Our
Orthodox faith teaches us, "I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker
of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible." God is the
Creator of all of the visible and invisible world. That is to say, He is the Creator
of the spiritual world (angels); the material world (the sun, the earth, the
stars, and whatever exists in them); and also the world of spirit-matter (man).
Everything has been created "by The Father, through The Son, in the Holy
Spirit." Let us listen to what the Holy Scriptures tell us about this:
"I made earth and man upon it, with My hand I founded the firmament of the
Heavens, I order the course of the stars" (Isaiah, 44:24). The Psalmist
and St. Paul repeat, "Thou, O Lord, in the beginning hast laid the
foundation of the earth; and the Heavens are the work of Thine hands"
(Psalms, 102:25; Hebrews, 1:10).
Holy
Scriptures and Holy Tradition teach us that God created the world out of
nothing. Absolutely nothing. The mother of the Maccabees says to her child,
"I beseech you, my child, to look at Heaven and Earth, and see everything
that is in them and recognize that God did not make them out of things that
existed" (II Macabees, 7:28). She is asking her child to look at the
Heaven and the Earth and to see what there is in them, and to recognize that
God made them from what had not existed; that is to say, from nothing. And the
New Testament tells us, "That the worlds were framed by the word of God so
that things that are seen were not made of things which do appear"
(Hebrews, 11:3). All phenomena were made by the word of God out of things that
had not existed. Our Church and Holy Tradition assure us that God is "He
Who created out of nothing."
Everything
was made by the word of God alone. As we said above, from the Letter to the
Hebrews, "by the Word of God" (Hebrews, 11:3). We find in other parts
of the Holy Scriptures, "By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made . .
. " (Psalms, 33:6). And further down in the same psalm, "For He spake
and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalms, 33:9). In the
Old Testament (Genesis, 1:3-6) we read, "And God said, Let there be light,
and there was light . . . . Let there be a firmament . . . . And it was
done." And so there exists no doubt that it was only by the word of God
that everything was created.
God
created all of this world in six days, as it is told to us in Genesis, the
first book of the Old Testament. But those were not days under the sun as we
know such days today. How could there be days and nights inasmuch as the sun
was created on the fourth day of creation? We must therefore regard those days
as lengthy periods. After all, to God "a thousand years . . . are but as
yesterday" (Psalms, 90:4). Why does God call the periods of creation days?
We do not know. Why did He make the Creation in six days? We do not know. God
could have created everything in a moment with a single word and a single
motion. He preferred this way of creation. It is His privilege. We cannot say
anything about this. We must emphasize here, though, something more important.
When and at what time did God create the world? We are referring to the days of
creation--but when did those days begin? What is time? Did time exist before
the creation of the world? We have said in another section, that God is not
subject to time. He is eternal; He is beyond time. And so we should understand
that time was created together with the creation of the world. The beginning of
the world becomes the beginning of time. Time and the world are synchronous.
Why,
however, did God create the world? Hadn't He been happy by Himself as
Trinitarian God? Did He perhaps need the world? Need us? We build a home out of
the need to live in it. We make automobiles because we need them for transportation.
Is it possible that God had need of the world and that is why He created it?
No. It is blasphemy to believe something like that. God has no needs. Speaking
to God, David says, "O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my
Lord; my goodness extendeth not to Thee [i.e., Thou, O Lord, needeth not my
goodness]" Psalms, 16:2). Then why did God create the world? He created it
out of love. He created it to make it a participant in His glory, joy, and
bliss. God is not selfish. He wants His creation to have and to enjoy whatever
He has. We can say that the cause of the creation of the world is God's Love.
The same God Who is Perfect Love. The purpose of creation is participation in
the joy, the glory, and the bliss of God. Naturally, the creation of the world
bears witness and gives praise to the Power and the Glory of God. We can even
say that this is the purpose of creation; that is to say, the praising of God
by His creatures. However, that is not a servant's work. It is participation in
the glory of God. The one who benefits from it is not God, but we ourselves.
Our Father and Creator, Who by Your Word alone and out of Love
created us from nothing, we raise our voice to You humbly and respectfully. We
glorify You. We thank You for creating us. For granting to us all Your earthly
and material goods. We thank You for Your spiritual goods. For revealing
Yourself to us. For Your Church. For Your sacraments that enable us to
participate in Your Life and Glory even now as we live upon the earth. Hear our
prayer. Do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom. Prepare us for "the
glory that shall be revealed in us" (Romans, 8:18).