In Genesim

A Discourse on the Text, "God saw all that he had made, and behold, they were very good," and that the Divine Oracles are more precious than all pleasures. 1. The meadows of piety are beautiful, not adorned with transient colors, but teeming with heavenly flowers. The flowers of piety are the fruits of a divinely inspired way of life. For the virtues lead us up to that wondrous and archetypal beauty which has been made in the image of God and according to the likeness. This likeness according to virtue, then, does not permit one to be called a horse instead of a man. Therefore, when we pursue this, we are no longer named wolf and dragon and serpent and scorpion, being brought down to the insult of the irrational animals; but we are, and are called, and are believed to be, a wondrous and precious image of God, preserving the archetypal beauty of the character. You became master of the irrational animals; do not imitate the habits of your servants. It is not because the irrational animals are base; for nothing evil was created by the Good. For let no one suppose that the irrational animals are placed in the region of vice, because an image of vice has been introduced for those who do not live according to virtue. For if this were so, how did Scripture say, "And God saw all that he had made, and behold, they were good," and not simply good, but "very good"? Since, then, the creatures were introduced as an image of vice (for the lion is an image of the tyrant, and the serpent of the crooked and of the one most wicked in character, and the scorpion of the striker, and the wolf of the rapacious), where would the things that have come into being be good, it is said, being so manifestly taken as an image of vice? But those who love learning must know that these things are neither evil in their own nature nor called so, but are a state proper to the irrational animals.

But when it comes to the rational nature, it insults the sight and dulls rational freedom. You, O man, have received the master's dignity; do not pursue the dishonorable and servile order of the irrational, for you insult yourself by imitating the bestiality of the irrational—not because the irrational are evil or are called so, but because the dishonorable and servile image is not fitting for the free. Just as a man of distinction and renown, if he puts on or wraps himself in a slave's garment, is insulted and disgraced—not because the garment is base and filthy, but because it is fitting for a slave but not suitable for a free man—so if you adopt the character of a scorpion or a wolf, it is not the nature of the irrational that is slandered, but your own condition is insulted, having obtained mastery yet pursuing the ways of a slave. These things I have necessarily introduced so that no one may take what has been said as an insult to the creation, as if God had made something base; for all things are truly good, and very good, if they keep their proper order and pursue their proper law. And so that you may learn, beloved, that nothing base has been produced by God according to nature, God has taught us to take an image even from these irrational creatures. For he has set before us certain advantages of the irrational to imitate, so that we may not slander what has been made as evil, not the nature as a whole, but only what suits a rational condition. Or did you not hear today the Proverbs speaker saying, "Go to the ant, O sluggard, and emulate its ways"? Did you not understand how, by setting before us the ant's industriousness, he educated us to unhesitating zeal?

Did we not teach you explicitly: from the ant, diligence; from the bee, skill in craft? For it is possible, as I said earlier, to cull certain advantages even from irrational beings that suit a rational state. However, these are spoken to our shame and reproach. For since you did not imitate God, imitate, it says, the ant. Have you never seen a genuine father rebuking his children, and after much discipline, leading them to imitate servants, saying plainly: Imitate even the servant, inferior in rank but superior in knowledge? Hence the benevolent God, to indicate our ingratitude, presents the ant convicting our laziness, and the bee convicting our indolence. And it is clear from these things that no evil came from God, but He gave you perception and discerning mind, to flee the habits of irrational beings and to seize their advantages. For even the lion can be an image of virtue, when you do not take the image as tyranny but as courage; for tyranny is one thing, and courage another. For this reason, Scripture, announcing the Savior who was to arise from Judah, says: A whelp of the lion of Judah; from a shoot, my son, you ascended; you lay down and slept like a lion, and like a whelp. See how great a likeness the divine word constructs from the advantages belonging to irrational beings. It is possible, then, to imitate a lion with understanding; and it is possible to imitate a serpent, not in injecting venom, but in acquiring prudence; just as the Savior says to the apostles: Become wise, as the serpent.

Hence, if the creation were base, it would not have summoned its own image to the imitation of the base, saying, "Be wise as the serpent; imitate not the serpent's venom, not its wrath, but its prudence." For if you imitate the venom, David accuses you, reproaching and saying, "Their wrath is like that of the serpent"; but if you imitate its prudence, you become a disciple of Christ who said, "Be wise as the serpent." For since the serpent is more prudent than all wild beasts, as was just read, it has set prudence against prudence, not that you may learn to practice deceit, but that you may learn to avoid deceit. For the benevolent God wishes us not to be maleficent, but to be panurgic; panurgic and maleficent are different things. Panurgic, then, is one who is not for practicing evil, but for fleeing evil; and he uses panurgy not to weave plots against others, but to escape the plots woven by others; maleficent is the murderer, the deceitful, the one who contrives evils against others. Such a prudent one is Jacob, prudent as the serpent, not venomous as the serpent. For when he was about to engage with his brother Esau, full of malice and murderous intent, he besought God, saying, "Lord, deliver me from my brother Esau, for I greatly fear him"; and he entreated God, setting his prayer against the wicked one. But when he met his brother, he tamed the wrath with morality and flattery, and extinguished the malice. For what does he say to Esau? "I have seen your face, as one would see the face of God.

And if Jacob said these things in order to overcome his brother through deceit, he spoke wickedly; but if he said them in order to escape fear, he made good use of cunning. "Be therefore prudent as the serpent; not wrathful, not venomous, but prudent, and guileless as doves." Now it is possible to interpret the dove both for vice and for virtue; and hear how: If you are irrational and undiscerning, and experienced only in vice, Scripture denounces you as senseless. For it says, "Ephraim is like a senseless dove, without a heart." If, then, having fled from senselessness, you achieve guilelessness, you possess perfect understanding, not mingling it with vice; and you hear from the Lord, "Be prudent as the serpent, and guileless as doves." Do not, therefore, brother, read the Scriptures simply, and take the images from them for vices, dividing them, assigning this to one and that to another. Do you wish to learn? Pay close attention to what is said. Scripture calls a lion: for it says, "A cub of the lion of Judah; from a shoot, my son, you arose; you lay down and slept like a lion." Here "like a lion" signifies courage; for it also uses the same image concerning the righteous man: for it says, "The righteous man trusts like a lion." The righteous man is therefore courageous, not in doing evil, but in spurning the things brought upon him by the wicked. It also calls the Savior a lion, because he is from a royal tribe. For just as the lion is king of the quadrupeds, so also he ruled over the Jews.

The tribe of Judah, from which the Savior arose. And do not think, beloved, that it is unworthy of Christ to be likened to the image of a lion; for Scripture applies this image even to the Godhead itself. Listen, then, to what the prophet says: "A lion will roar, and who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy?" Therefore, according to its power, its terror, and its royalty, Christ is likened to a lion. But the devil is also called a lion, not as powerful, nor as fearful, but as a striker, as a tyrant, as a destroyer. Concerning this, the blessed apostle Peter says: "Behold, your enemy the devil goes about like a lion, seeking to devour a soul." So then, distinguish the interpretations of the readings, lest things that seem contradictory in the letter confuse your mind. Scripture spoke of a lion and a lion; but one according to royalty and power, the other according to destructiveness and poison. Thus also Scripture depicts the righteous and the impious through a single image: "The righteous," it says, "will flourish like a palm, will multiply like the cedar in Lebanon." It first made the image of the righteous, then likewise that of the impious. "For I saw," it says, "the impious being exalted and raised up, like the cedars of Lebanon." See, then, how it brought forth the same image, but with the words it distinguished the meanings. For concerning the impious it says: "I saw the impious being exalted and raised up, like the cedars"; but concerning the righteous it did not say, "Like a cedar in Lebanon will flourish," but, "Will multiply.

Thus, then, imitate the bee, O man, which even Scripture teaches you to emulate for diligence. Go to the bee and learn how it is a worker. Do not learn that it has a sting, but that it produces honey. For if you imitate the bee’s sting, David accuses you, saying: All the nations surrounded me like bees around a honeycomb, and I defended myself with the name of the Lord. Do you see how he likens those who strike to a stinging bee, but the righteous to the one that drips honey? For, he says, the lips of righteous men drip wisdom; and, fine words are a honeycomb; and their sweetness is a healing of the soul. This sweetness of souls, then, beloved, let us desire with our whole soul, and let us work the intellectual honeycomb in the hidden workshop of the soul, and let us receive the divine oracles as superior to honey and honeycomb. For much honey eaten often turns its sweetness to bitterness, and disturbs the stomach’s appetite, and overturns the entire condition of a man; but the word of God, taken in abundance, does not cloud the soul, but heals it: for its sweetness is a healing of the soul. Therefore, wishing to set forth the difference between honey and the word, that wise man says: It is not good to eat much honey, but one must honor glorious words. Let us, then, beloved, possess the variegated honeycomb, the divine and sacred oracles, continually; and just as that honeycomb is composed of many and diverse shapes, yet has one beauty, so let the divine Scripture be a honeycomb for us, composed of many and diverse prophets, yet dripping one honey of teaching.

Such for us is also the honeycomb of the Fathers, fitted together from different ages, yet distilling one grace and one spiritual teaching. But let this suffice. May it be that we, by the prayers and intercessions of the common Father, increasing the word with diligence, always work the divine law in our mind, and do that which was said by David: to have the law of God always in the midst of our belly, that is, the divine thoughts, so as to think we are recognizing the boundaries of nature, to honor truth, to despise the world, and to send up glory to God, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.