That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.
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Evagrius Ponticus
AD 399
If those are “blessed who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” and at the same time the kingdom of heaven is the totality of the ideas of the things that have been and will come into being, then it follows that the persecuted are blessed because they have insight into the knowledge of created things. .
“Our Father.” No one should be astonished that one not yet born calls God Father. With God, beings who will be born are already born; with God future beings have been made. “The things that shall be,” Scripture says, “have already been.” [Thus] it is that while John was still in the womb he perceived his creator, and he who was unaware of his own life served as a messenger to his mother. [Thus] too we read that Jacob waged war before he was born and triumphed before he lived. [Thus] too, those who do not yet exist themselves are existent for God, that is, those who were chosen before the foundation of the world.
