Gregory's Attitude Toward the Biblical Narration of
Creation.
Gregory considers that the Biblical narration of creation is
the record of Moses' contemplation on Mount Sinai and not the rational
conjecture of some human mind. We must discern and correctly understand the true
meaning of this narrative and together with Moses we must enter the mysterious
cloud. Gregory goes further in his speculation than Basil.
God as Uncreated Essence and the Creation of Created
Existence.
The world is a structured and harmonious whole, and has been
created by the Creator. God creates through His Wisdom, and this Wisdom is His
will. God's activity is indivisible from the consent of His will. Gregory
writes: "We must realize that the creation of the world was accomplished by
everything in God: His will, Wisdom, might, and all His essential nature."
Gregory deliberately equates the "might" of God with His "substantial or
essential nature" in order to anticipate two false conceptions which might arise
about creation. Although it is true that the nature of created things is
different from God's essence, this does not mean that God did not create the
world from Himself. Nor is it true that God achieves creation through some type
of "reserve" matter and not from matter which previously had no existence. What
Gregory wants to stress is that "as soon as the Divinity desires anything, it is
accomplished. Every Divine desire is realized at once and immediately assumes
being through the might of the Omnipotent. Whatever God desires in His wisdom
and artistry does not remain unrealized. Substance arises from the activity of
the Divine will."
Gregory states that the foundation or source of matter as such
is immaterial. It "arises from something conceptual, not material." Matter is an
aggregate of qualities and there is nothing which can be conceived outside of
this totality. Only a "sum total" of qualities comprises matter. "Each of these
qualities by itself is only an intellectual concept" because not one of them
considered individually, neither lightness, nor heaviness, nor density, nor
color, nor outline, nor duration, is material. These immaterial qualities, these
"foundations for causes and substances," are created by God in the beginning.
Gregory stresses that this "beginning" is "instantaneous and without
interruption." It is also the "beginning of temporal duration." Gregory follows
Basil the Great and states that the beginning of time does not occur within
time. The beginning of time is not yet time itself. The beginning of time means
the beginning of movement and change. In a similar way, the origin of creation
is the beginning of its process of becoming. The universe does not arise in its
ultimate state but is gradually developing. The elements of the world arise
suddenly and instantaneously, coming into existence from nothingness through the
power of God. In this way the world begins its development.
At first the world was "empty and without distinction" because,
Gregory writes, "when God initiated creation everything was still in its
potential state. It was as if a seed had been planted which contained the future
growth of the being of the universe, but as yet each thing did not exist
individually." The earth was, and it was not, for "it was awaiting that which
would give it order and qualification, for this is what is meant by coming into
being."
In the words of the translation of Theodotion, "Everything was
empty." What had been given to the world was the "strength to acquire qualities"
but the qualities themselves were not yet present. Darkness was over everything
and "none of the sub stances which fill the universe was as yet fully itself."
Gregory denies, however, that it is only unqualified matter which originated at
creation. Qualities themselves, and their various combinations, were also
created, but they had not yet become stabilized. In order for this to occur a
connective element had to be introduced into creation. This stabilization was
accomplished when the "Divine artistry and power," power of movement and the
power of rest, was emplanted in creation.
Creation and the Gradual Realization of Matter.
Gregory interprets the Biblical narrative of the six days of
creation as a description of the ordering of the world and the gradual
realization of created matter. "By the might of the Creator the foundation of
all matter comes into being instantaneously and in totality," Gregory writes,
"but the individual manifestations of what is visible in the world are realized
according to a natural order and succession, over a certain period of time." The
genesis of matter is followed by a "necessary series and a particular order."
First fire appears, separating itself suddenly from the depths of unformed
substance and illuminating everything with its radiance: "And there was light."
"God said" indicates that the "Word of His wisdom and artistry" is implanted in
every substance. God by His mighty Word "establishes a radiant power in nature,"
and Moses calls everything which proceeds from the regular activity of this
Divinely implanted power a work of God.
God's act of creation is instantaneous. Succession and
sequence, the passing of days and the cycle of the elements, are proper only to
His creatures. In primordial chaos there is motion and the elements come to be
distinguished by their different densities. Fire comes to the surface and
strives to move upward until it reaches the "limits of perceptible creation." In
the Bible this ultimate boundary is called the firmament. "Beyond this
boundary," Gregory writes, "there exist intellectual creatures which have no
form, or size, or limited place, of duration, or color, or outline, or quantity,
or any of the things we discern beneath the heavens." At this point the path of
fire forms an arc and describes a circle. This is the first day, and its
achievement is the de limitation of visible creation from intellectual
creation.
Gregory describes the further ordering of the world as a
process of division and apportionment. In the course of the next three days the
"mutual separation of everything in the world is accomplished," and each thing
is assigned to its place. Dry land and water are separated, and the sun, moon,
and stars are fixed in the heavens in accordance with the nature of their
radiance. Every thing takes its place in a definite order and maintains it "in
perpetuity, by virtue of its nature." This could not all be accomplished at once
because "everything that has motion moves in time and therefore a certain
duration of time is needed for everything to be harmoniously fitted together."
For this reason the heavenly bodies are affixed only on the fourth day. Gregory
emphasizes that they are not created anew but that they only assume their
established place. It is likely that his conception of the natural place of each
thing in the universe was influenced by Aristotelian physics.
Gregory adds little to Basil's commentary on the final days of
the creation of the world. He only emphasizes that there are degrees and a
gradually ascending order to perfection in created matter. Lowest on this scale
is inanimate matter, followed by vegetable life and then animal life. First
there is matter and then there is the life which penetrates it. The forms of
life are also gradated. "The power of life and animateness" which is common to
all organic natures appears in three forms. There is a "power to grow and
nourish" which is in plants; a "sensible power" or "power of perception" which
is in animals; and an "intellectual power" or power of reasoning which is only
in man. These are not three forms of a single principle but three separate
degrees which relate to each other in an ascending order. Gregory's concept of
the hierarchy of nature was also influenced by Aristotle. In accordance with
this conception he describes the sixth day as the day on which everything
achieved its proper end or goal, when "all the abundance of creation was
established both on the earth and in the sea."
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