OF OUR HOLY FATHER
BASIL, ARCHBISHOP OF CÆSAREA IN CAPPADOCIA, NINE HOMILIES ON THE HEXAEMERON
HOMILY I.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1. It is a fitting beginning for one who is about to discourse on the structure of the world to set at the head of his account the beginning of the ordering of visible things. For the creation of the heaven and the earth is about to be delivered, not brought into existence automatically, as some have imagined, but receiving its cause from God. What sense is worthy of the magnitude of these words? How is it becoming to approach the hearing of such great matters with a prepared soul? It should be pure from the passions of the flesh, unblinded by worldly cares, industrious, searching, looking about on every side to see if it might receive some worthy thought of God. But before we examine the precision of the words, and—
A let us weigh and explore how much is signified by these small utterances, and consider who it is that speaks to us. For although we do not reach the profound meanings of the writer due to the weakness of our mind, nevertheless, by being attentive to the credibility of the one who speaks, we shall be led automatically to assent to what has been said. Moses, therefore, is the one who puts forth this writing; that Moses who B was testified to be comely before God even while he was still an infant at the breast; whom the daughter of Pharaoh adopted and raised in royal fashion, setting over him for his education the wise men of the Egyptians; who, hating the pride of tyranny and having fled toward the lowly among his own kin, chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to have the temporary enjoyment of sin; who acquired the love of righteousness from his very nature, seeing that even before he was entrusted with the leadership of the people, he is shown, due to the hatred of evil inherent in his nature, to have avenged the oppressed even to the point of death; who, having been driven away by those he had benefited, and having gladly left behind the Egyptian tumults, arrived in Ethiopia, and there, having taken complete rest from all other matters, devoted himself for forty whole years to the contemplation of existing things; who, already eighty years of age, saw God as it is possible for a man to see Him, or rather, as it was granted to no one else, according to the very testimony C of God Himself: "If there be a prophet among you to the Lord, I will make myself known to him in a vision, and I will speak to him in a dream. Not so, my servant Moses, in all my house he is faithful: mouth to mouth I will speak to him, in appearance, and not by riddles." This man, therefore, deemed worthy to the same degree as the angels of the face-to-face vision of God, speaks to us of those things which he heard from God. Let us therefore listen to the words of truth, not in the persuasive arguments of human wisdom, but as spoken in the teachings of the Spirit, whose end is not the praise of the hearers, but the salvation of those who are taught.
2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The wonder of this thought stops my speech. What shall I say first? Where shall I begin my exposition? Shall I refute the vanity of those outside D the faith? Or
shall I praise our own truth? The philosophers of the Greeks have written much about nature, and not one of their doctrines has remained firm and unshaken, for each successor always overturns the one before him. Therefore, we have no labor in refuting them; they are sufficient for their own overthrow. For those who did not know God did not allow that an intelligent cause presided over the generation of the universe, but logically concluded following the sequence of their initial ignorance. For this reason, some have taken refuge in material hypotheses, attributing the cause of the universe to the elements of the world; others have imagined that atoms, indivisible bodies, masses, and passages hold together the nature of visible things. B Now, indeed, with indivisible bodies conjoining, and now again separating, they have thought that generations and corruptions arise, and that the cause of the duration of the more durable bodies proceeds from the stronger entanglement of atoms with one another. Truly, those who write these things weave a spider’s web, positing such tenuous and unsubstantial principles of heaven, earth, and sea. For they knew not how to say: *In the beginning God created heaven and earth.* Because of the ignorance of the Divinity dwelling within them, they fell into this error, believing that all things, as if moved by chance and at random, are neither ruled nor governed. Lest this happen to us, he who wrote the account of the world's creation immediately in the first words illuminated our understanding by the name of God, saying: *In the beginning God created.* What a beautiful order! C First he placed "In the beginning," lest any should imagine the world to be without beginning; then he added "created," so that it might be shown that the thing made is the smallest part of the Creator’s power. For just as a potter, after fashioning countless vessels with the same art, has not exhausted either his art or his power; so also the Maker of this universe, having a creative power not confined to one world, but exceeding it by an infinite degree, brought the magnitudes of the visible world into being by the mere movement of His will. Since, therefore, the world has a beginning and has been made, inquire who it is that gave it a beginning, and who its maker is. Nay rather, lest you go astray from the truth by searching with human reasonings, He anticipates us with this teaching, as if with a seal and a safeguard for D our souls.
A Having cast into our souls the precious name of God, He said: *In the beginning God created.* The blessed nature, the boundless goodness, that which is lovable to all who have partaken of reason, the much-desired beauty, the origin of things that exist, the fountain of life, the intellectual light, the unapproachable wisdom—He it is who *in the beginning created the heaven and the earth.*
3. Do not, O man, imagine that those things which are seen are without beginning, nor, because in heaven things that move revolve in a circle, and the beginning of a circle is not easily grasped by our ready perception, suppose that the nature of these circular bodies is without beginning. For this circle—I mean the plane figure enclosed by one line—because it escapes B our perception, and we can neither discover where it began nor where it ended, we are not on that account to suppose that it is without beginning. But even if it escapes our sense, in truth it certainly began from some point, from which it was described with a center and a certain interval. So do not you, because things that move in a circle return upon themselves, and the uniformity of their movement is not interrupted by any middle point, be led into the error of thinking that the world is without beginning and will have no end. For *the fashion of this world passes away*, and, *Heaven and earth shall pass away.* This is an announcement beforehand of the doctrines regarding the consummation and the transformation of the world, which are now briefly delivered at the beginning of this divinely inspired instruction: *In the beginning God created.* Everything that has begun in time must of necessity also end in time. If it has a temporal beginning, do not doubt C about the end. For geometry and arithmetic methods, and investigations into solids, and the much-celebrated astronomy—that busy vanity—to what end do they lead? Since those who have made these things their study have conceived this visible world to be co-eternal with God, the Creator of all; and because the world is circumscribed, and possesses a body compacted of matter, [one might think]—but we assume that to be a rashly spoken doctrine. The reason, however, why he judges so is this: because angels and souls have had a beginning, yet are never to cease. But who does not see that an undeserved dispute is being brought against Basil, since it is evident that in this place he is not speaking of angels or of the soul, but only of visible things? Let us hear him: *Since,* he says, *those who have studied these matters have decreed that this visible world is co-eternal with God, the Creator of the universe.* Since, therefore, angels and the soul are not in themselves perceptible, nor can they be discerned by the eyes, the words of Basil should not be taken as referring to this, nor to those. The sole aim and purpose of this most grave Father is to show that the world is not by itself and by its own nature eternal, but that whatever is visible and sensible in the world is all subject to corruption. Basil himself immediately D assigns the cause of this thing: *Nor,* he says, *could they perceive this, that it is necessary that the whole, whose parts are subject to corruption and change, should itself also at some time be liable to the same affections, as are its parts.* This method of argumentation, by the leave of the most learned man, I would say has much weight and strength. Ambrose followed Basil, *lib. 1 in Hexaem., p. 6, num. 10.*
A attributing the same glory to the incomprehensible and invisible nature. They were not even able to observe that which is necessary, that a whole, whose parts are subject to corruption and change, must itself also at some time be subject to the same affections as its own parts. But they became so "vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools," that some affirmed the heaven to have existed from eternity together with God; while others determined that it was itself God, without beginning and without end, and the cause of the order of things in detail.
4. Verily, this abundance of worldly wisdom will one day bring a more grievous condemnation, because, being so keen-sighted in vain things, they have of their own accord blinded themselves to the understanding of the truth. For those who measure the distances of the stars, and record those which are always visible and those which are northern, and describe those which are situated about the southern pole—which are visible to those living there, but unknown to us—and who divide the northern breadth and the zodiacal circle into countless intervals; and who diligently observe the turnings of the stars, their stations, their declinations, and the motion of them all towards the preceding points, and in how much time each of the wandering stars completes its own period: they have not found one single art among them all by which to recognize God as the Creator of the universe, and a just Judge, who renders to everyone reward according to the merits of their lives; nor have they taken into their minds this thought of the consummation of the judgment, which is consistent with the doctrine of the judgment—namely that the world must necessarily be transformed, if the state of souls is to pass into another mode of life. For just as the present life has a nature akin to this world, so also the future mode of life of our souls shall receive its lot appropriate to its state. B But they are so far from attending to these truths as if they were real, that they even pour forth loud laughter at us when we speak of the consummation of this world and the regeneration of the age. Since, however, the beginning is by nature placed before those things which proceed from it, necessarily, when he was about to discourse concerning those things which have their existence from time, he placed this utterance before all others, saying: "In the beginning God created." C D
A For there was, as it seems, even before the constitution of this world, something which is indeed conceivable by our understanding, but which has been left unrecorded because it was by no means suitable for those who are still being instructed and are as yet infants in knowledge. There was a state more ancient than the creation of the world, befitting the supramundane powers, a state beyond time, eternal, everlasting. In it, the Founder and Artificer of all things fashioned his works: spiritual light, befitting the blessedness of those who love the Lord; rational and invisible natures; and all the orderly arrangement of the intelligible realm, which surpasses our understanding—things whose very names it is not possible to discover. These B fill up the essence of the invisible world, as Paul teaches us, saying: "For in him were created all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers, or virtues, or the hosts of angels, or the commands of archangels."
But when it was necessary, finally, for this world also to be introduced to the things that already existed, it was intended, first, as a school and place of instruction for human souls, and then, in general, as a dwelling-place suitable for all things that are subject to generation and corruption.
Consequently, the course of time was brought into being, connatural with the world and with the animals and plants in it; it is always pressing forward, flowing past, and never resting from its journey. For is not time of such a nature that the part which is past has vanished, the future is not yet present, and the present escapes the senses before it can be known? Such too is the nature of generated things—entirely either growing or decaying, possessing no evident stability or permanence. C It was fitting, therefore, that the bodies of animals and plants, which are bound by necessity to a kind of flux, and are held fast by a motion leading to generation or corruption, should be encompassed by the nature of time, which possesses a property related to things that are mutable. Hence, he who wisely instructs us concerning the origins of the world aptly began his discourse about it, saying: "In the beginning he created"—that is, in this beginning which is according to time. For he does not mean to witness that it surpassed all created things in antiquity when he says it was made "in the beginning"; but he is narrating that, after the invisible and intelligible things, these visible and sensible things had the beginning of their existence. D
A And indeed the first motion is also called a "beginning"—for example: "The beginning of a good way is to do just things" (Prov. xvi, 5), for from just actions we are first moved toward the blessed life. Again, that from which something comes into being is also called a "beginning," when something else happens to be present within it, as a foundation in a house, or a keel in a ship; according to which interpretation it is said: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord" (Prov. i, 7). For piety is as a base and foundation for perfection. Likewise, art is the beginning of technical works, as the wisdom of Beseleel was the beginning of the ornamentation of the tabernacle. Often, too, the useful end of things being done is the beginning of actions; for instance, the winning of God’s grace is the beginning of almsgiving. Likewise, the end of the promises is the beginning of any action whatsoever that proceeds from virtue.
B Since, therefore, I would have you consider whether this word "beginning" fits each of these meanings: you can, in fact, learn from what time the structure of this world began, if only, progressing from the present to the previous ages, you strive to find the first day of the world's generation. For in this way you will discover whence the first motion was present in time; then, that heaven and earth were established beforehand as a kind of foundation and base; then, that there is a certain intelligent design—as the word "beginning" indicates to you—that presides over the order and arrangement of visible things. Finally, you will grasp that the world was thought out not rashly C nor in vain, but for a useful end, and one that would be of great service to all things that exist; since it is truly a gymnasium for souls endowed with reason, and a place where knowledge of God is acquired—inasmuch as it leads the mind, as if by the hand, through visible and sensible things to the contemplation of things invisible, as the Apostle says: "For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. i, 20).
Or perhaps it is said, "In the beginning he made," because of the instantaneous and timeless nature of the creation, since the beginning is something indivisible and D without dimension. For just as the beginning of a road is not yet the road, and the beginning of a house is by no means a house, so too the beginning of time is not yet time, nor even the smallest part of it. But if anyone, disputing, should say that the beginning is time, he must know that he would divide it into the parts of time. These are the beginning, the middle, and the end. But to think of a beginning of the beginning is utterly ridiculous. And one who divides the beginning into two will make two instead of one—or rather, infinite ones, since that which is divided is always cut into other parts. In order, therefore, that we may be taught together...
that the world was brought into existence by the will of God without any interval of time, it is said: *In the beginning he made*. Which other interpreters A, expounding the meaning more clearly, have rendered: *In a summary [or, in a head/chapter] he made, God*, that is, at once and in a short space. So much, then, for the *beginning*, to say a little out of many things.
7. But since, among the arts, some are called productive, others practical, and others speculative; and since the end of the speculative is the operation of the mind itself, but the end of the practical is the very movement of the body, which, when it ceases, nothing subsists nor remains for those who see it—for there is no end to dancing or the art of flute-playing, but the action itself terminates in itself—whereas in the productive arts, even when the operation B has ceased, the work remains; as for instance, the work of the art of building, of carpentry, of smithing, of weaving, and as many as are such, which, even if the craftsman is not present, sufficiently show the technical principles within themselves, and you are able to admire the builder from the work, and the smith, and the weaver. In order, therefore, to show that the world is an artificial structure, set forth before all for contemplation, so that through it the wisdom of him who made it might be known, the wise Moses used no other word concerning it, but said C: *In the beginning he made*. He did not say "he operated," nor "he brought into existence," but *He made*. And inasmuch as many of those who imagined that the world had existed with God from eternity, did not allow that it had been generated by Him, but [thought it] as if it were a shadow of His power having subsisted automatically; and although they admit God to be its cause, yet [that He is] a cause unintentionally—just as the body [is] to the shadow, and that which reflects light to the radiance—the prophet, correcting this such error, used this precision of words, saying: *In the beginning God made*. He dHe did not merely provide this very thing as the cause of being, but as one who is good, he made what is useful; as one who is wise, the most beautiful; as one who is powerful, the greatest. Only
A he showed you the Artificer not only entering into the creation of the whole, and fitting the individual parts to one another, but also making the whole world consistent with itself, and harmonious, and beautifully ordered. *In the beginning God created heaven and earth.* By these two extremes B he hinted at the existence of the universe, assigning the precedence of creation to the heaven, and speaking of the earth as secondary in existence. And certainly, whatever is intermediate between these was generated along with the extremities. So even if he says nothing about the elements—fire, and water, and air—you should nevertheless realize by your own intelligence, first, that all things are mixed in all things, and that you will find water, and air, and fire in the earth; since fire is struck from stones, and from iron, which itself also derives its origin from the earth, abundant fire is wont to flash forth upon friction. And this too is worthy of admiration: how the fire that exists in bodies C lies hidden inside without causing harm; yet when it is called forth to the outside, it is destructive to those things that were just now preserving it. The well-diggers demonstrate the nature of water existing in the earth; and the nature of the air is shown by those exhalations sent up from beneath, when the earth becomes moist and is warmed by the sun. Furthermore, if by nature the heaven occupies the upper place, and the earth is the lowest—since light things are naturally borne toward heaven, and heavy things are naturally inclined toward the earth, and "above" and "below" are most opposed to each other—he who mentioned things most distant in nature from one another has also, by inclusion, indicated those which fill the space between them. So do not seek D the explanation of every single item, but understand the things passed over in silence through the things that have been declared. For 8 *In the beginning God created heaven and earth.* The inquiry into the essence of each of the things that exist, whether those that fall under our contemplation or those that are presented to our senses, introduces for the interpretation a long and rambling discourse, since in examining this problem more words would have to be expended than in the rest of what can be said about each of the things being investigated; furthermore, it would not be worth the effort for the edification of the Church to spend time on these things. But regarding the essence of heaven, those things said by Isaiah are sufficient for us, who, in common words, has instilled in us a sufficient understanding of its nature, saying: *He who established the heaven as smoke.*
A Let us use the same advice for ourselves regarding the earth, not to be overly curious about what its substance might be, nor to wear ourselves out with reasoning in order to search out the underlying subject itself, nor to seek some nature bereft of qualities, existing without qualities in its own definition, but rather to know well that all things observed in it relate to the rationale of its existence, being complementary to its substance. For you will end up with nothing if you try to remove each of the qualities inherent in it by reasoning. For if you take away the blackness, the cold, the weight, the density, the qualities pertaining to taste inherent in it, or whatever other qualities are observed in it, there will be no subject left. Having left these things behind, then, I also advise you not to seek that upon which it stands. For the mind will grow dizzy B even in this way, with reasoning continuing to no agreed-upon end. For if you say that air is spread out beneath the breadth of the earth, you will wonder how a soft and porous nature holds up when compressed by such great weight, and does not rather slip away from every side, escaping the compression, and always pouring upwards over that which compresses it. Again, if you suppose to yourself that water is placed beneath the earth, and you inquire in that way, how does a heavy and dense body not penetrate the water, but rather a thing far heavier is held up by a weaker nature? To this you will also look for the base of the water itself, and again you will doubt upon what solid and resistant support its lowest foundation rests.
C 9. If you posit another, heavier and more solid body to prevent the earth from moving downward, you will realize that that too needs some similar support which upholds it and does not allow it to fall. And if we are able to fashion and place something beneath that, our mind will again seek the support of that, and thus we will fall into the infinite, always imagining other foundations beyond those found. And the further we proceed with our reasoning, the greater must we be forced to introduce a supporting power that will be able to resist the entire mass placed upon it. D
Therefore, set boundaries to your understanding, lest you be rebuked by the sentiment of Job, if you investigate things incomprehensible, and be asked by him yourselfself: *Upon what are its bases fastened?* But even if you should sometimes hear in the Psalms: *I have established its pillars* (Ps. LXXIV, 4), understand "pillars" to be its supporting power. For what else does *He has founded it upon the seas* (Ps. XXIII, 2) signify, than the nature of water being poured around the earth on all sides? How then, since water is fluid and by its very nature tends to flow downward, does it remain suspended and never flow away? Do you not consider (66) that the earth, suspended by itself, presents the same or even a greater difficulty to reason, since it is by nature heavier? But it is necessary, whether we concede that the earth consists by itself, or say that it is thrown upon the waters, never to depart from the pious view, but to confess that all things alike are held together by the power of the Creator. These things, therefore, we ought to say to ourselves and to those who inquire of us upon what support this vast and intolerable weight of the earth rests, that *In the hand of God are the ends of the earth* (Ps. XCV, 4). This is for us the safest thing to grasp, and profitable to those who hear.
10. But there are some of the natural scientists (68) who, with great preparation of words, say that the earth remains motionless by causes of this kind. They say that because it has occupied the middle region of the universe, and because it has nowhere to incline, being equally distant from the extremes on every side, it of necessity remains in itself, since the equality lying about it on every side makes it impossible for it to incline at all in any direction. They contend also that the earth did not obtain the middle place by lot or by chance, but that this is its natural and necessary position. For since the heavenly body occupies the extreme region upward, whatever weights we might assume to fall from the heights, they say (69), would be gathered from all sides toward the middle. And indeed, into whatever part they are carried, into that, obviously, the whole will also be pressed. If stones and wood and all earthy things fall downward, this would indeed be the location proper and appropriate to the whole earth; and if anything light is raised from the middle, it will obviously move toward the highest point. So that a downward movement is proper to the heaviest things; and the middle is the lowest, as the argument has shown here. Do not, therefore, marvel if the earth nowhere falls away, since it holds its natural place, the middle. For it is of absolute necessity D that it remain fixed in its place, or, if it should move contrary to nature, that it be displaced from its own seat.
A If any of these things that have been said should appear plausible to you, transfer your wonder to the wisdom of God, who ordered these things in such a way. For the astonishment that arises in view of the greatest things is by no means diminished because the manner in which some of the wonders occur has been discovered; if not, then at least let the simplicity of faith be stronger than logical demonstrations.
11. We say the same thing about the heavens, that many and very wordy speculations have been proposed by the wise men of this world concerning the heavenly nature. Some have said that it is composite, formed from the four elements, since it falls within the sense of touch and sight, and is a participant in earth because of its solidity, in fire because it is visible, and in the others because of their mixture. B Others, having rejected this view as improbable, have, of their own accord and rashly and unadvisedly, introduced a fifth kind of body to constitute the heavens. And there is among them a certain "ethereal" body, which they claim is neither fire, nor air, nor earth, nor water, nor anything at all among the simple elements; because the proper motion of the simple elements is in a straight line, with the light things moving upward and the heavy [things] downward. But to be borne upward or downward is not the same as to revolve in a circle; and in short, they consider that linear and circular motion differ greatly from one another. But C of those whose motions are by nature different, their essences must also, they say, be different. But we cannot even assume that the heaven is composed of the primary bodies, which we call elements, because things made up of different [elements] cannot have an even and unforced motion, since each of the simple elements existing within the composite [whole] has an impulse from nature that is different from the others. Therefore, D composite things are first of all held together in continuous motion only with great effort, because one motion cannot be suitable and agreeable to all opposites; but that which is proper to the light element is hostile to the heaviest. For when we move upward, we are weighed down by the earthy element; when we move downward, we force move the fiery element, dragging it downward against its nature. And this pulling of the elements toward opposite directions is the cause of their disruption. For that which is forced and contrary to nature, having resisted for a little while, and that only violently and with difficulty, is quickly dissolved into those [elements] from which it was composed, as each of the joined parts returns to its own proper place. By these, as they say, necessities of reasoning, those who preceded...