Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

This was the vision of the likeness of the Lord’s glory. And I saw and fell on my face and I heard the voice of one speaking. And he said to me, “Son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak to you.” And the spirit came upon me and took me up and lifted me up and made me stand on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I am dispatching you to the house of Israel who provoke me, they and their fathers who have provoked me up to the present day. And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says!’ whether they hear or are terrified, because it is a rebellious house, and they will know that you are a prophet in their midst. And you, son of man, do not be frightened by them or confounded by them, because they will incite and gather against you, and you dwell in the midst of scorpions; do not be frightened by their words or be confounded by their face, because it is a rebellious house. And you shall tell them my words, whether they hear or are terrified, because it is a rebellious house. (Ezekiel 2:1–7 LXX)

It is a sign of great mercy that God sends him to people like these, and that He does not give up hope for their salvation; and it is also a sign of the prophet’s boldness that he does not fear to go to such as these. Now we should understand of a hard face and of an obstinate heart in accordance with what is said to the sinner: “Your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brazen.” They are the ones who are rebuked in what follows for having a stony heart, which God says He will remove and shall put in its place a fleshly one, so that it might receive God’s precepts with their own softness.

Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 1.2.4

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. (Mark 6:4–6)

Can and cannot may denote something which is contrary to the will, as in the text: He could do no deed of power there because of unbelief, that is, the unbelief of those who should have received Him. For since a healing requires both faith in the patient and power in the Healer, when one of the two was absent the other was impossible. But probably this use of cannot is related to the sense of something unreasonable. For healing is not reasonable in the case of those who would afterwards be injured by unbelief. The same sense applies to the saying, The world cannot hate you, as well as to the saying, How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For how is either of these things impossible, except that it is contrary to the will? There is a somewhat similar meaning in the texts which imply that a thing impossible by nature is possible to God if He so wills—as that a man cannot be born a second time, or that the eye of a needle will not let a camel through it. For what could prevent either of these things happening, if God so willed? And besides all this, there is the absolutely impossible and inadmissible, such as what we are now examining. For as we assert that it is impossible for God to be evil or not to exist—for this would indicate weakness in God rather than strength—or for the non-existent to exist, or for two and two to make both four and ten, so it is impossible and inconceivable that the Son should do anything that the Father does not do.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Son, 2 10–11

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday after Pentecost

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:20–30)

No one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit can imagine saying “anathema” to Jesus. No one in the Spirit would deny that Christ is the Son of God, or reject God as Creator. No believer would utter such things contrary to Scriptures, or substitute alien or sacrilegious ordinances contrary to moral principles. But if anyone shamelessly blasphemes against this same Holy Spirit, he “does not have forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.” For it is the Spirit who through the apostles offers testimony to Christ, who in the martyrs manifests unwavering faith, and who in the lives of the chaste embraces the admirable continence of sealed chastity. It is the Spirit who, among the whole church, guards the laws of the Lord's teaching uncorrupted and untainted, destroys heretics, corrects those in error, reproves unbelievers, reveals impostors, and corrects the wicked.

Novatian, The Trinity 29

He is the subject, not the object, of hallowing, apportioning, participating, filling, sustaining. We share in him; he shares in nothing. He is our inheritance, he is glorified, counted together with Father and Son. He is a dire warning to us, the “finger of God.” The Spirit is, like God, a “fire.” This means that the Holy Spirit is of the same essential nature as the Father. The Spirit is the very One who created us and creates us anew through baptism and resurrection. The Spirit knows all things, teaches all things, moves where and when and as strongly as he wills. He leads, speaks, sends, and separates those who are vexed and tempted. He reveals, illumines, gives life, or better said, he is himself light and life. He makes us his temple, he sanctifies, he makes us complete. He both goes before baptism and follows after it. All that the Godhead actively performs, the Spirit performs.

Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 31, “On the Holy Spirit” 29

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Lent

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. (John 3:14–21)

What He says, is of this kind: Marvel not that I am to be lifted up that you may be saved, for this seems good to the Father, and He has so loved you as to give His Son for slaves, and ungrateful slaves. Yet a man would not do this even for a friend, nor readily even for a righteous man; as Paul has declared when he said, Scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Now he spoke at greater length, as speaking to believers, but here Christ speaks concisely, because His discourse was directed to Nicodemus, but still in a more significant manner, for each word has much significance. For by the expression, so loved, and that other, God the world, He shows the great strength of His love. Large and infinite was the interval between the two. He, the Immortal, Who is without beginning, the Infinite Majesty, they but dust and ashes, full of ten thousand sins, who, ungrateful, have at all times offended Him; and these He loved. Again, the words which He added after these are alike significant, when He says, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, not a servant, not an Angel, not an Archangel. And yet no one would show such anxiety for his own child, as God did for His ungrateful servants.

John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 27.2

Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of His divinity when He saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but He was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam's creator. He who has no body clothed Himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound Himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet He was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but He rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before Him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of His humanity; on the other, the riches of His divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on Himself for love of you.

Gregory Nazianzen, Poem 2

Patristic Wisdom for Christmas Day

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. (Luke 2:1–20)

For He Whom you now treat with contempt was once above you. He Who is now Man was once the Uncompounded. What He was He continued to be; what He was not He took to Himself. In the beginning He was, uncaused; for what is the Cause of God? But afterwards for a cause He was born. And that came was that you might be saved, who insult Him and despise His Godhead, because of this, that He took upon Him your denser nature, having converse with Flesh by means of Mind. While His inferior Nature, the Humanity, became God, because it was united to God, and became One Person because the Higher Nature prevailed in order that I too might be made God so far as He is made Man. He was born—but He had been begotten: He was born of a woman—but she was a Virgin. The first is human the second Divine. In His Human nature He had no Father, but also in His Divine Nature no Mother. Both these belong to Godhead. He dwelt in the womb—but He was recognized by the Prophet, himself still in the womb, leaping before the Word, for Whose sake He came into being. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes—but He took off the swathing bands of the grave by His rising again. He was laid in a manger—but He was glorified by Angels, and proclaimed by a star, and worshiped by the Magi.

Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 29.19 “On the Son”

Look not therefore upon Him Who was laid in the manger as a babe merely, but in our poverty see Him Who as God is rich, and in the measure of our humanity Him Who excels the inhabitants of heaven, and Who therefore is glorified even by the holy angels. And how noble was the hymn, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and among men good will!” For the angels and archangels, thrones and lordships, and high above them the Seraphim, preserving their settled order, are at peace with God: for never in any way do they transgress His good pleasure, but are firmly established in righteousness and holiness. But we, wretched beings, by having set up our own lusts in opposition to the will of our Lord, had put ourselves into the position of enemies unto Him. But by Christ this has been done away: for He is our peace; for He has united us by Himself unto God the Father, having taken away from the middle the cause of the enmity, even sin, and so justifies us by faith, and makes us holy and without blame, and calls near unto Him those who were afar off: and besides this, He has created the two people into one new man, so making peace, and reconciling both in one body to the Father. For it pleased God the Father to form into one new whole all things in Him, and to bind together things below and things above, and to make those in heaven and those on earth into one flock. Christ therefore has been made for us both Peace and Goodwill; by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be glory and honor and might with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever, Amen.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday in Lent

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42–45)

Moreover, he is called Light as being the Brightness of souls cleansed by word and life. For if ignorance and sin be darkness, knowledge and a godly life will be Light. … And He is called Life because He is Light, and is the constituting and creating Power of every reasonable soul. For in Him we live and move and have our being, according to the double power of that Breathing into us; for we were all inspired by Him with breath, and as many of us as were capable of it, and in so far as we open the mouth of our mind, with God the Holy Spirit. He is Righteousness because He distributes according to that which we deserve, and is a righteous Arbiter both for those who are under the Law and for those who are under Grace, for soul and body, so that the former should rule, and the latter obey, and the higher have supremacy over the lower; that the worse may not rise in rebellion against the better. He is Sanctification, as being Purity, that the Pure may be contained by Purity. And Redemption, because He sets us free, who were held captive under sin, giving Himself a Ransom for us, the Sacrifice to make expiation for the world. And Resurrection, because He raises up from hence, and brings to life again us, who were slain by sin.

Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 30.20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Then the people came to Moses, and were saying, “We sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and against you; therefore, pray to the Lord, and let Him take away the serpent from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a serpent for yourself and put it on a signal pole; and it shall be if a serpent should bite someone, when the one bitten looks at it, he shall live.” So Moses made a copper serpent and put it on a signal pole; and it happened, when a serpent bit anyone, and he looked at the copper serpent, he lived. (Num 21:7–9)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:14–17)

This was the figure which Moses completed by fixing the serpent to a cross, that whoever had been bitten by the living serpent, and looked to the brazen serpent, might be saved by believing. Does then the brazen serpent save when crucified, and shall not the Son of God incarnate save when crucified also? On each occasion, life comes by means of wood. For in the time of Noah the preservation of life was by an ark of wood. In the time of Moses, the sea, on beholding the emblematical rod, was abashed at him who smote it; is then Moses’ rod mighty, and is the Cross of the Saviour powerless? But I pass by the greater part of the types, to keep within measure. The wood in Moses’ case sweetened the water; and from the side of Jesus, the water flowed upon the wood.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 13.20

On what principle did the Blood of His Only-begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being offered by his father, but changed the sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human victim? Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honor of the Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things? So much we have said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say shall be reverenced with silence. But that brazen serpent was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a contrast; and it saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live, but because it was killed, and killed with it the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” You are overthrown by the Cross; you are slain by Him who is the Giver of life; you are without breath, dead, without motion, even though you keep the form of a serpent lifted up on high on a pole.

Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 45.22 

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Sunday

“Jonah and the Whale” by Carlo Antonio Tavella

 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lᴏʀᴅ.  He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lᴏʀᴅ.… So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lᴏʀᴅ, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”  Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?”  For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.  (Jon 1:3, 9–10)

But, as I have learned from a man skilled in these subjects, and able to grasp the depth of the prophet, by means of a reasonable explanation of what seems unreasonable in the history, it was not this which caused Jonah to flee, and carried him to Joppa and again from Joppa to Tarshish, when he entrusted his stolen self to the sea: for it was not likely that such a prophet should be ignorant of the design of God, viz., to bring about, by means of the threat, the escape of the Ninevites from the threatened doom, according to His great wisdom, and unsearchable judgments, and according to His ways which are beyond our tracing and finding out; nor that, if he knew this he would refuse to co-operate with God in the use of the means which He designed for their salvation.   Besides, to imagine that Jonah hoped to hide himself at sea, and escape by his flight the great eye of God, is surely utterly absurd and stupid, and unworthy of credit, not only in the case of a prophet, but even in the case of any sensible man, who has only a slight perception of God, Whose power is over all.

Gregory Nazianzen, In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, Oration 2.107

Christ Is Born, Glorify Him

“Annunciation to the Shepherds” by Berchem

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  (Lu 2:10-14)

Christ is born, glorify Him.  Christ from heaven, go out to meet Him.  Christ on earth; be exalted.  Sing unto the Lord all the whole earth; and that I may join both in one word, Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for Him Who is of heaven and then of earth.  Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with trembling because of your sins, with joy because of your hope.  Christ of a Virgin ... Who does not worship Him That is from the beginning? Who does not glorify Him That is the Last?  Again the darkness is past; again Light is made; again Egypt is punished with darkness; again Israel is enlightened by a pillar.  The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, let it see the Great Light of full knowledge.  Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.  The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to the front.  The shadows flee away, the Truth comes in upon them.  Melchizedek is concluded.  He that was without Mother becomes without Father (without Mother of His former state, without Father of His second).   The laws of nature are upset; the world above must be filled.  Christ commands it, let us not set ourselves against Him.  O clap your hands together all you people, because unto us a Child is born, and a Son given unto us, Whose Government is upon His shoulder (for with the Cross it is raised up), and His Name is called The Angel of the Great Counsel of the Father.

Gregory of Nazianzus, On the Theophany 1–2

Lord, Cleanse Me

Continuing my posts of patristic texts coinciding with this Sunday’s Psalm study.

---

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.  (Ps 51:10)

And in addition to what has been said, it is good with our head cleansed, as the head which is the workshop of the senses is cleansed, to hold fast the Head of Christ—from Him the whole body is fitly joined together and formed—and to cast down our sin that exalted itself, when it would exalt us above our better part.  It is good also for the shoulder to be sanctified and purified that it may be able to take up the Cross of Christ, which not everyone can easily do.  It is good for the hands to be consecrated, and the feet.  The former that they may in every place be lifted up holy, and that they may lay hold of the discipline of Christ, lest the Lord at any time be angered; and that the Word may gain credence by action, as was the case with that which was given in the hand of a prophet.  The latter that they be not swift to shed blood, nor to run to evil, but that they be prompt to run to the Gospel and the Prize of the high Calling, and to receive Christ Who washes and cleanses them.  And if there be also a cleansing of that belly which receives and digests the food of the Word, it would be good also, not to make it a god by luxury and the meat that perishes, but rather to give it all possible cleansing, and to make it more spare, that it may receive the Word of God at the very heart, and grieve honorably over the sins of Israel.  I find also the heart and inward parts deemed worthy of honor.  David convinces me of this, when he prays that a clean heart may be created in him, and a right spirit renewed in his inward parts—meaning, I think, the mind and its movements or thoughts.

Gregory Nazianzen, Oration on Holy Baptism, 39

Destroying Death and the Devil

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.  (He 2:14-15)

The Father is Father, and is Unoriginate, for He is of no one; the Son is Son, and is not unoriginate, for He is of the Father.  But if you take the word Origin in a temporal sense, He too is Unoriginate, for He is the Maker of Time, and is not subject to Time.  The Holy Ghost is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by Generation but by Procession (since I must coin a word for the sake of clearness).  For neither did the Father cease to be Unbegotten because of His begetting something, nor the Son to be begotten because He is of the Unbegotten (how could that be?), nor is the Spirit changed into Father or Son because He proceeds, or because He is God—though the ungodly do not believe it.…  There is then One God in Three, and These Three are One, as we have said.

Since then these things are so, or rather since This is so; and His Adoration ought not to be rendered only by Beings above, but there ought to be also worshipers on earth, that all things may be filled with the glory of God (for as much as they are filled with God Himself); therefore man was created and honored with the hand and Image of God.  But to despise man, when by the envy of the Devil and the bitter taste of sin he was pitiably severed from God his Maker—this was not in the Nature of God.  What then was done, and what is the great Mystery that concerns us?  An innovation is made upon nature, and God is made Man.  He that rides upon the Heaven of Heavens in the East of His own glory and Majesty, is glorified in the West of our meanness and lowliness.  And the Son of God deigns to become and to be called Son of Man—not changing what He was (for It is unchangeable), but assuming what He was not (for He is full of love to man), that the Incomprehensible might be comprehended, conversing with us through the mediation of the Flesh as through a veil, since it was not possible for that nature which is subject to birth and decay to endure His unveiled Godhead.  Therefore the Unmingled is mingled; and not only is God mingled with birth and Spirit with flesh, and the Eternal with time, and the Uncircumscribed with measure, but also Generation with Virginity and dishonor with Him who is higher than all honor—He who is impassible with Suffering, and the Immortal with the corruptible.  For since that Deceiver thought that he was unconquerable in his malice, after he had cheated us with the hope of becoming gods, he was himself cheated by God’s assumption of our nature, so that in attacking Adam as he thought, he should really meet with God.  And thus the new Adam should save the old, and the condemnation of the flesh should be abolished, death being slain by flesh.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Holy Lights, 39.12-13

Christ Is Born, Glorify Him

Christ is born, glorify him.  Christ from heaven, go out to meet him.  Christ on earth: be exalted.  Sing unto the Lord all the whole earth; and that I may join both in one word, Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, for him who is of heaven and then of earth.  Christ in the flesh, rejoice with trembling and with joy; with trembling because of your sins, with joy because of your hope.… Who does not worship him that is from the beginning?  Who does not glorify him that is the last?

Again the darkness is past.  Again light is made.  Again Egypt is punished with darkness.  Again Israel is enlightened by a pillar.  The people that sat in the darkness of ignorance, let it see the great light of full knowledge.  Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.  The letter gives way, the Spirit comes to the front.  The shadows flee away, the truth comes in upon them.  Melchizedek is concluded.  He that was without mother becomes without father (without mother of his former state, without father of his second).  The laws of nature are upset; the world above must be filled.  Christ commands it, let us not set ourselves against Him.  O clap your hands together all people, because unto us a child is born, and a son given unto us, whose government is upon his shoulder (for with the cross it is raised up), and his name is called the angel of the great counsel of the Father.*  Let John cry, “Prepare the way of the Lord:” I too will cry the power of this day.  He who is not carnal is incarnate; the son of God becomes the son of man, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.†  Let the Jews be offended, let the Greeks deride.‡  Let heretics talk till their tongues ache.  Then shall they believe, when they see Him ascending up into heaven; and if not then, yet when they see Him coming out of heaven and sitting as judge.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Theophany, or Birthday of Christ, Oration XXXVIII.1-2

*  Isaiah 5:6
†  Hebrews 13:8
‡  1 Corinthians 1:23

May He Establish Your Hearts Blameless in Holiness

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.  (1 Thess 3:12-13)

I swear on the very Logos, who for me is greatest God,

source from source, of the immortal Father,

image of the archetype, a nature its begetter's equal,

who descended even into human existence from heaven;

I swear I will not, diabolically minded, cast off the Great Mind

with heretic mind, nor the Word with heretic word.

If I should sunder the divinity of the luminous Trinity,

hearkening to the will of this inimical age;

if the great seat should ever goad my mind to madness,

or should I lay on my hand with heretical desire;

if I should prefer a mortal guardian to God,

securing my line to a weak rock;

if I should ever have a haughty spirit in good fortune,

or confronted with ills, conversely fall feeble;

if feigning righteousness I should dispense a justice somehow skewed;

if the supercilious should receive my esteem before the holy;

if seeing the base somehow at peace or crags on the route of the noble

I should veer from the right path;

if envy should dissolve my spirit; if I should mock

the stumbling of another, even one unholy, as if holding my own step secure;

if my mind should collapse with tumid anger, and if unbridled

my tongue race and my heart turn a wonton eye;

if I should hate someone fruitlessly, and if I should punish

my enemy stealthily or even openly;

if from my home I should dismiss a beggar empty-handed,

or a spirit still thirsting for a heavenly word;

may Christ attend another more gently, but as for my efforts,

even up to my white hairs, may the breeze take them.

By these laws I bind my existence.  And should I achieve

the fulfillment of my desire, Eternal Christ, thanks be to you.

Gregory Nazianzen, Poemata de seipso 2.1.2
Trans. Suzanne Abrams Rebillard

He Humbled Himself—for You

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  (Phil 2:6-8)

Will you deem Him little on this account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who lays down His life for the sheep,¹ came upon the mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice,² and found the wandering one; and having found it, took it upon His shoulders³ on which He also bore the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and having brought it back, numbered it among those who have never strayed.  That He lit a candle,⁴ His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was all covered up with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He had before made them sharers of the secret of His Incarnation?  That the Light that is exceeding bright should follow the Candle—Forerunner,⁵ and the Word, the Voice, and the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom’s friend,⁶ that prepared for the Lord a peculiar people⁷ and cleansed them by the water⁸ in preparation for the Spirit?  Do you reproach God with this?  Do you conceive of Him as less because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples,⁹ and shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation;¹⁰ because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the ground,¹¹ that He may even exalt with Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin?  How comes it that you do not also charge it upon Him as a crime that He eats with Publicans¹² and at Publicans’ tables, and makes disciples of Publicans¹³ that He too may make some gain.  And what gain?  The salvation of sinners.  If so, one must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who leans over the ditch, that he may, according to the Law, save the beast that has fallen into it.

Gregory Nazianzen Oration 45.26

1 John 10:11		5 Luke 15:8-9		8 Matthew 3:11		11 Luke 13:10ff
2 John 5:35		6 Luke 1:23; 3:9, 29		9 John 13:4-5		12 Mark 2:15-16
3 Hosea 4:13		7 Luke 1:17		10 Matthew 23:12		13 Luke 15:2
4 Luke 15:4-5

Pastoral Humility

Every man desiring to be an overseer in the local assembly would do well to understand the spiritual humility necessary for the work.

Since then I knew these things, and that no one is worthy of the mightiness of God, and the sacrifice, and priesthood, who has not first presented himself to God, a living, holy sacrifice, and set forth the reasonable, well-pleasing service, and sacrificed to God the sacrifice of praise and the contrite spirit, which is the only sacrifice required of us by the Giver of all; how could I dare to offer to Him the external sacrifice, the anti-type of the great mysteries, or clothe myself with the garb and name of priest,

• before my hands had been consecrated by holy works;
• before my eyes had been accustomed to gaze safely upon created things, with wonder only for the Creator, and without injury to the creature;
• before my ear had been sufficiently opened to the instruction of the Lord, and He had opened mine ear to hear without heaviness, and had set a golden earring with precious sardius, that is, a wise man’s word in an obedient ear;
• before my mouth had been opened to draw in the Spirit, and opened wide to be filled with the spirit of speaking mysteries and doctrines; and my lips bound, to use the words of wisdom, by divine knowledge, and, as I would add, loosed in due season;
• before my tongue had been filled with exultation, and become an instrument of Divine melody, awaking with glory, awaking right early, and laboring till it cleave to my jaws;
• before my feet had been set upon the rock, made like hart’s feet, and my footsteps directed in a godly fashion so that they should not well-nigh slip, nor slip at all;
• before all my members had become instruments of righteousness, and all mortality had been put off, and swallowed up of life, and had yielded to the Spirit?

Gregory Nazianzen, In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, 95*

* I took the liberty of setting out each of Gregory's points for easier reading.

Pogo Was Correct: We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us

But in our case, human prudence and selfishness, and the lack of training and inclination to yield ready submission are a very great obstacle to advance in virtue, amounting almost to an armed resistance to those who are wishful to help us.  And the very eagerness with which we should lay bare our sickness to our spiritual physicians, we employ in avoiding this treatment, and show our bravery by struggling against what is for our own interest, our skill in shunning what is for our health.

For we either hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping the notice of men we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice.  Or else we allege excuses in our sins,* by devising pleas in defense of our falls, or tightly closing our ears, like the deaf adder that stops her ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer, and be treated with the medicines of wisdom,† by which spiritual sickness is healed.  Or, lastly, those of us who are most daring and self-willed shamelessly brazen out our sin before those who would heal it, marching with bared head, as the saying is, into all kinds of transgression.  O what madness, if there be no term more fitting for this state of mind!  Those whom we ought to love as our benefactors we keep off, as if they were our enemies, hating those who reprove in the gates, and abhorring the righteous word;‡ and we think that we shall succeed in the war that we are waging against those who are well disposed to us by doing ourselves all the harm we can, like men who imagine they are consuming the flesh of others when they are really fastening upon their own.

Gregory Nazianzen, In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, 19-20

* Psalm 141:4
† Psalm 58:5-6
‡ Amos 5:10

Understanding the Burden of Pastoral Care

Against the backdrop of many men and women who project and esteem themselves as somehow deserving of their pastorates and droves of doting followers, Gregory Nazianzen's confession of inadequacy after his ordination stands as a stark contrast.  May those who have care over your soul be like-minded.

I did not, nor do I now, think myself qualified to rule a flock or herd, or to have authority over the souls of men.  For in their case it is sufficient to render the herd or flock as stout and fat as possible; and with this object the neatherd* and shepherd will look for well watered and rich pastures, and will drive his charge from pasture to pasture, and allow them to rest, or arouse, or recall them, sometimes with his staff, most often with his pipe; and with the exception of occasional struggles with wolves, or attention to the sickly, most of his time will be devoted to the oak and the shade and his pipes, while he reclines on the beautiful grass, and beside the cool water, and shakes down his couch in a breezy spot, and ever and anon sings a love ditty, with his cup by his side, and talks to his bullocks or his flock, the fattest of which supply his banquets or his pay.  But no one ever has thought of the virtue of flocks or herds; for indeed of what virtue are they capable?  Or who has regarded their advantage as more important than his own pleasure?

But in the case of man, hard as it is for him to learn how to submit to rule, it seems far harder to know how to rule over men, and hardest of all, with this rule of ours, which leads them by the divine law, and to God, for its risk is, in the eyes of a thoughtful man, proportionate to its height and dignity.  For, first of all, he must, like silver or gold, though in general circulation in all kinds of seasons and affairs, never ring false or alloyed, or give token of any inferior matter, needing further refinement in the fire;† or else, the wider his rule, the greater evil he will be.  Since the injury which extends to many is greater than that which is confined to a single individual.

In the second place, although a man has kept himself pure from sin, even in a very high degree; I do not know that even this is sufficient for one who is to instruct others in virtue.  For he who has received this charge, not only needs to be free from evil, for evil is, in the eyes of most of those under his care, most disgraceful, but also to be eminent in good, according to the command, "Depart from evil and do good."‡  And he must not only wipe out the traces of vice from his soul, but also inscribe better ones, so as to outstrip men further in virtue than he is superior to them in dignity.  He should know no limits in goodness or spiritual progress, and should dwell upon the loss of what is still beyond him, rather than the gain of what he has attained, and consider that which is beneath his feet a step to that which comes next: and not think it a great gain to excel ordinary people, but a loss to fall short of what we ought to be: and to measure his success by the commandment and not by his neighbors, whether they be evil, or to some extent proficient in virtue: and to weigh virtue in no small scales, inasmuch as it is due to the Most High, "from Whom are all things, and to Whom are all things."§

Gregory Nazianzen, In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, 9-10, 14

* A person who has the care of cattle.
† Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12
‡ Psalm 37:27
§ Romans 11:35

Splendor of the Trinity

I received a comment last week concerning my post on God's essence and being which pointed to a section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that dealt with the subject.  Part of the reading was a wonderful quote from the Cappadocian father Gregory Nazianzen.  The commenter was kind enough to pass along the reference, and I share a more full version than given in the catechism.

Besides all this and before all, keep I pray you the good deposit, by which I live and work, and which I desire to have as the companion of my departure; with which I endure all that is so distressful, and despise all delights; the confession of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.  This I commit unto you today; with this I will baptize you and make you grow.  This I give you to share, and to defend all your life, the One Godhead and Power, found in the Three in Unity, and comprising the Three separately, not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities or inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of Three Infinite Ones, Each God when considered in Himself; as the Father so the Son, as the Son so the Holy Ghost; the Three One God when contemplated together; Each God because Consubstantial; One God because of the Monarchia.  No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendor of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I am carried back to the One.  When I think of any One of the Three I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking of escapes me.  I cannot grasp the greatness of That One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the Rest.  When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the Undivided Light.

Oration 40.41*

* Translated by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow.  From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 7.  Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace.  (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894.)  Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.  Found at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310240.htm.

Great Is the Mystery of Godliness

He was born—but he had been begotten: he was born of a woman—but she was a virgin.…In his human nature he had no father, but also in his divine nature no mother.…He dwelt in the womb—but he was recognized by the prophet, himself still in the womb, leaping before the Word, for whose sake he came into being.  He was wrapped in swaddling clothes—but he took off the swathing bands of the grave by His rising again.  He was laid in a manger—but he was glorified by angels, and proclaimed by a star, and worshiped by the magi.…He had no form nor comeliness in the eyes of the Jews—but to David he is fairer than the children of men.  And on the mountain he was bright as the lightning, and became more luminous than the sun, initiating us into the mystery of the future.

He was baptized as man—but he remitted sins as God—not because he needed rites of purification himself, but that he might sanctify the element of water.  He was tempted as man, but he conquered as God; he bids us be of good cheer, for he has overcome the world.  He hungered—but he fed thousands; he is the bread that gives life, and that is of heaven.  He thirsted—but he cried, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”  He promised that fountains should flow from them that believe.  He was wearied, but he is the rest of them that are weary and heavy laden.  He was heavy with sleep, but he walked lightly over the sea. He rebuked the winds, he made Peter light as he began to sink.  He pays tribute, but it is out of a fish; he is the king of those who demanded it.  He is called a Samaritan and a demoniac;…the demons acknowledge him, and he drives out demons and sinks in the sea legions of foul spirits, and sees the prince of the demons falling like lightning.…He prays, but he hears prayer.  He weeps, but he causes tears to cease.  He asks where Lazarus was laid, for he was man; but he raises Lazarus, for he was God.

He is sold, and very cheap, for it is only for thirty pieces of silver; but he redeems the world, and that at a great price, for the price was his own blood.  As a sheep he is led to the slaughter, but he is the shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world also.  As a lamb he is silent, yet he is the word, and is proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.  He is bruised and wounded, but he heals every disease and every infirmity.  He is lifted up and nailed to the tree, but by the tree of life he restores us; yea, he saves even the robber crucified with Him; he wrapped the visible world in darkness.  He is given vinegar to drink mingled with gall.  Who?  He who turned the water into wine, who is the destroyer of the bitter taste, who is sweetness and altogether desire.  He lays down his life, but he has power to take it again; and the veil is rent, for the mysterious doors of heaven are opened; the rocks are cleft, the dead arise.  He dies, but he gives life, and by his death destroys death.  He is buried, but he rises again; he goes down into Hades, but he brings up the souls; he ascends to heaven, and shall come again to judge the living and the dead.

Gregory Nazianzen, On the Son