Talk 12

Have you noticed, brothers, with what gradualness the Lord God created this world that we see? Let us repeat in a few words what was said before about the creation. First He created the liquid, water-like, and unformed substance of the world out of nothing, and then out of this substance He produced and arranged in six days the whole world with all the creatures that are in it. On the first day He produced light: «for it was fitting,» says St. Gregory the Theologian, «for the great Light (that is, God) to begin the creation of the world with the making of light, by which He does away with darkness and the disorder and confusion that had prevailed until then»; on the second—the firmament, with all the multitude of enormous spheres, then still dark, separated from one another by an immeasurable distance—the airy space surrounding the earth; on the third—He separated from the earth the water that had covered the whole earth round about, commanding it to withdraw into the receptacles or hollows specially formed in the earth, and on this same day He commanded the earth to bring forth all the kinds of trees, fruit-bearing and fruitless, all the fruits of the earth, all the herbs and flowers; on the fourth—He gave the sun light and warmth for the lighting and warming of the earth with its creatures, and light also to the stars; on the fifth—He commanded the water to bring forth from itself fishes and birds. Of all this it was spoken in the previous four talks. Now we shall speak about the sixth and last day of creation, on which were created the earthly animals and man—the crown of creation—and specifically, for this time, we shall speak about the creation of the earthly animals, about their division into domestic and wild, and about the benefit brought by both.

“And God said”—says Saint Moses—“let the earth bring forth a living soul according to kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to kind: and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to kind and the cattle according to their kind, and all the creeping things of the earth according to their kind: and God saw that it was good”.

“And God said”. We have seen already, brothers, many times in our earlier talks how mighty the Word of God is: He spoke and it became; He commanded and creation appeared. He said—says the Holy Psalmist—and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created154. Now again we shall see the same power of the Lord’s word.

“And God said: let the earth bring forth a living soul”. These words do not mean, brothers, that the earth itself possessed living souls within it which God commanded it to bring forth or give birth to, but rather that God gave the earth the power to bring forth from itself living creatures—that is, animals were created by the almighty Word of God, just as, for example, God created a serpent from the staff of Moses, or as He, according to Saint John the Baptist, is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones. And so every living creature comes from God or from God’s Word in its entire being, and likewise lives by God’s Word sustaining in existence all kinds of creatures: food, drink, breath and movement—these are merely secondary causes of life for earthly creatures. Without God, without God’s Word, without God’s will there is and cannot be any life not only on earth but also in heaven. His Word called forth every life and by His same Word every life is sustained: He alone bears all things by the word of His power155, that is, by His mighty Word.

“Let the earth bring forth a living soul”. This means that the soul of animals comes from the earth and is something earthly, though refined: and therefore upon the death of the animal it returns to the earth. Only the human soul is immortal: because only in mankind, of all earthly creatures, is there reason, freedom, and a striving toward God, toward the immortal. Therefore we must above all care for it and enrich it with good, salvific deeds; as for the body, which is as a garment for the soul, fashioned for us by the Lord God from the earth and necessary to us in its present form only so long as we are on earth—we should not take excessive care of it: for just as worn-out clothing, worn from use and from time, falls apart and turns to dust, so our body too—this perishable garment—will necessarily fall apart and turn to dust; and from prosperity, from beauty, from bodily strength nothing will remain but earth alone. “Let the earth bring forth a living soul according to kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to kind: and it was so”. The four-footed animals the Holy Chronicler Moses called here, as we may suppose, domestic or tame animals, while beasts meant the wild, forest beasts. But was there always such a division of animals into domestic or tame and wild or beast; were not all at first tame, though most of them were created to dwell in forests? Man is the earthly king; he was placed as master of all earthly creatures: and the subjects should be obedient and submissive to their master. Indeed, at the beginning all beasts were obedient to man and all were tame; but when man sinned and showed disobedience to God, the beasts too departed from obedience to man, ceased to be tame; moreover, they became frightful to him. “When sin entered”—says Saint Chrysostom—“dominion was taken from them; and as among servants the dutiful are feared by their companions while the wicked fear even their fellow servants: so it happened with man. So long as he had boldness before God, he was fearful to beasts; but when he sinned, he began to fear even the least of his fellow-servants, that is, the beasts156”. But—continues the holy father—“God did not entirely take from man on account of his sin the honor of dominion over beasts, did not deprive him of all authority over them; no: He left outside man’s dominion only those animals which serve him less for earthly profit; but the necessary, useful animals which provide him with much help in life—these God left in subjection to us. He left horses so that they might draw the plow, break up the earth, help us in the labors of transporting heavy things; share with us, when needed, the toils and dangers of war; and also, when needful or for our pleasure, carry us from place to place; He left herds of cattle and sheep so that they might provide for our table, so that we might have plenty of material for making clothes. He left us as well other kinds of animals which provide us with no small benefit in life. He condemned us for sin to perpetual labor and sweat, but also commanded certain beasts to share in our toil for gaining us food and other necessities, and sometimes without toil gives it to us, permitting us to feed on the flesh of animals. How much we should be grateful for this to the Creator! We have grown accustomed to everything in the world and think little about it: to whom, to what Benefactor do we owe these gifts. The horse bears our burdens its whole life; our tables are often laden with dishes from the flesh of animals; our entire body from foot to head is clothed in garments made from the skin or wool of animals: but how many words, or even secret feelings of gratitude does the one who enjoys all this possess? Very few. But the wild beasts as well, though they are not subject to man, are useful to him: first, in that they tangibly give him assurance of the power of the Lord and do not let him forget himself in pride and presumption. Just as thunder and lightning make us tremble and involuntarily make us aware of our nothingness before the almighty Creator speaking to us in an awesome and majestic voice through visible nature: in just the same way fierce wild beasts, terrible in their cruelty, strike fear in us and cause us to think of their Creator, who made them fearful to us, of man’s lost greatness and his present nothingness. Indeed, who could harbor high thoughts of himself at the sight of a fierce beast, living with complete independence in the forests, flashing fiery eyes and in a moment ready to destroy the majestic king of the earth? And by his position and appearance he seems to say to man: I do not belong to you but to the fearful God; He gave me life; He feeds me, not you; you cannot force me to serve you as you do a horse or an ox. Indeed, will the unicorn deign to serve you, or lie down at your manger? Will you bind him with cords, or will he plow the fields for you?157 No: many wild beasts live entirely not for you, man, so that you might know that you now possess very little, that with your sins you are restricted to an extraordinary degree, that only righteousness can restore to you dominion over beasts, as it did to the Holy Prophet Daniel over lions, as it did to many Saints over lions and other fierce beasts. Moreover, wild beasts are useful also in that they provide men with clothing through their skins, and sometimes with food through their flesh, and also—in the general order of nature—in that they devour the carcasses of other forest animals which would otherwise corrupt the air through their decay; they prevent the excessive multiplication of certain weaker but harmful animals by feeding on them. As for poisonous serpents, snakes, scorpions and others like them: they too are useful to man in that they also remind him of his fall, his guilt, and death, and cause him to tremble before the Almighty God. But why should we insist that every kind of animal and reptile be useful to us? God created them not only for our benefit but also to show forth His wisdom and goodness. Indeed, what wisdom of God is visible in the structure, appearance, habits and customs of different kinds of animals? For the attentive and thoughtful man, animals serve as living preachers of God’s wisdom. And look at the life of each animal, at their habits and customs, at their means of defense, and you will see how all of them are content with their life, praise the goodness of God and say: the Lord is good to all and His mercy is on all His works158. If you insist on having profit from them, you will find it in almost every animal: even the most seemingly insignificant creature provides us with benefit. From the ant—says Saint Chrysostom—one can learn diligence; from the bee—love of cleanliness, of labor and of neighbor: she labors and works daily not so much for herself as for us. And it is proper for the Christian to seek profit not for himself but for others. As the bee flies over all meadows to prepare food for another: so do you too, man: if you have gathered wealth, use part of it, as you see fit, for the poor; if you have abundance in anything else: be useful to those in need with your abundance. And do we not see that the bee is respected more than other animals not for the fact that it labors, but especially because it labors for others? For the spider too labors and strives and stretches across the walls thin tissues surpassing all women’s art, but it is not respected because its work is entirely useless to us: such are those who labor and strive only for themselves159”. In general, one can learn much from the beasts; one thing in them can be imitated while another can be shunned. For example: the ox and the donkey love their master, as the Prophet says: the ox knows his master and the donkey his owner’s manger160; let us not be worse than these beasts—let us not turn away from our Lord and Creator. “The dog”—let us further say with Saint Chrysostom—“though faithful, is shameless: and both qualities should be a lesson to us: let us take up faithfulness and cast away shamelessness. The fox is cunning and deceitful: let us not imitate this vice. But as the bee, flying over meadows, does not take everything with her but chooses what is useful and leaves the rest, so let us do: having examined the kind of beasts, let us take for ourselves what is useful in them, and whatever good qualities they have by nature, let us perfect in ourselves by free choice. In this we are honored by God, for He gave us the ability to perform the natural good that is in beasts by free will, so that we may receive reward for it. And so, taking from the beasts all that is best, let us use it: man is king of the beasts, and kings have in abundance the best of what their subjects possess: whether gold or silver or precious stones or magnificent garments”161.

“And God saw that it was good”. After the creation of each day the Lord God Himself testifies that His creation perfectly accords with His purposes and intentions, that all is perfect and beautiful. And no mortal with sound reason can say that in the creation of the wise Creator there is anything amiss, anything out of order; on the contrary, everyone will say that all is harmonious and beautiful beyond words and understanding.

But it is time now to bring to an end both this discourse and our talks on the creation of the world. In the next discourse we shall speak in conclusion about the crown of all creation—about mankind. We have only lightly touched upon God’s creation and have not said or explained very much that should have been said and explained; yet we have said something; and even this something may bring great benefit to those who are attentive and thoughtful. Above all let us not forget one thing: the visible world will end because it is elemental and composite; only the invisible world, being simple and non-composite, is eternal and will never end. Therefore we should think especially of the invisible, look according to the word of the Apostle not to the visible but to the invisible, and strive toward the invisible: for the visible is temporal, the invisible is eternal162. Amen.