In Genesim sermo 1

A homily on "God saw all that he had made, and behold, they were very good," and that the divine oracles are more precious than all pleasures. The meadows of piety are beautiful, not blooming 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 according to the image of God and according to the likeness. This likeness according to virtue, then, does not permit a horse to be called a man. Therefore, when we pursue this likeness, 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 evil, because an image of evil 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 evil—for the lion is an image of the tyrant, and the serpent of the crooked and the most wicked in character, and the scorpion of the striker, and the wolf of the rapacious—where, it says, would the creatures be good, being so manifestly taken as an image of evil? But those who love learning must know that these things are neither evil in their own nature nor called so, but are a condition 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 slavish order of the irrational beings; 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 slavish image is not fitting for free beings. Just as a man of high rank and reputation, 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, yet not suitable for a free man—so too, if you take on 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—the condition that obtained mastery and yet pursues the ways of a slave. I have introduced these points necessarily, 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 beings. For he has set before us certain advantages of the irrational to imitate, so that we may not slander what has come into being as evil—not the nature as a whole, but only what suits a rational condition. Or did you not hear today the one who says: Go to the ant, O sluggard, and emulate its ways? Did you not understand how, by setting before us the ant’s industriousness, he trained us in unflagging zeal?

Did we not teach you explicitly from the ant its diligence, and from the bee its artistry? For it is possible, it is possible, as I said earlier, to cull some advantages even from irrational beings that are fitting for a rational state; however, these are spoken for our shame and reproach. For since you did not imitate God, imitate, it says, the ant. Have you never seen a true father rebuking his children, and after much discipline leading them to imitate servants, saying openly: Imitate at least the servant, inferior in rank but superior in skill? 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 was made by 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 lion's cub of Judah; from a shoot, my son, you arose; you lay down and slept like a lion, and like a cub. 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 even a serpent, not in injecting venom, but in taking up prudence, just as the savior says to the apostles: Become wise, as the serpent.

Therefore, if the creation were base, it would not be summoned to imitation of the base, with the words, "Become your own image, saying, 'Wise as a serpent.'" Imitate the serpent not in its venom, not in its wrath, but in its prudence. For if you imitate its venom, David denounces you, accusing and saying, "Their wrath is like that of the serpent." But if you imitate its prudence, you become a disciple of Christ, who said, "Become wise as the serpent." Since the serpent is more prudent than all wild beasts, as was just read aloud, it set prudence against prudence, not so that you may learn to practice deceit, but so that you may learn to avoid deceit. For the benevolent God wishes us to be not maleficent, but resourceful. Resourcefulness is one thing, and maleficence is another. A resourceful person, then, is one who does not practice evil, but flees from evil. And he uses resourcefulness not to plot against others, but to escape the plots woven by others. A maleficent person, however, is a murderer, a treacherous one, one who contrives evils against others. Such a prudent one was Jacob, prudent as the serpent, not venomous as the serpent. For when he was about to engage with his brother Esau, who was full of malice and murder, 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 his wrath with morality and flattery, and extinguished his malice. For what does he say to Esau? "I have seen your face, as one might see the face of God.

And if Jacob had said these things in order to overcome his brother through deceit, he would have spoken wrongly; but if he said them in order to escape fear, he made good use of cunning. Therefore, be prudent as the serpent: not wrathful, not venomous, but prudent, and guileless as doves. Now, the dove can be understood both in terms of vice and virtue. And how, listen: 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 the senseless, you achieve the guileless, you possess perfect understanding, not mixing it with vice itself; 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 as referring to vices, 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 a lion of Judah; from a shoot, my son, you arose; you lay down and slept as a lion." Here, "as a lion" signifies courage; for it also applies the same image to the righteous man: for it says, "The righteous man trusts as a lion." Therefore, the righteous man is courageous, not in doing evil, but in spurning the things brought 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 the tribe of Judah, from which the Savior arose, ruled over the Jews. And do not think, beloved, that it is unworthy for Christ to be likened to the image of a lion.

For the scripture forms this image also with respect to the divinity 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?" So, according to its power, its fearsomeness, and its kingliness, Christ is likened to a lion. But the devil is also called a lion, not as powerful, nor as fearsome, but as a striker, as a tyrant, as a destroyer. And the blessed apostle Peter says about this: "Behold, your enemy the devil goes about like a lion, seeking to devour a soul." Therefore, distinguish the interpretations of the readings, lest things that seem contradictory in the wording confuse your mind. Scripture spoke of a lion and a lion; but one according to the kingly and powerful, the other according to the destructive and poisonous. So too does scripture form both the righteous man and the impious man through a single image: "The righteous man," it says, "will blossom like a palm, will multiply like the cedar in Lebanon." It first made the image of the righteous man, then likewise that of the impious man. "For I saw," it says, "the impious man exalted and raised up like the cedars of Lebanon." See, then, how it brought forward the same image but divided the meanings by the words. For concerning the impious man it says: "I saw the impious man exalted and raised up like the cedars"; but concerning the righteous man it did not say "like a cedar in Lebanon he will blossom," but "he will multiply." So then, imitate the bee, O man, which scripture also teaches you to imitate for diligence. Go to the bee and learn that it is a worker. Do not learn that it has a sting, but that it produces honey.

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 striking bee, but likens the righteous to the one that drips honey? For he says, "The lips of righteous men drip wisdom and a honeycomb of beautiful words; 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 spiritual honeycomb in the hidden workshop of the soul, and let us receive the divine oracles as beyond honey and honeycomb. For much honey eaten often turns its sweetness to bitterness and disturbs the stomach's appetite and upsets the whole condition of a person. 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 that wise man, wishing to contrast the difference between honey and word, says: "To eat much honey is not good, but one must honor glorious words." So, beloved, let us always have the variegated honeycomb, the divine and sacred oracles; and just as that honeycomb is composed of many and various shapes but has one good, so let the divine scripture be a honeycomb for us, composed of many and various prophets, but dripping one honey of teaching. Such for us is also the honeycomb of the fathers, fitted together from different ages, but dripping one grace and one spiritual teaching. But let these matters suffice.

May it be that we, through the prayers and intercessions of our common father, by diligence increasing the word, 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 recognize the definitions 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.