Homily on the Sixth and Seventh Days of the Creation of the World
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
By Fr. Daniel Sysoev
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
We see how wisely the Church guides us, showing us in every detail and from every side the greatness of God. Today we conclude the account of how the world came into being. We shall speak about the sixth and the seventh days of Creation — about Friday, the day that completed all creation, and about Saturday, which received the name of the day of rest.
On the sixth day, when the beasts were created, the earth brought forth living creatures possessing sensation and movement, yet not endowed with reason. At this point, the Lord, as it were, pauses in speaking about the creation of the world and begins to take counsel with Himself. Why?
Because the Lord resolved to create an astonishing and inconceivable union. He decided to unite two universes: the visible, material world and the world not perceived by the senses — the invisible or intelligible world. God resolved to bind these two worlds together by creating a flesh-bearing, mammalian angel.
A mammalian angel! What an extraordinary combination God chose to create! Having first revealed His beauty and power in the invisible world by creating the blessed spirits resembling Him — though infinitely distant from His glory — He then created a world entirely unlike Himself: the world of matter. And the Lord decided to unite these two realms and to create, as Saint John of Damascus says, a new worshipper of Himself — a wondrous worshipper combining greatness and lowliness.
Thus the Lord creates a living being, a kind of self-portrait. He fashions him with His own hands from dust and soul.
The Lord says, addressing Someone:
“Let Us make man in Our image and according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).
God the Father speaks to God the Son and to God the Holy Spirit. Let man have dominion over the beasts of the field, over creeping things upon the earth, over the birds of heaven; let him govern the material world.
Thus the Lord decided to create not merely a ruler within creation, but a living image of authority over the earth. For God by His very nature possesses authority over the world. God derives authority from Himself; He is sovereign and the true source of His own being. He is Lord of all because He created all things. Therefore the Lord willed to make a being resembling Himself — one destined to rule the world.
Where must authority begin? With mastery over oneself. Therefore He created man according to His image — that is, according to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is the eternal Image of God the Father. Not without reason did the Lord say:
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
Thus, according to Christ, the eternal Son of the Heavenly Father, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit create man and give him the task of becoming the likeness of the eternal Likeness of the Father. The eternal Likeness of the Father is the Lord God the Holy Spirit; therefore man must become holy in order to become like the Holy Spirit.
Into man is placed this astonishing gift of God — both as a gift and as a task.
Man is truly great, yet not because he is a microcosm. Ancient sages and many modern thinkers say that man’s greatness lies in the fact that everything is united within him. This is true, and in this the magnificent hand of God is indeed revealed. We possess something of stones; within us flow rivers. Just as rivers of water exist upon the earth, so within us flow rivers supplying life — blood moving through channels wisely and beautifully placed within us by the Lord God.
If we examine the structure of the human body, we behold something astonishing. We see the brain, the center of rational activity. No matter more finely organized exists in the universe than the human brain. This marvelous structure enables the soul to communicate with the body, produces thought, and allows the soul to govern the body — and it is protected like a fortress by the skull. Such complexity could never arise by itself.
We possess senses enabling us to perceive the world. After Holy Communion we pray:
“Enlighten the simple substance of our senses.”
What does “simple” mean? It means that all our senses convey to us one unified picture. A drunken man may see two doors instead of one, ten windows instead of five; but in a healthy person all the senses present a single harmonious reality.
Who is the great tuner of this harmony? Surely the Great God, Who placed within us our luminaries — the eyes that perceive the light of the world — Who granted us hearing to receive the beautiful sounds filling the universe, Who gave us the ability to perceive fragrance and taste, Who clothed us with skin both as adornment and protection, and Who most delicately attuned all our senses.
The entire world is, as it were, reflected within us. We have bones like mountains; muscles like the earth’s soil; vegetation upon our heads like the plant life of the world. A direct kinship with creation is evident.
Yet man’s greatness does not lie in this.
Why does such kinship exist at all? Because God intended man to be ruler over creation — related to the world, yet at the same time higher than it.
Man’s true greatness lies in being created according to the image of God. It is vain for man to boast that he is merely a microcosm. As Gregory the Theologian said, when man boasts of being a microcosm, he boasts of kinship with lice and mice — and after the Fall there appeared within him fox-like cunning, serpentine deceit, and swinish passions. Originally this was not so; originally man corresponded to his highest calling.
What is greatest in man is that we are created in God’s image; we bear the imprint of Jesus Christ Himself, the imprint of His Person. For this reason we are directed toward eternity from the beginning. Man can never be satisfied by anything on earth. If he were merely earthly, earthly things would satisfy him. Yet man is insatiable — insatiable in wealth, insatiable in lust — seeking pleasure yet never finding fulfillment.
Man was created insatiable because he will be satisfied only when he appears in the glory of God. As David says in the Psalms:
“I shall be satisfied when I appear before Your face.”
This is the imprint of God’s image within us. Our spirit, created according to God’s image and breathed into us by divine breath, lifts us toward God and does not allow us to find rest here.
Here lies our greatness: we are created as “distant worshippers,” as Gregory the Theologian and John of Damascus say — worshippers of the Heavenly God while standing upon the earth. We were created not to serve anyone except God. Animals were created to serve us; we were created to serve God alone.
We are given the highest calling and honor: to worship God, glorify Him, and possess His life within us. Being created in His image, we possess kinship with Him and are called to attain God-likeness — deification — through participation in divine life and glory by following the evangelical virtues and through participation in the Holy Mysteries.
Thus man is gradually transformed into a super-human being — God by grace. For whoever loves the Son becomes a son; whoever loves God becomes god by grace. Therefore the Lord said:
“You are gods” (John 10:34).
A fearful greatness is placed within man. Each of us, being an image of God, contains immeasurable depth. God is infinite; Christ in His divinity is infinite. As God fills the universe, so His Word fills heaven and earth. And as the Lord said:
“No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man who is in heaven” (John 3:13).
Christ is everywhere present in His divinity, though limited in His humanity. Likewise man bears within himself a longing for the infinite — an immeasurable abyss hidden in the depths of the heart. If we cleanse ourselves from sin, we shall become beings of light. As Gregory the Theologian taught: God is the First Light, the Angel the second light, and Man the third light.
We possess an inner radiance capable of opening toward the Infinite God, the Primal Light. We may behold God face to face because the divine image was impressed upon us at creation. Therefore nothing earthly can satisfy man; a heavenly attraction draws him upward from the beginning.
Yet something astonishing remains: terrible cruelty may also appear in man. The abyss within him is so great that he may oppose God endlessly, corrupting himself without limit.
But an even greater abyss exists in the saints. The saint is deeper than even the greatest sinner, for within him is revealed not only created human infinity but participation in the infinity of God Himself. Drawing from divine life, he becomes what he was intended to be from the beginning.
Often we falsely humble ourselves, saying, “We are small people; where can we attain greatness?” Yet God says: I created you to be great — in love, mercy, meekness, humility — great by My power. How dare we refuse His greatness? He created our hearts for Himself. We did not create ourselves; therefore we have no right to destroy ourselves by trivial pursuits.
Consider when God rests: He rested after creating man and giving him the first commandment — the command concerning fasting, plant food. Seeing that all He had made was very good, He rested from His works.
God found rest when He created man — and He will rest again when He brings man to his final goal, when human beings become living likenesses of Him, for which they were created.
If we reject this goal, we cease to be truly human. Just as a device without wheels or engine cannot be called a car, so one who rejects God-likeness cannot truly be called man.
Remember: here lies our purpose, our greatness, our beauty. Today the Church reminds us that fasting exists precisely so that we may attain this ultimate goal — likeness to God, without which human life has no meaning.
May God help you!
Lord, save us!
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
