Ambrose of Milan : Let everyone be informed that the sun is not the author of vegetation.… How can the sun give the faculty of life to growing plants when these have already been brought forth by the life-giving creative power of God before the sun entered into such a life as this? The sun is younger than the green shoot, younger than the green plant. — The Six Days of Creation Augustine of Hippo : The Manichaeans are accustomed to say, "If God commanded that the edible plants and the fruit trees come forth from the earth, who commanded that there come forth so many thorny or poisonous plants that are useless for food and so many trees that bear no fruit?" … We should say then that the earth was cursed by reason of the sin of man so that it bears thorns, not that it should suffer punishment since it is without sensation but that it should always set before the eyes of man the judgment upon human sin. Thus men might be admonished by it to turn away from sins and to turn to God's commandments. Poisonous plants were created as a punishment or as a trial for mortals. All this is the result of sin. — TWO BOOKS ON GENESIS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 1.13.19 Basil of Caesarea : The adornment of the earth is older than the sun, that those who have been misled may cease worshiping the sun as the origin of life. — HEXAEMERON 5.1 Basil of Caesarea : When I hear "grass," I think of grass, and in the same manner I understand everything as it is said: a plant, a fish, a wild animal and an ox. Indeed, "I am not ashamed of the gospel." … (Some) have attempted by false arguments and allegorical interpretations to bestow on the Scripture a dignity of their own imagining. But theirs is the attitude of one who considers himself wiser than the revelations of the Spirit and introduces his own ideas in pretense of an explanation. Therefore, let it be understood as it has been written. — HEXAEMERON 9.1 Ephrem the Syrian : Although the grasses were only a moment old at their creation, they appeared as if they were months old. Likewise, the trees, although only a day old when they sprouted forth, were nevertheless like trees years old as they were fully grown and fruits were already budding on their branches. The grass that would be required as food for the animals that were to be created two days later was thus made ready. And the new corn that would be food for Adam and his descendants, who would be thrown out of paradise four days later, was thus prepared. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 1.22.1-2 Gregory of Nyssa : For, whereas we learn from Scripture in the account of the first Creation, that first the earth brought forth "the green herb" (as the narrative says), and that then from this plant seed was yielded, from which, when it was shed on the ground, the same form of the original plant again sprang up, the Apostle, it is to be observed, declares that this very same thing happens in the Resurrection also; and so we learn from him the fact, not only that our humanity will be then changed into something nobler, but also that what we have therein to expect is nothing else than that which was at the beginning. In the beginning, we see, it was not an ear rising from a grain, but a grain coming from an ear, and, after that, the ear grows round the grain: and so the order indicated in this similitude clearly shows that all that blessed state, which arises for us by means of the Resurrection is only a return to our pristine state of grace. — On the Soul and the Resurrection John Chrysostom : Hence Scripture shows you everything completed before the creation of this body [the sun] lest you attribute the production of the crops to it instead of to the Creator of all things. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 6.12 John Chrysostom : He created the sun on the fourth day lest you think it is the cause of the day. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 6.14 Origen of Alexandria : "And the earth brought forth the grass of hay sowing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-bearing tree making fruit, whose seed is in itself making fruit according to its kind upon the earth. And God saw that it is good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day." He commands the earth not only to bring forth "the grass of hay," but also to bring forth "seed," so that it may always be able to bear fruit. And he commands not only "the fruit-bearing tree," but also that which "makes fruit whose seed is in itself, according to its kind," that is, so that it may always be able to bear fruit from these seeds which it has in itself. And we too, then, ought thus both to bear fruit as fruit and to have seeds in our very selves, that is, to contain in our heart the seeds of all good works and of all virtues, so that, having these fixed in our minds, we may from them now carry out according to justice all the acts which come upon us. For these are the fruits of that seed, our acts, which are brought forth "from the good treasure of our heart." But if we indeed hear "the word" and from the hearing "immediately" our earth produces grass, and this grass, before it comes to maturity or to fruit, "withers," our earth will be called "rocky." But if the things that are said rest on deeper roots in our heart, so that they both "bear fruit" of works and have in themselves the seeds of future ones, then truly the earth of each one of us bears fruit according to its power, one "a hundredfold," another "sixtyfold," another "thirtyfold." But we have thought it necessary to give this warning also, that our fruit nowhere have "tares," that is, nowhere have "darnel," so that it may not be "along the way," but may be sown in the very way, in that which says: "I am the way," so that "the birds of heaven" may not eat our fruits nor our vineyard. Yet if any of us has deserved to be a vineyard, let him see that he does not bear "thorns" instead of grapes; and on account of this it will then "neither be pruned, nor dug, nor committed to the clouds that they should rain rain upon it," but on the contrary it will be left "deserted," so that "thorns" may grow up upon it. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 1.4 Tertullian : And to such a degree has the Holy Ghost made this the rule of His Scripture, that whenever anything is made out of anything, He mentions both the thing that is made and the thing of which it is made. "Let the earth," says He, "bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, after its kind. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind." ... If the Holy Ghost took upon Himself so great a concern for our instruction, that we might know from what everything was produced, would He not in like manner have kept us well informed about both the heaven and the earth, by indicating to us what it was that He made them of, if their original consisted of any material substance? — Against Hermogenes