The Six Days of Basil the Great: a book about the 6 days of creation

The Six Days was written by Archbishop Basil the Great in the 4th century

The author Shestodneva was born around 330. His family was wealthy, noble and Christian. Basil the Great received an excellent education in Athens, knew many sciences, among them astronomy, medicine, etc.

At first he tried to connect his life with teaching, but gradually delved into Christianity. He settled in the monastery, worked, prayed, ate sparingly and read a lot.

Basil the Great - Father of the Church, author of Shestodnev. Photo: azbyka.ru

But then Basil the Great decided that he would bring more benefit outside the walls of the monastery. He became a priest and actively participated in the life of the Church. He was also involved in charity work and social life. The saint died in 379. After his death, he was not only canonized, but also revered as one of the most authoritative fathers of the Church.

He left behind a rich literary heritage on religious themes. The most famous:

• Conversations on Psalms;
• Conversations on the Sixth Day;
• Conversations on the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The work of John Exarch of Bulgaria

Six Days of John Exarch of Bulgaria

At the beginning of the 10th century. John the Exarch of Bulgaria translated the bulk of the conversations, making them the basis of his own “Six Days”. His book, by his own admission, based on the “Hexameron” of St. Basil, John dedicated it to his friend, Tsar Simeon, a lover of books and learning.

In the book of John there are 6 conversations, according to the number of days of creation. This is like a hymn to the nature created by God, admiration and admiration for the creation of the Creator.

“Having seen the sky, decorated with stars, the sun and the month, and the earth - with cereals and trees, and the sea, filled with all kinds of fish, beads and all sorts of curlicues of shells, and passing to man, I seem to lose my mind with surprise and cannot understand where in in such a small body such a lofty thought, capable of circumnavigating the entire earth and rising higher than the heavens.”

The author himself likens his work to a poor wooden house on a marble foundation, created by great predecessors. However, this “house” has been significantly expanded and altered. John has a lot of information about plants, animals, and humans. They significantly complement Vasily’s texts, so this translated book is already completely independent. It is not without reason that among the Slavs it was John the Exarch’s “Six Days” that was considered a source of information about nature, almost a textbook of natural science.

• John outlined a vision of the world, according to which its center is the Earth, with lights all around in the firmament of the sky. Their movement is the basis of the solar and lunar calendars.
• They showed that the Earth is spherical.
• Based on Greek philosophers, the author believes that the world is made up of 4 elements: water, earth, fire, air.

" About Various Monstrous Fishes and Birds "

Although the first manuscript of the book that has reached us dates back to the 13th century, many believe that John’s work was known in Rus' much earlier. For example, he is quoted by Vladimir Monomakh in his “Teachings”, pointing to laziness as a source of evil. On the basis of Ioannovsky’s “Shestoday”, 1 part of the Explanatory Paleia (a retelling of the Old Testament popular among the Slavic peoples) was created, which contains, for example:

• moon calendar;
• descriptions of solar and lunar eclipses and their causes;
• discussions about climate, “heat and cold,” the nature of fire and water;
• various information about the human body;
• descriptions of animals, birds, real and fantastic (alkonost, phoenix).

Since the 17th century, new editions of Vasily’s conversations have been appearing in Russia. Now many of them have illustrations, which is why they are also called “faces”. To the information about nature provided by Vasily and John the Exarch, Russian scribes add new ones, for example, descriptions of Russian rivers unknown to the Greeks and Bulgarians.

Conversations on the Sixth Day talk about the Creation of the world

The first chapters of the book of Genesis and the entire Bible tell about the creation of the world. This is one of the most famous passages of Holy Scripture, because it is where one usually begins to read this book. Perhaps every person knows the phrase “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

But the book of Genesis is full of mysteries and ambiguities. An attentive reader will easily notice strange inconsistencies, errors, and repetitions in the text. Let's say, why did the Spirit of God hover over the water if He had not yet created it? How could light, day and night appear before the creation of the Sun? Why are the heavens called the firmament if they are intangible?

Shestodnev comments on the creation of the world through the sixth day, when God created Adam (V. A. Kotarbinsky. “The Creation of the World. The Sixth Day of Creation,” Fragment of the painting of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv). Photo: artchive.ru

A number of these questions received answers today. We know that Moses studied with the Egyptians, and therefore a comparative analysis proves borrowings in the book of Genesis from Egyptian written sources. They provide important context for Jewish tradition. But even through their prism, not everything is visible.

Basil the Great, of course, did not have archaeological data from the tombs of ancient Egypt. But he, with the help of erudition and a flexible mind, was able to clarify many complex questions regarding the creation of the world.

The first chapter of the book of Genesis and its interpretation

The Sixth Day, which opens the biblical Book of Genesis, tells us about the creation of the world by the Lord. In total, 31 verses describe the origin of the earth, the creation of the seas, the separation of light from darkness, and the origin of life. This short but rich text is the basis of the worldview of first Jews and later Christians. From it grew Christian dogma up to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Around the brief first chapter of the Bible, already in the first centuries of the existence of the Church, an extensive literature arose.

Now the word “Six Day” has two meanings:

• the actual story of the Bible about the creation of the world;

• interpretations of the biblical story.

There are many interpretations of the biblical “six days of Creation.” Among them are works:

• Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea in the region of Cappadocia, written in the 4th century.
• St. Ambrose of Milan, also created in the 4th century.
• Severian, bishop of the city of Gavala (Syria) (5th century).
• Gregory Pisis, poet, Byzantine hymnographer of the 7th century; this is a poetic work of 1910 verses.
• John the Exarch, Bulgarian writer, preacher; the oldest manuscript of this biblical interpretation dates from 1263.

The extraordinary interest in the interpretation of the deep, extremely symbolically rich 1st chapter of Genesis led to the fact that almost all of these Six Days were translated into the Slavic language already in the first centuries of the establishment of Christianity in the lands of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Rus'.

But a special place among the works of Basil the Great, first in time and in importance, occupies a special place. All other authors, starting with St. Ambrose of Milan, supplementing the interpretation of the Bible with new information from the field of philosophy, nature, and geography.

The second conversation is devoted to the creation and structure of the earth

The second conversation on the Sixth Day already touches on many more biblical verses. First of all, Basil the Great poses the following question to the reader:

“Why, when both, heaven and earth, were created equally, heaven was brought to perfection, but the earth is still imperfect and has not received its full formation? Or in general, what does the unsettled nature of the earth mean? And for what reason was she invisible?

And then he explains that the original sky was also far from perfect:

“But we can say the same about the sky. And it did not yet have a complete formation, did not receive its characteristic decoration, because it was not illuminated by the moon and the sun, and was not crowned with a host of stars. All this has not yet happened, and therefore you will not sin against the truth if you call heaven unsettled.”

The commentator goes on to address the complex issue of the invisibility of the earth. And he explains that there are two reasons for this statement:

1. There was no human observer yet to call it visible.
2. The land was hidden under water.

The influence of ancient philosophy can be traced in the work of Basil the Great.

The idea is influenced by ancient schools, when Basil the Great begins to talk about how the Creator transforms matter:

“Matter, they reason, is by its nature invisible and unstructured, because taken in itself it is without quality, has no form or shape. And having taken it, the Artist, in His wisdom, formed and put it in order, and thus made visible things out of it.

So, if matter is not created, then, firstly, it is equal to God, as being awarded the same advantages. But what could be more wicked than this? The qualityless, the formless, the extreme ugliness, the vileness that has not received any education (I use these teachers’ own expressions) should be given equal preference with the all-wise, all-powerful and most beautiful Creator and Creator of all things!”

From philosophy, Basil the Great switches to theology and discusses whether darkness is contrary to God or created:

“If “God is light” (1 John 1.5), then the force opposing Him, they say, in accordance with this thought, will obviously be darkness - darkness that has its being not from anyone else, but original evil, darkness, something hostile to souls, something producing death, resistance to virtue. And in the very words of the prophet, according to their false understanding, it is shown that this darkness existed and was not created by God. And on this assumption what evil and godless teachings have been built! <…> darkness is not some initial and evil force opposed to good. For two forces, equal in opposition to each other, will certainly be destructive for each other, and being in constant warfare with each other, they will constantly have and cause each other cases of enmity. And if one of the opposing forces exceeds the other in power, then it becomes completely destructive of the force being overcome. Therefore, if they say that the resistance of evil to good is equivalent, then they introduce incessant warfare and incessant destruction, since everyone partially overcomes and is overcome. And if good is superior in strength, then for what reason is the nature of evil not completely destroyed? And if it’s impossible to say something... I’m amazed how they don’t run away from themselves, being carried away into such evil blasphemies!”

This leads the author to reasoning about the nature of evil, and then he returns to the theme of the opening of light. Here again the influences of ancient philosophy are felt - ether is mentioned.

Basil the Great emphasizes that the voice of God is an image of the manifestation of the will, and not speech:

“When we attribute voice, speech and command to God, then by God’s word we do not mean the sound emitted by the verbal organs, and the air brought into concussion through the tongue, but, for greater clarity for students, we want to depict the very wave of the will in the form of a command.”

The conversation ends with the end of the first day of creation.

Featured Creations

Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia († 379) is a great and revered theologian and teacher of morality and piety in the Church.
This collection of his works includes conversations on the Sixth Day - an explanation of the biblical story about the creation of the world, selected conversations devoted to various issues of spiritual life, and rules compiled by him for instruction to monastics and laity. Here is an excerpt from the book.

SIX-DAY CONVERSATIONS

CONVERSATION 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)

Whoever wants to talk about the composition of the world, a decent start is to say first about the beginning of the structure of visible things. For he must convey the story of the creation of heaven and earth, which did not happen by itself, as some imagined, but had a cause in God.

What rumor would be worthy of the greatness of what is being told? With what preparation should the soul begin to hear such objects? She must be pure from carnal passions, not clouded by worldly worries, hardworking, searching, delving into everything from which it is possible to obtain a concept of God worthy of God.

But before we examine the accuracy of the sayings and consider the significant significance of these few words, let’s imagine who is talking to us? Through this, even if, due to the weakness of our understanding, we did not penetrate into the depths of the narrator’s heart, however, having paid attention to the reliability of the speaker, we ourselves will come to the necessity of agreeing to what was said.

So, the one who compiled this narrative is Moses - the Moses about whom it is testified that he was pleasing to God.

(Acts 7:20), while still an infant, whom Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised like a king, assigning wise Egyptian mentors to teach him;
who, having hated the pride of dominance and turned to the humiliated state of his fellow tribesmen, would rather suffer with the people of God than have the temporary sweetness of sin
(Heb. 11:25);
who, having received from nature itself a love of truth, even before he was entrusted with the leadership of the people, out of natural disgust from evil, turns out to be ready even to death to persecute the evil; who, having been expelled by those favored and joyfully leaving the Egyptian rebellions, retired to Ethiopia, there, in complete freedom from other activities, for forty years he practiced speculation about existing things; who, being already eighty years old, saw God as a man can see, or better yet, as no man has seen, according to God’s own testimony: If the prophet of the Lord be in you, I will be known to him in a vision, and I will say to him in a dream;
Not as My servant Moses is faithful in all My house: I will speak to him mouth to mouth in reality, and not by divination (Numbers 12:6-8).

This one, who, like the Angels, was worthy of the sight of God, tells us something of what he heard from God. Let us listen to the messages of truth, which were spoken not in the most advanced human wisdom... but in those taught by the Spirit.

(1 Cor 2:4, 13) and their goal is not the praise of those who listen, but the salvation of those taught.

In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

The amazingness of the thought binds me to the word. What to talk about first? Where to start the interpretation? Should we expose the vanity of the pagans? Or magnify the truth of our teaching?

The Greek sages talked a lot about nature - and not a single one of their teachings remained firm and unshakable, because subsequent teachings always overthrew the previous ones. Therefore, we have no need to denounce their teachings; they themselves are sufficient for each other to cause their own overthrow. For those who did not know God did not admit that the origin of all things depends on a rational cause, and in accordance with this fundamental ignorance they concluded about other things. Therefore, some resorted to material principles and attributed the cause of all things to the elements of the world, while others imagined that the nature of visible things consists of atoms and indivisible bodies, gravity and wellness, because birth and destruction occur when indivisible bodies either come together or separate, and in bodies that exist longer than others, the reason for their long stay is the strongest cohesion of the atoms.

Those who write this and suggest so many small and weak principles of heaven, earth and sea truly weave a web of cobwebs. They did not know how to say: In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

Therefore, the atheism that had taken hold of them instilled in them the false idea that everything was without control and structure and was set in motion as if by chance.
So that we would not be subjected to the same thing, the one who describes the universe, right in the first words, enlightened our understanding with the name of God, saying: In the beginning God created
.

What a wonderful order! First mentioned the beginning

, so that others would not consider the world to be without beginning, and then he added:
create
- to show that what was created is the smallest part of the Creator’s power. Just as a potter, who made thousands of vessels with the same skill, did not exhaust either his skill or his strength, so the Creator of this universe, having a creative power, not sufficient for the world alone, but infinitely more excellent, brought into being all the greatness of the visible. with one wave of will.

And if the world has a beginning and is created, then we ask ourselves: “Who gave it the beginning and who is its Creator?” It is better to say, so that you, seeking this through human reasoning, do not somehow deviate from the truth, Moses preceded with his teaching, instead of sealing and protecting our souls, he imposed the venerable name of God when he said: In the beginning God created

.
This blessed Nature, This unfailing Goodness, This Kindness, dear and much desired for every being endowed with reason, This is the Origin of beings, This Source of life, This spiritual Light, This unapproachable Wisdom - this is Who created heaven and earth in the beginning
!

Therefore, man, do not imagine the visible as beginningless, and from the fact that bodies moving in the sky describe circles, and in a circle our sense cannot notice a beginning at first glance, do not conclude that the nature of rotating bodies is beginningless. Yes, and this circle, that is, an outline described on a plane by one line, we should not assume to be without beginning because it runs away from our senses and we cannot find where it began and where it ended. On the contrary, although this escapes our senses, in reality, whoever described a circle from the center and at a certain distance, no doubt started it from somewhere. Likewise, when you see that bodies describing circles return to their previous position, by the uniformity and continuity of their movement, do not hold yourself in that false thought that the world is beginningless and endless. For the image of this world is passing away

(1 Cor 7:31), and:
heaven and earth will pass away
(Matt 24:35).

A foreshadowing of the dogmas about the end and change of the world is what is now briefly given to us in the very beginnings of the inspired teaching: in the beginning God created

. What began with time, of all necessity, will end in time. If the beginning is temporary, then do not doubt the end.

But to what end do geometry, arithmetic methods, studies of thicknesses and the notorious astronomy lead - this multi-careful vanity, if those who have studied these sciences have reached the conclusion that this visible world is co-eternal with the Creator of all things, God, and if that which is limited and has a material body, Have they elevated the incomprehensible and invisible nature into one glory, being unable to understand that where the parts are subject to damage and alteration, the whole will necessarily undergo the same modifications as its own parts? But

They have become so
vain in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts have been darkened;
the verb to be wise and foolish (Rom 1:21-22), that some argued that heaven exists from eternity together with God, while others said that it is God, beginningless and endless, the cause of good order in parts of the universe. And, without a doubt, the excess of worldly wisdom will one day bring for them an increase in heavy condemnation for the fact that, delving into empty objects with such caution, they were arbitrarily blind in the understanding of the truth. But they, who measured the distance of the stars, described the stars that were always visible and northern, as well as the stars that were near the South Pole and were visible to those living there, but unknown to us, divided both the northern latitude and the zodiac circle into thousands of parts, and accurately observed the return of the stars, their positions, declinations and general movement to their previous places, as well as the time at which each of the planets completes its period - they did not find one of all ways how to understand God, the Creator of the universe and the righteous Judge, who rewards everyone according to their deeds, and how to accommodate in the mind the thought of death arising from the concept of judgment, because the world needs to change if the state of souls passes into a different kind of life. For just as present life has qualities akin to this world, so the future existence of our souls will receive a lot characteristic of its state. But they are so unwilling to listen to these truths that they even greet us with loud laughter, who herald the end of this world and eternal rebirth.

Since the beginning naturally preceded what was from the beginning, the one who talks about things that came into being in time necessarily presented this expression to everything: in the beginning created

.
There was something, as probably before this world, but this, although comprehensible to our understanding, was not introduced into the narrative as not corresponding to the powers of the newly taught and infants by reason. Even earlier than the existence of the world, there was a certain state befitting the supermundane forces, transcending time, eternal, ever-continuing. In it, the Creator and Creator of all things created creations - mental light, befitting the bliss of those who love the Lord, rational and invisible natures, and all the decoration of intelligible creatures that surpass our understanding, so that it is impossible to invent names for them. They fill with themselves the essence of the invisible world, as Paul teaches us, saying: For by Him all things were created... visible and invisible, even thrones, and dominions, and principalities, and powers
(Colossians 1:16), and the Hosts of Angels, and Archangels. Officials.

And when it became necessary to add this world to the existing one - mainly a school and a place of formation of human souls, and then in general a place of residence for everything that is subject to birth and destruction - then a succession of time akin to the world and the animals and plants found in it was produced, always hastening , both flowing and never interrupting its flow. Isn’t time such that in it the past has passed, the future has not yet arrived, and the present slips away from feeling before it is known? And such is the nature of what is in this world; it either necessarily increases or decreases and clearly has nothing solid and permanent. Therefore, it was fitting for the bodies of animals and plants, which are necessarily connected, as it were, with some stream and carried away by a movement leading to birth or destruction, to be contained in the nature of time, which received properties akin to changeable things. For this reason, he who wisely explains to us the existence of the world, while discussing the world, very opportunely added: in the beginning created

, that is, at this beginning, at the beginning of time. For, of course, it does not indicate that the world, in its primordial nature, precedes everything created, calls it what happened in the beginning, but speaks of the beginning of the origin of these visible and sense-perceivable things after the invisible and intuited.

The first movement is also called the beginning, for example: The beginning of the path of goodness, to create righteousness

(Proverbs 16:6), because above all, righteous deeds move us towards a blessed life.
But the beginning is also called the thing from which a thing begins, while there is also something else in it, for example: in a house the foundation and in a ship the underwater part. In this sense it is said: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
(Proverbs 1:7), because fear of God is, as it were, the basis and support of perfection. Art is called the beginning of artificial works, for example: the wisdom of Bezaleel was the beginning of the decoration of the tabernacle. And the beginning of moral actions is often the useful end of what has been done, for example: the beginning of alms is the acquisition of God’s favor, and the beginning of any virtuous action is the end that awaits us according to the promises.

Since the beginning is taken in so many meanings, then see if it is possible to attach all the signs to this word in the present case. For you can find out from what time the structure of this world began, if, going backwards from the present, you take the trouble to find the first day of the existence of the world. In this case, you will find where the first movement began in time. Then you will also find that heaven and earth were laid down, as it were, as some foundations and supports for everything else, and then that there is some kind of artistic Mind that was in charge of the decoration of visible things, as the very word shows you: beginning

.
You will also find that this world was invented not in vain and not without a purpose, but for some useful end, providing creatures with extensive use - if only it really is a school of rational souls, in which the knowledge of God is taught to them and through the visible and sensory the mind is guided to contemplation invisible, as the apostle says, that the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world were understood by the things that were created
(Rom 1:20).

Or, perhaps, since the action of creation is instantaneous and not subject to time, it is said: in the beginning create

, because the beginning is something that does not consist of parts and is not extended.
Just as the beginning of a path is not yet a path and the beginning of a house is not yet a house, so the beginning of time is not yet time, and not even the slightest part of time. If any lover of debate says that the beginning of time is time, then let him know that this will divide the beginning into parts, and these parts are: the beginning, the middle and the end. But coming up with a start to begin with is quite ridiculous. And whoever divides the beginning into two will make two beginnings from one, or better yet, many and an infinite number of beginnings, because each separated part will have to be constantly cut into new parts. So, so that we understand together that the world was created by the will of God not in time, it is said: In the beginning you created
. In meaning of this, the ancient interpreters1, expressing the thought more clearly, said: “God created briefly,” that is, suddenly and instantly.

Hitherto, in order to say little out of much, we have been discussing the beginning. But among the arts, some are called creative, others are either in action or in speculation. The end of the arts that consist in speculation is the very action of the mind, and the end of the arts that consist in action is the very movement of the body, after the cessation of which there is nothing left and nothing remains for the audience: just as dancing or playing the pipe does not contribute anything to the work, but this action is limited only by itself. And in the arts of creation, even after the cessation of action, the matter is visible: such are the arts of house-building, carpentry, blacksmithing, weaving and the like. Although the artist is not present, these arts themselves sufficiently demonstrate the artistic mind, and you can be surprised at the house builder, the blacksmith, the weaver, looking at his work.

Therefore, the wise Moses, wanting to show that the world is a work of art, subject to contemplation by everyone, so that through it the wisdom of its Creator is known, did not use any other word about the world, but said: In the beginning created

.
He didn’t do it, he didn’t produce it, but he created it
.
And since many of those who imagined that the world exists from eternity with God agreed not that it was created by God, but that it came into being by itself, being, as it were, a shade of God’s power, and therefore, although they recognized God as the cause of the world, but as an involuntary cause, like the body happens to be the cause of shadow and that which shines is the cause of radiance, then the prophet, correcting this false thought, used the words with particular precision, saying: In the beginning God created
. God was not just this for the world - not only the cause of existence, but He created as good - useful, as wise - the most beautiful, as powerful - the greatest. The Prophet showed you in God almost an Artist, Who, having approached the essence of the universe, adapts its parts to one another and produces a corresponding, consonant and harmonious whole for itself.

In the beginning God created heaven and earth

. He designated the essence of the universe by two extremes, attributing seniority in existence to the sky, and saying about the earth that it occupies second place in essence. Without a doubt, if there is anything in between heaven and earth, then it was created along with these limits. Why, although it is not said about the elements - fire, water and air, but with your own understanding you comprehend, firstly, that everything is in everything. And in the earth you will find water, air, and fire. Fire jumps out of the stones; and from iron, which itself originates from the earth, when struck, an inexhaustible fire usually shines. And it is worthy of wonder how the fire that exists in bodies hides in them harmlessly, but when called out, it becomes destructive of the bodies that previously stored it within themselves. Well diggers prove that there is also a watery nature in the earth. And the airy nature in it is evidenced by the vapors that come out of the earth, moist and warmed by the sun. Secondly, if by its nature the sky occupies the upper place, and the earth constitutes the very bottom, why the light tends to the sky, and the heavy usually bends towards the earth, while the top and bottom are opposite to each other, then he who mentioned heaven and earth, which by their very nature nature are the most distant from each other, of course, thus simultaneously designating everything that fills the middle between them. Therefore, do not look for a narrative about each element, but in what is said, also imply what is silent.

In the beginning God created heaven and earth

. An investigation into the essence of every being, either subject to our speculation or subject to our senses, will introduce into the interpretation the most lengthy and complex discussions, and in considering this task it will be necessary to spend more words than how much can be said about any of the other questions. Moreover, it would not in the least serve the edification of the Church to dwell on such a subject.

But regarding the essence of the sky, what was said enough for us in Isaiah, who in simple words gave us a sufficient understanding of its nature, saying: He who established the sky is like smoke

(Isaiah 51:6), that is, for the creation of heaven, he realized a subtle, unsolid, non-rough nature.
And about the outline of the sky, enough is said for us by the same prophet in his praise to God: He made the sky like a kamaru [1]
(Is 40:22).

Let us prescribe the same rule for ourselves regarding the earth: do not be curious about its essence, what it is, do not waste time on speculation, examining what is most important, do not search for some kind of nature that is devoid of qualities and taken in itself without quality, but firmly remember , that all the properties seen in the earth, being the replenishment of the essence, are included in the concept of being. If you try to distract from the earth each of the qualities found in it with your mind, you will not come to anything. For if you take away the blackness, coldness, heaviness, thickness, qualities of the earth that affect the taste, or others that are seen in it, then nothing will remain as the subject.

Therefore, I advise you, leaving all this, not to search for what the earth is founded on. For with such a search, thought will come into a whirl because reason will not find any undoubted limit. If you say that the air is placed under the breadth of the earth, then you will come to a difficulty as to how a soft nature, containing a lot of emptiness, resists such gravity, being compressed by it, and does not spread out in all directions, escaping from under the oppression and constantly overflowing onto the top of the oppressive. Again, if you assume that the water is underground, then in this case you will have to ask why the heavy and dense is not immersed in the water, but the weakest nature supports the nature, which is so much superior to it in weight? Moreover, it will be necessary to find support for the water itself and again ask with bewilderment: “On what solid or stubborn does its lower layer lie?” If you assume that another body, which is heavier than the earth, prevents it from going down, then you will have to judge that it also needs some kind of supporting body that does not allow it to fall down. If you can come up with some kind of lining for it, then our mind will again require support for this lining. And in this way we will go to infinity, inventing new ones again for the reasons we constantly find. And the further we stretch our minds, the more we will be forced to introduce a supporting force that could collectively resist everything lying on it.

Therefore, set limits to your thoughts, so that because of curiosity, trying to explore the incomprehensible, you are not touched by the word of Job, so that his question cannot apply to you: What are the pillars
of its foundation?
(Job 38:6).
But if you sometimes hear in the psalms: I established its pillars
(Ps 74:4), then understand that the strength that supports the earth is called pillars.
For what do the words “ I founded upon the seas”
(Ps 23:2) mean, if not that the watery nature is spread everywhere around the earth?
How can water, being flowing and usually falling down a slope, remain hanging and not flowing anywhere? But you don’t reason that the same or even greater difficulty is presented to the mind by the earth hanging on itself, while it is by nature heavier. But whether we agree that the earth hangs on itself, or say that it rests on the water, in both cases it is necessary not to deviate from pious understanding and recognize that everything is collectively supported by the power of the Creator. And therefore, both to ourselves and to those who ask us: “On what does this huge and uncontrollable load of the earth rest?” one must answer:
The ends of the earth are
in the hand
of God (Ps 94:4). This idea is both the safest for us and the most useful for those listening.

Some naturalists ingeniously prove that the earth remains motionless for the following reasons: since it has taken a middle place in the world and has an equal distance from the edges in all directions, then, for lack of a reason to deviate somewhere, it primarily necessarily remains in its position, and the surrounding its equality from everywhere makes it completely impossible for it to move towards anything. The middle place was given to the earth not by lot or by chance, but this is the natural and necessary position of the earth. For, they reason, just as the celestial body retained the extreme place above, so all the weights that we suppose falling from above must rush from everywhere to the middle. And where the parts strive, the whole will obviously gather there. If stones, trees and all earth particles tend downward, then this same position will be characteristic and proper for the whole earth. And if something light rushes away from the middle, then, obviously, its movement will be upward. Therefore, the downward tendency is a tendency characteristic of heavy substances, and the word “down” means the middle. So, do not be surprised that the earth does not fall anywhere, occupying its natural place - the middle. For, of all necessity, it must remain in its place or, having accepted an unnatural movement, leave its inherent foundation.

But if anything in what has been said so far seems plausible to you, then turn in amazement to God’s wisdom, which arranged it this way. For amazement at great objects does not diminish when the way in which something extraordinary happened is discovered. And if it is not open, then let the simplicity of faith be stronger than evidence from the mind. We can say the same about heaven, that is, that worldly sages offered long-winded discussions about the nature of heaven. Some said that it was composed of four elements, as tangible, visible and containing the earth, because it is persistent; fire, because apparently; other elements, because there is a mixture. And others, rejecting this opinion as implausible, introduced some kind of fifth bodily nature into the composition of the sky, inventing it arbitrarily and on their own[2]. They have some kind of ethereal body, which, as they say, is neither fire, nor air, nor earth, nor water, nor any of the simple substances, because simple substances are characterized by rectilinear movement, since the lungs tend upward and heavy - down; and this body does not move either up or down, but rotates in a circle, while rectilinear motion is generally very different from circular rotation. But in bodies whose natural movements are different, of necessity, as they reason, the essences must also be different. It is also impossible for us to assume that the sky is composed of simple bodies, or so-called elements, because something composed of various bodies cannot have uniform and free movement, since each simple body contained in a complex one has by nature its own tendency. For this reason, complex bodies, firstly, are difficult to maintain in continuous motion, because one movement cannot be proportionate and harmonious with all opposing movements. On the contrary, the movement characteristic of a light body is hostile to the movement characteristic of the heaviest body. For when we move upward, the earthly parts burden us, and when we rush downward, the fiery parts suffer violence in us, contrary to their nature, being carried downward. The tendency of the elements in opposite directions is the cause of disintegration. The forced and unnatural, being restrained for a short time, and then violently and with difficulty, soon decomposes into its component parts, because each of the parts included in the composition returns to its own place. For this reason, they say, because of the necessity of the conclusions drawn, those who assumed a fifth corporeal nature for the origin of the sky and celestial stars should have rejected previous opinions and made their own assumptions. And another, inventive in subtlety, rebelling against these conclusions, will upset and refute them, and introduce his own opinion. And if we now undertake to talk about such assumptions, we ourselves will fall into the same idle talk as their inventors.

But we, leaving them to overthrow each other, ourselves, without touching upon discussions about the essence and believing Moses that God created heaven and earth

Let us glorify the best Artist, who wisely and skillfully created the world, and from the beauty of the visible we will understand the One who surpasses all in beauty; from the greatness of these sensory and limited bodies we will make an induction about the Infinite, who surpasses all greatness and, in the multitude of His power, surpasses all understanding. Although we do not know the nature of created things, the one thing that is collectively subject to our senses is so amazing that the most active mind turns out to be insufficient to properly explain the smallest part of the world and to give due praise to the Creator, to Whom is glory, honor and power forever and ever. Amen.

[1] Camara

- tent, chamber
(church-glory)
.

[2] The previous opinion is due to Plato, and the last to Aristotle.

Editions

• The Six Days, compiled by John the Exarch of Bulgaria // Readings in the Society of Russian History and Antiquities. - 1879. - Book. 3;
• Aitzetmüller R. Das Hexaemeron des Exarchen Johannes. Graz, 1958-1975. Vol. 1—7;
• Shlyapkin I. A.
  “Six Days” by George Pizida in the Slavic-Russian translation of 1385 - St. Petersburg, 1882 (Monuments of ancient writing and art, No. 32);
• Sobolevsky A.I.
  Shestodnev of Kirill the Philosopher // News of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences. - 1901. - T. 6. - Issue. 2. - pp. 177-202.
• From “The Sixth Day” of John the Exarch of Bulgaria / Preparation of the text, translation and comments by G. M. Prokhorov // Library of Literature of Ancient Rus' / RAS, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House); Ed. D. S. Likhacheva, L. A. Dmitrieva, A. A. Alekseeva, N. V. Ponyrko. - St. Petersburg. : Nauka, 1999. - T. 2: XI-XII centuries. — 555 p.

Russian Shestodnevs

In Russian writing there are also other, less significant compilative Shestodnevs. They depend on those mentioned above and are inscribed with different names and without any indication of the author[3].

In the 17th century, facial Shestodnevs of Russian origin appeared. Thus, the Sixth Day of a Special Edition is known, compiled by an unknown Russian scribe in the middle of the 17th century, with drawings, inserts from “Christian Topography” by Kozma Indikoplov, the book of Zinovy ​​​​Otensky, “Azbukovniki”, old printed books of the Moscow press and additions regarding Russian rivers, absent from Basil the Great [7]. The glosses in the margins in the Serbian manuscript of the priest Gepetsky have the same nature and purpose, where the geographical ideas and terms of Byzantine scientists are supplemented and applied to the concepts of the southern Slavs[8][2].

Six Days of Severian Gavalsky

The next one in time of creation by Shestodnev, who became known to the Slavs, was Severian, Bishop of Gavala (IV - first third of the 5th century). Having left his diocese in Syria and settled in Constantinople, Severian became famous there for his eloquence and, like John Chrysostom, was also called Chrysostom. Perhaps the identity of the nicknames of these two contemporaries-orators is the reason that Severian’s works, including the Six Days, and in Greek and Russian lists, as well as in references, for example, in the ABC Books, are sometimes attributed to John Chrysostom.

The Six Days of Severian of Gevalsky consists of seven word-conversations - a conversation for each day of creation. In the seventh conversation, corresponding to the seventh day, we are talking about the Fall. It is an alteration or treatment of Shestodnev by Vasily the Great. The merits of the style of this Shestodnev in the original are inferior to the merits of the bright and strong thought contained in it.

Translated in Bulgaria, perhaps at an early date, but it is also possible that only in the 14th century: excerpts from it are found in two collections of the mid-14th century, which belonged to the Bulgarian Tsar John Alexander; the oldest complete lists, Russian in origin, date back to the 15th century[3]. The most common in Rus' is Shestodnev[5].

Six Days of George Pisis

Standing somewhat apart from the previous two is The Six Days of the 7th-century Byzantine author George Pisis, written in Greek in verse.

In the original, the work is called “The Six Days or the Creation of the World.” Consists of 1910 iambs. George Pisida also wrote a number of other iambic poems. George's popularity as a poet was such that in late Byzantine times he was equated with Euripides.

George Pisida writes about the world admiringly and poetically: about the sky, endless and constant in its movement (“standing, it runs and, walking, remains”); about the earth, which seems to him to be something like a point surrounded by an abyss; about angels who, like heaven, “stand tall, fly and, established, flow”; about air, which neither the rich nor the strong can steal; about the sun, the “all-nourishing fire” that produces evening under the earth and day above the earth; about the “small moonlight” shining “from the fiery light of the sun”; about the four elements, four seasons, etc. The author also writes about human nature and existence, about feelings, about plants, animals and birds. He usually introduces his “studies”-descriptions with a rhetorical question: “Who will weave our fertile seed, rotted, into thickening bones? If our seed does not rot, like a dead body buried in the womb, it will not be incarnated into the birth of a baby, nor will it be transformed into skin and veins.”

The sources of the Six Days of George Pisis include the Holy Scriptures, the works of the church fathers and famous theologians: Dionysius the Areopagite, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, etc., as well as ancient pagan writers: Aristotle, Plutarch, Ovid, Plato, Anacreon, Pliny, Aelian, Porphyria.

The Six Days of George Pisis was translated “into Russian” in 1385 by a certain Dmitry Zograf, who left a postscript to his translation. From this postscript we know the name of the translator, the date of his work and the fact that he translated the work specifically into the “Russian language”, although his translation does not differ from the translations made at that time in the Balkans. In translation, the poem of “the wise George Pisidas” received the title “Praise to God about the creation of all creation.” Written in rhythmic prose. The translation of this Shestodnev stands among the translations of other Byzantine “natural science” works made at that time: “Diopters” by Philip Monotropus, selections from Galen’s comments on Hippocrates, called “Galinovo on Hippocrates,” dietary and therapeutic advice and prescriptions, etc. Elders Russian lists date back to the 15th century. In the 16th century this Six-Day was included in the “Great Chetya-Menaia” of Archbishop Macarius of Novgorod[3].

Notes

1. New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. / Ed. V. S. Stepina. M.: Mysl, 2001.
2. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Yatsimirsky A.I.
   Shestodnev // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907. - T. XXXIXa (1903): Chenier - Shuisky Monastery. - pp. 534-536.
3. ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prokhorov G. M.
   Shestodnevy // Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Russia: [in 4 issues] / Ross. acad. Sciences, Institute of Rus. lit. (Pushkin House); resp. ed. D. S. Likhachev [and others]. L.: Nauka, 1987—2017. Vol. 1: XI - first half of the XIV century. / ed. D. M. Bulanin, O. V. Tvorogov. 1987.
4. Conversations on Six Days
5. Savelyeva N.V.
   Apocryphal article “About all creatures” and its existence in ancient Russian collections // Proceedings of the department of ancient Russian literature. / RAS, IRL (Pushkin House); resp. ed. N.V. Ponyrko. SPb. : Nauka, 2009. T. 60. pp. 394-436.
6. ↑ 12
   From “The Sixth Day” of John the Exarch of Bulgaria / Preparation of the text, translation and comments by G. M. Prokhorov // Library of Literature of Ancient Rus' / RAS, Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House); Ed. D. S. Likhacheva, L. A. Dmitrieva, A. A. Alekseeva, N. V. Ponyrko. SPb. : Nauka, 1999. T. 2: XI-XII centuries.
7. Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I.
   Description of Slavic manuscripts of the Moscow Synodal Library. M., 1857. Dept. 2, part 1. pp. 38-41.
8. Yatsimirsky A.I.
   Small texts and notes on ancient Slavic and Russian literature. St. Petersburg, 1902. XXX. pp. 109-114.
9. Tikhonravov N. S.
   Works. T. 1. P. 158.

Literature

• Kalaidovich K. F.
  John Exarch of Bulgaria. - M., 1824;
• Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I.
  Description of Slavic manuscripts of the Moscow Synodal Library. - M., 1857. - Dept. 2, part 1. - pp. 1-44;
• Porfiryev I. Ya.
  Description of the manuscripts of the Solovetsky Monastery located in the Kazan Theological Academy. - Kazan, 1881. - Part 1. - P. 101-126;
• George of Pisidia and his poem about peacemaking in the Slavic-Russian translation of 1385 - St. Petersburg, 1890;
• Redin E.K.
  About some front manuscripts of the “Sex Day” of John the Exarch of Bulgaria. - M., 1902;
• Yatsimirsky A.I.
  Small texts and notes on ancient Slavic and Russian literature. XXXI // News of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences. - 1902. - T. 7, book. 1. - pp. 95-101;
• Trifonov Yu. Information from the Old Bulgarian belly in Shestodneva on Ioan Ekzarch // Write-off at the Bulgarian Academy on Naukite. Sofia, 1926. Book. 35. P. 1-26;
• Georgiev Em. Bulgarian literature flourished in the 9th-10th centuries. Sofia, 1962. S. 202-270;
• Duychev Iv. Ioan Ekzarch // In the book: History in Bulgarian literature. Sofia, 1962. T. 1. P. 127-140;
• Likhachev D. S.
  “Six Days” of John the Exarch and “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh // In the book: Questions of theory and history of language. - L., 1963. - P. 187-190;
• Likhachev D.S.
  “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” and “The Six Days” of John Exarch of Bulgaria // In the book: Russian-European literary relations: Collection. articles for the 70th anniversary of the birth of academician. M. P. Alekseeva. - M.; L., 1966. - P. 92-96;
• Sarafanova-Demkova N. S.
  John the Exarch of Bulgaria in the writings of Avvakum // Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature. - 1963. - T. 19. - P. 367-372;
• Lägreid A. Der rhetorische Stil im Šestodnev des Exarchen Johannes. Wiesbaden, 1965;
• Barankova G.S.
  About the “Sex Day” of John Exarch of Bulgaria // Russian speech. - 1972. - No. 5. - P. 130-143;
• Barankova G.S.
  On the textual and linguistic study of the “Six Days” of John Exarch of Bulgaria // In the book: East Slavic languages: Sources for their study. - M., 1973. - P. 172-215;
• Barankova G.S.
  On the issue of linguistic and textological analysis of the lists of “Shestodnev” by John the Exarch of Bulgaria, stored in the GBL // Zap. Dept. hands GBL. - M., 1974. - Issue. 35. - pp. 104-121;
• Barankova G.S.
  Six-day narratives // Methodological recommendations for the description of Slavic-Russian manuscripts for the Union Catalog of Manuscripts stored in the USSR. - M., 1976. - Issue. 2, part I. - pp. 165-180;
• Barankova G.S.
  About astronomical and geographical knowledge // In the book: Natural scientific representations of Ancient Russia. - M., 1978. - P. 48-62;
• Barankova G.S.
  Astronomical and geographical terminology in the “Six Days” of John Exarch of Bulgaria // In the book: Monuments of the Russian language: Research and publications. - M., 1979. - P. 150-171.