What is the purpose of contemplating creation?

First : faith in God , in His care for the creation, and in His fulfilling of His wise will, filled with love and goodness. The psalmist sings, saying, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Ps. 19:1).

St. Basil the Great says, “If you see the heavens, he says and the order in them, they are a guide to faith, for through themselves they show the Craftsman; and, if you see the orderly arrangement about the earth, again through these things also your faith in God is increased. In fact, it is not by acquiring knowledge of God with our carnal eyes that we believe in Him, but by the power of the mind we have perceived the invisible God through visible things … Even if you consider the stone, it also possesses a certain proof of the power of its Maker: likewise, if you consider the ant or the gnat or the bee. Frequently in the smallest objects the wisdom of the Creator shines forth. He who unfolded the heavens and poured out the boundless expanses of the seas, He it is who hollowed out the very delicate sting of the bee like a tube, so that through it the poison might be poured out … Do not say: ‘This happened by chance’ and ‘that occurred accidentally.’ Nothing is casual, nothing indeterminate, nothing happens at random, nothing among things that exist is caused by chance.”⁴¹⁵

St. Irenaeus says, “For all things originate from one and the same God. But since created things are various and numerous, they are indeed well fitted and adapted to the whole creation; yet, when viewed individually, are mutually opposite and inharmonious, just as the sound of the lyre, which consists of many and opposite notes, gives rise to one unbroken melody, through means of the interval which separates each one from the others. The lover of truth therefore ought not to be deceived by the interval between each note, nor should he imagine that one was due to one artist and author, and another to another, nor that one person fitted the treble, another the bass, and yet another the tenor strings; but he should hold that one and the same person [formed the whole], so as to prove the judgment, goodness, and skill exhibited in the whole work and [specimen of] wisdom.

“Those, too, who listen to the melody, ought to praise and extol the artist, to admire the tension of some notes, to attend to the softness of others, to catch the sound of others between

415 St. Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Homily 15.3, On Psalm 32 (33) (FOTC 46:232).

both these extremes, and to consider the special character of others, so as to inquire at what each one aims, and what is the cause of their variety, never failing to apply our rule, neither giving up the [one] artist, nor casting off faith in the one God who formed all things, nor blaspheming our Creator.”⁴¹⁶

Second: replying to some of the errors into which some philosophers have fallen, such as the claim that heaven and earth came to exist spontaneously, by chance, or of themselves.⁴¹⁷ Some claimed that the world is equal to God, and co-exists with Him eternally. The followers of Mani believed that the visible, material earth and sky were created by demons and the powers of darkness; and are therefore evil by nature. And some Gnostics believed that the world was made by a creator God, the Demiurge ; who in their view, if he is not an evil god, is still inferior to the greater being who created spirit, but not physical matter.

Third: embarking on a journey to the depths of the soul . St. Basil affirms that to study creation means to embark on a journey to the depths of the soul, where the believer may discover the world within, which is by far more wonderful than the outside world. The saint affirms that it is easier to know the invisible heavens than it is to know one’s own depths. The inward person is a private and precious world that we can only enter through the grace of the Holy Spirit of God, so that we may know our own souls and grow in the knowledge of God. The saint often spoke of the need to know one’s own self as being more important than knowing that which surrounds him or that which he possesses. St. Basil says, “Do not look outside yourself … but enter into the hidden recesses of your own soul. There, once you have identified and marveled at the God whom you have learned was in the beginning … once you have worshipped your own Master who dwells in you through this teaching …”⁴¹⁸

St. Basil often repeats that the human being is the center of the world, who finds his physical needs in the world,⁴¹⁹ and makes the world to be a school that shapes his behavior. Here are a few examples:⁴²⁰

Just as the sun gives light, the saints in ancient times dispersed the darkness of ignorance.⁴²¹

Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so also humans can grow in virtue, then in turn, fall again.⁴²²

416 St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies 2.25.1–2 (ANF 1:396).

417 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.1 (NPNF II/8:52).

418 St. Basil of Caesarea, Homily on the Beginning of the Gospel of John 4 (PG 31:481B) in On Christian Doctrine and Practice, trans., Mark DelCogliano, (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2013): pp. 256–257.

419 St. Basil of Caesarea, Homily on the Martyr Julitta 6, in On Fasting and Feasts, trans., Susan R. Holman and Mark DelCogliano, (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2013): pp. 116–118.

420 Cf. Philip Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea , (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994): p. 324.

421 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 6.2 (NPNF II/8:83).

422 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 6.10f (NPNF II/8:88).

Some animals are instinctively aware of the coming seasons and prepare for them; so also should Christians eagerly anticipate eternity.⁴²³

Animals walk bowed down, looking to the ground and to their bellies; but humans were created with their heads lifted up so they would be concerned with what is heavenly rather than what is earthly.⁴²⁴

In the creation, we find a school that trains us in how to deal with our fellow human beings by observing the behavior of the irrational creation.⁴²⁵ Among the examples given by St. Basil we find the following:

The crow’s protective behavior towards the stork; teaching us hospitality to strangers .⁴²⁶

The stork’s noble treatment of its elderly parents; teaching children their responsibility towards their parents in their old age .⁴²⁷

Bats hang from each other, interlaced like a chain, exhibiting natural love .⁴²⁸

The great fish do not cross beyond the natural boundaries of their marine territory, set for them by nature, providing an example for those who move boundary markers in order to extort a part of their neighbor’s field.⁴²⁹

The queen bee has a sting ; but she does not use it to avenge herself, teaching us to be kind to others.⁴³⁰

After the death of the male, the female dove remains a widow, providing a model to those who seek a second marriage after the death of their spouse.⁴³¹