Stars And Names

Ὁ ἀριθμῶν πλήθη ἄστρων, καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς ὀνόματα καλῶν. Διὰ πάντων τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν κηρύττει. Ὁ ἀριθμῶν δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὴν γνῶσιν ἐκάλεσε, καὶ ἄστρων δὲ ὀνόματα τὰς τῶν ἀστέτων διαφορὰς, καὶ τὴν τούτων θέσιν τε καὶ διάταξιν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν. Οὐ γὰρ ὀνόμασι κεχρημένος ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τοὺς ἀστέρας καλεῖ· ἄψυχα γὰρ ταῦτα, καὶ λόγου ἐστερημένα. Ἄνθρωποι δὲ, ἀσεβεῖ γνώμῃ χρησάμενοι, ἀπὸ μύθων ὑπ' αὐτῶν πεπλασμένων ἔθεσαν τοῖς ἄστροις ὀνόματα. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΡΜϚ' Source: Migne PG 80.1980c

He who numbers the multitude of the stars and gives to every one its name. 1 He speaks of the power of God in all things. 'He who numbers' he gives for knowledge, and 'the names of the stars' for discrimination of them, their positions and order and the arrangement among themselves. For the God of all things has no use for the calling of the stars by names, since they are soulless and without reason. But men, by use of impious minds, from fables they themselves concocted, have imposed names on the stars. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Interpretation of the Psalms, from Psalm 146 1 Ps 146.4