In today's post, the focus is the days of creation, as Patristic interpretations of the 'fifth day' can, I think, provide a helpful interpretative lens for the psalms St Benedict placed on the fifth day of the week at Vespers.
The Vespers hymns
The idea that there might be a connection between the of particular to each day of the week and the days of creation is at least implied by the set of hymns assigned to Vespers throughout the year, long attributed to St Gregory the Great.
Each of these hymns (with the exception of the hymn of Saturday), takes as its starting point the day of creation, and then includes some prayers and lessons linked to the particular day of creation.
The hymn for Thursday, for example, is Magnae Deus Potentiae, which in the English translation by Edward Caswell begins as follows:
Lord of all power, at whose command, the waters, from their teeming womb, brought forth the countless tribes of fish, and birds of every note and plume.
Who didst, for natures link’d in birth, far different homes of old prepare; sinking the fishes in the sea; lifting the birds aloft in air.
Lo! born of thy baptismal wave, we ask of thee, O Lord divine, keep us, whom thou hast sanctified in thy own blood, for ever thine.
The psalms of the day and the days of creation
The idea that at least one of the psalms each day contains a reference to the relevant day of creation, though, is not obvious on a simple reading of the psalms with modern eyes.
There is, it is true, one quite literal references to the relevant day of creation in the Vespers psalms: Psalm 135, said on Wednesday at Vespers, contains a fairly straightforward paraphrase of the days of creation up to the fourth day in its litany:
Who made the heavens in understanding...Who established the earth above the waters...Who made the great lights...The sun to rule the day...The moon and the stars to rule the night...
One such reference alone though, could be simply coincidence.
In reality, there are, I believe, allusions to the relevant day of creation on each day at Vespers (Saturday excepted, since the seventh day has no evening in the Scriptural account).
Most of these allusions, though, depend on the allegorical interpretations of the psalms beloved of the Fathers, but long been out of favour with modern exegetes.
The first group of such allusions depend on typological readings of inanimate events as symbolic, both following an established pattern, and foreshadowing something yet to come.
Just as on day two of creation, God divided the firmament, separating the sky from the waters below it, for example; so too the Red Sea and river Jordan were divided at key points in salvation history, allowing the people to pass through, and pointing us to the sacrament of baptism. And both these events are referred to in Psalm 113, said on Monday (feria secunda, or day two of the week) at Vespers in the Benedictine Office.
A second group of allusions depend on a purely allegorical interpretation of the days of creation in reference to people.
St Ambrose, for example, drawing on St Basil the Great, made a connection between the gathering together of the waters into one place on the third day of creation, and the gathering together of Christians into the Church. Psalm 132, said at Tuesday Vespers, with its reference to 'brothers living together as one' can be seen as reflecting exactly this typology.
Day 5 of creation: fish, sea animals, birds
When it comes to the fifth day of creation, and the creation of sea creatures and birds, there are at least a few references in Psalm 138 that could perhaps be interpreted as typological references to the fifth day of creation, most notably in the verse 'If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea'.
This verse fits rather better though, if read in the light of the broader allegorical interpretation of the fifth day as a whole, and since most later interpretations of the day (including those of SS Basil, Ambrose and Augustine) were heavily influenced by that of Origen, so I start from his sermon on the topic to tease out the basic approach and concepts.
Sea creatures and birds as good and evil thoughts
Origen introduced his commentary by arguing that at the allegorical level, the creation of sea creatures and birds is akin to bringing our thoughts, both good and evil, out into the open:
According to the letter "creeping creatures" and "birds" are brought forth by the waters at the command of God and we recognize by whom these things which we see have been made. But let us see how also these same things come to be in our firmament of heaven, that is, in the firmness of our mind or heart.
I think that if our mind has been enlightened by Christ, our sun, it is ordered afterwards to bring forth from these waters which are in it "creeping creatures" and "birds which fly," that is, to bring out into the open good or evil thoughts that there might be a distinction of the good thoughts from the evil, which certainly both proceed from the heart. For both good and evil thoughts are brought forth from our heart as from the waters.
Creeping creatures of the sea, he goes on to suggest, represent our evil thoughts and actions; the birds our thoughts when we flee from temptation and sin towards heaven, and thus escape the snares set for us by the devil.
It is noteworthy then, that the three of Thursday Vespers all contain references to both good and evil thoughts, and our hearts and minds.
Psalm 138 opens with the recognition that God scrutinises the psalmist's thoughts, and concludes with his condemnation of all evil ones; Psalm 139 focuses on the evil plans concocted in the 'hearts' of evildoers; and Psalm 140 includes pleas for God to guard our hearts from the temptation to evil in Psalm 140.
God's scrutiny and guidance
The allegorical connections, though, go deeper than this, for Origen goes on to argue that the reason that these things are brought forth is firstly so that we can place our thoughts before God, and obtain his guidance and judgment in order to separate the good from the evil:
But by the word and precept of God let us offer both to God's view and judgment that, with his enlightenment we may be able to distinguish what is evil from the good, that is, that we may separate from ourselves those things which creep upon the earth and bear earthly cares... I think impious thoughts and abominable understandings which are against God are indicated in those great whales. All of these, nevertheless, are to be brought forth in the sight of God and placed before him that we may divide and separate the good from the evil, that the Lord might allot to each its place...
This idea is surely reflected also in several verses of Thursday's psalms. Psalm 138, for example, concludes:
Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths. And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way
Similarly, Psalm 140 contains pleas to help the psalmist stay on the right track, and for him to be corrected when he falls off it, and avoid pride, in contrast to the fate of those false judges, dashed against the rocks.
Note then, the final verse of Thursday's Vespers hymn:
Ut culpa nullum déprimat: Nullum levet iactántia: Elísa mens ne cóncidat: Eláta mens ne córruat.
Caswell's translation of it reads:
Safe from all pride, as from despair; Not sunk too low, nor raised too high: Lest raised by pride, we headlong fall; Sunk in despair, lie down and die.”
We grow through adversity
Perhaps the most intriguing part of Origen's analysis is his discussion of how God could say that the creations of the day 'were good' if the things created represent evil thoughts as well as good.
The answer he supplies is that we grow in holiness by facing up to and overcoming adversity:
But someone asks how the great whales and creeping creatures are interpreted as evil and the birds as good when Scripture said about all together, "And God saw that they were good." Those things which are opposed to the saints are good for them because they can overcome them and when they have overcome them they become more glorious with God. Indeed when the devil requested that power be given to him against Job, the adversary, by attacking him, was the cause of double glory for Job after his victory. What is shown from the fact that he received double those things which he lost in the present is that he will, without doubt, also receive in the same manner in the heavenly places.
And the Apostle says that "No one is crowned except the one who has striven lawfully."" And indeed, how will there be a contest if there not be one who resists? How great the beauty and splendor is of light would not be discerned unless the darkness of night intervened. Why are some praised for purity unless because others are condemned for immodesty? Why are strong men magnified unless weak and cowardly men exist? If you use what is bitter then what is sweet is rendered more praiseworthy. If you consider what is dark, the things which are bright will appear more pleasing to you. And, to put it briefly, from the consideration of evil things the glory of good things is indicated more brilliantly.
The three psalms of Thursday Vespers, I would suggest, all echo this theme strongly, in dwelling on the persecution of, and traps set for the good.
Indeed, St Augustine stretches the analogy even further to suggests that God's instruction to multiply and increase can be indirectly linked to the multiplication of sins that necessitated Christ's Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection:
Here we should, of course, note that God blessed those animals, when he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea, and let the flying things multiply above the earth.” For, from the time of their dispersal among the nations, the nation of the Jews really grew greatly in number. The evening of this day, that is, of this age, is the multiplication of sins among the people of the Jews, who became so blind that they could not recognize even the Lord, Jesus Christ.
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