Cosmology of St. Victorinus of Pettau: the numerals four andseven as foundational principles of the world

This article analyzes the worldview of one little-known father of the pre-Nicene pe-riod: St. Victorinus of Pettau. Like other Christian writers, his cosmological viewsare closely linked with the Biblical creation narrative. Relying on the allegorical andtypological methods of scriptural exegesis, as well as on scriptural passages deal-ing with numerology, St. Victorinus lays out a teaching about the numerals four andseven as foundational principles of the Universe in his work On the Creation of theWorld.