Six Homilies on the Creation 3.1–3.5

The craftsman of the world adorned the heaven with sun and moon and stars, crowned the earth with flowers and plants, and embellished the whole creation in varied ways; and we, taking up the account of creation, must marvel at the things made and worship the craftsman. For these things were not written only so that we might learn that they came into being, but also so that we might marvel at the one who made them. It has been said that on the first day he brought forth the materials of the creatures, and on the second how he formed the firmament out of the thinned nature of the waters, which is why it was called a firmament. For this reason too Christ gathered the whole world, which had been thinned out and slackened and scattered among the various materials of the error of many gods, and made it one faith; and the Apostle calls it a firmament, saying, “according to the firmness of your faith in Christ.” So the abyss was divided: the water that stayed below was an abyss, and the water raised above was an abyss. Where is this from? He says: “[Abyss calls to abyss at the voice] of your cataracts.” So the abyss was divided and the firmament came into being; the earth was still covered with water. “And God said: Let the water under the heaven be gathered into one gathering, and let the dry land appear.” Since the wretched children of the heretics want to know everything, and search out the manner of an incomprehensible nature, let them say how the water was gathered, and where it was gathered, or, once gathered, where it went. For by your rule one must not simply follow the words but inquire into the facts. “God said: Let the water be gathered.” Where was it gathered? Into the sea. Was the sea not full then? The earth was full, so surely the sea was too. Where, then, was it gathered? Those who [do not understand] what lies at their feet and in plain sight [pry into] the untraceable and incomprehensible abyss of the Godhead; and the sea, incomprehensible as it is, does not shame them out of searching into the craftsman. That is why the prophet may say to the heretics, “Be ashamed, heretics, says the sea,” just as he said, “Be ashamed, Sidon, says the sea.” Where, then, were the waters gathered? Hear. When God made the earth, there were not yet the hollows between the mountains; but as soon as he said, “Let the water be gathered,” the earth broke open and he made bays. The facts themselves testify that it is earth that was split: the islands, and the mountains in between. That is why God left the islands and the mountains, so that you may learn that from the beginning it was joined together, but the word of God broke it apart. “Let the water be gathered”: the earth was laid bare. We must know that God neither made the earth, as it is now called, as “earth,” nor gave it that name; its name at the making of the world, from the beginning, was “the dry land,” as David says: “For the sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.” Dry land came into being, and was called earth; just as this firmament came into being, and was called heaven. When the waters were separated, the dry land came forth looking like soaked ground, for the waters had just withdrawn. So when the earth was laid bare, the Creator commands: “Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, sowing seed according to kind and according to likeness, and the fruit tree whose seed is in it according to kind and according to likeness.” Not even this shames the heretics. Plants and trees and grass beget according to likeness, and did God beget what is unlike? And again, when the four-footed beasts and the creeping things and the birds came into being, God says: “Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls, and birds flying over the earth according to kind.” Wild beasts, creeping things, birds, swimming creatures, plants, grass, trees beget according to kind and according to likeness; and did God alone beget what is unlike? And when God made us, he said, “Let us make man according to our image and likeness”: the work is according to likeness, and is the craftsman unlike?

But see the wonder; for heretical wickedness often finds itself a lair. “If you say,” he says, “that the Son is according to likeness, as we are, we accept it.” But likeness of nature is one thing, likeness of grace another. We are according to likeness; he is the likeness: “For whoever has seen me has seen the Father”; but we are according to likeness. The servants of God must inquire into the differences between words. God says: “Let the earth sprout the herb of grass, and the fruit tree bearing fruit.” Then he says: “Let the earth bring forth four-footed beasts and wild animals.” Why there “Let it sprout,” and here “Let it bring forth”? Shoots and trees and fruits sprout every year. Since, then, they were going to remain in the earth and always come forth from it, he says, “Let it sprout”; but for the animals he says, “Let it bring forth,” since once they had been born from the earth they are no longer born from the earth again, but from their succession of offspring. “And it was so.” The word ran into deed; the earth was adorned; next the heaven had to be adorned. Why does he make the ordering of the earth come before that of the heaven? Because of the error of many gods that was going to spring up concerning sun, moon, and stars. God said: “Let there be luminaries in the firmament of heaven.” Why did he not make sun and moon on the first day? Because the firmament in which they were to be fixed had not yet been made. And not for this reason only, but because there were not yet any fruits that needed warming; for the fruits sprouted on the third day. And again, so that it might not be thought that they sprouted by the nature of the sun, it was when the work of creation was complete that God at last makes sun, moon, and stars. From what did he make them? It has been said that on the first day he made all things out of what is not, and on the other days out of what is. From what, then, was the sun made? From the light made on the first day, which the craftsman changed as he willed and refashioned into different forms: there the matter of light, here the stars; as if someone were to set out a lump of gold and afterwards, cutting it into coins, so to arrange the ordering of light. For just as he divided the abyss, which was then one water, into seas, rivers, springs, lakes, and wells, so too the craftsman cut up the light, which was one and uniform, and divided it into sun and moon and stars. I want to inquire how God made the luminaries; for he appears to have made them outside the heaven and then to have fixed them above. As a craftsman, when he has finished an image, then fixes it on a wall, so God first made the luminaries outside the heaven and then fixed them above, like a craftsman, as Scripture testifies: “And God made the two luminaries and set them in the heaven.” How, then, did he fix them? Were the two fixed together? That makes no sense. What, then? The fixing followed the very word of God. “God set,” he says, “the luminaries: the great luminary to rule the day, and the lesser luminary to rule the night.” When the sun was fixed in the east, the moon was fixed in the west, since she was commanded to rule the night and he the day. So the moon came into being, and it is born on its first day full. For the work was not to be mutilated at once; the luminary had to be shown as it was made. Afterwards, by its changes, it showed times and seasons and differences of days. So God makes it full, as on its fifteenth day. The sun rose at dawn; for when the moon was fixed at dawn, it appeared in the west. So as the sun ran its own course toward the west, the moon at once began to rise, so that “Let them rule the day and the night” might be fulfilled. Next comes a question: why did God make the moon full? Attend, for the thought is deep. Since it came into being on the fourth day, it ought to have appeared four days old. But again, if it had been four days old, it would not have held out to the far edge of the west. So it was found with an advantage, as fifteen days old: the moon then had an advantage of eleven days over the sun, not in its making but in its shining. That is why the moon pays back to the sun the days by which it then had the advantage. For the number reckoned by the moon, each month of twenty-nine and a half days, makes three hundred fifty-four days in the twelve months of the year. If you reckon the month thus at twenty-nine and a half days, the days of the year come to three hundred fifty-four, so that every year the moon pays back to the sun the days by which it then had the advantage. The one who reckons …

“Let there be luminaries in the firmament of heaven so as to shine on the earth.” Since the nature of fire was to run upward, God put a bridle on its nature, so that it would send its radiance not upward but downward. For fire cannot bear to tend downward, only upward. If you have a torch, turn it downward, and you see that even if you turn the instrument, the fire runs upward. Since its nature had to be such, then, he bound it, so that it shines not according to its nature but according to his command. Let any of you observe the oil in a lamp: how the fire is drawn down along with the oil, and the force of the oil pulls it down while the nature of fire runs upward; and as though forced to run against its course, it gives out a sound as if suffering violence, as if traveling against nature. For whenever something against nature happens in an element, it cries out. Why? When oil is poured on fire, it gives no sound; but if water is poured on, it crackles. Both are liquid. But since oil is food from wood, the olive nourishing it, and fire is always friendly to wood, it gladly receives what comes from its kin. If water is poured on fire, it crackles, for it is fighting its opposite. Fire belongs with air, for they are akin. You blow on a lamp, and the air carries the fire off as smoke, and it is found nowhere; for it ran to its kin. See the craftsman's wisdom; see his power. He placed the luminaries in the heaven so as to shine on the earth. “And let them be,” he says, “for signs and for days and for years.” What is “for signs”? The idle talkers have emptied out their hopes on astrology, noting signs of things that have no substance. That one cannot draw signs about human life from the stars, Isaiah testifies, saying: “Let the astrologers of heaven stand up, and those who look at the signs, and let them tell you what is going to happen.” About human life, then, the heaven gives no sign. Do you want to learn its signs? It signals rains, winds, storm, fair weather. The stars signal these, and this out of God's love for mankind, so that the sailor may see the sign and escape danger, so that the farmer may see […]. There comes also a sign of war and of peace. The Savior confirmed these signs, which are simple and free of superstition. For he says to the Jews: “Hypocrites, if you see […], ‘A storm is coming,’ and so it happens. And if you see the heaven red in the evening, you say, ‘Fair weather,’ and there is fair weather. And if you see the heaven gloomy in the evening, you say, ‘A storm is coming.’” And then he adds: “You know how to judge the face of the heaven and of the earth, but this time you do not know?” These things, storm, rain, fair weather, are not foreign to godliness, and are God's own. One could stretch out a long discourse on astrology, but that needs a strong voice and an instrument that does not flag; for the mind keeps pace with speech, and reasoning grows weak along with the tongue. So let us go on to simpler things. “Let them be for signs and for seasons.” Time is one thing, season another. Time is length; season is the right moment. No one says, “It is time to harvest grapes” in the sense of length; no one says, “It is time to marry the virgin” in that sense; but, “It is the season to marry the virgin, the season of sowing, and the season of harvest.” And Solomon says: “A season to give birth and a season to die; a season to build and a season to tear down.” By “season” he means the right moment. And the stars signal this: for example, the rising of the Pleiades is the beginning of harvest, the setting of the Pleiades the beginning of sowing. These things are foreign to impiety and belong to godliness. The feasts of God are also called seasons. God says: “Three seasons of the year you shall keep feast for me: the feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles.” Three seasons. See: signs, and seasons. Again, the moon produces days for the sabbath, and months. The sun keeps the turnings of the years, spring […]: laws unshaken. He spoke, and they were fixed; he commanded, and they were founded. Now give me your mind here. Who is the craftsman of these things? Who made them? The Father? No one disputes it. The Son? The heretics also agree, but not rightly; for they say that the Father made the Son, and the Son made all things. Shall I accept this impiety? Since the truth binds the heretics' reasoning with bonds that cannot be loosed, let us ask the prophets: does the one who made all things have someone greater, or is he above all? For they fall by their own premise.

They say that the Son made all things, and the Father made him. May God be merciful to us for repeating the blasphemy; for in truth it is a dreadful thing to repeat the words of the impious. Yet we imitate physicians, who put their hands into wounds to cleanse the sores. The Apostle too was compelled to mention shameful things, not to defile his tongue but to cleanse sins. They say that the Son made all things, and the Father made him. I will ask the prophets who it is that made the heaven, and what sort of being he is. The prophet Isaiah says: “Thus says the Lord, who made the heaven and fixed it, who made firm the earth and what is in it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who tread it: I am the Lord. Before me there is no God, and after me there is no God. I am, and there is no other.” These are the words of the one who made the heaven and the earth, the Only-begotten, who according to the heretics came into being and then created. But “in the words of his own lips the sinner is caught.” The blessed Jeremiah says: “Thus you shall say.” To whom? To the Greeks: “Gods that did not make the heaven and the earth, let them perish from the earth. The Lord, who made the heaven by understanding, he is the living and true God.” If the God who made the heaven is true, and the heretics too confess that the Son is the one who made the heaven and the earth, what conflict is there when Christ says, “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”? When the Savior said these things, whether through the prophets or in his own person, he did not say “that they may know you, the only God” in contrast to himself, but to distinguish God from the falsely named gods. Whence Paul too says: “You turned from idols to serve a living and true God.” He calls him true to refute the falsely named; living, to brand the dead idols. I think, or rather I believe, that the dead are indignant with us when they hear us call idols dead. “You insult our rank,” they say. “We who once lived are called dead; why are those who never lived called dead?” “Gods that did not make the heaven and the earth, let them perish. The Lord, who made the heavens by understanding, he is the living and true God.” Who is the living one? The one who made the heaven. Do the heretics' definitions stand? Does their impiety not fall? Is not true reverence for God vindicated? Is not their perversity dissolved? You cannot grasp the works of the maker, and do you meddle with the craftsman and try to track him down? What does David cry? “How great are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom.” Prophets magnify the works; heretics belittle the craftsman. He is great in counsel and mighty in works, who fixed the heaven out of waters, for I do not leave the wonder behind. It was fixed out of waters, and carries water; it was set firm from waters, and holds up an abyss. And it has an example altogether, I mean this lowly wonder. Have you seen slabs of ice held up by water and carrying snow on top? Did winter accomplish this, and does God not accomplish it? He made the heaven not like a sphere, as the idle talkers philosophize; for he did not make a rolling sphere, but, as the prophet says, “Who roofed the heaven like a vault, and stretched it out like a tent.” None of us is so impious as to be persuaded by the idle talkers. The prophets say that the heaven has a beginning and an end. That is why the sun does not go up but comes out. Scripture says: “The sun came out upon the earth, and Lot entered Zoar.” So clearly, according to Scripture, the sun came out and did not go up. And again: “From the end of the heaven,” it says, “is his going out,” not his going up. If it is a sphere, it has no end; for where does what is round on every side have an end? Does David alone say this, or the Savior too? Hear him saying: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they will gather his elect from one end of heaven to the other end of heaven.”

We ask where the sun sets, and where it runs at night. According to the outsiders, under the earth; but according to us, who say the heaven is a tent, where? Attend, I beg you, and see whether the word is false. If you have a seal attested by the truth, the place too agrees with the phrase. Imagine a vault lying over us. In the figure, the east is there, the north here, the south there, the west there. The sun, rising and then about to set, does not set under the earth; having gone out to the ends of the heaven, it runs to the northern parts, as though hidden behind a wall, since the waters do not allow its course to be seen; and it runs along the northern parts and reaches the east. And how is this clear? Blessed Solomon says in Ecclesiastes […]: “The sun [rises], and the sun sets. Rising, it goes to the west, and circles toward the north; circling, it circles, and rises in its own place.” That it runs along the south and circles the north, learn from the condition of winter. For it does not rise from the middle of the east, but slants toward the region of the south, and, cutting across a short distance, makes a short day; then, having set and again running its circle, it makes a long night. We know, brothers, that the sun does not always come out from the same point. How, then, do the days become short? Its rising draws near the region of the south; then, not coming by the high path but cutting across the slant, it makes the days short. Setting at the far end of the west, it must circle through the night the whole west, the whole north, and the whole east, and arrive at the far point of the south; and so the night must be long. When it is equal in length and keeps an equal step, it makes the equinox. Again, inclining toward the north, as in winter toward the south, and climbing to the far parts of the north, it is raised up and makes the day long; and having only a small circle left, it makes the night short. It was not the children of the Greeks who taught us these things; they do not hold this, but say that the stars and the sun run under the earth. But our Scripture, the divine teacher, Scripture trains and enlightens us. Then he made the sun, an unfailing luminary; and the moon, which puts off its beauty and puts it on again. The work shows the craftsman. The craftsman is unfailing; the work is lasting. For the light of the moon is not used up but hidden. It becomes also an image of us mortal men. Consider for how many ages it has been rising. And when it is new, we say, “Today the moon is born.” Why? Because it is an image of our bodies. It is born, grows, is filled, lessens, wanes, sets; and it is born again, since we too are going to rise, and another birth awaits us. That is why the Savior, wishing to show that as we were born here so we are born again, says: “When the Son of Man comes in the regeneration.” The moon guarantees the resurrection. “You see me,” she says, “hidden and appearing again, and do you give up your hopes?” Was the sun not made for us? The moon not for us? All created things? What is there that does not guarantee our resurrection? Is the night not an image of death? Bodies are cast down in the darkness; can you not make out their forms? Often you feel with your hand the faces of sleepers and do not know which face is this one's and which that one's, but you ask, so that the voice may announce those hidden in the darkness. Just as the night covers our forms, even if we are all in the same place, and no one recognizes another, so death comes and dissolves the forms, so that no one recognizes anyone. You pass by tombs. If you see many skulls in a grave, do you know whose this one is? But the one who fashioned them knows; the one who dissolved them understands where these forms came from. Do you not marvel at God's craftsmanship? Among so many forms in so many tens of thousands there is no exact likeness; even if you run to the ends of the world, you find no one alike; and even if you do find one, there is a difference in the nose or the eye, so that the distinctness may appear. Twins come out of one womb, and the likeness is broken off.