Six Homilies on the Creation 3.6–4.1

Then can the one who brought forth so many forms that did not exist not renew them after dissolving them? Do not, like a wretched man, measure God's power by your own reasonings. Do not think that God can do only as much as you can reason out. If he can do only as much as I conceive, I dare to say that God is very small; for my mind has measured him. But if he surpasses the mind and defeats reasoning, then the maker is untraceable and his works incomprehensible. Let the heretics be questioned from the things that appear, so that they may learn their own perplexity. Since God said, “Let there be a firmament,” and at once the word did the work, he left us this as a pledge that he himself made it. Today we leave the heaven bare in the evening, and on rising suddenly we find another firmament set firm out of the clouds. These are partial pledges of the first works, when you see the heaven darkened and another firmament made of clouds. The one who now quickly makes clouds shows how quickly he then made the heaven. And what does he do? How do the clouds rain? He made the clouds like wineskins, and through them he draws up the waters of the sea, which are salty, and fills the clouds, and changes the water, and waters the earth. Let them say how the weight is carried aloft, how it is drawn up, how the clouds are filled. They do not empty at once, but run a long way, wherever the Master commands; and God's command is like a bond laid on the clouds, not allowing them to rain until he gives the nod. That they are wineskins, David testifies: “Who gathers,” he says, “the waters of the sea as in a wineskin.” And see the wonder. He gathers the waters; the immortal and invisible hand lies upon them, not allowing them to be emptied all at once, but part by part. As a woman, spinning a fine thread, divides the wool into many different strands, so he cuts the boundless depth of the sea into drops as by a pattern and sends it thus to the earth. But here is the wonder: if it is loosed, how is it not emptied at once? If it is bound, why does it flow? You have an example, a weak one, but able to persuade you. Have you seen a water-catcher? Have you seen how it is pierced with holes underneath? A finger laid on top holds back the flow, and it is stopped below by what lies on it above. So the immortal finger of God lies on the clouds and lets go as much as he wills and keeps back as much as he wills, so as to send his gift over all the earth. And he does this especially in the late rains, when he drenches the whole earth, watering now this region, now another. That is why the prophet says: “And he will rain on one city, but on one city he will not rain. One portion will be rained on, and a portion […].” The finger of God […]. I have shaped my word into a figure we know. He commands, and they do not rain. And Scripture says this: “The clouds,” he says, “I will command not to rain rain.” “How great are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom.” Did you see God's craftsmanship? Did you see how it stops the mouths of the heretics, who do not know creation and meddle with the Creator? All things obey the law of God. The heaven stands, not upheld by its own power but made firm by the divine law. For when I am at a loss how the heaven was set firm out of waters, blessed David resolves my perplexity, saying: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm.” Why were they made firm? Because they were made from waters. For what is already solid is never said to have been made firm; no one can say, “The rock was made firm” […] set firm. That is why Peter, when he raised the paralyzed man, says: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of our fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, glorified his servant Jesus; and by faith in his name, his name has made firm this man whom you see and know,” the paralyzed man. That is why “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm.” Out of thin and dissolved waters, by the word of the Lord, the clouds are lifted on high. See, I beg you: the bitter water is changed. The clouds draw from the sea, and what is drawn bitter from the deep they make sweet and drinkable. Christ raised us from the depths, and our bitterness […]. Who is it that made the heaven and the earth? I say it is Christ. And how do we know? Because if he were not Master of all things, he would not in the Gospel have worked wonders through all the creatures. For he worked through all the elements, through earth, sea, air, and fire, so as to appear Master of all creatures. The light of evening has come in upon the light of day. The sun shines, and a lamp bears its torch: the end of day and the prelude of night. But you, when you see lamp and sun, say: “Yours is the day and yours is the night; you prepared the light and the sun.” But the lighting of lamps does not interrupt the word. For the sun must run at his command (“for the sun knew its setting”), so that it may be shown that Christ is Master of all things made. John proclaims this: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being that has come into being.” But it had to shine not only in word but also in deed. He says to the sea, “Be silent, be muzzled,” and it was muzzled, and the work recognized the craftsman. For he spoke to the sea, and it was silent; he spoke to the wind, and it was muzzled. If he had not made it, it would not have obeyed; if he were not Master of water, he would not have changed the water into wine; if he were not Master of heaven, a star would not have proclaimed him from heaven; if he were not Master of the sun, it would not have put on darkness at the cross. Christ was on the cross, and the sun was darkened. O the wonder! Not even creation could bear the insult to its Master. The sun was darkened, so that you might learn that even on the cross itself he is Master of the sun. The earth was shaken, so that you might learn that David spoke of him: “Who looks on the earth and makes it tremble.” The rocks were split, so that you might learn of whom the prophet said: “His wrath melts rulers, and the rocks were shattered by him.” The tombs were opened, so that the resurrection might appear, and God who raises the dead might shine through all things.

But we must also put forward a moral word. The lamp calls us to say, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” Evening has overtaken us, so that we may say, “Let my prayer be directed as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” And why not a morning one? Give me your mind here, for we ought to understand what we sing. David says, “Sing with understanding.” “The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” Moses, or rather God, commanded two sacrifices to be offered, one in the morning and one in the evening. The dawn offering was a thanksgiving for the night; for whoever was kept safe through the night gives thanks in the day. The evening sacrifice was a thanksgiving for the day: “Since you kept me,” he says, “during the day, I thank you for the whole day.” The morning sacrifice does not receive one who has sinned in the night. That is why he says, “The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.” You come in at evening; you spread out your hands. If they have confidence, let them be spread out; if they have not written up injustice, if they have not robbed the poor, if they have not defrauded orphans, let them be lifted up, as having a face to show. “The lifting up of my hands”: that is, “See, Lord, the hands are clean.” For just as one who has sinned cannot lift up his face but is bowed down by his conscience, so a defiled hand does not even dare to face God. See: if the hands are clean of injustice, let them be spread out. That is why the patriarch Abraham refused to take gains from shameful profit, when the king of Sodom said to him, “Take everything; only release the women.” So that he might have confidence, he took nothing; and having clean hands, he said, “I stretch out my hands to God, who made the heaven and the earth.” And he stretched them out, since they were not defiled by unjust gain. “The lifting up of my hands”: Paul interprets “The lifting up of my hands”: “I want the men to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” The evening demands of us the works of the evening. You spread out your hands; the craftsman examines them. The morning time comes, and if you do not have a clean hand or mind, you do not even dare to look at the morning; experience is the teacher. Consider how someone who has remained pure comes in with confidence, as though treading his own courtyard. For self-control in the night gives him confidence in the morning. That is why David says, “If I remembered you on my bed, at dawn I meditated on you.” I thank God; I remember that when our voice was failing, the word of God restored it, looking not to our worth but to your longing. Let us pray, then, in truth of heart, to have peace, to have confidence at dawn, to flee heretical madness, to pursue the orthodox faith, and to send up glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

When our voice was failing the day before, the grace of God made it firm through your prayers and your longing. Using that very experience as a teacher of how much longing and zeal of love for God can do, I come to the same appeal, asking you again to request the same grace on your own behalf. For if Paul, the vessel of election, who had Christ speaking in him, who was steered by the Holy Spirit, took the prayer of his hearers as a pledge, saying, “Brothers, pray for me, that a word may be given me in the opening of my mouth,” how much more do we, who are lowly and, so to speak, nothing, ask for your intercession, so that the bond of the tongue may be loosed and the word of boldness opened; and that divine grace itself may keep the instrument unhindered and grant an abundant supply of thoughts, not so that the one who speaks of divine things may profit alone, but so that he may draw up the heavenly wealth together with you. Come, then, let us take up the sequence. For it is fitting, I think, that just as the lawgiver Moses himself completed the account of creation in sequence and order, so we too, joining the second things to the first and the third to the second, should judge well and hand on to you the course of the word without confusion. […] was adorned with fruits, plants, trees, springs, and in short with everything it needed. For what came up from it was not of one simple kind, but varied and manifold. Some things adorned the earth itself; others became food for men or for the irrational animals; and others provided for the use of the men just mentioned. It is not the time now to go through the various things that came up from the earth, so as not to weary your ears with the length of the discourse. The heaven too had received its own adornment. Next God proceeds to the waters and makes them bring forth a living soul: the great and all-wise Creator, who made all things by an undivided nod and by his holy Word, as you recognized the truth of the facts from the truth of the Word itself when you heard him saying, “Let the waters be gathered,” and at once the work followed the word; and again, “Let the earth bring forth,” and “Let the waters bring forth,” and “Let there be luminaries.” It would take much of the present time to go through all the things made by the Word. Let us leave aside the works of the old creation and come to those done by him in the New Testament by word alone. For he is the one who created the old things and made the new, according to John, who says: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” What word could explain these things exactly? But let us keep to the sequence. This all-wise Creator, as we said before, adorned first what he made first. He gave adornment to the second thing made in the second place, likewise to the third and to the fourth, and to all the rest in turn he provided adornment according to the order of creation. What was he aiming at by this? Perhaps he wished to teach us to honor the boundaries of the elements themselves and to recognize order. First, then, he made the upper heaven; second, the earth; third, the firmament; fourth, he separated the waters. What he made first, he adorned first. “How, then,” some more exacting person will surely say, “did he adorn the earth first, when it came second?” and he will want to seize on my word as contradicting itself. To him we must say that nothing contradictory has been said by us now, but that the word is entirely consistent with itself. For the earth was adorned before this firmament, which came into being after the upper heaven and received its constitution on the second day. For precedence had to be kept in the sequence. When he had adorned the earth with plants and fruits, and beautified the heaven with sun and moon and the rest of the chorus of stars, he came to the waters. And what does the historian say? “And God said: Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls, and birds flying over the earth along the firmament of heaven.” See God's word bringing works upon the words, and the words accomplishing things. See God's syllables, small words filled with divine power. “Let the waters bring forth”: the word is God's labor. I think the works ran ahead of the word, for the power was swifter than the utterances. The word had not yet been spoken, and the work was already receiving its own adornment. And the wonder is that God gave each of these elements a double adornment. He gave the firmament luminaries and dew. And again, the use of these luminaries is varied, as is clear from the very words of Scripture; we spoke of them the other day as best we could, if not as they deserve, when we set out our discourse about them, and it is not useful to speak of them again now. To the earth, crops and plants; to the waters, swimming creatures and birds. “Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls, and birds flying.” He calls fish creeping things, since they creep rather than walk. Whence blessed David too, following the lawgiver, says: “This is the sea, great and wide; there are creeping things without number.” A strange thing, a strange arrangement, a strange promise in the word! Why? Because he is the maker of all things, he has things past, present, and to come before his eyes more than we have what is before our own eyes. Since he was going to supply life to the world first through waters, he first entrusts the waters with bringing forth a life-producing nature, so that you may learn where the root of life lies. When I see those being enlightened coming out of the holy waters, having gone into baptism with many evils, like creeping things, and coming out with eternal life, I see the lawgiver saying, “Let the waters bring forth” what were once creeping things, now “a living soul.” How does this become clear to us? Because those who come to the bath receive the name of creeping things on account of their former sins. Many came out to the baptism of John; he says to those who came: “Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” When a soul that has lived with wickedness for many years goes into baptism and comes out having put it off, see whether the Master's voice does not shine through the very works, saying, “Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls, and birds flying.” For the one being saved receives a double grace: he is made alive in soul, and as a bird he lives as a citizen with the angels and keeps company with the order above. “And birds flying over the earth along the firmament of heaven”: “over the earth” because of the body, “in heaven” because of the citizenship. We say these things not as allegorizers: it is one thing to force the history into allegory, another to keep the history and also to perceive a contemplation in it. And to show that by “creeping things” and “winged birds” he means the creatures in the sea, he added: “And God made the great sea monsters, and every living soul of creeping things, which the waters brought forth, and every winged bird.” For what bird was not winged? What need was there to say “every winged bird”? “To fly” (petasthai) is said from spreading out the hands. Hands too can be spread, as the prophet says: “All day long I spread out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people”; not that hands have wings, but because petasthai means to spread out. So the creeping thing too is a “flyer,” from creeping and spreading itself out; whence David too says, “creeping things and winged birds.” So God made the great sea monsters, that is, the great dragons that are in the sea. For the other translators say: “God made the great dragons.” They did not say “the sea monsters” but “the dragons.” Among the living things in the sea nothing greater came into being than the dragon. That is why David says: “Praise the Lord from the earth, dragons and all abysses”; and elsewhere: “This is the sea, great and wide; there are creeping things without number, living things small with great; there ships pass through; this dragon, which you formed to sport with.” And elsewhere, wishing to show that there is not one dragon but many, he says: “You crushed the heads of the dragons on the water.” So he made the great sea monsters. “And God saw that all things were good.” Why did he say “good” in the plural? Was it not because of their number? But when he made the stars and the sun and the moon, though many things were made, he says, “God saw that it was good.” The stars are many, their tens of thousands are countless, and he did not say, “God saw that they were good,” but “that it was good.” Why? Because though the luminaries are many, they come from one light and all have the same use; they were appointed to give light. But here, since the difference among the creeping things, the birds, and the swimming creatures is great (there is one account of swimmers, another of birds, another of creeping things), and within each kind there are many different ones, he says, “God saw that they were good.” The praise matches the variety of the works. “And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters, and let the birds […].” [3] Why, when he made the stars, did he not bless them? Why, having made plants and trees, did he not bless them? Some he blesses, others he does not bless. What is the reason for this? Attend. As many stars as came into being from the beginning, so many remain, and nothing can be added either to their number or to their size. Since they were going to remain in the sameness of their nature, they did not need a blessing to multiply them. But the creatures that are multiplied by succession, and receive increase in no other way, necessarily received the blessing as well. I say it again, so that what has been said may be fixed more firmly in your minds. For a plant that is set simply and carelessly in the folds of the earth, brothers, does not stand firm, but one set deep in it with every care does. The stars did not need a blessing, for it would not have given them increase. But birds and swimming creatures and man sought this blessing because of succession. And where things cannot be multiplied otherwise, there the blessing has its place: where the few are multiplied and the small receive growth. Since, then, we have learned the reason why these were deemed worthy of the blessing, we must next give ourselves to the other words of Scripture. “Increase,” since they are small; “multiply,” since they are few; “fill the waters,” since they occupy only part of them. We must inquire on another occasion why he deemed only the fish, the birds, and man worthy of the blessing and did not share it with the rest. Meanwhile, as we promised, let us keep to the sequence. “And God said: Let the earth bring forth a living soul.” God clothes the earth with a double honor. For first it bears seeds and plants, and after them the animals; not without reason, but since it was going to become man's dwelling. And not only this: since man himself was going to be fed from it, he honors it as the nurse and mother of this great living creature. See here too how he kept to sequence. First he prepares the food, and then brings in those who will enjoy the food, as he also did with man: first he finished the house, and then he brought in the master of the house. “Let the earth bring forth a living soul.” How does soulless earth beget a living soul? Whence came the roaring lion, or the running horse, or the working ox, or the burden-bearing donkey? Whence the differences among the animals? Whence so many souls from what has no soul? And the children of the heretics are not ashamed that the soulless earth brings forth a soul it does not have; but if they hear that God begot from his own substance, at once they stir up tangles of reasonings and bring in: “Then he was cut, then he was divided, then he suffered,” and all such things as they are used to saying. It is not the time now to go through all that they say against the Only-begotten, or rather against their own salvation. For God neither gains by being praised nor is harmed at all by being blasphemed, unless one were to call our salvation God's gain. For he is full of every good and lacks nothing in anything; he enriches all and needs nothing. What indeed could anyone give to him who is the source of all good things, on whose love for mankind alone all things depend? As David says: “All look to you … You open your hand and fill every living thing with good pleasure.” But let us bring the subject in hand to its end; for this is dear to us and fits the order. What the earth does not have, it brings forth in obedience to the command; does the divine and undefiled nature not beget what it has? But again, let no one take “having” in too human a sense and say: “Do you see how the teacher himself has granted that the Father existed before the Son?” Rather let him pardon the word, since we are men with a tongue of clay, speaking to men about a divine nature that surpasses every word. Being men, we were taught to speak as men. For the wretched people do not know that they are discussing God, bringing forward words that are not fit to be said of God. And see their trickery. When they put forward their questions, they speak from human reasonings, for example: “Everything begotten has a beginning of being.” And how so? They at once say: “When you were begotten, did you not have a beginning? Your father, your grandfather?” If you set before him, from these very reasonings, another reasoning able to dissolve his madness, at once he plays the sophist: “The discussion is about God, and you bring human reasonings to me?” They bring forward the root of the evils from common reasonings, but they will not accept the remedy for the evils from the same reasonings.