Creation of the Visible World and Development or
Evolution.
God created the visible world in a single instant, but the
world did not immediately assume its complete form. Basil does not deal with the
substance of heaven and earth because he feels that to do so would be pointless.
He rejects the concept of an "unqualified substratum" as the foundation of the
world. Any thing that is without qualities does not exist, and qualification
presupposes existence. The nature or substance of matter is incomprehensible to
us.
The primordial world was without order, "the world was
invisible and in chaos." This is not because matter and form were at one time
separate. On the contrary, God created everything, "not just a half of
everything, but the whole heaven and the whole earth, both their substance and
their form." This primordial world had not yet fully developed into the state
which it had the potential to attain. "Because of the forces with which the
Creator had endowed it the earth was ready to give birth to every thing but it
was waiting for the proper time when, at God's command, it would bring to light
that which it had generated." The Hexaemeron is thus a description of the
proper ordering of the world.
The first day of creation stands outside time and before
development, and Basil is hesitant to call it the first in the series of other
days. It 'existed in a particular manner," and it is eternal and self-enclosed.
It is "outside weekly time" just like the eighth day, the beginning of days,
which is contemporary with the light. It is the holy day of our Lord and it was
glorified by His resurrection." On this day God through His word and command
gave to the
world the "grace of light."
The word or command of God which was responsible for creation
became a "unique law that has remained on earth for future time, giving the
earth the strength to generate and bring forth fruit." Basil compares this to a
top or gyroscope. After it is set in motion a gyroscope continues to turn, and
in this same way, "nature, after it originated by the first command, has been
expanding, and it will continue to expand until the end of the universe."
Material nature is like a sphere moving on an inclined surface. It has been set
in motion by a single command and continues to move in a regular way as created
things are generated and destroyed. The world is a unified whole in spite of the
variety of its components, for it has been bound together by God "into a single
interconnected unit and into a single harmonious body through an indestructible
union of love." The genera and the species of existence have been preserved
because that which is generated is similar to whatever generates it. In every
genus and species, whether animal or vegetable, there is a seminal force. "Every
created thing in the whole of creation fulfills some particular law of its
own."
The ordering of the world was achieved in a series of
instantaneous outbursts. This is how Basil depicts the generation of the
vegetable world. "Let the earth bring forth fruit ... And the earth, following
the law of the Creator, began to sprout, and in one instant of time passed
through all the stages of growth, and immediately gave forth vegetation which
was perfect. There was nothing at that time to stop growth. There had been
nothing before that on the earth, and everything came into being in one instant,
with all the attributes proper to it. Every plant was clearly distinguished from
the others and recognizable by its own properties. The voice which gave the
command spoke only briefly, and it was more a movement of will than a true
voice. However, the idea contained within the command was complex and
diversified. When animal life was produced the earth did not bring forth
something which had previously been hidden in it, but by God's command it
received the strength to generate that which it had not had before.
Consequently, Basil asserts that animal life originates through spontaneous
generation.
Much thanks to:
http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/fathers_florovsky_1.htm#_Toc3723866
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