Letter 16: He who maintains that it is possible to arrive at the discovery of things actually existing, has no doubt by some orderly method advanced his intelligence by means of the knowledge of actually existing things. It is after first training himself by the apprehension of small and easily comprehensible objects, that he brings his apprehensive facult...

Anyone who claims they can fully comprehend the nature of reality itself has presumably worked their way up methodically — starting with small, graspable things before tackling what lies beyond all human understanding. So here's a test. You boast that you've grasped the nature of actual existence? Fine. Explain the nature of the smallest visible creature for me. Tell me everything about the ant. Does it breathe? Does it have a skeleton? Are its parts held together by tendons and ligaments? Are the tendons wrapped in muscles and glands? Does it have a spinal cord running from head to tail along vertebrae? Does a nervous membrane drive its limbs? Does it have a liver — and a gall bladder beside it? Kidneys? A heart? Arteries, veins, membranes, cartilage? Is it hairy or hairless? Does it have a solid hoof, or are its feet divided? How long does it live? How does it reproduce? What is its gestation period? Why do some ants walk while others fly — some crawling on the ground, others traveling through the air? The person who prides himself on knowing the nature of reality should be able to answer these questions about a common ant. Once he's done that, he can move on to giving us a physiological account of the Power that transcends all human intelligence. But if your knowledge can't yet explain the nature of an insignificant ant, how can you claim to comprehend the nature of the incomprehensible God?

ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA Against Eunomius the heretic. He who maintains that it is possible to arrive at the discovery of things actually existing, has no doubt by some orderly method advanced his intelligence by means of the knowledge of actually existing things. It is after first training himself by the apprehension of small and easily comprehensible objects, that he brings his apprehensive faculty to bear on what is beyond all intelligence. He makes his boast that he has really arrived at the comprehension of actual existences; let him then explain to us the nature of the least of visible beings; let him tell us all about the ant. Does its life depend on breath and breathing? Has it a skeleton? Is its body connected by sinews and ligaments? Are its sinews surrounded with muscles and glands? Does its marrow go with dorsal vertebræ from brow to tail? Does it give impulse to its moving members by the enveloping nervous membrane? Has it a liver, with a gall bladder near the liver? Has it kidneys, heart, arteries, veins, membranes, cartilages? Is it hairy or hairless? Has it an uncloven hoof, or are its feet divided? How long does it live? What is its mode of reproduction? What is its period of gestation? How is it that ants neither all walk nor all fly, but some belong to creeping things, and some travel through the air? The man who glories in his knowledge of the really-existing ought to tell us in the meanwhile about the nature of the ant. Next let him give us a similar physiological account of the power that transcends all human intelligence. But if your knowledge has not yet been able to apprehend the nature of the insignificant ant, how can you boast yourself able to form a conception of the power of the incomprehensible God?

[Πρός: Πρὸς Εὐνόμιον τὸν αἱρετικόν] Ὁ ἐφικτὴν εἶναι λέγων τῶν ὄντων τὴν εὕρεσιν, ὁδῷ τινὶ πάντως καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ διὰ τῆς τῶν ὄντων γνώσεως παρέβαλεν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν· καὶ τοῖς εὐλήπτοις τε καὶ μικροτέροις ἐγγυμνασθεὶς διὰ τῆς καταλήψεως, οὕτω καὶ εἰς τὴν ἐπέκεινα πάσης ἐννοίας προήγαγεν ἑαυτὸν καταληπτικὴν φαντασίαν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τὴν περὶ τῶν ὄντων εἴδησιν κατειληφέναι μεγαλαυχούμενος τὸ σμικρότατον τῶν προφαινομένων, ὅπως ἔχει φύσεως, ἑρμηνευσάτω, καὶ τίς ἡ τοῦ μύρμηκος φύσις, εἰπάτω· εἰ πνεύματι καὶ ἄσθματι συνέχεται αὐτοῦ ἡ ζωή· εἰ ὀστέοις τὸ σῶμα διείληπται· εἰ νεύροις καὶ συνδέσμοις τὰς ἁρμονίας τετόνωται· εἰ μυῶν περιβολῇ καὶ ἀδένων ἡ τῶν νεύρων περικρατεῖται θέσις· εἰ τοῖς νωτιαίοις σπονδύλοις ἐκ τοῦ βρέγματος ἐπὶ τὸ οὐραῖον ὁ μυελὸς συμπαρατείνεται· εἰ τῇ περιοχῇ τοῦ νευρώδους ὑμένος, τοῖς κινουμένοις μέλεσι τὴν ὁρμητικὴν ἐνδίδωσι δύναμιν· εἰ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ ἧπαρ, καὶ τὸ χοληδόχον ἀγγεῖον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἥπατος, νεφροί τε καὶ καρδία καὶ ἀρτηρίαι καὶ φλέβες, ὑμένες καὶ διαφράγματα· εἰ ψιλόν ἐστιν, ἢ τετρίχωται· εἰ μονώνυχόν ἐστιν, ἢ πολυσχιδεῖς ἔχει τὰς βάσεις· πόσον δὲ βιοῖ τὸν χρόνον, καὶ τίς αὐτοῖς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐξ ἀλλήλων γεννήσεως· ἐπὶ πόσον δὲ κυΐσκεται τὸ τικτόμενον· καὶ πῶς οὔτε πεζοὶ πάντες οἱ μύρμηκες, οὔτε ὑπόπτεροι πάντες, ἀλλʼ οἱ μὲν τῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων εἰσίν, οἱ δὲ διαέριοι φέρονται. Ὁ τοίνυν τῶν ὄντων τὴν γνῶσιν ἐπικομπάζων, τέως τὴν τοῦ μύρμηκος φύσιν εἰπάτω· εἶθʼ οὕτω φυσιολογείτω τὴν πάντα νοῦν ὑπερέχουσαν δύναμιν. εἰ δὲ τοῦ βραχυτάτου μύρμηκος οὔπω περιέλαβες τῇ γνώσει τὴν φύσιν, πῶς τὴν ἀκατάληπτον τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν μεγαλαυχεῖς φαντάζεσθαι;