The Ecstatic Journey

...the spirit of the Doctrine; for the firmament The "firmament" (from the Latin firmamentum) refers to the expanse of the sky. In the 17th century, debate raged over whether this was a solid crystalline structure or a fluid, "permeable" space. expressly teaches that there is only one heaven, and the author repeats this in his commentary on Psalm 148. Therefore, according to him, the planets and stars must move freely within it, and thus the firmament is permeable. Read, if you please, Saint Bonaventure, Book 2 of the Sentences, part 2,

St. Bonaventure posits one heaven.

where, with an extensive argument, he teaches that there is only one continuous heaven, distinguished only by the moving stars. Furthermore, Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393–458), a bishop and influential theologian of the School of Antioch. asserts in his 14th Question on Genesis that fire and water are distributed among the individual stars;

Theodoret teaches that all stars are constructed from a common mass of elements.

"Therefore," he says, "He created the light as it pleased Him; just as He distinguished the nature of the waters by the firmament, placing some above and leaving others below, so He distinguished that light according to His will, and created the great and small lights." original Latin: "Igitur & lucem, inquit, creauit quemadmodum ei libuit..."

St. Athanasius feels the same.

Saint Athanasius St. Athanasius the Great (c. 296–373), a Greek Church Father and Bishop of Alexandria. reports this more distinctly in his 83rd Question on Genesis: "And God said, let there be light, and light was made. Since this light was great and most splendid, God divided it into the luminaries: the Sun, the Moon, and the rest."

Procopius.

Procopius Procopius of Gaza (c. 465–528), a Christian scholar who wrote commentaries on the Octateuch. also reports these things in his commentary on Genesis with almost the same phrasing: "God," he says, "taking the purest part of the primeval light, transferred it into the Sun, and distributed the remaining part among the Moon and the other stars; just as God gathered all the water—which previously flooded the earth—into a single receptacle, as it were, namely into various rivers and wells, so He contracted the light diffused everywhere into one place abundantly, and from there He illuminated the Sun, Moon, and the other stars."

Junilius.

From this, Junilius, an African Bishop, Junilius Africanus (6th century), a high-ranking official in Justinian's court known for his theological handbook. judged that our elemental fire Common "elemental fire" found on Earth, as opposed to "celestial fire." is a small portion of the celestial lights and is of the same nature as they are, because the rays of the Sun, when received through concave and convex glasses... Referring to burning glasses or lenses, which prove that celestial light can produce physical fire on Earth.