Creation in the Light of the Fathers

According to the Holy Fathers, the world was created by God for a specific reason and
purpose. They consider the reason to be Gods endless goodness and love, and taking part of the
fullness of His love as its purpose. In this sense, St. Gregory of Nyssa says that God created man
and the whole universe not because of necessity, but by the virtue of his love. Somebody had to
see the light and to witness His glory, somebody had to take part of his gifts and his goodness. If
all were created out of Gods love, then the purpose of creation is to be communion with the
Trinity, because, God was not pleased with his own contemplation, but through his endless love,
he condescended to create something that would receive his gifts and share his goodness.
Regarding Creation we have two perspectives: I believe that God created the world in the
way it is described in the book of Genesis, or I believe what science says about how the Universe
was created. Either the Bible is wrong, that God lied when he wrote the Scriptures, or science is
lying. If we believe that the Scriptures are true and that they are inspired by God, the question is
how do the Scripture convey that truth? It is important the way how we read Scripture, and how
did the Fathers regard Genesis in relation with faith and science. A point of reference are the
Cappadocian Fathers who had been trained in rhetoric, philosophy, and in science Gregory the
Theologian highlights the relationship between the soul and the body which, according to him,
exist in a mysterious and symbiotic relationship to each other.. Saint Basil the Great is the
clearest one regarding the relationship of faith and science. They felt free to draw lessons from
empirical science, and found coincidences between faith and science. St. Basils approach to
Genesis is free of an agenda of having a perfect agreement between scientific facts and faith. In
his first homily to the six days of creation he says, Let scientists to refute each other. Let us stop
talking about substance (was there preexisting matter-a topic debated in his day)? We have been

persuaded by Moses that God created the heavens and the earth. Lets glorify the Master and
from the beauty of visible things lets form an idea of him who is beyond beauty. Contemplating
the physical universe we know God. To Basil, creation is an expression of God, and through
creation we can learn about God. According to Basil, the Scriptures do not present scientific
theory, although there are passages in Genesis which coincide with what science says. Basil and
the other Cappadocians urge us to allow the biblical narratives to function on their own terms,
not depending on what science concludes. It is God who creates the world, the universe out of
nothing. This message is consistent among the Fathers. Also the Fathers teach us that creation is
good. God created the world good according to the purpose for which it was created: And God
saw that it was good (Genesis 1:25).
Creation in six days points to divine providence. There is a providential ordering of the
world. St Basil says that if there was such a deliberate ordering in the way in which the world
was created, it means that God cares for every moment of creation, for every detail. Furthermore
the Hebrew word yom refers six stages of creation, a complete event, and does not presuppose
a 24 hour period. It presupposes, according to the Fathers that the world was created in a
deliberate providential intentional way.
Another important message which we should take from Genesis 1 is that creation is in,
and through Jesus Christ, understanding Christs agency in the creation of the world. This is
testified in St. Johns Prologue: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3) Also St. Paul says that For him
and through him and to him are all things (Romans 11:36). Also in the Creed we confess that we
believe in [] one Lord Jesus Christ [] by whom all things were made.

In Genesis 1, 26 we do not find the usual expression let there be, but let us make man
in our image and after our likeness. Reading this we understand not only the presence of the
Trinity, of a multi-personal God, but also a particular deliberation regarding the creation of man,
as opposed to the other days of creation. Although apparently all the creatures are destined to the
communion with God, the irrational aspect of creation takes part of Gods communion only through his
greatest creation, which is man. Thus, Saint Maximus the Confessor states that God created the world for
the sake of humanity, and that his project was that the world be led towards the purpose of full
communion with himself, in a special way that is by means of dialogue with humanity. Only humans can
be and become more and more the witness of the glory and goodness of God shown forth through the
world. Thus another important aspect of Creation is the centrality of the human person. Let us make
man dictates that there is a complete irreplaceable uniqueness to the human creation. Nothing in the
material world or in the angelic world is created in Gods image. The human person is unique through its
rational soul, and summarizes the whole of creation.