The command still drives the earth, and the hearer must come prepared
Basil is closing his homily on the third day's vegetation and opening the sixth homily, on the creation of the lights, by urging his hearers to come as fellow contestants, not mere judges.
That command still even now existing in the earth urges it on, in each yearly cycle, to bring out all the power it has for the generation of plants, seeds, and trees. For just as tops, once the first blow is given them, make their subsequent rotations when they fix their point in themselves and spin around, so too the sequence of nature, having received its beginning from the first command, passes through all the time that follows, until it arrives at the common completion of the universe. Toward that completion may we all press on, fruitful and full of good works, so that, planted in the house of the Lord, we may bloom in the courts of our God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Homily 6: On the creation of the lights.
A spectator of athletes ought to share in some measure of their vigor. One can see this from the rules of the festivals, which prescribe that those sitting together in the stadium sit with bare heads—in my opinion, so that each person may be not only a spectator of the contestants but also in his own turn a contestant. So too, then, the examiner of great and extraordinary spectacles, and the hearer of truly supreme and ineffable wisdom, ought to come with some resources of his own for the contemplation of what lies before us, and to share in my struggle as far as he is able—standing by not so much as a judge as a fellow contestant. Otherwise the discovery of the truth may escape us, and my error may become a common loss for the hearers.
Why do I say this? Because since our task is the examination of the world's constitution and the contemplation of the universe—a task whose principles come not from the wisdom of the world, but from what God taught his servant, speaking to him plainly and not through riddles—it is altogether necessary that those who love to behold great things not have an untrained mind for the understanding of what lies before us. If ever, then, on a clear night you have gazed at the ineffable beauties of the stars and received a thought of the craftsman of all things—who it is who has adorned the heaven with these flowers, and how in visible things the necessary exceeds the delightful—and again by day, if with sober reasoning you have studied the wonders of the day and through visible things have inferred the invisible one, you have come as a prepared hearer, fit for the fullness of this solemn and blessed theater.
Come then—just as those who take strangers by the hand and lead them around a city—so I myself will guide you through the hidden wonders of this great city. In this city is our ancient homeland, from which the man-slaying demon removed us, having enslaved man by his own enticements. Here you will see the first origin of man, and the death that immediately overtook us—death, which sin bore, the firstborn offspring of the evil-originating demon. And you will come to know yourself: earthly in nature, yet the work of divine hands; in power far inferior to the irrational animals, yet appointed ruler by election of the irrational and the lifeless.
Greek
Ἐκεῖνο ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐνυπάρχον τῇ γῇ τὸ πρόσ ταγμα, ἐπείγει αὐτὴν καθ' ἑκάστην ἔτους περίοδον ἐξάγειν τὴν δύναμιν ἑαυτῆς ὅσην ἔχει πρός τε βοτανῶν καὶ σπερμάτων καὶ δένδρων γένεσιν. Ὡς γὰρ οἱ στρόβιλοι ἐκ τῆς πρώτης αὐτοῖς ἐνδοθείσης πληγῆς τὰς ἐφεξῆς ποιοῦνται περιστροφὰς, ὅταν πήξαντες τὸ κέντρον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς περιφέρωνται· οὕτω καὶ ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἀκολουθία ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου προστάγματος τὴν ἀρχὴν δεξαμένη, πρὸς πάντα τὸν ἐφεξῆς διεξέρχεται χρόνον, μέχρις ἂν πρὸς τὴν κοινὴν συντέλειαν τοῦ παντὸς καταντήσῃ. Ἐφ' ἣν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἔγκαρποι καὶ πλήρεις ἔργων ἀγαθῶν ἐπειγώμεθα, ἵνα φυτευθέντες ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου, ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐξανθήσωμεν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ϛʹ Περὶ γενέσεως φωστήρων. 6.1 Τὸν ἀθλητῶν θεατὴν μετέχειν τινὸς προσῆκε καὶ αὐτὸν εὐτονίας. Καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν πανηγυρικῶν θεσμῶν ἄν τις κατίδοι, οἳ τοὺς συγκαθεζομένους εἰς τὸ στάδιον γυμνῇ καθῆσθαι τῇ κεφαλῇ διαγορεύουσιν· ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, ἵνα μὴ θεατὴς μόνον ἀγωνιστῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγωνιστὴς ἕκαστος αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ μέρει τυγχάνῃ. Οὕτω τοίνυν καὶ τὸν τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ὑπερφυῶν θεαμάτων ἐξεταστὴν, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἄκρας ὄντως καὶ ἀπορρήτου σοφίας ἀκροατὴν προσῆκεν οἴκοθεν ἔχειν ἥκοντά τινας ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν προκειμένων, καὶ κοινωνεῖν ἐμοὶ τῆς ἀγωνίας εἰς δύναμιν, οὐχὶ κριτὴν μᾶλλον ἢ συναγωνιστὴν παρεστῶτα· μήποτε ἄρα διαλάθῃ ἡμᾶς τῆς ἀληθείας ἡ εὕρεσις, καὶ τὸ ἐμὸν σφάλμα κοινὴ ζημία τῶν ἀκουόντων γένηται. Πρὸς οὖν τί ταῦτα λέγω; Ὅτι ἐπειδὴ πρόκειται ἡμῖν εἰς τὴν τοῦ κόσμου σύστασιν ἐξέτασις καὶ θεωρία τοῦ παντὸς, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔχουσα, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θεράποντα ὁ Θεὸς ἐξεπαίδευσεν, ἐν εἴδει λαλήσας πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐ δι' αἰνιγμάτων, ἀνάγκη που πάντως, τοὺς τῶν μεγάλων φιλοθεάμονας μὴ ἀγύμναστον ἔχειν τὸν νοῦν πρὸς τὴν τῶν προκειμένων ἡμῖν κατανόησιν. Εἴ ποτε οὖν ἐν αἰθρίᾳ νυκτερινῇ πρὸς τὰ ἄρρητα κάλλη τῶν ἄστρων ἐνατενίσας, ἔννοιαν ἔλαβες τοῦ τεχνίτου τῶν ὅλων, τίς ὁ τοῖς ἄνθεσι τούτοις διαποικίλας τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ὅπως ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις πλέον τοῦ τερπνοῦ τὸ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι· πάλιν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εἰ νήφοντι τῷ λογισμῷ κατέμαθες τὰ τῆς ἡμέρας θαύματα, καὶ διὰ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἀνελογίσω τὸν οὐχ ὁρώμενον, ἐμπαράσκευος ἥκεις ἀκροατὴς καὶ πρέπων τῷ πληρώματι τοῦ σεμνοῦ τούτου καὶ μακαρίου θεάτρου. Δεῦρο δὴ οὖν, ὥσπερ οἱ τοὺς ἀήθεις τῶν πόλεων τῆς χειρὸς λαβόμενοι περιηγοῦνται, οὕτω δὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὰ κεκρυμμένα θαύματα ὑμᾶς τῆς μεγάλης ταύτης πόλεως ξεναγήσω. Ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, ἐν ᾗ ἡ ἀρχαία πατρὶς ἡμῶν, ἧς μετανέστησεν ἡμᾶς ὁ ἀνθρωποκτόνος δαίμων, τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ δελεάσμασιν ἀνδραποδίσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἐνταῦθα κατόψει τὴν πρώτην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν, καὶ τὸν εὐθὺς ἡμᾶς ἐπικαταλαβόντα θάνατον· ὃν ἐγέννησεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, τὸ πρωτότοκον ἔκγονον τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δαίμονος. Καὶ γνωρίσεις σαυτὸν, γήϊνον μὲν τῇ φύσει, ἔργον δὲ θείων χειρῶν· δυνάμει μὲν καὶ παραπολὺ τῶν ἀλόγων λειπόμενον, ἄρχοντα δὲ χειροτονητὸν τῶν ἀλόγων καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων.