[A Prayer Declarative of God’s Various Creation.]

XXXIV. Thou art blessed, O Lord, the King of ages, who by Christ hast made the whole world, and by Him in the beginning didst reduce into order the disordered parts; who dividedst the waters from the waters by a firmament, and didst put into them a spirit of life; who didst fix the earth, and stretch out the heaven, and didst dispose every creature by an accurate constitution. For by Thy power, O Lord, the world is beautified, the heaven is fixed as an arch over us, and is rendered illustrious with stars for our comfort in the darkness. The light also and the sun were begotten for days and the production of fruit, and the moon for the change of seasons, by its increase and diminutions; and one was called Night, and the other Day. And the firmament was exhibited in the midst of the abyss, and Thou commandedst the waters to be gathered together, and the dry land to appear. But as for the sea itself, who can possibly describe it, which comes with fury from the ocean, yet runs back again, being stopped by the sand at Thy command? For Thou hast said: “Thereby shall her waves be broken.”  142  Luke xviii. 8. Luke xviii. 8. Thou hast also made it capable of supporting little and great creatures, and made it navigable for ships. Then did the earth become green, and was planted with all sorts of flowers, and the variety of several trees; and the shining luminaries, the nourishers of those plants, preserve their unchangeable course, and in nothing depart from Thy command. But where Thou biddest them, there do they rise and set for signs of the seasons and of the years, making a constant return of the work of men. Afterwards the kinds of the several animals were created—those belonging to the land, to the water, to the air, and both to air and water; and the artificial wisdom of Thy providence does still impart to every one a suitable providence. For as He was not unable to produce different kinds, so neither has He disdained to exercise a different providence towards every one. And at the conclusion of the creation Thou gavest direction to Thy Wisdom, and formedst a reasonable creature as the citizen of the world, saying, “Let us make man after our image, and after our likeness;”  143  Matt. xxiv. 12, 24. Matt. xxiv. 12, 24. and hast exhibited him as the ornament of the world, and formed him a body out of the four elements, those primary bodies, but hadst prepared a soul out of nothing, and bestowedst upon him his five senses, and didst set over his sensations a mind as the conductor of the soul. And besides all these things, O Lord God, who can worthily declare the motion of the rainy clouds, the shining of the lightning, the noise of the thunder, in order to the supply of proper food, and the most agreeable temperature of the air? But when man was disobedient, Thou didst deprive him of the life which should have been his reward. Yet didst Thou not destroy him for ever, but laidst him to sleep for a time; and Thou didst by oath call him to a resurrection, and loosedst the bond of death, O Thou reviver of the dead, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope.

[34] Εὐλογητὸς εἶ, Κύριε βασιλεῦ τῶν αἰώνων, ὁ διὰ Χριστοῦ ποιήσας τὰ ὅλα καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ κοσμήσας τὰ ἀκατασκεύαστα, ὁ διαχωρίσας ὕδατα ὑδάτων στερεώματι, ὁ καὶ πνεῦμα ζωτικὸν τούτοις ἐμβαλών, ὁ γῆν ἑδράσας καὶ οὐρανὸν ἐκτείνας καὶ τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν κτισμάτων ἀκριβῆ διάταξιν κοσμήσας. Σῇ γὰρ ἐνθυμήσει, δέσποτα, κόσμος πεφαίδρυται, οὐρανὸς δὲ ὡς καμάρα πεπηγμένος ἠγλάϊσται ἄστροις ἕνεκεν παραμυθίας τοῦ σκότους, φῶς δὲ καὶ ἥλιος εἰς ἡμέρας καὶ καρπῶν γονὴν γεγένηνται, σελήνη δὲ εἰς τροπὴν καιρῶν αὔξουσα καὶ μειουμένη, καὶ νὺξ ὠνομάζετο καὶ ἡμέρα προσηγορεύετο, στερέωμα δὲ διὰ μέσων ἀβύσσων ἐδείκνυτο καὶ εἶπας συναχθῆναι τὰ ὕδατα καὶ ὀφθῆναι τὴν ξηράν. Αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν πῶς ἄν τις ἐκφράσειεν; Ἥτις ἔρχεται μὲν ἀπὸ πελάγους μαινομένη, παλινδρομεῖ δὲ ἀπὸ ψάμμου τῇ σῇ προσταγῇ κωλυομένη: εἶπας γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ συντριβήσεσθαι αὐτῆς τὰ κύματα: ζῴοις δὲ μικροῖς καὶ μεγάλοις καὶ πλοίοις πορευτὴν αὐτὴν ἐποίησας. Εἶτ' ἐχλοαίνετο γῆ, παντοίοις ἄνθεσι καταγραφομένη καὶ ποικιλίᾳ δένδρων διαφόρων: παμφαεῖς τε φωστῆρες τούτων τιθηνοί, ἀπαράβατον σῴζοντες τὸν δόλιχον καὶ κατ' οὐδὲν παραλλάσσοντες τῆς σῆς προσταγῆς, ἀλλ' ὅπη ἂν κελεύσῃς, ταύτῃ ἀνίσχουσι καὶ δύουσιν εἰς σημεῖα καιρῶν καὶ ἐνιαυτῶν, ἀμειβόμενοι τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπηρεσίαν. Ἔπειτα διαφόρων ζῴων κατεσκευάζετο γένη, χερσαίων, ἐνύδρων, ἀεροπόρων, ἀμφιβίων, καὶ τῆς σῆς προνοίας ἡ ἔντεχνος σοφία τὴν κατάλληλον ἑκάστῳ πρόνοιαν δωρεῖται: ὥσπερ γὰρ διάφορα γένη οὐκ ἠτόνησεν παραγαγεῖν, οὕτως οὐδὲ διάφορον πρόνοιαν ἑκάστου ποιήσασθαι κατωλιγώρησεν. Καὶ τέλος τῆς δημιουργίας τὸ λογικὸν ζῷον, τὸν κοσμοπολίτην, τῇ σῇ σοφίᾳ διαταξάμενος κατεσκεύασας εἰπών: »Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν«, κόσμου κόσμον αὐτὸν ἀναδείξας, ἐκ μὲν τῶν τεσσάρων σωμάτων διαπλάσας αὐτῷ τὸ σῶμα, κατασκευάσας δ' αὐτῷ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος, αἴσθησίν τε πένταθλον αὐτῷ χαρισάμενος καὶ νοῦν τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡνίοχον ταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ἐπιστήσας. Καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις, δέσποτα Κύριε, τίς ἐπαξίως διηγήσεται νεφῶν ὀμβροτόκων φοράν, ἀστραπῆς ἔκλαμψιν, βροντῶν πάταγον, εἰς τροφῆς χορηγίαν καταλλήλου καὶ κρᾶσιν ἀέρων παναρμόνιον; Παρακούσαντα δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐμμίσθου ζωῆς ἐστέρησας, οὐκ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς ἀφανίσας, ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ πρὸς ὀλίγον κοιμίσας, ὅρκῳ εἰς παλιγγενεσίαν ἐκάλεσας, ὅρον θανάτου ἔλυσας, ὁ ζωοποιὸς τῶν νεκρῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἡμῶν.