Creator And Created

Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας τὸ ἐκ τῆς παροιμίας ὅτι Κύριος ἔκτισέ με καὶ διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντας ἰσχυρόν τι λέγειν περὶ τοῦ κτιστὸν εἶναι τὸν πάντων κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ταῦτα προσήκει λέγειν ὅτι πολλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο ὁ μονογενὴς θεός· καὶ γὰρ καὶ λόγος ὢν σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο καὶ ἀσώματος ὢν σῶμα ἐγένετο καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ἁμαρτία καὶ κατάρα καὶ λίθος καὶ ἀξίνη καὶ ἄρτος καὶ πρόβατον καὶ ὁδὸς καὶ θύρα καὶ πέτρα καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἐγένετο οὐδὲν τούτων τῇ φύσει ὤν, ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς κατ' οἰκονομίαν γενόμενος. Ὥσπερ οὖν λόγος ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο σὰρξ καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο, οὕτω καὶ κτίστης ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς κτίσις ἐγένετο· κτιστὴ γὰρ ἡ σάρξ. Ὡς οὖν εἶπε διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὅτι Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ πλάσας με ἐκ κοιλίας δοῦλον αὐτοῦ, οὕτως εἶπε καὶ διὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος τὸ Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ κτίσις δουλεύει, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τῆς παρθένου πλασθεὶς κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ προφήτου ὁ δοῦλός ἐστιν, οὐχ ὁ Κύριος, τουτέστιν ὁ κατὰ σάρκα ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ κτισθεὶς εἰς ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ οὐχ ὁ θεός ἐστιν ἀλλ' ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐπὶ τῷ τὴν καταφθαρεῖσαν ὁδὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σωτηρίας πάλιν ἀνανεώσασθαι. Ὥστε ἐπειδὴ δύο περὶ Χριστοῦ γινώ σκομεν, τὸ μὲν θεῖον τὸ δὲ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐν μὲν τῇ φύσει τὸ θεῖον, ἐν δὲ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τὸ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, ἀκολούθως τὸ μὲν ἀΐδιον τῇ θεότητι προσμαρτυροῦμεν, τὸ δὲ κτιστὸν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ λογιζόμεθα φύσει. Ὡς γὰρ κατὰ τὸν προφήτην ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ ἐπλάσθη δοῦλος, οὕτως καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα διὰ τῆς δουλικῆς ταύτης κτίσεως ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη. Ὅταν δὲ λέγωσιν ὅτι εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἐγεννήθη, καὶ εἰ ἐγεννήθη, οὐκ ἦν, διδαχθήτωσαν ὅτι οὐ χρὴ τὰ τῆς σαρκικῆς γεννήσεως ἰδιώματα ἐφαρμόζειν τῇ θείᾳ φύσει. Σώματα μὲν γὰρ μὴ ὄντα γεννᾶται, ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὰ μὴ ὄντα εἶναι ποιεῖ, οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος γίνεται. Διὸ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἀπαύγασμα δόξης αὐτὸν ὀνομάζει, ἵνα διδαχθῶμεν ὅτι, ὥσπερ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ λύχνου φῶς καὶ ἐκ τῆς φύσεώς ἐστι τοῦ ἀπαυγάζοντος καὶ μετ' ἐκείνου ἐστίν ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ ἐξεφάνη ὁ λύχνος καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ συνεξέλαμψεν, οὕτω κελεύει καὶ ἐν ταῦθα νοεῖν ὁ ἀπόστολος, ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς καὶ οὐδέποτε χωρὶς τοῦ υἱοῦ ὁ πατήρ· οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ γὰρ ἀλαμπῆ εἶναι τὴν δόξαν, ὡς οὐκ ἐγχωρεῖ ἄνευ ἀπαυγάσματος εἶναι τὸν λύχνον. Δῆλον δὲ ὅτι, ὥσπερ τὸ εἶναι ἀπαύγασμα μαρτυρία ἐστὶ τοῦ καὶ τὴν δόξαν εἶναι, μὴ γὰρ οὔσης τῆς δόξης οὐκ ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐκ ταύτης ἀπαυγαζόμενον, οὕτω τὸ λέγειν μὴ εἶναί ποτε ἀπαύγασμα ἀπόδειξίς ἐστι τοῦ μηδὲ τὴν δόξαν εἶναι, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν τὸ ἀπαύγασμα· τὴν γὰρ δόξαν ἄνευ ἀπαυγάσματος εἶναι ἀμήχανον. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀπαυγάσματος λέγειν ὅτι εἰ ἦν, οὐκ ἐγένετο, καὶ εἰ ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἦν, οὕτω μάταιόν ἐστι περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ ταῦτα λέγειν, διότι ὁ υἱός ἐστι τὸ ἀπαύγασμα. Οἱ δὲ τὸ μικρότερον καὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἐπὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγοντες διδαχθήτωσαν παρὰ τοῦ Παύλου μὴ μετρεῖν τὰ ἀμέτρητα· ὁ γὰρ ἀπόστολος τὸν υἱὸν χαρακτῆρα λέγει τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς ὑποστάσεως. Δῆλον οὖν ὅτι, ὅση ἂν ᾖ ἡ ὑπόστασις ἡ τοῦ πατρός, τοσοῦτος καὶ ὁ χαρακτήρ ἐστι τῆς ὑποστάσεως· οὐ γὰρ ἐνδέχεται μικρότερον εἶναι τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς θεωρουμένης ἐν αὐτῷ ὑποστάσεως. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἰωάννης τὰ αὐτὰ διδάσκει λέγων ὅτι Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν. ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν καὶ οὐχὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἔδειξεν ὅτι οὐδέποτε ἄλογος ἦν ἡ ἀρχή. ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀποδεῖξαι, ὅτι καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, τὸ ἀνελλιπὲς τοῦ υἱοῦ ὡς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἐσήμανεν· ὅλῳ γὰρ τῷ θεῷ ὅλος συνθεωρεῖται ὁ λόγος. εἰ γὰρ ἐλλιπὴς ἦν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ μεγέθει ὁ λόγος, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι πρὸς ὅλον τὸν θεὸν εἶναι, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἄλογον εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ νομίζειν τὸ ὑπερεκπίπτον τοῦ λόγου. Ἀλλὰ μὴν πάσῃ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ μεγαλειότητι ἡ τοῦ λόγου μεγαλειότης συνθεωρεῖται. ἄρα οὐκ ἔχει χώραν ἐπὶ τῶν θείων δογμάτων τὸ μεῖζον λέγειν καὶ τὸ μικρότερον. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περί Πίστεως Προς Συμπλικιον Source: Migne PG 45 137b-140c

But against those who quote from  Proverbs: 'the Lord created me,' 1 and by this think that they speak forcefully of the creation of the Creator and Maker of all things, we are forced to say that the Only-begotten God was made for us many things. For He was the Word and was made flesh; and He was God and was made man; and He was without body and was made a body; and besides He was made 'sin,' and 'a curse,' and 'a stone,' and 'an axe,' and 'bread,' and 'a lamb,' and 'a way,' and 'a door,' and 'a rock,' and many such things, not by nature being any of these, but being so for us by way of dispensation. As, then, being the Word, He was for us made flesh, and being God was made man, so being the Creator, He was made for us a creature, for the flesh is a thing created. As, then, He said by the Prophet: 'Thus says the Lord, He that formed me from the womb to be His servant.' 1 Thus He said also by Solomon, 'The Lord created me as the beginning of His ways, for His works.' 3 For all creation, as the Apostle says, is in servitude, 4 therefore both He who was formed in the Virgin's womb, according to the word of the Prophet, is the servant and not the Lord, that is to say, the man according to the flesh in whom God was manifested, and also, in the other passage, He Who was created as the beginning of His ways is not God but the man in whom God was manifested to us for the renewing again of the ruined way of man's salvation. Thus, since we recognize two things in Christ, one Divine, the other human, the Divine by nature, but the human in the Incarnation, we accordingly assert for the Godhead that which is eternal and that which is created to the human nature. For as, according to the Prophet, He was formed in the womb as a servant, so also, according to Solomon, He was manifested in the flesh by means of this servile creation. But when they say, 'if He was, He was not begotten, and if He was begotten He was not,' let them learn that one must not ascribe what belongs to the corporeal nature to the Divine nature. For bodies which do not exist are generated, and God makes things to be which are not, but He does not come into being from that which is not. Because of this Paul calls Him 'the brightness of glory,' 5 that we may learn that as the light from the lamp is of the nature of that which gives brightness, and is with it, for as soon as the lamp appears the light that comes from it instantly shines out, so here the Apostle would have us consider that the Son is of the Father, and that the Father is never without the Son, for it is impossible that glory should be without radiance, just as it is impossible that the lamp should lack brightness. But it is clear that as His being brightness is witness to Him and the glory, for if the glory were not, there would be no brightness from it, so it is that to say that the brightness once was not is a declaration that the glory also was not, that is, when the brightness was not, for it cannot be that the glory should be without the brightness. As therefore it is not to be said of the brightness, 'If it was, it did not come into being, and if it came into being it was not,' so it is in vain to say this of the Son, since the Son is the brightness. And let those who speak of less and greater concerning the Father and the Son learn from Paul not to measure the immeasurable. For the Apostle says that the Son is the sure impress of the Person of the Father. 5 It is clear then that however great may be the Person of the Father, so great is the impress of that Person, for it is not possible that the sure impress should be less than the Person contemplated in it. And the great John also teaches these things when he says, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.' 6 For saying that He was in the beginning and not after the beginning, he showed that the beginning was never without the Word, and in declaring that the Word was with God, he signified the absence of defect in the Son in relation to the Father, for in the whole of God the Word is contemplated as a whole, for if the Word were deficient in His own greatness so as to be incapable of being with the whole of God, one must think that that part of God which is without the Word is beyond the Word. But in truth the whole magnitude of God is contemplated with the whole magnitude of the Word, thus there is no space in speaking of the Divine to speak of greater and less. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from On the Faith, To Simplicius  1 Prov 8.28  2 Isaiah 49.5  3 Prov 8.28 4 Rom 8.21  5 Heb 1.3 6 Jn 1.1