179:. One example he spoke of concerned the statement in Genesis 1:2 that the "Darkness upon the deep": Basil said that this passage had become the source of many myths such as the notion that the "Darkness" referred to represented an "evil power" or a "personification of evil". Basil also associated these forms of uncontrolled exegeses with heretical sects such as
171:, a known polemicist against the Alexandrian school, with whom he may have exchanged ideas about the subject. Basil commented that allegorical interpretations result in excessive interpretations which become lavish with the meaning of the text, and as being often opposed to the plain or common sense reading of the text. However, Basil was not opposed
134:, 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. The cosmos itself, then, acts as a sign of God's existence:
116:
nature (not to mention that, for Basil, could matter be in no way equal to God). Theologically, Basil argues that the wording of
Genesis â that God "created" as opposed to "worked" or formed" â indicates an absolute beginning. Commenting on Genesis 1:2 and the question of whether the world was created
138:
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
115:
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
78:
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,
99:. As for the zoological information contained in Basil's works, while it has typically been thought that this came from his reading of the works of Aristotle, a recent re-evaluation has argued that Basil drew on a wider variety of sources and that his principal source was the
130:. 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
64:
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 1:1â26. His Hexaemeron originated as a lecture series that he delivered to the congregation of
69:
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.
167:. In his Hexaemeron, he sided with the literalist mode. For example, he wrote: "For me grass is grass; plant, fish, wild beast, domestic animal, I take all in the literal sense." Basil was also in communication with
139:
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.
175:
to the use of allegorical understandings of the text: instead, his primary issue was with excessive allegorization as opposed to the allegorical interpretations found in authors like
731:
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
700:
Roberts, Alexander (2019). "A Re-Translation of Basil's
Hexaemeral Homilies by ÊżAbdallÄh ibn al-Faážl of Antioch". In Barbara, Roggema; Treiger, Alexander (eds.).
147:
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.
252:
258:
243:, his led to many others producing their own Hexaemeron as well as imitations of his text. For example, another of his contemporaries,
155:
Basil's
Hexaemeron was composed over the course of nine homilies, and originated as a lecture series by Basil to the congregation of
159:
over the course of three days in the year 378 AD. Basil was familiar with the allegorical mode of interpretation dominant at the
854:
107:. The genesis of Basil's knowledge of astronomy has also been studied and has been argued to have originated during his youth.
719:
844:
160:
164:
644:
625:
Gasper, Giles (2024). "On the Six Days of
Creation: The Hexaemeral Tradition". In Goroncy, Jason (ed.).
34:
601:
58:
798:
773:
576:
57:
in the 1st century AD (which Basil made use of in his Hexaemeron) and another, earlier lost work by
799:"Basil's Use of Oppian in Homilia in hexaemeron 7: His Source of Zoological Knowledge Reconsidered"
636:
The Metaphysics of Light in the Hexaemeral Literature: From Philo of Alexandria to Gregory of Nyssa
849:
481:"The Biblical Quotations in the Old Georgian Translations of The Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea"
223:, indicating the continued interest in the work over long periods of time. A translation into
577:"The Presentation and Reception of Basil's Homiliae in hexaemeron in Gregory's In hexaemeron"
240:
91:, and so forth. More recently, some have sought to focus on passing hints of influence by
8:
859:
220:
54:
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480:
268:
168:
568:
Creation and Contemplation The Cosmology of the Qur'Än and Its Late Antique Background
715:
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212:
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156:
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66:
48:
26:
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etc. Many, if not all of these, were already motifs among classical authors such as
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and well as praised his Hexaemeron as being as admirable as the holy texts of
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Due to its popularity, it was translated into numerous languages including
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814:
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592:
180:
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Basil offered many architectural analogies for the cosmos, including an
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44:
39:
543:
803:
Zeitschrift fĂŒr Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
778:
Zeitschrift fĂŒr Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
749:"Sympatheia in Basil of Caesarea's Hexameron: A Plotinian Hypothesis"
264:
84:
701:
684:
669:"The Politics of Interpretation in Basil of Caesarea's "Hexaemeron""
581:
Zeitschrift fĂŒr antikes Christentum/Journal of Ancient Christianity
92:
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The Syriac Version of the Hexaemeron by Basil of Caesarea Syr. 223
239:. As the first in a line of many Christians works in the genre of
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216:
176:
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88:
359:
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200:
80:
16:
Commentary on Genesis creation narrative by Basil of Caesarea
337:
335:
645:"The Concept Of The Cosmos According To Basil The Great's
602:"The Patristic Understanding of the Six Days (Hexaemeron)"
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only mentions three of Basil's works: his Hexaemeron, his
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332:
412:
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and the literal form of interpretation dominant at the
47:, although it was preceded by Jewish writings like the
347:
320:
642:
549:
531:
507:
460:
448:
370:
627:T&T Clark Handbook of the Doctrine of Creation
424:
376:
292:, The Catholic University of America Press, 2003.
267:to produce his own Hexaemeron, and was quoted by
43:). It is the first known work in this genre by a
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126:(from pre-existing matter), he defends creation
436:
400:
388:
95:as well, such as in Basil's use of the term
703:Patristic Literature in Arabic Translations
478:
150:
629:. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 176â190.
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227:must have also existed. Basil's brother,
829:Basil's nine homilies of his Hexaemeron
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643:KochaĆczyk-BoniĆska, Karolina (2016).
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219:. Later still, it was translated into
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13:
753:Journal of Early Christian Studies
606:Journal of Early Christian History
14:
871:
822:
479:Mtchedlidze, Magda (2020-10-07).
263:. The Latin translation inspired
774:"Basil's Knowledge of Astronomy"
472:
282:
231:, produced his own text titled
797:Yam, Colten Cheuk-Yim (2023).
772:Yam, Colten Cheuk-Yim (2022).
618:10.1080/2222582X.2015.11877324
1:
855:Patristic historical writings
493:10.48614/phasis.23.2020.54-73
308:
73:
29:(d. 379) is a fourth-century
313:
290:St. Basil: Exegetic Homilies
194:
7:
845:4th-century Christian texts
747:Torchia, N. Joseph (1996).
706:. Brill. pp. 198â240.
566:Decharneux, Julien (2023).
296:
10:
876:
638:. Oxford University Press.
575:DeMarco, David C. (2014).
559:
110:
35:Genesis creation narrative
712:10.1163/9789004415041_009
634:Katsos, Isidoros (2023).
247:, produced an imitation.
59:Aristobulus of Alexandria
600:De Beer, Wynand (2015).
550:KochaĆczyk-BoniĆska 2016
371:KochaĆczyk-BoniĆska 2016
288:Clare Way, Agnes Clare.
151:Method of interpretation
61:in the 2nd century BC.
765:10.1353/earl.1996.0038
738:Thomson, R.W. (1995).
729:Thomson, R.W. (2012).
141:
815:10.1515/zac-2023-0008
790:10.1515/zac-2022-0017
667:Lim, Richard (1990).
593:10.1515/zac-2013-0017
241:Hexaemeral literature
136:
673:Vigiliae Christianae
356:, p. 351, 361.
221:Old Church Slavonic
55:Philo of Alexandria
656:Studia Pelplinskie
552:, p. 161â162.
528:, p. 177â176.
344:, p. 199â200.
269:Isidore of Seville
169:Diodorus of Tarsus
161:Alexandrian school
33:commentary on the
721:978-90-04-41504-1
647:On The Hexaemeron
254:De Spiritu Sancto
165:Antiochene school
157:Caesarea Maritima
67:Caesarea Maritima
50:De opificio mundi
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327:Katsos 2023
185:Marcionites
181:Manichaeans
860:Hexaemeron
839:Categories
742:. Peeters.
733:. Peeters.
662:: 161â169.
309:References
257:, and his
124:ex materia
101:Halieutica
97:sympatheia
74:Influences
40:Hexaemeron
22:Hexaemeron
501:2346-8459
314:Citations
265:Augustine
195:Reception
128:ex nihilo
119:ex nihilo
85:Aristotle
45:Christian
443:Lim 1990
407:Yam 2022
395:Yam 2023
354:Lim 1990
297:See also
213:Georgian
205:Armenian
93:Plotinus
693:1583840
560:Sources
245:Ambrose
173:in toto
111:Content
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485:PHASIS
275:, and
271:, the
249:Jerome
225:Coptic
217:Arabic
215:, and
209:Syriac
187:, and
177:Origen
105:Oppian
89:Stoics
87:, the
37:(or a
689:JSTOR
652:(PDF)
237:Moses
201:Latin
81:Plato
31:Greek
716:ISBN
497:ISSN
19:The
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