Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 139:8

Eastern Fathers

Basil of Caesarea

If they really conceive of a kind of degradation of the Son in relation to the Father, as though He were in a lower place, so that the Father sits above, and the Son is thrust off to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once expose its absurdity. They who refuse to allow that the Father pervades all things do not so much as maintain the logical sequence of thought in their argument. …

On The Spirit 6:15 ↗

Cosmas Indicopleustes

For Deity alone is uncircumscribed, existing everywhere, and as the same and in the same manner. For if I ascend, saith David, into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into Hades thou art present there; if I should take to myself wings at morning—that is, in the east—and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea—that is, in the west—even there shall thy hand lead me: evidently indicating here the uncircumscribed nature of the Deity

The Christian Topography, Book 2 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"If I go up," says he, "to heaven, You are there: if I go down to Hades, You are present" [Psalm 139:8]. At length, miserable runaway, you have learned, that by no means can you make yourself far from Him, from whom you have wished to remove far away. Behold, He is everywhere; thou, whither will you go? …

Exposition on Psalm 139 ↗

Bonaventure

Job says: "I always feared God as though waves were swelling over me." And why? I cannot flee on account of the sublimity of divine power, because "if I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present; if I take my wings at dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Likewise, I cannot hide on account of the perspicacity of divine wisdom, because God sees all things. …

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2 ↗