To Autolycus 2.22
Summary: It was the Word, God's Son, who walked in the garden: always within God's heart, “uttered” before creation as the firstborn of all creation, and sent by the Father to appear in a place.
Greek text · Otto 8:118–120
Ἐρεῖς οὖν μοι· Σὺ φῂς τὸν θεὸν ἐν τόπῳ μὴ δεῖν χωρεῖσθαι, καὶ πῶς νῦν λέγεις αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ περιπατεῖν; Ἄκουε ὅ φημι. Ὁ μὲν θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τῶν ὅλων ἀχώρητός ἐστιν καὶ ἐν τόπῳ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεως αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ λόγος αὐτοῦ, διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα πεποίηκεν, δύναμις ὢν καὶ σοφία αὐτοῦ, ἀναλαμβάνων τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ κυρίου τῶν ὅλων, οὗτος παρεγίνετο εἰς τὸν παράδεισον ἐν προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὡμίλει τῷ Ἀδάμ. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὴ ἡ θεία γραφὴ διδάσκει ἡμᾶς τὸν Ἀδὰμ λέγοντα τῆς φωνῆς ἀκηκοέναι. Φωνὴ δὲ τί ἄλλο ἐστὶν ἀλλʼ ἢ ὁ λόγος ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν καὶ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ; Οὐχ ὡς οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ μυθογράφοι λέγουσιν υἱοὺς θεῶν ἐκ συνουσίας γεννωμένους, ἀλλὰ ὡς ἀλήθεια διηγεῖται τὸν λόγον τὸν ὄντα διὰ παντὸς ἐνδιάθετον ἐν καρδίᾳ θεοῦ. Πρὸ γάρ τι γίνεσθαι τοῦτο εἶχεν σύμβουλον, ἑαυτοῦ νοῦν καὶ φρόνησιν ὄντα. Ὁπότε δὲ ἠθέλησεν ὁ θεὸς ποιῆσαι ὅσα ἐβουλεύσατο, τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐγέννησεν προφορικόν, πρωτότοκον πάσης κτίσεως, οὐ κενωθεὶς αὐτὸς τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλὰ λόγον γεννήσας καὶ τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ διὰ παντὸς ὁμιλῶν. Ὅθεν διδάσκουσιν ἡμᾶς αἱ ἅγιαι γραφαὶ καὶ πάντες οἱ πνευματοφόροι, ἐξ ὧν Ἰωάννης λέγει· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν· δεικνὺς ὅτι ἐν πρώτοις μόνος ἦν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ὁ λόγος. Ἔπειτα λέγει· Καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος· πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἔν. Θεὸς οὖν ὢν ὁ λόγος καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ πεφυκώς, ὁπόταν βούληται ὁ πατὴρ τῶν ὅλων πέμπει αὐτὸν εἴς τινα τόπον, ὃς παραγινόμενος καὶ ἀκούεται καὶ ὁρᾶται, πεμπόμενος ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τόπῳ εὑρίσκεται.
English · Claude translation
You will say to me, then: “You say that God must not be contained in a place; how can you now say that he walked in the garden?” Listen to what I say. The God and Father of all things cannot be contained, and he is not found in a place; for there is no place of his rest. But his Word, through whom he made all things, who is his Power and his Wisdom, taking on the role of the Father and Lord of all, came into the garden in the person of God and conversed with Adam. For the divine Scripture itself teaches us that Adam said he had heard the voice. And what else is the voice but the Word of God, who is also his Son? Not as the poets and mythographers speak of sons of gods born of intercourse, but as the truth describes him: the Word who was always innate in the heart of God. For before anything came into being, God had him as his counselor, since he was his own mind and understanding. But when God willed to make what he had planned, he begot this Word as uttered, the firstborn of all creation; not that he himself was emptied of the Word, but he begot the Word and is always in converse with his Word. So the holy Scriptures teach us, and all the Spirit-bearers, among whom John says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” showing that at first God was alone and the Word was in him. Then he says: “And the Word was God; all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” The Word, then, being God and born of God, is sent by the Father of all, whenever he wills, to some place; and when he comes he is both heard and seen, being sent by the Father, and he is found in a place.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Theophilus distinguishes the Word as “innate” (ἐνδιάθετος) in God and as “uttered” (προφορικός) for creation, terms borrowed from Stoic philosophy (inner reason and spoken word).
- This is one of the earliest explicit quotations of the Gospel of John by name; Theophilus calls John one of the “Spirit-bearers,” that is, inspired writers.
- “There is no place of his rest” follows the reading τόπος for the printed τόκος (as in 2.10), echoing Isa 66:1.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (article disagrees with πάντες: αἱ for οἱ; misprint: τόκος for τόπος (“place”), as in Isa 66:1, which the phrase echoes; stray raised point in the digital text; wrong accent: ἀληθεία (dative) for ἀλήθεια (subject); wrong breathing: ἧν for ἦν): οὐ γάρ ἐστιν τόκος τῆς καταπαύσεως → οὐ γάρ ἐστιν τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεως; παρεγίνετο εἰς τὸν· παράδεισον → παρεγίνετο εἰς τὸν παράδεισον; ἀλλὰ ὡς ἀληθεία διηγεῖται → ἀλλὰ ὡς ἀλήθεια διηγεῖται; καὶ πάντες αἱ πνευματοφόροι → καὶ πάντες οἱ πνευματοφόροι; ἐν πρώτοις μόνος ἧν ὁ θεὸς → ἐν πρώτοις μόνος ἦν ὁ θεὸς.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/22/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.22 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/22/).
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