6. “  Let the earth ,” the Creator adds, “  bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself .”  16  Gen. i. 11.

At this command every copse was thickly planted; all the trees, fir, cedar, cypress, pine, rose to their greatest height, the shrubs were straightway clothed with thick foliage.  17  ἀμφίκομοι καὶ δασεῖς. cf. Milton, “With frizzled hair implicit.” P.L. vii. The plants called crown-plants, roses, myrtles, laurels, did not exist; in one moment they came into being, each one with its distinctive peculiarities. Most marked differences separated them from other plants, and each one was distinguished by a character of its own. But then the rose was without thorns; since then the thorn has been added to its beauty, to make us feel that sorrow is very near to pleasure, and to remind us of our sin, which condemned the earth to produce thorns  18  cf. Milton, P.L., B. iv., “Flowers of all hue and without thorn the rose,” and August. De Genesi contra Manichæos. i. 13. and caltrops. But, they say, the earth has received the command to produce trees “yielding fruit whose seed was in itself,” and we see many trees which have neither fruit, nor seed. What shall we reply? First, that only the more important trees are mentioned; and then, that a careful examination will show us that every tree has seed, or some property which takes the place of it. The black poplar, the willow, the elm, the white poplar, all the trees of this family, do not produce any apparent fruit; however, an attentive observer finds seed in each of them. This grain which is at the base of the leaf, and which those who busy themselves with inventing words call mischos, has the property of seed. And there are trees which reproduce by their branches, throwing out roots from them. Perhaps we ought even to consider as seeds the saplings which spring from the roots of a tree: for cultivators tear them out to multiply the species. But, we have already said, it is chiefly a question of the trees which contribute most to our life; which offer their various fruits to man and provide him with plentiful nourishment. Such is the vine, which produces wine to make glad the heart of man; such is the olive tree, whose fruit brightens his face with oil. How many things in nature are combined in the same plant! In a vine, roots, green and flexible branches, which spread themselves far over the earth, buds, tendrils, bunches of sour grapes and ripe grapes. The sight of a vine, when observed by an intelligent eye, serves to remind you of your nature. Without doubt you remember the parable where the Lord calls Himself a vine and His Father the husbandman, and every one of us who are grafted by faith into the Church the branches. He invites us to produce fruits in abundance, for fear lest our sterility should condemn us to the fire.  19  cf. S. John xv. 1-6. He constantly compares our souls to vines. “My well beloved,” says He, “hath a vineyard in a very fruitfull hill,”  20  Isa. v. 1. and elsewhere, I have “planted a vineyard and hedged it round about.”  21  Matt. xxi. 33. Evidently He calls human souls His vine, those souls whom He has surrounded with the authority of His precepts and a guard of angels. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.”  22  Ps. xxxiv. 7. And further: He has planted for us, so to say, props, in establishing in His Church apostles, prophets, teachers;  23  cf. 1 Cor. xii. 28. and raising our thoughts by the example of the blessed in olden times, He has not allowed them to drag on the earth and be crushed under foot. He wishes that the claspings of love, like the tendrils of the vine, should attach us to our neighbours and make us rest on them, so that, in our continual aspirations towards heaven, we may imitate these vines, which raise themselves to the tops of the tallest trees. He also asks us to allow ourselves to be dug about; and that is what the soul does when it disembarrasses itself from the cares of the world, which are a weight on our hearts. He, then, who is freed from carnal affections and from the love of riches, and, far from being dazzled by them, disdains and despises this miserable vain glory, is, so to say, dug about and at length breathes, free from the useless weight of earthly thoughts. Nor must we, in the spirit of the parable, put forth too much wood, that is to say, live with ostentation, and gain the applause of the world; we must bring forth fruits, keeping the proof of our works for the husbandman. Be “like a green olive tree in the house of God,”  24  Ps. lii. 8. never destitute of hope, but decked through faith with the bloom of salvation. Thus you will resemble the eternal verdure of this plant and will rival it in fruitfulness, if each day sees you giving abundantly in alms.

Ἀλλὰ Καὶ ξύλον κάρπιμον, φησὶ, ποιοῦν καρπὸν, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ γένος καὶ καθ' ὁμοιότητα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ ῥήματι πᾶσαι μὲν λόχμαι κατεπυκνοῦντο: πάντα δὲ ἀνέτρεχε δένδρα, τά τε πρὸς μήκιστον ὕψος διανίστασθαι πεφυκότα, ἐλάται καὶ κέδροι, καὶ κυπάρισσοι καὶ πεῦκαι: πάντες δὲ θάμνοι εὐθὺς ἦσαν ἀμφίκομοι καὶ δασεῖς: καὶ τὰ στεφανωματικὰ λεγόμενα τῶν φυτῶν, αἵ τε ῥωδωνιαὶ καὶ μυρσίναι καὶ δάφναι, πάντα ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ, οὐκ ὄντα πρότερον ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς, εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρῆλθε, μετὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἕκαστον ἰδιότητος, ἐναργεστάταις μὲν διαφοραῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἑτερογενῶν χωριζόμενον, οἰκείῳ δὲ ἕκαστον γνωριζόμενον χαρακτῆρι. Πλήν γε ὅτι τὸ ῥόδον τότε ἄνευ ἀκάνθης ἦν, ὕστερον δὲ τῷ κάλλει τοῦ ἄνθους ἡ ἄκανθα παρεζεύχθη, ἵνα τῷ τερπνῷ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἐγγύθεν ἔχωμεν παρακειμένην τὴν λύπην, μεμνημένοι τῆς ἁμαρτίας, δι' ἣν ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἡμῖν ἀνατέλλειν κατεδικάσθη ἡ γῆ. Ἀλλὰ προσετάχθη, φησὶ, Ξύλον κάρπιμον, ποιοῦν καρπὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οὗ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐκδοῦναι ἡ γῆ: πολλὰ δὲ τῶν δένδρων ὁρῶμεν οὔτε καρποῖς οὔτε σπέρματι κεχρημένα. Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; Ὅτι τὰ τιμιώτερα τῇ φύσει προηγουμένης τῆς μνήμης τετύχηκεν: ἔπειτα, ὅτι ἀκριβῶς θεωροῦντι καὶ πάντα φανήσεται ἢ σπέρματι κεχρημένα, ἢ τὰ ἰσοδυναμοῦντα τοῖς σπέρμασιν ἔχοντα. Αἴγειροι γὰρ, καὶ ἰτέαι, καὶ πτελέαι, καὶ λεῦκαι, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, καρπὸν μὲν οὐδένα δοκεῖ φέρειν ἐκ τοῦ προδήλου, σπέρμα δὲ ἕκαστον τούτων ἔχον ἀκριβῶς ἄν τις ἐξετάζων ἐξεύροι. Ὁ γὰρ ὑποκείμενος τῷ φύλλῳ κόκκος, ὃν μισχόν τινες τῶν περὶ τὰς ὀνοματοποιίας ἐσχολακότων προσαγορεύουσι, τοῦτο σπέρματος ἔχει δύναμιν. Ὅσα γὰρ ἀπὸ κλάδων γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἐντεῦθεν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ προβάλλει τὰς ῥίζας. Τάχα δὲ σπέρματος ἐπέχουσι λόγον καὶ αἱ τῶν ῥιζῶν ἀποφύσεις, ἃς παρασπῶντες οἱ φυτοκόμοι τὸ γένος αὔξουσι. Πρότερον μέντοι, ὥσπερ ἔφαμεν, μνήμης ἠξιώθη τὰ συνεκτικώτερα τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, ὅσα ἔμελλε τοῖς οἰκείοις καρποῖς τὸν ἄνθρωπον δεξιούμενα, ἄφθονον αὐτῷ παρασκευάζειν τὴν δίαιταν: ἄμπελος μὲν οἶνον γεννῶσα εὐφραίνειν μέλλοντα καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου: ἐλαία δὲ καρπὸν παρεχομένη ἱλαρύνειν δυνάμενον πρόσωπον ἐν ἐλαίῳ. Πόσα συνέτρεχε κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἠπειγμένως ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως παραγόμενα; Ἡ ῥίζα τῆς ἀμπέλου: τὰ κλήματα ἐν κύκλῳ εὐθαλῆ καὶ μεγάλα ὑπὲρ γῆς κεχυμένα: ὁ βλαστὸς, οἱ ἕλικες, ὁ ὄμφαξ, οἱ βότρυες. Ἀρκεῖ σου τῇ ὄψει καὶ ἄμπελος συνετῶς ὁραθεῖσα ὑπόμνησίν σοι τῆς φύσεως ἐμποιῆσαι. Μέμνησαι γὰρ δηλονότι τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου εἰκόνος, ὅτι ἄμπελον ἑαυτὸν λέγει, καὶ τὸν Πατέρα τὸν γεωργὸν, καὶ τοὺς καθ' ἕνα ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐμπεφυτευμένους τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ κλήματα προσηγόρευσε: καὶ προσκαλεῖται ἡμᾶς εἰς πολυκαρπίαν, ἵνα μὴ ἀχρηστίαν καταγνωσθέντες τῷ πυρὶ παραδοθῶμεν: καὶ οὐ παύεται πανταχοῦ τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταῖς ἀμπέλοις ἐξομοιῶν. Ἀμπελὼν γὰρ ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ, φησὶν, ἐν κέρατι, ἐν τόπῳ πίονι. Καὶ, Ἀμπελῶνα ἐφύτευσα, καὶ περιέθηκα φραγμόν. Τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας ψυχὰς δηλονότι λέγει τὸν ἀμπελῶνα, αἷς φραγμὸν περιέθηκε τὴν ἐκ τῶν προσταγμάτων ἀσφάλειαν, καὶ τὴν φυλακὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων. Παρεμβαλεῖ γὰρ ἄγγελος Κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτόν. Ἔπειτα καὶ οἱονεὶ χάρακας ἡμῖν παρακατέπηξε θέμενος ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πρῶτον ἀποστόλους, δεύτερον προφήτας, τρίτον διδασκάλους. Καὶ τοῖς τῶν παλαιῶν καὶ μακαρίων ἀνδρῶν ὑποδείγμασιν εἰς ὕψος ἡμῶν ἀνάγων τὰ φρονήματα, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἐρριμμένα χαμαὶ, καὶ τοῦ πατεῖσθαι ἄξια. Βούλεται δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ οἱονεὶ ἕλιξί τισι ταῖς περιπλοκαῖς τῆς ἀγάπης τῶν πλησίον ἀντέχεσθαι, καὶ ἐπαναπαύεσθαι αὐτοῖς, ἵν' ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄνω τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχοντες, οἷόν τινες ἀναδενδράδες ταῖς κορυφαῖς τῶν ὑψηλοτάτων ἑαυτοὺς παρισάζωμεν. Ἀπαιτεῖ δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ τὸ καταδέχεσθαι σκαπτομένους. Ἀποσκάπτεται δὲ ψυχὴ ἐν τῇ ἀποθέσει τῶν τοῦ κόσμου μεριμνῶν, αἳ βάρος εἰσὶ ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν. Ὥστε ὁ τὴν σαρκίνην ἀγάπην ἀποθέμενος, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ χρήματα φιλίαν, ἢ τὴν περὶ τὸ δύστηνον δοξάριον τοῦτο πτόησιν ἀπόπτυστον καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητον ἡγησάμενος, ὥσπερ ἐσκάφη καὶ ἀνέπνευσεν ἀποσκευασάμενος τὸ μάταιον βάρος τοῦ γηΐνου φρονήματος. Δεῖ δὲ, κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς παροιμίας, μηδὲ ὑλομανεῖν, τουτέστι, μὴ ἐπιδεικτικῶς πολιτεύεσθαι, μηδὲ τὸν παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἔπαινον θηρᾶσθαι, ἀλλ' ἔγκαρπον εἶναι, τῷ ἀληθινῷ γεωργῷ τὴν ἐπίδειξιν τῶν ἔργων ταμιευόμενον. Σὺ δὲ καὶ Ὡς ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἔσο ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, μηδέποτε γυμνούμενος τῆς ἐλπίδος, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ θάλλουσαν ἔχων περὶ σεαυτὸν τὴν διὰ πίστεως σωτηρίαν. Οὕτω γὰρ τὸ ἀειθαλὲς τοῦ φυτοῦ μιμήσῃ, καὶ τὸ πολύκαρπον δὲ αὐτοῦ ζηλώσεις, ἄφθονον τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ παρεχόμενος.