean, possessing many gold mines. ^B And every other year the king of the Axomites, through the governor of Agau, sends there his own men for the sake of gold trading; and many others who are trading accompany them, so that they are more than five hundred in number. They carry thither oxen, salt, and iron. And when they have arrived near that region, they rest in a certain place and construct a great fence from piled-up thorns, and they reside within it, and they slaughter oxen and cut them into pieces, and place these—and the salt and iron likewise—upon the thorns. Then the inhabitants come, bringing small lumps of gold, which they call *tancharan*; and each person deposits one, or two, or three lumps, according to his own desire, upon a piece of beef, or on the salt or the iron, and stands apart. Then he to whom the ox belongs approaches, and if he is content with the price, he accepts the gold, and that person [the seller] comes and takes away the meat, or the salt, ^C or the iron; but if it does not please him, he leaves the gold, and the other approaches, and seeing that he did not accept it, either adds something more or takes his gold and departs. Such is the trade of those there, because they are of different languages and especially lack interpreters. In that place of the region they stay for five days, more or less, as the trading proceeds, until they have sold everything. On the return journey they all travel together armed, because in this interval of the journey they encounter a hostile tribe that attempts to seize the gold. They complete the entire trade in a space of six months, both going and returning. They travel more slowly and leisurely on the way there, because of the cattle especially; but they complete the return journey more quickly, so that the winters and the rains ^D do not overtake them on the road. For the sources of the river Nile are near that land; and in winter, because of the intensity of the rains, many rivers occupy the path. Winter among them is indeed our summer, beginning from the month of Epiphi, as the Egyptians call it, up to Thoth; and it is very rainy for three months, such that it creates many rivers, which all flow into the Nile.

^A These things I have perceived by sight, and others I have written down having heard them from those who engage in trade there. But I wish also to narrate another story to your piety, which contributes to the present subject. In Adulis, the city of the Ethiopians so called, situated about two miles from the sea, which is the port for the Axumite nation—where we also carry on our trade, having set out from Alexandria and from Ela—there is a marble chair situated at the entrance of the city, facing the west, toward the road to Axum. It belongs to one of the Ptolemies who reigned there, made of white Parian marble, such as white tables are made of, though not Proconnesian. It has a square base, four small, slender columns at the four corners, and one in the middle, thicker, with rope-work carving; and above the columns is the seat, and the backrest behind the throne, and the sides on both the right and left. Thus, the chair and the base and the five columns and the seat and the backrest and the sides ^B are all one carved stone, measuring about two and a half cubits, like the chairs we call by that name. Behind this chair is another marble, of Basanite stone, standing about three cubits high, square, as I have said, whose head in the middle is sharp at the top, and at each side slightly lower, like the form of the letter lambda, but the whole body is square. But now this image has fallen behind the chair, and its bottom part is broken and lost. And the whole marble and the chair are filled with Greek letters.

Therefore, when I happened to be in those places, about twenty-five years ago, more or less, at the beginning of the reign of Justin, the Emperor of the Romans, the king of the Axumites at that time, Elesbaan, intending to set out on a military expedition against the Homerites across the water, wrote to the governor of Adulis to take copies of what was written on the Ptolemaic chair and the image, and to send them to him. The governor at that time, named Asbas, called me ^C and another merchant named Menas, who, having become a monk at Raithu, departed this life not long ago, and ordered us to go and take down what was written. We took them and gave them to the governor, keeping copies for ourselves, which I now set down in this writing, for they contribute to our knowledge of the regions, their inhabitants, and the distances. We also found engraved on the back of the chair ^D the mention of Hercules and Mercury; and the blessed man of memory, Menas, who was with me, used to say that Hercules was a symbol of strength, and Mercury of wealth. But I, mindful of the Acts of the Apostles...

argued against him on this point, saying that it is more fitting to take Mercury as a symbol of the Word; for it is so written in the Acts, where it is said that they called Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercury, because he was the leader of the Word. ^A Thus the chair, the marble, and Ptolemy himself are as described. And the things written upon the image are these:

Great King Ptolemy, son of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe, the brother-gods, grandson of King Ptolemy and Queen Berenice, the savior-gods; descended on his father’s side from Hercules, the son of Zeus, and on his mother’s side from Bacchus, son of Zeus; having received from his father the kingdom of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Phoenice, Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, and the Cyclades islands, he waged war in Asia with a great multitude of infantry and cavalry and a naval fleet, and with Troglodytic and Ethiopian elephants, which his father and he himself were the first to ^B hunt in those regions and, having brought them to Egypt, to train for martial use. Having brought under his dominion all the regions this side of the Euphrates, as well as Cilicia, Pamphylia, Ionia, the Hellespont, Thrace, and all the military forces situated in these regions, and having made the Indian elephants and all the monarchs of those places tributary to himself, he crossed the Euphrates river. And when he had subdued Mesopotamia, Babylonia, Susiana, Persis, Media, and all the remaining regions as far as Bactriana, and had searched for the sacred objects which the Persians had once carried off from Egypt, he brought them back to Egypt together with the rest of the treasure collected from various places, having sent the forces through the canals ^C dug in the rivers.

These things we found written on that stone tablet, and we were able to preserve them, though a few parts had perished; for only a small fragment had been lost from the break. Then, as if in one continuous series, these things were inscribed upon the chair.

Afterwards, acting with great effort, having commanded the nations bordering on my kingdom to be at peace, I waged war and subjected to myself by battle the nations listed below. I conquered the Gazan nation, ^D then Agame and Sigyon; and having conquered them, we divided in half everything that they possessed. Ava and Tiamo, who are also called Tziamo, Gambela and

^A Tziamo, and the Gambela, and those near them—he speaks of the peoples dwelling beyond the Nile—and the Zingabene, and the Agade, and the Tiama, and the Athagaos, and the Kalaa, and the Semena, a nation dwelling beyond the Nile in inaccessible and snow-bound mountains, in which there are perpetual snows, cold, and deepest drifts, such that a man’s footprints sink to his knees, these I subdued after crossing the river. Then the Lasine, and the Zaa, and the Gabala, who dwell in mountains that emit hot springs and are precipitous, and the Atalmo and Bega, and all the nations with them; having subdued the Tangaitas, who dwell as far as the borders of Egypt, I prepared a land route from the regions of my kingdom as far as Egypt. Then the Annine and Metine, dwelling in craggy mountains. I waged war against the Sesea nation, and when they had ascended a very great and inaccessible mountain, having placed guards around it, I brought them down from there and chose for myself their young men, wives, children, and virgins, together with all their possessions. I subdued the Rauson nation of the interior, barbarians of the frankincense-producing region, inhabiting vast, waterless plains, and the Solate nation, whom I ordered to guard the seacoasts. All these nations, hemmed in by the most rugged mountains, I myself conquered being present in the battles, and having subdued them, I allowed them to keep their lands as tributaries. But many other nations also surrendered to me of their own accord to be tributaries. ^B And beyond the Red Sea, dwelling as the Arabites and Cinaedocolpites, having sent a naval and infantry force, and having subdued their kings, I ordered them to pay tribute of the land and to keep the roads and seas safe; I waged war from the White Village as far as the land of the Sabaeans. All these nations I was the first and only one of the kings before me to subdue, for which I offer thanks to my greatest god, Ares, who also begat me, through whom I made subject to myself all the nations bordering upon my land, from the east as far as the frankincense-producing region, and from the west as far as the regions of Ethiopia and Sasu, some by coming myself and conquering, some by sending envoys; and having established in peace the whole world under me, I descended to Adulis to sacrifice to Zeus, and to Ares, and to Poseidon, on behalf of those navigating; and having gathered my armies, and having brought them together in one place, I set up this throne and dedicated it to Ares, in the twenty-seventh year of my reign. ^{C D}

We have nothing concerning Ava, unless perhaps you say it is the celebrated Tigra which is called Afa. Concerning the Gambela or Gambela, as the Vatican has it, nothing occurs. The words which follow immediately, "He speaks of the peoples beyond the Nile," seem to have slipped into the series from the margin; they are a scholion or paragraph of our Cosmas.

(24) And Zingabene, and Agade, and Tiama (Vatican: Tiampa) and Athagaos, and Kalaa, and Semena, Samine. Of the first two nothing occurs. Regarding Tiama, which occurs a second time, it is allowable to conjecture that it is another prefecture of the same name in the kingdom of Bagamedra, and not placed far off, called Tzama. Athagaos: there are two regions in Abyssinia by the name of Agao, of which one or the other might perhaps be indicated here. Concerning Calaa, nothing. But Semena or Samine, which follows immediately, is most certainly the modern region of Samen or Semen: for the name agrees very well, and it is narrated to be full of craggy and snowy mountains.

(25) Laurent. deepest, Vatican: deep. Regarding the nations immediately mentioned, nothing occurs.

(26) Laurent. Tangaitas, Vatican: Tangaitōn.

(27) The nations which follow, Sesea, Rauson, and Solate, pertain to Barbaria, as Cosmas advises below; but Barbaria was a maritime region beyond the strait of the Arabian Gulf, as Cosmas usually says, which was also called the Thurifera (Frankincense-producing) region. Its metropolis, by the testimony of Ptolemy, was perhaps the same which is here called Rauso.

(28) Vatican: Rauson.

(29) The Cinaedocolpites are the peoples of the Red Sea, from Ptolemy.

Cosmas’s Scholia on the Inscription of Ptolemy. From the Vatican codex.

Then Lazine, Zua, and Gabala. These nations are so called to this day. ^A I conquered the nation of Sesea. Here he indicates the nations of Barbaria. Arabitas and Cinaedocolpites. Paragraph. He means those in the Homerite—that is, the peoples in Arabia Felix. From the White Village. Paragraph. In the parts of the Blemmyes, there is a village called Leucogen. ^B As far as the region of the Sabaeans. Paragraph. The region of the Sabaeans, again, is in the Homerite. And to the places of Sasu. Paragraph. This region of Sasu is the furthest part of Ethiopia, where much gold is found, called Tancharas. Beyond this lies the Ocean, ^C as well as the Barbariaeans who trade in frankincense.

And these are the things written upon the throne. But to this present day, in that place where the throne lies, they execute criminals before it. Whether this custom has prevailed from the ancient time of Ptolemy, I cannot say. I have set these things down wishing to show that Ptolemy himself knew Sasu and Barbaria accurately as the extremities of Ethiopia, having subjugated all those nations and regions, of which we have seen the most part; the rest, being near those places, we have learned of precisely. For the ^D greatest part of the captives who arrive come from these very nations, and are found today among those who trade there. But also Semena, where he says there is ice and snow, is where the king of the Axomites sends into exile those whom he punishes with the penalty of exile. But the transmarine Arabitas, Cinaedocolpites, and the region of the Sabaeans, he calls the Homerites. Thus, from this history, it is possible to conjecture accurately that the breadth of the earth from the northern regions to Sasu and frankincense-bearing Barbaria is not more than two hundred stages. For having examined the matter most accurately, and not straying much from the truth, we have consigned it to writing both from the spaces traveled by us by sea and land, and from certain narrations; so that in this part Divine Scripture is found to speak the truth, while those from the outside speak falsely, bringing forward conjectures, sophisms, and old wives’ tales for the confirmation of their vanity rather than for the truth of the matter, having concocted another southern zone, beyond that which is scorched by the heat of the sun, and similar to the earth inhabited by us, which no one has ever seen or heard of. For how could that which has never been truly perceived by the senses be seen or heard? Therefore, let those triflers not be heard; for these things belong to recent sophists, not to the ancients, who recently think they will overturn the opinion of the ancients with colorful sophistries, attempting an impossible thing, as we proved briefly in the previous book.

Paragraph on Ptolemy

^A This Ptolemy is one of those who reigned after Alexander the Macedonian, concerning whom the prophet Daniel prophesies in various places, and especially in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and in the vision of the four beasts ascending from the sea. Daniel saw in the image a golden head, and in the vision a lioness, signifying the empire of the Babylonians—that is, Nebuchadnezzar. Then in the image, a chest and arms of silver; but in the vision, a bear, denoting the empire of the Medes—which he says was lesser than that of the Babylonians—that is, Darius the Mede. Then next in the image, a belly and thighs of bronze; but in the vision, a leopard, signifying the empire of the Persians—that is, Cyrus—which became brilliant and renowned, no less than that of the Babylonians. Then again in the image, legs of iron; but in the vision, a beast stunning and terrible, having claws of bronze ^B and teeth of iron, denoting the Macedonian empire—that is, Alexander, thinning and taming the kingdoms. Then again in the image, feet and toes, partly of iron and partly of earthenware; but in the vision, ten horns, equal in number to the toes, defining a divided kingdom—that which was after Alexander, which he also describes in the vision of the ram and the goat as being divided into the four winds of the heaven. For when Alexander was dying, he divided his kingdom among his four friends; and one reigned in Europe, that is, in Greece; another in Asia; another in Syria and Babylonia; and the fourth in Egypt and Libya and the southern parts. From these four, therefore, after them, many of their sons reigned, and they multiplied evils upon the earth, as is written also in the books of the Maccabees. ^C But the small horn speaking great things, placed in the midst of the ten horns, signifies Antiochus Epiphanes, who waged war against the Jews in the time of the Maccabees. He calls all these men partly iron and partly earthenware, as those who conquered and were in turn conquered by others, and yet were not truly mixed, just as iron is not mixed with earthenware.

Then he says again: in the image, a stone cut out from a mountain without hands; but in the vision, the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven—here he signifies the Lord Christ, in both parts coming from Abraham and from the Virgin without the seed of a man. And indeed, he says here “without hands” to mean “without the seed of a man.” And, “upon the clouds of heaven”—which, without human hands, as if from a womb, carry and give birth ^D to the rains. Then again in the image: “And it struck the earthenware, the iron, the bronze, the silver, the gold, and it became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and the abundance of the spirit took them away, and no place was found for them.” But in the vision: “I was watching until the beast was slain, and it perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire, and the dominion of the remaining beasts was taken away, and the length of life

^A was given to them until a time, signifying the same thing in both cases: that when the Lord Christ appears, all these kingdoms—that of the Babylonians, that of the Medes, that of the Persians, that of the Macedonians, and all those which arose from it by division—shall be destroyed, and shall be reckoned as nothing; which indeed came to pass at the time of Christ. For neither the kingdom of the Babylonians stood, nor that of the Medes, nor that of the Persians, nor that of the Macedonians; but all were dissolved.

Then again, in the image, he says: *And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed for ever, and His kingdom shall not be left to another people, and it shall stand for ever.* But in the vision he says: *And it reached even to the Ancient of days, and it was brought before Him. And to Him was given the dominion and honor and kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him. His power is an everlasting power, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.* By both he says the same thing: namely, that upon the coming of the Lord Christ, those kingdoms shall pass away and be destroyed, but His kingdom shall be indissoluble and eternal.

Therefore, this Ptolemy, one of those who reigned—either Philometor, or Euergetes the younger, or he who reigned before the last Cleopatra, called Dionysius—is one of these. ^C For these reigned beyond twenty-seven years, and they are descendants of the first reigning Ptolemies, as is inscribed on the marble tablet which we placed above. For concerning those who now hold the empire, nothing is written in the prophet, just as the Lord Himself says, that the Law and the Prophets prophesied until John. For when Nebuchadnezzar was considering whether his kingdom would have a succession, and Daniel was considering whether the Jewish rites would endure, it was revealed to both in parallel at one and the same time that his kingdom would have an end, that the Jewish rites and legal observances would be dissolved, and that another state and condition of things would arise, better, which would be eternal and never to be dissolved; which would take its beginning after these first kingdoms and legal rites had faded away, and would then be exhibited when its Prince arrived. For concerning the Roman empire, nothing is said explicitly in the prophet; for it is neither of the succession of Nebuchadnezzar, nor is it in harmony with the Jewish polity, or law, but is rather destructive to it. Nor does it come from the succession of the Macedonians; but he says: *The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed for ever.* ^D For here indeed he speaks of the Lord Christ, yet he enigmatically includes the Roman empire in these words, because it arose together with the Lord Christ. For while Christ was still being carried in the womb, Ro-

^A the Roman empire received power from God, as being a servant of the economies of Christ; for at that very time they were called eternal Augusti, and they carried out a census throughout the whole earth as rulers. Indeed, the evangelist notes that "this was the first census that took place under Caesar Augustus," when the Lord Christ was also born, and He deigned to be registered and to pay taxes in the land and empire of the Romans.

^B The Roman empire, therefore, partakes of the dignities of the kingdom of the Lord Christ, surpassing all others as much as is possible in this life, and remaining invincible until the consummation; for it says, "It shall not be destroyed in the age." And in the case of the Lord Christ, "in the age" signifies eternity, just as Gabriel also tells the Virgin: "And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of His kingdom there shall be no end"; but in the case of the Roman empire, as having arisen together with Christ, it means it shall not be destroyed within this age. For I do not fear to declare with confidence that even if, because of our sins, barbarian enemies should rise up against the Roman state for a short time for the sake of our discipline, yet by the power of Him who governs it, the empire remains invincible, in order that the things of the Christians may not be straitened, ^C but rather expanded. For indeed, this was the first empire to believe in Christ beyond all others; and this empire is a servant of the economies of Christ, which the Lord of all preserves for this reason, invincible until the consummation.

The kingdom of the Persians, however, does not have its origin from the Persians, nor does it keep the succession of the former kings, but it has risen up now from another authority, that is to say, from the Magi. For under the times of Christ, the kingdom of the Persians had been dissolved by Alexander the Macedonian according to the prophecy, and the successors of the Macedonian rule held the region until Antiochus; subsequently, the Parthians gradually overcame it. Indeed, they broke into Jerusalem and ^D took Hyrcanus, the ruler of the Jews, captive not long before the Lord Christ was to come. Now, for about four hundred years, this kingdom of the Magi has arisen; as I think, it also takes second place after the Romans, because the Magi received certain dignities at the time of the Lord Christ on account of their worship and honor toward Him. For the Christian preaching spread first in the Roman land at the time of the apostles, and immediately afterward in Persia through Thaddaeus the apostle. Indeed, it is also written in the Catholic Epistles: "The church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, greets you." And indeed, the Roman empire possesses many prerogatives in this regard; namely, that it is the first, that it first believed in Christ, and that it serves in every way in the economy according to Christ. Another sign of the power of the Romans is

granted to them by God: namely, that with their specie all nations conduct commerce, and in every place from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, it is accepted, being admired by every man and every kingdom, a thing which for no other kingdom exists. Let us then return to our proposed task. ^B

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Certainly some of the ancient philosophers, who traveled around the world and wrote histories, explained the position of the earth and the course of the stars in the same way as the Holy Scripture. Now let one of them come forward, who speaks thus:

Ephorus from the fourth book of his History.

The Indians inhabit the region near the subsolanus and the east; the Ethiopians occupy the south and the meridian; the Celts inhabit the places towards the zephyr and the west; the Scythians inhabit the north and the septentrion. These parts, however, are not altogether equal among themselves, but the side of the Scythians and the Ethiopians is larger, while that of the Indians and the Celts is smaller; but the first and second are equal among themselves in the breadth of their space. For the Indians are between the summer and winter easts, while the Celts occupy the space from the summer to the winter settings; which spaces are similar to one another, and entirely opposite to one another. The region of the Scythians, moreover, occupies what remains of the space beyond the course of the sun; and it is opposite to the Ethiopian race; which is seen to extend from the winter east as far as the shortest west. ^C

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[DIAGRAM] SOUTH WINTER [EAST] | INDIA | WEST [WINTER] APHELIOTES | ETHIOPIANS | ZEPHYRUS SUMMER [EAST] | SCYTHIANS | WEST [SUMMER] NORTH

Accurately does Ephorus, both by word and by delineation, explain the position of the earth and the course of the stars, just as Divine Scripture does. Indeed, this Ephorus was a historiographer who, in the fourth book of his History, related these things which we have said above. Pytheas ^D

of Massilia, speaking of the Ocean, says that when he had arrived at the most remote parts of the north, the sun’s course was pointed out to him by the Barbarians, for there the night was accustomed to occur among them. Xenophanes the Colophonian, since he supposes the earth to be infinite, obviously does not admit that it is a sphere; and these things, moreover, are found to be said by outsiders who are in agreement with ^A Divine Scripture. We, however, persisting in the series we have begun, again posit that the four rivers, which Divine Scripture says go forth from paradise, pass through the Ocean and are given back in this earth: the Phison in the Indian region, which some, flowing down from the interior, call the Indus or the Ganges, and it flows into the Indian sea by many mouths. And this river indeed has water lilies, or Egyptian beans, and what are called Nilagathia, and leaves, and lotuses, and crocodiles, and all other things which the Nile produces. The Gehon, passing through parts of Ethiopia, travels through all Ethiopia and Egypt and sends its outlets into our gulf. ^B The Tigris and Euphrates, passing from the parts of Persarmenia, flow as far as the Persian Gulf. And so much for these things. Wishing to signify the diameter of paradise, as it is something truly large and extended in the east, Divine Scripture mentioned only these four rivers, so that the remaining water also, flowing from the fountain springing/well-spring in Eden and watering paradise, was included along with these four great rivers. These rivers, penetrating into this earth, irrigate a great part of it. ^C

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Since, therefore, the luminaries perform their course in this rite, and bring about nights and days, seasons and years, and are set as signs for those sailing and those trekking through a desert, and illuminate the earth, we say that they are not moved by the revolution of the heavens, but rather by certain rational powers, in the manner of certain torchbearers, as we shall again show Divine Scripture indicating. For the divine Apostle, teaching about the adversary, declares thus what his work was from the beginning: *According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of this age, who now operates in the sons of disobedience* (Eph. II, 2); ^D clearly teaching that he was previously the prince of the power of the air to move it and change it; but now having been cast down and excluded from such dignity, he operates rather out of malice against sinners: this is manifest from the fact that he was not able to do this alone, but also many others with him; for some of the angels were appointed to move the air, others the sun, others the moon, others the stars, others to prepare clouds as rain, and they performed many other duties. For this is the work and law of the angelic orders and powers, to minister for the benefit and honor of the image of God, that is, of man, and to be, as it were, obedient to the king as his min-

- ^Aisters, moving all things: since they were commanded to perform this work on the fourth day, when He also adorned the heaven with stars. But the office of the hostile demons, as rebels, is to cause harm to the image of God: for they themselves, having transgressed the command on the fourth day, were cast down from heaven, just as it is said elsewhere: *Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation*? Plainly teaching that they are all ordained for the ministry of men. Furthermore, he says: *For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.* Here he calls the angels "the creature," and men "the sons of God"; and by "earnest expectation" (apokaradokia) he means as if someone, positioned far away, were to stretch forth his head for the sake of looking, or to see from afar, hoping that some good thing might happen to men. For unless they had been performing a servile ministry, they would not have desired liberty: for when man had sinned and had incurred the sentence of death, the angels were greatly grieved, as if despairing of the whole; for man is the bond and image of the Workman of the universe. From such a judgment, desponding in their minds for themselves and for the whole, they were unwilling to minister and serve man any longer in vain, ^B but, he says, *because of him who hath subjected it in hope*, as if to say: God did not permit their will to be fulfilled, but gave them some hope, so that they might not despond, but rather hope that after a certain time some good thing would come to men. ^C

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On the sixth day, that hater of good, the demon, beholding the man honored and deemed worthy of great care, urged by envy, attempted to drag him into a like fall. And since he was ignorant of the manner in which he might assail him, he saw that the brute animals ran straightway to food, but that he [man] was not moved by appetite, but was looking around at the beauty of the plants; hence he reckoned that he had received a law from God. And, approaching near, having assumed the form of a serpent, he attempts to learn what that law was, and craftily says: *Why did God command you, not to eat of every tree of paradise?* But the woman, as one newly brought to light and much slower than he in understanding, answered him. He, as though he already knew that precept, began to slander God as envious, and to entice the man to the eating of food, persuading him to be obedient to him rather [than to God], in order that he might become as God, thereby spreading the contagion of his own disease to them. When the man had obeyed him in the afternoon hours, on that very day he was driven out of paradise, just as he [the demon] was cast down from heaven immediately after his sin. And the man also received the sentence of death, having heard: *Thou art earth, and unto earth shalt thou go.*

^A This greatly grieved the angels. They mourned, indeed, for those of their own number who had transgressed, but they mourned especially for the sake of man, in whom the lot of the workmanship of all things was held, and who was the pledge of friendship for the whole world; for since this bond was supposedly being dissolved, it was necessary for the whole universe to be dissolved. They mourned, therefore, both for their own dissolution and that of all things, so that they could no longer bear to serve man in vain. But when the merciful God, through His concern for man and the postponement of the punishment, had inspired them with good hope, they eagerly served him, sustained by that hope. And in every generation, by producing illustrious righteous men, God made them more eager, founding them in the hope of restoration, recall, and renewal.

^B Truly, at the birth of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, the whole multitude of the invisible powers, having seen Him born through whom the destruction of death comes, and the beginning of restoration and resurrection, and their own freedom, cried out, praising God the cause of all: *Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men*. They cast off that sorrow and sadness which they had long since felt on account of man, and rejoiced at the birth of the second Adam. Whence also in the time of temptation, having already long since contemplated the fall of the first Adam, which they bore with difficulty and grief, but now [beholding] the victory of the second Adam—seeing how he had rightly fought, not once but three times, in the battle with the tempter, and had cast him down outside the rampart—they were affected with great joy and served Him eagerly, as it is written, being such that they no longer served Him merely in hope as before, but having seen with their own eyes the victory of the second Adam, they approached Him with promptness and joy and ministered unto Him.

^C But the multitude of the adversaries now conversely lamented and groaned, put to shame by the victory of the second Adam. Whence, since their prince could not cast Him down, he began to plot through the Jews; and indeed, having stirred up the multitude of them, and having had Him crucified and killed, he thought he was rid of Him. But after not much time, the resurrection having taken place—a resurrection marvelous, glorious, unexpected to them, and full of power—since He no longer admitted death or any other passion at all, but had brought back with Him incorruptibility, immortality, and the immutability of the soul; ^D and afterward being taken up into heaven, and carried by a cloud, and brought up as a victor in triumph, He entered within the firmament, becoming the first of all to prepare for us a new and living way. The angels, clothed in white garments, rejoiced together with men, bringing the good news to the disciples and the women; but the adversaries, on the contrary, seeing the human nature made superior to themselves and to all creation, which they had once tripped up, but now, having been cast down by it, remained mute and open-mouthed, utterly suffused with shame. Wherefore the Lord cried out to the disciples...

^A *Be courageous, I have overcome the world*; and again: *Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.* As if to say: "Formerly, when man had sinned, and the serpent had attacked him in Paradise, it was said to him: *He shall watch thy heel, and thou shalt watch his head,* so that you might have a mutual enmity, that man might not obey him; and the struggle then was equal, for they were able to harm one another, because the serpent, watching the heel, that is, the way of man, if he found him off the path, was able to harm him, as he could creep about the heel; but man, as he had an upright stature, taking heed to himself, and not wandering from the path, was able to crush the head of the serpent. But now, since I have conquered the serpent and put him to shame in the end, and, having suffered death unjustly through him for the whole race, and having nailed and blotted out the handwriting upon the cross, I have risen on the third day, having won the victory over death, and I have become the source of victory for the entire human nature, by reason of me the victory having run through to all humanity. Be courageous, therefore. *Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.* He no longer, He says, can harm your heel, being trampled under your feet."

Just as, therefore, on the sixth day Adam having sinned, having tasted of the tree about midday, was cast out in the afternoon hours; so also on the sixth day, at the sixth hour, the Lord Christ, according to the flesh, sustained the saving cross for his sake. And just as from the transgression until the expulsion from Paradise, all the angels were ^B grieving exceedingly, expecting nothing other than the dissolution of man, and of themselves, and of the whole world; so also during the passion, from the sixth hour to the ninth, the whole creation was darkened, being clothed in darkness as in a black garment, on account of the unjust deed that had been perpetrated. And just as at the ninth hour those two, Adam and Eve, were cast out of Paradise, so also at the ninth hour the Lord Christ, according to his soul, and the thief, entered into Paradise. On the very same day, therefore, on which Adam was formed, namely the sixth, the same day saw the fall of man, the grief of the angels, the decree of death, and the expulsion from Paradise; so also in the passion, on that very same day, there took place through the wood of the cross the saving death, the mourning of creation, and in the afternoon, the laying aside of mourning and the entry into Paradise. *Amen I say to thee,* the Savior says to the thief, *this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.* Glory to God forever. Amen. Now let us return to the matter at hand. ^{C D}

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For this reason the angels did not cease from the ministry which they were performing on behalf of men, who were mortal and subject to corruption; for this is what it says: *For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly*; that is, to labor in vain.

^A Well, it says, *because of him who hath subjected the same in hope*. In what hope? It is obvious that, after the fall of man, the angels, seeing that God did not act according to the threat of his sentence, but persevered in love and care for man, and even fashioned garments for him, attained a better hope concerning man, so that they did not say farewell, but rendered service on his behalf. Finally, he says: *And the creature itself also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God*; as if he were to say: The angels themselves will be delivered, and with them every creature, when men are delivered from corruption and glorified, established as immortals and sons of God at the consummation of the world, when the fashion of this world passes away, ^B and the resurrection of the dead occurs, and the change of this state. For as it is written in divine Scripture, since the stars will fall and the course of night and day will cease, and the angels who move these will themselves be freed as the men they served are freed from corruption and no longer require such things, what will our modern legislators say—those who think the heaven is spherical and claim that the stars are moved and move [the heavens]? To what purpose, let them tell us, will the heaven be rotated then, if they define themselves as Christians? But away with such inept and vacillating men! For furthermore the Apostle cries out: *Every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain until now*, declaring by this once more that every creature, and especially the angels, are burdened in this life, being subject to corruption and change. ^C For since they too are mutable, they are always prone to change, considering and hoping for the liberty which they greatly desire to attain; which likewise they will attain, as has been said, when men rise from the dead. For if they had not also received a law as to what they ought to do and what they ought not to do, they would not have fallen into sin; for none among them would have transgressed if this law had not been prescribed to them by God. Wherefore, those who transgressed were cast down from that height to the earth; for the Lord says: *I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven*. But without law it is impossible to transgress, as the Apostle says: *For where there is no law, neither is there transgression*, and, *Without the law sin was dead*. So that in every way they too need to attain liberty from the law and from change; and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has been, and will further be, the cause of this; for the Apostle says that all things are to be reconciled in Christ, ^D *both which are in heaven and on earth*; and: *If any be in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new*.

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^A the air, and the fire mingled within the earth, and the angels, having produced all these things at once; for this reason, the restoration of the whole world took place on that same day and in that same night. For the whole world is encompassed in man, because, as has often been said, man is the link of the whole world. Therefore, with man rising again in that same night of the Lord—immortal, incorruptible, and immutable—he grants to the whole nature of things, whether visible or invisible, the pledge of equal benefit. For this reason the Apostle says: "That all things might be restored in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth"; and: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." He said "all things," because in man both visible and invisible [realities] are contemplated. Whoever, therefore, denies that the humanity of Christ is perfect falls into ^B ruin, being ignorant of the great economy of God and of the Christian dogma; likewise, he who denies His perfect divinity is guilty and suffers great loss. Since, therefore, such a great hope is proposed to Christians—that both the angels and the nature of things are to be renewed and transferred to a better and more blessed state—who would be so envious and an adversary of God as to abandon this and lean upon the novel and deceptive vanity of outsiders? Indeed, such a one shall hear from the Judge on that day: "Amen I say to you, I know you not: depart from me, all you that work iniquity." For it is truly a great iniquity to despise the oracles of God, and, in opposition to them, to ascribe a spherical shape to the heaven: for such men cannot await "the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us"; nor do they wish to hear with the faithful the Lord Christ ^C crying out from on high: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"; but, always erring in their opinion, they are carried about in an uncertain revolution with their sphere, with no hope of rest remaining.

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Since, therefore, the stars are carried around, impelled by the invisible powers, according to the divine Scripture, and running through the north and reaching beneath the height of the earth, by this given figure it is possible for the eclipses of the moon and the sun to be rightly accomplished. For the angelic virtues, with reason and order, and in a manner more acute than we are able to grasp, moving these figures, accomplish this, intent upon this work night and day without any rest. For in the same manner as the outsiders say that the stars are carried around beneath the earth without anyone ^D taking care of it, as has been demonstrated above, not being consonant with the nature of things, but even putting forth things contrary to the testimony of God; so we, following the divine Scripture, conceiving the motion of the stars as oblique, say that their revolution and course are accomplished in this way: for from this the eclipses also necessarily follow. And neither against

God, nor against the nature of things, do we stand. ^A For one must believe God more than the imaginations and doctrines of men. And again, concerning the four elements, we say that God, having first established the dry earth, set it as the foundation of the whole as being heavy; again, he placed the water, that is to say the humid, as being fluid, above the earth; and granted that both, being contrary in their qualities, should exist together, but for the sake of temperance he set above these the air, which is cold, and again above that fire, which is to say the hot; both again as being lighter, yet again as being contrary, he decided that the two middle elements—the water as humid and the air as cold, which have much affinity toward each other, the one being of a fluid nature and the other of a rare, and both being soft and easily receiving into themselves and to each other the qualities of their contraries, and communicating them to one another and tempering the whole—should occupy the middle space between the other two, that is, the dry and the hot, so that the whole might not be corrupted and burnt to ashes. For because the two middle elements easily communicate with one another, those from outside fell into error, and conversely called the air humid and the water cold; finally, therefore, they attribute two qualities to one, and often even four.

^B God has ordained that rains should occur for our benefit through the angelic powers, who, obeying Him, draw the waters from the sea into the clouds, and, serving the divine command, send them forth wherever the divine command bids. For the Scripture says through the prophet Amos: "He that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth." Similarly, through Zechariah he says thus: "Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; and the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field." And in the Books of Kingdoms, concerning Elijah, it says thus: "And the servant returned seven times; and it came to pass at the seventh time, that behold, there was a little cloud, as a man's hand, bringing up water from the sea." But that the earth is moved, we do not say it is by wind; for we do not devise myths as they do, but we declare that this happens by divine command, nor do we inquire into the matter curiously. For the Scripture says through David: "Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it to tremble"; and concerning the apostles, it says in the Acts: "And the place was shaken where they were assembled; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." And the prophet Amos says again thus: "The Lord God Almighty, who toucheth the land, and it shall melt," or as others, "and shaketh it"; and again another prophet, this one Haggai, says that "Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake, not the earth only, but also heaven"; and again Isaiah, "If thou wilt open the heaven, trembling shall take hold of the mountains from thee."

^D As regards antipodes, the divine Scripture does not tolerate even hearing or speaking of these myths. For the Apostle says, God "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

^A He did not say "on all the faces of the earth," but "on the face." By "those under the earth" [inferos], he refers to the dead who are buried in the earth; as is that saying: "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Phil. 2:10); meaning by "heavenly," the angels; by "terrestrial," men; and by "those under the earth," those buried in the earth. For he says this is to happen at the resurrection, when all—whether angels in heaven, or men living on earth, or the dead buried in the earth—all rising again, shall bow the knee in the name of Jesus the Son of God. For we are said to tread upon the earth, as when he says: "I have given unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions" (Luke 10:19). To tread, therefore, is said to be treading upon something; but if we tread upon something, that which is trodden upon is beneath the one who treads. But according to these "wise men," the spherical figure has neither "above" nor "below." Therefore, we neither tread, nor are we trodden upon, nor do we walk upon the earth at all; and their claims are mere inventions and fables.

Regarding angels and demons or souls, divine Scripture says they are entirely circumscribed and living in this world, as when the Apostle says: "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1 Cor. 4:9), as those who dwell in one world. Also in Daniel, it is written thus about them: "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days" (Dan. 10:13-14). The words "withstood me," "came," "departed," "I remained there with him," and the like, are descriptive of circumscribed beings. ^C Furthermore, it should be noted that archangels are appointed as administrators over each nation and kingdom; and indeed, that every man has an angel as a companion and guardian. For example, the Church, speaking of Peter in the Acts, says: "It is his angel" (Acts 12:15); and the Lord in the Gospels cries out saying: "For their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10); clearly declaring that an angel, a guide and guardian, is present with each one of us.

For only the Godhead is uncircumscribed, being everywhere at once and in the same manner. For if I ascend, says David, into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art there; if I take my wings as in the morning—as if to say, in the East—and dwell at the uttermost parts of the sea—as if to say, in the West—even there shall thy hand lead me (Ps. 138:8-10). ^D Here he clearly signifies the uncircumscribed nature of God. But this cannot be conceived regarding angels, since they, as written above, are left in a place. Concerning souls, too, divine Scripture says they are circumscribed and are circumscribed within the body itself, as when it is said: "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me," as if to say that it itself is present within...

^A and is located within the body. And again, when it says: "My heart and my flesh," it uses the heart in place of the soul, as if it were fixed there and existed within the body; just as when it says again: "In my heart I have hidden thy words, that I might not sin against thee," [Ps. cxviii, 11] so that it might say, "In my soul"; and again, "Create a clean heart in me, O God," [Ps. L, 12] so that it might say, "soul." But the Lord says thus: "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; for it goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught; but those things which proceed out of the heart," [Matth. xv, 17] as if to say, out of the soul, "these defile the man; such as evil thoughts," and all the properties of the soul which he enumerates. Elsewhere, again, he speaks more pointedly to the Jews: "The kingdom of God is within you," [Luc. xvii, 21] instead of saying that you ought to have the kingdom of God within you according to the soul. ^B And again, he promises the believing thief, saying: "Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise," [Luc. xxiii, 43] where he speaks most evidently with respect to the place. That he speaks according to the soul, and not according to the body, is clear from the fact that the body of the Lord was buried by Joseph in Jerusalem, and the body of the thief was also buried in the same parts. It is therefore most manifest that he says this concerning the soul: "Thou shalt be with me this day in paradise." Besides, the majority of the evangelists, speaking of the death of the Lord, say, "He gave up the ghost," [Matth. xxvii, 50] as if the spirit that was within—that is to say, the soul—departed from the body. For the other ^C says: "Bowing his head, he gave up the spirit."

And these things have been said by us as a sequence of Christian instruction, moved by the divine Scripture, not having invented or conjectured these things for ourselves, but having accurately obeyed God, who spoke through the prophets and apostles and his own Son. For since all those who wish to speak of such things from their own reasoning or conjecture for the most part fail and are mistaken, and are not able to speak with accuracy, the true Christian must take refuge in God, the creator of all, who knows how and why it is, so that we may not be misled and tossed about by every wind of doctrine of men, as the Apostle cries out, [Ephes. iv, 14] in the sleight of words and the craftiness of deceit, and be found condemned along with the world. ^D These same things Moses also recounts in the Law in the Book of Numbers [Num. xv, 37] and says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments in their generations, and put upon the wings of the fringes a violet ribbon, and it shall be unto you in the fringes; and you shall see and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and you shall do them; and you shall not stray after your own notions, and after your own eyes, in which you commit fornication after them, so that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God; I am the Lord God..."

and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I may be your God; I am the Lord your God.” Having himself taught that more clearly, which the Apostle also taught, not to follow our own thoughts, but rather the divine commandments. May it come to pass for us, O precious head, that we abstain from these things, and pursue the divine ones, through the prayers of your holiness, most Christian Father, that we may find mercy and grace before the throne of grace, for the ages. Amen.

BOOK III

After the flood, when men, acting in opposition to God, were occupied primarily with the building of a tower, and from a high place were frequently looking at the stars, led into error, they suspected that the heaven was truly spherical. For since the city in which they were building the tower was of the Babylonians, it is necessary that this was first an invention of the Chaldeans: wherefore they fashioned a barbaric sphere, they who were born from the race of Abraham, being Chaldeans; and having traveled into Egypt, they communicated that opinion to the Egyptians. The Egyptians, however, seizing an occasion from this, investigating the matter more curiously, extended that opinion more widely, until the Greeks, traveling in Egypt, namely Pythagoras, Plato, and Eudoxus of Cnidus the philosophers, having learned it, and having taken ^C a handle from those before them, explained it more at length.

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^A being exhausted by their toil, many, having been raised to a great height, fell, cast down from above by the vehemence of the winds; or else, scorched by the heat of the sun and dizzy and blinded by the excessive altitude, they were brought down to the depths. Therefore, He confuses their language and divides it into many, and quells their impious frenzy, and disperses them and makes them inhabit the whole earth. This was the cause of the dispersion of the nations and of their habitation over all the earth. In the last days, therefore, it pleased ^B God in his good pleasure toward men, as it is written, "On earth peace, among men good will" (Luke II, 14), to bring them to heaven by His own counsel and goodness; and forty days after His resurrection, He took up our first fruits into heaven. And furthermore, to prefigure the ascent of the rest of mankind on the day of Pentecost, having joined through the Holy Spirit the languages which He had once divided, He gave from heaven to the apostles the faculty of speaking the great works of God in various tongues, just as the Spirit prompted them to speak, so that all who were standing by, gathered from every ^C nation, heard each in his own dialect the great works of God, and recognized the good pleasure which He had favored toward men: because, whereas formerly men, using tyrannical force, had wished to ascend into heaven and had remained unsuccessful, now, by the good pleasure of God, the faithful are borne up into heaven. Glory to the wise and merciful God, who has granted these things to men. Amen.

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^A of his ancestral nation, he slew the Egyptian, and being afraid, he fled to the regions of Madian, where he married and had two sons. While he was pasturing the sheep of his own father-in-law, he led them to Mount Sinai, and he beholds that vision of the bush, how the bush was burning with fire, and was not consumed. Then, having run forward to see the great marvel, he is called by an angel of God in the name of God, and is urged to go to King Pharaoh in Egypt, for the purpose of leading out the sons of Israel from the slavery of the Egyptians. And when he refused, due to the impossibility of the task (for he perceived that, being a solitary man, he was unable to fight against so great a king), God through the angel makes him more courageous, reminding him of his forefathers, that from a barren and elderly couple, He had miraculously established a great and numerous nation. And He prepares him to perform wonders through the rod which he carried in his hand; being amazed at which wonders, Moses is persuaded to go to Egypt. Having gone and held discussions with Pharaoh, since he was about to show him how God brought forth the whole creation, what things were first, and what second, and in what order the rest were founded. And these things were unbelievable to men, just as they seem even now to these ^B eminent men; nay, even to Moses himself: for he had not yet received experience of these things; but, just like the Egyptians, he too supposed the heaven to have a spherical shape. God, therefore, instructed him to perform wonders in the name of God and to change the elements, that He might show to all the Egyptians and to the Israelites, and through them to all men alike, that He was faithful to God in all that He says and does: thus preparing them and disposing them so as to have Him accepted. Now it was permitted to the enchanters, whose pupils he had been, to contend with him; and by divine power he descends into the battle against them, being trained to despise such men, so that they withdrew from the struggle and said, "This is the finger of God." Having therefore changed the nature of the waters into blood, and having killed the fish, and again changed the blood into living and fertile water, and having divided the Red Sea, and established it as a wall on this side and that in the sight of the Israelites and the Egyptians, he was accepted and approved among them, when he later said: "God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and it shall be dividing between water and water." And it was so. ^C Again, having caused darkness for three days among the Egyptians, while there was light among the Israelites, he was again accepted among them, saying: "And darkness was upon the abyss. And God said: Let there be light. And God divided between the light and between the darkness." And he posits the first and second and third day without the course of the sun and moon and stars, saying: "God divided between the light and between the darkness." Then again he brings forth frogs from the river and gnats from the earth, and therefore he was ^D credible when he

^A said: "God said, let the waters bring forth moving creatures that have life, and it was so." And again he said: "Let the earth bring forth this and that," and it was so; and similarly all the other wondrous things. Finally, having slain all the firstborn, he was worthy of belief when, last of all, he said: "God made man." And as we have said, he prepares him to be credible to the Israelites in what he said and did, as they themselves saw with their own eyes the works produced by Him.

Then, after He had led them out of Egypt, and had caused them to cross the Red Sea on dry land, and had brought them to Mount Sinai, where he had been deemed worthy of the divine vision, God again performs miracles ^B before the people, filling the mountain with fire, flames, and smoke; then the sound of trumpets was sent forth from heaven, which were heard by everyone approaching into the midst. And while they were terrified by the gloom, darkness, and storm, He spoke to Moses from the cloud in the presence of the people. And then, having taken him up onto the mountain for forty days to remain without food, having hidden him in the cloud, He in a certain way draws him out of earthly things, and causes him to forget everything that he had learned from the Egyptians, regenerating him as if he were an infant in the womb. After forty days, He forms and quickens him, and after this He reveals to him all that He had made in the six days of the creation of the world, for another six days showing him that creation through visions, ^C working face-to-face day by day; for instance, on the first day, the first heaven, and the earth, a most spacious house, and within it, water, the air, and fire mingled with the earth, darkness, and the angels—all of which He produced at once from nothingness, using only His voice for the instruction of the angels, and producing also the light into that very house, having illuminated everything as if by a lamp. Then on the second day, He constructs the firmament out of the water, which binds and establishes the whole in the midst of the height of the sky, dividing the waters that were above from those below, and subsisting in the midst. Thus two places are prepared, as if an upper chamber and a lower chamber: the lower one He fitted to be for a dwelling for this mortal and mutable life; but the upper one He prepared for the future, immortal, and immutable life.

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^A outer; and in the outer, the priests performed their services at all times, as if in this world; but into the inner, the high priest alone entered once a year, as if into the higher place in the heavens. For this reason the inner tabernacle was also inaccessible to them at all times, as it bore the likeness of heavenly things. He Himself is believed to have explained—as it was fitting—the laws, burdens, punishments, and chastisements to be inflicted upon transgressors, having prepared Himself to declare things pertaining to correction and to perform miracles; just as He afflicted the Egyptians with various plagues and punishments, and likewise as He marked out all that He did in the desert against the sins and transgressions of the Israelites, such that He destroyed that entire generation, leaving none of them remaining except for two alone, having put an end to living with that generation as well.

But when the Lord Christ came for the salvation of the whole world, to dissolve the present state of things and to declare the future one, and plainly preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, He performed miracles in accordance with His preaching for the benefit of men; and He did not commit even one act for the chastisement of man: ^B He liberated the demon-possessed, healed the sick, strengthened the paralyzed, raised the lame, restored the use of eyes to the blind, opened the ears of the deaf, loosened the tongues of the stammerers, cleansed lepers, restored those afflicted with dryness to a temperate state, repaired withered hands, stopped the flows of blood of men by His power, brought back to life the dead who were already rotting, prepared the living to complete their course, preached inexhaustible treasures to the poor, and with a rebuke calmed the violence of the winds and the fury of the sea; and performed many other good deeds which are congruous with the evangelical preaching and the future state. For in that state, there is no demon to harass, no infirmity is present, weakness is banished, and harm of limbs, incontinence, poverty, flows of blood, the motions of the elements, and the last enemy, namely death, are destroyed. When the Jews saw these things—that He had not performed a single sign for the chastisement of men, except for two alone, and not upon a man, but upon the swine and the fig tree, upon irrational and inanimate things, yet still having performed them as an indication of His power—they sought an occasion to accuse Him again, saying: "We wish to see a sign from You," that is, one like that of Moses, brought about for the chastisement of men. But the Lord, knowing their thoughts, answered them, saying: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign shall be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah the prophet remained hidden in the belly of the sea-monster for three days, and after that came out alive and unharmed, so also I, having died and remained in the earth for three days, shall after that rise alive and incorruptible from the dead." At another time, also, when He had made a whip out of cords and cast everyone out of the temple, they said to Him: "What sign do you show?"

^A Yet even though many signs had been published by Him, He answered them: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," 18 answering the same thing on both sides and pointing to the resurrection of His own body, as if He were saying: "When you see Me rising from the dead, and miracles done in My name, then you will recognize My power and My proclamation; for My coming is not for the punishment of men, but to provide for men resurrection, immortality, incorruptibility, immutability, and blessedness." Therefore, He taught and performed miracles in a manner appropriate to His teaching. Matthew declares this very thing with these words: "And Jesus went about the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every infirmity," 26 as if to say that He performed miracles congruent with His preaching.

John the Evangelist says thus: "Many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Jesus said therefore to the twelve: 'Will you also go away?' [*] Peter immediately answered in the name of all: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed that You are the Holy One of God.'" 28 By this he was saying: "Those things which You teach us, we see being brought to completion by Your works; for indeed You promise us life and a heavenly kingdom, and we see all the things done by You tending toward the life of men. How, therefore, can we leave You and cling to another? Our portion, therefore, is with You, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." ^B

Someone might wonder, saying: "How, when He showed no sign for the punishment of men, as He said, did He nevertheless take a scourge, beat those who were selling in the temple, and cast them out of the holy place?" The answer: That is false; for He did not strike a human being at all, but He made use of a wonderful, fitting, and orderly procedure; for He struck only the irrational animals, as it is written: "And having made a scourge of cords, He cast them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen," 27 as if to say: "These, indeed, were living creatures, but irrational, and them He struck; casting out of the temple even those things that were offered in sacrifice according to the Law, declaring by this also that the Jewish condition was to end." But the inanimate and senseless things He pushed and overturned, as it is written: "And He poured out the money of the money-changers, and overturned the tables." 28 ^C But He neither struck nor pushed the rational beings; rather, He instructed the irrational, and to those selling the doves He said: "Take these things hence; and do not make the house of My Father a house of merchandise." 29 By all these things He declared that those things which were offered in the first tabernacle according to the Law for sacrifice would have an end, and that another state would be substituted, fitting for the interior tabernacle, which was also a figure ^D of the heavenly and future state. Indeed, the Jews adumbrated the end of the Jewish state...

^A to them, and sought him, saying: "What sign do you show, seeing that you do these things?" He, however, meeting them appropriately and enigmatically from the very matter at hand, promised to demonstrate the destruction of the temple and its restoration: for the destruction of the temple, that is, of his own body, is the destruction of this world, and the renovation and change of the temple, that is, of his own body, is the declaration of the future state. My argument, therefore, my friend, remains firm: namely, that He did nothing for the punishment of man, but all things for the sake of bestowing benefit; for He himself cries out elsewhere: "For God did not send his Son to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

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Then he gathers the water into one collection and reveals the dry land, which he called earth, being previously covered and hidden by the waters; and he forms the seas, that is, the Ocean, as they call it, which encompasses this, our earth, and is contained within that farther earth. He also forms the four gulfs flowing from the Ocean into this earth of ours, so that the Ocean, situated in the middle, might generate a temperateness of air for both the interior earth and for those of us living on this earth. The gulfs, however, he prepared for the navigation and transit of this world, always leading the dispersed nations into friendship by easily transferring the necessities of life from nation to nation. He also ^B commands that fruits of every kind, trees, and green grass germinate from the earth. On the fourth day, moreover, taking the purer part of light, he forms the sun; and from the remainder, the moon and stars, adorning the heavenly things with fitting beauty, and providing order and harmony to the whole. He prescribed a work and a law to the invisible powers, so that they might administer these things and govern them harmoniously for the use of the image of God, namely man, and all things that were created for his sake. In this matter, he also accustomed them and instructed them to be subject to law, and explored their intent, whether good or evil. Hence, some of them transgressed and were cast down from heaven and lost their dignity: "For I was watching," says the Lord, "Satan falling like lightning from heaven." For he was puffed up ^C regarding the ministry entrusted to him by God for the benefit of men—namely, to move the air for the sake of man and to regulate it for his usefulness—and thinking that he had attained this of himself and by his own nature, and usurping for himself the adoration due to God, he was immediately thrown down headlong. For the Apostle also says again, instructing Timothy not to confer dignity too hastily upon a neophyte, as one who had only recently come to the faith, he writes: "Not a neophyte, lest he be puffed up and fall into the judgment of the devil." But when the Apostle says that the devil was "puffed up," he manifests the cause of his rejection: because, clearly...

he thought himself to be God; whence he also wished immediately to inflict his own infirmity upon man, saying: "You shall be as gods." ^B

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When almighty God had brought forth all the angels with the heaven and the earth, which had not existed before, they all stood amazed, being endowed with reason and at the same time astonished, and reflecting who might be the creator and artificer of themselves and of the things together with them. For they beheld themselves to be within other things, and not having existed before; and again they reasoned: "Is there one creator of them and of us, or is one this and another that? Or, again, were all things brought forth by themselves? Or who, then, is greater than the other?" As they were turning such thoughts over with themselves during the whole space of that night (for that darkness, as it is written, God called night), God, present to their thoughts, suddenly and invisibly uttered this voice, saying: "Let there be light." By this voice, the work following from nothingness struck them all with amazement, and at the same time taught them that He who had brought this forth from nothingness had also brought them and the things with them forth from nothingness. And all, bowing down invisibly, worshipped God, who had brought both themselves and all things forth from nothingness. The divine Scripture declares this in Job, speaking from the person of God: "When I made the stars, all my angels praised me with a great voice and sang hymns," signifying all of them in succession from the one. It must be noted that in the sight of the angels, ^C He brought forth two substances from nothingness into being, the first of all and the last of all: first, indeed, light, and last, our soul; the one being visible, sensible, and irrational; the other invisible, gifted with intellect, rational, and invisible; but all other things He brought forth from things that already existed, that from this He might teach them that He is the author of all created things, irrational and rational, sensible and intelligible, visible and invisible, by having brought them forth from nothingness. Nor is it unlikely that they, being rational, also reasoned during that day and night whether He who had brought forth this light had also brought forth the heaven. But He, again using His voice, created the second heaven in their sight, having fashioned it from the waters according to the likeness of the form of the first heaven. And again by this they were taught that He is the maker of this and of the first heaven, and thus He completed the works of the second day. ^D Then, as they were again reasoning and considering the things pertaining to the earth, having gathered the water in the same way, He reveals the earth itself, having named the dry land "earth," and as Master, He placed a name upon it; just as He also called the firmament "heaven." Afterwards, He brings forth from the earth seeds and herbs and all manner of green things and trees, teaching that He uses each thing as His own creature, according to His will. Then, since on the third day He brought forth the plants and seeds, on the following, that is to say the fourth day, when these had been [set into order] with a certain temperament and or-

order, He created from the light which He had recently produced, the luminaries and the stars. And having placed the multitude of the invisible powers in the firmament of heaven, He commanded them to move rationally according to order, and to revolve for the temperate state of the plants and of all those who were to use them; so that when they set, they might be cooled by the chill and the movement of the air, and by the presence of the luminaries might enjoy warmth. Some, therefore, from among the invisible powers, remaining of a wavering mind from the beginning even to this present time, and ungrateful toward their Creator, approaching rashly the ministry assigned to them by God, puffed up by the sharpness of their nature and by their innate virtue and reason, despising and holding in contempt the voice and command uttered by God, and not understanding that they themselves were produced as creatures together with the darkness—overcome by their own insanity, they surmised that they had come forth into this nature by themselves and of their own accord. I refer, of course, to the devil, to whom the charge of the air had been entrusted, and others with him, to whom other things had been entrusted, who, usurping for themselves the adoration and honor due to God, becoming quickly puffed up and disobedient, were—lest they be a stumbling block to others—cast down from on high and from their dignity, and began to wander about the earth. Whence, even on the sixth day, after man had been fashioned, he, being found upon the earth and envying such great solicitude of God toward man, wished to draw man down into his own malady.

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^A and it is present for many other good uses; water comes for drinking, for washing, for leaven, for irrigating, and for many other uses; the earth serves for dwelling, for the bringing forth of all kinds of fruits, and for many other needs; clean quadrupeds for enjoyment and for clothing; beasts of burden for service and for rest; wild beasts for delight and for fear; reptiles likewise; all serving for the discipline of the rational being, and providing what is useful for man, who is the bond of friendship for the whole of creation, who walks upon the earth, and with his mind flies and surveys the universe, upright in form and easily looking up to heaven as his own dwelling-place, who is king of all things that are upon the earth, and reigns together with the Lord Christ in the heavens, ^B and becomes a fellow citizen of the heavenly beings, to whom all creation, as to the image of God, ministers, being subject to God and maintaining goodwill toward the Creator.

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Again, on the fifth day, with living creatures being produced from the waters, the angels are taught that God is the maker both of this water and of those produced along with it. Likewise, again, more perfectly, with living creatures being produced from the earth on the sixth day, they are taught that God is the maker of the whole universe, both of living and inanimate things. All the angels, therefore, were again looking around, seeing indeed all the works of God which had come to be before their eyes in the space of six days, and they were reasoning that all things were indeed diverse and marvelous and worthy of astonishment; but ^C they did not see among them anything similar to themselves, rational, invisible, and intelligible. And there was room for them to suspect whether perhaps there might be one creator of the rational, invisible, and intelligible beings, and another of the irrational, sensible, and visible ones. Desiring to remove this suspicion of theirs, God lastly creates one living creature composed of all natures—I mean man—out of the rational and sensible, and the intelligible, visible, and invisible, and places him as in the rank of his own image, signifying that there is one creator of the whole. Whence, the angels, having greatly wondered, were taught by the very sight of man the glory, and the power, and the greatness, and the wisdom, and the goodness of the one and only God, and that all the elements, and the things that came to be after them, had been prepared for the sake of man. ^D They therefore willingly ministered as subordinates, and served, moving all things for the benefit of the image of God, inasmuch as they were its proper members; whence they again rejoice greatly at the good deeds and the righteousness of men, but at their misfortune and sin they are greatly distressed, as the Lord Himself also says: "That there is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents."

It must be noted here that just as in the sight of the angels, first from nothing

^A He brought forth the visible and irrational light, and afterwards the rational, intelligible, and invisible nature; so also in man, according to Moses, He fashioned first the body, and then the soul. From this, it might have been conjectured that if another day had existed after those six days, God would have produced other things as well; but since no other day exists after the six, it was impossible for God to produce anything further.

God, however, removing this suspicion of theirs, made the seventh day also superabundant, producing nothing in it, declaring thereby that the world is perfect and that nothing is lacking in its structure. For if anything had been lacking, He surely would have finished the things that were needed on the seventh day. But since nothing was lacking, He rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had begun to make.

But perhaps someone will again ask: "Why did He not make the whole creation in one day, or two, or three, or four, or five, but in six days?" Such a person will hear the truth: that since the angels were rational and mutable, one day would not have been sufficient for their instruction, had the universe been created in a single day; for they might have thought that things were brought forth in a hodgepodge ^B or like phantoms, and produced disorderly. But the omnipotent God, harmoniously and with the order of parts preserved, assigning to each work its own day for the sake of discerning and teaching the angels, thus created the universe.

And on the first day, after having produced them along with the heaven and the earth and the elements, He created the light first of all in their sight; on the second day, the firmament; on the third, having gathered the waters, He brought forth from the earth trees and herbs; on the fourth, He adorned the heavens with the luminaries; on the fifth, He brought forth swimming creatures and flying creatures from the waters; on the sixth, He created the animals from the earth and man. And these six general works He executed in six days.

Therefore, He created the whole world in parts over six days so that He might distinguish and teach the angels, so that they, being endowed with keenness of mind, might be able to discern in each day both the reason for the work and its maker.

Moreover, it is permitted to anyone to learn that the angels were produced along with the heaven and the earth, because when they were present at all His works, God uttered a voice before them for their instruction, saying: "Let this and that be made." But ^C when He created the heaven and the earth, because they did not yet exist, He did not use a voice at all, nor did He say, "Let heaven and earth and what is with them be made," for there were none who could hear and be instructed. But in all the other cases, since there were auditors who could be instructed, the voice was opportunely sent forth.

Since, therefore, the angels were produced along with the heaven and the earth, that writer Moses, moved by the Holy Spirit, began his book from those things which would include the angels, saying: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." ^D Hence the Apostle, well knowing the things pertaining to man and his form, in his Epistle to the Romans, sets man above all things as a heavenly being of the future,

^A saying: *And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.* By placing man above all others, then after him the birds, and after these again the fourfooted beasts, and after these the creeping things, which burrow more underneath the earth, he described them as if on a ladder. For all irrational animals, the fourfooted ones, bearing their body upon four feet and having their eyes turned toward the earth, none among them can easily gaze upon the heaven; and likewise the creeping things, dragging their whole body along the ground, neither can they gaze upon the heaven. Again, all winged creatures, being two-footed, and having their feet in the middle of their body in proportion, while in flight they look toward the earth; and when standing, they too cannot easily gaze upon the heaven. Man alone, among the animals upon the earth, as a rational being and one who is to be heavenly, received a form from the Creator in accordance with this: he is two-footed, as one who is to fly and walk in the heavens; his form is stretched out and upright, as if prepared and ready to go to the heights; and he easily gazes upon both the earth and the heaven with his eyes, as one hastening to ascend from the earth to the heaven, with earthly and heavenly things being joined together through him. Furthermore, all irrational animals generally perform the act of union from behind and are joined together, not seeing one another face to face, and conduct the union in an irrational and shameless manner; but man alone, coming together face to face as a rational being, performs it so that, seeing one another, they may perform the union with reason, modesty, and reverence, and may gratefully praise their Creator with reason—He who gave and ordained for nature to have its own help and movement for its own sake, for the increase and multiplication of our race. That ^B God made the woman from the side of the man, acting as one of the two sides that bind and unite the body together; for He did not create her from the parts in front of him, so that the woman might not exalt herself over the man, nor from the parts behind, so that the man might not act arrogantly toward the woman; but He brought her forth from the side, as being equal by nature, even if the man is prior in time as the cause, though not prior in nature. And furthermore, because the hand always covers and guards its own side, therefore He commanded that the woman be formed from the man, and the man from the earth, and that both be one flesh, both from the composition of the two sides and from the fruit born of that union. Therefore, he who commits fornication sins, inasmuch as he makes his own flesh alien and sows an unordered fruit; but whoever commits adultery is ranked with the murderer, inasmuch as he divides the one flesh and thus commits slaughter.

But perhaps someone might raise a question again, saying: ^D Why, when God produced all the irrational animals, did He form male and female at the same time, but man alone was not produced together with the female, but solitary? To such a one I shall answer: Because all those animals produced by God, since they are irrational, can understand nothing,

^A but all the angels, having been made rational beings, and knowing the Creator of all things in what had occurred in parts—I mean, in the six days—it was necessary that man also, who was created rational by God and was the bond of the whole creation, should be taught the Creator of the universe. And since he, not having existed before, but having been made last of all, could neither know God from those things which were made before him, nor from himself, it pleased God not to bring forth the female together with him, but after him, so that he might learn through this that He who brought forth this being like unto himself from him, also brought forth him. For this reason He cast an ecstasy and a sleep upon him, so that, as his rib was taken away without any labor or pain, as in a sleep, he might through the grace of God receive a sense of what was being done, and might break forth into praises of his Maker, confessing and saying: *This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken from her man.* Since, therefore, the angels were produced as rational beings, and had learned the Cause from the works made in the six days, it was necessary for man also to be taught through the female, and to learn that God was the Creator of himself and of the universe, especially since he had previously heard God saying: *Let us make him a helper according to him.*

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^A frame, signifying the land beyond, where Paradise is in the east, and where also the extremities of the first arched heaven rest upon the extremities of the earth on all sides. Then he also placed the lampstand in the southern part, shining toward the north upon the earth from the south. He placed seven lamps upon it, signifying the week; and the lamps signify all the luminaries. After the veil was the second tabernacle, the one called the Holy of Holies, and the Ark of the Testimony, and the Mercy Seat, and above it the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy Seat, which is a type, according to the Apostle, of the heavenly things from the firmament up to the highest heaven, just as from the veil to the wall of the inner tabernacle, forming the inner ^B space.

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^A calls an imitation of the world, and the interior the imitation of the heavens.

Since, then, that great and divine cosmographer Moses has received testimony and glory, in the Old Testament indeed from God, and in the New from Christ; and since other God-bearing prophets and apostles bear witness with him concerning all things and concerning the figure of the whole world, as we have declared in the preceding book, and concerning that creation itself are entirely in agreement with him: who, then, under the influence of ^B a depraved mind and being foolish and led astray—especially if he calls himself a Christian—would disbelieve such truth and such sacred testimony? Would he not rather, casting his eyes to the ground, revere the multitude of testimonies, the election, the revelations, the wisdom, the glory, the predictions, the stupendous signs, the great miracles, the fulfillment of prophecies, and the testimony of God Himself, who spoke with Moses face to face as a friend with a friend, and who in the New Testament, the Lord Christ, has often borne witness to him? Truly—if I may speak more fervently—unless one wishes to be an adversary to God, he can by no means resist; for then, led by repentance, he will say: "The finger of God is in him," and he will acknowledge himself defeated, just as those Egyptian sorcerers and enchanters, Jannes and Jambres, bore witness concerning him.

Since, therefore, according to that great and divine cosmographer Moses, and according to that most divine teacher of the Church in whom Christ spoke, Paul, only two heavens have been created by God, and not seven or eight or nine, how is it possible to pay attention to those "outsiders" who argue from conjectures and sophisms and empty prattle and construct myths—not old ones, but especially some new ones, which they have invented as a most vain apology for the difficulties of their own ^C dogmas? How can those who pay attention to them say that there are waters above the heaven according to Scripture, or that the first, second, and third days could have existed without the course of the sun, the moon, and the stars? Or how, during the flood in the time of Noah, did it cover the whole earth, and how did the waters retreat again? Or how, once more, can they say there will be a consummation of the world, and that the course of the stars will cease as they fall, and that these will no longer by their succession produce days and nights, and that the present state will cease entirely, and another, foreign and far superior to this one, will be revealed; and that the righteous will enter into the highest heaven, situated far beyond this visible heaven, where the kingdom of heaven is, namely that second Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies, the type of which was that inner space in the Tabernacle; where also the Lord Christ entered, having been ^D taken up into heaven above the firmament, becoming a forerunner for us, preparing for us a new and living way? Or how can they say that after the consummation there will be seven or eight or nine heavens, or that the heaven, or the sphere, as they call it, will revolve again? For what purpose? Let them say so; do not let them begrudge us. Or how can such people believe also concerning the paradoxical

^A wonders that have often been spoken of by us, those under the great Moses? Likewise also concerning Joshua the son of Nun, the staying of the sun and the moon and making the day very long, until he routed the enemies; and concerning Hezekiah, who caused the sun to retreat ten steps, a thing which also astounded the Babylonian and induced him to send envoys to Hezekiah?

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The Text

And leaving aside all the other things, which it would not be so easy to recount ^D now, I shall proceed at last to the Resurrection itself, which is the renewal of men and of the whole world; the gift of incorruptibility and immortality and immutability granted by God to the entire world; the ascent of men again into heaven, where the Lord Christ first entered according to the flesh; why should I mention the shadows of the apostles that healed the sick, or the Apostle Paul’s being caught up even to the third heaven, that is, the third mi-

more than the distance from the earth to heaven, namely up to the firmament; and again into paradise, where he was deemed worthy to become a hearer of those secret words which it is not permitted for a man to utter? These are all truly miraculous, and exceed our nature, or rather our state. ^A

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The text.

^A their persecutors and drawn them unto themselves. In like manner, we see the Church never destroyed, but rather multiplied, and the entire world filled with the teaching of the Lord Christ, and it being propagated day by day, and the Gospel preached throughout the whole earth—which, having been present in many places and having seen and learned for myself, I report as a witness to the truth.

(54) In the island of Taprobana in inner India, where the Indian Sea is, there is a Church of Christians, and clergy and faithful are found there, though I do not know if there are any further beyond that. Likewise in what is called Male, where the pepper grows; and in the place called Calliana, there is also a bishop accustomed to being ordained in Persia. ^B Likewise, in the island called Dioscoridis, situated in the same Indian Sea, whose inhabitants speak Greek and are colonists brought there by the successors of Alexander the Macedonian, clergy are found sent from Persia, where they are ordained: a multitude of Christians lives there also. I sailed past this island, though I did not disembark there; yet I conversed with some of its inhabitants, who spoke Greek and were traveling to Ethiopia. Likewise also among the Bactrians, the Huns, the Persians, and the remaining Indians, the Persarmenians, the Medes, the Elamites, and in all the region of Persia, the churches are numberless, as are the bishops, the Christian peoples in great quantity, the many martyrs, and the monks and hesychasts. ^C Likewise also in Ethiopia, in Axumis and the whole surrounding region. Among the Happy Arabians too, who are now called Homeritae, in all Arabia, Palestine, Phoenicia, and all Syria, Antioch up to Mesopotamia, the Nobatae and the Garamantes, in Egypt, Libya, the Pentapolis, Africa, and Mauritania as far as Gades to the south, everywhere there are churches of Christians, and bishops, martyrs, monks, and hesychasts, wherever the Gospel of Christ has been preached. Likewise, again, Cilicia, Asia, Cappadocia, Lazica, and Pontus, and the hyperborean parts of the Scythians, the Hyrcanians, the Herulians, the Bulgarians, the Helladics and Illyrians, the Dalmatians, the Goths, the Spaniards, the Romans, the Franks, ^D and the remaining nations as far as Gades of the Ocean toward the northern part—who all have believed and announce the Gospel of Christ, and confess the resurrection from the dead. And we see the prophecies being fulfilled in the whole world.

What Socrates, or Pythagoras, or Plato, or Aristotle, or any other of the famous men among the external philosophers, was deemed worthy to foretell or announce any such thing, beneficial to the world, as the resurrection of the dead and the immovable kingdom of heaven, granted to men? Unless it be only from calculations and worldly learning—even if they do tell the truth—they can foretell something; so that, even if they speak correctly,

^A no benefit comes from this to the world, but rather pride; and yet, if they had remained silent, no harm would have been caused to the world by this. For what child, upon learning calculation, would be devoid of such learning? Or what old woman, or rustic raised in the fields, would not attain at least some knowledge of natural things? Or what nation or barbarian does not know these things? I speak of astronomy, geometry, and various sciences: medicine, carpentry, stone-cutting, weaving, smithing, agriculture, and others which the Greeks cannot even conceive in their minds. Or what nation, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, if it believes in Christ, does not, by means of a certain method and various calculations, foretell the paschal feast for many years? And all are found to predict the truth, since, from the furthest ends of the earth to the furthest ends opposite, even if they use different calculations and methods, all celebrate Pascha on the same day by one consensus.

For when God endowed man with wisdom and reason, He caused him ^B to discover everything that the mind is able to reach, or to acquire it through learning. For such by nature is that rational animal, man. For since the men of old, having discovered and invented a certain craft, stumbled in many things, they subsequently—or their descendants—amend and correct these things by experience, either through time or through the assiduity of practice; and likewise, those who learn from them hold fast to what is handed down. But divine teachings are not perfected in this way by human invention; rather, since they are given by God from the first foundation, whether they be dogmas or crafts, one grasps them firmly. ^C This is just as it happened to those who built the tabernacle in the time of Moses, to whom God imparted wisdom—namely, Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and all to whom He gave understanding and whom He filled with the divine Spirit and knowledge in every craft to devise, and to be architects, and to work gold, and silver, and bronze, and blue and purple, and scarlet, and twisted linen, and fine-spun byssus, and to work in stone and in woods, to perform all the works that God commanded to be made for the tabernacle ^D of the testimony, and the ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat that was upon it, and the equipment of the tabernacle, and the altars of the tabernacle, and the table, and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, and the priestly robes of Aaron, and the robes of his sons, for the priesthood to God, and the anointing oil, and the incense of the holy composition, according to all that God commanded him to do. And indeed, up to this day, you will find most of these crafts practiced for the most part among the Jews.

Paragraph. When the first man had sinned, and had come to a sense of his transgression, and by God at a fitting time was convicted, and had brought upon himself shame and confusion, he reasoned...

thereafter how to cover his nakedness. ^A And being skilled in his craft, and stung by God as a rational being, he discovered the art of sewing, stitching fig leaves together for himself with the thorns of trees. At the same time, being further instructed by God, he was taught to make garments from the skins of animals. Scripture testifies that Cain found the art, or rather the science, of agriculture, and Abel that of shepherding. Thereafter, following the fratricide, Cain was cast out by God, as it is written: *Cain went out from the presence of God, and dwelt in the land of Naid*, 50 as if to say that Cain was cast out by God and sent into exile into a wretched land; for they supposed paradise to be the dwelling-place of God, seeing that He came forth from there and appeared to them more frequently. ^B Those, therefore, who were close to paradise, the sons of Seth, as being under the care of God and enjoying more frequent converse with God, were forever called "sons of God." But the descendants of Cain, being removed far away from paradise and not being always under the care of God, but rather dwelling in a wretched and wild land, and caring more for themselves, were called "sons of men." Living, therefore, in fear, Cain and his descendants discovered other arts for their own safety, such as carpentry, masonry, smithing, and music. Carpentry, for making tents, doors, and roofs, to protect themselves and their livestock; masonry, for building houses and cities, providing themselves with security and a fortress; smithing, for farming, and for cutting the earth with a plow, and reaping seeds with sickles, and for making weapons and other ^C things; and music, so that with pipes, lyres, and songs they might keep watch at night, protecting themselves and their livestock from the injuries of wild beasts. Living, therefore, in fear and in exile, they devised every contrivance for their own safety. For this is what is said about them: concerning Cain, *And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch*; 51 concerning Thobel, the son of Lamech by Ada, it says: *This was the father of those who dwell in tents, keepers of cattle*; 52 and concerning Jubal, the brother of Thobel, it says thus: *This was he who taught the use of the psaltery and lyre.* 53 And concerning smithing, when it speaks of Thobel, the son born of Sella: ^D *This was a hammerer, a smith of bronze and iron.* 54

Thus, therefore, God from the beginning implanted sagacity in man for the invention of the arts; and while the ancients first discovered them, those who came after them, taking their cue from the first, as they treated them with care, brought them to a more perfect state. It would be appropriate, therefore, to move a discourse against those sophists who say that the world is eternal and without beginning: to remind them how they err, not understanding from the things themselves—that is to say, from the arts—that they are not...

^A eternal and without beginning, but recent. For if the arts were discovered little by little, and all human society consists through art and rational science, how is it possible for the world to stand without arts and rational science? For if there were no masonry, how could houses, fortresses, and cities be built for the protection of men and society? Likewise, if there were no weaving, whence would men have sufficient covering against the cold and frosts? Likewise, if there were no smithing, whence would men be able to till the earth, to furrow it with plows, and to reap crops with sickles, so as to provide themselves food? Again, if medicine did not exist, by what art would they cure sufferings and soothe diseases?

From all these things, then, it is manifest that the world is not eternal, but recent: just as inventions and new arts are devised among men. For where would they find among astronomers one equal to or more skilled than Ptolemy, or among philosophers one equal to Plato and Aristotle, or who among the geometers and arithmeticians would find any more skilled than Euclid and Archimedes, who alone discovered the squaring of the circle? But if these were more accurate than the former, is it not plain that the arts were always discovered part by part through the wisdom given by God to men? For this reason also, Scripture, referring all things to God, cries out: "All wisdom is from the Lord" (Eccli. I, 1). ^B Those, therefore, who posit that the world is eternal, err, or rather are insane, being refuted by the things themselves; but divine Scripture is more truthful, saying: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. I, 1).

But again, we shall placidly ask those wise men: Since the hammer, anvil, and tongs precede all smithing art, who made these? Let them answer, and not begrudge us. But not understanding to have recourse to God, the Creator of all, who implanted wisdom in the race of men and gave them the beginning of invention, but striving to forge and reshape arguments through their own reasonings, they are driven into straits and waves of thoughts, and finally arrogantly pronounce the world to be eternal and to have no beginning; and hence it is argued in what straits they are turned. In what, for example, difficulty they are turned, when the case of man and birds is discussed, ^C that the one is born from seed and the others from eggs? But if their opinion were true, were men and birds by the beginning, together with God, from seed and egg respectively, or were they not? And if they were, it follows by necessity that the seed and the eggs pre-existed God, men, and birds; but if they were not, they will yield to divine Scripture teaching these things, in Moses indeed, God said: "Let us make man according to our image" (ibid. 26); but by the Apostle speaking in Athens at the Areopagus: "This God, who made ^D the world and all things that are in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor does He need anything, being worshipped by the hands of men, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things: and He made out of one

blood every nation of men to dwell on the whole face of the earth, defining the determined times and the boundaries of their habitation, to seek the Lord, if ^A perchance they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us: for in Him we live and move and are. As has been said before, then, the sons of Seth, that is to say those called the sons of God, contrary to the will of God, of their own accord and by their own choice, rushed toward the daughters of men, that is, those who were of the race of Cain, and were joined to them in marriage. God, seizing an opportunity from these things, arranged another economy, and indeed destroyed the sinners by the flood, but having preserved the righteous man in the ark, He transferred him to this earth, which was better than the other and almost equal to paradise.

The Text.

Divina item dogmata, world structure, and prophecy cannot be explained unless someone learns it from divine revelation, or receives it from God-bearing men, namely from the prophets themselves, the apostles, and the whole of divine Scripture; for it is impossible to learn anything of this kind from conjectures, or from arrogance, or from human wisdom. That the structure of the world accords with the doctrine of the Christians, all divine Scripture, as has been said, proclaims—Moses, that is, and the prophets, the Lord Christ, and the apostles, as we have often mentioned. For God divided the one space from the earth up to the highest heaven, placing the second heaven between, making two spaces; and He assigned ^B the lower space to this mortal and mutable life, but to the immortal and immutable [He assigned] the higher, which is also called the kingdom of heaven, just as the Lord Christ, speaking of it in the Gospel according to Matthew, says ^C in these words: "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven"; and again: "He will say to those on the right: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," as if to say, prepared from that time; and again: "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself"; and again: "One is taken, and one is left," as if he were to say, on earth; and again: "Enter into the joy of your Lord," that is, into heaven; and again: "Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham in the kingdom of God; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness." Likewise also the Apostle Paul ^D says in agreement: "Let us be diligent to enter into that rest," as if he were to say, in heaven; and again: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we await the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness," so that it may be conformed to the body of His glory; again, "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him"; and again, "He raised us up, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in

Christ Jesus; ^A item, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call"; and again, "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother"; and again, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling"; and again, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"; and again, "By faith Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God"; and again, "And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them"; and again, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^B the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel"; and again, "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." As it is also said in the Gospels; for according to Luke it is thus written: "And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven"; and again in the Acts ^C he says: "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'" For the apostle Paul says again: "For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us"; and again, "For such a High Priest was fitting for us"; and again, "We who have fled for refuge might have strong consolation, to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek"; and again, ^D "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

of God, drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering; for He is faithful who promised.

How, then, is he a miserable and thrice-wretched man, who denies faith to such promises and such true predictions, which even from the things created and prepared from the beginning, as He said, from the foundation of the world by God in two places, and by such constructions, are demonstrated to be true and in agreement with the dogma of the Christians? ^B Namely, the hypotheses and the ends; such as that God, having defined this present life as mortal and mutable, for the exercise of the rational nature, and having led it through experience, in the end causes the world to cease from toils and from discipline, and reveals the future one, granting eternal good things—freedom from want, freedom from passion, immortality, incorruptibility, immutability, perfect knowledge, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and blessedness unto the ages. Amen. For it is not as those on the outside babble, saying that the present state remains eternally, hypothesizing God to be rather malicious, or impotent, or envious, unable to ever give the world a cessation from toils and corruption; but rather that He adds to it day by day corruption, and passions, and death, and toils, and that He is unable to grant the rewards of the toils, or crowns, and cannot put an end to the exercise. Just as they suppose Him to have been a maker of only that matter which was at His disposal, so now they suppose Him unable to lead it to a better condition, disbelieving also in the resurrection of the dead, as if it were impossible, and disbelieving the whole of divine Scripture. For this reason, the wretched ones also accept the spherical shape of the heavens as true, while disbelieving and loathing all divine Scripture, and turning away from the truth as if it were old wives' tales. But far be it from us to glory, except in the whole of divine Scripture, by which this exterior world has been crucified to us, and we to the exterior world. May it be granted to us, O most God-loving Father Pamphilus, together with a good life, to embrace the divine oracles, and to cast off the sayings of our opponents, by the will of the better One, and the cooperation of our Savior Christ, who is over all; with whom to the Father be glory, together with His holy and adorable Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK IV. A brief recapitulation and description of the figures of the world according to divine Scripture, and the refutation of the sphere.

It is written: In the beginning God made heaven and earth. We therefore describe the first heaven together with the earth, arched, with its extremities joined to the extremities of the earth; and as it is possible to present it in a drawing, we have done so, for now according to the western or eastern side; for these two sides are walls reaching from the bottom up to the very arch. And the firmament is joined at the middle with the first heaven:

^A upon which, according to Holy Scripture, the waters are placed. Its position and figure, therefore, are as follows: the heaven is joined at its own extremities to the extremities of the earth on its four sides, making the shape of a cube, as it were a solid square; and above, it rises into an arch, curving along its length, presenting the image of a great vault; and in the middle, it is connected by the firmament, and thus it is divided into two places. From the earth to the firmament is the first place, namely this world, in which are angels and men, and this whole present state; from the firmament to the top of the arch is the second place, namely the kingdom of heaven, where Christ, having been assumed, was the first of all to enter, preparing for us a new and living way. According to the western or eastern side, it has this smaller figure, as of a great arch; but according to the southern and northern sides, it exhibits length. The figure is therefore as follows: ^B

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As far as we were able, we have taken care to depict the heaven with the firmament placed within, and the summits situated in the middle of the earth, which we currently inhabit, and the Ocean around it, and the four navigable gulfs flowing into the land: the Roman, the Arabian, the Persian, and the Caspian, or Hyrcanian. Again, in the cir-

^Acuit of the Ocean is the land beyond, where also ^B Paradise lies toward the east. We depict, therefore, once again the width of the earth for the time being, and of the Ocean and the gulfs, and of the land beyond, and Paradise, omitting for now its heights, so that what is depicted may be easily understood by those observing it. The shape of the whole earth according to this surface and width is as follows:

To this land beyond the Ocean, the first, vaulted heaven is joined on all sides, at its edges. Towards the western and eastern sides, a wall is found rising straight up; towards the south and north, the wall is equal at the bottom, as far as is visible according to the design of the vault; but above, it is very high and winding, like the dome of a great bath, having a base at the bottom, being itself both wall and vault. ^C Then, as we have often said before, the firmament is stretched in the middle, according to its height, and is joined to the heaven itself, so that two spaces are created: the upper and the lower. The one space, that is, the lower, contains the earth, the water, and the remaining elements and the stars—this world of ours, from the earth unto the firmament—having the earth for its floor, the walls of the first heaven for its sides, and the firmament for its ceiling. And from the firmament to the vault of the first heaven is a second space, that is to say, the kingdom of heaven, where our Master Christ ascended after he rose from the dead, and where the righteous are to ascend hereafter; having the firmament (or second heaven) as its floor, and the first heaven as its walls and vaulted ceiling. We depict, ^D again, both the height and shape of this earth which we men currently inhabit, which is circled by the Ocean, and in which are the four gulfs that are sailed. Its eastern and southern parts are low, while the northern and western parts are very high, situated gently and imperceptibly [sloping]. Therefore, as much width as the earth has, so much height does it have toward the northern and western parts. We therefore depict its shape as best we can.

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The whole earth is quadrangular, as was previously written, but the elevation of its central part and the heights toward the northern and western parts are as we have indicated. From this, if we depict it such that it is in the middle, with the Ocean surrounding it, and again the land beyond surrounding that, and with the stars circling around it, that conical mountain can also cast a shadow toward those on the outside. And according to this shape, eclipses of the moon can occur, as well as nights and days; and the divine Scripture speaks more truly, saying: 'The sun rises, and the sun sets, and to its place it draws, rising; it goes there toward the south, and circles, circling, and into its

^A course the spirit returns;' as if it said, and circling the air, it returns again to its place.

Text. In this view, one may see the uninhabited parts of the earth. Therefore the sun, rising and running through the south according to its revolutions, always illuminating the height of the earth, or the earth itself, makes night beyond that height of the earth toward the ocean and the further land; and again, coming to the west and the north above the height of the earth, it makes night here, until, circling around, it appears at the lower parts of the east, and again ascending toward the south, it illuminates this whole. Thus, eclipses of the moon also, even according to this figure (if indeed it is true according to the outsiders), can happen when either the sun or the moon is hidden ^B under the summit of the earth; for they say that the solar eclipse is not caused by the shadow of the earth, but because the moon is interposed between us and the sun; so that on the side that faces the sun, it is illuminated, but on the other side not at all; rather, it hinders it from appearing while it runs underneath, when it is the lunar new moon, and the moon is not illuminated on the side that faces us. Therefore, our opinion will not hinder these things at all, except in the fact that the heaven is moved and circled, which would truly be a subversion of the entirety of divine Scripture, both of the Old and of the New Testament, and of the Christian doctrine. But we have no leisure to inquire into these things further; for such knowledge would be entirely useless to us, who have another, far more useful knowledge, ^C bringing good and fruitful hope to our souls, which God has promised to give to those who believe in Him; but to those who act unjustly, He has destined extreme punishment. However, with God helping, we shall delineate the reverse part of the earth according to the northern regions, so that we may be able to describe the circuit of the stars at least in part: and it is thus:

When, therefore, the sun setting from there runs its course by the ministry of the invisible powers, as is told in divine Scripture, in the other part, which is inhabited, it is day; but when it runs its course there, here it makes night. By way of summary, however, according to our ability, we shall delineate heaven and earth. And it is thus:

Paragraph. This part of the earth, situated beyond the north, is uninhabited, where the luminaries run from the west through the ^D north to the east; and this rises like a wall; when the sun arrives at it, it makes night in the opposite inhabited part. Therefore, from the diameter of the breadth of its inhabited parts, a height is held, which rises from the bottom of the earth toward the ocean part, up to the very summit of the earth. Wherefore, since this elevation intercepts the light of the stars in between, hence night and all the other things follow.

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It remains for those who wish to be Christians to inquire into which of those eight or nine heavens Christ has ascended, and to which these also hope to ascend; and what is the utility of the other seven or eight heavens. For we, having first posited our schema according to the Scriptures, say that two places were created: one suiting this present state, and the other suiting the future life, seeing that we possess such a hope, one far better than life here. And you also, if you possess such a hope as Christians, will necessarily be asked ^A what the utility of the other seven or eight heavens is. For those outsiders who defend the sphere, following their own principles, neither hope for such a hope, nor say that there are waters above the heaven, nor do they deign to confess the consummation of the stars and the world; but they hope that the world will revolve in corruption forever.

If the sphere of the planets carries the others by force from east to west, whence comes the contrary retreat of the seven planets? Do the spheres move in the opposite direction, or the stars themselves? But if the spheres, how is it possible for them to be carried both toward the west and toward the east at the same time? But if the stars, how do the planets cut through heavenly bodies? Is it not manifest that a heavenly body is not cut through? For unless it were corruptible, it certainly would not be cut. Why, therefore, do you posit such things?

^B Since, outside that sphere, there is neither place, nor body, nor element, nor any other part, how do you say it is moved? Answer, and do not begrudge us knowledge of this. For without place, or space, by what machine can it be moved? Do not be so arrogant with empty words, just because you are physicists. But because some wish for the sphere to be rotated like a lathe by a beam, or like the axle of a chariot or a machine, let them declare upon what the beam or the axle is supported—and that again, upon what—and so on to infinity. Why, then, do you reason about physics? How is it that the axle does not pierce the earth, which occupies the center, and rotate it? Further, tell us, you who follow them and yet wish to be Christians, into which of the eight spheres, or the ninth—the one ^C which some call *anastron*, or void of stars—did Christ enter, or are we to enter? Or how can waters exist in a spinning sphere? Or how, at the consummation, when the stars fall, can these many spheres of yours still be preserved? And what is their usefulness? Is it not clear that you are arguing against the hope of Christian doctrine? For these things are fitting only for the hopeless Greeks, who do not hope for any other better state, and who consequently posit that the world is eternal, so that they may preserve for themselves that rich abundance of spheres in which the planets always complete their own course, while the fixed ^D stars reside in another; yet their error is not lacking in some semblance of probability. But you, however, put forward things that are entirely incredible.

…while you desire a multitude of spheres, yet you do not desire the consummation of the world, though you are unable to set forth their utility. Likewise, you wish for waters to be above the moving spheres, which are surely ridiculous and full of madness, and you speak of things that are contrary both to themselves and to the nature of things. Moreover, you wish for the entire universe to have been created in six days, and since you do not find the production of the third heaven in these, you dare to speak of eight or nine. How much knowledge exists among you, how much wisdom, how much prudence, how much contradiction! No man can serve two masters, as the Lord has well said ^A; but if he wishes to serve God, let him serve God; if he wishes to serve mammon, let him serve mammon. And again, He Himself cries out through Paul: You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons ^B; and again, Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what participation does righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? And what agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

How, again, can the earth, which according to you is situated in the middle of the universe, have been submerged at the time of the flood of Noah? Or how can it be believed that it was submerged by the waters on the first and second days, and on the third, after the waters had been gathered, it appeared, as it is written in Genesis? But what is more "witty" of you is that you posit that humans, as antipodes, walk about on the whole earth. ^C Therefore, according to your opinion, we depict the earth and the antipodes; and whoever among you is endowed with sound eyes and a sane mind, let him turn the earth about in whatever way he wishes, and let him say whether all the antipodes can be standing upright according to the same reasoning. But they will not be able to prove this, even if they speak shamelessly. Thus, then, we have responded to your feigned and false hypotheses, and to your conclusions that are truly uneven, incongruous, and unable to remain consistent even with themselves, and which are subject to disturbance and confusion, and bear a greater circumvolution than that revolving feigned sphere of yours. Wherefore, most Christ-loving Father, after we have reached the end of the fourth book, and have delineated the antipodes, as I promised, I shall begin the fifth book, as well as the description of the tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert; and this by the nod and will of God, the Savior of us all.

BOOK V

In which the description of the tabernacle is contained, and the concord of the prophets and apostles is proven.

Now is the time to prepare the delineation of the tabernacle built by Moses in the desert, just as we received it from that most divine man and teacher, who, having taken the occasion from Divine Scripture and borrowed its testimonies, ^D beginning from the exodus…

^A from Egypt, when the firstborn of the Egyptians died, which was the last plague induced by Moses: when also the Israelites, after the sacrifice was offered, ate the Pasch, standing, with loins girded, and holding staves in their hands, ready for the departure from Egypt; and that at the evening of the first of the first month, while the fourteenth moon was current. This was a shadow and type of those things which were to come under the Lord Christ, namely, of the liberation from tyrannical servitude, the renovation of the world which comes from the resurrection from the dead, and the eternal rest of men. For at this very time the world is seen to have taken its beginning of existing, created by God; and likewise under Noah, after the flood, it was again at the same recurring time according to the beginning of the world; at the same time again the liberation and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt; and at the same recurring time the conception of the Lord Christ according to the flesh from the Virgin took place—who is the second Adam and the prince of the second state; and at the same time also the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. They also say that the general resurrection will be at the same time of the year. To this time, moreover, those exterior plagiarists also bring testimony, who nevertheless deem that opinion their own, and from the Ram lead the beginning of the zodiacal circle. In which month, even according to Divine Scripture, the first month exists, by which a clear proof of their plagiarism is also revealed among them, and it is ridiculous. And nothing good resides ^B with them which they have not stolen from Divine Scripture; but being possessed by pride, and wishing to be above the rest of men, they use what belongs to others as if it were their own.

That the law holds the place of a shadow of certain future things, the Apostle testifies, crying out: *“For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things”* (Heb. x, 1). By saying "shadow," [he is] as if one were to outline a man with a shadow, but not paint his image—namely, his face and all his limbs, so that it might be known whether he happens to be old or young, handsome or ugly—but merely outlines the size of the body. So he calls the image that very appearance of the figures, namely, the mysteries celebrated by us Christians—I mean the regeneration through baptism and the participation in the mysteries. But he calls the "things" themselves the actual resurrection from the dead, the transformation of our bodies, the change from corruption to incorruption, [the change] of the soul from mutability to immutability, and perfect knowledge instead of [knowledge] in part, the dwelling place, and the rest, and the entry into heaven; for earthly things, heavenly; for temporal things, eternal. All these things, moreover, were procured for the human race through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he calls the law the shadow of these, ^C but he calls the mysteries performed by the Christians the image and the characters; for example, I mean the lamb being sacrificed, [which is] instead of the passion of Christ, just as the Apostle Paul also says:

^A For our Pasch also is sacrificed, Christ. And John the Baptist speaks thus: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Therefore, the flight that occurred from this, for the Israelites at that time away from the destroyer and the slavery of Pharaoh, signifies for us [our] liberation from the devil and the slavery of the most grievous law; for them, the crossing of the sea, and wandering in the desert, and the giving of the law, and the construction of the tabernacle, [is] for us the crossing of baptism, and the wandering of the Church, and the gift of the Holy Spirit; for them, water in abundance for life from the rock, for us, vivifying mysteries; for them, the land of promise is granted for rest, for us, heaven, not made by hands, is ^B our rest; for them, a temporal life, for us, eternal life, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, and beatitude. Those things, then, occupy the place of shadows, but ours are, as it were, the images and characters of the things themselves; for we have not yet entered into the things themselves, but we are destined to rise from the dead. For no one besides the Lord Christ, according to the flesh, has been within the things themselves, since He was the first of all to rise from the dead.

When, therefore, the Egyptians were urgently pressing the Israelites to depart from Egypt, they carried off on their shoulders the dough, mixed with water but not yet cooked in preparation for receiving leaven. When they had departed, therefore, and were approaching the Red Sea, the Egyptian Pharaoh, ^C having changed his mind and gathered an army, pursued them from behind, reaching them near the sea opposite the farmhouse, between Magdolus and opposite Beelsephon. Then at last, evening having overtaken them, that night the pillar of cloud, or rather of fire, which always preceded and guided them, came behind them and restrained the Egyptians, preventing them from making an attack on the Israelites. Then, at the approach of day, as the Israelites cried out to God, God commanded Moses to strike the sea with his rod and divide it. He, therefore, having executed what was commanded and having struck the sea, divided the waters, which stood here and there like a wall; and the Israelites crossed over; but the Egyptians, all with their chariots, when they were in the middle of the sea, ^D pursuing the Israelites, perished, having been drowned when the water returned by the divine wrath. This place is in what is called Clysma, for those going toward the mountain on the right. Where even the tracks of the wheels of their chariots are seen and appear for a long distance up to the sea, preserved to this very time as a sign to the unbelievers, though not to the believers.

Paragraph on the Conception of the Lord

When Zacharias had entered the temple on the tenth day of the seventh month, according to the tradition of the Law, and had received the message about the John who was to be born to him from Elizabeth, in her sixth month the Virgin also received the message, with the result that it was then the beginning of the first month. For since Zacharias received the message on the tenth of the seventh month,

^A and Elizabeth conceived in that same month, it is clear that six months of the year had passed, and six still remained, except for those ten days, or perhaps two, or three, or seven, until Zacharias departed to his house, so that there remained 168, or 167, or 163 days. The beginning of the conception of the Lord, that is, the beginning of the first month, was, according to the tradition of the Gospels, certainly the sixth month for Elizabeth; for God has always preserved and preserves this order. It is possible to know this, since we all celebrate the birth of Christ upon the completion of the ninth month from the beginning of the first month, that is, the 28th of Choiak. The Jerusalemites, however, as if on the authority of the blessed Luke, who says that Christ was baptized when he was beginning about thirty years of age, celebrate the birth on the Epiphany. And truly both the Evangelist and the Jerusalemites are making a correct calculation, but ^B the accurate reasoning is not thus: rather, the baptism happened on the very day of the birth, as both Luke and the Jerusalemites say. But from ancient times the Church, lest by celebrating the two feasts at once it might cause one of them to be forgotten, ordained that twelve days should intervene according to the number of the apostles, and thus the feast of the Epiphany should take place; just as it also ordained that the forty-day fast of the Lord—which he fasted when he was about to struggle against the devil—should be concluded at the Lord’s Resurrection; so that we too, according to the pattern, struggling and imitating him as far as possible, might receive the passion and resurrection of the Lord, even though it did not happen on the very same days. In the same way, therefore, it ordained that the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus be celebrated twelve days after his birth. The Jerusalemites alone, ^C based on a probable conjecture—though not by accurate reasoning—celebrate the Birth on the Epiphany; and on the day of the Birth they celebrate the memory of David and James the Apostle; not that both died on the very same day, but, as I suppose, so that they, the kinsmen of Christ according to the flesh, might not remain outside the feast abandoned, they all celebrate their memory, glorifying God through all things. Amen.

After the exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Israelites into the desert.

When, therefore, the Israelites had crossed over to the place called Phoinikon, they began to advance into the desert of Sur; God spreading a cloud over them by day that they might not be troubled by the heat of the sun, and providing them with guidance by it; and by night appearing in a pillar of fire, and guiding them through the whole desert, as it is written: *He spread a cloud for a covering over them, and fire to give them light in the night*. ^D It is possible, therefore, to depict this in the following way.

Then again, having journeyed from Merra, they came to Elim, which we now call Raithu, where there were twelve springs, which are preserved even to this day. But the palm trees, which were much more numerous and otherwise useless, we have deliberately omitted.

^A At that time, they had the sea to their right and the desert to their left; but afterwards, having left the sea behind, they traveled within the desert, heading upward toward the mountain. And when they had arrived between Elim and Mount Sinai, the manna descended upon them; and there they first celebrated the Sabbath according to the command given by God to Moses, without a written text, at Merra. These things, then, may be described as follows: Having departed from Merra to Elim, and traveling back again between Elim and Mount Sinai into the desert that is there, the quail descended upon them in the evening, and in the morning the manna. There again they began to observe the Sabbath for the first time, as the manna was preserved from the sixth day until the Sabbath, whereas on other days it could not be kept, but would rot and spoil. And this was a document for them to celebrate the Sabbath; for when some of them wanted to gather manna on the Sabbath, they did not find it, as it is written.

Afterwards, they encamped at Raphidin, at the place now called Pharan. And as they were pressed by thirst, Moses, at the command of God, holding the staff in his hand, went forward with the elders into Mount Choreb, that is, into Sinai, which is about six miles distant from Pharan. ^B And when he had struck the rock, there, many waters flowed out and provided drink for the people, just as David also cries out in the Psalms: "He cleft the rock in the desert, and gave them to drink as in a great abyss"; and again: "He cleft the rock, and the waters flowed; they went on the dry ground as rivers"; and again: "He brought forth water from the rock, and brought down waters as rivers." And the Apostle Paul says: "For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them; but the rock was Christ"; as if to say, Just as He gave those people to drink plentifully from the water flowing from the rock, so does Christ provide for us lifegiving waters through the mysteries, of which the rock was a type. And there again, after they had defeated Amalek, Jothor came to meet his son-in-law Moses, with his two sons and his wife; for Moses had sent back his wife and children....

^D "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of those things that are in heaven above, or those things that are in the earth below, or those things that are in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not worship them, nor shall you serve them. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold guiltless the one who takes His name in vain. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall do no work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your manservant, and your maidservant, your ox, your beast of burden, and the stranger who dwells with you.

neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his oxen, nor his beast of burden, nor any creature of his, nor anything that is your neighbor's. ^A

The Text.

Finally, when he had descended from the mount, he was commanded by God to construct the tabernacle, which was a figure of what he had seen in the mount, namely, an express image of the whole world; for, "See," He says, "that you make all things according to the pattern shown you in the mount." ^B And the blessed apostle Paul said in the Epistle to the Hebrews that that first tabernacle was a figure of this world; for he says: "Then verily the first had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Sanctuary." Having called it "worldly," as though it were a pattern of this world, he added: "wherein was the candlestick," meaning by this the lights; "and the table," that is, the earth; "and the showbread," meaning its annual fruits; "which," he says, "is called the Sanctuary," that is to say, the first tabernacle. ^C Then also regarding the second, he says: "We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." And again: "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." And again: "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God." ^D There he speaks of the true tabernacle as heaven, and of those things prepared through Moses as the figures; wherefore he calls those which are of Moses "made with hands," but the true ones "not made with hands." Being commanded, therefore, to make it, he makes it as the pattern of the tabernacle was shown to him, and the pattern of all its vessels: both the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat above it, and the two cherubim extending their wings and overshadowing the mercy seat from above; likewise also the veil and the table and the candlestick and the courts of the tabernacle, that is to say, the first coverings, and the hair-cloth coverings from the goats' hair—that is to say, the woven ones—again, and

^A *Paragraph.* It must be noted here again that by the tabernacle fixed by God he signifies the true one, that is to say, Heaven. Furthermore, he calls Heaven a tabernacle not made by hands and a perfect one, again and again, since it was created by God. For he calls the tabernacle which Moses constructed "made by hands." Moreover, in contrast to the tabernacle constructed by Moses, he calls this one the true one, as it persists forever, while that one is dissolved. By "curtains" he means the hangings—for so the external Attic writers call them, referring to a large and variegated veil as an *aulaea*. Hyperides the orator, in his speech against Patrocles: "The nine archons," he says, "were feasting in the portico, with a curtain concealing part of it." Likewise Menander: "Web, ivory, ointment, wine, curtain."

The twenty pillars are twenty standing boards, each board being of one cubit and a half in width; thus the twenty pillars make thirty cubits: this is the length of the tabernacle. Their bases were double, both inside and outside, placed around the board; and these bases were silver. The capitals were simple and golden, and likewise the boards, the bars, and the brackets. The brackets are two pieces of wood plated with gold, fastened to each board, turning and meeting one another so as to bind all the boards together; these brackets and the bars, through the rings—that is, the clasps—showed how the entire tabernacle was firmly bound. But the fifth bar, the middle one, was not carried through the rings, but through the middle of the boards for greater stability of the tabernacle. The height of each board was ten cubits, and the width of the tabernacle was ten cubits, and the other wall was equal to this wall. ^B When the veil of the temple was rent in two at the Passion of the Lord, it signified three things to us at once: first, it refuted the audacity of the Jews against the Lord, as though the divine temple were mourning and tearing its garments; ^C second, it was signified that the Jewish rites were to be dissolved and confounded, with the first tabernacle being removed; third, that the inner tabernacle, hitherto hidden and inaccessible to all, even to the priests, had now become manifest and accessible to men. Glory be to the King of the ages, Christ, for all things, unto the ages. Amen.

*Text.* This is the description of the naked tabernacle. But its first coverings were woven and variegated with hyacinths, purple, twisted linen, and scarlet, just as the veil was, which the Scripture calls "curtains." They were like long curtains; the length of one was twenty-eight cubits, and the width was four cubits. ^D He says that five curtains were joined together, and likewise the other five, and the joints of those curtains in the middle, toward the edge of one, were loops; and toward the edge of the other, clasps. And they took the

^A curtains, and joined the ten of them together, as is done in what are called *sigistropylae* (ring-bolts), or bindings for rugs, or as in the case of double-bags. And when they would take up the tabernacle for departure, they were five and five, and they were divided and carried. This same thing also they did for the second coverings, those made of goats' hair, which were called "skins." They were in number eleven, and each was thirty cubits in length, and thirty cubits in width. Five of these were together, and the other six were joined likewise with loops and rings, so that the whole might form one. The length of the tabernacle, therefore, was thirty cubits; for there were twenty columns—that is to say, boards—one and a half cubits in width, which make thirty cubits; then also the width with columns of six, each one and a half cubits, which make nine cubits. And at the corners, two columns of one and a half cubits make, for the eight columns, twelve ^B cubits, secured on all sides by bars. The ten curtains therefore, being joined together, made a width of forty cubits, and covered the whole length of the tabernacle and the rear wall, which had a height of ten cubits, making forty cubits in all. And the twenty-eight cubits in length of the curtains covered the width of the tabernacle, ten cubits; and the two walls on either side, of ten cubits in height, made another twenty cubits, a total of thirty cubits. And there were twenty-eight, it is clear, except for one cubit that covered the one wall, and the other, except for one cubit; but the curtains made of woven hair covered the other two cubits; for each was thirty cubits in length; and the one skin that remained over was let down at the door of the tabernacle. We delineate therefore the form of these, and at the same time the three coverings made of skins, which are as follows.

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Here Moses, after having been deemed worthy on the mountain of those terrible sights, is commanded by God to construct a tabernacle according to the pattern which he saw on the mountain, and it was a type of the whole world: "See, therefore," He says, "that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain." Since, therefore, it had been shown to him ^D how God had made heaven and earth, and on the second day had made the firmament in the midst, and having made one space, had made two spaces; he himself likewise, according to the pattern which he had seen, made the tabernacle, and placed a veil in the midst, and by dividing it, made the one tabernacle into two, the inner and the outer. The Apostle, therefore, declared the outer tabernacle to be a figure of this world, saying thus: "Then verily the first tabernacle had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the sanctuary"; as if he were to say, it has the type of this world, in which is the earth, and the missing: celestial fruits and the luminaries. Then also interpreting the second, he says thus: ...

fruits of the changing seasons, and the lights. ^A Then, explaining the second tabernacle, he says thus: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." 13 As if he were to say, Just as the high priest enters once in the year into the inner tabernacle by the blood of goats and calves, rendering God propitious to the people, so also Christ entered into the tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption once for all. And again: "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself." ^B And again he says, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come"; for by the shadow of the archetype, through the inner tabernacle, it delineated the ascension of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, and the entrance of just men. Wherefore, again admonishing in these words: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart." 14 And again, declaring that Christ is in heaven, he says: "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" 15; because the propitiatory lay within the second tabernacle. And many other like things are contained in the Epistles of the Apostle, and in all the divine Scripture.

But perhaps someone may again object: Why did Moses command the entrance of the tabernacle to be established in the east, and the inner tabernacle, that is to say, the Holy of Holies, to be placed toward the west? ^C But to this it is replied in a few words: Because he had been commanded by God to construct the whole tabernacle as an image of the entire world, according to the pattern which had been shown to him on the mount, so he finished the work, and at the same time wrote down that God, when He had formed man, had placed the beginning of his entrance into the world in the east, and had commanded him, by advancing and multiplying, to extend and fill the whole earth even to the west; therefore the door of the tabernacle was placed toward the east. Item, because the tabernacle itself was an image of the heavenly mansions, it was ordained that it should be made manifest in the last time through the high priest ^D and King of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, as though it came about subsequently. Since, however, the race of men began from the east, and through multiplication was spread toward the west, therefore the second tabernacle, and the last, was exhibited at the extremities in the west. For this reason also the Church has received a tradition that Christians everywhere should render one spiritual adoration to God toward the east, as He who first appeared there to men: mindful, that is, of things ancient, and now giving thanks to Him who multiplies and extends the race of men from the east even to the west.

^A For the Jews, thinking of God in a more corporeal way, performed their worship toward Jerusalem, where the temple was built. Now, one may learn about this from the history of Daniel, who, opening the windows that looked toward Jerusalem and turning his attention to the temple, offered his worship. Certainly, he who is situated to the east of Jerusalem performs his worship toward the west; and he who is to the west, toward the east; and he who is to the north, toward the south; and he who is to the south, toward the north: in a certain sense, the four groups are shown to be worshipping toward one another. But the Christians are not so, but in one rite and with one spiritual worship, they pay homage to God, as He who is uncircumscribed, toward the east: for He who first appeared to them in the east has multiplied them even to the west; to Him be glory forever and ever, amen.

Seven lamps, snuffers, oil-vessels.

Paragraph.

Text.

^A enters once a year into the inner tabernacle, so too Christ, appearing as the high priest of the good things to come, entered once through His own blood into the Holy Places, having obtained eternal redemption; these things I recall having mentioned many times. And the delineation of the ark of the propitiatory is as follows:

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Regarding the priestly garment

with the names of the twelve tribes, six on one stone and six on the other. ^A The rationale of judgment was a woven cloth, four-square, one palm in size, doubled and made of golden thread, again variegated with the four colors, and furnished with four rows of stones; these rows, consisting of three stones each, made up twelve stones in total, which, adorned with gold and bound to the rationale, each had the name of one tribe engraved upon it. He also commanded two golden scutulae to be placed on the two shoulders on the front part, and from them to hang fringes woven of gold and colors, so that the attached rationale might hang from the breast; and again, two golden chains, brought down from the two sides of the rationale from the lower part and fastened alternately to the rear at the edges of the two superhumeralia, which were on the back of the priest, so that the chains on the back of the priest formed a cross, ^B binding the rationale to the superhumeralia front and back. The inner garment was entirely blue in color, from the breast down to the shins, and its opening was woven together. The lower hem, as if it were a wide border, was woven of various colors, and he wore golden bells and golden pomegranates and flowers hanging one after another on the hem. He had a fine linen bonnet and a variegated girdle that bound the inner garment from above under the breast. He wore a miter on his forehead, and above the miter, as if on a band, a golden plate, on which was the seal of the holiness of the Lord, so to speak, the so-called tetragrammaton, and in this way he entered into the Holies. He wore femoralia, that is, linen breeches, from the loins to the thighs to cover his nakedness. The figure of the priest can thus be delineated.

Everything regarding the appearance is clear, being types of certain things, and clear for decency and for fear. For example, ^C the two emerald stones borne upon his shoulders, in which were the names of the twelve tribes, signify the twelve tribes, descended from one forefather, Abraham. This is what is signified by the emerald stone, which is placed on both his shoulders and has been divided into two. He commanded that the weight of the twelve tribes be placed upon the shoulders of the priest, as one who bears all things on their behalf and approaches God. The rationale upon the breast, being double, signifies soul and body; for this reason it is both double and placed upon the heart. The twelve different stones signify that each person’s opinion varies and that there were different tribes; since there was one forefather, he commanded there to be one emerald stone; but because the tribes and the opinions were different, he commanded various stones to be worn on the breast. ^D On the forehead, he tells us, is the plate of the holy seal of the Lord, with letters engraved upon it in which was written God, which they call in Hebrew the tetragrammaton. Also, the other things are for decency.

^A The golden bells and the pomegranates were for the purpose of emitting a sound; for it was taught through this symbol not to dare to enter into the Holy Place before causing the voice to be heard. Just as when someone is about to enter into the presence of great men, if he does not find an announcer, he begins to knock, not daring to enter as it happens; so here, too, it is commanded through the bells to walk and produce a noise. And these things we have written down concerning the tabernacle and the priest.

A cloud was over it by day, and fire by night, in the sight of all Israel at all their journeys, as it is written. Continually, moreover, the transportations of merchants, especially Ishmaelites and Midianites, coming to them, provided for them all things in abundance, God providing for their needs, as it is written in Deuteronomy thus: ^B "Know thou how thou didst pass through that great and terrible wilderness; behold, for forty years the Lord thy God has been with thee, and thou hast lacked nothing" (Deut. II, 7); and in another place he says the same thing: "Thy raiment has not worn away, thy feet have not become callous, behold for forty years. And thou shalt consider in thy heart, that as a man instructs his son, so the Lord thy God shall instruct thee" (Deut. VIII, 4); and likewise again, "He led you for forty years in the wilderness: your garments were not worn out by age, and your shoes were not worn away from your feet" (Deut. XXIX, 4). For it is not as some tale-tellers of portents, especially those from the circumcision, have supposed, that their garments and shoes were not at all worn out strictly speaking, so that Moses would say ^C such a thing; but he says that nothing was lacking to them in the wilderness, because merchants were frequently supplying them with necessary things. For otherwise, I ask, how could children born in the desert have been able to use their fathers' garments and shoes, with such a difference in stature? Who would have been able to make the loaves of the presence fresh daily, if merchants had not brought them grain? For you know that they murmured for this very reason, saying: "Can he also give bread or prepare a table for his people?" (Ps. LXXVII, 29). Or whence did they have fine flour to make cakes, or hyacinth and blue skins for the coverings of the tabernacle, if they had not bought them from merchants? Because then the merchants, ^D by the providence of God, were supplying them, and yet they murmured against God and against Moses, even though they possessed the riches of the Egyptians; for this reason, as if to the ungrateful and unbelieving, he performed wonders: at one time bringing forth water in abundance from a rock, at another providing manna from heaven, at another quails from the sea for thirty days; again, he was punishing them with blows, sometimes consuming a part of the camp with fire, sometimes destroying twenty-four thousand with death, sometimes sending serpents, sometimes swallowing alive the group of Dathan, Abiron, and Core with their companions, with their whole house and cattle, by a chasm in the earth through divinely sent wrath; teaching them not

to disbelieve nor to be ungrateful to God, but to live temperately. ^A Having received the law from God in writing, and having newly learned letters, God, as if using the desert as a quiet school, allowed them forty years to exercise themselves in carving letters. Whence one can see, in that desert of Mount Sinai, in all the resting places, all the stones there—those that have fallen from the mountains—inscribed with carved Hebrew letters, as I myself who have traveled through those places testify. Some Jews, having read these inscriptions, explained them to us, saying they were written thus: "The departure of so-and-so, from such-and-such tribe, in such-and-such year, in such-and-such month," just as many among us often write in inns during their travels. But they, as ones who had only recently learned letters, used them frequently and multiplied their writing, so that all those places are full of carved Hebrew letters; these, as I believe, are preserved until now for the sake of unbelievers. It is permitted to anyone who wishes to go to these places and inspect them, or to inquire of others, so as to learn that we speak the truth. Therefore, the Hebrews, having first been instructed by God and having received letters through those stone tablets, and having learned them during those forty years in the desert, handed them over to their neighbors, the Phoenicians, at the time when Cadmus first reigned over the Tyrians; from him the Greeks received letters, which from there spread to all nations.

They camped in the desert according to the order given to them by God, ^C surrounding the tabernacle—priests and Levites—and around them were the twelve tribes: to the east of the tabernacle, three, in the midst of which was the tribe of Judah with Moses and Aaron, holding the leadership over the rest; to the south, three; to the west, three; and to the north, three. In such a rite they rested, and in such they broke camp, and marched according to this arrangement.

Thus camping each time in the desert, upon the death of Aaron and Moses, and upon Jesus son of Nave taking their command, and having miraculously led them across the Jordan, he established them as heirs of the promised land, according to the divinely given prophecies and ordinances. The tribe of Judah held the metropolis, Jerusalem, until ^D the one who was expected and proclaimed through the law and the prophets came forth from them—the one through whom God brought about the great and eternal salvation and restoration for the world; I mean the Lord Christ according to the flesh, according to the promises made by God to Abraham, and according to the purpose which God had from the beginning, just as the Apostle also says in the Epistle to the Galatians, as if being questioned by someone who asks: "What then is the law?" as if to say: "Why then was the law given?" He answers very quickly and says: "It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."

^A That is to say, the Law was added so that through it and the priesthood the nation which received the promises—namely the race of Abraham—might be kept, and that no commingling of it with another nation might occur, so that He who was preached beforehand from it might be known to all, through whom the world is renewed, and the goal and purpose of God from above are fulfilled. For the goal from above and from the beginning for God was to bestow existence and participation in His own goodness upon others, as well as reason, knowledge, immortality, blessedness, and every good, in as much as a participant is capable of receiving. And since the Divine alone is untaught and is in itself true knowledge, ^B whereas it is proper for irrational creatures to be moved by natural impulses without reason or true knowledge, and similarly for inanimate things to be entirely devoid of movement, natural impulse, and knowledge, the philanthropic God fashioned rational beings as intermediaries, as far as was possible, capable of knowledge through instruction and experience, and He approved of this, and He accomplished according to His purpose from above the future state, that is, the world above.

Having first defined this present state, which He used as a kind of useful preparatory school for what pertains to us, He made it mortal and mutable, so that we, gifted with the power of discerning and reasoning, might enjoy participation in good things and turn away from evils. Wherefore the present life is mingled with pleasant and sorrowful things, so that, daily moving among them, we might flee the one and strive to attain the other. ^C For this reason laws are given, and threats and punishments, which restrain our appetite from evil. Finally, death itself, which indeed appears to come from His wrath, must in truth be considered a rest and a cessation of this calamitous life and school: for which reason God, out of Providence, brought it upon the first man, that He might render sin hateful to him, and righteousness desirable, inviting him, and all through his works, to the future life prepared for us, and the eternal kingdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and blessedness: which was God’s purpose from the beginning. God therefore wisely, nay, most wisely, casts death upon the sin of the first-created man as if by wrath, so that He might render this sin hateful ^D to him; then later, so that man might not succumb to despair from evils, He cares for him as a father for a child and makes coats for him—then He avenges the blood of Abel, translates Enoch so that the decree of death might not hold power over him, saves Noah from the shipwreck of the world, chooses Abraham, from whose seed He accomplishes the renewal of the world, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs, and their children and the twelve tribes descended from them, which He redeems with a high arm from the slavery of the Egyptians, leads through the desert, miraculously delivers the written law to them, and gives to the people, divided into companies, Palestine divided by lot to be possessed. He raised up prophets for them, David, their first king, Samuel, Elijah, and so many

^A as that disciple of his, Elisha, the twelve, and those four great men who prophesied the advent of the Lord Christ, who was to spring from them according to the flesh: in which Christ, and through whom, that original scope and the great and saving economy of God is fulfilled. For just as He ordained, through the sin of the first-formed man, to introduce death, so also through the obedience of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, He provided for the resurrection, the renewal, and the restoration of the whole nature of all things. For as Paul says: *Through man came death, and through man the resurrection of the dead* was introduced into the earth. This is the great salvation, and the economy and wisdom of God, who brought all things forth and restored all things again. ^B For this reason, He arranged those two states from the beginning, and the entire scope of divine Scripture, and the Christian proclamation, and the hope of Christians, looks toward the future life after the present one. Therefore, no one is baptized unless he first confesses the confession of the Holy Trinity and believes in the resurrection of our flesh; otherwise, he is neither numbered with Christians nor declared to be a believer. This is the scope of all divine Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament: which also looks to this, that God distributed the whole world into two places, like the pattern of the tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert; namely, this world, in which He decreed that we mortals and changeable beings should live first as in a school, so that we might experience both sad and joyful things; for without instruction, ^C obtaining learning is impossible. For *all discipline*, he says, *at the present time seems not to be of joy, but of sorrow*; yet, after we have been reasonably tested, He decreed to bestow His eternal good things in the future state, and to fulfill His own scope from the beginning, having managed our affairs as God, as it was fitting for Him, and as was profitable for us. We therefore map out the encampments of those Israelites in the desert, and the crossing of the Jordan which occurred under Joshua, the son of Nun, after the death of Moses, and their rest in the land of promise, and Jerusalem, and how they received the land by lot and took possession of it. While they were dwelling in this land, God raised up for them at various times ^D prophets to proclaim the advent of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, by whom the future state was to be demonstrated, reminding them of the promises which He had made to Abraham. Let us therefore outline each of the elders and prophets, declaring how they were deemed worthy to speak concerning the advent of the Lord Christ, whether by words or by deeds, and were deemed worthy to speak or to act concerning Him; for this too contributes to our argument, so that we may show in this, too, that from the beginning to the end, all divine Scripture aims at one scope.

ADAM.

^A This is the first-formed Adam, who was deemed worthy to utter a prophecy concerning himself and his own wife, who by the blessing of God are both joined together into one flesh through the act of union: a fact which the Lord confirms in the Gospels, affirming that God spoke these words through the mouth of Adam, who also became the matchmaker for Him. The Apostle Paul made use of this example, explaining it in a mystical manner concerning the Lord Christ and the Church, saying: *This mystery is great; but I speak in Christ and in the Church*. For just as Adam is the head of all men in this world, inasmuch as he is their cause and father; so too the Lord Christ, according to the flesh, is the head of the Church and the Father of the age to come. This man, again, was the first who was deemed worthy to be and to be called the image of God; but in the Lord Christ this arrived at a more proper fulfillment, just as the Apostle says: *Who is the image of the invisible God*. Adam, alone and the first of men, brought forth the female from his side by the work of God without seed, and the Lord Christ, according to the flesh, came forth from the female without seed, as a male, fulfilling ^B the equality and the debt of nature. This first of men was deceived by the devil and sinned; the Lord Christ paid the debt for him, having opportunely torn the handwriting and trampled the adversary underfoot.

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In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle declared that Adam was a type of Christ himself, using these words: *Who is a type of the one to come*; and in like manner he called him the first, and Christ the second. When God had threatened the first man with death on the very day that he should transgress the commandment, and yet, when he had transgressed, did not immediately bring death upon him according to the threat, but bore with him patiently; and had instructed him by the law, and cast him out of paradise, and granted him to depart in long-lived old age; God showed great compassion toward men, especially in providing tunics for him, and not being moved by anger to bring death upon the nature of men. Instead, by the power of foresight and wisdom, He instructed man, making sin hateful to him and, on the contrary, making righteousness desirable. By the protection of the tree of life, He instructed man to love and hope for immortality. ^D Glory to Him who, from the beginning to the end, provided for all things pertaining to man.

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It is permitted for anyone to learn that God has managed the affairs of men not out of anger, but rather out of humanity and wisdom: because even after the transgression, He not only bestowed upon him His own pardon and providence, but even adorned him with the prophetic power of foretelling. For concerning his wife, these things are related: *And he called her name Life, because she is the mother of all living*. For she was not of the...

^A nature and inherent power able to foresee that she would produce all the men of the world from her own womb, had not divine virtue and grace inspired her. Again, when Cain had slain Abel, who did not yet have children, being young and immature; and when he foresaw that Adam would have Cain as a survivor—or rather his seed—who would perish in the flood, he begot a third, whom he called Seth, as though you were to say, "the foundation of the human race": for this is what Seth signifies. By one stated word, he embraced two prophecies, namely, that the seed of Cain would be lost, and that this one, newly brought forth, would be as a beginning and a new foundation for men. And not only he himself, but his wife also, speaking concerning her son, gave him a name. For concerning her, these things are related: *And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth, saying: God hath raised up for me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew*. She herself also signifies by this: Since Abel died without children, and the seed of Cain is to perish, God has given this one to me as a new foundation for all men. And these things were by Eve. ^B But Adam, after the writer has related the birth of Seth and of his son Enos, resuming his speech again, says thus: *This is the book of the generation of men. In the day that God created Adam, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And he blessed them, and called his name Adam, in the day when he created them. And Adam lived two hundred and thirty years, and begot according to his own likeness and according to his own image, and called his name Seth*. In this place he also called his name Seth, as being the foundation of all men, and bearing his own characteristics and his own dignities. It must be noted here that it is stated ^C in Scripture that God gave the name to the first man, the man to his wife, and both to their child. Truly, from the things dispensed and provided regarding man, even the invisible powers, being endowed with reason, learn things concerning God. For since man is the bond of the whole nature of things, and the image of God, the things dispensed around him turn out to be a school of instruction for both him and all rational beings. For when he had sinned and received the sentence of death, they (the angels) mourned, thinking that the hope for themselves and for the whole universe had been taken away; but when they saw again that God was taking care of him, they were led back into a good hope for him and for themselves. This the Lord also signifies in the Gospels, saying that *there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth*, just as it is evident there is also sorrow when someone commits the opposite ^D of this. But the Apostle also says that the angels were subjected to serve vanity on account of man, by a hope which God gave, that they too shall be liberated when men receive the hope laid up for them, and are constituted as sons of God in glory. The Apostle further testifies that the angels are instructed in those things which pertain to God through the economy and providence of God toward men; for he says: *To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church...*

the manifold wisdom of God,* clearly meaning that through the Church they are taught the wisdom of God. ^A

ABEL.

This righteous Abel, inasmuch as he suffered death unjustly, was the first of all men to demonstrate that the foundations of death are infirm. For this reason, even after death he still speaks, foretelling the resurrection of the dead, which the Lord Christ, having first of all shown in Himself, destroyed that which appeared to be the empire of death. This is that Abel who, as in a riddle, exists as an imitator of the passion of Christ, in that he was unjustly slain by his brother out of envy for his good works; of whom the Apostle Paul also speaks in the Epistle to the Hebrews: *But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.* ^B

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Here it is demonstrated more clearly, by the fact that the righteous Abel has died, that death was not brought upon man out of wrath, since he who had not sinned died before him who had sinned. For this reason, there is an inquiry by God concerning the life of Abel, and a requital for his death. And that he still cries out after death shows ^C manifestly that he is to be recalled to life. And again, since death was not permitted to attack the sinner first, but rather him who had not sinned, it is shown to be something destined to be destroyed: because it made its first incursion not justly, but iniquitously; for it laid its foundations against a righteous man, and not against a sinner; whence you may learn that death has laid infirm foundations. For this reason it was to be destroyed very quickly, which also came to pass in the Lord Christ, by whom its power, as it appeared, was dissolved. Glory to Him who from the beginning to the end has cared for the affairs of men. From this it is also shown that death is not sent out of wrath, because those who are declared to be righteous die an untimely death brought upon them by force; whereas, on the contrary, those who are recorded as sinners, having run their course in life, died in a ripe old age. For it is appointed unto men by God once to die, as the Apostle says, speaking of how this usually happens: for neither do all die completely, nor did Lazarus and others whom the Lord raised die only once; but he indicates that all men who are in this state and condition of things, were created by God as mortal. After this, however, another, much better state ^D is introduced, which distinguishes the just from the unjust, the pious from the impious, in which death shall no longer hold dominion. Some also have said that when the first man had sinned, and had received the sentence of death,

^A he had not yet attained immortality, but was transferred into mortality. And in truth, while interpreting it, they say that when God said, "In whatsoever day thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die the death," He declared him to have become mortal. For we see that he did not die immediately upon the threat; as it is evident that this implies: "Since you were immortal, you shall become mortal," so that, he says, the decree of God might be proven true. Whence also those who are born of him, falling under the paternal sentence, are born mortal. And if this is true, why, since Abel according to them fell under this sentence and was born mortal, yet showed himself righteous and a virgin, was the sentence not sufficient for him, but he fell into another punishment, I mean the untimely death? Whence was this added to him, being righteous and a virgin, and otherwise having already fallen within what is called the paternal sentence, that is to say, being mortal? And can righteous mortals be preserved, so as not to die? Just as we see in the case of Enoch, who also fell under the paternal sentence, as you say, and had a wife and children, but did not receive the experience of death, ^B whereas Abel had neither wife nor children? Why also, when Cain begged for death because of the fratricide, did God not grant it, but rather delivered him to a heavier punishment, the mourning and trembling upon the earth, and said that death was the escape from this evil? He says, then, "Whoever kills [Cain] shall pay seven-fold," as if to say: "Whoever kills him takes away many punishments from him, and invalidates his punishment." Therefore, it is possible to see from this too, that in the righteous and virgin [Abel] being permitted to be killed, death was not brought upon man out of wrath, as those tellers of monsters decree, but rather through the mercy and wisdom of the compassionate God, for our discipline, just as we have said before. Furthermore, how is it that, according to them, when the first man sinned by the eating of the fruit of one tree, He condemned both him and all his successors to mortality, but when He condemned the first murderer to mourn and tremble, He did not condemn all subsequent murderers to the same punishment, but to another, which that first one once begged to be condemned to, and though begging, did not obtain?

ENOCH

^D This is Enoch, in whom the sentence of death did not prevail; for he was translated by God so as not to see death, as it seems in the divine Scripture, so that through him it might be foretold to us that death shall not forever hold dominion over man, but the things concerning him shall receive a dissolution, just as also happened in the case of the Master Christ, when His dominion was destroyed. This is Enoch, translated into life, as a token of God’s power for the generations after this, [a power] capable of preserving mortals so as not to die, but [that they might] while living undergo the change to the better. This is he who, together with Elijah in the last days, shall be set against the Antichrist, and shall refute the deception

^A of his error. This is he who through faith has escaped the way of death.

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^B The ark, however, is three hundred cubits in length; its width, as has been said, is fifty cubits below, and at the top, one cubit; for it says, "You shall make it, and finish it to a cubit." And its height is fifty cubits. He divided those fifty cubits into three decks, each of which was ten cubits in height. For he says, "You shall make a double and a triple deck," as if to say: Make two internal decks, and for the third, the roof above, so that there may be three decks. And in the lower deck, he placed the wild beasts and venomous reptiles, inasmuch as they always frequent lairs and dens under the earth; the quadrupeds and animals skipping on the mountains he placed in the second deck, inasmuch as they dwell upon the earth and in the mountains; the birds and man he placed in the third deck, since the former are creatures of the air ^C and the latter is destined for the heavens.

This is that Noah, perfect and righteous in his generation, who, having suffered involuntary drunkenness, contemplated certain mysteries therein. For the Scripture says: "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew all that his younger son had done to him." And after he had set these things forth, as though pronouncing a curse, he foretells the future, and as though bestowing a blessing upon the others, he prefigures what is to be, and says: "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem"; and again, "May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the houses of Shem." For in a certain way he neither cursed the first nor blessed these; but he uttered a prediction of the mysteries to be accomplished ^D through the Lord Christ. For the sons of Canaan never served their brothers; rather, they themselves served them in Egypt. Nor did the Gibeonites, as some have supposed, serve them; but they served God, for they were established as burden-bearers and water-carriers for the temple of God, and not for themselves. What then is this, if not entirely

^A not a prediction that they who are of the lineage of Sem according to the flesh shall serve Christ? But this, *Blessed be the Lord God of Sem*: is God the God of him alone blessed? Rather, He adds: *May God enlarge Japhet, and let Him dwell*, that is, God, *in the tabernacles of Sem*. It is an hyperbaton, which He says so that it may be thus: *Blessed be the Lord God of Sem, and let Him dwell in the tabernacles of Sem*; then, *May God enlarge Japhet*, for indeed He enlarged both Japhet and Chanaan, and both again serve Christ, who is of the lineage of Sem. For all His dwellings, which He made among men, God has had in part only in the prophets, but entirely and fully and universally in the Lord Christ, who according to the flesh is of the lineage of Sem, as is written of Him concerning the flesh: *In whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily*. ^B Being worthy of these visions, Noe also was able to foretell those things which were accomplished through the economy of the Lord Christ.

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In this man, likewise, it is more clearly demonstrated that death was not brought upon humanity out of anger. For while according to the sequence and order of common opinion it seems that all men perished in the flood because of the anger of God, yet according to the truth of the matter, death was brought about so that by an untimely death the weight of the sins which they were about to commit might be lessened; and since this man was preserved with such great providence as a precious treasure, it is manifest that what we said is true: that death was not brought upon man out of anger, but for the benefit and instruction and cessation of this wretched life. ^C For even Noe himself, who was preserved and watched over by God with such great providence, did not escape the way of death. Those others who perished would have had to undergo death after a short time as mortal beings; they endured it as if by wrath because of the untimely manner, but they were rather benefited and lightened of the many sins which they were about to add while living. The same honor and blessing and promise God bestows upon this man [Noe] as upon the first man, and even more, saying: *And the Lord blessed Noe and his sons, and said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and have dominion over it. And the terror and fear of you shall be upon all the beasts of the earth, upon all the birds of the air, and upon all things that move upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; under your hands I have delivered them. And every reptile that lives shall be ^D your food; even as the green herbs have I delivered all things to you. Only flesh in the blood you shall not eat*; and a little later: *Whosoever sheds man's blood, for his blood shall it be shed, because I made man in the image of God*. It is manifest from this that both before the transgression and after so long a time had elapsed after the transgression, God gave the same honor, the same power, and dominion to man; indeed, already what more

than that? For before the transgression, He ordered man to eat from every tree in the garden, with the exception of one; but after the expulsion from the garden, He no longer ordered him to eat from the tree, but from the seeds of the earth. Having therefore disciplined those ten generations, God, in that land beyond the thorn-covered region, through a life that was altogether dry and difficult, translated those who remained, through the work of Noah, into this land, and He permitted them to dwell there—a land which is better, and almost equal to Paradise—commanding them to partake of all things, both fruit-bearing trees and seeds alike, and furthermore, even to eat meat. ^B Who, upon seeing so great a providence and care of the wise and compassionate God, would not be pained to say that death was imposed by God upon man out of anger, and not rather be wisely prompted to give thanks? For since God wished to discipline and to instruct the human race, He wisely cast death upon the sin of the first-formed man, so that He might make sin hateful to him, and through the guarding of the tree of life, having cast him out, He schooled him again in the desire for immortality. For by God saying, "Lest he reach out his hand and take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever," He implanted in man a certain desire, love, and good hope for immortality, and through man, [He did this] for all the invisible powers. Nor did He exclude man from the promises given before the transgression, nor did He deprive him of them; indeed, He even granted him more, though he was chastised by Him, and He amplified the dignity of the name of His image through the work of Noah, when He said, "For in the image of God I made man." ^C For this purpose, therefore, God made man, so that in the present life he might live as a mortal and mutable being, and after the present discipline, he might be rendered immortal. You may know this more clearly, that from the beginning to the end, God has led and continues to lead man slowly toward better things through discipline and instruction, and this, in turn, is a gift of prophecy that God bestowed upon the first men. ^D Furthermore, Noah bears a certain likeness to the Lord Christ according to the flesh. For just as he was saved from the mass of the first men and translated to a better land, so that men might not suspect that the Lord God, led by some repentance and disapproving of His own handiwork, destroyed men with the flood; so too, the Lord Christ, having been taken according to the flesh, was the only one taken from the mass of men for the salvation of the whole world, and was translated to a better and heavenly way of life and conduct. Glory to God. Amen.

MELCHISEDEK

This is Melchisedek, that great priest of God Most High, who took tithes from the priests according to the Law of Moses. This is the king of peace and of righteousness, and at the same time the priest of God Most High, who was made like unto the Son of God, who

^A deserves to be the announcer of so many good things.

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After the flood, when mankind had multiplied again, this man alone among them was, by his own choosing, declared a priest of God Most High, and king of Jerusalem, after the likeness of the Son of God; and according to the Scripture, he offered holy sacrifices to God ^B of the most excellent of all created things, by which the human race is sustained and gladdened. This king also ceaselessly exhorted the people he governed to occupy themselves with these duties of piety, himself performing those same holy acts, and appeasing God for his own people. Although he was a Canaanite by birth and king of the Canaanites—not being of the lineage of the Abrahamic forefathers, but known to the lineage of the forefathers—such was the man who was shown to be righteous, king, and priest among men. He was the first, as priest, to bless Abraham, and having given thanks to God, he received tithes from all that ^C Abraham possessed. I suspect, and I will say what is true, that it was to him that Rebecca went, as it is written, so that she might receive from the Lord an answer regarding the twins she carried in her womb, and she heard: "The elder shall serve the younger." For it was to him, as priest of God, that she was accustomed to go at that time of custom to inquire of the Lord about matters that were pressing. The Apostle calls him "without father, without mother, without genealogy," and having neither beginning of days nor end of life, as he was not one who was numbered among the Abrahamic men, yet he had in this a likeness to the Master Christ, in that He is without father according to the flesh, and without mother according to the Godhead, and likewise ^D has no end of life according to the latter, nor according to His humanity, inasmuch as He became immortal and immutable. God, therefore, ever reminds men, whether by words or by types, that a second existence awaits men after the life here on earth.

ABRAHAM

This is Abraham the patriarch, the first of men to leave behind country, and kindred, and home, and to believe in God, and to be declared righteous on account of this, and on account of the promises which God made to him. He who, from a body now dead and a womb now barren, produced myriads of men. He who sent forth into the world, as if from a root, the blessed fruit by which the world is blessed and restored; he who by works and by promises informed the world about the resurrection of the dead: by promises, as when it is said, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations be blessed," just as the Apostle also...

^A exclaims: "To Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He does not say, 'and to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'and to thy seed,' which is Christ" — and by works, in that he offered his only-begotten son for a sacrifice. For thus the Lord says: "Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." The Apostle also cries out: "By faith Abraham, when he was being tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only-begotten, to whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall thy seed be called,' accounting that God is able to raise even from the dead, from whence he also received him in a parable." Again, in the Epistle to the Romans he cries, "As it is written, 'I have made thee a father of many nations,' before the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did: who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to what was said, 'So shall thy seed be.' And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead, being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. Yet in the promise of God he did not waver through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was also able to perform. Therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was accounted to him; but also for us, to whom it shall be accounted, ^B to those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification." And the fact that he journeyed for three days until he reached the place which God had shown him, so that he might offer his son for a sacrifice upon one of the mountains, as it is written; and that, in place of the true and natural son, a ram was shown to him to be offered—all these things, I say, were symbols and types of the mystery of the passion and resurrection of Christ according to the mystery. For all Scripture aims at this goal.

Paragraph.

From this point, God ^C begins to reveal to Abraham, for the first time, both by words and by types, the future life. For the great Abraham, at God's command, was considering how to offer his beloved son in sacrifice, believing that God is able to raise him up again and to bestow upon him those gifts which are mentioned in the Scripture. Wherefore, the Lord in the Gospels makes mention of the type of Abraham's sacrifice, calling his own day the type of that one. And through promises, God was declaring to him, saying, "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations be blessed," which was declaring to him the economy according to Christ. Furthermore, as God is a foreknower and knew that from the seed of Abraham there was about to come forth One through whom the resurrection and the restoration of the ^D

^A world is granted, He chose the faithful Abraham, having tested him in all things, so that He might not choose him prematurely. And having found him, among the Chaldeans who were astronomers and astrologers, to be the most faithful, He transferred him to the conjurers who are called Careni; and there, having been found faithful, he was commanded to dwell in the land of the idolatrous Canaanites. And having been found superior to the people there, and having deviated toward none of those three paths, but having rather submitted himself to the worship and commandments of God, he was deemed worthy of the great promises and gifts of God, so as to hear that from his seed is to come He who would first show forth the blessing and the promise to the world through Himself, through whom the Creator and restorer of the world also grants the resurrection and the promise to the world. And they say that Abraham was to have performed the sacrifice of Isaac on the very mountain ^B where also the Lord Christ was offered as a sacrifice for the whole world, and underwent the saving cross. Glory to our God. Amen.

ISAAC

This Isaac is a co-heir of the promises and blessings of God, which were made to Abraham his father. He became a type of the slaughter of the Lord Christ, having walked for three days toward his death, and after this having returned alive. He, on his own shoulders, carried the wood of his own sacrifice, just as the Lord Christ carried His own cross on His shoulder. He who in purpose indeed died, and was gifted with life by ^C God; in exchange for whom a ram was eaten, and his father heard from God: "Because you have not spared your beloved son." So also it has been said concerning Christ the Son of God, "Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all," although it is only the flesh that was given up for the life of the world, because it was impossible for the Deity to die. But since the flesh was delivered up, the Scripture nonetheless says that God delivered up His own Son, because that was given in exchange and as a demonstration of the Son in accordance with the type of the blessed Isaac. For so also the Lord said, that "Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." This is Isaac, who involuntarily delivered the blessing promised by God to him and to his father, when he said to Jacob, "Let nations serve you, ^D and let princes bow down to you; and be lord of your brother, and let the sons of your father bow down to you; he who curses you is cursed, and he who blesses you is blessed." However, we do not see all these things being fulfilled in the case of Jacob; but rather he himself, falling seven times to the ground, bowed down to Esau. And thirty kings reigned from Esau before a king existed in Israel, so that those blessings remain for Him who is expected to come forth from them, the Lord Christ, to whom the whole scope of the divine Scripture looks.

^A Likewise, he became a co-heir of the gifts and promises which proceed from Christ, and a type of the Lord Christ himself, who also, having received the blessing from his own father, did not pass it to the son he had wished, but to him to whom God had ordained it should be given. Glory to our God, who wisely dispenses the affairs of men. Amen.

JACOB.

^B This is Jacob, and he too is a co-heir of the promises of God, expecting the city which has foundations, whose architect and creator is God; that is, the heavenly Jerusalem, into which Christ, as a precursor for us, has entered, to which state all the worship of Christians looks, and the way to which—new and living—the Lord Christ first of all renewed for us: which also the great Jacob foretells, passing it on to his own son Judah, while blessing him, from whom also the Lord of the promises, Jesus Christ, was revealed, saying thus: "Judah, let your brethren praise you; your hands shall be upon the back of your enemies; your father's sons shall adore you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the shoot, my son, you have gone up; lying down you slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp: who shall rouse him? A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until there come things laid up for him; and he is the expectation of the nations. Binding his foal to the vine, and to the vine-branch the foal of his ass. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes are more ^C gladdening than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk." But his father’s sons did not adore him; rather, on the contrary, he himself adored Joseph even after the death of his father. Therefore it is manifest that in the Lord Christ, born according to the flesh from Judah, this whole prophecy had its end and fulfillment, which declares His kingly power, His passion, and His blessed resurrection after the torments.

Paragraph.

This same Jacob, counted alongside those two, is the third patriarch, who did not marry the wife he had from the beginning intended—I mean Leah—but bestowed the blessings and promises upon the fourth son born of her, that is, Judah; from which it is clear that this blessing was not common, nor given to just anyone, but to him from whom the Lord Christ proceeded according to the flesh, the prince of the second state. It is possible to learn this even from Judah himself, since it is not from his own wife, but from his daughter-in-law Thamar that his seed is genealogized, from which seed the Lord of the blessings was revealed. Moreover, it is most manifest that the patriarchs, having received such great promises from God, that in them and in their seed all nations should be blessed; ^D and likewise hearing that saying, "To you I will give this land, and to your seed," and yet possessing not even a footprint of it, but dwelling in tents,

^A they indicated most manifesty, as being most faithful, that they awaited another state in which they would obtain the promises. Therefore, when death was imminent, each of them imparted the blessing ^B to the son whom God had designated. Wherefore the Scripture, as if storing those fathers away in a treasury, says concerning each, "And he was gathered to his fathers," as if it would say: all together, as if stored away in a treasury, they shall receive them in the future life.

MOSES

^C This is that great Moses, the artificer of wondrous signs and prodigies, descriptive of the creation of things; who is adorned by the shadows of our true shepherd Christ, who in words and deeds announced beforehand the economy of the Lord Christ: by deeds, for example, when he redeemed Israel from the servitude of the Egyptians, by means of the passover and the shedding of blood; he caused the crossing of the sea as if in baptism; by the cloud he heralded the setting of the Law, and in the wilderness life he prefigured that which is in the Holy Spirit and the Church; by lifting up the bronze serpent on high, he proclaimed the passion of the Lord Christ endured through the cross; by sending through Jesus the entry into the land of promise, he prefigured that habitation which is in the heavens. O supernatural order of the Mediator, narrated through many miracles! But what need is there to speak also of the tabernacle, which is an image of the whole world, in which was also placed the mercy-seat, filling the place and order ^D of the Lord Christ? But that we may not lengthen the discourse, since we have often said these same things, let us come to his prophecy clearly spoken in words; he says therefore thus: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet: him you shall hear." And the man "who will not listen to whatever that prophet speaks in my name, that soul shall be destroyed from his people." And again he writes as having been said by Balaam: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, a man shall rise out of Israel; and he shall shatter the princes of Moab, and shall spoil all the sons of Seth." And the sons of Seth are the whole world. And this fits none other than the Lord Christ: for Seth is interpreted as "foundation." Since, therefore, Cain and his seed perished utterly in the flood, and Abel died younger and childless, Seth was born after them, from whom Noah and the whole world is descended, being as it were the foundation of men. For this reason, inspired by this cause, Adam named him Seth, calling him this, that is to say, "foundation"; therefore he said, "And he shall subject all the sons of Seth," as if to say, the whole world. This, however, shall fit Christ alone, towards whom all divine Scripture aims.

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And this man, too, was urbane, born unto God, and lived in the palaces of Egypt, being taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and afterwards, having been taken up into the mountain

^A of Sinai, he is taught the wisdom of God, and is sent again into Egypt, bearing the type of Him who redeems the world from slavery, and bestows upon it both freedom and adoption as sons. For he redeems the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians, having pre-delineated the shedding of blood and the Pascha; by causing them to cross the Red Sea, he prefigured baptism; by the giving of the law, he foreshadows the descent of the Holy Spirit; by their sojourn in the desert, he announces the tradition of the Church; by the entry into the land of promise, he predicted the habitation of the heavens through his successor; when his face was illuminated by the glory and splendor of God, he was pre-announcing the glory afterwards distributed in parts. And not only by types and figures, but also by words did he prophesy concerning the mystery of Christ. And again, he himself was the first to reveal to the world and to the human race the skill of letters in this life. Having beheld in mysteries the creation and description of the entire world, he recorded it in writing; he demonstrated the types of the first and second estate. Glory to Him who wisely provides for the human race through His own pupils. ^B

The Text

[45] After Moses and his successor Joshua the son of Nun, and after the Judges that arose in Israel, after the kingdom had been received and Saul had been rejected, God raised up for them a virtuous king, a just man and a prophet, namely David, who compiled the book of the hundred and fifty psalms, moved by the Holy Spirit, to edit a song metrically according to the proper measure of the Hebrew language; and he would modulate these songs melodiously with rhythm, and various instruments, and dances, and canticles. ^C For he himself was a player of the cithara; and he had under him various choirs of lesser prophets—for thus they called those who stood by the prophets, and often they also named them sons of the prophets—who were equipped with various instruments, one holding cymbals, another flutes, another drums, another trumpets, another the psaltery and cithara, and another singers who are called bucolic. Each choir had a leader: one was called Asaph, another Idithun, others the sons of Core, another Etham the Israelite, another Moses the man of God. When, therefore, he was moved by the Holy Spirit, then he would foretell something, either concerning the captivity of the people, or concerning their return, or concerning instruction in morals, ^D or concerning Providence, or concerning the Lord Christ. He would adorn every psalm metrically, which tended toward a single subject; for this reason, therefore, there are both short psalms and long ones; and he would deliver it to one choir whom he had approved, or whom it was fitting to deliver it to, and it was sung first in that choir. But if again he decided, in the middle of a psalm, to deliver the remainder of the psalm to another choir, then that succession of rhythm was called a *diapsalma*; so that when, in the middle of a psalm, he wished to deliver what remained to those singers, or bucolics, then it was called an *ode of diapsalma*; since the

^A singers, or cantors, by succession received the remainder of the psalm to be sung. And one may learn this from the fact that it is written in the Paralipomena of the Kingdoms thus: *And he sang this canticle [hymn] in the hand of Asaph, the prophet.* After the psalm had thus been delivered for the first time, each choir—both by itself and unanimously, with delight and rhythm—some with these instruments, others with others, in mutual concert, sang the psalm with dancing to the glory of God. And from this, too, one may learn that David himself, having received the ark from the aliens, danced before it; and being rebuked by his own wife, Michal, he said: *I will play and I will mock in the sight of the Lord*; for not only did he not cease, but he even promised to do such things more frequently. But some, not ^B attending to this order and precise truth, and not wishing to be taught by those who know, have turned to allegories; and they have denied that all the psalms belong to David, but have said they belong to those who had received them from David to be sung. But never did the Apostle or the Lord Himself mention any other than David as the author of the psalms.

DAVID.

This is the great David, the king and prophet, who was *according to the heart of the Lord*, to whom God, just as He did to Abraham, correspondingly made promises, promising that his seed would remain forever, and declaring in like manner that the throne of his kingdom would be without an alien successor. For since Abraham, leaving behind his country and kindred, ^C believed in God, it was justly promised to him that he would be the father of nations, and that all nations would receive the blessing through him and his seed, that is, through Christ; so also toward David, inasmuch as he was a king and pleasing to Him, He justly promised that both his seed and the throne of his kingdom would remain without an alien successor, which is again understood of Christ. This David was deemed worthy, by the Spirit, to prophesy about the Lord Christ in four psalms, namely the 2nd, the 8th, the 44th, and the 109th, having spoken the four ^D of them in their entirety regarding Him. For indeed, both the Lord Christ and the Apostles are seen to have taken testimony regarding Him from these four psalms, as I say, for example: In the Acts of the Apostles, all the apostles, praying to God, said, *For of a truth there assembled in this city against Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate*, taking the second psalm concerning Him. Similarly, again in the same Acts, when Paul was discoursing in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, he said this: *And we declare unto you the promise which was made to the fathers, that God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second psalm: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee*; taking the generation for the resurrection, and here asserting that the second psalm was spoken concerning Him, just as all the Apostles said. And those who

correspond to his humanity; for concerning his deity it is said in that psalm: "Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel," ^A thereby signifying at once the power and might of his deity, and also meaning the renewal, that is to say, the reformation of men. For a potter's vessel that is broken, provided it has not yet been subjected to fire, receives reformation.

Likewise, he brought forward the eighth psalm as spoken of Him, saying its opening verses concerning his deity, just as the Master Christ Himself testifies concerning this in the Gospel, when, carrying branches, they acclaimed Him, saying: "Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." And since the Jews were unable to rebuke the crowds and the children (for the things ^B happening were marvelous—children and sucklings and infants, and disciples and crowds, acclaiming and shouting out the hymn to Him), they turned their questioning toward Him, and in this way they challenged Him, saying: "Hearest thou what these say?" And the other evangelist says: "Some of the crowd said to Him: Rebuke thy disciples," as if to say: "Why do you blaspheme by accepting a hymn which is fitting only for God?" Both express the same meaning; to whom the Lord says, to the one: "Yea, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" clearly signifying that the eighth psalm was said of Him; ^C at the same time intimating that "I do not seize what belongs to God; for I am this," just as the Apostle also says: "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." And to the others He rejoined: "What do you marvel at regarding the children and the disciples? If they should hold their peace, the stones will cry out." But they, knowing that this was written, and witnessing in the very events the infants and sucklings wondrously crying out the hymn, and reflecting that it was possible for Him who made the infants to cry out this hymn beyond nature, ^D that it was also possible for Him to cause inanimate things to cry out, were silenced, covered with shame. O the power of the Master Christ! O the humanity! O the condescension full of mercy! How, through that doctrine of the form of a servant which He took, did He deign to show forth his deity with kindness, and to receive challenges from his own creatures, and to answer them, not in the manner of one angry, but meekly and patiently? O excess of tolerance! Because, forsooth, David had been deemed worthy to predict these things: for in the same psalm he speaks also of his humanity, from the words: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" even to the end: to which the divine apostle Paul adds testimony in these words: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor;" and again, "For he hath not put in subjection to angels the world to come, whereof we speak."

^D Tell me, Paul, to whom did He subject it? He says: "But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. Having spoken thus to the faithful Hebrews, he says the same things to the Greeks, and states: "The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Likewise also Peter: "That it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead."

[E] Likewise, David again spoke of him, and in that psalm it appears he speaks again both of his divinity and of his humanity; to which blessed Paul again bears witness in the Epistle to the Hebrews, speaking thus: "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Having said this concerning his divinity, he speaks immediately concerning his humanity, and says: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." For the divinity is not anointed for having loved righteousness and hated iniquity, nor is it anointed at all, nor does it have a God; for it is God in itself; but his humanity is anointed with the oil of gladness—that is to say, with the Holy Spirit—above its fellows, that is, above all the Christs. For the divinity has no other fellows; for there is one God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but the humanity of Christ has all men, and especially the Christs, as fellows. Because his humanity was anointed above all others, being anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, which was not granted to any of the other christs, for this reason he said, "above thy fellows." And he completed the whole psalm of Christ and his Church, speaking as of a King the bridegroom and a Queen the bride.

Likewise he spoke the 109th psalm concerning him, and the Lord himself bears witness to it, saying to the Jews: "How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?" The "his Lord" clearly declares him to be God, but the "Sit thou on my right hand" clearly applies to his humanity; for he says "sit" to one who was not sitting before; but the divinity abides in its own blessedness, honor, and glory.

^A For God, being uncircumscribed, possesses neither a right hand nor a left; yet he says this to him, meaning "Sit in my honor," as if to say, "In my presence," as an image of God shown to the whole world. For so also Daniel says: "And to him was given dominion, and glory, and the rest." And the Lord himself also says: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth."

Further on in the same psalm, he says concerning the divinity: "From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you," as if the Father were speaking to the Son according to his divinity, wanting to signify the consubstantiality—that before every creature, from the womb, I have brought you forth, not afterwards, but possessing you in myself without beginning and without end; and truly, as from a womb, I have begotten you from my own substance, co-existing and co-eternal. Then, immediately after, declaring also concerning his humanity, he says: "The Lord has sworn, and will not repent: You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." For the divinity does not exercise the priesthood or worship; rather, it is itself worshipped, and accepts the sacred ministries. The Apostle mentions this passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews, using these words: "Even as Aaron. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but he who spoke to him: 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you.' As he says also in another place: 'You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,'" ^B taking all these terms as pertaining to his humanity.

Thus, therefore, the blessed David uttered these four psalms concerning the Lord Christ, and him alone. For he did not confuse those things which pertain to the Lord Christ with those which pertain to the servants, but he brought forward the things that look to the Lord as concerning the Lord, and those that look to the servants as concerning the servants. But as for whatever other things the apostles took from the psalms, they did not use these as though they were spoken strictly and exclusively of him, but as they were suited to their subject matter; such as, for example, "They divided my garments among them," ^C and, "They gave me gall for my food," and, "I foresaw the Lord always before my face," and, "Having ascended on high, you led captivity captive," and whatever things are similar to these, which they used as being appropriate to their specific subject. In the same way the blessed Paul acted, transferring the passage of Moses in Deuteronomy to his own subject, as being appropriate to it, saying: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down; or, 'Who will descend into the abyss?' that is, to bring Christ up from the dead," adapting the passage so that it might fit his own argument. For not all the remaining parts of the psalms from which some excerpts were taken correspond to the Lord Christ; for example, in the case of "They divided my garments among themselves," and the psalm is—he says, therefore, concerning him, "Far from my [salvation are the words of my transgressions]," ^D which is inappropriate and discordant [index: entries preserved]

^A sōtērias mou hoi logoi tōn paraptōmatōn mou* — which is inappropriate and inconsistent with Holy Scripture, and it would be clear madness to take such a thing concerning Christ. But as for these four psalms which are said to concern the Lord Christ, they befit Him through and through. For, as we have said before, the blessed David did not intermingle things said concerning the Lord Christ with things said concerning certain others. For the Savior Himself is seen doing this as well, when the Jews accused Him, saying, "Why do you work on the Sabbath?" to whom He answered, saying, "My Father is working until now." And when they accused His disciples, He says, "Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or those with him to eat, but only for the priests?" ^B There, He clearly distinguishes Himself from the Father, and the disciples from the prophets—that is, from the priests—as servants to servants, and as a Son to a Father. When the Lord was transfigured on the mountain before Peter, James, and John in great glory, and Moses and Elijah were talking with Him, the disciples, beholding the surpassing glory, became filled with amazement, delight, love, and desire for that beauty. Peter, answering—having in a way become a different man—and struck by the sight, said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here," as if he were saying, "Behold a beautiful sight and place, ^C splendor and surpassing glory; why should we descend from here into the hands of those who desire to plot against us and cause us affliction, moving forever from place to place and being driven out? If You wish, then, let us make three tents here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." And because Peter considered Moses and Elijah to be of equal honor to the Lord, counting the tents equally by saying one for each, the evangelist Luke marks this, saying, "Not knowing what he was saying"—that is, ignorant, Peter spoke of things concerning the Lord. But immediately a cloud from heaven overshadowed them and separated Moses and Elijah, and hid them from the disciples. But the Father, pointing out Jesus alone ^D placed in the midst, indicates Him to the disciples, saying, "This is My Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." "You err," He says, "when you equate Him with them; for this is My Son, but they, just as you, are servants. Him, therefore, as Lord and my Son, obey in all things."

The Text.

Thus, then, the prophet David, moved by the Holy Spirit, did not indiscriminately mix things pertaining to the Lord with things pertaining to the servants; but rather, he was deemed worthy to prophecy these four psalms specifically and as a single subject, concerning the Lord alone; the remaining

ones he expounded for the benefit of all, concerning other persons, or things, or histories, so that these, being joyful and pleasant, might be easily kept in memory by all and celebrated. And this is evident, in that we find the psalms of David sung in all the churches of the world, and they are on the lips of almost all men, small and great, and are spoken, meditated upon, and remembered more than the other prophets and the rest of Scripture. But here we shall put an end to speaking on this matter, and pass on to the great Elias, and make a worthy delineation and description of him; which is as follows:

^A ELIAS. This is the great Elias, who first of all men was the master for men in directing the course to heaven; and the first of men who showed one way for angels and men: who, though he had the earth for his dwelling, penetrated into heaven with a swift course: who, though he is mortal, contends with the immortals: who walks upon the ground, and like a Spirit traverses the heavens with the angels, who through his mantle granted double gifts to his disciple Eliseus: that long-lived man, free from old age, who is reserved as a leader against the Antichrist, who shall withstand him, and ^B convict his deceit and pride: who shall turn all men back from his error to God at the consummation of the age. This is he who was deemed worthy to be the forerunner of the second and conspicuous advent of the Lord Christ. O measure and magnitude of ministries, which contends with the angels! Glory to God, who has granted these things to men. Amen.

^C Paragraph. This great Elias, having been taken up as it were into heaven, showed to both angels and men how much honor human nature has attained: through whose work God founded and confirmed a good hope, namely, that it is possible for men, by the will of God, to ascend into heaven. For it is a marvelous spectacle to behold such a man driving in a chariot of fire, and traversing the air. Oh, the magnitude of the clemency of Him who granted such honor! Let those be put to shame who do not celebrate with praises the great economy of God, how wisely, and not out of anger, God alternately inflicts punishments, and preserves and prepares honor for man, who was made in His own image. Glory and praise to Him unto the ages. Amen.

^D THE PROPHET OSEE. This is Osee, the first of the twelve prophets, who was deemed worthy to speak concerning the Lord Christ in this way: "When they are in distress, they will rise early to me, saying: Come, let us return to the Lord our God. For He has struck, and He will heal us; He who has smitten will bind us up. He will make us whole after two days; on the third day we shall be resurrected, and we shall live." Using this passage, the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."

For that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," ^A there is nowhere else to find it. Furthermore, the prophet says, something which also befits the Lord Christ: "My flesh from them." Again he says: "Ephraim hath compassed me about with lies, and the house of Israel and Judah with impiety." Now God hath known them, and a holy people of God shall be called by the tribe; because of Him who was manifested from it according to the flesh, the Lord Christ, calling Judah the holy people of God. Again the same prophet has thus: "I will redeem them from the hand of the grave. O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting?" The apostle Paul used this passage concerning the resurrection.

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He also clearly foretold the resurrection to take place after three days, saying: "On the third day we shall rise again"; and in like manner he foretold the destruction of death and the punishment brought upon the sting of the grave. How can one not be struck with awe at the ineffable philanthropy of God, which ever provides for the human race? Glory to His ineffable gift.

JOEL THE PROPHET

This is Joel the second, who was counted worthy to foretell the mystery concerning the Lord Christ; for he says thus: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into ^B darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." The blessed Peter makes mention of this passage in the Acts of the Apostles, as having been fulfilled when the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles took place on the day of Pentecost.

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And he also foretells those wonders which happened at the time of the Lord Christ through the Holy Spirit—prophecies, dreams, and ^C visions in Him—and the day of the great and terrible and conspicuous presence of the Lord Christ; just as was done in various ways, for instance to Joseph and the Magi who were warned in a dream, as the Gospels show; and through visions, Symeon, having been warned by the Spirit, received the Lord Christ into his arms. Anna, again, the daughter of Phanuel, giving thanks to the Lord concerning Him; and others were prophets, as Agabus and the daughters of Philip. And the women also beheld visions of angels at the passion of the Lord, and the disciples likewise. And what need is there to speak also of the coming of the Holy Spirit which took place upon the apostles; nay, but also upon Cornelius ^D and upon all the faithful, of whom the apostle

writes: "For to one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of powers, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will." Glory to God who through all the prophets foretold these things, for ever and ever. Amen. ^A

THE PROPHET AMOS

Paragraph. This one also, in agreement with the first, announces Christ, through whom the salvation of the whole world is wrought; and God promises that through him the tabernacle of David that had fallen is to be raised up, and that it will benefit all nations; which same things all of them announce. ^B

THE PROPHET OBADIAH

Paragraph. He too clearly proclaims that that day of the Lord is near, bringing salvation in Sion and unto all nations. Glory to God for ever. Amen. ^C

THE PROPHET JONAH

Paragraph. This one also, by his works, symbolized the grave and the wondrous resurrection and incorruptibility of Christ; through whom

the innovation and restoration of men is dispensed. Glory to the God who does these things. Amen.

THE PROPHET ISAIAH

This great Isaiah, the son of Amos, who in a figure indeed foresaw the things that looked toward the mystery of Christ, when he beheld the Lord sitting upon a high and lifted-up throne, and the Seraphim stood round about him, six wings to one and six wings to the other, covering themselves, and they cried one to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth: the whole earth is full of his glory." ^B Among these, one of the Seraphim was sent, and he took with tongs from the altar and touched his lips, saying, "This shall take away your sins." By the vision exhibited, and by the hymn, and by the figure, Isaiah was taught to foreannounce the mystery concerning Christ. Further, he speaks again with a word thus: "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb." The Ethiopian eunuch, having read this passage, besought Philip to interpret it to him; who immediately explained that these things had been spoken by the prophet concerning the Lord Christ. Then he says again: "A man in a stroke, and one knowing how to bear infirmities"; and again: "For he did no sin, nor was deceit in his mouth." And the Lord desires to cleanse him from the stroke. If your soul be given for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the Lord desires to take away from the womb of his soul, to show him light; and again: "Thus says the Lord: Behold, I cast into the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, ^C angular, honorable into the foundations of it. And he that believes shall not be put to shame"; and again: "There shall be in that day the root of Jesse, and he that rises up to rule over the nations; in him shall the nations hope"; and again, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me." This the Lord, having read in the synagogue on the Sabbath, said: "Amen I say to you, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

Paragraph. This orator Isaiah, the loudest of voice, by words and visions of the Holy Trinity, that is, of the one God, foreannounced to men the confession of Him, and the resurrection of human nature, which the Church of God now preaches. Glory to Him who wisely provides all things for the human race.

Paragraph. But this one also, not with strange things, but with things similar to the other prophets, foretold the things that were to come through Christ, and the great day of the Lord again, ^D in which He will also send the prophet Elijah, who is still alive. Glory to the God who created all things and again restores them. Amen.

THE PROPHET MICAH

This Micah, who is the seventh, was also himself deemed worthy to foretell concerning the coming of the Lord Christ,

^A for he says: "And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, you are little to be among the thousands of Judah; from you shall come forth to me one to be ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity." Having taken this testimony, the high priests and scribes of the Jews, when Herod inquired of them where Christ was to be born, said, "In Bethlehem of Judea," whence he then sent the Magi to Bethlehem. Additionally, the same prophet says, "He will turn and have mercy upon us, and will sink our iniquities, and all our sins shall be cast into the depths of the sea; He will give truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as You have sworn to our fathers, according to the days of old."

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And he too, in agreement with the others, foretells him who was to be raised up from Bethlehem and Judah from eternity as ruler of Israel, through whom the conversion of the world comes to pass, ^B who removes our sins and leads us to a better lot. Glory to God, who always wisely disposes and foretells the things concerning man.

THE PROPHET NAHUM

This Nahum, the eighth, was also deemed worthy to foretell concerning the resurrection of the Lord Christ, and he says: "Celebrate, O Judah, your festivals, perform your vows, because they shall not pass through you again into old age; it is finished, it is taken away. He has ascended blowing into your face, delivering you from tribulation."

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How he too bids us to rejoice concerning the resurrection of Christ and our own, signifying that we shall never grow old, that is, foretelling our incorruption and immortality. Glory to God. Amen.

THE PROPHET HABAKKUK

This Habakkuk, the ninth, was also himself deemed worthy to speak concerning the resurrection of Christ in this way: "Behold, you despisers, and look, and wonder at miraculous things, and be destroyed; ^C for I am working a work in your days which you will not believe, if someone were to tell it." This passage Paul appropriately applied at Antioch in Pisidia to the resurrection of the Lord Christ.

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Similarly, this one also promises to foretell things marvelous and incredible to men, especially to despisers, namely concerning the resurrection. Glory to God. Amen.

THE PROPHET JEREMIAH

This Jeremiah, the tenth, was also deemed worthy to foretell concerning the mystery of Christ, saying thus: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one who was priced, whom they priced from the sons of Israel; and they gave them"

into the potter's field, as the Lord directed me." The evangelist Matthew also makes mention of this utterance, once it was fulfilled in the time of the Passion. Again, the same prophet says: "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not according to the covenant that I established with their fathers, in the day that I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not remain in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord. For this is my covenant that I shall establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ^B I will put my laws into their mind and I will write them upon their hearts; and I will be a God to them, and they shall be to me a people. And no man shall teach his fellow-citizen, and no man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them; for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will no longer remember their sins." The Apostle also makes mention of this in the Epistle to the Romans.

Paragraph. This likewise foretells matters concerning the Lord Christ, who is the prince of the second state; for it most clearly foretells both the first and the second state, which second state had its beginning in the Lord Christ. Glory to God forever. Amen.

THE PROPHET SOPHONIAS

Paragraph. This also manifests most clearly the Lord’s appearing, the destruction of idols, and the conversion of the nations to God through the Lord Christ. Glory to God forever. Amen.

THE PROPHET EZECHIEL

^A shepherd of all, because they shall walk in my ordinances. And again he says: "And he said to me: This water that flows out toward Galilee to the east, and descends into Arabia, and goes as far as the sea even to the water of the outlet; and it shall heal the waters. And every living soul of the creeping things upon which the river shall come, shall live."

Paragraph. Here, likewise, he alludes, in the manner of others, to and foretells the prince of our second state and that life. Glory to God, who wisely disposes all things. Amen.

THE PROPHET DANIEL ^B. This Daniel, prophesying in Babylon, was also deemed worthy to foretell the Lord Christ; for he says thus: "And you shall know and understand from the going forth of the command to answer, and to build Jerusalem, until Christ the leader, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks," and so forth. And again: "A stone was cut without hands, and it crushed the clay, the iron, the copper, the silver, the gold, and filled all the earth." And again: "Behold, coming with the clouds of heaven as a Son of Man, and he reached as far as the Ancient of Days, and was brought before him. And to him was given the sovereignty, and honor, and the kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him." ^C The power, and the rest that is said there.

Paragraph. This one too more clearly foretold the coming of Christ, signifying both the time and the power inherent in Him, as well as the birth from a Virgin, and the spreading of the teaching throughout the whole earth; and all these things have come to pass by the help of God, and shall continue to come to pass. Glory to God, who through the ministry of all the prophets has foretold these things. Amen.

THE PROPHET HAGGAI. This Haggai was also deemed worthy to foretell the Lord Christ, expressing in the person of Zerubbabel those things which befit the Lord Christ, saying: "And I will make thee a seal, because I have chosen thee, says the Lord God."

THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH ^D. This Zechariah was also deemed worthy to foretell the coming of Christ, speaking thus: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Sion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes to you, just and saving, he is meek, and riding upon a beast of burden and a young colt." He spoke this passage hyperbolically regarding Zerubbabel, but it had its fulfillment properly in the Lord Christ, as expressed in the person of Zerubbabel. He says also: "And I will say to him, What are these wounds between your hands? And he will answer: Those which I received in my beloved house."

And after a few words again: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered." The Lord remembers this passage in time of His passion, when He was about to be betrayed; and He said it concerning Himself. ^A Paragraph. He said nothing strange here compared to the others, and he interprets the kingdom of the Lord Christ in its future state.

THE PROPHET MALACHI

Paragraph. Here too he foretold not strange things, but matters similar to the prophecies of the other eleven, concerning those things to be accomplished through Christ, and he also foretold that great and illustrious day of the Lord, in which he says that He will send forth Elijah the Tishbite, who is still living. Glory to God, who created all things and who restores them again. Amen.

Text. All the prophets prophesied and reminded the Jews concerning the promises of God, which He had made to their fathers: that He promised to bless all nations in the seed of Abraham through the dispensation concerning the Lord Christ, and how God had formerly redeemed them from the slavery of the Egyptians with a high arm and gave them the land of promise, and how they would be led captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and would return again with glory; then afterwards from Antiochus, and from the neighboring nations they would suffer distresses, which nevertheless

^A they will overcome by divine power; and then He who is expected from the seed of Abraham will come for the salvation of the whole world, according to the promises given from above. This was the work of the prophets. Now, some of them wrote their own books themselves—such as David, who composed the book of Psalms, and Daniel, who, while in captivity, was commanded to write what had been revealed to him through visions; and others as well. But the rest did not write for themselves; rather, there were scribes in the temple who recorded the words of each prophet, as if in a day-book. And when a prophet was sent by God to proclaim something—whether regarding Jerusalem, that it was to be led into captivity, or concerning Samaria, or other places, or regarding the return from captivity, or regarding Antiochus, or the surrounding nations, or finally regarding the Lord Christ—on the day he prophesied, the scribes would record in the name of that prophet what he was proclaiming regarding a specific matter. And if, after the passage of time, he prophesied concerning another matter, they would again record it in writing; and indeed, placing these things in order within the sayings of that same prophet, they would write down what he had newly predicted at the beginning of another chapter, and thus they composed his entire book. ^B For this reason, in their books, you will find a chapter dealing with the captivity of Babylon, then another about the return, soon another about Christ, and again about captivity and the return. And to say it in sum, unless one reads carefully and considerately, he will find most things in confusion. Nor were these alone, but also the books of the Kingdoms were written in the temple in the same manner, part by part; namely, those things concerning Saul were written part by part in the time of Saul, up to the end of his reign; and in the time of David, those things which occurred under his reign; and similarly, the deeds of each king were described in their own time. In the same way, they recorded the deeds in the archives of the Kings, which we call the Paralipomena. Moses, however, wrote the Pentateuch, encompassing the history of things past, present, and future. Joshua likewise wrote his own book; the Judges likewise they wrote in the sacred place, that is, in the tabernacle; Ruth also in the same way; Solomon likewise wrote his own books, Proverbs, the Canticles, and Ecclesiastes. ^C For having received the grace of wisdom from God, he instructed individual men to conduct themselves wisely in this life, being not at all gifted with the grace of prophecy. As many, therefore, as we have found gifted with prophecy concerning the economy of the Lord Christ, we have set forth. We shall now write also concerning the other four prophets, as many things as they were deemed worthy to foretell; for this is the aim of the entirety of Holy Scripture. We bring forward, therefore, that most loud-voiced one, Isaiah first, who was deemed worthy both by type and by word to see and to foretell the mystery concerning Christ. ^D

JOHN THE FORCURSOR.

^A He was great in the sight of God, the precursor of Christ, who prepared for Him a perfect people, the highest of the prophets, preceding the apostles in time, the mediator between the Old and New Testaments, the last under the Law, and the receiver of the New, who pointed out the present Lord Christ to all, surpassing all men in the austerity of his life, and surpassing all men in his ministry; who in the spirit and power of Elijah preceded Him, and surpassed Elijah himself in that he baptized the Lord; the lamp burning before the Sun of righteousness. He indicates the present Lord with these words: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” calling Him a lamb, as one who is to be sacrificed, that He might deliver the world from sin, and make men incorrupt, immortal, and immutable through the resurrection. Thus was this great John held worthy to be a herald of such a ministry and such great things.

[Paragraph.] This John, greatest of all men, who had both father and mother as comprophets, ^B not only points out the Lord Christ, who is the Prince of the second state, as present, but also declares Him to be the Judge of all, saying: “Whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor; and he will gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” He also proclaims the kingdom of heaven, and prepares the way for the One coming after him, who in His own person was to manifest the kingdom of heaven, which is the second state. Glory to God, who brought all things from nothing into existence, and in Christ restored them again. Amen.

THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH.

THE PROPHETESS ELIZABETH.

THE VIRGIN MARY.

in the ages of ages. Amen.

^A ANNA THE PROPHETESS, daughter of Phanuel. This Anna also, the daughter of Phanuel, made confession of God regarding him in the temple, when his parents brought him into the temple in the days of their purification, to present him to the Lord, as it is written.

SYMEON. This is that just Symeon who, having received the Lord Christ into his arms, besought God that He would now bring to him an end of life, as had been revealed to him by the Spirit, saying thus: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”

THE LORD CHRIST. This is the Lord of all, Christ, of whom all prophecy was announced to men, to whom every creature looks, and to whom every tongue shall confess, bowing the knee to the glory of God. Christ is the end of all prophecy, the judge of the living and the dead, light from light, the Son of the living God, to whom every creature is subject, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, who also proclaimed through His own self: “The law and the prophets were until John; the kingdom of God is preached.” ^B To Him be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages. Amen.

Prologue concerning the Apostles.

^A are to be held fast, though in reality, just as the Greeks, they opine that the heaven is spherical. For there is no difference at all between them and those things which the Greeks proclaim; that the world is always in a corruption of bodies, and that the resurrection of bodies will never come to pass, nor any other state. Let the Manichaeans and Marcionites be ashamed, who cast off flesh, and proclaim it to be the work of an evil principle. Let all those be ashamed who despise our souls along with their intellect, that is to say, Eutyches, Arius, Apollinarius, and all who are in accord with them. Let all heretics be ashamed who do not confess one God known and worshipped in three hypostases, the maker of heaven and earth, and who do not confess the resurrection of our flesh, nor angel, nor spirit. Let ^B the incredulous Jews be ashamed, who did not accept Him who was expected, nor confess a Christian resurrection, but only one such as that in which we now live, marrying and being given in marriage. But well, O well, joy and exultation to those who are truly Christians, who obey the whole of Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testament, who led by the law have believed in Christ, and in all things which He proclaimed, and as He yet says: The law and the prophets were until John; and, From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force; so that He may say: That whoever do violence to themselves, and live righteously, and do not follow their own thoughts, but trust in God, they attain that kingdom. Indeed, also, when the mother of John and ^C James asked the Lord that one might be on His right hand and the other on His left in His kingdom, He answered her that, It is not mine to give, but to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father; that is, the gift of God, indeed, is extended to all, namely, that they should rise from the dead and become incorruptible, immortal, and immutable; but that one should be preferred to another is not a gift, but a preparation of God for those who have rightly believed and lived. For the Lord says again, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; and when it was prepared, He says, having added, from the foundation of the world. ^D Therefore, the descriptor of the world, Moses, and all the rest of the prophets, and men of old, having spoken of these two states alone, and having made mention of no other, but having preached and written these alone; and not only they, but the Lord Himself, who came to us, and His disciples, evangelists, and apostles, proclaimed nothing else than these two states alone: what remains of difficulty concerning faith, as to whether these things are true? Who will not be humbled by the multitude of predictions, the events of the prophecies, the number of signs and wondrous miracles, the very conduct of all the saints and of the Lord Christ and His apostles, and the harmony of the Old Testament with the New? Who among them dissented from the others?

interpreting the heaven as spherical, or proclaiming the pre-existence of this world, or declaring the world to be eternal, or denying the resurrection of the bodies, or the economy which took place through Christ, by which righteous men ascend into the heaven? But all, as if guided by one divine Spirit, foretold the same things through words, works, or types, and all look toward the coming state. And the Lord Christ Himself, in the Gospels, declares the place in which the perfect righteous, those in the middle state, and the impious are to dwell. And indeed, regarding the perfect righteous, He shows this when, calling them to Himself, He says: *Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world*; regarding the impious, however, as when He says to those on the left: *Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels*; as if He were saying: to the righteous indeed, upwards into the heaven ^A inner to this visible firmament; to the impious, however, downwards around the earth, where the devil also was cast. It remains for us to seek the place of those who are in the middle. He says, therefore, in the parable of the ten virgins, that the five prudent ones entered with the bridegroom into the bridal chamber—that is to say, into the heaven—because, being prudent, they had chosen both virginity and mercy; but the foolish ones, he says, having chosen the one but ^B despised the other, remained outside the bridal chamber, having found the door shut and having heard: *Depart from Me, I do not know you*, being permitted neither to enter nor condemned with the impious, but remaining outside the bridal chamber.

So then, every person instructed with right and unfeigned faith and a good life enters into the kingdom with boldness; on the contrary, those who have nothing of these, neither right faith nor upright life, are condemned to dwell with the devil around the earth. Those, however, who have one but lack the other, are a certain middle group, condemned to remain outside the bridal chamber—that is, the firmament. But as for the nature of the blessings or the punishments, it is impossible for us to know it unless we are established within the things themselves; but as in a figure only, he indicated the future things by [the standards of] the punishments and blessings of this life. For it was not possible for us to understand those new things in any other way, not yet having experienced them, but insofar as they could be expressed enigmatically, He expressed them: ^C *The kingdom of heaven is compared to a king who made a marriage for his son*, having chosen the things above all the blessings of this life, and compared them to the blessings there; likewise also the worst things—fire, the worm, Tartarus, the gnashing of teeth, darkness, and whatever things are similar to these—because these are held to be more grievous than the punishments of this life, He likened them to these. It is not possible for us to conceive of those blessings, nor the terrible things, nor the middle state between them, but another state exists, ^D far better and by far exceeding this present life.

^A Just as this life is far better than that which we led in our mother's womb. For we must reflect on how we fared deep within the womb: enveloped in darkness, in blood, in phlegm, in bile, and mud, and excrement, and in every form of impurity and stench, and existing in total ignorance. But having peered out into this life, we behold other things, of which we had not yet had experience: the extension of freedom, the breathing of air, the enjoyment of the most beautiful light, the structure of the cosmos—the handiwork of a most wise Craftsman—and being filled with the knowledge of God; all of which we could neither know, nor conceive, nor hear, nor enjoy, while we were still in the womb. In the same way, the future state, which is altogether better than the things here, is impossible for us to calculate ^B or conceive or imagine while we are still in this life, unless we actually come to be within those very realities. For, he says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." Therefore, just as God has bestowed a common gift upon everyone in this life, making His sun rise on the just and the unjust, and raining upon the good and the wicked, so also in the future state a common gift is bestowed upon all: immortality, namely, and incorruptibility, life, and immutability. Yet, according to their previous deeds, each person draws to himself either the kingdom, or the punishment, whether it be an ascent into heaven, or a dwelling about the earth, or indeed some intermediate state. And all these things are eternal and infinite, both the good ^C and the worst of them. And that state differs from the present one by much, nay, in an immense degree. For if the good things prepared for the just are compared with the punishments of the impious, the latter are truly held to be an extreme torment and a most ruthless damnation; for indeed, the damnation and the punishment are compared to that life by a certain proportion. It remains for us to turn to the evangelists and the apostles, and to show that they also, in agreement with the ancients, declare that only these two states have been fashioned by God: this present one in which we now live, and the future one to which all Christians look. Let us therefore set forth also the first of the evangelists, Matthew, speaking concerning such matters.

MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST

^D This man was the first of the evangelists to write his Gospel. And "Gospel" is called the "announcement of good things." When a persecution arose in Jerusalem, at the time that Stephen was stoned, and he was about to depart from Jerusalem, certain of the faithful asked that he leave behind for them a doctrine committed to writing; and since he knew the Lord’s life in the flesh upon the earth by experience, he recorded for them an image of a virtuous life, of heavenly conduct, and of a divine manner of living, intending to instruct them. Keeping this goal in view, therefore, he begins his book thus: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

Abraham; as if saying: I address myself to you, O most faithful, I publish a book of a wondrous generation, of an excellent way of life, of a heavenly institution, and of a new state. Since God promised to Abraham and David that in their seed all nations would be blessed, and that their seed would reign forever; I describe the birth of Him, through whom, coming forth from their seed, God blesses and restores the world and bestows an eternal kingdom; how, assuredly, He is the prince of the future state, conceived and born in a new and fitting manner, and how He lived with all justice and holiness without sin. For just as the first-formed Adam was produced by divine power from earth not yet sown, nor subdued by the plow of man, so too He, the prince of the second state, came forth from men—or, as one might say, from a virgin earth—without seed, without man, by the power of the Holy Spirit. ^B And just as then the female was produced from the male, so, conversely, the male is produced from the female. And just as that one, having been conquered by the devil, brought death upon the human race, so this one, having conquered the enemy, eliminated death from the human race and procured for it immortality and life without end. When the blessed Matthew intended to set forth these and similar things, he wove his narrative in this way: how He was conceived without seed from the Holy Spirit, and increasing in age, lived without sin, and fulfilled the manner of life according to the Law and the Gospel and every justice. ^C And in what way, being delivered to the tempter, He emerged a victor and remained insuperable, and cast down the adversary of human nature beyond the bounds of the arena. Then, having been sought by the snares of the Jews and unjustly delivered to them for death, He willingly accepted it for the sake of the race, that He might fittingly tear up the ancient bond and nail it to the cross, and pay the death owed for all as a rational victim, offering Himself blameless to God. Finally, when He had risen from the dead after three days, He showed to all the dissolution of death, and commands all to rejoice, because He Himself has abolished the empire of death. Matthew also mentions the ascension into heaven, even if not at the end of the book, yet in the work itself, when he acts regarding John the Baptist with these words: *In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa and saying: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand* ^D; as if to say, that dwelling place in the heavens is now near, that at the coming of Christ, it might be displayed. Nay, even in the beatitudes, and here and there in his book, he makes mention of the kingdom of heaven; most especially, however, when the Lord, discoursing with the Pharisees and Sadducees concerning the resurrection, speaks thus: *For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven.* This is the scope to be discovered in the book of the blessed evangelist Matthew.

MARK THE EVANGELIST

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LUKE THE EVANGELIST

^A *Paragraph.* Even this herald of the New Testament proclaimed the same things as the others, beginning from the birth of the Forerunner, and then proceeding to his nativity; and narrating his manner of life; and likewise discoursing concerning his evangelical life—I mean his baptism, his death, and his resurrection; and finally he, too, announced his ascent into heaven, where there is the dwelling-place of our second state. Glory to God, who from the beginning prepared and foretold these things, and now has fulfilled, and is fulfilling them. Amen.

*Another Paragraph.* He also wrote down the glorification of God by the multitude of the host of angels, which they performed at the birth of the Lord Christ according to the flesh, as they rejoiced and exulted, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men ^B; thus casting away their former sorrow, which they had received on account of the first-formed man, and rejoicing at the birth of the second Adam.

JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN. This theologian John, the prince of the evangelists, who was loved by Christ more than all others, who reclined upon the Lord's breast and from thence drew the mysteries as if from an eternal fountain—to him, while he was residing at Ephesus, the books of the three other evangelists were brought by the believers; and having received them, he declared that they were good; but he said that certain things had been omitted in them which it was necessary to narrate. And being entreated by the believers, he published his own book also, and in a certain way supplied what had been omitted; for example: concerning the marriage in Cana, concerning Nicodemus, concerning the Samaritan woman, concerning the nobleman, concerning the man blind from birth, concerning Lazarus, concerning the indignation of Judas because a woman had anointed the Lord with myrrh, concerning the Greeks who approached, concerning the washing of the feet, and concerning other teachings ^C which are held in the midst, concerning the Paraclete; and especially, having clearly preached the divinity of Christ, he placed it as the foundation of his book: all of which things had been omitted by the others. Having therefore begun from the divinity, he immediately passed on to his humanity; and he too related all that had been spoken of by the others—the baptism, the temptations, the death, and the resurrection. Then, he adds all those things which he did after the resurrection: that he entered through closed doors, that he showed his hands and feet and side, that he ate and drank with them, that he journeyed with them, that he restrained their eyes so that they did not see him, that as often as he wished he immediately vanished, that in the manner of a teacher he said to Mary: "Do not touch me," teaching by these things that the intercourse of the immortals does not befit mortals, but rather that the dwelling of the immortals is in heaven. For this reason he also tells her to depart and to say to the disciples that I am ascending into heaven, where you also are about

to go. After having written all these things, he also brought his own writing to a close, having one goal in common with the other evangelists: to teach that one must look from this present state toward the future one, toward which all God-inspired Scripture, Old and New, directs itself. ^A

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And this man, having appeared as a herald of the New Testament, wrote down what the other evangelists had omitted, and fulfilled what was lacking in the others; likewise he recounted the baptism, the way of life, the death, and the resurrection, and the ascent into heaven, where there is the dwelling-place of the immortal and righteous men and of the angels, that is to say, the place of the second state. Glory to Him who has prepared these things, and foretold them, and is even now bringing them to fulfillment. Amen.

PETER THE APOSTLE

This Peter, the chief of the apostles, to whom the keys of heaven were entrusted, who has the Church founded upon his own confession, who denied thrice and confessed thrice, who generously requested to endure the cross with his head downward, even he holds the same goal as the evangelists, speaking thus in the Acts: "Jesus the Nazarene, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death." ^B And again, proceeding further: "This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified." ^C One should observe here how he has outlined the whole argument of the evangelists in a very few verses, speaking of him and of Nazareth which nurtured him, and that he happens to be a man from God, as a second Adam, and that through him God was working miracles, and that by his own permission he was slain by the lawless, and that God raised him up immortal and immutable—for this is what he meant by "having loosed the pangs of death"—and that by divine power he was exalted and ascended into heaven, and from thence sent down the Holy Spirit. For no one else has ascended into heaven, or David either, but the Lord himself, of whom David also said: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet," and, "Assurely God hath made him both Lord and Christ."

Furthermore, he says again to Cornelius thus: "Jesus from Nazareth, as God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about..."

doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew, hanging him on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day and shewed him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before by God, to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." ^B Similarly again, when he healed the lame man, he says thus: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." He recalls also that passage of Moses: "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you." And he adds again: "Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." To all these things blessed Peter, just as the evangelists, bears witness, and declares that all the prophets foretold all these things, namely that God has made and is making a second, new state, which he foretold through the mouth of all the prophets; and he neither said that another state existed before this, nor did he foretell that another would follow after, but with all the prophets and apostles he declared that there are only two, this present one and the future one. ^C

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When in the building of the tower men once strivings against God wished to ascend into heaven, God divided their tongues and dismissed them with their purpose unaccomplished. But in the fullness of times, when He had come for the salvation of men, and had led our nature into heaven; thence on the day of Pentecost, as a foreshadowing of the ascent of the rest of mankind into heaven, He again gathered the tongues from heaven into one and granted them to the apostles. Then indeed Peter, established as the great herald of this New Testament, preaching in the midst, and bearing the keys of heaven which were entrusted to him by Christ, cried out with confidence, setting forth those same things which the evangelists wrote down: baptism, the way of life, death, resur-

resurrection, immortality, grace, and incorruption. For this is what that means: "Having loosed the pains of death"; and similarly, [he calls] the ascent into heaven and the "times of refreshing" that future state, which he says is that blessing promised beforehand to Abraham; and he claims that it was preached by all the prophets to all the nations, and that its prince is the Lord Christ, through whom all nations are blessed and glorified by God. Glory to Him who prepared these things.

STEPHANUS. This Stephen, the first martyr of the New Testament and first deacon, who had the great Paul—still a zealot for the law—as his own executioner, he who alone struggled against the entire synagogue, ^B he who roused the Agonothetes [the Awarder of the Prize] to the spectacle. This is he who saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. For although every divine Scripture says He is seated, this man saw Him standing; for the intensity of the struggle made the Agonothetes rise up for the spectacle. Wherefore, encouraged by Him to ascend into that glory, he himself prayed for those stoning him, saying: "Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge," but do Thou Thyself receive my spirit. Behold, this man also saw and preached the same things as the others, namely, that Christ is in heaven, the prince of the second state, whom he beseeches to receive him there also. ^C

Paragrapha. And this herald of the New Testament and strenuous athlete also, with his own eyes, saw Jesus in a spiritual manner, positioned within the firmament, whom, while being stoned, he asks to receive his spirit. This man delivered a long harangue to the Jews, in which he rebuked them as having become the murderers of Jesus. Through this man, he also confirms for us those things which the first ones had spoken: death, resurrection, and the ascent into heaven. Glory to Him who prepared and foretold these things, and who now fulfills them and is fulfilling them. Amen.

PAULUS APOSTOLUS. This great Paul the apostle, the commander of the heavenly phalanx, who has Christ speaking within him, who carries about the marks ^D of Christ in his body, that great teacher of the Church who endured ten thousand deaths daily for the sake of the Church, who gloried in the Lord and in his own infirmities, who possessed the grace of Christ gushing up within him, who spoke in tongues to all the nations, who was once a persecutor but is now persecuted, once a sinner but now shown mercy, who was caught up to the third heaven and again into paradise, the hearer of ineffable words, the hidden judge of spiritual charisms; the great canon-maker, and Paul who surpasses the remaining teachers of the Church; whose greeting in all his epistles, as if a seal, is the grace of the Lord.

^A He remains thus, generally in all his epistles, as one already having entered into that second state, rejoicing and full of confidence. "He raised us up," he says, "and made us sit together in the heavenly places," and "by hope we were saved," and ten thousand other things, which it is not easy to enumerate now. We shall mention some of them, however, so as not to prolong our discourse. He speaks, therefore, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians thus: "If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are more pitiable than all men." But what, Paul, after this life, what other do we hope for? "Yes," he says, "there is a certain better life, strong and heavenly, promised by God with an oath." For he says: "In which God, wishing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a very strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which we have as an anchor of the soul, both safe and firm, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner for us is entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." And again: "Knowing that you have in yourselves a better and a continuing substance in heaven." And again: "Wherefore, receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved." And again: "For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come." And again: "For the fashion of this world passeth away." And again: "Godliness is profitable to all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." ^C And again: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth myself to those that are before, I press toward the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus. Whosoever therefore are perfect, let us be thus minded." And again: "But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory." And again: "Waiting for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ." And again: "If then you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth." And again: "For this we say unto you in the word of the Lord, that we who live, who are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who have slept. For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first. Then we who live, who are

^A left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort yourselves with these words. And again: For they that say such things, make it manifest that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned; but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. And again: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And again: A minister of the holy things, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. But also in the Acts, when he was debating before Festus and Agrippa on the tribunal, he says these things: Of which hope I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? And again: For these causes the Jews, having apprehended me in the temple, went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets did say should come, and Moses: whether Christ should suffer, and whether he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And if we should wish to collect all the passages of the Apostle concerning this, we would find almost all his fourteen Epistles speaking throughout about this ^B matter, that from this state we are hastening to run toward the future; whence also he commands, saying, Let us make haste to enter into that rest: calling it a rest, as if no other existed after it, but an immovable kingdom, that is, one which has no succession.

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What need is there to speak also of this vessel of election, of that great new trumpet sounding among the nations, gathering all the Gentiles and Israel into one Church? Since his very first election came to pass by the calling of Jesus from heaven, and having been instructed, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. This man, again, while he was still alive in this present state, was caught up even to the third heaven, and saw the orders of the angels, and ^C observed the ministry of the invisible powers, of the Principalities, and the Powers, and the Dominions, and of all the named powers, and having entered and contemplated their service, he exclaimed: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Thus he also made known the former order of the adversary, who had the power of the air, and proclaimed his fall from the heavens because of pride. This man again cried out: Know ye not that we shall judge angels? And again: The saints shall judge the world. This is he who in all his Epistles commands us to think of heavenly things and to seek heavenly things, and to hasten ^D to run into heaven and to be eager to attain the things above. It is he who, when he had declared that the city and dwelling-place of the righteous, of angels and men, and of the whole Church, is heaven, [and] the head of the whole body [is] the Lord Christ according to the flesh,

having called him higher than every principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come; ^A and, to speak concisely, he is the great teacher and interpreter of the heavenly ranks and of the Church, and he alone mentions the present and the future state, and immortality, and immutability, and all heavenly goods, the power of which we are unable to calculate. Glory to God, who has prepared these things, and foretold them, and now has fulfilled them, and is fulfilling them in the ages. Amen.

Another paragraph.

^B Immediately from the beginning, Paul praises the faith of the Romans as proclaimed throughout the whole world, and calls them of one faith with himself. But he rebukes the Corinthians, as they were formerly philosophers of this world, [arguing] that, although they already had faith in the resurrection of the Lord Christ, this becomes useless to them since they do not believe likewise in our own resurrection. Rightly, therefore, did the Athenians call him a "seed-picker" [babbler], as he uprooted the tares of their superstition. He calls the Galatians foolish, as [those who] easily changed their opinion like inanimate things, and after baptism were deceived and circumcised. To the Ephesians, he declares the whole counsel of God, and declares that he had fought with beasts there, ^C prophesying [to them] and saying that after these things some would come to them like wolves, tearing them apart; with whom, he said, even from among them there would arise some, who like wolves would rend the Church. He admires the Philippians greatly, praising them as the only ones to have shown much care and love toward him, both in his chains and in his defense, and [who] often sent him what was necessary for his use. He also praises the Colossians for their faith, if indeed they persevere in it, and [for] having love toward all the saints. He calls the Thessalonians lovers of the brethren, and [affirms that] they suffered [persecution and] hardships for the sake of piety; just as he also proclaims the Hebrews [to be] faithful, and confirms them, ^D just as he did the Corinthians, concerning the resurrection of the dead, and at the same time concerning the second coming of the Lord. To the Hebrews, as a Hebrew and as one of them, making their concerns his own, he calls them "holy brethren," and "called," and those who have "become partakers of heavenly [things]," and asserts that they were persecuted and suffered for the sake of piety; but, he says, if we hold fast to the beginning until the end firm; and he makes them secure, that they not be softened by the fear of persecution and return to the infidels. To Timothy, again, [who was] staying in Ephesus, he gives orders by letter to beware of the teachers of strange doctrine, and not to pay attention to their myths; and he confirms him in the dogmas, and delivers to him ecclesiastical canons: *That you may know*, he says, *how one ought to behave in the house of God*. He also speaks of certain heresies [that are] appearing.

in the last times, and subverting the truth. But he predicts that they will not progress for the better, but will be made manifest, and their madness will be evident to all. To Titus again, while he was in Crete, he delivers ecclesiastical canons, and confirms him in the dogmas, and uses rebuke against the Cretans, as liars, and lazy, and deceitful, and deceived by those who were of the circumcision. To Philemon he bears witness that he has much faith, piety, and love toward the saints; whose slave Onesimus, who was useless, he changed and made pious, and the great Apostle asks his master to receive him, no longer as a slave, but as a brother. In all his epistles, he exhorts all to enter into the heavenly habitation through right faith and a good life, and not to fail of the good things stored up for the righteous; with whom, may He also deem us—unworthy though we be—worthy to be numbered, He who has the compassionate goodness, the Lord God, the Creator of all things. Amen. ^B Furthermore, Paul wrote to the Hebrews in Hebrew, as he was a Hebrew; but his epistle was translated into the Greek language, as they say, by Luke or by Clement: just as likewise the Gospel according to Matthew.

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One must observe, O most religious man, the agreement of Moses, the describer of the world, with all the prophets, and the evangelists, and the apostles, how all with one accord narrate that God ordained the whole world in two states. For this reason, ^C when God began to create, on the second day He made the firmament, and joined it to the first heaven, having divided the one space into two spaces by intervening in the midst of the height from the earth to the heaven; and He ordained the one, the lower, to be this world; but the higher, the future world, He prepared from the beginning, according to His purpose from above. For our hope is not in this transitory life, but in the future and interminable one; in which exists adoption of sons, and redemption, and immutability, and justice, and sanctification, and blessedness, and perfect knowledge, and glory, and whatever good ^D is stored up for us to receive from God; since we have experienced good and evil things here first, so that we might know the power and excellence of the good things to be given to us according to our capacity, becoming, in a way, chosen sons of God, and affected with inexpressible glory and joy. For this reason, we the faithful here are symbolic participants in the mysteries of the body of the Lord Christ after baptism, so that after the resurrection, attending to the Lord Christ, we may participate in His glory, drawing glory from His glory. For this reason it is called participation, just as it is written in the Apostle: *But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord*; as if to say: When the Lord arrives, all the faithful most manifestly, without a covering, behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, and are transformed into the same image that the Lord has,

^A partaking of his glory for our own. For this is what participation in his mysteries signifies: that when we partake of his glorified body, we behold his glory as in a mirror, and are participants in it. For of his fullness we all receive; he granting it, yet being in no way diminished. That phrase, "as from the Lord the Spirit," signifies this: just as Moses received from the Lord, so we receive from the Holy Spirit. [Paragraph]

As in this world, being born, we are nourished with the milk of our parents—that is, we are constituted for life from their flesh and blood—so we are commanded to be nourished in a more mystical manner with the body and blood of the Master Christ; since in the age to come, he is our Father, because from him and through him we receive glory, and in a certain way are regenerated unto eternal life. ^B Here, indeed, are the first birth-pangs and the nourishment of milk, which fittingly strengthens and establishes him who is begotten in the mysteries unto life—that is, the type of regeneration through water and spirit, and the mystical food of the body and blood of Christ, which invites and draws the one who believes and partakes to eternal life. In the future age, however, there shall be the resurrection from the dead, by which we shall rise from the tombs as if from the womb, being regenerated and reformed; and, properly, this is the participation in the glorified, immortal, incorruptible, and immutable body and soul of Christ. Glory to the Creator and Restorer of the universe, God, unto the ages. Amen. ^C

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illuminating; yet the sun and its powers are inseparably in one another. So also in the case of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there is one God, the Father, with His two powers, uniquely existing in one another inseparably, and perceived by the mind in their own hypostases. For here God is ^A strictly incorporeal, but the illustration is dim, as befits an illustration. It is possible, however, to take an example from our own soul. For just as the soul has within itself an internal word and a mind—and the faculty of reasoning is one thing, and the faculty of understanding another, and the word proceeds from the soul inseparably, not being severed from it; and similarly the mind, but rather they are in it, from it, and with it—so also is it to be thought concerning God.

Wherefore also John the Evangelist, using this example, called the Son "the Word," as proceeding from the Father, and being with the Father, and ^B being of the same substance; but the Apostle Paul, in a more bodily manner, called Him "the radiance," using the example of the sun. But the Old Testament says, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." 9 As for "let us make" and "our," it spoke in the plural. But "in the image and after our likeness" does not mean the same thing; for "at the image" is one thing, and "after the likeness" is another. And indeed, "in the image" is said in this sense: that man alone, because he has within himself all things—both visible and invisible, both intelligible and sensible, both corruptible and incorruptible—shows that there is one Creator of all things, God. And in this respect he is the image of God, in that he knows Him to be the one Creator of the whole, just as the Apostle cries ^C out: "For a man ought not to cover his head, being the image and glory of God." 10 He declares openly that man was made for the glory of God, and for this reason called him an image, as if man alone were able to know that there is one Creator of the universe, God, who has fashioned man as a single living being out of all natures. But "after the likeness" has this meaning: that Adam became a father and not a son, producing out of his own substance—by way of procession—Eve, who is called neither son nor sister, and by way of generation—his own son Seth, again from his own substance. Producing the one by generation, and the other by procession, he brought forth those two from his substance in one way and another. But since Adam had a beginning, those who are from him likewise have a beginning; whereas, because God and ^D Father is without beginning, those who proceed from Him proceed without beginning and are eternally with Him, just as the radiance and the heat are with the sun, and just as the word and the mind are with our soul, according to the examples of divine Scripture. But some of the Fathers used examples more closely approaching bodily things concerning the Holy Trinity; some saying that two rivers flow forth as from an ever-flowing spring, others that a tree has, as it were, roots and branches.

^A Yet all, whether Apostles or Fathers, being human, spoke as those inspired by the Spirit, using examples far inferior to the divine substance. But in the future state, since we shall arise as spiritual beings, we shall know more accurately concerning God.

Thus, therefore, the divine Scripture, wishing here to declare the hypostases, has frequently used this linguistic peculiarity, as if narrating creation from the Father, incarnation from the Son, and resurrection from the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the holy Trinity works all things. The blessed Moses, as if God were speaking, has it thus: *Let us make man* (Gen. 1, 26), which is a plural voice, yet can be understood of two only. Since, therefore, it seemed good to God not to deliver the confession of the holy Trinity to us from the beginning, so that we might not understand it in a bodily way as we do bodies, or suspect that there are three gods, when He approached the creation of man, He then spoke enigmatically with a plural voice, which could also be understood of two only. ^B But after some time, He utters a more plural voice, saying: *Come, let us go down and confuse their languages* (Gen. 11, 7); this can no longer be understood as of two only, but of three and more. Then, therefore, after very many years, so that we might not be led into a multitude, He confirmed the voice enigmatically concerning the Trinity through Isaiah, saying *Holy* three times, and reducing it to one God with these words: *Lord Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of his glory* (Isa. 6, 3), declaring both the number of the three hypostases and the unity of the Godhead. ^C Under the Lord Christ according to the flesh, He taught these things openly, saying: *Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit* (Matth. 28, 19); bringing forward one name indeed, but dividing it into three hypostases. And because He was about to preach these things clearly through the form of a servant, anticipating this at the creation of man, He first sent forth the plural voice, *Let us make man.*

When, therefore, the Lord comes from heaven, He will bring the faithful and the just and the worthy—both angels and men—with Himself into the kingdom of heaven; but of the rest, some He will leave outside the firmament, and others below around the earth, just as He says in the Gospels speaking of the consummation: ^D *Then there will be two in the field, one is taken and one is left; two grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left* (Matth. 24, 40); as if He were saying that those who are in the field, namely all the men of this world, whether rich or poor or of middle fortune—that is, of any condition whatsoever—if any be found worthy, are to be taken up into heaven; but if they are unworthy, they are to be left on the earth. Then, indeed, He mentions those who are at the mill, namely the servants: if they are found worthy, they will be taken up into heaven; but if they are unworthy, they will be left on the earth. Now, that He uses the masculine gender for the first and then the feminine, notes the difference of gender; namely,

whether they are found to be males or females, whether just or sinners. ^A And the apostle Paul also signifies this in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, saying thus: "In the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power, in a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall suffer eternal destruction, from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be made admirable in all them who have believed" (II Thess. I, 7-9). He himself also signifies that for the faithful saints, great and ineffable glories are reserved; but for the unbelievers, a destructive judgment—that is, a punishment analogous to that state. For everyone who does not enjoy the holy gifts, the glory, and the beatitude reserved for the just, finds himself in destruction, and in the ultimate punishment, and in great remorse. Every Christian therefore ought to enslave himself and subject himself from this point forward to God, and to believe in all Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testament; and to be an accurate observer of dogmas, and to lead a life consistent with faith; and to renounce, just as we confessed when we were about to approach baptism, and to turn away from all Satanic and Hellenic error, and unbelief, and vanity, and hopeless hope. For they shall be greatly harmed by remaining in those things, as though they were divine learning, calculating ^B and predicting eclipses, possessing no hope beyond this; but rather going astray and leading others astray. If someone has had a garment or something else stolen from them, they resort to these people as if they were prophets and receive an answer from them; and perhaps, by the fact that these men lie about the truth, they might by chance recover the lost item; if not, not even that. Such are the hopes of those vain-minded people who attribute a spherical shape to the heaven; they cannot hope for anything beyond these things, neither resurrection, nor the kingdom of heaven, nor a better state; since they lose the sphere, and make a loss of the hope they had. ^C May God grant, O venerable head, that at the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of our Lady the Theotokos, and of all the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and teachers, we may be numbered among those on the right hand, and with them hear that excellent and blessed voice saying: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matth. XXV, 34). To Him be glory unto the ages. Amen. ^D

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^A explaining the figure of this whole world, and declaring that Christians more strictly adhere to their principles and follow them, and that the end of these things is consistent with their principles: and in this we have demonstrated the goodness of God, which has placed an end to this sporting ground and arena, to the struggles, and to corruption and death. We have shown, however, that in the Lord Christ, immortality, incorruption, immutability, beatitude, sanctification, and eternal justice are prepared for all men, just as He had prepared from the foundation of the world, namely, the second place in the heavens, and the second state, in the very same way as He had previously announced to us in figure through the tabernacle.

We have likewise declared that the opinion of the Greeks is devoid of all hope, for they neither look for a second state and life, nor do they believe that the resurrection of our bodies will take place: but they err, and lead others into error, rolling about in their minds together with their own sphere; ^B thinking it impossible for God to resurrect the bodies of all men; yet, as wise men, they ought to know that if God is the judge of the thoughts and hearts of all men, and can discern the thoughts of each one that have existed from the beginning, how much more can He discern the bodies of each human being? For if He is able to discern the things of the spirit, how much more the bodies? For at the consummation, He will shake the whole creation from its foundations, heaven indeed, and earth, and the remaining elements, each one of which He will restore, with His discerning power, the human body which it holds. Just as someone shaking a sieve will find what he is looking for; so, with the whole nature of things shaken and agitated, those who are sought will appear in the midst. ^C For yet once more, He says through the prophet, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens (Agg. II, 7). But in saying yet once more, the Apostle signifies the change of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence, piety, and prayer (Hebr. XII, 28).

The Lord truly speaks thus concerning the consummation: And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great voice of a trumpet, ^D and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens even to the ends of the heavens (Matth. XXIV, 29 sqq.). And again the Apostle says in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a commandment, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who live, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (I Thess. IV, 15 sqq.). Similarly, he has in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise...

incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor. xv, 52, 53). These are the Gospels of the Christians, these the great and marvelous hopes of the faithful: the resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of heaven, prepared for men from the foundation of the world. Those who have attained, first of all, immortality, incorruptibility, and immutability, carried aloft and treading the air, shall inherit the kingdom of heaven with Christ; they shall reign with Christ; they shall possess heaven as their home with Christ; they shall be permitted to walk with Christ in the tabernacle not made with hands; they shall be named citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem with Christ, along with the holy angels; they shall rejoice with Christ, exult with Christ, be exalted with Christ, wear crowns with Christ, be endowed with glory with Christ, enjoy the throne of grace with Christ, and enjoy justice, sanctification, redemption, blessedness, and every eternal and ineffable good with Christ. What nation, what sect, by believing, possesses such hopes, except for Christians only?

The Greeks do not believe; they live without hope, loving the wisdom of this world, which, of itself, is not even capable of grasping one of these things, unless some divine illumination follows. ^B Similarly, the Jews, not believing in Christ who appeared and who openly preached and confirmed these things both by Himself and through His apostles, have suffered the loss of all these things. The Samaritans and the Montanists, being stiffer-necked than the Jews, since they could not be instructed and taught by Moses and the patterns of the world, nor did they believe the prophets, nor did they confess that there is an angel, or a spirit, or a rational immortal soul, but sharing the same opinion as the Greeks in denying the resurrection of bodies, have lost all these things. Likewise, the Manichaeans again, hating bodies and not confessing their resurrection—but imagining them to be the handiwork of an evil god, and expecting their destruction—are themselves also deprived of all these goods, condemned as impious along with that god whom they established for themselves on earth. ^C Likewise, all the heretics, as many as deny the assumption of our flesh and our soul at the time of the incarnation, and as many as deny or mutilate the divinity of the Son, and diminish the divinity of the Holy Spirit, are also deprived of all these goods. For only those who confess one God in three hypostases—unbegotten, eternal, uncircumscribed, invisible, intangible, incorruptible, immortal, impassible, incorporeal, infinite, incomprehensible, uncompounded, without parts, the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, known and adored in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; who in the last of days, in the time of the incarnation, wishing to restore the world which He had created, having received from…

the holy Virgin Mary a portion of our own mass, the God the Word, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, without seed, restored the little world, the bond of all creation—that is to say, man. And by the very same instantaneous impulse, He was joined to him by a union most excellent and indissoluble, so that the assumption is not to be understood as preceding the union, but the formation, assumption, and union exist ^A at one and the same time. He deigned also to suffer and to be killed; and having perfected him through the resurrection, He led him up to heaven, and honored him with the session at His right hand, and appointed him judge of all. In like manner, those who order their lives rightly enter along with Him into the bridal chamber, together with the Bridegroom, taking away from Him neither His divinity nor His humanity. These dance in the chorus with Christ and reign with Him in heaven, hearing from Him at the consummation: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. xxv, 34).

But of the day of the consummation, no one knows, except God alone. Some say that the world will not be consummated until men are equal in number to the angels; for Moses says: "He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels of God" (Deut. xxxii, 8), as if to say: He set the boundary of the nations in this, that they might be equal in number to the angels. Indeed, the Apostle also says: "When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved" (Rom. xi, 25), speaking clearly concerning the consummation. Nay, the Lord also seems to speak adumbratively of this matter ^B when He says: "In the resurrection they are as the angels" (Luc. xx, 36). As many of you, therefore, as are Christians, and hold to this hope, and have the Lord Christ as an examplar and type, when you read this book, pray for me, a sinner, that the Lord of all may not despise me, but having mercy, may count me with you among those who shall be at His right hand, forgetting, that is, our sins, and that I may not fall from that ineffable blessedness, through your prayers and supplications, and through the mercy, clemency, and grace of our common Savior Christ, with whom to the Father is glory with the Holy Spirit—now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Christian Topography of a Christian, embracing the whole world.

BOOK VI. Addendum.

After the completion of the book, some stirred up questions against us concerning the figure of the world, in these words: How can it be, as your opinion holds, that the sun is hidden under the northern parts of the earth, when it exceeds the magnitude of the earth by many parts? For according to our sphere, however much greater the sun may be than the earth, it will nonetheless produce a shadow on the opposite part of the same earth. To whom we have very briefly

we have replied that such a notion is false and a fabrication. We proved this first from their own admitted climates, demonstrating that it entails non-differentiated shadows. Then, ^A furthermore, from what we ourselves observed with our own eyes in those regions of Axumis in Ethiopia. For at the beginning of the summer solstice, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Pauni, at the sixth hour of the day, when the sun had already arrived at the meridian, we saw clearly that the shadow of a man inclines toward the south. And since I myself was situated here in Alexandria at that same time—I say, the twenty-fifth of Pauni, and until the thirtieth of Thoth—at the sixth hour of the day, standing beneath the sun, I showed the shadow inclining by only one foot toward the northern regions. And according to them, Alexandria is the third climate.

Now, there was present here that most God-fearing and admirable abbot Stephanus, a presbyter of Antioch, a most Christian man and truly to be reckoned among the perfect, who was accurately trained even in lunar calculations. Being one who could easily foretell both solar and ^B lunar eclipses according to that schema of the world which we have set forth from the divine Scripture, he wished to exercise himself in this matter. Wherefore, in the month of Thoth of the present tenth indiction, being asked by an erudite man named Anastasius—a learned mechanic, and one exceeding many in the skill of such things—to foretell a solar eclipse, he said that it would occur at such a time on the twelfth day of the month of Mechir; which also came to pass. He likewise predicted a lunar one for the twenty-fourth of Mesori, at the similarly noted hour. Anastasius, having marveled at this, asked him to indicate also past eclipses; and when he likewise declared these, Anastasius was astonished. There were also present other mechanics among our friends, in whose ^C presence this conversation was held.

That God-loving man, therefore, moved by both experience in such matters and by study, having spent many years both in Antioch and in Constantinople, testified that he had measured the shadows in both cities; and he declared that at the same time the shadow in Antioch extends to one foot and a half, but in Byzantium to two feet. Now, Antioch is situated in the same climate as Rhodes—that is to say, the fourth—and Byzantium slightly exceeds the fifth. For this is how they divide the climates: they say the first climate is that of Meroe, the second that of Syene, the third that of Alexandria, the fourth that of Rhodes, the fifth that of the Hellespont, the sixth that of the middle of the Pontus, ^D and the seventh that of the Borysthenes river and the Maeotian marsh; beyond this is the Ocean.

If, therefore, as we even saw with our own eyes, the shadow here in the third climate, as they themselves suppose, inclines toward the north by only one foot, and in the fourth by one foot and a half, and in the fifth by two feet, how is it not manifest that for each climate half a foot is either added or subtracted? And if this is true—as indeed it is true—it will be discovered that the sun possesses only the magnitude of two climates. For if in the third climate it produces a shadow of one foot, in the second it must surely produce one of half a foot, and in the first we would find no shadow at all. Just as

^A in the second book we have already occupied ourselves with saying, the expanses of the earth from Meroe as far as the southern Ocean are many: for from the Cataracts as far as the Ocean, there are, as we remember saying, plus or minus seventy stages. Moreover, the climates which they suppose they number at nearly twenty. In the climate of Axum, however, which is a city of the Ethiopians, the shadow is detected to incline toward the south by more than one foot; so that, in every way, if it is between Syene and Axum, the sun, in running its summer solstice, has a magnitude of only two climates. By what reasoning, therefore, could those things which are said by them concerning the sun—namely, that it exists as larger than the earth—not be false and fabulous? How, likewise, when they say that the earth is spherical, does the shadow not vary in the convex parts of the earth? For since they position that scorched zone in the middle, it is necessary that those parts which are on either side be much more concave. They say, moreover, that no one can live in that scorched zone; indeed, that the earth which we inhabit is distant from that scorched zone by very long spaces toward the northern part of the earth. And I wonder, truly, how in a figure of the earth of this kind, according to their hypothesis, the shadows could proceed in such proportion that they increase or diminish by half a foot for each individual climate, as, with God helping, we have demonstrated, and perceived with our own eyes, and shown to those men who were ^B staying with us, being certainly not unskilled, but very learned, and strenuously disputing on this matter. 266. And again they were saying and affirming that when the illuminating body is larger—the illuminated one being smaller—and both are spherical, a conical shadow is absolutely produced; for the rays of the larger sphere, passing beyond the smaller one on this side and that, necessarily end in a very sharp cone; and they were attempting with linear demonstrations, supposedly, to circumvent us. But in this matter we proved by the very experiments of the eyes that what was brought forward by them was false: for having brought a very small wooden sphere, and with a nail fixed by which we held it in our hands, and placing it against the sun, we saw that its shadow was round, and not comical. Then we addressed them thus: "Look how small this sphere is which we are holding, and the sun, according to you, is of vast magnitude, and yet it does not produce a conical shadow, but a round one." And we tested this from nearby, and from further away; and they were not able to prove what they claim; but rather they deceive the many with plausible deceits. Again, we brought a conical vessel, and then we demonstrated to them that a conical body does indeed produce a conical shadow. And, to speak truthfully, most religious Father, they departed with gaping mouths, sad and astonished, through the power of Christ, having been put to shame by us regarding their own fabrications. Behold, now, according to their own custom and art, by drawing lines, we are able, God helping, to assign one to each climate, proving with certain arguments that the sun is not larger than two climates; so that in this matter they may learn not to be stiff-necked in pride, but to be obedient to divine Scripture.

[At the Summer Solstice, the sun running through the 25th of Payni, at the sixth hour of the day.]

[Diagram: Earth with nine vertical lines representing bodies in nine climates, with sun rays forming shadows.]

[Labeling for the climates (from left to right):] The Ocean at Zeson and Barbaria. The region of the Borysthenes river and swamp. The region of Axum. The Ethiopian region. The region of Meroe. The region of Syene. The region of Alexandria. The region of Rhodes. The region of the Hellespont. The middle of the Pontus.

The straight line is the earth; the nine upright lines are bodies standing in each respective climate; and those descending from the sun onto the bodies are the sun’s rays, which, striking the bodies from this side and that, produce, as we have marked them with ink, shadows. But the one line descending straight down, since it is directly overhead, is the shadowless one, the half.

Note on the diagram of the sun.

Recta linea est terra; novem autem lineæ rectæ ad perpendiculum, totidem erecta corpora, nempe ad singula climata unum repræsentant. Lineæ vero a sole ad corpora decidentes, solares radii sunt, qui hinc et inde ad corpora delapsi, umbras, ut atramento designavimus, efficiunt. Una autem ex lineis, recta descendens, quia ad perpendiculum locum ubi sol nullam efficit umbram, indicaret. Advertas porro velim, in schemate dimidium pedis curva lineola indicari: siquidem, ut in Analectis Græcis observavimus, hæc figura dimidium significatur.

^A Since the ray is larger than the body, it illuminates the whole of it round about. The Lord himself testifies to this in the Gospels when he calls the Homerite the ends of the earth, which is not more than a two days' journey by sea from Barbaria. This is evident from the climates confessed to be among them, and from the locations, as Ptolemy—who made war upon Ethiopia and whom we mentioned in the second book—also testifies. It is also plain from the shadows occurring in every climate that the sun does not exceed the size of two climates, and also that the earth is spread out, and not spherical, as the illustration shows.

^B A treatise, by which it is more clearly and briefly confirmed that we are taught by all of divine Scripture that God has prepared two states: this one, namely, and the future one.

First, from the very construction of the universe, in that God divided the one space from the earth up to the first heaven, having placed in the middle the firmament, that is, the second heaven, and thus distributed the one place into two places.

Second, from the very structure of man, whom He constituted of two things; namely, of mortal and immortal, clearly subjecting him to the contest through these opposites, so that afterward He might deem him worthy of gifts.

Third, by the two trees placed in the middle of paradise, he shows that there are two states: one mortal and mutable, and another immortal and immutable. ^C For the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a type and figure of this world, in which we are instructed and exercised; but the tree of life is a figure of the future state, in which neither death nor change prevails.

Fourth, that even the very act of expelling man from paradise, and the fact that He gave these warnings and words, "Lest he reach forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever" (Gen. III, 22); these, I say, are the words of One instructing and intimating that some gift of immortal life is laid up for men after the contest of this life.

Fifth, we are taught this by Lamech, who prophesies concerning Noah and says that he would free us from labors and from a curse, and bring us to a better state.

Sixth, from Noah himself we learn that we men were translated from that first evil and thorny land into this land which we now inhabit; ^D which is indeed better and nearly equal to paradise: hence we are taught the difference between the first and the second state.

Seventh, that God chose Abraham and translated him from the land of the Chaldeans into Palestine, and promised to give him great gifts, and the possession of that land; although He gave him not even a footprint

^A of ground, but, according to the divine Scripture, made him faithful, knowing how to hope truly for the gifts of God which were to come after these. Similarly, through Ishmael and Isaac, He declared the dignity of the two Testaments, that the one is a servant, and the other is free.

Eighth, again through Isaac and Rebekah, who brought forth twins, it was said that the greater shall serve the lesser; by this again two states are declared, one a servant, and the other a free one.

Ninth, once more in the case of Jacob and Joseph, who did not consent to be buried in Egypt, but in the land of promise, it was shown with regard to both how they longed to attain to that hope which was promised to them by God, that is to say, the second state.

Tenth, the departure itself at the time of Moses, and the redemption that took place from the servitude of the Egyptians, and the freedom and entry which happened through Joshua the son of Nun into the land of promise, clearly prefigured those two states.

Eleventh, similarly, the construction of the ark and the temple, as the veil divided the one tabernacle into two, and had made one an inner and an outer [part], prefigured this state and the one to come.

What need is there to speak also of the dispensations that came about through virtuous men: of Abel, [who had] such confidence even after death, who still speaks, crying out from the earth, and bringing forth the return to life.

If one reflects on the translation of Enoch, who, because he pleased God, was translated so as not to see death, he will very clearly know that there will be a better state through such an order. Whoever considers the assumption of Elijah and his journey by the chariot of fire will be amazed and will reflect how much honor is attributed to the nature of men, in that it is taught and hopes that it can direct its course to heaven.

^B If one hears the multitude of the host of the heavenly orders dancing and rejoicing and exulting at the birth of our Master Christ according to the flesh, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men," he will greatly wonder, considering that one confession has been made of heavenly and earthly things, and [there is] the good pleasure of God in men.

If one contemplates the power of the resurrection from the dead of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with an upright mind he will unceasingly praise God the Savior of all, who put an end to the struggle of the body and the soul, as He brought both, being contrary to each other, into concord, having made them spiritually harmonious with one another.

If one considers the ascension of our Master Christ in the flesh into heaven, and the angels in white garments announcing to the apostles again His [coming] advent, he will not cease to magnify Jesus, who showed and revealed ^D to men the ascent to the future heavenly state, which He prepared...

from the foundation of the world.

If anyone should look upon the descent of the Holy Spirit ^A which took place upon the apostles, and weigh the discourse of the great Peter in the midst of all, he will supplicate and hymn God, the Giver of all things, who bestowed such an earnest and pledge of the future state upon men.

If anyone should contemplate the calling of the great Paul from heaven, and his rapture as far as the third heaven, and again his being in paradise, he will cry out to God saying: Glory to Thee, who in all things and through all things bestowest gifts upon men.

If anyone should read the writings of the choir of prophets, ^B and of the priests, and righteous men, and furthermore of the apostles and evangelists, along with the miracles, and prophecies, and true outcomes, he will find that they mentioned only the first and second states, and that they neither wove a catalogue of others before the first, nor after the second. Glory to God, who spoke through the ministry of all these and foretold future things, unto the ages. Amen.

If anyone should treasure up in his heart the memory of the second, illustrious, and glorious coming of our Lord and Savior Christ, ^C and conceive in his mind the reason for the blessed resurrection from the dead, and the change of the world for the better, and of the ineffable joy and hope laid up for men, he will celebrate the Cause of all, the Creator and Restorer of the universe, and will praise Him with wonder; or rather, he will not be able to address Him according to His dignity, for He is superior to all praise, glory, and hymns, who out of supreme goodness created two states from the beginning, and delivered the human race in the first state to institutions, and taught it to live temperately through discipline and reason, and led it, and through it every creature also, to the second state. Glory to Thee, glory to Thee, glory to Thee, thrice-holy, Creator and Maker of all, and Restorer of the universe, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

From all these things it is shown that the ^D dogma of the Christians is better than all others, and consistent and appropriate to the structure of the world, and more truthful as well. Because from the beginning God, not untimely, but usefully and fittingly, divided the one space into two spaces, having prepared and pre-constructed this one for the present state, and the other for that which is to be, just as true, and not feigned, Christians confess. The Greeks, therefore, supposing the world to be eternal, and denying the resurrection of the bodies and their ascent into heaven, considering it to be folly, are justly deprived of such honors and of the ascent into heaven, according to their own hypothesis. The Jews, reading Moses and the prophets, and yet not understanding that great and wise economy of God which is declared through the prophets, that from the beginning God has made two states for the benefit of men; neither have they received the Prince of this second state; nay, even unto the stumbling block

^A of it they have come, nor do they until now believe that there will be an ascent of men into heaven; but they themselves expect the one who is to come—whom, though they call him the Anointed, they hope will reign upon their earth and subject all the nations to them—deeming that there is nothing heavenly at all, setting at naught the counsel of God, and judging that the dwelling place in the heavens was prepared inappropriately. Yet Moses shows that it was not inappropriately brought into being, saying it was on the second day, and that the firmament was placed in the middle, and thus two areas were made; and therefore they themselves are excluded from this dwelling place. The Samaritans, likewise, led by the same ignorance as the Jews, unbelieving and doubting concerning the resurrection of bodies and the immortality of the soul, are in like manner driven from the heavenly dwelling place. ^B The Manichaeans, holding opinions equal to the Greeks, and imagining that the heaven is spherical, and expecting the ultimate corruption of bodies, are condemned along with their own evil god, whom they have appointed for themselves around the earth, cast out from the city above which they denied. Likewise, every heresy that denies the perfect humanity of Christ—I mean a rational soul endowed with mind, and a body, and does not confess all the properties of both soul and body, but doubts them; or also that which denies the divinity of Christ and diminishes it, and calls Him or the Holy Spirit lesser than the Father—all these heresies, I say, fall away from the heavenly mansions. ^C Blessed, therefore, are all who, through the divine Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, recognize the Creator of all as one God in three hypostases—I mean, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—an holy Trinity, consubstantial, equal in power, and equal in strength, and equal in glory, and equal in honor, and co-eternal; and who recognize the great, wise, and all-powerful economy of Him who is the cause of all things; how wisely and fittingly He created the two states from the beginning, this one and that one; and how, through the perfect humanity of Christ, who is consubstantial with us in all things, both according to soul and body, without sin, and who lived in the last times, He revealed and manifested the coming state and provided faith to all, having raised Him from the dead. ^D As many, therefore, as are perfect and walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and at the judgment of God these shall rightly hear from the Lord Christ speaking from heaven: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The entire purpose, then, of the economy of God is this—for it is worth the effort to repeat it more briefly: God, out of His goodness, willed to communicate being, power, reason, and knowledge to others; but since those who partake of these cannot in

^A their present state, without discipline and experience, know and possess all things—for this is proper to God alone—He has created these two states: the first, mortal and mutable, for the trial and instruction of reasoning beings, so that, by the variety of the universe and the juxtaposition of opposites, they might be exercised and experience both sweet and bitter; the second, immortal and immutable, for the enjoyment of His grace, so that, being instructed by the faculty of discernment, we might embrace the participation in the former things. To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

No sect, therefore—neither Jew, nor Samaritan, nor Greek, nor Manichaean—believes or hopes for the resurrection of men and their ascent into heaven; but those among them who deem the heaven to be a sphere, that is, the Greeks and Manichaeans, maintain an unbelief consistent with their own opinion. For in what part of their sphere can they assign a place for the kingdom of heaven? Rightly, therefore, do they both deny the resurrection of bodies, and say that only souls are either rewarded with glory or punished after the present life; or that souls revolve together with the sphere and see all things, as some of them assert, or are condemned to Tartarus. Some even claim that a perpetual translation of souls into other bodies occurs; others deny the immortality of the soul entirely, and all of them have no hope regarding the body after this life. ^C

Those sects, however, which do not believe it to be a sphere—namely, the Jews and Samaritans—and who say that the firmament, which is interposed in the middle and divides the one space into two, was made untimely, are consequently also held fast by unbelief. The Samaritans confess neither a resurrection nor an ascent into heaven, nor do they claim the soul is immortal, but assert instead the perpetual succession of our race. The Jews, indeed, confess the resurrection of men, but teach that they will always dwell upon the earth, eating, drinking, and entering into matrimony, just as the Sadducees in the Gospels proposed the question to the Lord with these words: "In the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven?" whom the Lord proved to be erring most briefly, and ignorant of the divine Scripture, in which the power of God is contained, saying: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." ^D They are refuted, therefore, both by the things written and by the figure "prepared from the foundation of the world," showing that the higher place was not made untimely, but is a certain second state, a heavenly one, prepared from the foundation of the world. Likewise, also, is every heresy among Christians; for some among the Greeks, namely the Manichaeans, deem the heaven to be a sphere, or embrace a life preceding this one, or deny something of our nature in Christ—either body, or soul, or mind—and these also wander far, not knowing

the divine Scriptures, nor the power of God. For the only perfect Christians are those who unerringly follow the divine Scripture, and recognize—both from what is written and from the figure of the first and second estate—the places and figures which the divine Scripture recounts. For just as this world belongs to angels and men—*“We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men,”* says the Apostle—so too is the higher place prepared for the same angels and men. Glory be to God, the King of the ages, for all things. Amen. ^B

The heaven is bound to the earth and divided into parts; for by establishing the two vaults and the two walls on either side, and by folding one wall according to the proportion of the vaults and joining it to the other, it creates the whole figure of the world. ^C

And this figure—that is, the size of the sun and of the earth, according to the outer views—we have delineated so that anyone who examines them might, by placing them side by side, be able to compare how, in our true figure, the sun’s rays falling upon the bodies produce shadows in each climate proportionately, according to our previous diagram, showing a difference of half a foot for each, and how, in this figure of theirs, the rays do not fall upon the bodies, such that those climates—that is, the bodies—cannot be illuminated by the sun, and that they boast in vain over their fables, while rather turning away from the truth. ^D

LIBER VII. On the duration of the heavens.

^A To you, Anastasius, most studious of men, who have asked us for a discourse on the heavens, I shall not fail to comply. And, for the sake of clarity, I first propose this: whether the divine Scripture speaks of it as indissoluble or as dissoluble. For you also pointed this out: that there is one among those who pride themselves on being Christians who, wishing to dispute against the Greeks, did not understand that he was subscribing to their opinion while admitting along with them a sphere that always moves the heavens, and yet in his own book proclaims the heavens to be dissoluble. But I do not know by what motivation he speaks thus, and I am struck with wonder at the highly accomplished wisdom of the man, which is struck so blind by an excessive zeal for innovation. For if, as a Christian, he wished to overturn the Hellenic opinion, he should have first utterly destroyed their principles concerning these things—namely, the sphere and its circular motion—just as we, God willing, have done when asked in another work. But if he accepts their foundation and their principles, from which they bring forward their proofs of eternity, why does that sage labor in vain, building his own trifles not upon a rock, but upon sand? For no one who thinks rightly would say that that which is always moving is corruptible and dissoluble, nor that the corruptible and dissoluble is always moving. But that which is always in motion, since it is always moving, is incorruptible; whereas that which is not always moved, but is dissolved, is entirely corruptible, since it also ceases from motion, and thus is not always moving. How then does the most learned man, having accepted the heavens as always moving, define them as being dissolved, when this does not seem to be the opinion of divine Scripture? For whom among the ancients or the moderns, who have distinguished themselves among external philosophers and who hold the opinion that the heavens are a sphere, has he found who says that it is dissolved? Rather, all of them, proceeding syllogistically, have declared it to be indissoluble. This man, then, by fabricating new and absurd notions, neither follows the doctrine of those outside, nor complies with the spiritual tradition of those within, but being ignorant of the variety of the doctrines of those outside, and likewise of the unfeigned and pure discipline of the Church of those within, he undertakes to teach new things without prior examination; not noticing the contradiction of his own words, nor considering the questions that arise from them. But just as an inexperienced traveler, having lost the direct path and being set in trackless places, is anxious as he becomes entangled in cliffs and thorns; so too that most illustrious man, embarrassed in the course he holds among his adversaries, is easily cast down. ^D Wherefore, most Christ-loving one, since you have read our little work (for thus it behoves us to diminish and humble our own things), that is, the Christian Topography of the whole world, I have thought it sufficient if you consider and observe by what reasoning we have used physical arguments in the first book against those who indeed appear to think as Christians, but who declare the heaven to be a sphere; and in the second, the Chris-

Book VII

^A In the second book, we demonstrated the Christian hypotheses concerning the figure and position of the whole world from the divine Scripture; in the third, how certain and worthy of belief the divine Scripture is, and what utility can arise from the figures of the whole world; in the fourth, we provided a brief repetition and delineation of the tabernacle built by Moses, as well as the concord of the prophets and apostles; in the sixth, we discussed the magnitude of the sun, and thus we completed the little work. Yet, wishing to satisfy your desire and request—as I cannot, as has been said, fail to comply with your devotion—I will, according to my ability and as you have commanded, set forth from the divine Scripture the confutation of those who take away the heavens, and I will discuss the duration of the heavens, with the divine grace helping us and aided by your prayers; having first explained what idioms the divine Scripture uses when speaking about the heaven, and then we shall show that it teaches that the heavens are forever indissoluble.

Since the Old Testament was written for the Hebrews, it must needs have been written in the Hebrew tongue and letters. The Hebrew tongue expresses "heaven" and "heavens" with one and the same utterance, so that it never varies in this matter, and the singular is used for the plural, and the plural for the singular, as when it says: *Praise him, ye heavens of heavens* (Ps. cxviii, 4); as if to say, *heaven of heaven*; for it adds: *And the water that is above the heavens*, meaning this visible heaven, that is, the firmament. For the waters are above the firmament alone, according to that sacred herald, Moses. Similarly, it says: *The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork* (Ps. xvii, 1); beginning in the plural and ending in the singular, so that by either it might signify the same thing, that the very aspect of the heaven—that is, of this visible firmament—proclaims both the glory and the creation of God through the order and magnificence that is within it. ^B Similarly again: *The heaven of heaven of the Lord, but the earth he hath given to the children of men* (Ps. cxv, 16). He calls the first and higher heaven the *heaven of heaven*, which is the heaven above this visible heaven, situated over it. Similar again, great Moses says: *Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heaven is the Lord thy God's* (Deut. x, 14), as if to say, this heaven visible to us, and its heaven—that is, that which is above it.

Paul also used this idiom, crying out: *But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour* (Philipp. iii, 20); where he began in the dual and finished in the singular, saying *from whence* instead of *from which things*. For since two heavens were made by God, as the blessed Moses relates, and are joined to one another, the divine Scripture sometimes speaks of them in the plural and sometimes in the singular, due to the idiom of the language, as has been said, or because they are joined to one another at some part of themselves and, as has been said, are formed into one.

Do not, therefore, fall into error upon hearing that the blessed Paul was caught up to the third heaven; for there are not

^A For there are not three heavens, nor more than three, nor does this expression intend to say so, nor does it contradict Moses; rather, he says that he was snatched up from the earth for the whole distance of the height of the heaven, except for its third part, so that he might say, "I was lifted up from the earth so high that there remained for me only a third part of the distance of the height of the heaven." Since these things are thus, it is time now for us to say that all Divine Scripture proclaims the heaven, or the heavens, as indissoluble.

Therefore, the divine apostle Paul says thus: "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," in order to show that this earthly state here is dissolved, but that the future one—which is also heavenly—is indissoluble and eternal. And again: "We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," ^B as if he were to say that the Lord Christ, having been taken up into the heavens, is in the true tabernacle, that is to say, one that is always permanent and indissoluble. For by saying "true," he signified that it is indissoluble, since that which was constructed through Moses was dissolved; he called this one "true" as being indissoluble, by way of contrast to that one; as if to say, permanent, firm, and indissoluble. And again he says: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

What he says is of this kind: Since God commanded Moses to make the tabernacle according to the model of the whole world, he indeed constructed it, dividing it in the middle by the veil, ^C and making the one tabernacle into two, an outer and an inner one, as if shadowing forth this place and the one above it; and into the first tabernacle the priests always entered, accomplishing the services; but into the second, once a year the high priest alone, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the people.

For this reason, the apostle Paul says that Christ, becoming high priest of the heavens, just as the earthly high priest entered into the inner tabernacle with the blood of another, so also He has entered into the higher place with His own blood; and as the tabernacle here is small and made with hands, and as a type is imperfect and dissoluble, ^D so also is the heaven great, and not made with hands, and firm, and true, and eternal, and indissoluble, where also the eternal redemption takes place. For since the high priest is eternal, consequently both the salvation and the tabernacle are eternal, just as it is again written: "And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. For such an high priest became us."

^A For such an high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. The phrase "higher than the heavens," according to the idiom of the language, speaks of the heaven; but the word "higher" brings out more clearly that it is everlasting, and that which remains for eternity, and the word "always" signifies the indissoluble nature of the matter. For if the priest is indissoluble, then necessarily the tabernacle in which he performs his sacred rites is also indissoluble, that is to say, without succession. Elsewhere it says again, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved," as if to say, permanent, immovable, indissoluble, and having no succession. And again, "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest," calling it a rest inasmuch as it does not admit of succession, because we are not to be transferred from thence, but we shall rest forever in that very heaven. ^B And again, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." The phrase "passed into the heavens," that is to say, passed beyond the heaven, according to the idiom of the language, and he exists within the two heavens, as in a tabernacle not made with hands. And again, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us," the entering into the holiest which has been made by the blood of Jesus, he calls his own entrance into the heavens, which after the passion and the resurrection he made, having been taken up into heaven, which he also termed a new and living way consecrated for us, as he was the first of all who traversed this very path in a new and recently fashioned way, being living and holy, and leaving behind for us a kind of pattern. ^C And again, "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." If, as he says, after the passion and the sacrifice he sits for ever at the right hand of God, and for ever sanctifies those who draw near, how is it possible for it to be dissolved, when he himself sits for ever and those who draw near are sanctified? And again, "For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood," and again, "For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." ^D Behold, most clearly does he call Christ an eternal priest, through the power and life of an indissoluble nature. By what reasoning, then, can it be that while the priest is indissoluble, the tabernacle of which he is the minister should be subject to dissolution? For he says, "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," where he clearly calls it both true and indissoluble; and again: "For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath," and again:

^A “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” And again: “Knowing that ye have a better and an enduring substance.” Observe again, O admirable man, that he calls that entry which goes within the veil, that is, the firmament, where Jesus has entered and where we are about to enter, ^B immutable, and strong, and safe, and sure, and abiding, and perpetual, and holding us fast like an anchor. And again: “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come”; as if he were to say: We seek that which is ever permanent and eternal, the Jerusalem above, which is free and the mother of all the faithful; for this earthly one, he says, is dissolved, according to that which is said: “The fashion of this world passeth away.” And again he says: “Set your affection on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; seek those things which are above, not things on the earth.” I told you, he says, of the ^C things above, where Christ is now seated; seek therefore the things that are there, not those that are here. But that he also calls it prepared from then, it is allowed you to hear again from Paul saying: “Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city”; and again from the Lord himself saying: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And when was it prepared? He says: From the foundation of the world; that is to say, from that time, in the beginning of the creation, when the heaven and the earth ^D and the things produced with them were being created, the place of the kingdom of heaven was prepared, God having foreseen something better for us. He says, moreover, in the Gospel according to John: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” He calls the habitation in the heavens the house of the Father. In this, therefore, he says, is your habitation, prepared for you by the Father. Then he again says: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” And again to the mother of James and John, asking that one might be on his right hand and one on his left in the kingdom, he answered with these words: “It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” They therefore who are worthy obtain these things, even before I bestow them, whether thy sons, or others who are equally worthy. Indeed, even that saying, “That where I am, there ye may be also,” marvelously declares that that place is indissoluble and prepared from then; and not, according to those clever ones, that another place is taught as existing in its stead, where we are to dwell after the resurrection, after this place of the heavens shall have been dissolved. And to speak summarily, nearly innumerable passages are found in the divine Scripture which [declare] that indissoluble

into which Christ has entered, and into which we also are to enter.

And these things the Lord preached to his own disciples. But the Apostle Paul, having written an Epistle to those from among the Hebrews who had believed in Christ, appropriately distinguished for them all the matters of the tabernacle, both those of the outer, which are referred to this place of ours, and those of the inner, which look toward the upper and heavenly place. But to those who had believed from among the Greeks, I mean the Corinthians—men who were lovers of learning and philosophers, and who already believed in the resurrection of Christ, but were still doubting concerning the universal resurrection of men—he applied ^B the same arguments, and says: "But if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not raised; and if Christ is not raised, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain" (1 Cor. xv, 12, 14); as if to say: your faith in Christ is unprofitable to you, if you do not also believe in our own resurrection. For if you believed concerning one that he has been raised from the dead, why is it not to be believed that it is possible for all the rest also to be raised? For he who is able to raise one, is able to raise all. Then he adds: "And we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified against God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if indeed the dead do not rise" (1 Cor. xv, 15). And we, he says, who have testified to you that God raised Christ, will be ^C found false and deceivers. And again, a second time, he says: "If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not raised; and if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. xv, 16, 17). From that which was confessed and believed among them, he convicts them and says: "For if that one, concerning whom you believed, being dead, rose again, how do you disbelieve also concerning the resurrection of the rest of the dead, so that you appear to have believed in vain even concerning the One?" For he who is able to raise one dead man is able to raise all the rest of the dead. Wherefore, by disbelieving the resurrection of the dead, you have fallen back into your former superstition, and have slipped; for this is what he means: "You are still in your sins."

Then, after a few words, he brings forward the cause, saying: "For ^D since by man came death, and by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. xv, 21). And showing who is the first man through whom death was introduced, and the second man through whom the resurrection was exhibited, he adds: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. xv, 22). Then again, after a few words, he says: "Otherwise what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? Why also do we stand in jeopardy every hour?" (1 Cor. xv, 29, 30).

^A He says, "Since we are baptized more mystically for the sake of our own dead bodies, by submerging in the holy water and emerging, we imitate thereafter the death and resurrection, in hope and promise of the resurrection from the dead; why then," he says, "do we do these things in vain, if we do not walk according to what we perform? And why do we ourselves stand in jeopardy every hour, preaching these things to such a multitude, and fighting against the preconceived opinion of the world?" ^B Finally, after a few words, he attempts again, by way of antithesis and a natural example, to persuade them with these words: "But someone will say: How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?" He answers them surely, and says: "Fool, what you sow is not made alive, unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare grain—perhaps of wheat or some of the others. But God gives it a body as He wills, and to each of the seeds its own body." Saying this, he means: "Consider, O men, that the ^C bare grain sown in the earth is first dissolved. For he says this: if it first dies, then, being increased by the power and providence of God, it appears furnished with many gifts, and skill, and beauty; instead of one grain, it becomes manifold; instead of being bare, it comes forth clothed and covered; whereas before it could easily be taken and crushed, now it is firm and protected by the guard of its awns, so that it may receive no harm from those who might cause injury. This body, therefore, which has been corrupted and changed into earth, again springs up from the earth in greater number and with wondrous beauty; a work truly wise and most beautiful and full of the art of God, the Creator of all things." ^D "Consider, therefore, that God gives it a body as He wills, and to each of the seeds its own body, which is fitting for it; as if to say, not a different, nor an alien one, but a similar and agreeable body, which He multiplies and bestows upon each." Then again, after having compared different kinds of flesh, and earthly and heavenly bodies, and having shown the great difference between them, he subjoins: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishon

dishonor, it is raised in glory." ^A For in whatever element a human body may be found, consumed and decomposed, shaken by ten thousand other bodies, on the last day, it restores from their foundations the sought-after things to their own souls. And just as in a sieve that which is sought is found in the midst, so too the bodies of men, as the elements are shaken and agitated, are brought into the midst as the things sought. And this is not wonderful for God; for as He is the judge of hearts, and thoughts, and intentions, and distinguishes every man’s thoughts and intentions from of old through every time until the consummation, so it is possible for Him also to make the more insignificant thing and to distinguish bodies from bodies. "For yet once," He says, "I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven." The word "once" signifies the removal of those things that are shaken, as having been created, so that the things which are not shaken may remain; in order to say that at the consummation I will shake yet once, shaking all things, for the sake of the proper transformation of each. For since they were made from the beginning and have undergone decay or change, it is easy for Him to rearrange each into its own proper nature, so that they may remain for the future in a better state, no longer enduring shaking or agitation.

But someone will again say: "How do our same bodies rise again, when they have already been decomposed and changed into ten thousand other bodies?" To this we shall answer, that as we, when we were small and tender, ate many other fleshes—for example, those of oxen, swine, and other various creatures, and birds, and fish—and these, being digested, increase our body without it being changed or becoming one thing instead of another, but it remains in its identity; so also in the resurrection, though we undergo the reverse, and our bodies have been dissolved into the elements, ^B you may see the forms easily restored by a certain motion, distinguished by the divine power. For just as when we are alive, it is not changed by the communion of other things, God having so ordained it, so also when we are dead, being distinguished by the same power it is preserved from being changed into something else.

Consider also again, O admirable one, the Apostle saying that there are celestial and terrestrial men: "And as we have borne," he says, "the image of the earthly, that is, the mortality, the weakness, and the corruption of Adam, let us also bear the image of the heavenly, that is, of Him who has gone before and ascended into the heavens from the resurrection of the dead; I mean Christ ^C according to the flesh, who became powerful and incorruptible, and immortal and glorified; and we, in like manner to Him, having become heavenly." And well did he say, "we have borne," and then, "let us bear," as though he had spoken of that which is future; therefore, again rejoicing and exulting, he added, "But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the word that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?"

^A That is to say, death shall be made invisible, being swallowed up while life triumphs within us. For this reason let us cry out: O death, where is thy pride? And where, O Hades, is thy power? Finally, he attributes the whole matter, having been dispensed through Christ, to God, and says: "But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"; as if he were to say: This victory over death, gained through Jesus Christ, has been granted to us by the God of all, to whom praise and thanksgiving are due forever. Amen. He wrote nothing else to these people than what he also wrote to the Jews: that from this transient state we pass to the future one, that is, to the celestial place which he calls the kingdom of heaven, inasmuch as we rule over the diseases of the soul, over corruption and death, and live in a preeminent, eternal, and suitable place; where, transformed from corruption into incorruption, we receive the inheritance. ^{B C} For the Apostle also indicated this above in the example of the grain of wheat, where he used it as an example of a corruptible thing being brought to incorruption, saying: "Do not think that the examples are similar in all respects; for this I say to you, because being mortal and mutable (for this is what flesh and blood signifies), it is impossible for us to possess the kingdom of heaven unless we first rise from the dead incorruptible, immortal, and immutable." Furthermore, the Lord also used the same example when certain of the Greeks asked Philip to show them Jesus, to whom the Lord replied, after being announced: "Unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit"; as if he were to say: Why do they wish to see me now, as I appear so despicable and alone, like a grain of wheat? For unless I die as a grain and rise as an ear of corn, becoming beautiful, incorruptible, immortal, and immutable, and unless powers and signs be performed in my name, they will not know our power and glory. Similarly also John the Baptist, discoursing about the Lord and eagerly wishing to show him to be the judge of all in the future state, used the example of the wheat, saying thus: "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." ^D And when Paul was addressing the Greeks themselves in Athens at the Areopagus, what does he say? "Ye men of Athens, in all things I see you as it were more superstitious. For passing by and seeing your idols, I found also an altar on which was written: To the Unknown God. What therefore you worship, without knowing it, that I preach to you. God, who made the world and all things that are in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything.

^A He himself giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined the times appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said: "For we are also his offspring." Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath ^B raised him from the dead; saying nothing else to them besides those things which he had before told to them that believed from among the Jews and Greeks, namely, that God, being uncircumscribed and all-powerful, in the man whom he raised from the dead, that he might give assurance to all men that he would judge the earth in righteousness, has appointed him as the judge of the universe.

Likewise concerning him the Apostle saith, "And he seated him at his right hand," and John the Baptist similarly saith that his fan is in his hand, and that he will separate the wheat from the chaff, delivering to punishments the sinners, who, like chaff, are separated from the wheat. Wherefore some of them believed, as it is written, but others mocked when they heard of the resurrection of the dead; and ^C some again said: "What will this babbler say?" meaning, he who picks up our seeds; others said: "We will hear thee again of this matter"; and again others: "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because, saith Luke, he preached Jesus and the resurrection; and again others: "May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?" In short, the majority of them mocked Paul for discoursing at all about the resurrection of the dead. But when Paul, being accused by the Jews before Festus the governor and King Agrippa, stood upon the judgment seat, having recounted the power of the things that had been done before, Festus said to Agrippa that they have certain questions ^D against one another about their own superstition, and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive; and when they permitted him, Paul with confidence and in a clear voice cried out: "For the hope of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa. Why is it judged incredible with you, if God raises the dead?" Then again: "For this cause they seized me in the temple and went about to kill me; having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets did say should come,

and Moses. If Christ be passible, and if he be the ^A first from the resurrection of the dead, he is to show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. In like manner also, to the unbelieving Jews themselves, ^B when he was permitted to speak to them at Antioch in Pisidia, what says he? "Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David, to whom also he gave testimony, and said: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus, John having ^C first preached before the face of his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said: Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead ^D the third day: and he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise: I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm: Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and did see corruption; but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." And speaking things like these from the prophets,

^A he said nothing other than what he had previously said to the others: death, resurrection, and the kingdom of heaven, striving to persuade everyone, with God co-operating with him through signs and wonders and powers, which he himself and all the apostles performed in the sight of Greeks and Jews, of believers and unbelievers. Furthermore, he confirmed them in all things through prophecies and their outcomes, things which transcend this world; he who also made them capable, as Paul writes, to be ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life; as if to say: "We have been made capable by God, through the signs of the Holy Spirit, so that faith may be had in us as we teach such things." For God appointed us ministers of the New and life-giving Testament, not of the old letter, that is, of the written law that threatens death, but of the life-giving power, that is, of the Holy Spirit; whence he says again: "Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power." For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power; as if to say, that the word of the kingdom of heaven transcends every word, and that some are puffed up in vain, attempting to establish themselves through speech. For the only speech worthy of belief is that which comes from the power of the Holy Spirit and the signs that follow from it. ^B And again he says, "Or do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you?" as if to say: "He is mighty through the signs which are performed among you in his name." And these things are concerning those matters. But some say that the angels are not in the world, but in the higher region; to whom we shall set forth a few things in part from the divine Scripture, showing that they dwell with us in this region, and not one of them has yet been deemed worthy to attain the realms above. First, the Lord, discoursing thus with Nicodemus, says: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven," thereby declaring more clearly that no one at all has ascended into the higher region, except the Master Christ himself. And the apostle Paul says: "We are made a spectacle unto the world." And, indicating which world he speaks of, he added, "unto angels, and to men," ^C as if to say: "We are viewed as in a theater in this region by all, I mean by angels and men, as if all these, both those and these, are in one region." Then again, "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." And as though someone were asking him and saying: "For what reason, or doing what, does it expect this?" ^D he continues thus: "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly"; as if to say,

^A in this corruptible and mutable world. For this he calls vanity, to which they were compelled by the command of God to serve, even though unwilling—as we understand from these words, "not willingly": because he speaks of rational beings, and this law was set for them. Let someone raise a question: "And how shall they serve again, when now everything is in motion?" He answers: "Yes," he says, "insofar as concerns the sin of Adam, because of whom he was condemned to death, they could no longer endure to serve and to labor for us in vain." But, he says, "on account of Him who subjected them in hope"; I say this because God gave them some hope that, after time had elapsed, it would be useful for men; therefore they have been subjected and serve, awaiting their own freedom, at which time men shall also be liberated from death and from corruption and from these vain labors, and they themselves shall receive that hope of God and the glory prepared for them. Therefore he added: "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. viii, 21); and elsewhere he says: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them ^B who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Hebr. i, 14), declaring all of them together to be destined for the ministry of men, inasmuch as they exist with them in this place; and again: "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God" (Ephes. iii, 10). Here again he made it clear not only that they were present, but he also says that they were instructed from those things which were dispensed regarding man. For when he says, "by the church," he undoubtedly signifies "by men."

Again, in the Old Testament, the patriarch Jacob saw a ladder from the earth up to heaven, on the top of which stood God, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. He showed them ascending first, and then descending. ^C Afterward, the same man saw a multitude of angels, whom he called a camp. Similarly, Moses recorded that only two heavens were created—namely, that which was made in the beginning with the earth, and the second, which was made on the second day, which he calls the firmament. And likewise, speaking of Hagar, of Abraham, of Lot, and of Jacob, he narrates that other angels ministered to them in this place. Moreover, in the great song he says: "Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him" (Deut. xxxii, 43); where, after the heavens, he lists the angels dwelling in this place. Wherefore he added, "Rejoice, ye nations, with his people," where again he mentions those who dwell in this place. Likewise David, insisting upon the aim of ^D Moses, as one who was a prophet after Moses, dividing what is in the heavens and what is upon the earth, speaks thus: "Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his hosts" (Psal. cxlviii, 1, 2); beginning fittingly from the firmament and the heights, and progressing toward the lower things, he then mentions all the angels, whom he also calls hosts.

^A Then, in turn, he speaks of those things together with them: "Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you stars and the light." From this he goes back to the higher region and says: "Praise him, you heavens of heavens"—as if saying, "the heaven of heaven." By "heaven of heaven" he calls the primary one, which is the heaven above this visible firmament. Then he says, "And the water that is above the heavens"—that is to say, above the heaven. Since he now clearly mentions the superior things, it is evident that he considers the previous things to be the lower ones.

Then, after having told all the things in the heavens to praise God, he brings forward the reason why they ought to celebrate him with hymns, saying: "Because he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. He established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away." ^B Then, thereafter, he moves on to earthly things, and mentions all that reside in the air, 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"; and the reason for this he gives: "For his name alone is exalted." Finally, he joins everything together, saying: "His praise is upon earth and heaven," thereby declaring that all things are contained within heaven and earth. Similarly, he himself said in Moses: "For in six days God made heaven and earth, and all that is in them," more clearly declaring that all the angels are within heaven and earth and are circumscribed by them. ^C Again, elsewhere, David says: "Stretching out the heaven like a curtain, who floors his upper chambers with waters"—clearly speaking of the firmament, as existing in the manner of a roof for us, upon the back of which are the waters. For "curtains" are properly called those things which cover the tabernacle from above, whether they be garments or things made of hair. Then he joins to this 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 flaming fire." Again, having mentioned things from the firmament down to the clouds and winds, he added that the angels are also present, calling them the same, his ministers. So much for David.

Let us move on to the most wise prophet Daniel. ^D What does he say in the hymn in the person of the three children? "Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord; praise and highly exalt him unto the ages. Bless the Lord, you heavens." He too, after mentioning the heavens and the angels, and not leaving the waters that are above the heavens unmentioned, once again using the same order, takes up his discourse, and beginning from those below, he mentions the angels a second time, calling them "powers," among which he joins the sun and moon, and stars, and rains, and dews, and winds, and fire and cold, and summer heat, and clouds, and snow, and lightning, and all things that are in the air, in the waters, and on the earth; and following David and Moses, he finally also mentions man, for whose sake all the previous things were created. For since man is as it were the bond or pledge of the love for the whole universe, according to some reason and proportion, all the aforementioned things

^A are necessarily encompassed. Indeed, from external sources, it is said that man is a small world. ^B

All, therefore, the God-bearing men, both prophets and apostles, who were adorned with a most holy life and who surrendered themselves for the sake of piety to myriad sufferings and deaths—of whom, as it is written, the world was not worthy—and who furthermore wrought countless miracles that cannot be expressed and various virtues, and were made fit by God to teach the earth, to admonish it, and to go around it, and to entice all nations to piety; concerning these, they spoke only of two states and mentioned no other. And all together declared this place to be of angels and of men; and they likewise proclaimed the supernal place also to be of angels and of men after the resurrection from the dead. What defense, then, have those counterfeit Christians who disbelieve all these things and say that the heavens are to be dissolved, in which our firm, immovable, and indissoluble hope consists, which is stored up for us by God, concerning which Paul cries out: *Things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him*; and again: *The sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory that shall be revealed in us*; ^C and again similarly: *For our momentary and light affliction is producing for us, beyond all excess, an eternal weight of glory, as we contemplate not the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal*. In saying this, he means that if you were to weigh the afflictions of this world on a scale with the goods of the future age, they would be found to weigh excessively heavy with the glory, in contrast to the lightness and vanity of the afflictions of this world, which are excessively brief and are immediately removed from the midst. For he says, these visible things, that is, the things of this world, are temporal; but the things that are not seen, that is, those of the superior and heavenly place, or world, exist eternally. Now it is necessary to bring forth testimony on this matter from the Catholic Epistles as well. There, too, it is said: *Into which angels desire to look*, as if he were to say: they themselves have not yet attained the goods laid up for us in heaven, but they are not yet even granted to see them. For this is also similar to that saying of the Apostle which says: *That the whole creation groans and labors in birth until now*, as if to say: the angels also are burdened by this change, groaning with all creation, longing for liberty. How, therefore, can it be hoped that the heavens will be dissolved and others newly introduced? For all the things aforementioned are shown to be false, because they are both prepared and indissoluble, and where Christ has entered, we shall also enter. But it is a deception ^D

^A that all things contained in the holy Scripture are according to the myth of the pretender Christians; and furthermore, if the heavens are dissolved, as they say, and others are introduced in their place, it is necessary that Christ, who is in them, also be dissolved, and that another, new Christ be introduced along with those new heavens, if indeed we must be with Christ.

But away with such absurdity: may the blasphemy rebound upon their own heads! For our Apostle says, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus" (Phil. iii, 20); as if to say, "I refer to those heavens from which we also expect the Lord to come, who shall transform us from corruption into incorruption, and carry us away to where he himself has entered before us." For he says this also elsewhere, that he has entered as a forerunner on our behalf.

Since, therefore, some—corrupting the meaning of the holy Scriptures—misinterpret that saying by the Lord, namely: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away" (Matt. xxiv, 35), being ignorant that it is spoken by way of hyperbole, we shall interpret the meaning for them ^B. For it means this: "It is possible for these to pass away, but my words shall never pass away." And again, they twist that saying of David: "You, O Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You will remain" (Ps. ci, 26, 27); not understanding that here, too, by way of contrast to the uncreated God, he called the created things "perishing," as not having existed before but having come into being later. And if He wished, He who is uncreated could destroy those that exist, just as He brought them forth when they did not exist. For that which is uncreated is made by no one and is destroyed by no one; but that which is created can perish, especially if He who created it wills it.

Likewise, concerning what is said in the Catholic Epistles: "In which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat" (II Pet. iii, 12). ^C They ignorantly interpret "new heavens and a new earth and His promises," not understanding what is said, but they say that these present heavens are to be absolutely dissolved and others, new ones, to be introduced; which is contrary to the whole of holy Scripture. For if these are the heavens where Christ has now ascended, having risen from the dead, having become incorruptible in body and immutable in soul, and into which we also are to enter when we rise from the dead, and if holy Scripture calls this a dissoluble hope and life, how is it possible for these heavens to be dissolved, and others, new ones, to be introduced? ^D For if the place of the heavens is even now a dwelling for the incorruptible, the immortal, and the immutable, why will it not receive us when we rise and become incorruptible, immortal, and immutable?

Away with such madness! For God does not repent of what He has made, so as to dissolve these and introduce others. But He will renew the whole of creation to a better state, as we have often said. For if man, being the bond of the whole of creation, is renewed, being incorruptible in body and

mortal according to the soul, but became immutable: is it not manifest that all the elements from which the body of man consists, and all rational beings, which are also related to man according to the soul, shall be renewed and brought into a better state? For the Apostle says that all things are to be ^A restored in Christ, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth; and again: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." He says "all things are become new," speaking of the renewal of all existing things. For since he speaks of restoration and a new creature, by both expressions he signifies that which has been accomplished in Christ. For just as Christ, when He rose from the dead according to the flesh, was not another Christ than He who had died, but was the same who had also endured death, yet in the resurrection He had become superior to passions and to death; so also all creation, not being destroyed, but remaining the same, is transferred to a better state. "For He established them for ever and for ever and ever; He gave a decree which shall not pass away," says the divine oracle. For this reason God does not take hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham, as it is written. For if He had taken hold of angels, only rational beings would hope to be restored, as being related to Him; but now, having taken hold of the seed of Abraham, that is, the body and the rational soul, and having led it into the heavenly realm, He has founded the hope of salvation for the whole nature of things beforehand. What, therefore, is said in the Catholic Epistles: "In which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: but we look for new heavens and a new earth," has this meaning: namely, that with a roaring sound, as in the twinkling of an eye, with fire applied as if in a smithy, all the elements are purified and are to be changed into a better state; and likewise ^B the heavens and the earth, being themselves made new, and changed as to their state and manner of life. As it is said by Paul, "For the fashion of this world passes away"; as if he were to say: The present mode of life shall be changed, with the succession of day and night ceasing, the course of the stars ending, the movement of the air also ceasing, and the water and the earth not bringing forth their fruits; but another state being introduced, which is appropriate for immortal and incorruptible men and angels. ^C We pass over in silence the fact that the Catholic Epistles have long been reckoned by the Church among the doubtful books. And not one of all those who have written commentaries on the divine Scriptures has taken account of the Catholic Epistles. Furthermore, as many as have compiled the canon of the books which have a place in the divine Scripture have placed them among the doubtful ones; for instance, Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, an illustrious man of most eminent life, who lived not long after the apostles; and Eusebius of Pamphilus, and Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and Amphilochius, who became bishop of Iconium, a friend and companion of ^D

blessed Basil, also pronounced them doubtful in his iambics written to Seleucus. Similarly, Severianus, bishop of Gabala, in his book *Against the Jews*, rejected them. For most people say they are not of the apostles, but of certain simple presbyters. Wherefore Eusebius Pamphili says in his *Ecclesiastical History* that there are two tombs in Ephesus: one of John the Evangelist, and one of another, John the Presbyter, who wrote the two Catholic Epistles, the second and the third, in which the inscription runs thus: "The Presbyter to the Elect Lady," and "The Presbyter to the beloved Gaius." For if he himself, as also Irenaeus, does not say that it is the first of Peter and the first of John which are of the apostles, others say that they are not of the apostles, but of the presbyters. For the first, second, and third of John are written in the same way, as it is evident that three belong to one person. But others accept the Epistle of James ^B along with these two; others accept all of them. Among the Syrians, however, only the three aforesaid are found, namely James, Peter, and John: for the others are not even present among them. A perfect Christian, therefore, ought not to lean upon doubtful things, since those Scriptures which are placed in the canon and are confessed by all sufficiently declare everything, concerning the heavens, the earth, the elements, and the whole doctrine of the Christians.

Fools, therefore, seem to me to be those inventors of new dogmas, and those entirely uninitiated in the divine Scriptures, who think that the heavens are to be dissolved. For God, knowing and foreknowing from above and from the beginning, and always knowing, and never admitting an increase of knowledge, wishing to grant existence to others, and to fill them with His own goodness, knowledge, and wisdom, created the whole world, having bounded it by heaven and earth, and having placed the firmament in the midst, and joined it to the first heaven; ^C and having made one space into two spaces, He assigned this space to mortal and mutable life, and prepared the higher one for the future life, just as the very delineation of the figure at the end represents, as well as the structure of the tabernacle, which is itself an image of the whole world. But in this state He decreed that we should now pass our time, as in a useful school, where sad things are mixed with pleasant ones, so that we may be corrected by the sad, and moved away from despair by the pleasant; being learned and led to the knowledge of the Creator through the variety of creatures, the most wise harmony, and the difference of things, ^D who at certain times appeared and gave us laws for the help of our weakness; leading rational beings, as has been said, to the knowledge of His all-good philanthropy, which is the sum of all rational beings. For since we are created, and have our existence from another, we always stand in need of Him, both for our constitution and for the attainment of knowledge. For it could not be that we should have all knowledge immediately upon being made: for that is a property of the unbegotten God.

^A Since therefore God, out of his goodness, has in an inscrutable way created living beings devoid of knowledge, for the instruction and help of us rational beings, he has made rational beings as intermediaries, as far as was possible, between himself and them, so that by the variety of the universe, and by the laws which have been handed down, and by the toil and assiduity of discipline, through the experience of sorrows and joys, we, being moved by desire, might be brought part by part to the knowledge of him. For his invisible things, says the divine Apostle, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse; as if to say: His invisible things—that is to say, his power, his wisdom, his providence, the goodness of God, and his very eternal divinity—we understand and see from the things that exist and are visible, and from all his handiworks, we recognize the Creator by a certain proportion, so that we cannot put forth any pretext of ignorance: for this is what that word "without excuse" signifies; since from all these things it is readily at hand for us to recognize, by a certain proportion, our own Creator and the Creator of the universe.

Similarly again: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son"; distributing the Word into parts and figures, into prophets and his Son. ^B By "parts" he refers to the difference of the places in which God appeared and spoke to the ancients through the prophets; by "figures," he refers to the distinction of the visions which, from time to time, for the pressing needs of the moment, he exhibited, whether through himself or through the prophets; intending by this to signify that God has never, and nowhere—whether through the things themselves or through the visions set forth—neglected to instruct rational natures toward his own knowledge, sometimes through the prophets, but now through his own Son; and so then, for those instructed by experience, he prepared also the future state, in which he would establish us after having made us incorruptible and immortal, filling us, as experienced ones, with the perfect knowledge of him, as it is right for us to know. For this reason, he made the two states from the beginning, because, as has been said already, we could not receive his entire knowledge at once without discipline: for the Godhead alone is self-taught and is the fountain of knowledge, having received it from no other, but being able to impart it to others; whereas we, having been made immortal and immutable, might learn from hardships. ^C For the Apostle says: "All discipline for the present seems not to be of joy, but of grief." For without discipline and hardships, it is impossible for doctrine to be obtained. Therefore, for the sake of discipline, he created this world mortal, mutable, and various, so that by the toil and assiduity of discipline and the variety of the universe, we might through experience be able to ascend to the knowledge of God. For if he had made us immortal and immutable from the beginning, we would differ in no way from the irrational animals, which indeed naturally possess something useful, but are ignorant of what they possess: for example, the bee, which crafts the honeycomb wisely,

and the spider, which weaves its web with skill; or the ant, which prepares its food in summer; they do not do these things by any rational science, just as gold and the pearl are beautiful, but do not perceive their own beauty.

^A God, therefore, wisely and most wisely, fashioned those two states long ago, so that, having experienced pleasant and painful things from this life, we might in the second state perfectly recognize the power of His goodness through the ineffable and eternal goods bestowed upon us. And we know from what kind of things we are passing into what kind. All divine Scripture proclaims these and similar things, and this is its entire scope. For those distinguished men who wish for the heavens to be destroyed and other new ones to be introduced to us are ignorant of the scope of the divine Scriptures. For God did not once ignore, only to know better now, how to create other heavens and a better state, according to the fable of the senseless and forged fictions ^B of Christians; but He is always the same, existing in the same manner, and knowing how, when, how much, where, and what kind He should produce the whole world.

Yet, nevertheless, they propose to us, ostensibly with reason, a problem that arises from this, saying: Why then do fetuses that die reach the knowledge of God, not having experienced pleasant and painful things, but being taught by God from that point? To them we shall respond that the rational fetus, which has experienced, if I may say so, the maternal womb—because the maternal womb is, as it were, an obscure symbol of this world, in which there is heat, cold, dryness, and moisture—being imbued with this knowledge, is reminded in the future life of the maternal womb, and comes to the sensation of that maternal womb, in which it experienced, at least in part, ^C the condition of this state and life. For it sees even the very elements and the whole world standing as a teacher, and, by means of perfect knowledge, pondering things within itself, it comes immediately to the knowledge of its past life, and in the same act to the knowledge of God who created all things.

Regarding their judgment, we leave it to God Himself; for it is not possible for us to know everything in this life. We only say what can be said: that they exist in a kind of middle state, so that they neither receive crowns nor undergo punishments; for they are freed from punishment because they have not tasted the goods of this life, and they are deprived of crowns because they have not performed the labors in this life. ^D Now, if anyone were to say that God will judge them according to what He, as God, knows would have been their conduct and manner of life had they remained living, we do not reject this opinion, but we leave the matter to those more learned. Indeed, we do not possess perfect knowledge of the judgment; yet, holding that what has seemed good to God is altogether beautiful and wise, we most readily confess ourselves unequal to grasping this matter, considering such ignorance to take the place of a crown for us, according to the great Apostle Paul, who says: "We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, then that which is in part shall be done away."

^A For then, when we all rise again in perfection—even as the Apostle says again, "Until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ"—we shall know as we ought to know.

Again, they will raise the question before us: How will one who is small in stature rise again in perfection? And how will the blind, the lame, or those who have had limbs severed rise again whole and complete? Let them hear from us, both on the authority of Scripture and by natural reason: just as God took the rib of Adam, a very small member of his, and built it into a perfect woman, supplying what was wanting by an ineffable power; and just as a man and a woman who are often blind or maimed are joined together, and yet the offspring born to them is born whole and healthy; so must we believe and understand regarding the resurrection from the dead, in which we are regenerated, and indeed with a more excellent birth than when we came forth from the womb.

But for you, dearest one, I will delineate the shape of the heaven and the earth and the firmament between them, as well as the Tabernacle constructed by Moses, which is a pattern of the whole world, and also that celebrated sphere of outsiders; so that you may know by sight itself, in accordance with the figure ^B (47), what Divine Scripture and the Christian proclamation declare, and how entirely alien that sphere is to them.

Congruent passages from Divine Scripture concerning the figure of heaven and earth

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." He mentions these because they are all-encompassing, and signifies at once both what is within them and what was created along with them. And again: "The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array," as if to say again that they wrap around everything and that the entire array of them exists within them. And again: "For in six days God made the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them," as if to say again that all things exist within them and that they encompass all things. And again: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works which he had begun to do." As if to say that He began to create, and by creating, ceased. And again, "This is the book of the generation of the heaven and the earth"; as if to say, this book recounts the generation of the whole world, which is circumscribed by the heaven and the earth.

And again, regarding the figure, Isaiah says: "Who set up the heaven like a vaulted roof, and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in." ^D The former, "like a vaulted roof," he says in reference to the first heaven; but the latter, "and stretched it out like a tent," he says in reference to the second. He speaks, clearly, as of a house in which some dwell and have their residence. And again David: "Stretching out the heaven like a curtain," speaking of the firmament; he says "like a curtain," just like those coverings which covered the tabernacle from above:

whether they be of hair or of garments; for those coverings which covered the tabernacle from above are properly called curtains. ^A Indeed, he adds: "Who covers his upper chambers with waters," speaking more clearly of the tabernacle as if it were a roof. And that there is nothing under the earth, he declares in Job: "Who suspends the earth upon nothing," that is, having nothing beneath it; again in the same place: "Upon what are its bases fastened?" as if to say, there is nothing beneath it into which they are fastened. David also says: "He founded the earth upon its own stability," meaning to say that it is founded upon itself, and not upon anything else. And concerning the heaven being joined to the earth, he says in Job: "He inclined the heaven into the earth; it is poured out like dust, and I have joined it together as a stone," signifying by a cube that it is inclined to the earth, and joined ^B as a cube from below, as if it were square.

The whole tabernacle is, therefore, a figure of the whole world, as the divine Apostle describes; speaking thus of the exterior: "For the first tabernacle had ordinances of worship, and a worldly sanctuary," calling it worldly, inasmuch as it exists as a type of this world; and of the interior he says this: "For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself," calling heaven the true, and the exterior tabernacle the copies. Let the reader, therefore, consider the shape of heaven and earth and the archetype, that is, the tabernacle, how everything appropriately aligns with the Christian dogma: that there are two places of the whole world, this one and the higher one, prepared from the foundation of the world: the former ^C is given to angels and men in the present state; but the higher one is given in the future state after the resurrection from the dead to righteous men and angels. For that much-celebrated sphere of the outsiders does not accord at all with Christian preaching; rather, it suits those who expect neither a resurrection of the dead nor any other state besides this one, but who maintain that the whole world always exists in generation and corruption.

Another paragraph.

If those teachers of error say that the Lord Christ entered into that first sphere, where the moon exists, it befits their error in the first place that they should say He dwells there with their goddess. Second, since their sphere is solid, let them tell whether He traverses the celestial body together with the moon, as a fish in water, holding a contrary course, ^D or whether He is carried along by force in a straight line with the whole universe, both of which are ridiculous. Third, that above it are situated the other planets, your gods: I mean, namely, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the father of your gods, to whom it is known that you sacrifice; next the fixed

^A houses of the twelve signs, and the thirty-six decans. And how, according to you, is the Apostle not lying when he says that He is above them: "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named"? But if they say that He is in the second sphere, the same difficulties will return to them; and if they say He is in the third, or the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth, or the seventh, or the eighth, or the ninth, and "above all things," then that saying of the Apostle will be found false, namely, that Christ entered from the first tabernacle—that is, from this world—into the second, that is, into the heavenly region, having found eternal redemption. It was the second, not the ninth. He, therefore, who desires to be a Christian follows the divine Scripture, and does not rely upon the deceit of those outside, which teaches the plurality and equality of gods, and brings destruction upon souls.

The Text

Since, therefore, all the spheres are contiguous to one another and solid, as can be understood from the given figure, how is it possible to conceive in such a model that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and that they will ascend into heaven and reign there—that is, in the second tabernacle, into which the Scripture testifies that Christ has already entered as the first of all? Add to this all the things that have been said above. For those outsiders who suppose that the sphere exists, consequently do not admit that there will be a resurrection of the dead, nor do they say that they will ascend into heaven, nor do they say that there are waters above the heaven, nor do they think that the figure of this world—that is, the circular course of the stars—will be changed, nor that all other things are subject to change; nor do they believe that anyone has ascended or will ascend there with a body. ^C But among them, some say that only souls, after death, revolve with the sphere and see and know all things; others wish for the transmigration of souls from one body to another; others embrace the pre-existence of souls, who consequently say that the sphere is dissolved, or that all corporeal nature perishes entirely, and souls return to the first order, just as that wonderful Origen and his followers think. Others pronounce the heaven to be always without beginning and without end, and that the world is always moving in generation and corruption. To these it necessarily follows that they must believe God to be either one who delights in evils, and is weak or envious, or that there is no God at all. For it is completely improper to the divine nature to allow the world to remain always thus in generation and corruption, and very many other difficulties arise for them all. But only Christians are perfect, being as the ears of corn of piety ^D amidst the tares and thorns: they who believe the entire divine Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament; and they do not say that there was another state before this one, nor do they pronounce that there will be another after the future one; but they say there are only two states, which the description

and again, then we shall be with the Lord, just as all ^A divine Scripture discourses: that God began to create, and having made the two realms, rested from the creation according to His purpose from above and from the beginning. Therefore, that man whom you mentioned, best of men, a falsely-styled Christian, has written absurd things, saying that the heavens are to be dissolved, which he also fancies to be spherical according to the hypothesis of outsiders, and that they are always revolving, recording old-wives' tales ^B rather than Christian dogmas; having followed no one at all, unless in part the good Origen. For the things written by him are totally alienated from the opinion of Christians. It will be yours, therefore, from now on to judge and compare each dogma and question, and to consider to what dogma and figure any Christian who wishes to live piously ought to adhere. For I see much deception and guile in this latter-day writer of fables, who deems the heaven to be of spherical form, and yet says it is to be dissolved. ^C For I, most beloved, think thus according to divine Scripture, and I trust that you are such as I am, a Christian following the divine Scriptures, and the tradition of the holy Church saying: I believe in one God, that is, Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, a consubstantial Trinity, and in the resurrection of the flesh, in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church, as the Symbol itself also says: I believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, And the life of the age to come; and as priests likewise pray, concerning those who offer, saying: ^D Do thou accept the thanksgiving of thy servants into thy heavenly and rational altar, in the magnitudes of thy heavens, rendering to them incorruptible things for corruptible, eternal for temporal, heavenly for earthly; and concerning the departed thus: Grant rest, O Lord, to the soul of this one; raising up also his flesh, in whatever day thou hast defined according to thy true promises; to which I also append, praying with them, adding the remainder saying: Grant us also a Christian end, pleasing before thee, unto the ages. Amen.

BOOK VIII. On the Canticle of Hezekiah, and on the retrocession of the sun.

Knowing well, my friend Peter, that the race of men is morose, I was largely held back from obeying your command. For some men blame those who venture to write, for this very reason, that they involve themselves in affairs when it is permitted them to be free from labor and to enjoy a quiet way of living; others, inasmuch as they hold the work of writing to be for nothing, putting laborious things in secret, remain quiet; others indeed start reading with zeal, then, having neglected the subject, proceed in the manner of quadrupeds; others finally, when versed in letters, behave worse: being experienced, indeed...

they do not deign to attend to the reading, even if those who have written have done so most excellently. But any person of the common sort, moved by ignorance, finds fault even with things that are well said; and, to speak in one word, the opportunity for calumny is altogether easy, providing much material for mocking and criticizing, which envy supplies in abundance. ^A Reflecting on these things with myself, I kept delaying, though you urged me and requested that the ode of the blessed Hezekiah be interpreted in writing by my hand. But I know not how you have prevailed now, O most admirable man, and have removed our sloth by saying that there are not lacking in this life those who embrace labor, whose zeal it is to read the writings of all and to test what is better, according to the divine Apostle, of which number you yourself are one. For this, too, is worthy of your diligence, desiring as you do to learn whether any utility can be derived from it; for it would belong to your prudence in these matters to be persuaded that not even that which seems the most minute in divine Scripture is able to provide only a small benefit; and indeed, also, to strive with the greatest care to learn in regard to all things what fruit may be gathered from them is not far from your diligence. ^B I, then, since I was about to complete, with God’s help, the interpretation of the Song of Songs, which our common and admirable friend Theophilus had requested of me, as you yourself also know, had been delaying until now. But now, having finished that work, I will begin to fulfill your request, by the will of the Holy Spirit, without whom it is not possible for any good to exist in us. I shall first set forth the purpose for which he uttered the ode, and then I will arrange the interpretation part by part; and at the same time I will announce what is useful in them; for thus the force and meaning of what is said will become clearer.

On the Prayer of Hezekiah

^C The blessed Hezekiah, then, being king of the Jews, exceedingly pious and adorned with virtue, and deemed worthy of the care and providence of God, believing that the blessed David had foretold things concerning him, observed many psalms as if they had been spoken on his own account, of which number the nineteenth happens to be one, as well as the twentieth, and very many others; and furthermore, the prophecy once uttered by Isaiah under his father, "Behold, the virgin shall have in the womb and shall bring forth a son," ^D referring it to himself, and having suffered some human weakness, he was elated in his mind, and thinking himself to be the Christ who was foretold, he was at first unwilling to share in this life, because there was a far different opinion among the Jews, namely, that when the Christ comes, he will never die, but will remain forever: "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever." Being of this opinion, Hezekiah did not deign to take a wife, nor to beget a succession of his race—that is, children—thinking that he would live forever. But when it happened that Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, made war upon the Jews, and ascended with the intention of plundering the city of Jerusalem, having heard the words spoken by the God-hating Rabsaces,

^A having rent his royal garments, and put on sackcloth, and covered himself with dust, went into the temple, beseeching God to rescue him from the Assyrians. And upon his being heard, and a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the host of the Assyrians having been slain in one night by the angel, and a victory so paradoxical and so great having been wrought for him by God, he confirmed even more the supposition he had previously held, saying that he himself was altogether the Christ who was prophesied. Whence again, puffed up by the pride of his thought and having imagined things above his own measure, he did not enter into the temple after the victory, as was his duty, to give thanks and glory to God, but thought great things of himself, as it is written in the Paralipomena: "Because Ezechias was humbled from the height of his heart; and the Lord abandoned him, to tempt him, and to know what was in his heart."

But the philanthropic God, who always busies Himself with the salvation of men, wishing to divest him of that supposition—which he had conceived out of error as a man—and also mindful of his virtues, did not allow him to remain in his fall until the end, but sends upon him an infirmity that led to the despair of death. And Isaiah the prophet, having entered to him, says: "Set in order thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live," by the same words removing two opinions from him. For some of the Jews used to say that the Christ would never die; others, that He dies indeed, but rises from the dead. By saying, therefore, "Thou shalt die," he removed from him the one, by which he thought he himself would never die; and by adding, "and thou shalt not live," he removed the other, on account of which others said that He rises from the dead. For by both he was taught, being examined in his sickness, not to be the Christ. Yet, also, he very wisely hints to him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that he is not Christ, when he says: "Set in order thy house; for thou shalt die, and not live," as if to say: "Arrange thy affairs, to whom thou art about to hand over the kingdom; so that the promise of God may be preserved unerring and firm. For thou art not the Christ preached by the ^B prophets, who holds the kingdom without a successor; but thou wilt surely have a succession, and thou hast poorly neglected to beget children, that they might succeed thee in the kingdom. Take thought, therefore, to dispose of it now, and to say whom thou leavest as successor of thy kingdom."

When Ezechias had suspected himself, and then understood this, and had wept bitterly, and repented, and turned in his bed towards the wall, where it chanced that the temple was, as is the custom for Jews to do, looking as it were toward the temple, he offered his prayer. But having turned his thoughts, and corrected his mind, in that he was heard and released from his sickness, and an addition of fifteen years of life

^A granted to him, and confirmed by another more miraculous sign, namely, the retrocession of the sun—the cause of which sign I shall explain a little later—he then sang a canticle to God, declaring in it each of the things previously mentioned. For he says thus: *I said: In the height of my days I shall go*; ^B that is to say, I always kept this thought to myself, saying that I shall always live and never die. For by saying, *In the height of my days I shall go*, he showed that his days would never be cut short. And as if someone were asking him, in a hushed manner, "While you were thinking these things, what happened to you?" he adds and says: *I shall leave the remaining years in the gates of hell*; that is to say, as I was mulling these things over, having suddenly fallen into a severe illness, I knew that I should no longer hold to my former thought, but that I should spend the remaining years in the underworld. Then: *I shall see the salvation of God no more on the earth.* The salvation of God here signifies Christ; for likewise Simeon in the Gospels, when he had received Christ into his arms, ^C entreated God to be dismissed from life, since his eyes had seen the salvation of God—as if to say, Christ himself; for it had been made known to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen Christ the Lord. Therefore, Hezekiah wishes to indicate this here: that not only did I depart from that thought, and have ceased from imagining things beyond my state, but I am not even deemed worthy to see Christ himself on the earth, having only fifteen years left to live. *I shall see man no more in my kinship*; that is to say, After I received from God the fifteen years added to my former life, not only shall I not be deemed worthy to see him in death; but I shall not see anyone among men, nor anyone of my kinship. *I left the remainder of my life*; that is to say, having rejected the former thought, and then thinking well and as was proper, I knew that I was at the end of my life.

Afterwards he says: *He has come out and departed from me, as one who takes down a tabernacle which he had fixed*; ^D that is to say, that former thought of pride is so far removed from my present mind and sentiment, as if someone who had fixed a tabernacle should immediately take it down. *My spirit was with me, as a loom about to be cut*; that is, my soul had nearly left me, like the web which a woman weaves, and which is about to be cut. *In that day I was delivered until morning as a lion; so he has crushed all my bones: from day even to night I was delivered*; that is to say: In that time of my illness, I was delivered to the fever incessantly, just as if to a terrible lion crushing bones, from morning until evening, and from evening until morning I was crushed by it. *I shall cry out as a swallow, and I shall meditate as a dove*; that is to say, at that very time I was emitting my voice just as the swallow emits shrill and tremulous notes; and thus in my tribulations I was groaning, as is the custom for doves to meditate. That

I say "I will voice" and "I will meditate" instead of "I have voiced" and "I have meditated" is simply a change of time for time, just as this mode of speech is found in many places in holy Scripture; as when Isaiah says: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter," instead of "He will be led." ^A For "my eyes have failed from looking into the height of heaven to the Lord, who has delivered me and taken away the pain of my soul, O Lord; for it was told to You concerning it." This is to say: "And to such a degree did I stretch forth the eye of my mind, looking into the height of heaven, referring to You, the God and Savior of all, the pain of my soul, which You also took away from me, having turned the appearance of pride into humility and the obedience of piety, for which I will always give thanks to You, O Master. And You have aroused my breath, and being comforted, I lived." You "chose" my soul, that it might not perish, and You "cast behind me all my sins"; that is to say: "For You have aroused my breath by Your consolation, and I lived, having gathered up my soul which was perishing, and You turned my sins behind me, not allowing them to extend any further before me." For "they who are in Hades will not praise You, nor will the dead bless You, nor will they who are in Hades hope for Your mercy. The living will bless You, as I do"; that is to say: "For if You had not permitted me to live still, how could I have turned, or repented, and been saved, or hoped for the mercy from You—seeing that the dead who are in Hades are unable to do any such thing, but You rather have granted this by Your own compassion?" ^B

The Text

of the earth; so that the Babylonian king, Merodach, son of Baladan, being far away and having seen the sign, came into amazement and into a search for such a fearful and marvelous wonder. For amazement and fear seized both the king himself and his magnates, who were all devoted to astronomy, and in their haste they sought to learn the cause of so fearful and great a sign. ^A Much investigation having been made, he learned that Hezekiah, king of Judea, having fallen into sickness and arrived at a state of despair for his life, had prayed to God, and He had granted him health and an addition of fifteen years of life; and for this reason, to confirm the promise, God performed this great and fearful sign, because He is the God of gods, who made heaven and earth and all things that are in them. Having learned these things, and having been taught by the event that the Babylonian [king] perceived Him to be the God of the universe, he very quickly sent many gifts and an embassy to Hezekiah, as to a genuine servant loved by the God of the universe.

In this, moreover, it is again taught that the heaven is not a sphere ^B revolving according to the opinion of the Babylonians—into which suspicion they fell when they were once high up during the construction of the tower—but that it stands and is fixed to the earth like a vaulted chamber. For if it were a sphere, and the whole were leaning and revolving toward the front, the sun would not have taken an opposite course, not revolving with the whole, so as to retreat for a space of three hours, that is, a fourth part of the day, and then again another fourth part, until it came to the place from which it had begun its retreat. Regarding all these figures, we have written in the *Christian Topography*, as you yourself know, wonderful man, having been encouraged to this by the God-loving Pamphilus of Jerusalem. ^C For the prophet himself, through whose ministry the retreat of the sun took place, having refuted the opinion of the Babylonians by deed and work through that fearful sign, by having proved that the heaven is not a sphere revolving around, but that they held a false opinion, not long afterwards described the shape of the heaven itself in this way: “Who set the heaven like a vaulted chamber”; and again: “The Lord God who made the heaven and fixed it”; at once declaring the shape, noting that it is like a vaulted chamber, both having set it and fixed it, and saying it is not revolving. Having written these things, it is clear that he also benefited the Babylonians; for it is possible for anyone who wishes to learn [of this] from the events that occurred under Cyrus, the king of the Persians. ^D For having taken into his hands the book of Isaiah, and having read it, he found the passage written that prophesied concerning him; for Isaiah says in the passage thus: “Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken, that nations might obey before him, and I will break the strength of kings. I will open doors before him, and cities will not be closed. I will go before you and level the mountains; I will shatter bronze doors and snap iron bars. And I will give you hidden, secret, and invisible treasures, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God, who calls you by name, who…

is the God of Israel. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel, my chosen one, I will call you by your name and I will accept you.” And a little later: “I have raised him up in righteousness as a king, and all his ways shall be straight. He shall build my city, and he shall return the captivity of my people, not for price nor for rewards,” says the Lord of Sabaoth. Having marveled at this foreknowledge and prophecy, and having found his own name explicitly proclaimed by the prophet, he commanded the people to go up to Jerusalem, granting release to the captives and providing funds for the building of the city and the temple. And he did not do this alone, but so did those who came after him, ^B until the city and the temple were completed.

There is also the decree of Cyrus written down in the Books of Chronicles and in the book of Ezra, ordering the whole people to go up, saying as follows: “In the first year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord might be completed from the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of the Persians, and he proclaimed a voice throughout all his kingdom, and indeed in writing, saying: Thus says Cyrus, king of the Persians: The Lord, the king of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he himself has looked upon me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judea. Who is among you of all his people? And his God will be with him; let him go up.” See, O marvelous man, how he confesses to himself that he has read the book of Isaiah, and has believed the things that were written, and with all diligence and expense has fulfilled the things written ^C in the Scripture. Is it not evident that from all these things, great benefit to piety has come to all the nations? How then could those who had such faith in the Scripture of Isaiah not believe for themselves concerning the shape of the heaven, when it says therein: “It is he who set the heaven as a vault?” Especially when at that time the miracles against Sennacherib and the turning back of the sun were still recent; from which all their nobility, being convinced concerning these famous signs and from the preaching of Isaiah, consented to the opinion of the king, and let the people go with every honor. Thus, the Babylonians, who were the first to conjecture and suspect that the heaven was a sphere, were the first to be taught by Isaiah the prophet that it is not a sphere, but a vault. Whence we also, having received all the diagrams, have described them in the ^D Christian Topography, having named in the preface the teacher who handed them to us; I mean the great patrician, who came here from the land of the Chaldeans. And let these things be said again concerning these matters.

When the envoys of the Babylonian king came to Hezekiah, he again, suffering something human and being elated in mind, received them with all joy, the matter…

^A and, contrary to the will of God, brought them into the palace, showing them his treasuries and all his wealth. Then Isaiah was again sent to him to correct his mind, and he says to him, speaking ironically: “What do these men say? and from where have they come to you?” Hezekiah answered: “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” Isaiah said again: “What have they seen in your house?” He, perceiving that he who asks knows, speaks the truth and says to him: “All things that are in my house they have seen; and there is nothing in my house which they have not seen, but also those things in my treasuries.” Then, in the manner of one threatening and castigating the elation of his mind, he foretells the things that will happen after him ^B and says: “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, and all things that are in your house, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be taken to Babylon; and not a word will be left behind, says the Lord. And your sons, who will go forth from you, whom you will beget, he will take, and they will be eunuchs in the house of the king of the Babylonians”—as if to say: “Why are you again exalted in your thoughts toward your own glory, and not toward the glory of God, having received the envoys of the Babylonian? You ought to have been instructed by previous examples, that it was not for your glory, but for mine, that the great signs occurred, so that the nations might also be instructed in my majesty; which, conversely, you despised and ^C were exalted, and gave no thanks. But since you received them without me and showed the envoys the wealth you obtained from me, therefore learn from this moment that, in the time of your successors, I shall deliver all your wealth into plunder and captivity to the Babylonians, because you again disregarded our glory, preferring yourself to me. However, since you have always been upright and pious, this will not happen in your times.” Upon hearing these things and understanding the matter, Hezekiah, having been humbled, as one who is just and obedient to God, giving thanks, said to Isaiah: “Good is the word of the Lord, which he has spoken; let there be peace in my days.”

That all things have come to pass according to the word of the prophet is evident; for Nabuchodonosor ^D the Babylonian, having laid waste to Jerusalem, took everything to Babylon; and having chosen youths from the royal lineage—namely, Daniel, and Ananias, and Azarias, and Misael—and having cut off the genital members of their nature, he appointed them for his own service. For it is the custom that kings take such youths for their attendance; for they would move about with him. Indeed, neither the marriage of any one of them, nor children, nor anything of the sort is mentioned in divine Scripture, nor was it ever heard of concerning them. But the tradition and the custom, in accordance with the prophecy, represent them in images as beardless and smooth-faced. That, moreover, in these matters there have been many miracles, and prodigies, and revelations, and prophecies, and much profit for the Babylonians,

^A and the Medes, and the Persians, you are not ignorant, O admirable Peter; so that their kings held them in the highest honor and issued decrees for holy religion, concerning the God of the universe, to their own peoples, confessing Him to be God of gods and Lord of lords; and they ordered that those who spoke blasphemies against Him be punished. Thus God, always ordering matters well, instructs all nations through His own people, glorifying them when they act justly, but chastising them when they $\sin$ and sending them into captivity; through both means He instructs the nations to recognize His own goodness and magnificence, so that they too might approach holy religion, being first exercised in the faith to be revealed through our Lord Jesus Christ. For not even one serif ^B of Scripture, nor one iota, was written in vain; but all things were written beneficially and for the common and varied advantage of men. Therefore I ask, O lover of Christ, that through you, all those who read this work of ours may read the divine Scripture constantly, and reap from it the profit which is able to benefit every man in both divine and human matters. And may it come to pass that we attain the divine blessings and promises, by the prayers of our masters and of your brotherhood, O in all things lover of Christ.

The text.

(49) The conical mountain, which causes the nights and eclipses, is here again delineated by Cosmas, because he thinks it contributes much to the understanding of the things he said above, and of the course of the stars in the book that follows shortly.

and giving thanks to God, the giver of all things, for the fruits of each month of the year, even as David, moved by the Holy Spirit, speaks to God in the Psalm thus: *Bless the crown of the year of thy goodness* (Ps. LXIV, 12). He calls the cycle of the twelve months of the year the "crown of the year," as it crowns the earth from above with beauty, and as the ^A invisible powers, by the tempering of the elements, make it increase and ripen its monthly fruits. For this reason he added again: *And thy fields shall be filled with fatness* (ibid. 12); and again: *Thou hast prepared their food, for so is its preparation* (ibid. 10); and elsewhere he says again: *All things wait upon thee, that thou mayest give them their food in due season* (Ps. CIII, 27), as if to say: "At each season, fittingly preparing us, thou dost nourish us." And elsewhere, concerning that most necessary food of ours which the turn of summer brings about, and which he bestows for the three subsequent months, he says thus: *By the fruit of their corn, and wine, and oil they were multiplied* (Ps. IV, 8). Here again, he wonderfully keeps order in his thanksgiving, mentioning first the corn, second the wine, and third the oil; just as by the blessing of God, through the rational orders—I mean angels and men—they are provided in order for the three months of summer. Therefore, all Christians must not read the divine Scripture cursorily or inadvertently, as I have exhorted from the beginning, but with the study and proper order befitting it; that the divine grace, receiving our will and endeavor, may be an aid to us, so that we may be able to recognize the great things of God. To Him be glory forever. Amen. Fare ^B ye well, Christians, in the Lord.

BOOK IX

Concerning the course of the stars.

The cycle of the twelve months is the highest; lower than this is that of the sun; and lower than this, in turn, is that of the moon. The divine Scripture signifies this through the construction of the lampstand, by the six tubes that emerge in a circle from both sides of it, so that one precedes the other. And indeed the solar cycle of the twelve months precedes by one portion each day, so that the sun runs through one month in thirty days, and thus in twelve months completes the year; yet, as has been said, it falls short by one portion in each day. The cycle of the moon, however, the cycle of the sun precedes by twelve portions each day; so that the moon cannot complete the whole thirty-day circle, that is, one month. But if anyone wishes to consider the matter by making a comparison, the cycle of the moon falls short of the cycle of the sun each day by twelve portions and certain minutes; but the cycle of the sun falls short each day of the cycle which is above all—that is, ^C of the twelve months—by one portion. Now, these ^D invisible powers [bring this about] with order and reason, according...

to the will of God, having received this law, as it is written in David: "Bless the Lord, all his angels, mighty in strength, who perform his word, to hear the voice of his words. Bless the Lord, all his powers, his ministers, who do his will." To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

And these [motions] we have explained—along the length of the three cycles of the course of the twelve houses of the stars and of the two great luminaries—both as being moved by divine help and as inferred from the things that appear to the sense, as far as we were able to speak in a Christian manner. But regarding the course of the two great luminaries ^B along their breadth, and their transitions, their ascents and descents, their conjunctions and full moons, their nodes and diametrical paths, their parallaxes and phases, and their regular and irregular motions, and their northern and southern limits, and the remaining names by which those outside choose to call them, in which they calculate the eclipses of the same luminaries—to those who are learned and who philosophize about such things we yield the calculation, that they may calculate and predict eclipses. We suffer no harm from this, but rather we are even supported by it. For if such names—I mean the transitions, and the ascents and descents, and all the rest—are preserved ^C in our own scheme, contention is untimely. For we have endeavored to demonstrate nothing else through this work of ours, than that the eclipses of both luminaries also occur and fit into this scheme of ours; even though the heaven does not move at all from east to west, nor is it spherical or composed of many spheres, but the stars and luminaries complete their course and order in the air through the ministry of the rational powers, and the form of the two heavens and the earth is maintained, according to divine Scripture. In which God from the beginning wrought the two states, the present and the future; these circles which we have depicted, [are] not spherical, continuous, corporeal, solid, and transparent heavens, according ^D to the empty talk of outsiders.

In the second book we remember saying that the angels move the luminaries, and the stars, and all other things, as being appointed for the ministry of mankind; here, however, we have delineated the scheme, as far as it is possible to set it forth in writing. For we have testimonies from divine Scripture indicating that things are so. For that they move in a circle, the blessed David indicates by saying: "You will bless the crown of the year of your favor"; calling the circle of the twelve months a crown in a marvelous way, because it crowns the earth from above with beauty; wherefore he added, "And your fields shall be filled with fatness." For from the circle and the succession of the seasons, the fruits of the earth grow and mature. Moreover, Moses, in the type of the earth...

that is, upon the table, placed twelve loaves of the showbread in a circle at the top, three at each corner, signifying by the corners ^A the four seasons (each of three months), by the circle the twelve months, and by the loaves the annual fruits of the earth; and he enigmatically arranged that the months should crown the earth in a circle from above. Likewise, he ordered the twelve tribes in a circle around the tabernacle, three to the east, three to the south, three to the west, and the same number to the north, beginning from the east, ascending to the south, then descending to the west, and finally traversing the north, according to the motion of the stars and the position of the earth.

This circle, those who are outside call the zodiac, which we also have delineated a second time according to their hypothesis. The other seven stars, which they call planets, Moses enigmatically placed in the lampstand—namely, seven lamps—having set the lampstand to the south so that it might shine upon the table towards the north, indicating at the same time through them ^B the week of days; for by all these things he signifies days, weeks, months, seasons, and years. By the daily loaves, which were placed fresh every single day, he signifies the days; by the seven lamps, the week; by the number of the twelve loaves, the twelve months; by the four corners, the seasons; and by the circle, the year. Concerning these, the divine Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews says thus: "For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, see, saith he, that thou make ^C all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." Solomon also says: "The sun ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. The sun as it rises goes there toward the south, and whirls about, and the spirit goes on in his circuits." He also handed down the same things that Moses and David did; namely, that the sun ascends from the east to the south, and by circling through the north, completes the seasons and the great circle of the year, running through the air; for this is what it means, "the spirit goes on," as if it should say, "in the air."

That they are also moved by invisible powers, this the divine Scripture also signifies, saying thus: "For the creature was made subject to vanity, ^D not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God"; that is, at the consummation, the angels are delivered from this bondage and from the ministry which they perform for the sake of men, when men shall have become immortal and immutable, and no longer in need of such a service, as the Lord also says in the Gospels concerning the consummation: "For the powers of heaven"

^A shall be shaken; and by the powers of heaven he calls the angels. But the phrase, "they shall be shaken," refers to their departure from their order. Clearly, then, when the angels—who are they who move the stars themselves and everything else—are set free from this order and from this service, he said that the stars shall fall to the earth.

And that which was said by the Apostle: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" ^B more clearly manifests that they all, for the sake of men, perform their ministry and service day and night, and work all other things for the rest and need of men. For whenever we no longer have need of these things, they are set free from this servitude and ministry, allowing the stars to fall to the earth. Furthermore, since the apostle Paul suffered many toils and tribulations and persecutions for the sake of the Church, and was in the end forced to despair because of the multitude of dangers hanging over him, the divine grace consoled him through frequent visions, so that he might not lose courage, but might be sustained by hope to persevere in the ministry for the increase and growth ^C of the Church. Therefore he recounts to us two reasons from these things, which signify the one, concerning toil, and the other, concerning reward. For what does he say? "I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; such an one caught up to the third heaven." And again he says: "And I know such a man, how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." Expressly, as he recounts his own circumstances as if they were another's person, he says: "I know, ^D O Corinthians, if it be altogether necessary to come to visions and revelations of the Lord, that I was caught up in a wondrous way and beyond reason to a great height—I mean, two-thirds of the distance from the earth to the firmament—so that there remained for me but the third part of the entire height of the heaven." And the cause of this rapture, I shall tell with God. Because the invisible powers, at that height to which Paul was caught up, obedient to the divine command, move the stars for the sake of men without rest and without hesitation day and night; for these reasons he also caught up Paul and brought him up as far as there, demonstrating to him their unceasing ministry which they perform for the sake of men, as—rationally and in good order, and harmoniously, and wisely, with much toil and zeal and care serving—they fulfill it; in a way, comforting Paul so that he would not lose courage, toiling for the sake of the Church, but that he might persevere in the ministry, just as he beheld the angels doing. From where Paul took the boldness to speak also of the order of these, naming Principalities, and Powers, and Virtues, and Thrones, and Dominions. For some of them perform the work; others stand over those who are working; others hold authority, being commanders; and, to speak briefly, all alike groaning and con-

- ^Adolentes magna sollicitudine, cura et rationabili ordine, opus perficiunt, omnes cupidi obtinendæ liberationis ab ea, quam propter homines gerunt, servitute.

Concerning the rapture into paradise, again, with God’s help, I shall speak. Since, after the departure from the body, the souls of the just, who are deemed worthy to enter into the kingdom of heaven, are deposited in paradise (as we are taught by the example of the thief who was crucified together with Christ), until the resurrection; and in an excellent and honorable place, they are kept by the invisible powers with hymns and every honor; having led Paul there, [God] showed him, for the sake of consolation, the rewards of his labors and the crowns of his contests, and that only in part; ^B whence he could not narrate the things perfectly: nay rather, he said that they were such as could not be narrated or approached; although he dared to write this, namely, that for him, as one who had finished the course of his ministry and kept the faith, there is laid up by the Lord a crown of righteousness: and not only for him, but also for all who are like him. And let these things be said concerning the visions.

It must be noted here that all the stars are below the firmament, having their motion and circumvection under those two-thirds of the height of the sky, by the ministry and work of the invisible powers. ^C And from this we are taught that an angel does not ascend beyond the stars. For if all are ministering spirits, sent forth for ministry for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation, let him who opposes this opinion point out also the ministry of an angel ascending higher; but if he is unable to point it out, let him be persuaded not by us, but by the divine Scripture. For it is impossible that someone who is still mortal, or corruptible, or mutable, should walk beyond the stars, unless we first receive from God incorruptibility, and immortality, and immutability from the resurrection of the dead; likewise, neither do the angels, being liberated from servitude with us, and casting the stars to the earth, unless they themselves also receive immutability and freedom, ascend ^D higher, nor do we pass through the firmament, entering into the kingdom of heaven: for this the Apostle indicates, saying: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God"; as if he were to say by "flesh," mortality, and by "blood," changeability. He says, therefore, that no mortal or mutable person can possess the kingdom of heaven. Finally, he adds: "Neither does corruption inherit incorruption"; again he added this, declaring that nothing corrupt can enter there: for it would receive damage rather than utility from it. For just as we, placed far away, and considering the disk of the sun, are unable to persist in this, bringing upon ourselves damage and blindness rather than utility; so it is with any mortal, or one still mutable, or corruptible, seeking to cross the boundaries and approach that very way of the

of the kingdom of heaven, as it is far from it. For just as the Lord Christ, having risen from the dead, having become incorruptible in body and immortal, and being immutable in soul, then passed beyond the heavenly powers, and when he had drawn near to the firmament, as he had become ^A superior to the angels, as it is written [Hebr. 1, 4], he rent it and entered into the kingdom of heaven, as Paul also narrates, saying that he ascended far above every principality, etc.; so too we and the angels, as these things are brought to us, shall enter. Again, the two trees in the midst of paradise enigmatically signify the present state and the future state; and indeed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a type of this mortal and mutable world, as it is composed of pleasant and sorrowful things and happens to be a place of training. ^B Just as Adam was trained in that very tree in both good and evil, so the tree of life is a type of the future heavenly world, in which life and blessedness prevail; for the saying, "Lest he extend his hand and take of the tree of life" [Gen. 3, 22], signified the height of the tree, and through it the upper mansions. Just as he appointed the cherubim and the revolving flaming sword to guard the way of the tree of life, so he appointed the angels and the luminaries that revolve around the height of the firmament, where also is the way that leads to the kingdom of heaven; wishing to signify that the upper mansions were ^C as yet inaccessible to men. In his passion, therefore, the Lord Christ brought with him the soul of the thief into paradise, having ceased the guardianship of the cherubim and the revolving flaming sword; but after the resurrection, approaching his assumption, having passed through the multitude of the invisible powers and the luminaries and the firmament itself, he entered into the kingdom, where immortality and immutability and blessedness prevail. At the consummation, therefore, when the angels shall cease from revolving the luminaries and the stars shall fall, the cherubim and the flaming sword shall no longer hinder men from entering into the true life; but the righteous, having become sublime, ^D and walking in that new way, and rending the firmament with the Lord Christ, shall inherit the kingdom of life. Deign that we also, with thy righteous ones, may obtain this life and inheritance, thou who art endowed with compassions and great mercy. Amen.

BOOK X. Testimonies of the Fathers.

Some of those who are accustomed to contention, having read the book, and not being able to withstand such testimony from the divine Scriptures as has been provided by us in this book, spoke to us as follows: "You and your Fathers interpret the divine Scripture after a fashion that is foreign to it, and in a way that favors your own opinion;

for nothing of the kind is found in it concerning the shapes and figures of the world, as you claim. But our Fathers, who without doubt apprehended the true purpose of the divine Scripture, handed down nothing of the kind to us in their expositions, whereas Scripture says: *God has placed in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers.* ^A You seem to reach toward the apostles and prophets according to your own interpretation, but you do not bring forward at all the teachers who have explained the true purpose of the divine Scripture; rather, you have entered upon a foreign path, known until now to no one except yourselves and your followers. For this reason, we have been forced by necessity to make their zeal for contention plain to all, and therefore we shall gather in this book the testimonies of the Fathers, whom they bring forward—whether as a pretext or in sincerity—so that they may be refuted by their own authority, and that our own labor may be proven to be excellently consistent with the testimonies of all apostles, prophets, and teachers. Let the great Athanasius, who proclaims the same things as we do, be the first to come forward into our midst."

(The passages which Cosmas cites from the Festal Letters of Athanasius we have already published among the works of the Alexandrian prelate. See volume XXVI of this Patrologia, col. 1431.)

316-319 Observe with me, I pray, how this great teacher agrees with us concerning the figure of the world, when he calls the kingdom of heaven a great and celestial upper room, sufficient for every creature; and in it he proclaims the Lord Christ, who has entered ^B before us, and he cries out that we shall enter with him at the second advent; and he explains that saying, *Enter into the joy of your Lord*, as referring to that upper room—that is, to the heaven of heavens, or the kingdom of heaven—and that it was prepared for men by God from the foundation of the world, and that the tabernacle built by Moses is a figure of the heavens. Let those contentious men say how this great doctor does not agree with us, and how we have entered upon a path that is foreign to the ecclesiastical way! Away with their empty anxiety. To this man let us join Gregory Nazianzen, who, though he is celebrated by their own loud praises, proclaims the very same things that Athanasius declares to us.

From the Sermon on Pascha by Gregory Nazianzen

"But let us sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise; let us ascend to the altar above; with the heavenly choir let us pass through the first veil; let us approach the second; let us peer into the Holy of Holies." How, then, is it not evident that we have not walked in a foreign or alien way, apart from the ecclesiastical one? Let those contentious men, therefore, be put to shame ^C when they see the consensus of the Church; and let them not treat us with disdain, for it is hard for them *to kick against the goads*. But let us also bring forward a third after him, who was his contemporary, Theophilus, the bishop of Alexandria, who himself bears testimony to our position, or rather, to the truth.

^A

From the First Festal Epistle of Theophilus of Alexandria

From the same Festal Epistle of the same

Behold how this man also agrees with us, calling it an upper room, where the Lord Christ has entered as a forerunner for our sake—of whom the high priest according to the tabernacle of Moses was a type—in order to appear before the face of God, and that He has given permission to those who wish to enter into the Holy of Holies, that is to say, into the kingdom of heaven. Let those who are of the faction of the schismatics answer to these things: "How have we trodden a strange path apart from the ecclesiastical one?" How do they not revere the words of their own Fathers? But they falsely misrepresent these men as if they were heretics. But having passed by this man also, let us move on to a fourth, a fellow-initiate of that time, Severian, bishop of Gabala, who can be considered a witness for almost our entire book.

From the First Book of the Hexaemeron by Severian, Bishop of Gabala

^A heaven and earth; but regarding the waters, the fire, and the air, nothing is written. First, therefore, brethren, having said that heaven and earth came to be, he explained the things contained by the things containing them. And after other things: Then, when did the air come to be? Hear: *And the Spirit of God was moving over the waters.* He does not mean the Holy Spirit here; for the uncreated is not numbered with the creation; rather, he calls the motion of the air spirit. *God said, Let there be light;* and the nature of fire came to be. And again: But He fenced our souls within the body, yet He made the angels incorporeal. Just as, therefore, it is possible to see in souls and in angels, so also in fire: the fire above without matter, the fire below with matter; for the upper fire is of the same kind as the lower, just as our souls are of the same kind as the angels. How? In that they are spirit, and these are spirit. And again: All things, therefore, came to be—fire, the abyss, the winds, the four elements: earth, fire, water, air. For those things which he had omitted, Moses summarizes as if it were a wondrous thing, saying: *For in six days God made the heaven and the earth, and all things that are therein.* But just as in the case of the body he did not list every limb, nor did he enumerate all parts during the creation, even if all things were finished along with the world. For if there were no fire in the world, it would by no means be struck today from a rock and from wood; for rubbed wood generates fire; if nature did not contain it, whence would it generate it? ^B

By the same, from the second discourse.

On the second day, God said: *Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be dividing between water and water.* He made this heaven, not the one above, but the one that is visible, having solidified it from the waters like crystal. I wish to set the matter before your eyes, for many things are better conveyed by the experience of sight than by words. This water, so to speak, was covering the earth to a height of five cubits. Then God said: *Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water.* And thereafter, in the midst of the waters, a crystalline solidification was formed, and it rendered half of the water lighter and placed it above, and left the other half below, as it is written: *Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be dividing between water and water.* Why does He call it a firmament? Because He solidified and firmed it up from the thinner and more dissolved waters. ^C For this reason, David also says: *Praise Him in the firmament of His power.* And to use another example: just as smoke, when it comes forth from wood and fire, is thinner and more rarefied; but when it reaches aloft, it is compacted into the density of a cloud—so too, having lifted up the nature of the rarefied waters, God solidified them above. And that this example is genuine and true, Isaiah testifies, saying that the heaven was solidified like smoke. The heaven, then, having been solidified in the midst of the waters, rendered the

^A upper half light, and left the other half below. But for what purpose, and for what use, are the waters placed above? Is it for drinking or for sailing? That there are indeed waters above, David testifies, saying, *And the water that is above the heavens*. [Ps. CXVIII, 4] Observe, then, the wisdom of the Creator. The heaven was crystalline, solidified from the waters; but because it was to receive the flame of the sun and the moon, and the countless multitudes of the stars, and was to be entirely filled with fire, so that it might not be dissolved or scorched by such heat, He spread those oceans of water beneath the back of heaven so that it might lubricate and anoint its back, and thus withstand the flame and not be burnt. You have also an example: consider how, if you place a cauldron over a fire today, if there is water inside, it withstands the fire; but if not, it dissolves. Thus He set water as an adversary to the fire, so that the heaven might have sufficient endurance through the waters anointing it from above. And look at the marvel: the moisture is so abundant for the heavenly body—though it is assailed by such great fire—that it even lends to the earth. For where does the dew of the clouds come from? Nowhere else. The air does not contain water; it is evident that the heaven drips from its own superfluity. Therefore, the patriarch Isaac, in blessing Jacob, says: *May God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth*. [Gen. XXVII, 28] And after other things: Notice, I pray, that ^B the waters above the heavens serve another need; for they do not merely preserve the heaven, but also send the flame of the sun and the moon downwards. For if the heaven were transparent, all the light would run upwards; for fire is naturally inclined to move upwards, and it would leave the earth deserted. For this reason, then, He sealed the heaven from above with infinite waters, so that the light, being constrained, might be sent downwards. See the wisdom of the Artificer. You have also within yourself the image of the Artificer; and notice, I pray. Define for me this head as being the heaven above; that which is above the tongue, the other heaven—that is, the firmament, whence it is also called the *cœliculum* (palate); above is the brain, among those things which are unseen and invisible, while in the lower heaven is the tongue, which is visible; just as the heaven above is among the things perceived by intellect, while the world is among the things celebrated by speech.

Of the same, from the same discourse.

For on the third day the fruits sprouted; and so that it might not be thought again that they were produced by the nature of the sun, He then creates the sun, and the moon, and the stars, when their creation was already completed. ^D Whence, then, did He make them? For it has been said that on the first day He made all things from non-existence; but on the other days, from things already in existence. Where, then, did the sun come from? From the light that was made on the first day, which the Artificer transformed as He willed, and fashioned into different appearances: there, creating the matter of light; here, making the luminaries—just as if one were to take a mass of gold

^A and afterwards mint coins from it, and so provide an ornament of gold. For just as He divided the abyss, which at that time was one water, into the water above, into seas, into rivers, into springs, into lakes, into wells; so too did the Artificer divide the light, which was one and of a single species, into sun, into moon, and into stars. And after some other things: He made, then, the heaven, not a sphere, as those babblers philosophize; for He did not create a rolling sphere; but, as the prophet ^B says: "Who hath made the heaven as a vault, and hath stretched it out as a tent to dwell in." Indeed, none of us is so impious as to obey those babblers, and not the prophetic words, which say that the heaven has a beginning and an end: for this reason, then, not even the sun is said by them to ascend, but to go forth. For the Scripture says: "The sun went forth upon the earth, and did not ascend." And again it says: "His going forth is from the extremity of heaven, and his meeting point is even to the extremity of heaven." There is no ascent, therefore; but if it is spherical, it has no extremity; for that which is spherical on all sides, where does it have an extremity? Does David alone say this, or does the Saviour also? Hear, then, the Lord saying this: "When the Son of man shall come, He shall send His angels with a great trumpet's voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the extremity of heaven, even to its extremity." We ask, then, again, in what place the sun sets, and where it runs at night, as has been said; according to outsiders, indeed, beneath the earth; but according to us, who learn that it is a tent, attend, I pray, whether our discourse is false, or whether it rather possesses a seal, asserted by the testimony of Truth itself. And the place concurs with my description: for such things are handed down ^C more by sight than by hearing. Imagine a vault placed upon a church: and let the east be there towards the rising of the sun, and there the north, and here the south, and yonder the west: and then the sun rising here, and having its setting not by going under the earth, but by running through the northern parts, and being hidden as it were by some wall; the waters not allowing its course to be seen; running, I say, through the northern parts, and reaching the rising again. But from where is this proved? Thus Solomon says in Ecclesiastes: and this scripture is witnessed, not considered supposititious: "The sun, he says, ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and he draweth to his own place: he arising there, proceedeth to the south, and ^D circlest to the north, it goeth circling, and the wind returneth upon its circles." See, then, it running towards the south, and circling the north, and learn. And after some other things: All things, therefore, obey the law of God. The heaven stands, not supported by its own power, but established by divine word. For when a doubt occurs to me, how the heaven is fashioned from the waters, David resolves my doubt, saying: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established"; because, clearly, they were fashioned from waters. For nowhere else is it said to be firm

^A for it is one thing to be established, and another to be firm; but it is said to be established when that which is rarefied and porous is compacted.

From the same, from the sixth discourse.

Thus that tree did not have a nature productive of death-dealing knowledge, but it received its name from the tragic incident that befell Adam on its account. I shall explain the matter briefly, for divine Scripture does not speak in doubtful terms. Today we have a saving food, of which ^B the faithful are partakers; therefore, that tree possesses a natural salvation. If you have an earnest from present things for the glory that calls you, why do you doubt regarding the past? There was a death-dealing food; here is a life-giving food. If this saves by nature and not by grace, then that also destroyed by nature and not by intention; if this food saves by its nature and not by grace, then that one also destroyed by nature and not by transgression.

From the same, from the fourth discourse.

For indeed, when the angels were created, they were not fellow-workers of God, but ministers, hymning and giving thanks that they had been created; knowing that before this they did not exist, and that they had been created by the Spirit of goodness. They stood as spectators only, ^C seeing things created with them and after them; for they saw heaven being made from what did not exist, and they were struck with amazement; they saw the sea being marked off, and they marveled; they beheld the earth being fashioned, and they shuddered. And that the angels were not fellow-workers, but rather admirers, God says to Job: "When I created the stars, all my angels praised me and sang hymns." And after some other things: "He saw Adam sinning, but He foresaw his descendants who would perform justice; He saw him cast out of paradise, but He foresaw that the kingdom was prepared for him." ^D And the wonderful thing is that the kingdom was created even before paradise. Why, then, do you marvel that he was cast out of paradise, when it is rather a matter worthy of admiration that the kingdom of heaven was prepared for him before paradise, as the Savior says: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"?

From the same, from the third discourse.

Finally, it must be sought why God made the moon full. Pay attention, for the thought is deep. It was fitting that it, being created on the fourth day, should appear as a four-day-old moon. But again: if it were four days old, it would not reach the height of the west. It was found, therefore, to be eleven days ahead: for the four-day-old moon appeared as if it were fifteen days old. The moon, therefore, exceeds the sun by eleven days, not in creation, but in the order of shining. For this reason, what it gained then, it restores to the sun. For the number of days according to the moon each month, coming to twenty-nine and a half days, makes the year in those twelve months three hundred

^A fifty-four days, so that whatever days the moon had held in excess, it restores to the sun annually. Let the calculator calculate this.

What will the lovers of contention say to this, when they hear such great agreement from him with us, regarding both the shape of the first and second heaven, and those two regions which the intervening firmament creates, and how he says, likewise according to divine Scripture, that the first heaven is not a sphere but a vaulted arch; and that this second heaven which is seen was compacted of waters and bears the waters, so that it might not be dissolved by the heat of the stars, but be preserved by the cooling of the waters; and that the dew is from the firmament; and concerning the course of the stars, that they travel through the northern regions at night; and concerning the angels, who were made with the heaven and were ^B spectators of the six-day creation of God, and were instructed and marveled; and finally, when he philosophizes concerning souls, how they are enclosed within bodies and act within bodies? Why, therefore, should any mouth—speaking iniquity against God and against us, who meditate on the divine Scripture according to ecclesiastical tradition and discourse from it—not be stopped? For it has been truly demonstrated that the prophets, the apostles, the evangelists, and the Lord himself, and the whole divine Scripture, and indeed even the Fathers and doctors whom they themselves allege, either by some pretext or sincerely, do not dissent from us, but all attest to our discourse, so that from all of them the true opinion may be established, and any mouth ^C speaking iniquity may be stopped. But passing over these, let us move on to the fifth in number of his fellow-ministers, Epiphanius the Bishop, and let us show that he also agrees with us.

Of Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, from the book On Weights and Measures

For twenty-two works, O seeker of good, God created from the beginning up until the seventh day, which are these: On the first day, the highest heaven, the earth, the waters from which are snow, crystal, hail, ice, and dew. Then the spirits ministering before Him; of such a kind are the angels who attend, the angels of glory, the angels of the clouds, the angels of the mists and of the snows, of the hail, and ^D of the ice; the angels of the voices, of the thunders, and of the lightnings; the angels of the cold, of the heat, of the winter, and of the autumn; and of all the spirits, his creatures which are in the heavens and on the earth; the chaos and the darkness which are above the abyss, the waters which were once above the earth; from which darkness were evening and night, the light of day and of dawn. These are the seven greatest works that God created on the first day. On the second day, the firmament in the midst of the waters. On that same day the waters were divided: the half of them ascended above the firmament; but the other half remained under the firmament upon the face

of all the earth. This is the only work that God performed on the second day.

And this man also agrees with us, testifying concerning the shape of the world: he speaks of a higher heaven and a lower firmament which supports the waters. And concerning the angels, he has also clearly told us everything just as we did: that they all exist in this world, that they all move all things and minister for the sake of man; and that they themselves were created on the first day along with the higher heaven and the earth. Hearing this, O men, do not be possessed by contention and jealousy, nor grow angry; but rather, in your love for the truth, acknowledge the ecclesiastical, or rather the true, concord. For you revile in vain, being unable to confront the truth. Therefore, reverence the multitude of witnesses. But if those whom we have already set forth are not yet enough for you, let us also review this bishop in the imperial city, the admirable John, who was ill-treated by the three predecessors; and we shall show that this renowned athlete, devoted to works of mercy, also confirms our words with his testimony and agrees with them. ^A

John Chrysostom, from his discourse on Almsgiving.

Man is a great thing, and a merciful man is venerable. See how great a thing almsgiving is: God compares the merciful man to Himself; for He says, "Be ye merciful, as your Father which is in heaven is merciful" (Luc. VI, 36). If death comes, there the riches remain.

From the same, from his commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians.

"Having made known unto us the mystery of his will in all wisdom and prudence" (Ephes. I, 9), he says; that is, as one might say, He made known to us things which were in His heart. For this is the mystery that is full of all wisdom and prudence. For what greater wisdom could you seek than this? Those who were worth nothing, these He sought out so that He might lead them to riches. What could be equal to this excellent contrivance? He who was an enemy and hated, has suddenly been raised on high; and not only this, but also in this current time, and this was a work of wisdom. But that He accomplished this through the cross is a matter requiring a long discourse to explain. How was this a work of wisdom, and how did He make us wise? ^C

Again.

"According to his good pleasure," he says, "which he purposed in him" (ibid.); that is, this was what He desired, this was what He was travailing for, as one might say, the mystery. And what is that? That He wishes for man to ascend on high; and He wishes this in the dispensation of the fullness of times to gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.

^A From the same, from the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, on the chapter which says, "Now the point in the things which we are saying is this." Where are those who say that the heaven is moved? Where are those who think it is spherical? For both these things are refuted here.

From the same, from the same commentary on the chapter which says: "And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament." And how are these things examples of those things which are in the heavens? And what does He now call the things in the heavens? Is it the heaven, or the angels? None of these, but our own things; and our things are heavenly, even if they are accomplished on earth. Since angels also are on earth, but they are called heavenly; and the Cherubim appeared upon the earth, but they are heavenly. And why do I say "appeared"? For they dwell on the earth, just as in paradise? Not even that; for they are heavenly, and our citizenship is in the heavens, ^B even if we live here on earth. And after a few words: I demonstrate by works who they are that have attained to that height. And who are these? I mean those around Paul, who, while they were on earth, resided in heaven. And what do I say, in heaven? They were higher than the heaven, and than the other heaven, and ascended to God Himself.

And this same wise and great teacher again spoke wonderfully to us and to our followers concerning the figure of the world. And indeed, concerning the figure of the world, ascending by a certain progression from the earthly places up to the royal throne, he recounted that ascent beautifully and in order. Placing first the air, then the moon, then the sun, afterwards the firmament; from thence again the heaven of heaven; but he mentions no more than two heavens; and he mocks those who say that the heaven is a sphere, and declare that it moves. And regarding the angels and the Cherubim, he says that they dwell in this world together with us, and that not one of them has yet flown beyond this world. ^C But concerning the dogma, again, having used the figure securely, he explained the dogma clearly: "For what," he says, "could this enemy and one who was hated have been suddenly raised up?" And again, "Because God wishes to establish man on high," etc. For when God had made the heaven and the earth, on the second day He again made the firmament; and placing it in the midst of the height, He divided the one world into two worlds, this one and the one above. But on the sixth day, having finished all this world, as a kind of bond of the whole world of visible and invisible things, He made man of all natures into one living being. In the last of days, therefore, since it was necessary that the second world be displayed, taking again the bond of the whole world of visible and invisible things, that is, man, and having renewed him from the resurrection of the dead and made him better, He brought him into heaven, that is, into the second place or world, before all things. For a restoration and a kind of re-creation was being wrought by God in man,

as a bond between heavenly and earthly things, that is, of all things visible and invisible. This holy Father, then, understanding this, and being well-versed in the mystery of the will of God, declared it: and he proclaimed that he who had been cast out of Paradise, as one who had become corrupted through disobedience, had by the will and good pleasure of God suddenly become heavenly for the restoration of all things. Oh, the harmony of the Church! Oh, the harmony of the mysteries of God! Oh, the spiritual consensus of the teachers! Who would not be condemned who opposes these? Lord God of the universe, confirm us always in your mysteries. Amen. Let contentious men cease, and rather bend their necks to the Church. For such ways we, with the Church, reject. But after we have finished citing these passages, let us bring forward a seventh witness, who completes the symbols of the divine Testament, both Old and New. For if in two or three witnesses every word shall stand, as it is said in the divine Scripture, how much more so in the seven? For the choir of seven witnesses exhibits the symbols of a perfect and all-complete Testament. That witness, then, is Philo, bishop of Karpathos, who testifies in agreement with the other six. ^B

From the commentary of Philo, bishop of Karpathos, on the Canticles, on the text saying: “The king has brought me into his chamber.”

The chamber of the celestial King is, clearly, the body which He built for Himself as a house; and thereafter, also the kingdom of heaven.

The same, on the text: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.”

For the Son of God took man, whom He assumed from the Church; and in turn He gave back to her, for communion, His own holy flesh to be eaten. ^C

The same, on the text: “The King is held fast in the wanderings. Why have you been beautified and why have you been made firm?”

For in passing from heaven to earth, and into Hades, and having descended to the lowest depth of Hades, thence He draws out the dead. And after some intervening words: For it was truly rendered beautiful and firm, not the power of the divinity—for it admits neither increase nor decrease—but the flesh which He assumed, and the man whom He bore. He was made beautiful, having been conformed to the beauty of the divinity, and was made firm in the kingdom of heaven at the right hand of God. ^D

The same, on the Hexaemeron, where he discourses concerning the man born blind.

For even if you saw him as a man, yet from these very works you ought to have understood the God existing in him. Consider also this Father, who holds the same goal with us regarding the configuration and the doctrine; and concerning the configuration, as the storeroom of

heaven, which is a more interior and safer receptacle of the house, which he also called the kingdom of heaven. Regarding the doctrine, he speaks of the man whom God carried and recalled from death and deemed worthy of the honor of sitting at the right hand, as being established and settled in that very receptacle, that is, in the kingdom of heaven. ^B Why, then, do those who are lovers of contention shout against us, as if we have entered upon a strange path unknown to anyone? Let them cease their willful madness, and let them not slander us; for "God who justifies, who is he that condemns?" For God first testifies to our position, then the prophets, and the apostles, and the evangelists, and the most celebrated chorus of the Fathers; from whose number you profess to accept some. Furthermore, even the ancient external writers agree with ours in some things. But that we may not extend our discourse to greater length, we have thought it sufficient to set forth the testimonials brought forward thus far, for the sake of the contentious alone, who dare to slander our position, or rather the truth itself, desiring to make their contentiousness manifest to all, so that they may have from within themselves the refutation of their untimely madness.

And that our treatise may not be testified to only by these ancients, I will, as a superabundant measure, bring forward the testimony of a certain new schismatic, a father of theirs, still surviving and residing in Constantinople, who, whether from ignorance or compelled by the truth itself, supports our book.

Of Theodosius, Bishop of Alexandria, on the fortieth day of the Lord’s Ascension.

^C Today human nature is transferred into heaven; today heaven is opened, and man enters therein. What will the adversaries say to these things? How does he not, both regarding the configuration and regarding the doctrine, provide testimony to our position? Oh! The power of truth, which draws even adversaries to itself against their will!

In another homily by the same.

It is not a great thing that God overcame the devil. O wonderful thing! Here, too, the truth itself exposes their unpromising contention. For if he says that it is not a great thing for God to conquer while fighting with the devil—for to suggest the contrary would be extreme madness, since not only the devil, but the entire creation is subject and counted as nothing before God—is it not clear that he means it is the man who fights with the devil and overcomes? For that is truly great, ^D as he had previously said that man has entered into heaven as a victor. And that he maintains this goal, he again signifies by shouting with these words: "For it was fitting, it was indeed fitting that this nature which had been defeated should be adorned with a crown"; as if he were saying: "This same nature which was overcome by the devil in paradise, that is to say, man, even though through the resurrection he has become better"

he frequently and at length explained; and he proclaimed with confidence that this nature was raised up into heaven.

Of the same, in the Great Church, after the reading of the Gospel passage: "Father, if it be possible, let it pass," etc.

The passions of this flesh, and the signs of the passion, are anguish, and sweat, grief, and the tumult of the soul, symbols of human nature. O the wonder! Such things do those who contend with us say, while splitting the Churches and acting tyrannically. For where is it written that He was in agony and sweated, if not in Luke, where he says: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him"? How do they dare to say such things, and yet condemn those who dare to narrate them? Is not the contentiousness of such men manifest? But passing over this, let us come to his predecessor, the recently deceased younger Timotheus, ^B and let us openly demonstrate that he too, even against his will, agrees with our writings. He writes, therefore, explaining that very passage in the period for Holy Pascha, in the church of Saint Victor, after the reading of the prophet Isaiah, who says: "As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb," and having mentioned in the explanation: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," he speaks as follows:

Timotheus on the text, "Father, if it be possible, let it pass." For it is the nature of the soul always to desire to remain in the body, and it bears the departure from life with difficulty. And again in the church of Saint Sarapammon he proclaimed: Further, greater things than these will be given to me by the Father, a resurrection from the dead, a restoration of nature, and instead of corruption, vivification.

Of the same, on the Holy Theophany, on the birthday of Christ, Choiak 30th, 10th indiction. The Virgin brought forth a perfect, sinless man. And after a few words: Let us be circumcised with Christ, that we may also be purified with Him.

^C And again in the church of Saint Theodore, Tubi 8th, 10th indiction. For by that which was visible, He showed the power of that which was hidden.

Of the same, in the church of Quirinus, on a Sunday, Pachon 14th, 5th indiction, the Gospel according to John having been read: "And Jesus being wearied with the journey, was sitting."

Because, therefore, He is at once God and man, the same person, He confirms both by His works, so that it cannot be hidden from those who behold them. For that He is God by nature is demonstrated by His works and by His signs, while He cleanses lepers, illuminates the blind, ^D and strengthens those who are paralyzed, and raising the dead, and the greatest of these…

^A (for perhaps even the prophets accomplished these things), He speaks openly and with assurance, saying: *I and the Father are one.* But to these, as I have said, the greatness of His divinity is proven. Yet, that He is also truly man, He does not wish even this to be hidden or ignored, so that He might turn aside and crush those who think that He came in a phantasm, while He clearly and openly submits Himself to passions: and to what passions? Namely those which are natural to the flesh on account of infirmity, not on account of sin; I speak of hunger, thirst, sleep, and exhaustion. For these things, which occur by nature and not by intent, do not contaminate those who endure them with sin. Therefore, the Lord, by these sinless passions, declared His own flesh to be obedient, clearly manifesting that He became man by nature and in truth, and not merely in appearance.

By the same, in the temple, on the feast of Pachon

By the same, on the fortieth day of the Ascension of the Lord, the twenty-fifth of Pachon, in the ninth indiction, on the text of the Gospel according to John, which says: "It is expedient for you that I go away"

involuntary concord of schismatics, or the ^A non-spontaneous emission of praise, or consent! Why are we not in all things proven to be children of the Church? They say, forsooth: We have not trodden the way. How are they not in all respects to be condemned, who are disobedient to all these things, or who speak against them? How is our Scripture, confirmed by so many testimonies, not the genuine offspring of ecclesiastical tradition? God is our witness, and after Him the apostles, prophets, and the most celebrated chorus of holy Fathers.

BOOK XI. Description of the animals of India; and of the island of Taprobana.

RHINOCEROS. This animal is called the Rhinoceros, because it has its horns on its nostrils; when it walks, the horns shake; but when it is filled with fury and looks about, it vibrates its horns, and they become immovable and firm, so that it can even uproot trees, especially those that stand before it. The eyes are placed lower down near the jaws. It is a most terrible animal, and especially hostile to the elephant. Its feet and skin are similar to those of the elephant. And its skin, when dried, has a thickness of four fingers, and some use it in place of a plowshare for their plows, and with it they furrow the earth. The Ethiopians in their own dialect call it "Aru," or "Harisi," pronouncing the second alpha with a rough breathing, and adding "risi"; so that by the word "Aru" they designate the animal itself, and by the word "Harisi," they indicate the appearance of its nostrils and its skin, which is suitable for plowing, and from this they have given it its name. I have seen such an animal living in Ethiopia while standing far ^C off, and also dead, skinned, and stuffed with straw, standing in the royal palace, from which I was able to describe it accurately.

TAURELAPHUS. This animal, the Taurelaphus, is found both in India and in Ethiopia. But those in India are tame and gentle; and they use them to carry burdens of pepper and other loads in sacks, and they milk them and make butter. Furthermore, we eat their meat, the Christians slaughtering them, but the Greeks killing them with clubs; those in Ethiopia are wild and untameable.

CAMELOPARDALIS. The Camelopardalis is found only in Ethiopia. These also are wild and untameable. But in the palace, for the king's pleasure, they rear one or two from a young age for his spectacle. When they bring it milk or water to drink in a basin ^D before the king, it cannot reach down to the ground to drink unless it spreads out its two front legs, because it is very high in its legs, chest, and neck; therefore, by spreading its front legs accordingly, it is then able to drink. And these things we have described as we know them.

THE WILD OX

MUSK

THE UNICORN

THE HOG-DEER AND THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

PEPPER

ARGELLIA

^A in height, speed, and fronds. It bears no fruit other than two or three spathes containing as many *argellia*. Its flavor is very sweet and pleasant, like fresh nuts. In the beginning, it is full of very sweet water, which is why the Indians drink it instead of wine; this beverage is called *rhonchosoura* and is very sweet. When the *argellion* is gathered and kept, its water thickens as it gradually advances toward the shell, while the water remains liquid in the center until it too runs out. If it remains longer, its hardened fruit turns rancid and is no longer fit for human consumption.

PHOCA, DOLPHIN, TURTLE

^B We eat the seal, as it is called, the dolphin, and the turtle by the seashore, if we happen to catch them. We eat the dolphin and the turtle by slaughtering them, but we do not slaughter the seal; instead, we strike it on the temples, as is done with large fish. The flesh of the turtle is dark, like sheep’s meat; that of the dolphin is dark and fishy, like pork; that of the seal is white, like pork, and not fishy.

CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF TAPROBANA

This is a great island in the ocean, lying in the Indian Sea; among the Indians it is called Sielediba, and among the Greeks, Taprobana. Here is found the hyacinth stone, and it lies beyond the region of pepper. Around it are a great number of small islands, all having fresh water and *argellia*. For the most part, they are *assobathai*. ^C The great island itself, as the locals say, has a reach of three hundred *gaudia* in length and likewise in breadth—that is, nine hundred miles. There are two kings on the island, hostile to each other: one holds the hyacinth region, and the other the rest, in which is the emporium and the harbor; the emporium there is great and much frequented by the neighboring peoples. This same island also has a Church of those Christian Persians who have settled there, with a presbyter ordained in Persia and sent there, as well as a deacon and the entire ecclesiastical liturgy. The natives and the kings are of a different race. They have many temples on this island; in one of their temples, situated ^D on a height, there is—so they say—a hyacinth, reddish and great, as large as a great pinecone; it shines from afar, especially when the sun shines upon it, and is an inestimable sight. The island receives many ships from all of India, Persia, and Ethiopia, as it is situated in the middle of them all, and it sends out many of them in return.

And from the inner regions, I mean from Tzinista and other emporia, it receives silk, aloes, clove, sandalwood, and whatever else is produced in those regions; and it trades them with the outer regions—I mean to Male, where the pepper grows, and to Kalliana, where copper is produced, and sesame wood, and other textiles; for this itself is a great emporium. Likewise to Sindu, where the moschos or the *kantarin* is, and the *an*—

^A to Adulis; and again receiving from each of the aforementioned emporia, and distributing to the interior parts, and sending out their own goods at the same time to each emporium.

Sindu is the beginning of India. For the river Indus, that is, the Pishon, which drains into the Persian Gulf, having its outlets there, separates Persia from India. These, therefore, are the brilliant emporia of India: Sindu, Orrhotha, Calliana, Sibor, and Male—having five emporia that export pepper—Parti, Mangaurouth, Salopatana, Malopatana, Pudapatana. Then, beyond—about a five days' and nights' journey on the mainland toward the Ocean—is Sielediva, that is, Taprobane. Then, further on the mainland, there is an emporium, Marallo, which exports shells (cochleae); Caber, which exports alabandenum; then, next in order, clove; and finally, Tzinista, which exports silk, beyond which there is no other country, for the Ocean surrounds it on the east.

^B This island of Sielediva, therefore, being situated roughly in the middle of India, possessing also the hyacinth, receives *merchandise* from all the emporia, and distributes to all, and is itself also a great emporium. It happened once that a certain person of our people who was engaged in trade, named Sopater, whom we know to have died thirty-five years ago, having entered the island of Taprobane for the sake of business, a ship from Persia happened also to arrive at the same place. Those from Adulis, with whom Sopater was, disembarked; those from Persia also disembarked, with whom was also an ambassador of the Persians. Then, according to custom, the magistrates and the tax-collectors, having received them, conduct them to the king. ^C The king, having received them and having been saluted, bids them to be seated, and then asks: "How are your countries, and how are affairs?" They replied, "Well." Then, as they were in the midst of the conversation, the king asked: "Which of your kings is greater and more powerful?"

The Persian, anticipating the reply, said: "Ours is both more powerful and greater and richer, and he is the king of kings; and he can do whatever he wills." Sopater, however, was silent. Then the king says: "You, Roman, do you say nothing?" But Sopater said: "What have I to say, when this man has spoken such things? If you wish to investigate the truth of the matter, you have both kings here; examine each, and you will see which is more brilliant and powerful." ^D Having heard this, he was astonished by the speech, *saying*: "How do I have both kings here?" He said: "You have the vouchers of both, the nomisma of the one, and the drachma—that is, the milliarense—of the other; examine the image of each, and you will discover the truth."

He, praising and nodding in agreement with the suggestion, ordered both to be brought. The nomisma, then, was bright, brilliant, and of beautiful form (for such selected items go there), but the milliarense was of silver, and, to speak briefly, not to be compared with the gold coin. The king, having looked at the reverse and obverse side, and having examined both coins, extolled the nomisma with praises and said: "Truly the Romans are both brilliant and powerful and wise." He ordered, therefore, that Sopater be greatly honored, and having seated him upon an elephant, along with drum-

-^Aming, he had him paraded through the entire city and celebrated magnificently. These things Sopater himself, as well as the companions who had traveled with him from Adule to that island, recounted to us. When these things had taken place, as they said, the Persian remained suffused with shame.

Between these already mentioned trading centers are many others, both maritime and inland, and a very extensive region. The higher, that is to say, the more northerly part of India, is occupied by the white Huns, whose king, called Gollas, leads into battle, as they say, no fewer than two thousand elephants and a large cavalry. He exerts power over India, ruling tyrannically and exacting tribute. Once, as they say, desiring to sack an inland city of the Indians, when the city was fortified by water all around, he sat outside for many days and kept watch, and having exhausted the water by means of his elephants, horses, and camp, he finally crossed over on dry land and took ^B the city. These people also love the emerald stone and wear it in their crowns for adornment. For the Ethiopians, having traded with the Blemmyes—also an Ethiopian tribe—in Ethiopia, carry the same stone all the way to India, and in return they purchase the finest goods. All these things I have recounted and described, partly having learned them by experience and having traveled near those places, and partly having learned them accurately.

The kings of the various places in India also possess elephants—for instance, the king of Orrhotha, and the king of the Callianae, and of Sindu, and the king of Sibor, and the king of Male; ^C some have six hundred, others five hundred, more or less. The king of Sielediva purchases both elephants and horses for a price. He measures the elephants by the cubit, and pays the price according to the height, and usually counts out fifty or a hundred gold pieces, or even more. The horses, however, they bring to him from Persia, and he buys them, and grants to those who bring them immunity from customs duties. The kings ruling on the mainland of India tame elephants taken from the wild and keep them for military use, and frequently arrange battles between elephants while the king looks on. They separate the two elephants with a large horizontal beam, tied ^D to two other upright beams reaching, as it were, to the elephants' chests. And many men stand on either side, not allowing them to come together, and they set them at each other, and they strike one another with their trunks until one of them gives way. The Indian elephants do not have long tusks; or even if they have them, they cut them off because of the weight, so that they might not be burdened by them in battle. The Ethiopians, however, do not know how to tame elephants; but if the king should happen to desire one or two for a spectacle, they catch young and tender ones and rear them. For their land abounds with elephants having large tusks. For from Ethiopia, tusks are shipped to India, to Persia, to the Homerite, and to the Roman domain. These things I have written having received them from others. The river Phison divides all of India and Hunnia. For it is called, in the divine

The Indian region, indeed, is called Evilat in Holy Scripture: for it is written in Genesis: "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. From thence it is parted into four heads: the name of the one is Pishon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Evilat; and there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone." By this, He clearly designated the land of Evilat. Moreover, this Evilat is of the race of Ham; for it is written again: "The sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan; and the sons of Cush: Seba and Evilat," that is to say, the Homeritae and the Indians. For Seba lies in the Homeritic land, and Evilat is in India. The Persian Gulf separates these two regions. That land, says Scripture, produces gold; it also has the pezerote stone, which it calls carbuncle, and also the jasper, which it terms the green stone. Clearly, therefore, divine Scripture, as being truly divine, relates matters as they are, just as this entire treatise reveals. ^A

NOTICE

BOOK XII

It is written in the Chaldean books of Berosus and certain others that ten kings reigned among them for two thousand two hundred and forty-two myriads of years; and that under their tenth king, Xisuthrus, as they call him, a great deluge occurred, and that Xisuthrus, having been warned by God, boarded a ship with his wife and kinsfolk and the brute animals, and was saved, as they tell it, and settled in the mountains of Armenia, and after the deluge offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods, transforming almost the entire history of Moses into an alien form. For people remained in that further situated land for ten generations; and under Noah, who was the tenth, ^D

^A the flood occurred, and they were translated by means of the ark. For they call this same Noah Xisuthrus. And having transformed the days into years, they said that those ten kings lived for 2,242 myriads of years—a number which Moses computed as 2,242 years from Adam to the flood of Noah. Similarly, Timaeus the philosopher also describes this earth in the same way, saying it is surrounded by the Ocean, and that the Ocean is again surrounded by the further land. For he posits a certain island, Atlantis, toward the west in the Ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules, saying it was great and immense, and that the ten kings dwelling in it, having hired soldiers from that further land, after they had waged war against Europe and Asia, were subsequently defeated by the Athenians; and he says that the island itself was submerged by God in the waters. Plato and Aristotle praise this account, and Proclus comments upon it; and he says things similar to us, having transformed the narrative, shifting the terminology into another form and placing the west where the east had been. Moreover, he also makes mention of the ten generations and of the land beyond the Ocean. And, to speak simply, it is evident that all these men borrowed from Moses and presented it as their own.

For the authors of the Chaldean histories, as older and more oriental men, mentioned in their own writings ^B both the flood and the construction of the tower, seeing with their own eyes the tower and its structure; for they understood that the men of that time had built it as a refuge and a means of safety for themselves because of the flood. But those of a later age, having read Moses and finding that Noah, in whose time the flood occurred, was the tenth from Adam, they themselves also fabricated that there were ten kings who reigned among them for 2,242 myriads of years, as has been said before. The first of these is Alorus, that is, Adam; the second, Alaaprus, Seth; the third, Almedon, Enos; the fourth, Ammeon, Cainan; the fifth, Ammegalarus, Maleleel; the sixth, Daonus the shepherd, Jared; the seventh, Evedorachus, Enoch; the eighth, Amempsinachus, Mathusala; the ninth, Otiortes, Lamech; the tenth, Xisuthrus, Noah. They say the great flood occurred in his time, according to Moses.

But the writers of the Egyptian histories—namely Manetho, and Chaeremon, and Apollonius Molo, and Lysimachus, and Apion the Grammarian—make mention of Moses ^C and of the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt. For as Egyptians and writers of Egyptian histories, they also quite consistently narrate the things that happened in those parts; and they even malign Moses as one who stirred up sedition and who incited and led out of Egypt a multitude of vagabonds and maimed people, who then traveled to Mount Sinai and to Jerusalem and were called Jews. And to speak simply, the Chaldeans and Egyptians, in a certain way, as being more ancient than the Greeks, bear witness to the divine Scripture, that the flood also occurred in the time of Noah, [and the] ^D

building of the tower, and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. But the Greeks, being more recent and having learned to write late, and being situated far from the east toward the west, living at a greater distance from Judea and Egypt than those, were ignorant of such things, having received them neither by sight nor by hearing. Therefore, even to this present time, they disbelieve the divine Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament, considering the things contained therein as myths.

The Chaldeans, however, and the Medes and Persians, being instructed in a somewhat greater measure concerning the building of the tower and the flood and the events that happened under Hezekiah and Jonah, as well as the captivity, and Daniel and the three youths, were educated in part also by their own writings. Likewise, the Egyptians were educated through the events concerning Joseph and Moses and the people of the Israelites; and these nations were more ready to accept Christianity. Indeed, the Greeks themselves also believed later through the ministry of the apostles, having seen the miracles performed by them. ^B But later, when the signs ceased and time had passed, you will find many Greeks who, after they had believed and been baptized, subsequently lapsed into incredulity, not knowing the Old and New Testament—that is, the divine Scripture—inasmuch as they did not have a firmly rooted and profound root of piety nor a foundation of faith established from of old. Therefore, they did not even mention in their own writings, as the earlier Chaldeans and Egyptians had done, either the flood, or the construction of the tower, or the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, or the first writer, Moses; but thinking themselves superior and wiser and the first of all men, out of the tumor of pride that surrounded them, they were ignorant of many things. Wherefore, a certain Egyptian correctly said to Plato, for this was Solomon: "Greeks are always children; no Greek is an old man, nor is there any learning among you that is old." ^C But even some others, namely Dius and Menander, who translated the antiquities of the Tyrians into the Greek tongue, made mention of Solomon and the Jews in their writings; and thus almost all of Ethiopia and the southern regions bear witness to the divine Scripture; but the Greeks alone, who seem to themselves to be wise, are ignorant of their own salvation. Only the aforementioned Timaeus—from where he received it, I do not know, perhaps he fashioned it from Chaldean monuments—invented those ten kings who, having brought soldiers from that land beyond to the island of Atlantis, which he says was submerged in the sea, crossed over into this land and waged war against Europe and Asia. That this is a most manifest fabrication is clear: for since he could not point out the island that was submerged, he said it was submerged by God. ^D But those aforementioned Greeks, who secured praise and admiration for their wisdom, since they learned letters late and obtained laws only late, thought that they alone had poured forth wisdom—I mean Lycurgus and Solon and Teucer, the legislator of the Locrians, and all the rest.

who, if they are compared to Moses, appear to be as if of yesterday or recent ^A origin; since not even the very name of "law" was known long ago among the Greeks. Homer is my witness, who never once used the word in his poetry. For there was nothing of this kind at that time; rather, the masses were governed by excellent maxims and the commands of kings, from which they remained for a long time using unwritten customs, and frequently changing many of these according to the circumstances that arose. For the Lacedaemonians and Cretans used to educate by customs, not by words; the Athenians, however, and almost all the rest, used to command by law what ought to be done, but they greatly neglected to accustom them to actually performing these things through their deeds. But both they and these others, having gradually advanced toward stable and firm laws, did not do so from the beginning, as did the ancient Moses, who first instructed his own people in both the skill of letters and a stable law, manifesting the stability of the law and of letters through both word and deed, until in much time he led the nation toward the heralded Lord Christ and His doctrine, guided and protected by the stability of the law.

The Phoenicians, therefore, being neighbors ^B to the nation, and having learned letters from them, recorded inscriptions more ancient than those of the Greeks, and also taught the Greeks to learn letters. For Cadmus, having taken the letters from Tyre, brought them into Greece. Let them not, therefore, lift up their eyebrows as if they were the first to invent something new for life, since they borrowed from others the letters, the laws, the theory of the sphere, astronomy, and astrology. For, having appeared in the world very late, they imagined the world to be eternal, and having been taught by others to suppose the heaven is a sphere, as if they themselves were the first to think this, they set forth the rule of astronomy as if it were their own. Having been taught letters by others, they put themselves forward as the most ancient and primary writers. Having been taught to legislate by others, they depicted themselves as ancient legislators and rulers of justice; having received wealth of ^C tongue and beauty of speech from the Giver, God, they are ungrateful to the munificent God and disobedient to His ^D words; having received everything from God and from those before them, they despise everyone, and arrogantly claim everything as their own. For, fighting against the divine words that say: *Who established the heaven as a vault*, these self-styled "best of men" counter, claiming: "It is not so; for the heaven is spherical, and this is manifest from the eclipses brought forward by us." Furthermore, when they hear the resurrection of the dead preached among themselves, they declare that this cannot happen; for one who has been consumed by a thousand bodies in succession, how can he rise again? To speak briefly, they attempt, with the sophistries of the tongue, to overturn the dogmas of His Church, even though He did not leave Himself without witness, providing good things for them and showing foresight even four hundred years and more before the coming of Christ.

^A Under Alexander of Macedon, long after the Trojan War, when the Greeks were flourishing—or rather, when He showed them certain proofs of His own goodness—I speak of when Alexander the Macedonian was passing by Jerusalem to make war on Darius; meeting the High Priest of the Jews in the attire in which he was arrayed—in his priestly robes—he dismounted from his horse and embraced him kindly. When his own men rebuked him and asked why he had done so, he answered in his defense: "When I was setting out from Macedonia in the beginning, someone appeared to me in a dream in such attire, who said: 'Go forth, and you will be victorious.'" For this reason, he himself later offered sacrifices to God and brought many gifts to the temple and granted many favors to the land of the Jews.

Then Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, ^B having inquired curiously about the books of the Jews from Tryphon the Phalerian and having learned the truth of the matter, sought them out zealously by sending many gifts to the priest Eleazar and to the temple. He received those books together with the seventy elders, who translated them from the Hebrew tongue into the Greek tongue, and they were deposited in his library. This also was a work of divine providence, so that it might be prepared before the coming of Christ, and not be suspected by many as having been done later in the times of the apostles: lest they should be thought to have interpreted according to their own pleasure those things spoken of old by the prophets, both regarding Christ and the calling of the Gentiles. Ptolemy, on the other hand, surnamed Physcon, when he wished to destroy the Jews whom he had defeated, here at Alexandria, by means of elephants, and when God suddenly turned the fury of the elephants against his own army, he was taught to worship God, and thenceforth honored with honors, sacrifices, and offerings of votive gifts Him who is truly God, and His people, that is to say, the Jews. Other kings also from the Macedonian empire summoned the Jews into military service; others, however, set out to wage war against them, and indeed, having subjugated them for a long time, finally acknowledged a reversal from God; and having experienced His aid conferred upon them, they were defeated by them, even though they were few in number and easy to count.

So that it might not be for nothing, they were exercised beforehand ^D by wars, and miracles, and dreams, and books, so that, being instructed, they might approach the knowledge of the true God; that is to say, Him whom the Jews worship; and this in expectation of Christianity; so that at the time of the arrival of the Lord Christ, many nations of Greece, seeing the signs performed by the ministry of the apostles, came to the faith of Christ, confessing His resurrection and His ascension into the heavens. But now, much time having elapsed and the signs having ceased, they have fallen as it were into a forgetfulness of that same faith and have returned to their former superstition, asserting that it is impossible for there to be a resurrection of men from the dead, and an ascension into heaven. For this reason also, you may find them indeed having been baptized, but yet still supposing the heaven to be spherical, and from this, a resurrection of the body