Man lifted toward heaven and the lights of the fourth day
Basil finishes urging his hearers to know themselves and then starts explaining the fourth day of creation.
By nature he falls short of the animals in bodily gifts, yet by abundance of reason he can be lifted toward heaven. If we learn this, we shall know ourselves fully, we shall know God, we shall worship our Creator, we shall serve the Master, we shall glorify the Father, we shall love our nourisher, we shall revere our benefactor, and we shall never cease worshipping the author of our present life and the life to come, who confirms His promises by the riches He has already given and makes our hopes secure by the proof of present blessings.
If passing things are so rich, what must eternal things be like? If visible things are so beautiful, what must invisible things be like? If the vastness of heaven surpasses the measure of human thought, what mind could trace out the nature of eternal things?
The sun is subject to decay, yet it is so beautiful and so great, swift in movement and returning in well-ordered circuits, with a size fitted to the whole so that it keeps proportion to the universe, and by natural beauty shining upon creation like a bright eye. If gazing at it never wearies us, how beautiful must the sun of righteousness be? If it is a loss for a blind man not to see this sun, how great a loss is it for a sinner to be cut off from the true light?
Heaven and earth already existed. Light had been made over them. Day and night had been divided. Then came the firmament once more, and the revealing of dry land. The water had been gathered into one settled and separate gathering. The earth was full of its own offspring, sprouting countless kinds of plants and rich with every sort of plant. Yet sun and moon did not yet exist, so that those who do not know God would neither name the sun the first source and father of light nor reckon it the maker of what grows from the earth. For this reason the fourth day came, and then, Basil says, God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven for shining upon the earth, to divide between day and between night" (Genesis 1:14).
When you are taught who spoke, join the hearer to Him at once in thought. For Scripture says God said, "Let there be lights," and then that God made the two lights (Genesis 1:16). Who spoke and who made? Basil asks you to see in this doubling the two persons. Throughout the history the teaching about God is sown like seed in mystery. The purpose for the birth of the lights is also added: for shining, Scripture says, upon the earth. If light had already come to be, how is the sun now said to have come to be again for shining? First, Basil says, let no strangeness in the wording move you to laughter. We do not follow your fine choice of words, nor do we chase neat rhythm in placing them. We are no polishers of phrases. Everywhere we prize clear meaning in words above sweet sound. See whether by shining he showed well enough what he wished, for he said shining instead of illumination. This quarrels in nothing with what was said about light. Then the very nature of light was brought forth, while now this body of the sun has been prepared as a vehicle for that first-born light.
Greek
Ταῖς μὲν ἐκ τῆς φύσεως παρασκευαῖς ἐλαττούμενον, τῇ δὲ τοῦ λόγου περιουσίᾳ πρὸς οὐρανὸν αὐτὸν ὑπεραρθῆναι δυνάμενον. Ἐὰν ταῦτα μάθωμεν, ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιγνωσόμεθα, Θεὸν γνωρίσομεν, τὸν κτίσαντα προσκυνήσομεν, τῷ Δεσπότῃ δουλεύσομεν, τὸν Πατέρα δοξάσομεν, τὸν τροφέα ἡμῶν ἀγαπήσομεν, τὸν εὐεργέτην αἰδεσθησόμεθα, τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν τῆς παρούσης καὶ τῆς μελλούσης προσκυνοῦντες οὐκ ἀπολήξομεν, τὸν δι' οὗ παρέσχετο ἤδη πλούτου καὶ τὰ ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις πιστούμενον, καὶ τῇ πεῖρᾳ τῶν παρόντων βεβαιοῦντα ἡμῖν τὰ προσδοκώμενα. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ πρόσκαιρα τοιαῦτα, ποταπὰ τὰ αἰώνια; Καὶ εἰ τὰ ὁρώμενα οὕτω καλὰ, ποταπὰ τὰ ἀόρατα; Εἰ οὐρανοῦ μέγεθος μέτρον ἀνθρωπίνης διανοίας ἐκβαίνει, τῶν ἀϊδίων τὴν φύσιν τίς ἄρα νοῦς ἐξιχνιάσαι δυνήσεται; Εἰ ὁ τῇ φθορᾷ ὑποκείμενος ἥλιος οὕτω καλὸς, οὕτω μέγας, ὀξὺς μὲν κινηθῆναι, εὐτάκτους δὲ τὰς περιόδους ἀποδιδοὺς, σύμμετρον μὲν ἔχων τὸ μέγεθος τῷ παντὶ, ὥστε μὴ ἐκβαίνειν τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὅλον ἀναλογίαν· τῷ δὲ κάλλει τῆς φύσεως οἷόν τις ὀφθαλμὸς διαυγὴς ἐμπρέπων τῇ κτίσει· εἰ ἀκόρεστος τούτου ἡ θέα, ποταπὸς τῷ κάλλει ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος; Εἰ τυφλῷ ζημία τοῦτον μὴ βλέπειν, ποταπὴ ζημία τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς στερηθῆναι; 6.2 Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰς φαῦσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὥστε διαχωρίζειν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς νυκτός. Οὐρανὸς προειλήφει καὶ γῆ· τὸ φῶς ἐπὶ τούτοις δεδημιούργητο· ἡμέρα καὶ νὺξ διεκέκριτο· πάλιν στερέωμα, καὶ ξηρᾶς φανέρωσις. Τὸ ὕδωρ συνήθροιστο εἰς συνεστηκυῖαν καὶ ἀφωρισμένην συναγωγήν. Ἡ γῆ πεπλήρωτο τοῖς οἰκείοις γεννήμασι, τά τε μυρία γένη τῶν βοτανῶν ἐκβλαστή σασα, καὶ παντοδαποῖς εἴδεσι φυτῶν εὐθηνουμένη. Ἥλιος δὲ οὔπω ἦν καὶ σελήνη, ἵνα μήτε φωτὸς ἀρχηγὸν καὶ πατέρα τὸν ἥλιον ὀνομάσωσι· μήτε τῶν ἐκ τῆς γῆς φυομένων δημιουργὸν, οἱ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγνοήσαντες ἡγήσωνται. Διὰ τοῦτο τετάρτη ἡμέρα· καὶ τότε εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, Γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες ἐν τῷ στερεώματι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Ὅταν τὸν εἰπόντα διδαχθῇς, εὐθὺς τῇ ἐννοίᾳ σύναπτε τὸν ἀκούσαντα. Εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, Γενηθήτωσαν φωστῆρες, καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς δύο φωστῆρας. Τίς εἶπε καὶ τίς ἐποίησεν; Οὐκ ἐννοεῖς ἐν τούτοις τὸ διπλοῦν τῶν προσώπων; Πανταχοῦ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τὸ δόγμα τῆς θεολογίας μυστικῶς συμπαρέσπαρται. Καὶ ἡ χρεία πρόσκειται τῆς τῶν φωστήρων γενέσεως· Εἰς φαῦσιν, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Εἰ προειλήφει τοῦ φωτὸς ἡ γένεσις, πῶς νῦν ὁ ἥλιος πάλιν εἰς φαῦσιν λέγεται γεγονέναι; Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τῆς λέξεως τὸ ἰδιότροπον μηδένα σοι κινείτω γέλωτα, εἴπερ μὴ ἑπόμεθα ταῖς παρ' ὑμῖν ἐκλογαῖς τῶν ῥημάτων, μηδὲ τὸ τῆς θέσεως αὐτῶν εὔρυθμον ἐπιτηδεύομεν. Οὐ γὰρ τορευταὶ λέξεων παρ' ἡμῖν· οὐδὲ τὸ εὔηχον τῶν φωνῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ εὔσημον τῶν ὀνομάτων πανταχοῦ προτιμότερον. Σκόπει τοίνυν εἰ μὴ διὰ τῆς φαύσεως ἀρκούντως ἐνέφηνεν ὃ ἐβούλετο· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τὴν φαῦσιν εἴρηκεν. Ἔστι δὲ οὐδὲν μαχόμενον τοῦτο τοῖς περὶ τοῦ φωτὸς εἰρημένοις. Τότε μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴ τοῦ φωτὸς ἡ φύσις παρήχθη· νῦν δὲ τὸ ἡλιακὸν τοῦτο σῶμα ὄχημα εἶναι τῷ πρωτογόνῳ ἐκείνῳ φωτὶ παρεσκεύασται.