基督教地誌 第 1 章 第 4/22 段

This Ptolemy, then, is also one of those who reigned in Alexandria, either Philometor, or the younger Euergetes, or the one before the last Cleopatra, who was called of Dionysus.

For these exceeded twenty-seven years in reigning, and they themselves are descendants of the first Ptolemies who reigned, just as is also recorded in the marble stele which we have cited.

For concerning the present kings nothing has been written in the prophet, just as the Lord himself also says that:

"The law and the prophets proclaimed beforehand until John."

For when Nebuchadnezzar was pondering whether his kingdom would have succession, and Daniel was pondering whether the Jewish customs would have succession, to both of them, in parallel, the same thing was revealed, namely that:

"At one and the same time, both the entire succession of your kingdom will cease, and at the same time also the Jewish customs and laws will be abolished, and a certain other, better order will be introduced, which will be eternal and unending, and which will also take its beginning"; for while the former kingdoms and the legal customs cease, it is manifested when its founder appears.

For concerning the kingdom of the Romans, it is not written plainly in the prophet;

it is of the succession of the Macedonians.

"The God of heaven will raise up a kingdom, which shall not be destroyed forever." Here indeed he speaks concerning the Lord Christ, but in a riddling way he also includes together the kingdom of the Romans, which arose together with the Lord Christ.

For while Christ was still being carried in the womb, the kingdom of the Romans received power from God, as being a handmaid of the dispensations of Christ;

for at that very time they were also named "eternal Augusti," and, as holding sway, they carried out a census over all the earth.

Indeed, the Evangelist notes that this was the first census that took place under Augustus Caesar, when also the Lord Christ was born, and deigned to be registered in the land and kingdom of the Romans, and to pay taxes.

The kingdom of the Romans therefore partakes of the dignities of the kingdom of the Lord Christ, surpassing all others as far as is possible in this life, remaining undefeated until the consummation.

"For it shall not be destroyed forever," it says. And in the case of the Lord Christ, "forever" signifies the unending, just as Gabriel also says to the Virgin:

"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." But in the case of the kingdom of the Romans, as having risen together with Christ, "it shall not be destroyed" refers to this present age.

For I boldly declare that, even if because of our sins, for a little discipline, hostile barbarians rise up against Romania, yet by the power of him who holds it together, the kingdom remains undefeated, so that the affairs of the Christians are not straitened, but rather enlarged.

For indeed, of all the kingdoms, it was also the first to believe in Christ, and this kingdom is a handmaid of the dispensations of Christ, and for these reasons the Master God of all keeps it undefeated until the consummation.

But the kingdom of the Persians is not from the Persians, nor from the succession of the former kingdoms, but has now arisen from another origin, that is, from the Magi.

For in the times of Christ, the kingdom of the Persians had been destroyed by Alexander the Macedonian, according to the prophecy, and the successors of the Macedonian rule held sway over the country until Antiochus.

Thereafter, from that time, the Parthians gradually took control of the region;

indeed, having attacked Hyrcanus, the ruler of the Jews, in Jerusalem, they took him captive a short time before the Lord Christ came.

For now this kingdom of the Magi arose, as I reckon, about four hundred years ago, and it holds second place after the Romans, because the Magi received certain honors at the time of the Lord Christ, on account of their homage and reverence toward him.

For in the land of the Romans, first, in the time of the apostles, the Christian preaching ran its course, and then immediately also in Persia, through Thaddaeus the apostle.

Indeed, it is also written in the Catholic Epistles:

"The church that is in Babylon greets you." But indeed, the kingdom of the Romans has many advantages in this respect, as being both the first and the first to believe in Christ, and as serving in every dispensation concerning Christ.

Another sign of the dominion of the Romans, which God has granted them, is this: I mean that all the nations trade with their coinage, and in every place, from one end of the earth to the other, it is accepted, being admired by every man and every kingdom—a thing which does not belong to any other kingdom.

Now let us return to the matter at hand.

The Text. For some of the ancient philosophers, having traveled over nearly the whole inhabited world and recorded its history, stated, in agreement with divine Scripture, their own views concerning the position of the earth and the revolution of the stars.

Let one of them come forward and speak as follows:

From Ephorus, from the fourth book of his History. For the Indians inhabit the region of the east wind and the area near the sunrise, while the Ethiopians occupy the region toward the south and midday; the Celts hold the region from the west wind and the sunset, while the Scythians inhabit the region toward the north and the Bears.

...of these regions, but that of the Scythians and the Ethiopians is greater, while that of the Indians and the Celts is smaller.

And the size of the territory of each pair is similar to one another.

For the Indians are situated between the summer and winter risings, while the Celts occupy the region from the summer to the winter settings.

And this distance is equal to that one, and is, in a certain way, most directly opposite to it.

The habitation of the Scythians occupies the region left vacant by the circuit of the sun, and lies opposite to the nation of the Ethiopians, which seems to extend from the winter risings to the shortest settings.

Note. This Ephorus is an ancient writer, a philosopher and historian.

Ephorus, both in his account and in his written record, describes accurately, just as divine Scripture does, the position of the earth and the revolution of the stars.

Pytheas of Massalia says in his work On the Ocean that, when he arrived in the northernmost regions, the barbarians there showed him the resting-place of the sun, since night was always occurring there among them.

But Xenophanes of Colophon, supposing the earth to be infinite, is clearly one who does not accept the sphere.

And these things, then, are found to have been said by those outside, in agreement with divine Scripture.

The Text. But we, following the sequence of our argument, again propose, saying that the four rivers, which divine Scripture says go out from paradise, cut across the Ocean and re-emerge in this land.

Pishon is in the land of India, which some call the Indus or the Ganges; descending from somewhere in the interior regions, it has many outlets into the Indian Sea.

And this river also has lotus-pods, and the so-called nile-agathia, and leaves, and small lotus-plants, and crocodiles, and other things which the Nile also has.

Gihon, passing through the regions of Ethiopia, traverses all of Ethiopia and Egypt, and sends forth its outlets into the gulf near us; while the Tigris and Euphrates, passing through the regions of Persarmenia, flow as far as the Persian Gulf.

And these things, then, we have said concerning these matters.

Note. Divine Scripture, wishing to indicate the diameter of paradise, how great it is and how extended in the land of the east, mentioned only these four rivers, since, from the spring that arises in Eden and waters paradise, the remaining water is divided into these four rivers;

and, passing through this land, they again water much land.

The Text. In this manner, then, as the luminaries run their course and make nights and days, seasons and times, and serve as signs for those sailing the seas or journeying through the desert, and shine upon the earth, we shall say that they are moved not by the revolution of the heaven, but rather by rational Powers, like certain torch-bearers, as we shall show divine Scripture to indicate.

For the divine Apostle, teaching concerning the Adversary what his work was from the beginning, says thus:

"According to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience"—thereby clearly teaching that he was formerly a ruler with authority to move the air and to change it, but that now, having been cast out, he no longer holds this dignity, but rather acts out of malice against sinners; from which it is evident that he alone was not able to do this, but many others also together with him.

For some of the angels were entrusted with moving the air, others the sun, others the moon, others the stars, others with producing clouds and rains, and many other things;

for this is the work and law of the angelic orders and Powers, to minister for the benefit and honor of the image of God, that is, of man, and to move all things, as obedient soldiers of the King.

For they were commanded to do this work on the fourth day, when he also adorned the heaven with the stars.

But the work of the opposing demons is to do the things that harm the image, as rebels;

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to minister for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?"—expressly saying that all are appointed for the service of men.

"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God."

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but on account of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God"—here he calls the angels "creation," and men "sons of God," and by "earnest expectation" he means the stretching out from the head, looking from afar, and hoping for something beneficial concerning men.

For when man had sinned and received the sentence of death, the angels were greatly grieved, reckoning the despair of the whole, since man was the bond of all creation and happened to be the image of God; and, reckoning from that sentence the despair both of themselves and of the whole, they were unwilling to go on ministering and serving in vain any longer on his behalf;

"but," it says, "on account of him who subjected it, in hope"—as if to say:

God did not allow their intention to come to pass, but gave them a certain hope, so that they would not despair, but would hope that in due time something beneficial would come to men.

Note. On the sixth day, the demon who hates the good, seeing man honored and deemed worthy of much care, out of envy tried to drag him down with himself.

But not knowing from what point to attack him, he observed that the irrational animals immediately ran to their food, whereas man, for the time being, was not moved toward appetite, but was looking around at the beauty of the plants and trees; and he reasoned that man had received some law from God.

So, coming near through the serpent, he tries to learn the law, and, contriving a plan, he says:

"Shall you not eat of every tree of the garden?" And the woman, being newly created and much slower than he in understanding, told him the law.

Then, as though already knowing, he began to slander God as envious, and to titillate man toward food, and to counsel them rather to obey him and to become, supposedly, like gods, imputing to them his own disease.

And so, having been persuaded, man is cast out of paradise at evening on that very day, just as he himself also, immediately after sinning, was cast down from heaven.

And man also received the sentence of death, having heard:

"You are earth, and to earth you shall go." This grieved the angels greatly;

for they were despondent also over those of their own number who had transgressed, but especially, and above all, on account of man, since in him the whole of creation was bound together, and he was the pledge of friendship of the whole world;

for, this bond being, as it were, dissolved, it was necessary that the whole should be dissolved.

They therefore lamented the dissolution both of themselves and of the whole, so that they could no longer bear to go on ministering in vain on his behalf.

But when the compassionate God, through his renewed care for man and the postponement of the punishment, made them full of good hope, they ministered eagerly, in hope.

In each generation, God, making the righteous glorious, renders them more eager, and lays down for them hopes of re-creation, recall, and renewal.

Indeed, at the birth of the Master Christ according to the flesh, the whole multitude of the invisible Powers, beholding him born — through whom comes the destruction of death and the beginning of re-creation and resurrection and their own freedom — hymning God the cause of all things, cried out:

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men" — casting off completely that ancient grief and dejection because of man, and rejoicing at the birth of the second Adam,

he hurled him down; and they, rejoicing with much joy, eagerly ministered, as it is written — as though no longer resting on some mere hope, but having beheld with their own eyes the victory of the second Adam, they came forward eagerly with joy and ministered to him.

But the multitude of the adversaries, conversely, now mourned and lamented, being ashamed at the victory of the second Adam.

Hence, their leader, not being able to cast him down, began to plot through the Jews; and indeed, having stirred up their multitude and having crucified and put him to death, he supposed he was rid of him.

Not long after, the resurrection having taken place — wondrous, glorious, paradoxical, and powerful — no longer receiving death nor any other suffering at all, but having obtained, together with incorruptibility and immortality, also the unchangeableness of the soul, and being carried up again into heaven, and being borne upon the cloud, and being lifted up as a victor in triumph, he entered within the firmament, being the first of all to inaugurate for us a new and living way.

And the angels, clothed in white, rejoiced together with mankind, bringing good news to the disciples and the women.

But the adversaries, beholding human nature having become superior both to themselves and to all creation — which they had once tripped up, but now, having been cast down by it, remained mute and utterly speechless — were completely shamed.

For this reason the Lord also cried out to the disciples:

"Be of good courage, I have overcome the world." And again:

"Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" — so that he might say:

Long ago, when man sinned, at the time when the serpent joined battle with him in paradise, it was said to him:

"He will watch for your heel, and you for his head" — as though to say:

He placed a hostile division between them, so that man would not be persuaded by him.

And the struggle then was equal, each being able to harm the other: for the serpent, watching for man's heel, as though it were his path, if it should find him off the path, was able to harm him, creeping about the heel; while man, having an upright form, taking heed to himself and not straying from the path, was able to crush the serpent's head.

"But now, I having conquered the serpent and utterly put him to shame, and having endured death unjustly on behalf of the whole race because of him, and having nailed to the cross and blotted out the handwriting, I rose on the third day, having the victory over death, and I have become for all human nature the procurer of victory, the victory having run through me to all mankind.

'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' No longer, he says, can he even harm your heel, being trampled underneath your feet.

Just as, then, on the sixth day Adam, having sinned by tasting of the tree around midday, was cast out in the evening, so also on the sixth day, at the sixth hour, the Master Christ, according to the flesh, endured the saving cross on his behalf.

And just as, from the transgression until the expulsion from paradise, all the angels were greatly despondent, hoping for nothing else than the dissolution of man and of themselves and of the whole, so also at the Passion, from the sixth hour until the ninth, all creation was clothed in black, being wrapped in darkness on account of the injustice that had occurred.

And just as at the ninth hour the two were cast out of paradise, both Adam and Eve, so also at the ninth hour the Master Christ, according to the soul, and the thief entered into paradise.

On that same day, then, on which Adam was formed — I mean, of course, the sixth — there occurred both the transgression and the grief of the angels and the sentence of death and the expulsion from paradise.

So too, at the Passion, on that same day, through the wood of the cross, there occurred the saving death and the mourning of creation, and in the evening, the laying aside of the mourning and the entrance into paradise.

"For truly I say to you," says the Savior to the thief, "today you are with me in paradise."

But let us return to the matter at hand.

Hence the angels did not cease from the ministry which they performed for the sake of men, who are corruptible and mortal:

For creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, as though to say:

They did not wish to labor and minister in vain;

"nevertheless," it says, "because of him who subjected it in hope."

In what hope? It is quite clear that, seeing after the transgression that God did not act according to the threat of the sentence, but showed loving-kindness and took care of man and prepared garments for him, they received kinder hopes concerning man, so as not to give up, but to minister on his behalf.

Furthermore, again it says that creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, as though to say:

The angels themselves also will be freed, and with them all creation, when men are freed from corruption and are glorified as immortal, becoming sons of God, at the consummation of the world — when the form of this world passes away, and the resurrection of the dead takes place, and the change of this present condition.

For since, according to the divine Scripture, the stars fall, and the course of time and night and day cease, and the angels who move these are set free, on account of men coming to be outside of corruption and having no need at all of these things — what would the new lawgivers say, those who think heaven to be spherical and say that it moves and moves the stars? Let them tell us, to what use will heaven then revolve, they who define themselves as Christians? But away with the vain-toilers and the unstable ones!

For the Apostle still cries out that:

"All creation groans together and travails together until now" — by this again indicating that all creation, but especially the angels themselves, is burdened in this present life, being enslaved to corruption and to change.

For being themselves also changeable, they always grow weary with change, reckoning and hoping for freedom, and desiring to attain it — which indeed they do attain, as has been said, when men rise from the dead.

For some of them would not have transgressed, if they had not received this law from God:

whence those who transgressed were cast down from the height to the earth.

"For I beheld," says the Lord, "Satan falling from heaven like lightning."

For if they too had not received a law as to what they must do and what they must not do, they would not have fallen under sin.

For without law it is impossible to transgress, as the Apostle says:

"Where there is no law, neither is there transgression." And:

"Apart from law, sin is dead" — so that in every way they too need to attain the freedom from the law and from change:

and the coming of our Master Jesus Christ has become the cause of this, and will still become its cause.

"For to sum up all things in Christ," says the divine Scripture, "both the things in heaven and the things on earth." And:

"If anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creation."

"The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." This hope, then, being set before Christians — that both angels and men and all creation are to be renewed into a better and blessed state — who is so malicious and opposed to God as to abandon this and to lean instead upon the new and deceitful vanity of those outside? For he will hear from the Judge on that day:

"Truly I say to you, I do not know you."

"Depart from me, all you workers of lawlessness." For indeed it is a great lawlessness to reject the sayings of God, and, in direct opposition to them, to bestow upon heaven a spherical shape.

For such people cannot look forward to the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us; nor do they wish to hear, together with the faithful, the Master Christ calling from on high:

"Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" — but instead, ever erring according to their own supposition, they are carried about with an unstable motion together with their own sphere, hoping for no cessation of these things.

On the first day, that is, the Lord's Day, the foundation of the world and the beginning of creation took place, God beginning from the evening to create the things that encompass the whole world, I mean heaven and earth, having together with them also created the darkness and the water and the air and the fire mingled in the earth, and the angels, bringing forth all these things at once.

For this reason, on that same day and in that same night, again the re-creation of the whole world took place.

For the whole world is circumscribed in man, because man is, as has often been said, the bond of the whole world.

Man having risen, then, on that very night of the Lord's Day, incorruptible and immortal and unchangeable, he guarantees to all creation, visible and invisible, that it will attain the same things.

For this reason the Apostle said:

"To sum up all things in Christ, both the things in the heavens and the things on the earth." And:

"If anyone is in Christ, a new creation is renewed."

"The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." He said "all things," because in man both the visible and the invisible are beheld.

He, then, who denies that Christ's humanity is perfect, this man is harmed, not understanding the great economy of God and the Christian doctrine:

likewise also he who denies that the divinity is perfect is guilty and is greatly harmed.

The Text. Since, then, the stars revolve by means of the invisible Powers, according to the divine Scripture, and run their course through the north and come to be below the height of the earth, it is possible, by such a configuration, for the eclipses to be brought about — those of the moon and of the sun.

For rationally and in good order and more swiftly than we, the angelic Powers, moving these configurations, accomplish this, having it as their unceasing task night and day.

For in the manner in which those outside say that they revolve beneath the earth, they speak thoughtlessly, as was shown before — not in accordance with the nature of things, but even opposing God.

We, following the divine Scripture, having in our mind inclined the revolution — that is, the course of the stars — slightly obliquely, say that they are accomplished by means of this configuration.

For these same eclipses necessarily follow, and we neither oppose God nor the nature of things.

For God must be believed above every notion and teaching of men.

Again, concerning the four elements, we say that God, having first established the earth — being dry — set it as the foundation of the whole, as being heavy;

again, the water, that is, the moist element, being fluid, he placed above the earth;

but since they are opposite in their qualities, he judged it right for them to be together, for the sake of good temperament.

Again, above these he arranged the air as cold, and again above that, fire, that is, the hot; both again as lighter [elements], yet again as opposites [to one another].

The two middle [elements] together, then — both water as moist and air as cold — having much kinship with one another, the one being of fluid nature, the other of loose nature, both being soft and readily receiving into themselves both each other's and the opposite [elements'] qualities, imparting these to one another and blending the whole — he deemed it right that these mediate between the other two, the dry and the hot, so that the whole might not be corrupted and reduced to ashes.

For because the two middle elements readily partake of one another's qualities, those outside [the truth] fell into error, and inversely called the air moist, and the water cold;

consequently, from this they also attribute two qualities to the one [element], and often even four.

But God ordained that the rains occur, according to what is useful, through the angelic Powers, who serve [him] and bring up [water] from the sea onto the clouds;

and, ministering to the divine command, they send it forth wherever the divine command should order.

For Scripture says through Amos the prophet:

He who calls upon the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth. Likewise also through Zechariah it says thus:

Ask for rain from the Lord in [its] season, the early and the late [rain], and he will give them winter rain, to each [man] herbage in the field. And in [the book of] Kingdoms, concerning Elijah, it says thus:

...seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh [time], and behold, a small cloud, like a man's footprint, bringing up water from the sea. But we do not say that the earth is shaken by wind — for we do not, as they do, posit myths — but we say, without over-curious inquiry, that this occurs by divine command.

For Scripture says through David:

He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble. And concerning the apostles it says in Acts:

And the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And Amos the prophet also himself says thus:

The Lord God the Almighty, who touches the earth and shakes it. And again another prophet, this one Haggai, says thus:

Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also heaven. And again Isaiah:

If you should open the heaven, trembling would seize the mountains before you. But concerning the antipodes, divine Scripture does not permit either speaking or hearing about these myths.

For he made, it says, from one [stock] every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth. It did not say 'upon the opposite face' of the earth, but 'upon the face.'

And it calls the dead who are buried in the earth 'those under the earth,' as in the [passage]:

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth — that is to say, of angels as heavenly [beings], of men as earthly, of those under the earth as those buried in the earth.

For he said this occurs at the resurrection, when all — both the angels in heaven, and the men on earth, and the dead buried in the earth — all rising, bow the knee in the name of Jesus the Son of God.