THE DOG STAR. 10.
This Bear, he says, is Cynosura, the "Dog Tail," the second, smaller
creation, the narrow path, and not Helike (i.e., "turning"). This is
because Cynosura leads not backward but forward, guiding those who follow it on
the straight path, since it is a dog [κυων].
For the Word is a dog who guards and keeps the flock, against which wolves
conspire. He hunts and destroys the beasts out of creation and generates all
things. They actually claim that he conceives [κυων] (that is, "generates") all
things. 11. Next, they say, Aratos speaks about the rising of the Dog Star, or Sirius.
When the Dog rises, no longer does "herbage" give a false appear- ance.
Aratos explains that plants planted in the soil up until the rising of the Dog
Star often do not send out roots even though they sprout leaves and indicate to
onlookers that they will bear mature fruit. They appear to be alive but do not
have life in themselves from the root. 12. But when the Dog Star rises, it will
distinguish the living from the dead-for what did not send out roots truly
withers. So this Dog Star, he says, is a divine Word, established as
"judge of the living and the dead."
Just as the Dog Star is viewed as the
overseer of the plants of creation, so, he says, the Word oversees the heavenly
plants (that is, human beings). 13. By this sort of reasoning, the second
creation, Cynosura, stands in heaven as an image of rational creation.
In the middle of the two creations, the
Serpent stretches up from below, preventing the events of the great creation
from shifting to the smaller. He protects the things established in the great
creation (just like the Kneeler) and watches over the condition established for
each of the realities in the smaller creation. 14. All the while, he says, he
is guarded by the Snakeholder, who keeps watch above his head. This image of
creation, he says, stands fixed in heaven as wisdom to those with eyes to see it.
But if this is hard to understand, he says, creation teaches us to seek wisdom
through another illustration. (Refutation of All Heresies 4.48.10-14, in, Refutation
of All Heresies [trans. M. David Litwa; Writings from the Greco-Roman
World; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2016], 179, 181)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift
card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift
Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
