Man and Other Things of Nature

Καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὤν, οὐ συνῆκε· παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιώθη αὐτοῖς. Μεγα ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων, τὸ τίμιον ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ κατασκευῇ ἔχων. Τί γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἄλλο κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος γέγονε; Τίνι ἡ κατὰ πάντων ἀπχὴ καὶ ἐξουσία τῶν τε χερσαίων καὶ ἐνύδρων καὶ ἐναερίων ζώων κεχάρισται; Βραχὺ μὲν ὑποβέβηκε τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀξίαν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γεῶδες σῶμα συγάφειαν· τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄνθρωπον ἐποίησεν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, 'καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πυρὺς φλόγα'· ἀλλ' ὄμως ἤ γε τοῦ νοεῖν καὶ συνιέναι τὸν ἑαυτῶν Κτίστην καὶ Δημιουργὸν δύναμις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὑπάρχει. Ἐνεφύσησε γὰρ εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον· τουτέστι, μοῖράν τινα τῆς ἰδίας χάριστος ἐναπέθετο τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἵνα τῷ ὁμοίῳ ἐπιγινώσκῃ τὸ ὅμοιον. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐν τιμῇ ὤν τηλικαύτῃ, ἐκ τοῦ δεδημιουργῆσθαι κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὑπὲρ οὐρανὸν, ὑπὲρ ἥλιον, ὑπὲρ τὰς τῶν ἀστέρων χορείας τετιμημένος (τις γὰρ τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰκὼν εἴρηται τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; ποίαν δὲ ἥλιος εἰκόνα σώζει τοῦ κτίσαντος; τί ἡ σελήνη; τί οἱ λιοποὶ ἀστέπες; ἄψυχα μὲν καὶ ὑλικὰ, διαφανῆ δὲ μόνον τὰ σώματα κεκτημένοι, ἐν οἶς οὐδαμοῦ διάνοια, οὐ προαιρετικαὶ κινήσεις, οὐκ αὐτεξουσιότητος ἐλευθερία· ἀλλὰ δοῦλά ἔστι τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης, καθ' ἢν ἀπαραλλάκτως ἀεὶ περὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφεταἰ)· ὑπὲρ οὖν ταῦτα ταῖς τιμαῖς προηγμένος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐ συνῆκεν, ἀλλὰ καταλιπὼν τὸ ἔπεσθαι Θεῷ, καὶ ὁμοιοῦσθαι τῷ κτίσαντι, δοῦλος γενόμενος τῶν παθῶν τῆς σαρκὸς, 'Παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὠμοιωθη αὐτοῐς.' Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός ΜΗ'

And a man when he is in honour, he does not understand, he is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is similar to them. A great thing is a man and honourable the man of mercy, having honour in his natural state. What else indeed is there on the earth that is the image of the Creator? To whom was given first place and power among all the terrestrial animals, and those in the water and the creatures of the air? Certainly he is a little inferior to the angels in worth, because when he was joined to his earthly body, for though indeed man was made from earth, and 'His servants are flame of fire'1, certainly that power of intellect and knowing The Creator made inhere in him, that is, some part of his own grace he mixed in man, that he might know he was like him. So when in such honour he is, when he conducts himself as an image of his Creator, greater is his honour than the sky, the sun and the chorus of the stars, for what in the heavens is said to be an image of the most high God? Does the sun serve as an image of the Creator? The moon? The stars? They are inanimate bodies made from matter granted brightness in which is no mind at all, no motion of will, no intrinsic freedom, but on them is imposed slavish service of necessity, and ever without change they turn on their courses. A man, I say, is more honorable than that, yet when a man does not understand, it follows that he neglects to be similar to his Creator, and he is made a slave of the desires of the flesh, and so 'He is fashioned like the irrational beasts and is similar to them.' Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 48 1 Ps 103.4