In cosmogoniam homilia 5

Of the same author, on the fifth day of the cosmogony. Many and great are the gifts of the benevolent God, but the first and greatest of all gifts is the teaching of the Scriptures. For the sun and the moon and the whole chorus of stars, and rivers and springs and lakes, have come into being for the care of bodies. But the holy Scriptures were given for the correction of souls. And as much as the soul is superior to the body, so much is the teaching of the divine Scriptures superior to the other gifts. Therefore the Savior says: "Search the Scriptures, in which you seem to have eternal life." Let us then search the treasures of the Scriptures, let us touch upon the promise, and let us attempt to expound the creation of man to the best of our ability. And let no one again find fault with matters investigated with precision. For it is characteristic of those who attempt to babble to find fault with the ordinances of God and to accuse those who speak with precision. I have heard some accusing, saying: "What need was there to speak about fire and water, that fire crackles when water is poured on it? We," they say, "do not wish to learn natural philosophy, but theology." But one must know that these words belong to idle and lazy people. For after theology, natural philosophy provides a foundation for piety. And if they reject natural philosophy, let them accuse the prophets, let them blame the apostles. The apostle engages in natural philosophy: "Not every flesh is the same flesh, but one flesh is of men, another of beasts, another of fish, another of birds, and there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies." Why does Paul engage in natural philosophy and also accuse from musical instruments and say:

There are, if you will, so many kinds of voices in the world, and is there nothing that is voiceless? For if a trumpet gives an indistinct sound, who is prepared for war? Whether a flute or a lyre, if it does not give distinction to the notes, how will what is played on the flute or the lyre be known? What commonality did Paul's tongue have with a flute and a lyre? But he reasons from natural phenomena in order to illustrate the things that are understood. What need was there in the book of Job for so many natural phenomena to be described? The strength of the lion, the voice of the lioness, the pride of dragons was extinguished. The ant-lion perished from lack of food. The chicks of vultures fly to the heights. Why did another prophet say: In the way that a lion takes and seizes and roars over its prey, and the mountains are filled with its voice? And the Savior himself reasons from natural phenomena: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is smaller than other seeds, but when grown, becomes larger than all vegetables; and again: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who casts his seed, and it sprouts and grows, as he himself does not know; for the earth sprouts spontaneously, first grass, then an ear, then it fills the grain in the ear. The Savior also reasons from the sky: If the sky at evening is red, he says, you say fair weather, for the sky is red; and at dawn today there will be a storm, for the sky is red and gloomy. What need, then, of these things? I say these things for those who attempt to make accusations without education. A discourse about God is set in motion, and do you flee from the precise hearing of the doctrines?

Since, then, it is our purpose by the grace of God to speak concerning the creation of man—not according to the worth of the subject, but according to our ability—let us necessarily proceed to the topic. The heaven was adorned, the earth was crowned with fruits, the waters of the sea were separated, plants sprouted, irrational animals came forth, the inhabited world was filled, the house was adorned; the master of the house, of all that had come into being, was lacking. God said, "Let us make man according to our image and likeness." It was shown on the previous day what the force of "let us make" is, whose word it is and to whom the word is addressed, who the counselor is and whose the common deliberation. But since from the Scriptures we presented the Son as counselor of the ancient counsel, but we passed over in silence the glory of the Holy Spirit, lest those who are sick receive pretexts from us who are healthy, it is necessary to know that there is one glory, one opinion, one active word of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here the Son is called counselor. Elsewhere it is said that no one knows the knowledge of God except the Holy Spirit. Paul says that no one among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him; so also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. If the spirit in you is alien to your substance, then the spirit in God is also alien to the substance of God.

Does the Father will something? That same will is also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Does the Son will something? That same will is of the Father and of the Spirit. Does the Spirit will something? That same will is of the Father and of the Son. Does the Father raise the dead? The Son also raises. The Savior says: "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wishes." Behold, the will is united. Where then is the will of the Spirit? Listen: All these things the one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each individually as it wills. There is one kingdom of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And God also rebukes those who attempt to do something without the mind of God. He says through the prophet: "Woe, apostate children, says the Lord. You have made a plan, not through me, and covenants, not through my Spirit." Clearly presenting the Holy Trinity, the prophet Zechariah said: "Let the hands of Zerubbabel be strong, says the Lord, and let the hands of Josedech the priest and the hands of the people be strong, because I am with you, says the Lord, and my good word; and my Spirit is in your midst." Moreover, brothers, our regeneration bears witness to the creation. If the Spirit did not share with the Father and the Son in the creation, it would not have shared in the regeneration. How are we baptized? In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Which is the greater birth, that of creation or that of initiation? There is a beginning of life leading to death; here is a beginning of death leading to life. How then is it possible that in the greater matter the Holy Spirit is a partner of the Father and the Son, but in the bodily creation it is excluded from the common dignity?

We would not have been created if we had not been formed by the Holy Spirit. And since in the first creation the Spirit is a participant with the Father and the Son, likewise in baptism the Spirit is a participant and co-worker. Again in the resurrection, it is not possible for us to rise otherwise unless the Father wills, the Son cooperates, and the Holy Spirit empowers. Listen to the Lord speaking. I said well, “the Lord speaking.” For even if it is Paul’s voice, it is the Lord’s voice. For it is possible to hear him: “If you seek to receive proof of the Christ speaking in me.” Therefore the one speaking in Paul says: “But you are not in flesh, but in spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. But if someone does not have the spirit of God, that one is not his. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of the one who raised Christ dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, because of his spirit dwelling in you.” Apart from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is neither the first creation, nor the second birth, nor the final resurrection. Let us make a human being.

Here I have already forestalled the critics. The name "man" in the Hebrew tongue is interpreted as "fire." Pay attention, I beg you: the one who hears genuinely, being a friend and companion of the truth, is saved, but the one who has hostile ears does not seek what benefit he may gain, but what he may seize upon; he does not seek what profit he may obtain, but what he may blame. "Man" in the Hebrew dialect is called "fire." This name was not given to Adam idly. But there are four elements in the world—I am again engaging in natural philosophy, even if they do not wish it—earth, water, air, fire. Each of the other elements remains as it is. For example: if you take a clod of earth, you cannot add to it from what is held; if you take a clod of earth, it remains what it is. Again, if you take water in some measure, the same water remains; it does not receive addition. If you fill a wineskin with air, you cannot fill another wineskin from that one. But fire does not remain as it is. A small lamp is kindled, and you light countless torches from it, an entire furnace, a great flame, and it does not remain in its own appearance, but as much material as it receives, the fire increases. Since God foreknew that from one human body the ends of the inhabited world would be filled—one lamp kindles so many torches, both west and east and north and south—he gave a name worthy of the matter. For this reason, the very name of Adam was a pledge of the inhabited world. For since the four regions were to be filled from him, he sets the name of Adam: alpha for east, delta for west, alpha for north, mu for south. And the name and the letters bear witness to the man who was to fill the inhabited world.

Therefore, in the Hebrew tongue, it is called "fire." Since, then, it has the appellation "fire," the scripture does not hesitate to call even angels "men." For when those around Mary came to the tomb, it says: "Behold, two men stood before them." But they were angels. And angels are also called "fire": for "He who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a consuming fire." He calls them "men," because they share the common concept of "man." And why are you surprised? God himself is called "fire," and is called "man." The Savior says concerning his own Father: "There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard. And he sent his servants, and the servants were killed." And to be brief: "And that man said: 'I still have one son; I will send him, lest they be ashamed.'" What does "man" mean with regard to the divine name? For he did not speak a parable. He did not say "it is like," but "there was a certain man." For this reason, Moses says: "Our God is a consuming fire." And the Savior, when he came, says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth." Therefore, it takes a name worthy of the thing. Since fire, as I said earlier, becomes great from small, and man from a small beginning filled the ends of the inhabited world, man was called "fire." This is because of "let us make man"; for "let us make fire.

Let us make man according to our image. Many of the simple and of those uneducated in soul have supposed that man is according to the image of God, as though God has a nose or eyes of such a kind or ears of such a kind or a mouth of such a kind. But this understanding is mistaken and absurd. And there is a heresy even today, that of the Anthropomorphites, which speaks of the divine in human form. For because they heard "the eyes of the Lord" and "the ears of the Lord" and "the Lord smelled" and "the mouth of the Lord spoke" and "the hand of the Lord made" and "the feet of God stood," they have mythologized the incorporeal, ignorant of the absurd notion. God speaks so that you may learn that man has no resemblance to God, at least as regards physical appearance. For I do not abolish the statement that says, "Let us make man according to our image," but it is shown how God says "according to our image." "I fill heaven and earth," says the Lord. Again the same: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." Shall we follow the letter? Shall we be slaves to the word? But the sequence refutes me. How shall I understand heaven as a throne? The throne encompasses the one seated, but God is not circumscribed. Nothing is around God, but God encircles and walls in everything. If, then, he has heaven as a throne, how will he measure heaven with a span? And how does he sit in heaven? "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." Where does he sit? On the visible? Stars are below the firmament, water above. If he sits above, it is not above the heavens, but in the higher heaven. If he sits at all, then his feet hang down as far as the earth.

Do you attribute such a form to the formless one? Is this not also impious to conceive in this way? Then further, if his feet tread the earth, how do we sow? How do we reap? How do we pass through without colliding with his feet? And how did he measure the heavens with a span? How did he have fingers large in proportion to the divinity? And how, with those fingers, did he write small tablets with such fingers, and not even many? We write with three fingers, the others assisting; God wrote the tablets with one finger. Have you seen anyone writing with one finger? These are thoughts rather than words. Let us make man according to our image. God wishes us to be imitators of him in virtue. What is "according to the image"? God is holy. If we become holy, we are according to the image of God. For "become holy, because I am holy." God is just. If we pursue justice, we are the image of God. For the Lord is just and loved justice. If we are philanthropic, merciful, we are the image of God. For the Savior says, "Become compassionate, as your father has compassion." Do you see where the image is? Paul also shows the image. For he says, "Strip off the old man and put on the new, the one created according to God for knowledge of the truth, according to the image of the one who created him." Do you see that being "according to our image" is ascribed to the virtues? In what does the image consist? Again, in authority: "Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the beasts and the reptiles and the cattle and the whole earth." O the consistency of God! O the precision of the words!

Why did he first mention "let them rule over the fish of the sea"? According to the order of creation, so is the order of dominion. Since fish and birds were first made from the sea, and afterwards from the earth the four-footed animals and the rest of the livestock, he therefore introduces the first-created: "Let them rule over the fish and the birds and the wild beasts and the reptiles and the livestock." Hence also the three youths, when blessing in the furnace, preserve the order: "Bless the Lord, seas and rivers. Bless the Lord, whales and all that move in the waters. Bless the Lord, all the birds of the sky. Bless the Lord, the wild beasts and the livestock. Bless the Lord, sons of men." There were indeed other things to examine, but let us return to the matter at hand. "And God formed the human being." He did not simply say "made," but "formed." "Formation" is said with reference to comeliness, as when someone, seeing a beautiful face, because it is a fair form, says: God made nothing unseemly in the body, but both for comeliness and for use. For instance, the eye has both use and comeliness: it sees and brightens the face and adorns the appearance and beholds everything. Hearing has its use, it has its appearance. For the surrounding shell adorns the living creature. Similarly, the nose has the necessary sense of smell, but it also has, beyond other animals, something like a partition wall that fills out comeliness. This belongs to the human being. For other animals do not have nostrils, but a single overall placement. This is why God formed it thus. Hence also David: "He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

Or the one who fashioned the eye, does he not understand? Thus also he made the earth for adornment, for use. And so that I may not show you many beautiful things, I will pass over them by mentioning one. God gave to the human being—I mean to the man—along with other things, also the harmony of breasts. Why a breast for a man? For adornment. For in a woman it is for the necessity of nature, for the supply of milk. Why a breast for a man? For adornment, for good order. For just as in buildings some things are made for necessity, some for adornment, so God both adorned the human being and fitted him for use. He fashioned him, taking dust from the earth. Blessed are the hopes of Christians, if we recognize what we hear. Why did he not say, "He took a clod from the earth"? He fashioned such a body; and he had no need even of a clod, but he takes dust. God foresaw future things as present. Since he foresaw that the living being was going to die and be changed into dust, he anticipated in the creation and showed the hope of resurrection. He takes dust from the earth, so that when you see dust in a tomb, you may know that the one who fashioned that also raises this. He fashioned the human being, taking dust from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life. See the difference between humans and irrational animals. In making all other things, God brought both body and soul together at once. Pay attention, I beg you. He made the swimming creatures, body and soul together. "Let the earth bring forth living beings." The soul came forth together with the bodies. He makes the human being first as to the body, then as to the soul. For what hope? As is the fashioning, so also is the dissolution.

Animals do not have resurrection for this reason, because just as they come into being, so also they die. Both the body and the soul are destroyed together. The body of the human being took from the earth, but the soul He Himself gives, having created and fashioned it, not casting it out from His own substance, so that when the body or the human being dies, we may not despair of the soul. For what? That the body was buried in a tomb? Do not expect the soul to be there. For it was not taken from earth, nor does it depart to earth. He therefore established hope. For this reason also in Ezekiel he prophesies the resurrection, speaking thus: "To the dead bones a body came." Then he says: "Let the spirit come from the four winds and enter into these dead, and let them live." Thus also David cries out: "You will take away their spirit, and they will fail and return to their dust. You will send forth your spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." Do you see the spirit as creator? Do you see it as a co-worker of God? But let us return to the subject at hand. "He breathed." By "he breathed" he showed the simplicity of the soul. Therefore it is not complex. Pay attention then. Since the creation had grown old, Christ renews it in the economy. Adam was formed from earth; Christ formed the eyes of the blind man from clay, so that you may learn who took dust from the earth and formed it. God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life; Christ breathed into the face of the apostles and says: "Receive the Holy Spirit." What the breath of Adam lost, here Christ restored, and the human being became again a living soul. Pay attention here to the sequence.

For even if the organ of the voice grows weary, yet by running ahead with customary hope and cutting short the supplications of the brothers, I believe that speech will be given to me, not because of my own worthiness, but because of the eagerness of the hearers. Even if we are unworthy of the saints, yet they too suffered these things and were hindered by the weakness of the body. David bears witness, saying: I grew weary from crying out, my throat became hoarse. But it is better to speak the truth with a hoarse voice than to have a clear voice but a twisted soul. God planted a garden in Eden toward the east. What is Eden? Eden is interpreted as delight, as if one were to say: He planted a garden in delight, that is, in a place of delight, in a beautiful place. For this reason, at the end it says: And he expelled Adam and settled him opposite the garden of delight. God planted a garden in Eden toward the east. Why not in another direction, but toward the east is the garden? Whence the beginning of the course of the luminaries, from there also the beginning of the way of life of human beings. God prefigures the future. Toward the east in the garden he places the human being, in order to show that just as these luminaries rising run toward the west and set, so also this one must run from life to death and set according to the pattern of the luminaries and take another rising again from the resurrection of the dead. Adam ran toward the west, he set into the tomb. The things of the earth followed him and were buried with the one who set. Christ came and made the one who set rise. For this reason the prophet says about him:

Behold a man, Anatole is his name, and from beneath he rises, that is, from the tombs. In Adam the man set, in Christ he rose. Paul bears witness: For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. And God took the man whom he made and placed him in paradise. He brought him into a ready house. Just as one who invites someone to a feast first prepares the house and then brings in the invited guest, so also here. He prepared for him a worthy dwelling place, paradise, and thus brought in the invited guest. Where was he formed? On the earth, outside paradise. For just as the luminaries were made elsewhere and placed in the sky, so Adam was formed outside, on another land, and then was brought into paradise. Whence this? Scripture says at the end, when Adam was cast out: And God sent Adam out of the paradise of delight to work the earth from which he was taken. He placed him in the paradise of delight to work and to guard paradise. To work. For what was lacking in paradise? And if there was need of a worker, whence a plow? Whence the other implements of agriculture? To work and to guard the commandment of God and to trust in the commandment of God was the work. The Savior says: This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom he sent. Just as believing in Christ is a work, so believing in the commandment—that if he touches, he dies; but if he does not touch, he lives—was the work of keeping the spiritual words. What was Paul’s work? Was Paul a farmer?

Did he have no other work? Was not the whole of his work the Word? Was it not proclamation? And he says to the disciples: You are my work in the Lord. He says that he works and guards. From whom? There was no thief, no wayfarer, no plotter. From whom was he to guard? That he might guard him for himself, that he might not transgress and destroy him, but that by keeping the commandment he might guard paradise for himself. The mind labors together with the voice; but let us attend to the thoughts. He placed him in paradise. Henceforth Scripture sketches the future through what has preceded. A river flows out from Eden to water paradise. From this learn that paradise was not a garden with a small measure. Such a river irrigates it that from its overflow there are four rivers. A river flows out from Eden to water paradise. From there, after watering, it divides into four sources: into the Tigris, into the Nile, into the Euphrates, and into the one called Pishon in Scripture, which they now call the Danube.

See the size of a river divided into four. And such a river alone irrigates the garden. Why such a river? Adam was alone. What need was there of so much? But it was not made for one alone, but for the ends of the inhabited world. It was being prepared for patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, saints, the faithful, the orthodox, those living piously, for all the righteous. For if to the thief who confessed in one hour the savior promised the garden, saying, "Today you will be with me in the garden," then the one who labored from youth—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs from them—and before all these the thief inherits the garden. Therefore God makes his works not according to what is apparent, but according to what is expected. Why did he make such a breadth of land? For Adam or for those now dwelling? From there it is divided into four beginnings. He did not say into four expanses, but beginnings, that is, sources. The name of one is Pishon, which we have just mentioned; then the Gihon. This is the Nile, Gihon being its ancient name. Jeremiah testifies, saying, "What have you to do with the road of Egypt to drink water of the Gihon?" Here pay attention. Consider this to be the garden. For these things are transmitted more by sight than by word. A river proceeds, having a rich stream, and irrigates the garden. From there it is carried into some underground channel and sinks beneath the earth, boundless, as the master who laid out the path knows.

And the stream is hidden for a long time and is distributed to different places, and one part is found in Ethiopia, another in the west, another in the east, God thus drawing the stream through an underground channel and making strange springs for the first river. Why this? So that, following the tracks of the rivers, they might not find paradise, so that it might not be accessible to men. For if it were possible to travel there, no one would have found paradise before the rich. But God closed it off to both poor and rich, so that they might find the way by virtue alone. How much did the patriarchs, prophets, and saints labor seeking paradise and not find it? The thief, not having traveled the road but having believed, truly found the way, the one who says, "I am the way." He found paradise, which disobedience closed off to the first man. I seek the reason why the historian, after mentioning the first river, said that there the fine gold, the carbuncle, and the green stone are produced. If he were describing the whole inhabited world, he ought to mention the fine things produced in each region: the emeralds, the hyacinths, where topaz is, where the various materials are. But he selects gold and two stones, the firstfruits of the priesthood, since the priest wore a golden plate on which the name of God was inscribed. There were twelve stones on the priest's breastplate: sardius, topaz, emerald, carbuncle, sapphire, jasper, ligurius, agate, amethyst, chrysolite, beryl, onyx. Of these twelve stones, the green one is assigned to the priestly tribe, the carbuncle to the royal tribe. Why?

Since it is the property of fire to burn and illuminate, and the property of a king to benefit and punish, he places Ruben, the first tribe, in the sardius, Symeon in the topaz, Levi in the green stone, Judas, from whom Christ comes, in the fiery anthrax. Indeed, after many years Isaiah says to Jerusalem: "I have painted your walls on my hands, and you are before me always. Behold, I prepare the anthrax as your stone," speaking of the savior: "Behold," he says, "I place in Zion a cornerstone, chosen, precious, and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame." So the anthrax is assigned to the royal tribe, the green stone to the priestly tribe, for doing well belongs to the priesthood. From that river four sources of rivers are separated. Why then is their water not equal? For the curious ask, if from one river or one source, why is there not one quality for all? What then is the case? They partake of the earth and the quality of the places through which they pass. Just as water itself has one nature and quality, but if it is mixed with wormwood, it produces another quality; if with dill, another; if with rue, another. And the nature is one, but the materials transform it. So also with rivers, since they travel through different places, one through earth having one quality, another through another, they are affected by the places.

Since by the arrangement of the places he gave quality to the rivers, he next makes in the paradise every tree beautiful to see and lovely to eat. He removed beforehand the excuse of the transgressor. For since he said concerning the woman, that the woman saw the tree, that it was beautiful to see and lovely to eat, so that no one might think that only that one among the other trees was fair, he attributed this virtue to all, that they were lovely in appearance and very beautiful, so that you may learn that he did not transgress out of lack, but having abundance he turned aside. And he says the tree of life is in the middle of the paradise, and the tree of knowing good and evil. There are three differences of trees: some were given to him so that he might live, others so that he might live well, and others so that he might live forever. He had then living, from what he permitted; he had living well, from what he forbade. For living well was to touch what he did not forbid, but not to touch what he forbade. This was to live well, to obey God. The tree of life lay in the middle like a prize, the tree of knowledge like a wrestling-place, like a training-ground. Having kept the commandment concerning this tree, you receive the prize. And see the wonderful thing. All the trees of the paradise flourish all around everywhere, everywhere abound; only the two in the middle were a training-ground and a stadium. The ones around were food. But the occasion of the transgression and of the tree is to be reserved for another occasion. The matter at hand: God leads all the animals to Adam. Let the heretics hear. And do not be surprised if through each word and through each utterance the discourse is directed against the heretics.

For through every pretext those who rise up against the glorious kingdom are accused. A stone from the wall cries out. I do not say that a single iota or one stroke of the pen from scripture leaves heretics blameless. Through all things those who deny the master of all are accused. Pay attention then. One could see something strange: Adam standing and God as a servant bringing things to Adam. For God brought the animals. Here pay attention not to the wording but to the meaning. Consider God standing and Adam testing. God brought all the animals and says to Adam: Tell me, what do you think this one should be called? Let it be called lion. God, it says, gave the form. Then, what is this? Let it be called bull. You have arranged well. Similarly, each of the named things God sealed. For scripture says: He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And everything Adam called, that was its name. See. Since he made him in his image, he wished to present to his sight both the honor and truly show that he bears the image of wisdom. And see the wonderful thing. God pre-formed the names for himself. But he wished to be shown through the image that Adam's judgments agree with God's intentions. Indeed, wishing to show that these things which he set, God had preordained, scripture says: And everything Adam called them, that was its name, meaning this was preordained, God glorified.

But let us return to the matter at hand. Adam stands, and God brought the animals before him. And the master is not degraded by bringing them to the servant. And if the heretics hear that Christ brings us to the Father, they immediately say, "Do you see that he is a servant?" He brought them to Adam. The servant stood judging, and the master brought them. And God, bringing them to Adam, was not degraded, but if they hear that Christ brings to the Father, they drag him into the rank of a servant. If the Savior says, "No one comes to the Father except through me," the heretics immediately prick up their ears, or rather twist them. God bringing the animals to Adam is not his servant. If God brings a man to God, does he hold the rank of a servant? But so that ignorance of words may not nourish your disease, I know both a son bringing to the father and the father to the son. For having said, "No one comes to the Father except through me," the same one again says, "No one comes to me unless my heavenly Father draws him." But I know I have said this before, yet the word is akin to the subject. It happens that you did not hear then, and I say it now. Consider how many the quadrupeds are. But consider the tame, the wild, those in the mountains, those in the plains, those in Gaul, those in India, those in all the regions of the inhabited world; again, the reptiles, the kinds, the species, all the birds, the swimming creatures, all those in the sea, those in lakes, those in rivers. All these were brought forward, and Adam gave each a name. And God did not object but abided. Myriads of names, and God stands by. One name God speaks, bearing witness from heaven.

This is my son, and the heretics strike out the voice that bears witness with a single name, that holy voice which received countless names and did not adulterate them. The animals were brought forward and named. Then he stood like a king. Just as when soldiers are enlisted, they are marked with the royal seal, so, since he was about to hand over dominion to him, he has him give names as a master. For only a master and a father gives names. Pay attention. Of the names, some were given by God, others by Adam. And God called heaven, earth, sea, firmament, day, light, night, fruit, herb, grass, trees; but the cattle and the birds Adam called peacock, eagle, calf, sheep. He gave the species, the other the genera, so that the word of the one who said, "Let us make man in our image," might not be false. God gives names to the luminaries: the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, Hesperus, the light-bringer. All these God named. David bears witness, saying, "He who numbers the multitudes of stars and calls them all by name." God names the things above, Adam those on earth. God calls heaven, earth, and all the rest; he calls Adam fire, man. What does Adam call? A name for the cattle, the birds, the reptiles, the wild beasts.

Adam calls a strange name, bone, flesh, speaking about the woman: This now is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. For God, when he formed him, did not say that he formed him from bones and flesh. Again, God says male, he says man; God says female, he says woman. And the remarkable thing: since he was filled with the Holy Spirit and the wretch had not yet transgressed, but was full of grace, the prophecy, which I divided up days ago at our love feast, was entirely in him. For he knew the things that had preceded, he knew the present things and the future things. How did he know the present things? In the body, bone is not visible from the outside. But since he had the Spirit, he says: This now is bone from my bones. How did he know, unless the Holy Spirit revealed it? Why then first bone and then flesh? Because first he took a rib from him. This, it is said, will be called woman, because she was taken from her husband. He prophesies the things that preceded; he spoke the present things; he says the future things: Because of this, a man will leave his father and his mother. There is not yet marriage, and whence father and mother? Again, let the heretics hear. God wished to make the woman for Adam. He cast an ecstasy upon Adam and put him to sleep. Every ancient word of God became a canon of nature. He taught from the first how the creature must be separated from the man. God cast sleep upon Adam. A remarkable thing. He speaks of the time in which marriage occurs. Sleep is called ecstasy, because the man stands as if outside himself. The soul is inside and is not inside. It does not perceive, it does not think, hearing it does not hear. As we say today:

He was in a state of ecstasy, having been carried outside of things. Thus the soul, when it is carried outside the senses, is in ecstasy. And it says, "He put him to sleep, and God took one of his ribs." Let the heretics be questioned about these things. How did God take it? How did Adam not feel pain? How did he not suffer? A single hair is pulled from the body and we feel pain. Even if someone is sleeping deeply, the sleeper is awakened by the pain. Such a limb is removed, such a rib is torn away, and the sleeper is not awakened? He did not tear it away by force, so that he would be awakened; he did not tear it off. But Scripture, wishing to show the swiftness of the craftsman, says, "He took." Were the joints loosened and he did not perceive it? He took the rib, just as he took the clay. If one had fitted it together and another had loosened it, there would have been a struggle. But if the one who bound it loosened it, he loosened it somehow gently. He took the rib and filled in flesh in its place. From where did he fill it in? Did he draw it from the other body? But every body, when drawn, becomes thinner. How did he fill it in? And we speak about the body and do not understand; we speak about God and do we meddle? And the Lord built up the rib which he took from Adam into a woman. From where were eyes fixed from a rib? From where a reasoning heart? From where a speaking tongue? How was an intestine stretched from a rib? How did a liver come from a rib? You are not able to comprehend how these things happened, and do you meddle with the craftsman? But see the image of Christ everywhere. God did not take the rib from Adam until he cast sleep upon him. Why? Because sin was about to come from the rib, sin which entered through the woman.

The Savior came from a rib bearing water and blood, water to wash away the sins, blood providing us the mystery. Observe the type. When Adam was asleep, a rib was taken. When sleep came upon the body of Christ, his rib was opened, so that he might resolve the ancient tragedy with the new history. By "sleep" I mean that on the cross. He built the rib into a woman; he brought her to Adam. O the philanthropy of the master! How many things he does, shapes, benefits! He brings forth the animals, he leads the bride. For Adam was as an orphan, and Eve likewise a virgin, having no father or mother to fill the role; God fills the role of father and mother. And observe the law: every ancient voice of God is a canon of nature. God brought the woman to Adam, and this remained a law until today, that the woman is given to the man. He does not lead the man to the woman as a bridegroom. They were naked and not ashamed. The canon remains, the law proclaims. A man is ashamed before everyone except his own wife. A woman is abashed before everyone except her own husband. And this I have said according to the law; but the reason for not being ashamed of nakedness: they were clothed in immortality, arrayed in glory. Glory did not permit the nakedness to be seen. For it covered the nakedness. Where can you again see a person naked and not ashamed? In Christ you find him. Peter and John and James came to the tomb, seeking the body and did not find it.

But I found the linens folded, so that it might be shown that after the resurrection of Christ the ancient form of Adam is preserved in him, and he becomes without garments, not naked, but clothed. Christ arose and strips off the garments which Adam put on, and he was naked, and naked he was not seen. After the resurrection, women see the linens thrown aside. Martha and Mary see him, recognize him, fall down, and do not see him naked. Whence is he clothed in garments? For he cast them off in the tomb. The first garments were divided among the soldiers. Whence is he thus clothed? Whence is the naked one not naked? And I seek the other matter. Why did they see the linens and the shroud in one place and the sudarium apart, with which the salvific head was bound? So that the holy grace might be shown, that the resurrection is not with tumult. And since the Jews were about to spread a rumor that he was stolen by the disciples, he leaves his garments behind in the tomb. For one who steals a corpse steals it with the garments. And it was possible to see the savior coming out of the tomb, like Joseph from the house of the Egyptian woman. And see the difference. After the resurrection, Christ appeared naked and Peter naked. But one had immortality, the other was still mortal. Jesus stood by the shore, clothed in glory, saying, "Children, do you have any relish?" "No," they say, "we do not have any." For they did not recognize him. Then he says, "Cast into the right side of the boat." They cast and caught a great multitude. John recognizes him and says to Peter, "It is the Lord." O the wonder. They did not recognize him from the voice, but from the works.

And Peter, it says, took the outer garment; for he was naked. The mortal body is ashamed; the immortal is not ashamed. But let us fall down before the one who clothed us with glory, who clothed the world with immortality, let us beseech him, that he may clothe us with faith, with hope of salvation, with glory in Christ; for glory belongs to the Father together with the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.