Talk 11

In the first four days from the beginning of the world there appeared, by God’s word, the heaven with its luminaries and the earth surrounded by air, with dry land and upon it various plants, as well as the receptacles of the waters. But there was as yet no living creature—neither in the air, nor on the dry land, nor in the water. Only on the fifth day does God people the waters with fishes and various water reptiles, and the air with birds. So the holy Narrator Moses recounts the creation on the fifth day. «And God said: let the waters bring forth reptiles of living souls, and birds flying above the earth in the firmament of heaven: and it was so. And God made the great whales, and every living soul of reptiles which the waters brought forth after their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: increase and multiply, and fill the waters that are in the seas, and let the birds multiply upon the earth. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day.» Out of one and the same water God created fishes and birds by His almighty word. «The nature of water is one,—says St. Cyril of Jerusalem,—but from it are born both fishes and birds, and as the former swim in the waters, so the latter fly in the air»143. Yes, brothers, out of one and the same substance the Creator makes whatever He pleases. Thus, for example, «the same water from which fishes and birds are born,—says the same St. Cyril,—becomes in the grapevines the wine that gladdens the heart of man; in the olives, the oil that anoints the face of man; and is turned also into the bread that strengthens the heart of man, and into all kinds of fruits»144. So all things in the world are bound together in the closest way, though at first glance this does not appear so. And yet this is not so surprising: fishes and birds—both the one and the other—are at least living, moving creatures; water, oil, and wine, however different, are the same liquid. But here is what is surprising: between plants and animals, which, it would seem, have least of all in common with one another, there is the closest kinship, namely: among the plants there are animal-plants, that is, such animals as by their structure resemble plants; they are propagated, like plants, by grafting and by transplanting shoots, and they produce offspring as a tree produces its branches145. Someone might doubt that this is an animal; but the sensation and voluntary movement of such a strange being will assure him that it is indeed an animal.

Does not this close kinship of all earthly creatures teach us something, us rational creatures? It teaches us close, friendly union with one another. We see that everything in the world is joined by inseparable bonds: plants with animals, and both with one another: shall we then debase ourselves before irrational nature, separating from one another through self-love, hatred, and the other passions? Let us show that we are rational, God-like beings; let us unite with one another in pure love, which for us is the bond of perfection; let us not destroy the order of the Creator, who bound all creatures together in kinship for their well-being.

«And God made the great whales, and every living soul of reptiles which the waters brought forth after their kinds, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good.» Of the creatures living in the water, holy Moses named by name only the whale, as the most enormous sea animal, as the king of all that is in the waters. This whale, a dweller worthy of the abyss of the ocean, is fifteen sazhens long. And on what does it feed? By the wise arrangement of the Creator, it feeds not on great fishes—otherwise how much devastation the whales would work in the sea—no, it is satisfied only with worms and sea insects, which enter its maw with a long stream of water146. What shall we say of the other kinds of fishes? Holy Scripture says that the waters brought forth living souls of reptiles after their kinds. Of these kinds of fishes and various water animals there is a countless multitude: to this day no one has counted them, nor is it possible to count them, because of the inaccessibility of the water’s depth. It is known only that of the kinds of fishes and sea reptiles there is a countless multitude, and that they multiply in enormous quantity. Some fishes cast several hundred thousand eggs, and others several million, out of which fishes are afterward born147; thus truly effective is the word of the Creator: increase and multiply and fill the waters! Yes, there are infinitely many fishes in the waters; and with the incalculable multiplication of fishes it is natural that they should also die in a countless multitude. What then has the Creator done—what places, what graveyards has He set aside for such a multitude of dead fishes? The fishes that fall asleep serve as food and as a kind of reserve storehouse for water creatures of another kind. In the sea there is, for example, among others a worm resembling an eel, to which God has appointed to seek out and devour the dead sea fishes. On the bottom of the sea millions of such worms, constantly crawling, devour every rotting body and thus preserve the waters and the air from the decay of so many fishes, and consequently from the diseases that might otherwise arise from it among people and animals, and among the fishes themselves148. Thanks to such a wise arrangement of the Creator, the sea and all the waters teem with healthy and cheerful creatures. Yes, among God’s creatures contentment with life is everywhere visible. And if here too, in the waters, you should find something resembling war, resembling pursuit; if you should see that some fishes destroy others, devouring them—this does not mean that there, in the depth of the waters, disorder reigns, that there are many unhappy inhabitants there: no, all this tends toward the order, the harmony, and the well-being of the water kingdom; all this shows the astonishing wisdom of the Creator.

From the most ancient times God has shown people a means of catching fish for use as food. The waters furnish daily an enormous quantity of food both to the huts of the poor and to the tables of the rich. Our Savior Himself, during His earthly life, ate fish, as is evident from the fact that the holy Apostles carried fish and bread among their small traveling provisions. Once, by His creative beckoning, He drew into a net cast by the Apostle Peter into the sea on purpose such a multitude of fishes that the Apostles were at a loss how the nets held together: so obedient is creation to the beckoning of the Creator! So majestically did our Lord Jesus Christ everywhere show Himself the Creator! Let us, brothers, be grateful to the Lord that He, without any merits on our part, feeds us and provides us with all good things.

Great is the multitude of water creatures visible to the eyes—and it cannot even be compared with the number of those creatures which, because of their smallness, cannot even be seen by the naked eye: through a magnifying glass one can see in a single drop of water such a multitude of living beings that the observer may forget himself and wonder whether there is not a special world of creatures before his eyes. Who, seeing all this multitude of great and insignificant creatures, will not ascend in thought to the infinite Mind, to the infinite Wisdom, which alone called out of nothingness into life an infinite multitude of the most varied creatures and gave to all the most wise structure, life, and the sweet feeling of existence? «How Your works are magnified, O Lord: You have made them all in wisdom: the earth is filled with Your creation»149! And (God made) every winged bird after its kind. Together with the fishes God also created all the kinds of birds—domestic, birds of prey, songbirds, and others. How many there are of these winged creatures too! Very many of them have by now been recognized and described, but still new, unknown ones keep being discovered. Who will describe their beauty, their manners, habits, and the abilities they have received from the Creator common to all? Some of them bring even material benefit to man, such as domestic fowl; some sing in his dwelling, while others amuse him with sounds imitating the sounds of human speech. But by far the greater part of them live in freedom in God’s spacious world, joyfully soaring on high, knowing over themselves only one Master—God—not subject to human vanity and pride. Yes, man, for all your grandeur, for all your pride, you must confess with humility that a multitude of irrational creatures are utterly independent of you in every respect, that over them there is one Master—God: He gave them various abilities, put into them various dispositions and habits; He brought them forth; He feeds and rears them. Indeed, is it by your skill, for example, that the hawk stands, spreading its wings unmoving, gazing toward the south? Is it by your command that the eagle soars aloft150? «Yes,—you will say,—this is not the work of my art: these are not my subjects»—yet you and they have one Creator. Birds, for the obtaining of food for themselves and for their defense, are endowed with the sharpest sight, and therefore usually easily find themselves food and detect danger. Our Lord Jesus Christ, pointing people to the heavenly Father’s solicitude in providing food for every little bird, teaches us not to be too anxious about food. «Behold the birds of the air,—He says, — for they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they151?» As among the sea reptiles there are those which destroy the dead and rotting bodies in the sea, so among the birds too there are those which destroy the dead bodies on the earth, such as eagles, kites, ravens, and other birds of prey. The Savior Himself mentioned in the Gospel—in a parable—this property of the rapacious eagles: «wherever the body is,—He says, — there the eagles will be gathered together»152. Such is the everywhere-wise foresight, such the wise cycle of life! In the world nothing is lost in vain: everything lives, or serves as a store for life.

Fishes and birds, as we have seen, were created out of one and the same water, and as the former are born from little eggs, so the latter too from a watery egg. But there is between them still a greater likeness. However swift the flight of birds, the swimming of many fishes does not yield to it in speed. Moreover, both the one and the other move through liquids, though not the same in their density.

The wings of birds are the same as the swimming fins of fishes; and in place of the feathers with which birds are provided, like a warm garment, fishes are served by scales. There are water birds, and there are also fishes that are in part airborne, or flying. The swimming fins of fishes can bend and unbend, just as the wings of birds do; swimming and flying take place in just the same way, only in two different liquids: one may say that a fish flies in the water as a bird swims in the air, which for it is the same as a great ocean, just as the sea for a fish is a kind of air. Birds living in hot regions have very beautiful feathers, and the fishes in the seas—in those same regions—are adorned with brilliant colors, namely: they are covered with golden, silver, azure, ruby, and emerald scales, and in the gleam of the sun’s rays they shine in the waters like precious stones. There are fishes that pass in enormous shoals from some seas into others: there are also birds that fly across from one region into another. From such striking likeness of creatures of different kinds we conclude, brothers, that there is one supreme Being who created all, and by no means two or several, as some have idly babbled. From the varied beauty observed in the creatures, which amid all its variety is something single and common to them all, we conclude that there is one highest Beauty, from which comes every beauty in the world. The whole world is a single beauty: because one supreme Sage created it. And people too will be one beautiful flock, when God shall be all in all, in the age to come.

Having created fishes and birds after their kind, the Lord God Himself testified that they are good, and then blessed them to increase and multiply: «and God blessed them, saying: increase and multiply and fill the waters that are in the seas, and let the birds multiply upon the earth.» It is remarkable that the Lord God blessed these living creatures for the first time, as He afterward blessed the first people. Here is seen the fatherly solicitude and love of the Lord God for His living creatures. Having blessed them, He said to them: «increase and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply upon the earth.» This means that the Creator in the beginning created only the beginnings of fishes and birds—their kinds—and left their multiplication to themselves, under His protection, just as also the multiplication of the human race. And to this day all the kinds of fishes and birds, having multiplied to infinity, preserve exactly the appearance, manners, and habits of their kinds, without in the least mixing with others. Every fish and bird and every reptile, such as they were several thousand years ago, such they remain also today, with the same properties they received from the Creator in the beginning. The ancient and the new descriptions of fishes and birds are one and the same. So, brothers, everything divine is firm and constant! So firm and unchanging are the laws of the Creator! But as unchanging as the laws of the Creator given to creation, so unchanging is the determination of the Lord concerning the Holy Church, that neither the gates of hell, nor all the power of hell, shall overcome it, and that it will stand firm to the end of the age. «I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not overcome it»153, said the Savior. These are the words of that same Creator, who as it were said also of the world in the beginning: «I will create My world, I will give it laws, and no power for ever and ever shall shake it.» Let the mortal race then rejoice, because it will always be possible for us to find salvation in the Holy Church until the end of the world, and let it glorify the Creator of every creature. Amen.