The Eastern Cross/Library/The Hexaemeron
The Hexaemeron
Homilies on the six days of creation
St. Basil the Great · image, public domain
St. Basil preached these nine sermons on the first chapter of Genesis during Lent, morning and evening, to working people of Caesarea. He walks through the days of creation and stops to wonder at the sea, the plants, the birds and the animals.
He wants his hearers to come away seeing the world as the work of a wise and loving God.
Contents
- 1Homily 1: In the Beginning God made the Heaven and the Earth20 min read
- 2Homily 2: “The Earth was Invisible and Unfinished.”20 min read
- 3Homily 3: On the Firmament20 min read
- 4Homily 4: Upon the gathering together of the waters15 min read
- 5Homily 5: The Germination of the Earth20 min read
- 6Homily 6: The creation of luminous bodies30 min read
- 7Homily 7: The creation of moving creatures15 min read
- 8Homily 8: The creation of fowl and water animals20 min read
- 9Homily 9: The creation of terrestrial animals20 min read
About this edition
Translated by Blomfield Jackson, in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 8 (1895), edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace.
This translation is in the public domain. We took the text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and left out the editors’ footnotes.
Books help, but they don’t replace the life of the Church. If something here raises a question, bring it to your priest. No parish yet? Find one near you.