Hexaemeron

Basil of Caesarea preached these nine sermons on the first chapter of Genesis to his congregation, in morning and evening sittings. They cannot be dated more closely than his years as presbyter and bishop at Caesarea. In the ninth homily he says that he knows the rules of allegory but prefers to take the words of Scripture in their common sense.

The homilies are evidence for how a leading fourth-century bishop read the creation account, not for the events they discuss. In the second homily Basil explains “one day” as the space of a day and a night, twenty-four hours.