THE HEXAEMERON:
Meditations of St. Basil The Great
THE SIXTH DAY
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind; cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind," and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the
earth." And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that
yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose
fruit yields all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to
you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every
bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which
there is life, I have given every green herb for food," and it was
so. Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.
So the evening and the morning were the sixth day."
What language can attain to the marvels of the Creator? What ear could understand them? And what time would be sufficient to relate them? Let us say with the prophet, "O Lord how manifold are they works! In wisdom hast thou made them all." We shall not be able to say in self-justification, that we have learnt useful knowledge in books, since the untaught law of nature makes us choose that which is advantageous to us. Do you know what good you ought to do your neighbor? The good that you expect from him yourself. Do you know what is evil? That which you would not wish another to do to you. Neither botanical researches nor the experience of simples have made animals, yet they discover which are useful to them, and each knows naturally what is salutary and marvelously appropriates what suits its nature.
Cattle are terrestrial and bent towards the earth. Man, a celestial growth, rises superior to them as much by the mould of his bodily conformation as by the dignity of his soul. What is the form of quadrupeds? Their head is bent towards the earth and looks towards their belly, and only pursues their belly's food. Thy head O Man! is turned towards heaven; thy eyes look up. When therefore thou degrade thyself by the passions of the flesh, slave of thy belly, and thy lowest parts, thou approaches animals without reason and becomes like one of them. Thou art called to more noble cares; "seek these things which are above where Christ is." Raise thy soul above the earth; draw from its natural conformation the rule of thy conduct, fix thy conversation in heaven. Thy true country is the heavenly Jerusalem; thy fellow-citizens and thy compatriots are the first-born which are written in heaven.
Selected Readings from the Hexaemeron