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Translated by Bl. Jackson.
St Basil the Great Resources Online and in Print
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80 Pages (Homilies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Page 17
4. "Darkness was upon the face of the deep." [1419] A new source for fables and most impious imaginations if one distorts the sense of these words at the will of one's fancies. By "darkness" these wicked men do not understand what is meant in reality--air not illumined, the shadow produced by the interposition of a body, or finally a place for some reason deprived of light. For them "darkness" is an evil power, or rather the personification of evil, having his origin in himself in opposition to, and in perpetual struggle with, the goodness of God. If God is light, they say, without any doubt the power which struggles against Him must be darkness, "Darkness" not owing its existence to a foreign origin, but an evil existing by itself. "Darkness" is the enemy of souls, the primary cause of death, the adversary of virtue. The words of the Prophet, they say in their error, show that it exists and that it does not proceed from God. From this what perverse and impious dogmas have been imagined! What grievous wolves, [1420] tearing the flock of the Lord, have sprung from these words to cast themselves upon souls! Is it not from hence that have come forth Marcions and Valentini, [1421] and the detestable heresy of the Manicheans, [1422] which you may without going far wrong call the putrid humour of the churches.
O man, why wander thus from the truth, and imagine for thyself that which will cause thy perdition? The word is simple and within the comprehension of all. "The earth was invisible." Why? Because the "deep" was spread over its surface. What is "the deep"? A mass of water of extreme depth. But we know that we can see many bodies through clear and transparent water. How then was it that no part of the earth appeared through the water? Because the air which surrounded it was still without light and in darkness. The rays of the sun, penetrating the water, often allow us to see the pebbles which form the bed of the river, but in a dark night it is impossible for our glance to penetrate under the water. Thus, these words "the earth was invisible" are explained by those that follow; "the deep" covered it and itself was in darkness. Thus, the deep is not a multitude of hostile powers, as has been imagined; [1423] nor "darkness" an evil sovereign force in enmity with good. In reality two rival principles of equal power, if engaged without ceasing in a war of mutual attacks, will end in self destruction. But if one should gain the mastery it would completely annihilate the conquered. Thus, to maintain the balance in the struggle between good and evil is to represent them as engaged in a war without end and in perpetual destruction, where the opponents are at the same time conquerors and conquered. If good is the stronger, what is there to prevent evil being completely annihilated? But if that be the case, the very utterance of which is impious, I ask myself how it is that they themselves are not filled with horror to think that they have imagined such abominable blasphemies.
It is equally impious to say that evil has its origin from God; [1424] because the contrary cannot proceed from its contrary. Life does not engender death; darkness is not the origin of light; sickness is not the maker of health. [1425] In the changes of conditions there are transitions from one condition to the contrary; but in genesis each being proceeds from its like, and not from its contrary. If then evil is neither uncreate nor created by God, from whence comes its nature? Certainly that evil exists, no one living in the world will deny. What shall we say then? Evil is not a living animated essence; it is the condition of the soul opposed to virtue, developed in the careless on account of their falling away from good. [1426]
[1419] Gen. i. 2.
[1420] Acts xx. 29.
[1421] Marcion and Valentinus are roughly lumped together as types of gnostic dualism. On the distinction between their systems see Dr. Salmon in D.C.B. iii. 820. Marcion, said to have been the son of a bishop of Sinope, is the most Christian of the gnostics, and "tries to fit in his dualism with the Christian creed and with the scriptures." But he expressly "asserted the existence of two Gods." The Valentinian ideas and emanations travelled farther afield.
[1422] On Manicheism, videBeausobre's Critical History of Manicheism, and Walch, Hist. Ketz. i. 770. With its theory of two principles it spread widely over the empire in the 4th c., was vigorous in Armenia in the 9th, and is said to have appeared in France in the 12th. (cf. Bayle, Dict. s.v.) On the view taken of the heresy in Basil's time cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius i. S: 35.
[1423] i.e. by those who would identify the abussos (Tehom) of Gen. i. 2 with that of Luke i. 31, and understand it to mean the abode in prison of evil spirits. The Hebrew word occurs in Job xxviii. 14 and Deut. xxxiii. 13 for the depth of waters.
[1424] With this view Plutarch charges the Stoics. Autoi ton kakon archen agathon onta ton Theon poiousi. (c. Stoicos, 1976.) But it is his deduction from their statements--not their own statements. cf. Mosheim's note on Cudworth iv. S: 13. Origen (c. Celsum vi.) distinguishes between ten kakian kai tas ap' autes praxeis, and kakon as punitive and remedial; if the latter can rightly be called evil in any sense, God is the author of it. cf. Amos iii. 6. Vide, also, Basil's treatment of this question in his Treatise hoti ouk estin aitios ton kakon ho theos. cf. Schroeck. Kirchengeschichte xiii. 194.
[1425] Fialon points out the correspondence with Plat. Phaed. S: 119, kai tis eipe ton paronton akousas...pros Then, ouk en tois prosthen hemin logois auto to enantion ton nuni legomenon homologeito, ek tou elattonos to meizon gignesthai, kai ek tou meizonos to elatton, kai atechnos haute einai he genesis tois enantiois ek ton enantion ; nun de moi dokei legesthai hoti touto ouk an pote genoito. Kai ho Sokrates ...ephe...ouk ennoeis to diapheron tou ti nun legomenou kai tou tote; tote; men gar elegeto ek tou enantiou pragmatos to enantion pragma gignesthai, nun de hoti auto to enantion heauto enantion ouk an pote genoito, oute to en hemin oute to en phusei; tote men gar peri ton echonton ton enantion elegomen, eponomazontes auta te ekeinon eponumi& 139;, nun de peri ekeinon auton hon enonton, echei ten eponumian ta onomazomena, auta d' ekeina ouk an pote phamen ethegesai genesin allelon dexasthai.
[1426] "Cette phrase est prise textuellement dans Denys l'Areopagite, ou du moins dans l'ouvrage qui lui est attribue. (De Div. Nom. iv. 18. Laur. Lyd. de mensib. ed. Roeth. 186, 28.)." Fialon. In the Treatise referred to, peri Theion 'Onomaton, "evil" is said to be "nothing real and positive, but a defect, a negation only. Steresis ara esti to kakon, kai elleipsis, kai astheneia, kai asummetria." D.C.B. i. 846. cf. "Evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound." Browning. Abt. Vogler.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/basil/hexaemeron.asp?pg=17
