Nothing And Something

Ait propheta, de homine generaliter loquens: Omnes, inquit, gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo, videlicet qui vere est, ac per se, et in se, non in alio ante se, vel supra se: et quasi nihil et inane reputatae sunt, tanquam de nihilo et inani. Ergo, qui se existimat aliquid esse, cum nihil sit, ipse se seducit. Taceamus itaque aliquid quaerere, cum nihil simus; quaerere quod vere est, cum vere omnino non simus. Ad omnium enim differentiam dictum est: Ego sum qui sum, ut dicere possit omne quod id non est: Ego sum qui non sum: aut non sum qui sum. Eia quo profecimus, fratres? Aliquid quaerentes, invenimus nihil. Deum quaerentes, nosmetipsos perdidimus. Cum enim tenuissima rimula interlucere coepit de nonnihilo aliquid, magno jam nobis lumine claruit, quam de nihilo nihil simus. Domine, vere in lumine tuo videbimus lumen tuum, et tenebras nostras. Isaac Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo XIX, In Sexagisma III Source: Migne PL 194.1756 a-b

The Prophet spoke concerning men in general, saying: 'All the peoples are as nothing, so they are before Me,' 1 certainly He who truly is, through Himself, and in Himself, not in another before Him, or above Him. 'And as nothing and an emptiness they are reputed,' 1 as from nothing and from emptiness. Therefore, he who judges himself to be something, when he is nothing, deceives himself. And so let us be silent in the seeking of something, when we are nothing, the seeking of what truly is, when truly we are not anything. To distinguish Himself from everything He has said: 'I am He who is,' 2 that everything that is not Him might say: 'I am what is not,' or 'I am not He who is.' And how, considering this, have we advanced, brothers? Seeking something, we have found nothing. Seeking God, we have lost ourselves. But when light begins to shine through the tiniest chink, from nothing there is something, and now He enlightens us with a great light, that we are nothing from nothing. O Lord, truly 'in your light we shall see your light,' and our darkness. 3 Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 19, On Sexagisma, 3 1 1 Isai 40.17 2 Exod 3.14 3 Ps 35.10

Substance and Nothingness

Καὶ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου. Ἥ καὶ οὕτως· Ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ὡσει οὐθὲν ἐνωπιόν σου, ὅτι χίλια ἕτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου ὡσεὶ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἢτις παρὴλθεν, ἢ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτὶ, τουτέστιν ὥραι τρεῖς ἢ τέσσαρες. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπάρχεις ἀεὶ, ἡ δ' ἐμὴ ὑπόστασίς ὀλίγη παντελῶς ἐστιν καὶ συνεσταλμένη, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ὅλως ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, μὴ ἀφῇς κολάζεσθαι μακρὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀσθενείας ὠλισθηκότα, μήτε μὴν τῷ παντὶ τοῦ βίου μήκει σύνδρομον ἔχοιμι τὴν πληγήν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ὑπόστασίς, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας κατάδυσις εἴπεν· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος βίωσις. Ὁ γαρ ἀνθρώπινος βίος οὐδεν ἐστιν, ὡς πρὸς τὴν θείαν ἀϊδιότητα· καψὰ τὸ, Σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς εἶ· ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ παρ' ἀνθρώποις σπουδὴ, ματαιότης ματαιοτήτων. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Εἰς Τον Ψαλμον ΛΗ' Source: Migne PG 69.973c-976a

And my substance is nothing before you. 1 So he says that his substance is nothing before you, because a thousand years before your eyes are like a day which has passed, or a watch in the night 2 that is, three or four hours. When, then, you are eternal my existence is contracted to a tiny thing, and it is as nothing in your sight, and that lest you give long length for punishment to him who in his weakness errs, and all through such life he have a flood of blows. Now for substance, the translator Aquila writes 'depths', and Symmachus has 'life'. For human life is nothing before the eternity of God, according to which, 'You yourself are, and every concern of man is a vanity of vanities.' 3 Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Psalm 38 1 Ps 38.6 2  Ps 89.4 3 Ps 101.28

Something About Nothing

Omnibus fidelibus et domni nostri serenissimi principis Caroli in sacro ejus palatio consistentibus Fredigysius diaconus.  Agitatem diutissime a quampluribus quaestionem de nihilo, quam indiscussam inexaminatamque veluti impossibilem ad explicandum reliquerunt, mecum sedulo volvens, atque pertractens, tandem visum mihi fuit aggredi; eamque nodis vehementibus, quibus videbatur implicata, disruptis absolvi atque enodavi, deterosque nubilo in lucem restitui; memoriae quoque posteritatis cunctis in futurum saeculis mandandam praevidi. Quaestio autem hujusmodi est, nihilne aliquid sit, an non. Si quis responderit, Videtur mihi nihil esse, ipsa ejus quam putat negatio compellit eum fateri aliquid esse nihil. Quod tale est quasi dicat, Videtur mihi nihil quiddam esse. Quod si aliquid esse videtur ut non sit quodam modo videri non potest. Quocirca relinquitur ut aliquid esse videatur. Si vero hujusmodi fiat responsio, Videtur mihi nihil nec aliquid esse, huic responsioni obviandum est, primum ratione, in quantum hominis ratio patitur, deinde auctoritate, non qualibet, sed ratione duntaxat, quae sola auctoritas est, solaque immobilem obtinet firmitatem. Agamus itaque ratione. Omne itaque nomen finitum aliquid significat, ut homo, lapis, lignum. Haec enim ubi dicta fuerint, simul res quas fuerint significant intelligimus. Quippe hominis nomen praeter differentiam aliquam positum universalitatem hominum designat. Lapis et lignum suam similiter generalitatem complectuntur. Igitur nihil ad id quod significat refertur. Ex hoc etiam probatur non posse aliquid non esse. Omnis significatio est quod est. Nihil autem aliquid significat. Igitur nihil ejus significatio est quid est, id est, rei existentis. Epistola De Nihilo et Tenebris, Ad Proceres Palatii, Fredegesius Turonensis

To all the faithful and to our most serene prince Charles, gathered together at his sacred palace, Fredegesius the deacon. For a very long time the question about nothing being troublesome to many people, it has been undiscussed and unexamined as a thing about which it is almost impossible to give an explanation, but carefully considering it in myself and drawing it out until at last I saw it as something approachable, the strong knots in which it appeared to be bound loosening and dissolving, I then from such a cloud restored it to the light, and thought it prudent to commit it into the memory of all the ages to come. The question is: Whether nothing is something or not? If someone responds, 'It seems to me to be nothing,' by this denial itself he is compelled to admit that something is nothing. It is as if he were to say, 'It seems to me that nothing is a certain thing.' But if it seems to be something it is unable not to appear to be in any way. Thus it remains that it seems to be something. If then this is the response: 'It seems to me to be nothing not something,' this answer is opposed first by reasoning, insofar as human reason permits, next by authority, but not any authority, but only insofar as it accords with reason, which alone is an authority and which alone obtains immovable strength. Let us act, therefore, in accordance with reason. Every finite name signifies something, so: man, stone, wood. When these are said, at the same time we understand the things they signify. Of course, the name man without any qualifier designates the universal term man and stone and wood in similar fashion are grasped. Therefore nothing signifies something to which it refers. By which it is proved that it is not able to be something which does not exist. Every signification is of something and even nothing signifies something. Therefore, nothing signifies something which is, that is, an existing thing. Letter on Nothing and Darkness, To the Nobles of the Palace, Fredegesius of Tours