Epitome of the Interpretation of Genesis by Leo the Patrician from Various Fathers.
Moyses does not introduce theology because of the infant state of their understanding, but says that creation came to be, lest they might hold it to be God. For this reason, he makes no mention of angels in the creation, lest they should deify them; and nowhere, even up to Abraham, will you find an angel mentioned as having been sent.
That some say angels existed before heaven and earth, while others say they were created with the heaven, since they are in a place, and in what sense one can demonstrate that they are without location, cannot be circumscribed, for they are created.
That he does not teach that God then made the waters; but he says that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and all that is in them.
That if God created light, he did not likewise create darkness: for they are opposites; but opposites do not exist in the same way, rather the one is a substance, the other is an accident; for it is a shadow of heaven and earth, just as darkness is, outside of them, the shadow of the earth.
That the Spirit which was borne over the waters is the physical air, whose mobile and luminous nature the words "was borne" and "above" clearly demonstrate. But as to what he calls the Spirit of God, listen to David: *Thy Spirit shall blow* [Ps. CXLVII, 18], that is, the Spirit of God, *and the waters shall flow* [ibid.]. And, *The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof* [Ps. XXIII, 1]; and, *The heaven of heaven belongs to the Lord* [Ps. CXIII, 16]. Some understand this as the Holy Spirit; but "was borne," [means] just as how a hen broods, so he was brooding over and vivifying the waters.
That for this reason it is said: *God saw that they were good*, so that no one might dare to blame what the divine judgment pronounced good.
That there are two heavens: one made in the beginning, the other formed from the waters; that is, one from non-existent things, the other from things already existing.
That the [text], *Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens* [Ps. CXLVIII, 4], does not introduce many heavens; but the Hebrew dialect is not accustomed to name heaven and water in the singular; just as the Greeks do not say *Athenae* or *Thebae* [in the singular]; and no one calls the city *Delphus*, but *Delphos*; and in another place he makes the heaven of heaven a confirmed truth. A
How does it happen that there is one gathering of waters, and yet many [places]? The one, because they are united; the other, because there are beds and seas that are separated. That God commanded the earth to sprout herbs that are not edible, and poisonous ones, both because of the infirmities that would arise from sin, and so that we might be fearful in every place and time, and might draw back, and seek God from this. That from the first light the sun took [its light], and the moon, and the stars, and if there is fire anywhere else, just as the water was distributed into the rivers, and the fountains, and the lakes, and the seas to the realms above the second heaven. That he made plants before the luminaries, showing that they possess a vivifying power before the sun. That he created the beasts after the light; for they would not have endured the sudden illumination of the light. That he did not bless the plants, because he immediately filled the earth with all of them; but the beasts and the cattle he brought forth in pairs: reasonably, therefore, he said, "Increase."
That regarding, *Let us make man according to our image* [Gen. I, 26]: we say it refers to the Son; of the Jews, some say [it refers] to the angels, others to his own self; others of the heretics said the syntax was Attic; for those entrusted with the greatest authorities say, "We write," and "We command." Those who defend the truth say that in most of Scripture God speaks in the singular person; but in this place, and in that [other]: *Come, and let us go down and confound their language* [Gen. XI, 7], he introduces a presentation of two persons, so that one ought to understand the Son and the Spirit. What is meant by "according to image"? Some [understand it as] the invisibility of the soul; others the mind, because of its power to pass through everything; others [understand it as] ruling over things below, as God [rules] over things above; others because of his ability to work and, as it were, to create like God; others because of possessing mind, reason, and spirit, like the God who created it. B C
FRAGMENT OF ATHANASIUS OF CORINTH. EXTRACTED FROM THE FOUR BOOKS OF ZOTUS THE JACOBITE.
(Luke XXIV, 43.) We inquire whether the consumption of food in Christ involved an evacuation [of nourishment]. If, therefore, you say that it did involve evacuation, you are Nestorians, positing Christ as a mere man. But if you say it did not involve evacuation, how is it to be understood that he could admit food, becoming full A, and yet not be evacuated?
— *Response.* — The Apostle, wishing to demonstrate the extreme union of divinity and humanity, says that He took on a man similar to us in all respects, sin apart. But he said this because of the extreme union; we, however, acknowledge that He existed as more than man. For the fact that He was born of a Virgin shows that He is God and more than man; and one ought, according to the rule of Holy Scripture, not to turn aside to the right or to the left, but to stand by what is written and search into nothing beyond it. Nevertheless, lest we appear to be silent for lack of a response, we shall say that, since the better part prevailed, His body was of a more divine nature: in the act of being filled, it was after our manner, but in the matter of evacuation, it was beyond us. B The blessed Trinity also demonstrates this—eating, as It did, in the presence of Abraham, receiving fullness, and yet not being evacuated. Similarly, after the resurrection, our Savior received food, while no evacuation occurred, but rather the nourishment was consumed by the indwelling divine nature. We understand these things according to the weakness of our own knowledge; He, however, who was incarnate, knows the proper modes of His own fullness and evacuation, just as He knows the mode of the ineffable union and composition of the two natures in one person. C