In Genesim (sermo 1) (olim sub auctore Joanne Chrysostomo) A discourse on, "And God saw everything that he had made; and, behold, it was very good;" and

that the divine oracles are more precious than all pleasant things. 1. Beautiful are the meadows of piety, not priding themselves in fleeting colors, but teeming with heavenly flowers. And the flowers of piety are the fruits of the divinely-inspired life. For virtues lead us up to that wondrous and archetypal beauty which has come to be according to the image of God and after his likeness. This likeness according to virtue, therefore, does not permit a horse to be spoken of instead of a man. Therefore when we pursue this, we are no longer named wolf and dragon and serpent and scorpion, being brought down to the insolence of irrational beasts; but a wondrous and precious image of God, preserving the archetypal beauty of the character, we both are, and are called, and are believed to be. You became master of the irrational beasts; do not imitate the habits of the servants; not because irrational beasts are worthless; for nothing evil was created by the Good One. For let no one suppose that the irrational beasts are ranked in the place of evil, because an image of vice has been derived from them for those who do not live according to virtue. For if this were so, how did Scripture say, And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was good, and not simply good, but also very good? When, therefore, the created things were brought forward as an image of vice (for the lion is an image of the tyrant, and the serpent of one crooked and most wicked in character, and the scorpion of one who strikes, and the wolf of the rapacious), where, he says, would the created things be good, being so obviously taken as an image of vice? But those who love learning must know that these things are neither evil nor are called evil in their own nature, but are a condition befitting the irrational beasts; but when it comes to the rational nature, it insults the sight, and dulls the rational freedom. You have received, O man, the dignity of a master; do not pursue the dishonorable and slavish rank of the irrational beasts; for you insult yourself, imitating the brutishness of the irrational beasts; not as though the irrational beasts are evil, or are called so, but as the dishonorable and slavish image is not fitting for the free. For just as a distinguished and eminent man, if he should put on or wear the garment of a slave, is insulted, and is put to shame, not as though the clothing is worthless and shabby, but as being fitting for a slave, but not suitable for a free man; so if you should take up the character of a scorpion and a wolf, it is not the nature of the irrational beasts that is slandered, but your own state is insulted, which has been allotted mastery, yet pursues the things of a slave. But these things have been necessarily introduced by me, so that no one may take what has been said as an insult to creation, as if God had made something worthless; for all things are truly good, and very good, if it keeps its own order, and pursues its own law. But so that you may learn, beloved, that nothing worthless has been created by God by nature, God has taught us to take also an image from these irrational beasts. For He has proposed that we imitate certain advantages of the irrational beasts, so that we may not slander creation as evil, not the nature as a whole, but as much as is suitable for a rational state. Or have you not heard today the Proverb-writer saying, Go to the ant, O sluggard, and emulate its ways? Have you not understood how, by proposing the industry of the ant, He has instructed us to unwearying zeal? Have we not taught you explicitly from the ant, unwearyingness, and from the bee, the love of art? For it is possible, it is possible, as I have already said, to cull some advantages even of the irrational beasts that are suitable for a rational state; yet these things are said to our shame and reproach. For since you did not imitate God, imitate, he says, the ant. Have you never seen a true father rebuking his children, and after much instruction leading them to the imitation of servants, and saying these things openly: Imitate even the servant, inferior indeed in dignity,

In Genesim (sermo 1) (olim sub auctore Joanne Chrysostomo) Λόγος εἰς τὸ, "Εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησε· καὶ ἰδοὺ καλὰ λίαν·" καὶ

ὅτι τὰ θεῖα λόγια τιμιώτερα πάντων ἡδέων. αʹ. Καλοὶ τῆς εὐσεβείας οἱ λειμῶνες, οὐ προσκαίροις χροιαῖς κομῶντες, ἀλλ' οὐρανίοις ἄνθεσι βρύοντες. Ἄνθη δέ εἰσι τῆς εὐσεβείας, οἱ καρποὶ τῆς ἐνθέου πολιτείας. Αἱ γὰρ ἀρεταὶ ἀνάγουσιν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ θαυμαστὸν καὶ πρωτότυπον ἐκεῖνο κάλλος τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενημένον καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ κατ' ἀρετὴν ὁμοίωσις ἵππον ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἐᾷ λέγεσθαι. Ταύτην οὖν ὅταν μεταδιώκωμεν, οὐκ ἔτι λύκος καὶ δράκων καὶ ὄφις καὶ σκορπίος ὀνομαζόμεθα, πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀλόγων ὕβριν καταφερόμενοι· ἀλλ' εἰκὼν Θεοῦ θαυμαστὴ καὶ τιμία, τὸ πρωτότυπον κάλλος τοῦ χαρακτῆρος σώζουσα, καὶ ἐσμὲν, καὶ λεγόμεθα, καὶ πιστευόμεθα. ∆εσπότης ἐγένου τῶν ἀλόγων· μὴ μιμοῦ τῶν οἰκετῶν τὰ ἤθη· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ φαῦλα τὰ ἄλογα· οὐδὲν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ κακὸν ἐκτίσθη. Μὴ γάρ τις νομιζέτω ἐν χώρᾳ κακίας τὰ ἄλογα τάττεσθαι, διὰ τὸ εἰκόνα κακίας παρῆχθαι τῶν μὴ κατ' ἀρετὴν βιούντων. Εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο, πῶς εἶπεν ἡ Γραφὴ, Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησε, καὶ ἰδοὺ καλὰ, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς καλὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καλὰ λίαν; Ὁπότε οὖν τὰ γεγονότα εἰς εἰκόνα κακίας παρήχθησαν (ὁ γὰρ λέων εἰκὼν τοῦ τυράννου, καὶ ὁ ὄφις τοῦ σκολιοῦ καὶ τοῦ πονηροτάτου τὸν τρόπον, καὶ ὁ σκορπίος τοῦ πλήκτου, καὶ ὁ λύκος τοῦ ἁρπακτικοῦ), ποῦ ἂν εἴη καλὰ τὰ γενόμενα, φησὶν, οὕτω προφανῶς εἰς εἰκόνα κακίας παραλαμβανόμενα; ∆εῖ δὲ εἰδέναι τοὺς φιλομαθεῖς, ὅτι ταῦτα τῇ οἰκείᾳ φύσει κακὰ οὔτ' ἔστιν, οὔτε λέγεται, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀλόγοις πρέπουσα κατάστασις· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ εἰς τὴν λογικὴν φύσιν, ὑβρίζει τὴν θέαν, καὶ ἀμβλύνει τὴν λογικὴν ἐλευθερίαν. Ἔλαβες, ἄνθρωπε, τὴν δεσποτικὴν ἀξίαν· μὴ τὴν ἄτιμον καὶ δουλοπρεπῆ τῶν ἀλόγων μεταδίωκε τάξιν· ὑβρίζεις γὰρ σαυτὸν, μιμούμενος τῶν ἀλόγων τὴν θηριωδίαν· οὐχ ὡς τῶν ἀλόγων κακῶν ὄντων, ἢ λεγομένων, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς ἀτίμου καὶ δουλοπρεποῦς εἰκόνος οὐ πρεπούσης τοῖς ἐλευθέροις. Ὥσπερ γάρ τις ἀνὴρ ἐπίσημος καὶ ἐπίδοξος, ἐὰν ἐνδύσηται ἢ περιβάληται δούλου στολὴν, ὑβρίζεται, καὶ καταισχύνεται, οὐχ ὡς τῆς ἐσθῆτος οὔσης φαύλης καὶ ῥυπαρᾶς, ἀλλ' ὡς δούλῳ μὲν πρεπούσης, ἐλευθέρῳ δὲ μὴ ἁρμοττούσης· οὕτως ἐὰν ἦθος σκορπίου καὶ λύκου ἀναλάβῃς, οὐχ ἡ φύσις τῶν ἀλόγων διαβάλλεται, ἀλλ' ἡ σὴ κατάστασις ὑβρίζεται ἡ δεσποτείαν λαχοῦσα, καὶ τὰ δούλου μεταδιώκουσα. Ταῦτα δέ μοι ἀναγκαίως παρῆκται, ἵνα μηδεὶς εἰς ὕβριν τῆς δημιουργίας ἐκλάβῃ τὰ εἰρημένα, ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ φαῦλόν τι πεποιηκότος· πάντα γὰρ ἀληθῶς καλὰ, καὶ καλὰ λίαν, ἐὰν τὴν οἰκείαν φυλάττῃ τάξιν, καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον μεταδιώκῃ νόμον. Ἵνα δὲ μάθῃς, ἀγαπητὲ, ὅτι οὐδὲν φαῦλον γεγένηται παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ φύσιν, ἐδίδαξεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων τούτων εἰκόνα λαμβάνειν. Ὑπέθηκε γάρ τινα μιμεῖσθαι τῶν ἀλόγων πλεονεκτήματα, ἵνα μὴ διαβάλλωμεν εἰς κακίαν τὰ γεγονότα, οὐ καθόλου τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλ' ὅσα ἁρμόζει λογικῇ καταστάσει. Ἢ οὐκ ἤκουσας σήμερον τοῦ Παροιμιαστοῦ λέγοντος, Πορεύθητι πρὸς τὸν μύρμηκα, ὀκνηρὲ, καὶ ζήλωσον τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ; Οὐ συνῆκας πῶς τὴν τοῦ μύρμηκος φιλοπονίαν ὑποθέμενος, εἰς ἄοκνον ἡμῶν προθυμίαν ἐπαιδαγώγησεν; Οὐκ ἐδιδάξαμέν σε ῥητῶς ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ μύρμηκος τὸ ἄοκνον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς μελίσσης τὸ φιλότεχνον; Ἔστι γὰρ, ἔστιν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἀπανθήσασθαί τινα καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων πλεονεκτήματα ἁρμόζοντα λογικῇ καταστάσει· πλήν γε ταῦτα πρὸς ἡμετέραν λέγονται αἰσχύνην καὶ ὄνειδος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Θεὸν οὐκ ἐμιμήσω, μίμησαι, φησὶ, τὸν μύρμηκα. Οὐκ εἶδές ποτε πατέρα γνήσιον ἐπιτιμῶντα τὰ τέκνα, καὶ μετὰ πολλὴν παιδείαν εἰς μίμησιν αὐτὰ οἰκετῶν ἀνάγοντα, καὶ ταῦτα προφανῶς λέγοντα· Μίμησαι κἂν τὸν οἰκέτην, ὑποδεέστερον μὲν τῇ ἀξίᾳ,