THE HEXAEMERON:
Meditations of St. Basil The Great
THE FIRST DAY
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light;" and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
And
God saw the light, that it was good. How can we worthily praise light
after the testimony given by the Creator to its goodness? The word, even
among us refers the judgment to the eyes, incapable of raising itself
to the idea that the senses have already received. But, if beauty in bodies
results from symmetry of parts and the harmonious appearance of colors,
how in a simple and homogeneous essence like light can this idea of beauty
be preserved? Would not the symmetry in light be less shown in its parts
than in the pleasure and delight at the sight of it? Such is also the
beauty of gold, which it owes not to the happy mingling of its parts,
but only to its beautiful color, which has a charm attractive to the eyes.
Thus again, the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars: not that the parts of which it is composed form a harmonious whole, but thanks to the unalloyed and beautiful brightness which meets our eyes. And further, when God proclaimed the goodness of light, it was not in regard to the charm of the eye but as a provision for future advantage because at that time there were as yet no eyes to judge of its beauty. "And God divided the light from the darkness;" that is to say, God gave them natures incapable of mixing, perpetually in opposition to each other, and put between them the widest space and distance.
"So the evening and the morning were the first day." It was to give day the privileges of seniority that Scripture put the end of the first day before that of the first night, because night follows day: for, before the creation of light, the world was not in night, but in darkness. It is the opposite of day which was called night, and it did not receive its name until after day. Thus were created the evening and the morning. . . And the evening and the morning were one day.
May the Father of the true light, Who has adorned day with celestial light, Who has made the fire to shine which illuminates us during the night, Who reserves for us in the peace of a future age a spiritual and everlasting light, enlighten your hearts in the knowledge of truth, keep you from stumbling and grant that "you may walk honestly as in the day." Thus shall you shine as the sun in the midst of the glory of the saints, and I shall glory you in the day of Christ, to Whom belong all glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
Selected Readings from the Hexaemeron