On the Words "Let Us Make Man in Our Image and Likeness

[Ps. CXXXVIII, 14]. From where is it possible to find knowledge of you by such a wonderful manner? From myself, "Marvelously was thy knowledge made from me." Recognizing the artifice of the Wisdom by which my body was constructed, from this small structure I perceived the great Creator. ^A "Let us make man in our image and likeness," [Gen. I, 26]. It has been shown recently, in passing, and sufficiently demonstrated who it is that speaks and to whom the word is addressed; and the Church possesses the proofs concerning these things, or rather, it possesses a faith firmer than any proof. "Let us make man." Begin from here to know yourself. Not yet in any other work was this voice recorded. Light came to be, but by a simple command of God saying, "Let there be light." The heaven, and it was heaven without consultation: the stars, and no deliberation preceded the stars: the sea, and the infinite waters arose at the voice of the one commanding. In the same manner all the races of fish, beasts, and whales, and the animals that swim and that fly, were made by the Word of God commanding. Here, not yet is there man, and counsel is held concerning man. He did not say, as in the case of the others: "Let man come to be."

Learn your price and your dignity. He did not cast forth your procreation by command and order, but there was counsel and deliberation in God, as to how such an animal might be brought into life. "Let us make," the wise one counsels, the artisan meditates. Is anything lacking to His art? By what difficulty was He compelled to counsel, that He might make His dear work absolute and perfect and refined? Is it perhaps to show you that you are perfect before God? Observe two persons; the one who speaks, and the other to whom the word is directed. Why, however, did He not say, "Make," but "Let us make man"? So that you might understand the command and authority: ^B so that, knowing the Father, you might not be ignorant of the Son, that you might know that the Father made through the Son, and the Son created by the Father's will; and that you might praise the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Holy Spirit. You have become their common work, so that you might worship and honor them equally, lest you divide veneration and worship, since you understand that the divinity is one. See the history by its form, and the theology by its power. "And God made man." "Let us make," He says, and "He made": ^C lest you believe in a manifold number of Gods. For if it were said that many made him, men could be led to heap up for themselves many multitudes of Gods. But now it is written, "Let us make," so that you may know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and "God made man," so that you may unite the divinity, and know that it is one. ^D And I say one, not by unity of persons, but by power; so that when you approach to worship, you may praise and honor one God, and not be distracted into a multitude of Gods. He did not say, "The gods made man." But, "God made man." Proper is the hypostasis, or person, of the Father, proper that of the Son, proper that of the Holy Spirit. Why then are there not three Gods? Because there is one divinity. For the divinity which you see in the Father, the same you see in the Son. And the same as in the Son, you see in the Holy Spirit. Since the form in each is one. And the beginning from the Father in the Son is the same, and for this reason there is one worship and one doxology among us. The prelude of our creation is true theology.

^A «Let us make man in our image and likeness.» We have been made in the image of God. How, then, are we in the image of God? Let us purify our minds of vulgar, unlearned, and ignorant notions concerning God.

^B If we are made in the image of God, he says, God is shaped like us: He is endowed with eyes, ears, a head, hands, and the hip upon which He rests (for it is said in Scripture that God sits); and with feet, upon which He walks. Is God, then, like this? Banish from your mind such absurd notions. Cast away the thought that diminishes the greatness of God. God is without shape (ἀσχημάτιστος), simple, without magnitude, and without dimension. Do not imagine a form about Him; do not, in the Jewish manner, belittle the Great One; do not encompass God with bodily concepts; do not circumscribe Him with your own mind. He is incomprehensible in His magnitude. Contemplate the Great One, and to the Great One, add still more than what you have contemplated, and to that greater amount add even more, and persuade your own reason that it will never reach the infinite. Do not think of a shape, for God is known through His power, through the simplicity of His nature, and through the magnitude of His greatness. He is everywhere and exceeds everything; He is undefinable in His lack of shape, and that which exceeds your comprehension is confined neither by magnitude, nor captured by shape, nor measured by power, nor constricted by time, nor defined by boundaries. There is nothing in relation to God that is like things in relation to us. How, then, did Scripture say that we were made in the image of God? Let us be taught the things of God, and let us consider the things of our own selves, that we do not have our "in the image of" in the form of the body; for when the body decays, the form is lost. But the incorruptible is not shaped in the corruptible, nor is a corruptible thing the image of the incorruptible. The body increases, diminishes, ages, and is altered; it is one thing in youth, another when it is healthy, and another when it is in the midst of passions; one thing when fearing, and another when rejoicing; one thing in need, another in fullness; one thing in peace, another in war; one color when awake, and another when sleeping. In the former, a ruddier hue blossoms forth, as the heat moves outward, while in the latter, the heat has cooled and contracted to the depths; hence, the bodies of those sleeping are pale. How, then, can that which is altered be like that which is unalterable? Like that which is always in the same state, that which never remains the same? It escapes us like flowing things; before it is seen, it has slipped away; the human body appears as one thing after another. «In our image.» How will the flowing image be able to be saved in that which is of an immutable nature? How will the formed image be saved in the formless? How, then, shall we seek that which is "in the image"? In those things which the Lord Himself said. If I bring forward anything of my own, do not accept it; if it is of the Lord, accept it. «Let us make man...» ^{C D}

Is it in the body or in the faculty of reason? Does this empire reside in the soul or in the flesh? Our flesh is much weaker than that of many animals. For what comparison can the flesh of a man have with the flesh of a camel, or an ox, or any wild beast you might choose? Human flesh is vulnerable, laid open to the flesh of beasts. But in what does the ruling power consist? In the excellence of reason. By as much as a man is weaker than the other living creatures in bodily strength, by so much is he superior in the arrangement of his reason. For the huge masses and weights which men move at their own will, wherever they wish, are moved and impelled by skill, not by bodily strength. ^A

"Let us make man after Our image":

"Let us make man after Our image":

"And let him have dominion."

"And let him have dominion over the fishes."

rather rejoice and glory in the sovereignty granted to you by God? When you see your master enslaved to pleasure, while you are temperate, do you not understand that you are a slave in name only, while he, though possessing sovereignty in name, is in reality held in the most grievous servitude? You see him bound and fettered to a harlot, while you despise and spurn harlots. Therefore, you are the master of your passions, while he is the slave of those pleasures which you have conquered. Thus, the text, "Let us make man, and let him have dominion," ^A signifies that wherever the power to rule exists, there is the image of God.

"Let them have dominion over the fish." First, the authority over those things that are separated from us was given to us. He did not say, "Let them have dominion over the living creatures that are reared along with them," but "over the fish," for their dwelling is in the water. Therefore, the authority over the fish was the first given to us. And how do we rule over the fish? If you have ever found yourself appearing by a lake, how your shadow strikes fear into everything! What master of a household, suddenly arriving where his servants are in an uproar, puts them to silence and restores everything to order by the mere presence of the one in command? How does all the aquatic creation change its behavior upon the appearance of one man? It no longer pursues its free course, and it does not dare to swim on the surface of the sea or the lake. The dolphin itself, which is the most kingly of those that swim, ^B stands in awe when it sees a human nearby. Thus was dominion over those that swim given to man.

But when you see that your own reason governs and controls all things, do you not see that you rule over the sea monsters? I have observed human ingenuity, how they construct certain hooks and attach to them bait in proportion to the size of the whales that would swallow them. Then, at the ends of those lines to which the hooks are attached, at the other end, they fasten skins inflated with air, and letting them go, they cast them afloat upon the sea. When the wild monsters swallow the bait, accepting the hooks of their own accord, they drag the skins down into the depths. But the nature of the skins, being buoyant, pulls back toward the surface, and the creatures, pierced by their own food, churn up and down, and in their agitation, they explore the depths. They traverse sea after sea, and despite their great strength, having no success, they are finally captured by that hook, ^C exhausted by their struggle, overcome by hunger, and dragged along as a corpse with the skins; they become the prey of the hunter. The small overcomes the great; the weak, the massive. Why is this? Because man, having received the power to rule through the abundance of his reason, leads those who are most disobedient to justice, just like wicked fugitives. Those who cannot be brought to obedience through gentleness, he enslaves through necessity. Thus, the power to rule, implanted in man by the Creator, is evident everywhere. From this it comes to pass that the swordfish, the hammerhead sharks, the whales, the sawfish, the seals, and all those other terrible varieties of sea monsters have been made subject to man. ^D

^A Do you not see the heavy, roaring lion, whose very name is unbearable and whose growl makes the earth tremble? To whom is it so endurable that he could withstand its onslaught? No animal is so confident in its own power that it could endure the force of a lion. Yet you see him enclosed in a small cage. Who has imprisoned him? Who devised this small jail for such a huge beast? Who, by the thinness of those wooden bars, prepared a way for the beast to breathe, so that he might not be choked by his own panting, but rather was given the means to breathe freely and had his safety provided for? Who? Isn't it man? Man makes playthings of the cruellest beasts. Does he not mock the leopards when he holds up a paper shaped like a man? They tear the paper to pieces, while man, lying below, mocks the stupidity of the beast. Does man not, therefore, excel all things?

What shall I say of the birds? Man does not ascend into the air, for he has no wings, but he tracks the flight of birds by the power of his reason. For nothing can restrain the intellect. It investigates the things in the deepest parts of the sea, it hunts those things that inhabit the land, and it captures those that move in the air. Have you ever seen a bird sitting on the highest branch of a tree, feeling secure and scorning men, yet being caught by a playing child? He joins reeds to reeds and smears the tips with birdlime. Then, hiding among the branches and leaves, he arranges and places them so that the birdlime is not visible to the eyes of the bird hovering above. ^B By a slight touch, he overcomes it and holds it fast—the creature that inhabits the air and wanders in the ether. Man remains below, and his hand is below, but his thought ascends. And so there is nothing that he cannot reach through his art. He seeks the winged creatures with nets and arrows, and lures the greedier ones with bait. Have you ever seen an eagle, reaching for its prey, get caught in a snare? Thus, that which sought the heights is brought down, pulled by human lures. God has subjected all things to the hand of man. He filled the whole world, and He did not wish man to be without dominion. Do not say that you are surpassed by those things that move in the air; for by reason, even they become subject to you, just as you are the master of those that walk and creep upon the earth by reason. Do you see in what consists your being made in the image of God? ^{C D} “And God made man.” What, then, is man? Let us define him from what we have learned and heard. For there is no longer any need for us to borrow definitions from others, nor to insert into our discourse of truth things taken from external vanity. Man is a rational work of God, made in the image of Him who created him. If anything further is desired in this definition, let those who have labored much in the studies of transient wisdom consider it. Man was made in the image of God. “And God blessed man, and said: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth.” It is in the same way that He blessed also

^A fish. And God said: “Let the waters bring forth the creeping things of living souls, and it was so.” And then God said: “Increase, and multiply, and fill the waters.” What then, you will ask, is there for me over and above these? Necessarily, these things, which He has shared with you, and other specific gifts remain for you. For you grow, just as the other living creatures do, and gradually through increments you arrive from a small size at the proper and perfect magnitude. Thus also horses and dogs, thus also eagles and ^B swans, and everything else you might name, upon receiving the perfection of growth by the small increment of the first conception, return again through diminution to a smaller size. Therefore, what was common to nature, He bestowed upon us as well. “Increase,” that is, be nourished, and when you are born small, become large, and let there be an end to this growth. For not because in the first septenniad we are nourished, and the transition of age takes us into the second septenniad of years, are we to suppose that we ought in every part of our lives, according to septenniads, to undergo a change of age. The first septenniad contains childhood. The boundaries of childhood are manifest: the change of teeth. The ones fall out; others grow in their place. Growth received a second beginning toward the end of the fourteenth year; the second stage, then, is that of the boys. For first a babe, then a boy, ^C then a youth, then a man from the fourteenth year—here are the boundaries of the third stage of growth. “Increase,” therefore—not that if one reaches the age of one hundred years, he continues to admit of growth from the first year to the hundredth, but this word, “Increase,” spoken wisely, is managed with providence. Increase up to a certain point; there are not, however, measures of growth [without end]. According to the first constitution established in the womb, the principles of growth were also established. For the gift of age is not something newer that comes subsequently, but the maternal seeds have within them the abilities for growth already deposited. The teeth have fallen out; we have known that such a measure of growth has been attained. A father measures the three-year-old child; he knows that he will attain double that size in his ^D maturity. For as much as he is at the third year, so much he will be, or rather, he will be such amount at the fulfillment of his growth. This is the boundary and measure of human nature, up to the limit, from the first septenniad to the second. There, then, the heat is more abundant, the formation of the body more rarefied, the moisture fails, the limbs are strengthened; in the beginning of the stronger stage of those nearing adulthood, men exist, not yet having, however, the perfection. For their flesh is still newly set and unsuited for arduous labors. The animal thus acquired lightness and agility. But in the third septenniad, it attains the perfection of growth. No longer does the body stretch in length after the third septenniad. When nature has finished the labors of its upward growth, it begins to pass on into width, and as it were to lay the foundations of what was raised up, and to build onto them, and to make the limbs of the body strong. Nature does these things according to its own order. The power of this order, however, depends upon that first command of God, which, having been issued once, proceeds through all things that are created to the very end.

^A “Be fruitful and multiply.” ^B “Be fruitful,” that is, so that creation might not be confined to one; “multiply,” that is, so that it might not be confined to one, but to many. “And fill the earth.” Fill it, I say, not by habitation—for we would be stifled if the earth were so filled by us that it measured out equally to us—but fill it by authority. For He gave us dominion over the earth. “Fill the earth.” Men do not, of course, fill this by necessity, but He made us lords to fill it, and we fill it through our reason. When we see what portion of the earth is scorched and uninhabitable; when we see the northern climate, which because of excessive cold is uncultivable and useless—have we not filled the earth? Have we not left behind what was useless for human conduct while selecting what was useful? So that, in the command “Fill the earth,” He made us lords. Not because we do not have use of the whole, do we therefore not have dominion over the whole. For when you have bought grain, you are nonetheless lord of all of it, even though you have in the grain that which is edible and that which is to be cast away. You cast away the grit, the stones, the chaff, and whatever else is mixed in that is unfit for food; having winnowed the chaff and separated the tares, you select what is pure for the sustenance of life. Thus, then, the earth was bestowed: one part suitable for the dwelling of the fitting or the better sort, another necessary for agriculture, another left for the grazing of four-footed animals. Tell me, is it not possible for me to dispose of the earth as I wish, since I have been made its lord by the gift of the Master who created me? “And fill the earth, and rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth.” This, then, is the blessing, this the legislation, this the dignity given to us by God. “And God made man; according to the image of God He made him.” Have I not pointed out to you that the demonstration was lacking? “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” The counsel had two parts: “according to the image,” and “according to the likeness.” The creation has but one. Was His counsel otherwise, and did He then change His mind? Did some repentance follow in the creation? Was there some weakness in the Creator, that He should determine one thing and do another, or was there some idle chatter in His words? For perhaps He says this, “Let us make man according to the image and likeness,” since by saying “according to the image,” He has also said “according to the likeness.” But whatever choice we make, we shall be accusing the writer. For if he says this, it is superfluous to say the same things twice. To say that any word in Scripture is redundant is a grave impiety. But if nothing is redundant, nothing is empty, nothing superfluous, then it is necessary that man be made according to the image and likeness of God. Why, then, did He not say, “And God made man according to His image and likeness”? What then? Could He perhaps not have done so? It is impious to say this. Did He repent of His decree? It is wicked even to think this.

^A Does the Scripture say this? No. Does the Creator lack power? No. Was the counsel made void? Not at all. What then is the reason for the silence? “Let us make man according to our image and likeness.” We possess the former by creation; the latter we achieve by our own power of choice. In our first formation, the having been made in the image of God exists in us; the being in the likeness of God is achieved by us in accordance with our power of choice. But this, which is in accordance with choice, exists in us as a capacity, and we bring it into act through ourselves. If the Lord, when making us, had not previously said, “Let us make,” and “According to likeness,” if He had not granted us the power to become according to likeness, we would not have received the likeness to God by our own authority. ^B Now, however, He has made us capable of being like God by power. But by giving the power to be made like God, He left us to be workers of the likeness to God, so that there might be a reward for the labor, and so that we might not be like images produced by a painter, lying about in vain, or so that our likeness might not bring praise to another. For when you see an image accurately formed according to its prototype, you do not praise the image, but you marvel at the painter. Therefore, so that the wonder might be mine and not another’s, He left it to me to become according to the likeness of God. For I have “according to the image” from being rational, but I become “according to the likeness” by becoming a Christian. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Do you see where the Lord assigns us the “according to the likeness”? It is because “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” ^C If you become a hater of evil, free from resentment, not remembering yesterday’s hostility; if you become a lover of the brethren, compassionate, you have become like God. If you forgive your enemy from the heart, you have become like God. If, as God is toward you, a sinner, so you show yourself toward a brother who has offended you, in your compassion for your neighbor you have become like God; so that while you possess the “according to the image” from being rational, you become the “according to the likeness” from taking on goodness. Take on bowels of mercy, goodness, so that you may put on Christ. For through those things by which you take on compassion, through them you put on Christ, and by intimacy with Him you are made familiar with God. Thus, the history is a training of human life. “Let us make man according to the image.” I have, then, in creation, the “according to the image”; but I become, by my own intention, also “according to the likeness.” Where then is your grace? Why are you crowned? ^D For if the Creator had given everything, how would the kingdom of heaven be opened to you? But now, one thing was given, and the other was left incomplete, so that, by perfecting yourself, you might become worthy of the reward from God.

How, then, do we become according to likeness? Through the Gospels. What is Christianity? It is the likeness of God according to the capacity of human nature. If you have accepted being a Christian, hasten to become like God; put on Christ. But how will you put on Christ if you have not received baptism? If you have not accepted the garment of incorruptibility? Are you sending away the likeness to God? If I said to you, “Come,”

be like a King, would you not consider me a friend and a benefactor? But now, when I wish you to be like God, do you flee and spurn the word that makes you divine, and stop your ears so as not to hear the words of salvation? ^A “And God made man to His own image.” “Man,” says the woman, “so it is written, so that only the male is understood. What is that to me?” But in order that, by the term “man,” you might not understand only the male, He added, “Male and female He made them.” And the woman has the status of having been made in the image of God, just as the man does. The natures are of equal honor; the virtues are equal; the struggles are the same; the judgment is identical. Do not say, “I am weak.” Weakness is in the flesh, but in the soul there is power and strength. Because, therefore, the virtue is equal, let the demonstration of good works also be equal. That softness was not given to the woman without reason, but so that she might be more inclined to humanity and more prone to mercy. In matters, however, that require fortitude, she is robust, constant in vigils and labors. When can man’s nature contend with the nature of a woman living her life courageously? When can a man imitate the firm self-control of a woman in fastings? When can he equal their sedulous zeal in prayers, their pious inclination to weeping, their readiness for well-doing? I have seen a woman secretly using a very noble type of theft. Without her husband knowing, she would distribute from the family wealth to the poor. For the prosperity of her husband, for the flourishing of her family, for the safety of her children, she was bestowing—hiding it from her husband, but doing it for the sake of the husband himself. She was giving on his behalf, though he did not know it. For she was performing it to the favor of Him who sees in secret, and she did not divulge her good deeds. Therefore, the woman also has the status of being in the image. Do not consider the human being who is on the outside. For that is like a veil. But the soul sits within, beneath the veil, even in an infirm body. They are equal in the honor of the soul; the difference is in the veils. ^B Wherefore, that you may become like God, embrace liberality, exercise beneficence, pursue innocence, follow all with brotherly love and benevolence, flee from crimes, and master the perturbations of sin. “And let him have dominion over the fish.” That you may have dominion over the fish that lack reason, overcome the perturbations and movements of the soul that are contrary to reason. ^C “And let him have dominion over the beasts.” You have dominion over every beast. What then? You will say, “Do I have beasts within myself?” You do indeed have beasts, and truly, countless ones; there is a very great multitude of beasts within you. And that you may not think me insulting, tell me, I pray, is anger a small beast when it barks in your heart? Is it not crueler than any dog? What? In your crafty mind, does guile lie hidden—is it not more savage than any treacherous bear? What? Is hypocrisy not a beast, and a most monstrous one at that? Is he not a scorpion who is sharp in his abuse? Is he not more grievous than a viper, who rushes secretly toward revenge? Is not the greedy man a rapacious wolf? There is no beast that is not found within us. Is the lecher not a horse raging with lust? For “horses,” he says, “became lustful; each of them neighed at the neighbor’s wife.” He turned him toward...

In this way, each person is transformed into the nature of some wild beast, according to the specific vice of the soul and the perturbation by which he is overcome. From this it follows that there are within us innumerable wild beasts. Do you believe, ^A therefore, that you are the master and lord of wild beasts, if you rule over those that are outside, but do not tame and govern those that dwell within? To what end do you possess reason, with which you conquer lions and do not fear their roaring, when you yourself gnash your teeth like a lion, and emit from your anger a confused voice and a perturbed clamor? For what is more grave or more bitter than when the fury of anger strives to break forth entirely, and cannot in any way be contained within? When a human being is overcome by some perturbation, it is no longer he who rules, but perturbation that reigns in his soul. Therefore, since you were created in such a way as to rule over beasts, ^B and serpents, and birds, rule over your perturbations. Do not allow your thought to wander on high. Do not let your mind be carried about, unstable in its levity. It was granted to you to preside over the birds: it would be absurd if, while capturing those that fly by means of birdlime, you yourself should be light-headed and carried away by pride. Do not lift up your spirits, do not swell with vanity, do not think too highly of yourself, or believe that you are anything great. For then you will be like the birds, which by nature are light and unstable, being carried hither and thither and flitting about. Therefore, moderate your own mind and govern it, if you wish to rule over all things. In this way, the dominion given to us over the animals trains us and disposes us to rule over ourselves. For it is preposterous ^C for one who is enslaved at home to rule over nations; for one who is mastered inside by a harlot to be a leader of a city in public affairs. It is necessary to manage well one’s own household goods and, having adorned the things within with order, to assume the oversight of others. For the argument will be turned back upon you by those under your rule, if you keep your home disorderly and unarranged, saying: “Physician, heal yourself.” Let us, therefore, first heal ourselves. For no one is condemned because he has not hunted a lion; but having failed to master anger, one is an object of laughter to everyone. Thus, he who does not master his own passion is led to condemnation; but he who has not been able to master wild beasts does not appear to have done anything worthy of reproach. May the Lord, who ordered these things to be written, and who has allowed our weak and feeble tongue ^D to speak to you thus far, and who through our weak intellect has unfolded to you great treasures in these few shadows of the truth, grant to you through the small the great, through the few seeds the perfection of knowledge, and grant to us all the full fruit of the enjoyment of the divine words; for to Him is the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ORATIO II

The wise Solomon, instructed not by the persuasive words of wisdom but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in those things which were recently read by us, extolling human nature, cried out saying: “Great is a man, and precious is a merciful man.” Indeed, I, in my own vain thoughts,

^A and in what my mind suggested, and in what I had learned from the Scripture, was considering how great a thing man is, since he is a mortal animal, subject to countless afflictions; one who, from the moment he is brought into the light until old age, is perpetually consumed by a trial of countless troubles and inconveniences, of whom it is written: “O Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” The Psalmist indeed scorns man as a worthless animal, while the Proverb praises and commends him as something great and glorious. But the history of the creation of man, ^B when read, resolved this doubt of mine. For we have now heard that God took dust from the earth and fashioned man. From this word, I found both things: that man is nothing, and that man is a great thing. If you look only to his nature, man is nothing and worth nothing; but if you look to the honor with which he has been honored, man is a great thing. To what honor? “God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” Compare the creation of man and the creation of light. There He said, “Let there be a firmament.” The great heaven was stretched out above us, having come to be by the word of God; the stars, and the sun, and the moon, and all things that we gaze upon with the eye, and all the magnitudes we comprehend in our mind, ^C attained their being by a word. The sea and the earth, and the adornment within them—the various kinds of animals, the manifold varieties of plants—all these came to be by a word. But man, how? It was not said, “Let there be man,” as it was said, “Let there be a firmament.” Rather, you see something more in man than in light, than in heaven, than in the luminaries; the creation of man is above all. “The Lord God took…” He deigns to fashion our body with His own hand. He did not command an angel; the earth did not cast us forth of its own accord like cicadas; He did not order this to be done by ministering powers. Rather, with His own hand, the benevolent Artificer played the craftsman, and took earth. When you look to what was taken, what is man? When you look to the One who fashioned him, man is a great thing, so that he is ^D “nothing” because of the material, and “great” because of the honor.

“And God took…” But why, since it was said before, “And God made man,” is it said here in his creation, as if we had not understood it, in the history: “And God took dust from the earth and fashioned man”? Some have already handed down the view that the word “fashioned” refers to the body, but “made” to the soul. This reasoning does not perhaps diverge far from the truth. For where it is said, “And God made man,” it is said “He made him in the image of God”; but when the account proceeds to explain what pertains to the constitution of the body, the word “fashioned” is used, especially since David himself seems to have taught the distinction between these words when he said: “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.” He made the inner man, He fashioned the outer. For “to fashion” is appropriate for clay, but “to make” for the image of God. Wherefore the flesh was fashioned, but the soul was made. Having therefore set forth before those things which pertain to the constitution of the soul, He now narrates those things which pertain to the fashioning of the body.

There is also this other reason: the former passage speaks summatim (in summary), while the latter explains and narrates the method of how it was done. You have already heard that God made man; now you understand the manner in which He made him. For if it had been written simply, "He made," you might have thought that man was made like the cattle, like the wild beasts, like the plants, like the grass. Therefore, in order that you may avoid any communion with the irrational creatures, ^A the Word has handed down the craftsmanship of God that pertains specifically to you. "God took dust from the earth." In the former passage He said that He made, but here He explains how He made. He took dust from the earth, and fashioned it with His own hands. Reflect on how you were fashioned. Consider the workshop of nature. It is the hand of God that received you; let not that which was fashioned by God be defiled by wickedness, let it not be altered by sin, let it not fall from the hand of God. You are a vessel fashioned by God, created by God; glorify your Maker. For you were not created for any other reason than that you should be an instrument suited for the celebration of God’s glory. ^B Indeed, this whole world is like a written book, dictating the glory of God; it declares to you, who possess a mind, the hidden and invisible greatness of God, for the understanding of the truth. By all means, therefore, remember what has been said.

"And God blessed them and said, 'Increase and multiply, and replenish the earth.'" This is a twofold increase, one of the body, the other of the soul. The increase of the soul is that which, through instruction, adds to its perfection; for the increase of the body is the restoration from a small state to the proper and fitting measure. "Increase," therefore, is said to irrational animals in regard ^C to bodily perfection and the completion of their nature; but to us, it is said in regard to the inner man, in regard to the progress that is towards God, as Paul was, "stretching forward to those things which are before, and forgetting those which are behind." This is the increase of contemplations, the acquisition of piety, the extension of the greater, our continually reaching out for those things that are, always leaving behind that which has already come to pass, and straining with all our might for that which is lacking in piety. Such was Isaac, concerning whom that testimony is recorded, that as he progressed he grew until he became great. He did not stand still, nor did he remain having grown only a little; but he always pressed forward with great strides. ^D He advanced to the works of virtue; he advanced with a great stride through temperance, he stepped onto justice. From there he ascended to fortitude. Thus moving forward, the righteous man reaches the summit of the height of good. "Increase," therefore, with the increase which is perfection according to God, the perfection in the inner man; "multiply" by the fruitfulness of the Church. Let not theology be restricted to one, but let the Gospel of salvation be preached throughout all the earth. "Multiply." Who? Those who are born according to the Gospel. "Replenish the earth." Replenish the flesh given to you for service with good works. Let the eye be full of seeing what is necessary. Let the hand be full of good works. Let the feet be for the visitation of the weak, being ready to go to the...

^A the performance of those things which are fitting. Finally, let all our members be filled with the observance of the commandments of God. This is what that voice signifies, "Fill the earth." And that utterance, which is common to us with the rest of the living creatures, is properly referred to us, when it is understood in that sense, in which we have been honored and made in the image of God. For other animals increase by bodily growth, but we by incorporeal growth, and that which pertains to the spirit. And those indeed fill the earth with a multitude, but we fill the earth of our body, joined with good things, with good works.

"Behold, I have given you every tree having fruit in itself, that it may be for you to eat." Let not the Church let this pass by. All things are righteous. He did not say, "I have given you fish for food; I have given you whales, and creeping things, and ^B quadrupeds." For He did not create them for that purpose, as He says. But the first legislation granted the enjoyment of fruits; for we were still considered worthy of paradise. Is there some mystery hidden here? For the fruits and the grass were given to us and to the beasts and to the birds of the air, and to all the animals of the earth for eating. But we see many animals that do not eat fruit. For with what fruit does the leopard or the lion feed? Yet these, subject to the law of nature, were nourished by fruits. But when man had departed from the commandment, and was living outside paradise, after the flood, the Lord, seeing that men were stubborn, granted them to eat of all things: "Everything that moves and lives ^C shall be for you to eat; as the green herbs I have given all things to you." By this concession, the rest of the animals also obtained the liberty of eating.

From that time on, the lion became flesh-eating, and vultures [became] greedy for carcasses. For they did not roam the earth as soon as they were born. For nothing had yet died of those things which had been either made by God or generated, such that vultures might be nourished; nor did nature separate and dissolve [bodies], for it was vigorous. Nor did hunters kill; for men were not yet occupied with such pursuits. Nor did wild beasts mangle; for they were not yet flesh-eating. Nor had the vultures themselves become accustomed to feeding on carcasses; since there were not yet carcasses, not yet stench, not yet such food for vultures; but all lived after the manner of swans, all grazed in the meadows. And just as we see dogs ^D often eating grass for the sake of healing, not because that food is natural to them, but because, being prompted by a certain instinct of nature, these irrational animals are led to that which is beneficial for them, so consider these flesh-eating animals to have been at that time, not planning traps for one another, but, as if to say, thinking of grass as food for themselves. But such as the restoration is to be after this, such was the first genesis. And man returns to his former state, putting aside wickedness; this life of many cares, this servitude of the soul regarding worldly things, putting all these away, he returns to that life in paradise, the one unenslaved to the passions of the flesh, the free one, the one communing with God, the one living with the angels. These things, therefore, have been spoken by us, not because we wish to shut off the use of the foods granted to us by God, but that the...

happiness of the past time might be shown. What that life was like, how tranquil, how rich, how few the things men required for their sustenance, and how, with the various kinds of feasts, the causes of sin entered in together. ^A For after we fell from those true delights of paradise, and no longer behold the tree of life, nor can we enjoy or boast in those honorable and splendid pleasures, we have devised adulterated delights for ourselves, and have found cooks and bakers, and various kinds of sweetmeats and incense, and such things to comfort our loss of that place; just as when those who are sick are brought low by a severe illness, not being able to share in their customary enjoyment, doctors provide them with certain sweetnesses of odors and other such congruent diversions, and caress their weakened senses. ^B Since they have fallen from the stronger things for enjoyment, those who flatter their senses devise things measured to the sick. Nevertheless, even now, wishing to lead ourselves in imitation of the life in paradise, let us avoid this complex enjoyment of foods, and let us, as far as we are able, bring ourselves toward that life, using fruits and seeds and legumes for our sustenance, but casting away and disdaining the rest as superfluous and not at all necessary. For although they are not detestable, as they have been granted to us by the Creator himself, yet they are not to be taken for the sake of the gratification of the flesh. "And God rested from all his works on the seventh day." ^C Let the arithmeticians, then, and those who apply themselves to such studies, and who put forth the wisdom of such matters as something great, say that the number six was generated along with the world, that it is a productive number, bringing forth many kinds of numbers from itself, and that it is perfect in its own parts, and whatever else they are accustomed to say about the number six in their scholarly discourses; if there is time, let it be said by itself. But let them also say of the seven, that there is a certain sterility in the seventh. For the number seven neither generates from itself, nor is it generated by another. And that I may not lead my discourse into a complex subject, passing over the argument directed to you, I shall move on to things more readily understood. But if anyone is skilled in this sort of faculty, let him know that the treasure of such things also lies hidden among us. ^D Wherefore if arithmetic is to be esteemed as great, here are its seeds. But it is not a concern to us to pilfer these small things from the wisdom of the world, as if to insert something great into our own orations. That it may be evident, therefore, that we contemn those things which they admire, let us pass over them in silence, especially since the knowledge of them cannot be so easily grasped by any of the common people, and those who hear me do not so much move to admiration the things that are being said, but rather things which instruct the character and life, and they demand and expect them. The seventh day is renowned. For the sabbath is reckoned by the Jews as the seventh day, [in which the feast of Tabernacles, the Trumpets, the day of Atonement.] And the seventh year is observed by them as well, and is called the year of remission. For it was allowed to them to cultivate the land for six years, but in the seventh year they left it unplowed and free, when in

^A their own land, they were enjoying the law of the seventh year. The Hebrew served for six years, and in the seventh he was released from his servitude. In the seventieth year captivity was loosened among them. Now let us turn to our own matters. “Seven times,” he says, “shall the just man fall, and rise again.” Thus do we appropriate the week to ourselves. The seventh from the creation, Enoch, did not see death; a mystery of the Church. The seventh from Abraham, Moses, received the law, in which there was contained a change of life, a dissolution of iniquity, an entrance into justice, a pilgrimage of God, a constitution of the world, and a prescription for things to be done. In the seventy-seventh generation after Adam, Christ appeared. Peter understands the mystery of the week. “How many times,” he says, “shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” ^B The Lord said, “I do not say to you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.” The mystery knows but few things; he had not yet learned, for he was still the disciple. “Until seven times?” the disciple did not depart from the septenary number. The disciple said what he knew. The Lord abounded in riches. “How many times shall he sin, and I forgive?” Why did He not say six times, or eight times, but seven? Why did the Lord not answer “a hundred times a hundred,” but multiplied the number seven? Neither did Peter ask for anything else, nor did the Lord depart from the septenary rule. Peter had observed from the ancient norm of tradition that the septenary number contained a certain power of the remission of sins and of perfect rest, the sign of which is the Sabbath—the seventh day from the creation. Peter says seven times; the Lord says seventy times seven. ^C Furthermore, even sins are punished seven times. Does it not say: “Whoever kills Cain, he shall be punished sevenfold”? Neither did it say eightfold there, but sevenfold. Why so? Wait a little, and you shall find the mystery. The first sin of Cain is avenged sevenfold; the second murder, that of Lamech, seventy times sevenfold. For it says: “From Cain vengeance shall be taken seven times, but from Lamech seventy times seven.” Therefore, if Peter’s seventh remission refers to Cain’s punishment, the seventy-seventh condemnation refers to the punishment of Lamech; that as great as the transgression is, so great is the grace, and where the crime is small, the pardon is small: “For to whom little is forgiven, he loves little.” “Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.” ^D What, then, is the mystery? The eighth day is called the age of judgment, in which the sinner will be punished seven times, and the one who sins to excess, seventy times seven; the just man will be rewarded seven times, and the one who is just to excess, seventy times seven. The kindness of God now shows us the future through enigmas; but then, in His very presence, the truth will be clear and manifest. For then it will be revealed what each is worthy of. Therefore, the Lord will pardon the sevenfold vengeance due to us sinners, if through confession and repentance we shall have appeased Him here. On which account, since we are not ignorant of that formidable day and the vengeance reserved for sinners,

by repenting beforehand, let us dissolve our sins, that we may escape the painful multiplication of that requital there. Let us, therefore, say that this day is a sign and token of that eighth day, the consummation of the age. ^A “And God rested from his works.” There will be no more works of the world on that day, no more marriages, no more commercial transactions, no more farming, but the whole earth shall be in horror and fear, all created things shall be in contention, labor shall be inconsolable, and even the righteous shall be in contention, wondering what verdict shall at last be pronounced concerning them. Even Abraham shall struggle then—not that he might be condemned to Gehenna, but in which rank of the righteous he shall be placed: the first, or the second, or the third. The Lord is from the heavens, and the heavens are rent asunder, power is revealed, all creation is trembling. Who is without fear? Not even the angels. They, too, stand by, not that they must give an account to God; but nevertheless, the glorious appearance strikes trembling into all. Do you not hear Isaiah saying: “If you should open the heaven, trembling shall seize the mountains from before you”? In which the sea has congealed, in which creation shall rest, nature is dead; then the righteous are caught up, then the clouds are the carriage of the righteous, then the angels are the conductors of the righteous, then the righteous are taken up as stars from earth to heaven; ^B but the sinners, bound, fettered by the weight of their own sins, shall fall downward, shamefully and most despicably.

That seventh day, therefore, is modeled upon this seventh. “And God rested from all his works.” Those things which pertain to this life will not be on that day. The desires of the young shall be lulled; there shall no longer be any design for marriage; there shall be no desire for childbearing; there shall be no concern for gold. The covetous man shall forget his purse, the wealthy man shall forget his land, the glory-seeker shall forget his glory. All those things shall have flown from the mind. The soul shall be with Him who is to be feared, in expectation of the impending terrors. For fear drives away every passionate thought that dwells within our souls. Where there is the fear of God, all stains of passion are driven from our mind. This seventh day is a type of that seventh day. “And God took dust from the earth, and God formed man.” The creation of the world was not completed, nor was the sequence interrupted so that the narrative concerning us might be introduced, but it was said: “God made man, and rested from all his works.” And since he took his ease, he teaches us how he made him. “God took dust from the earth.” ^C When you hear “dust,” learn to put away human pride; do not show partiality to the persons of men. Why do you think highly of yourself? When thoughts of pride and inflammation come into your heart, let the reminder of your creation enter into you—how you were created. “God took dust from the earth, and God formed man.” When are you able to forget yourself? You forget yourself when you depart from the earth. But if you are never separated from the earth, but are rooted fast to the earth, walking upon the earth, resting upon the earth, judging upon the earth—everything that you do, whether great or small… ^D

you have a monument of your abject condition. You are insulting and irascible; whence comes this indignation and anger in you, from such a lowly state? You cannot bear to be called ignoble or born of an obscure place, and you contend so that he who spoke ill of you might hear worse from you in return? Cast your eyes down and look at the earth, and your anger will immediately be stilled. Look at the earth and think to yourself thus: "He called me ignoble and base-born." He said less than the reality. For he did not call me begotten of the earth, but of a man. But how much more precious is a living man, endowed with a soul, than the earth which is trodden underfoot? ^A I, however, look upon the ancient mother, the earth, so that it is not an insult to be born of a servant, but an honor to be born a living being. And he who thinks he is insulting me has, without knowing it, honored me all the more. For I, knowing the nature of my own being, know who I am and whence I am. Thus, this remembrance that we were made from the earth never allows anger to stay awake. Let the earth be an ally to your reason, always present and reminding you. When you run toward some desire, consider how you pass away; if you consider that you will be dissolved into earth, the desire of your madness ceases. "You are earth, and into earth you shall go." ^B Remember that in a little while these limbs that now pulse, or the current desire of the flesh, will after a little while be no more, the limbs having been dissolved and decomposed into earth. Remember your nature, and all impulse toward evil is broken. Let this remembrance be a safeguard for us against every sin. "God formed man, taking clay from the earth." Beautiful is humility; the monument is connatural. If He had said, "God formed man, taking the material from heaven," when would we look upon that heaven so as to be reminded of our nature? The monument of our own nothingness is present at hand from the very things we tread upon. Look at the earth, and remember that you have drawn your lineage from the contemptible matter of it. What, therefore, is baser than us? What more abject? What is more fitting for us than that we should behave humbly and consider ourselves nothing? Have you seen someone proud and arrogant, ^C dressed in various garments, and wearing a splendid ring with a precious stone upon his finger and showing it off, clad in silken threads and surrounded by servants, with his hair let down, fair, and carefully groomed, adorned with gold necklaces, and sitting upon silver chairs or walking with a haughty gait, thinking magnificently of himself, boasting grandly because of the multitude of servants and flatterers whom he lures with sumptuous tables, because of the salutations which they all bring to him in the marketplace, while they rise from their benches when he arrives with his lictors, or walk out to meet him, or conduct him there and back? When you see these princes stepping forth with the great voice of a herald, when you see them casting terror into this one, and raging against that one, confiscating the property of another, and those whom they subject to death...

do not be afraid of what is happening; do not be shaken at the things occurring, and do not let the spectacle make you perceive the one who commands them as a stranger. Remember that God fashioned man out of clay from the earth. If it is anything else, be afraid; but if it is clay from the earth, despise it. ^A “And God fashioned man.” This voice, “fashioned,” does not immediately reveal to us some technical craft of God regarding man. God fashioned. Did He fashion as they do who mold things of clay? As those who cast bronze? But the molding of a statue and the fashioning of plaster have likeness only as far as the surface. You have seen a statue, how it stands with a certain demeanor. The statue of a soldier reflects anger, or the bronze reflects feminine disposition when it is shaped into a woman, or anything else, as much as art can introduce through imitation into the character of the expression. But the fashioning by God is not such; rather, He fashioned man, and His creative energy arranged everything, having gone through to the inner depths. ^B If I had enough leisure to show you the construction of man, and you learned from yourself the wisdom of God concerning you, that man is in truth a little world, and those who honor him with this name have done well—how many treatises have been expended on this matter? Physical studies of physicians, the observations of gymnasts, or those concerning proportion, or the symmetry of the members toward one another, concerning the abundance of excess flesh—all these enter into the fashioning of man. And whence would I have such speech that I could say with precision all that is contained in the one word “fashioned”? But the ready points, even if I do not speak them, you know. ^C God fashioned man upright; He gave this distinct fashioning to you above the rest of the animals. Why? Because He was about to bestow upon you a distinct activity. For the others are cattle, and they have their construction for the purpose for which they were born. The sheep was born to graze; it has its head bent downward, looking at the belly and at what is under the belly, since the end of happiness for them is the fullness and pleasure of the belly. But man no longer looks at his belly, but upward; his head is elevated so that he may look at the realm above; his eyes do not incline toward the earth. Do not, therefore, act against your nature; do not scrutinize earthly things, but heavenly things, where Christ is. “For if you have been raised,” he says, “with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” Thus you were fashioned. This very fashioning is a school training you for the end for which you have come to be. You came to be so that you might behold God, not so that your life might be dragged upon the earth, not so that you might have the pleasure of a beast, but so that you might perform the heavenly life. For this reason the eyes of the wise man are in his head, the wise Ecclesiastes says. Whose eyes are not in his head? But they are in his head, that is, so that they may look upon the things above. ^D But he who does not look at the things above, but at earthly things,

^A he has his eyes dragged upon the earth. Eyes, therefore, are round. The head is placed upon the shoulders, not compressed, so that it may not be low and abject, but is raised on high by the comely height of the neck. There are twin pupils of the eyes. Was one eye not enough, tell me? But two eyes are successors to one another, so that the failure of one may have the comfort of the other. Furthermore, because the power of vision, if it flowed from only one source, would be weaker; but flowing forth from two fountains and joining together, it becomes stronger. For the vision, proceeding from both sides, at once finds rest at the barrier of the nose, and at the same time, as it protrudes, it becomes unified; for just as if a channel were proceeding from each of the eyes, from this side the visual power, and from that side the other, it becomes unified at a distance at the meeting point; and being unified, it becomes stronger. What is the proof that it is unified? Do you not see the old men, that they do not see things nearby? Because, since the visual power is weak when it is split, it does not see things nearby; but where the meeting of the vision occurs, as if on some flood occurring against the sight, the perception of the sensed objects becomes more robust. And how many safeguards are there around the eye! There is a tunic within, but this was not enough; for one could not handle the mass. Or, if it did, it would cover and hinder the power of seeing with its thickness. Therefore, it was necessary that it also be transparent and light. Therefore, one is transparent, another thin; the former is crystalline, the latter is corneal; and the one that protects is stronger, the one that is inside is thinner, so that it might not block the passage, and a third is crystalline, so that it may contain in itself the reflection and the transparency of both. The eyelids are an addition, this covering is a protection, and it is as it were a dwelling and a safeguard. The hand could protect. But while the hand was arriving, the eye would be dimmed. ^B But now the eyelid lies close at hand, which is placed above. And as soon as it perceives the harm, it casts forth the covering. For this reason, the pupil, sitting under a veil, is not always open to injury.

The eye alone of the members in us desires to be untouchable, being covered under the veil of the eyelid. Bristles of hair surround it. Why? So that the interlocking of the upper with the lower eyelid may be more precise. For the hairs are like bonds interlocking with one another; then they also keep the tiny particles of animals from afar, and do not allow the fluffy things to approach the pupil, which is capable of being dimmed from every side. A certain natural protection is placed around us by means of the hairs: at once granting comeliness by the outline, and at the same time providing usefulness. What of the eyebrow? Is it not an aid to you by which you may direct the sight of the eyes more correctly? That which can be confirmed by this argument: When you strive to look at something placed at a distance, why do you place your extended hand above your eyebrows? Is it not so that the vision, which is diffused upward, may not be scattered in vain, but being directed by the projection of the hand and pushed forward, renders the state of the visual power more precise? And the passage of the power of sight is directed by the projection of the hand. For this reason, the eyebrows at once direct the eye, and at the same time, ^C the sweat... ^D

not allow the sweat of our labors to flow down and become an impediment ^A to our vision. It is for this reason that the eyebrows serve as a rampart. What vinedresser can so skillfully fashion a vine, or fence it with an eyebrow, so that it is difficult to approach, or impede the runoff into the adjacent ravines of the fields, as the Lord has fashioned the covering of the brows? He has gladly traced for us, from a single symbol, the ridge that parts to either side of the nose, so that sweat flowing hither and thither provides no distraction to the husbandman, nor does he, while wiping away the sweat, withdraw his hand from the vine; rather, the sweat flows along its own channels, designed of old by the Creator to lead it away toward useless places, and simultaneously the eye performs its own proper task. If we wished to speak of those things for which we are indebted to God, the whole day would fail us. But from this one example, may you grasp the whole concept. As for us, send us forward with your prayers, since we must journey upon a certain necessary path, that, having returned to you in haste and safely, we may pay the remainder of our debt, by the grace of the Lord who has ordered all things regarding us, and who created us by His own grace; for to Him be glory and power, to the ages of ages. Amen.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, ON THE LIFE OF MOSES, OR ON THE PERFECTION OF A LIFE ACCORDING TO VIRTUE

^BAs those who love to watch the horse races, those who look upon those for whom they feel zeal in the struggle of the course, even though they omit no diligence of spirit toward the ones they wish to see win, yet, anxiously following the course with their eyes, they shout from above and urge them on, thinking that they are inciting the charioteer to a swifter rush, crying out together with the horses and, as if with a lash, stretching out their hands toward them and shaking them; not because they do not know that these things contribute nothing toward the victory, but because their benevolence and zeal toward