On the Beginning

Λέγεται μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ πρώτη κίνησις· ὡς, Ἀρχὴ ὁδοῦ ἀγαθῆς τὸ ποιεῖν δίκαια· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν δικαίων πράξεων πρῶτον κινούμεθα πρὸς τὸν μακάριον Βίον· λέγεται δὲ ἀρχὴ καὶ ὄθεν γίνεταί τι, τοῦ ενυπάρχοντος αὐτῷ ἑτέρου, ὡς ἐπὶ οἰκίας θεμέλιος, καὶ ἐπὶ πλοίου ἡ τρόπις, καθὸ εἴρηται· Ἀρχὴ σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου. Οἴον γὰρ κρηπὶς καὶ βάθρον πρὸς τὴν τελείωσιν ἡ εὐλάβεια. Ἀρχὴ δὲ καὶ τῶν τεχνικῶν ἔργων ἡ τέχνη· ὡς ἡ σοφία Βεσελεὴλ, τοῦ περὶ τὴν σκηνὴν κόσμου. Ἀρχὴ δὲ πράξεων πολλάκις καὶ τὸ εὔχρηστον τέλος τῶν γινομένων· ὡς τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης ἡ παρὰ Θεοῦ ἀποδοχὴ, καὶ πάσης τῆς κατ' ἀρετὴν ἐνεργείας τὸ ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις ἀποκείμενον τέλος. Τοσαυταχῶς οὗν λεγομένης τῆς ἀρχῆς, σκόπει εἰ μὴ πᾶσι τοῖς σημαινομένοις ἡ παροῦσα φωνὴ ἐφαρμόσει. Καὶ γὰρ ἀφ' οὖ χρόνου ἤρξατο ἡ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου σύστασις, δυνατόν σοι μαθεῖν, ἐάν γε, ἐκ τοῦ παρόντος εἰς τὸ κατόπιν ἀναποδίζων, φιλονεικήσῃς. εὐρεῖν τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν τῆς τοῦ κόσμυ γενέσεως. Εὐρήσεις γὰρ οὕτως, πόθεν τῷ χρόνῳ ἡ πρώτη κίνησις, ἔπειτα, ὅτι καὶ οἰονεὶ Θεμέλιοι τινες καὶ κρηπῖδες προκατεβλήθησαν ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆεῖτα, ὅτι ἔστι τις τεχνικὸς λόγος ὁ καθηγησάμενος τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων διακοσμήσεως, ὡς ἐνδείκνυται σοι ἡ φωνὴ τῆς ἀρχῆς· καὶ τὸ μὴ εἰκῆ μηδὲ μάτην, ἀλλὰ πρός τι τέλος ὠφέλιμον καὶ μεγάλην χρείαν τοῖς οὖσι συνεισφερόμενον ἐπινενοῆσθαι τὸν κόσμον, εἴπερ τῷ ὄντι ψυχῶν λογικῶν διδασκαλεῐον καὶ θεογνωσίας ἐστὶ παιδευτήπριον. Ἅγιος Βασιλειος Καισαρείας, Εις Την ῾Εξαημερον

The first movement, then, is called a beginning: ' The beginning of the good way is to do right.'1  For just actions are truly the first steps towards a happy life. Again, we call a beginning the essential and first part from which a thing proceeds, such as the foundation of a house, the keel of a vessel, and it is in this sense that it is said, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,' 2 that is to say that piety is, as it were, the groundwork and foundation of perfection. Art is also the beginning of the works of artists, the skill of Bezaleel beginning the adornment of the tabernacle. Often even the good which is the final cause is the beginning of actions. Thus the approbation of God is the beginning of giving alms, and the end laid up for us in the promises is the beginning of all virtuous efforts. Such being the different senses of the word beginning, see if we have not all the meanings here. You may know the age when the formation of this world began, if, ascending into the past, you endeavour to discover the first day. You will thus find what was the first movement of time; then when the creation of the heavens and of the earth were like the foundation and the groundwork, and afterwards that an intelligent reason, as the word beginning indicates, presided in the order of visible things. And you will finally discover that the world was not conceived by chance and without reason but for a useful end and for the great advantage of all beings, since it is really the school where reasonable souls exercise themselves, the training ground where they learn to know God. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Hexameron, Homily 1 1 Prov 16.7 2 Prov 9.10