THE HEXAEMERON:
Meditations on the Six Days of Creation
Composed by St. Basil the Great
The term Hexaemeron refers to a series nine homilies on the six days of creation composed by St. Basil the Great. The sermons were probably written after his elevation to the episcopate in Caesarea in 378-379 AD. They were preached at the morning and evening services during the Great Fast.
The popularity of this fourth century work made it the standard for all subsequent commentaries on the Genesis text. In the east, the commentaries of St. Ephraim the Syrian were based on the Hexaemeron, which he quotes directly on three occasions. In the western churches, St. Ambrose used the St. Basil's text to compose his own Hexaemeron. St. Jerome, the translator of Hebrew and Greek biblical texts into Latin (the Vulgate), was heavily influenced by St. Basil's sermons as well.
From the Introduction
"In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
It is right that any one beginning to narrate the formation of the world should begin with the good order that reigns in visible things. I am about to speak of the creation of heaven and earth, which was not spontaneous, as some have imagined, but drew its origin from God. What ear is worthy to hear such a tale? How earnestly the soul should prepare itself to receive such high lessons! How pure it should be from carnal affections, how unclouded by worldly disquietudes, how active and ardent in its researches, how eager to find in its surroundings an idea of God which may be worthy of Him!
Among arts, some have in view production, some practice, others theory. The object of the last is the exercise of thought, that of the second, the motion of the body. Should it cease, all stops; nothing more is to be seen. Thus dancing and music have nothing behind; they have no object but themselves. In creative arts on the contrary the work lasts after the operation. Such is architecture-such are the arts which work in wood and brass and weaving, all those indeed which, even when the artisan has disappeared, serve to show an industrious intelligence and to cause the architect, the worker in brass or the weaver, to be admired on account of his work. Thus, then, to show that the world is a work of art displayed for the beholding of all people; to make them know Him who created it, Moses does not use another word. "In the beginning," he says, "God created." He does not say, "God worked," "God formed," but" God created."
Among those who have imagined that the world co-existed with God from all eternity, many have denied that God created it, but say that it exists spontaneously, as the shadow of this power. God, they say, is the cause of it, but an involuntary cause, as the body is the cause of the shadow and the flame is the cause of the brightness. It is to correct this error that the prophet states, with so much precision, "In the beginning God created." He did not make the thing itself the cause of its existence. Being good, He made it a useful work. Being wise, He made it everything that was most beautiful. Being powerful He made it very great. Moses almost shows us the finger of the supreme artisan taking possession of the substance of the universe, forming the different parts in one perfect accord, and making a harmonious symphony result from the whole.
Let us glorify the supreme Artificer for all that was wisely and skillfully made. By the beauty of visible things, let us raise ourselves to Him who is above all beauty; by the grandeur of bodies, sensible and limited in their nature, let us conceive of the infinite Being whose immensity and omnipotence surpass all the efforts of the imagination. Because although we ignore the nature of created things, the objects which on all sides attract our notice are so marvelous, that the most entreating mind cannot attain to the knowledge of the least of the phenomena of the world, either to give a suitable explanation of it or to render due praise to the Creator, to Whom belong all glory, all honor and all power, world without end. Amen.
Selected Readings from the Hexaemeron