An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. John of Damascus

De incomprehens., hom. 3, &c.

18 See Epiph., Hæres. 6, n. 4 and 5; Basil, Hex. 1; Chrysost., 2 Hom. in Gen.; Theodor., Quæst. 3in Gen.

19 Greg. Naz., Orat. 2.

      Chapter IV.—Concerning the devil and demons.

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He who from among these angelic powers was set over1 the earthly realm, and into whose hands God committed the guardianship of the earth, was not made wicked in nature but was good, and made for good ends, and received from his Creator no trace whatever of evil in himself. But he did not sustain the brightness and the honour which the Creator had bestowed2 on him, and of his free choice was changed from what was in harmony to what was at variance with his nature, and became roused against God Who created him, and determined to rise in rebellion against Him3: and he was the first to depart from good and become evil4. For evil is nothing else than absence of goodness, just as darkness also is absence of light. For goodness is the light of the mind, and, similarly, evil is the darkness of the mind. Light, therefore, being the work of the Creator and being made good (for God saw all that He made, and behold they were exceeding good5) produced darkness at His free-will. But along with him an innumerable host of angels subject to him were torn away and followed him and shared in his fall. Wherefore, being of the same nature6 as the angels, they became wicked, turning away at their own free choice from good to evil7.

Hence they have no power or strength against any one except what God in His dispensation hath conceded to them, as for instance, against Job8 and those swine that are mentioned in the Gospels9. But when God has made the concession they do prevail, and are changed and transformed into any form whatever in which they wish to appear.

      Of the future both the angels of God and the demons are alike ignorant: yet they make predictions. God reveals the future to the angels and commands them to prophesy, and so what they say comes to pass. But the demons also make predictions, sometimes because they see what is happening at a distance, and sometimes merely making guesses: hence much that they say is false and they should not be believed, even although they do often, in the way we have said, tell what is true. Besides they know the Scriptures.

All wickedness, then, and all impure passions are the work of their mind. But while the liberty to attack man has been granted to them, they have not the strength to over-master any one: for we have it in our power to receive or not to receive the attack10. Wherefore there has been prepared for the devil and his demons, and those who follow him, fire unquenchable and everlasting punishment11.

Note, further, that what in the case of man is death is a fall in the case of angels. For after the fall there is no possibility of repentance for them, just as after death there is for men no repentance12.

      Footnotes

1 πρωτοστάτης. Cf. Chrysost., Epist. ad Ephes., hom. 4, &c.

2 Text, ἐδωρήσατο. R. 1986, ἐχαρίσατο.

3 See Iren., bk. iv. c. 48, &c.

4 Greg. Nyss., Orat. Catech., cp. 6.

5 Gen. i. 31.

6 See Greg. Naz., Orat. 19, 38; Chrysost., In S. Babyl. Or. 2; Basil, in Jesaiam, ch. 1, &c.

7 Quæst. ad Antioch. 10.

8 Job i. 12.

9 St. Mark v. 13.

10 VideIambl., De Myst., ch. 11, sect. 4.

11 St. Matt. xxv. 41.

12 Nemes., De Nat. Hom., ch. 1.

      Chapter V.—Concerning the visible creation.

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Our God Himself, Whom we glorify as Three in One, created the heaven and the earth and all that they contain1, and brought all things out of nothing into being: some He made out of no pre-existing basis of matter, such as heaven, earth, air, fire, water: and the rest out of these elements that He had created, such as living creatures, plants, seeds. For these are made up of earth, and water, and air, and fire, at the bidding of the Creator.

      Footnotes

1 Ps. cxlvi. 6.

      Chapter VI.—Concerning the Heaven.

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      The heaven is the circumference of things created, both visible and invisible. For within its boundary are included and marked off both the mental faculties of the angels and all the world of sense. But the Deity alone is uncircumscribed, filling all things, and surrounding all things, and bounding all things, for He is above all things, and has created all things.

Since1, therefore, the Scripture speaks of heaven, and heaven of heaven2, and heavens of heavens3, and the blessed Paul says that he was snatched away to the third heaven4, we say that in the cosmogony of the universe we accept the creation of a heaven which the foreign philosophers, appropriating the views of Moses, call a starless sphere. But further, God called the firmament also heaven5,