Book II.

Chapter I.—Concerning æon or age.

He created the ages Who Himself was before the ages, Whom the divine David thus addresses, From age to age Thou art235    τά τε τῆς θεολογίας, τά τε τῆς οἰκονομίας.    Ps. xc. 2.. The divine apostle also says, Through Whom He created the ages236    Dionys., De div. nom. c. 1; Greg. Naz., Orat. 34 and 37.    Hebr. i. 2..

It must then be understood that the word age has various meanings, for it denotes many things. The life of each man is called an age. Again, a period of a thousand years is called an age237    οὐσία, substance, being.    Arist., De Cœlo, bk. 1. text 100.. Again, the whole course of the present life is called an age: also the future life, the immortal life after the resurrection238    ὑποστάσεσι, hypostases, persons.    St. Matt. xii. 32; St. Luke vii. 34., is spoken of as an age. Again, the word age is used to denote, not time nor yet a part of time as measured by the movement and course of the sun, that is to say, composed of days and nights, but the sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with eternity239    μιᾷ δὲ συνθέτῳ ὑποστάσει.    Greg Naz., Orat. 35, 38, 42.. For age is to things eternal just what time is to things temporal.

Seven ages240    οὐσία, substance, being.    Basil, De Struct., hom. 2; Greg. Naz., Orat. 44. of this world are spoken of, that is, from the creation of the heaven and earth till the general consummation and resurrection of men. For there is a partial consummation, viz., the death of each man: but there is also a general and complete consummation, when the general resurrection of men will come to pass. And the eighth age is the age to come.

Before the world was formed, when there was as yet no sun dividing day from night, there was not an age such as could be measured241    Dionys., De div. nom., c. 2.    Greg. Naz., Orat. 44., but there was the sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with eternity. And in this sense there is but one age, and God is spoken of as αἰ& 240·νιος242    Ibid. c. 1.    αἰ& 240·νιος, ‘eternal,’ but also ‘secular,’ ‘aeonian,’ ‘age-long.’ and προαιώνιος, for the age or æon itself is His creation. For God, Who alone is without beginning, is Himself the Creator of all things, whether age or any other existing thing. And when I say God, it is evident that I mean the Father and His Only begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and His all-holy Spirit, our one God.

But we speak also of ages of ages, inasmuch as the seven ages of the present world include many ages in the sense of lives of men, and the one age embraces all the ages, and the present and the future are spoken of as age of age. Further, everlasting (i.e. αἰ& 240·νιος) life and everlasting punishment prove that the age or æon to come is unending243    Variant, καὶ ἀπέραντον δηλοῖ. In Regg. αἰ& 242·νος is absent.. For time will not be counted by days and nights even after the resurrection, but there will rather be one day with no evening, wherein the Sun of Justice will shine brightly on the just, but for the sinful there will be night profound and limitless. In what way then will the period of one thousand years be counted which, according to Origen244    See his Contr. Cels., iv. Cf. Justin Martyr. Apol. 1; Basil, Hex., hom. 3; Greg. Nyss., Orat. Catech. 26, &c., is required for the complete restoration? Of all the ages, therefore, the sole creator is God Who hath also created the universe and Who was before the ages.

Περὶ αἰῶνος

Αὐτὸς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐποίησεν, ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, πρὸς ὅν φησιν ὁ θεῖος Δαυίδ: «Ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ», καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος: «Δι' οὗ καὶ τοὺς αἰῶνας ἐποίησε».

Χρὴ τοίνυν γινώσκειν, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ὄνομα πολύσημόν ἐστι, πλεῖστα γὰρ σημαίνει: αἰὼν γὰρ λέγεται καὶ ἡ ἑκάστου τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωή. Λέγεται πάλιν αἰὼν καὶ ὁ τῶν χιλίων ἐτῶν χρόνος. Πάλιν λέγεται αἰὼν ὅλος ὁ παρὼν βίος, καὶ αἰὼν ὁ μέλλων ὁ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὁ ἀτελεύτητος. Λέγεται πάλιν αἰὼν οὐ χρόνος οὐδὲ χρόνου τι μέρος ἡλίου φορᾷ καὶ δρόμῳ μετρούμενον ἤγουν δι' ἡμερῶν καὶ νυκτῶν συνιστάμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸ συμπαρεκτεινόμενον τοῖς ἀιδίοις οἷόν τι χρονικὸν κίνημα καὶ διάστημα: ὅπερ γὰρ τοῖς ὑπὸ χρόνον ὁ χρόνος, τοῦτο τοῖς ἀιδίοις ἐστὶν αἰών.

Λέγονται μὲν οὖν ἑπτὰ αἰῶνες τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἤγουν ἀπὸ τῆς οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς κτίσεως μέχρι τῆς κοινῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων συντελείας τε καὶ ἀναστάσεως. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ συντέλεια μερικὴ ὁ ἑκάστου θάνατος: ἔστι δὲ καὶ κοινὴ καὶ παντελὴς συντέλεια, ὅτε μέλλει ἡ κοινὴ γίνεσθαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνάστασις. Ὄγδοος δὲ αἰὼν ὁ μέλλων.

Πρὸ δὲ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως, ὅτε οὐδὲ ἥλιος ἦν διαιρῶν ἡμέραν ἀπὸ νυκτός, οὐκ ἦν αἰὼν μετρητός, ἀλλὰ τὸ συμπαρεκτεινόμενον τοῖς ἀιδίοις οἷόν τι χρονικὸν κίνημα καὶ διάστημα: καὶ κατὰ μὲν τοῦτο εἷς αἰών ἐστι, καθὸ καὶ λέγεται ὁ θεὸς αἰώνιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ προαιώνιος. Καὶ αὐτὸν γὰρ τὸν αἰῶνα αὐτὸς ἐποίησε: μόνος γὰρ ἄναρχος ὢν ὁ θεὸς πάντων αὐτός ἐστι ποιητής, τῶν τε αἰώνων καὶ πάντων τῶν ὄντων. Θεὸν δὲ εἰπὼν δῆλον, ὅτι τὸν πατέρα λέγω καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ αὐτοῦ υἱόν, τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ πανάγιον, τὸν ἕνα θεὸν ἡμῶν.

Λέγονται δὲ αἰῶνες αἰώνων, καθότι καὶ οἱ τοῦ παρόντος κόσμου ἑπτὰ αἰῶνες πολλοὺς αἰῶνας ἤγουν ζωὰς ἀνθρώπων περιέχουσι καὶ ὁ αἰὼν ὁ εἷς πάντων τῶν αἰώνων ἐστὶ περιεκτικός. Καὶ αἰὼν αἰῶνος λέγεται ὁ νῦν καὶ ὁ μέλλων. Αἰώνιος δὲ ζωὴ καὶ αἰώνιος κόλασις τὸ ἀτελεύτητον τοῦ μέλλοντος δηλοῖ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἡμέραις καὶ νυξὶν ὁ χρόνος ἀριθμηθήσεται: ἔσται δὲ μᾶλλον μία ἡμέρα ἀνέσπερος τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῖς δικαίοις φαιδρῶς ἐπιλάμποντος, τοῖς δὲ ἁμαρτωλοῖς νὺξ βαθεῖα ἀπέραντος. Πῶς τοίνυν ὁ τῶν χιλίων ἐτῶν τῆς Ὠριγενιαστικῆς ἀποκαταστάσεως ἀριθμηθήσεται χρόνος; Πάντων οὖν τῶν αἰώνων εἷς ποιητής ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς ὁ καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα δημιουργήσας, ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων.