“And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ The first word of God created the nature of light, did away with the darkness, put an end to the gloom, brightened up the world, and bestowed upon all things in general a beautiful and pleasant appearance.
The heavens, so long buried in darkness, appeared, and their beauty was such as even yet our eyes bear witness to. The air was illuminated, or rather, it held the whole light completely permeating it, sending out dazzling rays in every direction to its uttermost bounds.
It reached upward even to the ether itself and the heavens, and in extent it illuminated in a swift moment of time all parts of the world, north and south and east and west. For, such is the nature of ether, so rare and transparent, that the light passing through it needs no interval of time. …
And the air is more pleasant after the light, and the waters brighter, since they not only admit but also return the brightness from themselves by the reflection of the light, the sparkling rays rebounding from all parts of the water. The divine word transformed all things into a most pleasing and excellent state. …
The Creator of all things, by His word instantly put the gracious gift of light in the world. … ‘Let there be light.’ In truth, the command was itself the act, and a condition of nature was produced than which is not possible for human reasoning’s to conceive anything more delightfully enjoyable. …
But, if beauty in the body has its being from the symmetry of its parts with each other and from the appearance of beautiful color, how, in the case of light, which is simple in nature and similar in parts, is the idea of beauty preserved? Or, is it that the symmetry of light is not evinced in its individual parts but in the joy and pleasure at the visual impression?
In this way even gold is beautiful, which holds an attraction and pleasure for the sight, not from the symmetry of its parts, but from the beauty of its color alone. And the evening star is the most beautiful of the stars, not because the parts of which it was formed are proportionate, but because from it there falls upon our eyes a certain joyous and delightful brightness.
Then, too, the judgment of God concerning the goodness of light has been made, and He looks not wholly at the pleasure in the sight but also looks forward to the future advantage.
For, there were not yet eyes able to discern the beauty in light. ‘And God separated the light from the darkness.’ That is, God made their natures incapable of mixing and in opposition, one to the other. For, He divided and separated them with a very great distinction between them. …
The condition in the world before the creation of light was not night, but darkness.” (Saint Basil, Exegetic Homilies, pp 31-33)
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