The one beginning beyond all others
Basil is answering the objection that “beginning” is an ordinary word by distinguishing the many beginnings of this life from the one beginning that is beyond everything.
Do not let anyone deceive you by the many meanings of the word. For in this life there are many beginnings of many things, but there is one beginning over all things, the one beyond. “The beginning of a good way,” Proverbs said. But the beginning of a way is the first movement, from which we start our journey, and what lies behind it can be found. And again, “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” This beginning also has something else set before it, for the beginning of taking up the arts is elementary instruction. The fear of the Lord, then, is the element of wisdom. But there is something older than this beginning: the settled state of the soul, when one has not yet been made wise and has not yet taken up the fear of God. Political powers are also called beginnings, the preeminences of offices. But these beginnings are beginnings of certain things, and each is relative to something. For the beginning of a line is the point, and the beginning of a surface is the line, and the beginning of a body is the surface, and the beginnings of a composed word are the letters. But that beginning is not like these. It is bound to nothing; it serves nothing; it is not considered together with anything. It is free, without a master, released from relation to another, not to be passed beyond by thought—a beginning that reasonings cannot pass beyond, whose beyond cannot be found. For if you strive with the imagination of your mind to run past the beginning, you will find it running ahead of you and meeting your reasonings first. Let your mind run as far as it wishes and stretch itself toward the things above; then you will find it wandering in countless ways and stepping much on emptiness, and returning again to itself because it cannot make the beginning lower than itself. For the beginning is always found to be outside and greater than what is thought. “In the beginning,” then, “was the Word.” O the wonder! How all the words have been joined together with equal honor! The “was” has equal power with “in the beginning.” Where is the blasphemer? Where is the Christ-fighting tongue that says, “There was once when he was not”? Hear the Gospel: “In the beginning he was.” But if he was in the beginning, when was he not? Shall I groan at their impiety, or loathe their ignorance? “But before he was begotten,” they say, “he was not.” Do you know when he was begotten, so that you can attach the “before” to a time? For “before” is a temporal word, setting one thing before another in antiquity. But how is it reasonable that the generation of the Maker of time should be subject to temporal names? “In the beginning,” then, “he was.” If you do not let go of the “was,” you will give no entrance to wicked blasphemy. For just as sailors, when they ride on two anchors, despise the swell, so you too will laugh at this wicked disturbance that comes into life from the spirits of wickedness and shakes the faith of many, if you keep your soul anchored in the safety of these words. But our mind asks, “Who was in the beginning?” “The Word,” it says. What kind of word? The human word? Or the word of angels? For the Apostle hinted to us that angels also have their own tongue, when he said, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Greek
Μὴ παραλογίσηταί σέ τις τῷ πολυσήμῳ τῆς λέξεως. Πολλαὶ γὰρ ἀρχαὶ πολλῶν πραγμάτων κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον· ἀλλὰ μία ἀρχὴ ἐπὶ πάντων, ἡ ἐπέκεινα. Ἀρχὴ γὰρ ὁδοῦ ἀγαθῆς, εἶπεν ἡ Παροιμία. Ἀλλ' ὁδοῦ μὲν ἀρχὴ ἡ πρώτη κίνησις, ὅθεν ἀρχόμεθα τῆς πορείας, ἧς τὸ κατόπιν δυνατόν ἐστιν εὑρεῖν. Καὶ, Ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου. Ἔστι καὶ ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς ἕτερόν τι προκείμενον· τῆς γὰρ τῶν τεχνῶν ἀναλήψεως ἀρχή ἐστιν ἡ στοιχείωσις. Στοιχεῖον οὖν ἐστι τῆς σοφίας ὁ φόβος τοῦ Κυρίου· ἀλλὰ ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐστί τι πρεσβύτερον, ἡ κατάστασις τῆς ψυχῆς, τοῦ μήπω σοφισθέντος καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνειληφότος. Ἀρχαὶ λέ γονται καὶ αἱ πολιτικαὶ δυναστεῖαι, αἱ τῶν ἀξιωμά των ὑπεροχαί. Ἀλλ' αὗται αἱ ἀρχαὶ, τινῶν εἰσιν ἀρχαὶ, καὶ πρός τι ἑκάστη . Ἀρχὴ γὰρ τῆς γραμμῆς τὸ σημεῖον· καὶ ἀρχὴ τῆς ἐπιφανείας ἡ γραμμή· καὶ ἀρχὴ τοῦ σώματος ἡ ἐπιφάνεια· καὶ τοῦ κατὰ σύνθεσιν λόγου ἀρχαὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα. Οὐ μὴν κἀκείνη τοιαύτη ἡ ἀρχή. Οὐδενὶ γὰρ προσδέδεται· οὐδενὶ δουλεύει· μετ' οὐδενὸς θεωρεῖ ται· ἀλλ' ἐλευθέρα ἐστίν· ἀδέσποτος, λελυμένη τῆς πρὸς ἕτερον σχέσεως· ἀνυπέρβατος διανοίᾳ, ἣν οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπερβῆναι τοῖς λογισμοῖς, ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξευρεῖν τὰ ἐπέκεινα. Ἐὰν γὰρ φιλονεικήσῃς τῇ φαντασίᾳ τοῦ νοῦ παραδραμεῖν τὴν ἀρχὴν, εὑρήσεις αὐτὴν προτρέχουσάν σου, καὶ προαπαντῶσαν τοῖς λογισμοῖς. Ἄφες σεαυτοῦ τὸν νοῦν δραμεῖν ὅσον βού λεται, καὶ διαταθῆναι ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω· εἶτα εὑρήσεις αὐτὸν μυρία πλανηθέντα, καὶ πολλὰ κενεμβατήσαντα, καὶ πάλιν ἐπανιόντα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνα σθαι κατωτέραν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιῆσαι. Διότι ἀεὶ τοῦ νοουμένου ἐξωτέρα καὶ πλείων εὑρίσκεται ἡ ἀρχή. Ἐν ἀρχῇ τοίνυν ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος! Πῶς πᾶσαι ἀλλήλαις ὁμοτίμως αἱ φωναὶ συνεζεύχθησαν! Τὸ, Ἦν, ἴσον δύναται τοῦ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ. Ποῦ ὁ βλάσφημος; ποῦ ἡ χριστομάχος γλῶττα; ἡ λέγουσα, Ἦν ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν; Ἄκουε τοῦ Εὐαγ-γελίου, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν. Εἰ δὲ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν, πότε οὐκ ἦν; Τὴν ἀσέβειαν αὐτῶν στενάξω, ἢ τὴν ἀμα θίαν βδελύξομαι; Ἀλλὰ πρὸ τοῦ γεννηθῆναι, οὐκ ἦν. Οἶδας γὰρ πότε ἐγεννήθη, ἵνα τὸ πρὶν δυνηθῇς ἐπ ενεγκεῖν τῷ χρόνῳ; Τὸ γὰρ, Πρὸ τοῦ, χρονική ἐστι φωνὴ, ἕτερον ἑτέρου προτιθεῖσα εἰς παλαιότητα. Τὸν δὲ τοῦ χρόνου ποιητὴν πῶς εὔλογον ταῖς χρονικαῖς προσηγορίαις ὑποκειμένην ἔχειν τὴν γέννησιν; Ἐν ἀρχῇ τοίνυν ἦν. Ἐὰν μὴ ἀποστῇς τοῦ Ἦν, οὐδεμίαν παρείσδυσιν δώσεις τῇ πονηρᾷ βλασφημίᾳ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ θαλαττεύοντες, ὅταν ἐπὶ δύο σαλεύωσιν ἀγκυρῶν, καταφρονοῦσι τοῦ κλύδωνος· οὕτω καὶ σὺ τῆς πονηρᾶς ταύτης ταραχῆς, τῆς ἐκ τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἐγγινομένης τῷ βίῳ, καὶ διασαλευούσης τῶν πολλῶν τὴν πίστιν, καταγελάσῃ, ἐὰν τῇ ἀσφαλείᾳ τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχῃς ἐνορμισθεῖσαν. Ἐπιζητεῖ δὲ ἡμῶν ἡ διάνοια, τίς ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ; Ὁ Λόγος, φησί. Ποῖος λόγος; ὁ ἀνθρώπινος λόγος; ἀλλ' ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων λόγος; Καὶ γὰρ ᾐνίξατο ἡμῖν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὡς καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἰδίαν ἐχόντων γλῶσσαν, εἰπών· Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώ πων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων.