Homily on the Text: "Give No Sleep to Your Eyes

NOTICE

OF OUR HOLY FATHER BASIL THE GREAT[[A]], Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. On the text: "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids."[[A]]

OF OUR HOLY FATHER BASIL THE GREAT, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, On the text: "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids." 40

I am not grieved by the paucity of those who have gathered for this spiritual assembly. [[A]] For I see that the tumult which usually stirs up disorder has diminished, and that those who have a desire to hear are present. Indeed, I have no need of those who make noise outside the doors; rather, I seek souls desirous of hearing, standing with decorum around this spiritual auditorium, who receive the reminders of the Spirit in a composed manner and preserve in their memory these salutary teachings; which is what I pray may be the case for those who are present. Since for a shepherd, too, the task is safer among a few than among a multitude of flocks, and for a helmsman, a single ship is easier to steer, even if waves are surging from every side, washing over the land and making the navigation difficult by their violence. For the sake of the love I bear toward each one, I would have wished all men to be present; but because what is spurious is interspersed with the multitude, I pray that what is pure may be accurately separated and distinguished from what is harmful. [[B]]

[[B]](9) Basil. Homily not unworthy of St. Basil. It is cited, however, according to sense rather than words, in the Catena on Proverbs, ver. 4 and 5 of ch. vi. *Basil.* By "dormitation," he signifies sloth and a tardiness to undertake sounder counsels; by "mystical eyes," the mind and intelligence; and by "the soul's," [[C]] the sin that is full-grown in action: or by "sleep" and "dormitation" he designates unclean thoughts and wicked impulses that first arise in the mind; or certainly the soul’s propensity toward baser things. The wise man wishes, however, that he who devotes himself by purpose to the virtues should prosper in spirit and courageously lift himself above the snares of the adversaries, being raised on high upon the wings of the virtues. Lo, the Greek from two manuscripts of the Royal Library: This is, word for word: "Sleep is negligence concerning that which is better; the intelligible eyes are the mind and thought; the sleep of the soul is sin committed in action: dormitation, [[D]] however, is the first unclean thought that consists in the soul. Super-dormitation is a propensity toward worse things." The wise man wishes him to be sharp-sighted, and to fly over the snares of the adversaries, elevated on the wings of virtues. Moreover, after this oration had been sent for printing together with the following one, there came into my hands the *Ecclesiastes* of Francis Combefis, in which both occupy a place among the Basilian works, published in Latin, translated by the same most learned man. Mentioned interpretation, "I have no need of those who make noise outside," for the text. But in Chrysostom, Savile vol. V, p. 980, it must be read, "the arrival of the Spirit mimicked the sound of thunder," and not "the copy." George Pachymeres, book VIII, ch. 2, "they sifted the interpretation accurately." For I do not agree with the learned translator, who is very deserving regarding Greek literature, who in this and other places approves the word [phylokinein]. It is not only according to Hesychius, but also from Suidas [phylokrinein], to judge, to test accurately.

^A Let it be with us, undisturbed by any attack, but let the hearing be done in truth. I pray that the wheat be separated from the chaff. For the one is blown about by every wind of teaching, but the other, heavy and stable and falling by its own weight, being judged by the Spirit, is deemed worthy of the granary. What shall I say? How shall I address you? How shall I anticipate the past, or the obligation of the future? For I am guilty of the past, and a debtor for the future. From what part of Scripture should I discourse to you opportunely? All are of the same value, all are spiritual, all are God-breathed, and all are useful. But the discernment is not easy for me, nor is it permitted for you to reject one and accept another, since the grace is equal in each, and the profit presented to us from every side is of equal dignity. Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, spoke useful words to us. He first ^B cast this into your ears; from here let us begin this homily to you. He wishes you to be a sharp-sighted disciple and exalted in your reasoning. The double expression presents both of these: "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids." "Give not sleep." Does he forbid this sleep, a common affection of nature, and wish us to remain sleepless? Is this then an accusation against the Creator, who joined to our life the rest of sleep? "Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids." He does not repeat the same statement, but knows the difference between sleep and slumber. For sleep is a heavy stupor of the senses, but slumber ^C is a mixture of wakefulness and sleep. Since, therefore, some are held by deep sleep, having forgotten the gifts of God as if occupied by a lethargy; others, however, are mixed, sometimes awake, sometimes as if dozing; they do not admit a stranger, nor one who has at some time turned back, nor the sick as if they were healthy. VERSE 5: "That thou mayest deliver thyself as a gazelle from the snares." The gazelle is an animal sharp-eyed, from which the name of the gazelle is derived. Nothing escapes the eye of the gazelle; it knows what it ought to avoid; it knows where the steering of the course lies. But be also like the gazelle for searching out things that are below, and like a bird for seeking the things that are high, so that you may not be caught in a net, but become higher than the snares. ^D Never does a bird fall into a net if it cuts the air with the wing naturally implanted in it and soars above the earth. He wants you, therefore, with the sublimity of mind which you received from your Creator, to observe cautiously; and to pursue the vice of sloth—congenital to us—as something that makes the happy execution of those things which have been commanded to us by the Lord to hang in the balance; and also to discern, to examine, and to search out.

^A For the most grievous of all things is sloth, the listlessness of the soul. Do not be an idler regarding the commandments of the Lord; do not do one thing while putting off another. You make a kind of usurious satisfaction, as if you had fulfilled the whole. But He wishes you to reach out for what lies ahead. Do you see how He wishes you to be a nimble runner of piety, hastening toward the prize of the upward calling? It is not, therefore, fitting for the same person to be both idle and gainfully occupied. One who asks is present; if you are idle regarding almsgiving, that idleness becomes an impediment to you in the race of salvation. In order, therefore, to rouse you from sleep and make you a zealot for good works, having chosen a small creature, the smallest of all, He puts this before you: "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and emulate its ways."

Do you see how He has used you? He points out a lowly teacher, so that in this way, shaking off sleep, casting off sloth, and moved by shame on account of the thing that is brought in for comparison, you might render yourself worthy of your Creator. If He had said to you, "Imitate the speed of the horse, imitate the burden-bearing of the camel, imitate the ox that tills the earth," you would have replied, "How shall I imitate those which are so huge in the size of their ^B body? That is another kind of physical strength; but I am small and weak." So that you might not put forward this—which is undeniably inferior—He has set this before you for imitation: "Go to the ant, O sluggard." Why do you despise a great teacher? Let the ant stir you to activity, "And learn from it." That creature knows no master, it has not traveled abroad, it has not learned the arts of agriculture, it has not yoked an ox, it possesses no plow-ox, it does not fight over land boundaries, it does not provoke its neighbors to anger, it does not hold on to some things while taking others; it knows nothing of the things pertaining to agriculture. It has no master standing over it, it has no tax collector to compel it, it has no servants who, when their grain ration is not distributed to them, ^C quarrel with their master. None of these things is present; but a certain natural necessity stirs the animal. Therefore, it is nature, then. And you have a reason which is the parent of nature. By reason, you excel the ant. If your capacity is a fellow-worker, your capacity is superior to that of the ant. "Go, therefore, to the ant, O sluggard, and learn from it."

You have been taught before; but because of sloth, you have cast away your former teaching, and you have fallen into forgetfulness because of the sleep you loved. Learn from the ant. For it has no farm, nor does it possess a master, nor is it under compulsion; and serving under no compulsion, being without a master, possessing a life that is autonomous and free, it stands over itself, urging itself toward the work. Who told the ant that "Now it is harvest time"? And who, in turn, will say that "Now it is winter again"? In order to show you ^D the providence of God extending through all things, so that you would not even [claim that you are] free or not subject to the dominion of any—

^A I say, He pointed out the ant to you. For that creature does not perform these actions by any spontaneous chance, but it has one urging it on—the dispensation of God—using the law of nature as its teacher. These are the lessons: it is harvest, and the ant is at work, turning what falls from your own labor into its own profit. I fear that one day it may be your accuser, because you did not laboriously gather the gifts of God as it fills its own storehouses. Learn about the dwelling of ants. It constructs for itself two- or three-storied buildings, imitating Noah, and performing the fabrication of the ark during the flood, some [chambers] being below it, and others rising above the houses. ^B Have you ever seen an ant-hill? Have you attentively studied it, or have you not even learned about the ant? The ways of the ant are orderly; with it, the dirty is separated from the pure; it dwells in a storehouse, and the storage is wise. I have seen grain stored by an ant, and not simply thrown down, but deemed worthy of the storehouse with wise intent. It splits the middle of the grain with its claws, suspecting that perhaps, having fallen under the earth and then become moistened, it might lead to germination; but it splits and kills the grain, so that it may be suitable for food, but useless for sprouting. Does the teacher who uses such wisdom and art not seem more trustworthy to you? "Go to the ant, O sluggard; learn the well-constituted order of the ant; ^C how those who bring in the grain do not hinder those who are going out; but one is the place for those going out, and another for those bringing in: and there is order among them, even though they have no king to lead them, nor do they know of division into tribunes; but as there is one good order of paths, one from this side, and another from that side, when they pass one another, they are not a hindrance to each other in their course. Who, then, ordained these things? I believe that both the drill-masters and the generals took their tactical skill from this, and transferred it to the discipline of men. Thus the law of wisdom is older than the institutions of art. The ant also possesses foresight. ^D Therefore, they often bring the grain out from their caves to dry it when it has become damp. Then, therefore, when you see a store of provisions outside the ants' cave, know that the rain will not occur. Whence this, if not from the Lord, so that the creature may survive and not perish from hunger? Do not, therefore, imagine that your own affairs are governed by any irrational and spontaneous chance. VER. 8. "Or go to the bee." What is more common than these examples? Who is ignorant of the ant? Who does not know the bee? He shows us the animals that are trodden upon and live with us. But in order that we might receive their guidance or instruction, by which we manage our own affairs; because the example of the ant was not sufficient, He added the bee. For the avaricious man, one who holds onto his wealth, could have said to me, "I imitate the ant: for it is a creature that keeps to itself, which [gathers] for itself."

and treasures nothing for another." ^A He would have said, "I am persuaded by the teaching. The ant labors for its own enjoyment; therefore I too hoard; let nothing more be enjoined upon me." But here the ant has been brought forward to move you to be industrious and hardworking; the bee, however, to move you to munificence. "Go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is." The example of the bee is useful for giving fruit and for the matter of vengeance. For indeed the bee, when taking revenge, dies from the sting; and for a Christian, the repayment of evil is death. You have heaped a little reproach upon him, but you have slain yourself by the disobedience to the commandment: "Rendering to no man evil for evil." ^B Do you see how the bee lets go of its life along with its sting? So too does the Christian, when he takes vengeance on an enemy, lose his own life through the blow inflicted upon the enemy. Therefore, be neither prone to vengeance against enemies, nor avaricious toward your own kin; but learn from the bee, for whom vengeance brings death; yet it offers up its activity for the enjoyment of kings and commoners, the delicate and the sick; and by its industry and whole life it is useful even unto its fragrance. The bee, by the variety of its craft, knows how to collect honey from the same flower: and it deposits one part into honey, another into the comb, and it binds the wax with the honey. Who taught that bee to make the hive-pipes and to weave the thin membrane? ^C Which of them, having attended an ancient schoolmaster, was taught to make six-sided and four-sided structures? How did it set an angle with wax and weave the walls, so that the angles might provide firmness and the walls might guard the honey? Why did it not make one pipe, but built up the storehouses of honey on this side and that? How does it pour the honey into each hollow for itself? If it had made one large receptacle, the base would have been broken by the weight; but it provides hollows, puts down walls, and secures the angles. Who is the architect? It did not learn architecture. Do you see how much wisdom there is in the bee, how much zeal for labor in the ant? Do we not blush if we depart from the wisdom of the ant and are surpassed by the diligence of the bee? ^D Let these small creatures stir our mind toward the care of good works. It is a gregarious animal; neither the ant lives on its own, nor the bee solitarily; they live in swarms, they fly in swarms. You have never seen a bee flying by itself, but they have their flight in common with one another. They do not begrudge the flowers to each other; they set out to the meadows together, and together they return to their own hives again. Each one recognizes its own cell; departing from its own work, it shares its activity with its companions. This, however, is not found among us. For we no longer commune with one another, nor do we fly together to the flowers of the churches: but each one's sting is fiercely raised against his neighbor: and he knows indeed that he is...