But there is also mental place where mind is
active, and mental and incorporeal nature exists: where mind
dwells and energises and is contained not in a bodily but in a mental
fashion. For it is without form, and so cannot be contained as a
body is. God, then, being immaterial ἄϋλος
ὤν. Greg. Naz., Orat. 34, Greg.
Nyss., De anim. et resurr., &c. speak of God as nowhere
and as everywhere.
and uncircumscribed, has not place. For He is His own place,
filling all things and being above all things, and Himself maintaining
all things Greg. Naz.,
Orat. 34.. Yet we
speak of God having place and the place of God where His energy becomes
manifest. For He penetrates everything without mixing with it,
and imparts to all His energy in proportion to the fitness and
receptive power of each: and by this I mean, a purity both
natural and voluntary. For the immaterial is purer than the
material, and that which is virtuous than that which is linked with
vice. Wherefore by the place of God is meant that which has a
greater share in His energy and grace. For this reason the Heaven
is His throne. For in it are the angels who do His will and are
always glorifying Him Isai. vi. 1, seq.. For this
is His rest and the earth is His footstool Isai. lxvi. 1.. For in it He dwelt in the flesh
among men Baruch iii. 38.. And His
sacred flesh has been named the foot of God. The Church, too, is
spoken of as the place of God: for we have set this apart for the
glorifying of God as a sort of consecrated place wherein we also hold
converse with Him. Likewise also the places in which His energy
becomes manifest to us, whether through the flesh or apart from flesh,
are spoken of as the places of God.