22. I wish to give also a certain illustration of what I am saying, but I know that it is feeble; for of things visible what can be an exact illustration of the Divine Power? But nevertheless as feeble be it spoken by the feeble to the feeble. For just as any king, whose son was a king, if he wished to form a city, might suggest to his son, his partner in the kingdom, the form of the city, and he having received the pattern, brings the design to completion; so, when the Father wished to form all things, the Son created all things at the Father's bidding, that the act of bidding might secure to the Father His absolute authority , and yet the Son in turn might have authority over His own workmanship, and neither the Father be separated from the lordship over His own works, nor the Son rule over things created by others, but by Himself. For, as I have said, Angels did not create the world, but the Only-begotten Son, begotten, as I have said, before all ages, By Whom All Things Were Made, nothing having been excepted from His creation. And let this suffice to have been spoken by us so far, by the grace of Christ.
23. But let us now recur to our profession of the Faith, and so for the present finish our discourse. Christ made all things, whether thou speak of Angels, or Archangels, of Dominions, or Thrones. Not that the Father wanted strength to create the works Himself, but because He willed that the Son should reign over His own workmanship, God Himself giving Him the design of the things to be made. For honouring His own Father the Only-begotten saith, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise . And again, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work , there being no opposition in those who work. For all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine , saith the Lord in the Gospels . And this we may certainly know from the Old and New Testaments. For He who said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness , was certainly speaking to some one present. But clearest of all are the Psalmist's words, He spake and they were made; He commanded, and they were created , as if the Father commanded and spake, and the Son made all things at the Father's bidding. And this Job said mystically, Which alone spread out the heaven, and walketh upon the sea as on firm ground ; signifying to those who understand that He who when present here walked upon the sea is also He who aforetime made the heavens. And again the Lord saith, Or didst Thou take earth, and fashion clay into a living being ? then afterwards, Are the gates of death opened to Thee through fear, and did the door-keepers of hell shudder at sight of Thee ? thus signifying that He who through loving-kindness descended into hell, also in the beginning made man out of clay.
24. Christ then is the Only-begotten Son of God, and Maker of the world. For He was in the world, and the world was made by Him; and He came unto His own , as the Gospel teaches us . And not only of the things which are seen, but also of the things which are not seen, is Christ the Maker at the Father's bidding. For in Him , according to the Apostle, were all things created that are in the heavens, and that are upon the earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things have been created by Him and for Him; and He is before all, and in Him all things consist . Even if thou speak of the worlds, of these also Jesus Christ is the Maker by the Father's bidding. For in these last days God spake unto us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds . To whom be the glory, honour, might, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.
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