Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography (1897) pp. 331-357. Book 10
BOOK X.
Passages from the Fathers.
ERTAIN of those [Christians] who delight in wrangling, on reading this book and finding it no easy matter to face such a weight of testimony as we have adduced in this treatise from the divine scriptures, thus addressed us: "You and the Fathers on whom you rely interpret divine scripture in a peculiar way to make it correspond with your own opinions, for nothing is conveyed by it about figures and types such as you assert. But the Fathers on whom we rely, who could not but have known accurately the true scope of divine scripture, have in their expositions transmitted to us nothing such as you say, since scripture tells us: God hath set in the Church, first Apostles, secondly Prophets, thirdly Teachers. To the Apostles indeed and to the Prophets you seem to have attached yourself in your interpretation, but as for the Teachers who are the exponents of the true scope of divine scripture, you hold aloof from them entirely, and travel a strange road, known to none but to yourself and your friends." On this account, therefore, we are constrained to make manifest once more to all their love of contention, and to this end we have placed together in this book the testimonies of |332 the Fathers, even those whom they themselves adduce either in pretence or in sincerity, in order that they may be refuted by their own authorities, and be convinced how admirably our treatise is confirmed by the testimonies of all the Apostles and Prophets and Teachers. And first let step forward the great Athanasius who proclaims the same views as ourselves.
From the Festal Epistles of Athanasius.
[316-319] Observe, pray, how this great Teacher is constantly in agreement with ourselves and our doctrine, in the view he takes of the whole figure of the world, calling the kingdom of heaven a great and supramundane hall, sufficient for the whole creation, and proclaiming that the Lord Christ as our forerunner is therein, and that we shall enter into it along with him at his second coming; And the saying: Enter into the joy of thy Lord he refers to that very hall, that is, to the heaven of heavens which is the kingdom of heaven----and he says that this has been prepared for men by God from the foundation of the world, and that the Tabernacle erected by Moses is a type of the heavens. Can the lovers of contention show how this great Teacher does not agree with us, or how we have been going a strange road different from that of the Church? But away with the vain labour of these men! We will add to Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus with whose praises |333 they make the world ring, and who yet proclaims the same views as the previous authority and ourselves.
Extract from the discourse on the Passover by Gregory of Nazianzus.
"But let us sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise upon the altar on high along with the choir above; let us go through the first veil, let us draw near to the second, let us glance into the Holy of Holies." How then is it not manifest that we have not gone a strange road different from that of the Church? Let the men of strife therefore be ashamed of themselves when they see the harmony of the Church, and let them not be intolerant of us, for it is hard for them to kick against the pricks. But let us introduce a third after him, one who was his contemporary, even Theophilus Bishop of the Church at Alexandria, who also bears testimony to our opinions, yea rather, to the truth.
From the first Festal Epistle of Theophilus of Alexandria.
"In order that, being engaged in higher than earthly [320]doings in the sublime mansion of virtue, we may, like the disciples, eat the Passover in the upper chamber, having with us Christ, who was sacrificed for us, while we eat Him all, as our life."
From the same Festal Epistle of the same.
"In order that, having again drawn back the veil of the word, we may with unveiled face behold the festival of the |334 divine Passover, appealing thus to Jesus: Where wilt thou that we prepare to eat the Passover with thee? On receiving his reply that this feast was to be celebrated in an upper chamber, a chamber, that is, of second things, the disciples with alacrity of heart betook themselves with all speed to enter the Holy of Holies, into which Christ Himself hath entered for us, and hath done away with any further need of the typical High Priest, having obtained eternal redemption for us, and on our behalf presenting Himself before the face of God. Formerly indeed the High Priest alone once a year entered into the Holy of Holies, the people remaining without by reason of the littleness of their power. But the Saviour having entered in, has given full liberty of access to all who wish."
Observe how this authority is also in harmony with us in calling the upper chamber a house, into which the Lord Christ as forerunner hath entered for us (of whom the High Priest in the Tabernacle of Moses was a type) to present Himself before the face of God, and hath given full liberty to all who wish, to enter into the Holy of Holies, that is, into the kingdom of heaven. Let those who are on the side of the schismatics reply to the following questions. How have we gone a strange road different from that of the Church? How is it that they do not regard the words of their own Fathers? but falsely traduce them as if they were heretics. But passing from this Father, let us turn to the fourth who was his contemporary and fellow mystic, Severianus, namely, the Bishop of Gabala, who can be taken as a witness to confirm all that is written in my work. |335
From the first book of the Hexaemeron ( Six days of the Creation ) of Severianus, Bishop of Gabala.
"For on the first day He made the matter out of which things were created; but on the other days He gave their form and arrangement to the things created. For example, He made the heaven which was before non-existent----not this visible heaven, but the one above it, for the visible was made on the second day. God made the higher heaven---- the heaven of heavens to the Lord , and it is higher than this visible heaven, and, as in a house of two stories, between it and the "earth another heaven is interposed. God having thus created the world as one house, placed this visible heaven as a roof in the middle, and the waters above it. Wherefore, David says: Who covereth his upper chambers with waters. God then made the heaven when it was not, the earth when it was not, the abysses when they were not, and wind, air, fire, water; of all the things that came into existence He made their matter on the first day. But some one will say that it is recorded that He made the heaven and the earth, while nothing is recorded of waters and fire and air. In the first place then, brethren, when He said that the heaven and the earth were made, He indicated by the things which contain, the things that are contained. Then after the interposition of a few passages, hear Him next relate when the air was made: And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Here He does not speak of the Holy Spirit, for the uncreated is not numbered along with what is created, but it is the motion of the air which He calls spirit. God said, Let there be light, and the nature of fire came into being. And again proceeding He says: But our souls He |336 fenced round with the body, while He made the angels bodiless. So then, what we see to be the case with respect to human souls and to angels, the same is the case with respect to fire, for the fire above subsists without matter, but the fire below with matter, for the fire above is akin to the fire below, just as our souls are also akin to the angels. How so? because the former are spirit and the latter too are spirit. And again: All of them were then brought into existence, fire, abyss, winds, the four elements, earth, fire, water, air; for whatever Moses omitted he comprehended in that marvellous summary where he says: For in six days God made the heaven and the earth and all the things that therein are. And just as in the case of the body he did not speak of all its members, so in the case of the creation he did not enumerate all its parts, although all things were created simultaneously with the world. But if there was not fire in the world, it could not at the present day be struck from rock and from wood; for the friction of wood against wood generates fire, but if Nature did not hold it, from what source does she, produce it?"
From the same, from the second book.
"On the second day God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. He made this heaven, not the one above, but the visible heaven which he crystallised from the waters like ice. But I shall endeavour to place the matter before your eyes, for many things are better explained by ocular [322] than by oral demonstration. This water, let us suppose, overflowed the earth five cubits. Then God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and |337 thereupon a solid ice-like substance was produced in the midst of the waters, which made lighter the upper half of the water, and left the other half underneath, as it is written: Let there be a firmament ( stere/wma ) in the midst of the water, and let it make a division between the waters. But wherefore does he call it the firmament? It is, because God made it firm and solid ( e0stere/wse ) from waters which are of rarer and less compact substance. Wherefore David also says: Praise him in the firmament of his power; and, to take another example, we may adduce smoke, which when emitted from burning wood is rarified and attenuated, but when it mounts up high into the air becomes transformed into the density of a cloud. In this wise, when God had made the waters, which are by nature rarified, ascend on high, He there made them solid. And that this example is to the point, and true, Isaiah testifies where he says: The heaven was made firm and solid as smoke. The heaven having therefore become solid in the midst of the waters made the upper half of them light, but the other half He left underneath. Why then and for what purpose were the waters placed above? Was it that we might drink them or that we might sail on them? For that there are waters above, David testifies, saying: And the water which is above the heavens. Observe then the wisdom of the Creator; the heaven was crystalline, having been consolidated from the waters; but since it was to receive the flame of the sun and of the moon and the countless hosts of the stars, and was entirely filled with fire, then in order that it might not be dissolved, nor burned with the heat, He spread over the upper surfaces of heaven those sea-like expanses of water, with a view to soften, and as it were to anoint the upper |338 surface and thus render it capable of resisting the scorching heat of the flames. An example of this is ready at hand: if, for instance, you to-day put a pot on the fire, with water therein, the pot withstands the fire, but if you do not supply water the pot will crack or melt. Accordingly, against fire He opposed heat as its counteractive, in order that the upper surface of heaven being, as it were, anointed with the waters, might be well enough able to maintain its existence. And observe what is here marvellous; in the body of heaven which is assailed by so much fire, the moisture is so superabundant that it lends a constant supply to the earth. For whence cometh the dew of the cloud? from nowhere? The air holds no water; so it is clear that the heaven drops it from its superabundance. Wherefore also the Patriarch Isaac when blessing Jacob said: " God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth" ----And later on he thus continues: "Observe, I pray you, that the waters above the heaven render another service, for not only do they preserve the heaven, but they also send down the flame of the sun and the moon, since, if the whole heaven were transparent, the rays would mount upwards; for, as it is the nature of [323] fire to ascend, it would leave the earth destitute of light. On this account, therefore, He compressed the heaven above with a boundless expanse of waters, in order that the rays, being confined, might be sent downwards. Behold then the wisdom of the Architect. And thou hast even in thyself the image of the Architect. So attend particularly, I pray you, to what I shall now say: Suppose this head to be the heaven above, and what is above the tongue to be the other heaven, namely, the firmament, whence also [the palate] is called the little heaven, or roof of the |339 mouth; now, above, in the invisible parts is the brain not manifest to sight, while in the lower heaven is the the tongue, a thing manifest to sight, just as the upper heaven is classed with things discerned by the intellect, but the world, with the things we ordinarily talk about."
From the same discourse.
"For on the third day the fruits were produced, and in order again that it might not be supposed that they were produced by the influence of the sun, it was not until their creation was finished, that He made the sun and the moon and the stars. But whence did He make them? For it has been said that on the first day He made all things of nothing, but on the other days, out of things existing. Whence then the Sun? Why, out of the light created on the first day which the Architect modified at His pleasure and transformed into objects of varied aspects, creating, in the first place, the substance of the light, and then producing the luminaries, just as if one should bring forward a mass of gold, and should then coin it into pieces of money, and by so doing make it a thing of beauty. For just as He divided the abyss, which was then one mass of water, into the water on high, into seas, into rivers, into fountains, into lakes, into wells, so also did the Architect divide the light, which was a single uniform mass, and distribute it into the sun, into the moon and into the stars." And subsequently we read: "He made therefore the heaven, not a sphere, as those vain babblers conceive----for He did not make a rolling sphere, but, as the prophet says: Who hath made the heaven as a vaulted chamber and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in; for none of us is so impious as to be persuaded by these triflers, and not by the words of the Prophet, which declare that the heaven has a beginning and an end. For this |340 reason therefore the sun is not said by them to ascend but to go out, for the scripture saith: The sun goeth out upon the earth, not goeth up; and again he says: From the end of heaven is his going forth, and at the end of heaven is his goal, Not a going up then----but if it is circular, it has not an end----for where are we to find an end of what is perfectly round? Does then David only say this, or does the Saviour also say so? Hear then this which is spoken by the Lord: When the Son of Man cometh he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather [324] together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. But, we ask again, where does the sun set, and where does he pursue his course by night? as we have said. Well, according to the pagans, under the earth, but according to us who speak of it as a tent, consider, I pray you, whether what we assert be false, or has the seal of the truth to attest it. Now, with my expression the place too [where we are met] coincides; for such things are better explained by a reference to what is seen than by words addressed to the ear. Suppose a dome to be placed over the church with its east towards sunrise, its north in this direction, its south here, and its west there. Suppose next the sun rising and then going down----going down not under the earth, but pursuing his course through the northern parts, and hidden from view as by a wall, the waters not permitting his path to be seen----pursuing his course, I say, through the northern parts, and reaching again the quarter in which he rises. But whence is it made clear that this is so? By the blessed Solomon then, when in the book of Ecclesiastes, a book attested [to be inspired], and not rejected [from the canon] he says: The sun ariseth, and the |341 sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place; arising there he gocth to the south, and wheeling in his circuits, wheels towards the north; the wind goeth and turneth about in its circuits. Behold then the sun running his course in the south, and wheeling round to the north, and be instructed." And further on he says: "All things, therefore, obey the law of God. The heaven stands, not as upheld by its own power but firmly compacted by the divine word. For should I be at a loss to understand how the heaven was consolidated out of the waters, the blessed David resolves the difficulty when he says: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made solid; because made from the waters----for in no passage elsewhere is the [heaven] said to be solid; it is one thing to be made solid, and another to be solid. The expression being made solid is used when that which is rarified and attenuated becomes consolidated."
From the same ---- -from the sixth discourse.
"So then that tree had not a power in itself to produce a knowledge which would result in death, but it got its name from the dire calamity that befell Adam in connection with it. I shall briefly explain the matter; for divine scripture presents no difficulty. To-day we have the saving food of which the faithful partake. That tree then has a natural salutariness. If, through the glory invoked, you have a pledge from things that are present, why do you doubt about those that arc past? There the food was death-giving, here it is life-giving. If this saves by its natural properties, and not by grace----then that also killed by its natural properties, and not by the purpose he put before him; if this food saves by its natural properties and |342 not by grace, that also kills by its natural properties and not by the breaking of the commandment."
[325] From the same ---- -from the fourth discourse.
"For the angels having been created beings were not co-workers with God, but His ministers who praised Him in song, and expressed their gratitude for being brought into existence, being aware that, as they had no previous existence, they had been created by the Spirit of goodness. So they stood as spectators merely, beholding the things made along with them, and after them; for they beheld the heaven made of nothing, and were struck with astonishment; they beheld the sea parted off, and were lost in wonder; they saw the earth in her beautiful apparel, and were thrilled with delight. But that the angels were not co-workers, but admiring spectators, God says in Job: When I made the stars, all the angels praised me and celebrated me in song; " subsequently he says: "He beheld Adam sinning, but He foresaw his posterity acting righteously; He saw him being cast out from Paradise, but He foresaw that a kingdom had been prepared for him. And what is wonderful is this, that even before Paradise the kingdom had been made. Why then do you wonder at his having been cast out of Paradise, when the real wonder is that before Paradise existed, the kingdom of the heavens had been prepared for him?----as saith the Saviour: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!
From the same ---- -from the third discourse.
"It now remains to be examined why God made the moon at her full. Pray attend closely, for the subject to be considered is deep, as she required to be made on |343 the fourth day in order to present a fourth day's appearance. And again, if she appeared four days old, she could not have occupied the extremity of the west. She was found therefore having an advantage of eleven days----for on the fourth day she appeared full, as she would have appeared on the fifteenth day. By eleven days then the moon is in advance of the sun, not by the act of her creation, but by her shining. Wherefore what advantage she then gained, she paid back to the sun, for as the number of days in the lunar month is twenty-nine and a-half she makes in twelve months a year of three hundred and fifty-four days. For if you reckon twenty-nine and a-half days for each month there are in the year three hundred and fifty-four days, in order that the moon may pay back annually to the sun the days which she then gained. Let any one who can count make the calculation."