1 Objection 1: It would seem that there is only one heaven. For the heaven is contrasted with the earth, in the words, In the beginning God created heaven and earth. But there is only one earth. Therefore there is only one heaven.
1 Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod sit unum caelum tantum. Caelum enim contra terram dividitur, cum dicitur, in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. Sed terra est una tantum. Ergo et caelum est unum tantum.
2 Objection 2: Further, that which consists of the entire sum of its own matter, must be one; and such is the heaven, as the Philosopher proves De Coel. i, text. 95). Therefore there is but one heaven.
2 Praeterea, omne quod constat ex tota sua materia est unum tantum. Sed caelum est huiusmodi, ut probat philosophus in I de caelo. Ergo caelum est unum tantum.
3 Objection 3: Further, whatever is predicated of many things univocally is predicated of them according to some common notion. But if there are more heavens than one, they are so called univocally, for if equivocally only, they could not properly be called many. If, then, they are many, there must be some common notion by reason of which each is called heaven, but this common notion cannot be assigned. Therefore there cannot be more than one heaven.
3 Praeterea, quidquid dicitur de pluribus univoce, dicitur de eis secundum unam rationem communem. Sed si sunt plures caeli, caelum dicitur univoce de pluribus, quia si aequivoce, non proprie dicerentur plures caeli. Oportet ergo, si dicuntur plures caeli, quod sit aliqua ratio communis, secundum quam caeli dicantur. Hanc autem non est assignare. Non est ergo dicendum quod sint plures caeli.
4 On the contrary, It is said Ps. 148, 4): Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens.
4 Sed contra est quod dicitur in Psalmo CXLVIII, laudate eum, caeli caelorum.
5 I answer that, On this point there seems to be a diversity of opinion between Basil and Chrysostom. The latter says that there is only one heaven Hom. iv in Gen.), and that the words heavens of heavens' are merely the translation of the Hebrew idiom according to which the word is always used in the plural, just as in Latin there are many nouns that are wanting in the singular. On the other hand, Basil Hom. iii in Hexaem.),
whom Damascene follows De Fide Orth. ii), says that there are many heavens. The difference, however, is more nominal than real. For Chrysostom means by the one heaven the whole body that is above the earth and the water, for which reason the birds that fly in the air are called birds of heaven. But since in this body there are many distinct parts, Basil said that there are more heavens than one. In order, then, to understand the distinction of heavens, it must be borne in mind that Scripture speaks of heaven in a threefold sense.
Sometimes it uses the word in its proper and natural meaning, when it denotes that body on high which is luminous actually or potentially, and incorruptible by nature. In this body there are three heavens; the first is the empyrean, which is wholly luminous; the second is the aqueous or crystalline, wholly transparent; and the third is called the starry heaven, in part transparent, and in part actually luminous, and divided into eight spheres. One of these is the sphere of the fixed stars; the other seven, which may be called the seven heavens, are the spheres of the planets.
In the second place, the name heaven is applied to a body that participates in any property of the heavenly body, as sublimity and luminosity, actual or potential. Thus Damascene De Fide Orth. ii) holds as one heaven all the space between the waters and the moon's orb, calling it the aerial. According to him, then, there are three heavens, the aerial, the starry, and one higher than both these, of which the Apostle is understood to speak when he says of himself that he was rapt to the third heaven.
But since this space contains two elements, namely, fire and air, and in each of these there is what is called a higher and a lower region Rabanus subdivides this space into four distinct heavens. The higher region of fire he calls the fiery heaven; the lower, the Olympian heaven from a lofty mountain of that name: the higher region of air he calls, from its brightness, the ethereal heaven; the lower, the aerial. When, therefore, these four heavens are added to the three enumerated above, there are seven corporeal heavens in all, in the opinion of Rabanus.
Thirdly, there are metaphorical uses of the word heaven, as when this name is applied to the Blessed Trinity, Who is the Light and the Most High Spirit. It is explained by some, as thus applied, in the words, I will ascend into heaven; whereby the evil spirit is represented as seeking to make himself equal with God. Sometimes also spiritual blessings, the recompense of the Saints, from being the highest of all good gifts, are signified by the word heaven, and, in fact, are so signified, according to Augustine De Serm.
Dom. in Monte), in the words, Your reward is very great in heaven Mt. 5, 12). Again, three kinds of supernatural visions, bodily, imaginative, and intellectual, are called sometimes so many heavens, in reference to which Augustine Gen. ad lit. xii) expounds Paul's rapture to the third heaven.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod circa hoc videtur esse quaedam diversitas inter Basilium et Chrysostomum. Dicit enim Chrysostomus non esse nisi unum caelum; et quod pluraliter dicitur, caeli caelorum, hoc est propter proprietatem linguae Hebraeae, in qua consuetum est ut caelum solum pluraliter significetur; sicut sunt etiam multa nomina in Latino quae singulari carent. Basilius autem, et Damascenus sequens eum, dicunt plures esse caelos. Sed haec diversitas magis est in voce quam in re. Nam Chrysostomus unum caelum nominat totum corpus quod est supra terram et aquam, nam etiam aves, quae volant in aere, dicuntur propter hoc volucres caeli.
Sed quia in isto corpore sunt multae distinctiones, propter hoc Basilius posuit plures caelos. Ad distinctionem ergo caelorum sciendam, considerandum est quod caelum tripliciter dicitur in Scripturis. Quandoque enim dicitur proprie et naturaliter. Et sic dicitur caelum corpus aliquod sublime, et luminosum actu vel potentia, et incorruptibile per naturam. Et secundum hoc, ponuntur tres caeli. Primum totaliter lucidum, quod vocant Empyreum. Secundum totaliter diaphanum, quod vocant caelum aqueum vel crystallinum. Tertium partim diaphanum et partim lucidum actu, quod vocant caelum sidereum, et dividitur in octo sphaeras, scilicet in sphaeram stellarum fixarum, et septem sphaeras planetarum; quae possunt dici octo caeli.
Secundo dicitur caelum per participationem alicuius proprietatis caelestis corporis, scilicet sublimitatis et luminositatis actu vel potentia. Et sic totum illud spatium quod est ab aquis usque ad orbem lunae, Damascenus ponit unum caelum, nominans illud aereum. Et sic, secundum eum, sunt tres caeli, aereum, sidereum, et aliud superius, de quo intelligit quod apostolus legitur raptus usque ad tertium caelum. Sed quia istud spatium continet duo elementa, scilicet ignis et aeris, et in utroque eorum vocatur superior et inferior regio; ideo istud caelum Rabanus distinguit in quatuor, supremam regionem ignis nominans caelum igneum; inferiorem vero regionem, caelum Olympium, ab altitudine cuiusdam montis qui vocatur Olympus; supremam vero regionem aeris vocavit caelum aethereum, propter inflammationem; inferiorem vero regionem, caelum aereum.
Et sic, cum isti quatuor caeli tribus superioribus connumerantur, fiunt in universo, secundum Rabanum, septem caeli corporei. Tertio dicitur caelum metaphorice. Et sic quandoque ipsa sancta Trinitas dicitur caelum, propter eius spiritualem sublimitatem et lucem. De quo caelo exponitur Diabolum dixisse, ascendam in caelum, idest ad aequalitatem Dei. Quandoque etiam spiritualia bona in quibus est sanctorum remuneratio, propter eorum eminentiam caeli nominantur; ubi dicitur, merces vestra multa est in caelis, ut Augustinus exponit. Quandoque vero tria genera supernaturalium visionum, scilicet corporalis, imaginariae et intellectualis tres caeli nominantur. De quibus Augustinus exponit quod Paulus est raptus usque ad tertium caelum.
6 Reply to Objection 1: The earth stands in relation to the heaven as the centre of a circle to its circumference. But as one center may have many circumferences, so, though there is but one earth, there may be many heavens.
6 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod terra se habet ad caelum, ut centrum ad circumferentiam. Circa unum autem centrum possunt esse multae circumferentiae. Unde una terra existente, multi caeli ponuntur.
7 Reply to Objection 2: The argument holds good as to the heaven, in so far as it denotes the entire sum of corporeal creation, for in that sense it is one.
7 Ad secundum dicendum quod ratio illa procedit de caelo, secundum quod importat universitatem creaturarum corporalium. Sic enim est unum caelum tantum.
8 Reply to Objection 3: All the heavens have in common sublimity and some degree of luminosity, as appears from what has been said.
8 Ad tertium dicendum quod in omnibus caelis invenitur communiter sublimitas et aliqua luminositas, ut ex dictis patet.