05 - Book II Chapters 7-9

Section 5 of The Orthodox Faith by John of Damascus. Translated by S. D. F. Salmon. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Book 2, Chapter 7. Concerning Light, Fire, the Luminaries, Sun, Moon, and Stars. Fire is one of the four elements, light, and with a great tendency to ascend to the others. It has the power of burning and also of giving light, and it was made by the Creator on the first day. For the divine scripture says, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Fire is not a different thing from what light is, as some maintain. Others again hold that this fire of the universe is above the air and call it ether. In the beginning then, that is to say, on the first day, God created light, the ornament and glory of the whole visible creation. For take away light, and all things remain in indistinguishable darkness, incapable of displaying their native beauty. And God called the light day, but the darkness he called night. Further, darkness is not any essence, but an accident, for it is simply absence of light. The air indeed has not light in its essence. It was then this very absence of light from the air that God called darkness. And it is not the essence of air that it is darkness, but the absence of light, which clearly is rather an accident than an essence. And indeed, it was not night, but day that was first named. So that day is first, and after that comes night. Night, therefore, follows day. And from the beginning of day till the next day is one complete period of day and night. For the scripture says, And the evening and the morning were one day. When, therefore, in the first three days the light was poured forth and reduced at the divine command, both day and night came to pass. But on the fourth day God created the great luminary, that is, the sun, to have rule and authority over the day. For it is by it that day is made. For it is day when the sun is above the earth, and the duration of a day is the course of the sun over the earth from its rising till its setting. And he also created the lesser luminaries, that is, the moon and the stars, to have rule and authority over the night, and to give light by night. For it is night when the sun is under the earth, and the duration of night is the course of the sun under the earth from its rising till its setting. The moon, then, and the stars were set to lighten the night, not that they are in the daytime under the earth, for even by day stars are in the heaven over the earth, but the sun conceals both the stars and the moon by the greater brilliance of its light, and prevents them from being seen. On these luminaries the Creator bestowed the first created light, not because he was in need of other light, but that that light might not remain idle, for a luminary is not merely light, but a vessel for containing light. There are, we are told, seven planets among these luminaries, and these move in a direction opposite to that of the heaven, hence the name planets. For while they say that the heaven moves from east to west, the planets move from west to east. But the heaven bears the seven planets along with it by its swifter motion. Now these are the names of the seven planets, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. And in each zone of heaven is, we are told, one of these seven planets. In the first and highest, Saturn. In the second, Jupiter. In the third, Mars. In the fourth, Sol. In the fifth, Venus. In the sixth, Mercury. In the seventh and lowest, Luna. The course which the Creator appointed for them to run is unceasing, and remains fixed as he established them. For the divine David says, The moon and the stars which you have established. And by the word established, he referred to the fixity and unchangeableness of the order and series granted to them by God. For he appointed them for seasons, and signs, and days, and years. It is through the sun that the four seasons are brought about, and the first of these is spring, for in it God created all things. And even down to the present time its presence is evidenced by the bursting of the flowers into bud. And this is the equinoctial period, since day and night each consist of twelve hours. It is caused by the sun rising in the middle, and is mild, and increases the blood, and is warm and moist, and holds a position midway between winter and summer, being warmer and drier than winter, but colder and moister than summer. This season lasts from March 21st till June 24th. Next, when the rising of the sun moves towards more northerly parts, the season of summer succeeds, which has its place midway between spring and autumn, combining the warmth of spring with the dryness of autumn, for it is dry and warm and increases the yellow bile. In it falls the longest day, which has fifteen hours, and the shortest night of all, having only nine hours. This season lasts from June 24th till September 25th. Then, when the sun again returns to the middle, autumn takes the place of summer. It has a medium amount of cold and heat, dryness and moisture, and holds a place midway between summer and winter, combining the dryness of summer with the cold of winter, for it is cold and dry, and increases the black bile. This season again is equinoctial, both day and night consisting of twelve hours, and it lasts from September 25th till December 25th. And when the rising of the sun sinks to its smallest and lowest point, that is, the south, winter is reached, with its cold and moisture. It occupies a place midway between autumn and spring, combining the cold of autumn and the moisture of spring. In it falls the shortest day, which has only nine hours, and the longest night, which has fifteen. And it lasts from December 25th till March 21st. For the Creator made this wise provision that we should not pass from the extreme of cold or heat or dryness or moisture to the opposite extreme, and thus incur grievous maladies. For reason itself teaches us the danger of sudden changes. So then it is the sun that makes the seasons, and through them the year. It likewise makes the days and nights, the days when it rises and is above the earth and the nights when it sets below the earth, and it bestows on the other luminaries, both moon and stars, their power of giving forth light. Further, they say that there are in the heaven twelve signs made by the stars, and that these move in an opposite direction to the sun and moon and the other five planets, and that the seven planets pass across these twelve signs. Further, the sun makes a complete month in each sign and traverses the twelve signs in the same number of months. These then are the names of the twelve signs and their respective months. The ram, which receives the sun on the 21st of March, the bull on the 23rd of April, the twins on the 24th of May, the crab on the 24th of June, the virgin on the 25th of July, the scales on the 25th of September, the scorpion on the 25th of October, the archer on the 25th of November, Capricorn on the 25th of December, Aquarius on the 25th of January, the fish on the 24th of February. But the moon traverses the twelve signs each month, since it occupies a lower position and travels through the signs at a quicker rate. For if you draw one circle within another, the inner one will be found to be the lesser, and so it is that owing to the moon occupying a lower position, its course is shorter and is sooner completed. Now the Greeks declare that all our affairs are controlled by the rising and setting and collision of these stars, namely the sun and moon, for it is with these matters that astrology has to do. But we hold that we get from them signs of rain and drought, cold and heat, moisture and dryness, and of the various winds, and so forth, but no sign whatever as to our actions. For we have been created with free wills by our Creator, and are masters over our own actions. Indeed, if all our actions depend on the courses of the stars, all we do is done of necessity, and necessity precludes either virtue or vice. But if we possess neither virtue nor vice, we do not deserve praise or punishment, and God too will turn out to be unjust, since he gives good things to some and afflicts others. Nay, he will no longer continue to guide or provide for his own creatures if all things are carried and swept along in the grip of necessity. And the faculty of reason will be superfluous to us, for if we are not masters of any of our actions, the liberation is quite superfluous. Reason indeed is granted to us solely that we might take counsel, and hence all reason implies freedom of will. And therefore we hold that the stars are not the causes of the things that occur, nor of the origin of things that come to pass, nor of the destruction of those things that perish. They are rather signs of showers and changes of air. But perhaps some one may say that though they are not the causes of wars, yet they are signs of them. And in truth, the quality of the air which is produced by sun and moon and stars produces in various ways different temperaments and habits and dispositions. But the habits are among the things that we have in our own hands, for it is reason that rules and directs and changes them. It often happens also that comets arise. These are signs of the death of kings, and they are not any of the stars that were made in the beginning, but are formed at the same time by divine command, and again dissolved. And so not even that star which the magi saw at the birth of the friend and savior of man, our Lord, who became flesh for our sake, is of the number of those that were made in the beginning. And this is evidently the case, because sometimes its course was from east to west, and sometimes from north to south. At one moment it was hidden, and at the next it was revealed, which is quite out of harmony with the order and nature of the stars. It must be understood, then, that the moon derives its light from the sun, not that God was unable to grant it light of its own, but in order that rhythm and order may be unimpressed upon nature, one part ruling the other part being ruled, and that we might thus be taught to live in community and to share our possessions with one another, and to be under subjection first to our Maker and Creator, our God and Master, and then also to the rulers set in authority over us by Him, and not to question why this man is ruler and not I myself, but to welcome all that comes from God in a gracious and reasonable spirit. The sun and the moon, moreover, suffer eclipse, and this demonstrates the folly of those who worship the creature in place of the Creator, and teaches us how changeable and alterable all things are, for all things are changeable save God, and whatever is changeable is liable to corruption in accordance with the laws of its own nature. Now the cause of the eclipse of the sun is that the body of the moon is interposed like a partition wall, and casts a shadow, and prevents the light from being shed down on us, and the extent of the eclipse is proportional to the size of the moon's body that is found to conceal the sun. But do not marvel that the moon's body is the smaller, for many declare that the sun is many times larger even than the earth, and the holy fathers say that it is equal to the earth, yet often a small cloud or even a small hill or a wall quite conceals it. The eclipse of the moon, on the other hand, is due to the shadow the earth casts on it when it is a fifteen days moon, and the sun and moon happen to be at the opposite poles of the highest circle, the sun being under the earth and the moon above the earth, for the earth casts a shadow, and the sun's light is prevented from illuminating the moon, and therefore it is then eclipsed. It should be understood that the moon was made full by the Creator, that is, a fifteen days moon, for it was fitting that it should be made complete. But on the fourth day, as we said, the sun was created, therefore the moon was eleven days in advance of the sun, because from the fourth to the fifteenth day there are eleven days. Hence it happens that in each year the twelve months of the moon contain eleven days fewer than the twelve months of the sun, for the twelve months of the sun contain three hundred and sixty five and a quarter days, and so, because the quarter becomes a whole, in four years an extra day is completed, which is called bissextal, and that year has three hundred and sixty-six days. The years of the moon, on the other hand, have three hundred and fifty-four days, for the moon waxes from the time of its origin or renewal, till it is fourteen and three quarter days old, and proceeds to wane till the twenty-ninth and a half day, when it is completely void of light, and then, when it is once more connected with the sun, it is reproduced and renewed, a memorial of our resurrection. Thus in each year the moon gives away eleven days to the sun, and so in three years the intercalary month of the Hebrews arises, and that year comes to consist of thirteen months owing to the addition of these eleven days. It is evident that both sun and moon and stars are compound and liable to corruption according to the laws of their various natures, but of their nature we are ignorant. Some indeed say that fire, when deprived of matter, is invisible, and thus that when it is quenched it vanishes altogether. Others again say that when it is quenched it is transformed into air. The circle of the zodiac has an oblique motion, and is divided into twelve sections called zodia, or signs. Each sign has three divisions of ten each, that is, thirty divisions, and each division has sixty very minute subdivisions. The heaven, therefore, has three hundred and sixty-five degrees, the hemisphere above the earth and that below the earth each having one hundred and eighty degrees. The abodes of the planets. The ram and the scorpion are the abode of Mars, the bull and the scales of Venus, the twins and the virgin of Mercury, the crab of the moon, the lion of the sun, the archer and the fish of Jupiter, Capricorn and Aquarius of Saturn. Their altitudes. The ram has the altitude of the sun, the bull of the moon, the crab of Jupiter, the virgin of Mars, the scales of Saturn, Capricorn of Mercury, the fish of Venus. The phases of the moon. It is in conjunction whenever it is in the same degree as the sun. It is born when it is fifteen degrees distant from the sun. It rises when it is crescent-shaped, and this occurs twice, at which times it is sixty degrees distant from the sun. It is half-full twice, when it is ninety degrees from the sun. Twice it is gibbous, when it is one hundred and twenty degrees from the sun. It is twice a full moon, giving full light, when it is a hundred and fifty degrees from the sun. It is a complete moon, when it is a hundred and eighty degrees distant from the sun. We say twice because these phases occur both when the moon waxes and when it wanes. In two and a half days the moon traverses each sign. Chapter VIII. CONCERNING AIR AND WINDS. Air is the most subtle element, and is moist and warm, heavier indeed than fire, but lighter than earth and water. It is the cause of respiration and voice. It is colorless, that is, it has no color by nature. It is clear and transparent, for it is capable of receiving light. It ministers to three of our senses, for it is by its aid that we see, hear, and smell. It has the power likewise of receiving heat and cold, dryness and moisture. And its movements in space are up, down, within, without, to the right and to the left, and the cyclical movement. It does not derive its light from itself, but is illuminated by sun and moon and stars and fire. And this is just what the scripture means when it says, And darkness was upon the deep. For its object is to show that air has not derived its light from itself, but that it is quite a different essence from light. And wind is a movement of air, or wind is a rush of air, which changes its name as it changes the place whence it rushes. Its place is in the air, for place is the circumference of a body. But what is it that surrounds bodies but air? There are, moreover, different places in which the movement of air originates, and from these the winds get their names. There are in all twelve winds. It is said that air is just fire after it has been extinguished, or the vapor of heated water. At all events, in its own special nature, the air is warm, but it becomes cold owing to the proximity of water and earth, so that the lower parts of it are cold and the higher warm. These then are the winds. Kykeus, or Messes, arises in the region where the sun rises in summer. Subsolanus, where the sun rises at the equinoxes. Eurus, where it rises in winter, Africus, where it sets in winter. Favonius, where it sets at the equinoxes, and Chorus, or Olympias, or Iapyx, where it sets in summer. Then come Auster and Aquilo, whose blasts oppose one another. Between Aquilo and Kykeus comes Boreas, and between Eurus and Auster, Phoenix, or Uranitas. Between Auster and Africus, Libonotus or Leuconotus. And lastly, between Aquilo and Chorus, Thrascius, or Chercheus, as it is called by the inhabitants of that region. These then are the races which dwell at the ends of the world. Beside Subsolanus are the Bactriani. Beside Eurus, the Indians. Beside Phoenix, the Red Sea and Ethiopia. Beside Libonotus, the Garamantes, who are beyond Sistis. Beside Africus, the Ethiopians and the Western Maori. Beside Favionus, the columns of Hercules and the beginnings of Libya and Europa. Beside Chorus, Iberia, which is now called Spain. Beside Thrascia, the Gauls and the neighboring nations. Beside Aquilo, the Scythians, who are beyond Thrace. Beside Boreas, Pontus, Myotis, and the Sarmatai. Beside Kykeus, the Caspian Sea and the Sakai. Water also is one of the four elements, the most beautiful of God's creations. It is both wet and cold, heavy and with a tendency to descend, and flows with great readiness. It is this the Holy Scripture has in view when it says, And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. For the deep is nothing else than a huge quantity of water whose limit man cannot comprehend. In the beginning, indeed, the water lay all over the surface of the earth. And first God created the firmament to divide the water above the firmament from the water below the firmament. For in the midst of the sea of waters the firmament was established at the Master's decree. And out of it God bade the firmament arise, and it arose. Now for what reason was it that God placed water above the firmament? It was because of the intense burning heat of the sun and ether. For immediately under the firmament is spread out the ether, and the sun and moon and stars are in the firmament. And so, if water had not been put above it, the firmament would have been consumed by the heat. Next, God bade the waters be gathered together into one mass. But when the Scripture speaks of one mass, it evidently does not mean that they were gathered together into one place. For immediately it goes on to say, And the gatherings of the waters he called seas. But the words signify that the waters were separated off in a body from the earth, in two distinct groups. Thus the waters were gathered together into their special collections, and the dry land was brought to view. And hence arose the two seas that surround Egypt, for it lies between two seas. These collections contain various seas and mountains and islands and promontories and harbors, and surround various bays and beaches and coastlands. For the word beach is used when the nature of the tract is sandy, while coastland signifies that it is rocky and deep close into shore, getting deep all on a sudden. In like manner arose also the sea that lies where the sun rises, the name of which is the Indian sea, also the northern sea called the Caspian. The lakes also were formed in the same manner. The ocean, then, is like a river encircling the whole earth, and I think it is concerning it that the divine Scripture says, a river went out of paradise. The water of the ocean is sweet and potable. It is it that furnishes the seas with water, which, because it stays a long time in the seas and stands unmoved, becomes bitter, for the sun and the waterspouts draw up always the finer parts. Thus it is that clouds are formed and showers take place, because the filtration makes the water sweet. This is parted into four first divisions, that is to say into four rivers. The name of the first is Phison, which is the Indian Ganges. The name of the second is Gion, which is the Nile flowing from Ethiopia down to Egypt. The name of the third is Tigris, and the name of the fourth is Euphrates. There are also very many other mighty rivers of which some empty themselves into the sea and others are used up in the earth. Thus the whole earth is bored through and mined, and has, so to speak, certain veins through which it sends up in springs the water it has received from the sea. The water of the spring thus depends for its character on the quality of the earth. The sea water is filtered and strained through the earth, and thus becomes sweet. But if the place from which the spring arises is bitter or briny, so also is the water that is sent up. Moreover, it often happens that water which has been closely pent up bursts through with violence, and thus it becomes warm, and this is why they send forth waters that are naturally warm. By the divine decree, hollow places are made in the earth, and so into these the waters are gathered, and this is how mountains are formed. God then bade the first water produce living breath, since it was to be by water and the Holy Spirit that moved upon the waters in the beginning that man was to be renewed. For this is what the divine Basilius said. Therefore it produced living creatures, small and big, whales and dragons, fish that swim in the waters, and feathered fowl. The birds form a link between water and earth and air, for they have their origin in the water. They live on the earth, and they fly in the air. Water, then, is the most beautiful element and rich in usefulness, and purifies from all filth, and not only from the filth of the body, but from that of the soul, if it should have received the grace of the Spirit. Concerning the seas. The Aegean Sea is received by the Hellespont, which ends at Abydos and Cestus. Next, the Popontus, which ends at Chalcedon and Byzantium. Here are the straits where the Pontus arises. Next, the lake of Myotos. Again, from the beginning of Europe and Libya, it is the Iberian Sea, which extends from the pillars of Hercules to the Pyrenees mountain. Then, the Ligurian Sea, as far as the borders of Etruria. Next, the Sardinian Sea, which is above Sardinia and inclines downward to Libya. Then, the Etrurian Sea, which begins at the extreme limits of Liguria and ends at Sicily. Then, the Libyan Sea. Then, the Cretan and Sicilian and Ionian and Adriatic Seas, the last of which is poured out of the Sicilian Sea, which is called the Corinthian Gulf, or the Alcyonian Sea. The Saronic Sea is surrounded by the Sunni and Scyllian Seas. Next is the Myrtoan Sea and the Icarian Sea, in which are also the Cyclades. Then, the Carpathian and Pamphylian and Egyptian Seas. And thereafter, above the Icarian Sea, the Aegean Sea pours itself out. There is also the coast of Europe, from the mouth of the Tanais River to the pillars of Hercules, 609,709 stadia. And that of Libya, from the Tigris, as far as the mouth of the Cannabis, 209,252 stadia. And lastly, that of Asia, from the Cannabis to the Tanais, which, including the Gulf, is 4,111 stadia. And so, the full extent of the seaboard of the world that we inhabit with the gulfs is 1,309,072 stadia. End of section 5