Basil of Caesarea

One who is in the temple of God does not speak out abuse or folly or words full of shameful matters, but “in his temple all shall speak his glory.” … This one duty, referring glory to the Creator, belongs to every army of heavenly creatures. Every creature, whether silent or uttering sound, whether celestial or terrestrial, gives glory to the Creator. But wretched people who leave their homes and run to the temple, as if to enrich themselves somewhat, do not lend their ears to the words of God; they do not possess a knowledge of their nature; they are not distressed, although they have previously committed sin; they do not grieve at remembering their sins, nor do they fear the judgment; but, smiling and shaking hands with one another, they make the house of prayer a place of lengthy conversation, pretending not to hear the psalm that solemnly protests and says, “In the temple of God all shall speak his glory.” You not only do not speak his glory, but you even become a hindrance to the other, turning his attention to yourself and drowning out the teaching of the spirit by your own clamor. See to it that you do not at some time leave condemned along with those blaspheming the name of God instead of receiving a reward for glorifying him. You have a psalm; you have a prophecy, the evangelical precepts, the preachings of the apostles. Let the tongue sing, let the mind interpret the meaning of what has been said, that you may sing with your spirit, that you may sing likewise with your mind. Not at all is God in need of glory, but he wishes you to be worthy of winning glory. Therefore, “what a person sows, he will also reap.” Sow glorification, that you may reap crowns and honors and praises in the kingdom of heaven. This statement, “In his temple all shall speak his glory,” was made not unfittingly in a digression, because some in the temple of God talk endlessly until their tongue aches; and these enter without profit.

They who are engaged in the examination of the reason for virtues have said that some of the virtues spring from contemplation and some are noncontemplative … beauty and strength are noncontemplative virtues since they follow from the contemplative.… But, for this, namely, that beauty may exist in the soul and also the power for the fulfillment of what is proper, we need divine grace.… For I was beautiful according to nature but weak, because I was dead by sin through the treachery of the serpent. To my beauty, then, which I received from you at the beginning of my creation, you added a strength that is appropriate for what is proper. Every soul is beautiful that is considered by the standard of its own virtues. But beauty, true and most lovely, that can be contemplated by him alone who has purified his mind, is that of the divine and blessed nature. One who gazes steadfastly at the splendor and graces of it receives some share from it, as if from an immersion tingeing his own face with a sort of brilliant radiance.… Moses also was made resplendent in face by receiving some share of beauty when he held converse with God. Therefore, one who is conscious of his own beauty utters this act of thanksgiving: “O Lord, in your favor, you gave strength to my beauty.”

“If you see the heavens,” he says, “and the order in them,” they are a guide to faith, for through themselves they show the Craftsman; and, if you see the orderly arrangement about the earth, again through these things also your faith in God is increased. In fact, it is not by acquiring knowledge of God with our carnal eyes that we believe in him, but by the power of the mind we have perceived the invisible God through visible things. Therefore, “all his works are done with faithfulness.” Even if you consider the stone, it also possesses a certain proof of the power of its Maker. Likewise, if you consider the ant or the gnat or the bee. Frequently in the smallest objects the wisdom of the Creator shines forth. He who unfolded the heavens and poured out the boundless expanses of the seas, he it is who hollowed out the very delicate sting of the bee like a tube, so that through it the poison might be poured out. Therefore “all his works are done with faithfulness.” Do not say, “This happened by chance” and “that occurred accidentally.” Nothing is casual, nothing indeterminate, nothing happens at random, nothing among things that exist is caused by chance. And do not say, “It is a bad mishap,” or “it is an evil hour.” These are the words of the untaught. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall” without the divine will. How many are the hairs of your head? Not one of them will be forgotten. Do you see the divine eye, how none of the least trifles escapes its glance?

Where are those who set at naught the Spirit? Where are those who separate it from the creative power? Where are those who dissever it from union with the Father and Son? Let them hear the psalm that says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.” The term “Word” will not be considered as this common form of diction that consists of names and expressions; nor will the Spirit be considered as vapor poured out in the air but as the Word, which was in the beginning with God, and as the Holy Spirit, which has obtained appellation as its own. As, then, the Creator, the Word, firmly established the heavens, so the Spirit, which is from God, which proceeds from the Father, that is, which is from his mouth (that you may not judge that it is some external object or some creature but may glorify it as having its substance from God) brings with it all the powers in him.… Since, then, the Savior is the Word of the Lord and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit from his mouth, both joined with him in the creation of the heavens and the powers in them, and for this reason the statement was made: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.” For nothing is made holy except by the presence of the Spirit.

The reasons according to which he dispenses all things individually are stored up only in the knowledge of God. In fact, we learned in another psalm, which said, “Thy judgments are a great deep,” that the judgments made about each one are called a deep. Therefore, if you seek to know why the life of a sinner is continued but the days of sojourning of the just are cut short; why the unjust thrive but a just person is afflicted; why the young child is snatched away before coming to maturity; whence are wars; why there are shipwrecks, earthquakes, droughts, heavy rains; why things destructive of people are created; why one person is a slave, another free, one is rich, another is poor (and the difference in sins and in virtuous actions is great; she who was sold to a brothel keeper is in sin by force, but she who immediately obtained a good master grows up with virginity); why this one is treated with kindness and that one condemned; and what is the reward in the case of each of these from the Judge; taking all these questions into your mind, consider that the judgments of God are the depths and, because they are enclosed in the divine storehouses, are not easily grasped by those encountering them. To one who believes, a promise is given by God: “I will give you hidden treasures, unseen ones.” When we have been deemed worthy of knowledge face to face, we shall see also the depths in the storehouses of God.

Consider the lofty spectator; consider him who is bending down regarding the affairs of humankind. Wherever you may go, whatever you may do, whether in the darkness or in the daytime, you have the eye of God watching. “From his habitation that he has prepared.” The gates are not being opened, the curtains are not being drawn together, the habitation of God is ready for viewing. He looks on all people. No one escapes his sight; no darkness, no concealing walls, nothing is a hindrance to the eyes of God. He is so far from failing to look on each individually that he even looks into the hearts, which he himself formed without any admixture of evil. God, the Creator of humankind, made the heart simple according to his saving image; but later we made it, by union with passions of the flesh, a complicated and manifold heart, destroying its likeness to God, its simplicity and its integrity. Since he is the Maker of hearts, therefore, he understands all our works. But we call both words and thoughts and, in general, every movement of a person, his works. With what feelings or for what purpose they are, whether to please people or to perform the duties of the commands given us by God, he alone knows, who understands all our works. Therefore, for every idle word we give an account. Even for a cup of cold water, we do not lose our reward, because the Lord understands all our works.