In cosmogoniam homilia 1

On the First Day of the Creation of the World. Every subject of piety is a correction of our souls. For all the teachings of piety look toward this salvation of our souls. Indeed, the word of God also works toward this, the law of Moses sets this forth, the rational tongues of the prophets proclaim this, the apostles cry out with unsilenced mouths for this. For everything is for us and on account of us, so that, having hastened toward correction, our matters may be deemed worthy of piety. Now every holy book has our salvation as its starting point, as I have just said. But this book of creation is the beginning, source, and power of all things in the law and the prophets. And just as a house cannot stand without a foundation being laid, so too the beauties of creation cannot shine forth unless the beginning of creation receives its due. I know, of course, that many of the holy fathers have descended into the discourse on creation, having said many great and glorious things, as the grace of the Holy Spirit measured out. And although many great and wonderful things have been said before, nothing prevents what is said by us as well, as the grace of the Holy Spirit may supply. For just as those before us were not hindered by those before them, so neither are we by those before our generation. For both to them and to us and to those before them, there is one grace that supplies the power of the Holy Spirit. For it says that one and the same Spirit works all things, distributing to each individually as it wills.

Therefore, what comes from the fathers is not rejected, but what comes from us is set alongside. Even if their contributions are great and ours small, yet they are built together with theirs. For just as a large stone, bearing the shape of a cube, set in a building and slightly shaken, will be steadied by a small stone placed beneath it, so also what has been said by the fathers, receiving small additions, produces a greater building of the Church. I entreat your love to attend to the thoughts of what is said—not whether they are unfamiliar, but whether they are true. For neither is what is customary necessarily true, nor is what is unfamiliar false; but everywhere it is asked whether what is said is truth or falsehood. I ask that you neither, as to a friend, accept the words without examination, nor, as to an enemy, reject the discourse because it is strange, but that you look everywhere to see whether truth is what presides over what is said. "In the beginning," it says, "God made the heaven and the earth." This account is a composition of Moses the lawgiver and a revelation of the Holy Spirit. It contains the creation, which came about by the power of God, revealed to Moses by prophetic grace. For Moses did not say these things as a historian, but as a prophet. For he spoke what he did not see and narrated what he did not witness. For just as we have previously said that there are three kinds of prophecy—first, the kind that is through speech; second, through action; third, through both action and speech—so also here there are three parts of prophecy: prophecy concerning the present, prophecy concerning the future, and prophecy concerning the past. For example:

A prophet was not present—Isaiah, for example—at the events that took place in the time of Moses. But since the Spirit of Moses was in him, revealing to him what had happened, it was prophecy. Again, prophecy also exists concerning present things, as when someone standing before a prophet wishes to conceal something in his mind, and the prophet refutes him, as Elisha did with Gehazi, foretelling the future and revealing what was hidden. Moses spoke of things that had already happened; others speak of things to come. Thus one must attend to this history not as a narrative but as true prophecy spoken from the Holy Spirit. What, then, is the prophet’s purpose? Two tasks lie before Moses: to set forth teaching and to outline legislation. For being a lawgiver, he did not begin with legislation but with creation. Why did he first wish to show God as creator and master of the universe? So that God might be shown not as legislating for others but for his own. For if he had not first shown him as creator of the world, he would not have been shown as a credible lawgiver for the world. To legislate for others is violence; to instruct one’s own is consistency. And just as John the Evangelist did not first set down Christ’s legislation until he had stated his lordship, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” When he had called him maker and creator, then he introduces him as teacher and lawgiver of the universe.

Again, there is another purpose of Moses. Why did the blessed Moses mention heaven, and earth, and sea, and waters, and the things that come from them, but did not mention angels or archangels or seraphim or cherubim? Because he also adapted the legislation to the times then. For he knew to whom he was speaking: to those who had come out of Egypt, to those who had learned the Egyptian error, to those who worshipped things concerning heaven and earth, the sun and moon and stars, rivers and springs and waters. So he left aside the creation of invisible things and emptied his discourse upon visible things, in order to persuade those who worshipped these not to consider them gods, but works of God. For it was not necessary at that time to show them about angels and archangels, lest he again feed their disease. For if, without seeing angels or intelligible things, they called many things gods, much more, if they had heard of angels or archangels, they would have thought those to be gods. But he mentions heaven and earth, mountains and waters, and all things that come from them, in order to interpret the invisible from the visible, and to show the craftsman from the works. So also the three youths in Babylon did. For since they were in that god-fighting nation, and there was no knowledge of God, but idols were worshipped, while in the furnace they say: "Bless all the works of the Lord, the Lord." Why did they not say angels, heavens, earth, fire, water, cold, heat, and such things, but they enumerate creation part by part? In order to wash the whole of creation, and to purify the whole of the created order, and to leave no spark of impiety.

Just as here Moses, wishing to drive away the Egyptian error of the Jews, mentions both heaven and earth as having been made, in order to show the things that have been created and to mention the creator: "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." Now pay attention to my thought. I marvel how John and Moses had the same preface. For this one says, "In the beginning he made," and that one says, "In the beginning he was." But that one speaks usefully and this one properly. For where there is creation, Moses placed "he made"; where there is the creator, the evangelist placed "he was." And there is a great difference between "he made" and "he was." For the one came to be from not being, while the other was always being. "In the beginning he made" and "in the beginning he was." Being belongs to God, while coming to be belongs to creatures, as the evangelist also distinguishes. For concerning the Savior he says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This one was in the beginning. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Six times he says "was," in order to interpret being. But concerning the servant, when he proclaimed the one who is, and came to the servant John, he says, "A man came to be." He was God, but he came to be man. But if they dare to say even concerning the Savior that the Savior was something that came to be, he is no different from the earth. Pay attention, I beg you. If the heretic says that Christ was something that came to be, and before coming to be he was not, what more does he have than the earth? For Moses said concerning the earth, "And the earth was." If, then, they take "in the beginning he was" as referring to creation and not to the eternal nature, he has nothing more than the earth. And God the Word was, and the earth was.

But there, "in the beginning" was, not having come into being, always existing, while the earth had come into being. For the lawgiver did not first say "the earth was," until he said "in the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." First the "made," and then the "was." We know, therefore, brothers, that these subtle inquiries appear difficult to the minds of the many. But it is necessary on a day of fasting to discourse with souls that are rather sober about the deeper thoughts. "In the beginning was" and "in the beginning made." For this reason the preface is equal: they said "in the beginning" and "in the beginning," so that one root of piety might be shown, which instructed that lawgiver and illuminated this theologian. For the two covenants are sisters, set forth from one father. For this reason they also utter the word harmoniously. For nearly the same image and likeness exists. And just as in sisters born from one father, the characteristics of likeness are present, so, since the two covenants were born from one father, they have great resemblance. Indeed, in the old covenant law precedes and prophets follow; and in the new grace the gospel precedes and apostles follow. There, twelve prophets, each of the twelve; twelve around Hosea; four: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. In the new, twelve apostles and four evangelists. There again, the first calling of God began from brothers. For it took Moses and Aaron as first heralds. And in the gospel, it makes the first calling of Peter and Andrew. And there, simple grace; here, double. For there two brothers were called, Moses and Aaron.

Here there is a double pair of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John. Since the Saviour wished to impress upon us the love according to the Holy Spirit, and to make us brothers in disposition and spirit, he took nature as a foundation and fastened the natural affections to it, and upon that he builds the foundation of the Church. The first sign in the Old Testament is the river turned into blood; the first sign in the New is water turned into wine. But it is not for the present occasion to recount the whole series of similarities. Let us return to the matter at hand. "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." In six days God made all things. But the first day differs from the others that follow. For on the first day God made things from non-existence. But from the second day onward God made nothing from non-existence, but rather transformed what he had made on the first day as he wished. But you, who have examined and investigated, if you find truth, agree; if you do not find truth, accuse, and I accept the accusation. For it brings me a great defence.

On the first day, then, God made the materials of the creatures. On the other days, the formation and ordering of the creatures. I mean something like this. He made the heaven that did not exist, not this one, but the one above. For this one came into being on the second day. God made the heaven above, concerning which David also says: "The heaven of heaven belongs to the Lord." This is an upper room. And just as in a two-story house a middle roof intervenes, so the Lord, having built the cosmos as one house, placed this heaven as a middle roof and the waters above. For this reason David says: "Covering his upper rooms with waters." So he made the heaven that did not exist, the earth that did not exist, the abysses that did not exist, winds, airs, fire, water. He made the matter of all things that came into being on the first day. But someone will certainly say: It is written that he made the heaven and the earth, but concerning water and fire and air it is not written. First of all, brothers, from the fact that he said the heaven and the earth had come into being, he interpreted the contents from the containers. For just as when he said "God made man," taking dust from the earth, he mentioned the formation but did not enumerate the limbs, nor did he say: God made eyes and ears and nose. But by saying "man," he included all the limbs together. So, by saying "God made the heaven and the earth," he included everything together and also introduced the darkness and the abysses as having come into being. For "darkness was," it says, "upon the abyss." And "abyss" is called the multitude of waters. And that abysses also came into being, the scripture testifies, saying:

Before he made the abysses, before the earth came to be. So abysses also came to be. Then also when the air came to be, listen: "And a spirit of God was borne over the waters." But here it does not mean the Holy Spirit. For the uncreated is not numbered with creation, but it calls "spirit" the motion of the air. And just as it is written in the prophet Elijah: "And the sky grew dark with cloud and wind," so also here "spirit" means the nature of the air. It remains then to show where fire came to be. God said, "Let there be light," and the nature of fire came to be. For this fire is not the only fire, but the powers above are also fire, and the fire above is akin to this fire among us. You ask why one is extinguished and the other is not extinguished. Since God also made the angels spirits and our souls spirits, but our souls are in bodies, while the angels are without bodies. Just as then with souls and angels, so also with fire one may observe. The fire above is without matter, the fire below is with matter. For the fire above is akin to these, just as our soul is akin to angels. Insofar as those are spirits and these are spirits, as the three youths say: "Bless, spirits and souls of the righteous," and again: "He who makes his angels spirits." So neither does a soul appear without a body, nor can fire be seen without tow or vine-branch or other matter. But to show that this fire is not alien, creation teaches. For many often borrow fire from the sun and kindle it.

If it were alien, how was the alien taken from him? But otherwise, in this way, there is a great immaterial fire in heaven, just as fire appeared on Mount Sinai, which God brought forth for display not from underlying wood, but from that immaterial fire itself. And as one might say that this fire is small compared to that great one, so then Moses says: "The Lord made his voice heard from heaven," and God showed his great fire, in order to display this as small. Therefore everything is fire: both lightning and the stars and the sun and the moon, and the fire among us is akin to them. And see how lightning has kinship with the stars from the name: astrapē and astra. And the Savior, in order to show that fire and lightning are akin, says in the Gospel: "The lamp of the body is the eye." If, then, your eye is luminous, your whole body will be luminous. These things the Savior says. Then he adds: "As when the lamp illuminates you with lightning," calling the radiance of the lamp "lightning of the lamp.

All things, then, came into being: fire came into being, abysses came into being, winds, the four elements—earth, fire, water, air. For what Moses omitted, he recapitulates in a remarkable way, saying: In six days God made the heaven and the earth and all things in them. Just as he did not name all the members of the body, so also he did not enumerate everything in creation, even though all things were constituted together with the world. If there were no fire in the earth, today I would not strike fire from a rock or from wood. For wood, when rubbed, generates fire. Pay close attention, then. "Darkness was upon the face of the deep," it says. Did God, then, make darkness, it asks? We know that the meaning is deep. But since we are often between those who listen with love and those who love to find fault, it is necessary not to leave the word unexamined, lest the promise be great but the result small. Whence, then, the darkness? For God, it says, did not make it. For God, it says, is not a maker of darkness or gloom. What, then, is darkness? Many have wished to say that it is a shadow of the heaven. For, they say, when the heaven above was made, the lights above were left behind, the earth was stripped bare, and darkness came to be. But the heaven above is luminous, not dark; even if it did not have the sun or the moon or the stars, it would have its own nature shining. If, then, the heaven were above and the earth were spread out below, the shining one above, the illuminated one below, whence the darkness? It seems to me, then, that since water covered the earth, mist and gloom gathered around the waters, as indeed happens now over rivers.

the mist, raising a fog, made clouds; the clouds, casting a shadow, made darkness. That a cloud raises darkness, Scripture says: "And the sky was darkened with clouds." But one must not be ignorant of the allegories of the heretics. Some heretics dared to say that darkness is the devil, and the abyss the demons. When God said, "Let there be light," that is, they say, the Son, that he might come to be. And they are not ashamed to say the devil is older than the Son. For if the abyss is a demon, and the devil is darkness, and after these things God said, "Let there be light," that is, the Son, then he is not only equal in honor to him, but also older. But this impiety must not even be mentioned. Darkness, then, was that from the clouds. For thus it was also in Egypt, darkness, not because it was night, but because a mist had come. Thus it was also on Mount Sinai: there was darkness, not because night had come, but because a cloud was casting a shadow. Thus it happened also at the cross of Christ, darkness. We have brought this forward so that you may not be ignorant of what is said. Not because night had come, but because a shadow and an obstruction had occurred. Thus one must not approach the divine oracles simplistically. And the spirit of God was borne over the water. He calls the wind "spirit," as he says elsewhere: "With a violent spirit you will shatter the ships of Tarshish," calling the movement of the air "spirit." For do not think that air is one thing and wind another. For air itself, when moved, makes wind, as experience bears witness to these things. Often, then, with a fan or a linen cloth we move the still air and make wind from the movement of the air.

So that it might be shown from the Spirit that the wind is a movement of air, for this reason it said "was borne upon." For it is characteristic of wind to be borne upon creation. God said, "Let there be light." Why did Moses not say that God said, "Let there be heaven, let there be sea," but there he made, while here he spoke, because among us speech precedes the work? For we first speak, then we work. Wishing to show God working first, so that he might present creation as swifter than any speech. When he works the materials by power, he says "he made"; when he was about to adorn all things, and the beginning of the cosmos was light, he introduces fitting speech. And since again the first work of God was light, while the last work of God was man, God first works light by speech, but later man by deed, completing from light to light. And how light and man, listen. Light shows existing things; the light of the cosmos is man, who, having entered, showed you the light of art, the light of knowledge. Light showed grain, understanding made bread. Light showed the grape cluster of the vine, the light of understanding showed the wine in the cluster. Light showed wool, the light of man showed a garment. Light showed a mountain, the light of understanding showed quarrying. For this reason also the Savior calls the apostles light, saying, "You are the light of the cosmos." Why does he call them light? Not only to honor them, but also to show the hope of resurrection.

For just as the light at evening sets, it is not destroyed, but is hidden and, having been hidden, appears again, so also man, as if sent to a kind of setting in the tomb, is preserved for the rising of the resurrection. "Let there be light." It said what came to be, but it did not reveal the manner, nor did it learn it. For that light came to be, I know, it says. But how it came to be, I do not grasp. For this reason also the Savior said to the apostles: "It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father placed in his own authority." Then, if it is not for us to know times or seasons, is it possible to grasp the master of times and the maker of the ages with human reasonings? God said, "Let there be light," and light came to be. O that holy and great power! O great wonders! Light came to be, and God calls the light "day," and the darkness "night." Why does he call it "day"? Because everything bright and cheerful is called "gentle." For this reason we also call philanthropy "gentleness," and we call tame wild animals "gentle." And God called the light "day" and he called the darkness "night." "Night," why? Because night brings man, when sleeping, to a reminder of death, all but saying: Learn, man, what you are. You are mortal, you are subject to sleep. Why do you fantasize about things above you? For night is a pricking of the heart. Whence also David says: "What you say in your hearts, be pricked in your beds." Indeed, a man lies in night, neither dead nor alive. Ask a heretic: What is it? Alive or dead? And if he says alive, say: Why then does he not perceive those speaking or walking?

If he should say, "It is dead," say, "How then does it breathe?" For that which breathes is not dead; that which does not perceive is not alive. You do not see yourself, but you imagine things above you. But let these things be said sufficiently for the first day. For evening overtook us, just as there the matters of the first day, and to the best of our ability, even if the thoughts were deep, we nevertheless set them forth. It is for the faithful to examine what has been said and to seek out the history. But we, being nurslings of holy fasting and having feasted on heavenly things in the lack of nourishment of bodies, let us be eager to keep the holy fast. For it says, "Sanctify a fast." Do we sanctify it, or are we sanctified by it? But the prophet said this instead of "keep it holy." For just as when we pray, "Let your name be sanctified," it is not that we pray for his name—for his name sanctifies everything—but because his name has been invoked upon us—for we are called Christians from Christ—it says, "Let your name be sanctified upon us." For with the holy one, all things are holy. For nothing approaches God that is not holy. For God is holy, resting among holy ones. And his heaven is holy. For he will hearken from his holy heaven. The angels are holy: "When the son of man comes in his glory with his holy angels." The earth having holy worship: "And he will wish," it says, "to overturn a covenant upon his holy earth." And David: the court is holy: "Worship the Lord in his holy court." Isaiah: the temple is holy: "For your temple is holy, wonderful in righteousness." The irrational sheep that were then sacrificed were called holy.

He says, "as holy sheep in Jerusalem." The covenant is holy: "And he will strengthen his holy covenant with many." This city was called holy: "And against the holy city of our fathers, Jerusalem." For nothing approaches God that is not holy. Therefore Paul says: "And sanctification, without which no one will see God." We have fasted from bread; let us also fast from injustice. Do you not eat bread? Do not eat the flesh of the poor, so that God may not say also concerning you: "Those who devour my people as a meal of bread." Do you not drink wine? Let not anger intoxicate you, so that you may not hear from the lawgiver: "Their anger is like that of a serpent"; and again: "Their wine is the anger of dragons." For when you oppress a poor person and he groans, you are found before God eating bread of tears. Therefore God also says: "You have covered my altar with tears." So God rebukes those who weep at the altar, saying: "Priests, enter, weep." But he rebukes, not because they themselves wept, but because the wronged—orphans and widows—were there making supplication at the altar. And to show that he speaks of those, he added: "with weeping, lamentation, and toil." It is still worthwhile to look upon our sacrifices. Therefore the table of the soul is set forth: the word of God. A fasting body is sanctified; a soul not nourished is corrupted. May the body fast from sins, and the soul delight in divine teachings. You cannot eat the bread of Christ and the bread of tears, as Paul says: "You cannot partake of the table of Christ and the table of demons.

Therefore, the one who fasts must abstain from foods and, first of all, from sins. For each day angels mark down who has resolved to abstain from greed or fornication or injustice or any other sin. For these fasts are recorded by angels and treasured by God. Just as, brothers, the rulers report everything to the emperor from the reports, so also the angels report everything to God, not teaching him who is ignorant, but fulfilling the liturgical order of creation. I would have blessed a thousand times the one who eats or the one who fasts and does wrong. I say these things not to dissolve fasting, but to proclaim piety. For eating is not evil, but sinning is wicked, as God says about a certain righteous man: "Your father did not eat and did my will." Likewise elsewhere: "The fast of the fourth day and the fast of the fifth day and the fast of the tenth day will be for you for joy and for gladness and for good feasts, and love the truth." But the perceptible light shone forth so that the worker of light might be proclaimed. Evening came, sealing the course of the day. The beginning is good; let the end be added. Do not reject it badly, but listen to David: "At the end, do not destroy." And may the God of this light enlighten all of you with word, law, faith, justice, temperance, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.