Chapter III.—Proof that there is a God.

That there is a God, then, is no matter of doubt to those who receive the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, I mean, and the New; nor indeed to most of the Greeks. For, as we said18    Supr.c. 1; cf. Greg. Naz., Orat. 34.    Greg. Naz., Orat. 38, 42; Dionys., De Eccl. Hier., ch. 4.    Gen. iii. 7; cf. Greg. Naz., Orat. 38 and 42; Greg. Nyss., Orat. Catech. c. 8., the knowledge of the existence of God is implanted in us by nature. But since the wickedness of the Evil One has prevailed so mightily against man’s nature as even to drive some into denying the existence of God, that most foolish and woe-fulest pit of destruction (whose folly David, revealer of the Divine meaning, exposed when he said19    Ps. xiv. 1 (E.V.).    Text, παρεῖδεν. Variant, περιεῖδεν., The fool said in his heart, There is no God), so the disciples of the Lord and His Apostles, made wise by the Holy Spirit and working wonders in His power and grace, took them captive in the net of miracles and drew them up out of the depths of ignorance20    The readings vary between ἀγνωσίας and ἀγνοίας.    Gen. vi. 13. to the light of the knowledge of God. In like manner also their successors in grace and worth, both pastors and teachers, having received the enlightening grace of the Spirit, were wont, alike by the power of miracles and the word of grace, to enlighten those walking in darkness and to bring back the wanderers into the way. But as for us who21    Greg. Naz., Orat. 34.    Ibid. xi. 7. are not recipients either of the gift of miracles or the gift of teaching (for indeed we have rendered ourselves unworthy of these by our passion for pleasure), come, let us in connection with this theme discuss a few of those things which have been delivered to us on this subject by the expounders of grace, calling on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All things, that exist, are either created or uncreated. If, then, things are created, it follows that they are also wholly mutable. For things, whose existence originated in change, must also be subject to change, whether it be that they perish or that they become other than they are by act of will22    Reading προαίρεσιν; a variant is τροπήν.    ἐπιστασία, care, or dominion.. But if things are uncreated they must in all consistency be also wholly immutable. For things which are opposed in the nature of their existence must also be opposed in the mode of their existence, that is to say, must have opposite properties: who, then, will refuse to grant that all existing things, not only such as come within the province of the senses, but even the very angels, are subject to change and transformation and movement of various kinds? For the things appertaining to the rational world, I mean angels and spirits and demons, are subject to changes of will, whether it is a progression or a retrogression in goodness, whether a struggle or a surrender; while the others suffer changes of generation and destruction, of increase and decrease, of quality and of movement in space. Things then that are mutable are also wholly created. But things that are created must be the work of some maker, and the maker cannot have been created. For if he had been created, he also must surely have been created by some one, and so on till we arrive at something uncreated. The Creator, then, being uncreated, is also wholly immutable. And what could this be other than Deity?

And even the very continuity of the creation, and its preservation and government, teach us that there does exist a Deity, who supports and maintains and preserves and ever provides for this universe. For how23    Athan., Cont. Gent.    Gen. xviii. 1 seqq. could opposite natures, such as fire and water, air and earth, have combined with each other so as to form one complete world, and continue to abide in indissoluble union, were there not some omnipotent power which bound them together and always is preserving them from dissolution?

What is it that gave order to things of heaven and things of earth, and all those things that move in the air and in the water, or rather to what was in existence before these, viz., to heaven and earth and air and the elements of fire and water? What24    Various reading, Who.    Ibid. xix. 1seqq. was it that mingled and distributed these? What was it that set these in motion and keeps them in their unceasing and unhindered course25    Greg. Naz., Orat. 34.    Wisd. ii. 24.? Was it not the Artificer of these things, and He Who hath implanted in everything the law whereby the universe is carried on and directed? Who then is the Artificer of these things? Is it not He Who created them and brought them into existence. For we shall not attribute such a power to the spontaneous26    The Greek is τῳ αὐτομάτῳ, to the automatic; perhaps = to the accidental, or, to chance.    Greg. Naz., Orat. 12 and 38.. For, supposing their coming into existence was due to the spontaneous; what of the power that put all in order27    Or, Whose was the disposing of them in order?    Text, πάλην. Variant, πλάσιν, cf. “plasmationem” (Faber).? And let us grant this, if you please. What of that which has preserved and kept them in harmony with the original laws of their existence28    Or, Whose are the preserving of them, and the keeping of them in accordance with the principles under which they were first placed?    Text, παρείδε. Variant, περιεῖδεν.? Clearly it is something quite distinct from the spontaneous29    παρα τὸ αὐτόματον; or, quite other than the spontaneous, or,than chance.    Greg. Nyss., Orat. Cathec., ch. 20 et seqq.. And what could this be other than Deity30    Athan., De Incarn. Verbi, near the beginning. Greg. Naz., Orat. 34.    St. John i. 18.?

Ἀπόδειξις, ὅτι ἔστι θεός

Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἔστι θεός, τοῖς μὲν τὰς ἁγίας γραφὰς δεχομένοις, τήν τε παλαιὰν καὶ καινὴν διαθήκην φημί, οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλεται, οὔτε δὲ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλείστοις: ὡς γὰρ ἔφημεν, ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ εἶναι θεὸν φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἐγκατέσπαρται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσεν ἡ τοῦ πονηροῦ κακία τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεως, ὥστε καί τινας εἰς τὸ ἀλογώτατον καὶ πάντων κακῶν κάκιστον καταγαγεῖν τῆς ἀπωλείας βάραθρον, τὸ λέγειν μὴ εἶναι θεόν, ὧν τὴν ἀφροσύνην ἐμφαίνων ὁ ἱεροφάντης ἔφη Δαυίδ: «Εἶπεν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ: Οὐκ ἔστιν θεός», οἱ μὲν τοῦ κυρίου μαθηταὶ καὶ ἀπόστολοι τῷ παναγίῳ σοφισθέντες πνεύματι καὶ τῇ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει καὶ χάριτι τὰς θεοσημίας ἐργαζόμενοι τῇ τῶν θαυμάτων σαγήνῃ πρὸς τὸ φῶς τῆς θεογνωσίας ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς ἀγνωσίας αὐτοὺς ζωγροῦντες ἀνῆγον. Ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ τούτων τῆς χάριτος καὶ τῆς ἀξίας διάδοχοι, ποιμένες τε καὶ διδάσκαλοι, τὴν φωτιστικὴν τοῦ πνεύματος χάριν δεξάμενοι τῇ τε τῶν θαυμάτων δυνάμει τῷ τε λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος τοὺς ἐσκοτισμένους ἐφώτιζον καὶ τοὺς πεπλανημένους ἐπέστρεφον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ μηδὲ τὸ τῶν θαυμάτων μηδὲ τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας δεξάμενοι χάρισμα, ἀναξίους γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς τῇ πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς προσπαθείᾳ πεποιήκαμεν, φέρε ὀλίγα τῶν παραδεδομένων ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ὑποφητῶν τῆς χάριτος περὶ τούτου διαλεξώμεθα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐπικαλεσάμενοι.

Πάντα τὰ ὄντα ἢ κτιστά ἐστιν ἢ ἄκτιστα. Εἰ μὲν οὖν κτιστά, πάντως καὶ τρεπτά: ὧν γὰρ τὸ εἶναι ἀπὸ τροπῆς ἤρξατο, ταῦτα τῇ τροπῇ ὑποκείσεται πάντως ἢ φθειρόμενα ἢ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἀλλοιούμενα. Εἰ δὲ ἄκτιστα, κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀκολουθίας λόγον πάντως καὶ ἄτρεπτα: ὧν γὰρ τὸ εἶναι ἐναντίον, τούτων καὶ ὁ τοῦ πῶς εἶναι λόγος ἐναντίος ἤγουν αἱ ἰδιότητες. Τίς οὖν οὐ συνθήσεται πάντα τὰ ὄντα, ὅσα ὑπὸ τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἀγγέλους τρέπεσθαι καὶ ἀλλοιοῦσθαι καὶ πολυτρόπως κινεῖσθαι καὶ μεταβάλλεσθαι; Τὰ μὲν νοητά, ἀγγέλους φημὶ καὶ ψυχὰς καὶ δαίμονας, κατὰ προαίρεσιν τήν τε ἐν τῷ καλῷ προκοπὴν καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ ἀποφοίτησιν, ἐπιτεινομένην τε καὶ ὑφιεμένην, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ κατά τε γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν αὔξησίν τε καὶ μείωσιν καὶ τὴν κατὰ ποιότητα μεταβολὴν καὶ τὴν τοπικὴν κίνησιν. Τρεπτὰ τοίνυν ὄντα πάντως καὶ κτιστά. Κτιστὰ δὲ ὄντα πάντως ὑπό τινος ἐδημιουργήθησαν. Δεῖ δὲ τὸν δημιουργὸν ἄκτιστον εἶναι: εἰ γὰρ κἀκεῖνος ἐκτίσθη, πάντως ὑπό τινος ἐκτίσθη, ἕως ἂν ἔλθωμεν εἴς τι ἄκτιστον. Ἄκτιστος οὖν ὢν ὁ δημιουργὸς πάντως καὶ ἄτρεπτός ἐστι. Τοῦτο δὲ τί ἂν ἄλλο εἴη ἢ θεός;

Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ τῆς κτίσεως συνοχὴ καὶ συντήρησις καὶ κυβέρνησις διδάσκει ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἔστι θεὸς ὁ τόδε τὸ πᾶν συστησάμενος καὶ συνέχων καὶ συντηρῶν καὶ ἀεὶ προνοούμενος: πῶς γὰρ ἂν αἱ ἐναντίαι φύσεις, πυρὸς λέγω καὶ ὕδατος, ἀέρος καὶ γῆς, εἰς ἑνὸς κόσμου συμπλήρωσιν ἀλλήλοις συνεληλύθασι καὶ ἀδιάλυτοι μένουσιν, εἰ μή τις παντοδύναμος δύναμις ταῦτα καὶ συνεβίβασε καὶ ἀεὶ τηρεῖ ἀδιάλυτα;

Τί τὸ τάξαν τὰ οὐράνια καὶ ἐπίγεια, ὅσα τε δι' ἀέρος καὶ ὅσα καθ' ὕδατος, μᾶλλον δὲ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα καὶ φύσιν πυρός τε καὶ ὕδατος; Τίς ταῦτα ἔμιξε καὶ ἐμέρισε; Τί τὸ ταῦτα κινῆσαν καὶ ἄγον τὴν ἄληκτον φορὰν καὶ ἀκώλυτον; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων καὶ λόγον ἐνθεὶς πᾶσι, καθ' ὃν τὸ πᾶν φέρεταί τε καὶ διεξάγεται; Τίς δὲ ὁ τεχνίτης τούτων; Ἆρ' οὐχ ὁ πεποιηκὼς ταῦτα καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγών; Οὐ γὰρ τῷ αὐτομάτῳ δώσομεν τοιαύτην δύναμιν. Ἔστω γὰρ τὸ γενέσθαι τοῦ αὐτομάτου: τίνος τὸ τάξαι; Καὶ τοῦτο, εἰ δοκεῖ, δῶμεν: τίνος τὸ τηρῆσαι καὶ φυλάξαι καθ' οὓς πρῶτον ὑπέστη λόγους; Ἑτέρου δηλαδὴ παρὰ τὸ αὐτόματον. Τοῦτο δὲ τί ἄλλο ἐστὶν εἰ μὴ θεός;