Sermon on Genesis

1A discourse on the text, 'God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good,' and on the fact that divine words are more precious than all pleasures.

The borders of piety are beautiful, not blooming with earthly seasons, but bursting with heavenly flowers. The flowers are those of piety, which are the fruits of the divine way of life. For virtues lead us toward that wonderful and original beauty, that which was made according to the image of God and according to likeness. This likeness according to virtue cannot be called a horse instead of a man. When we pursue this, we are no longer named wolf, dragon, serpent, or scorpion, being carried away toward the insolence of the irrational; rather, we are a wonderful and precious image of God, preserving the original beauty of the character, and we are, and we are called, and we are believed to be so.

Become a master of the irrational; do not imitate the habits of the servants, not because the irrational are vile, for nothing evil was created from the Good. Let no one suppose that the irrational are placed in a land of wickedness because they provide an image of wickedness for those living not according to virtue. For if this were so, how did the Scripture say, 'And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was good,' and not merely good, but also very good? When, then, the things that came to be were provided as an image of wickedness—for the lion is an image of the tyrant, and the serpent of the crooked and most evil way, and the scorpion of plague, and the wolf of the robber—where would the things that came to be good, if they were so obviously being received as an image of wickedness? It is necessary for those who love learning to know that these things are not evil by their own nature, nor are they called so, but by the irrational...

A state precedes them; but when it comes into the rational nature, it insults the vision and blunts rational freedom. You have received, O man, a masterly value; do not share in the dishonorable and slave-like rank of the irrational. For you insult yourself by imitating the ferocity of the irrational; not as if the irrational were being evil or being called evil, but as a dishonorable and slave-like image that is not becoming to the free.

For just as a distinguished and renowned man is insulted and disgraced if he puts on or wraps himself in a slave's attire—not because the garment is bad and filthy, but because it is becoming to a slave and not fitting to a free man—so if you take on the character of a scorpion and a wolf, it is not the nature of the irrational that is slandered, but your own state, which possesses mastery, is insulted as it pursues the rank of a slave.

These things are necessary for me, so that no one may take the things said to be an insult to creation as if God had made something bad. For all things are truly beautiful, and very beautiful, if they guard their own rank and pursue their own law. And so that you may learn, beloved, that nothing has become bad by God according to nature, God has taught us to take the image of these irrational things. For he placed certain advantages of the irrational to be imitated, so that we may not slander the things that have happened as evil, not at all their nature, but only those aspects as far as they fit a rational state.

Or did you not hear the Proverb-maker saying today, 'Go to the ant, O sluggard, and observe its ways'? Do you not understand how, by setting the industry of the ant as a premise, he instructed us toward our own unsluggish readiness? We did not teach you explicitly from the...

2The ant is slothful, but the bee is skillful. For as has been said, there are advantages belonging to irrational creatures which are arranged in a logical order; yet these are spoken of regarding us as shame and reproach. For he says, 'Imitate the ant,' since you shall not imitate God.

Never have you seen a legitimate father rebuking his children and, after much instruction, leading them to imitate a servant; would he say such things openly? Should one imitate even the servant, though inferior in status but superior in skill? Therefore, the philanthropic God, to demonstrate our ignorance, brings forward the ant to rebuke our sloth, and the bee to rebuke our idleness. It is clear from these things that nothing evil came from God, but He gave you perception and a discerning mind, so that you might flee the habits of irrational animals and seize their advantages. For even a lion can be an image of virtue, when the image is taken not toward tyranny, but toward courage; for tyranny is one thing, and courage is another.

For this reason also the Scripture, announcing the Savior about to rise from Judah, says: 'A roar of a lion of Judah; from a whelp, my son, he ascended; having risen, he lay down like a lion, and like a roaring lion.' See how the divine word constructs such a likeness from the advantages belonging to irrational creatures. It is possible, therefore, to imitate a lion with prudence; and it is possible to imitate a serpent, not in striking with venom, but in taking up prudence, just as the Savior says to the apostles: 'Become wise as serpents.' Therefore, if the creation were an evil thing, he would not call his own image to imitate the evil, saying, 'Become wise as serpents.' To imitate the serpent is not to imitate the venom or the anger, but the prudence. For if you imitate the venom, David cries out accusing you, saying, 'Their anger is according to the likeness of the serpent'; but if you imitate its prudence, you become a disciple of Christ, who said, 'Become wise as serpents.' Since the serpent is known to be wiser than all the beasts, it sets prudence against prudence, not so that you may learn to practice deceit, but so that you may learn to avoid deceit.

For the philanthropic God wills us to be not evil-doers, but all-wise; for the all-wise is one thing, and the evil-doer is another. To be all-wise is not to practice evil, but to avoid evil; and one uses shrewdness not to practice fraud against others, but to escape what is being woven by others. An evil-doer, however, is a murderer or a deceiver, one devising evils against others. Such was Jacob, wise, as wise as a serpent, but not venomous as a serpent. For when he was about to encounter his brother Esau, who was full of malice and murder, he appealed to God, saying, 'Lord, save me from my brother Esau, for I fear him.'

3Furthermore, he implored God, as one making a prayer against evil. When he met his brother, he appeased his temper through courtesy and flattery, and he extinguished the malice. For what does he say to Isaiah? 'I have seen your face, as if one had seen the face of God.' If Jacob said these things so that he might conquer his brother through deceit, he spoke badly; but if he said them so that he might escape fear, he used cunning well.

Therefore, become wise as the serpent; do not be angry, do not be venomous, but be wise and innocent as the doves. A dove can be taken for both evil and virtue; and how, listen: if you are thoughtless and without discernment, and experienced only in evil, the Scripture indicts you as foolish. For Ephraim, it says, is like a senseless dove, not having a heart. If, therefore, having fled from senselessness, you achieve innocence, you possess perfect understanding, not mixing it with evil; and you hear from the Lord, 'Become wise as the serpent, and innocent as the doves.'

Do not then, brother, read the Scriptures simply, and take the images for evil, dividing them, giving this to one and another to another. Do you wish, therefore, to learn? Pay close attention to the things being said. The Scripture calls a lion; for it says, 'The roar of a lion, Judah; from a seedling, my son, you have risen; having risen, you lay down sleeping like a lion.' In this way, 'as a lion' signifies the brave; for it also sets the same image for the righteous: 'For the righteous, it says, has trusted like a lion.' The righteous, therefore, is brave, not in doing evil, but in repelling what is brought upon him by the wicked.

It also calls the Savior a lion, because he is from a royal tribe. Just as the lion is king among the four-footed animals, so the tribe of Judah reigned among the Jews, from whom the Savior arose. And do not think, beloved, that it is unworthy of Christ to be depicted as a lion; for the Scripture shapes this image even upon His Divinity. Listen, then, to what the prophet says: 'A lion shall roar, and who will not fear?' The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy? Therefore, as much as is possible, both the fearsome and the royal, Christ is depicted as a lion.

But the devil is also called a lion, not as one powerful or fearsome, but as a ravager, as a tyrant, as a destroyer. And the blessed Apostle Peter says concerning this: 'Behold, your enemy the devil goes about like a lion, seeking to devour a soul.' Therefore, divide the readings into interpretations, lest your mind mix things that seem contrary to the text. The Scripture said lion and lion; but one is according to the royal and powerful, and the other according to the destructive and poisonous. Thus the Scripture shapes both the righteous and the impious through a single image: 'The righteous,' it says...

4As the phoenix shall bloom, and as the cedar in Lebanon shall multiply, so has he previously fashioned the image of the righteous, and thus also of the impious. For he says that he saw the impious being highly exalted and lifted up, like the cedars of Lebanon. Observe then how he brought forth the same image, but shared the meanings through his words. For concerning the impious he says: I saw the impious being highly exalted and lifted up, like the cedars; but concerning the righteous he did not say, 'Like a cedar in Lebanon he shall bloom again,' but rather, 'He shall multiply.'

Therefore, O man, imitate the bee, which the Scripture teaches us to imitate for the sake of industry. Go toward the bee, and learn how she is a worker. Do not learn that she has a sting, but that she produces honey. For if you imitate the sting of the bee, David reproaches you, saying: All the nations have surrounded me, like bees surround honey, and by the Name of the Lord I defended myself against them. Do you see how he depicts those who strike as being struck by a bee, while he depicts the righteous as those dripping with honey? For the lips of righteous men drip with wisdom, and the words of the Lord are honey; and their sweetness is a healing for the soul.

Let us therefore, beloved, desire this sweetness of souls with all our soul, and let us work the spiritual honey in the secret workshop of the soul, and let us receive the divine words as honey and honey. For honey, being eaten in excess, often turns the sweetness into bitterness, and turns the appetite of the stomach, and prepares all the condition of the man; but the Word of God, when received in abundance, does not make the soul hollow, but heals it; for its sweetness is a healing for the soul. For this reason, the wise man, desiring to show the difference between honey and the Word, says: It is not good to eat much honey, but it is necessary to honor glorious words.

Let us hold, then, beloved, the diverse honey, the divine and sacred words, through all things; and just as that honey is composed of many and various forms, yet has one beauty, so let the divine Scripture be to us honey, composed of many and various prophets, yet dripping with one honey of teaching. Such also is the honey of the Fathers to us, composed of different ages, yet dripping with one grace and one spiritual teaching. But these things are only to this much. May it happen to us through the thanks and intercessions of the common Father, to increase the word through industry, to work the divine law in the mind always, and to do that which was said by David: to have the law of God always in the midst of our bodies, that is, the divine thoughts, so as to recognize the terms of nature, to honor the truth, and to send glory to God, now and always, and unto the ages of ages, Amen.