Folia Theologica 21. (2010)
Perendy László: An Enigmatic Apology - Aristides on God's created world
92 László PERENDY Chapter 4 treats earth only in the Syriac version. Just like idols, earth can equally be misused. It is perishable and affected by fire, so it cannot be God. The Greek version, interesting it may appear, ranks the sky among the other elements. It also calls it KÔopoç. This surprising use of words most probably goes back to Philo: de praem. II, 415. In Chapter 5 we find water, fire, and wind. Aristides points out that they also are the works of God, so they cannot be the final sources of Being. All of them were created for the needs of man. The Syriac version seems more reliable also in this chapter. Water was adored also by the Egyptians.29 The passage about fire is not worse in the Greek version than in the Syriac. The various kinds of winds are subject to each other, and they can be used by people as well, "wherefore it is not possible that winds should be called gods, but a work of God"30. Chapter 6 concentrates on one "element", the Sun. Although the extant Greek text deals with the Moon, too, but in the Syriac we can find only a short reference. It is disputed if the Greek or the Syriac version is closer to the original. But the conclusion is the same in both versions: "Wherefore it is not possible that the sun should be God, but a work of God; and in like manner also the moon and stars."31 V. Aristides' Teaching on Creation: the Criticism of the Greeks and Barbarians Aristides does not intend to give a cosmological synthesis. He wants to tell something about the true concept of God, and as a contrast to that, he refutes the false ideas of the Barbarians about the worship of elements. As J. Quasten says: "Aristides came to a knowledge of a Creator and Preserver of the universe through his meditations upon the world and the harmony existing therein."32 These meditations are not futile, although they can determine the attributes of God only in a negative way. But this notion of God can become a touchstone to judge the truth of the Christian concept of God.33 As to the sources of 29 Philo, Vita Mos. II 96. 30 Harris, J. R. - Robinson, J. A., The Apology of Aristides, 39. 31 Ibid. 32 Quasten, J., Patrology, 1.192. 33 Bareille, G., Aristide, 1866.
