eaven and of earth." Chap. 16
"Christians as men who know God pray to him for things which it becomes
him to give and them to receive." Similarly Justin: "From very many old
Gentile Christian writings we hear it as a cry of joy 'We know God the
Almighty, the night of blindness is past'" (see, e.g., 2 Clem. c. 1).
God is [Greek: despotes], a designation which is very frequently used
(it is rare in the New Testament). Still more frequently do we find
[Greek: kurios]. As the Lord and Creator God is also called the Father
(of the world) so 1 Clem. 19. 2 [Greek: ho pater kai ktistes tou
sumpantos kosmou]; 35. 3 [Greek: demiourgos kai pater ton aionon]. This
use of the name Father for the supreme God was as is well known familiar
to the Greeks, but the Christians alone were in earnest with the name.
The creation out of nothing was made decidedly prominent by Hermas, see
Vis. I. 1. 6 and my notes on the passage. In the Christian Apocrypha, in
spite of the vividness of the idea of God, the angels play the same role
as in the Jewish, and as in the current Jewish speculations. According
to Hermas, e.g., all God's actions are mediated by special angels, nay
the Son of God himself is represented by a special angel, viz. Michael,
and works by him. But outside the Apocalypses there seems to have been
little interest in the good angels.]

[Footnote 229: See, for example 1 Clem. 20.]

[Footnote 230: This is frequent in the Apologists, see also Diogn. 10.
2; but Hermas, Vis. II. 4. 1 (see also Cels. ap Orig. IV. 23) says
[Greek: dia ten ekklesian ho kosmos katertisthe] (cf. I. 1. 6 and my
notes on the passage). Aristides (Apol. 16) declares it as his
conviction that "the beautiful things, that is, the world are maintained
only for the sake of Christians," see besides the words (I. c.), "I have
no doubt that the earth continues to exist (only) on account of the
prayers of the Christians." Even the Jewish Apocalyptists wavered
between the formulae, that the world was created for the sake of man and
for the sake of the Jewish nation. The two are not mutually exclusive.
The statement in the Eucharistic prayer of Didache, 9. 3 [Greek: ektisas
ta panta heneken tou onomatos sou] is singular.]

[Footnote 231: God is named the Father, (1) in relation to the Son (very
frequent) (2) as Father of the world (see above) (3) as the merciful one
who has proved his goodness, declared his will and called Christians to
be his sons (1 Clem. 23. 1, 29. 1,