Interestingly, although he was
probably a Christian, Calcidius did not embrace creatio ex nihilo, but,
like the Christian Platonist Justin Martyr, postulated the pre-existence of
uncreated matter. According to Calcidius, the first principles are God, matter
(silva), and the ideas (exempla/exemplaria). God is
Plato’s Good, transcendent, superior to intelligence, and ineffable.
Intellect/Nous, identified with Providence, is ‘the second God’, proceeding
from the first God; the cosmic Soul is the second Intellect, which proceeds
from the first Intellect. Fate depends on Providence and does not compromise
the free will of rational creatures. This was also maintained by the Christian
‘Middle Platonist’ Bardaisan, as well as Origen, whose writings Calcidius knew,
and who was the champion of the compatibility of Providence and free will;
Origen impacted Gregory of Nyssa, on the basis of Plato’s theodicy tenet, ‘God
is not responsible’ for evil. (Ilaria L. E. Ramelli, “’Revelation’ for Christians
and Pagans and Its Philosophical Allegoresis: Intersections within Imperial
Platonism,” in Divination and Revelation in Later Antiquity, ed. Elsa
Giovanna Simonetti and Claire Hall [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2023], 63)
