Oration to the Greeks 5

God was in the beginning; and the beginning, we have been taught, is the power of the Word. For the Lord of all things, being himself the ground of the universe, was alone in the sense that creation had not yet come into being; but inasmuch as he was all power, and himself the ground of things visible and invisible, all things were with him. With him, by his rational power, the Word too, who was in him, subsisted. By the will of his simplicity the Word springs forth; and the Word, not proceeding into emptiness, becomes the firstborn work of the Father. Him we know to be the beginning of the world. He came into being by distribution, not by cutting off; for what is cut off is separated from its source, but what is distributed, taking on a share in the ordering of things, has not left the one from whom it was taken lacking. For just as from one torch many fires are lit, and the light of the first torch is not lessened by the lighting of the many, so too the Word, coming forth from the power of the Father, has not left the one who begot him without his Word. For I myself speak and you hear, and surely I who address you am not left empty of speech because my speech passes over to you; rather, by sending forth my voice I intend to set in order the disordered matter in you. And just as the Word, begotten in the beginning, begot in his turn the creation we live in, himself fashioning matter for himself, so I too, born again in imitation of the Word and having come to grasp the truth, am reshaping the confusion of the matter that is akin to me. For matter is not without beginning like God, nor, as if it were without beginning, is it equal in power to God; it was brought into being, and not by anyone else, but was produced by the Maker of all things alone.