The waters bring forth living creatures

Amen. Homily 7: On Creeping Things. “And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls according to kind, and winged creatures flying across the firmament of heaven according to kind’” (Genesis 1:20). After the creation of the lights, the waters are now filled with living things, so that this region too may be adorned. The earth had already received its adornment from its own plants; the heaven had received the flowers of the stars, and had been adorned as it were by the twin beams of the great lights, like a pair of eyes. What remained was for the waters to receive their own adornment as well. The command came, and at once rivers became active and lakes productive, each of them bringing forth their own natural kinds. The sea gave birth to all the varied kinds of swimming creatures, and not even what was in the mud and pools of water—not even this remained idle or without its share in the work of creation. For frogs and gnats and mosquitoes were clearly produced from them. The things we still see now are proof of what happened then. So every water hastened to serve the creative command; and the great and ineffable power of God showed at once the life of creatures whose kinds no one could even count, active and moving, the moment the command was given and the waters received their fitness for producing life. “Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls.” Now for the first time a living creature is made that has a soul and shares in sensation. For plants and trees, even if they are said to live because they share in the power of nourishment and growth, are not animals, nor do they have souls. For this reason: “Let the waters bring forth creeping things.” Everything that swims—whether it floats on the surface of the water or cuts through the depths—belongs to the nature of creeping things, since it moves along through the body of the water. And even if some water creatures have feet and walk (most of these are amphibious—for example, seals, crocodiles, river horses, frogs, and crabs), their primary characteristic is still swimming. For this reason: “Let the waters bring forth creeping things.” In these few words, what kind has been left out? What has not been included in the command of creation? Are not the live-bearing creatures included—seals, dolphins, torpedo rays, and the similar ones called cartilaginous fish? Are not the egg-laying ones, which are nearly all the kinds of fish? Are not all the scaly ones, all those with rough skins, all those with fins and those without? The sound of the command is small—or rather, it is not even a sound, but only an inclination and impulse of the will. Yet the meaning contained in the command is as vast as all the differences and common features of fish. To go through all of them in detail would be like counting the waves of the sea, or trying to measure the water of the ocean with cups. “Let the waters bring forth creeping things.” In these are included the creatures of the open sea, the creatures of the shores, the creatures of the depths, the creatures of the rocks, those that move in schools, those that scatter, the sea-monsters, the enormous ones, and the smallest of fish. For by the same power and the same command, both the great and the small receive their existence.