Hexaemeron (Basil of Caesarea)
The Hexaemeron of
Basil's Hexaemeron was composed over the course of nine homilies on the topic of the six days of creation, moving line by line through Genesis 1:1–26.[2] His Hexaemeron originated as a lecture series that he delivered to the congregation of Caesarea Maritima over the course of three days in the year 378 AD. The audience was likely a group of "average" Christians, as opposed to fellow Christian intellectuals or a group that he would have considered to have been spiritually advanced.[3]
Influences
In his homilies on the Hexaemeron, Basil covers a wide variety of subjects: the preexistence of matter and eternity of the world, the purpose of the world, the contemplation of beings, composition of the four elements, movement of the stars, behavior of the creatures of the land, waters, and air, etc. Many, if not all of these, were already motifs among classical authors such as
Content
On the topic of the eternity of the world, Basil takes on these subjects include that the world is not eternal but is in fact created. With respect to the position that the Creator eternally coexisted alongside the creation, Basil says that this is not possible due to their fundamentally different nature (not to mention that, for Basil, could matter be in no way equal to God). Theologically, Basil argues that the wording of Genesis — that God "created" as opposed to "worked" or formed" — indicates an absolute beginning. Commenting on Genesis 1:2 and the question of whether the world was created ex nihilo as opposed to ex materia (from pre-existing matter), he defends creation ex nihilo. The description in the scripture of the world having been unformed, says Basil, is reasonable on the basis of the then-absence of elements such as vegetation. Basil rejects the doctrine, found among some philosophical schools such as Stoicism, of eternal return, that is, the periodic conflagration (destruction) and rebirth of the cosmos. All created beings have been planned ahead of time by God and are necessary within God's conceived plan, and the creation reflects back on and results in admiration on the Creator.[4] The cosmos itself, then, acts as a sign of God's existence[4]:
May He Who has given us intelligence to recognize in the smallest objects of creation the great wisdom of the Contriver make us find in great bodies a still higher idea of their Creator. However, compared with their Author, the sun and moon are but a fly and an ant. The whole universe cannot give us a right idea of the greatness of God; and it is only by signs, weak and slight in themselves, often by the help of the smallest insects and of the least plants, that we raise ourselves to Him.
Basil offered many architectural analogies for the cosmos, including an amphitheater where its participants are not merely spectators but "fellow combatants" (i.e. participants) and as a training ground for people to try and come to know God.[8]
Method of interpretation
Basil's Hexaemeron was composed over the course of nine homilies, and originated as a lecture series by Basil to the congregation of
Reception
Due to its popularity, it was translated into numerous languages including
Translations
- Clare Way, Agnes Clare. St. Basil: Exegetic Homilies, The Catholic University of America Press, 2003.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Katsos 2023, p. 15–16.
- ^ a b Roberts 2019, p. 199–200.
- ^ Lim 1990, p. 351, 361.
- ^ a b c Kochańczyk-Bonińska 2016.
- ^ Torchia 1996.
- ^ Yam 2023.
- ^ Yam 2022.
- ^ Decharneux 2023, p. 24.
- ^ De Beer 2015.
- ^ Lim 1990.
- ^ Thomson 2012.
- ^ Thomson 1995.
- ISSN 2346-8459.
- ^ Roberts 2019.
- ^ Gasper 2024, p. 177–176.
- ^ DeMarco 2014.
- ^ Kochańczyk-Bonińska 2016, p. 161–162.
Sources
- Decharneux, Julien (2023). Creation and Contemplation The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background. De Gruyter.
- DeMarco, David C. (2014). "The Presentation and Reception of Basil's Homiliae in hexaemeron in Gregory's In hexaemeron". Zeitschrift für antikes Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity. 17 (2): 332–352. .
- De Beer, Wynand (2015). "The Patristic Understanding of the Six Days (Hexaemeron)". Journal of Early Christian History. 5 (2): 3–23. .
- Gasper, Giles (2024). "On the Six Days of Creation: The Hexaemeral Tradition". In Goroncy, Jason (ed.). T&T Clark Handbook of the Doctrine of Creation. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 176–190.
- Katsos, Isidoros (2023). The Metaphysics of Light in the Hexaemeral Literature: From Philo of Alexandria to Gregory of Nyssa. Oxford University Press.
- Kochańczyk-Bonińska, Karolina (2016). "The Concept Of The Cosmos According To Basil The Great's On The Hexaemeron" (PDF). Studia Pelplinskie. 48: 161–169.
- Lim, Richard (1990). "The Politics of Interpretation in Basil of Caesarea's "Hexaemeron"". Vigiliae Christianae. 44 (4): 351–370. JSTOR 1583840.
- Roberts, Alexander (2019). "A Re-Translation of Basil's Hexaemeral Homilies by ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Faḍl of Antioch". In Barbara, Roggema; Treiger, Alexander (eds.). Patristic Literature in Arabic Translations. Brill. pp. 198–240. ISBN 978-90-04-41504-1.
- Thomson, R.W. (2012). Saint Basil of Caesarea and Armenian cosmology: A study of the Armenian version of Saint Basil's Hexaemeron and its influence on medieval Armenian views about the cosmos. Peeters.
- Thomson, R.W. (1995). The Syriac Version of the Hexaemeron by Basil of Caesarea Syr. 223. Peeters.
- Torchia, N. Joseph (1996). "Sympatheia in Basil of Caesarea's Hexameron: A Plotinian Hypothesis". Journal of Early Christian Studies. 4 (3): 359–378.
- Yam, Colten Cheuk-Yim (2022). "Basil's Knowledge of Astronomy". Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity. 26 (1): 126–144. .
- Yam, Colten Cheuk-Yim (2023). "Basil's Use of Oppian in Homilia in hexaemeron 7: His Source of Zoological Knowledge Reconsidered". Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity. 27 (1): 147–172. .
External links
- Basil's nine homilies of his Hexaemeron (NewAdvent.org)