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of our savior God spoke to the all-pure Theotokos. On this day also the only-begotten son of the father, after the ineffable birth from her, fulfilling the whole economy, rose from the dead; which the holy fathers also named the Lord's Pascha, taking its beginning on the same holy day of the life-bearing resurrection, in the five thousand five hundred and thirty-ninth year from the creation of the world. And some of the holy God-bearing fathers said that on the same day, that is, of the month of March, the second coming on earth of the son and God and our savior will occur, on which he will judge every living soul, as the age to come will again take its beginning from it. Because on this first day, which was the Lord's day, that is, the one of the sabbaths, God made the heaven and the earth, spirit and light and day-and-night and consequently the darkness, seven works in all. But Africanus calls the first day intelligible because the first-created light was for a time indistinct and diffuse. On 1.8 the second day-and-night the firmament was made, one work. The creation was called a firmament because the nature of the things above or below it is thin and rare, and heaven because it is seen stretched out like a fleece over one's head. On the third day-and-night was the appearance of the earth and its drying up, paradise, all kinds of trees, herbs and seeds, four works. The earth was called dry, since this name is also proper to it by nature; for that which is properly dry is earth. Since it cast off the waters lying upon it like some weight, it was then commanded to bring forth vegetation. And it was commanded to bring forth the living soul, so that from this the difference between the irrational soul and the human soul might be known; for the soul of the irrational creatures sprang from the earth, but that of man was constituted from the divine in-breathing. And that the soul of the irrational creatures is of the earth, it is possible to know again from the scripture itself; for it has been said, the soul of every beast is its blood. And blood, when it congeals, is changed into flesh, and flesh, when it decays, is resolved into earth. Therefore the soul of the irrational creatures is rightly of the earth. On the fourth day God made the sun, the moon and the stars, three works. When the luminaries came into being, a manifold benefit was provided to the universe, both from their shining and richly illuminating the world with their own radiances, and from their rising and setting, the numbering of the times occurs. But also of the signs, such as appear through the moon. For being thin in its horns and clear 1.9 around the day, it promises stable, fine weather, but appearing thick in its horns and reddish it indicates that there will be either violent water from clouds or a storm. Likewise also the sun, becoming like charcoal and blood-red in its rays or its radiance, indicates that a violent motion will occur. And witnesses of these things are sailors and farmers and travelers. On the 5th day the creeping things, all the swimming things, great sea creatures, fish, and whatever is in the waters, and also birds, three works. On the 6th day the quadrupeds, the creeping things of the earth, the wild beasts and man, four works. In all, twenty-two works, equal in number to the Hebrew letters and to their twenty-two books and to the twenty-two generations from Adam to Jacob, as is recorded in the Little Genesis, which some also say is the Revelation of Moses. This says the heavenly powers were created on the first day. But for what reason did God bless the 7th day, and not all of them? some say. We say, therefore, that each of the others received its blessing from the creation that happened on it; but since this one alone was going to remain unhonored, with no creation happening on it, for this reason it too was blessed by God and hallowed, and was called sabbath as a day of rest, and as a type of the seventh millennium and of the consummation of sinners, as Josephus and the Little Genesis testify.

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σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ τῇ παναχράντῳ θεοτόκῳ ἐφθέγξατο. ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς τοῦ πατρὸς μετὰ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἄρρητον γέννησιν πᾶσαν πληρώσας οἰκονομίαν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνέστη· ἥνπερ καὶ κυριακὸν πάσχα οἱ ἅγιοι πατέρες ὠνόμασαν, ἀρχὴν λα βόντες κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἁγίαν τῆς ζωηφόρου ἀναστάσεως ἡμέραν τοῦ πεντακισχιλιοστοῦ πεντακοσιοστοῦ τριακοστοῦ ἐννάτου ἔτους ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου. καὶ τινὲς δὲ τῶν ἁγίων θεοφόρων πατέρων ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἔφασαν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, δηλονότι τοῦ Μαρτίου μηνός, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς δευτέραν τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γενήσεσθαι παρουσίαν, ἐν ᾗ κρινεῖ πᾶσαν πνοήν, ὡς τοῦ μέλλον τος αἰῶνος ἀπ' αὐτῆς πάλιν τὴν ἀρχὴν λαμβάνοντος. ὅτι ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, ἥτις ἦν κυριακή, ἤγουν τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαβ βάτων, ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, πνεῦμα καὶ φῶς καὶ νυχθήμερον καὶ ἐκ τοῦ συμβεβηκότος τὸ σκότος, ὁμοῦ ἔργα ἑπτά. ὁ δὲ Ἀφρικανὸς τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν νοητὴν λέγει διὰ τὸ ἀδιάγνωστον εἶναι τέως τὸ πρωτόκτιστον φῶς καὶ κεχυμένον. ἐν 1.8 τῷ δευτέρῳ δὲ νυχθημέρῳ ἐγένετο στερέωμα, ἔργον ἕν. στερέωμα δὲ ἐκλήθη τὸ δημιούργημα διὰ τὸ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ἢ ὑποκειμένων λεπτὴν εἶναι καὶ ἀραιάν, οὐρανὸς δὲ διὰ τὸ καθορᾶ σθαι τρόπον δέρρεως ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἡπλωμένος. ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ νυχθημέρῳ φανέρωσις γῆς καὶ ἀναξήρανσις, παράδεισος, δένδρα παντοῖα, βοτάναι καὶ σπέρματα, ἔργα τέσσαρα. ξηρὰ δὲ ἐπε κλήθη ἡ γῆ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἴδιον αὐτῆς ἐστὶ κατὰ φύσιν τὸ πρόσρημα· τὸ γὰρ κυρίως ξηρὸν γῆ ἐστίν. ἐπειδὴ ὥσπερ τι βάρος ἀπέθετο τὰ ἐπικείμενα αὐτῇ ὕδατα, λοιπὸν βλαστάνειν προσετάχθη. ψυ χὴν δὲ ζῶσαν ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκελεύσθη, ἵν' ἐκ τούτου γινώσκηται τῆς τε ἀλόγου ψυχῆς ἡ διαφορὰ καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας· ἐκ γὰρ γῆς ἐφύη τῶν ἀλόγων ἡ ψυχή, ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ τοῦ θείου ἐμφυσή ματος συνέστη. καὶ ὅτι γεηρά ἐστι τῶν ἀλόγων ἡ ψυχή, ἐξ αὐ τῆς ἔστι γνῶναι πάλιν τῆς γραφῆς· εἴρηται γάρ, ψυχὴ παντὸς κτήνους τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐστίν. αἷμα δὲ πηγνύμενον εἰς σάρκα μεταβάλλεται, σὰρξ δὲ φθειρομένη εἰς γῆν ἀναλύεται. εἰκότως οὖν γεώδης ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων ψυχή. τῇ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἥλιον, τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἔργα τρία. τῶν φωστήρων γενομένων πολυμερὲς τῷ παντὶ παρεσχέθη ὄφελος, ἔκ τε τοῦ φαίνειν καὶ ταῖς οἰκείαις λαμπηδόσι καταυγάζειν τὸν κόσμον πλουσίως, ἔκ τε τοῦ ἀνίσχειν καὶ καταδύεσθαι τὴν τῶν χρόνων ἀπαρίθμησιν γίνεσθαι. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν σημείων, οἷά ἐστι διὰ τῆς σελήνης φαίνεσθαι. λεπτὴ γὰρ οὖσα ταῖς κεραίαις καὶ καθαρὰ 1.9 περὶ τὴν ἡμέραν σταθηρὰν εὐδίαν κατεπαγγέλλεται, παχεῖα δὲ ταῖς κεραίαις καὶ ὑπέρυθρος φαινομένη ἢ ὕδωρ λάβρον ἀπὸ νεφῶν ἢ χειμῶνα ἔσεσθαι μηνύει. ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ ἥλιος ἀνθρακώδης γενόμενος καὶ ὕφαιμος ταῖς ἀκτῖσιν ἢ τὸ ἀπαύγασμα βιαίαν κίνη σιν δηλοῖ ἐπιγενέσθαι. καὶ μάρτυρες τούτων πλωτῆρες καὶ γεωρ γοὶ καὶ ὁδοιπόροι. τῇ εʹ ἡμέρᾳ τὰ ἑρπετά, τὰ νηκτὰ πάντα, κήτη ἰχθύες καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν, ἔτι τε καὶ πετεινά, ἔργα τρία. τῇ ϛʹ ἡμέρᾳ τὰ τετράποδα, τὰ ἑρπετὰ τῆς γῆς, τὰ θηρία καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἔργα τέσσαρα. ὁμοῦ πάντα τὰ ἔργα εἰκοσιδύο, ἰσάριθμα τοῖς Ἑβραϊκοῖς γράμμασι καὶ ταῖς εἰκοσιδύο αὐτῶν βί βλοις καὶ ταῖς ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ ἕως Ἰακὼβ εἰκοσιδύο γενεαρχίαις, ὡς ἐν Λεπτῇ φέρεται Γενέσει, ἣν καὶ Μωσέως εἶναί φασί τινες ἀποκά λυψιν. αὕτη τὰς οὐρανίους δυνάμεις τῇ πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ λέγει ἐκτί σθαι. τίνος δὲ χάριν τὴν ζʹ ἡμέραν εὐλόγησεν ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐ πάσας; φασί τινες. λέγομεν οὖν ὅτι ἑκάστη τῶν ἄλλων ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ γενομένης δημιουργίας ἔσχε τὴν εὐλογίαν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔμελ λεν αὕτη μόνη μένειν ἀγέραστος, μηδεμιᾶς ἐν αὐτῇ γενομένης δημιουργίας, τούτου χάριν ηὐλογήθη καὶ αὕτη ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡγιάσθη, καὶ σάββατον ὡς καταπαύσιμος προσηγορεύθη, καὶ ὡς τύπος τῆς ἑβδόμης χιλιοετηρίδος καὶ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν συντε λείας, ὡς Ἰώσηπος μαρτυρεῖ καὶ ἡ Λεπτὴ Γένεσις.