Apokatastasis, Anakephalaiosis
and Diastema in Gregory of Nyssa
by Brother Casimir McCambley, OCSO
The following references contain a number of key passages with the Greek word
apokatastasis as used by Gregory of Nyssa which means the reestablishment of creation to its
original integrity. The second term, anakephalaiosis, means "recapitulation" and is akin to
apokatastasis; I have also included eight references of this term. First, it may be helpful to note
two scriptural references in order to situate apokatastasis within its general patristic context:
Mt 17.11-12: He [Christ] replied, "Elijah does come, and he is to restore (apokatastesei) all
things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him but did to him
whatever they pleased So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands."
Acts 3.20-1: and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive
until the time for establishing (apokatastaseos) all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy
prophets from of old.
These two New Testament usages of apokatastasis are related to the person of Jesus
Christ and rest upon Old Testament passages related to the prophet Elijah. It is interesting to
note that Elijah (2Kg 9-12) along with Enoch (Gen 5.24) are the only two persons worthy of
being taken up into heaven. Several passages from Gregory's writings are worth noting in this
respect:
At one time the Israelites mourned Elijah whom God snatched away from the earth [2Kg 2.1-11], but Elisha's fine sheepskin serves as a consolation for the fact that he has departed. Now the
wound is beyond care because Elijah was assumed and Elisha was not. Meletius, J.452.
Therefore, an invisible power destroyed the Egyptian through the miracles in the sea, and this
power is named "cavalry" by the text. We assume this cavalry was the angelic host of which the
prophet says "You mounted your horses, and your cavalry is salvation" [Hab 3.8]. David also
mentions a chariot of God saying "The chariots of God are ten thousand fold" [Ps 67.17] saying
"The chariots of God are ten thousand fold" [Ps 67.17] to which are yoked the ten thousands of
the upright. Further, the power which took up Elijah and removed him from the earth to the
ethereal region is named a horse by Scripture [2 Kg 2.11]. The text calls the prophet the chariot
of Israel and its horseman. Song Commentary, J.74-5.
Certain stars of the divine eloquence are bright twinklings and radiances of the soul's eyes. As the
prophet says, they are as high as the heavens above the earth [Ps 102.11]. If this is the case with
regard to our soul, Elijah's example shows us how our mind is taken up in a fiery chariot [2 Kgs
2.11] and raised on high to that heavenly beauty. (We understand this fire chariot as the Holy
Spirit which the Lord had come to cast upon the earth; in the likeness of tongues, it was divided
among the disciples). We will not despair from drawing near to the stars, I mean from considering
divine things which illumine our souls by heavenly, spiritual utterances. Song Commentary,
J.294.
Do we dare to proceed further by speaking of the exalted Elijah and to show that our teacher
[Basil] resembles him? But [Elijah] was whisked away in a fiery chariot, conduced by fiery
horses and transported to the transcendent realm above [cf. 2Kg 2.11]. Let no one demand that
human nature (it cannot remain unharmed in the midst of fire; divine power transports it above to
that weightless realm from what is both heavy and earthly) can shut out by its own words
heavenly support and close it again by its authority when it appears the right thing to do. For a
considerable period of time he went without food except rye baked in ashes and conserved his
strength for forty days [cf. 1Kg 19.6-8]. Basil, J.122.
Since neither the man [Christ] did not share our human nature nor did the incorporeal God
assume flesh, let [Apollinarius'] disciples and followers of his error now state their position with
regard to God's incarnation: "But the Greeks and Jews will assent to our opinion if we say that a
divinized man was born of a woman as in the case of Elijah." And who among the Greeks will
admit to the truth of Elijah's miracles [2Kg 2.11]? Fire manifested itself in two forms: chariot
and horses descended from heaven, a movement contrary to their nature. Elijah was lifted up
into the flaming chariot and saved from being burned by this fire while he was assumed along with
the horses and chariot. If anyone accepts this as he should, he will imply a figure of the mystery,
that is, a prophecy of the Lord's incarnation prefigured in this narrative. As fire tends upwards
and the divine power downward, Elijah, who was infused by heavenly fire, partakes of its natural
movement and is raised up on high. Thus the immaterial and incorporeal essence, the power of
the Most High, assumed a servant's form through the Virgin and raised it up to his own sublimity,
having transformed it into a divine, immortal form. Anyone finding this difficult to accept could
not believe in Elijah's miracles, and the person who had earlier learned that the truth had
overshadowed [Elijah] would stubbornly refuse to accept this truth. Against Apollinarius,
J.169-70.
The fundamental notion permeating the five passages is one of earthly elements being
transported to an existence completely contrary to their nature as the following outline shows
which distills the meaning of each excerpt:
-snatched away from the earth.
-removed him from the earth.
-our mind is taken up in a fiery chariot and raised on high to that heavenly beauty.
-divine power transports it [the soul] above to that weightless realm from what is both heavy and
earthly.
-fire manifests itself in two forms: chariot and horses descended from heaven, a movement
contrary to their nature.
* * * *
References to Apokatastasis
Commentary on Ecclesiastes: When one sheep strayed from the heavenly way of life, evil drew
our nature to an arid, uncultivated place; no longer does this number [one] pertain to the sheep
which have not strayed, but refers to the ninety-nine sheep. Vanity does not belong to the flock
which is why "deficiency cannot be numbered." Therefore, Christ comes to seek and save the last
sheep. He places it upon his shoulders, thereby restoring (apokatastasis) [the sheep] lost in the
vanity of insubstantial things in order make whole the number of God's creation by saving the lost
along with those who have not been destroyed.
Ecclesiastes 296.18: The soul existed right from the beginning; it had been purified in the past
and will appear in the future. God, who fashioned the human body, will show the resurrection at
the proper time, for that which comes after the resurrection was indeed fashioned first. The
resurrection is nothing other than the restoration (apokatastasis) of all things to their original
state.
On Virginity 416.12 (S.C.#119, p.417): If such then is the meaning of this discovering of the
looked for object, the restoration (apokatastasis; cf. Presence..., p.58) in its primitive stage of the
divine image actually hidden by the flesh's squalor, we become that which the first man had in his
first life. What was it then? He was naked, deprived of all covering of the tunics of skin and
looked upon God's face with freedom.
Life of Moses 154.17 (Malherbe & Ferguson, p.73): Perhaps someone, taking his departure from
the fact that after three days of distress in darkness the Egyptians did not share in the light, might
be led to perceive the final restoration (apokatastasis) which is expected to take place later in the
kingdom of heaven of those who have suffered condemnation in Gehenna.
Pulcheria 472.9: Therefore, evil which is rooted in us does not endure forever; by a providential
foresight times dissolves the vessel in a better type of death in order to renew humanity from this
implanted evil and that evil not be mingled at life's restoration (to apokataste bio) as was the case
at the beginning [cf. Acts 3.21].
Ascension 327.3: No longer do we have the following response, "He who is strong and mighty in
battle," but "the Lord of hosts who has obtained rule over all, has recapitulated everything in
himself, holds primacy in everything [cf. Col 1.18] and restores (apokatastesas) creation to its
pristine state: "he is the king of glory."
Fate 35.9: For example, we obtain a different result from what has either come together
(apokatastasis) or has been separated as in a triangle with uneven sides or any other geometrical
shape. This person claims that fate interprets such matters because its unalterable nature is
responsible for the union existing among stars.
Concerning Those Who Have Died 51.17: This example [an ear of corn's growth] applies to us
since [human] nature achieves its own goal without difficulty. The illustration of the seed should
instruct you with regard to that which is always present, beneficial and necessary because we are
not that agent which has brought us to birth. The Creator did not form us to remain in the womb.
Also the last stage of life does not take into consideration the succeeding stages where forms
continuously succeed each other and at their proper time. Neither is it aware of death which is
dissolved with the body; instead all the stages through which we pass form an integral whole. The
final goal of our journey is restoration (apokatastasis) to our original stage or likeness to God.
On the Lord's Prayer 274.20: Thus the creation of man would effect in each of the elements a
participation in the things belonging to the other; for the spiritual nature of the soul, which seems
to be decidedly akin to the heavenly powers, dwells in earthly bodies, and in the restoration
(apokatastasis) of all, this earthly flesh will be translated into the heavenly places together with the
soul.
On the Lord's Prayer 1165B-C: Through the formation of man both of these elements (earthly
and heavenly) may receive a participation of the things pertaining to the other; insofar as the
intellectual nature of the soul which seems to be akin and belonging to the celestial powers, is
dwelling in terrestrial bodies, and in the restoration of all things (apokatastasis) this earthly flesh
will be transferred to the heavenly place.
Beatitudes 162.1: For in the Psalms the prophet signifies the day of the Resurrection through the
mystery of the number eight; the purification indicates man's return from defilement to his natural
purity; the circumcision means the casting off of the dead skins which we put on when we had
been stripped of the supernatural life after the transgression; and here the eighth Beatitude
contains the re-instatement (apokatastasis) in heaven of those who had fallen into servitude and
who are now from their slavery recalled to the Kingdom.
Inscriptions of the Psalms 52: The fifth section [of the psalter] then leads us to the loftiest peak
and degree of contemplation if we are capable to reach such a height and to fly with strong wings
beyond the weavings of this life's webs...Thus the sublime prophet raises himself and advances to
the summits of this fifth ascent where he finds the fulfillment and restoration (apokatastasis) of
human salvation.
Inscriptions 155: If a troublesome, insubstantial root briefly sprouts up, it will pass away and
disappear in the restoration (apokatastasiss) of all things to the good.
Against Eunomius 23.24 (p.35): He (Basil) alone took so much to heart the man's (Eunomius)
desperate condition as to compose as an antidote of deadly poisons his refutation of this heresy
which aimed at saving its author and restoring (apokatastesai) him to the Church.
Against Eunomius 247.19 (p.257): ...the conjunctions of planets, the courses of those that
pass below, the eclipses of those that are above, the obumbrations of the earth, the reappearance
(apokatastaseis) of eclipsed bodies, the moon's multiform changes.
Against Eunomius 21.19 (p.141): ...that I (Eunomius putting words into Christ's mouth) may
declare to you the things that happen day by day for your salvation and may put you in mind by
recounting the things from everlasting which you have forgotten (for it is no new gospel that I
now proclaim, but I labor at your restoration (apokatastasis) to your first estate),--for this I was
created.
On the Making of Man 224C: ...and they (heretics) rehearse many such trivialities unworthy of
God's great power and authority for the overthrow of the doctrine, arguing as though God were
not able to restore (apokatastesai) to man his own by return through the same ways.
On the Soul and the Resurrection 69C: But what, I asked, if your opponent should shield
himself behind the Apostle where he says that every reasoning creature in the restitution
(apokatastasis) of all things is to look towards him who presides over the whole? In that passage
in the Epistle to the Philippians [2.10] he makes mention of certain things that are "under the
earth," "every knee shall bow " to him "of things in heaven and things in earth and things under
the earth."
On the Soul and the Resurrection 156C: Further, it seems to me that the words of the
Apostle [1Cor 15.42] in every respect harmonize with our own conception of what the
resurrection is. They indicate the very same thing that we have embodied in our own definition of
it wherein we said that the resurrection is no other thing than "the reconstitution (apokatastasis)
of our nature in its original form."
On the Soul and the Resurrection 148A: Well, to sketch the outline of so vast a truth and to
embrace it in a definition, we will say that the resurrection is "the reconstitution (apokatastasis) of
our nature in its original form." But in that form of life of which God himself was the Creator, it
is reasonable to believe that there was neither age nor infancy nor any of the sufferings arising
from our present various infirmities, nor any kind of bodily affliction whatever.
Canonical Epistle to Letonius 45.232C: If a worthy conversion comes about, the number of
years are not reckoned but the suddenness which leads one to restoration (apokatastasis) in the
Church and participation in the good.
* * *
References to Anakephalaiosis
Song Commentary 197: 17: Therefore, all who have put on the divine armor surround the king's
bed and are one Israel. Because the twelve tribes are the most valiant, the full number of these
valiant men comes (anakephalaioumenou) to the sum of sixty. There is one battle-line, one army,
one bed, that is, one Church and one people who will become one bride united in harmony in the
fellowship of one body under one commander, one leader and one bridegroom.
Song Commentary 366.10: Let us recapitulate (anakephalaiosamemoi) the sense of the text.
The soul which looks to God and conceives that desire for incorruptible beauty always has a new
desire for the transcendent, and it is never dulled by satiety.
Song Commentary 419.20: The bride now proceeds to sum up (anakephalaioumene) her
spouses's beauty by saying, "His form is as Lebanon, choice as the cedars. His throat is sweet,
and altogether desirable. This is my kinsman and this is my beloved, Oh daughters of Jerusalem"
[Sg 5.15-16]. I think that she points out her spouse here more clearly because the beauty she
praises is visible. This visibility follows the apostle's consideration of the Church as a body with
its respective limbs [1Cor 12.12].
Inscriptions of the Psalms 52.21: If any bird resembling an eagle looks directly at the light's rays
by not turning away the eye of its soul and has fallen in among these spider webs while stretching
forward on high, the air alone from the rushing motion of the bird's flight scatters everything by
the power of its wings. Thus the sublime prophet raises himself and advances (M.468) to the
summits of this fifth ascent [of the psalter] where he finds the fulfillment and restoration
(anakephalaiosis) of human salvation.
Inscriptions of the Psalms 62.8: The text which now follows sums up (anakephalaioutai) Psalm
One-Hundred and Six, and in many ways it both recounts the passions and brings before our eyes
God's deeds. The few words which condense this psalm read, "They became few and were
brought low by the tribulation of evils and pain."
On Perfection 209.20: Why should we speak further about those terms signifying Christ's name
and which enable us to lead a life according to virtue since each one serves to perfect our life?
But I say our recollection of these names is intended to help us achieve (anakephalaiosasthai) the
goal we have sought to establish from the outset, namely, how a person might bring about
perfection in himself.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 441.3: "I know that there is nothing better for them [men] than to
be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live" (3.12). These words [of Ecclesiastes] sum
(anakephalaioutai) up everything we have already said. If the right use of God's deeds in time
defines the good of human life, it is the one joy born from good works which endures among
other beautiful things. For the observance of the commandments now gladdens our good works
through hope. Then the enjoyment of good things enlivens those persons worthy to receive their
eternal hope. As the Lord says to those who have done good, "Come, blessed, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you" (Mt 25.34). As food and drink sustain the body, so the soul must
look to the good, a true gift of God on which we have fixed our eyes."
Ascension 327.3: cf. same reference above under the apokatastasis listing, 327.3..
* * * *
References to Diastema
The word diastema may be briefly summed up at "interval, distance" but implies much more than
this literal translation or the distance separating two events. Gregory uses it in two fundamental
ways, negatively as applied to God and positively to creation.
* * * *
Against Eunomius
Then he [Eunomius] must tell us on what grounds he has measured out more length of life
(diastema) to the Father, while no distinctions of time whatever have been previously conceived
of in the personality of the Son. J.78.2 (52).
Every measure (diastema) of distance that we could discover is beneath the divine nature: so no
ground is left for those who attempt to divide this pretemporal and incomprehensible being by
distinctions of superior & inferior. J.79.5 (52).
Again; only in the case of the creation is it true to speak of "priority." The sequence of works
was there displayed in other order of the days; and the heavens may be said to have preceded by
so much the making of man, and that interval (diastema) may be measured by the interval
(diastema) of days. But in the divine nature, which transcends all idea of time and surpasses all
reach of thought, to talk of a "prior" and a "latter" in the honors of time is a privilege only of this
new-fangled philosophy. J.128.13(67)
When he pronounces that the life of the Father is prior to that of the Son, he places a certain
interval (diastema) between the two; now, he must mean, either that this interval is infinite, or that
it is included within fixed limits. J.129.15 (67).
When we say that man was made the fifth day after the heavens, we tacitly imply that before those
same days the heavens did not exist either; a subsequent event goes to define, by means of the
interval (diastema) which precedes it, the occurrence also of a previous event. J.129.27 (67).
Our adversaries conceive of the existences of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as involving elder and
younger, respectively. Well then, if at the bidding of this heresy, we journey up beyond the
generation of the Son, and approach that intervening duration (diastema) which the mere fancy of
these dogmatists supposes between the Father and the Son, and then reach that other and supreme
point of time by which they close that duration (diastema), then we find the life of the Father fixed
as it were upon an apex; and thence we must necessarily conclude that before it the Father is not
to be believed to have existed always. J.130.17 & 30 (68).
So, if there is, as our adversaries say, an excess of some kind in the Father's life as compared with
the Son's, it must needs consist in some definite interval of duration: and they will allow that this
interval (diastema) of excess cannot be in the future, for that Both are imperishable, even the foes
of the truth will grant. No; they conceive of this difference as in the past, and instead of
equalizing the life of the Father and the Son there, they extend the conception of the Father by an
interval (diastema) of living. But every interval (diastema) must be founded by two ends: and so
for this interval (diastema) which they have devised we must grasp the two points by which the
ends are denoted. The one portion takes its beginning, in their view, from the Son's generation;
and the other portion must end in some other point, from which the interval (diastema) starts, and
by which it limits itself...It admits not of a doubt, then, that they will not be able to find at all the
other portion, corresponding to the first portion of their fancied interval (diastema), except they
were to suppose some beginning of their Ungenerate, whence the middle, that connects with the
generation of the Son, may be conceived of as starting...Let it suffice on the ground of causation
only to conceive of the Father as before the Son; and let not the Father's life be thought of as a
separate and peculiar one before the generation of the Son, lest we should have to admit the idea
inevitably associated with this of an interval (diastema) before the appearance of the Son which
measure the life of him who begot him, and then the necessary consequence of this, that a
beginning of the Father's life also must be supposed by virtue of which their fancied interval
(diastema) may be stayed in its upward advance so as to set a limit and a beginning to this
previous life of the Father as well: let it suffice for us when we confess the "coming from him," to
admit also, bold as it may seem, the "living along with him;" for we are led by the written oracles
to such a belief. J.131.8, 13, 14, 20, 25; 132 3, 5, 20, 23 (68).
One therefore of two things must follow. Either the Creation is everlasting; or, it must be boldly
admitted, the Son is later in time (than the Father). The conception of an interval (diastema) in
time will lead to monstrous conclusions, even when measured from the Creation up to the
Creator. 133.15 (68).
If he could point to anything above Creation which as its origin marked by any interval (diastema)
of time, and it were acknowledged possible by all to think of any time-interval (diastema) as
existing before Creation, he might have occasion for endeavoring to destroy by such attracts that
everlastingness of the Son which we have proved above. J.133.21,23 (69).
But seeing that by all the suffrages of the faithful it is agreed that, of all things that are, and that
the divine nature is to be believed uncreate (although within it, as our faith teaches, there is a
cause, and there is a subsistence produced, but without separation, from the cause), while the
creation is to be viewed in an extension (diastema) of distances,--all order and sequence of time in
events can be perceived only in the ages (of this creation)...But the world above creation, being
removed from all conception of distance (diastema), eludes all sequence of time: it has no
commencement of that sort: it has no end in which to cease its advance, according to any
discoverable method of order. J.134.3, 10, 14 (69).
It is clear, even with a moderate insight into the nature of things, that there is nothing by which
we can measure the divine and blessed Life. It is not in time, but time flows from it; whereas the
creation, starting from a manifest beginning, journeys onward to its proper end through spaces of
time...But the supreme and blessed life has no time-extension (diastema) accompanying its course,
and therefore no span (diastema) nor measure. J.135.4, 9 (69).
Well, then, if in this uncreate existence those wondrous realities, with their wondrous names of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are to be in our thoughts, how can we imagine, of that pretemporal
world, that which our busy, restless minds perceive in things here below by comparing one of
them with another and giving it precedence by an interval (diastema) of time? J.138.3 (79).
...as the Only-begotten Light, and having shone forth in that very Light, being divisible neither by
duration (diastema) nor by an alien nature from the Father or from the Only-begotten. 138.14
(70).
There are no intervals (diastema) in that pretemporal world; and difference on the score of being
there is none. J.138.16 (70).
...and that, if any interval (diastema) were to be imagined dividing the two [Son's birth and
Father's ungeneracy], that same interval would fix a beginning for the life of the Almighty. 139.4
(70).
Then again, we see yet another such Light after the same fashion, sundered by no interval
(diastema) of time from that offspring Light, and while shining forth by means of It yet tracing the
source of its being to the Primal Light. J.180.28 (85).
You cannot take one of these [Fatherhood and Ungeneracy plus other divine attributes] and
separate it in thought from the rest by any interval (diastema) of time, as if it preceded or followed
something else; no sublime or adorable attribute in Him can be discovered, which is not
simultaneously expressed in His everlastingness. J.196.12 (90).
I for my part cannot see what there is to think of in connection with the Father, by himself, that is
parted by any interval (diastema) so as to precede our apprehension of the Son. J.197.21 (90).
When there is no intermediate matter, or idea, or interval (diastema) of time, to separate the being
of the Son from the Father, no symbol can be thought of, either, by which the Only-begotten can
be unlinked from the Father's life and shown to proceed from some special source of his own.
J.210.7 (94).
Those who draw a circular figure in plane geometry from a center to the distance (diastema) of
the line of circumference tell us there is no definite beginning to their figure; and that the line is
interrupted by no ascertained end (diastema) any more than by any visible commencement.
J.218.1, 4 (97).
On the other hand, because the existence of the Son is not marked by any intervals (diastema) of
time, and the infinitude of his life flows back before the ages and onward beyond them in an all-pervading tide, he is properly addressed with the title of Eternal. J.224.13 (100).
The latter is confined within its own boundaries according to the pleasure of its Maker. The
former is bounded only by infinity. The latter stretches itself out within certain degrees of
extension (diastema), limited by time and space; the former transcends all notion of degree,
baffling curiosity from every point of view. In this life we can apprehend the beginning and the
end of all things that exist, but the beatitude that is above the creature admits neither end nor
beginning, but is above all that is connoted by either, being ever the same, self-dependent, not
travelling on by degrees from one point to another in its life. J.246.19, 21, 27 (257).
For you cannot apply the same definition to "light" and "day", but light is what we understand by
the opposite of darkness, and day is the extent of the measure of the interval (diastema) of light.
J.309.7 (279).
What is this vain flourish of baseless expressions, seeing that our Master simply says that
whatever in the Divine essence transcends the measurable distances (diastema) of the ages in
either direction is called by certain distinctive names. J.359.24 (296).
For seeing that human life, moving from stage to stage, advances in its progress from a beginning
to an end, and our life here is divided between that which is past and that which is expected, so
that the one is the subject of hope, the other of memory; on this account, as, in relation to
ourselves, we apprehend a past and a future in this measurable extent, so also we apply the
thought, though incorrectly, to the transcendent nature of God; not of course that God in his own
existence leaves any interval (diastema) behind, or passes on afresh to something that lies before,
but because our intellect can only conceive things according to our nature, and measures the
eternal by a past and a future, where neither the past precludes the march of thought to the
illimitable and infinite, nor the future tells us of any pause or limit of his endless life. J.360.16
(296).
...and Moses, speaking of the kingdom of God as "extending beyond all ages," so that we are
taught by both [ref. to David] that every duration (diastema) conceivable is environed by the
Divine nature, bounded on all sides by the infinity of him who holds the universe in his embrace.
J.361.10 (296).
For, as beginning means one thing, and end means another, by virtue of an intervening extension
(diastema), if anyone allow the privation of the first of these to be essence, he must suppose his
life to be only half subsisting in this being without beginning, and not to extend further, by virtue
of his nature, to the being without end, if ungeneracy be regarded as itself his nature. J.381.13
(303).
All that actually comes within our comprehension is such that it must be of one of these four
kinds: either contemplated as existing in an extension (diastema) of distance...J.395.5 (308).
...in the notion of a human father there is included not only all that the flesh suggests to our
thoughts, but a certain notion of interval (diastema) is also undoubtedly conceived with the idea of
human fatherhood, it would be well, in the case of the divine generation, to reject, together with
bodily pollution, the notion of interval (diastema) also, that so what properly belongs to matter
may be completely purged away. J.31.15 (144).
...since we too confess the close connection and relation of the Son with the Father, so that there
is nothing inserted between them which is found to intervene in the connection of the Son with the
Father, no conception of interval (diastema), not even that minute and indivisible one, which,
when time is divided into past, present and future, is conceived indivisibly by itself as the
present...J.91.14 (166).
Neither does this immediate conjunction exclude the "willing" of the Father, in the sense that he
has a Son without choice, by some necessity of his nature, nor does the "willing" separate the Son
from the Father, coming in between them as a kind of interval (diastema). J.191.19 (202).
Now every such conception of matter and interval (diastema) being excluded from the sense of
the word "Son," nature alone remains and hereby in the word "Son" is declared concerning the
Only-begotten the close and true character of his manifestation from the Father. J.199.4 (205).
...but this only, as we have said, is manifested by this particular mode of generation, that he is
conceived to be of him and also with him, no intermediate interval (diastema) existing between the
Father and that Son who is of him. J.200.2 (205).
For there is nothing else by which we can mark the beginning of things that have been made, if
time does not define by its own interval (diastema) the beginnings and the endings of the things
that come into being. J.207.24 (208).
For if the interval of the ages has preceded existing things, it is proper to employ the temporal
adverb, and to say "He then willed" and He then made": but since the age was not, since no
conception of interval (diastema) is present to our minds in regard to that divine nature which is
not measured by quantity or by interval (diastema), the force of temporal expressions must surely
be void....but to regard the divine nature itself as being in a kind of extension measured by
intervals (diastema), belongs only to those who have been trained in the new wisdom. J.217.3
(211).
And what is this that is inserted as intervening between the life of the Father and that of the Son,
that is not time nor space, nor any idea of extension (diastema), nor any like thing? J.219.22
(212).
That the divine generation, therefore, may be clear of every idea connected with passion, we shall
avoid conceiving with regard to it even that extension which is measured by intervals (diastema).
Now that which begins and ends is surely regarded as being in a kind of extension (diastema), all
extension (diastema) is measured by time, and as time (by which we mark both the end of birth
and its beginning) is excluded, it would be vain, in the case of the uninterrupted generation, to
entertain the idea of end or beginning, since no idea can be formed to mark either the point at
which such generation begins or that at which it ceases. J.225.13 (215).
For it is only as being circumscribed in some quantitative way that things can be said either to
begin or to cease on arriving at a limit, and the measure expressed by time (having its extension
(diastema) concomitant with the quantity of that which is produced) differentiates the beginning
from the end by the interval (diastema) between them. But how can any one measure or treat as
extended that which is without quantity and without extension?...Now the divine nature is without
extension, and, being without extension, it has no limit; and that which is limitless is infinite, and is
spoken of accordingly. J.226.22 (215).
For any of the things that do not exist is no more in a state of "not being" now than if it were non-existent before, but the idea of "not being" is one applied to that which "is not" at any distance of
time (diastema). J.232.11: (217).
Refutation Against Eunomius
Now every such conception of matter and interval (diastema) being excluded from the sense of
the word "Son," nature alone remains, and hereby in the word "Son" is declared concerning the
Only-begotten the close and true character of his manifestation from the Father. J.350.23 (205).
But this only, as we have said, is manifested by this particular mode of generation, that he is
conceived to be of him and also with him, no intermediate interval (diastema) existing between the
Father and that Son who is of him. J.351.24 (205).
For who believes in the Father according to the Lord's precept likewise hears the Father and does
not conceive the Son by any intervening interval (diastema), immediately passing from the Son to
the Father. (J.353.25, my own translation).
There was before their generation an interval (diastema) of time. J.355.16, ibid, 513a).
Against the Macedonians
The mysterious meaning of the anointing is that no distance (diastema) exists between the Son
and the Holy Spirit. (J.102.32, ibid, 1521a).
On the Inscriptions of the Psalms
The first words of Psalm Eighty-Nine read, "Lord, you have been a refuge for us from one
generation to the next." What does this mean? That you [God], the origin and end of time, exist
before creation and embrace every period of time (diastema), for infinity is an end without
bounds. "Before the mountains were born and the earth formed, and even from age to age, you
are." Because human nature is mutable, it was pulled down from the heavenly good and cast into
the error of sin. Therefore, God, extend your unfailing hands to our fallen human nature. What
you are by nature you have imparted to us. Do not let [human nature] return from its loftiness in
your presence to the humility of sin. J.46.7.
If anyone regards the period of time (diastema) in which David lived. and the sequence of his
deeds. J.115.12.
That people is all humanity which joined themselves to God and which was separated from the
holy commands by a great & infinite interval (diastema). J.145.25.
On the Sixth Psalm
When we measure time with days, beginning from the first and closing with the seventh again, we
return to the first day. We always measure the totality of time (diastema) through the circle of
seven days until things endowed with motion pass away and the flux of the world's movement
ceases. J.189.4.
Commentary on Ecclesiastes
The sun which has enlightened heaven above has run its course and is subject to darkness at
sunset. The earth is stationary and unmovable, while anything subject to movement (diastema)
does not stand still. This demonstrates that everything is subject to time, for nothing changes to a
newer condition. J.286.7.
We are never satiated; rather, appetite is common to us all while passion flowers with enjoyment
and is not circumscribed by the attainment of its desire." But inasmuch as we perceive the good
in pleasure, any delight sets desire aflame, for pleasure is united to desire and is always attractive
to each stage (diastema) of our growth. J.313.16.
Because men earnestly strive after corporeal pleasure which is a pursuit and distraction of the soul
from things above to what is below, they squander the time (diastema) alloted to them in this life
by gathering material possessions. Thus whoever judges this good to be from God knows how to
define it as vanity. J.372.6.
Indeed, whatever belongs to time, extension, or interval (diastema) is determined by smallness and
greatness. Time is the measure of conception, the growth of corn, fruit, the measure of sailing,
walking, the periods of life which are infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, early manhood, the
prime of life, middle age, fullness of maturity, past one's prime, old age, and senility. Time is not
restricted by one measure (for each stage of growth is not the same because persons differ from
one another), while everything subject to measure has the same, all-encompassing time. For this
reason Ecclesiastes does not say that measure belongs to all things because there is equality in
great and small with regard to measure. However, time is a general measure and standard.
J.377.3.
Who does not know that each action is judged according to its own merits, whether evil or not?
The time of the action is considered apart from the nature of the person who committed the deed.
What shares a common interval of time (diastema) with an action we freely committed? If asked
of what the day consists, our response is that the sun above the earth measures morning and
evening. Our answer not only pertains to the circuit of the seventh day, but to the first and
second day right up to the seventh, and that the Sabbath day does not differ from the others
according to our notion of a day. J.392.14.
All our notions are bound (diastematike) by time; they attempt to transcend their proper limits but
cannot. Intervals of time constitute all our thoughts as well as the substance of a person who
gives rise to such thoughts. Such intervals (diastema) are created. The good we teach, however,
must be pursued and guarded. We also advise that a person unite himself to this reality which
transcends creation and thought. Our mind functions by using intervals within time, so how can it
grasp [God's] nature which not subject to temporal extension (diastematike)? Through the
medium of time, the inquisitive [mind] always leaves behind any thought older than what it just
discovered. The mind also busily searches through all kinds of knowledge yet never discovers the
means to grasp eternity in order to transcend both itself and what we earlier considered, namely,
the eternal existence of beings. This effort resembles a person standing on a precipice (A smooth,
precipitous rock which abruptly falls down into a boundless distance suggests this transcendence.
Its prominence reaches on high while also falling to the gaping deep below). A person's foot can
therefore touch that ridge falling off to the depths below and find neither step nor support for his
hand. This example may pertain to the soul's passage through intervals of time (diastematike) in
its search for [God's] nature which exists before eternity and is not subject to time. His nature
cannot be grasped, for it lacks space, time, measure, and anything else we can apprehend; instead,
our mind is overcome with dizziness and stumbles all over the place because it cannot lay hold of
transcendent reality. Being powerless, it returns to its connatural state. Our mind loves to know
only about God's transcendence of which it is persuaded because his nature differs from anything
we know. J.412.10, 14, 414.1.
Our conception of eternity, limited (diastematike) as it is by our thoughts, signifies all creation
which [God] contains. Therefore, the text points out all created beings embraced by God. For
our benefit God put into our hearts everything he made in eternity that we might contemplate
their Creator by reason of their greatness and beauty. However, persons who benefited from
them do not necessarily suffer affliction if they use them profitably. Because of this Ecclesiastes
says, "Man cannot find out what God had done" (3.11). Here he implies the treachery lying
within the human soul. It becomes stronger and results in ignorance of the good which God
performs for our usefulness in all the things he made from the beginning of creation until their
fulfillment when evil shall be no more. Neither does evil naturally arise from the good. If the
Creator and Author of the universe is good, then all things are substantially good. J.440.3.
On the Resurrection of Christ
It suffices to say that a little temporal interval (diastema) suffices the all-powerful wisdom in the
heart of the earth to mock that great mind. J.280.16.
286.1& 5: Do not marvel if the creation of the good is divided in a chronological interval
(diastema). For in the first creation of the world the divine power does not exhaust to perfect all
beings at once but distributes by their fabrication chronological distensions.
Since the mystic and unutterable reason seeks a number, not the accustomed interval (diastema)
of days and nights hinders to the action of the divine power of operation. J.290.13.
So shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for an interval (diastema) of three days.
J.291.2.
Therefore when in this occasion the moon by its form since it completes according to its own
course by an interval (diastema) of night, comes the rest to the circle so that light might fulfill with
the rays of day. J.297.13.
Hexaemeron (Migne references, PG#44)
Thus being able, by which matter contains all things by wisdom and by power of will establishes
regarding completion, gravity, density, lightness, heaviness, pressed together, rarity, softness,
hardness, humidity, dryness, coldness, warmth, color, form, circumscription, interval(diastema):
all are such notions and mere considerations. 69.42.
The meaning of each is clear: "in the head" is the gathering of everything. Through "the
beginning" clearly is what is a moment and lacks interval (adiastatos). The beginning is quite
different from an understanding based upon interval (diastema). 72.12.
In like manner according to temporal interval (diastema) is a spacial succession, I mean light and
darkness. 77.17.
Because the firmament is called heaven, the measure of perceptible creation from which a certain
perceptible creation is comprehended in which is no form, greatness, setting in place, interval
(diastema), color, figure, quantity, nor anything which is seen under heaven. 81.46.
Nature is the bound with regard to the terminus of interval (diastema), constituting spacial &
temporal (diastema) properties which the perceptible and undiastematic (adiastatos) nature finds.
84.43.
the diastema of three days. 116.16.
or how through the unerring globe contains the substance in the midst of all interval (diastema)
the great wisdom of God constitutes the sun so that we do not wholly walk in the dark and the
stars' splendor cause light before we are consumed by the intervening interval (diastema). 117.17,
22.
Therefore the sun's light shines upon us that we are not obscured by a long interval (diastema).
117.24.
Light...between the interval (diastema) of past time which distinguishes similar properties from
what is in common. 117.51.
since indeed in time all things move and a myriad of them concurs with each other by a temporal
interval (diastema). 120.23.
If all things are established beforehand at once by the Creator's power with regard to their
constitution, the distinct manifestation of visible things in the world, are perfected by a certain
natural order and sequence in a distinct interval (diastema). 120.16.
On the Making of Man (Migne references, PG#44)
since the interval (diastema) by a course from evil according to necessity turns movement to the
good. 201.29.
If anyone now sees in the world's movement a certain order by which is observed a temporal
interval (diastema), no one can say that stability receives movement for it is clear that not
believing in the beginning by God was the heaven and earth. 209.22.
If God who is simple by nature, immaterial, without quality, magnitude, composed of nothing,
circumscribed by no form, contains all material in temporal (diastema) extension. 209.50.
Therefore the dead restored after no small interval (diastema). 220.31.
On the Soul and the Resurrection (Migne references, PG#46)
But the corporeal, is naturally bound by interval (diastema) while the intellectual and non-temporal (adiastema) nature does not admit passions from diastema. 48.26.
But since the punishment of death is for transgressors of the law regarding which death
necessarily follows, human life is two-fold, one through the flesh and another outside the body,
not according to equal measure of interval (diastema) but circumscribed by a very brief temporal
bound. 81.37.
For I do not think that this is easy to attain by those seeking, showing many difficulties how what
is moved from a stable nature from simplicity and adiastematic comes the diastematic and
composite? 121.32.
Each which is grasped according to corporeal nature, regarding what we say, because nothing of
those things regarding the body are the body in itself, not form, color, depth, diastema,
complexity, nor any other quality, but the fact of each: their combination and union is the body.
124.40.
Ezekiel in a prophetic spirit all things in the midst of time and what is above this diastema, in his
own time foresaw the time of resurrection. 136.15.
On the Song of Songs
This field, even if it is called a valley in comparison to the life of heaven, is in no way less a field,
and the soul that is well tended in it is not prevented from being a flower. From this hollow valley
the shoot rises up to the heights just as in the case of a lily. Quite often a lily's green shoot runs
up to the heights from its roots like a reed; then the flower spreads out on the top. There is also
quite a distance (diastema) between the flower and the ground. J.114.7.
For who does not know that at the beginning the assembly from among the nations was dark from
idolatry before it became the Church? It lived far from knowledge of the true God and was
separated by a great gulf (diastema) of ignorance. J.205.8.
The dead center of a completely bounded object is determined by its equidistance from the
circumference. Since a circle has one center, it can never have two centers occupying the same
location (diastema). J.349.6.
But in the second restoration, an interval of time (diastema) necessarily accompanies those
pursuing the first good. Because our minds incline towards evil, our association with evil is
removed like bark which is gradually scraped off by a more becoming life. J.458.20.
Against Fate
As a result, they firmly believe that the stars' light advances and recedes according to their
respective orbits, and that the superior light succeeds and hides the inferior light from view. Once
the inferior becomes obscured, the following is supposed to happen: a different form appears
when the star's revolution encompasses the one lying behind it so that the greater either
immediately overshadows it or makes this star turn aside. The orbit occurs in either a brief or
longer temporal interval (diastema) according to the revolution's size which bears a necessary
correlation to the speed or slowness of each circuit. J.36.10.
In like manner, a person who diligently applies himself to the stars above and considers each one
knows their strength by the way in which they are combined. Their influence is not identical with
respect to a brief period of time (diastema); instead, their movement never remains the same with
respect to other stars, and varying degrees of movement from these stars continuously affects
their particular motion. In a short period of time each star's property influences life by foretelling
and influencing [the fate of] every person. Just as a seal impresses its form upon wax, so a person
whose life is influenced by the stars' movement conforms to their properties and retains their
influence right from the beginning. Having been sealed in such a manner, this influence expands
to one's activities because the stars have determined his beginning and continue to motivate him.
J.39.1.
All types of movement have one measure of time (diastema) whether or not it is from one place to
another. If fate does not cause temporal interruptions with regard to the flow of rivers, motion of
ships or our wanderings, how can the stars' movement be responsible for them? How can you
claim that observation of the stars enables us to perceive the influence of fate upon an hour or
fraction of an hour? J.45.21.
On the Beatitudes (Migne references, PG#44.)
Should what appear to be lofty by reason of spacial interval (diastema) but according to
intellectual nature which thought cannot ascend unless first it passes by what sense perception
touches. 1209.14.
For seeing anything lofty...and being co-extensive with every interval (diastema) of life. 1244.44.
The Life of Gregory the Wonderworker
Therefore Phaidimos was divinely inspired to undertake a journey of three days's distance
(diastema) which separated him from Gregory. J.15.21.
Being urged by both the sight and report much like an approaching sound, he remained motionless
for a long time (diastema) in their midst. Once this phenomenon happened which had a good
effect, [Gregory] regained his composure and praised God with a clear voice. J.49.18.
On Meeting the Lord (De Occursu Domini) (Migne reference, PG#46)
For the Law says that every male...must be purified after an interval (diastema) of forty days.
1157.1.
Concerning Infants Who have Died Prematurely
It is agreed that the universe has one cause and is not responsible for bringing itself into existence.
But the universe as a whole is always uncreated, eternal, self-contained, transcends every concept
of measurement (diastema), remains constant, is infinite and transcends all bounds. Its nature,
time, space and everything in it lies beyond our grasp even if we could grasp anything which
existed before it. Divinely inspired teaching also includes human nature. God brings everything
into existence; man's created nature is composed of various elements; it is also carefully composed
from what is both divine and intelligible. J.77.8.
* * * *
References to Diastasis
Against Eunomius
Every discursive effort of thought to go back beyond the ages will ascend only so far as to see
that which it seeks can never be passed through: time and its contents seem the measure (diatasis)
and the limit of the movement & the working of human thought, but that which lies beyond
remains outside its reach. J.135.24.
So that there is no gulf (diastasis) whatever between the being of the Son and the being of the
Spirit, is shown by the identity of the power which gives them their subsistence. J.142.26 (72).
Where distance (diastasis) is not considered, indeed is admitted what is in due proportion.
J.287.27.
And what we have displayed as an incorruptible and incorporeal consideration so that one name
to each, the undiastematic in which the tripartive diastasis of bodies is not seen. J.399.22.
And how can there be any fight or diastasis that dividing God's subsisting power so that one part
of his power overthrows another? J.218.15.
Not time, place nor any diastematic thought nor any other thing. To what therefore the sharp and
penetrating eye sees the diastasis of the Son's life from that of the Father? J.219.24.
For he showing that not according to any defect or stretching of what is generated to be a
diastasis with regard to the ungenerate. J.296.11.
On the Soul and the Resurrection (Migne references, PG#46)
Let the nature of elements be understood, the mixture of various shades of color and again the gift
and example of summing up their properties which describe the union and diastasis of elements.
73.49.
When the body is in the grave, the soul is not in the body nor is constituted by parts. It is difficult
to narrate its structure, readily to harmonize what is understood according to the truth, unless one
transfers the understanding of each so that the chasm of unmixed parts might have commonality,
not to understood as a diastasis of the earth. 80.46.
Concerning Those Who have Died
After a day's journey, Moses was illumined by rays of light, that Once the soul is no longer
identified with appearances after exiting the body, it is united to that good which is in accord with
its nature. No more does the sight of beautiful colors entice the eye, nor do we choose anything
else which delights the senses; every bodily perception has now been shaken off. There only
remains immaterial thought which comprehends its own good because it freely perceives spiritual
beauty which lacks color, form, interval (diastasis) and quantity while at the same time it
transcends anything we may conjecture. J.48.23.
* * * *
References to Adiastatos
Against Eunomius
in whom was the cause which true religion teaches to have substance from the cause without
interval (adiastatos), seeing creation in a diastematic sequence. J.134.2.
In whom the Father is without beginning, ungenerate and always considered as Father from whom
the only begotten Son without distension and interruption is considered as the only begotten Son
to the Father...So that in no way is divided the undiastamatic nature. J.138.6& 28.
neither to dissolve the undiastematic union when one's purpose considers the generation.
J.191.23.
immediate is the union of the Son to the Father and neither is the will expelled nor taken away by
their adiastematic union which always subsists in a good nature. J.192.16.
by the splendor the union has no interval (adiastatos), the name of God equally applies to the
Father and Son. J.202.24.
For the undiastematic, without quality and uncircumscribed power in himself embracing the ages
and containing every creature. J.210.12.
Neither being any age, diastematic concept concerning the divine nature as understood to be
without distension (adiastatos). J.217.7.
All extension is understood as a measure of time. But when there is no time, we mean the end &
beginning of birth, it would be a vain end & beginning to understand with regard to a birth
without interval (adiastatos). J.225.18.
Concerning Those Who have Died
What is the divinity which the soul resembles? It is not the body, lacks form, likeness, quality,
figure, depth, place, time and anything else which resembles material creation; rather, once all
these attributes are stripped away, the soul reveals its nature which is spiritual, immaterial,
invisible, incorporeal and unchangeable. If we contemplate the stamp of the archetype, the soul
necessarily conforms itself according to that image. The soul is recognized by its characteristics,
that is, as being immaterial, without form (adiastatos), spiritual and incorporeal. J.41.25.
On the Making of Man (Migne reference, PG#44)
To me this verse [1Cor 15.51] seems to be the measure of human nature according to a
predefined measure when the number of souls will no longer increase and in a moment of time
shows the change of beings by the name of a point and twinkling of an eye that last bound and
adiastaton of time. J.208.1.
On the Soul and the Resurrection (Migne reference, PG#46)
This spiritual and adiastaton nature which we call the soul. 45.16.
But neither, he says, is shortened nor diffused that which is intellectual & adiastaton (for what is
proper to bodies is a contraction and e