"And as I prayed, the heavens were opened, and I see the woman whom I had desired saluting me from the sky, and saying, 'Hail, Hermas!' And looking up to her, I said, 'Lady, what doest thou here? 'And she answered me, 'I have been taken up here to accuse you of your sins before the Lord.' 'Lady,' said I, 'are you to be the subject of my accusation?' 'No,' said she; 'but hear the words which I am going to speak to you. God, who dwells in the heavens, and made out of nothing the things that exist, and multiplied and increased them on account of His holy Church, is angry with you for having sinned against me."
Hermas,Shepard,1:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:9
"First Of all, believe that there is one God who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing."
Hermas,Shepard,2:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:20
"Let us turn now, O King, to the elements in themselves, that we may make clear in regard to them, that they are not gods, but a created thing, liable to ruin and change, which is of the same nature as man; whereas God is imperishable and unvarying, and invisible, while yet He sees, and overrules, and transforms all things."
Aristides,Apology,4(A.D. 140),in ANF,X:266
"God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we have been taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground of all being, in as much as no creature was yet in existence, was alone; but in as much as He was all power, Himself the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with Him were all things; with Him, by Logos-power , the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists."
Tatian,Address to the Greeks,5:1(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:67
"For, to attribute the substance of created things to the power and will of Him who is God of all, is worthy both of credit and acceptance. It is also agreeable [to reason], and there may be well said regarding such a belief, that 'the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.' While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point proeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence."
Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,10:4(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:370
"And further, as God, because He is uncreated, is also unalterable; so if matter, too, were uncreated, it also would be unalterable, and equal to God; for that which is created is mutable and alterable, but that which is uncreated is immutable and unalterable. And what great thing is it if God made the world out of existent materials? For even a human artist, when he gets material from some one, makes of it what he pleases. But the power of God is manifested in this, that out of things that are not He makes whatever He pleases; just as the bestowal of life and motion is the prerogative of no other than God alone." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:4(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:95
"And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:10(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:97-98
"[H]e[Hermogenes] takes from Him everything which is God, since he will not have it that He made all things of nothing." Tertullian,Hermogenes,1-2,in ANF,III:477
"The object of our worship is the One God, He who by His commanding word, His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire mass of our world, with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the glory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed on it the name of Cosmos."
Tertullian,Apology,17:1(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:31
"Now, with regard to this rule of faith-that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend-it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son."
Tertullian,Prescription Against the Heretics,13:1(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:249
"For if God produced all things whatever out of nothing, He will be able to draw forth from nothing even the flesh which had fallen into nothing; or if He moulded other things out of matter, He will be able to call forth the flesh too from somewhere else, into whatever abyss it may have been engulphed."
Tertullian, Resurrection of the Flesh,11(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:553
"On the first day God made what He made out of nothing. But on the other days He did not make out of nothing, but out of what He had made on the first day, by moulding it according to His pleasure."
Hippolytus, Six Days Work(Hexameron)(A.D. 217),in ANF,V:163
"First, That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed."
Origen, Fundamental Doctrines,Preface 1(A.D. 225),in ANF,IV:239
"Therefore arming him, and strengthening him, and so bearing her son by a more blessed birth, she said, "O son, pity me that bare thee ten months in the womb, and gave thee milk for three years, and nourished thee and brought thee up to this age; I pray thee, O son, look upon the heaven and the earth; and having considered all the things which are in them, understand that out of nothing God made these things and the human race."
Cyprian, Exhortation to Martyrdom,11(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:504-505
"For Thou createdst all things out of nothing; wherefore also Thou changest and transformest all things as Thou wilt, seeing they are Thine, and Thou alone art God."
Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection,1:14(A.D. 300),in ANF,VI:369
"For all things are placed under Thee as their Cause and Author, as He who brought all things into being out of nothing, and gave to what was unstable a firm coherence; as the connecting Band and Preserver of that which has been brought into being; as the Framer of things by nature different; as He who, with wise and steady hand, holds the helm of the universe; as the very Principle of all good order; as the irrefragable Bond of concord and peace." Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna,6(A.D. 305),in ANF,VI:387
"But if he conceives in his mind how great is the immensity of that divine work, when before it was nothing, yet that by the power and wisdom of God it was made out of nothing-a work which could only be commenced and accomplished by one-he will now understand that that which has been established by one is much more easily governed by one." Lactanius,Divine Institutes,1:3(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:12
"Nor were they able at all to understand how much greater and more wonderful He is, who made these things out of nothing."
Lactanius,Divine Institutes,2:5(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:47
"Let no one inquire of what materials God made these works so great and wonderful: for He made all things out of nothing." Lactanius,Divine Institutes,2:9(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:53
"For they ignorantly affirm that one of two things must necessarily be said, either that He is from things which are not, or that there are two unbegottens; nor do those ignorant men know how great is the difference between the unbegotten Father, and the things which were by Him created from things which are not, as well the rational as the irrational. Between which two, as holding the middle place, the only begotten nature of God, the Word by which the Father formed all things out of nothing, was begotten of the true Father Himself. As in a certain place the Lord Himself testified, saying, 'Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.' "
Alexander of Alexandria,On the Arian Heresy,1:11(A.D. 326),in ANF,VI:295
"Is God then, who created us out of nothing, unable to raise again those who exist and are fallen(9)?"
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:6(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:135
"For the elements of the world have come into being out of nothing, but Christ's continuity of existence did not begin in the non-existent, nor did He ever begin to exist, but He took from the beginning a beginning which is eternal."
Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,53(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,VIII:153
"Thus do they vainly speculate. But the godly teaching and the faith according to Christ brands their foolish language as godlessness. For it knows that it was not spontaneously, because forethought is not absent; nor of existing matter, because God is not weak; but that out of nothing, and without its having any previous existence, God made the universe to exist through His word."
Athanasius,Incarnation,3(A.D. 365),in NPNF2,IV:38
"Studious listener, think of all these creations which God has drawn out of nothing, think of all those which my speech has left out, to avoid tediousness, and not to exceed my limits; recognise everywhere the wisdom of God; never cease to wonder, and, through, every creature, to glorify the Creator."
Basil,Hexameron,8:7(A.D. 370),in NPNF2,VIII:99
"Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything. While God is able to bring forth everything from the earth without these things, it was his will to show that there was nothing created on earth that was not created for the purpose of mankind or for his service."
Ephrem,Commentary on Genesis,1(ante A.D. 376),in FOC,91:92
"The word of God clearly declares that the Angels were neither created after the stars nor before heaven and earth. It must be regarded as certain and unshakable the opinion that says: None of the created things did exist before heaven and earth, because 'in the beginning God created heaven and earth' so that this was the beginning of all creation, before which none of the created things existed."
Epiphanius,Panarion,65:5(A.D. 377), in PAN
"But if God made all these things out of nothing (for "He spake and they were made, He commanded and they were created"[1]), why should we wonder that which has been should be brought to life again, since we see produced that which had not been?"
Ambrose,On the belief of the Resurrection,2:64(A.D. 378),in NPNF2,IX:184
"Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all that is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its Creator, and will receive a change to a better state."
Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,45(A.D. 383),in NPNF2,VII:376-377
"We return to our plain statement, and we assert, that He Who brought all creation into being out of nothing is the Creator of things seen in substantial existence, not of unsubstantial words having no existence but in the sound of the voice and the lisp of the tongue."
Gregory of Nyssa, Answer to Eunomius' Second Book(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,V:287
"And then He made man, who was not a man before, of different parts, giving to him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies, which have been dissolved, to the souls that are still in being: for the rising again belongs to things laid down, not to things which have no being. He therefore that made the original bodies out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those that are dead."
Apostolic Constitutions,5,1:7(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:441
"For Thou art eternal knowledge, everlasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, the first by nature, and the measure of being, and beyond all number; who didst bring all things out of nothing into being by Thy only begotten Son."
Apostolic Constitutions,8,2:12(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:486-487
"Thou didst create heaven and earth, not out of Thyself, for then they would be equal to Thine Only-begotten, and thereby even to Thee; and in no wise would it be right that anything should be equal to Thee which was not of Thee. And aught else except Thee there was not whence Thou mightest create these things, O God, One Trinity, and Trine Unity; and, therefore, out of nothing didst Thou create heaven and earth,-a great thing and a small,because Thou art Almighty and Good, to make all things good, even the great heaven and the small earth. Thou wast, and there was nought else from which Thou didst create heaven and earth; two such things, one near unto Thee, the other near to nothing, -one to which Thou shouldest be superior, the other to which nothing should be inferior."
Augustine,Confessions,12:7(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,I:177
"Moreover, the bad will, though it be not in harmony with, but opposed to nature, inasmuch as it is a vice or blemish, yet it is true of it as of all vice, that it cannot exist except in a nature, and only in a nature created out of nothing, and not in that which the Creator has begotten of Himself, as He begot the Word, by whom all things were made. For though God formed man of the dust of the earth, yet the earth itself, and every earthly material, is absolutely created out of nothing; and man's soul, too, God created out of nothing, and joined to the body, when He made man."
Augustine,City of God,14:11(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,II:271-272
"But God, through the exercise of will alone, has brought all things into existence out of nothing. Now there is the same difference between God and man in begetting and generating."
John of Damascus,Orthodox Faith,8(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,VIII:7
Hermas,Shepard,1:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:9
"First Of all, believe that there is one God who created and finished all things, and made all things out of nothing."
Hermas,Shepard,2:1:1(A.D. 80),in ANF,II:20
"Let us turn now, O King, to the elements in themselves, that we may make clear in regard to them, that they are not gods, but a created thing, liable to ruin and change, which is of the same nature as man; whereas God is imperishable and unvarying, and invisible, while yet He sees, and overrules, and transforms all things."
Aristides,Apology,4(A.D. 140),in ANF,X:266
"God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we have been taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground of all being, in as much as no creature was yet in existence, was alone; but in as much as He was all power, Himself the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with Him were all things; with Him, by Logos-power , the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists."
Tatian,Address to the Greeks,5:1(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:67
"For, to attribute the substance of created things to the power and will of Him who is God of all, is worthy both of credit and acceptance. It is also agreeable [to reason], and there may be well said regarding such a belief, that 'the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.' While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point proeminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation, when previously it had no existence."
Irenaeus,Against Heresies,2,10:4(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:370
"And further, as God, because He is uncreated, is also unalterable; so if matter, too, were uncreated, it also would be unalterable, and equal to God; for that which is created is mutable and alterable, but that which is uncreated is immutable and unalterable. And what great thing is it if God made the world out of existent materials? For even a human artist, when he gets material from some one, makes of it what he pleases. But the power of God is manifested in this, that out of things that are not He makes whatever He pleases; just as the bestowal of life and motion is the prerogative of no other than God alone." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:4(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:95
"And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing." Theophilus of Antioch,Autolycus,2:10(A.D. 181), in ANF,II:97-98
"[H]e[Hermogenes] takes from Him everything which is God, since he will not have it that He made all things of nothing." Tertullian,Hermogenes,1-2,in ANF,III:477
"The object of our worship is the One God, He who by His commanding word, His arranging wisdom, His mighty power, brought forth from nothing this entire mass of our world, with all its array of elements, bodies, spirits, for the glory of His majesty; whence also the Greeks have bestowed on it the name of Cosmos."
Tertullian,Apology,17:1(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:31
"Now, with regard to this rule of faith-that we may from this point acknowledge what it is which we defend-it is, you must know, that which prescribes the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son."
Tertullian,Prescription Against the Heretics,13:1(A.D. 200),in ANF,III:249
"For if God produced all things whatever out of nothing, He will be able to draw forth from nothing even the flesh which had fallen into nothing; or if He moulded other things out of matter, He will be able to call forth the flesh too from somewhere else, into whatever abyss it may have been engulphed."
Tertullian, Resurrection of the Flesh,11(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:553
"On the first day God made what He made out of nothing. But on the other days He did not make out of nothing, but out of what He had made on the first day, by moulding it according to His pleasure."
Hippolytus, Six Days Work(Hexameron)(A.D. 217),in ANF,V:163
"First, That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed."
Origen, Fundamental Doctrines,Preface 1(A.D. 225),in ANF,IV:239
"Therefore arming him, and strengthening him, and so bearing her son by a more blessed birth, she said, "O son, pity me that bare thee ten months in the womb, and gave thee milk for three years, and nourished thee and brought thee up to this age; I pray thee, O son, look upon the heaven and the earth; and having considered all the things which are in them, understand that out of nothing God made these things and the human race."
Cyprian, Exhortation to Martyrdom,11(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:504-505
"For Thou createdst all things out of nothing; wherefore also Thou changest and transformest all things as Thou wilt, seeing they are Thine, and Thou alone art God."
Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection,1:14(A.D. 300),in ANF,VI:369
"For all things are placed under Thee as their Cause and Author, as He who brought all things into being out of nothing, and gave to what was unstable a firm coherence; as the connecting Band and Preserver of that which has been brought into being; as the Framer of things by nature different; as He who, with wise and steady hand, holds the helm of the universe; as the very Principle of all good order; as the irrefragable Bond of concord and peace." Methodius, Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna,6(A.D. 305),in ANF,VI:387
"But if he conceives in his mind how great is the immensity of that divine work, when before it was nothing, yet that by the power and wisdom of God it was made out of nothing-a work which could only be commenced and accomplished by one-he will now understand that that which has been established by one is much more easily governed by one." Lactanius,Divine Institutes,1:3(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:12
"Nor were they able at all to understand how much greater and more wonderful He is, who made these things out of nothing."
Lactanius,Divine Institutes,2:5(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:47
"Let no one inquire of what materials God made these works so great and wonderful: for He made all things out of nothing." Lactanius,Divine Institutes,2:9(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:53
"For they ignorantly affirm that one of two things must necessarily be said, either that He is from things which are not, or that there are two unbegottens; nor do those ignorant men know how great is the difference between the unbegotten Father, and the things which were by Him created from things which are not, as well the rational as the irrational. Between which two, as holding the middle place, the only begotten nature of God, the Word by which the Father formed all things out of nothing, was begotten of the true Father Himself. As in a certain place the Lord Himself testified, saying, 'Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.' "
Alexander of Alexandria,On the Arian Heresy,1:11(A.D. 326),in ANF,VI:295
"Is God then, who created us out of nothing, unable to raise again those who exist and are fallen(9)?"
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:6(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:135
"For the elements of the world have come into being out of nothing, but Christ's continuity of existence did not begin in the non-existent, nor did He ever begin to exist, but He took from the beginning a beginning which is eternal."
Hilary of Poitiers,On the Trinity,53(A.D. 359),in NPNF2,VIII:153
"Thus do they vainly speculate. But the godly teaching and the faith according to Christ brands their foolish language as godlessness. For it knows that it was not spontaneously, because forethought is not absent; nor of existing matter, because God is not weak; but that out of nothing, and without its having any previous existence, God made the universe to exist through His word."
Athanasius,Incarnation,3(A.D. 365),in NPNF2,IV:38
"Studious listener, think of all these creations which God has drawn out of nothing, think of all those which my speech has left out, to avoid tediousness, and not to exceed my limits; recognise everywhere the wisdom of God; never cease to wonder, and, through, every creature, to glorify the Creator."
Basil,Hexameron,8:7(A.D. 370),in NPNF2,VIII:99
"Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything. While God is able to bring forth everything from the earth without these things, it was his will to show that there was nothing created on earth that was not created for the purpose of mankind or for his service."
Ephrem,Commentary on Genesis,1(ante A.D. 376),in FOC,91:92
"The word of God clearly declares that the Angels were neither created after the stars nor before heaven and earth. It must be regarded as certain and unshakable the opinion that says: None of the created things did exist before heaven and earth, because 'in the beginning God created heaven and earth' so that this was the beginning of all creation, before which none of the created things existed."
Epiphanius,Panarion,65:5(A.D. 377), in PAN
"But if God made all these things out of nothing (for "He spake and they were made, He commanded and they were created"[1]), why should we wonder that which has been should be brought to life again, since we see produced that which had not been?"
Ambrose,On the belief of the Resurrection,2:64(A.D. 378),in NPNF2,IX:184
"Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all that is unseen, was made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its Creator, and will receive a change to a better state."
Gregory of Nazianzen,Oration on Holy Baptism,45(A.D. 383),in NPNF2,VII:376-377
"We return to our plain statement, and we assert, that He Who brought all creation into being out of nothing is the Creator of things seen in substantial existence, not of unsubstantial words having no existence but in the sound of the voice and the lisp of the tongue."
Gregory of Nyssa, Answer to Eunomius' Second Book(A.D. 384),in NPNF2,V:287
"And then He made man, who was not a man before, of different parts, giving to him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies, which have been dissolved, to the souls that are still in being: for the rising again belongs to things laid down, not to things which have no being. He therefore that made the original bodies out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those that are dead."
Apostolic Constitutions,5,1:7(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:441
"For Thou art eternal knowledge, everlasting sight, unbegotten hearing, untaught wisdom, the first by nature, and the measure of being, and beyond all number; who didst bring all things out of nothing into being by Thy only begotten Son."
Apostolic Constitutions,8,2:12(A.D. 400),in ANF,VII:486-487
"Thou didst create heaven and earth, not out of Thyself, for then they would be equal to Thine Only-begotten, and thereby even to Thee; and in no wise would it be right that anything should be equal to Thee which was not of Thee. And aught else except Thee there was not whence Thou mightest create these things, O God, One Trinity, and Trine Unity; and, therefore, out of nothing didst Thou create heaven and earth,-a great thing and a small,because Thou art Almighty and Good, to make all things good, even the great heaven and the small earth. Thou wast, and there was nought else from which Thou didst create heaven and earth; two such things, one near unto Thee, the other near to nothing, -one to which Thou shouldest be superior, the other to which nothing should be inferior."
Augustine,Confessions,12:7(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,I:177
"Moreover, the bad will, though it be not in harmony with, but opposed to nature, inasmuch as it is a vice or blemish, yet it is true of it as of all vice, that it cannot exist except in a nature, and only in a nature created out of nothing, and not in that which the Creator has begotten of Himself, as He begot the Word, by whom all things were made. For though God formed man of the dust of the earth, yet the earth itself, and every earthly material, is absolutely created out of nothing; and man's soul, too, God created out of nothing, and joined to the body, when He made man."
Augustine,City of God,14:11(A.D. 400),in NPNF1,II:271-272
"But God, through the exercise of will alone, has brought all things into existence out of nothing. Now there is the same difference between God and man in begetting and generating."
John of Damascus,Orthodox Faith,8(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,VIII:7
