EN XXVIa: οὐσιωθῆναι

This infinitive form is extremely rare. No more than four instances can be identified prior to the fifth century AD. Among them, we find both Didymus and Theodoret, but definitive ascription should be cautious, since it may well be the vocabulary of a catenist rather than of the authors themselves. In addition, we encounter a characteristic usage such as this in Pseudo-Justin: hence the likelihood that Cassian was the real author of this text remains strong. I believe, therefore, that the present infinitive-form in the Scholion is Cassian’s own.

EN XXVIb: κτίζον-κτιζόμενον

The distinction is made between the ‘Being of the Creator himself’ and that of ‘rational beings’, that is, creatures. The first half of this introductory period refers to the uncreated Logos, according to the common theological theme that the One who spoke throughout biblical history was God the Logos. He is also the same one who appeared in the apocalyptic vision of Revelation. The second half of the period refers to rational creatures, echoing Origen’s doctrine of creation: the object of creation was the ‘reasons’: it was according and after them that actual creatures came into being. Thus οὐσιωθῆναι refers to the creation of the ‘reasons’ (λόγοι), according to which creation was produced, whereas κτισθῆναι points to the actual creation. The author remains faithful to Origen’s distinction.