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i5-  . 


l-JVls. 


A   SELECT   LIBRARY 


OF 


NICENE  AND  POST-NICENE  FATHERS 


OF 


THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH. 


§cconb  ^cxicB. 


TRANSLATED  INTO  ENGLISH  WITH  PROLEGOMENA  AND  EXPLANATORY  NOTES. 


VOLUMES    I. -VII. 
UNDER    THE    EDITORIAL    SUPERVISION    OF 


PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  and.  HENRY  WAGE,  D.D., 


Prpfessor  of  Church  History  in  the  Union  Theological 
Seviinary^  Ne-M  York. 


Principal  of  King's  College, 
London. 


JN  CONNECTION   WITH  A    NUMBER   OF  PATRISTIC  SCHOLARS  OP  EUROPE 

AND  AMERICA. 


VOLUME     VI.I. 


S.    CYRIL    OF    JERUSALEM. 
S.    GREGORY    NAZL-VNZEN. 


NEW  YORK: 

THE    CHRISTIAN    LITERATURE   COMPANY. 

OXFORD    AND    LONDON: 
PARKER  &  COMPANY. 

1894. 


Copyright,   1894, 
By    the    christian    LITERATURE    COMPANY. 


CONTENTS    OF   VOLUME   VII. 


S.  CYRIL,  Archbishop  OF  Jerusalem  :   Catechetical  Lectures i 

By  Edward  Hamilton  Gikford,  D.D.,  Formerly  Archdeacon  of  London,  and  Canon 

OF  S.  Paul's. 

S.  GREGORY   NAZIANZEN,  Archbishop  of  Constantinople: 

Select  Orations 203 

Letters 437 

By  Charles  Gordon  Browne,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Lympstone,  Devon  ;  and  James  Edward 
Swallow,  M.A.,  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Mercy,  Horbury. 

Note. — S.  Cyril  is  issued  under  the  Editorial  supervision  of  Dr.  Wace,  and  S.  Gregory  Nazianzeii  under 
that  of  the  translators. 


THE 

CATECHETICAL    LECTURES 


OF 


S.   CYRIL, 

ARCHBISHOP   OF  JERUSALEM, 


WITH   A   REVISED  TRANSLATION,    INTRODUCTION,    NOTES,    AND    INDICES, 


BY 


EDWIN    HAMILTON    GIFFORD,    D.D., 

FORMERLY  ARCHDEACON  OF  LONDON,  AND  CANON  OF  S.  PAUL'S. 


Vf)i,.  vir. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  translation  of  the  Catechetical  Lectures  of  S.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  is  based 
on  a  careful  revision  of  the  English  translation  published  in  the  "  Library  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  with  a  most  interesting  Preface  by  John  Henry  Newman, 
dated  from  Oxford,  The  Feast  of  St.  Matthew,  1838. 

In  his  Preface  Mr.  Newman  stated  with  respect  to  the  translation  "  that  for  almost  the 
whole  of  it  the  Editors  were  indebted  to  Mr.  Church,  Fellow  of  Oriel  College."  Mr.  Church 
was  at  that  time  a  very  young  man,  having  taken  his  First  Class  in  Michaelmas  Term,  1836  ; 
and  this  his  first  published  work  gave  abundant  promise  of  that  peculiar  felicity  of  expression, 
which  made  him  in  maturer  life  one  of  the  most  perfect  masters  of  the  English  tongue. 
Having  received  full  liberty  to  make  such  use  of  his  translation  as  I  might  deem  most 
desirable  for  the  purpose  of  the  present  Edition,  I  have  been  obliged  to  exercise  my  own 
judgment  both  in  preserving  much  of  Dean  Church's  work  unaltered,  and  in  revising  it 
wherever  the  meaning  of  the  original  appeared  to  be  less  perfectly  expressed. 

In  this  constant  study  and  use  of  Dean  Church's  earliest  work  I  have  had  always  before 
my  mind  a  grateful  and  inspiring  remembrance  of  one  whose  friendship  it  was  my  great 
privilege  to  enjoy  during  the  few  last  saddened  years  of  his  saintly  and  noble  life. 

In  the  notes  of  this  EcHtion  one  of  my  chief  objects  has  been  to  illustrate  S.  Cyril's 
teaching  by  comparing  it  with  the  works  of  earlier  Fathers  to  whom  he  may  have  been 
indebted,  and  with  the  writings  of  his  contemporaries. 

In  the  chapters  of  the  Introduction  which  touch  on  S.  Cyril's  doctrines  of  Baptism, 
Chrism,  and  the  Holy  Eucharist,  I  have  not  attempted  either  to  criticise  or  to  defend  his 
teaching,  but  simply  to  give  as  faitliful  a  representation  as  I  could  of  his  actual  meaning. 
The  Eastern  Church  had  long  before  S.  Cyril's  day,  and  still  has  its  own  peculiar  Sacramental 
doctrines,  which,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  rival  theologians,  can  never  be  reduced  to 
exact  conformity  with  the  tenets  of  our  own  or  other  Western  Churches. 

The  Indices  have  been  revised,  and  large  additions  made  to  the  lists  of  Greek  words, 
and  of  texts  of  Scripture.  E.  H.  G. 

Oxford, 
26  May,  1893. 


CONTENTS    OF   THE    INTRODUCTION. 


PAGE 

Chapter  I.    Life  of  S.  CvRTt, i 

Chapter  II.    Catechetical  Instruction. 

§  I.  Catechesis xi 

§  2.   Catechist xii 

^  3.    Catechumens  , xiii 

§  4.    Candidates  for  Baptism     xv 

§  5-    The  name  ^eoTi^o/xei'ot  xvii 

Chapter  III.     Special  Preparation  for  Baptism. 

§  I.  Penitence xviii 

§  2.  Con/essioit  ib. 

§  3.  Exorcism     xix 

Chapter  IV.     Ceremonies  of  Baptism  and  Chrism. 

§  I.  Reminciation xxi 

§  2.  Profession  of  Faith     ib. 

§  3.  First  Unction xxii 

§  4.  Baptism    xxiii 

§  5.   Trins  Immersion   xxiv 

§  6.  Chrism     ib. 

Chapter  V.    Eucharistic  Rites. 

§  I.  First  Comiminion  xxvi 

§  2.    The  Liturgy ib. 

Chapter  VI.     Effects  of  Baptism  and  Chrism. 

§  I.  Baptism  xxx 

§  2.    Chrism    xxxiii 

Chapter  VII.    Eucharistic  Doctrine     xxxv 

Chapter  VIII.     Place  of  S.  Cyril's  Lectures xli 

Chapter  IX.    Time  and  Arrangement  of  S.  Cyril's  Lectures. 

§  I.   The  Year xliii 

§  2.   The  Days xliv 

§  3.  Arrangement  xlvi 

Chapter  X.    The  Creed  of  Jerusalem  :  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

§  I.    The  Creeds  of  Jerusalem  and  Niccca xlvi 

§  2.  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity xlvii 

Chapter  XI.     S.  Cyril's  Writings. 

§  I.   List  of  Works    '. ]iii 

§2.  Authenticity  of  the  Lectures ib. 

§  3.  Early  Testimony Hv 

§  4.  Editions     ib. 

§  5.   Manuscripts   Ivi 

§  6.    Versions  Ivii 


I  N  T  RODUCTI  O  N. 


CHAPTER    L 
Life    of    S.  Cyril. 


The  works  of  S.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  owe  much  of  their  peculiar  interest  and  value  to 
the  character  of  the  times  in  which  he  wrote.  Born  a  few  years  before  the  outbreak  of 
Arianism  in  a.d.  318,  he  lived  to  see  its  suppression  by  the  Edict  of  Theodosius,  380, 
and  to  take  part  in  its  condemnation  by  the  Council  of  Constantinople  in  the  following  year. 

The  story  of  Cyril's  life  is  not  told  in  detail  by  any  contemporary  author  ;  in  his 
own  writings  there  is  little  mention  of  himself;  and  the  Church  historians  refer  only  to 
the  events  of  his  manhood  and  old  age.  We  have  thus  no  direct  knowledge  of  his  early 
years,  and  can  only  infer  from  the  later  circumstances  of  his  life  what  may  probably  have 
been  the  nature  of  his  previous  training.  The  names  of  his  parents  are  quite  unknown  ; 
but  in  the  Greek  Menaea,  or  monthly  catalogues  of  Saints,  and  in  the  Roman  Martyrology 
for  the  1 8th  day  of  March,  Cyril  is  said  to  have  been  "born  of  pious  parents,  professing 
the  orthodox  Faith,  and  to  have  been  bred  up  in  the  same,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine." 

This  account  of  his  parentage  and  education  derives  some  probability  from  the  fact 
that  Cyril  nowhere  speaks  as  one  who  had  been  converted  from  paganism  or  from  any 
heretical  sect.  His  language  at  the  close  of  the  vii^''  I^ecture  seems  rather  to  be  inspired 
by  gratitude  to  his  own  parents  for  a  Christian  education  :  *'  The  first  virtuous  observance  in 
a  Christian  is  to  honour  his  parents,  to  requite  their  trouble,  and  to  provide  with  all  his 
power  for  their  comfort :  for  however  much  we  may  repay  them,  yet  we  can  never  be 
to  them  what  they  as  parents  have  been  to  us.  Let-them  enjoy  the  comfort  we  can  give,  and 
strengthen  us  with  blessings." 

One  member  only  of  Cyril's  family  is  mentioned  by  name,  his  sister's  son  Gelasius, 
who  was  appointed  by  Cyril  to  be  Bishop  of  Caesarea  on  the  death  of  Acacius,  a.d.  366  circ. 

Cyril  himself  was  probably  born,  or  at  least  brought  up,  in  or  near  Jerusalem,  for  it 
was  usual  to  choose  a  Bishop  from  among  the  Clergy  over  whom  he  was  to  preside, 
a  preference  being  given  to  such  as  were  best  known  to  the  people  generally^. 

That  Cyril,  whether  a  native  of  Jerusalem  or  not,  had  passed  a  portion  of  his  childhood 
there,  is  rendered  probable  by  his  allusions  to  the  condition  of  the  Holy  Places  before  they 
were  cleared  and  adorned  by  Constantine  and  Helena.  He  seems  to  speak  as  an  eye-witness 
of  their  former  state,  when  he  says  that  a  few  years  before  the  place  of  the  Nativity  at 
Bethlehem  had  been  wooded  %  that  the  place  where  Christ  was  crucified  and  buried  was 
a  garden,  of  which  traces  were  still  remaining  3,  that  the  wood  of  the  Cross  had  been 
distributed  to  all  nations*,  and  that  before  the  decoration  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  by 
Constantine,  there  was  a  cleft  or  cave  before  the  door  of  the  Sepulchre,  hewn  out  of  the 

*  Bingham,  The  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church,  Book  II.  c.  lo,  §  3.  ^  Cat.  xii.  20.     The  wood  had  been  cleared 

away  about  sixteen  years  before  this  Lecture  was  delivered.  3  Cat.  xiii.  32  ;  xiv.  5. 

4  Cat.  iv.  10 ;  X.  ig :  xiii.  4.  Grsgor.  Nyss.  Baptism  of  Christ,  p.  520,  in  this  Series :  "  The  wood  of  the  Cross  is  of  saving 
efficacy  for  all  men,  though  it  is,  as  I  am  informed,  a  piece  of  a  poor  tree,  less  valuable  than  most  trees  are." 

VOL.  VII.  b 


ii  INTRODUCTION. 


rock  itself,  but  now  no  longer  to  be  seen,  because  the  outer  cave  had  been  cut  away  for 
the  sake  of  the  recent  adornments  s. 

This  work  was  undertaken  by  Constantine  after  the  year  326  a.d.  ^;  and  if  Cyril 
spoke  from  remembrance  of  what  he  had  himself  seen,  he  could  hardly  have  been  less 
than  ten  or  twelve  years  old,  and  so  must  have  been  born  not  later,  perhaps  a  few  years 
earlier,  than  315  a.d. 

The  tradition  that  Cyril  had  been  a  monk  and  an  ascetic  was  probably  founded  upon 
the  passages  in  which  he  seems  to  speak  as  one  who  had  himself  belonged  to  the  order 
of  Solitaries,  and  shared  the  glory  of  chastity?.  We  need  not,  however,  suppose  that  the 
"Solitaries"  (/ioi/dfoi/rts)  of  whom  he  speaks  were  either  hermits  living  in  remote  and  desert 
places,  or  monks  secluded  in  a  monastery  :  they  commonly  lived  in  cities,  only  in  separate 
houses,  and  frequented  the  same  Churches  with  ordinary  Christians.  To  such  a  life 
of  perpetual  chastity,  strict  asceticism,  and  works  of  charity,  Cyril  may  probably,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  custom  of  the  age,  have  been  devoted  from  early  youth. 

A  more  important  question  is  that  which  relates  to  the  time  and  circumstances  of  his 
ordination  as  Deacon,  and  as  Priest,  matters  closely  connected  with  some  of  the  chief  troubles 
of  his  later  life. 

That  he  was  ordained  Deacon  by  Macarius,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  died  in  334 
or  335,  may  be  safely  inferred  from  the  unfriendly  notice  of  S.  Jerome,  Chron.  ann.  349 
(350  A.D.) :  "  Cyril  having  been  ordained  Priest  by  Maximus,  and  after  his  death  permitted 
by  Acacius,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  and  the  other  Arian  Bishops,  to  be  made  Bishop  on 
condition  of  repudiating  his  ordination  by  Maximus,  served  in  the  Church  as  a  Deacon :  and 
after  he  had  been  paid  for  this  impiety  by  the  reward  of  the  Episcopate  {Sacerdotii),  he  by 
various  plots  harassed  Heraclius,  whom  Maximus  when  dying  had  substituted  in  his  own 
place,  and  degraded  him  from  Bishop  to  Priest." 

From  this  account,  incredible  as  it  is  in  the  main,  and  strongly  marked  by  personal 
prejudice,  we  may  conclude  that  Cyril  had  been  ordained  Deacon  not  by  Maximus,  but  by 
his  predecessor  Macarius ;  for  otherwise  he  would  have  been  compelled  to  renounce  his 
Deacon's  Orders,  as  well  as  his  Priesthood. 

Macarius  died  in  or  before  the  year  335  ;  for  at  the  Council  of  Tyre,  assembled  in  that 
year  to  condemn  Athanasius,  Maximus  sat  as  successor  to  Macarius  in  the  See  of  Jerusalem  ^. 
This  date  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  after  the  accession  of  Maximus,  a  great  assembly  of 
Bishops  was  held  at  Jerusalem  in  the  year  335,  for  the  dedication  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Resurrection  9. 

It  thus  appears  that  Cyril's  ordination  as  Deacon  cannot  be  put  later  than  334  or  the 
beginning  of  335. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  latter  year  the  Bishops  who  liad  deposed  Athanasius  at  the 
Council  of  Tyre  proceeded  to  Jerusalem  "to  celebrate  the  Triceitnalia  of  Constantine's 
reign  by  consecrating  his  grand  Church  on  Mount  Calvary*."  On  that  occasion  "Jerusalem 
became  the  gathering  point  for  distinguished  prelates  from  every  province,  and  the  whole 

city  was  thronged  by  a  vast  assemblage  of  the  servants  of  God In  short,  the  whole  of 

Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  Phoenicia  and  Arabia,  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Libya,  with  the  dwellers 
in  the  Thebaid,  all  contributed  to  swell  the  mighty  concourse  of  God's  ministers,  followed  as 
they  were  by  vast  numbers  from  every  province.  They  were  attended  by  an  imperial  escort, 
and  officers  of  trust  had  also  been  sent  from  the  palace  itself,  with  instructions  to  heighten 
the  splendour  of  the  festival  at  the  Emperor's  expensed"     Eusebius  proceeds  to  describe 


S  Cat.  xiv.  9.  «  Eusebius,  VHa  Const,  iii.  29  ff.  7  Cat.  xii.  i,  33,  34.    Compare  iv.  24,  note  8 

8  Hefcle,  History  o/Councils,  ii.  17  ;  Sozom.  HE.  ii.  25.  9  Euseb.  Vita  Const,  iv.  43. 

'  Robertson,  Prolegomena  to  Athanasius,  p.  xxxix.  2  Euseb.  V.C.  iv.  43. 


LIFE   OF   S.  CYRIL. 


Ill 


the  splendid  banquets,  the  lavish  distribution  of  money  and  clothes  to  the  naked  and 
destitute,  the  offerings  of  imperial  magnificence,  the  "  intellectual  feast  "  of  the  many  Bishops' 
discourses,  and  last,  not  least,  his  own  "  various  public  orations  pronounced  in  honour  of 
this  solemnity."  Among  the  Clergy  taking  part  in  this  gorgeous  ceremony,  the  newly 
ordained  Deacon  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  would  naturally  have  his  place.  It  was 
a  scene  which  could  not  fail  to  leave  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind,  and  to  influence 
his  attitude  towards  the  contending  parties  in  the  great  controversy  by  which  the  Church 
was  at  this  time  distracted.  He  knew  that  Athanasius  had  just  been  deposed,  he  had  seen 
Arius  triumphantly  restored  to  communion  in  that  august  assembly  of  Bishops  "from  every 
province,"  with  his  own  Bishop  Maximus,  and  Eusebius  of  Cassarea,  the  Metropolitan,  at 
their  head.  It  is  much  to  the  praise  of  his  wisdom  and  steadfastness  that  he  was  not 
misled  by  the  notable  triumph  of  the  Arians  to  join  their  faction  or  adopt  their  tenets. 

In  September,  346,  Athanasius  returning  from  his  second  exile  at  Treves  passed  through 
Jerusalem.  The  aged  Bishop  Maximus,  who  had  been  induced  to  acquiesce  in  the  con- 
demnation of  Athanasius  at  Tyre,  and  in  the  solemn  recognition  of  Arius  at  Jerusalem,  had 
afterwards  refused  to  join  the  Eusebians  at  Antioch  in  341,  for  the  purpose  of  confirming  the 
sentence  passed  at  Tyre,  and  now  gave  a  cordial  welcome  to  Athanasius,  who  thus  describes 
his  reception  3 :  "  As  I  passed  through  Syria,  I  met  with  the  Bishops  of  Palestine,  who,  when 
they  had  called  a  Council  at  Jerusalem,  received  me  cordially,  and  themselves  also  sent  me 
on  my  way  in  peace,  and  addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  Church  and  the  Bishops*." 
The  letter  congratulating  the  Egyptian  Bishops  and  the  Clergy  and  people  of  Alexandria  on 
the  restoration  of  their  Bishop  is  signed  first  by  Maximus,  who  seems  to  have  acted  without 
reference  to  the  Metropolitan  Acacius,  successor  of  Eusebius  as  Bishop  of  Caesarea,  and 
a  leader  of  the  Arians,  a  bitter  enemy  of  Athanasius.  Though  Cyril  in  his  writings  never 
mentions  Athanasius  or  Arius  by  name,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that,  as  Touttee  suggests  s, 
he  must  at  this  time  have  had  an  opportunity  of  learning  the  true  character  of  the  questions 
in  dispute  between  the  parties  of  the  great  heresiarch  and  his  greater  adversary. 

We  have  already  learned  from  Jerome  that  Cyril  was  admitted  to  the  Priesthood  by 
Maximus.  There  is  no  evidence  of  the  exact  date  of  his  ordination  :  but  we  may  safely 
assume  that  he  was  a  Priest  of  some  years'  standing,  when  the  important  duty  of  preparing 
the  candidates  for  Baptism  was  intrusted  to  him  in  or  about  the  year  348  ^  There  appears 
to  be  no  authority  for  the  statement  {Did.  Chr.  Antiq.  "Catechumens,"  p.  319  a),  that 
"the  Catecheses  of  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  were  delivered  by  him  partly  as  a  Deacon,  partly  as 
a  Presbyter  7." 

At  the  very  time  of  delivering  the  lectures,  Cyril  was  also  in  the  habit  of  preaching 
to  the  general  congregation  on  the  Lord's  day^,  when  the  candidates  for  Baptism  were 
especially  required  to  be  present 9.  In  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  it  was  still  the  custom 
for  sermons  to  be  preached  by  several  Presbyters  in  succession,  the  Bishop  preaching  last. 
From  Cyril's  Ho7nily  on  the  Paralytic  (§  20)  we  learn  that  he  preached  immediately  before  the 
Bishop,  and  so  must  have  held  a  distinguished  position  among  the  Priests.  This  is  also 
implied  in  the  fact,  that  within  three  or  four  years  after  delivering  his  Catechetical  Lectures 
to  the  candidates  for  Baptism,  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  Maximus  in  the  See  of  Jerusalem. 

The  date  of  his  consecration  is  approximately  determined  by  his  own  letter  to  Constantius 
concerning  the  appearance  of  a  luminous  cross  in  the  sky  at  Jerusalem.  The. letter  was 
written  on  the  7th  of  May,  351,  and  is  described  by  Cyril  as  the  first-fruit  of  his  Episcopate. 
He  must  therefore  have  been  consecrated  in  350,  or  early  in  351. 

3  Analog,  contra  Arian.  §  57.  <  Cf.  Athan.  Hist.  Arian.  §  25. 

S  Introductory  note  to  Cyril's  Letter  to  Constantius,  §  x.  *  On  the  exact  date  of  the  Lectures,  see  below,  ch.  ix. 

7  See  more  below  on  the  office  of  "  Catechist,"  ch.  i;.  §  2.  ^  Cat.  x.  14.  9  Cat.  i.  6. 

b  2 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 


Socrates  and  Sozomen  agree  in  the  assertion  that  Acacius,  Patrophilus  the  Arian  Bishop 
of  Scythopoh's,  and  their  adherents  ejected  Maximus  and  put  Cyril  in  his  place  9*.  But  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  Jerome  already  quoted  9''  Maximus,  when  dying,  had  not  only 
nominated  Heraclius  to  be  his  successor,  which,  with  the  consent  of  the  Clergy  and  people, 
was  not  unusual,  but  had  actually  established  him  as  Bishop  in  his  stead  {in  suum  locum 
sttbsiituerat).  The  two  accounts  are  irreconcileable,  and  both  improbable.  Touttee  argues 
not  without  reason,  that  the  consecration  of  Heraclius,  which  Jerome  attributes  to  Maximus, 
would  have  been  opposed  to  the  right  of  the  people  and  Clergy  to  nominate  their  own 
Bishop,  and  to  the  authority  of  the  Metropolitan  and  other  Bishops  of  the  province,  by 
whom  the  choice  was  to  be  confirmed  and  the  consecration  performed,  and  that  it  had 
moreover  been  expressly  forbidden  seven  years  before  by  the  23rd  Canon  of  the  Council  of 
Antioch. 

Still  more  improbable  is  the  charge  that  Cyril  had  renounced  the  priesthood  conferred 
on  him  by  Maximus,  and  after  serving  in  the  Church  as  a  Deacon,  had  been  rewarded  by 
the  Episcopate,- and  then  himself  degraded  Heraclius  from  Bishop  to  Priest.  As  a  solution 
of  these  difficulties,  it  is  suggested  by  Reischls-  that  Cyril  had  been  designated  in  the  lifetime 
of  Maximus  as  his  successor,  and  after  his  decease  had  been  duly  and  canonically  consecrated, 
but  had  incurred  the  calumnious  charges  of  the  party  opposed  to  Acacius  and  the  Eusebians, 
because  he  was  supposed  to  have  bound  himself  to  them  by  accepting  consecration  at  their 
hands.  This  view  is  in  some  measure  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  "in  the  great  controversy 
of  the  day  Cyril  belonged  to  the  Asiatic  party,  Jerome  to  that  of  Rome.  In  the  Meletian 
schism  also  they  took  opposite  sides,  Cyjil  supporting  Meletius,  Jerome  being  a  warm 
adherent  of  PauHnus  %"  by  whom  he  had  been  recently  ordained  Priest.  It  is  also  worthy 
of  notice  that  Jerome's  continuation  of  the  Chronicle  of  Euseblus  was  written  at  Con- 
stantinople in  380 — 381,  the  very  tinpe  when  the  many  injurious  charges  fabricated  by 
Cyril's  bitter  enemies  were  most  industriously  circulated  in  popular  rumour  on  the  eve  of 
a  judicial  inquiry  by  the  second  general  Council  which  met  there  in  381,  under  the  presidency 
of  Meletius,  Cyril,  and  Gregory  of  Nazianzum  ^  Had  Jerome  written  of  Cyril  a  year  or  two 
later,  he. must  have  known  that  these  calumnies  had  been  emphatically  rejected  by  the  Synod 
of  Constantinople  (382)  consisting  of  nearly  the  same  Bishops  who  had  been  present  at  the 
Council  of  the  preceding  year.  In  their  Synodical  letters  to  Pope  Damasus  they  wrote  :  "And 
of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem,  which  is  the  Mother  of  all  the  Churches,  we  notify  that  the  most 
reverend  and  godly  Cyril  is  Bishop  :  who  was  long  ago  canonically  appointed  by  the  Bishops 
of  the  Province,  and  had  many  conflicts  in  various  places  against  the  Arians." 

The  beginning  of  Cyril's  Episcopate  was  marked  by  the  appearance  of  a  bright  Cross  in 
the  sky,  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Whitsunday,  the  7th  of  May,  351  a.d. 
Brighter  than  the  sun,  it  hung  over  the  hill  of  Golgotha,  and  extended  to  Mount  Olivet,  being 
visible  for  many  hours.  The  whole  population  of  Jerusalem,  citizens  and  foreigners,  Chris- 
tians and  Pagans,  young  and  old,  flocked  to  the  Church,  singing  the  praises  of  Christ,  and 
hailing  the  phenomenon  as  a  sign  from  heaven  confirming  llic  truth  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Cyril  regarded  the  occasion  as  favourable  for  announcing  to  the  Emperor  Constantius  the 
commencement  of  his  Episcopate  ;  and  in  his  extant  letter  described  the  sign  as  a  proof  of 
God's  favour  towards  the  Empire  and  its  Christian  ruler.  The  piety  of  his  father  Constantine 
had  been  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  the  true  Cross  and  the  Holy  places  :  and  now  the 
greater   devotion   of  the   Son   had  won   a   more    signal   manifestation    of  Divine   approval. 


9»  Socr.  II. E.  ii.  38  ;  Soz.  iv.  20.     The  Rishops  of  Palestine,  except  two  or  three,  had  received  Atlianasius  most  cordially  a  fc\» 
years  before  (Athan.  Hist.  Arian.  %  25).  p^  p.  ii.  9=  Vol.  I.  p.  xli.  note. 

«  Diet.  Chr.  Biogr.  "  Cyrillus,"  p.  761  :  and  for  the  Meletian  Schism,  see  "  Meletius,"  "  Paulinus,"  "  Vitalius." 
-  Mefele,  ii.  344.  3  Thcodoret,  His/.  Eccl.  v.  9. 


LIFE   OF    S.  CYRIL. 


The  letter  ends  with  a  prayer  that  God  may  grant  to  the  Emperor  long  to  reign  as  the 
protector  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Empire,  "  ever  glorifying  the  Holy  and  Consubstantial 
Trinity,  our  true  God."  The  word  Sfiooiaiov,  it  is  alleged,  had  not  at  this  time  been 
accepted  by  Cyril,  and  its  use  has  therefore  been  thought  to  cast  doubt  upon  the  genuineness 
of  this  final  prayer,  which  is  nevertheless  maintained  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  4.  The  letter 
as  a  whole  is  certainly  genuine,  and  the  phenomenon  is  too  strongly  attested  by  the  historians 
of  the  period  to  be  called  in  question.  While,  therefore,  we  must  reject  Cyril's  explanation, 
we  have  no  reason  to  suspect  him  of  intentional  misrepresentation.  A  parhelion,  or  other 
remarkable  phenomenon,  of  which  the  natural  cause  was  at  that  time  unknown,  might  well 
appear  "to  minds  excited  by  the  struggle  between  the  Christian  Faith  and  a  fast-declining 
heathenism  to  be  a  miraculous  manifestation  of  the  symbol  of  Redemption,  intended  to 
establish  the  Faith  and  to  confute  its  gainsayers  s." 

The  first  few  years  of  Cyril's  episcopate  fell  within  that  so-called  "Golden  Decade," 
346 — 355,  which  is  otherwise  described  as  "an  uneasy  interval  of  suspense  rather  than  o^ 
peace  V  Though  soon  to  be  engaged  in  a  dispute  with  Acacius  concerning  the  privileges  of 
their  respective  Sees,  Cyril  seems  to  have  been  in  the  interval  zealous  and  successful  in 
promoting  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  his  own  Diocese. 

We  learn  from  a  letter  of  Basil  the  Great  that  he  had  visited  Jerusalem  about  the  year 
357,  when  he  had  been  recently  baptized,  and  was  preparing  to  adopt  a  life  of  strict  asceticism. 
He  speaks  of  the  many  saints  whom  he  had  there  embraced,  and  of  the  many  who  had  fallen 
on  their  knees  before  him,  and  touched  his  hands  as  holy?, —  signs,  as  Touttee  suggests,  of  a 
flourishing  state  of  religion  and  piety.  Cyril's  care  for  the  poor,  and  his  personal  poverty, 
were  manifested  by  an  incident,  of  which  the  substantial  truth  is  proved  by  the  malicious  use 
to  which  it  was  afterwards  perverted.  "Jerusalem  and  the  neighbouring  region  being  visited 
with  a  famine,  the  poor  in  great  multitudes,  being  destitute  of  necessary  food,  turned  their 
eyes  upon  Cyril  as  their  Bishop.  As  he  had  no  money  to  succour  them  in  their  need,  he  sold 
the  treasures  and  sacred  veils  of  the  Church.  It  is  said,  therefore,  that  some  one  recognised 
an  offering  of  his  own  as  worn  by  an  actress  on  the  stage,  and  made  it  his  business  to  inquire 
whence  she  had  it,  and  found  that  it  had  been  sold  to  her  by  a  merchant,  and  to  the  merchant 
by  the  Bishop  ^." 

This  was  one  of  the  charges  brought  against  Cyril  in  the  course  of  the  disputes  between 
himself  and  Acacius,  which  had  commenced  soon  after  he  had  been  installed  in  the  Bishopric* 
of  Jerusalem.  As  Bishop  of  Ctesarea,  Acacius  exercised  Metropolitan  jurisdiction  over  the 
Bishops  of  Palestine.  But  Cyril,  as  presiding  over  an  Apostolic  See,  "  the  Mother  of  all  the 
Churches,"  claimed  exemption  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Cassarea,  and  higher  rank  than  its 
Bishop.  It  is  not  alleged,  nor  is  it  in  any  way  probable,  that  Cyril  claimed  also  the  juris- 
diction over  other  Bishops.  The  rights  and  privileges  of  his  See  had  been  clearly  defined 
many  years  before  by  the  7th  Canon  of  the  Council  of  Nicgea:  "As  custom  and  ancient 
tradition  shew  that  the  Bishop  of  Aelia  ought  to  be  honoured,  let  him  have  precedence  in 
honour,  without  prejudice  to  the  proper  dignity  of  the  Metropolitical  See."  '  Eusebius9,  in 
reference  to  a  Synod  concerning  the  time  of  Easter,  says  :  "  There  is  still  extant  a  writing  of 
those  who  were  then  assembled  in  Palestine  (about  200  a.d.),  over  whom  Theophilus,  Bishop 
of  Csesarea,  and  Narcissus,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  presided."  If  one  Synod  only  is  here  meant, 
it  would  appear  that  the  Bishop  of  Csesarea  took  precedence  of  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
which  would  be  the  natural  order  in  a  Synod  held  at  Csesarea.  Bishop  Hefele,  however,  takes 
a  different  view ' :    "  According  to  the  Synodicon,  two  Synods  were  held  in  Palestine  on  the 


4  Ej>ist.  ad  Constantium — Monitvim,  §  x.  5  Diet.  Chr.  Biogr.  p.  761.  6  Gwatkin,  p.  74.  7  Epist.  iv.  p.  ix 

8  Sozom.  H.E.  iv,  35.  9  Hist.  Eccl.  v.  23.  '  History  of  the  Christian  Councils,  Book  I.  Sec.  ii.  c 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


subject  of  the  Easter  controversy  :  the  one  at  Jerusalem  presided  over  by  Narcissus,  and 
composed  of  fourteen  Bishops ;  and  the  other  at  Caesarea,  comprising  twelve  Bishops,  and 
presided  over  by  Theophilus."  In  confirmation  of  this  view  we  may  observe  that  when 
next  Eusebius  mentions  Narcissus  and  Theophilus,  he  reverses  the  previous  order,  and  names 
the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  first. 

However  this  may  have  been,  Acacius,  who  as  an  Arian  was  likely  to  have  little  respect 
for  the  Council  of  Nicsea,  seems  to  have  claimed  both  precedence  and  jurisdiction  over 
Cyril,  From  ^  Socrates  we  learn  that  Cyril  was  frequently  summoned  to  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  Acacius,  but  for  two  whole  years  refused  to  appear.  He  was  therefore 
deposed  by  Acacius  and  the  other  Arian  Bishops  of  Palestine  on  the  cliarge  of  having 
sold  the  property  of  the  Church,  as  before  mentioned.  Socrates,  who  confesses  that  he 
does  not  know  for  what  Cyril  was  accused,  yet  suggests  that  he  was  afraid  to  meet  the  accu- 
sations 3.  But  Theodoret,  a  more  impartial  witness,  says*  that  Acacius  took  advantage 
of  some  slight  occasion  (dcpopixds)  and  deposed  him.  Sozomens  also  describes  the  accu- 
sation as  a  pretext  (eVJ  npocpaa-fi  TuioSe),  and  the  deposition  as  hastily  decreed,  to  forestall 
any  countercharge  of  heresy  by  Cyril  {(})6nvei  KadiXav).  The  deposition  was  quickly  followed 
by  Cyril's  expulsion  from  Jerusalem,  and  a  certain  Eutychius  was  appointed  to  succeed  him^ 
Passing  by  Antioch,  which  at  this  time,  357 — 358,  was  left  without  a  Bishop  by  the  recent 
decease  of  the  aged  Arian  Leontius  Castratus?,  Cyril  took  refuge  in  Tarsus  with  its  Bishop 
the  "  admirable  Silvanus,"  "  one  of  the  Semi-Arians,  who,  as  Athanasius  testifies,  agreed 
almost  entirely  with  the  Nicene  doctrine,  only  taking  offence  at  the  expression  oiioova-ios, 
because  in  their  opinion  it  contained  latent  Sabellianism^."  Cyril  now  sent  to  the  Bishops  who 
had  deposed  him  a  formal  notice  that  he  appealed  to  a  higher  Court  {i^'iCov  eTre/caXeVaro 
SiKaarfjpiov},  and  his  appeal  was  approved  by  the  Emperor  Constantius  9.  Acacius,  on  learn- 
ing the  place  of  Cyril's  retreat,  wrote  to  Silvanus  announcing  his  deposition.  But  Silvanus 
out  of  respect  both  to  Cyril,  and  to  the  people,  who  were  delighted  with  his  teaching,  still 
permitted  him  to  exercise  his  ministry  in  the  Church.  Socrates  finds  fault  with  Cyril  for  his 
appeal :  "  In  this,"  he  says,  "  he  was  the  first  and  only  one  who  acted  contrary  to  the  custom 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Canon,  by  having  recourse  to  appeals  as  in  a  civil  court."  The  reproach 
implied  in  this  statement  is  altogether  undeserved.  The  question,  as  Touttee  argues,  is  not 
whether  others  had  done  the  like  before  or  after,  but  whether  Cyril's  appeal  was  in  accord- 
ance with  natural  justice,  and  the  custom  of  the  Church.  On  the  latter  point  he  refers  to  the 
various  appeals  of  the  Donatists,  of  Marcellus  of  Ancyra,  and  Asclepas  of  Gaza,  and  to  the 
case  of  the  notorious  heretic  Photinus,  who  after  being  condemned  in  many  Councils  appealed 
to  the  Emperor,  and  was  allowed  to  dispute  in  his  presence  with  Basil  the  Great  as  his 
opponent.  Athanasius  himself,  in  circumstances  very  similar  to  Cyril's,  declined  to  appear 
before  Eusebius  and  a  Synod  of  Arian  Bishops  at  Cmsarea,  by  whom  he  was  condemned 
A.D.  334,  and  appealed  in  person  to  Constantine,  requesting  either  that  a  lawful  Council  of 
Bishops  might  be  assembled,  or  that  the  Emperor  would  himself  receive  his  defence '." 

In  justification  of  Cyril's  appeal  it  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
submit  to  the  judgment  of  Acacius  and  his  Arian  colleagues.  They  could  not  be  impartial 
in  a  matter  where  the  jurisdiction  of  Acacius  their  president,  and  his  unsoundness  in  the 
Faith,  were  as  much  in  question  as  any  of  the  charges  brought  against  Cyril.  He  took  the 
only  course  open  to  him  in  requesting  the  Emperor  to  remit  his  case  to  the  higher  juris- 


3  lb. 


4  lb.  ii.  26. 


a  //is/.  Eccl.  ii.  40. 

5  HE.  iv.  25. 

6  There  is  much  uncertainty  and  confusion  in  the  names  of  the 
liishops  who  succeeded  Cyril  on  the  three  occasions  of  his  being 
deposed.  His  successor  in  357  is  said  by  Jerome  to  have  been 
a  certain  Eutychius,  probably  the  same  who  was  afterwards  ex- 


communicated at  Seleucia  {Diet.  Chr.  Biogr.  Eutychius  13).  Th« 
subject  is  discussed  at  length  by  Toutt(5e  {Diss.  I.  vii.). 

7  See  the  account  of  his  remarkable  career  in  the  Diet.  Chr. 
Biogr.  8  Athan.  De  Synodis,  c.  xii.;  Hefele,  ii.  263. 

9  Socrates,  H.E.  ii.  40. 

•  Athan.  contr.  Arianos  Apol.  c.  36:  Hefele,  Ii.  p.  27,  note. 


LIFE    OF   S.  CYRIL. 


VII 


diction  of  a  greater  Council,  and  in  giving  formal  notice  of  this  appeal  to  the  Bishops  who 
had  expelled  him. 

While  the  appeal  was  pending,  Cyril  became  acquainted  with  "the  learned  Bishop,  Basil 
of  Ancyra  "  (Hefele),  with  Eustathius  of  Sebaste  in  Armenia,  and  George  of  Laodicea,  the 
chief  leaders  of  the  party  "  usually  (since  Epiphanius),  but  with  some  injustice,  designated 
Semi-Arian^"  One  of  the  charges  brought  against  Cyril  in  the  Council  of  Constantinople 
(360,  A.D.)  was,  as  we  shall  see,  that  he  held  communion  with  these  Bishops. 

Cyril  had  not  long  to  wait  for  the  hearing  of  his  appeal.  In  the  year  359  the  Eastern 
Bishops  met  at  Seleucia  in  Isauria,  and  the  Western  at  Ariminum.  Constantius  had  at 
first  wished  to  convene  a  general  Council  of  all  the  Bishops  of  the  Empire,  but  this 
intention  he  was  induced  to  abandon  by  representations  of  the  long  journeys  and  expense, 
and  he  therefore  directed  the  two  Synods  then  assembled  at  Ariminum  and  at  Seleucia  "  the 
Rugged "  to  investigate  first  the  disputes  concerning  the  Faith,  and  then  to  turn  their 
attention  to  the  complaints  of  Cyril,  and  other  Bishops  against  unjust  decrees  of  deposition 
and  banishment  3.  This  order  of  proceeding  was  discussed,  and  after  much  controversy 
adopted  on  the  first  day  of  meeting,  the  27th  of  September  1  On  the  second  day  Acacius 
and  his  friends  refused  to  remain  unless  the  Bishops  already  deposed,  or  under  accusation, 
were  excluded.  Theodoret  relates  that  "several  friends  of  peace  tried  to  persuade  Cyril 
of  Jerusalem  to  withdraw,  but  that,  as  he  would  not  comply,  Acacius  left  the  assembly  s." 
Three  days  afterwards,  according  to  Sozomen,  a  third  meeting  was  held  at  which  the  demand 
of  Acacius  was  complied  with ;  "  for  the  Bishops  of  the  opposite  party  were  determined  that 
he  should  have  no  pretext  for  dissolving  the  Council,  which  was  evidently  his  object  in  order 
to  prevent  the  impending  examination  of  the  heresy  of  Aetius  and  of  the  accusations  which 
had  been  brought  against  him  and  his  partisans  ^."  A  creed  put  forward  by  Acacius  having 
been  rejected,  he  refused  to  attend  any  further  meetings,  though  repeatedly  summoned  to 
be  present  at  an  investigation  of  his  own  charges  against  Cyril. 

In  the  end  Acacius  and  many  of  his  friends  were  deposed  or  excommunicated.  Some  of 
these,  however,  in  defiance  of  the  sentence  of  the  Council,  returned  to  their  dioceses,  as  did 
also  the  majority  who  had  deposed  them. 

It  is  not  expressly  stated  whether  any  formal  decision  on  the  case  of  Cyril  was  adopted  by 
the  Council :  but  as  his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  lists  of  those  who  were  deposed  or  ex- 
communicated, it  is  certain  that  he  was  not  condemned.  It  is  most  probable  that  the  charges 
against  him  were  disregarded  after  his  accuser  Acacius  had  refused  to  appear,  and  that  he  re- 
turned, like  the  others,  to  his  diocese.  But  he  was  not  to  be  left  long  in  peace.  Acacius  and 
some  of  his  party  had  hastened  to  Constantinople,  where  they  gained  over  to  their  cause  the 
chief  men  attached  to  the  palace,  and  through  their  influence  secured  the  favour  of  Con- 
stantius, and  roused  his  anger  against  the  majority  of  the  Council.  But  what  especially  stirred 
the  Emperor's  wrath  were  the  charges  which  Acacius  concocted  against  Cyril :  "  For,"  he  said 
that  "  the  holy  robe  which  the  Emperor  Constantine  of  blessed  memory,  in  his  desire  to 
honour  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  had  presented  to  Macarius,  the  Bishop  of  that  city,  to  be 
worn  when  he  administered  the  rite  of  Holy  Baptism,  all  fashioned  as  it  was  with  golden 
threads,  had  been  sold  by  Cyril,  and  bought  by  one  of  the  dancers  at  the  theatre,  who  had  put 
it  on,  and  while  dancing  had  fallen,  and  injured  himself,  and  died.  With  such  an 
ally  as  this  Cyril,"  he  said,  "  they  undertake  to  judge  and  pass  sentence  upon  the  rest  of  the 
world  7." 

Ten  deputies  who  at  the  close  of  the  Council  of  Seleucia  had  been  appointed  to  report  its 


2  Robertson,  Prolegomena  ad  Athanas.  ii.  §  8  (2)  C.  S  Soz.  iv.  17.  4  Socrat.  ii.  39.  S  H.E.  ii.  26. 

6  Sozom.  iv.  22.  Theodoret,  H.E.  ii.  23, 


vi?i  INTRODUCTION. 


proceedings  to  the  Emperor,  "  met,  on  their  arrival  at  the  Court,  the  deputies  of  the  Council 
of  Ariminum,  and  likewise  the  partisans  of  Acacius^.  After  much  controversy  and  many 
intrigues,  a  mutilated  and  ambiguous  Creed  adopted  at  Ariminum  in  which  the  ofxoova-ios  of 
Nicsa  was  replaced  by  "like  to  the  Father  that  begat  Him  according  to  the  Scriptures," 
and  the  mention  of  either  "essence"  (oiaia)  or  "subsistence"  (woaraa/s)  condemned  9,  was 
brought  forward  and  approved  by  the  Emperor.  "After  having,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
year  359,  discussed  the  matter  with  the  Bishops  till  far  into  the  nighty  he  at  length  extorted 
their  signatures  ....  It  is  in  this  connexion  that  Jerome  says  :  Ingemuit  totus  orbis,  et  Aria- 
num  se  esse  miratiis  esP."  Early  in  the  following  year,  360  a.d.,  through  the  influence  of 
Acacius  a  new  Synod  was  held  at  Constantinople,  in  which,  among  other  Semi-Arian  Bishops, 
Cyril  also  was  deposed  on  the  charge  of  having  held  communion  with  Eustathius  of  Sebaste, 
Basil  of  Ancyra,  and  George  of  Laodicea.  Cyril,  as  we  have  seen,  had  become  acquainted 
with  these  Bishops  during  his  residence  at  Tarsus  in  358,  at  which  time  they  were  all  zealous 
opponents  of  Acacius  and  his  party,  but  differed  widely  in  other  respects. 

George  of  Laodicea  was  a  profligate  in  morals,  and  an  Arian  at  heart,  whose  opposition 
to  Acacius  and  Eudoxius  was  prompted  by  self-interest  rather  than  by  sincere  conviction. 
He  had  been  deposed  from  the  priesthood  by  Alexander,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  both  on  the 
ground  of  false  doctrine,  and  of  the  open  and  habitual  irregularities  of  his  life.  Athanasius 
styles  him  "the  most  wicked  of  all  the  Arians,"  reprobated  even  by  his  own  party  for  his  grossly 
dissolute  conduct  3. 

Basil  of  Ancyra  was  a  man  of  high  moral  character,  great  learning,  and  powerful  intellect, 
a  consistent  opponent  both  of  the  Sabellianism  of  Marcellus,  and  of  every  form  of  Ariau 
and  Anomcean  heresy,  a  chief  among  those  of  whom  Athanasius  wrote  +,  "  We  discuss  the 
matter  with  them  as  brothers  with  brothers,  who  mean  what  we  mean,  and  dispute  only  about 
the  word  {o^ioovaioi).  .  .  .  Now  such  is  Basil  who  wrote  from  Ancyra  concerning  the  Faith  " 
(35S  A.D.,  the  same  year  in  which  Cyril  met  him  at  Tarsus). 

Eustathius  is  described  as  a  man  unstable  in  doctrine,  vacillating  from  party  to  party, 
subscribing  readily  to  Creeds  of  various  tendency,  yet  commanding  the  respect  even  of  his 
enemies  by  a  life  of  extraordinary  holiness,  in  which  active  benevolence  was  combined  with 
extreme  austerity.  "  He  was  a  man,"  says  Mr.  Gwatkin  s,  "  too  active  to  be  ignored,  too 
unstable  to  be  trusted,  too  famous  for  ascetic  piety  to  be  lightly  made  an  open  enemy." 

S.  Basil  the  Great,  when  travelling  from  place  to  place,  to  observe  the  highest  forms  of 
ascetic  life,  had  met  with  Eustathius  at  Tarsus,  and  formed  a  lasting  friendship  with  a  man 
whom  he  describes  as  "  exhibiting  something  above  human  excellence,"  and  of  whom,  after 
the  painful  dissensions  which  embittered  Basil's  later  life,  that  great  saint  could  say,  that 
from  chiklliood  to  extreme  old  age  he  (Eustathius)  had  watched  over  himself  with  the  greatest 
care,  the  result  of  his  self-discipline  being  seen  in  his  life  and  character^. 

Of  any  intimate  friendship  between  Cyril  and  these  Semi-Arian  leaders,  we  have  no 
evidence  in  the  vague  charges  of  Acacius  :  their  common  fault  was  that  they  condemned  him 
in  the  Synod  of  Selcucia.  The  true  reason  of  Cyril's  deposition,  barely  concealed  by  the 
frivolous  charges  laid  against  him,  was  the  hatred  of  Acacius,  incurred  by  the  refusal  to  ac- 
knowledge the  Metropolitan  jurisdiction  of  the  See  of  Caesarea.  The  deposition  was  confirmed 
by  Constantius,  and  followed  by  a  sentence  of  banishment.  The  place  of  Cyril's  exile  is  not 
mentioned,  nor  is  it  known  whether  he  joined  in  the  protest  of  the  other  deposed  Bishops, 
described  by  S.  Basil,  ^T/Zj/.  75.  His  banishment  was  not  of  longer  continuance  than  two 
years.     Constantius  died  on  the  3rd  of  November,  361,  and  the  accession  of  Julian  was  soon 


8  Sozom.  iv.  23.  9  Ailian.  ^c  Syn.  S  30,  where  this  Creed  is  given  in  fulL  «  S.  Hilar,  ii.  Num.  700. 

^  Hefclc,  Coumi/s,  ii.  371.  3  Dkt.  Chr.  ISiogr.  4  De  Synodis,  §  41.  5  The  Arian  Controversy,  p.  135. 

6  basil,  Epist.  244.     Compare  Newman,  Pre/ace  to  Catechetical  Lectures,  p.  iv. 


LIFE    OF   S.  CYRIL.  ix 


followed  by  the  recall  of  all  the  exiled  Bishops,  orthodox  and  heretical,  and  the  restoration 
of  their  confiscated  estates  7,  Julian's  object,  according  to  Socrates,  was  "  to  brand  tlie 
memory  of  Constantius  by  making  him  appear  to  have  been  cruel  towards  his  subjects."  An 
equally  amiable  motive  imputed  to  him  is  mentioned  by  Sozomen  :  "  It  is  said  that  he  issued 
this  order  in  their  behalf  not  out  of  mercy,  but  that  through  contention  among  themselves 
the  Church  might  be  involved  in  fraternal  strife^."  Cyril,  returning  with  the  other  Bishops, 
seems  to  have  passed  through  Antioch  on  his  way  home,  and  to  have  been  well  received  by 
the  excellent  Bishop  Meletius. 

It  happened  that  the  son  of  a  heathen  priest  attached  to  the  Emperor's  Court,  having 
been  instructed  in  his  youth  by  a  Deaconess  whom  he  visited  with  his  mother,  had  secretly 
become  a  Christian.  On  discovering  this,  his  father  had  cruelly  scourged  and  burnt  him  with 
hot  spits  on  his  hands,  and  feet,  and  back.  He  contrived  to  escape,  and  took  refuge  with 
his  friend  the  Deaconess.  *' '  She  dressed  me  in  women's  garments,  and  took  me  in  her 
covered  carriage  to  the  divine  Meletius.  He  handed  me  over  to  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
at  that  time  Cyril,  and  we  started  by  night  for  Palestine.'  After  the  death  of  Julian,  this 
young  man  led  his  father  also  into  the  way  of  truth.     This  act  he  told  me  with  the  rest  9." 

The  next  incident  recorded  in  the  life  of  S.  Cyril  is  his  alleged  prediction  of  the  failure  of 
Julian's  attempt  to  rebuild  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.  "  The  vain  and  ambitious  mind  of 
Julian,"  says  Gibbon,  "might  aspire  to  restore  the  ancient  glory  of  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem. 
As  the  Christians  were  firmly  persuaded  that  a  sentence  of  everlasting  destruction  had  been 
pronounced  against  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Mosaic  law,  the  Imperial  sophist  would  have 
converted  the  success  of  his  undertaking  into  a  specious  argument  against  the  faith  ot 
prophecy  and  the  truth  of  revelation."  Again  he  writes :  "  The  Christians  entertained 
a  natural  and  pious  expectation,  that  in  this  memorable  contest,  the  honour  of  religion 
would  be  vindicated  by  some  signal  miracle '."  That  such  an  expectation  may  have  been 
shared  by  Cyril  is  not  impossible  :  but  there  is  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  ventured  to 
foretell  any  miraculous  interposition.  According  to  the  account  of  Rufinus^,  "lime  and 
cement  had  been  brought,  and  all  was  ready  for  destroying  the  old  foundations  and  laying 
new  on  the  next  day.  But  Cyril  remainedtundismayed,  and  after  careful  consideration  either 
of  what  he  had  read  in  Daniel's  prophecy  concerning  the  'times,'  or  of  our  Lord's  predictions 
in  the  Gospels,  persisted  that  it  was  impossible  that  one  stone  should  ever  there  be  laid  upon 
another  by  the  Jews."  This  account  of  Cyril's  expectation,  though  probable  enough  in  itself, 
seems  to  be  little  more  than  a  conjecture  founded  on  his  statement  {Cat.  xv.  15),  that 
"  Antichrist  will  come  at  the  time  when  there  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another 
in  the  Temple  of  the  Jews."  That  doom  was  not  completed  in  Cyril's  time,  nor  did 
he  expect  it  to  be  fulfilled  until  the  coming  of  the  Jewish  Antichrist,  who  was  to  restore 
the  Temple  shortly  before  the  end  of  the  world.  It  was  impossible  for  Cyril  to  see  in  Julian 
such  an  Antichrist  as  he  has  described;  and  therefore,  without  any  gift  or  pretence  ot 
prophecy,  he  might  very  well  express  a  firm  conviction  that  the  attempted  restoration  at  that 
time  must  fail.  Though  Gibbon  is  even  more  cynical  and  contemptuous  than  usual  in  his 
examination  of  the  alleged  miracles,  he  does  not  attempt  to  deny  the  main  facts  of  the  story 3; 
with  their  miraculous  character  we  are  not  here  concerned,  but  only  with  Cyril's  conduct 
on  so  remarkable  an  occasion. 

In  the  same  year,  a.d.  t^^^i,  Julian  was  killed  in  his  Persian  campaign  on  the  26th  of 
June,  and  was  succeeded  by  Jovian,  whose  universal  tolerance,  and  personal  profession 
of  the   Nicene  faith,  though  discredited  by  the  looseness  of  his  morals,  gave  an  interval 

7  Socr.  H.E.  iii.  i.  8  Sozom.  H.E.  v.  c.  5.     Compare  Gibbon,  Ch.  xxlii.  :  "  The  impartial  Ammianus  has  ascribed  this 

afifected  clemency  to  the  desire  of  fomenting  the  intestine  divisions  of  the  Church."  9  Theodoret,  H.E.  iii.  10. 

I  Gibbon,  c.  xxiii.  2  Hist.  i.  37.  3  See  Gibbon's  remarks  on  the  testimony  of  Ammianus,  "a  contemporary  and 

a  Pagan,  '  and  on  the  explanation  from  natural  causes  suggested  by  Michaelis. 


X  INTRODUCTION. 


of  comparative  rest  to  the  Church.  In  his  reign  Athanasius  was  recalled,  and  Acacius 
and  his  friends  subscribed  the  Nicene  Creed,  with  an  explanation  of  the  sense  in  which 
they  accepted  the  word  Sunova-inv*,  As  Cyril's  name  is  not  mentioned  in  any  of  the  records 
of  Jovian's  short  reign  of  seven  months,  we  may  infer  that  he  dwelt  in  peace  at  Jerusalem. 

Jovian  died  on  the  17th  of  February,  364,  and  was  succeeded  by  Valentinian,  who  in  the 
following  March  gave  over  the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  Empire  to  his  brother  Valens. 
During  the  first  two  years  of  the  new  reign  we  hear  nothing  of  Cyril :  but  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  366,  on  the  death  of  his  old  enemy  Acacius,  Cyril  assumed  the  right  to  nominate  his 
successor  in  the  See  of  Csesarea,  and  appointed  a  certain  Philumenus  s.  Whether  this 
assumption  of  authority  was  in  accordance  with  the  7th  Canon  of  Nicaea  may  be  doubted: 
Cyril's  choice  of  his  nephew  was,  however,  in  after  times  abundantly  justified  by  the  conduct 
and  character  of  Gelasius,  who  is  described  by  Theodoret  as  a  man  "distinguished  by  the 
purity  of  his  doctrine,  and  the  sanctity  of  his  life,"  and  is  quoted  by  the  same  historian  as 
"  the  admirable,"  and  "  the  blessed  Gelasius  ^." 

Epiphanius  relates 7  that  "after  these  three  had  been  set  up,  and  could  do  nothing  on 
account  of  mutual  contentions,"  Euzoius  was  appointed  by  the  Arians,  and  held  the  See  until 
the  accession  of  Theodosius  in  a.d.  379,  when  he  was  deposed,  and  Gelasius  restored.  In  the 
meantime  Cyril  had  been  a  third  time  deposed  and  driven  from  Jerusalem,  probably  in  the 
year  367.  For  at  that  time  Valens,  who  had  fallen  under  the  influence  of  Eudoxius,  the  Arian 
Bishop  of  Constantinople,  by  whom  he  was  baptized,  *' wrote  to  the  Governors  of  the  provinces, 
commanding  that  all  Bishops  who  had  been  banished  by  Constantius,  and  had  again  assumed 
their  sacerdotal  offices  under  the  Emperor  Julian,  should  be  ejected  from  their  Churches  V 
Of  this  third  and  longest  banishment  we  have  no  particulars,  but  we  may  safely  apply  to  it  the 
words  of  the  Synod  at  Constantinople,  382,  that  Cyril  "  had  passed  through  very  many  contests 
with  the  Arians  in  various  places." 

The  terrible  defeat  and  miserable  death  of  Valens  in  the  great  battle  against  the  Goths  at 
Adrianople  (a.d.  378)  brought  a  respite  to  the  defenders  of  the  Nicene  doctrine.  For  Gratian 
"  disapproved  of  the  late  persecution  that  had  been  carried  on  for  the  purpose  of  checking  the 
diversities  in  religious  Creeds,  and  recalled  all  these  who  had  been  banished  on  account  of 
their  religion  9."  Gratian  associated  Theodosius  with  himself  in  the  Empire  on  the  19th  of 
January,  379;  and  "at  this  period,"  says  Sozomen  %  "all  the  Churches  of  the  East,  with 
the  exception  of  that  of  Jerusalem,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Arians,"  Cyril,  therefore,  had 
been  one  of  the  first  to  return  to  his  own  See.  During  his  long  absence  the  Church  of 
Jerusalem  had  been  the  prey  both  of  Arianism  and  of  the  new  heresy  of  ApoUinarius,  which 
had  spread  among  the  monks  who  were  settled  on  Mount  Olivet.  Egyptian  Bishops,  banished 
lor  their  orthodoxy,  having  taken  refuge  in  Palestine,  there  found  themselves  excluded  from 
communion.  Jerusalem  was  given  over  to  heresy  and  schism,  to  the  violent  strife  of  rival 
factions,  and  to  extreme  licentiousness  of  morals. 

Gregory  of  Nyssa,  who  had  been  commissioned  by  a  Council  held  at  Antioch  in  378  to 
visit  the  Churches  in  Arabia  and  Palestine,  "  because  matters  with  them  were  in  confusion,  and 
needed  an  arbiter,"  gives  a  mournful  account  both  of  the  distracted  state  of  the  Church,  and 
of  the  prevailing  corruption.  "  If  the  Divine  grace  were  more  abundant  about  Jerusalem 
than  elsewhere,  sin  would  not  be  so  much  the  fashion  among  those  who  live  there  ;  but  as  it 
is,  there  is  no  form  of  uncleanness  that  is  not  perpetrated  among  them  ;  rascality,  adultery, 
theft,  idolatry,  poisoning,  quarrelling,  murder,  are  rife."     In  a  letter  ^^  written  after  his  return 

4  Socr.  iii.  25  ;  Sozom.  vi.  4.  S  Epiphanius,  Htpr.  73,  S  37.  *  //«/.  Ecc!.  V.  8  ;  Dialog:,  i.  iii. 

7  H<eres.  Ixxiii.  §  37.  8  Sozom.  vi,  12.     Cf.  Tillemont,  Mcmoires,  Tom.  vili.  p.  357  :  "  As  Cyril  was,  no  doubt,  tlien  per- 

lecutcd  only  on  account  of  his  firmness  in  the  true  Faith,  the  title  of  Confessor  cannot  be  refused  to  liirn." 
9  Soz.  viL  I.  «  lb.  a.  2  Greg.  Nyss.  Epist.  xvii.  in  this  Series. 


I 


LIFE    OF   S.  CYRIL.  xl 


to  C^sarea  in  Cappadocia  he  asks,  "What  means  this  opposing  array  of  new  Altars?  Do  we 
announce  another  Jesus  ?  Do  we  produce  other  Scriptures  ?  Have  any  of  ourselves  dared 
to  say  "  Mother  of  Man  "  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  the  Mother  of  God  ? 

In  the  year  a.d.  381  Theodosius  summoned  the  Bishops  of  his  division  of  the  Empire  to 
meet  in  Council  at  Constantinople,  in  order  to  settle  the  disputes  by  which  the  Eastern 
Church  had  been  so  long  distracted,  and  to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  Nicene  Faith  over  the 
various  forms  of  heresy  which  had  arisen  in  the  half-century  which  had  elapsed  since  the  first 
General  Council.  Among  the  Bishops  present  were  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  and  his  nephew 
Gelasius,  who  on  the  death  of  Valens  had  regained  possession  of  the  See  of  Cassarea  from  the 
Arian  intruder  Euzoius.  Cyril  is  described  by  Sozomen3  as  one  of  three  recognised 
leaders  of  the  orthodox  party,  and,  according  to  Bishop  Hefele^,  as  sharing  the  presidency 
with  the  Bishops  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch.  This  latter  point,  however,  is  not  clearly 
expressed  in  the  statement  of  Sozomen.  Socrates  writes  that  Cyril  at  this  time  recognised  the 
doctrine  of  ofioovcriov,  having  retracted  his  former  opinion  :  and  Sozomen  says  that  he  had  at 
this  period  renounced  the  tenets  of  the  Macedonians  which  he  previously  helds.  Toutte'e 
rightly  rejects  these  reproaches  as  unfounded :  they  are  certainly  opposed  to  all  his  teaching 
in  the  Catechetical  Lectures,  where  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  unity  of  essence  with  the  Father 
is  fully  and  frequently  asserted,  though  the  term  6/iooilo-ios  is  not  used,  and  the  co-equal  Deity 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  everywhere  maintained. 

We  find  no  further  mention  of  Cyril  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Council  itself.  As 
consisting  of  Eastern  Bishops  only,  its  authority  was  not  at  first  acknovvledged,  nor  its 
acts  approved  in  the  Western  Church.  The  two  Synods  held  later  in  the  same  year 
at  Aquileia  and  at  Milan,  sent  formal  protests  to  Theodosius,  and  urged  him  to  summon 
a  General  Council  at  Alexandria  or  at  Rome.  But  instead  of  complying  with  this  request, 
the  Emperor  summoned  the  Bishops  of  his  Empire  to  a  fresh  Synod  at  Constantinople;  and 
there  in  the  summer  of  382  very  nearly  the  same  Bishops  were  assembled  who  had  been 
present  at  the  Council  of  the  preceding  year.  Their  Synodical  letter  addressed  to  the  Bishops 
assembled  at  Rome  is  preserved  by  Theodoret^,  and  in  it  we  read  as  follows:  "Of  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem,  the  Mother  of  all  the  Churches,  we  make  known  that  Cyril  the  most 
reverend  and  most  beloved  of  God  is  Bishop ;  and  that  he  was  canonically  ordained  long 
ago  by  the  Bishops  of  the  province,  and  that  he  has  very  often  fought  a  good  fight  in  various 
places  against  the  Arians."  Thus  justice  was  done  at  last  to  one  whose  prudence,  modera- 
tion, and  love  of  peace,  had  exposed  him  in  those  days  of  bitter  controversy  to  undeserved 
suspicion  and  relentless  persecution.  His  justification  by  the  Council  is  the  last  recorded 
incident  in  Cyril's  life.  We  are  told  by  Jerome  that  he  held  undisturbed  possession  of  his 
See  for  eight  years  under  Theodosius.  The  eighth  year  of  Theodosius  was  a.d.  386,  and 
in  the  Roman  Martyrology,  the  i8th  of  March  in  that  year  is  marked  as  "The  birthday 
('Natalis,'  i.e.  of  his  heavenly  life)  of  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  after  suffering  many 
wrongs  from  the  Arians  for  the  sake  of  the  Faith,  and  having  been  several  times  driven 
from  his  See,  became  at  length  renowned  for  the  glory  of  sanctity,  and  rested  in  peace : 
an  Ecumenical  Council  in  a  letter  to  Damasus  gave  a  noble  testimony  to  his  untarnished 
faith." 

CHAPTER   IL 

Catechetical  Instruction. 

§  I,  Catechests.  The  term  "Catechesis"  in  its  widest  sense  includes  instruction  by  word 
of  mouth  on  any  subject  sacred  or  profane  \  but  is  especially  appUed  to  Christian  teaching, 

3  H.E.  vii.  7.  4  Councils,  ii.  344.  5  Socrat.  v.  8;  Sozom.  vii.  7.  «  H.E.  v.  9. 

'  Acts  xviii.  25  ;  xxi.  21,  24;   Rom.  ii.  18  ;  Gal.  vi.  6.     Cf.  Clem.  Alex.  Fragtn.  §  28  :    ovk  ecTi  irKJ-revo-ai  avev  KarnxriiTeiat. 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 


whether  of  an  elementary  kind  appropriate  to  new  converts,  or,  as  in  tlie  famous  Catechetical 
School  of  Alexandria,  extending  to  the  higher  interpretation  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  the 
exposition  of  Christian  philosophy. 

The  earliest  known  example  of  a  Catechetical  work  is  the  "  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles^''  which  Athanasius  names  among  the  "books  not  included  in  the  Canon,  but 
appointed  by  the  Fathers  to  be  read  by  those  who  are  just  recently  coming  to  us,  and 
wish  to  be  instructed  in  the  word  of  godliness  (Karrjxe'ia-din  ruv  ttj^  fvae^eias  Xoyov)  ^"  This 
use  of  the  Didache  for  the  instruction  of  recent  converts  from  Paganism  agrees  with 
its  original  purpose  as  stated  in  the  longer  title,  "  Teaching  of  the  Lord  thfot/gh  the  Tivelve 
Apostles  for  the  Gentiles^  The  first  six  chapters  are  evidently  adapted  for  those  who  need 
elementary  instruction,  more  particularly  for  Catechumens  of  Gentile  descent,  as  distinct 
from  Jewish  candidates  for  Baptisms.  The  remaining  chapters  of  the  Didache  relate 
chiefly  to  the  administration  of  Baptism,  to  Prayer,  Fasting,  and  the  services  of  the  Lord's 
Day,  and  to  the  celebration  of  the  Agape  and  Eucharist  4.  This  same  division  of  subjects 
is  observed  in  the  two  classes  of  S.  Cyril's  Catechetical  Lectures :  the  first  class,  including 
the  Procatechesis,  consists  of  XIX  Lectures  addressed  to  candidates  for  Baptism,  and  these 
are  followed  by  five  "  Mystagogic  "  Lectures,  so  called  as  being  explanations  of  the  Sacra- 
mental Mysteries  to  the  newly-baptized. 

The  Didache  was  taken  as  the  basis  of  other  manuals  of  instruction,  as  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  the  greater  part  of  the  first  six  chapters  is  imbedded  in  "  The  Apostolical 
Church  Order,"  supposed  to  date  from  Egypt  in  the  third  century.  The  Greek  text,  with  an 
English  translation,  of  the  part  corresponding  with  the  Didache,  is  given  in  "The  oldest 
Church  Manual"  as  Document  V. 

A  further  development  of  the  Didache,  "  adapted  to  the  state  of  the  Eastern  Church  in 
tlie  first  half  of  the  fourth  century,"  is  contained  in  the  Seventh  Book  of  the  Apostolical 
Constitutions  of  Pseudo-Clement  of  Rome,  chs.  i.-xxxii.  "  Here  the  Didache  is  embodied 
almost  word  for  word,  but  with  significant  omissions,  alterations,  and  additions,  which  betray 
a  later  age.  .  .  .  The  Didache  was  thus  superseded  by  a  more  complete  and  timely  Church 
Manual,  and  disappeared."  Dr.  SchaiT  has  appended  this  document  also  to  his  edition  of  the 
Didachd,  noting  the  borrowed  passages  on  the  margin,  and  distinguishing  them  by  spaced 
type  in  the  Greek  text,  and  by  italics  in  the  English  translation. 

In  this  work  the  directions  concerning  the  instruction  of  Catechumens  and  their  Baptism 
are  addressed  to  the  Catechist  and  the  Minister  of  Baptism.  They  contain  only  a  short  out- 
line (c.  xxxix.)  of  the  subjects  in  which  the  Catechumens  are  to  be  instructed,  most  if  not  all 
of  which  are  explained  at  large  in  Cyril's  Lectures  :  and  in  the  directions  concerning  Baptism, 
Chrism,  and  the  Eucharist,  the  similarity  is  so  close,  that  in  many  passages  of  the  Constitu- 
tions the  author  seems  to  be  referring  especially  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem. 

From  this  close  afifinity  with  earlier  works  we  may  be  assured  that  in  the  Catecheses  of 
Cyril  we  have  trustworthy  evidence  of  the  great  care  which  the  Church  had  from  the 
beginning  bestowed  on  the  instruction  and  training  of  converts,  before  admitting  them  to  the 
privilege  of  Baptism  ;  but  beyond  this,  Cyril's  own  work  has  a  peculiar  value  as  the  earliest 
extant  example  of  a  full,  systematic,  and  continuous  course  of  such  instruction. 

§  2.  Catechist.  The  duty  of  catechizing  was  not  limited  to  a  class  of  persons  permanently 
set  apart  for  that  purpose,  but  all  orders  of  the  Clergy  were  accustomed  to  take  part  in  the 
work.  Even  laymen  were  encouraged  to  teach  children  or  new  converts  the  first  elements  of 
religion,  as  we  learn  from  Cyril's  exhortation  :  *'  If  thou  hast  a  child  according  to  the  flesh, 
admonish  him  of  this  now ;  and  if  thou  hast  begotten  one  through  catechizijig,  put  him  also  on 

*  Festal  Epist,  39.     Compare  Clem.  Alex.  Strom.  V.  c.  x.  §  67.     riAo  \Liv  rj  Kanixic'S  oiocei.  wpuirri  yf^XV^  rpo^Tj  vorjB'qa'tTau 
3  SchafT,  Oldest  Church  Manual,  p.  15.  4  lb.  p.  36, 


CATECHETICAL    INSTRUCTION. 


xui 


his  guards."  That  this  remark  was  addressed  not  to  the  Catechumens,  but  to  such  of  the 
Faithful  as  happened  to  be  present  among  his  audience,  appears  from  what  he  says  elsewhere, 
*'  So  thou  likewise,  though  not  daring  before  thy  Baptism  to  wrestle  with  the  adversaries,  yet 
after  thou  hast  received  the  grace,  and  art  lienceforth  confident  in  the  armour  of  righteousness^ 
must  then  do  battle,  and  preach  the  Gospel,  if  thou  wilt  ^." 

The  more  systematic  instruction  of  those  who  had  been  already  admitted  to  the  order  of 
Catechumens  was  entrusted  to  persons  appointed  to  this  special  duty.  Thus  Origen  "  was  in 
his  eighteenth  year  when  he  took  charge  of  the  Catechetical  School  at  Alexandria,"  which 
"  was  entrusted  to  him  alone  by  Demetrius,  who  presided  over  the  Church  ^ : "  and  S.  Au- 
gustine's Treatise,  De  Catechizandis  jRudibus,  was  addressed  to  Deogratias,  who  being  a  Deacon 
at  Carthage,  and  highly  esteemed  for  his  skill  and  success  as  a  Catechist,  felt  so  strongly  the 
importance  of  the  work  and  his  own  insufficiency,  that  he  wrote  to  Augustine  for  advice  as  to 
the  best  method  of  instructing  those  who  were  brought  to  him  to  be  taught  the  first  elements 
of  the  Christian  Faith. 

The  final  training  of  the  <5a)rifo/xei/ot,  or  candidates  for  Baptism,  was  undertaken  in  part  by 
the  Bishop  himself,  but  chiefly  by  a  Priest  specially  appointed  by  him.  Of  the  part  taken  by 
the  Bishop  mention  is  made  by  S.  Ambrose  in  a  letter  to  his  sister  Marcellina  {Ep.  xx.)  :  "  On 
the  following  day,  which  was  the  Lord's  day,  after  the  Lessons  and  Sermon,  the  Catechumens 
had  been  dismissed,  and  I  was  delivering  the  Creed  to  some  candidates  {Compeientes)  in  the 
Baptistery  of  the  Basilica." 

Of  this  "  delivery  of  the  Creed,"  which  was  usually  done  by  a  Presbyter,  we  have  examples 
in  S.  Augustine's  Sermons  In  traditione  Symboli,  ccxii. — ccxiv. ,  each  of  which  contains  a  brief 
recapitulation  and  explanation  of  the  several  articles  of  belief.  In  Serm.  ccxiv.,  after  a  short 
introduction,  we  find  the  following  note  inserted  by  the  preacher  himself.  S^''  After  this  preface  the 
wlwle  Creed  is  to  be  recited,  without  interposing  a7iy  discussion.  '  /  believe  in  God  the  Fa  ther 
Almighty^  and  the  rest  that  follows.  Which  Creed,  thou  knowest,  is  not  wont  to  be  written : 
after  it  has  been  said,  the  following  discussion  {disputatio)  is  to  be  added."] 

From  the  opening  words  of  Sermon  ccxiv.,  and  of  ccxvi.,  "  ad  Competentes,"  it  is  evident 
that  these  were  delivered  by  S.  Augustine  as  the  first-fruits  of  his  ministry  very  soon  after  he 
had  been  reluctantly  ordained  Priest  (a.d.  391).  Two  other  examples  of  addresses  to  Can- 
didates for  Baptism  are  the  Catecheses  L,  XL,  tt/jos  toii?  /lifXXoj/ras  (pariCfadai,  delivered  at  Antioch 
by  S,  Chrysostom  while  a  Presbyter. 

Another  duty  often  undertaken  by  the  Bishop  was  to  hear  each  Candidate  separately 
recite  the  Creed,  and  then  to  expound  to  them  all  the  Lord's  Prayer^. 

§  3.  Catechumens.  The  term  Catechumen  denoted  a  person  who  was  receiving  in- 
struction in  the  Christian  religion  with  a  view  to  being  in  due  time  baptized.  Such  persons 
were  either  converts  from  Paganism  and  Judaism,  or  children  of  Christian  parents  whose 
Baptism  had  been  deferred.  For  though  the  practice  of  Infant-Baptism  was  certainly  common 
in  the  Early  Church ',  it  was  not  compulsory  nor  invariable.  "  In  many  cases  Christian 
parents  may  have  shared  and  acted  on  the  opinion  expressed  by  Tertullian  in  the  second 
century,  and  by  Gregory  Nazianzen  in  the  fourth,  and  thought  it  well  to  defer  the  Baptism  of 
children,  cases  of  grave  sickness  excepted,  till  they  Avere  able  to  make  answer  in  their  own 
name  to  the  interrogations  of  the  baptismal  rite  ^." 


S  Cat.  XV.  18.  6  Cat.  iii.  13.  7  Euseb.  H.E.  vi.  3. 

8  S.  August.  Serm.  Iviii.  et  ccxv. 

'  Cf.  Iren.  II.  c.  xxii.  §4:  "  Omnes  enim  venit  per  semet 
ipsum  salvare  ;  omnes,  inquam,  qui  per  eura  renascuninr'iw  Deuni, 
infantes,  et  parvulos,  et  pueros,  et  juvenes,  et  seniores.  Cf.  Concil. 
Carthag.  iii.  Epist.  Synod.  (Cypriani  Ep.  lix.  vel  Ixiv.  Routh. 
R.  S.  iii.  p.  98.) 


»  Bid.  Chr.  Antiq.  "  Baptism,"  §  loi.  Tertull.  De  Baptismo, 
c.  xviii.  "  And  so,  according  to  the  circumstances,  and  disposi- 
tion, and  even  age  of  each  individual,  the  delay  of  Baptism  is 
preferable;  principally,  however,  in  the  case  of  little  children.' 
Cf.  Gregor.  Naz.  Orat.  40  De  Baptismo,  quoted  by  Bingham, 
xi.  c.  4,  §  13. 


XIV 


INTRODUCTION. 


It  is  stated  by  Bingham  3,  but  without  any  reference  to  ancient  authors,  that  "  the  children 
of  believing  parents,  as  they  were  baptized  in  infancy,  were  admitted  Catechumens  as  soon  as 
they  were  capable  of  learning."  Though  the  title  "  Catechumen  "  was  not  usually  applied  to 
those  who  had  been  already  baptized,  it  is  probable  that  such  children  were  admitted  to  the 
Lectures  addressed  to  Catechumens  both  in  the  earlier  and  later  stage  of  their  preparation : 
for  it  seems  to  be  implied  in  the  passage  quoted  above  from  Cat.  xv.  i8,  that  admission  was 
not  limited  to  the  candidates  for  Baptism. 

To  believe  and  to  be  baptized  are  the  two  essential  conditions  of  membership  in  Christ's 
Church  4:  but  for  the  admission  of  new  converts  to  the  class  of  Catechumens  nothing  more 
could  be  required  than  evidence  of  a  sincere  desire  to  understand,  to  believe,  and  ultimately 

to  be  baptized. 

We  know  that  unbelievers,  Jews,  and  Heathens  were  allowed  in  the  Apostolic  age  to  be 
present  at  times  in  the  Christian  assemblies  S;  and  in  Cyril's  days  they  stood  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  Church  {vcipBr]^)  to  hear  the  Psalms,  Lessons,  and  Sermon  6. 

Any  persons  who  by  thus  hearing  the  word,  or  by  other  means,  were  brought  to  believe  in 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  to  wish  for  further  instruction,  were  strictly  examined  as  to  their 
character,  belief,  and  sincerity  of  purpose.  The  care  with  which  such  examinations  were  con- 
ducted is  thus  described  by  Origen  :  "  The  Christians,  however,  having  previously,  so  far  as 
possible,  tested  the  souls  of  those  who  wish  to  become  their  hearers,  and  having  previously 
admonished  them  in  private,  when  they  seem,  before  entering  the  community,  to  have  made 
sufficient  progress  in  the  desire  to  lead  a  virtuous  life,  they  then  introduce  them,  having 
privately  formed  one  class  of  those  who  are  just  beginners,  and  are  being  introduced,  and 
have  not  yet  received  the  mark  of  complete  purification  ;  and  another  of  those  who  have 
manifested  to  the  best  of  their  ability  the  purpose  of  desiring  no  other  things  than  are  approved 
by  Christians  7."  Such  as  were  thus  found  worthy  of  admission  were  brought  to  the  Bishop  or 
Presbyter,  and  received  by  the  sign  of  the  Cross  ^,  with  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands,  to  the 
status  of  Catechumens. 

We  have  a  description  by  Eusebius  9  of  some  of  these  ceremonies  in  the  case  of  Con- 
stantine:  When  the  Emperor  felt  his  life  to  be  drawing  to  a  close,  "he  poured  forth  his 
supplications  and  confessions  to  God,  kneeling  on  the  pavement  in  the  Church  itself,  in 
which  he  also  now  for  the  first  time  received  the  imposition  of  hands  with  prayer."  Soon 
after  this  the  Bishops  whom  he  had  summoned  to  Nicomedia  to  give  him  Baptism,  "  performed 
the  sacred  ceremonies  in  the  usual  manner,  and  having  given  him  the  necessary  instructions 
made  him  a  partaker  of  the  mystic  ordinances." 

Another  ceremony  used  in  the  admission  of  Catechumens,  at  least  in  some  Churches,  is 
mentioned  by  S.  Augustine  ' :  *'  Sanctification  is  not  of  one  kind  only :  for  I  suppose  that 
Catechumens  also  are  sanctified  in  a  certain  way  of  their  own  by  the  sign  of  Christ's  Cross, 
and  the  Prayer  of  the  Imposition  of  Hands ;  and  that  which  they  receive,  though  it  be  not 
the  Body  of  Christ,  is  yet  an  holy  thing,  and  more  holy  than  the  common  food  which  sustains 
us,  because  it  is  a  sacrament."     From  this  passage  it  has  been  inferred  that  consecrated  bread 


3  Antig.  X.  i.  8  4. 

4  Mark  xvi.  16 ;  Acts  xviii.  8.  Si  Cor.  xiv.  43. 

(>  Apostolic  Constitutions.  VI 1 1,  i.  §  5  :  "  And  aficr  the  readinq; 
of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  our  Epistles,  and  Acts,  and 
Gospels,  let  him  that  is  ordained  .  .  .  speak  to  the  people  the 
word  of  exhoitation,  and  when  he  has  ended  his  ^discourse  of 
doctrine,  all  standing  up,  let  the  Deacon  ascend  upon  some  high 
seat,  and  proclaim.  Let  none  of  the  hearers,  let  none  of  the  ««- 
beiievcrs  ^\.3.y:  and  silence  being  made,  let  him  say,  Ye  Cate- 
ckuinens,  pray,  and  let  all  the  Faithful  pray  for  them." 

7  Contra  Cehum,  iii.  c.  51.     Cf.  Const.  Apost.  viii.  32  :    "  Let 


them  be  examined  as  to  the  causes  wherefore  they  come  to  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  and  let  those  who  bring  them  inquire  exactly 
about  their  character,  and  give  them  their  testimony.  Let  their 
manners  and  their  life  be  inquired  into,  and  whether  they  be  slaves 
or  free,'  &c. 

8  S.  Aug.  De  Symbolo,  Serin,  ad  Cateehumenos,  81:  "  Ve 
have  not  yet  been  born  again  by  holy  Baptism,  but  by  the  sign  of 
the  Cross  ye  have  been  already  conceived  in  the  womb  of  your 
mother  the  Church." 

9  Vita  Const,  iv.  c.  60. 

'  De  Peccatorum  merilis,  ii.  43' 


CATECHETICAL   INSTRUCTION.  xv 

{fv\oyiai,  panis  benedictus),  taken  out  of  the  oblations  provided  for  the  Eucharist,  was  given  to 
the  Catechumens, — an  opinion  which  seemed  to  have  some  support  in  the  comparison  between 
"that  which  the  Catechumens  receive,"  and  "the  food  which  sustains  us."  But  Bingham 
maintains  =>  that  S.  Augustine  here  refers  only  to  the  symbolical  use  of  salt,  of  which  he  says  in 
his  Confessions,  I.  xi.,  that  while  yet  a  boy  he  "used  to  be  marked  with  the  sign  of  His  Cross, 
and  seasoned  with  His  salt."  The  meaning  of  this  so-called  "Sacrament  of  the  Catechumens" 
was  that  by  the  symbol  of  salt  "  they  might  learn  to  purge  and  cleanse  their  souls  from 
sin." 

In  the  African  Church  in  the  time  of  S.  Augustine  it  was  customary  to  anoint  the  new 
convert  with  exorcised  oil  at  the  time  of  his  admission,  but  in  the  Eastern  Church  there  seems 
to  have  been  no  such  anointing  until  immediately  before  Baptism. 

Persons  who  had  been  thus  admitted  to  the  class  of  Catechumens  were  usually  regarded  as 
Christians,  but  only  in  a  lower  degree,  being  still  clearly  distinguished  from  the  Faithful. 
*'  Ask  a  man,  Art  thou  a  Christian  ]  If  he  is  a  Pagan  or  a  Jew,  he  answers,  I  am  not.  But  if 
he  say,  I  am,  you  ask  him  further.  Catechumen  or  Faithful  ?  If  he  answer,  Catechumen,  he 
has  been  anointed,  but  not  yet  baptized  3."  Augustine,  like  Tertullian,  complains  that  among 
heretics  there  was  no  sure  distinction  between  the  Catechumen  and  the  Faithful  +  :  and 
according  to  the  second  General  Council,  Canon  7,  converts  from  certain  heresies  to  the 
orthodox  Faith  were  to  be  received  only  as  heathen  :  "  On  the  first  day  we  make  them 
Christians,  on  the  second  Catechumens,  on  the  third  we  exorcise  them  by  three  times  breath- 
ing on  them  on  the  face  and  on  the  ears  ;  and  so  we  instruct  them  {KaTrjxoi^iei),  and  make 
them  frequent  the  Church  for  a  long  time,  and  listen  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  then  we 
baptize  them." 

Whether  Cyril  calls  his  hearers  Christians  before  they  had  been  baptized  is  not  very  clear  : 
in  Cat.  X.  §  16,  he  seems  to  include  them  among  those  who  are  called  by  the  "new  name;" 
but  in  §  20  of  the  same  Lecture  he  assumes  that  there  may  be  present  some  one  who  "  was 
before  a  believer  {nia-Ttk),"  and  to  him  he  says  "Thou  wert  called  a  Christian  ;  be  tender  of 
the  name;"  and  in  Lect.  xxi.  i,  speaking  to  those  who  had  now  been  baptized,  he  says, 
"  Having  therefore  become  partakers  of  Christ,  ye  are  properly  called  Christs.  Now  ye  have 
been  made  Christs  by  receiving  the  antitype  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  that  is,  Chrism. 

§  4.  Candidates  for  Baptism.  Bingham,  who  himself  makes  four  classes  or  degrees  of 
Catechumens,  acknowledges  that  "  the  Greek  expositors  of  the  ancient  Canons,"  and  other 
writers,  "  usually  make  but  two  sorts  5."  These  were  (i)  the  imperfect  {arikkvrepoi),  called  also 
hearers  (aKpoayfifvoi,  audientes),  because  in  Church  they  were  only  allowed  to  remain  till  the 
Holy  Scriptures  had  been  read,  the  Sermon  preached,  the  special  prayers  of  the  Cate- 
chumens said,  and  the  blessing  given  to  each  by  the  Bishop  in  the  words  of  the  "prayer  of 
the  imposition  of  hands  ^."  After  this  the  Deacon  says,  "  Go  out,  ye  Catechumens,  in  peace." 
(2)  After  the  Energumens  also  have  been  dismissed,  the  more  perfect  {rf'KeioTepo',  (pjo-  iy>fievoL)  remain 
on  their  knees  in  prayer  (yowKXivovTes,  evxopevoi).  Then  the  Deacon  is  to  cry  aloud,  "  Ye  that 
are  to  be  illuminated,  pray.  Let  us  the  faithful  all  pray  for  them.  And  being  sealed  to  God 
through  His  Christ,  let  them  bow  down  their  heads,  and  receive  the  blessing  from  the 
Bishop."  The  "Prayer  of  the  Imposition  of  hands"  is  then  pronounced  over  them  by  the 
Bishop. 

The  period  of  probation  and  instruction  varied  at  different  times  and  places  :  according  to 
Canon  42  of  the  Synod  of  Elvira,  305,  it  was  to  be  two  years  :  "  He  who  has  a  good  nam.e, 

■  Antig.  X.  ii.  §  16.  3  S.  August.  In  Joh.  Evang.  Tract,  xliv.  §  2. 

4  Serm.  xlvi.  de  Pas/oribns,  c.  13:  Tertull.  de  PrcE^criftione  Hieret.   c.  41  :  "  Imprimis   quis  Catechumenus, 'quis  Fidelis,  in 
certum  est."  5  Ant.  X.  ii.  i — 5.     The  Council  of  Nicjea,  Canon  xiv,,  seems  to  speak  only  of  two  classes. 

fi  Const.  Apost.  viii.  §  6. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 


and  wishes  to  become  a  Christian,  must  be  a  Catechumen  two  years:  then  he  may  be 
baptized  7."  After  this  probation  had  been  satisfactorily  passed,  the  Catechumens  were 
invited  to  give  in  their  names  as  Candidates  for  Baptism.  This  invitation,  described  by 
Cyril  as  a  call  to  military  service  (^kX^o-j?  o-rpaTflas)  ^,  appears  to  have  been  often  repeated  on 
the  approach  of  Lent.  Thus  S.  Ambrose,  in  his  Commentary  on  S.  Luke,  v.  5  ;  We  have 
toiled  all  flight  a}id  have  taken  nothing,  complains,  "I  too,  Lord,  know  that  for  me  it  is  night, 
when  I  have  not  Thy  command.  No  one  yet  has  given  his  name :  with  my  voice  I  have  cast 
the  net  throughout  Epipliany,  and  as  yet  I  have  taken  nothing." 

This  preliminary  "call  to  service  "  must  be  distinguished  from  the  actual  enlistment  in 
the  Christian  army  at  Baptism,  in  anticipation  of  which  Cyril  prays  for  his  hearers  that  God 
"may  enlist  them  in  His  service,  and  put  on  tliem  the  armour  of  righteousness  9."  The  same 
metaphorical  language  in  reference  to  the  Christian  warfare  recurs  in  many  passages '. 

The  next  step  for  those  who  responded  to  the  call  was  'the  registration  of  names 
(uvofiaToypacjiln)  ^  It  appears  from  passages  of  Dionysius  Pseudo-Areopagites,  quoted  by 
Bingham  3,  that  the  Bishop,  after  laying  his  hand  on  each  Catechumen's  head,  commanded 
his  Presbyters  and  Deacons  to  register  his  name,  together  with  that  of  his  sponsor  (ladSoxos) 
in  the  Diptychs  of  the  living.  This  ceremony  took  place  at  Jerusalem  at  the  beginning 
of  Lent,  as  we  learn  from  Frocat.  §  i  :  "  Thou  hast  entered,  been  approved  ;  thy  name 
inscribed.  ...  A  long  notice  is  allowed  thee  ;  thou  hast  forty  days  for  repentance." 
Those  who  had  been  admitted  as  candidates  for  Baptism  were  in  most  Churches  still 
reckoned  among  the  Catechumens,  being  distinguished  as  avvanolvTe^^,  "  competentes."  But 
from  Cyril's  language  in  several  passages  it  appears  that  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem 
they  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  Catechumens,  and  were  reckoned  among  the  Faithful.  "Thou 
wert  called  a  Catechumen,  while  the  word  echoed  round  thee  from  without.  Think  not  that 
thou  receivest  a  small  thing:  though  a  miserable  man,  thou  receivest  one  of  God's  titles. 
Hear  S.  Paul  saying,  God  is  faithful.  But  beware,  lest  thou  have  the  title  of  '■faithful,'  but 
the  will  of  the  faithless *."  "Thou  receivest  a  new  name  which  thou  hadst  not  before. 
Heretofore  thou  wast  a  Catechumen,  but  now  thou  wilt  be  called  a  Believer  (riia-r<!s)  s." 

Again,  "  How  great  a  dignity  the  Lord  bestows  on  you  in  transferring  you  from  the  order 
of  Catechumens  to  that  of  the  Faithful,  the  Apostle  Paul  shews,  when  he  affirms,  God  is 

faithful^  r 

Two  passages  in  S.  Cyril  have  been  thought  to  imply  that  the  newly-admitted  Candidates 
for  Baptism  carried  lighted  torches  in  procession,  perhaps  on  the  first  Sunday  after  the 
registration.  He  speaks  of  their  having  received  "  torches  of  the  bridal  procession  ^ ; " 
and  on  this  expression  the  Benedictine  Editor  observes  that  "Wax  tapers"  were  perhaps 
given  to  the  Illuminandi  to  carry,  a  custom  which  may  also  be  indicated  in  the  words, 
"  Ye  who  have  lately  lighted  the  torches  of  faith,  guard  them  carefully  in  your  hands 
unquenclied  ^." 

Others  are  of  opinion  that  the  custom  of  carrying  torches  or  tapers  was  observed  only 
in  the  procession  of  the  newly-baptized  from  the  Baptistery  to  the  Church  9,  and  that  here 
Cyril  means  by  the  "bridal  lamps,"  those  motions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  spiritual  instruc- 
tions, which  had  lighted  their  way  to  Christ,  and  to  the  entrance  to  His  Kingdom  ^°.  This 
latter  interpretation  is  rather  vague  and  far-fetched,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  words,  "  Ye  who 
have  lately  lighted  the  torches  of  faith,"  gain  much  in  clearness  and  force,  if  suggested  by  the 
visible  symbolism  of  a  ceremony  in  which  the  Jlhtminandihdid  just  borne  their  part.     The 


7  Hefele,  Councits,  i.  p.  155.     Const.  Afiost.  viii.  32 :  "  Let  him  thnt  is  to  be  instructed  be  a  catechumen  three  years." 

8  Procal.  §  I.        9  lb.  §  17.         '  See  Cat.  i.  3  ;  iii.  3,  13  ;  iv.  36  ;  xvii.  36 ;  xxi.  4.         *  Procat.  §1.  3  Antiq.  X.  ii.  §  6. 

4  Procat-  5  6.  5  Cat.  i.  4.  *  lb.  v.  i.  7  Aa/xiraSes  mni^ayuiyiat,  Procat,  §  x.  ^  Cat.  i.  §  I. 

»  Bingham,  Ant.  X.  ii.  §  15.  '^  Diet.  Chr.  Antiq.  Vol.  ii.  p.  995,  note. 


CATECHETICAL    INSTRUCTION.  xvii 


lighted  torches  would  be  a  significant  symbol  both  of  the  marriage  of  the  soul  with  Christ, 
and  of  its  enlightenment  by  faith. 

§  5.  ^a>TiCi'fi€voi.  In  the  first  words  of  his  Introductory  Lecture  Cyril  addresses  his 
hearers  as  oi  (fxoTi^dfievoi,  "Ye  who  are  being  enlightened,"  and  from  the  Titles  of  the 
Catechetical  Lectures  i.-xviii.,  we  see  that  this  name  was  constantly  used  to  distinguish 
the  candidates  preparing  for  immediate  Baptism. 

The  Verb  (pcoTi^a  is  frequently  used  by  the  LXX.,  both  in  a  physical  and  in  a  spiritual 
sense.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  found  but  rarely  in  the  physical  sense ',  being  generally 
applied  to  the  light  of  spiritual  truth,  and  to  Christ  as  its  source  ^ 

In  two  passages  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  the  Aorist  (^wrirr^fVray)  marks  "the  decisive 
moment  when  the  light  was  apprehended  in  its  glory  3,"  from  which  the  thought  easily  passes 
on  to  the  public  profession  of  the  truth  thus  received,  that  is,  to  Baptism, 

That  the  word  began  Very  early  to  be  used  in  this  new  sense,  is  evident  from  Justin 
Martyr's  explanation  of  it  in  his  First  Apology,  c.  61  ;  where,  after  speaking  of  instruction  in 
Christian  doctrine,  of  the  profession  of  faith,  and  the  promise  of  repentance  and  holy  living, 
as  the  necessary  preparations  for  Baptism,  he  thus  proceeds  :  "  And  this  washing  is  called 
Illumination  ((^cBTta/^dy),  because  they  who  learn  these  things  are  illuminated  in  their  under- 
standing*." The  same  transition  of  the  meaning  from  instruction  to  Baptism  is  clearly 
implied  by  Clement  of  Alexandria :  "  Among  the  barbarian  philosophers  also  to  instruct  and 
to  enlighten  is  called  to  regenerates ; "  and  again:  "For  this  reason  the  teaching,  which 
made  manifest  the  hidden  things,  has  been  called  illumination  (^wno-^o's-)  ^." 

That  this  is  the  sense  in  which  Cyril  uses  the  word  is  placed  beyond  doubt  by  a  passage 
of  the  Lecture  delivered  immediately  before  the  administration  of  Baptism  :  "  that  your  soul 
h€\x\g previously  ilbiminated  (Trpo^on^u/^e'i  j^j)  by  the  word  of  doctrine,  ye  may  in  each  particular 
discover  the  greatness  of  the  gifts  bestowed  on  you  by  God  7." 

We  thus  see  that  the  Present  Participle  ((^confJ/xej'ot)  describes  a  process  of  gradual  illumi- 
nation during  the  course  of  instruction,  to  be  completed  in  Baptism,  a  sense  which  is  well 
expressed  in  the  Latin  Gerundive  "  Illuminandi."  And  as  we  have  seen  that  the  candidates 
are  addressed  as  oX  (fxoTiCoufvm  even  before  the  course  of  instruction  has  commenced,  the  quasi- 
Future  sense  "  follows  necessarily  from  the  context  ^." 

The  spiritual  "  Illumination,"  of  which  Baptism  was  to  be  the  completion  and  the  seal, 
thus  became  by  a  natural  development  one  of  the  recognised  names  of  Baptism  itself.  On 
the  contrary,  tlie  inverse  process  assumed  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  is  entirely  unnatural. 
Starting  from  the  later  ecclesiastical  use  of  ^wnXo)  and  ^(uncr/xo's  as  connoting  Baptism,  he 
supposes  that  this  was  the  first  application  of  those  terms,  and  that  they  were  transferred 
to  the  previous  illumination  acquired  by  instruction  in  Christian  truth,  only  because  this  was 
a  necessary  preparation  for  Baptism.  He  therefore  maintains  that  (fjcoTi^ofievoi  throughout  the 
Catechetical  Lectures  is  another  term  for  jBanTiCoixei'oi :  and  as  a  decisive  proof  of  this  he  refers 
to  Cat  xvi.  26  :  niXXei  Se  kol  tVi  ae  rbv  ^arTTi^oixivov  (^Oavuv  jj  x"/''^?  ^^^  observing  that  the  grace 
is  to  come  upon  "the  person  being  baptized"  at  a  time  still  future.  This  meaning  of 
the  passage  is  made  absolutely  certain  by  the  words  which  immediately  follow, — "  But 
in  what  manner  I  say  not,  for  I  will  not  anticipate  the  proper  season."  We  may  conclude, 
therefore,  that  in  Cyril's  Lectures  the  term  oI  (^wn^oVei/ot  refers  to  the  preparatory  course 
of  enlightenment  rather  than  to  Baptism.  At  the  same  time  we  must  remember  that  in  Cyril's 
day,  and  long  before,  0cori^co,  <po>TicriJ.6s,  and  (pwnana  were  constantly  used  to  denote  Baptism 


»  Luke  xi.  36  ;  Apoc.  xviii.  i.        '  Joh.  i.  9 ;  i  Cor.  iv.  5  ;  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  6  ;  Eph.  L  18  ;  iii.  9  ;  2  Tim.  i.  10  ;  Apoc.  xxi.  23  ;  xxii.  5. 

3  Westcott,  "  Hebrews,"  vi.  4  ;  x.  32.                4  us  (^loTtfo^teVtoi/  tt\v  Sidvoiav  rHiv  ravra.  )j,av0a.v6vTuiv,  5  Strom.  V.c.  2,  §  15 : 

TO  KaTr}XT)<Tai  tc  Kal  (|)<07tcrat  avaysvi'rjaai  Kiyerai,                     *  Strom.  V.  c.  X.  §  65.      Cf.  V.  c.  viii,  §  49.  7  Cat.  xviii.  §  3a. 
*  Cf.  Winer,  Gratmnar  0/ N.T.  Greek,  Sect   xl.  2r,  note  3. 

VOL.  VII.  C 


XVIII 


INTRODUCTION. 


itself,  as  being  the  time  of  special  illumination  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  then  given. 
Thus  Clement  of  Alexandria  writes  :  "  In  Baptism  we  are  illuminated.  .  .  .  This  work  is 
variously  called  grace,  and  illumination  ((poonafia),  and  perfection,  and  washing  :  .  .  .  illumi- 
nation, by  which  that  holy  light  of  salvation  is  beheld,  that  is,  by  which  we  see  God  clearly  9." 
Gregory  Nazianzen  speaks  in  the  same  way :  "  We  call  it  gift,  grace,  baptism,  chrism, 
illumination,  garment  of  incorruption,  washing  of  regeneration,  seal,  all  that  is  precious '°." 

CHAPTER  HI. 
Spfxial  Preparation  for  Baptism. 

§  I.  Pen!te}rce.  The  candidate  for  Baptism,  having  been  duly  admitted  and  registered,  was 
required  not  only  to  be  diligent  in  attending  the  course  of  Catechetical  instruction  S  but  also 
to  enter  at  once  upon  a  course  of  strict  devotion  and  penitential  discipline.  "  Those  who  are 
coming  to  Baptism,"  says  Tertullian,  "  must  be  constantly  engaged  in  prayers,  fastings,  kneel- 
ings,  and  watchings,  together  with  confession  of  all  past  faults  ^" 

On  these  subjects  Cyril's  teaching  is  earnest,  wise,  and  sympathetic  :  he  seeks  to  lead  to 
repentance  by  gentle  persuasion,  and  pleads  for  self-discipline  as  needful  for  the  good  of  the 
soul  3.  One  whole  Lecture  is  devoted  to  the  necessity  of  thorough  repentance  for  all  past 
sins,  and  forgiveness  of  all  offences*:  another  to  the  sure  efficacy  of  repentance  for  the 
remission  of  sins  s. 

§  2.  Confession.  "E^o^ioXoyrja-ts.  Great  stress  is  laid  by  Cyril  on  the  necessity  not  only  of 
sincere  inward  repentance,  but  also  of  open  confession.  The  words  e^o/ioXoyelo-^at,  t^ofioXoyrja-is 
have  a  twofold  meaning  and  a  wide  application. 

(i.)  In  the  Septuagint  they  occur  very  frequently,  especially  in  the  Psalms,  in  the  sense  of 
"giving  thanks  or  praise"  (Heb.  ni^n)  6^  a  meaning  which  is  also  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment?. Perhaps  the  earliest  instance  in  an  Ecclesiastical  writer  is  in  'Rerma.s,  Manda/.  X. 
iii.  2  :  i^o^xoXnyoijievos  roS  Sew.     I  have  not  found  any  instance  of  this  meaning  in  Cyril. 

S.  Chrysostom,  commenting  on  the  words,  "  I  will  give  thanks  unto  Thee,  O  I.ord^,''  says, 
"There  are  two  kinds  of  exoiuologesis ;  for  it  is  either  a  condemnation  of  our  own  sins,  or 
a  giving  of  thanks  to  God."  The  hnk  between  these  two  ideas  is  seen  in  Joshua's  exhortation 
to  Achan,  My  son,  give,  I  pray  thee,  glory  to  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  and  make  confession  9 
unto  Him.     R.  V.  Margin.     Or,  give  praise. 

(2.)  In  the  sense  of  "confessing"  sins,  the  Verb  is  not  uncommon  in  the  N.  T. ',  and  in 
the  early  Fathers ^  Tertullian  adopts  the  Greek  word,  and  calls  exomologesis  "the  handmaid 
of  repentance  3,"  adding  that  it  will  extinguish  the  fire  of  Gehenna  in  the  heart,  being  a  second 
remedy  for  sin,  after  Baptism. 

Again,  speaking  of  the  outward  act  of  repentance,  he  says  :  "This  act,  which  is  more  usually 
expressed  and  commonly  spoken  of  under  a  Greek  name,  is  iio\iok6yy]ai^,  whereby  we  confess  our 
sins  to  the  Lord,  not  indeed  as  if  He  were  ignorant  of  them,  but  inasmuch  as  by  confession 
satisfaction  is  appointed,  and  of  confession  repentance  is  born,  and  God  appeared  by  repent- 
ance. Accordingly  exomologesis  is  a  discipline  for  man's  prostration  and  humiliation,  enjoining 
a  demeanour  calculated  to  move  mercy.  With  regard  also  to  the  very  dress  and  food,  it 
commands  (the  penitent)  to  lie  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  ...  to  know  no  food  and  drink  but  such 


9  Pttdag.  I.  vi.  §  23.  (Syllb.  41).  '<>  Oral.  xl.  §  4. 

«  Procat.  §  9  :  "  Let  thy  feet  haste  to  the  Catecliisings,"  §  10  : 
"Abide  thou  in  the  Catechisings  :  though  our  discourse  be  long, 
let  not  thy  mind  be  wearied  out."     Cf.  Cat.  i.  5. 

a  De  Bixptiiino,  c.  20.  Cf.  Justin  M.  Apol.  I.  c.  61  ;  Const. 
Apost.  vii.  2a. 

3  Compare  his  teaching  on  Prayer,  Procat.  §  16  :  Cat.  ix.  7 : 
and  on  Fasting  Cat.  iv.  27,  37  ;  xviii.  17. 

4  Cat.  i.  S  Cat.  ii. 


*  Ps.   xHi.  5 ;   xliii.   4,  5  (efo/noXoyjitrofioi) ;    and   Ps.  c.  4  (it 
efo/io.\oyi)o-«i).  7  Matt.  xi.  25  ;  Phil.  ii.  II. 

8  Ps.  ix.  I  :  'Efo|UoXoy»)(70/xai'  <70i,  Kupie. 

9  Joshua  vii.  19,  Sept.  cfo/ioAdyTjo-ii'. 

'  Matt.  iii.  6  ;  Mark  i.  s  ;  James  iii.  16. 

»  Irenaeus,  I.  xiii.  §  5  ;   III.  iv.  8  3  ;   Clem.  Alex.  Protrept.  ii 
§  41  :  t'fo/xoAoyoO^/Tai  oi  ha.lyi.ovi'i  Ti);'  yaaTpiiiapyiav  T>JV  avraic* 
3  £>e  Paniteniia,  c.  xii. 


SPECIAL   PREPARATION   FOR   BAPTISM.  xix 

as  is  plain, — to  feed  prayers  on  fastings,  to  groan,  to  weep  and  roar  (jnugire)  unto  the  Lord 
God ;  to  roll  before  the  feet  of  the  presbyters,  and  kneel  to  God's  dear  ones,  to  enjoin  on  all 
the  brethren  embassies  of  intercession  on  his  behalf  All  this  exomologesis  does,  that  it  may 
enhance  repentance  ">,  &c." 

In  this  highly  rhetorical  description  of  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  so  dear  to  Tertullian 
there  are  many  features  of  extreme  severity  to  which  Cyril  makes  no  allusion ;  yet  he 
frequently  and  very  earnestly  insists  on  the  necessity  and  the  efficacy  of  confession.  ''  The 
present  is  the  season  of  confession  :  confess  what  thou  hast  done  in  word  or  in  deed,  by  night 
or  by  day ;  confess  in  an  acceptable  time,  and  in  the  day  of  salvation  receive  tlie  heavenly 
treasures."  "Tell  the  Physician  thine  ailment:  say  thou  also,  like  Dsiv\d,  I  said,  I  will  confess 
me  my  sin  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  the  same  shall  be  done  in  thy  case,  which  he  says  forthwith, 
and  Thou  forgavest  the  wickedness  of  my  heart  ^."  "  Seest  thou  the  humility  of  the  king?  Seest 
thou  his  confession  ?  .  .  .  .  The  deed  was  quickly  done,  and  straightway  the  Prophet  appeared 
as  accuser,  and  the  offender  confessed  his  fault;  and  because  he  candidly  confessed,  he 
received  a  most  speedy  cure  7." 

"  Ezekias  prevailed  to  the  cancelling  of  God's  decree,  and  cannot  Jesus  grant  remission  of 
sins?  Turn  and  bewail  thyself,  shut  thy  door,  and  pray  to  be  forgiven,  pray  that  He  may 
remove  from  thee  the  burning  flames.  For  confession  has  power  to  quench  even  fire,  power 
to  tame  even  lions  ^." 

The  confession  to  which  Cyril  attaches  so  high  a  value,  whether  made  in  the  privacy  of 
solitude;  or  openly  before  the  Ministers  of  the  Church  and  the  Congregation,  is  a  confession 
to  God,  and  not  to  man.  "  Having  therefore,  brethren,  many  examples  of  those  who  have 
sinned  and  repented  and  been  saved,  do  ye  also  heartily  make  confession  unto  the  Lord  9." 
Elsewhere  he  expressly  disclaims  the  necessity  of  private  confession  to  man  :  "  Not  that  thou 
shouldest  shew  thy  conscience  to  me,  for  thou  art  not  to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment ;  but 
that  thou  shew  the  sincerity  of  thy  faith  to  God,  wJio  trieth  the  reins  and  hearts,  and  knoweth 
the  thoughts  of  men  \"  He  also  limits  the  season  of  confession  and  repentance  to  this  pre- 
sent Ufe  :  "  Therefore  the  just  shall  then  offer  praise  ;  but  they  who  have  died  in  sins  have  no 
further  season  for  confession  ^" 

§  3.  Exorcis7n.  One  of  the  earliest  ceremonies,  after  the  registration  of  names,  was 
Exorcism,  which  seems  to  have  been  often  repeated  during  the  Candidate's  course  of  prepar- 
ation. "  Receive  with  earnestness  the  exorcisms  :  whether  thou  be  breathed  upon  or  exorcised, 
the  act  is  to  thee  salvation  3." 

The  power  of  casting  out  devils,  promised  by  our  Lord  ■♦,  and  exercised  by  Apostles  s,  and 
by  Philip  the  Deacon  and  Evangelist^,  was  long  regarded  in  the  early  Church  as  a  direct  gift 
still  bestowed  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  apart  from  any  human  ordinance.  Justin  Martyr  7,  Ter- 
tullian ^,  Origen  9,  all  speak  of  exorcism  as  being  practised  by  laymen,  even  by  soldiers,  and 
women,  by  means  of  prayer  and  invocation  of  the  name  of  Jesus.  Accordingly  "an  Exorcist 
is  not  ordained,  for  it  is  a  gift  of  the  spontaneous  benevolence  and  grace  of  God  throu"h 
Christ  by  visitation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  he  who  has  received  the  gift  of  healing  is 
declared  by  revelation  from  God,  the  grace  which  is  in  him  being  manifest  to  all '."  Wlien 
the  extraordinary  gift  was  found  to  have  been  withdrawn,  exorcists  are  mentioned  among  the 
inferior  officers  of  the  Church,  after  readers  and  subdeacons  ^  From  an  early  period  certain 
set  formulae,  such  as  the  Divine  names,  "  The  God  of  Abraham,  and  God  of  Isaac,  and  God 


4  De  Poenitentia,  c.  ix.  5  Cat.  i.  §  s.  ^  Vo  %  6. 
7  lb.  §  II.                     8  Cat.  ii.  15.     For  similar  statements,  see 

Cat.  i.  2  ;  ii.  19,  20,  &C. 

9  Cat.  ii.  §  20.  I   lb.  V.  §  2.  a  lb.  xviii,  14. 

3  Procat.  §  9.  4  Mark  xvi.  17  ;  Luke  ix.  i  ;  x.  17. 

5  Acts  V.  16  ;  xvi.  18  ;  xix.  12.  *  Acts  viii.  7. 


7  Apologln  I.  §§  6,  8;  Tryfh.  Ixxxv. 

8  De  Idolol.  c.  xi. ;    de   Corona   Mil.  xi.  ;    de  Anima,   Ivii. 
de  S/cctac.  xxvi.  ;  de  Priescript.  Hceret,  xli. 

9  Contra  Celsiim.  vii.  c.  57.  »  Const.  Apost.  viii.  26. 

2  Euseb.  H.E.  vi.  43;    Syn.  Antioch.  in  Encsniis,  Can.  10: 
Syn.  Laod.  Can.  24. 


C    2 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 


of  Jacob,"  "The  God  of  Israel,"  "The  God  who  drowned  the  king  of  Egypt  and  the 
Egyptians  in  the  Red  Sea,"  were  frequently  invoked  against  demons  and  certain  wicked 
persons  3. 

Accordingly,  when  an  exorcist  was  ordained  the  Bishop  was  directed  to  give  him  the  book 
in  which  the  exorcisms  were  written,  with  the  words,  "Receive  thou  these,  and  commit  them 
to  memory,  and  have  thou  power  to  lay  hands  upon  the  Energumens,  whether  they  be 
baptized  or  only  Catechumens  l"  Though  this  Canon  speaks  only  of  exorcising  Ener- 
gumens, or  such  persons  as  were  supposed  to  be  possessed  by  evil  spirits,  we  must  remember 
that  the  power  of  such  spirits  was  believed  to  extend  to  the  whole  world  outside  the 
Christian  Church.  Thus  all  converts  from  Paganism  and  Judaism,  and  even  the  children  of 
Christian  parents  were  exorcised  before  being  baptized.  The  practice  was  closely  connected 
with  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  as  we  see  in  many  passages  of  S.  Augustine,  and  is  declared 
by  him  to  be  very  ancient  and  universal  s.  In  expounding  the  Creed  to  candidates  for 
Baptism,  he  says  :  "  Therefore,  as  you  have  seen  this  day,  and  as  you  know,  even  little 
children  are  breathed  on  and  exorcised,  that  the  hostile  power  of  the  devil  may  be  driven 
out  of  them,  which  deceived  one  man  in  order  that  he  might  get  possession  of  all  men^." 

We  find  accordingly  that  Cyril  enforces  the  duty  of  attending  the  Exorcisms  on  all 
the  candidates  alike,  and  from  his  use  of  the  Plural  (Exorcisms)  we  see  that  the  ceremony 
was  often  repeated  for  each  person.  Thus  in  the  Clementine  Homilies  Peter  is  represented 
as  saying,  "  Whoever  of  you  wish  to  be  baptized,  begin  from  to-morrow  to  fast,  and  each  day 
have  hands  laid  upon  you  ?,"  the  imposition  of  hands  being  one  of  the  ceremonies  used 
in  exorcism^.  From  expressions  in  the  Introductory  Lecture,  "When  ye  have  come  in  before 
the  hour  of  the  exorcisms 9,"  and  again,  "when  your  exorcism  has  been  done,  until  the 
others  who  are  to  be  exorcised  have  come  ',"  it  seems  that  before  each  Catechizing  the 
candidates  were  all  exorcised,  one  by  one-,  and  that  the  earlier,  after  returning  from  their  own 
exorcism,  had  to  wait  for  those  who  came  later.  The  catechizing  was  thus  frequently 
delayed  till  late  in  the  day,  and  Cyril  often  complains  of  the  shortness  of  the  time  left  at 
his  disposal  3. 

At  Antioch,  the  Catechizing  preceded  the  Exorcism,  as  we  learn  from  S.  Chrysostom  : 
"  After  you  have  heard  our  instruction,  they  take  off  your  sandals,  and  unclothe  you,  and  send 
you  on  naked  and  barefoot,  with  your  tunic  only,  to  the  utterances  of  the  Exorcists  t."  Cyril 
says  nothing  of  this  unclothing,  but  mentions  another  ceremony  as  practised  at  Jerusalem  : 
"  Thy  face  has  been  veiled,  that  thy  mind  may  henceforward  be  free,  lest  the  eye  by  roving 
make  the  heart  rove  also.  But  when  thine  eyes  are  veiled,  thine  ears  are  not  hindered  from 
receiving  the  means  of  salvations."  The  veil  may  also  have  been  a  symbol  of  the  slavery 
and  darkness  of  sin,  as  S.  Augustine  regards  the  removal  of  the  veil  on  the  octave  of  Easter 
as  symbolising  the  spiritual  liberty  of  the  baptized  ^.  Of  this  meaning  Cyril  make^  no  express 
mention. 

In  the  Greek  Euchologion,  as  quoted  by  Kleopas,  the  act  of  the  Exorcist  is  thus  described  : 
"  And  the  Priest  breathes  upon  his  mouth,  his  forehead,  and  his  breast,  saying.  Drive  forth 
from  him  every  evil  and  unclean  spirit,  hidden  and  lurking  in  his  heart,  the  spirit  of  error,  the 
spirit  of  wickedness  7,  &c." 


3  Origen.  Contra  Cels.  iv.  c.  34  (p.  184). 

4  Fourth  Council  of  Carthage,  Can.  7  (a  d.  398). 

5  De  Nupt.  ct  Coiiciiji.  II.  8  33  :  de  Pecc.  Orig.  %  45  ;  contra 
nulian  Pelag.  VI.  g  ti  ;  Op.  Imperf.  c.  Julian.  I.  8  50;  III. 
§  144,  &c.  6  Dc  Symbolo,  §  a.     Cf.  Cat.  xx.  {Myst.  ii.)  §  ». 

1  Horn.  iii.  c.  73. 


produceremini."     This   may  possibly  refer  only  to  the  final  ex- 
orcism immediately  before  Baptism. 

3  Cat.  xiii.  8  :  xv.  33  ;  xviii.  16,  &c. 

4  Ad  llluminandos,  Cat.  i.  g  2.  1  S  Procnt.  §  9. 
6  S.    Aug.  Serm.   376.     "  Hodie  octavae  dicuntur  Infantium  ; 

revclaiula  sunt  capita  eorum,  quod  est  indicium  libertaiis.     Habet 

8  Orig.  in  Josu.  xxiv.  g  i  :  "  exorcistarum  manus  impositione."  j  enim   libertatem  ista   spirilualis  nativitas,  propria;  autem  carnis 

9  Procat.  g  13.  I  lb.  §  14.  nativitas  scrvitvuem." 
=  Aug.  Sermo  de  Symb.  ii.  g  i  :    "  ut  ex  locis  secretis  singuli !       7  Procat.  §  14. 


CEREMONIES    OF   BAPTISM    AND    CHRISM.  xxi 


Besides  such  invocations  of  the  names  of  God,  as  we  have  mentioned  above,  the  Exorcist 
used  set  forms  of  prayer  "  collected  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures."  Their  effect,  as  described 
by  Cyril,  is  to  "  set  the  soul,  as  it  were,  on  fire,"  and  scare  the  evil  spirit  away ;  and  his 
meaning  may  be  illustrated  by  a  passage  of  Tertullian,  who  says^:  "All  the  authority  and 
power  we  have  over  them  is  from  naming  the  name  of  Christ,  and  recalling  to  their  memory 
the  woes  with  which  God  threatens  them  at  the  hands  of  Christ  as  Judge.  ...  So  at  our 
touch  and  breathing,  overwhelmed  by  the  thought  of  those  judgment-fires,  they  leave 
the  bodies  they  have  entered,  at  our  command,  unwilling  and  distressed,  and  before 
your  very  eyes  put  to  an  open  shame." 

The  Exorcisms  were  performed  in  the  Church  ;  where  also  the  Lectures  were  delivered 
Catechumens  of  the  lower  order  being  excluded,  "and  the  doors  looking  towards  the  city 
closed  9,   while  those  which  looked   towards  the    Holy  Sepulchre,  from  which  the  ruins  of 
the  ancient  Temple,  Golgotha,  and  the  old  city  could  be  seen,  were  left  open  '°." 

CHAPTER   IV. 
Ceremonies  of  Baptism  and  Chrism. 

§  I.  RemmciaHon.  We  have  seen  that  Cyril's  last  Catechetical  Lecture  was  delivered 
in  the  early  dawn  of  the  Great  Sabbath,  Easter  Eve.  The  additional  instructions  then 
promised  ^  concerning  the  behaviour  of  the  Candidates  were  given  on  the  same  day,  pro- 
bably in  the  evening,  when  they  were  all  assembled  immediately  before  the  administration 
of  Baptism.  The  most  important  pares  of  the  Baptismal  ceremony  are  described  by  Cyril 
in  the  first  Atystagogic  Lecture,  deUvered  on  the  Monday  of  Easter  week.  Thus  in  §  i  he 
says,  "  Li-t  us  now  teach  you  these  things  exactly,  that  ye  may  know  the  significance  of  the 
tilings  done  to  you  on  that  evening  of  your  Baptism." 

The  first  act  was  the  renunciation  of  the  Devil  and  all  his  works.  This,  as  described  by 
Tertullian,  was  done  first  in  the  Church  "under  the  hand  of  the  Bishop,"  and  again  imme- 
diately before  entering  the  water ".  Cyril  speaks  of  the  latter  occasion  only.  "  First  ye 
entered  into  the  outer  chamber  of  the  Baptistery,  and  there  facing  towards  the  West  (as  the 
region  of  darkness)  ye  heard  the  command  to  stretch  forth  your  hand,  and  as  in  the  presence 
of  Satan  to  renounce  him  2."  For  the  formula  of  renunciation  in  the  Apostolical  Constitu- 
tions, see  note  2  on  Mystag.  i.  §  8 ;  it  corresponds  closely  with  Cyril's,  except  that  this  is 
addressed  to  Satan  as  if  personally  present:  "I  renounce  thee,  Satan 3,  and  all  thy  works 4, 
and  all  thy  pomp  5,  and  all  thy  worship^." 

§  2.  Profession  of  Faith.  After  the  renunciation  of  Satan  the  Candidate  immediately  turned 
to  the  East  and  said,  "  And  I  associate  myself  {avvra(Tao\iai)  with  Christ."  Cyril  does  not  give 
the  words,  but  seems  to  allude  to  the  custom,  when  he  speaks  of  the  Candidates  "  turning 
from  the  West  to  the  East,  the  place  of  light'." 

Then,  still  facing  the  East,  the  Candidate  was  bidden  to  say,  "  I  believe  in  the  Father, 
and  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  one  Baptism  of  repentance  ^"  We  have 
seen  that  in  Cat.  xviii.  22,  32,  Cyril  intimated  to  his  Candidates  that  they  would  be  required 
to  profess  publicly  the  Creed  which  he  had  delivered  to  them  and  which  they  had  repeated 
after  him.  This  public  profession  of  faith  ('O/ioXoyt'a,  "  Redditio  Symboli ")  was  in  some 
Churches  made  on  Holy  Thursday,  according  to  Canon  46  of  the  Synod  of  Laodicea  : 
"Those  to  be  baptized  must  learn  the   Creed  by  heart,  and  recite  it  to  the  Bishop  or 

8  Apologet.  c.  23.  9  Procai.  %  9.  »o  Cat.  xiii.  23  :  "  Thou  seest  this  spot  of  Golgotha?    Thou  answerest  with  a  shout  of 

praise,  as  if  assenting."  '  Cat.  xviii.  §  32.  "^  De  Cor.  Mil.  c.  3. 

a  Myst.  i.  §  2.  3  §  4.  4  §  5.  5  §  6.  «  §  8.  7  §  9,  note  > 

8  Compare  xviii.  22  :  "  One  Baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins." 


XXll 


INTRODUCTION. 


Presbyters  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  week."  But  in  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  c.  xli.,  the 
Candidate  is  required  to  recite  the  wliole  Creed  immediately  after  the  Renunciation :  "  And 
after  his  renunciation  let  him  in  his  consociation  (o-ui/rno-o-o/xeros)  say :  '  And  I  associate  myself 
to  Christ,  and  believe  and  am  baptized  into  One  Unbegotten  Being,  the  Only  True  God 
Almighty,  the  Father  of  Christ,  ....  and  into  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ....  and  I  am  baptized 
into  the  Holy  Ghost,  ....  into  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh,  and  into  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  into  the  life  of  the  world  to  come.'  And  after  this  vow, 
he  comes  in  order  to  the  anointing  with  oil."  / 

Such  appears  to  have  been  the  custom  of  the  Eastern  Churches  in  general  and  of  Jerusalem 
in  Cyril's  time,  although  he  mentions  only  those  articles  of  the  Creed  which  were  commonly 
held  to  be  indispensable  to  a  valid  profession  of  Christian  belief. 

Dr.  Swainson9  represents  the  matter  somewhat  differently:  "When  we  come  to  the 
profession  of  his  own  personal  faith  which  was  made  at  Jerusalem  by  the  Candidate  for 
Baptism,  w^e  find  that  this  was  far  briefer  not  only  than  the  collection  of  '  necessary  things ' 
(Cat.  iv.),  but  also  than  the  Creed  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem."  Then  after  quoting  the 
short  form  in  Cyril,  Myst.  i.  §  9,  "I  believe  in  the  Father,  and  in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  in  one  Baptism  of  repentance,"  Dr.  Swainson  adds  :  "  The  words  are  clear  and 
definite.  In  these  words  each  answered  the  question  of  which  we  read  elsewhere,  '  Did  he 
believe  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit?'  In  this  his  reply  the 
Candidate  'confessed'  what  Cyril  called  'the  saving  confession.'" 

It  is  evident  that  two  separate  parts  of  the  Baptismal  Service  are  here  confused:  the 
question  to  which  Dr.  Swainson  alludes,  and  "the  saving  confession"  of  which  Cyril  speaks 
in  Mystag.  ii.  §  4,  belong,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  to  a  later  stage  of  the  ceremony. 

§  3.  First  Unction.  On  passing  from  the  outer  to  the  inner  chamber  of  the  Baptistery,  the 
Candidate  who  had  made  his  renunciation  and  profession  barefoot  and  wearing  his  tunic 
(Xiro)!') '  only,  now  put  off  this  inner  garment  also,  as  an  emblem  of  putting  off  the  old 
man  with  his  deeds  =*.  A  further  significance  is  ascribed  by  Cyril  to  this  unclothing  of  the 
Candidate,  as  being  an  imitation  both  of  Christ,  who  hung  naked  3  on  the  Cross,  and  by  His 
nakedness  put  off  from  Hitnself  the  principalities  and  the  powers,  and  "  of  the  first-formed 
Adam,  who  was  naked  in  the  garden,  and  was  not  ashamed." 

"  Then,  when  ye  were  stripped,  ye  were  anointed  with  exorcised  oil,  from  the  very  hairs  of 
your  head  to  your  feet  3'*."  The  consecration  of  the  "  exorcised  oil  "  is  thus  described  * :  "  Now 
this  is  blessed  by  the  chief-priest  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  first  preparation  for 
Baptism.  For  he  calls  thus  upon  the  Unbegotten  God,  the  Father  of  Cln-ist,  the  King  of  all 
sensible  and  intelligent  natures,  that  He  would  sanctify  the  oil  in  the  name  of  tl.j  Lord  Jesus, 
and  impart  to  it  spiritual  grace  and  efficacious  strength,  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the  first 
preparation  for  the  confession  of  Baptism,  that  so  the  Candidate  for  Baptism,  when  he  is 
anointed  may  be  freed  from  all  ungodliness,  and  may  become  worthy  of  initiation,  according 
to  the  command  of  the  Only  begotten." 

Bingham's  observation,  that  Cyril  describes  this  first  unction  as  used  "between  the  re- 
nunciation and  the  confessions"  is  not  cjuite  accurate:  in  fact  it  came  between  two  con- 
fessions, the  one   made,  as   we  have   seen,  immediately  after  the  renunciation   in  the  outer 


9  Creeds  of  the  Church,  p.  17. 

'  Pseudo-Dionysius  Areopag.  Eccl.  Hierarch.  iU. 

'  Mystag.  ii.  §  2. 

3  This  passage  has  recently  (1891)  acquired  a  speci.il  interest 
from  the  controversy  concerning  Mr.  Calderon's  picture,  repre- 
senting St.  Elisabeth  of  Hungary  as  kneeling  naked  before  the 
altar.  The  word  "  naked  "  (yvMi'ds,  nudus)  is  not  in  itself  de- 
cisive, but  here  in  St.  Cyril's  account  of  Baptism  absolute  naked- 


ness seems  to  be  implied  ;  for  though  women  sometimes  wore 
an  under-tunic  (xiTiii/toi-),  men  had  nothing  beneath  the  tunic 
proper  (xiTiii'),  which  is  here  said  to  be  put  off.  According  to 
Thtiophylact,  on  Matt.  v.  40,  the  cliiton  was  properly  to  n-ap"  rjixiv 
keyofxevov  uttokojuktoc.  Sec  Dictionary  0/  Biblical  Antiquities, 
"Baptism,"  §  48. 

3*  lb.  §  3-  4  Const.  .Apost.  vii.  c.  4a. 

5  Ant.  XI.  c.  9,  Jl. 


CEREMONIES    OF   BAPTISM    AND    CHRISM.  xxiii 


chamber,  the  other  at  the  very  time  of  immersion.  Chrysostom  ^  clearly  distinguishes  two 
Confessions,  but  places  one  before  Baptism,  and  the  other  after  :  "  What  can  be  more  beautiful 
than  the  words  by  which  we  renounce  the  devil?  Or  those  by  which  we  associate  ourselves 
with  Christ?  Than  that  confession  which  comes  before  the  washing?  Or  that  which  comes 
after  the  washing?  " 

This  first  unction  is  not  mentioned  by  Tertullian,  nor  in  any  genuine  work  of  Justin 
Martyr,  but  in  the  Responsiones  ad  Orthodoxos,  a  work  which  thf)ugh  still  early  is  regarded  as 
certainly  spurious,  we  find  the  question  put,  "  Wliy  are  we  first  anointed  with  oil,  and  then, 
having  performed  the  before-mentioned  symbolic  acts  in  the  Laver,  are  afterwards  sealed  with 
the  ointment,  and  do  not  regard  this  as  done  in  opposition  to  what  took  place  in  our  Lord's 
case,  who  was  first  anointed  with  ointment  and  then  suffered??"  And  in  the  answer  it  is  stated 
that  "We  are  anointed  with  the  simple  oil  that  we  may  be  made  Christs  (x/)iffroi),  but  with 
the  ointment  in  remembrance  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  who  regarded  the  anointing  with  ointment 
as  His  burial,  and  called  us  to  the  fellowship  of  His  own  sufferings  and  glory,  typically  in  the 
present  life  but  truly  in  the  life  to  come." 

Cyril  attributes  to  this  "  exorcised  oil "  the  same  power  as  to  Exorcism  itself,  "  not  only  to 
burn  and  cleanse  away  the  traces  of  sin,  but  also  to  chase  away  all  the  invisible  powers  of  the 
evil  one  ^." 

According  to  the  directions  concerning  this  first  unction  in  the  Apostolical  Consfifiitions^, 
the  Bishop  was  first  to  anoint  the  head  only,  the  anointing  of  the  whole  body  being  then 
completed  by  the  Deacon  or  Deaconess. 

§4.  Baptism.  After  this  anointing  the  Candidates  were  *' led  by  the  hand  to  the  sacred 
pool  of  Holy  Baptism  ^."  This  pool  (Ko'KvfilSi'jdpa)  was  supplied  with  water  raised  from  the 
reservoirs,  of  which,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  speaks  in  his  description  of  the 
Basilica. 

As  great  multitudes  both  of  men  and  women  were  baptized  at  the  special  seasons,  the 
Baptisteries  were  large  buildings  outside  the  Church,  such  as  the  Baptistery  of  the  Lateran, 
said  to  have  been  originally  built  by  Constantine.  The  font  itself  also  was  large  enough  for 
several  persons  to  be  baptized  at  the  same  time.  In  some  places  the  men  were  baptized  first, 
and  then  the  women:  in  others  diff"erent  parts  of  the  Baptistery  were  assigned  to  them,  and 
curtains  were  hung  across  the  Font  itself-. 

The  consecration  of  the  water  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Didaclie  or  Justin  Martyr;  but 
Tertullian  thus  describes  its  effect  :  "  The  waters  after  invocation  of  God  acquire  the 
sacramental  power  of  sanctification  ;  for  immediately  the  Spirit  comes  down  from  heaven 
upon  the  waters,  and  rests  upon  them,  sanctifying  them  from  Himself,  and  they  being  thus 
sanctified  imbibe  a  power  of  sanctifying  3." 

In  the  prayer  of  consecration  given  in  the  AposfoJic  Constitutions  the  Bishop  is  directed 
first  to  offer  adoration  and  thanksgiving  to  the  Father  and  Son,  and  then  to  call  upon 
the  Father  and  say :  "  Look  down  from  heaven,  and  sanctify  this  water,  and  give  it 
grace  and  power,  that  so  he  that  is  to  be  baptized,  according  to  the  command  of  Thy 
Christ,  may  be  crucified  with  Him,  and  may  die  with  Him,  and  may  be  buried  with  Him, 
and  may  rise  with  Him  to  the  adoption  which  is  in  Him,  that  he  may  be  dead  to  sin, 
and  live  to  righteousness  +." 

Cyril  ascribes  the  like  eff'ect  to  the  consecration  of  the  water,  as  imparting  to  it  a  new 
power  of  holiness  by  "  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Gliost,  and  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Father  5." 

W^hile   standing  in   the  water  the    Candidate  made  what   Cyril  calls  "  the  saving  con- 


*  Efics.\.\\om.\.%-i.  T  QiicFstio  ^zi-  ^  Mystas.n.%%.  9  Lib.  iii.  c.  15. 

«  Mystag.  ii.  §  4.  «  Bingham,  Aitt.  VIII.  c.  7,  5  2  ;  XI.  c.  11,  §  3.  'i  De  BaJ>thmo,  c.  iv. 

4  VII.  c.  43.  5  Cat.  iii.  §  3.     See  also  Introduction,  ch.  vi.  §  2. 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION. 


fession^."  The  whole  Creed  having  been  already  recited  {Reddttio  SyniboH)  in  the  outer 
chamber  immediately  after  the  Renunciation,  a  short  form  was  now  employed  containing 
only  the  necessary  declaration  of  faith  in  the  Holy  Trinity,  and  in  the  Baptism  of  Repentance 
for  the  remission  of  sins. 

§  5.  Trine  Immersio7i.  This  short  confession  appears  to  have  been "  made  by  way  of 
question  and  answer  thrice  repeated.  "Thou  wast  asked,  Dost  thou  beHeve  in  God  the 
Father  Almighty?  Thou  saidst,  I  believe,  and  dippedst  thyself,  that  is,  wast  buried.  Again 
thou  wast  asked.  Dost  thou  believe  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in _ His  Cross?  Thou 
saidst,  I  believe,  and  dippedst  thyself;  therefore  thou  wast  buried  with  Christ  also:  for 
he  who  is  buried  with  Christ,  rises  again  with  Christ.  A  third  time  thou  wast  asked. 
Dost  thou  believe  also  in  the  Holy  Ghost?  Thou  saidst,  I  believe,  a  third  time  thou 
dippedst  thyself;  that  the  threefold  confession  might  absolve  the  manifold  fault  of  thy 
former  life  7."  But  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  as  quoted  by  Bingham  2,  "  makes  these  answers 
not  only  to  be  a  confession  of  the  three  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  but  a  triple  confession 
of  Christ ;  which  implies  a  repetition  of  the  Creed  (the  shortened  form  ?)  three  times  over." 

In  which  of  these  ways  the  threefold  interrogation  ("  usitata  et  legitima  verba  in- 
terrogationis ")  was  made  at  Jerusalem,  is  not  quite  certain  from  Cyril's  words  :  "  Each 
was  asked,  Dost  thou  believe  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  tlie 
Holy  Ghost,  and  ye  made  that  saving  confession,  and  went  down  thrice  into  the  water  9." 
The  Didache  ^  enjoins  baptism  simply  into  the  names  of  the  Three  Persons  of  the  Holy 
Trinity.  Justin  Martyr  =  adds  a  i^w  words  only  to  the  names  "of  God  the  Father  and 
Lord  of  the  universe,  and  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; "  and 
Tertullian  3  observes  that  "  Wherever  there  are  three,  that  is,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  there  is  the  Church,  which  is  a  body  of  three."  The  trine  immersion 
had  reference  not  only  to  the  Trinity,  but  was  also  a  symbol  of  the  three  days  of  our 
Saviour's  burial  4.  The  use  of  the  three  Holy  Names  was  made  more  strictly  indispensable 
as  heresies  were  multiplied:  thus  the  49th  Apostolic  Canon,  which,  Hefele  says,  "must 
be  reckoned  among  the  most  ancient  Canons  of  the  Church,"  orders  that  "  If  any  Bishop 
or  Presbyter  does  not  baptize,  according  to  the  Lord's  command,  into  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  into  three  Beings  without  beginning,  or  into  three  Sons,  or  three 
Comforters,  he  shall  be  deprived." 

We  see  here  that  the  power  of  administering  Baptism  was  not  restricted  to  the  Bishop  : 
and  Cyril  speaks  of  it  as  possessed  by  "  Bishops,  or  Presbyters,  or  Deacons,"  assigning  as  the 
reason  the  great  increase  of  believers,  "for  the  grace  is  everywhere,  in  villages  and  in 
cities,  on  them  of  low  as  on  them  of  high  degree,  on  bondsmen  and  on  freemen  s." 

Thus  the  rule  of  Ignatius^,  that  "it  is  not  lawful  either  to  baptize  or  to  hold  a  love-feast 
apart  from  the  Bishop  (;^a)pt?  rov  iniaKUTrov)"  must  be  understood  to  mean  "  without  the 
authority  and  permission  of  the  Bishop." 

Of  certain  minor  ceremonies  connected  with  Baptism,  such  as  the  "Kiss  of  peace," 
and  the  taste  of  milk  and  honey  administered  to  the  neophyte  7,  no  mention  is  made  by  Cyril. 

§  6.  Chrisvi.  The  custom  of  anointing  the  baptized  with  consecrated  ointment  is 
regarded  by  Cyril  as  a  sacramental  act  representing  the  anointing  of  Jesus  by  the  Spirit 
at  His  Baptism.  "  As  the  Holy  Ghost  in  substance  lighted  on  Him,  like  resting  upon  like, 
so,  after  you  had  come  up  from  the  pool  of  the  sacred  waters,  there  was  given  to  you  an 
unction  the  counterpart  {to  avrirvnov)  of  that  wherewith  He  was  anointed,  and  this  is  the  Holy 
Cihosts."     As  "  He  was  anointed  with  a  spiritual  oil  of  gladness,  that  is  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 


«  Mystni^.  ii.  §  4.  7  Pseudo-Ambros.  ife  Sacraiiieittis,  II.  c.  7.  8  Ant.  XI.  c.  7,  §  11.  9  Mvstng.  iii.  §  4. 

'  Cap.  viL         »  Apolog.  I.  c.         3  De  Baptisnio,  c.  vi.         4  Mystag.  ii.  §  4,  nole  3.         5  Cat.  xvii.  35.         6  AdSmyrn.  c.  viiL 

7  Bingham,  Ant.  XII.  c.  4,  §§  5,  6.  8  Mystag.  iii.  §  i. 


CEREMONIES    OF   BAPTISM    AND    CHRISM.  xxv 


called  oil  of  gladness,  because  He  is  the  author  of  spiritual  gladness,  so  ye  were  anointed  with 
ointment,  and  made  partakers  and  fellows  of  the  Christ  9."  The  ceremony  was  very  ancient : 
there  is  probably  a  reference  to  it  in  the  words  of  Theophilus  of  Antioch  '  (c.  a.d.  170)  : 
"We  are  called  Christians,  because  we  are  anointed  with  the  oil  of  God."  Tertullian,  a  little 
later,  after  speaking  of  Baptism,  says  :  "  Immediately  on  coming  out  of  the  Laver  we  are 
thoroughly  anointed  with  a  consecrated  unction^ ;"  and  again,  "After  that,  the  hand  is  laid 
upon  us  in  benediction,  invoking  and  inviting  the  Holy  Ghost  3."  In  another  passage* 
he  mentions  also  the  sign  of  the  Cross  :  "The  flesh  is  washed,  that  the  soul  may  be  cleansed  ; 
the  flesh  is  anointed  that  the  soul  may  be  consecrated  ;  the  flesh  is  signed  [with  the  Cross] 
that  the  soul  also  may  be  guarded  ;  the  flesh  is  overshadowed  by  imposition  of  the  hand,  that 
the  soul  also  may  be  illuminated  by  the  Spirit." 

The  consecration  of  the  ointment  is  compared  by  Cyril  to  the  consecration  of  the 
Eucharist ;  after  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  it  is  no  longer  simple  or  common  ointment, 
but  a  gift  (Xapifffin)  of  Christ,  and  by  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  able  to  impart 
of  His  Divine  Nature.  And  this  ointment  is  symbolically  applied  to  thy  forehead,  and  thy 
other  organs  of  sense  s." 

The  ears,  nostrils,  and  breast  were  each  to  be  anointed,  and  Cyril  explains  the  symbolical 
meaning  in  each  case  by  appropriate  passages  of  Scripture  ^. 

The  consecration  of  the  chrism  could  be  performed  by  none  but  the  Bishop,  and  he 
alone  could  anoint  the  forehead  ?,  Presbyters  being  allowed  to  anoint  the  breast,  but  only 
with  chrism  received  from  the  Bishop  ^.  The  several  ceremonies  are  thus  explained  in  the 
Apostolical  Constitutions "i :  "This  baptism  is  given  into  the  death  of  Jesus:  the  water  is 
instead  of  the  burial,  and  the  oil  instead  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  the  seal  instead  of  the  Cross; 
the  ointment  is  the  confirmation  of  the  Confession  '." 

In  like  manner  the  chrism  is  explained  again,  "The  ointment  is  the  seal  of  the 
covenants  %"  that  is,  both  of  God's  promises,  and  of  the  Baptismal  vows. 

The  members  to  be  anointed  were  not  the  same  in  all  Churches,  but  everywhere  the 
chief  ceremony  was  the  anointing  of  the  forehead  with  the  sign  of  the  Cross.  This  is  what 
Cyril  calls  "the  Royal  Sign 3,"  and  "the  Royal  Seal  to  be  borne  upon  the  forehead  of  Christ's 
soldiers '^,"  and  again,  "  The  Seal  of  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost  s." 

These  last  were  probably  the  very  words  pronounced  by  the  Bishop  in  making  the  sign 
of  the  Cross  on  the  forehead  ;  for  by  Canon  7  of  the  Second  General  Council  at  Antioch 
(381),  converts  from  heretical  sects  were  to  be  "sealed  or  anointed  with  the  holy  ointment 
on  the  forehead,  eyes,  nostrils,  mouth,  and  ears.  And  in  sealing  them  we  say,  *  The  seal 
of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.' " 

An  additional  prayer  to  be  said  by  the  Bishop  is  given  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions^: 
"  O  Lord  God,  the  Unbegotten,  who  hast  no  Lord,  who  art  Lord  of  all,  who  madest  the  odour 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  to  go  forth  among  all  nations,  grant  also  now  that  this 
ointment  may  be  efficacious  upon  him  that  is  baptized  (/3a7rri^o/xeVa)),  that  the  sweet  odour  of 
thy  Christ  may  remain  firm  and  stable  in  him,  and  that  having  died  with  Him,  he  may  arise 
and  live  with  Him." 

The  whole  ceremony  was  called  by  the  Greeks  "  Chrism,"  the  "  Unction  "  being  regarded 
by  them  as  the  chief  part.  In  the  Latin  Church  the  name  Confirmation  is  of  later  date,  and 
indicates  that  greater  importance  was  then  attached  to  the  "  Laying  on  of  Hands "  with 
prayer. 


9  Mystag.'\\\.%i,  ^  Ad  Autofycutn.'u  '  De  Ba^t.  c.  j.  3  lb.  c.  8.  *  De  Resurr.  Carnis,  c.  Z.  5  lb.  §  3. 

6  Myst.  iii.  §  4.  7  Apost.  Const,  iii.  §  16  :  "  Let  the  Bishop  anoint  those  that  are  baptized  with  ointment  (/itu'pv)-" 

8  See  the  authorities  in  Bingham,  Ant.  xii.  c.  2,  §§  i,  2.  9  iii.  17.  i  Const.  Apost.  vii.  c.  22.  a  lb.  vii.  c.  43. 

Cf.  Cat.  iii.  17,  3  Cat.  iv.  §  14.  4  lb.  xii.  §  8.  5  lb.  xviii.  33.  6  vii.  c.  44. 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 


Another  ceremony,  not  alluded  to  by  Cyril,  was  the  saying  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  by  the 
neophyte,  standing  up,  and  facing  towards  the  East  7,  after  which  he  was  also  to  pray,  "O 
God  Almighty,  the  Father  of  Thy  Christ,  Thine  Only-begotten  Son,  give  me  a  body  undefiled, 
a  clean  heart,  a  watchful  mind,  an  unerring  knowledge,  the  influence  {eTrKpoiTrjaLv)  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  for  attainment  and  full  assurance  of  the  truth,  through  Thy  Christ,  by  whom  be  glory 
to  Thee  in  the  Holy  Ghost  for  ever.     Amen." 

CHAPTER  V. 

EucHARisTic  Rites.     Liturgy. 

§  I.  Fi'rsf  Communion.  When  the  rites  of  Baptism  and  Chrism  were  completed,  the  new- 
made  Christians,  clothed  in  white  robes  {Myst.  iv.  8),  and  bearing  each  a  lighted  taper  in  his 
hand,  passed  in  procession  from  the  Baptistery  into  the  great  "  Church  of  the  Resurrection.'' 
The  time  was  still  night,  as  we  gather  from  the  allusion  in  Frocat,  §  15  :  "  May  God  at  length 
shew  you  that  night,  that  darkness  which  shines  like  the  day,  concerning  which  it  is  said.  The 
darkness  shall  not  be  hidden  from  t/iee,  and  the  night  shall  be  light  as  the  day''  As  the  newly- 
baptized  entered  the  church,  they  were  welcomed  in  the  words  of  the  32nd  Psalm.  "  Even 
now,"  says  Cyril  {Frocat.,  §  15),  "let  your  ears  ring,  as  it  were,  with  that  glorious  sound, 
when  over  your  salvation  the  Angels  shall  chant,  Blessed  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven, 
and  wliose  sins  are  covered ;  when  like  stars  of  tlie  Church  you  shall  enter  in,  bright  in  the 
body  and  radiant  in  the  soul."  During  the  chanting  of  the  Psalm  the  neophytes  seem  to 
have  stood  in  front  of  the  raised  'bema'  or  sanctuary,  as  we  learn  from  Cyril's  eloquent  con- 
temporary, Gregory  Nazianzen,  Oral.  XL.  §46  :  "  The  station  in  which  presently  after  Baptism 
thou  wilt  stand  before  the  great  sanctuary  prefigures  the  glory  from  yonder  heaven  ;  the 
psalmody,  with  which  thou  wilt  be  welcomed,  is  a  prelude  of  those  heavenly  h)mns;  the 
lamps,  which  thou  wilt  light,  are  a  mystic  sign  of  the  procession  of  lights,  with  which  bright 
and  virgin  souls  shall  go  forth  to  meet  the  Bridegroom,  with  the  lamps  of  faith  burning 

brightly." 

From  the  Syriac  "Treatise  of  Severus,  formerly  Patriarch  of  Alexandria  (Antioch),  con- 
cerning^ the  rites  of  Baptism  and  of  Holy  Communion  (Synaxis)  as  received  among  the 
Syrian  Christians"  (Resch,  Agrapha,  §  12,  p.  361;,  we  learn  that  it  was  the  custom  "to  lift  up 
the  newly-baptized  to  the  altar,  and  after  giving  them  the  mysteries  the  Bishop  {Sacerdos) 
crowned  them  with  garlands." 

The  white  garments  {Frocat.,  §  2  :  Mystag.,  iv.  88)  were  worn  until  the  Octave  of  Easter, 
Low  Sunday,  Dominica  in  Albis  (Bingham,  XII.  c.  iv.  §  3). 

§  2.  The  Liturgy.  In  Cyril's  last  Lecture,  Mystagogic  V.,  he  reminds  his  hearers  of 
what  they  had  witnessed  at  their  first  Communion  on  Easter-day,  and  thus  gives  a  most 
valuable  testimony  to  the  prescribed  form  of  administering  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the  Eastern 
Church  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century. 

Passing  over  all  the  preparatory  portion  of  the  Liturgy,  he  tells  us  first  that  the  Deacon 
brings  water  to  the  Bishop  or  Priest  (tw  tfpel)  and  to  the  Presbyters  who  stand  round  the 
altar,  that  they  may  wash  their  hands  in  token  of  the  need  of  purification  from  sin  ;  a  cere- 
mony which  evidently  had  reference  to  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  I  will  wash  mine  hands 
in  innoccncy ;  so  will  I  compass  Thine  altar,  O  Lord  '."  In  some  Churches,  perhaps  also  at 
Jerusalem,  the  words  were  actually  chanted  during  the  ablution  ^. 

"Then  the  Deacon  cries  aloud,  Receive  ye  one  another:  and  let  us  salute  (do-n-a^wA'f^*') 
one  another."     In  the  Clementine  Liturgy  3  the  "Kiss  of  Peace"  precedes  the  "Ablution." 

7  Const.  Apost.  vii.  c.  44.  »  Mystag.  v.  8  a.  »  Diet.  Chr.  Ant.  "  Lavabo."  S  Apost.  Const,  viii.  c.  n. 


EUCHARISTIC    RITES.     LITURGY.  xxvii 


Sometimes  these  two  sentences  are  combined  :  "  Salute  ye  one  another  with  the  holy- 
kiss  4."  In  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James  there  are  two  separate  rubrics,  one  immediately  after  the 
dismissal  of  the  Catechumens,  **  Take  knowledge  one  of  another,"  and  a  second  after  the 
Creed,  "  Let  us  embrace  (dyanrjaconev)  one  another  with  a  holy  kiss." 

"  After  this  the  Priest  {Upfvs)  cries  aloud,  Lift  up  your  hearts.  Then  ye  answer,  "We  lift 
them  up  unto  the  Lords." 

The  meaning  of  this  Preface,  as  explained  by  Cyril,  is  an  exhortation  by  the  Priest,  or 
Bishop  when  present,  and  a  promise  by  the  people,  to  raise  all  their  thoughts  to  God  on 
high,  in  preparation  for  the  great  Thanksgiving  to  which  they  were  further  invited :  "  Let 
us  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord," — "  It  is  meet  and  right  ^." 

Then  follows  a  very  brief  summary  of  the  Eucharistic  Preface,  and  after  that  the  Trisagion  7, 
corresponding  in  part  to  the  long  Thanksgiving  in  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  for  all  God's 
mercies  in  creation,  providence,  and  redemption  ^ 

It  is  important  to  observe  how  S.  Cyril  in  this  and  the  following  sections  associates  the 
people  with  the  Priest,  using  throughout  the  Plural  "We."  That  this  is  intentional  and 
significant,  we  may  learn  from  a  passage  of  S.  Chrysostom  9  which  is  so  interesting  that  we 
may  be  allowed  to  translate  it  at  length :  "  Sometimes  moreover  no  difference  is  made 
between  the  Priest  and  those  over  whom  he  presides,  as  for  example  when  we  are  to  partake 
of  the  awful  mysteries  ;  for  we  are  all  alike  deemed  worthy  of  the  same  privileges  :  not  as  in 
the  Old  Covenant  some  parts  were  eaten  by  the  Priest,  and  others  by  the  governed  (6  apxafuvos), 
and  it  was  not  lawful  for  the  people  to  share  in  what  the  Priest  partook  of.  It  is  not  so  now  : 
but  one  Body  is  set  before  all,  and  one  Cup.  And  in  the  prayers  also  one  may  see  the  laity 
contributing  much.  For  the  prayers  on  behalf  of  the  Energumens,  and  on  behalf  of  those  in 
Penitence  are  offered  in  common  both  by  the  Priest  and  by  themselves ;  and  all  say  one 
prayer,  a  prayer  that  is  full  of  compassion.  Again,  after  we  have  excluded  from  the  sacred 
precincts  those  who  are  unable  to  partake  of  the  Holy  Table,  there  is  another  prayer  to  be 
made,  and  we  all  alike  lie  prostrate  on  the  floor,  and  all  alike  rise  up.  When  again  we  are  to 
receive  and  give  a  kiss  of  peace,  we  all  alike  embrace  each  other.  Again  even  amid  the 
most  tremendous  Mysteries  the  Priest  prays  over  the  people,  and  the  people  over 
the  Priest :  for  the  formula,  "  \Vith  Thy  Spirit,"  is  nothing  else  than  this.  The  words  of 
the  Thanksgiving  again  are  common  :  for  he  does  not  give  thanks  alone,  but  also  the  whole 
people.  For  having  first  got  their  answer,  and  they  agreeing  that  '  It  is  meet  and  right  so  to 
do,'  he  then  begins  the  thanksgiving.  And  why  wonder  that  the  people  sometimes  speak 
with  the  Priest,  when  even  with  the  very  Cherubim  and  the  Powers  on  high  they  send  up 
those  sacred  hymns  in  common.  Now  all  this  I  have  said  in  order  that  each  of  the  common 
people  {twv  apxopiVMv)  also  may  be  vigilant,  that  we  may  learn  that  we  are  all  one  Body, 
having  only  as  much  difference  between  one  and  another,  as  between  members  and  members, 
and  may  not  cast  the  whole  work  upon  the  Priests,  but  ourselves  also  care  for  the  whole  Church 
even  as  for  a  common  Body." 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  Cyril's  account  of  the  Eucharistic  rites  in  this  Lecture  there  is  not 
the  slightest  reference  to  the  words  of  Institution,  though  these  hold  so  prominent  a  place 
before  the  Invocation  both  in  the  Clementine  Liturgy  and  in  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James.  But 
we  cannot  justly  assume,  from  a  mere  omission  in  so  brief  a  summary,  that  the  Commem- 
oration of  the  Institution  had  no  place  in  the  Liturgy  then  in  use  at  Jerusalem.  It  seems 
more  probable  that  Cyril  did  not  think  it  necessary,  after  his  repeated  references  to  the  Insti- 
tution in  the  preceding  Lecture,  to  make  further  mention  of  a  custom  so  well  known  as  the 
recitation  of  Christ's  own  words  in  the  course  of  the  Prayer  preceding  the  Invocation.     On 

4  Afiost.  Const ■\\n.  c.  ii.    Compare  Justin  M.  Apolog.  I.  c.  65.         S  Mystag.  v.  §  4.       ^  §  5-      7  §  6.        8  Apost.  Const,  viii.  c.  12. 
See  the  Eucharistic  Preface  of  the  Liturey  01  S.  James  in  note  4  on  Mystag.  v.  §  6.  9  In  Epist.  II.  ad  Cor.  Homil.  xviii.  §  3. 


XXVlll 


INTRODUCTION. 


the  previous  day  he  had  quoted  S.  Paul's  account  of  the  Institution,  with  the  remark,  "  Since 
then  He  Himself  has  declared  and  said  of  the  Bread,  This  is  My  Body,  who  shall  dare  doubt 
any  longer?  And  since  he  has  Himself  affirmed  and  said,  This  is  My  Blood,  who  shall  ever 
hesitate,  saying  that  it  is  not  His  Blood  '  ?"  The  like  efficacy  he  again  ascribes  to  "  the  Lord's 
declaration  "  concerning  both  the  Bread  and  the  Wine,  that  they  are  "  the  Body  and  Blood  of 

Christ  ^" 

In  the  Didach^,  which  gives  the  oldest  elements  of  an  Eucharistic  Service,  there  is  neither 
the  Commemoration  nor  the  Invocation,  but  only  two  short  and  simple  forms  of  Thanksgiving 
"for  the  Holy  Vine  of  David,"  and  *'  for  the  broken  Bread  3." 

lustin  Martyr  seems  to  imply  that  the  consecration  is  effected  by  the  Commemoration  of 
Christ's  own  words  in  the  Institution :  "  We  have  been  taught,"  he  says,  "  that  the  food  which 
is  blessed  by  the  prayer  of  the  word  which  comes  from  Him  (ti]v  8i  eix'7^  \6yov  rov  nap'  ai/rov 
fvxaptaTtjenaav  Tpo(pi]v),  and  by  which  our  blood  and  flesh  are  by  transmutation  nourished,  is  the 
Flesh  and  Blood  of  that  Jesus  who  was  made  Flesh."  He  gives  no  separate  Invocation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  this  may  have  been  supplied  in  the  "praise  and  glory"  or  in  the  "prayers 
and  thanksgivings  "  sent  up  "  to  the  Father  of  all  through  the  name  of  the  Son  and  of  tlie  Holy 
Ghost  4." 

Iren^eus  is  apparently  the  earliest  writer  who  represents  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  the  immediate  act  of  consecration  :  "  We  make  an  oblation  to  God  of  the  bread  and 
the  cup  of  blessing,  giving  Him  thanks  for  that  He  has  commanded  the  earth  to  bring  forth 
these  fruits  for  our  nourishment.  And  then,  having  completed  the  oblation,  we  call  forth 
(eKKaXovfiev)  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  He  may  exhibit  this  sacrifice,  both  the  bread  the  Body  of 
Christ,  and  the  cup  the  Blood  of  Christ,  in  order  that  the  partakers  of  these  antitypes  may 
obtain  the  remission  of  sins  and  life  eternal  s." 

Mr.  Hammond  writes  that,  "  By  the  Oriental  Churches  an  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
considered  necessary  to  complete  ihe  consecration.  In  the  three  Oriental  Families  of  Litur- 
gies such  an  Invocation  is  invariably  found  shortly  after  the  Words  of  Institution  ^." 

It  is  in  accordance  with  this  statement  that,  we  find  Cyril  so  frequently  declaring  that  the 
elements  which  before  the  Invocation  are  simple  bread  and  wine,  become  after  the 
Invocation  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ?.  In  the  first  of  the  passages  referred  to  below 
he  speaks  of  "  the  Holy  Invocation  of  the  Adorable  Trinity,"  m  the  others  of  the  Holy  Spirit  only. 

Cyril  next  describes  the  Invocation  as  "  completing  the  Spiritual  Sacrifice,  the  bloodless 
Service,"  and  then  gives  a  summary  of  the  "  Great  Intercession "  as  made  "  over  that 
Sacrifice  of  the  Propitiation."  The  Intercession,  as  represented  by  Cyril,  is  not  simply 
a  prayer,  but  an  offering  of  the  Sacrifice  ^  and  this  is  in  accordance  with  the  usual  language 
of  the  Liturgies.  "  We  offer  to  Thee,  O  Lord,  on  behalf  also  of  Thy  holy  places,  which 
Thou  hast  glorified  by  the  Theophany  of  Thy  Christ,  and  by  the  visitation  of  Thine 
All-Holy  Spirit :  especially  on  behalf  of  glorious  Sion,  the  Mother  of  all  the  Churches, 
and  on  behalf  of  Thy  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  throughout  the  whole  world  ^" 
In  the  Liturgy  of  S.  Chrysostom,  as  now  commonly  used  in  the  Orthodox  Eastern  Church, 
we  find  the  fuller  phrase,  "  We  offer  unto  Thee  this  reasonable  Service  on  behalf  of  the 
world,  on  behalf  of  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church  ^" 

In  some  particulars  Cyril's  summary  agrees  most  nearly  with  the  Clementine  Liturgy, 
as,  for  example,  in  the  prayer  "for  the  King  and  those  in  authority,  and  for  the  whole 
army,  that  they  may  be  at  peace  with  us  3."     In  others  he  follows  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James, 


»  Mystag.  iv.  §  i.  »  lb.  §  6  :  see  also  §  7.  3  Capp.  ix.,  x.  4  Apol.  I.  cc.  65 — 67. 

5  Frag,  xxxvii}.  *  Liturgies,  p.  38a.  7  Mystag.  v,  i.  §  7 ;  iii.  §  3  ;  v.  §  ?• 

8  Mystag.  V.  8  8  :  rair^v  Trpo(T<t>epoiJ.ev  -niv  Ovaiar.  i  Hammond,  Liturgy  0/ S.  James,  p.  43. 

»  lb.  p.  IIS.  3  lb.  p   18. 


EUCHARISTIC    RITES.     LITURGY.  xxix 


as   in   the   intercession   for  "  every  Christian   soul   afflicted  and  distressed,   that  stands  in 
need  of  Thy  pity  and  succour  4." 

Cyril  next  describes  the  commemoration  of  departed  Saints,  and  "  of  all  who  in 
past  years  have  fallen  asleep  among  us,"  that  is,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  and  states 
his  belief  "  that  it  will  be  a  very  great  benefit  to  the  souls,  for  whom  the  supplication  is 
put  up  while  that  holy  and  most  awful  Sacrifice  is  presented  s."  He  refers  to  objections 
against  this  belief,  and  brings  forward  in  defence  of  it  a  reason  applicable  only  to  sinners  : 
"When  we  offer,"  he  says,  "our  supplications  for  those  who  have  fallen  asleep,  though 
they  be  sinners,  we  offer  up  Christ  sacrificed  for  our  sins,  propitiating  our  merciful  God 
for  them  as  well  as  for  ourselves^."  His  language  on  this  subject  seems  in  fact  to  shew 
an  advance  in  doctrine  beyond  the  earliest  Liturgies.  In  those  of  S.  James  and  S.  Basil 
we  find  prayers  that  the  offering  may  be  acceptable  as  a  propitiation  "for  the  rest  of  the 
souls  that  have  fallen  asleep  aforetime;"  and  again,  "that  we  may  find  mercy  and  grace 
with  all  the  Saints  who  have  ever  been  pleasing  in  Thy  sight  from  generation  to  generation, 
forefathers,  fathers.  Patriarchs,  Prophets,  Apostles,  Martyrs,  Confessors,  Teachers,  holy 
men,  and  every  righteous  spirit  made  perfect  in  the  faith  of  Thy  Christ." 

There  is  nothing  here,  nor  in  the  Clementine  Liturgy,  nor  in  that  of  S.  Mark,  cor- 
responding to  the  purpose  which  Cyril  ascribes  to  the  commemoration,  "  that  at  their 
prayers  and  intercessions  God  would  receive  our  petition,"  In  the  Anaphora  of  S.  Chrysos- 
tom  contained  in  the  later  form  of  the  Liturgy  of  Constantinople  we  find,  apparently  for 
the  first  time,  this  prayer  added  to  the  commemoration  of  all  Saints,  "  at  whose  supplications 
look  upon  us,  O'God." 

There  was  much  controversy  on  the  subject  of  prayers  for  the  dead  in  Cyril's  time, 
and  the  objections  which  he  notices  were  brought  into  prominence  by  Aerius,  and  rebuked 
by  Epiphanius  7. 

From  the  commemoration  of  the  departed  Cyril  passes  at  once  to  the  Lord's  Prayer^, 
omitting  the  Preface  which  is  found  in  the  Liturgies  of  S.  James  and  8.  Mark.  In  the 
Clementine  Liturgy,  contrary  to  general  use,  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  not  said  at  all.  Cyril  adds 
an  exposition  of  each  petition,  and  gives  an  unusual  explanation  of  eViovo-tof,  for  which  see  the 
footnote  :  he  also  explains  tov  novrjpov  as  referring  to  "  the  wicked  one,"  following  in  this  the 
Embolismus  of  S.  James,  "  deliver  us  from  the  wicked  one  and  from  his  works." 

"After  this  the  Bishop  says.  Holy  things  for  holy  men 9,"  Chrysostom  explains  this  as 
being  both  an  invitation  to  the  Faithful  in  general  to  communicate,  and  a  warning  to  the 
unholy  to  withdraw.  "  The  Bishop,  with  loud  voice  and  awe-inspiring  cry,  raising  high  his  arm 
like  a  herald,  and  standing  on  high  in  sight  of  all,  above  that  awful  silence  cries  aloud,  inviting 
some  and  repelling  others,  and  doing  this  not  with  his  hand,  but  with  his  tongue  more  clearly 
than  with  the  hand For  when  he  says.  Holy  things  for  the  holy,  he  means  this  :  Who- 
soever is  not  holy,  let  him  not  draw  near^" 

In  regard  to  the  doctrinal  significance  of  the  formula.  Dr.  Waterland's  remarks  should  be 
consulted  ^ 

The  response  of  the  people  to  the  "  Sancta  Sanctis  "  is  given  by  Cyril  3  in  accordance  with 
the  Liturgy  of  S.  James  and  the  Clementine  :  "  One  is  Holy,  One  is  the  Lord,  Jesus  Chiist : " 
but  he  does  not  mention  the  "  Gloria  in  excelsis  "  nor  the  •'  Hosanna,"  both  of  which  follow 
here  in  the  Clementine. 

"After  this,"  says  Cyril,  "ye  hear  the  chanter  inviting  you  with  a  sacred  melody  to  the 
Communion  of  the  Holy  Mysteries,  and  saying,  O  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good^.     This 

4  Hammond,  Liturgy  of  S.James,  p.  44.  S  §  9.  *  §  10.  7  Hcpres.  Ixxv.  §  7.     Cf.  Bingh.  Ant.  XV.  c.  3, 

S  16  ;  Diet.  Chi:  Biog.  "  Aeriiis."  8  Mysiag.  V.  §  ii.  9  lb.  §  19.  '  Horn.  xvii.  in  Hebr.     These  Homilies  were 

edited  after  Chrysostom's  death.        ^  A  Review  0/ the  Doctrine  of  the  Eueharizt,  c.-x..  3  §  19.  4  §  20. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION. 


agrees  with  the  Clementine  rubric  :  "  Let  the  33rd  Psalm  be  sung  while  all  the  rest  are  par- 
taking." In  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James,  while  the  Bishop  is  breaking  the  Bread  and  dipping  it 
in  the  Wine,  the  "  Agnus  Dei "  and  several  Psalms  were  sung :  but  of  these  there  is  no 
mention  in  the  Clementine  Liturgy  or  in  Cyril. 

On  Cyril's  directions  for  receiving  the  Bread  and  the  Cup  with  due  reverence,  see  the  foot- 
notes on  the  passages  s. 

His  final  injunction  to  remain  for  the  prayer  and  thanksgiving  is  taken  from  that  in  the 
Clementine  Liturgy  :  "  Having  partaken  of  the  precious  Body  and  the  precious  Blood  of 
Christ,  let  us  give  thanks  to  Him  who  hath  counted  us  worthy  to  partake  of  His  holy  Mys- 
teries" The  thanksgiving,  benediction,  concluding  prayers,  and  dismissal,  vary  much  in  the 
different  Liturgies. 

CHAPTER  VL 
Effects  of  Baptism  and  of  Chrism. 

§  I.  Baptism.  When  we  try  to  ascertain  the  exact  relation  between  Baptism  and  the 
Unction  or  Chrism  which  immediately  followed,  we  find  that  Cyril's  teaching  on  the  subject 
has  been  understood  in  very  different  senses.  By  some  he  is  thought  to  regard  the  Unction 
as  being  merely  an  accessory  rite  of  the  one  great  Sacrament  of  Baptism  ;  to  others  he  seems 
to  draw  a  clear  distinction  between  them,  assigning  to  each  its  proper  grace  and  efficacy. 

The  former  view  is  stated  by  the  Oxford  editor,  Milles,  in  his  note  on  the  words :  "  And  in 
like  manner  to  you  also,  after  you  had  come  up  from  the  pool  of  the  sacred  waters,  there  was 
given  an  unction,  a  figure  {avTLTvrtov)  of  that  with  which  Christ  was  anointed ;  and  that  is  the 
Holy  Ghost  ^"  "  It  is  evident,"  says  Milles,  "  from  his  words  here,  that  the  Chrism  of  which 
Cyril  treats  in  this  Lecture  is  not  to  be  referred  to  the  Unction  which  is  administered  by  the 
Romanists  in  Confirmation.  For  every  one  sees  that  by  Unction  in  this  passage  a  ceremony 
of  Baptism  is  indicated.  The  ancients  employed  two  Unctions  in  Baptism,  the  first  before 
the  immersion  in  the  water,  of  Avhich  he  spoke  in  the  preceding  Lecture ;  the  second  imme- 
diately upon  ascending  from  the  water,  of  which  he  speaks  in  this  Lecture." 

This  opinion  is  elaborately  discussed  by  the  Benedictine  editor,  Touttee,  Dissertatio  iii. 
c.  7,  who  argues  that  the  Unction  described  by  Cyril  is  a  Sacrament  distinct  from  Baptism, 
that  it  has  for  its  proper  grace  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  further  that  this  gift  is  not 
conferred  in  Baptism.  Of  these  assertions  the  first  and  second  appear  to  represent  Cyril's 
view  correctly  :  the  last  is  an  exaggeration  and  a  mistake,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to  identify 
the  Chrism  of  the  Eastern  Church  with  that  which  is  used  in  Confirmation  by  the  Roman 
Church,  and  to  exalt  the  rite  of  Confirmation  as  a  proper  Sacrament  distinct  from  Baptism, 
and  even  superior  to  it.  A  view  differing  in  some  respects  from  both  of  these  has  been 
recently  put  forward  by  a  learned  and  devout  writer  of  our  own  Churcli,  who  has  fully  dis- 
cussed the  teaching  of  Cyril  and  other  Eastern  Fathers,  and  gives  the  result  of  his  investigation 
in  the  following  " Summary  =^:"  "For  very  many  centuries  the  Christians  of  the  East  have 
never  been  forced  to  define  to  themselves  at  all  clearly  the  position  of  a  person  baptized  but 
unconfirmed.  Their  mode  of  administering  Confirmation  {Chrism})  by  the  hands  of  the 
baptizing  Presbyter — though  among  the  Greeks  and  some  others  with  chrism  prepared  by  the 
Bishop — relieves  them  from  the  necessity  which  weighs  upon  us  Westerns,  of  teachino^ 
Christian  children  what  their  status  is  between  the  two  rites.  Confirmation  {C/irism})  is  for 
them,  far  more  than  it  has  been  for  a  long  while  in  the  West,  a  factor  in  Baptism.     Only 


S  §8  21,  22.  I  Mysiag.  iii.  §  i. 

=  A.  J.  Mason,  D.D.,  Tlu  Relation  of  Confirmation  to  ISaptism,  p.  3S9.  Though  I  find  myself  compelled  to  differ  widely  from 
my  friend  Canon  Mason  in  the  interpretation  of  Cyril's  teaching  on  this  subject,  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  my  sincere 
admiration  of  the  tone  and  purpose  of  his  treatise,  and  of  the  learning  and  research  which  it  exhibits. 


•       EFFECTS    OF   BAPTISM    AND    OF   CHRISM.  xxxi 

a  more  or  less  conscious  desire  not  to  fall  behind  Western  teachers  in  honouring  the  per- 
fecting Unction  can  have  led  their  later  authorities  to  treat  that  Unction  as  a  sacrament 
numencally  distinct  from  Baptism.  To  all  the  early  doctors  of  the  East  the  two  things  are 
one,  and  Baptism  culminates  in  the  Unction.  The  tendency  among  Oriental  Christians  was, 
not  TO  attribute  to  Baptism  in  our  modern  sense  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  rather  to 
consider  Baptism  by  itself  as  a  bare  rite,  benefiting  the  body  alone,  and  dependent  for  its 
spiritual  efficacy  upon  other  actions,  after  and  before.  Not  that  this  tendency  has  its  full  way. 
The  Greek  Fathers  may  be  said  certainly  on  the  whole  to  trace  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the 
preparatory  cleansing,  to  the  baptismal  Laver ;  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  ordinary 
purposes  of  Christian  Hving,  they  trace,  like  S.  Chrysostom,  to  that  act  which  comes  "  im- 
mediately after  Baptism,  and  before  the  Mysteries." 

When  we  come  to  inquire  how  far  these  several  theories  agree  with  the  teaching  of  Cyril 
himself,  we  must  in  the  outset  put  aside  altogether  the  name  Confii 7natio7i :  for  as  applied  to 
the  Unction  used  in  the  Eastern  Church  it  is  only  confusing  and  misleading.  In  the  early 
ages  of  the  Church  Confirmation  was  not  known  even  by  name.  In  the  Latin  Church  "neither 
Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Ambrose,  Augustine,  Jerome,  nor  any  of  the  Latin  Fathers,  makes  mention 
of  Confirmation  in  this  sense.  Nor  have  the  Greeks  any  word  to  answer  to  this  Latin  terms." 
So  far,  therefore,  Milles  appears  to  be  perfectly  right  in  refusing  to  connect  the  Clirism  of 
which  Cyril  treats  with  the  Unction  used  in  Confirmation  by  the  Roman  Church. 

We  may  add  that  in  Cyril's  account  of  Chrism  it  is  wholly  unconnected  with  Confirmation, 
both  in  its  symbolic  reference  and  in  its  outward  form.  Chrism,  he  says,  is  the  antitype  of 
the  Unction  of  Christ  by  the  Holy  Ghost  at  His  Baptism  :  Confirmation  is  universally  ad- 
mitted to  have  been  a  following  of  the  Apostles  in  their  laying  on  of  hands.  But  in  that 
Apostolic  rite  there  was  no  unction,  and  in  Chrism  there  was  no  such  laying  on  of  hands. 

In  several  passages  Cyril  clearly  distinguishes  the  outuard  form  of  Baptism  from  the 
spiritual  grace. 

"  If  thy  body  be  here,  but  not  thy  mind,  it  profiteth  thee  nothing.  Even  Simon  Magus 
once  came  to  the  Laver :  he  was  baptized,  but  was  not  enlightened ;  and  though  he  dipped 
his  body  in  water,  he  enlightened  not  his  heart  with  the  Spirit :  his  body  went  down  and  came 
up,  but  his  soul  was  not  buried  with  Christ,  nor  raised  with  Him  t" 

It  is  impossible  here  to  regard  "  the  Spirit "  as  referring  to  the  grace  of  Unction  :  for 
(i)  Baptism  was  not  accompanied  by  Unction  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  and  (2)  we  should 
thus  make  a  false  antithesis  between  the  outward  part  of  the  one  rite  ("he  dipped  his  body  in 
water"),  and  the  i?nvard  part  of  the  other.  Here,  therefore,  Cyril  attributes  enlightenment  of 
the  heart  by  the  Spirit  to  Baptism  apart  from  Unction,  and  at  the  same  time  lays  stress  upon 
the  difference  between  the  worthy  and  unworthy  recipient  of  the  outward  form. 

The  importance  of  this  difference  is  further  enforced  throughout  the  next  two  sections,  and 
at  the  close  of  §  4  the  distinction  between  the  outward  sign  and  inward  grace  of  Baptism, 
strictly  so  called,  is  again  asserted,  "  though  the  water  will  receive  thee,  the  Spirit  will  not 
accept  thee." 

"  Some  might  suppose,"  it  is  said,  "  from  these  words  that  Cyril  thought  of  water  and  the 
Spirit  as  the  sign  and  the  thing  signified  in  Baptism  respectively,  and  a  passage  in  a  later 
Lecture  upon  the  subject  of  the  Sacrament  (of  Baptism)  at  first  confirms  that  impressions." 

To  suppose  that  Cyril  had  any  other  thought  in  the  former  passage,  seems  to  me 
impossible  for  any  ordinary  reader;  and  the  later  passage,  not  only  at  first,  but  more  fully 
the  longer  it  is  considered,  confirms  that  impression  beyond  all  doubt.  The  whole  quotation, 
including  Cat.  iii.  §§  3,  4,  is  too  long  to  repeat  here,  but  may  be  read  in  its  proper  place. 


>  Suicer,  Thesaurus,  Xpia-fia.  *  Prccat.  §  a.  S  Mason,  tdisuj:?:,  p.  337. 


xxxii  INTRODUCTION. 


It  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  passages  which  are  of  chief  importance  in  the  question  before 
us,  according  to  Canon  Mason's  translation. 

Cat.  iii.  §  3.  "  Do  not  attend  to  the  laver  as  mere  water,  but  to  the  spiritual  grace  given 
along  with  the  water  "  .  ,  .  "  the  mere  water,  receiving  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
of  Christ,  and  of  the  Father,  acquires  a  power  of  sanctity.  For  since  man  is  a  two-fold  being 
composed  of  soul  and  body,  the  cleansing  element  also  is  two-fold,  the  incorporeal  for  the 
incorporeal,  the  bodily  for  the  body.  And  the  water  cleanses  the  body,  but  the  Spirit  seals 
the  soul,  in  order  that  having  our  hearts  sprinkled  by  the  Spirit,  and  our  bodies  washed  with 
pure  water,  we  may  draw  nigh  to  God.  When,  therefore,  you  are  about  to  go  down  into  the 
water  do  not  pay  attention  to  the  mere  nature  of  the  water,  but  expect  salvation  by  the 
operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     For  without  both  it  is  impossible  for  thee  to  be  perfected." 

No  words  could  state  more  clearly  the  distinction  between  the  outward  sign  and  the 
inward  grace  of  Baptism,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  both.  There  is  no  posssible  reference 
to  Unction,  but  "  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost "  in  cleansing  and  sealing  the  soul  is 
unmistakably  connected  with  Baptism  as  "  the  grace  given  with  the  water"  (ixera  toC  uSotoj), 
and  below,  as  "  the  seal  by  water "  (ri^v  St'  vSaroi  acjipayldn),  the  latter  phrase  shewing  that 
Baptism  by  water  is  the  signiitn  efficax  of  the  grace  in  question. 

Cyril  then  quotes  our  Lord's  words.  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  explains  them  thus  :  "  On  the  one  hand  he  who  is 
being  baptized  (/SaTrn^o'/iet/os)  with  the  water,  but  has  not  had  the  Spirit  vouchsafed  to  him 
(KaTa§i(,i6eU),  has  not  the  grace  in  perfection  :  on  the  other  hand,  even  if  a  man  be  dis- 
tinguished for  virtue  in  his  deeds,  but  does  not  receive  the  seal  bestowed  by  means  of  water 
{ti)v  St'  vSaTos  (TcppaylSa),  he  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Canon  Mason, 
Avhose  translation  I  have  followed,  finds  here  a  reference  both  to  Baptism  and  to  Unction  as 
"the  first  baptismal  act  and  the  second,"  and  in  support  of  this  interpretation  gives  a  second 
and  more  emphatic  version  :  "  He  who  is  in  course  of  being  baptized  with  the  water,  but  has 
not  yet  had  the  Spirit  vouchsafed  to  him,  has  not  the  grace  in  perfection."  This  introduction 
of  the  word  "jet,"  in  order  to  represent  a  distinction  between  two  separate  acts,  is  not 
justified  either  by  the  reading  of  the  older  editions  (oi8e  t^  vtan  ^cnrTiCo^ievos  firj  Kara^iadns: 
Se  Toi)  UvfiifiaTos),  nor  by  that  of  Codices  Monac.  Roe,  Casaub.  adopted  by  Reischl  (ovre 
6  (if^anTiTp.ivoi  K.T.X.),  nor  by  the  Benedictine  text  (oifre  6  ISanri^nfifvos  k.t.X.).  The  obvious 
meaning  of  the  passage,  with  either  reading,  is  that  "  the  man  who  in  Baptism  did  not  receive 
the  Holy  Spirit,  has  not  the  grace  (of  Baptism)  complete."  The  Benedictine  Editor  in  his 
elaborate  argument  for  regarding  Chrism  as  a  distinct  sacrament  s",  does  not  even  refer  to 
this  passage. 

A  statement  which  is  important  in  this  connexion  is  found  in  Mystag.  ii.  §  6  :  "Let  no 
one  then  suppose  that  Baptism  is  the  grace  of  remission  of  sins  only,  or  further  of  adoption, 
as  the  Baptism  of  John  conferred  only  remission  of  sins  ;  but  as  we  know  full  well  that 
it  cleansas  from  sins  and  procures  a  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  also  it  is  a  counterpart 
{JivtItv-hov)  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ." 

Here  besides  "the  remission  of  sins,  which  no  man  receiveth  without  the  Holy  Spirit^," 
we  find  "a  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  Passion  distinctly  attributed 
to  Baptism. 

If  the  "  adoption  "  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this  passage  were  identical  (as  Touttee 
thinks)  with  the  "gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  it  would  by  no  means  follow  that  Cyril  here  means 
to  include  Unction  in  Baptism.  For  the  grace  which  beyond  all  others  is  exclusively  attaclied 
to  Baptism,  and  not  to  Unction,  is  the  new  birth,  and  this  is  "  the  new  birth  into  freedom 


5»  Dissert,  iii.  c.  8,  «  Hooker,  E.V.  V.  Ixvi.  §  6, 


EFFECTS    OF   BAPTISM    AND    OF    CHRISM.  xxxiii 

and  adoptiom^^  In  fact  Cyril's  teaching  on  this  point  is  in  strict  accordance  with  that 
of  St.  Paul  in  Gal.  iv.  4-6,  that  we  first  receive  the  adoption  of  sons  (vlodealav),  and  then 
"  because  ye  are  sons,  God  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  His  Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba, 
Father"  So  again  in  Rom.  viii.  15,  16,  he  says-,  *'  Ye  received  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  whereby 
we  cry,  Abba,  Father.  The  Spirit  Himself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit  that  7ve  are 
ttie  children  of  God.''  In  botli  passages  St.  Paul  clearly  distinguishes  two  things,  "  the 
adoption"  itself,  and  the  witness  of  it  by  "the  Spirit  of  adoption."  Cf.  Bengel  on  v.  4: 
"  Prius  adoptionem,  deinde  Spirittcm  adoptionis  accepimus;"  and  on  v.  6  :  "  Filiorum  statum 
sequitur  inhabitatio  Spiritus  Sancti,  non  banc  ille."  The  adoption  itself  belongs  to  Baptism 
strictly  so  called,  in  which  we  are  made  children  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ  (cf. 
Cat.  iii.  15)  :  the  witness  of  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  adoption  is  the  special  grace  ascribed 
to  Chrism  in  the  Eastern  Church,  and  to  Confirmation  in  the  Western.  There  are  many 
other  passages  in  which  Cyril  ascribes  to  Baptism  itself,  as  distinct  from  Chrism,  a  gift 
of  the  Spirit,  such  as  the  following :  "  But  He  trieth  the  soul :  He  casteth  not  His  pearls 
before  the  swine  :  if  thou  dissemble,  men  will  baptize  thee  now,  but  the  Spirit  will  not 
baptize  thee^." 

"The  Lord,  preventing  us  according  to  His  loving-kindness,  has  granted  repentance 
at  Baptism,  in  order  that  we  may  cast  off  the  chief — nay,  rather  the  whole  burden  of 
our  sins,  and  having  received  the  seal  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  be  made  heirs  of  eternal  life  9." 

Again,  after  speaking  of  "  the  invocation  of  grace  having  sealed  the  soul,"  he  adds  : 
"  Having  gone  down  dead  in  sins,  thou  comest  up  quickened  in  righteousness.  For  if 
thou  hast  been  united  with  the  likeness  of  the  Saviour's  death,  thou  slialt  also  be  deemed 
worthy  of  His  Resurrection '."  The  benefits  ascribed  to  Baptism  in  these  several  passages 
without  any  allusion  to  Chrism,  are  brought  together  with  rhetorical  effect  in  the  Introductory 
Lecture,  §  16  :  "  Great  is  the  Baptism  that  lies  before  you  ;  a  ransom  to  captives,  a  remission 
of  offences,  a  death  of  sin,  a  new  birth  of  the  soul,  a  garment  of  light,  a  holy  indissoluble 
seal,  a  chariot  to  heaven,  the  delight  of  Paradise,  a  welcome  into  the  kingdom,  the  gift  of 
adoption." 

From  such  language  it  is  clear  beyond  question  that  in  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  not  to  speak 
of  other  Oriental  Fathers,  the  tendency  is  not  "  to  consider  Baptism  by  itself  as  a  bare 
rite,  benefiting  the  body  alone,  and  dependent  for  its  spiritual  efficacy  upon  other  actions 
after  and  before,"  but  as  depending  on  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  sincerity 
of  repentance  and  faith  in  man. 

If  further  proof  were  needed,  a  glance  at  the  Index  under  the  word  "Baptism"  will 
shew  the  extraordinary  richness,  variety,  and  precision  of  Cyril's  teaching,  as  to  the  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  conferred  therein. 

§  2.  Chrism.  When  spiritual  blessings  so  many  and  so  great  have  been  ascribed  to 
Baptism,  in  what  light,  it  may  be  asked,  does  Cyril  regard  the  Unction  which  follows?  Does 
he  treat  it  as  being  merely  an  additional  ceremony  subordinate  to  Baptism,  or  as  having  for 
its  own  i)roper  grace  some  special  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  We  find  no  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion in  the  earlier  course  of  Lectures  ^  But  that  Chrism  was  not  regarded  by  Cyril  as  a  mere 
accessory  to  Baptism,  as  Milles  thought  3,  may  be  safely  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  announc- 
ing the  subjects  of  his  Mystagogic  Lectures,  he  mentions  first  Baptism,  then  "the  seal  of  the 
fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  then  "  the  Mysteries  at  the  altar  of  the  New  Covenant  *  :  " 
and  this  inference  is  fully  confirmed  by  his  language  elsewhere  :  "  Ye  have  heard  enough 
of  Baptism,  and  Chrism,  and  partaking  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  s."  A  mere  additional 


7  Cat.  i.  9.  8  lb.  xvii.  §  36.  9  lb.  iv   37.  »  lb.  i:i.  §  12.  »  Upon  the  supposed  allusion  to  Chrism 

in  Cat.  xvi.  §  26,  see  below,  p.  xxxiv.  3  Note  on  Mystn^.  iii.  §1.  4  Cat.  xviii.  §  33.  5  Mj/siag.  v.  §  i. 

VOL.  VII.  d 


xxxiv  INTRODUCTION. 


ceremony  of  Baptism  could  not  have  been  so  indepeaidently  placed  between  the  two  great 
Sacraments,  and,  as  it  were,  in  the  same  rank  with  them. 

The  importance  thus  attached  to  Chrism  is  further  shewn  in  the  fact  that  Cyril  uses  the 
very  same  language  in  reference  to  the  consecration  of  the  ointment  of  Chrism,  and  of  the 
water  of  Baptism,  and  of  the  Eucharistic  elements.  "The  bread  and  wine  of  the  Eucharist 
before  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  and  Adorable  Trinity  are  simple  (Xtro's)  bread  and  wine,  but 
after  the  Invocation  the  Bread  becomes  the  Body  and  the  Wine  the  Blood  of  Christ^." 
"  Regard  not  the  Laver  as  simple  (Xirw)  water,  but  rather  regard  the  spiritual  grace  that  is  given 
with  the  water?."  '*The  simple  water  having  received  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
of  Christ,  and  of  the  Father,  acquires  a  new  power  of  holiness  ^." 

•'  But  see  thou  suppose  not  this  to  be  plain  (\jri\ov)  ointment.  For  as  the  Bread  of  the 
Eucharist,  after  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  no  longer  simple  (Xltos)  bread,  but  the 
Body  of  Christ;  so  also  this  holy  ointment  is  no  longer  plain  (^^i\6i>)  ointment,  nor,  as  one 
might  say,  common,  after  Invocation,  but  Christ's  gift  of  grace  (xdpia-fia),  and  is  made  effectual 
to  impart  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  presence  of  His  own  Godhead  9." 

The  spiritual  benefits  which  Cyril  ascribes  to  the  Unction  are  set  forth  in  the  same 
lecture.  *'This  holy  thing  is  a  spiritual  safeguard  of  the  body,  and  salvation  of  the  soul" 
(.^  7)  :  it  sanctifies  all  the  organs  of  sense  :  "  the  body  is  anointed  with  the  visible  ointment, 
and  the  soul  is  sanctified  by  the  Holy  and  Life-giving  Spirit  "  (§  3).  After  being  anointed  the 
Christian  is  now  entitled  to  that  name  in  its  fullest  sense '  ;  he  is  clothed  with  the  whole 
armour  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  he  may  stand  against  the  power  of  the  adversary  :  he  may  say, 
"lean  do  all  thhigs  in  Christ  who  strengtheneth  me "  (§  4). 

In  regard  to  the  supposed  identity  of  Chrism  and  Confirmation,  it  is  important  to  notice 
carefully  how  Cyril  speaks  of  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  the  only  passage  where  he  men- 
tions it^ 

He  first  illustrates  the  freedom  of  the  Spirit,  and  His  independence  of  human  agency,  by 
the  gift  of  prophecy  to  the  seventy  elders,  including  Eldad  and  Medad  :  he  then  refers  to  the 
gift  of  the  spirit  of  wisdom  to  Joshua  by  the  laying  on  of  Moses'  hands  3,  and  adds,  "  Thou 
seest  everywhere  the  figure  (rvnov)  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the  New  the  same.  In  Moses' 
time  the  Spirit  was  given  by  laying  on  of  hands  (xfipodecna),  and  Peter  gives  the  Spirit  by  laying 
on  of  hands  *  :  and  upon  thee  also,  who  art  to  be  baptized,  the  grace  is  about  to  come ;  but 
the  manner  (t6  ttws-)  I  tell  thee  not,  for  I  do  not  forestall  the  time." 

From  this  passage  it  has  been  inferred  (i)  that  Cyril  alludes  to  a  gift  of  the  Spirit  by  laying 
on  of  hands  in  immediate  connexion  with  Baptism  and  Unction  s,  and  (2)  that  he  refers  this 
gift  of  the  Spirit  not  to  Baptism  itself,  but  to  the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  to  the  Unction 
as  a  figure  that  answers  to  it  ^. 

(i)  The  first  of  these  inferences  is  opposed  to  the  fact  that  Cyril  neither  mentions  the 
laying  on  of  hands  as  part  of  the  actual  ceremonial  in  Baptism  or  Unction,  nor  as  the  analogous 
rite  in  the  old  Testam.ent,  but  on  the  contrary  expressly  says  7  that  the  symbol  (ro  crvpfioXov)  of 
this  holy  Chrism  in  the  Old  Testament  lies  in  the  consecration  of  Aaron  to  be  High  Priest, 
when  Moses,  "after  the  washing  in  water  anointed  him,  and  he  was  called  ^ afioinkd,'  evidently 

from  this  figurative  unction  {tuv  XP'O-iiaros  drjXaSr]  rov  rvniKov)." 

(2)  In  support  of  the  second  inference  the  argument  offered  is  as  follows :  "That  the  Spirit 
was  to  come  upon  them  in  the  course  of  their  Baptism  is  here  again  clearly  stated ;  but  that 
Cyril  did  not  intend  them  to  suppose  that  Baptism  itself  would  convey  the  gift  is  equally  clear. 
Again  and  again  in  earlier  Lectures,  as  well  as  in  the  words  actually  before  us,  Cyril  has  taught 
them  to  expect  the  gift  in  Baptism  ;  if  therefore  the  immersion  itself  were  to  be  the  means  of 


6  Mystag.  i.  S  7.  7  Cat.  iii.  §  3.  8  HUhvt.  9  Mystag.  iii.  3.  »  lb.  iii.  §1.  «  C.it.  xvi.  §§  25,  26. 

3  Deut.  x.wiv.  9  4  Acts  viii.  17.  5  Touttce.  *  Mason,  p.  341,  with  note.  7  Mystag.  iii.  6. 


EFFECTS    OF   BAPTISM    AND    OF   CHRISM.  xxxv 

receiving  it,  he  has  already  told  them  his  secret.  Yet  now  he  says  that  he  will  not  tell  them 
'how'  they  are  to  receive  it.  That  remains  for  a  future  occasion^."  The  mistake,  as 
I  venture  to  consider  it,  lies  in  the  words  which  I  have  marked  with  italics.  For  of  the 
mysteries  which  were  to  be  concealed  from  the  unbaptized  ((J/nvrjT-ot)  the  first  was  the  man?ier 
of  administering  Baptisjn  itself,  and  the  second,  the  unction  of  Chrism  ;  and  in  the  preceding 
Lectures  Cyril  has  no  more  told  the  secret  of  the  one  than  of  the  other.  "  Baptism,  the 
Eucharist,  and  the  oil  of  Chrism,  were  things  that  the  uninitiated  (dixhTjToi)  were  not  allowed 
to  look  upon  9." 

"We  bless,"  says  S.  Basil',  "both  the  water  of  Baptism  and  the  oil  of  the  Chrism,  and 
moreover  the  baptized  {fBrnmCo^jifvov)  himself.  From  what  written  commands  ?  Is  it  not  from 
a  secret  {a-Konaiiiivqi)  and  mystical  tradition  ?  Again,  the  very  anointing  with  the  oil,  what 
word  of  Scripture  taught  that?  And  the  dipping  the  man  thrice,  whence  came  it?  And  all 
the  other  accompaniments  of  Baptism,  the  renunciation  of  Satan  and  his  angels,  from  what 
Scripture  came  they  ?  Come  they  not  from  this  unj^ublished  and  secret  teaching,  which  our 
fathers  guarded  in  a  silence  with  which  no  prying  curiosity  might  meddle,  having  been  well 
taught  to  preserve  the  sanctity  of  the  mysteries  by  silence  ?  For  how  could  it  have  been  right 
to  publish  in  writing  the  doctrine  of  these  mysteries,  which  the  unbaptized  are  not  even 
allowed  to  look  upon  ?  " 

As  these  secret  ceremonies  of  Baptism  and  Unction  are  revealed  by  Cyril  only  in  the 
Mystagogic  Lectures,  the  supposed  reason  for  saying,  that  in  Cat.  xvi.  26,  the  promised  gift  of 
the  Spirit  refers  not  to  Baptism  but  only  to  Unction,  at  once  falls  to  the  ground. 

The  true  state  of  the  case  is  well  expressed  by  Bingham  ^,  "  Though  the  ancients  acquainted 
the  Catechumens  with  the  doctrine  of  Baptism  so  far  as  to  make  them  understand  the  spiritual 
nature  and  design  of  it,  yet  they  never  admitted  them  to  the  sight  of  the  actual  ceremony,  nor 
so  much  as  to  hear  any  plain  discourse  about  the  manner  of  its  administration,  till  they  were 
fitted  and  prepared  for  the  actual  reception  of  it," — or  rather,  till  they  actually  received  it. 

There  is  in  fact  no  reason  to  exalt  the  benefits  of  Unction,  or  Confirmation,  by  robbing 
Baptism  of  its  proper  grace.  "  It  was  this  Unction,  as  the  completion  of  Baptism,  to  which 
they  ascribed  the  power  of  making  every  Christian  in  some  sense  partaker  of  a  royal  priesthood. 
To  it  they  also  ascribed  the  noble  effects  of  confirming  the  soul  with  the  strength  of  all  spiritual 
graces  on  God's  part,  as  well  as  the  confirmation  of  the  profession  and  covenant  made  on 
man's  parts."  We  may  well  be  satisfied  that  the  doctrine  of  the  early  Church  has  been  so 
fully  retained  in  essential  points  in  our  own  Office  of  Confirmation,  recalling  as  it  does  by  the 
ratification  of  the  baptismal  vows  the  immediate  connexion  of  the  ancient  Unction  with 
Baptism,  and  in  its  Prayers  invoking  the  same  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — "Strengthen  them,  we 
beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter,  and  daily  increase  in  them  Thy 
manifold  gifts  of  grace;  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding;  the  spirit  of  counsel  and 
ghostly  strength  ;  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  true  godliness ;  and  fill  them,  O  Lord,  with  the 
spirit  of  Thy  holy  fear,  now  and  for  ever.     Amen." 

CHAPTER   VII. 
EucHARisTic  Doctrine. 

We  have  seen  that  Cyril  makes  the  consecration  of  sacramental  elements  in  every  case 
consist  in  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  after  which  the  water  of  Baptism  is  no  longer 

8  Mason,  p.  341.  9  Basil,  a/iud  Bingham,  X.  5,  §  4-  *  -O"?  S^iriiu  S.  c.  xxvii.  «  Ant.  X.  v.  §  4. 

3  Eingh.  XII.  iii.  §  3.  Cf.  A/>ost.  Const.  III.  c.  17.  "  This  Baptism  therefore  is  into  the  death  of  Jesus  :  the  water  is  instead 
of  the  burial,  and  the  oil  instead  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  seal  instead  of  the  Cross  ;  tke  ointment  is  the  confirmation  0/  the  Con- 
fession."  VII.  22:  "  that  the  anointing  withx>il  may  be  the  participation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  water  the  symbol  of  the  death, 
and  the  ointment  the  seal  of  the  covenants.'' 

d  2 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION. 


mere  simple  water  %  the  ointment  no  longer  plain  ointment  *,  the  bread  and  the  wine  no  longer 
plain  bread  and  wine,  but  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  3. 

Upon  these  statements  an  argument  against  Transubstantiation  has  been  founded  by  Bishop 
Cosin  ■»,  and  adopted  both  by  Dr.  Pusey  s  and  Dean  Goode  ^.  It  being  universally  admitted 
that  the  substance  of  the  water  and  of  the  ointment  remains  unchanged,  it  is  argued  from  the 
identity  of  the  language  employed  in  each  case  that,  according  to  Cyril,  no  subsfatitial  ch?iX\gQ 
takes  place  in  the  Bread  and  Wine.  Bishop  Cosin  quotes  the  following  passage,  of  which  the 
original  is  given  below  :  '*  Take  heed  thou  dost  not  think  that  this  is  a  mere  ointment  only. 
For  as  the  bread  of  the  Eucharist  after  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  no  longer  ordinary 
bread,  but  is  the  body  of  Christ ;  so  this  holy  ointment  is  no  longer  a  bare  common  ointment 
after  it  is  consecrated,  but  is  the  gift  or  grace  of  Christ,  which,  by  His  Divine  Nature,  and 
the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  made  efficacious ;  so  that  the  body  is  anointed  with  the 
ointment,  but  the  soul  is  sanctified  by  the  holy  and  vivifying  Spirit  7." 

Bishop  Cosin  proceeds  to  argue  thus:  "Can  anything  more  clear  be  said?  Either  the 
ointment  is  transubstantiated  by  consecration  into  the  spirit  and  grace  of  Christ,  or  the  bread 
and  wine  are  not  transubstantiated  by  consecration  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 
Therefore  as  the  ointment  retains  still  its  substance,  and  yet  is  not  called  a  mere  or  common 
ointment,  but  the  Chrism  or  grace  of  Christ :  so  the  bread  and  wine  remaining  so,  as  to  their 
substance,  yet  are  not  said  to  be  only  bread  and  wine  common  and  ordinary,  but  also  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ." 

Notwithstanding  the  great  authority  of  Bishop  Cosin,  and  the  assent  of  Theologians  of  such 
opposite  schools  as  Dr.  Pusey  and  Dean  Goode,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  argument,  even 
as  against  Transubstantiation,  is  pressed  beyond  its  just  limits.  The  identity  of  language 
extends  only  to  two  points,  (i)  the  mode  of  consecration  by  Invocation,  (2)  the  effect 
negatively  stated,  that  the  material  element  in  each  case  is  no  longer  simply  a  inaterial  element. 
A  change,  therefore,  of  some  kind  has  taken  place,  and  we  have  still  to  inquire  how  the  change 
in  each  case  is  described  by  Cyril.  "  The  water  acquires  a  power  of  sanctity,"  otherwise 
described  as  "  the  spiritual  grace  given  with  the  water  ^." 

"  The  ointment  is  Christ's  gift  of  grace  (Xflpitr/io),  and  becomes  effectual  to  impart  by  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  His  Divine  Nature  9."  "  The  Bread  becomes  the  Body  and 
the  Wine  the  Blood  of  Christ  \" 

There  is  here  no  such  identity  of  language  as  would  justify  the  assertion  that  the  change 
described  is  of  the  same  nature  in  each  case,  that  because  it  leaves  the  substance  of  the  water 
and  the  ointment  untouched,  therefore  the  substance  of  the  Bread  also  must,  according  to 
Cyril,  remain  unchanged  :  this  must  be  proved  by  other  arguments.  We  must  also  remember 
that  if  this  argument  based  upon  the  identity  of  the  language  used  on  the  two  sides  of  a  com- 
parison is  trustworthy,  there  is  another  passage  in  Cyril  to  which  it  may  be  applied  :  "  He 
once,  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  changed  the  water  into  wine  akin  to  blood  {niKfiov  a'^iaTi)^,  and  is  it 
incredible  that  He  changed  wine  into  blood?"  The  change  of  the  water  into  wine  was 
a  change  of  substance  :  are  we  then  prepared  to  agree  with  the  Roman  Church  that  the  change 
of  the  bread  also  is  a  change  of  substance  ?  Nay  further,  would  the  Roman  Church  itself 
accept  the  principle  of  the  argument  ?  For  observe  that  in  fact  Bishop  Cosin  himself,  when  he 
comes  to  deal  with  this  passage,  gives  up  his  former  argument,   and  distinctly  rejects   it. 


'  Cat.  111.  83.  »  Mystag.  iii.  §  3.  |  6  apros  tJjs  ivxa-pi.<Tria.^  fieri  Tr\v  eTrixXria-iv  tov  ayCov  nrev/aoTO! 


3  Mystag.  iii.  §  3.  In  the  same  Lecture,  §  7,  the  consecration 
of  the  bread  and  wine  is  said  to  follow  "  the  Invocation  of  tlie 
Holy  and  Adorable  Trinity." 

4  The  History  of  Popish  Transubstantiation,  Ch<  v.  §  14. 

5  The  Doctrine  o/tlie  Real  Presence,  pp.  277 — 281. 

6  Tlie  Nature  0/ Christ's  Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  p.  483. 

7  'AAA*  opa  ^i!)  vnroi'0^<rjjs  fKiivo  TOiivpov  ij/i\ov  flvai.  Cxritfp  yip 


OVK  en  aprot  Aitos,  aAAi  triotio.  XpiaTOi",  oi)T<o  Kal  to  ayiov  toiSto 
fjivpov  OVK  in  i^iAoi',  oiiS'  ws  av  eijrot  Tts  koivov  flex'  en-t/cAijTii', 
oAAi  XpiiTToO  \a.pi<rii.(i,  koX  IX^v/aaTOS  iyt'ov  jropov<7i(f  rij?  avTOV 
SeoTijTOS  erepyijTiKbr  yu'o/nei'oi'.  8  Cat.  iii   3. 

9  Mystag.  iii.  3.    On  the  translation  see  note  on  the  passage. 

'  lb.  i.  S  7- 

*  On  this  reading,  see  Mystag.  iv.  §  2,  note  4. 


EUCHARISTIC    DOCTRINE.  xxxvii 


"  Protestants,"  he  says,  "  do  freely  grant  and  firmly  believe  that  the  wine,  in  the  sense  already 
often  mentioned,  is  changed  into  the  Blood  of  Christ ;  but  every  change  is  not  a  transubstan- 
tiation ;  neither  doth  Cyril  say  that  this  change  {i.e.  of  the  wine)  is  like  that  of  the  water,  for 
then  it  would  appear  to  our  senses  ;  but  that  He  who  changed  the  water  sensibly  can  also 
change  the  wine  sacranientally,  will  not  be  doubted  by  any  3."  Again,  in  describing  the  act 
of  consecration,  Cyril  says  :  "  We  beseech  the  merciful  God  to  send  forth  His  Holy  Spirit 
upon  the  gifts  lying  before  Him,  that  He  may  make  the  bread  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  the 
wine  the  Blood  of  Christ,  for  certainly  whatsoever  the  Holy  Ghost  has  touched,  is  sanctified 
and  changed  {fjy'iacrrai  Ka\  iierafif^XriTai.)  4."  Here  again,  as  in  the  passage  quoted  from  Myst. 
iii.  §  3,  a  sacramental  change  of  some  sort  is  asserted,  but  its  specific  character  is  not  defined. 
There  is,  however,  a  passage  which  throws  some  light  on  Cyril's  conception  of  the  change  in 
Myst.  iv,  §  3 :  "  In  the  figure  of  Bread  is  given  to  thee  His  Body,  and  in  the  figure  of  Wine 
His  Blood  ;  that  thou  by  partaking  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  mightest  be  made  of  the 
same  body  and  the  same  blood  with  Him.  For  thus  we  come  to  bear  Christ  in  us,  His  Body 
and  His  Blood  being  distributed  to  our  members  {ch  ra  fjnerepa  dva8t8oiifvov  fJLeXrj)."  Several 
good  MSS.  read  dvadfbeyfxevot,  which  would  give  the  meaning,  "  having  received  of  His  Body 
and  of  His  blood  into  our  members."  This  does  not  alter  the  general  sense  of  the  passage ; 
but  the  reading  araStSo/^xeVow  is  supported  by  another  passage,  Myst  v.  §  15:  "Our  common 
bread  is  not  substantial  (eVtoiVios) :  but  this  Holy  Bread  is  substantial,  that  is,  appointed  for 
the  substance  of  the  soul.  This  Bread  goef/i  not  info  the  belly  and  is  not  cast  out  into  the 
draught,  but  is  distributed  (draStSora/)  into  thy  whole  system  for  the  benefit  of  body  and  soul." 

In  order  to  accommodate  these  passages  to  the  Roman  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation 
the  Benedictine  Editor  here  introduces  the  idea  of  species,  the  outward  forms  or  accidents  of 
the  bread.  "  We  must  not  suppose,"  he  says,  "  that  Cyril  thought  the  Body  of  Christ  to  be 
divided  and  digested  {digeri)  into  our  body  ;  but  by  a  customary  way  of  speaking  he  attributes 
to  the  Holy  Body  what  is  suitable  only  to  the  species  which  conceal  it.  And  he  does  not 
deny  that  the  species  pass  into  the  draught,  but  only  that  the  Body  of  Christ  does  so." 

But  Cyril  draws  no  such  distinction  between  the  species  and  the  Body  of  Christ" :  to  him  the 
Bread  and  Wine  after  consecration  are  the  Body  and  the  Blood  of  Christ.  For  how  could  it 
be  said  that  the  species,  which  in  Transubstantiation  are  the  mere  outward  accidents  of  bread 
and  wine,  are  distributed  into  the  whole  system  for  the  benefit  of  body  and  soul? 

In  whatever  sense  the  bread  and  wine  become  by  consecration  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ,  in  that  same  sense  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are,  according  to  Cyril,  distribute,d  to 
our  whole  system. 

This  was  no  new  doctrine:  Ignatius,  Ephes.  xxi.,  speaks  of  Christians  as  "breaking  one 
Bread,  which  is  the  medicine  of  immortality,  and  the  antidote  that  we  should  not  die,  but  live 
for  ever  in  Jesus  Christ."  This  is  perhaps  the  earliest  expression  of  the  belief  that  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  is  secured  by  the  communion  of  the  Body  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  The 
manner  in  which  this  communion  is  effected  is  described  by  Justin  Martyr  {Apolog.  I.  §  66)  in 
language  which  shews  clearly  what  Cyril  meant :  "  We  do  not  receive  these  things  as  common 
bread  and  common  drink :  but  in  the  same  way  as  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  was  made  flesh  by 
the  Word  of  God,  and  took  both  flesh  and  blood  for  our  salvation,  so  we  have  been  taught 
that  the  food  over  which  thanksgiving  has  been  made  by  prayer  in  the  word  received  from 
Him  {Tr)v  8C  fvx^s  Xo'you  rod  nap"  aiiTov  (vxapiTTr]6fl.(Tav  Tpo(p!]v),  from  which  (food)  our  blood  and 
flesh  are  by  transmutation  (n-ara  ixfTa^o\i]v)  nourished,  is  both  the  Flesh  and  Blood  of  Him  the 
Incarnate  Jesus." 

Here  it  is  plainly  taught  that  by  consecration  the  Bread  and  Wine  have  become  the 
Flesh  and  Blood  of  Christ,  and  that  as  such  they  nourish  our  "  blood  and  flesh  "  (observe  the 


3  0/  TratisubstantiatioH,  Ch.  vi.  §  14.  ♦  Mystag.  v.  §  7. 


xxxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

inverted  order)  by  undergoing  a  change :  in  other  words,  the  Eucharistic  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ  are  changed  into  nourishment  of  our  blood  and  flesh,  by  being  distributed  (as  Cyril 
says)  to  all  our  members,  that  is  by  being  subjected  to  the  natural  processes  of  digestion  and 
assimilation.  The  unusual  order  of  the  words  "our  blood  and  flesh"  is  not  accidental,  but 
answers  to  the  process  of  assimilation,  in  which  the  digested  food  first  nourishes  the  blood, 
and  then  the  blood  nourishes  the  flesh. 

The  meaning  is,  as  Otto  says  in  his  note,  "that  the  divine  food  passes  away  into  our 
bodies  entire,  so  that  nothing  remains:"  and  Dr.  Pusey  seems  to  take  the  same  view,  in  his 
note  on  the  words,  "  from  which  (food)  through  transmutation  our  blood  and  flesh  are 
nourished  :"  " /.^.  the  material  parts  are  changed  into  the  substance  of  the  human  body  s." 

Thus  then,  according  to  Cyril,  the  Eucharistic  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  distributed  to 
all  our  members ;  His  Flesh  and  Blood  pass  by  a  change  into  our  blood  and  flesh,  and  we 
thereby  become  "of  the  same  body  and  the  same  blood  with  Him^:"  and  "  this  Bread  does 
not  pass  into  the  belly,  and  is  not  cast  out  into  the  draught  7,"  but  wastes  away  as  the  body 
itself  wastes  ^ 

However  much  this  view  of  the  Sacramental  mystery  may  diff'er  from  later  theories,  it  was 
certainly  held  by  many  of  the  Greek  Fathers.  Irenaeus,  for  example,  in  addition  to  those 
already  mentioned,  thus  writes:  "When  therefore  both  the  mingled  cup  and  the  created  bread 
receive  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  Eucharist  becomes  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  from  these  the 
substance  of  our  flesh  increaseth  and  consisteth,  how  say  they  that  the  flesh  is  incapable  of  the 
gift  of  God  which  is  eternal  life,  that  flesh  which  is  nourished  from  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
the  Lord,  and  is  already  (vmipxovn-n)  a  member  of  Him  ? — even  as  the  blessed  Paul  saith,  that 
we  are  members  of  His  Body,  of  His  Flesh,  and  of  His  Bones  ^^" 

That  this  was  also  the  teaching  of  Cyril's  contemporaries  is  clear  from  the  famous  passage 
of  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  in  wliich  this  doctrine  is  fully  developed.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
quote  here  the  latter  part  of  the  passage,  in  which  Gregory  is  speaking  of  the  Wine.  "  Since 
then  that  God-containing  flesh  partook  for  its  substance  and  support  of  this  particular 
nourishment  also,  and  since  the  God  who  was  manifested  infused  Himself  into  perishable 
humanity  for  this  purpose,  viz.  that  by  this  communion  with  Deity  mankind  might  at  the  same 
time  be  deified,  for  this  end  it  is  that,  by  dispensation  of  His  grace,  He  disseminates  Himself 
in  every  believer  through  that  flesh  whose  substance  comes  from  bread  and  wine,  blending 
Himself  with  the  bodies  of  believers,  to  secure  that,  by  this  union  with  the  immortal,  man  too 
may  be  a  sharer  in  incorruption.  He  gives  these  gifts  by  virtue  of  the  benediction  through 
which  He  transelements  the  natural  quality  of  these  visible  things  to  that  immortal  things." 

In  another  remarkable  passage "  Cyril  gives  a  further  explanation  of  the  eflfect  of  conse- 
cration :  "  In  the  New  Testament  there  is  heavenly  Bread  and  a  Cup  of  salvation,  sanctifying 
soul  and  body  :  for  as  the  Bread  corresponds  to  the  body,  so  also  the  Word  (6  Aoyos)  is 
appropriate  to  the  soul."  With  this  language  of  Cyril  we  may  compare  further  what  is  said  by 
Gregory  of  Nyssa  in  the  context  of  the  passage  already  quoted  :  "  Just  then,  as  in  the  case  of 
ourselves,  as  has  been  repeatedly  said  already,  if  a  person  sees  bread  he  also  in  a  kind  of  way 
looks  on  a  human  body,  for  by  being  within  this  it  becomes  this,  so  in  that  other  case  the  Body 
into  which  God  entered  (ro  6€i,?>6xov  aafia),  by  partaking  of  the  nourishment  of  breatl  was  in 
a  certain  sense  the  same  with  it,  since  that  nourishment,  as  we  have  said,  is  changed  into  the 
nature  of  the  body  :  for  that  which  is  proper  to  all  men  is  acknowledged  also  in  the  case  of 


5  Real  Presence,  p.  144.    See  note  8,  below. 

6  Mystag.  iv.  §§  i,  3.  7  II).  v.  §  15. 

S  See   Pusey,   A'.  P.   p.  151,  note  3:    "Dr.   Gaisford,   on  my 
applying  to  him,  kindly  answered   me.,—'avva.va\iaKiaea.i.       It 


not  thrown  off  like  ordinary  food,  but  that  they  become  blended 
or  assimilated  to  the  body,  and  waste  away  as  the  body  wastes 
away.'     Mr.  Field  gives  the  same  meaning."  8a  y.  ii.  §  3. 

9  Oratio  Caiechetica,  c.   xxxvii.      The  whole  chapter  should 


appears  to  me  that  this  word  can  only  be  explained  by  a  peri-   be  read  with  the  Rev.  W.  Moore's  notes  in  this  Series,  Vol.  V. 
phrasis.     The  writer  appears  to  me  to  mean  that  the  elements  are  I  pp.  504—506.  «  I^Iystag.  iv.  §  3. 


EUCHARISTIC    DOCTRINE.  xxxix 

That  Flesh,  namely,  that  That  Body  too  was  maintained  by  bread  ;  which  Body  also  by  the 
indwelling  of  God  the  Word  was  changed  into  the  dignity  of  Godhead.  Rightly  then  do  we 
believe  that  now  also  the  bread  which  is  sanctified  by  the  Word  of  God  is  changed  into  the 
Body  of  God  the  Word.  For  even  that  Body  was  once  virtually  (t^  dvn'ifiei)  bread,  but  has 
been  sanctified  by  the  inhabitation  of  the  Word  that  tabernacled  in  the  flesh." 

In  this  passage  we  have  the  full  explanation  of  what  Irenseus  meant  when  he  said  that  the 
elements  "  by  receiving  the  Word  of  God  become  the  Eucharist,"  and  what  Cyril  meant  by 
saying  that  "  as  the  Bread  corresponds  to  the  body,  so  also  the  Word  is  appropriate  to  the 
soul."  Their  common  doctrine  is,  that  besides  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  that  is.  His 
Humanity  offered  upon  the  Cross  for  our  redemption,  His  Divine  Nature,  the  Word,  is  also 
present,  and  that  it  is  by  receiving  the  Divine  Word  that  the  Bread  is  made  the  Body  of 
Christ.  "  The  fathers,"  says  Touttee,  "  often  play  upon  the  ambiguity  of  the  term,  saying  at 
one  time  that  the  Divine  Word,  at  another  that  the  word  and  oracles  of  God  nourish  our  soul. 
Both  are  true.  For  the  whole  life-giving  power  of  the  Eucharist  is  derived  from  the  Divine 
Word  united  with  the  flesh  which  He  assumed  :  and  the  whole  benefit  {fnictus)  of  Eucharistic 
eating  consists  in  the  union  of  our  soul  with  the  Word,  by  meditation  on  His  mysteries  and 
words,  and  conformation  thereto  ^"     O  si  sic  omnia  / 

In  this  view  the  Bread  and  Wine  are  signs  or  figures  of  the  natural  Body  of  Christ 
crucified  ;  but  they  are  also  much  more,  they  are  endued  by  the  Divine  Word,  and  through 
the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  the  life-giving  power  of  the  same  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ, — a  power  which  being  imparted  to  the  faithful  recipient  makes  him  to  be  "  of  the  same 
body  and  the  same  blood  with  Christ,"  thereby  assuring  him  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  to 
eternal  life,  and  at  the  same  time  strengthening  and  refreshing  the  soul  by  its  being  united 
through  fixith  with  the  Word,  and  being  thus  made  '■^partaker  of  the  Divine  nature.''^ 

This  is  not  the  language  of  the  Western  Church,  whether  Roman,  Lutheran,  or  Anglican, 
but  it  is  the  language  of  the  earliest  Greek  Fathers,  and  of  Cyril,  as  is  partly  and  reluctantly 
admitted  by  so  cautious  a  writer  as  Dr.  Waterland.  After  referring  to  the  passage  quoted 
above  from  Justin  Martyr  {Aj>ol.  i.  66)  he  proceeds  :  "  There  is  another  the  like  obscure  hint 
in  Irenceus,  which  may  probably  be  best  interpreted  after  the  same  way.  He  supposes  the 
elements  to  become  Christ's  body  by  receiving  the  word  (Word).  He  throws  two  considerations 
into  one,  and  does  not  distinguish  so  accurately  as  Origen  afterwards  did  between  the 
symbolical  food  and  the  true  food.'''  The  elements,  Waterland  adds,  "are  made  the  repre- 
senlative  body  of  Christ ;  but  they  are  at  the  same  time,  to  worthy  receivers,  made  the  means 
of  their  spiritual  union  with  Christ  Himself;  which  Irenaeus  points  at  in  what  he  says 
of  the  bread's  receiving  the  Logos,  but  should  rather  have  said  it  of  the  communicants  them- 
selves, as  receiving  the  spiritual  presence  of  Christ,  in  the  worthy  use  of  the  sacred  symbols  3." 

Again,  in  c.  vii.,  he  says  more  explicitly  of  Irenaeus,  what  is  equally  true  of  Cyril ;  "  Least 
of  all  does  he  favour  the  fgurists  or  memorialists  ;  for  his  doctrine  runs  directly  counter  to 
them  almost  in  every  line :  he  asserts  over  and  over,  that  Christ's  body  and  blood  are  eaten 
and  drunk  in  the  Eucharist,  and  our  bodies  thereby /e'^/  and  not  only  so,  but  z>^fz^/-^^/ thereby 
for  a  happy  resurrection :  and  the  reason  he  gives  is,  that  our  bodies  are  thereby  made  or 
continued  members  of  Christ's  body,  flesh,  and  bones" 

From  this  view  of  Cyril's  doctrine  concerning  the  Sacramental  elements  we  can  easily 
understand  in  what  sense  he  applies  the  terms  "  type "  and  "  antitype  "  to  the  Eucharistic 
elements.  "  The  Sacrament  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  having  two  parts,  an  outward  and  an 
inward,  and  the  outward  part  having  been  instituted  by  our  Blessed  Lord  with  a  certain 
relation  to  the  inward,  and  gifted  with  a  certain  significance  of  it,  nothing  is  more  natural  than 
that  the  titles,  type,  antitype,  symbol,  figure,  image,  should  be  given  to  the  outward  part*." 


»  Mystag.  iv.  note  4.  3  Review  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharist,  c.  V.  ♦  Pusey,  R.  P.  p.  94. 


xl  INTRODUCTION. 


Add  to  this  that,  according  to  Cyril's  doctrine  as  already  explained,  the  bread  after  the 
Invocation,  without  ceasing  to  be  bread,  not  only  signifies  but  also  is  the  Body,  and  we  see 
how  natural  it  was  for  him  to  say  in  one  passage  that  "  His  Body  bore  the  figure  of  bread  s,"  and 
in  another  that  "in  the  figure  of  bread  the  Body  is  given  ^."  The  Body  which  "is  given" 
cannot  be  an  absejit  Body  of  our  Lord,  but  must  be  that  Sacramental  Body,  of  which  Cyril 
goes  on  to  say  in  the  same  sentence  that  it  is  "  distributed  to  our  members."  Thus  the  Bread 
broken  is  a  type  or  figure  of  Christ's  Body  as  crucified  for  us;  and  by  virtue  of  its  union  with 
the  Divine  Word  it  becomes  the  life-giving  Body,  which  makes  the  faithful  recipient  to  be,  in 
Cyril's  words,  "  of  the  same  body  and  same  blood  with  Christ." 

Another  term  applied  by  Cyril  and  other  Greek  Fathers  to  the  sacramental  elements  is 
"  antitype." 

In  Mystag.  ii.  §  6,  where  Baptism  is  called  "  the  counterpart  {avtljvKov)  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ings," the  meaning  is  clearly  explained  by  the  context  :  for  in  §  5  the  reality  of  Christ's 
sufferings  is  emphatically  and  repeatedly  contrasted  with  the  figurative  representation  of  the 
same  ;  and  this  figurative  representation  no  less  emphatically  contrasted  with  the  real  and 

actual  bestowal  of  the  grace  of  salvation  :  e'l'  (Ikwi  t]  fiinTja-LS,  fV  aXTjdfia  6e  ij  (7<orr;pi'a,  .  ,  ,  .  iva  rfi 
lxifjrj(Tfi  TU)V  TtaOripLciTcov  avTov  KoivcovrjcravTes,  aXrjdela  rrjV  crcorrjptav  KfpdrjCTconev. 

We  have  thus  a  clear  distinction  of  (1)  the  'res  sacramenti,'  Christ's  Death  and  Resurrec- 
tion, (2)  the  '  sacramentum  '  or  '  sign,'  the  outward  form  of  Baptism,  and  (3)  the  '  virtus  sacra- 
menti,' our  real  participation  in  the  benefits  of  Christ's  Passion,  "a  death  unto  sin,  and  a  new 
birth  unto  righteousness."  Thus,  as  Cyril  adds  at  the  end  of  the  section.  Baptism  "has  the 
fellowship  by  representation  of  Christ's  true  sufferings,"  it  is  the  spiritual  counterpart  in  us  of 
that  which  was  actual  in  Him, 

In  Mystag.  iii.  §  i,  speaking  of  the  Chrism,  Cyril  says,  "Now  ye  have  been  made  Christs 
(XpifTot)  by  receiving  the  antitype  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  all  things  have  been  wrought  in  you 
by  imitation,  because  ye  are  images  of  Christ:"  and  again,  "there  was  given  to  you  an 
Unction,  the  antitype  of  that  wherewith  Christ  was  anointed,  and  this  is  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Here  again  we  have  (i)  the  '  res  sacramenti,'  the  anointing  of  Christ  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
at  His  Baptism,  (2)  the  sacramental  sign  or  figure,  the  anointing  of  the  baptized,  and  (3)  the 
spiritual  benefit  received  in  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  for,  as  Cyril  adds  at  tlie  end  of  §  3, 
"while  Thy  body  is  anointed  with  the  visible  ointment,  thy  soul  is  sanctified  by  the  Holy  and 
Life-giving  Spirit."  In  these  passages  we  see  a  distinction  between  rvnos  and  uvt'itvitos.  The 
former  is  simply  the  outward  sign  or  figure ;  the  latter  includes  with  the  sign  the  spiritual 
counterpart  in  us  of  the  thing  signified,  the  benefits  of  Christ's  Passion  in  the  one  case,  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  other. 

It  only  remains  to  inquire  whether  there  is  the  same  distinction  in  the  meaning  of  the  words 
as  applied  to  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

In  Mystag,  v.  §  20,  Cyril  informs  us  that  during  the  Administration  the  words,  "O  taste 
and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good,"  were  sung  :  and  in  reference  to  that  passage  he  adds,  "  In 
tasting  we  are  bidden  to  taste  not  bread  and  wine,  but  the  antitypical  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ."  To  taste  "  the  antitypical  Body"  is  therefore  to  taste  "that  the  Lord  is  good,"  whence 
it  clearly  follows  that  "  the  antitypical  Body  "  is  not  the  mere  sign  or  figure  of  Christ's  own 
natural  Body,  but  the  sacramental  and  spiritual  counterpart  of  it,  by  which  those  who  faithfully 
receive  it  are  so  united  to  Him,  that  their  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body,  are  to  be  presetted  entire 
ivithout  blame  at  His  coming  ^ 


5  Cat.  xiii.  §  19 :  TO  <ri/ia  ovtov  (tari  to  evayyAioi-  tva-oi/  i^eptv  aprov.         6  jlfj's/a^.  iv.  §  3  :  fy  rvrrw  yap  aprov  SiSoraC  <roi  to  a-Cina. 

7  I  Thess.  V.  23,  quoted  at  the  end  oi  J\lystag.  v.  $  23- 


PLACE   OF   S.  CYRIL'S    LECTURES.  xli 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
Place  of  S.  Cyril's  Lectures. 

We  have  seen  in  a  passage  already  quoted  '  that  at  Milan  S.  Ambrose  exponncTed  the 
Creed  to  Catechumens  in  the  Baptistery.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  custom  in  other 
places,  it  is  certain  from  numerous  passages  in  Cyril's  Lectures  that  they  were  delivered 
in  the  great  Basilica,  or  Church  of  the  Resurrection,  built  by  Constantine  on  the  site  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  and  consecrated,  as  we  have  seen,  with  great  splendour  in  the  year  335  ^ 
In  a  passage  3  where  Cyril  is  speaking  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  he  says,  "  as  we  discourse  on  Christ  and  Golgotha  here  in  Golgotha,  so  it  were 
most  fitting  that  we  should  also  speak  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Upper  Church  ; 
yet  since  He  who  descended  there  jointly  partakes  of  the  glory  of  Him  who  was  crucified 
here,  we  here  speak  concerning  Him  also  who  descended  there."  It  appears  from  a  passage 
in  the  Introductory  Lecture '^  that  it  was  delivered  in  the  Church  itself  before  the  whole 
congregation,  after  that  portion  of  the  daily  Service  to  which  Catechumens  were  usually 
admitted  :  "  Dost  thou  behold  this  venerable  constitution  of  the  Church  ?  Dost  thou  view 
her  order  and  discipline,  the  reading  of  Scripture,  the  presence  of  the  Ordained,  the  course 
of  instruction  ?  "  The  same  custom  was  retained  in  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  John,  Cyril's 
successor  in  the  Bishopric,  who  in  writing  to  Jerome  says,  "The  custom  with  us  is  that 
we  deliver  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity  publicly  during  forty  days  to  those  who  are  to  be 
baptized  5." 

The  Mystagogic  Lectures  were  delivered  not  in  the  Church,  but  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  public  Service  "in  the  Holy  Place  of  the  Resurrection  itself V  that  is,  in  tlie  small 
Chapel  which  contained  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  to  which  the  name  "  Anastasis "  more 
properly  belonged.  Happily  we  are  not  required  by  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  enter  into 
the  disputed  questions  concerning  the  Holy  Places.  Whether  the  cave  re-fashioned  and 
adorned  by  Constantine  was  the  actual  sepulchre  in  which  our  Lord's  body  was  laid,  and 
whether  the  present  Churches  occupy  the  same  site  as  the  Basilica  and  Anastasis  of 
Constantine,  are  matters  still  under  discussion,  and  awaiting  the  result  of  further  researches. 
What  more  properly  concerns  us  is  to  collect  the  chief  passages  in  which  Cyril  refers  to 
these  localities,  and  to  try  to  give  a  fair  representation  of  his  testimony,  comparing  it  with 
that  of  earlier  or  contemporary  writers. 

Next  to  Eusebius,  and  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  who  visited  Jerusalem  in  ;^23j  Cyril  is  the 
earliest  and  most  important  witness  as  to  the  site  of  Constantine's  Churches. 

In  Cat.  xiv.  §  5,  he  says,  "  It  was  a  garden  where  He  was  crucified.  For  though  it  has 
now  been  most  highly  adorned  with  royal  gifts,  yet  formerly  it  was  a  garden,  and  the  signs 
and  the  remnants  of  this  remain."  From  this  it  is  evident  that  the  traces  of  a  garden  close 
to  the  Church  were  still  visible  both  to  Cyril  and  his  hearers.  Twice  again  in  §  11  he 
mentions  the  garden,  which  he  had  most  probably  himself  seen  in  its  former  state,  before 
the  ground  was  cleared  at  the  time  of  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  326. 

On  this  point  it  may  be  well  to  quote  the  words  of  Mr.  Walter  Besant,  Honorary  Secretary 
of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  who,  in  an  article  on  "  The  Holy  Sepulchre  "  in  the 
Dictionary  of  Christian  Antiquities,  writes  as  follows  :  "  While  the  temple  of  Venus  with  its 
foundations  was  being  cleared  away,  there  might  have  been,  and  most  probalbly  was  present, 
a  Christian  lad,  native  of  Jerusalem,  eleven  years  of  age,  watching  the  discovery,  which 
did  as  much  as  the  great  luminous  cross  which  appeared  m  the  sky  four  (?  twenty-four)  years 
later  to   confirm  the   doubtful  and  strengthen  the  faithful,  that  of  the  rock  containing  the 


«  Ch.  n.  g  2.  2  See  above,  Ch.  L  p.  2.     Cf.  Cat.  iv.  10;  x.  ig  ;  xiii.  4,  22,  39  ;  xiv.  g,  14,  23,  &c.  3  Cat.  xvi.  §  4. 

♦  Procat.  §  4.  5  Hicron.  £/.  61  (al.  38).     The  passage  is  quoted  more  fully  below  on  p.  xliv.  6  Cat.  xviii.  §  33. 


xlii 


INTRODUCTION. 


sacred  tomb.  It  was  Cyril,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  One  must  not  forget  that  he 
is  the  third  eye-witness  who  speaks  of  these  things  ;  that  though  he  was  a  boy  at  the  time  of 
the  discovery,  he  hved  in  Jerusalem,  and  must  have  watched,  step  by  step,  the  progress  of 
the  great  Basilica  ;  that  he  was  ordained  before  the  completion  and  dedication  of  the 
buildings,  and  that  many,  if  not  all,  of  his  lectures  were  delivered  in  the  Church  of  the 
Anastasis  itself" 

That  Cyril's  testimony  concerning  the  Holy  Places  was  in  full  accordance  with  the  general 
belief  of  his  contemporaries  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  he  so  frequently  points  to  the  traditional 
sites  as  bearing  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  Crucifixion  and  Resurrection.  He  speaks  of 
Golgotha  in  eight  separate  passages,  sometimes  as  near  to  the  Church  in  which  he  and  his 
hearers  are  assembled  7,  and  sometimes  as  standing  up  above  in  their  sight  ^.  In  one  place 
he  asks,  "Seest  thou  this  spot  of  Golgotha?"  and  the  hearers  answer  with  a  shout  of 
approvals.  In  other  passages  he  speaks  as  if  the  Church  itself  was  in  or  rather  on  Golgotha  % 
the  same  Preposition  (eV)  being  repeated  when  he  mentions  "  Him  who  was  crucified 
thereon." 

In  explanation  of  these  different  modes  of  speaking,  the  Benedictine  Editor  comments 
thus  2 :  "The  Church  of  the  Resurrection  was  built  on  part  of  the  hill  Golgotha  {intra 
montem  G.) :  but  the  actual  rock  on  which  our  Lord  was  crucified  was  not  within  the 
limits  of  the  Church,  yet  not  far  off,  namely  about  "a  stone's  throw,"  as  the  author  of  the 
ferusakm  Itinerary  says.  For  the  Church  had  been  built  on  the  site  of  the  Sepulchre. 
Some  think  that  the  place  of  Crucifixion  was  included  in  the  vast  area  which  was  enclosed 
with  colonnades  between  the  Sepulchre  and  the  Basilica,  .  .  .  that  Golgotha  was  midway 
between  the  Basilica  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  Anastasis  or  Sepulchre.  But  the  area 
in  question  Constantine  paved  with  stones,  and  it  must  therefore  have  been  flat,  as  we  learn 
from  Eusebius3;  Golgotha,  on  the  contrary,  stood  up  high  4,  and  moreover  shewed  a  cleft 
made  there  at  Christ's  deaths^  which  would  either  have  been  a  hindrance  to  the  paving 
or  covered  up  by  it.  In  addition  to  this,  from  the  doors  of  the  Basilica  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  view  of  the  Sacred  Tomb  ^.  This  would  have  been  obstructed  if  Golgotha  had  been 
between  them." 

The  cleft  in  the  rock  of  Golgotha  is  mentioned  in  a  fragment  of  the  defence  made  before 
Maximinus  in  311  or  312  by  Lucian  the  Martyr  of  Antioch? :  "  If  yet  you  believe  not,  I  will 
also  offer  you  the  testimony  of  the  very  spot  on  which  the  thing  was  done.  The  place  itself 
in  Jerusalem  vouches  for  these  facts,  and  the  rock  of  Golgotha  broken  asunder  under  the 
weight  of  the  Cross  :  that  cave  also,  which  when  the  gates  of  hell  were  burst,  gave  back  the 
Body  in  newness  of  life"  On  this  passage  Dr.  Routh  remarks  that  Maundrell,yi?«r«^>'y>w« 
Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,  at  Easter,  1697,  '*  shews  that  the  rock  had  been  rent  not  by  any  instru- 
ment, but  by  the  force  of  an  earthquake.  Also  it  is  related  by  Eusebius  in  his  Theophania, 
a  book  now  recovered,  that  there  was  one  cave  only  in  this  cleft  of  the  rock." 

According  to  Eusebius  in  the  passages  of  the  Life  of  Constantine  already  referred  to, 
the  Emperor  first  beautified  the  monument  or  sepulchre  with  rare  columns,  then  paved 
with  finely  polished  stone  a  large  area  open  to  the  sky,  and  enclosed  on  three  sides  with 
long  colonnades,  and  lastly  erected  the  Church  itself  "  at  the  side  opposite  to  the  cave, 
which  was  the  Eastern  side," 


7  xui.  §  4  :  OVTO?  6  roAyofla?  oJ  7rA7](7tor  vvv  7rai/7e9  TTdpf<Tixci\ 

8  X.  S  19  :  6  r.  6  ayios  oJto?  6  i>Trepa»'€<rTijituJS  fnaprvptl  lj)a^v6• 
ftevos.     Cf.  xiii.  19. 

9  xiii.  §  83  :  'Opas  ToO  Vo\yo6a  rov  tottoi'  ;  'Em|3oa5  fTraiyw  (is 

'  IV.  §10:  6  ^laKcipio?  oiiTOS  r.  iv  a>  vvv  Sia  rov  ev  auTui 
<rTavpw0€v7a  avyKeKpor^l^c&a.  Cl".  §  14  :  6  fv  T(J  T.  touto*  orau- 
pioOeCs.     xiii.  §  22  :  xvi.  4  ;  ic  tu>  T    tovtu  \eyoixi.v. 


3  yii.  Const,  iii.  c.  35. 
S  xiii.  §  39. 


»  Cat.  xiii.  §  4,  note  i. 
4  Cat.  X.  §  19  ;  xiii.  §  39. 

6  Eus.  yu.  Const,  iii.  c.  36. 

7  The  fragment  is  added  by  Rufinns  to  his  Latin  tr.insl.ition 
of  Euselnus,  Hist.  Eccl.  ix.  6,  and  is  also  given  in  Routh,  Rell. 
Sao:  iv.  p.  6.  > 


THE  TIME  AND  ARRANGEMENT  OF  S.  CYRIL'S  LECTURES.    xHii 

The  following  is  the  statement  of  the  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  :  "  From  thence  (the  Palace 
of  David)  as  you  go  out  of  the  wall  of  Sion  walking  towards  the  gate  of  Neapolis,  on  the 
right  side  below  in  the  valley  are  walls  where  the  house  or  Prcctorium  of  Pontius  Pilate  was : 
here  our  Lord  was  tried  before  His  Passion.  On  the  left  hand  is  the  little  hill  {»iofiiiciiius) 
of  Golgotha,  where  the  Lord  was  crucified.  About  a  stone's  throw  from  thence  is  a  vault 
(crypto)  wherein  His  body  was  laid,  and  rose  again  on  the  third  day.  There  by  commanil 
of  the  Emperor  Constantine  has  now  been  built  a  Basilica,  that  is  to  say,  a  Church  of 
wondrous  beauty,  having  at  the  side  reservoirs  {exceptorid)  from  which  water  is  raised, 
and  a  bath  behind  in  which  infants  are  washed  (baptized)."  Neapolis  was  the  name  given 
by  Vespasian  to  the  ancient  city  of  Shechem,  now  Nabulus  :  the  '•'  porta  Neapolitana " 
therefore  was  in  the  North  wall  of  Sion. 

In  reference  to  the  passage  quoted  above,  Mr.  Aubrey  Stewart  says  :  "The  narrative 
is  clear  and  connected,  and  it  is  hardly  possible,  for  any  one  who  knows  the  ground,  to  read 
it  without  feeling  that  the  Pilgrim  from  Bordeaux  actually  saw  Constantine's  buildings 
standing  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ^." 

From  these  earlier  testimonies,  compared  with  the  several  passages  already  quoted  from 
Cyril,  we  may  safely  draw  the  following  inferences,  (i)  The  Anastasis  properly  so  called, 
or  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  in  which  the  five  Mystagogic  Lectures  were  delivered, 
was  built  by  Constantine  over  the  cave  which,  according  to  the  evidence  then  existing,  was 
fully  believed  to  be  the  Burial-place  of  our  Lord.  (2)  The  Great  Basilica,  called  also 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  which  the  Catechetical  Lectures  were  delivered,  was 
erected  on  the  East  of  the  Anastasis,  and  separated  from  it  by  a  large  open  area.  (3)  The 
hill  of  Golgotha  (on  which  at  a  later  period  there  was  built  a  third  Church,  called  the  Church 
of  Golgotha,  of  Holy  Calvary,  or  of  Cranium)  stood  about  a  stone's  throw  on  the  North  side 
of  Constantine's  two  Churches,  and  about  equidistant  from  them. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Time  and  Arrangement  of  S.  Cyril's  Lectures. 

§  I.  The  Year.  The  incidental  notes  of  time  in  the  Catechetical  Lectures  are  sufficient 
to  determine  with  considerable  probability  the  exact  year  in  which  they  were  delivered. 

In  Cat.  xiv.  14,  Cyril  speaks  in  the  Plural  of  the  Emperors  then  reigning  (ot  vvv  ^acn'Ke'is) 
as  having  completed  the  building  {i^eipyaanvTo)  and  embellishment  of  the  great  Church 
of  the  Resurrection.  This  can  only  apply  to  the  sons  of  Constantine,  Constans  and 
Consiantius  ;  and  as  Constans  died  early  in  350,  the  Lectures  must  have  been  delivered 
.before  that  year. 

In  Cat.  XV.  §  6,  Cyril  asks,  "  Is  there  at  this  time  war  between  Persians  and  Romans, 
or  no?"  The  time  thus  indicated  was  apparently  that  of  the  campaign  which  ended  in 
the  disastrous  defeat  of  Constantius  at  Singara,  348,  the  battle  being  soon  followed  by 
a  suspension  of  hostilities  '. 

The  Benedictine  Editor  tries  to  find  another  proof  of  the  date  of  the  Lectures  in  Cyril's 
description  of  the  state  of  the  Church  in  Cat.  xv.  §  7  :  "  If  thou  hear  that  Bishops  advance 
against  Bishops,  and  clergy  against  clergy,  and  laity  against  laity,  even  unto  blood,  be  not 
troubled."  Touttee  refers  this  account  to  the  fierce  dissensions  which  followed  the  Synod  of 
Sardica,  where  Athanasius  and  Marcellus  were  declared  innocent  and  received  into  com- 
munion, while  the  Encyclical  of  the  dissentient  Bishops,  who  had  withdrawn  to  Philippopolis, 
condemned  them  both.  But  it  is  now  ascertained  that  the  Synod  of  Sardica  was  held  not  in 
347,  as  Touttee  supposed,  but  in  344^ :  and  Cyril's  description  may  unhappily  be  applied  to 

8  The  Bordeaux  Pilgrim,  Introd.  p.  ix.  »  See  Gibbon,  c.  xviii.  vol.  ii.  p.  370.  »  Diet.  Chr.  Bio^r.  "  Athanasius," 

p.  190,  note  ;  Hefele,  Councils,  §§  58,  66,  67. 


xHv  INTRODUCTION. 

the  state  of  the  Church  at  almost  any  time  from  the  Council  of  Tyre,  by  which  Athanasius 
had  been  deposed  in  335,  until  long  after  any  date  which  can  possibly  be  assigned  to 
Cyril's  Lectures. 

There  is  a  much  more  definite  note  of  time  in  Cat.  vi.  §  20,  where  speaking  of  Manes 
Cyril  says :  "  The  delusion  began  full  seventy  years  ago."  If  we  may  assume  that  the 
outbreak  of  this  heresy  is  to  be  dated  from  the  famous  disputation  between  Archelaus 
and  Manes  in  2773,  it  follows  that  Cyril  must  have  made  this  statement  in  347  or  348. 
And  further,  if  Dr.  Routh  '^  is  correct  in  fixing  the  date  of  the  Disputation  between  July 
and  December  277,  the  Lent  in  which  the  Lectures  were  delivered  must  have  been,  as 
Toutt^e  decides,  that  of  348,  not  of  347,  as  Tillemont  had  supposed. 

§  2.  The  days.  It  is  expressly  stated  by  Sozomen  s  that  "  the  interval  called  Quadra- 
gesima "  was  made  to  consist  of  six  weeks  in  Palestine,  "  whereas  it  comprised  seven  weeks 
in  Constantinople  and  the  neighbouring  provinces." 

It  is  certain  the  Catechetical  Lectures  i.-xviii.  were  all  delivered  in  these  six  weeks,  being 
preceded  by  the  Procatechesis,  which  was  addressed  to  the  candidates  before  the  whole 
congregation  at  the  public  Service  on  Sunday  (§  4).  In  the  same  context  Cyril  says,  "  Thou 
hast  forty  days  for  repentance,"  and  again  in  Cat.  i.  §  5,  "  Hast  thou  not  forty  days  to  be  free 
for  thine  own  soul's  sake?"  It  thus  appears  probable  that  the  first  of  the  eighteen  Cate- 
chetical Lectures  was  delivered  on  the  Monday  of  the  first  week  of  the  Fast,  the  forty  days 
being  completed  on  the  night  preceding  the  Great  Sabbath,  that  is  to  say,  the  night  of  Good 
Friday,  when  the  fast  was  brought  to  an  end  at  a  late  hour. 

With  regard  to  the  date  of  Cat.  iv.,  which  contains  a  brief  preliminary  statement  of 
all  the  articles  of  the  Creed,  we  may  obtain  some  evidence  from  an  incident  recorded 
in  a  letter  of  Jerome^  to  Pammachius.  John,  who  had  then  succeeded  Cyril  as  Bishop 
of  Jerusalem,  had  on  a  certain  occasion  discoursed  on  the  Creed  and  all  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  in  the  presence  of  Epiphanius  and  the  whole  congregation.  Jerome,  being 
ignorant  of  the  peculiar  custom  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  rebukes  the  supposed  pre- 
sumption of  the  Bishop,  "that  a  man  deficient  in  eloquence  should  in  one  discourse  in 
Church  discuss  all  the  doctrines  concerning  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the  Crucifixion, 
the  descent  into  hell,  the  nature  of  angels,  the  state  of  departed  souls,  the  Resurrection 
of  Christ,  and  of  ourselves,  and  other  subjects."  The  rebuke  calls  out  a  statement  from  John  : 
"  The  custom  among  us  is  that  for  forty  days  we  publicly  deliver  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  and 
Adorable  Trinity  to  those  who  are  to  be  baptized."  This  being  the  custom  at  Jerusalem 
in  Cyril's  time,  we  may  conjecture  that  Cat.  iv.,  which  corresponds  closely  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  John's  discourse,  was  delivered,  like  that,  on  a  Sunday  before  the  whole  congregation  : 
and  this  is  in  fact  suggested  by  Cyril's  own  words  in  §  3  :  "Let  those  here  present,  whose' 
iiabit  of  mind  is  mature,  and  who  have  their  senses  already  exercised  to  discern  good  and  evil, 
endure  patiently  to  listen  to  things  fitted  rather  for  children."  That  this  could  not  have  been 
later  than  the  Sunday  following  that  on  which  the  Procatechesis  was  delivered,  is  shewn  by 
the  mention  in  the  same  section  of  "the  long  interval  of  the  days  of  all  this  holy  Quadra- 
gesima," an  expression  which  could  not  well  have  been  used  later  than  the  second  Sunday 
in  Lent. 

In  Cat.  iv.  §  32,  Cyril  speaks  of  having  discoursed  on  Baptism  "the  day  before  yesterday," 
that  is,  on  the  Friday. 

In  Cat.  V.  we  have  first  a  discourse  on  the  nature  of  faith,  and  then  towards  the  end, 
between  §  12  and  §  13,  the  actual  words  of  the  Creed  are  for  the  first  time  recited  by  Cyril 
to  the  candidates  alone.     In  the  next  four  Lectures  there  are  no  marks  of  time,  except  that 

3Cat.  vi.  §27.  *  Rell.  Sac.  v.^.  12.  S  His i.  EccUs.  vii.  c.  19.  6  £■/.  6i  (al.  38).     C(.  Ben.E.d.  PraeUq.  ad 

Cat.  iv.  pp  49,  $0. 


THE  TIME  AND  ARRANGEMENT  OF  S.  CYRIL'S  LECTURES,    xlv 

vi.,  vii.,  viii.,  were  delivered  on  successive  days,  as  is  proved  by  the  word  "yesterday" 
(rrj  x^fs  w^'i'a)  in  vii.  §  i,  and  Viii.  §  i.  It  thus  appears  probable  that  the  five  Lectures,  v. — ix., 
belong  to  the  five  days,  Monday  to  Friday  inclusive,  of  the  second  or  third  week. 

In  Cat.  X.  §  14  Cyril  reminds  his  hearers  that  he  had  preached  on  the  words  affer  the  order 
of  Mekhizedck  at  the  public  Service  on  the  Lord's  day.  As  he  does  not  here  employ  his 
usual  phrase  "yesterday,"  we  may  infer  that  Cat.  x.  was  delivered  not  earlier  than  the 
Tuesday  following  the  4th  Sunday  in  Lent,  the  Epistle  for  that  Sunday  in  the  Eastern 
Church  being  Heb.  vi.  13 — 20,  which  ends  with  the  words  on  which  Cyril  had  preached. 
The  next  two  Lectures  followed  Cat.  x.  immediately  on  successive  days,  Wednesday  and 
Thursday,  the  word  "yesterday  "  recurring  in  xi.  §  i,  and  xii.  §  4. 

Cat.  xiii.,  which  is  occupied  with  the  Crucifixion  and  Burial,  seems  to  have  followed  them 
immediately  on  the  Friday  :  it  certainly  came  a  few  days  only  before  Cat.  xiv.  §  i.  For 
speaking  there  of  the  preceding  Lecture,  Cyril  says,  "  I  know  the  sorrow  of  Christ's  friends 
in  these  past  days ;  because,  as  our  discourse  stopped  short  at  the  Death  and  the  Burial,  and 
did  not  tell  the  good  tidings  of  the  Resurrection,  your  mind  was  in  suspense  to  hear  what  you 
were  longing  for."  Now  we  know  that  Cat.  xiv.  was  delivered  on  the  Monday  after  Passion 
Sunday:  for  the  Epistle  for  that  5th  Sunday  in  Lent  was  Heb.  vi.  11 — 14,  referring  to  the 
Ascension?:  and  in  §  24  Cyril  says,  "The  grace  of  God  so  ordered  it,  that  thou  heardest 
most  fully  concerning  it,  so  far  as  our  weakness  allowed,  yesterday  on  the  Lord's  day,  since 
by  the  providence  of  divine  grace  the  course  of  the  Readings  (afayjcoor/xuroui/)  in  Church 
included  the  account  of  our  Saviour's  going  up  into  the  heavens." 

In  Cat.  XV.  there  is  no  note  of  time  to  determine  on  what  day  it  was  spoken  ;  but 
i'^  §  ZZ  Cyril  speaks  as  if  his  course  of  teaching  was  to  be  interrupted  for  a  little  wliile  : 
"  If  the  grace  of  God  should  permit  us,  the  remaining  Articles  also  of  the  Faith  shall  be  in 
good  time  {Kara  Kaipov)  declared  to  you."  We  may  therefore  assign  Cat.  xv.  to  the  early  part  of 
Passion  week,  and  the  three  remaining  Catechetical  Lectures  to  the  week  before  Easter,  This 
arrangement  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  Cat.  xvii.  34,  where  Cyril  speaks  of  the  two  Lectures 
on  the  Holy  Spirit,  xvi.  and  xvii.,  as  "these  present  Lectures,"  distinguishing  them  from  "our 
previous  discourses."  In  the  same  section  he  refers  to  "the  fewness  of  the  days,"  and  in  §  20 
speaks  of  "the  holy  festival  of  the  Passover"  as  being  close  at  hand.  We  may  therefore 
probably  assign  xvi.  and  xvii.  to  two  consecutive  days  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  week 
before  Easter. 

Cat.  xviii.  contains  many  indications  from  which  we  may  conclude  with  certainty  that  it 
was  delivered  either  on  the  night  of  Good  Friday,  or  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  of  the 
"Great  Sabbath."  Thus  in  §  17  he  speaks  of  "the  weariness  caused  by  the  prolongation 
(vnepeeaeai)  of  the  fast  of  the  Preparation  (Friday),  and  the  watching."  In  §  21  he  calls  upon 
the  Candidates  to  recite  the  Creed,  which  he  had  dictated  to  theai,  and  which  they  would 
be  required  to  repeat  more  publicly  immediately  before  their  Baptism,  as  we  learn  from  §  32  : 
"Concerning  the  holy  Apostolic  Faith  which  has  been  delivered  to  you  to  profess  {ds  inay- 
yikiav),  we  have  spoken  through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  as  many  Lectures  as  was  possible  in 
these  past  days  of  Lent.  .  .  .  But  now  the  holy  day  of  the  Passover  is  at  hand,  and  ye,  beloved 
in  Christ,  are  to  be  enlightened  by  the  washing  of  regeneration.  Ye  shall  therefore  again  be 
taught  what  is  requisite  if  God  so  will;  with  how  great  devotion  and  order  you  must  enter  in 
when  summoned,  for  what  purpose  each  of  the  holy  mysteries  of  Baptism  is  performed,  and 
with  what  reverence  and  order  you  must  go  from  Baptism  to  the  holy  altar  of  God,  and  enjoy 
its  spiritual  and  heavenly  mysteries."  The  additional  instructions  here  promised  were  to  be 
given  on  the  same  day  as  the  last  Lecture,  Cat.  xviii.,  that  is  on  Easter  Eve  immediately 
before  Baptism.     For  it  was  forbidden  to  reveal  the  mysteries  of  Baptism,  Chrism,  and  the 

1  Diet.  Chr.  Antiq.  '"  Lectionary,"  p.  958  b. 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION. 


Holy  Eucharist  to  the  uninitiated,  and  yet  it  was  necessary  that  the  Candidates  should 
not  come  wholly  unprepared  to  perform  what  would  be  required  of  them.  The  full 
explanation  of  the  various  ceremonies  and  ol  the  doctrines  implied  in  them  was  re- 
served for  the  Mystagogic  Lectures,  which  were  to  be  delivered  on  Ea*er  Monday  and 
the  four  following  days,  after  the  public  Service,  not  in  the  great  Basilica,  but  in  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  itself. 

§  3.  Arrangement.  The  Lectures  of  S.  Cyril  have  a  peculiar  value  as  being  the  first  and 
only  complete  example  of  the  course  of  instruction  given  in  the  early  centuries  to  Candidates 
seeking  admission  to  the  full  privileges  of  the  Christian  Church.  "  The  Great  Catechetical 
Oration"  of  Gregory  of  Nyssa  is  addressed  not  to  the  learner  but  to  the  teacher,  in  accordance 
with  the  opening  statement  of  the  Prologue,  that  "The  presiding  ministers  of  the  mystery  of 
godliness  have  need  of  a  system  in  their  instructions,  in  order  that  the  Church  may  be 
replenished  by  the  accession  of  such  as  should  be  saved,  through  the  teaching  of  the  word  of 
Faith  being  brought  home  to  the  hearing  of  unbelievers."  As  an  instruction  to  the  Catechist 
how  he  should  refute  the  opponents  of  Christianity,  it  is  an  apologetic  work  rather  than 
a  Catechism.  S.  Augustine's  treatise  De  catechizandis  rudihus  is  also  addressed  to  the  teacher, 
being  an  answer  to  Ueogratias,  a  Deacon  of  Carthage,  who  on  being  appointed  Catechist  had 
written  to  Augustine  for  advice  as  to  the  best  method  of  discharging  the  office.  S.  Augustine's 
Sermons  De  tradUione  Symboli,  and  Be  redditione  Symboli,  are  not  a  connected  series,  bi;f 
single  addresses  to  Catechumens  consisting  of  brief  comments  on  a  few  chief  articles  of  thfe 
Creed.     Cyril's  Lectures  thus  remain  unique  in  character. 

After  the  Procatechesis,  which  is  simply  an  introductory  exhortation  to  the  newly  admitted 
Candidates,  he  devotes  three  Lectures  to  the  need  of  a  sincere  purpose  of  mind,  the  efficacy 
of  repentance,  and  the  general  nature  and  importance  of  Baptism.  The  fourth  Lecture  gives 
"a  short  summary  of  necessary  doctrines,"  stating  with  admirable  clearness  and  brevity  ten 
chief  points  of  the  Faith,  and  the  arguments  on  each  point,  which  are  to  be  developed  in  the 
remaining  Catechetical  Lectures  v. — xviii.  He  thus  traverses  the  whole  ground  of  Theology 
as  expressed  in  the  Creed  of  Jerusalem,  of  which  the  exact  language  is  given  in  the  titles 
of  the  successive  Lectures.  These  instructions  to  the  '  lUuminandi '  {(pcoTi^ofifi/cov)  were  followed 
on  Easter-day  by  the  administration  of  Baptism,  Chrism,  and  Holy  Communion  :  and  on  the 
following  days  of  Easter-week  the  ceremonies  and  doctrines  proper  to  each  of  these  Sacraments 
were  explained  in  the  five  Lectures  on  the  Mysteries  (Muoraycoyint)  to  the  newly-baptized  {npos 
Tovi  Neo0wWo-Touy).  These  Mystagogic  Lectures  thus  form  a  most  important  record  of  the 
Sacramental  Rites  and  Doctrines  of  the  Eastern  Church  in  the  fourth  Century,  the  most  critical 
period  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  Creed  of  Jerusalem  :    Doctrine  of  The  Holy  Trinity". 

§  r.  T/ie  Creed.  The  ancient  Creed  which  was  used  by  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  in  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  Century,  and  which  Cyril  expounded  in  his  Catechetical  Lectures,  was 
recited  by  him  to  the  Catechumens  at  the  end  of  the  fifth  Lecture,  to  be  committed  to  memory, 
but  not  to  be  written  out  on  paper  (§  12).  Accordingly  it  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  MSS.,  but 
instead  of  it  the  Nicene  Creed  with  the  Anathema  is  there  inserted  in  Codd.  Roe,  Casaub. 
This  could  only  have  been  added  after  Cyril's  time,  when  the  motives  for  secrecy  had  ceased. 

The  Creed  which  Cyril  really  taught  and  expounded  may  be  gathered  from  vaiious  passages 
in  the  Lectures  themselves,  and  especially  from  the  Titles  prefixed  to  them. 

With  the  Creed  of  Jerusalem  thus  ascertained,  it  will  be  instructive  to  compare  the  Nicene 
formula,  and  for  this  purpose  we  print  them  in  parallel  columns. 


THE  CREEDS  OF  JERUSALEM  AND  NIC^A. 


xlv 


11 


CREED  OF  S.  CYRIL  OF  JERUSALEM. 


Ylicrrfvoiiev  fls  era  Gfdi/  *, 
Tlarepa  ^  YlavroKparopa  3, 
UoiriTiji'  ol pavov  K.al  yijf 
OpaToiV  T€  TtdvTwv  Koi  aopdrayv  *• 

Kai  els  ei'a  Kvpiov  ^Irjcrovv  XptorJv ', 

Tov  Yiou  Toi/  Qeoii 

Tov  Movoyfi'Ti, 

TOV  eK  TOV  riaTpbs  yev\i]6ivTaf 

Qeov  dXr/ftrov 

TTpo  ndvTcou  Tu>v  aicji'cov, 

8l    ov  TO.  ndpTU  eyii'fTO  ^, 

TOV  crapKaOiVTa  koi  crarBpccwijcravTa  ^, 

(TTavpwBivTa  Kn\  Tafpivra  °, 

Ka\  dvaa-TiivTa  eK  veKpwv  tij  Tplrr]  r/fiepoi, 

Kcii  diieXdovTa  en  tovs  ovpuUuvs, 

Koi  KadiauvTa  eK  Be^icou  tov  JJaTpos  ', 

Kol  Trd\tv  fp)(^6pevov  ev  dd^r] 

Kplvai  ^mvTas  kol  uexpovs, 

ov  TTjs  ^aaiXelas  ovk  earai.  reXos** 

Kat  els  ei>  ayiov  livevp-a 

Tov  UaitdKXrjTOV, 

TO  \akijaai'  kv  toIs  npoCJiriTais  '• 

Kat  els  ei'  ^d7rTiap.a  peTavoias  els  a(f>ecriv  dpapTiZv  ^, 
Koi  (Is  piav  dyiav  KadnXiKijv  €K/cX'j(7tai', 
Kai  tls  aapKos  dvddTaviVf 
(cai'  els  ^o}i]v  ludiviov  '^. 


I  Cat.  vi.  tit.  *  vii.  tit.  ;  §  4.        3  viii.  tit.       4  ix.  tit.  ;  5  4. 

5  X.  tit.  ;  vii.  4.  ^  xi.  tit.  ;  §  21.           7  xii.  tit.            8  xiii.  tit. 

9  xiv.  tit.,  cf.  §  27  ;  XV.  3.        '  xv.  tit.  ;  §  a.       '  xvi.  tit. ;  xviii.  3. 

3  xviii.  22.  4  xviii.  tit. ;  §  23. 


CREED    OF   NIC^A. 
From  S.  Athanasius,  De  Decretis  Fidei 

NlC^N^. 


Uicrrevopev  els  era  Qeou, 
IlaTepa  navTiiKpuTopUf 
ndvTwv  6paTo)v  re 
Kai  dopdTuiv  noiljTrjV, 

Kai  eis  eva  Kvpiov  'irjarovv  ypicrrop, 

TOV  Yiov  TOV  Qeov, 

yevvr]devTa  e/c  tov  Uarpos  povoyevr], 

TOvrecTTiv  (k  rrjs  ovaias  tov  Uarpos, 

Qeuv   SK   Qeov,  (pios   (K  (fiHros.  Beov   d}^r]dtv6v  eK  Qeov 

dXr]6irov, 
yevvrjOevTa  ov  noiTjderTa,  6p,oo{icnov  tco  Ilarpi, 
bi    ov  TCI  ndvTa  eyeveTO, 
Ta  Tf  fv  TO)  ovpai'co  K(U  Ta  en\  Ttjs  yiJS, 
TOV   81     Tjpds    TOVS    uvBpuinovs    (cat    8ia    ttjv   fjpeTepnv 

acoTrjplav  ' 
KareXdovra  Ka\  aapKmdeVTa,  sravOpcajrijcraVTa,  naddvTa. 
Kai  dvacTTdvra  tij  TpiTj]  I'lpepa, 
aveXdovTa  els  ovpavovs, 
Ka\  ep^opevuv 
Kp'ivai  ^avTas  Kai  veKpovSy 


Kat  ets  TO  dyiov  Hvevpa. 


Tovs  6e  XeynvTos-  rjv  nore  ore  ovk  ^v,  koi  irp'r 
yevvr]6r)rai  ovk  rjv,  Kai  ort  e^  ovk  orrcov  eyevero. 
7]    e^    ere'pas    vnoiTrdn  e(xis    t]    ovaias   (pdaKovras    elvai 

T]   KTlaTOV   7]   TpeTTTUV    Tj    aAXotCOrc')!/    TUV    YiuV    TOV     QeoL. 

dvatepaTi^ei  t]  KadoXiKrj  (KKXrjaia. 


»  Cyril,  Cat.  iv.  9  ;  xii.  3 ;  Mystag.  ii.  7. 


§  2.  Doctrhie  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  doctrinal  position  of  S.  Cyril  is  admirably  described, 
and  his  orthodoxy  vindicated  by  Cardinal  Newman  in  the  following  passage  of  his  Preface  to 
the  Lectures  in  the  Library  of  the  Fathers.  "There  is  something  very  remarkable  and  even 
starthng  to  the  reader  of  S.  Cyril,  to  find  in  a  divine  of  his  school  such  a  perfect  agreement, 
for  instance  as  regards  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  with  those  Fathers  who  in  his  age  were 
more  famous  as  champions  of  it.  Here  is  a  writer,  separated  by  whatsoever  cause  from  what, 
speaking  historically,  may  be  called  the  Athanasian  School,  suspicious  of  its  adherents,  and 
suspected  by  them  ;  yet  he,  when  he  comes  to  explain  himself,  expresses  precisely  the  same 
doctrine  as  that  of  Athanasius  or  Gregory,  while  he  merely  abstains  from  the  particular 
theological  term  in  which  the  latter  Fathers  agreeably  to  the  Nicene  Council  conveyed  it. 
Can  we  have  a  clearer  proof  that  the  difference  of  opinion  between  them  was  not  one  ot 
ecclesiastical  and  traditionary  doctrine,  but  of  practical  judgment?  that  the  Fathers  at  Nicsea 
wisely  considered  that,  under  the  circumstances,  the  word  in  question  was  the  only  symbol 
which  would  secure  the  Church  against  the  insidious  heresy  which  was  assailing  it,  while 
S.  Cyril,  with  Eusebius  of  Coesarea,  Meletius  and  others  shrank  from  it,  at  least  for  a  while. 


xlviii  INTRODUCTION. 


as  if  an  addition  to  the  Creed,  or  a  word  already  taken  into  the  service  of  an  opposite  heresy, 
and  Hkely  to  introduce  into  the  Church  heretical  notions?  Their  judgment,  which  was 
erroneous,  was  their  own  ;  their  faith  was  not  theirs  only,  but  shared  with  them  by  the 
whole  Christian  world  '." 

In  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  general  the  two  great  heresies  which  distracted 
the  Church  in  S.  Cyril's  day  were  Sabellianism  and  Arianism,  the  one  "confounding  the  Per- 
sons," the  other  "  dividing  the  substance  "  of  the  indivisible  Unity  of  the  Godhead.  Both  these 
opposite  errors  Cyril  condemns  with  equal  energy:  "Do  thou  neither  separate  the  Son  from 
the  Father,  nor  by  making  a  confusion  believe  in  a  Son-Fatherhoods"  Again  he  says  :  "Our 
hope  is  in  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  We  preach  not  three  Gods  ;  let  the  Marcionites 
be  silenced  ;  but  with  the  Floly  Ghost  through  One  Son  we  preach  One  God.  The  Faith 
is  indivisible;  the  worship  inseparable.  We  neither  separate  the  Holy  Trinity,  like  some 
(that  is  the  Arians)  ;  nor  do  we,  as  Sabellius,  work  confusion  3."  "  He  says  not,  I  am  the 
Father,  but  the  Father  is  in  Me,  and  I  am  in  the  Father.  And  again  He  said  not,  I  and  the 
Father  am  one,  but,  7  and  the  Father  are  One,  that  we  should  neither  separate  them,  nor  make 
a  confusion  of  Son-Father  4." 

In  the  sequel  of  this  last  passage  Cyril  proceeds  to  argue  that  this  unity  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son  lies  in  their  Nature,  "since  God  begat  God,"  in  their  Kingdoms,  in  their  Will  ^,  and 
in  their  joint  Creation  7,  thus  at  each  step  rejecting  some  prominent  heretical  tenet. 

The  question,  however,  of  Cyril's  orthodoxy  depends  especially  upon  his  supposed  oppo- 
sition to  the  Creed  of  Nicsea,  of  which  no  evidence  is  alleged  except  his  attendance  at  the 
Council  of  Seleucia,  and  the  absence  from  his  Lectures  of  the  word  oi^oov^mov. 

The  purpose  of  Cyril's  attendance  at  Seleucia  was  to  appeal  against  his  deposition  by 
Acacius,  and  there  is  apparently  no  evidence  of  his  having  taken  part  in  the  doctrinal 
discussions,  or  signed  the  Creed  of  Antioch^.  What  is  certain  is  that  Cyril's  bitterest  enemies 
who  refused  to  sit  with  him  in  the  Council  were  Acacius  and  his  Arian  allies,  who  expressly 
rejected  both  ofxoovaioi  and  ofioiova-ios  and  "altogether  denied  the  Nicene  formula  and  censured 
the  Council,  while  the  others,  who  were  the  majority,  accepted  the  whole  proceedings  of  the 
Council,  except  that  they  complained  of  the  word  'Co-essential,'  as  obscure,  and  so  open  to 
suspicion  9."  It  thus  appears  that  Cyril's  friends  at  Seleucia  were  partly  those  who  approved 
the  word  "Co-essential,"  and  pardy  those  of  whom  Athanasius  speaks  as  "brothers,  who 
mean  what  we  mean,  and  dispute  only  about  the  word'."  It  needed  in  fact  the  profound 
insight  of  an  Athanasius  to  foresee  that  in  the  end  that  word  must  triumph  over  all  opposition, 
and  be  accepted  by  the  Universal  Church  as  the  one  true  safeguard  of  the  Christian  Faith. 
Meanwhile  it  was  the  standard  round  which  debate,  and  strife,  and  hatred,  and  persecution, 
were  to  rage  for  fifty  years  with  unexampled  fury. 

Was  C\  ril  to  be  blamed,  ought  he  not  rather  to  be  commended,  for  not  introducing  such 
a  war-cry  into  the  exposition  of  an  ancient  Creed,  in  which  it  had  no  place,  the  Creed,  of  his 
own  Church,  the  Mother  of  all  the  Churches,  whose  Faith  he  as  a  youthful  Presbyter  was 
commissioned  to  teach  to  the  young  Candidates  for  Baptism? 

But  if  we  compare  his  doctrine  with  that  of  the  Nicene  formula,  we  shall  find  that, 
as  Dr.  Newman  says,  "  His  own  writings  are  most  exactly  orthodox,  though  he  does  not  in 
the  Catechetical  Lectures  use  the  word  6/:iooi o-tof  =." 

The  first  point  to  be  noticed  in  the  comparison  is  the  use  of  the  title  "  Son  of  God." 


I  Pr/face,  p.  ix.  2  Cat   iv.  S  8. 

3  Cat.  xvi.  §  4.  See  the  notes  on  tliis  and  the  preceding 
passage.  4  Cat.  xi.  §  16.  s  Cat.  xv.  §  27,  note  3. 

6  Athan.  Contra  Arian.  Or.  ii.  §  31,  i :  "For  the  Word  of 
God  is  Framer  and  Maker,  and  He  is  the  Father's  Will.  Cf. 
Or.  iii.  g  63  fin. 


7  lb.  Or.  iii.  S  11,  3  :  "Such  then  being  the  Son,  therefore 
when  the  Son  works,  the  Father  is  the  Worker." 

8  There  is,  I  believe,  no  extant  list  o<  signatures:  "Whether 
the  few  Homousians  and  Hilary  were  among  those  who  signed 
is  not  said"  (Hefele,  Councils,  II.  p.  264). 

9  Athan.  De  Synod,  c.  12.         '  lb.  c.  41.        ^  Preface,  p.  14. 


THE   CREEDS    OF  JERUSALEM    AND   NIC^A.  xlix 

For  this  Eusebius  in  his  Creed  had  substituted  "  Word  of  God."  Athanasius  explains 
the  significance  of  the  change:  "Uniting  the  two  titles,  Scripture  speaks  of  'Son' 
in  order  to  herald  the  natural  and  true  offspring  of  His  essence  (ova-Las) ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  that  none  may  think  of  the  offspring  as  human,  in  again  indicating  His  essence 
it  calls  Him  Word,  and  Wisdom,  and  Radiance ;  for  from  this  we  infer  that  the  generation 
was  impassible  (dmiOes),  and  eternal,  and  becoming  to  God  3." 

Cyril  is  here  in  full  accord  with  Athanasius  :  in  his  Creed  he  found  "Son  of  God,"  and 
in  his  exposition  he  states  that  the  Father  is  "by  nature  and  in  truth  Father  of  One  only, 
the  Only-begotten  Son  4  : "  "  One  they  are  because  of  the  dignity  pertaining  to  the  Godhead, 
since  God  begat  God  s ; "  "  The  Son  then  is  Very  God,  having  the  Father  in  Himself,  not 
changed  into  the  Father^."  When  he  says  that  the  Son  is  in  all  things  like  (u/dOLos  ii>  naa-iv) 
to  Him  who  begat  Him  ;  begotten  Life  of  Life,  and  Light  of  Light,  Power  of  Power,  God 
of  God,  and  the  characteristics  of  the  Godhead  are  unchangeable  («7rapuAAa/<rot)  in  the  Son  7," 
he  is  using  in  all  good  faitli  the  very  words  of  the  orthodox  Bishops  at  Nicrea,  "  o/xotw  re  kuI 

iiTTapdWaKTOv  avTov  Kara  iravra  T'2  Uarpl    , 

The  further  significance  which  Athanasius  ascribes  to  the  title  "  Logos,"  is  also  expressed 
fully  and  repeatedly  by  Cyril  :  "  Whenever  thou  hearest  of  God  begetting,  sink  not  down  in 
thought  to  bodily  things,  nor  think  of  a  corruptible  generation,  lest  thou  be  guilty  of 
impiety  9." 

The  "  passionless  generation,"  to  which  so  much  importance  was  attached  at  Nicasa  and 
by  Athanasius,  is  also  asserted  by  Cyril  when  he  says  that  God  "  became  a  Father  not 
by  passion  {ov  nddfi  narrjp  yevdnevos) '."  The  eternal  generation  is  most  empliatically  declared 
again  and  again:  the  Son,  he  says,  "began  not  His  existence  in  time,  but  was  before 
all  ages  eternally  and  incomprehensibly  begotten  of  the  Father;  the  Wisdom,  and  the  Power 
of  God,  and  His  Righteousness  personally  subsisting-:"  "Throughout  His  being  (f|  ovnep  i]u), 
a  being  by  eternal  generation,  He  holds  His  royal  dignity,  and  shares  His  Father's  seat  3." 
"  Believe  that  of  One  God  there  is  One  Only-begotten  Son,  who  is  before  all  ages  God  the 
Word  ;  not  the  uttered  word  diffused  into  the  air,  nor  to  be  likened  to  impersonal  words ; 
but  the  Word,  the  Son,  Maker  of  all  who  partake  of  reason,  the  Word  who  heareth  the 
Father,  and  Himself  speaketh  l" 

The  importance  of  such  language  is  better  understood  when  we  remember  that  Marcellus, 
"another  head  of  the  dragon,  lately  sprung  up  in  Galatias,"  entirely  rejected  the  word 
"Begotten,"  as  implying  a  beginning,  and  ''contradicting  the  eternity  of  the  Logos,  so 
distinctly  proclaimed  by  S.  John."  An  eternal  generation,  as  stated  by  Athanasius  and  others, 
was  to  him  unimaginable.  The  Logos  in  His  pre-existence  was  unbegotten,  and  could  not 
be  called  Son,  but  only  the  Logos  invested  with  human  nature  was  Son  of  God  and  be- 
gotten ^."  These  heretical  opinions  of  Marcellus  had  been  ccTndemned  in  several  Councils 
within  a  few  years  preceding  Cyril's  Lectures. 

The  next  supposed  proof  of  Cyril's  opposition  to  the  Nicene  doctrine  is  that  he  has  not 
adopted  in  his  Lectures  the  phrases  "  of  the  essence  (oiio-ia?)  of  the  Father,"  and  "  of  one 
essence  {(')p.oov(jiov)  with  the  Father."  This  omission  is  the  chief  ground  of  the  reproaches 
cast  upon  the  memory  of  Cyril  by  the  writers  of  Ecclesiastical  History ;  for  this  he  was 
described  by  Jerome  as  an  Arian,  and  by  Rufinus  as  a  waverer,  while  his  formal  acceptance 
of  the  terms  used  at  Nicsea  is  called  by  Socrates  and  Sozomen  an  act  of  repentance.  By 
others  he  was  denounced  as  ^ \peiai'6(ppu)v  because  he  had  addressed  his  letter  to  Constantius 
as  "  the  most  religious  king,"  and  never  used  the  word  Sfioovaiov  in  his  Lectures. 

3  Contra  Arianos,  Or.  i.  28.  4  Cat.  vii.  §  5.  5  lb.  xi.  §  16.  6  lb..  §  17.  7  lb.  §  18.  8  Athan.  De  Decretis,  c.  lo. 

9  Cat.  xi.  §  7.  ■  lb.  vii.  5  :  see  note  there.  2  Jb.  iv.  7.  3  lb.  4  lb.  iv.  §  8.  5  lb.  xv.  §  27. 

6  Zahn,  Marcellus  ofAncyra,  as  quoted  by  Hefele,  Councils,  II.  p.  31,  slightly  abridged.     See  also  Hefele,  p.  1S6. 

VOL.  VII.  e 


INTRODUCTION. 


We  shall  be  better  able  to  estimate  the  justice  of  these  reproaches,  if  we  consider  first  the 
history  of  these  words  ovaia  and  Sfxoova-ioi,  and  the  reasons  which  Cyril  may  have  had  for  not 
employing  them  in  the  instruction  of  youthful  Candidates  for  Baptism. 

It  is  strange  to  find  that  seven  hundred  years  before  the  great  controversy  at  Nic?ea  on 
the  introduction  of  the  word  oiaia  into  the  Creed,  it  had  been  the  war-cry  of  almost  as  fierce 
a  conflict  between  rival  schools  of  philosophy. 

"There  appears,"  says  Plato  in  the  person  of  the  Eleatic  stranger,  "  to  be  a  sort  of  war 
of  the  giants  going  on  between  them  because  of  the  dispute  concerning  ovala.  Some  of  them 
are  dragging  all  things  down  from  heaven  and  from  the  invisible  to  earth,  grasping  rocks  and 
oaks  in  their  hands  ;  for  of  all  such  things  they  lay  hold,  in  obstinately  mamtaining  that  what 
can  be  touched  and  handled  alone  has  being  (fluai),  because  they  define  '  being  '  and  '  body ' 
as  one;  and  if  any  one  else  says  that  what  is  not  a  body  has  being,  they  altogether  despise 
him,  and  will  hear  of  nothing  but  body.  .  .  .  Therefore  their  opponents  cautiously  defend 
themselves  from  above  out  of  some  invisible  world,  mightily  contending  that  certain  in- 
telligible and  incorporeal  ideas  are  the  true  essence  (ova-iav)  7." 

It  is  apparently  to  this  passage  of  Plato  that  Aristotle  refers  in  describing  the  ambiguity  of 
the  word  ovaia^ :  "  Now  Ouala  seems  to  belong  most  manifestly  to  bodies  :  wherefore  animals 
and  plants  and  their  parts  we  say  are  ovaUn,  also  natural  bodies  as  fire  and  water  and  earth  and 
all  such  things,  and  all  either  parts  of  these,  or  products  either  of  parts  or  the  whole,  as  the 
heaven  and  its  parts,  stars,  moon,  and  sun.  But  whether  these  are  the  only  ova-tut  or  there  are 
others  also,  or  none  of  these  but  others  of  a  different  kind,  is  a  matter  for  inquiry.  Some  think 
that  the  boundaries  of  bodies,  as  a  surface,  and  a  line  and  a  point  and  a  unit  (fiovds),  are  nialai, 
even  more  so  than  body  and  solid.  Further,  one  class  of  persons  thinks  that  besides  things 
sensible  there  is  no  ovala,  and  another  that  there  are  many  things,  and  these  more  enduring 
(dt'Sta),  as  Plato  thinks  that  the  ideas  {(Utj)  and  the  mathematical  elements  are  two  kinds 
of  ovaia,  and  that  the  olaia  of  sensible  bodies  is  a  third." 

In  proceeding  to  define  the  term,  Aristotle  says  that  ovala  is  used  in  four  senses  if  not 
more  :  the  essential  nature  (t6  ri  rjv  dvai),  the  universal  {t6  Kad6\ov)  the  genus,  and  a  fourth 
the  subject  {t6  vTroKelfievov).  Under  this  fourth  sense  he  proceeds  to  discuss  the  application 
of  the  term  oiaia  to  the  matter,  the  form,  and  the  resulting  whole.  Without  going  further 
we  may  see  that  the  use  of  the  word  in  philosophy  was  full  of  difficulty  and  ambiguity. 

The  ambiguity  is  thus  expressed  by  Mr.  Robertson  9  :  "  We  may  look  at  a  concrete  term 
as  denoting  either  this  or  that  individual  simply  (t6^(  n),  or  as  expressing  its  nature,  and  so 
as  co7nmo}i  to  more  individuals  than  one.  Now  properly  (Trpcircos)  olala  is  only  appropriate 
to  the  former  purpose.  But  it  may  be  employed  in  a  secondary  sense  to  designate  the  latter, 
in  this  sense  species  and  genera  are  hivnpai  ovalai,  the  wider  class  being  less  truly  ovalai  than 
the  former,"  Perhaps  the  earliest  use  of  ovala  in  Christian  writings  is  in  Justin  M.  \  where  he 
describes  the  Logos  as  "having  been  begotten  from  the  Father,  by  His  power  and  will, 
but  not  by  abscission  (aTroTOfi^v),  as  if  the  ovala  of  the  Father  were  divided,  as  all  other  things 
when  divided  and  cut  are  no  longer  the  same  as  before."  His  e.xample  was  fire,  from  which 
other  fires  are  kindled,  while  it  remains  undiminished  and  unchanged.  Accordinu  to 
Dr.  Newman^,  ovala  here  means  "  substance,  or  being." 

In  Clement  of  Alexandria 3,  ovala  means  a  "nature"  common  to  many,  for  he  speaks 
of  the  Gnostic  Demiurge  as  creating  an  irrational  soul  6fioovaiov  with  the  soul  of  the  beasts;" 
and  again  as  implanting  in  man  "  something  co-essential  (onoovaiof)  with  himself,  inasmuch 
as  he  is  invisible  and  incorporeal;  his  essence  {ovalai')  he  called  "the  breath  of  life,"  but 
the  thing  formed  (fiop^xoiiiv)  became  "a  living  soul,"  which  in  the  prophetic  Scriptures  he 


7  Plato,  Sophist.  %  246.     "  The  pass.ige  is  quoted  by  Theodoret,  Grcrcarum  affectionem  Cin-at.'o,  ii.  p.  732."    (Heindorf.) 
8  Metaph.  vi.  §  a.      9  Athanasius,  Prolcg.  p.  xxxi.,  in  this  Series.      '   Tryph.  c.  128  •.      »  Atians,  p.  186.      3  Fragm.  §50.  Sylb.  341. 


THE  CREEDS  OF  JERUSALEM  AND  NIC.EA.         li 

confesses  himself  to  be.     Again  in  §  42  of  the  same  Fragment,  according  to  the  Valentinians, 
"the  body  of  Jesus  is  co-essential  {ofinova-iov)  with  the  Church." 

So  Hippolytus't  speaks  of  the  Son  Incarnate  as  being  "  at  one  and  tlie  same  time  Infinite 
God  and  finite  Man,  having  the  nature  {ola-lav)  of  eacli  in  perfection  : "  and  again,  "  There 
has  been  effected  a  certain  inexpressible  and  irrefragable  union  of  the  two  (the  Godhead  and 
the  Manhood)  into  one  subsistence  {v-oaTaaw).^' 

In  Origen  we  find  the  two  words  olcrUi  (essence,  or  substance)  and  un-oVrao-is  (individual 
subsistence)  accurately  distinguished.  Quoting  the  description  of  Wisdom,  as  being  the 
breath  (dr^ir)  of  the  power  of  God,  and  pure  effluence  {djroppoia)  from  the  glory  of  the 
Almighty,  and  radiance  (dTravyaana)  of  the  Eternal  Light  5,"  he  says  that  "  Wisdom  proceeding 
from  Him  is  generated  of  the  very  substance  of  God,"  and  adds  that  "these  comparisons 
most  manifestly  shew  that  there  is  community  of  substance  between  Father  and  Son.  For 
m  effluence  appears  to  be  6iiuovai.os,  that  is,  of  one  substance  with  that  body  from  which  it  is 
an  effluence  or  vapour." 

On  the  other  hand  he  writes,  "  We  worship  the  Father  of  the  Truth,  and  the  Son  who  is 
the  Truth,  being  in  subsistence  (t,^  vjro>rT,iafi)  tivo^."  On  this  passage  Bishop  Bull  remarks  : 
"  The  words  vTroaraa-is  and  oicria  in  ancient  times  were  variously  used,  at  least  by  the 
Christians.  That  is  to  say,  sometimes  vnoaTaa-is  was  taken  by  them  for  what  we  call  ovaia, 
and  vice  versa,  oia-la  for  what  we  call  vTT6(TTa(ris  :  some'.imes  the  ancients  even  before  the 
Council  of  Nicsea  used  vnoaraais  for  what  we  now  call  'person'  or  ' subsistence 7.' "  This 
Bishop  Bull  presently  explains  again  as  "an  individual  thing  subsisting  by  itself,  which 
in  rational  beings  is  the  same  a.s  J>ersofi." 

For  examples  of  these  interchanges  of  meaning,  we  may  notice  that  the  Synod  of  Antioch 
(a.d.  269),  in  the  Epistle  addressed  to  Paul  of  Samosata  before  his  deposition,  speaking 
of  the  unity  of  Christ's  Persoti,  says  that  "  He  is  one  and  the  same  in  His  uvala  ^."  On  this 
passage  Routh  remarks  that  "The  words  ovala  and  (^Lai^  are  sometnnes  employed  by  the 
ancients  for  a  personal  subsistence  (^persona  subsistente),  as  is  plainly  testified  by  Photius." 

In  the  earlier  part  9  of  the  same  Epistle  the  Son  is  described  as  "  being  before  all  ages, 
not  in  foreknowledge,  but  in  essence  and  subsistence  (ec  ov^rla  Kal  iJTrooTaaei)." 

The  confusion  arising  from  the  uncertainty  in  the  use  of  these  two  words  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  account  which  Athannsius'  himself  gives  of  this  same  Synod  of  Antioch  :  "They  who 
deposed  the  Samosatene,  took  Co-essential  {pyioovcnos.)  in  a  bodily  sense,  because  Paul  had 
attempted  sophistry  and  said,  '  Unless  Christ  has  of  man  become  God,  it  follows  that  He  is 
Co-essential  with  the  Father;  and  if  so,  of  necessity  there  are  three  essences  (olaiai),  one  the 
previous  essence,  and  the  other  two  from  it;'  and  therefore  guarding  against  this  they  said 
with  good  reason,  that  Christ  was  not  Co-essential  (ofioovaiovy  Athanasius  then  explains  on 
what  grounds  the  Bishops  at  Nicaea  "  reasonably  asserted  on  their  part,  that  the  Son  was  Co- 
essential  "  Athanasius  himself  states  that,  in  giving  this  explanation  of  the  rejection  of  6no- 
ovaiov  by  the  Bishops  who  condemned  the  Samosatene,  he  had  not  their  Epistle  before  him  2; 
and  his  statement,  that  Paul  used  the  term  not  to  express  his  own  view,  but  to  refute  that  of 
the  Bishops,  is  thought  to  be  opposed  to  what  Hilary  says  3,  "  Male  ojioovo-lov  Samosatenus 
confessus  est :  sed  numquid  melius  Ariani  negaverunt  ?  " 

That  the  statement  of  Athanasius  himself  is  not  free  from  difficulty  is  clear  from  the  way 
in  which  so  great  a  Theologian  as  Bishop  Hefele  endeavours  to  explain  it:  "Athanasius  says 
that  Paul  argued  in  this  way  :  If  Christ  is  'Ofxoovinos  with  the  Father,  then  three  subsistences 
(ovaiai)  must  be  admitted — one  first  substance  (the  Father),  and  two  more  recent  (the  Son  and 

4  AJz/.  Beron.  ei  Hel.  Fragm.  i.        S  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  vii.  25,  quoted  by  Origen,  Fragm.  in  Episi,.  ad  Hehmos,  Lommatzsch, 
V.  p.  300.  6  Contra  Cetsiirn,  viii.  p.  386.  7  De/.  Fid.  Nic.  II.  c.  9,  §  11.      .  *  Routh,  ReL.  Sacr.,  III.  p.  299 

9  lb.  p.  2901  «  De  Synodis,  c  45,  p.  474,  in  this  Series.  ^  ib.  c.  ^3.  3  Liber  de  Synodis,  513, 


Ill  INTRODUCTION. 


the  Spirit) ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  Divine  Substance  is  separated  into  three  parts  *."  The 
logical  subtlety  of  Paul  was  better  understood  by  Basil  the  Great  s :  "  For  in  truth  they  who 
met  together  about  Paul  of  Samosata  found  fault  with  the  phrase,  as  not  being  distinct ;  for 
they  said  that  the  word  ofioovaio^  gave  the  idea  of  an  olirla  and  of  those  derived  from  it, 
so  that  the  title  6jioov(nov  assigned  the  ovalu  separately  to  the  subjects  to  which  it  was 
distributed  :  and  this  notion  has  some  reason  in  the  case  of  copper  and  the  coins  made 
from  it ;  but  in  the  case  of  God  the  Father,  and  God  the  Son,  there  is  no  substance 
conceived  to  be  antecedent  and  superior  to  both :  for  to  say  and  to  think  this  surpasses 
all  bounds  of  impiety." 

The  confusion  arising  from  the  uncertainty  in  the  use  of  these  words  had  been  the  cause 
of  strife  throughout  the  Christian  Church  for  more  than  twenty  years  before  the  date  of  Cyril's 
Lectures  ;  and  though  it  was  declared  at  the  Council  of  Alexandria  (362)  to  be  but  a  con- 
troversy about  words  5",  it  had  long  been  and  long  afterwards  continued  to  be  a  fruitful  cause 
of  dissension  between  men  who,  when  forced  to  explain  their  meaning,  were  found  to  be  in 
substantial  agreement.  That  Cyril  abstained  from  introducing  into  his  elementary  teaching 
terms  so  provocative  of  dangerous  controversy,  is  a  reason  for  commendation,  not  for  censure. 
But  if  it  is  alleged  that  he  denied  or  doubted  or  failed  to  assert  the  essential  Godhead  of 
the  Son,  the  suspicion  is  unfounded  and  easily  refuted.  To  the  many  passages  already 
quoted  concerning  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son,  it  will  be  enough  to  add  one  single 
sentence  which  ought  to  dispel  all  doubt  of  his  orthodoxy.  "The  Only-begotten  Son, 
together  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  partaker  of  the  Godhead  of  the  Father  {tt]s  QioTrjros  rrjs 
UaTinKTjs  Koipdivos)."  The.  word  chosen  by  Cyril  to  express  the  Divine  Essence  (dtorris) 
common  to  the  three  Persons  of  the  Godhead  is  at  least  as  appropriate  as  ola-ia. 

If  we  now  look  at  the  particular  errors  mentioned  in  the  Anathema  of  the  Nicene 
Council,  we  shall  find  that  every  one  of  them  is  earnestly  condemned  by  Cyril. 

"  Once  He  ivas  not  ('Hf  Trore  ore  ovK  rjv).  This  famous  Arian  formula  is  expressly  rejected 
in  Cat.  xi.  §  17  :  "Neither  let  us  say.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Son  was  not."  The 
eternity  of  the  Son  is  asserted  again  and  again,  in  reference,  for  instance,  to  His  generation  *, 
His  Priesthood  7,  and  His  throne^. 

^^ Before  His  generation  He  was  not"  {7rp\v  yevvi)6r]vai  ovk  rji').  Compare  with  this  Cyril's 
repeated  assertions  that  "the  Son  is  eternally  begotten,  by  an  inscrutable  and  incom- 
prehensible generation  9,"  "  the  Son  of  God  before  all  ages,  without  beginning  \"  that 
"  time  intervenes  not  in  the  generation  of  the  Son  from  the  Father  2." 

*^  He  came  to  be  fro?n  nothing"  (e^  ovk  ovrav  fyeiero).  Cyril's  language  is  emphatic:  "As 
I  have  often  said,  He  did  not  bring  forth  the  Son  from  non-existence  (e/c  roO  fxij  ovtos)  into 
being,  nor  take  the  non-existent  into  Sonship  3." 

"  T/iat  He  is  of  other  siibsistcfice  or  essence"  (e|  kripns  v-nouraonxis:  i}  nvtrias).  It  is  certain 
that  Cyril  has  given  no  countenance  to  the  error  or  errors  condemned  in  this  clause,  but  is 
in  entire  agreement  with  the  Council. 

On  the  question  whether  i/roorno-tj  and  oia-ia  have  in  this  passage  the  same  or  different 
meanings,  see  Bull,  Def  Fid.  Nic.  II.  9,  11,  p.  314  {Oxf.  Ed.).  Athanasius  expressly  states 
that  they  are  perfectly  equivalent :  "  Subsistence  (j^n-oo-Tao-is)  is  essence  (ova-ia),  and  means 
nothing  else  but  very  being,  which  Jeremiah  calls  existence  (v7rnp|is)."  Basil  distinguishes 
them,  and  is  followed  by  Bishop  Bull,  whose  opinicm  is  controverted  by  Mr.  Robertson 
in  an  Excursus  on  the  meaning  of  the  phrase,  on  p.  77  of  his  e.lition  of  Athanasius  in  this 
Series.     The  student  who  desires  to  pursue  the  subject  may  consult  m  addition  to  the  works 


4  Councils,  I.  p.  124.  S  F/isi.  300  (al.  52),  quoted  by  Hull,  D.F.N,  ii.  i,  §  11.  S»  Atli.iu.  Toiitus  ad  Aiiiwchenos, 

SI  5,  6.  6Cat.  iv.  §7.  7lb.  X.  §14.  8  1b.  xlv.  §27.  9  Cat.  xi.  §  4.  '§5-  =*  S  7- 

3  §  14.  Cf.  S.  Alex.  Epist.  afttd  Thcodoret,  §  4 :  "  That  the  Son  of  God  w.ts  not  m.^dc  '  fi-om  things  which  are  not,'  and  that 
'  there  was  no  time  when  He  was  not,'  the  Evangelist  John  sunficiently  shews"  (Ante-Nic.  Library). 


S.  CYRIL'S    WRITINGS.  liii 

just  named,  and  the  authorities  therein  mentioned,  Dr.  Newman's  Arians  of  the  Fourth 
Centuiy,  especially  chap.  v.  sect.  i.  3,  and  Appendix,  note  iv.,  on  "the  terms  oWia  and 
ijrdo-Tao-tf  as  used  in  the  early  Church  ;  "  Mr.  Robertson's  Prolegomena,  ch.  ii.  §3  (2)  (b);  and 
the  Rev.  H.  A.  Wilson's  Frole^oinena  to  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  ch.  iv.,  in  this  Series. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

S.  Cyril's  Wkitings. 

§  I.  List  of  Works.  Besides  the  Catechetical  and  Mystagogic  Lectures  translated  in  this 
volume,  the  extant  works  of  S.  Cyril  include  (i)  the  "  Letter  to  the  Emperor  Constantius 
concerning  the  appearance  at  Jerusalem  of  a  luminous  Cross  in  the  sky:"  (2)  "The 
Homily  on  the  Paralytic  at  the  Pool  of  Bethesda : "  and  (3)  Fragments  of  Sermons  on 
the  Miracle  of  the  water  changed  into  wine,  and  on  Joh.  xvi.  28,  "I  go  to  My  Father." 

Another  work  attributed  by  some  authorities  to  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  and  by  others  to  Cyril 
of  Alexandria  is  a  Homily  De  Occursu  Domini,  that  is,  On  the  Presentation  of  Christ  in  the 
Temple,  and  the  meeting  with  Symeon,  called  in  the  Greek  Church  17  'YnanavTrj. 

The  other  Fragments  and  Letters  mentioned  in  the  Benedictine  Edition  have  no  claim  to 
be  considered  genuine. 

§  2.  Authenticity  of  the  Lectures.  The  internal  evidence  of  the  time  and  place  at  which  the 
Lectures  were  delivered  has  been  already  discussed  in  chapters  viii.  and  ix.,  and  proves  beyond 
doubt  that  they  must  have  been  composed  at  Jerusalem  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century. 
At  that  date  Cyril  was  the  only  person  living  in  Jerusalem  who  is  mentioned  by  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Historians  as  an  author  of  Catechetical  Lectures  :  and  S.  Jerome,  a  younger  contem- 
porary of  Cyril,  expressly  mentions  the  Lectures  which  Cyril  had  written  in  his  youth. 
In  fact  their  authenticity  seems  never  to  have  been  doubted  before  the  seventeenth  century, 
when  it  was  attacked  with  more  zeal  than  success  by  two  French  Protestant  Theologians 
of  strongly  Calvinistic  opinions,  Andrew  Rivet  {Critic.  Sacr.  Lib.  iii.  cap.  8,  Genev.  1640),  and 
Edmund  Aubertin  {De  Sacramento  Eucharistice,  Lib.  ii.  p.  422,  Ed.  Davent.,  165/1).  Their 
objections,  which  were  reprinted  at  full  length  by  Milles  at  the  end  of  his  Edition,  were 
directed  chiefly  against  the  Mystagogic  Lectures,  and  rested  on  dogmatic  rather  than  on 
critical  grounds.  The  argument  most  worthy  of  notice  was  that  in  a  MS.  of  the  Library  of 
Augsburg  the  Mystagogic  Lectures  were  attributed  to  John,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem.  This 
is    admitted   by    Milles,   who   gives    the    title    thus :    Mvo-mycoytKai   KaTT]xr}(Tei,s    nenre    'icodwov 

'ETTtcr/coTroii  '\epoaokv}i.u)V,  ivepi  ^arrTicrfiaTos,  ;^pt(T/xaro?,  (roifxaroi,  Kah  atfJ-aros  'KpicrTov. 

I  do  not  find  this  Codex  Augustinus  mentioned  elsewhere  by  any  of  the  Editors  under 
that  name:  but  the  Augsburg  MSS.  were  removed  to  Munich  in  1806,  and  in  the  older 
Munich  MS.  (Cod.  Monac.  i),  the  title  of  the  first  Mystagogic  Lecture  is  Muo-raywyia  Ttpd^rrj 
'loidvvov  ema-Konov  'Upoa-oKvfioiv.  Also  in  Codd.  Monac.  2,  Ottobon.  there  is  added  at  the 
end  of  the  Title,  rov  avrov  KvpiWov  Kal  'laxlfvov  inia-KOTTov.  That  John,  Cyril's  successor,  did 
deliver  Catechetical  Lectures,  we  know  from  his  own  correspondence  with  Jerome :  and  this 
very  circumstance  may  account  for  his  name  having  been  associated  with,  or  substituted  for 
that  of  Cyril. 

To  Rivet's  objection  Milles  makes  answer  that  if  the  mistakes  of  a  transcriber  or  the 
stumbling  of  an  ignorant  Librarian  {imperiti  Librarii  cczspitationes)  have  in  one  or  two  MSS. 
"ascribed  the  Lectures  to  John  or  any  one  else,  this  cannot  be  set  against  the  testimony  of 
those  who  lived  nearest  to  the  time  when  the  Lectures  were  composed,  as  Jerome  and 
Theodoret.  Also  the  internal  evidence  proves  that  the  Lectures  could  not  have  been  delivered 
later  than  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  whereas  John  succeeded  Cyril  about  386. 

Moreover  it  is  quite  impossible  to  assign  the  two  sets  of  Lectures  to  different  authors. 


Ihr  INTRODUCTION. 


In  Cat.  xviii.  §  ^3  the  author  promises,  as  we  have  seen,  that  he  will  fully  explain  the 
Sacramental  Mysteries  in  other  Lectures  to  be  given  in  Easter  week,  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
itself,  and  describes  the  subject  of  each  Lecture ;  to  which  description  the  Mystagogic 
Lectures  correspond  in  all  particulars.  Other  promises  of  future  explanations  are  given  in 
Cat.  xiii.  §  19,  and  xvi.  §  26,  and  fulfilled  in  Mysf.  iv.  §  3,  and  ii.  §  6,  and  iii.  §  i.  On  the 
other  hand  the  author  of  Mysf.  i.  §  g,  after  quoting  the  words,  "  I  believe  in  tlie  Father,  and 
in  the  Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  one  Baptism  of  repentance,"  adds,  "  Of  which 
things  I  spoke  to  thee  at  length  in  the  former  Lectures." 

By  these  and  many  other  arguments  drawn  from  internal  evidence  Touttee  has  shewn 
convincingly  that  all  the  Lectures  must  have  had  the  same  author,  and  that  he  could  be 
no  other  than  Cyril. 

§  3.  Early  Testimony.  Under  the  title  "  Veterum  Testimonia  de  S.  Cyrillo  Hierosolymi- 
tano  ejusque  Scriptis,"  Milles  collected  a  large  number  of  passages  bearing  on  the  life  and 
writings  of  S.  Cyril,  of  which  it  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  a  few  which  refer  expressly  to  his 
Lectures. 

S.  Jerome,  in  his  Book  of  lUusti-ious  Men.,  or  Catalogue  of  Ecclesiastical  Writers,  composed 
at  Bethlehem  about  six  years  after  Cyril's  death,  writes  in  Chapter  112:  "Cyril,  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  having  been  often  driven  out  from  the  Church,  afterwards  in  the  reign  of 
Theodosius  held  his  Bishopric  undisturbed  for  eight  years :  by  whom  there  are  Catechetical 
Lectures,  which  he  composed  in  his  youth." 

Theodoret,  born  six  or  seven  years  after  the  death  of  Cyril,  in  his  Dialogues  (p.  211 
in  this  Series)  gives  the  "Testimony  of  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  from  his  fourth  Catechetical 
Oration  concerning  the  ten  dogmas.     Of  the  birth  from  a  virgin,  "  Believe  thou  this,  &c." 

'i'heophanes  (575  circ.)  Chronographia,  p.  34,  Ed.  Paris,  1655,  defends  the  orthodoxy  of 
Cyril,  as  follows :  "  It  was  right  to  avoid  the  word  biioovaio^,  which  at  that  time  offended 
most  persons,  and  through  the  objections  of  the  adversaries  deterred  those  who  were  to  be 
baptized,  and  to  explain  clearly  the  co-essential  doctrine  by  words  of  equivalent  meaning  : 
which  also  ihe  blessed  Cyril  has  done,  by  expounding  the  Creed  of  Nicsea  word  for  word,  and 
proclaiming  Him  Very  God  of  Very  God." 

Gelasius,  Pope  492,  De  duabus  in  Christo  naturis,  quotes  as  from  Gregory  Nazianzen  the 
words  of  Cyril,  Cat.  iv.  §  9  :  AittXoCs  fjv  6  XpiaTos,  k,t.\. 

Leontius  Byzantinus  (610  circ),  Contra  Nestor,  et  Eutychem,  Lib.  I.  quotes  the  same 
passage  expressly  as  taken  "From  the  4th  Catechetical  Oration  of  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem." 

Many  other  references  to  the  Catecheses  as  the  work  of  Cyril  are  given  by  Touttee, 
pp.  306—315. 

§  4.  Editions.  1.  Our  earliest  information  concerning  the  Greek  text  and  translations  of 
S.  Cyril's  Lectures  is  derived  from  John  Grodecq,  Dean  of  Glogau  in  Bohemia. 

From  his  statement  it  appears  that  Jacob  Uchanski,  Archbishop  of  Gnessen  and  Primate 
of  Poland,  had  obtained  from  Macedonia  a  version  of  the  Catecheses  in  the  Slavonic  dialect, 
and  had  translated  it  into  the  Polish  language  some  years  before  1560. 

2.  In  that  year  Grodecq  himself  published  at  Vienna  an  edition  of  the  Mystagogic 
Lectures,  thus  described  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Imperial  Library : — 

"  S.  Cyril's  Mystagogic  Lectures  to  the  newly  baptized,  which  now  for  the  first  time  are 
edited  in  Greek  and  Latin  together,  that  he  who  doubts  the  Latin  may  have  recourse  to  the 
Greek,  and  he  who  does  not  understand  Greek  well  may  read  the  Latin,  translated  by  John 
Grodecq." 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  this  edition  :  Fabricius,  Milles,  Touttee,  and  Reischl,  all  say 
that  they  have  been  unable  to  find  any  trace  of  it.  Uchanski  about  this  time  sent  to 
Grodecq  his  Slavonic  and  Polish  versions,  in  order  that  they  might  be  compared  with  the 


S.  CYRIL'S   WRITINGS.  Iv 


Greek  original.  The  result  according  to  Grodecq  was  that  the  fidelity  of  both  versions  Avas 
clearly  shewn,  and  "  there  could  not  possibly  remain  any  doubt  that  these  Lectures  of  Cyril 
are  perfectly  genuine." 

Whether  Uchanski's  book  was  written  or  printed  is  unknown,  as  no  trace  of  it  has 
hitherto  been  found. 

3.  S.  Cyrilli  Hier.  Catecheses  ad  Illuminandos  et  Mystagogicse.  Interpretatus  est  Joannes 
Grodecius.     Romje  1564.     8°. 

Grodecq  had  come  to  Rome  in  the  suite  of  Stanislaus  Hosius,  Cardinal  Legate  at  the 
Council  of  Trent,  who  in  the  year  1562  had  published  in  the  Confession  of  Petricow  the 
4th  and  part  of  the  3rd  Mystagogic  Lectures  from  a  Greek  MS.  belonging  to  Cardinal  Sirlet. 
From  this  MS.  Grodecq  made  his  Latin  translation,  using  also  the  work  of  Uchanski  before 
mentioned.  The  preface  is  dated  from  Trent,  on  the  9th  of  July,  1563.  The  translation 
was  published  in  the  following  year  at  Rome,  Cologne,  Antwerp,  and  Paris,  and  often 
elsewhere  until  superseded  by  the  new  Latin  Version  of  Touttee  in  the  Benedictine  Edition. 

4.  In  the  same  year,  1564,  the  Mystagogic  Lectures  and  Catecheses  iv.,  vi.,  viii. — x.,  xv., 
xviii.  were  published  at  Paris  by  William  Morel,  the  King's  Printer,  under  the  following  title: — 

"  S.  Cyrilli  Hier.  Catecheses,  id  est  institutiones  ad  res  sacras,  Graece  editse,  ex  bibliotheca 
Heniici  Memmii,  cum  versione  Latina.  Cura  Guil.  Morellii.  Paris.  G.  Morel.,  1564. 
4"  min." 

The  Greek  text  depending  on  de  Mesme's  one  MS.,  and  that  mutilated  and  faulty,  is 
said  by  Touttee  to  have  many  faults  and  omissions,  but  to  have  been  nevertheless  very  useful 
to  him  in  correcting  the  text.  The  MS.  itself  had  entirely  disappeared.  The  Latin  version, 
appended  to  the  copy  in  the  Royal  (National)  Library  at  Paris,  but  not  always  attached  to 
the  Greek,  is  said  by  Touttee  to  be  a  careful  and  elegant  version,  independent  of  Grodecq's. 

A  copy  of  Morel's  Edition  which  formerly  belonged  to  Du  Fresne,  containing  various 
readings  in  the  margin  from  two  other  MSS.,  was  lent  to  Touttee  from  the  Library  of 
S.  Genevieve  (Genovef.). 

Reischl  describes  the  MS.  as  "Cod.  Mesmianus  (IMontf.  I.  185).     Sec.  xi." 

5.  "  S.  Cyrilli  H.  Catecheses  Grasce  et  Latine  ex  interpretatione  Joan.  Grodccii  nunc 
primum  editEe,  ex  variis  bibliothecis,  pra^cipue  Vaticana,  studio  et  opera  Joan.  Prevotii.  Paris. 
(Claude  Morellus),  1608."  This  was  the  first  complete  edition  of  the  Greek  text.  Prevot, 
a  native  of  Bordeaux,  states  in  the  Dedication  to  Pope  Paul  V.,  that  by  the  help  of  MSS. 
"  melioris  not?e "  found  in  the  Vatican,  he  had  both  corrected  the  text  of  the  Lectures 
previously  published  by  Morel,  and  carefully  transcribed  the  rest.  He  made,  according 
to  Touttee,  many  useful  emendations,  but  did  not  mention  the  number,  age,  nor  various 
readings  of  the  MSS.  employed. 

6.  "S.  Cyrilli  Hier.  Arch,  opera  quae  supersunt  omnia;  quorum  qusedam  nunc  primum 
ex  Codd.  MSS.  edidit,  reliqua  cum  Codd.  MSS.  contulit,  plurimis  in  locis  emendavit,  Notis- 
que  illustravit  Tho.  Milles  S.T.B.  ex  yEde  Christi.  Oxonise,  e  Theatro  Sheldoniano,  Impensis 
Richardi  Sare  Bibliopol.  Lond.  mdcciii." 

The  author  of  this  fine  Edition  gives  us  in  his  Preface  the  following  description  of  his  work : — 
*'  In  the  first  place  I  wished  to  amend  more  thoroughly  the  text  of  J.  Prevot,  which, 
as  I  said,  he  himself  largely  corrected  and  supplied  froiii  MSS.  in  the  Vatican,  and  which 
I  have  printed  in  this  Edition  :  I  have  therefore  compared  it  with  all  the  other  Editions  that 
I  could  collect,  and  in  this  manner  have  easily  removed  many  errors  both  of  the  printers  and 
of  Prevot  himself.  Afterwards  I  carefully  compared  all  the  Catecheses  and  the  Epistle  to 
Constantinus  with  two  MSS.  and  some  with  three,  namely  iv.,  vi.,  viii. — x.,  xv.,  xvi.,  xviii.  The 
first  Codex,  written  on  parchment  apparently  six  hundred  years  ago,  I  found  among  those 
MSS.  which  Sir  Tho.  Roe,  our  first  Ambassador  from  King  James  I.  to  the  Great  Mogul, 
brought  from  the  East,  and  presented  to  the  Bodleian  Library.     The  second  we  owe  to  the 


Ivi  INTRODUCTION. 


diligence  of  Isaac  Casaubon,  who  collated  the  Catecheses  and  Epistle  to  Constantius  with 
a  MS.  which  he  chanced  to  find,  I  think,  in  some  Library  in  France,  and  carefully  noted 
all  the  various  readings  in  the  margin.  This  copy  of  Casaubon's  the  Right  Reverend 
Father  in  Christ,  John  Bishop  of  Norwich,  very  kindly  lent  to  me  out  of  his  well-furnished 
Library,  and  of  his  great  love  for  learning  did  not  disdain  to  shew  the  highest  favour  to 
ray  slight  endeavours." 

Toutt^e  thinks  that  the  MS.  from  which  Casaubon  drew  his  various  readings  was 
C.  Roe  itself,  or  that  one  of  the  two  MSS.  had  been  copied  from  the  other,  or  both  from 
the  same. 

7.  "  S.  Cyrilli  Arch.  Hier,  opera  quag  exstant  omnia  et  ejus  nomine  circumferuntur,  ad 
MSS.  codices  necnon  ad  superiores  Editiones  castigata,  Dissertationibus  et  Notis  illustrata, 
cum  nova  interpretatione  et  copiosis  indicibus.  Cura  et  studio  Domni  Antonii-Augustini 
Touttei,  Presbyteri  et  Monachi  Benedictini  e  Congregatione  S.  Mauri.  Paris.  Typis  Jac 
Vincent.  1720,  fol.  (Recusa  Venet.  1763)." 

Of  the  Greek  text  the  Editor  says,  "  I  have  collated  it  as  carefully  as  I  could  with 
Grodecq's  translation.  Morel's  and  Prevot's  Editions,  and  with  MSS.  to  be  found  in  this  City. 
The  various  readings  of  the  Roman  MSS.  I  have  obtained  by  the  help  of  friends  :  those  which 
Milles  had  collected  from  the  English  Codices  I  have  adopted  for  my  own  use." 

8.  "S.  Cyrilli  Hier.  Arch.  opp.  quae  supersunt  omnia  ad  libros  MSS.  et  impressos 
recensuit  Notis  criticis  commentariis  indicibusque  locupletissimis  illustravit  Gulielm.  Car. 
Reischl  S.  Th.  D.  et  Reg.  Lycei  Ambergensis  Professor.  Vol.  I.  Monac.  m  dccc  xlviii." 

The  Editor  says  in  his  Preface  that  he  has  altered  the  Benedictine  text  only  when  the 
evidence  was  very  weighty,  and  has  then  given  all  the  various  reading's  in  the  critical  notes. 
The  exegetical  commentary  was  to  be  reserved  for  the  2nd  Volunte,  but  this  Dr.  Reischl  did 
not  live  to  complete. 

The  Prolegomena  contain  (i)  Toutt^e's  inordinately  long  "Life  of  Cyril,"  (2)  a  Disser- 
tation on  the  general  character  and  authenticity  of  the  Catecheses,  and  (3)  an  "Apparatus 
Litterarius,"  to  which  I  have  been  indebted. 

Vol.  ii.,  containing  Catecheses  xii. — xviii.,  Myst.  i.-v.,  and  the  other  works,  genuine  and 
spurious,  attributed  to  Cyril,  was  published  by  J.  Rupp  at  Munich,  1S60. 

The  MSS  used  in  revising  the  text  of  this,  the  best  critical  edition,  will  be  noticed  below. 

9.  An  Edition  of  the  Catecheses  only  was  published  at  Jerusalem  in  1867,  having  been 
commenced  in  1849  at  the  request  of  the  Archbishop,  Cyril  II.,  by  Dionysius  Kleopas, 
Principal  of  the  Theological  School  of  Jerusalem,  and,  after  his  death  in  iS6r,  continued 
by  his  successor  Photius  Alexandrides,  "Archdeacon  of  the  Apostolic  and  Patriarchal  See 
of  Jerusalem,  and  Principal  of  the  Theological  School." 

The  Editor  gives  in  the  Preface  an  interesting  account  of  the  life  of  Kleopas,  and  of 
the  work  which  he  left  unfinished. 

§  5.  Manuscripts.  From  the  preceding  account  of  the  various  Editions  of  S.  Cyril  we 
may  obtain  the  following  list  of  authorities  which  have  been  hitherto  used  in  revising  the  Text. 

1.  Codex  Sirletianus,  known  only  by  Grodecq's  Latin  version,  Rome,  1564.     Cf.  §  i.  3. 

2.  C.  Mesmianus,  known  only  in  Morel's  edition,  Paris,  1564.     Cf.  §  i.  4. 

3.  Vatican  MSS.  used  by  Prevot,.i6o8,  but  not  identified.     Cf  §  i.  5. 

4.  C.  Roe,  Bibl.  Bodleian.  Oxon.  "Codex  membranaceus  in  folio,  flf.  223,  sec.  xi.,  binis 
columnis  bene  exaratusj"  [ol.  271]. 

5.  C.  Casaubon.     On  this  and  the  preceding  MS.  see  Milles  as  quoted  above,  §  i.  6. 

6.  C.  Ottobonianus  (1)  ol.  Rom.  iv.  membran.  sec.  xi.  "  Continet  Catecheses  omnes 
et  Epist.  ad  Constantium.     Multas  habet  insignes  ab  editis  varietates." 

C.  Ottob.  (2),  "  Chartaceus  et  recens  est,  nihil  fere  ab  editis  discrepans.** 
These  are  the  Roman  MSS.  mentioned  by  Touttde :  see  above,  §  i.  7. 


S.  CYRIL'S    WRITINGS.  Ivii 


7.  C.  Coislin.  227  (ol.  loi).  Membran.  Saec.  xi.  circ.  "From  this  came  many 
important  emendations"  (Toutte'e,  NoHtia  Codiatm  MSS.). 

In  the  descriptions  of  the  following  MSS.  of  the  National  Library  at  Paris  there  is  so 
much  discrepancy  between  Touttee  and  Reischl,  that  it  is  better  to  quote  both. 

8.  "  Catecheses  xii.,  xiii.,  xiv.,  xv.,  comparavi  cum  Codice  Reg.  bibliothecas  num.  2503 
Scriptus  est  in  bombycina  charta  an.  1231,  quam  anni  notam  apposuit  calligraphus  "  (Touttee, 
Not.  Codd.  MSS.). 

Reischl  has  no  notice  of  a  MS.  at  all  answering  to  this  description. 

9.  Cod.  Reg.  alter,  "ol;  1260,  nunc  1824,  qui  S.  Basilii  opera  complectltur,  sub  ejus 
nomine  Procatechesin  continet "  (Touttee,  iV^/.  Cod4.  MSS.)  :  a/i7er,  "Cod.  Reg.  ol.  260,  nunc 
1284,  pag.  254,  qui  duodecimi  circiter  est  sseculi,  in  quo  habetur  Procatechesis  haec  sub 
nomine  S.  Basilii  "  (Id.  Monit.  in  Frocatecheshi). 

"  Cod.  Reg.  467  (apud  Toutteum,  1824)  Fonteblandensis,  chartac.  fol.  sec.  x.  Continet 
sub  S.  Basilii  nomine  Ot-atione/n  de  Bapiismo,  quae  est  S.  Cyrilli  Hier.  Procatechesis. 
C.  Reg.  Touttei  "  (Reischl). 

10.  "  Cod.  Reg.  969  (ol.  Mazarin.)  Epistolarum  S.  Basilii.  4°.  Sec.  xiv.  Exhibet  sub  n.  7 
Basilii  homiliam  quo  (sic)  ostenditur  Deum  esse  incoviprehensibiUm,  quae  non  S.  Basilii,  sed 
Cyrilli  est  Procatechesis"  (Reischl). 

This  description  agrees  in  substance  with  Touttee's. 

11.  C.  Colbert.  "Catecheses  iv.,  vi.,  viii.,  ix.,  x.,  xv.,  xviii.,  contuli  cum  cod.  Colbert 
Biblioth.  chartaceo  et  recenti  4863  notato  ...  In  omnibus  pene  cum  Morelliana  editione 
consentit"  (Touttee,  Notitia  Codd.  MSS.). 

Reischl  makes  no  mention  of  this  MS. 

12.  C.  Colbert,  alter,  "membran.  sign.  1717,  Sec.  xiii.  diversas  Patrum  homilias  continet, 
et  Cat.  xiii.  exhibet  sub  nomine  Cyrillianae  in  Crucem  et  Porasceven  homiHse"  (Touttee, 
Notitia). 

This  is  described  by  Reischl  as  "Cod.  Reg.  771  (ol.  1717)  Colbertinus.  Membran.  fol. 
scculi  xiii. — xiv." 

The  following  MSS  have  been  used  in  Editions  later  than  the  Benedictine. 

13.  "  C.  Monacensis  I.  394  membran,  fol.,  titulis  et  initialibus  miniatis,  f.  261  nitidissime 
uncialibus  minutis  circiter  seculo  decimo  in  Oriente  scriptus.'' 

This  was  regarded  both  by  Reischl  and  by  Rupp  as  the  most  important  authority  for  the 
text :  it  is  much  older  than  Codd.  Roe,  Casaub.,  and  seems  to  be  related  to  Codd.  Ottobon. 
Coislin. 

C.  Mon.  2  of  the  i6th  Century  is  of  little  value. 

14.  "  C.  Vindobonensis,  55,  membran.  fol  antiquissimus,  sed  incerto  sgeculo '* 

A  full  account  is  given  by  Rupp  in  the  Preface  to  Vol.  ii.  It  was  collated  by  Joseph 
Miiller,  1848,  and  contains  all  Cyril's  Lectures,  except  the  Procatechesis. 

15.  Codex  A,  found  by  Kleopas  in  the  Library  of  the  Archbishop  of  Cyprus,  and  used 
as  the  basis  of  his  text,  sometimes  stands  alone  in  preserving  the  true  reading. 

§  6.  Versions.  Besides  the  Latin  Translations  published  with  the  Greek  text,  as 
mentioned  above,  Reischl  mentions  the  first  three  of  the  following  : — 

{a)  Les  catecheses  de  Sainct  Cyrille.     Traduit  par  Louis  Ganey.     Paris,  1564. 

ip)  Cyrill's  Schriften  libersetzt  unci  mit  Anmerkungen  versehen  von  J.  Mich.  Feder. 

Bamberg,  1786. 
if)  Cyrilli  Hier  Catecheses  in  Armen.  Linguam  versae.     Viennae,  1832. 
{d)  The  Catechetical  Lectures  of  S.  Cyril,  Archbishop  of  Jerusalem,  Translated, 

with  Notes  and  Indices      (Library  of  Fathers  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church.) 

Parker,  Oxford,  1838.    See  Preface. 
VOL.  VI  r.  f 


Iviii  INTRODUCTION. 


{e)  S.  Cyril  on  the  Mysteries.     (The  five  Mystagogic  Lectures.)     H.  de  Romestin. 

Parker,  Oxford,  1887. 
(/)  On    Faith   and  the    Creed.      C   A    Heurtley,    D.D  ,    Margaret    Professor    of 

Divinity,   and    Canon    of  Christ   Church,   Oxford.       Parker,   3rd   Ed.,    1889. 

Contains,  with  other  Treatises,  the  Fourth  Catechetical  Lecture  of  S.  Cyril. 

In  the  present  volume  the  translation  given  in  the  Oxford  "Library  of  Fathers"  has 
been  carefully  revised  throughout.  Where  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  depart  from  the 
Benedictine  text,  the  Editor  has  consulted  the  readings  and  critical  notes  of  Milles,  Reischl, 
and  Rupp,  and  the  Jerusalem  edition  of  Kleopas  and  Anaxandrides. 

A  few  additions  have  been  made  to  the  Index  of  Subjects :  the  Indices  of  Greek  Words 
and  of  Scripture  Texts  have  been  much  enlarged,  and  carefully  revised.  For  any  errors  which 
may  have  escaped  observation  the  indulgence  of  the  critical  reader  will  not,  it  is  hoped, 
be  asked  in  vain.  i£.  H.  G. 


THE 

CATECHETICAL    LECTURES 

OF 

S.  CYRIL, 

ARCHBISHOP   OF   JERUSALEM. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGF 

Procatechesis, 
Or,  Prologue  to  tlie  CatecTietic^l  Lectures  of  our  Holy  Father,  Cyril,  ArcTibiiTiop  of  Jerusalem  I 

First  Catechetical  Lecture  : — 
To  those  who  are  to  be  enlightened  :  with  a  Reading  from  Isaiah  i.  l6    6 

Lecture  IL 
On  Repentance  and  Remission  of  Sins,  and  Concerning  the  Adversary  :  Ezekiel  xviii.  20—23 8 

Lecture  IIL 
On  Baptism  :  Romans  vi.  3,  4 14 

Lecture  IV. 
On  the  Ten  points  of  Doctrine  :  Colossians  ii.  8    19 

Lecture  V. 
On  Faith  :  Hebrews  xi.  i,  2 29 

Lecture  VI. 
Concerning  the  Unity  of  God.     On  the  words,   I  believe  in  one  God.     Also  concerning   Heresies: 

Isaiah  xlv.  16,  17  (Sept.)    33 

Lecture  VII. 
The  Father:  Ephesians  iii.  14,15   44 

Lecture  VIII. 
Almighty  :  Jeremiah  xxxix.  18,  19  (Sept.)  48 

Lecture  IX. 
On  the  words,  Maker  of   Heaven   and   Earth,  and   of  all  things  visible  and  invisible: 

Job  xxxviii.  2,  3 5' 

Appendix  to  Lecture  IX 55 

Lecture  X. 
On  the  Words,  And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  i  Corinthians  viii.  5,  6    57 

Lecture  XI. 
On  the  words.  The  Only-Begotten  Son  of  God,  Begotten  of  the  Fatiier  Very  God  before 

ALL  AGES,  By  Whom  all  things  were  made  :  Hebrews  i.  i,  2  64 


Ix  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Lecture  XII. 
On  the  words,  Incarnate,  and  made  Man  :  Isaiah  vii   lo — 14   72 

Lecture  XIII. 
On  the  words,  Crucified  and  Buried:  Isaiah  liii.  i — 7    S2 

Lecture  XIV. 
On  the  words,  And  rose  again  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day,  and  ascended  into  the 

Heavens,  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father:  i  Corinthians  xv.  i — 4  94 

Lecture  XV. 
On  the  words.    And  shall  come  in   glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead;   of  whose 

KINGDOM  there  SHALL  BE  NO  END:  Daniel  vii.  9 — 14    104 

Lecture  XVI. 
On  the  words,  And  in  one  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  which  spake  in  the  Prophets  : 

I  Corinthians  xii.  I — 4 115 

Lecture  XVII. 
Continuation  of  the  Discourse  on  the  Holy  Ghost :  i  Corinthians  xii.  8 124 

Lecture  XVIII. 
On  the  words,  And  in  One  Holy  Catholic  Church,  And  in  the  Resurrection  of  the  Flesh, 

And  the  Life  Everlasting:  Ezekiel  xxxvii.  i    134 

Five  Catechetical  Lectures  to  the  Newly  Baptized  : — 

Lecture  XIX. 
First  Lecture  on  the  Mysteries.     With  a  Lesson  from  the  First  General  Epistie  of  Peter  v.  8 — 14 144 

Lecture  XX. 
On  Baptism  :  Romans  vi.  3 — 14 147 

Lecture  XXI. 
On  Chrism  :  i  John  ii.  20—28  149 

Lecture  XXII. 
On  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  :  i  Corinthians  xi.  23    151 

Lecture  XXIII. 
On  the  Sacred  Liturgy  and  Communion  :  i  Peter  ii.  I   153 

Indices  : — Subjects     161 

Greek  Words    I75 

Texts  of  Scripture   178 


PROCATECHESIS, 


OR, 

PROLOGUE   TO  THE  CATECHETICAL  LECTURES   OE  OUR  HOLY   FATHER, 

CYRIL,   ARCHBISHOP   OF   JERUSALEM. 


r.  Already  there  is  an  odour  of  blessedness 
upon  you,  O  ye  who  are  soon  to  be  enlight- 
ened' :  already  ye  are  gathering  the  spiritual  ^ 
flowers,  to  weave  heavenly  crowns  :  already  the 
fragrance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  has  breathed  upon 
you :  already  ye  have  gathered  round  the 
vestibule  of  the  King's  palace  3 ;  may  ye  be  led 
in  also  by  the  King !  For  blossoms  now  have 
appeared  upon  the  trees *;  may  the  fruit  also  be 
found  perfect !  Thus  far  there  has  been  an 
inscription  of  your  names  5,  and  a  call  to 
service,  and  torches^  of  the  bridal  train,  and  a 
longing  for  heavenly  citizenship,  and  a  good 
purpose,  and  hope  attendant  thereon.  For 
he  lieth  not  who  said,  that  to  them  that  love 
God  all  things  work  together  for  good.  God 
is  lavish  in  beneficence,  yet  He  waits  for  each 
man's  genuine  will :  therefore  the  Apostle 
added  and  said,  to  them  that  are  called  ac- 
cording to  a  purpose  T.  The  honesty  of  purpose 
makes  thee  called  :  for  if  thy  body  be  here 
but  not  thy  mind,  it  profiteth  thee  nothing. 

2.  Even  Simon  Magus  once  came  to  the 
Laver  ^  :  he  was  baptized,  but  was  not  enlight- 
ened ;  and  though  he  dipped  his  body  in  water, 
he  enlightened  not  his  heart  with  the  Spirit  :  his 


>  The  "blessedness"  is  the  grace  of  Baptism,  the  hope  of 
which  is  as  a  fragrant  odour  already  home  towards  the  Candi- 
dates. These  were  called  no  longer  Catechumens,  but  ^mtk^o- 
fLevo',  as  already  on  the  way  "  to  be  enlightened."  Comp.ire  xvi. 
26,  tiie  last  sentence,  and  see  Index,  "  enlighten." 

2  voTjTa.  The  word  is  much  used  by  Plato  to  distinguish 
things  which  can  be  discerned  only  by  the  mind  from  the  objects 
of  sight  and  sense.  Here  "  the  spiritual  (or,  mental)  flowers"  are 
the  Divine  truths  in  which  "the  fragrance  of  tlie  Holy  Spirit" 
breathes. 

3  By  "the  vestibule"  is  meant  "the  outer  hall  of  the  Bap- 
tistery" (.\i.\'.  2),  and  by  "the  King's  Palace"  the  Baptistery 
itself,  which  Cyril  calls  "the  inner  chamber"  (xx.  i)  and  "'  the 
bride-chamber  '(iii.  2  ;  -xxii.  2).  See  Index,  "  Baptistery."  Here 
the  local  terms  have  also  an  allegorical  sense,  Baptism  being 
regarded  as  the  marriage  of  the  Soul  to  Christ. 

4  Another  allegory,  from  the  season  of  Spring,  when  the  Lec- 
tures were  delivered. 

5  6i'Oju.aTOYpa</jta.     See  Index. 

6  That  the  Candidates  on  their  first  admission  carried  torches 
or  lighted  tapers  in  procession  is  a  conjecture  founded  on  this 
passage  and  Lect.  I.  i  :  "Ye  who  have  just  lighted  the  torches 
of  faith,  preserve  them  in  your  hands  unquenched."  But  see 
Index,  "  Lights." 

7  Rom.  viii.  28.  In  S.  Paul's  argument  the  "purpose"  is 
God's  eternal  purpose  of  salvation  through  Christ  (Eph.  i.  11  ; 
iii  n):  but  Cyril  applies  it  here  to  sincerity  of  purpose  in  coming 
to  Baptism.  *  Acts  viii.  13. 


body  went  down  and  came  up,  but  his  sou!  was 
not  buried  with  Christ,  nor  raised  with  Him?. 
Now  I  mention  the  statements  '  of  (men's)  falls, 
that  thou  mayest  not  fall  :  for  these  things 
happened  to  them  by  way  of  example,  and 
they  are  zvritten  for  the  admonition  ^  of  those 
who  to  this  day  draw  near.  Let  none  of  you 
be  found  tempting  His  grace,  lest  any  root  of 
bitterness  spring  up  and  trouble  you  ^.  Let  none 
of  you  enter  saying.  Let  us  see  what  the  faith- 
ful 4  are  doing  :  let  me  go  in  and  see,  that  I 
may  learn  what  is  being  done.  Dost  thou 
expect  to  see,  and  not  expect  to  be  seen  ? 
And  thinkest  thou,  that  whilst  thou  art  search- 
ing out  what  is  going  on,  God  is  not  searching 
thy  heart  ? 

3.  A  certain  man  in  the  Gospels  once  pried 
into  the  marriage  feasts,  and  took  an  unbe- 
coming garment,  and  came  in,  sat  down,  and 
ate :  for  the  bridegroom  permitted  it.  But 
when  he  saw  them  all  clad  in  white  ^,  he  ought 
to  have  assumed  a  garment  of  the  same  kind 
himself:  whereas  he  partook  of  the  like  food, 
but  was  unlike  them  in  fashion  and  in  purpose. 
The  bridegroom,  however,  though  bountiful, 
was  not  undiscerning :  and  in  going  round  to 
each  of  the  guests  and  observing  them  (for  his 
care  was  not  for  their  eating,  but  for  their 
seemly  behaviour),  he  saw  a  stranger  7iot 
having  on  a  wedding  garment,  and  said  to  him, 
Frie?td,  hoiv  earnest  thou  in  hither?  In  what 
a  colour 7]  With  what  a  conscience!  What 
though  the  door-keeper  forbade  thee  not,  be- 
cause of  the  bountifulness  of  the  entertainer? 
what  though  thou  wert  ignorant  in  what  fashion 
thou  shouldest  come  in  to  the  banquet  ? — thou 


9  Rom.  vi.  4  ;  Col.  ii.  12. 

1  Greek,  vwoypa<^rj,  meaning  either  an  "indictment,"  or  a  de- 
scriptive ''sketch."  For  the  former  meaning,  see  Plato,  Theaet. 
172,  E.     \i-noypo.<\yt\v  .  •  .  T\v  avTu>ixo(riav  /caAoOtrii'. 

2  I  Cor.  X.  II.  3  Heb.  xii.  15. 

4  "The  faithful"  are  those  who  have  been  already  baptized, 
and  instructed  in  those  mysteries  of  the  Christian  Faith  which 
were  reserved  for  the  initiated.     See  Index,  "  Faithful." 

5  Matt.  xxii.  12.  'ihe  same  passage  is  applied  to  Baptism  in 
Cat.  iii.  2.  6  See  Cat.  xxii.  8.  and  Index,  "White." 

7  The  Greek  word  (,\pcifia)  is  used  by  Ignatius  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans  of  a  discolouring  st.iin. 


VOL.  VII. 


B 


PROCATECHESIS. 


didst  come  in,  and  didst  see  the  glittering 
fashions  of  the  guests  :  shouldest  thou  not  have 
been  taught  even  by  what  was  before  thine 
eyes?  Shouldest  thou  not  have  retired  in 
good  season,  that  thou  mightest  enter  in  good 
season  again  ?  But  now  thou  hast  come  in 
unseasonably,  to  be  unseasonably  cast  out. 
So  he  commands  the  servants.  Bind  his  feet, 
which  daringly  intruded  :  bind  his  hajids,  which 
knew  not  how  to  put  a  bright  garment  around 
him  :  a7id  cast  him  into  the  outer  darkness  ;  for 
he  is  unworthy  of  the  wedding  torches  ^.  Thou 
seest  what  happened  to  that  man  :  make  thine 
own  condition  safe. 

4.  For  we,  the  ministers  of  Christ,  have 
admitted  every  one,  and  occupying,  as  it 
were,  the  place  of  door-keepers  we  left  the 
door  open  :  and  possibly  thou  didst  enter 
with  thy  soul  bemired  with  sins,  and  with  a 
will  defiled.  Enter  thou  didst,  and  wast 
allowed  :  thy  name  was  inscribed.  Tell  me, 
dost  thou  behold  this  venerable  constitution  of 
the  Church  ?  Dost  thou  view  her  order  and 
discipline  9,  the  reading  of  Scriptures ',  the  pre- 
sence of  the  ordained  %  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion 3?  Be  abashed  at  the  place,  and  be  taught 
by  what  thou  seest  1  Go  out  opportunely 
now,  and  enter  most  opportunely  to-morrow. 

If  the  fashion  of  thy  soul  is  avarice,  put 
on  another  fashion  and  come  in.  Put  off  thy 
former  fashion,  cloke  it  not  up.  Put  oft',  I 
pray  thee,  fornication  and  uncleanness,  and 
put  on  the  brightest  robe  of  chastity.  This 
charge  I  give  thee,  before  Jesus  the  Bridegroom 
of  souls  come  in  and  see  their  fashions.  A 
long  notices  is  allowed  thee;  thou  hast  forty ^ 
days  for  repentance :  thou  hast  full  oppor- 
tunity both  to  put  off,  and  wash,  and  to  put 
on  and  enter.  But  if  thou  persist  in  an  evil 
purpose,  the  speaker  is  blameless,  but  thou 
must  not  look  for  the  grace  :  for  the  water 
will  receive,  but  the  Spirit  will  not  accept  thee  t. 
If  any   one   is   conscious   of  his    wound,   let 


8  Compare  §  i,  note  6. 

9  The  Greek  word  (f7rio-T7J/j.i))  which  commonly  means  "know- 
ledge" or  "understanding,"  is  applied  here  an.l  in  vi.  35  to  the 
intelligence  and  skill  di.-played  in  the  arrangement  of  the  public 
services  of  the  Church.  Compare  Apostolic  Constitutions,  ii.  57, 
where  the  Bishop  is  exhorted  to  have  the  assemblies  arranged 
fxcTa  ■!!a<n]';  t ttict^^ii)!. 

»  In  the  same  passage  of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  precise 
directions  are  given  for  reading  a  Lesson  from  the  Old  Testament, 
singing  the  Psalms,  and  reading  the  Epistle  and  Ciuspel. 

-  By  "the  ordained"  {KavuviKu>v)  arc  meant  all  whose  names 
were  registered  as  bearing  olTice  in  the  Church,  Priests,  Deacons, 
Deaconesses,  Monks,  Virgins,  Widows,  all  having  their  appointed 
places  and  proper  duties.  Apost,  Canon.  70,  ei  rts  tn-iVKon-o?,  ri 
TrpetrjSuTepos,   ■>)   StaKovo^,   r}    oAws   Toi*    KaraXoyov   riiiv  KKriptKutVy 

IC.T.A. 

3  Compare  Af/ost.  Const,  as  above  :  "  Let  the  Presbyters  one 
by  one,  not  all  together,  exhort  the  people  ;  and  the  liishop  last, 
as  being  the  cummander." 

4  S.  Aug.  de  Civit.  Dei,  ii.  28  :  "  Though  some  come  to  mock 
at  such  admonitions,  all  their  insolence  is  either  humbled  by  a 
sudden  conveision  (immutalio)  or  suppressed  by  Icar  or  shame." 

5  Greek,  npoQiania.  Compare  Gal.  iv.  2  :  "  the  time  appointed 
of  the  father."  At  Athens  it  meant  a  "  limitation."  or  fixed  period 
within  which  a  de'.<t  must  be  claimed  or  paid,  or  an  action  com- 
menced. 6  Index,  "  Lent."  7  Compare  xvii.  j6. 


him  take  the  salve  ;  if  any  has  fallen,  let  him 
arise.  Let  there  be  no  Simon  among  you, 
no  hypocrisy,  no  idle  curiosity  about  the 
matter. 

5.  Possibly  too  thou  art  come  on  another 
pretext.  It  is  possible  that  a  man  is  wishing 
to  pay  court  to  a  woman,  and  came  hither 
on  that  account  ^  The  remark  applies  in 
like  manner  to  women  also  in  their  turn.  A 
slave  also  perhaps  wishes  to  please  his  master, 
and  a  friend  his  friend.  I  accept  this  bait  for 
the  hook,  and  welcome  thee,  though  thou 
earnest  with  an  evil  purpose,  yet  as  one  to  be 
saved  by  a  good  hope.  Perhaps  thou  knewest 
not  whither  thou  wert  coming,  nor  in  what  kind 
of  net  thou  art  taken.  Thou  art  come  within 
the  Church's  nets  9  :  be  taken  alive,  llee  not  : 
for  Jesus  is  angling  for  thee,  not  in  order  to 
kill,  but  by  killing  to  make  alive  :  for  thou 
must  die  and  rise  again.  For  thou  hast  heard 
the  Apostle  say,  Dead  indeed  nnto  sin,  but  living 
unto  righteousness  ^  Die  to  thy  sins,  and  live  to 
righteousness,  live  from  this  very  day. 

6.  See,  I  pray  thee,  how  great  a  dignity  Jesus 
bestows  on  thee.  Thou  wert  called  a  Cate- 
chumen, while  the  word  echoed  ^  round  thee 
from  without ;  hearing  of  hope,  and  knowing 
it  not ;  hearing  mysteries,  alid  not  understand- 
ing them  ;  hearing  Scriptures,  and  not  knowing 
their  depth.  The  echo  is  no  longer  around 
thee,  but  within  thee;  iox  the  indivelling  Spirit^ 
henceforth  makes  thy  mind  a  house  of  God. 
When  thou  shalt  have  heard  what  is  written 
concerning  the  mysteries,  then  wilt  thou 
understand  things  which  thou  knewest  not. 
And  think  not  that  thou  receivest  a  small 
thing  :  though  a  miserable  man,  thou  receivest 
one  of  God's  titles.  Hear  St.  Paul  saying, 
God  is  faithful''.  Hear  another  Scripture  say- 
ing, God  is  faithful  and  Just  ^.  Foreseeing  this, 
the  Psalmist,  bi  cause  men  are  to  receive  a  title 
of  God,  spake  thus  in  the  person  of  God  : 
/  said,  Ye  are  Gods,  and  are  all  sons  of  the 
Most  Hi^fi  ^.  But  beware  lest  thou  have  the 
title  of  'faithful,''' hut  the  will  of  the  faithkss. 
Thou  hast  entered  into  a  contest,  toil  on 
through  the  race  :  another  such  opportunity 
thou  canst  not  have  7.  Were  it  thy  wediling- 
day  before  thee,  wouldest  thou  not  have  dis- 
regarded all  else,  and  set  about  the  prepara- 
tion for  the  feast?  And  on  the  eve  of  con- 
secrating thy  soul  to  the  heavenly  Bridegroom, 
wilt  thou  not  cease  from  carnal  things,  that 
thou  mayest  win  spiritual  ? 


8  S.  Ambrose  on  the  119th  Psalm,  Serin,  xx.  g  48,  .speaks 
of  some  who  pretended  to  be  Christians  in  order  to  marry  one 
whose  parents  woidd  not  give  her  in  marriage  to  a  heathen. 

9  Matt.  xiii.  47.  '  Rom.  vi    11,  14. 

*  S.  Cyril  plays  upon  the  word  "  Catechumen,"  which  has 
the  same  root  as  "  echo." 

3  Koni.  viii.  g,  u.  4  t  Cor.  i.  9.  Si  Jolm  i.  9. 

6  Ps   lxx»»  <».  7  Compare  xvii.  36. 


PROCATECHESIS. 


7.  We  may  not  receive  Baptism  twice  or 
thrice  ;  else  it  might  be  said,  Though  I  have 
failed  once,  I  shall  set  it  right  a  second  time  : 
whereas  if  thou  fail  once,  the  thing  cannot  be 
set  right ;  for  there  is  one  Lord^  and  one  faiJh, 
and  o7ie  baptism  ^  .•  for  only  the  heretics  are  re- 
baptized  9,  because  the  former  was  no  baptism. 

8.  For  God  seeks  nothing  else  from  us,  save 
a  good  purpose.  Say  not,  How  are  my  sins 
blotted  out?  I  tell  thee.  By  willing,  by 
believing  \  What  can  be  shorter  tht^n  this? 
But  if,  while  thy  lips  declare  thee  willing,  thy 
heart  be  silent,  He  knoweth  the  heart,  who 
judgeth  thee.  Cease  from  this  day  from  every 
evil  deed.  Let  not  thy  tongue  speak  unseemly 
words,  let  thme  eye  abstain  from  sin,  and  from 
roving  2  after  things  unprofitable. 

9.  Let  thy  feet  hasten  to  the  catechisings ;  re- 
ceivewith  earnestness  the  exorcisms  3  :  whether 
thou  be  breathed  upon  or  exorcised,  the  act 
is  to  thee  salvation.  Suppose  thou  hast  gold 
unwrought  and  alloyed,  mixed  with  various 
substances,  copper,  and  tin,  and  iron,  and 
lead  :  we  seek  to  have  the  gold  alone ;  can 
gold  be  purified  from  the  foreign  substances 
without  fire  ?  Even  so  without  exorcisms  the 
soul  cannot  be  purified  ;  and  these  exorcisms 
are  divine,  having  been  collected  out  of  the 
divine  Scriptures.  Thy  face  has  been  veiled  '^, 
that  thy  mind  may  henceforward  be  free,  lest 
the  eye  by  roving  make  the  heart  rove  also. 
But  when  thine  eyes  are  veiled,  thine  ears  are 
not  hindered  from  receiving  the  means  of 
salvation.  For  in  like  manner  as  those  who 
are   skilled  in  the  goldsmith's  craft  throw  in 


their    breath    upon    the    fire    through    certain 


our  sins,  and  impart  to  us  good  hopes  of  our 
estate,  and  grant  us  repentance  tliat  bringeth 
salvation.  God  hath  called,  and  His  call  is 
to  thee. 

10.  Attend  closely  to  the  catechisings, 
and  though  we  should  prolong  our  discourse, 
let  not  thy  mind  be  wearied  out.  For  thou  art 
receiving  armour  against  the  adverse  power, 
armour  against  heresies,  against  Jews,  and 
Samaritans  s  and  Gentiles.  Thou  hast  manv 
enemies  ;  take  to  thee  many  darts,  for  thou 
hast  many  to  hurl  them  at  :  and  thou  hast 
need  to  learn  how  to  strike  down  the  Greek, 
how  to  contend  against  heretic,  against  Jew 
and  Samaritan.  And  the  armour  is  ready,  and 
most  ready  the  sword  of  the  Spirit^  ;  but  thou 
also  must  stretch  forth  thy  right  hand  with 
good  resolution,  that  thou  mayest  war  the  Lord's 
warfare,  and  overcome  adverse  powers,  and 
become  invincible  against  every  heretical  at- 
tempt. 

1 1.  Let  me  give  thee  this  chirge  also.  Study 
our  teachings  and  keep  them  for  ever.  Think 
not  that  they  are  the  ordinary  homilies?;  for 
though  they  also  are  good  and  trustworthy,  yet 
if  we  should  neglect  them  to-day  we  may  study 
them  to-morrow.  But  if  the  teaching  concern- 
ing the  laver  of  regeneration  delivered  in  a 
consecutive  course  be  neglected  to-da}'^,  when 
shall  it  be  made  right?  Suppose  it  is  the 
season  for  planting  trees  :  if  we  do  not  dig,  and 
dig  deep,  when  else  can  that  be  planted 
rightly   which    has    once    been     planted    il 


Suppose,  pray,  that  the  Catechising  is  a  kind 

of  building :   if  we    do    not    bind    the    house 

together   by    regular   bonds    in   the    building, 

delicate  instruments,  and  blowing  up  the  gold  |  lest    some    gap    be    found,   and    the    building 

become  unsound,  even  our  former  labour  is  of 
no  use.  But  stone  must  follow  stone  by 
course,  and  corner  match  with  cor.ier,  and  by 


which  is  hidden  in  the  crucible  stir  the  flame 
which  surrounds  it,  and  so  find  what  they  are 
seeking ;  even  so  when  the  exorcists  inspire 
terror  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  ahd  set  the  soul, 
as  it  were,  on  fire  in  the  crucible  of  the 
body,  the  hostile  demon  flees  away,  and  there 
abide  salvation  and  the  hope  of  eternal  life, 
and  the  soul  henceforth  is  cleansed  from 
its  sins  and  hath  salvation.  Let  us  then, 
brethren,  abide  in  hope,  and  surrender  our- 
selves, and  hope,  in  order  that  the  God  of 
all  may  see  our  purpose, 


8  Eph.  iv.  5. 

9  This  sentence  is  omitted  in  one  MS.  (Paris,  1824),  but  pro- 
bably only  through  the  repetition  of  the  word  ''  baptism."  On  the 
laws  of  the  Church  against  the  repetition  of  Baptism,  and  con- 
cerning the  re-bapti^m  of  heretics,  see  Tertull.  de  Baptismc,  c.  xv.  : 
Apost.  Const.  XV.  :  Bingham,  xii.  5  :  Hefele,  Councils,  Lib.  I.  c.  2  ; 
Dictionary  Christian  Antiq.  I.  p.  167  a. 

'  Rufmus,  in  the  Exposition  of  the  Creed,  on  the  Re- 
mission of  sins  :  "  The  Pagans  are  wont  to  say  in  derision  of  us, 
that  we  deceive  ourselves  in  thinking  that  crimes  which  have  been 
committed  in  deed  can  be  washed  out  by  words." 

2  The  reading  in  the  Benedictine  Edition,  firjSe  6  vov^  <70v 
pefj.pea-6iii,  has  little  authority,  and  is  quite  unsuitable.  See  below, 
TO  ^A€'/u,/ia  piixBofxet'ou.  3  Index,  "  Exorcism." 

4  Index,  "Vedmg" 


our  smoothing  off  inequahties  the  building 
must  thus  rise  evenly.  In  like  manner  we  are 
bringing  to  thee  stones,  as  it  were,  of  know- 
ledge. Thou  must  hear  concerning  the  living 
God,  thou  must  hear  of  Judgment,  must  hear 
of  Christ,  and  of  the  Resurrection.  And  many 
things  there  are  to  be  discussed  in  succession, 
which  though  now  dropped  one  by  one  are 
and  cleanse  us  from  •  afterwards  to  be  presented  in  harmonious  con- 
nexion. But  unless  thou  fit  them  together  in 
the  one  whole,  and  remember  what  is  first,  and 
what  is  second,  the  builder  may  build,  but  thou 
wilt  find  the  building  unsound. 

12.  When,  therefore,  the  Lecture  is  delivered. 


5  The  Samaritans  are  frequently  mentioned  by  Epiphanius  and 
other  writers  of  the  4th  centiry  among  the  chief  adversaries 
of  Christianity.  "In  their  humble  synagogue,  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  (Gerizim),  the  Samaritans  still  worship,  the  oldest  and 
the  smallest  sect  in  the  world.  '  (Stanley,  Sinai  and  Pa/esiine, 
p.  240.) 

6  Eph.  vi.  17.  7  See  above,  §  4,  note  3- 


B   2 


PROCATECHESIS. 


if  a  Catechumen  ask  thee  what  the  teachers  have 
said,  tell  nothing  to  him  that  is  without  ^.  For 
we  deliver  to  thee  a  mystery,  and  a  hope  of 
the  life  to  come.  Guard  the  mystery  for  Him 
who  gives  the  reward.  Let  none  ever  say 
to  thee,  What  harm  to  thee,  if  I  also  know 
it?  So  too  the  sick  ask  for  wine  ;  but  if  it  be 
given  at  a  wrong  time  it  causes  delirium,  and 
two  evils  arise  ;  the  sick  man  dies,  and  the 
physician  is  blamed.  Thi.is  is  it  also  with  the 
Catechumen,  if  he  hear  anything  from  the 
believer :  both  the  Catechumen  becomes 
delirious  (for  he  understands  not  what  he  has 
heard,  and  finds  fault  with  the  thing,  and  scoffs 
at  what  is  said),  and  the  believer  is  condemned 
as  a  traitor.  But  thou  art  now  standing  on 
the  border  :  take  heed,  pray,  to  tell  nothing 
out ;  not  that  the  things  spoken  are  not  worthy 
to  be  told,  but  because  his  ear  is  unworthy  to 
receive.  Thou  wast  once  thyself  a  Catechu- 
men, and  I  described  not  what  lay  before  thee. 
When  by  experience  thou  hast  learned  how 
high  are  the  matters  of  our  teaching,  then  thou 
wilt  know  that  the  Catechumens  are  not  worthy 
to  hear  them. 

13.  Ye  who  have  been  enrolled  are  become 
sons  and  daughters  of  one  Mother.  When  ye 
have  come  in  before  the  hour  of  the  exorcisms, 
let  each  one  of  you  speak  things  tending  to 
godliness  :  and  if  any  of  your  number  be  not 
present,  seek  for  him.  If  thou  wert  called  to 
a  banquet,  wouldest  thou  not  wait  for  thy 
fellow-guest  ?  If  thou  hadst  a  brother,  wouldest 
thou  not  seek  thy  brother's  good  ? 

Afterwards  busy  not  thyself  about  unprofit- 
able matters  :  neither,  what  the  city  has  done, 
nor  the  village,  nor  the  King  9,  nor  the  Bishop, 
nor  the  Presbyter.  Look  upward  ;  that  is  what 
thy  present  hour  needeth.  Be  still^°,  and  know 
that  I  am  God.  If  thou  seest  the  believers 
ministering,  and  shewing  no  care,  they  enjoy 
security,  they  know  what  they  have  received, 
they  are  in  possession  of  grace.  But  thou 
standest  just  now  in  the  turn  of  the  scale, 
to  be  received  or  not :  copy  not  those  wiio 
have  freedom  from  anxiety,  but  cherish  fear. 

14.  And  when  the  Exorcism  has  been  done, 
until  the  others  who  are  being  exorcised  have 
come  ",  let  men  be  with  men,  and  women  with 
women.  For  now  I  need  the  example  of 
Noah's  ark  :  in  which  were  Noah  and  his  sons, 

8  On  the  Disciplina  Arcani,  or  rule  against  publishing  the 
Christian  Creed  and  Mysteries  to  Catechumens  and  Gentiles,  see 
Index,  "  Mysteries." 

9  The  tide  "  Kin^  "  (Bao-iAeus)  is  used  in  the  Greek  Liturgies 
and  Fathers  of  the  Roman  Emperjr,  as  in  the  Clementii  e  Liturgy  : 
vnep  Toi)  /3ao"iAfaj?,  Kai  Ttoy  €v  VTrcpoxjj,  where  it  is  t:ikcn  truni 
I  Tim.  ii.  2.  Compare  Cat.  xiv.  14,  and  22 :  KcoKrTa^nVou  toO 
^acriAe'ojs. 

'■J  Ps.  xlvi.  to.   Sept.  trxoAoo-are,  "give attention  freely." 
"  From  S.  Auuu^line,  tfe  Symbolo,  i.  i  (Migne  T.  vi.  p.  930), 
we  learn   tliat   tlie  C.indidat<.s   were  brou'ht   in    he  ore  the  Con- 
gregation one  by  one  for  exorcism  ;  and  so,  as  Cyril  here  shew?, 
they  had  to  wait  outside  till  the  others  returned. 


and  his  wife  and  his  sons'  wives.  For  though 
the  ark  was  one,  and  the  door  was  shut,  yet 
had  things  been  suitably  arranged.  If  the 
Church  is  shut,  and  you  are  all  inside,  yet  let 
there  be  a  separation,  men  with  men,  and 
women  with  women ' :  lest  the  pretext  of 
salvation  become  an  occasion  of  destruction. 
Even  if  there  be  a  fair  pretext  for  sitting  near 
each  other,  let  passions  be  put  away.  Fur- 
ther, let  the  men  when  sitting  have  a  useful 
book  ;  and  let  one  read,  and  another  listen  : 
and  if  there  be  no  book,  let  one  pray,  and 
another  speak  something  useful.  And  again 
let  the  party  of  young  women  sit  together  in 
like  manner,  either  singing  or  reading  quietly, 
so  that  tlieir  lips  speak,  but  others'  ears  catch 
not  the  sound  :  for  I  szifter  not  a  woman  to 
speak  in  the  Churdf^.  And  let  the  married 
woman  also  follow  the  same  example,  and 
pray  ;  and  let  her  lips  move,  but  her  voice  be 
unheard,  that  a  Samuel  3  may  come,  and  thy 
barren  soul  give  birth  to  the  salvation  of 
"  God  who  hath  heard  thy  prayer  ;"  for  this 
is  the  interpretation  of  the  name  Samuel. 

15.  I  shall  observe  each  man's  earnestness, 
each  woman's  reverence.  Let  your  mind  be 
refined  as  by  fire  unto  reverence  ;  let  your  soul 
be  forged  as  metal :  let  the  stubbornness  of 
unbelief  be  hammered  out :  let  the  superfluous 
scales  of  the  iron  drop  off,  and  what  is  pure 
remain  ;  let  the  rust  of  the  iron  be  rubbed  off, 
and  the  true  metal  remain.  May  God  some- 
time shew  you  that  night,  the  darkness  which 
shines  like  the  day,  concerning  which  it  is 
said.  The  dark7iess  shall  not  be  hidden  from  thee, 
and  the  night  shall  shine  as  the  day  t  Then 
may  the  gate  of  Paradise  be  opened  to  every 
man  and  every  woman  among  you.  Then  may 
you  enjoy  the  Christ-bearing  waters  in  their 
fragrance  s.  Then  may  you  receive  the  name 
of  Christ^,  and  the  power  of  things  divine. 
Even  now,  I  beseech  you,  lift  up  the  eye  of  the 


'  Chrys.  in  Matt.  Horn.  Ixxiv.  §  3:  "You  ought  to  have 
within  yuu  the  wall  that  separates  yni  from  the  women:  but 
since  ye  will  n  jt,  our  fathers  have  thought  it  necessary  to  separate 
you  at  least  by  these  boards  ;  for  I  have  heard  from  my  elders 
that  there  wcie  not  these  walls  in  old  times."  These  barriers  had 
not  yet  been  introduced  at  Jerusalem,  or  Cyril's  admonition  would 
have  been  needless.     Comp.ire  Apostolic  Constitutions,  IL  57. 

2  I  Cor.  xiv.  34  ;  i  Tim.  ii.  12. 

3  1  Sam.  i.  i^,  20.  On  the  various  interpretations  of  the  name 
Samuel,  see  Diet.  Bib.  "Samuel,"  and  Driver  on  the  passage. 
Cyril  adopts  the  meanirig  "heard  of  God." 

4  Ps.  cxxxix.  12.  On  Easter  Eve  the  Church  was  full  of  lights 
which  were  kept  burning  all  night,  r.nd  the  newly-baptized  carried 
torches.  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  preaching  on  the  ResurtL-ction 
(prixt.  iv.),  describes  the  scene:  "This  brilliant  night,  by  ming- 
ling the  flames  of  torches  with  the  nioriiin.;  rays  ol  the  sun,  has 
made  one  continuous  day,  not  divided  by  the  i.iterposition  of 
darkness." 

5  (Jr,  as  the  Benedictine  Editor  conjectures,  "  the  waters 
wh'ch  have  a  Christ-bearing  (xpiarocjinpoi')  fragrance."  On  the 
epilliet  xpicTTo^opQ'i,  see  Bishop  Lightfnot's  note  on  Ignat.  ad 
Ep'i.  §  I  and  §  9.  Its  meaning,  as  well  as  that  of  ©eo<i)opos  is 
defined  in  the  answer  of  Igjiatius  to  'Irajan,  'O  Xpiaroi'  i\uiv 
iv  <ni(ivoi.'i{Matiyr.  Igii.  Ant.  §  ■z). 

6  Cat.  xxi.  \:  "made  partakers  therefore  of  Christ,  ye  are 
rightly  called  Christs." 


PROCATECHESIS. 


5 


mind  :  even  now  imagine  the  choirs  of  Angels, 
and  God  the  Lord  of  all  there  sitting,  and  His 
Only-begotten  Son  sitting  with  Him  on  His 
right  hand,  and  the  Spirit  present  with  them  ; 
and  Thrones  and  Dominions  doing  service, 
and  every  man  of  you  and  every  woman 
receiving  salvation.  Even  now  let  your  ears 
ring,  as  it  were,  with  that  glorious  sound,  when 
over  your  salvation  the  angels  shall  chant, 
Blessed  are  they  7vliose  iniquities  are  foj-givefi, 
and  ivJiose  sins  are  covered  t  :  when  like  stars 
of  the  Church  you  shall  enter  in,  bright  in  the 
body  and  radiant  in  the  soul. 

1 6,  Great  is  the  Baptism  that  lies  before 
you  ^ :  a  ransom  to  captives ;  a  remission  of 
offences  ;  a  death  -of  sin  ;  a  new-birth  of  the 
soul ;  a  garment  of  light ;  a  holy  indissoluble 
seal;  a  chariot  to  heaven;  the  delight  of 
Paradise  ;  a  welcome  into  the  kingdom  ;  the 
gift  of  adoption  !  But  there  is  a  serpent  by 
the  Avayside  watching  those  wlio  pass  by : 
beware  lest  he  bite  thee  with  unbelief  He 
sees  so  many  receiving  salvation,  and  is  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour'^.  Thou  art  coming  in 
unto  the  Father  of  Spirits,  but  thou  art  going 
past  that  serpent.  How  then  mayest  thou 
pass  him  ?  Have  thy  feet  shod  zcith  the  pre- 
paration of  the  gospel  of  peace  '  /  that  even  if  he 
bite,  he  may  not  hurt  thee.  Have  faith  in- 
dwelling, stedfast  hope,  a  strong  sandal,  that 
thou  mayest  pass  the  enemy,  and  enter  the 
presence  of  thy  Lord.  Prepare  thine  own 
heart  for  reception  of  doctrine,  for  fellowship 
in  holy  mysteries.  Pray  more  frequently,  that 
God  may  make  thee  worthy  of  the  heavenly 
and  immortal  mysteries.  Cease  not  day  nor 
night :  but  when  sleep  is  banished  from  thine 
eyes,  then  let  thy  mind  be  free  for  prayer. 
And  if  thou  find  any  shameful  thought  rise  up 
in  thy  mind,  turn  to  meditation  upon  Judgment 
to  remind  thee  of  Salvation.  Give  thy  mind 
wholly  to  study,  that  it  may  forget  base  things. 
If  thou  find  any  one  saying  to  thee,  Art  thou 
then  going  in,  to  descend  into  the  water  ? 
Has  the  city  just  now  no  baths  ?  take  notice 
that  it  is  the  dragon  of  the  sea  ^  wlro  is  laymg 


7  Ps.  xxxii.  I,  which  verse  is  still  chanted  in  the  Greek  Church 
as  soon  as  the  Baptism  is  completed. 

8  S.  Basil  has  a  passage  in  praise  of  Baptism  almost  the  same, 
word  for  word,  with  this.  It  is  more  likely  to  have  been  borrowed 
from  Cyril  by  Basil  and  other  Fathers,  than  to  be  a  later  interpo- 
lation here. 

9  I  Pet  V.  8.  '  Eph   vi.  15.  a  Is.  xxvii.  i. 


these  plots  against  thee.  Attend  not  to  the 
lips  of  the  talker,  but  to  God  who  worketh  in 
thee.  Guard  thine  own  soul,  that  thou  be  not 
ensnared,  to  the  end  that  abiding  in  hope  thou 
mayest  become  an  heir  of  everlasting  salvation. 
17.  We  for  our  part  as  men  charge  and 
teacli  you  thus  :  but  make  not  ye  our  build- 
ing hay  and  stubble  and  chaff,  lest  we  suffer 
loss,  from  our  7vork  being  burnt  up :  but 
make  ye  our  work  gold,  and  silver,  and  pre- 
cious stones '^ !  For  it  lies  in  me  to  speak,  but 
in  thee  to  set  thy  mind  +  upon  it,  and  in  God  to 
make  perfect.  Let  us  nerve  our  minds,  and 
brace  up  our  souls,  and  prepare  our  hearts. 
The  race  is  for  our  soul :  our  hope  is  of  things 
eternal :  and  God,  who  knoweth  your  hearts, 
and  observeth  who  is  sincere,  and  who  a 
hypocrite,  is  able  both  to  guard  the  sincere, 
and  to  give  faith  to  the  hypocrite  :  for  even  to 
the  unbeliever,  if  only  he  give  his  heart,  God  is 
able  to  give  faith.  So  may  He  blot  out  the 
handivriting  that  is  against  you  ^,  and  grant  you 
forgiveness  of  your  former  trespasses  ;  may  He 
plant  you  into  His  Church,  and  enlist  you  in 
His  own  service,  and  put  on  you  the  armour  of 
righteous7iess  ^ :  may  He  fill  you  with  the 
heavenly  things  of  the  New  Covenant,  and 
give  you  the  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit  indelible 
throughout  all  ages,  in  Christ  Jesus  Our  Lord  : 
to  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever ! 
Amen. 

{To  the  Reader 7.) 

These  Catechetical  Lectures  for  those  who 
are  to  be  enlightened  thou  mayest  lend  to 
candidates  for  Baptism,  and  to  believers  who 
are  already  baptized,  to  read,  but  give  not  at 
all  ^,  neither  to  Catechumens,  nor  to  any  others 
who  are  not  Christians,  as  thou  shalt  answer  to 
the  Lord.  And  if  thou  make  a  copy,  write 
this  in  the  beginning,  as  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord. 


3  1  Cor.  iii.  12,  15. 

4  Greek  npoa-6iuiia.i,  Sept.  Deut.  xiii.  4,  "cleave  unto  Him." 
Compare  Josh,  xxiii.  12;  Ps.  Ixii.  10,  "Set  not  your  heart  upon 
them."  5  Col.  ii.  14.  6  o  Cor.  vi.  7  ;  Rom.  vi.  13. 

7  It  is  doubtful  whether  this  caution  preceded  from  Cyril  him- 
self when  issuing  a  written  copy  of  his  Lectures,  or  from  some 
later  editor.  Eusebius  (E.H.  v.  20)  has  preserved  an  adjuration 
by  Irenaius  at  the  end  of  his  treatise,  On  the  Ogdoad:  I  adjure 
thee,  who  mayest  transcribe  this  book,  by  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  His  glorious  advent,  when  He  cometh  to  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  to  compare  what  thou  hast  written  and  correct  it 
carefully  by  this  copy,  from  which  thou  hast  transcribed  it  ;  this 
adjuration  also  thou  snalt  write  in  like  manner,  and  set  it  in  the 
copy. 

**  Gr.  TO  (TuVoAoi'.     Plat.  Leg.  654  b  ;  Soph.  220  B. 


FIRST   CATECHETICAL   LECTURE 


OF 


OUR    HOLY    FATHER   CYRIL, 

ARCHBISHOP    OF   JERUSALEM,^ 


To    THOSE    WHO     ARE    TO     BE    ENLIGHTENED,     DELIVERED    EXTEMPORE    AT    JERUSALEM,    AS 

AN  Introductory  Lecture  to  those  who  had  come  forward  for  Baptism  * : 

WITH  A   READING  FROM   ISAIAH, 

Wash  you,  make  you  dean  ;  put  aivay  yoiir  iniquities  from  your  souls,  from  before 

mine  eyes,  and  the  rest^. 

1.  Disciples  of  the  New  Testament  and 
partakers  of  the  mysteries  of  Christ,  as  yet  by 
caUing  only,  but  ere  long  by  grace  also,  make 
you  a  new  heart  and  a  netv  spirit 'i,  that  there 
may  be  gladness  among  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven  :  for  if  over  one  sijiner  that  repenteth 
there  is  joy,  according  to  the  Gospel  "•,  how  much 
more  shall  the  salvation  of  so  many  souls  move 
the  inhabitants  of  heaven  to  gladness.  As  ye 
have  entered  upon  a  good  and  most  glorious 
path,  run  with  reverence  the  race  of  godliness. 
For  the  Only-begotten  Son  of  God  is  present 
here  most  ready  to  redeem  you,  saying.  Come 
unto  Me  ail  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest=.  Ye  that  are  clothed  with 
the  rough  garment^  of  your  offences,  who  are 
holden  with  the  cords  of  your  oion  sins,  hear 
the  voice  of  the  Prophet  saying.  Wash  you, 
make  you  dean,  put  away  your  iniquities  from 
before  Mine  eyes^ :  that  the  choir  of  Angels 
may  chant  over  you,  Blessed  are  they  whose 
iniquities  are  forgiven,  and  7vhose  sins  are 
covered^.  Ye  who  have  just  lighted  the  torches 
of  faith  9,  guanl  them  carefully  in  your  hands.. 
unquenched  ;  that  He,  who  erewliile  on  this 
all-holy  Golgotha  opened  Paradise  to  the 
robber  on  account  of  his  faith,  may  grant 
to  you  to  sing  the  bridal  song. 

2.  If  any  here  is  a  slave  of  sin,  let  him 
promptly  prepare  himself  through  faith  for  the 
new  birth  into  freedom  and  aclojjtion  ;  and 
having  put  off  the  miserable  bondage  of  his 
sins,    and    taken    on   him   the    most   blessed 


'  The  title  prefixed  to  this  Lecture  is  given  in  full.  In  the 
following  Lectures  the  form  will  be  abbieviated.  See  Index, 
ai'ayi'co(Tt9  and  axe5iaa^tio"a, 

2  Is.  i.  i6. 

3  L/ek.  xviii.  31.  4  Luke  xv.  7.  S  Matt.  xi.  28. 

t"  Compare  XV.  25.  7   Is.  i.  16.  8  Ps.  xxxii.  x.   See 

Procat.  15.  9  Procat.  t,  note  6. 


bondage  of  the  I>ord,  so  may  he  be  counted 
worthy  to  inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Put  off,  by  confession ',  the  old  man,  which 
7vaxeth  corrupt  after  the  lusts  of  deceit,  that  ye 
may  put  on  the  ne7v  man,  which  is  renewed 
according  to  kncrwledge  of  Him  that  created 
him  2.  Get  you  the  earnest  of  the  Holy  Spirit^ 
through  faith,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  be 
received  inU  the  everlasting  habila'ions  ">. 
Come  for  the  mystical  Seal,  that  ye  may  be 
easily  recognised  by  the  Master ;  be  ye  num- 
bered among  the  holy  and  spiritual  flock  of 
Christ,  to  be  set  apart  on  His  right  hand,  and 
inherit  the  life  prejxired  for  you.  For  they  to 
whom  the  rough  garments  of  their  sins  still 
clings  are  found  on  tlie  left  hand,  because 
they  came  not  to  the  grace  of  God  which 
is  given  through  Christ  at  the  new  birth  of 
Baptism  :  new  birth  I  mean  not  of  bodies, 
but  the  spiritual  new  birth  of  the  soul.  For 
our  bodies  are  begotten  by  parents  who  are 
seen,  but  our  souls  are  begotten  anew  through 
faith  :  for  the  Spirit  blotveth  where  it  listcth^ : 
and  then,  if  thou  be  found  worthy,  thou 
mayest  hear,  ]Vdl  done,  good  and  faithful 
servantT,  when  thou  art  found  to  have  no  de- 
filement of  hypocrisy  in  thy  conscience. 

3.  For  if  any  of  those  who  are  present 
should  think  to  tempt  God's  grace,  he  de- 
ceives himself,  and  knows  not  its  power. 
Keep  thy  soul  free  from  hy})ocrisy,  O  man, 
because  of  Him  who  sea7xhcth  hearts  and 
reins^.  For  as  those  who  are  going  to  make 
a  levy  for  war  examine  the  ages  and  the  bodies 


I  See  Index,  "Confession." 

«  Kph.  iv.  22  ;  Col.  iii.  10.         3  2  Cor.  i.  22.  4  Luke  xvi. 

5  Compare  xv.  25.  6  John  iii.  8.  7  Matt.  xxv.  21. 

8  Ps.  vii.  10. 


LECTURE   I. 


of  those  who  are  taking  service,  so  also  the 
Lord  in  enHsting  souls  examines  their  pur- 
pose: and  if  any  has  a  secret  hypocrisy,  He 
rejects  the  m;in  as  unfit  for  His  true  service ; 
but  if  He  fiiuls  one  worthy,  to  him  He  readily 
gives  His  grace.  He  gives  not  holy  things  to 
the  dogs9 ;  but  where  He  discerns  tlie  good 
conscience,  there  He  gives  the  Seal  of  salva- 
tion, that  wondrous  Seal,  which  devils  tremble 
at,  and  Angels  recognise  ;  that  the  one  may 
be  driven  to  flight,  and  the  others  may  watch 
around  it  as  kindred  to  themselves.  Those 
therefore  who  receive  this  spiritual  and  saving 
Seal,  have  need  also  of  the  disposition  akin 
to  it.  For  as  a  writing-reed  or  a  dart  has 
need  of  one  to  use  it,  so  grace  also  has  need 
of  believing  minds. 

4.  Thou  art  receiving  not  a  perishable  but 
a  spiritual  shield.  Henceforth  thou  art  planted 
in  the  invisible^  Paradise.  Thou  receivest  a 
new  name,  which  thou  hadst  not  before.  Here- 
tofore thou  wast  a  Catechumen,  but  now  thou 
wilt  be  called  a  Believer.  Thou  art  trans- 
planted henceforth  among  the  spiritual^  olive- 
trees,  being  grafted  from  the  wild  into  the 
good  olive-tree  ^,  from  sins  into  righteousness, 
from  pollutions  into  purity.  Thou  art  made 
partaker  of  the  Holy  Vinc^.  Well  then,  if 
thou  abide  in  the  Vine,  thou  growest  as  a 
iruitful  branch  ;  but  if  thou  abide  not,  thou 
wilt  be  consumed  by  the  fire.  Let  us  therefore 
bear  fruit  worthily.  God  forbid  that  in  us 
should  be  done  what  befell  that  barren  fig- 
tree  5,  that  Jesus  come  not  even  now  and  curse 
us  for  our  barrenness.  But  may  all  be  able  to 
use  that  other  saying,  ^///  /  am  like  a  fruitjul 
olive-tree  in  the  house  of  God :  I  have  trusted 
in  the  mercy  of  God  for  ever^, — an  olive-tree 
not  to  be  perceived  by  sense,  but  by  the  mind  7, 
and  full  of  light.  As  then  it  is  His  f)art  to 
plant  and  to  water  ^,  so  it  is  thine  to  bear  fruit : 
it  is  God's  to  grant  grace,  but  thine  to  receive 
and  guard  it.  Despise  not  the  grace  because 
it  is  treely  given,  but  receive  and  treasure  it 
devoutly. 

5.  The  present  is  the  season  of  confession  : 
confess  what  thou  hast  done  in  word  or  in 
deed,  by  night  or  by  day ;  confess  in  an 
acceptable  time,  and  in  the  day  of  salvation  9 
receive  the  heavenly  treasure.  Devote  thy 
time  to  the  Exorcisms  :  be  assiduous  at  the 
Catechisings,  and  remember  the  things  tliat 
shall  be  spoken,  for  they  are  spoken  not  for 
thine  ears  only,  but  that  by  faith  thou  mayest 


9  Matt.  vii.  6. 

I  Or.  voriTov,  i.e.  the  true  Paradise,  to  be  seen  by  the  mind, 
not  bv  the  eye,     Apoc.  xii.  7,  17.  ^  See  pre:eding  note. 

3  Rom.  XI.  24.  4  Juhn  xv.  i,  4,  5.  5  Matt.  xxi.  19. 

*  Ps.  Hi.  10.  7  voqTT],  see  note  i,  above. 

^  I  Cor.  iii.  6.  When  Paul  plants  and  Apollos  waters,  it  is  God 
Himself  who  works  through  His  ministers.  9  2  Cor.  vi.  2. 


seal  them  up  in  the  memory.  Blot  out  from 
thy  mind  all  earthly  '  care  :  for  thou  art  running 
for  thy  soul.  Thou  art  utterly  forsaking  the 
things  of  the  world  :  little  are  the  things  which 
thou  art  forsaking,  great  what  the  Lord  is 
giving.  Forsake  things  present,  and  put  thy 
trust  in  things  to  come.  Hast  thou  run  so 
many  circles  of  the  years  busied  in  vain  about 
the  world,  and  hast  thou  not  forty  days  to  be 
free  (for  prayer-),  for  thine  own  soul's  sake? 
Be  still 2,  and  kno7v  that  I  am  God,  saith  the 
Scripture.  Excuse  thyself  from  talking  many 
idle  words:  neither  backbite,  nor  lend  a  willing 
ear  to  backbiters;  br,t  rather  be  prompt  to 
prayer.  Shew  in  ascetic  exercise  that  thy 
heart  is  nerved  ■♦.  Cleanse  thy  vessel,  that  thou 
mayest  receive  grace  more  abundantly.  'For 
though  remission  of  sins  is  given  equally  to 
all,  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
bestowed  in  proportion  to  each  man's  faith. 
If  thou  hast  laboured  little,  thou  receivest 
little ;  but  if  thou  hast  wrought  much,  the 
reward  is  great.  Thou  art  running  for  thyself, 
see  to  thine  own  interest. 

6.  If   thou    hast    aught    against    any    man, 
forgive  it :    thou  comest  here   to   receive  for- 
giveness  of  sins,  and  thou  also  must  forgive 
him  that  hath  sinned  against  thee.     Else  with 
what  face  wilt  thou  say  to  the  Lord,  Forgive 
me   my  many  sins,  if  thou   hast   not   thyself 
forgiven  thy  fellov-servant  even  his  little  sins. 
Attend  diligently  the  Church  assemblies  s ;   not 
only  now  when  diligent  attendance  is  required 
of  thee  by  the  Clergy,  but  also  after  thou  hast 
received  the  grace.     For  if,  before  thou  hast 
received  it,  the  practice  is  good,  is  it  not  also 
good  after  the    bestowal?    ii  before  thou  be 
grafted  in,  it  is   a  safe  course  to  be  watered 
and    tended,    is    it    not    far    better    after    the 
planting?     Wrestle  for  thine  own  soul,  espe- 
cially in  such  days  as  these.     Nourish  thy  soul 
with  sacred  readings ;  for  the  Lord  hath  pre- 
pared for  thee  a  spiritual  table  ;  therefore  say 
thou  also  after  the  Psalmist,  The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd,  and  I  shall  lack  nothing:  in  a  place 
of  grass,  there  hath  He  made  me  rest ;  I/e  hath 
fed  me  beside  the  waters  of  comfort.  He  hath 
converted  my  soul°:  —  that  Angels  also   may 
t  share  your  joy,  and  Christ  Himself  the  great 
i  High    Priest,   having   accepted    your    resolve, 
1  may  present   you   all   to    the   Father,    saying, 
I  Behold,   I  and  the  children   whom    God  hath 
\ given  Me^.    May  He  keep  you  all  well-pleasing 
in   His  sight !    To    whom   be    the   glory,  and 
j  the  power  unto  the  endless  ages  of  ecernity. 
I  Amen. 

j        »  Literally 'human." 

2  Some  MSS.  omit  tj)  irpotrevx?)  after  (rxoAd^ftj. 
I  3  Ps.  xlvi.  10:  (TxoAacraT-e  Coinfiare  Procat.  13. 
!        4  Compare  Procat.  17  :  xviii-  i.  S  See  Index',  avva^i^- 

6  Ps.  xxiii.  I — 3.  7  Is.  viii.  18  ;  Heb.  ii.  13. 


LECTURE   II. 


On  Repentance  and  Remission  of  Sins,  and  concerning  the  Adversary. 


EzEKiEL  xviii.  20 — 23. 

The  righteousness  of  the  righteous  shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  7tnckedness  of  the  wicked 
shall  be  upon  him.     But  if  the  wicked  will  turn  from  all  his  sius,  &^c. 


1.  A  FEARFUL  thing  is  sin,  and  the  sorest  dis- 
ease of  the  soul  is  transgression,  secretly  cut- 
ting its  sinews,  and  becoming  also  the  cause 
of  eternal  fire  ;  an  evil  of  a  man's  own  choos- 
ing, an  offspring  of  the  will '.  For  that  we  sin  of 
our  own  free  will  the  Prophet  says  plainly  in 
a  certain  place  :  Yet  I  planted  thee  a  fruitful 
vine,  zaholly  true :  how  art  thou  turned  to  bit- 
terness, {and  become)  the  strange  vine  ^  ?  The 
planting  was  good,  the  fruit  coming  from  the 
will  is  evil;  and  therefore  the  planter  is  blame- 
less, but  the  vine  shall  be  burnt  with  fire  ; 
since  it  was  planted  for  good,  and  bore  fruit 
unto  evil  of  its  own  will.  For  God,  according 
to  the  Preacher,  made  man  upright,  and  they 
have  themselves  sought  out  many  inventions  3. 
For  7ve  are  His  workmanship,  says  the  Apostle, 
created  unto  good  7vorks,  which  God  afore  pre- 
pared, that  2ve  should  7valk  in  them  ^.  So  then 
the  Creator,  being  good,  created  for  good 
works  ;  but  the  creature  turned  of  its  own 
free  will  to  wickedness.  Sin  tiien-is,  as  we 
have  said,  a  fearful  evil,  but  not  incurable ; 
feaiful  for  him  who  clings  to  it,  but  easy  of 
cure  for  him  who  by  repentance  puts  it  from  him. 
For  suppose  that  a  .man  is  holdmg  fire  in  his 
hand;  as  long  as  he  holds  fast  the  live  coal  he  is 
sure  to  be  l)urned,  but  should  he  put  away  the 
coal,  he  would  havecastaway  tlie  flame  also  with 
it.  If  however  any  one  thinks  that  he  is  not  being 
burned  when  sinning,  to  him  the  Scripture 
saith.  Shall  a  man  7i'7-ap  up  fire  /«  his  bosom, 
and  not  burn  his  clothes^?  For  sin  burns  the 
sinews  of  the  soul,  [and  breaks  the  spiritual 
bones  of  the  mind,  and  darkens  the  light  of 
the  heart  ^]. 

2.  But  some   one   will    say,   What  can    sin 
be?    ~     ■ 


Is   it  a  living 


thing  ? 


Is  it  an  angel  ? 


I  For  references  to  Cyril's  doctrine  of  Free-will,  see  Index, 
"  Sovil."  2  Jer.  ii.  21.  3  Ecclcs.  vii.  29. 

4  Eph.  ii.  10.  5  Prov.  vi.  27. 

6  JNlillcs  and  the  Pienedictine  Editor  omit  these  clauses,  but  the 
more  recent  editions  of  Reischl  and  Alexandrides  insert  them 
on  the  authrr-''.y  of  the  Munich,  Jerusalem,  and  other  good  MSb. 


Is  it  a  demon  ?  What  is  this  which  works 
within  us?  It  is  not  an  enemy,  O  man,  that 
assails  thee  from  without,  but  an  evil  shoot 
growing  up  out  of  thyself.  Look  right  on  with 
thine  eyes  T,  and  there  is  no  lust.  [Keep  thine 
own,  and  ^]  seize  not  the  things  of  others,  and 
robbery  has  ceased  9.  Remember  the  Judg- 
ment, and  neither  fornication,  nor  adultery, 
nor  murder,  nor  any  transgression  of  the  law 
shall  prevail  with  thee.  But  whenever  thou 
forgettest  God,  forthwith  thou  beginnest  to 
devise  wickedness  and  to  commit  iniquity. 

3.  Yet  thou  art  not  the  sole  author  of  the 
evil,  but  there  is  also  another  most  wicked 
prompter,  the  devil.  He  indeed  suggests,  but 
does  not  get  the  mastery  by  force  over  those 
who  do  not  consent.  Therefore  saith  the 
Preacher,  If  the  spirit  of  him  that  hath  power 
rise  up  against  thee,  quit  not  thy  place  ^.  Shut 
thy  door,  and  put  him  far  from  thee,  and  he 
shall  not  hurt  thee.  But  if  thou  indifferently 
admit  the  thought  of  lust,  it  strikes  root  in 
thee  by  its  suggestions,  and  enthrals  thy  mind, 
and  drags  thee  down  into  a  pit  of  evils. 

But  perhaps  thou  sayest,  I  am  a  believer, 
and  lust  does  not  gain  the  ascendant  over  me, 
even  if  I  think  upon  it  frequently.  Knowest 
thou  not  that  a  root  breaks  even  a  rock  by 
long  persistence?  Admit  not  the  seed,  since 
it  will  rentl  thy  faith  asunder  :  tear  out  the 
evil  by  the  root  before  it  blossom,  lest  from 
being  careless  at  the  beginning  thou  have 
afterwards  to  seek  for  axes  and  fire.  W^hen 
thine  eyes  begin  to  be  diseased,  get  them 
cured  in  good  time,  lest  thou  become  blind, 
and  then  have  to  seek  the  physician. 

4.  The  devil  then  is  the  first  author  of  sin, 
and  the  father  of  the  wicked  :  and  this  is  the 
Lord's  saying,  not  mine,  that  the  devil  sinneth 


7  Prov.  iv.  25. 
best  MSS. 

'  Eccles.  X.  4. 
the  devil." 


8  Omitted  by  recent  editors  with  the 
9  Gr.  (ceKoiVirai,  "has  fallen  asleep." 
Compare  Eph.  iv.  27  ;    "  Neither  give  pl.^ce  to 


LECTURE   II. 


from  the  beginnitig'^ :  none  sinned  before  him. 
But  he  sinned,  not  as  having  received  neces- 
sarily from  nature  the  propensity  to  sin,  since 
then  the  cause  of  sin  is  traced  back  again  to 
Him  that  made  him  so ;  but  having  been 
created  good,  he  has  of  his  own  free  will 
become  a  devil,  and  received  that  name  from 
his  action.  For  being  an  Archangel  3  he  was 
afterwards  called  a  devil  from  his  slandering  : 
from  being  a  good  servant  of  God  he  has  be- 
come rightly  named  Satan;  for  "Satan"  is 
interpreted  the  adversary^.  And  this  is  not  my 
teaching,  but  that  of  the  inspired  prophet 
Ezekiel  :  for  he  takes  up  a  lamentation  over 
him  and  says,  Thou  wast  a  seal  of  likeness,  and 
a  crozvn  of  beauty ;  in  the  Paradise  of  God  wast 
thou  born  s  /  and  soon  after,  27iou  wast  born 
blameless  in  thy  days,  from  the  day  in  ivhich 
thou  wast  created,  until  thine  iniquities  were 
found  in  thee.  Very  rightly  hath  he  said,  wei-e 
found  in  thee ;  for  they  were  not  brought  in 
from  without,  but  thou  didst  thyself  beget  the 
evil.  The  cause  also  he  mentions  forthwith  : 
Thine  heart  was  lifted  up  because  of  thy  beauty  : 
for  the  multitude  of  thy  sins  wast  thou  wounded, 
afid  I  did  cast  thee  to  the  ground.  In  agree- 
ment with  this  the  Lord  says  again  in  the  Gos- 
pels :  /  beheld  Satan  as  lightning  fall  fvjn 
heaven  ^  Thou  seest  the  harmony  of  the  Old 
Testament  with  the  New.  He  when  cast  out 
drew  many  away  with  him.  It  is  he  that  puts 
lusts  into  them  that  listen  to  him  :  from  him 
come  adultery,  fornication,  and  every  kind  of 
evil.  Through  him  our  forefather  Adam  was 
cast  out  for  disobedience,  and  exchanged  a 
Paradise  bringing  forth  wondrous  fruits  of  its 
own  accord  for  the  ground  which  bringeth 
forth  thorns. 

5.   What   then  ?    some    one   will   say 


havQ  been  beguiled  and    are   lost.     Is 


We 

there 

Is  it 

been 


then  no  salvation  left  ?  We  have  fallen 
not  possible  to  rise  again  ?  We  have 
blinded :  May  we  not  recover  our  sight  ?  We 
have  become  crippled  :  Can  we  never  walk  up- 
right? In  a  word,  we  are  dead  :  May  we  not 
rise  again  ?  He  that  woke  Lazarus  who  was 
four  days  dead  and  already  stank,  shall  He 
not,  O  man,  much  more  easily  raise  thee  who 
art  alive  ?  He  who  shed  His  precious  blood 
for  us,  shall  Himself  deliver  us  from  sin.  Let 
us  not  despair  of  ourselves,  brethren  ;  let  us 
not  abandon  ourselves  to  a  hopeless  condition. 


»  I  John  iii.  8 ;  John  viii.  44. 

3  On  Cyril's  doctrine  of  the  Angels,  see  Index,  "Angels." 

4  I  Kings  V.  4,  &c. 

5  Ezek.  xxviii.  12 — 17,  an  obscure  passage,  addressed  to  the 
Prince  of  Tyre,  and  meaning  that  he  was  "the  perfect  pattern" 
of  earthly  glory,  set  in  a  condition  like  that  of  Adam  in  Paradise, 
and,  seeming]'-,  blameless  as  Adam  before  his  fall.  Cyril  seems 
to  regard  the  Prince  of  Tyre  as  an  embodiment  of  Satan,  because 
he  was  deified  as  the  object  of  national  worship:  V.  i,  "Thou 
hast  said,  I  am  a  God,  I  sit  in  the  seat  of  God." 

6  Luke  X.  18. 


For  it  is  a  fearful  thing  not  to  believe  in  a  hope 
of  repentance.  For  he  that  looks  not  for  sal- 
vation spares  not  to  add  evil  to  evil :  but  to 
him  that  hopes  for  cure,  it  is  henceforth  easy 
to  be  careful  over  himself.  The  robber  who 
looks  not  for  pardon  grows  desperate ;  but, 
if  he  hopes  for  forgiveness,  often  comes  to  re- 
pentance. What  then,  does  the  serpent  cast 
its  slough  7^  and  shall  not  we  cast  oft"  our  sin  ? 
Thorny  ground  also,  if  cultivated  well,  is 
turned  into  fruitful  ;  and  is  salvation  to  us  ir- 
recoverable ?  Nay  rather,  our  nature  admits  of 
salvation,  but  the  will  also  is  required. 

6.  God  is  loving  to  man,  and  loving  in  no 
small  measure.  For  say  not,  I  have  com-' 
mitted  fornication  and  adultery :  I  have  done 
dreadful  things,  and  not  once  only,  but  often  : 
will  He  forgive?  Will  He  grant  pardon? 
Hear  what  the  Psalmist  says  :  Hoiv  greet 
is  the  multitude  of  Thy  goodness,  0  Lord  ^  / 
Thine  accumulated  offences  surpass  not  the 
multitude  of  God's  mercies  :  thy  wounds  sur- 
pass not  the  great  Physician's  skill.  Only 
give  thyself  up  in  faith  :  tell  the  Physician 
thine  ailment :  say  thou  also,  like  David  :  / 
said,  I  will  confess  me  my  sin  unto  the  Lord : 
and  the  same  shall  be  done  in  thy  case,  which 
he  says  forthwith  :  A7id  thou  forgavest  the 
wickedness  of  my  hearts. 

7.  Wouldest  thou  see  the  loving-kindness  of 
God,  O  thou  that  art  lately  come  to  the 
catechising  ?  Wouldest  thou  see  the  loving- 
kindness  of  God,  and  the  abundance  of  Piis 
long-suffering  ?  Hear  about  Adam.  Adam, 
God's  first-formed  man,  transgressed :  could 
He  not  at  once  have  brought  death  upon 
him  ?  But  see  what  the  Lord  does,  in  His 
great  love  towards  man.  He  casts  him  out 
from  Paradise,  for  because  of  sin  he  was 
unworthy  to  live  there  ;  but  He  puts  him  to 
dwell  over  against  Paradise '  ,•  that  seeing 
whence  he  had  fallen,  and  from  what  and  into 
what  a  state  he  was  brought  down,  he  might 
afterwards  be  saved  by  repentance.  Cain  the 
first-born  man  became  his  brother's  murderer, 
the  inventor  of  evils,  the  first  author  of 
murders,  and  the  first  envious  man.  Yet 
after  slaying  his  brother  to  what  is  he  con- 
demned ?  Groani7ig  and  trembling  shall  thou 
be  upon  the  earth  ^.  How  great  the  oft'^ence,  the 
sentence  how  light ! 

8.  Even  this  then  was  truly  loving-kindness 
in  God,  but  little  as  yet  in  comparison  with 
what  follows.  For  consider  what  happened 
in  the  days  of  Noe.     The  giants  sinned,  and 


7  Literally,   "its  old  age"  (to  yijpas).     Compare  iii.  7,  and 
Diet.  Chr.  Biogr.,  Jilacaritts,  p.  770  a. 

8  Ps.  xxxi.  20.  9  Ps.  xxxii.  5. 

1  This  is  the  reading  of  the  Septuagint  instead  of— "He  placed 
at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden." 

2  Gen.  iv.  12  :  "A  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be  upon 
the  earth. 


TO 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


much  wickedness  was  then  spread  over  the 
earth,  and  because  of  this  the  flood  was  to 
come  upon  them  :  and  in  the  five  liundredth 
year  God  utters  His  threatening ;  but  in  the 
six  hundredth  He  brought  the  flood  upon  the 
earth.  Seest  thou  the  breadth  of  God's  loving- 
kindness  extending  to  a  hundred  years?  Could 
He  not  have  done  immediately  what  He  did 
then  after  the  hundred  vears  ?  But  He  ex- 
tended (the  time)  on  purpose,  granting  a 
respite  .or  repentance.  Seest  thou  God's 
goodness  ?  And  if  the  men  of  that  time  had 
repented,  they  would  not  have  missed  the 
loving-kindness  of  God. 

9.  Come  with  me  now  to  the  other  class, 
those  who  were  saved  by  repentance.  But 
perhaps  even  among  women  some  one  will 
say,  I  have  committed  fornication,  and  adul- 
tery, I  have  defiled  my  body  by  excesses  of  all 
kinds  :  is  there  salvation  for  me?  Turn  thine 
eyes,  O  woman,  upon  Rahab,  and  look  thou 
also  for  salvation;  for  if  she  who  had  been 
openly  and  publicly  a  harlot  was  saved  by 
repentance,  is  not  she  who  on  some  one 
occasion  before  receiving  grace  committed 
fornication  to  be  saved  by  repentance  and 
fasting?  For  inquire  how  she  was  saved  :  this 
only  she  said  :  For  your  God  is  God  ifi  heaven 
and  upon  earth  3 .  Your  God ;  for  her  own  she 
did  not  dare  to  say,  because  of  her  wanton 
life.  And  if  you  wish  to  receive  Scriptural 
testimony  of  her  having  been  saved,  you  have 
it  written  in  the  Psalms  :  I  will  make  mention 
of  Rahab  and  BabyloJi  among  them  that  knoiu 
me''.  O  the  greatness  of  God's  loving-kindness, 
making  mention  even  of  harlots  in  the  Scrip- 
tures :  nay,  not  simply  I  ^anll  make  mention  of 
Rahab  and  Babylon,  but  with  the  addition, 
among  them  that  know  me.  There  is  then  in 
the  case  both  of  men  and  of  women  alike 
the  salvation  which  is  ushered  in  by  repent- 
ance. 

10.  Nay  more,  if  a  whole  people  sin,  this 
surpasses  not  the  loving-kindness  of  God. 
The  people  made  a  calf,  yet  God  ceased  not 
from  His  loving-kindness.  Men  denied  God, 
but  God  denied  not  Himself s.  These  be  thy 
gods,  O  Israel'',  they  said  :  yet  again,  as  He 
was  wont,  the  God  of  Israel  became  their 
Saviour.  And  not  only  the  people  sinned, 
but  also  Aaron  the  High  Priest.  For  it  is 
Moses  that  says:  And  the  anger  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  Aaron  :  and  I  prayed  for  him,  saith 
he,  a7id  God  forgave  him  7.  VVliat  then,  did 
Moses  praying  for  a  High  Priest  that  sinned 


3  Josh.  11.  II. 

4  Ps.  Ixxxvii.  4.  "  Rahab"  is  there  a  poetical  name  of  Egypt, 
and  the  passage  has  notliinii  to  do  with  Raliab  tlie  harlot,  "l  lie 
Benedictine  Editor  rightly  disregards  S.  Jerome's  suggestion,  that 
Rahab  is,  like  Egypt,  a  type  of  the  Gentile  Cluirch. 

5  2  Tim.  ii.  13.  o  jix.  xxxii.  4.  7  Dcut.  ix.  20. 


prevail  with  God,  and  shall  not  Jesus,  His 
Only-begotten,  prevail  with  God  when  He 
prays  for  us?  And  if  He  did  not  hinder 
Aaron,  because  of  his  offence,  from  entering 
upon  the  High  Priesthood,  will  He  hinder 
thee,  who  art  come  out  from  the  Gentiles, 
from  entering  into  salvation?  Only,  O  man, 
repent  thou  also  in  like  manner,  and  grace  is 
not  forbidden  thee.  Render  thy  way  of  life 
henceforth  unblameable ;  for  God  is  truly 
loving  unto  man,  nor  can  all  time  ^  worthily 
tell  out  His  loving  kindness ;  nay,  not  if  all 
the  tongues  of  men  unite  together  will  they  be 
able  even  so  to  declare  any  considerable  part 
of  His  loving-kindness.  For  we  tell  some 
part  of  what  is  written  concerning  His  loving- 
kindness  to  men,  but  how  much  He  forgave 
the  Angels  we  know  not :  for  them  also  He 
forgives,  since  One  alone  is  without  sin,  even 
Jesus  who  purgeth  our  sins.  And  of  them 
we  have  said  enough. 

1 1.  But  if  concerning  us  men  thou  wilt  have 
other  examples  also  set  before  thee  9,  come  on 
to  the  blessed  David,  and  take  him  for  an  ex- 
ample of  repentance.  Great  as  he  was,  he 
fell  :  after  his  sleep,  walking  in  the  eventide 
on  the  housetop,  he  cast  a  careless  look,  and 
felt  a  human  passion.  His  sin  was  completed, 
but  there  died  not  with  it  his  candour  con- 
cerning the  confession  of  his  fault.  Nathan 
the  Prophet  came,  a  swift  accuser,  and  a 
healer  of  the  wound.  The  Lord  is  ivroih,  he 
says,  and  thou  hast  sinned '.  So  spake  the  sub- 
ject to  the  reigning  king.  But  David  the  king  ^ 
was  not  indignant,  for  he  regarded  not  the 
speaker,  but  God  who  had  sent  him.  He  was 
not  pufted  up  3  by  the  array  of  soldiers  standing 
round  :  for  he  had  seen  in  thought  the  angel-host 
of  the  Lord,  and  he  trembled  as  seeing  Him  ivho 
is  invisible  ^ ;  and  to  the  messenger,  or  r^^ther 
by  him  in  answer  to  God  who  sent  him,  he  said, 
/  have  sinned  against  the  Lord  ^,  Seest  thou  the 
humility  of  the  king?  Seest  thou  his  confession? 
For  had  he  been  convicted  bv  anv  one  ?  Were 
many  privy  to  the  matter  ?  The  deed  was 
quickly  done,  and  straightway  the  Prophet 
appeared  as  accuser,  and  the  offender  con- 
fesses the  fault.  And  because  he  candidly 
confessed,  he  received  a  most  speedy  cure. 
For  Nathan  the  Prophet  who  had  uttered  the 
threat,  said  immediately.  The  Lord  also  haih 
put  aivay  thy  sin.  Thou  seest  the  swift  re- 
lenting of  a  merciful  God.  He  says,  however. 
Thou  hast  greatly  provoked  the  enemies  of  the 


8  For  "all  time,"  the  reading  of  the  best  MSS.,  the  Benedic- 
tine text  h.as  ''  all  mankind." 

9  The  Benedictine  has,  "  But  if  tho\i  wilt  I  will  set  before 
thee  other  examples  also  of  our  stat.?  Come  on  to  the  blessed 
Uaviil.'"  I  2  Sam.  xii. 

2  Bened.  "The  king,  the  wearer  of  the  purple." 

3  Bened.  "blinded."  ■♦  Heb.  xi.  27.  5  2  Sam.  xii.  13. 


LECTURE   II. 


1 1 


Lord.  Though  thou  hadst  maffy  enemies 
because  of  thy  righteousness,  thy  self-control 
protected  thee  ;  but  now  that  thou  hast  surren- 
dered thy  strongest  armour,  thine  enemies  are 
risen  up,  and  stand  ready  against  thee. 

12.  Thus  then  did  the  Prophet  comfort  him, 
but  the  blessed  David,  for  all  he  heard  it  said, 
The  LORD  hatliputmcay  thy  sin,  did  not  cease 
from  repentance,  king  though  he  was,  but  put 
on  sackcloth  instead  of  purple,  and  instead  of 
a  golden  throne,  he  sat,  a  king,  in  ashes  on 
the  ground  ;  nay,  not  only  sat  in  ashes,  but 
also  had  ashes  for  his  food,  even  as  he  saith 
himself,  /  hcjve  eaten  ashes  as  it  ive?-e  bfTad^. 
His  lustful  eye  he  wasted  away  witli  tears, 
saying,  livery  nigJii  will  I  wash  my  couch,  and 
water  my  bed  with  my  tears  7.  When  his  officers 
besought  him  to  eat  bread  he  would  not 
listen.  He  prolonged  his  fast  unto  seven 
whole  days.  If  a  king  thus  made  confession, 
oughtest  not  thou,  a  private  person,  to  confess  ? 
Again,  after  Absalom's  insurrection,  though 
there  were  many  roads  for  him  to  escape,  he 
chose  to  flee  by  the  Mount  of  Olives,  in 
thought,  as  it  were,  invoking  the  Redeemer 
who  was  to  go  up  thence  into  the  heavens  ^. 
And  when  Shimei  cursed  him  bitterly,  he  said, 
L^et  him  alone,  for  he  knew  that  "to  him  that 
forgiveth  it  shall  be  forgiven  9." 

13.  Thou  seest  that  it  is  good  to  make 
confession.  Thou  seest  that  there  is  salva- 
tion for  them  that  repent.  Solomon  also  fell : 
but  what  saith  he?  Afterwards  L  repented ^°. 
Ahab,  too,  the  King  of  Samaria,  became  a 
most  wicked  idolater,  an  outrageous  man,  the 
murderer  of  the  Prophets  ",  a  stranger  to  godli- 
ness, a  coveter  of  other  men's  fields  and  vine- 
yards. Yet  when  by  Jezebel's  means  he  had 
slain  Naboth,  and  the  Prophet  Elias  came  and 
merely  threatened  him,  he  rent  his  garments, 
and  put  on  sackcloth.  And  what  saith  the 
merciful  God  to  Elias?  Llast  thou  seen  how 
Ahab  is  pricked  in  the  heart  before  Me  ^  ?  as  if 
almost  He  would  persuade  the  fiery  zeal  of  the 
Prophet  to  condescend  to  the  penitent.  For 
He  saith,  /  will  not  bring  the  evil  in  his  days. 
And  though  after  this  forgiveness  he  was  sure 
not  to  dei)art  from  his  wickedness,  neverthe- 
less the  forgiving  God  forgave  him,  not  as 
being  ignorant  of  the  future,  but  as  granting 
a   forgiveness    corresponding    to    his    present 


S  Ps.  cii.  10. 


7  lb.  vii.  7. 


2  Sam.  xvi.  lo,  ii. 


i  o.  ^Li.  Lyj.  I    Aij.  vii.  7,  "  z  oarn.  xvi.  lo,  il. 

9  Resch.  {AgraftJia,  p.  137)  (iiunes  various  forms  of  ihis  SLiying 
from  early  writers,  and  reyarcis  it  as  a  fr;igment  of  an  extra- 
canonical  Gospel.     But  see  LiLthtloot,  C/em.  Kom.  c.  xiii. 

"  Prov.  xxiv.  32,  Sept.  Heb.  "  Set  my  heart."  The  passage 
has  no  reference  to  repentance :  it  means,  "  I  considered  tlie 
field  of  the  slothfnl."  Hilary,  Ps.  Hi.  ;  Ambrose,  Apolng.  \,  Pro- 
pjtrta:  David,  c.  iii.  and  other  Fathers  affinn  the  repentance  of 
Solomon.  Augustine  {c.  p'aitslum.  Lib.  xxii.  c.  SS)  niaintnins 
that  Scripture  says  nutliing  ot  his  repentance  or  forgiveness.  See 
Uante,  I'aradiso,  Canto  x,  109. 

»  1  I.ings  xviii.  4.  a  lb.  xxi.  29, 


season  of  repentance.  For  it  is  the  part  of  a 
righteous  judge  to  give  sentence  according  to 
each  case  that  has  occurred. 

14.  Again,  Jeroboam  was  standing  at  the 
altar  sacrificing  to  the  idols :  his  hand  became 
withered,  because  he  commanded  the  Prophet 
who  reproved  him  to  be  seized  :  but  having 
by  experience  learned  the  power  of  the  man 
before  him,  he  says,  Entreat  the  face  of  the 
Lord  thy  God^;  and  because  of  this  saying  his 
hand  was  restored  again.  If  the  Prophet 
healed  Jeroboam,  is  Christ  not  able  to  heal 
and  deliver  thee  from  thy  sins  ?  Manasses 
also  was  utterly  wicked,  who  sawed  Isaiah 
asunder 4,  and  was  defiled  with  all  kinds  of 
idolatries,  and  filled  ferusalem  7uith  iftnocent 
blood^  ;  but  having  been  led'captive  to  Babylon 
he  used  his  experience  of  misfortune  for  a 
healing  course  of  repentance  :  for  the  Scripture 
saith  that  AJanasses  humbled  himself  before  the 
Lord,  and  prayed,  and  the  Loi'd  heard  him,  and 
brou'^ht  him  back  to  his  kingdom.  If  He  who 
sawed  the  Prophet  asunder  was  saved  by  re- 
pentance, shalt  not  thou  then,  having  done  no 
such  great  wickedness,  be  saved  ? 

15.  Take  heed  lest  without  reason  thou 
mistrust  the  power  of  repentance.  Wouldst 
thou  know  what  power  repentance  has  ? 
AV'ouldst  thou  know  the  strong  weapon  of 
salvation,  and  learn  what  the  force  of  confes- 
sion is?  Hezekiah  by  means  of  confession 
routed  a  hundred  and  fourscore  and  five 
thousand  of  his  enemies.  A  great  thing  verily 
was  this,  but  still  small  in  comparison  with 
what  remains  to  be  told  :  the  same  king  by 
repentance  obtained  the  recall  of  a  divine 
sentence  which  had  ah-eady  gone  forth.  For 
when  he  had  fallen  sick,  Esaias  said  to  him. 
Set  thine  house  in  order ;  for  thou  shall  die.  and 
not  live  ^.  What  expectation  remained,  what 
hope  of  recovery,  when  the  Prophet  said,  for 
thou  shalt  die?  Yet  Hezekiah  did  not  desist 
from  repentance ;  but  remembering  what  is 
written,  IVhen  thou  shalt  turn  and  lament,  then 
shalt  thou  be savedT,  he  turned  to  the  wall,  and 
from  his  bed  lifting  his  mind  to  heaven  (for 
thickness  of  walls  is  no  hindrance  to  prayers 
sent  up  with  devotion),  he  said,  "  Remember 
me,  O  Lord,  for  it  is  sufficient  for  my  healing 
that  Thou  remember  me.  Thou  art  not  sub- 
ject to  times,  but  art  Thyself  the  giver  of  the 
law  of  life.      For  our  life  depends  not  on  a 


3  1  Kings  xiii.  6. 

4  Justin  Martyr,  Dialogue  with  Tryfiho,  %  120,  charges  the 
Jews  with  having  cut  out  a  passage  reterr...g  to  the  death  of 
Isaiah.  Theophylact  commenting  on  Heb.  xi  37,  says:  "They 
were  sawn  asunder,  as  Isai.ih  by  Manasses  :  and  they  say  that  ne 
was  sawn  with  a  wooden  saw,  that  his  punishment  might  be  the 
more  painful  to  him  from  being  prolonged."  Jerome  on  Is.  i.  10, 
says  that  he  was  slain  because  of  his  calling  the  Jews  "princes  of 
.Sodom  and  people  of  Gomorra."  and  because  he  said,  "I  saw  the 
Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up." 

5  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  12,  13.         6  3  Kings  xx.  i.        7  Is.  xxx.  15. 


12 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


nativity,  nor  on  a  conjunction  of  stars,  as  some 
idly  talk  ;  but  both  of  life  and  its  duration, 
Thou  art  Thyself  the  Lawgiver  according  to 
Thy  Will."  And  he,  who  could  not  hope  to 
live  because  of  the  prophetic  sentence,  had 
fifteen  years  added  to  his  life,  and  for  the  sign 
the  sun  ran  backward  in  his  course  Well 
then,  for  Ezekias'  sake  the  sun  turned  back, 
but  for  Christ  the  sun  was  eclipsed,  not  re- 
tracing his  steps,  but  suffering  eclipse  ^,  and 
therefore  shewing  the  diflerence  between  them, 
I  mean  between  Ezekias  and  Jesus.  The 
former  prevailed  to  the  cancelling  of  God's 
decree,  and  cannot  Jesus  grant  remission  of 
sins  ?  Turn  and  bewail  thyself,  shut  thy  door, 
and  pray  to  be  forgiven,  pray  that  He  may 
remove  from  thee  the  burning  iiames.  For 
confession  has  power  to  quench  even  fire, 
power  to  tame  even  lions  9. 

1 6.  But  if  thou  disbelieve,  consider  what 
befel  Ananias  and  his  companions.  What 
streams  did  they  pour  out^?  How  many 
vessels  2  of  water  could  quench  the  flame  that 
rose  up  forty-nine  cubits  high  3  ?  Nay,  but 
where  the  flame  mounted  up  a  little*  too  high, 
faith  was  there  poured  out  as  a  river,  and  there 
spake  they  the  spell  against  all  ills  s :  Righteous 
art  Thou^  O  Lord,  in  all  the  things  that  Thou 
hast  done  to  us :  for  we  have  sinned,  ajid  tra?is- 
gressed  Thy  law ^.  And  their  repentance  quelled 
theflames?.  Ifthou  believestnotthatrepentance 
is  able  to  quench  the  fire  of  hell,  learn  it  from 
what  happened  in  regard  to  Ananias^.  But 
some  keen  hearer  will  say,  Those  men  God 
rescued  justly  in  that  case :  because  they 
refused  to  commit  idolatry,  God  gave  them 
that  power.  And  since  this  thought  has 
occurred,  I  come  next  to  a  different  example 
of  penitence  9. 

17.  What  thinkest  thou  of  Nabuchodonosor  ? 


8  Isaiah  xxxviii.  8. 

9  From  this  point  the  MSS.  differ  so  widely  that  the  Bene- 
dictine Editor  gives  two  complete  recensions  of  tlie  whole  Lecture, 
The  Codd.  Coislin,  Ottob.  2,  and  Grodec,  with  the  editions  of 
Prevot  and  Milles,  forming  as  it  were  one  family  of  MSS.,  con- 
stitute the  leceived  text.  On  the  other  hand  the  older  Munich 
Codex,  with  Codd.  Roe  and  Casaubon,  exhibit  a  recension  of 
the  Lecture  differing  from  the  editions.  ReischI  wishing  to  retain 
the  received  text  unaltered,  though  preferring  the  other  in  par- 
ticular passages,  intended  to  append  the  other  recension  complete, 
but  having  leit  his  work  half  finished,  failed  to  do  so.  The  chief 
variations  are  given  in  the  following  notes, 

»  Roe  and  Casaubon  (R.  C.)  add  :  "  into  the  furnace  of  fire." 

"  R.  C.  "  What  measure."  3  Song  of  the  Three  Children, 

V.  24.  4  R.  C.  "Much." 

5  R,C,  "A  great  stream  of  repentance  was  poured  forth,  when 
they  said,  For  Thou  art  righteous,"  iJc. 

*>  Song  of  the  Three  Children,  v.  4. 

7  R,  C,  "  Did  then  repentance  quench  the  flames  of  the  furnace, 
and  dost  thou  disbelieve  that  it  is  able  also  to  quench  the  fire 
of  hell?" 

8  The  Gospel  only  says,  "  Tliere  was  darkness  over  all  the 
land."  An  eclipse  of  the  sun  was  impossible  at  tlie  time  of  the 
Paschal  full  moon. 

9  R.  C.  "  That  the  narrative  is  not  appropriate  to  those  who 
are  here  present.  For  it  was  because  Ananias  and  his  companions 
refused  to  worship  the  idol,  that  God  gave  them  that  marvellous 
power.  Adapting  myself,  therefore,  to  such  a  liearer,  and  lo  jking 
to  the  profusion  ol  instances,  I  come  next  to  a  dillercnt  example  of 
repentance." 


Hast  thou  not  heard  out  of  the  Scriptures  that 
he  was  bloodthirsty,  fierce',  lion-like  in  dis- 
position ?  Hast  thou  not  heard  that  he 
brought  out  the  bones  of  the  kings  from  their 
graves  into  the  light  ^  ?  Hast  thou  not  heard  3 
that  he  carried  the  peojjle  away  captive  ? 
Hast  thou  not  heard  that  he  put  out  the  eyes 
of  the  king,  after  he  had  already  seen  his 
children  slain  4  ?  Hast  thou  not  heard  that  he 
brake  in  pieces  s  the  Cherubim  ?  I  do  not 
mean  the  invisible^  beings  ;— away  with  such  a 
thought,  O  man  7, — but  the  sculptured  images, 
and  the  mercy-seat,  in  the  midst  of  which  God 
spake  with  His  voice  ^.  The  veil  of  the  Sanc- 
tuary 9  he  trampled  under  foot:  the  altar  of 
incense  he  took  and  carried  away  to  an  idol- 
temple  ^  :  all  the  offerings  he  took  away  :  the 
Temple  he  burned  from  the  foundations'^.  How 
great  punishments  did  he  deserve,  for  slaying 
kings,  for  setting  fire  to  the  Sanctuary,  foi 
taking  the  people  captive,  for  setting  the 
sacred  vessels  in  the  house  of  idols  ?  Did  he 
not  deserve  ten  thousand  deaths? 

1 8.  Thou  hast  seen  the  greatness  of  his  evil 
deeds  :  come  now  to  God's  loving-kindness. 
He  was  turned  into  a  wild  beasts,  he  abode  in 
the  wilderness,  he  was  scourged,  that  he  might 
be  saved.  He  had  claws  as  a  lion* ;  for  he  was 
a  ravager  of  the  Sanctuary.  He  had  a  lion's 
mane  :  for  he  was  a  ravening  and  a  roaring 
lion.  He  ate  grass  like  an  ox  :  for  a  brute 
beast  he  was,  not  knowing  Him  who  had  given 
him  the  kingdom.  His  body  was  wet  from  the 
dew  ;  because  after  seeing  the  fire  quenched  by 
the  dew  he  believed  nots.  Andwhat  happened^? 
After  this,  saith  he,  /,  Nabuchodonosor,  lijted up 

*  R.C.  "  most  impious,  and  most  fierce  in  temper." 

2  Jer.  viii,  i  ;  Buruch  ii.  25.  3  "  Knowest  thou  not  .  .  ." 
4  2  Kings  XXV.  7.                        5  R.  C.  "carried  off." 

6  (■or;7<i.     R,  C.  add  "and  heavenly."         7  Omitted  by  R.  C. 

8  R  C.  "  But  those  which  had  been  constructed  in  the  Temple, 
which  were  over  the  mercy-seat  of  the  Ark."  Besides  the  two 
Cherubim  of  solid  gold  which  Moses  placed  on  the  two  ends  of  the 
Mercy-seat  (Ex.  xxxvii.  7  ff.),  Solomon  set  "within  the  oracle" 
two  Cherubim  of  olive  wood  overlaid  with  gold,  ten  feet  high 
with  outstretched  wings  overshadowing  the  Ark(i  Kings  vi.  23 — 
26  ;  viii,  6,  7).  All  these  were  either  carried  off  or  destroyed, 
when  Nebuchadnezzar  took  away  "  all  the  treasures  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord  "  and  "cut  in  pieces  all  the  vessels  of  gold  which 
Solomon,  King  of  Isr.ael,  had  made  in  the  Temple  of  the  Lord" 
(2  Kings  xxiv.  13  :  I  Esdras  i.  54  ;  2  Esdras  x-  22).  The  Bene- 
dictine editor  is  concerned  because  Cyril  has  paid  no  attention 
to  the  strange  fiction  in  2  .Mai  cabces  ii.  4,  that  Jeremy  the  Prophet 
"commanded  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Ark  to  go  with  him"  to 
Mount  Horeb,  and  there  hid  them,  with  the  Altar  of  Incense, 
in  a  hollow  cave,  to  remain  "unknown  until  the  time  that  God 
gathers  His  jieople  again  together." 

9  The  Greek  word  rendered  "Sanctuary"  is  t\  a.-^ii>i<rovr\, 
literally  "  the  holiness," 

»  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  7. 

*  R.  C.  "  The  veil  of  the  Sanctuary  he  tore  down,  he  overturned 
the  altar,  and  took  all  the  vessels  and  caft'ied  them  away  to  an 
idol  temple.     The  Temple  itself  he  burned." 

3  R.  C.  Aftenvards  he  was  turned  into  a  wild  beast:  "he 
who  was  like  .a  wild  beast  and  most  cruel  in  diNpo>ilion  ;  but 
he  was  turned  into  a  wild  beast,  not  that  he  might  perish,  but  that 
by  rejjentance  he  might  be  saved," 

4  R.  C.  "  of  birds."    See  Dan,  iv,  33. 

5  R,  C.  "  after  the  midst  of  the  lurnace  had  become  to  Ananias 
and  his  comjianions  as  the  tinkling  breath  of  rain,  he  saw  and 
believed  not." 

6  R.  C.  "  But  afterwards  he  came  to  his  senses  and  repented, 
as  he  says  himself." 


LECTURE    II. 


13 


mine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  I  blessed  the  Most 
High,  and  to  Him  thai  liveth  for  ever  I  gave 
praise  and  glory  t.  When,  therefore,  he  recog- 
nised the  Most  High  8,  and  sent  up  these  words 
of  thankfulness  to  God,  and  repented  himself  for 
what  he  had  done,  and  recognised  his  own 
weakness,  then  God  gave  back  to  him  the 
honour  of  the  kingdom. 

19.  What  then  9?  When  Nabuchodonosor, 
after  having  done  such  deeds,  had  made  con- 
fession, did  God  give  him  pardon  and  the 
kingdom,  and  when  thou  repentest  shall  He 


7  Dan.  iv.  34. 

8  R.  C.  '■  And  after  he  had  been  scourged  many  years,  he  gave 
praise  to  Him  that  liveth  for  ever,  and  acknowledged  Him  that  had 
given  him  the  i<ingdom,  and  recognised  the  King  of  kings.  And 
though  he  had  often  sinned  in  deeds,  on  making  confession  only  in 
words,  he  received  the  benefit  o)  God's  unspeakable  loving-kindness. 
He  who  was  of  all  men  most  wicked,  by  the  Divine  judgment  and 
loving-kindness  oi  God  who  chastised  him,  crowned  himself  again 
with  the  royal  diadem,  and  recovered  his  imperial  throne." 

9  R.  C.  "  If  then  there  is  present  among  you  any  from  among  the 
Heathen  who  has  ever  spoken  evil  against  Christians,  or  in  times 
of  persecution  plotted  against  the  Holy  Churches,  let  him  take 
Nabuchodonosor  as  an  example  of  salvation  :  let  him  confess  in 
like  manner,  that  he  may  also  find  the  like  forgiveness.  If  any 
has  been  defiled  by  lust  and  passions,  let  him  take  up  the  repent- 
ance of  the  blessed  David  :  if  any  has  denied  like  Peter,  let  him 
die  like  him  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  For  He  who  to 
his  tears  begrudged  not  the  Apostleship,  will  not  refuse  thee 
the  gospel  mysteries.  And  for  women  let  Rahab  be  a  pattern 
unto  salvation,  and  for  men  the  manifold  examples  mentioned 
of  the  men  of  old  times. 


not  give  thee  the  remission  of  sins,  and  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  if  thou  live  a  worthy  life  ? 
The  Lord  is  loving  unto  man,  and  swift  to 
pardon,  but  slow  to  punish.  Let  no  man 
therefore  despair  of  his  own  salvation.  Peter, 
the  chiefest  and  foremost  of  the  Apostles, 
denied  the  Lord  thrice  before  a  little  maid : 
but  he  repented  himself,  and  wept  bitterly. 
Now  weeping  shews  the  repentance  of  the 
heart  :  and  therefore  he  not  only  received 
forgiveness  for  his  denial,  but  also  held  his 
Apostolic  dignity  unforfeited. 

20.  Having  therefore,  brethren,  many  ex- 
amples of  those  who  have  sinned  and  repented 
and  been  saverl,  do  ye  also  heartily  make  con- 
fession unto  the  Lord,  that  ye  may  both 
receive  the  forgiveness  of  your  former  sins,  and 
be  counted  worthy  of  tlie  hea\enly  gift,  and 
inherit  the  heavenly  kingdom  with  all  the 
saints  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  to  Whom  is  the  glory 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen  ^ 


«  R.C.  "Andbeye  all  of  good  hope,  having  regard  to  the  loving- 
kindness  of  God  ;  not  that  we  may  fall  back  into  the  same  sins, 
but  that  having  had  the  benefit  ol  redemption,  and  lived  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  His  grace,  we  n)ay  be  able  to  blot  out  the  hand- 
writing that  is  against  us  l)y  good  works  ;  in  the  power  of  the 
Only-begotten,  the  Son  of  God,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with 
whom  be  glory  to  the  Father,  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  both  now  and 
ever,  and  unto  all  the  ages  of  eternity.     Amen." 


LECTURE    III. 


On  Baptism. 


Romans   vi.    3,   4. 
Or  knciv  ye  not  thtt  all  we  who  wsre  baptized  into  Christ  Jesus  were  baptized  info  His  deathl 
were  buried  therefore  with  Him  by  our  baptism  irtto  deaths  d^c. 


1 .  Rejoice^  ye  heavens,  and  let  the  earth  be  glad ', 
for  those  who  are  to  be  sprinkled  with  hyssop, 
and  cleansed  with  the  spiritual^  hyssop,  the 
power  of  Him  to  whom  at  His  Passion  drink 
was  offered  on  hyssop  and  a  reed 3.  And  while 
ihe  Heavenly  Powers  rejoice,  let  the  souls  that 
are  to  be  united  to  the  spiritual  Bridegroom 
make  themselves  ready.  For  the  voice  is  heard 
of  one  crying  in  the  wildertiess,  Prefiare  ye  the 
ivay  of  the  Lord^.  For  this  is  no  light  matter, 
no  ordinary  and  indiscriminate  union  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh  5,  but  the  All-searching  Spirit's 
election  according  to  faith.  For  the  inter- 
marriages and  contracts  of  the  world  are  not 
made  altogether  with  judgment:  but  wherever 
there  is  wealth  or  beauty,  there  the  bridegroom 
speedily  approves  :  but  here  it  is  not  beauty  of 
])erson,  but  the  soul's  clear  conscience  ;  not 
the  condemned  Mammon,  but  the  wealth  of  the 
soul  in  godliness. 

2.  Listen  then,  O  ye  children  of  righteous- 
ness, to  John's  exhortation  when  he  says.  Make 
straight  the  way  of  the  Lord.  Take  away  all 
obstacles  and  stumbling-blocks,  that  ye  may 
walk  straight  onward  to  eternal  life.  Make 
ready  the  vessels^  of  the  soul,  cleansed  by  un- 
feigned iaith,  for  reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Begin  at  once  to  wash  your  robes  in  repentance, 
that  when  called  to  the  bride-chamber  ye  may 
be  found  clean.  For  the  Bridegroom  invites 
all  without  distinction,  because  His  grace  is 
bounteous ;  and  the  cry  of  loud-voiced  heralds 
assembles  them  all  :  but  the  same  Bridegroom 
afterwards  separates  those  who  have  come 
in  to  the  figurative  marriage.  O  may  none 
of  those  whose  names  have  now  been  en- 
rolled   hear    the    words.    Friend,   hoiv   earnest 


thou   iti   hither,   not 


having 


a 


wedding 


gar- 


'  Ps.  xcvi.  II. 

»  The  invisible  or  spiritii.nl  (lorjrdi)  hyssop  is  the  cleansing 
power  of  the  Holy  Gliost  in  llaptisni.     ComiKirc  Ps.  li.  7. 

3  S  Cyiil  here,  and  still  moie  empliaticnlly  in  ,\iii.  39,  dis- 
tinguishes the  hyssop  (Jolin  xix.  29)  from  the  ieJcl(.Mart.x.\vii.  48), 
irnplying  that  tlu:  sponge  fillcj  with  vinegar  was  Ijound  roinni 
with  hyssop,  and  then  fixed  on  a  reed.  Another  opinion  is  tliat 
the  reed  itself  was  that  of  hyssop.  See  Dictionary  of  the  Uible, 
"  Hyssop."  4  Js.  xl.  3.  5  trw/iia.Tioi'. 

'^  So  in  8  15,  the  soul  is  regarded  as  a  vessel  lor  receiving  grace. 


vient  7  ?  But  may  you  all  hear.  Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servant ;  thou  zu.ist  faithful  over 
a  few  things,  I  will  set  thee  over  many  ihifigs  : 
enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord^. 

For  now  meanwhile  thou  standest  outside 
the  door  :  but  God  grant  that  you  all  may  say, 
The  King  hath  brought  7ne  into  His  chamber  9, 
Let  my  soul  rejoice  in  the  Lord :  for  He  hath 
clot.-ed  me  with  a  garment  of  salvation,  and 
a  robe  of  gladness :  He  hath  crowned  me  with 
a  garland  as  a  bridegroom  ',  and  decked  me  with 
ornaments  as  a  bride :  that  the  soul  of  every  one 
of  you  may  be  found  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle 
or  any  such  tiling'^ ;  I  do  not  mean  before  you 
have  received  the  grace,  for  how  could  that  be  ? 
since  it  is  for  remission  of  sins  that  ye  have 
been  called  ;  but  that,  when  the  grace  is  to  be 
given,  yourconscience  being  found  uncondemned 
may  concur  with  the  grace. 

3.  This  is  in  truth  a  serious  matter,  brethren, 
and  you  must  approach  it  with  good  heed.  Each 
one  of  you  is  about  to  be  presented  to  CJod  be- 
fore tens  of  thousands  of  the  Angelic  Hosts  : 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  about  to  seal  3  your  souls  :  ye 
are  to  be  enrolled  in  the  army  of  the  Great 
King.  Therefore  make  you  ready,  and  equip 
yourselves,  by  putting  on  I  mean,  not  bright 
appareH,  but  piety  of  soul  with  a  good 
conscience.  Regard  not  the  Laver  as  simple 
water,  but  rather  regard  the  spiritual  grace 
tliat  is  given  with  the  water.  For  just  as 
the  offerings  brought  to  the  heaihen  altars  s, 
though  simple  in  their  nature,  become  clefilecl 
by  the  invocation  of  the  idols  ^,  so  contrariwise 


7  Matt.  xxii.  12.  8  Matt.  xxv.  12.  9  Cant.  i.  4. 

'  Is.  l.\i.  n.  Compare  Cant.  iii.  ir  :  Go  forth,  O ye  daughters 
flfZion  and  behold  King;  So/01/ioit,  with  the  crown  ivherewith  his 
mother  hath  crowned  liiin  in  the  day  0/  his  es/>0!tsals.  In  the 
psssage  of  Isaiuli  the  bridegiojni's  crown  is  liUencd  to  tlie  priestly 
mitre.  a  Eph.  v.  7. 

3  See  Index,  "Seal."  4  Index,  ''White." 

5  Puiixol^  ii.scd  of  heathen  altars  only,  in  Septnagint  and'N.T. 

*  Ijoth  here  and  ni  xix.  7,  Cyril  speaks  of  tilings  offcied  to 
idols  jnst  as  S.  Paul  in  i  Cor,  x.  20.  The  Benediction  of  the  water 
of  Baptism  is  found  in  the  A/'Ostolic  Constitutions  vii.  43  :  ''  Look 
down  from  heaven,  and  .sanctiiy  this  water,  and  give  it  grace  and 
power,  tliat  so  he  that  is  to  he  Ijaptized  accuidiiig  to  the  command 
ol  Thy  Oirist.  may  be  crucified  with  Him,  ami  may  die  with  Him, 
and  he  buried  with  Him  and  may  rise  with  Him  to  the  adoption 
wliich  is  in  Him,  that  he  may  be  dead  to  sin  and  live  to  righteous- 
ness." 


LECTURE   III. 


15 


the  simple  water  having  received  the  invoca- 
tioji  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  Father,  acquires  a  new  power  of  holiness. 

4.  For  since  man  is  of  twofold  nature, 
soul  and  body,  the  purification  also  is  two- 
fold, the  one  incorporeal  for  the  incorporeal 
part,  and  the  other  bodily  for  the  body  :  the 
water  cleanses  the  body,  and  the  Spirit  seals 
the  soul ;  that  we  may  draw  near  unto  God, 
having  onr  heart  sprinkled  by  the  Spirit,  and  our 
body  washed  with  pure  7vaterT.  When  going 
down,  therefore,  into  the  water,  think  not  of  the 
bare  element,  but  look  for  salvation  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  for  without  both 
thou  canst  not  possibly  be  made  perfect  ^.  It 
is  not  I  that  say  this,  but  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  who  has  the  power  in  this  matter : 
for  He  saith,  Except  a  man  be  born  anew  (and 
He  adds  the  words)  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit, 
he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God^.  N  either 
doth  he  that  is  baptized  with  water,  but  not 
found  worthy  of  the  Spirit,  receive  the  grace  in 
perfection ;  nor  if  a  man  be  virtuous  in  his 
deeds,  but  receive  not  the  seal  by  water,  shall 
he  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  A  bold 
saying,  but  not  mine,  for  it  is  Jesus  who  hath 
declared  it :  and  here  is  the  proof  of  the  state- 
ment from  Holy  Scripture.  Cornelius  was 
a  just  man,  who  was  honoured  with  a  vision  of 
Angels,  and  had  set  up  his  prayers  and  alms- 
deeds  as  a  good  memorial '  before  God  in 
heaven.  Peter  came,  and  the  Spirit  was 
poured  out  upon  them  that  believed,  and  they 
spake  with  other  tongues,  and  prophesied  :  and 
after  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  the  Scripture  saith 
that  Peter  coinmatided  them  to  be  baptized  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ^:  in  order  that,  the  soul 
having  been  born  again  by  faith  3^  the  body 
also  might  by  the  water  partake  of  the  grace. 

5.  But  if  any  one  wishes  to  know  why  the 
grace  is  given  by  water  and  not  by  a  different 
element,  let  him  take  up  the  Divine  Scrii>tures 
and  he  shall  learn.  For  water  is  a  grand  thing, 
and  the  noblest  of  the  four  visible  elements  of 
the  world.  Heaven  is  the  dwelling-place  of 
Angels,  but  the  heavens  are  from  tlie  waters'*: 
the  earth  is  the  place  of  men,  but  the  earth  is 
from  the  waters :  and  before  the  whole  six  days' 
formation  of  the  things  that  were  made,  the 
Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  ivafer^. 
The  water  was  the  beginning  of  the  world, 


7  Heb.  X.  22. 

8  See  tlie  note  on  "  the  twofold  grace  perfected  by  water  and 
the  Spirit, '■  at  the  end  of  this  Lecture.         _  9  John  iii.  3. 

'  (rn)Aij,  Sept.  A  pillar  of  stone,  bearing  an  inscription,  was 
a  common  form  of  memorial  among  the  Israelites  and  other  ancient 
nations.     See  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  "  Pillar." 

2  Acts  .X.  48. 

3  S.  Cyril  considers  that  Cornelius  and  his  friends  were  regene- 
rated, as  the  Apostles  were,  apart  from  Baptism  ;  as  August. 
Seriii.  269,  K.  2,  and  Chrysost.  in  Act.  Apost.  Horn.  25,  seem  to 
do.     R.  W.  C. 

4  Compare  ix.  5.  5  Gen.  i.  a. 


and  Jordan  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  tid- 
ings :  for  Israel  deliverance  from  Pharaoh  was 
through  the  sea,  and  for  the  world  deliverance 
from  sins  by  the  ivashing  of  water  with  the  word^ 
of  God.  Where  a  covenant  is  made  with  any, 
there  is  water  also.  After  the  flood,  a  cove- 
nant was  made  with  Noah  :  a  covenant  for 
Israel  from  Mount  Sinai,  but  ^vith  ivater,  and 
scarlet  7vooi,  and  hyssopT.  Elias  is  taken  up, 
but  not  apart  from  water :  for  first  he  crosses 
the  Jordan,  then  in  a  chariot  mounts  -the 
heaven.  The  high-priest  is  first  washed, 
then  offers  incense;  for  Aaron  first  washed, 
then  was  made  high-priest :  for  how  could 
one  who  had  not  yet  been  purified  by  water 
pray  for  the  rest?  Also  as  a  symbol  of  Bap- 
tism there  was  a  laver  set  apart  within  the 
Tabernacle. 

6.  Baptism  is  the  end  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  beginning  of  the  New.  For  its  author 
was  John,  than  whom  was  tione  greater  amonk^ 
tliem  that  are  born  of  women.  The  end  he  was 
of  the  Prophets  :  for  all  the  Prophets  and  the 
law  were  tintil  JoJui  ^:  but  of  the  Gospel  history 
he  was  the  first-fruit.  For  it  saith,  The  begin- 
ning of  the  Gospel  of  Jestis  Christ,  &c.  : 
John  came  baptizing  in  the  wilderness'^.  You 
may  mention  Ehas  the  Tishbite  who  was  taken 
up  into  heaven,  yet  he  is  not  greater  than 
John  :  Enoch  was  translated,  but  he  is  not 
greater  than  John  :  Moses  was  a  very  great 
lawgiver,  and  all  the  Prophets  were  admirable, 
but  not  greater  than  John.  It  is  not  I  that 
dare  to  compare  Prophets  with  Prophets  :  but 
their  Master  and  ours,  the  Lord  Jesus,  declared 
it :  Among  them  that  are  born  op  women  there 
hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John '^ :  He  saith 
not  "  among  them  that  are  born  oi  virgins,"  but 
of  women'^.  The  comparison  is  between  the 
great  servant  and  his  fellow-servants  :  but  the 
pre-eminence  and  the  grace  of  the  Son  is 
beyond  comparison  with  servants.  Seest  thou 
how  great  a  man  God  chose  as  the  first 
minister  of  this  grace? — a  nian  possessing 
nothing,  and  a  lover  of  the  desert,  yet  no 
hater  of  mankind  :  who  ate  locusts,  and  winged 
his  soul  for  heaven  3;  feeding  upon  honey,  and 
speaking  things  both  sweeter  and  more  salutary 
than  honey  :  clothed  with  a  garment  of  camel's 
hair,  and  shewing  in  himself  the  pattern  of 
the  ascetic  life  ;  who  also  was  sanctified  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  while  yet  he  was  carried  in  his 
mother's  womb.     Jeremiah  was  sanctified,  but 

6  Ephes.  V.  26.  7  Heb.  ix.  19.  8  Matt.  xi.  13. 

9  Mark  i.  i,  4.  '   Matt.  xi.  11. 

2  From  the  Clementine  Recognitions,  I.  54  and  60,  we  learn 
that  there  were  some  who  asserted  that  John  was  the  Christ,  and 
not  Jesus,  inasmuch  as  Jesus  Himself  declared  that  John  was 
greater  than  all  men.  and  all  Prophets.  The  answer  is  there  given, 
That  Jolin  was  greater  than  all  who  are  born  of  women,  yet  not 
greater  than  the  Son  of  Man. 

3  The  locust  being  winged  suggests  the  idea  of  growing  wings 
for  the  soul.      Is.  xl   31  ;  ■aitpo^Mnaovauv  us  a^roi. 


i6 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES 


did  not  prophesy,  in  the  womb*:  John  alone 
while  carried  in  the  womb  leaped  for  joys,  and 
though  he  saw  not  with  the  eyes  of  flesh,  knew 
his  Master  by  the  Spirit:  for  since  the  grace 
of  Baptism  was  great,  it  required  greatness  in 
its  founder  also. 

7.  This  man  was  baptizing  in  Jordan,  and 
there  went  out  unto  him  all  Jerusalem  ^,  to  enjoy 
the  fiist-fruits  of  baptisms  :  for  in  Jerusalem 
is  the  prerogative  of  all  things  good.  But 
learn,  O  ye  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  how  they 
that  came  out  were  baptized  by  him  .  confess- 
ing their  sins,  it  is  said  7.  First  they  shewed 
their  wounds,  then  he  applied  the  remedies, 
and  to  them  that  believed  gave  redemption 
from  eternal  fire.  And  if  thou  wilt  be  con- 
vinced of  this  very  point,  that  the  baptism  of 
John  is  a  redemption  from  the  threat  of  the 
fire,  hear  how  he  says,  O  generation  of  vipers, 
who  hath  warned  yon  to  flee  jrom  the  wrath  to 
come'^1  Be  not  then  henceforth  a  \'iper,  but  as 
thou  hast  been  formerly  a  viper's  brood,  put 
off,  saith  he,  the  slough  9  of  thy  former  sinful 
life.  For  every  serpent  creeps  into  a  hole  and 
casts  its  old  slough,  and  having  rubbed  off  the 
old  skin,  grows  young  again  in  body.     In  like 

.  manner  enter  thou  also  through  the  strait  and 
narrow  gate'^ :  rub  off  thy  former  self  by  fasting, 
and  drive  out  that  which  is  destroying  thee. 
Put  off  the  old  man  with  his  doings  ^,  and  quote 
that  saying  in  the  Canticles,  I  have  put  off  my 
coat,  hotv  shall  I  put  it  on  3? 

But  there  is  perhaps  among  you  some  hypo- 
crite, a  njan-p!easer,  and  one  who  makes  a 
pretejice  of  piety,  but  believes  not  from  the 
heart ;  having  the  hypocrisy  of  Simon  Magus  ; 
one  who  has  come  hither  not  in  order  to 
receive  of  the  grace,  but  *to  spy  out  what  is 
given  :  let  him  also  learn  from  John  :  And 
noiv  also  the  axe  is  laid  tint 0  the  root  of  the  trees, 
Every  tree  therefore  that  bringeth  not  forth  good 
fruit  is  hewn  down,  and  cast  i?i/o  the  fire'^. 
The  Judge  is  inexorable ;  put  away  thine 
hypocrisy. 

8.  V.'hat  then  must  you  do  ?  And  what  are 
the  fruits  of  repentance  %  Let  him  that  hath 
t7vo  coats  give  to  him  that  hath  noiie^ :  the 
teacher  was  worthy  of  credit,  since  he  was  also 
the  first  to  practise  what  he  taught :  he  was 
not  ashamed  to  speak,  for  conscience  hindered 
not  his  tongue  :  and  he  that  halh  meat,  let 
him  do  likewise.  W'ouldst  thou  enjoy  the  grace 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  yet  judgest  the  poor  not 


4  Jer.  i.  s.  5  Luke  i.  44.  *  Matt.  iii.  5. 

7  Matt.  iii.  6.  8  H,.  iii.  7. 

9  The  Cireek  word  (viTroarao'is)  is  used  by  Polybiiis  (xxxiv.  q) 
for  the  deposit  of  silver  irom  crushed  ore,  and  liy  J  lipijocrate-.  for 
any  sediment  or  deposit  Here  it  means,  as  the  context  clearly 
shews,  the  old  skin  cast  by  a  snake.     Conripa-e  ii.  5. 

'  Matt.  vii.  13,  14.  2  Col.  iii.  9. 

3  Cant.  V.  3.  In  the  Song,  this  saying  is  an  excuse  for  not 
rising  Irom  bed.     S.  Cyril  applies  it  in  a  dilferent  way. 

4  Matt.  iii.  10.  5  Luke  iii.  11. 


worthy  of  bodily  food  ?  Seekest  thou  the 
great  gifts,  and  impartest  not  of  the  small  ? 
Though  thou  be  a  publican,  or  a  fornicator, 
have  hope  of  salvation  :  the  publicans  and 
the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdo7?i  of  God  before 
you  ^.  Paul  also  is  witness,  saying,  Neither 
fornicators,  nor  adulterers,  nor  the  rest,  shall 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  And  such  were 
some  of  you :  but  ye  were  washed,  hit  ye 
were  sanctified''.  He  said  not,  such  are  some  of 
you,  but  such  were  sotne  of  you.  Sin  committed 
in  the  state  of  ignorance  is  pardoned,  but 
persistent  wickedness  is  condemned. 

9.  Thou  hast  as  the  glory  of  Baptism  the 
Son  Himself,  the  Only-begotten  of  God.  For 
why  should  I  speak  any  more  of  man  ?  John 
was  great,  but  what  is  he  to  the  Lord  ?  His 
was  a  loud-sounding  voice,  but  what  in  com- 
parison with  the  Word?  Very  noble  was  the 
herald,  but  what  in  comparison  with  the 
King  ?  Noble  was  he  that  baptized  with 
water,  but  what  to  Him  that  baptizeth  7vith 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  ^  ?  The  Saviour 
baptized  the  Apostles  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire,  when  suddenly  there  came  a  sound 
from  heaven  as  of  the  rushing  of  a  mighty  wind, 
and  it  filled  all  the  house  where  they  were 
sitting.  And  there  appealed  utito  them  clovcfi 
tongues  like  as  of  fire:  and  it  sat  upon  each  one 
of  them,  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  9. 

10.  If  any  man  receive  not  Baptism,  he  hath 
not  salvation ;  except  only  Martyrs,  who'  even 
without  the  water  receive  the  kingdom.  For 
when  the  Saviour,  in  redeeming  the  world  by 
His  Cross,  was  pierced  in  the  side,  He  shed 
forth  blood  and  water  ;  that  men,  living  in 
times  of  peace,  might  be  baptized  in  water, 
and,  in  times  of  persecution,  in  their  own 
blood.  For  martyrdom  also  the  Saviour  is 
wont  to  call  a  baptism,  saying,  Can  ye  drink 
the  cup  which  I  drink,  and  be  baptized  with  the 
baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with '  ?  And  the 
M  artyrs  confess,  by  being  made  a  spectacle  unto 
the  world,  and  to  Angels,  and  to  mc?i  ^;  and  thou 
wilt  soon  confess  : — but  it  is  not  yet  the  time 
for  thee  to  hear  of  this. 

11.  Jesus  sanctified  Baptism  by  being  Him- 
self baptized.  If  the  Son  of  God  was  baptized, 
what  godly  man  is  he  that  despiseth  Baptism  ? 
But  He  was  baptized  not  that  He  might 
receive  remission  of  sins,  for  He  was  sinless; 
but  being  sinless.  He  was  baptized,  that  He 
might  give  to  them  that  are  baptized  a  divine 
antl  excellent  grace.  For  since  the  children  are 
partakers  of  flesh  and  blood.  He  also  Himself 
likavise partook  of  the  same'i,  that  having  been 


6  Matt.  xxi.  31. 
9  Acts  ii.  2 


7  I  Cor.  vi.  9,  10. 
I  M.irk  X.  38. 
3  Heb.  ii.  14. 


8  Matt.  iii.  11. 
I  Cor.  iv.  9. 


LECTURE    III. 


17 


made  partakers  of  His  presence  in  the  flesh, 
we  might  be  made  partakers  also  of  His  Divine 
grace :  thus  Jesus  was  baptized,  that  thereby 
we  again  by  our  participation  might  receive 
both  salvation  and  honour.  According  to 
Job,  there  was  in  tae  waters  the  dragon  that 
draiae'/i  up  Jordan  into  his  mouth  *.  Since, 
therefore,  it  was  necessary  to  bre:ik  the  heads  of 
the  drciiron  in  pieces  5,  He  went  down  and  bound 
the  strong  one  in  the  waters,  that  we  might 
receive  power  to  tread  upon  serpents  and 
scorpions^.  The  beast  was  great  and  terrible. 
No  fishing-vessel  tvas  able  to  carry  one  scale  of 
his  tail^ :  destruction  ran  before  hmi  ^,  ravaging 
all  that  met  him.  The  Life  encountered  him, 
that  the  mouth  of  Death  might  henceforth  be 
stopped,  and  all  we  that  are  saved  might  say,  O 
deaths  where  is  thy  sting  'I  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  9  /  The  sting  of  death  is  drawn  by 
Baptism. 

12.  For  thou  goest  down  into  the  water, 
bearing  thy  sins,  but  the  invocation  of  grace  % 
having  sealed  thy  soul,  suffereth  thee  not  after- 
wards to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  terrible 
dragon.  Having  gone  down  dead  in  sins,  thou 
comest  up  quickened  in  rigiiteousness.  For  if 
thou  hast  been  united  with  the  likeness  of  the 
Saviour's  death  ^,  thou  shalt  also  be  deemed 
worthy  of  His  Resurrection.  For  as  Jesus 
took  upon  Him  the  sins  of  the  world,  and  died, 
that  by  putting  sin  to  death  He  might  rise 
again  in  righteousness ;  so  thou  by  going 
down  into  the  water,  and  being  in  a  manner 
buried  in  the  waters,  as  He  was  in  the  rock, 
art  raised  again  walking  in  newness  of  life 'i. 

13.  Moreover,  when  thou  hast  been  deemed 
worthy  of  the  grace.  He  then  giveth  thee 
strength  to  wrestle  against  the  adverse  powers. 
For  as  after  His  Baptism  He  was  tempted  forty 
days  (not  that  He  was  unable  to  gain  the 
victory  before,  but  because  He  wished  to  do 
all  things  in  due  order  and  succession),  so 
thou  likewise,  though  not  daring  before  thy 
baptism  to  wrestle  with  the  adversaries,  yet 
after  thou  hast  received  the  grace  and  art 
henceforth  confident  in  the  armour  of  righteous- 
ness^, must  then  do  battle,  and  preach  the 
Gospel,  if  thou  wilt. 

14.  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  yet 
He  preached  not  the  Gospel  before  His  Bap- 
tism. If  the  Master  Himself  followed  the  right 
time  in  due  order,  ought  we,  His  servants,  to 


•♦  Job  xl.  23.  S  Ps.  Ixxiv.  14.  fi  Luke  x.  19. 

7  Job  xl.  26.  in  the  Sept.  in  place  of  xli.  7:  Canst  thou  fill  his 
skin  witli  barbed  irons,  or  his  head  with  fish  spears?  (A.V.  and 
R.V.) 

8  Job  xli.  13,  Sept.  but  in  R.V.  xli.  22  :  And  terror  danceth 
before  him.  9  i  Cor.  xv.  55. 

'  Compare  III.  3,  and  see  Index,  "  Baptism."        ^  Rom.  vi.  5. 

3  Rom.  vi.  4.  Iii--tead  of  "  mi'jht  rise  again  "  (Roe.  Casaub. 
Mon.),  the  older  Editions  have  "might  raise  thee  up,"  which 
is  less  appropriate  in  this  part  of  the  sentence. 

4  2  Cor.  vi.  7. 


venture  out  of  order?  From  that  time  Jesus 
began  to  preach  5,  when  the  Holy  Spirit  had  de- 
scended upon  Him  in  a  bodily  shape,  like  a  dove^ ; 
not  that  Jesus  might  see  Him  first,  for  He 
knew  Him  even  before  He  came  in  a  bodily 
shape,  but  that  John,  who  was  baptizing  Him, 
might  behold  Him.  For  /,  saith  he,  kneiv 
Him  not :  but  He  that  sent  me  to  baptize  with 
watc; ,  He  said  unto  me.  Upon  ivhomsoever  thou 
shalt  see  the  St)irit  descetiding  and  abidi?tg  on 
Him,  that  is  HeT.  If  thou  too  hast  unfeigned 
piety,  the  Holy  Ghost  cometh  down  on  thee 
also,  and  a  Father's  voice  sounds  over  thee 
from  on  high — not,  "  This  is  Afy  Son,'^  but, 
'•This  has  now  been  made  My  son  ;  "  for  the 
"«"  belongs  to  Him  alone,  because  In  the 
bennnino  tuas  the  Word,  and  the  IVord  was 
7i.iiih  Gi'd,  and  the  Word  was  God^.  To  Him 
belongs  the  "  is,'''  since  He  is  always  the  Son 
of  God  :  but  to  thee  "  has  now  been  made  :" 
since  thou  hast  not  the  sonship  by  nature,  but 
receivest  it  by  adoption.  He  eternally  "u;" 
but  thou  receivest  the  grace  by  advancement. 

15.  Make  ready  then  the  vessel  of  thy  soul, 
that  thou  mayest  become  a  son  of  God,  and 
an  heir  of  God,  and  joint-heir  with  Christ  9;  if, 
indeed,  thou  art  preparing  thyself  that  thou 
mayest  receive ;  if  thou  art  drawing  nigh  in 
faith  that  thou  mayest  be  made  faitnful ;  if  of 
set  purpose  thou  art  putting  off  the  old  man. 
For  all  things  whatsoever  thou  hast  done  shall 
be  forgiven  thee,  whether  it  be  fornication,  or 
adultery,  or  any  other  such  form  of  licentious- 
ness. What  can  be  a  greater  sin  than  to 
crucify  Christ  ?  Yet  even  of  this  Baptism  can 
purify.  For  so  spake  Peter  to  the  three  thou- 
sand who  came  to  him,  to  those  who  had 
crucified  the  Lord,  when  they  asked  him,  say- 
ing. Men  and  brethren,  ivhat  shall  we  do '  ? 
For  the  wound  is  great.  Thou  hast  made  us 
think  of  our  fall,  O  Peter,  by  saying,  Ye  killed 
the  Prince  of  Life  ^  What  salve  is  there  for  so 
great  a  wound  ?  What  cleansing  for  such 
foulness  ?  What  is  the  salvation  for  such  per- 
dition ?  Repent,  saith  he,  and  be  baptized  every 
one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghosts.  O  unspeakable 
loving-kindness  of  God  !  They  have  no  hope 
of  being  saved,  and  yet  they  are  thought  worthy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thou  seest  the  power  of 
Baptism  !  If  any  of  you  has  crucified  the 
Christ  by  blasphemous  words  ;  if  any  of  you 
in  ignorance  has  denied  Him  before  men  ;  if 
any  by  wicked  works  has  caused  the  doctrine 
to  be  blasphemed  ;  let  him  repent  and  be  of 
good  hope,  for  the  same  grace  is  present  even 
now. 


S  Matt.  iv.  17.        6  Luke  ill.  2a.        7  John  i.  33.        8  lb.  i.  r, 
9  Rom.  viii.  17.         »  Acts  ii.  37.         *  lb.  iii.  15.  3  lb.  ii.  58. 


VOL,  VII. 


c 


i8 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


1 6.  Be  of  good  courage,  O  Jerusalem;  the 
Lord  will  take  away  all  thine  iniquities  *.  The 
Lord  will  wash  atvay  the  filth  of  LLis  sons  and 
of  LLis  daughters  by  the  Spirit  of  judgment^  and 
by  the  Spirit  of  burning  s.  LLe  will  sprinkle  clean 
7vater  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  cleansed  from  all 
jour  sin  ^.  Angels  shall  dance  around  you,  and 
say,  IVho  is  this  that  cometh  up  in  white  array, 
leaning  upon  her  beloved  t  ?  For  the  soul  that 
was  formerly  a  slave  has  now  adopted  her 
Master  Himself  as  her  kinsman  :  and  He  ac- 
cepting the  unfeigned  purpose  will  answer : 
Behold,  thou  art  fair,  my  love  ;  behold,  thou  art 
fair  :  thy  teeth  are  like  flocks  of  sheep  new  shorn, 
(because  of  the  confession  of  a  good  con- 
science :  and  further)  which  have  all  of  them 
twins  ^  ;  because  of  the  twofold  grace,  I  mean 

4  Zeph.  iii.  14,  15.  5  Is.  iv.  4.  6  Ezek.  xxxvi.  25. 

7  Cant.  viii.  5,  Gr.  dSeA<^i6d>',  "  brother,"  "  kinsman." 

8  lb.  iv.  I,  2. 


that  which  is  perfected  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit  9,  or  that  which  is  announced  by  the  Old 
and  by  the  New  Testament.  And  God  grant 
that  all  of  you  when  you  have  finished  the 
course  of  the  fast,  may  remember  what  I  say, 
and  bringing  forth  fruit  in  good  works,  may 
stand  blameless  beside  the  Spiritual  Bride- 
groom, and  obtain  the  remission  of  your  sins 
from  God  ;  to  whom  with  the  Son  and  Holy 
Spirit  be  the  glory  for  ever.     Amen. 


9  The  Fathers  sometimes  speak  as  if  Baptism  was  primarily  the 
Sacrament  of  remission  of  sins,  and  upon  that  came  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  which  notwithstanding  was  but  begun  in  Baptism  and  com- 
pleted in  Confirmation.  Vid.  Tertullian.  de  Bapt.  7,  8,  supr.  i.  s 
Jin.  Hence,  as  in  the  text,  Baptism  may  be  said  to  be  macie  up  of 
two  gifts.  Water,  which  is  Christ  s  blood,  and  the  Spirit.  There  is 
no  real  difference  between  this  and  the  ordinary  way  of  speaking 
on  the  subject ; — Water,  which  conveys  both  gifts,  is  considered  as 
a  type  of  one  especially, — conveys  both  remission  of  sins  through 
Christ's  blood  and  the  grace  of  the  Spirit,  but  is  the  type  of  one, 
viz.  the  blood  of  Christ,  as  the  Oil  in  Confirmation  is  of  the  other 
And  again,  remission  of  sins  is  a  complete  gift  given  at  once,  sanc- 
tification  an  increasing  one.    (R.  W.  C.)    See  Index,  "  Baptism." 


LECTURE    IV. 


On  thk  Ten'  points  of  Doctrine. 


COLOSSIANS  ii.   8. 

Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of 

men,  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  ^'c. 


1.  Vice  mimics  virtue,  and  the  tares  strive 
to  be  thought  wheat,  growing  like  the  wheat 
in    appearance,   but  being  detected  by  good 
judges  from  the  taste.      The  devil  also  trans- 
figures himself  into  an  angel  of  li;fit  '^  ;  not  that 

he  may  reascend  to  where  he  was,  for  having 
made  his  heart  hard  as  an  anvil  "^^  he  has 
henceforth  a  will  that  cannot  repent ;  but  in 
order  that  he  may  envelope  those  who  are 
living  an  Angelic  life  in  a  mist  of  blindness, 
and  a  pestilent  condition  of  unbelief.  Many 
wolves  are  going  about  i7i  sheeps'  clothitrg  4, 
their  clothing  being  that  of  sheep,  not  so  their 
claws  and  teeth  :  but  clad  in  their'  soft  skin, 
and  deceiving  the  innocent  by  their  appear- 
ance, they  shed  upon  them  from  their  fangs 
the  destructive  poison  of  ungodliness.  We 
have  need  therefore  of  divine  grace,  and  of  a 
sober  mind,  and  of  eyes  that  see,  lest  from  eat- 
ing tares  as  wheat  we  suffer  harm  from  ignor- 
ance, and  lest  from  taking  the  wolf  to  be 
a  sheep  we  become  his  prey,  and  from  suppos- 
ing the  destroying  Devil  to  be  a  beneficent 
Angel  we  be  devoured  :  for,  as  the  Scripture 
saith,  he  goeth  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking 
whotn  he  may  devour^.  This  is  the  cause  of 
the  Church's  admonitions,  the  cause  of  the 
present  instructions,  and  of  the  lessons  which 
are  read. 

2.  For  the  method  of  godliness  consists  of 
these  two  things,  pious  doctrines,  and  virtuous 
practice  :  and  neitb-^r  are  the  doctrines  accept- 
able to  God  apart  from  good  works,  nor  does 

1  The  number  "  ten"  is  confirmed  by  Theodoret,  who  quotes 
the  article  on  Christ's  '  Birth  of  the  Virgin"  as  from  Cyril's  fourth 
Catechetical  Lecture  ''  On  the  ten  Doctrines."  The  MSS.  v.iry 
between  ''ten"  and  ''eleven,"  and  ditier  also  in  the  special  titles 
and  numeration  of  the  separate  Articles. 

2  2  Cor.  .\i.  14. 

3  Job  xli.  24,  Sept.  ;  xli.  15  :  17  KapSia  avrov  .  .  e<rTriKev  Sxritep 
aK/onoi/  oi/ijAaTOS.  These  statements  concerning  the  Devil  seem  to 
be  directed  against  Ori^en's  opinion  {De  Principiis  I.  2),  that  the 
Angels  "who  have  been  re.noved  from  their  primal  stateof  blessed- 
ness have  not  been  removed  irrecoverably."  The  question  is 
d  scussed,  and  the  opinions  of  several  P'athers  quoted,  by  Huet, 
Origeniana,  II.  c.  25. 

4  Matt.  vii.  15.  The  same  text  is  applied  to  Heretics  by 
Ignatius,  Philndelph.  ii.,  and  by  Irenaeus,  L.  I.  c.  i.   §  2. 

5  I  Pet.  V.  8. 


God  accept  the  works  which  are  not  perfected 
with  pious  doctrines.     For  what  profit  is  it, 
to  know  well  the  doctrines  concerning  God, 
and  yet  to  be  a  vile  fornicator?     And  again, 
what  profit  is  it,  to  be  nobly  temperate,  and 
an    impious   blasphemer?     A   most   precious 
possession  therefore  is  the  knowledge  of  doc- 
trines :  also  there  is  need  of  a  wakeful  soul, 
since  there  are  many  that  make  spoil  through 
philosophy  and  vain  deceit^.     The  Greeks  on 
the  one  hand  draw  men  away  by  their  smooth 
tongue,  for  honey  droppethfrom  a  harlofs  lips  i  : 
whereas  they  of  the  Circumcision  deceive  those 
who  come  to  them  by  means  of  the  Divine 
Scriptures,  which  they  miserably  misinterpret 
though  studying  them  from  childhood  to  oil  age  ^, 
and  growing  old  in  ignorance.     But  the  chil- 
!  dren    of  heretics,    by   their   good    words    and 
\  smooth  tongue,  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  innocejit  9, 
j  disguising  with  the  name  of  Christ  as  it  were 
with  honey  the  poisoned  arrows  '°  of  their  im- 
I  pious  doctrines  :   concerning  all  of  whom  to- 
Igether    the    Lord    saith,    Take    heed  lest  any 
man  mislead  you  '.     This  is  the  reason  for  the 
'  teaching   of  the   Creetl    and   for   expositions 
upon  it. 

3.  But  before  delivering  you  over  to  the 
Creed  ^,  I  think  it  is  well  to  make  use  at  present 
of  a  short  summary  of  necessary  doctrines ; 
that  the  multitude  of  things  to  be  spoken,  and 
the  long  interval  of  the  days  of  all  this  holy 
Lent,  may  not  cause  forgetfulness  in  the  mind 
of  the  more  simple  among  you ;  but  that, 
having  strewn  some  seeds  now  in  a  summary 
way,  we  may  not  forget  the  same  when  after- 
wards more  widely  tilled.  But  let  those  here 
present  whose   habit  of  mind  is  mature,  and 


6  Col.  ii.  8.  7  Prov.  v.  3. 

8  Is.  xlvi.  3.  Sept.  TratSeuo/xei'ot  ex  n-atSiou  iiji<i  yrjpb}^, 

9  Rom.  xvi.  17.     Cyril  has  euyAoiTTias  in  place  of  euAoyi'a?. 

10  Compare  Ignatius,  Trail,  vi.  '   M.Ttt.  xxiv.  4. 
*  Compare  Rom.  vi.   17:   "  that  form  0/  teaching  wkeieunto 

ye  were  delivered''  The  instruction  of  Catechimiens  in  the  Arti- 
cles of  the  Faith  was  commonly  called  the  "  Traditio  Symboli," 
or  "  Delivery  of  the  Creed." 


C  2 


20 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


who  have  their  senses  already  exercised  to  discern 
good  atid  evil^,  endure  patiently  to  listen  to 
things  fitted  rather  for  children,  and  to  an  in- 
troductory course,  as  it  were,  of  milk :  that  at 
the  same  time  both  those  who  have  need  of  the 
instruction  may  be  benefited,  and  those  who 
have  the  knowledge  may  rekindle  the  remem- 
brance of  things  which  they  already  know. 

L    Of  God. 

4.  First  then  let  there  be  laid  as  a  founda- 
tion in  your  soul  the  doctrine  concerning  God; 
that  God  is  One,  alone  unbegotten,  without  be- 
ginning, change,  or  variation'*;  neither  begotten 
of  another,  nor  having  another  to  succeed  Him 
in  His  life ;  who  neither  began  to  live  in  time, 
nor  endeth  ever :  and  that  He  is  both  good  and 
just ;  that  if  ever  thou  hear  a  heretic  say,  that 
there  is  one  God  who  is  just,  and  another  who 
is  goo  1 5,  thou  mayest  immediately  remember, 
and  discern  the  poisoned  arrow  of  heresy.  For 
some  have  impiously  dared  to  divide  the  One 
God  in  their  teaching:  and  some  have  said 
that  one  is  the  Creator  and  Lord  of  the  soul, 
and  another  of  the  body  ^  :  a  doctrine  at  once 
absurd  and  impious.  For  how  can  a  man 
become  the  one  servant  of  two  masters,  when 
our  Lord  says  in  the  Gospels,  No  man  can 
serve  two  mastersT  1  There  is  then  One  Only 
God,  the  Maker  both  of  souls  and  bodies  : 
One  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  the 
Maker  of  Angels  and  Archangels  :  of  many 
the  Creator,  but  of  One  only  the  Father  before 
all  ages, —  of  One  only,  His  Only-begotten 
.Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  Whom  He 
made  all  things  visible  a7id  invisible  ^. 

5.  This  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is 
not  circumscribed  in  any  placed,  nor  is  He  less 
than  the  heaven  ;  but  the  heavens  are  the  works 
of  His  fingers  ^°,  and  the  whole  earth  is  held  in 
His  grasp  "  .•  He  is  in  all  things  and  around  all. 
Think  not  that  the  sun  is  brighter  than  He  ',  or 

3  Heb.  V.  14. 

4  Compare  Hermn<:,  Mandnt.  i.  Athan.  E/ist.  de  Decreiis 
Nic.  Syn.  xxii.  :  oiiruj  Kal  to  drpeTTTOi/  (cal  ui/oAAot'wToi'  auToi' 
Avoj.  <r<o9i)<r€Tai.  So  Aristotle  {Metrt/>/iys.  XI.  c  iv.  13)  de- 
scribes the  First  Cause  as  on-a^c?  koX  avaWoCuirov. 

5  Irenseus,  I.  c.  xxvii.  says  that  Cerdo  taught  that  the  God 
of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  was  not  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  :  (or  that  He  is  known,  but  the  other  unknown,  and 
the  one  is  just,  but  the  other  good.  Also  IlL  c.  25,  §  3  :  "' Marcion 
himself,  therefore,  by  dividing  (!od  into  two,  and  calling  the  one 
good,  and  the  other  judicial,  on  both  sides  puts  an  end  to  Deity." 
Compare  Tertullian,  c.  Marcion.  \.  2,  and  6;  Origen,  c.  Cels. 
iv.  54. 

o  This  tenet  was  held  by  the  Manichaeans  and  other  heretics, 
and  is  traced  back  to  the  A|)Ostolic  age  by  I'.'shop  Pearson  {Ex- 
position of  the  Creed,  Art.  i.  p.  79,  note  c).  Cumpaie  Atlianasius 
ic.  Apollinarium,  L  21  ;  II.  8  ;  c.  Gentcs,  ^  6;  de  Incaruattone, 
8  2,  in  this  series,  and  Augustine  (f.  Faitstuin,  xx.  15,  21,  and 
xxi.  4). 

7  Matt.  vi.  24  ;  Luke  xvi.  13.  ^  John  i.  3  ;  Col.  i.  16. 

9  S.  Auj.  in  Vs.  Ixxv.  6  :  Si  in  aliquo  loco  e~set,  non  csset  Deus. 
Sermo  312:  Duus  habitando  continct  non  continetur.  Origen, 
c.  Cels.  vii.  34  :  •'  God  is  of  too  excellent  a  nature  for  any  plai  e  : 
He  holds  all  ihini^s  in  His  power,  and  is  Hiinscll  n(>t  confined  by 
anything  whatever.'  Compare  the  quotation  from  Sir  I^aac  New- 
ton's Principia,  in  the  note  on  Cat.  vi.  8.  '"  Ps.  viii.  3. 

"  Is.  xl.  12.  '  See  Cat.  xv.  3,  and  note  there. 


equal  to  Him  :  for  He  who  at  first  formed  the 
sun  must  needs  be  incomparably  greater  and 
brighter.  He  foreknoweth  the  things  that  shall 
be,  and  is  mightier  than  all,  knowing  all  things 
and  doing  as  He  will ;  not  being  subject  to  any 
necessary  sequence  of  events,  nor  to  nativity, 
nor  chance,  nor  fate  ;  in  all  things  perfect,  and 
equally  possessing  every  absolute  form^  of  virtue, 
neither  diminishing  nor  increasing,  but  in  mode 
and  conditions  ever  the  same ;  who  hath 
prepared  punisliment  for  sinners,  and  a  crown 
for  the  righteous. 

6.  Seeing  then  that  many  have  gone  astray 
in  divers  ways  from  the  One  God,  some  having 
deified  the  sun,  that  when  the  sun  sets  they 
may  abide  in  the  night  season  without  God  ; 
others  the  moon,  to  have  no  God  by  day  3; 
others  the  other  parts  of  the  world  4 ;  others  the 
artsS;  others  their  various  kinds  offood^;  others 
their  pleasures? ;  while  some,  mad  after  women, 
have  set  up  on  high  an  image  of  a  naked  wo- 
man, and  called  it  Aphrodite^,  and  worshipped 
their  own  lust  in  a  visible  form;  and  others  daz- 
zled by  the  brightness  of  gold  have  deified  it?  and 
the  other  kinds  of  matter; — whereas  if  one  lay  as 
a  first  foundation  in  his  heart  the  doctrine  of  the 
unity'°  of  God,  and  trust  to  Him,  he  roots  out 
at  once  the  whole  crop  '  of  the  evils  of  idolatry, 
and  of  the  error  of  the  heretics  :  lay  thou,  there- 
fore, this  first  doctrine  of  religion  as  a  founda- 
tion in  thy  soul  by  faith. 

Of  Christ. 

7.  Believe  also  in  the  Son  of  God,  One  and 
Only,   our   Lord   Jesus  Christ,    Who  was  be- 

2  iSe'ai'.  Cyril  uses  the  word  in  the  Platonic  sense,  as  in  the 
next  sentence  he  adopts  the  formula,  h  hich  Plato  commonly  uses 
in  describing  the  "idea:"  ael  Kara  to.  avra.  Kal  cocravrus  ex*"** 
Phaed.  78  c. 

3  Job  xxxi.  26,  27.  The  worship  of  Sun  and  Moon  under 
various  names  was  almost  universal. 

4  Gaea  or  Tellus,  the  earth  ;  Zeus  or  Jupiter,  the  sky  ;  rivers, 
fountains,  Arc. 

5  Mu>ic,  Medicine,  Hunting,  War,  Agriculture,  Metallurgy, 
><'c.,  represented  by  Apollo,  Aesculapius,  Diana,  Mars,  Ceres, 
Vulcan. 

0  Herodotus,  Book  II.,  describes  the  Egyptian  worship  of 
various  birds,  fishes,  and  quadrupeds.  Leeks  and  onions  also 
were  held  sacred  :  Porrum  et  caepe  nelas  viulare,  Juv.  Sat.  xv.  9. 
Compare  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Protrcpt.  c.  ii.  §  39,  Klotz. 

7  Eros,  Dionysus. 

8  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Protrepi.  c.  iv.  §  53,  Klotz)  states 
that  the  courtesan  Phryne  was  taken  as  a  model  for  Aphrodite. 
"  Praxiteles  when  fashioning  the  statue  of  AphroiUte  of  Cnidus 
made  it  like  the  form  of  Cratine  his  paramour."    Ibid. 

9  Plutus. 

10  TTJs  /iovapxtas  Tou  Oeov.  See  note  on  the  title  of  Cat.  VI. 
Praxcas  made  use  of  the  term  "Monarchy"  to  exclude  the  Son 
(and  the  Spirit)  from  the  Godhead.  Tertullian  in  his  treatise 
against  Praxeas  maintains  the  true  doctrine  that  the  Son  is  no 
obstacle  to  the  "  Monarchy,"  because  He  is  of  the  substance  of 
the  Father,  does  nothing  without  the  Father's  will,  and  has  re- 
ceived all  po'ver  'rom  the  Father,  to  Whom  He  will  in  the  end 
deliver  up  the  kiiigcjoin.  In  this  sense  Dionysius,  Hishopof  Rome, 
speaks  of  the  Divine  Monarchy  as  "'that  most  sacred  doctrine  of 
tiie  Chinch  of  tjod.  "  Compare  .Athanas.  de  Decretis,  Nic.  SyJi. 
c.  vi.  §  3.  and  Dr.  Newman's  note.  In  Orat.  iv.  c.  Arian.  p.  606 
(617).  Atlianasius  derives  the  term  from  apx'i.  in  the  sense  of 
"  beginning  :  "  ovtws  fica  ap\ij  Scottjto?  /cat  oil  &vo  apxai,  '66(v 
Kvpiui<;  (cai  ^l.ovapxi■o■  icrriv.  See  the  full  discussion  of  Momr- 
chlanism  in  At/iiin,)sius,  p.  xxiii.  ff.  in  this  series,  and  Newman  s 
Introduction  to  Athan.  Or.  iv. 

1  For  4>opdi'  (liened.)  many  MSS.  read  <j>$opav,  "  corruption." 


LECTURE   IV. 


21 


gotten  God  of  God,  begotten  Life  of  Life,  be-  of  reason,  the  Word  who  heareth  the  Faih 


gotten  Light  of  Light  %  Who  is  in  all  things  hke^ 
to  Him  that  begat,  Who  received  not  His  be- 
ing in  time,  but  was  before  all  ages  eternally 
and  incomprehensibly  begotten  of  the  Father: 
The  Wisdom  and  the  Power  of  God,  and  His 
Righteousness  personally  subsisting  4  ;  Who  sit- 
teth  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  before  all 


cr, 


and  Himself  speaketh.  And  on  these  points, 
should  God  permit,  we  will  speak  more  at 
large  in  due  season ;  for  we  do  not  forget  our 


ages. 


For  the  throne  at  God's  right  hand  He  re- 
ceived not,  as  some  have  thought,  because  of 
His  patient  endurance,  being  crowned  as  it 
were  by  God  after  His  Passion  ;  but  through- 
out His  being,— a  being  by  eternal  genera- 
tion 5, — He  holds  His  royal  dignity,  and  shares 
the  Father's  seat,  being  God  and  Wisdom  and 
Power,  as  hath  been  said;  reigning  together 
with  the  Father,  and  creating  all  things  for  the 
Father,  yet  lacking  nothing  in  the  dignity  of 
Godhead,  and  knowing  Him  that  hath  be- 
gotten Him,  even  as  He  is  known  of  Him 
that  hath  begotten  ;  and  to  speak  briefly,  re- 
member thou  what  is  writteii  in  the  Gospels, 
that  none  knoiveth  the  Son  but  the  Father,  neiiher 
knoweth  any  the  Father  save  the  Son  ^. 

8.  Further,  do  tliou  neither  separate  7  the 
Son  from  the  Father,  nor  by  making  a  con- 
fusion believe  in  a  Son-Fatherhoocl  ^  ;  but 
believe  that  of  One  God  there  is  One  Only- 
begotten  Son,  who  is  before  all  ages  God  the 
Word  ;  not  Uie  uttered  9  word  diffused  into  the 
air,  nor  to  be  likened  to  impersonal  words '  ; 
but  the  Word  the  Son,  Maker  of  all  wlio  partake 


present    purpose    to 
duction  to  the  Faith. 


give   a   summary   mtro- 


*  Compare  xi.  4,  9,  18. 

3  Tov  d^ioioi'  Kara  TravTa  Ttjj  yevvrnTavTi.  On  the  meaning  and 
history  of  this  phrase,  propu-sLcJ  by  the  Semi-Aiians  at  the  Cuuncil 
of  Ariminum  as  a  substitute  ior  6iJ.oovai.ov,  see  Athan.  de  Syn.  §  8 
igg. 

4  f run-do-TaTos.     Cf.  xi    10  ;  Athan.  c.  Afollinar.  I.  20,  2t. 

5  The  MSS.  vary  much,  but  I  have  followed  the  Benedictine 
text.  6  Matt.  xi.  27;  John  x.  15  ;  xvii.  25. 

7  This  was  a  point  earnestly  maintained  by  tlio  orthodox  Bi- 
shops at  Nicnea,  that  the  Son  begotten  of  the  substance  of  the 
Father  is  ever  mseparably  ui  the  Father.  Athan.  de  DecretU 
Syn.  c.  20  :  Tertullian  c.  Marc.  IV.  c.  6.  Cf.  I.unat.  ad  Trail,  vi. 
(Long  Recension)  :  -rov  fi.iv  yap  XpicTTOi/ dAAoTpiojcri.  toO  llarpos. 

8  vio.TaTopia.  A  term  nf  derision  applied  tj  the  doctrine  of 
Sabellius.  Compare  Atl  an  is.  Ex/ositio  Fidei,  c.  2:  ''neither 
do   we   imagine  a  Son-Fatuer,  as   the   Sabelli.ins."     See   index, 

YtOTTaTOjp. 

9  Adyos  TTpoi^opiKos,  the  term  used  by  Paul  of  Samosata,  implied 
that  the  Word  was  impersonal,  being  conceived  as  a  particular 
activity  of  God.  See  burner,  Person  oj  Christ,  Div.  I.  vol.  ii. 
p.  436  (English  Tr.):  and  compare  Athanasius,  K-xpositio  Fidei, 
C.  I  ;  vCov  k<  TOV  IlaTpo?  ava.p\u)^  Kat  aidiuis  yeyei'i  Jj/xeVop,  Aoyoc 
6i  ov  7rpo0opiKoi/,  ovK  erUdtleTOf.  Carainal  Newman  (Athan. 
c.  Ariancs,  I.  7,  note)  observes  that  some  Christian  writers  of  ihe 
2nd  century  "  ^eeni  to  speak  of  the  Divine  generation  as  taking 
place  immediately  before  the  creation  ol  the  world,  that  is,  as 
if  not  eternal,  though  at  the  same  time  they  teach  that  our  Lord 
existed  before  that  generation.  In  other  words  they  seem  to  teach 
t4at  He  was  the  Word  from  eternity,  and  became  the  Son  at  the 
beginning  of  all  things;  some  of  them  expressly  consider  ng  Him, 
(irst  as  the  Koyoi  ii'SiMeroi,  or  Reason,  in  the  Father,  or  (as  may 
be  speciously  lepresented)  a  mere  attribute;  next,  as  the  Aoyos 
^potftapiKc;,  or  Word.  ' 

The  terms  Adyoj  cVStdfleTos,  or  'word  conceived  in  the  mind,' 
and  Aoyos  !rpo(|)jptK6;,  or  '  word  expressed  '  (emissuin,  or  prola- 
rtvinit),  were  111  use  among  the  Gnostics  {J ren.  IL  c.  12,  g  5). 
As  applied  to  the  Son  both  terms,  though  sometimes  used  in 
a  right  sense,  were  condemned  as  inadequatu.     Compare  xi.  10. 

■  ai/un-ocrrdrot?  Aovois.  Aihan.  c.  Arianas  Orat.  iv.  c.  8: 
Tra\Lv  OL  Ae'yoi'Tes  fjioyov  oi'o/i.a  etfat  vloif,  duovaiov  dk  Kal  dt/viro- 
(TTaTov  cLi/cu  Toi/  vlov  TOV  ©eoii,  /c.  r.A. 


Concerning  His  Birth  of  the  Virgin. 

9.  Believe  then  that  this  Only-begotten  Son 
of  God  for  our  sins  came  down  from  heaven 
upon  earth,  and  took  upon  Him  this  human 
nature  of  like  passions^  with  us,  and  was  be- 
gotten of  the  Holy  Virgin  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  was  made  Man,  not  in  seeming 
and  mere  show  3,  but  in  truth  ;  nor  yet  by  pas- 
sing through  the  Virgin  as  through  a  channel*; 
but  was  of  her  made  truly  Hesh,  [and  truly 
nourished  with  milk  s],  and  did  truly  eat  as 
we  do,  and  truly  drink  as  we  do.  For  if  the 
Incarnation  wa.s  a  phantom,  salvation  is  a 
phantom  also.  The  Christ  was  of  two  natures, 
Man  in  what  was  seen,  but  God  in  what  was 
not  seen  ;  as  Man  truly  eadng  like  us,  for  He 
had  the  like  feeling  of  the  flesh  with  us  ;  but 
as  God  feeding  the  five  thousand  from  five 
loaves ;  as  Man  truly  dying,  but  as  God 
raising  him  that  had  been  dead  four  dnys  ; 
truly  sleeping  m  the  ship  as  Man,  and  walking 
upon  the  waters  as  God. 


Of  the  Cross. 

lo.  He  was  truly  crucified  for  our  sins. 
For  if  thou  wouldest  deny  it,  the  place  refutes 
thee  visibly,  this  blessed  Go.gotha^  in  which 
we  are  now  assembled  for  the  sake  of  Him 
who  was  here  crucified  ;  and  the  whole  world 
has  since  been  filled  with  pieces  of  the  wood  of 
the  Cross  ?.  But  He  was  crucified  not  for  sins 
of  His  own,  but  that  we  might  be  delivered 
from  our  sins.  And  though  as  Man  He  was 
at  that  time  despised  oJ  men,  and  was  buffeted, 
yet  He  was  acknowledged  by  the  Creation  as 
God :  for  when  the  sun  saw  his  Lord  dis- 
honoured, he  grew  dim  and  trembled,  not 
enduring  the  sight. 


2  oixoionaSy].     Compare  Acts  xiv.  15  ;  Jas.  v.  17. 

3  On  the  origin  of  tiie  Docetic  heresy,  see  vi.  14. 

4  Valentinus  the  Gnostic  taught  that  God  produced  a  Son  of 
an  animal  nature  who  ''  passed  through  Mary  just  as  water  through 
a  tube,  and  that  on  him  the  Saviour  descended  at  his  Baptism." 
irenaeus,  L  vii.  2. 

5  The  words  which  the  Benedictine  Editor  introduces  in 
brackets  are  lo-ind  in  Theodoret,  and  adopted  by  recent  Editors, 
with  Codd.  M.A. 

6  Kusebius,  I-i/e  o/Constantine,  iii.  28. 

7  The  discovery  of  the  "True  Cross"  is  related  with  many 
marvellous  particulars  by  Socrates,  Ecctes.  Hist.  i.  17  ;  and  Sozo- 
men,  E.H .  li.  i.  A  portion  was  said  to  have  been  left  by  Helena 
at  Jerusalem,  enclosed  in  a  silver  case  ;  and  another  portion  sent 
lO  Constantinople,  where  Coustantine  privately  enclosed  it  in  his 
own  statue,  to  be  a  safeguard  to  the  city.  Eusebius,  Life  n/ 
CoHsiantine,  iVi.  25 — 30,  gives  a  long  account  of  the  discovery 
of  the  Holy  Sepulcure,  but  makes  no  mention  of  the  Cross.  Cyril 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  record  it,  23  years  after.  Cf.  Greg. 
Nyss.  Bapt.  Christi{p.  519). 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


Of  His  Burial. 

11.  He  was  truly  laid  as  Man  in  a  tomb 
of  rock  ;  but  rocks  were  rent  asunder  by  terror 
because  of  Him.  He  went  down  into  the 
regions  beneatli  the  earth,  that  thence  also 
He  might  redeem  the  righteous^.  For,  tell 
me,  couldst  thou  wish  the  living  only  to 
enjoy  His  grace,  and  that,  though  most  of 
them  are  unholy  ;  and  not  wish  those  who 
from  Adam  had  for  a  long  while  been  im- 
prisoned to  have  now  gained  their  liberty? 
Esaias  the  Prophet  proclaimed  with  loud 
voice  so  many  things  concerning  Hmi  ; 
wouldst  thou  not  wish  that  the  King  should 
go  down  and  redeem  His  herald  ?  David  was 
there,  and  Samuel,  and  all  the  Prophets  9,  John 
himself  also,  who  by  his  messengers  said,  Art 
thou  He  that  should  come,  or  took  we  for 
another  "-"^  U'ouldst  thou  not  wish  that  He 
should  descend  and  redeem  such  as  these  % 

Of  the  Resurrection. 

12.  But  He  who  descended  into  the  regions 
beneath  the  earth  came  up  again  ;  and  Jesus, 
who  was  buried,  truly  rose  again  the  third 
day.  And  if  the  Jews  ever  worry  thee,  meet 
them  at  once  by  asking  thus  :  Did  Jonah 
come  forth  from  the  whale  on  the  third 
day,  and  hath  not  Christ  then  risen  from  the 
earth  on  the  third  day  %  Is  a  dead  man  raised 
to  life  on  touching  the  bones  of  Elisha,  and  is 
it  not  much  easier  for  the  Maker  of  man- 
kind to  be  raised  by  the  power  of  the  Father? 
Well  then.  He  truly  rose,  and  after  He  had 
risen  was  seen  again  of  the  disciples  :  and 
twelve  disciples  were  witnesses  of  His  Resur- 
rection, who  bare  witness  not  in  pleasing  words, 
but  contended  even  unto  torture  and  death 
for  the  truth  of  the  Resurrection.  What  then, 
shall  every  word  be  established  at  the  mouth  oj 
t7vo  or  three  witnesses ',  according  to  the  Scrip- 
ture, and,  though  twelve  bear  witness  to  the 
Resurrection  of  Christ,  art  thou  still  incredu- 
lous in  regard  to  His  Resurrection  ? 

Concerning  the  Ascension. 

13.  But  when  Jesus  had  finished  His  course 
of  patient  endurance,  and  had  redeemed  man- 
kind nom  their  sins.  He  ascended  again  into 
the  heavens,  a  cloud  receiving  Him  up:  and 
as  He  went  up  Angels  were  beside  Him,  and 
Apostles  were  beholding.  But  if  any  man 
disbelieves  the  words  which  I  speak,  let  him 
believe  the  actual  power  of  the  things  now 
seen.      All  kings  when    they   die   have  their 


8  Compare  xiv.  18,  19,  on  the  Descent  into  Hades. 

9  The  same   Old    IVstament  saints  are  named  in  xiv.   19,  as 
redeemed  by  Chnsi  in  Hades.  'o  M.Ttt.  xi.  3. 

'  Dcut.  xix.  15. 


power  extinguished  with  their  life  :  but  Christ 
crucified  is  worshipped  by  the  whole  world. 
We  proclaim  The  Crucified,  and  the  devils 
tremble  now.  Many  have  been  crucified  at 
various  times  ;  but  of  what  other  who  was 
crucified  did  the  invocation  ever  drive  the 
devils  away  ? 

14.  Let  us,  therefore,  not  be  ashamed  of 
the  Cross  of  Christ ;  but  though  another  hide 
it,  do  thou  openly  seal  it  upon  thy  forehead, 
that  the  devils  may  behold  the  royal  sign  and 
flee  trembling  far  away^  Make  then  this  sign 
at  eating  and  drinking,  at  sitting,  at  lying 
down,  at  rising  up,  at  speaking,  at  walking  : 
in  a  word,  at  every  act  3.  For  He  who  was 
here  crucified  is  in  heaven  above.  If  after 
being  crucified  and  buried  He  had  remained 
in  the  tomb,  we  should  have  had  cause  to  be 
ashamed;  but,  in  fact.  He  who  was  crucified 
on  Golgotha  here,  has  ascended  into  heaven 
from  the  Mount  of  Olives  on  the  East.  For 
after  having  gone  down  hence  into  Hades,  and 
come  up  again  to  us,  He  ascended  again  from 
us  into  heaven.  His  Father  addressing  Him, 
and  saying,  Sit  Thou  on  My  right  hand,  until 
I  ??iake  Thine  enemies  Thy  footstool  ^^ 

Of  Judgment  to  come. 

15.  This  Jesus  Christ  who  is  gone  up  shall 
come  again,  not  from  earth  but  from  heaven  : 
and  I  say,  "  not  from  earth,"  because  there 
are  many  Antichrists  to  come  at  this  time 
from  earth.  For  already,  as  thou  hast  seen, 
many  have  begun  to  say,  /  am  the  Christ  s  .•  and 
the  abomination  of  desolation^  is  yet  to  come, 
assuming  to  himself  the  false  title  of  Christ. 
But  look  thou  for  the  true  Christ,  the  Only- 
begotten  Son  of  God,  coming  henceforth  no 
more  from  earth,  but  from  heaven,  appearing  to 
all  more  bright  than  any  lightning  and  bril- 
liancy of  light,  with  angel  guards  attended, 
that  He  may  judge  both  quick  and  dead, 
and  reign  in  a  heavenly,  eternal  kingdom, 
which  shall  have  no  end.  For  on  this  point 
also,  I  pray  thee,  make  thyself  sure,  since  there 
are  many  who  say  that  Christ's  Kingdom 
hath  an  end  7. 


2  Justin  M.  Dialo<;iie  with  Trypho,  247  C  :  We  call  Him 
Helper  and  Redeemer,  the  power  of  whose  Name  even  demons 
do  fear;  and  at  this  day,  when  exorcised  in  ihe  name  of  Jc>us 
Christ,  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  Governor  of  Juda;a,  they 
are  overcome. 

3  Tertulli.in,  de  CoronA,  3  :  At  every  forward  step  and  move- 
ment, at  every  going  in  and  out,  when  we  put  on  our  clothes  and 
shoes,  when  we  bathe,  when  we  sit  at  table,  when  we  lieht  the 
lamps,  on  couch,  on  seat,  in  all  the  ordinary  actions  of  daily  life," 
we  trace  upon  the  forehead  the  Sign.  If  for  these,  and  other  such 
rules,  you  insist  upon  havinu  positive  Scripture  injunction,  you 
will  find  none.  Tradition  will  be  hold  forth  to  you  as  the  ori- 
ginator of  them,  custom  as  their  strengthener,  and  laith  as  their 
observer. 

4  Ps.  ex.  I.  5  Matt.  xxiv.  5. 

6  Malt.  xxiv.  15.     Compare  Cat.  xv.  9,  15. 

7  Compare  XV.  27,  where  the  tuUowers  of  Marcellus  of  Ancyra 
are  indicated  as  holding  this  opinion. 


LECTURE   IV. 


23 


Of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

16.  Believe  thou  also  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  hold  the  same  opinion  concerning  Him, 
which  thou  hast  received  to  //^/^ concerning  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  and  follow  not  those  who 
teach  blasphemous  things  of  Him  ^,  But  learn 
thou  that  this  Holy  Spirit  is  One,  indivisible, 
of  manifold  power  ;  having  many  operations, 
yet  not  Himself  divided  ;  Who  knoweth  the 
mysteries.  Who  searcheth  all  things,  even  the  deep 
things  of  God^ :  Who  descended  upon  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  form  of  a  dove;  Who  wrought 
in  the  Law  and  in  the  Prophets  ;  Who  now 
also  at  the  season  of  Baptism  sealeth  thy  soul ; 
of  Whose  holiness  also  every  intellectual 
nature  hath  need  :  against  Whom  if  a7iy  dare 
to  blaspheme,  he  hath  no  forgiveness,  neither  ifi 
this  world,  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come^  :  "  Who 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son  together  =  "  is 
honoured  with  the  glory  of  the  Godhead  :  of 
Whom  also  thrones,  and  dominions^  princi- 
palities, and  powers  have  need  3.  For  there  is 
One  God,  the  Father  of  Christ;  and  One 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Only-begotten  Son  of 
the  Only  God ;  and  One  Holy  Ghost,  the 
sanctifierand  deifier  of  alM,  Who  spake  in  the 
Law  and  in  the  Prophets,  in  the  Old  and  in 
the  New  Testament. 

17.  Have  thou  ever  in  thy  mind  this  seals, 
which  for  the  present  has  been  lightly  touched 
in  my  discourse,  by  way  of  summary,  but  shall 
be  stated,  should  the  Lord  permit,  to  the  best 
of  my  power  with  the  proof  from  the  Scriptures. 
For  concerning  the  divine  and  holy  mysteries 
of  the  Faith,  not  even  a  casual  statement  must 
be  delivered  without  the  Holy  Scriptures; 
nor  must  we  be  drawn  aside  by  mere  plausi- 
bility and  artifices  of  speech.  Even  to  me, 
who  tell  thee  these  things,  give  not  absolute 
credence,  unless  thou  receive  the  proof  of  the 
things  which  I  announce  from  the  Divine 
Scriptures.  For  this  salvation  which  we  believe 
depends  not  on  ingenious  reasoning^,  but  on 
demonstration  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Of  the  Soul. 

18.  Next  to  the  knowledge  of  this  vener- 
able  and   glorious   and   all-holy   Faith,   learn 


8  In  xvi.  6 — 10,  Cyril  gives  a  long  list  of  heresies  concerning 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

9  I  Cor.  ii.  10.  I  Matt.  xii.  32. 

2  This  clause  is  not  in  the  Creed  of  Nicjea,  but  is  added  in  the 
Creed  of  Constantinople,  a.d.  381.  3  Col.  i.  16. 

4  ffeoTrotov  is  omitted  in  Cudd.  Roe,  Casaubon,  and  A. 

5  The  Benedictine  Editor  argues  from  Cat.  i.  5,  "that  thou 
mayest  by  faith  seal  up  the  things  that  are  spoken  ;"  and  xxiii.  18  : 
"sealing  up  the  Prayer  by  the  Amen,"  that  Cyril  means  by  "  this 
seal  "  the  firm  belief  of  Christian  doctrine.  Compare  John  iii.  33. 
But  Milles  understands  by  the  "seal"  the  Creed  itself,  which 
agrees  better  with  the  following  context. 

*  n  a-iorppia  yap  oi/Ti)  t^s  Tri'tTTeajs  rj/jLuiv,  which  might  be  ren- 
dered, "this  our  s.dvation  by  faith,"  or,  with  Milles,  "this  safety 
of  our  Faith."  For  the  rendering  in  the  text,  compare  Heb.  iii.  i  : 
apX'epf'a  nis  OfioAoyias  riiJ.(ov.  On  evpecriKoyia,  see  Polybius  xviii. 
29,  §  3  :  Sia  ri}i  Trpos  oAAijAovs  evpe<j-i\oyCai. 


further  what  thou  thyself  art :  that  as  man  thou 
art  of  a  two-fold  nature,  consisting  of  soul  and 
body ;  and  that,  as  was  said  a  short  time  ago, 
the  same  God  is  the  Creator  both  of  soul  and 
body 7.  Know  also  that  thou  hast  a  soul  self- 
governed,  the  noblest  work  of  God,  made 
after  the  image  of  its  Creator^:  immortal  be- 
cause of  God  that  gives  it  immortality;  a  living 
being,  rational,  imperishable,  because  of  Him 
that  bestowed  these  gifts  :  having  free  power 
to  do  what  it  willeth  9.  For  it  is  not  according 
to  thy  nativity  that  thou  sinnest,  nor  is  it  by 
the  power  of  chance  that  thou  committest 
fornication,  nor,  as  some  idly  talk,  do  the 
conjunctions  of  the  stars  compel  thee  to  give 
thyself  to  wantonness  ^  Why  dost  thou  shrink 
from  confessing  thine  own  evil  deeds,  and 
ascribe  the  blame  to  the  innocent  stars  ?  Give 
no  more  heed,  pray,  to  astrologers ;  for  of 
these  the  divine  Scripture  saith,  Zet  the  star- 
gazers  of  the  heaven  stand  up  and  save  thee, 
and  what  follows :  Behold,  they  all  shall  be 
consumed  as  stubble  on  the  fire,  and  shall  not 
deliver  their  soul  from  the  fiame  ^. 

19.  And  learn  this  also,  that  the  soul,  before 
it  came  into  this  world,  had  committed  no  sin  3, 
but  having  come  in  sinless,  we  now  sin  of  our 
free-will.  Listen  not,  I  pray  thee,  to  any  one 
perversely  interpreting  the  words.  But  if  I  do 
that  which  I  would  not ■^:  but  remember  Him 
who  saith.  If  ye  be  willing,  and  hearken  unto 
Me,  ye  shall  eat  the  good  things  of  the  land  : 
but  if  ye  be  not  willing,  neither  hearken  unto 
Me,  the  stvord  shall  devour  you,  ^c.  s :  and 
again.  As  ye  presented  your  jnenibers  as  servants 
to  uncleanness  afid  to  iniquity  imto  iniquity,  even 
so  no7v  present  your  members  as  servants  to 
righteousness  u?ito  sanctift cation^.  Remember 
also  the  Scripture,  which  saith,  Eve?i  as  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge  7  : 
and,  That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  mani- 


7  IV.  4. 

8  In  the  Clementine  Homily  xvi.  i6,  the  soul  having  come  forth 
from  God,  clothed  with  His  breath,  is  said  to  be  of  the  same  sub- 
stance, and  yet  not  God.  In  Tertull.  c.  Mnrcion  II.  c.  9,  the  soul 
is  the  afflatus  (iri'or)  not  -nvivii-a)  of  God,  i.e  the  image  of  the 
Spirit,  and  inferior  to  it,  though  possessing  the  true  lineaments 
ot  divinity,  immortality,  freedom,  its  own  mastery  over  itself. 

9  Tertull.  c.  Marc.  H.  6:  It  was  proper  that  he  who  is  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God  should  be  formed  with  a  free  will,  and 
a  mastery  of  himself,  so  that  this  very  thing,  namely  freedom 
of  will  and  self-command,  might  be  reckoned  as  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God  in  him. 

1  Compare  Aug.  de  Civ.  Dei.  v.  i,  where  he  says  that  the 
astrologers  (Mathematicl)  say,  not  merely  such  or  such  a  position 
oi  Mars  signifies  that  a  man  will  be  a  murderer,  but  makes  him 
a  murderer.     See  Diet,  of  Christian  Antiq.,  "Astrology." 

2  Is.  xlvii.  13. 

3  "The  Orphic  poets  were  under  the  impression  that  the  soul 
is  suffering  the  punisliment  of  sin,  and  that  the  body  is  an  ei  • 
closure  or  prison  in  which  the  soul  is  incarcerated  and  kept 
(o-wferai)  as  the  name  <ru);ua  implies,  until  the  penalty  is  paid." 
Plato,  Cratyl.  400.  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Strom.  III.  iii.  17), 
after  referring  to  this  passage  of  Plato,  quotes  Philolaus  the  Pytha- 
gorean, as  saying  :  "  The  ancient  theologians  and  soothsayers  also 
testify  that  the  soul  has  been  chained  to  the  body  for  a  kind  of 
punishment,  and  is  buried  in  it  as  in  a  tomb."  *  Rom.  vii.  16. 

5  Is.  i.  19,  2o.  6  Rom.  vi.  19.  7  Rom.  i.  2S. 


24 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


feat  in  them^ ;  and  again,  their  eyes  they  have 
closed'^.  Also  remember  how  God  again  ac- 
cuseth  them,  and  saith.  Yet  I  planted  thee 
a  fniifful  vine,  wholly  true:  how  art  thou 
turned  to  bitterness,  thou  the  strange  vine '  ? 

20.  The  soul  is  immortal,  and  all  souls  are 
alike  both  of  men  and  women  ;  for  only  the 
members  of  the  body  are  distinguished-.  'I'here 
is  not  a  class  of  souls  sinning  by  nature,  and 
a  class  of  souls  practising  righteousness  by 
nature  3 :  but  both  act  from  choice,  the  sub- 
stance of  their  souls  being  of  one  kind  only, 
and  alike  in  all.  I  know,  however,  that  I  am 
talking  much,  and  that  the  time  is  already 
long :  but  what  is  more  precious  than  salva- 
tion ?  Art  thou  not  willing  to  take  trouble  in 
getting  provisions  for  the  way  against  the 
heretics  ?  And  wilt  thou  not  learn  the  bye- 
paths  of  the  road,  lest  from  ignorance  thou 
fall  down  a  precipice?  If  thy  teachers  think 
it  no  small  gain  for  thee  to  learn  these  things, 
shouldest  not  thou  the  learner  gladly  receive 
the  multitude  of  things  told  thee  ? 

21.  The  soul  is  self-governed:  and  though 
the  devil  can  suggest,  he  has  not  the  power  to 
compel  against  the  will.  He  pictures  to  thee 
the  thought  of  fornication  :  if  thou  wilt,  thou 
acceptest  it;  if  thou  wilt  not,  thou  rejectest. 
For  if  thou  wert  a  fornicator  by  necessity,  then 
for  what  cause  did  God  prepare  hell  ?  If  thou 
wert  a  doer  of  righteousness  by  nature  and 
not  by  will,  wherefore  did  God  prepare  crowns 
of  ineffable  glory  ?  The  sheep  is  gentle,  but 
never  was  it  crowned  for  its  gentleness :  since 
its  gentle  quality  belongs  to  it  not  from  choice 
but  by  nature. 

Of  the  Body. 

22.  Thou  hast  learned,  beloved,  the  nature 
of  the  soul,  ns  far  as  there  is  time  at  present : 
now  do  thy  best  to  receive  the  doctrine  of  the 
body  also.  Suffer  none  of  those  who  say  that 
this  body  is  no  work  of  God*:  for  they  who 
believe  that  the  body  is  independent  of  God, 
and  that  the  soul  dwells  in  it  as  in  a  strange 
vessel,  readily  abuse  it  to  fornication  s.  And 
yet  what  fault  have  they  found  in  this  wonder- 
lul  body?     For  what  is  lacking  in  comeliness? 


8  Rom.  i.  19.  9  Matt.  xiii.  15.  '  Jer.  ii.  21. 

2  Ap'-lks,  tiie  heretic,  attributed  ihe  difference  of  sex  to  llie 
sou),  which  ex  SI  in;;  belure  the  body  impressed  its  sex  upon  it. 
'rf;rtiill.  On  the  Soul,  c.  xxxvi. 

3  Ireiia:us  1.  vii.  5:  "  They  (the  Valentinians)  conceive  of  three 
kinds  of  men,  spiritual,  maten:il.  and  animal.... Ttioe  tliree  natures 
are  no  longer  found  in  one  person,  but  constitute  various  kinds  of 
men.  .  .  And  again  subdividing  the  animal  souls  themselves,  they 
say  that  some  are  by  nature  good,  and  others  by  nature  evil." 
CJriireti  on.  Romans,  Lib.  VJII.  §10:  "1  know  not  how  those  who 
loine  from  the  School  of  Valentinus  and  Uasilides  .  .  .  suppose 
that  there  are  souls  of  one  nature  which  nre  always  safe  and  never 
[icrish,  anil  others  which  always  perish,  and  are  never  saved." 

■1  .See  iv.  18. 

5  On  the  impure  practices  of  the  Manichees,  see  vi.  33,  34. 


And  what  in  its  structure  is  not  full  of  skill? 
Ought  they  not  to  have  observed  the  luminous 
construction  of  the  eyes?  And  how  the  ears 
being  set  obliquely  receive  the  sound  unhin- 
dered ?  And  how  the  smell  is  able  to  distin- 
guish scents,  and  to  perceive  exhalations  ? 
And  how  the  tongue  ministers  to  two  purposes, 
the  sense  of  taste,  and  the  power  of  speech  ? 
How  the  lungs  placed  out  of  sight  are  un- 
ceasing in  their  respiration  of  the  air?  Who 
imparted  the  incessant  pulsation  of  the  heart? 
Who  made  the  distribution  into  so  many  veins 
and  arteries?  Who  skilfully  knitted  together 
the  bones  with  the  sinews  ?  Who  assigned 
a  part  of  the  food  to  our  substance,  and 
separated  a  part  for  decent  secretion,  and  hid 
away  the  unseemly  members  in  more  seemly 
places?  Who  when  the  human  race  must 
have  died  out,  rendered  it  by  a  simple  inter- 
course perpetual ? 

23.  Tell  me  not  that  the  body  is  a  cause  of 
sin  ^,  For  if  the  body  is  a  cause  of  sin,  why 
does  not  a  dead  body  sin  ?  Put  a  sword  in 
the  right  hand  of  one  just  dead,  and  no 
murder  takes  place.  Let  beauties  of  every 
kind  pass  before  a  youth  just  dead,  and  no 
impure  desire  arises.  Why  ?  Because  the 
body  sins  not  of  itself,  but  the  soul  through 
the  body.  The  body  is  an  instniment,  and,  as 
it  were,  a  garment  and  robe  of  the  soul :  and  if 
by  this  latter  it  be  given  over  to  fornication,  it 
becomes  defiled :  but  if  it  dwell  with  a  holy 
soul,  it  becomes  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
It  is  not  J  that  say  this,  but  the  Apostle  Paul 
hath  said,  Know  ye  not,  that  your  bodies  are  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you  7  ?  Be 
tender,  therefore,  of  thy  body  as  being  a 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Pollute  not  thy 
flesh  in  fornication  :  defile  not  this  thy  fairest 
robe  :  and  if  ever  thou  hast  defiled  it,  now 
cleanse  it  by  repentance  :  get  thyself  washed, 
while  time  permits. 

24.  And  to  the  doctrine  of  chastity  let  the 
first  to  give  heed  be  the  order  of  Solitaries^  and 
of  Virgins,  who  maintain  the  angelic  life  in 
the  world  ;  and  let  the  rest  of  the  Church's 
people  follow  them.  For  yoLi,  brethren,  a 
great  crown  is  laid  up  :  barter  not  away  a  great 
dignity  for  a  petty  pleasure  :  listen  to  the 
Apostle  speaking:  Le^t  there  be  any  fornicator 
or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  w J  10  for  one  mess  of 


6  Fortunatus,  the  Manichee,  in  August.  Disptit.  ii.  20.  contra 

Foftnuat.  is  represented  as  saying,  Wiiat  we  assert  is  this,  that 
the  soul  is  compelled  to  sin  by  a  sub.«tance  of  contmry  nature. 

7  I  Cor.  vi.  19. 

8  y.ovu.CpvTi'i.  Compare  xii.  33  ;  xvi.  22.  The  origin  of  Monas- 
ticism  is  usually  traced  to  the  time  of  the  Decian  persecution,  tlie 
middle  of  the  third  century.  Previously  "there  were  no  monks, 
but  only  ascetics  in  the  Church  ;  from  that  time  to  the  reign  of 
Constanline,  Monachism  was  conhiifd  to  the  anchorets  living  in 
private  cells  in  the  wilderness  :  hut  when  Pachomius  had  erected 
monasteries  in  Egypt,  other  couniries  presenily  followed  the  ex- 
ample. .  .  .  Hilanon,  who  was  scholar  to  Anlonius.iwas  the  hrst 
monk  that  ever  lived  in  Palestine  or  Syria."    Bingham,  VII.  i.  4. 


LECTURE   IV. 


2S 


meat  sold  Ins  own  birthright '^.  Enrolled  hence- 
forth in  the  Angelic  books  for  thy  profession 
of  chastity,  see  that  thou  be  not  blotted  out 
again  for  thy  practice  of  fornication. 

25.  Nor  again,  on  the  other  hand,  in 
maintaining  thy  chastity  be  thou  puffed  up 
against  those  who  walk  in  the  humbler  ])ath  of 
matrimony.  For  as  the  Apostle  saith,  Lei 
marriage  be  had  in  honour  among  ad,  and  let  the 
bed  be  tmdefiled'^.  Thou  too  who  retainest  thy 
chastity,  wast  thou  not  begotten  of  those  who 
had  married  ?  Because  thou  hast  a  posses- 
sion of  gold,  do  not  on  that  account  reprobate 
the  silver.  But  let  those  also  be  of  good 
cheer,  who  being  married  use  marriage  law- 
fully ;  who  make  a  marriage  according  to 
God's  ordinance,  and  not  of  wantonness  for 
the  sake  of  unbounded  license  \  who  recog- 
nise seasons  of  abstinence,  that  they  may  give 
themselves  unto  prayer-' ;  who  in  our  assem- 
blies bring  clean  bodies  as  well  as  clean 
garments  into  the  Church  ;  who  have  en- 
tered upon  matrimony  for  the  procreation  of 
children,  but  not  for  indulgence. 

26.  Let    those   also   who   marry   but   once ! 
not    reprobate    those    who    have    consented  j 
to    a    second    marriage  3 :     for    though    con-  j 
tinence  is  a  noble  and  admirable  thing,  yet  it  | 
is   also   permissible  to   enter  upon   a  second 
marriage,    that   the   weak   may    not   fall   into 
fornication.     For  it  is  good  for  than,  saith  the 
Apostle,  if  they  abide  even  as  /.     But  if  they 
have  not  continency,  let  them  marry  :  for  it  is 
better  to  marry  than  to  burn'-.     But  let  all  the 
other  practices  be  banished  afar,  fornication, 
adultery,  and  every  kind  of  licentiousness  :  and 
let  tne  body  be  kept  pure  for  the  Lord,  that 
the  Lord  also  may  have  respect  unto  the  body. 
And  let  the  body  be  nourished  with  food,  that 
it  may  live,  and  serve  without  hindrance ;  not, 
however,  that  it  may  be  given  up  to  luxuries. 


9  Heb.  xii.  i6.  '  Heb.  xiii.  4.  ^  i  Cor.  vii.  5. 

3  The  condemnation  01  a  second  marriage,  which  the  Bene- 
dictine Editor  and  others  import  into  this  passage,  is  not  to  be 
found  in  it.  Toi/s  Seurepo)  ya^f  cru^nreptei'e;^SeVras  neither  means 
'■  qui  ad  secundas  nupiias  ultro  se  dejeceie,"  nor  even  "  wlio 
have  involved  themselves"  (R.W.C),  but  simply  "who  have 
consented  to," — or,  "'consented  together  in — a  second  mar- 
riage, '  without  any  intimation  of  censure.  See  V.  9;  VI.  13; 
Ecclus.  XXV.  i;  yvvr\  Kal  aj'Tjp  eavrot?  (rv/LiTr€pt{/)ep6/iei'oi j  ; 
2  Mace.  ix.  27;  Euseb.  HE.  ix.  9,  7:  dj'efcKOKfc);  Ka.<.  <jv\i.\xi- 
Tpojs  (Tv/jLTrepiipipoivTO  aiiTOis  ;  Zeno,  a/.  Diog.  Lnert.  vii.  18  ; 
TO  (7Vii.TrepL<j):psa6ai  rois  (|)i.'Aois.  Diog.  Lacrl.  vii.  13  :  eu- 
<rvfi.nepi(}>opo<;.  Polyb.  IV.  35,  §  7,  and  II.  17,  §  12.  The  gentle- 
ness with  which  Cyril  here  speaks  of  second  marriages  is  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  passionate  vehemence  ol  Tertulban  in  ' 
the  treatise  di  Monogainia.  and  elsewhere.  Aug.  cie  Hceresibus. 
cc.  26,  38,  reckons  tne  condemnation  of  second  marriage  among 
the  heretical  doctrines  of  the  Montanists  and  Cathan.  In  the  i 
\.xe.2X\%^de  Bono  Viduitatis,  c.  6,  he  argues  thai  a  second  marriage 
is  not  to  be  condemned,  but  is  less  honourable  than  widowhood, 
and  severely  rebukes  the  heretical  teaching  on  this  point  of 
TerluUian,  the  Moatanists,  and  the  Nnvatians.  De  Bono  Con- 
jugali,  c.  21  :  Sacramenium  nuptiarum  ti  mporis  nostri  sic  ad 
unum  virum  et  unam  uxorem  redacttmi  est,  ut  Ecdesiae  dispen- 
satorem  non  1  ceat  ordinare  nisi  unius  uxoris  virum.  On  the 
practice  01   the   Chin-ch    .it    various  times  see    Bingham,    IV.    v. 

I — 4  ;  Suicer,  Thesaur.  Aiyajuia. 

4  I  Cor.*  vii.  8,  9. 


Concerning  Meats. 

27.  And  concerning  food  let  these  be  your 
ordinances,  since  in  regard  to  meats  also  many 
stumble.  For  some  deal  indifferently  with 
things  offered  to  idols  s,  while  others  discipline 
themselves,  but  condemn  those  that  eat  :  and 
in  different  ways  men's  souls  are  defiled  in  the 
matter  of  meats,  from  ignorance  of  the  useful 
reasons  for  eating  and  not  eating.  For  we 
fast  by  abstaining  from  wine  and  flesh,  not 
because  we  abhor  them  as  abominations,  but 
because  we  look  for  our  reward;  that  having 
scorned  things  sensible,  we  may  enjoy  a 
spiritual  and  intellectual  feast  ;  and  that 
having  now  sown  in  tears  we  may  reap  in  joy  ^ 
in  the  world  to  come.  Despise  not  therefore 
them  that  eat,  and  because  of  the  weakness  of 
their  bodies  partake  of  food:  nor  yet  blame 
those  who  use  a  little  wine  for  their  stomach's 
sake  and  their  often  infrmitiesT :  and  neither 
condemn  the  men  as  sinners,  nor  abhor  the  flesh 
as  strange  food  ;  for  the  Apostle  knows  some  of 
this  sort,  when  he  says  :  forbidding  to  marry, 
and  commanding  to  abstain  from  meats,  which 
God  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  by 
them  that  believe'^.  In  abstaining  then  trom 
these  things,  abstain  not  as  from  things 
abominable  9,  else  thou  hast  no  reward :  but 
as  being  good  things  disregard  them  for  the 
sake  of  the  better  spiritual  things  set  before 
thee. 

28.  Guard  thy  soul  safely,  lest  at  any  time 
thou  eat  of  things  offered  to  idols  :  for  con- 
cerning meats  of  this  kind,  not  only  I  at 
this  time,  but  ere  now  Apostles  also,  and  James 
the  bishop  of  this  Church,  have  had  earnest 
care :  and  the  Apostles  and  Elders  write  a 
Catholic  epistle  to  all  the  Gentiles,  that  they 
sliould  abstain  first  from  things  offered  to  idols, 
and  then  Jrom  blood  also  and  from  things 
strangled^.  For  many  men  being  of  savage 
nature,  and  living  like  dogs,  both  lap  up 
bloody    in   imitation   of  the   manner  of  the 

5  The  Nicolaitans  (Apocal.  ii.  14,  20) ;  and  the  Valentinians, 

of  whom  IrenjEus  (II.  xiv.  5),  says  that  they  derived  their  opinion 
as  to  the  indifference  of  meats  from  the  Cynics.  See  also  Irenseus 
I.  vi.  3  ;  and  xxvi.  3. 

6  Ps.  cxxvi.  5.  7  I  Tim.  v.  23.  8  i  Tim.  iv.  3, 
9   The     various     sects    of    Gnostics,     and     the     IVIanichees, 

considered  certain  meats  and  drinks,  as  fle-h  and  wine,  to 
be  polluting.  Vid.  Iren.  Hcer.  i.  28.  Clem.  Pied.  ii.  2.  p.  186. 
Epiph. //<?r.  xlvi.  2,  xlvii.  i,  &c.,*&c.  Augu.^t.  HiBr.  46,  vid. 
Canon.  Apast.  43.  "'  If  any  Bishop,  &c.,  abstain  Irom  marriage, 
flesh,  and  wine,  not  for  discipline  St  acrxTjcrii')  but  as  abhorring 
them,  forgetting  that  they  are,  all  very  good,  &c.,  and  speaking 
blasphemy  against  the  creation,  let  him  amend  or  be  depo.sed,"  &c. 
R.  W.  C. 

1  Acts  XV.  20.  29.  The  prohibition  of  blood  and  things  stran> 
gled  has  continued  to  the  present  day  in  the  Eastern  Church, 
though  already  disregarded  by  the  Latins  in  the  lime  of  S.  Augus- 
tine (c.  Fanstum.  xxxii.  13). 

2  Tertullian  (^Apoiogeticus,  c.  9)  speaks  of  those  "  who  at  the 
gladiator  shows,  for  the  cure  of  epilepsy,  quaff  with  greedy  thirst 
the  blood  of  criminals  slain  in  the  arena,"  and  of  others  "who 
make  meals  on  the  llesh  of  wild  beasts  at  the  place  of  combat :  " 
and  contrasts  the  habits  of  Christians,  who  abstain  Irom  thing* 
strangled,  to  avoid  pollution  by  the  blood. 


26 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


fiercest  beasts,  and  greedily  devour  tilings 
strangled.  But  do  thou,  the  servant  of 
Christ,  in  eating  observe  to  eat  with  rever- 
ence.    And  so  enough  concerning  meats. 

Of  Apparel. 

29.  But  let  thine  apparel  be  plain,  not  for 
adornment,  but  for  necessary  covering:  not 
to  minister  to  thy  vanity,  but  to  keep  thee 
warm  in  winter,  and  to  hide  the  unseem- 
liness of  the  body  :  lest  under  pretence  of 
hiding  the  unseemliness,  thou  fall  into  another 
kind  of  unseemliness  by  thy  extravagant  dress. 

Of  the  Resurrection. 

30.  Be  tender,  I  beseech  thee,  of  this 
body,  and  understand  that  thou  wilt  be  raised 
from  the  dead,  to  be  judged  with  this 
body.  But  if  there  steal  into  thy  mind  any 
thought  of  unbelief,  as  though  the  thing  were 
impossible,  judge  of  the  things  unseen  by  what 
happens  to  thyself.  For  tell  me  ;  a  hundred 
years  ago  or  more,  think  where  wast  thou 
thyself:  and  from  what  a  most  minute  and 
mean  substance  thou  art  come  to  so  great 
a  stature,  and  so  much  dignity  of  beauty  3. 
What  then?  Cannot  He  who  brought  the 
non-existent  into  being,  raise  up  again  that 
which  already  exists  and  has  decayed +  ?  He 
who  raises  the  corn,  which  is  sown  for  our 
sakes,  as  year  by  year  it  dies,  —  will  He 
have  difficulty  in  raising  us  up,  for  whose 
sakes  that  corn  also  has  been  raised  s? 
Seest  thou  how  the  trees  stand  now  for  many 
months  without  either  fruit  or  leaves :  but 
when  the  winter  is  past  they  spring  up  whole 
into  life  again  as  if  from  the  dead  ^ :  shall  not 
we  much  rather  and  more  easily  return  to 
life?  The  rod  of  Moses  was  transformed 
by  the  will  of  God  into  the  unfamiliar  nature 
of  a  serpent :  and  cannot  a  man,  who  has 
fallen  into  death,  be  restored  to  himself 
again  ? 

31.  Heed  not  those  who  say  that  this  body 
is  not  raided  ;  for  it  is  raised  :  and  Ksaias  is 
witness,  when  he  says  :  The  dead  shall  arise, 
and  they  that  are  in  the  tombs  shall  awakeT  : 
and  according  to  Daniel,  Many  of  them  that 
sleep  ill  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  arise,  some  to 
e!>erlasting  life,  and  some  to  everlasting  shame  ^. 
But  though  to  rise  again  is  common  to  all 
men,  yet  the  resurrection  is  not  ahke  to  all  : 
for  the  bodies  received' by  us  all  are  eternal, 
but  not  like  bodies  by  all  :  for  the  just  receive 
them,  that   through    eternity    they   may  join 


3  XVIII.  9. 

4  Comp.ire  xviii.  6,  9 ;  Athenagoras,  On  the  Resitrrection  of 
the  Dead,  c.  3. 

5  XVIII.  6.     John  xii.  24  ;  I  Cor.  XV.  36.  6  XVIII.  7. 
7  Is.  xxvi.  19.                                      8  Dan.  xii.  2. 


the  Choirs  of  Angels  ;  but  the  sinners,  that 
they  may  endure  for  ever  the  torment  of  their 
sins. 

Of  the  Laver. 

32.  For  this  cause  the  Lord,  preventing  us 
according  to  Flis  loving-kindness,  has  granted 
repentance  at  Baptisms,  in  order  that  we  may 
cast  off  the  chief — nay  rather  the  whole  burden 
of  our  sins,  and  having  received  the  seal 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  be  made  heirs  of 
eternal  life.  But  as  we  have  spoken  suffi- 
ciently concerning  the  Laver  the  day  before 
yesterday,  let  us  now  return  to  the  remaining 
subjects  ot  our  introductory  teaching. 

Of  the  Divine  Scriptures. 

33.  Now  these  the  divinely-inspired  Scrip- 
tures of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Tes- 
tament teach  us.  For  the  God  of  the  two 
Testaments  is  One,  Who  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament foretold  the  Christ  Who  appeared  in 
the  New  ;  Who  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
led  us  to  Christ's  school.  For  before  faith  came, 
we  were  kept  in  ward  under  the  law,  and,  the 
law  hath  been  our  tutor  to  bring  us  unto 
Christ^.  And  if  ever  thou  hear  any  of  the 
heretics  speaking  evil  of  the  Law  or  the 
Prophets,  answer  in  the  sound  of  the  Saviour's 
voice,  saying,  Jesus  came  not  to  destroy  the 
Law,  but  to  fulfil  it^.  Learn  also  diligently, 
and  from  the  Church,  what  are  the  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  wdiat  those  of  the 
New.  And,  pray,  read  none  of  the  apocry- 
phal writings  3  :  for  why  dost  thou,  who  knowest 
not  those  which  are  acknowledged  among  all, 
trouble  thyself  in  vain  about  those  which  are 
disputed?  Read  the  Divine  Scriptures,  the 
twenty-two  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  these 
that  have  been  translated  by  the  Seventy-two 
Interpreters*. 


9  Gr.  AoWTpoD  ixeTa-voiav.  Other  readings  are  Mrpov  n-eravoCa^, 
"  retlomplioii  by  repentance,"  and  KovTp'ov  /leTaroias  ''a  laver 
(baptism)  of  r<.pent:iiice." 

'  G.il.  iii.  24.  The  naifiayuyo;  is  described  by  Clement  of 
Alexandria  {Paedag.  i.  7)  as  one  wlio  botli  conducts  a  boy  to 
school,  and  helps  to  teach  him,— an  usher:  "under-master" 
(Wicliff).  2  Matt.  V.  17. 

3  riov  anoKpv^uiv.  The  sense  in  which  Cyril  uses  this  term 
may  be  learned  from  Rufinus  (^Expositio  Symboli,  %  38),  who 
disaiiguisbes  thrc,  classes  of  books  :  (i)  The  Canoiiic.d  BooUs 
01  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which  alone  are  to  bo  Used 
in  proof  of  doctrine:  (2)  Ecclesiastical,  which  may  be  read  in 
Churches,  iiichiding  Wisdom,  Ecclesi.iticus.  Tobit,  Judiih,  and 
the  Books  of  the  IVlaccabces,  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  The 
Shepherd o\  Hcrmas,  and  Tlie  iivo  Ways  in  the  New  Test  imeiii. 
(3)  The  other  writings  they  called  "  .Apociyphal,  '  which  they 
would  not  have  road  in  Chuiches.  The  distinction  is  useliil, 
though  the  second  class  is  not  complete. 

4  The  original  source  of  this  account  of  the  Septuagint  version 
is  a  letter  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  Aristcas,  or  Aris- 
tseus,  a  confidential  minister  of  Ptolemy  Phihuielphus,  to  his 
brother  Philocrates.  Though  the  letter  is  not  rcgardetl  as  genuine 
its  statements  are  in  part  admitted  to  be  true,  being  confirmed 
by  a  fr.igiiient,  preserved  by  Kusel)in>i  (^/'riypayniio  Evan^elica, 
ix.  6).  of  a  work  of  Aristobulus.  a  Jewish  philosopher  who  wrote  in 
the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Philometor,  iSi — 146,  B  c.  Upon  the>e 
testimonies  it  is  generally  admitted  that  "  the  whole  Law,"  i.e.  the 
Pentateuch  was  translated  into  Greek  at  Ale.\andria  Ri  the  reign 


LECTURE   IV. 


27 


34.  For  after  the  death  of  Alexander,  the 
king  of  the  Macedonians,  and  the  division  of 
his  kingdom  into  four  principalities,  into  Baby- 
lonia, and  Macedonia,  and  Asia,  and  Egypt, 
one  of  those'  who  reigned  over  Egypt,  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  being  a  king  very  fond  of  learn- 
ing, while  collecting  the  books  that  were  in 
every  place,  heard  from  Demetrius  Phalereus, 
the  curator  of  his  library,  of  the  Divine  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  judged 
it  much  nobler,  not  to  get  the  books  from  the 
possessors  by  force  against  their  will,  but 
rather-  to  propitiate  them  by  gifts  and  friend- 
ship ;  and  knowing  that  what  is  extorted  is 
often  adulterated,  being  given  unwillingly, 
while  that  v/hich  is  willingly  supplied  is  freeiy 
given  with  all  sincerity,  he  sent  to  Eleazar,  who 
was  then  High  Priest,  a  great  many  gifts  for  the 
Temple  here  at  Jerusalem,  and  caused  him  to 
send  him  six  interpreters  from  each  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel  for  the  translation  s. 
Then,  further,  to  make  experiment  whether 
the  books  were  Divine  or  not,  he  took  precau- 
tion that  those  who  had  been  sent  should 
not  combine  among  themselves,  by  assign- 
ing to  each  of  .the  interpreters  who  had 
come  his  separate  chamber  in  the  island  called 
Pharos,  which  lies  over  against  Alexandria, 
and  committed  to  each  the  whole  Scriptures  to 
translate.  And  when  they  had  fulfilled  the 
task  in  seventy-two  da}s,  he  brought  together 
all  their  translations,  which  they  had  made  in 
different  chambers  without  sending  them  one 
to  another,  and  found  that  they  agreed  not 
only  in  the  sense  but  even  in  words.  For  the 
process  was  no  word-craft,  nor  contrivance  of 
human  devices :  but  the  translation  of  the 
Divine  Scriptures,  spoken  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
was  of  the  Holy  Ghost  accomplished. 

35.  Of  these  read  the  two  and  twenty  books, 
but  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  apocryphal 
writings.  Study  earnestly  these  only  which  we 
read  openly  in  the  Church.  Far  wiser  and 
more  pious  than  thyself  were  the  Apostles,  and 
the  bishops  of  old  time,  the  presidents  of  the 


either  of  Ptolemy  Soter  (323 — 285,  b.c.)>  or  of  his  son  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  (285 — 247,  B.c.)i  under  the  direction  of  Demetrius 
Phalereus,  curator  of  the  King  s  librarj'. 

5  Up  to  this  point  Cyril's  account  is  based  upon  the  statements 
of  the  Pseudo-Aristeas.  The  fabulous  incidents  which  follow, 
concerning  the  separate  cells,  the  completion  of  the  whole  version 
by  each  tran-lator,  the  miraculous  agreement  in  the  very  words, 
proving  a  Divine  inspiration,  are  found  in  Philo  Judaeus,  Life  0/ 
Moses,  II.  7.  Josephus,  Antiquities.,  XII.  c.  ii.  3 — 14,  loUowing 
the  letter  of  Aristeas,  gives  long  descriptions  of  the  magniticent 
presents  sent  by  Philadelphus  to  Jerusalem,  and  of  his  splendid 
hospitality  to  the  translators,  but  makes  no  allusion  to  the  separate 
cells  or  miraculous  agreement.  On  the  contrary  he  represents 
the  72  interpreters  as  meeting  together  for  consultation,  agreeing 
on  the  text  to  be  adopted,  and  completing  their  joint  labours  in 
72  days.  The  slightest  comparison  of  the  Version  with  the 
original  Hebrew  must  convince  any  reasonable  person  that  the  idea 
of  divine  inspiration  or  supernatural  assistance,  borrowed  by 
Justin  Martyr,  Irenseus,  and  other  Fathers,  apparently  I rom  Philo, 
is  a  mere  invention  of  the  imagination,  disproved  by  the  tacts. 
Compare  the  article  "Septuagint"  in  Murray's  Dictionary  of  the 
Bible. 


Church  who  handed  down  these  books. 
Being  therefore  a  child  of  the  Church,  trench  ^ 
thou  not  upon  its  statutes.  And  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  we  have  said,  study  the  two 
and  twenty  books,  which,  if  thou  art  desirous 
of  learning,  strive  to  remember  by  name,  as 
I  recite  them.  For  of  the  Law  the  books  of 
Moses  are  the  first  five,  Genesis,  Exodus, 
Leviticus,  Numbers,  Deuteronomy.  And  next, 
Joshua  the  son  of  Nave  7,  and  the  book  of 
Judges,  including  Ruth,  counted  as  seventh. 
And  of  the  other  historical  books,  the  first 
and  second  books  of  the  Kings  ^  are  among  the 
Hebrews  one  book ;  also  the  third  and  fourth 
one  book.  And  in  like  manner,  the  first  and 
second  of  Chronicles  are  with  them  one 
book  ;  and  the  first  and  second  of  Esdras  are 
counted  one.  Esther  is  the  twelfth  book  ;  and 
these  are  the  Historical  writings.  But  those 
which  are  written  in  verses  are  five,  Job,  and 
the  book  of  Psalms,  and  Proverbs,  and  Eccle- 
siastes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs,  which  is  the 
seventeenth  book.  And  after  these  come  the  five 
Prophetic  books  :  of  the  Twelve  Prophets  one 
book,  of  Isaiah  one,  of  Jeremiah  one,  including 
Baruch  and  Lamentations  and  the  Epistle?; 
then  Ezekiel,  and  the  Book  of  Daniel,  the 
twenty -bticond  of  the  Old  Testament. 

36.  Then  of  the  New  Testament  there  are 
the  four  Gospels  only,  for  the  rest  have  false 
titles'  and  are  mischievous.  The  Manicheeans 
also  wrote  a  Gospel  according  to  Thomas, 
which  being  tinctured  with  the  fragrance  of 
the  evangelic  title  corrupts  the  souls  of  the 
simple  sort.  Receive  also  the  Acts  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles ;  and  in  addition  to  these  the  seven 


6  The  rendering  "trench  not"  (R.W.C.)  agrees  well  with  the 
etymology  ol  the  verb  {Tiapaxa-pdcra-ia).  its  more  usual  signaica- 
tiun  seems  to  be  "  counterteit,"  "forge."  The  sense  required 
here,  apart  from  any  metaphor,  is  "  transgress"  (Heurtlcy). 

7  ine  name  "  Nun  "  is  represented  by  "  Nave  "  iu  the  ijeptua- 
gint,  which  Cyril  used. 

*  The  two  books  of  Samuel. 

9  The  Epistle  of  Jeremy,  which  now  appears  in  the  Apocrypha 
as  the  last  chapter  of  Baruch.  On  the  number  and  arrangement 
of  the  Books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  the  student  should 
consult  an  interesting  Essay  by  Processor  Sanday  {Stitdta  Biiiica, 
vol.  iii.),  who  traces  the  introduction  of  a  fixed  order  to  the  time 
when  papyrus  roils  were  superseded  by  codices,  in  which  the 
sheets  of  ski. i  were  folded  and  bound  together,  as  in  printed  books. 
This  ch.tnge  had  commenced  belore  tlie  Diocletian  persecution, 
A.D.  303,  when  among  the  sacred  books  taken  from  the  Christians 
codices  were  much  more  numerous  than  rolls.  On  the  contents 
of  the  Jewish  Canon,  see  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  "Canon." 
B.F.W.  "Josephus  enumerates  20  books  'which  are  justly  believed 
to  be  divine.'"  One  or"  the  earliest  attempts  by  a  Christian  to 
ascertain  correctly  the  number  and  order  of  the  Books  ot  the  O.T. 
was  made  by  Melito,  Bishop  ol  Sardis,  who  travelled  lor  this 
purpose  to  Palestine,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  2nd  Century.  His 
list  is  as  follows: — "Of  Mo^es  five  (books);  Genesis,  Exodus, 
Niimbers,  Leviticus.  Deuteronomy,  Jesus  son  of  Nave,  Judges, 
Ruth,  four  Books  of  Kmgs,  two  ol  Chronicles,  Psalms  of  David, 
Solomon's  Proverbs,  whicn  is  also  called  Wisdom,  Ecclesiastes, 
Song  of  Songs,  Job,  Prophets,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  the  Twelve 
in  one  Book,  Daniel,  Ezekiel,  Esdras."  (Eusebius,  H.E.  111. 
cap.  TO,  note  i,  in  this  series.)  Cyril's  List  agrees  with  that  of 
Athanasius  {Festal  Jipistle,  373  A.D.),  except  that  Job  is  placed 
by  Ath.  alter  Canticles  instead  ot  before  Psalms. 

1  Gr.  ijjev&e7rCypa(j>ai.  For  an  account  of  the  many  Apocryphal 
Gospels,  see  the  article  by  Lipsius  in  the  '•' Dic'ionary  o/Christian 
Biography ,"  Smith  and  Wace,  and  the  English  translations  in 
Clark's  Aiite-Nicene  Library. 


28 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


Catholic  Epistles  of  James,  Peter,  John,  and 
Jude;  and  as  a  seal  upon  them  all,  and  the 
last  work  of  the  disciples,  the  fourteen  Epistles 
of  Paul  ^  But  let  all  the  rest  be  put  aside  in 
a  secondary  rank.  And  whatever  books  are 
not  read  in  Churches,  these  read  not  even  by 
thyself,  as  thou  hast  heard  me  say.  Thus 
much  of  these  subjects. 

37.  But  slum  thou  every  diabolical  opera- 
tion, and  believe  not  the  apostate  Serpent, 
whose  transformation  from  a  good  nature 
was  of  his  own  free  choice  :  who  can  over- 
persuade  the  willing,  but  can  compel  no 
one.  Also  give  heed  neither  to  observa- 
tions of  the  stars  nor  auguries,  nor  omens, 
nor  to  the  fabulous  divinations  of  the  Greeks  3. 
Witchcraft,  and  enchantment,  and  the  wicked 
practices  of  necromancy,  admit  not  even  to 
a  hearing.  From  every  kind  of  intemper- 
ance  stand    aloof,   giving    thyself  neither   to 

»  Cyril  includes  in  this  list  all  the  hooks  which  we  receive, 
except  the  Apocalypse.  See  Bishop  Westcott's  Article,  ''  Canon," 
in  the  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  and  Origen's  Catalogue  in  Euseb. 
Hist.  vi.  25  (Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers,  vol.  i.). 

3  Compare  xix.  8.  where  all  such  acts  of  divination  are  said  to 
be  service  of  the  devil. 


gluttony  nor  licentiousness,  rising  superior  to 
all  covetousness  and  usury.  Neither  venture 
thyself  at  heathen  assemblies  for  public  spec- 
tacles, nor  ever  use  amulets  in  sicknesses ; 
shun  also  all  the  vulgarity  of  tavern-liaunting. 
Fall  not  away  either  into  the  sect  of  the 
Samaritans,  or  into  Judaism  :  for  Jesus  Christ 
henceforth  hath  ransomed  thee.  Stand  aloof 
from  all  observance  of  Sabbaths  4,  and  from 
calling  any  indifferent  meats  covinion  or  un- 
clean. But  especially  abhor  all  the  assem- 
blies of  wicked  heretics  ;  and  in  every  way 
make  thine  own  soul  safe,  by  fasting.s,  prayers, 
almsgivings,  and  reading  the  oracles  of  God  ; 
that  having  lived  the  rest  of  thy  life  in  the 
flesh  in  soberness  and  godly  doctrine,  thou 
mayest  enjoy  the  one  salvation  which  flows 
from  Baptism  ;  and  thus  enrolled  in  the  armies 
of  heaven  by  God  and  the  Father,  mayest  also 
be  deemed  worthy  of  the  heavenly  crowns,  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  to  Whom  be  the  glory 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


4  Compare  Gal.  iv.  lo,  "  Ye  olseive  days." 


LECTURE    V. 


Of  Faith. 

Hebrews  xi.  i,  2. 

Now  faith  IS  the  stil  stance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen. 
For  by  it  the  elders  obtained  a  good  report. 


1.  How  great  a  dignity  the  Lord  bestows  on 

you  in  transferring  you  from  tlie  order  of  Cate- 
cinnnens  to  that  of  the  Faithful,  the  Apostle 
Paul  shews,  when  he  affirms,  God  is  faithful, 
by  Whom  ye  were  called  into  the  fellowship  of 
His  Son  Jesus  Christ^.  For  since  God  is  called 
Faithful,  thou  also  in  receiving  this  title 
receivest  a  great  dignity.  For  as  God  is 
called  Good,  and  Just,  and  Almighty,  and 
Maker  of  the  Universe,  so  is  He  also  called 
Faithful.  Consider  therefore  to  what  a  dignity 
thou  art  rising,  seeing  thou  art  to  become 
partaker  of  a  title  of  God  ^. 

2.  Here  then  it  is  further  required,  that 
each  of  you  be  found  faithful  in  his  con- 
science :     for    a  faithful   man    it    is   hard   to 

find^:  not  that  thou  shouldcst  shew  thy 
conscience  to  me,  for  thou  art  not  to  be 
judged  of  ?nan's  judgnienf^ ;  but  that  thou 
shew  the  sincerity  of  thy  faith  to  God,  who 
trieth  the  reins  and  hearts^,  and  kno^veth  the 
thoughts  of  men  ^.  A  great  thing  is  a  faithful 
man,  being  richest  of  all  rich  men.  For  to 
the  faithful  tnan  belongs  the  7vhole  ivorld  of 
7t>ealth  7,  in  that  he  disdains  and  tramples  on  it. 
For  they  who  in  appearance  are  rich,  and  have 
many  possessions,  are  poor  in  soul  :  since  tlie 
more  they  gather,  the  more  they  pine  with 
longing  for  what  is  still  lacking.  But  the 
faithful  man,  most  strange  paradox,  in  poverty 
is  rich  :  for  knowing  that  we  need  only  to  have 
food  and  raiment,  and  being  there^vith  content^, 
he  has  trodden  riches  under  foot. 

3.  Nor  is  it  only  among  us,  who  bear  the 
name  of  Christ,  that  the  dignity  of  faith  is 
great  9 :  but  likewise  all  things  that  are  accom- 


»  1  Cor.  i.  9.  s  See  Procatfchesis  6,  and  Index,  Faithful. 

3  Prov.  XX.  6.  4  I  Cor.  iv.  3.     See  Index,  Confession. 

5  Ps.  vii.  9.  6  Ps.  xciv.  11. 

7  This  sentence  is  a  spurious  addition  to  the  text  of  the  Septua- 
Eint,  variously  placed  after  Prov.  xvii.  4,  and  xvii.  6.    The  thought 
IS  there  completed   by  the  antithesis,  btit  to  the  faithless  not  even  j 
an  obol.     The  origin  of  the  interpolation  is  unknown. 

8  I  Tim.  vi.  8. 

9  It  was  a  common  objection  of  Pagan  philosophers  that  the 
Christian  religion  was  not  founded  upon  reason  but  only  on  faith. 

Cyril's  answer  that  faith  is  necessary  in  the  ordinary  aflairs 


plished  in  the  world,  even  by  those  who  are 
aliens '  from  the  Church,  are  accomplished  b\- 
faith. 

By  faith  the  laws  of  marriage  yoke  together 
those  v;ho  have  lived  as  strangers  :  and  because 
of  the  faith  in  marriage  contracts  a  stranger  is 
made  partner  of  a  stranger's  person  and 
possessions.  By  faith  husbandry  also  is  sus- 
tained, for  he  who  believes  not  that  he  shall 
receive  a  harvest  endures  not  the  toils.  By 
faith  sea-faring  men,  trusting  to  the  thinnest 
plank,  exchange  that  most  soHd  element,  the 
land,  for  the  restless  motion  of  the  waves, 
committing  themselves  to  uncertain  hopes,  and 
carrying  with  them  a  faith  more  sure  than  any 
anchor.  By  faith  therefore  most  of  men's 
affairs  are  held  together  :  and  not  among  us 
only  has  there  been  this  belief,  but  also,  as  I 
have  said,  among  those  who  are  without  ^ 
For  if  they  receive  not  the  Scriptures,  but 
bring  forward  certain  doctrines  of  their  own, 
even  these  they  accept  by  faith. 

4.  The  lesson  also  which  was  read  to-dav 
invites  you  to  the  true  faith,  by  setting  before 
you  the  way  in  which  you  also  must  please  God  : 
for  it  affi'ms  that  luithout  faith  it  is  impossible  to 
please  Him^.  For  when  will  a  man  resolve  to 
serve  God,  unless  he  believes  that  He  is 
a  gi7>er  of  rewai-d  1  When  will  a  young  woman 
choose  a  virgin  life,  or  a  young  man  live 
soberly,  if  they  believe  not  that  for  chastity 
there  is  a  crown  thatjadeth  not  away  3  ?  Faith  is 
an  eye  that  enlightens  every  conscience,  and 


of  life  is  the  same  which  Origen  had  employed  against  Celsus 
(I.  ii):  "Why  should  it  not  be  more  reasonable,  since  all  human 
affairs  are  dependent  upon  faith,  to  believe  God  rather  than  men? 
For  who  takes  a  voyage,  or  marries,  or  begets  children,  or  casts 
seeds  into  the  ground,  without  believing  that  better  things  will 
result,  although  the  contrary  might  and  sometimes  does  happen?  ' 
See  also  Arnobius,  adverstts  Gentes,  II.  8  ;  and  Hooker's  allusion 
to  the  scornful  reproach  of  Julian  the  Apostate,  "  The  highest 
point  of  your  wisdom  is  belie'oe"  {Eccles.  Pol.  V.  Ixiii.  i.). 

I  By  "  aliens  from  the  Church,"  and  "  those  who  are  without," 
S.  Cyril  here  means  Pagans :  so  Tertullian,  de  Idololatria,  c.  xiv. 
But  the  latter  term  is  applied  to  a  Catechumen  in  Procatechesis, 
c.  12,  and  was  also  a  common  description  of  heretics:  see  Ter- 
tullian, de  Ba^tismo,  c  xv.  *  Heb.  xi.  6. 

3  I  Pet.  V.  4. 


30 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


imparts  understanding ;  for  tlie  Prophet  saith, 
And  if  ye  believe  not,  ye  shall  not  miderstafid  ^. 

Faith  stoppeth  the  mouths  of  lions  ^,  as  in 
Daniel's  case  :  for  the  Scripture  saith  concern- 
ing him,  that  Daniel  was  brought  up  out  of  the 
den,  and  no  manner  of  hurt  was  foimd  upon  him, 
because  he  believed  in  his  God^.  Is  there  any- 
thing more  fearful  than  the  devil  ?  Yet  even 
against  him  we  have  no  other  shield  than  faith  t, 
an  impalpable  buckler  against  an  unseen  foe. 
For  he  sends  forth  divers  arrrows,  and  shoots 
do7vn  in  the  dark  night ^  those  that  watch  not ; 
but,  since  the  enemy  is  unseen,  we  have  faith 
as  our  strong  armour,  according  to  the  saying 
of  the  Apostle,  In  all  things  talcing  the  shield  of 
faith,  70 herewith  ye  shall  be  able  to  quench  all  the 
fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one').  A  fiery  dart  of 
desire  of  base  indulgence  is  often  cast  forth 
from  the  devil :  but  faith,  suggesting  a  picture 
of  the  judgment,  cools  down  tb.e  mind,  and 
quenches  the  dart. 

5.  There  is  much  to  tell  of  faith,  and  the 
whole  day  would  not  be  time  sufficient  for 
us  to  describe  it  fully.  At  present  let  us  be 
content  with  Abraham  only,  as  one  of  the 
examples  from  the  Old  Testament,  seeing  that 
we  have  been  made  his  sons  through  faith. 
He  was  justified  not  only  by  works,  but  also 
by  faith ' :  for  though  he  did  many  things  well, 
yet  he  was  never  called  the  friend  of  God  2, 
except  when  he  believed.  Moreover,  his  every 
work  was  performed  in  faith.  Through  faith 
he  left  his  parents  ;  left  countr)'-,  and  place,  and 
home  through  faiths.  In  like  manner,  there- 
fore, as  he  was  justified  be  thou  justified  also. 
In  his  body  he  was  already  dead  in  regard  to 
offspring,  and  Sarah  his  wife  was  now  old,  and 
there  was  no  hope  left  of  having  children, 
(jod  promises  the  old  man  a  child,  and 
Abraham  without  being  weakened  in  faith, 
though  he  considered  his  own  body  now  as  good 
as  dcad'^,  heeded  not  the  weakness  of  his  body, 
but  the  power  of  Him  who  promised,  because 
he  counted  Him  faithful  who  had  promised '=,  and 
so  beyond  all  expectation  gained  the  child 
from  bodies  as  it  were  already  dead.  And 
when,  after  he  had  gained  his  son,  he  was  com- 


4  Is.  vii.g,  according  to  the  Septiiagint.  Rut  A.V.  and  R.V.both 
render  :  1/ ye  wiU  not  believe,  surely  ye  shall  not  be  established. 

5  Heb.  xi.  34.  *  Dan.  vi.  23. 

7  I  Pet.  V.  9  :   Whom  resist,  sted/ast  in  the/aith. 

8  Ps.  xi.  2,  that  they  may  shoot  in  darkness  at  the  uprisht 
in  heart  (R.V.).  The  Hebrew  word  ^f^J.},  signifyinR  deep  dark- 
ness (Job  iii.  6  ;  X.  22)  is  vigorously  rendered  by  the  Seventy 
o-KOTOnrjri),  which  is  exp!.^incd  by  the  SchoUost  on  Homer  (Od. 
xiv.  457  :  Ni>f  6'  ap"  (TT-ffkiii  (caxi)  aKOToy.r\vi.os)  to  be  the  deep  dark- 
ness of  the  night  preceding  the  new  moon. 

9  Eph.  vi.  16.  ,_■  1.    •     r       J   ■ 

»  James  ii.  zi.  Casaubon  omitted  /loi'ov,  which  is  fomid  in 
every  MS.,  thus  making  the  meaning  to  be,  "  He  was  jnsiified 
not  l.y  works  b\it  by  faitli,"  winch  directly  contradicts  the  state- 
ment of  S.  James,  and  is  inconsistent  with  the  following  context  in 
S.Cyril. 

2  James  ii.  23  ;  2  Chron.  xx.  7  ;  Is.  xli.  8 ;  Oen.  xv.  6. 

3  Heb.  xi.  8—10.  4  Rom.  iv.  19.  5  Heb.  xi.  11,  12. 


manded  to  offer  him  up,  although  he  had 
heard  the  word,  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called^, 
he  proceeded  to  offer  up  his  son,  his  only  son,  to 
God,  believing  that  God  is  able  to  raise  up  even 
from  the  deadT.  And  having  bound  his  son,  and 
laid  him  on  the  wood,  he  did  in  purpose  offer 
him,  but  by  the  goodness  of  God  in  delivering 
to  him  a  lamb  instead  of  his  child,  he  received 
his  son  alive.  Being  faithful  in  these  things, 
he  was  sealed  for  righteousness,  and  received 
circumcision  as  a  seal  of  the  faith  'ioliich  he  had 
while  he  was  in  uncircumcision  ^,  having  received 
a  promise  that  he  should  be  the  father  of  many 
nations  9. 

6.  Let  us  see,  then,  how  Abraham  is  the 
father  of  many  nations  ^  Of  Jews  he  is  con- 
fessedly the  father,  through  succession  accord- 
ing to  the  fiesh.  But  if  we  hold  to  the  suc- 
cession according  to  the  flesh,  we  shall  be 
compelled  to  say  that  the  oracle  was  false. 
For  according  to  the  flesh  he  is  no  longer 
father  of  us  all  :  but  the  example  of  his  faith 
makes  us  all  sons  of  Abraham.  How?  and 
in  what  manner?  With  men  it  is  incredible 
that  one  should  rise  from  the  dead  ;  as  in  like 
manner  it  is  incredible  also  that  there  should 
be  offspring  from  aged  persons  as  good  as 
dead.  But  when  Christ  is  preached  as  having 
been  crucified  on  the  tree,  and  as  having  died 
and  risen  again,  we  believe  it.  By  the  like- 
ness therefore  of  our  faith  we  are  adopted  into 
the  sonship  of  Abraham.  And  then,  following 
upon  our  faith,  we  receive  like  him  the  spiritual 
seal,  being  circumcised  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  Baptism,  not  in  the  foreskin  of  the 
body,  but  in  the  heart,  according  to  Jeremiah, 
saying,  And  ye  shall  be  circumcised  ufito  God  in 
the  foreskin  of  your  heart  ^  :  and  according  to 
the  Apostle,  in  the  circumcision  of  Christ, 
having  been  buried  with  Him  in  baptism,  and 
the  rest  3. 

7.  This  faith  if  we  keep  we  shall  be  free 
from  condemnation,  and  shall  be  adorned  with 
all  kinds  of  virtues.  For  so  great  is  the 
strength  of  faith,  as  even  to  buoy  men  up  in 
walking  on  the  sea.  Peter  was  a  man  like 
ourselves,  made  up  of  flesh  and  blood,  and 
living  upon  like  food.  But  when  Jesus  said. 
Come  4,  he  believed,  and  walked  upon  the 
waters,  and  found  his  faith  safer  upon  the 
waters  than  any  ground ;  and  his  heavy  body 
was  upheld  by  the  buoyancy  of  his  faith. 
But  though  he  had  safe  footing  over  the 
water  as  long  as  he  believed,  yet  when  he 
doubted,  at  once  he  began  to  sink  :    for  as 


6  Gen.  xxi.  12  ;  xxii.  2.  7  Heb.  xi.  19. 

8  Uoni.  iv.  II.  9  C.en.  xvii.  5.  •  Rom.  iv.  17,  t8. 

2  Jer.  iv.  4  :  Circumcise  yourselves  to  the  Lord,  and  take  au<a.y 
the  foreskins  0/ your  heart.  The  Siptuagint  agrees  closely  with 
the  Hebrew,  but  Cyril  quotes  freely  from  memory. 

3  Cul.  ii.  II,  12.  4  Matt.  xiv.  29. 


LECTURE   V. 


31 


his  faith  gradually  relaxed,  his  body  also  was 
drawn  down  with  it.  And  when  He  saw 
his  distress,  Jesus  who  remedies  the  distresses 
of  our  souls,  said,  O  thou  of  Utile  faith,  lahere- 
fore  didst  thou  doubt ^1  And  being  nerved  again 
by  Him  who  grasped  his  riglit  hand,  he  had 
no  sooner  recovered  his  faith,  than,  led  by  the 
hand  of  the  Master,  he  resumed  the  stime 
walking  upon  the  waters  :  for  this  the  Gospel 
indirectly  mentioned,  saying,  wJicn  they  were 
gone  up  into  the  ship  ^.  For  it  says  not  that 
Peter  swam  across  and  went  up,  but  gives  us 
to  understand  that,  after  returning  the  same 
distance  that  he  went  to  meet  Jesus,  he  went 
up  again  iiito  the  ship. 

8.  Yea,  so  much  power  hath  foith,  that  not 
the  believer  only  is  saved,  but  some  have  been 
saved  by  others  believing.  The  paralytic 
in  Capernaum  was  not  a  believer,  but  they 
believed  who  brought  him,  and  let  him  down 
through  the  tiles?:  for  the  sick  man's  soul 
shared  the  sickness  of  his  body.  And  think 
not  that  I  accuse  him  without  cause  :  the 
Gospel  itself  says,  tvhen  Jesus  sa7v,  not  his 
faith,  but  their  faith.  He  saith  to  the  sick  of  the 
palsy,  Arise^ /  The  bearers  believed,  and  the 
sick  of  the  palsy  enjoyed  the  blessing  of  the 
cure. 

9.  Wouldest  thou  see  yet  more  surely  that 
some  are  saved  by  others'  faith  ?  Lazarus 
died  9  :  one  day  had  passed,  and  a  second,  and 
a  third  ;  his  sinews  ^  were  decayed,  and  cor- 
ruption was  preying  already  upon  his  body. 
How  could  one  four  days  dead  believe,  and 
entreat  the  Redeemer  on  his  own  behalf? 
But  what  the  dead  man  lacked  was  supplied 
by  his  true  sisters.  For  when  the  Lord  was 
come,  the  sister  fell  down  before  Him,  and 
when  He  said,  Where  have  ye  laid  him  'f  and 
she  had  made  answer.  Lord,  by  this  time  he 
stiiiketh ;  for  he  hath  been  four  days  dead,  the 
Lord  said,  If  thou  believe,  thou  shalt  see  the 
glory  of  God ;  as  much  as  saying.  Supply  thou 
the  dead  man's  lack  of  faith  :  and  the  sisters' 
faith  had  so  much  power,  that  it  recalled  the 
dead  from  the  gates  of  hell.  Have  then 
men  by  believing,  the  one  on  behalf  of  the 
other,  been  able  to  raise-  the  dead,  and  shalt 
not  thou,  if  thou  believe  sincerely  on  thine 
own  behalf,  be  much  rather  profited  ?  Nay, 
even  if  thou  be  faithless,  or  of  little  faith,  the 
Lord  is  loving  unto  man ;  He  condescends 
to  thee  on  thy  repentance :  only  on  thy  part 
say  with  honest  mind.  Lord,  I  beli:ve,  help  thou 
inijie  unbelief 'i.     But  if  thou  thinkest  that  thou 

S  Mark  xiv.  31.  6  lb.  32. 

7  Mark  ii.  4.  8  Matt.  ix.  2,  6.  9  John  xi.  14 — 44. 

'  veOpa.  "Sinews"  is  the  original  meaning,  the  application 
to  "  nerves,"  as  distinct  organs  of  sen'iation,  being  later, 

'  For  ava.<jTr[va.i ,  retained  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  and 
Reischl,  read  a.va.aTT\(ja.i,  with  Roe,  Casaubon,  and  Alexundrides. 

3  Mark  ix.  24, 


really  art  faithful,  but  hast  not  yet  the  fulness 
of  faith,  thou  too  hast  need  to  say  like  the 
Apostles,  Lord,  increase  our  faith'' :  for  some 
part  thou  hast  of  thyself,  but  the  greater  part 
thou  receivest  from  Him. 

10.  For  the  name  of  Faith  is  in  the  form  of 
speech  s  one,  but  has  two  distinct  senses.  For 
there  is  one  kind  of  faith,  the  dogmatic,  in- 
volving an  assent  of  the  soul  on  some  particular 
point :  and  it  is  profitable  to  the  soul,  as  the 
Lord  saith :  He  that  heareth  Aly  words,  and 
believeth  Him  that  sent  Me,  hath  everlasting  life, 
and  Cometh  not  into  judgment  ^ :  and  again,  He 
that  believeth  in  the  Son  is  not  judged,  but  hath 
passed  from  death  unto  lifcT.  Oh  the  great  loving- 
kindness  of  God !  For  the  righteous  were 
many  years  in  pleasing  Him  :  but  what  they 
succeeded  in  gaining  by  many  years  of  well- 
pleasing  ^,  this  Jesus  now  bestows  on  thee  in 
a  single  hour.  For  if  thou  shalt  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  and  that  God  raised  Him 
from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  shalt 
be  transported  into  Paradise  by  Him  who 
brought  in  thither  the  robber.  And  doubt  not 
whether  it  is  possible ;  for  He  who  on  this 
sacred  Golgotha  saved  the  robber  after  one 
single  hour  of  belief,  the  same  shall  save  thee 
also  on  thy  believing  9. 

11.  But  there  is  a  second  kind  of  faith, 
which  is  bestowed  by  Christ  as  a  gift  of  grace. 
For  to  one  is  given  through  the  Spirit  the  word 
of  wisdom,  and  to  another  the  word  of  know- 
ledge according  to  the  sa7ne  Spirit:  to  another 
faith,  by  the  satne  Spirit,  and  to  another  gijts 
of  healing^.  This  faith  then  which  is  given  of 
grace  from  the  Spirit  is  not  merely  doctrinal, 
but  also  worketh  things  above  man's  power. 
For  whosoever  hath  this  faith,  shall  say  to 
this  ?nountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place, 
and  it  shall  7-emove  =.  For  whenever  any  one 
shall  say  this  in  faith,  believing  that  it  cometh 
to  pass,  and  shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart, 
then  receiveth  he  the  grace. 

And  of  this  faith  it  is  said,  If  ye  have  faith 
as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed'^.  For  just  as  the 
grain  of  mustard  seed  is  small  in  size,  but 
fiery  in  its  operation,  and  though  sown  in  a 
small  space  has  a  circle  of  great  branches, 
and  when  grown  up  is  able  even  to  shelter 
the  fowls  4  ;  so,  likewise,  faith  in  the  swiftest 
moment    works    the    greatest    effects    in    the 


4  Luke  xvli.  5. 

5  Kara  Tr\v  irpocnj-yopiaf .  Compare  Aristotle,  Ciitegories,  V.  30  : 
Tw  (TX'\V-°-''<-  '■'i^  TTpotTTj-yopias.  Cyril's  description  of  faith  as  two- 
fold, and  of  dogmatic  faith  as  an  assent  (cruyKaTciyeo-is)  of  the  soul 
to  something  as  credible,  seems  to  be  derived  from  Clement  uf 
Alexandria,  Strom.  II.  c.  12.  Compare  by  all  means  Pearson 
on  the  Creed,  Art.  I.  and  his  Notes  a,  b,  c. 

6  John  V.  24.  7  lb.  iii.  18  ;  v.  24. 

8  evapeo-T>;o-eaj?,  Bened.  and  Reischl,  with  best  MSS.  Milles 
and  the  earlier  editions  have  epeuinio-eios,  "  searching.'' 

9  Luke  xxiii.  43  ;  the  argument  is  used  again  in  Cat.  xiii.  31. 

«  I  Cor.  xii.  8,  9.  *  Mark  xi.  23.  3  Matt.  xvii.  20. 

4  Matt.  xiii.  32. 


32 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


soul.  For,  when  enlightened  by  faith,  the  soul 
hath  visions  of  God,  and  as  far  as  is  possible 
beholds  God,  and  ranges  round  the  bounds  of 
the  universe,  and  before  the  end  of  this  world 
already  beholds  the  Judgment,  and  the  payment 
of  the  promised  rewards.  Have  thou  therefore 
that  faith  in  Him  which  cometh  from  thine  own 
self,  that  thou  mayest  also  receive  from  Him 
that  faith  which  worketh  things  above  man  5. 

12.  But  in  learning  the  Faith  and  in  profess- 
ing it,  acquire  and  keep  that  only,  which  is 
now  delivered^  to  thee  by  the  Church,  and 
which  has  been  built  up  strongly  out  of  all  the 
Scriptures.  For  since  all  cannot  read  the  Scrip- 
tures, some  being  hindered  as  to  the  knowledge 
of  them  by  want  of  learning,  and  others  by 
a  want  of  leisure,  in  order  that  the  soul  may 
not  perish  from  ignorance,  we  comprise  the 
whole  doctrine  of  the  Faith  in  a  few  lines. 
This  summary  I  wish  you  both  to  commit  to 
memory  when  I  recite  it  7,  and  to  rehearse 
it  with  all  dihgence  among  yourselves,  not 
writing  it  out  on  paper  ^,  but  engraving  it  by 
the  memory  upon  your  hearts,  taking  care 
while  you  rehearse  it  that  no  Catechumen 
chance  to  overhear  the  things  which  have 
been  delivered  to  you.  I  wish  you  also  to 
keep  this  as  a  provision  '  through  the  whole 
course  of  your  life,  and  beside  this  to  receive 
no  other,  neither  if  we  ourselves  should  change 
and  contradict  our  present  teaching,  nor  if  an 


5  S.  Chrysostom  (Horn.  xxix.  in  i  Cor.  xii.  9,  10)  in  like 
manner  distinguishes  dogmatic  faith  from  the  faith  which  is  "the 
mother  of  miracles."  The  former  S.  Cyril  calls  our  own,  not 
meaning  that  God's  help  is  not  needed  for  it,  but  because,  as  he 
has  shewn  in  §  10,  it  consists  in  the  mind's  assent,  and  voluntary 
approval  of  the  doctrines  set  before  it  :  but  the  latter  is  a  pyre 
gift  of  grace  working  in  man  without  his  own  help.  Compare 
Apostolic  Co7istitutions,  VIII.  c.  i. 

6  This  Lecture  whs  to  be  immediately  followed  by  a  first  reci- 
t.-.tion  of  the  Creed.     See  Index,  Creed. 

7  k-n  av-riji  ngs  Xe'feio5.  "in  ipsa  lectione"  (Milles):  "  ipsis 
verbis"  (Bened.):  "  in  the  very  phrase"  (R.  \V.  C.).  See  below, 
note  4. 

8  Compare  S.  August.  Serm.  ccxii.,  "  \t  the  delivery  of  the 
Creed,"  and  Index,  Creed. 

9  Compare  Aeschylus,  Proynethevs  V.  789  :  y\v  iyypd<j>ov  aii 
txtn'jfioatu  de'ATOt?  (fipevojy, 

'  i(j>6Stov,  yiaticuin,  i.e.  provision  for  a  journey,  and  here  for 
the  journey  through  this  life.  It  is  applied  metaphorically  by 
other  Fathers  (a)  in  this  general  sense,  to  the  reading  of  Holy 
Scripture,  Prayer,  and  Baptism,  and  (b)in  a  special  sense  to  the 
Holy  Eucharist  when  administered  to  the  sick  and  dying,  as 
a  preparation  for  departure  to  the  life  after  death.  Council  of 
Nicaea  (a.d.  325'),  Canon  xiii.  "With  respect  to  the  dying,  the 
old  rule  of  the  Church  should  continue  to  be  observed,  which 
forbids  that  any  one  who  is  on  the  point  of  death  should  be 
deprived  of  the  last  and  most  necessary  viaticum  (e^oSiovJ." 


adverse  angel,  trans-formed  into  an  angel  of  lii^^hf^, 
should  wish  to  lead  you  astray.  For  though 
we  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  to  you  any 
other  gospel  than  that  ye  have  received,  let  him 
be  to  you  anathema  3.  So  for  the  present  listen 
while  I  simply  say  the  Creed  4,  and  commit  it 
to  memory  ;  but  at  the  proper  season  expect 
the  Confirmation  out  of  Holy  Scripture  of  each 
part  of  the  contents.  For  the  articles  of  the 
Faith  were  not  composed  as  seemed  good  to 
men  ;  but  the  most  important  points  collected 
out  of  all  the  Scripture  make  up  one  complete 
teaching  of  the  Faith.  And  just  as  the  mus- 
tard seed  in  one  small  grain  contains  many 
branches,  so  also  this  Faith  has  embraced  in 
few  words  all  the  knowledge  of  godliness  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Take  heed 
then,  brethren,  and  hold  fast  the  traditions^ 
which  ye  now  receive,  and  write  them  on  the 
table  of  your  heart  ^. 

13.  Guard  them  with  reverence,  lest  per 
chance  the  enemy  despoil  any  who  have 
grown  slack  ;  or  lest  some  heretic  pervert  any 
of  the  truths  delivered  to  you.  For  faith  is 
like  putting  money  into  the  bank?,  even  as 
we  have  now  done  ;  but  from  you  God  requires 
the  accounts  of  the  deposit.  /  charge  you,  as 
the  Apostle  saith,  before  God,  7uho  quickeneth 
all  things,  and  Christ  Jesus,  who  before  Pontius 
Pilate  -loitnessed  the  good  confession,  that  ye  keep 
this  fLiith  which  is  committed  to  you,  without 
spot,  7/ntil  the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ^.  A  treasure  of  life  has  now  been  com- 
mitted to  thee,  and  the  Master  demandeth  the 
deposit  at  His  appearing,  which  in  His  own 
times  Be  shall  shew,  Who  is  the  blessed  and  only 
Potentate,  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  ; 
Who  only  hath  iininortality,  dtuelting  in  light 
which  no  man  can  opproach  unto ;  Whom  no 
man  hath  seen  nor  can  see.  To  Whofn  be 
glory,  honour^  atid  power  ^  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


a  2  Cor.  xi.  t4.  3  Gal.  i.  8,  9. 

4  eir'  aviTijs  Tij?  Xe'ffco?.     (Bened.   Reischl.    with   best  MSS.>. 
TauTT|5  TT^s  Ae'feius,  '"this  my  recitation,"_(JMilles). 

5  2  Thess.  ii.  15.     Compare  Cat.  xxiii.  23. 

6  Prov.  vii.  3.     Note  o,  above. 

7  Matt.  XXV.  27  ;    Luke  xix.  23.     See  note  on  Catech.  vi.  36  : 
"  Be  th"U  a  good  banker." 

8  t  Tim.  V.  21 ;  vi.  13,  14.  •  i  Tim.  vi.  15,  16. 


LECTURE    VI. 


Concerning  the  Unity  of  God'.     On  the  Article,    I  Believe  in  One 

God.      Also  concerning  Heresies. 

Isaiah  xlv.  i6,  17.  (Sept.) 

Sanctify  yourselves  unto  Me,  O  islands.    Israel  is  saved  by  the  Lord  with  an  everlasting 
salvation  ;  they  shall  not  be  ashamed,  neither  shall  they  be  confounded  for  ever,  &=€. 


1.  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
fesus  Christ^.  Blessed  also  be  His  Only-begot- 
ten Son  3.  For  with  the  thought  of  God  let 
the  thought  of  Father  at  once  be  joined,  that 
the  ascription  of  glory  to  the  Father  and  the 
Son  may  be  made  indivisible  For  the  Father 
hath  not  one  glory,  and  the  Son  another,  but 
one  and  the  same,  since  He  is  the  Father's 
Only-begotten  Son  ;  and  when  the  Father  is 
glorified,  the  Son  also  shares  the  glory  with 
Him,  because  the  glorv  of  the  Son  hows  from 
His  Father's  honour  :  and  again,  when  the  Son 
is  glorified,  the  Father  of  so  great  a  bless- 
ing is  highly  honoured. 

2.  Now  though  the  mind  is  most  rapid  in  its 
thoughts,  yet  the  tongue  needs  words,  and  a 
long  recital  of  intermediary  speech.  For  the 
eye    embraces    at    once   a   multitude   of  the 


'  Ilept  0COU  Moi'ttpyias.  The  word  fxovapxia,  as  used  by  Plato 
{Polii.  291  c),  Aristotle  {^Polit.  III.  xiv.  ii.  tlSos  \i.ovapxia.^ 
^aijiAtK-q?),  Philo  Judaeus  i^de  Circumcisione,  §  2  ;  a'^  Monarchia, 
Titul.),  means  "sole  government."  Compare  TertuUian  (adv. 
Praxean.  c.  iii.):  "If  I  have  gained  any  knowledge  of  either 
language,  I  am  sure  that  'Hiovapxia.  has  no  other  meaning  than 
'single  and  individual  rule."'  Athanasius  (de  Decretis  Niccenip 
Synadi,  §  26)  has  preserved  part  of  an  Epistle  of  Dionysius,  Bishop 
ot  Rome  (259 — 269,  A.D.),  against  the  Sabellians :  "It  will  be 
natural  for  me  now  to  speak  against  those  who  divide,  and  cut  into 
pieces,  and  destroy  that  most  sacred  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  God, 
the  Monarchia,  making  it,  as  it  were,  three  powers  and  divided 
hypostases,  and  three  Godheads  :"  {ibid.)  :  "  It  is  the  doctrineof  the 
presumptuous  Marcion  to  sever  and  divide  the  Monarchia  into 
three  origins  (cipxas)."  We  see  here  the  sense  which  Tsiovapxi-a 
had  acquired  in  Christian  Theology  :  it  meant  the  "  Unity  of  God," 
as  the  one  principle  and  origin  of  all  things.  "  By  the  Monarchy 
is  meant  the  doctrine  that  the  Second  and  Third  Persons  in  the 
Ever-ble.ssed  Trinity  are  ever  to  be  referred  in  our  thoughts  to  the 
First,  as  the  Fountain  of  Godhead"  (Newman,  Athanas.  de  De- 
cretis Nic.  Syn.  §  26,  note  h).  Justin  Martyr  (Euseb.  H.E.  IV. 
18),  and  Irenaius  (ibid.  V.  20),  had  each  written  a  treatise  Trepl 
Moi/apxt'as.  On  the  history  of  Monarchianism  see,  in  this  Series, 
Aihanasius,  Prolegomena,  p.  xxiii.  sgq.  2  2  Cor.  i.  3. 

3  This  clause  is  omitted  in  some  MSS.  Various  forms  of  the 
Doxology  were  adopted  in  Cj'ril's  time  by  various  parties  in  the 
Church.  Thus  Theodoret  [Hist.  Bccles.  II.  c.  19)  relates  that 
Leontius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  a.d.  318 — 357,  observing  that  the 
Clergy  and  the  Congregation  were  divided  into  two  parties,  the 
one  using  the  form  '•and  to  the  Sun,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,"  the 
other  "through  the  Son,  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  used  to  repeat  the 
Doxology  silently,  so  that  those  who  were  near  could  hear  only 
"world  without  end." 

The  form  which  was  regarded  as  the  most  orthodox,  and  adopted 
in  the  Liturgies,  ran  thus  :  "Glorv  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son 


and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  now  and  ever,  and  to  the  ages  of  the  ages." 
See  Suicer's  Thesaurus,  AofoAo-yi'o. 


'  Starry  quire ; '  but  when  any  one  wishes  to 
describe  them  one  by  one,  which  is  the  Morn- 
ing-star, and  which,  the  Evening-star,  and 
which  each  one  of  them,  he  has  need  of  many 
words.  In  like  manner  again  the  mind  in  the 
briefest  moment  compasses  earth  and  sea  and 
all  the  bounds  of  the  universe  ;  but  what  it 
conceives  in  an  instant,  it  uses  many  words  to 
describe  ■*.  Yet  forcible  as  is  the  example  I 
have  mentioned,  still  it  is  after  all  weak  and 
inadequate.  For  of  God  we  speak  not  all  we 
ought  (for  that  is  known  to  Him  only),  but  so 
much  as  the  capacity  of  human  nature  has 
received,  and  so  much  as  our  weakness  can 
bear.  For  we  explain  not  what  God  is 
but  candidly  confess  that  we  have  not  exact 
knowledge  concerning  Him.  For  in  what 
concerns  God  to  confess  our  ignorance  is 
the  best  knowledges.  Therefore  magnify  the 
Lord  with  me,  and  let  7(s  exalt  His  Name 
together'^, — all  of  us  in  common,  for  one  alone  is 
powerless  ;  nay  rather,  even  if  we  be  all  united 
together,  we  shall  yet  not  do  it  as  we  ought. 
I  mean  not  you  only  who  are  here  present, 
but  even  if  all  the  nurslings  of  the  whole 
Church  throughout  the  world,  both  that  which 
now  is  and  that  which  shall  be,  should  meet 
together,  they  would  not  be  able  worthily  to 
sing  the  praises  of  their  Shepherd. 

3.  A  great  and  honourable  man  was  Abra- 

4  Irenaeus  II.  xxviii.  4 :  "  But  since  God  is  all  mind,  all  re.i.son, 
all  active  Spirit,  all  light,  and  always  exists  as  one  and  the  same, 
such  conditions  and  divisions  (of  operation)  cannot  fittingly  be  as- 
cribed to  Him.  For  our  tongue,  as  heing  made  of  Hesh,  is  not 
able  to  minister  to  the  rapidity  of  man's  sense,  because  that  is 
of  a  spiritual  nature  ;  for  which  reason  our  speech  is  restrained 
(suffocatur)  within  us,  and  is  not  at  once  expressed  as  it  has  bean 
conceived  in  the  mind,  but  is  uttered  by  successive  efforts,  just  as 
the  tongue  is  able  to  serve  it." 

5  TertuUian,  Apologeticiis,  §  17  :  ''  That  which  is  infinite  is 
known  only  to  itself.  This  it  is  which  gives  some  notion  of  God, 
while  yet  beyond  all  our  conceptions — our  very  incapacity  of  fully 
grasping  Him  affords  us  the  idea  of  what  He  really  is.  He  is 
presented  to  our  minds  in  His  transcendent  greatness,  as  at  once 
known  and  unknown."  Cf.  Phil.  Jud.  de  Monarch.  I.  4  ;  Hooker, 
Eccles.  Pol.  I.  ii.  3  :  "Whom  although  to  know  be  life,  and  joy 
to  make  mention  of  His  name  ;  yet  our  soundest  knowledge  is  to 
know  that  we  know  Him  not  as  He  is,  neither  can  know  Him." 

6  Ps.  xxxiv.  3. 


VOL.  VII. 


D 


34 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


ham,  but  only  great  in  comparison  with  men  ; 
and  when  he  came  before  God,  then  speaking 
the  truth  candidly  he  saith,  /  am  earth  and 
ashesT.  He  did  not  say  ^  earth,'  and  then 
cease,  lest  he  should  call  himself  by  the  name 
of  that  great  element ;  but  he  added  '  and 
ashes,'  that  he  might  represent  his  perishable 
and  frail  nature.  Is  there  anything,  he  saith, 
smaller  or  lighter  than  ashes?  For  take,  saith 
he,  the  comparison  of  ashes  to  a  house,  of 
a  house  to  a  city,  a  city  to  a  province,  a  pro- 
vince to  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  Roman 
Empire  to  the  whole  earth  and  all  its  bounds, 
and  the  whole  earth  to  the  heaven  in  which  it 
is  embosomed ; — the  earth,  which  bears  the 
same  proportion  to  the  heaven  as  the  centre 
to  the  whole  circumference  of  a  wheel,  for  the 
earth  is  no  more  than  this  in  comparison  with 
the  heaven^:  consider  then  that  this  first 
heaven  which  is  seen  is  less  than  the  second, 
and  the  second  than  the  third,  for  so  far 
Scripture  has  named  them,  not  that  they  are 
only  so  many,  but  because  it  was  expedient 
for  us  to  know  so  many  only.  And  when  in 
thought  thou  hast  surveyed  all  the  heavens, 
not  yet  will  even  the  heavens  be  able  to 
praise  God  as  He  is,  nay,  not  if  they  should 
resound  with  a  voice  louder  than  thunder. 
But  if  these  great  vaults  of  the  heavens  can- 
not worthily  sing  God's  praise,  when  shall 
'  earth  and  ashes,'  the  smallest  and  least  of 
things  existing,  be  able  to  send  up  a  worthy 
hymn  of  praise  to  God,  or  worthily  to  speak 
of  God,  that  sitteth  iip07i  the  circle  of  the  earth, 
and  holdeth  the  inhabitants  thereof  as  grass- 
hoppers 9. 

4.  If  any  man  attempt  to  speak  of  God,  let 
him  first  describe  the  bounds  of  the  earth. 
Thou  dwellest  on  the  earth,  and  the  limit  of 
this  earth  which  is  thy  dwelling  thou  knowest 
not:  how  then  shalt  thou  be  able  to  form 
a  worthy  thought  of  its  Creator?  Thou  be- 
holdest  the  stars,  but  their  Maker  thou  be- 
holdest  not  :  count  these  which  are  visible, 
and  then  describe  Him  who  is  invisible,  Who 
telleth  the  number  of  the  stars,  and  calleth 
them  all  by  their  names  \  Violent  rains  lately 
came  pouring  down  upon  us,  and  nearly 
destroyed  us  :  number  the  drops  in  this  city 
alone :  nay,  I  say  not  in  the  city,  but  number 
the  drops  on  thine  own  house  for  one  single 
hour,  if  thou  canst :  but  thou  canst  not. 
Learn  then  thine  own  weakness  ;  learn  from 
this  instance  the  mightiness  of  God  :   for  He 

7  Gen.  xviii.  27. 

8  'I'he  opinion  of  Aristarchus  of  Samos,  as  stated  by  .\rchimedes 
(^Arenarius,  p.  320,  Oxoii),  was  that  the  sphere  of  the  fixed  stars 
was  so  large,  that  it  bore  to  the  earth's  orbit  the  same  proportion 
as  a  sphere  to  its  centre,  or  more  correctly  (as  Archimedes  ex- 
plains) the  same  proportion  as  the  earth's  orbit  round  the  sun  to 
the  earth  itself.    Compare  Cat.  xv.  24. 

9  Is.  xl.  22.  *  Ps.  cxlvii.  4. 


hath  numbered  the  drops  of  rain  ^,  which  have 
been  poured  down  on  all  the  earth,  not  only 
now  but  in  all  time.  The  sun  is  a  work  of 
God,  which,  great  though  it  be,  is  but  a  spot 
in  comparison  with  the  whole  heaven  ;  first 
gaze  stedfastly  upon  the  sun,  and  then  curiously 
scan  the  Lord  of  the  sun.  Seek  not  the  things 
that  are  too  deep  for  thee,  neither  search  out  the 
things  that  are  above  thy  strength  :  what  is  com- 
manded thee,  think  thereupon  3. 

5.  But  some  one  will  say.  If  the  Divine 
substance  is  incomprehensible,  why  then  dost 
thou  discourse  of  these  things  ?  So  then, 
because  I  cannot  drink  up  all  the  river,  am 
I  not  even  to  take  in  moderation  what  is 
expedient  for  me  ?  Because  with  eyes  so 
constituted  as  mine  I  cannot  take  in  all  the 
sun,  am  I  not  even  to  look  upon  him  enough 
to  satisfy  my  wants  ?  Or  again,  because  I 
have  entered  into  a  great  garden,  and  cannot 
eat  all  the  supply  of  fruits,  wouldst  thou  have 
me  go  away  altogether  hungry?  I  praise  and 
glorify  Him  that  made  us ;  for  it  is  a  divine 
command  which  saith,  Let  every  breath  praise 
the  Lord^.  I  am  attempting  now  to  glorify 
the  Lord,  but  not  to  describe  Him,  know- 
ing nevertheless  that  1  shall  fall  short  of 
glorifying  Him  worthily,  yet  deeming  it  a  work 
of  piety  even  to  attempt  it  at  all.  For  the  Lord 
Jesus  encourageth  my  weakness,  by  saying, 
No  man  hath  seeyi  God  at  any  time  s. 

6.  What  then,  some  man  will  say,  is  it 
not  written,  The  little  ones'  Angels  do  always 
behold  the  face  of  My  Father  which  is  in  heavefi^  1 
Yes,  but  the  Angels  see  God  not  as  He  is,  but 
as  far  as  they  themselves  are  capable.  For  it 
is  Jesus  Himself  who  saith,  Not  that  any  man 
hath  seen  the  Father,  save  He  which  is  of  God, 
He  hath  seen  the  Father  ?.  The  Angels  therefore 
behold  as  much  as  they  can  bear,  and  Arch- 
angels as  much  as  they  are  able  ;  and  Thrones 
and  Dominions  more  than  the  former,  but  yet 
less  than  His  worthiness  :  for  with  the  Son 
the  Holy  Ghost  alone  can  rightly  behold  Him  : 
for  He  searcheth  all  things,  and  kno7ucth  even  the 
deepthingsofGod^:  as  indeed  the  Only-begotten 
Son  also,  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  knoweth  the 
Father  fully  :  For  neither,  saith  He,  kno:oeth 
any  man  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whom  the  Son  will  reveal  Him  9.  For  He 
fully  beholdeth,  and,  according  as  each  can 
bear,  revealeth  God  through  the  Sjiirit :.  since 
the  Only-begotten  Son  together  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  a  partaker  of  the  Father's  Godheaa, 


8  Job  xxxvi.  27  :  (ipiS/ni)Tai  Se  avTw  oTayoi/c?  vctov.     R.V.  For 
He  drau'cth  up  tin:  diops  of  water. 

3  Kfcli;s.  iii.  21,  22.  4  Ps.  cl.  6. 

5  John  i.  18.     They  are  the  Evangelist's  own  words. 

6  Matt,  xviii.  10.  7  John  vi.  46.  ^  i  Cor.  ii.  10. 

9  Matt.  xi.  27. 


LECTURE   VI. 


35 


He,  who'  was  begotten  knoweth  Him  who 
begat;  and  He  Who  begat  knoweth  Him  who 
is  begotten.  Since  Angels  then  are  ignorant 
(for  to  each  according  to  his  own  capacity 
doth  the  Only-begotten  reveal  Him  through 
the  Holy  Ghost,  as  we  have  said),  let  no 
man  be  ashamed  to  confess  his  ignorance. 
I  am  speaking  now,  as  all  do  on  occasion  : 
but  how  we  speak,  we  cannot  tell :  how  then 
can  I  declare  Him  who  hath  given  us  speech? 
I  who  have  a  soul,  and  cannot  tell  its  distinc- 
tive properties,  how  shall  I  be  able  to  de- 
scribe its  Giver  ? 

7.  For  devotion  it  suffices  us  simply  to 
know  that  we  have  a  God  ;  a  God  who  is 
One,  a  living 2,  an  ever-living  God  ;  always 
like  unto  Himself  3 ;  who  has  no  Father,  none 
mightier  than  Himself,  no  successor  to  thrust 
Him  out  from  His  kingdom  :  Who  in  name 
is  manifold,  in  power-  infinite,  in  substance 
uniform!  For  though  He  is  called  Good, 
and  Just,  and  Almighty  and  Sabaoth  s,  He 
is  not  on  that  account  diverse  and  various  ; 
but  being  one  and  the  same,  He  sends  forth 
countless  operations  of  His  Godhead,  not 
exceeding  here  and  deficient  there,  but  being 
in  all  things  like  unto  Himself.  Not  great 
in  loving-kindness  only,  and  little  in  wisdom, 
but  with  wisdom  and  loving -kindness  in 
equal  power :  not  seeing  in  part,  and  in  part 
devoid  of  sight ;  but  being  all  eye,  and  all 
ear,  and  all  mind^:  not  like  us  perceiving  in 
part  and  in  part  not  knowing ;  for  such  a 
statement  were  blasphemous,  and  unworthy 
of  the  Divine  substance.  He  foreknoweth 
the  things  that  be  ;  He  is  Holy,  and  Almighty, 
and  excelleth  all  in  goodness,  and  majesty, 
and  wisdom :  of  Whom  we  can  declare  neither 
beginning,  nor  form,  nor  shape.  For  je  have 
neither  heard  His  voice  at  any  time,  ?ior  seen 
His  shape  7,  saith  Holy  Scripture.  Wherefore 
Moses  saith  also  to  the  Israelites  :  And  take 
ye  good  heed  to  your  own  souls;  for  ye  saia  no 
similitude^.     For  if  it  is  wholly  impossible  to 


'  The  Benedictine  and  earlier  printed  texts  read  6  yivvyfie\% 
[aTraSii;  irpb  tmv  xpoi'ioi'  a.\{oiiu>v\ :  but  tile  words  in  brackets  are 
not  found  in  the  best  MSS.  The  false  grammar  betrays  a  spurious 
insertion,  which  also  interrupts  the  sense.  On  the  meaning  of  the 
phrase  6  •yei'i'Tjdets  aTTu^to?,  see  note  on  vii.  5  :  ou  TrdSet  irarijp 
yet'o^evos.  ^  Gr.  oi'Ta,  del  oi/ra. 

3  Iren.  II.  xiii.  3  :  "  He  is  altogether  like  and  equal  to  Him- 
self;  since  He  is  all  sense,  and  all  spirit,  and  all  feeling,  and  all 
thought,  and  all  reason,  and  all  hearing,  and  all  ear,  and  all  eye, 
and  all  light,  and  all  a  fount  of  every  good, — even  as  the  religious 
and  pious  are  wont  to  speak  of  God." 

4  (jLoi/oeiOTJ.  A  Platonic  word.  PfuEiio,  80  B  :  Tip  ^j-iv  Sfi'u)  ical 
d0a^'dTa»  Kui,  votjtoj  Kat  \i.ovoti^i1  k<x\.  dStaAuro)  Kat  del  wtrauraj? 
Kurd  rd  aurd  e;(oi'TC  eauTip  b^LoidraTOC  eij'at  'ifv\'\v.  See  Index, 
'"Hypostasis." 

5  Iren.  II.  xxxv.  3  :  "If  any  object  that  in  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage different  expressions  occur,  such  as  Sabaoth,  Eloe,  Adonai, 
and  all  other  such  terms,  striving  to  prove  Irom  these  that  there 
are  different  powers  and  Gods,  let  them  learn  that  all  e.vpressions 
of  this  kind  are  titles  and  announcements  ot  one  and  the  same 
Being." 

0  See  the  passages  cf  Irenaeus  quoted  above,  §  2  note  4,  and  §  7 
note  3.  7  John  v.  37.  8  Deut.  iv.  15. 


imagine  His  likeness,  how  shall  thought  come 
near  His  substance  ? 

8.  There  have  been  many  imaginations  by 
many  persons,  and  all  have  failed.  Some 
have  thought  that  God  is  fire  ;  others  that  He 
is,  as  it  were,  a  man  with  wings,  because  of  a 
true  text  ill  understood,  Thoti  shalt  hide  me 
under  the  shadow  of  Thy  wings  9.  They  forgot 
that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Only-begotten, 
speaks  in  like  manner  concerning  Himself  to 
Jerusalem,  Hoiv  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  doth  gather 
her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not '°.  For  whereas  God's  protecting  power  was 
conceived  as  wing.s,  they  failing  to  understand 
this  sank  down  to  the  level  of  things  human, 
and  supposed  that  the  Unsearchable  exists  in 
the  likeness  of  man.  Some  again  dared  to  say 
that  He  has  seven  eyes,  because  it  is  written, 
seven  eyes  of  the  Lord  looking  upon  the  wJiole 
earth  '.  For  if  He  has  but  seven  eyes  surround- 
ing Him  in  part,  His^seeing  is  therefore  partial 
and  not  perfect :  but  to  say  this  of  God  is 
blasphemous ;  for  we  must  believe  that  God 
is  in  all  things  perfect,  according  to  our 
Saviour's  word,  which  saith.  Your  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect^ :  perfect  in  sight,  perfect  in 
power,  perfect  in  greatness,  perfect  in  fore- 
knowledge, perfect  in  goodness,  perfect  in 
justice,  perfect  in  loving-kindness  :  not  circum- 
scribed in  any  space,  but  the  Creator  of  all 
space,  existing  in  all,  and  circumscribed  by 
none  3.  Heaven  is  His  throne,  but  higher  is  He 
that  sitteth  thereon  :  and  earth  is  His  footstool'^, 
but  His  power  reacheth  unto  things  under  the 
earth. 

9.  One  He  is,  every  where  present,  beholding 
all  things,  perceiving  all  things,  creating  all 
things  through  Christ :  For  all  things  were 
made  by  Him,  and  7vithout  Him  was  not 
anything  niade^.  A  fountain  of  every  good, 
abundant  and  unfailing,  a  river  of  blessings,  an 
eternal  light  of  never-failing  splendour,  an 
insuperable  power  condescending  to  our  in- 
firmities :  whose  very  Name  we  dare  not  hear^ 
Wilt  thou  find  a  footstep  of  the  Lordl  saith 
Job,  or  hast  thou  attained  unto  the  least  things 
which  the  Almighty  hath  made  t  1  If  the  least  of 
His  works  are  incomprehensible,  shall  He  be 


9  Ps.  xvii.  8.  '°  Matt,  xxiii.  37. 

I  Zech.  iv.  10.  2  Matt.  v.  48. 

3  Philo  Judseus  [Leg.  Alleg.  I.  14,  p.  52).  ©eoO  ydp  ov5e  o 
(nJ/x7ras  koct/lio?  dftor  av  tlf)  x^P^^^  '^^'-  ^i'6tatrTj/xa,  ejrel  avro"; 
iavTiZ  -r^TTos.  So  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  at  the  end  of  the  Principia, 
asserts  t"at  God  by  His  eternal  and  infinite  existence  constitutes 
Time  and  Space:  "  Non  est  duratio  vel  spatium,  sed  durat  et 
adest,  et  existendo  semper  et  ubique  spatium  et  durationem  con- 
stituit."  4  Is.  Ixvi.  I.  5  John  i.  3. 

6  The  sacred  name  (flin^)  ^^^  °°'  pronounced,  but  Adonai 
was  substituted. 

7  Job  xi.  7  (R.V.):  Canst  thou  by  searchitig  find  out  God'? 
Canst  thoiifind  out  tJie  Almighty  tinto  perfection  ?  Cyril  seems 
to  have  understood  to.  ecrxcxra  as  "  the  least,"  not  as  "'  the  utmost." 


D   2 


S6 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


comprehended  who  made  them  all  ?  Eye  hath 
not  see/i,  and  ear  hath  fiot  heard,  neither  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  thins^s  zvhich 
God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him  ^.  If 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared  are 
incomprehensible  to  our  thoughts,  how  can  we 
comprehend  with  our  mind  Himself  who  hath 
prepared  them  ?  O  the  depth  of  the  riches,  and 
wisdom,  and  knoickdge  of  God!  Ho%v  Ufi- 
searcliable  are  His  judgments,  and  His  ways 
past  finding  out "^  I  saith  the  Apostle.  If  His 
judgments  and  His  ways  are  incomprehensible, 
can  He  Himself  be  comprehended? 

ID.  God  then  bemg  thus  great,  and  yet 
greater,  (for  even  were  1  to  change  my  whole 
substance  into  tongue,  I  could  not  speak  His 
excellence  :  nay  more,  not  even  if  all  Angels 
should  assemble,  could  they  ever  speak  His 
worth),  God  being  therefore  so  great  in  good- 
ness and  mnjesty,  mnn  hath  yet  dared  to  say  to 
a  stone  that  he  hath  graven,  Thou  art  my  God  ^°  J 
O  monstrous  blindness,,  that  from  majesty 
so  great  came  down  so  low  !  The  tree  which 
was  planted  by  God,  and  nourished  by  the 
rain,  and  afterwards  burnt  and  turned  into 
ashes  by  the  fire, — this  is  addressed  as  God, 
and  the  true  God  is  despised.  But  the 
wickedness  of  idolatry  grew  yet  more  prodigal, 
and  cat,  and  dog,  and  wolf'  were  worshipped 
instead  of  God  :  the  man-eating  lion  ^  also  was 
worshipped  instead  of  God,  the  most  loving 
friend  of  man.  The  snake  and  the  serpent  3, 
counterfeit  of  him  who  thrust  us  out  of 
Paradise,  were  worshipped,  and  He  who 
planted  Paradise  was  despised.  And  I  am 
ashamed  to  say,  and  yet  do  say  it,  even  onions  * 
were  worshipped  among  some.  Wine  was  given 
to  make  glad  the  heart  of  man^  :  and  Dionysus 
(Bacchus)  was  worshipped  instead  of  God. 
God  made  corn  by  saying,  Let  the  earth  bring 
forth  grass,  yielding  seed  after  his  kind  and  after 
his  likeness  °,  that  bread  7nay  strengthen  man's 
heart T :  why  then  was  Demeter  (Ceres)  wor- 

8  I  Cor.  ii.  9.  9  Rom  xi.  33.  'o  Is.  xliv.  17. 

'  The  cat  was  sacred  to  the  goddess  Pasht,  called  by  the 
Greeks  Bui  aslis,  and  identified  by  Herodotus  (ii.  137)  with  Ar- 
temis or  Diana.  Cats  were  embalmed  after  de.itli,  and  their 
mummies  are  found  at  various  places,  but  especially  at  Bubastis 
{/fercd.  ii   67). 

"  'ri.e  Oogs  are  interred  in  the  cities  to  which  they  belonir, 
in  sacred  burial-places"  {Herod,  ii.  67),  but  chiefly  at  Cyiiopolis 
("City  of  Dogs")  where  the  dog-heuded  deity  Anubis  was  wor- 
shipped. 

Mummies  of  wolves  are  found  in  chambers  excavated  in  the 
rocks  at  Lycopolis,  where  Osiris  was  worshipped  under  the  symbol 
of  a  wolf. 

■  The  lion  was  held  sacred  at  T.eontopolis  (Strabo,  xvii.  p.  812). 

3  "  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Thebes  there  are  sacred  serpents 
perfectly  harmless  to  man.  These  they  bury  in  the  temple  of 
Zeus,  the  god  to  whom  they  are  sacred  "     {//erod.  ii.  74.) 

At  Epidaurus  in  Argolis  the  serpent  was  held  sacred  as  the 
symbol  of  Aesculapius.  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Exhort,  c.  ii.) 
givedf  a  fuller  list  of  animals  worshipped  by  various  nations.  Com- 
pare also  dement.  Recogn,  V.  20. 

4  Juvenal  Sat.  xv.  7. 

Illi:  aeluios,  hie  piscem  fluminis,  illic 
f)ppi<la  tota  canem  veno—intur,  nemo  Dianam. 
Possum  et  cacpe  nefas  xio'are  et  Irangere  niorsu. 

5  Ps.  civ.  IS.  *  Gen.  i.  11.  7  Ps.  civ.  15. 


shipped  ?  Fire  cometh  forth  from  striking  stones 
together  even  to  this  day :  how  then  was 
Hephaestus  (Vulcan)  the  creator  of  fire? 

11.  Whence  came  the  polytheistic  error  of 
the  Greeks  ^?  God  has  no  body  :  whence  then 
the  adulteries  alleged  among  those  who  are  by 
them  called  gods  ?  I  say  nothing  of  the  trans- 
formations of  Zeus  into  a  swan  :  I  am  ashamed 
to  speak  of  his  transformations  into  a  bull :  for 
bellowings  are  unwortliy  of  a  god.  The  god 
of  the  Greeks  has  been  found  an  adulterer,  yet 
are  they  not  ashamed  :  for  if  he  is  an  adul- 
terer let  him  not  be  called  a  god.  They  tell 
also  of  deaths  9,  and  falls',  and  thunder- 
strokes 2  of  their  gods.  Seest  thou  from  how 
great  a  height  and  how  low  they  have  fallen  ? 
Was  it  without  reason  then  that  the  Son  of 
God  came  down  from  heaven  ?  or  was  it 
that  He  might  heal  so  great  a  wound  ? 
Was  it  without  reason  that  the  Son  came  ? 
or  was  it  in  order  that  the  Father  might 
be  acknowledged  ?  Thou  hast  learned  what 
moved  the  Only-begotten  to  come  down 
from  the  throne  at  God's  right  hand.  The 
Father  was  despised,  the  Son  must  needs 
correct  the  error:  for  He  THROUGH 
WHOM  ALL  THINGS  WERE  MADE 
must  bring  them  all  as  offerings  to  the  Lord 
of  all.  The  wound  must  be  healed  :  for  what 
could  be  worse  than  this  disease,  that  a  stone 
should  be  worshipped  instead  of  God  ? 

Of  Heresies. 

12.  And  not  among  the  heathen  only  did 
tlie  devil  make  these  assaults  ;  for  many  of 
those  wlio  are  falsely  called  Christians,  and 
wrongfully  addressed  by  the  sweet  name  of 
Christ,  have  ere  now  impiously  dared  to 
banish  God  from  His  own  creation.  I  mean 
the  brood  of  heretics,  those  most  ungodly  men 


8  The  early  Creeds  of  the  Eastern  Churches,  like  that  which 
Eusebius  of  Csesarea  proposed  at  Nica;a,  expressly  declare  the 
unity  of  God,  in  opposition  both  to  the  heathen  Polytheism,  and  to 
the  various  heresies  which  introduced  two  or  more  Gods.  See 
below  in  this  Lecture,  §§  12 — 18  ;  and  compare  Athan.  (contra 
Cen.'es,  §  6,  sqg.). 

9  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Exhort,  cap.  ii.  §  37),  quotes  a  pas- 
sage Irom  a  hymn  of  Callimachus,  implying  the  death  of  Zeus : 

'•  For  even  ihy  tomi),  O  king, 
The  Cretans  fashioned." 
Adonis,  or  "Thammuz  yearly  wounded,"  was  said   to  live  and 
die  in  alternate  years. 

1  By  the  word  "falls"  (a7r07rT<i<rcis)  Cyril  evidently  refers  to 
the  s;ory  of  Hcphsestus,  or  Vulcan,  to  which  Milion  alludes 
{Paradise  Lost,!.  ^40):  — 

"  Men  call'd  him  Mulcibcr,  and  how  he  fell 
From  heaven  they  fabled,  thrown  by  an^^ry  Jove 
Sheer  o'er  the  crystal  battlements  :  from  morn 
To  noon  he  fell,  from  noon  to  dewy  eve, 
A  summer's  day." 

2  The  "thunder-strokes"  refer  to  "Titan  heaven's  firstborn, 
With  his  enormous  brood"  {Pa7:  Lost,  I.  510).  Cf.  Virgil, 
AcK.  vi.  580  : — 

"  Hie  crenns  antiquum  Terras,  Titania  pubes, 
Fulmine  dejecti  fundo  volvuntur  in  imo." 
Ibid.  ».  585:— 

"  Vidi  et  crudeles  dantem  Salmonea  poenas, 

Dum  flammas  Jovi-  et  sonitus  imitatur  Olympi." 
Clem.  Alex.  (Exhort.  II.  §  37)  :  — "' Aesonlaiiius  lies  struck  with 
ligtitning  in  the  regions  uf  Cynosuris."     Cf.  Virg.  Aen.  vii.  770  ss. 


LECTURE   VI. 


17 


of  evil  name,  pretending  to  be  friends  of 
Christ  but  utterly  hating  Him.  For  he  who 
blasphemes  tiie  Father  of  the  Christ  is  an 
enemy  of  the  Son.  These  men  have  dared  to 
speak  of  two  Godheads,  one  good  and  one 
evils!  O  monstrous  blindness  !  If  a  Godhead, 
then  assuredly  good.  But  if  not  good,  why 
called  a  Godhead?  For  if  goodness  is  an  attri- 
bute of  God  ;  if  loving-kindness,  beneficence, 
almighty  power,  are  proper  to  God,  then  of 
two  things  one,  either  in  calling  Him  God  let 
the  name  and  operation  be  united  ;  or  if  they 
would  rob  Him  of  His  operations,  let  them 
not  give  Him  the  bare  name. 

13.  Heretics  have  dared  to  say  that  there 
are  two  Gods,  and  of  good  and  evil  two 
sources,  and  these  unbegotten.  If  both  are 
unbegotten  it  is  certain  that  they  are  also 
equal,  and  both  mighty.  How  then  doth 
the  light  destroy  the  darkness?  And  do 
they  ever  exist  together,  or  are  they  separ- 
ated ?  Together  they  cannot  be  ;  for  what 
fellowship  hath  light  with  darkness  ?  saith 
the  Apostle-*.  But  if  they  are  far  from  each 
other,  it  is  certain  that  they  hold  also  each  his 
own  place  ;  and  if  they  hold  their  own  separate 
places,  \ve  are  certainly  in  the  realm  of  one 
God,  and  certainly  worship  one  God.  For 
thus  w'e  must  conclude,  even  if  w^e  assent 
to  their  folly,  that  we  must  worship  one 
God.  Let  us  examine  also  what  they  say 
of  the  good  God.  Hath  He  power  or  no 
power?  If  He  hath  power,  how  did  evil  arise 
against  His  will?  And  how  dolh  the  evil 
substance  intrude,  if  He  be  not  willing?  For  ^ 
if  He  knows  but  cannot  hinder  it,  they  charge  ; 
Him  with  want  of  power  ;  but  if  He  has  the 
power,  yet  hinders  not,  they  accuse  Him  of 
treachery.  Mark  too  their  want  of  sense.  At 
one  time  they  say  that  the  Evil  One  hath  no 
communion  with  the  good  God  in  the  creation 
of  the  world  ,  but  at  another  time  they  say 
that  he  hath  the  fourth  part  only.  Also  they 
say  that  the  good  God  is  the  Father  of  Christ , 
but  Christ  they  call  this  sun.  If,  therefore, 
according  to  them,  the  world  was  made  by  the 
Evil  One,  and  the  sun  is  in  the  world,  how  is 
the  Son  of  the  Good  an  unwilling  slave  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  Evil  ?  We  bemire  ourselves 
in  speaking  of  these  things,  but  we  do  it  lest 
any  of  those  present  should  from  ignorance 
fall  into  the  mire  of  the  heretics.  I  know 
that  I  have  defiled  my  own  mouth  and  the 


3  The  theory  of  two  Gods,  one  good  and  the  other  evil,  was 
held  by  Cerdo,  and  Marcion  (Hipp;.ilytiis,  Refut.  omnium  Hcer. 
VII.  cap.  17  :  Ireiisus,  III.  .xxv.  3,  quoted  in  note  on  Cat.  iv.  4). 
The  M.michees  also  held  that  the  Creator  of  the  world  was  dis- 
tinct from  the  Supreme  God  (Alexander  Lycop.  de  Maniclueorum 
^enientiis,  cap.  iii.). 

4  2  Cor.  vi.  14.  Cyril's  description  applies  especially  to  the 
heresy  of  Manes.  See  §  36,  noie  3,  at  the  end  of  this  Lecture; 
also  Cat.  xi.  21.  and  Cat.  xv.  3. 


ears  of  my  listeners  :  yet  it  is  expedient. 
For  it  is  much  better  to  hear  absurdities 
charged  against  others,  than  to  fall  into  them 
from  ignorance :  far  better  that  thou  know 
the  mire  and  hate  it,  than  unawares  fall  into  it. 
For  the  godless  system  of  the  heresies  is  a 
road  with  many  branches,  and  whenever  a  man 
has  strayed  from  the  one  straight  way,  then  he 
falls  down  precipices  again  and  again. 

14.  The  inventor  of  all  heresy  was  Simon 
Magus  5  :  that  Simon,  who  in  the  Acts  of  tlie 
Apostles  thought  to  purchase  with  money  the 
unsaleable  grace  of  the  Spirit,  and  heard  the 
words.  Thou  hast  neither  part  ?ior  lot  in  this 
matter'^,  and  the  rest :  concerning  whom  also  it 
is  written,  Thej  went  out  fro  ?n  us,  but  they  were 
not  of  us;  for  if  they  had  beeti  of  us,  they  would 
have  remained  with  ust.  This  man,  after  he 
had  been  cast  out  by  the  Apostles,  came  to 
Rome,  and  gaining  over  one  Helena  a  harlot^, 
was  the  first  that  dared  with  blasphemous 
mouth  to  say  that  it  was  himself  who  appeared 
on  Mount  Sinai  as  the  Father,  and  afterwards 
appeared  among  the  Jews,  not  in  real  flesh 
but  in  seeming9,  as  Christ  Jesus,  and  afterwards 
as  the  Holy  Spirit  whom  Christ  promised  to 
send  as  the  Paraclete  '°.  And  he  so  deceived 
the  City  of  Rome  that  Claudius  set  up  his 
statue,  and  wrote  beneath  it,  in  the  language 
of  the  Romans,  "  Simoni  Deo  Sancto,"  which 
being  interpreted  signifies,  "  To  Simon  the 
Holy  God  \" 

5  So  Irenaeus  (I.  xxiii.  2)  says  that  "from  this  Simon  of  Samaria 

all  kinds  of  heresies  derive  their  origin." 

6  Acts  viii.  18 — 21.  7  I  John  ii.  19. 

8  Irenaeus  (I.  xxiii.  2):  "  Having  purchased  from  Tyre,  a  city 
of  Phoenicia,  a  certain  harlot  named  Helena,  he  used  to  carry  lier 
about  with  him,  declaring  that  this  woman  was  the  tirst  conception 
of  his  mind,  the  mother  of  all,  by  whom  in  the  beginning  he 
conceived  in  his  mind  the  creation  of  Angels  and  Archangels." 

5  Cf.  Epiphan.  {Hceres.  p.  55,  B)  :  "  He  said  that  he  was  the 

Son,  and  had  not  really  s\iffered,  but  only  in  appearance  (ooKrjaei)." 

•t'  Irena;us  (I.  xxiii.  i):  "  He  taught  that  it  was  himself  who 

appeared  among  the  Jevvs  as  the  Sou,  and  descended  in  Samaria 

as  the  Father,  but  came  to  other  nations  as  the  Holy  Spirit.  ' 

Cyril  here  departs  from  his  authority  by  substituting  Mount 
Sinai  for  Samaria,  and  thereby  falls  into  error.  Simon  had  first 
appeared  in  Samaria,  being  a  native  of  Gitton  :  morei^ver  in  claim- 
ing to  be  the  Father  he  meant  to  set  himself  far  above  the  inierior 
Deity  who  had  given  the  Law  on  Sinai,  saying  that  he  was  "  the 
highest  of  all  Powers,  that  is  the  father  who  is  over  all." 

•  "Justin  Martyr  in  his  tirst  Apology,  addressed  to  Antoninus 
Pius,  writes  thus  (c.  26) :  '  There  was  one  Simon  a  Samaritan, 
of  the  village  called  Gitton,  who  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  Ca;sar, 
and  in  your  royal  city  of  Rome,  did  mighty  feats  01  magic  by  the 
art  of  daemons  working  in  him.  He  was  considered  a  god,  and 
as  a  god  was  honoured  among  you  with  a  statue,  which  statue 
was  set  up  in  the  river  Tiber  between  the  two  bridges,  and  hears 
this  inscription  in  Latin  : 

Simoni  Deo  Sancto; 
which  is, 

To  Simon  the  holy  God. 

"The  substance  of  this  story  is  repeated  by  Irenseus  (^adv. 
Hcer.  I.  xxiii.  i),  and  by  Tertullian  ' Apol.  c.  13),  who  reproaches 
the  Romans  for  installing  Simon  Magus  in  their  Pantheon,  and 
giving  him  a  statue  and  the  title  '  Holy  God.' 

''  In  A.D.  1574,  a  stone,  which  had  formed  the  base  of  a  statu;, 
was  dug  up  on  the  site  described  by  Justin,  the  Island  in  the  Tioer, 
bearing  an  inscription — 'Seinoni  Sanco  Deo  Fidio  Sacrum,  Arc' 
Hence  it  has  been  supposed  that  Justin  mistook  a  statue  of  the 
Sabine  God,  '  Semo  Saucus,'  for  one  of  Simcn  JNIagus.  See  the 
notes  in  Otto's  Justin  Martyr,  and  Stieren's  Iiena;us. 

"  On  the  other  hand  Tillemont  {Memoires,  t.  ii.  p.  482)  maintains 
that  Justin  in  an  Apology  addressed  to  the  emperor  and  written 
in  Rome  itself  cannot  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  fallen  into 


38 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


15.  As  the  delusion  was  extending,  Peter 
and  Paul,  a  noble  pair,  chief  rulers  of  the 
Church,  arrived  and  set  the  error  right  ^j  and 
when  the  supposed  god  Simon  wished  to  shew 
himself  off,  they  straightway  shewed  him  as  a 
corpse.  For  Simon  promised  to  rise  aloft  to 
heaven,  and  came  riding  in  a  daemons'  chariot 
on  the  air ;  but  the  servants  of  God  fell  on 
their  knees,  and  having  shewn  that  r.greement 
of  which  Jesus  spake,  that  If  two  of  you  shall 
agi'ee  conceniifig  anything  that  they  shall  ask, 
it  shall  be  done  unto  them  3,  they  launched  the 
weapon  of  their  concord  in  prayer  against 
Magus,  and  struck  him  down  to  the  earth. 
And  marvellous  though  it  was,  yet  no  marvel. 
For  Peter  was  there,  who  carrieth  the  keys  of 
heaven  4  :  and  nothing  wonderful,  for  Paul  was 
there 5,  who  was  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven, 
and  i7ito  Paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words, 
7ohich  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter  ^. 
These  brought  the  supposed  God  down  from 
the  sky  to  earth,  thence  to  be  taken  down  to 
the  regions  below  the  earth.  In  this  man  first 
the  serpent  of  wickedness  appeared;  but  when 
one  head  had  been  cut  off,  the  root  of  wicked- 
ness was  found  again  with  many  heads. 

1 6.  For  Cerinthus?  made  havoc  of  the  Church, 
and  Menander^,  and  Carpocrates^,  Ebionites' 
also,  and  Marcion  ^,  that  mouthpiece  of  ungod- 
liness. For  he  who  proclaimed  dift'erent 
gods,  one  the  Good,  the  other  the  Just, 
contradicts  the  Son  when  He  says,  O  righteous 

so  manifest  an  error.  Whichever  view  we  takeof  Justin's  accuracy 
concerning  the  inscription  and  the  statue,  there  is  nothing  im- 
probable in  his  statement  that  Simon  Magus  was  at  Rome  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius."  (Extracted  by  permission  from  the  Speaker's 
Commentary,  Introduction  to  the  Efiistle  to  the  Romans,  p.  4.) 

2  "Justin  says  not  one  word  about  St.  Peter's  alleged  visit 
to  Rome,  and  his  encounter  with  Simon  Magus."  But  "  Eusebius 
in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  (c.  a.d.  325),  quotes  Justin  .Martyr's 
story  about  Simon  Magus  (E.H.  ii.  c.  13),  and  then,  without  re- 
ferring to  any  authority,  goes  on  to  assert  (c.  14)  that  '  immedi- 
ately in  the  same  reign  of  Claudius  divine  Providi-nce  led  Peterthe 
great  Apusile  to  Rome  to  encounter  this  great  destroyer  of  life,' 
and  that  he  thus  brought  the  light  of  the  Gospel  froiii  the  East  to 
the  West '   {ibitlein). 

Eusebius  probably  borrowed  this  story  "  from  the  strange  fictions 
of  the  Clementine  Recognitions  and  Homilies,  and  Apostolic  Con- 
stitutions." See  Recogn.  III.  63-65;  Horn.  I.  15;  III.  58; 
Apost.  Constit.  VI.  7,  8,  9.  Cyril's  account  of  Simon's  death 
is  taken  from  the  same  untrustworthy  sources. 

3  Matt.  .wiii.  ig.  4  II).  ,\vi.  19. 

5  It  is  certain  that  S.  Paul  was  not  at  Rome  at  this  time.  This 
story  of  Simon  Magus  and  his  '  fiery  car'  is  told,  with  v.irialions, 
by  Arnobius  (adv.  Gentes,  II.  12),  and  in  Apost.  Constit.  VI.  9. 

6  2  Cor.  .\ii.  2,  4. 

7  Cerinthus  taught  that  the  world  was  not  made  by  the  supreme 
God,  but  by  a  separate  Power  ignorant  of  Him.  See  Ircnxus, 
Har.  I.  -vxvi.,  Euseb.  E.H ■  iii.  28,  with  the  notes  in  this  .Series. 

8  Menanderis  first  mentioned  l<y  Justin  M  (Apolo^.  I.  cap.  26): 
"  Menander,  also  a  Samaritan,  of  the  town  Cappareta:a,  a  disciple 
of  Simon,  and  inspiied  by  devils,  we  know  to  have  deceived  many 
while  he  was  in  Antioch  by  his  magical  art.  He  persuaded  those 
who  adhered  to  him  that  they  should  never  die."  Irena;us 
(I.  xxiii.  5)  adds  that  Menander  annoimced  himself  as  the  Saviour 
sent  by  the  Invisibles,  and  taught  that  the  world  was  created  by 
Angels.     See  also  Tertullian  {de  Animd,  cap.  50.)        , 

9  Carpocraies,  a  Platonic  philosopher,  who  taught  at  Alexandria 
(k25  .\.u  circ),  held  that  the  world  and  all  things  in  it  were  made 
by  Angels  far  inferior  to  the  unbcgotten  (unknown)  Fatlier  \Iren. 
I.  XXV.  I  ;  Tertullian,  Adv.  Ha-r.  cap.  3). 

1  Irena;us.  I.  26  :  "Those  who  are  called  Ebionitcs  agree  that 
the  world  was  made  by  God:  but  their  opinions  with  respect 
to  the  Lord  are  like  those  of  Cerinthus  and  Carpocrates." 

2  On  Marcion,  see  note  5,  on  Cat.  iv.  4. 


Father 'i.  And  he  who  says  again  that  the 
Father  is  one,  and  the  maker  of  the  world 
another,  opposes  the  Son  when  He  says,  If 
then  God  so  clothes  the  grass  of  the  field  7vhich 
to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cost  into  the  fuj'uace 
of  fire'' ;  and.  Who  makcth  His  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  07i  the  good,  and  sendcth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjusf^.  Here  again  is  a  second 
inventor  of  more  mischief,  this  Marcion. 
For  being  confuted  by  the  testimonies  from 
the  Old  Testament  which  are  quoted  in  the 
New,  he  was  the  first  who  dared  to  cut  those 
testimonies  out^,  and  leave  the  preaching  of 
the  word  of  faith  without  witness,  thus  effacing 
the  true  God  :  and  sought  to  undermine  the 
Church's  faith,  as  if  there  were  no  heralds 
of  it. 

17.  He  again  was  succeeded  by  another, 
Basilides,  of  evil  name,  and  dangerous  cha- 
racter, a  preacher  of  impurities  7.  The  contest 
of  wickedness  was  aided  also  by  Valentinus^,  a 
preacher  of  thirty  gods.  The  Greeks  tell  of  but 
few :  and  the  man  who  was  called — but  more 
truly  was  not — a  Christian  extended  the  delu- 
sion to  full  thirty.  He  says,  too,  that  Bythus  the 
Abyss  (for  it  became  him  as  being  an  abyss  of 
wickedness  to  begin  his  teaching  from  the 
Abyss)  begat  Silence, .  and  of  Siience  begat 
the  Word.  This  Bythus  was  worse  than  the 
Zeus  of  the  Greeks,  who  was  united  to  his 
sister  :  for  Silence  was  said  to  be  the  child  of 
Bythus.  Dost  thou  see  the  absurdity  invested 
with  a  show  of  Christianity  ?  Wait  a  little, 
and  thou  wilt  be  shocked  at  his  imj)iety  ;  for 
he  asserts  that  of  this  Bythus  were  begotten 
eight  Aeons  ;  and  of  them,  ten  ;  and  of  them, 
other  twelve,  male  and  female.  But  whence 
is  the  proof  of  these  things?  See  their  silli- 
ness from  their  fabrications.  Whence  hast 
thou  the  proof  of  the  thirty  Aeons  ?  Because, 
saith  he,  it  is  written,  that  Jesus  was  baptized, 


3  John  xvii.  25.  *  Luke  xii.  2S.  5  Matt.  v.  45. 

'  Marcion  accepted  only  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  and  mutilated  that 
(Terlullian,  Adv.  Marcion.  iv.  2).  He  thus  got  rid  of  the  testi- 
mony ol  the  Apiisilcs  and  eye-witnesses,  Matthew  and  John,  and 
represented  the  Law  and  the  Gospel  as  contradictory  revelations 
of  two  different  Gods.  For  this  Cyril  calls  him  '  a  second  inventor 
of  mischief,'  Simon  Magus  (§  14)  being  the  first. 

7  Basilides  was  earlier  than  Marcion,  being  the  founder  of 
a  Gnostic  sect  at  Alexandria  in  thir  reign  of  Hadrian  (a.d.  117 — 
138).  His  doctrines  are  described  by  Ircna;us  (I.  xxvii.  3 — 7), 
and  very  fully  by  Hippolytus  \Re/tit.  o)nn.  Hter.  VJI.  2 — 15). 
The  charge  of  teaching  licentiousness  att.iches  rather  to  the  later 
followers  of  Basilides  than  to  Inmself  or  his  son  Isidorus  (Clem. 
Alex.  Stromal.  III.  cap.  i).  Basilides  wrote  a  Commentary  on 
the  Gospel  in  24  books  (E.vfcetica),  of  which  the  23rd  is  quoted 
by  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Stromal.  IV.  cap.  12),  and  against 
which  .^.grippa  Castor  wrote  a  refutation.  Origen  (Horn.  i.  in 
Lucatn.)  .says  that  Basilides  wrote  a  Gospel  bearing  his  own 
name.  See  Routh.  Rell.  Sacr.  I.,  p.  85;  V.  p.  106  :  Westcott, 
History  0/ Canon  0/  N.  T.  -v.  §  3. 

»  "  The  doctrines  of  Valeiitinus  are  described  fully  by  Irenaius 
(I.  cap.  i.),  from  whom  S.  Cyril  takes  ibis  accoimt.  ''  Valentinus, 
and  Basilides,  and  Bardesanes,  and  Harnionius,  and  those  of  their 
company  admit  Christ's  conception  and  birth  of  the  Virgin,  but 
say  that  God  the  Word  received  no  addition  frotn  the  Virgin,  but 
made  a  sort  of  passage  through  her,  as  through  a  tube,  and  made 
use  of  a  phantom  in  appearing  to  men."     (Theodoret,  Efist.  145.) 


LECTURE   VI. 


39 


being  thirty  years  old'^.  But  even  if  He  was 
baptized  when  thirty  years  old,  what  sort  of 
demonstration  is  this  from  the  thirty  years  ? 
Are  there  then  five  gods,  because  He  brake 
five  loaves  among  five  thousand  ?  Or  because 
he  had  twelve  Disciples,  must  theie  also  be 
twelve  gods  ? 

1 8.  And  even  this  is  still  little  compared  with 
the  impieties  which  follow.  For  the  last  of  the 
deities  being,  as  he  dares  to  speak,  both  male 
and  female,  this,  he  says,  is  Wisdom  '.  What 
impiety  !  Y ox  the  Wisdovi  of  God^  is  Christ  His 
Only-begotten  Son  :  and  he  by  his  doctrine  de- 
graded the  Wisdom  of  God  into  a  female  ele- 
ment, and  one  of  thirty,  and  the  last  fabrication. 
He  also  says  that  Wisdom  attempted  to  behold 
the  first  God,  and  not  bearing  His  brightness 
fell  from  heaven,  and  was  cast  out  of  her  thirtieth 
place.  Then  she  groaned,  and  of  her  groans 
begat  the  Devil  3,  and  as  she  wept  over  her  fall 
made  of  her  tears  the  sea.  Mark  the  impiety. 
For  of  ^^'isdom  how  is  the  Devil  begotten,  and 
of  prudence  wickedness,  or  of  light  darkness? 
He  says  too  that  the  Devil  begat  others,  some 
of  whom  created  the  world :  and  that  the 
Christ  came  down  in  order  to  make  mankind 
revolt  from  the  Maker  of  the  world. 

19.  But  hear  whom  they  say  Christ  Jesus  to 
be,  that  thou  mayest  detest  them  yet  more. 
For  they  say  that  after  Wisdom  had  been  cast 
down,  in  order  that  the  number  of  the  thirty 
might  not  be  incomplete,  the  nine  and  twenty 
Aeons  contributed  each  a  little  part,  and 
formed  the  Christ  4  ;  and  they  say  that  He  also 
is  both  male  and  female^.  Can  anything  be 
more  impious  than  this?  Anything  more 
wretched?  I  am  describing  their  delusion  to 
thee,  in  order  that  thou  mayest  hate  them  the 
more  Shun,  therefore,  their  impiety,  and  do 
not  even  give  greeting  /<?  ^  a  man  of  this  kind. 


9  Luke  iii.  23.  '  Irenseus  I.  ii.  2.  21  Cor.  1.  24. 

3  IrenjEus,  1.  c,  and  Hippolytus,  who  gives  an  elaborate  ac- 
count of  the  doctrines  of  V;ilentinus  {L.  VI.  capp.  xvi. — xxxii.), 
both  represent  Sophia,  "  Wisdom,"  as  giving  birth  not  to  Satan, 
but  to  a  shapeless  abortion,  which  was  the  origin  of  matter. 
According  to  Irenseus  (I.  iv.  2),  Achamoth,  the  enthymesis  of 
Sophia,  gave  birth  to  the  Demiurge,  and  "  from  her  tears  all  that 
is  of  a  liquid  nature  was  formed." 

In  Tertullian's  Treatise  against  the  Valeiitinians  chap,  xxii., 
Achamoth  is  said  as  by  Cyril  to  have  given  biith  to  Satan  :  but 
in  chap,  xxiii.  Satan  seems  to  be  identified  (or  interchanged)  with 
the  Demiurge. 

4  The  account  in  Iren:Eus  (I.  ii.  6)  is  rather  different:  "The 
whole  Pleroma  of  the  Aeons,  with  one  design  and  desire,  and  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  their  Father 
also  setting  the  seal  of  His  approval  on  their  conduct,  brought 
together  whatever  each  one  had  in  himself  of  the  greatest  beauty 
and  preciousness  ;  and  uniting  all  these  contributions  so  as  skil- 
fully to  blend  the  whole,  they  produced,  to  the  honour  and  glofy  of 
Bythus,  a  being  of  most  perfect  beauty,  the  very  star  of  the 
Pleroma,  and  its  perfect  Iruit,  namely  Jesus." 

Tertullian,  Against  the  Vateutinians,  chap.  12,  gives  a  sar- 
castic de>cription  of  this  strange  doctrine,  deriving  his  facts 
(chap.  5)  from  Justin,  Miltiades,  "  Irenaeus,  that  very  exact 
inquirer  into  all  doctrines,"  and  Proculus. 

5  This  statement  does  not  agree  with  Irenaeus  (I.  vii.  i),  who 
says  that  the  Valentiniaiis  represented  the  Saviour,  that  is  Jesus, 
as  becoming  the  bridegroom  of  Achamoth  or  .Sophia. 

*  2  John  10,  II  :  "  Neither  bid  him  God  speed"  (.\.V.)  :  "give 
him  no  greeting  "  (RV). 


lest  thou  h^e  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful 
7vorks  of  darkness  7  .•  neither  make  curious  in- 
quiries, nor  be  willing  to  enter  into  conversa- 
tion with  them. 

20.  Hate  all  heretics,  but  esiecially  him 
who  is  rightly  named  after  mania  ^,  who  arose 
not  long  ago  in  the  reign  of  Probus  9.  Por  the 
delusion  began  full  seventy  years  ago  %  and 
there  are  men  still  living  who  saw  him  with 
their  very  eyes.  But  hate  him  not  for  this, 
that  he  lived  a  short  time  asjo  ;  but  because  of 
his  impious  doctrines  hate  thou  the  worker 
of  wickedness,  the  receptacle  of  all  filth,  who 
gathered  up  the  mire  of  every  heresy  ^  For 
aspiring  to  become  pre-eminent  among  wicked 
men,  he  took  the  doctrines  of  all,  and  having 
combined  them  into  one  heresy  filled  with  blas- 
phemies and  all  iniquity,  he  makes  havoc  of 
the  Church,  or  rather  of  those  outside  the 
Church,  roaming  about  like  a  lion  and  devour- 
ing. Heed  not  their  fair  speech,  nor  their 
supposed  humility  :  for  they  are  serpents, 
a  generation  of  vipers'^.  Judas  too  said  Hail  I 
Master''^  even  while  he  was  betraying  Him. 
Heed  not  their  kisses,  but  beware  of  their 
venom. 

21.  Now,  lest  I  seem  to  accuse  him  without 
reason,  let  me  make  a  digression  to  tell  who 
this  Manes  is,  and  in  part  what  he  teaches  :  for 
all  time  would  fail  to  describe  adequately  the 
whole  of  his  foul  teaching.  But  for  help  in 
time  of  need ^,  store  up  in  thy  memory  what  I 
have  said  to  former  hearers,  and  will  repeat  to 
those  now  present,  that  they  who  know  not 
may  learn,  and  they  who  know  may  be 
reminded.  Manes  is  not  of  Christian  origin, 
God  forbid  !  nor  was  he  like  Simon  cast  out  of 
the  Church,  neither  himself  nor  the  teachers 
who  were  before  him.  For  he  steals  other 
men's  wickedness,  and  makes  their  wickedness 
his  own  :  but  how  and  in  what  manner  thou 
must  hear. 

22.  There  was  in  Egypt  one  Scythianus^,  a 


7  Ephes.  V.  II. 

8  Eusebius  in  his  brief  notice  of  the  Manichean  heresy  (///.<■/'. 
Eccles.  vii.  31)  plays,  like  S.  Cyril,  upon  the  name  Manes  as  well 
suited  to  a  madman. 

9  Marcus  Aurelius  Probus,  Emperor  a.d.  276 — 282,  from  being 
an  obscure  Illyrian  soldier  came  to  be  universally  esteemed  the 
best  and  noblest  of  the  Roman  Emperors. 

1  Routh  (R.  S.  V.  p.  12)  comes  to  the  conchision  that  the 
famous  disputation  between  Manes  and  Archelaus  took  place 
betvveen  July  and  December,  A.D.  277.  Accordingly  these  Lec- 
tures, being  "full  70  years"  later,  could  not  have  been  delivered 
before  the  Spring  of  A.D.  348. 

2  Leo  the  Great  (Serin,  xv.  cap.  4)  speaks  of  the  madness  of 
the  later  Manichees  as  including  all  errors  and  impieties:  "all 
profanity  of  Paganism,  all  blindness  of  the  carnal  Jews,  the  illicit 
secrets  of  the  magic  art,  the  sacrilege  and  blasphemy  of  all 
heresies,  flowed  together  in  that  sect  as  into  a  sort  of  cess-pool 
of  all  filth."  Leo  summoned  those  whom  they  called  the  "  elect," 
both  men  and  women,  before  an  assembly  of  Bishops  and  Pres- 
byters, and  obtained  from  these  witnesses  a  full  account  of  the 
execrablepracticesof  the  sect,  in  which,  as  he  declares,  "  their  law 
is  lying,  their  religion  the  devil,  their  sacrifice  obscenity." 

3  Matt.  iii.  7.  4  lb.  xxvi.  49.  5  Heb.  iv.  16. 

6  Cyril  takes  his  account  of  Manes  from  the  "Acta  Archelai 
et  Manetis  Disputationis,"  of  which  Routh  has  edited  the  Latin 


40 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


Saracen?  by  birth,  having  nothing  in  common 
either  with  Judaism  or  with  Christianity.  This 
man,  who  dwelt  at  Alexandria  and  imitated 
the  life  of  Aristotle  ^,  composed  four  books  9, 
one  called  a  Gospel  which  had  not  the  acts  of 
Christ,  but  the  mere  name  only,  and  one  other 
cal'ed*  the  book  of  Chapters,  and  a  third  of 
Mysteries,  and  a  fourth,  which  they  circulate 
now,  the  Treasure  ^  This  man  had  a  disciple, 
Terebinthus  by  name.  But  when  Scythianus 
purposed  to  come  into  Judrra,  and  make  havoc 
of  the  land,  the  Lord  smote  him  with  a  deadly 
disease,  and  stayed  the  pestilence  ^ 

23.  But  Terebinthus,  his  disciple  in  this 
wicked  error,  inherited  his  money  and  books 
and  heresy  3,  and  came  to  Palestine,  and  be- 
coming known  and  condemned  in  Judsea-*  he 
resolved  to  pass  into  Persia :  but  lest  he 
should  be  recognised  there  also  by  his  name, 
he  changed  it  and  called  himself  Buddas  s< 
However,  he  found  adversaries  there  also  in 
the  priests  of  Mithras  ^  :  and  being  confuted  in 
the  discussion  of  many  arguments  and  con- 
troversies, and  at  last  hard  pressed,  he  took 
refuge  with  a  certain  widow.  Then  having 
gone  up  on  the  housetop,  and  summoned  the 
daemons  of  the  air,  whom  the  Manichees  to 
this  day  invoke  over  their  abominable  cere- 
mony of  the  fig  7,  he  was  smitten  of  God,  and 
cast  down  from  the  housetop,  and  expired  : 
and  so  the  second  beast  was  cut  oft'. 

24.  The  books,  however,  which  were  the 
records  of  his  impiety,  remained  ;  and  both 
these  and  his  money  the  widow  inherited. 
And  having  neither   kinsman    nor  any  other 


translalion,  together  with  the  Fragments  of  the  Greek  preserved 
by  Cyril  in  thio  Lecture  and  by  Epiphariiiis.  There  is  an  English 
translation  of  the  whole  in  Clark's  "Ante-Nicene  Christian  Li- 
brary." 

7  The  Saracens  are  mentioned  by  both  Pliny  and  Ptolemy. 
See  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Rntnati  Geography. 

**  There  is  no  meniiou  of  Aristotle  ni  the  Acta  Archelai,  but 
Scythianus  is  stated  (cap.  li.)  to  have  founded  the  sect  in  the 
time  of  the  Apostles,  and  to  have  derived  iiis  duality  of  Gods 
from  Pythagoras,  and  to  have  learned  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. 

9  These  four  books  are  stated  by  .'Vrchelaus  (Acta,  cap.  Hi.), 
to  have  been  written  for  Manes  by  his  disciple  Terebinthus. 

1  In  allusion  to  this  name  the  history  of  the  Disputation  is 
called  (Ada,  cap.  i.)  "  The  true  Treasure." 

2  The  true  reading  of  this  sentence,  Trpoaipovjiiei'Oi'  toi/  2ku- 
Oiavov,  instead  ol  toi/  TrpoetpTj/ne'ioi'  2k.,  has  been  restored  by 
Clcopas  from  the  MS.  in  the  Archiepiscopal  library  at  Jerusalem. 
This  reading  agrees  with  the  statement  in  Acta  Arckel.  cap.  li.  : 
"Scythianus  thought  of  making  an  excursion  into  Judsea,  with 
the  purpose  of  meeting  all  those  who  had  a  reputation  there  as 
teachers;  but  it  came  to  pass  that  he  suddenly  departed  this  life, 
without  having  been  able  to  make  any  progress." 

3  This  statement  agrees  with  the  reading  of  the  Vatican  MS. 
of  the  Acta  Arclietai,  '"  omnibus  quaecunque  ejus  fuerunt  congre- 
gatis." 

4  In  the  Acta  there  i.s  no  mention  of  Palestine,  but  only  that 
he  "set  out  for  Babylonia,  a  province  whicli  is  now  held  by  the 
Persians." 

5  Clem.  PiX(tx.(Stro7n.  i.  15):  "  Some  also  of  the  Indians  obey 
the  precepts  of  Boutta,  and  honour  him  as  a  god  lor  his  extra- 
ordinary sanctity." 

*  Cf  Acta  Arch,  cap.  Hi.:  "A  certain  Parens,  however, 
a  prophet,  and  Labdacus,  son  of  Mithras,  charged  him  with 
falsehood."  On  the  names  Parous  and  Labdacus,  see  Diet.  Chr. 
Bioj^r.,  "  Barcabbas,"  and  on  the  Magian  worship  of  the  Sun-god 
Mithras,  see  Raulinson  (iY<'r<7a'<7^.  Vol.  I.  p.  426). 

7  See  below,  §  33. 


friend,  she  determined  to  buy  with  the  money 
a  boy  named  Cubricus  ^ :  him  she  adopted 
and  educated  as  a  son  in  the  learning 
of  the  Persians,  and  thus  sharpened  an  evil 
weapon  against  mankind.  So  Cubricus,  the 
vile  slave,  grew  up  in  the  midst  of  philo- 
sophers, and  on  the  death  of  the  widow 
inherited  both  the  books  and  the  money. 
Then,  lest  the  name  of  slavery  might  be  a 
reproach,  instead  of  Cubricus  he  called  him- 
self Manes,  which  in  the  language  of  the 
Persians  signifies  discourse^.  For  as  he  thought 
himself  something  of  a  disputant,  he  surnamed 
himself  Manes,  as  it  were  an  excellent  master 
of  discourse.  But  though  he  contrived  for 
himself  an  honourable  title  according  to  the 
language  of  the  Persians,  yet  the  providence  of 
God  caused  him  to  become  a  self  accuser  even 
against  his  will,  that  through  thinking  to 
honour  himself  in  Per.sia,  he  might  proclaim 
himself  among  the  Greeks  by  name  a  maniac. 

25.  He  dared  too  to  say  that  he  was  the 
Paraclete,  though  it  is  written.  But  whoso- 
ever shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
hath  no  forgiveness'^.  He  committed  blas- 
phemy therefore  by  saying  that'  he  was  the 
Holy  Ghost :  let  him  that  communicates 
with  those  heretics  see  with  whom  he  is  en- 
rolling himself.  The  slave  shook  the  world, 
since  by  three  thi/igs  the  earth  is  shaken,  and 
the  fourth  it  catinot  bear, — if  a  slave  become  a 
king^.  Having  come  into  public  he  now  began 
to  promise  things  above  man's  power.  'I'he 
son  of  the  King  of  the  Persians  was  sick,  and 
a  multitude  of  physicians  were  in  attendance : 
but  Manes  promised,  as  if  he  were  a  godly 
man,  to  cure  him  by  prayer.  With  the  de- 
parture of  the  physicians,  the  life  of  the  child 
departed :  and  the  man's  impiety  was  detected. 
So  the  would-be  philosopher  was  a  prisoner, 
being  cast  into  prison  not  for  reproving  the 
king  in  the  cause  of  truth,  not  for  destroying 
the  idols,  but  for  promising  to  save  and  lying, 
or  rather,  if  the  truth  must  be  toUl,  for  com- 
mitting murder.  For  the  child  who  might 
have  been  saved  by  medical  treatment,  was 
murdered  by  this  man's  driving  away  the 
physicians,  and  killing  him  by  want  of  treat- 
ment. 

26.  Now  as  there  are  very  many  wicked 
things  which  I  tell  thee  of  him,  remember  first 
his  blasphemy,  secondly  his  slavery  (not  that 
slavery  is  a  disgrace,  but  that  his  pretending 
to  be  free-born,  when  he  was  a  slave,  was 
wicked),  thirdly,  the  falsehood  of  his  promise, 
fourthly,  the  murder  of  the  child,  and  fifihly, 


8  Cf.  Acta  Arch.  cap.  liii.  "A  boy  about  seven  years  old, 
named  Corbicius." 

9  See  a  different  account  in  Diet.  Chr.  B.'o^r.,  "  Manes." 
'  Mark  iii.  29.  '  Prov.  xxx.  21,  22. 


LECTURE   VI. 


41 


the  disgrace  of  tlie  imprisonment.  And  there 
was  not  only  the  disgrace  of  the  prison,  but 
also  the  flight  from  prison.  For  he  who  called 
himself  the  Paraclete  and  champion  of  the 
truth,  ran  away:  he  was  no  successor  of  Jesus, 
who  readily  went  to  the  Cross,  but  this  man 
was  the  reverse,  a  runaway.  Moreover,  the 
King  of  the  Persians  ordered  the  keepers  of 
the  prison  to  be  executed  :  so  Manes  was  the 
cause  of  the  child's  death  through  his  vain 
boasting,  and  of  the  gaolers'  death  through  his 
flight.  Ought  then  he,  who  shared  the  guilt 
of  murder,  to  be  worshipped  ?  Ought  he  not 
to  have  followed  the  example  of  Jesus,  and 
said,  If  y^  seek  Ale,  let  these  go  their  way'^l 
Ought  he  not  to  have  said,  like  Jonas,  Take 
me,  and  cast  me  into  the  sea :  for  this  storm  is 
because  of  nie'<  ? 

27.  He  escapes  from  the  prison,  and  comes 
into  Mesopotamia:  but  there  Bishop  Archebus, 
a  shield  of  righteousness,  encounters  him  ^  : 
and  having  accused  him  before  philosophers  as 
judges,  and  having  assembled  an  audience 
of  Gentiles,  lest  if  Christians  gave  judgment, 
the  judges  might  be  thought  to  shew  favour, — 
Tell  us  what  thou  preachest,  said  zArchelaus 
to  Manes.  And  he,  whose  mouth  rcas  as  an 
open  sepulihre^,  began  first  with  blasphemy 
against  the  Maker  of  all  things,  saying.  The  God 
of  the  Old  Testament  is  the  author  of  evils, 
as  He  says  of  Himself,  I  am  a  consuming fireT. 
But  the  wise  Archelaus  undermined  his  blas- 
phemous argument  by  saying,  "  If  the  God  of 
the  Old  Testament,  as  thou  sayest,  calls  Him- 
self a  fire,  whose  Son  is  He  who  saith,  I  catne 
to  send  fire  on  the  earth  ^ .?  If  thou  findest  fault 
with  Him  who  saith,  The  Lord  ki/kth,  and 
maketh  alive^,  why  dost  thou  honour  Peter,  who 
raised  up  Tabitha,  but  struck  Sapphira  dead  ? 
If  again  thou  tindest  fault,  because  He  pre- 
pared fire,  wherefore  dost  thou  not  find  fiiult 
with  Him  who  saith,  Depart  from  Me  into 
everlasting  fir e^  ?  If  thou  findest  tault  with  Him 
who  sailh,  /  am  God  that  make  peace,  and  create 
evil^,  explain  how  Jesus  saith,  /  caffie  not  to 
send  peace  but -a  sword '^.  Since  both  speak 
alike,  of  two  things  one,  either  both  are  good, 
because  of  their  agreement,  or  if  Jesus  is 
blameless  in  so  speaking,  why  blamest  thou 
Him  that  saith  the  like  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment? " 

28.  Then  Manes  answers  him  :  "  And  what 


3  John  xviii.  8.  ...      *  Jonah  i.  12. 

5  The  account  of  the  discussion  in  this  and  the  two  following 
chapters  is  not  now  found  in  the  Latin  Version  of  the  "Dis- 
putation," but  is  regarded  by  Dr.  Routh  as  having  been  derived 
by  Cyril  from  some  different  copies  of  the  Greek.  The  last  para- 
graph of  §  29,  "These  mysteries,  &c.,"  is  evidently  a  caution 
addressed  to  the  hearers  by  Cyril  himself  (Routh,  KeU.  Sac.  V. 

6  Ps.  V.  9.  7  Deut.  iv.  24.  °  Luke  \u.  49. 
9  I  Sam.  ii.  6.              i  Matt.  xxv.  41.  =  Is.  xlv.  7. 

3   Matt.  X.  34, 


sort  of  God  causes  blindness?  For  it  is  Paul 
wlio  saith.  In  ivhom  the  God  of  this  world  hath 
blinded  the  minds  of  them  that  believe  not,  lest 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  shojild  shine  7into  them  4." 
But  Archelaus  made  a  good  retort,  saying, 
"  Read  a  little  before :  But  if  our  Gospel  is 
veiled,  it  is  veiled  in  them  that  are  perishing'^. 
Seest  thou  that  in  them  that  are  perishing  it 
is  veiled?  For  it  is  not  right  to  give  the  things 
which  are  holy  unto  the  dogs^.  Again,  Is  it 
only  the  God  of  the  Old  Testament  that  hath 
blinded  the  minds  of  them  that  believe  not? 
Hath  not  Jesus  Himself  said.  For  this  cause 
speak  I  unto  them  in  parables,  that  seeing 
they  may  Jiot  see  7  ?  Was  it  from  hating  them 
that  He  wished  them  not  to  see  ?  Or  because 
of  their  unworthiness,  since  their  eyes  they  had 
closed^.  For  where  there  is  wilful  wickedness, 
there  is  also  a  withholding  of  grace:  for  to  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given;  but  from  him  that 
hath  not  shall  be  taken  even  that  which  he 
seemeth  to  have  9. 

29.  "  But  if  some  are  right  in  their  interpre- 
tation, -we  must  say  as  follows '  (for  it  is  no 
unworthy  expression) — If  indeed  He  blinded 
the  thoughts  of  them  that  believe  not,  he 
blinded  them  for  a  good  purpose,  that  they 
might  look  with  new  sight  on  what  is  good. 
For  he  said  not.  He  blinded  their  soul,  but, 
the  thoughts  of  them  that  believe  nof^.  And  tlie 
meaning  is  something  of  this  kind  :  '  Blind  the 
lewd  thoughts  of  the  lewd,  and  the  man  is 
saved  :  blind  the  grasping  and  rapacious 
thought  of  the  robber,  and  the  man  is  saved.' 
But  wilt  thou  not  understand  it  thus  ?  Then 
there  is  yet  another  interpretation.  The  sun 
also  blinds  those  whose  sight  is  dim  :  and  they 
whose  eyes  are  diseased  are  hurt  by  the  light 
and  blinded.  Not  that  the  sun's  nature  is  to 
blind,  but  that  the  substance  of  the  eyes  is 
incapable  of  seeing.  In  like  manner  un- 
believers being  diseased  in  their  heart  cannot 
look  upon  the  radiance  of  the  Godhead.  Nor 
hath  he  said,  '  He  hath  blinded  their  thoughts, 
that  they  should  not  hear  the  Gospel : '  but, 
that  the  light  of  the  glory  of  the  Gospel  of  our 
Lord  fesus  Chritt  should  not  shine  u7iio  them. 
For  to  hear  the  Gospel  is  permitted  to  all :  but 
the  glory  of  the  Gospel  is  reserved  for  Christ's 


4  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  voijjittTa,  "  thoughts."  S  2  Cor.  iv.  3. 

6  Matt.  vii.  6. 

7  Mart.  xiii.  13.  Both  A.V.  and  R.V.  follow  the  better  reading  : 
"because  seeing  they  see  nut,  *:c." 

8  Malt.  xiii.  15.  9  lb.  xxv.  29  :  Luke  viii.  18. 

«  Instead  of  the  reading  ol  the  Benedictine  and  earlier  editions, 
ei  6e  Set  Ka.\  ois  Tives  efrjyouvTat  touto  eiTret^,  the  MSS.  Roe  and 
Casaubon  combine  Set  icat  ojs  into  the  one  word  SiKaiio;,  which  is 
probably  the  right  reading.  Something,  however,  is  still  wanted 
to  complete  the  construction,  and  Petrus  Siculus  {circ.  a.d.  870) 
who  quotes  the  passage  in  his  History  0/ the  Manicliees,  bold  y 
conjectures  ecrri  xai  ourws  etTrei^.  A  simpler  emendation  would 
be — ei  5e  StKai'u)?  Tii'e?  efTjyoOi'Tai,  6ei  touto  eiTTcii' — which  both 
completes  the  construction  and  explains  the  reading  Set  koc  ois. 

2  i/o7J/iaTa,  2  Cor.  iv.  4. 


42 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


true  children  only.  Therefore  the  Lord  spake 
in  parables  to  those  who  could  not  hear  3  :  but 
to  the  Disciples  he  explained  the  parables  in 
private  ■♦  :  for  the  brightness  of  the  glory  is  for 
those  who  have  been  enlightened,  the  blinding 
for  them  that  believe  not."  These  mysteries, 
which  the  Church  now  explains  to  thee  who 
art  passing  out  of  the  class  of  Catechumens,  it 
is  not  the  custom  to  explain  to  heathen.  For 
to  a  heathen  we  do  not  explain  the  mysteries 
concerning  Fadier,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  nor 
before  Catechumens  do  we  speak  plainly  of 
the  mysteries  :  but  many  things  we  often  speak 
in  a  veiled  way,  that  the  behevers  who  know 
may  understand,  and  they  who  know  not  may 
get  no  hurt  5. 

30,  By  such  and  many  other  arguments  the 
serpent  was  overthrown  :  thus  did  Archelaus 
wrestle  with  Manes  and  threw  him.  Again, 
he  who  had  fled  from  prison  flees  from  this 
place  also :  and  having  run  away  from  his 
antagonist,  he  comes  to  a  very  poor  village, 
like  the  serpent  in  Paradise  when  he  left  Adam 
and  came  to  Eve.  But  the  good  shepherd 
Archelaus  taking  forethought  for  his  sheep, 
when  he  heard  of  his  flight,  straightway  hast- 
ened with  all  si)eed  in  search  of  the  wolf 
And  when  Manes  suddenly  saw  his  adversary, 
he  rushed  out  and  fled :  it  was  however  his 
last  flight.  For  the  officers  of  the  King  of 
Persia  searched  everywhere,  and  caught  the 
fugitive  :  and  the  sentence,  whicli  he  ought  to 
have  received  in  the  presence  of  Archelaus, 
is  passed  upon  him  by  the  king's  officers.  This 
Manes,  wliom  his  own  disciples  worship,  is  ar- 
rested and  brought  before  the  king.  The  king 
reproached  him  with  his  falsehood  and  his  flight : 
poured  scorn  upon  his  slavish  condition, 
avenged  the  murder  of  his  child,  and  con- 
demned him  also  for  the  murder  of  the 
gaolers  :  he  commands  him  to  be  flayed  after 
the  Persian  fashion.  And  while  the  rest 
of  his  body  was  given  over  for  food  of  wild 
beasts,  his  skin,  the  receptacle  of  his  vile 
mind,  was  hung  up  before  the  gates  like  a 
sack^.  He  that  called  himself  the  Paraclete 
and  professed  to  know  the  future,  knew  not  his 
own  flight  and  capture. 

31.  This  man  has  had  three  disciples, 
Thomas,  and  Baddas,  and  Hermas.  Pet  none 
read  the  Gospel  according  to  Thomas  ^ :  for  it  is 
the  work  not  of  one  of  the  twelve  Apostles,  but 


3  Matt.  xiii.  13.  4  Mark  iv.  34. 

5  See  the  note  at  the  end  of  the  Procatechesis. 

6  Dihpiit.  §  55.  Compare  the  account  of  Manes  in  Socrates, 
Ecclcs.  Hist.  I.  22,  in  this  series. 

7  The  Gospel  of  Thomas,  an  account  of  the  Childhood  of  Jesus, 
is  extant  in  three  forms,  two  in  Gieek  and  one  in  Latin  :  these  are 
all  translated  in  Clark's  Ante-Nicene  Library.  The  work  is 
wrongly  attributed  by  Cyril  to  a  disciple  of  Manes,  being  men- 
tioned long  before  by  Hippolytus(^^/<i'rt//V;«  o/all Heresies,  V.2) 
and  by  Origeii  (Hoin.  i.  in  Liicam):  "There  is  extant  also  the 
Gospel  according  to  Thomas." 


of  one  of  the  three  wicked  disciples  of  Manes. 
Let  none  associate  with  the  soul-destroying 
Manicheans,  who  by  decoctions  of  chaff  coun- 
terfeit the  sad  look  of  fasting,  who  speak  evil 
of  the  Creator  of  meats,  and  greedily  devour 
the  daintiest,  who  teach  that  the  man  who 
plucks  up  this  or  that  herb  is  changed  into  it. 
For  if  he  who  crops  herbs  or  any  vegetable  is 
changed  into  the  same,  into  how  many  will 
husbandmen  and  the  tribe  of  gardeners  be 
changed  ^?  The  gardener,  as  we  see,  has  used 
his  sickle  against  so  many :  into  which  then  is 
he  changed  ?  Verily  their  doctrines  are 
r'diculous,  and  fraught  with  their  own  con- 
demnation and  shame!  The  same  man,  being 
the  shepherd  of  a  flock,  both  sacrifices  a  sheep 
and  kills  a  wolf  Lito  what  then  is  he 
changed  ?  Many  men  both  net  fishes  and 
lime  birds :  into  which  then  are  they  trans- 
formed ? 

32.  Let  those  children  of  sloth,  the  Mani- 
cheans, make  answer ;  who  without  labouring 
themselves  eat  up  the  labourers'  fruits  :  who 
welcome  with  smiling  faces  those  who  bring 
them  their  food,  and  return  curses  instead  of 
blessings.  For  when  a  simple  person  brings 
them  anything,  "Stand  outside  a  while,"  saith 
he,  "  and  I  will  bless  thee."  Then  having 
taken  the  bread  into  his  hands  (as  those  who 
have  repented  and  left  them  have  confessed), 
"  I  did  not  make  thee,"  says  the  Manichee  to 
the  bread  :  and  sends  up  curses  against  the 
Most  High  ;  and  curses  him  that  made  it,  and 
so  eats  what  was  made  9.  If  thou  hatest  the 
food,  why  didst  thou  look  with  smiling 
countenance  on  him  that  brought  it  to  thee  ? 
If  thou  art  thankful  to  the  bringer,  why  dost 
thou  utter  thy  blasphemy  to  God,  who  created 
and  made  it  ?  So  again  he  says,  "  I  sowed 
thee  not :  may  he  be  sown  who  sowed  thee  ! 
I  reaped  thee  not  with  a  sickle  :  may  he  be 
reaped  who  reaped  thee  !  I  baked  thee  not 
with  fire  :  may  he  be  baked  who  baked  thee  I" 
A  fine  return  for  the  kindness  ! 

33.  These  are  great  faults,  but  still  small  in 
comi)aris()n  with  the  rest.  Their  Baptism  I 
dare  not  describe  before  men  and  women '. 
I  dare  not  say  what  they  distribute  to  their 
wretched  communicants  '■'....  Truly  we  pollute 

8  In  the  Disputation,  P  9,  Turbo  describes  these  transforma- 
tions:  "Reapers  must  be  transformed  into  hay,  or  beans,  or 
barley,  or  corn,  or  vegetables,  that  they  may  be  reaped  and  cut. 
Again  if  any  one  eats  bread,  he  must  become  bread,  and  be  eaten. 
If  one  kills  a  chicken,  he  will  be  a  chicken  himself.  If  one  kills 
a  mouse,  he  also  will  be  a  mon>ie." 

9  See  Turbo's  confe-.sion,  Disput.  89:"  And  when  they  are 
going  to  eat  bread,  they  first  pray,  speaking  thus  to  the  bread  ; 
'  1  neither  reaped  thee,  nor  ground  thee,  nor  kneaded  thee,  nor 
cast  thee  into  the  oven  :  but  another  did  these  things,  and  brought 
thee  to  nie,  and  I  am  not  to  blame  for  eating  thee.'  And  when  he 
has  said  this  to  himself,  he  says  to  the  Catechumen,  '  I  have 
prayed  for  thee,'  and  so  he  goes  away." 

'  On  the  rites  of  I'aptism  and  Eucharist  employed  by  the 
Manichees,  see  Diet.  Chr,  IJiogr,,  Maiticheans. 

'  The  original  runs;    Oii  ToAfi<i  eijrtii',  tivi  e^i/SoTTTOVTeS  ttjv 


LECTURE   VI. 


43 


our  mouth  in  speaking  of  these  things.  Are 
the  heathen  more  detestable  than  these  ?  Are 
the  Samaritans  more  wretched  ?  Are  Jews 
more  impious  ?  Are  fornicators  more  impure  3? 
But  the  Manichee  sets  these  offerings  in  the 
midst  of  the  aUar  as  he  considers  it*.  And 
dost  thou,  0  man,  receive  instruction  from 
such  a  mouth  ?  On  meeting  this  man  dost  thou 
greet  him  at  all  with  a  kiss  ?  To  say  nothing 
of  his  other  impiety,  dost  thou  not  flee  from 
the  defilement,  and  from  men  worse  than  pro- 
fligates, more  detestable  than  any  prostitute? 

34.  Of  these  things  the  Church  admonishes 
and  teaches  thee,  and  touches  mire,  that  thou 
mayest  not  be  bemired :  she  tells  of  the 
wounds,  that  thou  mayest  not  be  wounded. 
But  for  thee  it  is  enough  merely  to  know 
them  :  abstain  from  learning  by  experience. 
God  thunders,  and  we  all  tremble ;  and  they 
blaspheme.  God  lightens,  and  we  all  bow 
down  to  the  earth ;  and  they  have  their 
blasphemous  sayings  about  the  heavens  5. 
These  things  are  written  in  the  books  of  the 
Manichees.  These  things  we  ourselves  have 
read,  because  we  could  not  believe  those  wdio 
told  of  them  :  yes,  for  the  sake  of  your  salvation 
we  have  closely  inquired  into  their  perdition. 

35.  But  may  the  Lord  deliver  us  from  such 
delusion  :  and  may  there  be  given  to  you  a 
hatred  against  the  serpent,  that  as  they  lie  in 
wait  for  the  heel,  so  you  may  trample  on  their 
head.  Remember  ye  what  I  say.  What 
agreement  can  there  be  between  our  state 
and  tlieirs  ?  What  communion  hath  light  with 
darkness^  ?  What  hath  the  majesty  of  the 
Church  to  do  with   the   abommation  of  the 


ta^aSa,  5t5daa"t  Tot9  aSAtot?.  5ta  trvo'o'^/u.uji'  5e  }x6vov  STyAoucr^tu. 
ai»6pes  yap  Ta  iv  TOis  ervn-i'iacrjaois  tv^viJ-eiaSuidiv,  KoX  yufalKes  to. 
iv  aif}€Spois.     Miaii'Ofj.cv  aATj^u.?  to  (jTO/xa  k.t.A. 

3  'O  fjucu  yap  7ropi/evo"a9,  Trpb?  fxioii'  tupai/  6  cmBviJiLav  reAet  ttjv 
Trpa^ti''  KaTayLvui-jKtov  6k  t»}s  Trpa^eojs  aj5  /Ltiai'^eis  ot5e  Aourpou 
eTTtfieop.et'o?,  Kai  yiviiajK^i  ttJ?  irpd^ews  to  /luaapoi/.  'O  5e  Mai't- 
XQios  SvaiauTT}picv  /u.fVoi',  ov  voy-i^ei,  Ti6-qcri  TauTa,  (cal  fj-iaim 
Kci  TO  CTOjiia  (Cat  Tr]v  yKumav.  napa  TOtouTOU  (TTOjitaTOS,  avBptune 

K.T.A. 

4  ov  uoixi^ii.  The  Manichees  boasted  of  their  superiority  to 
the  Pagans  in  not  worshipping  God  with  altars,  temples,  images, 
victims,  or  incense  (August,  contra  Fausiuin  XX.  cap.  15J.  Vet 
they  used  the  names,  as  Augustine  affirms  {I.e.  cap.  i8>  :  '•  Never- 
theless I  wish  you  would  tell  me  why  you  call  all  those  things 
which  you  approve  in  your  own  case  by  these  names,  temple,  altar, 
sacrifice." 

5  KaKeii'Ot  Trept  ovpaviov  Tas  Sv<r<^rjixov?  exov(Ti  vAoKTcra?, 
Iijaovs    Aeyet    Trepl   tou    TraTpb?    auTOu,   'Oo'tl?    toi/    TJAtoi/    avrov 

avare'AAet  ent  StKaCovs  KaL  a6tVou9,  Kat  ^pk\€t  CTrt  jrofijpou?  Kal 
ayat^ous.  KaKeti'ou  Aeyovcrii',  OTt  ot  V€tol  e^  ^pto-iKrj^  fiavCa^  yt- 
vovToi^  Kal  ToA/xwcrt  Aeyeti/,  OTt  ecTTt  Tis  TrapyeVo?  ei/  oi'pai^cij  euttbij? 
fi€Ta  veaviaKOv  evetSou?,  Ka'i  Kara  Tr]v  Ttoi/  Ka^riKuiv  i}  Av/cwi/  Katpbvj 
T0U9  TTJs  aLcrxpa?  eTrt^UjULta?  /caipovs  ^X^'^»  '^"■^  Kara  ttjv  tov  xetjua>- 
vos  Kaip'ov,  fiaviiaSCji  avTOv  ejriTpe'xeiv  TJj  TrapfJeVco,  Kal  ttji'  piiv 
i^euyeii/  (^acrt,  toi/  de  e7rtTpe;\eti',  etra  €7rtTpe';^oi/Ta  ISpovVy  anu 
&k  7WV  iSpuiTiou  avrov  eli-ai  tov  v^tov,  TavTa  ye'ypaJTTat  iv  Tots 
Titiv  'M.avi\aiuiv  ^l^Aiots■  TauTa  T}H,tli  ayiyvioiiey,  K.T.A. 
'  2  Cor.  vi.  14. 


Manichees  ?  Here  is  order,  here  is  discipline  7, 
here  is  majesty,  here  is  purity :  here  even  to  look 
np07i  a  7voman  to  lust  dfter  her^  is  condem- 
nation. Here  is  marriage  with  sanctity  9,  here 
stedfast  continence,  here  virginity  in  honour 
like  unto  the  Angels  :  here  partaking  of  food 
with  thanksgiving,  here  gratitude  to  tlie  Creator 
of  the  world.  Here  the  Father  of  Christ  is 
worshipped  ■  here  are  taught  fear  and  trem- 
bling before  Him  who  sends  the  rain  :  here  we 
ascribe  glory  to  Him  who  makes  the  thunder 
and  the  lightning. 

36.  Make  thou  thy  fold  witli  the  sheep  :  flee 
from  the  wolves  .  depart  not  from  the  Church. 
Hate  those  also  who  have  ever  been  suspected 
in  such  matters  :  and  unless  in  time  thou 
perceive  their  repentance,  do  not  rashly  trust 
thyself  among  them.  The  truth  of  the  Unity 
of  God  has  been  delivered  to  thee  :  learn 
to  distinguish  the  pastures  of  doctrine.  Be  an 
approved  banker',  holding  Jast  thai  which  is 
good,  abstaining  from  every  form  ofeinl^.  Or  if 
thou  hast  ever  been  such  as  they,  recognise 
and  hate  thy  delusion.  For  there  is  a  way  of 
salvation,  if  thou  reject  the  vomit,  if  thou  from 
thy  heart  detest  it,  if  thou  depart  from  them, 
not  with  thy  lips  only,  but  with  thy  soul  also  : 
if  thou  worship  the  Father  of  Christ,  the  God 
of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  if  thou  acknow- 
ledge the  Good  and  the  Just  to  be  one  and  the 
same  God  3.  And  may  He  preserve  you  all, 
guarding  you  from  faUing  or  stumbling,  stab- 
lished  m  the  Faith,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 
to  Whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


7  Gr.  e7ri(TT^/ai).     See  note  on  Introductory  Lect.  §  4. 

8  Matt.  V.  28. 

9  (Tip-voraTOi;  is  the  reading  of  the  chief  MSS.  B\it  the  printed 
editions  have  trejoii'OTTjTos,  comparing  it  with  such  phrases  as  UTOfia 
a^eOTTjro?  (vi.  15).  and  ^CTaj/ota  ttJs  (rtorripia^  (xiv.  17)- 

1  i'his  saying  is  quoted  three  times  in  the  Clementine  Homilies 
as  spoken  by  our  Lord.  See  Hom.  II.  §  51  ;  III.  §  50;  XVIII. 
S  20:  "Every  man  who  wishes  to  be  saved  must  be.ome,  as  the 
Teacher  said,  a  judge  of  the  books  written  to  try  us.  For  thus  He 
spake  :  Btcoine  exfericnced  bankers.  Now  the  need  of  bankers 
arises  from  the  circumstance  that  the  spurious  is  mixed  up  with 
the  genuine." 

On  the  same  saying,  quoted  as  Scripture  in  the  Apostolic  Con- 
stitutions (II.  §  36),  Cotelerius  suggests  that  in  oral  tradition, 
or  in  some  Apocryphal  book,  the  proverb  was  said  to  come  from 
the  Old  I'e^tamcnt,  and  was  added  by  some  transcriber  as  a  gloss 
in  the  margin  of  Matt.  xxv.  27,  or  Luke  xix.  23.  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria",  Epist.  VII.,  speaks  of  "the  Apostolic  word,  which 
thus  urges  all  who  are  endowed  with  greater  virtue,  '  Be  ye  skillul 
monev-changers,'  "  reierring  apparently  as  here  to  i  Thess.  v.  21, 
22,  "'try  all  things,  lx.c."  (See  Euseb.  E.H.  VII.  ch.  6  in  this 
series:  Suicer.  Tliesaurus,  Tpan-eiin); :  and  Resch.  {Agrapha, 
pp.  233—239.) 

2  I  Thess.  V.  21,  22. 

3  Compare  §  13  ot  this  Lecture,  where  Cyril  seems  to  refer 
especially  to  the  heresy  of  Manes,  as  described  iri  the  Disputano 
Archelai,  cap.  6 :  "If  you  are  desirous  of  being  instructed  in  the 
faith  of  Manes,  hear  it  briefly  from  me.  That  man  worships  two 
gods,  unbegotten,  self-originate,  eternal,  opposed  one  to  the  othe'-. 
The  one  he  repre^-ents  as  good,  and  the  other  as  evil,  naming  ih^ 
one  Light,  and  the  other  Darkness." 


LECTURE    VII. 


The  Father. 

Ephesians  iii.  14,  15. 

For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father,  .  .  ,  of  whom  all  fatherhood  in  heaven  and 

eafih  is  named,  &=€. 


1.  Of  God  as  the  sole  Principle  we  have 
said  enough  to  you  yesterday^  :  by  "enough" 
I  mean,  not  what  is  worthy  of  the  subject,  (for 

^to  reach  that  is  utterly  impossible  to  mortal 
nature),  but  as  much  as  was  granted  to  our 
infirmity.  I  traversed  also  the  bye-paths  of 
the  manifold  error  of  the  godless  heretics  : 
but  now  let  us  shake  off  their  foul  and  soul- 
poisoning  doctrine,  and  remembering  what 
relates  to  them,  not  to  our  own  hurt,  but  to 
our  greater  detestation  of  them,  let  us  come 
back  to  ourselves,  and  receive  the  saving  doc- 
trines of  the  true  Faith,  connecting  the  dignity 
of  Fatherhood  with  that  of  the  Unity,  and  be- 
lieving IN  One  God  the  Father  :  for  we  must 
not  only  believe  in  one  God  ;  but  this  also  let 
us  devoutly  receive,  that  He  is  the  Father 
of  the  Only-begotten,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  For  thus  shall  we  raise  our  thoughts 
higher  than  the  Jews^,  who  admit  indeed  by 
their  doctrines  that  there  is  One  God,  (for 
what  if  they  often  denied  even  this  by  their 
idolatries  ?)  ;  but  that  He  is  also  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  they  admit  not ;  being 
of  a  contrary  mind  to  their  own  Prophets,  who 
in  the  Divine  Scriptures  affirm,  The  Lord  said 
unto  77ie,  Thou  art  My  Son,  this  day  have  I  be- 
gotten thee^.  And  to  this  day  they  rage  and 
gather  themselves  together  against  the  Lord, 
and  against  His  Anointed'^,  tliinking  that  it  is 
possible  to  be  made  friends  of  the  Father 
apart  from  devotion  towards  the  Son,  being  ig- 
norant that  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by^  the  Son,  who  saith,  /  am  the  JDoor,  and 
/  am  the  IVay^.  He  therefore  that  refuseth 
the  Way  which  leadeth  to  the  Father,  and  he 
that  denieth  the  Door,  how  shall  he  be  deemed 


»  See  Lecture  VI.  i,  and  $. 

*  "  In  Athaiiasius,  Quifstio  i.  tui  Aniiochiim,  torn.  II.  p.  331, 
Monarchia  is  opi)osed  to  Polytheism  :  '  It  we  worship  One  God,  it 
is  manifest  that  we  agree  with  the  Jews  in  believing  in  a  Mon- 
archia:  biit  if  We  uorship  three  gods,  it  is  evident  that  we  fuUow 
the  Greeks  by  introducing  Polytheism,  instead  of  piously  wor- 
shipping One  Only  God.'"    (Suicer,  Thesaurus,  Morapxia) 

3  Ps.  ii.  7.  4  lb.  ii.  2.  5  John  xiv.  6.  6  lb.  x.  9. 


worthy  of  entrance  unto  God?  They  contra- 
dict also  what  is  written  in  the  eighty-eighth 
Psalm,  He  shall  call  Me,  Thou  art  my  Father, 
my  God,  and  the  helper  of  ?ny  salvation.  And 
L  will  make  him  my  first-bor?t,  high  atnong  the 
kings  of  the  earth  T.  For  if  they  should  insist 
that  these  things  are  said  of  David  or  Solomon 
or  any  of  their  successors,  let  them  shew  how 
the  throne  of  him,  who  is  in  their  judgment 
described  in  the  prophecy,  is  as  the  days  of 
heaven,  and  as  the  sun  before  God,  and  as  the 
moon  established  for  ever^.  And  how  is  it  also 
that  they  are  not  abashed  at  that  which  is 
written.  From  the  womb  before  the  morning-star 
have  /  begotten  thee  9  .•  also  this.  He  shall  endure 
with  the  sun,  and  before  the  moon,  from  genera- 
tion to  gc7ieration  '.  To  refer  these  passages  to 
a  man  is  a  proof  of  utter  and  extreme  insen- 
sibility. 

3.  Let  the  Jews,  however,  since  they  so 
will,  suffer  their  usual  disorder  of  unbelief,  both 
in  these  and  the  like  statements.  But  let  us 
adopt  the  godly  doctrine  of  our  Faith,  worship- 
ping one  God  the  Father  of  the  Christ,  (for  to 
deprive  Him,  who  grants  to  all  the  gilt  of  gene- 
ration, of  the  like  dignity  would  be  impious) : 
and  let  us  believe  in  One  God  the  Father, 
in  order  that,  before  we  touch  upon  our  teach- 
ing concerning  Christ,  the  faith  concerning  the 
Only-begotten  may  be  implanted  in  the  soul 
of  the  hearers,  without  being  at  all  interrupted 
by  the  intervening  doctrines  concerning  the 
Father. 

4.  For  the  name  of  'the  Father,  with  the 
very  utterance  of  the  title,  suggests  the 
thought  of  the  Son  :  as  in  like  manner  one 
who  names  the  Son  thinks  straightway  of  the 
Father  also  ^    For  if  a  Father,  He  is  certainly 


7  Ps.  Ixxxix.  26,  27.  8  j/j,.  2g.  36,  37. 

9  Ps.  ex.  3:  ''From  the  womb  of  the  morning  thou  hast  the 
dew  of  thy  youth"  (R. v.).  '  Ps.  Ix.xii.  5. 

2  Compare  Athana^ius  (de  Sententiii  Dionysii,  §  17)  :  "  Each 
of  the  names  I  have  mentioned  is  inseparable  and  indivisible  from 
that  next  to  it.     I  spoke  of  the  Father,  and  before  bringing  in  the 


LFXTURE   VII. 


45 


the  Father  of  a  Son  ;  and  if  a  Son,  certainly 
the  Son  of  a  Father.  Lest  therefore  from  our 
speaking  thus,  in  One  God,  the  Father  Al- 
mighty, Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and 
OF  all  things  visible  and  invisible,  and  from 
our  then  adding  this  also,  and  in  One  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  any  one  should  iiTeverently  sup- 
pose that  the  Only-begotten  is  second  in  rank 
to  heaven  and  earth, — for  this  reason  before 
naming  them  we  named  God  the  Father, 
that  in  thinking  of  the  Father  -vve  might  at  the 
same  time  think  also  of  the  Son  :  for  between 
the  Son  and  the  Father  no  being  whatever 
comes. 

5.  God  then  is  in  an  improper  sensed  the 
Father  of  many,  but  by  nature  and  in  truth 
of  One  only,  the  Only-begotten  Son,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  not  having  attained  in  course 
of  time  to  being  a  Father,  but  being  ever  the 
Father  of  the  Only-begotten  t.  Not  tliat  being 
without  a  Son  before,  He  has  since  by  change 
of  purpose  become  a  Father  :  but  before  every 
substance  and  every  intelligence,  before  times 
and  all  ages,  God  hath  the  dignity  of  Father, 
magnifying  Himself  in  this  more  than  in  His 
other  dignities  ;  and  having  become  a  Father, 
not  by  passion  s,  or  union,  not  in  ignorance,  not 
by  effluence^,  not  by  dinn'nution,  not  by  altera- 
tion, for  eve}-}'  good  gift  and  every  perjed  gift  is 
from  above,  coming  down  from  the  Father  oj 
lights,  with  whom  can  be  no  variation,  neither 
shadow  of  tiirningT.  Perfect  Father,  He  begat 
a  perfect  Son,  and  delivered  all  things  to  Him 
who  is  begotten  :  (for  all  things,  He  saith,  are 
delivered  unto  Me  of  Afy  Father^:)  and  is 
honoured  by  the  Only  begotten:  iox,  I  honour 
My  Father 'i,  saith  the  Son  ;  and  again,  i5j'f«  as 
I  have  kept  Afy  Father's  commandments,  and 


Son,  I  designated  Him  also  in  the  Father.  I  brought  in  the  Son, 
and  even  it'  I  had  not  previously  mentioned  tiie  Father,  in  any 
wise  He  would  have  been  presupposed  in  the  Son." 

3  KaTaxpYjTTiKw?.  A  technical  term  in  Grammar,  applied  to 
the  use  ot  a  word  in  a  derived  or  metapho:ical  sense  Sec  Aris- 
totle's descriptiun  of  the  various  kinds  of  metaphor,  Poet.  §  xxi. 
7 — -16.  The  opposite  to  Karaxpio'TtKa)?  is  »cupiaj5,  as  used  in 
a  pa-allel  passage  by  Athanasius,  Oratio  i.  contra  Arianns,  g  21 
fin.  "  It  belongs  to  the  Godhead  alone,  that  the  Father  is  properly 
(/cupi'ws)  Father,  and  the  Son  properly  Son." 

4  "And  in  Them,  and  I'hem  only,  does  it  hold,  that  the 
Father  is  ever  Father,  and  the  Son  ever  Son."    (Athan.,  as  above.) 

5  Compare  vi.  6 :  6  yevvT)3ci^  airaSdis.  The  importance  at- 
tached to  the  assertion  of  a  "  passionle-s  generation"  arose  from 
the  objections  olTered  by  Eusebius  o!  Nicomedia  and  others  to 
the  word  o/ioovaios  when  proposed  by  Constantine  at  Nicaea. 
We  learn  from  Eusebius  of  Ca;sarea  [Epist.  ad  suee  paroecice 
hnitines,  %  4)  that  the  Emperor  himself  explained  that  the  word 
was  used  "not  in  the  sense  of  the  .affections  (TrdSij)  of  bodies," 
because  "the  immaterial,  ancf  intellectual,  and  incorporeal  nature 
could  not  be  the  subject  of  any  corporeal  afl'eccion."  Again,  in 
§  7,  Eusebius  admits  that  "  there  ar6  grounds  for  saying  that  the 
Son  is  'one  in  essence'  with  the  Father,  not  in  the  way  ot  boiies, 
nor  like  mortal  beings,  for  He  is  not  such  by  division  of  essence, 
or  by  severance,  no,  nor  by  any  affection,  or  alteiation,  or  chang- 
ing of  the  Father's  essence  and  power."     (See  the  next  note.) 

*  Athanasius  [Expos.  Eidei,  §  i)  :  "  Word  not  pronounced  nor 
mental,  nor  an  etflnence  of  the  Perfect,  nor  a  dividing  of  the 
pas>,innless  nature."  Also  (de  Dtxretis,  §  11):  "God  being 
witliout  parts  is  Father  of  the  Son  without  partition  or  passion  ; 
for  there  is  neither  effluence  ol  the  Immaterial,  nor  influx  from 
without,  as  among  men." 

7  Ja^nes  i.  17.  8  Matt.  xi.  27.  9  John  viii.  49. 


abide  in  His  love  '.  Therefore  we  also  say  like 
the  Apostle,  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  inercies,  and 
God  of  all  consolation  ^  .•  and,  Af'V  bo7v  our  knees 
unto  the  Father,  from  avhom  all  fatherhood  in 
heaven  and  on  eat ch  is  najned^:  glorifying  Him 
with  the  Only-begotten:  for  he  that  denieth  the 
Father,  denieth  the  Son  also'^:  and  again,  JPe 
that  confcsseth  the  Son,  hath  the  Father  also  s  ,• 
knowing  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory 
of  God  the  Father^. 

6.  We  worship,  therefore,  as-  the  Father  of 
Christ,  the  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  the 
God  of  Abi-aham,  Lsaac,  and  Jacob"!  •  to  whose 
honour  the  former  temple  also,  over  against  us 
here,  was  built.  For  we  shall  not  tolerate  the 
heretics  who  sever  the  Old  Testament  from 
the  New^,  but  shall  believe  Christ,  who  says 
concerning  the  temple,  Wist  ye  not  that  L  must 
be  in  My  Fathers  house')?  and  again.  Take 
these  things  hence,  and  make  not  my  Father's 
house  a  house  of  merchandise^ :  whereby  He  most 
clearly  confessed  that  the  former  temple  in 
Jerusalem  was  His  own  Father's  house.  But 
if  any  one  from  unbelief  wishes  to  receive  yet 
more  proofs  as  to  the  Father  of  Christ  being 
the  same  as  the  Maker  of  the  world,  let  him 
hear  Him  say  again.  Are  not  two  sparrows  sold 
for  a  farthing,  and  not  one  of  them  shall  fall  on 
the  ground  without  My  Father  ivhich  is  in 
heaven"^ ;  this  also,  Behold  the  jo'ivls  of  the  heaven 
that  they  spw  not,  ?ieiiher  do  they  reap,  nor 
gather  into  barns ;  and  your  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them^ ;  and  this,  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  L  work  ■*. 

7.  But  lest  any  one  from  simplicity  or  per- 
verse ingenuity  should  suppose  that  Christ  is 
but  equal  in  honour  to  righteous  men,  from 
His  saying,  L ascend  to  My  Father,  and  your  ^ 
Father,  it  is  well  to  make  this  distinction 
beforehand,  that  the  name  of  the  Father  is  one, 
but  the  power  of  His  operation^  manifold. 
And  Christ  Himself  knowing  this  has  spoken 
unerringly,  L  go  to  My  Father,  and  your  Father  : 
not  saying  '  to  our  Father,'  but  distinguishing, 
and  saying  first  what  was  proper  to  Himself,  to 
My  Father,  which  was  by  nature  ;  then  adding, 
and  your  Father,  which  was  by  adoption. 
For  however  high  the  privilege  we  have  re- 
ceived of  saying  in  our  prayers.  Our  Father, 


1  John  XV.  10.  »  2  Cor.  i   3.  3  Eph.  iii.  14,  15. 

4  I  John  ii.  22  :    "  This  is  the  Antichrist,  even  he  that  denieth 
the  Father  and  the  Son"  (R  v.). 

5  V.  23,  bracktted  in  the  A.V.  as  spurious,  but  rightly  restored 
inR.V.  ^^  ^  . 

6  Phil.  ii.  II.  1  Ex.  lii.  6.  °  Compare  Lect.  iv.  33. 
9  Luke  ii.  49-                           '  John  ii.  16. 

2  Matt.  X.  29.     S.  Cyril  instead  of  "  your  Father"  writes  "  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  :"  so  Origeu  and  Athanasius. 

3  Malt.  vi.  26.  4  John  v.  17. 

5  John  XX.  17.     On  this  text,  quoted  again  in  Cat.  xi.  19,  see 
the  three  Sermons  of  Bishop  Andrewes  On  the  Resurrection. 

6  ii'to-i-i r.   meaning  here,  the  operation  of  God,  by  nature  in 
begetting  His  Son,  by  adoption  in  making  many  sons. 


46 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


which  art  in  heaven,  yet  the  gift  is  of  loving- 
kindness.  For  we  call  Him  Father,  not  as  having 
been  by  nature  begotten  of  Our  Father  which 
is  in  heaven  ;  but  having  been  transferred  from 
servitude  to  sonship  by  the  grace  of  the  Father, 
through  the  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  we  are  permit- 
ted so  to  speak  by  ineffable  lovingdsindness. 

8.  But  if  any  one  wishes  to  learn  how  we 
call  God  "  Father,"  let  him  hear  Moses,  the 
excellent  schoolmaster,  saying.  Did  not  this 
thy  Father  Hiinself  buy  thee,  and  make  thee,  and 
create  thee^  1  Also  Esaias  the  Prophet,  And 
now,  O  Lord.  Thou  art  our  Father :  and  we 
all  a?-e  clay,  the  7uorks  of  Thine  hands  ^.  For 
most  clearly  has  the  prophetic  gift  declared 
that  not  according  to  nature,  but  according  to 
God's  grace,  and  by  adoption,  we  call  Him 
Father. 

9.  And  that  thou  mayest  learn  more  exactly 
that  in  the  Divine  Scriptures  it  is  not  by  any 
means  the  natural  father  only  that  is  called  fa- 
ther, hear  what  Paul  says : — For  though  ye  should 
have  ten  thousand  tutors  i7i  Christ,  yet  have  ye 
not  many  fathers  :  for  in  Christ  /es2is  I  begat 
you  through  the  Gospel^.  For  Paul  was  father 
of  the  Corinthians,  not  by  having  begotten 
them  after  the  flesh,  but  by  having  taught  and 
begotten  them  again  after  the  Spirit.  Hear 
Job  also  saying,  I  zvas  a  father  of  the  needy '^  : 
for  he  called  himself  a  father,  not  as  having 
begotten  them  all,  but  as  caring  for  them. 
And  God's  Only-begotten  Son  Himself,  when 
nailed  in  His  flesh  to  the  tree  at  the  time  of 
crucifixion,  on  seeing  Mary,  His  own  Mother 
according  to  the  flesh,  and  John,  the  most 
beloved  of  His  disciples,  said  to  hirn.  Behold  1 
thy  mother,  and  to  her.  Behold  I  thy  Son^  : 
teaching  her  the  parental  affection  due  to  him  3, 
and  indirectly  explaining  that  which  is  said  in 
Luke,  and  Idis  father  and  His  mother  marvel- 
led at  Him'- :  words  which  the  tribe  of  heretics 
snatch  up,  saying  that  He  was  begotten  of  a 
man  and  a  woman.  For  like  as  Mary  was 
called  the  mother  of  John,  because  of  her 
parental  affection,  not  from  having  given  him 
birth,  so  Joseph  also  was  called  the  father  of 
Christ,  not  from  having  begotten  Him  (for  he 
knew  her  not,  as  the  Gospel  says,  until  she  had 
brought  forth  Jwr  first-born  Son^),  but  because 
of  the  care  bestowed  on  His  nurture. 

10  Thus  much  then  at  present,  in  the  way 
of  a  digression,  to  put  you  in  remembrance. 
Let  me,  however,  add  yet  another  testimony  in 
[)roof  that  God  is  called  the  Father  of  men  in 
an  improper  sense.     For  when  in  Esaias  God 


7  Deut.  xxxii.  6.  8  Is.  Jxiv.  8.  9  i  Cor.  iv.  15. 

■  Job  xxix.  16.  =  Jolm  xix.  26,  27. 

3  (ptXoa-Topyia  might  be  .ipplied  to  the  mutual  afJection  of 
mother  and  son,  but  the  context  shews  that  it  refers  here  to 
parental  love  only;  see  Polybius,  V.  §  74,  5  ;  Xenoph.  Cyro/>.l. 
S  3.  =•  ■»  I-ulic  ii.  33.  5  Matt.  i.  25. 


is  addressed  thus,  For  Thou  art  our  Father, 
though  Abrahafn  be  ignorant  ofus^,  and  Sarah 
travailed  not  7in'th  ust,  need  we  inquire  further 
on  this  point  ?  And  if  the  Psalmist  says,  Let 
them  be  troubled  from  His  countenance,  the  Father 
of  tJie  fatherless,  and  Judge  of  the  widows^,  is  it 
not  manifest  to  all,  that  when  God  is  called 
the  Father  of  orphans  who  have  lately  lost 
their  own  fathers.  He  is  so  named  net  as 
begetting  them  of  Himself,  but  as  caring  for 
them  and  shielding  them.  But  whereas  God, 
as  we  have  said,  is  in  an  improper  sense  the 
Father  of  men,  of  Christ  alone  He  is  the  Father 
by  nature,  not  by  adoption  :  and  the  Father 
of  men  in  time,  but  of  Christ  before  all  time, 
as  He  saith.  And  tiow,  O  Father,  glorify  IViou 
Me  with  Ihine  07cin  self,  7vith  the  glofj  which 
L  had  7i.'ith  Thee  before  the  world  was  9. 

11.  We  believe  then  in  one  God  the  Fa- 
ther the  Unsearchable  and  Ineffable,  Whom  no 
man  hath  seen  %  hwlthe  Only-begotten  alone  hath 
decla7-ed  Him  -.  For  He  which  is  of  God,  He 
hath  seen  God^:  whose  face  the  Angels  do 
alway  behold  in  heaven  ^,  behold,  however, 
each  according  to  the  measure  of  his  own  rank. 
But  the  undimmed  vision  of  the  Father  is 
reserved  in  .its  purity  for  the  Son  with  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

12.  Having  reached  this  point  of  my  dis- 
course, and  being  reminded  of  the  passages 
just  before  mentioned,  in  which  God  was  ad- 
dressed as  the  Father  of  men,  I  am  greatly 
amazed  at  men's  insensibility.  For  God  with 
unspeakable  loving-kindness  deigned  to  be 
called  tlie  Father  of  men, — He  in  heaven,  they 
on  earth, — and  He  the  Maker  of  Eternity,  they 
made  in  time, — He  who  holdeth  the  earth 
in  the  hollo7t>  of  His  hand,  they  upon  the 
earth  as  grasshoppers^.  Yet  man  forsook 
his  heavenly  Father,  and  said  to  the  stock, 
Thou  art  7ny  father,  and  to  the  stone,  Thou  hast 
begotten  me^.  And  for  this  reason,  methinks, 
the  Psalmist  says  to  xwix^xvi^.  Forget  also  thine 
oivn people,  and  thy  father's  houseT ,  whom  thou 
hast  chosen  for  a  father,  whom  thou  hast 
drawn  upon  thyself  to  thy  destruction. 

13.  .And  not  only  stocks  and  stones,  but  even 
Satan  himself,  the  destroyer  of  souls,  have 
some  ere  now  chosen  for  a  father  ;  to  whom 
the  Lord  said  as  a  rebuke.  Ye  do  the  deeds  of 
your  father^,  that  is  of  the  devil,  he  being  the 
father  of  men  not  by  nature,   but   by  fraud. 


6  Is.  Ixiii.  16.  7  lb.  Ii.  2. 

8  Ps.  Ixviii.  5.  Cyril  quotes  as  usual  from  the  Septuagint 
(Ps.  Ixvii.  6),  where  the  clause  Topa^fTJcroi'Tai  an-b  irpoaMnov  avrov, 
answering  to  notliing  in  the  Hebrew,  is  evidently  an  interpolation, 
and  may  have  crept  in  from  a  marginal  quotation  of  Is.  Ixiv.  2. 

9  John  xvii.  5.  •  i  Tim.  ii.  16.  =  John  i.  18. 

3  John   vi.   46  :    He  hath  seen  the  Fattier.    The   weight   cif 
authority  is  against  the  reading  (jhv  6e6v)  which  Cyril  lollows. 
■»  Matt,  xviii.  la  5  Is.  xl.  12  and  22.  6  J^r.  ii.  27. 

7  Ps.  xlv.  10.  8  John  viii.  41. 


LECTURE  VII. 


47 


For  like  as  Paul  by  his  godly  teaching  came  to 
be  called  the  father  of  the  Corinthians,  so  the 
devil  is  called  the  father  of  those  who  of  their 
own  will  consent  unto  him  9. 

For  we  shall  not  tolerate  those  who  give  a 
wrong  meaning  to  that  saying,  Hereby  know 
we  the  children  of  God,  and  the  children  of  the 
devil'^,  as  if  there  were  by  nature  some  men  to 

.  be  saved,  and  some  to  be  lost.  Whereas  we 
come  into  such  holy  sonship  not  of  necessity 
but  by  choice :  nor  was  the  traitor  Judas 
by  nature  a  son  of  the  devil  and  of  perdition  ; 
for  certainly  he  would  never  have  cast  out  devils 
at  all  in  the  name  of  Christ:  for  Satan  casteth  fiot 
out  Satan  ^  Nor  on  the  other  hand  would  Paul 
have  turned  from  persecuting  to  preaching. 
But  the  adoption  is  in  our  own  power,  as 
John  saith,  But  as  many  as  received  Hitn,  to 
them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  children  of 
God,  even  to  them  that  believe  in  His  name'i. 
For  not  before  their  believing,  but  from  their 
believing  they  were  counted  worthy  to  become 
of  their  own  choice  the  children  of  God. 

14.  Knowing  this,  therefore,  let  us  walk 
spiritually,  that  we  may  be  counted  worthy  of 
God's  adoption.  For  as  many  as  are  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  they  are  the  sons  of  God*. 
For  it  profiteth  us  nothing  to  have  gained  the 
title  of  Christians,  unless  the  works  also  fol- 
low ;  lest  to  us  also  it  be  said,  If  ye  were  Abra- 
ham^ s  cliildren,  ye  would  do  the  works  of  Abra- 
ham 5.  For  if  we  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who 
7C'ithoi(t  respect  of  persons  fudgeth  according  to 
erery  marl's  work,  let  us  pass  the  time  of  our 
sojourning  here  in  fear  ^,  loving  not  the  world, 
neither  the  things  that  are  in  the  world :  for  if 
any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is 
not  in  him  7.  Wherefore,  my  beloved  children, 
let  us  by  our  works  offer  glory  to  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  that  they  may  see  our  good 
works,  and  glorify  our  Father  which  is  in 
heaven^.     Let  us  cast  all  our  care  upon  Him, 

jor  our  Father  knoweth  what  things  we  have 
need  of'^. 


9  Ps.  1.  18.  '  1  John  Hi.  10. 

3  John  i.  12.  4  Rom.  viii.  14. 

6  I  Pet.  i.  17.  ^  I  John  ii.  15- 

9  I  Pet.  V.  7  ;  Matt.  vi.  8. 


*  Mark  iii.  23. 
5  John  viii.  39. 
*  Matt.  V.  x6. 


15.  But  while  honouring  our  heavenly 
Father  let  us  honour  also  the  fathers  of  our 

flesh '^ :  since  the  Lord  Himself  hath  evidently 
so  appointed  in  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
saying,  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that 
it  may  be  well  ivith  thee,  and  thy  days  shall  be 
long  in  the  lajid^.  And  let  this  commandment 
be  especially  observed  by  those  here  present 
who  have  fathers  and  mothers.  Children,  obey 
your  parents  iii  all  things :  for  this  is  well 
pleasing  to  the  Lord^.  For  the  Lord  said  not. 
He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  is  not  worthy 
of  Me,  lest  thou  from  ignorance  shouldest 
pervert^ely  mistake  what  was  righdy  written, 
but  He  added,  more  than  Me''.  For  when  our 
fathers  on  earth  are  of  a  contrary  mind  to  our 
Father  in  heaven,  then  we  must  obey  Christ's 
word.  But  when  they  put  no  obstacle  to  god- 
liness in  our  way,  if  we  are  ever  carried  away 
by  ingratitude,  and,  forgetting  their  benefits  to 
us,  hold  them  in  contempt,  then  the  oracle 
will  have  place  which  says.  He  that  curseth 
father  or  mother,  let  him  die  the  death  s. 

16.  The  first  virtue  of  godliness  in  Chris- 
tians is  to  honour  their  parents,  to  requite  the 
troubles  of  those  who  begat  them  ^,  and  with  all 
their  might  to  confer  on  them  what  tends  to 
their  comfort  (for  if  we  should  repay  them 
ever  so  much,  yet  we  shall  never  be  able  to 
return  their  gift  of  life  ^),  that  they  also  may 
enjov  the  comfort  provided  by  us,  and  may 
confirm  us  in  those  blessings  which  Jacob  the 
supplanter  shrewdly  seized  ;  and  that  our 
Father  in  heaven  may  accept  ^  our  good  pur- 
pose, and  judge  us  worthy  to  shine  amid  the 
righteous  as  the  sun  ifi  the  kingdom  of  our 
Father^:  To  whom  be  the  glory,  with  the 
Only-begotten  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and 
with  the  Holy  and  Life-giving  Spirit,  now  and 
ever,  to  all  eternity.     Amen. 

I  Heb.  xii.  9.  =  Deut.  v.  16.  3  Col.  iii.  20. 

4  Matt.  X.  37.  5  Ex.  xxi.  17  ;  Lev.  xx.  9  ;  Matt.  xv.  4. 

6  Compare  lor  the  thought  Euripides,  Medea,  1029— 1035- 

7  a.vTiyf:Vvr]cra.i.  Jeremy  Taylor  {Vuctor  Dubitantiimi,  Book 
III.  cap.  ii.  §  17)  mentions  several  stories  in  which  a  parent  is 
nourished  from  a  daughter's  breast,  who  thus  '  saves  the  li;'e  she 
cannot  give.' 

8  On  the  change  of  Moods,  see  Jelf,  Greek  Grammar,  %  809. 
The  second  verb  ((caxaf  iwcrctei')  expresses  a  wish  and  a  consequence 
which  might  follow,  if  the  first  (o-TTjpifuxric)  wish  be  realized, 
as  it  probably  may  be.    Cf.  Herod,  ix.  51.  «  Matt,  xii'u  43. 


LECTURE  VIII. 


Almighty. 

Jeremiah  xxxix.  i8,  19  (Septuagint). 

The  Great,  the  strong  God,  Lord  of  great  Counsel,  and  mighty  in  His  works,  the  Great  God, 

the  Lord  Ahnighty  and  of  great  name '. 

I.  By  believing  in  One  God  we  cut  off  all  |  there  is  nothing  higher  than  heaven,  and  it 
misbelief  in  man}^  gods,  using  this  as  a  shield 
against  Greeks,  and  every  opposing  power  of 
heretics  ;    and  by  adding,  in  One  God  the 


Father,  we  contend  against  those  of  the  cir 
cumcision,  who  deny  the  Only-begotten  Son 
of  God.  For,  as  was  said  yesterday,  even 
before  explaining  the  truths  concerning  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  made  it  manifest  at 
once,  by  saying  "  The  Father,"  that  He  is  the 
Father  of  a  Son  :  that  as  we  understand  that 
God  is,  so  we  may  understand  that  He  has 
a  Son.  But  to  those  titles  we  add  that  He  is 
also  "  Almighty  ; "'  and  this  we  affirm  because 
of  Greeks  and  Jews  ^  together,  and  all  heretics. 
2.  Foi'  of  the  Greeks  some  have  said  that 
God  is  the  soul  of  the  world  3 :  and  others  that 
His  power  reaches  only  to  heaven,  and  not  to 
earth  as  well.  Some  also  sharing  their  error, 
and  misusing  the  text  which  says,  "And  Thy 
truth  unto  the  clouds^,"  have  dared  to  circum- 
scribe God's  providence  by  the  clouds  and  the 
heaven,  and  to  alienate  from  God  the  things 
on  earth  ;  having  forgotten  the  Psalm  which 
says,  If  I  go  up  into  heaven.  Thou  art  there  : 
if  I  go  down  into  hell.  Thou  art  present  s.    For  if 


«  The  text  is  translated  from  the  Septuagint,  in  which  S.  Cyril 
found  the  title  Almighty  (naz/roKpaTtop),  one  of  the  usual  equiva- 
lents in  the  Septuagint  for  Lord  of  Hosts  (Snbaotk).  In  the 
English  A. v.  and  R.V.  the  passage  stands  thus:  Jer.  xxxii.  18, 
19:  The  Great,  the  Mighty  God,  the  LOKD  oJ  Hosts,  is  His 
name.  Great  in  counsel,  and  mighty  in  work. 

"  '"For  even  the  Je.vish  nation  had  wicked  heresies:  for  of 
them  were  .  .  .  the  Pharisees,  who  ascribe  the  practice  of  sinners 
to  fortune  and  fale  ;  and  the  Basmotheans,  who  deny  providence 
and  say  that  the  world  is  made  by  spontaneous  motion  "(/}/t'j/. 
C<;«i/.  VI.  6).     Compare  Euseb.  (£.//.  IV.  22.) 

3  Cicero,  De  Natura  Deorum,  Lib.  I.  27:  "Pythagoras 
thought  that  God  was  the  soul  pervading  all  nature."  The  doc- 
trine was  accepted  both  by  Stoics  and  Platonists,  and  became  very 
general.     Cf.  Virg.  Georg.  iv.  221  : 

Deum  namque  ire  per  omnis 

Tcrrasqiie,  tractusque  maris,  caelumqne  profundum. 
and  Aen.  vi.  726: 

Spiiiliis  intus  alit,  totamque  infusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  moleni,  et  niagno  se  corpore  miscet. 

4  Ps.  xxxvi.  5.  Cyril  appears  to  have  borrowed  this  statement 
from  Clement  of  Alcxandiia,  who  states  (Stromnt.  V.  xiv.  $  91) 
that  from  this  Psalm  the  tlioiight  occurred  to  Aristotle  to  let 
Providence  come  down  as  far  as  to  the  Moon. 

5  i's.  cxxxix.  8. 


hell  is  deeper  than  the  earth.  He  who  rules 
the  lower  regions  reaches  the  earth  also. 

3.  But  heretics  again,  as  I  have  said  before, 
know  not  One  Almighty  God.  For  He  is 
Almighty  who  rules  all  things,  who  has  power 
over  all  things.  But  they  who  say  that  one 
God  is  Lord  of  the  soul,  and  some  other  of 
the  body,  make  neither  of  them  perfect,  be- 
cause either  is  wanting  to  the  other  ^.  For  how 
is  he  almighty,  who  has  power  over  the  soul, 
but  not  over  the  body?  And  how  is  he  al- 
mighty who  has  dominion  over  bodies,  but  no 
power  over  spirits  ?  But  these  men  the  Lord 
confutes,  saying  on  the  contrary,  Rather  fear 
ye  Him  7uhich  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and 
body  in  helP.  For  unless  the  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  the  power  over  both, 
how  does  He  subject  both  to  punishment? 
For  how  shall  He  be  able  to  take  the  bodv 
which  IS  another's  and  cast  it  into  hell,  except 
He  first  bind  the  strong  man,  and  spoil  his 
goods  ^  ? 

4.  But  the  Divine  Scripture  and  the  doc- 
trines of  the  truth  know  but  One  God,  who 
rules  all  things  by  His  power,  but  endures 
many  things  of  His  will.  For  He  rules  even 
over  the  idolaters,  but  endures  them  of  His 
forbearance  :  He  rules  also  over  the  heretics 
who  set  Him  at  nought,  but  bears  with  them 
because  of  His  long-suffering  :  He  rules  even 
over  the  devil,  but  bears  with  him  of  His 
long-suffering,  not  from  want  of  power,  as  if 
defeated.  For  he  is  the  beginning  of  the  Load's 
creation,  made  to  be  mocked9^  not  by  Himself, 


6  See  note  on  Lect.  IV.  4.  7  Matt.  x.  28. 

8  lb.  xii.  29. 

9  Job  xl.  14,  toiJt*  €(TTiv  apxrj  7rAao"fi.aT09  Kvpiov,  ire-jTOirjjxfyou 
eyKaTa7rai^€<T6ai  vtto  liov  avycAoji/  avToO.  In  this  tlcscnjjliun  of 
EehLinoth  the  Septuagint  differs  much  from  the  Hebrew,  which 
is  thus  rendered  in  our  English  Versions,  xl  19  :  He  is  tJie  clii</ 
of  the  ways  of  God:  he  {only,  R.V.)  that  made  hivi  can  mnhe 
his  sword  to  nfproach  unto  him.  Compare  Job  x!i.  5  :  IVilt  thou 
flay  with  him  as  with  a  bird?  and  Ps.  civ.  26:  There  is  that 
Leviathan  wliom  thou  hast /oriiied  to  flay  therein  (Sept.  to  take 
tliy  pastime  v<ith  him).  See  Baruch  lii.  17,  with  the  note  in  the 
Speaker's  Commentary. 


LECTURE   VIII. 


49 


for  that  were  unworthy  of  Him,  but  by  the 
Angels  whom  He  hath  made.  But  He  suffered 
him  to  hve,  for  two  purposes,  that  he  might 
disgrace  himself  the  more  in  his  defeat,  and 
that  mankind  might  be  crowned  with  victory. 
O  all  wise  providence  of  God  !  which  takes 
the  wicked  purpose  for  a  groundwork  of  sal- 
vation for  the  faithful.  For  as  He  took  the 
unbrotlierly  purpose  of  Joseph's  brethren  for 
a  groundwork  of  His  own  dispensation,  and, 
by  permitting  them  to  sell  their  brother  from 
hatred,  took  occasion  to  make  him  king 
whom  He  would  ;  so  he  permitted  the  devil 
to  wrestle,  that  the  victors  might  be  crowned  ; 
and  that  when  victory  was  gained,  he  might 
be  the  more  disgraced  as  being  conquered 
by  the  weaker,  and  men  be  greatly  honoured 
as  having  conquered  him  who  was  once  an 
Archangel. 

5.  Nothing  then  is  withdrawn  from  the  power 
of  God  ;  for  the  Scripture  says  of  Him,  for 
all  things  are  Thy  servants '°.  All  things  alike 
are  His  servants,  but  from  all  these  One,  His 
only  Son,  and  One,  His  Holy  Spirit,  are  ex- 
cepted ;  and  all  the  things  which  are  His 
servants  serve  the  Lord  through  the  One  Son 
and  in  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  then  rules  all, 
and  of  His  long-suffering  endures  even  mur- 
derers and  robbers  and  fornicators,  having 
appointed  a  set  time  for  recompensing  every 
one,  tliat  if  they  who  have  had  long  warning 
are  still  impenitent  in  heart,  they  may  re- 
ceive the  greater  condemnation.  They  are 
kings  of  men,  who  reign  upon  earth,  but  not 
without  the  power  from  above :  and  this 
Nebuchadnezzar  once  learned  by  experience, 
when  he  said  ;  Fof  His  kingdom  is  an  ever- 
lasting kingdoin,  and  His  power  from  generation 
to  generation '. 

6.  Riches,  and  gold,  and  silver  are  not,  as 
some  think,  the  devil's^ :  for  the  whole  world  of 
riches  is  for  the  faithful  man,  but  for  the  faithless 
not  even  a  penny  3,  Now  nothing  is  more  faith- 
less than  the  devil ;  and  God  says  plainly  by 
the  Prophet,  The  gold  is  Afine,  and  the  silver  is 
Mine,  and  to  whomsoever  I  will  I  give  it*. 
Do  thou  but  use  it  well,  and  there  is  no  fault 
to  be  found  with  money :  but  whenever  thou 


»°  Ps.  cxix.  91.  I  Dan.  iv.  34. 

'  On  this  doctrine  of  the  Manicheans  see  Archelaus  (^Dis- 
fiutatio,  cap.  42),  Epiphanius  (Hceres.  Ixvi.  §  81).  Compare 
Clement.  Horn.  xv.  cap.  9:  "To  all  of  us  possessions  are  sins." 
Plato  {Laws,  V.  743):  "I  can  never  agree  with  them  that  the 
rich  man  wUl  be  really  happy,  unless  he  is  also  good  :  but  for  one 
who  is  eminently  good  to  be  also  extremely  rich  is  impossible." 

3  Prov.  xvii.  6,  according  to  the  Septuagint.  See  note  on 
Cat.  V.  2,  where  the  same  passage  is  quoted.  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria (.S/r^Pwai?.  II.  s)  refers  to  it  in  connexion  with  the  passage 
of  Plato  quoted  in  the  preceding  note.  S  Augustine  also  quotes 
and  explains  it  in  Eptst.  153,  §  26. 

4  The  former  clause  is  from  Haggai  it.  8;  the  latter,  taken 
from  the  words  of  the  Tempter  in  Luke  iv.  6,  is  quoted  Ijoth 
by  Cyril  and  by  other  Fathers  as  if  from  Haggai.  Chrysostom 
{Horn,  xxxiv.  §  5,  in  i  Cor.  xiii.)  treats  the  use  which  some  made 
of  the  misquotation  as  ridiculous. 

VOL.  VII.  ] 


hast  made  a  bad  use  of  that  which  is  good, 
then  being  unwilling  to  blame  thine  own 
management,  thou  impiously  throwest  back 
the  blame  upon  the  Creator.  A  man  may 
even  be  justified  by  money:  /  was  hungry, 
and  ye  gave  Me  meat^:  that  certainly  was 
from  money.  I  was  naked,  and  ye  clothed  Me : 
that  certainly  was  by  money.  And  wouldest 
thou  learn  that  money  may  become  a  door 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  Sell,  saith  He, 
that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou 
shall  have  treasure  in  heaven  ^. 

7.  Now  I  have  made  these  remarks  because 
of  those  heretics  who  count  possessions,  and 
money,  and  men's  bodies  accursed  ?.  For  I  nei- 
ther wish  thee  to  be  a  slave  of  money,  nor  to 
treat  as  enemies  the  things  which  God  has  given 
thee  for  use.  Never  say  then  that  riches  are 
the  devil's  :  for  though  he  say.  All  these  tvill  I 
give  thee,  for  they  a7-e  delivered  unto  me  ^,  one 
may  indeed  even  reject  his  assertion  ;  for  we 
need  not  believe  the  liar :  and  yet  perhaps 
he  spake  the  truth,  being  compelled  by  the 
power  of  His  presence  :  for  he  said  not.  All 
these  will  I  give  thee,iox  they  are  mine,  but,y^/" 
they  are  delivered  unto  me.  He  grasped  not 
the  dominion  of  them,  but  confessed  that  he 
had  been  entrusted  9  with  them,  and  was  for 
a  time  dispensing  them.  But  at  a  proper  time 
interpreters  should  inquire  whether  his  state- 
ment is  false  or  true '. 

8.  God  then  is  One,  the  Father,  the  Almighty, 
whom  the  brood  of  heretics  have  dared  to 
blaspheme.  Yea,  they  have  dared  to  blaspheme 
the  Lord  of  Sabaoth^,  who  sitteth  above  the. 
Cherubim  3  .•  they  have  dared  to  blaspheme  the 
Lord  Adonai4  :  they  have  dared  to  blaspheme 
Him  who   is  in  the  Prophets  the  Almighty 


S  Matt.  XXV.  TS,  36.  _  fi  lb.  xix.  21. 

7  The  connexion  of  awfiara  with  money  and  possessions  sug- 
gests the  not  uncommon  meaning  "slaves."  See  Pulyb.  xviii.  18, 
§  6  '.  KoX  ry]V  ei^SovxCav  aTTcSoi'TO  /cat  ra  (jw/xara,  Koi  <tvv  toutoi.? 
ert  Ttj/as  twi'  Krqatiav,  "household  furniture,  and  slaves,  and 
besides  these  some  also  of  their  lands."  See  Dictionary  0/ 
Christian  Antiquities,  "  Slavery,"  where  it  is  shewn  that  Chris- 
tians generally  and  even  Bishops  still  posse.ssed  slaves  throughout 
the  4th  Century. 

But  here  it  is  perhaps  more  probable  that  Cyril  refer.?,  as  before, 
Cat.  iv.  8  23,  to  the  Manichean  doctrine  of  the  body  as  the  root  of 
sin. 

8  Matt.  iv.  9  ;  Luke  iv.  6. 

9  For  eyKexetpijcffai,  the  reading  of  all  the  printed  Editions, 
which  hardly  yields  a  suitalile  sense,  we  should  probably  sub- 
stitute eyxexeipio-flai.  A  similar  confusion  of  the  two  verbs  occurs 
in  Polybius  (Hist.  VIII.  xviii.  61;  the  proper  use  of  the  latter 
is  seen  in  Job.  Damasc.  {De  Fide  Orthod.  II.  4,  quoted  by 
Cleopas),  who  speaks  of  Satan  as  being  "of  these  Angelic  powers 
the  chief  of  the  earthly  order,  and  entrusted  by  God  with  the 
guardianship  of  the  earth"  (tijs  yTJs  ir\v  <j)v\aKriv  €yxfLpia0ei<; 
Trapd  ©eov). 

'  On  this  point  compare  Irena;us  (ffcer.  V.  xxi. — xxiv.),  and 
Gregory  of  Nyssa  (Orat.  Catec/i.  §  5).  . 

2  The  reference  is  to  Manes,  ot  whom  his  disciple  Turbo  .snvs 
(Archelai  Dispnt.  %  10),  "  The  name  Saliaoth  which  is  honourable 
and  mighty  with  you.  he  declares  to  be  the  nature  of  man,  and  tlie 
parent  of  lust  :  for  which  reason  the  simple,  he  says,  worship 
lust,  and  think  it  to  be  a  god." 

3  Ps.  Ixxx.  I. 

4  'Khiavo.1,    Heb.    "(^IS'   "  '^^    Lord,"   an    old  form   of   the 

T 

Plural  of  majesty,  used  of  God  only. 


50     .  CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 

Gods.     But  worship  thou  One  Go5  the   Al-  vianiellotcs  without  number^,  z.x\A^  For  all  these 

mighty,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  things  iho-e  is  honour  fro7n  the  AlmightyT :  to 

Flee  from  the  error  of  many  gods,  flee  also  Whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever.    Amen, 

from  every  heresy,  and  say  like  Job,  But  I  will  

call  upon  the  Almighty  Lord,  which  doeth   great         *  Job  v.  8,  9.     Cyiil's  quotation  agrees  with  the  Codex  Alex^- 

,,  ■  J  111  I       ■  J?  ■  1  andrinus  of  the  Septuaeint,  which  has  jrai'TOKpaTopa, "  Almighty, 

tlUngS     and     miSearChatne,    glorious    things     arid  while  the  Vatican  and  other  MSS.  read  xbi-Trd.'Ta.^aeo-irorTir. 

7  Job  xxxvii.  23  :  Goa  hnth  upon  Him  terril'le  majesty  {^.V .')^ 

I  '  The  Vatican  and  Alexandrine  MSS-  of  the  Septuagint  re:id  ewl 

5  iravTOUcpaTOpa,     Heb.    "1^JJ7       ?^'     El-Shaddai,     "  God     Al-  TOiiroi?  /ne-.'aATj  r\  56Ja  »cat  Ti/ar)  Trai'TOicpaTopos.     (_For  these  things 

„  ...  great  is  the, ^lory  and  honour  0/ the  Almighty.)     But  Cyril's  text 

iighty.  is  tiie  same  as  the  Aldine  and  Complutensian. 


LECTURE    IX. 


On  the  words,  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  of  all  things  visible  and  invisible. 

Job  xxxviii.  2 — 3. 

Who  is  this  that  hideth  counsel frotn  Me,  and  keepeth  7ciords  in  his  hearty 
afid  thinketh  to  hide  them  from  Me  '  1 


1.  To  look  upon  God  with  eyes  of  flesh  is 
impossible  :  for  the  incorporeal  cannot  be 
subject  to  bodily  sight :  and  the  Only  begotten 
Son  of  God  Himself  hath  testified,  saying,  No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  ^.  For  if  accord- 
ing to  that  which  is  written  in  Ezekiel  any  one 
should  understand  that  Ezekiel  saw  Him,  yet 
what  saith  the  Scripture  ?  He  saw  the  likeness  of 
the  glory  of  the  Lord^  ;  not  the  Lord  Himself, 
but  the  likeness  of  His  glory,  not  the  glory 
itself,  as  it  really  is.  And  when  he  saw  merely 
the  likeness  of  the  glory,  and  not  the  glory 
itself,  he  fell  to  the  earth  from  fear.  Now 
if  the  sight  of  the  likeness  of  the  glory 
brought  fear  and  distress  upon  the  prophets, 
any  one  who  should  attempt  to  behold  God 
Himself  would  to  a  certainty  lose  his  life, 
according  to  the  saying,  No  man  shall  see  Afy 
face  and  live'-.  For  this  cause  God  of  His 
great  loving-kindness  spread  out  the  heaven 
as  a  veil  of  His  proper  Godhead,  that  we 
should  not  perisix  The  word  is  not  mine,  but 
the  Prophet's  •  Jf  Than  shall  rend  the  heavens, 
tremlding  will  take  hold  of  the  mountains  at 
sight  of  Thee,  and  they  7vill  flow  down  s. 
And  why  dost  thou  wonder  that  Ezekiel  fell 
down  on  seeing  the  likeness  of  the  glory  1 
when  Daniel  at  the  sight  of  Gabriel,  though 
but  a  servant  of  God,  straightway  .shuddered 
and  fell  on  his  face,  and,  prophet  as  he 
was,  dared  not  answer  him,  until  the  Angel 
transformed  himself  into  the  likeness  of  a  son 
of  man^.  Now  if  the  appearing  of  Gabriel 
wrought  trembling  in  the  Prophets,  had  (iod 
Himself  been  seen  as  He  is,  would  not  all  have 
perished  ? 

2.  The  Divine  Nature  then  it  is  impossible 
to  see  with  eyes  of  flesh :  but  from  the  works, 


1  The  Septimcint,  from  which  Cvril  quotes  the  text,  difTers  much 
from  the  Hebrew,  .ind  Irom  the  English  Versions:  Who  /s  this 
that  dnrkeneth  counsel  by  words  zvitho-iit  knoioled^e  ?  Giid  up 
now  thy  toins  like  a  man  :  for  I  will  demand  of  thee,  and  an- 
swer thou  Me. 

2  John  i.  18.  3  Ezekiel  i.  28.  4  Exod.  xxxiii.  20. 
5  Is.   Ixiv.   I,   Septuagint.     R.V.  Oh  that  Thou  wouldest  rend 

the  hemjens,  that  Thou  wouldest  come  down,  that  the  mountains 
might  flow  down,  6  Dan.  x.  9,  16,  18. 


which  are  Divine,  it  is  possible  to  attain  to 
some  conception  of  His  power,  according  to 
Solomon,  who  says,  For  by  the  greatness  and 
beauty  of  the  creatures  proportionably  the  Maker 
of  them  is  seen  t.  He  said  not  that  from 
the  creatures  the  Maker  is  seen,  but  added 
proportionably.  For  Ciod  appears  the  greater 
to  every  man  in  proportion  as  he  has  grasped 
a  larger  survey  of  the  creatures  :  and  when  his 
heart  is  uplifted  by  that  larger  survey,  he  gains 
withal  a  greater  conception  of  God. 

3.  Wouldest  thou  learn  that  to  comprehend 
the  nature  of  God  is  impossible  ?  The  Three 
Children  in  the  furnace  of  fire,  as  they  hynm  the 
praises  of  God,  say  Blessed  art  thou  that  behold- 
est  the  depths,  and  sitUst  vf'on  the  Cherubitn  ^. 
Tell  me  what  is  the  nature  of  the  Cherubim, 
and  then  look  upon  Him  who  sitteth  upon 
them.  And  yet  Ezekiel  the  Prophet  even  made 
a  description  of  them,  as  far  as  was  possible, 
saying  that  every  one  has  four  faces,  one  of 
a  man,  another  of  a  lion,  another  of  an  eagle, 
and  another  of  a  calf ;  and  that  each  one  had 
six  wings  9,  and  they  had  eyes  on  all  sides  ;  and 
that  under  each  one  was  a  wheel  of  four  sides. 
Nevertheless  though  the  Prophet  makes  the  ex- 
planation, we  cannot  yet  understand  it  even  as 
weread.  But  if  we  cannotunderstand  the  throne, 
which  he  has  described,  how  shall  we  be  able 
to  comprehend  Him  who  sitteth  thereon,  the 
Invisible  and  Inetfable  God?  To  scrutinise 
then  the  nature  of  God  is  impossible  :  but  it  is 
in  our  power  to  send  up  praises  of  His  glory 
for  His  works  that  are  seen. 

4.  These  things  I  say  to  you  because  of  the 


7  Wisdom  xiii.  s-  Compare  Theophilus  of  Antioch  To  Auto- 
Ivcus,  I.  5,  6  :  "  God  cannot  indeed  he  seen  by  human  eyes,  but  is 
beheld  and  perceived  through  His  providence  and  works.  .  .  .  He 
is  not  visible  to  eyes  ol  flesh,  since  He  is  incoraprehensibie." 

8  Song  of  the  Three  Children,  32. 

9  In  Ezekiel  i.  6— 11.  the  four  living  creatures  have  eachyowr 
wings,  as  also  in  x.  21  according  to  the  Hebrew.  But  in  the  latter 
passage,  according  to  the  Vatican  text  ol  the  Septungint.  each 
has  eight  wings,  as  Codd.  R.  and  Casaiib.  read  here.  _  Cyril  seems 
to  have  confused  the  number  in  Ezekiel  with  that  in  Is.  vi.  2: 
each  one  had  six  wings.  By  "a  wheel  of  four  sides"  Cyril  ex 
plains  Ez.  i.  16  :  a  wheel  in  the  midst  of  a  wheel,  as  meaning  two 
circles  set  at  right  angles  to  each  other,  like  the  equator  and 
meridian  on  a  globe. 


E  2 


52 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


following  context  of  the  Creed,  and  because  we 
say,  We  believe  in  One  God,  the  Father 
Almighty,   Maker  of    heaven  and  earth, 

AND    OF    all    things    VISIBLE    AND    INVISIBLE  ; 

in  order  that  we  may  remember  that  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  as  He 
that  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth  ',  and  that 
wc  may  make  ourselves  safe  against  the  wrong 
paths  of  the  godless  heretics,  who  have  dared 
to  speak  evil  of  the  Allwise  Artificer  of  all 
this  world  2,  men  who  see  with  eyes  of  flesh,  but 
have  the  eyes  of  their  understanding  blinded. 

5.  For  what  fault  have  they  to  find  with  the 
vast  creation  of  God  ? — they,  who  ought  to 
have  been  struck  with  amazement  on  beholding 
the  vaultings  of  the  heavens  :  they,  who  ought 
to  have  worshipped  Him  who  reared  the  sky 
as  a  dome,  who  out  of  the  fluid  nature  of  the 
waters  formed  the  stable  substance  of  the 
heaven.  For  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firma- 
Tiicnt  in  the  midst  of  the  water  3.  God  spake  once 
for  all,  and  it  stands  fast,  and  falls  not.  The 
heaven  is  water,  and  the  orbs  therein,  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  are  of  fire  :  and  how  do  the 
orbs  of  fire  run  their  course  in  the  water  %  But 
if  any  one  disputes  this  because  of  the  opposite 
natures  of  fire  and  water,  let  him  remember  the 
fire  which  in  the  time  of  Moses  in  Egypt 
flamed  amid  the  hail,  and  observe  the  all-wise 
workmanship  of  God.  For  since  there  was 
need  of  water,  because  the  earth  was  to  be 
tilled,  He  maiie  the  heaven  above  of  water, 
that  when  the  region  of  the  earth  should  need 
watering  by  showers,  the  heaven  miglit  from  its 
nature  be  ready  for  this  purpose. 

6.  But  what  ?  Is  there  not  cause  to  wonder 
when  one  looks  at  the  constitution  of  the  sun  ? 
For  being  to  the  sight  as  it  were  a  small  body 
he  contains  a  mighty  power  ;  appearing  from 
the  East,  and  sending  forth  his  light  unto  the 
West  :  whose  rising  at  dawn  the  Psalmist  de- 
scribed, saying  :  And  he  cometh  forth  out  of 
his  chamber  as  a  bridegroom'^.  He  was  de- 
scribing the  brightness  and  moderation  of  his 
state  on  first  becoming  visible  unto  men  :  for 
when  he  rides  at  high  noon,  we  often  flee 
from  his  blaze  :  but  at  his  rising  he  is  wel- 
come to  all  as  a  bridegroom  to  look  on. 

Observe  also  his  arrangement  (or  rather  not 
his,  but  the  arrangement  of  Him  who  by  an 
ordinance  determined  his  course),  how  in 
summer  he  rises  higher  and  makes  the  days 
longer,  giving  men  good  time  for  their  works  : 


>  Comp:ire  Cat.  iv.  4.  IrenEPus  (I.  x.  1):  "The  Church, 
though  dispersed  throughout  tiie  whole  world,  even  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  yet  received  from  the  Apostles  and  their  disciples 
the  Faiili  in  One  God  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  heaven,  and 
earth,  and  the  sea  and  all  that  therein  is."  Tertullian  {lie  Pice- 
scriptione  tlaret.  cap.  xiii.)  "'i'he  rule  of  faith  is  that  whereby 
we  believe  that  there  is  One  God  only,  and  none  other  than  the 
Creator  of  the  world,  who  brought  forth  all  things  out  of  nothing 
throuiih  His  own  Word  lirst  of  all  sent  forth." 

=*  Compare  Cat.  vi.  13,  27.  3  Gen.  i.  6.  *  Ps.  xix.  5. 


but  in  winter  contracts  his  course,  that  the 
period  of  cold  may  be  increased,  and  that  the 
nights  becoming  longer  may  contribute  to 
men's  rest,  and  contribute  also  to  the  fruiiful- 
ness  of  the  products  of  the  earths.  See  also 
how  the  days  alternately  respond  each  to  other 
in  due  order,  in  summer  increasing,  and  in 
winter  diminishing  ;  but  in  spring  and  autumn 
granting  equal  intervals  one  to  another.  And 
the  nights  again  complete  the  like  courses  ;  so 
that  the  Psalmist  also  says  of  them,  Day  unto  || 
day  utiereth  sfeech,  and  flight  u?ito  night  pro- 
claim eth  kno7v ledge ^.  For  to  the  heretics  who 
have  no  ears,  they  all  but  cry  aloud,  and  by 
their  good  order  say,  that  there  is  none  other 
God  save  the  Creator  who  hath  set  them  their 
bounds,  and  laid  out  the  order  of  the  Universe  ?. 
7.  But  let  no  one  tolerate  any  who  say  that 
one  is  the  Creator  of  the  light,  and  another  ot 
darkness^:  for  let  him  remember  how  Isaiah 
says,  /  am  the  God  who  made  the  light,  and 
created  darkness 'i.  Why,  O  man,  art  thou  vexed 
thereat]  Why  art  thou  offended  at  the  time 
that  is  given  thee  for  rest'?  A  servant  would 
have  had  no  rest  from  his  masters,  had  not  the 
darkness  necessarily  brought  a  respite.  And 
often  after  wearying  ourselves  in  the  day,  how 
are  we  refreshed  in  the  night,  and  he  who 
was  yesterday  worn  with  toils,  rises  vigorous  in 
the  morning  because  of  the  night's  rest  ^  ?  And 
what  more  helpful  to  wisdom  than  the  night  3  ? 
For  herein  oftentimes  we  set  before  our  minds 
the  things  of  God  ;  and  herein  we  read  and 
contemplate  the  Divine  Oracles.  And  when 
is  our  mind   most  attuned   to  Psalmody  and 

5  The  common  reading  iVa  firj  tov  ^v\ov<;  irAeicoi'  yiirtfrax  6 
XP<>''05,  aAA'  \vo.  aX  i-uKTes,  k.t.A.  gives  a  meaning  contrary  to 
the  facts.  The  transl.ition  follows  the  MSB.  Roe,  Casaubon, 
which  omit  \x.-i]  and  for  aAAct  read  nai.  Compare  Whewell's 
Astronomy,  p.  22:  "I'he  length  of  ihe  year  is  so  determined 
as  to  he  adapted  to  the  constitution  of  most  vegetables :  or 
the  construction  of  vegetaliles  is  so  adjusted  as  to  Ije  suited 
to  the  length  which  the  year  really  has,  and  unsuited  to  a 
duration  longer  or  shorter  by  any  considerable  portion.  The 
vegetable  clock-work  is  so  set  as  to  go  for  a  year."  Idici.  p.  34: 
"  The  terre-.trial  day,  and  consequently  the  length  of  the  cycle 
of  light  and  darkness,  being  what  it  is,  we  find  various  parts  of 
the  constitution  both  of  animals  and  vegetables,  which  have  a 
periodical  character  in  their  functions,  corresponding  to  the  diurnal 
succession  of  e.xternal  conditions,  and  we  find  that  the  length 
of  the  period,  as  it  exists  in  their  constitution,  coincides  with  the 
length  01  the  natural  day." 

6  Ps.  xix.  2  Compue  a  beautiful  passage  of  Theophihis  ofAn- 
tioch  {To  Autolyciis,  vi.). 

7  Lucretius,  v.  1182: 

"  They  saw  the  skies  in  constant  order  run. 
The  varied  seasons  and  the  circling  sun, 
Apparent  rule,  with  unapparont  cause. 
And  thus  they  sought  in  gods  the  source  of  laws." 

8  See  note  3  on  Cat.  iii.  33. 

9  Is.  xlv.  7.     Compare  the  Homily  of  Chrysostom  on  this  text. 

1  Wbewoli,  Astivnoiiiy.  p.  38  :  "Animals  also  have  a  period  in 
their  functions  and  habits;  as  in  the  habits  of  waking,  sleeping, 
eating,  i-'c,  and  their  well-being  appears  to  depend  on  the  coin- 
cidence of  this  period  with  the  length  of  the  natural  day." 

2  Chrysostom,  VI.  p.  171  :  "As  the  day  brings  man  out  to  his 
work,  so  the  night  succeeding  releases  him  from  his  countless  toils 
and  llioughts,  and  lulling  his  weary  eyes  to  sleep,  and  closing  their 
lids,  piepares  him  to  welcome  the  sunbeam  again  with  his  force 
in  full  vigovir." 

3  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Stromat.  IV.  22,  E.  Tr.)  :  "  And  in 
this  way  they  seem  to  have  calk-d  the  night  Euphrone,  sinc:e  then 
the  soul  released  from  the  perceptions  of  sense  turns  in  on  itself, 
and  has  a  truer  hold  of  intelligence  (<^pdi/7)o-is)  " 


LECTURE   IX. 


S3 


Prayer?  Is  it  not  at  night?  And  when  have 
we  often  called  our  own  sins  to  remembrance  ? 
Is  it  not  at  night  4?  Let  us  not  then  admit 
the  evil  thought,  that  another  is  the  maker  of 
darkness :  for  experience  shews  that  this  also 
is  good  and  useful. 

8.  They  ought  to  have  felt  astonishment 
and  admiration  not  only  at  the  arrangement 
of  sun  and  moon,  but  also  at  the  well-ordered 

•  choirs  of  the  stars,  their  unimpeded  courses, 
and  their  risings  in  the  seasons  due  to  each  : 
and  how  some  are  signs  of  summer,  and 
others  of  winter;  and  how  some  mark  the 
season  for  sowing,  and  others  shew  the  com- 
mencement of  navigation  s.  And  a  man  sitting 
in  his  ship,  and  sailing  amid  the  boundless 
waves,  steers  his  ship  by  looking  at  the  stars. 
For  of  these  matters  the  Scripture  says  well, 
And  let  them  be  Joi-  signs^  and  for  seasons,  and 

for  years  ^,  not  for  fables  of  astrology  and 
nativities.  But  observe  how  He  has  also 
graciously  given  us  the  light  of  day  by  gradual 
increase  :  for  we  do  not  see  the  sun  at  once 
arise;  but  just  a  little  light  runs  on  before,  in 
order  that  the  pupil  of  the  eye  may  be  enabled 
by  previous  trial  to  look  upon  his  stronger 
beam  ;  see  also  how  He  has  relieved  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night  by  rays  of  moonlight. 

9.  Who  is  the  father  of  the  rain  ?  And  who 
hath  begotten  the  drops  of  dew  7  7  Who  con- 
densed the  air  into  clouds,  and  bade  them 
carry  the  waters  of  the  rain^,  now  bringing 
golden-tinted  clouds  from  the  north  9,  now  chang- 
ing these  into  one  uniform  appearance,  and 
again  transforming  them  into  manifold  circles 
and  other  shapes  ?  Who  can  tiuniber  the  clouds 
in  wisdom  '  1  Whereof  in  Job  it  saith,  And  He 
hioweth  the  separations  of  the  clouds'^,  and  hath 


4  Chrysostom  (Tom.  II.  p.  793)  :  "We  usually  take  the  reckon- 
ing of  our  money  early  in  the  morning,  but  of  our  actions,  of  all 
that  we  have  said  and  done  by  day,  let  us  demand  of  ourselves  the 
accoiMit  after  supper,  and  even  after  nightfall,  as  we  lie  upon  our 
bed,  wi:h  none  to  trouble,  none  to  disturb  us.  And  if  we  see 
anything  done  amiss,  let  us  chastise  our  conscience,  let  us  rebuke 
our  mind,  let  us  so  vehemently  impugn  our  account,  that  we  may 
no  more  dare  to  ri-.e  up  and  bring  ourselves  to  the  same  pit  of  sin, 
being  mindful  of  the  scourging  at  night." 

5  Clem.  Alex.  {Stroincit.  VI.  11;:  "The  same  is  true  also  of 
Astronomy,  for  being  engaged  in  the  investigation  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  as  to  the  form  of  the  universe,  and  the  revolution  of  the 
heaven,  and  the  motion  of  the  stars,  it  brings  the  soul  nearer 
to  the  Creative  Power,  and  teaches  it  to  be  quick  in  perceiving 
the  seasons  of  the  year,  the  changes  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the 
risings  of  the  stars;  since  navigation  also  and  husbandry  are  full 
of  benefit  from  this  science."  Compare  Lactantius  {De  IrA  Dei, 
cap.  xiii.).  6  Gen.  i.  14.  7  Job  xxxviii.  28. 

8  Whewell,  Astyonoiny,  p.  83:  "  Clou'is  are  produced  by 
aqueous  vapour  when  it  returns  to  the  state  of  water."  p.  89  : 
"Clouds  produce  rain.  In  the  form;ition  of  a  cloud  the  pre- 
cipitation of  moisture  probably  forms  a  fine  watery /y7«r/f>-,  which 
remains  suspended  in  the  air  in  consequence  ot  the  minuteness 
of  its  particles  :  but  if  from  any  cause  the  precipitation  is  collected 
in  larger  portions,  and  becomes  drops,  these  descend  by  their 
weight  and  produce  a  shower."  Compare  Aristotle,  Meieorologica, 
I.  IX.  3  :  Ansted,  Physical  Geog}'aJ>hy,  p.  210. 

9  Job  ,xxxvii.22  :  ■' Out  of  the  north  Cometh  golden  splendour" 
(R.V.).  I  Job  xxxviii.  37. 

2  Job  xxxvii.  16:  "Dost  thou  know  the  balancings  of  the 
clouds?"  In  the  Septuagint  &iaKpi(Ti.v  veil>u>v  inay  mean  "the 
separate  path  of  the  clouds"  (Vulg.  "  semitas  nubium,")  or  "  the 
dissolving,"  as  in  Aristotle  {i\Jeteorol.  I.  vii.  10:   fiioKpii/eo-Sat  koX 


bent  down  the  heaven  to  the  earth  3  .•  and,  He  who 
7iumhercth  the  clouds  in  wisdom  :  and,  the  cloud 
is  not  7'etit  under  Him  ■♦.  For  so  many  measures 
of  waters  lie  upon  the  clouds,  yet  they  are  not 
rent  :  but  come  down  with  all  good  order  upon 
tlie  earth.  Who  bringeth  the  winds  out  of  their 
treasuries  s  ?  And  who,  as  we  said  before,  is  he 
that  hath  begotten  the  drops  of  dew  ?  Atid 
out  of  whose  womb  cometh  the  ice  ^  1  For  its 
substance  is  like  water,  and  its  strength  like 
stone.  And  at  one  time  the  water  becomes 
snow  like  wool,  at  another  it  ministers  to  Him 
who  scattereth  the  mist  like  ashes  7,  and  at 
another  it  is  changed  into  a  stony  substance ; 
since  He  governs  the  waters  as  He  will^.  Its 
nature  is  uniform,  and  its  action  manifold  in 
force.  Water  becomes  in  vines  wine  that 
7naketh  glad  the  heart  of  man  :  and  in  olives 
oil  that  maketh  man^s  face  to  shine:  and  is 
transformed  also  into  bread  that  strenglheneth 
man's  heart  9^  and  into  fruits  of  all  kinds  which 
He  hath  created '. 

lo.  What  should  have  been  the  effect  of 
these  wonders?  Should  the  Creator  have  been 
blasphemed?  Or  worshipped  rather?  And 
so  far  I  have  said  nothing  of  the  unseen  works 
of  His  wisdom.  Observe,  I  pray  you,  the 
.spring,  and  the  flowers  of  every  kind  in  all 
their  likeness  still  diverse  one  from  another  ; 
the  deepest  crimson  of  the  rose,  and  the  purest 
whiteness  of  the  lily  :  for  these  spring  from  the 
same  rain  and  the  same  earth,  and  who  makes 
them  to  differ  ?  Who  fashions  them  ?  Observe, 
pray,  the  exact  care  :  from  the  one  substance 
of  the  tree  there  is  part  for  shelter,  and  part  . 
for  divers  fruits :  and  the  Artificer  is  One. 
Of  the  same  vine  part  is  for  burning  2,  and  part 
for  shoots,  and  part  for  leaves,  and  part  for  ten- 
drils, and  part  for  clusters. 

Admire  also  the  great  thickness  of  the  knots 
which  run  round  the  reed,  as  the  Artificer  hath 

SiaXvecrBai  ro  Si.drf.i.i^ov  tivpoi/  iiro  Toi!  7rAv;9ou5  ttjs  6epiJ.rj^  ai/aOu- 
jattttrew?,  oxrre  t^q  (TvuitrTatrdat.  paSiio?  ei?  i;6tup.  **  The  moist 
vapour  is  separated  and  dissolved  by  the  great  heat  of  the  evapor- 
ation, so  that  It  does  not  easily  condense  into  water."  Cf.  Plato, 
SoJ>hisies  243  B  ;  Staxpiaei.;  xai.  (TuyKpiVfi!- 

3  Job  xxxviii.  37  (according  to  the  Septuagint):  "And  who  is 
he  that  numberetii  the  clouds  by  wisdom,  and  bent  down  the 
heaven  to  the  earth?"  A.V.,  R.V.  "Or  who  can  pour  out  the 
bottles  of  heaven?" 

4  Job  xxvi.  8  :  "  He  bindeth  up  the  waters  in  His  thick  clouds  ; 
and  the  cloiul  is  not  rent  under  them." 

5  Ps.  cxxw.  7.  6  Job  xxxviii.  28. 

7  Ps.  cxlvii.  16:  "He  scattereth  the  hoar  frost  like  ashes." 
The  Hebrew  ^i^3  is  rendered  by  iraxm,  "hoar  frost,"  in  Job 

xxxviii.  29,  but  here  by  hfi.t.-x\-r],  "  mist." 

8  Job  xxxvii.  10:  "the  breadth  of  the  waters  is  straitened" 
(Marg.  R.V.  "congealed").  The  word  oiawtfei  in  the  Septuagint 
means  to  "  steer,"  Lat.  "gubernare  "  to  "  turn  as  by  a  helm." 

9  Ps.  civ.  15. 

1  There  is  a  similar  passage  on  the  various  efi'ects  of  water  in 
Cat.  xvi.  12.  Chrysostom  {de  Siatuis,  Horn.  xii.  2),  Epiphanius 
{Ancoratus,  p.  69),  and  other  Fathers,  appear  to  reproduce  both 
the  thoughts  and  words  of  Cyril. 

2  For  KaDcrti',  "burning,"  Morel  and  Milles,  with  Cod.  Coisl., 
read  Kava-nv,  a  rare  word  explained  by  Hesychiusas  the  "growth  " 
or  "foliage"  of  the  vine:  but  this  is  tully  expressed  in  what 
follows,  and  the  reading  KOLva-iv  is  confirmed  by  Virgil  {Georg.  ii. 
408):  "  Primus  devecta  cremato  sarmenta"  (Reischl). 


54 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


made  them.  From  one  and  the  same  earth 
come  forth  creeping  things,  and  wild  beasts, 
and  cattle,  and  trees,  and  tbod  ;  and  gold,  and 
silver,  and  brass,  and  iron,  ami  stone.  The 
nature  of  the  waters  is  but  one,  yet  from  it 
comes  the  substance  of  fishes  ami  of  birds  ; 
whereby  3  as  the  former  swim  in  the  waters, 
so  the  birds  fly  in  the  air. 

1 1 .  This  great  and  wide  sea,  thej-ein  are 
things  creeping  inniunerabie^.  Who  can  describe 
the  beauty  of  the  fishes  that  are  therein  ? 
Who  can  describe  the  greatness  of  the  whales, 
and  the  nature  s  of  its  amphibious  animals,  how 
they  hve  both  on  dry  land  and  in  the  waters? 
Who  can  tell  the  depth  and  the  breadth  of  the 
sea,  or  the  force  of  its  enormous  waves  ?  Yet 
it  stays  at  its  bounds,  because  of  Him  who 
said.  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further, 
but  within  thyself  shall  thy  waves  be  broken  ^. 
Which  sea  also  clearly  shews  the  word  of  the 
command  imposed  upon  it,  since  after  it  has 
run  up,  it  leaves  upon  the  beach  a  visible 
line  made  by  the  waves,  shewing,  as  it  were, 
to  those  who  see  it,  that  it  has  not  passed 
its  appointed  bounds. 

12.  Who  can  discern  the  nature  of  the 
birds  of  the  air?  How  some  carry  with  them 
a  voice  of  melody,  and  others  are  variegated 
with  all  manner  of  painting  on  their  wings,  and 
others  fly  up  into  mid  air  and  float  motion- 
less, as  the  hawk  :  for  by  the  Divine  com- 
mand the  hawk  spreadeth   out  his  wings  afid 

floateth  motionless,  looking  towards  the  south  t. 
What  man  can  behold  the  eagle's  lolty  flight? 
Jf  then  thou  canst  not  discern  the  soaring  of 
the  most  senseless  of  the  birds,  how  wouldest 
thou  understand  the  Maker  of  all  ? 

13.  Who  among  men  knows  even  the  names 
of  all  wild  beasts?  Or  who  can  accurately 
discern  the  physiology  of  each  ?  But  if 
of  the  wild  beasts  we  know  not  even  the 
mere  names,  how  shall  we  comprehend  the 
Maker  of  them  ?  God's  command  was  but 
one,  which  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  wild 
beasts,  and  cattle,  and  creeping  things,  after  their 
kinds'^ :  and  from  one  earth 9,  by  one  command, 
have  si)rung  diverse  natures,  the  gentle  sheep 
and  the  carnivorous  lion,  and  various  instincts  ^ 
of  irrational  animals,  bearing  resemblance  to 
the  various  characters  of  men  ;  the  fox  to 
manifest  the  craft  that  is  in  men,  and  the 
snake  the  venomous  treachery  of  Iriends,  and 


3  For  the  construction  of  iVa  with  tlie  Indicative  tirTaiTat, 
see  Heinliaidy,  Sytitax,  p.  401.  Winer  (Cram.  N.  /'.  111.  sect, 
xli.  c),  4  Ps.  civ.  25. 

5  Gr.  v-naaratTW,  literally  "  subbtance." 

6  Job  xxxviii.  11.  7  lb.  xx.vix.  26.  ^  Gen.  i.  24. 

9  Instead  of  i^iui'tjs  (Miiles),  or  7rr)-)/ij5  (Rened.  Roe,  Casaiib.) 
the  recent  Editors  have  restored  T17S  "yjjs  with  the  Jerusalem  and 
Munich  MSS.,  and  Basil. 

'  Gr.  Kn-r/crci?  "movements,"  "impulses."  Aristotle  (//«/<);-/(i 
Aniiiialiuiii.  IX.  vii.  t)  remarks  that  many  imitations  of  man's 
mode  of  life  may  be  observed  in  the  habits  of  other  animals. 


the  neighing  horse  the  wantonness  of  young 
men  %  and  the  laborious  ant,  to  arouse  the 
sluggish  and  the  dull  :  for  when  a  man  passes 
his  youth  in  idleness,  then  he  is  instructed  by 
the  irrational  animals,  being  reproved  by  the 
divine  Scripture  saying.  Go  to  the  ant,  thou 
sluggard,  see  aiui  emulate  her  ways,  and  become 
wiser  than  she^.  For  when  thou  seest  her 
treasuring  up  her  food  in  good  season,  imitate 
her,  and  treasure  up  for  thyself  fruits  of  good 
works  for  the  world  to  come.  And  again.  Go 
to  the  bee,  and  learn  how  industrious  she  is  *  .- 
how,  hovering  round  all  kinds  of  flowers,  she 
collects  her  honey  for  thy  benefit :  that  thou 
also,  by  ranging  over  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
mayest  lay  hold  of  salvation  for  thyself,  and 
being  filled  with  them  mayest  say.  How  S7veet 
are  thy  words  imto  my  throat,  yea  sweeter  than 
honey  and  the  honeycomb  unto  my  mouth  5. 

14.  Is  not  then  the  Artificer  worthy  the 
rather  to  be  glorified?  For  what?  If  thou 
knowest  not  the  nature  of  all  things,  do  the 
things  that  have  been  made  forthwith  become 
useless?  Canst  thou  know  the  efficacy  of  all 
herbs  ?  Or  canst  thou  learn  all  the  benefit 
which  proceeds  from  every  animal  ?  Ere  now 
even  from  venomous  adders  have  come  anti- 
dotes for  the  preservation  of  men  ^.  But  thou 
wilt  say  to  me,  "  The  snake  is  terrible."  Fear 
thou  the  Lord,  and  it  shall  not  be  able  to 
hurt  thee.  "  A  scorpion  stings."  Fear  the 
Lord,  and  it  shall  not  sting  thee.  "  A  lion  is 
bloodthirsty."  Fear  thou  the  Lord,  and  he 
shall  lie  down  beside  thee,  as  by  Daniel.  But 
truly  wonderful  also  is  the  action  of  the 
animals :  how  some,  as  the  scorpion,  have  the 
sharpness  in  a  sting ;  and  others  have  their 
power  in  their  teeth ;  and  others  do  battle 
with  their  claws ;  while  the  basilisk's  power  is 
his  gaze  ?.  So  then  from  this  varied  work- 
manship understand  the  Creator's  power. 


2  Jer.  V.  8. 

3  I'rov.  vi.  6.  Instead  of  the  epithet  "laborious"  (yetopyi- 
TaT05)   some  M SS .  have  ' '  agile  "  or  "  restless  "  (yopyoTaro;). 

4  After  the  description  of  the  ant,  Prov.  vi.  6—8,  there  follows 
in  the  Septuagiiit  a  similar  refererce  to  the  bee:  "(Jr  go  to  the 
bee,  and  learn  how  industrious  she  is,  and  how  comely  she  makes 
her  work,  and  the  produce  of  her  labours  kings  and  commons 
adopt  for  health,  and  she  is  desired  and  esteemed  by  all,  and 
though  feeble  in  strength  has  been  exalted  by  her  regard  for 
wisdom."  The  interpolation  is  supposed  to  be  of  Greek  origin,  as 
containing  "  idiomatic  tJreek  expressions  which  would  not  occur 
to  a  translator  from  the  Hebrew  "  (Uelitzsch). 

5  Ps.  cxix.  103. 

6  Compare  Bacon  [Natural Hist,  t^d^:  "I  would  have  trial 
made  of  two  other  kinds  of  bracelets,  for  comforting  the  heart  and 
spirits:  one  of  the  trochisch  of  vipers,  made  into  little  pieces  of 
beads:  for  since  they  do  great  good  inwards  (especially  for 
pestilent  agues),  it  is  like  they  will  be  efi'ectual  outwards,  where 
they  may  be  applied  in  greater  quantity.  There  would  be  trochisch 
likewise  made  of  snakes  ;  whose  fle^h  dried  is  thought  to  have 
a  veiy  good  opening  and  cordial  virtue."  ]b.  969  :  "  Tlie  writers 
of  natural  magic  commend  the  wearing  of  the  spoil  of  a  snake, 
for  preserving  of  health."  Thomas  Jackson  (On  the  Creed,  VIII. 
8,  §  4) :  "  The  poisonous  bitings  of  the  scorpion  are  usually  cured 
by  the  oil  of  scorpions." 

7  Shakespeare  '^Richard  III.  Act.  I.  Sc.  ii.)  . 

Glo.    "  Thine  eyes,  sweet  lady,  have  infected  mine." 
Anne.     "'Would  they  were  basilisks  to  strike  thee  dead." 


LECTURE    IX. 


55 


15.  But  these  things  perhaps  thou  knowest 
not :  thou  wouldest  have  nothing  in  common 
with  the  creatures  which  are  without  thee.  En- 
ter now  into  thyself,  and  from  thine  own  nature 
consider  its  Artificer.  What  is  there  to  find  fault 
with  in  the  framing  of  thy  body?  Be  master  of 
thyself,  and  -nothing  evil  shall  proceed  from 
any  of  thy  members.  Adam  was  at  first  with- 
out clothing  in  Paradise  with  Eve,  but  it  was 
not  because  of  his  members  that  he  deserved 
to  be  cast  out.  The  members  then  are  not 
the  cause  of  sin,  but  they  who  use  their  mem- 
bers amiss ;  and  the  Maker  thereof  is  wise. 
Who  prepared  the  recesses  of  the  womb  for 
child-bearing?  Who  gave  life  to  the  lifeless 
thing  within  it  ?  Who  knitted  us  with  sineivs 
and  bones,  and  clothed  us  with  skin  and  flesh  ^, 
and,  as  soon  as  the  child  was  born,  brought 
streams  of  milk  out  of  the  breasts  ?  How 
grows  the  babe  into  a  boy,  and  the  boy  into 
a  youth,  and  then  into  a  man ;  and,  still  the 
same,  passes  again  into  an  old  man,  while  no 
one  notices  the  exact  change  from  day  to  day? 
Of  the  food,  how  is  one  part  changed  into 
blood,  and  another  separated  for  excretion, 
and  another  part  changed  into  flesh  ?  Who 
gives  to  the  heart  its  unceasing  motion  ?  Who 
wisely  guarded  the  tenderness  of  the  eyes  with 

Compare  Bacon  (Z>.'  Ate^inentis,  VII.  cap.  ii.):  "  The  fable  goes 
of  the  Dasilisk,  that  if  he  see  you  first,  you  die  for  it,  but  if  you 
see  him  first,  he  dies."   Bacon  lefers  to  Pliuy  ^Nat.  I/tni.  viii.  33). 
8  Job  X.  II. 


the  fence  of  the  eyelids  9  ?  For  as  to  the  com- 
plicated and  wonderful  contrivance  of  the  eyes, 
the  voluminous  books  of  the  physicians  hardly 
give  us  explanation.  Who  distributes  the 
one  breath  to  the  whole  body?  Thou  seest, 
O  man,  the  Artificer,  thou  seest  the  wise 
Creator. 

1 6.  These  points  my  discourse  has  now 
treated  at  large,  having  left  out  many,  \ea,  ten 
thousand  other  things,  and  especially  things 
incorporeal  and  invisible,  that  thou  mayest 
abhor  tiiose  who  blaspheme  the  wise  and 
good  Artificer,  and  from  what  is  spoken  and 
read,  and  whatever  thou  canst  thyself  discover 
or  conceive,  froni  the  greatness  and  beauty  of 
the  creatures  mayest  pivporticnably  see  the  maker 
of  them  %  and  bending  the  knee  with  godly 
reverence  to  the  Maker  of  the  worlds,  the 
worlds,  I  mean,  of  sense  and  thought,  both 
visible  and  invisible,  thou  mayest  with  a 
grateful  and  holy  tongue,  with  unwearied  lips 
and  heart,  praise  God  and  say,  How  tvonderful 
are  Thy  works,  O  Lord ;  in  ivisdom  hast  Thou 
madet'hem  all^.  For  to  Thee  belongeth  honour, 
and  glory,  and  majesty,  both  now  and  through- 
out all  ages.     Amen. 


9  Xenophon  {Memor.  Socratis.  I.  cap  iv.):  "And  moreover 
does  not  this  also  seem  to  thee  like  a  work  of  providence,  that, 
whereas  the  sight  is  weak,  the  Creator  furnished  it  with  eyelids 
for  doors,  which  are  opened  whenever  there  is  need  to  use  the 
sight,  but  are  closed  in  sleep." 

«  Wisdom  xiii.  5.  »  Ps.  civ.  34. 


APPENDIX   TO    LECTURE    IX. 


Note. — In  the  manuscripts  which  contain 
this  discourse  under  the  name  of  "  A  Homily 
of  S.  Basil  on  God  as  Incomprehensible,"  some 
portions  are  changed  to  suit  that  subject :  but 
the  conclusion  especially  is  marked  by  great 
addition  and  variation,  which  it  is  well  to  re- 
produce here.  Accordingly  in  place  of  the 
words  in  §15  :  ti  ^le^nrTov,  "What  is  there  to 
find  fault  with  ?  "  and  the  following,  the  nianu- 
scrijjts  before  mentioned  have  it  thus  : 

"  What  is  there  to  find  fault  with  in  the  fram- 
ing of  the  body?  Come  forth  into  the  midst 
and  speak.  Control  thine  own  will,  and  nothing 
*evil  shall  proceed  from  any  of  thy  members. 
For  every  one  of  these  has  of  necessity  been 
made  for  our  use.  Chasten  thy  reasoning  unto 
piety,  submit  to  God's  commandments,  and 
none  of  these  members  sin  in  working  and  serv- 
ing in  the  uses  for  which  they  were  made.  If 
thou  be  not  willing,  the  eye  sees  not  amiss,  the 
ear  hears  nothing  which  it  ought  not,  the  hand 
is  not  stretched  out  for  wicked  greed,  the  foot 
walketh   not   towards   injustice,   thou   hast   no 


strange  loves,  committest no  fornication,  covetest 
not  thy  neighbour's  wife.  Drive  out  wicked 
thoughts  from  thine  heart,  be  as  God  made 
thee,  and  thou  wilt  rather  give  thanks  to  thy 
Creator. 

Adam  at  first  was  without  clothing,  faring 
daintily  in  Paradise  :  and  after  he  had  received 
the  commandment,  but  failed  to  keep  it,  and 
wickedly  stretched  forth  his  hand  (not  because 
the  hand  wished  this,  but  because  his  will 
stretched  forth  his  hand  to  that  which  was  for- 
bidden), because  of  his  disobedience  he  lost 
also  the  "ood  things  he  had  received.  Thus 
the  members  are  not  the  cause  of  sin  to  those 
who  use  them,  but  the  wicked  mind,  as  the 
Lord  says.  For  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts, 
fornications,  adulteries,  envyings,  and  such  like. 
In  what  things  thou  choosest,  therein  thy  limbs 
serve  thee  ;  they  are  excellently  made  for  the 
service  of  the  soul  :  they  are  provided  as  ser- 
vants to  thy  reason.  Guide  them  well  by  the 
motion  of  piety;  bridle  them  by  the  fear  of 
God  ;  bring  them  into  subjection  to  the  desire 


56 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


of  temperance  and  abstinence,  and  they  will 
never  rise  up  against  thee  to  tyrannise  over 
thee  ;  but  rather  they  will  guard  thee,  and  help 
thee  more  mightily  in  thy  victory  over  the 
devil,  while  expecting  also  the  incorruptible  and 
everlasting  crown  of  the  victory.  Who  openeth 
the  chambers  of  the  womb  ?     Who,  &c." 

At  the  end  of  the  same  section,  after  the 
words  "  Wise  Creator,"  this  is  found  :  "  Glorify 
Him  in  His  unsearchable  works,  and  concerning 
Him  whom  thou  art  not  capable  of  knowing 
inquire  not  curiously  what  His  essence  is.     It 


is  better  for  thee  to  keep  silence,  and  in  faith 
adore,  according  to  the  divine  Word,  than  dar- 
ingly to  search  after  things  which  neither  thou 
canst  reach,  nor  Holy  Scripture  hath  delivered 
to  thee.  These  points  my  discourse  has  now 
treated  at  large,  tliat  thou  mayest  abhor  those 
who  blaspheme  the  wise  and  good  Artificer, 
and  rather  mayest  thyself  also  say.  How  won- 
derful are  Thy  woi'ks  O  Lord ;  in  wisdom  /lent 
Thou  made  them  all.  To  Thee  be  the  glory, 
and  power,  and  worship,  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
now  and  ever,  and  throughout  all  ages.    Amen." 


LECTURE    X. 


On  the  Clause,  And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  a  reading  from 
THE  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

For  though  there  be  that  are  called  gods,  whether  in  heaveii  or  on  earth '  /  yet  to  us  there  is  One 
God,  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all  things,  afid  we  in  Him;  and  One  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
through  7vhom  are  all  things,  and  we  through  Him. 


1.  They  who  have  been  tauglit  to  believe 
*iN  One  God  the  Father  Almighty,"  ought 

also  to  believe  in  His  Only-begotten  Son. 
For  he  that  denieth  the  Son,  the  same  hath  not 
the  Father'^.  lam  the  Door^,  saith  J  esu s ;  iio  one 
Cometh  unto  the  Father  but  through  Ale''.  For 
if  thou  deny  the  Door,  the  kno\Yledge  concern- 
ing the  Father  is  shut  off  from  thee.  No  man 
kr/otveth  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whomsoever  the  Son  shall  reveal  Him  s.  For  if 
thou  deny  Him  who  reveals,  thou  remainest  in 
ignorance.  There  is  a  sentence  in  the 
Gospels,  saying,  He  that  beiia^eth  not  on  the 
Son,  shall  not  see  life ;  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him  ^  For  the  Father  hath  indig- 
nation  when  the  Only-begotten  Son  is  set  at 
nought.  For  it  is  grievous  to  a  king  that 
merely  his  soldier  should  be  dishonoured;  and 
when  one  of  his  nobler  officers  or  friends  is 
dishonoured,  then  his  anger  is  greatly  increased : 
but  if  any  should  do  despite  to  the  king's  only- 
begotten  son  himself,  who  shall  appease  the 
father's  indignation  on  behalf  of  his  only- 
begotten  son  ? 

2.  If,  therefore,  any  one  wishes  to  shew 
piety  towards  God,  let  him  worship  the  Son, 
since  otherwise  the  Father  accepts  not  his 
service.  The  Father  spake  with  a  loud  voice 
from  heaven,  saying,  This  is  My  beh~<ed  Son,tn 
whom  I  am  well  p'easedT.  The  Father  was 
well  pleased  ;  unless  thou  also  be  \\ell  pleased 
in  Him,  thou  hast  not  life.  Be  not  thou 
carried  away  with  the  Jews  when  they  craftily 
say,  There  is  one  God  alone  ;  but  with  the 
knowledge  that  God  is  One,  know  that  there 
is  also  an  Only-begotten  Son  of  God.  I  am  not 
the  first  to  say  this,  but  the  Psalmist  in  the 
person  of  the  Son  saith.  The  Lord  said  unto 

•  I  Cor.  vlii.  5,  6.  Cyril  omits  the  clause :  as  thtre  be  gods 
many  and  lords  tiiany.  ^  i  John  ii.  23.  3  lb.  x.  9. 

*  lb.  .\iv.  6.  5  Matt.  xi.  27.  6  John  iii.  36. 
7  Matt.  iii.  17. 


Me,  Thou  art  My  Son^.  Heed  not  therefore 
what  the  Jews  say,  but;  what  the  Prophets  say. 
Dost  thou  wonder  that  they  who  stoned  and 
slew  the  Prophets,  set  at  nought  the  Prophets' 
words  ? 

3.  Believe  thou  in  One  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
THE  Only-begotten  Son  of  God.  For  we 
say  "  One  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  tJiat  His  Son- 
ship  may  be  "  Only-begotten  :"  we  say  "  One," 
that  thou  mayest  not  suppose  another  :  we 
say  "  One,"  that  thou  mayest  not  profanely 
diffuse  the  many  names  9  of  His  action  among 
many  sons.  For  He  is  called  a  Door  ' ;  but 
take  not  the  name  literally  for  a  thing  of  wood, 
but  a  spiritual,  a  living  Door,  discriminating 
those  who  enter  in.  He  is  called  a  Way=,  not 
one  trodden  by  feet,  but  leading  to  the  Father 
in  heaven  ;  He  is  called  a  Sheep  3,  not  an  irra- 
tional one,  but  the  one  which  through  its 
precious  blood  cleanses  the  world  from  its 
sins,  which  is  led  before  the  shearers,  and 
knows  when  to  be  silent.  This  Sheep  again  is 
called  a  Shepherd,  who  says,  /  ajn  the  Good 
Shepherd  ■^ :  a  Sheep  because  of  His  manhood, 
a  Shepherd  because  of  tlie  loving-kindness  of 
His  Godhead.  And  wouldst  thou  know  that 
there  are  rational  sheep  ?  the  Saviour  says  to 
the  Apostles,  Behold,  I  send  you  as  sheep  in  the 
midst  ofzc'olres^.  Again,  He  is  called  a  Lion  ^, 
not  as  a  devourer  of  men.  but  indicating  as  it 
were  by  the  title  His  kingly,  and  stedfast, 
and  confident  nature  :  a  Lion  He  is-  also 
called   in    opposition   to   the  lion  our  adver- 

8  Ps.  ii.  7. 

9  TO  jroAuuJj'u/xov,  a  word  used  by  the  Greek  Poets  of  their  gods, 
as  by  Homer  (//;!';«»  io  Deinetet,  i8,  32)  ol  Zeus,  Kporou  jroAu^- 
vu/ios  11105.     Cf.  Sopli.  Ant.  1115  ;  Aeschyl.  Prom.  V.  210. 

'  John  X.  7,  9.  Cyril  calls  Christ  a  "  spiritu.-i!,"  or  "rational 
(AoytK^)  door,  '  and  applies  the  same  term  to  Hi.s  sheep,  below. 
Origen  (/?«  Evaiig.  J  oh.  Tom.  i.  cap.  29):  ©upa  6  Sioirjp  amye- 
ypaiTTat.  ibid.  </)tAai'0pw7ro?  5e  ttiv  .  .  .  Tioi/HT/t/  yti/erat. 

2  John  xiv.  6.  3  lb.  i    29  ;  Is.  liii.  7,  8;  Acts  viii.  32. 

4  John  X.  II  5  Wait.  x.  10,  16.  '  Gen.  xlix.  9  ; 

Apoc.  V.  5. 


58 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


sary,  who  roars  and  devours  tliose  who  have 
been  deceived  t.  For  the  Saviour  came,  not  as 
having  changed  the  gentleness  of  His  own 
nature,  but  as  the  strong  Lion  of  the  tribe  of 
fudah  ^,  saving  them  that  beheve,  but  treading 
down  the  adversary.  He  is  called  a  Stone, 
not  a  lifeless  stone,  cut  out  by  men's  hands, 
but  a  chief  comer-stone'^,  on  whom  whosoever 
believeth  shall  not  be  put  to  shame. 

4.  He  is  called  Christ,  not  as  having  been 
anointed  by  men's  hands,  but  eternally  an- 
ointed by  the  Father  to  His  High-Priesthood 
on  behalf  of  men '.  He  is  called  Dead,  not 
as  having  abode  among  the  dead,  as  all  in 
Hades,  but  as  being  d\o\\tfree  among  the  dead^. 
He  is  called  Son  of  Man,  not  as  having  had 
His  generation  from  earth,  as  each  of  us, 
but  as  coming  upon  the  clouds  to  judge 
BOTH  Quick  and  Dead  3.  He  is  called 
Lord,  not  improperly  as  those  who  are  so 
called  among  men,  but'  as  having  a  natural 
and  eternal  Lordship  4.  He  is  called  Jesus  by 
a  fitting  name,  as  having  the  appellation  from 
His  salutary  healing.  He  is  called  Son,  not  as 
advanced  by  adoption,  but  as  naturally  be- 
gotten. And  many  are  the  titles  of  our 
Saviour  ;  lest,  therefore.  His  manifold  appel- 
lations should  make  thee  think  of  many  sons, 
and  because  of  the  errors  of  the  heretics,  who 
say  that  Christ  is  one,  and  Jesus  another,  and 
the  Door  another,  and  so  on  s,  the  Faith  secures 
thee  beforehand,  saying  well,  In  One  Lord 
Jesus  Christ:  for  though  the  titles  are  many, 
yet  their  subject  is  one. 

5.  But  the  Saviour  comes  in  various  forms 
to  each  man  for  his  protit^.  For  to  those  who 
have  need  of  gladness  He  becomes  a  Vine  ; 
and  to  those  who  want  to  enter  in  He  stands 
as  a  Door ;  and  to  those  who  need  to  offer 
up  their  prayers  He  stands  a  mediating  High 


8  Ps. 


cxviii.  22. 


9  Is.  xxviii.  t6; 


7  I  Pet.  V.  8. 

I  Pet.  ii.  4—6. 

'  The  reading  of  the  earlier  Editions  vnep  avOpdniov  is  free 
from  all  difficulty,  and  so  the  more  likely  to  have  been  substituted 
tor  what  is  at  lirst  sight  more  difficult  virep  aySpian-ov,  the  reading 
of  Cod.  Coislin.  adopted  by  the  Benedictine  and  subsequent 
Editors.  The  idea  ot'  a  super-human  Pricstliood  to  which  the 
Son  in  His  Divine  nature  was  anointed  by  the  Father  from 
eternity  is  repeated  by  Cyril  in  §  14  ot  this  Lecture, and  in  Cat.  xi. 
I,  14.  See  Index,  "  Priesthood, "  and  the  reference  there  given  to 
a  fuller  consideration  of  the  subject  in  the  Introduction. 

*  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  5. 

3  John  V.  27.  Comparing  what  Cyril  says  here  with  Cat.  iv.  15, 
and  XV.  10,  we  see  that  he  means  to  explain  why  Christ  is  called 
the  "Son  of  Man"  when  "He  cometh  again  from  heaven."  and 
"no  more  from  earth."  The  preceding  clause  refers  to  His  first 
coming  in  the  flesh,  as  differing  in  the  manner  of  His  conception 
and  birth  Irom  other  men. 

4  Cf,  Athanas.  (c:  Avian.  II.  xv.  14),  "That  very  Word  who 
was  by  nature  Lord,  and  was  then  made  man,  luah  by  means 
of  a  servant's  form  I  een  made  Lord  of  all  and  Christ." 

5  Cf.  lrena;us  (III.  xvi.  8):  "All  therefore  are  outside  the 
Dispensation,  who  under  pretence  of  knowledge  understand  that 
Jesus  was  one,  and  Christ  another,  and  the  Only-bcgot!en  another 
(from  whom  again  is  the  Word),  and  the  Saviour  another."  The 
Corinthians,  Ehionites,  Ophites,  and  Valentinians  are  mentioned 
by  Irendeus  as  thus  separatiiij^  the  Christ  Irom  Jesus. 

''  Cf.  Athanas.  (/•.//>/.  X.):  "Since  He  is  rich  and  manifold, 
lie  varies  Himscli  according  to  the  individual  capacity  of  each 
soul." 


Priest.  Again,  to  those  who  have  sins  He 
becomes  a  Sheep,  that  He  may  be  sacrificed 
for  them.  He  is  made  all  things  to  all  ?ncm, 
remaining  in  His  own  nature  what  He  is.  For  ■ 
so  remaining,  and  holding  the  dignity  of  His  I 
Sonship  in  reality  unchangeable.  He  adapts 
Himself  to  our  infirmities,  just  as  some  ex- 
cellent physician  or  compassionate  teacher ; 
though  He  is  Very  Lord,  and  received  not  the 
Lordship  by  advancement^,  but  has  the  dignity 
of  His  Lordship  from  nature,  and  is  rot  called 
Lord  improperly  9,  as  we  are,  but  is  so  in  verity, 
since  by  the  Father's  bidding'  He  is  Lord  of  His 
own  works.  For  our  lordship  is  over  men  of 
equal  rights  and  like  passions,  nay  often  over 
our  elders,  and  often  a  young  master  rules  over 
aged  servants.  But  in  the  case  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  the  Lordship  is  not  so  ;  but  He  is 
first  Maker,  then  Lord  ^ :  first  He  made  all 
things  by  the  Father's  will,  then,  He  is  Lord  of 
the  things  which  were  made  by  Llim. 

6.   Christ  the  Lord  is  He  who  was  born  in 
the  city  of  David  ^.     And  wouldest  thou  know 


7  I  Cor.  ix.  22. 

8  cK  TrpoKorrrjs.  We  learn  from  Athanasius  (c.  Avian.  J.  37,  38, 
40;,  that  from  St.  Paul's  language  Pkili/'/i.  ii.  9:  "Wherefore 
also  God  highly  exalted  Him,  i-'c,"  and  from  Ps.  xlv.  7  :  "  Thou 
hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity  :  therefore  God,  thy 
God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy 
fellows,"  the  Arians  argued  that  Christ  first  received  Divine 
honour  as  Son  and  Lord  as  the  reward  of  His  obedience  as  Man. 
Athanasius  replies  (c.  40)  :  "  He  was  not  from  a  lower  state  pro- 
moted ;  but  rather,  existing  as  God,  He  took  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant, and  in  taking  it  was  not  promoted  but  humbled  Himself. 
Where  then  is  there  liere  any  reward  of  virtue,  or  what  advance- 
ment (ttpokotti))  and  promotion  in  humiliation?" 

The  same  doctrine  had  been  previously  held  by  the  disciples 
of  Paul  of  Samosata,  who  said  that  Christ  was  not  originally  God, 
but  after  His  Incarnation  was  by  advance  («'«:  npoKOjrrji)  made 
God,  from  being  made  liy  nature  a  mere  man  :  see  Athanas. 
{tie  Decveiis,  §  24,  c.  Avian,  i.  38).  S.  Cyril  refers  to  the  error, 
and  uses  the  same  word,  in  xi.  i,  7,  13,  15,  17,  and  .\iv.  27. 

9  icaTaxp>)o-TiK(I)5,  i.e.  in  a  secondary  or  metaphorical  sense. 
Cf.  vii.  5. 

1  vevixaTL,  "  command"  or  "bidding,"  as  expressed  by  nodding 
the  head. 

2  Oilmen  {De  Prittcipiis,  I.  ii.  10)  had  argued  that  "even 
God  cannot  be  called  Omnipotent,  unless  there  exist  those  over 
whom  He  may  exercise  His  power,"  and  therefore  creation  must 
have  been  eternal,  or  God  could  not  have  been  eternally  Omni- 
potent. In  other  passages  Origen  declares  it  an  impiety  to  hold 
that  matter  is  co-eteinal  with  God  (De  Princip.  11.  i.  4),  and  yet 
maintains  that  there  were  other  worlds  before  this,  and  that  there 
was  never  a  time  when  there  was  no  world  existing. 

iVlethociius,  in  a  fragment  of  his  work  On  things  Created,  pre- 
served by  Photius,  and  quoted  by  Bishop  Bull  {DcJ.  Fid.  Nic.  II. 
xiii.  9),  argues  against  these  theories  of  Origen.  that  in  John  i.  2 
the  Words  ''The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God"  indicate 
the  authority  (to  efoucnao-TiKor)  of  the  Word  which  He  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  came  into  exisience;  since  from  all 
eternity  God  the  Father,  together  with  His  Word,  possessed  the 
Almighty  power  whereby  whenever  He  would  He  could  create 
worlds  to  rule  over. 

Dean  Church  remarks  that  "On  the  other  hand  TertuUian, 
contra  Hevmog.  3,  considering  the  attributes  in  question  to  be- 
long not  to  the  Divine  Nature,  but  Office,  denies  that  God  was 
Almighty  (Lord?)  from  eternity;  while  the  Greeks  affirmed  this 
(vid.  Cyril  Alex,  in  Jonnn.  x\ii.  S.  p.  ^63  ;  Ailian.  Oral.  ii.  12—14), 
as  understanding  by  the  term  the  inherent  but  latent  attribute 
of  doing  what  He  had  not  yet  done,  to  ii-ovaia.aTiKov ." 

Cleopas,  the  Jerusalem  Editor,  regards  the' passage  as  directed 
against  Paul  of  Samosata,  who  asserted  that  Christ  had  become 
God,  and  received  His  kingdom  and  Lordship  only  after  His  In- 
carnation, and  remarks  : — "  S.  Cyril  evidently  ieg^r,is  the  I.ordsh  p 
of  Jesus  Christ  as  twolold  :  one  that  which  iroin  eternity  be- 
longed to  llim  as  God,  which  he  calls  natural,  according  to  which 
'  He  was  ever  both  Lord  and  King,  as  being  by  nature  God' 
(Cyril  Alex,  in  Joliatin.  cap.  xvii.);  and  the  other  the  Lordship 
in  time  relative  to  the  creatures,  by  which  He  exercises  domi- 
nion over  the  works  created  by  Him,  as  being  their  Maker." 

3  Luke  ii.  11. 


LECTURE   X. 


59 


tliat  Christ  is  Lord  with  tlie  Father  even  before 
His  Incarnation  ^j  that  thou  mayest  not  only 
accept  the  statement  by  faith,  but  mayest  also 
receive  proof  from  the  Old  Testament  ?  Go 
to  the  first  book,  Genesis  :  God  saith,  Let  its 
make  man,  not  'in  My  ima^^e,'  but,  in  Our 
imaged.  And  after  Adam  was  made,  the  sacred 
writer  says,  And  God  created  man;  in  the 
image  of  God  created  He  him  ^.  For  he  diet  not 
limit  the  dignity  of  the  Godhead  to  the  Father 
alone,  but  included  the  Son  also  :  that  it  might 
be  shewn  that  man  is  not  only  the  work  of 
God,  but  also  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is 
Himself  also  Very  God.  This  Lord,  who 
works  together  with  the  Father,  wrought  with 
Him  also  in  the  case  of  Sodom,  according 
to  the  Scripture  :  And  the  Lord  rained  tipon 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fire  and  brimstone  from 
the  Lord  out  of  heaven  7.  This  Lord  is  He  who 
afterwards  was  seen  of  Moses,  as  much  as  he 
was  able  to  see.  For  the  Lord  is  loving  unto 
man,  ever  condescending  to  our  infirmities. 

7.  Moreover,  that  you  may  be  sure  that  this 
is  He  who  was  seen  of  Moses,  hear  Paul's  testi- 
mony, when  he  says.  For  they  all  drank  of  a 
spiritual  ?-ock  that  foUoiced  the?n  ;  and  the  ivck 
was  Christ  ^.  And  again :  By  faith  Moses  forsook 
Egypt '^^  and  shortly  after  he  says,  accounting 
the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the 
treasures  in  Egypt '^.  This  Moses  says  to  Him, 
Sheiv  me  Thyse/f  Thou  seest  that  the 
Prophets  also  in  those  times  saw  the  Christ, 
that  is,  as  far  as  each  was  able.  Sheici  me  Thy- 
self that  L  may  see  Thee  with  understanding  ^. 
But  He  saith.  There  shall  no  man  see  My  face, 
and  live^.  For  this  reason  then,  because  no 
man  could  see  the  face  of  the  Godhead  and 
live,  He  took  on  Him  the  face  of  human 
nature,  that  we  might  see  this  and  live.  And 
yet  when  He  wished  to  shew  even  that  with  a 
little  majesty,  when  His  face  did  shine  as  the 
sun*,  the  disciples  fell  down  aftVighted.  If 
then  His  bodily  countenance,  shining  not  in 
the  full  power  of  Him  that  wrought,  but 
according  to  the  capacity  of  the  Disciples, 
aflVighted  them,  so  that  even  thus  they  could 
not  bear  it,  how  could  any  man  gaze  upon  the 
majesty  of  the  Godhead?  'A  great  thing,' 
saith  the  Lord,  '  thou  desirest,  O  Moses  :  and  I 
approve  thine  insatiable  d^'s.ne.,  ajid  I  will  do 


4  Among  those  who  denied  the  Divine  prae-existence  of  Christ 
Cleopas  enumerates  Ebion,  Caipocrates,  Theodotus,  Artemon, 
Paul  of  Saniosata,  Maicellv.s.  and  Photinus. 

5  Gen.  i.  26.  6  lb   i.  27.  7  lb.  xix.  24. 
8  I  Cor.  X.  4.                     9  Heb.  xi.  27. 

'  Heb.  xi.  26.  Quoting  from  memory  Cyril  mistakes  the  order 
of  the  two  sentences. 

'^  Ex.  xxxiii.  13.  Cyril  means  that  even  before  His  Incarna- 
tion Christ  was  seen  as  far  as  was  possible  by  Piophets  such  as 
Moses.  This  view  was  held  by  many  ot  the  Bathers  before  Cyril. 
See  Justin  M.  (7Vj//z.  §  56  ff.);  TertuU.  {adv.  Praxean,  %  16); 
Euseb.  (De}Hi»tsir.  hvajig.  V.  13 — 16). 

3  Ex.  xxxiii.  20.  4  Matt.  xvii.  2. 


this  things  for  thee,  but  according  as  thou  art 
able.  LJehold,  L  will  put  thee  in  the  clift  of  the 
rock^ :  for  as  being  little,  thou  shalt  lodge  in  a 
little  space.' 

8,  Now  here  I  wish  you  to  make  safe  what 
I  am  going  to  say,  because  of  the  Jews.  For 
our  object  is  to  prove  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
was  with  the  Father.  The  Lord  then  says  to 
Moses,  L  will  pass  by  before  thee  with  My  glory  ^ 
and  wfll  p7-oclaim  the  name  of  the  Lord  before 
theeT.  Being  Himself  the  Lord,  what  Lord 
doth  He  proclaim  ?  Thou  seest  how  He  was  co- 
vertly teaching  the  godly  doctrine  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  And  again,  in  what  follows  it  is 
written  word  for  word  :  And  the  Lord  desce7ided 
in  the  cloud,  and  stood  with  him  there,  and  pro- 
claimed the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord 
passed  by  before  him,  and  proclaimed,  The  Lord, 
the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
both  keeping  righteousness  and  shewing  mercy 
unto  thousands,  taking  away  iniquities,  and 
transgressions,  and  sins  ^.  Then  in  what  follows, 
Moses  boivcd  his  head  and  worshipped'^  before 
the  Lord  who  proclaimed  the  Father,  and  said  : 
Go  Thou  then,  U  Lord,  in  the  midst  ofus^. 

9.  This  is  the  first  proof:  receive  now  a 
second  plain  one.  The  Lord  said  unto  my 
Lord,  sit  Thou  on  My  right  hand'^.  The  Lord 
says  this  to  the  Lord,  not  to  a  servant,  but  to 
the  Lord  of  all,  and  His  own  Son,  to  whom 
He  put  all  things  in  subjection.  But  ivhen  LLe 
saith  that  all  things  are  put  under  LLim,  it  is 
manifest  that  He  is  excepted,  which  did  put  all 
things  under  LLim,  and  what  follows  ;  that  God 
may  be  all  in  all^.  The  Only-begotten  Son  is 
Lord  of  all,  but  the  obedient  Son  of  the 
Father,  for  He  grasped  not  the  Lordship'', 
but  received  it  by  nature  of  the  Father's 
own  will.  For  neither  did  the  Son  grasp  it, 
nor  the  Father  grudge  to  impart  it.  He  it  is 
who  saith.  All  things  are  delivered  unto  Me  of  My 
Father^;   "delivered  unto  Me,  not  as  though 


S  Ex.   xxxiii.    17.      Gr.   Adyoi/,   "  word,"  in  imitation  01    tho 
Hebrew  idiom. 
^  Ex.  .\,\xiii.  22. 

7  Ex.  xxxiii.  19.  Literally  "  will  call  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
(Jehovah):"  compare  Gen.  iv.  26. 

8  Ex.  xxxiv.  5 — 7.  For  "keeping  righteousness  and  shewing 
mercy,"  the  Hebrew  has  only  "  keeping  mercy." 

9  Ex.  xxxiv.  8.  '   lb.  xxxiv.  9. 

2  Ps.  ex.  I.  Heb.  "An  oracle  of  Jehovah  unto  my  lord." 
Cyril's  argument  is  based  upon  the  comreou  mistake  of  supposing 
that  Kiipios  represents  the  same  Hebrew  woril  in  both  pans 
of  the  sentence.  3  i  Cor.  xv.  27,  28. 

4  Cyril  evidently  alludes  to  Philipp.  ii.  6,  "  Who  being  in  the 
form  of  God  thought  it  not  a  pnz=  to  be  on  an  equality  wiih 
God:"  for  the  right  interpretation  of  which  passage,  see  Dean 
Gwynn's  notes  in  the  Speaker s  Cojiimentnry. 

5  Matt.  xi.  27  ;  Luke  x.  22.  On  this  text  Athanasius  wrote 
a  special  treatise  (jn  Hind '  Omnia'  6r>c.),  against  the  argumentj. 
of  Arius,  Lusebius,  and  their  fellows,  who  said, — "  If  all  things 
were  delivered  (meaning  by  '  all'  the  Lordship  of  Creation),  there 
was  once  a  time  when  He  had  them  not.  Hut  it  He  had  them 
not,  He  is  not  of  tne  Father,  for  ii  He  were,  He  would  on  that 
account  have  had  them  always." 

Again  {contr.  Arian.  Oral.  III.  cap.  xxvii.  §36),  Athanasius 
argues;  "Lest  a  man,  perceiving  that  the  Son  lias  all  that  tli'- 
Father  hath,  from  the  exact  likeness  and  identity  of  what   l.e 


6o 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


I  had  them  not  before;  and  I  keep  them  well, 
not  robbing  Him  who  hath  given  them." 

lo.  The  Son  of  God  then  is  Lord  :  He  is 
Lord,  who  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judaea, 
according  to  the  Angel  who  said  to  the 
sliejjherds,  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  Joy, 
that  unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of 
David  Christ  the  Lord^  :  of  whom  an  Apostle 
says  elsewhere.  The  7i'ord  which  God  sent  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  preaching  tJie  gospel  of 
peace  by  Jesus  Christ :  He  is  Lord  of  allT .  But 
when  he  says,  of  all,  do  thou  except  nothing 
from  His  Lordship  :  for  whether  Angels,  or 
Archangels,  or  principalities,  or  powers,  or 
any  created  thing  named  by  the  Apostles, 
all  arp  under  the  Lordship  of  the  Son.  Of 
Angels  He  is  Lord,  as  thou  hast  it  in  the 
Gospels,  Then  the  Devil  departed  from  Him, 
and  th"  Angels  came  and  ministered  unlo  Him  ^  ; 
for  the  Scripture  saith  not,  they  succoured 
Him,  but  they  ministered  unto  Him,  that  is, 
like  servants.  When  He  was  about  to  be 
born  of  a  Virgin,  Gabriel  was  then  His  servant, 
having  received  His  service  as  a  peculiar 
dignity.  When  He  was  about  to  go  into 
Egypt,  that  He  might  overthrow  the  gods  of 
Egypt  made  with  hands  9,  again  an  Angel 
appeareth  to  Joseph  in  a  dream  ^  After  He  had 
been  crucified,  and  had  risen  again,  an  Angel 
brought  the  good  tidings,  and  as  a  trustworthy 
servant  said  to  the  women.  Go,  tell  His  disciples 
that  He  is  i  isefi,  and  gocth  befo?-e  you  into  Gali- 
lee; lo,  I  have  told  you  ^  :  almost  as  if  he  had 
said,  "  I  have  not  neglected  my  command,  I 
protest  that  I  have  told  you  ;  that  if  ye  dis- 
regard it,  the  blame  may  not  be  on  me,  but  on 
those  who  disregard  it."  This  then  is  the  One 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  the  lesson  just 
now  read  speaks  :  For  though  there  be  many 
that  are  called  gcds,  whether  in  heaven  or  in 
earth,  and  so  Qx\,yet  to  us  there  is  One  God,  the 
Father,  nf  quhom  are  all  things,  and  we  in  Him  ; 
and  One  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  through  who?n  are 
all  things,  and  we  thtvugh  Him  3. 

II.  And  He  is  called  by  two  names,  Jesus 
Christ;  Jesus,  because  He  saves, — Christ,  be- 


hnth,  should  wander  into  the  impiety  of  Sabclliiis,  considering 
Him  to  be  the  Father,  therefore  He  has  said,  H^as giTcn  unto  Me, 
and  /  received,  and  Were  delwered  to  Me,  only  to  shew  that  He 
is  not  the  Father,  but  the  Father's  Word,  and  the  Kternal  Son, 
who,  because  of  His  likeness  to  the  Father,  has  eternally  wliat 
He  has  from  Him,  and,  because  He  is  the  Son,  has  from  the 
Father  what  eternally  He  hath." 

6  Luke  ii.  lo,  ii.  7  Acts  x.  36.  *  Matt.  iv.  11. 

9  Isa.  xi.'v.  I.  ■'  Behold,  the  LoxD  rideth  upon  a  swift  cloud, 
and  comelh  imto  Ejjypt  :  and  the  idols  of  Egypt  .shall  be  moved 
at  H  s  pie^ence."  The  prophecy  was  suppjsed  by  many  of  the 
r.ithers  to  have  been  fulfilled  by  the  tiight  into  lCj;>pt.  Cf. 
Athanas.  (/•"/.  LXI.  ad  Alaximutn,  §4):  '"  As  a  child  Me  came 
down  to  Egypt,  and  brought  to  nought  its  idols  ma.le  with  hands  : " 
/nd  {de  Incarii.  §  36)  ;  "  Which  of  the  righteous  men  or  kijigs 
went  duwn  into  Egypt,  so  that  at  his  coming  the  idols  ol  Egypt 
fell '!"  On  l!ie  pa,..sage  of  Isaiah  see  Delitzsch,  and  Kay  {S/ea/cer's 
Coiiimemar}). 

»  Matt.  li.  i»-  a  lb.  xxviii.  7.  ^  i  Cor.  viii.  5,  6. 


cause  He  is  a  Priest  •♦.  And  knowing  this  the  in- 
spired Prophet  Moses  conferred  these  two  titles 
on  two  men  distinguished  above  all  s :  his  own 
successor  in  the  government,  Auses  ^,  he  re- 
named Jesus  ;  and  his  own  brother  Aaron  he 
surnanied  Christ  7,  that  by  two  well-approved 
men  he  might  represent  at  once  both  the  High 
Priesthood,  and  the  Kingship  of  the  One  Jesus 
Christ  who  was  to  come.  For  Christ  is  a  High 
Priest  like  Aaron  ;  since  He  glorified  not  Him- 
self to  be  made  a  High  Priest,  but  He  that  spake 
u7ifo  Him,  Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek'^.  And  Jesus  the  son  of 
Nave  was  in  many  things  a  type  of  Him.  For 
when  he  began  to  rule  over  the  people,  he 
began  from  Jordan  9,  whence  Christ  also,  after 
He  was  baptized,  began  to  preach  the  gospel. 
And  the  son  of  Nave  appoints  twelve  to  divide 
the  inheritance';  and  twelve  Apostles  Jesus 
sends  forth,  as  heralds  of  the  truth,  into  all  the 
world.  The  typical  Jesus  saved  Rahab  the 
harlot  when  she  believed  :  and  the  true  Jesus 
says.  Behold,  the  publicans  and  the  harlots  go 
before  you  into  the  kingdom  of  God^.  With  only 
a  shout  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down  in  the 
time  of  the  type  :  and  because  Jesus  said,  There 
shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  afiother  3,  the 
Temple  of  the  Jews  opposite  to  us  is  fallen,  the 
cause  of  its  fall  not  being  the  denunciation 
but  the  sin  of  the  transgressors. 

12.  There  is  One  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  a  won- 
drous name,  indirectly  announced  beforehand 
by  the  Prophets.  For  Esaias  the  Prophet  says, 
Behold,  thy  Saviour  cometh,  having  His  own  re- 
ward +.  Now  Jesus  in  Hebrew  is  by  interpreta- 
tion Saviour.  For  the  Prophetic  gift,  foreseeing 
the  murderous  spirit  of  the  Jews  against  their 
Lords,  veiled  His  name,  lest  from  l<nowing  it 
plainly  beforehand  they  might  plot  against 
Him  readily.  But  He  was  openly  called  Jesus 
not  by  men,  but  by  an  Angel,  who  came  not 
by  his  own  authority,  but  was  sent  by  the  power 
of  God,  and  said  to  Joseph,  Fear  fwt  to  take 
unto  thee  Mary  thy  wife  ;  for  that  which  is  con- 


4  Compare  Eu'iebius  {Eccl.  Hist.  I.  cap.  iii.),  a  passage  which 
Cyril  seems  to  have  followed  in  his  explanation  of  the  names 
'  Jesus  '  and  '  Christ." 

5  For  the  common  reading  eyicpiTOit  irduTtov  Cod.  Mon.  I.  has 
eKKpiTOis  IT.  which  is  rcqtiircd  Loth  by  the  construction  and  the 
sense.  I'he  change  may  have  been  caused  by  the  occurrence 
of  eyKpiTuif  just  below. 

<>  Eusebius  (le.s.):  "His  successor,  therefore,  who  had  not 
hitherto  borne  the  name  Jesus,  but  h.-id  been  called  by  another 
name,  Auses,  which  had  been  given  him  hy  his  parent>,  he  now 
called  Jesus,  bestowing  the  name  upon  him  as  a  gift  of  honour 
far  greater  than  any  kingly  diadem."  Auses  is  a  common  cor- 
ruption of  the  name  Oshea.  See  the  note  on  the  passage  of 
Eusebius  in  this  series. 

7  Eusebius:  "He  consecrated  a  man  high-priest  of  God,  in 
so  far  as  that  was  po>sihle,  and  him  he  called  Christ."  Cf.  Lev.  iv. 
S,  i6  ;  vi.  22  :  6  lepivi  6  Xpiords. 

s  Heb.  V.  4,  5.  6.  Cyril  omits  from  his  quotation  the  reference 
to  Ps.  ii.  7  :  "  Tliou  art  My  Son  :  this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee.' 

9  Josli.  iii.  1.  »  lb.  xiv.  i.  =  Matt.  xxi.  31. 

3  Matt.  xxiv.  2. 

4  Isa.  Ixii.  11:  "Behold,  thy  salvation  cometh;  behold,  his 
reward  is  with  him."  5  to  KvpiOKToyov  Tuif  'lov&aituv. 


LECTURE   X. 


6i 


ceived  in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  she  shall 
bring  forth  a  Son,  and  thou  shall  call  His  name 
Jesus^.  And  immediately  he  renders  the  reason 
of  this  name,  saying,  for  He  shall  save  His 
people  from  their  sins.  Consider  how  He  who 
was  not  yet  born  could  have  a  people,  unless 
He  was  in  being  before  He  was  born  7.  This 
also  the  Prophet  says  in  His  person,  Froin  the 
bozvels  of  my  rnother  hath  He  jnade  mention  of 
My  name^ ;  because  the  Angel  foretold  that  He 
should  be  called  Jesus.  And  again  concerning 
Herod's  plot  again  he  says,  And  under  the 
shadow  of  His  hand  hath  He  hid  Me^. 

13.  Jesus  then  means  according  to»  the 
Hebrew  "  Saviour,"  but  in  the  Greek  tongue 
"  The  Healer ; "  since  He  is  physician  of 
souls  and  bodies,  curer  of  spirits,  curing  the 
blind  in  body',  and  leading  minds  into  light, 
healing  the  visibly  lame,  and  guiding  sinners' 
steps  to  repentance,  saying  to  the  palsied,  Sin 
no  more,  and,  Take  up  thy  bed  and  icalk  '^.  For 
since  the  body  was  palsied  for  the  sin  of 
the  soul,  He  ministered  first  to  the  soul  that 
He  might  extend  the  healing  to  the  body.  If, 
therefore,  anyone  is  suffering  in  soul  from  sins, 
there  is  the  Physician  for  him  :  and  if  any  one 
here  is  of  little  faith,  let  him  say  to  Him, 
Help  Thou  tnine  unbeliefs.  If  any  is  encom- 
passed also  with  bodily  ailments,  let  him  not  be 
faithless,  but  let  him  draw  nigh  ;  for  to  such 
diseases  also  Jesus  ministers  ■*,  and  let  him  learn 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ, 

14.  For  that  He  is  Jesus  the  Jews  allow,  but 
not  further  that  He  is  Christ.  'I'herefore  saith 
the  Apostle,  Who  is  the  liar,  but  he  that  denieth 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ^  ?  But  Christ  is  a  High 
Priest,  whose  priesthood  passes  not  to  another  ^, 
neither  having  begun  His  Priesthood  in  time  7, 
nor  having  any  successor  in  His  High-Priest- 
hood :  as  thou  heardest  on  the  Lord's  day,  when 
we  were  discoursing  in  the  congregation^  on 

*  Matt.  i.  20. 

7  The  Anathema  appended  to  the  Creed  of  NiceCa  condemns 
those  who  said  irplv  yevy-qdijuai  ovk  rjv  On  this  Eusebius  of 
Cffisarea  (£■/;>  ^.  §  9)  remarks:  "Moreover  to  anathematize  '  Be- 
fore His  generation  He  was  not,'  did  not  seem  preposterous,  in 
that  it  is  coniessed  by  all,  that  the  Son  of  God  was  before  the 
generation  accoiding  to  the  flesh." 

8  Isa.  xlix.  I.  9  lb.  xlix.  2.  i  TV({>\iav  alcr0riT<t>v. 
»  John  V.  14,  8.                        3  Mark  ix.  24. 

4  Compare  the  fragment  of  the  Apology  of  Quadratus  pre- 
sented to  Hadrian  127  a.d.,  preserved  by  Eusebius(j'/.£.  IV.  iii.)  : 
"But  the  works  of  our  Saviour  were  always  present,  for  they  were 
genuine : — those  that  were  healed,  and  those  that  arose  from  the 
dead,  who  were  seen  not  only  when  they  were  healed  and  when 
they  were  raised,  but  were  also  always  present;  and  not  merely 
while  the  Saviour  was  on  earth,  but  also  alter  His  death  they 
were  alive  for  a  long  while,  so  that  some  of  them  survived  even  to 
our  times."  See  the  notes  on  the  passage  of  Eusebius,  in  this 
series. 

5  I  John  ii.  22.  6  Heb.  vii.  24. 

7  On  the  opinion  that  Christ  was  from  all  eternity  the  true 
High  Priest. ot  the  Cieation,  see  Index,  Friestlwod,  and  the 
relerence  there  given  to  the  Introduction.  Cf.  x.  4  :  xi.  i.  Athan. 
(c.  Arian.  Or.  ii.  12, /.//.. V.). 

8  The  word  'synaxis'  was  used  by  the  early  Christians  to 
distinguish  their  assemblies  from  the  Jewish  'synagogue,' a  word 
formed  from  the  same  root  and  more  regularly.  '  Synaxis'  came 
to  be  used  more  especially  of  a  celebration  of  the  Eucharist.  See 
Suicer,  Thesaurus,  ^vvafts. 


the  phrase.  After  the  Order  of  Mclchizcdek.  He 
received  not  the  High-Priesthood  from  bodily 
succession,  nor  was  Pie  anointed  with  oil 
prepared  by  man 9,  but  before  all  ages  by  the 
Father  ;  and  He  so  far  excels  the  others  as 
with  an  oath  He  is  made  Priest :  For  they  are 
priests  without  a?i  oath,  but  He  with  a?i  oath  by 
Him  that  said.  The  Lord  sware,  and  will  not 
repenf^.  The  mere  purpose  of  the  Father  was 
sufficient  for  surety  :  but  the  mode  of  assur- 
ance is  twofold,  namely  that  with  the  purpose 
there  follows  the  oath  also,  that  by  two  immu- 
table things,  in  which  it  ivas  impossible  for  God 
to  lie,we  might  have  strong  encouragement^  for  our 
faith,  who  receive  Christ  Jesus  as  the  Son  of 
God. 

15,  This  Christ,  when  He  was  come,  the 
Jews  denied,  but  tlie  devils  confessed.  But 
His  forefather  David  was  not  ignorant  of  Him, 
when  he  said,  /  have  ordained  a  la?np  for 
mine  Anointed^  :  which  lamp  some  have  inter- 
preted to  be  the  brightness  of  Prophecy  ^,  others 
the  flesh  which  He  took  upon  Him  from  the 
Virgin,  according  to  the  Apostle's  word,  But 
we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels  s.  The 
Prophet  was  not  ignorant  of  Him,  when  He 
said,  and  amiounceth  unto  men  His  Christ^. 
Moses  also  knew  Him,  Isaiah  knew  Him,  and 
Jeremiah ;  not  one  of  the  Prophets  was  ig- 
norant of  Him.  Even  devils  recognised  Him, 
for  He  rebuked  them,  and  the  Scripture  says, 
because  they  knew  that  He  was  ChristT.  The 
Chief-priests  knew  Him  not,  and  the  devils 
confessed  Him  :  the  Chief  Priests  knew  Him 
not,  and  a  woman  of  Samaria  proclaimed  Him, 
sa\ing,  Come,  see  a  man  7vhich  told  me  all  things 
that  ever  J  did.     Is  not  this  the  Christ^  1 

16.  This  is  Jesus  Christ  who  came  a  High- 
Priest  of  the  good  things  to  come  9/  who  for  the 
bountifulness  of  His  Godhead  imparted  His 
own  title  to  us  all.  For  kings  among  men 
have  their  royal  style  which  others  may  not 
share  :  but  Jesus  Christ  being  the  Son  of  God 
gave  us  the  dignity  of  being  called  Christians. 
But  some  one  will  say.  The  name  of  "Chris- 
tians "  is  new,  and  was  not  in  use  aforetime ' : 
and  new-fashioned  phrases  are  often  objected  to 


9  (Txeuao-To!,  Ex.  xxx.  22 — 25:  "a  perfume  compounded  i/u.vpe- 
^^Kav)  after  the  art  of  the  perfumer"  (R.V.). 
I  Heb.  vii.  2t.  .  =  lb.  vi.  iS. 

3  Ps.  cxxxii.  17.  The  "  l.imp  for  the  Anointed  "  was  commonly 
applied  by  the  Fathers  to  John  the  Baptist.  Compare  John  v.  35, 
and  Bishop  Westcott's  note  there. 

4  2  Pet.  i.  19.  The  supposed  reference  in  the  Psalm  to  the 
lamp  of  prophecy  is  mentioned  by  Eusebius  {DemoKstr,  Evang. 
IV.  cap.  16). 

5  2  Cor.  iv.  7.  The  reference  of  the  '  lamp'  to  Christ's  Incarna- 
tion is  mentioned  by  Eusebius  (u.s.)  and  other  Fathers. 

6  Amos.  iv.  13  :  ''and  declareth  unto  man  what  is  his  thought." 
For  "jnii^TID'  '  what  is  his  thought,'  the  LXX.  read  "in^tiid 

'  His  Anointed,'  rav  Xptorbf  airToC. 

7  Luke  iv.  41.  8  John  iv.  29.        _  9  Heb.  ix.  11. 

I  oiiK  c7roAi7ei/6TO,  "was  not  in  citizenship,"  "not  naturali-^ed." 
Cf.  Sueton.  Nero.  cap.  16  :  ''  Christiani,  genus  hominum  super- 
stitionis  novae  et  maieficae." 


62 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


on  the  score  of  strangeness^  The  prophet  made 
this  point  safe  beforehand,  saying,  But  upon 
My  sei'vants  shall  a  new  name  be  called,  7vhich 
shall  be  blessed  upon  the  earth  3.  Let  us  question 
the  Jews  :  Are  ye  servants  of  the  Lord,  or 
not  ?  Shew  then  your  new  name.  For  ye 
were  called  Jews  and  Israehtes  in  the  time  of 
Moses,  and  the  other  prophets,  and  after  the 
return  from  Babylon,  and  up  to  the  present 
time :  where  then  is  your  new  name  ?  But 
we,  since  we  are  servants  of  the  Lord,  have 
that  new  name  :  7iew  indeed,  but  the  netv 
name,  which  shall  be  blessed  upon  the  earth. 
This  name  caught  the  world  in  its  grasp  :  for 
Jews  are  only  in  a  certain  region,  but  Chris- 
tians reach  to  the  ends  of  the  world  :  for  it  is 
the  name  of  the  Only-begotten  Son  of  God 
that  is  proclaimed. 

17.  But  wouldest  thou  know  that  the 
Apostles  knew  and  preached  the  name  of 
Christ,  or  rather  had  Christ  Himself  within 
them  ?  Paul  says  to  his  hearers,  Or  seek  ye  a 
proof  of  Christ  that  speaketh  in  me  ^  ?  Paul  pro- 
claims Christ,  saying.  For  we  preach  not  our- 
selves, but  Christ  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  ourselves 
your  semants for  Jesus'  sake  5.  Who  then  is  this  ? 
The  former  persecutor.  O  mighty  wonder  ! 
The  former  persecutor  himself  preaches  Christ. 
But  wherefore  ?  Was  he  bribed  ?  Nay  there 
was  none  to  use  this  mode  of  persuasion. 
But  was  it  that  he  saw  Him  present  on  earth, 
and  was  abashed  ?  He  had  already  been 
taken  up  into  heaven.  He  went  forth  to  per- 
secute, and  after  three  days  the  persecutor  is  a 
preacher  in  Damascus.  By  what  power  ? 
Others  call  friends  as  witnesses  for  friends  : 
but  I  have  presented  to  you  as  a  witness  the 
former  enemy :  and  dost  thou  still  doubt  ? 
The  testimony  of  Peter  and  John,  though 
weighty,  was  yet  of  a  kind  open  to  susi)icion  : 
for  they  were  His  friends.  But  of  one  who 
was  formerly  his  enemy,  and  afterwards  dies 
for  His  sake,  who  can  any  longer  doubt  the 
truth  ? 

18.  At  this  point  of  my  discourse  I  am 
truly  filled  with  wonder  at  the  wise  dispen- 
sation of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  how  He  confined 
the  Epistles  of  the  rest  to  a  small  number,  but 
to  Paul  the  former  persecutor  gave  the  pri- 
vilege of  writing  fourteen..  For  it  was  not 
because  Peter  or  John  was  less  that  He  re- 
strained the  gift ;  God  forbid  !  But  in  order 
that  the  doctrine  might  be  beyond  question, 
He  granted  to  the  former  enemy  and  per- 
secutor the  privilege  of  writing  more,  in  order 


'  TO  tivov. 

3  Isa.  Ixv.  IS,  16.  The  LXX.  here  depart  from  the  meaning 
of  the  Heljrew  :  "  He  s/iall  call  His  servants  by  another  vavie  : 
^so  that  he  who  hUsselh  himself  in  the  earth  shall  bless  himseifin 
the  God  0/ truth  "  (R.  V.). 

4  3  Cor.  xiii.  3.  S  lb   iv.  5. 


that  we  all  might  thus  be  made  believers.  For 
all  were  amazed  at  Paul,  and  said,  Is  not  this  he 
that  was  formerly  a  persecutor  *"  ?  Did  he  not 
come  hither,  that  he  might  lead  us  away  bound 
to  Jerusalem?  Be  not  amazed,  said  Paul,  I 
know  that  it  is  hard  for  me  to  kick  against  the 
pricks :  I  know  that  I  am  fiot  ^vorthy  to  be  called 
an  Apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  CJmrch  oj 
GodT ;  but  I  did  it/;/  ignorance^  :  for  I  thought 
that  the  preaching  of  Christ  was  destruction  of 
the  Law,  and  knew  not  that  He  came  Himself 
to  fulfil  the  Law  and  not  to  destroy  it  9.  But  the 
grace  of  God  was  exceeding  abundant  in  me  '. 

19.  Many,  my  beloved,  are  the  true  testimonies 
concerning  Christ.  The  Father  bears  witness 
from  heaven  of  His  Son :  the  Holy  Ghost 
bears  witness,  descending  bodily  in  likeness 
of  a  dove :  the  Archangel  Gabriel  bears  wit- 
ness, bringing  good  tidings  to  Mary :  the 
Vircfin  Mother  of  God^  bears  witness:  the 
blessed  place  of  the  manger  bears  witness. 
Egypt  bears  witness,  which  received  the  Lord 
while  yet  young  in  the  body  3 ;  Symeon  bears 
witness,  who  received  Him  in  his  arms,  and 
said.  Now,  Lord,  Idtest  Thou  Thy  servant  de- 
part in  peace,  according  to  Thy  word ;  for  7nifie 
eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation,  which  Thou  hast 
prepared  before  the  face  of  all  people*.  Anna 
also,  the  prophetess,  a  most  devout  widow,  of 
austere  life,  bears  witness  of  Him.  John 
the  Baptist  bears  witness,  the  greatest  among 
the  Prophets,  and  leader  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant, who  in  a  manner  united  both  Cove- 
nants in  Plimself,  the  Old  and  the  New. 
Jordan  is  His  witness  among  rivers  ;  the  sea 
of  Tiberias  among  seas  :  blind  and  lame  bear 
witness,  and  dead  men  raised  to  life,  and 
devils  saying,  JVhat  have  we  to  do  with  Thee, 
Jesus  ?  we  know  Thee,  who  Thou  art,  the  Holy 
Cine  of  God ^.  Winds  bear  witness,  silenced  at 
His  bidding:   five  loaves  multiplied  into  five 


*  Acts  ix.  21.  7  I  Cor.  XV.  9.       _       ^  1  Tim.  i.  13. 

9  Matt.  V.  17.  '  I  Tim.  i.  14. 

2  r)  BfOTOKOi—Dei^ara.  Gibbon  (Chap,  xlvii.  34)  says,  "  It  is 
not  easy  to  fix  the  invention  of  this  word,  which  La  Croze  {Chris- 
tianisnte  des  Indes,  torn.  i.  p.  16)  ascribes  to  Eusebius  of  Ca;sarea 
and  the  Arians.  The  orthodox  testimonies  are  produced  by  Cyril  ■ 
(of  Alexandria)  and  Petavius  {Dog-viat.  Theolog.  tom.  v.  L.  v. 
cap.  15,  p.  254,  &c.),  but  tlie  veracity  of  the  Saint  is  questionable, 
and  the  epithet  of  OiOToKO%  so  easily  slides  from  the  margin  to 
the  text  of  a  Catholic  MS."  This  passage  is  jiistly  descriued 
as  "Gibbon's  calumny''  by  Dr.  Newman:  see  his  notes  on  the 
title  eeoTOKos  {A than.  c.  Arian.  Or.  ii.  cap.  12,  n.  ;  Or.  iii. 
capp.  14,  29,  33).  The  word  is  certainly  used  by  Origen  (Deut. 
xxii.  13,  Lommatzsch.  Tom.  x.  p.  378):  "She  that  is  already 
betrothed  is  called  a  wife,  as  al.-.o  in  the  case  of  Joseph  and 
the  Thcotokos."  Cf.  Archelaus  (Dis/ut.  cum  Mane,  cap.  xxxiv. 
"qui  de  Maria  Dei  Genetrice  natus  est");  Eusebius  [de  Vita 
Constantini,  III.  cap.  43:  '"rhe  pious  Empress  adorned  with 
rare  memorials  the  place  of  the  travail  of  the  Theotokos").  For 
other  examples  see  Suicer's  Thesaurus,  deoroKos,  Pearson,  Creed, 
Art.  iii.  notes  1,  m,  n,  o,  and  Routh,  Reliq.  Sacr.  ii.  p.  332. 

3  '•  Chrysostom  describing  the  flourishing  state  of  the  Church 
in  Egypt  in  tliose  times,  says:  '  Egypt  welcome*  and  saves  Him 
when  a  fugitive  and  plotted  against,  and  receives  a  beginning  as 
it  were  of  its  appropriation  to  Him.  in  order  that  when  it  sliall 
hear  Him  proclaimeil  by  the  Apostles,  it  may  in  their  day  also 
be  honoured  as  having  been  first  to  welcome  Him '  "  (Cleopas). 

4  Luke  ii.  29,  30.  S  Mark  i.  24. 


LECTURE    X. 


63 


thousand  bear  Him  witness.  The  holy  wood 
of  the  Cross  bears  witness,  seen  among  us  to 
this  day,  and  from  this  place  now  almost 
filling  the  whole  world,  by  means  of  those  who 
in  faith  take  portions  from  it  °.  The  palm-tree  ^ 
on  the  ravine  bears  witness,  having  supplied 
the  palm-branches  to  the  children  who  then 
hailed  Him.  Gethsemane  ^  bears  witness,  still 
to  the  thoughtful  almost  shewing  Judas.  Gol- 
gotha 9,  the  holy  hill  standing  above  us  here, 
bears  witness  to  our  sight :  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
bears  witness,  and  the  stone  which  lies  there ' 
to  this  day.  The  sun  now  shining  is  His 
witness,  which  then  at  the  time  of  His  saving 
Passion  was  eclipsed^:  the  darkness  is  His 
witness,  which  was  then  from  the  sixth  hour 
to  the  ninth  :  the  light  bears  witness,  which 
shone  forth  from  the  ninth  hour  until  evening. 
The  Mount  of  Olives  bears  witness,  that  holy 
mount  from  which  He  ascended  to  the  Father : 
the  rain -bearing  clouds  are  His  witnesses, 
having  received  their  Lord :  yea,  and  the 
gates  of  heaven  bear  witness  [having  received 
their  Lords],  concerning  which  the  Psalmist 
said,  Lift  tcp  your  doors,  O  ye  Princes,  and  be 


fi  See  Cat.  Iv.  lo,  note  7. 

7  The  Borde.*ux  Pilgrim,  who  visited  the  Holy  Places  of  Jeru- 
salem, a.d.  333,  c.  speaks  of  this  palm-tree  as  still  existing.  The 
longevity  of  the  palm  was  proverbial  :  cf.  Aristot.  {De  Loigitu- 
dine  Vitae,  c.  iv.  2). 

8  The  same  Pilgrim  (as  quoted  by  the  Benedictine  Editor) 
say<!,  "There  is  also  the  rock  where  Judas  Iscariot  betrayed 
Christ."     Compare  Cat.  xiii.  38.  9  See  Index,  Golgoiha. 

1  See  the  passage  ot  the  Introduction  referred  to  in  Index, 
Sepulchre, 

2  See  Cat.  ii.  15,  note  8,  and  xiii.  25,  34,  38.  On  the  super- 
natural character  of  the  darkness  mentioned  in  the  Gospels  see 
Meyer,  Commentary,  Matt,  xxvii.  45.  An  eclipse  of  the  sun 
was  of  course  impossible,  as  the  moon  was  full.  Mr.  J.  R.  Hind 
(^Historical  Eclipses,  "Times,"  19th  July,  1872)  states  that  the 
solar  eclipse,  mentioned  by  Phlegon  the  freedman  of  Hadrian, 
which  occurred  on  Nov.  24,  a.d.  29,  and  was  partial  at  Jerusalem, 
is  "the  only  solar  eclips  ■  that  could  have  been  visible  at  Jerusalem 
during  the  period  usually  fixed  for  the  ministry  of  Christ."  He 
adds,  "The  Moon  was  eclipsed  on  the  generally  received  date 
of  the  Crucifixion,  3  April,  a.d.  33.  I  find  she  had  emerged  from 
the  earth's  dark  shadow  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  she  rose  at 
Jerusalem  (6.36  p.m.),  but  the  penumbra  continued  upon  her  disc 
for  an  hour  afterwards."  Thus  the  "darkness  from  the  sixth  hour 
unto  the  ninth"  cannot  be  explained  as  the  natural  effect  of  an 
eclipse  either  solar  or  lunar. 

3  This  clause  is  omitted  in  Codd.  Mon.  i,  2,  Roe,  Casaub.,  and 
is  probably  repeated  from  the  preceding  line  :  such  repetitions, 
however,  are  not  uncommon  in  Cyril's  style. 


ye  lift  up.  ye  everlasting  doors  ;  and  the  King  of 
Glory  shall  come  in*.  His  former  enemies  bear 
witness,  of  whom  the  blessed  Paul  is  one, 
having  been  a  litUe  while  His  enemy,  but  for 
a  long  time  His  servant:  the  Twelve  Apostles 
are  His  witnesses,  having  preached  the  truth 
not  only  in  words,  but  also  by  their  own 
torments  and  deaths  :  the  shadow  of  Peter  ^ 
bears  witness,  having  healed  the  sick  in  the 
name  of  Christ.  The  handkerchiefs  and  aprons 
bear  witness,  as  in  like  manner  by  Christ's 
power  they  wrought  cures  of  old  through  Paul  ^. 
Persians  7  and  Goths  ^,  and  all  the  Gentile  con- 
verts bear  witness,  by  dying  for  His  sake, 
whom  they  never  saw  with  eyes  of  flesh  :  the 
devils,  who  to  this  day  9  are  driven  out  by  the 
faithful,  bear  witness  to  Him. 

20.  So  many  and  diverse,  yea  and  more 
than  these,  are  His  wit7iesses  :  is  then  the 
Christ  thus  witnessed  any  longer  disbelieved? 
Nay  rather  if  there  is  any  one  who  formerly 
believed  not,  let  him  now  believe  :  and  if  any 
was  before  a  believer,  let  him  receive  a  greater 
increase  of  faith,  by  believing  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  let  him  understand  whose 
name  he  bears.  Thou  art  called  a  Christian  : 
be  tender  of  the  name ;  let  not  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  be  blasphemed  through 
thee :  but  rather  let  your  good  works  shine  be- 
fore me?i '  that  they  who  see  them  may  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord  glorify  the  Father  which  is  in 
heaven :  To  whom  be  the  glory,  both  now  and 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


4  Ps.  xxiv.  7.  The  first  clause  is  mistranslated  by  the  LXX. 
from  whom  Cyril  quotes. 

5  Acts  V.  15.  6  lb.  xix.  12. 

7  The  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  Persia  by  Sapor  II. 
is  described  at  length  by  Sozomen  {E.H.  II.  cc.  ix. — xv.,  in  this 
Series).  It  commenced  in  a.d  343,  and  was  going  on  at  the  date 
of  these  Lectures  and  long  after.  "During  fifty  years  the  Cross 
lay  prostrate  in  blood  and  ashes"  {Diet.  Bib.  '  Sassanida; ').  Com- 
pare Neander.  Church  History,  Tom.  III.  p.  14S,  Bohn.) 

8  The  Goths  here  mentioned  are  the  Gothi  minores  dwelling 
on  the  north  of  the  Danube,  where  Ulfilas,  "the  Apostle  of  the 
Goths"  (311 — 381),  converted  many  of  his  countrymen  to  Chris- 
tianity. After  suffering  severe  persecution,  he  was  allowed  by 
Constantius  to  take  refuge  with  his  Arian  converts  in  Moesia  and 
Thrace.  This  migration  took  place  in  348  a.d.,  the  same  year 
in  which  Cyril's  Lectures  were  delivered. 

9  See  Index,  Exorcism.  '  Matt.  v.  16. 


LECTURE    XI. 


On  the  words,  The  Only-Begotten  Son  of  God,  Begotten  of  the  Father  Very 
God  before  all  ages.  By  Whom  all  things  were  made. 

Hebrews  i.   i. 

God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manner's  spake  in  times  past  unto  the  Fathers 
by  the  Prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days  spokefi  ufito  us  by  His  Son. 


1.  That  we  have  hope  in  Jesus  Christ  has 
been  sufficiently  shewn,  according  to  our 
ability,  in  what  we  delivered  to  you  yesterday. 
But  we  must  not  simply  believe  in  Christ 
Jesus  nor  receive  Him  as  one  of  the  many 
who  are  im])roperIy  called  Christs'.  For  they 
were  figurative  Christs,  but  He  is  the  true 
Christ;  not  having  risen  by  advancement  ^  from 
among  men  to  the  Priesthood,  but  ever  having 
the  dignity  of  the  Priesthood  from  the  Fathers. 
And  for  this  cause  the  Faith,  guauling  us  be- 
forehand lest  we  should  suppose  Him  to  be 
one  of  the  ordinary  Christs,  adds  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  P'aith,  that  we  believe  In  One 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  The  Only-Begotten 
Son  of  God. 

2.  And  again  on  hearing  of  a  "Son,"  think 
not  of  an  adopted  son  but  a  Son  by  nature  4, 
an  Only-begotten  Son,  having  no  brother. 
For  this  is  the  reason  why  He  is  called 
"Only-begotten,"  because  in  the  dignity  of 
the  Godhead,  and  His  generation  from  the 
Father,  He  has  no  brother.  But  we  call  Him 
the  Son  of  God,  not  of  ourselves,  but  because 
the  Father  Himself  named  Christs  His  Son '^ : 
and  a  true  name  is  that  which  is  set  by 
fathers  upon  their  children  7. 

3.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  erewhile  became 


*  Compare  x.  ii,  15  ;  xvi.  13  :  xxi,  i. 

»  cK  wpoKOTT^.     See  X.  5,  note  8. 

3  Compare  x.  14,  note  9. 

4  eeror.  Ailiaiiasiiis  {de  SentcntiA  Diottysii,  %  23),  represents 
Anus  as  saying  th.it  the  Word  "is  not  by  nature  (^ari  ./-io-u.) 
ana  in  truth  Son  of  God,  but  is  called  Son,  He  too,  by  adoption 
(Kara  eto-ir)  as  a  cre.iture."  Ayain  (r.  Arian.  Oral.  iii.  ,g) 
he  says,  1  his  is  the  true  God  and  the  Life  etL-rnal.  and  wc  are 
made  sons  through  Him  by  adoption  and  grace  (eeVe.  Ka.X  yaptrO." 
Cf.  vu.  10,  and  §  4,  below.  '^     ' 

5  The  MSS.  nil  read  auTbi/  Xpio-roV  which  might  mean  "  Christ 
and  no  othei.  But  Xpiarav  is  probably  a  glos.-,  introduced  from 
the  margin. 

6  Compare  the  passages  in  which  Cyril  quotes  Ps.  ii.  7.  as 
Cat.  vii.  2  ;  X.  2  ;  xi.  5  ;  xii.  18. 

1  "It  W..S  orie  of  the  especial  rights  of  a  father  to  choose  the 
names  for  his  children,  and  to  alter  them  if  he  pleased"  (Dici 
Greek  ami  Romtin  Anti<f.  "  Nomen.  1  Greek.")  The  ,  i"ht  to  the 
name  given  by  the  father  is  the  subject  of  one  of  the  Private 
Orations  of  Demosthenes  (Hpis  Boiiutov  n-epi  Toii  6v6^a.T0i) 


I  Man,  but  by  the  many  He  was  unknown. 
Wishing,  therefore,  to  teach  that  which  was  not 
known,  He  called  together  His  disciples,  and 
asked  them,  Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of 
Man,  am  ^  ?— not  from  vain-glory,  but  wishing 
to  shew  them  the  truth,  lest  dwelling  with 
Govi,  the  Only-begotten  of  God 9,  they  should 
think  lightly  of  Him  as  if  He  were  some  mere 
man.  And  when  they  answered  that  some 
said  Elias,  and  some  Jeremias,  He  said  to 
them,  'J'hey  may  be  excused  for  not  knowing, 
hut  ye.  My  Apostles,  who  in  My  name  cleanse 
lepers,  and  cast  out  devils,  and  raise  the 
dead,  ought  not  to  be  ignorant  of  Him, 
through  whom  ye  do  these  wondrous  works. 
And  when  they  all  became  silent  (for  the 
matter  was  too  high  for  man  to  learn),  Peter, 
the  foremost  of  the  Apostles  and  chief  herald  ' 
of  the  Church,  neither  aided  by  cunning  in- 
vention, nor  persuaded  by  human  reasoning, 
but  enlightened  in  his  mind  from  the  Father, 
says  to  Him,  Thou  art  the  Christ,  not  only  so, 
but  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  And  there  fol- 
lows a  blessing  upon  his  speech  (for  in  truth 
it  was  above  man),  and  as  a  seal  upon  what 
he  had  said,  that  it  was  the  Father  who  had 
revealed  it  to  liim.  For  the  Saviour  says, 
BJessed  art  thou,  Simon  Barjona,  for  flesh  and 
blood  hath  not  revealed  it  to  thee,  but  My  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  ^  He  therefore  who  acknow- 
ledges our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God, 
partakes  of  this  blessedness  ;  but  he  who  de- 
nies the  Son  of  God  is  a  poor  and  miserable 
man. 

4.  Again,  I  say,  on  hearing  of  a  Son,  under- 


8  Matt.  xiii.  16. 
^^  9  Compare  iv.  7:  "God  of  God  begotten:"  xiii.  3,  and  13: 
God  the  Son  of  God."  Here,  however,  the  MSS.  vary,  and  the 
reading  of  Cod.  Coisl.  Yiw  0eoO  ixovoyeval  is  ajiproved  by  the 
Benedictine  Editor,  though  not  adopted.  The  confusion  of  Yiip 
and  ©tui  is  like  that  in  John  i.  18. 

'  o  7rp(oTooTaT»)9  tCiv  'Attoo'toAuj'  koX  tVJs  'EKKAi)(rtat  Kopu^aiof 
(cn'pv^.     Cf.  ii.  19.  3  Matt.  xvi.  17. 


LECTURE   XI. 


65 


stand  it  not  merely  in  an  improper  sense,  but 
as  a  Sou  in  truth,  a  Son  by  nature,  without 
beginning  3;  not  as  having  come  out  of  bondage 
into  a  higher  state  of  adoption '>,  but  a  Son 
eternally  begotten  by  an  inscrutable  and 
incomprehensible  generation.  And  in  like 
manner  on  hearing  of  the  First-born  5,  think 
not  that  this  is  after  the  manner  of  men  ;  for 
the  first-born  among  men  have  other  brothers 
also.  And  it  is  somewhere  written,  Israel  is 
My  sofi,  My  first-born^.  But  Israel  is,  as  Reuben 
was,  a  first-born  son  rejected  :  for  Reuben  went 
up  to  his  father's  couch  ;  and  Israel  cast  his 
Father's  Son  out  of  the  vinevard,  and  crucified 
Him. 

To  others  also  the  Scripture  says,  Ye  are  the 
sojis  of  the  Lord  your  GodT :  and  in  another 
place,  /  have  said,  Ye  are  gods,  and  ye  are  ail 
sons  0/ the  Most  High^,  J  have  said,  not,  "  I 
have  begotten."  'I'hey,  when  God  so  said, 
received  the  sonship,  which  before  they  had 
not :  but  He  was  not  begotten  to  be  other 
than  He  was  before ;  but  was  begotten  from 
the  beginning  Son  of  the  Father,  being  above 
all  beginning  and  all  ages,  Son  of  the  Father, 
in  all   things   like  9  to  Him  who   begat  Him, 


3  Athanasiiis  (de  SynodU,  §  15)  quotes  a  passage  from  the 
Thalia  of  Arius,  in  which  he  says  :  "  We  praise  Him  as  without 
beginning,  because  of  Him  who  has  a  beginning  :  and  adore  Him 
as  eternal,  because  of  Him  who  in  time  has  come  to  be.  He  who 
is  without  beginning  made  the  Son  a  beginning  of  things  created." 

It  is  important,  therefore,  to  notice  the  sense  in  which  Cyril 
here  calls  the  Son  ai-ap^o;.  The  word  has  two  meanings,  which 
should  be  clearly  distinguished,  (i)  nnoriginate,  (ii)  7vithoiit  begin- 
ning in  time.  The  former  referring  to  origin,  or  cause,  can 
properly  be  applied  to  the  One  true  God,  or  to  God  the  Father 
only,  as  it  is  used  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  {Protre/>t.  cap.  v. 
§  65  :  Toz/  Trdi/Ttoi/  TrotT^TTji*  ,  .  .  ayvoovvTC'Sj  toi'  avap)(^ov  0edr. 
[Strojn.  IV.  cap-  xxv.  §  164  :  6  ©eb;  8e  avap\oi  OiPX')  '''"''  o^<^v 
TravTeAT)?  apxiis  iroiijTiKos].  [Stromat.  V.  cap.  xiv.  §  142  :  i^  ap\7J? 
avapxavY  Methodius  {ob.  312  a.d.  circ.)  in  a  fragment  (On 
things  created ,  §  8,  English  Trans.  Clark's  Ante-Nic.  Libr.)  com- 
ments thus  on  Job.  i.  i  —  3  :  "  And  so  at'ter  the  peciitiar  icnbegin- 
ning  beginiiing,  who  is  the  Father,  He  (the  Word)  is  the  beginning 
ol  other  things,  '  by  whom  all  things  are  made.'  " 

In  this  sense  Cyril  has  said  (iv.  4)  that  God  alone  is  "  unbegotten, 
unoriginate :"  and  in  xi.  20  he  explains  this  more  fully, — "Suflfer 
none  to  speak  of  a  beginning  of  the  Son  in  time  (\poi/iKr)i'  i.pxr\v), 
but  as  a  timeless  beginning  acknowledge  the  Father.  For  the 
Father  is  the  beginning  of  the  Son,  timeless,  incomprehensible, 
without  beginning."  From  a  confusion  of  the  two  meanings  the 
word  came  to  be  improperly  applied  in  the  sense  of  "  unorigiiiate" 
to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Spirit  ;  and  this  improper  usage  is  con- 
demned in  the  49th  Apostolic  Canon,  which  Hefele  regards  as 
amongst  the  most  ancient  Canons,  and  taken  from  ihe  Apostolic 
Constitutions,  vi.  11  :  "If  any  Bishop  or  Presbyter  shall  baptize 
noi  according  to  our  Lord's  ordinance  into  the  Father,  and  Son, 
and  Spirit,  but  into  three  Unoriginates,  or  tiiree  Sons,  or  three 
Paracletes,  let  him  be  deposed."  (ii.)  Athanasius  frequently  calls 
the  Son  avap-^o^  in  the  sense  of  timeless,'  as  being  the  co-eternal 
brightness  (d;rau'ya(7/ia)  of  the  Eternal  Light  :  see  de  Sent.  Dionys. 
§§  15,  16,  22  ;  "  God  is  the  Eternal  Light,  which  never  either  began 
or  shall  cease  :  accordingly  the  Brightness  is  ever  before  Him, 
and  co-exists  with  Him,  without  beginning  and  ever-begotten 
'^a.va.pxov  Kac  detyei^e's)." 

4  et?  Trpo/coTTiji'  uto^eo'ta?.      Cf.  §  2,  note  4. 

5  npcoTOTOKOv.  The  word  ocoirsin  Heb.  i.  6,  which  had  been 
read  in  the  Lesson  before  this  Lecture.  The  exact  dogmatic 
sense  of  the  word  is  carefully  explained  by  .^th.^nasius  (<r.  Arian. 
Or.  ii.  62):  "The  same  cannot  be  both  Only-begotten  and  First- 
born, except  in  different  relations  ; — that  is,  Only-begctten,  be- 
cause of  His  generation  from  the  Father,  as  has  been  said  ;  and 
First-born,  because  of  His  conde.scension  to  the  creation,  and 
His  making  the  many  His  brethren."  See  Mr.  Robertson's  dis- 
cussion of  the  word  TrpuToroKos  {Athan.  p.  344,  in  this  series),  and 
Bp.  Bull  {Def.  Fid.  Nic.  iii.  5— 8)._ 

6  Ex.  iv.  22.  7  Deut.  xiv.  i.  8  Pj,  Ixxxii.  6. 

9  kv  ttolCiv  0^0109.  See  the  note  on  iv.  7.  That  the  phrase 
was  not  equivalent  to  6/ioov<r40s>  and  did  not  adequately  express 

VOL.  VII.  I 


eternal  of  a  Father  eternal,  Life  of  Life  be- 
gotten, and  Light  of  Light,  and  Truth  of 
Truth,  and  Wisdom  of  the  Wise,  and  King  of 
King,  and  God  of  God,  and  Power  of  Power'. 

5.  If  then  thou  hear  the  Gospel  saying,  The 
book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ.,  the  Son  of 
David,  the  Son  of  Abraham  ^,  understand  "  ac- 
cording  to  the  flesh."  For  He  is  the  Son  of 
David  at  the  end  of  the  ages  3,  but  the  Son  of 
God  BEFORE  ALL  AGES,  without  beginning 4. 
The  one,  which  before  He  had  not,  He  re- 
ceived ;  but  the  other,  which  He  hath,  He 
hath  eternally  as  begotten  of  the  Father. 
Two  fathers  Lie  hath  :  one,  David,  according 
to  the  flesh,  and  one,  God,  Flis  Father  in 
a  Divine  manners.  As  the  Son  of  David, 
He  is  subject  to  time,  and  to  handling, 
and  to  genealogical  descent :  but  as  Son  ac- 
cording to  the  Godhead^,  He  is  subject  neither 
to  time  nor  to  place,  nor  to  genealogical 
descent :  for  His  generation  zvho  sha/l  declare^  ? 
God  is  a  Spirit^ ;  Lie  who  is  a  Spirit  hath 
spiritually  begotten,  as  being  incorporeal,  an 
inscrutable  and  incomprehensible  generation. 
The  Son  Himself  says  of  the  Father,  21ie  Lora 
said  unto  Me,  Thou  art  My  Son,  to-day  have  I 
begotten  Thee^.  Now  this  to-day  is  not  recent, 
but  eternal :  a  timeless  to-day,  before  all  ages. 
From  the  womb,  before  the  morning  star,  have 
I  begotteti  Thee '. 

6.  Believe  thou  therefore  on  Jesus  Christ, 
Son  of  the  living  God,  and  a  Son  Only- 
Begotten,    according   to    the   Gospel   which 


the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father  is  clearly  shewn  by  Athana- 
sius (de  Synodis,  cap.  iii.  §  53). 

1  The  additions  which  the  Benedictine  Editor  has  here  made 
to  the  earlier  text,  as  represented  by  Milles,  may  be  conveniently 
shewn  in  brackets.  aAAd  Yibs  [roi)  Harpb?]*  ef  <'^px^]%  kyevvififi, 
[vTTcpdi'to  naar]^  apxij?  Kai  alwuu}!/  Tvyxdvtou]  *,  Ylos  roi)  Harpos 
[ev  TTa(j(.v]i  b;iioi05  Tw  ■yc-yei/crjKOTi"  [difiios  ef  aiSCov  IlaTpo;,]* 
^ojTj   CK  faj»J5  yeyevvriiJ.ivos  ....  jcai  ©ebs  £k    &eov,  [xal  iu'i/a/xis 

*  Codd.  Coisl.  Ottob.  Mon.  2.  t  Coisl.  Ottob.  Roe,  Casaub 
Mon.  I,  2.  I  Coisl.  Ottob.  Mon.  i,  2. 

2  Matt.  i.  1,  3  Heb.  ix.  26.  4  See  S  4.  note  3. 

5  0eiKco9. 

6  TO  /LL6I'  Kara.  Tor  Ao^i'S  ....  to  5e  Kara  rijx/  ©eoTTjra. 

7  Isa.  liii.  S.     Compare  §  7,  below.  8  John  iv.  24. 
9  Ps.  ii.  7. 

'  Ps.  ex.  3.  "From  the  womb  of  the  morning  thou  hast  the 
dew  of  thy  youth''  iR.V.).  There  is  a  remarkable  various  reading 
in  Codd  Roe,  Casaub.  To  d  <tv,  aypoyou  Koi  aiSiop'  rb  Se  trq- 
Ik^pov  Trp6(r<j>aTQv,  aW'  ovK  dt6ior,  OiKeiovfj-ei^ov  rov  IlaTpb?  Kai 
Tr}v  KOLTio  yeVi'TjO'ii'.  Ka't  7rd\tu  Aeyef  'Ek  yaaTpo';  irpo  ew<70opov 
yeyivvYiKO.  ere'  TOtiTO  ixoi'Of  ttjs  ©ebrrjros*  ITt(TTeucror,  k.t.K.  The 
words  "  Thoi4  art  My  Son,"  are  thus  referred  to  the  eternal 
generation,  and  "  'J'his  day"  to  the  birth  in  time  :  whereas  in  the 
received  text,  followed  in  our  translation,  crqixepov  refers  to  the 
timeless  and  eternal  generation  of  the  Son.  The  former  inter- 
pretation of  Ps.  ii.  7  is  found  in  many  Fathers,  as  for  example 
in  Tertullian  (adv.  Prnx.  vii.  xi.),  and  Methodius  (Coiiviv. 
Virg.  VIII.  cap.  ix.)  :  "  He  says  '  Thou  art,'  and  not  '  Tliou  hast 
become,'  shewing  that  He  had  not  recently  attained  to  the  position 
of  Son.  .  .  .  But  the  expression,  'This  day  have  I  begotten  Thee,' 
signifies  that  He  willed  that  existing  already  befurt'  the  agts 
in  heaven  He  shoidd  also  be  begotten  for  the  world,  that  is  that 
He  who  was  belore  tmknown  should  be  made  knovvn."  Thj  same 
interpretation  was  held  by  many  Fathers,  some  referring  a-iiiJipoy 
to  the  Nativity,  as  Cyprian  (adv.  J udipos  Testiin.  li.  8),  others  to 
the  Baptism  (Justin  AL  Dialog,  cap.  Ixxxviii.  ;  Tertullian.  adv. 
Marcion.  iv.  22).  Athanasius  (c.  Arian.  iv.  §  27),  has  a  long 
discussion  on  the  question  whether  Ps.  ex.  3,  (k  yaarpb?  vrpb 
ea)cr<#)6pou  yey eyvrfKo.  ere,  refers  to  the  eternal  geneiatiou  of  the 
Son,  or  to  His  Nativity. 


66 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


says,  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave 
His  Only-hegotten  Son,  that  whosoever  belicveth 
on  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life^.  And  again,  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
is  not  judged,  but  hath  passed  out  of  death  into 
life  3.  But  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not 
see  life,  but  tJie  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him  4. 
And  John  testified  concerning  Him,  saying, 
And  we  beheld  His  glory,  glory  as  of  the  only- 
begotten  from  the  Father,^full  of  grace  and 
truth '^ :  at  whom  the  devils  trembled  and  said. 
Ah  I  what  have-  we  to  do  with  Thee,  Jesus,  Thou 
Son  of  the  living  God^, 

7.  He  is  then  the  Son  of  God  by  nature 
and  not  by  adoption  ?,  begotten  of  the  Father. 
And  he  that  loveth  Him  that  begat,  loveth  Him 
also  that  is  begotten  of  Him  ^  /  but  he  that 
despiseth  Him  that  is  begotten  casts  back  the 
insult  upon  Him  who  begat.  And  whenever 
thou  hear  of  God  begetting,  sink  not  down  in 
thought  to  bodily  things,  nor  think  of  a  cor- 
ruptible generation,  lest  thou  be  guilty  of 
impiety.  God  is  a  Spirit  9,  His  generation  is 
spiritual :  for  bodies  beget  bodies,  and  for  the 
generation  of  bodies  time  needs  must  inter- 
vene ;  but  time  intervenes  not  in  the  genera- 
lion  of  the  Son  from  the  Father.  And  in  our 
case  what  is  begotten  is  begotten  imperfect  : 
but  the  Son  of  God  was  begotten  perfect ;  for 
what  He  is  now,  that  is  He  also  from  the 
beginning  ',  begotten  without  beginning.  We 
are  begotten  so  as  to  pass  from  infantine 
ignorance  to  a  state  of  reason  :  thy  generation, 
O  man,  is  imperfect,  for  thy  growth  is  pro- 
gressive. But  think  not  that  it  is  thus  in  His 
case,  nor  impute  infirmity  to  Him  who  hath 
begotten.  For  if  that  which  He  begat  was 
imperfect,  and  acquired  its  perfection  in  time, 
thou  art  imputing  infirmity  to  Him  who  hath 
begotten  ;  if  so  be,  the  Father  did  not  bestow 
from  the  beginning  that  which,  as  thou  sayest, 
time  bestowed  afterwards  ^. 

8.  Think  not  therefore  that  this  generation 
is  human,  nor  as  Abraham  begat  Isaac.  For 
in  begetting  Isaac,  Abraham  begat  not  what 
he  would,  but  what  another  granted.  But  in 
God  the  Fathers  begetting  there  is  neither 
ioinorance  nor  intermediate  deliberation  3.    For 


»  John  iii.  i6.  3  lb.  iii.  i8  ;  v.  24.  *  lb.  iii.  36. 

5  lb.  i.  14.  6  Luke  iv.  34. 

7  <^v<T(L  KoX  ov  fleVet.     Cf.  §  2,  note  4. 

*  1  John  V.  I.  9  John  iv.  24.     Cf.  §  S« 

»  yeyeryriijieyo';  avdpxto';.     Cf.  §  5,  note  4. 

a  o  xpoi'os.  Bened.  c.  Codd.  Roe,  Casaub.  Coisl.  &  xpo*''"^ 
Ottob.  Mon.  I.  2.  A.  With  the  latter  reading,  the  meaning  will 
be — "if  He  did  not  bestow  from  the  beginning,  a.s  thoii  .->aye.st, 
what  He  bestowed  in  after  times."  Cyril  does  not  here  address 
his  auditor,  but  an  imaginary  opponent, — "O  inan." 
Co  npare  Athan.  {de  Synodis,  g  26). 

3  The  Arians  appear  to  have  made  use  of  a  dilemma:  If  God 
he^at  with  will  and  purpose,  these  preceded  the  begetting,  and  so 
ifV  TTOTt-  ore  ovK  ffv,  there  was  a  time  when  the  Son  was  not :  if 
without  will  and  purpose,  then  He  begat  in  ignorance  and  ol 
necessity.  The  answer  is  fiilK'  given  by  Athanasius  (f.  Aiian.  iii. 
58 — 67,  pp.  423 — 431  in  this  Series). 


to  say  that  He  knew  not  what  He  was  be- 
getting is  the  greatest  impiety;  and  it  is  no 
less  impious  to  say,  that  after  deliberation  in 
time  He  then  became  a  Father.  For  God 
was  not  previously  without  a  Son,  and  after- 
wards in  time  became  a  Father  ;  but  hath  the 
Son  eternally,  having  begotten  Him  not  as 
men  beget  men,  but  as  Himself  only  knoweth, 
who  begat  Him  before  all  ages  Very  God. 

9.  For  the  Father  being  Very  God  begat 
the  Son  like  unto  Himself,  Very  God  4  ;  not  as 
teachers  beget  disciples,  not  as  Paul  says  to 
some.  For  in  Christ  Jesus  I  begat  you  through 
the  Gospel^.  For  in  this  case  he  who  was  not 
a  son  by  nature  became  a  son  by  discipleship, 
but  in  the  former  case  He  was  a  Son  by 
nature,  a  true  Son.  Not  as  ye,  who  are  to  be 
illuminated,  are  now  becoming  sons  of  God  : 
for  ye  also  become  sons,  but  by  adoption  of 
grace,  as  it  is  written,  But  as  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  right  to  become 
children  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on 
His  name:  which  were  begotten  ?iot  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man,  butof  God^.  And  we  indeed  are  begotten 
of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  but  not  thus  was 
Christ  begotten  of  the  Father.  For  at  the 
time  of  His  Baptism  addressing  Him,  and 
saying,  This  is  My  Son  7,  He  did  not  say,  "  This 
has  now  become  My  Son,"  but,  This  is  My 
Son  ;  that  He  might  make  manifest,  that  even 
before  the  operation  of  Baptism  He  was  a 
Son. 

10.  The  Father  begat  the  Son,  not  as  among 
men  mind  begets  word.  For  the  mind  is  sub- 
stantially existent  in  us  ;  but  the  word  when 
spoken  i^  dispersed  into  the  air  and  comes  to 
an  end  ^.  But  we  know  Christ  to  have  been 
begotten  not  as  a  word  pronounced  9,  but  as  a 
Word  substantially  existing'  and  living;  not 
spoken  by  the  lips,  and  dispersed,  but  be- 
gotten of  the  Father  eternally  and  ineffably,  in 
substance  ^.  For,  In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  and  the  Word  ivas  with  God,  and 
the    Word  was    God^,    sitting  at  God's  right 


4  Athanasius  {nd  Episcopos  AigyW,  %  13),  referring  to  1  John 
V.  20,  This  is  the  true  (aAijeird?)  God,  writes:  ''  But  these  men 
(the  Arians),  as  if  in  contradiction  to  this,  allege  that  Christ  is  not 
the  true  God,  but  that  He  is  only  called  God,  as  are  other 
creatures,  in  regard  of  His  participation  in  the  Divine  nature." 
Again  [c.  At-iaii.  iii.  9),  "He  gave  us  to  know  that  of  the  true 
Father  He  is  the  true  Offspring  {kKi\6ivov  y€vvriij.a). 

5  I  Cor.  iv.  15.  o  John  i.  12,  13.  7  Matt.  iii.  17. 

8  Compare  Athanasius  (de  SententiA  Dionysii,  §  23):  "the 
mind  creates  the  word,  being  manifested  in  it,  and  the  word 
shews  the  mind,  having  originated  therein."  Tertullian  (adv. 
Prax.  vii.)  :  "  You  will  say  what  is  a  word  but  a  voice  and  sound 
of  the  mouth,  and  (as  the  Grammarians  teach)  air  when  struck 
against,  intelligible  to  the  ear,  but  for  the  rest  a  sort  of  void, 
e.iiptv,  and  incorporeal  thing."  Cf.  Athan.  (de  Sytwdis,  §12): 
ai'UJroo'TOTOi'. 

9  n-poc^opiKoi/.     See  Cat.  iv.  8,  note  p.  _ 

»  ii'U jroa-TttToi'.  ibid.     So  the  Spirit  is  described  in  Cat.  xvii.  5 
"  not  uttereil  or  breathed  by  the  mouth  and  lips  of  the  Father  and 
the   S'in,  nor   dispersed   into   the  air,   but  personally  subsisting 
(e  i/un-ooTaTOf  I . " 

'  kv  iiTToo'Tacret.  3  John  i.  i. 


LECTURE   XI. 


67 


hand  ; — the  Word  understanding  the  Father's 
will,  and  creating  all  things  at  His  bidding : 
the  Word,  which  came  down  and  went  up  ; 
for  the  word  of  utterance  when  spoken  comes 
not  down,  nor  goes  up;  the  Word  speaking 
and  saying,  The  things  ivhich  I  have  seen  with 
My  Father,  tliese  I  speak  +  .•  the  Word  possessed 
of  power,  and  reigning  over  all  things  :  for  the 
Father  hath  committed  all  things  ufito  the  Son  s. 

11.  The  Father  then  begat  Him  not  in  such 
wise  as  any  man  could  understand,  but  as 
Himself  only  knoweth.  For  we  profess  not  to 
tell  in  what  manner  He  begat  Him,  but  we 
insist  that  it  was  not  in  this  manner.  And  not 
we  only  are  ignorant  of  the  generation  of  the 
Son  from  the  Father,  but  so  is  every  created 
nature.  Speak  to  the  earth,  if  perchance  it  may 
teach  thee^ :  and  though  thou  inquire  of  all 
things  which  are  upon  tlie  earth,  they  shall 
not  be  able  to  tell  thee.  For  the  earth  cannot 
tell  the  substance  of  Him  who  is  its  own 
potter  and  fashioner.  Nor  is  the  earth  alone 
ignorant,  but  the  sun  also  ^ :  for  the  sun  was 
created  on  the  fourth  day,  without  knowing 
what  had  been  made  in  the  three  days  before 
him ;  and  he  who  knows  not  the  things  made 
in  the  three  days  before  him,  cannot  tell  forth 
the  Maker  Himself.  Heaven  will  not  declare 
this  :  for  at  the  Father's  bidding  the  heaven 
also  tvas  like  smoke  established^  by  Christ.  Nor 
shall  the  heaven  of  heavens  declare  this,  nor  the 
waters  ivJiich  are  above  the  heavens^.  Why  then 
art  thou  cast  down,  O  man,  at  being  ignorant 
of  that  which  even  the  heavens  know  not? 
Nay,  not  only  are  the  heavens  ignorant  of  this 
generation,  but  also  every  angelic  nature.  For 
if  any  one  should  ascend,  were  it  possible,  into 
the  first  heaven,  and  percei,ving  the  ranks  of 
the  Angels  there  should  approach  and  ask 
them  how  God  begat  His  own  Son,  they  would 
say  perhaps,  "We  have  above  us  beings  greater 
and  higher;  ask  them."  Go  up  to  the  second 
heaven  and  the  third  ;  attain,  if  thou  canst,  to 
'1  hrones,  and  Dominions,  and  Principalities, 
and  Powers  :  and  even  if  any  one  should  reach 
them,  which  is  impossible,  they  also  would 
decline  the  explanation,  for  they  know  it  not. 

12.  For  my  part,  I  have  ever  wondered  at 
the  curiosity  of  the  bold  men,  who  by  their 
imagined  reverence  fall  into  impiety.  For 
though  they  know  nothing  of  Thrones,  and 
Dominions,  and  Principalities,  and  Powers, 
the    workmanship  of  Christ,  they  attempt  to 

4  John  viii.  -8.  5  Matt.  xi.  27  ;  John  v.  22. 

6  Job  xii.  8." 

7  In  saying  that  the  earth,  the  sun,  and  the  heavens  know  not 
their  Maker,  Cyril  is  simply  using  li?urative  language  like  that  of 
the  passage  ol  Job  just  quoted.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  he  accepted  Origeu's  theory  (cie  Princi/>i!s,  II.  cap.  7),  that 
the  heavenly  bodies  are  living  and  rational  beings,  capable  of 
sin. 

®  Isa.  11.  6  :  ihe  heavens  shall  vanish  away  like  smoke. 
9  Ps.  cxlviii.  4. 


scrutinise  their  Creator  Himself  Tell  me  first, 
O  most  daring  man,  wherein  does  Throne 
differ  from  Dominion,  and  then  scrutinise  what 
pertains  to  Christ.  Tell  me  what  is  a  Prin- 
cipality, and  what  a  Power,  and  what  a  Virtue, 
and  what  an  Angel :  and  then  search  out  their 
Creator,  for  all  things  were  made  by  Him  \  But 
thou  wilt  not,  or  thou  canst  not  ask  Thrones 
or  Dominions.  What  else  is  there  that  knorcc/h 
the  deep  things  of  God^,  save  only  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  spake  the  Divine  Scriptures?  But 
not  even  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself  has  spoken 
in  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  generation  of 
the  Son  from  the  Father.  Why  then  dost  thou 
busy  thyself  about  things  which  not  even  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  written  in  the  Scriptures  ? 
Thou  that  knowest  not  the  things  which  are 
written,  busiest  thou  thyself  about  the  things 
which  are  not  written  ?  There  are  many 
questions  in  the  Divine  Scriptures ;  what  is 
written  we  comprehend  not,  why  do  we  busy 
ourselves  about  what  is  not  written?  It  is 
sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  God  hath  be- 
gotten One  Only  Son. 

13.  Be  not  ashamed  to  confess  thine  ig- 
norance, since  thou  sharest  ignorance  with 
Angels.  Only  He  who  begat  knoweth  Him 
who  was  begotten,  and  He  who  is  begotten  of 
Him  knoA'eth  Him  who  begat.  He  who 
begat  knoweth  what  He  begat  :  and  the 
Scriptures  also  testify  that  He  who  was  be- 
gotten is  God  3.  For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in 
Himself  so  also  hath  He  given  to  the  Son  to 
have  life  in  Himself^  ;  and,  that  all  men  should 
honour  the  Son,  even  as  they  honour  the  Father  s  / 
and,  as  the  Father  quickeneth  whom  He  will, 
even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  He  will^. 
Neither  He  who  begat  suffered  any  loss,  nor 
is  anything  lacking  to  Him  who  was  begotten 
(I  know  that  I  have  said  these  things  many 
times,  but  it  is  for  your  safety  that  they  are 
said  so  often)  :  neither  has  He  who  begat, 
a  Father,  nor  He  who  was  begotten,  a  brother. 
Neither  was  He  who  begat  changed  into  the 
Son  7,  nor  did  He  who  was  begotten  become 
the  Father  3,    Of  One  Only  Father  there  is  One 

•  John  i.  3.  2  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  11. 

3  I  have  followed  the  reading  of  Codd.  Coisl.  Roe,  Casaub. 
Mon.  A  ,  which  is  approved  though  not  adopted  by  the  Bene- 
dictine Editor.  The  common  text  is  manifestly  interpolated : 
"And  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  testifies  in  the  Scriptures,  that  He 
who  was  begotten  without  beginning  is  God.  For  what  man 
knoweth,  &-V."  This  insertion  of  1  Cor.  ii.  11  interjupts  the 
argument,  and  is  a  useless  repetition  of  the  allusion  to  the  same 
passage  in  J  12. 

4  John  V.  26,  S  lb.  v.  23.  *  lb.  v.  21. 

7  See  iv.  8,  note  8,  on  the  Sabellian  doctrine,  and  Athanas. 
[de  Syiodis,  §  16,  note  10  in  this  series). 

8  The  doctrine  of  Sabellius  might  be  expressed  in  two  forms, 
either  the  Father  became  the  Son,  or  the  Son  became  the  Father. 
Both  forms  are  here  denied.  The  Jerusalem  Editor  thinks  there 
is  an  allusion  to  the  Arian  argument  mentioned  by  Athanasius 
(c.  Arian.  Or.  I.  cap.  vi.  22):  ''  II  the  Son  is  the  Father's  off- 
spring and  Image,  and  is  like  in  all  things  to  the  Father,  then 
it  necessarily  holds  that  as  He  is  begotten  so  He  begets,  and  He 
too  becomes  father  of  a  son."  But  the  close  connexion  of  the  two 
clauses  is  in  favour  of  the  reference  to  the  Sabellian  uioTraropta. 


F  2 


68 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


Only-begotten  Son  :  neither  two  Unbegotten  9, 
nor  two  Only-begotten  ;  but  One  Father,  Un- 
begotten (for  He  is  Unbegotten  who  hath 
no  father);  and  One  Son,  eternally  begotten 
of  the  Father ;  begotten  not  in  time,  but 
before  all  ages ;  not  increased  by  advance- 
ment, but  begotten  that  which  He  now  is. 

14.  We  believe  then  In  The  Only-Begot- 
ten Son  of  God,  who  was  begotten  of  the 
Father  Very  God.  For  the  True  God  be- 
getteth  not  a  false  god,  as  we  have  said,  nor 
did  He  deliberate  and  afterwards  beget ' ;  but 
He  begat  eternally,  and  much  more  swiftly 
than  our  words  or  thoughts  •  for  we  speaking 
in  time,  consume  time  ;  but  in  the  case  of  the 
Divine  Power,  the  generation  is  timeless.  And 
as  I  have  often  said.  He  did  not  bring  forth 
the  Son  from  non  existence  into  being,  nor 
take  the  non-existent  into  sonship  ^ :  but  the 
Father,  being  Eternal,  eternally  and  ineffably 
begat  One  Only  Son,  who  has  no  brother. 
Nor  are  there  two  first  principles ;  but  the 
Father  is  the  head  of  the  Son^ ;  the  beginning  is 
One.  For  the  Father  begat  the  Son  Very 
God,  called  Emmanuel ;  and  Emmanuel  bemg 
interpreted  is,  God  7vith  i/s  ■*. 

15.  And  wouldest  thou  know  that  He  who 
was  begotten  of  the  Father,  and  afterwards 
became  man,  is  God?  Hear  the  Prophet 
saying.  This  is  our  God,  none  other  shall  be 
accounted  of  iti  comparisofi  ivith  I  Jim.  He  hath 
foutid  out  every  way  of  knowledge,  and  given  it  to 
Jacob  His  servant,  and  to  Israel  His  beloved. 

Ajterwards  He  was  seen  on  earth,  and  conversed 
among  men  5.  Seest  thou  herein  God  become 
man,  after  the  giving  of  the  law  by  Moses  ? 
Hear  also  a  second  testimony  to  Christ's  Deity, 
that  which  has  just  now  been  read.  Thy  throne, 
O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever^.  For  lest,  because 
of  His  presence  here  in  the  flesh.  He  should 
be  thought  to  have  been  advanced  after  this  to 
the  Godhead,  the  Scripture  says  plainly.  There- 
fore God,  even  Thy  God,  hath  anointed  Thee 
with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  Thy  frlhnvsT. 
Seest  thou  Christ  as  God  anointed  by  God 
the  Father  ? 

16.  Wouldest  thou  receive  yet  a  third  tes- 
timony  to    Christ's  Godhead  ?     Hear    Esaias 


9  ayeVerjTOi.  The  context  shews  that  this,  not  ayeViji-ot,  is 
here  the  right  form.  Athanasius  seems  to  have  used  ayeVi'TjTos 
in  both  senses  "  Un-begotien,"  as  here,  and  "  unoriginate."  Thus 
(c.  Arian.  Or.  i.  cap.  ix.  §  30)  he  says  of  the  Arians  :  " 'J'heir 
further  iiuestion  '  whether  the  Unoriginate  be  one  or  two,'  shews 
how  false  are  their  views."  Compare  Bp.  Liglitfoot's  Excursus  on 
Ignatius,  f.phes.  §  7,  and  Mr.  Robertson's  noles  on  Athauasius 
in  this  Series.  '  S^e  above,  §  8,  note  3. 

*  .\than.  (c.  Arian.  I.  ix.  31)  ''speaking  against  the  Lord, 
'  He  is  of  notliing,'  and  '  He  was  not  before  His  generation.'" 

3  I  Cor.  xi.  3.  4  Matt.  i.  23. 

5  Baruch  iii.  35 — 37.  The  last  verse  was  understood  by  Cyril, 
as  by  many  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  to  be  a  prophecy 
of  the  Incarnation:  but  in  reality  it  refers  to  ''knowledge" 
(,k^Tl.(T^^^l.^\,  V.  36),  and  should  be  translated  "she  was  seen  upon 
earth."     See  notes  on  the  pa-^^sage  in  the  Speaker's  Connuentary. 

*  Heb.  i.  8.  7  lb.  i.  9.     See  x.  14,  note  9. 


saying,  Egypt  hath  laboured,  and  the  merchan- 
dise of  Ethiopia  :  and  soon  after.  In  Thee  shall 
they  make  supplication,  because  God  is  in  Thee, 
a?id  there  is  tio  God  save  Thee.  For  Thou  art 
God,  and  we  knetv  it  not,  the  God  of  Israel,  the 
Saviour^.  Thou  seest  that  the  Son  is  God, 
having  in  Himself  God  the  Father:  saying 
almost  the  very  same  which  He  has  said  in 
the  Gospels  :  The  Father  is  in  Me,  and  I  am 
in  the  Father'^.  He  says  not,  I  am  the  Father, 
but  the  Father  is  in  Me,  a  fid  I  am  in  the  Father. 
And  again  He  said  not,  I  and  the  Father  am  ' 
one,  but,  /  a7td  the  Father  are  one,  that  we 
should  neither  separate  them,  nor  make  a  con- 
fusion of  Son-Father  2.  One  they  are  because 
of  the  dignity  pertaining  to  the  Godhead, 
since  God  begat  God.  One  in  respect  of  their 
kingdom  ;  for  the  Father  reigns  not  over  these, 
and  the  Son  over  those,  lifting  Himself  up 
against  His  Father  like  Absalom  :  but  the 
kingdom  of  the  Father  is  likewise  the  kingdom 
of  the  Son.  One  they  are,  because  there  is 
no  discord  nor  division  between  them  :  for 
what  things  the  Father  willeth,  the  Son  willeth 
the  same.  One,  because  the  creative  works  of 
Christ  are  no  other  than  the  Father's  ;  for  the 
creation  of  all  things  is  one,  the  Father  having 
made  them  through  the  Son  :  For  He  spake, 
and  they  were  made  ;  He  commanded,  and  they 
were  created,  saith  the  Psalmists.  For  He 
who  speaks,  speaks  to  one  who  hears;  and 
He  who  commands,  gives  His  commandment 
to  one  who  is  present  with  Him. 

17.  The  Son  then  is  Very  God,  having  the 
Father  in  Himself,  not  changed  into  the 
Father;  for  the  Father  was  not  made  man, 
but  the  Son.  For  let  the  truth  be  freely 
spoken  4.  '1  he  Father  suffered  not  for  us,  but 
the  Father  sent  Him  who  suffered.  Neither 
let  us  say.  There  was  a  time  when  the  Son 
was  not ;  nor  let  us  admit  a  Son  who  is  the 
Father  s :  but  let  us  walk  in  the  king's  highway  ; 
let  us  turn  aside  neither  on  the  left  hand  nor 
on  the  right.  Neither  from  thinking  to  honour 
the  Son,  let  us  call  Him  the  Father  ;  nor  from 


8  Isa.  xlv.  14,  15:  "They  shall  mike  supplication  unto  thee, 
saying,  surely  God  is  in  tliee."  1'he  woids  are  addr^^ssed  to 
Jerusalem  as  the  city  ol  God.  Cyril  appUes  them  to  tiie  Son, 
misled  by  the  Septuagint.  9  John  xiv.  ii. 

'  Athanasius  (c.  Arian.  Or.  iv.  §  9),  arguing  for  the  o/noovtrtoi' 
says  :  "  There  are  two,  because  there  is  Father  and  Son,  that 
is  the  Word  ;  and  one,  because  one  God.  For  if  this  is  not  so, 
He  would  have  said,  I  am  the  Father,  or,  I  and  the  Father  am." 

2  See  iv.  8,  notes  7  and  8. 

3  Pss.  xxxiii.  9 ;  cxlviii.  5.  S.  Cyril  explains  the  creative 
"  Fiat  "  in  Gen.  i.  as  addressed  by  the  Father  to  the  Son. 

4  We  learn  from  Socrates  \Eccl.  H isl .  I.  24),  that  after 
the  Nicene  Council  "those  who  objected  to  the  word  ojioouaios 
conceived  that  those  who  approved  it  favoured  the  opinion  o( 
Sabellius."  Marccllus  of  Arrcyra,  who  was  deposed  on  a  charge 
of  Sabellianism,  and  who  did  not  in  fact  make  clear  the  distinct 
personality  of  the  Son,  had  been  warmly  supported  by  tlie  Iriends 
of  Athanasius.  Cyril  apparently  tears  to  incur  their  censure,  if 
he  too  strongly  condeuined  the  Sabellian  view. 

5  Cyiil  here  rejects  both  the  opposite  errors,  Arianism,  "There 
was  a  time  when  the  Son  was  not,"  and  Sabellianism,  "  a  Sou 
who  is  the  Father." 


LECTURE    XI. 


69 


thinking  to  honour  the  Father,  imagine  the 
Son  to  be  some  one  of  the  creatures.  But  let 
One  Father  be  worshipped  through  One  Son, 
and  let  not  their  worship  be  separated.  Let 
One  Son  be  proclaimed,  sitting  at  the  riglit 
hand  of  the  Father  before  all  ages  :  sharing 
His  throne  not  by  advancement  in  time  after 
His  Passion,  but  by  eternal  possession. 

1 8.  He  who  hath  seeii  the  Son,  hath  seen  the 
Father^:  lor  in  all  things  the  Son  is  like  to 
Him  who  begat  Him  ^ ;  begotten  Life  of  Life, 
and  Light  of  Light,  Power  of  Power,  God  of 
God  ;  and  the  characteristics  of  the  Godhead 
are  unchangeable^  in  the  Son  ;  and  he  who  is 
counted  worthy  to  behold  Goihead  in  the 
Son,  attains  to  the  fruition  of  the  Father. 
This  is  not  my  word,  but  that  of  the  Only- 
begotten  :  Have  I  been  so  long  tune  with  you, 
and  hast  thou  not  know?i  Me.  Philip  ?  He  that 
hath  seen  Ale,  hath  seen  the  Father "i.  And  to 
be  brief,  let  us  neither  separate  them,  nor 
make  a  confusion  ^ :  neither  say  thou  ever  that 
the  Son  is  foreign  to  the  Father,  nor  admit 
those  who  say  that  the  Father  is  at  one  time 
Father,  and  at  another  Son  :  for  these  are 
strange  and  impious  statements,  and  not  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church.  But  the  Father, 
having  begotten  the  Son,  remained  the  Father, 
and  is  not  changed.  He  begat  Wisdom,  yet 
lost  not  wisdom  Himself;  and  begat  Power, 
yet  became  not  weak  :  He  begat  God,  but 
lost  not  His  own  Godhead  :  and  neither  did 
He  lose  anything  Himself  by  diminution  or 
change  ;  nor  has  He  who  was  begotten  any 
thing  wanting.  Perfect  is  He  who  begat.  Per- 
fect that  which  was  begotten  :  God  was  He 
who  begat,  God  He  who  was  begotten  ;  God  of 
all  Himself,  yet  entitling  the  Father  His  own 
God.  For  He  is  not  ashamed  to  say,  I  ascend 
unto  My  Father  and  your  Father,  and  to  My 
God  and  your  God  ^. 

19.  But  lest  thou  shouldest  think  that  He 
is  in  a  like  sense  Father  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
creatures,  Christ  drew  a  distinction  in  what 
follows.  For  He  said  not,  "  I  ascend  to  our 
Father,"  lest  the  creatures  should  be  made 
fellows  of  the  Only-begotten  ;  but  He  said, 
My  Father  and  your  Father ;  in  one  way 
Mine,  by  nature ;  in  another  yours,  by  adop- 
tion. And  again,  to  my  God  a?id  your  God,  in 
one  way  Mine,  as  His  true  and  Only-begotten 
Son,  and  in  another  way  yours,  as  His  work- 
manship 3.    The  Son  of  God  then  is  Very  God, 


6  John  xiv.  9.  7  See  above,  §  4,  note  9. 

8  i.va.paKka.KTOi.  The  word  was  used  by  the  Orthodox  Bishops 
at  Nicaea,  who  said  that  "  the  Word  must  be  described  as  the 
True  power  and  Image  of  the  Father,  in  all  things  like  the  Father 
and  Himself  incapable  of  change."  See  the  notes  of  Dr.  New- 
man and  Mr.  Robertson  on  Athanasius  (de  Deoetis,  §  20). 

9  John  xiv.  9.  •  See  iv.  8,  note  8. 
'  John  XX.  17. 

3  Compare  Cat.  viL  7.    The  Jerusalem  Editor  observes  that 


ineffably  begotten  before  all  ages  (for  I  say 
tlie  same  things  often  to  you,  that  it  may  be 
graven  upon  your  mind).  This  also  believe, 
that  God  has  a  Son  :  but  about  the  manner  be 
not  curious,  for  by  searching  thou  wilt  not 
find  Kxalt  not  thyself,  lest  thou  fall :  think 
upon  those  things  only  which  have  been  com- 
maiided  thee  ■♦.  Tell  me  first  what  He  is  who 
begat,  and  then  learn  that  which  He  begat ; 
but  if  thou  canst  not  conceive  the  nature  of 
Him  who  hath  begotten,  search  not  curiously 
into  the  manner  of  that  which  is  begotten. 

20.  For  godliness  it  sufficeth  thee  to  know,  as 
we  have  said,  that  God  hath  One  Only  Son,  One 
naturally  begotten  ;  who  began  not  His  being 
when  He  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  but  Before 
All  Ages.  For  hear  the  Prophet  Micah 
saying.  And  thou,  Bethlehem,  house  of  Ephrata, 
art  little  to  be  among  the  thousands  of  Judah. 
Out  of  thee  shall  come  forth  unto  Me  a  Ruler, 
zvho  shall  feed  My  people  Israel:  attd  His  goings 
forth  are  from  the  beginning,  from  days  of 
eternity^.  Think  not  then  of  Him  who  is  now 
come  forth  out  of  Bethlehem^,  but  worship 
Him  who  was  eternally  begotten  of  the  Father. 
Suffer  none  to  speak  of  a  beginning  of  the  Son 
in  time,  but  as  a  timeless  Beginning  acknow- 
ledge the  Father.  For  the  Father  is  the  Be- 
ginning of  the  Son,  timeless,  incomprehensible,- 
without  beginning  7.  The  fountain  of  the  river 
of  righteousness,  even  of  the  Only-begotten,  is 
the  Father,  who  begat  Him  as  Himself  only 
knoweth.  And  wouldest  thou  know  that  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  King  Eternal?  Hear 
Him  again  saying.  Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced 
to  see  My  day,  and  he  saiu  it,  and  was  glad^. 
And  then,  when  the  Jews  received  this  hardly. 
He  says  what  to  them  was  still  harder.  Before 
Abraham  was,  I am^.  And  again  He  saith  to 
the  Father,  And  noiu,  Father,  glorify  Thou  Me 
with  Thine  own  self,  tvith  the  glory  which  I  had 
with  Thee  before  the  world  was'^.  He  says 
plainly,  "  before  the  world  was,  I  had  the 
glory  which  is  with  Thee."     And  again  when 


the  expression  "  My  God"  is  understood  by  the  Fathers  generally 
as  spoken  by  Christ  in  reference  to  His  human  nature,  but  Cyril 
applies  this,  as  well  as  the  other  expression  "  My  Father,"  to  the 
Divine  nature.  So  Hilary  {de  Trinit.  iv.  53):  "  idcirco  Deus 
ejus  est,  quia  ex  eo  natus  in  Deum  est."  Compare  Epiphanius 
{Hcer.  Ixix.  55).  4  Ecclus  iii.  22.     ^      ^      ^        ^ 

5  Micah  v.  2  ;  on  the  various  readings  oAyioorbs  ei,  ^l.r^  oA,  ei, 
oir/c  oA.  et,  found  in  the  MS^j.  of  Cyril,  see  the  Commentaries  on  the 
quotation  of  the  passage  in  Matt.  ii.  6. 

6  Codd.  Roe,  Casaul).  have  a  different  reaaing— "  Think  not 
then  of  His  having  now  been  born  in  Bethlehem,  and  (nor)  suppose 
Him  as  the  Son  of  Man  to  be  altogether  recent,  but  wuisuip,  &c." 
This  is  rightly  regarded  by  the  Benedictine  ana  other  Editors 
as  an  interpolation  intended  to  avoid  the  appaient  tendency  of 
Ci'ril's  language  in  the  received  text  to  separate  the  Virgin's  Son 
from  the  Eternal  Word.  Had  Cyril  so  written  afier  the  Nestorian 
controversy  arose,  he  would  have  appeared  to  f.jvour  the  Nestorian 
formula  that  "  Mary  did  not  give  birth  to  the  Deity."  Compare 
Swainson  iNicene  Creed,  Ch.  ix.  §  7.)  What  Cyril  really  means  is 
that  we  are  not  to  think  of  Christ  simply  as  man,  but  to  worship 
Him  as  God. 

7  Compare  §  4,  note  3.  8  John  viii.  56.  »  lb.  vui-  58. 
'  lb.  xvii.  s- 


70 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


He  says,  For  Thou  lovedst  Me  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world'',  He  plainly  declares,  "The 
glory  which  I  have  with  thee  is  from  eternity." 
2  1.  We  believe  then  In  One  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Only-begotten  Son  of  God, 
Begoiten  of  His  Father  Very  God  before 

ALL  worlds,  by  whom  ALL  THINGS  WERE  MADE. 

For  whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or 
principalities,  or  potvers,  all  things  were  made 
through  Him  3,  and  of  things  created  none  is 
exempted  from  His  authority.  Silenced  be 
every  heresy  which  brings  in  different  creators 
and  makers  of  the  world  ;  silenced  the  tongue 
which  blasphemes  the  Christ  the  Son  of  God  ; 
let  them  be  silenced  who  say  that  the  sun  is 
the  Christ,  for  He  is  the  sun's  Creator,  not  the 
sun  which  we  see  ♦.  Silenced  be  they  who  say 
that  the  world  is  the  workmanship  of  Angels  s, 
who  wish  to  steal  away  the  dignity  of  the  Only- 
begotten.  For  whether  visible  or  invisible, 
whether  thrones  or  dominions,  or  anything 
that  is  named,  all  things  were  made  by  Christ. 
He  reigns  over  the  things  which  have  been 
made  by  Him,  not  having  seized  another's 
spoils,  but  reigning  over  His  own  workman- 
ship, even  as  the  Evangelist  John  has  said. 
All  things  ive7-e  fnade  by  film,  and  without  Him 
was  not  anything  made  ^.  All  things  were  made 
by  Him,  the  Father  working  by  the  Son. 

2  2.  I  wish  to  give  also  a  certain  illustration 
of  what  I  am  saying,  but  I  know  that  it  is 
feeble ;  for  of  things  visible  what  can  be 
an  exact  illustration  of  the  Divine  Power  ? 
But  nevertheless  as  feeble  be  it  spoken  by  the 
feeble  to,  the  feeble.  For  just  as  any  king, 
whose  son  was  a  king,  if  he  wished  to  form 
a  city,  might  suggest  to  his  son,  his  partner  in 
the  kingdom,  the  form  of  the  city,  and  he 
having  received  the  pattern,  brings  the  design 
to  completion  ;  so,  when  the  Father  wished  to 
form  all  things,  the  Son  created  all  things  at 
the  Father's  bidding,  that  the  act  of  bidding 
might  secure  to  the  Father  His  absolute 
authority?,  and  yet  the  Son  in  turn  might  have 
authority  over  His  own  workmanship,  and 
neither  the  Father  be  separated  from  the 
lordship  over  His  own  works,  nor  the  Son  rule 
over  things  created  by  others,  but  by  Himself. 
For,  as  I  have  said,  Angels  did  not  create  the 
world,  but  the  Only-begotten  Son,  begotten,  as 
I   have   said,  before  all  ages,  Bv  whom  all 


*  John  xvii.  24.  3  Col.  i.  16. 

4  Compare  Cat.  vi.  13,  and  xv.  3  :  "  Here  let  converts  from  the 
Manichees  gain  i[istriiciion,  and  no  longer  make  those  lights  their 
gods  ;  nor  impiously  think  that  this  sun  which  shall  be  darkened 
is  Christ." 

5  The  creation  of  the  world  was  ascribed  to  Angels  by  the 
Gnostics  generally,  e.g-.  Iiy  Simon  Magu-.  (Iren-iius,  aih>.  //ofres.  I. 
xxiii.  §  2),  Menander  (Hid.  §  5),  Saturninus  (ibid.  xxiv.  i),  Basi- 
lides  (ibid.  §  3),  Carpocrates  (ibid.  xxv.  i).  6  John  i.  3. 

7  On  the  doctrine  of  Creation  by  the  Son  as  held  by  Cyril,  see 
the  reference  to  the  Introduction  in  the  Index,  Creation. 


THINGS  WERE  MADE,  nothing  having  been 
excepted  from  His  creation.  And  let  this 
suffice,  to  have  been  spoken  by  us  so  far,  by 
the  grace  of  Christ. 

23.  But  let  us  now  recur  to  our  profession 
of  the  Faith,  and  so  for  the  present  finish  our 
discourse.      Christ    made   all  things,  whether 
thou  speak  of  Angels,  or  Archangels,  of  Do- 
minions, or  Thrones.       Not  that   the   Father 
wanted  strength  to  create  the  works  Himself, 
but  because  "He  willed  that  the  Son  should 
reign  over  His  own  workmanship,  God  Him- 
self giving  Him  the  design  of  the  things  to  be 
made.      For  honouring   His  own  Father  the 
Only-begotten  saith,  The  Son  can  do  nothing  of 
Himself,  but  what  He  seeth  the  Father  do  ;  for 
what  things  soever  He  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the 
Son  likewise^.     And  again.  My  Father w or keth 
hitherto,  andlwork'^,  there  being  no  opposition 
in  those  who  work.     For  all  Mine  are  Thine, 
and   Thine  are  Mine,  saith   the   Lord  in   the 
Gospels '.     And  this  we  may  certainly  know 
from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.     For  He 
who  said.  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image  and 
after  our  likeness'^,  was  certainly  speaking  to 
some  one  present.     But  clearest  of  all  are  the 
Psalmist's  words.  He  spake  and  they  were  7nade; 
He  commanded,  and  they  were  created 'i,  as  if  the 
Father  commanded  and  spake,  and  the  Son 
made  all  things  at  the  Father's  bidding.     And 
this  Job  said  mystically,    Which  alone  spread 
out  the  heaven,  and  walketh  upon  the  sea  as  on 
firm  ground^;  signifying  to  those  who  under- 
stand that  He  who  when  present  here  walked 
upon  the  sea  is  also  He  who  aforetime  made 
the  heavens.     And  again  the  Lord  saith,  Or 
didst   Thou  take  earth,  and  fashion  clay  into 
a  livi?ig  being  ^1  then  afterwards,  Are  the  gates 
of  death  opened  to  Thee  through  fear,  and  did  the 
door-keepers  of  hell  shudder  at  sight  of  Thee  ^  ? 
thus  signifying  that  He  who  through  loving- 
kindness  descended  into  hell,  also  in  the  begin- 
ning made  man  out  of  clay. 

24.  Christ  then  is  the  Only-begotten  Son  of 
God,  and  Maker  of  the  world.  For  He  was  in 
the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  Him  ; 
and  He  came  unto  His  own,  as  the  Gospel 
teaches  us  7.  And  not  only  of  the  things  which 
are  seen,  but  also  of  the  things  which  are  not 
seen,  is  Christ  the  Maker  at  the  Father's  bid- 
ding. For  in  Him,  according  to  the  Apostle, 
-d'ere  all  things  created  that  are  in  the  hcave^is, 
and  that  are  upon  the  earth,  things  visible  and 
invisible,  ivhether  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  prin- 
cipalities, or  po^i'trs :  all  things  have  been  created 
by  Him  atidfor  Him  ;  and  He  is  before  all,  and 


8  John  V.  19, 
2  tJen.  i.  26. 
5  I  j.  xxxviii.  14. 


9  lb.  V.  17. 
3  Ps.  cxlviii.  5. 
6  lb.  xxxviii.  17. 


»  lb.  xvii.  10. 

4  Job  ix.  8. 

7  John  i.  10,  II. 


LECTURE   XL 


71 


in  Htm  a//  thitigs  consist^.  Even  if  thou  speak 
of  the  worlds,  of  these  also  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Maker  by  the  Father's  bidding.  For  in  these 
last  days  God  spake  unto  us  by  His  Son,  whom 

8  Col.  i.  16  17. 


He  appointed  heir  of  all  things,  by  whom  also 
He  made  the  worlds^.  To  whom  be  the  glory, 
honour,  might,  now  and  ever,  and  world  with- 
out end.     Amen. 


S>  Heb.  i.  -a. 


LECTURE    XII. 


On  the  words  Incarnate,  and  made  Man,     Isaiah  vii.   lo — 14. 

"And  the  Lord  spake  again  unto  Ahaz,  saying,  Ask  thee  a  sign,  &^c. :"  and  '■^Behold! 
a  virgin  shall  co?iccive,  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  His  name  EnunaJiiiel,  dr'c." 


I.  Nurslings  of  purity  and  disciples  of  chas- 
tity, raise  we  our  hymn  to  the  Virgin-born  God  ' 
with  lips  full  of  purity.  Deemed '  worthy  to 
partake  of  the  flesh  of  the  Spiritual  Lamb  3,  let 
us  take  the  head  together  with  the  feet'^,  the 
Deity  being  understood  as  the  head,  and  the 
Manhood  taken  as  the  feet.  Hearers  of  the 
Holy  Gospels,  let  us  listen  to  John  the  Divine  -\ 
For  he  who  said.  In  the  begi?ining  was  the 
IVord,  and  the  Word  was  ivitk  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God^,  went  on  to  say,  and  the 
Word  was  made  fleshT.  For  neither  is  it 
holy  to  worship  the  mere  man,  nor  religious 
to  say  that  He  is  God  only  without  the 
Manhood.  For  if  Christ  is  God,  as  indeed 
Fie  is,  but  took  not  human  nature  upon  Him, 
we  are  strangers  to  salvation.  Let  us  then 
worship  Him  as  God,  but  believe  that  He 
also  was  made  Man.  For  neidier  is  there  any 
profit  in  calling  Him  man  without  Godhead, 
nor  any  salvation  in  refusing  to  confess  the 
Manhood  together  with  the  Godhead.  Let  us 
confess  the  presence  of  Him  who  is  both 
King  and  Physician.  For  Jesus  the  King 
when  about  to  become  our  Physician,  gi?-ded 
Himself  2oilh  the  linen  of  humanity  ^,  and  healed 
that  which   was   sick.     The   perfect   Teacher 

'  This  passage  supplies  a  complete  answer  to  the  suspicion 
of  a  qiiasi-Nestorian  tendency  relerred  to  in  note  6,  on  xi.  20. 
See  X.  19,  note  2,  on  the  title  ©eoTOKo;. 

*  The  Present  Participle  (KaTaftov/iei/ot)  means  that  the  Can- 
didates lor  Baptism  were  already  on  the  way  to  be  admitted  to 
Holy  Communion.  Compare  Cat.  i.  i,  where  the  same  Candidates 
arc  addressed  as  "partakers  of  the  mysteries  of  Christ,  as  yet 
by  calling  only,  but  ere  long  by  grace  also." 

3_Aubertin  remarks  on  this  passage  that  "this  spiritual  Lamb, 
consisting  of  head  and  feet,  can  be  received  only  by  the  spiritual 
mouth."  This  explanation,  however  true  in  itstif,  cannot  fairly 
be  held  to  express  fully  the  meaning  of  Cyril.  See  the  section 
of  the  Introduction  referred  to  in  the  Index,  "  Kucharist." 

4  Ex.  xii.  ^:  tlie  head  with  the  feet.  The  same  figurative 
interpretation  is  given  by  Eusebius  {Eccl.  Hist.  I.  ii.  §  i):  "In 
Christ  there  is  a  twofold  nature  ;  and  the  one — in  so  far  as  He  is 
thought  of  as  God — resembles  the  head  of  the  body,  while  the 
other  may  be  compared  with  the  feet, — in  so  far  as  He,  for  the 
^-.!ce  of  our  salvation,  put  on  human  nature  with  the  same  passions 
as  our  own." 

5  'liaavvji  Tu  OeoXoyco.  The  title  is  given  to  Moses  by  Philo 
Judseus  (jK/Za  Mas.  III.  §  11),  to  I'rophcts  by  Eusebius (Z>f;//i7i/r. 
Evang.  li.  9),  to  Apostles  by  Athanasius  Qie  incartt.  §  10  :  lijiv 
aiiToO  ToO  2coTrjpo9  flioAoyioi/  kvhfiuiv),  and  especially  to  St.  John, 
because  the  chief  purpose  of  his  Gospel  was  to  set  forth  the  Deity 
of  Christ.  See  note  on  Revel,  i.  i,  ia  Speakers  Coinmentary, 
and  Suicer,  Thesaurus,  ©eoAdyos. 

6  John  i.  I.  7  lb.  i.  14.  8  lb.  xiii.  4. 


of  babes  9  became  a  babe  among  babes, 
that  He  might  give  wisdom  to  the  foolish. 
The  Bread  of  heaven  came  down  on  earth ' 
that  He  might  feed  the  hungry. 

2.  But  the  sons  of  the  Jews  by  setting  at 
nought  Him  that  came,  and  looking  for  him 
who  cometh  in  wickedness,  rejected  the  true 
Messiah,  and  wait  for  the  deceiver,  themselves 
deceived  ;  herein  also  the  Saviour  being  found 
true,  who  said,  /  am  come  in  My  Father's 
name,  and  ye  receive  Me  not :  but  if  aiiother 
shall  come  in  his  ozufi  name,  him  ye  will  receive  ^. 
It  is  well  also  to  put  a  question  to  the  Jews. 
Is  the  Prophet  Esaias,  who  saith  that  Em- 
manuel shall  be  born  of  a  virgin,  true  or  false  3? 
For  if  they  charge  him  with  falsehood,  no 
wonder  :  for  their  custom  is  not  only  to  charge 
with  falsehood,  but  also  to  stone  the  Prophets. 
But  if  the  Prophet  is  true,  point  to  the  Em- 
manuel, and  say.  Whether  is  He  who  is  to 
come,  for  whom  ye  are  looking,  to  be  born  of 
a  virgin  or  not  ?  For  if  He  is  not  to  be  born  of 
a  virgin,  ye  accuse  the  Prophet  of  falsehood  : 
but  if  in  Him  that  is  to  come  ye  expect  this, 
why  do  ye  reject  that  which  has  come  to  pass 
already  ? 

3.  Let  the  Jews,  then,  be  led  astray,  since 
they  so  will :  but  let  the  Church  of  God  be 
glorified.  For  we  receive  God  the  Word  made 
Man  in  truth,  not,  as  heretics  say*,  of  the  will 
of  man  and  woman,  but  of  the  Virgin 
and    the    Holy    Ghosts   according  to    the 

9  Rom.  ii.  20.  '  John  vi.  32,  33,  50.  *  lb.  v.  43. 

Cf.  2  John  7.  3  Isa.  vii.  14. 

4  Carpocrates,  Cerinthus,  the  Ebionites,  &c.  See  Irenieus 
{Hier.  I.  XXV.  §  i  ;  xxvi.  §§  i,  2). 

5  Dr.  Swainson  (Creeds.,  Chap.  vii.  §  7),  speaking  of  the  Creed 
of  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  says  that  "  the  words  aapKniQivia.  koX  evav- 
BpioTrrjo-avra  are  found  in  it,  but  no  reference  whatever  is  made 
to  the  birth  from  the  Virgin."  The  present  passage,  and  that 
in  Cat.  iv.  §9,  "  begotten  of  the  Holy  Virgin  and  the  Holy  Ghost," 
seem  to  shew  that  such  a  clause  formed  part  of  the  Creed  which  Cyril 
was  expounding.  The  genuineness  of  both  passages  is  attested 
by  all  the  MSS.,  and  Dr.  Swainson  was  mistaken  in  charging  the 
Editors  of  the  Oxford  Translation  with  having  omitted  to  "  men- 
tion that  Touttee  was  himself  doubtful  as  to  the  words  within  the 
brackets  "  [e/c  IlapSeVou  Kai  UvtvfjLaTOi  'Ayiov].  The  brackets  are 
added  by  Dr.  Swainson  himself,  and  Touttee  had  no  doubt  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  words  :  on  the  contrary  he  lielieved  them  to  be 
part  of  the  Creed  itseli.  His  note  is  as  follows  :  "  The  words 
0/  the  Virgin  and  Holy  Ghost  I  have  caused  to  be  printed  in 
larger  letters  as  if  taken  from   the  Symbol :   although  they  are 


LECTURE   XII. 


71 


Gospel,  MADE  Man  ^,  not  in  seeming  but 
in  truth.  And  that  He  was  truly  Man  made 
of  the  Virgin,  wait  for  the  proper  time  of 
instruction  in  this  Lecture,  and  thou  shalt 
receive  the  proofs  7 ;  for  the  error  of  the 
heretics  is  manifold.  And  some  have  said 
that  He  has  not  been  born  at  all  of  a  virgin  ^ : 
others  that  He  has  been  born,  not  of  a  virgin, 
but  of  a  wife  dwelling  with  a  husband.  Others 
say  that  the  Christ  is  not  God  made  Man, 
but  a  man  made  God  9.  For  they  dared  to  say 
that  not  He — the  pre-existent  Word — was  made 
Man  ;  but  a  certain  man  was  by  advancement 
crowned. 

4.  But  remember  thou  what  was  said  yester- 
day concerning  His  Godhead.  Believe  that 
He  the  Onlv-begotten  Son  of  God — He  Him- 

■J  O 

self  was  again  begotten  of  a  Virgin.  'Believe 
the  Evangelist  John  when  he  says,  And  the 
Word  was  7nade flesh,  and  dwelt  amotigus'^.  For 
the  Word  is  eternal,  begotten  of  the  Father 
BEFORE  ALL  WORLDS  :  but  the  flesh  He  took  on 
Him  recently  for  our  sake.  Many  contradict 
this,  and  say  :  "  What  cause  was  there  so  great, 
for  God  to  come  down  into  humanity?  And, 
is  it  at  all  God's  nature  to  hold  intercourse 
with  men?  And,  is  it  possible  for  a  virgin  to 
bear,  without  man  ?"  Since  then  there  is  much 
controversy,  and  the  battle  has  many  forms, 
come,  let  us  by  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  the 
prayers  of  those  who  are  present,  resolve  each 
question. 

5.  And  first  let  us  inquire  for  what  cause 
Jesus  came  down.  Now  mind  not  my  argu- 
mentations, for  perhaps  thou  mayest  be  misled  : 
but  unless  thou  receive  testimony  of  the  Pro- 
phets on  each  matter,  believe  not  v.hat  I  say : 


wanting  in  the  Title  of  this  Lecture  and  in  §  13,  where  the  third 
Article  of  the  Creed  is  referred  to.  But  they  are  read  in  nearly  all 
the  Latin  and  Greek  Symbols,  and  are  referred  to  in  Cat.  iv.  §  9." 

*  iva.v9(iu>TTri!TavTa.  The  word  occurs  in  the  true  Nicene  for- 
mula, where,  as  Dr.  Swainson  thinks,  it  is  "  scarcely  ambiguous," 
'"it  is  defective."  Both  the  Verb  and  the  Substantive  et-aytipui- 
wrjcTL';  are  constantly  used  by  Athanasius  to  denote  the  Incarnation 
in  a  perfectly  general  way,  without  any  indication  of  ambiguity  or 
defect.  In  the  Creed  proposed  by  Eusebius  of  C^sarea  instead 
of  evav6p(OTrr}o'0Lvra  we  tind  ev  apOpuiTroLS  TToKn^Vfjafxevov  ;  and  in 
the  Exposiiio  Fidei  ascribed  to  Athanasius,  but  of  somewhat 
doubtful  authenticity,  the  Incarnation  is  described  thus  e/c  Tijs 
o-xpa-vjov  TTapd4i>ov  MapLa9  Tov  T]ii.€TGpov  ai'CL\ii<f)iEV  afOpuiTTov 
Xpto-rbi/  'l-qiTovv.  In  the  ApoUinarian  controversy  the  attempt 
was  made  to  interpret  evTqi'6pu>nricrev  as  meaning  not  that  "  He 
became  Man,"  but  that  "  He  assumed  a  man,"  i.e.  that  "  the  man 
was  first  formed  and  then  assumed"  (Gregory,  Epist.  ad  Cledon. 
quoted  by  Swainson,  p.  83),  or  else  merely  that  "  He  dwelt  among 
men."  But  the  conte.\t  of  the  passages  in  which  Cyril  uses  the 
word  (iv.  o;  xii.  3)  clearly  shews  that  he  employed  it  in  the 
perfectly  orthodox  sense  which  it  has  in  the  Nicene  Formula  and 
111  Athanasius. 

7  See  below,  §  21  flf.  Cyril  means  that  the  direct  proof  cannot 
be  given  at  once,  because  there  are  many  errors  to  be  set  aside 
first.     Compare  the  end  of  §  4. 

^  See  Cat.  iv.  9,  notes  3,  4. 

9  Athanasius  {contra  Arian.  Or.  I.  §  9)  quotes  as  from  Arius, 
Thalia,  "Christ  is  not  Very  God,  but  He,  as  others,  was  made 
God  (edeojT-oi>j0r))  by  participation."  The  Eusebians  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  called  Macrostichos  (a.d.  344)  condemned  this 
view  as  being  held  by  the  disciples  of  Paul  of  Samosata,  "  who 
say  that  after  the  incarnation  He  was  by  advance  made  God, 
from  being  made  by  nature  a  mere  man."  The  orthodox  use  of 
the  word  06O7roier<r8ai  is  seen  in  Athan.  de  Incarnat.  %  54  :  aiiTOS 
eci)i'9pu)7nj<ref,  ii/a  lifieis  deo7roi))9u)/xei'.  '  John  i.  14. 


unless  thou  learn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures 
concerning  the  Virgin,  and  the  place,  the  time, 
and  the  manner,  receive  not  testimony  fro/n  nian^. 
For  one  who  at  present  thus  teaches  may 
possibly  be  suspected  :  but  what  man  of 
sense  will  suspect  one  that  prophesied  a  thou- 
sand and  more  years  beforehand  ?  If  then 
thou  seekest  the  cause  of  Christ's  comintr,  co 
back  to  t-he  first  book  of  the  Scriptures.  In 
six  days  God  made  the  world  :  but  the  workl 
was  for  man.  The  sun  however  resplen-lent 
with  bright  beams,  yet  was  made  to  give  light 
to  man,  yea,  and  all  living  creatures  were 
formed  to  serve  us :  herbs  and  trees  were 
created  for  our  enjoyment.  All  the  works  of 
creation  were  good,  but  none  of  these  was 
an  image  of  God,  save  man  only.  The  sun 
was  formed  by  a  mere  command,  but  man 
by  God's  hands  :  Let  us  make  man  after  our 
image,  afid  after  our  likeness^.  A  wooden  image 
of  an  earthly  king  is  held  in  honour;  how 
much  more  a  rational  image  of  God  ? 

But  when  this  the  greatest  of  the  works  of 
creation  was  disporting  himself  in  Paradise, 
the  envy  of  the  Devil  cast  him  out.  The 
enemy  was  rejoicing  over  the  fall  of  him  whom 
he  had  envied:  wouldest  thou  have  had  the 
enemy  continue  to  rejoice?  Not  daring  to 
accost  the  man  because  of  his  strength,  he 
accosted  as  being  weaker  the  woman,  still 
a  virgin  :  for  it  was  after  the  expulsion  from 
Paradise  that  Adam  knezv  Eve  his  zvife*. 

6.  Cain  and  Abel  succeeded  in  the  second 
generation  of  mankind  :  and  Cain  was  the  first 
murderer.  Afterwards  a  deluge  was  poured 
abroad  because  of  the  great  wickedness  of 
men  :  fire  came  down  from  heaven  upon  the 
people  of  Sodom  because  of  their  transgression. 
After  a  time  God  chose  out  Israel  :  but  Israel 
also  turned  aside,  and  the  chosen  race  was 
wounded.  For  while  Moses  stood  before  God 
in  the  mount,  the  people  were  worshipping 
a  calf  instead  of  God.  In  the  lifetime  of 
Moses,  the  law-giver  who  had  said,  Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery,  a  man  dared  to  enter 
a  place  of  harlotry  and  transgress  5.  After 
Moses,  Prophets  were  sent  to  cure  Israel : 
but  in  their  healing  office  they  lamented  that 
they  were  not  able  to  overcome  the  disease,  so 
that  one  of  them  says,  Woe  is  7ne  f  for  the  godly 
man  is  perished  out  of  the  earth,  and  there  is 
nofie  that  doeth  right  among  men^ :  and  again, 
They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  together 
become  utiprof  table ;  there  is  none  that  doeih 
good,  no,  not  oneT :  and  again.  Cursing  afid  steal- 
ing, and  adultery,  and  murder  are  poured  out 
upon  the  land  ^.     Their  sons  and  their  daughters 


'  John  V.  34. 
S  Numb.  XXV.  6. 
Rom.  iii.  12. 


3  Gen.  i.  26. 

6  Micah  vii.  2. 
^  Hosea  iv.  a. 


4  lb.  iv.  I. 
7  Ps.  xiv.  3 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


they  sacrificed  ttnto  devils^.      They  used  auguries,  fcet^.    For  His  coming  down  from  heaven  was 
and  e7ichantme7its,atid divinations'^.    Andagaifi,   not  known  by  men. 

they  fastened  their  garments   ivitlj,   cords,  afid\      9.  Afterwards   Solomon   hearing    his   father 

tnade  hangi?tgs  attached  to  the  altar '^.  David  speak   these   things,  built  a   wondrous 

7.  Very   great   was    the    wound    of   man's   house,  and  foreseeing  Him  who  was  to  come 

nature  ;  y)'!?///  the  feet  to  the  head  there  zvas  fto  into  it,  said  in  astonishment,   IViil  God  in  very 


soundness  in  it ;  none  could  apply  mollifying 
ointment,  neither  oil,  nor  bandages  3.  Then  be- 
wailing and  wearying  themselves,  the  Prophets 
said,  Who  shall  give  salvation  out  of  Sion^? 
And  again.  Let  Thy  hand  be  upon  the  man 
of  Thy  right  hand,  a7id  upon  the  son  of  jnan 
zvhofn  Thou  madest  strong  for  Ihyself :  so  will 
not  we  go  back  from  Thee  5.  And  another  of  the 
Prophets  entreated,  saying,  Boiv  the  heavens, 
O  Lord,  and  come  dozvn  ^.  The  wounds  of  man's 
nature  pass  our  heahng.  They  slew  Thy  Pro- 
phets, and  cast  down  Thine  altars  t.  The  evil 
is  irretrievable  by  us,  and  needs  thee  to  re- 
trieve it. 

8.  The  Lord  heard  the  prayer  of  the  Pro- 
phets. The  Father  disregarded  not  the 
perishing  of  our  race ;  He  sent  forth  His 
Son,  the  Lord  from  heaven,  as  healer:  and 
one  of  the  Prophets  saith,  The  Lord  whojn  ye 
seek,  Cometh,  and  shall  suddenly  come^.  Whither  ? 
The  Lord  shall  come  to  LLis  oivn  tejtiple,  where 
ye  stoned  Him.  Then  another  of  the  Pro- 
phets, on  hearing  this,  saith  to  him  :  In 
speaking  of  the  salvation  of  God,  speakest 
thou  quietly?  In  preaching  the  good  tidings  of 
God's  coming  for  salvation,  speakest  thou  in 
secret?  O  thou  that  hringest  good  tidings  to 
Zion,  get  thee  up  into  the  high  mountai?t.  Speak 
to  the  cities  of  Judah.  What  am  I  to  speak  ? 
Behold  our  God  I  Behold  t  the  Lord  cometh 
2vith  strength'^  I  Again  the  Lord  Himself  saith, 
Behold  I  L  come,  and  L  tvill  dwell  in  the  midst 
of  thee,  saith  the  Lo?-d.  And  many  nations 
shall fice  unto  the  Lord ^  The  Israelites  rejected 
salvation  through  Me  :  /  C07ne  to  gather  all 
nations  and  tongues  ^.  For  LLe  came  to  LLis  ozvn, 
and  Llis  oivn  received  LLim  not^.  Thou  comest, 
and  what  dost  Thou  bestow  on  the  nations  ? 
/  come  to  gather  all  natiojis,  and  L  will  leave  on 
them  a  sign  t  For  from  My  conflict  upon  the 
Cross  I  give  to  each  of  My  sokhers  a  royal 
seal  to  bear  upon  his  forehead.  Another  also 
of  the  Prophets  said,  LLe  bowed  the  heavens  also, 
and  catne  down  ;  and  darkness  was  ufider  LLis 


9  Ps.  cvi.  37.  X  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  6. 

2  Amos  ii.  8  :  thi"]/  lay  tJtewselves  down  beside  every  altar 
iipon  clothes  taken  in  filcdge  (R.V.). 

3  Isa.  i.  6.  4  Ps.  xiv.  7.  S  lb.  Ixxx.  17,  18. 

*  Ps.  cxiiv.  5.  7  I  Kings  xix.  10.  ^  Mai.  iii.  r. 

9  Isa.  xl.  9,  10.  »  Zech.  ii.  10,  11.  »  Isa.  Ixvi.  18. 

3  John  i.  11. 

4  Isa.  Ixvi.  iQ,  a  pa«isage  interpreted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  sign 
of  the  Cross.  Eusebiiis  (Deitinnstr.  Evang.  vi.  25):  "Who,  on 
seeing  that  all  who  have  believed  in  Christ  use  as  a  seal  the 
symbol  of  salvation,  would  not  reasonably  be  astonished  at  hearing 
the  Lord's  saj  ing  of  old  time,  And  they  shall  come,  and  see  My 
glory,  and  I  will  leave  a  sign  u/>on  them  ?"  Cf.  Cat  iv.  14  ; 
xiii.  36. 


deed  dive II  with  mejt  on  the  earth  ^  1  Yea,  saith 
David  by  anticipation  in  the  Psalm  inscribed 
For  Solomon,  wherein  is  this,  LLe  shall  come 
do2vn  like  rain  ijito  a  fleece  ?  .•  rain,  because  of 
His  heavenly  nature,  and  into  a  fleece,  because 
of  His  humanity.  For  rain,  coming  down  into 
a  fleece,  comes  down  noiselessly  :  so  that  the 
Magi,  not  knowing  the  mystery  of  the  Nativity, 
say,  Where  is  Lie  that  is  born  King  of  the  Jeivs^l 
and  Herod  being  troubled  inquired  concerning 
Him  who  was  born,  and  said.  Where  is  the 
Christ  to  be  born  9 1 

10.  But  who  is  this  that  cometh  down  ?  He 
says  in  what  follows,  And  ivith  the  sutt  LLe  en- 
dureth,  and  befo7-e  the  77ioon  ge7ierations  of  ge7ie- 
7-ations'^.  And  again  another  of  the  Prophets 
saith,  Rejoice  g7-eatly,  O  daughter  of  Sio7i,  shout, 
O  daughter  of  Je7~usale7n.  Behold  I  thy  King 
cometh  u7ito  thee,  fust  and  having  salvatio7i  ^. 
Kings  are  many  :  of  which  speakest  thou,  O 
Prophet  ?  Give  us  a  sign  which  other  Kings 
have  not.  If  thou  say,  A  king  clad  in  purple, 
the  dignity  of  the  ai>parel  has  been  anticipated. 
If  thou  say,  Guarded  by  spear-men,  and  sitting 
in  a  golden  chariot,  this  also  has  been  anti- 
cipated by  others.  Give  us  a  sign  peculiar  to 
the  King  whose  coming  thou  announcest.  And 
the  Prophet  maketh  answer  and  saith,  Behold  I 
thy  Ki7ig  cometh  unto  thee,  fust,  and  having 
salvatio7i :  LLe  is  7/ieek,  a7id  ridi7ig  up07i  a7i  ass 
a7id  a  yoimgfoal,  not  on  a  chariot.  Thou  hast 
a  unique  sign  of  ih£  King  who  came.  Jesus 
alone  of  kings  sat  upon  an  unyoked  3  foal, 
entering  into  Jerusalem  with  acclamations  as 
a  king.  And  when  this  King  is  come,  what 
doth  He?  Thou  also  by  the  blood  of  the  covenant 
hast  sent  forth  thy  priso7iers  out  of  the  pit 
zvhe7-ein  is  no  water  '•. 

11.  But  He  might  perchance  even  sit  upon  a 
foal:  give  us  rather  a  sign,  where  the  King 
that  entereth  shall  stand.  And  give  the  sign 
not  far  from  the  city,  that  it  may  not  be 
unknown  to  us  :  and  give  us  the  sign  plain 
before  our  eyes,  that  even  when  in  the  city  we 
may  behold  the  place.  And  the  Proj^het 
again  makes  answer,  saying  :  And  LLis  feet  shall 
sta7id  in  that  day  upo7i  the  Mount  of  Olives 
which  is  before  Jerusale/n  on  the  east^.     Does 

5  Ps.  xviii.  p.  The  "feet,  '  interpreted  allegorically,  mean  the 
Humanity,  and  the  "darkness"  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation. 
See  Euseb.  Dononstr.  Evaiig.  vi.  i,  §  2. 

*  I  Kings  viii.  27  ;  2  Chron.  vi  t8.  7  Ps.  Ixxii.  Title, 
and  V.  6.            8  Matt.  ii.  2.            9  lb.  ii.  4.  '  Ps.  Ixxii.  5. 

*  Zech.  ix.  9.  3  o<roYT),  a  rare  word,  formed  from  trciyij, 
"harness."                  4  Zech.  ix.  11. 

5  Zech.    xiv.  4.     "  There  is  an  excellent  view  from   the   city 


LECTURE   XIL 


75 


any  one  standing  within  the  city  fail  to  behold 
the  place  ? 

12.  We  have  two  signs,  and  we  desire  to 
learn  a  third.  Tell  us  what  the  Lord  doth 
when  He  is  come.  Another  Prophet  saith, 
Behold!  our  God,  and  afterwards,  He  will  come 
and  save  us.  Then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be 
opened,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  hear :  the7i 
shall  the  lame  man  leap  as  an  hart,  and  the 
tongue  of  the  stammerers  shall  be  distinct^.  But 
let  yet  another  testimony  be  told  us.  Thou 
sayest,  O  Prophet,  that  the  Lord  cometh,  and 
doeth  signs  such  as  never  were  :  what  other 
clear  sign  tellcst  thou  ?  T/ie  Lord  Himself 
entereth  into  judgment  with  the  elders  of  His 
people,  and  tvith  the  princes  thereof  t.  A  notable 
sign  !  The  Master  judged  by  His  servants, 
the  elders,  and  submitting  to  it. 

13.  These  things  the  Jews  read,  but  hear 
not :  for  they  have  stopped  the  ears  of  their 
heart,  that  they  may  not  hear.  But  let  us  believe 
in  Jesus  Christ,  as  having  come  in  the  flesh  and 
been  made  Man,  because  we  could  not  receive 
Him  otherwise.  For  since  we  could  not  look 
upon  or  enjoy  Him  as  He  was,  He  became  what 
we  are,  that  so  we  might  be  permitted  to  enjoy 
Him.  For  if  we  cannot  look  full  on  the  sun, 
which  was  made  on  the  fourth  day,  could  we 
behold  God  its  Creator^?  The  Lord  came 
down  in  fire  on  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  people 
could  not  bear  it,  but  said  to  Moses,  Speak 
thou  ivith  us,  and  we  will  hear ;  and  let  not 
God  speak  to  us,  lest  we  die^  .•  and  again,  J^or 
ivho  is  there  of  all  fesh  that  hath  heard  the  voice 
of  the  living  God  speaking  out  of  the  midst  of 
the  fire,  and  shall  live  ^ .?  If  to  hear  the  voice  of 
God  speaking  is  a  cause  of  death,  how  shall  not 
the  sight  of  God  Himself  bring  death  ?  And 
what  wonder?  Even  Moses  himself  saith,  / 
exceedifigly  fear  and  quake  ^. 

14.  What  wouldest  thou  then?  That  He 
who  came  for  our  salvation  should  become  a 
minister  of  destruction  because  men  could  not 
bear  Him  ?  or  that  He  should  suit  His  grace 
to  our  measure?  Daniel  could  not  bear  the 
vision  of  an  Angel,  and  wert  thou  capable  of 
the  sight  of  the  Lord  of  Angels  ?  Gabriel 
appeared,  and  Daniel  fell  down  :  and  of  what 
nature  or  in  what  guise  was  he  that  appeared  ? 
His  countenance  was  like  lightning^;  not  like 
the  sun  :  and  his  eyes  as  lamps  of  fire,  not  as  a 
furnace  of  fire  :  and  the  voice  of  his  zvords  as  the 
voice  of  a  multitude,  not  as  the  voice  of  twelve 


of  the  Mount  of  Olives  wbicli  stands  up  over  against  it,  especially 
from  the  height  of  Gulgotha  where  Cyril  was  delivering  his  Lec- 
tures "  (Cleopa,s).  t>  Isa.  XXXV.  4 — 6.  7  lb.  iii.  14. 

8  Cf.  Epist.  Barnab.  §  13:  "For  had  He  not  come  in  flesh, 
how  could  we  men  have  been  safe  in  beholding  Him?  For  in 
beholding  the  Sun,  which  being  the  work  of  His  hands  shall  cease 
to  be,  men  have  no  strength  to  iix  their  eyes  upon  him." 

9  Exod.  XX.  19.  «  Deut.  v.  26.  *  Heb.  xii.  ai. 
3  Dan.  X.  6. 


legions  of  angels ;  nevertheless  the  Prophet 
fell  down.  And  the  Angel  cometh  unto  him, 
saying,  Fear  not,  Daniel,  stand  upright :  be  of 
good  courage,  thy  words  are  heard^.  And  Daniel 
says,  /  stood  up  trembling'^:  and  not  even  so 
did  he  make  answer,  until  the  likeness  of  a 
man's  hand  touched  him.  And  when  he  that 
appeared  was  changed  into  the  appearance  of 
a  man,  then  Daniel  spake  :  and  what  saith  he? 

0  my  Lord,  at  the  vision  of  Thee  my  inward 
parts  were  turned  within  me,  and  no  strength 
remaineih  in  vie,  neither  is  there  breath  left 
in  fne  ^.  If  an  Angel  appearing  took  away  the 
Prophet's  voice  and  strength,  would  the  ap- 
pearance of  God  have  allowed  him  to  breathe  ? 
And  until  there  touched  me  as  it  were,  a  vision 
of  a  man  7,  saith  the  Scripture,  Daniel  took 
not  courage.  So  then  after  trial  shewn  of  our 
weakness,  the  Lord  assumed  that  which  man 
required  :  for  since  man  required  to  hear  from 
one  of  like  countenance,  the  Saviour  took  on 
Him  the  nature  of  like  affections,  that  men 
might  be  the  more  easily  instructed. 

15.  Learn  also  another  cause.  Christ  came 
that  He  might  be  baptized,  and  might  sanctify 
Baptism  :  He  came  that  He  might  work  won- 
ders, walking  upon  the  waters  of  the  sea. 
Since  then  before  His  appearance  in  flesh,  the 
sea  saiv  Him  and  fled,  and  Jordan  was  turned 
back  ^,  the  Lord  took  to  Himself  His  body,  that 
the  sea  might  endure  the  sight,  and  Jordan  re- 
ceive Him  without  fear.  This  then  is  one  cause; 
but  there  is  also  a  second.  Through  Eve  yet 
virgin  came  death  ;  through  a  virgin,  or  rather 
from  a  virgin,  must  the  Life  appear  :  that  as 
the  serpent  beguiled  the  one,  so  to  the  other 
Gabriel  might  bring  good  tidings  9.  Men  for- 
sook God,  and  made  carved  images  of  men. 
Since  therefore  an  image  of  man  was  falsely 
worshipped  as  God,  God  became  truly  Man, 
that  the  falsehood  might  be  done  away.  The 
Devil  had  used  the  flesh  as  an  instrument 
against  us  ;  and  Paul  knowing  this,  saith.  But 

1  see  another  law  in  my  tnembers  warring  against 
the  laiv  of  my  mind,  and  bri?iging  me  itito  captiv- 
ity ',  and  the  rest.  By  the  very  same  weapons, 
therefore,  wherewitii  the  Devil  used  to  van- 
quish us,  have  we  been  saved.  Tne  Lord 
took  on  Him  from  us  our  likeness,  that  He 
might  save  man's  nature  :  He  took  our  like- 
ness, that  He  might  give  greater  grace  to 
that  which  lacked  ;  that  sinful  humanity 
might  become  partaker  of  God.  For  where 
sin  aboimded,  grace  did  much  7nore  abound"^.     It 


4  Dan.  X.  12.  5  lb.  x.  ir. 

6  lb.  X.  16,  17.  7  lb.  X.  18.  8  Ps.  cxiv.  3. 

9  Justin  M.  (^Tryph.  %  100)  :  "  Eve,  when  she  was  a  virgin  and 
imdehled,  having  conceived  the  word  of  the  serpent,  brought  forth 
disobedience  and  death  :  but  the  Virgin  Mary  received  taith  and 
joy,  when  the  Angel  Gabriel  announced  the  gcoJ  tidings  to  her." 

I  Rom.  vii  »3.  '  lb.  v.  20. 


76 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


behoved  the  Lord  to  suffer  for  us;  but  if  the 
Devil  liad  known  Him,  he  would  not  have 
dared  to  approach  Him.  For  had  they  knowti  it, 
they  tvould  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  Gloty  3. 
His  body  therefore  was  made  a  bait  to  death, 
that  the  dragon  4,  hoping  to  devour  it,  might 
disgorge  those  also  who  had  been  already 
devoured  5.  For  Death  prevailed  and  devoured  ; 
and  again,  God  wiped  away  every  tear  from  off 
every  face  ^. 

1 6.  Was  it  without  reason  that  Christ  was 
made  Man  ?  Are  our  teachings  ingenious 
phrases  and  human  subtleties?  Are  not  the 
Holy  Scriptures  our  salvation  ?  Are  not  the 
predictions  of  the  Prophets  ?  Keep  then,  I 
pray  thee,  this  deposit  ^  undisturbed,  and  let 
none  remove  thee  :  believe  that  God  became 
Man.  But  though  it  has  been  proved  possible 
for  Him  to  be  made  Man,  yet  if  the  Jews  still 
disbelieve,  let  us  hold  this  foith  to  them: 
What  strange  thing  do  we  announce  in  saying 
that  God  w'as  made  Man,  when  yourselves  say 
that  Abraham  received  the  Lord  as  a  guest  ^  ? 
What  strange  thing  do  we  announce,  when  Jacob 
says,  For  J  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  mid  my 
life  is  preserved'^?  The  Lord,  who  ate  with 
Abraliam,  ate  also  with  us.  What  strange  thing 
then  do  we  announce  ?  Nay  more,  we  produce 
two  witnesses,  those  who  stood  before  the 
Lord  on  Mount  Sinai :  Moses  was  in  a  clift  of 
the  rock ',  and  Elias  was  once  in  a  clift  of  the 
rock^:  they  being  present  with  Him  at  His 
Transfiguration  on  Mount  Tabor,  spake  to  the 
Disciples  of  His  decease  tvhich  He  should  ac- 
compiish  at  Jerusalem^.  But,  as  I  said  before,  it 
has  been  proved  possible  for  Him  to  be  made 
man  :  and  the  rest  of  the  proofs  may  be  left 
for  the  studious  to  collect. 

17.  My  statement,  however,  promised  to  de- 
clare ^  also  the  time  of  the  Saviour's  advent, 
and  the  place :  and  I  riiust  not  go  away  con- 
victed of  falsehood,  but  rather  send  away  the 
Church's  novices  s  well  assured.  Let  us  there- 
fore inquire  the  time  when  our  Lord  came  : 
because  His  coming  is  recent,  and  is  disputed  ; 
and  because  Christ  /es?is  is  the  sa?ne  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever^.     Moses   then,  the 


3  I  Cor.  ii.  8. 

4  Deith  is  here  called  "the  dragon,"  as  in  xiv.  17  he  is  called 
"  the  invisible  whale,"  in  allusion  to  the  case  of  Jonah. 

5  On  Christ's  descent  into  Hades  compare  iv.  11  ;  xiv.  19;  and 
Eusehius  (Dem.  Evant^.  x.  50).  and  Athaiiasius  (c.  Arinn.  Or.  iii. 
56)  :  "  The  Lord,  at  Whom  the  keepers  of  hell's  gates  shuddered 
and  set  open  hell.     The  Lord,  Whom  death  as  a  dragon  flees." 

6  Isa.  XXV.  8.  The  first  clause.  He  hatk  swaUowed  up  death 
for  ever  ;R  V.),  is  mistransl.ited  in  tlie  Septuagint. 

7  Ta.\)-n\v  TT)!-  irafiaKaTaBqKriu.     1  Tim.  vi.  20  ;  2  Tira.  i. 

8  Gen.  xviii.  i  flf.  9  lb.  xxxii.  30. 
»  Ex.  xxxiii.  22.                               2  I  Kin-s  xix.  8 

3  Luke  ix.  30,  31.  On  the  tradition  that  J\It.  Tahor  was  the 
place  of  the  Transfiguraticm,  accepted  by  S.  Jerome  and  other 
Fathers,  compare  Lightfoot  i//ar.  Hcbr.  in  Marc.  ix.  2). 

4  Cat.  xii.  5.  For  fupeii/  the  recent  Editors  with  MSS.  A.R.C. 
and  Grodecq.  have  ipi'iv.  S  i/erjAuSas' 

6  Heb.  xiii.  8.     Cyril  is  supposed  to  refer  to  two  objections 


14- 


prophet,  saith,  A  Prophet  shall  the  Lord  your 
God  raise  up  U7ito  you  of  your  brethren,  like 
tmto  ineT :  but  let  that  "like  unto  me"  be  re- 
served awhile  to  be  examined  in  its  proper 
place  ^.  But  when  cometh  this  Prophet  that  is 
expected?  Recur,  he  says,  to  what  has  been 
written  by  me  :  examine  carefully  Jacob's  pro- 
phecy addressed  to  Judah  :  Judah,  thee  fnay  thy 
brethren  praise,  and  afterwards,  not  to  quote 
the  whole,  A  prince  shall  7iot  fail  out  of  Judah, 
nor  a  ruler  from  his  loins,  u?itil  He  come,  for 
tt'hom  it  is  reserved ;  and  He  is  the  expectation, 
not  of  the  Jews  but  of  the  Gentiles'^.  He  gave, 
therefore,  as  a  sign  of  Christ's  advent  the  ces- 
sation of  the  Jewish  r  ile.  If  they  are  not  now 
under  the  Romans,  the  Christ  is  not  yet  come : 
if  they  still  have  a  prince  of  the  race  of  Judah 
and  of  David  ',  he  is  not  yet  come  that  was 
expected.  For  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  of  their 
recent  doings  concerning  those  who  are  now 
called  Patriarchs  =  among  them,  and  what  their 
descent  is,  and  who  their  mother :  but  I  leave 
it  to  those  who  know.  But  He  that  cometh 
as  the  expectation  of  the  Gentiles,  what  further 
sign  then  hath  He  ?  He  says  next.  Binding 
his  foal  unto  the  vine'i.  Thou  seest  that  foal 
which  was  clearly  announced  by  Zachariaht 

18.  But  again  thou  askest  yet  another  testi- 
mony of  the  time.  The  Lord  said  u?ito  Me, 
Thou  art  My  Son  ;  this  day  have  L  begottefi 
Thee:  and  a  few  words  further  on.  Thou  shall 
rtile  them  tvith  a  rodofiro7i^.  I  have  said  before 
that  the  kingdom  of  the  Romans  is  clearly 
called  a  rod  of  iroti ;  but  what  is  wanting  con- 
cerning this  let  us  further  call  to  mind  out  of 
Daniel.  For  in  relating  and  interpreting  to  Ne- 
buchadnezzar the  image  of  the  statue,  he  tells 
also  his  whole  vision  concerning  it  :  and  that 
a  stone  cut  out  of  a  mountain  without  hands, 
that  is,  not  set  up  by  human  contrivance, 
should  overpower  the  whole  world :  and  he 
speaks  most  clearly  thus  ;  And  in  the  days  oj 


to  the  Incarnation,  one  founded  on  the  lateness  of  Christ's  coming, 
the  other  on  the  Divine  immutability.  But  the  meaning  of  the 
passage  is  not  clear,  and  the  construction  of  the  second  sentence 
is  incomplete. 

7  Deut.  xviii.  15  ;   Acts  vii.  37. 

8  i^tra^onevov.  a  clear  instancp  of  the  Gerundive,  or  quasi- 
Future,  sense  of  the  Present  Participle,  common  in  Cyril.  "  This 
intention  is  not  fulfilled  in  the  .sequel  of  these  Lectures  "  (R.W.C.X 

9  Gen.  xlix.  8,  10. 

'  According  to  CyriJ  (§  ig,  below)  and  other  Fathers,  the 
continuance  of  Jewish  rulers  ceased  on  the  accession  of  Herod 
an  Idumean.  Compare  Justin  hl.{Try/>'ie»i.  §§52,  120):  Kusebuis 
(^Devwnstr.  Evans;.  VI IL  i).  On  modern  interpretations  ot  the  ■ 
passage  see  Deliizsch  {N^ew  Commentary  on  Genesis),  Briggs 
{Messianic  Prophecy,  p.  93),  Cheyne  [Isaiah,  Vol.  II.  p.  189), 
Driver  ( Journal 0/ Philology,  No.  27,  1885J. 

*  A  full  and  interesting  account  of  the  Jewish  Patriarchs  of 
the  West  established  at  'J'iberias  from  the  time  of  Antoninus  Pius 
till  the  close  of  the  4th  century  is  contained  in  Dean  Mihnan's 
llislory  0/ the  Jeivs,  Vol.  III.  Compare  Epiphanius  {I lares,  xxx. 
§  3  (f.).  3  Gen.  xlix.  11. 

■»  Zechar.  ix.  9,  quoted  above,  §  to. 

5  Ps.  ii.  7,  9.  I'he  passage  is  interpreted  by  Cyril  (xi.  s) 
of  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son:  liere  it  refers  to  His  Incar- 
nation, or  perhaps  is  meant  only  to  identify  the  Son  of  God  with 
hira  who  "  shall  rule  with  a  rod  of  iron." 


LECTURE    XII. 


11 


those  kingdoms  the  God  of  heaveti  shall  set  np 
a  kingdom,  which  shall  7iever  he  desti-oyed,  and 
His  kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  another  people^. 
ig.  But  we  seek  still  more  clearly  the  proof 
of  the  time  of  His  coming.  For  man  being 
hard  to  persuade,  unless  he  gets  the  very- 
years  for  a  clear  calculation,  does  not  be- 
lieve what  is  stated.  What  then  is  the  season, 
and  what  the  manner  of  the  time?  It  is 
when,  on  the  faikne  of  the  kings  descended 
from  Judah,  Herod  a  foreigner  succeeds  to 
the  kingdom  ?  'J'he  Angel,  therefore,  who 
converses  with  Daniel  says,  and  do  thou  now 
mark  the  words.  And  thou  shall  knoiv  and  un- 
derstand:  From  the  going  forth  of  the  word  for 
making  answer"!,  and  for  the  building  of  Jerusa- 
lem, until  Messiah  the  Prince  are  seven  weeks 
and  three  score  and  two  weeks  ^.  Now  three 
score  and  nine  weeks  of  years  contain  four 
hundred  and  eighty-three  years.  He  said, 
therefore,  that  after  the  building  of  Jerusalem, 
four  hundred  and  eighty-three  years  having 
passed,  and  the  rulers  having  failed,  then 
Cometh  a  certam  king  of  another  race,  in  whose 
tiuTe  the  Christ  is  to  be  born.  Now  Darius 
the  Mede9  built  the  city  in  the  sixth  year  of 
his  own  reign,  and  first  year  of  the  66th  Olym- 
piad accorch'ng  to  the  Greeks.  Olympiad  is 
the  name  among  the  Greeks  of  the  games  cele- 
brated after  four  years,  becailse  of  the  day 
whicli  in  every  four  years  of  the  sun's  courses 
is  made  up  of  the  three  ^  (supernumerary)  hours 
in  each  year.  And  Herod  is  king  in  the  i86th 
Olympiad,  in  the  4th  year  thereof  Now  from 
the  66th  to  the  iS6th  Olympiad  there  are  120 
Olympiads  intervening,  and  a  little  over.  So 
then  the  120  Olympiads  make  up  480  years  : 
for  the  other  three  years  remaining  are  perhaps 
taken  up  in  the  interval  between  the  first  and 
fourth  years.  And  there  thou  hast  the  proof 
according  to  the  Scripture  which  saith,  From 
the  going  forth  of  the  word  that  Jerusalem  be 
restored  and  built  until  Messiah  the  Prince  are 
seven  iveeks  and  sixty-tivo  tveeks.  Of  the  times, 
therefore,  thou  hast  for  the  present  this  proof, 
although  there  are  also  other  different  inter- 


6  Dan.  ii.  44. 

7  Sept.  Tou  cLTT0Kpi9T\va.i,  a  frequent  meaning  of  the  Hebrew 
3^ti?rt /!  ^y  \\'hich  the  Greek  Translators  understood  the  answer 

of  Darius  to  the  letter  of  Tatnai  and  his  companions.     Both  A.V. 
and  R.  V.  render  the  word  "  to  restore." 

8  Dan.  ix.  25. 

9  Darius  the  Mede  (Dan.  v.  31)  succeeded  Belshazzar  as 
king  in  Babylon  B.C.  538,  the  date  assigned  in  Dan.  i.\.  i  to  the 
prophecy  of  the  70  years.  But  "Darius  the  king"  in  whose 
6th  year  Ib-C.  516)  the  Temple  was  finished  (Ezra  vi.  15)  was 
Darius  Hystaspis,  king  of  Persia,  whom  Cyril  here  confounds  with 
''Darius  the  Mede."  He  also  fails  to  distinguish  the  rebuildijig 
of  the  Temple,  B.C.  516,  (rom  the  rebuilding  of  the  City  by  per- 
mission of  Arta.\er.\es  Longinianus,  B.C.  444  {Nehcmiah,  ii.  i). 

'  In  speaking  of  three  supernumerary  hours  in  the  year  instead 
of  nearly  six,  Cyril  seems  to  follow  the  division  of  the  diurnal 
period  into  twelve  parts,  not  twenty-four.  The  Jews  had  derived 
this  division  either  from  the  Egyptians,  or  more  probably  from  the 
Babylonians:  see  Herodotus,  II.  109. 


pretations  concerning  the  aforesaid  weeks  of 
years  in  Daniel. 

20.  But  now  hear  the  place  of  the  promise, 
as  Micah  says,  And  thou,  Bethlehem,  house  of 
Eph7-alhah,  art  thou  little  to  be  among  the  thou- 
sands of  Judah  ?  For  out  of  thee  shall  come 
forth  U7ito  Me  a  ruler,  to  be  governor  in  Israel : 
and  His  goiiigs  forth  are  from  the  begiiifiing, 
from  the  days  of  eternity  '^.  But  assuredly  as  to 
the  places,  thou  being  an  inhabitant  of  Jeru- 
salem, knowest  also  beforehand  what  is  written 
in  the  hundred  and  thirty-first  psalm.  Lot 
we  heard  of  it  at  Ephrafhah,  we  found  it  in  the 
plains  of  the  tvood'i.  For  a  few  years  ago  the 
place  was  woody  *.  Again  thou  hast  heard 
Habakkuk  say  to  the  Lord,  When  the  years  d?-azu 
nigh,  thou  shall  be  made  knoivn,  when  the  time 
is  come,  thou  shall  be  shewn  s.  And  what  is  the 
sign,  O  Prophet,  of  the  Lord's  coming?  And 
presently  he  saith,  Iti  the  midst  of  two  lives  shall 
thou  be  knoivn^,  plainly  saying  this  to  the  Lord, 
"  Having  come  in  the  flesh  thou  livest  and 
diest,  and  after  rising  from  the  dead  thou  livest 
again."  Further,  from  what  part  of  the  region 
round  Jerusalem  cometh  He?  From  east,  or 
west,  or  north,  or  south  ?  Tell  us  exactly. 
And  he  makes  answer  most  plainly  and  says, 
God  shall  come  from  Teman  ^  (now  Teman  is  by 
interpretation  '  south  ')  and  the  Holy  One  from 
Mount Paran^, shady, tvoody :  what  the  Psalmist 

*  Micah  V.  2,  quoted  also  in  Cat.  xi.  30,  where  see  note. 

3  Ps.  cxxxii.  6.  The  Psalmist  refers  to  the  recovery  of  the 
Ark,  but  Cyril  interprets  the  passage  mystically  of  Christ,  and  the 
place  of  His  Nalivity. 

4  The  Benedictine  Editor  thinks  that  in  calling  the  place 
"woody"  Cyril  refers  to  a  grove  planted  by  Hadrian  in  honour  of 
Adonis,  which  had  been  destroyed  about  sixteen  years  before,  when 
Helena  built  the  Church  at  Betlilehem  :  see  Eusebius,  Life  of 
Constantine,  III.  43.  But  Cyril  evidently  means  that  the  wood 
of  which  the  Psalmist  speaks  had  remained  till  a  few  years  before. 
Ephrathah  is  the  ancient  name  of  Bethlehem  (Gen.  x.xxv.  19  ; 
xlviii.  7),  and  by  "the  fields  of  the  wood"  is  probably  meant 
Kirjath-Jearim,  "  the  city  of  woods,"  where  the  Ark  was  found  by 
David  (2  Sam.  vi.  2  ;  i  Chron.  xiii.  6). 

5  Hab.  iii.  2  :  (R.V.)  O  Lord,  revive  Thy  ivork  in  the  midst 
of  the  years,  in  the  midst  0/  the  years  make  it  knoivn.  The 
Septuagint  gives  a  different  sense  :  In  the  inidst  of  two  lives 
(or,  living  beings')  shall  Tliou  be  known  :  when  the  years  draiu 
7ii^h  Thou  shall  be  recognised :  when  the  time  is  come.  Thou 
shall  be  shewn.  The  two  latter  clauses  seem  to  be  different 
renderings  of  the  same  Hebrew  words. 

6  efvjs.  This  clause  comes  before  the  preceding  quotation  : 
Cyril  misplaces  them.  In  the  Vatican  and  other  MSS.  of  the 
Sept.  and  in  some  Fathers  ^iomv  ("living  creatures")  is  found  in 
place  of  iuitov  "  lives  ;"  but  the  latter  reading  is  evidently  required 
by  the  interpretation  which  follows  in  Cyril.  Origen  (de  Prin- 
ci/>iis,  I.  4),  who  recognises  both  readings  ("In  medio  vel  duo- 
rum  animalium,  vel  duarum  vitarum,  cognosceris,")  interprets  the 
"two  living  beings"  of  the  Son  and  the  Spirit.  Eusebius 
{Demoiistr.  Ez'ong.  VI.  15)  observes  that  ^wiui/  is  to  be  read 
as  perispomenon  from  the  Singular  ^coij,  and  interprets  it  of  Christ's 
life  with  God,  and  life  on  earth.  Theodoret  says,  in  commenting 
on  the  passage,  "To  me  it  seems  that  the  Prophet  means  not 
"living  beings"  (fwa)  but  "lives"  (fujas),  the  present  life,  and 
that  which  is  to  come,  between  which  is  the  appearance  of  the 
Righteous  Judge." 

7  Hab.  iii.  3.    Cyril  interprets  the  word  ©ot/xai/  (Heb.  ^J^**^) 

as  a  common  Noun  meaning  "  South,"  and  the  Vulgate  has  here 
"  ab  Austro  veniet."  The  prophecy  is  thus  referred  to  Bethlehem, 
as  lying  to  the  South  of  Jerusalem.  Eusebius  (^Dem.  Evang.  VI. 
15)  mentions  this  as  the  rendering  ol  Theodotion  in  his  Greek 
Version,  about  180  a.d.  As  a  proper  name  Teman  denotes  a  dis- 
trict and  town  in  the  southern  part  of  Idumea,  so  called  from 
a  grandson  of  Esau  (Gen.  xxxvi.  11,  15,  42  ;  Jer.  xlix.  7,  20  ; 
Ezjk.  XXV.  13  ;  Amos  i.  12  ;  Obad.  9). 

8  The  following  note  is  slightly  abridged  from   the   Edition 


78 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


spake  in  like  words,  We  found  it  in  the  plains 
of  the  wood. 

21.  We  ask  further,  of  whom  cometh  He 
and  how?  And  this  Esaias  tells  us  :  Behold! 
the  virgin  shall  conceive  in  her  womb,  and  shall 
bring  forth  a  Son,  and  they  shall  call  His  name 
Em??ia?mel'i.  This  the  Jews  contradict,  for  of 
old  it  is  their  wont  wickedly  to  oppose  the 
truth  :  and  they  say  that  it  is  not  written  "  the 
virgin,"  but  "  the  damsel."  But  though  I  as- 
sent to  what  they  say,  even  so  I  find  the  truth. 
For  we  must  ask  them,  If  a  virgin  be  forced, 
when  does  she  cry  out  and  call  for  helpers, 
after  or  before  the  outrage  ?  If,  therefore,  the 
Scripture  elsewhere  says.  The  betrothed  damsel 
cried,  and  there  zvas  none  to  saz'e  her^,  doth  it 
not  speak  of  a  virgin  ? 

But  that  you  may  learn  more  plainly  that 
even  a  virgin  is  called  in  Holy  Scripture  a 
"damsel,"  hear  the  Book  of  the  Kings,  speak- 
ing of  Abishag  the  Shunaraite,  And  the  damsel 
2vas  very  fair  ^:  for  that  as  a  virgin  she  v.'as 
chosen  and  brought  to  David  is  admitted. 

22.  But  the  Jews  say  again.  This  was  said 
to  Ahaz  in  reference  to  Hezekiah.  Well,  then, 
let  us  read  the  Scripture  :  Ask  thee  a  sign  of  the 
Lord  thy  God,  iti  the  depth  or  iti  the  height  3.  And 
the  sign  certainlymustbe  sometliing  astonishing. 
For  the  water  from  the  rock  was  a  sign,  the  sea 
divided,  the  sun  turning  back,  and  the  like. 
But  in  what  I  am  going  to  mention  there  is 
still  more  manifest  refutation  of  the  Jews. 
(I  know  that  I  am  speaking  at  much  length, 
and  that  my  hearers  are  wearied  :  but  bear 
with  the  fulness  of  my  statements,  because  it 
is  for  Christ's  sake  these  questions  are  moved, 
and  they  concern  no  ordinary  matters.)  Now 
as  Isaiah  spake  this  in  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  and 
Ahaz  reigned  only  sixteen  years,  and  the  pro- 
phecy was  spoken  to  him  within  these  years, 
the  objection  of  the  Jews  is  refuted  by  the 
fact  that  the  succeeding  king,  Hezekiah,  son 


of  Alexandrides  of  Jernsalem.  "Previous  Editions  read  If  opous 
•^apav  KarauKiov  iao-e'os.  This  reading  is  found  in  Cod.  Vat. 
and  other  MSS.  of  the  Septuagiiit,  but  *apdi/  is  omitted  in  the 
Aldine  and  majiy  other  copies  nor  was  it  read  in  the  MSS.  of  the 
Sept.  in  Jerome's  time,  as  is  clear  from  his  comments  on  tlie 
passage.  In  the  MSS.  of  Cyril,  Ottob.  R.C.  V.  Monac.  1.  and  II. 
it  is  wanting.  Paran  is  the  name  of  the  desert  towards  the  S. 
of  Palestine  lying  between  it  and  Egypt  (Gen.  .\xi.  21  ;  Num.  i.  12). 
There  was  also  a  Mount  Paran  (Deut.  x.wiii.  21.  But  since 
Cyril  applies  the  prophecy  to  Bethlehem,  and  the  ''  shady  thickly- 
wooded  mountain"  of  Habakkuk  is  identified  with  "the  plains 
of  the  wood  "_  of  David,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  Cyril  did  not 
read  ^apav  in  his  copies  of  the  Septua.^int,  nor  write  it  in  his 
Lecture  :  but  the  rending  crept  in  from  the  later  copyists,  accus- 
tomed to  the  rcr\dii)g  'Papdv  in  the  Septu.Tgint.  ' 

9  Isa.  vii.  14.  The  objection  of  the  Jews  that  the  Hebrew 
word  "Alniah"  means  "a  young  woman,"  whether  married  or 
not,  is  mentioned  by  Justin  M.  (Jftyfih.  43,  67,  71),  and  by  Euse- 
bius(Z>f;«.  Evang.  VII.  i.  315).  "'  iJeut.  x.\ii.  27. 

'  I  Kings  i.  4.  Cyril's  argument  is  fully  justified  by  the 
actual  usage  of  "Almah,"  which  certainly  rel'ers  to  unmarried 
women  in  Gen.  xxiv.  43  ;  Ex.  ii.  8  ;  Cant.  i.  3.  The  same  is 
probably  the  meaning  in  Ps.  Ixviii.  25  :  "  in  the  mid-t  were  the 
dam^els  playing  with  the  timbrels."  "There  is  no  pa.ssagc  in  which 
the  word  can  be  shewn  to  mean  a  married  woman. 

3  Isa.  vii.  II. 


of  Ahaz,  was  twenty-five  years  old  when  he 
began  to  reign  :  for  as  the  prophecy  is  con- 
fined within  sixteen  years,  he  must  have  been 
begotten  of  Ahaz  full  nine  years  before  the 
prophecy.  What  need  then  was  there  to  utter 
the  prophecy  concerning  one  who  had  been 
already  begotten  even  before  the  reign  of  his 
father  Ahaz  +  ?  For  he  said  not,  hath  conceived, 
but  "  the  virgin  shall  conceive^'  speaking  as  with 
foreknowledges. 

23.  We  know  then  for  certain  that  the 
Lord  was  to  be  born  of  a  Virgin,  but  we 
have  to  shew  of  what 'family  the  Virgin 
was.  The  Lord  sware  i?i  truth  unto  David., 
and  will  7iot  set  it  aside.  Of  the  fruit  of  thy 
body  ivilll set  upon  thy  throfie^  :  and  again.  His 
seed  7vill  I  establish  for  ever,  and  his  throne  as 
the  days  of  heaven  ?.  And  afterwards,  Once  have 
I  sworn  by  My  holiness  that  I  will  not  lie  unto 
David.  His  seed  shall  endiire  for  ever,  and  his 
throne  as  the  sun  before  Me,  and  as  the  ?noon 
established  for  ever^.  Thou  seest  that  the  dis- 
course is  of  Christ,  not  of  Solomon.  For  Solo- 
mon's throne  endured  not  as  the  sun.  But  if  any 
deny  this,  because  Christ  sat  not  on  David's 
throne  of  wood,  we  will  bring  forward  that  say- 
ing, The  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses^ 
seat^  :  for  it  signifies  not  his  wooden  seat,  but 
the  authority  of  his  teaching.  In  like  manner 
then  I  would  hkve  you  seek  for  David's  throne 
not  the  throne  of  wood,  but  the  kingdom  itself 
Take,  too,  as  my  witnesses  the  children  who 
cried  aloud,  Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David  % 
blessed  is  the  King  of  Israel'^.  And  the  blind 
men  also  say,  So7i  of  David,  have  mercy  on  us^. 
Gabriel  too  testifies  plainly  to  Mary,  saying. 
And  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  Him  the 
thi-one  of  His  father  David*.  Paul  also  saith, 
Remendm'  Jesus  Christ  raised  from  the  dead,  oj 
the  seed  of  David,  according  to  my  Gospel^:  and 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
he  saith,  Which  was  made  of  the  seed  of  David 
according  to  the  flesh  ^.  Receive  thou  therefore 
Him  that  was  born  of  David,  believing  the 
prophecy  which  saith,  And  in  that  day  there 
shall  be  a  root  of  /esse,  and  He  that  shall  rise 
to  rule  over  the  Gentiles  :  in  Him  shall  the  Gen- 
tiles trust  T. 

24.  But  the  Jews  are  much  troubled  at 
these  things.  This  also  Isaiah  foreknew,  say- 
ing, And  they  shall  wish  that  they  had  been 
burnt  with  fire  :  for  unto  us  a  child  is  born  (not 
unto  them),  unto  us  a  Son  is  given  ^.     Mark  thou 


4  Compare  J\istin  M.  {Tryph.  %  77),  Euseb.  {Detno*s(r.  Evang. 
L.  VII.  c.  i.  317). 

5  In  the  Hebrew  the  word  >ised  is  a  Participle,  and  describe! 
what  Isaiah  sees  in  a  prophetic  vi:,ion  ;  "Behold,  the  davisel — 
luith  child." 

6  Ps.  cxxxii.  II.  7  lb  Ixxxix.  33.  8  7,-,.  ^5 — jy. 
9  Matt,  xxiii.  3.  •  lb.  xxi.  9.  »  Joh  xii.  13. 
3  Matt.  XX.  30.                4  Luke  i.  32.                 5  2  Tim.  ii.  8. 

'  Rom.  i.  3.  7  Is.  xi.  10;  Rom.  xv.  13,  *  Isa.  ix.  5, 


LECTURE  XII. 


79 


that  at  first  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  then  was 
given  to  us.  And  a  little  after  he  says,  And 
of  His  peace  there  is  no  bound 'i.  The  Romans 
have  bounds :  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of 
God  there  is  no  bound.  Ihe  Persians  and 
the  Medes  have  bounds,  but  the  Son  has  no 
bound.  Then  next,  upon  the  throne  of  David, 
and  upon  his  kingdom  to  order  it.  The  Holy 
Virgin,  therefore,  is  from  David. 

25.  For  it  became  Him  who  is  most  pure, 
and  a  teacher  of  purity,  to  have  come  forth 
from  a  pure  bride-chamber.  For  if  he  who 
well  fulfils  the  office  of  a  priest  of  Jesus  ab- 
stains from  a  wife,  how  should  Jesus  Himself 
be  born  of  man  and  woman  ?  For  thou,  saith 
He  in  the  Psalms,  art  He  that  took  Ale  out  of  the 
womb  ^  Mark  that  carefully.  He  that  took  Me  out 
of  the  womb,  signifying  that  He  was  begotten 
without  man,  being  taken  from  a  virgin's  womb 
and  flesh.  For  the  manner  is  dift'erent  with 
those  who  are  begotten  according  to  the  course 
of  marriage. 

26.  And  from  such  members  He  is  not 
ashamed  to  assume  flesh,  who  is  the  framer 
of  those  very  members.  But  then  who  telleth 
us  this  ?  The  Lord  saith  unto  Jeremiah  :  Be- 
fore I  formed  thee  in  the  belly,  I  knew  thee  :  and 
before  thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  womb,  I  sanc- 
tified thee  ^.  If,  then,  in  fashioning  man  He  was 
not  ashamed  of  the  contact,  was  He  ashamed 
in  fashioning  for  His  own  sake  the  holy  Flesh, 
the  veil  of  His  Godhead  ?  It  is  God  who 
even  now  creates  the  children  in  the  womb, 
as  it  is  written  in  Job,  Hast  thou  not  poured 
me  out  as  milk,  and  curdled  fne  like  cheese  1 
Thou  hast  clothed  me  ivith  skin  and  flesh,  and 
hast  knit  me  together  with  bones  and  sinews'^. 
There  is  nothing  polluted  in  the  human  frame, 
except  a  man  defile  this  with  fornication  and 
adultery.  He  who  formed  Adam  formed  Eve 
also,  and  male  and  female  were  formed  by 
God's  hands.  None  of  the  members  of  the 
body  as  formed  from  the  beginning  is  polluted. 
Let  the  mouths  of  all  heretics  be  stopped  who 
slander  their  bodies,  or  rather  Him  who 
formed  them.  But  let  us  remember  Paul's  say- 
ing, Knozv ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the  temples 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you  •♦  ?  And  again 
the  Prophet  hath  spoken  before  in  the  person 
of  Jesus,  My  flesh  is  from  them  5  .•  and  in  another 
place  it  is  written,  Therefore  zvill  He  give  them 
up,  until  the  time  that  she  bringeth  forth  ^.  And 
•what  is  the  sign  ?     He  tells  us  in  what  follows, 

She  shall  bring  forth,  and  the  remnant  of  their 


9  V.  7.  X  Ps.  xxii.  9.  _  »  Jer.  i.  5. 

3  Job  X.  10,  ir.  4  I  Cor.  vi.  19. 

5  Hos.  ix.  12.  R.  V.  IVoe  also  to  them,  when  I  depart  from 
them.  The  Seventy  mistook  >~l?)ii72)  "  ^'  ^^  departure,"  for 
^nii73,  "  my  flesh.*  6  Mic   v.  3 


brethren  shall  return.  And  what  are  the  nup- 
tial pledges  of  the  Virgin,  the  holy  bride  ?  And 
Twill  betroth  thee  unto  Me  in  faithfulnessT .  And 
Elizabeth,  talking  with  Mary,  speaks  in  like 
manner  :  And  blessed  is  she  that  believed ;  for 
there  shall  be  a  performance  of  those  things  which 
ivere  told  her  from  the  Lord^. 

27.  But  both  Greeks  and  Jews  harass  us 
and  say  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Christ 
to  be  born  of  a  virgin.  As  for  the  Greeks  we 
will  stop  their  mouths  from  their  own  fables. 
For  ye  who  say  that  stones  being  thrown  were 
changed  into  men  9,  how  say  ye  that  it  is  im- 
posssible  for  a  virgin  to  bring  forth  ?  Ye  who 
fable  that  a  daughter  was  born  from  the  brain  ', 
how  say  ye  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  son  to 
have  been  born  from  a  virgin's  womb  ?  Ye 
who  falsely  say  that  Dionysus  was  born  from 
the  thigh  of  your  Zeus^,  how  set  ye  at  nought 
our  truth  ?  I  know  that  I  am  speaking  of 
things  unworthy  of  the  present  audience  :  but 
in  order  that  thou  in  due  season  mayest  rebuke 
the  Greeks,  we  have  brought  these  things 
forward  answering  them  from  their  own  fables. 

28.  But  those  of  the  circumcision  meet  thou 
with  this  question  :  Whether  is  harder,  for  an 
aged  woman,  barren  and  past  age,  to  bear, 
or  for  a  virgin  in  the  prime  of  youth  to  con- 
ceive ?  Sarah  was  barren,  and  though  it  had 
ceased  to  be  with  her  after  the  manner  of 
women,  yet,  contrary  to  nature,  she  bore  a 
child.  If,  then,  it  is  against  nature  for  a  barren 
woman  to  conceive,  and  also  for  a  virgin, 
either,  therefore,  reject  both,  or  accept  both. 
For  it  is  the  same  God  3  who  both  wrought  the 
one  and  appointed  the  other.  For  thou  wilt 
not  dare  to  say  that  it  was  possible  for  God  in 
that  former  case,  and  impossible  in  this  latter. 
And  again  :  how  is  it  natural  for  a  man's  hand 
to  be  changed  in  a  single  hour  into  a  dift'erent 
appearance  and  restored  again  ?  How  then 
was  the  hand  of  Moses  mace  white  as  snow, 
and  at  once  restored  again  ?  But  thou  sayest 
that  God's  will  made  the  change.  In  that 
case  God's  will  has  the  power,  and  has  it  then 
no  power  in  this  case  ?  That  moreover  was  a 
sign  concerning  the  Egyptians  only,  but  this 
was  a  sign  given  to  the  whole  world.  But 
whether  is  the  more  difficult,  O  ye  Jews  ?  For 
a  virgin  to  bear,  or  for  a  rod  to  be  quickened 
into  a  living  creature?  Ye  confess  that  in  the 
case  of  Moses  a  perfectly  straight  rod  became 


7  Hos.  ii.  20.  8  Luke  i.  45. 

9  See  the  story  of  Pyrrha  and  Deucalion  in  Pindar,  01.  ix.  fo  : 
anp  6"  eui/as  KTrjadcrBav  KiOivov  yovov,  and  in  Ovid.  Metam.  \. 
260  ff. 

1  Athena  was  said  to  have  sprung  armed  from  the  head  of 
Zeus  ;  Pindar,  Ol.  vii.  65  :  Kopvi^av  kolt'  axpay  avopovtraLcr'  oAa- 
Ka  ev  v7r€pixdK€L  fioa,     Cf.  Hes.  Tlteog,  924. 

2  Eiirip.  Biccluie.  295  ;  Ovid.  Metam.  iv.  11. 

3  Codd.  Mon.  i.  A:  6  yap  avrb?  ®eo«.  Bened.  o  ydp  ©e>< 
avTO?. 


So 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


like  a  serpent,  and  was  terrible  to  him  who 
cast  it  down,  and  he  who  before  held  the  rod 
fast,  fled  from  it  as  from  a  serpent ;  for  a  ser- 
pent in  truth  it  was  :  but  he  fled  not  because 
he  feared  that  which  he  held,  but  because  he 
dreaded  Him  that  had  changed  it.  A  rod  had 
teeth  and  eyes  like  a  serpent :  do  then  seeing 
eyes  grow  out  of  a  rod,  and  cannot  a  child  be 
born  of  a  virgin's  womb,  if  God  wills  ?  For  I 
say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  Aaron's  rod  also 
produced  in  a  single  night  what  other  trees 
produce  in  several  years.  For  who  knows  not 
that  a  rod,  after  losing  its  bark,  will  never 
sprout,  not  even  if  it  be  planted  in  the  midst 
of  rivers  ?  But  since  God  is  not  dependent  on 
the  nature  of  trees,  but  is  the  Creator  of  their 
natures,  the  unfruitful,  and  dry,  and  barkless 
rod  budded,  and  blossomed,  and  bare  almonds. 
He,  then,  who  for  the  sake  of  the  typical  high- 
priest  gave  fruit  supernaturally  to  the  rod, 
would  He  not  for  the  sake  of  the  true  High- 
Priest  grant  to  the  Virgin  to  bear  a  child  ? 

29.  These  are  excellent  suggestions  of  the 
narratives  :  but  the  Jews  still  contradict,  and 
do  not  yield  to  the  statements  concerning  the 
rod,  unless  they  may  be  persuaded  by  similar 
strange  and  supernatural  births.  Question  them, 
therefore,  in  this  way  :  of  whom  in  the  begin- 
ning was  Eve  begotten?  What  mother  con- 
ceived her  the  motherless?  But  the  Scripture 
saith  that  she  was  born  out  of  Adam's  side. 
Is  Eve  then  born  out  of  a  man's  side  without  a 
mother,  and  is  a  child  not  to  be  born  without 
a  father,  of  a  virgin's  womb?  This  debt  of 
gratitude  was  due  to  men  from  womankind  :  for 
Eve  was  begotten  of  Adam,  and  not  conceived 
of  a  mother,  but  as  it  were  brought  forth  of  man 
alone.  Mary,  therefore,  paid  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude, when  not  by  man  but  of  herself  alone  in 
an  immaculate  way  she  conceived  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  by  the  power  of  God. 

30.  But  let  us  take  what  is  yet  a  greater 
wonder  than  this.  For  that  of  bodies  bodies 
should  be  conceived,  even  if  wonderful,  is  never- 
theless possible :  but  that  the  dust  of  the 
earth  should  become  a  man,  this  is  more  won- 
derful. Tliat  clay  moulded  together  should 
assume  the  coats  and  splendours  of  the  eyes, 
this  is  more  wonderful.  That  out  of  dust  of 
uniform  appearance  should  be  produced  both 
the  firmness  of  bones,  and  the  softness  of  lungs, 
and  other  different  kinds  of  members,  this  is 
wonderful.  That  clay  should  be  animated  and 
travel  round  the  world  self  moved,  and  should 
build  houses,  this  is  wonderful.  That  clay 
should  teach,  and  talk,  and  act  as  carpenter, 
and  as  king,  this  is  wonderful.  Wlience,  then, 
O  ye  most  ignorant  Jews,  was  Adam  made?  Did 
not  God  take  dust  from  the  earth,  and  fashion 
this  wonderful  frame  ?     Is  then  clay  changed 


into  an  eye,  and  cannot  a  virgin  bear  a  son. 
Does  that  which  for  men  is  more  impossible 
take  place,  and  is  that  which  is  possible  never 
to  occur  ? 

31.  Let  us  remember  these  things,  brethren  : 
let  us  use  these  weapons  in  our  defence.  Let 
us  not  endure  those  heretics  who  teach  Christ's 
coming  as  a  phantom.  Let  us  abhor  those 
also  who  say  that  the  Saviour's  birth  was  of 
husband  and  wife ;  who  have  dared  to  say 
that  He  was  the  child  of  Joseph  and  Mary, 
because  it  is  written.  And  he  took  nnfo  him  his 
wife''.  For  let  us  remember  Jacob,  who  before 
he  received  Rachel,  said  to  Laban,  Give  me 
my  wife^.  For  as  she  before  the  wedded  state, 
merely  because  there  was  a  promise,  was  called 
the  wife  of  Jacob,  so  also  Mary,  because  she 
had  been  betrothed,  was  called  the  wife  of 
Joseph.  Mark  also  the  accuracy  of  the  Gospel, 
saying,  And  in  the  sixth  month  the  Angel 
Gabriel  was  sent  from  God  unto  a  city  of  Galilee, 
named  Nazareth,  to  a  virgin  esp02ised  to  a  man 
whose  name  ivas  Joseph^,  a.x\c\  so  forth.  And 
again  when  the  census  took  place,  and  Joseph 
went  up  to  enrol  himself,  what  saith  the  Scrip- 
ture? And  Joseph  also  went  up  from  Galilee, 
to  enrol  himself  with  Mary  who  2vas  espoused 
to  him,  being  great  ivith  child  t.  For  though  she 
was  with  child,  yet  it  said  not  "  with  his  wife," 
but  with  her  who  zvas  espoused  to  him.  For  God 
sent  forth  Bis  Son,  says  Paul,  not  made  of 
a  man  and  a  woman,  but  made  of  a  woman  ^ 
only,  that  is  of  a  virgin.  For  that  the  virgin 
also  is  called  a  woman,  we  shewed  before 9. 
For  He  who  makes  souls  virgin,  was  born 
of  a  Virgin. 

32.  But  thou  wonderest  at  the  event:  even 
she  herself  who  bare  him  wondered  at  this. 
For  she  saith  to  Gabriel,  Hoiv  shall  this  be  to 
me,  since  I  knoiv  not  a  man  1  But  he  says, 
The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the 
pozver  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee: 
wherefore  also  the  holy  thittg  which  is  to  be  born 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God^.  Immaculate 
and  undefiled  was  His  generation  :  for  where 
the  Holy  Spirit  breathes,  there  all  pollution  is 
taken  away  :  undefiled  from  the  Virgin  was  the 
incarnate  generation  of  the  Only-begotten.  And 
if  the  heretics  gainsay  the  truth,  the  Holy  Ghost 
shall  convict  them  :  that  overshadowing  power 
of  the  Highest  shall  wax  wroth :  Gabriel  shall 
stand  face  to  face  against  them  in  the  day  of 
judgment:  the  place  of  the  manger,  which 
received  the  Lord,  shall  put  them  to  shame. 
The  shepherds,  who  then  received  the  good 
tidings,  shall  bear  witness  ;  and  the  host  of  the 
Angels  who  sang  praises  and  hymns,  and  said, 


4  Matt.  i.  24. 
7  lb.  ii.  4,  5. 
■  Luke  i.  34,  35. 


5  Gen.  xxix.  2i, 
8  Gal.  iv.  4, 


6  Luke  i.  26,  27. 
9  See  above,  §  2t. 


LECTURE   XII. 


8i 


Glory  to  God  hi  the  hii:^hest,  and  on  earth  peace 
among  men  of  His  good  pleasure'^ :  the  Temple 
into  which  He  was  then  carried  up  on  the 
fortieth  day :  the  pairs  of  turtle-doves,  which 
were  offered  on  His  behalf  3  :  and  Symeon  who 
then  took  Him  up  in  his  arms,  and  Anna  the 
prophetess  who  was  present. 

2^2)-  Since  God  then  beareth  witness,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  joins  in  the  witness,  and 
Chiist  says,  Why  do  ye  seek  to  kill  me,  a  ma}t 
who  has  told  you  the  truths?  let  the  heretics 
be  silenced  who  speak  against  His  humanity, 
for  they  speak  against  Him,  who  saith.  Handle 
me,  and  see  ;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones, 
as  ye  see  tne  have  s.  Adored  be  the  Lord  the 
Virgin-born,  and  let  Virgins  acknowledge  the 
crown  of  their  own  state :  let  the  order  also 
of  Solitaries  acknowledge  the  glory  of  chastity  ; 
for  we  men  are  not  deprived  of  the  dignity  of 
chastity.  In  the  Virgin's  womb  the  Saviour's 
period  of  nine  months  was  passed  :  but  the 
Lord  was  for  thirty  and  three  years  a  man  : 
so    that  if  a   virgin  glories  ^  because   of  the 

»  Luke  ii.  14. 

3  lb.  ii.  24.  Tn  Lev.  xii.  8  one  pair  only  of  turtles  is  pre- 
scribed, to  be  offered  for  the  mother,  not  for  the  child.  But  the 
reading  ra  ^eiiyj)  in  Cyril  is  confirmed  by  that  in  St.  Luke,  Toil 
Ka6api.crti.ov  avrCov.     See  the  authorities  in  Tischendorf. 

4  John  vii.  19  ;  viii.  40.  5  Luke  xxiv.  39. 

6  crejaciii'eTai.  Rivet,  misled  by  a  double  error  in  the  old  Latin 
version,  '"'  veneratur,"  accused  Cyril  of  approving  the  worship 
af  the  Virgin  Mary. 


nine  months,  much  more  we  because  of  the 
many  years. 

34.  But  let  us  all  by  God's  grace  run  the 
race  of  chastity,  young  men  and  maide7is,  old 
men  and  children  t;  not  going  after  wantonness, 
but  praising  the  name  of  Christ.  Let  us  not 
be  ignorant  of  the  glory  of  chastity :  for  its 
crown  is  angelic,  and  its  excellence  above  man. 
Let  us  be  chary  of  our  bodies  which  are  to 
shine  as  the  sun  :  let  us  not  for  short  pleasure 
defile  so  great,  so  noble  a  body  :  for  short  and 
momentary  is  the  sin,  but  the  shame  for  many 
years  and  for  ever.  Angels  walking  upon  earth 
are  they  who  practise  chastity :  the  Virgins  have 
their  portion  with  Mary  the  Virgin.  Let  all 
vain  ornament  be  banished,  and  every  hurtful 
glance,  and  all  wanton  gait,  and  every  flowing 
robe,  and  perfume  enticing  to  pleasure.  But  in 
all  for  perfume  let  there  be  the  prayer  of  sweet 
odour,  and  the  practice  ^  of  good  works,  and 
the  sanctification  of  our  bodies:  that  the  Virgin- 
born  Lord  may  say  even  of  us,  both  men  who 
live  in  chastity  and  women  who  wear  the  crown, 
I  will  dwell  in  them  ;  and  walk  in  them,  and 
I  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  My  people  9. 
To  whom  be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


7  Ps.  cxlviii.  13.  ^  r\  raiv  ayaOStv  npa^is.  Cod.  A. 

9  a  Cor.  vi.  i6. 


VOL.  vrr. 


LECTURE    XIII. 


On   the   Words,  Crucified  and   Buried. 


Isaiah  liii.  i,  7. 

Who  hath  believed  our  report  1   and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  ? 

brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  ^'c. 


He  is 


1.  Every  deed  of  Christ  is  a  cause  of 
glorying  to  the  Catholic  Churcli,  but  her 
greatest  of  all  glorying  is  in  the  Cross  ;  and 
knowing  this,  Paul  says,  But  God  forbid  that 
I  should  glory,  save  in  the  Cross  of  Christ^. 
For  wondrous  indeed  it  was,  that  one  who 
was  blind  from  his  birth  should  receive 
sight  in  Siloani=^;  but  what  is  this  compared 
with  the  blind  of  the  whole  world  ?  A  great 
thing  it  was,  and  passing  nature,  for  Lazarus 
to  rise  again  on  the  fourth  day  ;  but  the  grace 
extended  to  him  alone,  and  what  was  it  com- 
pared with  the  dead  in  sins  throughout  the 
world  ?  Marvellous  it  was,  that  five  loaves 
should  pour  forth  food  for  the  five  thou- 
sand ;  but  what  is  that  to  those  who  are 
famishing  in  ignorance  through  all  the  world  ? 
It  was  marvellous  that  she  should  have  been 
loosed  who  had  been  bound  by  Satan  eighteen 
years  :  yet  what  is  this  to  all  of  us,  who  were 
fast  bound  in  the  chains  of  our  sins?  But  the 
glory  of  the  Cross  led  those  who  were  blind 
through  ignorance  into  light,  loosed  all  who 
were  held  fast  by  sin,  and  ransomed  the  whole 
world  of  mankind. 

2.  And  wonder  not  that  the  whole  world 
was  ransomed  ;  for  it  was  no  mere  man,  but 
the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  who  died  on  its 
behalf  Moreover  one  man's  sin,  even  Adam's, 
had  power  to  bring  death  to  the  world ;  but  if 
by  the  trespass  of  the  one  death  reigned  over  the 
world,  how  shall  not  life  much  rather  reign  by 
the  righteousficss  of  the  One^?  And  if  because 
of  the  tree  of  food  they  were  then  cast  out  of 
paradise,  shall  not  believers  now  more  easily 
enter  into  paradise  because  of  the  Tree  of 
Jesus?  If  the  first  man  formed  out  of  the 
earth  brought  in  universal  death,  shall  not  He 
who  formed  him  out  of  the  earth  bring  in 
eternal    liie,    being    Himself    the    Life  ?     If 


'  Gal.  vi.  14.  a  C.  Athana?,.  {lie  Iruurn.  §  i8,  49X 

3  Koin.  V.  17,  18. 


Phinees,  when  he  waxed  zealous  and  slew  the 
evil-doer,  stayed  the  wrath  of  God,  shall  not 
Jesus,  who  slew  not  another,  but  gave  up 
Himself  for  a  ransom'-,  put  away  tlie  wrath 
which  is  against  mankind? 

3.  Let  us  then  not  be  ashamed  of  the  Cross 
of  our  Saviour,  but  rather  glory  in  it.  For  the 
word  of  the  Cross  is  unto  Jews  a  stumbling-block, 
and  unto  Gentiles  foolishness,  but  to  us  salva- 
tion :  and  /^  them  that  are  berishing  it  is  fool- 
ishness, but  unto  us  which  are  being  saved  it  is 
the pocuer  of  God^.  For  it  was  not  a  mere  man 
who  died  for  us,  as  I  said  before,  but  the  Son 
of  God,  God  made  man.  Further ;  if  the 
lamb  under  Moses  drove  the  destroyer  ^  far 
away,  did  not  much  ratlier  the  Lamb  of  God, 
ivhich  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  worldT,  deliver 
us  from  our  sins?  The  blood  of  a  silly  sheep 
gave  salvation  ;  and  shall  not  the  Blood  of  the 
Only-begotten  much  rather  save?  If  any  dis- 
believe the  power  of  the  Crucified,  let  him  ask 
the  devils  ;  if  any  believe  not  words,  let  him 
believe  what  he  sees.  Manv  have  been  cru- 
cified throughout  the  world,  but  by  none  of 
these  are  the  devils  scared  ;  but  when  they  see 
even  the  Sign  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  who  was 
crucified  for  us,  they  shudder  ^.  For  those  men 
died  for  their  own  sins,  but  Christ  for  the  sins 
of  others  ;  for  He  did  fio  sin,  nei/her  7vas  guile 
found  in  Llis  mouth'^.  It  is  not  Peter  who  says 
this,  for  then  we  might  suspect  that  he  was 
partial  to  his  Teacher  ;  but  it  is  i^s  n'as  who 
says  it,  who  was  not  indeed  present  with  Him 
in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit  foresaw  His 
coming  in  the  flesh.  Yet  why  now  bring  the 
Prophet  only  as  a  witness?  take  for  a  wit- 
ness Pilate  himself,  who  gave  sentence  upon 
Him,  saying,  L find  no  fault  ifi  this  Alan  '  .•  and 
when  he  gave  Him  up,  and  had  washed  his 


4  I  Tim.  ii.  6.  Si  Cor.  i.  18,  23.  ^  Ex.  xii.  23 

7  John  i.  29.  8  Cf.  Car.  i.  3;  xvii.  35,  36. 

9  I  Pet-  ii-  22,  quoted  from  Isa.  liii.  9.  »  Luke  xxiii.  14. 


LECTURE    XIII. 


83 


hands,  he  said,  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this 
just  person'^.  There  is  yet  another  witness  of 
the  sinlessness  of  Jesus,  —  the  robber,  the  first 
man  admitted  into  Paradise ;  who  rebuked  his 
fellow,  and  said,  "  We  receive  the  due  reward  of 
our  deeds;  but  this  man  hath  done  nothing 
amiss  ^;  for  we  were  present,  both  thou  and 
I,  at  His  judgment." 

4.  Jesus  then^ really  suffered  for  all  men  ; 
for  the  Cross  was  no  illusion  ^,  otherwise  our 
redemption  is  an  illusion  also.  His  death  was 
not  a  mere  show  s,  for  then  is  our  salvation 
also  fabulous;  If  His  death  was  but  a  show, 
they  were  true  who  said.  We  remember  that 
that  deceiver  said,  white  He  was  yet  alive.  After 
three  days  I  rise  agaifi  ^.  His  Passion  then 
was  real :  for  He  was  really  crucified,  and  we 
are  not  ashamed  thereat ;  He  was  crucified, 
and  we  deny  it  not,  nay,  I  rather  glory  to 
speak  of  it.  For  though  I  should  now  deny 
it,  here  is  Golgotha  to  confute  me,  near 
which  we  are  now  assembled ;  the  wood  of 
the  Cross  confutes  me,  which  was  afterwards 
distributed  piecemeal  from  hence  to  all  the 
world  7.  I  confess  the  Cross,  because  1  know 
of  the  Resurrection;  for  if,  after  being  cruci- 
fied, He  had  remained  as  He  was,  I  had  not 
perchance  confessed  it,  for  1  might  have  con- 
cealed both  it  and  my  Master ;  but  now  that 
the  Resurrection  has  followed  the  Cross,  I  am 
not  ashamed  to  declare  it. 

5.  Being  then  in  the  flesh  like  others.  He 
was  crucified,  but  not  for  the  like  sins.  For 
He  was  not  led  to  death  for  covetousness, 
since  He  was  a  Teacher  of  poverty ;  nor  was 
He  condemned  for  concupiscence,  for  He 
Himself  says  plainly,  Whosoever  shall  look  upoti 
a  ivoman  to  lust  after  her,  hath  conimiited 
adultery  ivith  her  already^;  not  for  smiting  or 
striking  hastily,  for  He  turned  the  other  cheek 
also  to  the  smiter ;  not  for  despising  the  Law, 
for  He  was  the  fulfiller  of  the  Law ;  not  for 
reviling  a  prophet,  for  it  was  Himself  who  was 
proclaimed  by  the  Prophets  ;  not  for  defrauding 
any  of  their  hire,  lor  He  ministered  without 
reward  and  freely ;  not  for  sinning  in  words,  or 
deeds,  or  thoughts,  He  7vho  did  tio  sin,  neither 
was  guile  found  in  His  nunith ;  who  when  He 
was  reviled,  reviled  not  again;  when  He  stif 


'  Matt,  xxvii.  24. 

3  Luke  xxiii.  41.  Cf.  Cat  xili.  30,  31.  The  Benedictine 
Editor  remarks,  "We  know  not  whence  Cyril  took  the  notion 
that  the  two  rii'bbers  were  present  at  the  trial  of  Jesus."  He  may 
have  inferred  from  the  words  ev  rto  avT(Z  /cpiMiTithat  the  sentence 
of  crucifixion  was  pronounced  on  them  at  the  same  time  as  on 
Jesus. 

4  firiKijtri?.  Cf.  Ignat.  Smym.  §  2:  "He  siififered  truly,  as 
also  He  raised  Himself  truly  :  not  as  certain  unbelievers  say, 
that  He  suffered  in  semblance  (to  fioKeti/  a.\n'ov  irenovOevai)."  See 
§  37,  below. 

5  (frai'TacrtciSj);.  Athanas.  c.  Aftolli>iar.  §  3  :  "  Supposing  the 
exhibition  and  the  endurance  of  the  Passion  to  be  a  mere  show 
((^avToert'av)." 

Matt,  xxvii.  63.  7  Cf.  iv.  10  ;  x.  19.  8  Matt.  v.  28. 


fered,  threatened  not^ ;  M'ho  came  to  His  pas- 
sion, not  unwillingl)',  but  willingly;  yea,  if 
any  dissuading  Him  say  even  now,  Be  it  far 
from  Thee,  Lord,  He  will  say  again,  Get  thee 
belwid  Me,  Satan  '. 

6.  And  wouldest  thou  be  persuaded  that 
He  came  to  His  passion  willingly?  others, 
who  foreknow  it  not,  die  unwillingly ;  but  He 
spake  before  of  His  passion  :  Behold,  the  Son 
of  man  is  betrayed  to  be  crucified"^.  But  knowest 
thou  wherefore  this  Friend  of  man  shunned 
not  death  ?  It  was  lest  the  whole  world  should 
perish  in  its  sins.  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  Son  of  tnati  shall  be  betrayed, 
and  shall  be  crucified'^ ;  and  again.  He stedfisily 
set  His  face  to  go  to  Jerusalem  4.  And  wouldest 
thou  know  certainly,  that  the  Cross  is  a  glory 
to  Jesus?  Hear  His  own  words,  not  mine. 
Judas  had  become  ungrateful  to  the  Master  of 
the  house,  and  was  about  to  betray  Him. 
Having  but  just  now  gone  forth  from  the 
table,  and  drunk  His  cup  of  blessing,  in  return 
for  that  draught  of  salvation  he  sought  to  shed 
righteous  blood.  He  who  did  eat  of  His  bread, 
was  lifting  up  his  heel  agaitist  Him  5  /  his  hands 
were  but  lately  receiving  the  blessed  gifts  ^,  and 
presently  for  the  wages  of  betrayal  he  was 
plotting  His  death.  And  being  reproved,  and 
having  heard  that  vvord.  Thou  hast  saidT,  he 
again  went  out  :  then  said  Jesus,  The  hour 
is  come,  that  the  Son  of  man  should  be  glori- 
fied^. Seest  thou  how  He  knew  the  Cross  to 
be  His  proper  glory?  What  then,  is  Esaias 
not  ashamed  of  being  sawn  asunder  9,  and 
shall  Christ  be  ashamed  of  dying  for  the 
world  ?  Nojv  is  the  Son  of  niaji  glorified '.  Not 
that  He  was  without  glory  before  :  for  He  was 
glorified  zvith  the  glory  which  was  before  the 
Joundalion  of  the  world^.  He  was  ever  glorified 
as  God  ;  but  now  He  was  to  be  glorified  in 
wearing  the  Crown  of  His  patience.  He  gave 
not  up  His  life  by  compulsion,  nor  was  He 
put  to  death  by  murderous  violence,  but  of 
His  own  accord.  Hear  what  He  says  :  I  have 
power  to  lay  down  My  life,  and  I  have  power  to 
take  it  again  ^:  I  yield  it  of  My  own  choice  to 
My  enemies ;   for  unless  I  chose,  this   could 


9  I  Pet.  ii.  22,  23.  *  Matt.  xvi.  22,  23.  2  lb.  xxvi.  2. 

3  lb.  XX.  18.  4  Luke  ix.  5.  S  Ps.  xli.  9. 

*  "to?  cuAoyios.  The  word  has  this  meaning  in  Chrysostom 
and  Cyril  of  Alexandria  also;  afterwards  it  came  to  sianify  con- 
secrated bread,  distinct  from  that  of  the  Eucharist.  Vid.  Bing- 
ham. Antiq.  XV.  4,  §  3."  (R.  W.  C.) 

Tl  e  custom  of  sending  the  bread  of  the  Eucharist  was  for- 
bidden in  the  latter  part  of  the  4th  century  by  the  Synod  of 
Laodicea,  Canon  14:  "At  Eas'er  the  Host  shall  no  more  be  sent 
into  foreign  dioceses  as  eulogiae"  Bp.  Hefele  {Councils  II. 
p.  308)  says — "  It  was  a  custom  in  the  ancient  Church,  not  indeed 
to  consecrate,  but  to  bless  those  of  the  several  breads  of  the  same 
form  laid  un  the  altar  which  were  not  needed  for  the  Communion, 
and  to  employ  them  partly  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Clergy, 
and  partly  lor  distributing  them  to  those  of  the  faithful  who  did 
not  communicate  at  the  Mass."  See  Eusebius  {Hist.  JSules.  V. 
24),  with  the  note  thereon  in  this  Series. 

7  Matt.  xxvi.  25.  8  John  xii.  23.  9  See  Cat.  ii.  14, 

note4.  '  John  xiii.  31.  *  lb.  xvii.  J.  3  lb.  x.  18. 


G  2 


84 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


not  be.  He  came  therefore  of  Ilis  own  set 
purpose  to  His  passion,  rejoicing  in  His  noble 
deed,  smiling  at  the  crown,  cheered  by  the 
salvation  of  mankind ;  not  ashamed  of  the 
Cross,  for  it  was  to  save  the  world.  For  it 
was  no  common  man  who  suffered,  but  God  in 
man's  nature,  striving  for  the  prize  of  His 
patience. 

7.  But  the  Jews  contradict  this'^,  ever  ready, 
as  they  are,  to  cavil,  and  backward  to  believe ; 
so  that  for  this  cause  the  Prophet  just  now 
read  says,  Lord,  ivho  hath  believed  our  report^  ? 
Persians  believe^,  and  Hebrews  believe  not; 
they  shall  see,  to  who:n  He  was  not  spoken  of, 
and  they  that  have  not  heard  shall  understand'^, 
while  they  who  study  these  things  shall  set  at 
nought  what  they  study.  They  speak  against 
us,  and  say,  "  Does  the  Lord  then  sufter  ? 
What  ?  Had  men's  hands  power  over  His  sove- 
reignty ?"  Read  the  Lamentations;  for  in 
those  Lamentations,  Jeremias,  lamenting  you, 
wrote  what  is  worthy  of  lamentations.  He  saw 
your  destruction,  he  beheld  your  downfall,  he 
bewailed  Jerusalem  which  then  was ;  for  that 
which  noiv  is^  shall  not  be  bewailed  ;  for  that 
Jerusalem  crucified  the  Christ,  but  that  which 
now  is  worships  Him.  Lamenting  then  he 
says.  The  breath  0/  our  countenance,  Christ  the 
Lord  was  taken  in  our  corruptions'^.  Am  I  then 
stating  views  of  mv  own?  Behold  he  testifies 
of  the  Lord  Christ  seized  by  men.  And  what 
is  to  follow  from  this  ?  Tell  me,  O  Prophet. 
He  says,  Of  whom  we  said,  Under  Llis  shadow 
ive  shall  live  among  the  nations'^.  For  he  signi- 
fies that  the  grace  of  life  is  no  longer  to  dwell 
in  Israel,  but  among  the  Gentiles. 

8.  But  since  there  has  been  much  gainsaying 
by  them,  come,  let  me,  with  the  help  of  your 
prayers,  (as  the  shortness  of  the  time  may 
allow,)  set  forth  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  some 
few  testimonies  concerning  the  Passion.  For 
the  things  concerning  Christ  are  all  put  into 
writing,  and  nothing  is  doubtful,  for  nothing 
is  without  a  text.  All  are  inscribed  on  the 
monuments  of  the  Prophets  ;  clearly  written, 
not  on  tablets  of  stone,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Since  then  thou  hast  heard  the  Gospel  speak- 
ing  concerning   Judas,   oughtest  thou  not  to 


4  There  is  so  close  a  resemblance  between  the  remainder  of 

this  Lecture  and  the  explanation  of  the  same  Article  of  the  Creed 

by  Ruriniis,  that  "  I  have  no  doubt,"  says  the  Benedictine  Editor, 

'  that  Riifinus  drew  from  Cyril's  fountains."     Cf.  Rufm.  de  Sym- 

bolo,  §  19.  sgq.  5  Isa.  Hi.  15. 

"  Cf.  Acts  ii.  9  :  Parthians  and  Medes  and  Elamites.  These 
Jewish  converts  of  the  day  of  Pentecost  would  naturally  be  the 
lirst  heralds  of  the  Gospel  iu  their  respective  countries.  On  the 
dispersion  of  ihe  Apostles,  "P.irthia,  according  to  tradition,  was 
al.oUed  to  Thomas  as  his  field  of  l.ibour"  (Euseb.  Hist.  Eccl. 
III.  I  ;  cf.  I.  13).  An  earlier  notice  of  the  tradition  is  found  in 
the  Cteinentine  Recognitions,  L.  IX.  c.  29,  where  the  Pseudo- 
Clement  professes  to  have  received  a  letter  from  "  Thomas,  who  is 
preaching  the  Gospel  among  them." 

7  Rom.  XV.  21,  quoted  from  Isaiah,  u  s.  ^  G^].  iv.  25. 

9  Lam.  iv.  20:  The  brcatli  oj  our  nostrils,  tlic  anointed  0/ the 
Lord,  was  taken  in  tlieir pits.  '  Ibid. 


receive  the  testimony  to  it  ?  Thou  hast  heard 
that  He  was  pierced  in  the  side  by  a  spear ; 
oughtest  thou  not  to  see  whether  this  also  is 
written  ?  Thou  hast  heard  that  He  was  cruci- 
fied in  a  garden  ;  oughtest  thou  not  to  see 
whether  this  also  is  written  ?  Thou  hast  heard 
that  He  was  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  ; 
oughtest  thou  not  to  learn  what  prophet  spake 
this?  Thou  hast  heard  that  He  was  given 
vinegar  to  drink ;  learn  where  this  also  is 
written.  Thou  hast  heard  that  His  body  was 
laid  in  a  rock,  and  that  a  stone  was  set  over 
it ;  oughtest  thou  not  to  receive' this  testimony 
also  from  the  prophet  ?  Thou  hast  heard  that 
He  was  crucified  with  robbers  ;  oughtest  thou 
not  to  see  whether  this  also  is  written?  Thou 
hast  heard  that  He  was  buried  ;  oughtest  thou 
not  to  see  whether  the  circumstances  of  His 
burial  are  anywhere  accurately  written  ?  Thou 
hast  heard  that  He  rose  again  ;  oughtest  thou 
not  to  see  whether  we  mock  thee  in  teaching 
these  things  ?  For  our  speech  and  our  preaching 
is  not  in  persuasive  words  ofman^s  wisdom'^.  We 
stir  now  no  sophistical  contrivances  ;  for  these 
become  exposed ;  we  do  not  conquer  words 
with  words  3,  for  these  come  to  an  end  ;  but  we 
preach  Christ  Crticifed'',  who  has  already  been 
preached  aforetime  by  the  Prophets.  But  do 
thou,  I  pray,  receive  the  testimonies,  and  seal 
them  in  thine  heart.  And,  since  they  are 
many,  and  the  rest  of  our  time  is  narrowed 
into  a  short  space,  listen  now  to  a  it\y  of  the 
more  important  as  time  permits  ;  and  having 
received  these  beginnings,  be  diligent  and  seek 
out  the  remainder.  Let  not  thine  hand  .be 
only  stretched  out  to  receive,  but  let  it  be  also 
ready  to  worK  s.  God  gives  all  things  freely. 
For  if  any  of  you  lack  ivisdotn,  let  him  ask  of 
God  ivhogiveth  ^C^'*),  and  he  shall  receive.  May 
He  through  your  prayer  grant  utterance  to  us 
who  speak,  and  faith  to  you  who  hear. 

9.  ]^et  us  then  seek  the  testimonies  to  the 
Passion  of  Christ  :  for  we  are  met  together, 
not  now  to  make  a  speculative  exi)osition  of 
the  Scriptures,  but  rather  to  be  certified  of  the 
things  which  we  already  believe.  Now  thou 
hast  received  irom  me  first  the  testimonies 
concerning  the  coming  of  Jesus;  and  concern- 
ing His  walking  on  the  sea,  for  it  is  written. 
Thy  way  is  in  the  sea  ^.   Also  concerning  divers 


»  I  Cor.  ii.  4.  The  simple  style  of  the  New  Testament  is 
defended  by  Origen,  c.  Celsum,  iii.  68,  and  in  many  other  pas- 
sages. 

3  Cyril  alludes  to  the  same  proverb  in  the  Homily  on  the 
Paralytic,  c.  14  :  "Word  resists  word,  but  a  deed  is  irresistible." 
The  Jerusalem  Editor  refers  to  Gregory  Nazianzen  (I'oni.  II. 
p.  596)  :   Aoyo)  jraAatei  was  Adyoi. 

4  I  Cor.  i.  23. 

5  Ecclus.  iv.  31  :  Let  not  thine  hand  be  stretched  out  to 
receive,  and  shut  when  thou  shouldest  re/'ay.  I'he  pas.sage  is 
quoted  in  the  Didache,  c.  iv.,  Barnab.  Epist.  c.  xix.,  and  Constit. 
Apost.  VII.  II.  5(i"-)  James  i.  5. 

6  Ps.  U.>:vii.  19.     The  Benedictine  Euitor,  wuh  no  authority 


LECTURE   XIII. 


85 


cures  thou  hast  on  another  occasion  received 
testimony.  Now  therefore  I  begin  from  whence 
the  Passion  began.  Judas  was  the  traitor, 
and  lie  came  against  Him,  and  stood,  speaking 
words  of  peace,  but  plotting  war.  Concerning 
him,  therefore,  the  Psalmist  says,  Afy  frietids 
and  My  neighbours  drew  near  against  Me,  aftd 
stood  K  And  again.  Their  words  were  sofier  than 
oil,  yet  be  they  spears  ^.  Hail,  Master  "^  ;  yet  he 
was  betraying  his  Master  to  death  ;  he  was  not 
abashed  at  His  warning,  when  He  sa.\d,  Jtidas, 
belraxest  thou  the  Son  of  Man  with  a  kiss  '  ?  for 
what  He  said  to  him  was  just  this.  Recollect 
thine  own  name;  Judas  means  cofifession^;  thou 
hast  covenanted,  thou  hast  received  the  money, 
make  confession  quickly.  O  God,  pass  not 
over  My  praise  in  silence  ;  for  the  7nouih  of  the 
wicked,  and  the  ?nouth  of  the  deceitful,  are 
opened  against  Me;  they  have  spoken  against 
Me  with  a  treacherous  tongue,  they  have  com- 
passed Me  about  also  with  zvords  of  hatred^. 
But  that  some  of  the  chief-priests  also  were 
present,  and  that  He  was  put  in  bonds  before 
the  gates  of  the  city,  thou  hast  heard  before, 
if  thou  rememberest  the  exposition  of  the 
Psalm,  which  has  told  the  time  and  the  place  ; 
how  they  ?-eturned  at  evening,  and  hungered  like 
dogs,  and  encompassed  the  city^. 

lo.  Listen  also  for  the  thirty  pieces  of 
silver.  And  I  will  say  to  them,  If  it  be  good 
in  your  sight,  give  me  my  price,  or  refuse^,  and 
the  rest.  One  price  is  owing  to  Me  from  you 
for  My  healing  the  blind  and  lame,  and  I 
receive  another ;  for  thanksgiving,  dishonour, 
and  for  worship,  insult.  Seest  thou  hovv  the 
Scripture  foresaw  these  things  ?  And  they 
weighed  for  My  price  thirty  pieces  of  silver  ^. 
How  exact  the  prophecy  !  how  great  and  un- 
erring the  wisdom  of  the  Holy  Ghost !  For 
he  said,  not  ten,  nor  twenty,  but  thirty,  exactly 
as  many  as  there  were.  Tell  also  what  be- 
comes of  this  price,  O  Prophet !  Does  he  who 
received  it  keep  it?  or  does  he  give  it  back? 
and  after  he  has  given  it  back,  what  becomes 
of  it?  The  Prophet  says  then.  And  I  took 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  cast  them  itito  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  i?ito  thefoutidry  t.  Compare 
the  Gospel  with  the  Prophecy  :  Judas,  it  says, 
repented  himself,  and  cast  down  the  pieces  of  silver 
in  the  temple,  and  departed^. 

but  the  Latin  version  by  Grodecq,  inserts  a  quotation  of  Job  be.  8  : 
IV ho  Tvalketh  on  the  sea,  as  on  a  pavement.     Ct.  xi.  23. 

7  Ps.  xxxviii.  11.  8  Jb.  Iv.  21. 

9  Matt.  xxvi.  49.  *  Luke  xxii.  48. 

2  Cf.  Phil.  Jud.  de  Plantatione  Noe,  II  §33:  "And  his 
name  was  called  Judah,  which  being  interpreted  is  "confession 
to  the  Lord."  In  Gcii.  xlix.  8  the  name  is  difierently  interpreted  : 
"Judah,  thou  art  he  whom  thy  brethren  shall  praise."  Ihe  root 
has  both  senses  "  t'i  confes.=,"  and  "to  praise,"  which  are  closely 
allied,  since  to  "confess"  is  to  "give  God  the  glory"  (Josh, 
vii.  19).  3  Ps.  cix.  1 — 3. 

■*  Ps.  lix.  6.  The  exposition  was  probably  given  in  a  sermon 
preached  to  the  whole  congregation,  not  in  thi-se  Lectures. 

5  Zech.  xi.  12.  6  lb.  7  lb.  xi.  13. 

8  Matt,  xxvii.   3,  5. 


ri.  But  now  I  have  to  seek  the  exact  solu- 
tion of  this  seeming  discrepancy.  For  they 
who  make  light  of  the  prophets,  allege  that  the 
Prophet  says  on  the  one  hand,  And  I  cast  them 
into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  into  the  foundry,  but 
the  Gospel  on  the  other  hand,  And  they  gave 
them  for  the  potter's  fields.  Hear  then  how  they 
are  both  true.  For  those  conscientious  Jews 
forsooth,  the  high -priests  of  that  time,  when 
they  saw  that  Judas  repented  and  said,  I  have 
sinned,  in  that  I  have  betrayed  innocent  blood, 
reply,  What  is  that  to  us,  see  thou  to  that  \  Is 
it  then  nothing  to  you,  the  crucifiers?  but 
shall  he  who  received  and  restored  the  price 
of  murder  see  to  it,  and  shall  ye  the  murderers 
not  see  to  it?  Then  they  say  among  them- 
selves, //  is  not  latvful  to  cast  them  i?ito  the 
treasury,  because  it  is  the  price  of  blood  ^.  Out 
of  your  own  mouths  is  your  condemnation  ; 
if  the  price  is  polluted,  the  deed  is  polluted 
also  ;  but  if  thou  art  fulfilling  righteousness  in 
crucifying  Christ,  why  receivest  thou  not  the 
price  of  it?  But  the  point  of  inquiry  is  this: 
how  is  there  no  disagreement,  if  the  Gospel 
says,  the  potter's  field,  and  the  Prophet,  the 
foundry?  Nay,  but  not  only  peojjle  who  are 
goldsmiths,  or  brass-founders,  have  a  foundry, 
but  potters  also  have  foundries  for  their  clay. 
For  they  sift  off  the  fine  and  rich  and  useful  earth 
from  the  gravel,  and  separate  from  it  the  mass 
of  the  refuse  matter,  and  temper  the  clay  first 
with  water,  that  they  may  work  it  with  ease 
into  the  forms  intended.  Why  then  wonderest 
thou  that  the  Gospel  says  plainly  the  potter's 
field,  whereas  the  Prophet  spoke  his  prophecy 
like  an  enigma,  since  prophecy  is  in  many 
places  enigmatical? 

12.  They  bound  Jesus,  and  brought  Him 
into  the  hall  of  the  High-priest.  And  wouldest 
thou  learn  and  know  that  this  also  is  written  ? 
Esaias  says,  Woe  unto  their  soul,  for  they  have 
taken  evil  counsel  against  themselves,  saying.  Let 
us  bind  the  Just,  for  He  is  troublesome  to  us  3. 
And  truly,  Woe  unto  their  soul  I  Let  us  see 
how.  Esaias  was  sawn  asunder,  yet  after 
this  the  people  was  restored.  Jeremias  was 
cast  into  the  mire  of  the  cistern,  yet  was 
the  wound  of  the  Jews  healed  ;  for  the  sin 
was  less,  since  it  was  against  man.  But 
when  the  Jews  sinned,  not  against  man,  but 
against  God  in  man's  nature,  Woe  unto  their 
soul  I — Let  us  bind  the  Just ;  could  He  not 
then  set  Himself  free,  some  one  will  say ; 
He,  who  freed  Lazarus  from  the  bonds  of 
death   on  the  fourth  day,  and  loosed  Peter 


9  Matt,  xxvii.  3,  7.  »  lb.  v.  4.  »  lb.  v.  6. 

3  Isa.  iii.  9  :  (R.V.)  thty  have  rewarded ez'il  unto  themselves . 
Say  ye  of  the  righteous,  that  it  shall  be  veil  -with  him.  In  the 
Septtiagint,  from  which  Cyril  quotes,  there  is  an  evident  intei- 
polation  of  Wisdom  ii.  12  :  Let  us  lie  in  ivait  for  the  righteozii ; 
bei.ause  he  is  not  for  our  turti  (SOcrxpiio-Tos,  as  in  Cyril). 


S6 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


from  the  iron  bands  of  a  prison  ?  Angels 
stood  ready  at  hand,  saying,  Le/  us  burst  their 
bands  in  sunder'' ;  but  they  hold  back,  because 
their  Lord  willed  to  undergo  it.  Again,  He 
was  led  to  the  judgment-seat  before  the 
Elders  ;  thou  hast  already  the  testimony  to 
this,  7 he  Lord  Himself  ivill  come  into  judgment 
with  the  ancients  of  His  people,  and  with  the 
princes  thereof^. 

13.  But  the  High-priest  having  questioned 
Him,  and  heard  the  truth,  is  wroth  ;  and  the 
wicked  officer  of  wicked  men  smites  Him  ; 
and  the  countenance,  which  had  shone  as 
the  sun,  endured  to  be  smitten  by  lawless 
hands.  Others  also  come  and  spit  on  the 
face  of  Him,  who  by  spittle  had  healed  the 
man  who  was  blind  from  his  birth.  Do  ye 
thus  requite  the  Lordt  This  people  is  foolish 
and  ujnvise'^.  And  the  Prophet  greatly  won- 
dering, says,  Lord,  tvho  hath  believed  our 
report  T 'i  for  the  thing  is  incredible,  that  God, 
the  Son  of  God,  and  the  Arm  of  the  Lord^, 
should  suffer  such  things.  But  that  they  who 
are  being  saved  may  not  disbelieve,  the  Holy 
Ghost  writes  before,  in  the  person  of  Christ; 
who  says,  (for  He  who  then  spake  these  things, 
was  afterward  Himself  an  actor  in  them,)  / 
gave  My  back  to  the  scourges  ;  (for  Pilate,  zvhen 
he  had  scojirged  Him,  delivered  Him  to  be 
crucified'^;)  atid  Afy  cheeks  to  smi/ings ;  and  My 
face  L  turned  not  away  from  the  shame  of 
spittings  ;  saying,  as  it  were,  "Though  knowing 
before  that  they  will  smite  Me,  I  did  not  even 
turn  My  cheek  aside  ;  for  how  should  I  have 
nerved  My  disciples  against  death  for  truth's 
sake,  had  I  Myself  dreaded  this?"  I  said. 
He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it^:  if  I  had 
loved  My  life,  how  was  I  to  teach  without 
practising  what  I  taught?  First  then,  being 
Himself  God,  He  endured  to  suffer  these 
things  at  the  hands  of  men ;  that  after  this, 
we  men,  when  we  su lifer  such  things  at  the 
hands  of  men  for  His  sake,  might  not  be 
ashamed.  Thou  seest  that  of  these  things 
also  the  prophets  have  clearly  written  before- 
hand. Many,  however,  of  the  Scripture  testi 
monies  I  pass  by  for  want  of  time,  as  I  said 
before  ;  for  if  one  should  exactly  search  out  all, 
not  one  of  the  things  concerning  Christ  would 
be  left  without  witness. 

14.  Having  been  bound,  He  came  from 
Caiaphas  to  Pilate, — is  this  too  written  ?  yes  ; 
And  having  boufid  Him,  they  led  Llim  aivay  as 
a  present  to  the  king  of  Jarim^.    But  here  some 


5  Isa.  iii.  14.  6  Dent,  xxxii.  6. 

8  Ibid. '       ■  9  Isa.  1.  6  ;  Matt,  xxvii.  26. 


4  Ps.  ii.  3. 

7  Isu  liii.  X. 

'  John  xii.  25< 

»  Hosea  x.  6  :  (R.  V.)  It  also  shall  be  carried  unto  Assyria 
for  a  present  to  king  Jareb.  This  passage  is  appliea  in  the  same 
maiuier  to  Luke  x.viii.  7  by  Justin  M.  (Trv/ilt.  S  103),  TertuUian 
(r.  Maicion.  iv.  42),  and  Rufinus  (de  Syiii/'oto,  §  21),  who  adds, — 
"And  rightly  Uocs  tlie  Prophet   add   the  name   'Jarmi,'  which 


sharp  hearer  will  object,  "Pilate  was  not  a  king," 
(to  leave  for  a  while  the  main  parts  of  the 
question,)  "  how  then  having  bound  Him,  led 
they  Him  as  a  present  to  the  king?"  But 
read  thou  the  Gospel ;  When  Pilate  heard  that 
Lie  was  of  Galilee,  he  sent  Him  to  Herod  3  /  for 
Herod  was  then  king,  and  was  present  at  Jeru- 
salem. And  now  observe  the  exactness  of  the 
Prophet ;  for  he  says,  that  He  was  sent  as 
a  present ;  for  the  same  day  Pilate  and  Herod 
were  made  friends  together,  for  before  they  were 
at  enmity''.  For  it  became  Him  who  was  on  the 
eve  of  making  peace  between  earth  and  heaven, 
to  make  the  very  men  who  condemned  Him 
the  first  to  be  at  peace  ;  for  the  Lord  Himself 
was  there  present,  who  reconciles  ■>  the  hearts  of 
the  princes  of  the  earth.  Mark  the  exactness 
of  the  Prophets,  and  their  true  testimony. 

15.  Look  with  awe  then  at  the  Lord  who  was 
judged.  He  suffered  Himself  to  be  led  and  car- 
ried by  soldiers.  Pilate  sat  in  judgment,  and 
He  who  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
stood  and  was  judged*^.  The  people  whom  He 
had  redeemed  from  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
ofttimes  from  other  places,  shouted  against 
Him,  Azuay  ivith  Him,  azvay  zvith  Him,  crucify 
HimT.  Wherefore,  O  ye  Jews?  because  He 
healed  yo  n*  blind  ?  or  because  He  made  your 
lame  to  walk,  and  bestowed  His  other  benefits? 
So  that  the  Prophet  in  amazement  speaks  of 
this  too.  Against  whom  have  ye  opened  your 
mouth,  and  against  zvhom  have  ye  let  loose  your 
tongue  ^2  and  the  Lord  Himself  says  in  the 
Prophets,  Mine  heritage  became  unto  Me  as 
a  lion  in  the  forest ;  it  gave  its  voice  against 
Me ;  therefore  have  L  hated  if^.  I  have  not 
refused  them,  but  they  have  refused  Me ;  in 
consequence  thereof  1  say,  L  have  forsaken  My 
house '. 

16.  When  He  was  judged.  He  held  His 
peace  :  so  that  Pilate  was  moved  for  Him, 
and  said,  Heai-est  Thou  not  zvluit  these  zvitncss 
against  Thee  ^2  Not  that  He  knew  Him  who 
was  judged,  but  he  feared  his  own  wife's  dream 
which  had  been  reported  to  him.  And  Jesus 
held  His  peace.  The  Psalmist  says.  And  L 
became  as  a  man  that  heareth  not;  and  in 
zvhose  mouth  are  no  reproofs'^;  and  again,  Bui 
L  zvas  as  a  deaf  man  and  heard  not ;  and  as 
a  dumb  man  that  openeth  not  his  mouih^.    I'hou 


means  'a  wild  vine,'  for  Herod  was  ...  a  wild  vine,  i.e.  of  an 

alien  stock."  For  the  various  interpret.-.tions  of  the  name  see  the 
Commentaries  on  Hosea  v.  13,  and  x.  6  ;  Sclirnder,  Cuneijotm 
Inscriptions, 11.  §  439,  Driver,  Introduction  to  O.  f.  Literaturt, 

3  Luke  xxiii.  6,  7.  4  Iljid.  xxiii.  12. 

5  Job  xii.  24  :  (R.V.)  He  takcth  away  tlie  heart  of  the  chiefs 
of  t/te  people  of  the  earth.  The  rendering  ''who  reconciles" 
(b  Si.aKKa.(Taiav.  Sept.)  is  forbidden  by  the  context. 

6  Some  MSS.  iiave  tyrto-xt to  or  iji-cix^TO,  "  He  submitted  to 
stand." 

7  Josh.  xix.  15.  8  I^a    Ivii.  4. 

9  Jer.  xii.  8.  '  Ibid.  v.  7.  -  Matt,  xxvii.  13. 

3  Ps.  xxxviii.  14.  4  ILid.  v.  13. 


LECTURE   XIII. 


87 


hnst  before  heard  concerning  this s,  if  thou  re- 
memberest. 

17.  But  the  soldiers  who  crowd  around 
mock  Him,  and  their  Lord  becomes  a 
sport  to  them,  and  upon  their  Master  they 
make  jests.  ll'Vicu  they  looked  on  Me,  they 
shaked  their  heads  ^.  Yet  the  figure  of  kingly 
state  appears;  for  though  in  mockery,  yet  they 
bend  the  knee.  And  the  soldiers  before  they 
crucify  Him,  put  on  Him  a  purple  robe,  and 
set  a  crown  on  His  head;  for  what  though 
it  be  of  thorns?  Every  king  is  proclaimed  by 
soldiers  ;  and  Jesus  also  must  in  a  figure  be 
crowned  by  soldiers  ;  so  that  for  this  cause 
the  Scripture  says  in  the  Canticles,  Go  forth, 
O  ye  daughters  of  Jerusalem^  and  look  upon 
King  Solomon  in  the  crown  whei'ewith  His 
mother  crowned  Him  ?.  And  the  crown  itself 
was  a  mystery  ;  for  it  was  a  remission  of  sins, 
a  release  from  the  curse. 

1-8.  Adam  received  the  sentence.  Cursed  is 
the  ground  in  thy  labours ;  thorns  and  thistles 
shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee  ^.     For  this  cause 
Jesus  assumes  the  thorns,  that  He  may  cancel 
the   sentence;    for   this   cause   also   was    He 
buried  in  the  earth,  that  the  earth  which  had 
been  cursed  might  receive  the  blessing  instead 
of  a  curse.      At  the   time   of  the  sin,   they 
clothed   themselves   with   fig-leaves ;    for    this 
cause  Jesus  also  made  the  fig-tree  the  last  of 
His  signs.     For   when   about  to   go   to    His 
passion,  He  curses  the  fig- tree,  not  every  fig- 
tree,  but  that  one  alone,  for  the  sake  of  the 
figure  ;  saying,  No  more  let  any  man  eat  fruit  of 
thee'^;  let  the  doom  be  cancelled.    And  because 
they  aforetime    clothed    themselves    with    fig- 
leaves,  He  came  at  a  season  when  food  was 
not  wont  to  be  found  on  the  fig-tree.     Who 
knows  not  that  in  winter-time  the  fig-tree  bears 
no  fruit,  but  is  clothed  with  leaves  only?    Was 
Jesus  ignorant  of  this,  which  all  knew?     No, 
but  though  He  knew,  yet  He  came  as  if  seek- 
ing;    not  ignorant  that   He   should  not   find, 
but  shewing  that  the  emblematical  curse  ex- 
tended to  the  leaves  only. 

19.  x'^nd  since  we  have  touched  on  things 
connected  with  Paradise,  I  am  truly  astonished 
at  the  truth  of  the  types.  In  Paradise  was 
the  Fall,  and  in  a  Garden  was  our  Salvation. 
From  the  Tree  came  sin,  and  until  the  Tree 
sin  lasted.  In  the  evening,  when  the  Lord 
walked  in  the  Garden,  they  hid  themselves ' ; 
and  in  the  evening  the  robber  is  brought  by 
the  Lord  into  Paradise.  But  some  one  will 
say  to  me,  "  Thou  art  inventing  subtleties  ; 


5  "  Perhaps  in  some  Homily"  (Ben.  Ed.).  6  Ps.  cix.  25. 

7  Cant.  iii.  ii. 

8  Gen.  iii.  17,  18.  By  mistaking  one  letter  in  the  Hebrew,  the 
Seventy  give  the  meaning  "in  thy  labours"  instead  of  "I'or  thy 
s.ike."  9  Markxi.  i  '  Gen.  iii.  8.  I 


shew  me  from  some  prophet  the  Wood  of  the 
Cross  ;  e.xcept  thou  give  me  a  testimony  from 
a  prophet,  I  will  not  be  persuaded.    Hear  then 
from  Jeremias,  and  assure  thyself;  /  ivas  like 
a  harmless  lamb  led  to  be  slaughtered ;  did  I  not 
kno7v  if^l  (for  in  this  manner  read  it  as  a  ques- 
tion, as  I  have  read  it ;  for  He  who  said,    Ye 
knoiu  that  after  two  days  comes  the  passover, 
a?id  the  Son  of  Alan  is  betrayed  to  be  crucified  -, 
did  He  not  know?)    Iiuas like  a  harmless  lamb 
led  to  be  slaughtered  ;  did  I  not  knoiv  ill    (but 
what  sort  of  lamb  ?    let  John  the  Baptist  inter- 
pret it,  when  he  says.  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God, 
that  taketh  aivay  the  sin  of  the  worlds.)     They 
devised  aniifist  Ale  a  wicked  device,  savinp-^, — 
(He  who  knows  the  devices,  knew  He  not  the 
result    of   them'?     And    what   said    they?) — 
Conifi,  and  let  us  place  a  beam  upon  His  bread^ — 
(and   if  the    Lord   reckon   thee    worthy,   thou 
shalt  hereafter  learn,  that  His  body  according 
to  the  Gospel  bore  the  figure  of  bread  ;) — 
Come  then,  and  let  us  place  a  beam  upon  His 
bread,  and  cut  Him  off  out  of  the  land  of  the 
living ; — (life  is  not  cut  off,  why  labour  ye  for 
nought?) — And  His  na?ne  shall  be  remembered 
no  more.     Vain  is  your  counsel ;  for  before  the 
sun  His  Name7  abideth  in  the  Church.     And 
that   it   was   Life,  which  hung    on   the    Cross, 
Moses    says,    weeping,   And  thy   life  shall  be 
hanging  before  thine   eyes ;   and  thou   shalt  be 
afraid  day  and  night,  and  thou  shalt  not  trust 
thy  life^.    And  so  too,  what  was  just  now  read 
as  the  text,  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report  1 
20.  This  was  the  figure  which  Moses  com- 
pleted  by  fixing  the   serpent  to  a  cross,  that 
whoso    had    been    bitten    by    the    living    ser- 
pent,   and    looked    to    the    brasen    serpent, 
might   be    saved    by  believing  9.      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 


a  Jer.  xi.  19  :  /  was  like  a  tame  (R.V.  gentle')  lamb  that  is 
led  to  the  slaughter ;  and  I  knew  not  that  they  had  devised 
devices  againsc  me.  Cyril's  interrogative  rendering  is  not  ad- 
missible. 

3  Matt.  xxvi.  2.  4  John  i.  29.  S  Jer.  xi.  19. 

6  Ibid.  R.V.  Let  us  destroy  the  tree  ivith  the  fruit  thereof. 
The  word  rendered  fruit  is  literally  bread.  The  phrase  is  evi- 
dently proverbial.  The  Heljrew  word  which  means  "  destroy  "  is 
misinterpreted  by  ifji^dAujixev  in  the  Greek.  Hence  arose  the 
fanciful  application  of  the  passage  to  the  Cross  laid  on  the  body  of 
Christ  to  be  borne  by  Him.  Justin  M.  {Tryph.  l.'C.sLii.)  charges 
the  Jews  with  having  recently  cut  out  the  passage  because  of  the 
supposed  reference  to  Christ.  TertuUian  l^adv.  Judceos,  c.  10) 
writes:  "Of  course  on  His  body  that  'wood'  was  put;  for  so 
Christ  has  revealed,  calling  His  body  'bread.'"  He  gives  the 
same  interpretation  elsewhere  (ijrfz'.  Marcion.  III.  ig  ;  IV.  40). 
Cf.  Cyprian  {Testimonia  ad  Q/iirinum,  Lib.  II.  15);  Athanas. 
i^de  [ncarn.  §  33). 

7  Ps.  Ixxii.  17.  8  Deut.  xxviii.  66. 

9  Num.  xxi.  9;  John  Hi.  14.  The  Jerusalem  Editor  asks, 
"How  did  Moses  complete  the  figure  by  fixing  the  serpent  to 
a  cross?  First  he  set  up  the  wood  and  fixed  it  in  the  earth  as 
a  post :  then  by  putting  the  brazen  serpent  athwart  {uKayim' , 
he  formed  a  figure  of  the  Cross."  Cf.  ilarnab.  Epist.  c.  xii.  ; 
Justin  M.  {Ap:>l.  i.  c.  60);  Iren.  \,Hieres.  IV.  c  2);  Tertull.  jiiii. 
Judieos,  c.  10). 


88 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


of  Noe  the  preservation  of  life  was  by  an  ark 
of  wood.  In  tlie  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. 

2T.  The  beginning  of  signs  under  Moses 
was  blood  and  water  ;  and  the  last  of  ail  Jesus' 
signs  was  the  same.  First,  Moses  clianged  the 
river  into  blood;  and  Jesus  at  the  last  gave 
forth  from  His  side  water  with  blood.  This 
was  perhaps  on  account  of  the  two  speeches, 
his  who  judged  Him,  and  theirs  who  cried  out 
against  Him  ;  or  because  of  the  believers  and 
the  unbelievers.  For  Pilate  said,  I  am  innocent, 
and  washed  his  hands  in  water ;  they  who 
cried  out  against  Him  said.  His  blood  be  upon 
us^  :  there  came  therefore  these  two  out  of  His 
side;  the  water,  perhaps,  for  him  who  judged 
Him  ;  but  for  them  that  shouted  against  Hun, 
the  blood.  And  again  it  is  to  be  understood 
in  another  way ;  the  blood  for  the  Jews,  and 
the  water  for  the  Christians :  for  upon  them  as 
plotters  came  the  condemnation  from  the  blood ; 
but  to  thee  who  now  believest,  the  salvation 
which  is  by  water.  For  nothing  has  been  done 
without  a  meaning.  Our  fathers  who  hj^ve 
written  comments  have  given  another  reason 
of  this  matter.  For  since  in  the  Gospels  the 
power  of  salutary  Baptism  is  twofold,  one 
which  is  granted  by  means  of  water  to  the 
illuminated,  and  a  second  to  holy  martyrs,  in 
persecutions,  through  their  own  blood,  there 
came  out  of  that  saving  Side  blood  and  water  2, 
to  contirm  the  grace  of  the  confession  made 
for  Christ,  whether  in  baptism,  or  on  occasions 
of  martyrdom.  •  There  is  another  reason  also 
for  mentioning  the  Side.  The  woman,  who 
was  formed  from  the  side,  led  the  way  to  sin ; 
but  Jesus  who  came  to  bestow  the  grace  of 
pardon  on  men  and  women  alike,  was  pierced 
in  the  side  for  women,  that  He  might  undo 
the  sin. 

22.  And  whoever  will  inquire,  will  find  other 
reasons  also  ;  but  what  has  been  said  is  enough, 
because  of  the  shortness  of  the  time,  and  that 
the  attention  of  my  hearers  may  not  become 
sated.  And  yet  we  never  can  be  tired  of 
hearing  concerning  the  crowning  of  our  Lord, 


*  Matt,  xxvii.  24,  25. 

*  John  xix.  34.  Cf.  Cat.  iii.  lo.  Origen  (/«  Lib.  Judic. 
Horn.  vii.  §  2) :  "  It  is  the  Baptism  of  bloocl  alone  that  can  render 
us  purer  than  the  Baptism  of  water  has  done."  Cf.  Origen  (/« 
Ell.  Matt.  Tom.  xvi.  6):  "  If  Biptisin  promises  remission  of  sins, 
as  we  have  received  concerning  Baptism  in  water  and  the  Spirit, 
and  if  one  who  has  endured  the  Baptism  of  Martyrdom  receives 
remission  of  sins,  then  with  good  reason  martyrdom  may  be  called 
a  Baptism  "  For  a  summary  of  the  "  Patristic  Interpretation" 
o(  the  passage,  see  Bp.  Westcott.  Speaker's  Commentary^ 


and  least  of  all  in  this  most  holy  Golgotha. 
For  others  only  hear,  but  we  both  see  and 
handle.  Let  none  be  weary  ;  take  thine  armour 
against  the  adversaries  in  the  cause  of  the  Cross 
itself;  set  up  the  faith  of  the  Cross  as  a  trophy 
against  the  gainsayers.  For  when  thou  art 
going  to  dispute  with  unbelievers  concerning 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  first  make  with  thy  hand 
the  sign  of  Christ's  Cross,  and  the  gainsayer 
will  be  silenced.  Be  not  ashamed  to  confess 
the  Cross  ;  for  Angels  glory  in  it,  saying.  We 
knoiv  tvJioui ye  seek.,  Jesus  the  Cnicified  3.  Might- 
est  thou  not  say,  O  Angel,  "  I  know  whom  ye 
seek,  my  Master  ?"  But,  "  I,"  he  says  with 
boldness,  "  I  know  the  Crucified."  For  the 
Cross  is  a  Crown,  not  a  dishonour. 

23.  Now  let  us  recur  to  the  proof  out  of 
the  Prophets  which  I  spoke  of.  The  Lord 
was  crucified  ;  thou  hast  received  the  testi- 
monies. Thou  seest  this  spot  of  Golgotha ! 
Thou  answerest  with  a  shout  of  praise,  as  if 
assenting.  See  that  thou  recant  not  in  time 
of  persecution.  Rejoice  not  in  the  Cross  in 
time  of  peace  only,  but  hold  fast  the  same 
faith  in  time  of  persecution  also  ;  be  not  in 
time  of  peace  a  friend  of  Jesus,  and  His  foe  in 
time  of  wars.  Thou  receivest  now  remission 
of  thy  sins,  and  the  gifts  of  the  King's  spiritual 
bounty ;  when  war  shall  come,  strive  thou 
nobly  for  thy  King.  Jesus,  the  Sinless,  was 
crucified  for  thee  ;  and  wilt  not  thou  be  crucified 
for  Him  who  was  crucified  for  thee  ?  Thou 
art  not  bestowing  a  favour,  for  thou  hast  first 
received  ;  but  thou  art  returning  a  favour,  re- 
paying thy  debt  to  Him  who  was  crucified  for 
thee  in  Golgotha.  Now  Golgotha  is  interpreted, 
"  the  place  of  a  skull."  Who  were  they  tlien, 
who  prophetically  named  this  spot  Golgotha, 
in  which  Christ  the  true  Head  endured  the 
Cross?  As  the  Apostle  says.  Who  is  the  Image 
of  the  Invisible  God ;  and  a  little  after,  and  He  is 
the  Head  of  the  body,  the  Church'^.  And  again. 
The  Head  of  every  jnan  is  Christ^  ;  and  again. 
Who  is  the  Head  of  all  principality  and  power  ^. 
The  Head  suffered  in  "the  place  of  the  .skull." 
O  wondrous  prophetic  appellation  !  The  very 
name  also  reminds  thee,  saying,  "  Think  not 
of  the  Crucified  as  of  a  mere  man  ;  He  is  the 
Head  of  all  principality  and  power.  That  H  ead 
which  was  crucified  is  the  Head  of  all  power, 
and  has  for  His  Head  the  Father  ;  for  the  Head 
of  the  ma?i  is  Christ,  and  the  Head  of  Christ  is 
God  7." 

24.  Christ  then  was  crucified  for  us,  who 
was  judged  in  the  night,  when  it  was  cold,  and 
therefore  z  Jire  of  coals  ^  was  laid.  He  was 
crucified  at  the  third  hour ;  and  from  the  sixth 


3  Matt,  xxviii.  5.  4  Col.  i.  15,  18.  S  i  Cor.  xi.  3. 

6  Col.  ii.  10.  7  I  Cor.  xi.  3.  8  John  xviii.  18. 


LECTURE    XIII. 


89 


hour  there  was  darkness  until  the  ?iinth  hour  9  / 
but  from  the  ninth  hour  there  was  Hght  again. 
Are  these  things  also  written  ?  Let  us  inquire. 
Now  the  Prophet  Zacharias  says,  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  there  shall  not  be 
light,  and  the7-e  shall  be  cold  and  frost  one  day  ; 
(the  cold  on  account  of  which  Peter  warmed 
himself;)  Atid  that  day  shall  be  knoivn  unto  the 
Lord^ ;  (what,  knew  He  not  the  other  days? 
days  are  many,  but  this  is  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
patience,  which  the  Lord  7nade^  ;^ — And  that 
day  shall  be  known  ujito  the  Lord,  not  day,  and 
not  night :  what  is  this  dark  saying  which  the 
Prophet  speaks  ?  That  day  is  neither  day  nor 
night  ?  what  then  shall  we  name  it  ?  The 
Gospel  interprets  it,  by  relating  the  event. 
It  was  not  day ;  for  the  sun  shone  not  .uni- 
formly from  his  rising  to  his  setting,  but  from 
the  sixth  hour  till  the  ninth  hour,  there  was 
darkness  at  mid-day.  The  darkness  therefore 
was  interposed  ;  but  God  called  the  darkness 
niM'i.  Wherefore  it  was  neither  dav  nor  night : 
for  neither  was  it  all  light,  that  it  should  be 
called  day ;  nor  was  it  all  darkness,  that  it 
should  be  called  night  ;  but  after  the  ninth 
hour  the  sun  shone  forth.  This  also  the 
Prophet  foretels  ;  for  after  saying,  JVot  day,  nor 
?iight,  he  added,  And  at  evening  time  it  shall  be 
light*.  Seest  thou  the  exactness  of  the  prophets? 
Seest  thou  the  truth  of  the  things  which  were 
written  aforetime  ? 

25.  But  dost  thou  ask  exactly  at  what  hour 
the  sun  failed  s?  was  it  the  fifth  hour,  or 
the  eighth,  or  the  tenth?  Tell,  O  Prophet, 
the  exact  time  thereof  to  the  Jews,  who  are 
unwilling  to  hear  ;  when  shall  the  sun  go  down  ? 
The  Prophet  iVmos  answers,  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  in  that  day,  saith  the  Lord  God,  that 
the  sun  shall  go  do7t>ti  at  jwon  (for  tliere  was 
darkness  from  the  sixth  hour ;)  afid  the  light 
shall  grow  dark  over  the  earth  in  the  day"^. 
What  sort  of  season  is  this,  O  Prophet,  and 
what  sort  of  day  ?  And  L  will  turn  your  feasts 
into  mourning ;  for  this  was  done  in  tlie  days 
of  unleavened  bread,  and  at  the  feast  of  the 
Passover  :  then  afterwards  he  says,  A?id  L  will 
make  Ldim  as  the  niournim^  of  an  Only  Son,  and 
those  with  LLim  as  a  day  of  a?iguish  7  /  for  in  the 
day  of  unleavened  bread,  and  at  the  feast, 
their  women  were  wailing  and  weeping,  and 
the  Apostles  had  hidden  themselves  and  were 
in  anguish.  Wonderful  then  is  this  pro- 
phecy. 

26.  But,  some  one  will  say,  "  Give  me  yet 

9  Matt  xxvii.  45.  '  Zech.  xiv.  6,  7.  »  Ps.  cxviii.  24. 

3  Gen.  i.  5. 

<  Zech.  xiv.  7.  Cf.  Eiiseb.  {Don.  Evang.  x.  7)  :  "It  was  not 
day,  because  of  the  noon-tide  darkness  :  and  again  it  was  not 
night,  because  of  the  day  which  followed  upon  it.  which  he  repre- 
sented by  a  sign  in  sa\ing,  at  evening  time  there  shall  be  light. 

5  efe'Atjrej/.     See  Cat.  x.  19,  note  2.     Acta  I'ilaii.  c.  xi. 

'  Amos  viii.  9.   Cf  Fuseb.  {Dem.  Ev.  x.  6).       7  Amos  viii.  10. 


another  sign ;  what  other  exact  sign  is  there 
of  that  which  has  come  to  pass  ?  Jesus  was 
crucified  ;  and  He  wore  but  one  coat,  and  one 
cloak  ;  now  His  cloak  the  soldiers  shared 
among  themselves,  having  rent  it  into  four; 
but  His  coat  was  not  rent,  for  when  rent  it 
would  have  been  no  longer  of  any  use ;  so 
about  this  lots  are  cast  by  the  soldiers ;  thus 
the  one  they  divide,  but  for  the  other  they 
cast  lots.  Is  then  this  also  written?  They 
know,  the  diligent  chanters  ^'  of  the  Church, 
who  imitate  the  Angel  hosts,  and  continually 
sing  praises  to  God  :  who  are  thought  worthy 
to  chant  Psalms  in  this  Golgotha,  and  to  say, 
They  parted  My  garments  among  them,  aiid  upon 
My  vesture  they  did  cast  lots'^.  The  "lots"  were 
w^hat  the  soldiers  cast '. 

27.  xAgain,  when  He  had  been  judged  before 
Pilate,  He  was  clothed  in  red  ;  for  there  they 
put  on  Him  a  purple  robe.  Is  this  also 
written  ?  Esaias  saith,  iVho  is  this  that  cometh 

from  Edofti  ?  the  redness  of  His  garments  is 
from  Bosor^ ;  (who  is  this  who  in  dishonour 
weareth  purple  ?  For  Bosor  has  some  such 
meaning  in  Hebrews.)  Why  are  Thy  garments 
red,  and  Thy  raiment  as  from  a  trodden  wine- 
press 1  But  He  answers  and  says.  All  day  long 
have  L  stretched  forth  Mine  hands  unto  a  dis- 
obedient and  gai n  say  ifig  people  ">, 

28.  He  stretcned  out  His  hands  on  the 
Cross,  that  He  might  embrace  the  ends  of 
the  world ;  for  this  Golgotha  is  the  very  centre 
of  the  earth.  It  is  not  my  word,  but  it  is 
a  prophet  who  hath  said,  Thoti  hast  wrought 
salvatio7i  in  the  midst  of  the  earth  5.  He 
stretched  forth  human  hands,  who  by  His 
spiritual  hands  had  established  the  heaven ; 
and  they  were  fastened  with  nails,  that  His 
manhood,  which  bore  the  sins  of  men,  having 
been  nailed  to  the  tree,  and  having  died,  sin 
might  die  with  it,  and  we  might  rise  again  in 
righteousness.  For  since  by  one  7nan  came 
death,  by  One  Ma7i  cai7ie  also  life  ^ ;  by  One 
Man,  the  Saviour,  dying  of  His  own  accord  : 
for  remember  what  He  said,  /  have  power  to 

8  Synod  of  Laodicea,  Can.  xvi.  15:  "Besides  the  appointed 
singers,  who  mount  the  anibo  and  sing  from  the  book,  others  shall 
not  sing  in  the  Church."  Hefele  thinks  that  this  was  not  intended 
to  forbid  the  laity  to  take  any  part  in  the  Church  music,  hiit  only 
to  forbid  those  who  were  not  cantor.s  to  take  the  lead.  See  Bing- 
ham, Antiquities,  III.  c.  7  :  XIV.  c.  i. 

9  Ps.  xxii    18,  quoted  in  John  xix    24. 

1  kAtjpos  6e  7'i'  6  Aa;(^i6s.  Bishop  Hall.  Contemplations,  Book 
IV.  32,  speaks  of  the  soldiers'  ''barbarous  sortitions"  The  tech- 
nicr.l  term  is  "  sortilege."    Cf.  Evang.  Pet.  §  4  ;  Justin  M.  Dial.  97. 

2  Isa.  Ixiii.  i,  2. 

3  Bozrah  means  a  "sheepfold,"  and  is  the  name  of  a  city  in 
Idumea.     Cyril's  interpretation  rests  on  a  false  deriv.ation. 

4  Isa.  Ixv.  2.  ''  It  is  a  commonplace  in  patristic  literature 
that  the  Crucifixion  was  prefigured  by  Isa.  Ixv.  2."  (Dr.  C.  laylor, 
Hennas  and  the  Four  Gospels,  p.  49.)  Cf.  Barnab.  Epist,  c.  xii.  ; 
Didache  xvi.  ;  Justin  M.  {Apolog.  1.  c.  35  ;  Trypli.  cc  97,  114); 
Tertull.  (co'itra  Jud.  xii.);  Ireiise.  IV.  xxxiii    12. 

5  Ps.  Ixxiv.  12.  The  pass.age  does  not  refer  to  Palestine  espe- 
cially:  "  in  the  midst  of  the  earth"  is  equivalent  to  "  in  the  sight 
of  all  nations."  Cf.  Orac.  Sihyil.  vi'i.  ^02  :  "  He  shall  spread  out 
His  hands,  and  span  the  whole  world,"  quoted  by  Dr.  Taylor, 
"  The  Teaching,"  p.  103.  *  Rom.  v.  12,  17. 


90 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


lay  down  My  life,  atid  I  have  power  to  take  it 
a^aifi  7. 

29.  But  though  He  endured  these  things, 
having  come  for  the  salvation  of  all,  yet  the 
people  returned  Him  an  evil  recompense. 
Jesus  saith,  /  thirst^, — He  who  had  brought 
forth  the  waters  for  them  out  of  the  craggy 
rock ;  and  He  asked  fruit  of  the  Vine  which 
He  had  planted.  But  what  does  the  Vine? 
This  Vine,  wh'ch  was  by  nature  of  the  holy 
fathers,  but  of  Sodom  by  purpose  of  heart ; — 
(for  their  Vine  is  of  Sodom,  and  their  tendrils  of 
GoJnorrah9  ;) — this  Vine,  when  the  Lord  was 
athirst,  having  filled  a  sponge  and  put  it  on 
a  reed,  offers  Him  vinegar.  7'hey  gave  Me 
also  gall  for  My  meat,  and  in  My  thirst,  they 
gave  Me  vinegar  to  drink  '.  Thou  seest  the 
clearness  of  the  Prophets'  description.  But 
what  sort  of  gall  put  they  into  My  mouth  ? 
They  gave  Him,  it  says,  wine  mifigled  zvith 
myrrh^.  Now  myrrh  is  in  taste  like  gall,  and 
very  bitter.  Are  these  things  what  ye  recom- 
pense unto  the  Lord  ?  Are  these  thy  offerings, 
O  Vine,  unto  thy  Master?  Rightly  did  the 
Prophet  Esaias  aforetime  bewail  you,  saying. 
My  well-beloved  had  a  vineyard  in  a  hill  in  a 

fruitful  place ;  and  (not  to  recite  the  whole) 
/  waited,  he  says,  that  it  should  bring  forth 
grapes;  I  thirsted  tliat  it  should  give  wine; 
but  it  brought  forth  thorns'^ ;  for  thou  seest  the 
crown,  wherewith  I  am  adorned.  What  then 
sliall  I  now  decree  ?  /  tvill  command  the  clouds 
that  they  rain  no  rain  upo7i  it^.  For  the  clouds 
which  are  the  Prophets  were  removed  from 
them,  and  are  for  the  future  in  the  Church  ;  as 
Paul  says,  Let  the  Prophets  speak  two  or  three, 
and  let  the  others  judge  s  /  and  again,  God  gave 
in  the  Church,  some.  Apostles,  and  some,  Pj-o- 
phets  ^.  Agabus,  who  bound  his  own  feet  and 
hands,  was  a  prophet. 

30.  Concerning  the  robbers  who  were  cru- 
cified with  Him,  it  is  written,  And  He  zvas 
numbered  ivith  the  transgressors  7.  Both  of  them 
were  before  this  transgressors,  but  one  was  so 
no  longer.  For  the  one  was  a  transgressor  to 
the  end,  stubborn  against  salvation  ;  who, 
though  his  hands  were  fastened,  smote  with 
blasphemy  by  his  tongue.  When  the  Jews 
passing  by  wagged  their  heads,  mocking 
the  Crucified,  and  fulfilling  what  was  written, 
When   they   looked  on   Me,  they   sliaked  their 

heads^,   he   also   reviled  with  them.     But  the 


7  John  X.  18.  8  lb.  ix.  28.  9  Dent,  xxxii.  3a. 

'  Ps.  Ixix.  21.  '  Mark  xv.  23.  3  Isa.  v.  i,  2. 

4  lb.  V.  6.  Cf.  Tertiill.  tidv.  Murcion.  III.  c.  23  ;  contra 
Jud.  c.  13:  "The  cIoikIs  being  celestial  benefits  which  were  com- 
inatided  not  to  be  forthcoming  to  the  house  of  Israel ;  for  it  '  had 
borne  thorns,'  whereof  that  house  of  Israel  had  wrought  a  crijwn 
for  Christ."  Con.stitt.  Apost.  VI.  §  5  :  "  He  has  taken  away  iroin 
ihein  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  prophetic  rain,  and  has  replenished 
His  Church  with  spiritual  tjrace." 

5  I  Cor.  .\iv.  29.  6  Eph.  iv.  ii.  7  Isa.  liii.  12. 
>*  Ps.  cix.  25. 


other  rebuked  the  reviler  ;  and  it  was  to  hira 
the  end  of  life  and  the  beginning  of  restoration  ; 
the  surrender  of  his  soul  a  first  share  in  salva- 
tion. And  after  rebuking  the  other,  he  says. 
Lord,  remember  me^ ;  for  with  Thee  is  my 
account.  Heed  not  this  man,  for  the  eyes  of 
his  understanding  are  blinded  ;  but  remember 
me.  I  say  not,  remember  my  works,  for  of 
these  I  am  afraid.  Every  man  has  a  feeling 
for  his  fellow-traveller;  I  am  travelling  with 
Thee  towards  death ;  remember  me.  Thy 
fellow-wayfarer,  I  say  not,  Remember  me 
now,  but,  zvhen  Thou  contest  in  Thy  kingdom. 

31.  What  power,  O  robber,  led  thee  to  the 
light  ?  Who  taught  thee  to  worship  that  de- 
spised  Man,   thy   companion    on    the    Cross? 

0  Light  Eternal,  which  gives  light  to  them 
that  are  in  darkness  !  Therefore  also  he  justly 
heard  the  words.  Be  of  good  cheer '^ ;  not  that 
thy  deeds  are  worthy  of  good  cheer;  but  that 
the  King  is  here,  dispensing  favours.  The 
request  reached  unto  a  distant  time ;  but  the 
grace  was  very  speedy.  Verily  L  say  unto  thee, 
This  day  shall  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise ; 
because  to-day  thou  hast  heard  My  voice,  and 
hast  not  hardened  thine  heart ^.     Very  speedily 

1  passed  sentence  upon  Adam,  very  speedily 
I  pardon  thee.  To  him  it  was  said,  ///  the  day 
7V herein  ye  eat,  ye  shall  surely  dic'^;  but  thou 
to-day  hast  obeyed  the  faith,  to  day  is  thy 
salvation.  Adam  by  the  Tree  fell  away  ;  thou 
by  the  Tree  art  brought  into  Paradise.  Fear 
not  the  serpent ;  he  shall  not  cast  thee  out ; 
for  h.Q  \?, fallen  from  heaven*.  And  I  say  not 
unto  thee,  'I'his  day  shalt  thou  depart,  but, 
This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me.  Be  of  good 
courage  :  thou  shalt  not  be  cast  out.  Fear  not 
the  flaming  sword;  it  shnnks  from  its  Lords. 
O  mighty  and  ineffable  grace !  The  faithful 
Abraham  had  not  yet  entered,  but  the  robber 
enters^!  Moses  and  the  Prophets  had  not  yet 
entered,  and  the  robber  enters  though  a  breaker 
of  the  law.  Paul  also  wondered  at  this  before 
thee,  saying,  Where  sin  abounded,  there  grace 
did  much  more  abound  t.  They  who  had  borne 
the  heat  of  the  day  had  not  yet  entered  ;  and 
he  of  the  eleventh  hour  entered.  Let  none 
murmur  against  the  goodman  of  the  house,  for 
he  says,  Friend,  I  do  thee  no  tvrong ;  is  it  not 


9  Luke  xxiii.  40  ff. 

'  eipo-ec.  An  addition  to  the  text  of  Luke  xxiii.  43  in  Codex 
Bezae. 

2  Ps.  xcv.  7,  8.  3  Gen.  ii.  17.  •»  Luke  x.  iS. 

5  Gen.  iii.  24.  S.  Arnbrose  {Ps.  cxix.  Serm.  xx.  §  12)  :  "  All 
who  desire  to  return  to  Paradist:  must  he  tried  by  tire  :  lor  not  in 
vain  the  Scripture  saiih,  that  when  Adam  and  Kve  were  driven 
out  of  their  abode  in  Paradise,  God  placed  at  the  gate  of  Eden 
a  flaming  sword  which  tiirni-d  every  uay." 

6  Cf.  Iren.  V.  c.  5,  §  i  ;  Ath.in.  (Expos.  Fid.  c.  i.)  :  "  He 
shewed  us  ....  an  entrance  into  Paradise  from  which  Adam  was 
cast  out.  and  into  which  he  entered  again  by  means  of  the  thief." 
S.  Leo  Or'e  Pans.  Dom.  Serm.  II.  c.  i):  "Excedit  humaiiam 
conditionem  ista  promissio  :  nee  tam  de  ligno  Cnicis,  quaui  de 
throno  editur  potestatis." 

7  Rom.  V.  20. 


LECTURE    XIII. 


Ql 


law/::  I  J  or  Me  to  do  ivhat  TwiUtvith  Mine  own  ^  ? 
The  robber  has  a  will  to  work  righteousness, 
but  death  prevents  him  ;  I  wait  not  exclusively 
for  the  work,  but  faith  also  I  accept.  I  am 
come  who  feed  My  sheep  among  the  lilies^,  I  am 
come  to  feed  them  in  the  gardens.  I  have 
found  a  sheep  that  zvas  tost '°,  but  I  lay  it  on  My 
shoulders ;  for  he  believes,  since  he  himself 
has  said,  /  have  gone  asii-ay  like  a  lost  sheep  '/ 
Lord,  remember  me  ivhen  Thou  contest  in  Thy 
kingdom. 

32.  Of  this  garden  I  sang  of  old  to  My  spouse 
in  the  Canticles,  and  spake  to  her  thus.  I  am 
come  into  My  garden,  My  sister,  My  spouse'' ; 
{now  in  the  place  where  He  was  rrucijiid  was  a 
gardcn'i;)  and  what  takest  Thou  thence  ?  I  have 
gathei-ed My  myrrh;  having  drunk  wine  mingled 
with  myrrh,  and  vinegar,  after  receiving  which. 
He  said,  //  is  finished^.  For  the  mystery  has 
been  fullilled  ;  the  things  that  are  written  have 
been  accomplished  ;  sins  are  forgiven.  For 
Christ  being  come  an  High- Priest  of  the  good 
things  to  come^  by  the  greater  and  more  perfect 
tabernacle,  not  made  luith  hands,  that  is  to  say, 
not  of  this  creation,  fior  yet  by  the  blood  of  goats 
and  calves,  but  by  His  oivn  Idood,  entered  in  once 
for  all  into  the  holy  place,  having  obtained  eternal 
redeinfition  ;  for  if  the  blood  of  bulls  and  op  goats, 
and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer,  spritikling  the  defiled, 
sanclifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the  flesh,  hoiv  much 
more  the  blood  op  Christ^?  And  again.  Having 
therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to  enter  into  the 
holiest  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  a  netv  and  living 
ivay,  7vhich  He  hath  consecrated  for  ns,  through 
the  veil,  that  is  to  say.  His  fiesh  ^.  And  because 
His  flesh,  this  veil,  was  dishonoured,  there- 
fore the  typical  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent 
asunder,  as  it  is  written,  And,  behold,  the  veil 
of  the  temple  ivas  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to 
the  bottom  7 ;  for  not  a  particle  of  it  was  left ;  for 
since  the  Master  said,  Behold,  your  house  is 
left  unto  you  desolate  ^,  the  house  brake  all  in 
pieces. 

ZZ'  These  things  the  Saviour  endured,  and 
made  peace  through  the  Blood  of  His  Cross,  for 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth  9.  For  we 
were  enemies  of  God  through  sin,  and  God 
had  appointed  the  sinner  to  die.  There  must 
needs  therefore  have  happened  one  of  two 
things  ;  either  that  God,  in  His  truth,  should 
destroy  all  men,  or  that  in  His  loving-kindness 
He  should  cancel  the  sentence.  But  behold 
the  wisdom  of  God  ;  He  preserved  both  the 
truth  of  His  sentence,  and  the  exercise  of  His 
loving-kindness.  Christ  took  our  sins  in  His 
body  on  the  tree,  that  we  by  His  death  might 


8  Matt.  XX.  12  ff. 
'  Ps.  cxix.  176. 

4   lb.  30. 

^  Matt,  xxvii.  si- 


9  Cant.  vi.  3. 
2  Cant.  V.  I. 
S  Heb.  ix.  II. 
"  lb.  xxiii.  38. 


•°  Luke  XV.  5,  6. 
3  John  xix.  41. 
*  lb.  X.  19. 
9  Col.  i.  20. 


die  to  sin,  and  live  u?tto  righteousness  *.      Of  no 
!  small  account  was  He  who  died  for  us  ;  He 
I  was  not  a  literal  sheep  ;  He  was  not  a  mere 
man ;  He  was  more  than  an  Angel ;  He  was 
God  made  man.     The  transgression  of  sinners 
was  not  so  great  as  the  righteousness  of  Him 
who  died  for  them  ;  the  sin  which  we  commit- 
1  ted  was  not  so  great  as  the  righteousness  which 
'  He  wrought  who  laid  down  His  life  for  us, — 
^  who  laid  it  down  when  He  pleased,  and  took  it 
I  again  when   He  pleased.     And  wouldest  thou 
know    that    He    laid    not    down    His    life    by 
violence,  nor  yielded  up  the  ghost  against  His 
will  ?  He  cried  to  the  Father,  saying,  Father, 
info  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit  ^  /  I  com- 
mend it,  that  I  may  take  it  again.     And  having 
said  these  things.  He  gave  up  the  ghost  ^;  but 
not  for  any   long  time,    for  He   quickly  rose 
again  fiom  the  dead. 

34.  The  Sun  was  darkened,  because  of  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness'^.     Rocks  were  rent,  be- 
cause   of  the    spiritual    Rock.      Tombs    were 
opened,  and  the  dead  arose,  because  of  Him 
who  was  free  among  the  dead^  ;  He  sent  forth  His 
prisoners  out  of  the  pit  whereifi  is  no  water  ^.     Be 
not  then  ashamed  of  the  Crucified,  but  be  thou 
also  bold  to  say,He  beareth  our  sins,  atid  endureth 
grief  for  us,  and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed  t. 
Let  us   not  be  unthankful  to  our  Benefactor. 
And  again  ;  for  the  transgression  of  my  people 
ivas  He  led  to  death  ;  and  I  will  give  the  wicked 
for  His  burial,  and  the  rich  for  His  death  ^. 

Therefore  Paul  says  plainly,  that  Christ  died 
for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures,  ajid  that 
He  was  buried,  and  that  He  hath  risen  again  the 
third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures  9. 

35.  But  we  seek  to  knovv  clearly  where 
He  has  been  buried.  Is  Flis  tomb  made 
with  hands?  Is  it,  like  the  tombs  of  kings, 
raised  above  the  ground  ?  Is  the  Sepulchre 
made  of  stones  joined  together?  And  what  is 
laid  upon  it  ?  Tell  us,  O  Prophets,  the  exact  truth 
ccncerning  His  tomb  also,  where  He  is  laid, 
and  where  we  shall  seek  Him  ?  And  they  say, 
Look  into  the  solid  rock  which  ye  have  hewn'^. 
Look  in  and  behold.  Thou  hast  in  the  Gospels 
Ln  a  sepulchre  hewn  iti  stone,  which  was  hewn 
out  of  a  lock  ^.  And  what  happens  next  ?  What 
kind  of  door  has  the  sepulchre  1  Again  another 
Piophet  says, They  cut  off  My  life  in  a  dungeofi  3, 
atid  cast  a  stone  upon  Ale.  I,  who  am  the  Chief 
corner-stone,  the  elect,  the  precious^,  lie  for  a  little 
time  within  a  stone  —  I  who  am  a  stone  of 
stumbling   to    the   Jews,   and   of  salvation  to 


»  I  Pef .  ii.  24.  ^  Luke  xxlii.  46. 

3  Matt,  xxvii.  50.  *  ^la'-  iv.  2.  5  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  5. 

6  Zech.  ix.  II.  7  I:;a.  liii.  4,  5.  8  lb.  vv.  8,  9. 

9  I  Cor.  XV.  3,  4.  '  Isa.  Ii.  i. 

^  Matt,  xxvii.  60 ;  jNIark  xv.  46  ;  Luke  xxiii.  50. 
3  Lam.   iii.   53:   tv  Kolkkw,   "in  a  pit,"  or  "well."    C-.  Jer. 
xxxvii.  16.  4  I  Pet.  ii.  6. 


92 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


them  who  beheve.  The  Tree  of  life  ^,  there- 
fore, was  planted  in  the  earth,  that  the  earth 
which  had  been  cursed  might  enjoy  the  bless- 
ing, and  that  the  dead  might  be  released. 

36.  Let  us  not  then  be  ashamed  to  confess 
the  Crucified.  Be  the  Cross  our  seal  made 
with  boldness  by  our  fingers  on  our  brow,  and 
on  everything ;  over  the  bread  we  eat,  and 
the  cup?  we  drink  ;  in  our  comings  in,  and 
goings  out ;  before  our  sleep,  when  we  lie 
down  and  when  we  rise  up  ;  when  we  are  in 
the  way,  and  when  we  are  still  ^.  Great  is  that 
preservative;  it  is  without  price,  for  the  sake 
of  the  poor  ;  Avithout  toil,  for  the  sick  ;  since 
also  its  grace  is  from  God.  It  is  the  Sign  of 
the  faithful,  and  the  dread  of  devils  :  for  He 
triumphed  over  ,  he)n  in  it,  having  made  a  shetv 
of  them  openly  T  ;  for  when  they  see  the  Cross, 
they  are  reminded  of  the  Crucified  ;  they  are 
afraid  of  Him,  who  ondsed  the  heads  of  the 
dragon  ^.  Despise  not  the  Seal,  because  of  the 
freeness  of  the  gift ;  but  for  this  the  rather 
honour  thy  Benefactor. 

37.  And  if  thou  ever  fall  into  disputation, 
and  hast  not  the  grounds  of  proof,  yet  let  Faith 
remain  firm  in  thee  ;  or  rather,  become  thou 
well  learned,  and  then  silence  the  Jews  out  of 
the  prophets,  and  the  Greeks  out  of  their  own 
fables.  They  themselves  worship  men  who  have 
been  thunderstricken?  :  but  the  thunder  when 
it  comes  from  heaven,  comes  not  at  random. 
If  they  are  not  ashamed  to  worship  men  thun- 
derstricken  ana  abhorred  of  God,  art  thou 
ashamed  to  worship  the  beloved  Son  of  God, 
who  was  crucified  for  thee  ?  I  am  ashamed  to 
tell  the  tales  about  their  so-called  Gods,  and  I 
leave  them  because  of  time  ;  let  those  who 
know,  speak.  And  let  all  heretics  also  be 
silenced.  If  any  say  that  the  Cross  is  an  illu- 
sion, turn  away  from  him.  Abhor  those  who 
say  that  Christ  was  crucified  to  our  fancy  '  only; 
for  if  so,  and  if  salvation  is  from  the  Cross, 
then  is  salvation  a  fancy  also.  If  the  Cross  is 
fancy,  the  Resurrection  is  fancy  also  ;  but  if 
Christ  be  twt  rise?i,  we  are  yet  in  our  sins  ^.  If 
the  Cross  is  fancy,  the  Ascension  also  is  fancy; 
and  if  the  Ascension  is  fancy,  then  is  the 
second  coming  also  fancy,  and  everything  is 
henceforth  unsubstantial. 

38.  Take  therefore  first,  as  an  indestructible 
foundation,  the  Cross,  and  build  upon  it  the 
other  articles  of  the  faith.  Deny  not  the 
Crucified  ;  for,  if  thou  deny   Him,  thou  hast 


5  Gen.  ii.  9;  iii.  22.  Methodius  {Sy/nfos.  ix.  c.  3):  "He 
that  hath  not  believed  in  Christ,  nor  hath  understood  that  He  is 
the  first  principle  and  the  Tree  ot  Life,  itc." 

*  Cf.  Cat.  iv.  14,  note  3  ;  Enseb.  {Dem.  Ev.  ix.  14). 

7  Col.  ii.  15.  8  j>s.  Ixxiv.  13.  9  See  Cat.  vi.  it, 

note  2. 

«  /cara  (tavTotrt'ai'.     Cf.  Ignat.  Trail.  9,  10  ;  Cat.  iv.  9  ;  xiii.  4. 

-   I  Cor.  XV.  17. 


many  to  arraign  thee.  Judas  the  traitor  will 
arraign  thee  first ;  for  he  who  betrayed  Him 
knows  that  He  was  condemned  to  death  by  the 
chief-priests  and  elders.  The  thirty  jjieces  of 
silver  bear  witness  ;  Gethsemane  bears  witness, 
where  the  betrayal  occurred;  I  speak  not  yet 
of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  on  which  they  were 
with  Him  at  night,  praying.  The  moon  in  the 
night  bears  witness ;  the  day  bears  witness, 
and  the  sun  which  was  darkened  ;  for  it  en- 
dured not  to  look  on  the  crime  of  the  con- 
spirators. The  fire  will  arraign  thee,  by  which 
Peter  stood  and  warmed  himself:  if  thou  deny 
the  Cross,  the  eternal  fire  awaits  thee.  I  speak 
hard  words,  that  thou  may  not  experience 
hard  pains.  Rememl)er  the  swords  that  came 
against  Him  in  Gethsemane,  that  thou  feel  not 
the  eternal  sword.  The  house  of  Caiaphas^ 
will  arraign  thee,  shewing  by  its  present  deso- 
lation the  power  of  Hini  who  was  erewhile 
judged  there.  Yea,  Caiaphas  himself  will  rise  up 
against  thee  in  the  day  of  judgment  ;  the  very 
servant  will  rise  up  against  thee,  who  smote 
Jesus  with  the  palm  of  his  hand  ;  they  also 
who  bound  Him.  and  they  who  led  Him  away. 
Even  Herod  shall  rise  up  against  thee  : 
and  Pilate;  as  if  saying,  Why  deniest  thou 
Him  who  was  slandered  before  us  by  the  Jews, 
and  whom  we  knew  to  have  done  no  wrong  ? 
For  I  Pilate  then  washed  my  hands.  The  false 
witnesses  shall  rise  up  against  thee,  and  the 
soldiers  who  arrayed  Him  in  the  purple  robe, 
and  set  on  Him  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  cruci-. 
ned  Him  in  Golgotha,  and  cast  lots  for  His 
coat.  Simon  the  Cyrenian  will  cry  out  upon 
thee,  who  bore  the  Cross  after  Jesus. 

39.  From  among  the  stars  there  will  cry  out 
upon  thee,  the  darkened  Sun ;  among  the 
things  upon  earth,  the  Wine  mingled  with 
myrrh  ;  among  reeds,  the  Reed  ;  among  herbs, 
the  Hyssop  ;  among  the  things  of  the  sea,  the 
Sponge  ;  among  trees,  the  Wood  of  the  Cross  ; 
— the  soldiers,  too,  as  I  have  said,  who  nailed 
Him,  and  cast  lots  for  His  vesture ;  the  soklier 
who  pierced  His  side  with  the  spear ;  the 
women  who  then  were  present ;  the  veil  of  the 


3  The  house  of  Caiaphas  and  Pilate's  Praetorium  fS  41).  and 
Mount  Zion  itself  (Cat.  xvi.  18),  on  which  they  botli  stood,  are 
described  by  Cyril  as  being  in  his  time  ruined  and  desolate. 
Eiisebius  i,Dem.  Ev.  VIII.  406),  referring  to  the  prophecy  of 
Micah(iii.  12),  repeated  by  Jeremiah  (xxvi.  18),  that  Zion  shall 
be  plowed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  shall  become  henf>s,  testifies 
that  he  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  place  being  ploughed  and 
sown  by  strangers,  and  adds  that  in  his  own  time  the  stones  lor 
both  public  and  private  buildings  were  taken  from  the  ruins. 
The  Bordeaux  Pilgrim  (333  a.d.)  says,  "It  is_  evident  whore  the 
house  of  Caiaphas  the  Priest  was;  and  there  is  still  the  pillar  at 
which  Christ  was  scourged:  "  this  pillar  is  described  by  Jerome 
(E/>.  861  as  suppoiting  the  portico  of  the  Church  which  by  his 
time  had  been  built  on  the  spot.  Prudentius  circ.  400  A.D.) : — 
"  Impia  blasphemi  cecidit  domus  alta  Caiphae  .... 

Vinctus  in  his  Dominus  stetit  sedibus.  atque  columnae 

Annexus  tergum  dedit  ut  servile  flagel'.is. 

Perstat  adhuc,  templumque  gerit  veneranda  columna." 

(Benedictine  Editor.) 


LECTURE   XIII. 


93 


temple  then  rent  asunder  ;  the  hall  of  Pilate, 
now  laid  waste  by  the  power  of  Him  who  was 
then  crucified ;  this  holy  Golgotha,  which 
stands  high  above  us,  and  shews  itself  to  this 
day,  and  displays  even  yet  how  because  of 
Christ  the  rocks  were  then  riven ■♦;  the  sepulchre 
nigh  at  hand  where  He  was  laid  ;  and  the 
stone  which  was  laid  on  the  door,  which  lies  to 
this  day  by  the  tomb ;  the  Angels  who  were 
then  present ;  the  women  who  worshipped 
Him  after  His  resurrection  ;  Peter  and  John, 
who  ran  to  the  sepulchre  ;  and  Thomas,  who 
thrust  his  hand  into  His  side,  and  his  fingers 
into  the  prints  of  the  nails.  For  it  was  for  our 
sakes  that  he  so  carefully  handled  Him  ;  and 
what  thou,  who  wert  not  there  present,  wouldest 
have  sought,  he  being  present,  by  God's  Provi- 
dence, did  seek. 

40.  Thou  hast  Twelve  Apostles,  witnesses 
of  the  Cross  ;  and  the  whole  earth,  and  the 
world  of  men  who  believe  on  Him  who  hung 
thereon.  Let  thy  very  presence  here  now  per- 
suade thee  of  the  power  of  the  Crucified.     For 

4  Cf.  Lucian.  Antioch.  ap.  Rufin.  Hist.  Bed.  ix.  c.  6 ;  "  Gol- 
othana  rupes  sub  patibuli  onere  disrupta." 


who  now  brought  thee  to  this  assembly  ?  what 
soldiers?  With  what  bonds  wast  thou  con- 
strained? What  sentence  held  thee  fast  here 
now  ?  Nay,  it  was  the  Trophy  of  salvation, 
the  Cross  of  Jesus  that  brought  you  all 
together.  It  was  this  that  enslaved  the  Per- 
sians,  and  tamed  the  Scythians ;  this  that  gave 
to  the  Egyptians,  for  cats  and  dogs  and  their 
manifold  errors,  the  knowledge  of  God ;  this, 
that  to  this  day  heals  diseases ;  that  to  this 
day  drives  away  devils,  and  overthrows  the  jug- 
gleries of  drugs  and  charms. 

41.  This  shall  appear  again  with  Jesus  from 
heaven  s ;  for  the  trophy  shall  precede  the  king  : 
thatseeingZT/w  whom  they  pierced'',  and  knowing 
by  the  Cross  Him  who  was  dishonoured,  the  Jews 
may  repent  and  mourn  ;  (but  they  shall  tnourn 
tribe  by  tribe  t ,  for  they  shall  repent,  when  there 
shall  be  no  more  time  for  repentance ;)  and 
that  we  may  glory,  exulting  in  the  Cross,  wor- 
shipping the  Lord  who  was  sent,  and  crucified 
for  us,  and  worshipping  also  God  His  Father 
who  sent  Him,  with  the  Holy  Ghost :  To  whom 
be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


5  Cf.  Oat.  XV.  22. 


*  Zech.  xii.  10. 


7  lb.  V.  12. 


LECTURE    XIV. 


On  the  words,  And  rose  again  from  the  dead  on  the  third  day,  and  ascended 
INTO  the  Heavens,  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father. 


I  Cor.  XV,  i — 4. 

Now  I  make  known  unto  you,  brethren,  the  gospel  zvhich  /preached  unto  you  . 
He  hath  been  raised  on  the  third  day  accordi?ig  to  the  Scriptures,  dr^c. 


.  that 


Rejoice,  O  Jerusalem,  and  keep  high  festival, 
all  ye  that  love  Jesus ;  for  He  is  risen.  Re- 
joice, all  ye  that  mourned  before  %  when  ye 
heard  of  the  daring  and  wicked  deeds  of 
the  Jews :  for  He  who  was  spitefully  en- 
treated of  them  in  this  place  is  risen  again. 
And  as  the  discourse  concerning  the  Cross 
was  a  sorrowful  one,  so  let  the  good  tid- 
ings of  the  Resurrection  bring  joy  to  the 
hearers.  Let  mourning  be  turned  into  glad- 
ness, and  lamentation  to  joy :  and  let  our 
mouth  be  filled  with  joy  and  gladness,  because 
of  Him,  who  after  His  resurrection,  said 
Rejoice'^.  For  I  know  the  sorrow  of  Christ's 
friends  in  these  past  days ;  because,  as  our 
discourse  stopped  short  at  the  Death  and  the 
Burial,  and  did  not  tell  the  good  tidings  of  the 
Resurrection,  your  mind  was  in  suspense,  to 
hear  what  you  were  longing  for. 

Now,  therefore,  the  Dead  is  risen.  He  who 
was  free  among  the  dead'^,  and  the  deliverer  of 
the  dead.  He  who  in  dishonour  wore  patiently 
the  crown  of  thorns,  even  He  arose,  and 
crowned  Himself  with  the  diadem  of  His 
victory  over  death. 

2.  As  then  we  set  forth  the  testimonies  con- 
cerning His  Cross,  so  come  let  us  now  verify 
the  proofs  of  His  Resurrection  also  :  since  the 
Apostle  before  us^  affirms,  He  was  buried,  and 
has  been  raised  on  the  third  day  according  to  the 
Scriptures.  As  an  Apostle,  therefore,  has  sent 
us  back  to  the  testimonies  of  the  Scriptures, 
it  is  good  that  we  should  get  full  knowledge 
of  the  hope  of  our  salvation  ;  and  that  we 
should  learn  first  whether  the  divine  Scriptures 
tell  us  the  season  of  His  resurrection,  whether 
it  comes  in  summer  or  in  autumn,  or  after 
winter;    and    from   what   kind   of  place   the 


*    Is.  Ixvi.    TO. 

«  Matt,  xxviii.  9,  "All  hail."    The   usual   greeting,  Xaipere, 
"Rejoice." 

3  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  5  :  Cast  off  among  the  dead  (R.  V.) ;  Cast  away 
(Margin). 

4  6  Trapiii/.  i.e.  in  the  text.     1  Cor  xv.  4. 


Saviour  has  risen,  and  what  has  been  an- 
nounced in  the  admirable  Prophets  as  the 
name  of  the  place  of  the  Resurrection,  and 
whether  the  women,  who  sought  and  found 
Him  not,  afterwards  rejoice  at  finding  Him  ; 
in  order  that  when  the  Gospels  are  read,  the 
narratives  of  these  holy  Scriptures  may  not  be 
thought  fables  nor  rhapsodies. 

3.  That  the  Saviour  then  was  buried,  ye 
have  heard  distinctly  in  the  preceding  dis- 
course, as  Isaiah  saith.  His  burial  shall  be  in 
peace  ^ :  for  in  His  burial  He  made  peace  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth,  bringing  sinners  unto 
God  :  and,  that  the  righteous  is  taken  out  of  the 
way  of  ufirighteousness  ^ :  and.  His  burial  shall 
be  in  peace :  and,  I  will  give  the  wicked  for  His 
burial  T.  There  is  also  the  prophecy  of  Jacob 
saying  in  the  Scriptures,  He  lay  down  atid 
couched  as  a  lioti,  atidas  a  lion^s  whelp  :  who  shall 
rouse  Him  up  ^  ?  And  the  similar  passage  in 
Numbers,  He  couched,  He  lay  down  as  a  lion, 
and  as  a  lion's  ivhelp'^.  The  Psalm  also  ye  have 
often  heard,  wliich  says.  And  Thou  hast  brought 
me  down  into  the  dust  of  death'^.  Moreover  we 
took  note  of  the  spot,  when  we  quoted  the 
words.  Look  unto  the  rock,  which  ye  have  heivn  ^. 
But  now  let  the  testimonies  concerning  His 
resurrection  itself  go  with  us  on  our  way. 

4.  First,  then,  in  the  nth  Psalm  He  says. 
For  the  misery  of  the  poor,  and  the  sighing  oj  the 
needy,  now  will  I  arise,  saith  the  Lord^.  But 
this  passage  still  remains  doubtful  with  some  : 
for  He  often  rises  up  also  in  anger  ■*,  to  take 
vengeance  upon  His  enemies. 

Come  then  to  the  15th  Psalm,  which  says 
distinctly:  Preserve  Me,  O  Lord, for  in  Thee 


5  Is.  Ivii.  2  :  He  entereih  into  fieace  (R.V.). 
'  Is.  Ivii.  I  :  that  the  righteous  is  taken  aiuny  from  the  evil  to 
cowciWy.). 

7  Is.  liii.  g  :  tluy  innde  His  grave  with  the  wiched  (R.Y.). 

8  Gen.  xli.v.  9.  9  Num.  xxiv.  9.  '  Ps.  .\xii.  15. 

"  «7rf<r))^eno<Trifie6a.  "  noted  for  ourselves  ;  "   Middle  Voice.  Is. 
li.  I  :   quoted  in  Cat.  xiii.  35. 

3  Ps.  xii.  5.        4  lb.  vii.  6  :  "  Arise,  O  Lord,  in  Thine  anger. 


LECTURE   XIV. 


95 


have  I  put  my  trusts :  and  after  this,  their  as- 
semblies of  I'iood  will  I  tiot  join,  nor  make  tnen- 
tion  of  theirnames behveen  my  lips^ ;  since  they 
have  refused  me,  and  chosen  Caesar  as  their 
king  7  :  and  also  the  next  words,  I  foresaw  the 
Lord  akvay  befoj-e  Ale,  because  He  is  at  My  right 
hand,  that  I  fiiay  not  be  moved'^:  and  soon  after, 
Yea  and  even  7intil  flight  tny  reins  chastened  me  9. 
And  after  this  He  says  most  plainly.  For  Thou 
.  wilt  not  leave  My  soul  in  hell '  /  ?ieither  tvilt  Thou 
suffer  Thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption.     He 
said  not,  neither  wilt  Thou  suiTer  Thine' Holy 
One  to  see  death,  since  then  He  would  not 
have  died ;  but  corruption,  saith  He,  I  see  not, 
and  shall  not  abide  in  death.      Thou  hast  made 
knoivn  to  Me  the  ways  of  life  ^.     Behold  here  is 
plainly  preached   a  life  after   death.      Come 
also    to    the   29th   Psalm,   /  will  extol  Thee, 
O  Lord,  for  Thou  hast  lifted  Me  up,  and  hast 
not  made  My  foes  to  rejoice  over  Me  3.     What  is 
It  that  took   place?    Wert  thou  rescued  from 
enemies,   or   wert    thou   released  when    about 
to  be  smitten  ?     He  says  himself  most  plainly, 
O  Lord,  Thou  hast  brought  up  My  soul  from 
hell''.     There  he  says,  Thou  wiit  not  leave,  pro- 
phetically :  and  here  he  speaks  of  that  which  is 
to  take  place  as  having  taken  place.  Thou  hast 
brought  up.      Thou  hast  saved  Me  from   them 
that  go  doivn  into  the  pit  ^.     At  what  time  shall 
the  event  occur?      Weeping  shall  continue  for 
the  evening,  and  joy  cometh  in  the  morning^  :  for 
in  the  evening  was  the  sorrow  of  the  disciples, 
and  in  the  morning  the  joy  of  the  resurrection. 
5.  But  wouldst  thou   know  the  place  also? 
Again  He  saith  in  Canticles,  /  zvent  down  into 
the  garden  of  nuts  t  ;  for  it  was  a  garden  where 
He  was   crucified^.     For  though   it   has  now 
been    most    highly  adorned    with    royal    gifts, 
yet   formerly   it  was  a  garden,  and  the   signs 
and   the  remnants  of  tliis  remain.     A  garden 
enclosed,   a  fomitain  sealed'^,  by  the  Jews  who 
said,   We  remember  that  that  deceiver  said  while 
He  ivas  yet  alive,  After  three  days,  L  zvill  rise  : 
command,  therefore,  that  the  sepulchre  be  made 
sure ;  and  further  on.  So  they  went,  and  fnade 
the   sepulchre   sure,   sealing  the  stone   ivith   the 
guard'^.     And  aiming  well  at  thcse^  one  saith, 
a7id  in  rest  Thou  shall  judge  them  ^.     But  who 


5  Ps.  xvi.  I. 

*  lb.  xvi.  4  :  "their  drink-offerings  of  blood  will  I  not  off'er." 
The  P^al  nist  abhors  the  bloody  rites,  and  the  very  names  of  the 
false  gods. 

7  John  xix  15.  Cyril  applies  to  the  Jews  what  the  Psalmist 
says  concerning  those  that  hasten  after  another  god. 

8  Ps.  xvi.  8. 

9  [b.  7.  Quoting  from  memory,  Cyril  transposes  these  sen- 
tences. 

"lb.  10.     R.V.  IK  Sheol,  Sept.  in  Hades. 
2  II).  II.  3  lb.  XXX.  I. 

4  lb.  3.     K-Y .  from  Sheol,  Sept.y";«j/«  Ha4es. 

5  lb.  3.  6  lb.  5.  7  Cant.  vi.  ii. 

8  John  xix.  41.     See  Index,  Golgotha.  9  Cant.  iv.  12. 

«  Matt,  xxvii.  63,  65. 

*  Job  vii.  18  :  .  .  .  .  irjr  Aim  every  moment.     Heb.  3,"'2n,   "  ^ 


is  the  fountain  that  is  sealed,  or  who  is  inter- 
preted as  being  a  well-spring  of  living  water  ^1 
It  is  the  Saviour  Himself,  concerning  whom 
it  is  written,  For  with  Thee  is  the  fountain  0/ 
life  4. 

6.  But  what  says  Zephaniah  in  the  person 
of  Christ  to  the  disciples?  Prepare  thyself  be 
rising  at  the  dawn :  all  their  gleaning  is  de- 
stroyed^ :  the  gleaning,  that  is,  of  the  Jews,  with 
whom  there  is  not  a  cluster,  nay  not  even 
a  gleaning  of  salvation  left ;  for  their  vine  is 
cut  down.  See  how  He  says  to  the  disciples. 
Prepare  thyself  rise  up  at  dawn:  at  dawn 
expect  the  Resurrection. 

And  farther  on  in  the  same  context  of  Scrip- 
ture He  says.  Therefore  zvait  thou  for  Me,  saith 
the  Lord,  witil  the  day  of  My  Resurrection  at 
the  Testimony  ^.  Thou  seest  that  the  Prophet 
foresaw  the  place  also  of  the  Resurrection, 
which  was  to  be  surnamed  "the  Testimony." 
For  what  is  the  reason  that  this  spot  of  Gol- 
gotha and  of  the  Resurrection  is  not  called, 
like  the  rest  of  the  Churches,  a  Church,  but 
a  Testimony?  Why,  perhaps,  it  was  because 
of  the  Prophet,  who  had  said,  until  the  day  of 
My  Resurrection  at  the  Testimony. 

7.  And  who  then  is  this,  and  what  is  the 
sign  of  Him  that  rises?  In  the  words  of  the 
Prophet  that  follow  in  the  same  context.  He 
says  plainly.  For  then  will  L  turn  to  the  peoples 
a  languageT :  since,  after  the  Resurrection, 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  was  sent  forth  the  gift 
of  tongues  was  granted,  that  they  might  serve 
the  Lord  under  one  yoke^.  And  what  other 
token  is  set  forth  in  the  same  Prophet,  that 
they  should  serve  the  Lord  u?ider  one  yoke  ? 
From  beyond  the  rivets  of  Fthiopia  they  shall 
bring  me  offerings^.  Thou  knowest  what  is 
written  in  the  Acts,  when  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch  came  from  beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethio- 
pia*. When  therefore  the  Scriptures  tell  both 
the  time  and  the  peculiarity  of  the  place,  when 
they  tell  also  the  signs  which  followed  the 
Resurrection,  have  thou  henceforward  a  firm 
faith  in  the  Resurrection,  and  let  no  one  stir 
thee  from  confessing  Christ  risen  from  the 
dead "". 

8.  Now  take  also  another  testimony  in  the 


wink,"  as  in  Job  xxi.  13,  misinterpreted  in  both  passages  by  the 
LXX.  as  meaning  "  rest." 

3  Cant.  iv.  15.  4  Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 

5  Zeph.  iii.  7:  they  rose  early  and  cot  7-upted  all  tJteir  doings. 
The  passage  is  wholly  misunderstood  by  the  Seventy,  whom 
S.  Cyiil  follows. 

6  Zeph.  iii.  8  :  until  the  day  that  I  rise  up  to  the  prey.  For 
•^37^,  to  tlie  prey,  the  LXX.  seem  to  have  read  "y377,  to  the 

testimony.  About  ten  years  before  these  Lecturer  were  de- 
livered, ¥.\ii&\n\\>,  (^Li/e  0/  Constantine,  III.  c.  .xxviii.),  speak- 
ing of  the  discovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  a.d.  326,  calls  it 
"  a  testimony  to  the  Resurrection  of  the  Saviour  clearer  than  any 
voire  could  give." 

7  Zep!i.  iii.  9  :  a  pure  latiguage.  , 
^  \\3.  to  serve  him  -a>ith  one  consent  (Marg.  shoulder). 

9  lb.  V.  10.  •  Acts  viii.  27.  *  2  Tim.  ii.  8. 


96 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


8  7  th  Psalm,  where  Christ  speaks  in  the  Pro- 
phets, (for  He  who  then  spake  came  afterwards 
among  us) :  O  Lord,  God  of  My  salvation,  I 
have  cried  day  and  night  before  Thee,  and  a  Httle 
farther  on,  /  became  as  it  were  a  man  without 
help,  free  amo?ig  the  dead^.  He  said  not,  I 
became  a  man  without  help ;  but,  as  it  were 
a  man  without  help.  For  indeed  He  was 
crucified  not  from  weakness,  but  willingly : 
and  His  Death  was  not  from  involuntary 
weakness.  /  was  cotmted  with  them  that  go 
dowfi  into  the  pit*.  And  what  is  the  token  ? 
Thou  hast  put  away  Mine  acquaintance  far  f-om 
Me^  (for  the  disciples  have  fled).  Wilt  Thou 
shew  wonders  to  the  dead^  ?  Then  a  little  while 
afterwards :  And  un.'o  Thee  have  I  cried,  O 
Lord;  and  in  the  morning  shall  my  prayer  come 
before  TheeT.  Seest  thou  how  they  shew  the 
exact  point  of  the  Hour,  and  of  the  Passion, 
and  of  the  Resurrection  ? 

9.  And  whence  hath  the  Saviour  risen  ?  He 
says  in  the  Song  of  Songs :  Jiise  up,  come,  Afy 
neighbour^  :  and  in  what  follows,  /«  a  cave  of  the 
rock'^  I  A  cave  of  the  rock  He  called  the  cave 
which  was  erewhile  before  the  door  of  the 
Saviour's  sepulchre,  and  had  been  hewn  out 
of  the  rock  itself,  as  is  wont  to  be  done  here 
in  front  of  the  sepulchres.  For  now  it  is  not 
to  be  seen,  since  the  outer  cave  was  cut  away 
at  that  time  for  the  sake  of  the  present  adorn- 
ment. For  before  the  decoration  of  the  sepul- 
chre by  the  royal  munificence,  there  was  a  cave 
in  the  front  of  the  rock  ^  But  where  is  the 
rock  that  had  in  it  the  cave  ?  Does  it  lie  near 
the  middle  of  the  city,  or  near  the  walls  and 
the  outskirts?  And  whether  is  it  within  the 
ancient  walls,  or  within  the  outer  walls  which 
were  built  afterwards?  He  says  then  in  the 
Canticles :  in  a  cave  of  the  rock,  close  to  the  outer 
ivall^. 

10.  At  what  season  does  the  Saviour  rise? 
Is  it  the  season  of  summer,  or  some  other? 
In  the  same  Canticles  immediately  before  the 
words  quoted  He  says,  77ie  winter  is  past,  the 
rain  is  past  and  gone  3  ;  the  flowers  appear  on  the 
earth;  the  time  of  the  pruning  is  come*.  Is  not 
then  the  earth  full  of  flowers  now,  and  arQ  they 


3  Ps.  Ixxxviii.  1,  4,  5.  4  lb.  w.  4.  5  lb.  v.  8. 

*  lb.  t/.  lo.  7  lb.  V.  13. 

8  Cant.  ii.  10  :  Rise  up,  my  love,  nty /air  one .  and  come  aivay. 

9  z/.  14  :  in  the  clefts  0/ the  rock.  '  See  Index,  Sepulchre. 

*  Cant.  ii.  14:  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock,  in  the  secret  places 
of  the  stairs.  The  Revised  Version  reads,  in  the  covert  0/  tlie 
steep  place. 

3  Cant.  ii.  11.  In  TropijAflei',  eiropevflij  cauroi  the  LXX.  have 
imitated  the  pleonastic  use  of  "j^  after  verbs  of  motion,  cor- 
responding to  our  idiom  "Go  away  with  you," and  to  the  Dativus 
Ethicus  in  Greek  and  Latin.  See  Gesenius  Lexicon  on  this  use 
of  "p,  and  Ewald,  Introductory  Grammar,  §  217,  1.  2. 

■4  Cant.  ii.  12  :  the  sing-Jng  0/  birds.  The  Hebrev/  word 
(T*ttT)  means  either  "cutting,"  as  in  the  LXX.   toju^s,  Sym- 

machus  KAa£ev<reu;,  and  R.V.  Marg.  "pruning,"  or  as  in  A.V. 
"  singing." 


not  pruning  the  vines?  Thou  seest  how  he 
said  also  that  the  winter  is  now  past.  For 
when  this  month  Xanthicus  s  is  come,  it  is 
already  spring.  And  this  is  the  season,  the 
first  month  with  the  Hebrews,  in  which  occurs 
the  festival  of  the  Passover,  the  typical  formerly, 
but  now  the  true.  This  is  the  season  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  :  for  then  God  said.  Let 
the  earth  bring  forth  herbage  of  grass,  yielding 
seed  after  his  kind  and  after  his  likeness  ^.  And 
now,  as  thou  seest,  already  every  herb  is  yield- 
ing seed.  And  as  at  that  time  God  made  the 
sun  and  moon  and  gave  them  courses  of  equal 
day  (and  night),  so  also  a  few  days  since  was 
the  season  of  the  equinox. 

At  that  time  God  said.  Let  us  make  maii 
after  our  i7nage  and  after  our  likeness''.  And 
the  itnage  he  received,  but  the  likeness  through 
his  disobedience  he  obscured.  At  the  same 
season  then  in  which  he  lost  th;s  the  restor- 
ation also  took  place.  At  the  same  season  as 
the  created  man  through  disobedience  was 
cast  out  of  Paradise,  he  who  believed  was 
through  obedience  brought  in.  Our  Salvation 
then  took  place  at  the  same  season  as  the  Fall : 
when  the  flowers  appeared,  and  the  pjunifjg  was 
come. 

II.  A  garden  was  the  place  of  His  Burial, 
and  a  vine  that  which  was  planted  there  :  and 
He. hath  said,  L am  the  vine^ I  He  was  planted 
therefore  in  the  earth  in  order  that  the  curse 
which  came  because  of  Adam  might  be  rooted 
out.  The  earth  was  condemned  to  thorns  and 
thistles:  the  true  Vine  sprang  up  out  of  the 
earth,  that  the  saying  might  be  fulfilled,  Truth 
sprang  tip  out  of  the  earth,  and  righteousjiess 


5  Xanthicus  is  the  name  of  the  si.\th  month  in  the  Macedonian 
Calendar,  corresponding  nearly  to  the  Jewish  Nisan  (Josephus, 
Antiq.  II.  xiv.  6),  and  to  the  latter  part  of  Lent  and  Easter. 
On  the  tradition  that  the  Creation  took  place  at  this  season,  see 
S.  Ambrose,  Hexameron,  I.  c  4,  §  13. 

6  Gen.  i.  II  :  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed. 

The  LXX.  give  an  irregular  construction, 
BoTai'iji'  \6pTov  (TTrelpov  (TTrepfia. 

7  Gen.  i.  26.  "The  ancient  Church  very  accurately  distin- 
guished between  flKiiov  {iinaj^e)  and  o/noi'iotrts  (likeness),  and  the 
Greek  Church  does  the  same  in  its  Confession.  The  latter  phrase 
expresses  man's  destination,  which  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  carried 
out  at  the  moment  of  creation.  (Doiner,  System  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  E.Tr.  II.  p.  78).  The  image  lies  in  the  permanent 
capacities  of  man's  nature  (Gen.  ix.  6:  i  Cor.  xi.  7:  Jas.  iii.  9), 
the  likeness  in  their  realisation  in  moral  conformity  with  God 
(6^o>)9eiai/  0€ov,  Ignatius,  Magnes  vi).  "The  im.-\gc  of  God  is  a 
comprehensive  thing.  .  .  .  To  this  belongs  man's  intellective  power, 
his  liberty  of  will,  his  dominion  over  the  other  creatures  flowing 
from  the  two  former.  These  make  up  the  to  oinmoSes,  that  part 
of  that  divine  image  which  is  natural  and  essential  to  man,  and 
consequently  can  never  be  wholly  blotted  out,  defaced,  or  ex- 
tinguished, but  still  remains  even  in  man  fallen.  But  beside  these 
the  Church  of  God  hath  ever  acknowledged,  in  the  fust  man, 
certain  additional  orn.amenls,  and  as  it  were  complements  of  the 
divine  image,  such  as  immortality,  grace,  holiness,  righteousness, 
whereby  man  approached  more  nearly  to  the  siniilitiide  and  like- 
ness of  God.  These  were  (if  I  may  so  speak)  the  lively  colouru 
wherein  the  grace,  the  beauty,  and  lustre  of  the  divine  image 
princip  illy  consisted  ;  these  colours  faded,  yea,  were  defaced 
and  blotted  out  by  man's  trajisgression.  (Bull,  The  State  0/ 
Man  before  the  Fa'l,  Vol.  ii.  p.  114,  Ox.).  Cf.  Ireu.  (V.  vi.  §  i  ; 
xvi.  §  2);  Tertullian  {de  Baptismo,  c  5)  ;  Clem.  Alex.  [Exhort. 
c.  12)  ;  Origen  (c.  Cels.  IV.  30). 

8  John  XV.  I.  The  Benedictine  Editor  has  a  different  punc- 
tuation :  "  and  the  vine  which  was  planted  there  hath  said. 
And  /  am   he  Vine.' 


LECTURE   XIV. 


97 


looked dotvn from  heaven'^.  And  what  will  He 
that  is  buried  in  the  garden  say  ?  I  have  gathered 
My  myrrh  tvith  My  spices :  and  again,  Myrrh 
and  aloes,  with  all  chief  spices'^.  Now  these  are 
the  symbols  of  the  burying  ;  and  in  the  Gospels 
it  is  said,  The  women  came  uttto  the  sepidchre 
bringing  the  spices  which  they  had  prepared^  : 
Nicodemus  also  bringing  a  mixture  of  myrrh  and 
aloes'^.  And  farther  on  it  is  written,  I  did  eat 
My  bread  with  My  honey  '> :  the  bitter  before  the 
Passion,  and  the  sweet  after  the  Resurrection. 
Then  after  He  had  risen  He  entered  through 
closed  doors  :  but  they  believed  not  that  it  was 
He  :  for  they  supposed  that  they  beheld  a  spirit^. 
But  He  said,  Handle  Me  and  see.  Put  your 
fingers  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  as  Thomas 
required.  And  while  they  yet  believed  not  for 
joy,  and  wondered.  He  said  unto  the?n,  Have  ye 
here  afiy thing  to  eat?  And  they  gave  Him 
a  piece  of  a  broiled  fsh  and  honeycomb^.  Seest 
thou  liow  that  is  fulfilled,  /  did  eat  My  bread 
with  J\fv  hofiey. 

12.  But  before  He  entered  through  the 
closed  doors,  the  Bridegroom  and  Suitor  7  of 
souls  was  sought  by  those  noble  and  brave 
women.  They  came,  those  blessed  ones,  to 
the  sepulchre,  and  sought  Him  Who  had  been 
raised,  and  the  tears  were  still  dropping  from 
their  eyes,  when  they  ought  I'ather  to  have  been 
dancing  with  joy  for  Him  that  had  risen.  Mary 
came  seeking  Him,  according  to  the  Gospel, 
and  found  Him  not :  and  presently  she  heard 
from  the  Angels,  and  afterwards  saw  the  Christ. 
Are  then  these  things  also  written  ?  He  says 
in  the  Song  of  Songs,  On  vy  bed  I  sought  Him 
whom  my  soul  loved.  At  what  season  ?  By 
night  on  my  bed  I  sought  Him  JVhom  my  soul 
loved:  Mary,  it  says,  catne  while  it  was  yet 
dark.  On  my  bed  I  sought  Him  by  night,  I 
sought  Him,  and  I foimd  Him  not^.  And  in  the 
Gospels  Mary  says,  They  have  taken  away  my 
Lord,  and  I  know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him  9. 
But  the  Angels  being  then  present  cure  their 
want  of  knowledge;  for  they  .said,  Why  seek 
ye  the  living  among  the  dead^?  He  not  only 
rose,  but  had  also  the  dead  with  Him  when 
He  rose  ^  But  she  knew  not,  and  in  her  person 
the  Song  of  Songs  said  to  the  Angels,  Saw  ye 
Him  Whom  my  soul  loved  ?  It  ivas  but  a  little 
that  I  passed  from  them  (that  is,  from  the  two 
Angels),  2/ntil  I  found  Him  Whojn  my  soul 
loved.    I  held  Him,  and  would  not  let  Him  go  3. 

13.  For  after  the  vision  of  the  Angels,  Jesus 


9  Ps.  IXXXV.   II. 

'  Cant.  V.  I  ;  iv.  14. 


Compare  Cat.  xiii.  3a. 
*  Luke  xxiv.  i.  3  John  xix.  39. 

4  Cant.  V.  I  :  my  honeycomb  ivith  my  honey. 

5  Luke  xxiv.  37.  6  lb.  v.  41. 
7  6  eepaTreuT^?.   In  connexion  with  ''  Bridegroom,"  and  "  Him 

whom  my  soul  loveth  "  the  meaning  "  Suitor  "  is  more  appropriate 
than  "  Phyician."  8  Cant.  iii.  i  :  Joh.  x.\.  i. 

9  John  XX.  13.  '  Luke  xxiv.  5.  2  Matt,  xxvii.  52. 

3  Cant.  iii.  3,  4. 

VOL.  VII.  H 


came  as  His  own  Herald  ;  and  the  Gospel 
says,  And  behold  Jesus  met  them,  saying.  All 
hail!  and  they  caine  and  took  hold  of  His  feet  ^. 
They  took  hold  of  Him,  that  it  might  be  ful- 
filled, /  li'ill  hold  Him,  and  will  not  let  Him  go. 
Though  the  woman  was  weak  in  body,  her 
spirit  was  manful.  Many  waters  quench  not 
love,  7ieither  do  rivers  drown  it^  ;  He  was  dead 
whom  they  sought,  yet  was  not  the  hope  of  the 
Resurrection  quenched.  And  the  Angel  says 
to  them  again.  Fear  not  ye ;  I  say  not  to  the 
soldiers,  fear  not,  but  to  you  ^  ;  as  for  them,  let 
them  be  afraid,  that,  taught  by  experience, 
they  may  bear  witness  and  say,  Truly  this  tvas 
the  Son  of  GodT ;  but  you  ought  not  to  be 
afraid,7^r  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear  ^.  Go,  tell 
His  disciples  that  He  is  risen  9/  and  the  rest. 
And  they  depart  with  joy,  yet  full  of  fear ;  is 
this  also  written  ?  yes,  the  second  Psalm, 
which  relates  the  Passion  of  Christ,  says,  Serine 
the  Lord  zvith  far,  and  rejoice  unto  Ilifn  with 
tremblittg'^; — rej nee,  because  of  the  risen  Lord  ; 
but  with  trembling,  because  of  the  earthquake, 
and  the  Angel  who  appeared  as  lightning. 

14.  Though,  therefore.  Chief  Priests  and 
Pharisees  through  Pilate's  means  sealed  the 
tomb  ;  yet  the  women  beheld  Him  who  was 
risen.  And  Esaias  knowing  the  feebleness  of 
the  Chief  Priests,  and  the  women's  strength  of 
faith,  says,  Ye  women,  who  come  from  beholding, 
come  hither'^;  for  the  people  hath  no  imder  stand- 
ing ; — the  Chief  Priests  want  understanding, 
while  women  are  eye-witnesses.  And  when 
the  soldiers  came  into  the  city  to  them,  and 
told  them  all  that  had  come  to  pass,  they  said 
to  them,  Say  ye,  His  disciples  came  by  flight, 
and  stole  Him  away  while  we  slept  ^1  Well 
therefore  did  Esaias  foretell  this  also,  as  in 
their  persons.  But  tell  us,  and  7-elate  to  us 
another  deceit''.  He  who  rose  again,  is  up,  and 
for  a  gift  of  money  they  persuade  the  soldiers  ; 
but  they  persuade  not  the  kings  of  our  time. 
The  soldiers  then  surrendered  the  truth  for 
silver  \  but  the  kings  of  this  day  have,  in  their 
piety,  built  this  holy  Church  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  God  our  Saviour,  inlaid  with  silver  and 
wrought  with  gold,  in  which  we  are  assem- 
bled 5 ;  and  embellished  it  with  the  treasures  of 
silver  and  gold  and  precious  stones.  And  if 
this  come  to  the  governor's  ears,  they  say,  we  will 
persuade  him  ^.  Yea,  though  ye  persuade  the 
soldiers,  yet  ye  will  not  persuade  the  world ; 
for  why,  as  Peter's  guards  were  condemned 
when  he  escaped  out  of  the  prison,  were  not 


4  Matt,  xxviii.  9.  5  Cant.  viii.  7. 
6  M.itt.   xxviii.  5.     The  emphatic  u/ieis  is  rightly  interpreted 

by  Cyril  as  distinguishing  the  women  from  the  frightened  sen- 
tinels. 7  Matt,  xxvii.  54. 

^  I  John  iv.  18.  9  Matt,  xxviii.  7.  '     Ps.  ii.  11. 

2  Isa.  xxvii    it:    The  women  shnil  come  ^  and  set  them  O'l  fire. 

3  Matt,  xxviii.  13.  4  Isa.  xxx.  lo. 

5  Cf.  Euseb.  {Life  o/Const.  IIL  36).  6  M.itt.  xxvviii.  i.-. 


98 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


they  also  who  watched  Jesus  Christ  con- 
demned? Upon  the  former,  sentence  was 
])ronounced  by  Herod,  for  they  were  ignorant 
and  had  nothing  to  say  for  themselves  ;  while 
the  latter,  who  had  seen  the  truth,  and  con- 
cealed it  for  money,  were  protected  by  the 
Chief  Priests.  Nevertheless,  though  but  a  few 
of  the  Jews  were  persuaded  at  the  time,  the 
world  became  obedient.  They  who  hid  the 
truth  were  themselves  hidden  ;  but  they  who 
received  it  were  made  manifest  by  the  power 
of  the  Saviour,  who  not  onlv  rose  from  the 
dead,  but  also  raised  the  dead  with  Himself. 
And  in  the  person  of  these  the  Prophet  Osee 
says  plainly,  After  two  days  'ivill  Be  revive  us, 
and  hi  the  thi?-d  day  we  shall  rise  again,  and 
shall  live  in  His  sight  7. 

15.  But  since  the  disobedient  Jews  will  not 
be  persuaded  by  the  Divine  Scriptures,  but 
forgetting  all  that  is  written  gainsay  the  Resur- 
rection of  Jesus,  it  were  good  to  answer  them 
thus  :  On  what  ground,  while  you  say  that 
Eliseus  and  Elias  raised  the  dead,  do  you 
gainsay  the  Resurrection  of  our  Saviour  ?  Is 
it  that  we  have  no  living  witnesses  now  out  of 
that  generation  to  what  we  say  ?  Well,  do  you 
also  bring  forward  witnesses  of  the  history  of 
that  time.  But  that  is  written  ; — so  is  this  also 
written  :  why  then  do  ye  receive  the  one,  and 
reject  tlie  other?  They  were  Hebrews  who 
wrote  that  history ;  so  were  all  the  Apostles 
Hebrews  :  why  then  do  ye  disbelieve  the 
Jews  ^  ?  Matthew  who  wrote  the  Gospel  wrote 
it  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  9 ;  and  Paul  the 
[)rcacher  was  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews ;  and 
the  twelve  Apostles  were  all  of  Hebrew  race  : 
then  fifteen  Bishops  of  Jerusalem  were  ap- 
pointed in  succession  from  among  the  He- 
brews ^  What  then  is  your  reason  for  allowing 
your  own  accounts,  and  rejecting  ours,  thougli 
these  also  are  written  by  Hebrews  from  among 
yourselves. 

16.  But  it  is  impossible,  some  one  will  say, 
that  the  dead  should  rise ;  and  yet  Eliseus 
twice  raised  the  dead, — when  he  was  alive, 
and  also  when  dead.  Do  we  then  believe, 
that  when  Eliseus  was  dead,  a  dead  man  who 
was  cast  upon  him  and  touched  him,  arose ; 


7  Hos.  vi.  2. 

8  Instend  of  toi«  'louSai'ois  the  Jerusalem  Editor  adopts  from 
Cod.  A.  Tois  l&ioi<;,  "  Your  own  countrymen,"  a  better  reading  in 
this  place,  if  it  had  more  support  from  MSS.  The  Latin  in 
Milles  has  only  "  Cur  is;itur  non  creditis?" 

9  The  statements  of  Papias,  Irenseus,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Epi- 
phanius,  and  Jerome,  concerning'  a  Hebrew  Gospel  of  S.  Matthew 
are  ably  discussed  by  Dr.  S.\\mon{I nftviitiLtion  to  N.  T.  Lect.  X.), 
who  comes  to  the  conclusion  tliat  tlie  Canonical  Ciospel  was  not 
translated  from  Hebrew  (Aramaic),  but  originally  written  in 
Greek. 

'  This  statement  may  have  been  derived  either  from  Eusebius 
(Hist.  Eccl.  IV.  c.  5),  or  from  the  "  written  records  "  (eyypa(/)tui'), 
from  which  he  had  learned  that  "until  the  sie.^e  of  tlie  Jews 
which  took  place  under  Adrian  (135  A.D.),  there  were  fifteen 
bishops  in  succession  there,  all  of  wiiom  are  said  to  have  been 
of  Hebrew  descent."  See  the  list  of  names,  and  the  notes  on  the 
passage  in  this  Series. 


and  is  Christ  not  risen  ?  But  in  that  case, 
the  dead  man  who  touched  Eliseus,  arose,  yet 
he  who  raised  him  continued  nevertheless 
dead  :  but  in  this  case  both  the  Dead  of  whom 
we  speak  Himself  arose,  and  many  dead  were 
raised  without  having  even  touched  Him.  For 
many  bodies  of  the  Saints  which  slept  arose,  and 
they  came  out  of  the  graves  after  Ilis  Resurrec- 
tion, and  wetit  into  the  Holy  City'^,  (evidently 
this  city,  in  which  we  now  are  3,)  and  appeared 
7into  many.  Eliseus  then  raised  a  dead  man, 
but  he  conquered  not  the  world  ;  Elias  raised 
a  dead  man,  but  devils  are  not  driven  away  in 
the  name  of  Elias.  We  are  not  speaking  evil 
of  the  Prophets,  but  we  are  celebrating  their 
Master  more  highly  ;  for  we  do  not  exalt  our 
own  wonders  by  disparaging  theirs ;  for  theirs 
also  are  ours  ;  but  by  what  happened  among 
them,  we  win  credence  for  our  own. 

17.  But  again  they  say,  "A  corpse  then 
lately  dead  was  raised  by  the  living  ;  but  shew 
us  that  one  tliree  days  dead  can  possibly  arise, 
and  that  a  man  should  be  buried,  and  rise  after 
three  days."  If  we  seek  for  Scripture  testi- 
mony in  proof  of  such  facts,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  Himself  supplies  it  in  the  Gospels, 
saying.  For  as  Jonas  was  three  days  and  three 
nights  in  the  whale's  belly ;  so  shall  the  Son 
of  man  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the 
heart  of  the  earths.  And  when  we  examine  the 
story  of  Jonas,  great  is  the  force  5  of  the  resem- 
blance. Jesus  was  sent  to  preach  repentance  ; 
Jonas  also  was  sent  :  but  whereas  the  one  fled, 
not  knowing  what  should  come  to  pass  ;  the 
other  came  willingly,  to  give  repentance  unto 
salvation.  Jonas  was  asleep  in  the  ship,  and 
snoring  amidst  the  stormy  sea  ;  while  Jesus 
also  slept,  the  sea,  according  to  God's  provi- 
dence ^,  began  to  rise,  to  shew  in  the  sequel  the 
might  of  Him  who  slept.  To  the  one  they 
said.  Why  ai't  thou  snoring?  Arise,  call  upon 
thy  God,  that  God  may  save  ust  ;  but  in  the 
other  case  they  say  unto  the  Master,  Lord,  save 
us^.  Then  they  said,  Call  upon  thy  God;  here 
they  say,  save  Thou.  But  the  one  says,  Tahe 
me,  and  cast  me  into  the  sea  ;  so  shall  the  sea  be 
calm  unto  you  9  ;  the  other,  Vixmsoli  rebuked  the 
winds  and  the  sea,  and  there  was  a  great  calm  ^. 
The  one  was  cast  into  a  whale's  belly  :  but  the 
other  of  His  own  accord  went  down  thither, 
where  the  invisible  whale  of  death  is.  And 
He  went  down  of  His  own  accord,  that  death 


»  Matt,  xxvii.  52,  53. 

3  The   Archdeacon   of  Jerusalem,   Photius 
serves  that  "  liy  this  parenthetic  explanation  Cy 
to  refute  the  opinion  which  some  favoured  that 
slept  and  were  raised  entered  into  the  heavenly 
Kuseb.  Don.  Evan«.  IV.  12.  * 

5  ■' euepyeia  [Forte  (vapyeia,  Edit.]."  This 
Benedictine  Editor  is  recommended  by  the  very 
"distinctness  of  the  resemblance,  '  but  seems 
authority. 

<'  Kar'  o'lKovoiJiCaLV.  7  Jonah  i.  6. 

9  Jonah  i.  12. 


Alexandrides,  ob- 
ril  perhaps  wished 
these  saints  which 
Jerusalem."  See 
Matt.  .\ii.  40. 
conjecture  of  the 
appropriate  sense 
to  have   no  MS. 


8  Matt.  viii.  25,  26. 


LECTURE  XIV. 


99 


might  cast  up  those  whom  he  had  devoured,  20.  Of  this  our  Saviour  the  Prophet  Jonas 
according  to  that  which  is  written,  /  ze'/Z/i  formed  the  type,  when  he  prayed  out  of  the  belly 
m?(Som  them  from  the  power  of  the  grave  ;  and\  of  the  whale,  and  said,  /  cried  in  my  affliction, 


froJH  the  hand  of  death  1 7vill  redee?n  them 

18.  At  this  point  of  our  discourse,  let  us  con- 
sider whether  is  harder,  for  a  man  after  having 
been  buried  to  rise  again  from  the  earth,  or  for 
a  man  in  the  belly  of  a  whale,  having  come 
into  the  great  heat  of  a  living  creature,  to 
escape  corruption.  For  what  man  knows  not, 
that  the  heat  of  the  belly  is  so  great,  that  even 
bones  which  have  been  swallowed  moulder 
away?  How  then  did  Jonas,  who  was  three 
days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's  belly, 
escape  corruption  ?  And,  seeing  that  the 
nature  of  all  men  is  such  that  we  cannot 
live  without  breathing,  as  we  do,  in  air,  how 
did  he  live  without  a  breath  of  this  air  for 
three  days  ?  But  the  -Jews  make  answer  and 
say,  The  power  of  God  descended  with  Jonas 
when  he  was  tossed  about  in  hell.  Does  then 
the  Lord  grant  life  to  His  own  servant,  by 
sending  His  power  with  him,  and  can  He  not 
grant  it  to  Himself  as  well?  If  that  is  credible, 
this  is  credible  also ;  if  this  is  incredible,  that 
also  is  incredible.  For  to  me  both  are  alike 
worthy  of  credence.  I  believe  that  Jonas 
was  preserved,  for  all  things  are  possible  ivith 


and  so  on  ;  oitt  of  the  belly  of  help,  and  yet  he 
was  in  the  whale  ;  but  though  in  the  whale,  he 
says  that  he  is  in  Hades  ;  for  he  was  a  type 
of  Christ,  who  was  to  descend  into  Hades. 
And  after  a  few  words,  he  says,  in  the  person  of 
Christ,  prophesying  most  clearly,  My  head  went 
down  to  the  chasms  of  the  fnountains  ^ ;  and 
yet  he  was  in  the  belly  of  the  whale.  What 
mountains  then  encompass  thee  ?  I  know,  he 
says,  that  I  am  a  type  of  Him,  who  is  to 
be  laid  in  the  Sepulchre  hewn  out  of  the  rock. 
And  though  he  was  in  the  sea,  Jonas  says,  / 
went  dowfi  to  the  earth,  since  he  was  a  type  of 
Christ,  who  went  down  into  the  heart  of  the 
earth.  And  foreseeing  the  deeds  of  the  Jews 
who  persuaded  the  soldiers  to  lie,  and  told 
them.  Say  that  they  stole  Him  aivay,  he  says,  By 
regarding  lying  vanities  tJiey  forsook  their  own 
mercy  9.  For  He  who  had  mercy  on  them  came, 
and  was  crucified,  and  rose  again,  giving  His 
own  precious  blood  both  for  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles ;  yet  say  they,  Say  that  they  stole  Him 
away,  having  regard  to  lying  vanities^.  But 
concerning  His  Resurrection,  Esaias  also  says. 
He  ivho  brought  up  from  the  earth  the  great 


God"" ;  I  believe  that  Christ  also  was  x^ivi^d.  Shepherd  of  the  sheep  "^ ;  he  added  the  word, 
from  the  dead;  for  I  have  many  testimonies  I  ^^m/,  lest  He  should  be  thought  on  a  level 
of  this,  both  from  the  Divine  Scriptures,  and   with  the  shepherds  who  had  gone  before  Him. 


from  the  operative  power  even  at  this  day  3  of 
Him    who   arose, — who   descended   into    hell 


21.  Since  then  we  have  the  prophecies,  let 
faith  abide  with   us.     Let  them  fall  who  fall 


alone,  but  ascended  thence  with  a  great  [  through  unbelief,  since  they  so  will;  but  thou 
company  ;  for  He  went  down  to  death,  and\  hast  taken  thy  stand  on  the  rock  of  the  faith  in 
many   bodies    of  the   saints  which  slept  arose''   the   Resurrection.     Let  no   heretic    ever  per- 


through  Him 

19.  Death  was  struck  with  dismay  on  behold- 
ing anew  visitant  descend  into  Hades,  notbound 
by  the  chains  of  that  place.  Wherefore,  O  por- 
ters of  Hades,  were  ye  scared  at  sight  of  Him  ? 
What  was  the  unwonted  fear  that  possessed 
you  ?  Death  fled,  and  his  flight  betrayed  his 
cowardice.  The  holy  prophets  ran  unto  Him, 
and  Moses  the  Lawgiver,  and  Abraham,  and 
Isaac,  and  Jacob  ;  David  also,  and  Samuel, 
and  Esaias,  and  John  the  Baptist,  who  bore 
witness  when  he  asked.  Art  Thou  He  that 
should  cotne,  or  look  we  for  another^  ?  All  the 
Just  were  ransomed,  whom  death  had  swal- 
lowed ;  for  it  behoved  the  King'  whom  they 
had  proclaimed,  to  become  the  redeemer  of 
His  noble  heralds.  Then  each  of  the  Just 
said,  O  death,  zvhere  is  thy  victory  1  O  grave, 
where  is  thy  sting^ i  For  the  Conqueror  hath 
redeemed  us. 


I  Hosea  xiii.  14.  *  Matt.  xix.  26.  3  Cf.  Cat.  iv.  13  ; 

xiii.  3.  4  Matt,  xxvii.  52.  5  lb.  xi.  3. 

*  I  Cor.  XV.  55.  On  the  opinion  that  the  Patriarchs,  Propliets, 
and  Righteous  men  were  redeemed  by  Christ  in  Hade.s,  compare 


suade  thee  to  speak  evil  of  the  Resurrection. 
For  to  this  day  the  Manichees  say,  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  Saviour  was  phantom- wise, 
and  not  real,  not  heeding  Paul  who  says,  Who 
was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 
flesh;  and  again.  By  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  from  the  dead  ^.  And  again  he 
aims  at  them,   and   speaks  thus.  Say  not  in 

Irenaeus  (fftFr.  I.  xxvii.  §  3  ;  IV.  xxvii.  §  2),  Clem.  Alex.  {Stromat. 
vi.  c.  6),  Origen  (/«  Genes.  Horn.  xv.  §  5). 

7  Jonah  ii.  2. 

8  lb.  V.  6:  (R.V.)/  went  down  to  the  hottoms  of  the  moun- 
tains :  the  earth  with  her  bars  closed  upon  me /or  ever. 

9  V.  8. 

'  By  lying  vanities  are  meant  in  the  original  "  vain  idols." 

2  Isa.  Ixiii.  11  ;  (R.V.),  U  here  is  He  that  brought  them  up  oidoj 
the  sea  with  the  shepherds  ( Marg.  shepherd)  of  Hisjlock  ?  Cyril's 
reading,  ex  tij?  v'JS  instead  ot  e/c  tij;  6aAi(r<r>)s  is  found  in  the 
Alexandrine  MS.  of  the  Septuagint.  Athanasius  [Ad  Serapion, 
Ep.  i.  12)  has  the  same  reading  and  interpretation  as  Cyril.  By 
"  the  shepherds  "  are  probably  meant  JNIoses  and  Aaron  :  cf.  Ps. 
Ixxvii.  20:  IVho  leddest  Thy  people  like  sheep  by  the  hand  of 
Moses  and  Aaron.  * 

Heb.  xiii.  20:  Notv  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again 
fro7n  the  dead  otir  Lord  Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd  op  the  sheep, 
&c.  The  word  "  great  "  is  added  by  the  Author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  not  by  Isaiah. 

3  Rom.  i.  3,  4.  Cyril  in  his  incomplete  quotation  of  ?'.  4 
makes  'IijcroO  '^pLtnov  roi)  K.  t)/x.  depend  on  dca(7"Ta(reio;.  The 
right  order  and  construction  is  given  in  R.V.,  who  wns  declared 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  .  ...  by  the  resurrection  of  t/ie  dead ;  et'» 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


H  2 


lOO 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


thine  heart,  who  shall  ascend  into  heaven;  or, 
tvho  shall  descend  into  the  deep?  that  is,  to 
briftg  up  Christ  from  the  dead^ ;  and  in  like 
manner  warning  as  he  has  elsewhere  written 
again,  Remember  Jesus  Christ  raised  frorn  the 
dead^ ;  and  again,  And  if  Christ  be  not  risen, 
then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith  is 
also  vain.  Yea,  and  we  are  found  false  wit- 
nesses of  God ;  because  we  testified  of  God  that\ 
He  raised  up  Christ,  whom  He  raised  not  up  ^.  \ 
But  in  what  follows  he  says,  Biit  notv  is  Christ 
risen  from  the  dead,  the  first  fruits  of  them  thai 
are  asleep  7  ; — And  He  was  seen  of  Cephas,  then 
of  the  twelve ;  (for  if  thou  believe  not  the  one 
witness,  thou  hast  twelve  witnesses;)  then  He 
was  seen  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once^  ; 
(if  they  disbelieve  the  twelve,  let  them  admit 
the  five  hundred  ; )  after  that  He  was  seen  of 
James  9,  His  own  brother,  and  first  Bishop  of 
this  diocese.  Seeing  then  that  such  a  Bishop 
originally'  saw  Christ  Jesus  when  risen,  do  not 
thou,  his  disciple,  disbelieve  him.  But  thou 
sayest  that  His  brother  James  was  a  partial 
witness  ;  aftenvards  He  was  seen  also  of  me  ^ 
Paul,  His  enemy ;  and  what  testimony  is 
doubted,  when  an  enemy  proclaims  it?  "I, 
who  was  before  a  persecutor^,  now  preach  the 
glad  tidings  of  the  Resurrection." 

22.  Many  witnesses  there  are  of  the  Saviour's 
resurrection. — The  night,  and  the  light  of  the 
full  moon  ;  (for  that  night  was  the  sixteenth  4  ; ) 
the  rock  of  the  sepulchre  which  received  Him; 
the  stone  also  shall  rise  up  against  the  face  of 
the  Jews,  for  it  saw  the  Lord  ;  even  the  stone 
which  was  then  rolled  aways,  itself  bears  witness 
to  the  Resurrection,  lying  there  to  this  day. 
Angels  of  God  who  were  present  testified  of 
theResurrection  of  the  Only-begotten  :  Peter 
and  John,  and  Thomas,  and  all  the  rest  of  the 
Apostles  ;  some  of  whom  ran  to  the  sepulchre, 
and  saw  the  burial-clothes,  in  which  He  was 
wrapped  before,  lying  there  after  the  Resur- 
rection ;  and  others  handled  His  hands  and 
His  feet,  and  beheld  the  prints  of  the  nails  ; 
and  all  enjoyed  together  that  Breath  of  the 
Saviour,  and  were  counted  worthy  to  forgive 
sins  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Women 

4  Rom.  X.  6,  7.  5  2  Tim.  il  B.  *  i  Cor.  xv.  14,  15. 

7  lb.  V.  2o.  8  lb.  s,  6. 

9  lb.  7.  This  appearance  of  Christ  to  James  is  not  men- 
tioned in  the  Gospels.  Jerome (Crt/a/c!.''-  Script.  Eccles.  p.  170  D) 
mentions  a  tradition  that  James  had  taken  an  cath  that  he  would 
eat  no  bread  from  the  hour  in  which  he  had  drunk  the  Cup  ol  the 
Lord,  until  he  should  see  Him  rising  from  the  dead.  Wherefore 
the  Saviour  immediately  after  He  had  risen  appeared  to  James 
and  commanded  him  to  eat. 

'  For  ToiouTOU  Toivvv  eTriiricOTrov  irpioroTuiru?  c5ovtos_  Coda. 
Roe,  Casaub.  have  tov  Toiwu  irputTorvnov  f jritricoirov  jSoiros, 
which  gives  the  better  sense — "since  therefore  the  primary 
Bishop  saw,  &c."  On  the  meaning  of  napoiKia,  and  the  extent 
of  a  primitive  Diocese,  see  Bingham.  IX.  c.  2. 

"  I  Cor.  XV.  8.  3  I  Tim.  i.  13. 

4  If  the  Crucifixion  took  place  on  the  14th  of  Nisan,  the  follow- 
ing night  would  begin  the  15th,  and  the  next  night  the  i6th- 

5  Cf.  Cat.  xiii.  39. 


too  were  witnesses,  who  took  hold  of  His  feet, 
and  who  beheld  the  mighty  earthquake,  and 
the  radiance  of  the  Angel  who  stood  by  :  the 
linen  clothes  also  which  were  wrapped  about 
Him,  and  which  He  left  when  He  rose ; — the 
soldiers,  and  the  money  given  to  them ;  the 
spot  itself  also,  yet  to  be  seen  ; — and  this 
house  of  the  holy  Church,  which  out  of  the 
loving  affection  to  Christ  of  the  Emperor 
Constantine  of  blessed  memory,  was  both 
built  and  beautified  as  thou  seest. 

23.  A  witness  to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
is  Tabitha  also,  who  was  in  His  name  raised 
from  the  dead  6;  for  how  shall  we  disbelieve 
that  Christ  is  risen,  when  even  His  Name 
raised  the  dead  ?  The  sea  also  bears  witness 
to  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  as  thou  hast  heard 
before  7.  The  draught  of  fishes  also  testifies, 
and  the  fire  of  coals  there,  and  the  fish  laid 
thereon.  Peter  also  bears  witness,  who  had 
erst  denied  Him  thrice,  and  who  then  thrice 
confessed  Him  ;  and  was  commanded  to  feed 
His  spiritual  ^  sheep.  To  this  day  stands  Mount 
Olivet,  still  to  the  eyes  of  the  faithful  all  but 
displaying  Him  Who  ascended  on  a  cloud, 
and  the  heavenly  gate  of  His  ascension.  For 
from  heaven  He'  descended  to  Bethlehem,  but 
to  heaven  He  ascended  from  the  Mount  of 
Olives?;  at  the  former  place  beginning  His 
conflicts  among  men,  but  in  the  latter,  crowned 
after  them.  Thou  hast  therefore  many  wit- 
nesses;  thou  hast  this  very  place  of  the  Resur- 
rection ;  thou  hast  also  the  place  of  the  As- 
cension towards  the  east;  thou  hast  also  tor 
witnesses  the  Angels  which  there  bore  tes- 
timony ;  and  the  cloud  on  which  He  went  up, 
and  the  disciples  who  came  down  from  that 

DltlCC 

24.  The  course  of  instruction  in  the  Faith 
would  lead  me  to  speak  of  the  Ascension  also; 
but  the  grace  of  God  so  ordered '_  it,  that 
thou  heardest  most  fully  concerning  it,  as  far 
as  our  weakness   allowed,  yesterday,   on   the 


6  Acts  ix.  41.  7  See  S  17,  above.         _  8  vovra. 

9  St  Luke  (xxiv.  50)  describes  the  Ascension  as  taking  place 
at  Bethany,  but  the  tradition,  which  Cyril  follows  had  long  since 
fiKcd  the  scene  on  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  a  mile 
nearer  to  Jerusalem  ;  an<l  here  the  Empress  Helena  had  built  the 
Church  ol  the  Ascensiim  (Eusebius,  Liye  0/ Constantnie,  III.  43  ; 
Demonstr.  Evang.  VI.  xviii.  26).  'rhere  is  nothing  in  Cyrils 
lancuace  to  warrant  the  Benedictine  Editors  siiggestion  that  he 
alludes  to  the  legend,  according  to  which  the  marks  ot  Christ  s  feet 
were  indelibly  impressed  on  the  spot  from  which  He  ascended. 
In  the  next  gener.ition  St.  Aucustine  seems  to  countenance  the 
miraculous  st.-ry  (/«  Joh.  Evang.  Tract  xlvii  ) :  "There  are  His 
footsteps,  now  adored,  where  last  He  stood,  and  w-hence  He 
ascended  into  heaven."  The  supposed  trace  of  one  foot  is  still 
shewn  on  Mount  Olivet  ;  "  the  other  having  been  removed  by  the 
Turks  is  now  to  be  found  in  the  Chapel  of  S.  Ihecia,  which  is 
in  the  Patriarch's  Palace  "  (Jerusalem  Ed.).  Compare  Stanley, 
.Sinai    and    Palestine,    c.   xiv.  ;     Dictionary    of    Bible,   Olives, 

Mount  of.  .  ,       ■       ,        L  u  I 

I  ciKO.  ouricre.  In  this  word,  as  also  in  the  phrase  below,  (tar 
o\Kovo^>.in.v  Tij?  @aa?  x'ip'ro?,  Cyril  refers  to  the  order  of  reading 
the  Scriptures  as  part  of  a  dispensation  establishLd  by  D.vine 
grace. 


LECTURE   XIV. 


lOl 


Lord's  day;  since,  by  the  providence  of  divine 
grace,  the  course  of  the  Lessons  ^  in  Church 
included  the  account  of  our  Saviour's  going  up 
into  the  heavens  3  ;  and  what  was  then  said  was 
spoken  principally  for  the  sake  of  all,  and  for  the 
assembled  body  of  the  faithful,  yet  especially 
for  thy  sake  4.  But  the  question  is,  didst  thou 
attend  to  what  was  said  ?  For  thou  knowest  that 
the  words  which  come  next  in  the  Creed  teach 
thee  to  believe  in   Him   "  Who   rose   again 

THE  THIRD  DAY,  AND  ASCENDED  INTO  HeAVEN, 
AND   SAT  DOWN    ON    THE   RIGHT   HAND    OF    THE 

Father."  I  suppose  then  certainly  that  thou 
rememberest  the  exposition ;  yet  I  will  now 
again  cursorily  put  thee  in  mind  of  what  was 
then  said.  Remember  what  is  distinctly 
written  in  the  Psalms,  God  is  oone  up.  ivitk 
a  shout  ^;.  remember  that  the  divine  powers 
also  said  to  one  another,  Lift  up  your  gates,  ye 
Princes^,  and  the  rest ;  remember  also  the  Psalm 
which  says,  He  ascended  on  high,  He  led  cap- 
tivity captive  7  ,•  remember  the  Prophet  who  said. 
Who  buihieth  His  ascension  unto  heaven^ ;  and 
all  the  other  particulars  mentioned  yesterday 
because  of  the  gainsaying  of  the  Jews. 

25.  For  when  they  speak  against  the  ascension 
of  the  Saviour,  as  being  impossible,  remember 
the  account  of  the  carrying  away  of  Habakkuk  : 
for  if  Habakkuk  was  transported  by  an  Angel, 
being  carried  by  the  hair  of  his  heads,  much 
rather  was  the  Lord  of  both  Prophets  and 
Angels,  able  by  His  own  power  to  make  His 
ascent  into  the  Heavens  on  a  cloud  from  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  Wonders  like  this  thou 
mayest  call  to  mind,  but  reserve  the  pre-emi- 
nence for  the  Lord,  the  Worker  of  wonders ; 
for  the  others  were  borne  up,  but  He  bears 
up  all  things.  Remember  that  Enoch  was 
translated';  but  Jesus  ascended:  remember 
what  was  said  yesterday  concerning  Elias,  that 
Elias  was  taken  up  in  a  chariot  of  fire  ^ ;  but 
that  the  chariots  of  Christ  «r<?  ten  thousandfold 
eveji  thousands  upon  thousands '^ :  and  that  Elias 
was  taken  up,  towards  the  east  of  Jordan ;  but 


2  avoyvoxrfi.oToH',  a  term  including  the  portions  of  Scripture 
(n-epiKOTrai)  appointed  for  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  as  well  as  the 
daily  lessons  from  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

3  The  section  Luke  xxiv.  36 — 53,  which  in  the  Eastern  Church 
is  the  Gospel  for  Ascension  Day,  is  also  one  of  the  "  eleven 
morning  Gospels  of  the  Resurrection  (evayycXia  avaa-raa-iixa 
ewSti/o),  which  were  read  in  turn,  one  every  Sunday  at  Matins.^' 
Dictionary  0/  Chr.  Antiq.  "  Lectionary."  This  Lecture  being 
delivered  on  Monday,  the  Section  in  question  had  been  read  on 
the  preceding  day. 

4  niaAicrra  )i.iv  .  .  .  tfatpeTois  Si.  5  Ps.  xlvii.  5. 

*  Ps.  xxiv.  7  :  Ljyt  tip,  O  gates,  your  heads.  The  order  of  the 
Hebrew  words  nii.->li;d  the  Greek  Translators. 

7  Ps.  Ixviii.  18.  On  the  reading  ai'e'^rj,  found  in  a  few  MSS. 
of  the  Septuagint,  see  Tischendorf's  note  on  Eph.  iv.  8. 

**  Artlos  ix.  6  :  (R.V.)  It  is  He  that  bttildetk  His  chatitbers  in 
the  heaven.  (A.V.J  His  stories.  Marg.  ascensions,  or  stlwies. 
Sept.  Trji*  a.v6.^o.(Tiv  auTou. 

9  tiel  and  the  Dragon,  v.  33:  Compare  Ezek.  viii.  3. 

'  He'.),  xi.  5.  22  Kihgs  ii.  11. 

3  Ps.  Ixviii.  17 :  ;^iAiaSes  iv&-i\vovvr{j)v.  The  Hebrew  means 
literally  "  thousands  of  repetition,"  i.e.  many  thousands  :  eiejji-eii', 
"  to  abound." 


that  Christ  ascended  at  the  east  of  the  brook 
Cedron  :  and  that  Elias  went  as  into  heaven  4y 
but  Jesus,  into  heaven  :  and  that  Elias  said 
that  a  double  portion  in  the  Holy  Spirit  should 
be  given  to  his  holy  disciple  ;  but  that  Christ 
granted  to  His  own  disciples  so  great  enjoy- 
ment of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  not 
only  to  have  It  in  themselves,  but  also,  by  the 
laying  on  of  their  hands,  to  impart  the  fellow- 
ship of  It  to  them  who  believed. 

26.  And  when  thou  hast  thus  WTCStled  against 
the  Jews, — when  thou  hast  worsted  them  by 
parallel  instances,  then  come  further  to  the 
pre-eminence  of  the  Saviour's  glory  ;  namely, 
that  they  were  the  servants,  but  He  the  Son  of 
God.  And  thus  thou  wilt  be  reminded  of  His 
pre-eminence,  by  the  thought  that  a  servant  of 
Christ  was  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven.  For 
if  Elias  attained  as  far  as  the  first  heaven,  but 
Paul  as  far  as  the  third,  the  latter,  therefore, 
has  obtained  a  more  honourable  dignity.  Be 
not  ashamed  of  thine  Apostles ;  they  are  not 
inferior  to  Moses,  nor  second  to  the  Prophets ; 
but  they  are  noble  among  the  noble,  yea, 
nobler  still.  For  Elias  truly  was  taken  up 
into  heaven  ;  but  Peter  nas  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  having  received  the  words, 

Whatsoever  thou  shall  loose  on  earth  shall 
be  loosed  in  heaven  s.  Elias  was  taken  up  only 
to  heaven  ;  but  Paul  both  into  heaven,  and 
into  paradise  °  (for  it  behoved  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  to  receive  more  manifold  grace),  and 
heard  unspeakable  words,  ivhich  it  is  not  lawful 
for  man  to  utter.  But  Paul  came  down  again 
from  above,  not  because  he  was  unworthy  to 
abide  in  the  third  heaven,  but  in  order  that 
after  having  enjoyed  things  above  man's  reach, 
and  descended  in  honour,  and  having  preached 
Christ,  and  died  for  His  sake,  he  might  re- 
ceive also  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  But  I 
pass  over  the  other  parts  of  this  argument, 
of  which  I  spoke  yesterday  in  the  Lord's-day 
congregation  ;  for  with  understanding  hearers, 
a  mere  reminder  is  sufficient  for  instruction. 

27.  But  remember  also  what  I  have  often 
said  7  concerning  the  Son's  sitting  at  the  right 


4  Sept.  (is  eU  Tov  ovpa.vov.  In  i  Mace.  ii.  58  the  MSS.  vary 
between  scos  and  ois,  but  the  latter  (says  Fritzsche)  "is  an  altera- 
tion made  to  agree  with  2  Kings  ii.  11.  But  there  the  leference  is 
to  the  intended  exaltation  of  Elijah  into  heaven,  and  therefore  w? 
is  rightly  used  (Kiihner,  Grainin.  §  604,  note  ;  Jtlf,  §  626,  Obs.  i), 
while  here  the  thin^  is  referred  to  as  an  accotnpUshed  historical 

fact."  The  distinction  here  drawn  by  Cyril  is  therefore  hyper- 
critical, as  is  seen  below  in  §  26,  where  he  writes,  'HAi'a;  ii.kv  yap 
a.vi^ritl>0r^  eis  ovpavof. 

5  Matt.  xvi.  19.       _  ^2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4. 

7  See  Cat.  iv.  7  ;  xi.  17.  The  clause,  Kai  KaOia-avTa  ix  S^^iiuv 
Tov  narpo?,  does  not  occur  in  the  original  form  of  the  Nicene 
Creed,  but  is  found  in  the  Confession  of  laith  contained  in  Const. 
Apost.  c.  41,  in  the  four  Ensebian  Confessions  of  Antioch  (341,  2 
A.D.),  and  in  the  Macrostichos  (344  ad.).  An  equnalent  clause 
is  found  in  the  brief  Confession  of  Hippolytus  (circ.  220  a.d.) 
Contra  Hiercs.  Noeii,  c.  i  :  "  koX  ovto.  iv  Se^ia  toO  llarpos,"  and 
in  Tertullian,  £>e  I'irgin.    Velanii.  c.  i  :  "  Regula  quidem  Fidei 

una  omnino  est,  sola  immobilis  et  irreformabilis sedentem 

nunc  ad  dextram  Patris  :  "    de  Prcescriptione,  c.  13  :   "  Regula  est 


I02 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


hand  of  the  Father ;  because  of  the  next  sen- 
tence in  the  Creed,  which  says,  "  And  as- 
cended INTO  Heaven,  and  sat  down  at  the 

RIGHT    hand    of    THE    FATHER."       Let    US    nOt 

curiously  ])ry  into  what  is  properly  meant  by 
the  throne  ;  for  it  is  incomprehensible  ;  but 
neither  let  us  endure  those  who  falsely  say, 
that  it  was  after  His  Cross  and  Resurrection 
and  Ascension  into  heaven,  that  the  Son  began 
to  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  For 
the  Son  gained  notHisthronebyadvancement^; 
but  throughout  His  being  (and  His  being  is  by 
an  eternal  generations)  He  also  sitteth  together 
with  the  Father.  And  this  throne  the  Prophet 
Esaias  having  beheld  before  the  incarnate 
coming  of  the  Saviour,  says,  /  saiv  the  Lord 
sitting  on  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up  ^  and  the 
rest.  For  the  Father  no  man  hath  seen  at  any 
time  ^,  and  He  who  then  appeared  to  the  Prophet 
was  the  Son.  The  Psalmist  also  says.  Thy 
throne  is  prepared  of  old ;  Thou  art  from  ever- 
lasting'^. Though  then  the  testimonies  on  this 
point  are  many,  yet  because  of  the  lateness  of 
the  time,  we  will  content  ourselves  even  with 
these. 

28.  But  now  I  must  remind  you  of  a  few 
things  out  of  many  which  are  spoken  concern- 
ing the  Son's  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father.  For  the  hundred  and  ninth  Psalm 
says  plainly,  The  Loed  said  unto  ftiy  Lord,  Sit 
Thou  on  My  right  hand,  until  L  make  Thine 
enemies  2'hy  footstool^.  And  the  Saviour,  con- 
firming this  saying  in  the  Gospels,  says  that 
David  spake  not  these  things  of  himself,  but 
from  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  saying, 
LLozv  then  doth  David  in  the  Spirit  call  LLini 
Lord,  saying,  The  Lord  said  tinto  my  Lord,  Sit 
Thou  on  My  right  hand  "^1  and  the  rest.  And 
in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  Peter  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost  standing  with  the  Eleven^,  and 
discoursing  to  the  Israelites,  has  in  very  words 
cited  this  testimony  from  the  hundred  and 
ninth  Psalm. 

29.  But  1  must  remind  you  also  of  a  few 
other  testimonies  in  like  manner  concerning 
the  Son's  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Fa 
ther.  For  in  the  Gospel  according  to  Matthew 
it  is  written.  Nevertheless,  L  say  unto  you,  Llence- 
forth  ye  shall  see  the  So7i  of  M aft  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  poiverT,  and  the  rest :  in  accord- 
ance with  which  the  Apostle  Peter  also  writes. 
By  the  Resunedion  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  on 
the  right  ha?id  of  God,  having  gone  into  heaven  ^. 


autem  fidei ....  sedisse  ad  dexteram  Patris  :  "  adversus  Praxenn, 
c.  a:  ''sedere  ad  dexieram  Patris." 

8  fK  n-poKOTT^s.     Cf.  Cat.  X.  5,  note  8. 

9  a(/)'  ouTrep  eariv,  (ecTTi  Si  aei  yivfr)d(ii).    In  both  clauses  ((ttlv 
is  emphatic. 

'  Is.  vi.  I.  2  Joh.  i.  18.  3  Ps.  xciii.  2. 

4  Ps.  ex.  I.  5  Matt.  xxii.  43.  *  Acts  ii.  34. 

7  Matt.  xxvi.  64.  s  I  Pet.  iii.  22. 


And  the  Apostle  Paul,  writing  to  the  Romans, 
says,  //  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather,  that 
is  risen  agaifi,  who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of 
God'i.  And  charging  the  Ephesians,  he  thus 
speaks,  According  to  the  ivorking  of  LLis  mighty 
p07c<er,  which  LLe  wroright  in  Christ  ivhen  He 
raised  Him  from  the  dead,  and  set  Him  at  His 
own  right  hand'^  ;  and  the  rest.  And  the 
Colossians  he  taught  thus,  Lf  ye  then  be  risc7i 
with  Christ,  seek  the  things  above,  where  Christ 
is  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God'^.  And  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  he  says.  When  He 
had  made  purification  of  our  sins,  He  sat  down 
on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high  3. 
And  again.  But  unto  zvhich  of  the  Angels  hath 
He  said  at  any  time.  Sit  thou  at  My  right  ha?id, 
tmtil  L  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool''  1  And 
again.  But  He,  when  He  had  offered  one  sacrifice 
for  all  men,  for  ever  sat  doivn  on  the  right  hand 
of  God ;  frofn  henceforth  expecting  till  His  efie- 
mies  be  made  His  footstool^.  And  again.  Looking 
unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  perfecter  of  our  faith  ; 
Who  for  the  joy  that  zvas  set  before  Him  endured 
the  Cross,  despising  shame,  and  is  set  dozen  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  thro7ie  of  God^. 

30.  And  though  there  are  many  other  texts 
concerning  the  session  of  the  Onl)-begotten 
on  the  right  hand  of  God,  yet  these  may  suffice 
us  at  present ;  with  a  repetiticn  of  my  remark, 
that  it  was  not  after  His  coming  in  the  flesh 7 
that  He  obtained  the  dignity  of  this  seat ;  no, 
for  even  before  all  ages,  the  Only-begotten 
Son  of  God,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  ever 
possesses  the  throne  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father.  Now  may  He  Himself,  the  God  of 
all,  who  is  Father  of  the  Christ,  and  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  came  down,  and  ascended, 
and  sitteth  together  with  the  P\ather,  watch 
over  your  souls  ;  keep  unshaken  and  unchanged 
your  hope  in  Him  who  rose  again  ;  raise  you 
together  with  Him  from  your  dead  sins  unto  His 
heavenly  gift;  count  you  worthy  to  be  caught 
up  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air^, 
in  His  fitting  time ;  and,  until  that  time  arrive 
of  His  glorious  second  advent,  write  all  your 
names  in  the  Book  of  the  living,  and  having 
written  them,  never  blot  them  out  (for  the 
names  of  many,  who  fall  away,  are  blotted  out); 
and  may  He  grant  to  all  of  you  to  believe 
on  Him  who  rose  again,  and  to  look  for  Him 
who  is  gone  up,  and  is  to  come  again,  (to 
come,  but  not  from  the  earth  ;  for  be  on  your 
guard,  O  man,  because  of  the  deceivers  who 
are  to  come;)  Who  sitteth  on  high,  and  is 
here   present   together  with  us,  beholding  the 


9  Rom.  viii.  34.  »  Eph.  i.  19,  20.  2  Col.  iii.  i. 

3  Hcb.  i.  3.  4  lb.  V.  13.  5  lb.  x.  12. 

6  lb.  xii.  2.     On  Cyril's  omission  cf  Mark  xvi.  19.  see  West- 
cott  and  Hort. 

7  t\\v  €i>crapKOv  Trapouo-iar.     Ci.  §  27.  ^  i  Thess.  iv.  17. 


LECTURE   XrV. 


103 


order  of  each ^  cud  the  steadfastness  of  his  faith  9. 
For  think  not  that  because  He  is  now  absent 
in  tlie  flesh,  He  is  therefore  absent  also  in  the 
Spirit.  He  is  here  present  in  the  midst  of  us, 
listening  to  what  is  said  of  Him,  and  beholding 
thine  inward  thoughts,  and  trying  the  reins  and 

•  Col.  ii.  5. 


hearts '  / — who  also  is  now  ready  to  present 
those  who  are  coming  to  baptism,  and  all  of 
you,  in  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  Father,  and  to 
say.  Behold^  I  and  the  children  whotn  God  hath 


given 
Amen. 


Me 


-To   whom    be    glory    for    ever. 


Ps.  vii.  9. 


»  Isa.  viii.  i3;  Heb.  ii.  13. 


LECTURE   XV. 


On  the  clause,  And  shall  come  in  glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead;  of 

whose  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end. 

Daniel  vii.  9 — 14. 

I  beheld  till  thrones  were  placed^  and  one  that  was  ancient  of  days  did  sit,  and  then,  I  saw  in  a  vision 

of  the  night,  and  behold  one  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  &-'c. 


X.  We  preach  not  one  advent  only  of  Christ, 
but  a  second  also,  far  more  glorious  than  the 
former.  For  the  former  gave  a  view  of  His 
patience ;  but  the  latter  brings  with  it  the 
crown  of  a  divine  kingdom.  For  all  things, 
for  the  most  part,  are  twofold  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  :  a  twofold  generation  ;  one,  of 
God,  before  the  ages  ;  and  one,  of  a  Virgin, 
at  the  close  of  the  ages  :  His  descents  two- 
fold ;  one,  the  unobserved,  like  rain  on  a 
fleece^ ;  and  a  second  His  open  coming,  which 
is  to  be.  In  His  former  advent.  He  was 
wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes  in  the  man- 
ger ;  in  His  second,  He  covereth  Himself 
ivith  light  as  with  a  garment^.  In  His  first 
coming,  He  endured  the  Cross,  despising shame^ ; 
in  His  second.  He  comes  attended  by  a  host 
of  Angels,  receiving  glory*.  We  rest  not  then 
upon  His  first  advent  only,  but  look  also  for 
His  second.  And  as  at  His  first  coming  we 
said.  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  Natne  of 
the  Lord^,  so  will  we  repeat  the  same  at  His 
second  coming ;  that  when  with  Angels  we 
meet  our  Master,  we  may  worship  Him  and 
say.  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  JVa?ne  of 
the  Lord.  The  Saviour  comes,  not  to  be 
judged  again,  but  to  judge  them  who  judged 
Him  ;  He  who  before  held  His  peace  when 
judged  ^,  shall  remind  the  transgressors  who  did 
those  daring  deeds  at  the  Cross,  and  shall  say, 
These  things  hast  thou  done,  and  I  kept  silence  7. 
Tlien,  He  came  because  of  a  divine  dispensa- 
tion, teaching  men  with  persuasion  ;  but  this 
time  they  will  of  necessity  have  Him  for  their 
King,  even  though  they  wish  it  not. 

2.  And  concerning  these  two  comings, 
Malachi  the  Prophet  says,  And  the  Lord  whom 
ye  seek  shall  suddenly  come  to  His  temple  ^  /  be- 
hold one  coming.     And  again  of  the  second 


'  Ps.  Ixxii.  6.     See  xii.  9 ;  and  S  to,  below. 
2  Ps.  civ.  2.  3  Heb.  xii.  2. 

4  Cyril's  contra'it  of  the  two  Advents  seems  to  be  partly  borrowed 
from  Justin  M.  {Afol.  i.  52:  Try/>k.  no).  See  also  TertuUian 
(Adv.  Jiidacos,  c.  14)  ;  Hippolytub  {De  Antichristo,  44). 

5  Malt.  xxi.  9  ;  xxiii.  39. 

6  lb.  xxvi.  63.  7  Ps.  1.  21,  8  Mai.  iii.  1—3. 


coming  he  says.  And  the  Alessenger  of  the 
covenant  whom  ye  delight  in.  Behold,  He  cometh, 
saith  9  the  Lord  Almighty.  But  who  shall  abide 
the  day  of  His  coming?  or  who  shall  stand  tvhen 
He  appeareth  ?  Because  He  cometh  in  like  a  re- 
finer's fire,  and  like  fullers'  herb  ;  and  He  shall 
sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier.  And  immediately 
after  the  Saviour  Himself  says.  And  L  will 
draw  near  to  you  in  judgment ;  and  L  will  be  a 
swift  witness  against  the  so?'cerers,  and  against 
the  adulteresses,  and  agaiftst  those  who  swear 
falsely  in  My  Name ',  and  the  rest.  For  this 
cause  Paul  warning  us  beforehand  says,  Lf  any 
man  buildeth  on  the  foundation  gold,  and  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble ;  every 
man's  zvork  shall  be  made  jnanifest ;  for  the  day 
shall deuare  it,  because  it  shall  be  revealed  in  fire'^. 
Paul  also  knew  these  two  comings,  when  writing 
to  Titus  and  saying.  The  grace  of  God  hath 
appeared  which  hringeth  salvation  unto  all  men, 


inslnicting 


us   that,    denying   ungodlitiess    and 


ivorldly  lusts,  7ve  should  live  soberly,  and  godly, 
and  righteously  in  tJiis  present  world ;  looking  for 
the  blessed  hope,  and  appearing  of  the  glory  of  the 
great  God  atid  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  3.  Thou 
seest  how  he  spoke  of  a  first,  for  which  he 
gives  thanks  ;  and  of  a  second,  to  which  we 
look  forward.  Therefore  the  words  also  of  the 
Faith  which  we  are  announcing  were  just  now 
delivered  thus  4;  that  we  believe  in  Him,  who 
also  ascended  into  the  heavens,  and  sat 


9  The  Benedictine  Editor  by  omitting  Ae'Yet,  obtains  the  sense, 
He  coimth,  even  the  Lord  Almighty.  But  Ac'yci  is  sup[K>rted  by 
the  MSB.  of  Cyril,  as  well  as  by  the  Septuagint  and  Hebrew. 

I  Mai.  iii.  5-  =  i  Cor.  iii.  12. 

3  Thus  ii.  11.  The  Benedictine  Editor  adopts  roi)  Swir^po? 
instead  of  17  (rwnjptos,  against  the  authority  of  the  best  MSS. 
of  Cyril. 

4  vvv  napeSoBi).  Cyril  means  that  at  the  beginning  of  this 
present  Lecture  he  had  delivered  to  the  Catechumens  those  ar- 
ticles of  the  Creed  which  he  was  going  to  e.vplain  Compare  Cat. 
xviii.  21,  where  we  see  that  Cyril  first  announces  (tVayytAAw) 
the  words  which  the  learners  repeat  after  him  {a.Trayye\\u>). 

The  clause,  Whose  Ki.ncijom  shall  have  no  end,  was  not 
contained  in  the  original  furni  of  the  Creed  of  Nica;a,  A.u.  325,  but 
its  substance  is  found  in  many  earlier  writings.  Compare  Justin  M. 
l^Tryph.  §  46  :  ical  avTov  kariv  i)  aiuii'io;  PaaiKeia.)  ;  Const.  A  post, 
vii.  41  ;  the  Eusebian  Confessions  ist  and  4th  of  Antioch,  and  the 
Macrostich,  A.I).  341,  342,  344.  Bp.  Bull  asseits  that  the  Creed  of 
Jerusalem,  containing  this  clalise,  was  no  other  than  the  ancient 
liastern  Creed,  fust  directed  against  the  Gnostics  of  the  Sub- 
Apostolic  age  {Judicium  Eccl.  Citthol.  vi.  16). 


I 


LECTURE   XV. 


los 


DOWN  ON  THE  RIGHT  HAND  OF  THE  FATHER, 
AND  SHALL  COME  IN  GLORY  TO  JUDGE  QUICK 
AND  DEAD  ;  WHOSE  KINGDOM  SHALL  HAVE  NO 
END. 

3.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  then,  conies  from 
heaven;  and  He  comes  with  glory  at  the  end 
of  this  world,  in  the  last  day.  For  of  this 
world  there  is  to  be  an  end,  and  this  created 
world  is  to  be  re-made  anews.  For  since  cor- 
.  ruption,  and  theft,  and  adultery,  and  every 
sort  of  sins  have  been  poured  forth  over  the 
earth,  and  blood  has  been  mingled  with  blood ^ 
in  the  world,  therefore,  that  this  wondrous 
dwelling-place  may  not  remain  filled  with 
iniquity,  this  world  passeth  away,  that  the 
fairer  world  may  be  made  manifest.  And 
wouldest  thou  receive  the  proof  of  this  out  of 
the  words  of  Scripture  ?  Listen  to  Esaias, 
saying,  A?td  the  heaven  shall  be  rolled  to- 
gether as  a  scroll ;  and  all  the  stars  shall  fall, 
as  leaves  from  a  vine,  and  as  leaves  fall  from  a 
fig-tree  t .  The  Gospel  also  says,  The  sun  shall 
be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her 
light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven  ^.  Let 
us  not  sorrow,  as  if  we  alone  died  ;  the  stars 
also  shall  die  ;  but  perhaps  rise  again.  And 
the  Lord  roUeth  up  the  heavens,  not  that  He 
may  destroy  them,  but  that  He  may  raise  them 
up  again  more  beautiful.  Hear  David  the 
Prophet  saying.  Thou,  Lord,  iti  the  beginning 
didst  lay  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  the 
heavens  are  the  work  of  Thy  ha?ids ;  they  shall 
perish,  but  Thou  remainesf^.  But  some  one  will 
say,  Behold,  he  says  plainly  that  they  shall 
perish.  Hear  in  what  sense  he  says,  they  shall 
perish ;  it  is  plain  from  what  follows ;  Atid 
they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment;  afid 
as  a  vesture  shall  Thou  fold  them  up,  and  they 
shall  be  changed.  For  as  a  man  is  said  to 
"  perish,"  according  to  that  which  is  written. 
Behold,  how  the  righteous  perisheth,  and  no  man 
layeth  it  to  heart ',  and  this,  though  the  resur- 
rection is  looked  for;  so  we  look  for  a  resur- 
rection, as  it  were,  of  the  heavens  also.  The 
sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon 
into  blood  ^.  Here  let  converts  from  the  Mani- 
chees  gain  instruction,  and  no  longer  make 
those  lights  their  gods ;  nor  impiously  think, 
that  this  sun  which  shall  be  darkened  is 
Christ  3.  And  again  hear  the  Lord  saying, 
Heaven  and  earth   shall  pass   away,   but  My 


5  The  Benedictine  Editor  suggests  that  Cyril  "is  lefuting 
those  who  said  thai  the  Universe  was  to  perish  utterly,  an  opinion 
which  seems  to  be  somehow  imputed  to  Origen  by  Methodius, 
or  Pioclus,  in  Epiphanius  {_Hares.  Ixiv.  31,  32)."  On  Origen  s 
much  controverted  opinions  concerning  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  world,  see  Huet.  Origeniaiia,  II.  4 — 5:  and  Bp.  We^tcoit, 
Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography,  "Origen,"  pp.  137,  138. 

6  Hos.  iv.  2. 

7  Is.  xxxiv.  ^.  8  ^latt.  xxiv.  29. 

9  Ps.  cii.  25,  26;  Heb.  i.  10 — 12.  '  Is.  Ivii.  i. 

*  Joel  ii.  31.  3  Cat.  vi.  13  ;  xi.  21. 


words  shall  not  pass  away*;  for  the  creatures 
are  not  as  precious  as  the  Master's  words. 

4.  The  things  then  which  are  seen  shall 
pass  away,  and  there  shall  come  the  things 
which  are  looked  for,  things  fairer  than  the 
present ;  but  as  to  the  time  let  no  one  be 
curious.  For  //  is  not  for  you.  He  says,  to 
know  times  or  seasons,  which  the  Father  hath 
put  in  His  ow?i  power^.  And  venture  not  thou 
to  declare  when  these  things  sliall  be,  nor  on 
the  other  hand  supinely  slumber.  For  he 
saith,  Watch,  for  in  such  ati  hour  as  ye  expect 
not  the  Son  of  Alan  cometh  ^.  But  since  it  was 
needful  for  us  to  know  the  signs  of  the  end, 
and  since  we  are  looking  for  Christ,  there- 
fore, that  we  may  not  die  deceived  and 
be  led  astray  by  that  false  Antichrist,  the 
Apostles,  moved  by  the  divine  will,  address 
themselves  by  a  providential  arrangement  to 
the  True  Teacher,  and  say,  Tell  us,  when  shall 
these  things  be,  and  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  Thy 
coming,  and  of  the  end  of  the  world  "^1  We  look 
for  Thee  to  come  again,  but  Satan  trans- 
forms himself  into  an  Ajigel  of  light ;   put   us 

therefore  on  our  guard,  that  we  may  not  wor- 
ship another  instead  of  Thee.  And  He, 
opening  His  divine  and  blessed  mouth,  says, 
Take  heed  that  no  man  mislead  you.  Do  you 
also,  my  hearers,  as  seeing  Him  now  with 
the  eyes  of  your  mind,  hear  Him  saying  the 
same  things  to  you  ;  Take  heed  that  no  man 
mislead  you.  And  this  word  exhorts  you 
all  to  give  heed  to  what  is  spoken  ;  for  it  is 
not  a  history  of  things  gone  by,  bat  a  pro- 
phecy of  things  future,  and  which  will  surely 
come.  Not  that  we  prophesy,  for  we  are  un- 
worthy ;  but  that  the  things  which  are  written 
will  be  set  before  you,  and  the  signs  declared. 
Observe  thou,  which  of  them  have  already 
come  to  pass,  and  which  yet  remain  ;  and 
make  thyself  safe. 

5.  Take  heed  that  no  mafi  fnislead  you  :  for 
many  shall  cofne  in  My  name,  saying,  I  am 
Christ,  and  shall  mislead  many.  This  has 
happened  in  part :  for  already  Simon  Magus 
has  said  this,  and  Menander^,  and  some  others 
of  the  godless  leaders  of  heresy;  and  others 
will  say  it  in  our  days,  or  after  us. 

6.  A  second  sign.  And  ye  shall  hear  of 
wars  and  rutnours  of  tvars  9.  Is  there  then  at 
this  time  war  between  Persians  and  Romans 
for  Mesopotamia,  or  no?  Does  nation  rise  up 
against  nation  and  kingdom  against  kingdom, 
or  no  ?     And  there  shall  be  fa/nines  and  pesti- 


4  Matt.  xxiv.  35.  S  Acts  i.  7.  6  Matt.  xxiv.  42,  44 ; 

lb.  V.  3.  7  lb.  Z'Z/  3  and  4.  8  Cat.  vi._  14,  16. 

9  Jlatt.  xxiv.  6.  The  war  with  Sapor  II.,  King  of  Persia, 
which  broke  out  immediately  on  the  death  of  Cun^tantine,  and 
continued  throughout  the  reign  of  Constantius.  was  raging  fiercely 
at  the  date  of  these  Lectures,  the  great  battle  of  Singara  bein^ 
fought  in  the  year  348  A.D. 


io6 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


lences  attd  earthquakes  in  divers  places.  These 
things  have  already  come  to  pass ;  and  again, 
And  fearftd  sights  from  heaven,  and  inighty 
storms'^.  Watch  therefore.  He  says  ;  for  ye  ktiotv 
not  at  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come  ^. 

7.  But  we  seek  our  own  sign  of  His  coming  ; 
we  Churchmen  seek  a  sign  proper  to  the 
Church  3.  And  the  Saviour  says,  And  then  shall 
many  be  offended,  and  shall  betray  one  another, 
and  shall  hate  one  another  ♦.  If  thou  hear  that 
bishops  advance  against  bishops,  and  clergy 
against  clergy,  and  laity  against  laity  even  unto 
blood,  be  not  troubled  s;  for  it  has  been  written 
before.  Heed  not  the  things  now  happening, 
but  the  things  which  are  written  ;  and  even 
though  I  who  teach  thee  perish,  thou  shalt 
not  also  perish  with  me ;  nay,  even  a  hearer 
may  become  better  than  his  teacher,  and 
he  who  came  last  may  be  first,  since  even 
those  about  the  eleventh  hour  the  Master  re- 
ceives. If  among  Apostles  there  was  found 
treason,  dost  thou  wonder  that  hatred  of 
brethren  is  found  among  bishops  ?  But  the 
sign  concerns  not  only  rulers,  but  the  people 
also  ;  for  He  says.  And  because  iniquity  shall 
abound,  the  love  of  the  ma?ty  shall  wax  cold^. 

'  Luke  xxi.  II.  Jerome  in  the  Chronicon  mentions  a  great 
earthquake  in  346  A.D.,  by  which  Dyrrachium  was  destroyed,  and 
Rome  and  other  cities  of  Italy  greatly  injured  (Ben.  Ed). 

Cyril  substitutes  x^i/iawccs  for  o-Tj/Aeia,  the  better  reading  in 
Luke  xxi.  11.  ^  Matt.  xxiv.  42. 

3  tK/cATjcriao-TtKos,  when  applied  to  persons,  means  either,  as 
here,  an  orthodox  member  of  the  Church  in  contrast  to  a  heretic, 
pagan,  or  Jew  (Origen.  in  Job  xx.  6),  or  more  particularly  a  Cleric 
as  opposed  to  a  layman  (Cat.  xvii.  10).  4  Matt.  xxiv.  10. 

5  "  S.  Cyril  here  describes  the  state  of  the  Church,  when  ortho- 
doxy was  for  a  while  trodden  under  foot,  its  maintainers  per- 
secuted, and  the  varieties  of  Arianism,  which  took  its  place,  were 
quanelling  for  the  ascendancy.  Gibbon  quotes  two  passages,  one 
from  a  pagan  historian  of  the  day,  another  from  a  Father  of  the 
Church,  which  fully  bear  out  S.  Cyril's  words.  What  made  the 
state  of  things  still  more  deplorable,  was  the  defection  of  some 
of  the  orthodox  party,  as  Marcellus,  into  opposite  errors  ;  while 
the  subsequent  secessions  of  ApoUinaris  and  Lucifer  show  what 
lurking  di>orders  there  were  within  it  at  the  time  when  S.  Cyril 
wrote.  (Vid.  in/r.  9.)  The  passages  referred  to  are  as  follows: 
'  The  Christian  Religion,'  says  Ammianus,  '  in  itself  plain  and 
simple,  he  (Constantius)  confounded  by  the  dotage  of  superstition. 
Instead  of  reconciling  tlie  panics  by  the  weight  of  his  authority, 
he  cherished  and  propagated,  by  vain  disputes,  the  differences 
which  his  vain  curiosity  had  excited.  The  highways  were  covered 
with  troops  of  Bishops,  galloping  from  every  side  to  the  assem- 
blies which  they  called  synods  ;  and  while  they  laboured  to 
reduce  the  whole  sect  to  their  own  particular  opinions,  the  public 
establishment  of  the  posts  was  almost  ruined  by  their  hasty  and 
repeated  journeys.'  //ist.  xxi.  16.  S.  Hilary  of  Poictlers  thus 
speaks  of  Asia  Minor,  the  chief  seat  of  the  Arian  troubles : 
'  It  is  a  thing  equally  deplorable  and  dangerous,  that  there 
are  as  many  creeds  as  opinions  amung  men,  as  many  doc- 
trines as  inclinations,  and  as  many  sources  of  blasphemy  as 
there  are  faults  among  us  ;  because  we  make  creeds  arbitrarily, 
and  explain  them  as  arbitrarily.  The  Homoousion  is  rejected 
and  received  and  ex]il.uned  away  by  successive  synods.  The 
partial  or  total  resemblance  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  is 
a  subject  of  dispute  for  tliese  unhappy  divines.  Every  year,  nay, 
every  moon,  we  make  new  creeds  to  describe  invisible  mysteries. 
We  repent  of  what  we  have  done,  we  defend  those  who  repent,  we 
anathematize  those  whom  we  defended.  We  condemn  either  the 
doctrine  of  others  in  ourselves,  or  our  own  in  that  of  others  ; 
and  reciprocally  tearing  one  another  to  pieces,  we  have  been  the 
cause  of  each  other's  ruin,' ad"  Co«j/a?j/.  ii  4,5.  Gibbon's  trans- 
lations are  used,  which,  though  diffuse,  are  faithful  in  their 
matter.  What  a  contrast  do  these  descriptions  present  to  Athana- 
sius'  uniform  declaration,  that  the  whole  question  was  really 
settled  at  Nic^a,  and  no  other  synod  or  debate  was  necessarv  !" 
— (R.W.C.).     Compare,  for  example,  the  account  of  the  seditions 

■  in  Antioch  and  in  Constantinople,  in  Socrates,  Eccies.  Hist.  i.  24  ; 
i.,  12 — 14,  and  .'Vthanas.  Hist.  Aria nortim,  passim. 

6  Matt.  xxiv.  12. 


^Vill  any  then  among  those  present  boast 
that  he  entertains  friendship  unfeigned  to- 
wards his  neighbour?  Do  not  the  lips  often 
kiss,  and  the  countenance  smile,  and  the  eyes 
brighten  forsooth,  while  the  heart  is  planning 
guile,  and  the  man  is  plotting  mischief  with 
words  of  peace  ? 

8.  Thou  hast  this  sign  also  :  And  this  Gospel 
of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  iti  all  the  ivorld 

for  a  witness  tcnto  all  nations,  and  then  shall  the 
end  comeT.  And  as  we  see,  nearly  the  whole 
world  is  now  filled  with  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

9.  And  what  comes  to  pass  after  this  ? 
He  says  next.  When  therefore  ye  see  the  abom- 
ination of  desolation,  which  was  spoken  of  by 
Daniel  the  Prophet,  standing  in  the  Holy 
Place,  let  him  that  readeth  taiderstahd^.  And 
again.  Then  if  any  man  shall  say  unto  you, 
Lo,  here  is  the  Christ,  or,  Lo,  there ;  believe 
it  not  9.  Hatred  of  the  brethren  makes  room 
next  for  Antichrist ;  for  the  devil  prepares 
beforehand  the  divisions  among  the  people, 
that  he  who  is  to  come  may  be  acceptable  to 
them.  But  God  forbid  that  any  of  Christ's 
servants  here,  or  elsewhere,  should  run  over  to 
the  enemy  !  Writing  concerning  this  matter,  the 
Apostle  Paul  gave  a  manifest  sign,  saying,  For 
that  day  shall  not  come,  except  there  come  first  the 

falliiig  away,  and  the  7nan  of  si?i  be  revealed,  the 
son  of  perditio7i,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  him- 
self against  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  ivor- 
shipped ;  so  that  he  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God, 
she2ving  himself  that  he  is  God.  Remember  ye 
not  that  wheti  I  was  yet  with  you,  I  told  you  these 
things  ?  And  now  ye  know  that  which  restraineth, 
to  the  end  that  he  maybe  revealed  in  his  own  season. 
For  the  mystery  of  iniquity  doth  already  ivork, 
only  there  is  one  that  restraineth  now,  tmtil  he  be 
taken  out  of  the  way.  And  then  shall  the  lawless 
one  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  slay 
ivith  the  breath  of  LLis  mouth,  and  shall  destroy 
with  the  brightness  of  LLis  comifig.  Even  him, 
zvhose  coming  is  after  the  zvorking  of  Satan, 
with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders, 
and  tvith  all  deceit  of  ittirighteousness  for  them 
that  are  perishing '.  Thus  wrote  Paul,  and 
now  is  the  fallittg  azvay.  For  men  have 
fallen  away  from  the  right  faith  ^ ;  and  some 
preach  the  identity  of  the  Son  with  the 
Father  3,  and   others  dare  to  say  that  Christ 


J 


8  lb.  V.  1$. 


9  lb.  V.  23. 


7  Matt.  xxiv.  14. 
»  2  Thess.  ii.  3 — 10. 

2  The  prediction  was  supposed  by  earlier  Fathers  to  refer  to 
a  personal  Antichrist,  whom  they  expected  to  come  speedilv.  See 
Justin  M.  (Tryfili.  §  no:  6  Tij?  aJrocTTatrta?  aj'OpwTros  ;  ib.  S  32: 
"  He  who  is  to  speak  blasphemous  and  daring  things  against  the 
Most  High  is  already  at  the  doors."  Iren.  Hier.  V.  25.  Cyril  in 
this  passage  reg.ards  the  heresies  of  his  time  as  the  apostasy  in 
general,  but  looks  also  for  a  personal  Antichrist  :   (§§  11,  12). 

3  vioTraropia.  On  this  contemptuous  name  for  Sabellianism, 
see  Cat.  iv.  8  ;  xi.  16.  The  Third  (Eusebian)  Confession,  or  Third 
ol  Antioch,  a.d.  341,  anathematizes  any  who  hold  the  doctrines  of 
Marcellus  of  Ancyra  or  Sabellius,  or  Paul  of  Samosata  (Athan. 
de  Synodis,  §  24,  note  10,  p.  462,  in  this  Series,  and  Mr.  Roberi* 


LECTURE   XV. 


107 


was  brought  into  being  out  of  nothing*.  And 
formerly  the  heretics  were  manifest ;  but  now 
the  Church  is  filled  with  heretics  in  disguise s. 
For  men  have  fallen  away  from  the  truth,  and 
have  itching  ears^.  Is  it  a  plausible  discourse? 
all  hsten  to  it  gladly.  Is  it  a  word  of  cort-ection  ? 
all  turn  away  from  it.  Most  have  departed  from 
right  words,  and  rather  choose  the  evil,  than 
desire  the  good  t.  This  therefore  is  ihefaHitig 
away,  and  the  enemy  is  soon  to  be  looked  for  : 
and  meanwhile  he  has  in  part  begun  to  send 
forth  his  own  forerunners^,  that  he  may  then 
come  prepared  upon  the  prey.  Look  therefore 
to  thyself,  O  man,  and  make  safe  thy  soul.  The 
Church  now  charges  thee  before  the  Living 
God ;  she  declares  to  thee  the  things  concern- 
ing Antichrist  before  they  arrive.  Whether 
they  will  happen  in  thy  time  we  know  not,  or 
whether  they  will  happen  after  thee  we  know 
not ;  but  it  is  well  that,  knowing  these  things, 
thou  shouldest  make  thyself  secure  beforehand. 
10.  The  true  Christ,  the  Only-begotten  Son 
of  God,  comes  no  more  from  the  earth.  If  any 
come  making  false  shows9  in  the  wilderness,  go 
not  forth;  if  they  say,  Lo,  here  is  the  Christ,  Lo, 
there,  believe  it  not^.  Look  no  longer  down- 
wards and  to  the  earth  ;  for  the  Lord  descends 
from  heaven  ;  not  alone  as  before,  but  with 
niany,  escorted  by  tens  of  thousands  of  Angels  ; 
nor  secretly  as  the  dew  on  the  fleece  ^ ;  but 
shining  forth  openly  as  the  lightning.  For  He 
hath  said  Himself,  As  the  lightning  cometh  out 
of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  nnto  the  tvest,  so 
shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  be  3  / 
and  again.  And  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  JWati 
coming  upon  the  clouds  with  power  and  great 

son's  Prolegomena,  p.  xliv.).  In  the  Ecthesis,  or  Statement  of 
Faith,  §  2,  Athanasius  writes  :  "  Neither  do  we  hold  a  Son-Father, 
as  do  the  Sabellians,  calling  Him  of  one  but  (a  sole  and  I)  not  the 
same  essence,  and  thus  destroying  the  existence  of  the  Son."  As 
to  Marcellus,  see  Athanahins,  Hist.  Arian.  §  6  (p.  271),  and  the 
letter  ot  Julius  in  the  Apologia  c.  Arian.  §  32  (p.  ii6)  :  al.-^o  notes 
3,  4  on  §  27  below. 

4  See  Athanasius,  De. Synod.  §  15  :  "  Arius  and  those  with  him 
thought  and  professed  thus  :  'God  made  the  Son  out  of  nothing, 
and  called  Hun  His  Son  : " '  and  Expos.  Fidti,  §  2  :  "  We  do  nut 
regard  as  a  creature,  or  thing  made,  or  as  made  out  of  nothing, 
God  the  Creator  of  all,  the  Son  of  God.  the  true  Being  from  the 
true  Being,  the  Alone  from  the  Alone,  inasmuch  as  the  like  glory 
and  power  was  eternally  and  conjointly  begotten  of  the  Father." 
The  4th  (Eusebian)  Confession,  or  4th  of  Antioch,  a.d.  342,  ends 
thus  :  "  Those  who  say  that  the  Son  was  from  nothing,  ....  the 
Catholic  Church  regards  as  aliens." 

5  Athan.  Advcrsus  Arianos,  Or.  i.  i:  "One  heresy  and  that 
the  last  which  has  now  risen  as  forerunner  of  Antichrist,  the 
Arian  as  it  is  called,  considering  that  other  heresies,  her  elder 
sisters,  have  been  openly  proscribed,  in  her  craft  and  cunning 
affects  to  array  herself  in  Scripture  language,  like  her  father  the 
devil,  and  is  forcing  her  way  back  into  the  Church's  paradiie,  &c." 
The  supposed  date  of  this  Oration  is  8  or  10  years  later  than  that 
of  Cyril's  Lectures.  6  2  Tim.  iv.  3. 

7  A  reading  supported  by  the  best  MSS.  and  approved  by  the 
Benedictine  Fditor  gives  a  different  sense,  "and  rather  choose 
to  seem  than  resolve  to  be,"  inverting  the  proverb  "  esse  quam 
videri." 

8  In  the  passage  quoted  above  in  note  5  the  Arian  heresy  is 
called  a  '"  forerunner  "  (TrpoSpo/iiO?)  of  Antichrist. 

9  t^avTadioKOTTiav,  a  rare  word,  rendered  "  Irantic  "  in  Ecclus. 
iv.  30:  its  more  precise  meaning  seems  to  be  "making  a  false 
show,"  which  is  here  applied  to  a  false  Christ,  and  again  in  §  14 

Icthe  father  of  lies  who  makes  a  vain  show  of  false  miracles. 
'  Matt.  xxiv.  23.  2  Ps.  Ixxii.  6.     Cf.  §  i,  note  i. 

3  Matt.  xxiv.  27. 


glory,  and  He  shall  send  forth  His  Angels  with  a 
great  trumpet  "^ ;  and  the  rest. 

11.  But  as,  when  formerly  He  was  to  take 
man's  nature,  .and  God  was  expected  to  be 
born  of  a  Virgin,  the  devil  created  prejudice 
against  this,  by  craftily  preparing  among  idol- 
worshippers  5  fables  of  false  gods,  begetting 
and  begotten  of  women,  that,  the  falsehood 
having  come  first,  tlie  truth,  as  he  supposed, 
might  be  disbelieved  ;  so  now,  since  the  true 
Christ  is  to  come  a  second  time,  the  adver- 
sary, taking  occasion  by  ^  the  expectation 
of  the  simple,  and  especially  of  them-  of  the 
circumcision,  brings  in  a  certain  man  who 
is  a  magician  t,  and  most  expert  in  sorceries 
and  enchantments  of  beguiling  craftiness  ;  who 
shall  seize  for  himself  the  power  of  the  Roman 
empire,  and  shall  falsely  style  himself  Christ ; 
by  this  name  of  Christ  deceiving  the  Jews,  who 
are  looking  for  the  Anointed  ^,  and  seducing 
those  of  the  Gentiles  by  his  magical  illusions, 

12.  But  this  aforesaid  Antichrist  is  to  come 
when  the  times  of  the  Roman  empire  shall  have 
been  fulfilled,  and  the  end  of  the  world  is  now 
drawing  near  9.  There  shall  rise  up  together 
ten  kings  of  the  Romans,  reigning  in  different 
parts  perhaps,  but  all  about  the  same  time ; 
and  after  these  an  eleventh,  the  Antichrist, 
who  by  his  magical  craft  sliall  seize  u})on 
the  Roman  power;  and  of  the  kings  who 
reigned  before  him,  three  he  shall  humble ', 
and  the  remaining  seven  he  shall  keep  in  sub- 
jection to  himself  At  first  indeed  he  will  put 
on  a  show  of  mildness  (as  though  he  were 
a  learned  and  discreet  person),  and  of  sober- 
ness  and   benevolence  ^ :    and    by    the   lying 


4  Matt.  xxiv.  V.  ^o. 

5  kv  eiSca/VoAarpeia  may  mean  either  "in  idol-worship,"  or 
"  among  idolaters,"  the  abstract  being  used  for  the  concrete,  as  in 
Rom.  iii.  30  :  SiKatioeret  jrepiro^uji'. 

6  kf\)6hi.ov,  "provision  for  a  journey,"  is  here  equivalent  in 
meaning  to  a(^op^iT,  "  a  starting  point,"  or  favourable  occasion." 

7  Antichrist  is  described  by  ^\-p-^o\yi\i%(_De  Christo  et  Anti- 
christo,  §  57.  as  "  a  son  of  the  devil,  and  a  vessel  of  Satan,"  who 
will  rule  and  govern  "after  the  manner  of  the  law  of  Augustus,  by 
whom  the  Roman  empire  was  established,  sanctioning  everything 
thereby."  Cf.  Iren.  H<cr.  V.  30,  §  3  ;  Dictionary  of  Christian  VAo- 
graphy,  Antic/trist :  "  Th;  sharp  precision  with  which  St.  Paul  had 
pointed  to  'the  man  of  sin,'  '  tke  lawless  one,'  '  t/te  adversary,' 
'  t/ie  son  of  perdition,'  led  men  to  dwell  on  that  thought  rather 
than  on  the  many  yj/evSoxpi-a'Toi.  of  whom  Christ  Himself  had 
spoken." 

8  Tof  'HAetfiueVoi',  Aquila's  rendering  of  n^tyXD,  adopted  by 
the  Jews  in  preference  to  rbi'  Xptcrroi/,  from  hatred  of  the  name 
Christ  or  Christian.  Hippolytus,  uii  supra,  §  6  :  "  The  Saviour 
came  into  the  world  in  the  Circumcision,  and  he  (Antichrist)  will 
come  in  the  same  manner:"  ib.  §  14:  "As  Christ  springs  from 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  so  Antichrist  is  to  spring  from  the  tribe  of 
Dan."    This  expectation  was  grounded  by  Hippolytus  on  Gen. 

xlix.  17.  -^     .  ,  ,  ..  , 

9  The  fourth  kingdom  in  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  (vu.  7,  23)  was 
generally  understood  by  early  Christian  writers  to  be  the  Roman 
"Empire  ;  and  its  dissolution  was  to  be  speedily  followed  by  the 
end  of  the  world.  See  §  13  below  ;  Irenasus,  V.  26  ;  and  Hip- 
polytus, iM  supra,  §g  ig,  28.  ,  .        ,t>  ir  \ 

1  Dan.  vii.  24  :  and  hi  zh  all  put  dotun  three  kings  (K.V.). 

2  The  Jerusalem  Editor  quotes  as  irom  Hippolytus  a  similar 
description  of  Antichrist  (§  23):  "In  his  first  --teps  he  will  be 
gentle,  loveable,  quiet,  pious,  pacific,  hating  injrstice;  detesting 
gifts,  not  allowing  idolatry,  &c.'  But  the  treatise  is  a  forgery 
of  unknown  date,  apparently  much  later  than  Cyril. 


io8 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


signs  and  wonders  of  his  magical  deceit  3  hav- 
ing beguiled  the  Jews,  as  though  he  were  the 
expected  Christ,  he  shall  afterwards  be  charac- 
terized by  all  kinds  of  crimes,  of  inhumanity 
and  lawlessness,  so  as  to  outdo  all  unrighteous 
and  ungodly  men  who  have  gone  before  him  ; 
displaying  against  all  men,  but  especially  against 
us  Christians,  a  spirit  murderous  and  most  cruel, 
merciless  and  crafty '^.  And  after  perpetrating 
such  things  for  three  years  and  six  months  only, 
he  shall  be  destroyed  by  the  glorious  second 
advent  from  heaven  of  the  only-begotten  Son 
of  God,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus,  the  true 
Christ,  who  shall  slay  Antichrist  with  the  breath 
of  His  mouth  s,  and  shall  deliver  him  over  to 
the  fire  of  hell. 

13.  Now  these  things  we  teach,  notof  our  own 
invention,  but  having  learned  them  out  of  the 
divine  Scriptures  used  in  the  Church^,  and  chiefly 
from  the  prophecy  of  Daniel  just  now  read  ;  as 
Gabriel  also  the  Archangel  interpreted  it,  speak- 
ing thus  :  The  fourth  beast  shall  be  a  fourth 
kingdom  upon  earth,  which  shall  surpass  all  kijig- 
doms  7.  And  that  this  kingdom  is  that  of  the 
Romans,  has  been  the  tradition  of  the  Church's 
interpreters.  For  as  the  first  kingdom  which 
became  renowned  was  that  of  the  Assyrians, 
and  the  second,  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians 
together,  and  after  these,  that  of  the  Macedon- 
ians was  the  third,  so  the  fourth  kingdom  now 
is  that  of  the  Romans  ^  Then  Gabriel  goes  on 
to  interpret,  saying,  His  ten  horns  are  ten  kings 
that  shall  arise  ;  a7id  another  king  shall  rise  up 
after  them,  who  shall  surpass  in  wicked?iess  all 
who  were  before  him^ ;  (he  says,  not  only  the 
ten,  but  also  all  who  have  been  before  him  ;) 
and  he  shall  subdue  three  kings  ;  manifestly  out 
of  the  ten  former  kings:  but  it  is  plain  that 
by  subduing  three  of  these  ten,  he  will  be- 
come the  eighth  king;  a?id  he  shall  speak  words 
against  the  Alost  High '°.      A  blasphemer  the 


3  Iren.  V.  28,  §  2  :  "Since  the  demons  and  apostate  spirits  are 
at  his  service,  he  tnrough  their  means  performs  wonders,  by  which 
he  leads  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  astray." 

-1  Iren.  v.  25,  §  4  :  "  He  shall  remove  his  kingdom  into  that  city 
(Jerusalem),  and  shall  sit  in  the  Temple  of  God,  leading  astray 
those  who  worship  him  as  if  he  were  Christ." 

According  to  the  genuine  treatise  of  Hippolytus  Antichrist  was 
to  restore  Llie  kingdom  of  the  Jews  (De  Antichristo,  §  25),  to 
collect  the  Jews  out  of  every  country  of  the  Dispersion,  making 
them  his  own,  as  though  they  were  his  own  children,  and  pro- 
mising to  restore  their  country,  and  establish  again  their  kingdom 
and  nation,  in  order  that  he  may  be  worshipped  by  them  as  God 
(§  54)>  and  he  will  lead  them  on  to  persecute  the  saints,  i.e.  the 
Christians  (§  56).  Compare  the  elaborate  description  of  Anti- 
christ and  his  cruelty  in  Lactantius,  Div.  Inst.  vii.  17  ;  Efit.  §  71. 

5  2  Thess.  ii.  8.     Cf.  Ircn.  V.  25,  §  3 :  Hippol.  §  64. 

6  cKKK-qa-i.a^oiJ.ei'ujv.  Cf.  Cat.  iv.  35,  36,  where  Cyril  distin- 
guishes the  Scriptures  as  xal  iv  'EkkAtjctio  /lera  TrappTjo-iat  acayi- 
vu}(rKO^l€v  from  oa"a  ev  'KKKATjcrtats  ju.^  avayivwffKeTai. 

7  Dan.  vii.  23  :  {\i.\ .)  shall  be  diverse Jrom  nil  the  kingdoms. 

8  Irena;us  (V.  26)  identifies  the  fourth  kingdom  with  "  the 
empire  which  now  rules."    Hippolytus,  de  AntichristP,  %i^:  "A 

/ourtli  beast  dreadjiil  and  terrible  :   it  had  iron  teeth  and  claws 
0/ brass.     And  who  are  these  but  the  Romans?" 

9  Dan.  vii.  24. 

'°  Dan.  v.  25.  Dean  Church  compares  Rev.  xvii.  u  :  And  the 
beast  that  ivas,  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth,  and  is  0/  the 
seven,  andgoeth  into  perdition.     See  also  Iren.  V.  26,  8  1. 


man  is  and  lawless,  not  having  received  the 
kingdom  from  his  fathers,  but  having  usurped 
the  power  by  means  of  sorcery. 

14.  And  who  is  this,  and  from  what  sort  of 
working  ?  Interpret  to  us,  O  Paul.  Whose 
coming,  lie  says,  is  after  the  working  of  Satan, 
zvith  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders '/  im- 
plying, that  Satan  has  used  him  as  an  instrument, 
working  in  his  own  person  through  him  ;  for 
knowing  that  his  judgment  shall  now  no  longer 
have  respite,  he  wages  war  no  more  by  his  min- 
isters, as  is  his  wont,  but  henceforth  by  himself 
more  openly  ^.  And  7uith  all  signs  andlyini^  woJi- 
ders ;  for  the  father  of  falsehood  will  make  a 
show  3  of  the  works  of  falsehood,  that  the  multi- 
tudes may  think  that  they  see  a  dead  man  raised, 
who  is  not  raised,  and  lame  men  walking,  and 
blind  men  seeing,  when  the  cure  has  not  been 
wrought. 

15.  And  again  he  says,  Who  opposeth  and 
exalieth  himself  against  all  that  is  called  God,  or 
that  is  worshipped ;  {against  every  God ;  Anti- 
christ forsooth  will  ablior  the  idols,)  so  that  he 
seateth  himself  in  the  te}nple  of  God"-.  What 
temple  then  ?  He  means,  the  Temple  of  the 
Jews  which  has  been  destroyed.  For  God  for- 
bid that  it  should  be  the  one  in  which  we  are  ! 
Why  say  we  this  ?  That  we  may  not  be  supposed 
to  favour  ourselves.  For  if  he  comes  to  the 
Jews  as  Christ,  and  desires  to  be  worshipped 
by  the  Jews,  he  will  make  great  account  of  the 
Temple,  that  he  may  more  completely  beguile 
them  ;  making  it  supposed  that  he  is  the  man 
of  the  race  of  David,  who  shall  build  up  the 
Temple  which  was  erected  by  Solomon  s.  And 
Antichrist  will  come  at  the  time  when  there 
shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Jews,  according  to  the  doom 
pronounced  by  our  Saviour  ^  \  for  when,  either 


»  2  Thess.  ii.  9.  Lactantius  (a.d.  300  circ),  Div.  Inst.  vii.  17 : 
"  That  king  ....  will  also  be  a  prophet  of  lies  ;  and  he  will  con- 
stitute and  call  himself  God,  and  wiil  order  himself  to  be  wor- 
shipped as  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  power  will  be  given  liim  to  do 
signs  and  wonders,  by  the  sight  ol  which  he  may  entice  men  to 
adore  him."     Cf.  E/ilome,  Ixxi. 

2  "Vid.  Iren.  Har.  V.  26,  2,"  (R.W.C.).  The  passage  is 
quoted  by  Eusebius  {Eccl.  Hist.  iv.  18),  from  a  lost  work  of 
Justin  M.  Against  Murcion:  "Justin  well  said  that  before  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  Satan  never  dared  to  blaspheme  Goil,  as  not 
yet  knowing  his  own  condemnation,  because  it  was  staled  by  the 
prophets  in  parables  and  allegories.  But  alter  our  Lords  advent 
having  learnt  plainly  from  His  words  and  those  of  the  -Vpostlcs 
that  everlasting  fire  is  prepared  for  him,  ....  he  by  means  of  such 
men  as  these  blasphemes  the  Lord  who  brings  the  judgment  upon 
him,  as  being  already  condemned." 

S.  Cyril  seems  to  e-xpecl  that  Antichrist  will  be  an  incarnation 
of  Satan,  as  did  Hippolytus  (de  Antichr.  §  6):  ''The  Saviour 
appeared  in  the  form  of  man,  and  he  too  will  come  in  the  form  of 
a  man." 

3  (/javTao-ioKOTrei.  See  above,  §  10,  note  9,  and  the  equivalent 
phrase  in  §  17  :  OTj/neiio;'  (cai  Tepartoc  ^o.vT>.<sia.%  iSeCKWOv. 

4  2  Thess.  ii,  4. 

5  See  §  12,  notes  3,  4,  and  Hippolytus,  tibi  supra:  "The 
Saviour  raised  up  and  shewed  His  holy  flesh  like  a  temple  ;  and 
he  will  raise  a  temple  of  stone  in  Jerusalem."  "  Cyril  wrote  this 
before  Julian's  attempt  to  rebuild  the  Jewish  Temple"  (R.W.C.). 

<>  Watt.  xxiv.  2.  Cyril  refers  the  whole  prophecy  to  the  time* 
of  Christ's  second  coming  at  the  end  of  the  world,  not  regarding 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  its  Temple  by  Titus  as  ful- 
filling any  part  of  the  prediction. 


LECTURE   XV. 


109 


decay  of  time,  or  demolition  ensuing  on  pretence   by  Him  that  liveth  for  ever  that  it  shall  be  for 


of  new  buildings,  or  from  any  other  causes,  shall 
have  overthrown  all  the  stones,  I  mean  not 
merelyof  the  outer  circuit,  but  of  the  inner  shrine 
also,  where  the  Cherubim  were,  then  shall  he 
come  tvith  all  sig?is  atid  lying  wofiders,  exalting 
himself  against  all  idols  ;  at  first  indeed  making 
a  pretence  of  benevolence,  but  afterwards  dis- 
playing his  relentless  temper,  and  that  chiefly 
against  the  Saints  of  God.  For  he  says,  / 
beheld,  and  the  same  horn  made  tvar  with  the 
saints  7  /  and  again  elsewhere,  there  shall  be  a 
time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  zvas  sittce  there  was 
a  nation  iipon  earth,  even  to  that  same  time^. 
Dreadful  is  that  beast,  a  mighty  dragon,  un- 
conquerable by  man,  ready  to  devour  ;  con- 
cerning whom  though  we  have  more  things  to 
speak  out  of  the  divine  Scriptures,  yet  we  will 
content  ourselves  at  present  with  thus  much,  in 
order  to  keep  within  compass. 

16.  For  this  cause  the  Lord  knowingtne great- 
ness of  the  adversary  grants  indulgence  to  the 
godly,  saying.  Then  let  them  which  be  i?i  Judcea 
flee  to  the  moicntains'^.  But  if  any  man  is  con- 
scious that  he  is  very  stout-hearted,  to  en- 
counter Satan,  let  him  stand  (for  I  do  not 
despair  of  the  Church's  nerves),  and  let  him 
say.  Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of 
Christ  and  the  rest '  1  But,  let  those  of  us 
who  are  fearful  provide  for  our  own  safety  ; 


a  time,  and  times,  and  half  a  time^.  And  some 
peradventure  have  referred  what  follows  also  to 
this;  namely,  a  thousand ttvo  hutidred and  ninety 
days  ^ ;  and  this,  Blessed  is  he  that  endureth 
and  Cometh  to  the  thousand  three  hundred  and 
five  and  thirty  days'!.  For  this  cause  we  must 
hide  ourselves  and  flee  ;  for  perhaps  we  shall 
not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel,  till  the  Son 
of  Man  be  come  ^. 

17.  Who  then  is  the  blessed  man,  that  shall 
at  that  time  devoutly  witness  for  Christ?  For 
I  say  that  the  Martyrs  of  that  time  excel  all 
martyrs.  For  the  Martyrs  hitherto  have 
wrestled  with  men  only ;  but  in  the  time  of 
Antichrist  they  shall  do  battle  with  Satan  in 
his  own  person 9.  And  former  persecuting  kings 
only  put  to  death  ;  they  did  not  pretend  to 
raise  the  dead,  nor  did  they  make  false  shows  '° 
of  signs  and  wonders.  But  in  his  time  there 
shall  be  the  evil  inducement  both  of  fear  and 
of  deceit,  so  that  if  it  be  possible  the  very 
elect  shall  he  deceived'^.  Let  it  never  enter 
into  the  heart  of  any  then  alive  to  ask,  "  What 
did  Christ  more  ?  For  by  what  power  does 
this  man  work  these  things  ?  Were  it  not 
God's  will.  He  would  not  have  allowed 
them."  The  Apostle  warns  thee,  and  says 
beforehand.  And  for  this  cause  God  shall 
send  them  a  working  of  error ;  (send,  that  is. 


and  those  who  are  of  a  good  courage,  stand  shall  alloiv  to  happen ;)  not  that  they  might 
fast :  for  then  shall  be  great  tribulation,  such  as  make  excuse,  but  that  they>  f?iight  be  condemned -. 
hath  not  been  from  the  begifining  of  the  world  Wherefore?  They,  he  says,  who  believed  not 
u?ttil  flow,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be''.     But  thanks  be   Ihe   truth,    that  is,    the    true    Christ,   but  had 


to  God  who  hath  confined  the  greatness  of 
that  tribulation  to  a  few  days;  for  He  says, 
But  for  the  elecfs  sake  those  days  shall  be 
shortened  ^ ;  and  Antichrist  shall  reign  for  three 
years  and  a  half  only.  We  speak  not  from 
apocryphal  books,  but  from  Daniel ;  for  he 
says.  And  they  shall  be  given  into  his  hand  until 
a  time  and  times  and  half  a  time^.  A  time 
is  the  one  year  in  which  his  coming  shall  for 
a  while  have  increase  ;  and  the  times  are  the 
remaining  two  years  of  iniquity,  making  up 
the  sum  of  the  three  years  ;  and  the  half  a 
time  is  the  six  months.  And  again  in  another 
place  Daniel  says  the  same  thing.  And  he  sware 


7  Dan.  vii.  21.  Here  again  Cyril  follows  Hippolytus,  §  25  : 
"And  under  this  (liorn)  was  signified  none  other  than  Antichrist. 

8  lb.  xii.  I.  9  Matt.  xxiv.  16.  ^  Rom.  viii.  35. 
*  Matt.  xxiv.  21.                                                3  lb.  -v.  22. 

4  Dan.  vii.  25.  By  "apocryphal"  books  Cyril  probably  means 
all  such  as  were  not  allowed  to  be  read  in  the  public  services 
of  the  Church:  see  Cat.  iv.  33.  note  3  ;  and  Bp.  Westcott's  note 
on  the  various  meanings  of  the  word  a.TroKpvi^o'i,  Hist.  0/  the 
Canon,  P.  III.  c.  i.  That  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John  is  included 
under  this  term  by  Cyril,  appears  probable  from  the  following 
reasons  suggested  by  the  lienedictine  Editor,  (i)  It  is  not  men- 
tioned in  the  list  of  the  Canonical  Scriptures  in  iv.  36.  (2)  The 
earlier  writers  whom  Cyril  follows  in  this  Lecture,  Irenseus,  Hcer. 
v.,  26,  §1,  and  Hippolytus,  De  Antich>-isto,  §  34,  combine  the 
testimony  of  the  Apocalypse  with  that  of  Daniel.  The  omission 
in  Cyril  therefore  cannot  have  been  accidental. 


pleasu7'e  in  unrighteousness,  that  is,  in  Antichrist. 
But  as  in  the  persecutions  which  happen  from 
time  to  time,  so  also  then  God  will  permit 
these  things,  not  because  He  wants  power  to 
hinder  them,  but  because  according  to  His 
wont  He  will  through  patience  crown  His 
own  champions  like  as  He  did  His  Prophets 
and  Apostles  ;  to  the  end  that  having  toiled 
for  a  little  while  they  may  inherit  the  eternal 
kingdom  of  heaven,  according  to  that  which 
Daniel  says.  And  at  that  time  thy  people  shall 
be  delivered,  every  one  that  shall  be  found  ivritten 
in  the  book  (manifestly,  the  book  of  life) ;  and 
many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to 
shame  and  everlasting  contempt ;  and  they  that 
be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  fir ma- 
i7ient ;  and  of  the  many  righteous^,  as  the  stars 
for  ever  and  ever. 


6  lb.  V.  II. 


7  lb.  V.  12. 


S  Dan.  xii.  7. 

8  Matt.  X.  23. 

9  avTOTTpotriuTrux;.  See  above,  §  14,  note  2.  Some  MSS.  read 
ai'Ttirpoa"w7r(05,  **  face  to  face,"'  as  in  xii.  32,  ai/rtTrpocrajTroff. 

10  See  above,  §  14,  note  3.  '  Matt.  xxiv.  24. 

2  2  The.ss.  ii.  11,  12  :  (R.V.)  That  they  all  might  be  judged. 
Cyril  has  KaTaKpt^wo-t 

3  Dan.  xii.  i,  2  :  (R.V.)Mo'  that  turn  many  to  righteousness. 
Cyril  follows  the  rendering  of  the  Septuagint,  atto  titv  SiKaiui, 
riav  noKKiiv,  which  gives  no  proper  construction. 


no 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


i8.  Guard  thyself  then,  O  man  ;  thou  hast 
the  signs  of  Antichrist ;  and  remember  them 
not  only  thyself,  but  impart  them  also  freely 
to  all.  If  thou  hast  a  child  according  to  the 
ilesh,  admonish  him  of  this  now  ;  if  thou  hast 
begotten  one  through  catechizing  *,  put  him 
also  on  his  guard,  lest  he  receive  the  false  one 
as  the  True.  For  the  mystery  of  iniquity  doth 
already  work^.  I  fear  these  wars  of  the  nations^; 
I  fear  the  schisms  of  the  Churches;  I  fear  the 
mutual  hatred  of  the  brethren.  But  enough  on 
this  subject ;  only  God  forbid  that  it  should  be 
fulfilled  in  our  days  ;  nevertheless,  let  us  be 
on  our  guard.  And  thus  much  concerning 
Antichrist. 

19.  But  let  us  wait  and  look  for  the  Lord's 
coming  upon  the  clouds  from  heaven.  Then 
shall  Angelic  trumpets  sound  ;  the  dead  in 
Christ  shall  rise  first  T , — the  godly  persons  who 
are  alive  shall  be  caught  up  in  the  clouds,  re- 
ceiving as  the  reward  of  their  labours  more  than 
human  honour,  inasmuch  as  theirs  was  a  more 
than  human  strife  ;  according  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  writes,  saying,  For  the  Lord  Himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice 
of  the  Archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God  : 
and  the  dead  in  Christ  slmll  rise  first.  Theft 
we  zvhich  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up 
together  zvith  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air ;  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the 
Lord  ^. 

20.  This  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  the  end 
of  the  world,  were  known  to  the  Preacher; 
who  says,  Rejoice,  O  young  man,  iti  thy  youth, 
and  the  rest  9;  Therefore  remove  anger'^  from 
thy  heart,  and  put  away  evil  from  thy  flesh  ; 
.  .  .  and  remember  thy  Creator  .  .  .  or  ever  the 
evil  days  come'',  .  ...  or  ever  the  sun,  and  the 
light,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars  be  darkened^, 
....  and  they  that  look  out  of  the  windoius  be 
darketied^;  (signifying  the  faculty  of  sight;) 
or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed ;  (meaning  the 
assemblage  of  the  stars,  for  their  appearance 
:is  like  silver  ;)  aiid  theflotver  of  gold  be  broke?i  s  y 
(thus  veiling  the  mention  of  the  golden  sun  ; 
for  the  camomile  is  a  well-known  plant,  having 
many  ray-like  leaves  shooting  out  round  it ;) 


4  Compare  i  Cor.  iv.  15  : 1  begat  you  through  the  gospel.  Clem. 
Alex.  Strom,  iii.  c.  15  ;  tw  6ia  ttjs  aAjjSou!  Ka.Ti\\^ati>i%  •^ivvi]<J0.vT\. 
Kcirai  Tis  fiiffSos.  5  2  Thess.  ii.  7. 

*  See  above,  §S  6,  7.  7  i  Thess.  iv.  16.  8  Jb.  vv.  16,  17. 

9  Eccles.  xi.  9.  The  Preacher's  description  of  old  age  and 
death  is  interpreted  by  Cyril  of  the  end  ol  the  world,  as  it  had 
been  a  century  before  by  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  in  his  para- 
phrase of  the  book. 

'  lb.  V.  10;  (R.V.)  torrow.  Marg.  Or,  vexation.  Or,  provo- 
cation, a  lb.  xii.  1.  3  lb.  v.  2. 

4  \h.v,  3. 

5  lb.  V.  6.  According  to  the  usual  interpretation  death  is  here 
represented  by  the  breaking  of  a  chain  and  the  \.\m\i  wliich  hangs 
from  it.  Cf.  Delitzsch,  and  Speaker's  Commentary,  in  loc.  for 
other  interpretations. 

TO  ai'Se/itoK  ToO   xpvinov  (Sept.),  by  which  Cyril  understood 
camomile' (affofii?),  more  probably  meant  a  pattern   of  flowers 
e.Tibossed  on  the  vessel  of  guld :  viii.  Xenoph.  Anai'.  V.  4,  §  32 
eoTiyufVous  avSif^ia,  "  damasked  v/ilhjiowert." 


and  they  shall  rise  up  at  the  voice  of  the  spar- 
row, yea,  they  shall  look  away  from  the  height,  and 
terrors  shall  be  in  the  way  ^.  W\\2.X.  shall  they 
see  ?  Then  shall  they  see  the  Son  of  man  comifig 
on  the  clouds  of  heavefi  ;  and  they  shall  mourn 
tribe  by  tribe  t.  And  what  shall  come  to  pass 
when  the  Lord  is  come  ?  The  almond  tree  shall 
blossom,  and  the  grasshopper  shall  grow  heavy, 
and  the  caper-berry  shall  be  scattered  abroad^. 
And  as  the  interpreters  say,  the  blossoming 
almond  signifies  the  departure  of  winter  ;  and 
our  bodies  shall  then  after  the  winter  blossom 
with  a  heavenly  flower  9.  And  the  grasshopper 
shall grozv  in  substance  (that  means  the  winged 
soul  clothing  itself  with  the  body  ^,)  and  the 
caper-berry  shall  be  scattered  abroad  (that  is, 
the  transgressors  who  are  like  thorns  shall 
be  scattered  ='). 

21.  Thou  seest  how  they  all  foretell  the 
coming,  of  the  Lord.  Thou  seest  how  they 
know  the  voice  of  the  sparrow.  Let  us  know  what 
sort  of  voice  this  is.  For  the  Lord  LLimself 
shall  descend  from  heavefi  ivith  a  shout,  tvith  the 
voice  of  the  Archangel,  and  with  the  trui/ip  of 
God'i.  The  Archangel  shall  make  proclamation 
and  say  to  all,  Arise  to  meet  the  Lord^.  And  fear- 
ful will  be  that  descent  of  our  jNIaster.  David 
says,  God  shall  manifestly  come,  even  our  God, 
and  shall  not  keep  silence  ;  afire  shall  burn  before 
LLim,  and  a  fierce  tempest  round  about  Liim,  and 
the  rest  s.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  come  to  the 
Father,  according  to  the  Scripture  which  was 
just  now  read,  on  the  clouds  of  heaven,  drawn 
by  a  streatn  of  fire  ^,  which  is  to  make  trial  of 
men.  Then  if'any  man's  works  are  of  gold, 
he  shall  be  made  brighter  ;  if  any  man's  course 
of  life  be  like  stubble,  and  unsubstantial,  it 
shall  be  burnt  up  by  the  fire  ?.  And  the  Father 
shali  sit,  having  His  garment  white  as  sfioiv, 
and  the  hair  of  His  head  like  pure  wool^.  But 
this  is  spoken  after  the  manner  of  men;  where- 
fore ?     Because  He  is  the  King  of  those  who 


6  Eccles.  xii.  5.  Cyril  means  rightly  that  the  aged  shrink  from 
a  giddy  height,  and  from  imaginary  dangers  of  the  road.  For  tlu 
voice  of  the  sparrow,  see  below,  §  21,  note  4. 

7  M.Ttt.  xxiv.  ^o:  Zech.  xii.  12.  8  Eccles.  xii.  5. 

9  "Dr.  Thomson  {Th<j  Lund  and  the  Book,  p.  319,)  says 
of  the  almond  tree,  "  It  is  the  type  of  old  age,  whose  hair  is 
white  "  (Speaker's  Commentary). 

1  The  step,  once  as  active  as  a  grasshopper,  or  locust,  shall 
grow  heavy  and  slow.     For  other  interpretations  see  Delitzsch. 

2  Thecaper-herry  (KaTTTrapi;)  shall /ail,  i.e.  no  longer  stimulate 
appetite.  But  6ia<rxe5iicrf*))creTai  (Sept.  Cyril)  means  that  the  old 
man  siiall  be  like  a  caper-berry  which  when  fully  ripe  bursts 
its  husks  and  scatters  its  seeds:  so  R.V.  (Margin);  The  caper- 
berry  shall  burst.  Greg.  Thaumat.  Mctaphr.  Eccles.  ''  The 
transgressors  are  cast  out  of  the  way,  like  a  black  and  despicable 
caper-|)lant."  3  i  Thess    ii.  16. 

4  Compare  the  spurious  Apocalypse  of  John:  "And  at  the 
voice  of  the  bird  every  plant  shall  arise;  that  is.  At  the  voice 
of  the  Archangel  all  the  human  race  shall  arise"  (English  Trs. 
Ante-Nic.  Libr.  p.  496;.  According  to  the  Talmud  the  meaning 
is,  "  Even  a  bird  awakes  him  "  (Delitzsch). 

5  Ps.  1.  3.  *  Dan.  vii.  13,  10. 

7  I  Cor.  iii.  12,  13.  On  (ivvv6<na.Tov,  see  Index.  On  5oKi/iio(r- 
TiKOf,  compare  'I he  Teacliing  of  the  .4postles,  S  16  :  ''  Then  all 
created  mankind  shall  come  to  the  fire  of  testing  (6o/ci/iao-ias),  and 
many  shall  be  offended  and  perish."  *  Dan.  vii.  9. 


LECTURE   XV. 


T  I  I 


have  not  been  defiled  with  sins  ;  for,  He  says, 
/  will  make  your  sins  white  as  snow,  and  as 
'iVool9,  which  is  an  emblem  of  forgiveness  of 
sins,  or  of  sinlessness  itself.  But  the  Lord 
who  shall  come  from  heaven  on  the  clouds,  is 
He  who  ascended  on  the  clouds  ;  for  He 
Himself  hath  said,  And  they  shall  see  the  Son  of 
Man  coming  on  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power 
and  great  glory  ^ 

22.  But  what  is  the  sign  of  His  coming? 
lest  a  hostile  power  dare  to  counterfeit  it. 
And  then  shall  appear.  He  says,  the  sign  of  the 
Son  of  Man  in  heaven  ^.  Now  Christ's  own  true 
sign  is  the  Cross  ;  a  sign  of  a  luminous  Cross 
shall  go  before  the  King  3,  plainly  declaring 
Him  who  was  formerly  crucified:  that  the  Jews 
who  before  pierced  Ifi?n  and  plotted  against 
Him,  when  they  see  it,  may  mourn  tribe  by 
tribe^,  saying,  "This  is  He  who  was  bufieted, 
this  is  He  whose  face  they  spat  on,  this  is 
He  whom  they  bound  with  chains,  this  is  He 
whom  of  old  they  crucified,  and  set  at  nought  s. 
Whither,  they  will  say,  shall  we  flee  from  the 
face  of  Thy  wrath?"  But  the  Angel  hosts 
shall  encompass  them,  so  that  they  shall  not 
be  able  to  flee  anywhere.  The  sign  of  the 
Cross  shall  be  a  terror  to  His  foes ;  but  joy  to 
His  friends  who  have  believed  in  Him,  or 
preached  Him,  or  suffered  for  His  sake.  Who 
then  is  the  happy  man,  who  shall  then  be 
found  a  friend  of  Christ?  That  King,  so  great 
and  glorious,  attended  by  the  Angel-guaids, 
the  partner  of  the  Father's  throne,  will  not 
despise  His  own  servants.  For  that  His  Elect 
may  not  be  confused  with  His  foes.  He  shall  send 
forth  His  Angels  with  a  great  trumpet,  and  they 
shall  gather  together  His  elect  from  the  f our  win  ds^. 
He  despised  not  Lot,  who  was  but  one;  how 
then  shall  He  despise  many  righteous  ?  Come, 
ye  blessed  of  My  FatherT ,  will  He  say  to  them 
who  shall  then  ride  on  chariots  of  clouds,  and 
be  assembled  by  Angels. 

23.  But  some  one  present  will  say,  "  I  am 
a  poor  man,"  or  again,  "  I  shall  perhaps  be 
foui:d  at  that  time  sick  in  bed;"  or,  "'I 
am  but  a  woman,  and  I  shall  be  taken  at 
the  mill ;  shall  we  then  be  despised  ?  "     Be  of 


9  Is.  i.  t8.  '  Matt.  xxiv.  30.  2  lb. 

3  Cat.  xiii.  41.  In  the  letter  to  Constantius,  three  or  four  years 
later  than  this  Lecture,  Cyril  treats  the  appearance  at  that  time  of 
a  luminous  Cross  in  the  sky  as  a  fulfilment  of  Matt.  x.\iv.  30  :  but 
he  there  adds  (£/.  aa  Constantiuin,  %  6)  that  our  Lord's  pre- 
diction "was  hoth  fulfilled  at  that  present  time,  and  shall  again 
he  fulfilled  more  largely."  On  the  opinion  that  "the  sign  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  heaven"  should  be  the  Cross,  see  Suicer, 
Thcsaurjis,  Sraupos.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  earliest  trace 
of  this  interpretation  is  found  in  T/te  Teaching  of  the  Afoatles, 
§  16:  "Then  shall  appear  the  signs  of  the  Truth:  the  first  the 
sign  of  a  (cross)  spreading  out  (cKjreTacrews)  in  heaven." 

^  Zech.  xii.  12. 

5  Cf.  Barnab.  Epist.  c.  vii.  :  "  For  they  shall  see  Him  in  that 
day  wearing  the  long  scarlet  robe  about  His  flesh,  and  shall  say. 
Is  not  this  He,  whom  once  we  crucified,  and  set  at  nought,  and 
spat  upon  (a/,  and  pierced,  and  mocked)?" 

6  Matt.  xxiv.  31.  7  lb.  xxv.  34. 


good  courage,  O  man ;  the  Judge  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons  ;  He  ivill  not  Judge  according 
to  a  man^s  appearance,  nor  reprove  accot-ding  to 
his  speech  ^.  He  honours  not  the  learned  before 
the  simple,  nor  the  rich  before  the  needy. 
Though  thou  be  in  the  field,  the  Angels  shall 
take  thee  ;  think  not  that  He  will  take  the 
landowners,  and  leave  thee  the  husbandman. 
Though  thou  be  a  slave,  though  thou  be  poor, 
be  not  any  whit  distressed  ;  He  who  took  the 
form  of  a  servant '^  despises  not  servants. 
Though  thou  be  lying  sick  in  bed,  yet  it 
is  written.  Then  shall  tzvo  be  in  one  bed ;  the 
one  shall  be  taken,  atid  the  other  left  ^  Though 
thou  be  of  compulsion  put  to  grind,  whether 
thou  be  man  or  woman  ^;  though  thou  be  in 
fetters  3,  and  sit  beside  the  mill,  yet  He  who 
by  His  fnight  bringeth  out  them  that  are  bounds, 
will  not  overlook  thee.  He  who  brought  forth 
Joseph  out  of  slavery  and  prison  to  a  kingdom, 
shall  redeem  thee  also  from  thy  afflictions  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Only  be  of  good  cheer, 
only  work,  only  strive  earnestly ;  for  nothing 
shall  be  lost.  Every  prayer  of  thine,  every  Psalm 
thou  singest  is  recorded ;  every  alms-deed, 
every  fast  is  recorded;  every  marriage  duly 
observed  is  recorded;  continences  kept  for 
God's  sake  is  recorded  ;  but  the  first  crowns 
in  the  records  are  those  of  virginity  and  purity; 
and  thou  shalt  shine  as  an  Angel.  But  as 
thou  hast  gladly  listened  to  the  good  things,  so 
listen  again  without  shrinkmg  to  the  contrary. 
Every  covetous  deed  of  thine  is  recorded ; 
thine  every  act  of  fornication  is  recorded, 
thine  every  false  oath  is  recorded,  every  blas- 
phemy, and  sorcery,  and  theft,  and  murder. 
All  these  things  are  henceforth  to  be  recorded, 
if  thou  do  the  same  now  after  having  been 
baptized  ;  for  thy  former  deeds  are  blotted  out. 
24.  When  the  Son  of  Man,  He  says,  shall 
come  in  His  glory,  arid  all  the  Angels  with 
Hifn  ^.  Behold,  O  man,  before  what  multitudes 
thou  shalt  come  to  judgment.  Every  race  of 
mankind  will  then  be  present.  Reckon,  there- 
fore, how  many  are  the  Roman  nation;  reckon 
how  many  the  barbarian  tribes  now  living, 
and  how  many  have  died  within  the  last 
hundred  years ;  reckon  how  many  nations 
have  been  buried  during  the  last  thousand 
years ;  reckon  all  from  Adam  to  this  day. 
Great  indeed  is  the  multitude;    but  yet  it  is 


8  Is.  xi.  3:  (R.V.)  He  shall  not  Judge  after  the  sight  of  his 
eyes,  nor  reprove  after  the  hearing  of  his  ears. 

9  Phil.  ii.  7.  I  Luke  xvii.  34.  2  lb.  v.  35. 

3  The  Jerusalem  MS.  (A)  alone  has  the  true  reading  neSaf, 
which  is  confirmed  by  7re7re6i)fie'i'OU?  in  the  quotation  following, 
instead  of  nalSas,  which  is  quite  inappropriate,  and  evidently 
an  itacism.  ■♦  Ex.  xi.  5. 

5  'Ey/cpdreta.  "Id  est  viduitas"  (Ben.  Ed.).  This  special 
reference  of  the  word  to  widowhood  is  to  some  extent  confirmed  by 
I  Cor.  vii.  9  :  el  Si  ovk  iyKparevovTai.,  and  is  rendered  highly 
probable  by  Cyril's  separate  mention  of  marriage  and  virginity. 

6  Matt.  xxv.  31. 


112 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


little,  for  the  Angels  are  many  more.  They  are 
the  7imeiy  a?td  ni?ie  sheep,  but  mankind  is  the 
single  one  7.  For  according  to  the  extent  of  uni- 
versal space,  must  we  reckon  the  number  of  its 
inhabitants.  The  whole  earch  is  but  as  a  point 
in  the  midst  of  the  one  heaven,  and  yet  contains 
so  great  a  multitude;  what  a  multitude  must 
the  heaven  which  encircles  it  contain  ?  And 
must  not  the  heaven  of  heavens  contain  un- 
imaginable numbers  ^  ?  And  it  is  written,  Thou- 
sand thousands  i?iinistered  ufito  Him.  and  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  stood  before  Hi7n  9; 
not  that  the  multitude  is  only  so  great,  but  be- 
cause the  Prophet  could  not  express  more  than 
these.  So  tliere  will  be  present  at  the  judg- 
ment in  that  day,  God,  the  Father  of  all,  Jesus 
Christ  being  seated  with  Him,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  present  with  Them  ;  and  an  angel's 
trumpet  shall  summon  us  all  to  bring  our  deeds 
with  us.  Ought  we  not  then  from  this  time 
forth  to  be  sore  troubled  ?  Think  it  not  a 
slight  doom,  O  man,  even  apart  from  punish- 
ment, to  be  condemned  in  the  presence  of  so 
many.  Shall  we  not  choose  rather  to  die 
many  deaths,  than  be  condemned  by  friends? 

25.  Let  us  dread  then,  brethren,  lest  God 
condemn  us  \  who  needs  not  examination  or 
proofs,  to  condemn.  Say  not,  In  the  night  I 
committed  fornication,  or  wrought  sorcery,  or 
did  any  other  thing,  and  there  was  no  man  b}'. 
Out  of  thine  own  conscience  shalt  thou  be 
judged,  thy  thoughts  the  meanwhile  accusing  or 
else  excusing,  in  the  day  ivhefi  God  shall  judge  the 
secrets  of  men  \  The  terrible  countenance  of 
the  Judge  will  force  thee  to  speak  the  truth  ; 
or  rather,  even  though  thou  speak  not,  it  will 
convict  thee.  For  thou  shalt  rise  clothed  with 
thine  own  sins,  or  else  with  thy  righteous  deeds. 
And  this  has  the  Judge  Himself  declared, 
— for  it  is  Christ  who  judges— ^r  neither  doth 
the  Father  Judge  any  man,  but  he  hath  s^ive7t 
all  judgment  unto  the  Son  =*,  not  divesting  Him- 
self of  His  power,  but  judging  through  the  Son; 
the  Son  therefore  judgeth  by  the  will  3  of  the 
Father  ;  for  the  wills  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son  are  not  different,  but  one  and  the  same. 
What  then  says  the  Judge,  as  to  whether  thou 
shalt  bear  thy  works,  or  no  ?  And  before  Him 
shall  they  gather  all  7iations* :  (for  in  the  presence 
of  Christ  every  knee  77iust  bow,  of  things  i7i  heaven, 
andthi/igs  in  earth,  a7id  things  imder  the  earth  s  .•) 

7  Matt,  xviii.  12  ;  Luke  xv.  4.  Ambrose,  Expos,  in  Luc.  VII. 
210:  "Rich  is  that  sliepherd  of  whose  flock  we  are  but  tlie 
one  hundredth  part.  Of  An.eels  and  Arch.Tugels,  of  Dominions, 
Powers,  Tluones,  and  others  He  hath  coumless  flocks,  wliom  He 
hath  left  upon  the  mountains."  Cf.  Gregor.  Hyf^s.  Contra  Eunom. 
Or.  xii. 

8  There  is  much  variation  in  the  reading  and  punctuation 
of  this  passage.  I  have  followed  the  text  adopted  by  the  Jeru- 
salem Editor  with  Codd.  A.  Roe.  Casaub.  and  Grodecti,  in  pre- 
ference to  the  Benedictine  text,  with  which  the  Editor  himself 
IS  dissatisfied.  9  Dan.  vii.  10. 

'  Rom.  ii.  15,  16.  2  John  v.  22. 

3  j-eu^art.     Cat.  xi.  aa.         4  Matt.  xxv.  32.  5  Phil.  ii.  10. 


a7id  He  shall  sepai'ate  thei7i  one  fro77i  another,  as 
the  shepherd  divideih  his  sheep  from  the  goats. 
How  does  the  shepherd  make  the  separation  ? 
Does  he  examine  out  of  a  book  which  is  a 
sheep  and  which  a  goat  ?  or  does  he  distinguish 
by  their  evident  marks?  Does  not  the  wool  show 
the  sheep,  and  the  hairy  and  rough  skin  the 
goat  ?  In  like  manner,  if  thou  hast  been  just 
now  cleansed  from  thy  sins,  thy  deeds  shall  be 
henceforth  as  pure  wool ;  and  thy  robe  shall 
remain  unstained,  and  thou  shalt  ever  say,  / 
have  put  off  t7iy  coat,  how  shall  1  put  it  on  ^  ?  By 
thy  vesture  shalt  thou  be  known  for  a  sheep. 
But  if  thou  be  found  hairy,  like  Esau,  who  was 
rough  with  hair,  and  wicked  in  mind,  who  for 
food  lost  his  birthright  and  sold  his  privilege, 
thou  shalt  be  one  of  those  on  the  left  hand. 
But  God  forbid  that  any  here  present  should 
be  cast  out  from  grace,  or  for  evil  deeds  be 
found  among  the  ranks  of  the  sinners  on  the 
left  hand ! 

26.  Terrible  in  good  truth  is  the  judgment, 
and  terrible  the  things  announced.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  set  before  us,  and  everlasting 
fire  is  prepared.  How  then,  some  one  will  say, 
are  we  to  escape  the  fire  ?  And  how  to  enter 
into  the  kingdom  ?  Iwas  a7i  hu7tgred,  He  says, 
a7id ye  gave  Me  meat.  Learn  hence  the  way  ; 
there  is  here  no  need  of  allegory,  but  to  fiilfil 
what  is  said,  Itvas  a7i  hungred,  a7id ye  gave  Me 
7neat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  Me  d/-ink  ;  I 
was  a  st7-anger,  a7id ye  took  Me  i/i  ;  7iaked,  and 
ye  clothed  Me  ;  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  Me  ;  I 
7iias  in  p7-ison,  and  ye  ca7ne  unto  Me  7.  These 
things  if  thou  do,  thou  shalt  reign  together 
with  Him  ;  but  if  tliou  do  them  not,  thou  shalt 
be  condemned.  At  once  then  begin  to  do 
these  works,  and  abide  in  the  faith  ;  lest,  like 
the  foolish  virgins,  tarrying  to  buy  oil,  thou  be 
shut  out.  Be  not  confident  because  thou  merely 
possessest  the  lamp,  but  constantly  keep  it 
burning.  Let  the  Hght  of  thy  good  works 
shine  before  men  ^,  and  let  not  Christ  be  blas- 
phemed on  thy  account.  Wear  thou  a  gar- 
ment of  incorruption  9,  resplendent  in  good 
works  ;  and  whatever  matter  thou  receivest 
from  God  to  administer  as  a  steward,  administer 
profitably.  Hast  thou  been  put  in  trust  with 
riches  ?  Dispense  them  well.  Hast  thou  been 
entrusted  with  the  word  of  teacliing?  Be  a 
good  Stewart!  thereof  Canst  thou  attach  the 
souls    of   the    hearers "  ?     Do    this    diligently. 


6  Cant.  V.  3.     Compare  Cat.  iii.  7  ;  xx.  (Mystag.  ii.)  a. 

7  Matt.  xxv.  35.  8  Matt.  v.  16. 

9  The  prayer  lor  the  Catechumens  in  the  Apostolic  Consti- 
tutions, viii.  6,  contains  a  petition  that  God  would  "  vouchsafe 
to  them  the  laver  of  iei;eneralion,and  the  garment  of  incorruption, 
which  is  the  true  life." 

'  ■trpoctOtlva.i,  Cf.  Acts  ii.  41 '.  vpo<TeTe6ri(Tav.  According  to 
some  MSS.  the  sentence  would  run  thus:  "Hast  thou  been 
entrusted  with  the  word  of  teaching?  Be  a  good  steward  of  thy 
hearers'  souls.  Hast  thou  power  to  rule  (n-poo'Trji'ai)  ?  Do  this 
diligently." 


LECTURE   XV. 


113 


There  are  many  doors  of  good  stewardship. 
Only  let  none  of  us  be  condemned  and  cast 
out ;  that  we  may  with  boldness  meet  Christ 
the  Everlasting  King,  who  reigns  for  ever. 
For  He  doth  reign  for  ever,  who  shall  be 
judge  of  quick  and  dead,  because  for  quick  and 
dead  He  died.  And  as  Paul  says,  For  to  this 
end  Christ  both  died  a?id  lived  again,  that  He 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  living  '^. 

27.  And  shouldest  thou  ever  hear  any  say 
that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  shall  have  an  end, 
abhor  the  heresy  ;  it  is  another  head  of  the 
dragon,  lately  sprung  up  in  Galatia.  A  certain 
one  has  dared  to  affirm,  that  after  the  end  of 
the  world  Christ  shall  reign  no  longer^ ;  he  has 
also  dared  to  say,  that  the  Word  having  come 
forth  from  the  Father  shall  be  again  absorbed 
into  the  Father,  and  shall  be  no  more  * ;  utter- 
ing such  blasphemies  to  his  own  perdition. 
For  he  has  not  listened  to  the  Lord,  saying, 
The  Son  abidethfor  ever  s.  He  has  not  listened 
to  Gabriel,  saying.  And  He  shall  reign  over 
the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever,  and  of  His  kingdom 
there  shall  be  fio  end^.  Consider  this  text. 
Heretics  of  this  day  teach  in  disparagement  of 
Christ,  while  Gabriel  the  Archangel  taught  the 
eternal  abiding  of  the  Saviour  ;  whom  then 
wilt  thou  rather  believe  ?  wilt  thou  not  rather 
give  credence  to  Gabriel  ?  Listen  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Daniel  in  the  text  ^  ;  I saiv  in  a  vision 
of  the  night,  and  behold,  one  like  the  Son  of  Man 
came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came  to  the 

Ancient  of  days And  to  Him  was  giveti 

the   honour,  and  the  dominion,  atid  the   king- 

*  Rom.  xiv.  9. 

3  Marcellus,  Bishop  of  Ancyra,  and  his  pupil  Photinus,  are 
anathematized  in  the  deed  called  Ma(cpo(TTixo!  as  holding  that 
Christ  first  became  "  Son  of  God  when  He  took  our  flesh  from  the 
Virgin.  .  .  .  For  they  will  have  it  that  then  Christ  Ijegan  His 
Kingdom,  and  that  it  will  have  an  end  after  the  consummation 
of  all  and  the  judgment.  Such  are  the  disciples  of  Marcelhis  and 
Scotinus  of  Galatian  Ancyra,  itc."  See  Newman  on  Athanasius, 
de  Synodis,  §  26,  (5),  notes  a  and  b.  Compare  the  description 
of  Marcellus  in  the  Letter  of  the  Oriental  Bishops  who  had  with- 
drawn from  the  Coinicil  of  Sardica  to  Pliilippopolis  (v.ij.  344). 
"There  has  aiisen  in  our  days  a  certain  Marcellus  of  Galatia, 
the  most  execrable  pest  of  all  heretics,  ivho  with  sacrilegious  mind, 
and  impious  mouth,  and  wicked  argument  seeks  to  set  boiuids  to 
the  perpetual,  eternal,  and  timeless  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Christ, 
saying  that  He  began  to  reign  four  hundred  years  since,  and 
shall  end  at  the  dissoliiti(m  of  the  present  world"  (Hilar.  Pictav. 
Ex  Opcre  Hist.  Fr.agm.  iii. ). 

4  "The  person  meant  by  Cyril,  though  he  withholds  the  name, 
is  Marcellus  of  Ancyra  ;  who  having  written  a  book  against  the 
Arian  Sophist  Asterius  to  explain  the  Apostle's  statement  concern- 
ing the  subjecticn  of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  was  thought  to  be 
renewing  tl.e  heresy  of  Paul  of  Samosata.  On  this  account  he  was 
reprovcu  by  the  Bishops  at  the  Councd  of  Jerusalem,  a.d.  335,  for 
holding  false  opinions,  and  being  ordered  to  recant  his  opinions 
promised  to  burn  his  book.  Afterwards  he  applied  to  Constantine, 
by  whom  he  was  remitted  to  the  Council  of  Constantinople,  a.d. 
336,  and  deposed  by  the  Bishops.  As  however  he  was  acquitted  by 
the  Councils  of  Rome,  a.d  342,  and  of  Sardica,  a.d.  347,  it  became 
a  matter  of  di  pule  whether  he  was  really  heretical.  .  .  .  From  the 
fragments  of  his  books  transcribed  by  Eusebius,  you  may  po^sibly 
acquit  him  of  the  S.abellian  heresy  and  the  confusion  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  but  certainly  not  of  the  heresy  concerning 
the  end  of  Christ's  kingdom,  and  the  abandonment  by  the  Word 
of  the  human  nature  which  He  assumed  for  our  sake  ;  so  express 
are  his  words  recorded  by  Eusebius  in  the  beginning  of  the  2nd 
Book  Contra  Marcellum,  pp.  50,  51."  (Ben.  Ed.)  Cf.  Diet. 
Clir.  Biogr.  "  F.usebius  of  Caesarea,"  p.  341  ;  and  note  3  on  §  9 
above.  5  John  viii.  25. 

6  Luke  i.  33.  7  TJji'  TTapovirav. 

VOL.  VII. 


dom  :  and  all  peoples,  tribes,  and  languages  shall 
serve  Him ;  His  dominion  is  an  everlasting 
dominion,  which  shall  not  pass  aivay,  atid  His 
kingdom  shall  not  be  destroyed^.  These  things 
rather  hold  fast,  these  things  believe,  and  cast 
away  from  thee  the  words  of  heresy  ;  for  thou 
hast  heard  most  plainly  of  the  endless  king- 
dom of  Christ. 

28.  The  like  doctrine  thou  has  also  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  Stone,  which  tea  cut  out  of 
a  mountain  without  hands,  which  is  Christ 
according  to  the  flesh  ^  ;  And  His  kingdom  shall 
not  be  left  -to  another  people.  David  also  says  in 
one  place.  Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and 
ever'' ;  and  in  another  place,  Thou,  Lord,  in 
the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
earth,  d^c,  they  shall  perish,  but  Thou  re- 
mainest,  ^c.  ;  but  Thou  art  the  same,  atid 
Thy  years  shall  not  fail ^  :  words  which  Paul 
has  interpreted  of  the  Son  3. 

29.  And  wouldest  thou  know  how  they  who 
teach  the  contrary  ran  into  such  madness  ? 
They  read  wrongly  that  good  word  of  the 
Apostle,  For  He  must  reign,  till  He  hath  put  all 
enemies  tinder  His  feet  ^;  and  they  say,  when 
His  enemies  shall  have  been  put  under  His 
feet,  He  shall  cease  to  reign,  wrongly  and 
foolishly  alleging  this.  For  He  who  is  king 
before  He  has  subdued  His  enemies,  how  shall 
He  not  the  rather  be  king,  after  He  has  gotten 
the  mastery  over  them. 

30.  They  have  also  dared  to  say  that  the 
Scripture,  When  all  things  shall  be  subjected 
unto  Him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  Himself  be 
subjected  unto  Him  that  subjected  all  things  unto 
Him  5, — that  this  Scripture  shews  that  the  Son 
also  shall  be  absorbed  into  the  Father.  Shall 
ye  then,  O  most  impious  of  all  men,  ye  the 
creatures  of  Christ,  continue,?  and  shall  Christ 
perish,  by  whom  both  you  and  all  things  were 
made  ?  Such  a  word  is  blasphemous.  But 
further,  how  shall  all  things  be  made  subject 
unto  Him?  By  perishing,  or  by  abiding? 
Shall  then  the  other  things,  when  subject  to 
the  Son.  abide,  and  shall  the  Son,  when  sub- 
ject to  the  Father,  not  abide  ?  For  He  shall 
be  subjected,  not  because  He  shall  then  begin 
to  do  the  Father's  will  (for  from  eternity  He 
doth  always  those  things  that  please  Him  ^),  but 
because,  then  as  before.  He  obeys  the  Father, 
yielding,  not  a  forced  obedience,  but  a  self- 
chosen  accordance ;  for  He  is  not  a  servant, 
that  He  should  be  subjected  by  force,  but  a 
Son,  that  He  should  comply  of  His  free  choice 
and  natural  love. 


8  Dan.  vii.  13,  14.         9  lb.  ii.  45  ;  Rom.  ix.  5.        '  Ps  xlv.  6. 

2  lb.  cii.  25 — 27.  3  Heb.  i.  10—12.  4  1  Cor.  xv.  25. 

5  I  Cor.  XV.  11.  28.  Theodoret.  Comment,  in  Epist.  i.  ad  Cor. 
XV.  2S:  "  This  passage  the  followers  of  Anus  and  Eunomius  carry 
continually  on  their  tongue,  thinking  in  this  way  to  disparage  the 
dignity  of  the  Only-begotten."  &  John  viii.  29. 


114 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


31.  But  let  us  examine  them ;  what  is  the 
meaning  of  "  until "  or  "  as  long  as?  "  For  with 
the  very  phrase  will  I  close  with  them,  and 
try  to  overthrow  their  error.  Since  they  have 
dared  to  say  that  the  words,  ////  He  hath  put 
His  eftemies  under  His  feet,  shew  that  He  Him- 
self shall  have  an  end,  and  have  presumed  to 
set  bounds  to  the  eternal  kingdom  of  Christ, 
and  to  bring  to  an  end,  as  far  as  words  go, 
His  never-ending  sovereignty,  come  then,  let 
us  read  the  like  expressions  in  the  Apostle  : 
Nevertheless,  death  reigfied  from  Adam  till 
Moses  7,  Did  men  then  die  up  to  that  time, 
and  did  none  die  any  more  after  Moses,  or 
after  the  Law  has  there  been  no  more  death 
among  men?  Well  then,  thou  seest  that  the 
word  "  unto  "  is  not  to  limit  time ;  but  that 
Paul  rather  signified  this, — "  And  yet,  though 
Moses  was  a  righteous  and  wonderful  man, 
nevertheless  the  doom  of  death,  which  was  ut- 
tered against  Adam,  reached  even  unto  him,  and 
them  that  came  after  him  ;  and  this,  though 
they  had  not  committed  the  like  sins  as  Adam, 
by  his  disobedience  in  eating  of  the  tree." 

32.  Take  again  another  similar  text.  For  tin- 
til  this  day  .  .  .  zvhen  Moses  is  read,  a  vail  lieth 
upon  their  heart  ^.  Does  until  this  day  mean 
only  "until  Paul?"  Is  it  not  utitil  this  day 
present,  and  even  to  the  end  ?  And  if  Paul 
say  to  the  Corinthians,  For  we  came  even 
as  far  as  U7ito  you  in  preaching  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  having  hope  ivhen  your  faith  increases 
to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  regions  beyond  you  9, 
thou  seest  manifestly  that  as  far  as  implies  not 
the  end,  but  has  something  following  it.     In 


7  Rom.  V.  14.  "  a.)(^pi,  from  dicpo?,  as  jne'xP'  tVorn  fiTJKo?, 
/iaxpo?"  (L.  and  Sc).  It  is  not  always  possible  to  mark  this 
distinction  in  translation  :  cf.  Lobeck,  Phrynichiis,  p.  14  ;  Viger, 
De  Idiot.  Gr.  p.  419. 

8  2  Cor.  iii.  14,  15.  9  lb.  x.  14,  15,  16. 


what  sense  then  shouldest  thou  remember  that 
Scripture,  ////  He  hath  put  all  enemies  under 
His  feet  ^  ?  According  as  Paul  says  in  another 
place.  And  exhort  each  other  daily,  while  it  is 
called  to-day  ^  ;  meaning,  "  continually. "  For  as 
we  may  not  speak  of  the  "  beginning  of  the 
days "  of  Christ,  so  neither  suffer  thou  that 
any  should  ever  speak  of  the  end  of  His 
kingdom.  For  it  is  written,  His  kingdom  is  an 
everlasting  kingdom  3. 

33.  And  though  I  have  many  more  testimonies 
out  of  the  divine  Scriptures,  concerning  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  which  has  no  end  for  ever,  I  will  be 
content  at  present  with  those  above  mentioned, 
because  the  day  is  far  spent.  But  thou,0  hearer, 
worship  only  Him  as  thy  King,  and  flee  all 
heretical  error.  And  if  the  grace  of  God  per- 
mit us,  the  remaining  Articles  also  of  the  Faith 
shall  be  in  good  time  declared  to  you.  And 
may  the  God  of  the  whole  world  keep  you  all  in 
safety,  bearing  in  mind  the  signs  of  the  end, 
and  remaining  unsubdued  by  Antichrist.  Thou 
hast  received  the  tokens  of  the  Deceiver  who 
is  to  come ;  thou  hast  received  the  proofs  of 
the  true  Christ,  who  shall  openly  come  down 
from  heaven.  Flee  therefore  the  one,  the  False 
one ;  and  look  for  the  other,  the  True.  Thou 
hast  learnt  the  way,  how  in  the  judgment  thou 
mayest  be  found  among  those  on  the  right 
hand  ;  guard  that  which  is  committed  to  thee'' 
concerning  Christ,  and  be  conspicuous  in  good 
works,  that  thou  mayest  stand  with  a  good 
confidence  before  the  Judge,  and  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  heaven: — -Through  whom,  and 
with  whom,  be  glory  to  God  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


«  I  Cor.  XV.  25. 


»  Heb.  iii.  13. 
4  I  i'lm.  vi.  20. 


3  Dan.  vii.  14,  27. 


LECTURE  XVI. 


On  the  Article,  And  in  one  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  which  spake 

IN  THE  Prophets. 


I  Corinthians  xii.   i,  4. 

Now  concerning  spiritual  gifts ^  brethren,  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant. 
are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit,  c^v. 


Now  there 


1.  Spiritual  in  truth  is  the  grace  we  need,  in 
order  to  discourse  concerning  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
not  that  we  may  speak  what  is  worthy  of  Him, 
for  this  is  impossible,  but  that  by  speaking  the 
words  of  the  divine  Scriptures,  we  may  run  our 
course  without  danger.  For  a  truly  fearful  thing 
is  written  in  the  Gospels,  where  Christ  has  plainly 
said,  Whosoever  shall  speak  a  word  against  the 
Ho'y  Ghost,  it  shall  ?iot  be  forgiven  him,  neither 
in  tills  ivorld,  nor  ifi  that  which  is  to  co>ne^. 
And  there  is  often  fear,  lest  a  man  should 
receive  this  condemnation,  through  speaking 
what  he  ought  not  concerning  Him,  either  from 
ignorance,  or  from  supposed  reverence.  The 
Judge  of  quick  and  dead,  Jesus  Christ,  de- 
clared that  he  hath  no  forgiveness  ;  if  therefore 
any  man  offend,  what  hope  has  he? 

2.  It  must  therefore  belong  to  Jesus  Christ's 
grace  itself  to  grant  both  to  us  to  speak 
without  deficiency,  and  to  you  to  hear  with 
discretion ;  for  discretion  is  needful  not  to 
them  only  who  speak,  but  also  to  them  that 
hear,  lest  they  hear  one  thing,  and  misconceive 
another  in  their  mind.  Let  us  then  speak 
concerning  the  Holy  Ghost  nothing  but  what 
is  written ;  and  whatsoever  is  not  written,  let 
us  not  busy  ourselves  about  it.  The  Holy 
Ghost  Himself  spake  the  Scriptures  ;  He  has 
also  spoken  concerning  Himself  as  much  as 
He  pleased,  or  as  much  as  we  could  receive. 
Let  us  therefore  speak  those  things  which  He 
has  said ;  for  whatsoever  He  has  not  said,  we 
dare  not  say. 

3.  There  is  One  Only  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Comforter;  and  as  there  is  One  God  the 
Father,  and  no  second  Father ; — and  as  there 
is  One  Only-begotten  Son  and  Word  of  God, 
who  hath  no  brother ; — so  is  there  One  Only 


<  Matt.  xii.  33. 


Holy  Ghost,  and  no  second  spirit  equal  in 
honour  to  Him.  Now  the  Holy  Ghost  is  a 
Power  most  mighty,  a  Being  divine  and 
unsearchable  ;  for  He  is  living  and  in- 
telligent, a  sanctifying  principle  of  all  things 
made  by  God  through  Christ.  He  it  is 
who  illuminates  the  souls  of  the  just;  He  was 
in  the  Prophets,  He  was  also  in  the  Apostles 
in  the  New  Testament.  Abhorred  be  they 
who  dare  to  separate  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  !  There  is  One  (iod,  the  Fa- 
ther, Lord  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament :  and  One  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  who 
was  prophesied  of  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  came  in  the  New ;  and  One  Holy  Ghost, 
who  througli  the  Prophets  preached  of  Christ, 
and  when  Christ  was  come,  descended,  and 
manifested  Him  ^ 


*  At  the  end  of  this  section  there  follows  in  the  Coislin  MS. 
a  long  interpolation  consisting  of  two  parts.  The  former  is  an 
extract  taken  word  for  word  from  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Oratio 
Catechetica,  ii.  c,  which  may  be  read  in  ttiis  series  :  'AAA'  ois  @io\i 
Ao-^oi'  a.KOv<To.vTt<;  ....  avviipofJ^ov  e^^outrai'  tj}  ^ouArjtret  rriv 
Svifafi.iv.  Of  the  second  passage  the  Benedictine  Editor  says: 
"  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  who  is  the  author.  No  one 
can  assign  it  to  our  Cyril,  although  the  doctrine  it  contains  is 
in  full  agreement  with  his  :  but  he  explains  all  the  same  points 
more  at  large  in  his  two  Lectures  (xvi.  xvii.).  The  passage  is  very 
ancient  and  undoubtedly  older  than  the  eleventh  century,  which  is 
the  date  of  the  Cod.  Coislin.  Therefore  in  the  controversy  of  the 
Latins  against  the  Greeks  concerning  the  Procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  it  is  important  to  notice  what  is  taught  in  this  passage,  and 
also  brought  forward  as  a  testimony  by  S.  Thomas  (Aquinas), 
that  "The  Holy  Ghost  is  of  the  Godhead  of  the  P'atherand  the 
Son  (ex  Patris  et  Filii  divinitate  existere)."  To  me  indeed  these 
words  seem  to  savour  altogether  not  ot  the  later  but  of  the  more 
ancient  theology  of  the  Greeks,  and  to  be  earlier  than  the  con- 
troversies of  the  Greeks  against  the  Latins." 

This  second  passage  is  as  follows  : — 

"  For  the  Spirit  of  God  is  good.  And  Thy  good  Spirit,  says 
David,  shall  lead  me  in  the  land  of  righteousness.  This  then  is 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  which  we  believe  :  the  bles-^ed  Spirit,  the 
eternal,  immutable,  unchangeable,  ineffable:  which  rules  and 
reigns  over  all  productive  being,  both  visible  and  invisible  natures : 
which  is  Lord  both  of  Angels  and  Archangels,  Powers,  Prin- 
cipalities, Dominions,  Thrones:  the  Creator  of  all  being,  en- 
throned with  the  glory  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  reigning  without 
beginning  and  without  end  with  the  Father  and  the  Son,  before 
the  created  substances  :  Who  sanctities  the  ministering  spiriis 
sent  forth  for  the  sake  of  those  mho  are  to  inherit  salvation  : 
Who  came  down  upon  the  holy  and  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  of  whon 


I  2 


ii6 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


4.  Let  no  one  therefore  separate  the  Old  from 
the  New  Testament  3 ;  let  no  one  say  that  the 
Spirit  in  the  former  is  one,  and  in  the  latter 
another ;  since  thus  he  offends  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  Himself,  who  with  the  Father 
and  the  Son  together  is  honoured,  and  at  the 
time  of  Holy  Baptism  is  included  with  them 
in  the  Holy  Trinity.  For  the  Only-begotten 
Son  of  God  said  plainly  to  the  Apostles,  Go  ye, 
and  viake  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost''.  Our  hope  is  in 
Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  We 
preach  not  three  Gods  s ;  let  the  Marcionites 
be  silenced  ;  but  with  the  Holy  Ghost  through 
One  Son,  we  preach  One  God.  The  Faith  is 
indivisible  ;  the  worship  inseparable.  We 
neither  separate  the  Holy  Trinity,  like  some ; 
nor  do  we  as  SabeUius  work  confusion  ^. 
But  we  know  according  to  godliness  One 
Father,  who  sent  His  Son  to  be  our  Saviour  ; 
we  know  One  Son,  who  promised  that  He 
would  send  the  Comforter  from  the  Father; 
we  know  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  spake  in  the 
Prophets,  and  who  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
descended  on  the  Apostles  in  the  form  of  fiery 
tongues,  here,  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  Upper 
Church  of  the  Apostles  i ;  for  in  all  things  the 
choicest  privileges  are  with  us.  Here  Christ 
came  down  from  heaven  ;  here  the  Holy  ( jhost 
came  down  from  heaven.  And  in  truth  it 
were  most  fitting,  that  as  we  discourse  con- 
cerning Christ  and  Golgotha  here  in  Golgotha, 
so  also  we  should  speak  concerning  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  Upper  Church ;  yet  since  He 
who  descended  there  jointly  partakes  of  the 
glory  of  Him  who  was  crucified*  here,  we  here 


was  born  Christ  according  to  the  flesh  ;  came  down  also  upon  the 
Lord  Himself  ill  bodily  form  of  a  dove  in  the  river  Jordan  :  Who 
came  upon  the  Apostles  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  in  form  of  fiery 
tongues  ;  Who  gives  and  supplies  ail  spiriuial  gifts  in  the  Church, 
Who  iKOCEEDETH  FROM  THE  FATHER  :  Who  is  of  the  Clodliead 
of  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  Who  is  of  one  substance  with  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  inseparable  and  indivi>ible." 

3  Cf-  Cat.  iv.  33;  vii.  6.  lrena;us,  Uteres.  III.  xxi.  4;  IV. 
ix.  I.  In  Eusebius,  E.Il.  V.  13.  Rhodun  says  that  Apelles  attri- 
buted the  prophecies  to  an  adverse  spirit,  and  rejected  them  as 
false  and  self-contradictory.  Similar  blasphemies  against  the  holy 
Prophets  are  imputed  to  Manes  by  Epiphanius  {lla-res.  Ixvi.  30). 

■♦  Matt,  xxviji.  19.  The  same  text  is  used  with  much  force  by 
S.  Basil  {De  Spir.  i>.  cap.  xxiv.). 

5  Cat.  xi.  4,  note  3.  See  Newman's  notes  on  Athanasius, 
Contra  Arian.  Or.  1.  viii.  i  ;  lb.  Or.  III.  xxv.  9  ;  lb.  xxvii.  3. 
Marcion's  doctrine  of  three  first  principles  (rpiwi'  ap.ycij/  Aoyos) 
is  discussed  by  ICpiphanius  {Hc^res.  xlii.  6,  7).  See  also  TertuU. 
Contra  Marcion.  I.  15  ;  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  V.  13. 

6  <jvvaXii\>i,v,  iv.  8  ;  xi.  i6  ;  xv.  g. 

7  Cat.  xvii.  13.  Epiphanius  {De  Mensuris  ct  Ponder,  c.  14): 
"And  he  (Hadrian)  fouiui  the  city  all  levelled  to  the  ground,  except 
a  fevv  houses,  and  tlie  Church  of  God  which  was  small:  where  the 
Disciples,  on  their  return  after  the  Saviour  was  taken  up  fiom  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  went  up  into  the  upper  chamber  :  for  there  it 
had  been  built,  that  is  on  Sion."  Cf.  Stanley,  Simti  and  Pales- 
tine, c.  xiv.  3:  "Within  the  precincts  of  that  Mosque  (of  the 
Tomb  of  David)  is  a  vaulted  Gothic  chamber,  which  contains 
within  its  four  walls  a  greater  confluence  of  traditions  than  any 
other  I'lace  of  like  dimensions  in  Palestine.  It  is  startling  to  hear 
that  this  is  the  scene  of  the  Last  Supper,  of  the  meeting  after  the 
Resurrection,  o'  the  iniiacle  of  I'entecost,  of  the  residence  and 
death  01  the  Vh„in,  of  the  burial  of  Stephen." 


speak  concerning  Him  also  who   descended 
there :  for  their  worship  is  indivisible. 

5.  We  would  now  say  somewhat  concerning 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  not  to  declare  His  substance 
with  exactness,  for  this  were  impossible  ;  but 
to  speak  of  the  diverse  mistakes  of  some  con- 
cerning him,  lest  from  ignorance  we  should 
fall  into  them  ;  and  to  block  up  the  paths  of 
error,  that  we  may  journey  on  the  King's  one 
highway.  And  if  we  now  for  caution's  sake 
repeat  any  statement  of  the  heretics,  let  it 
recoil  on  their  heads,  and  may  we  be  guilt- 
less, both  we  who  speak,  and  ye  who  hear. 

6.  For  the  heretics,  who  are  most  profane 
in  all  things,  have  sharpened  their  tongue^  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  also,  and  have  dared  to  utter 
impious  things  ;  as  Irensus  the  interpreter  has 
written  in  his  injunctions  against  heresies?.  For 
some  of  them  have  dared  to  say  that  they 
were  themselves  the  Holy  Ghost ; — of  whom 
the  first  was  Simon  ',  the  sorcerer  spoken  of  in 
the  Acts  of  the  .\postles  ;  for  when  he  was 
cast  out,  he  presumed  to  teach  such  doctrines  : 
and  they  who  are  called  Gnostics,  impious 
men,  have  spoken  other  things  against  the 
Spirit  -,  and  the  wicked  Valentinians  3  again 
something  else  ;  and  the  profane  Manes  dared 
to  call  himself  the  Paraclete  sent  by  Christ  ■♦. 
Others  again  have  taught  that  the  S[)irit  is 
different  in  the  Prophets  and  in  the  New 
Testaments  Yea,  and  great  is  their  error,  or 
rather  their  blasphemy.  Such  therefore  abhor, 
and  flee  from  them  who  blaspheme  the  Holy 
Ghost",  and  have  no  forgiveness.  For  what 
fellowship  hast  thou  with  the  desperate,  thou, 
who  art  now  to  be  baptized,  into  the  Holy 
Ghost  also  ^  ?  If  he  who  attaches  himself  to  a 
thief,  and  consenteth  with  him,  is  subject  to 
punishment,  what  hope  shall  he  have,  who 
ofiends  against  the  Holy  Ghost? 

7.  Let  the  Marcionists  also  be  abhorred, 
who  tear  away  from  the  New  Testament  the 
sayings  of  the  Old  7.  For  Marcion  first,  that 
most  impious  of  men,  who  first  asserteci  three 
Gods^,  knowing  that  in  the  New  Testament  are 


8  Ps.  cxl.  3. 

9  Irei)a;us  is  called  "the  interpreter"  in  the  same  general 
sense  as  other  ecclesiastical  authors  (Cat.  xiii.  21  ;  xv.  20), 
on  account  of  his  irequent  comments  upon  the  Scriptures.  The 
full  title  of  his  work  was  .-J  Refutation  and  Subversion  of 
k'nmviedge  falsely  so  called  (Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.  V.  c.  7). 
Cyril's  expression  (ec  tois  Trpoa-Toiy^ao-i)  is  sufficiently  .Tppropriate 
to  tiie  hortatory  purpose  profes>ed  by  Irena;us  in  his  preface. 
But  the  Br.ncdictine  ICditor  thinks  that  the  word  TrpoaTay/oiacri 
may  be  an  interpolation  arising  I'rom  the  following  worcis  Trpos 
rd?  ....  The  meaning  would  then  be  "  in  his  writ  ngs  Against 
Heresies,"  the  usual  short  title  of  the  work. 

'  Cat.  vi.  14,  note  10.  -  Irenxiis  (1.  xxix.  §  4  ;  xxx.  §  i). 

3  lb.  I.  ii.  §§  5,  6.  4  Cat.  vi.  25. 

5  Cat.  iv.  33.     See  §  3,  note  3,  above. 

*  i.e.  as  well  as  into  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

7  .See  Pit.  Christ.  Biograjdiy,  Marcion,  p.  283;  and  Ter- 
tullian  (.-/(j'?'.  Marcion.  IV.  6):  "  His  whole  aim  centres  in  this 
that  he  may  establish  a  diversity  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  so  that  his  own  Christ  may  be  separate  from  the 
Creator,  as  belonging  to  the  rival  ;;od.  and  ;ts  alien  from  the  La* 
and  the  Prophets.  b  Cf.  §  4,  note  Sj  above. 


LECTURE   XVI. 


117 


contained  testimonies  of  the  Prophets  concern- 
ing Christ,  cut  out  the  testimonies  taken  from 
the  Old  Testament,  that  the  King  might  be  left 
without  witness.  Abhor  those  above-mentioned 
Gnostics,  men  of  knowledge  by  name,  but 
fraught  with  ignorance ;  who  have  dared  to 
say  such  things  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  I  dare 
not  repeat. 

8.  Let  the  Cataphrygians  9  also  be  thy  abhor- 
rence, and  Montanus,  their  ringleader  in  evil, 
and  his  two  so-called  prophetesses,  Maximilla 
and  Priscilla.  For  this  Montanus,  who  was 
out  of  his  mind  and  really  mad  (for  he  would 
not  have  said  such  things,  had  he  not  been 
mad),  dared  to  say  that  he  was  himself  the 
Holy  Ghost, — he,  miserable  man,  and  filled 
with  all  uncleanness  and  lasciviousness ;  for 
it  suffices  but  to  hint  at  this,  out  of  respect  for 
the  women  who  are  present.  And  having  taken 
])ossession  of  Pepuza,  a  very  small  hamlet  of 
Phrygia,  he  falsely  named  it  Jerusalem  ;  and  cut- 
ting the  throats  of  wretched  little  children,  and 
c:hopping  them  up  into  unholy  food,  for  the 
purpose  of  their  so-called  mysteries  % — (where- 
fore till  but  lately  in  the  time  of  persecution, 
we  were  suspected  of  doing  this,  because  these 
Montanists  were  called,  falsely  indeed,  by  the 
common  name  of  Christians ;) — yet  he  dared 
to  call  himself  the  Holy  Ghost,  filled  as  he 
was  with  all  impiety  and  inhuman  cruelty,  and 
condemned  by  an  irrevocable  sentence. 

9.  And  he  was  seconded,  as  was  said  before, 
by  that  most  impious  Manes  also,  who  com- 
bined what  was  bad  in  every  heresy^;  who 
being  the  very  lowest  pit  of  destruction,  col- 
lected the  doctrines  of  all  the  heretics,  and 
wrought  out  and  taught  a  yet  more  novel 
error,  and  dared  to  say  that  he  himself  was 
the  Comforter,  whom  Christ  promised  to  send. 
But  the  Saviour  when  He  promised  Him,  said 
to  the  Apostles,  But  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of 
Jei-usalan,  until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on 
high  3.  What  then  ?  did  the  Apostles  who  had 
been  dead  two  hundred  years,  wait  for  Manes, 
until  they  should  be  endued  7uith  the  power ;  and 
will  any  dare  to  say,  that  they  were  not  forth- 
with full  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  Moreover  it  is 
written,  Then  they  laid  their  hands  on  them, 
and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost  ^  ;  was  not  this 
before  Manes,  yea,  many  years  before,  when 
the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost? 


9  Phrygians,  or  Cataphrygians  (oi  Kara  <I>pvyas)  was  the  name 
given  to  the  followers  of  the  Phrygian  Montanus.  See  the  ac- 
count of  Moiitanism  in  Eusebius,  Hist.  EccL  V.  xvi.,and  the  note 
then--  in  this  Series. 

J  The  charges  of  hist  and  cniehy  brought  against  the  Mont- 
anists by  Cyril  and  Epiphanius(//c<'r.  48  seem  to  rest  on  no  tnist- 
\>-orthy  evidence,  ana  are  not  mentioned  by  Eusebius,  a  bitter  foe 
t»  the  sect 

"^  On  Manes,  see  Cat.  vi.  20  ff. 

?  Luke  x.\iv.  49.  4  Acts  viii.  17. 


10.  Wherefore  was  Simon  the  sorcerer  con- 
demned ?     Was  it  not  that  he  came  to  the 
Apostles,  and  said.   Give  me  also  this  power, 
that  on  whotfisoever  I  lay  hands,  he  may  receive 
the  Holy  Ghost?     For  he  said  not,  "Give  me 
also  the  fellowship   of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  but 
"  Give  me  the  power ; "  that  he  might  sell  to 
others   that   which   could   not   be    sold,    and 
which  he  did  not  himself  possess.      He  offered 
money  also  to  them  who  had  no  possessions  s  ; 
and  this,  though  he  saw  men  bringing  the  prices 
of  the   things   sold,   and   laying  them  at  the 
Apostles'  feet.     And  he  considered   not  that 
they  who   trod  under  foot   the  wealth  which 
was  brought  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor, 
were  not  likely  to  give  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost    for  .a    bribe.     But    what    say   they   to 
Simon  ?     Thy  money  perish  with  thee,  because 
thou  hast  thought  to  purchase  the  gift  of  God 
with  money  ^  ;  for  thou  art  a  second  Judas,  for 
expecting  to  buy  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  with 
money.     If  then   Simon,   for   wishing   to   get 
this  power  for  a  price,  is  to  perish,  how  great 
is  the  impiety  of  Manes,  who  said  that  he  was 
the  Holy  Ghost  ?     Let  us  hate  them  who  are 
worthy  of  hatred ;  let  us  turn  away  from  them 
from  whom  God  turns  away  ;  let  us  also  our- 
selves say  unto  God  with  all  boldness  concern- 
ing all  heretics.  Do  not  I  hate  them,  O  Lord, 
that  hate   Thee,  and  am    not  I  grieved  with 
Thine  encfnies  ^  ?    For  there  is  also  an  enmity 
which    is    right,    according    as    it    is    written, 
/  ivill  put  enmity  beticeen  thee  and  her  seed^ ; 
for  friendship  with  the  serpent  works  enmity 
with  God,  and  death. 

II.  Let  then  thus  much  suffice  concerning 
those  outcasts  ;  and  now  let  us  return  to  the 
divine  Scriptures,  and  let  us  drink  waters  out 
of  our  0W71  cisterns  [that  is,  the  holy  Fathers  9], 
and  out  of  our  own  springing  wells  ^.  Drink 
we  of  living  tvater,  springing  ip  into  ever- 
lasting life^ ;  but  this  spake  the  Saviour  of  the 
Spirit,  which  they  that  belitve  on  Him  should 
receive^.  For  observe  what  He  says,  He  that 
believeth  ott  Ale  (not  simply  this,  but),  as  the 
Scripture  hath  said  (thus  He  hath  sent  thee 
back  to  the  Old  Testament),  out  of  his  belly 
shall  flow  rivers  of  living  ivater,  not  rivers 
perceived  by  sense,  and  merely  watering  the 
earth  with  its  thorns  and  trees,  but  bringing 
souls  to  the  light.  And  in  another  place  He 
says,  But  the  tvater  that  I  shall  give  him,  shall 
be  in  him  a  well  of  living  water  springing  up 


5  Acts  viii.  19.  a/CT7)/:ioo't.  Cf.  §  19  :  aKxrj/xoi'oi/o't.  and  §  22  ; 
a.Kri\ii.oa\!V(]v.       *  lb.  V.  20.       7  Ps.  cx.vxix.  21.        8  Gen.  iii.  15. 

9  The  words  ayimv  rrarcpiov  are  not  found  in  the  MSS.  Mon.  i. 
Mon.  2.  Vind.  Roe  Casaub.  nor  in  Grodecq.  Whether  meant  to 
refer,  as  the  Benedictine  Editor  thinks,  to  the  writer-^  of  the  Old 
Testament,  or  to  Christian  authors,  they  are  an  evident  gloss. 

1  Prov.  V.  15. 

2  John  iv.  14,  quoted  more  fully  at  the  end  of  the  section. 

3  lb.  vii.  38,  39. 


ii8 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


into  everlasting  life, — a  new  kind  of  water, 
living  and  springing  up,  springing  up  unto  them 
who  are  worthy. 

12.  And  why  did  He  call  the  grace  of  the 
Spirit  water  ?  Because  by  water  all  things 
subsist ;  because  water  brings  forth  grass  and 
living  things;  because  the  water  of  the  showers 
comes  down  from  heaven ;  because  it  comes 
down  one  in  form,  but  works  in  many 
forms.  For  one  fountain  watereth  the  whole 
of  Paradise,  and  one  and  the  same  rain  comes 
down  upon  all  the  world,  yet  it  becomes  white 
in  the  lily,  and  red  in  the  rose,  and  purple  in 
violets  and  hyacinths,  and  different  and  varied 
in  each  several  kind :  so  it  is  one  in  the  palm- 
tree,  and  another  in  the  vine,  and  all  in  all 
things ;  and  yet  is  one  in  nature,  not  diverse 
from  itself ;  for  the  rain  does  not  change  itself, 
and  come  down  first  as  one  thing,  then  as  an- 
other, but  adapting  itself  to  the  constitution  of 
each  thing  which  receives  it,  it  becomes  to  each 
what  is  suitable  4,  Thus  also  the  Holy  Ghost, 
being  one,  and  of  one  nature,  and  indivisible, 
divides  to  each  His  grace,  according  as  He 
will^ :  and  as  the  dry  tree,  after  partaking  of 
water,  puts  forth  shoots,  so  also  the  soul  in 
sin,  when  it  has  been  through  repentance 
made  worthy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  brings  forth 
clusters  of  righteousness.  And  though  He  is 
One  in  nature,  yet  many  are  the  virtues  which 
by  the  will  of  God  and  in  the  Name  of  Christ 
He  works.  For  He  employs  the  tongue  of  one 
man  for  wisdom  ;  the  soul  of  another  He  en- 
lightens by  Prophecy ;  to  another  He  gives 
power  to  drive  away  devils  ;  to  another  He 
gives  to  interpret  the  divine  Scriptures.  He 
strengthens  one  man's  self-command  ;  He 
teaches  another  the  way  to  give  alms;  another 
He  teaches  to  fast  and  discipline  himself; 
another  He  teaches  to  despise  the  things  of 
the  body ;  another  He  trains  for  martyrdom  : 
diverse  in  different  men,  yet  not  diverse  from 
Himself,  as  it  is  written,  But  the  manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  every  vian  to  profit 
withal.  For  to  one  is  given  through  the  Spirit 
the  word  of  wisdom;  and  to  another  the  word 
of  knowledge  according  to  the  same  Spirit ;  to 
another  faith,  in  the  same  Spirit ;  and  to  an- 
other gifts  of  healing,  in  the  same  Spirit ;  and  to 
atiother  workings  of  miracles  ;  and  to  another 
prophecy  ;  and  to  another  discernings  of  spirits  ; 
and  to  another  divers  kinds  of  tongues  ;  and  to 
another  the  ititerpretatio?i  of  tongues :  but  ail 
these  worketh  that  one  and  the  same  Spirit, 
dividing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  7vill^. 

13.  But  since  concerning  spirit  in  general 
many  diverse  things  are  written  in  the  divine 
Scriptures,  and  there   is  fear   lest   some   out 

4  Compare  a  similar  passage  on  rain  in  Cat.  ix.  9,  10. 
5  I  Cor.  xii.  n.  "^  lb.  vv.  7 — 11. 


of  ignorance  fall  into  confusion,  not  know- 
ing to  what  sort  of  spirit  the  writing  refers ; 
it  will  be  well  novv  to  certify  you,  of  what  kind 
the  Scripture  declares  the  Holy  Spirit  to  be. 
For  as  Aaron  is  called  Christ,  and  David  and 
Saul  and  others  are  called  Christs  7,  but  there  is 
only  one  true  Christ,  so  likewise  since  the 
name  of  spirit  is  given  to  different  things,  it  is 
right  to  see  what  is  that  which  is  distinctively 
called  the  Holy  Spirit.  For  many  things  are 
called  spirits.  Thus  an  Angel  is  called 
spirit,  our  soul  is  called  spirit,  and  this 
wind  which  is  blowing  is  called  spirit ;  great 
virtue  also  is  spoken  of  as  spirit ;  and  im- 
pure practice  is  called  spirit ;  and  a  devil  our 
adversary  is  called  spirit.  Beware  therefore 
when  thou  hearest  these  things,  lest  from  their 
having  a  common  name  thou  mistake  one  for 
another.  For  concerning  our  soul  the  Scrip- 
ture says.  His  spirit  shall  go  forth,  and  he  shall 
return  to  his  earth  ^.-  and  of  the  same  soul  it 
says  again.  Which  formeth  the  spirit  of  man 
within  him^.  And  of  the  Angels  it  is  said  in 
the  Psalms,  JVho  maketh  His  Angels  spirits, 
and  His  ministers  aflame  offire'^.  And  of  the 
wind  it  saith,  lliou  shall  break  the  ships  of 
Tarshish  7ciith  a  violent  spirit  ^  /  and.  As  the 
tree  in  the  wood  is  shaken  by  the  spirit^ ;  and, 
Fii-e,  hail,  snow,  ice,  spirit  of  stoi-fn  ^.  And  of 
good  doctrine  the  Lord  Himself  .says,  The 
words  that  I  have  spoken  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit 5,  and  they  are  life;  instead  of,  "are 
spiritual."  But  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  pro- 
nounced by  the  tongue;  but  He  is  a  Living 
Spirit,  who  gives  wisdom  of  speech,  Hmiself 
speaking  and  discoursing. 

14.  And  woLildest  thou  know  that  He  dis- 
courses and  speaks?  Philip  by  revelation  of 
an  Angel  went  down  to  the  way  which  leads 
to  Gaza,  when  the  Eunuch  was  coming ;  and 
the  Spirit  said  to  Philip,  Go  near,  and  join 
thyself  to  this  chariot  ^.  Seest  thou  the  Spirit 
talking  to  one  who  hears  Him?  Fzekiel 
also  speaks  thus.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came 
upon  me,  and  said  unto  me.  Thus  saith  the 
LordT.  And  again,  The  Holy  Ghost  said^, 
unto  the  Apostles  who  were  in  Antioch,  Sepa- 
rate me  noiv  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the  work 
7vhereunto  I  have  called  them.  Beholdest  thou 
the  Spirit  living,  separating,  calling,  and  with 
authority  sending  forth  ?  Paul  also  said,  Save 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in  every  city, 
saying  that  bonds  and  ajjlictions  await  me^. 
For  this  good  Sanctifier  of  the  Church,  and 
her  Helper,  and  Teacher,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Comforter,  of  whom  the  Saviour  said,  He  shall 


7  See  Cat.  x.  ii  ;  xi.  i.  8  Ps.  cxlvi.  4.  9  Zech.  xii.  i. 

»  Ps.  civ.  4.  2  Ps.  xlviii.  7.  3  Is.  vii.  2. 

4  Ps.  cxlviii.  8.  5  John  VI.  63.  *  Acts  % iii.  29. 

7  Ezek.  xi.  5.  «  Acts  xiii.  2.  9  lb.  xx.  23. 


LECTURE   XVI. 


119 


teach  you  all  thins^s  (and  He  said  not  only,  He 
shall  teach,  but  also,  He  shall  bring  to  your  re- 
membrance whatever  I  have  said  unto  you  '  / 
for  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  are  not  different,  but  the  same) — He,  1 
say,  testified  before  to  Paul  what  things  should 
befall  him,  that  he  might  be  the  more  stout- 
hearted, from  knowing  them  beforehand. 
Now  I  have  spoken  these  things  unto  you 
because  of  the  text,  The  words  which  I 
have  spoken  unto  you,  they  are  spirit ;  that 
thou  mayest  understand  this,  not  of  the  utter- 
ance of  the  lips  ^,  but  of  the  good  doctrine  in 
this  passage. 

15.  But  sin  also  is  called  spirit,  as  I  have 
already  said;  only  in  another  and  opposite 
sense,  as  when  it  is  said,  The  spirit  of  whore- 
dom caused  them  to  err^.  The  name  "spirit" 
is  given  also  to  the  unclean  spirit,  the  devil ; 
but  with  the  addition  of,  "the  unclean;" 
for  to  each  is  joined  its  distinguishing  name, 
to  mark  its  proper  nature.  If  the  Scrip- 
ture speak  of  the  soul  of  man,  it  says  the 
spirit  with  the  addition,  of  the  man;  if  it 
mean  the  wind,  it  says,  spirit  of  storm  ; 
if  sin,  it  says,  spirit  of  whoredom ;  if  the 
devil,  it  says,  an  unclean  spirit:  that  we 
may  know  which  particular  thing  is  spoken 
of,  and  thou  mayest  not  suppose  that  it  means 
the  Holy  Ghost  ;  God  forbid  !  For  this  name 
of  spirit  is  common  to  many  things ;  and 
every  thing  which  has  not  a  solid  body  is 
in  a  general  way  called  spirit"*.  Since,  there- 
fore, the  devils  have  not  such  bodies,  they 
are  called  spirits :  but  there  is  a  great  dif- 
ference ;  for  the  unclean  devil,  when  he  comes 
upon  a  man's  soul  (may  the  Lord  deliver  from 
him  every  soul  of  those  who  hear  me,  and 
of  those  who  are  not  present),  he  comes 
like  a  wolf  upon  a  sheep,  ravening  for  blood, 
and  ready  to  devour.  His  commg  is  most 
fierce ;  the  sense  of  it  most  oppressive ;  the 
mind  becomes  darkened  ;  his  attack  is  an  in- 
justice also,  and  so  is  his  usurpation  of  an- 
other's possession.  For  he  makes  forcible  use 
of  another's  body,  and  another's  instruments,  as 
if  they  were  his  own  ;  he  throws  down  him  who 
stands  upright  (for  he  is  akin  to  him  who 
fell  from  heaven  5) ;  he  twists  the  tongue  and 
distorts  the  lips ;  foam  comes  instead  of 
words ;  the  man  is  filled  with  darkness  ;  his 
eye  is  open,  yet  the  soul  sees  not  through  it ; 
and  the  miserable  man  gasps  convulsively 
at  the  point  of  death.     The  devils  are  verily 


1  John  xiv.  26. 

2  lb.  vi.  63.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  more  than  words  pronounced 
by  the  tongue,  even  than  our  Lord's  own  words,  which  he  called 
spirit.  3  llosea  iv.  12. 

4  Origen,  de  Principiis,  i.  §  2  :  "It  is  the  custom  of  Holy 
Scripture,  when  it  would  designate  anything  contrary  to  this 
more  dense  and  solid  body,  to  call  it  spirit."  5  Luke  x.  18. 


foes  of  men,    using   them   foully  and   merci- 
lessly. 

16.  Such  is  not  the  Holy  Ghost;  God  for- 
bid !  For  His  doings  tend  the  contrary  way, 
towards  what  is  good  and  salutary.  First,  His 
coming  is  gentle ;  the  perception  of  Him  is 
fragrant;  His  burden  most  light;  beams  of 
light  and  knowledge  gleam  forth  before  His 
coming  ^  He  comes  with  the  bowels  of  a  true 
guardian  ;  for  He  comes  to  save,  and  to  heal, 
to  teach,  to  admonish,  to  strengthen,  to  exhort, 
to  enlighten  the  mint],  first  of  him  who  receives 
Him,  and  afterwards  of  others  also,  through 
him.  And  as  a  man,  who  being  previously  in 
darkness  then  suddenly  beholds  the  sun,  is 
enlightened  in  his  bodily  sight,  and  sees  plainly 
things  which  he  saw  not,  so  likewise  he  to  whom 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  vouchsafed,  is  enhghtened 
in  his  soul,  and  sees  things  beyond  man's  sight, 
which  he  knew  not ;  his  body  is  on  earth,  yet 
his  soul  mirrors  forth  the  heavens.  He  sees, 
like  Esaias,  the  Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne  high 
and  lifted  upT ;  he  sees,  like  Ezekiel,  Hitn  who 
is  above  the  Cherubim  ^ ;  he  sees  like  Daniel,  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of 
thousands') ;  and  the  man,  who  is  so  little,  be- 
holds the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  knows 
the  end  of  the  world,  and  the  times  intervening, 
and  the  successions  of  king>;,  — things  which  he 
never  learned  :  for  the  True  Enlightener  is 
present  with  him.  The  man  is  within  the  walls 
of  a  house  ;  yet  the  power  of  his  knowledge 
reaches  far  and  wide,  and  he  sees  even  what 
other  men  are  doing. 

17.  Peter  was  not  with  Ananias  and  Sapphira 
when  they  sold  their  possessions,  but  he  was 
present  by  the  Spirit;  Why,  he  says,  hath 
Satan  filled  thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost  ^  1 
There  was  no  accuser  ;  there  was  no  witness  ; 
whence  knew  he  what  had  happened?  Whiles 
it  remained  was  it  not  thine  own  1  and  after  it 
7vas  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine  own  power  1  why 
hast  thou  conceived  this  thing  in  thine  heart  ^  ? 
The  unlettered^  Peter,  through  the  grace  of  the 
Spirit,  learnt  whai  not  even  the  wise  men  of 
the  Greeks  had  known.  Thou  hast  the  like 
in  the  case  also  of  Elisseus.  For  when  he 
had  freely  healed  the  leprosy  of  Naaman, 
Gehazi  received  the  reward,  the  reward  of 
another's  achievement ;  and  he  took  the  money 
from  Naaman,  and  bestowed  it  in  a  dark  place. 
But  the  darkness  is  not  hidden  from  the  Saints  '>. 
And  when  he  came,  Elisseus  asked  him  ;  and 
like   Peter,  when  he  said,  Tell  tne  whether  ye 


6  In  this  contrast  between  the  evil  spirit  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
Cyril's  language  rises  to  true  eloquence,  lar  surpassing  a  somewhat 
similar  description,  which  may  have  been  known  to  him,  in 
Euseb.  Z>£W.  iiVaw^.  v.  132. 

7  Is.  vi.  I.  ^  Ezek.  x.  x.  9  Dan.  vu.  lo. 
I  Acts  V.  3.  2lb.  z/.  4.  3  lb.  iv.  13. 
4  Ps.  cxxxix.  12. 


120 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


sold  the  land  for  so  tmich^?  he  also  enquires, 
Whence  comest  thou,  Gehazi^?  Not  in  ignorance, 
but  in  sorrow  ask  I  whence  contest  thou  ?  From 
darkness  art  thou  come,  and  to  darkness  shalt 
thou  go  ;  thou  hast  sold  the  cure  of  the  leper, 
and  the  leprosy  is  thy  heritage.  I,  he  says, 
have  fulfilled  the  bidding  of  Him  who  said 
to  me,  Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give  7 ; 
but  thou  hast  sold  this  grace  ;  receive  now 
the  condition  of  the  sale.  But  what  says 
Elisseus  to  him  ?  Went  not  mine  hea7-t  with 
thee  ?  I  was  here  shut  in  by  the  body,  but  the 
spirit  which  has  been  given  me  of  God  saw 
even  the  things  afar  off,  and  shewed  me  plainly 
what  was  doing  elsewhere.  Seest  thou  how 
the  Holy  Ghost  not  only  rids  of  ignorance, 
but  invests  with  knowledge  ?  Seest  thou  how 
He  enlightens  men's  souls  ? 

1 8.  Esaias  lived  nearly  a  thousand  years 
ago  ;  and  he  beheld  Zion  as  a  booth.  The 
city  was  still  standing,  and  beautified  with 
public  places,  and  robed  in  majesty  ;  yet  he 
says,  Zion  shall  be  ploughed  as  afield^,  foretelling 
what  is  now  fulfilled  in  our  days  9.  And  ob- 
serve the  exactness  of  the  prophecy  ;  for 
he  said.  And  the  daughter  of  Zion  shall  be  left 
as  a  booth  in  a  vineyard,  as  a  lodge  in  a  gardeti 
of  encumbers  '.  And  now  the  place  is  filled  with 
gardens  of  cucumbers.  Seest  thou  how  the 
Holy  Spirit  enlightens  the  saints?  Be  not 
therefore  carried  away  to  other  things,  by  the 
force  of  a  common  term,  but  keep  fast  the 
exact  meaning. 

19.  And  if  ever,  while  thou  hast  been  sitting 
her^",  a  thought  concerning  chastity  or  vir- 
ginity has  come  into  thy  mind,  it  has  been  His 
teaching.  Has  not  often  a  maiden,  already  at 
the  bridal  threshold  ^,  tied  away,  He  teaching 
her  the  doctrine  of  virginity?  Has  not  often 
a  man  distinguished  at  court  s,  scorned  wealth 
and  rank,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost? 
Has  not  often  a  young  man,  at  the  sight  of 
beauty,  closed  his  eyes,  and  fled  from  the  sight, 


S  Acts  V.  8.  *  2  Kings  v.  25. 

7  Matt.  x.  8.  8  Micahiii.  12  ;  ascribed  by  Cyril  to  Isaiah. 

9  Cf.  Euseb.  Dent.  Ei'ait^.  vi.  13  :  •'  In  our  own  time  we  have 
seen  with  our  eyes  the  Sion  of  old  renown  being  ploughed  by 
Romans  with  yokes  ot  oxen,  and  Jerusalem  in  a  state  of  utter 
desolation,  as  the  oracle  itself  says,  like  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of 
cucumbers.  As  Cyril  at  that  time  saw  tlie  Prophet's  prediction 
fullilled,  so  we  also  to  the  present  day  see  most  plainly  the  fullil- 
inent  of  the  divine  oracle,  and  Sion  ploughed  before  our  eyes  :  for 
except  the  Church  of  the  Apostles,  with  the  houses  lying  around 
it,  and  the  hmis;  of  Caiaphas  f.nd  the  cemeteries,  all  the  remaining 
sp.ace  of  this  hill,  lying  without  the  city,  is  under  plough." 
(, Jerusalem  Editor). 

'  Isa.  i.  8.  anaipoipvKaKiov  is  the  hut  of  the  watchman  who 
guarded  the  crop  when  ripening  for  harvest.  SiKuijAaToi'  is 
explained  by  Basil  in  his  comment  on  the  passage  of  Isaiah  as 
"A  place  that  produces  quick-growing  and  perishable  fruits." 
This  agrees  with  the  etymological  sense  of  the  woril  an  ''a  forcing- 
bed  for  cucumbers"  (Hippocrates  apud  Fritzsche,  ^' Der  Brief  cies 
Jereinia"  v.  70).  On  the  form  o-i/cuijparw,  see  the  notes  on  the 
Epistle  of  Jeremy  in  the  Speaker's  Commentary. 

2  7rao-ro6a?.  On  the  meanirg  of  vrao-Tas  see  the  notes  on 
Herodotus,  II.  148,  169  in  IJahr,  and  Rawlinson.  Here  it  appeirs 
tu  m.-an  the  cloister  cr  colonnade  which  gave  access  to  the  bridal 
chamber,  SaAa/ios.  3  kv  TroAariois 


and  escaped  the  defilement  ?  Askest  thou 
whence  this  has  come  to  pass  ?  The  Holy  Ghost 
taught  the  soul  of  the  young  man.  Many  ways 
of  covetousness  are  there  in  the  world  ;  yet 
Christians  refuse  possessions  :  wherefore  ?  be- 
cause of  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Worthy 
of  honour  is  in  truth  that  Si)int,  holy  and  good  ; 
and  fittingly  are  we  baptized  into  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost.  A  man,  still  clothed  with  a 
body,  wrestles  with  many  fiercest  demons;  and 
often  the  demon,  whom  many  men  could  not 
master  with  iron  bands,  has  been  mastered  by 
the  man  himself  with  words  of  prayer,  through 
the  power  which  is  in  him  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
and  the  mere  breathing  of  the  Exorcist  *  be- 
comes as  fire  to  that  unseen  foe.  A  mighty  ally 
and  protector,  therefore,  have  we  from  God  ;  a 
great  Teacher  of  the  Church,  a  mighty  Cham- 
pion on  our  behalf  Let  us  not  be  afraid  of 
the  demons,  nor  of  the  devil ;  for  mightier  is  He 
who  fighteth  for  us.  Only  let  us  open  to  Him 
our  doors  ;  forHe  goeth  about  seeking  such  as  are 
worthy  s,  and  searching  on  whom  He  may  con- 
fer His  gilts. 

20.  And  He  is  called  the  Comforter,  because 
He  comforts  and  encourages  us,  and  hclpeth 
our  infirmities ;  for  we  know  not  what  ive  should 
pray  for  as  Jce  ought ;  but  the  Spirit  Himself 
maketh  intercession  for  xis,  tvith  groanings  which 
cannot  be  uttered^,  that  is,  makes  intercession 
to  God.  Oftentimes  a  man  for  Christ's  sake 
has  been  outraged  and  dishonoured  un- 
justly ;  martyrdom  is  at  hand  ;  tortures  on 
every  side,  and  fire,  and  sword,  and  savage 
beasts,  and  the  pit.  But  the  Holy  Ghost 
softly  whispers  to  him,  "  Wait  thou  on  the 
LordT,  O  man  ;  what  is  now  befalling  thee  is  a 
small  matter,  the  reward  will  be  great.  Suffer 
a  little  while,  and  thou  shalt  be  with  Angels 
for  ever.  The  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are 
not  wo/-thy  to  be  conipa7-ed  7vith  the  glory  which 
shall  be  revealed  in  us^."  He  portrays  to  the 
man  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  He  gives  him 
a  glimpse  of  the  paradise  of  delight  ;  and  the 
martyrs,  whose  bodily  countenances  are  of 
necessity  turned  to  their  judges,  but  who  in 
spirit  are  already  in  Paradise,  despise  those 
hardships  which  are  seen. 

21.  And  wouldest  thou  be  sure  that  by 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Martyrs 
bear  their  witness?  The  Saviour  says  to 
His  disciples,  And  when  they  bring  you  unto 


4  Compare  Procat.  §  9  ;  Cat.  xx.  3. 

5  Wisuom  vi.  16.  Conipire  the  saying  in  Clem.  Alex.  Quis 
dives  salvetur  ?  g  31  :  aiiroi/  ^jjTtir  tous  «u  rreitroftn'ou?  afi'ous  re 
oi'Tas  To\>  2u>Ti^pos  jiiadijTa!.  'Ihe  Jerusalem  Editor  quotes  trom 
Origen  {Prolog,  in  Cantic.)  a  passage  which  may  have  been 
known  to  Cyril:  '"This  Conifurtir  therefore  goeth  about  seeking 
if  He  may  discover  any  worthy  and  receptive  souls,  to  whom  He 
may  reveal  the  greatness  of  the  love  whicn  is  in  God." 

6  R.im.  viii.  26.  7  Ps.  xxvii.  14  ;  xxxvii.  34. 
S  Rom.  viii.  18. 


LECTURE   XVI. 


121 


the  synagogues,  and  the  magistrates,  and  author- 
ities, be  not  anxious  how  ye  shall  ansiver,  or 
what  ye  shall  say  ;  for  the  Holy  Ghost  shall 
teach  you  iti  that  very  hour,  what  ye  ought  to 
say  9.  For  it  is  impossible  to  testify  as  a  martyr 
for  Christ's  sake,  except  a  man  testify  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  ;  for  if  no  man  can  say  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost '^,  how 
shall  any  man  give  his  own  life  for  Jesus'  sake, 
but  by  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 

22.  Great  indeed,  and  all-powerful  in  gifts, 
and  wonderful,  is  the  Holy  Ghost.  Consider, 
how  many  of  you  are  now  sitting  here,  how 
many  souls  of  us  are  present.  He  is  working 
suitably  for  each,  and  being  present  in  the 
midst,  beholds  the  temper  of  each,  beholds 
also  his  reasoning  and  his  conscience,  and 
what  we  say,  and  think,  and  believed  Great 
indeed  is  what  I  have  now  said,  and  yet  is  it 
small.  For  consider,  I  pray,  with  mind  en- 
lightened by  Him,  how  many  Christians  there 
are  in  all  this  diocese,  and  how  many  in  the 
whole  province  3  of  Palestine,  and  carry  forward 
thy  mind  from  this  province,  to  the  whole 
Roman  Empire  ;  and  after  this,  consider  the 
whole  world;  races  of  Persians,  and  nations 
of  Indians,  Goths  and  Sarmatians,  Gauls  and 
Spaniards,  and  Moors,  Libyans  and  Ethiopians, 
and  the  rest  for  whom  we  have  no  names  ;  for 
of  many  of  the  nations  not  even  the  names 
have  reached  us.  Consider,  I  pray,  of  each  na- 
tion. Bishops,  Presbyters,  Deacons,  Solitaries, 
Virgins,  and  laity  besides ;  and  then  behold  their 
great  Protector,  nnd  the  Dispenser  of  their  gifts  ; 
— how  throughout  the  world  He  gives  to  one 
chastity,  to  another  perpetual  virginity,  to 
another  almsgiving,  to  another  voluntary 
poverty,  to  another  power  of  repelling  hostile 
spirits.  And  as  the  light,  with  one  touch  of 
its  radiance  sheds  brightness  on  all  things,  so 
also  the  Holy  Ghost  enlightens  those  who  have 
eyes  ;  for  if  any  from  blindness  is  not  vouch- 
safed His  grace,  let  him  not  blame  the  Spirit, 
but  his  own  unbelief. 

23.  Thou  hast  seen  His  power,  which  is 
in  all  the  world ;  tarry  now  no  longer 
upon  earth,  but  ascend  on  high.  Ascend,  I 
say,  in  imagination  even  unto  the  first  heaven, 
and  behold  there  so  many  countless  myriads 
of  Angels.  Mount  up  in  thy  thoughts,  if  thou 
canst,  yet  higher ;  consider,  I  pray  thee,  the 
Archangels,  consider  also  the  Spirits;  consider 
the  Virtues,  consider  the  Principalities,  consider 
the    Powers,   consider  the  Thrones,  consider 


9  Luke  xii.  ii,  12. 

'  I  Cur.  xii.  3.     Ma.pTvpr\crai,  "  to  bear  witness  by  death." 
*  Codd.  Monac.  Vind.  Roe.  Casaub.  add  koX  tC  nicmvoixeu, 
3  The  terms  irapoixia.,  the  See  of  a  Bishop,  and  ena.p\ia,  the 
Province  of  a   Metropolitan,  were   both   adopted   trom  the  cor- 
re--ponding  divisions  of  the  Roman  Empire.     See  Bingham,  ^-!«//. 
Book  IX.  i.  S§  2—6. 


the  Dominions  ■♦ ; — of  all  these  the  Comforter  is 
the  Ruler  from  God,  and  the  Teacher,  and  the 
Sanctifier.  Of  Him  Elias  has  need,  and  Elis- 
seus,  and  Esaias,  among  men  ;  of  Him  Michael 
and  Gabriel  have  need  among  Angels.  Nought 
of  things  created  is  equal  in  honour  to  Him  : 
for  the  families  of  the  Angels,  and  all  their 
hosts  assembled  together,  have  no  equality 
with  the  Holy  Ghost.  All  these  the  all-excel- 
lent power  of  the  Comforter  overshadows. 
And  they  indeed  are  sent  forth  to  minister^, 
but  He  searches  even  the  deep  things  of  God, 
according  as  the  Apostle  says.  For  the  Spirit 
searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God. 
For  what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man, 
save  the  spirit  of  the  man  ichich  is  in  him  ?  even 
so  the  things  of  God  kno^ueth  no  man,  but  the 
Spirit  of  God  ^. 

24.  He  preached  concerning  Christ  in  the 
Prophets  ;  He  wrought  in  the  Apostles  ;  He 
to  this  day  seals  the  souls  in  Baptism.  And 
the  Father  indeed  gives  to  the  Son  ;  and  the 
Son  shares  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  it  is 
Jesus  Himself,  not  I,  who  says.  All  things  are 
delivered  unto  Me  of  My  Father  t  ;  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  He  says,  When  He,  the  Spirit  of 
Truth,  shall  come,  and  the  rest  ....  He  shall 

glorify  Ale  ;  for  He  shall  receive  of  Aline,  and 
shall  shew  it  unto you^.  The  Father  through 
the  Son,  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  the  giver  of 
all  grace  ;  the  gifts  of  the  Father  are  none 
other  than  those  of  the  Son,  and  those  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;  for  there  is  one  Salvation,  one 
Power,  one  Faith;  One  God,  the  Father;  One 
Lord,  His  only-begotten  Son  ;  One  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Comforter.  And  it  is  enough  for  us  to 
know  these  things  ;  but  inquire  not  curiously 
into  His  nature  or  substance  9  :  for  had  it  been 
written,  we  would  have  spoken  of  it ;  what  is 
not  written,  let  us  not  venture  on ;  it  is 
sufficient  for  our  salvation  to  know,  that  there 
is  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

25.  This  Spirit  descended  upon  the  seventy 
Elders  in  the  days  of  Moses.  (Now  let  not  the 
length  of  the  discourse,  beloved,  produce  weari- 
ness in  you  :  but  may  He  the  very  subject  of 
our  discourse  grant  strength  to  every  one,  both 
to  us  who  speak,  and  to  you  who  listen  !) 
This  Spirit,  as  I  was  saying,  came  down  upon 
the  seventy  Elders  in  the  tmie  ot  Moses ;  and 
this  I  say  to  thee,  that  I  may  now  prove,  that 
He  knoweth  all  things,  and  worketh  as  Hewill^. 


4  S.  Basil  {De  Spiritu  S.  c.  xvi.  §  38),  after  quoting  the  same 
passage.  Col.  i.  16,  proceeds — eire  KupiorrjTes,  /cat  ei  rii'es  eicrti' 
cVepai  AoyiKat  (^u(rei5  o.K.o.Tov6[i.a.(j-roi.  The  last  word  shews  that 
Basil  had  in  mind  this  passage  of  Cyril,  who  after  the  names  of 
nations  in  §  22,  adds  xai  tous  AoiVovs  aKaxoyoAidorous  r/^ii/. 

5  Heb.  i.  14.  *  I  Cor.  ii.  10,  11.  7  Matt.  xi.  27. 

8  John  xvi.  13,  14. 

9  In  regard  to  the  caution  with  which  St.  Cyril  here  speaks,  we 
must  remember  that  the  heresy  of  Macedonins  had  not  yet  given 
occasion  to  the  formal  discussion  and  determination  of  the  "nature 
and  substance"  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  i  Cor.  xii.  11. 


122 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


The  seventy  Elders  were  chosen  ;  Ar2d  the 
Lord  came  down  in  a  cloud,  and  took  of  ilie 
Spirit  that  icas  upon  Moses,  and  put  it  upon  the 
seventy  Elders'^  ;  not  that  the  Spirit  was  divided, 
but  that  Mis  grace  was  distributed  in  propor- 
tion to  the  vessels,  and  the  capacity  of  the  re- 
cipients. Now  there  were  present  sixty  and 
eight,  and  they  prophesied  ;  but  Eldad  and 
Modad  were  not  present ;  therefore  that  it  might 
be  shewn  that  it  was  not  Moses  who  bestowed 
the  gift,  but  the  Spirit  who  wrought,  Eldad  and 
Modad,  who  though  called,  had  not  as  yet  pre- 
sented themselves,  did  also  prophesy  3. 

26.  Jesus  the  Son  of  Nun,  the  successor  of 
Moses,  was  amazed  ;  and  came  to  him  and  said, 
"  Hast  thou  heard  that  Eldad  and  Modad  are 
|)rophesying  ?  They  were  called,  and  they  came 
not ;  my  lord  Moses,  forbid  them  '♦."  "  I  cannot 
Ibrbid  them,"  he  says,  "for  this  grace  is  frouj 
Heaven ;  nay,  so  far  am  I  from  forbidding 
them,  that  I  myself  am  thankful  for  it.  I  think 
not,  however,  that  thou  hast  said  this  in  envy; 
art  \\\on  jealous  for  my  sake,  because  that  they 
])rophesy,  and  thou  prophesiest  not  yet  ?  Wait 
for  the  proper  season  ;  and  oh  that  all  the  Lords 
people  may  be  prophets,  whenever  the  Lord  shall 
give  His  Spirit  upon  them  s  /  "  saying  this  also 
prophetically,  whenever  the  Lord  shall  give ; 
"  For  as  yet  then  He  has  not  given  it ;  so  thou 
hast  it  not  yet." — Had  not  then  Abraham 
this,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  Joseph?  And 
they  of  old,  had  they  it  not  ?  Nay,  but  the 
words,  "  whenever  the  Lord  shall  give  "  evidently 
mean  "  give  it  upon  all ;  as  yet  indeed  the  grace 
is  partial,  then  it  shall  be  given  lavishly."  And  he 
secretly  alluded  to  what  was  to  happen  among 
us  on  the  day  of  Pentecost;  for  He  Himself  came 
down  among  us.  He  had  however  also  come 
down  upon  many  before.  For  it  is  written,  And 
Jesus  the  son  of  Nun  was  filled  ivith  a  spirit  of 
wisdom;  for  Moses  had  laid  his  hajids  upon  him^. 
Thou  seest  the  figure  everywhere  the  same 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testament ; — in  the  days 
of  Moses,  the  Spirit  was  given  by  laying  on 
of  hands;  and  by  laying  on  of  hands  Peter? 
also  gives  the  Spirit.  And  on  thee  also, 
who  art  about  to  be  baptized,  shall  His  grace' 
come  ;  yet  in  what  manner  I  say  not,  for  1  will 
not  anticipate  the  proper  season. 

27.  He  also  came  down  upon  all  righteous 
men  and  Prophets  ;  Enos,  I  mean,  and  Enoch, 
and  Noah,  and  the  rest;  upon  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob ;  for  as  regards  Joseph,  even  Pharaoh 


2  Num.  xi.  24,  25.  "Modad"  is  the  form  of  t'ne  name  in  the 
LXX. 

3  The  apocryphal  book  of  Eldad  and  Modad  is  mentioned  by 
\ie.xm^^.  Shepherd,  Vis.  ii.  §  3.  S.  Basil,  Liber  de  Sj>ir.  S.  cap. 
61,  referring  to  Num.  xi.26,  says  that  the  Spirit  rested  permanently 
only  upon  EUl.ad  and  Modad.  4  Num.  xi.  28. 

5  Num.  xi.  29.  6  Dent,  xx.xiv.  9. 

7  Acts  viii.  18.  On  this  passage  of  Cyril,  see  the  section  on 
"  Chrism  "  in  the  Introduction. 


perceived  that  he  had  the  Spirit  of  God  within 
him  ^.  As  to  Moses,  and  the  wonderful  works 
wrought  by  the  Spirit  in  his  days,  thou  hast 
heard  often.  This  Spirit  Job  also  had,  that 
most  enduring  man,  and  all  the  saints,  though 
we  repeat  not  all  their  names.  He  also  was 
sent  forth  when  the  Tabernacle  was  in  making, 
and  filled  with  wisdom  the  wise-hearted  men 
who  were  with  Bezaleel  9. 

28.  In  the  might  of  this  Spirit,  as  we  have  it 
in  the  Book  of  Judges,  Othniel  judged'; 
Gideon  ^  waxed  strong;  Jephtha  conquered  3; 
Deborah,  a  woman,  waged  war ;  and  Samson, 
so  long  as  he  did  righteously,  and  grieved 
Him  not,  wrought  deeds  above  man's  power. 
And  as  for  Samuel  and  David,  we  have  it 
plainly  in  the  Books  of  the  Kingdoms, 
how  by  the  Holy  Ghost  they  prophesied 
themselves,  and  were  rulers  of  the  pro- 
phets; — and  Samuel  was  called  the  Seer^ ; 
and  David  says  distinctly,  The  Spirit  of  the  I^ord 
spake  by  me  5,  and  in  the  Psalms,  And  take  7iot 
thy  LLoly  Spirit  from  me^,  and  again.  Thy  good 
Spirit  shall  lead  me  in  the  land  of  right- 
eousnessT.  And  as  we  have  it  in  Chronicles, 
Azariah  ^,  in  the  time  of  King  Asa,  and  Jahaziel? 
in  the  time  of  King  Jehoshaphat,  partook  of  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  again,  another  Azariah,  he 
who  was  stoned  '.  And  Ezra  says.  Thou  gavest 
also  Thy  good  Spirit  to  instruct  them  ^.  But  as 
touching  Elias  who  was  taken  up,  and  Elisseu-s, 
those  inspired  3  and  wonder-working  men,  it 
is  manifest,  without  our  saying  so,  that  they 
were  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

29.  And  if  further  a  man  peruse  all  the 
books  of  the  Prophets,  both  of  the  Twelve, 
and  of  the  others,  he  will  find  many  tes- 
timonies concerning  the  Holy  Ghost ;  as 
when  Micah  says  in  the  person  of  God, 
surely  L  will  peifcct  power  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord^ ;  and  Joel  cries.  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  afterzvards,  saith  God,  that  L  7vill 
pour  out  My  Spirit  upon  allfiesh^,  and  the  rest ; 
and  Haggai,  Because  L  am  ivith  you,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  ^  ;  and  Afy  Spirit  ixmaineth  in  the 
midst  of  you  7/  and  in  like  manner  Zechariah, 
But  receive  Afy  words  and  My  statutes  which  / 
cofnmand  by  My  Spirit,  to  My  servants  the  Pro- 
phets^;  and  other  passages. 

30.  Esaias  too,  with  his  majestic  voice, 
says,  And  the  Spirit  of  God  shall  rest  upon  Him, 


9  Ex.  xxxi. 
»  lb.  vi.  34. 
S  2  Sam.  xxiii.  2. 
8  2  Chron.  xv.  i. 


1—6 ;  xxxvi.  I. 
3  lb.  xi.  29. 
6  Ps.  li.  II. 
9  lb.  XX.  14. 


8  Gen.  xli.  38. 
»  J\idges  iii.  10. 
4  I  Sam.  ix.  9. 
7  Ps.  cxliii.  10. 
'  II).  -xxiv.  20,  21. 

2  Nfh.  ix.  20.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  form  one  book  "  Ezra"  in 
t*>e  Hebrew  Canon. 

3  TTi/Eu/naTo^opux/,  used  only  twice  in  the  Sept.  (Hosea  ix.  7  ; 
Zcph.  iii.  4),  and  in  an  unf  ivourable  sense.  With  Cyril's  use  of  it 
compare  Theophikis,  Ad  Autoiyc.  ii.  9:  @eov  uvOpiuirovs  nvev 
fj.aTO<tiopovs  llvevixaro^  ayiov. 

4  Mic.  iii.  8.  5  Joel  ii.  28.  '  Haggai  ii.  4. 
7  lb.  V  5.                            8  Zech.  i.  6. 


LECTURE   XVI. 


T2q 


the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understafiding,  the  spirit 
of  cojinsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and 
godliness  ;  and  the  Spirit  of  the  fear  of  God  shall 
fill  Him  "i ;  signifying  that  the  Spirit  is  one  and 
undivided,    but    His    operations   various.     So 

again,  Jacob   My   servant, I  have 

put  My  Spirit  itpon  Him  '.  And  again,  1 7vill 
pour  My  Spirit  upon  thy  seed'^ ;  and  again,  And 
no7v  the  Lord  Almighty  and  His  Spirit  hath  sent 
Me'i  ;  and  again.  This  is  My  covenant  with  them, 
saith  the  Lord,  My  Spirit  which  is  upofi  thee  ^  ; 
and  again.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me, 
because  He  hath  anointed Me^,  and  the  rest;  and 
again  in  his  charge  against  the  Jews,  But  they 
rebelled  and  vexed  His  Holy  Spirit  ^,  and.  Where 
is  He  that  put  His  Holy  Spirit  7vithin  them  7  .? 
Also  thou  hast  in  Ezekiel  (if  thou  be  not  now 
wearyof  hstening),  what  has  already  been  quoted, 
And  the  Spirit  fell  upon  me,  and  said  unto  me. 
Speak  ;  Thus  saith  the  Lord^.  But  the  words, 
fell  upon  file  we  must  understand  in  a  good  sense, 
that  is  "lovingly  ;"  and  as  Jacob,  when  he  had 
found  Joseph,  fell  upon  his  neck  ;  as  also  in  the 
Gospels,  the  loving  father,  on  seeing  his  son 
who  had  returned  from  his  wandering,  had  com- 
passion, and  ran  and  fell  on  his  7ieck,  and  kissed 
him  9.  And  again  in  Ezekiel,  And  he  brought 
me  in  a  vision  by  the  Spirit  of  God  into  Chaldcea, 
to  them  of  the  captivity  ^  And  other  texts  thou 
heardest  before,  in  what  was  said  about  Bap- 
tism ;  Then  will  I  sprinkle  clean  ivater  upon 
you  ^,  and  the  rest ;  a  neiv  heart  also  will  L give 
you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  you  3  ; 
and  then  immediately,  And  I  will  put  Afy  Spirit 
within  you  ^.  And  again,  The  hand  of  the  Lord 
was  upon  me,  and  carried  me  out  in  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  5. 

31.  He  endued  with  wisdom  the  soul  of 
Daniel,  that  young  as  he  was  he  should  become 
a  judge  of  Elders.     The  chaste  Susanna  was 


9  Is.  xi.  2.  •  lb.  xliv.  I  ;  xlii.  i. 

3  lb.  xlviii.  16.  4  Is.  lix.  21. 

6  lb.  Ixiii.  10.  7  V.  ii. 

9  Gen.  xlvi.  29  ;  Luke  xv.  20. 

2  lb.  xxxvi.  25  ;  Cat.  iii.  16. 


4  \h.  V.  27. 


S  Ezek.  xxxvii.  x. 


2  lb.  xliv.  3. 
5  Is.  Ixi.  I. 
8  Ezek.  xi.  5. 
'  Ezek.  xi.  24. 
3  lb.  i^.  26. 


condemned  as  a  wanton  ;  there  was  none  to 
plead  her  cause ;  for  who  was  to  deliver  her 
from  the  rulers  ?  She  was  led  away  to  death, 
she  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  executioners. 
But  her  Helper  was  at  hand,  the  Comforter, 
the  Spirit  who  sanctifies  every  rational  nature. 
Come  hither  to  me.  He  says  to  Daniel ;  young 
though  thou  be,  convict  old  men  infected 
with  the  sins  of  youth  ;  for  it  is  written,  God 
raised  up  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  a  young  stripling  ^; 
and  nevertheless,  (to  pass  on  quickly,)  by  the 
sentence  of  Daniel  that  chaste  lady  was  saved. 
We  bring  this  forward  as  a  testimony ;  for  this 
is  not  the  season  for  expounding.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar also  knew  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  in 
Daniel ;  for  he  says  to  him,  O  Belteshazzar, 
master  of  the  niagicians,  of  whom  L  know,  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God  is  in  thee^.  One  thing  he 
said  truly,  and  one  falsely  ;  for  that  he  had  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  true,  but  he  was  not  the  master 
of  the  magicians,  for  he  was  no  magician,  but 
was  wise  through  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  before 
this  also,  he  interpreted  to  him  the  vision  of  the 
Image,  which  he  who  had  seen  it  himself  knew 
not;  for  he  says.  Tell  me  the  vision,  which  I 
who  saw  it  know  not  ^.  Thou  seest  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  which  they  who  saw 
it,  know  not,  they  who  saw  it  not,  know  and  in- 
terpret. 

32.  And  indeed  it  were  easy  to  collect  very 
many  texts  out  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  to 
discourse  more  largely  concerning  the  Holy 
Ghost.  But  the  time  is  short ;  and  we  must  be 
careful  of  the  proper  length  of  the  lecture. 
Wherefore,  being  for  the  present  content  awhile 
with  passages  from  the  Old  Testament,  we  will,  if 
it  be  God's  pleasure,  proceed  in  the  next  Lec- 
ture to  the  remaining  texts  out  of  the  New 
Testament.  And  may  the  God  ot  peace, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  through 
the  love  of  the  Spirit,  count  all  of  you  worthy 
of  His  spiritual  and  heavenly  gifts  : — To  whom 
be  glory  and  power  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


^  Susanna,  v.  45. 


7  Dan.  iv.  g 


8  lb.  ii.  26,  31. 


LECTURE   XVII. 


Continuation  of  the  Discourse  on  the  Holy  Ghost. 

I  Corinthians  xii.  8. 
For  to  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wisdom,  &•<:. 


1.  In  the  preceding  Lecture,  according  to 
our  ability  we  set  before  you,  our  beloved 
hearers  ',  some  small  portion  of  the  testimonies 
concerning  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  on  the 
present  occasion,  we  will,  if  it  be  God's  plea- 
sure, proceed  to  treat,  as  far  as  may  be,  of 
those  which  remain  out  of  the  New  Testament: 
and  as  then  to  keep  within  due  limit  of  your 
attention  we  restrained  our  eagerness  (for 
there  is  no  satiety  in  discoursing  concerning 
the  Holy  Ghost),  so  now  again  we  must  say 
but  a  small  part  of  what  remains.  For  now, 
as  well  as  then,  we  candidly  own  that  our  weak- 
ness is  overwhelmed  by  the  multitude  of  things 
written.  Neither  to-day  will  we  use  the  subtle- 
ties of  men,  for  that  is  unprofitable  ;  but  merely 
call  to  mind  what  comes  from  the  divine  Scrip- 
tures ;  for  this  is  the  safest  course,  according 
to  the  blessed  Apostle  Paul,  who  says.  Which 
things  also  7ve  speak,  not  in  words  which  nian^s 
wisdom  teacheth,  but  7C'hich  the  Holy  Ghost 
teacheth,  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiri- 
tual^. Thus  we  act  like  travellers  or  voyagers, 
who  having  one  goal  to  a  very  long  journey, 
though  hastening  on  with  eagerness,  yet  by 
reason  of  human  weakness  are  wont  to  touch 
in  their  way  at  divers  cities  or  harbours. 

2.  Therefore  though  our  discourses  con- 
cerning the  Holy  Ghost  are  divided,  yet  He 
Himself  is  undivided,  being  one  and  the  same. 
For  as  in  speaking  concerning  the  Father,  at 
one  time  we  taught  how  He  is  the  one 
only  Cause  3 ;  and  at  another,  how  He  is 
called  Father  ■*,  or  Almighty  ^j  and  at  an- 
other, how  He  is  the  Creator  ''  of  the  uni\  erse  ; 
and  yet  the  division  of  the  Lectures  made  no 
division  of  the  Faith,  in  that  He,  the  Object 
of    devotion,    both    was    and    is    One ;— and 

'  Tais  Trjs  v(U.eTe'pa9  a-yainjs  aKoais.  Compare  §  30,  below  : 
<rvyyi>fk-(\v  airoi  napa.  riji  inerepas  ayaTrr;?.  Igiiat.  Philadclph. 
c.  IV.  (Long  recension):  Bappuiv  ypd<j>in  Tfj  aJioSe'w  ayaTrfl  v/xotv. 
"  Caritas  "  is  constantly  used  in  the  same  manner. 

2  1  Cor.  ii.  13.  3  Cat.  vi.  4  lb.  vii.  5  lb.  viii. 

6  lb.  ix. 


again,  as  in  discoursing  concerning  the  Only- 
begotten  Son  of  God  we  taught  at  one  time 
concerning  His  Godhead  7,  and  at  another  con- 
cerning His  Manhood^,  dividing  into  many  dis- 
courses the  doctrines  concerning  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  yet  preaching  undivided  faith 
towards  Him; — so  now  also  though  the  Lec- 
tures concerning  the  Holy  Spirit  are  divided, 
yet  we  preach  faith  undivided  towards  Him. 
For  it  is  one  and  the  Self-same  Spirit  who 
divides  His  gifts  to  ez'eiy  man  severally  as  He 
will9,  Himself  the  while  remaining  undivided. 
For  the  Comforter  is  not  different  from  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  one  and  the  self-same,  called 
by  various  names ;  who  lives  and  subsists,  and 
speaks,  and  works  ;  and  of  all  rational  natures 
made  by  God  through  Christ,  both  of  Angels 
and  of  men,  He  is  the  Sanctitier '. 

3.  But  lest  any  from  lack  of  learning,  should 
suppose  from  the  different  titles  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  these  are  divers  spirits,  and  not  one 
and  the  self-same,  which  alone  there  is,  there- 
fore the  Catholic  Church  guarding  thee  before- 
hand hath  delivered  to  thee  in  the  profession  of 
the  faith,  that  thou  "believe  in  one  Holy 
Ghost  the  Comforter,  who  spake  by  the 
Prophets;"  that  thou  mightest  know,  that 
though  His  names  be  many,  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
but  one  ; — of  which  names,  we  will  now  re- 
hearse to  you  a  few  out  of  many. 

4.  He  is  called  the  Spirit,  according  to  the 
Scripture  just  now  read,  For  to  one  is  given  by 
the  Spirit  the  ivord  of  7visdom  ^.  He  is  called 
the  Spirit  of  Truth,  as  the  Saviour  says,  When 
He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  come  3.  He  is  called 
also  the  Comforter,  as  He  said,  For  if  I  go  not 
azvay,  the  Comforter  tvill  tiot  come  unto  you  4. 


7  Cat.  X.  xi.  8  lb.  xii.  xv.  9  i  Cor.  xii.  ii. 

'  Compare  Basil,  de  Sj>.  Sancto,  c.  38  :  "  By  the  F.aher's  will 
the  ministering  spirits  subsist,  and  by  the  operation  of  the  Son 
they  are  brought  into  existence,  and  by  the  presence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  arc  perfected  :  and  the  perfection  of  Angels  is  sanctification 
and  continuance  therein." 

2  I  Cor.  xii.  8.  3  John  xvi.  13.  ■*  lb   tk  7. 


LECTURE   XVII. 


12  = 


But  that  He  is  one  and  the  same,  though  called 
by  different  titles,  is  shewn  plainly  from  the 
following.  For  that  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
Comforter  are  the  same,  is  declared  in  those 
words.  But  the  Comforter,  7v/iich  is  the  Holy 
Ghost  ^ ;  and  that  the  Comforter  is  the  same  as 
the  Spirit  of  Truth,  is  declared,  when  it  is  said, 
And  1 7V  ill  give  you  another  Comforter,  that  He 
may  abide  with  you  for  ever,  even  the  Spirit  of 
Truth  ^  ;  and  again,  But  xvhen  the  Comforter  is 
come  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  leather, 
even  the  Spirit  of  Truth  t.  And  He  is  called 
the  Spirit  of  God,  according  as  it  is  written, 
And  I  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending  ^  ;  and 
again,  For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  they  are  the  soJis  of  God 9.  He  is  called 
also  the  Spirit  of  the  Father,  as  the  Saviour 
says,  Tor  it  is  not  ye  ^hat  speak,  but  the  Spirit 
of  your  Father  which  speaketh  in  you  ^ ;  and 
again  Paul  saith,  For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees 
unto  the  Father,  and  the  rest ;  .  .  .  that  He 
would  grant  you  to  be  strengthened  by  His 
Spirif^.  He  is  also  called  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord, 
according  to  that  which  Peter  spake.  Why  is 
it  that  ye  have  agreed  together  to  tempt  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  ^1  He  is  called  also  the  Spirit  of 
God  and  Christ,  as  Paul  writes,  But  ye  are  not 
in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  Spirit,  if  so  be  thai  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you.  But  if  any  man 
have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His  ♦. 
He  is  called  also  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God, 
as  it  is  said,  And  because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath 
sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  His  Son  5.  He  is  called 
also  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  as  it  is  written. 
Searching  ivliat  or  what  manner  of  time  the 
Spirit  of  Christ  which  ivas  in  them  did  signify^  ; 
and  again.  Through  your  prayer,  and  the  supply 
of  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  t  . 

5.  Thou  wilt  find  many  other  titles  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  besides.  Thus  He  is  called  the 
Spirit  of  Holiness,  as  it  is  written,  Accoj-ding 
to  the  Spirit  of  Holiness  ^.  He  is  also  called  the 
Spirit  of  adoption,  as  Paul  saith,  For  ye  received 
not  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  unto  fear,  but  ye 
received  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  tvhereby  ive  cry, 
Abba,  Father^.  He  is  also  called  the  Spirit  of 
revelation,  as  it  is  A\Titten,  May  give  you  the 
Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  ifi  the  knoiv- 
ledge  of  Him  '.  He  is  also  called  the  Spirit  of 
promise,  as  the  same  Paul  says.  In  xvhom  ye 
also  after  that  ye  believed,  wej'e  sealed  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  promise  -.  He  is  also  called  the 
Spirit  of  grace,  as  when  he  says  again.  And 
hath  done  despite  to  the  Spirit  of  grace  3.  And 
by  many  other  such-like  titles  is  He  named. 


S  John  xiv.  26. 

8  John  i.  32. 

*  Eph.  iii.  14 — 16. 

5  Cal.  iv.  6. 

8  Rom.  i.  4. 

^  lb.  T'.  13. 


*  lb.  w.  i6,  17. 
9  Rom.  viii.  14. 
3  Acts  V.  9. 
6  I  Pet.  i.  II. 
9  lb.  viii.  15. 
3  Heb.x.  29. 


7  lb.  XV.  26. 

»  Matt.  X.  20. 

4  Rom.  viii.  9. 

7  Phil.  i.  19. 

'  Eph.  i.  17. 


j  And   thou  heardest   plainly  in  the  foregoing 

I  Lecture,  that  in  the  Psalms  He  is  called  at  one 
time  \.\\Qgood Spi7it^,  and  at  another  the  princely 

j  Spirit^  ;  and  in  Esaias  He  was  styled  the  Spirit 
of  wisdom  and  tinderstanding,  of  counsel,  and 
might,  of  kfiowledge,  and  of  godliness,  and  of  the 

fear  of  God^.  By  all  which  Scriptures  both 
those  before  and  those  now  alleged,  it  is  estab- 
lished, that  though  the  titles  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
be  different.  He  is  one  and  the  same  ;  living 
and  subsisting,  and  always  present  togedier 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son  7 ;  not  uttered  or 
breathed  from  the  mouth  and  lips  of  the  Father 
or  the  Son,  nor  dispersed  into  the  air,  but 
having  a  real  substance  ^,  Himself  speaking,  and 
working,  and  dispensing,  and  sanctifying;  even 
as  the  Economy  of  salvation  which  is  to  usward 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  is  inseparable  and  harmonious  and  one, 
as  we  have  also  said  before.  For  I  wish  you 
to  keep  in  mind  those  things  wliich  were  lately 
spoken,  and  to  know  clearly  that  there  is  not 
one  Spirit  in  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and 
another  in  the  Gospels  and  Apostles  ;  but  that 
it  is  One  and  the  Self-same  Holy  Spirit,  which 
both  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New  Testament, 
spake  the  divine  Scriptures  9. 

6.  This  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  came  upon 
the  Holy  Virgin  Mary ;  for  since  He  who  was 
conceived  was  Christ  the  Only-begotten,  the 
poiver  of  the  Highest  overshado^ved  her,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  her'^,  and  sanctified 
her,  that  she  might  be  able  to  receive  Him,  by 
whom  all  things  were  made'^.  But  I  have  no 
need  of  many  words  to  teach  thee  that  that 
generation  was  without  defilement  or  taint,  for 
thou  hast  learned  it.  It  is  Gabriel  who  says 
to  her,  I  am  tlie  herald  of  what  shall  be  done, 
but  have  no  part  in  the  work.  Though  an  Arch- 
angel, I  know  my  place  ;  and  though  I  joyfully 
bid  thee  All  hail,  yet  how  thou  shalt  bring  forth, 
is  not  of  any  grace  of  mine.  The  Holy  Ghost 
shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadoiv  thee ;  therefore  also 
that  Holy  Thing  zvhich  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall 
be  called  the  Son  of  God  3. 

7.  This  Holy  Spirit  wrought  in  Elisabeth  ; 
for  He  recognises  not  virgins  only,  but  matrons 
also,  so  that  their  marriage  be  lawful.     And 


4  Cat-  xvi.  28  ;  Ps.  cxHii.  lo. 

5  r^yeftovLKw,  Sept.  Ps.  li.  12:   R.V.   Uphold  me  with-  a  free 
spirit.  "  ^  Is.  xi.  2. 

7  Orig;en,  in  the  Catena  on  St.  John  iii.  8  :  "This  also  shews 
that  the  Spirit  is  a  Being  (pvaicLv) :  for  He  is  not,  as  some  suppose 
an  energy  of  God,  having  according  to  them  no  individuality 
of  subsistence.  And  the  Apostle  aUo,  after  enumerating  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit,  immediately  added,  Bjtt  all  these  ivorkeih  the  one 
and  the  siime  S/^i/it,  dividing-  to  each  one  severally  as  He  ivill. 
Now  if  He  willeth  and  worketh  and  divideth.  He  is  surely  an 
energizing  Being,  but  not  an  energy"  (Suicer,  TJiesaur:rs, 
Ilreuna). 

8  kvvTT6<TTaTov.     Cf.  Cat.  xi.  10;  xvi.  13,  note  5. 

9  Cat.  iv.  16  ;  xvi.  4.  '  Luke  i.  35.  ^  John  i.  3. 
3  Luke  i.  35. 


126 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


Elisabeth  7vas  filled  7V it h  the  Holy  Ghost  ^,  and 
prophesied  ;  and  that  noble  hand-maiden  says 
of  her  own  Lord,  And  whence  is  this  to  me,  that 
the  Mother  of  my  Lord  should  come  to  me  s  ?  For 
Elisabeth  counted  herself  blessed.  Filled  with 
this  Holy  Spirit,  Zacharias  also,  the  father  of 
John, prophesied^,  telling  how  manygood  things 
the  Only-begotten  should  procure,  and  that 
John  should  be  His  harbinger?  through  baptism. 
By  this  Holy  Ghost  also  it  was  revealed  to  just 
Symeon,  that  he  shojili  not  see  death,  till  he  had 
seen  the  Lord's  Christ^ ;  and  he  received  Him 
in  his  arms,  and  bore  clear  testimony  in  the 
Temple  concerning  Him. 

8.  And  John  also,  who  had  been  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  his  mother's  womb  9,  was 
for  this  cause  sanctified,  that  he  might  baptize 
the  Lord  ;  not  giving  the  Spirit  himself,  but 
preaching  glad  tidings  of  Him  who  gives  the 
Spirit.  For  he  says,  L  indeed  baptize  you  ivith 
water  unto  repentance,  but  LLe  that  cometh  after 
me,  and  the  rest ;  LLe  shall  baptize  you  nith  the 
LLoly  Ghost  and  with  fire'^ .  But  wherefore  with 
fire?  Because  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  in  fiery  tongues  ;  concerning  which  the 
Lord  says  joyfully,  L  am  come  to  send  fire  on  the 
earth  ;  and  what  will  L,  if  it  be  already  kindled'^  1 

9.  This  Holy  Ghost  came  down  when  the 
Lord  was  baptized,  that  the  dignity  of  Him 
who  was  baptized  might  not  be  hidden  ;  as 
John  says,  But  LLe  which  sent  me  to  baptize  with 
7t'ater,  the  same  said  unto  me,  Upon  zvhomsoever 
thou  slialt  see  the  Spirit  descending  and  remain- 
ing tipofi  LLim,  the  same  is  LLe  which  baptizeth 
with  the  LLoly  Ghosts.  But  see  what  saith  the 
Gospel ;  the  heavens  7vere  opened ;  they  were 
opened  because  of  the  dignity  of  Him  who 
descended  ;  for,  lo,  he  says,  the  heavens  were 
opened,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending 
as  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  Liim  4  .•  that 
is,  with  voluntary  motion  in  His  descent. 
For  it  was  fit,  as  some  have  interpreted, 
that  the  primacy  and  first-fruits  s  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  promised  to  the  baptized  should 
be  conferred  upon  the  manliood  of  the 
Saviour,  who  is  the  giver  of  such  grace.  But 
perhaps  He  came  down  in  tlie  form  of  a  dove, 
as  some  say,  to  exhibit  a  figure  of  that  dove 
who  is  pure  and  innocent  and  undefiled,  and 
also  helps  the  prayers  for  the  children  she  has 
begotten,  and  for  forgiveness  of  sins  ^  ;  even  as 

4  Liilce  i.  41.  S  lb.  V.  i3.  *  lb.  v.  67.        7  lb.  p.  76. 
8  Luke  ii.  26 — 35.             9  Cat.  iii.  6.  '  Matt.  iii.  11. 

»  Luke  xii.  49.  3  John  i.  37.  4  Matt.  iii.  16. 

5  Ta?  (irrapxoi!  KaX  ra  n-pcoTeia.  The  order  is  inverted  in  the 
translation.  Cf.  Hernias,  Sim,  viii.  7  ix.ovT(%  ^r\k6v  Tiva  iv 
aWrjKrii.^  Trept  irpwTtttur. 

6  The  Ijeiie  lictine  Editor  adds  the  two  ast  words  tvttov  irapo- 
5r\\ovv  from  MSS.  Roe.Casaub.  as  neci-ssary  to  the  construct  inn, 
and  adds  the  following  note.  "  The  text  thus  emended  is  capab'e 
of  two  senses.  The  first,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  came  down  in  tie 
form  of  a  dove,  a  pure  and  harmless  bird,  to  shew  that  He  is 
Himself  as  it  were  a  mystic  dove  in  His  simplicity  and  love  of 
children,  for  whose  new  birth  and  remission  of  sins  at  Baptism  He 


it  was  emblematically  foretold  that  Christ 
should  be  thus  manifested  in  the  appearance 
of  His  eyes  ;  for  in  the  Canticles  she  cries 
concerning  the  Bridegroom,  and  says.  Thine 
eyes  are  as  dores  by  the  rivers  of  water  t. 

10.  Of  this  dove,  the  dove  of  Noe,  according 
to  some,  was  in  part  a  figure^.  For  as  in  his 
time  by  means  of  wood  and  of  water  there 
came  salvation  to  themselves,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  generation,  and  the  dove  returned 
to  him  towards  evening  with  an  olive  branch  ; 
thus,  say  they,  the  Holy  Ghost  also  descended 
upon  the  true  Noe,  the  Author  of  the  second 
birth,  who  draws  together  into  one  the  wills  of 
all  nations,  of  whom  the  various  dispositions 
of  the  animals  in  the  ark  were  a  figure  : — Him 
at  whose  coming  the  spiritual  wolves  feed  with 
the  lambs,  in  whose  Church  the  calf,  and  the 
lion,  and  the  ox,  feed  in  the  same  pasture,  as 
we  behold  to  this  day  the  rulers  of  the  world 
guided  and  taught  by  Churchmen.  The  spiri- 
tual dove  therefore,  as  some  interpret,  came 
down  at  the  season  of  His  baptism,  that 
He  might  shew  that  it  is  He  who  by  the 
wood  of  the  Cross  saves  them  who  believe. 
He  who  at  eventide  should  grant  salvation 
through  His  death. 

IT.  And  these  things  perhaps  should  be 
otherwise  explained  ;  but  now  again  we  must 
hear  the  words  of  the  Saviour  Himself  con- 
cerning the  Holy  Ghost.  For  He  says,  Except 
a  man  be  borti  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God'^.  And  that 
this  grace  is  from  the  Father,  He  thus  states, 
Hotv  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give 
the  LLoly  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  '.  And 
that  we  ought  to  worship  God  in  the  Spirit, 
He  shews  thus.  But  the  hojtr  cometh  and  now 
is,  when  the  true  ivorshifpers  shall  7vorship  the 
Father  in  Spirit  and  in  truth  ;  for  the  Father 
also  seeketh  such  to  worship  LLim.  God  is  a  Soirit ; 
and  they  that  worship  LLim^nust  worship  LLim  in 
spirit  and  ifi  truth  ^.    And  again,  But  if  I  by  the 


unites  His  prayers  with  Christ's,  as  Cyril  teaches  in  Cat.  xvi.  20 : 
and  that  Christ  was  for  the  like  cause  mystically  foreshown  in 
Canticles  as  having  eyes  like  a  dove's.  The  other  sense  is,  that 
the  Spirit  descended  in  the  form  of  a  dove  on  Christ's  Humanity 
in  order  to  shew  this  to  be  as  it  were  a  dove  in  innocence,  holiness, 
love  of  children,  and  concurrence  with  the  Holy  Spirit  in  their 
regeneration.  .  .  .  Either  sense  is  admissible,  and  maintained  by 
m.-iny  of  the  Fathers :  but  I  prefer  the  former."  This  inter- 
pret.Ttion  is  confirmed  by  Tert\dlian  (^de  Daptismo,  c.  viii.),  who 
says  that  the  Holy  Spirit  glided  down  on  the  Lord  "  in  the  shape 
of  a  dove"  in  order  that  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit  might 
be  declared  by  means  of  a  creature  of  simplicity  and  innocence." 

7  Cant.  v.  12.  eTri  7rA)jpu>paT<i  vhatiav  (Sept.).  The  usual 
meaning  of  o(j>9a\ij.o(t>avuji  is  "  manifestly  to  the  eyes,"  Esther 
viii.  I-?. 

8  Tertullian,  j'/'i'd  "Just  as  after  the  waters  of  the  deluge, 
by  which  the  old  iniquity  was  purged— after  the  baptism,  so  to 
say.  of  the  world — a  dove  was  the  herald  which  announced  to  the 
earth  the  assuagement  of  celestial  wrath,  ....  so  to  our  tte<h, 
.TS  it  emerges  from  the  font  after  its  old  sins,  flies  the  dove  ol  the 
Holy  Spirit,  bringing  us  the  peacs  of  God,  sent  out  fr  im  heaven 
where  the  Chiuch  is,  the  tvpified  ark."  Compare  also  Hippolytus. 
T/ie  Holy  Thcophany,  %%  8,  9,  a  treatise  with  which  Cyril  has 
much  in  common. 

9  John  iii.  5.  »  Luke  xi.  13.  »  John  iv.  23. 


LECTURE   XVII. 


127 


Spirit  of  God  cast  out  devils  3  ;  and  immediately 
afterwards,  Therefore  I  say  unto  you.  All  man- 
ner of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto 
men  ;  bnt  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost 
shall  not  be  forgiven.  And  whosoever  shall 
speak  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man,  it  shall 
be  forgiven  him  ;  but  tvhosoever  shall  speak  a 
word  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  for- 
given him,  neither  in  this  ivorld,  neither  in  the 
world  to  come^.  And  again  He  says,  And  I 
IV ill  pray  the  Father,  and  He  shall  give  you 
another  Comforter,  that  He  may  be  7vith  you 
for  ever,  the  Spirit  of  Truth  ;  who7n  the  world 
cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth  Him  not,  neither 
knoweth  Him ;  but  ye  know  Him,  for  He 
abideth  ivith  you,  and  shall  be  in  you  s.  And 
ag-ain  He  says.  These  things  have  I  spoken  wito 
yo7i  being  yet  present  with  you.  But  the  Com- 
forter, which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  7vliom  the 
Father  tvill  send  in  My  name,  He  shall  teach 
you  all  things,  and.  bring  to  your  remembrance 
all  things  that  I  said  unto  you  ^.  And  again  He 
says,  But  when  the  Comfoi-ter  is  come,  whom  I 
7vill  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  eveti  the 
Spirit  of  Truth,  70 Inch  proceedeth  from  the 
Father,  He  shall  testify  of  Me  7.  And  again  the 
Saviour  says,  For  if  I  go  not  aivay,  the  Com- 
forter 7vill  not  come  unto  you  ^ And  7vhen 

He  is  come.  He  will  C07vvi nee  the  7uorld  of  sin,  of 
righteousness,  and  of  Judgment^  ;  and  afterwards 
again,  I  have  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you, 
but  ye  caji7iot  bear  them  7707C'.  Hoivbeit,  7vhen 
He  the  Spirit  of  Truth  is  co'ne.  He  7i> ill  declare 
tint  0  you  all  the  truth;  for  Pie  shall  7iot  speak  f 7-0  m 
Hi/nself ;  but  whatsoever  He  shall  hear  that 
shall  He  speak,  and  He  shall  a/inoiince  unto  you 
the  things  to  coi7ie.  He  shall  glorify  Ale,  for  He 
shall  take  of  Mi/ie,  and  shall  a7inou7ice  it  u7ito 
you.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  7nine  ; 
thcrcfo7-e  said  I,  That  He  shall  take  of  Mi7ie,  and 
shall  a/i7iou7ice  it  unto  you'',  I  have  read  to  thee 
now  the  utterances  of  the  Only-begotten  Him- 
self, that  thou  mayest  not  give  heed  to  men's 
words. 

12.  The  fellowship  of  this  Holy  Spirit  He 
bestowed  on  the  Apostles  ;  for  it  is  written, 
A/id  when  He  had  said  this.  He  b7-eathed  on 
the/n,  a7id  saith  tmto  the7n,  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Ghost :  tvhose  soever  sins  ye  re//iit,  they  are  re- 
77iitted  7cnto  the/n  ;  a7id  7ohose  soever  si/is  ye 
7-etain,  they  are  7-etai7ied^.  '['his  was  the  second 
time  He  breathed  on  man  (His  first  breaths 
having  been  stifled  through  wilful  sins) ;  that 
the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled,  He  7ve7it  -up 
breathing  7ipo7i  thy  face,  and  deliveri77g  thee  fro7n 


3  Matt.  xii.  28.  4  lb.  v.  31.  S  John  xiv.  16. 

*  lb.  V.  25.  7  lb.  XV.  26.  8  lb.  xvi.  7. 

9  lb.  V.  8.  '  lb.  V,  12 — 15.  2  John  .xx'.  22. 

3  Gen.  ii.  7  :    and  breathed  into  liis  nostrils  the  breatti  of  life. 
Compare  Cat.  xiv.  10. 


affliction'^.  But  whence  went  He  up?  From 
Hades  ;  for  thus  the  Gospel  relates,  that  then 
after  His  resurrection  He  breathed  on  them.. 
But  though  He  bestowed  His  grace  then.  He 
was  to  lavish  it  yet  more  bountifully ;  and  He 
says  to  them,  "  I  am  ready  to  give  it  even  now, 
but  the  vessel  cannot  yet  hold  it ;  for  a  while 
therefore  receive  ye  as  much  grace  as  ye  can 
bear  ;  and  look  forward  for  yet  more  ;  but  tarrv 
ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusale/n,  U7itil  ye  be  clothed 
7vith poiver from  on  high^.  Receive  it  in  part 
now  ;  then,  ye  shall  wear  it  in  its  fulness.  For 
he  who  receives,  often  possesses  the  gift  but  in 
part ;  but  he  who  is  clothed,  is  completely 
enfolded  by  his  robe.  "Fear  not,"  He  says, 
"the  weapons  and  darts  of  the  devil;  for  ye 
shall  bear  with  you  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  But  remember  what  was  lately  said, 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not  divided,  but  only 
the  grace  which  is  given  by  Him. 

13.  Jesus  therefore  went  up  into  heaven,  and 
fulfilled  the  promise.  For  He  ■said  to  them, 
/  7C'ill  pray  the  Father,  and  He  shall  give  you 
a7iother  Confo/'ter^.  So  they  were  sitting,  look- 
ing for  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  a7id7vhen 
the  day  of  Pentecost  7C'as  fi/ly  come,  here,  in  this 
city  of  Jerusalem, — (for  this  honour  also  belongs 
to  us  7 ;  and  we  speak  not  of  the  good  things 
which  have  happened  among  others,  but  of 
those  which  have  been  vouchsafed  among  our- 
selves,)— on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  I  say,  they 
were  sitting,  and  the  Comforter  came  down  from 
heaven,  the  Guardian  and  Sanctifier  of  the 
Church,  the  Ruler  of  souls,  the  Pilot  of  the 
tempest-tossed,  who  leads  the  wanderers  to  the 
light,  and  presides  over  the  combatants,  and 
crowns  the  victors. 

14.  But  He  came  down  to  clothe  the  Apos- 
tles with  power,  and  to  baptize  them  ;  for  the 
Lord  says,  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  not  ma7iy  days  hence  ^.  This  grace  was  not 
in  part,  but  His  power  was  in  full  perfection  ;  for 
as  he  who  plunges  into  the  waters  and  is  bap- 
tized is  encompassed  on  all  sides  by  the  waters, 
so  were  they  also  baptized  completely  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  The  water  however  flows  round  the 
outside  only,  but  the  Spirit  baptizes  also  the  soul 
within,  and  that  com[)letely.  And  wherefore 
wonderest  thou  ?  'fake  an  example  from  mat- 
ter ;  poor  indeed  and  common,  yet  useful  for 
the  simpler  sort.  If  the  fire  passing  in  through 
the    mass  of  the   iron   makes   the   whole  of  it 


4  Nahiim  ii.  i.  The  Septuajrint,  followed  by  Cyril,  difTers 
widely  from  the  Hebrew:  (R.V.)  He  that  daslieth  in  pieces  is 
come  up  before  tliy  face. 

5  Luke'xxiv.  39.  ^  lohn  xiv.  16. 

7  Cat.  iii.  7  ;  xvi.  5.  Bp.  Pearson  {Lectiones  in  Acta  Apost.  I. 
%iZ):  "Rightly  said  Cyril,  l?ishop  of  Jerusalem,  'All  prero- 
gatives are  with  us.'  And  the  Emperor  Justin  called  her  '  Mother 
of  the  Christian  name.'  Jerome  also  (E/>.  17,  3),  said:  'The 
whole  mystery  of  our  Faith  is  native  of  that  province  and  city.' " 

8  Ac:si.  s. 


128 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


fire,  so  that  what  was  cold  becomes  burning 
and  what  was  black  is  made  bright, — if  fire 
which  is  a  body  thus  penetrates  and  works 
without  hindrance  in  iron  which  is  also  a  body, 
why  wonder  that  the  Holy  Ghost  enters  into 
the  very  inmost  recesses  of  the  soul  ? 

15.  And  lest  men  should  be  ignorant  of  the 
greatness  of  the  mighty  gift  coming  down  to  them, 
there  sounded  as  it  were  a  heavenly  trumpet, 
For  suddenly  there  came  from  Jieai'eii  a  sound  as  of 
the  rushingofa  mighty  wind^,  signifying  the  pre- 
sence of  Him  who  was  to  grant  power  unto  men 
to  seize  with  violence  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  that 
both  their  eyes  might  see  the  fiery  tongues, 
and  their  ears  hear  the  sound.  And  it  filled  all 
the  house  ivhere  they  were  siitijig  ;  for  the  house 
became  the  vessel  of  the  spiritual  water  ;  as 
the  disciples  sat  within,  the  whole  house  was 
filled.  Thus  they  were  entirely  baptized  ac- 
cording to  the  promise,  and  invested  soul  and 
body  with  a  divine  garment  of  salvation.  Afid 
there  appeared  unto  them  cloven  tongues  like  as  of 

fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each  of  them  ;  and  they 
7i>cre  all  filled  ivith  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
partook  of  fire,  not  of  burning  but  of  saving 
fire  ;  of  fire  which  consumes  the  thorns  of  sins, 
but  gives  lustre  to  the  soul.  This  is  now 
coming  upon  you  also,  and  that  to  strip  away 
and  consume  your  sins  which  are  like  thorns, 
and  to  brighten  yet  more  that  precious  posses- 
sion of  your  souls,  and  to  give  you  grace  ;  for 
He  gave  it  then  to  the  Apostles.  And  He  sat 
upon  them  in  the  form  of  fiery  tongues,  that 
they  might  crown  themselves  with  new  and 
spiritual  diadems  by  fiery  tongues  upon  their 
heads.  A  fiery  sword  barred  of  old  the  gates  of 
Paradise  ;  a  fiery  tongue  which  brought  salva- 
tion restored  the  gift, 

1 6.  And  fhey  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues 
as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance  '.  The  Gali- 
lean Peter  or  Andrew  spoke  Persian  or  Median. 
John  and  the  rest  of  the  Apostles  spake  every 
tongue  to  those  of  Gentile  extraction  ;  for  not 
in  our  time  have  multitudes  of  straiigers  first 
begun  to  assemble  here  from  all  quarters,  but 
they  have  done  so  since  that  time.  \\'hat 
teacher  can  be  found  so  great  as  to  teach  men 
all  at  once  things  which  they  have  not  learned  ? 
So  many  years  are  they  in  learning  by  gram- 
mar and  other  arts  to  speak  only  Greek  wx'U  ; 
nor  yet  do  all  speak  this  equally  well  ;  the 
Rhetorician  perhaps  succeeds  in  speaking  well, 
and  the  Grammarian  sometimes  not  well,  and 
the  skilful  Grammarian  is  ignorant  of  the  sub- 
jects of  philosophy.  But  the  Holy  Spirit 
taught  them  many  languages  at  once,  lan- 
guages which  in  all  their  life  they  never 
knew.      This  is  in  truth  vast  wisdom,  this  is 


9  Acts  ii.  2. 


»  lb.  V.  4. 


power  divine.  What  a  contrast  of  their  long 
ignorance  in  time  past  to  their  sudden,  com- 
plete and  varied  and  unaccustomed  exercise  of 
these  languages ! 

17.  The  multitude  of  the  hearers  was  con- 
founded ; — it  was  a  second  confusion,  in  the 
room  of  that  first  evil  one  at  Babylon.  For  in 
that  confusion  of  tongue-;  there  was  division 
of  purpose,  because  their  thought  was  at 
enmity  with  God  ;  but  here  minds  were  re- 
stored and  united,  because  the  object  of  interest 
was  godly.  The  means  of  falling  were  the 
means  of  recovery.  Wherefore  they  marvelled, 
saying  ^,  Hoiv  hear  7ue  them  speaki/ig?  No  mar- 
vel if  ye  be  ignorant  ;  for  even  Nicodemus 
was  ignorant  of  the  coming  of  the  Spirit,  and 
to  him  it  was  said.  The  Spirit  breathcth  where  it 
listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  7>oice  thereof  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth'i;  but  if,  even  tliough  I  hear  His  voice,  I 
know  not  whence  he  cometh,  how  can  I 
exj^lain,  what  He  is  Himself  in  substance  ? 

18.  But  others  mocking  said.  They  are  full 
of  neiv  ivine*,  and  they  spoke  truly  though 
in  mockery.  For  in  truth  the  wine  was  new,  ' 
even  the  grace  of  the  New  Testament  ;  but 
this  new  wine  was  from  a  spiritual  Vine, 
whicli  had  oftentimes  ere  this  borne  fruit  in 
Prophets,  and  had  budded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. For  as  in  things  sensible,  the  vine 
ever  remains  the  same,  but  bears  new'  fruits 
in  its  seasons,  so  also  the  self-same  Spirit 
continuing  what  He  is,  as  Fie  had  often  wrought 
in  Prophets,  now  manifested  a  new  and  mar- 
vellous work.  For  though  His  grace  had  come 
before  to  the  Fathers  also,  yet  here  it  came 
exuberantly  ;  for  formerly  men  only  [)artook  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  but  now^  they  were  baptized 
completely. 

19.  But  Peter  who  had  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  who  knew  what  he  possessed,  says,  '^  Men 
of  Israel,  ye  who  preach  Joel,  but  know  not 
the  things  which  are  written,  these  men  are  7iot 
drunken  as  ye  suppose  s.  Drunken  they  are,  not 
however  as  ye  suppose,  but  according  to  that 
which  is  written,  They  shall  be  drunken  with 
the  fatness  of  thy  house  ;  and  thou  shall  make 
them  drink  of  the  torrents  of  thy  pleasure^. 
They  are  drup.ken,  with  a  sober  (Irunkenness, 
deadly  to  sin  and  life-giving  to  the  heart, 
a  drunkenness  contrary  to  that  of  the  body  ; 
for  this  last  causes  forgetfulness  even  of  what 
was  known,  but  that  bestows  the  knowledge 
even  of  what  was  not  known.  They  are 
drunken,  for  they  have  drunk  the  wine  of  the 
spiritual  vine,  which  says,  I  am  the  vine  and  ye 

2  Acts  ii.  8. 

3  John  iii.  8:  (R.y.)  The  wind  bloweth:  (Marg.)  Or,  The 
S/iint  brcatiieth.  It  is  impossible  to  preserve  the  douljle  meaning 
ill  English.  4  Acts  ii.  13. 

5  lu.  V-  15.  *  Ps.  xx.\vi.  8. 


LECTURE   XVII. 


129 


are  f he  branches''.  But  if  ye  are  not  persuaded 
by  me,  understand  what  I  tell  you  from  the 
very  time  of  the  day  ;  for  //  is  the  tJiird  hour 
of  the  day^.  For  He  who,  as  Mark  relates, 
was  crucified  at  the  third  hour,  now  at  the 
third  hour  sent  down  His  grace.  For  His 
grace  is  not  other  than  the  Spirit's  grace, 
but  He  who  was  then  crucified,  who  also 
gave  the  promise,  made  good  that  which 
He  promised.  And  if  ye  would  receive  a 
testimony  also.  Listen,  he  says :  "  But  this 
is  that  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel  ; 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass  after  this,  saith  God, 
I  will  pour  forth  of  My  Spirit  "i" — (and  this 
word,  /  will  pour  forth,  implied  a  rich  gift ; 
for  God  giveth  not  the  Spirit  by  measure,  for 
the  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all 
things  into  His  hand'^  ;  and  He  has  given  Him 
the  power  also  of  bestowing  the  grace  of  the 
All-holy  Spirit  on  whomsoever  He  will) ; — 
/  7iiill  pour  forth  of  Aly  Spirit  upon  all  flesh, 
a7id  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  pro- 
phesy;  and  afterwards.  Yea,  and  on  My  ser- 
vants and  on  My  handmaidens  I  will  pour  out 
in  those  days  of  My  Spirit,  and  they  shall 
prophesy'^."  The  Holy  Ghost  is  no  respecter 
of  persons  ;  for  He  seeks  not  dignities,  but 
piety  of  soul.  Let  neither  the  rich  be  puffed 
up,  nor  the  poor  dejected,  but  only  let  each 
prepare  himself  for  reception  of  the  Heavenly 
gift. 

20.  We  have  said  much  to-day,  and  per- 
chance you  are  weary  of  listening;  yet  more 
still  remains.  And  in  truth  for  the  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  there  were  need  of  a  third 
lecture ;  and  of  many  besides.  But  we  must 
have  your  indulgence  on  both  points.  For  as 
the  Holy  Festival  of  Easter  is  now  at  hand, 
we  have  this  clay  lengthened  our  discourse ; 
and  yet  we  had  not  room  to  bring  before  you 
all  the  testimonies  from  the  New  Testament 
which  we  ought.  For  many  passages  are  still 
to  come  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in 
which  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  wrought 
mightily  in  Peter  and  in  all  the  Apostles  to- 
gether ;  many  also  from  the  Catholic  Epistles, 
and  the  fourteen  Epistles  of  Paul  ;  out  of  all 
which  we  will  now  endeavour  to  gather  a  few, 
like  flowers  from  a  large  meadow,  merely  by 
way  of  remembrance. 

21.  For  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
by  the  will  of  Father  and  Son,  Peter  stood 
with  the  Eleven,  and  lifiing  up  his  voice, 
(according  to  the  text.  Lift  up  thy  voice  laith 
strength,  thou  that  bringest  good  tidings  to  Jeru- 
salem'i),  captured  in  the  spiritual  net  of  his 
words,  about  three  thousand  souls.     So  great 


7  John  XV.  5. 

'  John  iii.  34,  35. 

VOL.  VII. 


8  Acts  ii.  25,  and  15. 
2  Joel  ii.  29. 


9  Joel  ii.  28. 
3  Is.  xl.  9. 


was  the  grace  which  wrought  in  all  the 
Apostles  together,  that,  out  of  the  Jews,  those 
crucifiers  of  Christ,  this  great  number  believed, 
and  were  baptized  in  the  Name  of  Christ,  and 
continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and 
in  the  prayers^.  And  again  in  the  same  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Feter  and  John  went  up 
into  the  Temple  at  the  hour  of  prayer,  which 
was  the  ninth  hour^,  and  in  the  Name  of  Jesus 
healed  the  man  at  the  Beautiful  gate,  who  had 
been  lame  from  his  mother's  womb  for  forty 
years  ;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was 
spoken.  Then  shall  the  lame  man  leap  as  an 
hart^.  And  thus,  as  they  captured  in  the 
spiritual  net  of  their  doctrine  five  thousand 
believers  at  once,  so  they  confuted  the  mis- 
guided rulers  of  the  people  and  chief  priests, 
and  that,  not  through  their  own  wisdom,  for 
they  7vere  unlearned  and  ignorant  men  7,  but 
through  the  mighty  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost ; 
for  it  is  written,  2  hen  Feter  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  said  to  them  ^.  So  great  also  was  the 
grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  wrought  by 
means  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  in  them  who 
believed,  that  they  were  of  one  heart  and  of  one 
soul"),  and  their  enjoyment  of  their  goods  was 
common,  the  possessors  piously  offering  the 
prices  of  their  possessions,  and  no  one  among 
them  wanting  aught ;  while  Ananias  and 
Sapphira,  who  attempted  to  lie  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  underwent  their  befitting  punishment. 

2  2.  And  by  the  hands  of  the  Apostles  were 
many  signs  and  7V0nders  wrought  among  the 
people '.  And  so  great  was  the  spiritual  grace 
shed  around  the  Apostles,  that  gentle  as  they 
were,  they  were  the  objects  of  dread  ;  for  of 
the  rest  durst  no  man  Join  himself  to  them  ;  but 
the  people  magnified  them  ;  and  multitudes  were 
added  of  those  who  believed  on  the  Lord,  both  of 
men  and  women;  and  the  streets  were  filled 
with  the  sick  on  their  beds  and  couches,  that 
as  Feter  passed  by,  at  least  his  shadow  might 
overshadow  some  of  them.  And  the  7mcltitude 
also  of  the  cities  round  about  came  unto  this 
holy  Jerusalem,  bringing  sick  folk,  and  them 
that  were  vexed  with  unclean  spirits,  and  they 
were  healed  every  one  in  this  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  ^ 

23.  Again,  after  the  Twelve  Apostles  had 
been  cast  into  prison  by  the  chief  priests  for 
preaching  Christ,  and  had  been  marvellously 
delivered  from  it  at  night  by  an  Angel,  and 
were  brought  before  them  in  the  judgment 
hall  from  the  Temple,  they  fearlessly  rebuked 
them  in  their  discourse  to  them  concerning 
Christ,  and  added  this,  that  God  hath  also  given 
Llis  LLoly  Spirit  to  them  that  obey  Lfim  3.    And 


*  Acts  ii.  42. 
7  Acts  iv.  13. 
'  Acts  V.  12. 


5  lb.  iii.  I. 
8  lb.  7/.  8. 
*  lb.  vv.  13 — 16. 


*  Is.  XXXV.  6. 

9  lb.  v.  32. 
3  lb.  V.  32. 


130 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


when  they  had  been  scourged,  they  went  their 
way  rejoicing,  and  ceased  not  to  teach  aiid 
preach  Jesus  as  the  Christ  •*. 

24.  And  it  was  not  in  the  Twelve  Apostles 
only  that  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit  wrought, 
but  also  in  the  first-born  children  of  this  once 
barren  Church,  I  mean  the  seven  Deacons  ; 
for  these  also  were  chosen,  as  it  is  written, 
being  /////  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  wisdom  5. 
Of  will  m  Stephen,  rightly  so  named  ^,  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Martyrs,  a  man/////  of  faith  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  wrought  great  wonders  and 
miracles  among  the  people,  and  vanquished 
those  who  disputed  with  him  ;  for  they  were 
not  able  to  resist  the  wisdom  and  the  Spirit  by 
which  he  spake  t.  But  when  he  was  maliciously 
accused  and  brought  to  the  judgment  hall,  he 
was  radiant  with  angelic  brightness ;  for  all 
they  who  sat  in  the  council,  looking  steadfastly 
on  him,  saw  his  face,  as  it  had  been  the  face  of 
an  Angel^.  And  having  by  his  wise  defence 
confuted  the  Jews,  those  stiffnecked  men,  uncir- 
cumsised  in  heart  and  ears,  ever  resist i tig  the 
Holy  Ghost 'i,  he  beheld  the  heavens  opened,  diWd 
saw  the  Son  of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand 
of  God.  He  saw  Him,  not  by  his  own  power, 
but,  as  the  Divine  Scripture  says,  being  full  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  he  looked  up  steadfastly  into 
heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus 
staiiding  on  the  right  hand  of  God\ 

25.  In  this  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Philip  also  in  the  Name  of  Christ  at  one 
time  in  the  city  of  Samaria  drove  away  the 
unclean  spirits,  crying  out  ivith  a  loud  voice; 
and  healed  the  palsied  and  the  lame,  and 
brought  to  Christ  great  multitudes  of  them 
that  believe.  To  whom  Peter  and  John  came 
down,  and  with  prayer,  and  the  la}ing  on  of 
hands,  imparted  the  fellowship  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  from  which  Simon  Magus  alone  was 
declared  an  alien,  and  that  justly.  And  at 
another  time  Philip  was  called  by  the  Angel 
of  the  Lord  in  the  way,  for  the  sake  of  that 
most  godly  Ethiopian,  the  Eunuch,  and  heard 
distinctly  the  Spirit  Himself  saying.  Go  near, 
and  join  thyself  to  this  chariof^.  He  instructed 
the  Eunuch,  and  bajnized  him,  and  so  having 
sent  into  Ethiopia  a  herald  of  Christ,  according 
as  it  is  written,  Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  out 
her  hand  unto  God'i,  he  was  caught  away  by 
the  Angel,  and  preached  the  Gospel  in  the 
cities  in  succession. 

26.  With  this  Holy  Spirit  Paul  also  had  been 
filled  after  his  calling  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Ciirist. 
Let  godly  Ananias  come  as  a  witness  to  what 
We  say,  he  who  in  Damascus  said  to  him.  The 
Lord,  even  Jesus  xvho  appeared  to  thee  in  the  way 


4  Acts  V.  42.  5  lb.  vi.  3. 

"a  crown.''  7  lb.  v.  lo.  8  lb. 

'  lb.  V,  55.  2  lb.  viii.  5. 


*  \h.  V.  8.     2Tf'(/>ai'os, 
V.  15.  9  lb.  vii.  51. 

3  Ps.  l.wiii.  31. 


which  thou  earnest,  hath  sent  tne,  that  thou  mayest 
receive  thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghosts.  And  straightway  the  Spirit's  mighty 
working  changed  the  blindness  of  Paul's  eyes 
into  newness  of  sight ;  and  having  vouchsafed 
His  seal  unto  his  soul, made  \\ima  chosen  vesselto 
bear  the  Name  of  the  Lord  who  had  appeared  to 
him,  befote  kirgs  and  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
rendered  the  former  persecutor  an  ambassador 
and  good  servant,— one,  who  from  Jerusalem, 
and  eve?i  unto  Illyricum,  fully  preached  the 
Gospel^,  and  instructed  even  imperial  Rome, 
and  carried  the  earnestness  of  his  preaching  as 
far  as  Spain,  undergoing  conflicts  innumerable, 
and  performing  sians  and  wonders.  Of  him 
for  the  present  enough. 

27,  In  the  power  of  the  same  Holy  Spirit 
Peter  also,  the  chief  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
bearer  of  the  keys  ^  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
healed  /Eneas  the  paralytic  in  the  Name  of 
Christ  at  Lydda,  which  is  now  Diospolis,  and  at 
Joppa  raised  from  the  dead  'I'abitha  rich  in  good 
works.  And  being  on  the  housetop  in  a  trance, 
he  saw  heaven  opened,  and  by  means  of  the 
vessel  let  down  as  it  were  a  sheet  full  of  beasts 
of  every  shape  and  sort,  he  learnt  plainly  to 
call  no  man  common  or  unclean,  though  he 
should  be  of  the  Greeks  7.  And  when  he  was 
sent  for  by  Cornelius,  he  heard  clearly  the 
Holy  Ghost  Himself  saying.  Behold,  men  seek 
thee  ;  but  arise  and  get  thee  down,  and  go  ivilh 
them,  fiothing  doubting  ;  for  I  have  sent  them  ^. 
And  that  it  might  be  plainly  shewn  that  those 
of  the  Gentiles  also  who  believe  are  made  par- 
takers of  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  when 
Peter  was  come  to  Cesarea,  and  was  teaching 
the  things  concerning  Christ,  the  Scripture  says 
concerning  Cornelius  and  them  who  were  with 
him  ;  While  Peter  yet  s/ake  these  words,  the 
Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all  them  ivhich  heard  the 
word  ;  so  that  they  of  the  circunicision  also  ivhich 
came  with  Peter  were  astonished,  and  when  they 
understood  it  said  that  on  the  Gentiles  also  was 
poured  out  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  9. 

28.  And  in  Antioch  also,  a  most  renowned 
city  of  Syria,  when  the  preaching  of  Christ 
took  effect,  Barnabas  was  sent  hence  as  far  as 
Antioch  to  help  on  the  good  work,  being  a  good 
ma7i,  and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  faith  '  ; 
who  seeing  a  great  harvest  of  believers  in  Christ, 
brought  Paul  from  Tarsus  to  Antioch,  as  his 
fellow-combatant.  And  when  crowds  had  been 
instructed  by  them  and  assembled  in  the 
Church,  //  came  to  pass  that  the  disciples  were 
called  Christians  frst  in  Antioch"^;  the  Holy 
Ghost,  methinks,  bestowing  on  the  believers 
that  new  Name,  which  had  been  promised  be- 

4  Acts  ix.  17.  5  Rom.  xv.  19.  6  (cAeiSoCxos.     Cf.  Matt, 

xvi.  19;  Cat.  ii.  19  ;  xi.  3.  7  Acts  x.  11 — 16.  8  lb.  v.  19 

9  lb.  -J.  44.  »  lb.  XI.  24.  2  lb.  z'.  26.     Cf.  I.s.  Ixv.  15. 


LECTURE   XVII. 


131 


fore  by  the  Lord.  And  the  grace  of  the  Spirit 
being  shed  forth  by  God  more  abundantly  in 
Antioch,  there  were  there  prophets  and  teachers 
of  whom  Agabus  was  one  3.  And  as  they  minis- 
tered to  the  Lord  and  fasted,  the  Holv  Ghost  said, 
Separate  Me  Barfiabas  and  Saul  Jor  the  work 
whereunto  I  have  called  them.  And  after  hands 
had  been  laid  on  them,  they  were  sent  forth  by 
the  Holy  Ghost 'i.  Now  it  is  manifest,  that  the 
.  Spirit  which  speaks  and  sends,  is  a  Kving  Spirit, 
subsisting,  and  operating,  as  we  have  said. 

29.  This  Holy  Spirit,  who  in  unison  with 
Father  and  Son  has  established  the  New  Cov- 
enant in  the  Church  Catholic,  has  set  us  free 
from  the  burdens  of  the  lawgrievous  to  be  borne, 
— those  I  mean,  concerning  things  common 
and  unclean,  and  meats,  and  sabbaths,  and 
new  moons,  and  circumcision,  and  sprinklings, 
and  sacrifices ;  which  were  given  for  a  season, 
and  had  a  shadow  of  the  good  thiti^s  to  come  5, 
but  which,  when  the  truth  had  come,  were 
rightly  withdrawn.  For  when  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas were  sent  to  the  Apostles,  because  of 
the  question  moved  at  Antioch  by  them  who 
said  that  it  was  necessary  to  be  circumcised 
and  to  keep  the  customs  of  Moses,  the  Apos- 
tles who  were  here  at  Jerusalem  by  a  written 
injunction  set  free  the  whole  world  from  all  the 
legal  and  typical  observances ;  yet  they  attri- 
buted not  to  themselves  the  full  authority  in 
so  great  a  matter,  but  send  an  injunction  in 
writing,  and  acknowledge  this  :  For  it  hath 
seemed  good  nnto  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us,  to 
lay  upon  you  no  gi-eater  burden  than  these  neces- 
sary things  ;  that  ye  abstain  from  things  sacri- 
ficed to  idols,  and  from  blood,  and  from  thi?tgs 
stratigled,  and  from  fornicatio7t°  ;  shewing  evi- 
dently by  what  they  wrote,  that  though  the 
writing  was  by  the  hands  of  human  Apostles, 
yet  the  decree  is  universal  from  the  Holy 
Ghost  :  which  decree  Paul  and  Barnabas  took 
and  confirmed  unto  all  the  world. 

30.  x\nd  now,  having  proceeded  thus  far  in 
my  discourse,  I  ask  indulgence  from  your  love  7, 
or  rather  from  the  Spirit  who  dwelt  in  Paul,  if 
I  should  not  be  able  to  rehearse  everything,  by 
reason  of  my  own  weakness,  and  your  weariness 
who  listen.  For  when  shall  I  in  terms  worthy  of 
Himself  declare  the  marvellous  deeds  wrought 
by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
Name  of  Christ?  Those  wrought  in  Cyprus 
upon  Elymas  the  sorcerer,  and  in  Lystra  at  the 
healing  of  the  cripj^le,  and  in  Cilicia  and 
Phrygia  and  Galatia  and  Mysia  and  Macedonia? 
or  those  at  Philippi  (the  preaching,  I  mean, 
and  the  driving  out  of  the  spirit  of  divination 
in  the  Name  of  Christ ;  and  the  salvation  by 

3  Acts  xi.  28.  4  lb.  xiii.  2 — 4.  5  Heb.  x.  i. 

*  Acts  XV.  28,  29.    cirio-ToA))   means   a   tnessnt;:e  or  injunction 
whether  verbal  or  written.  7  See  note  i  on  §  i,  above. 


baptism  of  the  jailer  with  his  whole  house  at 
night  after  the  earthquake) ;  or  the  events  at 
Thessalonica ;  and  the  address  at  Areopagus 
in  the  midst  of  the  Athenians  ;  or  the  instruc- 
tions at  Corinth,  and  in  all  Achaia  ?  How  shall 
I  worthily  recount  the  mighty  deeds  which  were 
wrought  at  Ephe.sus  through  Paul,  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  2  ?  Whom  they  of  that  City  knew  not  be- 
fore, but  came  to  know  Him  by  the  doctrine  ot 
Paul ;  and  when  Paul  had  laid  his  hands  on 
them,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  had  come  upon 
them,  they  spake  with  tongues,  and  fj'ophe- 
sied.  And  so  great  spiritual  grace  was  upon 
him,  that  not  only  his  touch  wrought  cures, 
but  even  iht handkerchiefs  and napki?is'^, hxonght 
from  his  body,  healed  diseases,  and  scared  away 
the  evil  spirits  ;  and  at  last  they  also  zvho  prdc- 
tised  curious  arts  brought  their  books  together, 
and  bjirned  them  before  all  ttien  \ 

31.  I  pass  by  the  work  wrought  at  Troas  on 
Eutychus,  who  being  boj-ne  down  by  his  sleep  fell 
down  from  the  third  loft,  and  ivas  taken  up  dead ; 
yet  was  saved  alive  by  Paul  ^.  I  also  pass  by 
the  prophecies  addressed  to  the  Elders  of 
Ephesus  whom  he  called  to  him  in  Miletus, 
to  whom  he  openly  said.  That  the  Holy  Ghost 
ivitfiesseth  in  every  city,  sayiiig'i, — and  the  rest  ; 
for  by  saying,  in  every  city,  Paul  made  manifest 
that  the  marvellous  works  done  by  him  in  each 
city,  were  from  the  operative  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  by  the  will  of  God,  and  in  the  Name  of 
Christ  who  spake  in  him.  By  the  power  of  this 
Holy  Ghost,  the  same  Paul  was  hastening  to 
this  holy  city  Jerusalem,  and  this,  though 
Agabus  by  the  Spirit  foretold  what  should 
befall  him  \  and  yet  he  spoke  to  the  people 
with  confidence,  declaring  the  things  concern- 
ing Christ.  And  when  brought  to  Cesarea, 
and  set  amid  tribunals  of  justice,  at  one  time 
before  Felix,  and  at  another  before  Festus  the 
governor  and  King  Agrippa,  Paul  obtained  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  grace  so  great,  and  triumphant 
in  wisdom,  that  at  last  Agrippa  himself  the  king 
of  the  Jews  said,  Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be 
a  Christian  1  This  Holy  Spirit  granted  to  Paul, 
when  he  was  in  the  island  of  Melita  also, 
to  receive  no  harm  when  bitten  by  the  viper, 
and  to  eft'ect  divers  cures  on  the  diseased. 
This  Holy  Spirit  guided  him,  the  persecutor 
of  old,  as  a  herald  of  Christ,  even  as  far  as 
imperial  Rome,  and  there  he  persuaded  many 
of  the  Jews  to  believe  in  Christ,  and  to  them 
who  gainsaid  he  said  plainly,  Well  spake  the 
Holy  Ghost  by  Esaias  the  Prophet,  saying  unto 
your  fathers,  and  the  rests. 


9  lb.  V.  12. 


'  lb.  V.  19. 
3  lb.  7/.  83. 


8  Acts  -xix.  I — 6. 
2  lb.  XX.  9 — 12. 

4  lb.  xxvi.  28.  Cyril  evidently  understood  iv  okiyta  to  nK'sn 
"  nlmosi"  {A\ .):  but  the  more  correct  rendering  is,  "  In  brief 
thou  woulde^t  persuade  me  to  become  a  Christian.' 

5  lb.  xxviii.  25. 


K   2 


132 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


32.  And  that  Paul  was  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  all  his  fellow  Apostles,  and  they 
who  after  them  believed  in  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  hear  from  himself  as  he  writes 
plainly  in  his  Epistles  ;  Arid  my  speech,  he  says, 
and  my  preaching  was  not  iti  persuasive  words 
of  man's  ivisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit  and  of  power  ^.  And  again,  But  He  who 
sealed  us  for  this  very  ptcrpose  is  God,  7vho  gave 
us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  ?.  And  again.  He  that 
raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken 
your  mortal  bodies  by  His  Spirit  7vhiih  dwelleth 
ifi  you  ^.  And  again,  writing  to  Timothy,  That 
good  thing  which  7vas  committed  to  thee  guard 
through  the  Holy  Ghost  ivhich  was  give?i  to  us  9. 

2,Z-  And  that  the  Holy  Ghost  subsists,  and 
lives,  and  speaks,  and  foretells,  I  have  often  said 
in  what  goes  before,  and  Paul  writes  it  plainly  to 
Timothy :  Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly, 
that  in  later  times  some  shall  depart  from  the 
faith  ', —  which  we  see  in  the  divisions  not  only 
of  former  times  but  also  of  our  own  ;  so  motley 
and  diversified  are  the  errors  of  the  heretics. 
And  again  the  same  Paul  says,  IVhich  in  other 
generations  was  not  made  known  titito  the  sons 
of  men,  as  it  hath  no7V  been  7-evealed  unto  His 
Holy  Apostles  and  Prophets  i?t  the  Spirit^.  And 
again,  Wlierefore,  as  saith  the  Holy  Ghost '^ ;  and 
again,  Tlie  Holy  Ghost  also  luitnesseth  to  tts^. 
And  again  he  calls  unto  the  soldiers  of  right- 
eousness, saying,  And  take  the  helmet  of  salva- 
iion,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  7c>hich  is  the 
Word  of  God,  with  all  prayer  and  supplication  s. 
And  again.  Be  not  drunk  with  icine,  7vherein  is 
excess  ;  but  be  filed  with  the  Spirit,  speaking  to 
yourselves  in  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spiritual 
songs  ^  And  again.  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  be  with  you  allT. 

34.  By  all  these  proofs,  and  by  more  which 
have  been  passed  over, is  the  personal, and  sanc- 
tifying, and  effectual  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
established  for  those  who  can  understand ; 
for  the  time  would  fail  me  in  my  discourse  if 
I  wished  to  quote  what  yet  remains  concerning 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  the  fourteen  Epistles  of 
Paul,  wherein  he  has  taught  with  such  variety, 
completeness,  and  reverence.  And  to  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself  it  must 
belong,  to  grant  to  us  forgiveness  for  what 
we  have  omitted  because  the  days  are  few, 
and  upon  you  the  hearers  to  impress  more 
perfectly  the  knowledge  of  what  yet  remains  ; 
while  from  the  frequent  reading  of  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures  those  of  you  who  are  diligent 


*  I  Cor.  ii.  4.                7  2  Cor.  i.  22.  S  Rom.  viii.  ii. 

9  2  Tim.  i.   14  :    (R.V.)  by   the  Holy  Ghost  whi  h   divelleth 
in  us. 

'  I  Tim.  iv.  1.             2  Eph.  iii.  5.  3  Heb.  iii.  7. 

4lb.  X.  15.                   5  Eph.  vi.  17.  6  Ij.  V.  iJj,  19. 
7  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 


come  to  understand  these  things,  and  by  this 
time,  both  from  these  present  Lectures,  and 
from  what  has  before  been  told  you,  hold  more 
steadfastly  the  Faith  in  "  One  God  the 
Father  Almighty  ;  and  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Only-begotten  Son  ;  and  in 
the  Holy  (inosT  the  Comforter."  Though 
the  word  itself  and  title  of  Spirit  is  ap- 
plied to  Them  in  common  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures, — for  it  is  said  of  the  Father,  God 
is  a  Spirit^,  as  it  is  written  in  the  Gospel 
according  to  John  ;  and  of  the  Son,  A  Spirit 
before  our  face,  Christ  the  Lord 9,  as  Jeremias 
the  prophet  says  ;  ^nd  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost  ^  as  was  said  ; 
— yet  the  arrangement  of  articles  in  the 
Faith,  if  religiously  understood,  disproves 
the  error  of  Sabellius  also  ^.  Return  we  there- 
fore in  our  discourse  to  the  point  which  now 
presses  and  is  profitable  to  you. 

35.  Beware  lest  ever  like  Simon  thou  come 
to  the  dispensers  of  Baptism  in  hypocrisy, 
thy  heart  the  while  not  seeking  the  truth.  It 
is  ours  to  protest,  but  it  is  thine  to  secure  tliyself. 
If  thou  standest  in  faith  3,  blessed  art  thou  ;  if 
thou  hast  fallen  in  unbelief,  from  this  day 
forward  cast  away  thine  unbelief,  and  receive 
full  assurance.  For,  at  the  season  of  baptism, 
when  thou  art  come  before  the  Bishops,  or 
Presbyters,  or  Deacons  ■*, — (forits  grace  is  every- 
where, in  villages  and  in  cities,  on  them  of  low 
as  on  them  of  high  degree,  on  bondsmen  and 
on  freemen,  for  this  grace  is  not  of  men,  but 
the  gift  is  from  God  through  men,)— approach 
the  Minister  of  Baptism,  but  approaching,  think 
not  of  the  face  of  him  thou  seest,  but  remember 
this  Holy  Ghost  of  whom  we  are  now  speaking. 
For  He  is  present  in  readiness  to  seal  thy  soul, 
and  He  shall  give  thee  that  Seal  at  which  evil 
spirits  tremble,  a  heavenly  and  sacred  seal,  as 
also  it  is  written,  Ln  whom  also  ye  believed,  and 
were  sealed  7vith  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise  s. 

36.  Yet  He  tries  the  soul.  He  casts  not  His 
pearls  before  swine  ;  if  thou  play  the  h3'pocrite, 
though  men  baptize  thee  now,  the  Holy  Spirit 
will  not  baptize  thee*".  But  if  thou  approach 
with  faith,  though  men  minister  in  what  is 
seen,  the  Holy  Ghost  bestows  that  which  is 
unseen.     Thou    art   coming  to   a  great  trial, 


8  John  iv.  24. 

9  Lam.  iv.  20.  The  hreath  0/  ournostrih,  the  anointed  of  the 
Lord:  referring  to  the  captive  king.  •  John  xiv.  25. 

2  The  distinct  mention  in  tlie  Creed  of  three  Persons  excludes 
the  error  of  Sal)eiUiis  in  confu-sing  them.     Cf.  Cat.  iv.  8  ;  xvi.  14. 

3  Rom.  .\i.  2o. 

4  Cf.  llingliam,  Antiquities,  II.  xx.  9.  "When  Cyril  directs 
his  Catechnnicns  how  they  shonld  behave  themselves  at  tlie  time 
of  Haptism,  when  they  came  either  before  a  bishop,  or  presbyter, 
or  deacon,  in  city  or  village, — this  may  be  presumed  a  fair  intima- 
tion that  then  deacons  were  ordin.nrily  allowed  to  minister  Baptism 
in  country  places."  See  further  '  Of  llie  power  granted  anciently 
to  deacons  to  baptize,'  Bingham,  Lay  HaJ'tistn,  I.  i.  5. 

5  Eph.  i.  13.     Cf.  Cat.  i.  2,  3. 

6  Cf.  I'rocat.  84:"  the  water  will  receive,  but  the  Spirit  will 
not  accept  thee." 


LECTURE    XVII. 


133 


to  a  great  muster  t,  in  that  one  hour,  which  if 
thou  throw  away,  thy  disaster  is  irretrievable  ; 
but  if  thou  be  counted  worthy  of  the  grace, 
thy  soul  will  be  enlightened,  thou  wilt  re- 
ceive a  power  which  thou  hadst  not,  thou 
wilt  receive  weapons  terrible  to  the  evil  spirits; 
and  if  thou  cast  not  away  thine  arms,  but  keep 
the  Seal  upon  thy  soul,  no  evil  spirit  will  ap- 
proach thee  ;  for  he  will  be  cowed  ;  for  verily 
by  the  Spirit  of  God  are  the  evil  spirits  cast 
out. 

37.  If  thou  believe,  thou  shalt  not  only  re- 
ceive remission  of  sins,  but  also  do  things 
which  pass  man's  power  ^.  And  mayest  thou 
be  worthy  of  the  gift  of  prophecy  also  !  For 
thou  shalt  receive  grace  according  to  the 
measure  of  thy  capacity  and  not  of  my  words ; 
for  I  may  possibly  speak  of  but  small  things, 
yet  thou  mayest  receive  greater  ;  since  faith 
is  a  large  affair  9.     AH   thy  life   long  will  thy 


7  cTTpaToAovia.     Cf.  Cat.  iii.  3,  /AeAAeTS  (TTpaToAoyeitrSat. 

8  The  same  twofold  grace  is  ascribed  to  Baptism  in  Cat.  xiii. 
23  :  "  Thou  receivest  now  remission  of  thy  sins,  and  the  gifts  of 
the  King's  spiritual  bo;inty." 

9  irpayfiaTei'a.  Cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  4;  and  Luke  xix.  13;  Trade 
(TrpayjaarcVco&eJ  till  1  come. 


guardian  the  Comforter  abide  with  thee  ;  He 
will  care  for  thee,  as  for  his  own  soldier  ;  for 
thy  goings  out,  and  thy  comings  in,  and  thy  plot- 
ting foes.  And  He  will  give  thee  gifts  of  grace 
of  every  kind,  if  thou  grieve  Him  not  by  sin  ; 
for  it  is  written.  And  ^^rieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God,  whereby  ye  7vere  sealed  unto  the  day  of 
redemption  \  What  then,  beloved,  is  it  to  pre- 
serve grace?  Be  ye  ready  to  receive  grace, 
and  when  ye  have  received  it,  cast  it  not 
away. 

38.  And  may  the  very  God  of  All,  who  spake 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the  prophets,  who 
sent  Him  forth  upon  the  Apostles  on  the  clay 
of  Pentecost  in  this  place.  Himself  send  Him 
forth  at  this  time  also  upon  you  ;  and  by  Him 
keep  us  also,  imparting  His  benefit  in  common 
to  us  all,  that  we  may  ever  render  up  the  fruit? 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  love,  Joy,  peace,  lo?i^s^-siiffer- 
ing,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meckiiess,  tem- 
perance^,in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  :— By  whom 
and  with  whom,  together  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
be  glory  to  the  Father,  both  now,  and  ever,  and 
for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


I  Eoh.  iv. 


Gal. 


V.  22,  23, 


LECTURE    XVIII. 


On  the  Words,  And  in  One  Holy  Catholic  Church,  And  in  the  Resurrection 

OF  the  Flesh,  And  the  Life  Everlasting. 

EzEKiEL  xxxvii.   I. 

The  hand  of  the  LoYd  was  upon  me,  and  carried  vie  out  in  the  Spirit  of  the  Lordy 
and  set  fne  down  in  the  midst  of  the  valley  which  was  full  of  bones. 


1.  The  root  of  ail  good  works  is  the  hope 
of  the  Resurrection  ;  for  the  expectation  of 
the  recompense  nerves  the  soul  to  good  works. 
For  every  labourer  is  ready  to  endure  the  toils,  if 
he  sees  their  reward  in  prospect :  but  when  men 
weary  themselves  for  nought,  their  heart  soon 
sinks  as  well  as  their  body.  A  soldier  who 
expects  a  prize  is  ready  for  war,  but  no  one  is 
forward  to  die  for  a  king  who  is  indiflerent 
about  those  who  serve  under  him,  and  bestows 
no  honours  on  their  toils.  In  like  manner 
every  soul  believing  in  a  Resurrection  is 
naturally  careful  of  itself;  but,  disi)elieving  it, 
abandons  itself  to  perdition.  He  who  believes 
that  his  body  shall  remain  to  rise  again,  is 
careful  of  his  robe,  and  defiles  it  not  with 
fornication  ;  but  he  who  disbelieves  the  Resur- 
rection, gives  himself  to  fornication,  and  mis- 
uses his  own  body,  as  though  it  were  not  his 
own.  Faith  therefore  in  the  Resurrection  of 
the  dead,  is  a  great  commandment  and  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  ;  great  and  most 
ncessary,  though  gainsaid  by  many,  yet  surely 
warranted  by  the  truth.  Greeks  contradict  it  % 
Samaritans  ^  disbelieve  it,  heretics  3  mutilate  it ; 
the  contradiction  is  manifold,  but  the  truth  is 
uniform. 

2.  Now  Greeks  and  Samaritans  together  ar- 
gue against  us  thus.  The  dead  man  has  fallen, 
and  mouldered  away,  and  is  all  turned  into 
worms  ;  and  the  worms  have  died  also  ;  such  is 
the  decay  and  destruction  which  has  over- 
taken the  body;  how  then  is  it  to  be  raised? 
The  shipwrecked  have  been  devoured  b)  fishes, 
which  are  themselves  devoured.  Of  them  who 
fight  with  wild  beasts  the  very  bones  are  ground 
to  powder,  and  consumed  by  bears  and  lions. 
Vultures  and  ravens  feed  on  the  ficsh  of  the 


'  Acts  xvii.  32;  xxvi.  24.  *  Cf.  S  12,  below. 

3  TeituU.  De  Rcsurr.  carnis,  cap.  2  :  "  They  acknowledge 
a  half-resurrection,  to  wit  of  the  soul  only."  Compare  Iren.  I. 
xxiii.  5,  on  Menaiuler's  assertion  that  his  ciisciplcs  attain  to  the 
resurrection  by  being  baptized  into  him,  and  can  die  no  more,  but 
retain  immortal  youth:  ib.  xxiv.  5.  Basilides  taught  that  "sal- 
vation belongs  to  the  soul  alone."  On  other  forms  of  heresy 
concerning  the  Resurrection,  see  Suicer,  Thesaurus,  ' Kva.<naxii.>i. 


unburied  dead,  and  then  fly  away  over  all  the 
world  ;  whence  then  is  the  body  to  be  col- 
lected ?  For  of  the  fowls  who  have  devoured 
it  some  may  chance  to  die  in  India,  some  in 
Persia,  some  in  the  land  of  the  Goths.  Other 
men  again  are  consumed  by  fire,  and  their 
very  ashes  scattered  by  rain  or  wind;  whence 
is  the  body  to  be  brought  together  again  ■*  ? 

3.  To  thee,  poor  litde  feeble  man,  India  is  far 
from  the  land  of  the  (jolhs,  and  Spain  from 
Persia  ;  but  to  God,  who  holds  the  whole  eaiili 
in  the  hollow  of  His  hand'=,  all  things  are  near 
at  hand.  Impute  not  then  weakness  to  God, 
from  a  com])arison  of  thy  feebleness,  but  rather 
dwell  on  His  ])o\ver^.  Does  then  the  sun,  a 
small  work  of  God,  by  one  glance  of  his 
beams  give  warmth  to  the  whole  world  ;  does 
the  atmosphere,  which  God  has  made,  encom- 
pass all  things  in  the  world  ;  and  is  God,  who 
is  the  Creator  both  of  the  sun,  and  of  the 
atmosphere,  far  off  from  the  world?  Imagine 
a  mixture  of  seeds  of  different  plants  (for  as 
thou  art  weak  concerning  the  faith,  the  ex- 
amples which  I  allege  are  weak  -also),  and 
that  these  different  seeds  are  contained  in  thy 
single  hand  ;  is  it  then  to  thee,  who  art  a  man, 
a  difficult  or  an  easy  matter  to  separate 
what  is  in  thine  hand,  and  to  collect  each 
seed  according  to  its  nature,  and  restore  it 
to  its  own  kind  ?  Canst  thou  then  separate 
the  things  in  thine  hand,  and  cannot  God 
separate  the  things  contained  in  His  hand, 
and  restore  them  to  their  proper  place?  Con- 
sider what  I  say,  whether  it  is  not  impious  to 
deny  it? 

4.  But  furtlier,  attend,  I  pray,  to  the 
very  principle  of  justice,  and  come  to  thine 
own  case.  Thou  hast  difterent  sorts  of  ser- 
vants:   and    some  are  good  and  some   bad; 


4  The  objections  noticed  in  S  2  are  discussed  by  Athenagoras, 
De  Kisiar.  capp.  ii.,  iv. — viii.  ;  Tatian.  Or.  ad  Graecos,  cap.  vi. , 
Tertull.  De  Kesiirr.  Cam.  cap.  63.  5  Is.  xl.  12. 

6  On  the  argument   from   Hod's   power  compare   Athenagor 
De   Rcsurr.   c.  ix  ;    Justin.   M.  De  Kesurr.  c.  v;  Theophil.  ad 
Autolyc.  c.  xiii.  ;  Ircn.  V.  iii.  2. 


LECTURE   XVIII. 


135 


thou  honourest  therefore  the  good,  and  smitest 
the  bad.  And  if  thou  art  a  judge,  to  the  good 
thou  awardest  praise,  and  to  the  transgressors, 
punishment.  Is  then  justice  observed  by 
thee  a  mortal  man;  and  witli  God,  the  ever 
changeless  King  of  all,  is  there  no  retributive 
justice??  Nay,  to  deny  it  is  impious.  For 
consider  what  1  say.  Many  murderers  have 
died  in  their  beds  unpunished  ;  where  then  is 
the  righteousness  of  God  ?  Yea,  ofttimes  a 
murderer  guilty  of  fifty  murders  is  beheaded 
once  ;  where  then  shall  he  suffer  punishment 
for  the  forty  and  nine?  Unless  there  is  a 
judgment  and  a  retribution  after  this  world, 
thou  chargest  God  with  unrighteousness. 
Marvel  not,  however,  because  of  the  delay  of 
the  judgment ;  no  combatant  is  crowned  or 
disgraced,  till  the  contest  is  over;  and  no 
president  of  the  games  ever  crowns  men  while 
yet  striving,  but  he  waits  till  ail  the  combatants 
are  finished,  that  then  deciding  between  them 
he  may  dispense  tne  prizes  and  the  chaplets^. 
Even  thus  God  also,  so  long  as  the  strife 
in  this  world  lasts,  succours  the  just  but 
partially,  but  afterwards  He  renders  to  them 
their  rewards  fully. 

5.  But  if  according  to  thee  there  is  no 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  wherefore  condemn  est 
thou  the  robbers  of  graves  ?  For  if  the  body 
perishes,  and  there  is  no  resurrection  to  be 
hoped  for,  why  does  the  violator  of  the  tomb 
undergo  punishment?  Thou  seest  that  though 
thou  deny  it  with  thy  lips,  there  yet  abides 
with  thee  an  indestructible  instinct  of  the 
resurrection. 

6.  Further,  does  a  tree  after  it  has  been 
cut  down  blossom  again,  and  shall  man  after 
being  cut  down  blossom  no  more  ?  And  does 
the  corn  sown  and  reaped  remain  for  the 
threshing  floor,  and  shall  man  when  reaped 
from  this  world  not  remain  for  the  threshing? 
And  do  shoots  of  vine  or  other  trees,  when 
clean  cut  off  and  transphmted,  come  to  life 
and  bear  fruit;  and  shall  man,  for  whose 
sake  all  these  exist,  fall  into  the  earth  and  not 
rise  again  ?  Comparing  efforts,  which  is  greater, 
to  mould  from  the  beginning  a  statue  which 
did  not  exist,  or  to  recast  in  the  same  shape 
that  which  had  fallen  ?  Is  God  then,  who 
created  us  out  of  nothing,  unable  to  raise 
again  those  who  exist  and  are  fallens?  But 
thou  believest  not  what  is  written  of  the 
resurrection,  being  a  Greek  :    then  from  the 


7  The  argument  from  God's  justice  is  treated  by  Athenasor. 
De  Resurr.  c.  x.  and  xx. — xxiii.  ;  Justin  M.  De  Remrr.  c.  viii. 

8  T-qv  i7Tf<^ai'))(J)optW.  Roe.  Cas.  A.  Cf.  Pind.  UL  viii.  13  ; 
Eurip.  Electr.  862. 

9  Athenag.  De  Resurr.  c.  iii.  :  "  If,  when  they  did  not  exist. 
He  made  at  their  first  formation  the  bodies  of  men,  and  their 
original  elements,  He  wiil,  when  they  are  dissolved,  in  whatever 
manner  tliat  may  take  place,  raise  tliem  again  with  equal  ease." 
Lactant.  Institt.  VII.  23  fin. :  A  fast.  Const.  V   ?■ 


analogy  of  nature  consider  these  matters,  and 
understand  them  from  what  is  seen  to  this 
day.  Wheat,  it  may  be,  or  some  other  kind 
of  grain,  is  sown  ;  and  when  the  seed  has 
fallen,  it  dies  and  rots,  and  is  henceforth 
useless  for  food.  But  that  which  has  rotted, 
springs  up  in  verdure;  and  though  small  when 
sown,  springs  up  most  beautiful.  Now  v.'heat 
was  made  for  us;  for  wheat  and  all  seeds  were 
created  not  for  themselves,  but  for  our  use ; 
are  then  the  things  which  were  made  for 
us  quickened  when  they  die,  and  do  we  for 
whom  they  were  made,  not  rise  again  after 
our  death  ^  ? 

7.  The  season  is  winter 2,  as  thou  seest;  the 
trees  now  stand  as  if  they  were  dead  :  for 
where  are  the  leaves  of  the  fig-tree  ?  where 
are  the  clusters  of  the  vine  ?  These  in  winter 
time  are  dead^  but  green  in  spring  ;  and  when 
the  season  is  come,  there  is  restored  to  them 
a  quickening  as  it  were  from  a  state  of  death. 
For  God,  knowing  thine  unbelief,  works  a  resur- 
rection year  by  year  in  these  visible  things  ; 
that,  beholding  what  happens  to  things  inani- 
mate, thou  mayest  believe  concerning  things 
animate  antl  rational.  Further,  flies  and  bees 
are  often  drowned  in  water,  yet  after  a  while 
revives  ;  and  species  of  dormice  ■♦,  after  remain- 
ing motionless  during  the  winter,  are  restored 
in  the  summer  (for  to  thy  slight  thoughts  like 
examples  are  offered) ;  and  shall  He  who  to 
irrational  and  despised  creatures  grants  life 
supernaturally,  not  bestow  it  upon  us,  for 
whose  sake  He  made  them  ? 

8.  But  the  Greeks  ask  for  a  resurrection  of 
the  dead  still  manifest ;  and  say  that,  even  if 
these  creatures  are  raised,  yet  they  had  not 
utterly  mouldered  away ;  and  they  require 
to  see  distinctly  some  creature  rise  again  after 
complete  decay.  God  knew  men's  unbelief, 
and  provided  for  this  purpose  a  bird,  called 
a  Phoenix  s.     This  bird,  as  Clement  writes,  and 


1  An  eloquent  statement  of  the  argument  for  the  resurrection 
from  the  analogies  of  natine  occnrs'in  Tertull.  De  Restitr.  c.  xii. 
That  it  was  not  unknown  to  Cyril,  seems  probable  from  the  con- 
cluding sentence:  "And  surely  if  all  things  rise  again  for  man, 
for  whom  they  have  been  provided — hut  not  for  man  unless  for 
his  flesh  also — how  can  the  flesh  Itself  perish  utterly,  for  the  sake 
and  service  of  which  nothing  is  allowed  to  perish."  Tertuilian 
himself  was  probably  indebted,  as  Bp.  Lightfoot  suggests,  to 
Clemens.  Rom.  Epist.  ad  Corintk.  xxiv.  Cf.  Lactant.  Viv.  Inst. 
vii.  4. 

2  Cf.  Cat.  iv.  30.  These  passages  shew  that  the  Lectures  were 
delivered  in  a  j'Car  when  Easter  fell  early,  as  was  the  case  in 

348  A.D. 

3  In  such  eases  there  is,  of  course,  no  actual  death. 

4  The  tt.vo^a<i  is  supposed  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  to  be  the 
toad  ("  Inventusque  cavis  bufo,"  Virg.  Georg.  i.  185),  by  others  the 
marmot  (mus  Alpinus).  More  probably  it  is  the  dormouse  (myoxis 
glis),  which  stores  up  provisions  for  the  winter,  though  it  sleeps 
through  much  of  that  season.  ,,,,,, 

5  The  story  of  the  Phoenix  as  told  by  Herodotus,  II.  73,  is  as 
follows  :  "  They  have  also  another  sacred  bird  called  the  phcenix. 
which  l' myself  have  never  seen,  except  in  pictures.  Indeed  it  is 
a  great  rarity  even  in  Egypt,  only  coming  there  (accordnig  to  the 
accounts  of  the  people  of  Heliopolis)  once  in  five  hundred  ye.irs, 
when  the  old  phoenix  dies.  . .  .  They  tell  a  story  of  what  this  bird 
does  which  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  credible  ;  that  he  comes  all 


136 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


as  many  more  relate,  being  the  only  one  of  its 
kind  ^,  arrives  in  the  land  of  the  Egyptians  at 
periods  of  five  hundred  years,  shewing  forth 
the  resurrection,  not  in  desert  places,  lest  the 
occurrence  of  the  mystery  should  remain  un- 
known, but  appearing  in  a  notable  city  7,  that 
men  might  even  handle  what  would  otherwise 
be  disbelieved.  For  it  makes  itself  a  coffin  ^  of 
frankincense  and  myrrh  and  other  spices,  and 
entering  into  this  when  its  years  are  fulfdled, 
it  evidently  dies  and  moulders  away.  'I'hen 
from  the  decayed  flesh  of  the  dead  bird  a  worm 
AS  engendered,  and  this  worm  when  grown  large 
is  transformed  into  a  bird ; — and  do  not  dis- 
believe this,  for  thou  seest  the  offspring  of 
bees  also  fashioned  thus  out  of  worms  9,  and 
from  eggs  which  are  quite  fluid  thou  hast  seen 
wings  and  bones  and  sinews  of  birds  issue. 
Afterwards  the  aforesaid  Phoenix,  becoming 
fledged  and  a  full-grown  Phoenix,  like  the 
former  one,  soars  up  into  the  air  such  as  it 
had  died,  shewing  forth  to  men  a  most  evident 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  The  Phcenix  indeed 
is  a  wondrous  bird,  yet  it  is  irrational,  nor 
ever  sang  praise  to  God  ;  it  flies  abroad 
through  the  sky,  but  it  knows  not  who  is  the 
Only-begotten  Son  of  God.  Has  then  a  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  been  given  to  this  ir- 
rational creature  which  knows  not  its  Maker, 
and  to  us  who  ascribe  glory  to  God  and  keep 
His  commandments,  shall  there  no  resurrection 
be  granted  ? 

9,  But  since  the  sign  of  the  Phoenix  is  re- 
mote and  uncommon,  and  men  still  disbelieve 
our  resurrection,  take  again  the  proof  of  this 
from  what  thou  seest  every  day.  A  hundred 
or  two  hundred  years  ago,  we  all,  speakers  and 


the  way  from  Arabia,  and  brings  the  parent  bird,  all  plastered 
over  with  myrrh,  to  the  temple  of  the  Sun,  and  there  buries  the 
body." 

Tne  many  variations  and  fabulous  accretions  of  the  story  are 
detailed  by  Suicer,  Thesaurus,  ^oinf,  and  by  Bp.  Lightfoot  in 
a  long  and  interesting  note  on  Clemens  Rom.  Epist.  ad  Cor.  xxv. 
Cyril  l)orrows  the  story  from  Clement  almost  verbally,  yet  not 
without  some  variations,  which  will  be  noticed  below.  I'he  legend 
with  all  its  miraculous  features  is  told  by  Ovid,  Aletamorph.  .\v. 
392.  by  Claiidian,  Phoenix,  and  by  the  Pseiido-Lactantiiis  in  an 
KIcgiac  poem,  Phoenix,  included  in  Weber's  Corpus  Poetaruvt 
Lntinoruin,  and  literally  translated  in  Clark's  Ante-Nicene 
Library.     See  also  TertuU.  De  Resurr.  Cam.  c.  xiii. 

6  noi'oyei'cs  uTrapxoi',  Clem.  Rom.  iibi  supra.  Cf.  Origen. 
contra  Celsuin,  iv.  98  :  Apost.  Const.  V.  7 :  "a  bird  single  in  its 
kind,  which  they  say  is  without  a  mate,  and  the  only  one  in  the 
creation."     Pseudo-Lactant.  v.  30. 

"  Hoc  nemus  hos  lucos  avis  incolit  unica,  phcenix, 
Unica,  sed  vivit  morte  refecta  sua." 

7  "By  day,  in  the  sight  of  all"  (Clem.  R.)  The  city  was 
Heliopcilis,  according  to  Herodotus  and  the  other  ancient  autliois. 
But  Milton,  '^  Paratiise  Lost,  V.  272 — 

'  A  phicnix  gaz'd  by  all,  as  that  sole  bird, 
■When  to  enshrine  his  reliques  in  the  Sun's 
Bright  temple  to  Egyptian  Thebes  he  flies.' 

Why  does  Milton  despatch  his  bird  to  Thebes  rather  than  Helio- 

polis?"  iLightfuot). 

8  Ovid,  Met.  XV.  403:  "  Fertque  pius  cunasque  suas  patrium- 
que  sepulcrum."  See  the  Commentaries  on  Job  xxix.  18  :  /  shall 
die  in  my  nest,  and  I  shall  tnultiply  iny  days  as  the  sand. 
Margin  R.V.  Or,  the  phcenix. 

9  The  mode  of  reproduction  in  bees  was  regarded  by  .Aristotle 
as  mysterious,  having  in  it  something  supernatural  (Scior)  :  De 
Generatiouf  Animal.  III.  10.  i,  27.  In  the  story  of  the  phtenix 
Herodotus  makes  no  mention  of  the  "  worm." 


hearers,  where  were  we?  Know  we  not  the 
groundwork  of  the  substance  of  our  bodies? 
Knowest  thou  not  how  from  weak  and  shape- 
less and  simple '  elements  we  are  engendered, 
and  out  of  what  is  simple  and  weak  a  living 
man  is  formed  ?  and  how  that  weak  element 
being  made  flesh  is  changed  into  strong  sinews, 
and  bright  eyes,  and  sensitive  nose,  and  hear- 
ing ears,  and  speaking  tongue,  and  beating 
heart,  and  busy  hands,  and  swift  feet,  and  into 
members  of  all  kinds  ='?  and  how  that  once 
weak  element  becomes  a  shipwright,  and  a 
builder,  and  an  architect,  and  a  craftsman  of 
various  arts,  and  a  soldier,  and  a  ruler,  and 
a  lawgiver,  and  a  king  ?  Cannot  God  then,  who 
has  made  us  out  of  imperfect  materials,  raise 
us  up  when  we  have  fallen  into  decay?  He 
who  thus  frames  a  body  out  of  what  is  vile, 
cannot  He  raise  the  fallen  body  again  ?  And 
He  who  fashions  that  which  is  not,  shall  He 
not  raise  up  that  which  is  and  is  fallen  ? 

10.  Take  further  a  manifest  proof  of  the  re- 
surrection of  the  dead,  witnessed  month  by 
month  in  the  sky  and  its  luminaries  3.  The  body 
of  the  moon  vanishes  completely,  so  that  no 
part  of  it  is  any  more  seen,  yet  it  fills  again, 
and  is  restored  to  its  former  state  +  ;  and  for  the 
perfect  demonstration  of  the  matter,  the  moon 
at  certain  revolutions  of  years  suffering  eclii)se 
and  becoming  manifestly  changed  into  blood, 
yet  recovers  its  luminous  body :  God  having 
provided  this,  that  thou  also,  the  man  who  art 
formed  of  blood,  mightest  not  refuse  credence 
to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  but  mightest 
believe  concerning  thyself  also  what  thou  seest 
in  respect  of  the  moon.  These  therefore  use 
thou  as  arguments  against  the  Greeks ;  for 
with  them  who  receive  not  what  is  written 
fight  thou  with  unwritten  weapons,  by  reason- 
ings only  and  demonstrations ;  for  these  men 
know  not  who  Moses  is,  nor  Esaias,  nor  the 
Gospels,  nor  Paul 

11.  Turn  now  to  the  Samaritans,  who,  re- 
ceiving the  Law  only,  allow  not  the  Prophets. 
To  them  the  text  just  now  read  from  Ezekiel 
appears  of  no  force,  for,  as  I  said,  they  admit 
no  Prophets  ;  whence  then  shall  we  persuade 
the  Samaritans  also  ?  Let  us  go  to  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Law.  Now  God  says  to  Moses,  / 
am  the  God  of  Abraham,  ajid  of  Isaac,  and  of 
Jacobs ;  this  must  mean  of  those  who  have  be- 

ina   and    subsistence.      For   if  Abraham    has 


»  For  a  similar  argument,  see  Lactant.  De  Resurr.  c.  xvii. 

3  Clem.  Rom.  Epist.  ad  Cor.  xxiv:  "Day  and  night  shew 
unto  us  the  resurrection.  The  night  falleth  ablecp,  and  day  ariseth  ; 
the  day  departeth,  and  night  conicth  on." 

4  Tertull.  de  Resurr.  Carnis,  xli. :  '•  Readorned  also  are  the 
mirrors  of  the  moon,  which  her  monthly  cotnse  had  worn  away.".  . . 
''  The  whole  of  this  revolving  order  of  things  bears  witness  to  the 
resurrei  tion  of  the  dead." 

5  Ex  iii.  6.  Cf.  Matt.  xxii.  38  :  He  is  not  the  God 0/ the  dead, 
but  oj  the  living. 


LECTURE    XVIII. 


^17 


come  to  an  end,  and  Isaac  and  Jacob,  then  He 
is  the  God  of  those  who  have  no  being.  \\'hen 
did  a  king  ever  say,  I  am  the  king  of  sol- 
diers, whom  be  had  not  ?  \Vhen  (bd  any 
dispLiy  wealth  which  be  possessed  net  ?  There- 
fore Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  must 
subsist,  that  God  may  be  tlie  God  of  those 
who  have  being  ;  for  He  said  not,  "  I  was  their 
God,"  but /aw.  And  that  there  is  a  judgment, 
Abraham  shews  in  saying  to  the  Lord,  He  7C'/io 
ft/df^et/i  all  the  earth,  shall  He  not  execute  judg- 
ment ^  ? 

12.  But  to  this  the  foobsh  Samaritans  ob- 
ject again,  and  say  that  the  souls  possibly 
of  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  continue, 
but  that  their  bodies  cannot  j^ossibly  rise 
again.  Was  it  then  possible  that  the  rod 
of  righteous  Moses  should  become  a  ser- 
pent, and  is  it  impossible  that  the  bodies  of 
the  righteous  should  live  and  rise  again?  And 
^yas  that  done  contrary  to  nature,  and  shall 
they  not  be  restored  according  to  nature? 
Again,  the  rod  of  Aaron,  though  cut  off  and 
dead,  budded,  without  the  scent  of  waters  7, 
and  though  under  a  roof,  sprouted  forth  into 
blossoms  as  in  the  fields ;  and  though  set  in 
dry  places,  yielded  in  one  night  the  flowers 
and  fruit  of  plants  watered  for  many  years. 
Did  Aaron's  rod  rise,  as  it  were,  from  the  dead, 
and  shall  not  Aaron  himself  be  raised  ?  And 
did  God  work  wonders  in  wood,  to  secure  to 
him  the  high-priesthood,  and  will  He  not  vouch- 
safe a  resurrection  to  Aaron  himself?  A 
woman  also  was  made  salt  contrary  to  nature ; 
and  flesh  was  turned  into  salt  ;  and  shall  not 
flesh  be  restored  to  flesh  ?  Was  Lot's  wife  made 
a  pillar  of  salt,  and  shall  not  Abraham's  wife  be 
raised  again  ?  By  what  power  was  Moses'  hand 
changed,  which  even  within  one  hour  became 
as  snow,  and  was  restored  again?  Certainly 
by  God's  command.  Was  then  His  command 
of  force  then,  and  has  it  no  force  now  ? 

13.  And  whence  in  the  beginning  came 
man  into  being  at  all,  O  ye  Samaritans, 
most  senseless  of  all  men  ?  Go  to  the  first 
book  of  the  Scripture,  which  even  you  re- 
ceive ;  And  God  formed  man  of  the  duU 
of  the  ground^.  Is  dust  transformed  into 
flesh,  and  shall  not  flesh  be  again  restored 
to  flesh  ?  You  must  be  asked  too,  whence 
the  heavens  had  their  being,  and  earth, 
and  seas?  Whence  sun,  and  moon,  and 
stars  ?  How  from  the  waters  were  made  the 
things  which  fly  and  swim  ?  And  how  from 
earth  all  its  living  things?  Were  so  many 
myriads  brought  from  nothing  into  being,  and 
shall  we  men,  who  bear  God's  image,  not  be 
raised  up  ?     Truly  this  course  is    full   of  un- 


*  Gen.  xviii.  25. 


7  Job  xiv.  9. 


8  G 


en.  11.  7. 


belief,  and  the  unbelievers  are  much  to  be 
condemned ;  when  Abraham  addresses  the 
Lord  as  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  and  the 
learners  of  the  Law  disbelieve;  when  it  is 
written  that  man  is  of  the  earth,  and  the  readers 
disbelieve  it  9. 

14.  These  questions,  therefore,  are  for  them, 
the  unbelievers  :  but  the  words  of  the  Prophets 
are  for  us  who  believe.  But  since  some  who 
have  also  used  the  Prophets  believe  not  what  is 
written,  and  allege  against  us  that  passage.  The 
ungodly  shall  not  rise  up  ifi  judgment ",  and.  For 
if  man  go  dozan  to  the  grave  he  shall  come  up  no 
7nore^,  and.  The  dead  shall  not  praise  Thee,  O 
Lord '3', — for  of  what  is  well  written,  they  have 
made  ill  use — it  will  be  well  in  a  cursory 
manner,  and  as  far  as  is  now  possible,  to 
meet  them.  For  if  it  is  said,  that  the  un- 
godly shall  not  rise  up  in  judgment,  this  shews 
that  they  shall  rise,  not  in  judgment,  but 
in  condemnation  ;  for  God  needs  not  long 
scrutiny,  but  close  on  the  resurrection  of  the 
ungodly  follows  also  their  punishment.  And 
if  it  is  said,  The  dead  shall  not  praise  Thee,  O 
Lord,  this  shews,  that  since  in  this  life  only  is 
the  appointed  time  for  repentance  and  pardon, 
for  which  they  who  enjoy  it  shall  praise  the 
Lord,  it  remains  not  after  death  for  them  who 
have  died  in  sins  to  give  praise  as  the  receivers 
of  a  blessing,  but  to  bewail  themselves  ;  for 
praise  belongs  to  them  who  give  thanks,  but 
to  them  who  are  under  the  scourge,  lamenta- 
tion. Therefore  the  just  then  ofter  praise  ;  but 
they  who  have  died  in  sins  have  no  further 
season  for  confession  *. 

15.  And  respecting  that  passage,  Lf  a  man 
go  doivn  to  the  grave,  he  shall  come  up  no  more, 
observe  what  follows,  for  it  is  written.  He  shall 
come  up  no  more,  neither  shall  he  return  to  his 
07vn  house.  For  since  the  whole  world  shall 
pass  away,  and  every  house  shall  be  destroyed, 
how  shall  he  return  to  his  own  house,  there 
being  henceforth  a  new  and  different  earth  ? 
But  they  ought  to  have  heard  Job,  saying.  For 
there  is  hope  of  a  tree;  for  if  it  be  cut  down,  it  will 
sprout  again,  and  the  tender  branch  thereof  will 
not  cease.  For  though  the  root  thereof  ivax  old 
in  the  earth,  and  the  stock  thereof  die  in  the  rocky 
ground ;  yet  J'rom  the  scent  of  water  it  ivill 
bud,  and  bring  forth  a  crop  like  a  new  plant. 
But  man  when  he  dies,  is  gone ;  and  when  niorial 
man  falls,  is  he  no  more^  ?  As  it  were  remon- 
stratirg  and  reproving  (for  thus  ought  we  to 


9  The  anomalous  construction  otclv  yeypawTai  ....  xal  anicr- 
TuxTLv  may  be  explained  by  the  consideration,  that  the  uncertainty 
expressed  in  orai'  attaches  only  to  the  latter  Verb.  See  Winer's 
Grammar  of  N.  T.  Greek,  P.  III.  sect.  xlii.  5. 

I   Ps.  i.  5:  The  wicked  shaU  not  stand  ht  t/ie  Judgment  {'R.'V .). 

-  Job  vii.  9.  3  Ps.  cxv.  17. 

4  As  to  the  bearing  of  this  passnge  on  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory 
and  prayer  for  the  dead  see  note  on  xxiii.  10. 

5  Job  xiv.  7 — 10. 


138 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


i-ead  the  words  is  no  more  Avith  an  interro^a- 
tion^);  he  says  since  a  tree  falls  and  revives, 
shall  not  man,  for  whom  all  trees  were  made, 
himself  revive?  And  that  thou  mayest  not 
suppose  that  I  am  forcing  the  words,  read 
what  follows ;  for  after  saying  by  way  of  ques- 
tion, Whef?  mortal  7nnti  falls,  is  he  ?io  more  1  he 
says,  For  if  a  man  die,  he  shall  live  agai^i  7  ;  and 
immediately  he  adds,  I  zvill  wait  till  I  he  made 
again  ^  ;  and  again  elsewhere.  Who  shall  raise 
up  on  the  earth  my  skin,  which  endures  these 
things^.  And  Esaias  the  Prophet  says.  The  dead 
men  shall  rise  again,  and  they  that  are  in  the 
tombs  shall awake'^.  And  the  Propliet  Ezekiel, 
now  before  us,  says  most  i:)lainly,  Behold  I  7vill 
open  your  graves,  and  bring  you  up  out  of  your 
graves  ^.  And  Daniel  says,  Ma?iy  ofihem  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  arise,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  a?id  some  to  everlastitig  shame  3. 
1 6.  And  many  Scriptures  there  are  which 
testify  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  for 
there  are  many  other  sayings  on  this  matter. 
J3ut  now,  by  way  of  remembrance  only,  we  will 
make  a  passing  mention  of  the  raising  of 
Lazarus  on  the  fourth  day  ;  and  just  allude, 
because  of  the  shortness  of  the  time, 
to  the  widow's  son  also  who  was  raised, 
and  merely  for  the  sake  of  reminding  you,  let 
me  mention  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue's 
daughter,  and  the  rending  of  the  rocks,  and 
how  there  arose  many  bodies  of  the  saints 
ivhich  slept  ^,  their  _graves  having  been  opened. 
But  specially  be  it  remembered  that  Christ 
has  been  raised  from  the  dead^.  I  speak  but 
in  passing  of  Elias,  and  the  widow's  son  whom 
he  raised  ;  of  Elisseus  also,  who  raised  the 
dead  twice;  once  in  his  lifetime,  and  once 
after  his  death.  For  when  alive  he  wrought 
the  resurrection  by  means  of  his  own  soul  ^ ; 
but  that  not  the  souls  only  of  the  just  might  be 
honoured,  but  that  it  might  be  believed  tliat  in 
the  bodies  also  of  the  just  there  lies  a  power, 
the  corpse  which  was  cast  into  the  sepuh  hre  of 
Elisseus,  when  it  touched  the  dead  body  of  the 
prophet,  was  quickened,  and  the  dead  body  of 
the  prophet  did  the  work  of  the  soul,  and  that 
which  was  dead  and  buried  gave  life  to  the 
dead,  and  though  it  gave  life,  yet  continued 
itself  among  the  dead.  Wherefore  ?  Lest  if 
Elisseus  should  rise  again,  the  work  should  be 


6  There  is  no  indication  of  a  question  in  the  Septungint  version 
of  the  passnge,  which  means  in  the  Hebrew,  and  luhere  is  he? 
(A.V.  and  R.V.):  Viilg.  uli;,  <ju<PSfl,est  ? 

7  Job  xiv.  T4  :  For  i/ a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again?  (A.V. 
and  R.V.).  By  omitting  the  interrogation  here,  and  inserting  it 
above  in  v,  lo,  Cyril  exactly  invert.s  the  meaning. 

8  lb.  i>.  14:  (A.V.)  All  the  days  of  tiiy  apfoinied  lime 
(R.V.  0/ my  xuarjarc^iuill  I  7vnit,  till  Jiiy  change  (R.V.  release) 
come. 

9  Job  xix.  26  :  (R.V.)  and  that  !ic  shall  stand  i//>  at  the  last 
iifion  the  earth  :  and  after  my  skin  hath  been  thu<  destroyed,  &^c. 
Cyril,  as  iiMial,  follows  the  Si.ptii;igint.  '   Is.  xxvi.  lO. 

2  Ezek.  x.x.wii.  12.  3  Dan.  xii.  2.  4  Matt,  xxvii.  52. 

5  I  Cor.  XV.  20.  t-  2  Kings  iv.  34. 


ascribed  to  his  soul  alone  ;  and  to  shew,  that 
even  though  the  soul  is  not  present,  a  virtue 
resides  in  the  body  of  the  saints,  because  of 
the  righteous  soul  which  has  for  so  many  years 
dwelt  in  it,  and  used  it  as  its  minister  7.  And 
let  us  not  foolishly  disbelieve,  as  though  this 
thing  had  not  happened  :  for  if  handkerchiefs 
and  ai^rons,  which  are  from  without,  touching 
the  bodies  of  the  diseased,  raised  up  the  sick, 
how  much  more  should  the  very  body  of  the 
Prophet  raise  the  dead? 

17.  And  with  respect  to  these  instances  we 
might  say  much,  rehearsing  in  detail  the  mar- 
vellous circumstances  of  each  event  ;  but  as  you 
have  been  already  wearied  both  by  the  super- 
posed fast  of  the  Preparation^,  and  by  the  watch- 
ings  9,  let  what  has  been  cursorily  spoken  con- 
cerning them  suffice  for  a  while  ;  these  words 
having  been  as  it  were  sown  thinly,  that  you, 
receiving  the  seed  like  richest  ground,  may  in 
bearing  fruit  increase  them.  But  be  it  remem- 
bered, that  the  Apostles  also  raised  the  dead  ; 
Peter  raised  Tabitba  in  Joppa,  and  Paul  raised 
Eutychus  in  Troas  ;  and  thus  did  all  the  other 
Apostles,  even  though  the  wonders  wrought  by 
each  have  not  all  been  written.  Further, 
remember  all  the  sayings  in  the  first  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  which  Paul  wrote  against  them 
who  said,  Ifo7C'  are  the  dead  raised,  and  with 

7  "  The  worship  of  relics,  and  the  belief  in  them  as  remedies 
and  a  protection  against  ("vil,  originated  in  the  4th  century. 
They  first  (?)  appear  in  writings,  none  of  which  are  earlier  than 
the  year  ,370  :  but  they  prevailed  rapidly  when  they  had  once 
taken  root"  (Scudamore,  Diet.  Chr.  Antiq.  "  Relics,"  p.  1770). 
Bingham  {Ant.  xxiii.  4,  §  7)  quotes  a  law  of  Theodosius,  "that 
no  one  should  remove  any  dead  body  that  was  buried,  from  one 
place  to  another  ;  that  no  one  should  sell  or  buy  the  relics  of 
Martyrs:  but  if  any  one  was  minded  to  build  over  the  grave, 
where  a  martyr  was  buried,  a  church  to  be  called  a  martyrinfn, 
in  respect  to  him,  he  should  have  liberty  to  do  it."  The  law 
wholly  failed  to  suppress  a  superstition  which  was  sanctioned 
by  such  men  as  Cyril,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  Ambrose,  and  .'Augustine. 

8  €K  Trjs  VTrepSefTeto?  Trjs  vrftTTeia';  tt);  n-apaaxeuVj?,  Ed.  Bened. 
"The  ecclesiastical  term  rrj!  UTrcpSe'o-eu);  we  have  rendered,  ac- 
cording to  the  interpretation  received  among  the  Latins,  by  the 
word  '  superpositio.'  The  ancients  meant  by  it  a  fast  continued  for 
two  or  three  days  without  food.  Moreover,  since  the  great  week 
was  ob-erved  with  severer  fastings,  there  were  many  who  passed 
either  the  whole  week  or  four,  three,  or  two  days,  namely  the 
Preparation  and  the  Holy  Sabl  ath  (Easter  Eve),  entirely  fasting, 
as  is  testified  by  S.  Irena;us  (iiuseb.  Hist.  V.  24)  and  others. 
The  continuance  of  the  fast  throughout  the  Friday  and  Saturday 
was  highly  approved,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  Apostolical  Con- 
stitutiflfis,\ .  iS."  The  passage  referred  to  is  as  follows:  "Do 
you  therefore  fast  on  the  days  of  the  Passover,  beginning  from  the 
^cond  day  of  the  week  until  the  Preparati<ni  and  the  Sabbath, 
six  days,  making  use  only  of  bread,  and  salt,  and  herbs,  and  water 
for  your  drink  :  but  abstain  on  these  days  ironi  wine  and  flesh,  for 
they  are  days  of  lamentation  and  not  of  fasting.  Do  ye  who  are  able 
fast  throughout  the  Preparation  and  the  .Sabbath  entirely,  tasting 
nothing  till  the  cockcrowing  at  night  ;  but  if  any  one  is  not  able 
to  combine  them  both,  let  the  Sabbath  at  least  be  observed." 

9  The  fast  of  the  Great  Sabbath  was  to  be  continued  through 
the  night,  as  prescribed  in  the  A/>ost.  Const.  V.  ig  :  "Cimtiiuie 
until  cock-crowing  anil  break  off  your  fast  at  dawn  of  the  fiist  day 
of  the  week,  which  is  the  Lord's  day.  keeping  awake  from  evening 
imtil  cock-crowing  ;  and  assendiling  together  in  the  Church, 
watch  and  pray  and  beseech  God,  in  your  night-long  vigil,  reading 
the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,  until  the  crowing  of  the 
cocks:  and  after  baptizing  your  Catechiunens.  and  reading  the 
Gospel  in  fear  and  trembling,  and  speaking  to  the  people  the 
things  pertaining  to  salvation,  so  cease  from  your  mourning." 
A  chief  reason  for  the  watching  was  that  Christ  was  evpected 
to  return  at  the  same  hnur  in  which  He  rose.  On  the  meaning  of 
"superposition"  sec  Routh's  note  on  the  Synodical  Episile  of 
Irena;us  to  Victor  of  Rome  {Kelt.  Sac.  ii.»p.  45,  ss.),  and  the 
passage  ot  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  there  quoted. 


LFXTURE   XVIII. 


139 


ic'hat  fna?iner  of  body  dot  hey  co?ne  '  ?  And  how 
he  says,  For  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  is  not 
Christ  raised'^;  and  how  he  called  thitm  fools  ^, 
who  beh"eved  not  ;  and  remember  the  whole  of 
his  teaching  there  concerning  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  and  how  he  wrote  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  Bvt  7ve  wotild  not  have  you  to  be  ignorant, 
brethren,  concerning:;  them  which  are  asleep,  that 
ye  sorrotv  not,  even  as  the  rest  7C'hich  have  no 
Iwpe'',  and  all  that  follows  :  but  chiefly  that,  And 
the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first  5. 

18.  But  especially  mark  this,  how  very 
pointedly^  Paul  says,  For  this  corruptible  must 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put 
on  iinmortalityT.  For  this  body  shall  be  raised, 
not  remaining  weak  as  now  ;  but  raised  the  very 
same  bod\-,  though  by  putting  on  incoriuption  it 
shall  befashionedanew^, — as  iron  blendingwith 
fire  becomes  fire,  or  rather  as  He  knows  how,  the 
Lord  who  raises  us.  This  body  therefore  shall 
be  raised,  but  it  shall  abide  not  such  as  it  now 
is,  but  an  eternal  l)ody  ;  no  longer  needing  for 
its  life  such  nourishment  as  now,  nor  stairs  for 
its  ascent,  for  it  shall  be  made  spiritual,  a  mar- 
vellous thing,  such  as  we  cannot  worthily  speak 
of.  2he/i,  it  is  said,  shall  the  righteous  shine 
forth  as  the  sun'^,  and  the  moon,  and  as  the 
brightness  of  the  firmament '°.  And  God,  fore- 
knowing men's  unbelief,  has  given  to  little 
worms  in  the  summer  to  dart  beams  of  light 
from  their  body  %  that  from  what  is  seen,  that 
which  is  looked  for  might  be  believed  ;  for  He 
who  gives  in  part  is  able  to  give  the  whole 
also,  and  He  who  made  the  worm  radiant  with 
light,  will  much  more  illuminate  a  righteous 
man. 

19.  We  shall  be  raised  therefore,  all  with 
our  bodies  eternal,  but  not  all  with  bodies 
alike  :  for  if  a  man  is  righteous,  he  will  receive 
a  heavenly  body,  that  he  may  be  able  worthily 
to  hold  converse  with  Angels  ;  but  if  a  man  is 
a  sinner,  he  shall  receive  an  eternal  body,  fitted 
to  endure  the  penalties  of  sins,  that  he  may 
burn  eternally  in  fire,  nor  ever  be  consumed  ^. 
And  righteously  will  God  assign  this  portion  to 
either  company;  for  we  do  nothing  without 
the  body.  We  blaspheme  with  the  mouth, 
and  with  the  mouth  we  pray.  With  the  body 
we  commit  fornication,  and  with  the  body  we 
keep  chastity.  With  the  hand  we  rob,  and  by 
the  hand  we  bestow  alms  ;  and  the  rest  in  like 


'  I  Cor.  XV.  35.  8  lb.  V.  16.  3  lb.  V.  36. 

4  I  Thess.  iv.  13.  5  lb.  z/.  16. 

^   [l.OVOVOV\K   SaKTvXoSetKTtol/, 

7  I  Cor.  XV.  53. 

8  fit-raTToiftTat.  The  meanine  of  this  word  as  applied  to  the 
Euclinr:stic  elements  is  fully  iliscu.ssed,  and  illustrated  from  its 
use  bv  Cyril  and  other  Fathers,  by  Dr.  Pusey  (Real  Presence, 
p.  189). 

9  Matt.  xiii.  43.  '°  Dan.  xii.  3. 

'  Cyril  refers  to  the  glow-worm  (jrvyoAa;u.7ri'?,  Aristot  Hist. 
Animal  V.  19.  14),  ,or  some  other  species  of  Lampyris  (Arist. 
lie  Fartilus  Animal.  \.  3.  3).  ^  Cf.  Cat.  iv.  31. 


manner.  Since  then  the  body  has  been  our 
minister  in  all  things,  it  shall  also  share  with 
us  in  the  future  the  fruits  of  the  past  3. 

20.  Therefore,  brethren,  let  us  be  careful  of 
our  bodies,  nor  misuse  them  as  though  not  our 
own.  Let  us  not  say  like  the  heretics,  that 
this  vestuie  of  the  body  belongs  not  to  us,  but 
let  us  be  careful  of  it  as  our  own  ;  for  we  must 
give  account  to  the  Lord  of  all  things  done 
through  the  body.  Say  not,  none  seeth  me  ; 
think  not,  that  there  is  no  witness  of  the  deed. 
Human  witness  oftentimes  there  is  not  ;  but 
He  who  fashioned  us,  an  unerring  witness, 
abides  faithful  in  heaven  ■*,  and  beholds  what 
thou  doest.  And  the  stains  of  sin  also  remain 
in  the  body;  for  as  when  a  wound  has  gone 
deep  into  the  body,  even  if  there  has  been 
a  healing,  the  scar  remains,  so  sin  wounds  soul 
and  body,  and  the  marks  of  its  scars  remain  in 
all ;  and  they  are  removed  only  from  those  who 
receive  the  washing  of  Baptism.  The  post 
wounds  therefore  of  soul  and  body  God  heals 
by  Baptism  ;  against  future  ones  let  us  one 
and  all  jointly  guard  ourselves,  that  we  may 
keep  this  vestment  of  the  body  pure,  and 
may  not  for  practising  fornication  and  sensual 
indulgence  or  anv  other  sin  for  a  short  season, 
lose  the  salvation  of  heaven,  but  may  inherit 
the  eternal  kingdom  of  God ;  of  which  may 
God,  of  His  own  grace,  deem  all  of  you 
worthy. 

21.  Thus  much  in  proof  of  the  Resurrection 
of  the  dead  ;  and  now,  let  me  again  recite  to 
you  the  profession  of  the  faith,  and  do  you 
with  all  diligence  pronounce  it  while  I  speaks, 
and  remember  it. 


22.  The  Faith  which  we  rehearse  contains 
in  order  the  following,  "And  in  one  Baptism 

OF  REPENTANCE  FOR  THE    REMISSION    OF   SINS  ; 

AND  IN  ONE  Holy  Catholic  Church  ;  and 
IN  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh;  and 
IN  eternal  life."  Now  of  Baptism  and 
repentance  I  have  spoken  in  the  earliest  Lec- 
tures ;  and  my  present  remarks  concerning 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead  have  been  made 
with  reference  to  the  Article  "In  the  resur- 
rection of  the  flesh."  Now  then  let  me  finish 
what  still  remains  to  be  said  for  the  x\rticle, 
"In  one  Holy  Catholic  Church,"  on  which, 
though  one  might  say  many  things,  we  will 
speak  but  briefly. 

23.  It   is   called   Catholic  then  because  it 


3  Ttoi'  •yei'O/neViDi'.  With  the  reading  ■yii'O/xeVtov  (Codd.  Monn. 
Vind.),  the  meaning  will  be — "share  with  us  in  the  future  what 
shall  happen  to  us  then."  On  the  argument  of  this  section  com- 
pare the  passages  quoted  on  §  4,  note  7. 

4  Ps.  Ixxxix.  37. 

5  Cat.   V.   12 


fKdcTTrjs  Ae 


V.  12,    notes  7  and  4.     Of.    Plat.  Theaet.  204  c  :    €'>> 
e'^6w?,  "each  time  we  speak." 


140 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


extends  over  all  the  world,  from  one  end  of 
the  earth  to  tlie  other  ;  and  because  it  teaches 
universally  and  completely  one  and  all  the 
doctrines  which  ought  to  come  to  men's  know- 
ledge, concerning  things  both  visible  and  in- 
visible, heavenly  and  earthly  ^  ;  and  because  it 
brings  into  subjection  to  godliness  the  whole 
race  of  mankind,  governors  and  governed, 
learned  and  unlearned  ;  and  because  it  uni- 
versally treats  and  heals  the  whole  class  of 
sins,  which  are  committed  by  soul  or  body, 
and  possesses  in  itself  every  form  of  virtue 
which  is  named,  both  in  deeds  and  words,  and 
in  every  kind  of  spiritual  gifts. 

24.  And  it  is  rightly  named  (Ecclesia)  because 
it  calls  forth  7  and  assembles  together  all  men  ; 
according  as  the  Lord  says  in  Leviticus,  ^/.v/ 
ma/ce  an  asseinhly  for  all  the  congregaliflii  at  the 
door  of  the  tabernacle  of  witness  ^.  And  it  is  to  be 
noted,  that  the  word  assemble,  is  used  for  the 
first  time  in  the  Scriptures  here,  at  the  tume 
when  the  Lord  puts  Aaron  into  the  High- 
priesthood.  And  in  Deuteronomy  also  the 
Lord  says  to  Moses,  Assemble  the  people  unto 
Me,  and  let  them  hear  My  words,  that  they  may 
learn  to  fear  Me'^.  And  he  again  mentions  the 
name  of  the  Church,  when  he  says  concerning 
the  Tables,  And  on  them  were  written  all  the 
7iwrds  tvhich  the  Lord  spake  7vith  you  in  the 
mount  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire  in  the  day  of 
the  Assembly  ^°  ;  as  if  he  had  said  more  plainly, 
in  the  day  in  which  ye  were  called  and 
gathered  together  by  God.  The  Psalmist  also 
says,  /  7C'ill  give  thanks  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  in 
the  great  Cojigregation  ;  L  will  praise  Thee  among 
much  peo/le  ^ 

25.  Of  old  the  Psalmist  sang,  Bless  ye  God 
in  the  congregations,  even  the  Lord,  (ye  that  are) 
from  the  fountains  of  Lsrael^.  But  after  the 
Jews  for  the  plots  which  they  made  against 
the  Saviour  were  cast  away  from  His  grace, 
the  Saviour  built  out  of  the  Gentiles  a  second 
Holy  Church,  the  Church  of  us  Christians, 
concerning  which  he  said  to  Peter,  And  upon 
this  rock  L  will  build  My  Church,  and  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it^. 
'And  David  prophesying  of  both  these,  said 
plainly  of  the  first  which  was  rejected,  /  have 
hated  the  Congregation  of  evil  doers  *  /   but  of 


6  Bishop  Lis'itfoit  {Ignatius,  ad  Smyrnaeos,  viii.)  traces  the 
original  and  liUer  senses  of  the  word  "Catholic"  very  fully. 
"In  its  earliest  usages,  therefore,  as  a  fluctuating  epithet  of 
<KKA.i)iTi'a,  '  catliolic  '  means  '  universal,'  as  opposed  to  '  inJividual,' 
'  particular.'  In  its  later  sense,  as  a  fixed  attribute,  it  implies 
orthodo.w  as  opposed  to  heresy,  conformity  as  opposed  to  dissent." 
Coiiimenting  on  this  passage  of  Cyril,  the  Bishop  adds  that  "these 
two  latter  reasons,  that  it  (the  Church)  is  comprehensive  in  doc- 
trine, and  that  it  is  universal  in  application,  can  only  be  regarded 
as  secondary  glosses." 

7  eKKfoVticrtfai.     Cf.  Heb.  .\ii.  23. 

8  Lei  .  viii.  3  :  inKKy)tTiauov. 

9  Deut.  iv.  10.  '°  lb.  ix.  10:  tKicXTjo-ias. 

'  Ps.  XXXV.  18  ;  Heb.  ii.  la.         ^  Ps.  Uviii.  ^6  :  iv  t'K(cAi|(rioi9. 
Matt.  xvi.  18.  4  Ps.  .\xvi.  5. 


the  second   which  is  built  up  he  says  in  the 
same  Psalm,  Lord,  J  have  loved  the  beauty  of 
'Thine  house  s,-  and  immediately  afterwards.   /// 
the  Congregations  will  I  bless  thee,  O  Lord ^.    For 
now   that  the  one   Church  in    Jud^a  is    cast 
oft",  the  Churches  of  Christ  are  increased  over 
all  the  world  ;  and  of  them  it  is  said  in  the 
Psalms,  SiJig  unto  the  Lord  a   neiv  song.  His 
praise  in  the  Congregation  of  Saints  t.     Agree- 
ably to   which  the   prophet   also   said    to   the 
Jews,  /  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord 
Almighty^;    and  immediately  afterwards,  Tv?/- 
frotn   the  risi/ig  of  the  sun  even  unto  the  going 
down  of  the  same,  My  name  is  glorified  among 
the  Gentiles'^.    Concerning  this  Holy  Catholic 
Church  Paul  writes  to  Timothy,  That  thou  may- 
est  know  ho7v  thou  oughtest  to  behave  thyself  in 
the  LLouse  of  God,  which  is  the  Church  of  the 
Living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truih\ 
26.  But  since  the  word  Ecclesia  is  applied 
to    different    things    (as   also  it  is  written    of 
the    multitude    in    the    theatre    of   the    Kphe- 
sians,  And  when  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  dis- 
missed the  Assembly^),   and   since  one  might 
properly  and  truly  say  that  there  is  a  Chunh 
if  evil  doers,  I  mean  the  meetings  of  the  here- 
tics, the   Marcionists  and  Manichees,  and  tlie 
rest,   for    this  cause    the    Faith    has    securely 
delivered  to  thee  now  the  Article,  "  And  in  one 
Holy    Catholic    Church  ; "    that    thou  mayest 
avoid  their  wretched  meetings,  and  ever  abide 
with  the  Holy  Church  Catholic  in  which  thou 
wast  regenerated.    And  if  ever  thou  art  sojourn- 
ing in  cities,  inquire  not  simply  where  the  Lord  s 
House  is  (for  the  other  sects  of  the  profane 
also  attempt  to  call  their  own   dens  h^u.ses 
of  the  Lord),  nor  merely  where  the  Church  is, 
but  where  i.5  the  Catholic  Church.     For  this 
is  the  peculiar  name  of  this  Holy  Church,  the 
mother  of  us  all,  which  is  the  spouse  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Only-Legotten  Son  of 
God  (for  it  is  written,  As  Christ  also  loved  the 
Church  and  gave  LLim self  for  it^,  and  all  the 
rest,)  and  is  a  figure   and  copy  of  Jerusalem 
which  is  above,  which  is  free,  and  the  mother 
of  us  alh  ;  which  before  was  barren,  but  now 
has  many  children. 

27.  For  when  the  first  Church  was  cast  oft, 
in  the  second,  which  is  the  Catholic  Cb.urch, 
God  hath  set,  as  Paul  says,  first  Afostles, 
secondly  Prophets,  thirdly  teachers,  then  mir- 
acles, then  gifts  of  healings,  helps,  govern- 
ments, divers  kinds  of  tongues  5,  and  every 
sort  of  virtue,  I  mean  wisdom  and  under- 
standing, temperance  and  justice,  mercy  and 
loving-kindness,   and   patience   unconquerable 


5  Ps.  xxvi.  8:  Sept.  evirpineiav.  R.V.  and  A.V.  "habitation." 

6  lb!  z/.  12.  7  Ps.  cxlix.  I.  8  Mai.  i.  lo. 

9  II,   7/    II.  «   I  'i  ini.  iii.  13.  '  Acts  xix.  14. 

1  liph.  V.  25.  •»  Gal.  iv.  26.  S  I  Cor.  xii.  28. 


LECTURE    XVIII. 


141 


in  persecutions.  She,  by  the  armour  of  rio/ii- 
eousness  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left, 
by  honour  and  dishonour^,  in  former  days  amid 
persecutions  and  tribulations  crowned  the  holy 
martyrs  with  the  varied  and  blooming  chaplets 
of  patience,  and  now  in  times  of  peace  by 
God's  grace  receives  her  due  honours  from 
kings  and  those  who  are  in  high  phice  7.  and 
from  every  sort  and  kindred  of  men.  And 
while  the  kings  of  particular  nations  have 
bounds  set  to  their  authority,  the  Holy  Church 
Catholic  alone  extends  her  power  without 
limit  over  the  whole  world ;  for  God,  as  it 
is  written,  hath  made  her  border  pcace^.  But 
I  should  need  many  more  hours  for  my  dis- 
course, if  I  wished  to  speak  of  all  things  which 
concern  her. 


28.  In  this  Holy  Catholic  Church  receiving 
instruction  and  behaving  ourselves  virtuously, 
we  shall  attain  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
inherit  eternal  life  ;  for  which  also  we 
endure  all  toils,  that  we  may  be  made  par- 
takers thereof  from  the  Lord.  For  ours  is  no 
trifling  aim,  but  our  endeavour  is  for  eternal  life. 
Wherefore  in  the  profession  of  the  Faith,  after 
the  words,  "And  in  the  resurrection  of 
THE  FLESH,"  that  is,  of  the  dead  (of  which 
we  have  discoursed),  we  are  taught  to  believe 
also  "  In  the  life  Eternal,"  for  which  as 
Christians  we  are  striving. 

29.  The  real  and  true  life  then  is  the 
Father,  who  through  the  Son  in  the  Holv 
Spirit  pours  forth  as  from  a  fountain  His 
heavenly  gifts  to  all  ;  and  through  His  love  to 
man,  the  blessings  of  the  life  eternal  are  pro- 
mised without  fail  to  us  men  also.  We  must 
not  disbelieve  the  possibility  of  this,  but 
having  an  eye  not  to  our  own  weakness  but 
to  His  power,  we  must  believe  ;  for  with  God 
all  things  are  possible.  And  that  this  is  pos- 
sible, and  that  we  may  look  for  eternal  life, 
Daniel  declares,  And  of  the  many  righteous 
shall  they  shine  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever  9. 
And  Paul  says,  And  so  shall  we  be  ever  icifh 
the  Lord'^ :  for  the  being  for  ever  with  the  Lord 
implies  the  life  eternal.  But  most  plainly 
of  all  the  Saviour  Himself  says  in  the  Gospel, 
And  these  shall  go  aivay  info  eternal  punish- 
ment, but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal^. 

30.  And  many  are  the  proofs  concerning 
the  life  eternal.  And  when  we  desire  to 
gain  this  eternal  life,  the  sacred  Scriptures 
suggest  to  us  the  ways  of  gaining  it ;  of  which, 
because  of  the  length  of  our  discourse,  the 
texts  we  now  set  before  you  shall  be  but  few, 
the  rest  being  left  to  the  search  of  the  diligent. 


fi  2  Cor.  vi.  7,  8. 
9  Dan.  xii.  3,  Sept. 


7  I  Tim.  ii.  2. 
»  I  Tlieas.  iv.  17. 


8  Ps.  cxlvii.  14. 
2  M;ut.  xxv.  46. 


They  declare  at  one  time  that  it  is  by  faith  ; 
for  it  is  written,  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
hath  eternal  life  3,  and  what  follows ;  and 
again  He  says  Himself,  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
nnto  you.  He  that  heareth  My  word,  and  be- 
lieve tli  Him  that  sent  Ale,  hath  eternal  life*, 
and  the  rest.  At  another  time,  it  is  by  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  ;  for  He  says,  that  He 
that  rcapcth  receiveth  ivages,  and  gathereth  fruit 
unto  life  eternal^.  At  another  time,  by  martvr- 
dom  and  confession  in  Christ's  name ;  for  He 
says,  And  he  that  hateth  his  life  in  this  world, 
shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal^.  And  again,  by 
preferring  Christ  to  riches  or  kindred  ;  A7id 
every  one  that  hath  forsaken  brethren,  or  sisters  t, 
and  the  xfiX,  shall  inherit  eternal  life.  More- 
over it  is  by  keeping  the  commandments, 
Thou  shall  not  commit  adultery.  Thou  shall  not 
kill^,  and  the  rest  which  follow;  as  He  answered 
to  him  that  came  to  Him,  and  said.  Good 
Alaster,  what  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal 
life')  ?  But  further,  it  is  by  departing  from  evil 
works,  and  henceforth  serving  God ;  tor  Paul 
says,  A?//  no7v  being  made  free  from  sin,  and 
become  seivants  to  God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto 
sanctif  cation,  and  the  end  eternal  life  '. 

31.  And  the  ways  of  finding  eternal  life  are 
many,  though  I  have  passed  over  them  by 
reason  of  their  number.  For  the  Ford  in  His 
loving-kindness  has  opened,  not  one  or  two 
only,  but  many  doors,  by  which  to  enter  into 
the  life  eternal,  that,  as  far  as  lay  in  Him, 
all  miglit  enjoy  it  without  hindrance.  Thus 
much  have  we  for  the  present  spoken  within 
compass  concerning  the  life  eternal,  which 
is  the  last  doctrine  of  those  professed  in  the 
Faith,  and  its  termination  ;  which  life  may  we 
all,  both  teachers  and  hearers,  by  God's  grace 
enjoy ! 


32.  And  now,  brethren  beloved,  the  word 
of  instruction  exhorts  you  all,  to  prepare  your 
souls  for  the  reception  of  the  heavenly  gifts. 
As  regards  the  Holy  and  Apostolic  Faith  de- 
livered to  you  to  profess,  we  have  spoken 
through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  as  many  Lectures, 
as  was  possible,  in  these  past  days  of  Lent ;  not 
that  this  is  all  we  ought  to  have  said,  for  many 
are  the  points  omitted  ;  and  these  perchance  are 
thought  out  better  by  more  excellent  teachers. 
But  now  the  holy  day  of  the  Passover  is  at 
hand,  and  ye,  beloved^  in  Cluist,  are  to  be 
enlightened  by  the  Laver  of  regeneration.  Ye 
shall  therefore  again  be  taught  what  is  requi- 

3  John  iii.  36.  4  lb.  v.  24.  5  lb.  iv.  36. 

6  lb.  xii.  25.  7  Matt.  xix.  29.        _        8  lb.  vv.  16 — 18. 

9  Mark  X.  17.  .    ,    '  Rom.  vi.  22. 

2  Trjs  viJ.eTepa<;  iv  Xpicrrtp  ayin-r)?.  Cf.  Cat.  xvii.  i,  note  I. 
Athan.  Epist.  ad Epict  g  2  :  irapa  Tfl  err;  Oeocnfiiia.  adSerap.  iv.  i : 
Trapd  TTJs  OTJS  eitAa^tta?. 


142 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


site,  if  God  so  will ;  with  how  great  devotion 
and  order  you  must  enter  in  when  summoned, 
for  what  purpose  each  of  the  holy  mysteries  of 
Baptism  is  performed,  and  with  what  reverence 
and  order  you  must-  go  from  Baptism  to  the 
Holy  Altar  of  God,  and  enjoy  its  spiritual 
and  heavenly  mysteries  ;  that  your  souls  being 
previously  enlightened  by  the  word  of  doc- 
trine, ye  may  discover  in  each  particular  the 
greatness  of  the  gifts  bestowed  on  you  by 
God. 

^;^.  And  after  Easter's  Holy  Day  of  sal- 
vation, ye  shall  come  on  each  successive  day, 
beginning  from  the  second  day  of  the  week, 
after  the  assembly  into  the  Holy  Place 
of  the  Resurrection  3,  and  there,  if  God 
permit,  ye  shall  hear  other  Lectures  ;  in  which 
ye  shall  again  be  taught  the  reasons  of 
every  thing  which  has  been  done,  and  shall 
receive  the  proofs  thereof  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments, — first,  of  the  things  done 
just  before  Baptism, — next,  how  ye  were 
cleansed  from  your  sins  by  the  Lord,  /^j  the 
ivashing  of  water  untJi  the  word'-, — and  how  like 
Priests  ye  have  become  partakers  of  the  Name 
of  Christ, — and  how  the  Seal  of  the  fellowship 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  to  you, — and 
concerning  the  mysteries  at  the  Altar  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  have  taken  their  beginning 
from  this  place,  both  what  the  Divine  Scriptures 
have  delivered  to  us,  and  what  is  the  power  of 
these  mysteries,  and  how  ye  must  approach 
them,  and  when  and  how  receive  them  ; — and 
at  the  end  of  all,  how  for  the  time  to  come 
ye  must  behave  yourselves  worthily  of  this 
grace  both  in  words  and  deeds,  that  you  may 
all  be  enabled  to  enjoy  the  life  everlasting. 
And  these  things  shall  be  spoken,  if  it  be 
God's  pleasure. 

34.  Finally,  my  bixthren,  rejoice  in  the  Lord 
ahvay  ;  a^ain  I  will  say.  Rejoice  :  for  your  re- 
demption hath  drawn  nigh  s,  and  the  heavenly 
host  of  the  Angels  is  waiting  for  your  sal- 
vation. And  there  is  now  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord^ ;  and  the  Prophet  cries,  Ho,  ye  that 
thirst,  come  ye  to  the  luateri  ;  and  immediately 
afterwards.  Hearken  nnto  me,  and  ye  shall  eat 
that  which  is  good,  and  your  soul  shall  delight 
itself  in  good  things  ^  And  within  a  little  while 
ye  shall  hear  that  excellent  lesson  which  says. 
Shine,  shine,  O  thou  new  Jerusalem ;  for  thy 


3  The  place  meant  is  not  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection 
in  which  the  Service  had  heen  held,  but  the  Anastasis  or  actual 
cave  of  the  Resurrection,  which  Constautine  had  so  enlnrgod 
by  additional  works  that  a  discourse  to  the  people  could  be  held 
there:  for  Jerome  (/;//.>/.  6i)  relates  that  ICpipliauius  had  preached 
ill  that  place  in  front  of  the  Lord's  sepuh  hre  to  clergy  and  peoj^le 
in  the  hearing  of  John  the  Bishop  (Ben.  lid.). 

4  Eph.  V.  26. 

5  Pliil.  iii.  X  ;  and  iv.  4  ;  Luke  xxi.  28.  *  Is.  xl.  3. 
7  Ih.  Iv.  I.                              8  lb.  V.  2. 


light  is  coined.  Of  this  Jerusalem  the  prophet 
hath  said.  And  aftcrioards  thou  shall  be  called 
the  city  of  rightcoiistiess,  Zion,  the  faitlful 
mother  of  cities  ^ ;  because  of  the  law  which 
went  forth  out  of  Zion,  and  the  tcwrd  of  the 
Lord  from  Jerusalem  ^,  which  word  has  from 
hence  been  showered  forth  on  the  whole  world. 
To  her  the  Prophet  also  says  concerning  you, 
LJft  up  thine  eyes  rojitid  about,  and  behold  thy 
children  gathered  together '^ ;  and  she  answers, 
saying,  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  a  cloud, 
and  as  doves  7vith  their  young  ones  to  me  4 .? 
{clouds,  because  of  their  spiritual  nature,  and 
doves,  from  their  purity).  And  again,  she  says, 
JVho  knoiceth  such  things  ?  or  who  hath  seen  it 
thus  ?  did  ever  a  land  bring  forth  in  one  day  ?  or 
7c'as  ever  a  nation  born  all  at  once  ?  for  as 
soon  as  Zion  ti-availed,  she  brotight  fo)  th  her 
children^.  And  all  things  shall  be  filled  with 
joy  unspeakable  because  of  the  Lord  who  said. 
Behold,  L  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing,  and  her 
people  a  joy  ^. 

35.  And  may  these  words  be  spoken  now 
again  over  you  also.  Sing,  O  heavens,  and  be 
joyful,  O  earth;  and  \X\tn;  for  the  Lord  hath 
had  mercy  on  His  people,  and  comforted  the 
lowly  of  His  people^.  And  this  shall  come 
to  pass  through  the  loving-kindness  of  God, 
who  says  to  you.  Behold,  I  will  blot  otit  as 
a  cloud  thy  transgressions,  and  as  a  thick 
cloud  thy  sins  ^.  But  ye  who  have  been 
counted  worthy  of  the  name  of  Faithful  (of 
whom  it  h  written.  Upon  My  servants  shall 
be  called  a  new  name  which  shall  be  blessed 
on  the  earth  ?,)  ye  shall  say  with  gladness. 
Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  7vho  hath  blessed  us  with  every 
spiritual  blessing  in  the  heavenly  places  in 
Christ '  .•  in  whom  we  have  our  redemption 
through  His  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins, 
according  to  the  riches  of  His  grace,  wherein 
He  abounded  toivards  us  ^,  and  what  follows  ; 
and  again,  But  God  being  rich  in  mercy,  for 
His  great  love  whereivith  He  loved  us,  when 
■ive  were  dead  through  our  trespasses,  quickened 
us  together  with  Chris fi,  and  the  rest.  And 
again  in  like  manner  praise  ye  the  Lord  of 
all  good  things,  saying,  But  when  tlu'  kind- 
ness of  God  our  Saviour,  a?id  His  love  to- 
wards man  appeared,  not  by  works  of  right- 
eousness which  we  had  done,  but  according 
to  His  ?nercy  He  saved  us,  through  the  wash- 
ing of  regejieration,  and  renetcing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  LLe  shed  on  us  abundantly 
through  Jesus    Christ  our  Saviour,  thai  being 


9  Is.  Ix.  I.  «  lb.  i.  26.    a  lb.  ii.  3. 

4  II,.  Ix  8.         S  lb.  Ixvi.  8. 
7  lb.  \lix.  13.         **  Is.  xliv.  22. 
«  Lph.  i.  3.        2  lb.  V.  7. 


3  lb.  xlix.  tS. 
6  lb.  Ixv.  18. 
9  lb.  Ws.   15. 
3  lb.  ii.  4.. 


LECTURE    XVIIl. 


143' 


justified  by  His  grace,  we  might  be  made 
heirs,  according  to  hope,  of  eternal  life  <.  And 
may  God  Himself  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  glory,  give  unto 
you  a  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in 
the  knowledge  of  Himself  the  eyes  of  your 
understanding  being  enlightened^,  and  may  He 
ever  keep  you  in  good  works,  and  words,  and 
thoughts ;  to  Whom  be  glory,  honour,  and 
power,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with 


4  Tit.  iii.  4. 


5  Eph.  i.  17,  18. 


the  Holy  Ghost,  now  and  ever,  and  unto  ail 
the  endless  ages  of  eternity.     Amen  ^. 

6  "At  the  end  of  this  Lecture  in  the  older  of  the  Munich  MSS. 
there  is  the  following  addition  :  Many  other  Lectures  were  de- 
livered year  by  year,  both  before  Baptism  and  after  the  neophytes 
had  been  baptized.  But  these  alone  were  taken  down  when 
spoken  and  written  by  some  of  the  earnest  students  in  the  year 
352  of  the  advent  of  our  Lord  and  .Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  And  in 
these  you  will  find  partly  discussions  of  all  the  necessary  doctrines 
of  the  Faith  whicli  ought  to  be  known  to  men,  and  answers  to  the 
Greeks,  and  to  those  oi  the  Circumcision,  and  to  the  Heresies,  and 
the  moral  precepts  of  Christians  of  all  kinds,  by  the  grace  of  God. 
The  year  352  according  to  the  computation  of  the  Greeks  is  the 
year  360  of  the  Christian  era"  (Rupp). 

The  date  at  which  the  Lectures  were  delivered  cannot  possibly 
be  so  late  as  is  here  stated.  See  the  section  of  ths  Introduction 
on  the  "  Date." 


FIVE   CATECHETICAL   LECTURES 


OF 


THE    SAME    AUTHOR, 


TO  The  Newly  Baptized  ' . 


LECTURE    XIX. 


FIRST   LECTURE   ON   THE   MYSTERIES. 

With  a  Lesson  from  the  First  General  Epistle  of  Peter,  beginning  AT 
Be  sober,  be  vigilant^  to  the  end  of  the  Epistle. 


1.  I  HAVE  long  been  wishing,  O  true-born 
and  dearly  beloved  children  of  the  Church,  to 
discourse  to  you  concerning  these  spiritual  and 
heavenly  Mysteries  ;  but  since  I  well  knew  that 
seeing  is  far  more  persuasive  than  hearing,  I 
waited  for  the  present  season  ;  that  finding  you 
more  open  to  the  influence  of  my  words  from 
your  present  experience,  I  might  lead  you  by 
the  hand  into  the  brighter  and  more  fragrant 
meadow  of  the  Paradise  before  us  ;  especiall} 
as  ye  have  been  made  fit  to  receive  the 
more  sacred  Mysteries,  after  having  been  found 
worthy  of  divine  and  life-giving  Baptism  ^. 
Since  therefore  it  remains  to  set  before  you 
a  table  of  the  more  perfect  instructions,  let  us 
now  teach  you  these  things  exactly,  that  ye  may 
know  the  effect  3  wrought  upon  you  on  that 
evening  of  your  baptism. 

2.  First  ye  entered  into  the  vestibule  '^  of  the 


'  ThU  general  title  of  the  five  following  Lectures  is  omitted  in 
many  MSS.  "  In  Cod.  Ottob.  at  the  end  of  the  special  title  of  this 
first  Mystagogic  Lecture,  after  the  words  "to  the  end  of  the 
Epistle,"  there  follows  the  statement  "  Oi  the  same  author  Cyril, 
and  of  John  the  Bishop"  (Bened.  Ed.).     See  Index,  Authentlciiy. 

*  This  Lecture  was  delivered  on  the  Monday  after  Easter 
in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  :  see  Cat.  xviii   33. 

3  t\)v  ffx<f>aiTLV  TJji'  ....  yeyei'ij/neVrii',  is  found  in  all  the  MSS. 
"Nevertheless  it  would  seem  that  we  ought  to  read  twi'  .  .  .  . 
ytyeirinevuii',  which  Grodecq  either  read  or  substituted  "  (Ben. Ed.). 
With  the  proposed  reading  the  meaning  would  be — "the  signi- 
ficance of  the  things  done  to  you,"  which  agrees  better  with  the 
meaning  of  e/ni^acris, 

4  TOK  jrpoavAioi',  called  below  in  §  11  "the  outer  chamber." 
Cf.  Procat.  §  1,  note  3.  It  appears  from  Tertullian,  L>e  Corona, 
§  3,  that  the  renunciation  was  made  first  in  t!ie  Church,  and  after- 
wards in  the  Baptistery  :  "  When  we  are  going  to  enter  the  water, 
at  that  moment  as  well  as  just  before  in  the  Church  under  the 
h.ind  of  the  President,  we  solemnly  profes.s  that  we  disown  the 
devil,  and  his  pomp,  and  his  angels." 


Baptistery,  and  there  facing  towards  the  West 
ye  listened  to  the  command  to  stretch  forth 
your  hand,  and  as  in  the  presence  of  Satan  ye 
renounced  him.  Now  ye  must  know  that  this 
figure  is  found  in  ancient  historv.  For  when 
Pharaoh,  that  most  bitter  and  cruel  tyrant, 
was  oppressing  the  free  and  high-born  people  of 
the  Hebrews,  God  sent  Moses  to  bring  them 
oMt  of  the  evil  bondage  of  the  Egyptians.  Then 
the  door  posts  were  anointed  with  the  blood 
ot  a  lamb,  that  the  destroyer  might  flee  from 
the  houses  which  had  the  sign  of  the  blood  ; 
and  the  Hebrew  people  was  marvellously 
'delivered.  The  enemy,  however,  after  their 
rescue,  pursued  after  them  s,  and  saw  the  sea 
wondrously  parted  for  them  ;  nevertheless  he 
went  on,  following  close  in  their  footsteps,  and 
was  all  at  once  overwhelmed  and  engulphed  in 
the  Red  Sea. 

3.  Now  turn  from  the  old  to  the  new, 
from  the  figure  to  the  reality.  There  we  have 
Moses  sent  from  God  to  Egypt ;  here,  Christ, 
sent  forth  from  His  Fathfer  into  the  world  : 
there,  that  Moses  might  lead  forth  an  afflicted 
people  out  of  Egypt ;  here,  that  Christ  might 
rescue  those  who  are  oppressed  in  the  world 
under  sin  :  there,  the  blood  of  a  lamb  was  the 
spell  against^  the  destroyer  ;  here,  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb  without  blemish  Jesus  Clirist  is  made 
the  charm  to  scare 7  evil  spirits  :  there^the  tyranl  ^ 

5  E\.  xiv.  9.  23.  ^  aTTOTpoTrator. 

7  ^uyoSti/Tjjptoi',  the  word  commonly  used  in  the  Septuagint 


LECTURE   XIX. 


145. 


was  pursuing  that  ancient  people  even  to  the 
scsl]  and  here  the  daring  and  shameless  spirit, 
the  author  of  evil,  was  following  thee  even  to 
the  very  streams  of  salvation.  The  tyrant  of  old 
was  drowned  in  the  sea  ;  and  this  present  one 
disappears  in  the  water  of  salvation. 

4.  But  nevertheless  thou  art  bidden  to  say, 
with  arm  outstretched  towards  him  as  though 
he  were  present,  "  I  renounce  thee,  Sa:;an." 
I  wish  also  to  say  wherefore  ye  stand  facing 
to  the  West ;  for  it  is  necessary.  Since  the 
West  is  the  region  of  sensible  darkness,  and 
he  being  darkness  has  his  dominion  also  in 
darkness,  therefore,  looking  with  a  symbolical 
meaning  towards  the  West,  ye  renounce  that 
dark  and  gloomy  potentate.  What  then  did 
each  of  you  stand  up  and  say?  "  I  renounce 
thee,  Satan," — thou  wicked  and  most  cruel 
tyrant  !  meaning,  "  I  fear  thy  might  no  longer  ; 
for  that  Christ  hath  overthrown,  having  par- 
taken with  me  of  flesh  and  blood,  that  through 
these  He  might  by  death  destroy  death  ^,  that  I 
might  not  be  made  subject  to  bondage  for  ever." 
"  1  renounce  thee," — thou  crafty  and  most 
subtle  serpent.  "I  renounce  thee," — plotter  as 
thou  art,  who  under  the  guise  of  friendship 
didst  contrive  all  disobedience,  and  work  apos- 
tasy in  our  first  parents.  "I  renounce  thee, 
Satan," — the  artificer  and  abettor  of  all  wicked- 
ness. 

5.  Then  in  a  second  sentence  thou  art 
taught  to  say,  "and  all  thy  works."  Now  the 
works  of  Satan  are  all  sin,  which  also  thou 
must  renounce  ; — ^just  as  one  who  has  escaped 
a  tyrant  has  surely  escaped  nis  weapons  also. 
All  sin  therefore,  of  every  kind,  is  included 
in  the  works  of  the  devil.  Only  know  this ; 
that  all  that  thou  sayest,  especially  at  that  most 
thrilling  hour,  is  written  in  God's  books ; 
when  therefore  thou  doest  any  thing  contrary 
to  diese  promises,  thou  shalt  be  judged  as  a 
transgressor'^.  Thou  renouncest  therelore  the 
works  of  Satan ;  I  mean,  all  deeds  and 
thoughts  which  are  contrary  to  reason. 

6.  Then  thou  sayest,  "  And  all  his  pomp  ^." 
Now  the  pomp  of  the  devil  is  the  madness  of 
theatres  ^,  and  horse-races,  and  hunting,  and  all 


for  "a  city  of  refuge."  But  the  Verb  <i>vyxhevia  is  Transitive 
in  2  Mace.  ix.  4,  as  well  as  in  Xenophon  and  Demosthenes.  The 
application  of  the  blood  of  Christ  in  Baptism  is  represented  by 
marking  the  sign  of  the  Cross  on  the  forehead.  Compare  the  lines 
of  Prudeutius  quo.ed  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  : 

"  Passio  quae  nostram  defendit  sanguine  frontem, 
Corfioreaniquc  domum  signato  collinit  ore." 
8  Heb.  ii.  14,  15.  9  ijal.  ii.  t8. 

1  Herod.  II  58  :  "The  Egyptians  were  the  first  to  introduce 
solemn  assemblies  (TratTjyvpis)  and  processions  (iro/xTois)."  At 
Rome  the  term  "pompa"  was  applied  especially  to  the  procession 
with  which  the  Ludi  Circenses  were  opened,  and  also  to  any 
grand  ceremony  or  pageant. 

2  flearpo-xai/iai.  Cf.  TertuU.  Apologet.  38;  "  We  renounce  all 
your  spectacles.  .  .  .  Among  us  nothing  is  ever  said,  or  seen,  or 
heard,  which  has  anything  in  common  with  the  madness  of  t)ie 
Circus,  the  immodesty  of  the  theatre,  the  atrocities  of  the  nrena, 
the  useless  exercises  of  the  wrestling-ground."   He  calls  the  theatre 

VOL.  VII. 


such  vanity  :  from  which  that  holy  man  pray- 
ing to  be  delivered  says  unto  God,  Turn 
away  mine  eyes  from  beholding  vanity  3.  Be  not 
interested  in  the  madness  of  the  theatre,  where 
thou  wilt  behold  the  wanton  gestures  of  the 
players*,  carried  on  with  mockeries  and  all 
unseemliness,  and  the  frantic  dancing  of  effem- 
inate men  s ; — nor  in  the  madness  of  them  who 
in  hunts  ^  expose  themselves  to  wild  beasts,  that 
they  may  pamper  their  miserable  appetite ; 
who,  to  serve  their  belly  with  meats,  become 
themselves  in  reality  meat  for  the  belly  of 
untamed  beasts;  and  to  speak  justly,  for  the 
sake  of  their  own  god,  their  belly,  they  cast 
away  their  life  headlong  in  single  combats  ?. 
Shun  also  horse-races  that  frantic  and  soul- 
subverting  spectacle^.  For  all  these  are  the 
pomp  of  the  devil. 

7.  Moreover,  the  things  which  are  hung  up  at 
idol  festivals9,  either  meat  or  bread,  or  other  such 
things  polluted  by  the  invocation  of  the  unclean 
spirits,  are  reckoned  in  the  pomp  of  the  devil. 
For  as  the  Bread  and  Wine  of  the  Eucharist 


"that  citadel  of  all  impurities,"  De  Sf>ectaciiUs,  c.  lo,  "im- 
modesty's peculiar  abode,"  c.  17,  and  gives  a  vivid  description 
of  the  rage  and  fury  of  the  Circus  in  c.  16.  3  Ps.  cxix.  37. 

4  jxiikiav,  the  name  either  of  a  species  of  low  comedy,  '"con- 
sisting more  of  gestures  and  mimicry  than  of  spoken  dialogue," 
or  of  the  persons  who  acted  in  them.  Cyril's  description  of  the 
coarse  and  indecent  character  of  the  mimes  is  more  than  justified 
by  the  impartial  testimony  of  Ovid,  Trist,  ii.  497  : 

"Quid  si  scripsissem  mimos  obsccena  jocantes, 
Qui  semper  vetiti  crimen  amoris  habent ; 
In  quibus  assidue  cultus  procedit  adulter, 
Verhaque  d.<t  stnlto  callida  nupta  viro. 
Nubilis  hos  Virgo,  matronaque,  virqne,  puerqoe 

Spectat,  et  e  magna  parte  Senatus  adest. 
Nee  satis  incestis  temerari  vocibiis  aures  ; 
Assuescunt  oculi  innlta  pudenda  pati." 
A  theatre  is  ineniionetl  as  one  of  the  buildings  erected  by  Hadrian 
in   his  new  city  Aelia  Capitolina  built  on  the  site  of  Jerusalem  ; 
and   that   theatrical  perluriuances  were  continued  in  the  time  of 
Cyril  we  know  from  the  accusation  that  in  a  time  of  famine  he 
had  sold  one  of  the  Church  vestments,  which  was  afterwards  used 
upon  the  stage. 

5  Lactantius,  Epitome,  8  63;  "  Histiionici  etiam  impudici 
gestus,  quibus  infames  foeminas  imitantur,  libidines,  quae  saliando 
expriiiiuiit,  decent." 

"  Kui'rjyeo-iais,  the  so-called  "venationes"  of  the  Circus  in 
which  the  ••  bestiarii"  fought  with  wild  beasts. 

7  The  "bestiarii"  were  feasted  in  public  on  the  day  before 
their  encounter  with  the  beasts.  See  lertiill.  Apologet.  §  42  : 
"  I  do  not  recline  in  public  at  the  feast  of  Bacchus,  after  the 
manner  of  the  beast-figljters  at  their  last  banquet."  lb.  §  9  : 
"  Those  also  who  dine  on  the  flesh  of  wild  beasts  from  the  arena, 
who  have  keen  appetites  for  bear  and  stag."  These  latter,  how- 
ever, were  chiefly  the  poor,  to  whom  flesh  was  a  rarity :  Apukius 
Alctam.  iv.  14,  quoted  by  Oehler. 

8  i/;u;\'a;  iKrpa\iikx.C.ov,  an  allusion  to  the  risk  of  a  broken  neck 
in  the  chariot-race.  Tertull.  lie  Spectaciilis,  §g  :  "  Equestriai  ism 
was  formerly  practised  in  a  simple  way  on  horseback,  and  certainly 
its  oruinary  use  was  innocent :  but  w.ien  it  was  dragged  into  the 
games,  it  passed  from  a  gift  of  God  into  the  service  of  demons." 
The  presiding  deity  of  the  chariot-race  was  Poseidon  (Hom.  //. 
xxiii.  307  ;  Pind.  Ol.  i.  63  ;  Pyth.  vi.  50 ;  Soph.  fJidip.  Col.  712), 
and  both  this  and  the  other  shjws  of  the  Circus,  .nnd  ol  the  theatre, 
were  connected  with  the  wor.-hip  ot  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
and  therelore  forbidden  as  id-lat'ous:  "What  high  religious 
rites,  what  sacririces  precede,  Uiter.'ene,  and  follow,  how  many 
guilds,  how  nianv  priesthoods,  how  many  services  are  set  astir" 
(Tert.  de  Sped.  §  ?)• 

9  3rar>)yi)peo-i.  The  Panegyris  was  strictly  a  religious  festival, 
but  was  commonly  accompanied  by  a  great  fair  or  market,  in  which 
were  sold  not  only  such  tilings  as  the  worshippers  might  n^ed  for 
their  offerings,  e.g.  frankincense,  but  also  the  flesh  of  the  animals 
which  had  been  sacrificed.  Cf  Dictionary  0/  Greek  and  i^om. 
Antiq.  "Panegyris."  TertiiU.  Apotog.  §  42:  "We  do  not  go  to 
your  spectacles  :  yet  the  articles  that  are  sold  there,  if  I  need  them, 
I  shall  obtain  more  readily  at  their  proper  places.  We  certainly 
buy  no  frankincense." 


146 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


"before  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  and  Adora- 
ble Trinity  were  simple  bread  and  wine,  while 
after  the  invocation  the  Bread  beconies  the 
Body  of  Christ,  and  the  Winef  the  Blood  of 
Christ  %  so  in  like  manner  such  meats  belong- 
ing to  the  pomp  of  Satan,  though  in  their  own 
nature  simple,  become  profane  by  the  invo- 
cation of  the  evil  spirit. 

8.  After  this  thou  sayest,  "and  all  thy  ser- 
viced" Now  the  service  of  the  devil  is  prayer 
in  idol  temples ;  things  done  in  honour  of 
lifeless  idols  ;  the  lighting  of  lamps  3,  or  burning 
of  incense  by  fountains  or  rivers  ■♦,  as  some 
persons  cheated  by  dreams  or  by  evil  spirits 
do  [resort  to  this  s],  thinking  to  find  a  cure  even 
for  their  bodily  ailments.  Go  not  after  such 
things.  The  watching  of  birds,  divination, 
omens,  or  amulets,  or  charms  written  on  leaves, 
sorceries,  or  other  evil  arts  ^,  and  all  such 
things,  are  services  of  the  devil  ;  therefore 
shun  them.  For  if  after  renouncing  Satan 
and  associating  thyself  with  Christ?,  thou  fall 
under  their  influence,  thou  shalt  find^  the  ty- 
rant more  bitter ;  percliance,  because  he 
treated  thee  of  old  as  his  own,  and  relieved 
thee  from  his  hard  bondage,  but  has  now  been 
greatly  exasperated  by  thee  ;  so  thou  wilt  be 
bereaved  of  Christ,  and  have  experience  of  the 
other.  Hast  thou  not  heard  the  old  history 
which  tells  us  of  Lot  and  his  daughters  ?  Was 
not  he' himself  saved  with  his  daughters,  when 
he  had  gained  the  mountain,  while  his  wife 
became  a  pillar  of  salt,  set  up  as  a  monu- 
ment for  ever,  in  remembrance  of  her  depraved 
will  and  her  turning  back.  Take  heed  there- 
fore to  thyself,  and  turn  not  again  to  what  is 


'I  Compare  St.  Paul's  argument  a2:a;nst  meats  offered  to  idols, 
I  Cor.  x.  14 — 21  :  and  on  Cyril's  Euchari^iic  doctrine,  see  notes  on 
Cat.  x\ii. 

2  The  form  of  renunciation  before  Baptism  is  given  in  the 
Apostolic  Constitiiiions,  Vil.41:  "I  renounce  Satan,  and  his 
works,  and  his  pomps,  and  his  services,  and  his  angels,  and  his 
inventions,  and  all  things  that  are  under  him."  Cf.  IVrtuli.  Ve 
Spectaciilis,  §  4  :  "  When  on  entering  the  water,  we  make  profes- 
sion of  the  Christian  faith  in  ilie  words  of  its  rule,  we  bear  public 
testimony. that  we  have  renounced  the  devil,  his  pomp,  and  his 
angel'.'' 

3  Herod,  ii.  62:  "At  Sais,  when  the  assembly  takes  place  for 
the  sacrifices  (to  Minerva,  or  Neiih),  tliere  is  one  night  on  which 
the  inliabitants  all  burn  a  multitude  of  I .  ;hts  in  the  open  air  round 
their  houses.  .  .  .  These  burn  the  whole  night,  and  give  to  tlie 
festival  the  name  of  the  Feast  cf  Lamps  (.Vuxi'OKair;)." 

4  Fountains  and  rivers  had  each  ils  own  deity  or  nymph,  to 
whom  sacrilices  were  offered,  and  incense  burned. 

5  es  ToOro  hii^r\<ia.v.  These  words  are  omitted  in  many  MSS., 
and  regarded  by  the  Benedictine  Editor  as  a  sjiuvious  addition 
made  to  complete  the  construction.  The  words  ij  TotaOra  at  the 
end  of  the  sentence  are  better  omitted,  as  in  several  good  MSS. 

*  Cat.  iv.  37;  Af>ost.  Const,  vi.  :  "Be  not  a  diviner,  for  that 
leads  to  idolatry.  .  .  .  Thou  shalt  not  use  enchaniments  or  pur- 
gations for  thy  child.  Tliou  shalt  not  be  a  sooths.nycr  nor  a  diviner 
by  great  or  little  birds.  Nor  shalt  thou  learn  wicked  arts  ;  for  all 
these  things  has  the  Law  forbidden."     Deut.  .wiii.  10,  11. 

7  Afiost.  Const,  vii.  41  :  "  And  after  his  renunciation  let  him  in 
his  association  [(TuvTai(T(T6ixivo%)  say,  I  associate  myself  with 
Christ." 

8  TTeipaS^o-T)  (Cod.  Hon.  i)  is  a  better  reading  than  ireipao-eijo-j). 
Cf.  Plat.  Lac/ies,  188  E  :  twv  ipyuv  ineipaOriv. 


behind'^,  having  put  thine  hand  to  the  plough, 
and  then  turning  back  to  the  salt  savour  of 
this  life's  doings  ;  but  escape  to  the  mountain, 
to  Jesus  Christ,  that  stone  hewn  7vithoiit  hands^, 
which  has  filled  the  world. 

9.  When  therefore  thou  renouncest  Satan, 
utterly  breaking  all  thy  covenant  with  him,  that 
ancient  league  with  hell'^,  there  is  opened  to 
thee  the  paradise  of  God,  which  He  planted 
towards  the  East,  whence  for  his  transgression 
our  first  father  was  banished  ;  and  a  symbol  of 
this  was  thy  turning  from  West  to  East, 
the  place  of  lights.  Then  thou  wert  told 
to  say,  "  I  believe  in  the  Father,  and  in  the 
Son,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  one 
Baptism  of  repentance '^."  Of  which  things  we 
spoke  to  thee  at  length  in  the  former  Lectures, 
as  God's  grace  allowed  us. 

10.  Guarded  therefore  by  these  discourses, 
be  sober.  For  our  adversary  the  devil,  as  was 
just  now  read,  as  a  roaring  lion,  walkeih  about, 
seeking  whom  he  may  devour  s.  But  though  in 
former  times  death  was  mighty  and  devoured, 
at  the  holy  Laver  of  regeneration  (iod  has 
wiped  a7vay  every  tear  from  off  all  faces  ^.  For 
thou  shalt  no  more  mourn,  now  that  thou  hast 
put  off  the  old  man  ;  but  thou  shalt  keep  holy- 
day  7,  clothed  in  the  garment  of  salvation  ^,  even 
Jesus  Christ. 

11.  And  these  things  were  done  in  the 
outer  chamber.  But  if  God  will,  when  in  the 
succeeding  lectures  on  the  Mysteries  we  have 
entered  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  9,  we  shall  there 
know  the  symbolical  meaning  of  the  things 
wliich  are  there  performed.  Now  to  God  the 
Father,  with  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be 
glory,  and  power,  and  majesty,  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen. 


9  Phil.  iii.  13.  On  the  pillar  of  salt,  see  Wisd.  x.  7  :  "  Of  whose 
wickedness  even  to  this  day  the  waste  land  that  smokelh  is  a 
testimony,  .  .  .  and  a  standing  pillar  of  salt  is  a  monument  of  an 
unbelieving  soul."  Joseph.  Ant.  L  xi.  4  :  "  Moreover  I  have  seen 
it,  for  it  remains  even  luito  this  day."  lip.  Lightfoot,  Clem.  Kor-t. 
Efi.  lid  Cor.  x'l.  remarks  that  the  region  abounds  in  pillars  of  salt, 
and  "  Medioeval  and  even  modern  travellers  have  delighted  to 
identify  one  or  other  of  these  with  Lot's  wile." 

'  Dan.  ii.  35,  45.  ^  is.  xxviii.  15. 

3  Cf.  S.  Ainbros.  De  Afysteriis,  c.  ii.  7:  "Ad  orientem 
converteris  ;  qui  enim  renunciat  diabolo  ad  Christum  convcrtitur : " 
"Where  he  plainly  intimates  ....  that  turning  to  the  East  was 
a  symbol  of  their  aversion  from  Satan  and  conversion  unto  Christ, 
that  is,  from  darkness  to  light,  from  serving  idols,  to  serve  Him, 
who  is  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  and  Fountain  of  Light"  (Bingh. 
Ant.  xi.  vii.  7). 

4  Cf.  Did.ach<5,  vii.  i  ;  Justin  M.  Apolog.  L  c.  61  A  :  Svvainson, 
Creeds,  c.  iii.  on  the  short  Baptismal  Professions.  "  The  writings 
of  S.  Cyprian  distinctly  tell  us,  that  in  his  di  y  the  form  of  in- 
terrogation at  Baptism  was  fixed  and  definite.  He  speaks  of  the 
"  usitata  et  legitima  verba  interrogationis," — and  we  know  as 
distinctly  that  the  interrogation  included  the  words,  "Dost  thou 
believe  in  God  the  Father,  in  His  Son  Christ,  in  ihe  Holy  Spirit? 
Dost  thoti  believe  in  remission  of  sins  and  eternal  life  through  the 
Church?" 

5  I  Pet.  V.  9.  *  Is.  XXV. _8  ;  Rev.  vii.  17. 
7  rrai'rjyupiVei?.  8  Is.  Ixi.  10. 

9  These  words  seem  to  imply  that  the  Lectures  on  the  Eucharist 
were  to  be  delivered  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  though  the  Mysteries 
tliemselves  may  be  called  metaphorically  "  the  Huly  of  Holies." 


LECTURE    XX. 

(ON    THE    MYSTERIES.     II.) 


OF    BAPTISM. 


Romans  vi.  3 — 14. 

K}io7i'  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ,  were  baptized  into  His 
death  ?    &'c.  ....  for  ye  are  not  under  the  Law,  hut  under  grace. 


1.  These  daily  introductions  into  the  Mys- 
teries %  and  new  instructions,  which  are  the 
announcements  of  new  trutlis,  are  profitable 
to  us  ;  and  most  of  all  to  you,  who  have  been 
renewed  from  an  old.  state  to  a  new.  There- 
fore, I  shall  necessarily  lay  before  you  the 
sequel  of  yesterday's  Lecture,  that  ye  may 
learn  of  what  those  things,  which  were  done 
by  you  in  the  inner  chamber^,  were  symbolical. 

2.  As  soon,  then,  as  ye  entered,  ye  put  off 
your  tunic  ;  and  this  was  an  image  oi  putting 
off  the  old  niafi  with  his  deeds 'i.  Having 
stripped  yourselves,  ye  were  naked ;  in  this 
also  imitating  Christ,  who  was  stripped  naked 
on  the  Cross,  and  by  His  nakedness  ////  off 
from  Himself  the  principalities  and  powers, 
and  openly  triumphed  over  them  on  the  tree^. 
For  since  the  adverse  powers  made  their  lair 
in  your  members,  ye  may  no  longer  wear  that 
old  garment  ;  I  do  not  at  all  mean  this  visible 
one,  but  the  old  man,  which  waxeth  corrupt 
in  the  lusts  of  deceit^.  May  the  soul  which 
has  once  put  him  off,  never  again  \iw\.  him  on, 
but  say  with  the  Spouse  of  Christ  in  the  Song 
of  Songs,  /  have  put  off  7vy  garment,  how 
shall  I  put  it  on  ^  1  O  wondrous  thing  !  ye 
were  naked  in  the  sight  of  all,  and  were  not 
ashamed  7  ;  for  truly  ye  bore  the  likeness  of  the 
first-formed  Adam,  who  was  naked  in  the 
garden,  and  was  not  ashamed. 

'  /uvarayoiytat, 

2  The  renunciation  and  the  profe'Jsion  of  faith  were  made  in 
the  o\iter  chamber  or  vestibule  of  the  Baptistery. 

3  Col.  iii.  9. 

4  lb.  ii.  15.  Cyril's  use  of  this  passage  agrees  best  with  the 
interpretation  that  Christ,  having  been  clothed  with  the  likeness 
of  siniul  fle>h  during  His  life  on  earth,  submitted  therein  to  the 
assaidts  of  the  powers  of  evil,  but  on  the  Cross  threw  off  from 
Himself  both  it  and  them. 

5  Eph.  iv.  22.  ^  Cant.  v.  3. 

7  See  Diet.  Christ.  Antiq.  "  B.nptism,"  §  48  :  The  Unclothing 
of  the  Catechumens:  Bingh.  Aiit.  XI.  xi.  i  :  All  "persons  were 
baptized  naked,  either  in  iinitation  of  Adam  in  Paradise,  or  our 
Saviour  upon  the  Cross,  or  to  signify  their  putting  off  the  body  of 
sin,  and  the  old  man  with  his  deeds." 


3.  Then,  when  ye  were  stripped,  ye  were 
anointed  with  exorcised  oil  ^,  from  the  very 
hairs  of  your  head  to  your  feet,  and  were 
made  partakers  of  the  good  olive-tree,  Jesus 
Christ.  For  ye  were  cut  off  from  the  wild 
olive-tree?,  and  grafted  into  the  good  one,  and 
were  made  to  share  the  fatness  of  the  true 
olive-tree.  The  exorcised  oil  therefore  was 
a  symbol  of  the  participation  of  the  fatness  of 
Christ,  being  a  charm  to  drive  away  every 
trace  of  hostile  influence.  For  as  the  breathing 
of  the  saints,  and  the  invocati  m  of  the  Name 
of  God,  like  fiercest  flame,  scorch  and  drive 
out  evil  spirits  \  so  also  this  exorcised  oil 
receives  such  virtue  by  thi  invocation  of 
God  and  by  prayer,  as  rot  only  to  burn  and 
cleanse  away  the  traces  of  sins,  but  also  to 
chase  away  all  the  invisible  powers  of  the  evil 
one. 

4.  After  these  things,  ye  were  led  to  the 
holy  pool^  of  Divine  Baptism,  as  Christ  was 
carried  from  the  Cross  to  the  Sepulchre  which 
is  before  our  eyes.  And  each  of  you  was 
asked,  whether  he  believed  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  ye   made   that  saving   confession. 


8  Apost.  Const,  vii.  22  :  "  But  thou  shalt  beforeh}nd  anoint  the 
person  with  holv  oil  (e'Aaiw),  and  afterward  baptize  nim  with  water, 
.and  in  the  conclusion  shalt  seal  him  with  the  ointment  (ftiipo.), 
that  the  anointing  (xpicr/aa)  may  be  a  participation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  water  a  symbol  of  the  death,  and  the  ointment  the 
seal  of  the  Covenants.  But  if  there  be  neither  oil  nor  ointment, 
water  suffices  both  lor  anointing,  and  fir  a  seal,  and  for  a  confes- 
sion of  Him  who  died,  or  indeed  is  dying  with  us."  The  previous 
anointing  "with  oil  sanctified  by  prayer"  is  mentioned  in  the 
Clementine  Recognitions,  III.  c.  67,  and  in  the  Pseudo-Justin, 
Qucestioncs  ad  Orthodoxos,  Qu.  137.  It  was  not  however  universal, 
and  seems  to  have  been  unknown  in  Africa,  not  being  mentioned  by 
Clement  of  Alexandria  (PtEd.  II.  c.  viii.  On  tlie  use  of  ointments), 
norTertullian,  nor  .\ugustine. 

9  On  the  si;;nificance  of  the  wild  olive-tree,  see  Irenffiu.s.  V.  10. 
»  See  Index,  "Exorcism." 

2  KoKviJi^yiepav.  The  pool  or  piscina  was  deep  enough  tor  total 
immersion,  and  large  enough  for  many  to  be  baptized  at  once.  Ci. 
Bingh.  Ant.  VI 1 1 .  vii.  2  ;  XI.  xi.  2,  3.  For  engravings  01  the  very 
ancient  Baptisteries  at  Aquileia  and  Ravenna,  shewinir  the  torm 
of  the  font  or  piscina,  see  £>tct.  Christian  Ant.  "  Baptistery.  ' 


L  2 


148 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


and  descended  three  times  into  the  water,  and 
ascended  again;  here  also  hinting  by  a  sym- 
bol at  tlie  three  days  burial  of  Christ  3.  For  as 
our  Saviour  passed  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  the  heart  of  the  earth,  so  you  also  in  your 
first  ascent  out  of  the  water,  represented  the 
first  day  of  Christ  in  the  earth,  and  by  your 
descent,  the  night ;  for  as  he  who  is  in  the 
night,  no  longer  see?,  but  he  who  is  in  the 
day,  remains  in  the  light,  so  in  the  descent, 
as  in  the  night,  ye  saw  nothing,  but  in  ascend- 
ing again  ye  were  as  in  the  day.  And  at  the 
self-same  moment  ye  were  both  dying  and 
being  born  ;  and  that  Water  of  salvation  was 
at  once  your  grave  and  your  mother.  And 
what  Solomon  spoke  of  others  will  suit  you 
also ;  for  he  said,  in  that  case,  There  is  a  time 
to  bear  a?id  a  titne  to  die  ■*  /  but  to  you,  in  the 
reverse  order,  there  was  a  time  to  die  and  a  time 
to  be  born  ;  and  one  and  the  same  time  eft'ected 
both  of  these,  and  your  birth  went  hand  in 
in  hand  with  your  death. 

5.  O  strange  and  inconceivable  thing !  we 
did  not  really  die,  we  were  not  really  buried, 
we  were  not  really  crucified  and  raised  again  ; 
but  our  imitation  was  in  a  figure,  and  our 
salvation  in  reality.  Christ  was  actually  cruci- 
fied, and  actually  buried,  and  truly  rose  again ; 
and  all  these  things  He  has  freely  bestowed 
upon  us,  that  we,  sharing  His  sufferings 
by  imitation,  might  gain  salvation  in  reality. 
Q  surpassing  loving-kindness  !  Christ  received 
nails  in  His  undefiled  hands  and  feet,  and 
suffered  anguish  ;  while  on  me  without  pain 
or  toil  by  the  fellowship  of  His  suffering 
He  freely  bestows  salvation. 

6.  Let  no  one  then  suppose  that  Baptism 
is  merely  the  grace  of  remission  of  sins,  or 
further,  that  of  adoption  ;  as  John's  was  a  bap- 
tisms conferring  only  remission  of  sins:  whereas 
we  know  full  well,  that  as  it  purges  our  sins, 
and  ministers  ^  to  us  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 


3  The  same  significance  is  attributed  to  the  trine  immersion  by 
many  Fathers,  but  a  different  explanation  is  given  by  Tcrtulban 
(Adv.  Fraxean,  c.  xxvi.):  "Not  once  only,  but  three  limes,  we 
are  immersed  into  the  several  Persons  at  the  mention  of  their 
several  names."  Gregory  of  Nyssa  (On  the  Baptistn  of  Christ, 
p.  520  in  this  Series)  joins  both  reasons  together:  "  By  doing  this 
thrice  we  represent  for  ourselves  that  grace  of  the  Resurrection 
which  was  wrought  in  three  days  :  and  this  we  do,  not  receiving 
the  Sacrament  in  silence,  but  while  there  are  spiken  over  us  the 
Names  of  the  Three  Sacred  Persons  on  whom  we  believed.  &c." 
Compare  p.  529.  Cf.  Apost  Const.  VIII.  S  47,  Can.  50:  "  If  any 
Bishop  or  Presbyter  does  not  perform  the  three  immersions  of  one 
initiation,  but  one  immersion  made  into  the  death  of  Christ,  let 
him  be  deprived.'' 

Milles  in  his  note  on  this  passage  mentions  that  "this  form  of 
Baptism  is  still  used  in  the  Greek  Church.  See  Eucholog.  p.  355. 
Ed  Jac.  Goar.  and  his  notes  p.  365.'' 

4  Eccles.  iii.  ?. 

5  Tertullian  {De  liaftistno,  c.  10)  denies  that  John's  Baptism 
availed  for  the  remission  of  sins  :  '  it  re|)cntance  is  a  thii-g  human, 
its  baptism  must  necessarily  be  of  the  s.ime  nature  :  else  if  it  had 
been  celestial,  il  would  have  given  both  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
re.Tii^sion  of  sins."  Cyril's  doctrine  is  more  in  accordance  wiih 
the  language  of  the  Fathers  gener;illy,  and  of  St.  Mark  i.  4,  Luke 
iii.  3.  °  Trpofei'Oi'. 


SO  also  it  is  the  counterpart  ?  of  the  sufiferings  of 
Christ.  For  this  cause  Paul  just  now  cried 
aloud  and  said,  Or  are  ye  igtiorajit  that  all 
we  who  7vere  baptized  into  Christ  Jesus,  were 
baptized  into  His  death  ?  We  were  buried 
therefore  with  Him  by  baptism  into  His  death  ^. 
These  words  he  spake  to  some  who  were 
disposed  to  think  that  Baptism  ministers  to 
us  the  remission  of  sins,  and  adoption,  but 
has  not  further  the  fellowship  also,  by  repre- 
sentation, of  Christ's  true  sufferings. 

7,  Tn  order  therefore  that  we  might  learn, 
that  whatsoever  things  Christ  endured,  for  us 
AND  FOR  OUR  SALV.ATioN  9  He  suffered  them  in 
reality  and  not  in  appearance,  and  that  we 
also  are  made  partakers  of  His  sufferings, 
Paul  cried  with  all  exactness  of  truth,  For 
if  7ve  have  been  planted  together  with  the  like- 
ness of  His  death,  we  shall  be  also  7vith  the 
likefiess  of  His  resurrection.  Well  has  he  said, 
planted  together ''°.  For  since  the  true  Vine 
was  planted  in  this  place,  we  also  by  partaking 
in  the  Baptism  of  death  have  been  planted 
together  with  Him.  And  fix  thy  mind  with 
much  attention  on  the  words  of  the  Apostle. 
He  said  not,  "For  if  we  have  been  planted 
together  with  His  death,"  but,  with  the  likeness 
of  His  death.  For  in  Christ's  case  there  was 
death  in  reality,  for  Flis  soul  was  really 
separated  from  His  body,  and  real  burial,  for 
His  holy  body  was  wrapt  in  pure  linen  ;  and 
everything  happened  really  to  Him ;  but  in 
your  case  there  w^as  only  a  likeness  of  death 
and  sufferings,  whereas  of  salvation  there  was 
not  a  likeness  but  a  reality. 

8.  Having  been  sufficiently  instructed  in 
these  things,  keep  them,  I  beseech  you,  in 
your  remembrance ;  that  I  also,  unworthy 
though  I  be,  may  say  of  you,  A^oiv  I  love  you  ^, 
because  ye  always  7-emeniber  me,  and  hold  fast 
the  traditions,  which  I  delivered  unto  you. 
And  God,  who  has  presented  you  as  it  were 
alive  frofn  the  dead"",  is  able^to  grant  unto  you 
to  walk  in  newness  of  life  3  .•  because  His  is  the 
glory  and  the  power,  now  and  for  ever.  Amen. 


7  avTlratrov.  The  "Antitype"  is  here  the  sign  or  memorial 
of  that  which  is  past,  and  no  longer  actually  present  :  See  note  6 
on  xxi.  I.     Cf.  Heb.  ix.  24. 

8  Rom.  vi.  3.  In  the  following  sentence  several  MSS.  have 
a  dirtercnt  reading  :  "'  These  tilings  perh.nps  he  said  to  .some  who 
were  disposed  to  think  that  Baptism  ministers  remission  of  sins 
only,  and  not  adoption,  and  that  further  it  h.is  not  tiic  fellouship, 
Ac."  Against  this  reading,  approved  by  JMilles,  the  Benedictine 
ICditor  argues  that  in  Rom.  vi  3,  4,  ther^i  is  no  reference  to 
adoption,  but  only  to  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  Passion,  and  that 
Cyril  quotes  the  passage  only  to  prove  the  latter,  the  gift  of 
adopt!  'U  being  generally  admitted,  and  therelore  not  in  question. 

9  This  clause  is  cont.-iined  in  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  in  that 
which  was  offered  to  the  Council  by  Rusebius  as  the  ancient 
CrecJ  of  C,x-sarea.  It  probably  formed  part  of  the  Creed  of 
Jerusalem,  though  it  is  not  found  in  the  titles  of  the  Lectures, 
n  .r  specially  explained. 

'o  Tb.  vi.  5.  Cyril  gives  the  phrase  "planted  together'' 
a  special  application  to  those  who  had  been  baptized  in  the  same 
place  where  Christ  had  been  buried. 

'   I  Cor.  xi.  2  :  Now  I  praise  you,  ir'a. 

2  Rom.  vi.  13.  3  lb.  v.  4. 


LECTURE    XXI. 


(ON   THE  MYSTERIES.     III.) 


ON  CHRISM. 


I   John   ii.    20 — 28. 

But  ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  &€.  ....  tJiat,  when  He  shall  appear,  we  may 

have  co}ifidence,  and  not  be  ashamed  before  Him  at  His  coming. 

t.   Having  been   baptized  into    Christ,  and  |  on  Him,  like  resting  upon  like '°    And  to  you  in 
put  on  Chrisf^,  ye  have  been  made  conform-    like  manner,  after  you  had  come  up  from  the 

pool  of  the  sacred  streams,  there  was  given  an 
Unction',  the  anti-type  of  that  wherewith  Christ 
was  anointed ;  and  this  is  the  Holy  Ghost  ; 
of  whom  also  the  blessed   Esaias,  in  his  pro- 


having 


said,  Tou£ji^  tiQt  My  CTirisis^,  or  anointed 
Now  ye  have  been  made  Christs,  by  receiv- 
ing the  antitype  ^  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  all 
things  have  been  wrought  in  you  by  imita- 
tion T,  because  ye  are  images  of  X^hrist.  He 
washed  in  the  river  Jordan,  and  having  im- 
parted^of  the  fragrance^  of  His^Godhead  to 
the  watersTTIe  came  up^frbm  them  ;  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  fulness  of  His  being?  lighted 

>  Gal.  iii.  2.3.  a  Eph.  i.  5.  3  Phil.  iii.  2t. 

4  Heb.  iii.  14.  5  Ps.  cv.  15. 

*  di'TiTUTToi'.  Cat.  XX.  6;  xxiii.  20.  Twice  in  this  .section, 
as  in  Heb.  i.\.  24  (afxtruTra  twi/  a.\t]divoiv)^  iLvjirvrov  is  the  copy 
or  figure  representing  the  original  pattern  (tvttos,  cf.  Acts  vii.  4.;). 
Otherwise  (as  in  Cat.  x.  11  ;  xiii.  19  ;  xxii.  3)  tuttos  is  the  figure 
to  be  subsequently  realised  in  the  antitype. 

7  etKoi/tKoj?  ....  etKOve?  toO  Xpttrrot'. 

8  xpwTuji',  literally  "tinctures."  The  Ben.  Kd.  writPs:  "  For 
(/)U)Ta>i'  we  have  written  xpuijtav  with  Codd.  Coisl.  Oltub.  Roe, 
Casaub.,  &c.  ..  But  we  must  write  XP"'"*"' from  xp'i'ra,  not  XPwTuii' 
from  xp^res.  Authors  use  the  word  xpwTa  to  signify  the  effluence 
of  an  odour.  So  Gregory  of  Nyssa  takes  it  in  his  3rd  Homiiy  oil 
the  Song  0/  Songs,  p.  512  ;  and  S-  Maximus  in  Question  37  on 
Scripture :  'xpt^ra  we  say  is  the  godliness  (evKrc^etav)  whereby 
S.  Paul  was  to  the  one  a  savour  of  life  unto  life.' .  .  .  In  the 
Procatechesis,  §  15,  Cyril  calls  the  waters  of  Baptism  vta.riav 
Xpi-o'Toipoptoi'  ex°'"^'"''  tvioSi'ai'.  If  however  any  one  prefers  the 
reading  (^iotwc,  he  may  defend  himself  by  the  auili'irity  of  Epi- 
phanius,  who  in  the  Exposition  of  the  Faith,  c.  15,  says  that 
Christ  descending  into  the  water  gave  rather  than  received,  .... 
illuminating  them,  and  empowering  them  for  a  type  of  what  was 
to  be  accomplished  in  Him."  According  to  the  Kbionite  Gospel  of 
St.  Mattliew  in  Epiphanius  (H<£r.  xxx.  Ebionitce  c.  13).  when 
Jesus  came  up  out  of  the  water  a  great  light  shone  .nround  the 
place:  a  tradition  to  which  the  Benedictine  Editor  thinks  the 
reading  ^Iitmv  may  refer.  Justin  M.  {Dialog:  c.  Ixxxviii.): 
"  When  Jesus  had  stepped  into  the  water,  a  fire  was  kindled  in  the 
Jordan."  Otto  quotes  the  legend,  as  found  in  Orac.  Sibyll.  vii. 
81—83  •■— 

*Os  ere  Adyoi/  ye'rK>j(Te  narrjp  J\.v^v\i^  hfiviv  d<f>yjKev, 
'O^vv  a7rayyeAT77pa  \6ytxiv,  .Voyot'  vSa(Til'  ayt-ots 
'Vaii'Mv,  <t'oi'  PaKTiajxa,  &i   ov  wvpnq  e^etftadi/Br)';. 

9  ov(7-iai6r)5  ejri(^ocr)o-ts  cyeVero.  The  Benedictine  Editor  under- 
stands this  phrase  as  an  allusion  to  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
on  Jesus  in  a  substantial  bodily  form.  So  Gregory  Nazianzen 
(prat.  xliv.  17),  says  that  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on  the 
Apostles  oi'<(riu6io9  Kal  crio/iiaTiKios.  But  Anastasius  Sinaita  inter- 
prets ov<ria>6tt)5  in  this  latter  passage  as  meaning  "'in  the  essence 
and  reality  of  His  (Divine)  Person  :"  and  this  latter  sense  agree- 
ing with  the  frequent   use   of  ov><nw5>)S  by  Athanasius   is  well 


able  to  the   Son    of  God  ;    for   God 

foreordained  us  unto  adoption  as  sons  ^,   made 

us  to  be  conformed  to  the  body  of  Christ's  glory  3. 

Having  therefore  h^zoxvit partakers  of  Christ'', 

ye^axejjrgperLy-called^ChristSj^  an^of  you  God^  phecy  respecting  Him,  said  in   the  person  of 

the  Lord,  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Ale. 
because  He  hath  anointed  Me:  He  hath  sent 
Me  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  poor  ^. 

2.  For  Christ  was  not  anointed  by  men 
with  oil  or  material  ointment,  but  the  leather 
having  before  appointed  Him  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  whole  world,  anointed  Him 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  Peter  says,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  ivhom  God  anointed  itnth  the  Holy 
Ghost 'i  David  also  the  Prophet  cried,  saying, 
Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever ; 
a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of 
Thy  kingdom ;  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness 
and  hated  iniquity ;  therefore  God  e'oen  Thy 
God  hath  anointed  Thee  with  the  oil  of  glad- 
ness above  Thy  fellows'-.  And  as  Christ  was 
in  reality  crucified,  and  buried,  and  raised, 
and  you  are  in  Baptism  accounted  worthy  of 
being  crucified,  buried,  and  raised  together 
with  Him  in  a  likeness,  so  is  it  with  the 
unction  also.  As  He  was  anointed  with  an 
ideals  oil  of  gladness,  that  is,  with  the 
Holy  Ghostj  called  oil  of  gladness,  because 
He  is  _tlie  author  of  spiritual  gladness,  so  ye 
were  anointed  with  ointment,  having  been 
made  partakers  a.nd  fellows  of  Christ. 


by  Canon   Mason  {The  Relation  of  Confirmation   to 
I  P-  343)  "  i"  the  fulness  of  His  being." 


rendered 
l.aptisi'i,  ,     ^  .„, 

'0  Cf.  Greg.  Naz.  Oral,  xxxix  :  "The  Spirit  also  bears  witness 
to  His  Godhead,  for  He  comes  to  that  which  is  like  Himself." 

1  Cf.  Tertnllian,  De  B.iptismo,  c.  7:  ''Exinde  egressi  de 
lavacro  perungitnur  benedicta  unctione."  It  is  clear  that  the 
Unction  mentioned  in  these  passages  was  conferred  at  the  same 
time  and  place  as  Baptism.  Whether  it  formed  part  of  that 
Sacrament,  or  was  regarded  by  Cyril  as  a  separate  and  indepen- 
dent rite,  has  been  made  a  matter  of  controversy.  See  Inde.K. 
'"  Chrism." 

2  Is.  Ixi.  I.  3  Acts  X.  38.  4  Ps.  xlv.  6,  7. 

5  i/oijToi  cannot  here  be  translated  ''spiritual"  because  o' 
n-i/eu/xaTiK^s  immediately  following.     Cf.  i.  4,  note. 


ISO 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


3.  But  bewnre  of  supposing  this  to  be  plain 
ointment.  For  as  the  Bread  of  the  Eucharist, 
after  the  in\ocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is 
mere  bread  no  longer^,  but  the  Body  of  Christ, 
so  also  tliis  .holy  ointment  is  no  more  simple 
ointment,  nor  (so  to  say)  common,  after  invo- 
cation, but  it  is  Christ's  gift  of  grace,  and,  by 
the  advent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  made  fit  to 
impart  His  Divine  Nature  t .  Which  ointment  is 
symbolically  ajjplied  to  thy  forehead  and  thy 
other  senses  ^ ;  and  while  tliy  body  is  anointed 
with  the  visible  ointment,  thy  soul  is  sanctified 
by  the  Holy  and  life-giving  Spirit. 

4.  And  ye  were  first  anointed  on  the  fore- 
head, that  ye  might  be  delivered  from  the 
shame,  which  the  first  man  who  transgressed 
bore  about  with  him  everywhere ;  and  that 
ivith  unveiled  face  ye  might  reflect  as  a  mirror 
the  glory  of  the  Lord'^.  Then  on  your  ears  ; 
that  ye  might  receive  the  ears  which  are 
quick  to  hear  the  Divine  Mysteries,  of  which 
Esaias  said,  The  Lord  gave  me  also  an  ear 
to  hear '^  ;  and  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  Gospel, 
He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear^.  Then 
on  the  nostrils ;  that  receiving  the  sacred 
ointment  ye  may  say,  We  are  to  God  a  sweet 
savour  of  Christ,  in  them  that  are  saved  ^. 
Afterwards  on  your  breast ;  that  having  put 
on  the  breast-plate  of  righteousness,  ye  may 
stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil''.  For  as 
Christ  after  His  Baptism,  and  the  visitation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  went  forth  and  vanquished 
the  adversary,  so  likewise  ye,  after  Holy  Bap- 
tism and  the  Mystical  Chrism,  having  put  on 
the  wliole  armour  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  to 

fi  Compare  xix.  7 ;  xxiii.  7,  19 ;  and  the  section  on  "  Eu- 
charist" in  the  Introduction. 

7  XpifTToO  xdpKTixa  Kal  XlfevfiaTO?  ayCov  irapovcria  rfj^  airov 
©eoTTjTOS  ei'cpyrjriKoi'  yivofxei'oi'.  The  meaning  of  this  passage 
seems  to  have  bet-n  obscured  by  divergent  views  of  the  order  and 
construction  of  the  words.  In  the  Oxlord  translation,  followed 
by  Dr.  Vwsey  {Real  Presence,  p.  357),  the  Chrism  is  "the  gift  of 
Christ,  and  by  the  presence  of  His  Godhead  it  causes  in  us  the 
Holy  Ghost."  The  order  of  the  operations  proper  to  the  two 
Divine  I'ersons  seems  thus  to  be  inverted. 

According  to  the  lienedictine  Editor,  and  Canon  Mason  (^Rela- 
tion nf  Conjlnnation  to  Baptism,  p.  344),  it  is  "  Chri>t's  gracious 
gift,  and  is  made  effectual  to  convey  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the 
presence  of  His  own  Godhead,"— i.e.  apparently,  the  Godhead 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  conveys  the  Holy  Ghust. 

But  according  to  the  context  "  tlie  presence  "  must  be  that  of 
the  Divine  Person  who  has  been  invoked,  namely  the  Holy  Ghost : 
and  this  is  clearly  expressed  in  the  order  of  the  words  \ivivtx.a.yo<; 
nyt'ou  Tropoueri'a  ^^\%  aiiroO  ^eoTTjTos  ci'epyTjTiKoi/.  The  connexion 
of  the  words  Wv.  ay.  napovtria  is  put  beyond  doubt  by  the  Invo- 
cation in  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James  quoted  in  Myst.  V.  7,  m.te  8. 
The  true  meaning  thus  seen.s  to  be  that  the  Chrism  is  Christ's 
gift  of  grace,  and  imparts  His  Divine  nature  by  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  after  the  Invocation.  This  meaning  is  confirmed 
by  the  formula  given  in  Apost.  Const,  vii.  44,  for  the  consecration 
of  the  Chrism  :  "  Grant  also  now  that  this  ointment  may  be  made 
effectual  in  the  baptized,  that  the  sweet  savour  of  Thy  Christ  may 
remain  firm  and  stable  in  him,  and  that,  having  died  with  Him, 
he  may  rise  again  and  live  with  Him."  The  Chrism  is  thus  re- 
garded as  "the  Seal"  which  confirms  the  proper  benefits  of 
Baptism. 

8  i-nX  ^ttTcoTTOv  (cal  TUf  tiWdiv  <rov  aicflijnjpicoi'.  The  forehead 
maybe  regarded  as  representing  the  sense  of  touch  ;  or  we  may 
translate,  according  to  the  idiomatic  use  of  aAAo;,  "thy  forehead 
and  thine  organs  01  sense  besides."  See  Winer,  Grammar  oj  N. 
T.  Greek,  V.  III.  Sect.  lix.  7:  Riddell,  Vilest  0/  Platonic 
Itiioms,  §  46.  9  2  Cor  iii.  i8.  '  Is.  1.  4. 

»  Matt.  xi.  15.        3  2  Cor.  ii.  15.        4  Eph.  vi.  14,  and  11. 


Stand  against  the  power  of  the  adversary,  and 
vanquish  it,  saying,  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  ivhich  strengtheneth  me  s. 

5.  Having  been  counted  worthy  of  this 
Holy  Chrism,  ye  are  called  Christians,  veri- 
fying the  name  also  by  your  new  birth.  For 
before  you  were  deemed  worthy  of  this  grace, 
ye  had  properly  no  right  to  this  title,  but  were 
advancing  on  your  way  towards  being  Chris- 
tians. 

6.  Moreover,  you  should  know  that  in  the 
old  Scripture  there  lies  the  symbol  of  this 
Chrism.  For  what  time  Moses  imparted  to 
his  brother  the  command  of  God,  and  made 
him  High-priest,  after  bathing  in  water,  he 
anointed  him  ;  and  Aaron  was  called  Christ 
or  Anointed,  evidently  from  the  typical  Chrism. 
So  also  the  High-priest,  in  advancing  Solomon 
to  the  kingdom,  anointed  him  after  he  had 
bathed  in  Gihon^.  To  them  however  these 
things  happened  in  a  figure,  but  to  you  not 
in  a  figure,  but  in  truth  ;  because  ye  were 
truly  anointed  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Christ 
is  the  beginning  of  your  salvation  ;  for  He 
is  truly  the  First-fruit,  and  ye  the  mass  ^ ;  but 
if  the  First-fruit  be  holy,  it  is  manifest  that 
Its  holiness  will  pass  to  the  mass  also. 

7.  Keep  This  unspotted  :  for  it  shall  teach 
you  all  things,  if  it  abide  in  you,  as  you  have 
just  heaid  declared  by  the  blessed  Jol^n,  dis- 
coursing much  concerning  this_Unction-^  For 
this  holy  thing  is  a  spiritual  safeguard  of  the 
body,  and  salva'tion  of  the  soul.  Of  this  the 
blessed  Esaias  prophesying  of  old  time  said. 
And  on  this  montitain, — (now  he  calls  the 
Church  a  mountain  elsewhere  also,  as  when 
he  says.  In  the  last  days  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord's  house  shall  be  manifest '^  ■) — on  this 
mountain  shall  the  Lord  make  unto  all  nations 
a  fast ;  they  shall  drink  wine,  they  shall  drink 
gladness,  they  shall  anoint  themselves  ivith 
ointment^.  And  that  he  may  make  thee  sure, 
hear  what  he  says  of  this  ointment  as  being 
mystical  ;  Deliver  all  these  things  to  the  na- 
tions, for  the  counsel  of  the  Lord  is  unto  all 
natio7is  ^  Having  been  anointed,  therefore, 
with  this  holy  ointment,  keep  it  unspotted 
and  unblemished  in  you,  pressing  forward  by 
good  works,  and  being  made  well-pleasing  to 
the  Captain  of  your  salvation,  Christ  Jesus,  to 
whom  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


5  Pliil.  iv.  13.  6  I  Kings  i.  39.  7  Rom.  xi.  16. 

8  i^John  ii.  20:  But  ye  Iiave  an  vnction  (xp^<Tiia.)/rotn  ike 
Holy  Oiie^  " — 

9  Is.  ii.  2. 

'  lb.  XXV.  6.  The  Septuagint  differs  much  from  the  Hebrew, 
both  here  and  in  the  following  verse.  R.V.  "And  in  this  moun- 
tain shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  make  unto  all  peoples  a  feast  of  fat 
things,  a  feast  of  wines  on  the  lees,  of  fat  things  full  of  marrow,  of 
wines  on  the  lees  well  refined." 

*  lb.  J'.  7.  R.V.  "And  He  will  destroy  in  this  mountain  the 
face  of  the  covering  that  is  cast  over  all  peoples,  and  the  veil  that 
is  spread  over  all  nations." 


LECTURE    XXII. 


(ON   THE    MYSTERIES.     IV.) 


ON    THE    BODY   AND    BLOOD    OF   CHRIST. 


I  Cor.  xi.  23. 

/  received  of  the  Lord  tJiat  which  aiso  I  delivered  unto  you,  how  that  the  Lord  Jesus, 
in  the  night  in  which  He  was  betrayed,  took  bread,  ^c. 


1.  Even  of  itself '  the  teaching  of  the  Blessed 
Paul  is  sufficient  to  give  you  a  full  assurance 
concerning  those  Divine  Mysteries,  of  which 
having  been  deemed  worthy,  ye  are  become 
of  the  same  body""  and  blood  with  Christ. 
For  you  have  just  heard  him  say  distinctly, 
That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  nigJit 
in  which  LLe  tuas  betraved,  took  bread,  and 
when  He  had  given  thanks  He  brake  it,  ctnd 
gave  to  His  disciples,  saying,  Take,  eat,  this 
is  My  Body :  and  having  taken  the  cup  and 
given  thanks.  He  said,  Take,  drink,  this  is  My 
Blood^.  Since  then  He  HimseH"  declared 
and  said  of  the  Bread,  This  is  My  Body,  who 
shall  dare  to  doubt  any  longer?  And  since 
He  has  Himself  affirmed  and  said,  This  is  My 
Blood,  who  shall  ever  hesitate,  saying,  that  it 
is  not  His  blood  .-' 

2.  He  once  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  turned  the 
water  into  wine,  akin  to  blood  4,  and  is  it 
incredible  that  He  should  have  turned  wine 
into  blood  ?  When  called  to  a  bodily  mar- 
riage, He  miraculously  wrought  5  diat  wonder- 

I  auT>)  found  in  all  MSS.  is  changed  for  the  worse  into  aiin/  by 
the  D-nedictine  Euitor. 

-'  Introduction,  "  Eucharist."  The  word  <rv<TiTiafi.oi.  has  a  dif- 
ferent sense  in  Eph.  iii.  6,  where  it  is  applied  to  the  Gentiles 
as  having  been  made  members  of  Christ's  body  the  Church. 

3  I  Cor.  xi.  23.  The  clause  "and  gave  to  His  disciples"  is  an 
addition  taken  from  Matt.  xx\i.  26.  The  part  relating  to  the  cup 
does  not  correspond  exactly  either  with  St.  Paul's  language  or 
wiih  the  Evangelists'. 

4  oiKeioi'  aVa-71.  Cod.  Scirlet.  (Grodecq),  Mesni.  (Morel), 
Vindob.  ;  Ben.  Ed.  oIkcio)  reu/iart,  Codd.  Monac.  i,  2,  Genovef. 
Vatt.  (Prevot. ).  Rupp.  The  whole  pas.sagcis  omitted  in  Codd. 
Coisl.  R.  Casaub.  owing  to  the  repetition  of  ai/xa 

The  reading  oIksCw  i/evnan,  ''  by  His  own  will,"  introduces 
a  superfluous  thought,  and  destroys  the  very  point  of  Cyril's 
argument,  in  which  the  previous  change  of  water  into  an  element 
so  different  as  wine  is  regarded  as  giving  an  ayor/zV;?-/ probability 
to  the  change  of  that  which  is  already  "  akin  to  blood  "  into  blood 
itself. 

If  Cyril  thus  seems  to  teach  a  physical  change  of  the  wine, 
it  must  be  rememlered  that  we  are  not  bound  to  accept  his  view, 
but  only  to  state  it  accurately.  See  however  the  section  of  the 
Intruduction  on  his  Eucharistic  doctrine. 

5  eOavfJiaTovpyTj<r6  Trju  TrapafiofOTrott'ai'.  Cf.  Chi'ysost.  EJ>ist.  i. 
nd  Olympiad,  ile  Deo,  §  i,  c.  :  Tore  Sav/naroupyei  koI  jrapaSofoTroiet. 


ful  work  ;  and  ^«  the  ch:ldi-en  of  the  bride- 
chamber^,  shall  He  not  much  rather  be  ac- 
knowledged to  have  bestowed  _the  fruition  of 
His  Body  and  Blood  7  ? 

3.  Wherefore  with  full  assurance  let  us  par- 
take as  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ :  for 
in  the  figure^  of  Bread  is  given  to  thee  His 
Body,  and  in  the  figure  of  Wine  His  Blood ; 
that  tliou  by^j3artaking  of  the  F]ody  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  mayest  bemade  of  the  same  body 
aiid  the  same  blood  with  Him.  For  thus  we 
come  to  bear  Christ'^Mn  us,  because  His  Body 
and  Blood  are  distributed  '  through  our  mem- 
bers;  thus  it  is  that,  according  to  the  blessed 
Peter,  we  become  partakers  of  the  divine  na- 
ture ^. 

4.  Christ  on  a  certain  occasion  discoursing 
with  the  Jews  said,  Except  ye  eat  My  flesh 
and  d' ink  My  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you^. 
They  not  having  heard  His  saying  in  a  spiritual 


6  Matt.  ix.  15. 

7  Ben.  Ed.  :  "That  the  force  of  Cyril's  argument  may  be  the 
better  understood,  we  must  observe  that  in  Baptism  is  celebrated 
I  he  marriage  of  Chvi^I  with,  the  Christian  ioul ;  and  that  the 
consummation  of  this  marriage  is  perfected  through  the_  union  of 
bodies  in  the  mystery  oi  the  Eucharist.  Read  Chiysostom's 
tiomTxx.  in  Epiies."  Chrysostom's  words  are  :  "In  like  manner 
therefore  we  become  one  flesh  with  Chri.-,t  by  participation 
(fierouo-ias)."  But  the  participation  expressed  by  ncTovcri'a  does 
not  necessarily  reler  to  th*^  Eucharist.     From  the  use  of  the  word 

i  in  Cat.  xxiii.  ii,  and  in  Athaiiasius  (Contra  Ariaiios,  Or.  i. ;  de 
Synodis.  19  22,  25)  the  meaning  rather  seems  tu  be  that  we  are 
one  flesh  with  Christ  not  by  nature  but  by  His  gift. 

8  See  Index,  TvTrosj  and  the  references  there,  and  Waterland, 
Ok  the  E.ucharist,  c.  vii. 

9  Xpi<rTO<|)6poi  yivnfj.i6a..    Procat.  15. 

I  Ben.  Ed.:  "'Ai'a6iSo/u.eVou.  The  Codices  Coisl.  Roe,  Casaub. 
Scirlet.  Ottob.  2.  Genovef.  have  a.vii^hcyjxivoi.,  which  does  not 
at^ree  well  with  the  Genitives  roi)  o'who.to;  and  rot)  oi/Lcaro;.  It  is 
evident  that  it  was  an  ill-contrived  errfendation  of  a.vahiho\i.fvov, 
the  transcribers  being  offended  at  the  distribution  of  Christ's  Body 
among  our  niember.s.  But  Cyril  uses  even  the  same  word  in  Cat. 
xxiii.  9  :  OJros  6  apro?.  .  .  .  fis  Tratrdi/  trov  7t\v  <y\i(T-ra.<Tiv  ai/aiii- 
6oTat,  «t5  u)</)f'Aeiai'  crM|uaT09  Koi.  >//vxijs,  'This  Bread  is  di'itributed 
into  thy  whole  system,  to  the  benefit  of  body  and  soul.'"  ' Kva- 
SiSofievov  is  the  reading  of  Milles  and  Rupp.  For  similar  languauc 
see  Justin  M.  A/oi.  i.  66;  Iren.  V.  ii.  2. 

*  2  Pet.  i.  4.  3  John  vi.  53. 


152 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


sense   were   offended,    and    went   back,    sup- 
posing that  He  was  inviting  them  to  eat  flesh. 

5.  In  the  Old  Testament  also  there  was 
shew-bread  ;  but  this,  as  it  belonged  to  the 
Old  Testament,  has  come  to  an  end  ;  but 
in  the  New  Testament  there  is  Bread  of 
heaven,  and  a  Cup  of  salvation,  sanctifying 
soul  and  body ;  for  as  the  Bread  corresponds 
to  our  body,  so  is  the  Word  *  appropriate  to 
our  soul. 

6.  Consider  therefore  the  Bread  and  the  Wine 
not  as  bare  elements,  for  they  are,  according 
to  the  Lord's  declaration,  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ  ;  for  even  though  sense  suggests  this 
to  thee,  yet  let  faith  establish  thee.  Judge 
not  the  matter  from  the  taste,  but  from  faith 
be  fully  assured  without  misgiving,  that  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  have  been  vouch- 
safed to  thee. 

7.  Also  the  blessed  David  shall  advise  thee 
the  meaning  of  this,  saying,  T/iou  hast  pre- 
pared a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of 
them  that  afflict  nie^.'  What  he  says,  is  to  this 
effect :  Before  Thy  coming,  the  evil  spirits 
prepared  a  table  for  men  ^,  polluted  and  de- 
filed and  full  of  devilish  influence  ? ;  but  since 
'I'hy  coming.  O  Lord,  Thou  hast  prepared 
a  table  before  me.  When  the  man  says  to 
God,  Thou  hast  prepared  before  vie  a  table, 
what  other  does  he  indicate  but  that  mystical 
and  spiritual  Table,  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  us  over  against,  that  is,  contrary  and  in 
oi^position  to  the  evil  spirits?  And  very  truly; 
for  that  had  communion  with  devils,  but  this, 
with  God.  Thou  hast  anointed  tny  head  with 
oil^.  With  oil  He  anointed  thine  head  upon 
thy  forehead,  for  the  seal  which  thou  hast  of 


4  Ben.  Ed.:  "Here  we  are  to  understand  (by  6  Adyo?)  the 
Divine  Word,  not  the  bare  discourse  01  God,  but  the  second  Person 
of  the  Holy  i'rinity,  Christ  Himself,  the  Bread  of  Heaven,  as  He 
testifies  of  Himself,  John  vi.  51  :  Him  Cyril  contrasts  with  the 
earthly  shew-bread  in  the  O.  T.  ;  otherwise  he  could  not  rightly 
from  this  sentence  infer,  by  the  panicle  ovv,  "therefore,"  that  the 
Eucharist  is  truly  the  Body  and  Bluod  of  Christ.  And  since  he 
says,  in  Cat.  xxiii.  15,  that  the  Eucharistic  food  is  "appointed  for 
the  substance  of  the  soul,"  for  its  benefit,  that  cannot  be  said  of 
Christ's  body  cr  of  His  soul,  but  only  of  the  Word  which  is  con- 
joined with  both.  Moreover  thit  the  Divine  Word  is  the  food  of 
Angels  and  of  the  soul,  is  a  common  mode  of  speaking  with  all  the 
Fathers.  They  often  play  on  the  ambiguity  of  this  word  (Adyos), 
saying  sometimes  that  the  Divine  Word,  sometimes  the  word  and 
oracles  of  God,  are  the  food  of  our  souls:  both  statements  are 
true.  For  the  whole  life-giving  power  of  the  Eucharist  is  derived 
from  the  Word  of  God  united  to  the  flesh  which  He  assumed  : 
and  the  whole  benelit  of  Eucharistic  e.ituig  consists  in  the  union 
of  our  soul  with  the  Word,  in  meditation  on  His  mysteries  and 
sayings,  and  conformity  theieto." 

5  Ps.  xxiii.  5. 

6  r\Ki<Tyy)ixcvy)v,  a  good  restoration  by  Milles,  with  Codd.  Roe, 
Casaub.  Coislin.  'I'he  earlier  printed  texts  had  ijAuyio-^ieViji', 
■'overshadowed."  Cf.  Mai.  i.  7:  aprous  ijAnryij/xeVous,  .  .  .  . 
TpaTre^a  Kupt'ou  ri\i(Tyy}ii.€vr\  ecrrtV. 

7  Cyril  refers  to  the  idolatrous  feasts,  which  St-  Paul  calls  "  the 
table  of  devils,"  i  Cor.  x.  21. 

^  Ps<  xxiii.  5. 


God  ;  that  thou  mayest  be  made  the  engraving 
of  the  signet,  Holi7iess  unto  God^,  And  thy 
cup  intoxicateth  me,  as  very  strong'^.  Thou 
seest  that  cup  here  spoken  of,  which  Jesus 
took  in  His  hands,  and  gave  thanks,  and  said, 
This  is  My  blood,  ivhich  is  shed  for  tnany  for 
the  remission  of  sins '^. 

8.  Therefore  Solomon  also,  hinting  at  this 
grace,  says  in  Ecclesiastes,  Come  hither,  eat 
thy  bread  with  Joy  (that  is,  the  spiritual 
bread  ;  Come  hither,  he  calls  with  the  call  to 
salvation  and  blessing),  and  drink  thy  wine 
with  a  merry  heart  (that  is,  the  spiritual 
wine) ;  and  let  oil  be  poured  out  upon  thy 
head  (tliou  seest  he  alludes  even  to  the  mystic 
Chrism)  ;  and  let  thy  garments  be  always 
zit/iite,  for  the  Lo?-d  is  well  pleased  with  thy 
works'^ ;  for  before  thou  camest  to  Baptism, 
thy  works  were  vanity  of  va?iities*.  But  now, 
having  put  off  thy  old  garments,  and  put  on 
those  which  are  spiritually  white,  thou  must 
be  continually  robed  in  white  :  of  course  we 
mean  not  this,  that  thou  art  always  to  wear 
white  raiment;  but  thou  must  be  clad  in  the 
garments  that  are  truly  white  and  shining  and 
spiritual,  that  thou  mayest  say  with  the  blessed 
Esaias,  Aly  soul  shall  be  joyful  in  my  God ; 

for   He  hath   clothed  me   with  a  garment  of 
saltation,  and  put  a  robe  of  gladness  around  me  s. 

9.  Having  learnt  these  things,  and  been 
fully  assured  that  the  seeming  bread  is  not 
bread,  though  sensible  to  taste,  but  the  Body 
of  Christ ;  and  that  the  seeming  wine  is  not 
wine,  though  the  taste  will  have  it  so,  bat  the 
Blood  of  Christ^;  and  that  of  this  David  sung 
of  old,  saying.  And  bread  strengtheneth  man's 
heart,  to  make  his  face  to  shine  with  oiP, 
"  strengthen  thou  thine  heart,"  by  partaking 
thereof  as  spiritual,  and  "make  the  face  of 
thy  soul  to  shine."  And  so  having  it  unveiled 
with  a  pure  conscience,  mayest  thou  reflect  as 
a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord^,  and  proceed 
from^/<?ri'  to  glory,  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord: — 
To  whom  be  honour,  and  might,  and  glory,  for 
ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


9  Ex.  xxviii.  36  ;  Ecclus.  xlv.  12.  The  plate  of  pure  gold 
on  the  forefront  of  A.aron's  mitre  was  engraved  with  the  motto, 
Hoiy  unto  the  Lord.  This  symbolism  C>  ril  transfer.-,  to  the 
s;icramental  Chrism,  in  which  the  forehead  is  signed  with  ointment, 
and  the  soul  with  the  seal  of  God. 

•  Ps.  xxiii.  5  :  My  cu/>  runneth  over.  Eusebius  {Deiti.  Evang. 
I.  c.  10,  §  28)  applies  the  Psalm,  as  Cyril  does,  to  the  Eucharist. 

2  Matt.  xxvi.  28.  3  Eccles.  ix.  7,  8. 

4  For  7rpoo-eA6t)5  (Bened.)  we  must  read  Trpoo-rjAfles,  or,  with 
Monac.  I.  TTpoaeAfleit'. 

5  Is.  Ixi.  10. 

*  On  tiiis  passage  see  the  section  of  the  Introduction  referred 
to  in  the  Index,  "  HucJuiriit." 

'        7  Ps.  civ.  15.  B  8  Cor.  iii.  18. 


LECTURE    XXIII. 

(ON   THE    MYSTERIES.     V.) 


ON   THE   SACRED    LITURGY   AND    COMMUNION*. 


I  Pet.  ii.  i. 


WJierefore  ptcttin^  away  all  filthmess,  and  all  guile,  and  anl  speaking"^,  &'c. 


1.  By  the  loving-kindness  of  God  ye  have 
heard  sufificiently  at  our  former  meetings  con- 
cerning Baptism,  and  Chrism,  and  partaking 
of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ ;  and  now  it 
is  necessary  to  pass  on  to  what  is  next  in 
order,  meaning  to-day  to  set  the  crown  on  the 
spiritual  building  of  your  edification. 

2.  Ye  have  seen  then  the  Deacon  who  gives 
to  the  Priest  water  to  wash  3,  and  to  the  Presby- 
ters who  stand  round  God's  altar.  He  gave  it 
not  at  all  because  of  bodily  defilement ;  it  is 
not  that ;  for  we  did  not  enter  the  Church  at 
first  4  with  defiled  bodies.  But  the  washing  of 
hands  is  a  symbol  that  ye  ought  to  be  pure 
from  all  sinful  and  unlawful  deeds  ;  for  since 
the  hands  are  a  symbol  of  action,  by  washing -"^ 
them,  it  is  evident,  we  represent  the  purity  and 
blamelessness  of  our  conduct.  Didst  thou  not 
hear  the  blessed  David  opening  this  very 
mystery,  and  saying,  /  will  wash  my  hands  in 
innoceticy,  and  so  .will  I  compass  Thine  Altar, 
O  Lord^  1  The  washing  therefore  of  hands  is 
a  symbol  of  inmiunity  ^  from  sin. 


'  This  title  is  added  by  the  Benedictine  Editor.  There  is 
nothing  corrcsponuing  to  it  in  the  Greek. 

2  The  text  is  made  up  from  memory  of  James  i.  21  :  6i6 
aTTofle/xej/oi  ■na.aa.v  pvivapiav,  and  I  Pet.  ii.  i  :  aT7odeixevoL  ovv 
na(Tav  Kojciav  /cal  TrdvTo,  S6\ov  Koi  vnoxpCam  Kai  Traeras  Kora- 
AaAi'af. 

3  la  the  A^osio/ic  Constitutions,  WW.  xi.  this  duty  is  assigned 
to  a  sub-deacon:  "Let  one  of  the  sub-deacons  bring  water  to 
wash  the  hands  of  the  Priests,  which  is  a  symbol  of  the  j.'urity 
of  those  souls  that  are  devoted  to  God."  See  Dictionary  of 
Christian  Anfigiiities.  "Lavabo."  The  Priest  who  celebrates 
the  Eucharist  is  here  distinguished  by  the  title  iepeus  from  the 
other  Presbyters  who  stood  round  the  altar. 

4  Cyril  evidently  refers  to  the  custom  of  placing  vessels  of 
water  outside  the  entrance  of  the  Church.  Bingham,  Antiijitities, 
VIII.  iii.  5.  Chrysost.  In  Johaniieiu  Hojn.  Ixxiii.  3:  "Do  we 
then  wash  our  hands  when  going  into  Church,  and  shall  we  not 
wash  our  hearts  also?"  That  the  same  custom  was  observed  in 
heathen  Temples  appears  from  Herod.  I.  51  :  irepippavrripia  Svo 
arefltjKe  (See  Bahr's  note).  Compare  also  Joseph.  Ant.Jud.  III. 
vi.  2. 

5  [ruJ]  vL\l/a(T9ai.  Rupp :  "Tcj  ex  conjectura  addidi."  Possibly 
the  original  reading  was  ni/'oi/neroi,  which  would  easily  become 
altered  through  the  presence  of  yiipaadai.  in  the  preceding  line. 
This  washing  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James. 

''  Ps.  xxvi.  6.  In  the  Liturgy  of  Constantinople  this  Psalm 
was  chanted  by  the  Priest  and  Deacon  while  washuig  their  hands 
at  the  Prothesis  or  Credence. 

7  awmvtivvoi. 


3.  Then  the  Deacon  cries  aloud,  "  Receive 
ye  one  another  ;  and  let  us  kiss  one  another  ^." 
Think  not  that  this  ki.ss  is  of  the  same  char- 
acter with  those  given  in  public  by  common 
friends.  It  is  not  such  :  but  this  kiss  blends 
souls  one  with  another,  and  courts  entire  for- 
giveness for  them.  The  kiss  therefore  is  the 
sign  that  our  souls  are  mingled  together,  and 
banish  all  remembrance  of  wrongs.  For  this 
cause  Christ  said,  If  Ihoti  arc  offering  thy  gift  at 
the  altar,  and  there  remeinberest  that  thy  brother 
hath  aught  against  thee,  leave  there  thy  gift 
upon  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way  ;  first  be  re- 
conciled to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer 
thy  gift 'i.  The  kiss  therefore  is  reconciliation, 
and  for  this  reason  holy :  as  the  blessed 
Paul  somewhere  cried,  saying.  Greet  ye  otie 
a?iother  with  a  holy  kiss '  /  and  Peter,  T.uith  a 
kiss  of  charity  ^. 

4.  After  this  the  Priest  cries  aloud,  "  Lift  up 
your  hearts  3."  For  truly  ought  we  hi  that  most 
awful  hour  to  have  our  heart  on  high  with 
God,  and  not  below,  thinking  of  earth  and 
earthly  things.  In  effect  Therefore  the  Priest 
bids  all  in  that  hour  to  dismiss  all  cares  of  this 
life,    or    household    anxieties,    and    to    have 

8  These  two  directions  by  the  Deacon  are  separated  in  the 
Liturgy  of  St.  James  :  after  the  dismissal  of  the  Catechumens,  the 
Deacon  says,  "Take  note  one  of  another  ;  "  and  after  the  Incense, 
Cherubic  Hymn,  Oblation,  Creed,  and  a  short  prayer  "that  we 
may  I'e  unitt;d  one  to  another  in  the  bond  of  peace  and  charity," 
the  Deacon  says,  ''Let  us  salute  (aya— M/^ec)  one  another  with 
a  holy  kiss."  In  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  VIII.  ii,  theri" 
is  but  one  such  direction,  and  this  comes  before  the  washing  of 
hands  and  the  di-~missal  of  the  Catechumens,  "'Salute  ( ao-Trdcrao-fle) 
ye  one  another  with  a  holy  ki-^s." 

9  Matt.  V.  23.  From  Cyril's  reference  to  this  passage  "it 
may  be  inferred  that  the  kiss  of  peace  had  been  given  before 
the  gifts  were  brought  to  the  altar,  according  to  ancient  custom 
atte>ted  by  Justin  M.  Apolog.  i.  c.  65  :  '  Having  ended  the 
pravers'  (lor  the  newly  baptized)  'we  salute  one  another  with 
a  kiss.  Then  there  is  brought  to  the  President  of  the  brethren 
bread,  and  a  cup  of  wine  mixed  with  water  '  "  (Ben.  Ed.),  ihere 
is  the  same  order  in  the  Apost.  Cotist.  VIII.  12,  and  in  the  19th 
Canon  of  the  Synod  of  Laodicea  ;  but  in  the  Liturgy  of  S.  James 
the  gifts  are  offered  before  the  kiss  of  peace. 

'  I  Cor.  xvi.  20.  2  I  Pet.  iii.  15. 

3  The  words  are  slightly  varied  in  the  Liturgies :  thus  in  the 
Liturgy  of  St.  James,  "  Let  us  lift  up  our  mind  and  hearts  ;"  in  the 
Apost.  Const,  viii.  12,  "  Lift  up  your  mind." 


1 54 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES. 


iheir  heart  in  heaven  with  the  merciful  God. 
Tlien  ye  answer,  "  We  hft  ihem  up  unto  the 
Lord  :  "  assenting  to  it,  by  your  avowal.  But 
let  no  one  come  liere,  who  could  say  with 
his  mouth,  "  We  lift  up  our  hearts  unto 
the  Lord,"  but  in  his  thoughts  have  his  mind 
concerned  with  the  cares  of  this  life  At  all 
times,  rather,  God  should  be  in  our  memory ; 
but  if  this  is  impossible  by  reason  of  human 
infirmity,  in  that  hour  above  all  this  should 
be  our  earnest  endeavour. 

5.  Then  the  Priest  says,  "  Let  us  give  thanks 
unto  the  Lord."  For  verily  we  are  bound  to 
give  thanks,  that  He  called  us,  unworthy  as 
we  were,  to  so  great  grace  ;  that  He  recon- 
ciled us  when  we  were  His  foes;  that  He  vouch- 
safed to  us  the  Spirit  of  adoption.  Then  ye 
say,  "It  is  meet  and  right:"  for  in  giving 
thanks  we  do  a  meet  thing  and  a  right ;  but 
He  did  not  right,  but  more  than  right,  in  doing 
us  good,  and  counting  us  meet  lor  such  great 
benefits. 

6.  After  this,  we  make  mention  of  heaven, 
and  earth,  and  sea*;  of  sun  and  moon;  of 
stars  and  all  the  creation,  rational  and  irra- 
tional, visible  and  invisible;  of  Angels,  Arch- 
angels, Virtues,  Dominions,  Principalities, 
Powers,  Thrones  ;  of  the  Cherubim  with  many 
faces  :  in  effect  repeating  that  call  of  David's, 
Magnify  the  Lord  with  me  s.  We  make  men- 
tion also  of  the  Sera|iliim,  whom  Esaias  in  the 
Holy  Spirit  saw  standing  around  the  throne 
of  God,  and  with  two  of  their  wings  veiling 
their  face,  and  with  twain  their  feet,  while  with 
twain  they  did  fly,  crying  Hol\\  Holy,  Holy,  is 
the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  ^.  For  the  reason  of  our 
reciting  this  confession  of  God  ?,  delivered 
down  to  us  from  the  Seraphim,  is  this,  that  so 
we  may  be  partakers  with  the  hosts  of  the 
world  above  in  their  Hymn  of  praise. 

7.  Then  liaving  sanctified  ourselves  by  these 
spiritual  Hymns,  we  beseech  the  merciful  God 


4  Compare  the  noble  Eucharistic  Preface  in  the  Liturgy  of 
St.  James:  "  It  is  verily  njeet,  r  t;ht,  becoming,  and  our  bounden 
duty  to  praise  'J'liee.  to  sing  of  Tliee,  to  bless  'i'liee,  to  worsliip 
Thee,  to  glnrify  Thee,  to  t;ive  thanks  to  Thee  the  Maker  of  every 
creature,  visilile  and  invisilile,  the  Trea-.ure  of  eternal  blessings; 
the  Fount  of  life  jvnd  immortality,  the  God  and  Lord  of  all,  whom 
the  heavens  of  heavens  do  praise,  and  all  the  powers  thereof,  sun 
and  moon  and  all  the  choir  of  the  stars,  earth,  sea,  and  all  that 
in  them  is,  Jeiusalem  the  heavenly  assemblv.  Church  of  the  first- 
born that  are  written  in  the  heavens,  spirits  ol  righteous  men  and 
prophets,  souls  of  martyrs  and  Apostles.  Angels,  Archangels, 
Thrones,  Dominions,  Principalities,  Authorities,  and  Powers 
drea^d,  also  the  many-eyed  Cherubim,  and  the  six-winged  Sera- 
phim, which  with  twain  of  their  wings  cover  their  faces,  and  with 
twain  their  feet,  and  with  twain  do  fly,  crying  one  to  another  with 
unresting  lips,  in  unceasing  praises,  singing  with  loud  voice  the 
triumphant  liymn  of  Thy  majestic  glory,  shouting,  and  glorifying, 
and  crying  aloud,  and  saying, — Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  O  Lord  of 
Hosts,  heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  Thy  glory.  Hos:iiina  in  the 
highest;  blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord; 
Hosanna  in  the  highest." 

5  Ps.  xxxiv.  3.  6  Ls.  vi.  2,  3- 

7  eeoAoyi'af,  "  the  doctrine  of  the  Godhead,"  either  of  the  Son 
in  particular,  or,  as  here,  of  the  whole  Trinity:  of  Athanas. 
contra  Arianos,  Or.  i.  §  18  :  viv  iv  TpCaSi  ri  fitoAoyia  reAtia 
ttrnV.  I 


to  send  forth  His  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  gifts 
lying  before  Him;  that  He  may  make  the 
Bread  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  the  Wine  the 
Blood  of  Christ^;  for  whatsoever^the  Holy 
Ghost  has  touched,  is  surely  sanctified  and 
changed. 

8.  Then,  after  the  spiritual  sacrifice,  the 
bloodless  service,  is  completed,  over  that 
sacrifice  of  propitiation  9  we  entreat  God  for 
the  common  peace  of  the  Churches,  for  the 
welfare  of  the  world  '  ;  for  kings  ;  for  sol- 
diers and  allies  ;  for  the  sick  ;  for  the  afflicted  ; 
and,  in  a  word,  fof  all  who  stand  in  need  of  suc- 
cour we  all  pray  and  offer  this  sacrifice. 

9.  Then  we  commemorate  also  those  w^ho 
have  fallen  asleep  before  us,  first  Patriarchs, 
Prophets,  Apostles,  Martyrs,  that  at-  their 
prayers  and  intercessions  God  would  receive 
our  petition  '.  'I~hen  on  behalf  also  of  the  Holy 
Fathers  and  Bishops  who  have  fallen  asleep 
before  us,  and  in  a  word  of  all  who  in  past 
years  have  fallen  asleep  among  us,  believing 
that  it  will  be  a  very  great  benefit  to  the 
souls  3,  for  whom  the  supplication  is  put  up, 
while  that  holy  and  most  awful  sacrifice  is 
set  forth. 

ID.  And  I  wish  to  persuade  you  by  an 
illustration.  For  I  know  that  many  say,  what 
is  a  soul  profited,  which  departs  from  this 
world  either  with  sins,  or  without  sins,  if  it  be 
commemorated  in  the  prayer  ?  For  if  a  king 
were  to  banish  certain  who  had  given  him  of- 
fence, and  then  those  who  belong  to  them* 


8  In  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James  the  Triumphal  Hymn  is  followed 
by  the  '  Recital  of  the  work  of  Redemption.'  and  of  'the  Insti- 
tution." by  the  '  Great  Oblation,'  and  then  by  the  '  Invocation,' 
as  follows  :  "  Have  mercy  upon  us,  O  God,  after  Thy  great  mcicy, 
and  send  forth  on  us,  and  on  these  gifts  here  set  before  'I'hee, 
Thine  all-holy  Spirit,  ....  that  He  may  come,  and  by  His  holy, 
good,  and  glorious  advent  iirapova-ict)  may  sanctily  this  IJread  and 
make  it  the  holy  Body  of  Thy  Christ  (W?«f«),  and  this  Cup  the 
precious  Blood  of  I'hy  Christ"  {Ajuen).  In  Cat.  xix.  7,  Cyril 
calls  this  prayer  "  the  holy  Invocation  of  the  Adorable  Trinity," 
and  in  xxi.  3,  "  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

9  See  Index,  "  Sacrifice,"  and  the  reference  there  to  the 
Introduction.  Compare  Athenagoras  (^4/c/.  c.  xiii.):  "'What  have 
I  to  do  with  burni-olTerings,  of  which  God  has  no  need  ?  Though 
indeed  it  behoves  us  to  bring  a  bloodless  sacrifice,  and  the  reason- 
able  serz'ice." 

'  Cyril  here  gives  a  brief  summary  of  the  "  Great  Intercession," 
in  which,  according  to  the  common  text  of  the  Liturgy  o:  St. 
James,  there  is  a  suffrage  "for  the  peace  and  welfare  (eiitTTd- 
S'  la)  of  the  whole  world,  and  of  the  holy  Churches  of  God." 
Mr.  Hammond  thinks  that  it  has  been  taken  Irom  the  Deacon's 
Litany,  and  repeated  by  mistake  in  the  (ircat  Intercession.  But 
from  Chrysostom's  language  (/«  £/>.  ad  Fliil.  Horn.  iii.  p.  218  ; 
Gaume,  T.  xi  p.  251).  we  must  infer  that  tlie  prayer  iiTrcp  i\p-i,vr\<i 
Ka.\  evCTTaStias  toO  xoa/iov  formed  part  of  the  '  Great  Intercession' 
in  his  Liturgy,  as  it  does  in  the  Clementine  {Apost.  Constit.  VIII. 
§10). 

2  In  the  Liturgies  of  St.  James  and  St.  Mark,  and  in  the 
Clementine,  there  are  similar  commemorations  of  departed  saints, 
especially  "patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,"  but  nothing 
coi  responding  to  the  words, ''  that  at  their  prayers  and  intercessions 
God  would  receive  our  petition."  See  Index,  Prayer  and  Inter- 
cession, 

3  So  Chrysostom  (/«  i  Cor.  Horn.  41,  p.  457  a):  "Not  in 
vain  was  this  rule  ordained  by  the  Aposiks,  that  in  the 
dread  Mysteries  remembrance  should  be  made  of  the  departed; 
for  they  knew  that  it  is  a  great  gain  to  them,  and  a  great  benefit. 

4  ol  Toiirois  6ia(/)epovTcs.  "  He.sychius,  Aio^fpei,  aioj/cet. 
Ubi  Kusterus  ait,  ar^Kft,  id  est.  "  pertinet,"  vel  ^' att'ntet' 
Routh,  Scrijior,  Scries.  Ofuscula,  p.  441).     Dr.  Routh's  note 


LECTURE   XXIII. 


155 


should  weave  a  crown  and  offer  it  to  him  on 
behalf  of  those  under  punishment,  would  he 
not  grant  a  remission  of  their  penalties  ?  In 
the  same  way  we,  when  we  offer  to  Him  our 
supplications  for  those  who  have  fallen  asleep, 
though  they  be  sinners,  weave  no  crown,  but 
offer  up  Christ  sacrificed  for  our  sins  5,  propitia- 
ting our  merciful  God  for  them  as  well  as  for 
ourselves. 

1 1 .  Then,  after  these  things,  we  say  that 
Prayer  which  the  Saviour  delivered  to  His  own 
disciples,  with  a  pure  conscience  enlitling  God 
our  Father,  and  sa}ing,  Oui'  Father^  zu/ikh  art 
in  heaven.  O  most  surpassing  loving-kindness 
of  God  !  On  them  who  revolted  from  Him 
and  were  in  the  very  extreme  ol  misery  has  He 
bestowed  such  a  complete  forgiveness  of  evil 
deeds,  and  so  great  participation  of  grace,  as 
that  they  should  even  call  Him  Father.  Our 
Father,  which  art  in  heaven  ;  and  they  also 
are  a  heaven  who  bear  the  image  of  the 
heavenly  ^,  in  whom  is  God,  diueiiing  ami 
walking  in  t/ieni  7. 

12.  Halloivcd  be  Thy  Name.  The  Name 
of  God  is  in  its  nature  holy,  whether  we  say 
so  or  not  ;  but  since  it  is  sometimes  profaned 
among  sinners,  according  to  the  words,  T/irougii 
you  My  Name  is  continually  blasphemed  among 
the  Gentiles^,  we  pray  that  in  us  God's  Name 
may  be  hallowed  ;  not  that  it  comes  to  be  holy 
from  not  being  holy,  but  because  it  becomes 
holy  in  us,  when  we  are  made  holy,  and 
do  things  worthy  of  holiness. 

13.  Tliy  kingdom  come.  A  pure  soul  can 
say  with  boldness,  T/iy  kingdom  come;  for 
he  who  has  heard  Paul  saying.  Let  not  there- 
fore sin  reign  in  your  mortal  Z-^^c/)' 9,  and  has 

cleansed  himself  in  deed,  and  thought,  and 
word,  will  say  to  God,  Thy  kingdom  come. 

14.  Thy  will  be  done  as  in  heaven  so  on 
earth.  God's  divine  and  blessed  Angels  do 
the  will  of  God,  as  David  said  in  the  Psalm, 
Bless  the  Lord.,  all  ye  Angels  of  His,  mighty 
in  strength,  that  do  LLis  pleasure'^.  So  then 
in  effect  thou  meanest  this  by  thy  prayer, 
"as  in  the  Angels  Thy  will  is  done,  so  like- 
wise be  it  done  on  earth  in  me,  O  Lord." 

15.  Give  us  this  day  our  substantial  bread. 
This  common  bread  is  not  substantial  bread, 
but  this  Holy  Bread  is  substantial,  that 
is,  appointed  for  the  substance  of  the  soul  ^. 


refers  to  Nica-ni  Cone.  Can.  xvi.  :  vij>apTT(ia'at  tov  tcu  erepco  5iacJ)e- 
poi'TC  Cf.  Sytiodi  Nic.  ad  AUwandriiios  EJ>ist.:  Sia<j>epoi/ra 
TJJ  AiyvTTTW  Kai  TT)  ayiioTarri  'AAe^arSpt'tui/  eK/cArjat^. 

5  According  to  the  Ben.  Ed.  the  meaning  is  not  "We  offer 
Christ,  who  was  sacrificed  for  onrsins,"  but  "'We  offer  for  our 
sins  Christ  sacrificed."  i.e  "Christ  lying  on  the  altar  as  a  victim 
sacrificed,"  in  allusion  to  i?i!poc.  V.  6,  i2.    See  Index,  "  Sacrifice." 

6  I  Cor.  XV.  49.  7  2  Cor.  vi.  16. 
8  Is.  Hi.  5  ;  Rom.  ii.  24.  9  Rom.  vi.  12. 
•  Ps.  ciii.  20. 

8  "  It  is  manifest  that  the  author  derives  the  word  eTrioucrios 
from  the  two  words  iiri  and  oucrta,  as  do  many  others :  altliongh 


For  this  Bread  goeth  not  info  the  belly  and 
is  cast  out  into  the  draught^,  but  is  dis- 
tributed into  thy  whole  system  for  the  benefit 
of  body  and  soul  4.  But  by  this  day,  he  means, 
"  each  day,"  as  also  Paul  said.  While  it  is 
called  to-day  5. 

\6.  And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  ive  also 
forgive  our  debtors.  For  we  have  many  sins. 
For  we  offend  both  in  word  and  in  thought, 
and  very  many  things  we  do  worthy  of  con- 
demnation ;  and  if  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin, 
we  lie,  as  John  says  ^.  And  we  make  a  cove- 
nant with  God,  entreating  Him  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  as  we  also  forgive  our  neighbours 
their  debts.  Considering  then  what  we  receive 
and  in  return  for  what,  let  us  not  put  off  nor 
delay  to  forgive  one  another.  The  offences 
committed  against  us  are  slight  and  trivial, 
and  easily  settled  ;  but  those  which  we  have 
committed  against  God  are  great,  and  need 
such  mercy  as  His  only  is.  Take  heed 
therefore,  lest  for  the  slight  and  trivial  sins 
against  thee  thou  shut  out  for  thyself  for- 
giveness from  God  for  thy  very  grievous  sins. 

17.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  O 
Lord.  Is  this  then  what  the  Lord  teaches  us 
to  pray,  that  we  may  not  be  tempted  at  all? 
How  then  is  it  said  elsewhere,  "a  man  un- 
tempted,  is  a  man  unproved  7 ;"  and  again.  My 
brethren,  count  it  all  foy  7vhen  ye  fail  into 
divers  temptations  ^  /  But  does  perchance  the 
entering  into  temptation  mean  the  being  over- 
whelmed by  the  temptation  ?  For  tempta- 
tion is,  as  it  were,  like  a  winter  torrent 
difficult  to  cross.  Those  therefore  who  are 
not  overwhelmed  in  temptations,  pass  through, 
shewing  themselves  excellent  swimmers,  and 
not  being  swept  away  by  them  at  all ;  while 
those  who  are  not  such,  enter  into  them  and 
are  overwhelmed.  As  for  example,  Judas 
li aving  entered  into  the  temptation  of  the  love 
of  money,  swam  not  through  it,  but  was  over- 
whelmed and  was  strangled  9  both  in  body 
and  spirit.  Peter  entered  into  the  temptation  of 
the  denial ;  but  having  entered,  he  was  not  over- 


the  explanation  which  derives  it  from  eTrtovo-jj  rifj-ipa  is  more 
probable.  We  render  it  "substantial"  in  accordance  with  Cyril's 
meanmg,  with  which  the  word  "  super-substantial  does  not  agree  " 
(lien.  Ed  ).  3  Matt.  xv.  17. 

4  Cat.  xxii.  §  3,  note  i.  Ben.  Ed.  "We  are  not  to  think 
that  Cyril  supposed  the  Body  01  Christ  to  be  distributed  and 
digested  into  our  bodv  ;  but  in  the  usual  way  of  speaking  he 
attributes  to  the  Holy  Body  that  which  belongs  only  to  the  species 
under  which  It  is  hidden.  Nor  does  he  deny  that  those  species 
pass  into  the  draught,  but  only  the  Body  ol  Christ."  _Cf.  Iren. 
V.  ii.  2,  3,  and  "  Eucharistic  Doctrine"  in  the  Introduction. 

5  Heb.  iii.  15.  *  i  John  i.  8.     We  deceive  oursehes. 

7  TcrtuU.  De  Bapt.  c.  20:  "For  the  word  had  gone  before 
'  that  no  one  untempted  should  attain  to  the  celestial  kingdoms.'" 
Apost.  Const.  II.  viii.  :  "The  Scripture  says,  'A  man  that  U 
a  reprobate  (aSo/cijotos)  is  not  tried  (aTreipao-TOs)  by  God.'" 
Resch,  Agrapha,  Logion  26,  p.  1S8,  quotes  allusions  to  the 
saying  in  Jas.  i.  12,  13;  2  Cor.  xiii.  5,  6,  7,  and  concludes  that 
it  was  recorded  as  a  saying  ol  our  Lord  in  one  of  the  un-canonical 
gospeU  (Luke  i.  i),  where  it  occurred  in  the  context  of  the  incident 
narr.ited  in  Malt.  xxvi.  41,  Mark  xiv.  38.  ,     ,   > 

8  Jas.  i.  2.  9  aneirviyii.     Matt,  xxvii.  5  :  OTnjvfaTO. 


156 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES. 


whelmed  by  it,  but  manfully  swam  through 
in  and  was  delivered  from  the  temptation  \ 
Listen  again,  in  another  place,  to  a  com- 
pany of  unscathed  saints,  giving  thanks  for 
deliverance  from  temptation,  T/ioii,  O  God 
hast  proved  us ;  IViou  hast  tried  us  by  fire 
like  as  silver  is  tried.  IVwu  broughtest  us 
into  the  net ;  Thou  layedst  afflictions  upon  oui 
loins.  Thou  hast  caused  men  to  ride  over 
our  heads  ;  we  7vent  through  fire  and  water ; 
and  thou  broughtest  us  out  into  a  place  oj 
resf^.  Thou  seest  them  speaking  boldly 
in  regard  to  their  having  passed  through  and 
not  been  pierced  3.  But  Thou  broughtest  us 
out  into  a  place  of  rest ;  now  their  coming 
into  a  place  of  rest  is  their  being  delivered 
from  temptation. 

1 8.  But  deliver  us  from  the  evil.  If  Lead 
us  not  into  temptation  implied  the  not  being 
tempted  at  all,  He  would  not  have  said,  Bui 
deliver  us  from  the  ei'il.  Now  evil  is  our  adver- 
sary the  devil,  from  whom  we  pray  to  be 
delivered  4.  Then  after  completing  the  prayer 
thou  sayest,  Amen  s ;  by  this  Amen,  which 
means  "  So  be  it,"  setting  thy  seal  to  the 
petitions  of  the  divinely-taught  prayer. 

19.  After  this  the  Priest  says,  "  Holy  things 
to  holy  men."  Holy  are  the  gifts  presented, 
having  received  the  visitation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  holy  are  ye  also,  having  been  deemed 
worthy  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  the  holy  things 
therefore  correspond  to  the  holy  persons^. 
Then  ye  say,  "  One  is  Holy,  One  is  the  Lord, 

Jesus  Christ?."  For  One  is  truly  holy,  by 
nature  holy  \  we  too  are  holy,  but  not  by 
nature,  only  by  participation,  and  discipline, 
and  prayer. 

20.  After  this  ye  hear  the  chanter  inviting 
you  with  a  sacred  melody  to  the  communion 
of  the  Holy  Mysteries,  and  saying, (9  taste  and 
see  that  the  Lord  is  good^.  Trust  not  the 
judgment  to  thy  bodily  palate  9 ;  no,  but  to  faith 


»  Compare  the  description  of  Peter's  repentance  in  Cat.  ii.  19. 

2  Ps.  Ixvi.  10 — 12. 

3  p"or  eix-n-api\vai  the  Ben.  Ed.  conjectures  f^uray^i/ai  "  to  have 
been  stuck  fast." 

4  Cyril  is  here  a  clear  witness  for  the  reference  of  toO  novrfpov 
to  "  the  wicked  one." 

5  From  §  14,  evxoiMfvoi  tovto  Acyet?,  it  seems  probable  that 
the  whole  Prayer  was  said  by  the  people  as  well  as  by  the  Priest. 
See  Introduction,  "  Eucharistic  Rites." 

6  Compare  Waterland  on  this  passage,  c.  X.  p.  688. 

7  Apost.  Const.  VIll.  c.  xiii  :  "Let  the  Bishop  speak  thus 
to  the  people:  Holy  things  for  holy  persons.  And  let  the  people 
answer;  There  is  One  that  is  holy;  there  is  one  Lord,  one  Jesus 
Christ,  blessed  for  ever,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  The 
Liiurgics  of  St.  James  and  of  Constantinople  have  nearly  the 
same  woids:  in  the  Liturgy  of  St  Mark  the  answer  of  the  people 
is  ;  One  Father  holy,  one  Son  holy,  one  Spirit  holy,  in  the  unity 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

^  Ps.  xxxiv.  9.  In  the  Apostolic  Constitutions  the  "  Sancta 
Sanctis  ''and  its  response  are  immediately  followed  l)y  the  "Gloria 
in  excelsis,"  and  the  "  Hosaiina."  Then  the  Clergy  partake, 
and  there  follows  a  direction  that  this  Psalm  xxxiv.  is  to  be  said 
while  all  tile  rest  are  part.iking.  \n  the  Liturgy  of  Constan- 
tinople there  is  the  direction:  "  The  Choir  sings  the  communion- 
antiphon  (to  koi.viovi.k6v)  of  the  day  or  the  saint." 

9  I'or   ^ij    e;riTpe;r»)Te,  probably   an   itacism,   we   should    read 


unfaltering;  for  they  who  taste  are  bidden 
to  taste,  not  bread  and  wine,  but  the  anti- 
t.ypical  '  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 

21.  In  approaching^  therefore,  come  not  with 
thy  wrists  extended,  or  thy  fingers  spread ;  but 
make  thy  left  hand  a  throne  for  the  right, 
as  for  that  which  is  to  receive  a  King  3.  And 
having  hollowed  thy  palm,  receive  the  Body  of 
Christ,  saying  over  it,  Ameji.  So  then  after 
having  carefully  hallowed  thine  eyes  by  the 
touch  of  the  Holy  Body,  partake  of  it;  giving 
heed  lest  thou  lose  any  portion  thereof'';  for 
.vhatever  thou  losest,  is  evidently  a  loss  to  thee 
as  it  were  from  one  of  thine  own  members.  For 
tell  me,  if  any  one  gave  thee  grains  of  gold, 
wouldest  thou  not  hold  them  with  all  careful- 
ness, being  on  thy  guard  against  losing  any 
of  them,  and  suffering  loss  .f*  Wilt  thou  not 
then  much  more  carefully  keep  watch,  that 
not  a  crumb  fall  from  thee  of  what  is  more 
precious  than  gold  and  precious  stones? 

2  2.  Then  after  thou  hast  partaken  of  the 
Body  of  Christ,  draw  near  also  to  the  Cup  of 
His  Blood;  not  stretching  forth  thine  hands, 
but  bending  5,  and  saying  with  an  air  of  wor- 
ship and  reverence,  Anien^,  hallow  thyself  by 
partaking  also  of  the  Blood  of  Christ.  And 
while  the  moisture  is  still  upon  thy  lips,  touch 
it  with  thine  hands,  and  hallow  thine  eyes 
and  brow  and  the  other  organs  of  sense  t. 
Then  wait  for  the  prayer,  and  give  thanks  unto 
God,  who  hath  accounted  thee  worthy  of  so 
great  mysteries  ^ 


fir)  eTTtTpeTreTat,  as  a  question,  the  propriety  of  the  change  beinj; 
indicated  by  the  answer  oi/;^i.  '"Is  the  judgment  of  this  entrusted 
to  the  bodily  palate?     No,  but,  &c." 

'  afTtTVTrou  cTu>ixa.Toi,  "the  antiiypical  Body,"  not  "the  anti- 
type of  the  Body,"  which  would  require  rov  (rw/xaros.  Cf.  Cat. 
xxi.  §  I,  note  6. 

^  Cat.  xviii.  32  :  "  with  what  reverence  and  order  you  must  go 
from  Baptism  to  the  Holy  Altar  ot  God." 

3  Cyril  appears  to  be  the  earliest  authority  for  thus  placing  the 
hands  in  the  form  of  a  Cross.  A  similar  direction  is  given  in  the 
loist  Canon  of  the  Trullan  Council  (692),  and  by  Job.  Damasc. 
(De  Fid.  Orthod.  iv.  14).  Did.  Clir  Ant.  "  Cotniininion."  I'hat 
the  communicant  was  to  receive  the  Bread  in  his  own  hands  is 
clear  from  the  language  of  Cyril  and  other  Fathers.  Cf.  Clem. 
Alex.  Strom.  L  c.  i.  S  5  :  "Some  after  dividing  the  Eucharist 
according  to  custom  allow  each  of  the  laity  himself  to  take  his 
part."  See  the  passage  of  Origen  quoted  in  the  next  note,  and 
Tertull.  Cor.  Mil.  c.  iii.  "  I'he  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist, 
which  the  Lord  commanded  both  (to  be  taken)  at  meal-times  and 
by  all,  we  take  even  in  assemblies  before  dawn,  and  from  the  hand 
of  none  but  the  presidents." 

4  Oiigeii,  Hoin.  xiii.  in  Exod.  §  3 :  "I  wish  to  admonish  you 
by  examples  from  your  own  religion  :  ye,  who  have  been  accus- 
tomed toattentl  the  Sacred  Mysteries,  know  how,  when  you  receive 
the  Body  of  the  Lord,  you  guard  it  with  all  care  and  reverence, 
that  no  little  part  ot  it  fall  down,  no  portion  ol  the  consecrated  gift 
slip  away.  Fur  you  believe  yourselves  guilty,  and  rightly  so 
believe,  if  any  part  thereof  fall  through  carelessness." 

5  KVTTjuiv.  not  kneeling,  but  standing  in  a  bowing  posture. 
Cf.  Bingham,  XV.  c.  5,  S  3. 

^  A}>ost.  Const.  VIIL  c.  13:  "Let  the  Bishop  give  the 
Oblation  (Trpocri^opdi')  saving.  The  Body  of  Christ.  And  let  him 
that  receiveth  say,  Amen.  And  let  the  Deacon  hold  the  Cup, 
and  when  he  delivers  it  say,  Tlie  Blood  oJ  Christ,  ilie  Cup oJ Lijt. 
.\nd  let  him  that  drinketh  say,  Amen." 

7  Cat.  xxi.  3,  note  8. 

8  In  the  Liturgy  of  St.  James,  after  all  have  commurncated, 
"  The  Deacons  and  the  People  say:  Fill  our  mouths  with  Tiiy 
praise,  O  Lord,  and  lill  our  lips  with  joy,  that  we  maysin^  01  Thy 
glory,  of  Thy  greatness,  all  the  day.      And  a^ain:   We  render 


LECTURE    XXIII. 


T57 


23.  Hold  fast  these  traditions  undefiled  and, 
keep  yourselves  free  from  offence.  Sever  not 
yourselves  from  the  Communion  ;  deprive  not 
yourselves,  through  the  pollution  of  sins,  of 
these  Holy  and  Spiritual  Mysteries.     And  the 


thanks  to  Thee,  Christ  our  God,  that  Thou  hast  accounted  us 
worthv  to  partake  of  Thy  Body  and  Blood,  &c.'' 


God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly ;  and  may 
your  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body  be  preserved 
entire  ivithout  blame  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ^  ; — To  whom  be  glory  and  honour 
and  might,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit,  now  and  ever,  and  world  without  end. 
Amen. 

9  1  Thess.  V.  23. 


INDICES. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


The  References  are  to  the  Lectures  and  numbered  Sections  of  each  Lecture. 


AARON  called  Christ,  xvi.  13,  type 
of  Christ's  priesthood,  x.  il, 
xii.  28,  his  rod  blossoming  as 
strange  as  Christ's  birth,  xii.  28, 
and  suggests  our  resurrecti(m, 
xviii  12,  his  forgiveness  and 
encouragement  to  the  penitent, 
ii.  10. 

Abomination  of  desolation,  iv.  15, 
XV.  9. 

Abraham  justified  not  by  works  only 
but  by  faith,  v.  5,  perfected  by 
faitli,  ib.  Father  of  Christians, 
V.  6,  his  faith  a  type  of  ours, 
ib.  example  of  reverence  to 
God,  vi.  3,  beheld  the  Lord, 
xii.  16. 

Adam,  his  creation  as  strange  as 
Christ's  birth,  xii.  30,  first  and 
second  Adam,  xiii.  2,  instance 
of  the  efficacy  of  repentance, 
ii.  7,  represented  in  his  in- 
nocence by  the  Baptized,  xx.  2. 

Adoption  of  men  to  be  sons  of  God, 
vii.  7,  by  the  Father's  grace, 
through  the  Son  and  Spirit,  ib. 
in  Baptism,  Proc.  16,  i.  2,  iii.  14, 
XX.  6,  not  of  necessity,  but  our 
free  choice,  vii.  13.  Christ's 
Sonship  not  by  adoption,  x.  4, 
xi.  7  (vide  Son),  Spirit  of 
Adoption,  xvii.  5- 

Advent  of  Christ  twofold,  xv.  i. 
First  in  humiliation,  ib. 

Second  in  glory  from  heaven, 
XV.  I,  3,  foretold  by  Malachi. 
XV.  2.  Ecclesiastes,  xv.  20, 
St.  Paul,  XV.  2,  time  unknown, 
yet  to  be  expected,  xv.  4,  signs 
of  it  given  us  by  Christ,  ib. 

Object  of  our  hope,  xv.  i,  2, 
33,  not  from  the  Earth,  xv.  10, 
shall  destroy  Antichrist,  xv.  9, 
12,  changes  accompanying  it, 
XV.  3,  shall  bring  in  a  new  world, 

XV.  4. 

.(Eons  of  Valentinus,  vi.  17,  why  said 
to  be  thirty,  ib. 

Agabu'^,  xiii.  29,  xvii.  28. 

Agrapha  (Resch),  vi.  36,  xxiii.  17. 

Ahab,  instance  of  the  efficacy  of 
repentance,  ii.  13. 

Almighty,  denied  of  God  by  Greeks, 
vii.  I,  2,  and  Heretics,  viii.  3, 
blasphemies  against  Him,  viii.  8. 

Almsdeeds,  fruits  of  repentance,  and 
preparation  for  Baptism,  iii.  8, 
iv.  37,  taught  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  12. 

Altar  of  God,  xxiii.  2,  of  the  New 
Testament,  xviii.  33. 

Ambition  conquered  through  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  19. 

Angels  made  by  God,  iv.  4,  made  by 
Christ,  xi.  23,  their  orders,  iv. 
16,  xi.  12,  have  no  equality 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  23, 
governed  and  sanctified  by  Him, 
iv.  16,  xvi  23,  forgiven  by  God, 

VOL.  VII. 


ii.  10,  fearful  to  behold,  ix.  i, 
xii.  14,  but  little  known  of  them 
by  us,  xi.  12. 

Christ  their  Lord,  x.  lo,  xii. 

14,  not  the  makers  of  the  world, 
xi.  21,  22,  know  not  God  as 
He  is,  vi.  6,  vii.  11,  nor  our 
Lord's  generation,  xi.  11,  12. 

Ministered  to  Christ,  x.  lO, 
present  at  l^aptism,  iii.  3, 
rejoice  there,  Proc.  15,  iii.  I,  3, 
16,  know  its  Seal,  i.  3  (vide 
Seal),  glory  in  the  cross,  xiii. 
22,  minister  at  the  judgment, 
XV.  19,  22,  28,  innumerable 
there  present,  xv.  24. 

Anointing  of  Christ,  x.  4,  14,  eter- 
nally from  the  Father,  ib.  as 
God,  xi.  15,  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  at  His  Baptism,  xxi.  I,  2, 
vide  Chrism. 

Antediluvians,  instance  of  God's 
long-suffering,  ii.  8. 

Anthropomorphism,  vi.  8,  ix.  I. 

Antichrist,  iv.  15.  Christ's  counter- 
feit, XV.  33,  raised  up  by  Satan 
to  discredit  trulh,  xv.  il,  a 
sorcerer,  ib.  Satan  shall  be  in 
him  personally,  xv.  14,  17, 
expected  by  the  Jews,  xii.  2, 
foretold  by  our  Lord,  xv.  9, 
y.  Paul,  ib.  Daniel,  xv.  13, 
signs  of  him,  xv.  9,  18,  by 
sorcery  shall  gain  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  deceive  the  Gen- 
tiles, XV.  II,  12,  the  Eleventh 
King,  XV.  12,  13,  for  three  years 
and  a  half,  xv.  12,  16,  shall  be 
received  by  the  Jews  %.s  Christ, 
XV.  II,  12,  15,  rebuild  the 
temple,  xv.  15,  abhor  idols,  ib. 
first  mild,  then  persecuting,  xv. 
12,  15,  especially  to  the  Saints, 
ib.  shall  pretend  to  miracles, 
XV.  13,  shall  be  destroyed  by 
Christ's  Advent,  xv.  9,  12. 

Martyrs  under  him  most 
glorious,  XV.  17,  we  must  watch 
against  him,  xv.  18,  33. 

Antitype,  Baptism,  xx.  6,  Chrism, 
xxi.  I,  Eucharistic  Elements, 
xxii.  3,  Iiitr.  pp.  xxxi.,  xl. 

Apelles,  his  heresy,  iv.  20,  note  2, 
xvi.  4,  note  3. 

Apocalypse,  not  recKoned  in  the 
Canon  by  S.  Cyril,  iv.  2(>^  per- 
haps referred  to,  x.  3,  xv.  27, 
vide  note  xv.  16. 

Apocryphal  or  doubtful  books  not 
to  be  studied,  iv.  33,  35,  prools 
not  drawn  from  them,  xv.  16. 

Apostasy  foretold  by  S.  Paul,  in  S. 
Cyril's  day,  xv.  9. 

Apostles  correspond  to  the  Prophets, 
xiv.  26,  xvi.  4,  24,  morefavoured 
than  they,  xiv.  26. 

Holy  Ghost  in  them,  xvi.   3, 
4,   9,   24,   pa'tially  before  Pen- 
tecost, xvii.  12,  13,  baptized  fully 
M 


at  Pentecost,  xvii.  14,  18,  supcr- 
naturally  enlightened,  xvi.  17. 

Witnesses  of  the  Cross,  xiii. 
40,  and  Resurrection,  xiv.  22, 
hid  themselves,  xiii.  25  (v. 
Gospel  of  Peter,  §§  7,  13), 
received  power  to  forgive  sins 
in  the  Holy  Ghost,  xiv.  22,  their 
deeds  by  Him,  xvii.  21,  &c. 

Send  us  to  the  Old  Testament 
for  prools  of  Christ,  xiv.  2, 
handed  down  the  Scriptures 
to  us,  IV.  35. 

Typified  by  Joshua's  twelve 
officers,  X.  II. 

Apparel,  to  be  simple,  iv.  29. 

Archelaus,  a  Bishop  of  Mesopotamia, 
disputes  with  Manes,  vi.  27 — 30. 

Arianism,  iv.  7,  x.  5,  6,  9,  14,  xi. 
14,  and  Sabellianism  alike  to  be 
shunned,  iv.  8,  xi.  13,  i^,  17, 
the  "falling  away"  spoken  01 
by  S.  Paul,  xv.  9. 

Arius,  Intr.,  pp.  ii.,  iii.,  xlviii. 

As  far  as,  vide  Until. 

Ascension  of  Christ,  iv.  13,  14,  fore- 
told by  the  Propliets,  xiv.  24, 
compared  with  the  translation 
of  Enoch  and  Elias,  xiv.  25, 
preceded  the  full  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  xvii.  12,  13. 

Astrologers,  iv.  18. 

Athanasius,  Iiilr.  p.  iii. 

Authenticity,  httr.,  p.  liii. 

Azariah,  xvi.  28. 

Babel,  its  confusion  contrasted  with 
the  gift  of  tongues  at  Pentecost, 
xvii.  17. 

Banker,  "be  thou  a  faithful  banker," 
yi.  36. 

Baptism,  end  of  the  Old  Testament, 
l)eginning  of  the  New,  iii.  6,  of 
John,  gave  remission  of  sin, 
iii.  7,  XX.  6,  preceded  by  con- 
fession, ib.  inferior  to  Christian 
Baptism,  iii.  9. 

Of  our  Lord,  sanctified  ours, 
iii.  II,  xii.  15,  Holy  Ghost  de- 
scended on  Him  alter  it,  xvii. 
9,  xxi.  I,  in  it  He  vanquished 
the  iJragon  in  the  waters,  iii.  ii, 
preparatory  to  His  Temptation, 
and  -Ministry,  iii.  13,  14,  xxi.  4. 
Christian,  offered  to  all,  Proc. 
3,  4,  iii.  I,  2,  a  trial,  xiv.  30, 
xvii.  36,  not  to  be  approaclied 
lightly,  or  hypocritically,  Proc. 
2-4,  1.  3  (vide  Faith,  Hypo- 
crisy, Purpose),  to  the  faithless 
a  curse,  Proc.  3,  4,  like  the 
parable  of  the  Marriage  Feast, 
Proc.  3,  iii.  2,  the  impenitent 
though  washed,  not  accepted, 
ib.  2,  4,  xvii.  36,  case  of  Simon 
Magus,  Proc.  2,  xvii.  35,  pre- 
paration for  it,  Proc.  16,  i.  6, 
i^'  37>  during  Lent,  Proc.  4, 
i.    5,    iv.    3,     Catechizing    ami 


l62 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES   OF   S.  CYRIL. 


Exorcisms,  Proc.  9-14,  i.  5' 
Repentance,  Proc.  4,  ii.  5.  "^c. 
iii.  2,  7,  8.  Confession,  i.  2,  5, 
men  must  bring  Faith,  and  loolc 
to  God  for  more,  Proc.  17,  v.  9, 
not  the  purpose  of  Baptism,  but 
evil  motives  to  be  laid  aside, 
Proc.  4,  5. 

Given  in  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  iii.  3,  xvi.  4,  19. 
Waters  of  Baptism,  Proc.  16, 
iii.  3,  4,  contain  Christ,  Proc. 
15,  why  by  water,  iii.  5.  One, 
iv.  37,  but  once  to  be  received, 
Proc.  7,  xvii.  36,  by  Heretics  not 
Baptism,  ib.  Sanctified  by  our 
Lord's   Baptism,  iii  9,   11,  xii. 

15,  no  salvation  without  it, 
iii.  4,  10,  except  to  Martyrs,  ib. 

Freely  given  to  faith  only, 
Proc.  8,  i.  4,  V.  10,  conveys 
remission  of  sins,   Proc.  8,    15, 

16,  iii.  15,  to  all  equally,  i.  5, 
xvii.  37,  xviii.  20,  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  iii.  2,  4,  14, 
16,  iv.  16,  but  not  equally  to  all, 
i.  5,  xvii.  37. 

Glory  and  blessing  of  Baptism, 
Proc  6,  15,  16,  though  despised 
by  Ae  world,  ib.  Regenera- 
tion, ib.  i.  2,  iii.  4,  iv.  37,  xx.  4. 
Illumination,  xiii.  21.  Adoption, 
Proc.  16.  iii.  14,  xi.  9,  titles  of, 
Proc.  16,  called  "  Seal  indel- 
ible," Proc.  17  (vide  Seal), 
transplants  into  spiritual  Para- 
dise, grafts  in  the  Holy  Vine, 
i.  5,  xix.  9,  XX.  7,  imparts  super- 
natural gifts,  iii.  13.  xvii.  37. 
Death  of  sin,  new  life,  Proc.  5, 
16,  iii.  12,  XX.  I,  makes  us 
members  of  Christ,  xxi.  i,  pre- 
pares for  the  resurrection,  iv. 
32,  destroys  the  sting  of  death, 
iii.  II.  Fellowship  with  Christ's 
sufferings,  iii.  12,  xx.  5-7,  called 
the  '•  Gift."  i.  6,  ii.  9,  iii.  2,  4,  5, 
13.  &c.  of  God,  through  men, 
xvii,  35,  36.  Its  twofold  grace 
of  Water  and  the  Spirit,  iii.  4, 
16,  inseparable,  ib.  typified  by 
Circumcision,  v.  6,  to  be  dili- 
gently cherished,  i.  4,  xv.  26, 
xvii.  37,  works  after  it  recorded, 
XV.  23. 

Names  of  Candidates  enrolled, 
Proc.  i,  4.  i.  5,  of  the  Baptized 
written  in  the  book  of  the  living, 
xiv.  30,  many  who  fall  away 
blotted  out,  ib.  sins  after  it  re- 
corded against  the  Judgment, 
XV.  23,  xviii.  20,  scotfing  at, 
Proc.  16. 

Baptism  of  Martyrs  in  blood, 
iii.  10,  xiii.  21,  typified  by  the 
blood  from  our  Lord's  side,  ib. 
water  of  Baptism,  by  the  water, 
ib. 

Baptism  of  fire,  xvii.  8,  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xv.  12,  14. 

Administered  by  Bishops, 
Priests,  or  Deacons,  xvii.  35. 

Rites  previous  to,  xix.  2,  &c. 
Renunciation  of  Satan  and  his 


works,  ib.  2-g.  Profession  of 
Faith,  xix.  9,  symbolical  putting 
off  of  garments,  xx.  2,  anointing 
with  exorcised  oil,  xx.  3.  Con- 
fession of  the  Trinity,  xx.  4. 
Trine  immersion,  ib.  symbolical 
of  Christ's  three-days'  burial,  ib. 
our  death  and  birth,  ib.  repre- 
sentation of  Christ's  sufferings, 
XX.  5-7,  followed  by  the  Chrism, 
xxi.  (vide  Intr.  Ch.  iii. -v.). 
Baptism  of  the  Manichees,  vi. 

33- 

Baptistery,  xix.  2. 

Barnabas,  his  preaching  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvii.  28. 

Baruch,  accounted  in  the  Canon,  iv. 
35,  quoted  xi.  15. 

Basil,  the  Great,  Ifitr.  p.  viii, 

Basilides,  his  heresy,  vi.  17. 

Basilisk,  ix.  14. 

Bath,  of  Baptism,  not  common 
water,  Proc.  16,  iii.  2. 

Beasts,  witnesses  of  God's  power 
and  glory,  ix.  13,  emblems  of 
human  tempers,  ib.  in  the  Ark, 
xvii.  10. 

Bees,  display  God's  power  and 
wisdom,  ix.  13,  emblematical 
lessons  to  man,  ib. 

Beginning  {apx'h),  only  One  the 
Father,  xi.  14,  20,  22. 

Believer  (vide  Faithful). 

Bishops,  ministers  of  Baptism,  xvii. 
35,  order  of,  xvi.  22,  xvii.  35, 
reverence  due  to  them,  iv.  35, 
first  Bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
S.  James,  iv.  28,  xiv.  21,  first 
fifteen  of  Jerusalem  Hebrews, 
xiv.  15.  Ancient  Bishops 
settled  and  handed  down  the 
Canon,  iv.  35,  strife  among 
them,a  sign  of  Antichrist,  xv.  9. 

Birds  show  forth  God's  glory,  ix.  X2. 

Birth,  New,  Christ  its  author,  xvii. 
10,  the  gift  of  Baptism  (vide 
Baptism,  Regeneration). 

Blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost, 
danger  of  it,  iv.  i6,  xvi.  i. 

Blood  and  water  from  Christ's  side, 
typical,  iii.  lo,  xiii.  21.  Bap- 
tism of  Blood,  iii.  lO,  river 
changed  into  it  by  Moses  cor- 
responds with  the  Passion,  xiii. 
21,  blood  of  the  Paschal  Lamb, 
xix.  2,  3,  blood  not  to  be  eaten, 
iv.  28,  vide  xvii.  29,  Blood  of 
Christ  (vide  Eucharist). 

Body,  work  oi  God,  not  of  the  evil 
one,  iv.  4,  22,  viii.  3,  xii.  26, 
vilified  by  Heretics,  ib.  instru- 
ment not  cause  of  sin,  iv.  23, 
true  part  of  man,  iv.  18,  22, 
xviii.  20,  its  excellence  shows 
God's  glory,  ix.  15,  to  be 
cleansed  by  penitence,  iv.  23, 
cleansed  by  the  water  of  Bap- 
tism, iii.  4,  yet  may  be  washed 
without  the  soul  being  enlight- 
ened, Proc.  2,  of  Christians, 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  iv. 
23,  to  be  kept  pure  for  its  resur- 
rection, iv.  26,  30,  xviii.  20, 
resurrection  of,   encouragement 


to  holiness,  xviii.  i,  shown  from 
analogies  of  nature,  &c. ,  iv.  30, 
xviii.  6,  &c.,  shares  with  the 
soul,  as  its  deeds,  so  its  reward, 
xviii.  19  (vide  Resurrection). 

Christ's  (vide  Incaruatior., 
Manhood,)  a  bait  to  Death,  xii. 
15,  veil  of  His  Godhead,  xii. 
26,  typified  by  bread,  xiii.  19, 
received  under  the  figure  of 
bread,  xxii.  3,  truly  received 
in  the  Eucharist,  xxii.  i — 6. 
Christians  made  one  with  His 
body,  and  blood,  xxii.  I — 3, 
(vide  Eucharist,  Flesh). 

Book  of  life,  names  of  the  Baptized 
written  in,  xiv.  30,  book  of  the 
Angels,  iv.  24,  our  renunciation 
of  sin  recorded  in  God's  Book, 
xix.  5. 

Bread,  a  prophetic  symbol  of  Christ's 
body,  xiii.  19,  of  the  Eucharist, 
Christ's  body,  xxii.  i — 6,  9, 
xxiii.  7,  signified  by  the  show- 
bread,  xxii.  5,  Substantial  bread, 
xxiii.  15,  the  Bread  has  respect 
to  the  body,  the  Word  to  the 
soul,  xxii.  5  (v.  Intr.  Ch.  vii.). 

Breath  of  Christ  gave  power  to  for- 
give sin,  xiv.  22,  xvii.  12,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  par;ially,  xvii. 
12.  Breathing  on  Candidates 
for  Baptism,  Proc.  9,  of  Exor- 
cism, xvi.  18,  XX.  3. 

Burial  of  Christ,  iv.  11,  in  the  Earth 
to  bless  the  Earth,  xiii.  18,  35, 
xiv.  1 1,  foretold  by  the  Prophets, 
xiii.  34,  xiv.  3,  in  a  garden, 
xiv.  II,  with  Christ  in  Baptism, 
Proc.  2,  iii.  12,  xx.  4,  5. 

Caiaphas,  his  desolate  house  a  wit- 
ness to  the  Cross,  xiii.  38. 

Cain,  an  instance  of  God's  mercy, 
ii.  7. 

Candidates  for  Baptism,  i^uni^atxivai, 
Proc.  I,  xi.  9,  distinct  from 
Catechumens,  and  from  Be- 
lievers, Proc.  12,  13,  must 
bring  a  true  heart,  Proc.  1-4, 
the  careless  or  hypocritical  must 
not  forego  Baptism  but  their 
sin,  ib.  4,  seriousness  becoming 
their  awful  situation,  ib.  13-15 
(v.  Intr.  Ch.  HI.). 

Canon  of  Scripture  settled  and 
handed  down  by  Apostles  and 
Ancient  Bishops,  iv.  35,  to  be 
received  from  the  Church,  iv.33. 

Carpocrates,  his  heresy,  vi.  16. 

Cataphrygians  or  Montanists,  xvi.  8. 

Catechizings  previous  to  Baptism,  to 
be  diligently  attended,  Proc.  9, 
10,  i.  5,  their  importance,  ib. 
guard  against  error,  ib.  iv.  i, 
planting,  or  building  up  of  the 
Faith,  Proc.  il.  Creed  their 
subject,  ib.  iv.  2,  3,  not  to  be 
revealed  to  Catecliumens  or 
Gentiles,  Proc.  12,  (v.  end  of 
Proc.  and  Inir.  Ch.  II.  §  i). 

Catechumen,  meaning  of  the  name, 
Proc.  6,  distinct  irom  tlie  Faith- 
ful,  ib.   i.  4,  V.   I,    not   to   be 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


163 


informed  of  mysteries,  Proc.  12, 
nor  of  the  Creed,  v.  12,  vi.  29 
(v.  Intr.  Ch.  II.  §  i). 

Catholic  Church,  vi.  2,  xvi.  22,  xvii. 
29,  xviii.  I. 

Meaning  of  the  word,  xviii. 
23.  The  name  a  mark  of  the 
true  Church,  xviii.  26,  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  Heretical  as- 
semblies, ib. 

Ceremonies  of  the  Law  abolished  in 
the  Church,  xvii.  29. 

Cerinthus,  his  heresy,  vi.  16. 

Chaff  mingled  with  -water  by  the 
Manichees,  vi.  31. 

Chanting  of  Psalms,  xiii.  26,  xxiii. 
20,  imitation  of  Angels,  xiii.  26. 

Charms  forbidden,  iv.  37. 

Chastity,  iv.  24,  taught  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  19,  22. 

Cherubim,  ii.  17,  ix.  3. 

Children.  Song  of  the  Three  Children 
— instance  of  Confession,  ii.  16. 

Chrism,  or  Holy  Ointment,  typical 
of  Christ's  unction  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xxi.  I,  2,  after  the  invo- 
cation of  Christ's  name,  by  the 
presence  of  His  Godhead,  con- 
veys the  Holy  Ghost,  xxi.  3, 
the  gift  of  Christ,  ib.  sym- 
bolically applied  to  the  different 
parts  of  the  body,  xxi.  3,  4, 
gives  the  name  of  Christians, 
xxi.  I,  5,  types  of  it  in  the  Old 
Testament,  xxi.  6,  7,  to  be  kept 
unspotted,  xxi.  7,  prepares  us 
for  our  conflict,  xxi.  4,  Inh: 
Ch.  VI.  §  I. 

Christ,  meaning  of  the  word,  x.  4, 
II,  14,  many  so  called  typically, 
xi.  I,  xxi.  I,  2. 

Aaron,  x.  1 1,  xvi.  13.  Saul  and 
David,  xvi.  13, Christians,  xxi.  I. 
Name  shared  by  the  Baptized, 
Proc.  15,  xxi.  I. 

Christ  Jesus  the  true  Christ, 
X.  14,  xi.  I. 

One,  X.  3,  4,  though  with 
many  titles,  ib.  His  name 
separated  by  the  Valentinians, 
vi.  17,  18. 

His  twofold  Nature  in  One 
Person,  iv.  9,  xii.  I,  xv.  i. 
Son  of  God,  and  Son  of  David, 
xi.  s. 

God,  iv.  7,  very  God,  x.  6, 
xi.  9,  14,  proved  from  the  Pro- 
phets, xi.  15,  &c.  God  of  God, 
begotten,  iv.  7,  xi.  4,  16,  18. 
Son  of  God,  iv.  7,  vi.  i,  vii.  i, 
&c.  xii.  24,  (v.  Son),  only- be- 
gotten, iv.  7,  vii.  4,  (v.  Only- 
begotlcn).  Eternally,  xi.  4,  7, 
8,  13,  17,  20,  without  beginning, 
xi.  4,  5,  7.  Partaker  of  the 
Father's  Godhead,  together 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  vi.  6, 
(v.  Trinity),  of  the  Father,  xi. 
14,  20,  xiii.  14,  begotten  not 
made,  xi.  14,  17,  19,  20,  21, 
(v.  Arius).  Like  in  all  things 
to  the  Father,  iv.  7,  xi.  4,  9, 
18,  not  the  same  as  the  Father, 
xi.   17,   18,   (v.  Sabdliiis),  how 


subordinate  to  the  Father,  x.  9, 
how  one  with  the  Father,  xi.  16, 
with  the  Father  before  His  In- 
carnation, X.  6,  8. 

Word  Personal  of  the  Father, 
iv.  8,  xi.  10.  Wisdom  and 
Power  of  the  Father,  xi.  4. 
Maker  of  all  things,  by  the  will 
of  the  Father,  iv.  7,  x.  6,  xi.  1 1, 

12,  21-24,  and  their  Lord,  ib. 
(v.  Lord).  His  Throne  Eternal, 
iv.  7,  xi.  17,  (v.  Session,  Throne). 
Anointed  Priest  before  all  ages, 
X.  4,  14,  xi.  I. 

As  Creator  so  restorer  of  the 
world,  vi.  II,  only  way  to  the 
Father,  x.  1,2,  God  made  man, 
xii.  3,  15,  xiii.  33,  truly  made 
man,  iv.  9.  God  dwelling  with 
man,  xi.  3.  Emmanuel,  xi.  14, 
Son  of  David,  xi.  5,  xii.  23. 
His  incarnation,  its  reasons, 
xii.  I,  &c.  xiii.  33,  (v.  Incarna- 
tion), not  a  deified  man,  xii.  3, 
was  with  the  old  Fathers,  x.  7, 
xii.  16.  God  seen  in  Him,  xiv. 
27.  His  various  names,  express 
His  various  ofiices,  x.  3,  4,  11, 

13,  &c. 

Every  thing  concerning  Him 
written  in  the  Prophets,  xii.  16, 
xiii.  8,  V.  Lect.  x.-xv.  passim 
(v.  Prophets).  Witnesses  of  Him, 
X.  17-20,  xiii.  38-40,  xiv.  22,  23. 

The  glory  of  Baptism,  iii.  9, 
II,  sanctified  it,  ib.  xii.  15, 
preached  not   till   Baptized,  iii. 

14,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon 
Him,  xvii.  9,  xxi.  2,  3,  like  but 
far  higher  than  the  Prophets, 
xiv.  26,  alone  sinless,  ii.  10, 
iii.  II,  xiii.  3,  5.  His  righteous- 
ness greater  than  our  sin,  xiii.  33. 

Died  for  us,  xiii.  2,  (v.  Cruci- 
fixion, Death),  truly,  xiii.  4,  37, 
voluntarily,  xiii.  3,  5,  6,  33. 

Delivered  the  old  Fathers 
from  Hades,  iv.  il,  (v.  Hades). 

His  appearance  after  the  Re- 
surrection, xiv.  II,  12,  (v.  Re- 
sun-ection). 

His  Ascension,  xiv.  24. 

Sits  at  God's  right  liand,  xiv. 
27,  present  in  the  Church,  xiv. 

His  second  coming  in  glory, 
as  His  first  in  humiliation, 
XV.  I,  (v.  Advent),  warned  us 
against  being  deceived  about  it, 
XV.  4,  conies  no  more  from  the 
Earth,  xv.  10,  our  Judge,  xv.  25. 
His  Kingdom  shall  have  no  end, 
XV.  26,  27. 

We  are  made  partakers  of 
Him  by  the  Holy  Chrism,  xxi. 
I,  6,  and  the  Eucharist,  xxii.  i, 
(v.  Father,  God,  Jesus,  Son, 
Trinity,  lVo?-d). 
Christians  so  called  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvii.  28,  partakers  of 
Christ's  name,  x.  16,  xxi.  I, 
honour  of  this,  x.  20,  the  new 
name  spoken  of  by  the  Pro- 
phets, x,  16. 

M  2 


Spread  over  the  world,  x.  16, 
xvi.  22,  slandered  through  the 
crimes  of  heretics,  xvi.  8,  who 
falsely  share  their  name,  ib. 
vi.  12,  to  be  especially  perse- 
cuted by  Antichrist,  xv.  12,  I5f 
figures  of  Christ,  xxi.  i. 
Church  Catholic  throughout  the 
world,  xvi.  22,  xviii.  23,  (v. 
Kin'^dom),  governed  and  sancti- 
fied by  the  Comforter,  xvi.  14, 
19,  22,  xvii.  13.  Christ  present 
in  her  assemblies,  xiv.  30,  ever 
present  witness  of  Christ,  xiii. 
40,  (v.  Creed,  Faith).  New 
Covenant  established  in  her  by 
the  blessed  Trinity,  xvii.  29. 
Baptism  plants  in  her,  Proc.  17, 
xviii.  26,  witness  and  keeper  of 
Holy  Writ,  iv.  33,  35,  xv.  13, 
(v.  Scripture),  her  teaching 
guard  from  error,  iv.  I,  2,  xi. 
18,  xii.  17,  xvii.  3. 

Her  order,  Proc.  4,  13,  con- 
trasted with  heresy,  vi.  35,  36, 
reverence  in  Church,  Proc.  14, 
15,  due  to  her  ancient  Bishops 
from  her  children,  iv.  35,  to  be 
diligently  attended  before  and 
after  Baptism,  i.  6,  xviii.  28. 

Meaning  of  the  word  eic/cATja/a, 


xviu.    24,    25. 


Christian    has 


succeeded  the  Jewish,  ib.  why 
called  Catholic,  ib.  23,  26,  her 
glories,  xviii.  28. 

Falling  away  in  it  a  sign  of 
Christ's  coming,  xv.  7>  rnakes 
way  for  Antichrist,  xv.  9,  18, 
existed  in  S.  Cyril's  day,  ib. 
lurking  heretics  in  it,  ib. 

Church,  of  the  Apostles,  xvi.  4,  of 
Golgotha,  xiv.  6,  (v.  Golgjthd), 
of  the  Resurrection,  ib.  adorned 
by  Kings,  xiv.  9,  14.  Constan- 
tine,  ib.  22.  Witness  of  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Lord,  ib.  23, 
the  last  five  Lectures  delivered 
there,  xviii.  33,  Intr.  p.  xii. 

Circumcision,  a  seal — type  of  the 
seal  of  the  Spirit  in  Baptism,  v. 

5,  6,  of  the  Spirit,  v.  6. 
Clement  of  Rome,  quoted,  xviii.  8. 
Clouds  show  God's  glory,  ix.  9. 
Comforter,     not    diverse    from    the 

Holy  Ghost,  xvii.  2,  xvi.  3,  4, 
why  so  called,  xvi.  20,  governs 
and  sanctifies  the  Church,  xvi. 

22,  Angels  and  Prophets,  xvi. 

23,  abides  for  ever  with  the 
Faithful  after  Baptism,  xvii.  37, 
(v.  Spirit),  Manes  called  him- 
self the  Comforter,  vi.   25,  xvi. 

6,  9,  and  Montanus,  xvi.  8. 
Communion    in    Christ's    my^eries, 

i.  I,  in  the  Holy  Ghost  given 
according  to  each  man's  la  th, 
i.  5,  Communion  Service,  x.\iii. 
I,&c.,  Intr.  Ch.  V.,  VII. 
Confession,  i^ouoXoynffis,  v.  ii.  15, 
of  sins,  before  Baptism,  i.  2,  5, 
takes  away  sin,  as  in  David's 
case,  ii.  II,  12.  Hezekiah's,  ib. 
15,  can  quench  fire,  and  tame 
lions,  ib.  16,  made  before  John's 


1 64 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES    OF   S.  CYRIL. 


Baptism,    iii.    7,    by    Martyrs, 
iii.  10,  Tntr.  Ch,  III   §  u. 

Of  the   Trinity    in    Baptism, 
XX,  4,  Intr.(Z\i.  IV.  §  II. 

Of  the  seraphim  ;    deoXoyla, 
xxiii.  6, 

Confessors  comforted  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  20,  21. 

Consecration  of  the  Bread  and  Wine, 
xxiii.  7,  Intr.  pp.  xxvii.,  xxxv. 

Cor.jtantine,  xiv.  22. 

Continence,  or  widowhood,  iyKpa.- 
T6ia,  iv.  26,  x.  19,  XV.  23. 

Controversy,  an  evil,  though  neces- 
sary, vi.  13,  how  to  be  engaged 
in,  xiii.  22.  37,  (v.  H^resy^. 

Cornelia-  though  regenerated ,  yet  bap- 
tized with  water,  iii.  4,  xvii.  27. 

Covenant  New  in  the  Church,  xvii. 
29,  of  Noah  and  Moses  not 
made  without  water,  iii.  5. 

Covetousness  conquered  through  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  19. 

Crention,  how  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
Father  and  Son,  vi.  9,  xi.  21, 
22,  of  all  things  by  God  denied 
by  Heretics,  iv.  4,  of  the  world 
in  spring-time  answered  by  the 
Resurrection  at  the  same  time, 
xiv.  10,  material  creation,  good 
in  itself,  marred  by  the  creature, 
ii,  I,  blasphemed  by  Manichees, 
vi.  31.  God  seen  in  it,  ix.  2, 
glorifies  Him,  ix.  5,  &c.,  we 
know  but  little  of  it,  ix.  13,  14, 
should  teach  us  reverence  to 
Him,  ix.  16. 

Creator  of  all  things  God,  iv.  4,  vi. 

7,  not  the  author  of  evil,  ii.  I,  4, 
blasphemed  by  Heretics,  ix.  4, 
Creator  of  the  world  its  Restorer, 
vi.  II. 

Creed,  ir/ariy,  (v.  Faith),  to  be  re- 
ceived from  the  Church,  v.  12, 
collected  and  proved  from  Scrip- 
ture, ib.  iv.  17,  epitome  of  ne- 
cessary doctrine  for  the  weak, 
ib.  provision  for  our  way,  ib. 
safeguard  against  error,  iv.  2, 
vii.  I,  4,  viii.  I,  ix.  4,  x.  4,  xi. 
I,  XV.  2,  27,  xvii.  3,  xviii.  I, 
confutes  Sabellius,  xvii.  34,  not 
to  be  written  down,  or  divulged 
to  Catechumens,  v.  12,  its  Ar- 
ticles briefly  expounded,  iv.,  of 
Jerusalem,  InU-.  p.  xlvii. 

Cross,  chief  boast  of  the  Church 
Catholic,  xiii.  I,  22,  redeemed 
and  enlightened  the  vi'orld,  ib. 
we  must  not  be  ashamed  of  it, 
xiii.  3,  36,  37,  glorified  by  the 
Resurrection,  xiii.  4,  glory  to 
Christ,  xiii.  6,  foretold  by  Jere- 
miah, xiii.  19,  and  Moses,  ib. 
if  an  illusion,  so  is  our  sanation, 
xiii.  37,  foundation  of  the  Faith, 
xiii.  38. 

Sign  of  it  to  be  u=ed  on  all 
occasions,  iv.  14,  xiii.  22,  36, 
scares  devils,  iv.  13,  xiii.  3,  36, 
its  power  and  virtue,  xiii.  40, 
Christ's  royal   sign,   iv.  14,  xii. 

8,  trophy,  xiii.  40,  "  Sign  of  the 
Son  of  Man,"  xiii.  41,  xv.  22. 


Cross,  wood  of  it  dispersed  through 
the  world,  iv.  10,  note,  x.  19, 
xiii.  4,  witness  of  Christ  through 
the  world,  x.  19,  of  His  real 
Passion,  xiii.  4. 

Cross,  Basilica  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
Intr.  p.  xliii.  (v.  Go/^s^otha). 

Crown  of  thorns,  signified  the  can- 
celling of  Adam's  curse,  xiii.  17, 
18. 

Crucifixion  not  in  appearance,  but 
real,  iv.  10,  xiii.  4,  if  an  illusion, 
so  is  Salvation,  xiii.  37,  for  our 
sins,  iv.  10,  xiii.  3,  5,  33.  its 
time  the  same  as  that  of  the 
descent  of  the  Spirit,  xvii.  19, 
this  and  its  other  circumstances 
foretold,  xiii.  24,  &c.  its  wit- 
nesses, xiii.  38-40. 

The  Crucified,  xiii.  3,  22,  23,  36,  40. 

Curiosity,  about  mysteries  of  Bap- 
tism fearful,  Proc.  2,  4,  iii.  7. 

To  be  limited  by  what  is 
written,  xi.  12,  xvi.  I,  2,  to  give 
place  to  faith,  xi.  19,  20. 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  his  early  years, 
/«/;-.  p.  i.,  ordained  Deacon  by 
Macarius,  p.  ii.,  Priest  by  Maxi- 
mus,  p.  iii..  Preacher  and  Cate- 
chist,  ib.  his  Consecration  as 
Bishop,  p.  iv.,  letter  to  Cop- 
stantius  on  the  luminous  Cross, 
ib.  dispute  with  Acacius,  ib. 
deposition  and  appeal,  p.  vi., 
welcomed  at  Tarsus  by  Sylvanus, 
and  meets  with  Semi-Arian  Bi- 
shops, p.  vii.,  confronts  Acacius 
at  Synod  of  Seleucia,  ib.,  de- 
posed again  by  a  Synod  at 
Constantinople,  p.  viii.,  returns 
from  exile  on  accession  of  Julian, 
p.  ix. ,  Julian's  attempt  to  rebuild 
the  Temple,  ib.  appoints  his 
nephew  Gelasius  successor  to 
Acacius  at  Csesarea,  p.  x. , 
banished  a  third  time,  ib.  re- 
turns after  death  of  Valens,  ib. 
finds  Jerusalem  full  of  heresy 
and  licentiousness,  ib.  present 
at  the  2nd  General  Council, 
p.  xi.,  justified  and  commended 
by  Synod  of  the  following  year, 
382,  ib.  died  386,  ib.  His  doc- 
trine of  Baptism,  p.  xxx.,  of 
Chrism,  p.  xxxiii.,  of  Eucharist. 
p.  xxxv.,  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
p.  xlvii.,  his  writings,  p.  liii. 

Daniel,  his  power  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvi.  31,  prophesied  of  the  Ro- 
mans, xii.  18,  XV.  13,  of  the 
time  of  the  Messiah,  xii.  19,  of 
Antichrist,  xv.  9-16,  explana- 
tion of  his  pro]ihecy,  ib.  en- 
dured not  the  siglit  ol  the  Angel, 
x.ii.  14  (v.   Confession). 

Darkness  made  by  the  author  of 
Light,  ix.  7,  denied  by  heretics, 
ib.  (v.  Nti^'ht),  of  the  Crucifixion 
foretold,  xiii.  24. 

David  (v.  Christ,  .Spirit),  spake  of 
Christ  by  the  Holy  (Jhosc,  x.  15, 
xiv.  28.  Christ  his  .Son,  and 
Heir  of  his  throne,  xii.  23,  not 


the  exclusiveobject  of  the  Psalms, 
ib.  vii.  2. 

Saved  by  Confession,  ii.    lO, 
yet  refused  not  penitence,  though 
forgiven,  ii,  11. 
Deacons    the   first    seven,    firstborn 
children  of  the  Cliurch  of  Jeru- 
salem, xvii.  24,  may  administer 
Baptism,  xvii.  35. 
Dead,  how   Christ   so  called,  x.  4, 
raised  by  Elijah  and  Elisha,  xiv. 
15,  16,  by  Christ  without  touch- 
ing them,  xiv.  16,  in  His  name, 
witness    His   resurrection,    xiv. 
23  (v.  Resurrection,  Jiidii^ntent). 
Death,  invisible  whale  of  death,  xiv. 
17,  brought  by  the  First  man, 
as  Life  by  the  Second,   xiii.  2, 
V.  xii.  15,  doom  of  sins,  xiii.  33, 
vanquished   by    Christ's    death, 
xii.  15,  xiv.  19,  sting  destroyed 
in    Baptism,    iii.    11,    death  in 
Baptism,  Proc.  5,  iii.  12,  xx.  4. 
Of   Christ   real   not    illusory, 
xiii.  4,  not  for  His  sin,  but  ours, 
xiii.   5,  33,  voluntary,  ib.  6,  28, 
foretold    by    Himself,    xiii.    6. 
God's  sentence,  and  His  mercy 
reconciled  in  it,  xiii.  33. 
Demetrius  of  Phalerum,  iv.  34. 
Descent  into  Hell,  iv.  11.  xiv.  19. 

Of  the  Spirit  on  Christ,  how 
explained,  xvii.  9- 
Despair,  its  evils,  ii.  5. 
Devil,  meaning  of  the  word,  ii.  4, 
the  dragon,  Proc.  16,  apostate 
Serpent,  iv.  37,  first  work  of 
God,  viii.  4,  fallen  Archangel, 
ii.  4,  viii.  4,  impenitent,  iv.  I, 
author  of  evil  by  this  free  choice, 
ii.  14,  not  the  Lord  of  the  world, 
viii.  6,  7,  his  envy  against  man, 
xii.  5,  xix.  4,  prompts  not  forces 
to  sin,  ii.  3,  4,  iv.  21,  37,  men 
have  freely  chosen  him  their 
Father,  vii.  13,  knew  not  Christ, 
xii.  15,  tries  to  prejudice  truth 
by  his  counterfeits  in  idolatry, 
XV.  1 1,  shall  work  personally  in 
Antichrist,  xv.  14,  and  war  with 
the  Martyrs,  xv.  17,  vanqui.shed 
and  cast  out  through  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  19,  endured  liy  God 
that  man  may  conquer  him,  viii. 
4,  watches  the  Candidates  for 
Baptism,  Proc.  16,  renounced 
witli  his  works  in  Baptism,  xix. 
2-9  (v.  Intr  Ch.  IV.  §  1 7), 
what  his  works  are,  ib.,  pursues 
us  to  Baptism,  xix.  2,  3. 
Devils  tremble  at  the  seal  of  Bap- 
tism, i.  3,  xvii.  35,  36,  and  the 
sign  of  the  Cross,  xiii.  3,  pos- 
session by  them  fearliil,  xvi.  15, 
power  against  them  given  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  12,  22, 
acknowledge  Christ,  while  Jews 
knew  Him  not,  x.  15,  lurked  in 
our  members  till  Baptism,  xx. 
2,  driven  away  by  the  Exorcised 
oil,  XX.  3. 
Devotion,  end  of  religious  knowledge, 

vi.  7,  xi.  12,  20,  xvi.  I,  2. 
Diocese,  xiv.  21,  xvi.  22, (v.  irupuiKia.). 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


165 


Dispensation,  from  the  Father  and 
the  Son  one,  xvii.  5  (v.  oIko- 
voula). 

Divination,  to  be  shunned  by  Chris- 
tians, iv.  37. 

Divisions  in  the  Church  make  way 
for  Antichrist,  xv.  7,  9,  18. 

Docetw,  iv.  9,  vi.  14,  xii.  3. 

Doctrines  to  he  withheld  from  Cate- 
chumens, Proc.  12,  true,  equally 
necessary  with  good  works,  iv. 
2,  to  be  proved  from  .Scripture, 
iv.  17,  xii.  5,  xiii.  8  (v.  Faith, 
Scripture),  not  fully  compre- 
hended by  us,  xi.  12,  19,  xvi.  i, 
fondness  for  ingenious  rather 
than  practical  ones,  an  evil  sign, 
XV.  9. 

Door,  Ciirist,  x.  I,  3. 

Dove,  why  a  symbol  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  xvii.  9.  of  Xoah,  xvii.  10. 

Dragon,  xii.  15,  head  of  the  Dragon, 
heresy,  xv.  27. 

In  the  waters,  Proc.  16,  iii.  11. 

Earth  freed  from  Adam's  curse  by 
Christ's  burial,  xiii.  iS,  35, 
xiv.  II. 

East,  symbolical  turning  towards  it 
in  Baptism,  xix.  9. 

Easter,  xvii.  20,  xviii.  33,  season  of 
Piaptism,  ib, 

Ebionites,  vi.  16. 

-•^gyP^  Christ  went  there  to  destroy 
its  idols,  x.  10,  His  witness,  x. 
19,  deliverance  from,  typical  of 
Baptism,  xix.  3,  4. 

Elder,  seventy  Elders  had  the  Holy 
S[)irit,  xvi.  25. 

Elijah  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  xvi. 
28,  saw  Christ  in  Sinai  and 
Tabor,  xii.  16,  his  raising  the 
dead  answers  objections  against 
Christ's  resurrection,  xiv.  15, 
compared  with  it,  ib.  16,  his 
translation  compared  with 
Christ's  ascension,  xiv.  25,  not 
so  favoured  as  the  Apostles, 
xiv.  26,  typical  passing  of  Jor- 
dan, iii.  5. 

Elisha  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi. 
28,  supernaturally  enliglitened, 
ib.  r7,  his  raising  the  dead,  xiv. 
15,  i6,comparefl  with  Christ's, ib. 

Elizabeth  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvii.  7. 

Emmanuel  v.  Immanuel. 

End  of  the  world  not  end  of  Christ's 
kingdom  or  person,  xv.  27-32. 

Enlighten,  said  of  Baptism.,  Proc.  I, 
xiii.  21,  Simon  Magus  not  en- 
lightened though  baptized,  Proc. 
2,  the  Holy  Ghost  enlightens, 
xvi.  16-18,  xvii.  13  (v.  Illu- 
minate). 

Enmity,  there  is  a  righteous  enmity, 
vi.  35,  xvi.  10,  against  blas- 
phemers of  God,  taught  by  the 
world's  wonders,  ix.  16. 

Epistles  of  St.  Paul  final  seal  of  the 
Scripture,  iv.  36,  why  most 
numerous,  x.  18,  their  com- 
pleteness and  variety  of  teaching 
about  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvii.  34. 


Epistle  of  the  Apostles  on  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Jewish  Law  by 
Gentiles,  iv.  28,  xvii.  29,  Uni- 
versal, \h. 

Eternity  of  the  Son  of  God,  xi.  20, 
of  His  generation,  iv.  7,  of  His 
Priesthood,  x.  14,  of  His  throne, 
xiv.  27,  Ititr.  Ch.  X. 

Ethiopia,  Church  there,  xvi.  22, 
taught  by  the  Eunuch,  xvii.  25, 
xvi.  14. 

Eucharist,  Christ's  blessed  gift.  xiii. 
6,  The  Body  and  Blood  of  the 
Lord  truly  there,  xxii.  i,  2,  under 
the  figure  of  Bread  and  Wine, 
xxii.  3,  The  Bread  and  Wine 
after  invocation  not  simple  ele- 
ments, but  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  xix.  7,  xxii.  2,  6,  9, 
xxiii.  7,  not  bread  and  wine, 
but  the  sign  of  Christ's  Body 
and  Blood,  xxiii.  20,  analogy  of 
Idol-sacrifices,  xix.  7,  of  the 
Holy  Chrism,  xxi.  3,  we  must 
not  judge  by  sense  of  this  mys- 
tery, xxii.  6,  9,  but  believe  that 
we  have  received  Christ's  Body 
and  Blood,  ib.  1-6,  xxiii.  20,  a 
spiritual  mysteiy,  xxii.  4,  8. 

The  Bread  and  W^ine  after  the 
invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
xix.  7,  made  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  xxiii.  7,  sanc- 
tified and  changed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  ib.  gilts  hallowed  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  xxiii.  iq. 

Spiritual  Sacrifice  of  Propitia- 
tion, xxiii.  8,  9,  supplications 
after  it  for  the  living,  ib.  8,  and 
the  Dead,  xxiii.  9. 

The  Substantial  Bread,  xxiii. 

15,  nourishment    of    Soul   and 
Body,  ib.,  xxii.  5. 

Typified  by  the  Show-Bread, 
xxii.  5,  foretold  by  David,  ib.  7, 
and  Ecclesiastes,  ib.  8. 

By  it  we  bear  Christ  in  us, 
xxii.  3,  Mode  of  Communicating 
in  Christ's  Body,  xxiii.  21,  and 
Blood,  xxiii.  22,  "  Eucharislic 
Doctrine," /«/r.  Ch.  VH. 

Eve  a  virgin  in  Paradise,  xii.  5,  death 
through  her.  as  through  Mary, 
life,  xii.  15,  her  birth  as  strange 
as  our  Lord's,  ib.  29. 

Evil  the  creature's  work,  not  the 
Creator's,  ii.  I,  evil  God  be- 
lieved by  the  Manichees  and 
Gnostics,  vi.  12,  13,  physical 
evil,  ix.  14. 

Exercise,  aaKrfus,  previous  to  Bap- 
tism, i.  5,  iii.  7. 

Exorcisms  previous  to  Baptism, 
Proc.  9,  expel  evil  spirits,  ib. 
cleanse  the  soul,  ib.  collected 
from  the  Scriptures,  ib.  to  be 
diligently  attended,  i.  5,  power 
through  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi. 
19,  22,  Iiitr.  p.  xix. 

Exorcised  oil,  xx.  3. 

Ezekiel  saw  but  the  likenesss  of 
God's  glory,  ix.  i,  his  vision, 
ix.  3,  prophecy  of  Baptism,  iii. 

16,  xvi.  30. 


Faith,  ground  and  bond  of  human 
action,  v,  3,  principle  of  holi- 
ness, V.  4,  7,  exemplified  in 
Abraham,  v.  5,  power  of  faith, 
ii.  16,  v.  7,  8,  in  one  man  for 
another,  v.  8,  9,  partly  our  own, 
but  chiefly  God's  gift  to  those 
who  ask,  V.  9,  two  kinds  of 
faith  ;  one,  our  assent  to  doc- 
trines ;  saves  at  once,  v.  10, 
another,  a  gift  of  the  Spirit  ; 
reward  of  the  former,  working 
miracles,  v.  11. 

Alone  wanted  to  cure  our 
worst  sins,  ii.  6,  in  Baptism,  i. 
I,  v.  2,  xvii.  35,  necessary  to 
our  New  Birth,  i.  2,  iii.  i,  en- 
ables us  to  receive  the  gift  of 
Baptism,  v.  6,  purifies  the  soul, 
iii.  2,  makes  sons  of  God,  vii. 
13,  without  works  saved  the 
robber,  v.  10,  xiii.  31,  God  can 
give  fpith  to  the  faithless  if  he 
but  asks,  Proc.  17,  v.  9,  to  be 
tried  by  false  miracles  as  well  as 
persecution,  xv.  17,  and  by  false 
doctrine,  xiii.  37. 

Faith,  Trians,  i.  e.  the  Creed — one, 
Proc.  7,  xvi.  4,  24,  delivered  by 
the  Church  and  proved  from 
Scripture,  iv.  17,  v.  12,  guard 
against  error,  iv.  2,  outline  of 
teaching,  iv.  3,  v.  i,  note  xiv. 
24,  27,  a  deposit,  and  treasure, 
V.  13  (v.  Creed). 

Faithful,  i.e.  Baptized  Christians, 
Proc.  13,  dignity  of  the  title, 
Proc.  6,  V.  I,  2,  new  name  given 
in  Baptism,  i.  4,  must  not  pre- 
sume, ii.  3,  Intr.  p.  xv. 

Fall  of  Adam  corresponded  to  in  its 
circumstances  by  the  Passion, 
xiii.  19. 

Fasting  taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvi.  12,  means  towards  salva- 
tion, ii.  9,  preparatory  to  Bap- 
tism, iii.  7,  part  of  repentance, 
ib.  16,  iv.  37,  David's,  ii.  12, 
reason  of  fasting,  iv.  27,  those 
who  cannot  not  to  be  despised, 
ib.  fast  of  the  Preparation,  xviii. 
17  (v.  Meats). 

Fatalism  of  heretics,  iv.   18-20,  vii. 

Fate  not  cause  of  sin,  iv.  18-2 1,  vii. 
13,  nor  of  our  Sonship  to  God, 
vii.  13,  God  not  subject  to  it, 
iv.  5- 

Father,  One  God  the  Father,  vii.  i, 
xi.  13,  to  be  included  in  our 
notion  of  God,  vi.  1,  Father,  by 
the  Son,  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
bestows  all  things,  xvi.  4,  24, 
xviii.  28  (v.  Trinity),  One  in 
glory  with  the  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost,  vi.  I,  the  God  of  the  Old 
Testament,  vii.  6,  Maker  of  the 
W'orld,  ib.,  through  the  Son, 
vi.  9,  xi.  II,  12,  21-24. 

The  Father  in  respect  of  the 
Son,  vii.  1-5,  viii.  1,  as  opposed 
to  Jewish  unbelief,  vii.  2,  pro- 
perly and  by  nature  the  Father 
of  Christ,  iv.  4,  vi.  i,  vii.  5,  7, 


1 66 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES   OF   S.  CYRIL. 


lO,  how  He  begat  the  Son,  He, 
with  the  Son  and  Holy  Ghost, 
alone  knows,  xi.  8,  ii,  we  know 
but  negatively,  ib.  heresies  as 
to  how  God  is  Father,  vi.  6, 
vii.  5,  xi.  4,  7-IO-  14-  '8,  not 
changed  into  the  Son,  xi.  13, 
17,  18,  distinct,  yet  not  to  be 
separated  from  the  Son,  iv.  8 
(v.  Arms,  Sak'llius),  suffered 
not  for  us,  xi.  17,  Father  from 
Eternity,  vii.  5,  xi.  4,  8,  never 
not  the  Father,  iv.  5,  vii.  5,  II, 
The  beginning  {a.pxh  Scapx"?) 
of  the  Son,  xi.  4,  note  3,  14,  20, 
xiii,  23,  apart  from  time,  xi.  20, 
in  the  Son,  xi.  17,  one  with  the 
Son,xi.  1 6,  called  by  the  Son  His 
God,  xi.  18,  fountain  of  life,  and 
good,  vi.  9,  xi.  18,  20,  xviii.  29, 
worshipped  through,  xi.  17,  xii. 
15,  and  with  the  Son,  x.  I,  2, 
only  known  to  the  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost,  vi.  6,  vii.  11,  ix.  i, 

2,  xi.  12,  revealed  by  the  Son, 
through  and  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  vi.  6,  X.  I,  seen  only  in 
the  Son,  x.  7,  8,  xi.  18,  xiv.  27 
(v.  Aitgds). 

How  called  "  My  Father  "  by 
Christ,  vii.  7,  xi.  18,  19. 

Father  of  men  by  adoption, 
vii.  8,  by  faith,  and  their  own 
choice,  vii.  13,  in  baptism,  xi. 
9,  injonceivable  honour  for  man 
to  have  God  for  his  Father,  vii. 
12,  xxiii.  II. 

Other  metaphorical  senses  of 
the  word,  vii.  8-10. 

Satan  chosen  by  men  for  their 
father,  vii.  13. 

Father,  earthly  Fathers  receive  their 
prerogative  from  the  Heavenly 
Father,  vii.  3,  to  be  honoured 
by  the  sons  of  God,  vii.  15, 
duty  to  them,  the  first  Christian 
duty,  vii.  15,  16. 

Fathers  of  the  Old  Testament  de- 
livered by  Christ  from  Hades, 
xiv.  19,  fountains  of  truth  to  us, 
xvi.  II. 

Fig-tree  cursed  for  the  sake  of  the 
type,  xiii.  18. 

Figure,  tuttos.  Bread  and  Wine  of 
Christ's  Body  and  Blood,  xxiii. 

3,  Intr.  p.  xxxix. 

Figure,  diTtTuTToi',  Baptism,  ofChrist's 
sufferings,  xx.  6  {Intr.  p.  xl.). 
Chrism,  of  the  Anointing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xxi.  i.  Bread  ami 
Wine,  xxiii.  20. 

Fire,  Exorcism  compared  to  it, 
Proc.  9,  Baptism  of,  xvii.  8,  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  like  it,  xvii.  12, 
14,  fiery  tongues  at  Pentecost, 
xvii.  15,  opened  Paradise,  which 
the  fiery  sword  had  guarded,  ib. 

First-born,  Christ  in  an  exclusive 
sense,  xi.  4,  Israel  so  called,  ib. 

Fishes  show  God's  glory,  ix.  11. 

Flesh  framed  by  God,  xii.  26,  not 
unholy  as  heretics  say,  ib. 
Christ  not  ashamed  of  it,  ib. 
hallowed  by  our  Lord's  incarna- 


tion, xii.  15,  His  weapon  to 
conquer  the  devil,  and  death, 
ib.  His  flesh  the  veil  of  His 
Godhead,  xii.  26,  xiii.  32,  "eat- 
ing the  flesh  of  Christ,"  not  un- 
derstood spiritually  by  the  Jews, 
xxii.  4. 

Flowers,  their  varied  beauty  show 
forth  God's  glory,  ix.  10. 

Forgiveness  of  sins,  Christ's  free  gift, 
ii.  15,  power  of  conferring  it 
granted  to  the  Apostles,  xiv.  22, 
xvii.  12,  how  typified,  xv.  21. 

Of  injuries  required  in  Bap- 
tism, i.  6,  case  of  David  and 
Shimei,  ii.  II. 

Even  Angels  forgiven,  ii.  lO. 
Forgiveness    of    injuries     re- 
quired from  sinners  in  the  Holy 
Communion,    xxiii.    16    (v.   Rc- 
niission,  Sin). 

Fornication  defiles  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  iv.  23. 

Freedom  of  the  soul,  ii.  i,  2,  iv,  18,21. 

Gabriel,  his  appearance  too  bright 
for  Daniel,  xii.  14,  Messenger 
to  the  blessed  Virgin,  xvii.  6, 
witnessed  of  the  endless  king- 
dom of  Christ,  XV.  27. 

Galatia,  heresy  of  Marcellus  arose 
there,  xv.  27. 

Garment  of  incorruption,  xv.  26,  of 
Salvation,  xix.  10,  putting  off  of 
garments  in  Baptism,  xx.  2. 

Gaul,  the  Church  there,  xvi.  22. 

Generation  of  Christ  twofold,  xi.  5, 
XV.  I,  His  Divine  generation 
spiritual,  xi.  5,  7,  8,  mysterious, 
xi.  7,  8,  not  metaphorical,  xi.  9, 
not  as  mind  begets  thought,  xi. 
10,  incomprehensible,  iv.  7, 
passionless,  vi.  6,  vii.  5, 
known  to  no  creature,  xi.  Ii, 
13,  only  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  xi. 
12,  declared  only  negatively  by 
the  Church,  xi.  Ii,  not  to  be 
examined  but  believed,  xi.  19, 
20, — eternal,  iv.  7,  without  be- 
ginning, vii.  4,  xi.  4,  5,  7,  19, 
timeless,  xi.  7,  8,  14,  17,  20,  (v. 
Father,  Sou). 

Gethsemane,  x.  19. 

Ghost,  Holy  (v.  Spirit). 

Gift,  name  of  Baptism,  i.  6,  heavenly 
gift,  ii.  20,  Gifts  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  same, 
xvi.  24  (v.  Baptism). 

Clirism,  gift  of  Christ,  xxi.  3. 
(}ifts  of  the  Eucharist,  hallow- 
ed by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xxiii.  19. 

Glory  of  Christ,  eternal,  as  God,  in 
time,  as  crucified,  xiii.  6. 

Gnostics,  iv.  8,  vi.  12  ff.,  their  here- 
sies, xvi.  7,  against  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  4,  7,  separated  the 
two  Testaments,  xvi.  4,  ab- 
horred flesh  and  wines,  iv.  27, 
note  9,  iv.  20,  22. 

God  (v.  Creator,  Father,  Trinity), 
knowledge  of  Him  foundation  of 
religion,  iv.  4,  ignorance  about 
Him  source  of  heresy  and  idol- 
atry, iv.  6,  viii.  I. 


One,  iv.  4,  vi.  passim,  viii.  I, 
8,  xi.  17,  unoriginate,  imchange- 
able,  iv.  4,  5,  vi.  7,  one  first 
principle,  vi.  12,  13,  36,  xi.  28, 
incorporeal,  vi.  7,  8,  ix.  I,  uni- 
form in  substance,  vi.  7,  like  to 
Himself,  vi.  7,  infinite,  iv.  5,  vi. 
8,  viii.  2,  incomprehensible,  vi. 
2,  4,  7,  even  to  angels,  vi.  6,  to 
all  but  the  Son  and  Spirit,  ib. 
x.  I,  unspeakable  in  beginning, 
form,  nature,  vi.  7,  yet  we  must, 
not  indeed  declare,  but  glorify 
Him,  as  far  as  we  know,  vi.  5, 
ix.  3,  16,  our  best  knowledge  to 
know  our  ignorance  of  Him,  vi. 
2,  invisible,  ix.  I,  2,  seen  par- 
tially by  angels,  vii.  11,  to  man 
in  Christ,  x.  6,  7,  8,  xii.  16,  xiv. 
27,  dimly  in  His  works,  ix.  2,  &c. 

Both  Just  and  Good,  iv.  4,  vi. 
7,  and  full  of  all  perfection,  vi. 
7,  8,  9,  Father  of  Christ,  vii.  5, 
Maker  of  all  things,  iv.  4,  ix.  I, 
&c.  of  darkness  as  well  as  light, 
ix.  7,  Almighty,  and  Sovereign 
over  all  things,  though  long-suf- 
fering, viii.  I,  &c.  is  in  all  things, 
vi.  8,  9,  all  things  serve  Him 
save  the  Son  and  Spirit,  viii.  5. 

Forsaken  by  idolaters,  vi.  lO, 

11,  xii.  5,  &c..  His  great  mercy, 
ii.  7,  10,  pardons  worst  of  sin- 
ners who  believe,  ii.  5,  6. 

Present  in  Baptism,  Proc.  15. 
Lord  both  of  soul  and  body, 
iv.  4,  22,  viii.  3. 

Blasphemed    by  heretics,    vi. 

12,  viii.  8,  ix.  16,  not  two  Gods, 
vi.  13,  viii.  3,  not  the  soul  of 
the  world,  viii.  2,  various  here- 
sies concerning  Him,  iv.  4,  5, 
vi.  14,  &c. 

"God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Ja- 
cob," xviii.  II ,  12. 

God  of  God  (v.  Christ),  made  man, 
xi.  15,  xii.  3,  xiii.  33. 

"  God  of  this  world,"  the  words  per- 
verted by  Manes,  vi.  28,  how 
explained  by  Archelaus,  and  S. 
Cyril,  vi.  28,  29. 

God  the  Son,  the  Word,  xii.  3.  Intr. 
p.  xlix.  (v.  Christ,  Sen). 

God,  the  Holy  Ghost  (v.  Spirit). 

Golgotha,  St.  Cyril's  first  xviii.  Lec- 
tures spoken  in  the  Church 
there,  iv.  10,  xiii.  22,  vide  xviii. 
33,  name  typically  prophetic  of 
Christ,  xiii.  23,  witness  of  the 
Crucifixion,  iv.  10,  14,  x.  19,  xiii. 
4,  39,  Intr.  p.  xiii. 

Gospel,  only  four  genuine,  iv.  36, 
forged  ones,  ib.  Manichtean 
Gospel  according  to  Thomas,  iv. 
36.  vi.  31,  our  Gospels  attested 
by  the  Old  Testament,  xiv.  2, 
that  according  to  St.  Matthew 
written  in  Hebrew,  xiv.  15. 

All  may  hear  but  not  under- 
stand the  Gospel,  Proc.  6,  vi.  29. 
Phrase  "in  the  Gospel,"  eV 
(vay-ytKiois,  vi.  4,  7,  xiii.  21,  35, 
"Gospel  of  Peter,"  xiii.  26, 
note  I. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


167 


Grace,  God's  to  give,  ours  to  use,  i. 
4,  necessary  that  we  may  re- 
ceive the  truth  xvi.  2.  requires 
honesty  and  failh,  i.  3  to  be  re- 
ceived and  cherished,  xvii.  37, 
given  through  Christ  at  the  New 
Birth,  i.  2. 

Gift  of  grace,  ii.  9. 
Spirit  of  grace,  xvii .  5- 

Greeks,  dangerous  because  of  their 
plausible  words,  iv.  2,  deny  the 
resurrection,  xviii.  I,  limit  God's 
power,  viii.  2,  believe  things  as 
hard  as  Christ's  birth,  xii.  27,  to 
be  silenced  out  of  their  own 
fables,  xiii.  3",  to  be  answered 
by  reasoning,  as  the  Jews  by 
Scriptvre,  xviii.  10,  their  shame- 
ful idolatry,  iv.  6,  vi    II. 

Habakkuk.  carried  by  the  angel  to 
Daniel,  xiv.  25,  compared  with 
Christ,  ib. 

Hades  (v.  Hell). 

Hands  of  Christ  stretched  on  the 
Cross  typical,  xiii.  27,  28  laying 
on  of.  conveys  the  Spirit  in 
both  Testaments  xvi.  26. 

Head ,  v.  xiii.  23. 

Heathenism  counterfeits  truth  to  dis- 
credit it,  XV.  II  (v.  Idolatry). 

Hearers,  danger  lest  they  receive 
false  impressions  of  truth,  xvi.  2. 

Heavens,  vi.  3,  the  abode  of  angels, 
iii.  5.  made  of  water,  ib.  ix.  5, 
Heaven  distinguished  from  the 
Third  Heaven,  xiv.  26,  its  won- 
ders shew  God's  glory,  ix.  5, 
shall  perish  but  be  renewed,  xv. 
3,  Christians,  a  heaven,  xxiii.  11. 

Hell.  Christ  descended  thither  to 
redeem  the  just,  iv.  II,  xiv.  19. 

Herbs,  men  changed  into  them,  who 
plucked  them,  according  to 
Manes  vi.  31. 

fleresy  manifold,  iv.  2,  vi.  13,  xvii. 
33,  xviii.  I,  contrasted  with  the 
Church,  vi.  35,  a  knowledge  of 
it  necessary,  vi.  34,  xvi.  5.  yet 
an  evil,  vi.  13,  33,  arising  from 
presumption,  xi.  12,  from  a  mis- 
taken thought  of  honouring  tire 
Father  or  the  Son,  xi.  17,  v.  x. 
2,  not  to  be  curiously  inquired 
into,  vi.  19. 

Heresies  alluded  to  by  S.  Cyril : — 
vide  Apelles  ;  Arius  ;  Basilides  ; 
Carpocrates  ;  Cataphrygians  ; 
Cerinthus  ;  Docetae  ;  Ebionites; 
Gnostics  ;  Manes  ;  Marcellus  ; 
Marcion  ;  Menander ;  Mon- 
tanus  ;  Paul  of  Samosata;  Sa- 
bellius  ;  Simon  Magus :  Valen- 
tinus. 

Heretics  perverted  Holy  Scripture, 
iv.  19,  vi.  27,  their  assemblies 
to  be  shunned,  iv.  37,  how  to  be 
treated,  vi.  36,  to  be  avoided, 
xvi,  6,  why  they  should  be 
hated,  xvi.  10,  falsely  called 
Christians,  vi.  12,  on  whom 
they  brought  discredit,  xvi.  8, 
blasphemous  to  God,  xi.  16, 
a  sign  of  Christ's  coming,  xv. 


5,  formerly  manifest,  now  lurk- 
ing in  the  Church,  xv.  9,  di- 
vided attributes  into  persons,  iv. 
4,  X.  I,  3,  xvii.  2. 

Hermas  a  disciple  of  Manes,  vi.  31. 

Hezekiah  shewed  the  efficacy  of 
Confession,  ii.  15,  not  the  object 
of  Isaiah's  prophecy  of  Imman- 
uel,  xii.  21,  22. 

High  Priest,  reason  of  his  bathing, 
iii.  5,  Christ  our  High  Priest,  x. 

4,  5,  II,  14,  xii.  28. 
Holiness,  all  through  the  HolyGhost, 

iv.  16,  Faith  its  ground,  v.  4, 
Spirit  of,  xvii.  5  (v.  Sanclifica- 
lion). 

Hope  support  to  Candidates  for  Bap- 
tism, Proc.  9,  10. 

Hour,  third,  that  of  the  Crucifixion, 
and  of  the  descent  of  the  Spirit 
at  Pentecost,  xvii.  19,  of  the 
Crucifixion  foret'jld,  xiii.  24,  25. 

Human  conceptions  not  to  be  in- 
truded into  the  mysteries  of  the 
Gospel,  xi.  7,  S. 

Human  nature  of  our  Lord  (v.  In- 
carnation). 

Hyssop,  symbolical,  iii.  I. 

Idols,  offerings  to,  become  polluted 
by  the  invocation  of  the  idol's 
name,  iii.  3,  xix.  7,  not  to  be 
touched,  iv.  28. 

Idolatry,  worship  of  God's  gifts,  vi. 
10,  its  madness,  iv.  6,  and  de- 
gradation, vi.  10,  II,  will  be 
abhorred  by  Anticlirist,  xv.  15. 

Ignorance  of  all  creatures  concerning 
God,  vi.  2-6,  xi.  II,  check  to 
presumption,   not  to  praise,   vi. 

5,  should  repress  our  curiosity, 
xi.  II,  knowledge  of  it  our 
highest  wisdom,  vi.  2,  of  what 
is  written  should  make  us  silent 
about  what  is  not  written,  xi. 
12,  xvi.  I,  and  guarded  in  speak- 
ing, xvi.  I. 

Illuminated,  Proc.  I,  2,  xviii.  33, 
alone  know  the  glory  of  the 
Gospel,  vi.  29,  Intr.  p.  xvii. 

Illumination  of  the  just  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  3,  II,  its  power, 
xvi.  16-18,  same  as  Baptism, 
0ii>rinij,a,  xiii.  21. 

Image,  Christ  the  true  Image  of  God 
to  subvert  the  false  one,  xii.  15, 
man,  God's  image,  xii.  5)  soul, 
made  in  God's  image,  iv.  18, 
meaning  of  the  "  Image  of 
God,"  xiv.  10,  "our  Image," 
argument  from  the  words,  x.  6. 

Immortality  of  the  soul,  God's  gift, 
iv.  18. 

Immanuel,  prophecy  of,  xii.  3, 
21 ,  note  9,  meaning  of  the  word, 
xi.  14. 

Impersonal,  (oft/irdo-TaTos,)  words,  iv. 
8. 

Incarnation  of  our  Lord,  real  not 
illusory,  iv.  9,  xii.  3,  salvation 
depends  on  its  reality,  xiii.  4, 
denied  by  Simon  Magus,  vi.  14. 
Must  be  believed  as  well  as 
Christ's  Godhead, xii.  I,  heretical 


and  infidel  objections  k  priori, 
from  its  needlessness,  xii.  4,  rea- 
sons for  it,  xii.  5  ff>  Creator  of 
the  world  its  Restorer,  vi.  11,  to 
restore  man,  xiii.  5.  proved  from 
the  prophets,  xiii.  8,  &c.  that 
man  might  see  God,  x.  7,  xii. 
13,  14,  to  sanctify  the  waters  ;- 
that  God  might  be  worshipped  ; 
— that  man  might  be  made  par- 
taker of  God  ; — that  the  Lord 
might  suffer  for  us,  xii.  15,  ob- 
jection to  its  possibility,  xii.  4. 
answered,  xii.  27-30. 

Christ  Lord  and  God  before 
it,  X.  6,  12,  xi.  20,  of  a  Virgin, 
iv.  9,  xii.  2,  5,  21,  why,  xii.  25, 
33,  34,  blasphemies  of  heretics 
respecting  it,  ib.  xii.  31,  without 
taint  because  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xii.  29,  32,  xvii.  6,  signs  of  its 
time,  place  and  manner  given 
by  the  Prophets,  xii.  5,  10-12, 
17-24,  implied  in  the  histories 
of  Abraham,  Jacob,  Moses,  and 
Elias,  xii.    16,  witnesses  of  it, 

xii.  32,  33- 

Satan's  counterfeits  among 
idolaters  to  discredit  it,  xv.  11. 

Indians,  converts  to'  the  Church, 
xvi.  22. 

Inspiration  contrasted  with  possession 
by  devils,  xvi.  15,  16. 

Interpretation  of  Scripture,  xiii.  9, 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  xvi  12  (v. 
Scripture). 

Interpreter,  viii.  7,  xiii.  21,  xvi.  6, 
vide  XV.  13. 

Invocation  of  the  Holy  Trinity  gives 
a  sanctifying  power  to  the  water 
of  Baptism,  iii.  3,  to  the  exorcised 
oil,  XX.  3,  analogy  of  the  invoca- 
tion of  the  idols'  name  on  offer- 
ings to  them,  iii.  3,  xix.  7>  of 
Christ  on  the  Holy  Ointment, 
causes  it  to  convey  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xxi.  3,  of  the  most  Holy 
Trinity  on  the  Bread  and  Wine, 
xix.  7,  makes  them  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  xxiii.  7, 
hitr.  pp.  xxiii.,  xxviii.,  xxxv. 

Iren^eus  quoted,  xvi.  6. 

Isaiah  prophesied  of  Christ,  xii.  2, 
of  His  birth  of  a  virgin,  xii.  2, 
this  explained,  ib.  21,  22,  be- 
held Christ,  xiv.  27,  and  in  the 
Spirit  foresaw  His  coming,  xiii. 
3,  witness  of  His  innocence,  ib. 
foreknowledge  given  Him  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  iS. 

Sawn  asunder,  ii.  14,  xiii.  6. 

Jacob  saw  the  Lord,  xii.  16,  prophe- 
sied of  the  time  of  His  coming, 
ib.  17. 

Jeremiah,  his  prophecy  of  the  Lord's 
sufferings,  xiii.  7,  of  gentile 
faith,  ib. 

Jericho,  x.  II. 

Jerusalem,  its  Holy  Places,  Intr. 
p.  xii.,  its  exclusive  piivileges, 
iii.  7,  xiii.  22,  xvi.  4,  xvii.  13, 
Christian  opposed  to  Jewish, 
xiii.  7,  St.  James  its  first  Bishop, 


1 68 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES   OF   S.  CYRIL. 


iv.     28.    xiv.     21,     first    fifteen 
Bishops  Hebrews,  xiv.  15. 
Jesus,  so  named   because  He   saves, 
X.  II,  12,  13,  and  heals  us,  x.  4. 

13,  meaning  in  Hebrew,  and 
Greek,  x.  12,  13,  Joshua  a  type 
of  Him  in  His  kingly  office,  x. 
II  (v.  Christ).  His  name 
hinted  at  by  the  Propiiets,  x.  12, 
not  more  distinctly  because  of 
the  Jews,  x.  12. 

Jews  study  and  know  the  Scriptures 
without  understanding  them, 
iv.  2,  xii.  13,  to  be  silenced 
from  the  Prophets,  xiii.  37, 
xviii.  10,  despise  the  testimony 
of  the  Prophets  in  rejecting  the 
Lord,  vii.  2,  x.2,  xii.  2,  xiv.  15, 
deny  that  Jesus  is  Christ,  x.  14, 
while  devils  acknowledge  Him, 

X.  IS- 

Misinterpret  the  Prophets, 
xii.  21,  22,  infidel  ol^jections  to 
the  Incarnation,  xii.  4,  27,  ab- 
surdly apply  the  prophecies  of 
Christ's  eternal  kingdom  to  men, 
xii.  2,  gainsay  our  Lord's  suffer- 
ings, xiii.  7,  their  subjection  to 
Rome  a  proof  that  Christ  is 
come,  xii.  17,  vain  attempt  to 
discredit  the  Resurrection,   xiv. 

14,  their  objections  confuted  by 
the  examples  of  Elijah  and 
Elisha,  xiv.  15. 

Their  Patriarchs,  xii.  1 7. 
Are  looking  for  Antichrist, 
xii.  2,  will  receive  him,  xv.  il, 
12,  15,  will  be  favoured  by  him, 
XV.  15,  their  observances  and 
sabbaths  to  be  shunned,  iv.  37. 

Job  had  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  27. 

St.  John  Baptist — his  high  office, 
baptism,  and  character,  iii.  6 
(v.  Baptism),  link  between  the 
two  covenants,  x.  19,  deUvered 
from  Hades  and  death  by  Christ, 
iv.  II,  xiv.  19. 

Sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  baptize  Christ,  xvii.  8. 

St.  John  the  Divine,  xii.  I. 

Jonah  a  type  and  proof  of  Christ's 
resurrection,  xiv.  17,  compared 
with  Christ,  xiv.  17,  18,  in  the 
whale,  a  type  of  Christ  in  Hades, 
xiv.  20,  his  prayer  fullilled  only 
in  Christ,  ib. 

Jordan,    typical,    iii.  5,    x.   II,    xiv. 

25. 

Joseph,    his  ill-treatment    turned    to 

good  by  God's  ])rovi(lei)ce,  viii. 

4,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi. 

27. 
Josepli,  how  called    the  Father    of 

Christ,  vii.  9,  not  really  so,  xii. 

3.  31- 

Judas,  xiii.  6,  his  treason  foretold, 
xiii.  9,  meaning  of  the  name,  ib. 
explanation  of  Zechaiiah's  pro- 
phecy relating  to  him,  ib.  10, 
II. 

Judge,  Christ,  of  quick  and  dead, 
XV.  26. 

Judgment,  day  of,  xv.  21,  its  glories 
and  terrors,  xv.  22,  26,    hope  of 


the  poor  and  desolate,   xv.  23, 

God  and  all  Angels  present,  xv. 

24.     How    Christ  bids  us   pre- 
pare for  it,  XV.  26. 

Judgment  of  our  Lord  by  His 

people,  a  sign  foretold,  xii.    12, 

xiii.  12. 
Just,  "  the  Just  "  delivered  by  Christ 

from  Hades  (v.  Hell). 

Illuminated     by     the     Holy 

Ghost,  xvi.  3,  27. 

The  Just  God  blasphemed  by 

heretics,  iv.  4. 
Justification  given  in  Baptism,  Proc. 

16,  i.  4,  of  Abraham   by  faith, 

Even  by  riches,  via.  6. 
Justin,  M.,  xiii.  26,  rote  I. 

Keys  of  heaven  given  to  St.  Peter, 
xiv.  26. 

Kings  reign  through  God,  viii.  5,  in 
the  latter  days  honour  the 
Gospel,  xiv.  14,  taught  by  the 
Church   xvii.  10. 

Kingdom  of  Christ,  universal  :  fore- 
told by  Daniel,  xii.  18,  without 
bound,  xii.  24,  unwittingly  ac- 
knowledged in  the  soldiers' 
mockery,  xiii.  17,  never  to  end, 
iv.  15,  XV.  27,  heresy  of  Mar- 
cellus  regarding  it,  ib.  &c. 

God's  kingdom,  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  xxiii.  13. 

Four  great  kingdoms,  xv.  13, 
kingdom  of  Antichrist,  xv.  12, 13. 

Kiss  of  Peace,  xxiii.  3. 

Knowledge  not  for  curiosity  but 
devotion,  vi.  5,  7,  supernatiirally 
given  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi. 
16,  in  the  Apostles  and  Pro- 
phets, ib.  17,  18. 

Lamentations  of  Jeremiah  refer  to 
the  second  captivity  of  the  Jews, 
xiii.  7,  "  Lamp,"  meaning  of  in 
Psalm  132,  X.  15. 

Laver  of  Baptism  (AouTpov),  Proc. 
2,  7,  II,  i.  2,  iii.  3,  5,  iv.  32, 
v.  6,  &c.,  one  salvation  of  the 
Laver,  iv.  37,  of  Regeneration, 
xix.  10,  repentance  of  the  Laver, 
iv.  32,  Laver  (KovTr\p),  in  the 
Tabernacle  an  emblem  of  Bap- 
tism, iii.  5. 

Law,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
iv.  16,  blasphemed  by  heretics, 
iv.  33,  fulfilled  in  Christ,  iv.  33, 
xiii.  5,  its  ceremonies  now  abro- 
gated by  the  Holy  Trinity  in 
the  Church,  xvii.  2y,  our  school- 
master, iv.  33. 

Lazarus,  his  resurrection  an  earnest 
of  our  deliverance  from  sin, 
ii.  5,  and  resurrection,  xviii.  16, 
raised  through  the  faith  of 
others,  v.  9. 

Lent,  preparation  for  Baptism  during 
it,  iv.  3,  xviii.  32  (v.  Baptism). 

Lessons  from  Scripture,  Proc.  4,  iv. 
I,  xiv.  24,  &c.  guard  against 
error,  iv.  I,  mark  canonical 
books,  iv.  33,  36. 

Libyans  in  the  Church,  xvi.  22. 


Life,  the  Father  is  true  life,  xviii. 
29,  given  us  in  Baptism  by  Him 
who  is  Life,  iii.  Ii,  12.  Christ, 
who  is  life,  brought  Life,  as 
Adam  Death,  xiii.  2  (v.  Eve 
Tree).  Eternal  Life  God's  gift, 
xviii.  28,  29,  ways  of  entering 
into  it,  ib.  30,  31. 

"Life  of  Life  begotten,"  iv.  7,  xi.  4, 
18. 

Light  made  by  Him  who  made 
Darkness,  ix.  7. 

The  Father  is  I-ight  eternal, 
vi.  9,  light  given  to  souls  by 
the  Cross,  xiii.  i,  by  the  lioly 
Ghost,  xvi.  3,  II  (v.  Baptism, 
Enlighten,  Illuyninate). 

"Light  of  Light  begotten,"  iv.  7, 
xi.  4,  18. 

Lights,  Proc.  I,  3,  i.  I.  Intr.,  eh. 
ii.  §  4. 

"  Like  in  all  things  to  the  Father," 
iv.  7,  xi.4,  9,  18,  V.  xi.  19. 

"Like  to  Himself,"  vi.  7. 

"  Likeness  of  God,"  xiv.  lo. 

Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  x.  3. 

Living  Spirit  (v.  Spirit). 

Living  Word  (v.  Word). 

Lord,  Christ  Lord  of  all  because 
Maker  of  all,  x.  5,  6,  xi.  21, 
&c.,  not  by  advancement,  but 
by  nature,  x.  5,  before  His  Li- 
carnation,  x.  6,  from  eternity, 
X.  9.  note  2,  by  the  will  of  the 
Father,  x.  9,  iUustration  of  this, 
xi.  22,  Lord  of  Angels,  x.  10. 

Lot,  xix.  8. 


ATacedonian  empire,  iv.  34. 

Magic  to  be  sliunned  by  Christians, 
iv.  37,  service  of  the  devil, 
xix.  8. 

Maker  of  all  things,  iv.  4.  visible 
and  invisible,  Christ,  xi.  21-24 
(v.  Creator). 

Man,  work  of  Christ  as  well  as  of  the 
Father,  x.  6,  of  God's  own 
hands,  xii.  5,  26,  in  God's  Image, 
xii.  5,  retained  God's  Image  but 
lost  His  Likeness,  xiv.  10,  his 
twofold  nature,  iii.  4,  iv.  18, 
world  made  for  him.  xii.  5. 

First  man  brought  death, 
xiii.  2,  his  fall,  xii.  5,  man's 
miserable  condition  before  the 
Incarnation,  xii.  6,  7,  forsook 
God,  for  the  devil,  ii.  i,  vi.  10, 
vii.  13. 

Christ  came  to  restore  him, 
xii.  5,  &c.  by  Christ  hallowed, 
and  made  partaker  of  God.  xii, 
15,  allowed  to  call  God,  Father, 
vii.  7,  12.  partaker  of  His  name, 
Proc.  6,  and  of  Christ's,  x.  16. 

Power  of  man  in  faith,  v.  11, 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  16,  can 
wrestle  with  the  Devil  through 
the  Holy  Ghost,  viii.  4.  xvi.  ly. 
His  wants  met  by  Christ's 
various  offices,  x.  3-5  (v.  Incar- 
nation). 

His  ministry  used  to  convey 
God's  giits,  xvii,  35,  36. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


169 


Manasseh,  saved  through  repentance, 
ii.  14. 

Manes  blended  all  previous  heresies, 
vi.  20,  xvi.  9.  History,  vi.  24, 
&c.,a  slave,  vi.  24,  changed  his 
name,  ib.  did  not  arise  from 
among  Christians,  vi.  21,  con- 
nection with  the  Greek  philo- 
sophy, of  Alexandria,  vi-  22-24, 
and  with  Persian,  vi.  24,  his 
disputatious  spirit,  vi.  24.  claims 
to  be  the  Paraclete,  vi.  25,  xvi. 
6,  9,  fails  to  cure  miraculously 
the  Persian  king's  son,  vi.  25. 
Flies  from  prison,  vi.  26,  dis- 
putes with  Archelaus  before 
heathen  judges,  vi.  27,  seized 
and  put  to  death  by  the  Persian 
king,  vi.  30. 

His  influence,  vi.  25,  his  dis- 
ciples, vi.  31. 

Manichsean  doctrine  of  two 
principles,  iv.  4,  note  6,  vi. 
12,  13,  27,  28,  perversion  of 
Scripture  for  this  doctrine,  vi. 
28,  they  blaspheme  the  God 
of  the  Old  Testament,  vi.  27, 
xvi.  4,  call  the  Sun  Christ,  vi.  13, 
xi.  21,  abhorrence  of  the  ma- 
terial world,  iv.  22  27,  vi.  31, 
32,  34,  deny  the  reality  of  Christ's 
Resurrection,  xiv.  21,  fatalism, 
iv.  18-21,  baptism  and  offering, 
vi.  33,  forged  gospels,  iv.  36,  vi. 
31,  pollutions  and  blasphemy, 
vi.  30-32. 

Manes  worse  than  Simon 
Magus,  xvi.  10,  his  followers 
to  be  carefully  shunned,  vi.  36, 
knowledge  of  their  doctrines 
almost  pollution,  vi.  13,  34, 
carefully  enquired  into  by 
S.  Cyril,  vi.  34. 

Marcellus,  his  heresy  about  Christ's 
kingdom,  iv.  15,  xv.  27,  com- 
bated, XV.  29-32,  a  Sabellian, 
xi.  17,  note  4. 

Marcion,  his  heresy,  iv.  4,  vi.  16, 
divided  the  Justice  and  Good- 
ness of  God,  ib.  held  three 
Gods,  xvi.  4,  7,  removed  all 
texts  of  the  Old  Testament  from 
the  New,  vi.  16,  xvi.  7- 

Marriage  though  inferior  to  Virginity 
yet  honourable,  iv.  25,  not  to 
be  despised  by  the  unmarried, 
ib.  acknowledged  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvii.  7,  second  marriage 
permitted  to  the  weak,  iv.  26, 
note  3. 

Martyrs  alone  saved  without  Bap- 
tism of  water,  being  baptized 
with  blood,  iii.  10,  xiii.  21, 
make  confession,  iii.  10,  trained 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  12, 
strengthened  by  the  Comforter, 
xvi.  20,  21,  only  by  Him  can 
they  suffer,  ib.  under  Antichrist, 
xi.  17. 

Mary  the  Virgin-Mother  of  God, 
X.  19,  v.  xii.  33,  34,  how  called 
the  wife  of  Joseph,  xii.  31, 
sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xii.  29,  32,  xvii.  6,  sprung  from 


David,  xii.  24,  the  witness  of 
Christ,  X.  19,  type  of  Virgins, 
xii.  33,  repaired  the  loss  caused 
by  Eve,  xii.  29,  Christ  truly 
born  other,  iv.  9,  xii.  3. 

Mary  Magdalene,  her  visit  to  the 
Sepulchre  foretold,  xiv.  12,  her 
noble  love,  xiv.  13. 

Matthew  wrote  in  Hebrew,  xiv.  15. 

Meats  abstained  from,  not  as  un- 
clean, but  for  self-denial,  iv.  27, 
37,  vi.  35,  Jewish  distinctions 
not  to  be  observed,  iv.  37,  of- 
fered to  idols  forbidden,  iv.  28, 
vide  xvii.  29. 

Meekness  of  Christ  in  judgment 
foretold,  xiii.  16. 

Menander,  his  heresy,  vi.  16. 

Mercy  of  God  to  sinners,  ii.  5»  6, 
10,  even  to  Angels,  ii.  10. 

Miracles  of  Christ  as  God,  iv.  9, 
claimed  by  Antichrist,  xv.  14, 
false  ones  permitted  trial  of 
Christian  faith,  stumbling-blocks 
of  the  unfaithful,  xv.  17. 

Mithras,  worshipped  in  Persia,  vi. 
23,  his  mnii>>ters  oppose  Tere- 
binthus  and  Manes,  ib.  24. 

Montanus  condemned  second  mar- 
riage, iv.  26,  note  3,  called  him- 
self the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  8, 
charged  by  S.  Cyril  with  prof- 
ligacy, and  with  horrid  my- 
steries, ib.  note  i. 

Moon,  her  changes  an  intimation  of 
the  Resurrection,  xviii.  10. 

Moors  in  the  Church,  xvi.  22. 

Moses  the  good  schoolmaster,  vii  8, 
had  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  27, 
beheld  Christ,  x.  6,  7,  xii.  16, 
intercession  for  the  people  and 
Aaron  an  encouragement  to 
penitents,  ii.  10,  change  of  his 
rod  as  hard  as  Christ's  birth, 
xii.  28,  his  rod,  type  of  the 
wood  of  the  Cross,  xiii.  20, 
sweetening  the  water  by  trees, 
a  type  of  the  Passion,  ib.  river 
changed  into  blood  by  huii 
corresponds  with  Christ's  water 
and  blood,  xiii.  21. 

Mysteries  of  Christ,  i.  I,  of  Baptism 
and  the  Eucharist,  of  the  Altar, 
xviii.  32,  33,  xix.  I,  not  to  be 
pried  into,  Proc.  2,  4,  iii.  7, 
nor  divulged  to  Catechumens  or 
strangers,  Proc.  12,  vi.  29,  glory 
of  the  Church,  vi.  29,  our 
account  of  them  negative  not 
positive,  vi.  2,  xi.  11,  xvi.  5, 
not  to  be  interpreted  by  human 
conceptions,  xi.  7,  8,  for  praise 
not  curiosity,  vi.  5,  we  must  not 
be  silent  about  them,  ib.  Intr. 

p.  XXXV. 

"  Mystery  of  iniquity,"  xv.  18. 

Name  of  God,  vi.  9,  xxiii.  12,  many 
names  of  Him,  vi.  7,  of  our 
Lord,  x.  3,  name  of  Jesus,  its 
meaning,  x.  4,  11,  13,  of  Christ, 
X.  4,  14,  virtue  of  the  name  of 
Christ,  iv.  13,  names  of  the 
Holy    Ghost,    xvii.    2,    4,    5, 


various  names  of  God,  Christ, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  to  be 
profanely  distinguished  into  per- 
sons, vi.  7,  X.  3,  xvii.  2,  3, 
Christians  partakers  of  God's 
name,  Proc.  6,  v.  I,  of  Christ's, 
X.  16,  new  name  of  Christians, 
i.  4,  X.  16. 

Typical  names  given  to 
Joshua  and  Aaron,  x.  il,  signi- 
ficant names  of  Judas,  xiii.  9, 
Samuel,  Proc.  14. 

Name  of  Manes,  vi.  20,  24,  of  the 
Gnostics,  xvi.  7. 

Napkin  with  which  Christ  girded 
Himself  symbolical  of  His 
human  nature,  xii.  i. 

Nathan,  ii.  11. 

Nations  all  subject  to  Christ,  xvi. 
22,  xvii.  10. 

Nativities,  iv.  5,  ix.  8. 

Nature  not  cause  of  righteousness  or 
sin,  iv.  18-21,  nor  of  salvation 
or  ruin,  vii.  13. 

Nature  of  God,  vi.  7,  God  by 
nature  Father  of  Christ,  vii.  4. 

Natural  world,  its  wonders  witness 
for  God,  ix.  2,  &c. 

Nebuchadnezzar  an  instance  of  the 
efficacy  of  repentance,  ii.  17,  18. 

Necessity,  none  with  God,  iv.  5,  nor 
upon  man,  iv.  18-21,  not  the 
reason  of  men's  salvation  or 
ruin,  vii.  13. 

Night,  its  religious  uses,  ix.  7. 

Noah,  his  ark  of  wood  type  of  the 
Cliurch,  xxvii.  10,  of  the  wood 
of  the  Cross,  xiii  20.  E.xaniple 
of  decent  order  in  the  Church, 
Proc.  14,  his  dove  a  type  of  the 
dove  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvii. 
10. 

Himself  a  type  of  Christ,  as 
author  of  a  new  birth,  xvii.  10. 


Obedience  of  Christ,  xiii.  5,  as 
a  Son,  not  a  servant,  to  the 
Father,  x.  9,  xv.  30. 

Offering  of  Christ  sacrificed  for  us 
in  the  Eucharist,  xxiii.  10. 

Oil,  exorcised  of  Baptism,  xx.  3, 
symbolical,  and  powerful  to 
drive  away  devils,  ib. 

Old  Fathers  delivered  by  Christ 
from  Hades,  iv.  11,  xiv.  19. 

Old  Testament,  its  books,  iv.  35, 
document  of  appeal  for  Chris- 
tian truth,  xiv.  2  (v.  Father, 
Prophet,  Scripture,  Testament), 
blasphemed  by  heretics,  iv.  33, 
impiously  separated  by  them 
from  the  New,  xvi.  4. 

Old  man  put  off  by  Confession  and 
Baptism,  i.  2,  xix.  10,  xx.  2. 

Olives,  the  spiritual  olive-trees,  i.  4, 
V.  XX.  3. 

Olives,  mount  of,  xii.  Ii,  witness  of 
the  Resurrection,  xiv.  23,  scene 
of  the  Ascension,  xiv.  25,  why 
passed  by  David,  when  flying 
from  Absalom,  ii.  11. 

One,  how  Christ  is  one  with  the 
Father,  xi.  16. 


170 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES   OF   S.  CYRIL. 


Only-begotten,  meaning  of  the  word, 
X.  3,  xi.  I,  2,  &c.,  13,  14. 

Order  commended  by  our  Lord's 
example,  iii.  Ii,  13,  14,  of  the 
Church,  Proc.  4,  13,  vi.  35,  36 

Orders  of  the  ministry,  xvi.  22,  xvii. 

35- 

Parable  of  the  marriage  garment 
applied  to  Baptism,  Proc.  3,  iii. 
2,  of  the  wise  and  foolish 
Virgins,  xv.  26,  of  the  Labourei-s, 
xiii.  31,  of  the  Lost  Sheep,  xv. 
24. 

Paradise,  Adam  in  Paradise,  xii.  5, 
his  fall,  ii.  4,  v.  xiii.  19,  placed 
in  Adam's  view  when  fallen, 
ii.  7,  Invisible  Paradise  opened 
in  Baptism,  Proc.  15,  16,  i.  4, 
xix.  I,  9,  by  Faith,  v.  10, 
distinguished  from  heaven,  xiv. 
26,  restored  by  the  Cross,  xiii. 
30.  The  penitent  thief  the  first 
to  enter  it,  ib. 

Parent  (v.  Father). 

Passion  of  Christ  real,  xiii.  4, 
witnesses  of  it,  ib.  38,  39,  gain, 
said  by  the  Jews,  xiii.  7, 
witnessed  by  the  Prophets,  xiii. 
8,  9,  &c.,  even  in  its  details,  ib. 
answers  circumstantially  to  the 
Fall,  xiii.  18,  19,  its  place,  time, 
&c. ,  prophesied,  xiii.  23,  &c., 
represented  in  Baptism,  xx.  5> 
fellowship  with  it  therein,  ib.  5> 

^'  7-      . 
Passion,  "without  passion,"  d7ro0a's, 

Christ's  generation,  vi.  6,  note  I, 

vii.  5,  note  5. 

Passover,  the  eating  of  the  Paschal 
Lamb  a  type  of  Christ's  twofold 
nature,  xii.  I. 

Patience  of  Christ  foretold,  xiii.  6, 
'3)  gives  force  to  His  teaching, 
ib.  His  Divine  glory  not  the 
reward  of  it,  iv.  7.  God's 
appointed  way  to  glory  for 
man,  xv.  17. 

Patriarchs,  J  ewish,  of  the  West,  xii.  1 7- 

S.  Paul,  ruler  and  chief  of  the  Church, 
vi.  15,  with  S.  Peter  laid  Simon 
Magus  dead,  ib.  The  former 
persecutor  a  witness  of  Christ, 
X.  17,  why  his  Epistles  most 
numerous  x.  18,  witness  of  the 
Resurrection,  xiv.  21,  descended 
from  the  third  heaven  that  he 
might  receive  martyrdom,  xiv. 
26,  his  labours  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xviii.  26-31,  complete- 
ness and  variety  of  his  teaching 
concerning  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvii.  34. 

Paul  of  Samosata  denied  the  eternity 
of  Christ's  Deity,  x.  5,  note  8, 
xii.  4,  note  9. 

Peace  made  by  Christ  first  among 
His  foes,  xiii.  14,  by  I  lis  death, 
xiii.  33. 

Penitence  of  forty  days  before  Bap- 
tism, Proc.  4,  i.  5,  gift  of  God, 
Proc.  9,  ])reparatory  to  Baptism, 
ii.  passim,  iii.  2,  7,  8,  not 
declined  by  David  after  fuigive- 


ness,  ii.  12,  cleansing  of  peni- 
tence, i.  5,  iii.  2. 

Penitents  must  not  despair,  ii.  5. 

Pentecost,  xvi.  4,  9.  Spirit  descended 
not  fully  till  then,  xvi.  26,  xvii. 
12,  13.     His  descent  then,  xvii. 

15- 

Perfections  of  God,  vi.  7,  8,  of  the 

Father  and  the  Son,  xi.  18. 

Persecution,  xiii.  23,  the  Baptism  of 
blood  in  it,  iii.  10,  xiii.  21, 
under  Antichrist,  the  fiercest, 
yet  short,  xv.  16. 

Persia,  converts  there  witnesses  of 
Christ,  X.  19,  worship  of  Mithras, 
vi.  23,  origin  of  Manicheism, 
vi.  24,  wars  with  Rome,  xv.  6. 

Person,  distinction  of,  not  implied 
in  various  names  (v.  Name). 

Personality  of  the  Word,  iv.  8,  xi. 
10,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  3, 
xvii.  2,  5,  28,  29. 

S.  Peter  chief  ruler  of  the  Church, 
ii.  19,  vi.  15,  xi.  3,  xvii.  27. 
Chief  of  the  Apostles,  ii.  19, 
xvii.  27.  His  inspired  con- 
fession of  Christ,  xi.  3,  has  the 
keys  of  Heaven  to  which  Elias 
but  went,  xiv.  26,  xvii.  27, 
speech  at  Pentecost,  xvii.  19, 
supernatural  knowledge,  xvi.  17, 
his  works  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvii.  20,  27,  an  example  of  the 
power  of  repentance,  ii.  19,  and 
of  faith,  v.  7,  with  S.  Paul 
punishes  Simon  Magus,  vi.   15. 

Pharaoh,  Israel  rescued  from  him, 
as  we  from  Satan,  by  water, 
iii.   4,    emblem   of  Satan,    xix. 

2,  3- 

Philip  the  Deacon,  xvi.  14,  xvii.  25. 

Phineas,  his  zeal,  xiii.  2. 

Phcenix,  analogy  of  it,  a  proof  of  the 
resurrection,  xviii.  8. 

Physician,  Christ,  Physician  of  the 
soul,  ii.  6,  X.  4.  13,  xii.  I. 

Place  of  Christ's  birth  foretold,  xii. 
20,  of  His  crucifixion,  xiii.  23, 
28,  of  his  burial,  xiii.  35,  resur- 
rection, xiv.  2,  5-1 1. 

Pomps  of  the  Devil,  xix.  6,  note  I. 

Pontius  Pilate,  his  treatment  of 
Christ,  xiii.  1 5,  16,  reconciled 
through  Him  to  Herod,  xiii.  14, 
witness  of  Christ's  sinlessness, 
xiii.  3,  38. 

Possession  by  Devils  —  contrasted 
with  Inspiration,  xvi.  15. 

Potter's  field   xiii.  10,  11. 

Poverty  of  Christians,  v.  2,  xvi.  19, 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  22, 
taught  by  Christ,  xiii.  5. 

Power,  the  Father  is  Power,  vi.  9, 
Christ,  God's  Power  personally 
subsisting,  iv.  7,  of  the  God- 
head one,  xvi.  24. 

Prayer,  preparatory  to  Baptism, 
Proc.  16,  i.  5,  iv.  37,  recorded, 
XV.  23.  at  night,  ix.  7,  for  all 
men  in  the  Communion  .Service, 
xxiii.  8,  of  the  Saints  departed 
for  us,  xxiii.  9,  for  the  dead, 
xxiii.  10.  Lord's  ]irayer,  ex- 
pounded, xxiii.  II,  iic. 


Preaching  not  to  be  attempted  before 
Baptism,  iii.  13. 

Preparation  necessary  for  Baptism, 
Proc.  I,  &c.  iii.  7,  how  to 
behave  during  it,  Proc.  13,  for 
forty  days,  ib.  4,  i.  5,  complete 
abstraction  from  the  world, 
Proc.  6,  13,  16,  i.  5-    . 

Fast  of  the  Preparation,  xviii. 

Presumption  may  be  indulged  under 
seeming  reverence,  xi.  12,  xvi.  I. 

Priesthood  of  Christ  eternal,  x.  14, 
xi.  I,  Inti:  p.  Iii.  (v.  High  Priest, 
Christ,  Anointing). 

Order  of,  xvii.  35,  he  who 
fulfils  it  well  abstains  from 
marriage,  xii.  25. 

Principles,  not  two,  xi.  I4  (v.  Be- 
ginning,  Father). 

Promise,  Spirit  of,  xiii.  5. 

Prophecy,  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
V.  x.  12,  xvi.  12,  given  in  Bap- 
tism, xvii.  37,  every  thing  con- 
cerning Christ  the  subject  of  it, 
xiii.  8,  9,  often  enigmatical, 
xiii.  II. 

Gives  the  signs  of  His  coming, 
xii.     10-12    (v.   Psahns,   Scrip- 
ture,  Testament),  prophecies  of 
the   time    of   His    coming,    xii. 
17-19,  of  Daniel,  ib.  the  place, 
xii.  20,  whence  ib.  of  His  birth 
of  a  Virgin,   xii.  21-23,  of  the 
Virgin's  race,  xii.  23,  24,  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  Christ,  xiii.  7, 
of  Judas,  ib.    9,    of  the    thirty 
pieces  of  silver,  ib.  10,  and  the 
potter's  field,  ib.  11,  of  Christ's 
judgment,  ib.  12,  14,  16,  of  His 
mockery,  ib.  13,  15,  17,  of  the 
crown    of  thorns,    ib.    17,    and 
wood  of  the  Cross,  xiii.   19,  of 
the  place,  xiii.  23,  28,  32,  and 
time  of  the  Crucifixion,  ib.  24, 
of    the    darkness,     ib.     25,    of 
Christ's  vesture,  ib.   26,  27,  of 
His  thirst,  ib.  29,  of  the  robbers, 
ib.   30,  of  the  tomb,  ib.  35,  xiv. 
3,  II,  of  the  Resurrection,  xiv. 
2,  4,  8,  14,  17,  20,  21,  its  time, 
il).  4,  8,  and  place,  ib.  5,  6,  9, 
II,  of  the  signs  following,  ib.  7, 
of  our  Lord's  appearances,  ib. 
II,  12,  of  His  ascension,  ib.  24, 
and  sitting  at  the  Father's  right 
hand, ib.  28,  29,  at  the  end  of 
the  world,  xv.   3.  of  Antichrist, 
ib.    9,    13.      Christ's    Prophecy 
concerning  His  second  coming, 
XV.    3,  4,  &c.   of  Malachi  con- 
cerning it,  XV.  2. 
Prophets  enlightened   by  the   Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  17,  18,  Holy  Gho.st 
in  them,  ib.  3,  28,  but  partially, 
xvii.   18,  correspond  to,  l)ut  are 
inferior  to  the  Apostles,  xvi.  4, 
24,  xiv.   26,  witness  all   things 
concerning  Christ,  x.  2,  xiii.  8, 
9,    13,  xiv.    19.   nothing   to  be 
received  without  their  testimony, 
xii.   5,   16,  xiii.   8,   xiv.   2,  our 
faith    rests    on    them,    xiv.    2 1, 
xviii.    14,  own  the   P"ather  and 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


171 


the  Son,  vii.  2,  teachers  of  the 
Faith  in  the  Old  Testament,  vii. 
8,  10,  xii.  6-9,  29,  owned 
Christ  as  Lord,  x.  7>  8,  testi- 
fied of  His  Godhead,  xi.  15,  16, 
of  the  name  Jesus,  but  covertly, 
X.  12,  longed  for  His  coming, 
xii.  7,  &c.  testified  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvi.  28,  29. 

Are  ours  as  well  as  the  Jews', 
iii.  6,  xiv.  16,  removed  from 
the  Jews  to  the  Church,  xiii, 
29,  slighted  by  the  Jews,  x.  2. 

Providence  of  God,  (olKovofila)  in- 
stances of,  Joseph,  viii.  4, 
Peter's  confession,  xi.  3,  Christ's 
prophecy  of  His  coming,  xv.  4, 
Thomas,  xiii.  39. 

Province,  iirapxia,  xvi.  22,  note  3. 

Psalms,  chanted  in  Divine  Service, 
xiii.  26,  xxiii.  20,  at  night,  ix.  7. 
Psalms  prophetical  of  Christ 
cannot  be  applied  to  David  or 
Solomon,  vii.  2,  xii.  23  (v. 
P)-ophecy). 

Ptolemy,  Philadelphus,  iv.  34, 

Punishment  of  the  wicked,  after  the 
Resurrection,  iv.  31,  xviii.  19, 20. 

Quick  and  dead  to  be  judged  by 
Christ,  XV.  26. 

Race  of  Christ  according  to  the 
flesh,  xi.  5,  foretold,  xii   23. 

Rahab,  instance  of  power  of  repent- 
ance, ii.  9,  type  of  the  freeness 
of  Gospel  grace,  x.  Ii. 

Reading  Proc.  14,  i.  6,  of  the 
Scriptures  recommended,  iv.  37, 
ix.  7,  public  in  the  Church 
mark  of  a  canonical  book,  iv. 

35.  36- 

Rebaptize,  Heretics  to  be  rebaptized, 
Proc.  7. 

Red  Sea  typical  of  Baptism,  iii.  5, 
xix.  2,  3. 

Reddiiio  Syutboli,  Intr.  p.  xxi. 

Redemption  of  the  world  by  the 
Cross,  xiii.  I,  4,  wrought  not 
by  a  mere  man,  but  the  Son 
of  God,  ib.  2, 33,  by  its  Creator, 
vi.  II. 

Regeneration,  kvayivvriais,  of  souls 
in  the  Laver  of  Baptism  through 
Faith,  i.  2,  iii.  4,  in  the  case  of 
Cornelius  before  Baptism,  iii.  4, 
Death  and  Birth,  xx.  4,  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  xviii.  26,  ira- 
Xiyyeveala,  Baptism  so  called, 
Proc.  16,  Laver  of,  Proc.  11, 
xviii.  34,  35,  xix.  lO. 

Religion  consists  of  true  doctrines 
and  good  works,  iv.  2,  founded 
•on  belief  in  one  God,  iv.  4,  6, 
false  views  of  it  leading  to  pre- 
sumption, xi.  12,  xvi.  I,  awe 
requisite  in  speaking  of  its  doc- 
trines, xvi.  I,  its  worship  indi- 
visible, xvi.  4. 

Remission  of  sins  in  Baptism,  xx.  6, 
freely  given  t©  all  who  believe, 
i-  5.  iv-  32.  xvii.  37. 

Renunciation  of  Satan  and  his  works 
in  liaptism, xix. 2-9,  Inlr.  p.  xxi. 


Repentance,  its  efficacy  in  putting 
away  sin,  ii.  i,  iv.  23,  no  sin 
beyond  its  power,  ii.  5,  instances 
of,  ii.  7,  &c.  its  temporal  bene- 
fits, ii.  13,  exemplified  in  Ahab, 
ib.  and  Jeroboam,  ib.  14,  of  the 
Laver,  iv.  32,  Baptism  of,  xix.  9, 
its  fruits,  mercy,  and  almsdeeds, 
iii.  8. 

Resurrection  of  Christ,  iv.  12,  answer 
to  objectors  from  the  cases  of 
Elisha,  iv.  12,  xiv.  16,  Jonah, 
iv.  12,  xiv.  17,  18,  Elijah,  xiv. 
16,  witnessed  by  the  Old  Scrip- 
tures, xiv.  2,  15,  21,  all  its  cir- 
cumstances written  in  the  Psalms 
and  Prophets,  xiv.  2,  &c.  (vide 
Prophecy),  not  discredited  by 
the  soldiers'  tale,  xiv.  14,  Rock 
of  our  faith,  xiv.  7,  21,  glorifies 
tlie  Cross,  xiii.  4,  denied  by  the 
Manichees,  xiv.  21. 

Its  former  witnesses,  iv.  12 
(vide  Church),  the  dead  who 
rose  with  Him,  xiv.  16,  18,  20, 
its  present  witnesses,  xiv.  22,  &c. 
Baptism  a  representation  of  it, 
iii.  12,  XX.  4. 

Resurrection  of  the  body ;  analogies 
for  it  in  nature,  iv.  30,  xviii.  6, 
faith  in  it  the  principle  of  holi- 
ness, iv.  30,  xii.  34,  xviii.  i,  20, 
prominence  given  to  it  by  the 
Church,  ib.  and  opposition  of 
heresy,  ib.  objections  to  its  pos- 
sibility, xviii.  2,  answered  by 
God's  power,  ib.  3,  justice, 
ib.  4,  man's  instinct,  ib.  5, 
analogies  of  nature,  ib.  6,  7, 
the  Phoenix,  ib.  8,  man's  origin, 
ib.  9,  God's  ordering  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  an  intimation 
of  it,  lb.  10,  proved  against 
Samaritans,  ib.  II-13,  objec- 
tions from  the  Prophets  an- 
swered, &c.  ib.  14,  15,  its  fit- 
ness proved  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  15-18,   xviii. 

Revelation,  Spirit  of,  xvii.  5- 

Reverence  to  parents,  vii.  16,  to 
God,  taught  by  His  works, 
ix.  16,  in  the  Church,  Proc. 
13,  15,  vi.  35,  to  the  ancient 
Bishops,  iv.  35,  xiv.  21,  in  re- 
ligious discourse,  vi.  3,  &c. 
xvi.  I,  seeming,  may  cloak 
impiety,  xi.  12,  17. 

Reward  given  according  to  men's 
labours,  i.  5,  iv.  24,  27. 

Riches,  not  as  heretics  thought,  the 
devil's  but  God's,  viii.  6,  7, 
evil  only  in  their  abuse,  vii.  7, 
we  may  even  be  justified  by 
them,  viii.  6,  belong  to  the 
faithful  man,  v.  2,  viii.  6,  who 
despises  them,  v.  2. 

Righteous,  "  the  Righteous,"  v.  lO. 

Righteousness  of  Christ  greater  than 
our  sin,  xiii.  33,  we  gain  right- 
eousness in  Baptism,  i.  4,  Christ 
God's  Righteousness  personally 
subsisting,  iv.  7. 

Rock,   riven   lor   Christ  the    Rock, 


xiii.  34,  still  seen,  ib.  39,  that 
followed  Israel,  x.  7. 

Rod  of  Aaron,  xii.  28,  of  Moses,  ib. 
(vide  Moses). 

Romans,  conquest  of  Judjea  by  them 
proof  of  Christ,  xii  17,  18,  em- 
pire succeeded  by  Antichrist, 
XV.  II,  12,  wars  with  Persia, 
XV.  6. 

Sabbaths,  Jewish  not  to  be  ob- 
served, iv.  37, 

Sabaoth,  a  name  of  God,  vi.  7, 
viii.  8. 

Sabellius,  v.  iv.  xi.  10,  confounds 
the  Holy  Trinity,  xvi.  4,  con- 
futed by  the  very  arrangement 
of  the  Creed,  xvii.  34,  his  heresy 
and  Arianism  alike  to  be  avoided, 
iv.  8,  xi.  13,  note  8, 16,  17, 18,  are 
marks  of  the  falling  away,  xv.  9. 

Sacrifice  of  Christ,  x.  3,  5-  Sacri- 
fice of  the  Eucharist,  xxiii.  8,  9, 
Christ  sacrificed  offered  in  the 
Eucharist,  xxiii.  10,  Intr.  p. 
xxviii. 

Saints  of  the  Old  Testament  delivei^ed 
by  Christ  from  Hades,  iv.  11, 
xiv.  19,  rose  with  Him,' xiv.  16, 
18,  according  to  Prophecy,  xiv. 

17- 

Salvation  depends  on  the  truth  of 
Christ's  manhood,  iv.  9,  xiii.  37, 
one,  xvi.  24,  of  the  Laver,  iv. 
37,  xix.  10,  given  to  none  with- 
out Baptism,  iii.  10,  to  be  de- 
spaired of  by  none,  ii.  5  (vide 
Christ,  Baptism,  Man). 

Samaritans,  iv.  37,  vi.  33,  xviii.  i. 

Sanmel,  meaning  of  the  name, 
Proc.  14,  note  3. 

Sanctification  of  all  things  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  iv.  16,  xvi.  3,  of 
the  Church,  xvi.  14,  22,  of 
Angels  and  Prophets,  xvi.  23 
(vide  Spirit). 

Sarah,  her  bearing  a  son  as  hard  as 
the  Virgin's,  xii.  28. 

Sarmatians,  xvi.  22. 

Satan,  meaning  of  the  word,  ii.  4. 

Scripture,  its  canon  to  be  received 
from  the  Church,  iv.  33,  as  read 
in  the  Church,  iv.  35,  xv.  13, 
and  settled  and  handed  down 
by  Apostles  and  ancient  Bishops, 
iv.  35,  consists  of  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  iv.  33  (vide  Testa- 
ment), number  and  names  of 
its  books,  ib.  35,  36,  history  of 
the  Septuagint  version,  iv.  34, 
note  5,  mutilated  by  Marcion, 
xvi.  7,  adulterated  with  forgeries 
by  the  Manichees,  iv.  36,  vi  31, 
spoken  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xi. 
12,  xvi.  I,  2. 

Nothing  to  be  received  as  of 
the  Faith  unless  proved  by  it, 
iv.  17,  its  teaching  embodied  in 
the  Creed,  iv.  33,  v.  12,  taith 
grounded  on  it,  xii.  16,  17,  xiii. 
8,  9.  xiv.  2,  reveals  all  we  know, 
or  may  speak  of  the  generation 
of  the  Son,  xi.  12,  of  the  nature 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.    i,  2, 


172 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES    OF    S.  CYRIL. 


24,  we  may  not  speak  beyond 
it,  xii.  5,  variously  interpreted, 
e.g.  iii.  16,  vi.  28,  29,  x.  15, 
xii.  19,  xvii.  9-1 1,  perverted 
by  heretics,  eg.  iv.  19,  vi.  17, 
27,  28,  29,  vii.  9,  13,  XV.  3, 
danger  of  alleging  it  wrongly 
should  teach  us  reverence  and 
fear,  xvi.  I.  we  know  not  all  its 
meaning,  ib.  xi.  12. 

Its  abundance,  xv.  15,  xvi. 
32,  xvii.  I,  20,  34,  &c.  witnesses 
every  thing  concerning  Christ, 
xiii.  8,  13. 

To  be  diligently  searched,  iv. 
37,  ix.  7,  xiii.  8. 
Scythianus  the  Saracen,  forerunner 

of  Manes,  vi.  22. 
Sea,  witness  of  God's  glory,  ix.  II, 
of  Christ's  coming,  x.   19,  pas- 
sion, xiii.   39,  resurrection,  xiv. 
17-20,  23. 
Seal,  the  Faith  so  called,  iv.  17. 

Baptism,  seal  indissoluble, 
Proc.  16,  marks  us  for  Christ's, 
i.  2,  through  water,  iii.  4,  Seal 
of  Salvation,  i.  3. 

Of  the  Holy  Ghost  given  in 
Baptism,  iii.  3,  4,   12.  iv.  16,  v. 
6,  xvi.  24,  xvii.  35,  36,  xxii.  7. 
Of  Circumcision,  v.  5. 
Of  the  Cross,  xiii.  36. 
Seasons,   their  order  glorifies  God, 
ix.  6,  of  the  Resurrection,  that 
of  Creation,   xiv.    10,  foretold, 
xiv.  2,  ID. 
Semiarians,  v.  note  3,  to  iv.  7,  Intr. 

pp.  vi.,  viii. 
Septuagint  version,  its  history,  iv.  34, 

held  inspired,  ib.  note. 
Sepulchre  of  Christ   prophesied  of, 
xiii.   35,  xiv.   9,  his  witness,  x. 
19,  account  of,  xiv.  9. 
Sei"pent,   the  devil,   watches  candi- 
dates   for    Bajitism,    Proc.    16, 
apostate  Serpent,  iv.  37,  brazen 
a  type  of  the  Crucifixion,   xiii. 
20. 
Session  of  Christ  at  God's  right  hand, 
xiv.  27,  proved  from  Scripture, 
ib.  28,  eternal,  iv.  7,  xiv.  27.  30. 
Sheep,  Christ  both  Sheep  and  Shep- 
herd, X.  3,  5. 
Shew-bread,  a  type  of  the  Eucharist, 

xxii.  5. 
Sick  even  yet  healed  by  Christ,  x. 
13,  must  not  have  recourse  to 
amulets  or  sorcery,  iv.  37,  xix.  8. 
Side  of  Christ  typically  pierced,  xiii. 
21,  in  respect  of  Baptism,  iii.  10. 
Signs  of  Christ  given  by  the  Pro- 
phets, xiii.  10  (vide  Prophecy)^ 
given  to  Ahaz  explained,  xii.  22, 
signs  of  Moses  correspond  to 
Christ's  acts,  xiii.  20,  21,  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  the  Cross,  xiii.  41, 
of  the  Second  Advent  given  by 
Christ  Himself,  xv.  4,  &c.,  lying 
signs  of  Antichrist,  xv.  II-15, 
a  trial  of  faith,  xv.  17.  of  the 
Cross  (vide  Cross).  God's  free 
but  great  gift,  xiii.  36. 
Simon  Magus,  was  baptized  but  not 
enlightened,   Proc.  2,  xvii.   35. 


father  of  all  heresy,  vi.  14.  His 
blasphemies  agains  the  Father 
and  Holy  Ghost,  ib.  xvi.  6. 
His  fate,  vi.  15,  compared  with 
Manes,  xvi.  10. 
Sin,  ailment  of  the  soul,  ii.  I,  man's 
choice,  not  God's  work.  ii.  I, 
not  of  necessity,  iv.  18-21,  not 
a  thing  external  but  from  within, 
ii.  2,  prompted  not  forced  by  the 
Devil  who  is  its  chief  author, 
ii.  3,  4,  iv.  21,  death  by  sin, 
xiii.  2,  makes  us  enemies  to  God, 
and  slays  us,  xiii.  33,  leagues  us 
with  Satan,  xix.  9,  marred  God's 
world,  xii.  5,  and  ruined  man, 
xii.  6,  &c.  all  men  bound  by  it, 
xiii.  I,  2,  dead  in  it,  iii.  12, 
Christ  came  to  destroy  it  xii.  8, 
died  for  our  sins  and  purged 
them.  ii.  10,  iii.  12,  xiii.  I,  2,  4, 

6,  23,  33,  being  Himself  sinless, 
ii.  10,  iii.  12,  xiii.  3,  5,  23,  sin 
came  by  one  man,  died  with  one 
man,  xiii.  2,  28,  iii.  12. 

Fearful  yet  not  incurable  to 
the  penitent,  ii.  1-5,  readiness 
of  God  to  forgive  the  believing, 
ii.  6,  efficacy  of  repentance,  ii. 

7,  &c.  Instances,  ib.  collective 
sin  pardoned,  ii.  10,  obstinate 
sin  alone  not  pardoned,  iii.  8. 

Completely  and  freely  remit- 
ted to  all  in  Baptism  by  faith, 
Proc.  8,  i.  5,  iii.  11,  12,  15,  iv. 
32,  xvii.  37,  xviii.  20,  xx.  6, 
Baptism  its  remedy,  iv.  32,  re- 
mitted even  in  John's  Baptism, 
iii.  7,  Ha])tism,  a  death  to  sin, 
Proc.  5,  sin  cleansed  by  Exor- 
cisms, Proc.  9,  and  the  exorcised 
oil,  XX.  3,  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xvii.  15. 

Overcome  by  Faith,  v.  4, 
steals  on  us,  ii.  3,  after  Baptism 
recorded  against  the  Judgment, 
XV.  23,  its  scars  remain, 
xviii.  20. 

Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  i. 

Sion,  its  desolation  revealed  by  the 
Spirit  to  Isaiah,  xvi.  18. 

Sodom,  Christ  wrought  with  the 
Father  in  its  destruction,  x.  6. 

Soldiers,  their  tale  about  the  sejnd- 
chre  presignified  by  Isaiah  and 
Jonah,  xiv.  14,  20,  its  vanity, 
xiv.  14. 

Solitaries,  order  of,  iv.  24,  xii.  33, 
xvi.  22,  Christ  their  example, 
xii.  33. 

Solomon,  instance  of  the  efficacy  of 
repentance,  ii.   13. 

Son,  Christ  the  Son  of  God,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Proc.  15  (vide  Tr'mily). 

Im))Iied  in  the  mention  of  the 
Father,  vii.  4,  glorified  and 
worshij^ped  with  Him,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  vi.  i,  x.  2,  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  partaker  of  His 
Godhead,  vi.  6  (vide  Christ). 

In  a  singular  sense,  only- 
begotten,  vii.  5,  10,  X.  3,  xi.  2, 
4,  so  called  by  the  Father,  xi.  2, 


by   nature,   not    adoption,    vii. 

10,  X.  4,  or  advancement,  xi.  4, 
7,  13,  15,  &c.  not  after  the 
manner  of  human  generation, 
xi.  4,  8,  nor  as  Christians  are 
God's  sons,  iii.  14,  vii.  7,  xi.  9, 
19,  nor  as  mind  begets  thought, 
xi.  10,  begotten  not  made,  xi.  4, 
14,  XV.  9,  God,  xi.  13,  incom- 
prehensibly, iv.  7,  xi.  4,  5,  II, 
as  God  only  knoweth,  xi.  11,  12, 
13,  from  eternity,  iv.  7,  vii.  5, 
xi.  4,  8.  13,  14,  17,  19,  20,  apart 
from  time,  xi.  5,  7,  14,  spirit- 
ually, xi.  5,  7,  without  begin- 
ning, xi.  4,  7,  13,  the  Son  never 
was  not,  xi.  8,  14,  17. 

Like  in  all  things  to  the 
Father,  iv.  7,  xi.  4,  9,  18,  19, 
of  the  Father  as  His  beginning, 
xi.  14,  20,  xiii.  23,  wanting 
nothing  to  the  glory  of  the 
Godhead,  iv.  7,  xi.  13,  was 
with  the  Father,  x.  6-8.  One 
with  the  Father,  xi.  16,  neither 
to  be  separated  from  nor  con- 
founded with  the  Father,  iv.  7, 
xi.  16,  17,  18,  20,  did  not  be-  * 
come  the  Father,  xi.  13,  abides 
for  ever,  not  absorbed  into  the 
Father,  xv.  27.  30,  how  subject 
to  the  Father,  x.  9,  xv.  30,  not 
numbered  among  the  servants 
of  the  Father,  viii.  5,  glorified 
with  the  Father,  vi.  I;  the 
Father's  Word,  and  Wisdom, 
and  Power,  and  Righteousness, 
iv.  7.  8,  Maker  of  all  things  at 
the  Father's  will,  xi.  22,  Lord 
over  them,  ib.  &c. ,  alone  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  knows  and 
sees  the  Father,  vi.  6,  vii.  II,  xi. 
12,  13. 

Makes  known  the  Father, 
vii.  II,  only  way  to  the  Father, 
vii.  2,  x.  I,  3,  Incarnate  to 
restore  the  Father's  worship,  vi. 

11,  xii.  15,  and  save  the  world, 
xii.  4,  5,  &c..  Father  seen  only 
in  Him,  x.  6,  7.  xi.  15,  Son 
before  born  in  Bethlehem,  xi. 
20,  became  Son  of  Man,  x.  4, 
Son  of  David,  xi.  5.  xii.  23. 

Sons  of  God.  Christians  by  adoption, 
iii.  14,  vii.  7,  xi.9,  19,  by  Water 
and  the  Spirit,  ib.  not  of  neces- 
sity, l)ut  of  faith,  vii.  13,  works 
meet  for  them,  vii.  14. 

Soul, free,  ii.  I,  iv.  18.  God's  fairest 
work,  immortal  by  God's  will, 
made  in  His  image,  ib.  diseased 
and  destroyed  by  its  own  sin, 
ii.  I,  originally  sinless,  wilfully 
sinned,  iv.  19,  did  not  sin  in 
another  state,  ib.  purified  by 
penitence,  alms,  reading  ol 
Scripture,  iv.  37,  cleansed  by 
exorcism.  Proc.  9.  sealed,  iii. 
3,  4,  baptized,  xvii.  14,  and 
brightened  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
xvii.  16,  its  illumination  by  faith, 
V.  II,  possession  by  devils,  xvi. 
15,  contrasted  with  the  inlluence 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  16. 


INDEX    OF  SUBJECTS. 


173 


Soul  of  the  worlcl,  viii.  2. 

Spaniards  in  the  Church,  xvi.  22. 

Spectacles  of  the  heathen  to  be 
shunned,  iv.  37. 

Speculation  taking  the  place  of  sober- 
ness in  S.  Cyril's  time,  xv.  9, 
not  to  intrude  beyond  what  is 
written,  xi.  12,  xvi.  1,2. 

Spirit,  the  word  variously  used,  xvi. 
13 j  15,  yet  with  a  distinguishing 
term,  xv.  15. 

Holy  Spirit,  various  names, 
xvii.  2,  3,  4,  yet  one  only,  iv. 
16,  xvi.  12,  xvii.  2,  3,  included 
in  the  Holy  Trinity,  xvi.  4, 
vide  iv.  16,  vi.  I,  6,  xvi.  19,  in 
the  form  of  Baptism,  xix.  9,  xx.  4. 
A  living  Person,   iv.  16,  xvi. 

3,  13,  14,  xvii.  2,  5,  28,  29,  33, 
incompreliensible,  xvi.  i,  2, 
alone  with  the  Son,  beholds, 
and  reveals  the  Father,  vi.  6, 
vii.  II,  xi.  12,  not  numbered 
among  the  Father's  servants, 
viii.  5,  partaker  of  the  Fatlier's 
Godhead,  vi.  6,  far  above  all 
creatures,  xvi.  23,  shares  the 
Father'sglory,  vi.  i,  and  Christ's, 
xvi.  4,  sanctifies  and  deifies  all 
intelligent  beings,  iv.  16,  xvi.  3, 
the  Church,  xvi.  14,  22,  xvii.  14, 
Angels,  xvi.  23,  xvii.  2,  Pro- 
phets, xvi.  23. 

Indivisil)Ie  yet  manifold  in 
working,  iv.  16,  xvi.  12,  xvii.  2, 
12. 

He  was  in  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  iv.  16,  dictated  the 
Scriptures,  iv.  16,  33,  .\i.  12, 
xvi.  I,  2,  3,  4.  24,  same  Spirit 
witnessed  of  Christ  in  the  Old 
Testament,  manifested  Him  in 
the  New,  xvi.  3,  16,  24,  spake 
by  the  Prophets,  iv.  16,  was  in 
the  Old  Testament  Saints,  xvi. 
26-28,  on  the  seventy  Elders, 
xvi.  25,  26,  illuminated  the  Pro- 
phets, xvi.  17,  18,  witnessed  of 
by  them,  xvi.  28,  29,  given  par- 
tially before  Pentecost,  xvi.  26, 
xvii.  12,  13,  18. 

Descended  visibly  on  our 
Lord,  iii.  14,  why,  xvii.  9,  xxi.  i, 
The  Comforter,  xvi.  20,  xvii.  4, 
given  partially  to  the  Apostles 
before  the  Ascension,  xvii.  12, 
fully  at  Pentecost,  xvi.  26,  xvii. 
12,  His  Baptism,  xvii.  14,  15, 
given  to  us  in  Baptism,  iii.  5,  8, 
14,  16  (vide  note),  iv.  16,  xx.  6, 
proportional:)ly  to  each  man's 
faith,  i.  5,  iii.  I,  2,  more  than 
the  remission  of  sins,  iii.  7,  15, 
xxii.  37,  illuminates,  Proc.  2, 
seals  the  souls  in  Baptism,  iii.  4, 
iv.  16,  xvii.  35,  36,  perfects 
Baptism,  yet  requires  water,  iii. 

4.  16,  not  given  to  hyjiocrites, 
Proc.  2,  4,  iii.  I,  xvii.  35,  con- 
veyed symbolically  in  the  Chrism 
after  the  Washing,  xxi.  1-5,  ob- 
literates sin  and  brightens  the 
soul,  xvii.  15,  trains  and  com- 
forts the   Martyrs,  xvi.    12,  20, 


21,  gives  all  graces,  xvi.  12,  His 
inspiration,  xvi.  16,  and  illumi- 
nation, ib.,  gives  power  over 
the  flesh,  world,  ancl  the  Devil, 
xvi.  19,  gives  grace  to  all  who 
believe,  xvi.  22,  sanctifies  and 
changes  the  Bread  and  Wine, 
xxiii.  7,  19. 

Teaching  concerning  Him  in 
the  New  Testament,  xvii,  i,  of 
our  Lord.  xvii.  11,  in  the  Epistles 
of  St,  Paul,  xvii.  33. 

His  teaching  one  with  Christ's, 
xvi.  14,  His  operations  by  the 
will  of  the  Father  recorded  in 
the  Acts,  xvii.  21,  31,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Son  has  estab- 
lished the  New  Covenant  in  the 
Church,  xvii.  29. 

Danger  of  speaking  amiss 
concerning  him,  xvi.  i,  2,  6, 
blasphemies  against  him  of  the 
Gnostics,  xvi.  6,  7,  Manes,  vi. 
25,  xvi.  6,  9,  Marcion,  xvi.  9, 
Montanus,  xvi.  8,  Sabellius,  xvi. 
4,  xvii.  34,  Simon  Magus,  vi. 
14,  Valentinus,  xvi.  6. 

Stars  have  no  influence,  iv.  18,  not 
to  be  heeded  by  Christians,  iv. 
37,  ix.  8,  glorify  God,  ix.  5,  6, 
their  uses  to  man,  ix.  8,  shall 
perchance  have  a  resmxection, 
XV.  3. 

Stephen,  xvii.  3,  4. 

Stone  of  the  Sepulchre,  xiii.  39, 
xiv.  22. 

"  Stone  cut  out  without  hands,"  xii. 
18,  XV.  28. 

Strangled  things  forbidden,  iv.  28. 

Subjection  of  the  Son  to  the  Father, 
X.  9,  XV.  30. 

Susannah,  xvi.  31. 

Table,  spiritual  Table  of  the  Lord, 
xxii.  7,  vide  i.  6. 

Taverns  to  be  shunned  by  Christ- 
ians, iv.  37. 

Temple  of  Jerusalem,  vii.  6,  to  be 
rebuilt  by  Antichrist,  xv.  15, 
failure  of  Julian's  attempt  to  re- 
build it,  declared  by  S.  Cyril, 
Intr.  p.  ix. 

Temptation,  reason  of  our  Lord,  iii. 
13,  xxi.  4,  meaning  of  "Lead 
us  not  into  temptation,"  xxiii. 

17- 

Terebinthus,  successor  of  Scythia- 
nus,  and  forerunner  of  Manes, 
vi.  23. 

Testaments,  the  two  Testaments 
make  up  the  .Scripture,  iv.  33, 
impiously  separated  by  heretics, 
vii.  5,  xvi.  4,  Christ  the  object 
of  Prophecy  in  the  Old,  of  His- 
tory in  the  New,  xvi,  3,  same 
Spirit  in  both  (vide  Stirit),  iv. 
16,  xvi.  4,  6,  xvii.  5,  both  an- 
nounce the  gift  of  Baptism,  iii. 
16,  harmony  of  their  doctrine, 
ii.  4. 

Old  Testament  necessary  as  a 
witness  to  Christ,  xvi.  7,  CJod  of 
it  the  Father  of  Christ,  vii.  5 
(vide  Prophecy). — Christ,  xvi.  11, 


and  His  Apostles  refer  us  to  it, 
xiv.  2,  blas]ihenied  by  heretics, 
iv.  33)  e.g.  Manes,  vi.  27,  texts 
of  it  erased  by  Marcion  from 
the  New,  vi.  16,  xvi.  7,  its  wit- 
ness to  the  Spirit,  xvi.  28-32,  to 
the  Resurrection  of  the  Body, 
xviii.  ID,  &c.,  History  of  its 
translation  into  Greek,  iv.  34. 

Old  Testament  or  Covenant 
ended.  New  began  in  the  Bap- 
tism of  John,  iii.  6,  Old  abol- 
ished. New  established  in  the 
Catholic  Church  by  the  Holy 
Trinity,  xvii.  29. 

Thief  on  the  cross  first-fruits  of 
Christ's  death,  and  first  to  enter 
Paradise,  xiii.  30,  31,  saved  by 
faith,  without  works,  ib.  v.  10, 
witness  of  Christ's  sinlessness, 
_  xiii.  3. 

Thirty  pieces  of  silver,  prophecy  of 
them,  xiii.  10,  thirty  .■'Eons  of 
Valentinus,  his  argument  for  the 
number,  vi.  17. 

Thomas  doubted  for  our  sakes 
through  God's  providence,  xiii. 

,39- 

Thomas  the  disciple  of  Manes,  his 
forged  Gospel,  iv.  36,  vi.  31. 

Thorns,  crown  of,  cancelled  Adam's 
curse  of  thorns,  xiii.  17,  18. 

Throne  of  Christ  eternal,  not  by  ad- 
vancement, iv.  7,  xi.  17,  He 
had  it  before  His  suffering,  ib. 
at  the  Father's  right  hand,  xiv. 
27,  30,  not  to  be  curiously  dis- 
puted of,  ib.  has  no  end,  xv.  27, 
— of  David,  xii.  23. 

Till  (vide  Until). 

Time  has  no  place  as  regards  God 
and  Christ,  iv.  4,  7,  &c.,  of 
Christ's  coming,  &c.,  prophesied 
of  (vide  Prophecy),  of  Christ's 
second  coming  unknown,  and 
not  to  be  curiously  examined 
into,  XV.  4. 

"  Time"  means  a  year  in  the 
Prophets,  xv.  16. 

"  To-day,"  meaning  of,  in  Ps.  no, 
xi.  5,  timeless  and  eternal,  ib. , 
in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  xxiii.  15. 

Tongues,  fiery  tongues,  xvii.  15,  gil't 
of  Pentecost,  xvii.  16,  instead  of 
the  confusion  of  Babel,  xvii.  17, 
a  Sign  foretold  of  Christ's  Re- 
surrection, xiv.  7. 

Tradition  of  the  Creed,  v.  12,  13, 
Intr.  p.  xxi. 

Tradition  of  interpretations,  xiii.  21, 
XV.  13. 

Transfiguration  of  the  I^ord,  xii.  16,  a 
glimpse  of  His  awful  glory,  x,  7. 

Tree  of  the  Cross  corresponds  to  the 
Tree  of  knowledge,  xiii.  19, 
planted  in  the  earth,  to  bless  it, 
and  release  the  dead,  xiii.  26. 

Trinity,  iv.  16,  xvii.  34,  doctrine  of, 
acknowledged  in  Baptism,  xvi,  4, 
19,  XX.  4,  profession  of  Faith  in, 
xix.  9,  not  to  be  revealed  to 
Catechumens  or  Gentiles,  vi,  29, 
Heretics  divide  or  conaise  it, 
xvi.    4    (vide  Ariur,   Sabcliius) 


174 


CATECHETICAL    LECTURES    OF  S.  CYRIL. 


not  Tritlieism,  ib..  not  a  matter 
for  curious  speculation,  xvi.  24. 

Holy  Trinity  present  in  Bap- 
tism, Proc.  15,  have  established 
the  New  Covenant  in  the  Church, 
xvii.  29.  Adoption  given  us  by 
the  Father's  grace,  through  the 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  vii.  7,  the 
Son  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  sees 
the  Father,  vi.  6,  vii.  11,  with 
and  through  the  Holy  Ghost 
reveals  Him,  vi.  6,  all  things 
serve  the  Father  save  the  Son 
and  Spirit,  viii.  5,  the  Father 
through  the  Son,  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  bestows  all  things,  xvi. 
24,  the  saving  Dispensation  to 
usward  from  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  (ihost.  xvii.  5,  Father 
spake  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvii. 
38,  the  Father  through  the  Son 
in  the  Holy  Ghost  gives  all 
things,  xviii.  29.  Glory  to  be 
ascribed  indivisibly  to  Father 
and  Son  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
vi.  I,  "in  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  the  will  of 
Father  and  Son,"  xvii.  21,  v. 
xvii.  31. 

Tritheism,  xvi.  4,  note  5,  xi.  4,  note  3. 

Truth  counterfeited  by  Satan,  that 
it  may  be  disbelieved,  xv.  1 1, 
grace  necessary  lest  it  be  re- 
ceived falsely,  xvi.  2,  Hatred  of 
it  cause  of  error,  xv.  17. 

"  Type,"  Iittr.  pp.  xxxix.,  xl. 

Types,  their  wonderful  truth,  xiii. 
19,  instances,  ib.  17-23,  differ- 
ent persons,  types  of  different 
offices  in  the  One  Antitype ;  ; 
e.g.  Joshua  and  Aaron  of  Jesus  j 
Christ,  x.  II,  Joshua  how  a 
type,  ib.  type  of  Moses'  rod 
(vide  Moses) ;  of  Aaron,  xii.  28, 
types   of  Baptism,    iii.    5,    xix. 

2.  3- 

Jonah,  xiv.  17-20. 

John  the  Baptist  a  type  of  the 
ascetic  life,  iii.  6,  the  dove, 
xvii.  9,  10. 

Typical  exposition  of  Eccles. 
12.  1-6.  XV.  20.  I 

Unbeginning  (Scapvos),  said  of  the  | 
Son,  xi.  4  (note  3),  5,  13.  I 

Unbegotten,  said  of  God,  iv.  4,  vi.  7, 
xi.  13.  I 

Unb'ilief,  mars  the  power  of  Bap- 
tism, Proc.  2  (vide  Faith),  only 
reason  why  men  are  not  en- 
lightened by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
XVI.  22. 

Unity  of  God  (vide  God). 

Unlearned,  the  Creed  a  help  to 
them,  v.  12. 

Unoriginate  (&pxv  Scap^os).  said  of 
the  Father  only,  iv.  4  (note  3). 

"Until,"  "Unto,"  does  not  limit. 
XV.  29.  31,  note  7,  32  (vide 
//ooi-er,  E.P.V.  45,  §2). 

Usury  forbidden,  iv.  37. 


Valentinus,  vi.  1 7-1 9,  argues  from 
the  number  of  our  Saviour's 
years  that  there  are  thirty  ^ons, 
ib.  his  blasphemies  against  the 
Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  6. 

Veil  of  Christ's  flesh,  xiii.  32. 

Veiling  of  the  face  in  Exorcisms, 
Proc.  9,  /«//-.  p.  XX. 

"Very  God,"  Christ  begotten,  x.  6. 
xi.  9,  14,  21. 

Vesture  of  Christ  parted,  a  sign  fore- 
told, xiii.  26. 

Vine  of  Judah,  xiii.  29,  Christ  the  true 
Vine,  x.  5,  xiv.  1 1,  xvii.  19,  with 
which  we  have  communion  in 
Baptism,  i.  4,  the  Holy  Spirit  so 
called,  xvii.  18. 

Virgin,  meaning  of  the  word  in  Is. 
vii.  14,  gainsaid  by  the  Jews,  xii. 
21,  prophecy  that  Christ  should 
be  born  of  one,  xii.  2,  objec- 
tions, xii.  4,  not  harder  than 
things  Ijelieved  by  Jews  and 
Pagans,  xii.  27-30,  God  born 
of  a  Virgin,  xii.  I,  x.  19,  to  do 
honour  to  purity,  xii.  25,  to  re- 
pair the  loss  of  the  virgin  Eve, 
xii.  15,  29  (vide  A/ary  the  Vir- 
gin). 

Christ  makes  souls  virgins,  xii. 
31,  Order  of  Virgins,  iv.  24, 
xii.  33.  xvi.  22,  have  their  part 
with  Mary,  xii.  34,  must  not 
despise  manied  persons,  iv.  25. 
Parable  of  the  ten  virgins, 
XV.  26. 

Virginity,  its  excellence,  and  glory, 
xii.  33,  XV.  23,  an  angel  life  on 
earth,  iv.  24,  vi.  35,  xii.  34,  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi.  19. 

Wars,  signs  of  Christ's  coming,  xv.  6. 

Washing  of  hands  before  the  Com- 
munion, xxiii.  I. 

Watchfulness  against  first  approaches 
of  sin,  ii.  3,  against  deceivers 
and  Antichrist,  xv.  4,  18,  for 
Christ's  coming,  xv.  4. 

Watching,  preparatory  to  Baptism, 
xviii.  17. 

Water,  one  in  nature  and  manifold 
in  operation,  shews  forth  God's 
glory,  ix.  9,  10,  and  is  a  fit 
e.Tiblem  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  xvi. 
II,  12,  principle  of  plants,  things 
flying  and  creeping,  ix.  10, 
heavens  are  of  water,  iii.  5,  ix. 
5,  why  chosen  as  the  instrument 
of  Baptism,  iii,  5,  its  uses  in  the 
Old  covenant,  ib.  means  of 
rescue  to  Israel,  ib.  xix.  3,  sanc- 
tified by  Christ's  Baptism  and 
miracles,  iii.  11,  xii.  i^. 

Waters  of  Baptism  gain  a 
sanctifying  power  by  the  invo- 
cation of  the  Holy  Ghost,  iii.  3, 
though  despised  by  the  world, 
Proc.  16,  Water  and  the  Spirit 
answer  to  Man's  double  nature, 
iii.  4,  vide  iii.  16,  inseparable, 


iii.  4,  Waters  of  Baptism  liavc 
Christ  in  them,  Xpio-ro^o^a, 
Proc.  15,  "the  grave  and  the 
mother  "  of  the  Baptized,  xx.  4. 
Water  and  blood  from  Christ's 
side,  its  symbolical  meaning, 
xiii.  21. 

Waters  of  Life,  xvi.  n. 

Way,  Christ  the  Way,  x.  3. 

West,  the  region  of  darkness,  Tix.  4, 
symbolical  meaning  of  facing  it, 
when  renouncing  Satan,  ib. 

White  raiment,  v.  xxii.  8. 

Widowhood,  iv.  26,  x.  19,  xv,  23. 

Wife,  meaning  of  the  word  in  Matt, 
i.  24,  xii.  31. 

Will,  {OeKrina,  vevna,)  of  God  the 
Father,  Christ  made  all  things 
by  it,  X.  5,  9,  &c.  (v.  Son),  v. 
xvii.  21,  31. 

Wine,  new,  the  grace  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  xvii.  18,  water  turned 
into  it,  compared  with  the  Eu- 
charist, xxii.  2,  Spiritual  Wine, 
xxii.  8,  becomes  Christ's  blood, 
xxii.  1-6,  xxii.  7. 

Wisdom,  Christ  God's  Wisdom  per- 
sonally subsisting,  iv.  7. 

Witchcraft,  forbidden,  iv.  37. 

Witnesses  to  Christ,  x.  17-20,  of 
the  Crucifixion,  xiii.  38,  of  the 
Resurrection,  xiv.  22,  to  be 
sought  for  in  the  Prophets,  xiii. 
8,  xvi.  7. 

Woman,  life,  as  death,  through  a 
woman,  xii.  15,  29,  piercing  of 
Christ's  side  has  reference  to 
woman,  xiii.  21,  conduct  of  the 
■women  who  sought  Christ,  xiv. 
12-14. 

Works,  good  works  and  true  doc- 
trines make  up  religion,  iv.  2, 
without  Baptism  of  no  avail,  iii. 
4,  after  Baptism,  our  works  re- 
corded against  the  Judgment, 
XX.  23,  xviii.  20,  vid.  xix.  5, 
good  works  must  follow  Bap- 
tism, xvii.  37,  38,  vii.  14,  a  pre- 
paration for  Judgment,  xv.  25, 
26. 

Of  Satan,  xix.  5. 

Word,  Christ  the  Personal  Word  of 
God,  iv.  8,  xi.  10,  Himself  God, 
xi.  3,  16,  in  all  rcns  mable  crea- 
tures, iv.  8,  not  like  human 
words  conceived  in  the  mind  or 
spoken,  iv.  8,  xi.  io,/«/r.  p.  xlix. 

World,  the  work  of  God,  iv.  4,  made 
by  the  evil  God  according  to  the 
Manichees,  vi.  13,  made  'oy  the 
Son,  xi.  21,  22,  for  man,  xii.  5, 
mirrors  forth  God's  glory,  ix.  2, 
&c.  its  lessons,  ix.  16,  marred  by 
man's  sin,  xv.  3,  shall  perhaps 
be  renewed  at  the  last  day,  ib. 
"  God  of  this  world,"  vi.  28,  29. 
Soul  of  the  world,  viii.  2. 

Xanthicus,  the  month,  season  of  the 
Creation,  Passover,  Resurrec- 
tion, xiv.  la 


INDEX  OF  GREEK  WORDS. 


An  asleiisli  marks  a  reference  to  a  note  :  for  other  passages  refer  to  the  Greek  Text. 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

aB\f\i/la,  iv.  I 

aydir-n,  xvii.  I*  ;  xviii.  32* 
ayeyrjTOS,  a-)ivi'r)7os, 

xi.  13* 


ayi(D(rvvr\, 

kyicKTTpevu, 

ayi'tiifxoffvwii, 

ayiaviau), 

aia'coOeTTjs, 

a5eA<j)i5ov, 

a5fA.(^oifTcuus, 

aTiidhoxos, 

aSiopdcoroSf 

dSuTciirTjTOS, 

arjTTTjTOS, 

di5(oy. 

alaQrjTnpta, 


11.  17 

Pr^r.  5 

vii.  2,  12 

xiii.  13 

xviii.  4 

iii.  17* 

ii.  7 

xviii.  4 

/"/w.  7 

xxili.  17* 

iii.  7 

/•/w.  10 

xi.  4* 

ii.  17 

xxi.  4* 


alcrHris,  X.  13*  ;  xiii.  33  ; 
XV.  II  ;  XIX.  2;  xxii.  9 


6.KavBo(p6poi, 
a,Kara.-)V<Aiaros, 
otKaToAyTOS, 
axaTdpfltoTos, 

aKOTOfOuatTTOS, 

ai(apris,  aKaplatos, 

aKixuVi 

a.KpaKpv/i'i., 

&KplTOS, 


11.4 

V.  7 

/•/-(Pr.  16 

xvii.  36 

xvi.  22* 

vi.  2 

iv.  I* 

vii.  II 

Proc.  3  ;  iii.  i  ; 

xviii.  I 


ciKpiiaffis, 
aKpoSpv  Iff 
aKpodiyis, 
aKfjodii'ia, 

aKpOTU/JLOS, 

aKTfiaoavvti, 

h,Krvua)v, 

aKrjdivos, 
a,\iayfai, 
dudprvpos, 

OUT)!', 

duvr^rriKaKla^ 

auvqTTia, 

dvaStou', 
dvayet  Vi]cn$^ 

dfayevvuinai. 
dyayifuxTKoo, 

di'ayfaKTfJ.a, 

dra^  coxris, 
ii'd-jpawToy, 


xvi. 


VI-  5 

iv.  17 

xvii.  24 

xiii.  29 

xiii.  5  ; 

xvi.  22 

iii.  6  ;  xvi.  10* 

XV.  II 

xi.  9* 

xxii.  7* 

xvi.  7 

vi.  29 

xxiii.  22* 

xxiii.  3 

ii.  6 

xiv.  24* 

iv.  20 

Froc.  16  ; 

vii.  9 

iii.  4 

iv.  33  ; 

xiii.  7,  19 

iv.  I  ;  X.  10 ; 

xiv.  24* 

Titles 

ii.  9 


LECT.  AND   CH. 

a.raSi?)6iJ.fpos,  xxii.  3*  ; 
xxiii.  15* 

auaOufilao'is,  iv.  22 

a.vj.Xyi]Ti  XX.  5 

a.t'a\Ao(u>ro5,  iv.  4* 

dvaXSyais,  ix.  2 

dvaAueo"0ai,  XV.   27,  30 

avauapTTiffia,  xiii.  3 

avofxapTTiros,  iv.   19 

ai'tiTrAeaiS  vii.  2 

a^a^^oAo'•y7JTO^  xvi.  8 

6.vapxos,           iv.  4*  ;  xi.  4, 
nole  3  ;  xi.  20 

Afapxas,  xi.  7* 

a.varpex^  ii-  4 

avacpalp^ToSt  ii-  '9 

dca^iKTao),  Proc.  9 

dfoil/i/YTlj  xxiii.  17 

dj'€(c5iT}77jTo>,  iv.  21  ; 
vii.  II 

dcfAAnT'^y,  iv.   7 

di's^Tro'SiirTOS,  iv.  22 

dt'fi'Soiao-i'OJ,  xxii.  6 

cvelaAeiTTTOS,  Proc.  17 

cti/eltKaicia,  viii.  4 

di'6|ix'''''"'''''"*t  viii.  8 

d^tTos,  Proc  4 

d«'<5/cooy,  xiii.  25 

dr'7'lAaToy,  iv.   I 

audfuiof,  XV.  20* 

ai/BpcinriiffSpoi,  x.  3 

df^pcoTiiTT)?,  iv.  9 

o.volKfios,  iv.  30 

d('Ti76J'i'-Jj(Taj,  vii.  16* 

djTiATJTTTJIcds,  iv.     12 

avTifiifxo^,  VI.   10 

di'Ti7rapa5i5ai^<,  ix.  6 

di'TtpprjiTis,  xiii.  7>  8 

avrirviTos,  xx.  6*  ;  xxi.  I*  ; 
xxiii.  20* 

avutrevQwos,  xxiii.  2 

ocuTTOKpiTos,  iii.  2 

dfi/ffd(TTOT05,  iv.  8*; 
xiii.  37  ;  XV.  21* 

d^i'ama,  xvii.  13* 
aKuyyeWw,   v.  12  ;  xv.  2* 

dTToSaraTifai  iv.   1 8 

ayraOis,  vi.  6* 

dTToAAoTpiJw,  iv.  8* 

dTravOi^iifxai,  Xvii.  20 

d7ra|aTrA(Sf,  iv.  14 

airapdWaKTos,  xi.  18* 

OTrape/^TToSioTCiis,  xvil.    I4 

aTraprifojuai,  xxiii.  8 

&tretpa.TTOS,  Xxiii.  1 7* 

direAfff'^'oi,  ii.   19 

direpiopiOTOS,  i.\.  8 

aKo^iw,  li.  I 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

airo^ivXl^w,  xiii.  II 

a.Tro^OKti.id^a>,  iv.  26 

d-no0Tip'nv(T6at,  ii.  18 

dfOK-aAfco,  XV.  1 1 

airoirpiOTifat,  xii.  19* 

d7r<J/fpu(^a,  iv.  33,  35  ; 
XV.  16* 

arrovriTl,  XX.   5 

cTToffcoi/tr^ai,  v.  3 

airo^fw,  Proc.  1 1 

anoneipa,  iv.  34 

dToppei'tro^,  vii.  5 

airoppriyvvni,  xxiii    23 

awocTTaala,  xv.  9* 

oiroiTTaTrj!,  iv.  37 

anoarppdyiTfia,  ii.  4 

d7ro(r;^oir'i^Q;,  vi.  I3  ; 
vii.  3 

anoTdafrouai,  xix.  2 

awoTfivai,  xiv.  5i  21 

dn-oToTTos,  xiv.  15 

aTTOTpliraio?,  xix.  3 

diroTvyxdfco,  vi.  8 

oTrotfacrij,  xiii.  17  ; 
xxii.  6 

dirpoaip€Tci!i,  iv.  34 

aiTToiTdS,  ix.  5 

dpyiipivOuTos,  xiv    14 

dp^ei'a,  ix.  5 

apuuStos,  xxii.  5 

dppa^rjj,  xiii.  38 

opxv,  xi.  14,  20 

duxf '*''''^,  xi.\.  3 

dpx'OTPiKos,  ii.  6 

Q(ra7r)s,  xii.   1 6' 

dTKijffiy,          i,  5  ;  iv.  27  ; 
xxiii.  19 

do-Trafo.wai,  xxiii.  3* 

&(TTaTO',  V.  3 
arTTpuAo-) la,      iv.  37  ;  ix.  8 

a.(Tvyfpnoi,  iii.  6 

davpLC^OLvris,  XV.   I 

d(Txc(AAai,  ix.  I 

d<JX'')lJ-ovw,  viii.  4 

dridaffos,  xix.  6 

arpeTTTOS,  iv.  4* 

ouTeluviriof,    ii.  I  ;  iv.  18  ; 
vii.  13 

avTo\e^el,  x.  8 

aiiTinrpoaipfTO!,  X.  9 

avToir.ioaipeT(i>%,  xiii   28 

avroirponuTTWi,  XV.  I4* 

a<p(\tta,  vii.  7 

a(pe\ris,  iv.  3 

^XP«»'TOJ»  xii.  2Q 

Svpi,  XV.  31* 

dvpJJ'oSf  xi.  .4 

d;(  I'piif  3 jara,  VI.  3 ' 


tECT.    AND  CH. 

$aa't\etov  Proc,  i 

Pioa(t>aya>s,  xiii.  6,  33 

/3aiu(iy,  iii.  3 

y(7]Trovf7(T6ai,  ix.  5 

ydyfrrdai,   TTph   TOV 

yivindai  ^v,  x,   12* 

ytveaiovpyos,  ix.  2 

yiveais,  ii.   15  ;  iv.  18 

yfwpy6s{a\.yopy6\),  ix.  13'' 
')^pay,  ii.  5*  ;  iii.  7 

SaKTuXoSfiKTe?!',      xviii.  8* 
Sa\pi\ris,       Proc.  3  ;  iii.  2  : 
vi.  10 
SsffTTOT/Ki^y,  xxii.  6 

SeuTepeuaj,  vii.  4. 

oiaicofifo),  IV.  31 

5ia/coAiiu/3oa>,  y,  7 

Sidxptajs,  ix.  9* 

Sia/cpiTi/f'is,  iv.  I  ;  X.  3 

5(aAAa(TCTtt»,  xiii.  I4* 

StiTTupoy,  ii.  13;  V.  II 

Siatn^pa),  iv.  12 

SicKtfpco,  xxiii.   10* 

5i5a(TKoA6?0",  iv.   I 

SiK-aictfj  (var.  lect.),    vi.  29* 

5o7narj«o;',  v.    ID 

SoK-qa-ii,            iv.  9;  vi.   14  ; 
xiii.  4,  37 

SoKiuaariKOi,  xv.  21* 

5o/fjuos  TpaTTt^irrjs,  vi.  36* 

SoJoAo^ia,  vi.  I* 

Sopucpopeladat,  iv.  15 

5pa^,               iv.  5  ;  xviii.  3 

Sw'd/iift,  xvi.  20 

SuirypTjcTTOs,  xiii.  12 

Suraii'ViLLOS,  vi.    12 

SunoiTeo't  ii.  9 

5a)pj)|U.aroj,  xiii.  37 

(avT^i  (pleonastic), 

xiv.  ID* 
iyypa<po-i,  ii.  9 

e7KaTa7raife(r9a(,  viii.  4* 
4yKo\-Ki^oiJ.ai,  V.  12  ;  vi.  3 

eyh-piTOS  (tKKpLTO^),    x.    II* 

67hpdTeia,  X.  19  ;  xv.  23* 
«'7X6ip't"-''  viii.  7* 

eyxt^pet,  Proc.  5  et passim. 
(led>r,  xiv.  10*  ;  xxi.  i* 
€iAi)cpii'is,  VII.  I  [ 

fUiapuiirrj,  IV.  5 

fltTaycoyri,  iv.  8 

€t'iTa7a!7i(cdy  iv.  32 

eVSeo-Mf'''' (var.  lect.),  ii.  3 
(K:i\v(Tia,  xviii.  24*,  25 
eKcArjo-idfw,  xviii.   2i< 


1/6 


CATFXHETICAL    LECTURES    OF   S.  CYRIL. 


LECT     AND    CH. 

fi(ic\r)(Ttd^o,u(u,  XV.  13* 

eKK\7](Tia<TTiicns,  Proc.  XV. 

7,  13  ;  xvii.  10* 

(ic\au$Jivo),  ix.   I 

fK\f'nra},  ii.   1 5 

(KXifiTrdfco,  IV.   10 

fKTi67]\vTixerot,  xix.  6 

fiCTpaxJ)A(f£o,  xix.  6 
6A67x<'s  ('''^  homiite)      ii.  I 

fViSdAcDjuer,  xiii.  19* 

efi-Kiipo),  xxiii.  17* 

fixTTinr^vo),  vi.  36 

fuirKaarpos,  Proc.  4  ; 

iii-  15 
ia^aais,  xix.  I* 

efi(pop(7tr6ai,  iii.  6 

eu<t>p6i>u}s,  vii.  16 

fu(puaa.a6at,  Proc.  9 

4vaBpviuiiiai,  xili.  4 1 

("ayKa\i^o/.i.at,  xii.  32 

euavOpwirriin';,  iv.  9 

ivavQpunruv,  xii.  3* 

evavTio\nye7v,  v.  12 

eVaTfi'ifu),  vi.  4 

efStddeTOS,  iv.  8* 

ffSiaiTTiua,      iii.  5  ;  vi.  8* 
f j/Solos,  xiv.  30 

6^5oiT(s,  ii.  8 

h'f'pyeta,        iv.  9  ;  vii.  7*  ; 
xiv.  17* 
fvepyrjTiKns,  v.  lO;  xxi.  3* 
ffffapKos,     iii.  II  ;  xii.  15, 

32;  xiv.  27,  30* 
iVTexvs,  iv.  22 

fruTroffTaTos,  iv.  7*  > 

xi.  10*  ;  xvii.  5* 

f'l  OUK  VVTOIV,  XV.   9 

f|a<naToi)(T0at,  ix.  15 

i^alpfTmS  5e,  xiv.  24* 

f^aiVios,  ii.  13  ;  viii.  8 

f'ieTafoVei'O'',  xii.  17* 

f^riyrjcrti,  xiii.  9 

f^TjTrjTTjj,  xvi.  6 

f|iAeoCn9aj,  iv.  34 

e^ofioiovaOat,  iv.   I 

(^oiJ.o\6yr](Tts,  ii.  15  ; 

xviii.  14 
e^opict(rf.i6i,  Introd,  p.  i.  5 
i^avtria.,  xi.  22 

en-o->7€Aia,    V.  12  ;   xvi.   19 
ivayyiWo),  xv.  2* 

^>ro7coi'ifo;uai,  xvi.  9 

eraj;a7Kej,  ii.  4 

ii.  19 
,    ,  iv.  37 

eirexeii',  /'r^r.  4 

iTTiyaula,  iii.  1 

iviypd<p((TBai,  xxiii.  11 

67ri5a<|/<A6i'€(jOut,  vi.  lO 

eTriSfV^tara,  iv.  37 

fKiKATjcyis,  iv.  13 

itrivimadai,  v.  8 

€irij'€U£«),  iii.  I 

(Ijtjoi^cmos,  xxiii.  15* 

^TncTr)u(iovuai,  xiv.  3* 

4ri(nrip.ri,  Proc.  4*  ;  vi.  35  ; 
xi.  15* 
^Ti(TTo\ri,  xvii.    29* 

f-lT7j56S,  ii.   8 

firifuLTria-ts,         xxi.  1*,  4; 

xxiii.  19 

(Ti(j)vA\ls,  xiv.  6 

ririxpmvvixt,  iy.  36 


iwdoiSoi', 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

eTronKttTu6s,        Proc.  9,  14 
^pivvr](n%,  v.  10* 

ep.uTji'ei'o),  ii.  4 

€ua77eA4a,  iv.  4,  7  ; 

xiii.  21,  35 
evapfirTrTTfi,  v.  lO* 

fLi7Aa)TTra,  iv.  2* 

fvyvooindi'cos,  V.  9 

ivyvotiuocTuprf,  ii.  1 1 

el/drivuv,  xiv.  25* 

(vBvTTupuv,  iii.  2 

fliAoyia,  xiii.  6* 

(VTrttpoTimda'Tws,  xv.  33 

einriier]i,  x.  9  ;  xv.  30 

eupeo'iAo')^?!',       iv.  1 7,  34  ; 
xiii.  19 
evpeiriXoyia,         iv.   1 7*,  34 
evacSeia,  xvi.  4 

fvnrddeia,  xxiii.  8* 

furXTjuoverv,  Proc.  3 

f'tpiiSiof,  V.   12;  XV.  II* 

ecus  (ws),  xiv.  25* 

eiiaipopos  vii.  2;  xi.5* 


ffu7oj, 


xu.  32 
/V(7C.  13 
xxi.  3 
xii.  20* 


vyffiovtK6<i,  xvii.  5* 

'HAeiyti/i^Voy,  xv.   II* 

■^v  0T(  ovK  ^v,      xi.  7*,  17* 


©aiuai/, 

0aAaTT6i5a>, 

Bdpirei  (var.  lect.), 

BavtxaTovpy^lv 

diaTpoi.io.vla,, 

BeiKiis, 

04\7]ua, 

Bfnyvcocrla, 

dsodiSaKTOSf 

BeoAoyia, 

deoXnyos, 

6eiwi>fv(TT0Sf 

0eoTroi(7a9ai, 

dfOTTOtOS, 

BeSrn'',  xi.  5* 

OeuToiius, 

Bepa-rriVT^Sf 

Biaet, 

Beros, 

BufxiaiTioiov, 

6v(Tia<nripioi', 

Xvili.  32  : 

iSicci  iia, 

tfpeus, 

iXarrrriptoi'i 

ttrnnXaTiiVf 
laxds, 


xu.   20* 

V.  3 

xiii.  31* 

xxii.  2* 

xix.  6* 

xi.  S 

x.  5 

xiii.  40 

xxiii.  18 

xxiii.  6* 

xii.  I* 

iv.  33 

xii.  3* 

iv.   16 

;  xxi.  3* 

X.  19* 

xiv.  12* 

xi.  7 

xi.  2* 

ii.  17 

vi.  33  ; 
;  xxiii.  2 

X.  4 

iv.  5* 

xiv.  15* 

xvi.  13 

v.   12 

xxiii.  2 

ii.  17 

iv.  2 

iii.  5 

vi.33 
X.  13 


icnB'l^a),  xiv.  27* 

KaBuciTevotj  Proc.  5 

KUKevrp^Xfta  vii.  7 

icdXafios  {ypafi:<6s),       i.  3 


LECT.  AND   CH- 

KaWainin-fiSs,  iv.  29 

Ka/iidpa,  ix.  5 

Kdintvos,  xii.  6 

KavovtKO'!,  Proc.  4* 

«:a7rr;Ao5i(T«r«',  iv.  37 

Kdinrapis,  XV.  20* 

KurdWijKoSf  ii.  14 

Karavvaaai,  ii.  13 

KO.Ta^iov/j.ei'nt,  xii.  I* 

R-aTaTToi/Toiiuefos,  xix.  •? 

Karapji^o),  vii.  2 

KaraffKevfi,  iv.  I7i  34  ; 

xiv.  26 
KardirTams,  vi.  5 

KaraoTTjua,  Proc.  4 

Karaavpftv,  iv.  2  ;  xxiii.  17 
KaToxSut'«os>        iv.  II,  12; 

jfttToxp'j^TJKwj,  vii.  5*  ; 
X.  5* 
Kari]xrt'ri^  Titles;  xv.  18* 

KaTomeveiti,  v.    1 1 

KaroTTTpi^fcdaif  xvi.  16 

KavffTis,  ix.  ID* 

Kfpavvaims,  vi.  I6 

K7j5e^oi'ia,  vii   9 

Kti'Ticns,  ix.   13* 

K-AfiSwCxofj  xvii.  27* 

K\r)Sovi(ru6s,  xix.  8 

kAijSwj',  iv.  37 

KOificiadaif  ii.  2* 

KOiTa^ouai,  iv.   14 

KopvfaTos,  xi.  3* 

KvotpopiiVf  iii.  6 

KUTTTcor,  xxiii.  22* 

K^piOKToVoS,  X.    12* 

Kvrus,  ix.  5 

Kajl.iv5piov  xvi.  8 

Ao/UTrrjSwJ',  iv.   1 5 

AaXiuds,  xiii.  26* 

At(iy,        v.  12*  ;  xviii.  21* 
Afoj/TciS?;?.  ii.  17 

Xevxei/J-oiuv,  Proc.  2  ; 

xxii.  8 
At/ucorrcrw, 
AtT(Js,  xix.  7  ; 

xxi.  3 
Ao7iK({y,  17.  8  ;  x.  3*  ; 

xvii    2 
Af^yioc,  iv.  37 

AoiuciSi;;,  iv.  i 


LECT.    AND  CH. 


liiXima.  y.\v^ 

fjiapTvptov, 

HapTvpelv, 

HOLTaioKoyiiv, 

fJ-eXV,  ix. 

fj.f(Te/LiBo\os, 

pLtraufXaa, 

fXfTovaia, 

fitadSf\(f>oif 
/.iKrdi'BpaiTTotf 
Hia6xpi(TTos, 
pt-vrirmvonai, 

HOvd^OVTi% 

Hovapx^a,  iv.  6* 
vii.  I, 
/.lovoy  evils, 

fjtovoetS-fis,      vi. 
/xovofxaxfiv, 


XIV.  24* 
xiv.  6 

xvi.  21* 
ii.  15 

15  ;  xii.  26 

xiii.  24 

ii.  18 

xxiii.  II 

XV.  31 

viii.  4 

iii.  6 

vi.  II 

xxiii.  3 

iv.  24 

;  vi.  i*,36; 

2*  ;  xvii.  2 

xii.  10*  ; 

xviii.  8* 

7*,  xvi.  12 

xix.  6 


txvajaywytOf 


xviii.  7 


u4-q\vs,  xii.  17* 

re/fyo^taj'Tffa,  iv.  57 

v€v/j.a,  X.  5*  ;  xxii.  2*,  &c. 

f€VpOV,  V.  8* 

vevp6ai,  Proc.  17  ;  i.  5; 
xviii.  I 
vrifdXioSf  iv.  I 

vi^pxaBat,  xxiii.  2* 

fOTjua,  vi.  29* 

roTjToy,        Pri^c.  I*  ;  i.  4*  ; 

iii.  I*  ;  ii.  17*  ;  iv.  16  ; 

xvi.  31  ;  xxi.  2*,  <S:c. 

ulaid^w,  ix.  9* 

o</c€ros,  xxii.  2* 

olKovop.itVf  xiv.  24* 

oiKovouia,      viii.  4  ;  x.  18  ; 
xiii.  39  ;  xiv.  17*,  24* 
XV.  1,4,  &c. 
oiKovixfViKSs,  xvii.  29 

oXeBpoTToios,  iv.   I 

bpLoioiradi]s,  iv.  9*  ;  xii.  15 
(5,uo(07rpoo"&)7ros,  xii.   I4 

onoios  kavT(f,  vi.  7*  ; 

xi.  Q 

ev  irSfri!',  xi.  4*,  9,  18 

Kara,  irdyra,         iv.  7* 

buoloKTit,  xiv.  10* 

d.aooucrios,      /)//;'.  p.  xlix.  ; 
vii.  5*  ;  xi.  17* 
6vouaToypa.(t>e7u,  iii.  2 

ovotJ.aToypo.(p:a,  Iiitr. 

p.  xvi*.  Proc.  I 

OTroopo<puXdKtoVf  xiv.   18 

opveoffKOTTtaf  iv.  37 

ovnia,  xvii.  C* 

oncrictidTjs,  XXI.   I 

o<pBa\pi.o(pavwSt         xvii.  9* 
oxvpovcrtittt,  V.  12 

iraOet,  /(;/r.  xlix.  Cfl/. 

vi.  6*  ;  vii.  5* 
iraiSa7a)7oy,  iv.  33 

Tra7Ses,  vi.  12  ;  viii.  8; 

xii.  2  ;  xiii.  11 
nai^inKdptof,  ii.  19 

TtaAana,  xvi    I9* 

TraA/c2po^)J,  ii.   15 

7raA;udj,  iv.  23 

Traunyvpl^Oi),  xix.  10 

vav-fiyvpi',  xix.  7* 

iravroirpdrc'p,  viii.  8*  ;   X.  5 
Trapa^tiAXu),  xvii.  I 

■7rapa5);Aoi/i',  xvii.  9* 

7ropa5o|o7r()j/a,  Xxii.  2* 

■>ra^d5o(7ij,  iv.  3 

irapo'nios,         ii.  i  ;  xii.  13 
irapaKaTadtycri,  v.  13  ; 

xii.  16* 
iraparTKfvn,  Xviii.  17* 

TTOparripTjai^,  iv.  37 

TTcipaxnpdn (TO),  iv.  35 

irapfSpivw,  i.   c 

irapeicTt/fdr,  xx.  6 

irapfKTpoTT-fi,  iv.  20 

7rop6|?j7f idOaj  iv.  2 

TrapBtViVoo,  y.  4 

iraplivuTToios  rwv  \l/vx<^'v, 

xii.  31 
■n-apBf'vos,  xii.  I*,  2* 

Tra/ioi/iiu,  xiv.  21*  ;  xvi.  22* 


INDEX    OF    GREEK    WORDS. 


177 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

irapovTia,     iii.  1 1  ;  xii.  15; 
xiv.  27,  30*  ;  xxi.  3* 
trapiSiv,        xiv.  2*  ;  XV.  27* 
■jratrrds  xvi.   I9* 

Tre'Sai  (var.  lect.),     XV.  23* 
iTfiOapxeti',  XV.  30 

itftpdw,  xix.  8* 

vfpiypacliri,  V.   II 

wepiSpdaaeaBat,  x    16 

irepUpyos,  iv.  29 

Trepie'xf"'!  v.   1 1 

TrepiopifcD,  vi.  8' 

iTfpijraTO',  v.  7 

TrfpLIToKftVf  V.    1 1 

ir7J7of'eiJ',  ii.  2 

irtdav orris,  iv.  1 7 

1^I<J•TOl^o^e^^',  P/'oc.   1 7  ! 

iii.  15  ;  xiii.  9 
TTirrros,  Intr.  p.  xv. 

TrKaros,  v.  12 

ttKok'o,  ii.  15 

TrreyuariKwy,  xxii.  8 

iti'€v/jiaT6(popoSf  ii.  4  ; 

xvi.  28* 
7roAiT6i;o,uai,  X.  16* 

TToAAaKis,  ii.  3 

iroAvSvi'aiJ.os,  iv.  16 

iroXvirpayi^on'v,      Proc.  2  ; 
ii.  3,  &c. 
TroAuTrpofrcoiroj,  xxiii.  6 

iroAi/crxiSTjs,      '  xiii.  40 

■iroKvu>vvii.Oi,       vi.  7  >  X.  3* 
irofiTrri,  xix.  6* 

irpa-^Hartla,  xvii.  37* 

Trpa^is,  _^  xji.  34* 

•TTplv  yiVfTidrjvai  oi>K  ^i', 

X.   12* 
nph  aidivtav,  xi.  13 

TTpuaipovfjLivos   (var. 

lect.),  vi.  22* 

Trpoaipea-tSjProc.  I  ;  vii.  16  ; 

ix.  13  ;  xiii.  6,  29  ;  xv. 

30  ;  xvii.  10  ;  xix.  8 

irpoavAios,  Proc.  I ;  xix.  2* 

Trpoyhiatiai,  ii.  I9 

irpoSiaoTeWeaOai,        vii.  7 

TrpuBea-is,  Proc.  I 

irpodecfjia,  Proc.  4*  ; 

xviii.  14 

TTpoKeiufpa,  xxiii.  7 

irpoKOTTTi,    X.  5*  ;  xi.  I,  3*, 

7.  13.  15.  17  ;  xiv-  27 
TTpoKOifias,  xii.  3 

irpo^evos  Proc.  16  ; 

xii.  13  ;  XX.  6 
irpo|et';)TtKo's,  XX.  6 

Trpo^efelcrOai,  ii.  9 

npoaaycoyv,  ix.  8 

irpoaypa^eiv  iv.  18 

irooaepxo/j-cu,  iv.  27  ; 

xvii.  35 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

■Kpoaifyopia,  V.  lo*  ;  xvii.  2 

wpooKopris,  xiii.  22 

irpoffoxri  111.  3 

Trpoarayfia,  xvi.  6* 
Trpoo-TarrjJ,      iv.  35  ;   vi.   1 5 

irpocrrieeadai,  Proc.  17* 

irpoo-eercai,  XV.  26* 

Trpo(j;^eto,  IV.  I 

irpoffOJi'tiyUta,  iv.  36 

irp6(Twwov,  X.  7 

npoTaniSf  iv.  8 

TrpoTpniTT],  XV.   17 

irpo<popLK6s,  iv.  8*  ;  xi.  10* 

Trpox£»"'Eya',  xiii.  II 

7rpox<i'pr)(rts,  ix.  15 

7rpa)Te?a,  Xvii.  9* 

■KpunouKaaroSf  ii.   7 

irpajToffTttTTjs,  ii.   19* 

TTpaiTOTOKOJ,  xi.   4* 

npaiTOTVTrojS  jdv.  21* 

TTTepuiaTris,  vii.   16 

TrTepoipusTc,  iii.  6* 


I>a6vu.e'iv,  ii.  3 

p(fj.0(adai,  Proc.  9* 

^oTiTj,  V.  II ;  vi.  2 


(ra7T7i'r), 

2auap€iTi(T|Uos, 

<japKo(payia, 

(ji^arjfjLa, 

aT]fj.epop, 

affii'OTr)':, 

creufvunuaif 

CTjireotiu, 

<TlKvi]\aTOVf 

(TKevaaTos, 

ffKOTO/JLilVT], 

okwXov, 
<rrf(pa'.'r]<popia, 

(TTTjArj, 
(TTTjAtTeVOI 

(T7ri\uypa(peiVf 
aTixvpos, 
crrlxos, 
ffTpare'ta, 

(TTpaTfVf  Jf  , 

0'TpaToAo")€r»', 

<rTpaToAo7ia, 

<ri;>KaTa3ai;'6il', 

(ru7KaTtt0efrtj, 

o'i;7KC.TaTt'0e;uat, 

(ru7KpoTe7CT0ai, 

<ru7xop6v€tf, 

(ry7xpW|Uai, 

(n;Ao7&)7e?»', 

(TVfJ.IJ.Op<pOS, 

av/xirepicpipeaOai, 
V.  9  ;  vi.  13 

(TUyUTrAoKTJ, 


/';w.  5 

iv.  37 

xxii.  4 

xxiii.  22 

xi.  5* 

vi.  35* 

xii.  33* 

v.  8 

xvi.  18* 

X.  14* 

v.  4* 

iii.  2 

xviii.  4* 

iii.  4* 

xix.  8 

V.  12 

iv.  35 

V.  12 

Proc.  I 

Proc.  17 

iii.  3 

xvii.  36* 

ii.  13 

V.  10* 

xxiii.  4 

iv.  10 

iv.  31 

ii.  14 

iv.  2 

xxi.  I 

iv.  26* ; 

;  xvi.  12 

vii.  5 


LECT.    AND   CH. 

a\iva,ywvi(jTi\s,  xvii.  28 

avvai[j.ts,  xxii.  I 

(TvuaAoKprif     iv.  8  ;  xvi.  4* 
avi'a^is,  i.  6;  X.  14*; 

xiv.  26 
avvaworr^fuvvw,  iv.   I3 

avvSvd^Cti,  iv.  34 

(riifr)0T7$,  xxiii.  3 

cvi'oAoi',  Proc.  17* 

nvfTeXeTv,  ii.  2 

avvTeAfia,  xv.  3 

(TVVTpex^iv,  iii.  2 

cri'o-iTrjaa,         vi.  33  ;  xvi.  8 
ava-ffw/xos,  xxii.  I* 

avaranis,  V.   12 

a(plyyco  i.   i 

(Tcpppi^u!,  iii.  3*,  4 

CT<j>pa7is,        /Vc<r.  17  ;  i.  2, 

3  ;  iii-  4 
(TxeSiofo.uai,  Titles 

o-XoAaftt),   P;w.  13*  ;  i.  5* 
tjco^o/xivoi,  I' roc.  15  ; 

xiii.  13 
(Tu\i]i/,  iv.  9 

crwuaTa,  viii.  7* 

(TCOTTJpiOy  XV.    2* 

TfKvoyouuVf  iv.  25 

TiKvoyovla,  v.  5 

TeAf4o£Io6ai,  iii.  4 

Terpa-ii/xepos,       ii.  5  5  iv.  9 
T(s  (ruESe  Tifos),  v.  lO 

T0/U17,  xiv.  10* 

TpoTffa,  V.  13* 

Tpune^iTrjs,  vi.  36* 

Tvt'0a:pvxos,  xviii.  5 

Ti/TTiKos,         xii.  28  ;  xxi.  6 
TUTTiKcis,  xxi.  6 

TUTTos,  xiii.  18,  19,  20  ; 

xiv.  20 ;  xix.  2,  3  ; 
xxii.  3* 

vlo9eiria,  xi.  3* 

uioTraTopi'a,    iv.  8*  ;   xi.   16, 
17  ;  XV.  9* 
inraKovtLi/,  xv.  30 

uTreL(Tfpxo,aat,  iv.  30 

uwfpdfui'.,  xviii.   17*  ! 

vT^ipKoafxios,  xxiii.  6  | 

virfpTiO'adai,  xxiii.  16  ! 

uTTo^jAeus,  ii.  3 

VKuypd(peii',        iv.  21  ;  V.  4 
vTvoypacp-i],  Proc.  2* 

vtrodiais,  Proc.  14  ; 

viii.  4;  xvi.  17 
vwoKpo'Ci),  vi.  28 

u7rou<'7j(TTi/cos,  xii.  29 

u7ro(TTacri$,      iii,  7*  ;  vi.  7  ; 

vii.  5  ;  ix.  9,  1 1  ;  X.  3  ; 

xi.    10*  ;    xvi.    5,    24 ; 

xvii.  17 

vcpeaTcis,  Xvii.  2,  5.  28 


LECT.   AND   CH. 

<paip6ti(vot,  X.  13 

((>avTd^ofxat,  V.  1 1  ; 

vi.  7,  8 
(pavracT^a,  xii.  3  ;  xiii.  37* 
(j)ai/Tainoicnneii/,\\.  10*,  I4* 
(pavTaaiuSris,  xiii.  4* 

(pavraafj.a,  iv.  9 

*apaj',  xii.  20* 

<papfj.aKiiov,  iv.  37 

(pe'i^nuat,  iv.  23,  30 

(pepcuyvnos,    X.  4  ;  xviii.  24 
(pBopoTToios,  iv.  I 

0i\ep-n/xos,  iii.  6 

(piArjdovfTi/,  iv.  25 

(J)tA«oi}o-0a(,  vii.  2 

(piAoAoyos,  iv.  33 

(pi\oaTopy[:i,  vii.  9*  ; 

xv.  30 
(t>t\oxp'nnar(ci,  xxiii.  17 

(^lAdxpiCTTO?,  vi.    II 

<f>opd,  iv.  6* 

((>pudTTfa6at,  vii.  2 

(pvya^ivriipioVf  xix.  3*, 


(l)!;^^;, 

X.  7* 

</)li(Tt/fij, 

X.  9 

(pvaioKoyCa. 

IX.  13 

((xtiTayaiyf'ii', 

X.  13  ;  XVI.  1 1 

(pair  i^ofxevoi, 

Titles,  Intr. 

xvii*. 

(pdrifffxa, 

xiii.  21  ; 

Intr.  xvii. 

(paiTiaTiKdSt 

V.  4 

Xap'Cuff. 

X0-vv6(i},  iv. 

Xeipa7a'7fr«/, 

X^ipoQidla, 

Xpr/Ci/ue^o), 

XPKTTvC,  xi. 

XptO'Tocpupos, 

XpoviKos, 

XpvU0K<i\\7]T0ii 

Xpvaoxoos, 
Xpuif^a, 

XpSiTOV, 

Xv5aii6T7)r, 

XUVfUTIiplOV^ 


XXI.  3* 

29;  V.  13 

V.  7 

xvi.  26 

xiii.  26 

I  ;  xvi.  13 

Proc.  15*  ; 

xxii.  3* 

xi.  4* 

ii.  12 

xiii.  II 

Proc.  3* 

xxi.   I* 

iv.  37 
xiii.  1 1 
Proc.  9 


>p€vSiir{}pa(t>a,  iv.  36 

\f/i\6s,      xii.  I  ;  xiii.  2,  24, 

33  ;  xxi.  3  ;  xxii.  6 


VOL.  vn. 


N 


S.  CYRIL. 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


The  references  are  to  the  pages. 


FACE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Gen.  f.  2   .    , 

»         4 

15 

Ex.    XX.  12    .     ,    . 

47 

Josh.  vii.  19     .     , 

.       85 

Job  iii.  6     .    .    . 

•        30 

i-  5   . 

.         89 

XX.  19    .     ,     , 

75 

xiv.  1       .     . 

,       60 

V.  8,  9  .    .     . 

•        50 

i.  6   .    , 

52 

xxi.  17  .     .     , 

47 

xix.  15     .     . 

.     86 

vii.  9     .     ,     . 

•     137 

i.  I  I  .     , 

36 

xxviii.  26    .     • 

152 

xxiii.  12  .     , 

►      5 

vii.  i8  .     .     . 

'     95 

i.  I  I  .     , 

96 

XXX.  22-25 .     . 

61 

ix.  8      ... 

>     70 

i.  14. 

53 

xxxi.  1-6     .     . 

122 

Judges  iii.  10  .    . 

122 

ix.  8     .     .     . 

.     8s 

i.  24. 

54 

xxxii.  4  .     •    . 

10 

vi.  34  .     .     . 

122 

X.  10,  II    .    . 

.     79 

i.  26.     . 

59 

xxxiii.  13    .     , 

59 

xi.  29 

122 

X.   II        ... 

•    55 

i.  26. 

70 

xxxiii.  17    .     . 

59 

X.  22       .      .      . 

>    30 

i.  26.     , 

73 

xxxiii.  ig    ,     . 

59 

I  Sam.  i.  13,  20    .     , 

4 

xi.  7      ... 

'     35 

i.  26.     , 

96 

xxxiii.  20    .     . 

51 

ii.  6      .     .     . 

41 

xii.  8    .     .     .     , 

67 

i.  27.     , 

59 

xxxiii.  20    .     . 

59 

ix.  9     .     ,     . 

122 

xii.  24  .     .    . 

,     86 

ii.  7  .     . 

127 

xxxiii.  22    .     , 

59 

xiv.  7-10    .    .     . 

137 

ii.  7  .    . 

137 

xxxiii.  22    .     . 

76 

2  Sam.  vi.  2     .    ,     , 

77 
10 

xiv.  9    . .    .     . 

137 

ii.  9  .     . 

92 

xxxiv.  5-7  .     , 

59 

xii.        .     .     , 

xiv.  14  (/'is)    . 

138 

ii.  17      . 

00 

xxxiv.  8      .     , 

59 

xii.  13  .     .     . 

10 

xix.  26       .     .    , 

13S 

iii.  8.     . 

87 

xxxiv.  9      ,     . 

59 

xvi.  10,  II 

1 1 

XX.  6     ...     , 

106 

iii.  15     . 

117 

xxxvi.  I       .     , 

122 

xxiii.  2  .    .     , 

122 

xxi.  13 ...     . 

95 

iii.  17,  I 

8  . 

87 

xxxvii.  7  ff .     . 

12 

xxvi.  8      .     .     , 

53 

iii.  22     . 
iii.  24    . 
iv.  I.     . 
iv.  12    , 

iv.  26    . 

92 
90 
73 
9 
59 

Lev.  iv.  5,  16     . 

vi.  22     ,     .     . 
viii.  3     .    .     . 
xii.  8     .     ,     , 
XX.  9      .     .     . 

60,  96 

60 

140 

81 

47 

I  Kings  i.  4      .     ,     . 

i-39    .     .    . 
V.  4     .     .     . 
vi   23-26  .     , 
viii.  6,  7  . 

78 
150 

9 

12 

•     12 

xxix.  16     .     .     , 
xxix.  18     .     .     , 
xxxi.  26,  27    .     , 
xxxvi.  27   .     .     . 
xxxvii.  10.     .     , 

46 

136 

20 

34 
53 

ix.  6.     , 

96 

xxxvii.  r6 .     .     . 

53 
53 

XV.  6      , 

30 

Num.  i.  12     ,    ,    . 

78 

viii.  27     •     < 
xiii.  6       .     , 

74 
>     1 1 

xxxvii.  22  .     .     , 

xvii.  5    .     . 
xviii.  I  fT.   . 
xviii.  25 

76 
i37 

xi.  24  .     .     . 
xi.  26  .     ,     . 
xi.  28  .     .     . 

122 
122 
122 

xviii.  4     . 
xix.  8-13  . 
xix.  10      . 
xxi.  29     .     , 

.     II 

.     76 
.     74 
.     II 

xxxvii   23  .     ,     , 
xxxviii.  2-3    .     , 
xxxviii.  II       .     , 

50 
51 
54 

xviii.  27      , 
xix.  24  .     , 

34 
59 

xi.  29  .     .     . 
xxi.  9  .     ,     , 

122 

87 

xxxviii.  14      .     , 
xxxviii.  17      .     , 

70 
70 

xxi.  12  .     . 

30 

xxiv.  9      ,     , 

.      94 

xxxviii  28       .     , 

53 

xxi.  21  .     . 

78 

XXV. 6  .     ,     , 

.      73 

2  Kings  ii.  II    .     . 

lOI 

xxxviii.  29      .     , 

53 

xxii.  2   .     , 

30 

ii.  II  (h's) 

.     lOI 

xxxviii.  37  (di's)  . 

53 

xxiv.  43.     . 

78 

Deut.  iv.  10  .     .     , 

,     140 

iv.  34  •     • 

.   138 

xxxix.  26  . 

54 

xxix.  21      , 

.      80 

iv.  15   .     .     , 

35 

V.  25    .    . 

,  120 

xl.  14  {Sc/t.),   I( 

)    48 

xxxii.  30     , 

76 

iv.  24  ,     .     , 

.      41 

XX.    I     .       . 

.     II 

xl.  23     .      .      . 

•     17 

XXXV.  19     , 

77 

V.  16    .     .     , 

47 

xxiv.  13   . 

.     12 

xl.  26  (S^J>f.)  . 

.     17 

xxxvi.  II,  1 

5. 

42   77 

V.  26    .     .     , 

.      75 

XXV.  7 

.     12 

xli.  5     .     .     . 

.     48 

xli.  38    .     . 

122 

ix.  10  .     .    , 

.     140 

xli.  7    .     .     .     , 

17 

xlvi.  29 

123 

ix.  20  .     ,    . 

.       10 

I  Chron.  xiii.  6     . 

.    77 

xli.  13  {Si'/>(.) 

.     17 

xlviii.  7 

.       77 

xiii.  4  .     ,     , 

5 

xli.  15  .     .     . 

,     19 

xlix.  8 

.      85 

xiv.  I   .     .     , 

65 

2  Chron.  vi.  18     , 

.     74 

xli.  22    .       .       . 

.     17 

xlix.  8, 

[0 

.      76 

xviii.  10,  II  , 

146 

XV.    I           , 

.  122 

xli.  24  .     .     . 

.     19 

xlix.  9 

.      57 

xviii.  15    , 

.      76 

XX.  7 

.     30 

xlix.  9 

.       94 

xix.  15      ,     , 

>      22 

XX.  14    . 

.   122 

Ps.  i.  5    .     ,     .     . 

.   137 

xlix.  II 

.       76 

xxii.  27      . 

.      78 

xxiv.  20.  2! 

122 

ii.  2  .     .     .     . 

.     44 

xlix.  17 

.     107 

xxviii.  66  . 

.      87 

xxxiii.  6 

•     74 

ii.  3  .     .     .     . 

.     86 

xxxii.  6     , 

.      46 

xxxiii.  12,  I 

3     II 

ii.  7  .     .     .     . 

.     44 

Ex.    ii.  8  . 

.       78 

xxxii.  6     . 

,       86 

xxxvi.  7 

.     12 

ii  7  .     .     .     . 

57 

iii.  6  . 

.       45 

xxxii.  32  , 

.      90 

ii.  7  .     .     .     . 

,     60 

iii.  6. 

.     136 

xxxiii.  2    . 

.       78 

Ezra  vi.  15       .     . 

.    77 

ii.  7  .     .     .     . 

.     64 

iv.  22 

.       65 

xxxiv.  9    . 

.     122 

ii.  7  .     .     .     • 

.     65 

xi.  5, 

.     Ill 

Nehe:n.  ii.  i     .     . 

.    77 

ii.  7  .     .     .     . 

.     65 

xii.  9 

.       72 

Josh.  ii.  II      ,     , 

10 

ix.  20 

.  122 

"•  7,  9  •     •     . 

.     76 

xii.  23 

.       82 

iii.  I.     .     . 

.      60 

ii.  II      ... 

.     97 

xiv.  9,  2 

3 

•      144 

vi.  5,  20     . 

.       60 

Esther  viii.  13 

.  126 

V.  9  .     .     ,     . 

■     41 

INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


179 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Ps.  vii.  6      ...»     94 

Ps.  Ixxii.  6  .    ,     , 

.  107 

Ps.  cxlviii.  5      ,     . 

.       70 

Isa.  xi.  6    .     .     .     . 

126 

vii.  7      . 

■     II 

ixxii.  17      ,     ,     , 

87 

cxlviii.  8      .     . 

.     118 

xix.  I  .     .     .     . 

60 

vii.  9      . 

.     29 

Ixxiv.  12     .     .     . 

89 

cxlviii.  12    .     . 

.        81 

XXV.  6      ,     .     . 

150 

vii.  9      . 

103 

Ixxiv.  13      .     , 

.     92 

cxlix.  I  .     .     . 

.     140 

XXV.  7      .     .     , 

150 

vii.  10    . 

6 

Ixxiv.  13,  14    . 

.     17 

cl.  6       ... 

.     34 

XXV.  8      .     .     . 

76 

viii.  3     . 

20 

Ixxvii.  19     .     . 

.     84 

XXV.  8      .     .     . 

146 

xi.  2       .     , 

30 

Ixxvii.  20     .     . 

.    99 

Prov.  iv.  25    .     .     , 

8 

xxvi.  19  .     .     . 

26 

xii.  S      .     . 

94 

Ixxx.  I    .     .     . 

.    49 

V.  3  .     .     .     . 

19 

xxvi.  19  .     .     . 

138 

xiv.  3     .     . 

73 

Ixxx.  17,  18     .     . 

74 

V.  15      .     . 

117 

xxvii.  I    .     .     , 

5 

xiv.  7     • 

74 

Ixxxii.    6     .     . 

2 

vi.  6       .     . 

54 

xxvii.  II.     ,     , 

97 

xvi.  I- 1 1 

95 

Ixxxii.   6     .     .     . 

65 

vi.  6-8    .     .    . 

54 

xxviii.  15 

.     146 

xvii.  8  .      . 

35 

Ixxxv.  ir    .     •     . 

97 

vi.  27    .     . 

8 

xxviii.  16      .     , 

58 

xviii.  9  .     . 

74 

Ixxxvii.  4    .     .     . 

10 

vii.  3      .     .     . 

32 

XXX. 10     .     .     . 

97 

xix.  2,  5      . 

52 

Ixxxviii.  i,4(/)/5),5 

96 

xvii.  4,  6    .     . 

29 

xxx.  15     .     . 

II 

xxii.  9    . 

79 

Ixxxviii.  5  .    58,  9 

1,94 

xvii.  6   .     .     . 
XX.  6      .     .     . 

49 

xxxiv.  4  .     .     , 

105 

xxii.  15  . 

.    94 

Ixxxviii.  8,  10,  13 

96 

29 

xxxv.  4-6      . 

.      75 

xxii.  18. 

.    89 

Ixxxix.  22  ,     .     . 

78 

xxiv.  32      .     . 

II 

XXXV.  6    .      , 

.     129 

xxiii.  1-3 

.      7 

Ixxxix.  26,  27. 

44 

XXX.  21,  22 

.      40 

xxxviii   8      . 

12 

xxiii.  5  (It-r 

152 

Ixxxix.  29,  36,  37 

44 

xl.  3    .     .     .     . 

14 

xxiv.  7  .     . 

63 

Ixxxix.  35-37    . 

.     78 

Eccles.  iii.  2  .    .     , 

,     148 
8 

xl.  3    .      .      . 

.     142 

xxiv.  7   . 

lOI 

Ixxxix.  37  .     , 

139 

vii.  29 
ix.  7,  8    . 

xl.9    .     .    .     . 

.     129 

xxvi.  5,  8, 

2 

X40 

xciii.  2   .     .     ,     . 

102 

.     152 

xl.  9,  10  .     . 

.      74 

xxvi.  6  . 

153 

xciv.  II.      .     .     , 

29 

X.  4      .     . 

8 

xl.  12.      .     .2 

0,  134 

xxvii.  14 

120 

xcv.  7,  8     .     .     . 

90 

xi.  9,  10  . 

.     no 

xl.  12,  22      . 

.      46 

XXX.  1-5      , 

95 

xcvi.  II       .     ,     . 

14 

xii.  1-3,  5  (Ois),   6 

xl.  22 .     .     .     . 

34 

xxxi.  20 

9 

cii.  10    .     .     . 

.     II 

no 

xl.  31.     .      .     , 

15 

xxxii.  I 

5 

cii.  25,  26   .     .     . 

105 

xii.  5  [bis) 

no 

xli.  8  .     .     . 

.      30 

xxxii.  I  , 

6 

cii.  25-27    .     . 

.  "3 

xlii.  I .      .     . 

.     123 

xxxii.  5  . 

.      9 

ciii.  20  .      .     . 

155 

Cant.  1.3.     .     . 

.      78 

xliv.  1,3.     . 

.     123 

xxxiii.  9 

68 

civ.  2     .      .     .     . 

104 

i.  4  .     •     . 

.       14 

xliv.  17    .     . 

36 

xxxiv.  3      , 

civ.  4     .     .      . 

118 

ii   10-14     • 

.      96 

xliv.  22    .     . 

.     142 

xxxiv.  3 

154 

civ.  15,  36  {^/j),  5; 

,  152 

iii.  I,  3,  4  . 

.      97 

xiv.  7  .     .     . 

4i>  52 

xxxiv.  9 

156 

civ.  24   ...     . 

55 

iii.  II     .     . 

14,87 

.xiv.  14,   15    . 

68 

XXXV.  18     , 

140 

civ.  25    ...     , 

.    54 

iv.  1 ,  2  .     . 

18 

xiv.  16,  17    .     , 

33 

xxxvi.  5 

.     48 

civ.  26  .     .     . 

.    48 

iv.  12,  15  .     , 

95 

xlvi.  3      .     . 

.       19 

xxxvi.  8 

128 

cv.  15     .     .     .     . 

149 

iv.  14    .     . 

.      97 

xlvii.  13  ,     . 

23 

xxxvi.  9 

•    95 

cvi.  37   .     .     .    . 

74 

V.  I  .      .      .      , 

91 

xlviii.  16.     .     , 

123 

xxxvii.  34 

120 

cix.  1-3       .     . 

85 

v.  I  {bis)    . 

97 

xlix.  I,  2.     .     , 

61 

xxxviii.  1 1 

.     8s 

cix.  25    .    ,     . 

87 

V.  3  .      16,  II 

2,  147 

xlix.  13,  18  . 

142 

xxxviii.  13, 

14 

86 

cix.  25    .     ,     . 

90 

V.  12      ,      . 

,     126 

1.4     ..      . 

150 

xli.  9 

83 

ex.  I      ... 

.  102 

vi.  3      .     . 

.       91 

1.6     ... 

86 

xiv.  6    .     . 

.  ri3 

ex.  I       ... 

.     22 

vi.  II     .     . 

.      95 

li.  I     .     .     . 

91,  94 

xiv.  6,  7 

149 

ex.  I       ... 

.     59 

viii.  5    .     . 

.       18 

li.2    .     .     . 

46 

xiv.  7     . 

.     58 

ex.  3       ... 

.     41 

viii.  7    .     , 

.      97 

li.  6    .     .     . 

.       67 

xiv.  10    , 

.    46 

ex.  ;.  {bis)   .     , 

.     65 

Iii.  5    .     .     . 

.     155 

xlvi.  10  , 

.      3 

ex.  4      ... 

.     61 

Isa.  i.  6      ... 

.      74 

Hi.  15.     .     . 

.      84 

xlvi.  10. 

.      7 

cxiv.  3    .     .     . 

.     75 

i.  8     ... 

.     120 

liii.  I  .     .     . 

,       86 

xlvii.  5    . 

lOI 

cxv.  17  .     .     . 

137 

i.  10    .     .     . 

II 

liii.  I,  7  •     . 

82 

xlviii.  7  . 

.  118 

cxviii.  22  [bis). 

58 

i.  16  {bis)      . 

6 

liii.  4,  5,  0,  9    . 

91 

1.3    .     . 

.  no 

cxviii.  24    .     . 

89 

i.  18   .     .     .    . 

>     III 

liii.  7  .     .     . 

57 

1.18.     . 

.    47 

cxix.  37       ,     ,     , 

145 

i.  19,  20  .     . 

.       23 

liii.  8  .     .     . 

.      65 

I.  21.     . 

104 

cxix.  91       .     .     . 

49 

i.  26    .     .     . 

142 

liii.  9  .     .     . 

82,  94 

11.7.     . 

•     14 

cxix.  103     .     .     . 

54 

ii.  2     .     .     . 

.     150 

liii.  12      .     . 

90 

li.  II      . 

.  122 

cxix.  176     .     .     . 

91 

ii-3    .     .     . 

142 

Iv.  I,   2      .       . 

.     142 

li.  12      . 

.  125 

cxxvi.  5       .     .     . 

25 

iii  9   .     .     . 

85 

Ivii.  I,  2  .     . 

.       94 

lii.  10     . 

.      7 

cxxxii.  6      .     . 

.    77 

iii.  14.     .     .     . 

75 

Ivii.  1  .     .     . 

.     105 

Iv.  21     . 

85 

cxxxii.  II.     , 

.     78 

iii.  14.     .     .     . 

.      86 

Ivii.  4 ,     .     . 

.      86 

lix.  6      .    . 

.    85 

cxxxii.  17     .     . 

61 

iv.  4    .     .     . 

.       18 

lix.  21      .     . 

.     123 

Ixii   10  .     , 

5 

cxxxv.  7       ,     . 

.    53 

V.  I,  2,  6      .     . 

90 

Ix.  I,  8    .     . 

142 

Ixvi.  10-12 

156 

exxxix.  8     .     ,     , 

48 

vi.  I    .     .     .     , 

102 

Ixi.  I   .     .     .12 

3.  149 

Ixvii.  6  {.Sd^ 

t.) 

46 

cxxxix.  12  .     , 

4 

vi.  I    .     .     .     . 

119 

Ixi.  ID        14,  14 

6,  152 

Ixviii.  5 

.    46 

exxxix.  12  .     . 

.  119 

vi.   2  .     .     .     . 

51 

Ixii.  II     .     .     , 

60 

Ixviii.  17     , 

lOI 

cxxxix.  21   .     . 

117 

vi.  2,  3    .     . 

.     154 

Ixiii.  (,  2       . 

.       89 

Ixviii.  18     , 

Id 

cxl.  3      .     .     , 

116 

vii.  2  .     .      .     . 

118 

Ixiii.  10    .     . 

123 

Ixviii.  25     , 

78 

cxliii    10      ,     . 

.  122 

vii.  9  .     ,     . 

.      30 

Ixiii.  II    .     .9 

9,  123 

Ixviii.  26 

140 

cxliii.  10     .     .     . 

125 

vii.  II      ,     . 

78 

Ixiii.  16    .     . 

46 

Ixviii.  31 

130 

cxliv.   5       .    , 

•     74 

vii.  14      .     . 

72,  78 

Ixiv.  I      .     .     , 

.       51 

Ixix.  21 

90 

cxlvi.  4  .     ,     , 

.  118 

viii.  18     .     . 

7,  103 

Ixiv.  2,  8 

.      46 

Ixxii.  5  .     , 

44 

cxlvii.  4      .     ,     . 

34 

ix.  5  .      .     . 

.      78 

Ixv.  2 .     .     . 

89 

Ixxii.  5  . 

74 

cxlvii.  14    .     .     , 

141 

IX.  7    .     .     .     , 

79 

Ixv.  15      .     .13 

0,  142 

Ixxii.    Title 

)    *- 

v:c., 

cxlvii.  16     .     . 

•     53 

xi.  10.      ,      . 

78 

Ixv.  15,  16    . 

62 

V.  6  .     . 

74 

cxlviii.  4     .      . 

.    67 

xi.  2    .     .         12 

3.  125 

Ixv.  18     .      . 

.     142 

Ixxii  6  .     . 

104 

cxlviii.  5      .     . 

68 

xi.  3    .     .     . 

.     Ill 

Ixvi.  I      ,     . 

55 

i8o 


CATECHETICAL   LECTURES   OF  S.  CYRIL. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Isa.  Ixvi.  8      ,     ,     ,     142 

Joel  ii.  28      .     , 

.       122 

Song   of  the   Three 

Matt.  XV,  4     .     . 

•       47 

Ixvi.  10    .     ,     .       94 

ii.  28,  29     . 

.   .   129 

Children  v.  i 

-    24 

12 

XV.  17  .     . 

64,  155 

Ixvi.  18,  19  .     .       74 

ii.  31       •     • 

.       105 

V-  3 

2    . 

51 

xvi.  18  .     . 
xvi.  19  .     . 

.     140 

.       38 

Jer.  i.  5      ...      16,  79 

Amos  i.  12      .     . 

.      77 

Susanna  45  .     . 

• 

123 

xvi.  19  .     . 

.       lOI 

ii.  21    .     .     .     .  8,  24 

ii.  8       .     . 

.       74 

xvi.  19  .     . 

.     130 

ii.  27    .    .     .     .       46 

iv.  13    .     . 

.       61 

Bel  and  the  Diagou  33 

lOI 

xvi.  22,  23 

.       83 

iv.  4    .     .     .     .       30 

viii.  9,  10  . 

.       89 

xvii.  2  .     . 

.      59 

V.  8     ...     .       54 

ix.  6      .     . 

.       lOI 

I  Mace.  ii.  58     . 

lOI 

xvii.  20 

.      31 

viii.  I  .     .     .     .       12 

2  Mace.  ii.  4  .     . 

12 

xviii.  10     . 

34.  46 

xi.  19  {l'!s  )   .     .       87 
xii.  7,  8    .     .     .       86 

Obad.  9     .     ,     • 

•      77 

ix.  4 

145 

xviii.  12     . 

.     112 

ix.  27    . 

25 

xviii.  19     . 

.       38 

xxvi.  18   .     .     .       92 
xxxii.,     xxxix.  {SfJ>i.), 

Jonah  i.  6  .     .     . 
i.  12     .     . 

.      98 
41,  98 
•       99 

Matt.  i.  I  .     .     . 

65 

xix.  21  .     . 
xix.  26  . 

.      49 

.       99 

18,  19  .     .     .       48 

ii.  2,  6,  8 . 

i.  20 

61 

xix.  16-18,  : 

9      141 

xxxvii.  16      ,     .       91 

i.  23 

68 

XX.  12  ff    . 

91 

xlix.  7,  20     ,     .       77 

Mic.  iii.  8.     .     . 

.     122 

i.  24 

80 

XX.  iS  .     . 

.       83 

Lam.  iii.  53    .     .     .       91 
iv.  20    .     .   84,  132 

iii.  12     .     .    97,  120 
V.  2  .     .     .      69,  77 
V.  3  ...     .       79 

i-25 
ii.  2,  4 
ii.  6 

46 

74 
69 

XX.  30   .      . 
xxi.  9    .     . 
xxi.  19  . 

.       78 
7S,  104 

7 

Ezek.  i.  6- 1 1,  16,  28       51 

vii.  2     .     . 

.       73 

ii.  13 

60 

xxi.  31  .     . 

16,  60 

viii.  3   .     .     ,     loi 

iii.  5-7 

16 

xxii.  12.     . 

.  I,  14 

X.  I       ...     119 

Nahum.  ii.  I .     • 

.     127 

iii.  7 

39 

xxii.  32 

.     136 

X.  21     .     .     .       51 

iii.  10,  II 

16 

xxii.  43      . 

.     102 

xi.  5      .        118,  123 

Hab.  iii.  2,  3.     , 

.      77 

iii.  II,  16  . 

126 

xxiii.  2  .     . 

.       78 

xi.  24    .     .     .     123 

iii   17    .     . 

IJ 

xxiii.  37     . 

.       35 

xviii.  20-23     •         8 

Zeph.  iii.  4     .     . 

.     122 

iii.  17    .     . 

66 

xxiii.  38     . 

.       91 

xviii.  31     .     .         6 

iii.  7-10    . 

95 

iv.  9      .     , 

49 

xxiii.  39     . 

.     104 

xxv.  13      .     .       77 

iii.  14;  15- 

.       18 

iv.  II    .     , 

60 

xxiv.  2  . 

60,  108 

xxviii.  12-17  •         9 

iv.  17    . 

17 

xxi  v.  3  [bis), 

4     105 

xxxvi.  25   .    18,  123 

Haggai  ii.  4,  5     . 

.     122 

V.  16     .  4; 

^  6:„ 

112 

xxiv.  4  .     . 

.       19 

xxxvii.  I      123,  134 

ii.  8    .    . 

.       49 

V.  17     . 

.     26 

,  62 

xxiv.  5  .     , 

.       22 

xxxvii.  12  .     .      138 

V.  23      .     , 

153 

xxiv.  6  .     , 

.     105 

Zech.  i.  6  .    .     . 

.     122 

V.  28     .     , 

43 

,83 

xxiv.  10-12, 

14   106 

Dcin.  ii.  26,  31     ,     ,     123 

ii.  ID,  II    . 

74 

V.  45     . 

38 

xxiv.  15 

22,  106 

ii.  35,  45    .     .     146 

iv.  10    .     . 

35 

V.  48     . 

35 

xxiv.  16     , 

.     109 

ii.  44      .     .     .       77 

ix.  9.     .     . 

74,  76 

vi.  8      . 

47 

xxiv.  23      . 

,     106 

ii.  45     .     .    .     113 

ix.  II     .     . 

74>  91 

vi.  24    .     , 

20 

xxiv.  21,  22 

.      109 

iv.  9       ...     123 

xi.  12,  13  . 

•      85 

vi.  26    . 

45 

xxiv.  23,  27 

30  107 

iv.  33     •     •     •       12 

xii.  I      .     . 

.     118 

vii.  6     . 

7 

xxiv.  24     . 

.     109 

iv.  34    .     .      13,  49 

xii.  10,  12. 

93 

vii.  6     .     , 

41 

xxiv.  29     . 

.     105 

V.  25      ...     108 

xii.  12  .     .1 

10,  III 

vii.  13,  14 

16 

xxiv.  30 

no,    III 

V.  31      ...       77 

xiv.  4    .     . 

•       74 

vii.  15  . 

19 

xxiv.  31 

.     Ill 

vi.  23     .     .     .       30 

xiv.  6,  7   (bis 

89 

viii   25,  26 

98 

xxiv.  35,  42 

.44   105 

vii.  7,  23    .     .     107 

ix.  2,  6 

31 

xxiv.  42      . 

.     106 

vii.  9      ...     no 

Mai.  i.  7    .     .     • 

.     152 

ix.  15    . 

151 

xxv. 12 

.       14 

vii.  9  14     .     .     104 

i.  10,  II      . 

.     140 

X.  8  .     . 

120 

xxv.  21         , 

6 

vii.  10   .     ,    .     112 

iii.  I  .     .     . 

.       74 

X.  10,  16 

57 

xxv.  27 

32,43 

vii.  10   .     .     .     119 

iii-  1-3.  5   • 

.     104 

X.  20     . 

125 

xxv.  29 

41 

vii.  13,  10  .     .     no 

iv.  2.     .     . 

.       91 

X.  23     . 

109 

xxv.  31,  34 

.     in 

vii.  13,  14  .     .     113 

X.   28      . 

48 

xxv.  32,  35 

.     ii:r 

vii.  14,  27  .     .      114 
vii.  21,  25  .     .      109 

Apocrypha 

X.  29 

X.  34     . 

45 
41 

XXV.  35,  36 
xxv.  41 

.       49 
.       4' 

vii.  23    .     .     .      loS 

I  Esdras  i.  54.     . 

12 

x-37     . 

47 

xxv.  46      • 

.      141 

vii.  24    .        107,  108 

2  Esdras  x.  22     . 

.       12 

xi.  3 

22 

xxvi.  2       . 

.       S4 

ix.i.  25       .     .       77 

xi.  3      . 

99 

xxvi.  2  .    • 

83,87 

X.  6  ...     .      75 

Wisdom  ii.  12     . 

.       85 

xi.  II    . 

15 

xxvi.  25     . 

.       83 

X.  9,  16,  18     .       51 

vi.  16    . 

.     120 

xi.  13    . 

15 

xxvi.  26     . 

•      151 

X.  II,  18    .     .      75 

X.  7  •     . 

.     146 

xi.  15    . 

150 

xxvi.  28     . 

.     152 

xii.  I  {bis),   2  .      109 

xiii.  5    . 

•       51 

xi.  27       2 

I,  34, 

45, 

xxvi.  41      . 

.     >55 

xii.  2      .     .    26,  138 

xiii.  5    . 

•       55 

57.5 

9.67, 

121 

xxvi.  49      , 

39.  85 

xii.  3      .        139,  141 

xi.  28   . 

«         * 

6 

xxvi,  62     . 

.       8j 

xii.  7,  II,  12    .      109 

Ecclus.  iii.  21,  22 

.       34 

xii.  28,  31 

127 

xxvi.  63     . 

.     104 

iii.  22 

.      69 

xii.  29  , 

48 

xxvi.  64     . 

,     102 

Hos.  ii.  20      .     .     .       79 

iv.  30      • 

.     107 

xii.  32  . 

'.    23, 

"5 

xxvii.  3-10 

.       85 

iv.  2  .     .     .    73,  105 

iv.  31      . 

.      84 

xii.  40  . 

98 

xxvii.  5 

.     155 

iv.  12     .     .     .     119 

x.\v.   I     . 

.       25 

xiii.  13. 

.     41 

,  42 

xxvii.  13    . 

.       86 

V.  13       ...      86 

xiv.   12      . 

.     152 

xiii.  15  . 

.     24 

[,  41 

xxvii.  24    . 

.       83 

vi.  2  .     ,    .     .      98 

xiii.  16. 

• 

64 

xxvii.  24,  25  .       88 

ix.  7  .     .     ,    .     122 

Baiiich  ii.  25  .     . 

12 

xiii.  32. 

» 

31 

xxvii.  26    . 

.      86 

ix.  12     .     .     .       79 

iii.  17      . 

.       48 

xiii.  43. 

•   47. 

139 

xxvii.  45    . 

.      89 

X.  6  ibis)     .     .       86 

iii-  35-37 

.       68 

xiii.  47. 

2 

xxvii.  4S    . 

.       14 

xiii.  14  .     .     .       99 

vi.      .     . 

•       27 

xiv.  29 

. 

•         • 

30 

xxvii.  50,  5 

[  .       91 

NDEX    OF   TEXTS. 


I8i 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Matt,  xxvii.  52  97, 

99. '38 

Luke  xvii.  34,  35    .     m 

John  vi.  63     .     . 

118,     119 

Acts  ii.  41  .     .     .    . 

112 

xxvii.  52,  53 

.    98 

xix.  13       .     .     133 

vii.  19    ,     . 

.           81 

ii.  42  .     .     .     . 

129 

xxvii.  54    . 

.      97 

xix.  23.     .      32,  43 

vii.  38,  39  • 

.         117 

ii.  58  .     .     .     . 

17 

xxvii.  45    . 

.       63 

xxi.  II  {h's)   .      106 

viii.  25,  29. 

.       "3 

iii.  I    .     .     .     . 

129 

xxvii.  60    . 

.       91 

xxi.  28       .     .      142 

viii.  38   .     . 

.           67 

iii.  15        .     .     . 

17 

xxvii.  63    . 

.       83 

xxii.  48     .     .       85 

viii.  39  .     . 

.       47 

iv.  8,  13,  32      . 

129 

xxvii.  63,  65 

•       95 

xxiii.  6,  7  (h's),  12, 

viii.  40  .     . 

.       81 

iv.  13       .     .     . 

119 

xxviii.  5     . 

88,97 

86 

viii.  41    .     . 

.      46 

v.  3    •      .     .    . 

119 

xxviii.  7 

60,  97 

xxiii.  14    .     ,       82 

viii.  44  .     . 

9 

V.  8    ...     . 

120 

xxviii.  9     . 

94.  97 

xxiii.  40  ff.     .        90 

viii.  49  . 

.       45 

V.  9    .     .     .     . 

125 

xxviii.  13,  14 

[■       97 

xxiii.  43    .     .       90 

viii.  56,  58. 

.       69 

V.  15  .     .     .     , 

63 

xxviii.  19  . 

.      116 

xxiii.  41    ,     ,       83 

ix.  28     .      . 

.       90 

V.  4      .      .       .       . 

119 

xxiii.  43    .     .       31 

X.  7,9,  II  . 

.       57 

V.  12,   13-16,  32 

129 

Mark  i.  i,  4  .     . 

.       15 

xxiii.  46,  50  .       91 

X.  9  .     .     . 

•      44 

V.  42  .     .      .      . 

130 

i.  4.     .     . 

.     148 

xxiv.  I,  5  .     .       97 

X.  15       .     . 

21 

vi.  3,  8,  10,  IS  . 

130 

i.  24     .     . 

.       62 

xxiv.  3653    .     loi 

X.   18       .      . 

.       S3 

vii.  37     •     •     . 

76 

ii.  4      .     • 

.       31 

xxiv.  37,  41    .       97 

X.   18       .      . 

.       90 

vii.  51.  55    .    . 

130 

iii.  23  .     . 

.      47 

xxiv.  39     .    81,  127 

X.  30       .      . 

.      68 

viii.  5      .     .     , 

130 

iii.  29  .     . 

.      40 

xxiv.  49     .     .     117 

xi.  14  ff.      . 

.       31 

viii.  13     .     .     . 

I 

iv.  34  .     . 

.       42 

xxiv.  50     .     .     100 

xii    13     .     , 

.       78 

viii.  18    .     .     . 

122 

ix.  24  .     . 

31,61 

xii.  23    .     , 

.       83 

viii.  18-21    .     , 

37 

x.  17    .     . 

.     141 

xii.  24     .     . 

.       26 

viii.  17,  19,  20 

117 

X.  38    .     . 

.       16 

John  i.  I    .     .    17,  66,  72 

xii.     .      .  25 

,  86,  141 

viii.  27   .     .     . 

95 

xi.  I     .     . 

.      87 

i.  1-3      ...       65 

xiii.    .     .     . 

•  4.72 

viii   29    .     .     . 

118 

xi.  23  .     . 

.      31 

i.  3  .  20,  35,  67,  70, 

xiii.    .     .     . 

31.  83 

viii.  32    .     .     . 

57 

xiv.  31,  32 

•      31 

125 

xiv.  6     .     , 

44.  57 

ix.  17      .     .     . 

130 

xiv.  38 .     . 

•     155 

i.  10,  II      .     .       70 

xiv.  6      .     . 

82 

ix.  21      .     . 

.      62 

XV.  23  .     . 

.       90 

i.  II  .     .     .     .      74 

xiv.  9  {dis)  . 

.       69 

ix.  41      .     .     , 

100 

XV.  46  .      . 

.       91 

i.  12.     .    .     .      47 

xiv.  II    .     . 

.      68 

X    11-16,  19 

.     130 

xvi.  19.     . 

.     102 

i.  12,  13      .     .       66 

xiv.  16  {/lis) 

.     127 

x.  36 

.      60 

i.  14  .     .    66,  72,  73 

xiv.  16,  17 

.    .     125 

X.  38 .     .     . 

.    149 

Lukei.  I   .     .     . 

.     155 

i.  18  .     .  34,  46,  51, 

xiv.  23     . 

,    .     127 

X.  44  .      .      .      . 

130 

i.  26,  27,  34, 

35     80 

64,  102 

xiv.  25    .    , 

.     132 

X.  48  .      .      .      . 

15 

i.  32.     .     . 

.       78 

i.  29  .     .     .     .       57 

xiv.  26    . 

119,125 

xi.  24,  26     . 

130 

i-33-     •     • 

.     "3 

i.  29 .    .     .     .       82 

XV.   I           .      , 

.       58 

xi.  28      .     . 

•     131 

i.  35  (/;/>)    . 

.     125 

i.  29 .     .     .    .      87 

XV.  I        .     . 

.       96 

xiii.  2      .     . 

118 

i.  41,  43     . 

.     126 

i.  32.     .     .     .     125 

XV.  I,  4,  5 

•    .         7 

xiii.  2-4  .     . 

•     131 

i.  44 .     .     . 

.       16 

i.  33  .    .     .    17,  126 

XV.  5       .      . 

.     129 

xiv.  15    .     . 

21 

i.  45  •     •     • 

.       79 

ii.  II      ...        10 

XV.   10     .     , 

.      45 

XV.  20,  29   . 

.      25 

i.  67 .     .     . 

.     126 

ii.  16      .     .     .       45 

XV.  26      .      , 

.     116 

XV.  28,  29    . 

.     131 

i.  76 .     .     . 

.     126 

iii.  3.     ...       15 

XV.  26     . 

125,  127 

xvii.  32   .     . 

•     134 

ii.  4.  5  •     • 

.       80 

iii.  5.     ...     126 

xvi   7,  13 

.     124 

xix.  1-6,  12,  ic 

>     131 

ii.  10,  II     . 

.       60 

iii.  8.     .     .     6,  125 

xvi.  7,  8,  12 

-15      127 

xix.  12     .     . 

•      63 

ii.  II      .     . 

.       58 

iii.  8  ....     128 

xvi.  13,  14 

.     .     121 

xix.  14     .     . 

.     140 

ii.  14,  24    . 

.       81 

iii.  14     .     .     .       87 

xvii.  5     .    ^ 

A  69.  83 

XX.  9-12  .     . 

•     131 

ii.  26-35     . 

.     126 

iii.  16,  18    .     ,      66 

xvii.  10,  24 

.       70 

XX.  23      .         I  ] 

8,  131 

ii.  29,  30    . 

.       62 

iii.  18     .     .     .       31 

xvii.  25  . 

21,38 

xxvi.  24  . 

.     134 

ii-  33      .     . 

.       46 

iii.  24     .     ,    ,     141 

xviii.  8    . 

.     .      41 

xxviii.  25,  28 

.     131 

ii.  49      •     . 

.      45 

iii.  33     .    •     •       23 

xviii.  18  . 

.     .       88 

XXXV.  6   .     , 

.     129 

iii.  3  •     •     • 

.     148 

iii.  34,  35    .     .     129 

xix.  II    . 

.     .       49 

iii.  II     .     . 

.       16 

iii.  36     .  57,  66,  141 

xix.  15     . 

•   •     Ti 

Romans  i.  3   .     . 

.      78 

iii.  22     .     , 

.       17 

iv.  14     .    .     .     117 

xix.  17    . 

.     .       88 

i.  3.  4    . 

.       99 

iii.  23     .     . 

.      39 

iv.  23     .     .     .     126 

xix.  24    . 

.     .       89 

1.  4  .     . 

•     125 

iv.  6  [I'is)    - 

.       49 

iv.  24     .  65,  66,  132 

xix.  26,  27 

.     .      46 

i.  19      . 

.       24 

iv.  34     .    . 

.       66 

iv.  29     .     .     .       61 

xix.  29    . 

.     .       14 

i.  28      . 

•       23 

iv.  41      .     . 

.       61 

iv.  36     .     .     .     141 

xix.  30,  41 

.     .       91 

ii.  15,  16 

.     112 

viii.  18  .     . 

.       41 

V.  14,  8  .     .     .       61 

xix.  34    . 

.     .      88 

ii.  20     . 

.       72 

ix.  5.     .     . 

.       83 

V.  17      .     .      45,  70 

xix.  37    . 

.    .       93 

ii.  24     . 

.     155 

ix.  30,  31    . 

.       76 

V.  19      .     .     .       70 

xix.  39    . 

.    .       97 

iii.  12    . 

.       73 

X.  18       .     9, 

90,  119 

V.  21,  22,  23    .      67 

xix.  41    . 

.     .       95 

iii.  30    . 

.     107 

x.  19      .     . 

.       17 

V.  22      ...     112 

XX.  I,  13 

.     •       97 

iv.    II,    17 

x.  22       .     . 

•       59 

V.  24      31  {i>is),   66, 

XX.  17      . 

.     45.  69 

18,  19 

.'      io 

xi.  13     .     . 

.     126 

141 

XX.  22       . 

.    .     127 

V.  12,  17 

.       89 

xii.  II,  12  . 

.     121 

V.  26      .     ,     .      67 

V.  14     • 

.     114 

xii.  28    ,     . 

.      38 

v.  27     .     .     .       58 

Acts  i.  5     .     . 

.    .     127 

V.  17.  18 

82 

xii.  49    .     . 

41,  126 

V.  34      ...       73 

i.  7     .     . 

.     .     105 

V.  20     . 

.       75 

XV.    4      .       , 

.     112 

V.  35      ...       61 

ii.  2    .       16 

, 127,  128 

V.  20      . 

.       90 

XV.  5,  6.     . 

.       91 

V.  37      ...       35 

ii.  4.  8    . 

.    .     128 

vi.  3  •     • 

.     148 

XV.  7      .     . 

6 

V.  43      ...       72 

ii.9    .     . 

.    .       84 

vi.3.  4- 

14 

XV.  20  .      . 

.     123 

vi.  32,  33,  50  •       72 

ii-  13.  15 

.    .     128 

vi.3-14 

•     147 
17.  148 
17.  148 

xvi.  9      .     , 

6 

vi.  46     .     .      34,  46 

ii.  25,  15 

.    .     129 

vi.  4      I. 

xvi.  13    .     , 

20 

vi.  51     .     ,     .      152 

'           ii.  34      . 

.     .     102 

vi.  5      . 

xvii.  5    .     . 

.       31 

vi.  S3    •     •     •     151 

ii.  37  .    • 

.      ,          15 

vL  II,  14 

2 

1 82 


CATECHETICAL  LECTURES  OF  S.  CYRIL. 


PAGE  j 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Ror 

nans  vi.  12  .  .   155 

I  Cor.  xiii.   .  .  . 

49 

Ephes.  iv.  22.  .  .    6 

2  Tim.  vi.  20   .  76,  114 

vi.  13  .  .    5 

xiv.  29   ,  . 

90 

iv.  22   .  .  147 

i.  14  .  .  76,  132 

vi.  13  .  .  148 

xiv.  34   ,  . 

4 

iv.  27   .  .    8 

ii.  4  .  •  •   133 

vi.  17  .  .   19 

XV.  1-4   ,   . 

94 

iv.  30   .  .  133 

ii.  8  .  78,  95,  100 

vi.  19  .  .   23 

XV.  3,  4  .  . 

91 

V.  7  .  .  .   14 

ii.  13.  .  .   10 

vi.  22  .  .  141 

XV.  4  .   .  . 

94 

V.  1 1  .  .  .   39 

iii.  7  .  .  •   19 

vii.  16  .  .   23 

XV.  5-7,  8  .  . 

100 

V.  iS,  19.  .   132 

iv.  3  .  .  .  107 

vii.  23  .  .   75 

XV.  9  .   .  . 

62 

V.  25  .  .  .  140 

viii.  9  .  .  125 

XV.  14,  15   , 

100 

V.  26 .  .  w  142 

Titus  ii.  II  .  .  .   104 

viii.  9,  II  .    2 

XV.  16  .   .   . 

139 

V.  26  .  .  .   15 

iii.  4.  ...  143 

viii.  II  .  .  132 

XV.  17  .  .   . 

92 

vi.  I  .  .  .   47 

viii.  14  .  47,  125 

XV.  20  .   .  100,  13S  1 

vi.  14,  II   .  150 

Heb.  i.  I  .  .  .  .   64 

viii.  15  .  .   125 

XV.  25  .   .11 

3.  "4 

vi.  15.  .  .    5 

i.  2  .  .  .  .   7» 

viii.  17  .  .   17 

XV.  27,  28 

59 

vi.  16.  .  .   30 

i.  3  ....   102 

viii.  18,  26   120 

XV.  28  [lus)     . 

113 

vi.  17.  .  .   132 

i.  6  .  .  .  .   65 

viii.  28  .  ,    I 

XV.  35  .  .  . 

139 

vi.  17.  .  .    3 

i.  8,  9  .  .  .   68 

viii.  34  .  .   102 

XV  36  .  .2 

5,  139 

i.  10-12  .  .  105,  n3 

viii.  35  .  .  109 

XV.  49  .  .  . 

155 

riiilipp.  i.  19   .   5,  125 

i.  13  .  .  .  .  102 

ix.  5.  .  .  113 

XV.  53  •  •  • 

139 

ii.  6 .  .  .   59 

i  14  .  .  .  .  121 

X.  6,  7  .  .  100 

XV.  55  .  . 

17,99 

ii.  7  .   .  .  Ill 

ii.  12   .  .  .  140 

xi.  16  .  .   150 

xvi.  20   .  . 

153 

ii.  9.  .  .   58 

ii.  13   .  .   7,  103 

xi.  17,  24  .   147 

ii.  10  ,  .  112 

ii.  14   .  .  .   16 

xi.  20  .  .   132 

2  Cor.  i.  3   .  . 

33.45 

ii.  II  .  .   45 

ii.  14,  15  .  .  145 

xi.  24  .  .    7 

i.  22  .  . 

6,  132 

iii.  I   .  .   142 

iii.  I  .  .  .  .   23 

xi.  33  .  .   36 

ii.  15  .  .  . 

150 

iii.  13  .   .   146 

iii.  7   ...  132 

xiv.  9  .  .  J 13 

iii.  14,  IS  .  . 

114 

iii.  21  .  .   149 

iii.  13  ...  114 

XV.  12  .   .    78 

iii.  18  .   .15 

0,  152 

iv.  4   .  .   142 

iii.  14  .  .  .   149 

XV.  19  .  .  130 

iv.  3,  4  {iis)  . 

41 

iv.  13  .  •   150 

iii.  15  .  .  .  155 

XV.  21   .   .    84 

iv.  5  .  .  • 

62 

iv.  16   .  .  .   39 

xvi.  17  .  .   19 

iv.  7   ... 

61 

Col.  i.  15,  18  .  .   88 

V.  4,  5,  6  .  .   60 

vi.  2   ... 

7 

i.  16.  .  20,  23,  70 

V.  14   .  .  .   20 

I  C 

or.  i.  9   .  ,   2,  29 

vi.  7   .  . 

.5.17 

i.  16,  17,  .  .   71 

vi.  18  .  .  .   61 

i.  iS,  23  .  .   82 

vi.  7,  8   . 

141 

i.  20.  .  .  .   91 

vii.  21.  24  .  .   61 

i.  23  .  .  .   84 

vi.  14  .  . 

37,  43 

ii.  5  .  .  .  .   103 

ix.   n   .  .  61,  91 

i.  24  .  .  .   39 

vi.  16  .  .  8 

I,  155 

ii.  8  .  .  .19  ih's) 

ix.  19  .  .  .   15 

ii.  4  .  .  .   84 

X.  14.  15,  16  . 

114 

ii.  10   .  .  .   88 

ix.  24  .  .  148,  149 

ii.4   ...  132 

xi.  14  .  . 

19,32 

ii.  11,  12  .  ,   30 

ix.  26  .  .  .   65 

ii.  8   ,  .  .   76 

xii.  2,  4  .  . 

lOI 

ii.  12   .  .  .    I 

X.  I  .  .  .  .   131 

ii  9   ...   36 

xii.  2, 4  .  . 

38 

ii.  14   .  .  .    5 

X.  12   ...  102 

ii.  10  .  .   23,  34 

xiii.  3  .  .  . 

62 

ii.  15   .  .  92,  147 

X.  15   ...  132 

ii.  10,  II  .  67,  121 

xiii.  5,  6,  7 

155 

iii.  I.  .  .   .   102 

X.  19   .  .  .   91 

ii.  II  ,  ,  .   67 

xiii.  14   .  , 

132 

iii.  9.  .  .  16,  147 

X.  22    ...     15 

ii.  13  .  .  .  124 

iii.  ID  .  ,  .    6 

X. 29   ...   125 

iii.  6   .  .  .    7 

Gal.  i.  8,  9  .  . 

.   32 

iii.  20  .  .  .   47 

xi.  I,  2,  6  .  .   29 

iii.  12  .  .  .   104 

ii.  18   .  . 

145 

xi.  5 .  .  .  .  loi 

iii.  12,  13  .  .   no 

iii.  24   ,  .  , 

26 

I  Thess.  ii.  16  .  .   no 

xi.  8-12,  19   .   30 

iii.  12,  15  .  .    5 

iii  27   .  .  , 

149 

iv.  13,  16  .  139 

xi.  26,  27  .  .   59 

iv,  3  .  .  .   29 

iv.  2  .  .  . 

2 

iv.  16  {/>/s), 

xi.  27  .  ,  .   10 

iv.  9  .  .  .   i6 

iv.  4  .  .  . 

80 

17,  .  .  no 

xi.  34  .  .  .   30 

iv.  15  .  46,66,110 

iv.  6  .  ,  . 

.  125 

iv.  17  .  102,  141 

xi.  37  .  .  .   n 

vi.  9,  10  .  .   16 

iv.  10   ,  . 

28 

V.  21,  22  .   43 

xii.  2   .  .  102,  104 

vi.  19  .  .  24,  79 

iv.  25   .  . 

.    84 

v.  23   .  .  157 

xii.  9   .  .  .   47 

vii.  5,  8,  9  .   25 

iv.  26   ,  . 

140 

xii.  15  .  .  .    I 

vii.  9  .  .  .   Ill 

V.  22,  23   . 

•  133 

2  Thess.  ii.  3-10.  .   ic6 

xii.  16  .  .  .   25 

viii.  5,  6  .   57,  60 

vi.  14   .  , 

o2 

ii.  4 .  .  .  108 

xii.  21  .  .  .   75 

ix.  22  .  .  .   58 

ii.  7  .  .  .  no 

xii.  23  .  .  .  140 

X.  4   .  .  .   59 

Ephes.  i.  3  .  .  , 

.   142 

ii.  8,  9  .  .  108 

xiii.  4  .  .  .   25 

X.  II   .   .   .     I 

i.  5  .  .  . 

149 

ii.  II,  12  .  109 

xiii.  8  .  .  .   76 

X.  14-21  .  ,   146 

i.  7  .  . 

.   142 

ii.  15  •  .   32 

xiii.  20  .  .  .   99 

X.  20  .  .  .   14 

i.  II  .  . 

I 

X.  21   ,   ,   .   152 

i.  13.  17- 

■   125 

I  Tim.  i.  13  .  .  .   100 

S.  James  i.  2,  12,  13  155 

xi.  2  .  .  ,   148 

i.  13  •  • 

132 

i.  13,  14.  .   62 

i.  5  •  •  .   84 

xi.  3  .  68,  88  [I'ls) 

i.  17,  18. 

•   143 

ii.  2  .  .  3,  141 

i.  17   •  •   45 

xi.  7   .  .  .   96 

i.  19,  20. 

.   102 

ii.  6  .  .  .   82 

i.  21   .  .  153 

xi.  23  {liis)     .     151 

ii.  4  •  • 

.   142 

ii.  12 .  .  .    4 

ii.  21,  23  .   30 

xii.  I,  4  .  .   115 

ii.  10.  . 

8 

ii  16  .  .  .   46 

iii.  9  .  .   96 

xii.  3  .  .  ,  121 

iii.  5  .  . 

.  132 

iii.  15   .  .  140 

V.  17   .  .   21 

xii.  7-11  .  .  118 

iii.  6  .  , 

.  151 

iv.  I  .  .  .   132 

xii.  8  {l>is)       .     124 

iii.  II 

I 

iv.  3  .  .  .   25 

I  S.  Peter  i.  n  .  .  125 

xii.  8,  9  .  .   31 

iii.  14,  15 

44,  45 

V.  21  .  .  .   32 

i.  17  .  .   47 

xii.  9,  10  .  .   32 

iii.  14-16 

•  125 

V.  23  .  .  .   25 

i.  19  .  .  144 

xii.  II  118,121, 124 

iv.  5  •  . 

3 

vi.  8  .  .  .   29 

ii.  I  {/>:s)  .   153 

xii.  28  .  .  .   140 

iv.  II.  . 

.   90 

vi.  13  16   .    32 

ii.  4-6   .   58 

INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


183 


1  S.  Peter  ii.  6    , 
ii.  22  . 
ii.  22,  23 
ii  24  . 
iii.  15 
iii.  22 
V.  4     . 
V.  7     . 


QI 
S2 
83 
91 
153 
102 
29 

47 


V.  8     .5, 19,  58 


1  S.  Peter  v.  9 

V.  14 

2  S.  Peter  i.  4 

i  19 

I  S.John  i.  8  . 
i.  9 
ii.  2 


PAGE 

30,  146 

•  153 

•  151 
.  61 

•  155 
.  2 

.  154 


PAGE 

I  S.  John  ii.  15  . 

•   47 

11.  19  . 

•   37 

11.  20  . 

.  ISO 

ii.  20-28 

•  149 

ii.  22  . 

45.  61 

ii.  23  . 

•   57 

iii.  8  . 

9 

111.  10  . 

•   47 

IV.  10  . 

.  154 

1  S.  John  iv.  i8 

V.     I 

2  S. John  7 

10 
Rev.  i.  I 
V.  5     . 
vii.  17 
xii.  7,  17 
xvii.  II 


PACK 

i8  . 

•   97 

20,  66 

• 

.   72 

• 

.   39 

•    • 

.   72 

•    • 

.   57 

.  146 

7 

•   • 

.  108 

SELECT    ORATIONS 

OF 

SAINT    GREGORY    NAZIANZEN, 

SOMETIME   ARCHBISHOP   OF   CONSTANTINOPLE. 

TRANSLATED    BY 

CHARLES  GORDON  BROWNE,  M.A., 

Rector  of  Lympstoxe,  Devon  ; 
AND 

JAMES    EDWARD   SWALLOW,  M.A., 

Chaplain  of  the  House  ofMercy,  Horbury. 


CONTENTS. 


PROLEGOMENA. 


PAGB 

Division-  I.— The  Life 187 

Division  IL — The  Writings 200 


Division-  III.— Literature. 


PAGE 
201 


ORATIONS. 


7- 

8. 

12. 

16. 

18. 
21. 

27. 


On  Easter  and  his  reluctance 203        28. 

In  defence  of  his  flight  to  Pontus,  and  his  re-  29. 

turn,  after  his  ordination   to  the  priesthood,  30. 

with  an  exposition  of  the   character  of  the 

priestly  office 204        31. 

To  those  who  had  invited  him,  and  not  come 

to  receive  him 227        33. 

Panegyric  on  his  brother,  S.  Caesarius 229        34. 

On  his  sister  Gorgonia 238        37. 

To  his  father,  when  he  had  entrusted   to  him 

tiie  care  of  the  church  of  Nazianzus 245 

On  his  father's  silence,  because  of  the  plague  38. 

of  hail •. 247         39. 

On  the  death  of  his  father 254    |   f^. 

On  the  great  Athanasius,   Bishop  of  Alexan-  I  ^41' 

dria 269        42. 

The  first   theological   oration — a    preliminary  |     43. 

discourse  against  the  Eunomians 284    |     45. 


The  second  theological  oration 

The  third  theological  oration — on  the  Son  .... 
The  fourth  theological  oration,  which   is  the 

second  concerning  the  Son 

The   fifth    theological    oration — on   the   Holy 

Spirit 

Against  the  Arians,  and  concerning  himself.. . 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Egyptians 

On   the  words   of  the   gospel,  "  When  Jesus 

had  finished  these  sayings,"  etc. — S.  "Matt. 

xix.  1 i 

On  the  Theophany,  or  birthday  of  Christ 
Oration  on  the  Holy  Lights 
The  oration  on  Holy  Baptism 

On  Pentecost 

' '  The  Last  Farewell  " 

The  Panegyric  on  S.  Basil 
The  second  oration  on  Easter 


283 
301 

309 

318, 
328 

334 


LETTERS. 


Division  I. — Letters  on  the  Apollin.'\ri.\n 
Controversy  

202.  To  Nectarius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople 

loi.  To  Cledonius  the  Priest  against  Apollinarius. . 

102.  Against  Apollinarius  ;  the  second  letter  to  Cle- 
donius   ". 

125.  To  Olympius 

Division  II.— Correspondence  with  Saint 
B.\siL  THE  Grk.\t,  Archbishop  of  C^esarea 

1.  To  Basil  his  comrade 

2.  To  the  same 

4.  In  answer  to  Epistle  xiv. ,  of  Basil,  about  361. . 

5.  Circa  a.d.  361 

6.  Written  about  the  same  time,  in  a  more  serious 

vein 

8.  To  S.  Basil  after  his  ordination  as  priest 

19.  To  Eusebius  of  Ccesarea 

16.  To  the  same 

17.  To  Eusebius,  Archbishop  of  Ccesarea 

18.  To  Eusebius  of  Caesarea 

40.  To  the  Great  Basil 

41.  To  the  people  of  Caesarea,  in  his  Father's  name 

43.  To  the  Bishops 

42.  To  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Samosata 

45.  To  Basil 

46.  To  the  same 

47.  To  the  same 

48.  To  the  same 

49.  To  the  same,  the  praises  of  quiet 

50.  To  the  same 

58.  To  the  same 

59.  To  the  same 

60.  To  the  same 

Division  III.— Miscellaneous  Letters 

7.  To  his  brother  Cresarius 

I.  To  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa 

72.  To  the  same 

73.  To  the  same 

74.  To  the  same 

76.  To  the  same 

8r.  To  the  same 

182.  To  the  same 

197.  A  letter  of  condolence  on  the  death  of  his  sister 

Theosebia 

42.  To  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Samosata  

44.  To  the  same 

64.  To  the  same 

65.  To  the  same 

66.  To  the  same 

21.  To  Sophronius,  Prefect  of  Constantinople 

22.  To  the  same 

29.  To  the  same 


437 
438 
439 

443 
445 

446 
446 
446 
446 
447 

447 
448 
448 
448 
449 
449 
449 
450 
451 
451 
452 
452 
452 
453 
453 
454 
454 
456 
456 
457 
457 
459 
460 
460 
460 
460 
461 
461 

461 
462 
462 
463 
463 
464 
464 
464 
464 


37- 
39- 
93- 
^35- 
9- 
13- 

25- 

26. 
27. 
28. 
62. 

63. 
171. 
184. 

88. 

gl- 
ial- 
185. 
186. 

202. 
77- 
115- 
121. 
122. 
123. 
124. 
152. 
153- 
157- 
163. 

183. 

139- 

12. 

51- 
52. 
53- 
54 
55- 

104. 

105. 

106. 

126. 

131- 
i^o. 

141. 
142. 

143 

144- 
145- 
146. 

154 


To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  Amphilochius  the  Younger 

To  the  sam  e 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  Amphilochius  the  Elder 

To  Amphilochius,  Bishop  of  Iconium 

To  the  same 

To  Nectarius,  Archbishop  of  Constantinople. . 

To  tlie  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same — A  letter  of  introduction  for  a 

relative 

To  the  same 

To  Theodore,  Bishop  of  Tyana 

To  the  same , 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  Bosporius,  Bishop  of  Colonia 

To  Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Tyana 

To  the  same 

To  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia 

To  Theodore 

To  Nicobulus 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same,  on  Laconicism 

To  the  same,  an  invitation 

To  Olympius 

To  the  same 

To  tlie  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  the  same 

To  X'arianus 

To  Olympius 

To  the  same 


465 
465 
466 
466 
466 
467 
467 
467 
467 
468 
468 
468 
469 
469 
469 
469 
470 
470 

470 
471 
471 
472 
472 
472 
472 
473 
473 
473 
473 
474 
474 
475 
476 
476 
477 
477 
477 
477 
477 
477 
478 
478 
478 
478 

479 
480 
480 
480 
481 
481 
481 


PROLEGOMENA. 


SECTION  I. 
The   Life. 


S.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  called  by  the  Ecumenical  Council  of  Ephesus  ''The  Great," 
and  universally  known  as  "  The  Theologian  "  or  "  The  Divine,"  a  title  which  he  shares  with 
S.  John  the  Evangelist  alone  among  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  was,  like  the  great  Basil  of 
Caesarea  and  his  brother  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nyssa,  by  birth  a  Cappadocian.  He  was  born  at 
Arianzus,  a  country  estate  belonging  to  his  father,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Nazianzus. 

This  latter,  sometimes  called  Nazianzum,  is  a  place  quite  unknown  to  early  writers,  and  de- 
rives all  its  importance  from  its  connection  with  our  Saint.  The  Romans  seem  to  have 
called  it  Diocaesarea.  This  would  place  it  in  the  south-western  portion  of  the  district  called 
Cappadocia  Secunda,  a  sub-division  of  the  Province,  which  had  previously  included  the 
whole  country  of  Cappadocia  under  the  Prefect  of  Caesarea.  The  Emperor  Valens  made  the 
division  for  financial  purposes  about  a.d.  371,  and  assigned  Tyana  as  its  civil  Metropolis, 
and,  as  we  shall  see,  thereby  caused  an  ecclesiastical  quarrel  which  had  considerable  effect  on 
the  life  of  S.  Gregory.  Tyana  was  situated  at  no  great  distance  south  and  east  of  Nazianzus, 
which  place  is  usually  identified  with  some  interesting  ruins  about  eighteen  miles  south-east  of 
Ak  Serai,  on  a  rocky  platform  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  called  Hassan  Dagh.  Amongst  other 
ruined  buildings  here  are  the  remains  of  three  Byzantine  churches  of  great  age,  but  more  re- 
cent than  the  rest  of  the  town. 

His  father,  who  bore  the  same  name  with  himself,  had  originally  belonged  to  an  obscure 
sect  called  Hypsistarians  or  Hypsistians,  of  whom  we  know  little  except  what  we  learn  from 
Gregory  of  Nazianzus  and  his  namesake  of  Nyssa.  They  seem  to  have  held  a  sort  of  syncre- 
tist  doctrine,  containing  elements  derived  from  heathen,  Christian,  and  Jewish  sources.  They 
were  very  strict  monotheists,  rejecting  both  polytlieism  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and 
worshipping  the  One  Supreme  Being  under  the  names  of  The  Most  High  and  The  Almighty, 
and  the  emblems  of  Fire  and  Light,  but  with  no  external  cultus  ;  for  they  rejected  .sacrifice 
and  every  outward  form  of  worship,  holding  adoration  to  be  an  exclusively  interior  and  spir- 
itual act.  With  singular  inconsistency,  however,  they  adopted  the  observance  of  the  Jewish 
Sabbath,  and  the  Levitical  prohibition  of  certain  kinds  of  food.  They  were  but  few  in  num- 
ber, and  their  influence  was  insignificant  even  in  Cappadocia,  which  was  the  headquarters  of 
the  sect.^  From  this  form  of  error  the  elder  Gregory  was  converted  by  the  influence  of  his 
wife,  Nonna ;  and  soon  after  his  conversion  was  consecrated  to  the  bishopric  of  Nazianzus. 

Nonna,  the  mother  of  our  Saint,  was  the  daughter  of  Christian  parents,  and  had  been 
very  carefully  brought  up.  Like  S.  John  Chrysostom  and  S.  Augustine,  Gregory  had  the  in- 
estimable advantage  of  being  reared  at  the  knee  of  a  mother  of  conspicuous  holiness.  There 
4-, — .^— 

,  '  «  Svoif  ivauTiQiTaToiv  o-vviceicpanevrjs,  e\A7)i'tK^s  re  Kai  voiiiKfi<s  Teparet'os  •  &v  aiL<f>OTep<av  to.  fiepr)  <f>vy<jiv,  i<  fiipiav  (TwereBij.  T^? 
liev  yap  to.  elSoiKa  xal  tos  Bva^ia^  an'OjrefiTro/xeroi,  Tiiiuxri,  to  jryp  ical  ri  Kv\va  •  rrji  Se  to  aa^^aTOv  alSov/Jieyoi,  koX  to.  mpX  to  fSpuJuaTa 
eoprii'  a  jj.iKpo\oyCav,  t't/v  repiTO/ixi|i'  dri/udfovo'ii'. — Or.  xviii.  5. 


i88  PROLEGOMENA. 


were  three  children  of  the  marriage — a  sister,  Gorgonia,  probably  somewhat  older  than  Greg- 
ory, who  was  devotedly  fond  of  her ;  and  a  brother,  Caesarius,  perhaps  younger,  who  was  a  dis- 
tinguished physician,  and  occupied  a  post  of  confidence  at  the  Court  of  Constantinople.  Greg- 
ory was  certainly  born  at  a  late  period  of  the  life  of  his  mother.  He  tells  us  that,  like  so  many 
other  holy  meji  of  whom  we  read  both  in  the  Bible  and  outside  its  pages,  he  was  consecrated 
to  God  by  his  mother  even  before  his  birth.  The  precise  date  is  uncertain.  There  are  two 
lines  in  his  poem  on  his  own  life  which  seem  to  indicate  clearly  that  it  took  place  after  his 
father's  elevation  to  the  Episcopate,  or  at  any  rate  after  his  ordination  to  the  Priesthood. 
Speaking  of  the  great  desire  of  the  elder  Gregory  to  see  his  son  ordained  to  the  Priesthood,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  him  as  a  coadjutor  and  aid  to  his  own  declining  years  and  failing 
strength,  he  gives  the  arguments  by  which  the  old  man  sought  to  persuade  him  to  take  upon 
himself  a  burden  which  he  dreaded ;  and  among  them  we  find  the  father  saying  to  the  son  :  •^ 
''  You  have  not  been  yet  so  long  in  life  as  I  have  spent  in  sacrifice."  And  though  the  Roman 
Catholic  writers  on  the  subject  strain  every  nerve  to  get  rid  of  the  obvious  meaning,  by  inge- 
nious manipulation  of  the  text  or  by  far-fetched  interpretations,  yet  the  conclusion  remains 
unshaken,  and  is  supported  also  by  another  passage,  to  be  cited  presently,  that  he  was  at  any 
rate  born  during  the  Priesthood  of  his  father.  He  tells  us  that  he  left  Athens  in  or  about  his 
thirtieth  year,^  and  also  that  the  Emperor  Julian  was  his  contemporary  there.  Now  Julian 
was  at  Athens  in  355  ;  so  that  we  must  place  Gregory's  birth  not  earlier  than  325  ;  and  if 
we  give  its  natural  meaning  to  the  first  passage  quoted,  not  earlier  than  330,  the  latest  date 
available  for  his  father's  consecration  as  Bishop.  This  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  Athenian 
chronology  of  his  life,  as  he  certainly  spent  many  years  there,  and  probably  did  not  leave  the 
place  till  357. 

As  soon  as  the  children's  age  permitted,  Gregory  and  his  brother  Caesarius  were  sent  to 
school  at  Caesarea,  under  the  care  of  a  good  man  named  Carterius,  who  as  long  as  he  lived  re- 
tained a  great  influence  over  the  mind  of  his  elder  pupil.  This  is  perhaps  the  same  Carterius 
who  afterwards  presided  over  the  monasteries  of  Antioch  in  Syria,  and  was  one  of  the  in- 
structors of  S.  John  Chrysostom.  The  following  is  a  free  rendering  of  one  of  four  funeral  epi- 
grams written  in  later  years  by  our  Saint  in  honour  of  his  old  friend  and  tutor : 

"Whither,  Carterius,  best  beloved  of  friends, 
O  whither  hast  thou  gone,  and  left  me  here 
Alone  amid  the  many  toils  of  earth  ? 
Thou  who  didst  hold  the  rudder  of  my  youth, 
When  in  another  land  I  learned  to  weigh 
The  words  and  stories  of  a  learned  age  ; 
Thou  who  didst  bind  me  to  the  uncarnal  life. 
Truly  the  Christ,  whom  thou  possesses!  now, 
Took  thee  unto  Himself,  the  King  thou  lov'st. 
O  thou  bright  lightning  of  most  glorious  Christ, 
Thou  best  protection  of  my  early  days. 
Thou  charioteer  of  all  my  younger  life ; 
Remember  now  the  Gregory  whom  erst 
Thou  trainedst  in  the  ways  of  virtuous  life, 
Carterius,  master  of  the  life  of  grace." 

It  was  probably  at  Caesarea  that  the  acquaintance  between  Gregory  and  S.  Basil  the  Great 
began,  which  was  afterwards  to  ripen  into  a  lifelong  friendship.     But  their  association  did 


'  Carm,  de  vita  sua,  511.  '  lb.  339. 


THE   LIFE. 


1 89 


not  last  long  at  this  period,  for  Basil  soon  went  to  Constantinople  to  continue  his  education, 
while  Gregory  and  his  brother  removed  to  the  Palestinian  Csesarea ;  probably  as  much  for  the 
sake  of  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  as  for  the  advantage  of  the  schools  of  that 
learned  resort.  Ccesarius  soon  went  on  to  Alexandria ;  but  Gregory  was  tempted  by  the 
flourishing  Palestinian  school  of  rhetoric  to  remain  a  while  and  study  that  art.  One  of  his 
fellow-students  here  was  Euzoius,  the  future  heresiarch.  From  Palestine  he  too  went  on  to 
Alexandria,  where  he  found  his  brother  enjoying  an  excellent  character,  and  highly  distin- 
guished among  the  students  of  the  University.  S.  Athanasius  was  at  this  time  the  Bishop, 
and  Didymus  head  of  the  famous  Catechetical  School ;  but  as  Gregory,  though  one  of  his 
orations  is  a  panegyric  on  S.  Athanasius,  does  not  mention  having  ever  met  either  of  these 
two  great  men,  we  must  suppose  that  the  former  was  at  this  time  suffering  one  of  his  many 
periods  of  exile — his  second  banishment  lasted  from  340  to  347.  Gregory  does  not  seem  to 
have  remained  very  long  at  Alexandria ;  the  fascination  exercised  on  his  mind  by  a  yet  more 
famous  seat  of  learning — Athens — soon  drew  him  thither.  He  could  not  even  wait  for  a 
favourable  time  of  year,  but  must  start  at  once.  He  took  passage  in  the  month  of  November 
in  a  ship  bound  for  yEgina,  with  some  of  whose  crew  he  was  acquainted.  They  had  a  pros- 
l)erous  voyage  until  they  were  in  sight  of  Cyprus,  when  they  were  assailed  by  a  tremendous 
storm,  and  the  ship,  swept  by  the  heavy  seas,  became  waterlogged,  and  would  not  answer  her 
helm.  At  the  same  time  the  violence  of  the  sea  burst  the  water-tanks,  and  the  ship's  company 
were  left  in  dire  distress.  Gregory,  who  was  not  yet  baptized,  was  thrown  into  terrible  dis- 
tress at  thus  finding  himself  in  peril  of  death  while  yet  outside  the  Covenant  of  God.  In 
earnest  prayer  he  renewed  his  self-dedication,  and  vowed  to  give  himself  wholly  to  the  service 
of  God,  if  his  life  might  be  spared  to  receive  Holy  Baptism.  He  tells  the  story  at  some 
length  and  with  great  graphic  power  in  his  long  poem  on  his  own  life,  from  which  we  subjoin 
a  cento, ^  and  also  in  his  oration  spoken  at  his  father's  funeral  (Orat.  XVni,  c.  31,  p.  352 
Ed.  Ben.).  It  is,  however,  uncertain  whether  he  was  baptized  immediately  after  this  deliver- 
ance, or  whether  he  waited  till  his  -return  to  Nazianzus.  At  any  rate  he  reached  Athens  in 
safety,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  joined  there  by  Basil ;  when  the  early  acquaintance  which 
was  now  renewed  soon  deepened  into  an  intimacy  of  brotherly  affection,  which,  though  often 
sorely  tried,  never  grew  cold  in  Gregory's  heart.     In  the  funeral  oration  which  he  pronounced 


■*  What  time  I  parted  from  Egyptian  shores. 
Whence  [  had  somewhat  culled  of  ancient  lore. 
We  weighed,  and  \inder  Cyprus  cut  the  waves 
In  a  straight  course  for  Hellas,  when  there  rose 
A  mightv  strite  of  wmds,  and  shook  the  ship  : 
And  all  was  night  ;  earth,  seas,  and  darkened  skies  ; 
And  thunders  echoed  to  the  lightning's  shock. 
Whistled  the  rigging  Of  the  swelling-  sails. 
And  bent  the  mast  ;  the  helm  had  lost  its  power, 
For  none  could  hold  it  in  the  raging  seas. 
The  ship  was  filled  with  overwhelming  waves  ; 
Mingled  the  shout  of  sailor,  and  the  cries 
Ot  helmsman,  captain,  and  of  passenger. 
And  those  who  tfil  that  fearful  hour  had  been 
Unconscious  of  ^  God:  for  fear  can  teach. 
And.  worst  of  r.tl  our  dread  impending  woes, 
No  water  had  we,  for  the  ship  began 
To  lalxjur,  and  the  beakers  soon  were  broke 
Which  held  'lur  treasure  of  sweet  water  scant  : 
And  famine  fought  with  surging  and  with  storm 
To  slay  us.     Kut  God  sent  a  swift  release. 
For  Funic  sailors  aujldenly  appeared. 
Who  in  the  ^  own  sofe  terror  soon  perceived 
Hy  out'-bfte.feftda  o^i^' danger,  and  with  oars 
(F'lr  they  iy?re  strong)  came  up  and  saved  our  barque 
And  u*J<WTio  >iw'td1-bdc  sea-corpses  were; 
Like  fish  fvsak 'in  b^dwif  native  wave, 
Or  lamp  thtf  dies  ?ir  sQigit  of  nourishment. 

]5ut  whit6)w«-aH<\j>etv-^iB8ng  sudden  death, 
Mine  was  a  worse,  'yec%(fs^  a  secret,  fear. 
The  cleaUJh%  waters  ns^  had  passed  on  me. 
That  slay  our  foe  and  jpj^t.us  to  our  God. 
This  was  my  laraenta|jjt(ylhis  my  dread. 
For  this  I  .»t||*tqh*^J  "lyhwds  and  cried  to  God, 


And  cried  above  the  noise  of  surging  waves, 
And  rent  my  clothes,  and  lay  in  misery. 
But.  though  ye  scarce  believe  it,  yet  'lis  true, 
All  those  on  whom  our  common  danger  pressed 
Forgot  themselves,  and  came  and  prayed  with  me. 
And  Thou  wast  then,  O  Christ,  my  great  defence, 
Who  now  deliverest  from  the  storm  of  life. 
For  when  no  good  hope  dawned  upon  our  eyes, 
Nor  isle,  nor  continent,  nor  mountain  top. 
Nor  torch,  nor  star  to  light  the  mariners, 
Nor  small  nor  great  of  earthly  things  appeared. 
What  port  was  left  for  troubled  sailor-folk? 
Despairing  of  all  else,  I  look  to  thee  ; 
lyife.  breath,  salvation,  hsht,  and  strength  to  men, 
Who  (rightest.  smitest,  smilest,  healest  all, 
.A.nd  ever  weavest  good  from  human  ill. 
I  call  to  mind  Thy  wonders  of  old  time. 
By  which  we  recognize  Thv  mighty  hand  ; 
The  sea  divided — Israel's  host  brought  through— 
Their  foes  defeated  l)y  Thy  lifted  hand — 
And  Egypt  crushed  by  scourges,  chiefs  and  all — 
Nature  subdued,  and  walls  thrown  down  by  shout. 
And,  adding  mine  to  those  old  famous  acts. 
Thine  own,  (  said,  am  I,  both  erst  and  now  ; 
Jvvice  shalt  Thou  take  me  for  Thine  own,  a  gift 
Of  earth  and  sea,  a  doubly  hallowed  gift, 
By  pr.ayers  of  mother  and  by  fateful  sea. 
To  Thee  I  live,  if  I  escape  the  waves, 
And  gain  baptismal  dews  ;  and  Thou  wilt  lose 
A  faithful  servant  if  Thou  cast  me  off. 
E'en  now  Thine  own  disciple,  in  the  deep  ; 
.Sha'ke  off  for  me  Thy  slumber,  and  arise. 
And  stay  my  fear.      .So  prayed  I — and  the  noise 
Of  winds  grew  still,  the  surges  ceased,  the  ship 
Held  straight  upon  her  course  ;  my  prayer  was  heard. 


I90  PROLEGOMENA. 


over  his  friend,  Gregory  has  left  us  a  most  interesting  account  of  University  hfe  in  the  middle 
of  the  fourth  century,  of  which  we  give  a  summary  here,  referring  the  reader  for  details  to  the 
oration  itself,  which  will  be  found  in  the  present  volume.  Basil's  reputation,  he  says,  pre- 
ceded him  to  Athens,  where  he  was  received  with  much  enthusiasm.  Many  of  the  silliest 
students  there  are  mad  upon  Sophists,  and  are  divided  upon  the  respective  merits  of  their 
teachers  with  as  much  excitement  as  is  shown  by  the  partisans  of  the  various  chariots  in  the 
Hippodromes.  And  so  a  new-comer  is  laid  hold  of  by  them  in  this  fashion.  First  of  all,  he 
is  entertained  by  the  first  who  can  get  hold  of  him — either  a  relation  or  a  friend  or  a  fellow- 
countryman,  or  a  leading  Sophister,  who  is  in  favour  with  his  master,  and  touts  for  him. 
There  he  is  unmercifully  chaffed,  and  with  more  or  less  of  rough  horseplay,  by  everybody,  to 
take  down  his  pride  ;  and  is  then  escorted  procession  ally  through  the  streets  to  the  Baths  ; 
after  which  process  he  is  regarded  as  free  of  the  students'  guild.  Basil,  however,  through  the 
good  ofifices  of  his  friend  Gregory,  was  spared  this  trial  of  his  nerves,  out  of  respect  for  his 
great  attainments ;  and  this  kind  action  was  the  beginning  of  their  long  and  affectionate  in- 
timacy. Among  the  students,  however,  were  a  number  of  young  Armenians,  some  of  whom 
had  been  at  school  with  Basil,  and  were  very  jealous  of  him.  These  young  men,  with  the 
object  of  destroying  his  reputation  if  possible,  were  continually  harassing  him  with  disputa- 
tions upon  hard  and  sophistical  questions.  Basil  was  quite  able  to  hold  his  own  against  them  ; 
but  Gregory,  jealous  for  the  honour  of  his  University,  and  not  at  first  perceiving  the  malice 
of  these  young  men,  sided  with  them  and  made  the  conflict  more  equal.  As  soon,  however, 
as  he  began  to  see  their  real  purpose,  he  forsook  them  and  took  his  stand  by  his  friend,  whose 
victory  was  thus  made  not  only  assured  but  easy.  The  young  gentlemen  naturally  did  not 
like  this,  and  Gregory  became,  much  to  Basil's  distress,  very  unpopular  among  them,  as  they 
chose  to  regard  his  conduct  in  the  matter  as  treason  against  his  University,  and  especially 
against  the  students  of  his  own  year. 

The  city  of  Athens  at  this  time  was  fall  of  dangerous  distractions  for  young  men  ;  feasts, 
theatres,  assemblies,  wine  parties,  etc.  Gregory  and  his  friend  resolved  to  renounce  all  these, 
and  to  allow  themselves  to  know  only  two  roads — one,  that  which  led  to  the  Church  and  its 
holy  teachers ;  the  other,  that  which  took  them  to  their  University  lectures.^  Amongst 
other  famous  students  of  Gregory's  day  was  Prince  Julian,  afterwards  the  Emperor  who  apos- 
tatized and  endeavoured  to  restore  the  ancient  heathenism,  and  galvanize  it  into  something 
like  a  new  life.  Gregory  claims  even  at  this  early  period  to  have  foreseen  and  dreaded 
the  result  of  Julian's  accession.  "I  had  long  foreseen,"  he  says,  "  how  matters  would  be, 
from  the  time  that  I  was  with  him  at  Athens.  He  had  come  there  shortly  after  the  violent 
measures  against  his  brother,  having  asked  permission  of  the  Emperor  to  do  so.  He  had  two 
reasons  for  this  sojourn — the  one  more  honest,  namely,  to  visit  Greece  and  its  schools  ;  the 
other  more  secret  and  known  only  to  a  few  persons,  namely,  to  consfilt  with  the  heathen 
priests  and  charlatans  about  his  plans;  because  his  wickedness  was  not  as  ye r  declared.  Even 
then  I  made  no' bad  guess  about  the  man,  although  I  am  not  one  of  tliose  skilled  in  such  mat- 
ters ;  but  I  was  made  a  prophet  by  the  unevenness  of  his  disposition  and  the  very  unsettled 
condition  of  his  mind.  I  used  these  very  words  about  him  :  '  What  an  evil  the  Rcrtnan  State 
is  nourishing,'   though  I  prefaced   them  with  a  wish  that  I  might  prove  a'^|felse^wophet." 

. — — nil   mil  I   III  I  wt^ 

6  Of  this  early  friendship  with  Basil,  Gregory  speaks  flius  :  iij<rili;  v-<n  (til 


For  Ciod  had  given  me  yet  one  priceless  gift 
Uniting  me  with  Wisdom's  wisest  son, 
Himself  alone  above  all  life  and  word  ; 
Who  this  could  be,  ye  soon  shall  know  full  well; 
Basil  his  name,  our  age's  great  support- 
He  was  the  comrade  of  my  words  and  roof. 
And  of  my  thoughts,  if  [  may  l)o:ist  so  much. 
A  pair  were  we  not  all  unknown  in  Greece  ; 


All  things  we  shared  m  commnn.  .ind  orte'^oUt""'''^''''^^^ 
Linked  us  together,  though  in  1"  My  twt^W.  '"t  '^'l'  '^f^ 
One  thing  there  was  which  join  •!  us  iniost  ff  a1|i  1  [  tj 
The  love  of  God  and  of  the  hiuli.-,t  goW^J'^*-'  -*"';  "*•■'■' 
For.  soon  as  courage  came  to  u^  t)  Rix4»l'  "r 

Eacli  to  the  other  of  that  we  hail  at  hm^t 

ISIore  closely  were  our  spirits  kiiii  in  U>V*s 

For  fellow  feeling  makes  us  wun.lrou<  kiHtl.'         '' 

tCayrtl.  ils  V«k  SttSw  I.  221.) 


THE   LIFE.  '  191 


(Orat.  V.  23,  24.)  Gregory  must  have  been  a  long  time  at  Athens.  He  seems  to  have  gone 
there  at  about  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  not  to  have  left  till  he  was  past  thirty.  Basil  left 
before  him  and  returned  to  Cappadocia  ;  and  as  soon  as  he  could  follow  he  went  to  Constan- 
tinople, where  he  met  his  brother,^  who  had  just  come  there  to  practice  as  a  Court  Physician, 
but  resolved  to  throw  up  his  practice  and  return  with  his  brother  to  Nazianzus.  They  found 
their  parents  still  living  and  their  father  occupying  the  Episcopal  Throne.  From  this  time  on- 
ward Gregory  divided  his  time  between  his  parents  and  his  friend  ;  living  partly  at  Arianzus, 
and  partly  with  Basil  in  Pontus,  in  monastic  seclusion.  At  his  Baptism,  which  it  seems  most 
probable  took  place  at  this  period,  he  made  a  solemn  vow  never  to  swear,  and  to  devote  his 
whole  energies  and  powers  solely  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  defence  and  spreading  of  the 
faith.  Ccesarius  did  not  remain  long  in  the  retirement  of  home,  but  soon  returned  to  the 
Capital,  where  a  brilliant  career  seemed  opening  before  him.  Gregory,  whose  mind  was 
strongly  impressed  with  the  dangers  and  temptations  of  a  life  at  Court,  did  not  altogether  ap- 
prove of  this  step,  yet  he  does  not  very  severely  blame  it.  He  himself,  however,  felt  very 
strongly  drawn  to  the  monastic  life  ;  but  as  retirement  from  the  world  did  not  seem  to  him  to 
be  his  vocation,  he  resolved  to  continue  to  live  in  the  world,  and  to  be  a  help  and  support  to 
his  now  aged  parents,  and  especially  to  his  father  in  the  duties  of  his  Episcopate,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  live  under  the  strictest  ascetic  ^ule.  He  had,  however,  always  a  secret  hankering 
after  the  Solitary  life,  which  he  had  once  (Ep.  i.)  promised  Basil  to  share  with  him  ;  and  he 
did  find  himself  able  for  some  years  to  spend  part  of  his  time  with  his  friend  in  his  retirement 
in  the  wilds  of  Pontus.  They  portioned  out  their  days  very  carefully  between  prayer,  medita- 
tion and  study,  and  manual  labour,  on  the  principles  laid  down  by  Basil  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend,  which  afterwards  were  developed  into  the  celebrated  Rule  still  observed  by  the  entire 
body  of  the  Religious  of  the  Eastern  Church.'  Retirement,  he  says,  does  not  consist  in  the 
act  of  removal  from  the  world  in  bodily  presence,  but  in  this,  that  we  tear  away  the  soul  from 
those  bodily  influences  which  stir  up  the  passions  ;  that  we  give  up  our  parental  city  and  our 
father's  house,  our  possessions  and  goods,  friendship  and  wedlock,  business  and  profession, 
art  and  science,  and  everything,  and  are  quite  ready  to  take  into  our  hearts  nothing  but  the' 
impressions  of  the  divine  teaching. 

In  solitude,  Basil  thinks,  it  is  possible  altogether  to  tame  the  passions,  like  wild  beasts,  by 
gentle  treatment ;  to  lull  them  to  sleep,  to  disarm  them.  By  turning  away  the  soul  from  the 
enticements  of  sense,  and  withdrawing  into  one's  self  for  the  contemplation  of  God  and  of 
Eternal  Beauty,  it  is  possible  to  raise  man  to  a  forgetfulness  of  natural  Avants,  and  to  a  spiritual 
freedom  from  care.  The  means  to  this  spiritual  elevation  are  in  his  view  the  reading  of  Holy 
Scripture,  which  sets  before  us  rules  of  life — but  especially  the  pictures  of  the  lives  of  godly 
men ;  Prayer  which  draws  down  the  Godhead  to  us,  and  makes  our  mind  a  pure  abode  for  It; 
and  an  earnest  silence,  more  inclined  to  learn  than  to  teach,  but  by  no  means  morose  or 
unfriendly.  At  the  same  time  Basil  desires  that  the  outward  appearance  of  one  who  thus 
practises  solitude  shall  be  in  keeping  with  his  inner  life ;  with  humble  downcast  eye,  and 
dishevelled  hair,  in  dirty  untidy  clothes  he  must  go  about,  neither  lazily  loitering  nor  passion- 
ately quick,  but  quietly.  His  garment,  girt  upon  his  loins  with  a  belt,  is  to  be  coarse,  not  of 
a  bright  colour,  suited  for  both  summer  and  winter,  close  enough  to  keep  the  body  warm  with- 
out additional  clothing  ;  and  his  shoes  adapted  to  their  purpose,  but  without  ornament.  For 
food,  let  him  use  only  the  most  necessary,  chiefly  vegetables  ;  for  drink,  water — at  least  in 
health.  For  mealtime,  which  begins  and  ends  with  prayer,  one  hour  is  to  be  fixed.  Sleep  is 
to  be  short,  light,  and  never  so  dead  as  to  let  the  soul  be  open  to  the  impressions  of  corrupt- 
ing dreams.^ 

°  Or.  vii.  8.  '  Ullmann  G.  v.  N.  ^  Bas.  Ep.  ii.     Uliniann  11.  s. 


192  PROLEGOMENA. 


They  gave  themselves  especially  to  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  the  practice  of 
devotional  exercises.  In  their  study  their  great  principle  was  to  interpret  the  holy  writings 
not  by  their  own  individual  judgment,  but  on  the  lines  laid  down  for  them  by  the  authority 
of  ancient  interpreters.^  Of  uninspired  commentators  they  had  the  greatest  respect  for  Origen, 
whose  errors,  however,  they  happily  avoided.  From  his  exegetical  writings  they  compiled  a 
book  of  Extracts,  which  they  published  in  twenty-seven  books,  to  which  they  gave  the  name 
of  Philocalia,  i.e.,  what  in  modern  language  is  called  a  Christology.  This  is  happily  still 
extant,  and  is  valuable  as  preserving  for  us  many  passages  otherwise  lost,  or  existing  only  in  a 
Latin  translation.  Gregory  sent  a  copy  of  this  work  to  his  friend  and  subsequent  com- 
panion at  Constantinople,  Theodore,  Bishop  of  Tyana,  as  an  Easter  gift  many  years  after- 
wards, and  accompanied  it  with  a  letter,^'^  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  workasamemorialof  him- 
self and  Basil,  and  as  intended  for  an  aid  to  scholars  ;  and  begs  that  his  friend  will  give  a  proof 
of  its  usefulness,  with  the  help  of  diligence  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  Socrates  "  says  that  this  care- 
ful study  of  Origen  was  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  two  friends  in  their  subsequent  con- 
troversies with  the  Arians ;  for  these  heretics  quoted  him  in  support  of  their  errors,  but  the 
two  Fathers  were  enabled  to  confute  them  readily,  by  shewing  that  they  were  completely 
ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  Origen's  argument. 

But  Gregory  does  not  appear  to  have  stayed  lorTg  in  Basil's  Monastery; — although  Ruffinus 
speaks  of  a  sojourn  of  thirteen  years.  This  cannot  for  chronological  reasons  have  been  a  con- 
tinuous stay,  although  it  is  true  that  Basil's  monastic  life  in  Pontus,  and  Gregory's  various  visits 
to  him  there  extended  over  a  period  of  about  that  length,  from  his  first  retirement  in  357  to 
his  consecration  to  the  Episcopate  in  370.  It  was  after  about  three  years  that  Gregory 
returned  to  Nazianzus  (360),  possibly,  as  Ullmann  suggests,  because  of  circumstances  which 
had  arisen  at  his  home,  which  seemed  to  call  imperatively  for  his  presence  in  the  interests  of 
the  peace  of  the  Diocese,  and  for  the  assistance* which  he  might,  though  a  layman,  be  able 
to  give  to  his  aged  Father,  who  had  got  into  trouble  through  a  piece  of  imprudent  con- 
duct. 

The  Emperor  Constantius,  who  was  an  Arian,  had  in  359  assembled  at  Ariminum  (the 
modern  Rimini)  a  Council  of  400  Western  Bishops, ^^  and  these,  partly  duped,  partly  compelled 
by  the  Imperial  Officers,  had  put  out  a  Creed,  which,  while  acknowledging  the  proper  Deity  of 
the  Son,  and  confessing  Him  to  be  Like  the  Father,  omitted  to  say  Like  In  All  Points,  and 
refused  the  word  Consubstantial  ;  thus,  while  condemning  the  extreme  followers  of  Arius, 
fovouring  the  views  of  the  Semi-Arian  party.  At  the  same  time  another  Synod,  of  150 
Eastern  Bishops,  was  assembled  under  Court  influence  at  Seleucia,  and  promulgated  a  similar 
formula.  The  Bisho]:)  of  Nazianzus,  though  still  as  always  a  staunch  upholder  of  Nicene  or- 
thodoxy, was  in  some  way  induced  to  attach  his  signature  to  this  compromising  Creed;  and 
this  action  led  to  most  important  consequences.  The  Monks  of  his  Diocese  took  the  matter 
up  with  the  usual  earnestness  of  Religious,  and,  with  several  also  of  the  Bishops,  withdrew 
from  Communion  with  their  own  Bishop.  This  may  have  been  the  reason  for  his  son's  return. 
He  induced  his  Father  to  apologize  for  his  involuntary  error  and  to  put  out  an  orthodox  Con- 
fession, and  so  he  healed  the  schism.  To  this  period  belongs  his  first  Oration  on  Peace ;  in 
which,  after  an  eloquent  encomium  on  the  Religious  life,  he  sets  forth  the  blessings  of  peace 
and  concord,  and  contrasts  them  with  the  misery  of  discord ;  begging  the  people  to  be  very 
slow  indeed  on  this  account  to  sever  themselves  from  the  Commimion  of  those  whom  they 
think  to  be  erring  brethren  ;  and  thanking  God  for  the  restoration  of  peace.       He  concludes 

9  Rrev.  Rom.  May  9.  '»  Ep.  cxv.  "  H.  E.  IV..  x.xvi. 

•-The  reign  of  Constantius  was,  says  Dr.  LTllmann,  in  a  very  special  way  the  age  of  Synods.  Hy  his  endless  snmmoninp:  of  Synods 
he  not  only  (uithered  doctrinal  disputes,  but  also  injured  the  finances  of  the  State,  destroyed  the  existence  of  the  Posts,  and  brought 
everything  into  confusion. 


THE   LIFE.  193 


the  whole  with  a  splendid  setting  forth  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  concerning  the  Trinity,  in 
the  following  terms  : — 

"  Would  to  God  that  none  of  us  may  perish,  but  that  we  may  all  abide  in  one  spirit,  with 
one  soul  labouring  together  for  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  of  one  mind,  minding  the  same  thing, 
armed  with  the  shield  of  faith,  girt  about  the  loins  with  truth  ;  knowing  only  the  one  war 
against  the  Evil  One,  and  those  who  fight  under  his  orders  ;  not  fearing  them  that  kill  the  body 
but  cannot  lay  hold  of  the  soul ;  but  fearing  Him  Who  is  the  Lord  both  of  soul  and  body  ; 
guarding  the  good  deposit  which  we  have  received  from  our  fathers ;  adoring  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost;  knowing  the  Father  in  the  Son,  and  the  Son  in  the  Holy  Ghost — into  which 
Names  we  were  baptized,  in  Which  we  have  believed  ;  under  Whose  banner  we  have  been  en- 
listed ;  dividing  Them  before  we  combine  Them,  and  combining  before  we  divide  ;  not  receiv- 
ing the  Three  as  one  Person  (for  They  are  not  impersonal,  or  names  of  one  Person,  as  though 
our  wealth  lay  in  Names' alone  and  not  in  facts),  but  the  Three  as  one  Thing.  For  They  are 
One,  not  in  Person,  but  in  Godhead,  Unity  adored  in  Trinity,  and  Trinity  summed  up  in 
Unity  ;  all  adorable,  all  royal,  of  one  throne  and  one  glory  ;  above  the  world,  above  time,  un- 
created, invisible,  impalpable,  uncircumscript ;  in  Its  relation  to  Itself  known  only  to  Itself;  but 
to  us  equally  venerable  and  adorable ;  Alone  dwelling  in  the  Holiest,  and  leaving  all  creatures 
outside  and  shut  off,  partly  by  the  First  Veil,  and  partly  also  by  the  Second ; — by  the  first,  the 
heavenly  and  angelic  host,  parted  from  Godhead ;  and  by  the  second,  we  men,  severed  from 
the  Angels.  This  let  us  do ;  let  this  be  our  mind.  Brethren  ;  and  those  that  are  otherwise 
minded  let  us  look  upon  as  diseased  in  regard  to  the  truth,  and  as  far  as  may  be,  let  us  take 
and  cure  them ;  but  if  they  be  incurable  let  us  withdraw  from  them,  lest  we  share  their  disease 
before  we  impart  to  them  our  own  health.  And  the  God  of  Peace  that  passeth  all  understand- 
ing shall  be  with  you  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.     Amen.^^ " 

Gregory  the  Elder  was  now  aged  and  infirm,  and  began  to  feel  his  need  of  a  Coadjutor  in 
his  pastoral  duties.  So,  by  the  great  desire  of  the  people  of  Nazianzus,  he  ordained  his  son 
to  the  Priesthood,  much  against  the  will  of  the  said  son.  This  Ordination  took  place  at  some 
great  Festival,  probably  at  Christmas  of  the  year  361.  Gregory  the  Younger  was  much  ag- 
grieved at  this  gentle  violence,  which  even  in  after  years  he  describes  as  an  act  of  tyranny, i'*  and 
says  he  cannot  bring  himself  to  speak  of  it  in  other  terms,  though  he  asks  pardon  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  his  language.  Immediately  after  his  Ordination  he  made  his  escape  to  Pontus,  ap- 
parently reaching  Basil  about  Epiphany,  362.  Here  he  had  time  for  reflection  on  the  obedi- 
ence he  now  owed  to  his  father,  not  only  as  son  to  father,  but  as  Priest  to  Bishop ;  and  with 
a  truer  view  of  his  duty  he  returned  to  Nazianzus,  where  he  was  present  in  the  Church  on 
Easter  day  362,  and  preached  his  first  Sermon  as  a  Priest,  in  apology  for  his  reluctance. 
Strange  to  say,  though  it  was  so  great  a  Festival,  and  though  the  preacher  was  so  well  known 
and  so  much  beloved  in  Nazianzus,  the  congregation  was  very  small ; — probably  many  refrained 
from  going  to  Church  in  order  to  mark  their  feeling  about  Gregory's  flight  to  Pontus.  Any- 
how he  felt  the  discourtesy  keenly,  and  in  his  next  sermon  took  occasion  to  reprove  them 
severely  for  their  inconsistency  in  receiving  him  so  badly  after  having  compelled  him  for  their 
sakes  to  finally  renounce  the  solitude  he  loved  so  well.  Of  this  discourse  the  Abbe  Benoit 
speaks  as  follows  :  — 

"  It  is  not  very  long,  and  it  seems  to  us  a  model  of  the  tact  and  art  which  a  Minister  of  the 
Gospel  ought  to  use  in  his  speech  when  just  grievances  compel  him  to  address  deserved  re- 
proaches to  the  faithful.     It  would  be  impossible  to  blame  with  greater  force,  to  complain  Avith 

13  I  have  followed  Ullmann  and  Nirschl  in  placing  this  occurrence  here.  The  Benedictine  Editor?,  apparently  in  order  to  add  priestly 
authority  to  this  Oration  {VI.),  have  p>it  it  four  years  later,  on  what  I  cannot  but  think  to  he  insufficient  grounds.  Their  date  would 
bring  it  to  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Julian  or  the  beginning  of  that  of  Jovian,  neither  of  which  periods  would  offer  any  inducement  to 
Arianizing.  i*  Carm.  de  vita,  1.,  345 

13 


194  PROLEGOMENA. 


more  frankness,  and  yet  to  do  it  in  a  way  less  offensive  to  the  hearers.  Praise,  indeed,  is  so 
mingled  with  blame  in  this  discourse,  and  there  is  in  its  tone  something  so  earnest  and  affec- 
tionate, that  the  audience,  though  sharply  reprimanded,  not  only  could  not  take  offence,  but 
was  compelled  to  conceive  a  yet  greater  affection  and  admiration  for  him  who  so  reproved 
them." 

Gregory  took  the  opportunity  to  write  another  very  long  Oration  as  his  apology  for 
his  flight.  In  it  he  sets  forth  at  great  length  his  conception  of  the  nature  and  responsibilities 
of  the  Priestly  Office,  and  justifies  himself  both  for  having  shrunk  from  such  a  charge,  and  for 
having  so  soon  returned  to  take  it  up.  It  is  very  improbable  that  this  Oration,  numbered  II. 
in  the  Benedictine  Edition,  was  ever  delivered  viva  voce ;  but  it  was  published,  and  is  a  com- 
plete Treatise  on  the  Priesthood,  used  both  by  S.  John  Chrysostom  as  the  foundation  of  his  Six 
Books  on  the  Priesthood,  and  by  S.  Gregory  the  Great  as  the  basis  of  his  Treatise  on  the 
Pastoral  Rule.      It  has  also  furnished  material  to  many  of  the  best  Ecclesiastical  writers  of  all 


ages. 


Julian  had  now  succeeded  to  the  Empire,  and  had  entered  Constantinople  in  361.  He 
had  by  this  time  completely  broken  with  the  Church,  and  renounced  even  the  outward  sem- 
blance of  Christianity.  He  persuaded  Csesarius,  however,  to  retain  his  position  at  Court ; 
hoping  perhaps  that  he  might  succeed  in  perverting  him.  This  was  a  matter  of  deep  regret 
to  his  father  and  brother,  and  they  felt,  the  latter  says,  obliged  to  keep  the  fact  from  the 
knowledge  of  his  mother.  Gregory  wrote  his  brother  a  letter  of  most  affectionate  though 
earnest  remonstrance ;  with  the  result  that  CiEsarius  soon  made  up  his  mind  to  retire ;  and 
put  his  resolution  in  practice  on  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  departure  of  the  Emperor 
from  Constantinople  to  assume  the  direction  of  his  campaign  against  the  Persians.  Nazianzus 
was  not  allowed  to  remain  without  attempts  being  made  against  its  Christianity,  for  the  Pre- 
fect of  the  Province  was  sent  Avith  an  armed  escort  of  considerable  strength  to  demand  posses- 
sion of  the  Church.  But  the  aged  Bishop,  supported  by  his  son  and  by  his  people,  boldly 
refused  to  comply  with  the.  Imperial  commands,  and  there  seemed  such  a  probability  of 
powerful  resistance  that  the  Prefect  felt  compelled  to  withdraw  his  force,  and  never  came 
to  Nazianzus  again  on  such  an  errand.  The  Gregorys,  father  and  son,  frequently  came  into 
collision  with  Julian  during  his  stay  in  Cappadocia  on  his  way  to  Persia;  and  indeed  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  firm  stand  which  they  made  on  behalf  of  the  right  was,  under  God, 
the  means  of  diverting  the  Emperor  from  his  purpose  of  making  a  vehement  assault  upon  the 
faith  and  rights  of  the  Church  in  that  Province.  *As  the  Abbe  Benoit  ^^  remarks,  Julian  saw 
that  he  must  be  careful  in  dealing  with  a  province  where  Christian  faith  was  such  a  living 
power,  and  where  a  simple  village  Bishop  could  dare  to  make  so  stout  a  stand  against  Im- 
perial Authority  ;  but  he  declared  his  intention  of  avenging  himself  upon  his  opponents  on  his 
return  from  his  expedition.  The  Providence  of  God,  however,  interfered,  and  he  never  did 
return,  but  was  defeated  and  killed. 

In  363  or  364  Basil,  like  Gregory,  was  ordained  Priest  much  against  his  will.  The 
Bishop  of  Coesarea,  Metropolitan  of  Cappadocia,  Avas  Eusebius.  He  had  been  elected  in  362 
by  a  popular  clamour,  while  yet  only  a  Catechumen,  and  was  very  unwillingly  consecrated  by 
the  Bishops  of  the  Province.  He  felt  it  necessary  to  have  at  hand  a  Priest  who  by  his  skill 
in  Theology  would  be  a  help  to  him  in  the  controversies  of  the  times,  and  he  selected  Basil. 
But  for  some  unknown  reason,  possibly  no  more  than  a  certain  jealousy  of  Basil's  superior 
reputation  and  influence,  within  a  very  short  time  Eusebius  quarrelled  with  him,  and 
endeavoured  to  deprive  him.  This  might  easily  have  led  to  a  serious  schism,  had  Basil  been 
a  self-seeking  man,  but  as  it  was,  he  quietly  retired  to  his  Community  in  Pontus,  accompanied 


I 


J5  S.  G.  de  N. 


THE   LIFE.  195 


by  his  friend  Gregory,  who,  however,  was  not  able  to  remain  long  in  that  congenial  society, 
as  his  presence  was  still  much  needed  by  his  father.  On  the  succession  of  Valens,  an  Arian, 
to  the  Throne  of  the  Empire,  Eusebius  wrote  to  Gregory,  entreating  him  to  come  to 
Csesarea  and  give  him  the  benefit  of  his  advice.  Gregory,  however,  respectfully  declined  the 
invitation  on  the  grounds  of  his  sense  of  the  wrong  which  his  friend  had  suffered  ;  and  after 
some  correspondence  he  succeeded  in  effecting  a  reconciliation  between  the  latter  and  his 
Metropohtan,  in  the  year  365. 

Ctesarius  meantime  had  returned  to  the  Court  and  had  received  from  Valens  a  valuable 
piece  of  preferment  in  Bithynia;  but  in  the  end  of  368  or  beginning  of  369,  having  been 
terrified  by  a  great  earthquake,  during  which  he  had  been  in  considerable  danger,  he  was 
arranging  matters  for  his  final  retirement,  when  he  was  seized  with  illness,  and  very  soon 
died,  leaving  all  his  property,  which  must  have  amounted  to  a  considerable  sum,  to  his 
brother  in  trust  for  the  poor.  He  was  buried  at  Nazianzus,  and  on  the  occasion  of  his 
funeral  his  brother  preached  the  Sermon  which  is  numbered  VIII.  in  the  Benedictine  Edition. 
About  the  same  time,  but  a  little  later,  Gorgonia  also  departed,  and  he  preached  a  funeral 
sermon  on  her  too.  Eusebius  of  Cassarea  died  in  370,  and  Basil  at  once  wrote  an  urgent 
letter  to  Gregory,  begging  him  to  come  to  Csesarea,  probably  in  order  to  get  him  elected 
Archbisho]).  Gregory,  however,  declined  to  go,  and  he  and  his  father  exerted  themselves  to 
the  utmost  of  tlieir  power  to  procure  the  election  of  Basil ;  the  elder  Gregory  writing  through 
his  son  two  letters,  one  addressed  to  the  people  of  Cassarea,  the  other  to  the  Provincial 
Synod,  urging  Basil's  claims  very  strongly.  Though  ill  at  the  time,  he  managed  to  convey 
himself  to  the  Metropolis  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  .Synod  ;  and  Basil  was  elected 
and  consecrated.  Gregory  wrote  him  a  letter  of  congratulation  ;  not,  however,  a  very  warm 
one  ;  but  when  troubles  began  to  arise  he  spoke  out  with  all  the  fervour  of  their  early 
friendship  in  support  of  the  Archbishop.  About  this  time  Valens  divided  the  civil 
Province  of  Cappadocia  into  two,  one  of  which  had  Csesarea,  the  other  Tyana,  for  its 
Metropolis.  Anthimus,  Bishop  of  the  latter  See,  thereupon  claimed  to  be  ipso  facto  Metro- 
politan of  the  new  Province  ;  a  claim  which  Basil  strenuously  resisted,  as  savouring  of  what 
we  call  Erastianism.  A  long  dispute  followed,  in  the  course  of  which  Basil,  to  assert  his 
rights  as  Metropolitan,  and  to  strengthen  his  own  hands,  erected  several  new  Bishoprics  in  the 
disputed  Province  ;  and  to  one  of  these,  Sasima,  a  miserable  little  village  "'^  he  consecrated  his 
friend  Gregory,  almost  by  force.  Gregory  was,  not  unnaturally,  indignant  at  this  treatment ; 
while  Basil,  whose  great  object  had  been  to  strengthen  himself  against  Anthimus,  took  it  as 
unkind  of  Gregory  to  be  so  reluctant  to  comply  with  his  friend's  wishes.  So  the  tAvo  were  for 
a  long  time  in  very  strained  relations  to  one  another.  Although,  however,  Gregory  ultimately 
yielded  to  the  earnest  wish  of  his  father,  and  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the  Archbishop, 
yet  he  did  not  disguise  his  reluctance  ;  and  iti  the  Sermons  which  he  preached  on  the  occasion 
(Or.  ix.  X.)  he  spoke  very  strongly  on  the  point.  Anthimus,  however,  occupied  the  village 
of  Sasima  with  troops,  and  prevented  Gregory  from  taking  peaceable  possession  of  his  See, 
which  it  is  probable  he  never  actually  administered,  for  his  father  begged  him  to  remain  at 
Nazianzus  and  continue  his  services  as  coadjutor  Bishop.  The  contest  about  the  Metropoli- 
tanate  of  Tyana  went  on  for  some  time,  but  in  the  end,  mainly  by  Gregory's  mediation,  it 
was  amicably  settled.  In  374  Gregory  the  elder  died,  and  his  wife  also,  and  thus  our  Saint 
was  set  free  from  the  charge  of  the  diocese.  He  spoke  a  panegyric  at  his  father's  funeral,  and 
wrote  a  number  of  little  "  In  Memoriam  "  poems  to  his  mother's  memory ;  and  out  of  respect 

'"  The  following  i";  Gregory's  own  description  of  his  new  diocese  fCarm.  de  vita  sua.  4^9): 

"  There  is  a  little  station  on  a  high  road  in  Cappadocia.  situated  where  the  road  is  divided  into  three  ;  without  water,  without  grass, 
with  nothing  of  freedom  about  it  ;  a  frightfully  horrible  and  narrow  little  village  ;  everywhere  dust  and  noise  and  carts,  weeping  and 
shouting,  lictors  and  chains.  The  people  are  all  foreigners  and  vagabonds.  Such  is  my  Church  of  Sasima,  to  which  I  was  presented 
by  a  man  who  is  not  content  with  fifty  chorepiscopi.     What  munificence  !  " 


196  PROLEGOMENA. 


for  his  father  continued  to  administer  the  See  of  Nazianzus  for  about  a  year,  making  great 
efforts  meanwhile  to  secure  the  appointment  of  a  Bishop.  But,  perceiving  that  his  efforts 
would  be  fruitless,  because  of  the  devotion  of  the  people  to  himself,  he  at  length  withdrew, 
after  a  very  serious  illness,  to  Seleucia  in  Isauria  (375,)  where  he  lived  three  or  four  years, 
attached  to  the  famous  Church  of  S.  Thecla.  Very  little  is  known  of  his  life  there  ;  but  it 
must  have  been  at  this  period  that  he  heard  of  the  death  of  Basil,  upon  whom  two  years  later 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Caesarea  he  pronounced  a  splendid  panegyric. 

In  379  the  Church  at  Constantinople,  which  for  forty  years  had  been  oppressed  by  a  suc- 
cession of  Arian  Archbishops,  and  was  well  nigh  crushed  out  of  existence  by  the  multitude  of 
other  heresies,  Eunomian,  Macedonian,  Novatian,  Apollinarian,  etc.,  which  Arian  rule  had 
fostered,  besought  the  great  Theologian  to  come  to  their  aid.  Theodosius  the  new  EmperOr, 
who  was  a  fervent  Catholic,  backed  their  entreaty,  as  did  also  numerous  Bishops.  Gregory 
resisted  the  call  for  a  long  time ;  but  at  last  he  came  to  see  that  it  was  the  will  of  God  that 
he  should  accept  the  Mission,  and  he  consented  to  go  and  fill  the  gap,  until  such  time  as  the 
Catholics  of  the  Capital  might  be  able  to  elect  an  Archbishop. 

The  following  account'  of  the  religious  condition  of  Constantinople  at  this  time  is  con- 
densed from  Ullmann  :  — 

"  Religious  feeling  like  everything  else  had  become  to  the  idle  and  empty  mind  a  subject 
of  joke  and  amusement.  What  belonged  to  the  theatre  was  brought  into  the  Church,  and  what 
belonged  to  the  Church  into  the  theatre.  The  better  Christian  feelings  were  not  seldom  held 
up  in  comedies  to  the  sneer  of  the  multitude.  Everything  was  so  changed  by  the  Constan- 
tinopolitans  into  light  jesting, 'that  earnestness  was  stripped  of  its  worth  by  wit,  and  that 
which  is  holy  became  a  subject  for  banter  and  scoffing  in  the  refined  conversation  of  worldly 
people.  Yet  worse  was  it  that  tlie  unbridled  delight  of  these  men  in  dissipating  enjoyments 
threatened  to  turn  the  Church  into  a  theatre,  and  the  Preacher  into  a  play  actor.  If  he 
would  please  the  multitude,  he  must  adapt  himself  to  their  taste,  and  entertain  them  amusingly 
in  the  Church.  They  demanded  also  in  the  preaching  something  that  should  please  the  ear, 
glittering  declamation  with  theatrical  gesticulation  ;  and  they  clapped  with  the  same  pleasure 
the  comedian  in  the  holy  place  and  him  on  the  stage.  And  alas  there  were  found  at  that 
period  too  many  preachers  who  preferred  the  applause  of  men  to  their  sotils'  health.  At  this 
period  the  objects  of  the  faith  excited,  particularly  in  Constantinople,  a  very  universal  and 
lively  interest,  which  was  entertained  from  the  Court  downwards,  though  not  always  in  tlie 
most  creditable  manner ;  but  it  was  in  great  part  not  the  interest  of  the  heart,  but  that  of  a 
hypercritical  and  disputatious  intellect,  where  it  was  not  something  far  lower,  to  which  the 
dispute  about  matters  of  faith  served  only  as  a  pretext  for  attaining  the  exterior  aims  of 
avarice  or  ambition.  While  the  sanctifying  and  beatifying  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  which  are 
directed  to  the  conversion  of  the  whole  inner*  man  were  let  lie  quiet,  everyone  from  the 
Emperor  to  the  beggar  busied  himself  with  incredible  interest  about  a  few  questions  con- 
cerning which  the  Gospel  communicates  only  just  so  much  as  is  beneficial  to  the  human  spirit 
and  necessary  to  salvation,  and  whose  fidler  expression  at  any  rate  belongs  rather  to  the 
school  than  to  practical  life.  But  the  more  violently  the.se  doctrinal  disputes  were  kindled, 
disturbing  and  dividing  States,  cities,  and  families,  so  much  the  more  i)eople  lost  sight  of  the 
practical  essentials  of  Christianity ;  it  seemed  more  important  to  maintain  the  Tri-unity  of  God 
than  to  love  God  with  all  the  heart;  to  acknowledge  the  Consubstantiality  of  the  Son,  than 
to  follow  Him  in  humility  and  selfdenial ;  to  defend  the  Personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  than 
to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  love,  peace,  righteousness.  ...  In  addition  to  these 
religious  disputes  came  also  political  struggles,  namely,  the  hard-fought  wars  of  the  Roman 
Empire  with  the  Goths ;  so  that  the  Empire  at  large  presented  the  picture  of  a  sea,  tossed  by 


THE   LIFE.  197 


violent  storms.  But  the  unhappy  schisms  which  at  this  time  were  severing  Christians  every- 
where, shewed  themselves  in  a  particularly  discouraging  form  in  the  Capital.  Under  the  late 
rei<7ns  several  parties  had  been  favoured  ;  but  especially  those  which,  though  again  divided 
among  themselves  by  differences  of  opinion,  yet  agreed  in  this  that  they  all  rejected  the 
Nicene  system  of  doctrine.  Constantius  had  bestowed  his  favour  on  the  Arians  ;  Julian 
during  his  short  reign  on  all  parties,  at  least  in  appearance, — to  crush  them  all.  After  Jovian's 
early  death  Valens  succeeded  to  power  in  the  East,  and  with  him,  even  more  than  with 
Constantius,  Arianism,  which  he  not  only  protected,  but  also  sought  to  make  predominant  by 
horrible  atrocities  against  the  friends  of  the  Nicene  Decrees.  These  had  now  been  forbidden 
the  use  of  all  Churches  and  Church  property  ;  and  the  Arians  had  been  put  in  possession  of 
them.  But  Constantinople  still  remained  the  scene  of  ecclesiastical  strifes  and  partizanships. 
Here  where  with  a  little  good  so  much  evil  flowed  from  all  three  parts  of  the  world,  all  opin- 
ions had  their  adherents  ;  but  the  following  parties  in  particular  shewed  themselves  : — The 
Eunomia-ns,  professing  an  intellectual  theology,  which  claimed  to  be  able  completely  to 
explore  the  Being  of  God  by  logical  definitions,  and  maintained  in  strict  Arian  fashion  the 
Unlikeness  of  the  Son  to  the  Father,  were  very  numerous  in  Constantinople  (as  is  shewn  by 
the  fact  that  most  of  Gregory's  polemical  utterances  were  directed  against  them),  and  injured 
earnest  religious  thought  principally  by  this,  that  they  used  the  doctrines  of  the  faith  exclu- 
sively as  subjects  for  an  argumentative  dialectic.  The  Macedonians,  addicted  to  the  Semi- 
Arian  dogma  of  the  Like  Substance,  and  thereby  somewhat  more  nearly  approaching  the 
Orthodox,  and  distinguished  besides  by  an  estimable  earnestness  of  demeanour,  and  a  monk- 
like strictness  of  manner,  were  indeed  themselves  excluded  by  the  pure  Arians  from  the 
property  of  the  Church,  but  were  ever  being  abundantly  multiplied,  partly  in  Constantinople 
itself,  partly  in  the  neighbouring  regions  of  the  Hellespont,  Thrace,  Bithynia,  and  Phrygia. 
The  Novatians,  who  even  overstepped  the  Macedonians  in  the  strictness  of  their  practical 
principles,  had  somewhat  earlier  been  on  the  point  of  uniting  themselves  with  the  Orthodox, 
from  whom  they  did  not  differ  on  the  chief  doctrine  in  dispute,  and  with  whom  they  found 
themselves  under  like  oppression  from  the  Arians  ;  but  the  malevolent  disposition  of  a  few 
of  the  party  leaders  had  stood  in  the  way,  and  so  they  remained  separate,  and  swelled  the 
number  of  the  opponents  of  Orthodoxy.  Lastly  the  Apollinarians  too  began  to  establish 
themselves  there.  Their  teaching  was  opposed  to  the  acknowledgment  of  true  and  perfect 
Manhood  in  Jesus  (for  true  Manhood  lies  in  the  reason  especially)  ;  and  there  was  at  that 
time,  as  Gregory  informs  us,  a  report  that  an  assembly  of  Apollinarian  bishops  was  to  be  held 
at  Constantinople,  with  a  view  of  raising  their  teaching  as  to  Christ  into  general  notice,  and 
forcing  it  upon  the  Churches. 

In  such  a  crisis  Gregory  came  most  unwillingly  to  the  Capital.  At  first  he  lodged  in 
the  house  of  a  relation  of  his  own,  part  of  which  he  arranged  as  a  Chapel,  and  dedicated  under 
the  title  Anastasia,  as  the  place  where  the  Catholic  faith  was  to  rise  again.  There  he  began 
at  once  to  carry  out  the  rule  of  the  Church  as  to  daily  service,  to  which  he  added  his  own 
splendid  preaching. 

His  constant  theme  was  the  worship  of  the  Trinity.  After  two  Sermons  in  deprecation 
of  religious  contentiousness,  he  preached  those  famous  Five  Orations  which  have  won  for  him 
the  title  of  the  Theologian.  To  analyse  these  belongs  to  another  portion  of  this  work ;  it 
will  be  enough  in  this  place  to  say,  that  after  warning  his  audience  against  the  frivolity  with 
which  the  Arians  were  dragging  religious  subjects  of  the  most  solemn  kind  into  the  most 
unsuitable  places  and  occasions,  he  proceeds  in  four  magnificent  discourses  to  set  forth  the 
Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  shewing  carefully  the  difference  between  Sabellian  confusion 
of  Persons  and  Tritheistic  division  of  Substance.     The  Arians,  however,   persecuted  him 


198  PROLEGOMENA. 


bitterly ;  even,  on  one  occasion  at  least,  hiring  an  assassin  to  murder  him ;  and  their  persecu- 
tion was  all  the  more  bitter  because  of  the  wonderful  success  which  attended  Gregory's 
preaching.  S.  Jerome,  who  came  to  Constantinople  at  this  time,  has  left  on  record  the 
pleasure  with  which  he  listened  to  and  conversed  with  the  great  Defender  of  the  Faith. 

Unfortunately  Gregory  now  let  himself  be  taken  in  by  a  plausible  adventurer  named 
Maximus,  who  had  come  to  Constantinople  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  Bishopric  for  himself. 
He  attached  himself  to  Gregory  and  won  his  confidence,  the  latter  even  going  so  far  as  to 
deliver  a  panegyric  upon  him  as  a  sufferer  for  the  Faith.  After  a  short  time,  however, 
Maximus  managed  to  procure  his  own  consecration  secretly  from  some  Egyptian  Bishops,  who 
during  an  illness  of  Gregory  enthroned  him  at  night  in  the  Church.  In  the  morning,  when 
the  people  discovered  what  had  been  done,  they  were  very  indignant,  and  Maximus  and  his 
friends  were  driven  out  of  the  Church  and  forced  to  leave  the  City.  Meanwhile  the  rank  and 
fashion  of  Constantinople  began  to  dislike  Gregory,  who  would  not  condescend  to  the  arts  of 
the  popular  preacher,  and  whose  simple  retiring  life  and  gentle  demeanour  were  made  matter 
of  reproach  to  him.  Gregory  was  quite  willing  to  retire,  and  was  only  prevented  from  doing 
so  by  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  his  friends,  who  solemnly  assured  him  that  if  he  went  away 
the  Faith  would  depart  with  him  ;  so  he  consented  to  remain  till  a  fitter  man  could  be  found. 
Late  in  380  Theodosius  came  to  Constantinople,  where  almost  his  first  act  was  to  deprive  the 
Arians  of  the  Churches,  and  to  put  Gregory  in  possession  of  the  Cathedral  of  S.  Sophia.  The 
next  year  the  great  Council  of  Eastern  Bishops,  which  ranks  as  the  Second  Ecumenical 
Council,  met  at  the  Capital,  under  the  presidency  of  Meletius  of  Antioch.  Its  first  care  was 
to  sanction  the  translation  of  Gregory  from  the  See  of  Sasima  to  that  of  the  Metropolis  of 
the  Empire,  and  to  enthrone  him  in  S.  Sophia,  and  thus  he  became  the  recognised  Archbishop 
of  the  Imperial  City.  Meletius  shortly  afterwards  died,  and  Gregory  assumed  the  Presidency 
of  the  Council.  He  failed  in  his  endeavours  to  heal  the  schism  which  was  troubling  the 
Church  of  Antioch  ;  and  when  the  Egyptian  Bishops  on  their  arrival  shewed  a  disposition  to 
take  up  the  case  of  Maximus,  and  were  determined  at  any  rate  to  oust  Gregory  from  the 
Patriarchal  Throne  on  the  ground  of  a  Nicene  canon  forbidding  translations,  which  had 
virtually  been  rescinded  by  the  act  of  the  Council,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  resign.  He 
obtained  a  reluctant  assent  to  this  course  from  the  Emperor,  and  then  took  leave  of  the  Synod 
in  one  of  the  most  magnificent  of  all  his  Orations,  in  which  he  gives  a  graphic  account  of  his 
work  in  the  Metropolis.  Nectarius,  Prefect  of  the  City,  who  was  only  a  catechumen,  was 
elected  in  his  place,  and  Gregory  went  home  to  Nazianzus.  He  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  therefor  ahttle  while,  and  then,  having  procured  the  election  of  Eulalius  as  Bishop,  he 
retired  to  Arianzus,  where  he  passed  the  few  remaining  years  of  his  life  in  seclusion,  but  still 
continued  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  His  own  city  was  greatly 
disturbed  by  Apollinarian  teachers,  whose  efforts  to  establish  themseh^es  within  the  Church 
were  very  persevering.  Apollinarius,  or  as  he  is  frequently  called  in  the  West,  Apollinaris, 
was  a  Bishop  of  Laodicea  in  the  latter  half  of  the  Fourth  Century,  and  was  at  one  time  greatly 
respected  for  his  learning  and  orthodoxy  by  S.  Athanasius  and  S.  Basil.  He  was  even  an 
instructor  of  S.  Jerome  in  374,  but  he  seceded  from  the  Church  in  the  next  year,  owing  to 
views  which  he  liad  come  to  hold  about  the  nature  of  our  Lord  ;  these  really  prepared  the 
way  for  various  forms  of  the  Monophysite  heresy.  He  fell  into  the  error  of  a  partial  denial 
of  our  Lord's  true  Humanity,  attributing  to  Christ  a  human  body  and  a  human  soul,  but  not 
a  reasoning  spirit,  whose  place,  according  to  him,  was  supplied  by  the  Divine  Logos.  This 
view  had  first  appeared  in  362,  when  it  came  before  a  Council  at  Alexandria.  Those  who 
were  accused  of  holding  it  denied  it,  and  expressed  their  sense  of  the  absurdity  of  such  a 
view,  pointing  out  that   our  Lord  could  not  be  said   to  be  really  incarnate  if  He  had  no 


THE   LIFE.  199 


human  mind  ;  but  about  369  it  assumed  a  definite  form  (though  even  then  it  was  not  known 
to  be  the  teaching  of  ApolUnarius).  Arguing  from  the  Divinity  of  Christ  that  He  cannot 
have  had  a  human  mind,  for  if  he  had  He  would  have  had  sinful  inclinations,  and  the  one 
Christ  would  have  been  two  persons,  ApoUinarius  and  his  followers  went  on  to  maintain  that 
the  Incarnation  only  meant  a  certain  converse  between  God  and  Man  ;  and  that  Christ's 
Body  was  not  really  born  of  Mary,  but  was  a  part  of  the  Godhead  converted  into  flesh.  S. 
Athanasius  wrote  two  Books  against  these  two  propositions,  but  did  not  name  ApoUinarius, 
most  probably  because  he  did  not  believe  him  to  be  committed  to  them.  The  fundamental 
error  of  the  system  was  the  idea  that  the  Incarnation  was,  not  the  Union  of  the  two  Natures, 
but  only  a  blending  ?,o  close,  that  in  the  mind  of  these  teachers  all  the  Divine  Attributes  were 
transferred  to  the  human  nature,  and  all  the  human  ones  to  the  Divine,  and  the  two  were 
merged  in  one  compound  being. 

In  377  a  Roman  Synod  excommunicated  ApoUinarius  and  his  adherents,  and  S.  Damasus 
wrote  a  letter  containing  twenty-five  anathemas,  which  he  sent  to  Paulinas  of  Antioch  and 
others.  This  condemnation  is  in  almost  the  identical  words  used  by  S.  Gregory  in  the  first 
of  two  letters  on  the  question  which  he  wrote  to  Cledonius,  a  Priest  of  Nazianzus,  and  which 
were  adopted  as  symbolic  at  the  Councils  of  Ephesus  and  Chalcedon.  Of  these  letters  Canon 
Bright  ^'  says  that  they  belong  to  that  class  of  documents  of  the  Fourth  Century  which  refuted 
by  anticipation  the  heresies  of  the  Fifth.  Gregory  affirmed  True  Godhead  and  True  Man- 
hood to  be  combined  in  the  One  Person  of  the  Crucified,  Who  was  the  adorable  Son,  Whose 
Mother  was  the  Mother  of  God,  and  Who  assumed,  in  order  to  redeem  it,  the  entire  nature 
that  fell  in  Adam.  In  his  seclusion,  says  Mr.  Crake,  his  sole  luxuries  were  a  garden  and  a 
fountain.  He  spent  his  last  days  in  continual  devotion.  His  knees  were  worn  with  kneeling, 
and  his  whole  thoughts  and  aspirations  had  gone  before  to  the  long  home  to  which  he  was 
hastening.  After  the  manner  of  the  Saints,  he  was  very  rigorous  in  his  self-denial.  His  bed 
was  of  straw  with  a  covering  of  sackcloth,  and  a  single  tunic  was  all  the  outward  clothing  of 
him  who  had  been  Bishop  of  Constantinople.  Yet  his  glory  was  only  in  the  Lord.  "  As  a 
fish  cannot  swim  without  water,  and  a  bird  cannot  fly  withoirt  air,  he  said,  so  a  Christian 
cannot  advance  a  single  step  without  Christ."  He  died  in  391,  and  in  the  same  year  that 
he  passed  from  the  roll  of  the  earthly  episcopate  Augustine  was  ordained  Priest  at  Hippo 
Regius  in  Africa. 

Ullmann  gives  the  following  description  of  his  character  and  personal  appearance : 
"  Gregory  was  of  middle  height  and  somewhat  pale  ;  but  his  pallor  became  him.  His  hair 
was  thick  and  blanched  by  age,  his  short  beard  and  conspicuous  eyebrows  were  thicker.  On 
his  right  eye  he  had  a  scar.  His  manner  was  friendly  and  attractive ;  his  conduct  simple. 
The  keynote  of  his  inner  being  was  piety ;  his  soul  was  full  of  fiery  strength  of  faith,  turned 
to  God  and  Christ ;  a  lofty  zeal  for  divine  things  led  him  all  his  life.  This  zeal  manifested 
itself  above  all  in  a  steadfast  adherence  to  and  defence  of  certain  dogmas  which  that  age  held 
to  be  specially  important ;  as  well  as  in  lively  conflicts,  not  always  free  from  partisanship, 
with  opposing  convictions ;  but  not  less  in  a  hearty  and  living  apprehension  of  practical 
Christianity,  tlie  establishment  and  enlargement  of  which  in  men's  minds  was  to  him  all 
important.  His  asceticism  was  overdone  ;  it  injured  his  health  ;  yet  it  did  not  degenerate 
into  hypocrisy;  it  was  to  him  the  means  for  elevating  and  liberating  the  mind,  but  not  in 
and  for  its  own  sake  a  higher  virtue.  An  inborn  and  inbred  love  of  solitude  hindered  him 
from  turning  all  his  powers  to  a  publicly  useful  activity.  His  seclusion  did  not  allow  him  to 
become  familiar  with  the  knowledge  of  men  and  of  the  world  ;  lacking  in  knowledge  of  men, 
carelessly  confident,  sometimes  distrustful  and  bitter  in  his  judgment  of  others,  he  demanded 

"  Ch,  Hist.,  181. 


200  PROLEGOMENA. 


from  others  much,  but  from  himself  most.  Susceptible  of  great  resolves,  and  full  of  fiery  zeal 
for  all  good,  he  was  not  always  steadfast  and  persevering  in  carrying  them  out.  In  endurance 
and  conflict  he  was  noble  and  high-minded  ;  in  victory  moderate ;  in  prosperity  humble ; 
never  flattering  the  great,  but  an  ever  ready  helper  to  the  oppressed  and  persecuted,  and 
to  the  poor  a  loving  father.  The  most  excellent  qualities  were  in  Gregory  mingled  with 
faults ;  he  was  not  quite  free  from  vanity  ;  he  was  very  irritable  and  sensitive,  but  also  readily 
forgave  and  cherished  no  grudges.  He  was  a  man  feeling  after  holiness,  and  striving  after 
the  highest  good,  but  not  perfect,  as  no  man  upon  earth  is." 

Before  leaving  Constantinople  he  made  his  will,  in  which  he  bequeathed  all  his  property 
to  the  Deacon  Gregory  for  life,  with  reversion  to  the  poor  of  Nazianzus. 


DIVISION  II. 

The  Writings. 

I.  The  Orations. — These — forty-five  in  number — raise  him  to  equality  with  the  best 
Orators  of  antiquity. 

a.  The  Five  Theological  Orations. — These  won  him  the  title  of  The  Theologian. ^  They 
were  delivered  in  Constantinople,  in  defence  of  the  Church's  faith  in  the  Trinity,  against 
Eunomians  and  Macedonians.  In  the  First  and  Second  he  treats  of  the  existence,  nature, 
being,  and  attributes  of  God,  so  far  as  man's  finite  intellect  can  comprehend  them.  In  the 
Third  and  Fourth  the  subject  is  the  Godhead  of  the  Son,  which  he  establishes  by  exposition  of 
Scripture,  and  by  refutation  of  the  specious  arguments  brought  forward  by  the  heretics.  In 
the  Fifth  he  similarly  maintains  the  Deity  and  Personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

b.  The  Two  Invectives  against  Julian. — These  were  delivered  at  Nazianzus  after  the  death 
of  the  Emperor,  and  present  us  with  a  very  dark  picture  of  his  character.  The  orator  dwells 
upon  his  attempt  to  rebuild  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  its  failure,  and  his  overthrow  in  the 
campaign  against  Persia.  From  these  facts  he  demonstrates  the  power  of  God's  Justice,  and 
sets  forth  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Providence  inculcating  a  lesson  of  trust  in 
God. 

c.  Moral  Orations. — (i)  The  Apology  for  his  flight.  As  was  said  above,  it  is  most 
probable  that  this  discourse  was  never  actually  spoken  ;  if  it  was,  it  certainly  must  have  been 
considerably  enlarged  afterwards.  In  it  Gregory  dwells  on  the  motive  of  his  flight  and  his 
return  after  his  forced  ordination  ;  he  speaks  of  his  lo\-e  of  retirement,  but  most  of  all  lays 
stress  upon  the  difficulty  of  the  Priestly  Office,  its  heavy  responsibilities  and  grave  dangers, 
and  upon  his  own  sense  of  unworthiness.  His  return,  he  says,  was  prompted  by  respect  for 
his  hearers  and  by  care  for  his  aged  parents:  by  the  fear  of  losing  his  father's  blessing  ; 
and  by  the  recollection  of  what  befel  the  Prophet  Jonas  on  account  of  his  resistance  to  the 
will  of  God.  The  remainder  of  the  Oration  is  practically  a  treatise  on  the  Priesthood,  and 
was  made  use  of  by  S.  Chrysostom  and  S.  Gregory  the  Great  in  their  books  on  the  subject. 

(2)  The  Farewell  Oration  at  Constantinople,  containing  an  account  of  his  work  there. 

(3)  On  Love  of  the  Poor. 

(4)  On  the  Indissolubility  of  Marriage,  the  only  Sermon  of  S.  Gregory  on  a  definite  text 
which  has  come  down  to  us. 

(5)  Three  Orations  on  Peace. 

(6)  One  on  Moderation  in  theological  discussion. 


I 


1  In  the  narrower  sense  of  "  Defender  of  the  Godhead  of  the  Word." 


LITERATURE.  201 


d.  The  Festal  Orations. — On  Christmas,  Epiphany  (on  the  Baptism  of  Christ  in  the  river 
Jordan,  followed  up  next  day  by  a  long  one  on  Holy  Baptism),  two  on  Easter  (one  of  these 
his  first  sermon,  the  other  almost  if  not  quite  his  last).     On   Low  Sunday,  and  on  Pentecost. 

e.  Panegyrics  on  Saints. — The  Maccabee  Brothers  and  their  Mother ;  S.  Cyprian  of 
Carthage  (m  which  there  is  evidence  of  the  cultus  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  of  the 
practice  of  invocation  of  the  Saints)  ;  and  on  S.  x\thanasius. 

f.  Funeral  Orations  on  Eminent  People. — On  his  Father,  preached  before  his  Mother  and 
S.  Basil.  On  Caesarius,  in  presence  of  his  parents,  consoling  them  by  the  picture  of  his 
brother's  virtue,  especially  in  having  withstood  Julian's  efforts  to  pervert  him,  and  in  resign- 
ing his  post  at  Court  and  leaving  the  Capital.  On  Gorgonia,  whom  he  praises  as  a  model 
Christian  Matron,  and  whose  wonderful  cure  before'  the  Altar  he  relates.      On  S.  Basil. 

g.  Occasional  Orations,  oi  \\\\\q\\  we  mention  three:  (i)  On  a  plague  of  hail.  (2)  On 
the  consecration  of  Eulalius  of  Doara.      (3)   On  his  own  consecration  to  Sasima. 

II.  The  Letters,  of  which  two  hundred  and  forty-three  are  extant,  are  characterised  by 
a  clear,  concise,  and  pleasant  style  and  spirit.  Some  of  them  treat  of  the  theological  questions 
of  the  day,  as  for  example  the  two  to  Cledonius,  and  one  to  Nectarius  his  Successor  in  the  See 
of  Constantinople ;  these  deal  with  the  Apollinarian  errors.  Most  of  them  however  are 
letters  to  private  friends  ;  sometimes  of  condolence  or  congratulation,  sometimes  of  recom- 
mendation, sometimes  on  mere  general  subjects  of  interest.  To  this  section  must  be  ascribed 
his  Will,  which  is  probably  genuine. 

III.  The  Poems,  five  hundred  and  seven  in  number,  are  in  various  metres.  While  leaving 
much  to  be  desired,  these  verses  shew  much  real  poetic  feeling,  and  at  times  rise  to  genuine 
beauty.  Thirty-eight  are  dogmatic,  on  the  Trinity,  on  the  works  of  God  in  Creation,  on 
Providence,  on  Angels  and  Men,  on  the  Fall,  on  the  Decalogue,  on  the  Prophets  Elias  and 
Elissaeus,  on  the  Incarnation,  the  Miracles  and  Parables  of  our  Lord,  and  the  canonical  Books 
of  the  Bible.  Forty  are  Moral  ;  two  hundred  and  six  Historical  and  Autobiographical ; 
one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  are  Epitaphs,  or  rather  fimeral  Epigrams ;  -  ninety-four  are 
Epigrams. 

There  is  also  a  long  Tragedy,  called  Christus  Patiens  which  is  the  first  known  attempt  at 
a  Christian  drama;  the  parts  are  sustained  by  Christ,  The  Blessed  Virgin,  S.  Joseph,  S.  Mary 
Magdalene,  Nicodemus,  Pontius  Pilate,  Theologus,  Nuntius,  and  others.  The  Benedictine 
Editors  however  doubt  the  genuineness  of  this  Tragedy  and  Caillau,  who  published  the 
second  volume  of  this  Edition  after  the  troubles  of  the  French  Revolution,  thinks  it  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  another  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Antioch  in  the  Sixth  Century,  and  relegates  it  to  an 
Appendix.  None  of  The  Theologian's  Odes  or  Hymns  have,  however,  found  a  place  in  the 
liturgical  poetry  of  the  Church. 


DIVISION  III. 

Literature. 

There  are  perhaps  more  MSS.  of  the  works  of  Gregory  than  of  any  other  Father.  The 
great  Benedictine  Edition  of  his  works  contains  long  lists  of  MSS.,  and  of  Versions,  and  pre- 
vious Editions.  The  most  famous  of  these  is  that  of  the  Abbat  Jacobus  Billius  in  1589, 
which  was  accompanied  by  the  Scholia  of  Nicetas,  etc.  In  1571  Leuvenklavius  pubHshed  an 
edition  at  Basle  containing  the  Scholia  of  Elias  Cretensis  and  others.  In  1778  appeared  the 
first  volume  of  the  great  Edition  of  the  Benedictine  Fathers  of  the  Abbey  of  S.  Maur  near 
Paris,  which  had  been  in  preparation  ever  since  1708.     But  the  Monks  were  driven  away  by 


202  PROLEGOMENA. 


the  French  Revolution,  and  the  second  volume  did  not  appear  till  1842.  It  has  been  re- 
printed in  Migne's  "  Patrologia  Graeca  ;  "  vols.  35-38.  Of  modern  works  on  the  life  and 
writings  of  our  Saint,  the  best  are  those  of  Dr.  Ullmann,  and  that  of  the  Abbe  Benoit.  A 
valuable  comparison  of  Gregory  and  Basil  is  to  be  found  in  Newman's  "  Church  of  the  Fathers," 
and  last,  but  not  least  in  value,  may  be  mentioned  the  long  biographical  article  by  Professor 
Watkins  in  Smith's  ''Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography,"  and  a  useful  short  summary  in 
Schaff's  Church  History  (311-600,  vol.  ii. ). 


I 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


ORATION  I. 
On  Easter  and  His   Reluctance. 

I.  It  is  the  Day  of  the  Resurrection,  and  my 
Beginning  has  good  auspices.  Let  us  then 
keep  the  Festival  with  splendour,*  and  let  us 
embrace  one  another.  Let  us  say  Brethren, 
even  to  those  who  hate  us  ;  much  more  to 
those  who  have  done  or  suffered  aught  out  of 
love  for  us.  Let  us  forgive  all  offences  for  the 
Resurrection's  sake :  let  us  give  one  another 
pardon,  I  for  the  noble  tyranny  which  I  have 
suffered  (for  I  can  now  call  it  noble)  ;  and  you 
who  exercised  it,  if  you  had  cause  to  blame  my 
tardiness ;  for  perhaps  this  tardiness  may  be 
more  precious  in  God's  sight  than  the  haste  of 
others.  For  it  is  a  good  thing  even  to  hold 
back  from  God  for  a  little  while,  as  did  the 
great  Moses  of  old,^  and  Jeremiah  v  later  on  ; 
and  then  to  run  readily  to  Him  when  He  calls, 
as  did  Aaron  ^  and  Isaiah, «  so  only  both  be 
done  in  a  dutiful  spirit ; — the  former  because 
of  his  own  want  of  strength ;  the  latter  be- 
cause of  the  Might  of  Him  That  calleth. 

II.  A  Mystery  ^  anointed  me  ;  I  withdrew  a 
little  Avhile  at  a  Mystery,  as  much  as  was  need- 
ful to  examine  myself;  now  I  come  in  with  a 
Mystery,  bringing  with  me  the  Day  as  a  good 
defender  of  my  cowardice  and  weakness  ;  that 
He  Who  to-day  rose  again  from  the  dead  may 
renew  me  also  by  His  Spirit ;  and,  clothing 
me  with  the  new  Man,  may  give  me  to  His 
New  Creation,  to  those  who  are  begotten  after 
God,  as  a  good  modeller  and  teacher  for 
Christ,  willingly  both  dying  with  Him  and 
rising  again  with  Him. 

III.  Yesterday  the  Lamb  was  slain  and  the 
door-posts  were  anointed,''  and  Egypt  bewailed 
her  Firstborn,  and  the  Destroyer  passed  us 
over,  and  the  Seal  was  dreadful  and  reverend, 
and  we  were  walled  in  with  the  Precious  Blood. 


o  Isa.  Ixvi.  5.  (3  Ex.  iv.  10.  7jer.  i.  6.  &  Ex.  iv.  27. 

elsa.  i.  6. 

i  Mystery,  according  to  Nicetas,  is  frequently  used  by  .S. 
Gkegorv  in  the  sense  of  FestiTnl.  He  also  explains  the 
Anointing  Ai  meaning  the  Imposition  of  hands  at  Ordination. 

1)  Ex.  xii.     A  fine  piece  of  mystical  interpretation. 


To-day  we  have  clean  escaped  from  Egypt  and 
from  Pharaoh  ;  and  there  is  none  to  hinder  us 
from  keeping  a  Feast  to  the  Lord  our  God — 
the  Feast  of  our  Departure ;  or  from  celebrat- 
ing that  Feast,  not  in  the  old  leaven  of  malice 
and  wickedness,  but  in  the  unleavened  bread 
of  sincerity  and  truth,"  carrying  with  us  noth- 
ing of  ungodly  and  Egyptian  leaven. 

IV.  Yesterday  I  was  crucified  with  Him  ;  to- 
day I  am  glorified  with  Him  ;  yesterday  I  died 
with  Him  ;  to-day  I  am  quickened  with  Him  ; 
yesterday  I  was  buried  with  Him  ;  to-day  1  rise 
with  Him.  But  let  us  offer  to  Him  Who  suf- 
fered and  rose  again  for  us — you  will  think 
perhaps  that  I  am  going  to  say  gold,  or  silver, 
or  woven  work  or  transparent  and  costly  stones, 
the  mere  passing  material  of  earth,  that  re- 
mains here  below,  and  is  for  the  most  part  al- 
ways possessed  by  bad  men,  slaves  of  the  world 
and  of  the  Prince  of  the  world.  Let  us  offer 
ourselves,  the  possession  most  precious  to  God, 
and  most  fitting ;  let  us  give  back  to  the 
Image  what  is  made  after  the  Image.  Let  us 
recognize  our  Dignity ;  let  us  honour  our 
ArchetyjDe ;  let  us  know  the  power  of  the  Mys- 
tery, and  for  what  Christ  died. 

V.  Let  us  become  like  Christ,  since  Christ 
became  like  us.  Let  us  become  God's  for  His 
sake,  since    He  for  ours  became  Man.      He 


assumed    the   worse    that  He  might   give   us 


the  better ;  He  became  poor  that  we  through 
His  poverty  might  be  rich;^  He  took  upon 
Him  the  form  of  a  servant  that  we  might 
receive  back  our  liberty  ;  He  came  down  that 
we  might  be  exalted  ;  He  was  tempted  that  we 
might  conquer  ;  He  was  dishonoured  that  He 
might  glorify  us ;  He  died  that  He  might 
save  us ;  He  ascended  that  He  might  draw  to 
Himself  us,  who  were  lying  low  in  the  Fall 
of  sin.  Let  us  give  all,  offer  all,  to  Him 
Who  gave  Himself  a  Ransom  and  a  Reconcili- 
ation for  us.  But  one  can  give  nothing  Hke 
oneself,  understanding  the  Mj-stery,  and  be- 
coming for  His  sake  all  that  He  became  for 
ours. 


a  I  Cor.  V.  8. 


^  2  Cor.  viii.  9. 


204 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


VI.  As  you  see,  He  offers  you  a  Shepherd  ; 
for  this  is  what  your  Good  Shepherd,''  who  lays 
down  his  Hfe  for  his  sheep,  is  hoping  and  pray- 
ing for,  and  he  asks   from   you  his  subjects ; 
and  he  gives  you  himself  double  instead  of 
single,  and  makes  the  staff  of  his  old  age  a  staff 
for  your  spirit.    And  he  adds  to  the  inanimate 
temple   a   living   one ;     to    that    exceedingly 
beautiful  and  heavenly  shrine,  this  poor  and 
small   one,^  yet  to  him  of  great  value,  and 
built  too  with  much  sweat  and  many  labours. 
Would  that  I  could  say    it  is  worthy  of  his 
labours.     And  he  places  at  your  disposal  all 
that  belongs  to  him  (O  great  generosity  ! — or 
it  would  be  truer  to  say,  O  fatherly  love  !)  his 
hoar  hairs,   his   youth,    the  temple,   the  high 
priest,    the  testator,   the  heir,   the  discourses 
which  you  were  longing  for  ;   and  of  these  not 
such  as  are  vain  and  poured  out  into  the  air, 
and  which  reach  no  further  than  the  outward 
ear;   but  those   which   the   Spirit  writes  and 
engraves  on  tables  of  stone,  or  of  flesh,  not 
merely  superficially  graven,  nor  easily  to  be 
rubbed  off,    but  marked  very  deep,  not  with 
ink,  but  with  grace. 

VII.  These  are  the  gifts  given  you  by  this 
august  Abraham,  this  honourable  and  reverend 
Head,  this  Patriarch,  this  Restingplace  of  all 
good,  this  Standard  of  virtue,  this  Perfection  of 
the  Priesthood,  who  to-day  is  bringing  to  the 
Lord  his  wiUing  Sacrifice,  his  only  Son,v  him 
of  the  promise.  Do  you  on  your  side  offer  to 
God  and  to  us  obedience  to  your  Pastors, 
dwelling  in  a  place  of  herbage,  and  being  fed 
by  water  of  refreshment ;  ^  knowing  your 
Shepherd  well,  and  being  known  by  him  ; « 
and  following  when  he  calls  you  as  a  Shepherd 
frankly  through  the  door  ;  but  not  following  a 
stranger  climbing  up  into  the  fold  like  a  robber 
and  a  traitor  ;  nor  listening  to  a  strange  voice 
when  such  would  take  you  away  by  stealth  and 
scatter  you  from  the  truth  on  mountains,^  and 
in  deserts,  and  pitfalls,  and  places  which  the 
Lord  does  not  visit ;  and  would  lead  you  away 
from  the  sound  Faith  in  the  Father,  the  Son, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  One  Power  and  God- 
head, Whose  Voice  my  sheep  always  heard 
(and   may    they   always  hear    it),    but    with 


aNiCETAS  says  that  this  refers  to  S.  Gregory's  Kalber,  who 
had  ordained  him  Priest,  to  assist  him  in  the  Cure  of"  Souls,  and 
whose  one  desire  was  that  his  Son  might  succeed  him  in  the 
Bishopric. 

3  S.  Grecorv's  father  had,  according  to  the  same  authority,  re- 
built the  Church  at  Nazianus  with  great  spli-ndour.  He  thinks 
that  the  expression  "heavenly  "  may  refer  to  the  great  dome.  The 
'■living  temple"  is  of  course  S.  Gregory  himself. 

■y  S.  Gregory  had  an  elder  sister  Gorc;onia,  and  a  younger 
brother  CAFS^Ru:s,  so  that  this  expression  must  not  be  taken  too 
literally,  but  is  rather  to  be  read  in  connection  with  the  '•  promise," 
his  Mother  bavins;  looked  upon  his  birth  as  a  special  answer  to 
pr.ayer,  and  having  dedicated  him  to  God  from  his  infancy. 

6Ps.  xxiii.  2.  e  John  x.  14.  f  Ezek.  xxxiv.  6. 


deceitful  and  corrupt  words  would  tear  them 
from  their  true  Shepherd.  From  which  may 
we  all  be  kept.  Shepherd  and  flock,  as  from 
a  poisoned  and  deadly  pasture  ;  guiding  and 
being  guided  far  away  from  it,  that  we  may  all 
be  one  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  now  and  unto 
the  heavenly  rest.  To  Whom  be  the  glory 
and  the  might  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

INTRODUCTION  TO  ORATION  II. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  this  Oration  was 
not  intended  for  oral  delivery.  Its  object  was 
to  explain  and  defend  S.  Gregory's  recent  con- 
duct, which  had  been  severely  criticised  by  his 
friends  at  Nazianzus.  He  had  been  recalled  by 
his  father  probably  during  the  )'ear  a.d.  361 
from  Pontus,  where  he  had  spent  several  years 
in  monastic  seclusion  with  his  friend  S.  Basil. 

I 

j  His  father,  not  content  with  his  son's  presence 
I  at  home  as  a  support  for  his  declining  years, 
'  and  feeling  assured  of  his  fitness  for  the  sacred 
I  office,  had  proceeded,  with  the  loudly  expressed 
\  approval  of  the  congregation,  in  spite  of  Greg- 
'  ory's  reluctance,  to  ordain  him  to  the  priest- 
I  hood  on  Christmas  Day  a.d.  361.    S.  Gregory, 
even  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  speaks  of  his 
ordination  as  an  act  of  tyranny,  and  at  the  time, 
j  stung  almost  to  madness,  as  an  ox  by  a  gadfly, 
rushed  away  again  to  Pontus,  to  bury  in  its  con- 
i  genial  solitude,  consoled  by  an  intimate  friend's 
deep  sympathy,  his  wounded  feelings.     Before 
long  the  sense  of  duty  reasserted  itself,  and  he 
returned  to  his  post  at  his  father's  side  before 
Easter  a.d.  362.     On  Easter  Day  he  delivered 
his  first  Oration  before  a  congregation  whose 
scantiness  marked  the  displeasure  with  which  the 
people  of  Nazianzus  had  viewed  his  conduct. 
Accordingly  he  set  himself  to  suppl}'  them  in 
this  Oration  with  a  full  explanation  of  the  mo- 
tives which  had  led  to  his  retirement.     At  the 
same  time,  as  the  secondary  title  of  the  Oration 
shows,  he  lias  supplied  an  exposition  of  the  obli- 
gations and  dignity  of  the  Prie.stly  Office  which 
has  been  drawn  upon  by  all  later  writers  on  the 
subject.    S.  Chrysostom  in  his  well-known  trea- 
tise, S.  Gregory  the  Great  in  his  Pastoral  Care, 
and  Bossuet  in  his  panegyric  on  S.  Paul,  have 
done  little  more  than  summarise  the  material 
or  develop  the  considerations  contained  in  this 
eloquent  and  elaborate  dissertation. 

ORATION  II. 
In  Defence  of  his  Flight  to  Pontus,  and 
HIS  Return,  after  his  Ordination  to 
THE  Priesthood,  with  an  Exposition  of 
THE  Character  of  the  Priestly  Office. 
I.  1  have  been  defeated,  and  own  my  de- 
feat.     I    subjected  n^yself  to  the   Lord,   and 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


205 


prayed  unto  Him.*  Let  the  most  blessed 
David  supply  my  exordium,  or  rather  let 
Him  Who  spoke  in  David,  and  even  now  yet 
speaks  through  him.  For  indeed  the  very 
best  order  of  beginning  every  speech  and  ac- 
tion, is  to  begin  from  God,*^  and  to  end  in 
God.  As  to  the  cause,  either  of  my  original 
revolt  and  cowardice,  in  which  I  got  me 
away  far  off,  and  remained  ^  away  from  you 
for  a  time,  which  perhaps  seemed  long  to 
those  who  missed  me ;  or  of  the  present  gen- 
tleness and  change  of  mind,  in  which  I  have 
given  myself  up  again  to  you,  men  may  think 
and  speak  in  different  ways,  according  to  the 
hatred  or  love  they  bear  me,  on  the  one  side 
refusing  to  acquit  me  of  the  charges  alleged, 
on  the  other  giving  me  a  hearty  welcome. 
For  nothing  is  so  pleasant  to  men  as  talking 
of  other  people's  business,  especially  under  the 
influence  of  affection  or  hatred,  which  often 
almost  entirely  blinds  us  to  the  truth.  I  will, 
however,  myself,  unabashed,  set  forth  the 
truth,  and  arbitrate  with  justice  between  the 
two  parties,  which  accuse  or  gallantly  defend 
us,  by,  on  the  one  side,  accusing  myself,  on 
the  other,  undertaking  my  own  defence. 

2.  Accordingly,  that  my  speech  may  pro- 
ceed in  due  order,  I  apply  myself  to  the  ques- 
tion which  aro.se  first,  that  of  cowardice.  For 
I  cannot  endure  that  any  of  those  who  watch 
with  interest  the  success,  or  the  contrary,  of 
my  efforts,  should  be  put  to  confusion  on 
my  account,  since  it  has  pleased  God  that  our 
affairs  should  be  of  some  consequence  to 
Christians,  so  I  will  by  my  defence  relieve, 
if  there  be  any  such,  those  who  have  already 
suffered ;  for  it  is  well,  as  far  as  possible,  and 
as  rea-son  allows,  to  shrink  from  causing, 
through  our  sin  or  suspicion,  any  offence  or 
stumbling-block  to  the  community  :  inasmuch 
as  we  know  how  inevitably  even  those  who 
offend  one  of  the  little  ones  *  will  incur  the  se- 
verest punishment  at  the  hands  of  Him  who 
cannot  lie. 

3.  For  my  present  position  is  due,  my  good 
people,  not  to  inexperience  and  ignorance, 
nay  indeed,  that  I  may  boast  myself  a  little,* 
neither  is  it  due  to  contempt  for  the  divine 
laws  and  ordinances.  Now,  just  as  in  the 
body  there  is^  one  member 'J  which  rules  and, 

aPs.  xxxvii.  7(LXX). 

/3  Begin  fr-ovt  God.  Possibly  an  adaptation  of  the  exordium  of 
Theocr.  Idyll,  xvii.  i.  eic  .^tb?  ap)(u>ixi<76a,  xai  ei?  Ai'a  ArjyeTe,  /xoi- 
trai.  "  Let  Zeus  inspire  our  opening  strain.  And,  Muses,  end 
your  song  in  Zeus  again."     Cf.  Demosth.  Epist.   i. 

V  Ps.  Iv.  7.  S  S.  Matt,  xviil.  6.  ez  Cor.  xi.  16. 

^Ofie  jtionher.  The  Hen.  editors  object  to  this  translation 
(which  is  that  of  Rufinus,  Billius  and  Gabriel)  as  inconsistent  with 
the  foUowint;  allusion  to  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  the  body.  It 
seems,  however,  more  in  harmony  with  the  figure  of  .S.  Paul, 
who  compares  the  arrancrement  of  the  members  oi  the  body  to 
the  hierarchy  of  the  Church.  rj  Rom.  xii.  4  ;  i  Cor.  xii.  12. 


so  to  say,  presides,  while  another  is  ruled  over 
and  subject ;  so  too  in  the  churches,  God  has 
ordained,  according  either  to  a  law  of  equal- 
ity, which  admits  of  an  order  of  merit,  or  to 
one  of  providence,  by  which  He  has  knit  all 
together,  that  those  for  whom  such  treatment  is 
beneficial,  should  be  subject  to  pastoral  care 
and  rule,  and  be  guided  by  word  and  deed  in 
the  path  of  duty  ;  while  others  should  be  pastors 
and  teachers,"  for  the  perfecting  of  the  church, 
those,  I  mean,  who  surpa.ss  the  majority  in  vir- 
tue and  nearness  to  God,  performing  the  func- 
tions of  the  soul  in  the  body,  and  of  the  intel- 
lect in  the  soul ;  in  order  that  both  may  be  so 
united  and  compacted  together,  that,  although 
one  is  lacking  and  another  is  pre-eminent,  they 
may,  like  the  members  of  our  bodies,  be  so 
combined  and  knit  together  by  the  harmony 
of  the  Spirit,  as  to  form  one  perfect  body,^ 
really  worthy  of  Christ  Himself,  our  Head.v 

4.  I  am  aware  then  that  anarchy  ^  and  disor- 
der cannot  be  more  advantageous  than  order  and 
rule,  either  to  other  creatures  or  to  men  ;  nay, 
this  is  true  of  men  in  the  highest  possible  degree, 
because  the  interests  at  stake  in  their  case  are 
greater  ;  since  it  is  a  great  thing  ^  for  them,  even 
if  they  fail  of  their  highest  purpose — to  be  free 
from  sin — to  attain  at  least  to  that  which  is  sec- 
ond best,  restoration  from  sin.  Since  this  seems 
right  and  just,  it  is,  I  take  it,  equally  wrong 
and  disorderly  that  all  should  wish  to  rule, 
and  that  no  one  should  accept  ^  it.  For  if  all 
men  were  to  shirk  this  office,  whether  it  must 
be  called  a  ministry  or  a  leadership,  the  fair 
fulness''  of  the  Church  would  be  halting  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  in  fact  cease  to  be  fair. 
And  further,  where,  and  by  whom  would 
God  be  worshipped  among  us  in  those  mys- 
tic and  elevating  rites  which  are  our  great- 
est and  most  precious  privilege,  if  there  were 
neither  king,  nor  governor,  nor  priesthood, 
nor  sacrifice,^  nor  all  those  highest  offices  to 
the  loss  of  which,  for  their  great  sins,  men 
were  of  old  condemned  in  consequence  of 
their  disobedience  ? 

5.  Nor  indeed  is  it  strange  or  inconsistent  for 
the  majority  of  those  who  are  devoted  to  the 
study  of  divine  things,  to  ascend  to  rule  from 
being  ruled,  nor  does  it  overstep  the  limits 
laid  down  by  philosophy,'  or  involve  disgrace  ; 

0  Eph.  iv.  II.         p  I  Cor.  xii.  20  ;  Eph.  iv.  16.         y  Eph.  iv.  15. 
&  Anarchy,  &^c.     Comp.  Plato  Legg,  XII.  2. 

e  A  great  thing.  The  Ben.  editors  note  the  obscurity  of  the 
original  here. 

C,  Accept,  SexecOai.  Many  MSS.  haveapx^crdai,  preserving  the 
play  upon  the  word  apxeiv.  The  latter  reading,  the  Ben.  editors 
suggest,  fnay  have  an  acti\e  sense,  as  Horn.   II.  II.  345. 

T)  Kph.  i.  23.  0  Hos.  iii.  4. 

1  Philosopky.  <j>i\ocro(l>ia.  is  used  by  S.  Greg,  and  other  Fathers 
in  various  senses,  not  always  clearly  distingui-hable.  Sometimes 
it  refers  to  the  ancient  philosophical  teachers  and  schools  :  some- 
times to  the  Christian  philosophy,  which  inculcates  Divine  truth. 


2o6 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


any  more  than  for  an  excellent  sailor  to  become 
a  lookout-man,  and  for  a  lookout-man,  who 
has  successfully  kept  watch  over  the  winds,  to 
be  entrusted  with  the  helm ;  or,  if  you  will, 
for  a  brave  soldier  to  be  made  a  captain,  and 
a  good  captain  to  become  a  general,  and  have 
committed  to  him  the  conduct  of  the  whole 
campaign.  Nor  again,  as  perhaps  some  of 
those  absurd  and  tiresome  people  may  suppose, 
who  judge  of  others'  feelings  by  their  own,  was 
I  ashamed  of  the  rank  of  this  grade  from  my 
desire  for  a  higher.  I  was  not  so  ignorant 
either  of  its  divine,  greatiie^  or  human  low 
estate,  as  to  think  it  no  great  thing  for  a  created 
nature,  to  approach  in  however  slight  degree  to 
God,  Who  alone  is  most  glorious  and  illus- 
trious, and  surpasses  in  purity  every  nature, 
material  and  immaterial  alike. 

6.  What  then  were  my  feelings,  and  what 
was  the  reason  of  my  disobedience  ?  For  to 
most  men  I  did  not  at  the  time  seem  consistent 
with  mj^elf,  or  to  be  such  as  they  had  known 
me,  but  to  have  undergone  some  deterioration, 
and  to  exhibit  greater  resistance  and  self-will 
than  was  right.  And  the  causes  of  this  you 
have  long  been  desirous  to  hear.  First,  and 
most  important,  I  was  astounded  at  the  unex- 
pectedness of  what  had  occurred,  as  people  are 
terrified  by  sudden  noises ;  and,  losing  the 
control  of  my  reasoning  faculties,  my  self- 
respect,  which  had  hitherto  controlled  me, 
gave  way.  In  the  next  place,  there  came  o\'er 
me  an  eager  longing*  for  the  blessings  of  calm 
and  retirement,  of  which  I  had  from  the  first 
been  enamoured  to  a  higher  degri^e,  I  imagine, 
than  any  other  student  of  letters,  and  which 
amidst  the  greatest  and  most  threatening 
dangers  I  had  promised  to  God,  and  of  which 
I  had  also  had  so  much  experience,  that  I  was 
then  upon  its  threshold,  my  longing  having 
in  consequence  been  greatly  kindled,  so  that  I 
could  not  submit  to  be  thrust  into  the  midst  of 
a  life  of  turmoil  by  an  arbitrary  act  of  oppres- 
sion, and  to  be  torn  away  by  force  from  the 
holy  sanctuary  of  such  a  life  as  this. 

7.  For  nothing  seemed  to  me  .so  desirable 
as  tpdpse  the  doors  of  my  senses,  and,  escap- 
ing from  the  flesh  and  the  world,  collected 
within  myself,  having  no  further  connection 
than  was  absolutely  necessary  with  human  af- 
fairs, and  speaking  to  myself  and  to  God,^ 
to  liye^ujjerior  to  visible  things,  ever  preserv- 

.•>nd  teaches  the  principles  of  a  good  and  huly  life:  sometimes  to 
the  practice  of  these  jirinciplcs.  either  in  regard  to  some  special  vir- 
tiie,  i'-i'.  patience,  or,  in  ceneral.  in  the  lives  of  individual  Chris- 
tians, and  further,  as  involving  the  most  carcfni  and  extensive 
reduction  of  these  principles  to  practice — the  discipline  of  the  mo- 
nastic life.     Cf.  Suicer.  in  verb. 

a  Eitg;er  loHsri'tr.  Nearly  all  MS.S.  read  "pity'" — which  would 
have  to  he  luiderstood  in  the  sense  of  "  regretful  affection." 

Pi  Cor.  xiv.  28. 


ing  in  myself  the  divine  impressions  pure  and 
unmixed  with  the  erring  tokens  of  this  lower 
world,  and  both  being,  and  constantly  growing 
more  and  more  to  be,ji  real  unspotted  mirror  of 
^gd  and  divine  things,  as  light  is  added  to 
light,  and  what  was  still  dark  grew  clearer,  en- 
joying already  by  hope  the  blessings  of  the 
world  to  come,  roaming  about  with  the  angels, 
even  now  being  above  the  earth  by  having  for- 
saken it,  and  stationed  on  high  by  the  'Spirit. 
If  any  of  you  has  been  possessed  by  this  long- 
ing, he  knows  what  I  mean  and  will  sym- 
pathise with  my  feelings  at  that  time.  For, 
perhaps,  I  ought  not  to  expect  to  persuade 
most  people  by  what  I  say,  since  they  are  un- 
happily disposed  to  laugh  at  such  things,  either 
from  their  own  thoughtlessness,  or  from  the  in- 
fluence of  men  unworthy  of  the  promise,  who 
have  bestowed  upon  that  which  is  good  an  evil 
name,  calling  philosophy  nonsense,  aided  by 
envy  and  the  evil  tendencies  of  the  mob,  Avho 
are  ever  inclined  to  grow  worse :  so  that  they 
are  constantly  occupied  with  one  of  two  sins, 
either  the  commission  of  evil,  or  the  discredit- 
ing of  good. 

8.  I  was  influenced  besides  by  another  feel- 
ing, whether  base  or  noble  I  do  not  know, 
but  I  will  speak  out  to  you  all  my  secrets.  I 
was  ashamed  of  all  those  others,  who,  without 
being  better  than  ordinary  people,  nay,  it  is 
a  great  thing  if  they  be  not  worse,  with  un- 
wa.shen  hands,"  as  the  saying  runs,  and  unini- 
tiated souls,  intrude  into  the  most  sacred 
offices  ;  and,  before  becoming  worthy  to  ap- 
proach the  temples,  they  lay  claim  to  the 
sanctuary,^  and  they  push  and  thrust  around 
the  holy  table,  as  if  they  thought  this  order  to 
be  a  means  of  livelihood,  instead  of  a  pattern 
of  virtue,  or  an  absolute  authority,  instead  of 
a  ministry  of  which  we  must  give  account.  In 
fact  they  are  almost  more  in  nmiiber  than 
those  whom  they  govern  ;  pitiable  as  regards 
piety,'*'  and  unfortunate  in  their  dignity;  so 
that,  it  seems  to  me,  they  will  not,  as  time 
and  this  evil  alike  progress,  have  any  one  left 
to  rule,  when  all  are  teachers,  instead  of,  as 
the  promise  says,  taught  of  God,*  and  all 
prophesy,^  .so  that  even  "Saul  is  among  the 
prophets,"  f  according  to  the  ancient  history 
and  proverb.  For  at  no  time,  either  now  or 
in  former  days,  amid  the  rise  and  fall  of  vari- 
ous developments,  has  there  ever  been  such 

a  S.  Mark  vii.  5. 

/3  T/te  sanctuary,  i.e.  That  which  gave  the  right  to  a  place  in 
the  sanctuary, — the  priesthood.  Billius  wrongly  takes  it  of  the 
episcopate.  _  ' 

y  riety — for  it  is  n  mere  extern.al  pretence,  deceiving  themselves 
as  well  as  others.  ci<7e/3aia  here  has  the  double  sense  of  piely  and 
orthodoxy— the  former  being  the  more  prominent. 

3  Is.  liv.  13  ;  S.  John  vi.  45. 

«  Numb.  xi.  29  ;  i  Cor.  xiv.  24.  i  i  Sam.  x.  11  ;  xix.  24. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


207 


an  abundance,  as  now  exists  among  Christians, 
of  disgrace  and  abuses  of  this  kind.  And,  if 
to  stay  this  current  is  beyond  our  powers,  at 
any  rate  it  is  not  the  least  important  duty  of 
rehgion  to  testify  the  hatred  and  shame  we 
feel  for  it. 

9.  Lastly,  there  is  a  matter  more  serious 
than  any  which  I  have  mentioned,  for  I  am 
now  coming  to  the  finale  *  of  the  question  : 
and  I  will  not  deceive  you  ;  for  that  would  not 
be  lawful  in  regard  to  topics  of  such  moment. 
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  wa- 
tered 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  beauti- 
ful 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  su])ply  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  ? 

10.  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. 

1 1 .  For  it  is  not  so  easy  to  dye  deeply  a 
piece  of  cloth,  or  to  impregnate  with  odours, 
foul  or  the  reverse,  whatever  comes  near  to 
them  ;  nor  is  it  so  easy  for  the  fatal  vapour, 
which  is  rightly  called  a  pestilence,   to  infect 

o  The  JinaU  of  the  gitettiori,  or  "  the  main  conclusion  of  iny 
snbject."  lit.  "the  colophon  of  my  reason."  Adyos  cannot  here 
me  m  "  of  m.y  speech,"  for  it  has  only  just  begun. 

0  Cf.   I   Cor.  ill.   12. 


the  air,  and  through  the  air  to  gain  access  to 
living  beings,  as  it  is  for  the  vice  of  a  supe- 
rior to  take  most  speedy  possession' of  his  sub- 
jects, and  that  with  far  greater  facility  than 
virtue  its  opposite.  For  it  is  in  this  that 
wickedness  especially  has  the  advantage  over 
goodness,  and  most  distressing  it  is  to  me  to 
perceive  it,  that  vice  is  soaiething  attractive 
and  ready  at  hand,  and  that  nothing  is  so  easy 
as  to  become  evil,  even  without  any  one  to 
lead  us  on  to  it ;  while  the  attainment  of  virtue 
is  rare  and  difficult,  even  where  there  is  much 
to  attract  and  encourage  us.  And  it  is  this, 
I  think,  which  the  most  blessed  Haggai  had 
before  his  eyes,  in  his  wonderful  and  most  true 
figure :  " — ' '  Ask  the  priests  concerning  the  law, 
saying  :  If  holy  flesh  borne  in  a  garment  touch 
meat  or  drink  or  vessel,  will  it  sanctify  what 
is  in  contact  with  it?  And  when  they  said 
No ;  ask  again  if  any  of  these  things  touch 
what  is  unclean,  does  it  not  at  once  partake  of 
the  pollu'tion  ?  For.  they  will  surely  tell  you 
that  it  does  partake  of  it,  and  does  not  con- 
tinue clean  in  spite  of  the  contact." 

12.  What  does  he  mean  by  this  ?  As  I  take 
it,  that  goodness  can  with  difficulty  gain  a  hold 
upon  human  nature,  like  fire  upon  green  wood  ; 
while  most  men  are  ready  and  disposed  to  join 
in  evil,  like  stubble,^  I  mean,  ready  for  a  spark 
and  a  wind,  which  is  easily  kindled  and  con- 
sumed from  its  dryness.  For  more  quickly 
would  any  one  take  part  in  evil  with  slight  in- 
ducement to  its  full  extent,  than  in  good  which 
is  fully  set  before  him  to  a  slight  degree.  For 
indeed  a  little  wormwood  most  quickly  im- 
parts its  bitterness  to  honey ;  while  not  even 
double  the  quantity  of  honey  can  impart  its 
sweetness  to  wormwood  :  and  the  withdrawal 
of  a  small  pebble  would  draw  headlong  a  whole 
river,  though  it  would  be  difficult  for  the 
strongest  dam  to  restrain  or  stay  its  course. 

13.  This  then  is  the  first  point  in  what  we 
have  said,  which  it  is  right  for  us  to  guard 
against,  viz.:  being  found  to  be  bad  painters  v 
of  the  charms  of  virtue,  and  still  more,  if  not, 
perhaps,  models  for  poor  painters,  poor  rnodels 
for  the  people,  or  barely  escaping  the  proverb, 
that  we  undertake  to  heal  others  ^  while  our- 
selves are  full  of  sores. 

14.  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, 

o  Hagg.  ii.    12  et  seq. 

P  Job  xxi.  iS  ;  Ps.  Ixxxiii.  13  ;  Isai.  v.  24  ;  Joel  ii.  5. 
7  f'ainters,  i.e.  in  our  discourses  ;  models  by  our  lives  and  ex- 
amples. 5  S.  Luke  iv.  23. 


208 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


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  Avhat  we  ought  to  be :  and 
to  measure  his  success  by  the  commandment 
and  not  by  his  neighbours,  whether  they  be 
evil,  or  to  some  extent  proficient  in  virtue: 
and  to  weigh  virtue  in  no  small  scales,  inas- 
much as  it  is  due  to  the  Most  High,  "  from 
Whom  are  all  things,  and  to  Whom  are  all 
things. ' '  ^ 

15.  Nor  must  he  suppose  that  the  same 
things  are  suitable  to  all,  just  as  all  have  not 
the  same  stature,  nor  are  the  features  of  the  face, 
nor  the  nature  of  animals,  nor  the  qualities  of 
soil,  nor  the  beauty  and  size  of  the  stars,  in 
all  cases  the  same  :  but  he  must  consider  base 
conduct  a  fault  in  a  private  individual,  and 
deserving  of  chastisement  under  the  hard  rule 
of  the  law ;  while  in  the  case  of  a  ruler  or 
leader  it  is  a  fault  not  to  attain  to  the  highest 
possible  excellence,  and  always  make  progress 
in  goodness,  if  indeed  he  is,  by  his  high  degree 
of  virtue,  to  draw  his  people  to  an  ordinary 
degree,  not  by  the  force  of  authority,  but  by 
the  influence  of  persuasion.  For  what  is  invol- 
untary apart  from  its  being  the  result  of  oppres- 
sion, is  neither  meritorious  nor  durable.  For 
what  is  forced,  like  a  plant  v  violently  drawn 
aside  by  our  hands,  when  set  free,  returns  to 
what  it  was  before,  but  that  which  is  the  result 
of  choice  is  both  most  legitimate  and  enduring, 
for  it  is  preserved  by  the  bond  of  good  will. 
And  so  our  law  and  our  lawgiver  enjoin  upon 
us  most  strictly  that  we  should  ' '  tend  the 
flock  not  by  constraint  but  willingly."  * 

16.  But  granted  that  a  man  is  free  from  vice, 
and  has  reached  the  greatest  heights  of  virtue  : 
I  do  not  see  what  knowledge  or  power  would 
justify  him  in  venturing  upon  this  office.  For 
the  guiding  of  man,  the  most  variable  and  man- 
ifold of  creatures,  seems  to  me  in  very  deed 
to  be  the  art  of  arts  *  and  science  of  sciences. 


o  Ps.  xxxvii.  27.  j3  Rom.  xi.  35. 

y  A  plant.  Cf.  Orat.  vi.  8.  xxiii.  i.  A  fnvoiirite  figure  of  S. 
Gregory.  6  i   Pet.  v.  2. 

e  The  art  of  arts.  This  is  the  original  of  the  frequently 
quoted  commonplace,  which  in  .S.  Gregory  the  Great's  Pastoral 
Care,  i.  i,  takes  the  form  "  ars  artium  est  regimen  animarum." 


Any  one  may  recognize  this,  by  comparing  the 
work  of  the  physician  of  souls  with  the  treat- 
ment of  the  body  ;  and  noticing  that,  labori- 
ous as  the  latter  is,  ours  is  more  laborious,  and 
of  more  consequence,  from  the  nature  of  its 
subject  matter,  the  power  of  its  science,  and 
the  object  of  its  exercise.  The  one  labours 
about  bodies,  and  perishable  failing  matter, 
which  absolutely  must  be  dissolved  and  under- 
go its  fate,*  even  if  upon  this  occasion  by  the  aid 
of  art  it  can  surmount  the  disturbance  within 
itself,  being  dissolved  by  disease  or  time  in 
submission  to  the  law  of  nature,  since  it  can- 
not rise  above  its  own  limitations. 

17.  The  other  is  concerned  with  tJi£,soulj 
which  comes  from  God  and  is  divine,  and  par- 
takes-of  the  heavenly  mobility,  and  presses  on 
to  it,  even  if  it  be  bound  to  an  inferior  nature. 
Perhaps  indeed  there  are  other  reasons  also 
for  this,  which  only  God,  Who  bound  them  to- 
gether, and  those  who  are  instructed  by  God 
in  such  mysteries,  can  know,  but  as  far  as  I, 
and  men  like  myself  can  perceive,  there  are 
two :  one,  that  it  may  inherit  the  glory  above 
by  means  of  a  struggle  and  wrestling^  with 
things  below,  being  tried  as  gold  in  the  fire  v 
by  things  here,  and  gain  the  objects  of  our  hope 
as  a  prize  of  virtue,  and  not  merely  as  the  gift 
of  God.  This,  indeed,  was  the  will  of  Supreme 
Goodness,  to  make  the  good  even  our  own, 
not  only  because  sown  in  our  nature,  but  be- 
cause cultivated  by  our  own  choice,  and  by  the 
motions  of  our  will,^  free  to  act  in  either  di- 
rection. The  second  reason  is,  that  it  may 
draw  to  itself  and  raise  to  heaven  the  lower  nat- 
ure, by  gradually  freeing  it  from  its  grossness, 
in  order  that  the  soul  may  be  to  the  body  what 
God  is  to  the  soul,  itself  leading  on  the  matter 
which  ministers  to  it,  and  uniting  it,  as  its  fel- 
low-servant, to  God. 

18.  Place  and  time  and  age  and  season  and 
the  like  are  the  subjects  of  a  physician's  scru- 
tiny ;  he  will  prescribe  medicines  and  diet,  and 
guard  against  things  injurious,  that  the  desires 
of  the  sick  may  not  be  a  hindrance  to  his  art. 
Sometimes,  and  in  certain  cases,  he  will  make 
use  of  the  cautery  or  tlie  knife  or  the  severer 
remedies ;  but  none  of  these,  laborious  and 
hard  as  they  may  seem,  is  so  difficult  as  the  dia- 
gnosis and  cure  of  our  habits,  passions,  lives, 
wills,  and  whatever  else  is  within  us,  by  ban- 
ishing from  our  compound  nature  everything 
brutal  and  fierce,  and  introducing  and  estab- 
lishing in  their  stead  what  is  gentle  and  dear 


a  Gen.  ili.  19.  /3  Eph.  vi.  12.  y  i  Pet.  i.  7. 

6  Our  7inll.  Cl<$mencet  compares  .S.  Pernard,  de  Gratia  ct  I.i- 
bero  Arbitrio,  xiv.  47  (torn.  i.  1397,  Gaume).  Petavius,  de  Incarn., 
torn,  v.,  p.  .(16,  lib.  IX.,  lii.,  11,  comments  on  this  passage  in  treat- 
ing of  free  will. 


i 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


209 


to  God,  and  arbitrating  fairly  between  soul  and 
body;  not  allowing  the  superior  to  be  over- 
powered by  the  inferior,  which  would  be  the 
greatest  injustice;  but  subjecting  to  the  ruling 
and  leading  power  that  which  naturally  takes 
the  second  place :  as  indeed  the  divine  law 
enjoins,  which  is  most  excellently  imposed  on 
His  whole  creation,  whether  visible  or  beyond 
our  ken. 

19.  This  further  point  does  not  escape  me, 
that  the  nature  of  all  these  objects  of  the  watch- 
fulness of  the  physician  remains  the  same,  and 
does  not  evolve  out  of  itself  any  crafty  opposi- 
tion, or  contrivance  hostile  to  the  appliances'  of 
his  art,  nay,  it  is  rather  the  treatment  which 
modifies  its  subject  matter,"  except  where  some 
slight  insubordination  occurs  on  the  part  of  the 
patient,  which  it  is  not  difficult  to  prevent  or 
restrain.  But  in  our  case,  human  prudence  and 
selfishne.ss,  and  the  want  of  training  and  incli- . 
nation  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  shew  our  bravery  by 
struggling  against  what  is  for  our  own  interest, 
our  skill  in  shunning  what  is  for  our  health. 

20.  For  we  either  hide  away  our  sin,  cloak- 
ing it  over  in  the  depth  of  our  soul,  like  some 
festering  and  malignant  disease,  as  if  by  escap- 
ing the  lAotice  of  men  we  could  escape  the 
mighty  eye  of  God  and  justice.  Or  else  we 
allege  excuses  in  our  sins,v  by  devising  pleas 
in  defence  of  our  falls,  or  tightly  closing  our 
ears,  like  the  deaf*  adder  that  stoppeth  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  say- 
ing 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 


alts  sul>j''ct  matter^  i.e.  the  affection  of  the  sick  body,  which 
it  is  the  object  of  medicine  to  change  to  its  opposite.     So  Combefis. 
3  This  treatment :  the  treatment  of  the  spiritual  phvsician. 
7  Ps.  cxli.  4  (LXX.).  5  Ps.  Iviii.  5,  6  (LXX.). 

6  Amos  V.  10. 

14 


consuming  the 


they 


are 


flesh  of  others  when 
really  fastening  upon  their  own. 

21.  For  these  reasons  I  allege  that  our  of- 
fice as  physicians  far  exceeds  in  toilsomeness, 
and  consequently  in  worth,  that  which  is  con- 
fined to  the  body ;  and  further,  because  the  lat- 
ter is  mainly  concerned  with  the  surface,  and 
only  in  a  slight  degree  investigates  the  causes 
which  are  deeply  hidden.  But  the  whole  of . 
our  treatment  and  exertion  is  concerned  with 
the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,"  and  our  warfare 
is  directed  against  that  adversary  and  foe  with- 
in us,  who  uses  ourselves  as  his  weapons  against 
ourselves,  and,  most  fearful  of  all,  hands  us 
over  to  the  death  of  sin.  In  oppo.sition  then, 
to  these  foes  we  are  in  need  of  great  and  per- 
fect faith,  and  of  still  greater  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  God,  and,  as  I  am  persuaded,  of  no 
slight  countermanceuvring  on  our  own  part, 
which  must  manifest  itself  both  in  word  and 
deed,  if  ourselves,  the  most  precious  possession 
we  have,  are  to  be  duly  tended  and  cleansed 
and  made  as  deserving  as  possible. 

2  2 .  To  turn  however  to  the  ends  in  view  in 
each  of  these  forms  of  healing,  for  this  point  is 
still  left  to  be  considered,  the  one  preserves,  if 
it  already  exists,  the  health  and  good  habit  of 
the  flesh,  or  if  absent,  recalls  it ;  though  it  is 
not  yet  clear  whether  or  not  these  will  be  for 
the  advantage  of  those  who  possess  them,  since 
their  opposites  very  often  confer  a  greater 
benefit  on  those  who  have  them,  just  as  poverty 
and  wealth,  renown  or  disgrace,  a  low  or 
brilliant  position,  and  all  other  circumstances, 
which  are  naturally  indifferent,  and  do  not  in- 
cline in  one  direction  more  than  in  another, 
produce  a  good  or  bad  effect  according  to  the 
will  of,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  are  used 
by  the  persons  who  experience  them.  But  the_ 
scope  of  our  art  is  to  provide  the  soul  with 
wings,  to  rescue  it  from  the  world  and  give  it 
to'God,  and  to  watch  over  that  which  is  in 
His  image, '^  if  it  abides,  to  take  it  by  the  hand, 
if  it  is  in  danger,  or  restore  it,  if  ruined,  to 
make  Christ  to  dwell  in  the  hearts  by  the  Spirit : 
and,  in  short,  to  deify,  and  bestow  heavenly 
bliss  upon,  one  who  belongs  to  the  heavenly 
host. 

23.  This  is  the  wish  of  our  schoolmaster  ^ 
the  law,  of  the  prophets  who  intervened  be- 
tween Christ  and  the  law,  of  Christ  who  is  the 
fulfiller  and  end  *  of  the  spiritual  law  ;  of  the 
emptied  Godhead,^  of  the  assumed  flesh,''  of 
the  novel  union  between  God  and  man,  one 
consisting  ^  of  two,  and  both  in  one.     This  is 

a.  I  Pet.  iii,  4.  jS  Gen.  i.  26.  7  Eph.  iii.  17. 

6  Gal.  iii.  24.  e  Heb.  xii.  2.  f  Phil.  ii.  7.         ij  Heb.  ii.  14. 

B  One  consistirti^,  &c.     "These  words"  says  Gabriel,  "are  in- 
deed a   two-edged    sword  against    tlie    heretics,  for   one  clause 


210 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


why  God  was  united  "  to  the  flesh  by  means 
of  the  soul,  P  and  natures  so  separate  were  knit 
together  by  tlie  affinity  to  each  of  the  element 
which  mediated  between  them  :  so  all  became 
one  for  the  sake  of  all,  and  for  the  sake  of  one, 
our  progenitor,  the  soul  because  of  the  soul 
which  was  disobedient,  the  flesh  because  of  the 
flesh  which  co-operated  with  it  and  shared 
in  its  condemnation,  Christ,  Who  was  superior 
to,  and  beyond  the  reach  of,  sin,  because  of 
Adam,  who  became  subject  to  sin. 

24.  This  is  why  theJiew  was  substituted  for 
the  old, Y  why  He  Who  suffered  was  for  suffering 
recalled  to  life,  why  each  property  of  His_,  Who 
was  above  us,  was  interchanged  with  each  of  ours, 
why  the  new  mystery  took  place  of  the  dispen- 
sation, due  to  loving  kindness  which  deals  with 
him  who  fell  through  disobedience.  "Diis^  is 
the  reason  for  the  generation  and  the  virgin, 
for  the  manger  and  Bethlehem;  the  generation 
on  behalf  of  the_cj.eation,^  the  virgin  on  behalf 
of  the  woman, ^  Bethlehem »  because  of  Eden,  _ 
the  manger  because  of  the  garden,  small  and  vis- 
ible things  on  behalf  of  great  and  hidden  things. 
This  is  why  the  angels')  glorified  first  the 
heavenly,  then  the  earthly,^  why  the  shepherds 
saw  the  glory  over  the  Lamb  and  the  Shepherd, 
w^hy  the  star  led  the  Magi  to  worship  and  offer 
gifts,'  in  order  that  idolatry  might  be  destroyed. 
This  is  why  Jesus  was  baptized,"  and  received 
testimony  from  above,  and  fasted,^  and  was 
tempted,  and  overcame  him  who  had  overcome. 
This  is  why  devils  were  cast  out,'^  and  diseases 
healed,  and  the  mighty  preaching  was  entrusted 
to,  and  successfully  proclaimed  by  men  of  low 
estate. 

25.  This  is  why  the  heathen  rage  and  the 
peoples  imagine  vain  things  ;  "  why  tree^  is  set 
over  against  tree,"  hands  against  hand,  the  one 
stretched  out  in  self  indulgence,'^  the  others  in 
generosity  ;  the  one  unrestrained,  the  others 
fixed  by  nails,p  the  one  expelling  Adam,  the  oth- 
er reconciling  the  ejids  of  J;he  earth.  This  is 
the  reason  of  the  lifting  up  to  atone  for  the  fall, 
an^  of  the  gall  for  the  tasting,  and  of  the  thorny 


mortally  wounds  Nestorius  who  separates  the  Divine  from  the 
Ihimnn  Nature — the  other  Eutyches,  who  empties  the  human  into 
the  Divine.  " 

a  ll'as  united,  av€Kpa9ri,  lit.,  "  was  blended" — cf.  Oral,  xxxviii. 
13.  This  and  smiilar  terms  used  by  Gretjory  and  his  contempo- 
raries in  an  orthodox  sense  were  laid  aside  by  later  Fathers,  in 
consequence  of  their  having  been  perverted  in  favor  of  the  Kn- 
tychian  heresy. 

(3  />y  7neaits  of  the  soul,  Cf.  Ornt.  xxix.  19  :  xxxviii.  13  ;  Fpist. 
101  (tom.  ?,  p.  90  A.)  :  PoPm.  Dogmat.,  x.,  53-61  (torn,  z,  p.  256)  : 
Pctavius  <le  Incarn..  IV.,  xiii..  2.  y  Heb.  viii.  8-13. 

6  Lit.  "of  the  formiti'in  " — the  substantive  here  corresponds 
to  the  verb  in  Gen.  ii.  7  (I.XX.).  «  (!en.  ii.  7. 

C,  S.  I.uke  ii.  7.  rj  S.  Lii.  ii.  14.  6  1  Cor.  xv.  49. 

t  S.  Matt.  ii.  9,  It.         K  S.  Matt.  iii.  13,  17.         A  S.  Matt.  iv.  2. 

f.  S.  Matt.  X.  7,  8.  V  Ps.  ii.  1. 

f  Gen.  iii.  3.  IV/ij'  tree,  &c.  A  striking  contrast  of  the  means  of 
Redemption  by  the  Cross  of  Christ  with  the  circumstances  <if  the 
Fall.       o  S.  John  xix.  17.      n  Gen.  iii.  623.       p  S.  Matt,  xxvii.  35. 


crrnvn  fDr_.the.jdominion  of  evil,  and  of  death 
for  death,  and  of  darkness  for  the  sake  of  light, 
and  of  burial  for  the  return  to  the  ground^  and 
of  resurrection  for  the  sake  of  resurrection.* 
All  these  areji^  training  from  God  for  us,  and 
a  heaTmg  for  our  weakness,  restoring  che  old 
Adam'to  the  place  whence  he  fell,  and  con- 
ducting us  to  the  tree  of  life,^  from  which  the 
tree  of  knowledge  estranged  us,  when  par- 
taken of  unseasonably,  and  improperly. 

26.  Of  this  healing  we,  who  are  set  over 
others,  are  the  ministers  and  fellow-labourers  ;  y 
for^whom  it  is  a  great  thing  to  recognise  and 
heal  their  own  passions  and  sicknesses :  or 
rather,  not  really  a  great  thing,  only  the  vi- 
ciousness  of  most  of  those  who  belong  to  this 
order  has  made  me  say  so  :  but  a  much  greater 
thing  is  the  power  to  heal  and  skilfully  cleanse 
those  of  others,  to  the  advantage  both  of  those 

•who  are  in  want  of  healing  and  of  those  whose 
charge  it  is  to  heal. 

27.  Again,  the  healers  of  our  bodies  will 
have  their  labours  and  vigils  and  cares,  of 
which  we  are  aware ;  and  will  reap  a  harvest 
of  pain  for  themselves  from  the  distresses  of 
others,  as  one  of  their  wise  men  ^  said  ;  and 
will  provide  for  the  use  of  those  who  'i^eed 
them,  both  the  results  of  their  own  labojiirgand 
investigations,  and  what  they  have  been  'ble 
to  borrow  from  others :  and  they  cor.oider 
none,  even  of  the  minutest  details,  which  they 
discover,  or  which  elude  their  search,  its  having 
other  than  an  important  influence  upon  health 
or  danger.  And  what  is  the  object  of  all  this? 
That  a  man  may  live  some  da3s  longer  on  the 


earth,  though  he  is  possibly  not  a  good  man, 
but  one  of  the  most  depraved,  for  whom  it  had 
perhaps  been  better,  because  of  his  badne.ss,  to 
have  died  long  ago,  in  order  to  be  set  free  from 
vice,  the  most  serious  of  sicknesses.  But,  sup- 
pose he  is  a  good  man,  how  long  will  he  be 
able  to  live?  Forever?  Or  what  will  he  gain 
from  life  here,  from  which  it  is  the  greatest 
of  blessings,  if  a  man  be  sane  and  sensible,  to 
seek  to  be  set  free? 

28.  But  we,  upon  who.se  efforts  is  staked 
the  salvation  of  a  soul,  a  being  blessed  and  im- 
mortal, and  destined  for  undying  chastisement 
or  praise,  for  its  vice  or  virtue, — what  a  strug- 
gle ought  ours  to  be,  and  how  great  skill  do  we 
require  to  treat,  or  get  men  treated  properly, 
and  to  change  their  life,  and  give  up  the  clay 
to  the  spirit.      For  men    and  women,  young 


a  For  the  sake  of  resurrection.  One  translator  carries  on  the 
contrast,  and  renders  "  to  atone  for  the  insurrection,"  sc.  of  Adam. 
The  preposition  vtup  seems  decisive  against  this. 

/3  Rev.  ii.  7  :  xxii.  14.         y  i  Cor.  iii.  9  :    iv.  i  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  i. 

5  One  of  their  tc/.vc  meji,  the  author  of  the  treatise  jrepl  ^vaiav, 
ascribed  to  Hippocrates. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


211 


and  old,  rich  and  poor,  the  sanguine  and  des- 
pondent, the  sick  and  whole,  rulers  and  ruled, 
the  wise  and  ignorant,  the  cowardly  and  cour- 
ageous, the  wrathful  and  meek,  the  successful 
and  failing,  do  not  require  the  same  instruction 
and  encouragement. 

29.  And  if  you  examine  more  closely,  how 
great  is  the  distinction  between  the  married 
and  the  unmarried,  and  among  the  latter  be- 
tween hermits  and  those  who"*  live  together  in 
community,  between  those  who  are  proficient 
and  advanced  in  contemplation  and  those  who 
barely  hold  on  the  straight  course,  between 
townsfolk  again  and  rustics,  between  the  sim- 
ple and  the  designing,  between  men  of  busi- 
ness and  men  of  leisure,  between  those  who 
have  met  with  reverses  and  those  who  are  pros- 
perous and  ignorant  of  misfortune.  For  these 
classes  differ  sometimes  more  widely  from  each 
other  in  their  desires  and  passions  than  in  their 
physical  characteristics;  or,  if  you  will,  in  the 
mixtures  and  blend  in  gs  of  the  elements  of 
which  we  are  composed,  and,  therefore,  to  reg- 
ulate them  is  no  easy  task. 

30.  As  then  the  same  medicine  and  the 
same  food  are  not  in  every  case  administered 
to  men's  bodies,  but  a  difference  is  made  ac- 
cording to  their  degree  of  health  or  infirmity  ; 
so  also  are  souls  treated  with  varying  instruc- 
tion and  guidance.  To  this  treatment  witness 
is  borne  by  those  who  have  had  experience  of 
it.  Some  are  led  by  doctrine,  others  trained 
by  example  ;  some  need  the  spur,  others  the 
curb ;  some  are  sluggish  and  hard  to  rouse 
to  the  good,  and  must  be  stirred  up  by  being 
smitten  with  the  word  ;  others  are  immoder- 
ately fervent  in  spirit,  with  impulses  difficult 
to  restrain,  like  thoroughbred  colts,  who  run 
wide  of  the  turning  post,  and  to  improve  them 
the  word  must  have  a  restraining  and  checking 
influence. 

31.  Some  are  benefited  by  praise,  others  by 
blame,  both  being  applied  in  season  ;  while  if 
out  of  season,  or  unreasonable,  they  are  inju- 
rious ;  some  are  set  right  by  encouragement, 
others  by  rebuke ;  some,  when  taken  to  task  in 
public,  others,  when  privately  corrected.    For 


_a  Those  nvko.  &c.  (xi-yaSas,  cf.  xxi.,  10.  where  novaSiKol  and  oi 

T^s  eprjjii'as  are  distinguished  from  lUiyaSe?  and  oi  t^s  einiiL^ia^. 
Clemencet  here  holds  that  oi  t^?  fprj/Ma?  are  hermits  as  distin- 
guished from  coenobites,  but  does  not  hint  at  any  further  sub- 
division between  the  kowiovlkoI  and  the  /xiydSes.  Uf.  also  xhii. 
62  :  xxi.  ip.  Montatit,  "  Revue  Critique.  &c."  (pp.  4S-52)  at- 
tempts to  distingiush  between  the  fj.iya.Sis  and  the  KOivtaviKoi.  But 
although  he  confirms  the  overthrow  by  Clemencet  of  the  views  of 
previous  translators,  he  leaves  Clemencet's  own  po^-ition  really  un- 
weakened.  .S.  Gregory  uses  the  two  terms  as  practically  convert- 
ible. In  xxi.,  §  19.  (which  Montaut  misinterprets)  he  explains 
that  the  life  of  the  coenobite  is  a  hermit-life  in  its  relation  to  the 
world  which  he  has  forsaken,  while  it  has  opportunities  in  com- 
munity-life for  the  growth  of  those  virtues  which  are  required  by  the 
rrlation  of  man  to  man.  Cf.  Bened.  edition  (^Clemencet).  Praef. 
Gener.,  Pans.   II.,  §  iii.  sub  finem. 


some  are  wont  to  despise  private  admonitions, 
but  are  recalled  to  their  senses  by  the  condem- 
nation of  a  number  of  people,  while  others, 
who  would  grow  reckless  under  reproof  openly 
given,  accept  rebuke  because  it  is  in  secret, 
and  yield  obedience  in  return  for  sympathy. 

32.  Upon  some  it  is  needful  to  keep  a  close 
watch,  even  in  the  minutest  details,  because 
if  they  think  they  are  unperceived  (as  they 
would  contrive  to  be),  they  are  puffed  up 
with  the  idea  of  their  own  wisdom.  Of  others 
it  is  better  to  take  no  notice,  but  seeing  not  to 
see,  and  hearing  not  to  hear  them,  according 
to  the  proverb,  that  we  may  not  drive  them 
to  despair,  under  the  depressing  influence  of 
repeated  reproofs,  and  at  last  to  utter  reckless- 
ness, when  they  have  lost  the  sense  of  self-re- 
.spect,  the  source  of  persuasiveness."  In  some 
cases  we  must  even  be  angry,  without  feeling 
angry,  or  treat  them  with  a  disdain  we  do  not 
feel,  or  manifest  despair,  though  we  do  not  really 
despair  of*  them,  according  to  the  needs  of 
their  nature.  Others  again  we  must  treat  with 
condescension^  and  lowliness,  aiding  them 
readily  to  conceive  a  hope  of  better  things. 
Some  it  is  often  more  advantageous  to  conquer 
— by  others  to  be  overcome,  and  to  praise  or 
deprecate,  in  one  case  wealth  and  power,  in 
another  poverty  and  failure. 

33.  For  our  treatment  does  not  correspond 
with  virtue  and  vice,  one  of  which  is  most  ex- 
cellent and  beneficial  at  all  times  and  in  all 
cases,  and  the  other  most  evil  and  harmful ; 
and,  instead  of  one  and  the  same  of  our  medi- 
cines invariably  proving  either  most  wholesome 
or  most  dangerous  in  the  same  cases — be  it  sever- 
ity or  gentleness,  or  any  of  the  others  which  we 
have  enumerated — in  some  cases  it  proves  good 
and  useful,  in  others  again  it  has  the  contrary 
effect,  according,  I  suppose,  as  time  and  cir- 
cumstance and  the  disposition  of  the  patieni 
admit.  Now  to  set  before  you  the  distinction 
between  all  these  things,  and  give  you  a  per- 
fectly exact  view  of  them,  so  that  you  may  in 
brief  comprehend  the  medical  art,  is  quite  im- 
possible, even  for  one  in  the  highest  degree 
qualified  by  care  and  skill  :  but  actual  experi- 
ence and  practice  are  requisite  to  form  v  a 
medical  system  and  a  medical  man. 

34.  This,  however,  I  "take  to  be  generally 
admitted — -that  just  as  it  is  not  safe  for  those 
who  walk  on  a  lofty  tight  rope  to  lean  to 
either  side,  for  even  though  the  inclination 
seems  slight,  it  has  no  slight  consequences,  but 


a  The  source  0/  persuasiveness,  lit.,  "the  medicine  of  per- 
suasion." 

/3  co7idescejisioti,  lit., '  equity,'  dealing  gently  with  their  weakness, 
not  exacting  the  literal  fulfilment  of  ihe  law. 

y  Are  requisite  to/jriii,  lit.,  by  '  actual  .  .  .  they  become  clear  to.' 


212 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


their  safety  depends  upon  their  perfect  balance  : 
so  in  the  case  of  one  of  us,  if  he  leans  to  either 
side,  whether  from  vice  or  ignorance,  no  slight 
danger  of  a  fall  into  sin  is  incurred,  both  for 
himself  and  those  who  are  led  by  him.  But 
we  must  really  walk  in  the  King's  highway," 
and  take  care  not  to  turn  aside  from  it  either 
to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,f^  as  the  Proverbs 
say.  For  such  is  the  case  with  our  passions, 
and  such  in  this  matter  is  the  task  of  the  good 
shepherd,  if  he  is  to  know  ])roperly  the  souls 
of  his  flock,  and  to  guide  them  according  to 
the  methods  of  a  pastoral  care  which  is  right 
and  just,  and  w^orthy  of  our  true  Shepherd. 

35.  In  regard  to  the  distribution  of  the  word, 
to  mention  last  the  first  of  our  duties,  of  that 
divine  and  exalted  word,  which  everyone  now 
is  ready  to  discourse  upon ;  if  anyone  else 
boldly  undertakes  it  and  supposes  it  within  the 
power  of  every  man's  intellect,  I  am  amazed 
at  his  intelligence,  not  to  say  his  folly.  To 
me  indeed  it  seems  no  slight  task,  and  one 
requiring  no  little  spiritual  pov/er,  to  give  in 
due  season  T  to  each  his  portion  of  the  word,  and 
to  regulate  with  judgment  the  truth  of  our 
opinions,  which  are  concerned  with  such  sub- 
jects as  the  Avorld  or  worlds,^  matter,  soul, 
mind,  intelligent  natures,  better  or  worse,  pro- 
vidence which  holds  together  and  guides  the 
universe,  and  seems  in  our  experience  of  it  to 
be  governed  according  to  some  principle,  but 
one  which  is  at  variance  with  those  of  earth  and 
of  men. 

36.  Again,  they  are  concerned  Avith  our  ori- 
ginal constitution,  and  final  restoration,  the 
types  of  the  truth,  the  covenants,  the  first  and 
second  coming  of  Christ,  His  incarnation, 
sufferings  and  dissolution,*  with  the  resurrec- 
tion, the  last  day,  the  judgment  and  recom- 
pense, whether  sad  or  glorious  ;  I,  to  crown  all, 
with  what  we  are  to  think  of  the  original^  and 
blessed  Trinity.  Now  this  in\olves  a  very 
great  risk  to  those  who  are  charged  with  the 
illumination''  of  others,  if  they  are  to  avoid 
contracting*'  their  doctrine  to  a  single  Person, 
from  fear  of  polytheism,  and  so  leave  us  empty 
terms,  if  we  suppose  the  Father  and  the  Son  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  one  and  the  same  Person 
only:  or,  on  the  other  hand,  severing  It  into 
three,  either  foreign  and  diverse,  or  disordered 


a  Numb.  xx.  17.  P  Prov.  iv.  27.  y  S.  T.iike  xii.  42. 

5  IVor/c/s,  i.e.  the  invisible  and  visible,  of  which  S.  Greg,  held 
that  the  former  was  created  before  the  latter,  cf.  Orat.  xviii.  3  ; 
x.xvii.  10:  xxviii.  31  ;   xxxviii.  10;   xl.  4";. 

e  Dissolution  ;  .some  iransl.ite  'return' — i.e.  of  the  Ascension  ; 
referring  tlie  '  rcsunoction,  ifcc'  to  mankind  in  general. 

f  Original.     Perhaps  better  '  supreme.' 

■t\  Illuiiiiuntion.  Some  apply  this  to  Holy  Baptism,  with  its 
preliminary  in-itriiction. 

6  Cciitrdctiiig.  i.e.  by  the  Sabellinn  heresy.  A  parallel  pas- 
sage m  almost  identical  terms  is  Orat.  xx.  6. 


and  unprincipled,  and,  so  to  say,  opposed  divin- 
ities, thus  falling  from  the  opposite  side  into 
an  equally  dangerous  error:  like  some  distorted 
plant  if  bent  far  back  in  the  opposite  direction. 

37.  For,  amid  the  three  infirmities  in  regard 
to  theology,  atheism,  Judaism,  and  polytheism, 
one  of  which  is  patronised  by  Sabellius  the 
Libyan,  another  by  Arius  of  Alexandria,  and 
the  third  by  some  of  the  ultra-orthodox  among 
us,  what  is  my  position,  can  I  avoid  what- 
ever in  the.se  three  is  no.xious,  and  remain 
within  the  limits  of  piety  ;  neither  being  led 
astray  by  the  new  analysis  and  synthesis  into 
the  atheism"  of  Sabellius,  to  assert  not  so  much 
that  all  arc  one  as  that  each  is  nothing,  for 
things  which  are  transferred  and  pass  into  each 
other  cease  to  be  that  Avhich  each  one  of  them 
is,  or  that  we  have  an  unnaturally  compound 
deity,  like  those  mythical  creatures,  the  subject 
of  a  picturesque  imagination  :  nor  again,  by 
alleging  a  plurality  of  severed  natures,  accord- 
ing to  the  well  named  madness^  of  Arius,  be- 
coming involved  in  a  Jewish  poverty,  and  in- 
troducing envy  into  the  divine  nature,  by 
limiting  the  Godhead  to  the  Unbegotten  One 
alone,  as  if  afraid  that  our  God  would  perLsh, 
if  He  were  the  Father  of  a  real  God  of  equal 
nature  :  nor  again,  by  arraying  three  principles 
in  opposition  to,  or  in  alliance  with,  each 
other,  introducing  the  Gentile  plurality  of 
principles  from  which  we  have  escaped? 

38.  It  is  necessary  neither  to  be  so  devoted 
to  the  Father,  as  to  rob  Him  of  His  Father- 
hood, for  whose  Father  would  He  be,  if  the 
Son  were  separated  and  estranged  from  Him, 
by  being  ranked  with  the  creation,  (for  an 
alien  being,  or  one  which  is  combined  and 
confounded  with  his  father,  and,  for  the  sense 
is  the  same,  throws  him  into  confusion,  is  not 
a  son)  ;  nor  to  be  so  devoted  to  Christ,  as  to 
neglect  to  preserve  both  His  Sonship,  (for 
whose  son  would  He  be,  if  His  origin  were  not 
referred  to  the  Father  ?  )  and  the  rank  of  the 
Father  as  origin,  inasmuch  as  He  is  the  Father 
and  Generator ;  for  He  would  be  the  origin  of 
petty  and  unworthy  beings,  or  rather  the  term 
would  be  used  in  a  petty  and  unworthy  sense, 
if  He  were  not  the  origin  of  Godhead  and 
goodne-ss,  which  are  contemplated  in  the  Son 
and  the  Spirit :  the  former  being  the  Son  and 
the  Word,  the  latter  the  proceeding  and  in- 
dissoluble Spirit.  For  both  the  Unity  of  the 
Godhead  must  be  preserved,  and  the  Trinity 

aAt/ieisvi.  This  term  is  used  of  Sabellianism  xviii.  16.  xx.  6. 
xxi.  13.  xlili.  30.  in  tl'.e  sense  in  which  it  is  here  explained.  Cf. 
Peiav.  del'rin.  I     vi.  3,   sqq. 

3  Maiiiiess  of  Ari.mism,  xxi.  13.  xxxiv.  8.  .xliii.  30.  This  term 
is  applied  in  a  letter  of  Constantine  after  the  Council  of  Nicaea.  It 
Is  called  Judaism  also  Orat.  xx.  6  as  frequently  by  S.  .'\thanasius. 
Cf.  Pctav.  dc  Trin.  I.  ix.  8. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


21 


of  Persons  confessed,  each  with  His  own  prop- 
erty. 

39.  A  suitable  and  worthy  comprehension 
and  exposition  of  this  subject  demands  a  discus- 
sion of  greater  length  than  the  present  occasion, 
or  even  our  life,  as  I  suppose,  allows,  and, 
what  is  more,  both  now  and  at  all  times,  the 
aid  of  the  Spirit,  by  Whom  alone  we  are  able 
to  perceive,  to  expound,  or  to  embrace,  the 
truth  in  regard  to  God.  For  the  pure  alone 
can  grasp  Him  Who  is  pure  and  of  the  same 
disposition  as  himself;  and  I  have  now  briefly 
dwelt  upon  the  subject,  to  show  how  difficult  it 
is  to  discuss  such  important  questions,  especially 
beibre  a  large  audience,  composed  of  every  age 
and  condition,  and  needing  like  an  instrument 
of  many  strings,  to  be  played  upon  in  various 
ways ;  or  to  find  any  form  of  words  able  to 
edil'y  them  all,  and  illuminate  them  with  the 
light  of  knowledge.  For  it  is  not  only  that 
there  are  three  sources  from  which  danger 
springs,  understanding,  speech,  and  hearing, 
so  that  failure  in  one,  if  not  in  all,  is  infallibly 
certain  ;  for  either  the  mind  is  not  illuminated, 
or  the  language  is  feeble,  or  the  hearing,  not 
having  been  cleansed,  fails  to  comprehend,  and 
accordingly,  in  one  or"  all  respects,  the  truth 
must  be  maimed  :  but  further,  what  makes  the 
instruction  of  those  who  profess  to  teach  any 
other  subject  so  easy  and  acceptable — viz.  the 
piety"  of  the  audience — on  this  subject  involves 
difflculty  and  danger. 

40.  For  having  undertaken  to  contend  on 
behalf  of  God,  the  Supreme  Being,  and  of 
salvation,  and  of  the  primary  hope^  of  us  all, 
the  more  fervent  they  are  in  the  faith,  the  more 
hostile  are  they  to  what  is  said,  supposing  that 
a  submissive  spirit  indicates,  not  piety,  but 
treason  to  the  truth,  and  therefore  they  would 
sacrifice  anything  rather  than  their  private  con- 
victions, and  the  accustomed  doctrines  in  which 
they  have  been  educated.  I  am  now  referring 
to  those  who  are  moderate  and  not  utterly  de- 
praved in  disposition,  who,  if  they  have  erred 
in  regard  to  the  truth,  have  erred  from  piety, 
who  have  zeal,  though  not  according  to  know- 
ledge, y  who  will  possibly  be  of  the  number  of 
those    not    excessively    condemned,    and   not 


a  Piety,  ewAa^eta.  i.  e.  The  pious  readily  and  attentively  receive 
instruction  in  morality  or  genera'ly  received  truth,  but  are  more 
suspicious  and  intolerant  than  ordinary  people,  if,  at  a  time  when 
any  theologiol  question  is  hotly  debated,  a  preacher  touches  upon 
any  point  connected  with  ii,  and  so  stirs  party  feeling  or  personal 
prejudice. 

^  The  primary  hof>e.  This  term  is  used  of  the  full  knowledge 
and  confession  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Orat.  xxxii.  23  ; 
where  its  necessary  connection  with  Christianity  and  the  life  of  the 
soul  is  insisted  on.  For  its  vital  importance  cf  Liddon.  Bamp.  Lect. 
pp.  4^5,  6,  and  its  bearing  on  the  Mediatorial  Work  of  Christ,  and  so 
on  our  salvation.  Ibid.  Lect.  VIII.  esp.  pp.  472-9 (5th  ed.).  S.  Cyr. 
Hit.  Catech.  13.  2.  .S.  Cyr.  Ale,\.  de  S.  Trin.  dial.  4.  tom  v.  pp. 
508.  cog.  S,  Proclus  Horn,  in  Incarn.  5.  5.  o.  Bright.  Hist,  of 
the  Church,  p  149.  y  Rom.  x.  2, 


beaten  with  many  stripes,''  because  it  is  not 
through  vice  or  depravity  that  they  have  failed 
to  do  the  will  of  their  Lord ;  and  these  per- 
chance would  be  persuaded  and  forsake  the 
pious  opinion  which  is  the  cause  of  their  hostil- 
ity, if  some  reason  either  from  their  own  minds, 
or  from  others,  were  to  take  hold  of  them,  and 
at  a  critical  moment,  like  iron  from  flint,  strike 
fire  from  a  mind  which  is  pregnant  and  worthy 
of  the  light,  for  thus  a  little  spark  would  quickly 
kindle  the  torch  of  truth  within  it. 

41 .   But  what  is  to  be  said  of  those  who,  from 
vain  glory  or  arrogance,  speak  unrighteousness 


agamst 


the  most    High,  ^ 


arming 


themselves 


with  the  insolence  of  Jannes  and  JambreSjV  not 
against  iVIoses,  but  against  the  truth,  and  rising 
in  opposition  to  sound  doctrine?  Or  of  the 
third  class,  who  through  ignorance  and,  its 
consequence,  temerity,  rush  headlong  against 
every  form  of  doctrine  in  swinish  fashion,  and 
trample  under  foot  the  fair  pearls'^  of  the 
truth  ? 

42.  What  again  of  those  who  come  with  no 
private  idea,  or  form  of  words,  better  or 
worse,  in  regard  to  God,  but  listen  to  all  kinds 
of  doctrines  and  teachers,  with  the  intention  of 
selecting  from  all  what  is  best  and  safest,  in 
reliance  upon  no  better  judges  of  the  truth  than 
themselves  ?  They  are,  in  consequence,  borne 
and  turned  about  hither  and  thither  by  one 
plausible  idea  after  another,  and,  after  being 
deluged  and  trodden  down  by  all  kinds  of  doc- 
trine, ^  and  having  rung  the  changes  on  a  long 
succession  of  teachers  and  iormulce,  which  they 
throw  to  the  winds  as  readily  as  dust,  their  ears 
and  minds  at  last  are  wearied  out,  and,  O  what 
folly  !  they  become  equally  disgusted  with  all 
forms  of  doctrine,  and  assume  the  wretched 
character  of  deriding  and  despising  our  faith  as 
unstable  and  unsound ;  passing  in  their  igno- 
rance from  the  teachers  to  the  doctrine :  as  if 
anyone  whose  eyes  were  diseased,  or  whose 
ears  had  been  injured,  were  to  complain  of  the 
sun  for  being  dim  and  not  shining,  or  of  sounds 
for  being  inharmonious  and  feeble. 

43.  Accordingly,  to  impress  the  truth  upon 
a  soul  when  it  is  still  fresh,  like  wax  not  yet 
subjected  to  the  seal,  is  an  easier  task  than  in- 
scribing pious  doctrine  on  the  top  of  inscrip- 
tions— I  mean  wrong  doctrines  and  dogma?  ^  — 
with  the  result  that  the  former  are  confused  and 
thrown  into  disorder  by  the  latter.  It  is  bet- 
ter indeed  to  tread  a  road  which  is  smooth. and 
well  trodden  than  one  which  is  untrodden  and 
rough,  or  to  plough  land  which  has  often  been 

a.  Luke  xii.  47.  3  Ps.  Ixxiii.  8.  (I  ,XX. ).  yi  Tim.  iii.  8. 

6  S.  Matt.  vii.  6  ;  viii.  32.  €  Eph.  iv.  14. 

^  Doctrines  and  dogmas.     Elias  takes  the  former  to  refer  to  mo- 
rality and  the  latter  to  belief. 


214 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN, 


cleft  and  broken  up  by  the  plough  :  but  a  soul 
to  be  written  upon  should  be  free  from  the  in- 
scription of  harmful  doctrines,  or  the  deeply 
cut  marks  of  vice :  otherwise  the  pious  inscri- 
ber  would  have  a  twofold  task,  the  erasure  of 
the  former  impressions  and  the  substitution  of 
others  which  are  more  excellent,  and  more 
worthy  to  abide.  So  numerous  are  they  whose 
wickedness  is  shown,  not  only  by  yielding  to 
their  passions,  but  even  by  their  utterances, 
and  so  numerous  the  forms  and  characters 
of  wickedness,  and  so  considerable  the  task  of 
one  who  has  been  intrusted  with  this  office  of 
educating  and  taking  charge  of  souls.  Indeed 
I  have  omitted  the  majority  of  the  details,  lest 
my  speech  should  be  unnecessarily  burden- 
some. 

44.  If  anyone  were  to  undertake  to  tame  and 
train  an  animal  of  many  forms  and  shapes, 
compounded  of  many  animals  of  various  sizes 
and'  degrees  of  tameness  and  wildness,  his 
principal  task,  involving  a  consideral)le  strug- 
gle, would  be  the  government  of  so  extraor- 
dinary and  heterogeneous  a  nature,  since  each 
of  the  animals  of  which  it  is  compounded 
would,  according  to  its  nature  or  habit,  be 
differently  affected  with  joy,  pleasure  or  dis- 
like, by  the  same  words,  or  food,  or  stroking 
with  the  hand,  or  whistling,  or  other  modes  of 
treatment.  And  what  must  the  master  of  such 
an  animal  do,  but  show  "himself  manifold  and 
various  in  his  knowledge,  and  apply  to  each  a 
treatment  suitable  for  it,  so  as  successfully  to 
lead  and  preserve  the  beast  ?  And  since  the 
common  body  of  the  church  is  composed  of 
many  different  characters  and  minds,  like  a 
single  animal  compounded  of  discordant  parts, 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  its  ruler  should 
be  at  once  simple  in  his  uprightness  in  all  re- 
spects, and  as  far  as  possible  manifold  and 
varied  in  his  treatment  of  individuals,  and  in 
dealing  with  all  in  an  appropriate  and  suitable 
manner. 

45.  For  some  need  to  be  fed  with  the  milk" 
of  the  most  simple  and  elementary  doctrines, 
viz.,  those  who  are  in  hal)it  bal)es  and,  so  to 
say,  new-made,  and  unable  to  bear  the  manly 
food  of  the  word  :  nay,  if  it  were  presented  to 
them  beyond  their  strength,  they  would 
l)robably  be  overwhelmed  and  oppressed, 
owing  to  the  inability  of  their  mind,  as 
is  the  case  w-ith  our  material  bodies,^  to  di- 
gest and  ap])ropriate  what  is  offered  to  it,  and 
so  would  lose  even  their  original  power.  Oth- 
ers require  the  wisdom  which  is  spoken  among 

o  I.  Cor.  i!i.  1,  2  :  Heb.  v.  12-14. 

POjf  material  bodies,  lit.,  "matter."  This,  together  with 
"  dust,"  "  mire  "  or  "  clay  "  and  other  similar  terms,  is  often  used 
by  S.  Gregory  as  a  synonym  of  "  the  body." 


the  perfect,"  and  the  higher  and  more  solid 
food,  since  their  senses  have  been  sufficiently 
exercised  to  discern^  truth  and  falsehood,  and 
if  they  were  made  to  drink  milk,  and  fed  on 
the  vegetable  diet  of  invalids,  v  they  would  be 
annoyed.  And  with  good  reason,  for  they 
would  not  be  strengthened  *  according  to 
Christ,  nor  make  that  laudable  increase,  \vhich 
the  Word  produces  in  one  who  is  rightly  fed, 
by  making  him  a  perfect  man,  and  bringing 
him  to  the  measure  of  spiritual  stature.* 

46.  And  who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ? 
For  we  are  not  as  the  many,  able  to  corrupt  ^ 
the  word  of  truth,  and  mix  the  wine,''  which 
maketh  glad  the  heart  of  man,  ^  with  water, 
mix,  that  is,  our  doctrine  with  what  is  com- 
mon and  cheap,  and  debased,  and  stale,  and 
tasteless,  in  order  to  turn  the  adulteration  to 
our  profit,  and  accommodate  ourselves  to  those 
who  meet  us,  and  curry  favor  with  everyone, 
becoming  ventriloquists  ■■  and  chatterers,  who 
serve  their  own  pleasures  by  words  uttered 
from  the  earth,  and  sinking  into  the  earth,  and, 
to  gain  the  special  good  will  of  the  multitude, 
injuring  in  the  highest  degree,  nay,  ruining  our- 
selves, and  shedding  the  innocent  blood  of  sim- 
pler souls,  which  will  be  required  at  our  hands.  '^ 

47.  Besides,  we  are  aware  that  it  is  better 
to  offer  our  own  reins  to  others  more  skilful 
than  ourselves,  than,  while  inexperienced,  to 
guide  the  course  of  others,  and  rather  to  give 
a  kindly  hearing  than  stir,  an  untrained  tongue  ; 
and  after  a  discussion  of  these  points  with  ad- 
visers who  are,  I  fancy,  of  no  mean  worth, 
and,  at  any  rate,  wish  us  well,  we  preferred  to 
learn  those  canons  of  speech  and  action  which 
we  did  not  know,  rather  than  undertake  to  teach 
them  in  our  ignorance.  For  it  is  delightful  to 
have  the  reasoning^  of  the  aged  come  to  one 
even  until  the  depth  of  old  age,  able,  as  it  is, 
to  aid  a  soul  new^  to  piety.  Accordingly,  to 
undertake  the  training  of  others  before  being 
sufficiently  trained  oneself,  antl  to  learn,  as 
men  say,  the  potter's  art  on  a  wine-jar,  that  is, 
to  practise  ourselves  in  piety  at  the  expense  of 
others'  souls,  seems  to  me  to  be  excessive  folly 
or  excessive  rashness — folly,  if  we  are  not  even 
aware  of  our  own  ignorance;  rashness,  if  in 
spite  of  this  knowledge  we  venture  on  the  task. 

48.  Nay,  the  wiser  of  the  Hebrews  tell  us 
that  there  was  of  old  among  the  Hebrews  a  most 
excellent   and  praiseworthy  law,**  that  every 


/3  Heb.  V.  14 


•y  Rom.  xiv.  2. 
iv.  13. 
.  27.  9  Ps.  civ,  15. 

Wizards." 


e  Kph. 


o  I  Cor.  ii,  6. 

6  Col.  i.  II,  ii.  19. 

(,1  Cor.  ii.  16,  17,  1)  Isai. 

(  I'eittriloqiiists.     Isai.  viii.  19,  ' 

K  Ezck.  iii.  20:   xxxiii.  8. 

A  I.e.,  venerable  for  wisdom  due  to  experience. 

fi.  Lain.  Not  definilely  enacted,  but  a  custom  constantly  ob- 
served. It  applied  to  the  earlier  and  later  chapters  of  Ezekiel  and 
the  Song  of  Solomon. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


215 


age  was  not  entrusted  with  the  whole  of  Scrip- 
ture, inasmuch  as  this  would  not  be  the  more 
profitable  course,  since  the  whole  of  it  is  not 
at  once  intelligible  to  ever3'one,  and  its  more 
recondite  parts  would,  by  their  apparent  mean- 
ing, do  a  very  great  injury  to  most  people. 
Some  portions  therefore,  whose  exterior"  is 
unexceptionable,  are  from  the  first  permitted 
and  common  to  all ;  while  others  are  only  en- 
trusted to  those  who  have  attained  their  twenty- 
fifth  year,  viz.,  such  as  hide  their  mystical 
beauty  under  a  mean-looking  cloak,  to  be  the 
reward  of  diligence  and  an  illustrious  life  ;  flash- . 
ing  forth  and  presenting  itself  only  to  those 
whose  mind  has  been  purified,  on  the  ground 
that  this  age  alone  ^  can  be  superior  to  the 
body,  and  properly  rise  from  the  letter  to  the 
spirit. 

49.  Among  us,  however,  there  is  no  bound- 
ary line  between  giving  and  receiving  instruc- 
tion, like  the  stones  of  old  between  the  tribes 
within  and  beyond  the  Jordan  :  nor  is  a  cer- 
tain part  entrusted  to  some,  another  to  others  ; 
nor  any  rule  for  degrees v  of  experience;  but 
the  matter  has  been  so  disturbed  and  thrown 
into  confusion,  that  most  of  us,  not  to  say 
all,  almost  before  we  have  lost  our  childish 
curls  and  lisp,  before  we  have  entered  the 
house  of  God,  before  we  know  even  the 
names  of  the  Sacred  Books,  before  we  have 
learnt  the  character  and  authors  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments :  (for  my  present  point 
is  not  our  want  of  cleansing  from  the  mire 
and  marks  of  spiritual  shame  which  our 
viciousness  has  contracted)  if,  I  say,  we  have 
furnished  ourselves  with  two  or  three  expres- 
sions of  pious  authors,  and  that  by  hearsay, 
not  by  study  ;  if  we  have  had  a  brief  experience 
of  David,  or  clad  ourselves  properly  in  a  cloak- 
let,  or  are  wearing  at  least  a  philosopher's  gir- 
dle, or  have  girt  about  us  some  form  and  ap- 
pearance of  piety — phew  !  how  we  take  the 
chair  and  show  our  spirit !  Samuel  was  holy 
even  in  his  swaddling-clothes  :  ^  we  are  at  once 
wise  teachers,  of  high  estimation  in  Divine 
things,  the  first  of  scribes  and  lawyers  ;  we  or- 
dain ourselves  men  of  heaven  and  seek  to  be 
called  Rabbi  by  men ;  ^  the  letter  is  nowhere, 
everything  is  to  be  understood  spiritually,  and 
our  dreams  are  utter  drivel,  and  we  should  be 
annoyed  if  we  were  not  lauded  to  excess. 
This  is  the  case  with  the  better  and  more  sim- 


a  Exterior,  Origen,  Horn.  5,  in  Levit.,  speaks  of  the  '  body, 
soul,  and  spirit  of  Scripture.' 

3  Alone.  If  as  many  MSS.  we  read  ^oAis,  "  with  difficulty." 
This  is  preferred  by  the  Bened.  note. 

y  Degrees,  etc.  Heb.  v.  14  V.  "  use  "  (in  the  singular),  the 
sense  is '•  any  rule  for  confining  the  use  of  difficult  passages  of 
Holy  .Scripture  to  those  whose  experience  is  a  guarantee  against 
their  abuse."  5  i  Sam.  ii.  11.  e  S.  Matt,  xxiii.  7. 


pie  of  US  :  what  of  those  who  are  more  spiritual 
and  noble  ?  "  After  frequently  condemning 
us,  as  men  of  no  account,  they  have  forsaken 
us,  and  abhor  fellowship  with  impious  people 
such  as  we  are. 

50.  Now,  if  we  were  to  speak  gently  to  one  of 
them,  advancing,  as  follows,  step  by  step  in 
argument:  "Tell  me,  my  good  sir,  do  you 
call  dancing  anything,  and  flute-playing?" 
"Certainly,"  they  would  say.  "What  then 
of  wisdom  and  being  wise,  which  we  venture 
to  define  as  a  knowledge  of  things  divine  and 
human  ?  ' '  This  also  they  will  admit.  ' '  Are 
then  these  accomplishments  better  than  and  su- 
perior to  wisdom,  or  wisdom  by  far  better  than 
these?"  "Better  even  than  all  things,"  I 
know  well  that  they  will  say.  Up  to  this  point 
they  are  judicious.  "  Well,  dancing  and  flute- 
playing  require  to  be  taught  and  learnt,  a  pro- 
cess which  takes  time,  and  much  toil  in  the 
sweat  of  the  brow,  and  sometimes  the  payment 
of  fees,  and  entreaties  for  inititation,  and  long 
absence  from  home,  and  all  else  which  must  be 
done  and  borne  for  the  acquisition  of  expe- 
rience :  but  as  for  wisdom,  which  is  chief  of  all 
things,  and  holds  in  her  embrace  everything 
which  is  good,  so  that  even  God  himself  prefers 
this  title  to  all  the  names  by  which  He  is 
called  ;  are  we  to  suppose  that  it  is  a  matter  of 
such  slight  consequence,  and  so  accessible,  that 
we  need  but  wish,  and  w^e  would  beA\ise?" 
"  It  would  be  utter  folly  to  do  so."  If  we,  or 
any  learned  and  prudent  man,  were  to  .say  this 
to  them,  and  try  by  degrees  to  cleanse  them 
from  their  error,  it  would  be  sowing  upon 
rocks,  ^  and  speaking  to  ears  of  men  who  will 
not  hear :  y  so  far  are  they  from  being  even 
wise  enough  to  perceive  their  own  ignorance. 
And  we  may  rightly,  in  my  opinion,  apply  to 
them  the  saying  of  Solomon  :  There  is  an 
evil  which  I  have  seen  under  the  sun,  *  a  man 
wise  in  his  own  conceit ;  *  and  a  still  greater 
evil  is  to  charge  with  the  instruction  of  others 
a  man  Avho  is  not  even  aware  of  his  OAvn  ignor- 
ance. 

5 1 .  This  is  a  state  of  mind  which  demands, 
in  special  degree,  our  tears  and  groans,  and  has 
often  stirred  my  pity,  from  the  conviction  that 
imagination  robs  us  in  great  measure  of  reality, 
and  that  vain  glory  is  a  great  hindrance  to 
men's  attainment  of  virtue.  To  heal  and  stay 
this  disease  needs  a  Peter  or  Paul,  those  great 
disciples  of  Christ,  who  in  addition  to  guidance 
in  word  and  deed,  received  their  grace,  ^  and 


a.  "More  spiritual  and  noble." — This  is  ironical. 
)3  S.  Luke  viii.  6.  y  Ecclus.  xxv.  9. 

6  Kccles.  X.  5.  £  Prov.  xxvi.  12. 

f  'fkeir  grace,  to  xapLcrixa.     Klia;;  takes  this  of  the   power   to 
heal  diseases.     Tillemont  of  miracles  in  general.     Perhaps  better 


2l6 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


became  all  things  to  all  men,  that  they  might 
gain  all. "  But  for  other  men  like  ourselves,  it 
is  a  great  thing  to  be  rightly  guided  and  led 
by  those  who  have  been  charged  with  the  cor- 
rection and  setting  right  of  things  such  as  these. 

52.  Since,  however,  I  have  mentioned  Paul, 
and  men  like  him,  I  will,  with  your  permission, 
pass  by  all  others  who  have  been  foremost  as 
lawgivers,  prophets,  or  leaders,  or  in  any 
similar  office — for  instance,  Moses,  Aaron, 
Joshua,  Elijah,  Elisha,  the  Judges,  Samuel, 
David,  the  company  of  Prophets,  John,  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  and  their  successors,  who  with 
many  toils  and  labors  exercised  their  authority, 
each  in  his  own  time  ;  all  these  I  pass  by,  to  set 
forth  Paul  as  the  witness  to  my  assertions,  and 
for  us  to  consider  by  his  example  how  im- 
portant a  matter  is  the  care  of  souls,  and  whether 
it  requires  slight  attention  and  little  judgment. 
But  that  we  may  recognize  and  perceive  this, 
let  us  hear  what  Paul  himself  says  of  Paul. 

53.  I  say  nothing  of  his  labours,  his  watch- 
ings,  his  sufferings  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  cold 
and  nakedness,  his  assailants  from  without,  his 
adversaries  within.  ^  I  pass  over  the  persecu- 
tions, councils,  prisons,  bonds,  accusers,  tribu- 
nals, the  daily  and  hourly  deaths,  the  basket, 
the  stonings,  beatings  with  rods,  the  travelling 
about,  the  perils  by  land  and  sea,  the  deep,  the 
shipwrecks,  the  perils  of  rivers,  perils  of  rob- 
bers, perils  from  his  countrymen,  perils  among 
false  brethren,  the  living  by  his  own  hands,  the 
gospel  without  charge, "i"  the  being  a  spectacle  to 
both  angels  and  men,^  set  in  the  midst  between 
God  and  men  to  champion  His  cause, ^  and  to 
unite  them  to  Him,  and  make  them  His  own 
peculiar  people,^  beside  those  things  that  are 
without.')  For  who  could  worthily  detail  these 
matters,  the  daily  pressure,^  the  individual  so- 
licitude, the  care  of  all  the  churches,  the 
universal  sympathy,  and  brotherly  love  ?  Did 
anyone  stumble,  Paul  also  was  weak  ;  did  an- 
other suffer  scandal,  it  was  Paul  who  was  on 
fire. 

54.  What  of  the  laboriousncss  of  his  teach- 
i  ng  ?  The  manifold  character  of  his  ministry  ? 
His  loving  kindness?  And  on  the  other  hand 
his  strictness  ?  And  the  coml)ination  and  blend- 
ing of  the  two  ;  in  such  wise  that  his  gentle- 
ness should  not  enervate,  nor  his  severity  ex- 
asperate? He  gives  laws  for  slaves  and  mas- 
ters,' rulers  and  ruled,"  husbands  and  wives, ■'^ 


of  the  special   position  as  Apostles  to  the   Jews  and  to  the   Gen- 
tiles (O.-xl,  ii.  8.  9),  where  the  term  used  is  X^P'^- 

a  I  Ot.  ix.  22.        P2  Cor.  xi.  23  ct  scq.      y  i  Cor.  iv.  12  :_i\-.  18. 

S  lb.  iv.  g.  6  His  cause  reading  fov  :  v.  1.  riav. 

^Tit.  ii.  14.  T)  2  Cor.  \'i.  28,  2q. 

B  Pressure  (TncrTarriav,  2  Cor.  xi.  28,  eTriVrao'ii'. 
I  Eph.  vi.  5,  9.  K  Rora.  xiii.  1-3.  A  Eph.  v.  25,  22. 


parents  and  children,"  marriage  and  celibacy,^ 
self-discipline  and  indulgence, v  wisdom  and  ig- 
norance,^ circumcision  and  uncircumcision, « 
Christ  and  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  spirit.^ 
On  behalf  of  some  he  gives  thanks,  others  he 
ujjbraids.  Some  he  names  his  joy  and  crown,'' 
others  he  charges  with  folly. ^  Some  who  hold 
a  straight  course  he  accompanies,  sharing  in 
their  zeal ;  others  he  checks,  who  are  going 
wrong.  At  one  time  he  excommunicates,'  at 
another  he  confirms  his  love ;  "  at  one  time  he 
grieves,  at  another  rejoices ;  at  one  time  he 
feeds  with  milk,  at  another  he  handles  mys- 
teries ;  ^  at  one  time  he  condescends,  at  another 
he  raises  to  his  own  level ;  at  one  time  he 
threatens  a  rod,  **  at  another  he  offers  the  spirit 
of  meekness ;  at  one  time  he  is  haughty  to- 
ward the  lofty,  at  another  lowly  toward  the 
lowly.  Now  he  is  least  of  the  apostles,''  now 
he  otTers  a  proof  of  Christ  speaking  in  him  ;  ^ 
now  he  longs  for  departure  and  is  being 
poured  forth  as  a  libation,"  now  he  thinks  it 
more  necessary  for  their  sakes  to  abide  in  the 
flesh.  For  he  seeks  not  his  own  interests,  but 
those  of  his  children,'^  whom  he  has  begotten 
in  Christ  by  the  gospel,  f  This  is  the  aim  of 
all  his  spiritual  authority,  in  everything  to 
neglect  his  own  in  comp'arison  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  others. 

55.  He  glories  in  his  infirmities  and  dis- 
tresses. He  takes  pleasure  in  the  dying  of 
Jesus, "^  as  if  it  were  a  kind  of  ornament.  He 
is  lofty  in  carnal  things,'^  he  rejoices  in  things 
spiritual ;  he  is  not  rude  in  knowledge,  "  and 
claims  to  see  in  a  mirror,  darkly."^  He  is  bold 
in  spirit,  and  buffets  his  body,  ^  throwing  it  as 
an  antagonist.  ^Vhat  is  the  lesson  and  in- 
struction  he  would  thus  impress  upon  us  ?  Not 
to  be  proud  of  earthly  things,  or  puffed  up  by 
knowledge,  or  excite  the  flesh  against  the 
spirit.  Fie  fights  for  all,  prays  for  all,  is  jeal- 
ous for  all,  is  kindled  on  behalf  of  all,  whether 
without  law.  or  under  the  law;  a  preacher  of 
the  Gentiles,''' a  i)atron  of  the  Jews.  He  even 
was  exceedingly  bold  on  behalf  of  his  brethren 
according  to  the  flesh,"  if  I  may  myself  be  bold 
enough  to  say  so,  in  his  loving  prayer  that 
they  might  in  his  stead  be  brought  to  Christ. 
What  magnanimity  !  what  fervor  of  spirit !  He 
imitates  Christ,  who  became  a  curse  for  us,  "" 
who  took  our  infirmities  and  bore  our  sick- 
nesses ;  '^^  or,  to  use  more  measured  terms,  he  is 


aKph.  vi.  1-4.         fi  i  Cor.  vii.  3,  8,  25,  31. 

S  I  Cor.  i.  27  ;  iii.  iS.         e  Rom.  ii.  25,  29 

7)  Phil.  iv.  I.  6  ("■al.  iii.  i.  t  i  Cor.  v 

A  I  Cor.   ii.  7  ;   iii.  2.  /u.Ib.  iv.  21. 

f  9.  Cor.  xiii.  3.  o  Phil.  i.  23;   ii.  17. 

p  lb.  iv.  15.      <r  2  Cor.  iv.  10  ;  xii.  9,  10.      T  Rom.  v.  3  ;   Flul.  m.  4 

V  2  Cor.  xi.  6  <j)  I  Cor.  xiii.  12.  x  11).  ix.  27. 

i^/a  Tim.  i.  11.     lo  Rom.  ix.  3.  ao  Gal.  iii.  13.   |3/3  S.  JNIatt.  viii.  17. 


y  Rom.  xiv.  3,  6. 
^  Gal.  V.  16. 
5.         K  2  Cor.  ii.  8. 
v  lb.  XV.  9. 

TT  I  Cor.  X.  33. 
Phi'    •■• 


IN    DEFENCE  OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


217 


ready,  next  to  Christ,  to  suffer  anything,  even 
as  one  of  the  ungodly,  for  them,  if  only  they 
be  saved. 

56.  Why  should  I  enter  into  detail?  He 
lived  not  to  himself,  but  to  Christ  and  his 
preaching.  He  crucified  the  world  to  himself," 
and  being  crucified  to  the  world  and  the 
things  which  are  seen,  he  thought  all  things 
little, 3  and  too  small  to  be  desired  ;  even 
though  from  Jerusalem  and  round  about  unto 
Illyricumvhe  had  fully  preached  the  Gospel, 
even  though  he  had  been  prematurely  caught 
up  to  the  third  heaven,  and  had  had  a  vision 
of  Paradise,  and  had  heard  unspeakable  words.* 
Such  was  Paul,  and  everyone  of  like  spirit 
with  him.  But  we  fear  that,  in  comparison 
with  them,  we  may  be  foolish  princes  of  Zoan,* 
or  extortioners,  who  exact  the  fruits  of  the 
ground,  or  falsely  bless  the  people  :  ^  and  fur- 
ther make  themselves  happy,  and  confuse  the 
way  of  your  feet,''  or  mockers  ruling  over  you, 
or  children  in  authority,^  immature  in  mind, 
not  even  having  bread  and  clothing  enough  to 
be  rulers  over  any  ; '  or  prophets  teaching  lies," 
or  rebellious  princes,^  deserving  to  share  the 
reproach  of  their  elders  for  the  straitness  of  the 
famine,'^  or  priests  very  far  from  speaking  com- 
fortably "  to  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  re- 
proaches and  protests  urged  by  Isaiah,  who 
was  purged  by  the  Seraphim  with  a  live  coal.f 

57.  Is  the  undertaking  then  so  serious  and 
laborious  to  a  sensitive  and  sad  heart — a  very 
rottenness  to  the  bones  °  of  a  sensible  man  : 
while  the  danger  is  slight,  and  a  fall  not  worth 
consideration  ?  Nay  the  blessed  Hosea  inspires 
me  with  serious  alarm,  where  he  says  that  to 
us  priests  and  rulers  pertaineth  the  judgment,'^ 
because  we  have  been  a  snare  to  the  watch- 
tower  ;  and  as  a  net  spread  upon  Tabor,  which 
has  been  firmly  fixed  by  the  hunters  of  men's 
souls,  and  he  threatens  to  cut  off  the  wicked 
prophets, f-  and  devour  their  judges  with  fire, 
and  to  cease  for  a  while  from  anointing  a  king 
and  princes, "■  because  they  ruled  for  themselves, 
and  not  by  Him.'^ 

58.  Hence  again  the  divine  Micah,  unable 
to  brook  the  building  of  Zion  with  blood, 
however  you  interpret  the  phrase,  and  of  Jeru- 
salem with  iniquity,  while  the  heads  thereof 
judge  for  reward,  and  the  priests  teach  for  hire, 
and  the  prophets  divine  for  money — what  does 
he  say  will  be  the  result  of  this  ?  Zion  shall 
be  plowed  as  a  field,  and  Jerusalem  be  as  a 


a  Gal.  vi.  14.  |3  Phil.  iii.  8.  y  Rom.  xv.  ig. 

8  2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4.      elsa.  xix.  11.      ^  lb.  ix.  16.        rj  lb.  iii.  12. 

0  lb.  iii.  4.  I  lb.  iii.  7.  k  lb.  ix.  15. 

\  lb.  i.  23.  n  lb.  viii.  21.  v  lb.  xl.  2.  f  lb.  vi.  6,  7. 

o  Prov.  xiv.  30.  n  Hos.  v.  i,  2.  p  lb.  vi.  5. 

<r  lb.  vii.  7.  T  lb.  viii.  4. 


lodge  in  a  garden,  and  the  mountain  of  the 
house  be  reckoned  as  a  glade  in  a  thicket."  He 
bewails  also  the  scarcity  of  the  upright,  there 
being  scarcely  a  stalk  or  a  gleaning  grape  left, 
since  both  the  prince  asketh,  and  the  judge 
curries  favour,^  so  that  his  language  is  almost 
the  same  as  the  mighty  David's  :  Save  me,  O 
Lord,  for  the  godly  man  ceaseth :  v  and  says 
that  therefore  their  blessings  shall  fail  them, 
as  if  wasted  by  the  moth. 

59.  Joel  again  summons  us  to  wailing,  and 
will  have  the  ministers  of  the  altar  lament 
under  the  presence  of  famine :  so  far  is  he 
from  allowing  us  to  revel  in  the  misfortunes 
of  others  :  and,  after  sanctifying  a  fast,  calling 
a  solemn  assembly,  and  gathering  the  old  men, 
the  children,  and  those  of  tender  age,*  we  our- 
selves must  further  haunt  the  temple  in  sack- 
cloth and  ashes,*  prostrated  right  humbly  on 
the  ground,  because  the  field  is  wasted,  and 
the  meat-offering  and  the  drink-offering  is  cut 
off  from  the  house  of  the  Lord,  till  we  draw 
down  mercy  by  our  humiliation. 

60.  What  of  Habakkuk  ?  He  utters  more 
heated  words,  and  is  impatient  with  God 
Himself,  and  cries  down,  as  it  were  our  good 
Lord,  because  of  the  injustice  of  the  judges. 
O  Lord,  how  long  shall  I  cry  and  Thou  wilt 
not  hear  ?  Shall  I  cry  out  unto  Thee  of  vio- 
lence, and  Thou  wilt  not  save  ?  Why  dost 
Thou  show  me  toil  and  labour,  causing  me  to 
look  upon  perverseness  and  impiety?  Judg- 
ment has  been  given  against  me,  and  the 
judge  is  a  spoiler.  Therefore  the  law  is  slacked, 
and  judgment  doth  never  go  forth.  Then 
comes  the  denunciation,  and  what  follows 
upon  it.  Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  regard, 
and  wonder  marvellously,  and  vanish  away, 
for  I  work  a  work.^  But  Avhy  need  I  quote 
the  whole  of  the  denunciation  ?  A  little  fur- 
ther on,  however,  for  I  think  it  best  to  add 
this  to  what  has  been  said,  after  upbraiding 
and  lamenting  many  of  those  who  are  in  some 
respect  unjust  or  depraved,  he  upbraids  the 
leaders  and  teachers  of  wickedness,  stigmatising 
vice  as  a  foul  disorder,  and  an  intoxication  and 
aberration  of  mind  ;  charging  them  with  giv- 
ing their  neighbours  drink  in  order  to  look 
upon  the  darkness  of  their  soul,''  and  the  dens 
of  creeping  things  and  wild  beasts,  viz.:  the 
dwelling  places  of  wicked  thoughts.  Such 
indeed  they  are,  and  such  teachings  do  they 
discuss  with  us. 

61.  How  can  it  be  right  to  pass  by  Malachi, 
who  at  one  time  brings  bitter  charges  against 
the  priests,  and  reproaches  them  with  despising 

a  Mic.  iii.  10-12.  j3  lb.  vii.  1-4.  y  Ps.  xii.  i. 

6  Joel  i.  13,  seq.      «  Isa.  Iviii.  5,      f  Hab.  i.  2  et  seq.     r)  lb.  ii.  15, 


2l8 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


the  name  of  the  Lord,"  and  explains  wherein 
they  did  this,  by  offering  polhited  bread  upon 
the  altar,  and  meat  which  is  not  firstfruits, 
which  they  would  not  have  offered  to  one  of 
their  governors,  or,  if  they  had  offered  it, 
they  would  have  been  dishonoured;  yet  offer- 
ing these  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  to  the  King 
of  the  universe,  to  wit,  the  lame  and  the  sick, 
and  the  deformed,  which  are  utterly  profane 
and  loathsome.^  Again  he  reminds  them  of 
the  covenant  of  God,  a  covenant  of  life  and 
peace,  with  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  that  they 
should  serve  Him  in  fear,  and  stand  in  awe  of 
the  manifestation  of  His  Name.  The  law  of 
truth,  he  says,  was  in  his  mouth,  and  unright- 
eousness was  not  found  in  his  lips  ;  he  walked 
with  me  uprightly  in  peace,  and  turned  away 
many  from  iniquity  :  lor  the  priest's  lips  shall 
keep  knowledge,  and  they  shall  seek  the  law 
at  his  mouth.  And  how  honourable  and  at 
the  same  time  how  fearful  is  the  cause  !  for  he 
is  the  messenger  of  the  Lord  Almighty. v  Al- 
though I  pass  over  the  following  imprecations, 
as  strongly  worded,^  yet  I  am  afraid  of  their 
truth.  This  however  may  be  cited  without 
offence,  to  our  profit.  Is  it  right,  he  says,  to 
regard  your  sacrifice,  and  receive  it  with  good 
will  at  your  hands,'  as  if  he  were  most  highly 
inceased,  and  rejecting  their  ministrations  ow- 
ing to  their  wickedness. 

62.  Whenever  I  remember  Zechariah,  I 
shudder  at  the  reaping-hook,^  and  likewise 
at  his  testimony  against  the  priests,  his  hints 
in  reference  to  the  celebrated  Joshua,  the  high 
priest,  ^\  horn  he  represents  as  stripped  of  filthy 
and  unbecoming  garments  and  then  clothed  in 
rich  priestly  apparel.''  As  for  the  words  and 
charges  to  Joshua  which  he  puts  into  the  an- 
gel's mouth,  let  them  be  treated  with  silent 
respect,  as  referring  perhaps  to  a  greater  ^  and 
higher  object  than  those  who  are  many  priests  :  ' 
but  even  at  his  right  hand  stood  the  devil,  to 
resist  him.  A  fact,  in  my  eyes,  of  no  slight 
significance,  and  demanding  no  slight  fear  and 
watchfiilness. 

63.  Who  is  so  bold  and  adamantine  of  soul 
as  not  to  tremble  and  be  abashed  at  the  charges 
and  reproaches  deliberately  urged  against  the  rest 
of  the  shepherds.  A  voice,  he  says,  of  the  howl- 
ing of  the  shepherds,  for  their  glory  is  spoiled. 
A  voice  of  the  roaring  of  lions,"  for  this  hath 
befallen  them.  Does  he  not  all  but  hear  the 
wailing  as  if  close  at  hand,  and  himself  wail 


a  Mai.  i.  6.  0  lb.  i.  13.  y  lb.  ii.  5-7. 

6  Strongly  worded,  ^\6.ai\>r\\kOv,  jierh.  "ill  omened." 
€  lb.  ii.  13.  f  Zech.  v.  i  (LXX.).  17  lb.  iii.  i  et  seq. 

6  A  c;reatcr,  &c.,  i.e.  they  refer  to   the  Person  of  Jesus    Christ 
Himself. 

I  Heb.  vii.  23.  K  Zech.  xi.  3. 


with  the  afflicted.  A  little  further  is  a  more 
striking  and  impassioned  strain.  Feed,  he 
says,  the  flock  of  slaughter,  whose  possessors 
slay  them  without  repentance,  and  they  that 
sell  them  say,  "  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  for  we 
are  rich :  ' '  and  their  own  shepherds  are  with- 
out feeling  for  them.  Therefore,  I  will  no 
more  pity  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  saith 
the  Lord  Almighty.*  And  again  :  Awake,  O 
sword,  against  the  shepherds,  and  smite  the 
shepherds,  and  scatter  the  sheep,  and  I  will 
turn  My  Hand  upon  the  shepherds ;  ^  and,  Mine 
anger  is  kindled  against  the  shepherds,  and  I 
will  visit  the  lambs  :  v  adding  to  the  threat  those 
who  rule  over  the  people.  So  industriously 
does  he  apply  himself  to  his  task  that  he  can- 
not easily  free  himself  from  denunciations,  and 
I  am  afraid  that,  did  I  refer  to  the  whole 
series,  1  should  exhaust  your  patience.  This 
must  then  suffice  for  Zechariah. 

64.  Passing  by  the  elders  in  the  book  of 
Daniel ;  *  for  it  is  better  to  pass  them  by,  to- 
gether with  the  Lord's  righteous  sentence  and 
declaration  concerning  them,  that  wickedness 
came  from  Babylon  Irom  ancient  judges,  who 
seemed  to  govern  the  people;  how  are  we 
affected  by  Ezekiel,  the  beholder  and  expositor 
of  the  mighty  mysteries  and  visions  ?  By  his 
injunction  to  the  \\atchmen  *  not  to  keep  silence 
concerning  vice  and  the  sword  impending  over 
it,  a  course  which  would  profit  neither  them- 
selves nor  the  sinners ;  but  rather  to  keep 
watch  and  forewarn,  and  thus  benefit,  at  any 
rate  those  who  gave  warning,  if  not  both  those 
who  spoke  and  those  who  heard  ? 

65.  What  of  his  further  invective  against 
the  shepherds,  Woe  shall  come  upon  woe, 
and  rumour  upon  rumour,  then  shall  they 
seek  a  vision  of  the  prophet,  but  the  law  shall 
perish  from  the  priest,  and  counsel  from  the 
ancients,^  and  again,  in  these  terms.  Son  of 
man,  say  unto  her,  thou  art  a  land  that  is  not 
watered,  nor  hath  rain  come  upon  thee  in  the 
day  of  indignation:  who.se  princes  in  the  midst 
of  her  are  like  roaring  lions,  ravening  the  prey, 
devouring  souls- in  their  might.''  And  a  little 
further  on:  Her  priests  have  violated  My  laws 
and  profaned  My  holy  things,  they  have  put  no 
difference  between  the  holy  and  profane,  but 
all  things  were  alike  to  them,  and  they  hid 
their  eyes  from  My  Sal)baths,  and  I  was  pro- 
faned among  them.^  He  threatens  that  He 
will  consume  both  the  wall  and  them  that 
daubed  it,'  that  is,  those  who  sin  and  those 
who    throw  a  cloak  over  them ;  as    the   evil 


a.  Zech.  xi.  s,  6. 
i  S  Hist.  Siisann.,  5, 
1)  lb.  xxii.  24  seq. 


/3  lb.  xiii.  7. 

«  Kzek.  xxxiii.  2. 

6  lb.  xxii.  26. 


■y  lb.  X.  3. 
^  lb,  vii.  26. 
t  lb.  xiii.  14. 


IN    DEFENCE    OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTyS. 


19 


rulers  and  priests  have  done,  who  caused  the 
house  of  Israel  to  err  according  to  their  own 
hearts  which  are  estranged  in  their  lusts." 

66.  I  also  refrain  from  entering  into  his  dis- 
cussion of  those  who  feed  themselves,  devour 
the  milk,  clothe  themselves  with  the  wool,  kill 
them  that  are  fat,  but  feed  not  the  flock, 
strengthen  not  the  diseased,  nor  bind  up  that 
which  is  broken,  nor  bring  again  that  which  is 
driven  away,  nor  seek  that  which  is  lost,  nor 
keep  watch  over  that  which  is  strong,  but 
oppress  them  with  rigour,  and  destroy  them 
with  their  pressure ;  ^  so  that,  because  there 
was  no  shepherd,  the  sheep  were  scattered 
over  every  plain  and  mountain,  and  became 
meat  for  all  the  fowls  and  beasts, v  because  there 
was  no  one  to  seek  for  them  and  bring  them 
back.  What  is  the  consequence?  As  I  live, 
saith  the  Lord,  because  these  things  are  so,  and 
My  flock  became  a  prey,*  behold  I  am  against 
the  shepherds,  and  I  will  require  My  flock  at 
their  hands,  and  will  gather  them  and  make 
them  My  own  :  but  the  shepherds  shall  suff'er 
such  and  such  things,  as  bad  shepherds  ought. 

67.  However,  to  avoid  unreasonably  pro- 
longing my  discourse,  by  an  enumeration  of 
all  the  prophets,  and  of  the  words  of  them  all, 
I  will  mention  but  one  more,  who  was  known 
before  he  was  formed,  and  sanctified  from  the 
womb,^  Jeremiah  :  and  will  pass  over  the  rest. 
He  longs  for  water  over  his  head,  and  a  foun- 
tain of  tears  for  his  eyes,  that  he  may  ade- 
quately weep  for  Israel ;  ^  and  no  less  does  he 
bewail  the  depravity  of  its  rulers. 

68.  God  speaks  to  him  in  reproof  of  the 
priests :  The  priests  said  not.  Where  is  the 
Lord,  and  they  that  handled  the  law  knew 
Me  not;  the  pastors  also  transgressed  against 
Me.''  Again  He  says  to  him  :  The  jDastors  are 
become  brutish,  and  have  not  sought  the  Lord, 
and  therefore  all  their  flock  did  not  understand, 
and  was  scattered.^  Again,  Many  pastors  have 
destroyed  My  vineyard,  and  have  polluted  My 
pleasant  portion,  till  it  was  reduced  to  a  track- 
less wilderness.'  He  further  inveighs  against 
the  pastors  again  :  Woe  be  to  the  pastors 
that  destroy  and  scatter  the  .sheep  of  Aly  pas- 
ture !  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  against 
them  that  feed  My  people  :  Ye  have  scattered 
My  flock,  and  driven  them  away,  and  have 
not  visited  them  :  behold  I  will  visit  upon  you 
the  evil  of  your  doings.*  Moreover  he  bids 
the  shepherds  to  howl,  and  the  rams  of  the 
flock  to  lament,  because  the  days  of  their 
slaughter  are  accompli.shed.^ 


a  F.zek.  xiv.  5.  ^  lb.  xxxiv.  2  et  seq. 

S  lb.  xxxiv.  8.  e  Jer.  i.  5. 

r)  lb.  ii.  8.  0  lb.  x.  21.  i  lb.  xii.  10. 

»c  lb.  xxiii.  I,  2.  A  lb.  xxv.  34 


7  lb.  xxxix.  17. 
f  lb.  ix.  I. 


69.  Why  need  I  speak  of  the  things  of  an- 
cient days  ?  Who  can  test  himself  by  the  rules 
and  standards  which  Paul  laid  down  for  bishops 
and  presbyters,  that  they  are  to  be  temperate, 
soberminded,  not  given  to  wine,  no  strikers, 
apt  to  teach,  blameless  in  all  things,  and  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  wicked,*  without  finding 
considerable  deflection  from  the  straight  line 
of  the  rules?  What  of  the  regulations  of  Jesus 
for  his  disciples,  when  He  sends  them  to 
preach  ?  ^  The  main  object  of  these  is — not  to 
enter  into  particulars — that  they  should  be  of 
such  virtue,  so  simple  and  modest,  and  in  a 
word,  so  heavenly,  that  the  gospel  should  make 
its  way,  no  less  by  their  character  than  by 
their  preaching. 

70.  I  am  alarmed  by  the  reproaches  of  the 
Pharisees,  the  conviction  of  the  Scribes.  For 
it  is  disgraceful  for  us,  who  ought  greatly  sur- 
pass them,  as  we  are  bidden,  if  we  desire  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  to  be  found  more  deeply 
sunk  in  vice  :  so  that  we  deserve  to  be  called 
serpents,  a  generation  of  vipers,  and  blind 
guides,  who  strain  out  a  gnat  and  swallow  a 
camel,  or  sepulchres  foul  within,  in  spite  of 
our  external  comeliness,  or  platters  outwardly 
clean,  and  everything  else,  which  they  are,  or 
which  is  laid  to  their  charge. v 

71.  With  the.se  thoughts  I  am  occupied 
night  and  day :  they  waste  my  marrow,  and 
feed  upon  my  flesh,  and  will  not  allow  me  to 
be  confident  or  to  look  up.  They  depress  my 
soul,  and  abase  my  mind,  and  fetter  my  tongue, 
and  make  me  consider,  not  the»position  of  a 
prelate,  or  the  guidance  and  direction  of  others, 
which  is  far  beyond  my  powers ;  but  how  I 
myself  am  to  escape  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to 
scrape  off  from  myself  somewhat  of  the  rust  of 
vice.  A  man  must  himself  be  cleansed,  before 
cleansing  others :  himself  become  wise,  that 
he  may  make  others  wise ;  become  light,  and 
then  give  light  :  draw  near  to  God,  and  so 
bring  others  near  ;  be  hallowed,  then  hallow 
them  ;  be  possessed  of  hands  to  lead  others 
by  the  hand,  of  wi.sdom  to  give  advice. 

72.  When  will  this  be,  say  they  who  are 
swift  but  not  sure  in  every  thing,  readily  build- 
ing up,  readily  throwing  down.  When  will  the 
lamp  be  upon  its  stand,*  and  where  is  the 
talent?*  For  so  they  call  the  grace. ^  Those 
who  speak  thus  are  more  fervent  in  friendship 
than  in  reverence.  You  ask  me,  you  men  of  ex- 
ceeding courage,  when  these  things  shall  be. 

Not  even 
a  limit  to 


and  what  account  I  give  of  them? 

too 


extreme  old  age  would  b^ 


long 


a  I  Tim.  iii.  2.  3  ;  Tit.  i.  7.         |8  S.  Matt.  x.  g  ;  S.  Luke  ix.  3. 
y  S.  Matt,  xxiii.  13  et  seq.  6  lb.  v.  15.  e  lb.  xxv.  15. 

i  "  The ^r ace"'  i.e.  the  grace  of  the  priesthood. 


220 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


assign.  For  hoary  hairs  combined  with  pru- 
',  ence  are  better  than  inexperienced  youth,  well- 
reasoned  hesitation  than  inconsiderate  haste, 
and  a  brief  reign  than  a  long  tyranny  :  just 
as  a  small  portion  honourably  won  is  better 
than  considerable  possessions  which  are  dis- 
honourable and  uncertain,  a  little  gold  than  a 
great  weight  of  lead,  a  little  light  than  much 
darkness. 

73.  But  this  speed,  in  its  untrustworthiness 
and  excessive  haste,  is  in  danger  of  being  like 
the  seeds  which  fell  upon  the  rock,'^  and,  be- 
cause they  had  no  de])th  of  earth, ^  sprang  up  at 
once,  but  could  not  bear  even  the  first  heat  of 
the  sun  ;  or  like  the  foundation  laid  upon  the 
sand,'!'  which  could  not  even  make  a  slight  re- 
sistance to  the  rain  and  the  winds.  Woe  to 
thee,  O  city,  whose  king  is  a  child,*  says  Solo- 
mon. Be  not  hasty  of  speech,*  says  Solomon 
again,  asserting  that  hastiness  of  speech  is  less 
serious  than  heated  action.  And  who,  in  spite 
of  ail  this,  demands  haste  rather  than  security 
and  utility  ?  Who_can_^ioiild^,  as  clay-figures 
are  modelled  iii  a  single  day,  the  defender  of 
the  truth,  who  is  to  take  his  stand  with  Angels, 
and  give  glory  with  Archangels,  and  cause  the 
sacrifice  to  ascend  to  the  altar  on  high,  and 
share  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  and  renew  the 
creature,  and  set  forth  the  image,  and  create 
inhabitants  for  the  world  above,  aye  and,  great- 
est of  all,  be..God,  and  make  others  to  be  God  ? 

74.  I  know  Whose  ministers  we  are,  and 
where  we  are  placed,  and  whither  we  are 
guides.  I  know  the  height  of  God,  and  the 
weakness  of  man,  and,  on  the  contrary,  his 
power.  Heaven  is  high,  and  the  earth  deep  ;  ^ 
and  who  of  those  who  have  been  cast  down  by 
sin  shall  ascend  ?  "^  Who  that  is  as  yet  surrounded 
by  the  gloom  here  below,  and  by  the  grossness 
of  the  fle.sh  can  purely  gaze  with  his  whole 
mind  upon  that  whole  mind,  and  amid  unstable 
and  visible  things  hold  intercourse  with  the 
stable  and  invisible  ?  For  hardly  may  one  of 
those  who  have  been  most  specially  purged,  be- 
hold here  even  an  image  of  the  Good,  as  men 
see  the  sun  in  the  water.  Who  hath  measured 
the  water  with  his  hand,  and  the  heaven  with 
a  span,  and  the  whole  earth  in  a  measure? 
Who  hath  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and 
the  liills  in  a  balance?  ^  What  is  the  place  of 
his  rest?'  and  to  whom  shall  he  be  likened ?'' 

75.  Who  is  it.  Who  made  all  thuigs  by  His 
Word,^  and  formed  man  by  His  Wisdom,  and 
gathered  into  one  things  scattered  abroad,  and 
mingled  dust  with  spirit,  and  compounded  an 

a  S.  Luke  viii.  6.  fi  S.  Matt.  xiii.  5.         y  lb.  vii.  26. 

5  Ecclcs.  X.  16.  e  Prov.  xxix.  20.  i  lb.  xxv   3. 

rj  Ps.  x.Mv.  3.  6  Isai.  xl.  12.  i  lb.  Ixvi.  i. 

K  lb.  xl.  18,  25.  A  Ps.  xxxiii.  6. 


animal  visible  and  invisible,  temporal  and  im- 
mortal, earthly  and  heavenly,  able  to  attain  to 
God  but  not  to  comprehend  Him,  drawing 
near  and  yet  afar  off.  I  said,  I  will  be  wise, 
says  Solomon,  but  she  (i.e.  Wisdom)  was  far 
from  me  beyond  what  is  :  °-  and,  Verily,  he  that 
increaseth  knowledge  increaseth  sorrow.'^  For 
the  joy  of  what  we  have  discovered  is  no 
greater  than  the  pain  of  what  escapes  us  ;  a 
pain,  I  imagine,  like  that  felt  by  those  who  are 
dragged,  while  yet  thirsty,  from  the  water,  or 
are  unable  to  retain  what  they  think  they  hold, 
or  are  suddenly  left  in  the  dark  by  a  flash  of 
lightning. 

76.  This  depressed  and  kept  me  humble, 
and  persuaded  me  that  it  was  better  to  hear 
the  voice  of  praise  y  than  to  be  an  expounder 
of  truths  beyond  my  power  ;  the  majesty,  and 
the  height,  and  the  dignity,  and  the  pure 
natures  scarce  able  to  contain  the  bright- 
ness of  God,  Whom  the  deep  covers.  Whose 
secret  place  is  darkness,*  since  He  is  the  purest 
light,*  which  most  men  cannot  approach  unto; 
Who  is  in  all  this  universe,  and  again  is 
beyond  the  universe ;  Who  is  all  goodness,^  and 
beyond  all  goodness  ;  Who_gnlightens  the  mind, 
gjid__escapes  the  quickness  and  height  of  the 
mind,  ever  retiring  as  much  as  He  is  appre- 
hended, and  by  His  flight  and  stealing  away 
when  grasped,  withdrawing  to  the  things  above 
one  who  is  enamoured  of  Him. 

77.  Such  and  so  great  is  the  object  of  our 
longing  zeal,  and  such  a  man  should  he  be, 
who  prepares  and  conducts  souls  to  their  es- 
pousals. For  myself,  I  feared  to  be  cast, 
bound  hand  and  footji  from  the  bride-chamber, 
for  not  having  on  a  wedding-garment,  and  for 
having  rashly  intruded  among  those  who  there 
sit  at  meat.  And  yet  I  had  been  invited  from 
my  youth,  if  I  may  speak  of  what  most  men 
know  not,  and  had  been  cast  upon  Him  from 
the  womb,^  and  presented  by  the  promise  of  my 
mother,  afterwards  confirmed  in  the  hour  of 
danger :  and  my  longing  grew  up  with  it,  and 
my  reason  agreed  to  it,  and  I  gave  as  an  offer- 
ing my  all  to  Him  Who  had  won  me  and 
saved  me,  my  property,  my  fame,  my  health, 
my  very  words,  from  which  I  only  gained  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  despise  them,  and 
of  having  something  in  comparison  of  which  I 
preferred  Christ.  And  the  words  of  God  were 
made  sweet  as  honeycombs '  to  me,  and  I  cried 
after  knowledge  and  lifted  up  my  voice  for 
wisdom."  There  was  moreover  the  moderation 
of  anger,  the  curbing  of  the  tongue,  the  re- 

vPs.  x.\vi.  7  (LXX.). 
^  Exod.  xxxiii.  19. 

6  Ps.  xxii.  II. 

K  Prol'.  ii.  3. 


a  Kccles.  vii.  24. 

h  lb.  xviii.  12  ;  civ.  6. 

T)  S.  Matt.  xxii.  13. 

I  lb.  xix.  10  ;  cxix.  103 


P  lb.  i.  18. 

e  I  Tim.  vi.  16. 


IN    DEFENCE    OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


221 


straint  of  the  eyes,  the  discipUne  of  the  belly, 
and  the  trampling  under  foot  of  the  glory 
which  clings  to  the  earth.  I  speak  foolishly,"^ 
but  it  shall  be  said,  in  these  pursuits  I  was 
perhaps  not  inferior  to  many. 

78.  One  branch  of  philosophy  is,  however, 
too  high  for  me,  the  commission  to  guide  and 
govern  souls — and  before  I  have  rightly  learned 
to  submit  to  a  shepherd,  or  have  had  my  soul 
duly  cleansed,  the  charge  of  caring  for  a  flock  : 
especially  in  times  like  these,  when  a  man, 
seeing  everyone  else  rushing  hither  and  thither 
in  confusion,  is  content  to  flee  from  the  melee 
and  escape,  in  sheltered  retirement,  from  the 
storm  and  gloom  of  the  wicked  one  :  when 
the  members  are  at  war  with  one  another,  and 
the  slight  remains  of  love,  which  once  ex- 
isted, have  departed,  and  priest  is  a  mere  empty 
name,  since,  as  it  is  said,  contempt^  has  been 
poured  upon  princes. v 

79.  Would  that  it  were  merely  empty  !  And 
now  may  their  blasphemy  fall  upon  the  head  of 
the  ungodly  !  All  fear  has  been  banished  from 
souls,  shamelessness  has  taken  its  place,  and 
knowledge  ^  and  the  deep  things  of  the  Spirit  ^ 
are  at  the  disposal  of  anyone  who  will ;  and  we 
all  become  pious  by  simply  condemning  the 
impiety  of  others  ;  and  we  claim  the  services  of 
ungodly  judges,^  and  fling  that  which  is  holy  to 
the  dogs,  and  cast  pearls  before  swine,''  by  pub- 
lishing divine  things  in  the  hearing  of  profane 
souls,  and,  wretches  that  we  are,  carefully  ful- 
fil the  prayers  of  our  enemies,  and  are  not 
ashamed  to  go  a  whoring  with  our  own  inven- 
tions.^ Moabites  and  Ammonites,  who  were 
not  permitted  even  to  enter  the  Church  of  the 
Lord,'  frequent  our  most  holy  rites.  We  have 
opened  to  all  not  the  gates  of  righteousness,'' 
but,  doors  of  railing  and  partizan  arrogance  ; 
and  the  first  place  among  us  is  given,  not  to 
one  who  in  the  fear  of  God  refrains  from  even 
an  idle  word,  but  to  him  who  can  revile  his 
neighbour  most  fluently,  whether  explicitly,  or 
by  covert  allusion  ;  who  rolls  beneath  his 
tongue  mischief  and  iniquity,  or  to  speak  more 
accurately,  the  poison  of  asps. ■^ 

80.  We  observe  each  other's  sins,  not  to 
bewail  them,  but  to  make  them  subjects  of 
reproach,  not  to  heal  them,  but  to  aggravate 
them,  and  excuse  our  own  evil  deeds  by  the 
wounds  of  our  neighbours.  Bad  and  good  men 
are  distinguished  not  according  to  personal 

o  2  Cor.  xi.  23.  |8  Ps.  cvii.  40. 

y  Princes^  ap^ovTai;.  i.e.  The  office  of  the  priesthood,  which  is 
one  of  dignity,  has  been  brought  into  contempt  by  the  unworthiness 
of  those  ordained  to  it,  who  have,  by  their  want  of  the  virtues  re- 
quisite for  their  office,  made  it  an  empty  name^and,  not  only  so, 
but  have  been  actively  vicious. 

5  Knowledge^  &c.     of  the  ironical  passage,  §§  49,  50. 

e  I  Cor.  ii.  ro.      (  lb.  vi.  i.  7,      r]  S.  Matt.  vii.  6.     0  Ps.  cvi,  39. 

t  Deut.  xxiii.  3.  k  Ps.  cxviii.  19.  A  lb.  x.  7.  cxl.  3. 


character,  but  by  their  disagreement  or  friend- 
ship with  ourselves.  We  praise  one  day  what 
we  revile  the  next,  denunciation  at  the  hands 
of  others  is  a  passport  to  our  admiration  ;  so 
magnanimous  are  we  in  our  viciousness,  that 
everything  is  frankly  forgiven  to  impiety. 

81.  Everything  has  reverted  to  the  origi- 
nal state  of  things''  before  the  world,  with  its 
present  fair  order  and  form,  came  into  being. 
The  general  confusion  and  irregularity  cry  for 
some  organising  hand  and  power.  Or,  if  you 
will,  it  is  like  a  battle  at  night  by  the  faint 
light  of  the  moon,  when  none  can  discern  the 
faces  of  friends  or  foes;  or  like  a  sea  fight  on 
the  surge,  with  the  driving  winds,  and  boiling 
foam,  and  dashing  waves,  and  crashing  vessels, 
with  the  thrusts  of  poles,  the  pi])es  of  boat- 
swains, the  groans  of  the  fallen,  while  we  make 
our  voices  heard  above  the  din,  and  not  know- 
ing what  to  do,  and  having,  alas  !  no  oppor- 
tunity for  showing  our  valour,  assail  one  an- 
other, and  fall  by  one  another's  hands. 

82.  Nor  indeed  is  there  any  distinction  be- 
tween the  state  of  the  people  and  that  of  the 
priesthood  :  but  it  seems  to  me  to  be  a  simple 
fulfilment  of  the  ancient  curse,  "As  with  the 
people  so  with  the  priest. ' '  ^  Nor  again  are  the 
great  and  eminent  men  affected  otherwise  than 
the  majority  ;  nay,  they  are  openly  at  war  with 
the  priests,  and  their  piety  is  an  aid  to  their 
powers  of  persuasion.  And  indeed,  provided 
that  it  be  on  behalf  of  the  faith,  and  of  the 
highest  and  most  important  questions,  let  them 
be  thus  disposed,  and  I  blame  them  not  ;  nay, 
to  say  the  truth,  I  go  so  far  as  to  praise  and 
congratulate  them.  Yea  !  would  that  I  were 
one  of  those  who  contend  and  incur  hatred  for 
the  truth's  sake  :  or  rather,  I  can  boast  of  being 
one  of  them.  For  better  is  a  laudable  war 
than  a  peace  which  severs  a  man  from  God : 
and  therefore  it  is  that  the  Spirit  arms  the 
gentle  warrior,  as  one  who  is  able  to  wage  war 
in  a  good  cause. 

83.  But  at  the  present  time  there  are  some 
who  go  to  war  even  about  small  matters  and  to 
no  purpose,  and,  with  great  ignorance  and  auda- 
city, accept,  as  an  associate  in  their  ill-doing, 
anyone  whoever  he  may  be.  Then  every- 
one makes  the  faith  his  pretext,  and  this  ven- 
erable name  is  dragged  into  their  private  quar- 
rels. Consequently,  as  was  probable,  we  are 
hated,  even  among  the  Gentiles,  and,  what  is 
harder  still,  we  cannot  say  that  this  is  Avith- 
out  just  cause.  Nay,  even  the  best  of  our 
own  people  are  scandalized,  while  this  result 
is  not  surprising  in  the  case  of  the  multitude. 


a  Gen.  i.  2. 


/3  Isai.  xxiv.  2  ;  Hos.  iv.  9. 


222 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


who  are  ill-disposed  to  accept  anything  that 
is  good. 

84.  Sinners  are  planning  upon  our  backs  ;  " 
and  what  we  devise  against  each  other,  they 
turn  against  us  all :  and  we  have  become  a  new 
spectacle,  hot  to  angels  and  men,^  as  says  Paul, 
that  bravest  of  athletes,  in  his  contest  with  prin- 
cipalities and  powers, T  but  to  almost  all  wicked 
men,  and  at  every  time  and  place,  in  the  pub- 
lic squares,  at  carousals,  at  festivities,  and  times 
of  sorrow.  Nay,  we  have  already — I  can 
scarcely  speak  of  it  \\'ithout  tears — been  repre- 
sented on  the  stage,  amid  the  laughter  of  the 
most  licentious,  and  the  most  popular  of  all 
dialogues  and  scenes  is  the  caricature  of  a  Chris- 
tian. 

85.  These  are  the  results  of  our  intestine 
warfare,  and  our  extreme  readiness  to  strive 
about  goodness  and  gentleness,  and  our  inex- 
pedient excess  of  love  for  God.  Wrestling, 
or  any  other  athletic  contest,  is  only  permitted 
according  to  fixed  laws,  and  the  man  will  be 
shouted  down  and  disgraced,  and  lose  the  vic- 
tory, who  breaks  the  laws  of  A\Testling,  or  acts 
unfairly  in  any  other  contest,  contrary  to  the 
rules  laid  down  for  the  contest,  however  able 
and  skilful  he  may  be  ;  and  shall  anyone  con- 
tend for  Christ  in  an  unchristlike  manner,  and 
yet  be  pleasing  to  peace  for  having  fought  un- 
lawfully in  her  name. 

86.  Yea,  even  now,  when  Christ  is  invoked, 
the  devils  tremble,^  and  not  even  by  our  ill- 
doing  has  the  power  of  this  Name  been  ex- 
tinguished, while  we  are  not  ashamed  to  insult 
a  cause  and  name  so  venerable  ;  shouting  it, 
and  having  it  shouted  in  return,  almost  in 
public,  and  every  day ;  for  My  Name  is  blas- 
phemed among  the  Gentiles  because  of  you.^ 

87.  Of  external  warfare  I  am  not  afraid, 
nor  of  that  wild  beast,  and  fulness  of  evil, 
who  has  now  arisen  against  the  churches, 
though  he  may  threaten  fire,  sword,  wild 
beasts,  precipices,  cha.sms ;  though  he  may 
show  himself  more  inhuman  than  all  previous 
madmen,  and  discover  fresh  tortures  of  greater 
severity.  I  have  one  remedy  for  them  all, 
one  road  to  victory  ;  I  will  glory  in  Christ^ — 
namely,  death  for  Christ's  sake. 

88.  For  my  own  warfare,  however,  I  am  at 
a  loss  what  course  to  })ur.sue,  what  alliance, 
what  word  of  wisdom,  what  irrace  to  devise, 
with  what  panoj^ly  to  arm  myself,  against  the 
wiles  of  the  wicked  one.''  What  Moses  is  to 
conquer  him  by  stretching  out  his  hands  upon 
the  mount,*  in  orcler  that  the  cross,  thus  typi- 


aPs.  cxxix.  3  (LXX.).  fi  i  Cor.  iv.  9.  y  Eph.  vi.  12. 

6  S.  James  ii.  19.  e  Isai.  Hi.  5  :  Rom.  ii.  24. 

f  Phil.  iii.  3.  ij  Eph.  vi.  11.  d  Exod.  xvii.  n. 


fied  and  prefigured,  may  prevail  ?  What 
Joshua,  as  his  successor,  arrayed  alongside  the 
Captain  of  the  Lord's  hosts?"  What  David, 
either  by  harping,  or  fighting  with  his  sling, ^ 
and  girded  by  God  with  strength  unto  the 
battle,!'  and  with  his  fingers  trained  to  war  ?  ^ 
What  Samuel,  praying «  and  sacrificing  for  the 
people,  and  anointing  as  king  one  who  can 
gain  the  victory  ?  What  Jeremiah,  by  writ- 
ing lamentations  for  Israel,  is  fitly  to  lament 
these  things? 

89.  Who  will  cry  aloud.  Spare  Thy  People, 

0  Lord,  and  give  not  Thine  heritage  to  re- 
proach, that  the  nations  should  rule  over 
them  ?  ^  ^^'hat  Noah,  and  Jobji  and  Daniel, 
who  are  reckoned  together  as  men  of  jirayer, 
will  pray  for  us,  that  we  may  have  a  slight  res- 
pite from  warfare,  and  recover  ourselves,  and 
recognize  one  another  for  a  while,  and  no 
longer,  instead  of  united  Israel,  be  Judah  *  and 
Israel,  Rehoboam  and  Jeroboam,  Jerusalem 
and  Samaria,  in  turn  delivered  up  because  of 
our  sins,  and  in  turn  lamented. 

90.  For  I  own  that  I  am  too  weak  for  this 
warfare,  and  therefore  turned  my  back,  hiding 
my  face  in  the  rout,  and  sat  solitary,'  because 

1  was  filled  with  bitterness"  and  sought  to  be 
silent,  understanding  that  it  is  an  evil  time,^ 
that  the  beloved  had  kicked,*^  that  we  were 
become  backsliding  children,"  who  are  the 
luxuriant  vine,^  the  true  vine,  all  fruitful,  all 
beautiful,"  springing  up  splendidly  with  show- 
ers from  on  high."'  For  the  diadem  of  beauty,'' 
the  signet  of  glory, "■  the  crown  of  magnifi- 
cence ■^  has  been  changed  for  me  into  shame ; 
and  if  anyone,  in  face  of  these  things,  is  daring 
and  courageous,  he  has  my  blessing  on  his  dar- 
ing and  courage. 

91.  I  have  said  nothing  yet  of  the  internal 
warfare  within  ourselves,  and  in  our  passions, 
in  which  we  are  engaged  night  and  day  against 
the  body  of  our  humiliation,"  either  secretly 
or  openly,  and  against  the  tide  which  tos.ses  and 
whirls  us  hither  and  thither,  by  the  aid  of  our 
senses  and  other  sources  of  the  pleasures  of  this 
life;  and  against  the  miry  clay*  in  which  we 
have  been  fixed  ;  and  against  the  law  of  sin.x 
which  wars  against  the  law  of  the  spirit,  and 
strives  to  destroy  the  royal  image  in  us,  and 
all  the  divine  emanation  which  has  been  be- 
stowed upon  us ;  so  that  it  is  difficult  for  any- 
One,   either   by   a   long   course  of  philosophic 


a  Josh.  V.  14.         /3  I  Sam.  xvi.  16:  xvii.  49.         7  Ps.  xviii.  39. 
S  U).  cxliv.  I.  e  I  Sam.  vii.  5.  ?  Jo^^l  ''■  '7-.. 

r)  Kzek.  xiv.  14,  20.  6  Jutiah,  etc.,  cf.  Orat.  vi.  7  ;  xxxii.  4. 


I  Lam.  iii.  28 
M  Deut.  xxxii.  15. 
o  JcT.  ii.  21  :  X.  16. 
<7  Kzck.  xxviii.  12. 

<|>  Ps.  xl.  2  ;  Ixix.  2. 


K  lb.  iii.  19. 
V  Jer.  iii.  14. 
It  Fs.  Ixv.  10. 
T  lb.  xxiii.  42. 


A  Mic.  ii.  3. 
f  Hos.  X.  T. 
p  Isai.  Ixii.  3. 
V  Phil.  iii.  21. 
X  Rom.  vii.  23. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT  TO    PONTUS. 


223 


training,  and  gradual  separation  of  the  noble 
and  enlightened  part  of  the  soul  from  that 
which  is  debased  and  yoked  with  darkness,  or 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  or  by  both  together,  and 
by  a  constant  practice  of  looking  upward,  to 
overcome  the  _depr^siiig  power  of  matter. 
And  before  a  man  has,  as  far  as  possible; 
gained  this  superiority,  and  sufficiently  puri- 
fied his  mind,  and  far  surpassed  his  fellows  in 
nearness  to  God,  I  do  not  think  it  safe  for 
him  to  be  entrusted  with  the  rule  over  souls, 
or  the  office  of  mediator  (for  such,  I  take  it,  a 
priest  is)  between  God  and  man. 

92.  What  is  it  that  has  induced  this  fear 
in  me,  that,  instead  of  supposing  me  to  be 
needlessly  afraid,  you  may  highly  commend 
my  foresight?  I  hear  from  Moses  himself, 
when  CtOcT  spake  to  him,  that,  although  many 
were  bidden  to  come  to  the  mount,  one  of 
whom  was  even  Aaron,  with  his  two  sons  who 
were  priests,  and  seventy  elders  of  the  senate, 
the  rest  were  ordered  to  worship  afar  off,  and 
Moses  alone  to  draw  near,  and  the  people 
were  not  to  go  up  with  him."  For  it  is  not 
everyone  who  may  draw  near  to  God,  but 
only  one  who,  like  Moses,  can  bear  the  glory 
of  God.  Moreover,  before  this,  when  the  law 
was  first  given,  the  trumpet-blasts,  and  light- 
nings, and  thunders,  and  darkness,  and  the 
smoke  of  the  whole  mountain,-^  and  the  terrible 
threats  that  if  even  a  beast  touched  the  moun- 
tain it  should  be  stoned, t  and  other  like  alarms, 
kept  back  the  rest  of  the  people,  for  whom  it 
was  a  great  privilege,  after  careful  purification, 
merely  to  hear  the  voice  of  God.  But  Moses 
actually  went  up  and  entered  into  the  cloud, ^ 
and  was  charged  with  the  law,  and  received 
the  tables,  which  belong,  for  the  multitude,  to 
the  letter,  but,  for  those  who  are  above  the 
multitude,  to  the  spirit.* 

93.  I  hear  again  that  Nadab  and  Abihu, 
for  having  merely  offered  incense  with  strange 
fire,  were  with  strange  fire  destroyed,^  the  in- 
strument of  their  impiety  being  used  for  their 
punishment,  and  their  destruction  following 
at  the  very  time  and  place  of  their  sacrilege  ; 
and  not  even  their  father  Aaron,  who  was 
next  to  Moses  in  the  favor  of  God,  could  save 
them.  I  know  also  of  Eli  the  priest,  and  a 
little  later  of  Uzzah,  the  former  made  to  pay 
the  penalty  for  his  sons'  transgression,  in  dar- 
in-j  to  violate  the  sacrifices  by  an  untimely 
exaction  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  cauldrons,  al- 
though he  did  not  condone  their  impiety,  but 
frequently  rebuked  them  ;  'i  the  other,  because 


a  Exod.  xxiv.  1,2.  ^  lb.  xiy.  16. 

7  Heb.  xii.  18.  S  Exod.  xxiv.  15,  18.  €  2  Cor.  iii.  6,  7. 

i  Lev.  X.  I.  >)  I  Sam.  iu  12,  15,  23. 


he  only  touched  the  ark,  which  was  being 
thrown  off  the  cart  by  the  ox,*^  and  though  he 
saved  it,  was  himself  destroyed,  in  God's 
jealousy  for  the  reverence  due  to  the  ark. 

94.  I  know  also  that  not  even  bodily  blem- 
ishes in  either  priests^  or  victims v  passed 
without  notice,  but  that  it  was  required  by  the 
law  that  i)erfect  sacrifices  must  be  offered  by 
perfect  men — a  symbol,  I  take  it,  of  integrity 
of  soul.  It  was  not  lawful  for  everyone  to 
touch  the  ]:)riestly  vesture,  or  any  of  the  holy 
vessels  ;  nor  might  the  sacrifices  themselves  be 
consumed  except  by  the  proper  persons,  and 
at  the  proper  time  and  place ;  ^  nor  might  the 
anointing  oil  nor  the  compounded  incense  ^  be 
imitated  ;  nor  might  anyone  enter  the  temple 
who  was  not  in  the  most  minute  particular 
pure  in  both  soul  and  body  ;  so  far  was  the 
Holy  of  holies  removed  from  presumptuous 
access,  that  it  might  be  entered  by  one  man 
only  once  a  year  ;  ^  so  far  were  the  veil,  and 
the  mercy-seat,  and  the  ark,  and  the  Cheru- 
bim, from  the  general  gaze  and  touch. 

95.  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  antitype  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 ;  ^  be- 
fore my  mouth  had  been  opened  to  draw  in 
the  Spirit, >*  and  opened  wide  to  be  filled  "  Avith 
the  spirit  of  speaking  mysteries  and  doctrines  ;  ^ 
and  my  lips  bound,"  to  use  the  words  of  wis- 
dom, 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 


a  2  Sam.  vi.  6.  j3  Lev.  xxi.  17.  y  lb.  xxii.  19. 

8  lb.  viii.  31.  e  Exod.  xxx.  33,  38. 

f  Lev.  xvi.  34  ;  Heb.  ix.  7.  t)  Rom.  xii.  i.  9  Ps.  1.  14. 

I  The  great  mysteries,  i.e.,  the  Sacrificial  Death  of  Christ  upon 
the  Cross. 

K  Isai.  1.  4  ;  vi.  10.  X  Prov.  xxv.  12.  —        ^l.  Ps.  cxix.  131. 

V  lb.  Ixxxi.  10.         f  I  Cor,  xiv,  2.        o  Prov.  xv.  7  (LXX.). 


224 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


with  glory,  awaking  right  early, »  and  labor- 
ing till  it  cleave  to  my  jaws  :  ^  before  my  feet 
had  been  set  upon  the  rock,v  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? 

96.  Who  is  the  man,  whose  heart  has  never 
been  made  to  burn,''  as  the  Scriptures  have 
been  opened  to  him,  with  the  pure  words  of 
God  which  have  been  tried  in  a  furnace  ;  ^  who 
has  not,  by  a  triple'  inscription  "^  of  them  upon 
the  breadth  of  his  heart,  attained  the  mind  of 
Christ ;  ^  nor  been  admitted  to  the  treasures 
which  to  most  men  remain  hidden,  secret,  and 
dark,  to  gaze  upon  the  riches  therein,''  and 
become  able  to  enrich  others,  comparing  spir- 
itual things  with  spiritual." 

9 7 .  Who  is  the  man  who  has  never  beheld,  as 
our  duty  is  to  behold  it,  the  fair  beauty  of  the 
Lord,  nor  has  visited  His  temple,^  or  rather, 
become  the  temple  of  God,°  and  thejiabitation 
of  Christ  in  the  Spirit  ?  '^  Who  is  the  man  who 
has  never  recognized  the  correlation  and  dis- 
tinction between  figures  and  the  truth,  so  that 
by  withdrawing  from  the  former  and  cleaving 
to  the  latter,  and  by  thus  escaping  from  the 
oldness  of  the  letter  and  serving  the  newness 
of  the  spirit,P  he  may  clean  pass  over  to  grace 
from  the  law,  which  finds  its  spiritual  fulfil- 
ment in  the  dissolution  of  the  body."" 

98.  Who  is  the  man  who  has  never,  by  ex- 
perience and  contemplation,  traversed  the  en- 
tire series  of  the  titles'^  and  powers  of  Christ, 
both  those  more  lofty  ones  which  originally 
were  His,  and  those  more  lowly  ones  which 
He  later  assumed  for  our  sake — viz.:  Godj_the 
Son,  the  Image,  the  Word,  the  Wisdom,  the 
Truth,  the  Light,  the  Life,  the  Power,  the  Va- 
pour, the  Emanation ,~tlieEffulgence,  the  Mak- 
er, the  King,  the  Head,  the  Law,  the  Way, 
the  Door,  the  Foundation,  the  Rock,  the 
Pearl,  the  Peace,  the  Righteousness,  theSanjc- 
tificatioli7  the  Redemption,  the  Man,  the  Ser- 
vant, the  Shepherd,  the  Lamb,  the  High  Priest, 
the  Victim,  the  Firstborn  before  creation,  the 
Firstborn  from  the  dead,  the  Resurrection  : 
who  is  the  man   who  hearkens,  but  pays  no 


0  Ps.  Ivii.  9.  J3  lb.  cxxxvii.  6.  y  \h.  xviii.  33  ;'xl.  3. 
8  II).  Ixviii.  2.                e  Rom.  vi.  13.  ^2  Cor.  v.  4. 

y)  S.  I.uKe  xxiv.  32.  6  Ps.  xii.  7. 

1  'J'ri/ili;  a  quticition  from  Prov.  xxii.  20.  The  meaning  of  the 
Hebrew  is  doubtful.  Clemencet,  not  noticing  this,  suggests  that 
the  allusinn  is  to  the  law  being  twice  inscribed  on  tables  of  stone, 
once  on   the  heart  by  the  Spirit. 

K  Prov.  xxii.  20  (1-XX.).         A  i  Cor.  ii.  16.         y.  Isai.  xlv.  3. 
V  I  Cor.  ii.  13.  f  Ps.  xxvii.  4.  02  Cor.  vi.   16. 

ir  Kpb.  ii.  22.  p  lb.  vii.  6.  er  Rom.  vi.  6. 

T  Titles.    These  are  more  fully  dealt  with  Oral.  xxx.  17-21. 


heed,  to  these  names  so  pregnant  with  reality, 
and  has  never  yet  held  communion  with,  nor 
been  made  partaker  of,  the  Word,  in  any  of 
the  real  relations  signified  by  each  of  these 
names  which  He  bears  ? 

99.  Who,  in  fine,  is  the  man  who,  although 
he  has  never  applied  himself  to,  nor  learnt  to 
speak,  the  hidden  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mys- 
tery,«  although  he  is  still  a  babe,  still  fed  with 
milk,^  still  of  those  who  are  not  numbered  in 
Israel,!'  nor  enrolled  in  the  army  of  God,  al- 
though he  is  not  yet  able  to  take  up  the  Cross 
of  Christ  like  a  man,  although  he  is  possibly 
not  yet  one  of  the  more  honorable  mem])ers, 
yet  will  joyfully  and  eagerly  accept  his  appoint- 
ment as  head  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  ?  *  No  one, 
if  he  will  listen  to  my  judgment  and  accept 
my  advice  !  This  is  of  all  things  most  to  be 
feared,  this  is  the  extremest  of  dangers  in  the 
eyes  of  everyone  who  underetands  the  magni- 
tude of  success,  the  utter  ruin  of  failure. 

100.  Let  others  sail  for  merchandise,  I  used 
to  say,  and  cross  the  wide  oceans,  and  constantly 
contend  with  Avinds  and  waves,  to  gain  great 
wealth,  if  so  it  should  chance,  and  run  great 
risks  in  their  eagerness  for  sailing  and  mer- 
chandise ;  but,  for  my  part,  I  greatly  prefer 
to  stay  ashore  and  plough  a  short  but  pleasant 
furrow,  saluting  at  a  respectful  distance  the  sea 
and  its  gains,  to  live  as  best  I  can  upon  a  j^oor 
and  scanty  store  of  barley-bread,  and  drag  my 
life  along  in  safety  and  calm,  rather  than  ex- 
pose myself  to  so  long  and  great  a  risk  for  the 
sake  of  great  gains. 

loi.  For  one  in  high  estate,  if  he  fail  to 
make  further  progress  and  to  disseminate  virtue 
still  more  widely,  and  contents  himself  with 
slight  results,  incurs  punishment,  as  having 
spent  a  great  light  upon  the  illumination  of  a 
little  hou.se,  or  girt  round  the  limbs  of  a  boy 
the  full  armor  of  a  man.  On  the  contrary,  a 
man  of  low  estate  may  with  safety  assume  a 
light  burden,  and  escape  the  risk  of  the  ridi- 
cule and  increased  danger  which  would  attend 
him  if  he  attempted  a  task  beyond  his  powers. 
For,  as  we  have  heard,  it  is  not  seemly  for  a 
man  to  build  a  tower,  unless  he  has  sufficient 
to  finish  it.* 

102.  Such  is  the  defence  which  I  have  been 
able  to  make,  perhaps  at  immoderate  length, 
for  my  flight.  Such  are  the  reasons  Avhich,  to 
my  pain  and  possibly  to  yours,  carried  me 
away  from  you,  my  friends  and  brothers ;  yet, 
as  it  seemed  to  me  at  the  time,  with  irresistible 
force.  My  longing  after  you,  and  the  sense 
of  your  longing  for  me,  have,  more  than  any- 


a  I  Cor.  ii.  17. 

6  Eph.  i.  23 


/3  lb.  iii.  2.  y  Numb.  i.  3. 

e  S.  Luke  xiv.  28. 


IN    DEFENCE   OF    HIS    FLIGHT   TO    PONTUS. 


225 


thing  else,  led  to  my  return,  for  nothing  in- 
clines us  so  strongly  to  love  as  mutual  affec- 
tion. 

103.  In  the  next  place  there  was  my  care,  my 
duty,  the  hoar  hairs  and  weakness  of  my  holy 
parents,  who  were  more  greatly  distressed  on 
my  account  than  by  their  advanced  age — of 
this  Patriarch  Abraham  whose  person  is  hon- 
•ored  by  me,  and  numbered  among  the  angels, 
and  of  Sarah,  who  travailed  in  my  spiritual 
birth  by  instructing  me  in  the  truth.  Now,  I 
had  specially  pledged  myself  to  become  the 
stay  of  their  old  age  and  the  support  of  their 
weakness,  a  pledge  which,  to  the  best  of  my 
power,  I  have  fulfilled,  even  at  the  expense  of 
philosophy  itself,  the  most  precious  of  posses- 
sions and  titles  to  me ;  or,  to  speak  more  truly, 
although  I  made  it  the  first  object  of  my  phil- 
osophy to  appear  to  be  no  philosopher,  I  could 
not  bear  that  my  labor  in  consequence  of  a 
single  purpose  should  be  wasted,  nor  yet  that 
that  blessing  should  be  lost,  which  one  of  the 
saints  of  old  is  said  to  have  stolen  from  his 
father,  whom  he  deceived  by  the  food  which 
he  offered  to  him,  and  the  hairy  appearance 
he  assumed,  thus  attaining  a  good  object  by 
disgraceful  trickery."  These  are  the  two  causes 
of  my  submission  and  tractability.  Nor  is  it, 
perchance,  unreasonable  that  my  arguments 
should  yield  and  submit  to  them  both,  for 
there  is  a  time  to  be  conquered,  as  I  also  think 
there  is  for  every  purpose,^  and  it  is  better  to 
be  honorably  overcome  than  to  win  a  danger- 
ous and  lawless  victory. 

104.  There  is  a  third  reason  of  the  highest 
importance  which  I  will  farther  mention,  and 
then  dismiss  the  rest.  I  remembered  the  days 
of  old.v  and,  recurring  to  one  of  the  ancient 
histories,  drew  counsel  for  myself  therefrom  as 
to  my  present  conduct ;  for  let  us  not  suppose 
these  events  to  have  been  recorded  without  a 
purpose,  nor  that  they  are  a  mere  assemblage 
of  words  and  deeds  gathered  together  for  the 
pastime  of  those  who  listen  to  them,  as  a  kind 
of  bait  for  the  ears,  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
giving  pleasure.  Let  us  leave  such  jesting  to 
the  legends  and  the  Greeks,  who  think  but 
little  of  the  truth,  and  enchant  ear  and  mind 
by  the  charm  of  their  fictions  and  the  dainti- 
ness of  their  style. 

105.  We  however,  who  extend  the  accuracy 
of  the  Spirit  to  the  merest  stroke  and  tittle,^  will 
never  admit  the  impious  assertion  that  even 
the  smallest  matters  were  dealt  with  haphazard 
by  those  who  have  recorded  them,  and  have 
thus  been  borne  in  mind  down  to  the  present 


a  Gen.  xxvii.  21,  sq. 
y  Ps.  cxUii.  5. 

15 


p  Eccles.  iii.  i. 
S  S.  Matt.  V.  iS 


day  :  on  the  contrary,  their  purpose  has  been 
to  supply  memorials  and  instructions  for  our 
consideration  under  similar  circumstances, 
should  such  befall  us,  and  that  the  examples 
of  the  past  might  serve  as  rules  and  models, 
for  our  warning  and  imitation. 

106.  What  then  is  the  story,  and  wherein  lies 
its  application?  For,  perhaps,  it  would  not 
be  amiss  to  relate  it,  for  the  general  security. 
Jonah  also  was  fleeing  from  the  face  of  God,* 
or  rather,  thought  that  he  was  fleeing  :  but  he 
was  overtaken  by  the  sea,  and  .the  storm,  and 
the  lot,  and  the  whale's  belly,  and  the  three 
days'  entombment,  the  type  of  a  greater  mys- 
tery. He  fled  from  having  to  announce  the 
dread  and  awful  inessage  to  the  Ninevites, 
and  from  being  subsequently,  if  the  city  was 
saved  by  repentance,  convicted  of  falsehood  : 
not  that  he  was  displeased  at  the  salvation  of 
the  wicked,  but  he  was  ashamed  of  being 
made  an  instrument  of  falsehood,  and  exceed- 
ingly zealous  for  the  credit  of  prophecy,  which 
was  in  danger  of  being  destroyed  in  his  per- 
son, since  most  men  are  unable  to  penetrate 
the  depth  of  the  Divine  dispensation  in  such 
cases. 

107.  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:  v  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  ac- 
cording 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 

a  Jonah  i.  3. 

^  A  innn.  A  Greek  scholiast  says  that  this  was  Crimen  (ob. 
A.n.  235),  who  gives  this  interpretation  in  his  commentary  on  the 
prophecy  of  Jonah.  Elias  says  that  he  had  read  it  in  the  commen- 
tary of  Methodius  (fl.  A.n.  300).  who  usually  combats  Origen's  in- 
terpretations. We  know  that  Origen  did  comment  on  the  book  of 
Job,  and  that  Methodius  wrote  on  one  at  least  of  the  Minor  Proph- 
ets :  but  both  these  works  have  been  lost,  so  that  we  cannot 
absolutely  decide  the  question,  though  the  assurance  with  which 
both  the  notes  are  written  makes  us  hesitate  to  consider  either  of 
them  merely  a  happy  guess.  Combefis  thinks  that  S.  Greg, 
alludes  to  one  of  his  own  instructors  :  the  gen.  with  aicdua)  (cf. 
Plato,  Gorg.,  503,  c.)  favours  this  view,  but  the  interpretation  may 
well  have  been  derived  from  one  of  the  earlier  writers. 

V  Jonah  i.  3.  fi  Rom.  xi.  33. 


226 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


even  in  the  case  of  any  sensible  man,  who  has 
only  a  slight  perception  of  God,  Whose  power 
is  over  all. 

1 08.  On  the  contrary,  as  my  instructor  said, 
and  as  I  am  myself  convinced,  Jonah  knew 
better  than  any  one  the  purpose  of  his  message 
to  the  Ninevites,  and  that,  in  planning  his 
flight,  although  he  changed  his  place,  he  did 
not  escape  from  God.  Nor  is  this  possible 
for  any  o-ne  else,  either  by  concealing  himself 
in  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  or  in  the  depths  of 
the  sea,  or  by  soaring  on  wings,  if  there  be 
any  means  of  doing  so,  and  rising  into  the 
air,  or  by  abiding  in  the  lowest  depths  of  hell," 
or  by  enveloping  himself  in  a  thick  cloud, 
or  by  any  other  of  the  many  devices  for  en- 
suring escape.  For  God  alone  of  all  things 
cannot  be  escaped  from  or  contended  with  ; 
if  He  wills  to  seize  and  bring  them  under  His 
hand,  He  outstrips  the  swift,  He  outwits  the 
wise.  He  overthrows  the  strong.  He  abases 
the  lofty,  He  subdues  rashness,  He  represses 
power. 

109.  Jonah  then  was  not  ignorant  of  the 
mighty  hand  of  God,  with  which  he  threatened 
other 
utterly  escape  the  Divine  power  ; 


men,  nor  did  he  imagine  that  he  could 

we  are 

not  to  believe  :  but  when  he  saw  the  falling 
away  of  Israel,  and  perceived  the  passing  over  of 
the  grace  of  prophecy  to  the  Gentiles — this  was 
the  cause  of  his  retirement  from  preaching  and 
of  his  delay  in  fulfilling  the  command  ;  accord- 
ingly he  left  the  watchtower  of  joy,  for  this  is 
the  meaning  of  Joppa  in  Hebrew,  I  mean  his 
former  dignity  and  reputation,  and  flung  him- 
self into  the  deep  of  sorrow:  and  hence  he  is 
tempest-tossed,  and  ialls  asleep,  and  is  wrecked, 
and  aroused  from  sleep,  and  taken  by  lot,  and 
confesses  his  flight,  and  is  cast  into  sea,  and 
swallowed,  but  not  destroyed,  by  the  whale  ; 
but  there  he  calls  upon  God,  and,  marvellous 
as  it  is,  on  the  third  day  he,  like  Christ,  is 
delivered  :  but  my  treatment  of  this  topic  must 
stand  over,  and  shall  shortly,  if  God  i)ermit, 
be  more  deliberately  worked  out.^ 

110.  Now  however,  to  return  to  my  original 
point,  the  thought  and  question  occurred  to 
me,  that  although  he  might  possibly  meet  with 
some  indulgence,  if  reluctant  to  prophesy,  for 
the  cause  which  I  mentioned — yet,  in  my  own 
case,  what  could  be  said,  what  defence  could 
be  made,  if  I  longer  remained  restive,  and  re- 
jected the  yoke  of  ministry,  which,  though  I 
know  not  whether  to  call  it  light  or  heavy, 
had  at  any  rate  been  laid  upon  me. 

a  Ps.  cxxxix.  8  et  seq. 

fi  Shall  be  •n-or/c.i out.  This  promise,  as  F.Iias  tells  lis,  was 
fulfilled  by  S.  Gregory  in  his  History  of  Kzelcicl  the  Prophet,  a 
work  no  longer  extant. 


111.  For  if  it  be  granted,  and  this  alone  can 
be  strongly  asserted  in  such  matters,  that  Ave 
are  far  too  low  to  perform  the  priest's  office 
before  God,  and  that  we  can  only  be  worthy 
of  the  sanctuary  after  we  have  become  worthy 
of  the  Church,"  and  worthy  of  the  post  of  pre- 
sident, after  being  worthy  of  the  sanctuary,  yet 
some  one  else  may  perhaps  refuse  to  acquit  us 
on  the  charge  of  disobedience.  Now  terrible 
are  the  threatenings  against  disobedience,  and 
terrible  are  the  penalties  which  ensue  upon 
it ;  as  indeed  are  those  on  the  other  side,  if, 
instead  of  being  reluctant,  and  shrinking  back, 
and  concealing  ourselves  as  Saul  did  among 
his  father's  stuffs — although  called  to  rule  but 
for  a  short  time — if,  I  say,  we  come  forward 
readily,  as  though  to  a  slight  and  most  easy 
task,  whereas  it  is  not  safe  even  to  resign  it, 
nor  to  amend  by  second  thoughts  our  first. 

112.  On  this  account  I  had  much  toilsome 
consideration  to  discover  my  duty,  being  set 
in  the  midst  betwixt  two  fears,  of  which  the 
one  held  me  back,  the  other  urged  me  on. 
For  a  long  while  I  was  at  a  loss  between  them, 
and  after  wavering  from  side  to  side,  and,  like  a 
current  driven  by  inconstant  winds,  inclining 
first  in  this  direction,  then  in  that,  I  at  last 
yielded  to  the  stronger,  and  the  fear  of  diso- 
bedience overcame  me,  and  has  carried  me  off. 
Pray,  mark  how  accurately  and  justly  I  hold 
the  balance  between  the  fears,  neither  desiring 
an  office  not  given  to  me,  nor  rejecting  it  when 
given.  The  one  course  marks  the  rash,  the 
other  the  disobedient,  both  the  undisciplined. 
My  position  lies  between  those  who  are  too 
bold,  or  too  timid  ;  more  timid  than  those  who 
rush  at  every  position,  more  bold  than  those 
who  avoid  them  all.  This  is  my  judgment  on 
the  matter. 

113.  Moreover,  to  distinguish  still  more 
clearly  between  them,  we  have,  against  the  fear 
of  office,  a  possible  help  in  the  law  of  obedience, 
inasmuch  as  God  in  His  goodness  rewards  our 
faith,  and  makes  a  perfect  ruler  of  the  man 
who  has  confidence  in  Him,  and  places  all 
his  hopes  in  Him  ;  but  against  the  danger 
of  disobedience  I  know  of  notliing  which 
can  help  us,  and  of  no  ground  to  en- 
courage our  confidence.  For  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  we  shall  have  to  hear  these  words  con- 
cerning those  who  have  been  entrusted  to  us  : 
I    will   require    their  souls   at    your  hands ;  v 

a  0/ the  Church.  S.  Grep;or^'  seems  tn  describe  a  series  of 
three  steps,  (i)  the  Church,  ol  which  .nil  should  l)e  worthy  mem- 
bers, (2)  the  Sanctuary,  reserved  for  the  Priests,  (3)  the  Throne 
of  the  IJishop.  Clemencet  refers  both  i  and  2  to  the  ministry. 
If  we  suppose  S.  Gregory's  own  position  to  be  referred  to,  the 
third  would  be  applicable  to  his  office  under  his  father,  which 
is  held  by  Thomassin  to  have  been  that  of  Vicar-General  (Disc. 
F.ccles..  I.,  ii.,  7  §§  2,  3).  A  similar  post  was  offered  to  him  by  S. 
Basil  (Orat.,  xliii.,  39).         ^  i  Sam.  x.  22.         y  Kzek.  iii.  18. 


TO    THOSE   WHO    HAD    INVITED    HIM. 


227 


and,  Because  ye  have  rejected  me,  and  not 
been  leaders  and  rulers  of  my  people,  I  also 
will  reject  you,  that  I  should  not  be  king  over 
you ;  "■  and,  As  ye  refused  to  hearken  to  My 
voice,  and  turned  a  stubborn  back,  and  were 
disobedient,  so  shall  it  be  when  ye  call  upon 
Me,  and  I  will  not  regard  nor  give  ear  to  your 
prayer.^  God  forbid  that  these  words  should 
come  to  us  from  the  just  Judge,  for  when  we 
sing  of  His  mercy  we  must  also  by  all  means 
sing  of  His  judgment. v 

114.  I  resort  once  again  to  history,  and  on 
considering  the  men  of  best  repute  in  ancient 
days,  who  were  ever  preferred  by  grace  to  the 
office  of  ruler  or  prophet,  I  discover  that  some 
readily  complied  with  the  call,  others  depre- 
cated the  gift,  and  that  neither  those  who  drew 
back  were  blamed  for  timidity,  nor  those  who 
came  forward  for  eagerness.  The  former  stood 
in  awe  of  the  greatness  of  the  ministry,  the 
latter  trustfully  obeyed  Him  Who  called  them. 
Aaron  was  eager,  but  Moses  resisted,^  Isaiah 
readily  submitted,  but  Jeremiah  was  afraid  of 
his  youth,*  and  did  not  venture  to  prophesy 
until  he  had  received  from  God  a  promise  and 
power  beyond  his  years. ^ 

115.  By  these  arguments  I  charmed  myself, 
and  by  degrees  my  soul  relaxed  and  became 
ductile,  like  iron,  and  time  came  to  the  aid  of 
my  arguments,  and  the  testimonies  of  God,  to 
which  I  had  entrusted  my  whole  life,  -were  my 
counsellors.''  Therefore  I  was  not  rebellious, 
neither  turned  away  back,^  saith  my  Lord, 
when,  instead  of  being  called  to  rule,  He  was 
led,  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter ;  *•  but  I  fell  down 
and  humbled  myself  under  the  mighty  hand  of 
God,''  and  asked  pardon  for  my  former  idle- 
ness and  disobedience,  if  this  is  at  all  laid  to 
my  charge.  I  held  my  peace,*  but  I  will  not 
hold  my  peace  for  ever  :  I  withdrew  for  a 
little  while, f^  till  I  had  considered  myself  and 
consoled  my  grief:  but  now  I  am  commis- 
sioned to  exalt  Him  in  the  congregation  of 
the  people,  and  praise  Him  in  the  .seat  of 
the  elders."  If  my  former  conduct  deserved 
blame,  my  present  action  merits  pardon. 

116.  What  further  need  is  there  of  words. 
Here  am  I,  my  pastors  and  fellow-pastors,  here 
am  I,  thou  holy  flock,  worthy  of  Christ,  the 
Chief  Shepherd,^  here  am  I,  my  father,  ut- 
terly Vanquished,  and  your  subject  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Christ  rather  than  accord- 
ing to  those  of  the  land  :°  here  is  my  obedi- 

a  I  Sam.  xv.  26  ;  cf.  Hos.  iv.  6.  p  Zech.  vii.  11,  13. 

•y  Ps.  ci.  I.  8  Exod.  iv.  10,  13,  27.  e  Isai.  vi.  8. 

fjer.  i.  6.  ij  Ps.  cxix.  24.  6  Isai.  I.  6. 

I  lb.  liii.  7.  K  1  Pet.  v.  6.  A  Isai.  xlii.  14. 

(i  lb.  xxvi.  20.  V  Ps.  cvii.  32.  ^  i  Pet.  v.  4. 

o  Of  the  land,  lit.,  "  external,"  i.e..  the  Roman  laws,  which  gave 
absolute  power  to  a  father  over  his  children. 


ence,  reward  it  with  your  blessing.  Lead  me 
with  3'our  prayers,  guide  me  with  your  words, 
establish  me  with  your  spirit.  The  blessing 
of  the  father  establisheth  the  houses  of  chil- 
dren,'^ and  would  that  both  I  and  this  spiritual 
house  may  be  established,  the  house  which  I 
have  longed  for,  which  I  pray  may  be  my  rest 
for  ever,^  when  I  have  been  passed  on  from 
the  church  here  to  the  church  yonder,  the 
general  assembly  of  the  firstborn,  who  are 
written  in  heaven. v 

117.  Such  is  my  defence  :  its  reasonableness 
I  have  set  forth :  and  may  the  God  of  peace,^ 
Who  made  both  one,*  and  has  restored  us  to 
each  other.  Who  setteth  kings  upon  thrones, 
and  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the  dust  and 
lifteth  up  the  beggar  from  the  dunghill,^  Who 
chose  David  His  servant  and  took  him  away 
from  the  sheepfolds,''  though  he  was  the  least 
and  youngest  of  the  sons  of  Jesse, ^  Who  gave 
the  word'  to  those  who  preach  the  gospel  with 
great  power  for  the  perfection  of  the  gospel, 
— may  He  Himself  hold  me  by  my  right 
hand,  and  guide  me  with  His  counsel,  and 
receive  me  with  glory,"  Who  is  a  Shepherd  * 
to  shepherds  and  a  Guide  to  guides :  that  we 
may  feed  His  flock  with  knowledge,'^  not  with 
the  instruments  of  a  fooli.sh  shepherd,"  accord- 
ing to  the  blessing,  and  not  according  to  the 
curse  pronounced  against  the  men  of  former 
days  :  may  He  give  strength  and  power  unto 
his  people, f  and  Himself  present  to  Himself" 
His  flock  resplendent  and  spotless  and  worthy 
of  the  fold  on  high,  in  the  habitation  of  them 
that  rejoice,"  in  the  splendour  of  the  saints, p  so 
that  in  His  temple  everyone,  both  flock  and 
shepherds  together  may  say.  Glory, <^  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord,  to  Whom  be  all  glory  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 


ORATION   III. 

To    Those    Who  Had    iNvrxED   Him,  and 
Not  Come  to  Receive  Him. 

(About  Easter  A.  D.  362.) 

I.  How  slow  you  are,  my  friends  and  breth- 
ren, to  come  to  listen  to  my  words,  though 
you  were  so  swift  in  tyrannizing  over  me,  and 
tearing  me  from  my  Citadel  Solitude,  which 
I  had  embraced  in  preference  to  everything 


a  Ecclus.  iii.  9.  0  Ps.  cxxxii.  13.  14.  y  Heb.  xii.  23. 

6  Heb.  xiii.  20.  c  Eph.  ii.  14.         ^  i  Sam.  ii.  8  :    Ps.  cxiii.  7. 

»j  Ps.  Ixxviii.  70.  9  I  Sam.  xvii.  14.        i  Ps.  Ixviii.  11. 

K  Ps.  Ixxiii.  23,  24.  A  Ezek.  -xxxiv.  12.       /u.  Jen  iii.  15. 

V  Zech.  xi.  15.  f  Ps.  Ixviii.  35.  o  Eph.  v.  27. 

TT  Ps.  Ixxxvii.  7  (LXX.).     p  Ps,  ex.  3  (LXX.).     o- Ps.  xxix.  9. 


228 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


else,  and  as  coadjutress  and  mother  of  the  di- 
vine ascent,  and  as  deifying  man,"  I  had  es- 
pecially admired,  and  had  set  before  me  as 
the  guide  of  my  whole  life.^  How  is  it  that, 
now  you  have  got  it,  you  thus  despise  what 
you  so  greatly  desired  to  obtain,  and  seem 
to  be  better  able  to  desire  the  absent  than  to 
enjoy  the  present  ;  aa  though  you  preferred 
to  possess  my  teaching  rather  than  to  profit 
by  it  ?  Yes,  I  may  even  say  this  to  you  :  "I 
became  a  surfeit  unto  you  before  you  tasted 
of  me,  or  gave  me  a  trial  "  y — which  is  most 
strange. 

II.  And  neither  did  you  entertain  me  as  a 
guest,  nor,  if  I  may  make  a  remark  of  a  more 
compassionate  kind,  did  you  allow  yourselves 
to  be  entertained  by  me,  reverencing  this  com- 
mand if  nothing  else  ;  nor  did  you  take  me 
by  the  hand,  as  beginning  a  new  task  ;  nor 
encourage  me  in  my  timidity,  nor  console  me 
for  the  violence  I  had  suffered  ;  but — I  shrink 
from  saying  it,  though  say  it  I  must — you 
made  my  festival  no  festival,  and  received 
me  with  no  happy  introduction  ;  and  you 
mingled  the  solemn  festival  with  sorrow,  be- 
cause it  lacked  that  which  most  of  all  would 
have  contributed  to  its  happiness,  the  presence 
of  you  my  conquerors,  for  it  would  not  be  true 
to  call  you  people  who  love  me.  So  easily  is 
anything  despised  which  is  easily  conquered, 
and  the  proud  receives  attention,  while  he 
who  is  humble  before  God  is  slighted. 

III.  What  will  ye?  Shall  I  be  judged  by 
you,  or  shall  I  be  your  judge  ?  Shall  I  i^ass  a 
verdict,  or  receive  one,  for  I  hope  to  be  ac- 
quitted if  I  be  judged,  and  if  I  give  sentence, 
to  give  it  against  you  justly?  The  charge 
against  you  is  that  you  do  not  answer  my 
love  with  equal  measure,  nor  do  you  repay 
my  obedience  with  honour,  nor  do  you  pledge 
the  future  to  me  by  your  present  alacrity — 
though  even  if  you  had,  I  could  hardly  have 
believed  it.  But  each  of  you  has  something 
which  he  prefers  to  both  the  old  and  the  new 
Pastor,  neither  reverencing  the  grey  hairs  of 
the  one,  nor  calling  out  the  youthful  spirit  of 
the  other. 

IV.  There  is  a  Banquet  in  the  Gospels,^  and 
a  hospitable  Host  and  friends ;  and  the  Ban- 
quet is  most  pleasant,  for  it  is  the  marriage  of 
His  Son.  He  calleth  them,  but  they  come 
not :   He  is  angry,  and — I  pass  over  the  inter- 


a  S.  Gregory  very  frequently  uses  this  very  strong  expres- 
sion to  Ijring  out  the  reality  and  intimacy  of  the  Christian's  Union 
with  Christ  as  the  result  of  the  sanctifying  grace  by  which  all  the 
liaptized   arc   made  "partakers  of  the   Divine  Nature"    (2  Pet. 

'•  4';  . 

|3  The  passage  might  also  be  rendered  "  hail  preferred  to 
every  oiher  kind  of  life. 

y  Isa.  i.  14.  5  S.  Luke  .\iv.  16. 


val  for  fear  of  bad  omen — but,  to  speak 
gently,  He  filleth  the  Banquet  with  others. 
God  forbid  that  this  should  be  your  case  ; 
but  yet  you  have  treated  me  (how  shall  I  put 
it  gently?)  with  as  much  haughtiness  or  bold- 
ness as  they  who  after  being  called  to  a  feast 
rise  up  against  it,  and  insult  their  host  ;  for 
you,  though  you  are  not  of  the  number  of 
those  who  are  without,  or  are  invited  to  the 
marriage,  but  are  yourselves  those  who  invited 
me,  and  bound  me  to  the  Holy  Table,  and 
shewed  me  the  glory  of  the  Bridal  Chamber, 
then  deserted  me  (this  is  the  most  splendid 
thing  about  you) — one  to  his  field,  another  to 
his  newly  bought  yoke  of  oxen,  another  to 
his  just-married  wife,  another  to  some  other 
trifling  matter  ;  you  were  all  scattered  and  dis- 
persed, caring  little  for  the  Bridechamber  and 
the  Bridegroom." 

V.  On  this  account  I  was  filled  with  des- 
pondency and  perplexity — for  I  will  not  keep 
silence  about  what  I  have  suffered — and  I  was 
very  near  withholding  the  discourse  which  I 
A\as  minded  to  bestow  as  a  Marriage-gift,  the 
most  beautiful  and  precious  of  all  I  had  ;  and 
I  very  nearly  let  it  loose  upon  you,  whom, 
now  that  the  violence  had  once  been  done  to 
me,  I  greatly  longed  for  :  for  I  thought  I 
could  get  from  this  a  splendid  theme,  and  be- 
cause my  love  shari)ened  my  tongue — love 
which  is  very  hot  and  ready  for  accusation 
when  it  is  stirred  to  jealousy  by  grief  which  it 
conceives  from  some  unexpected  neglect.  If 
any  of  you  has  been  pierced  with  love's  sting, 
and  has  felt  himself  neglected,  he  knows  the 
feeling,  and  will  pardon  one  who  so  suffers, 
because  he  himself  has  been  near  the  same 
frenzy. 

VI.  But  it  is  not  permitted  to  me  at  the 
present  time  to  say  to  you  anything  upbraid- 
ing ;  and  God  forbid  I  ever  should.  And 
even  now  jierhaps  I  have  reproached  you 
more  than  in  due  measure,  the  Sacred  Flock, 
the  praise-worthy  nurselings  of  Christ,  the 
Divine  inheritance  ;  by  which,  O  God,  Thou 
art  rich,  even  wert  Thou  poor  in  all  other 
respects.  To  Thee,  I  think,  are  fitting  those 
words,  "  The  lot  is  fallen  unto  Thee  in  a  fair 
ground  :  yea  Thou  hast  the  goodliest  heri- 
tage." ^  Nor  will  I  allow  that  the  most  popu- 
lous cities  or  the  broadest  flocks  have  any  ad- 
vantage over  us,  the  little  ones  of  the  smallest 
of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  of  the  least  of  the 
thousands  of  Judah,v  of  the  little  Bethlehem 
among  cities,*  where  Christ  wiis  born  and 
is  from  the  beginning  well-known  and   wor- 


a  S.  Matt.  xxii.  to. 
V  I  .Sam.  xxiii.  23. 


/3  Ps.  xvi.  6. 
&  Mic.  v.  2. 


PANEGYRIC    ON    HIS    BROTHER    S.  CyESARIUS. 


229 


shipped  ;  amongst  those  whom  the  Father  is 
exalted,  and  the  Son  is  held  to  be  equal  to 
Him,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  glorified  with 
Them  :  we  who  are  of  one  soul,  who  mind 
the  same  thing,  who  in  nothing  injure  the 
Trinity,  neither  by  preferring  One  Person 
above  another,  nor  by  cutting  off  any :  as 
those  bad  umpires  and  measurers  of  the  God- 
head do,  who  by  magnifying  One  Person  more 
than  is  fit,  diminish  and  insult  the  whole. 

VH.  But  do  ye  also,  if  you  bear  me  any  good 
will — ye  who  are  my  husbandry,  my  vine- 
yard, my  own  bowels,  or  rather  His  Who  is 
our  common  Father,  for  in  Christ  he  hath 
begotten  you  through  the  Gospels" — shew  to  us 
also  some  respect.  It  is  only  fair,  since  we 
have  honoured  you  above  all  else  :  ye  are  my 
witnesses,  ye,  and  they  who  have  placed  in 
our  hands  this — shall  I  say  Authority,  or  Ser- 
vice ?  And  if  to  him  that  loveth  most  most  is 
due,  how  shall  I  measure  the  love,  for  which  I 
have  made  you  my  debtors  by  my  own  love  ? 
Rather,  shew  respect  for  yourselves,  and  the 
Image  committed  to  your  care,^  and  Him  Who 
committed  it,  and  the  Sufferings  of  Christ, 
and  your  hopes  therefrom,  holding  fast  the 
faith  which  ye  have  received,  and  in  which 
ye  were  brought  up,  by  which  also  ye  are  be- 
ing saved,  and  trust  to  save  others  (for  not 
many,  be  well  assured,  can  boast  of  what  you 
can),  and  reckoning  piety  to  consist,  not  in 
often  speaking  about  God,  but  in  silence  for 
the  most  part,  for  the  tongue  is  a  dangerous 
thing  to  men,  if  it  be  not  governed  by  reason. 
Believe  that  listening  is  always  less  dangerous 
than  talking,  just  as  learning  about  God  is 
more  pleasant  than  teaching.  Leave  the 
more  accurate  search  into  these  questions  to 
those  who  are  the  Stewards  of  the  Word  5 
and  for  yourselves,  worship  a  little  in  words, 
but  more  by  your  actions,  and  rather  by  keep- 
ing the  Law  than  by  admiring  the  Lawgiver  ; 
shew  your  love  for  Him  by  fleeing  from 
wickedness,  pursuing  after  virtue,  living  in 
the  Spirit,  walking  in  the  Spirit,  drawing 
your  knowledge  from  Him,  building  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  faith,  not  wood  or  hay  or 
stubble, Y  weak  materials  and  easily  spent  when 
the  fire  shall  try  our  works  or  destroy  them ; 
but  gold,  silver,  precious  stones,  which  re- 
main and  stand. 

VIII.  So  may  ye  act,  and  so  may  ye  honour 
us,  whether  present  or  absent,  whether  taking 
your  part  in  our  sermons,  or  preferring  to  do 
something  else  :  and  may  ye  be  the  children  of 


a  1  Cor.  iv.  15. 
|3  Gen.  i.  27. 


I.e.,  the  Elder  Gregory. 

y  I  Cor.  ill.  12. 


God,  pure  and  unblamable,  in  the  midst  of  a 
crooked  and  perverse  generation  :  °-  and  may 
ye  never  be  entangled  in  the  snares  of  the 
wicked  that  go  round  about,  or  bound  with 
the  chain  of  your  sins.  May  the  Word  in 
you  never  be  smothered  with  cares  of  this 
life  and  so  ye  become  unfruitful :  but  may 
ye  walk  in  the  King's  Highway,  turning  aside 
neither  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,^  but 
led  by  the  Spirit  through  the  strait  gate. 
Then  all  our  affairs  shall  prosper,  both  now 
and  at  the  inquest  There,  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord,  to  Whom  be  the  glory  for  ever.    Amen. 


ORATION   VII. 

Panegyric  on  his  Brother  S.  C^esarius. 

The  date  of  this  Oration  is  probably  the 
spring  of  A. D.  369.  It  is  placed  by  S.  Jerome 
first  among  S.  Gregory's  Orations.  Csesarius, 
the  Saint's  younger  brother,  was  born  probably 
about  A.D.  330.  Educated  in  his  early  years 
at  home,  he  studied  later  in  the  schools  of 
Alexandria,  where  he  attained  great  profi- 
ciency in  mathematics,  astronomy,  and,  espe- 
cially, m  medicine.  On  his  return  from 
Alexandria,  he  was  offered  by  the  Emperor 
Constantius,  in  response  to  a  public  petition,  an 
honourable  and  lucrative  post  at  Byzantium, 
but  was  prevailed  upon  by  Gregory  to  return 
with  him  to  Nazianzus.  After  a  while  he 
went  back  to  Byzantium,  and,  on  the  accession 
of  Julian,  was  pressed  to  retain  his  appointment 
at  court,  and  did  so,  in  spite  of  Gregory's 
reproaches,  until  Julian,  who  had  long  been 
trying  to  win  him  from  Christianity,  at  last 
invited  him  to  a  public  discussion.  Csesarius, 
in  spite  of  the  specious  arguments  of  the  Em- 
peror, gained  the  day,  but,  having  now  dis- 
tinctly declared  himself  a  Christian,  could  no 
longer  remain  at  court.  On  the  death  of 
Julian,  he  was  esteemed  and  promoted  by  suc- 
cessive Emperors,  until  he  received  from  Valens 
the  office  of  treasurer  of  Bithynia.  The  exact 
character  of  this  office  and  its  rank  are  still 
undecided  by  historical  writers,  some  of  whom 
attribute  to  him  other  offices  not  mentioned 
by  S.  Gregory,  which  most  probably  Avere 
filled  by  a  namesake.  On  the  nth  of  October 
A.D.  368  the  city  of  Nic^a  was  almost  entire- 
ly destroyed  by  an  earthquake  and  Ceesarius 
miraculously  escaped  with  his  life.  Impressed 
by  his  escape,  he  received  Holy  Baptism,  and 
formed  plans  for  retiring  from  office  and  (as 


a    Phil.  ii.  15. 


^Num.  xxi.  22  ;  Isa.  xl.  3. 


230 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


it  seems)  devoting  himself  to  a  life  of  ascetic 
discipline,  which  were  dissipated  by  his  early 
and  sudden  death. 

1.  It  may  be,  my  friends,  my  brethren,  my 
fathers  (ye  who  are  dear  to  me  in  reality  as 
well  as  in  name)  that  you  think  that  I,  who 
am  about  to  pay  the  sad  tribute  of  lamenta- 
tion to  him  who  has  departed,  am  eager  to 
undertake  the  task,  and  shall,  as  most  men 
delight  to  do,  speak  at  great  length  and  in 
eloquent  style.  And  so  some  of  you,  who 
have  had  like  sorrows  to  bear,  are  prepared  to 
join  in  my  mourning  and  lamentation,  in 
order  to  bewail  your  own  griefs  in  mine,  and 
learn  to  feel  pain  at  the  afflictions  of  a  friend, 
while  others  are  looking  to  feast  their  ears  in 
the  enjoyment  of  my  words.  For  they  sup- 
pose that  I  must  needs  make  my  misfortune 
an  occasion  for  display — as  was  once  my  wont, 
when  possessed  of  a  superabundance  of  earthly 
things,  and  ambitious,  above  all,  of  oratorical 
renown — before  I  looked  up  to  Him  Who  is 
the  true  and  highest  Word,  and  gave  all  up  to 
God,  from  Whom  all  things  come,  and  took 
God  for  all  in  all.  Now  pray  do  not  think 
this  of  me,  if  you  wish  to  think  of  me  aright. 
For  I  am  neither  going  to  lament  for  him  who 
is  gone  more  than  is  good — as  I  should  not 
approve  of  such  conduct  even  in  others — nor 
am  I  going  to  praise  him  beyond  due  measure. 
Albeit  that  language  is  a  dear  and  especially 
proper  tribute  to  one  gifted  with  it,  and  eulo- 
gy to  one  who  was  exceedingly  fond  of  my 
words — aye,  not  only  a  tribute,  but  a  debt,  the 
most  just  of  all  debts.  But  even  in  my  tears 
and  admiration  I  must  respect  the  law  which 
regards  such  matters  :  nor  is  this  alien  to  our 
philosophy  ;  for  he  says  The  memory  of  the 
just  is  accompanied  with  eulogies, "  and  also, 
Let  tears  fall  down  over  the  dead,  and  begin 
to  lament,  as  if  thou  hadst  suffered  great  harm 
thyself:  ^  removing  us  equally  from  insensi- 
bility and  immoderation.  I  shall  proceed 
then,  not  only  to  exhibit  the  weakness  of 
human  nature,  but  also  to  put  you  in  mind 
of  the  dignity  of  the  soul,  and,  giving  such 
consolation  as  is  due  to  those  who  are  in  sor- 
sow,  transfer  our  grief,  from  that  which  con- 
cerns the  flesh  and  temporal  things,  to  those 
things  which  are  spiritual  and  eternal. 

2.  The  parents  of  Csesarius,  to  take  first  the 
point  which  best  becomes  me,  are  known  to 
you  all.  Their  excellence  you  are  eager  to 
notice,  and  hear  of  with  admiration,  and  share 
in  the  task  of  setting  it  forth  to  any,  if  there 


a  Prov.  X.  7  (LXX.). 


/3  E:clus,  xxxviii.  i6, 


be  such,  who  know  it  not :  for  no  single  man 
is  able  to  do  so  entirely,  and  the  task  is  one 
beyond  ihe  powers  of  a  single  tongue,  however 
laborious,  however  zealous.  Among  the  many 
and  great  points  for  which  they  are  to  be  cele- 
brated (I  trust  I  may  not  seem  extravagant  in 
praising  my  own  family)  the  greatest  of  all, 
which  more  than  any  other  stamps  their  char- 
acter, is  piety.  By  their  hoar  hairs  they  lay 
claim  to  reverence,  but  they  are  no  less  vener- 
able for  their  virtue  than  for  their  age ;  for 
while  their  bodies  are  bent  beneath  the  bur- 
den of  their  years,  their  souls  renew  their 
youth  in  God. 

3.  His  father*  was  well  grafted  out  of  the 
wild  olive  tree  into  the  good  one,  and  so 
far  partook  of  its  fatness  as  to  be  entrusted 
with  the  engrafting  of  others,  and  charged  with 
the  culture  of  souls,  presiding  in  a  manner  be- 
coming his  high  office  over  this  people,  like  a 
second  Aaron  or  Moses,  bidden  himself  to  draw 
near  to  God,^  and  to  convey  the  Divine  Voice 
to  the  others  who  stand  afar  off;  y  gentle,  meek, 
calm  in  mien,^  fervent  in  spirit,  a  fine  man  in 
external  appearance,  but  richer  still  in  that 
which  is  out  of  sight.  But  why  should  I  de- 
scribe him  whom  you  know  ?  For  I  could  not 
even  \fy  speaking  at  great  length  say  as  much 
as  he  deserves,  or  as  much  as  each  of  you  knows 
and  expects  to  be  said  of  him.  It  is  then  bet- 
ter to  leave  your  own  fancy  to  picture  him, 
than  nmtilate  by  my  words  the  object  of  your 
admiration. 

4.  His  mother^  was  consecrated  to  God  by 
virtue  of  her  descent  from  a  saintly  family, 
and  was  possessed  of  piety  as  a  necessary  in- 
heritance, not  only  for  herself,  but  also  for  her 
children — being  indeed  a  holy  lump  from  a 
holy  firstfruits.  ^  And  this  she  so  far  in- 
creased and  amplified  that  some,  (bold  tliough 
the  statement  be,  I  will  utter  it,)  have  both 
believed  and  said  that  even  her  husband's  per- 
fection has  been  the  work  of  none  other  than 
herself;  and,  oh  how  wonderful  !  she  herself, 
as  the  reward  of  her  piety,  has  received  a 
greater  and  more  perfect  piety.  Lovers  of 
their  children  and  of  Christ  as  they  both  were, 
what  is  most  extraordinary,  they  were  far 
greater  lovers  of  Christ  than  of  their  children  : 
yea,  even  their  one  enjoyment  of  their  children 
was  that  they  should  be  acknowledged  and 
named  by  Christ,  and  their  one  measure  of 
their  blessedness  in   their  children  was  their 


o  His  father .  S.  Gregory  the  elder.  Cf.  Oral,  xviii.,  5,  6, 
12-29,  32-39-     Also  viiL,  4,  5  ;  xii.,  2,  3  :  xvi.,  1-4,  20. 

/3  Kxod.  xxiv.  i,  2.  y  lixod.  xx.  19:  Deut.  v.  27. 

6  In  viiev.  v.  1.  "in  disposition."     . 

€  His  mother.  S.  Nonna.  Cf.  Orat.  xviii.,  7-12,  30.  31.  42,  43. 
Also  viii.  4,  5.  i  Roin.  xi.  16. 


PANEGYRIC    ON    HIS    BROTHER   S.   C^SARIUS. 


2U 


virtue  and  close  association  with  the  Chief 
Good."  Compassionate,  sympathetic,  snatch- 
ing iiiany  a  treasure  from  moths  and  robbers,^ 
and  from  the  prince  of  this  world, y  to  transfer 
it  from  their  sojourn  here  to  the  [true]  hab- 
itation, laying  up  in  store  ^  for  their  children 
the  heavenly  splendour  as  their  greatest  inher- 
itance. Thus  have  they  reached  a  fair  old  age, 
equally  reverend  both  for  virtue  and  for  years, 
and  full  of  days,  alike  of  those  which  abide 
and  those  which  pass  away ;  each  one  failing 
to  secure  the  first  prize  here  below  only  so  far 
as  equalled  by  the  other ;  yea,  they  have  ful- 
filled the  measure  of  every  happiness  with  the 
exception  of  this  last  trial,  or  discipline,  which- 
ever anyone  may  think  we  ought  to  call  it ;  I 
mean  their  having  to  send  before  them  the 
child  who  was,  owing  to  his.  age,  in  greater 
danger  of  falling,  and  so  to  close  their  life  in 
safety,  and  be  translated  with  all  their  family 
to  the  realms  above. 

5.  Thave  entered  into  these  details,  not 
from  a  desire  to  eulogize  them,  for  this,  I  know 
well,  it  would  be  difficult  worthily  to  do,  if  I 
made  their  praise  the  subject  of  my  whole  ora- 
tion, but  to  set  forth  the  excellence  inherited 
from  his  parents  by  Csesarius,  and  so  prevent 
you  from  being  surprised  or  incredulous,  that 
one  sprung  from  such  progenitors,  should  have 
deserved  such  praises  himself;  nay,  strange 
indeed  would  it  have  been,  had  he  looked  to 
others  and  disregarded  the  examples  of  his  kins- 
folk at  home.  His  early  life  was  such  as  becomes 
those  really  well  born  and  destined  for  a  good 
life.  I  say  little  of  his  qualities  evident  to  all, 
his  beauty,  his  stature,  his  manifold  graceful- 
ness, and  harmonious  disposition,  as  shown  in 
the  tones  of  his  voice — for  it  is  not  my  office 
to  laud  qualities  of  this  kind,  however  impor- 
tant they  may  seem  to  others — and  proceed 
with  what  I  have  to  say  of  the  points  which, 
even  if  I  wished,  I  could  with  difficulty  pass  by. 

6.  Bred  and  reared  under  such  influences, 
we  were  fully  trained  in  the  education  afforded 
here,^  in  which  none  could  say  how  far  he  ex- 
celled most  of  us  from  the  quickness  and  extent 
of  his  abilities — and  how  can  I  recall  those  days 
without  my  tears  showing  that,  contrary  to  my 
promises,  my  feelings  have  overcome  my  philo- 
sophic restraint?  The  time  came  when  it  was 
decided  that  we  should  leave  home,  and  then 
for  the  first  time  we  were  separated,  for  I 
studied  rhetoric  in  the  then  flourishing  schools 
of  Palestine  ;  he  went  to  Alexandria,  esteemed 
both  then  and  now  the  home  of  every  branch  of 


a  The  Chief  Good,     to  KpeiTTOv,  lit.  "  that  yhich  is  better." 
P  S.  Matt.  vi.  19;  S.  John  x.  i.  y  S.  John  xiv.  30. 

6  I  Tim.  vi.  19.  e  I/ere,  at  Nazianzus. 


learning.  Which  of  his  qualities  ^hall  I  place 
first  and  foremost,  or  which  can  I  omit  with 
least  injury  to  my  description  ?  Who  was  more 
faithful  to  his  teacher  than  he?  Who  more 
kindly  to  his  classmates  ?  Who  more  carefully 
avoided  the  society  and  companionship  of  the 
depraved  ?  Who  attached  himself  more  closely 
to  that  of  the  most  excellent,  and  among 
others,  of  the  most  esteemed  and  illustrious  of 
his  countrymen  ?  For  he  knew  that  we  are 
strongly  influenced  to  virtue  or  vice  by  our 
companions.  And  in  consequence  of  all  this, 
who  was  more  honoured  by  the  authorities  than 
he,  and  whom  did  the  whole  city  (though"*  all 
individuals  are  concealed  in  it,  because  of  its 
size),  esteem  more  highly  for  his  discretion,  or 
deem  more  illustrious  for  his  intelligence? 

7.  What  branch  of  learning  did  he  not 
master,  or  rather,  in  what  branch  of  study  did 
he  not  surpass  those  who  had  made  it  their 
sole  study  ?  Whom  did  he  allow  even  to  ap- 
proach him,  not  only  of  his  own  time  and  age, 
but  even  of  his  elders,  who  had  devoted  many 
more  years  to  study  ?  All  subjects  he  studied 
as  one,  and  each  as  thoroughly  as  if  he  knew 
no  other.  The  brilliant  in  intellect,  he  sur- 
passed in  industry,  the  devoted  students  in 
quickness  of  perception  ;  nay,  rather  he  out- 
stripped in  rapidity  those  who  were  rapid,  in 
application  those  who  were  laborious,  and  in 
both  respects  those  who  were  distinguished  in 
both.  From  geometry  and  astronomy,  that 
science  so  dangerous^  to  anyone  else,  he  gath- 
ered all  that  was  helpful  (I  mean  that  he  was 
led  by  the  harmony  and  order  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  to  reverence  their  Maker),  and  avoided 
what  is  injurious ;  not  attributing  all  things 
that  are  or  happen  to  the  influence  of  the  stars, 
like  those  who  raise  their  own  fellow-servant, 
the  creation,  in  rebellion  against  the  Creator, 
but  referring,  as  is  reasonable,  the  motion  of 
these  bodies,  and  all  other  things  besides,  to 
God.  In  arithmetic  and  mathematics,  and  in 
the  wonderful  art  of  medicine,  in  so  far  as  it 
treats  of  physiology  and  temperament,  and  the 
causes  of  disease,  in  order  to  remove  the  roots 
and  so  destroy  their  offspring  with  them,  who 
is  there  so  ignorant  or  contentious  as  to  think 
him  inferior  to  himself,  and  not  to  be  glad 
to  be  reckoned  next  to  him,  and  carry  off  the 
second  prize?  This  indeed  is  no  unsupport- 
ed assertion,  but  East  and  Westv  alike,  and 
every  place  which  he  afterward  visited,  are  as 


a  Tho7(gh,  etc.  The  Ken.  ed.  translate.s  "Although  his  teach- 
ing was  exceedingly  sublime  and  abstruse." 

^  Dangerous,  as  being  so  closely  connected  with  astrology. 

7  East  atiii  West,  ewa  re  b;uoO  A^f  is  koX  ecTTrepios  ; — A  t)  f  i  s  sig- 
nificat  regiofieiit,  locum:  cul'>'eu  item,  seu  fast\^iuin.  Cf.  S.  Greg. 
Naz.  Orat.  xxv.  13.  p.  464.     S.  Chrys.  Horn.  LVI.  in  loan.  p.  786. 


232 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


pillars  inscribed  with  the  record  of  his  learn- 
ing. 

8.  But  when,  after  gathering  into  his  single 
soul  every  kind  of  excellence  and  knowledge, 
as  a  mighty  merchantman  gathers  every  sort  of 
ware,  he  was  voyaging  to  his  own  city,  in  order 
to  communicate  to  others  the  fair  cargo  of  his 
culture,  there  befell  a  wondrous  thing,  which 
I  must,  as  its  mention  is  most  cheering  to  me 
and  may  delight  you,  briefly  set  forth.  Our 
mother,"  in  her  motherly  love  for  her  children, 
had  offered  up  a  prayer  tliat,  as  she  had  sent  us 
forth  together,  she  might  see  us  together  return 
home.  For  we  seemed,  to  our  mother  at  least, 
if  not  to  others,  to  form  a  pair  worthy  of  her 
prayers  and  glances,  if  seen  together,  though 
now,  alas,  our  connection  has  been  severed. 
And  God,  Who  hears  a  righteous  prayer,  and 
honours  the  love  of  parents  for  well-disposed 
children,  so  ordered  that,  without  any  design 
or  agreement  on  our  part,  the  one  from  Alex- 
andria, the  other  from  Greece,  the  one  by  sea, 
the  other  by  land,  we  arrived  at  the  same  city 
at  the  same  time.  This  city  was  Byzantium, 
which  now  presides  over  Europe,  in  which 
Csesarius,  after  the  lapse  of  a  short  time,  gained 
such  a  repute,  that  public  honours,  an  alliance 
with  an  illustrious  family,  and  a  seat  in  the 
council  of  state  were  offered  him  ;  and  a  mission 
was  despatched  to  the  Emperor  by  public  de- 
cision, to  beg  that  the  first  of  cities  be  adorned 
and  honoured  by  the  first  of  scholars  (if  he 
cared  at  all  for  its  being  indeed  the  first,  and 
worthy  of  its  name)  ;  and  that  to  all  its  other 
titles  to  distinction  this  further  one  be  added, 
that  it  was  embellished  by  having  Ca^sarius  as  its 
physician  and  its  inhabitant,  although  its  bril- 
liancy was  already  assured  by  its  throngs  of 
great  men  both  in  philosophy  and  other 
branches  of  learning.  But  enough  of  this. 
At  this  time  there  happened  what  seemed  to 
others  a  chance  without  reason  or  cause,  such 
as  frequently  occurs  of  its  own  accord  in  our 
day,  but  was  more  than  sufficiently  manifest  to 
devout  minds  as  the  result  of  the  prayers  to 
god-fearing  parents,  which  were  answered  by 
the  united  arrival  of  their  sons  by  land  and  sea. 

9.  Well,  among  thenol)le  traits  of  Cassarius' 
character,  we  must  not  fail  to  note  one,  which 
perhaj^s  is  in  others'  eyes  slight  and  unworthy 
of  mention,  but  seemed  to  me,  both  at  the  time 
and  .since,  of  the  highest  import,  if  indeed 
brotherly  love  be  a  praiseworthy  quality  ;  nor 
shall  I  ever  cease  to  place  it  in  the  first  rank, 
in  relating  the  story  of  his  life.  Although 
the   metropolis  strove  to  retain  him   by  the 

a  Our  mother.     For  further  detail  cf.  Orat.  xviii.  31. 


honours  I  have  mentioned,  and  declared  that  it 
would  under  no  circumstances  let  him  go,  my 
influence,  which  he  valued  most  highly  on  all 
occasions,  prevailed  upon  him  to  listen  to  the 
prayer  of  his  parents,  to  supply  his  country's 
need,  and  to  grant  me  my  own  desire.  And 
when  he  thus  returned  home  in  my  company, 
he  preferred  me  not  only  to  cities  and  peoples, 
not  only  to  honours  and  revenues,  which  had 
in  part  already  flowed  to  him  in  abundance 
from  many  sources  and  in  part  were  within  his 
reach,  but  even  to  the  Emperor  himself  and  his 
imperial  commands.  From  this  time,  then, 
having  shaken  oft"  all  ambition,  as  a  hard  mas- 
ter and  a  painful  disorder,  I  resolved  to  prac- 
tise philosophy  and  adapt  myself  to  the  higher 
life :  or  rather  the  desire  was  earlier  born,  the 
life  came  later.  ^  But  my  brother,  who  had 
dedicated  to  his  country  the  firstfruits  of  his 
learning,  and  gained  an  admiration  worthy  of 
his  efforts,  was  afterwards  led  by  the  desire  of 
fame,  and,  as  he  persuaded  me,  of  being  the 
guardian  of  the  city,  to  betake  himself  to  court, 
not  indeed  according  to  my  own  wishes  or 
judgment ;  for  I  will  confess  to  you  that  I 
think  it  a  better  and  grander  thing  to  be  in 
the  lowest  rank  with  God  than  to  win  the  first 
place  with  an  earthly  king.  Nevertheless  I 
cannot  blame  him,  for  inasmuch  as  philoso- 
phy is  the  greatest,  so  is  it  the  most  difficult, 
of  professions,  which  can  be  taken  in  hand  by 
but  few,  and  only  by  those  who  have  been 
called  forth  by  the  Divine  magnanimity,  which 
gives  its  hand  to  those  who  are  honoured  by  its 
preference.  Yet  it  is  no  small  thing  if  one, 
who  has  chosen  the  lower  form  of  life,  follows 
after  goodness,  and  sets  greater  store  on  God 
and  his  own  salvation  than  on  earthly  lustre ; 
using  it  as  a  stage,  or  a  manifold  ephemeral 
mask  while  playing  in  the  drama  of  this  world, 
but  himself  living  unto  God  with  that  image 
which  he  knows  that  he  has  received  from 
Him,  and  must  render  to  Him  Who  gave  it. 
That  this  was  certainly  the  purpose  of  Cassarius, 
we  know  full  well. 

10.  Among  physicians  he  gained  the  fore- 
most place  with  no  great  trouble,  by  merely 
exhibiting  his  capacity,  or  rather  some  slight 
specimen  of  his  capacity,  and  was  forthwith 
numbered  among  the  friends  of  the  Emperor, 
and  enjoyed  the  highest  honours.  But  he 
placed  the  humane  functions  of  his  art  at  the 
disposal  of  the  authorities  free  of  cost,  knowing 
that  nothing  leads  to  further  advancement  than 
virtue  and  renown  for  honourable  deeds  ;  so 
that  he  tar  surpassed  in  fame  those  to  whom 
he  was  inferior  in  rank.  By  his  modesty  he 
so  won  the  love  of  all  that  they  entrusted  their 


PANEGYRIC    ON    HIS    BROTHER    S.  C^SARIUS. 


233 


precious  charges  to  his  care,  without  requiring 
him  to  be  sworn  by  Hippocrates,  since  the  sim- 
plicity of  Crates  was  nothing  to  his  own  :  win- 
ning in  general  a  respect  beyond  his  rank  ;  for 
besides  the  present  repute  he  was  ever  thouglit 
to  have  justly  won,  a  still  greater  one  was  antici- 
pated for  him,  both  by  the  Emperors"  them- 
selves and  by  all  who  occupied  the  nearest  po- 
sitions to  them.  But,  most  important,  neither 
by  his  fame,  nor  by  the  luxury  which  sur- 
rounded him,  was  his  nobility  of  soul  corrrupt- 
ed  ;  for  amidst  his  many  claims  to  honour,  he 
himself  cared  most  for  being,  and  being  known 
to  be,  a  Christian,  and,  compared  with  this, 
all  other  things  were  to  him  but  trifling  toys. 
For  they  belong  to  the  part  we  play  before 
others  on  a  stage  which  is  very  quickly  set 
up  and  taken  down  again — perhaps  indeed 
more  quickly  destroyed  than  put  together,  as 
we  may  see  from  the  manifold  changes  of  life, 
and  fluctuations  of  prosperity  ;  while  the  only 
real  and  securely  abiding  good  thing  is  godli- 
ness. 

II.  Such  was  the  philosophy  of  Csesarius, 
even  at  court  :  these  were  the  ideas  amidst 
which  he  lived  and  died,  discovering  and  pre- 
senting to  God,  in  the  hidden  man,  a  still 
deeper  godliness  than  was  publicly  visible. 
And  if  I  must  pass  by  all  else,  his  protection 
of  his  kinsmen  in  distress,  his  contempt  for  ar- 
rogance, his  freedom  from  assumption  towards 
friends,  his  boldness  towards  men  in  power, 
the  numerous  contests  and  arguments  in  which 
he  engaged  with  many  on  behalf  of  the  truth, 
not  merely  for  the  sake  of  argument,  but  with 
deep  piety  and  fervour,  I  must  speak  of  one 
point  at  least  as  especially  worthy  of  note. 
The  Emperor^  of  unhappy  memory  was  raging 
against  us,  whose  madness  in  rejecting  Christ, 
after  making  himself  its  first  victim,  had  now 
rendered  him  intolerable  to  others  ;  though  he 
did  not,  like  other  fighters  against  Christ, 
grandly  enlist  himself  on  the  side  of  impiety, 
but  veiled  his  persecution  under  the  form  of 
equity ;  and,  ruled  by  the  crooked  serpent 
which  possessed  his  soul,  dragged  down  into 
his  own  pit  his  wretched  victims  by  manifold 
devices.  His  first  artifice  and  contrivance 
was,  to  deprive  us  of  the  honour  of  our  conflicts 
(for,  noble  man  as  he  was,  he  grudged  this  to 
Christians),  by  causing  us,  who  sufl"ered  for 
being  Christians,  to  be  punished  as  evil  doers  : 
the  second  was,  to  call  this  process  persuasion, 
and  not  tyranny,  so  that  the  disgrace  of  those 
who  chose  to   side  with    impiety   might    be 


(  Constantius  II.,  a.d.  337-361.     Julian,  a.d. 
a  The  EmperorsA      361-363. 

I  Jovian,  a.d.  363-4.     Valens,  a.d.  364-378. 
0  The  Emperor,  i.e.,  Julian  the  Apostate. 


greater  than  their  danger.  Some  he  won  over 
by  money,  some  by  dignities,  some  by 
promises,  some  by  various  honours,  which  he 
bestowed,  not  royally  but  in  right  servile  style, 
in  the  sight  of  all,  while  everyone  was  influ- 
enced by  the  witchery  of  his  words,  and  his 
own  example.  At  last  he  assailed  Caesarius. 
How  utter  was  the  derangement  and  folly 
which  could  hope  to  take  for  his  prey  a  man 
like  Caesarius,  my  brother,  the  son  of  parents 
like  ours  ! 

12.  However,  that  I  may  dwell  awhile  up- 
on this  point,  and  luxuriate  in  my  story  as 
men  do  who  are  eyewitnesses  in  some  marvel- 
lous event,"  that  noble  man,  fortified  with  the 
sign  of  Christ,  and  defending  himself  with  His 
Mighty  Word,  entered  the  lists  against  an  ad- 
versary experienced  in  arms  and  strong  in  his 
skill  in  argument.  In  no  wise  abashed  at  the 
sight,  nor  shrinking  at  all  from  his  high  pur- 
pose through  flattery,  he  was  an  athlete  ready, 
both  in  word  and  deed,  to  meet  a  rival  of 
equal  power.  Such  then  was  the  arena,  and 
so  equipped  the  champion  of  godliness.  The 
judge  on  one  side  was  Christ,  arming  the 
athlete  with  His  own  sufferings  :  and  on  the 
other  a  dreadful  tyrant,^  persuasive  by  his  skill 
in  argument,  and  overawing  him  by  the  weight 
of  his  authority  ;  and  as  spectators,  on  either 
hand,  both  those  who  were  still  left  on  the 
side  of  godliness  and  those  who  had  been 
snatched  away  by  him,  watching  whether  vic- 
tory inclined  to  their  own  side  or  to  the  other, 
and  more  anxious  as  to  which  would  gain  the 
day  than  the  combatants  themselves. 

13.  Didst  thou  not  fear  for  Csesarius,  lest 
aught  unworthy  of  his  zeal  should  befall  him  ? 
Nay,  be  ye  of  good  courage.  For  the  victory  is 
with  Christ,  Whoovercame  the  world.')'  Now  for 
my  part,  be  well  assured,  I  should  be  highly  in- 
terested in  setting  forth  the  details  of  the  argu- 
ments and  allegations  ysed  on  that  occasion, 
for  indeed  the  discussion  contains  certain  feats 
and  elegances,  which  I  dwell  on  with  no  slight 
pleasure ;  but  this  would  be  quite  foreign  to 
an  occasion  and  discourse  like  the  present. 
And  when,  after  having  torn  to  shreds  all  his 
opponent's  sophistries,  and  thrust  aside  as  mere 
child's  play  every  assault,  veiled  or  open, 
Caesarius  in  a  loud  clear  voice  declared  that 
he  was  and  remained  a  Christian — not  even 
thus  was  he  finally  dismissed.  For  indeed,  the 
Emperor  was  possessed  by  an  eager  desire  to 
enjoy  and  be  distinguished    by  his   culture, 

o  Some  edd.  read  "  in  the  "spectacle,"  which  would  make  better 
sense,  but  has  not  MS.  authorirj*. 

^  A  dreadful  tyrant.  The  Evil  One  :  with  Billius  and  Clemen- 
cet.  Julian  was  antagonist,  not  Judge — unless  we  consider  that 
he  combined  unfairly  the  two  offices.  y  S.  John  xvi.  33. 


234 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  then  uttered  in  the  hearing  of  all  his 
famous  saying — O  happy  father,  O  unhappy 
sons  !  thus  deigning  to  honour  me,  whose  cul- 
ture and  godliness"  he  had  known  at  Athens, 
with  a  share  in  the  dishonour  of  Caesarius,  who 
was  remanded  for  a  further  trial^  (since  Justice 
was  fitly  arming  the  Emperor  against  the 
Persians), Y  and  welcomed  by  us  after  his 
happy  escape  and  bloodless  victory,  as  more 
illustrious  for  his  dishonour  than  for  his  ce- 
lebrity. 

14.  This  victory  I  esteem  far  more  sub- 
lime and  honourable  than  the  Emperor's 
mighty  power  and  splendid  purple  and  costly 
diadem.  I  am  more  elated  in  describing  it 
than  if  he  had  won  from  him  the  half  of  his 
Empire.  During  the  evil  days  he  lived  in 
retirement,  obedient  herein  to  our  Christian 
law,^  which  bids  us,  when  occasion  offers,  to 
make  ventures  on  behalf  of  the  truth,  and 
not  be  traitors  to  our  religion  from  coward- 
ice ;  yet  refrain,  as  long  as  may  be,  from  rush- 
ing into  danger,  either  in  fear  for  our  own 
souls,  or  to  spare  those  who  bring  the  danger 
upon  us.  But  when  the  gloom  had  been  dis- 
persed, and  the  righteous  sentence  had  been 
pronounced  in  a  foreign  land,  and  the  glitter- 
ing sword  had  struck  down  the  ungodly,  and 
power  had  returned  to  the  hands  of  Christians, 
what  boots  it  to  say  with  what  glory  and 
honour,  with  how  many  and  great  testi- 
monies, as  if  bestowing  rather  than  receiv- 
ing a  favour,  he  was  welcomed  again  at  the 
Court  ;  his  new  honour  succeeding  to  that  of 
former  days  ;  while  time  changed  its  Emper- 
ors, the  repute  and  commanding  influence  of 
Caesarius  with  them  was  undisturbed,  nay, 
they  vied  with  each  other  in  striving  to  attach 
him  most  closely  to  themselves,  and  be  known 
as  his  special  friends  and  acquaintances.  Such 
was  the  godliness  of  Cresarius,  such  its  results. 
Let  ail  men,  young  ayd  old,  give  ear,  and 
press  on  through  the  same  virtue  to  the  same 
distinction,  for  glorious  is  the  fruit  of  good 
labours,^  if  they  suppose  this  to  be  worth  striv- 
ing after,  and  a  part  of  true  happiness. 

15.  Again  another  wonder  concerning  him 
is  a  strong  argument  for  his  parents'  piety 
and  his  own.  He  was  living  in  Bithynia, 
holding  an  office  of  no  small  importance  from 
the  Emperor,  viz.,  the  stewanlshij)  of  his 
revenue,  and  care  of  the  exchecjuer :  for 
this  had  been  assigned  to  him  by  the  Emperor 

a  Godliiies!!,  exxre^eiav :  here,  as  often,  used  in  the  sense  of 
"  orthodoxy." 

3  A  fiir'tltfr  trial.  Which  Jidian  did  not  survive  to  carry  out. 
S.  Oreg.  may  allude  to  Caesarius'  later  return  to  Court. 

y  Pirximi!:.  The  expedition  in  wliich  he  met  his  death.  Am- 
mian.  Marcellin.  xxv.  3,  7.     Soz.  vi.  2.     Socr.  iii.  21. 

&  Matt.  .\.  23.  €  Wisd.  iii.  15. 


as  a  prelude  to  the  highest  offices.  And 
when,  a  short  time  ago,  the  earthquake"  in 
Nicsea  occurred,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
the  most  serious  within  the  memory  of  man, 
overwhelming  in  a  common  destruction  almost 
all  the  inhabitants  and  the  beauty  of  the  city, 
he  alone,  or  with  very  few  of  the  men  of  rank, 
survived  the  danger,  being  shielded  by  the  very 
falling  ruins  in  his  incredible  escape,  and 
bearing  slight  traces  of  the  peril ;  yet  he 
allowed  fear  to  lead  him  to  a  more  important 
salvation,  for  he  dedicated  himself  entirely  to 
the  Supreme  Providence  ;  he  renounced  the 
service  of  transitory  things,  and  attached 
himself  to  another  court.  This  he  both 
purposed  himself,  and  made  the  object  of 
the  united  earnest  prayers  to  which  he  invited 
me  by  letter,  when  I  seized  this  opportunity 
to  give  him  warning,^  as  I  never  ceased  to 
do  when  pained  that  his  great  nature  should 
l)e  occupied  in  affairs  beneath  it,  and  that  a 
soul  so  fitted  for  philosophy  should,  like  the 
sun  behind  a  cloud,  be  obscured  amid  the 
whirl  of  public  life.  Unscathed  though  he 
had  been  by  the  earthquake,  he  was  not  proof 
against  disease,  since  he  was  but  human. 
His  escape  was  peculiar  to  himself ;  his  death 
common  to  all  mankind  ;  the  one  the  token 
of  his  piety,  the  other  the  result  of  his 
nature.  The  former,  for  our  consolation,  pre- 
ceded his  fate,  so  that,  though  shaken  by  his 
death,  we  might  exult  in  the  extraordinary 
character  of  his  preservation.  And  now  our 
illustrious  Caesarius  has  been  restored  to  us, 
when  his  honoured  dust  and  celebrated  corse, 
after  being  escorted  home  amidst  a  succession 
of  hymns  and  public  orations,  has  been 
honoured  by  the  holy  hands  of  his  parents ; 
while  his  mother,  substituting  the  festal  gar- 
ments of  religion  for  the  trappings  of  woe, 
has  overcome  her  tears  by  her  philosophy, 
and  lulled  to  sleep  lamentations  by  psalmody, 
as  her  son  enjoys  honours  worthy  of  his  newly 
regenerate  soul,  which  has  been,  through 
water,  transformed  by  the  Spirit. 

16.  This,  Caesarius,  is  my  funeral  offer- 
ing to  thee,  this  the  firstfruits  of  my  words, 
which  thou  hast  often  blamed  me  for  with- 
holding, yet  wouldst  have  stripped  off,  had 
they  been  bestowed  on  thee  ;  with  this  orna- 
ment I  adorn  thee,  an  ornament,  I  know  well, 
far  dearer  to  thee  than  all  others,  though  it  be 
not  of  the  soft  flowing  tissues  of  silk,  in 
which  while  living,  with  virtue  for  thy  sole 
adorning,  thou  didst  not,  like  the  many, 
rejoice;  nor  texture  of  transparent  linen,  nor 

o  The  earthquake,  described  by  Theodoret,  H.  E.  ii.  26. 
P  S.  Greg.  Epist.  xx. 


PANEGYRIC   ON    HIS   BROTHER   S.   C^SARIUS. 


!35 


outpouring  of  costly  unguents,  which  thou 
hadst  long  resigned  to  the  boudoirs  of  the 
fair,  with  their  sweet  savours  lasting  but 
a  single  day  ;  nor  any  other  small  thing 
valued  by  small  minds,  which  would  have  all 
been  hidden  to-day  with  thy  fair  form  by 
this  bitter  stone.  Far  hence  be  games  and 
stories  of  the  Greeks,  the  honours  of  ill-fated 
youths,  with  their  petty  prizes  for  petty  con- 
tests ;  and  all  the  libations  and  firstfruits  or 
garlands  and  newly  plucked  flowers,  where- 
with men  honour  the  departed,  in  obedience 
to  ancient  custom  and  unreasoning  grief, 
rather  than  reason.  My  gift  is  an  oration, 
which  perhaps  succeeding  time  will  receive 
at  my  hand  and  ever  keep  in  motion,  that 
it  may  not  suffer  him  who  has  left  us  to  be 
utterly  lost  to  earth,  but  may  ever  keep  him 
whom  we  honour  in  men's  ears  and  minds,  as 
it  sets  before  them,  more  clearly  than  a  por- 
trait, the  image  of  him  for  whom  we  mourn. 

17.  Such  is  my  offering;  if  it  be  slight 
and  inferior  to  his  merit,  God  loveth  that 
which  is  according  to  our  power.*  Part  of 
our  gift  is  now  complete,  the  remainder  we 
will  now  pay  by  offering  (those  of  us  who 
still  survive)  every  year  our  honours  and  me- 
morials. And  now  for  thee,  sacred  and  holy 
soul,  we  pray  for  an  entrance  into  heaven  ; 
mayest  thou  enjoy  such  repose  as  the  bosom 
of  Abraham  affords,  mayest  thou  behold  the 
choir  of  Angels,  and  the  glories  and  splen- 
dours of  sainted  men  ;  aye,  mayest  thou  be 
united  to  that  choir  and  share  in  their  joy, 
looking  down  from  on  high  on  all  things  here, 
on  what  men  call  wealth,  and  despicable  dig- 
nities, and  deceitful  honours,  and  the  errors 
of  our  senses,  and  the  tangle  of  this  life,  and 
its  confusion  and  ignorance,  as  if  we  were 
fighting  in  the  dark  ;  whilst  thou  art  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  Great  King  and  filled  with 
the  light  which  streams  forth  from  Him  :  and 
may  it  be  ours  hereafter,  receiving  therefrom 
no  such  slender  rivulet,  as  is  the  object  of  our 
fancy  in  this  day  of  mirrors  and  enigmas,  to 
attain  to  the  fount  of  good  itself,  gazing  with 
pure  mind  upon  the  truth  in  its  purity,  and 
finding  a  reward  for  our  eager  toil  here  below 
on  behalf  of  the  good,  in  our  more  perfect 
possession  and  vision  of  the  good  on  high  : 
the  end  to  which  our  sacred  books  and  teach- 
ers foretell  that  our  course  of  divine  mysteries 
shall  lead  us. 

18.  What  now  remains?  To  bring  the 
healing  of  the  Word  to  those  in  sorrow.  And 
a  powerful  remedy  for  mourners  is  sympathy, 

a  Cor.  viii.  3  ;  ix.  7. 


for  sufferers  are  best  consoled  by  those  who 
have  to  bear  a  like  suffering.  To  such, 
then,  I  specially  address  myself,  of  whom  I 
should  be  ashamed,  if,  with  all  other  virtues, 
they  do  not  show  the  elements  of  patience. 
For  even  if  they  surpass  all  others  in  love  of 
their  children,  let  them  equally  surpass  them 
in  love  of  wisdom  and  love  of  Christ,  and  in 
the  special  practice  of  meditation  on  our  de- 
parture hence,  impressing  it  likewise  on  their 
children,  making  even  their  whole  life  a  prep- 
aration for  death.  But  if  your  misfortune 
still  clouds  your  reason  and,  like  the  moisture 
which  dims  our  eyes,  hides  from  you  the  clear 
view  of  your  duty,  come,  ye  elders,  receive  the 
consolation  of  a  young  man,  ye  fathers,  that 
of  a  child,  who  ought  to  be  admonished  by 
men  as  old  as  you,  who  have  admonished 
many  and  gathered  experience  from  your 
many  years.  Yet  wonder  not,  if  in  my  youth 
I  admonish  the  aged  ;  and  if  in  aught  I  can 
see  better  than  the  hoary,  I  offer  it  to  you. 
How  much  longer  have  we  to  live,  ye  men  of 
honoured  eld,  so  near  to  God?  How  long 
are  we  to  suffer  here?  Not  even  man's  whole 
life  is  long,  compared  with  the  Eternity  of 
the  Divine  Nature,  still  less  the  remains  of 
life,  and  what  I  may  call  the  parting  of  our 
human  breath,  the  close  of  our  frail  existence. 
How  much  has  Caesarius  outstripped  us  ?  How 
long  shall  we  be  left  to  mourn  his  departure  ? 
Are  we  not  hastening  to  the  same  abode  ? 
Shall  we  not  soon  be  covered  by  the  same 
stone  ?  Shall  we  not  shortly  be  reduced  to 
the  same  dust  ?  And  what  in  these  short 
days  will  be  our  gain,  save  that  after  it  has 
been  ours  to  see,  or  suffer,  or  perchance  even 
to  do,  more  ill,  we  must  discharge  the  com- 
mon and  inexorable  tribute  to  the  law  of  na- 
ture, by  following  some,  preceding  others,  to 
the  tomb,  mourning  these,  being  lamented  by 
those,  and  receiving  from  some  that  meed  of 
tears  which  we  ourselves  had  paid  to  others? 

19.  Such,  my  brethren,  is  our  existence, 
who  live  this  transient  life,  such  our  pastime 
upon  earth  :  we  come  into  existence  out  of 
non-existence,  and  after  existing  are  dissolved. 
We  are  unsubstantial  dreams,  impalpable  vis- 
ions," like  the  flight  of  a  passing  bird,  like  a 
ship  leaving  no  track  upon  the  sea,^  a  speck 
of  dust,  a  vapour,  an  early  dew,  a  flower 
that  quickly  blooms,  and  quickly  fades.  As 
for  man  his  days  are  as  grass,  as  a  flower  of 
the  field,  so  he  flourisheth.i'  Well  hath  in- 
spired David  discoursed  of  our  frailty,  and 
again  in  these  words,  "  Let  me  know  the  short- 


ajob  XX.  8. 


(3  Wisd.  V.  10  et  seq. 


yPs.  ciii.  15. 


236 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


ness  of  my  days ;  "  and  he  defines  the  days  of 
man  as  "  of  a  span  long. ' '  "  And  what  wouldst 
thou  say  to  Jeremiah,  who  comjjlains  of  his 
mother  in  sorrow  for  his  birth, ^  and  that  on 
account  of  others'  fauUs  ?  I  have  seen  all 
things, V  says  the  preacher,  I  have  reviewed  in 
thought  all  human  things,  wealth,  pleasure, 
power,  unstable  glory,  wisdom  which  evades 
us  rather  than  is  won  ;  then  pleasure  again, 
wisdom  again,  often  revolving  the  same  ob- 
jects, the  pleasures  of  appetite,  orchards,  num- 
bers of  slaves,  store  of  wealth,  serving  men 
and  serving  maids,  singing  men  and  singing 
women,  arms,  spearmen,  subject  nations,  col- 
lected tributes,  the  pride  of  kings,  all  the 
necessaries  and  superfluities  of  life,  in  which  I 
surpassed  all  the  kings  that  were  before  me. 
And  what  does  he  say  after  all  these  things? 
Vanity  of  vanities,*  all  is  vanity  and  vexation 
of  spirit,  possibly  meaning  some  unreasoning 
longing  of.  the  soul,  and  distraction  of  man 
condemned  to  this  from  the  original  fall :  but 
hear,  he  says,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter,  Fear  God.*  This  is  his  stay  in  his 
perplexity,  and  this  is  thy  only  gain  from  life 
here  below,  to  be  guided  through  the  disorder 
of  the  things  which  are  seen  ^  and  shaken,  to 
the  things  w^hich  stand  firm  and  are  not 
moved.'' 

20.  Let  us  not  then  mourn  Csesarius  but 
ourselves,  knowing  what  evils  he  has  escaped 
to  which  we  are  left  behind,  and  what  treasure 
we  shall  lay  up,  unless,  earnestly  cleaving  unto 
God  and  outstripping  transitory  things,  we 
press  towards  the  life  above,  deserting  the 
earth  while  we  are  still  upon  the  earth,  and 
earnestly  following  the  spirit  which  bears  us 
upward.  Painful  as  this  is  to  the  faint- 
hearted, it  is  as  nothing  to  men  of  brave  mind. 
And  let  us  consider  it  thus.  •Coesarius  will 
not  reign,  but  rather  will  he  be  reigned  over 
by  others.  He  will  strike  terror  into  no  one, 
but  he  will  be  free  from  fear  of  any  harsh 
master,  often  himself  unworthy  even  of  a  sub- 
ject's position.  He  will  not  amass  wealth, 
but  neither  will  he  be  liable  to  envy,  or  be 
pained  at  lack  of  success,  or  be  ever  seeking 
to  add  to  his  gains  as  much  again.  For  such 
is  the  disease  of  wealth,  which  knows  no  limit 
to  its  desire  of  more,  and  continues  to  make 
drinking  the  medicine  for  thirst.  He  will 
make  no  display  of  his  power  of  speaking,  yet 
for  his  speaking  will  he  be  admired.  He  will 
not  discourse  upon  the  dicta  of  Hi])])Ocrates 
and  Galen,  and  their  adversaries,  but  neither 


a  Ps.  xxxix.  4,  5.  /3  Jer.  xv.  10.  y  Eccles.  i.  14. 

S  lb.  xii.  8.  e  lb.  xii.  13. 

f  2  Cor.  iv.  18.  1)  Heb.  xii."  27. 


will  he  be  troubled  by  diseases,  and  suffer 
pain  at  the  misfortunes  of  others.  He  will 
not  set  forth  the  principles  of  Eucleides, 
Ptolemaeus,  and  Heron,  but  neither  will  he 
be  pained  by  the  tumid  vaunts  of  uncultured 
men.  He  will  make  no  display  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Plato,  and  Aristotle,  and  Pyrrho,  and 
the  names  of  any  Democritus,  and  Heracleitus, 
Anaxagoras,  Cleanthes  and  Epicurus,  and  all 
the  members  of  the  venerable  Porch  and 
Academy  :  but  neither  will  he  trouble  himself 
with  the  solution  of  their  cunning  syllogisms. 
^^'hat  need  of  furtlier  details  ?  Yet  here  are 
some  which  all  men  honour  or  desire.  Nor 
wife  nor  child  will  he  have  beside  himi,  but  he 
will  escape  mourning  for,  or  being  mourned 
by  them,  or  leaving  them  to  others,  or  being 
left  behind  himself  as  a  memorial  of  misfor- 
tune. He  will  inherit  no  property  :  but  he 
will  have  such  heirs"  as  are  of  the  greatest  ser- 
vice, such  as  he  himself  wished,  so  that  he 
departed  hence  a  rich  man,  bearing  with  him 
all  that  was  his.  What  an  ambition  !  '  What  a 
new  consolation  !  What  magnanimity  in  his 
executors  !  A  proclamation  has  been  heard, 
worthy  of  the  ears  of  all,  and  a  mother's  grief 
has  been  made  void  by  a  fair  and  holy  pro- 
mise, to  give  entirely  to  her  son  his  wealth  as  a 
funeral  offering  on  his  behalf,  leaving  nothing 
to  those  who  expected  it. 

21.  Is  this  inadequate  for  our  consolation  ? 
I  will  add  a  more  potent  remedy.  I  believe  the 
words  of  the  wise,  that  every  fair  and  God-be- 
loved soul,  when,  set  free  from  the  bonds  of  the 
body,  it  departs  hence,  at  once  enjoys  a  sense 
and  perception  of  the  blessings  which  await  it, 
inasmuch  as  that  which  darkened  it  has  been 
purged  away,  or  laid  aside — I  know  not  how 
else  to  term  it — and  feels  a  wondrous  pleasure 
and  exultation,  and  goes  rejoicing  to  meet  its 
Lord,  having  escaped  as  it  were  from  the 
grievous  poison  of  life  here,  and  shaken  off  the 
fetters  which  bound  it  and  held  down  the 
wings  of  the  mind,  and  so  enters  on  the  en- 
joyment of  the  bliss  laid  up  for  it,  of  which  it 
has  even  now  some  conception.  Then,  a 
little  later,  it  receives  its  kindred  flesh,  which 
once  shared  in  its  pursuits  of  things  above, 
from  the  earth  which  both  gave  and  had  been 
entrusted  with  it,  and  in  some  way  known  to 
God,  who  knit  them  together  and  dis.solved 
them,  enters  with  it  upon  the  inheritance  of 
the  glory  there.  And,  as  it  shared,  through 
their  close  union,  in  its  hardships,  so  also  it 

o  Heirs,  Cf.  S.  Kasil  Ep.  26(32).  CjEsarivis  left  all  his  property 
to  the  poor.  This  passage  shows  that  his  own  family  welcomed 
and  approved  the  bequest,  which  S.  Gregory  was  at  much  pains 
to  carry  out,  but  was  greatly  embarrassed  by  the  rapacity  of  his 
brother's  servants. 


PANEGYRIC    ON    HIS    BROTHER   S.   C^SARIUS. 


bestows  upon  it  a  portion  of  its  joys,  gathering 
it  up  entirely  into  itself,  and  becoming  with 
it  one  in  spirit  and  in  mind  and  in  God,  the 
mortal  and  mutable  being  swallowed  up  of 
life.  Hear  at  least  how  the  inspired  Ezekiel 
discourses  of  the  knitting  together  of  bones 
and  sinews,''  how  after  him  Saint  Paul  speaks 
of  the  earthly  tabernacle,  and  the  house  not 
made  with  hands,  the  one  to  be  dissolved,  the 
other  laid  up  in  heaven,  alleging  absence 
from  the  body  to  be  presence  with  the  Lord,*^ 
and  bevv^ailing  his  life  in  it  as  an  exile,  and 
therefore  longing  for  and  hastening  to  his  re- 
lease. Why  am  I  faint-hearted  in  my  hopes? 
\\'hy  beha\e  like  a  mere  creature  of  a  day  ?  I 
await  the  voice  of  the  Archangel, v  the  last 
trumpet,^  the  transformation  of  the  heavens, 
the  transfiguration  of  the  earth,  the  liberation 
of  the  elements,  the  renovation  of  the  universe.^ 
Then  shall  I  see  Ccesarius  himself,  no  longer 
in  exile,  no  longer  laid  upon  a  bier,  no  longer 
the  object  of  mourning  and  pity,  but  brilliant, 
glorious,  heavenly,  such  as  in  my  dreams  I 
have  often  beheld  thee,  dearest  and  most  lov- 
ing of  brothers,  pictured  thus  by  my  desire,  if 
not  by  the  very  truth. 

22.  But  now,  laying  aside  lamentation,  I 
will  look  at  myself,  and  examine  my  feelings, 
that  I  may  not  unconsciously  have  in  myself 
anything  to  be  lamented.  O  ye  sons  of 
men,  for  the  words  apply  to  you,  how  long 
will  ye  be  hard-hearted  and  gross  in  mind? 
Why  do  ye  love  vanity  and  seek  after  leas- 
ing,^ supposing  life  here  to  be  a  gireat  thing 
and  these  few  days  many,  and  shrinking 
from  this  separation,  welcome  and  pleas- 
ant as  it  is,  as  if  it  were  really  grievous  and 
awful  ?  Are  ^ve  not  to  know  ourselves  ?  Are 
we  not  to  cast  away  visible  things?  Are  we 
not  to  look  to  the  things  unseen  ?  Are  we 
not,  even  if  we  are  somewhat  grieved,  to  be 
on  the  contrary  distressed  at  our  lengthened 
sojourn,'^  like  holy  David,  who  calls  things 
here  the  tents  of  darkness,  and  the  place  of 
affliction,  and  the  deep  mire,^  and  the  shadow 
of  death  ; '  because  we  linger  in  the  tombs  we 
bear  about  with  us,  because,  though  we  are 
gods,  we  die  like  men  *  the  death  of  sin  ?  This 
is  my  fear,  this  day  and  night  accompanies 
me,  and  will  not  let  me  breathe,  on  one  side 
the  glory,  on  the  other  the  place  of  correction  : 
the  former  I  long  for  till  I  can  say,  "  My  soul 
fainteth  for  Thy  salvation  ;  "  ^  from  the  latter  I 
shrink  back  shuddering ;   yet  lam  not  afraid 


o  Ezek.  xxxvii.  3  et  seq.  $  2  Cor.  v.  i,  6 :  Phi!,  i.  23. 

yi  Thess.  iv.  16.  8  i  Cor.  xv.  52.  e2  Pet.  iii.  10. 

^  Ps.  iv.  3.        n  lb.  cxx.  4.         e  lb.  xliv.  19  (LXX.)  ;  Ixix.  2. 

lib.  xliv.  20.  <c  lb.  Ixxii.  6,  7.  A  lb.  cxix.  81. 


that  this  body  of  mine  should  utterly  perish  in 
dis.solution  and  corruption  ;  but  that  the  glori- 
ous creature  of  God  (for  glorious  it  is  if  up- 
right, just  as  it  is  dishonourable  if  sinful)  in 
which  is  reason,  morality,  and  hope,  should  be 
condemned  to  the  same  dishonour  as  the 
brutes,  and  be  no  better  after  death  ;  a  fate  to 
be  desired  for  the  wicked,  who  are  worthy  of 
the  fire  yonder. 

23.  Would  that  I  might  mortify  my  mem- 
bers that  are  upon  the  earth, °-  would  that  I 
might  spend  my  all  upon  the  spirit,  walking 
in  the  way  that  is  narrow  and  trodden  by  few, 
not  that  which  is  broad  and  easy.^  For  glori- 
ous and  great  are  its  consequences,  and  our 
hope  is  greater  than  our  desert.  What  is 
man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  v  What 
is  this  new  mystery  which  concerns  me?  I 
am  small  and  great,  lowly  and  exalted,  mortal 
and  immortal,  earthly  and  heavenly.  I  share 
one  condition  with  the  lower  world,  the  other 
with  God  ;  one  with  the  flesh,  the  other  with 
the  spirit.  I  must  be  buried  with  Christ,  arise 
with  Christ,  be  joint  heir  with  Christ,  become 
the  son  of  God,  yea,  God  Himself  See  whither 
our  argument  has  carried  us  in  its  progress. 
I  almost  own  myself  indebted  to  the  disaster 
which  has  insjjired  me  with  such  thoughts, 
and  made  me  more  enamoured  of  my  depart- 
ure hence.  This  is  the  purpose  of  the  great 
mystery  for  us.  This  is  the  purpose  for  us 
of  God,  Who  for  us  was  made  man  and  be- 
came poor,^  to  raise  our  flesh, ^  and  recover  His 
image, ^  and  remodel  man,''  that  we  might  all 
be  made  one  in  Christ,*  who  was  perfectly 
made  in  all  of  us  all  that  He  Himself  is,'  that 
we  might  no  longer  be  male  and  female,  bar- 
barian, Scythian,  bond  or  free"  (which  are 
badges  of  the  flesh),  but  might  bear  in  our- 
selves only  the  stamp  of  God,  by  Whom  and 
for  Whom  we  were  made,'^  and  have  so  far  re- 
ceived our  form  and  model  from  Him,  that 
we  are  recognized  by  it  alone. 

24.  Yea,  would  that  what  we  hope  for 
might  be,  according  to  the  great  kindness  of 
our  bountiful  God,  Who  asks  for  httle  and  be- 
stows great  things,  both  in  the  present  and  in 
the  future,  upon  those  who  truly  love  Him  ;  '^ 
bearing  all  things,  enduring  all  things  "  for  their 
love  and  hope  of  Him,  giving  thanks  for  all 
things^  favourable  and  unfavourable  alike:  I 
mean  pleasant  and  painful,  for  reason  knows 
that  even  these  are  often  instruments  of  salva- 
tion ;  commending  to  Him  our  own  souls  °  and 

o  Col.  iii.  5.  /3  S.  Matt.  vii.  13.  7  Ps.  viii.  5. 

S  2  Cor.  viii.  9.       e  Rom.  viii.  11.      ^  S.  Luke  xv.  g  ;   1  Cor.  xv.  49. 
i)C'i].  iii.  10.  0  Gal.  iii.  28.  i  i  Cor.  xv.  28. 

K  Col.  iii.  II.  A  Rom.  xi.  36.  fi  1  Cor.  ii.  9. 

V  lb.  xiii.  7.  $  I  Thess.  v.  18.  o  i  Pet.  iv.  19. 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


the  souls  of  those  fellow  wayfarers  who,  be- 
ing more  ready,  have  gained  their  rest  before 
us.  And,  now  that  we  have  done  this,  let  us 
cease  from  our  discourse,  and  you  too  from  your 
tears,  hastening,  as  you  now  are,  to  your  tomb, 
which  as  a  sad  abiding  gift  you  have  given  to 
Caesarius,  seasonably  prepared  as  it  was  for  his 
parents  in  their  old  age,  and  now  unexpect- 
edly bestowed  on  their  son  in  his  youth, 
though  not  without  reason  in  His  eyes  Who 
disposes  our  affairs.  O  Lord  and  Maker  of  all 
things,  and  specially  of  this  our  frame  !  O  God 
and  Father  and  Pilot  of  men  who  are  Thine  ! 
()  Lord  of  life  and  death  !  O  Judge  and  Bene- 
factor of  our  souls  !  O  Maker  and  Transfor- 
mer in  due  time  of  all  things  "=  by  Thy  design- 
ing Word,^  according  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
depth  of  Thy  wisdom  and  providence !  do 
Thou  now  receive  Caesarius,  the  firstfruits  of 
our  pilgrimage  ;  and  if  he  who  was  last  is 
first,  we  bow  before  Thy  Word,  by  which  the 
universe  is  ruled ;  yet  do  Thou  receive  us 
also  afterwards,  in  a  time  when  Thou  mayest 
be  found, "y  having  ordered  us  in  the  flesh  as  long 
as  is  for  our  profit ;  yea,  receive  us,  prepared 
and  not  troubled*  by  Thy  fear,  not  departing 
from  Thee  in  our  last  day,  nor  violently  borne 
away  from  things  here,  like  souls  fond  of  the 
Avorld  and  the  flesh,  but  filled  with  eagerness 
for  that  blessed  and  enduring  life  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord,  to  whom  be  glory, 
world  without  end.   Amen. 


ORATION  VIIL 

On  his  Sister  Gorgonia. 

The  exact  date  of  this  Oration  is  uncertain. 
It  is  certainly  (i^  23)  later  than  the  death  of 
Caesarius,  a.d.  369,  and  previous  to  the  death 
of  their  father,  a.d.  374.  So  much  we 
gather  from  the  Oration  itself,  and  the  referen- 
ces made  by  some  authors  to  a  poem  of  S. 
Gregory  do  not  add  anything  certain  to  our 
knowledge  (Poem.  Hist.  L  i.  v. v.  108,  227). 
The  place  in  which  it  was  delivered  is,  almost 
without  doubt,  the  city  in  which  her  married 
life  had  been  spent.  The  public  details  of 
that  life  are  familiar  to  the  audience.  Gor- 
gonia's  parents,  and  the  speaker  himself, 
although  known  to  them,  are  not  spoken  of 
in  terms  implying  intimacy  such  as  we  find 
in  Orations  kjiown  to  have  been  delivered  at 
Nazianzus.  The  spiritual  father  and  confi- 
dant of  Gorgonia   is   present,  certainly    in   a 


a  Amos  V.  8  (LXX.). 
V  lb.  xxxii.  6. 


;lj  Psi  xxxiii.  6. 

S  lb.  cxix.  fio  (LXX.)- 


position  of  authority,  probably  seated  in  the 
Episcopal  throne.  The  husband  of  Gorgonia 
(Epitaph.  24)  was  named  Alypius.  His  home, 
as  Clemencet  and  Benoit  agree,  on  the  authori- 
ty of  Elias,  was  at  Iconium.  of  which  citv,  at 
the  time,  Faustinus  was  bishop.  The  names 
of  Gorgonia's  two  sons  are  unknown.  Elias 
states  that  they  both  became  bishops.  S. 
Gregory  mentions  her  three  daughters,  Alypi- 
ana,  Eugenia,  and  Nonna,  in  his  will.  The 
oration  is  marked  by  an  eloquence,  piety,  and 
tender  feeling  which  make  it  a  worthy  com- 
panion of  that  on  Ccesariiis. 


Funeral    Oration    on    his    Sister  Gor- 
gonia. 

1.  In  praising  my  sister,  I  shall  pay  honour 
to  one  of  my  own  family  ;  yet  my  praise  will 
not  be  false,  because  it  is  given  to  a  relation, 
but,  because  it  is  true,  will  be  Avorthy  of  com- 
mendation, and  its  truth  is  leased  not  only 
upon  its  justice,  but  ui^on  well-known  facts. 
For,  even  if  I  wished,  I  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  be  partial ;  since  everyone  who 
hears  me  stands,  like  a  skilful  critic,  between 
my  oration  and  the  truth,  to  discountenance 
exaggeration,  yet,  if  he  be  a  man  of  justice, 
demanding  what  is  really  due.  So  that  my 
fear  is  not  of  outrunning  the  truth,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  of  falling  short  of  it,  and  lessen- 
ing her  just  repute  by  the  extreme  inadequacy 
of  my  panegyric  ;  for  it  is  a  hard  task  to 
match  her  excellences  with  suitable  action  and 
words.  Let  us  not  then  be  so  unjust  as  to 
praise  every  characteristic  of  other  folk,  and 
disparage  really  valuable  qualities  because 
they  are  our  own,  so  as  to  make  some  men 
gain  by  their  absence  of  kindred  with  us, 
while  others  suffer  for  their  relationship.  For 
justice  would  be  violated  alike  b}»the  praise  of 
the  one  and  the  neglect  of  the  other,  whereas 
if  we  make  the  truth  our  standard  and  rule, 
and  look  to  her  alone,  disregarding  all  the  ob- 
jects of  the  vulgar  and  the  mean,  we  shall 
praise  or  pass  over  everything  according  to  its 
merits. 

2.  Yet  it  would  be  most  unreasonable  of  all, 
if,  while  we  refuse  to  regard  it  as  a  righteous 
thing  to  defraud,  insult,  accuse,  or  treat  un- 
justly in  any  way,  great  or  small,  those  who 
are  our  kindred,  and  consider  wrong  done  to 
those  nearest  to  us  the  worst  of  all  ;  we  were 
yet  to  imagine  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  jus- 
tice to  deprive  them  of  such  an  oration  as  is 
due  most  of  all  to  the  good,  and  spend  more 
words  upon   those  who  are  evil,  and  beg  for 


ON    HIS    SISTER   GORGONIA. 


239 


indulgent  treatment,  than  on  those  who  are 
excellent  and  merely  claim  their  due.  For  if 
we  are  not  prevented,  as  would  be  far  more 
just,  from  praising  men  who  have  lived  out- 
side our  own  circle,  because  we  do  not  know 
and  cannot  personally  testify  to  their  merits, 
shall  we  be  prevented  from  praising  those 
whom  we  do  know,  because  of  our  friendship, 
or  the  envy  of  the  multitude,  and  especially 
those  who  have  departed  hence,  whom  it  is 
too  late  to  ingratiate  ourselves  with,  since  they 
have  escaped,  amongst  all  other  things,  from 
the  reach  of  praise  or  blame. 

3.  Having  now  made  a  sufficient  defence 
on  these  points,  and  shown  how  necessary  it 
is  for  me  to  be  the  speaker,  come,  let  me  pro- 
ceed with  my  eulogy,  rejecting  all  daintiness 
and  elegance  of  style  (for  she  whom  we  are 
praising  was  unadorned  and  the  absence  of 
ornament  was  to  her,  beauty),  and  yet  perform- 
ing, as  a  most  indispensable  debt,  all  those 
funeral  rites  which  are  her  due,  and  further 
instructing  everyone  in  a  zealous  imitation  of 
the  same  virtue,  since  it  is  my  object  in  every 
word  and  action  to  promote  the  perfection  of 
those  committed  to  my  charge.  The  task  of 
praising  the  country  and  family  of  our  departed 
one  I  leave  to  another,  more  scrupulous  in  ad- 
hering to  the  rules  of  eulogy  ;  nor  will  he 
lack  many  fair  topics,  if  he  wish  to  deck  her 
with  external  ornaments,  as  men  deck  a  splen- 
did and  beautiful  form  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  and  the  artistic  devices  of  the  crafts- 
man ;  which,  while  they  accentuate  ugliness 
by  their  contrast,  can  add  no  attractiveness  to 
the  beauty  which  surpasses  them.  For  my 
jmrt,  I  will  only  conform  to  such  rules  so  far 
as  to  allude  to  our  common  parents,  for  it 
would  not  be  reverent  to  pass  unnoticed  the 
great  blessing  of  having  such  parents  and 
teachers,  and  then  speedily  direct  my  attention 
to  herself,  without  further  taxing  the  patience 
of  those  who  are  eager  to  learn  what  manner 
of  woman  she  was. 

4.  Who  is  there  who  knows  not  the  Abra- 
ham and  Sarah  of  these  our  latter  days,  Greg- 
ory and  Nonna  his  wife  ?  For  it  is  not  well 
to  omit  the  incitement  to  virtue  of  mention- 
ing their  names.  He  has  been  justified  by 
faith,  she  has  dwelt  with  him  who  is  faithful; 
he  beyond  all  hope  has  been  the  father  of  many 
nations,*  she  has  spiritually  travailed  in  their 
birth;  he  escaped  from  the  bondage  of  his 
father's  gods,^  she  is  the  daughter  as  well  as 

o  Rom.  iv.  18. 

3  His  father  s  gods.  These  word  1?.  together  with  the  reference 
lo  idols  and  idolaters  in  §  5  and  the  lines  (Poem,  Hist.  I.  i.  123-4, 
tome  2.  p.  636.)  vv  eiSuJAot';  Trapo?  ^\iv  ^ujoji'  have  led  some  writers 
(esp.  UUmaini  and  Clericus)  to  attribute  the  worship  of  idols  to  the 


the  mother  of  the  free  ;  he  went  out  from  kin- 
dred and  home  for  the  sake  of  the  land  of 
promise,''  she  was  the  occasion  of  his  exile  ; 
for  on  this  head  alone  I  venture  to  claim  for 
her  an  honour  higher  than  that  of  Sarah  ;  he 
set  forth  on  .so  noble  a  pilgrimage,  she  readily 
shared- with  him  in  its  toils  ;  he  gave  himself 
to  the  Lord,  she  both  called  her  husband  lord 
and  regarded  him  as  such,  and  in  part  was 
thereby  justified  ;  whose  was  the  promise,  from 
whom,  as  far  as  in  them  lay,  was  born  Isaac, 
and  whose  was  the  gift. 

5.  This  good  shepherd  was  the  result  of  his 
wife's  prayers  and  guidance,  and  it  was  from 
her  that  he  learned  his  ideal  of  a  good  shep- 
herd's life.  He  generously  fled  from  his  idols, 
and  afterwards  even  put  demons  to  flight ;  he 
never  consented  to  eat  salt  with  idolators  : 
united  together  with  a  bond  of  one  honour,  of 
one  mind,  of  one  soul,  concerned  as  much 
with  virtue  and  fellowshi])  with  God  as  with 
the  flesh  ;  equal  in  length  of  life  and  hoary 
hairs,  equal  in  prudence  and  brilliancy,  rivals 
of  each  other,  soaring  beyond  all  the  rest,  pos- 
sessed in  {&\N  respects  by  the  flesh,  and  trans- 
lated in  spirit,  even  before  dissolution:  pos- 
sessing not  the  world,  and  yet  possessing  it, 
by  at  once  despising  and  rightly  valuing  it : 
forsaking  riches  and  yet  being  rich  through 
their  noble  pursuits  ;  rejecting  things  here,  and 
purchasing  instead  the  things  yonder  :  pos- 
sessed of  a  scanty  remnant  of  this  life,  left  over 
from  their  piety,  but  of  an  abundant  and  long 
life  for  which  they  have  laboured.  I  will  say 
but  one  word  more  about  them  :  they  have 
been  rightly  and  fairly  assigned,  each  to  either 
sex ;  he  is  the  ornament  of  men,  she  of 
women,  and  not  only  the  ornament  but  the 
pattern  of  virtue. 

6.  From  them  Gorgonia  derived  both  her 
existence  and  her  reputation  ;  they  sowed  in 
her  the  seeds  of  piety,  they  were  the  source  of 
her  fair  life,  and  of  her  happy  departure  with 
better  hopes.  Fair  privileges  these,  and  such  as 
are  not  easily  attained  by  many  of  those  who 
plume  themselves  highly  upon  their  noble 
birth,  and  are  proud  of  their  ancestry.  But, 
if  I  must  treat  of  her  case  in  a  more  philo- 
sophic and  lofty  strain,  Gorgonia's  native  land 
was  Jerusalem  above, ^  the  object,  not  of  sight 
but  of  contemplation,  wherein  is  our  common- 
wealth, and  whereto  we  are  pressing  on  :  whose 

Hypsistarii,  and  Clemencet  points  out  that  Cfjiu>v  is  only  the  Ep. 
and  Ion.  panic  of  fda>,  and  does  not  mean  "of  animals."  The 
weakness  of  a  reliance  on  a  poetical  expression  is  shown  in  Diet. 
Christ.  Hiog.  Here  the  words  are  the  mystical  application  of  the 
actual  experience  of  Abraham,  and  k'iZiakov  does  not  necessarily 
connote  material  idols.  It  is  applied  by  S.  Greg.  Nyssen.  Oral, 
funebr.  de  IMacilla,  p.  965.  13  (ed.  1615)  to  the  worship  of  Jesus 
Christ    by  the  Arians.    Cf.  Introd.  to  Oral,  xviii. 

a  Gen.  xii.  i  ;  Heb.  xi.  8.  /3  Heb.  xii.  22,  23. 


240 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


citizen  Christ  is,  and  whose  fellow-citizens  are 
the  assembly  and  church  of  the  first  born  who 
are  written  in  heaven,  and  feast  around  its 
great  Founder  in  contemplation  of  His  glory, 
and  take  part  in  the  endless  festival ;  her  nobil- 
ity consisted  in  the  preservation  of  the  Image, 
and  the  perfect  likeness  to  the  Archetype, 
which  is  produced  by  reason  and  virtue  and 
pure  desire,  ever  more  and  more  conform- 
ing, in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to  those  truly 
initiated  into  the  heavenly  mysteries  ;  and  in 
knowing  whence,  and  of  what  character,  and 
for  what  end  we  came  into  being. 

7.  This  is  what  I  know  upon  these  points  : 
and  therefore  it  is  that  1  both  am  aware 
and  assert  that  her  soul  was  more  noble  than 
those  of  the  East,"  according  to  a  better 
than  the  ordinary  rule  of  noble  or  ignoble 
birth,  whose  distinctions  depend  not  on 
blood  but  on  character ;  nor  does  it  classify 
those  whom  it  praises  or  blames  according  to 
their  families,  but  as  individuals.  But  speak- 
ing as  I  do  of  her  excellences  among  those 
who  know  her,  let  each  one  join  in  contribu- 
ting some  particular  and  aid  me  in  my  speech  : 
for  it  is  impossible  for  one  man  to  take  in 
every  point,  however  gifted  with  observation 
and  intelligence. 

8.  In  modesty  she  so  greatly  excelled, 
and  so  far  surpassed,  those  of  her  own  day,  to 
say  nothing  of  those  of  old  time  who  have 
been  illustrious  for  modesty,  that,  in  regard 
to  the  two  divisions  of  the  life  of  all,  that  is, 
the  married  and  the  unmarried  state,  the  lat- 
ter being  higher  and  more  divine,  though 
more  difficult  and  dangerous,  while  the  former 
is  more  humble  and  more  safe,  she  was  able 
to  avoid  the  disadvantages  of  each,  and  to 
select  and  combine  all  that  is  best  in  both, 
namely,  the  elevation  of  the  one  and  the 
security  of  the  other,  thus  becoming  modest 
without  pride,  blending  the  excellence  of  the 
married  with  that  of  the  unmarried  state,  and 
proving  that  neither  of  them  absolutely  binds 
us  to,  or  separates  us  from,  God  or  the  world 
(so  that  the  one  from  its  own  nature  must  be 
uttely  avoided,  and  the  other  altogether 
l)raised)  :  but  that  it  is  mind  which  nobly  pre- 
sides over  wedlock  and  maidenhood,  and 
arranges  and  works  upon  them  as  the  raw 
material  of  virtue  under  the  master-hand  of 
reason.  For  though  she  had  entered  upon  a 
carnal  union,  she  was  not  therefore  separated 
from  the  spirit,  nor,  because  her  husband  was 
her  head,  did  she  ignore  her  first  Head  :  but, 
performing  those  few  ministrations  due  to  the 

a  Job  i.  3. 


world  and  nature,  according  to  the  will  of 
the  law  of  the  flesh,  or  rather  of  Him  who 
gave  to  the  flesh  these  laws,  she  consecrated 
herself  entirely  to  God.  But  what  is  most  ex- 
cellent and  honourable,  she  also  won  over  her 
husband  to  her  side,  and  made  of  him  a  good 
fellow-servant,  instead  of  an  unreasonable  mas- 
ter. And  not  only  so,  but  she  further  made 
the  fruit  of  her  body,  her  children  and  her 
children's  children,  to  be  the  fruit  of  her  spirit, 
dedicating  to  God  not  her  single  soul,  but 
the  whole  family  and  household,  and  making 
wedlock  illustrious  through  her  own  accejjta- 
bility  in  wedlock,  and  the  fair  harvest  she 
had  reaped  thereby  ;  presenting  herself,  as 
long  as  she  lived,  as  an  example  to  her  off- 
spring of  all  that  was  good,  and  when  sum- 
moned hence,  leaving  her  will  behind  her,  as 
a  silent  exhortation  to  her  house. 

9.  The  divine  Solomon,  in  his  instructive 
wisdom,  I  mean  his  Proverbs,  praises  the 
woman"*  who  looks  to  her  household  and  loves 
her  husband,  contrasting  her  with  one  who 
roams  abroad,  and  is  uncontrolled  and  dis- 
honourable, and  hunts  for  precious  souls  with 
wanton  words  and  ways,  while  she  manages 
well  at  home  and  bravely  sets  about  her 
woman's  duties,  as  her  hands  hold  the  dis- 
taff, and  she  prepares  two  coats  for  her  hus- 
band, buying  a  field  in  due  season,  and  makes 
good  provision  for  the  food  of  her  servants, 
and  welcomes  her  friends  at  a  liberal  table  ; 
with  all  the  other  details  in  which  he  sings 
the  praises  of  the  modest  and  industrious 
woman.  Now,  to  praise  my  sister  in  these 
points  would  be  to  praise  a  statue  for  its 
shadow,  or  a  lion  for  its  claws,  without 
allusion  to  its  greatest  perfections.  Who 
was  more  deserving  of  renown,  and  yet 
who  avoided  it  so  much  and  made  herself 
inaccessible  to  the  eyes  of  man?  Who  knew 
better  the  due  proportions  of  sobriety  and 
cheerfulness,  so  that  her  sobriety  should  not 
seem  inhuman,  nor  her  tenderness  immodest, 
but  prudent  in  one,  gentle  in  the  other,  her 
discretion  was  marked  by  a  combination  of 
sympathy  and  dignity  ?  Fisten,  ye  women 
addicted  to  ease  and  display,  who  despi.se  the 
veil  of  shamefastness.  Who  ever  so  kept  her 
eyes  under  control  ?  Who  so  derided  laughter, 
that  the  ripple  of  a  smile  seemed  a  great  thing 
to  her  ?  Who  more  steadfastly  closed  her 
ears?  And  who  opened  them  more  to  the  Di- 
vine words,  or  rather,  who  installed  the  mind 
as  ruler  of  the  tongue  in  uttering  the  judgments 
of  God  ?     Who,  as  she,  regulated  her  lips  ? 

o  Prov.  xxxi.  10. 


ON    HIS    SISTER    GORGONIA. 


241 


I 


10.  Here,  if  you  will,  is  another  point  of 
her  excellence :  one  of  which  neither  she  nor 
any  truly  modest  and  decorous  woman  thinks 
anything  :  but  which  we  have  been  made  to 
think  much  of,  by  those  who  are  too  fond  of 
ornament  and  display,  and  refuse  to  listen  to 
instruction  on  such  matters.  She  was  never 
adorned  with  gold  wrought  into  artistic  forms 
of  surpassing  beauty,  nor  flaxen  tresses,  fully 
or  partially  displayed,  nor  spiral  curls,  nor  dis- 
honouring designs  of  men  who  construct'  erec- 
tions on  the  honourable  head,  nor  costly  folds 
of  flowing  and  transparent  robes,  nor  graces  of 
brilliant  stones,  which  color  the  neighbouring 
air,  and  cast  a  glow  upon  the  form  ;  nor  the 
arts  and  witcheries  of  the  painter,  nor  that 
cheap  beauty  of  the  infernal  creator  who  works 
against  the  Divine,  hiding  with  his  treacherous, 
pigments  the  creation  of  God,  and  putting  it 
to  shame  with  his  honour,  and  setting  before 
eager  eyes  the  imitation  of  an  harlot  instead 
of  the  form  of  God,  so  that  this  bastard  beauty 
may  steal  away  that  image  which  should  be 
kei)t  for  God  and  for  the  world  to  come.  But 
though  she  was  aware  of  the  many  and  various 
external  ornaments  of  women,  yet  none  of  them 
was  more  precious  to  her  than  her  own  char- 
acter, and  the  brilliancy  stored  up  within. 
One  red  tint  was  dear  to  her,  the  blush  of 
modesty ;  one  white  one,  the  sign  of  temper- 
ance :  but  pigments  and  pencillings,  and  living 
pictures,  and  flowing  lines  of  beauty,  she  left 
to  women  of  the  stage  and  of  the  streets,  and 
to  all  who  think  it  a  shame  and  a  reproach  to 
be  ashamed. 

11.  Enough  of  such  topics.  Of  her  prud- 
ence and  piety  no  adequate  account  can  be  \ 
given,  nor  many  examples  found  besides  those 
of  her  natural  and  spiritual  parents,  who  were 
her  only  models,  and  of  whose  virtue  she  in 
no  wise  fell  short,  with  this  single  exception 
most  readily  admitted,  that  they,  as  she  both 
knew  and  acknowledged,  were  the  source  of 
her  goodness,  and  the  root  of  her  own  illum- 
ination. What  could  be  keener  than  the  in- 
tellect of  her  who  was  recognized  as  a  common 
adviser  not  only  by  those  of  her  family,  those 
of  the  same  people  and  of  the  one  fold,  but 
even  by  all  men  round  about,  who  treated  her 
counsels  and  advice  as  a  law  not  to  be  broken  ? 
What  more  sagacious  than  her  words?  What 
more  prudent  than  her  silence  ?  Having  men- 
tioned silence,  I  w'ill  proceed  to  that  which 
was  most  characteristic  of  her,  most  becoming 
to  women,  and  most  serviceable  to  these  times. 
Who  had  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  things  of 
God,  both  from  the  Divine  oracles,  and  from 
her    own   underetanding?     But  who  was  less 

16 


ready  to  speak,  confining  herself  within  the  due 
limits  of  women  ?  Moreover,  as  was  the  boun- 
den  duty  of  a  woman  who  has  learned  true 
piety,  and  that  which  is  the  only  honourable 
object  of  insatiate  desire,  who,  as  she,  adorned 
temples  with  offerings,  both  others  and  this 
one,  which  will  hardly,  now  she  is  gone,  be 
so  adorned  again  ?  Or  rather,  who  so  pre- 
sented herself  to  God  as  a  living  temple? 
Who  again  paid  such  honor  to  Priests,  espe- 
cially to  him  who  was  her  fellow  soldier  and 
teacher  of  piety,  whose  are  the  good  seeds, 
and  the  pair  of  children  consecrated  to  God. 

12.  Who  opened  her  house  to  those  who 
live  according  to  God  with  a  more  graceful 
and  bountiful  welcome?  And,  which  is  greater 
than  this,  who  bade  them  welcome  with  such 
modesty  and  godly  greetings  ?  Further,  who 
showed  a  mind  more  unmov'ed  in  sufferings? 
Whose  soul  was  more  sympathetic  to  those  in 
trouble?  Whose  hand  more  liberal  to  those  in 
want  ?  I  should  not  hesitate  to  honour  her  with 
the  words  of  Job :  Her  door  was  opened  to 
all  comers ;  the  stranger  did  not  lodge  in  the 
street.  She  was  eyes  to  the  blind,  feet  to  the 
lame,  a  mother  to  the  orphan."  Why  should 
I  say  more  of  her  compassion  to  widows,  than 
that  its  fruit  which  she  obtained  was,  never  to 
be  called  a  widow  herself?  Her  house  was  a 
common  abode  to  all  the  needy  of  her  family  ; 
and  her  goods  no  less  common  to  all  in  need 
than  their  own  belonged  to  each.  She  hath 
dispersed  abroad  and  given  to  the  poor,^  and 
according  to  the  infallible  truth  of  the  Gospel, 
she  laid  up  much  store  in  the  wine-presses 
above,  and  oftentimes  entertained  Christ  in 
the  person  of  those  whose  benefactress  she  was. 
And,  best  of  all,  there  was  in  her  no  unreal 
profession,  but  in  secret  she  cultivated  piety 
before  Him  who  seeth  secret  things.  Every- 
thing she  rescued  from  the  ruler  of  this  world, 
everything  she  transferred  to  the  safe  garners. 
Nothing  did  she  leave  behind  to  earth,  save 
her  body.  She  bartered  everything  for  the 
hopes  above  :  the  sole  wealth  she  left  to  her 
children  was  the  imitation  of  her  example,  and 
emulation  of  her  merits. 

13.  But  amid  these  tokens  of  incredible 
magnanimity,  she  did  not  surrender  her  body 
to  luxury,  and  unrestrained  pleasures  of  the 
appetite,  that  raging  and  tearing  dog,  as 
though  presuming  upon  her  acts  of  benevo- 
lence, as  most  men  do,  who  redeem  their  lux- 
ury by  compassion  to  the  poor,  and  instead  of 
healing  evil  with  good,  receive  evil  as  a  recom- 
pense for  their  good  deeds.      Nor  did  she,  while 


a  Job  xxix.  15  ;  xxxi.  32. 


^  Ps.  cxii.  g. 


242 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


subduing  her  dust "  by  fasting,  leave  to  another 
the  medicine  of  hard  lying ;  nor,  while  she 
found  this  of  spiritual  service,  was  she  less  re- 
strained in  sleep  than  anyone  else ;  nor,  while 
regulating  her  life  on  this  point  as  if  freed  from 
the  body,  did  she  lie  upon  the  ground,  when 
others  were  passing  the  night  erect,  as  the  most 
mortified  men  struggle  to  do.  Nay  in  this 
respect  she  was  seen  to  surpass  not  only  women, 
but  the  most  devoted  of  men,  by  her  intelli- 
gent chanting  of  the  psalter,  her  converse  with, 
and  unfolding  and  apposite  recollection  of, 
the  Divine  oracles,  her  bending  of  her  knees 
which  had  grown  hard  and  almost  taken  root 
in  the  ground,  her  tears  to  cleanse  her  stains 
with  contrite  heart  and  spirit  of  lowliness,  her 
prayer  rising  heavenward,  her  mind  freed  from 
wandering  in  rapture ;  in  all  these,  or  in  any 
one  of  them,  is  there  man  or  woman  who  can 
boast  of  having  surpassed  her?  Besides,  it  is 
a  great  thing  to  say,  but  it  is  true,  that  while 
she  was  zealous  in  her  endeavour  after  some 
points  of  excellence,  of  others  she  was  the  par- 
agon :  of  some  she  was  the  discoverer,  in  others 
she  excelled.  And  if  in  some  single  particular 
she  was  rivalled,  her  superiority  consists  in  her 
complete  grasp  of  all.  Such  was  her  success 
in  all  points,  as  none  else  attained  even  in  a 
moderate  degree  in  one  :  to  such  perfection  did 
she  attain  in  each  particular,  that  any  one  might 
of  itself  have  supplied  the  place  of  all. 

14.  O  untended  body,  and  squalid  garments, 
whose  only  flower  is  virtue  !  O  soul,  clinging 
to  the  body,  when  reduced  almost  to  an  im- 
material state  through  lack  of  food  ;  or  rather, 
when  the  body  had  been  mortified  by  force, 
even  before  dissolution,  that  the  soul  might  at- 
tain to  freedom,  and  escape  the  entanglements 
of  the  senses  !  O  nights  of  vigil,  and  psal- 
mody, and  standing  which  lasts  from  one  day 
to  another  !  O  David,  whose  strains  never 
seem  tedious  to  faithful  souls !  O  tender 
limbs,  flung  upon  the  earth  and,  contrary  to 
nature,  growing  hard  !  O  fountains  of  tears, 
sowing  in  affliction  that  they  might  reap  in 
joy.^  O  cry  in  the  night,  piercing  the  clouds 
and  reaching  unto  Him  that  dwelleth  in  the 
heavens  !  O  fervour  of  spirit,  waxing  bold  in 
prayerful  longings  against  the  dogs  of  night, 
and  frosts  and  rain,  and  thunders,  and  hail, 
and  darkness  !  O  nature  of  woman  overcom- 
ing that  of  man  in  the  common  struggle  for 
salvation,  and  demonstrating  that  the  distinc- 
tion between  male  and  female  is  one  of  body 
not  of  soul  !  (J  Baptismal  purity,  O  soul,  in 
the  pure  chamber   of  thy  body,  the  bride  of 


o  Iler  dust,  i.e.  her  body. 


/3  Ps.  cxxvi.  5. 


Christ !  O  bitter  eating  !  O  Eve  mother  of 
our  race  and  of  our  sin  !  O  subtle  serpent, 
and  death,  overcome  by  her  self-discipline  ! 
O  self-emptying  of  Christ,  and  form  of  a  ser- 
vant, and  sufferings,  honoured  by  her  morti- 
fication ! 

15.  Oh!  how  am  I  to  count  up  all  her 
traits,  or  pass  over  most  of  them  without  in- 
jury to  those  who  know  them  not  ?  Here 
however  it  is  right  to  subjoin  the  rewards  of  her 
piety,'for  indeed  I  take  it  that  you,  who  knew 
her  life  well,  have  long  been  eager  and  desir- 
ous to  find  in  my  speech  not  only  things 
present,  or  her  joys  yonder,  beyond  the  con- 
ception and  hearing  and  sight  of  man,  but  also 
those  which  the  righteous  Rewarder  bestowed 
upon  her  here  :  a  matter  which  often  tends 
to  the  edification  of  unbelievers,  who  from  small 
things  attain  to  faith  in  those  which  are  great, 
and  from  things  which  are  seen  to  those  w  hich 
are  not  seen.  I  will  mention  then  some  facts 
which  are  generally  notorious,  others  which 
have  been  from  most  men  kept  secret ;  and 
that  because  her  Christian  principle  made  a 
point  of  not  making  a  display  of  her  [Divine] 
favours.  You  know  how  her  maddened  mules 
ran  away  with  her  carriage,  and  unfortunately 
overturned  it,  how  horribly  she  was  dragged 
along,  and  seriously  injured,  to  the  scandal  of 
unbelievers  at  the  permission  of  such  accidents 
to  the  righteous,  and  how  quickly  their  un- 
belief was  corrected  :  for,  all  crushed  and 
bryised  as  she  was,  in  bones  and  limbs,  alike 
in  those  exposed  and  in  those  out  of  sight,  she 
would  have  none  of  any  physician,  excej^t 
Him  Who  had  ))ermitted  it;  both  because  she 
shrunk  from  the  inspection  and  the  hands  of 
men,  preserving,  even  in  suftering,  her  mod- 
esty, and  also  awaiting  her  justification  from 
Him  Who  allowed  this  to  happen,  so  that  she 
owed  her  preservation  to  none  other  than  to 
Him  :  with  the  result  that  men  were  no  Ic^s 
struck  by  her  unhoped-for  recovery  than  by 
her  misfortune,  and  concluded  that  the  tragedy 
had  happened  for  her  glorification  througli 
sufferings,  the  suffering  being  human,  the  re- 
covery superhuman,  and  giving  a  lesson  to 
those  who  come  after,  exhibiting  in  a  high 
degree  faith  in  tlie  midst  of  suffering,  and 
j)atience  under  calamity,  but  in  a  still  higher 
degree  the  kindness  of  God  to  them  that  are 
such  as  .she.  For  to  the  beautiful  promise  to 
the  righteous  "  though  he  fall,  he  shall  not  be 
utterly  broken,""  has  been  added  one  more 
recent,  "  though  he  be  utterly  broken,  he  shall 
speedily  be  raised  up  and  glorified."  ^     For  if 


a  Ps.  x.xxvii.  24. 


;3  lb.  cxlvi.  8  (LXX.). 


ON    HIS    SISTER   GORGONIA. 


543 


her  misfortune  was  unreasonable,  her  recov- 
ery was  extraordinary,  so  that  health  soon 
stole  away  the  injury,  and  the  cure  became 
more  celebrated  than  the  blow. 

i6.  O  remarkable  and  wonderful  disaster! 
O  injury  more  noble  than  security  !  O 
prophecy,  "He  hath  smitten,  and  He  will 
bind  us  up,  and  revive  us,  and  after  three 
days  He  will  raise  us  up,"  °-  portending  indeed, 
as  it  did,  a  greater  and  more  sublime  event, 
yet  no  less  applicable  to  Gorgonia's  sufferings  ! 
This  then,  notorious  to  all,  even  to  those  afar 
off,  for  the  wonder  spread  to  all,  and  the  les- 
son was  stored  up  in  the  tongues  and  ears 
of  all,  with  the  other  wonderful  works  and 
powers  of  God.  But  the  following  incident, 
hitherto  unknown  and  concealed  from  most 
men  by  the  Christian  principle  1  spoke  of,  and 
her  pious  shrinking  from  vanity  and  display, 
dost  thou  bid  me  tell,  O  best^  and  most  per- 
fect of  shepherds,  pastor  of  this  holy  sheep, 
and  dost  thou  further  give  thy  assent  to  it, 
since  to  us  alone  has  this  secret  been  entrusted, 
and  we  were  mutual  witnesses  of  the  marvel, 
or  are  we  still  to  keep  our  faith  to  her  who  is 
gone?  Yet  I  do  think,  that  as  that  was  the 
time  to  be  silent,  this  is  the  time  to  manifest 
it,  not  only  for  the  glory  of  God,  but  also 
for  the  consolation  of  those  in  affliction. 

17.  She  was  sick  in  body,  and  dangerously 
ill  of  an  extraordinary  and  malignant  disease, 
her  whole  frame  was  incessantly  fevered,  her 
blood  at  one  time  agitated  and  boiling,  then 
curdling  with  coma,  incredible  pallor,  and 
paralysis  of  mind  and  limbs :  and  this  not  at 
long  intervals,  but  sometimes  very  frequently. 
Its  virulence  seemed  beyond  human  aid  ;  the 
skill  of  -physicians,  who  carefully  examined 
the  case,  both  singly  and  in  consultation,  was 
of  no  avail  ;  nor  the  tears  of  her  parents, 
which  often  have  great  power,  nor  public  sup- 
plications and  intercessions,  in  which  all  the 
people  joined  as  earnestly  as  if  for  their  own 
preservation  :  for  her  safety  was  the  safety  of 
all,  as,  on  the  contrary,  her  suffering  and  sick- 
ness was  a  common  misfortune. 

18.  What  then  did  this  great  soul,  worthy 
offspring  of  the  greatest,  and  what  was  the  med- 
icine for  her  disorder,  for  we  have  now  come 
to  the  great  secret?  Despairing  of  all  other 
aid,  she  betook  herself  to  the  Physician  of  all, 
and  awaiting  the  silent  hours  of  night,  during 
a  slight  intermission  of  the  disease,  she  ap- 
proached   the    altar    with    faith,  and,  calling 


a  Hos.  vi.  I,  2. 

p  O  best,  &=€,  Faustiniis,  bishop  of  Iconium,  must  have  been 
present,  and  S.  Gregory,  having  asked  his  permission  to  relate 
the  incident,  looks  towards  him  awaiting  some  sign  of  his  assent. 


upon  Him  Who  is  honoured  thereon,  with  a 
mighty  cry,  and  every  kind  of  invocation, 
calling  to  mind  all  His  former  works  of  power, 
and  well  she  knew  those  both  of  ancient  and 
of  later  days,  at  last  she  ventured  on  an  act 
of  pious  and  splendid  effrontery  :  she  imitated 
the  woman  whose  fountain  of  blood  was  dried 
up  by  the  hem  of  Christ's  garment."  What 
did  she  do?  Resting  her  head  with  another 
cry  upon  the  altar,  and  with  a  wealth  of  tears, 
as  she  who  once  bedewed  the  feet  of  Christ,  ^ 
and  declaring  that  she  would  not  loose  her 
hold  until  she  was  made  whole,  she  then  ap- 
plied her  medicine  to  her  whole  body,  viz., 
such  a  portion  of  the  antitypes  v  of  the  Precious 
Body  and  Blood  as  she  treasured  in  her  hand, 
mingling  therewith  her  tears,  and,  O  the  won- 
der, she  went  away  feeling  at  once  that  she 
was  saved,  and  with  the  lightness  of  health  in 
body,  soul,  and  mind,  having  received,  as  the 
reward  of  her  hope,  that  which  she  hoped  for, 
and  having  gained  bodily  by  means  of  spirit- 
ual strength.  Great  though  these  things  be, 
they  are  not  untrue.  Believe  them  all  of  you, 
whether  sick  or  sound,  that  ye  may  either 
keep  or  regain  your  health.  And  that  my 
story  is  no  mere  boastfulness  is  plain  from  the 
silence  in  which  she  kept,  while  alive,  what  I 
have  revealed.  Nor  should  I  now  have  pub- 
lished it,  be  well  assured,  had  I  not  feared 
that  so  great  a  marvel  would  have  been  utter- 
ly hidden  from  the  faithful  and  unbelieving 
of  these  and  later  days. 

19.  Such  was  her  life.  Most  of  its  details 
I  have  left  untold,  lest  my  speech  should  grow 
to  undue  proportions,  and  lest  I  should  seem 
to  be  too  greedy  for  her  fair  fame  :  but  perhaps 
we  should  be  wronging  her  holy  and  illus- 
trious death,  did  we  not  mention  some  of  its 
excellences  ;  especially  as  she  so  longed  for 
and  desired  it.  I  will  do  so  therefore,  as  con- 
cisely as  I  can.  She  longed  for  her  dissolu- 
tion, for  indeed  she  had  great  boldness  to- 
wards Him  who  called  her,  and  preferred  to  be 
with  Christ,  beyond  all  things  on  earth. ^  And 
there  is  none  of  the  most  amorous  and  unre- 
strained, who  has  such  love  for  his  body,  as 
she  had  to  fling  away  these  fetters,  and  escape 
from  the  mire  in  which  Ve  spend  our  lives, 
and  to  associate  in  purity  with  Him  Who  is 
Fair,  and  entirely  to  hold  her  Beloved,  Who  is 
I  will  even  say  it,  her  Lover,  by  Whose  rays, 
feeble  though  they  now  are,  we  are  enlight- 
ened, and  Whom,  though  separated  from 
Him,  we  are  able  to  know.  Nor  did  she 
fail    even  of  this  desire,  divine   and  sublime 

a.  -S.  Matt.  ix.  20.  6  S.  Luke  vii.  ^8. 

y  Antitypes,  i.e.  the  reserved  Sacrament.  fi  Phil.  i.  23. 


244 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


though  it  was,  and,  what  is  still  greater, 
she  had  a  foretaste  of  His  Beauty  through 
her  forecast  and  constant  watching.  Her 
only  sleep  transferred  her  to  exceeding  joys, 
and  her  one  vision  embraced  her  departure  at 
the  foreappointed  time,  having  been  made 
aware  of  this  day,  so  that  according  to  the  de- 
cision of  God  she  might  be  prepared  and  yet 
not  disturbed. 

20.  She  had  recently  obtained  the  blessing 
of  cleansing  and  perfection,  which  we  have  all 
received  from  God  as  a  common  gift  and 
foundation  of  our  netv'^  life.  Or  rather  all  her 
life  was  a  cleansing  and  perfecting  :  and  while 
she  received  regeneration  from  the  Holy 
Spirit,  its  security  was  hers  by  virtue  of  her  for- 
mer life.  And  in  her  case  almost  alone,  I  will 
venture  to  say,  the  mystery  Avas  a  seal  rather 
than  a  gift  of  grace.  And  when  her  husband's 
perfection  was  her  one  remaining  desire  (and 
if  you  wish  me  briefly  to  describe  the  man, 
I  do  not  know  what  more  to  say  of  him  than 
that  he  was  her  husband)  in  order  that  she 
might  be  consecrated  to  God  in  her  whole 
body,  and  not  depart  half-perfected,  or  leave 
behind  her  imperfect  anything  that  was  hers ; 
she  did  not  even  fail  of  this  petition,  from 
Him  Who  fulfils  the  desire  of  them  that  fear 
Him,^  and  accomplishes  their  requests. 

21.  And  now  when  she  had  all  things  to 
her  mind,  and  nothing  was  lacl<ing  of  her  de- 
sires, and  the  appointed  time  drew  nigh,  be- 
ing thus  prepared  for  death  and  departure, 
she  fulfilled  the  law  which  prevails  in  such 
matters,  and  took  to  her  bed.  After  many 
injunctions  to  her  husband,  her  children,  and 
her  friends,  as  was  to  be  expected  from  one 
who  was  full  of  conjugal,  maternal,  and  broth- 
erly love,  and  after  making  her  last  day  a  day 
of  solemn  festival  with  brilliant  discourse 
upon  the  things  above,  she  fell  asleep,  full 
not  of  the  days  of  man,  for  which  she  had  no 
desire,  knowing  them  to  be  evil  for  her,  and 
mainly  occupied  with  our  dust  and  wander- 
ings, but  more  exceedingly  fiill  of  the  days  of 
God,  than  I  imagine  any  one  even  of  those 
who  have  departed  in  a  wealth  of  hoary  hairs, 
and  have  numbered  many  terms  of  years. 
Thus  she  was  set  fret,  or,  it  is  better  to  say, 
taken  to  God,  or  flew  away,  or  changed  her 
abode,  or  anticipated  by  a  little  the  departure 
of  her  body. 

22.  Yet  what  was  I  on  the  point  of  omit- 
ting? But  perhaps  thou,  who  art  her  spirit- 
ual father,  wouldst  not  have  allowed  me,  and 
hast   carefully    concealed    the    wonder,    and 


a  SeuTc'pov,  lit.  "  second." 


j3  Ps.  cxlv.  19. 


made  it  known  to  me.  It  is  a  great  point  for 
her  distinction,  and  in  our  memory  of  her 
virtue,  and  regret  for  her .  departure.  But 
trembling  and  tears  have  seized  upon  me,  at 
the  recollection  of  the  wonder.  She  was  just 
passing  away,  and  at  her  last  breath,  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  relatives  and  friends 
performing  the  last  offices  of  kindness,  while 
her  aged  mother  bent  over  her,  \\\\\\  her  soul 
convulsed  with  envy  of  her  departure,  anguish 
and  affection  being  blended  in  the  minds  of 
all.  Some  longed  to  hear  some  burning  word 
to  be  branded  in  their  recollection  ;  others 
were  eager  to  speak,  yet  no  one  dared  ;  for 
tears  were  mute  and  the  pangs  of  grief  uncon- 
soled,  since  it  seemed  sacrilegious,  to  think 
that  mourning  could  be  an  honour  to  one  who 
was  thus  passing  away.  So  there  was  solemn 
silence,  as  if  her  death  had  been  a  religious 
ceremony.  There  she  lay,  to  all  appearance, 
breathless,  motionless,  speechless  ;  the  stillness 
of  her  body  seemed  paralysis,  as  though  the 
organs  of  speech  were  dead,  after  that  which 
could  move  them  was  gone.  But  as  her  pas- 
tor, who  in  this  wonderful  scene,  was  carefully 
watching  her,  perceived  that  her  lips  were 
gently  moving,  and  placed  his  ear  to  them, 
which  his  disposition  and  sympathy  embold- 
ened him  to  do, — but  do  you  expound  the 
meaning  of  this  mysterious  calm,  for  no  one 
can  disbelieve  it  on  your  word  !  Under  her 
breath  she  was  repeating  a  psalm — the  last 
words  of  a  psalm — to  say  the  truth,  a  testi- 
mony to  the  boldness  with  which  she  ^\■^s,  de- 
parting, and  blessed  is  he  who  can  fall  asleep 
with  these  words,  ''  I  will  lay  me  down  in 
peace,  and  take  my  rest."''  Thus  wert  thou 
singing,  fairest  of  women,  and  thus  it  fell  out 
unto  thee  ;  and  the  song  became  a  realitv, 
and  attended  on  thy  departure  as  a  memorial 
of  thee,  who  hast  entered  upon  sweet  peace 
after  suffering,  and  received  (over  and  above 
the  rest  which  comes  to  all),  that  sleep  which 
is  clue  to  the  beloved,^  as  befitted  one  who 
lived  and  died  amid  the  words  of  piety. 

23.  Better,  I  know  well,  and  far  more 
precious  than  eye  can  see,  is  thy  present  lot, 
the  song  of  them  that  keep  holy-day, t  the 
throng  of  angels,  the  heavenly  host,  the  vision 
of  glory,  and  that  s])lendour,  pure  and  i.'erfect 
beyond  all  other,  of  the  Trinity  Most  High, 
no  longer  beyond  the  ken  of  the  ca])tive  mind, 
dissij^iated  by  the  senses,  but  entirely  contem- 
plated and  possessed  by  the  undivided  mind, 
and  flashing  upon  our  souls  with  the  whole 
light  of  Godhead  :   Mayest  thou  enjoy  to  the 


a  Ps.  IV.  8. 


^  lb.  cx.wii.  2. 


y  lb.  xlil.  4. 


TO    HIS    FATHER. 


245 


full  all  those  things  whose  crumbs  thou  didst, 
while  still  upon  earth,  possess  through  the 
reality  of  thine  inclination  towards  them. 
And  if  thou  takest  any  account  of  our  affairs, 
and  holy  souls  receive  from  God  this  privi- 
lege, do  thou  accept  these  words  of  mine,  in 
place  of,  and  in  preference  to  many  panegy- 
rics, which  I  have  bestowed  upon  Cjesarius  be- 
fore thee,  and  upon  thee  after  him — since  I 
have  been  preserved  to  pronounce  panegyrics 
upon  my  brethren.  If  any  one  will,  after  you, 
pay  me  the  like  honour,  I  cannot  say.  Yet 
may  my  only  honour  be  that  which  is  in  God, 
and  may  my  pilgrimage  and  my  home  be  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  to  Whom,  with  the 
Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  glory  for  ever. 
Amen. 

ORATION  XII. 

To  HIS  Father,  when  He  had  Entrusted 
TO  Him  the  Care  of  the  Church  of 
Nazianzus. 

This  Oration  was  delivered  a.d.  372. 
Two  years  earlier  Valens  had  divid'ed  Cappado- 
cia  into  two  provinces.  Anthimus,  Bishop 
of  Tyana,  asserting  that  the  ecclesiastical 
provinces  were  regulated  by  those  of  the  em- 
pire, claimed  metropolitical  rights  over  the 
churches  of  Cappadocia  Secunda,  in  opposi- 
tion to  S.  Basil,  who  had  hitherto  been  met- 
ropolitan of  the  undivided  province.  S.  Basil, 
Avith  the  intention  of  vindicating  the  perma- 
nence of  his  former  rights,  created  a  new  see  at 
Sasima,  on  the  borders  of  the  two  provinces, 
and  with  great  difficulty  prevailed  upon  S. 
Gregory  to  receive  consecration  as  its  first 
Bishop.  S.  Gregory,  who  had  "  bent  his 
neck,  but  not  his  will,"  "  was  for  a  long  time 
reluctant  to  enter  upon  his  Episcopal  duties, 
and  at  last  was  prevailed  upon  by  S.  Gregory 
of  Nyssa,  S.  Basil's  brother,  to  make  an  at- 
tempt to  do  so.  When,  however,  he  found 
that  Anthimus  was  prepared  to  bar  his  en- 
trance by  force  of  arms,  he  returned  home, 
definitely  resigned  his  see,  and  once  more 
betook  himself  to  the  life  of  solitude  which  he 
so  dearly  loved.  Recalled  hence,  he  con- 
sented,^ at  his  father's  earnest  entreaty,  to  un- 
dertake provisionally  the  duties  of  Bishop- 
coadjutor  of  Nazianzus  :  and  pronounced  this 
short  discourse  on  the  occasion  of  his  installa- 
tion. 

I.  I  opened  my  mouth,  and  drew  in  the 
Spirit, Y  and  I  give  myself  and  my  all  to  the 

a  Carmina  Hist.,  xi.,  4S7. 
j3  lb.,  492-525.  y  Ps.  cxix.  131. 


Spirit,  my  action  and  speech,  my  inaction  and 
silence,  only  let  Him  hold  me  and  guide  me, 
and  riiove  both  hand  and  mind  and  tongue 
whither  it  is  right,  and  He  wills  :  and  restrain 
them  as  it  is  right  and  expedient.  I  am  an 
instrument  of  God,  a  rational  instrument,  an 
instrument  tuned  and  struck  l)y  that  .skilful 
artist,  the  Spirit.  Yesterday  His  work  in  me 
was  silence.  I  mused  on  abstinence  from 
speech.  Does  He  strike  upon  my  mind  to- 
day ?  My  speech  shall  be  heard,  and  I  will 
muse  on  utterance.  I  am  neither  so  talkative, 
as  to  desire  to  speak,  when  He  is  bent  on  si- 
lence ;  nor  so  reserved  and  .  ignorant  as  to 
set  a  watch  before  my  lips"  when  it  is  the  time 
to  speak  :  but  I  open  and  close  my  door  at 
the  will  of  that  Mind  and  Word  and  Spirit, 
Who  is  One  kindred  Deity. 

2.  I  will  speak  then,  since  lam  so  bidden. 
And  I  will  speak  both  to  the  good  shepherd 
here,  and  to  you,  his  holy  flock,  as  I  think  is 
best  both  for  me  to  speak,  and  for  you  to  hear 
to-day.  Why  is  it  that  you  have  begged  for 
one  to  share  your  .shepherd's  toil  ?  For  my 
speech  shall  begin  with  you,  O  dear  and  hon- 
oured head,  worthy  of  that  of  Aaron,  down 
which  runs  that  spiritual  and  priestly  oint- 
ment upon  his  beard  and  clothing.^  Why  is  it 
that,  while  yet  able  to  stablish  and  guide 
many,  and  actually  guiding  them  in  the  power 
of  the  Spirit,  you  support  yourself  with  a  staff 
and  prop  in  your  sjaritual  works?  Is  it  be- 
cause you  have  heard  and  know  that  even 
with  the  illustrious  Aaron  were  anointed  Ele- 
azar  and  Ithamar,  the  sons  of  Aaron  ?  y  For  I 
pass  over  Nadab  and  Abihu,^  lest  the  allusion 
be  ill-omened  :  and  Moses  during  his  lifetime 
appoints  Joshua  in  his  stead,  as  lawgiver  and 
general  over  those  who  were  pressing  on  to 
the  land  of  promise  ?  The  office  of  Aaron 
and  Hur,  supporting  the  hands  of  Moses  on 
the  mount  where  Amalek  was  warred  down  ^  by 
the  Cross, ^  prefigured  and  typified  long  before, 
I  feel  willing  to  pass  by,  as  not  very  suitable 
or  applicable  to  us  :  fo;-  Moses  did  not  choose 
them  to  share  his  work  as  lawgiver,  but  as 
helpers  in  his  prayer  and  supports  for  the 
weariness  of  his  hands. 

3.  What  is  it  then  that  ails  you?  What  is 
your  weakness  ?  Is  it  physical  ?  I  am  ready 
to  sustain  you,  yea  I  have  sustained,  and  been 
sustained,  like  Jacob  of  old,  by  your  fatherly 
blessings.''  Is  it  spiritual ?  Who  is  stronger, 
and   more  fervent,  especially  now,   when   the 


o  Ps.  cxli.  3.  )S  lb.  cxx.xiii.  2.  y  Lev.  viii.  2. 

S  lb.  x.  I.  €  Exod.  xvii.  12. 

^  Tke  Cro^s.  The  stretching  out  of  Moses'  hands  was  a  type  of 
the  outstretched  hands  of  our  Eord  Jesus,  and  His  "intercession 
for  the  transgressors,"  upon  the  Cross.  ij  Gen.  xxvii.  28. 


246 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


powers  of  the  flesh  are  ebbing  and  fading,  like 
so  many  barriers  which  interfere  with,  and 
dim  the  brilliancy  of  a  light?  P'or  these 
powers  are  wont,  for  the  most  part,  to  wage 
war  upon  and  oppose  one  another,  while  the 
body's  health  is  purchased  by  the  sickness  of 
the  soul,  and  the  soul  flourishes  and  looks  up- 
ward when  pleasures  are  stilled  and  fade  away 
along  with  the  body.  But,  wonderful  as  your 
simplicity  and  nobility  have  seemed  to  me  be- 
fore, how  is  it  that  you  have  no  fear,  espe- 
cially in  times  like  these,  that  your  spirit  will 
be  considered  a  pretext,  and  that  most  men 
will  suppose,  in  spite  of  our  spiritual  profes- 
sions, that  we  are  undertaking  this  from  car- 
nal motives.  For  most  men  have  made  the 
office  to  be  looked  upon  as  great  and  princely, 
and  accompanied  with  considerable  enjoy- 
ment, even  though  a  man  have  the  charge  and 
rule  over  a  more  slender  flock  tha*!!  this,  and 
one  which  affords  more  troubles  than  pleas- 
ures. Thus  far  of  your  simplicity,  or  parental 
preference,  if  it  be  so,  which  makes  you 
neither  admit  yourself,  nor  readily  suspect 
in  others  anything  disgraceful ;  for  a  mind 
hardly  roused  to  evil,  is  slow  to  suspect  evil. 
My  second  duty  is  briefly  to  address  this 
people  of  yours,  or  now  even  of  mine. 

4.  I  have  been  overpowered,  my  friends 
and  brethren,  for  I  will  now,  though  I  did 
not  at  the  time,  ask  for  your  aid.  I  have 
been  overpowered  by  the  old  age  of  my  father, 
and,  to  use  moderate  terms,  the  kindliness  of 
my  friend.  So,  help  me,  each  of  you  who 
can,  and  stretch  out  a  hand  to  me  who  am 
pressed  down  and  torn  asunder  by  regret  and 
enthusiasm.  The  one  suggests  flights,  moun- 
tains and  deserts,  and  calm  of  soul  and  body, 
and  that  the  mind  should  retire  into  itself, 
and  recall  its  powers  from  sensible  things,  in 
order  to  hold  pure  communion  with  God,  and 
be  clearly  illumined  by  the  flashing  rays  of 
the  Spirit,  with  no  admixture  or  disturbance 
of  the  divine  light  by  anything  earthly  or 
clouded,  until  we  come  to  the  source  of  the 
effulgence  which  we  enjoy  here,  and  regret 
and  desire  are  alike  stayed,  when  our  mirrors"^ 
pass  away  in  the  light  of  truth.  The  other 
wills  that  I  should  come  forward,  and  bear 
fruit  for  the  common  good,  and  be  helped  by 
helping  others,  and  publish  the  Divine  light, 
and  bring  to  God  a  people  for  His  own  pos- 
session, a  holy  nation,  a  royal  priesthood, "^  and 
His  image  cleansed  in  many  souls.  And  this, 
because,  as  a  park  is  better  than  and  jjrefera- 
ble  to  a  tree,  the  whole  heaven  with  its  orna- 

o  Made,  by  the  manner  in  which  they  have  sought  for  and  ex- 
ercised it.  p  I  Cor.  xiii.  12.  7  i  Pet.  ii.  9. 


ments  to  a  single  star,  and  the  body  to  a  limb, 
so  also,  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  the  reformation 
of  a  whole  church  preferable  to  the  progress 
of  a  single  soul :  and  therefore,  I  ought  not  to 
look  only  on  my  own  interest,  but  also  on  that 
of  others."  For  Christ  also  likewise,  when  it 
was  possible  for  him  to  abide  in  His  own 
honour  and  deity,  not  only  so  far  emptied 
Himself  as  to  take  the  form  of  a  slave, ^  but 
also  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame, ^ 
that  he  might  by  His  own  sufferings  destroy 
sin,  and  by  death  slay  death. ^  The  former 
are  the  imaginings  of  desire,  the  latter  the 
teachings  of  the  Spirit.  And  I,  standing  mid- 
way between  the  desire  and  the  Spirit,  and 
not  knowing  to  which  of  the  two  1  should 
rather  yield,  will  impart  to  you  what  seems 
to  me  the  best  and  safest  course,  that  you  may 
test  it  with  me  and  take  part  in  my  design. 

5.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be  best  and  least 
dangerous  to  take  a  middle  course  between  de- 
sire and  fear,  and  to  yield  in  part  to  desire,  in 
part  to  the  Spirit :  and  that  this  would  be  the 
case,  if  I  neither  altogether  evaded  the  office, 
and  so  refused  the  grace,  which  would  be  dan- 
gerous, nor  yet  assumed  a  burden  beyond  my 
powers,  for  it  is  a  heavy  one.  The  former  in- 
deed is  suited  to  the  person  of  another,  the  lat- 
ter to  another's  power,  or  rather  to  undertake 
both  would  be  madness.  But  piety  and  safety 
would  alike  advise  me  to  proportion  the  office 
to  my  power,  and  as  is  the  case  with  food,  to 
accept  that  which  is  within  my  power  and  re- 
fuse what  is  beyond  it,  for  health  is  gained  for 
the  body,  and  tranquillity  for  the  soul,  by  such 
a  course  of  moderation.  Therefore  I  now 
consent  to  share  in  the  cares  of  my  excellent 
father,  like  an  eaglet,  not  quite  vainly  flying 
close  to  a  mighty  and  high  soaring  eagle.  But 
hereafter  I  will  offer  my  wing  to  the  Spirit  to 
be  borne  whither,  and  as,  He  wills :  no  one 
shall  force  or  drag  me  in  any  direction,  con- 
trary to  His  counsel.  For  sweet  it  is  to  inherit 
a  father's  toils,  and  this  flock  is  more  familiar 
than  a  strange  and  foreign  one ;  I  would  even 
add,  more  precious  in  the  sight  of  God,  unless 
the  spell  of  affection  deceives  me,  and  the  tbrce 
of  habit  robs  me  of  i)erception  :  nor  is  there 
any  more  useful  or  safer  course  than  that  will- 
ing rulers  should  rule  willing  subjects:  since 
it  is  our  ]:)ractice  not  to  lead  by  force,  or  by 
compulsion,  but  by  good  will.  For  this  would 
not  hold  together  even  another  form  of  gov- 
ernment, since  that  which  is  held  in  by  force 
is  wont,  when  opportunity  offers,  to  strike 
for  freedom:    but  freedom  of  will  more  than 


a  Phil.  ii.  4. 


^  lb.  ii.  7.  V  Heb.  xii.  2. 


h  lb. 


11.  14. 


ON    HIS    FATHER'S    SILENCE. 


247 


anything  else  it  is,  which  holds  together  our — 
I  will  not  call  it  rule,  but — tutorship.  For 
the  mystery  of  godliness"  belongs  to  those  who 
are  willing,  not  to  those  who  are  overpowered. 
6.  This  is  my  speech  to  you,  my  good  men, 
uttered  in  simplicity  and  with  all  good  will,  and 
this  is  the  secret  of  my  mind.  And  may  the 
victory  rest  with  that  which  will  be  for  the  prof- 
it of  both  you  and  me,  under  the  Spirit's  guid- 
ance of  our  affairs,  (for  our  discourse  comes 
back  again  to  the  same  point,)  ^  to  Whom  we 
have  given  ourselves,  and  the  head  anointed 
with  the  oil  of  perfection,  in  the  Almighty 
Father,  and  the  Only-begotten  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  Who  is  God.  For  how  long 
shall  we  hide  v  the  lamp  under  the  bushel,^  and 
withhold  from  others  the  full  knowledge  of  the 
Godhead,  when  it  ought  to  be  now  put  upon 
the  lampstand  and  give  light  to  all  churches 
and  souls  and  to  the  whole  fulness  of  the  world, 
no  longer  by  means  of  metaphors,  or  intellect- 
ual sketches,  but  by  distinct  declaration  ? 
And  this  indeed  is  a  most  perfect  setting  forth 
of  Theology  to  those  who  have  been  deemed 
worthy  of  this  grace  in  Christ  Jesus  Himself, 
our  Lord,  to  Whom  be  glory,  honour,  and 
power  for  ever.     Amen. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  ORATION  XVI. 

On  his  Father's  Silence,  Because  of  the 
Plague  ok  Hail. 

This  Oration  belongs  to  the  year  a. d.  373. 
A  series  of  disasters  had  befallen  the  people  of 
Nazianzus.  A  deadly  cattle  plague,  which  had 
devastated  their  herds,  had  been  followed  by  a 
prolonged  drought,  and  now  their  just  ripened 
crops  had  been  ruined  by  a  storm  of  rain  and 
hail.  The  people  flocked  to  the  church,  and 
finding  S.  Gregory  the  elder  so  overwhelmed 
by  his  sense  of  these  terrible  misfortunes  that 
he  was  unable  to  address  them,  implored 
his  coadjutor  to  enter  the  pulpit.  The  occa- 
sion gave  no  time  for  preparation,  so  S.  Greg- 
ory poured  out  his  feelings  in  a  discourse  which 
was  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  words  ex  tempore. 
Its  present  form,  however,  as  Benoit  suggests, 
may  be  due  to  a  later  polishing  of  notes  taken 
down  at  the  time  of  delivery. 

I.   Why    do    you    infringe    upon     the    ap- 


a  I  Tim.  iii.  l6. 

^  The  savte point,  i.e.,  from  which  it  started.  §  i. 

V  Hide,  etc.  .S.  Gregory  here  alhides  to  the  "economy"  which 
refrained  from  distinctly  declaring  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Cf.  Or.  .\liii.,"68.  This  declaration  of  his  was  afterwards  com- 
mented on  by  his  audience  and  others,  cf  Epist.  58,  in  which  his 
mode  of  teaching  is  contrasted  with  that  of  S.  Basil. 

6  S.  Matt.  V.  15. 


proved  order  of  things  ?  Why  would  you 
do  violence  to  a  tongue  which  is  under  obli- 
gation to  the  law  ?  Why  do  you  challenge 
a  speech  which  is  in  subjection  to  the  Spir- 
it ?  Why,  when  you  have  excused  the 
head,  have  you  hastened  to  the  feet  ?  Why 
do  you  pass  by  Aaron  "■  and  urge  forward 
Eleazar  ?  I  cannot  allow  the  fountain  to  be 
dammed  up,  while  the  rivulet  runs  its  course ; 
the  sun  to  be  hidden,  while  the  star  shines 
forth  ;  hoar  hairs  to  be  in  retirement,  while 
youth  lays  down  the  law;  wisdom  to  be  si- 
lent, while  inexperience  speaks  with  assur- 
ance. A  heavy  rain  is  not  always  more  use- 
ful than  a  gentle  shower.  Nay,  indeed,  if  it 
be  too  violent,  it  sweeps  away  the  earth,  and 
increases  the  proportion  of  the  farmer's  loss  : 
while  a  gentle  fall,  which  sinks  deep,  en- 
riches the  soil,  benefits  the  tiller  and  makes 
the  corn  grow  to  a  fine  crop.  So  the  fluent 
speech  is  not  more  profitable  than  the  wise. 
For  the  one,  though  it  perhaps  gave  a  slight 
pleasure,  passes  away,  and  is  dispersed  as 
soon,  and  with  as  little  effect,  as  the  air  on 
which  it  struck,  though  it  charms  with  its 
eloquence  the  greedy  ear.  But  the  other 
sinks  into  the  mind,  and  opening  wide  its 
mouth,  fills  it^  with  the  Spirit,  and,  showing 
itself  nobler  than  its  origin,  produces  a  rich 
harvest  by  a  few  syllables. 

2.  I  have  not  yet  alluded  to  the  true  and 
first  wisdom,  for  v/hich  our  wonderful  hus- 
bandman and  shepherd  is  conspicuous.  The 
first  wisdom  is  a  life  worthy  of  praise,  and 
kept  pure  for  God,  or  being  purified  for  Him 
Who  is  all-pure  and  all-luminous.  Who  de- 
mands of  us,  as  His  only  sacrifice,  purifica- 
tion—that is,  a  contrite  heart  and  the  sacri- 
fice of  praise, v  and  a  new  creation  in  Christ,^ 
and  the  new  man,*  and  the  like,  as  the  Scrip- 
ture loves  to  call  it.  The  first  wisdom  is  to 
despise  that  wisdom  which  consists  of  language 
and  figures  of  speech,  and  spurious  and  un- 
necessary embellishments.  Be  it  mine  to 
speak  five  words  with  my  understanding  in 
the  church,  rather  than  ten  thousand  words 
in  a  tongue,^  and  with  the  unmeaning  voice 
of  a  trumpet,''  which  does  not  rouse  my  sol- 
dier to  the  spiritual  combat.  This  is  the  wis- 
dom which  I  praise,  which  I  welcome.  By 
this  the  ignoble  have  won  renown,  and  the 
despised  have  attained  the  highest  honours. 
By  this  a  crew  of  fishermen  have  taken  the 
whole  world  in  the  meshes  of  the  Gospel-net, 


a  Aaron,  S.    Gregory   the   elder.     Eleazar,  S.  Gregory  Na- 
zianzen. 

/3  I's.  lxx,\i.  II.  v  lb.  1.  23 ;  li.  19.  5  2  Cor.  v.  17. 

e  Eph.  iv.  24.  C,  i  Cor.  xiv.  19.  i)  lb.  xiv.  8. 


248 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  overcome  by  a  word  finished  and  cut 
short"  the  wisdom  that  comes  to  naught.^  I 
count  not  wise  the  man  who  is  clever  in 
words,  nor  him  who  is  of  a  ready  tongue,  but 
unstable  and  undisciplined  in  soul,  like  the 
tombs  which,  fair  and  beautiful  as  they  are 
outwardly,  are  fetid  with  corpses  within, y  and 
full  of  manifold  ill-savours  ;  but  him  who 
speaks  but  little  of  virtue,  yet  gives  many 
examples  of  it  in  his  practice,  and  proves 
the  trustworthiness  of  his  language  by  his 
life. 

3.  Fairer  in  my  eyes,  is  the  beauty  which 
we  can  gaze  upon  than  that  which  is  painted 
in  words :  of  more  value  the  wealth  which 
our  hands  can  hold,  than  that  which  is  imag- 
ined in  our  dreams  ;  and  more  real  the  wis- 
dom of  which  we  are  convinced  by  deeds, 
than  that  which  is  set  forth  in  splendid  lan- 
guage. For  "a  good  understanding,"  he 
saith,  "  have  all  they  that  do  thereafter,"  ^  not 
they  who  proclaim  it.  Time  is  the  best  touch- 
stone of  this  wisdom,  and  "  the  hoary  head 
is  a  crown  of  glory."  «  For  if,  as  it  seems  to 
me  as  well  as  to  Solomon,  we  must  "judge 
none  blessed  before  his  death,"  ^  and  it  is  un- 
certain "  what  a  day  may  bring  forth,"  ^  since 
our  life  here  below  has  many  turnings,  and  the 
body  of  our  humiliation  ^  is  ever  rising,  falling 
and  changing  ;  surely  he,  who  without  fault 
has  almost  drained  the  cup  of  life,  and  nearly 
reached  the  haven  of  the  common  sea  of  ex- 
istence is  more  secure,  and  therefore  more  en- 
viable, than  one  who  has  yet  a  long  voyage 
before  him. 

4.  Do  not  thou,  therefore,  restrain  a  tongue 
whose  noble  utterances  and  fruits  have  been 
many,  which  has  begotten  many  children  of 
righteousness — yea,  lift  up  thine  eyes  round 
about  and  .see,'  how  many  are  its  sons,  and 
what  are  its  treasures;  even  this  whole  peo- 
ple, whom  thou  hast  begotten  in  Christ 
through  the  Gospel."  Grudge  not  to  us  those 
words  which  are  excellent  rather  than  many, 
and  do  not  yet  give  us  a  foretaste  of  our  im- 
pending loss.^  Speak  in  words  which,  if  few, 
are  dear  and  most  sweet  to  me,  which,  if 
scarcely  audible,  are  perceived  from  their 
spiritual  cry,  as  God  heard  the  silence  of 
Mo.ses,  and  said  to  him  when  interceding 
mentally,  "Why  criest  thou  unto  Me  ?  "  ** 
Comfort  this  people,  I  pray  thee,  I,  who 
was  thy   nursling,  and  have  since  been  made 


a  Isai.  X.  22,  23  (LXX.)  :  Rom.  ix.  28. 
|8  I  Cor.  ii.  6.  y  S.  Matt,  xxiii.  27.  S  Ps.  cxi.  10. 

e  I'rov.  xvi.  31.  f  Eccles.  xi.  28.  t)  Prov.  xxvii.  i. 

6  riiil.  iii.  21.  t  Isai.  xlix.  18.  k  1  Cor.  iv.  15. 

A  /.nss,  i.e.,  the  death  of  his  father,  which,  from  his  a^e,  could 
not  be  long  delayed.  /a  Exod.  xiv.  15. 


Pastor,  and  now  even  Chief  Pastor.  Give  a 
le.sson,  to  me  in  the  Pastor's  art,  to  this  peo- 
ple of  obedience.  Discourse  awhile  on  our 
present  heavy  blow,  about  the  just  judgments 
of  God,  whether  we  grasp  their  meaning,  or 
are  ignorant  of  their  great  deep."  How 
again  "  mercy  is  put  in  the  balance,"  ^  as  holy 
Isaiah  declares,  for  goodness  is  not  without 
discernment,  as  the  first  labourers  in  the 
vineyard  y  fancied,  because  they  could  not 
perceive  any  distinction  between  those  who 
were  paid  alike  :  and  how  anger,  which  is 
called  "  the  cup  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,"  * 
and  "  the  cup  of  falling  which  is  drained,"  * 
is  in  proportion  to  transgressions,  even  though 
He  abates  to  all  somewhat  of  what  is  their 
due,  and  dilutes  with  compassion  the  un- 
mixed draught  of  His  wrath.  For  He  in- 
clines from  severity  to  indulgence  towards 
those  who  accept  chastisement  with  fear,  and 
who  after  a  slight  affliction  conceive  and  are 
in  pain  with  conversion,  and  bring  forth  i  the 
perfect  .spirit  of  salvation  ;  but  nevertheless  he 
reserves  the  dregs,''  the  last  drop  of  His  anger, 
that  He  may  pour  it  out  entire  upon  those 
who,  instead  of  being  healed  by  His  kind- 
ness, grow  obdurate,  like  the  hard-hearted 
Pharaoh,^  that  bitter  taskmaster,  who  is  set 
forth  as  an  example  of  the  power  ■•  of  God 
over  the  ungodly. 

5.  Tell  us  whence  come  such  blows  and 
scourges,  and  what  account  we  can  give  of 
them.  Is  it  some  disordered  and  irregular 
motion  or  some  unguided  current,  some  un- 
reason of  the  universe,  as  though  there  were  no 
Ruler  of  the  world,  which  is  therefore  borne 
along  by  chance,  as  is  the  doctrine  of  the  fool- 
ishly wise,  who  are  themselves  borne  along  at 
random  by  the  disorderly  spirit  of  darkness? 
Or  are  the  disturbances  and  changes  of  the 
universe,  (which  was  originally  constituted, 
blended,  bound  together,  and  set  in  motion  in 
a  harmony  known  only  to  Him  Who  gave  it 
motion,)  directed  by  reason  and  order  under 
the  guidance  of  the  reins  of  Providence? 
Whence  come  famines  and  tornadoes  and  hail- 
storms, our  present  warning  blow?  \\'hence 
])estilences,  diseases,  earthquakes,  tidal  waves, 
and  fearful  tilings  in  the  heavens?  And  how 
is  the  creation,  once  ordered  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  men,  their  common  and  ecjual  de- 
light, changed  for  the  punishment  of  the  un- 
godly, in  order  that  we  may  be  chastised 
through  that  for  which,  when  honoured  with 
it,  we  did  not  give  thanks,  and  recognise  in 


o  Ps.  xxxvi.  6.       /3  Is.  xxviii.  17.  (LXX.).     y  .S.  Matt.  xx.  12. 
S  Ps.  Ixxv.  9.  e  Isai.  li.  17  (LXX.).  i  lb.  xxvi.  18. 

T)  Ps.  Ixxv.  10.       9  Kxod.  V.  6.;  vii.  22.  i  Rom.  ix.  17. 


ON    HIS    FATHER'S    SILENCE. 


249 


our  sufferings  that  power  which  we  did  not 
recognise  in  our  benefits?  How  is  it  that 
some  receive  at  the  Lord's  hand  double  for 
their  sins,"  and  the  measure  of  "their  wicked- 
ness is  doubly  filled  up,  as  in  the  correction 
of  Israel,  while  the  sins  of  others  are  done 
away  by  a  sevenfold  recompense  into  their 
bosom  ?  ^  What  is  the  measure  of  the  Am- 
orites  that  is  not  yet  full?v  And  how  is 
the  sinner  either  let  go,  or  chastised  again, 
let  go  perhaps,  because  reserved  for  the  other 
world,  chastised,  because  healed  thereby  in 
this?  Under  what  circumstances  again  is  the 
righteous,  when  unfortunate,  possibly  being 
put  to  the  test,  or,  when  prosperous,  being 
observed,  to  see  if  he  be  poor  in  mind  or 
not  very  far  superior  to  visible  things,  as 
indeed  conscience,  our  interior  and  unerring 
tribunal,  tells  us.  What  is  our  calamity, 
and  what  its  cause  ?  Is  it  a  test  of  virtue, 
or  a  touchstone  of  wickedness  ?  And  is  it 
better  to  bow  beneath  it  as  a  chastisement, 
even  though  it  be  not  so,  and  humble  our- 
selves under  the  mighty  hand  of  God,^  or, 
considering  it  as  a  trial,  to  rise  superior  to  it  ? 
On  these  points  give  us  instruction  and  warn- 
ing, lest  we  be  too  much  discouraged  by  our 
present  calamity,  or  fall  into  the  gulf  of  evil 
and  despise  it ;  for  some  such  feeling  is  very 
general ;  but  rather  that  we  may  bear  our  ad- 
monition quietly,  and  not  provoke  one  more 
severe  by  our  insensibility  to  this. 

6.  Terrible  is  an  unfruitful  season,  and  the 
loss  of  the  crops.  It  could  not  be  otherwise, 
when  men  are  already  rejoicing  in  their  hopes, 
and  counting  on  their  all  but  harvested  stores. 
Terrible  again  is  an  unseasonable  harvest, 
when  the  farmers  labour  with  heavy  hearts, 
sitting  as  it  were  beside  the  grave  of  their 
crops,  which  the  gentle  rain  nourished,  but 
the  wild  storm  has  rooted  up,  whereof  the 
mower  fiUeth  not  his  hand,  neither  he  that 
bindeth  up  the  sheaves  his  bosom,*  nor  have 
they  obtained  the  blessing  which  passers-by 
bestow  upon  the  farmers.  Wretched  indeed  is 
the  sight  of  the  ground  devastated,  cleared, 
and  shorn  of  its  ornaments,  over  which  the 
blessed  Joel  wails  in  his  most  tragic  picture  of 
the  desolation  of  the  land,  and  the  scourge  of 
famine ;  ^  while  another 'J  prophet  wails,  as  he 
contrasts  with  its  former  beauty  its  final  disor- 
der, and  thus  discourses  on  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  when  He  smites  the  land  :  before  him 
is  the  garden  of  Eden,  behind  Him  a  desolate 


a  Isai.  xl.  2.  p  Ps.  Ixxix.  12.  y  Gen.  xv.  16. 

6  I  Pet.  V   6.  €  Ps.  cxxix.  7.  ^  Joel  i.  10. 

ri  Another.     Eilher  this  is  a  wrong  reading,  nr   .S.    Gregory's 
inemory  fails  him.     The  second  quotation  is  also  from  Joel. 


wilderness."  Terrible  indeed  these  things 
are,  and  more  than  terrible,  when  we  are 
grieved  only  at  what  is  present,  and  are  not 
yet  distressed  by  the  feeling  of  a  severer  blow  : 
since,  as  in  sickness,  the  suffering  which  pains 
us  from  time  to  time  is  more  distressing  than 
that  which  is  not  present.  But  more  '  terrible 
still  are  those  which  the  treasures  ^  of  God's 
wrath  contain,  of  which  God  forbid  that  you 
should  make  trial  ;  nor  will  you,  if  you  fly  for 
refuge  to  the  mercies  of  God,  and  win  over  by 
your  tears  Him  Who  will  have  mercy,">'  and 
avert  by  your  conversion  what  remains  of  His 
wrath.  As  yet,  this  is  gentleness  and  loving- 
kindness  and  gentle  reproof,  and  the  first  ele- 
ments of  a  scourge  to  train  our  tender  yeare  : 
as  yet,  the  smoke  ^  of  His  anger,  the  prelude  of 
His  torments ;  not  yet  has  fallen  the  flaming 
fire,*  the  climax  of  His  being  moved  ;  not  yet 
the  kindled  coals, ^  the  final  scourge,  part  of 
which  He  threatened,  when  He  lifted  up  the 
other  over  us,  part  He  held  back  by  force, 
when  He  brought  the  other  upon  us ; 
using  the  threat  and  the  blow  alike  for  our 
instruction,  and  making  a  way  for  His  indig- 
nation, in  the  excess  of  His  goodness  ;  begin- 
ning with  what  is  slight,  so  that  the  more 
severe  may  not  be  needed  ;  but  ready  to  in- 
struct us  by  what  is  greater,  if  He  be  forced 
so  to  do. 

7.  I  know  the  glittering  sword,''  and  the 
blade  made  drunk  in  heaven,  bidden  to  slay, 
to  bring  to  naught,  to  make  childle.ss,  and  to 
spare  neither  flesh,  nor  marrow,  nor  bones.  I 
know  Him,  Who,  though  free  from  passion, 
meets  us  like  a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps,  like 
a  leopard  in  the  way  of  the  Assyrians,^  not  only 
those  of  that  day,  but  if  anyone  now  is  an  As- 
syrian in  wickedness :  nor  is  it  possible  to 
escape  the  might  and  speed  of  His  \\Tath  when 
He  watches  over  our  impieties,  and  His  jeal- 
ousy,' which  knoweth  to  devour  His  adver- 
saries, pursues  His  enemies  to  the  death.''  I 
know  the  emptying,  the  making  void,  the 
making  waste,  the  melting  of  the  heart,  and 
knocking  of  the  knees  together,^  such  are  the 
punishments  of  the  ungodly.  I  do  not  dwell 
on  the  judgments  to  come,  to  which  indul- 
gence in  this  world  delivers  us,  as  it  is  better 
to  be  punished  and  cleansed  now  than  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  torment  to  come,  when  it  is 
the  time  of  chastisement,  not  of  cleansing. 
For  as  he  who  remembers  God  here  is  con- 
queror of  death  (as  David  '^  has  most  excellently 


a  Joel  ii.  3.  /3  Deut.  xxxii.  34  :  Jer.  1.  2=;.         y  Hos.  vi.  6. 

6  Ps.  xviii.  8.  6  lb.  cv.  32.  f  lb.  Ixxviii.  50. 

T)  Ezek.  xxi.  g.         6  Hos.  xiii.  7.  8.         i  Isai.  x.xvi.  11  (T>XX.). 

K  Hos.  viii.  3.  A  Nahum  ii.  10.        /aPs.  vi.  5  (LXX.). 


V 


250 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


sung)  so  the  departed  have  not  in  the  grave 
confession  and  restoration  ;  for  God  has  con- 
fined Hfe  and  action  to  this  world,  and  to  the 
future  the  scrutiny  of  what  has  been  done. 

8.  What  shall  we  do  in  the  day  of  visita- 
tion,'' with  which  one  of  the  Prophets  terrifies 
me,  whether  that  of  the  righteous  sentence  of 
God  against  us,  or  that  upon  the  mountains 
and  hills,  of  which  we  have  heard,  or  what- 
ever and  whenever  it  may  be,  when  He  will 
reason  with  us,  and  oppose  us,  and  set  before 
us^  those  bitter  accusers,  our  sins,  comparing 
our  wrongdoings  with  our  benefits,  and  strik- 
ing thought  with  thought,  and  scrutinising 
action  with  action,  and  calling  us  to  account 
for  the  imaged  which  has  been  blurred  and 
spoilt  by  wickedness,  till  at  last  He  leads  us 
away  self-convicted  and  self-condemned,  no 
longer  able  to  say  that  we  are  being  unjustly 
treated — a  thought  which  is  able  even  here 
sometimes  to  console  in  their  condemnation 
those  who  are  suffering. 

9.  But  then  what  advocate  shall  we  have? 
What  pretext?  What  false  excuse?  What 
plausible  artifice?  What  device  contrary  to 
the  truth  will  impose  upon  the  court,  and  rob 
it  of  its  right  judgment,  which  places  in  the 
balance  for  us  all,  our  entire  life,  action,  word, 
and  thought,  and  weighs  against  the  evil  that 
which  is  better,  until  that  which  preponder- 
ates wins  the  day,  and  the  decision  is  given  in 
favour  of  the  main  tendency  ;  after  which  there 
is  no  appeal,  no  higher  court,  no  defence  on 
the  ground  of  subsequent  conduct,  no  oil  ob- 
tained from  the  wise  virgins,  or  from  them 
that  sell,  for  the  lamps  going  out,^  no  repent- 
ance of  the  ricli  man  wasting  away  in  the 
flame, ^  and  begging  for  repentance  for  his 
friends,  no  statute  of  limitations ;  but  only 
that  final  and  fearful  judgment-seat,  more  just 
even  than  fearful ;  or  rather  more  fearful  be- 
cause it  is  also  just ;  when  the  thrones  are  set 
and  the  Ancient  of  days  takes  His  seat.^  and 
the  books  are  opened,  and  the  fiery  stream 
comes  forth,  and  the  light  before  Him,  and 
the  darkness  prepared ;  and  they  that  have 
done  good  shall  go  into  the  resurrection  of 
life,''  now  hid  in  Christ^  and  to  be  mani- 
fested hereafter  with  Him,  and  they  that  have 
done  evil,  into  the  resurrection  of  judgment,' 
to  which  they  who  have  not  believed  have 
been  condemned  already  by  the  word  which 
judges  them."  Some  will  be  welcomed  by 
the  unsjjeakable  light  and  the  vision  of  the 
holy   and   royal   Trinity,   Which    now   shines 


o  Isai,  X.  3.       pPs.  1.  21.       y  Gen.  i.  26.       6  S.  Matt.  xxv.  8. 

e  S.  I.uk.  xvi.  24.  ^  Dan.  vii.  9.  ijS.  John  v.  29. 

9 Col.  iii.  3.  I  S.  John  v.  29.  k  S.  John  iii.  18  ;  xli.  48. 


upon  them  with  greater  brilliancy  and  purity 
and  unites  Itself  wholly  to  the  whole  soul,  in 
which  solely  and  beyond  all  else  I  take  it  that 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  consists.  The  others 
among  other  torments,  but  above  and  before 
them  all  must  endure  the  being  outcast  from 
God,  and  the  shame  of  conscience  which  has 
no  limit.     But  of  these  anon. 

10.  What  are  we  to  do  now,  my  brethren, 
when  crushed,  cast  down,  and  drunken  but 
not  with  strong  drink  nor  with  wine,**  which 
excites  and  obfuscates  but  for  a  while,  but 
with  the  blow  which  the  Lord  has  inflicted 
upon  us.  Who  says.  And  thou,  O  heart,  be 
stirred  and  shaken,^  and  gives  to  the  despisers 
the  spirit  of  sorrow  and  deep  sleep  to  drink  :  y 
to  whom  He  also  says.  See,  ye  despisers,  be- 
hold, and  wonder  and  perish  ?  ^  How  shall 
we  bear  His  convictions  ;  or  what  reply  shall 
we  make,  when  He  reproaches  us  not  only  with 
the  multitude  of  the  benefits  for  which  we 
have  continued  ungrateful,  but  also  with  His 
chastisements,  aud  reckons  up  the  remedies 
with  which  we  have  refused  to  be  healed  ? 
Calling  us  His  children^  indeed,  but  unworthy 
children,  and  His  sons,  but  strange  sons  ^  who 
have  stumbled  from  lameness  out  of  their 
paths,  in  the  trackless  and  rough  ground. 
How  and  by  what  means  could  I  ha\-e  in- 
structed you,  and  I  have  not  done  so?  By 
gentler  measures?  I  have  applied  them.  I 
passed  by  the  blood  drunk  in  Egypt  from  the 
wells  and  rivers  and  all  reservoirs  of  water ''  in 
the  first  plague  :  I  passed  over  the  next  scourg- 
es, the  frogs,  lice,  and  flies.  I  began  with  the 
flocks  and  the  cattle  and  the  sheep,  the  fifth 
plague,  and,  sparing  as  yet  the  rational  creat- 
ures, I  struck  the  animals.  You  made  light 
of  the  stroke,  and  treated  me  with  less  reason 
and  attention  than  the  beasts  who  were  struck. 
I  withheld  from  you  the  rain ;  one  piece 
was  rained  upon,  and  the  piece  whereupon  it 
rained  not  withered,^  and  ye  said  '*  We  will 
brave  it."'  I  brought  the  hail  upon  you, 
chastising  you  with  the  opposite  kind  of  blow, 
I  uprooted  your  vineyards  and  shrubberies, 
and  crops,  but  I  failed  to  shatter  your  wicked- 
ness. 

11.  Perchance  He  will  say  to  me,  who  am 
not  reformed  even  by  blows,  I  know  that  thou 
art  obstinate,  and  thy  neck  is  an  iron  sinew," 
the  heedless  is  heedless  and  tlie  lawless  man 
acts  lawlessly,'^  naught  is  the  heavenly  correc- 
tion, naught  the  scourges.     The  bellows  are 


o  Isai.  xxix.  9. 
y  Ps.  Ix.  2,  3  ;   Isai.  xxix.  10.. 

e  Deut.  xxxii.  5. 
1)  Exod.  vii.  19.  S  Amos  iv. 

K  Isai.  xlviii.  4. 


S  Hab.  ii.  16. 
6  Hab.  i.  5  :  Acts  xiii.  41. 
i"  Ps.  xviii.  46. 
t  ler.  xviii.  12  (LXX.). 
A  Ib.'xxi.  2  (LXX.). 


ON    HIS    FATHER'S    SILENCE. 


251 


burnt,  the  lead  is  consumed,"  as  I  once  re- 
proached you  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah, 
the  founder  melted  the  silver  in  vain,  your 
wickednesses  are  not  melted  away.  Can  ye 
abide  my  wrath,  saith  the  Lord.  Has  not 
My  hand  the  power  to  inflict  upon  you 
other  plagues  also  ?  There  are  still  at  My 
command  the  blains  breaking  forth  from  the 
ashes  of  the  furnace,'^  by  sprinkling  which  to- 
ward heaven,  Moses,  or  any  other  minister  of 
God's  action,  may  chastise  Egypt  with  dis- 
ease. There  remain  also  the  locusts,  the  dark- 
ness that  may  be  felt,  and  the  plague  which, 
last  in  order,  was  first  in  suffering  and  power, 
the  destruction  and  death  of  the  firstborn,  and, 
to  escape  this,  and  to  turn  aside  the  destroyer, 
it  were  better  to  sprinkle  the  doorposts  of 
our  mind,  contemplation  and  action,  with  the 
great  and  saving  token,  with  the  blood  of  the 
new  covenant,  by  being  crucified  and  dying 
with  Christ,  that  we  may  both  rise  and  be 
glorified  and  reign  with  Him  both  now  and 
at  His  final  appearing,  and  not  be  broken  and 
crushed,  and  made  to  lament,  when  the  griev- 
ous destroyer  smites  us  all  too  late  in  this  life 
of  darkness,  and  destroys  our  firstborn,  the 
offspring  and  results  of  our  life  which  we  had 
dedicated  to  God. 

12.  Far  be  it  from  me  that  I  should  ever, 
among  other  chastisements,  be  thus  re- 
proached by  Him  Who  is  good,  but  walks 
contrary  to  me  in  furyv  because  of  my  own 
contrariness :  I  have  smitten  you  with  blast- 
ing and  mildew,  and  blight ;  ^  without  result. 
The  sword  from  without^  made  you  childless, 
yet  have  ye  not  returned  unto  Me,  saith  the 
Lord.  May  I  not  become  the  vine  of  the 
beloved,  which  after  being  planted  and  en- 
trenched, and  made  sure  with  a  fence  and 
tower  and  every  means  which  was  possible, 
when  it  ran  wild  and  bore  thorns,  was  conse- 
quently despised,  and  had  its  tower  broken 
down  and  its  fence  taken  away,  and  was  not 
pruned  nor  digged,  but  was  devoured  and 
laid  waste  and  trodden  down  by  all  !  ^  This  is 
what  I  feel  I  must  say  as  to  my  fears,  thus 
have  I  been  pained  by  this  blow,  and  this,  I 
will  further  tell  you,  is  my  prayer.  We  have 
sinned,  we  have  done  amiss,  and  have  dealt 
wickedly,''  for  we  have  forgotten  Thy  com- 
mandments and  walked  after  our  own  evil 
thought,^  for  we  have  behaved  ourselves  un- 
worthily of  the  calling  and  gospel  of  Thy 
Christ,  and  of  His  holy  sufferings  and  humili- 
ation for  us  ;  we  have  become  a  reproach  to 


a  Ter.  vi.  29.  |3  Exod.  ix.  10.  7  Lev.  xxvi.  27,  28. 

5  Lev.  XXVI.  I  (LXX. )  ;  Amos  iv.  9.        e  Deut.  xxxii.  25. 
i  Isai.  V.  I.  ij  Dan.  ix.  5.  d  Isai.  Ixv.  2. 


Thy  beloved,  priest  and  people,  we  have  erred 
together,  we  have  all  gone  out  of  the  way, 
we  have  together  become  unprofitable,  there 
is  none  that  doeth  judgment  and  justice,  no 
not  one."  We  have  cut  short  Thy  mercies  and 
kindness  and  the  bowels  and  compassion  of 
our  God,  by  our  wickedness  and  the  perversity 
of  our  doings,  in  which  we  have  turned  away. 
Thou  art  good,  but  we  have  done  amiss ; 
Thou  art  long-suffering,  but  we  are  worthy 
of  stripes ;  we  acknowledge  Thy  goodn'ess, 
though  we  are  without  understanding,  we 
have  been  scourged  for  l)ut  few  of  our  faults ; 
Thou  art  terrible,  and  who  will  resist  Thee  ?^ 
the  mountains  will  tremble  before  Thee ; 
and  who  will  strive  against  the  might  of 
Thine  arm  ?  If  Thou  shut  the  heaven,  who 
will  open  it  ?  And  if  Thou  let  loose  Thy  tor- 
rents, who  will  restrain  them  ?  It  is  a  light 
thing  in  Thine  eyes  to  make  poor  and  to 
make  rich,  to  make  alive  and  to  kill,  to  strike 
and  to  heal,  and  Thy  will  is  perfect  action. 
Thou  art  angry,  and  we  have  sinned, v  says 
one  of  old,  making  confession  ;  and  it  is  now 
time  for  me  to  say  the  opposite,  "We  have 
sinned,  and  Thou  art  angry  :  "  therefore  have 
we  become  a  reproach  to  our  neighbours.^ 
Thou  didst  turn  Thy  face  from  us,  and  we 
were  filled  with  dishonour.  But  stay.  Lord, 
cease.  Lord,  forgive,  Lord,  deliver  us  not  up 
for  ever  because  of  our  iniquities,  and  let  not 
our  chastisements  be  a  warning  for  others, 
when  we  might  learn  wisdom  from  the  trials 
of  others.  Of  whom  ?  Of  the  nations  which 
know  Thee  not,  and  kingdoms  which  have 
not  been  subject  to  Thy  power.  But  we  are 
Thy  people,*  O  Lord,  the  rod  of  Thine  in- 
heritance ;  therefore  correct  us,  but  in  good- 
ness and  not  in  Thine  anger,  lest  Thou  bring 
us  to  nothingness^  and  contempt  among  all 
that  dwell  on  the  earth. 

13.  With  these  words  I  invoke  mercy  :  and 
if  it  were  possible  to  propitiate  His  wrath  with 
whole  burnt  offerings  or  sacrifices,  I  would 
not  even  have  spared  these.  Do  you  also 
yourselves  imitate  your  trembling  priest,  you, 
my  beloved  children,  sharers  with  me  alike 
of  the  Divine  correction  and  loving-kindness. 
Possess  your  souls  in  tears,  and  stay  His 
wrath  by  amending  your  way  of  life.  Sanc- 
tify a  fast,  call  a  solemn  assembly,''  as  l)lessed 
Joel  with  us  charges  you  :  gather  the  elders, 
and  the  babes  that  suck  the  breasts,  whose 
tender  age  wins  our  ])ity,  and  is  specially 
worthy  of  the  loving-kindness  of  God.  I 
know  also  what  he  enjoins  both  upon  me,  the 

o  Ps.  xiv.  3.  P  lb.  Ixxvi.  7.  y  Isai.  Ixiv.  5. 

5  Ps.  I.x.xix.  4.  e  lb.  6,  13.  ^  Jer.  x.  24.  rj  Joel  ii.  15. 


252 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


minister  of  God,  and  upon  you,  who  have 
been  thought  worthy  of  the  same  honour, 
that  we  should  enter  His  house  in  sackcloth, 
and  lament  night  and  day  between  the  porch 
and  the  altar,  in  piteous  array,  and  with  more 
piteous  voices,  crying  aloud  without  ceasing 
on  behalf  of  ourselves  and  the  people,  spar- 
ing nothing,  either  toil  or  word,  which  may 
propitiate  God  :  saying  "  Spare,  O  Lord,  Thy 
people,  and  give  not  Thine  heritage  to  re- 
proach," "  and  the  rest  of  the  prayer  ;  surpass- 
ing the  people  in  our  sense  of  the  affliction  as 
much  as  in  our  rank,  instructing  them  in  our 
own  persons  in  compunction  and  correction  of 
wickedness,  and  in  the  consequent  long-suffer- 
ing of  God,  and  cessation  of  the  scourge. 

14.  Come  then,  all  of  you,  my  brethren, 
let  us  worship  and  fall  down,  and  weep  before 
the  Lord  our  Maker  ;  ^  let  us  appoint  a  public 
mourning,  in  our  various  ages  and  families, 
let  us  raise  the  voice  of  supplication  ;  and  let 
this,  instead  of  the  cry  which  He  hates,  enter 
into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  Let  us 
anticipate  His  anger  by  confession  ;  y  let  us  de- 
sire to  see  Him  appeased,  after  He  was  wroth. 
Who  knoweth,  he  says,  if  He  will  turn  and 
repent,  and  leave  a  blessing  behind  Him?^ 
This  I  know  certainly,  I  the  sponsor  of  the 
loving-kindness  of  God.  And  when  He  has 
laid  aside  that  which  is  unnatural  to  Him, 
His  anger.  He  will  betake  Himself  to  that 
which  is  natural,  His  mercy.  To  the  one  He 
is  forced  by  us,  to  the  other  He  is  inclined. 
And  if  He  is  forced  to  strike,  surely  He  will 
refrain,  according  to  His  Nature.  Only  let  us 
have  mercy  on  ourselves,  and  open  a  road  for 
our  Father's  righteous  affections.  Let  us 
sow  in  tears,  that  we  may  reap  in  joy,*  let 
us  show  ourselves  men  of.  Nineveh,  not  of 
Sodom. ^  Let  us  amend  our  wickedness,  lest 
we  be  consumed  with  it  ;  let  us  listen  to  the 
preaching  of  Jonah,  lest  we  be  overwhelmed 
by  fire  and  brimstone,  and  if  we  have  de- 
parted from  Sodom  let  us  escape  to  the  moun- 
tain, let  us  flee  to  Zoar,  let  us  enter  it  as  the 
sun  rises  ;  let  us  not  stay  in  all  the  plain,  let 
us  not  look  around  us,  lest  we  be  frozen  into 
a  pillar  of  salt,  a  really  immortal  pillar,  to  ac- 
cuse the  soul  which  returns  to  wickedness. 

15.  Let  us  be  a.ssured  that  to  do  no  wrong  1 
is  really  superhuman,  and  belongs  to  God 
alone.  I  say  nothing  about  the  Angels,  that 
we  may  give  no  room  for  wrong  feelings,  nor 
opportunity  for  harmful  altercations.  Our 
unhealed  condition  arises  from  our  evil  and 

o  Joel  ii.  17.      j3  Ps.  xcv.  6.      y  lb.  xcv.  2  fl-XX.).     5  Joel  ii.  14. 
e  i's.  cxxvi.  5.  f  Gen.  xi.\.  17.  23:   Jonali  iii.  5. 

7)  To  do  no  wrong,  etc.     Clemencet  quotes  this  as  an  aphorism 
from  Ucinosth.  dc  Cor. 


unsubdued  nature,  and  from  the  exercise  of  its 
powers.  Our  repentance  when  we  sin,  is  a 
human  action,  but  an  action  which  bespeaks  a 
good  man,  belonging  to  that  portion  which  is 
in  the  way  of  salvation.  For  if  even  our  dust 
contracts  somewhat  of  wickedness,  and  the 
earthly  tabernacle  presseth  down  the  upward 
flight  of  the  soul,**  which  at  least  was'  created 
to  fly  upward,  yet  let  the  image  be  cleansed 
from  filth,  and  raise  aloft  the  flesh,  its  yoke- 
fellow, lifting  it  on  the  wings  of  reason  ;  and, 
what  is  better,  let  us  neither  need  this  cleans- 
ing, nor  hav^  to  be  cleansed,  by  preserving  our 
original  dignity,  to  Avhich  we  are  hastening 
through  our  training  here,  and  let  us  not  by 
the  bitter  taste  of  sin  be  banished  from  the 
tree  of  life  :  though  it  is  better  to  turn  again 
when  we  err,  than  to  be  free  from  correction 
when  we  stumble.  For  whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  chasteneth,^  and  a  rebuke  is  a 
fatherly  action  ;  while  every  soul  which  is  un- 
chastised,  is  unhealed.  Is  not  then  freedom 
from  chastisement  a  hard  thing?  But  to  fail  to 
be  corrected  by  the  chastisement  is  still  harder. 
One  of  the  prophets,  speaking  of  Israel,  whose 
heart  was  hard  and  uncircumcised,  says, 
Lord,  Thou  hast  stricken  them,  but  they  have 
not  grieved.  Thou  hast  consumed  them  but 
they  have  refused  to  receive  correction  ;  v  and 
again.  The  people  turned  not  to  Him  that 
smiteth  them  ;  *  and  Why  is  my  people  slid- 
den  back  by  a  perpetual  backsliding,*  because 
of  which  it  will  be  utterly  crushed  and  de- 
stroyed ? 

16.  It  is  a  fearful  thing,  my  brethren,  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  a  living  God,^  and  fear- 
ful is  the  face  of  the  Lord  against  them  that 
do  evil,''  and  abolishing  wickedness  with  utter 
destruction.  Fearful  is  the  ear  of  God,  listen- 
ing even  to  the  voice  of  Abel  speaking  through 
his  silent  blood.  Fearful  His  feet,  which  over- 
take evildoing.  Fearful  also  His  filling  of  the 
universe,  so  that  it  is  impossible  anywhere  to 
escape  the  action  of  God,^  not  even  by  flying 
up  to  heaven,  or  entering  Hades,  or  by  escap- 
ing to  the  far  East,  or  concealing  ourselves  in 
the  depths  and  ends  of  the  sea.'  Nahum  the 
Elkoshite  was  afraid  before  me,  when  he  pro- 
claimed the  burden  of  Nineveh,  God  is  jealous, 
and  the  Lord  takes  vengeance  in  wrath  ujion 
His  adversaries,"  and  uses  such  abundance  of 
severity  that  no  room  is  left  for  fiirther  ven- 
geance upon  the  wicked.  For  whenever  I 
hear  Isaiah  threaten  the  people  of  Sodom 
and  rulers  of  Gomorrah,^  and  say  Why  will 


o  Wisd.  ix.  15.  P  Prov.  iii.  ii. 

h  Isai.  ix.  13.  e  Jer.  viii.  5, 

7)  Ps.  xxxiv.  16.  6  Jer.  xxiii.  24. 

K  Nahum  i.  i,  2. 


y  Ter.  v.  3. 
C,  Hel).  X.  31. 
I  i's.  cxxxix.  7,  8. 
A  Isai.  i.  10. 


ON    HIS    FATHER'S    SILENCE. 


253 


ye  be  smitten  any  more,  adding  sin  to  sin  ?  "■ 
I  am  almost  filled  with  horror,  and  melted  to 
tears.  It  is  impossible,  he  says,  to  find  any 
blow  to  add  to  those  which  are  past,  because 
of  yoiir  newly  added  sins ;  so  completely  have 
you  run  through  the  whole,  and  exhausted 
every  form  of  chastisement,  ever  calling  upon 
yourselves  some  new  one  by  your  wickedness. 
There  is  not  a  wound,  nor  bruise,  nor  putrefy- 
ing sore;**  the  plague  affects  the  whole  body 
and  is  incurable:  for  it  is  impossible  to  apply 
a  plaster,  or  ointment  or  bandages.  I  pass 
over  the  rest  of  the  threatenings,  that  I  may 
not  press  upon  you  more  hea\'ily  than  your 
present  plague. 

17.  Only  let  us  recognise  the  purpose  of 
the  evil.  Why  have  the  crops  withered,  our 
storehouses  been  emptied,  the  pastures  of  our 
flocks  failed,  the  fruits  of  the  earth  been  with- 
held, and  the  plains  been  filled  with  shame 
instead  of  with  fatness:  why  have  valleys  la- 
mented and  not  abounded  in  corn,  the  moun- 
tains not  dropped  sweetness,  as  they  shall  do 
hereafter  to  the  righteous,  but  been  stript 
and  dishonoured,  and  received  on  the  contrary 
the  curse  of  GilboaPv  The  whole  earth  has 
become  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  before  it 
was  adorned  with  its  beauties.  Thou  visit- 
edst  the  earth,  and  madest  it  to  drink  ^ — but 
the  visitation  has  been  for  evil,  and  the  draught 
destructive.  Alas  !  what  a  spectacle  !  Our 
prolific  crops  reduced  to  stubble,  the  seed  we 
sowed  is  recognised  by  scanty  remains,  and  our 
harvest,  the  approach  of  which  we  reckon  from 
the  number  of  the  months,  instead  of  from 
the  ripening  corn,  scarcely  bears  the  firstfruits 
for  the  Lord.  Such  is  the  wealth  of  the  un- 
godly, such  the  harvest  of  the  careless  sower ; 
as  the  ancient  curse  runs,  to  look  for  much, 
and  bring  in  little,*  to  sow  and  not  reap,  to 
plant  and  not  press, ^  ten  acres  of  vineyard  to 
yield  one  bath  :  ''  and  to  hear  of  fertile  harvests 
in  other  lands,  and  be  ourselves  pressed  by 
famine.  Why  is  this,  and  what  is  the  cause 
of  the  breach?  Let  us  not  wait  to  be  con- 
victed by  others,  let  us  be  our  own  examiners. 
An  important  medicine  for  evil  is  confession, 
and  care  to  avoid  stumbling.  I  v/ill  be  first 
to  do  so,  as  I  have  made  my  report  to  my  peo- 
ple from  on  high,  and  performed  the  duty  of  a 
watcher.^  For  I  did  not  conceal  the  coming 
of  the  sword  that  I  might  save  my  own  soul ' 
and  those  of  my  hearers.  So  will  I  now  an- 
nounce the  disobedience  of  my  people,  making 


olsai.  i.  5(I.XX.). 
S  Ps.  Ixv.  9. 
7)  Isai.  V.  10. 
I  Ezek.  xxxiii.  3. 


j3  lb.  i.  6.  72  Sam.  i.  21. 

e  Hag.  i.  9.  ^  Deut.  xxviii.  39. 

0  lb.  xxi.  6  ;  Ixii.  6  ;  Habak.  ii.  i. 


what  is  theirs  my  own,   if  I  may  perchance 
thus  obtain  some  tenderness  and  relief. 

18.  One  of  us  has  oppressed  the  poor,  and 
wrested  from  him  his  portion  of  land,  and 
wrongly  encroached  upon  his  landmark  by 
fraud  or  violence,  and  joined  house  to  house, 

\  and  field  to  field,  to  rob  his  neighbour  of 
!  something,  and  been  eager  to  have  no  neigh- 
I  hour,  so  a.s  to  dwell  alone  on  the  earth.** 
Another  has  defiled  the  land  with  usury  and 
,  interest,  both  gathering  where  he  had  not 
sowed  and  reaping  where  he  had  not  strawed,^ 
farming,  not  the  land,  but  the  necessity  of  the 
needy.  Another  lias  robbed  God,v  the  giver 
of  all,  of  the  firstfruits  of  the  barnfloor  and 
winepress,  showing  himself  at  once  thankless 
and  senseless,  in  neither  giving  thanks  for  what 
he  has  had,  nor  prudently  providing,  at  least, 
for  the  future.  Another  has  had  no  pity  on 
the  widow  and  orphan,  and  not  im])arted  his 
bread  and  meagre  nourishment  to  the  needy, 
or  rather  to  Christ,  Who  is  nourished  in  the 
persons  of  those  who  are  nourished  even  in  a 
slight  degree  ;  a  man  perhaps  of  much  proper- 
ty unexpectedly  gained,  for  this  is  the  most 
unjust  of  all,  who  finds  his  many  barns  too 
narrow  for  him,"  filling  .some  and  emptying 
others,  to  build  greater^  ones  for  future  crops, 
,  not  knowing  that  he  is  being  snatched  away 
i  with  hopes  unrealised,  to  give  an  account  of 
his  riches  and  fancies,  and  proved  to  have 
f  been  a  bad  steward  of  another's  goods.  An- 
i  other  has  turned  aside  the  wav  of  the  meek,* 
and  turned  aside  the  just  among  the  unjust  ; 
another  has  hated  him  that  reproveth  in  the 
:  gates, ^  and  abhorred  him  that  speaketh  up- 
rightly ; 'i  another  has  sacrificed  to  his  net 
which  catches  much,^  and  keeping  the  spoil  of 
the  poor  in  his  house,'  has  either  remembered 
not  God,  or  remembered  Him  ill — by  saying 
"  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  for  we  are  rich,"  "^  and 
wickedly  supposed  that  he  received  these 
things  from  Him  by  Whom  he  will  be  pun- 
ished. For  because  of  these  things  cometh 
the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobe- 
dience.''^ Because  of  these  things  the  heaven 
is  shut,  or  opened  for  our  punishment ;  and 
much  more,  if  we  do  not  repent,  even  when 
smitten,  and  draw  near  to  Him,  Who  ap- 
proaches us  through  the  powers  of  nature. 

19.  What  shall  be  said  to  this  by  those  of 
us  who  are  buyers  and  sellers  of  corn,  and 
watch  the  hardships  of  the  seasons,  in  order  to 
grow  prosperous,  and  luxuriate  in  the  misfor- 


a  Isai.  V.  8. 
6  .S.  I.uke  xii. 
7)  Amos  V.  10. 


$  S.  Matt.  XXV.  26. 
e  Amos  ii.  7. 
e  Habak.  i,  16. 


K  Zech.  xi.  5. 


7  Mai.  iii.  8. 
f  Isai.  xxix.  21. 
t  Isai.  iii.  14. 
A  Eph.  V.  6. 


254 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


tunes  of  others,  and  acquire,  not,  like  Joseph, 
the  property  of  the  Egyptians, '^  as  a  part  of  a 
wide  poUcy,  (for  he  could   both   collect  and 
supply  corn  duly,  as  he  also  could  foresee  the 
famine,  and  provide  against  it  afar  off,)  but  the 
property  of  their  fellow  countrymen  in  an  il- 
legal manner,  for  they  say,  "When  will  the 
new  moon  be  gone,  that  we  may  sell,  and  the 
sabbaths,  that  we  may  open  our  stores  ?  "  '^  And 
they  corrupt  justice  with  divers  measures  and 
balances, v  and  draw  upon  themselves  the  ephah 
of  lead.^    What  shall  we  say  to  these  things  who 
know  no  limit  to  our  getting,  who  worship  gold 
and  silver,  as  those  of  old  worshipped  Baal, 
and  Astarte  and  the  abomination   Chemosh  ?  * 
Who  give  heed    to    the    brilliance   of  costly 
stones,  and  soft  flowing  garments,  the  prey  of 
motlis,  and   the   plunder  of  robbers  and   ty- 
rants and   thieves ;   who  are    j^roud   of  their 
multitude  of  slaves  and  animals,  and  spread 
themselves  over  plains  and   mountains,   with 
their  possessions  and  gains  and  schemes,  like 
Solomon's  horseleach^  which  cannot  be  satis- 
fied, any  more  than  the  grave,  and  the  earth, 
and  fire,  and  water  ;  who  seek  for  another  world 
for  their  possession,  and  find  fault  \\'ith  the 
bounds  of  God,  as  too  small  for  their  insatiable 
cui)id.ity?     What   of  those  who  sit  on   lofty 
thrones  and  raise  the  stage  of  government,  with 
a  brow  loftier  than  that  of  the  theatre,  tak- 
ing no  account  of  the  God  over  all,  and  the 
height  of  the  true  kingdom  that  none  can  ap- 
proach unto,  so  as  to  rule  their  subjects  as  fellow- 
servants,  as  needing  themselves  no  less  loving- 
kindness?     Look  also,  I  pray  you,    at  those 
who  stretch  themselves  upon  beds   of  ivory, 
whom   the   divine   Amos   fitly  upbraids,   who 
anoint    themselves  with  the  chief  ointments, 
and  chant  to  the  sound  of  instruments  of  music, 
and  attach  themselves  to  transitory  things  as 
though  they  were  stable,  but  have  not  grieved 
nor   hatl   compassion   for  the  affliction  of  Jo- 
seph ;''  thougli  they  ought  to  have  been  kind  to 
those  who  had  met  with  disaster  before  them, 
and  by  mercy  have  obtained  mercy  ;  as  the  fir- 
tree  should  howl,  because  the  cedar  had  fallen,^ 
and   be  instructed   by  their  neighbours'  chas- 
tisement, and  l)e  led  by  others'  ills  to  regulate 
their  own  lives,  having  the  advantage  of  being 
saved  by  their  predecessors'   fate,  instead  of 
being  themselves  a  warning  to  others. 

20.  Join  with  us,  thou  divine  and  sacred 
person,  in  considering  the.se  questions,  with 
the  store  of  experience,  that  source  of  wisdom, 
which    thou    hast   gathered  in  thy  long  life. 


a  Gen.  xli.  39.  ^  Amos  viii.  •;.  7  Prov.  xx.  10. 

S  Zech.  V.  8.  f  I  Kings  xi.  35. 

i  I'rov.  XXX.  15.  7)  Amos  vi.  4-6.  d  Zcch.  xi.  2. 


Herewith  instruct  thy  people.  Teach  them  to 
break  their  bread  to  the  hungry,  to  gather 
together  the  poor  that  have  no  shelrer,  to  cover 
their  nakedness  and  not  neglect  those  of  the 
same  blood,"  and  now  especially  that  we  may 
gain  a  benefit  from  our  need  instead  of  from 
abundance,  a  result  which  pleases  God  more 
than  plentiful  offerings  and  large  gifts.  After 
this,  nay  before  it,  .show  thy.self,  I  pray,  a 
Moses, f^  or  Phinehasv  to  day.  Stand  on  our 
behalf  and  make  atonement,  and  let  the  plague 
be  stayed,  either  by  the  spiritual  sacrifice,^  or 
by  prayer  and  reasonable  intercession.*  Res- 
train the  anger  of  the  Lord  by  thy  mediation  : 
avert  any  succeeding  blows  of  the  scourge. 
He  knoweth  to  respect  the  hoar  hairs  of  a 
father  interceding  for  his  children.  Litreat 
for  our  past  wickedness  :  be  our  surety  for  the 
future.  Present  a  people  purified  by  suffering 
and  fear.  Beg  for  bodily  sustenance,  but  beg 
rather  for  the  angels'  food  that  cometh  down 
from  heaven.  So  doing,  thou  wilt  make  God 
to  be  our  God,  wilt  conciliate  heaven,  wilt 
restore  the  former  and  latter  rain  :  ^  the  Lord 
shall  show  loving-kindness''  and  our  land  shall 
yield  her  fruit ;  ^  our  earthly  land  its  fruit 
which  lasts  for  the  day,  and  our  frame,  which 
is  but  dust,  the  fruit  which  is  eternal,  which 
we  shall  store  up  in  the  heavenly  winepresses 
by  thy  hands,  who  presentest  both  us  and 
ours  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  to  whom  be 
glory  for  evermore.     Amen. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  ORATION   XVIII. 

On  the  Death  of  his  Father. 

This  Oration  was  delivered  A.  d.  374.  S. 
Gregory  the  elder  died  early  in  that  year, 
according  to  the  Greek  Menasa  on  the  ist  of 
January,  though  Clemencet  and  some  others 
place  his  death  a  few  months  later.  His  wife, 
S.  Nonna,  survived  him,  and  was  present  to 
hear  the  Oration,  as  was  also  S.  Basil,  who 
desired  to  honour  one  who  had  consecrated 
him  to  the  ]^)iscopate.  The  aged  Saint,  who 
died  in  his  himdredth  year,  had  originally 
belonged  to  a  sect  called  Hypsistarii.  Our 
knowledge  of  the  existence  and  tenets  of  this 
sect  is  due  to  this  Oration'  and  to  a  few  sen- 
tences in  that  of  S.  Greg.  Nys.sen.  (c.  luuiom. 
I.  ed.  1615,  p.  12),  by  whom  they  are  called 
Hypsistians.  He  was  converted  by  the  jirayers, 
inlluence  and  example  of  his  wife,  S.  Nonna, 


a  Isai.  Iviii.  7.  /3  Exod.  xxxii.  11.         y  Ps.  cvi.  23.  30. 

S  I  Pet.  ii.  5.  e  Rom.  xli.  i.  i  Joel  ii.  23. 

1)  Ps.  Ixxxv.  13.        6  lb.  Ixvii.  6.         t  Cf.  Orat.  viii.   §  4,  note. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


255 


and,  soon  after  his  baptism,  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Nazianzus.  He  was  eminent  as  an  able 
administrator,  a  devout  Christian,  an  orthodox 
teacher,  a  steadfast  Confessor  of  the  faith,  a 
sympathetic  Pastor,  an  affectionate  father.  In 
his  hfe  and  work  he  was  seconded  by  his  wife, 
and  tbllowed  by  his  three  children,  Gregory, 
Gorgonia,  and  Csesarius,  whose  names  are  all 
to  be  found  upon  the  roll  of  the  Saints. 


Funeral  Oration  on  his  Father,  in  the 

PRESENCE    OF    S.    BaSIL. 

1.  O  man  of  God,"  and  faithful  servant,^ 
and  steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God,v  and 
man  of  desires  ^  of  the  Spirit :  ^  tor  thus  Script- 
ure speaks  of  men  advanced  and  lofty,  superior 
to  visible  things.  I  will  call  you  also  a  God 
to  Pharaoh^  and  all  the  Egyptian  and  hostile 
power,  and  pillar  and  ground  of  the  Church  '' 
and  will  of  God  ''  and  light  in  the  world, 
holding  forth  the  word  of  life,'  and  prop  of 
the  faith  and  resting  place  of  the  Spirit.  But 
why  should  I  enumerate  all  the  titles  which 
your  virtue,  in  its  varied  forms,  has  won 
for  and  applied  to  you  as  your  own  ? 

2.  Tell  me,  however,  whence  do  you  come, 
what  is  your  business,  and  what  favour  do 
you  bring  us  ?  Since  I  know  that  you  are 
entirely  moved  with  and  by  God,  and  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  receive  you.  Are 
you  come  to  inspect  us,  or  ta  seek  for  the 
pastor,  or  to  take  the  oversight  of  the  flock  ? 
You  find  us  no  longer  in  existence,  but  for 
the  most  part  having  passed  away  with  him, 
imable  to  bear  with  the  place  of  our  afflic- 
tion, especially  now  that  we  have  lost  our 
skilful  steersman,  our  light  of  life,  to  whom 
we  looked  to  direct  our  course  as  the  blazing 
beacon  of  salvation  above  us  :  he  has  departed 
with  all  his  excellence,  and  all  the  power  of 
pastoral  organization,  which  he  had  gathered 
in  a  long  time,  full  of  days  and  wisdom,  and 
crowned,  to  use  the  words  of  Solomon,  with 
the  hoary  head  of  glory."  His  flock  is  desolate 
and  downcast,  filled,  as  you  see,  with  despond- 
ency and  dejection,  no  longer  reposing  in 
the  green  pasture,^  and  reared  up  by  the  water 
of  comfort,  but  seeking  precipices,  deserts 
and  pits,  in  which  it  will  be  scattered  and 
perish  ;  f^  in  despair  of  ever  obtaining  another 
wise  pastor,  absolutely  persuaded  that  it  can- 


a  Josh.  xiv.  6.  j3  Numb.  xii.  7. 

y  I  Cor.  iv.  i.  6  Dan.  ix.  23  (LXX.). 

e  The  first  words  are  addressed  to  S.  Basil,  who  was  present. 
i  Exod.  yii.  I.        Tj  I.  Tim.  vii.  15.       6  Isai.  Ixii.  4.  (LXX.) 

I  Phil.  ii.  16.  K  Prov.  xvi.  31. 

A  Ps.  xxiii.  2.  ft  Ezek.  xxxiv.  14. 


not  find  such    an    one    as    he,    content   if  it 
be  one  who  will  not  be  far  inferior. 

3.  There  are,  as  I  said,  three  causes  to  ne- 
cessitate your  presence,  all  of  equal  weight, 
ourselves,  the  pastor,  and  the  flock  :  come  then, 
and  according  to  the  spirit  of  ministry  which 
is  in  you,  assign  to  each  its  due,  and  guide 
your  words  in  judgment,  so  that  we  may 
more  than  ever  marvel  at  your  wisdom. 
And  how  will  you  guide  them  ?  First  by 
bestowing  seemly  praise  upon  his  virtue, 
not  only  as  a  pure  sepulchral  tribute  of  speech 
to  him  who  was  pure,  but  also  to  set  forth 
to  others  his  conduct  and  example  as  a  mark 
of  true  piety.  Then  bestow  upon  us  some 
brief  counsels  concerning  life  and  death,  and 
the  union  and  severance  of  body  and  soul, 
and  the  two  worlds,  the  one  present  but 
transitory,  the  other  spiritually  perceived 
and  abiding ;  and  persuade  us  to  despise 
that  which  is  deceitful  and  disordered  and 
uneven,  carrying  us  and  being  carried,  like 
the  waves,  now  up,  now  down  ;  but  to  cling 
to  that  which  is  firm  and  stable  and  divine 
and  constant,  free  from  all  disturbance  and 
confusion.  For  this  would  lessen  our  pain 
because  of  friends  departed  before  us,  nay  we 
should  rejoice  if  your  words  should  carry 
us  hence  and  set  us  on  high,  and  hide  distress 
of  the  present  in  the  future,  and  persuade 
us  that  we  also  are  pressing  on  to  a  good 
Master,  and  that  our  home  is  better  than  our 
pilgrimage  ;  and  that  translation  and  removal 
thither  is  to  us  who  are  tempest-tost  here  like 
a  calm  haven  to  men  at  sea  ;  or  as  ease  and 
relief  from  toil  come  to  men  who,  at  the  close 
of  a  long  journey,  escape  the  troubles  of  the 
wayfarer,  so  to  those  who  attain  to  the  hostel 
yonder  comes  a  better  and  more  tolerable  ex- 
istence than  that  of  those  who  still  tread  the 
crooked  and  precipitous  path  of  this  life. 

4.  Thus  might  you  console  us  ;  but  what 
of  the  flock  ?  Would  you  first  promise  the 
oversight  and  leadership  of  yourself,  a  man 
under  whose  wings  we  all  would  gladly  repose, 
and  for  whose  words  we  thirst  more  eagerly 
than  men  suffering  from  thirst  for  the  purest 
fountain  ?  Secondly,  persuade  us  that  the 
good  shepherd  who  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
sheep"  has  not  even  now  left  us;  but  is 
present,  and  tends  and  guides,  and  knows  his 
own,  and  is  known  of  his  own,  and,  though 
bodily  invisible,  is  spiritually  recognized,  and 
defends  his  flock  against  the  wolves,  and  al- 
lows no  one  to  climb  over  into  the  fold  as  a 
robber  and  traitor  ;  to  pervert  and  steal  away, 

a  S.  John  x.  11. 


256 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


by  the  voice  of  strangers,  souls  under  the  fair 
guidance  of  the  truth.  Aye,  I  am  well  as- 
sured that  his  intercession  is  of  more  avail  now 
than  was  his  instruction  in  former  days,  since 
he  is  closer  to  God,  now  that  he  has  shaken 
off  his  bodily  fetters,  and  freed  his  mind  from 
the  clay  which  obscured  it,  and  holds  inter- 
course naked  with  the  nakedness  of  the  prime 
and  purest  Mind  ;  being  promoted,  if  it  be  not 
rash  to  say  so,  to  the  rank  and  confidence  of 
an  angel.  This,  with  your  power  of  speech 
and  spirit,  you  will  set  forth  and  discuss  bet- 
ter than  I  can  sketch  it.  But  in  order  that, 
through  ignorance  of  his  excellences,  your  lan- 
guage may  not  fall  very  far  short  of  his  deserts, 
1  will,  from  my  own  knowledgeof  the  departed, 
briefly  draw  an  outline,  and  preliminary  plan 
of  an  eulogy  to  be  handed  to  you,  the  illus- 
trious artist  of  suclj  subjects,  for  the  details  of 
the  beauty  of  his  virtue  to  be  filled  in  and 
transmitted  to  the  ears  and  minds  of  all. 

5.   Leaving  to  the    laws  of  panegyric   the 
description    of   his    country,   his  family,    his 
nobility  of  figure,  his  external  magnificence, 
and    the    other    subjects    of   human    pride,    I 
begin  with  what  is  of  most  consequence  and 
comes  closest  to  ourselves.      He  sprang  from  a 
stock    unrenowned,   and    not   well  suited  for 
piety,   for  I  am  not  ashamed  of  his  origin,   in 
my  confidence  in   the  close  of  his   life,  one 
that  was  not  planted  in  the  house  of  God," 
but  far  removed  and  estranged,  the  combined 
product    of  two  of  the  greatest  opposites — 
Greek  error  and  legal  imposture,  some  parts  of 
each  of  which  it   escaped,    of  others  it  was 
compounded.     For,  on  the  one  side,  they  re- 
ject  idols   and   sacrifices,    but   reverence  fire 
and    lights  ;  on  the  other,   they    observe  the 
Sabl)ath   and  petty  regulations  as  to  certain 
meats,  but  despise  circumcision.     These  lowly 
men  call  themselves  Hypsistarii,  and  the  Al- 
mighty   is,  so   they  say,    the  only    object  of 
their  worship.      What  was   the  result  of  this 
double  tendency    to    impiety  ?     I    know  not 
whether  to  praise  more  highly  the  grace  which 
called  him,  or  his  own  purpose.     However,  he 
so  purged  the  eye  of  his  mind  from  the  hu- 
mours P  which  obscured  it,   and  ran  towards 
the  truth  with  such  speed  that  he  endured  the 
loss  of  his  mother  and  his  pro])erty  for  a  while, 
for  the  sake  of  his  heavenly   Father  and  the 
true  inheritance:   and  sul>mitted  more  readily 
to  this  dishonour,  than  others  to  the  greatest 
honours,  and.  most  wonderfiil  as  this  is,  I  won- 
der  at    it    but  little.     Why  ?      Because    this 


IX  Ps.  xcii.  13. 

^Humours.    This  word  is  used  Aristoph.  Plut.  581,  of  the  ob- 
scuring effect  of  old.prejudices. 


glory  is  common  to  him  with  many  others, 
and  all  must  come  into  the  great  net  of  God, 
and  be  caught  by  the  words  of  the  fishers,  al- 
though some  are  earlier,  some  later,  enclosed 
by  the  Gospel.  But  what  does  especially  in 
his  life  move  my  wonder,  it  is  needful  for  me 
to  mention. 

6.  Even  before  he  was  of  our  fold,  he  was 
ours.  His  character  made  him  one  of  us. 
For,  as  many  of  our  own  are  not  with  us,  whose 
life  alienates  them  from  the  common  body,  so, 
many  of  those  without  are  on  our  side,  whose 
character  anticipates  their  faith,  and  need 
only  the  name  of  that  which  indeed  they  jjos- 
sess.  My  father  was  one  of  these,  an  alien 
shoot,  but  inclined  by  his  life  towards  us. 
He  was  so  far  advanced  in  self  control,  that 
he  became  at  once  most  beloved  and  most 
modest,  two  (jualities  difficult  to  combine. 
What  greater  and  more  splendid  testimony 
can  there  be  to  his  justice  than  his  exercise  of 
a  position  second  to  none  in  the  state,  with- 
out enriching  himself  by  a  single  farthing, 
although  he  saw  everyone  else  casting  the 
hands  of  Briareus  upon  the  public  funds,  and 
swollen  with  ill-gotten  gain  ?  For  thus  do  I 
term  unrighteous  wealth.  Of  his  prudence 
this  also  is  no  slight  proof,  but  in  the  course 
of  my  speech  further  details  will  be  given.  It 
was  as  a  reward  "  for  such  conduct,  I  think, 
that  he  attained  to  the  faith.  How  this  came 
about,  a  matter  too  important  to  be  passed 
over,  I  would. now  set  forth. 

7.  I  have  heard  the  Scripture  say  :  Who 
can  find  a  valiant  woman  ?^  and  declare  that 
she  is  a  divine  gift,  and  that  a  good  marriage 
is  brought  about  by  the  Lord.  Even  those 
without  are  of  the  same  mind  ;  if  they  say 
that  a  man  can  win  no  fairer  prize  than  a 
good  wife,  nor  a  worse  one  than  her  opposite. ^ 
But  we  can  mention  none  who  has  been  in 
this  respect  more  fortunate  than  he.  For  I 
think  that,  had  anyone  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  and  from  every  race  of  men  attempted 
to  bring  about  the  best  of  marriages,  he  could 
not  have  found  a  better  or  more  harmonious 
one  than  this.  For  the  most  excellent  of  men 
and  of  women  were  so  united  that  their  mar- 
riage was  a  union  of  virtue  rather  than  of 
bodies  :  since,  while  they  excelled  all  others, 
they  could  not  excel  each  other,  because  in 
virtue  they  were  quite  equally  matched. 

8.  She  indeed  who  was  given  to  Adam  as 
a  help  meet  for  him,  because  it  was  not  good 
for  man  to  be  alone,*  instead  of  an  assistant 


o  Remard.     Faith  is,  as  Clemencet  remarks,  "  the  gift  of  God  " 
-butcf.  S.  John  vii.  17.  ^  Prov.  xxxi.  10,  7. 

y  Hesiod  :    Worlds  and  Days,  700.  6  Oen.  ii.  18. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


257 


I 


became  an  enemy,  and  instead  of  a  yoke- 
fellow, an  opponent,  and  beguiling  the  man 
by  means  of  pleasure,  estranged  him  through 
the  tree  of  knowledge  from  the  tree  of  life. 
But  she  who  was  given  by  God  to  my  father 
became  not  only,  as  is  less  wonderful,  his  as- 
sistant, but  even  his  leader,  drawing  him  on 
by  her  influence  in  deed  and  word  to  the 
highest  excellence;  judging  it  best  in  all 
other  respect's  to  be  overruled  by  her  husband 
according  to  the  law  of  marriage,  but  not  be- 
ing ashamed,  in  regard  of  piety,  even  to  offer  _ 
herself  as  his  teacher.  Admirable  indeed  as 
was  this  conduct  of  hers,  it  was  still  more  ad- 
miral)le  that  he  should  readily  acquiesce  in  it. 
She  is  a  woman  who  while  others  have  been 
honoured  and  extolled  for  natural  and  arti- 
ficial beauty,  has  acknowledged  but  one  kind 
of  beauty,  that  of  the  soul,  and  the  preserva- 
tion, or  the  restoration  as  far  as  possible,  of 
the  Divine  image.  Pigments  and  devices  for 
adornment  she  has  rejected  as  worthy  of  wo- 
men on  the  stage.  The  only  genuine  form  of 
noble  birth  she  recognized  is  piety,  and  the 
knowledge  of  whence  we  are  sprung  and 
whither  we  are  tending.  The  only  safe  and 
inviolable  form  of  wealth  is,  she  considered, 
to  strip  oneself  of  wealth  for  God  and  the 
poor,  and  especially  for  those  of  our  own  kin 
who  are  unfortunate ;  and  such  help  only  as  is 
necessary,  she  held  to  be  rather  a  reminder,  than 
a  relief  of  their  distress,  while  a  more  liberal 
beneficence  brings  stable  honour  and  most 
perfect  consolation.  Some  women  have  ex- 
celled in  thrifty  management,  others  in  piety, 
while  she,  difhcult  as  it  is  to  unite  the  two 
virtues,  has  surpassed  all  in  both  of  them, 
both  by  her  eminence  in  each,  and  by 
the  fact  that  she  alone  has  combined  them 
together.  To  as  great  a  degree  has  she,  by 
her  care  and  skill,  secured  the  prosperity  of  her 
household,  according  to  the  injunctions  and 
laws  of  Solomon  as  to  the  valiant  woman,  as  if 
she  had  had  no  knowledge  of  piety  ;  and  .she 
applied  herself  to  God  and  Divine  things  as 
closely  as  if  absolutely  released  from  household 
cares,  allowing  neither  branch  of  her  duty  to 
interfere  with  the  other,  but  rather  making 
each  of  them  support  the  other. 

9.  What  time  or  place  for  prayer  ever  es- 
caped her  ?  To  this  she  was  drawn  before  all 
other  things  in  the  day  ;  or  rather,  who  had 
such  hope  of  receiving  an  immediate  answer 
to  her  requests  ?  Who  paid  such  reverence 
to  the  hand  and  countenance  of  the  priests  ? 
Or  honoured  all  kinds  of  philosophy  ?  Who 
reduced  the  flesh  by  more  constant  fast  and 
Or  stood   like   a  pillar  at   the   night 


vigil? 


long  and  daily  psalmody  ?  Who  had  a 
greater  love  for  virginity,  though  patient  of 
the  marriage  bond  herself?  Who  was  a  bet- 
ter  patron  of  the  orphan  and  the  widow  ? 
Who  aided  as  much  in  the  alleviation  of 
the  misfortunes  of  the  mourner?  These 
things,  small  as  they  are,  and  perhaps  con- 
temptible in  the  eyes  of  some,  because  not 
easily  attainable  by  most  people  (for  that 
which  is  unattainable  comes,  through  envy,  to 
be  thought  not  even  credible),  are  in  my  eyes 
most  honourable,  since  they  were  the  discov- 
eries of  her  faith  and  the  undertakings  of  her 
spiritual  fervour.  So  also  in  the  holy  assem- 
blies, or  places,  her  voice  was  never  to  be  heard 
except  "■  in  the  necessary  responses  of  the  ser- 
vice. 

10.  And  if  it  was  a  great  thing  for  the  altar 
never  to  have  had  an  iron  tool  lifted  upon  it,^ 
and  that  no  chisel  should  be  seen  or  heard, 
with  greater  reason,  since  everything  dedi- 
cated to  God  ought  to  be  natural  and  free 
from  artificiality,  it  was  also  surely  a  great 
thing  that  she  reverenced  the  sanctuary  by  her 
silence  ;  that  she  never  turned  her  back  to  the 
venerable  table,  nor  spat  upon  the  divine  pave- 
ment ;  that  she  never  grasped  the  hand  or  kissed 
the  lips  of  any  heathen  woman,  however  hon- 
ourable in  other  respects,  or  closely  related 
she  might  be  ;  nor  would  she  ever  share  the 
salt,  I  say  not  willingly  but  even  under  com- 
pulsion, of  those  who  came  from  the  profane 
and  unholy  table  ;  nor  could  she  bear,  against 
the  law  of  conscience,  to  pass  by  or  look  upon 
a  polluted  house  ;  nor  to  have  her  ears  or 
tongue,  which  had  received  and  uttered  divine 
things,  defiled  by  Grecian  tales  or  theatrical 
songs,  on  the  ground  that  what  is  unholy  is 
unbecoming  to  holy  things  ;  and  what  is  still 
more  wonderful,  she  never  .so  far  yielded  to  the 
external  signs  of  grief,  although  greatly  moved 
even  by  the  misfortunes  of  strangers,  as  to 
allow  a  sound  of  woe  to  burst  forth  before  the 
Eucharist,  or  a  tear  to  fall  from  the  eye  mys- 
tically .sealed,  or  any  trace  of  mourning  to  be 
left  on  the  occasion  of  a  festival,  however  fre- 
quent her  own  sorrows  might  be  ;  inasmuch  as 
the  God-loving  soul  should  subject  every  hu- 
man experience  to  the  things  of  God. 

11.  I  pass  by  in  silence  what  is  still  more 
ineffable,  of  which  God  is  witness,  and  those 
of  the  faithful  handmaidens  to  whom  she  has 
confided  such  things.  That  which  concerns 
myself  is  perhaps  undeserving  of  mention, 
since    I   have   proved    unworthy   of  the  hope 


a  Kxccpt,  etc.     T^it. 
liturgical)  [words]." 
3  Deut   x.wii.  5. 


'  except  the  necessary  and  mystical  (i.  e., 


17 


258 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


cherished  in  regard  to  me  :  yet  it  was  on  her 
part  a  great  undertaking  to  promise  me  to 
God  before  my  birth,  with  no  fear  of  the 
future,  and  to  dedicate  me  immediately  after 
I  Avas  born.  Through  God's  goodness  has  it 
been  that  she  has  not  utterly  failed  in  her 
prayer,  and  that  the  auspicious  sacrifice  was 
not  rejected.  Some  of  these  things  were 
already  in  existence,  others  were  in  the  future, 
growing  up  by  means  of  gradual  additions. 
And  as  the  sun  which  most  pleasantly  casts 
its  morning  rays,  becomes  at  midday  hotter 
and  more  brilliant,  so  also  did  she,  who  from 
the  first  gave  no  slight  evidence  of  piety, 
shine  forth  at  last  with  fuller  light.  Then  in- 
deed he,  who  had  established  her  in  his  house, 
had  at  home  no  slight  spur  to  piety,  possessed, 
by  her  origin  and  descent,  of  the  love  of  God 
and  Christ,  and  having  received  virtue  as  her 
patrimony  ;  not,  as  he  had  been,  cut  out  of 
the  wild  olive  and  grafted  into  the  good  olive, 
yet  unable  to  bear,  in  the  excess  of  her 
faith,  to  be  unequally  yoked  ;  for,  though  sur- 
passing all  others  in  endurance  and  fortitude, 
she  could  not  brook  this,  the  being  but  half 
united  to  God,  because  of  the  estrangement 
of  him  who  was  a  part  of  herself,  and  the  fail- 
ure to  add  to  the  bodily  union,  a  close  con- 
nexion in  the  spirit :  on  this  account,  she  fell 
before  God  night  and  day,  entreating  for  the 
salvation  of  her  head  with  manv  fastings  and 
tears,  and  assiduously  devoting  herself  to  her 
husband,  and  influencing  him  in  many  ways, 
by  means  of  reproaches,  admonitions,  atten- 
tions, estrangements,  and  above  all  by  her 
own  character  with  its  fervour  for  piety,  by 
which  the  soul  is  specially  prevailed  upon  and 
softened,  and  wilHngly  submits  to  virtuous 
pressure.  The  drop**  of  water  constantly 
striking  the  rock  was  destined  to  hollow  it, 
and  at  length  attain  its  longing,  as  the  sequel 
shows. 

12.  These  were  the  objects  of  her  prayers 
and  hopes,  in  the  fervour  of  faith  rather  than 
of  youth.  Indeed,  none  was  as  confident  of 
things  present  as  she  of  things  hoped  for,  from 
her  experience  of  the  generosity  of  God.  For 
the  salvation  of  my  father  there  was  a  concur- 
rence of  the  gradual  conviction  ^  of  his  reason, 
and  the  vision  of  dreams  which  (iod  often  be- 
stows upon  a  soul  worthy  of  salvation.  What 
was  the  vision  ?  This  is  to  me  the  most 
pleasing  part  of  the  story.  He  thought  that 
he  was  singing,  as  he  had  never  done  before, 
though  his  wife  was  frequent  in  her  supplica- 
tions and  prayers,  this  verse  from  the  i)salms 

o  The  drop.    A  familiar  proverb.    Choerilus,  9. 
^  Conviction.     Lit.,  "  healing." 


of  holy  David:  I  was  glad  when  they  said 
unto  me,  we  will  go  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord.**  The  psalm  was  a  strange  one  to  him, 
and  along  with  its  words  the  desire  came  to 
him.  As  soon  as  she  heard  it,  having  thus 
obtained  her  prayer,  she  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity, replying  that  the  vision  would  bring 
the  greatest  pleasure,  if  accompanied  by  its 
fulfilment,  and,  manifesting  by  her  joy  the 
greatness  of  the  benefit,  she  urged  forward  his 
salvation,  before  anything  could  intervene  to 
hinder  the  call,  and  dissipate  the  object  of  her 
longing.  At  that  very  time  it  happened  that 
a  number  of  Bishops  were  hastening  to  Niccca, 
to  oppose  the  madness  of  Arius,  since  the 
wickedness  of  dividing  the  Godhead  had  just 
arisen  ;  so  my  father  yielded  himself  to  God 
and  to  the  heralds  of  the  truth,  and  confessed  his 
i  desire,  and  requested  from  them  the  common 
''  salvation,  one  of  them  being  the  celebrated 
Leontius,  at  that  time  our  own  metropolitan. 
It  would  be  a  great  wrong  to  grace,  were  I 
to  pass  by  in  silence  the  wonder  which  then 
was  bestowed  upon  him  by  grace.  The 
witnesses  of  the  wonder^  are  not  i^w.  The 
teachers  of  accuracy  were  spiritually  at  fault, 
and  the  grace  was  a  forecast  of  the  future,  and 
the  formula  of  the  priesthood  was  mingled 
with  the  admission  of  the  catechumen.  O 
involuntary  initiation  !  bending  his  knee,  he 
received  the  form  of  admi.ssion  to  the  state 
of  a  catechumen  in  such  wise,  that  many,  not 
only  of  the  highest,  but  even  of  the  lowest,  in- 
tellect, prophesied  the  future,  being  assured  by 
no  indistinct  signs  of  what  was  to  be. 

13.  After  a  short  interval,  wonder  succeeded 
wonder.  I  will  commend  the  account  of  it 
to  the  ears  of  the  faithful,  for  to  profane 
minds  nothing  that  is  good  is  trustworthy. 
He  was  apjjroaching  that  regeneration  by 
water  and  the  Spirit,  by  which  we  confess  to 
God  the  formation  and  com])letion  of  the 
Christlike  man,  and  the  transformation  and 
reformation  from  the  earthy  to  the  Spirit. 
He  was  approaching  the  laver  with  warm  de- 
sire and  bright  ho])e,  after  all  the  purgation 
possible,  and  a  far  greater  purification  of  soul 
and  l)ody  than  that  of  the  men  who  were  to 
receive  the  tables  from  Moses.  Their  purifi- 
cation extended  only  to  their  dre.ss,  and  a 
slight  restriction  of  the  belly,  and  a  temporary 
continence. v  The  whole  of  his  past  life  had 
been  a  preparation  for  the  enlightenment,  and 

a  Ps.  cxxii.  I. 

/3  The  ^l•ondcr.  S.  Gregory'  the  elder  ought,  according  fo  the 
rite  of  .admission  to  the  r.inks  of  the  Catechumens,  to  have  re- 
mained scanding.  and  in  that  position  liave  had  his  ears  anointed. 
He  fell  ui>on  his  knees  and  the  Hishop,  in  forgelfulness,  pro- 
nounced over  him  the  form  of  ordination  to  the  Priesthood. 

y  Exod.  xix.  10,  15. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


259 


a  preliminary  purification  making  sure  the 
gift,  in  order  that  perfection  might  be  en- 
trusted to  purity,  and  that  the  blessing  might 
incur  no  risk  in  a  soul  which  was  confident  in 
its  possession  of  the  grace.  And  as  he  was 
ascending  out  of  the  water,  there  flashed 
around  him  a  light  and  a  glory  worthy  of  the 
disposition  with  which  he  approached  the 
gift  of  faith  ;  °-  this  was  manifest  even  to  some 
others,  who  for  the  time  concealed  the  wonder, 
from  fear  of  speaking  of  a  sight  which  each  one 
thought  had  been  only  his  own,  but  shortly 
afterwards  communicated  it  to  one  another. 
To  the  baptiser  ^  and  initiator,  however,  it 
was  so  clear  and  visible,  that  he  could  not 
even  hold  back  the  mystery,  but  publicly  cried 
out  tlmt  he  was  anointing  with  the  Spirit  his 
own  successor. 

14.  Nor  indeed  would  anyone  disbelieve 
this  who  has  heard  and  knows  that  Moses, 
when  little  in  the  eyes  of  men,  and  not  yet  of 
any  account,  was  called  from  the  bush  which 
burned  but  was  not  consumed,  or  rather  by 
Him  who  appeared  in  the  bush,v  and  was  en- 
couraged by  that  first  wonder  :  Moses,  I  say,  for 
whom  the  sea  was  divided,^  and  manna  rained 
down,^  and  the  rock  poured  out  a  fountain,^ 
and  the  pillar  of  fire  and  cloud  led  the  way  in 
turn,  and  the  stretching  out  of  his  hands  gained 
a  victory,  and  the  representation  of  the  cross 
overcame  tens  of  thousands.  Isaiah,  again, 
who  beheld  the  glory  of  the  Seraphim,''  and 
after  him  Jeremiah,  who  was  entrusted  with 
great  power  against  nations  and  kings  ;  ^  the 
one  heard  the  divine  voice  and  was  cleansed 
by  a  live  coal  for  his  prophetic  office,  and  the 
other  was  known  before  his  formation  and 
sanctified  before  his  birth.  Paul,  also,  while 
yet  a  persecutor,  who  became  the  great  herald 
of  the  truth  and  teacher  of  the  Gentiles  in 
faith,'  was  surrounded  by  a  light  *  and  ac- 
knowledged Him  whom  he  was  persecuting, 
and  was  entrusted  with  his  great  ministry, 
and  filled  every  ear  and  mind  with  the  gospel. 

15.  Why  need  I  count  up  all  those  who 
have  been  called  to  Himself  by  God  and  associ- 
ated with  such  wonders  as  confirmed  him  in 
his  piety  ?  Nor  was  it  the  case  that  after  such 
and  so  incredible  and  startling  beginnings,  any 
of  the  former  things  was  put  to  shame  by  his 
subsequent  conduct,    as   happens    with   those 


a  T/ee  gijt  of  fnitk.  One  of  the  questions  in  some  ancient 
rites  of  administerins;  Holy  B.iptism  w.ns,  "What  seekest  thou  of 
the  Church?"  to  which  the  .Tnswer  was  "'  Faith." 

3  The  buptisi-r.  The  Bishop  of  Nazianzus — not  Leontius  of 
Caesarea,  who  had  much  to  do  with  Gregory's  instruction  and  had, 
possibly,  a'lmitted  him  to  the  order  of  Catechumens. 

y  Kxod.  iii.  4.  ^  lb.  xiv.  22.  6  lb.  xvi.  4. 

f  lb.  xvii.  6.  1)  Isai.  vi.  i  et  seq.  0  Jer.  i.  10. 

t  I  Tim.  u.  7  ;  2  Tim.  i.  11.  kAcIs  ix.  3. 


who  very  soon  acquire  a  distaste  for  what  is 
good,  and  so  neglect  all  further  progress,  if 
they  do  not  utterly  relapse  into  vice.  This 
cannot  be  said  of  him,  for  he  was  most  con- 
sistent with  himself  and  his  early  days,  and 
kept  in  harmony  his  life  before  th^  priest- 
hood with  its  e.\cellence,  and  his  life  after  it 
with  what  had  gone  before,  since  it  would 
have  been  unbecoming  to  begin  in  one  way 
and  end  in  another,  or  to  advance  to  a  differ- 
ent end  from  that  which  he  had  in  view  at 
first.  He  was  next  entrusted  with  the  jjriest- 
hood,  not  with  the  facility  and  disorder  of 
the  present  day.  but  after  a  brief  interval,  in 
order  to  add  to  his  own  cleansing  the  skill  and 
power  to  cleanse  others  ;  for  this  is  the  law  of 
spiritual  sequence.  And  when  he  had  been 
entrusted  with  it,  the  grace  was  the  more 
glorified,  being  really  the  grace  of  God,  and 
not  of  men,  and  not,  as  the  preacher"  says,  an 
independent  impulse  and  purpose'^  of  spirit. 

16.  He  received  a  woodland  and  rustic 
church,  the  pastoral  care  and  oversight  of  which 
had  not  been  bestowed  from  a  distance,  but  it 
had  been  cared  for  by  one  of  his  predecessors  of 
admirable  and  angelic  disposition,  and  a  more 
simple  man  than  our  present  rulers  of  the 
people ;  but,  after  he  had  been  speedily  taken 
to  God,  it  had,  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of 
its  leader,  for  the  most  part  grown  careless  and 
run  wild  ;  accordingly,  he  at  first  strove  with- 
out harshness  to  soften  the  habits  of  the 
people,  both  by  words  of  pastoral  knowledge, 
and  by  setting  himself  before  them  as  an  ex- 
ample, like  a  spiritual  statue,  polished  into 
the  beauty  of  all  excellent  conduct.  He  next, 
by  constant  meditation  on  the  divine  words, 
though  a  late  student  of  such  matters,  gathered 
together  so  much  wisdom  within  a  short  time 
that  he  was  in  no  wise  excelled  by  those  who 
had  spent  the  greatest  toil  upon  them,  and  re- 
ceived this  special  grace  from  God,  that  he 
became  the  father  and  teacher  of  orthodoxy 
— not,  like  our  modern  wise  men,  yielding  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  nor  defending  our  faith 
by  indefinite  and  sophistical  language,  as  if 
they  had  no  fixity  of  faith,  or  were  adulterat- 
ing the  truth  ;  but,  he  was  more  pious  than 
those  who  possessed  rhetorical  power,  more 
skilled  in  rhetoric  than  those  who  were  up- 
right in  mind  ;  or  rather,  while  he  took  the 
second  place  as  an  orator,  he  surpassed  all  in 
piety.  He  acknowledged  One  God  worshipped 
in  Trinity,  and  Three,  Who  are  united  in  One 
Godhead;    neither   Sabellianising v  as   to  the 


a  Kccles.  I.   17  ;  Ixx. 

fi  Pur/ioae,  etc.     A.  V.  "  Vexation  of  Spirit."     R.  V.  '•  .Striving 
after  wind."        y  SnbeUianising,  etc.     Cf.  II.  36,  37  (notes). 


26o 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


One,  nor  Arianising  as  to  the  Three;  either 
by  contracting  and  so  atheistically  annihilat- 
ing the  Godhead,  or  by  tearing  It  asunder  by 
distinctions  of  unequal  greatness  or  nature. 
P'or,  seeing  that  Its  every  quality  is  incompre- 
hensible and  beyond  the  power  of  our  intellect, 
how  can  we  either  perceive  or  express  by  defi- 
nition on  such  a  subject,  that  which  is  beyond 
our  ken  ?  How  can  the  immeasurable  be 
measured,  and  the  Godhead  be  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  finite  things,  and  measured  by 
degrees  "  of  greater  or  less  ? 

17.  What  else  must  we  say  of  this  great  man 
of  God,  the  true  Divine,  under  the  influence,  in 
regard  to  these  subjects,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but 
that  through  his  perception  of  these  points,  he, 
like  the  great  Noah,  the  father  of  this  second 
world,  made  this  church  to  be  called  the  new 
Jerusalem,  and  a  second  ark  borne  up  ujjon 
the  waters ;  since  it  both  surmounted  the 
dekige  of  souls,  and  the  insults  of  the  heretics, 
and  excelled  all  others  in  reputation  no  less 
than  it  fell  behind  them  in  numbers;  and  has 
had  the  same  fortune  as  the  sacred  Bethlehem, 
which  can  without  contradiction  be  at  once 
said  to  be  a  little  city  and  the  metropolis  of 
the  world,  since  it  is  the  nurse  and  mother  of 
Christ,  Who  both  made  and  overcame  the 
world. 

18.  To  give  a  proof  of  what  I  say.  When 
a  tumult  of  the  over-zealous  part  of  the  Church 
was  raised  against  us,  and  we  had  been  de- 
coyed by  a  document^  and  artful  terms  into 
association  with  evil,  he  alone  was  believed  to 
have  an  unwounded  mind,  and  a  soul  unstained 
by  ink,  even  when  he  had  been  imposed  upon 
in  his  simplicity,  and  failed  from  his  guileless- 
ness  of  soul  to  be  on  his  guard  against  guile. 
He  it  was  alone,  or  rather  first  of  all,  who  l)y 
his  zeal  for  piety  reconciled  to  himself  and  the 
rest  of  the  church  the  faction  opposed  to  us, 
which  was  the  last  to  leave  us,  the  first  to  re- 
turn, owing  to  both  their  reverence  for  the 
man  and  the  i)urity  of  his  doctrine,  so  that  the 
serious  storm  in  the  churches  was  allayed,  and 
the  hurricane  reduced  to  a  breeze  under  the 
influence  of  his  prayers  and  admonitions; 
while,  if  I  may  make  a  boastful  remark,  I  was 
his  partner  V  in  piety  and  activity,  aiding  him 
in  every  effort  on  behalf  of  what  is  good,  ac- 

a  Degrees.  'I"he  heretics  asscted  that  ihe  F.Tther,  Son  and  Moly 
(Jliost  were  arrani^ed  in  this  order  acc)rdintj  to  a  real  dillerence  in 
rank. 

j3  A  docuini-iit.  lienoit  (I.  p.  179)  gives  reasons  for  believing 
that  this  was  the  rrci-d  of  the  council  of  Anlioch,  A.n.  363 — which 
accepted  the  Creed  of  Nicjea.  hut  explained  it  in  terms  capalile  of 
a  seniiarian  construction.  The  "over  zealous  part"  were  the 
monk*;. 

■y  /\ir>nir.  S.  Gregory  had  a  considerable  share  in  the  ex- 
plinations  vvliich  m  ide  clear  his  father's  real  orthodoxy,  and  re-es- 
tablished peace.  Orat.  vi.  was  pronounced  by  him  on  the  occa- 
sion. 


companying  and  running  beside  him,  and 
being  permitted  on  this  occasion  to  contribute 
a  Very  great  share  of  the  toil.  Here  my  ac- 
count of  these  matters,  which  is  a  little  prema- 
ture, must  come  to  an  end. 

19.  Who  could  enumerate  the  full  tale  of 
his  excellences,  or,  if  he  wished  to  pass  by 
most  of  them,  discover  without  difficulty  what 
can  be  omitted?  For  each  trait,  as  it  occurs 
to  the  mind,  seems  superior  to  what  has  gone 
before ;  it  takes  possession  of  me,  and  I  feel 
more  at  a  lo.ss  to  know  what  I  ought  to  jiass 
by,  than  other  panegyrists  are  as  to  what  they 
ought  to  say.  So  that  the  abundance  of  ma- 
terial is  to  some  extent  a  hindrance  to  me,  and 
my  mind  is  itself  put  to  the  test  in  its  efforts 
to  test  his  qualities,  and  its  inability,  where 
all  are  equal,  to  find  one  which  surpasses  the 
rest.  So  that,  just  as  when  we  see  a  pebble 
falling  into  still  water,  it  becomes  the  centre 
and  starting-point  of  circle  after  circle,  each 
by  its  continuous  agitation  breaking  up  that 
which  lies  outside  of  it ;  this  is  exactly  the  case 
with  myself.  For  as  soon  as  one  thing  enters 
my  mind,  another  follows  and  displaces  it ; 
and  I  am  wearied  out  in  making  a  choice,  as 
what  I  have  already  grasped  is  ever  retiring  in 
favour  of  that  which  follows  in  its  train. 

20.  Who  was  more  a»xious  than  he  for  the 
commonweal?  Who  more  wise  in  domestic 
affairs,  since  God,  who  orders  all  things  in  due 
variation,  assigned  to  him  a  house  and  suita- 
ble fortune  ?  Who  was  more  sympathetic  in 
mind,  more  bounteous  in  hand,  towards  the 
poor,  that  most  dishonoured  portion  of  the 
nature  to  which  equal  honour  is  due  ?  For  he 
actually  treated  his  own  property  as  if  it  were 
another's,  of  which  he  was  but  the  steward,  re- 
lieving poverty  as  far  as  he  could,  and  expend- 
ing not  only  his  superfluities  but  his  necessi- 
ties— a  manifest  proof  of  love  for  the  i)oor, 
giving  a  portion,  not  only  to  seven,  accord- 
ing to  the  injunction  of  Solomon,"  l)ut  if  an 
eighth  came  forward,  not  even  in  his  case  be- 
ing niggardly,  but  more  pleased  to  dispose  of 
his  wealth  than  we  know  others  are  to  actpiire 
it;  taking  away  the  yoke  and  election  (which 
means,  as  I  think,  all  meanness  in  testing  as  to 
whether  the  recipient  is  worthy  or  not)  and 
word  of  murmuring^  in  benevolence.  This 
is  what  most  men  do  :  they  give  indeed,  but 
without  that  readiness,  which  is  a  greater  and 
more  perfect  thing  than  the  mere  offering. 
For  he  thought  it  much  l)etterv  to  be  gener- 
ous even  to  the  undeserving  for  the  sake  of  the 

deserving,  than    from   fear  of  the  undeserving 

— — . ^_ 

a.  Eccles.  xi.  2.  /3  Isai.  Iviii.  9  (I.XX.). 

y  Better.     Clemencet  compares  Dem.  De  Corona. 


ox  THE  DEATH  OF  HI5  FATHER. 


261 


to  deprive  those  who  were  deserving.  And 
this  seems  to  be  the  duty  of  casting  our 
bread  upon  the  waters,"  since  it  will  not  be 
swept  away  or  perish  in  the  eyes  of  the  just 
Investigator,  but  will  arrive  yonder  where  all 
that  is  ours  is  laid  up,  and  will  meet  with  us 
in  due  time,  even  though  we  think  it  not. 

21.  But  what  is  best  and  greatest  of  all,  his 
magnanimity  was  accompanied  by  freedom 
from  ambition.  Its  extent  and  character  I  will 
proceed  to  show.  In  considering  their  wealth 
to  be  common  to  all,  and  in  liberality  in  bestow- 
ing it,  he  and  his  consort  rivalled  each  other 
in  their  struggles  after  excellence ;  but  he  in- 
trusted the  greater  part  of  this  bounty  to  her 
hand,  as  being  a  most  excellent  and  trusty 
steward  of  such  matters.  What  a  woman  she 
is  ?  Not  even  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  or  if  there  be 
a  greater  one,  could  meet  her  drafts  upon  it. 
So  great  and  so  boundless  is  her  love  of  liljer- 
alitv.  In  the  contrary  sense  she  has  rivalled 
the  horse-leech^  of  Solomon,  by  her  insatia- 
ble longing  for  progress,  overcoming  the  ten- 
dency to  backsliding,  and  unable  to  satisfy 
her  zeal  for  benevolence.  She  not  only  con- 
sidered all  the  property  which  they  originally 
poss^sed,  and  what  accrued  to  them  later,  as 
unable  to  suffice  her  own  longing,  but  she 
Avould,  as  I  have  often  heard  her  say,  have 
gladly  sold  herself  and  her  children  into  slavery, 
had  there  been  any  means  of  doing  so,  to  ex- 
pend the  proceeds  upon  the  poor.  Thus  en- 
tirely did  she  give  the  rein  to  her  generosity. 
This  is,  I  imagine,  far  more  convincing  than 
any  instance  of  it  could  be.  Magnanimity  in 
regard  to  money  may  be  found  without  diffi- 
culty in  the  case  of  others,  whether  it  be  dis- 
sipated in  the  public  rivalries  of  the  state,  or 
lent  to  God  through  the  poor,  the  only  mode 
of  treasuring  it  up  for  those  who  spend  it :  but 
it  is  not  easy  to  discover  a  man  who  has  re- 
nounced the  consequent  reputation.  For  it  is 
desire  for  reputation  which  supplies  to  most 
men  their  readiness  to  spend.  And  where  the 
bounty  must  be  secret,  there  the  disposition  to 
it  is  less  keen. 

22.  So  bounteous  was  his  hand — further  de- 
tails I  leave  to  those  who  knew  him,  .so  that 
if  anything  of  the  kind  is  borne  witness  to  in 
regard  to  myself,  it  proceeds  from  that  foun- 
tain, and  is  a  portion  of  that  stream.  Who 
was  more  under  the  Divine  guidance  in  ad- 
mitting men  to  the  sanctuary, t  or  in  resenting 
dishonour  done  to  it,  or  in  cleansing  the  holy 
table  with  awe  from  the  unholy?  Who  with 
such  unbiassed  judgment,  and  with  the  scales 


a  Eccles.  xi.  i. 

7  7'<7  ^ie  Sanctuary,  i.e., 


fi  Prov.  XXX.  15 
To  the  Priesthood. 


of  justice,  either  decided  a  suit,  or  hated  vice, 
or  honoured  virtue,  or  promoted  the  most  ex- 
cellent? Who  was  so  compassionate  for  the 
sinner,  or  sympathetic  towards  those  who  were 
running  well?  Who  better  knew  the  right 
time  for  using  the  rod  and  the  staff,"  yet 
relied  most  upon  the  staff?  Whose  eyes  were 
more  upon  the  faithful  in  the  land,^  espec- 
ially upon  those  who,  in  the  monastic  and  un- 
wedded  life,  have  despised  the  earth  and  the 
things  of  earth  ? 

23.  Who  did  more  to  rebuke  pride  and  fos- 
ter lowliness  ?  And  that  in  no  assumed  or 
external  way,  as  most  of  those  who  now  make 
profession  of  virtue,  and  are  in  appearance  as 
elegant  as  the  most  mindless  women,  who,  for 
lack  of  beauty  of  their  own,  take  refuge  in  pig- 
ments, and  are,  if  I  may  say  so,  splendidly 
made  up,  imcomely  in  their  comeliness,  and 
more  ugly  than  they  originally  were.  For 
his  lowliness  was  no  matter  of  dress,  but  of 
spiritual  disjxjsition  :  nor  was  it  expressed  by 
a  bent  neck,  or  lowered  voice,  or  downcast 
look,  or  length  of  beard,  or  close-shaven  head, 
or  measured  gait,  which  can  be  adopted  for  a 
while,  but  are  very  quickly  exposed,  for  noth- 
ing which  is  affected  can  be  pemianent.  No  ! 
he  was  ever  most  lofty  in  life,  most  lowly  in 
mind ;  inaccessible  in  virtue,  most  accessible 
in  intercourse.  His  dress  had  in  it  nothing 
remarkable,  avoiding  equally  magnificence  and 
sordidness,  while  his  internal  brilhancy  was 
supereminent.  The  disease  and  iasatiability 
of  the  belly,  he,  if  anyone,  held  in  check,  but 
without  ostentation ;  so  that  he  might  be  kept 
down  without  being  puffed  up,  from  having 
encouraged  a  new  vice  by  his  pursuit  of  repu- 
tation. For  he  held  that  doing  and  saying 
everything  by  which  fame  among  externs  might 
be  won,  is  the  characteristic  of  the  politician, 
whose  chief  happiness  is  found  in  the  present 
life :  but  that  the  spiritual  and  Christian  man 
should  look  to  one  object  alone,  his  salvation, 
and  think  much  of  what  may  contribute  to  this, 
but  detest  as  of  no  value  what  does  not ;  and 
accordingly  despise  what  is  visible,  but  be 
occupied  with  interior  perfection  alone,  and 
estimate  most  highly  whatever  promotes  his 
own  improvement,  and  attracts  others  through 
himself  to  that  which  is.  supremely  good. 

24.  But  what  was  most  excellent  and  most 
characteristic,  though  least  generally  recog- 
nized, was  his  simplicity,  and  freedom  from 
guile  and  resentment.  For  among  men  of 
ancient  and  modem  days,  each  is  supposed  to 
have  had  some  special  success,  as  each  chanced 

a  Pa.  xxiii.  5.     Jiod  atid  Staff.  i.e.,  PunLsbmeat  and  support. 
P  Ps.  ci.  6. 


262 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


to  have  received   from    God   some   particular 
virtue:   Job  unconquered  patience  in  mistbrt-  t 
une,"  Moses  ^  and  David  v  meekness,   Samuel  [ 
prophecy,    seeing    into    the     future,*'   Phineas  i 
zeal,*  for  which  he  lias  a  name,  Peter  and  Paul 
eagerness  in  preaching, ^  the  sons  of  Zebedee  ; 
magniloquence,  whence  also  they  were  entitled  1 
Sons  of  thunder.''     But  why  should  I  enumerate  ! 
them  all,  speaking  as  I  do  among  those  who 
know  this?     Now  the  specially  distinguishing 
mark  of  Stephen  and  of  my  father  was  the  ab-  | 
sence  of  malice.      For  not  even  when  in  peril  ' 
did  Stephen  hate  his  assailants,  but  was  stoned 
while  praying  for  those  who  were  stoning  him  ^ 
as  a  discijjle  of  Christ,  on  Whose  behalf  he  was 
allowed  to  suffer,  and  so,  in  his  long-suffering, 
bearing  for  God  a  nobler  fruit  than  his  death  : 
my  father,  in    allowing  no  interval  between 
assault  and  forgiveness,  so  that  he  was  almost 
robbed  of  pain  itself  by  the  speed  of  pardon. 

25.  We  both  believe  in  and  hear  of  the 
dregs '  of  the  anger  of  God,  the  residuum  of 
His  dealings  with  those  who  deserve  it :  For 
the  Lord  is  a  God  of  vengeance."  For  al- 
though He  is  disposed  by  His  kindness  to  gen- 
tleness rather  than  severity,  yet  He  does  not 
absolutely  pardon  sinners,  lest  they  should  be 
made  worse  by  His  goodness.  Yet  my  father 
kept  no  grudge  against  those  who  provoked 
him,  indeed  he  was  absolutely  uninfluenced 
by  anger,  although  in  spiritual  things  exceed- 
ingly overcome  by  zeal :  except  when  he  had 
been  prepared  and  armed  and  set  in  hostile 
array  against  that  which  was  advancing  to  in- 
jure him.  So  that  this  sweet  disposition  of 
his  would  not,  as  the  saying  goes,  have  been 
stirred  by  tens  of  thousands.  For  the  wrath 
which  he  had  was  not  like  that  of  the  serjjcnt,''^ 
smouldering  within,  ready  to  defend  itself, 
eager  to  burst  forth,  and  longing  to  strike 
back  at  once  on  being  disturbed  ;  but  like  the 
sting  of  the  bee,  which  does  not  bring  death 
with  its  stroke  ;  while  his  kindness  was  super- 
human. The  wheel  and  scourge  were  often 
threatened,  and  those  who  could  apply  them 
stood  near ;  and  the  danger  ended  in  being 
])inched  on  the  ear,  patted  on  the  face,  or 
buffeted  on  the  temple  :  thus  he  mitigated  the 
threat.  His  dress  and  sandals  were  dragged 
off,  and  the  scoundrel  was  felled  to  the  ground  : 
then  his  anger  was  directed  not  against  his 
assailant,  but  against  his  eager  succourer,  as  a 
minister  of  evil.  How  could  anyone  be  more 
conclusively  proved  to  be  good,  and  worthy 
to  offer  the  gifts  to  God  ?     For  often,  instead 

o  Job  i.  21.  P  Numb.  xii.  3.  y  Ps.  cxxxii.  j  (LXX.). 

6  1  S.-im.  ix.  9.  e  Numb.  xxxv.  7.  i  Oal.  ii.  7. 

71  S.  Mark  iii.  17.         8  Acts  vii.  59.         t  Pn'^x.     Cf.  Oiat.  xvi.  4. 

K  Ps.  Ixxv.  8  ;  xciv.  i.  A  lb.  Iviii.  4  i^LXX). 


of  being  himself  roused,  he  made  excuses  for 
the  man  who  assailed  him,  blushing  for  his 
faults  as  if  they  had  been  his  own. 

26.  The  dew  would  more  easily  resist  the 
morning  rays  of  the  sun,  than  any  remains  of 
anger  continue  in  him  ;  but  as  soon  as  he 
had  spoken,  his  indignation  departed  with  his 
words,  leaving  behind  only  his  love  for  what 
is  good,  and  never  outlasting  the  sun  ;  nor 
did  he  cherish  anger  which  destroys  even  the 
prudent,  or  show  any  bodily  trace  of  vice 
within,  nay,  even  when  roused,  he  preserved 
calmness.  The  result  of  this  was  most  un- 
usual, not  that  he  was  the  only  one  to  give 
rebuke,  but  the  only  one  to  be  both  loved  and 
admired  by  thoi^e  whom  he  reproved,  from  the 
victory  which  his  goodness  gained  over  warmth 
of  feeling ;  and  it  was  felt  to  be  more  ser- 
viceable to  be  i)unished  by  a  just  man  than 
besmeared  by  a  bad  one,  for  in  one  case  the 
severity  becomes  pleasant  for  its  utility,  in 
the  other  the  kindliness  is  suspected  because 
of  the  evil  of  the  man's  character.  But 
though  his  soul  and  character  were  so  simple 
and  divine,  his  piety  nevertheless  inspired  the 
insolent  with  awe  :  or  rather,  the  cause  of 
their  respect  was  the  simplicity  which  they 
despised.  For  it  was  impossible  to  him  to 
utter  either  prayer  or  curse  without  the  im- 
mediate bestowal  of  permanent  blessing  or 
transient  pain.  The  one  proceeded  from  his 
inmost  soul,  the  other  merely  rested  upon  his 
lips  as  a  paternal  reproof.  Many  indeed  of 
those  who  had  injured  him  incurred  neither 
lingering  requital  nor,  as  the  poet  "  says,  "  ven- 
geance which  dogs  men's  stej  s  ;  "  but  at  the 
very  moment  of  their  passion  they  were  struck 
and  converted,  came  forward,  knelt  before 
him,  and  were  pardoned,  going  away  glo- 
riously vanquished,  and  amended  both  by  the 
chastisement  and  the  forgiveness.  Indeed,  a 
forgiving  spirit  often  has  great  saving  power, 
checking  the  wrongdoer  by  the  sense  of  shame, 
and  bringing  him  back  from  fear  to  love,  a 
far  more  secure  state  of  mind.  In  chastise- 
ment .some  were  tossed  by  oxen  oi)pre.s.sed  by 
the  yoke,  which  suddenly  attacked  them, 
though  they  had  never  done  anything  of  the 
kind  before  ;  others  were  thrown  and  trampled 
upon  by  most  obedient  and  quiet  horses ; 
others  seized  by  intolerable  fevers,  and  appar- 
itions of  their  daring  deeds ;  others  being 
punished  in  different  ways,  and  learning  obe- 
dience from  the  things  which  they  suffered. 

27.      Such    and    so    remarkable     being    his 
gentleness,  did  he  yield  the  palm  to  others  in 

a'The  J>oet.     Pindar. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


263 


industry  and  practical  virtue  ?  By  no  means. 
Gentle  as  he  was,  he  possessed,  if  any  one  did, 
an  energy  corresponding  to  his  gentleness. 
For  although,  for  the  most  part,  the  two  virtues 
of  benevolence  and  severity  are  at  variance  and 
opposed  to  each  other,  the  one  being  gentle 
but  without  practical  cpialities,  the  other  prac- 
tical but  unsympathetic,  in  his  case  there  was 
a  wonderful  combination  of  the  two,  his  action 
being  as  energetic  as  that  of  a  severe  man,  but 
combined  with  gentleness:  while  his  readiness 
to  yield  seemed  unpractical  but  was  accom- 
panied with  energy,  in  his  patronage,  his  free- 
dom of  speech,  and  every  kind  of  official  duty. 
He  united  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  in  regard 
to  evil,  with  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove,  in 
regard  to  good,  neither  allowing  the  wisdom 
to  degenerate  into  knavery,  nor  the  simplic- 
ity into  silliness,  but  as  far  as  in  him  lay,  he 
combined  the  two  in  one  perfect  form  of  vir- 
tue. Such  being  his  birth,  such  his  exercise 
of  the  priestly  office,  such  the  reputation  which 
he  won  at  the  hands  of  all,  what  wonder  if  he 
was  thought  worthy  of  the  miracles  by  which 
God  establishes  true  religion  ? 

28.  One  of  the  wonders  which  concern  him 
was  that  he  suffered  from  sickness  and  bodily 
pain.  But  what  wonder  is  it  for  even  holy 
men  to  be  distressed,  either  for  the  cleansing 
of  their  clay,  slight  though  it  may  be,  or  a 
touchstone  of  virtue  and  test  of  philosophy, 
or  for  the  education  of  the  weaker,  who  learn 
from  their  example  to  be  patient  instead  of 
giving  way  under  their  misfortunes  ?  Well, 
he  was  sick,  the  time  was  the  holy  and  illus- 
trious Easter,  the  queen  of  days,  the  brilliant 
night  which  dissipates  the  darkness  of  sin, 
upon  which  with  abundant  light  we  keep  the 
feast  of  our  salvation,  putting  ourselves  to 
death  along  with  the  Light  once  put  to  death 
for  us,  and  rising  again  with  Him  who  rose. 
This  was  the  time  of  his  sufferings.  Of  what 
kind  they  were,  I  will  briefly  explain.  His 
whole  frame  was  on  fire  with  an  excessive, 
burning  fever,  his  strength  had  failed,  he  was 
unable  to  take  food,  his  sleep  had  departed 
from  him,  he  was  in  the  greatest  distress,  and 
agitated  by  palpitations.  Within  his  mouth, 
the  palate  and  the  whole  of  the  upper  surface 
was  so  completely  and  painfully  ulcerated, 
that  it  was  difficult  and  dangerous  to  swallow 
even  water.  The  skill  of  physicians,  the 
prayers,  most  earnest  though  they  were,  of  his 
friends,  and  every  possible  attention  were  alike 
of  no  avail.  He  himself  in  this  desperate 
condition,  while  his  breath  came  short  and 
fast,  had  no  perception  of  present  things,  but 
was  entirely  absent,  immersed  in  the  objects 


I 


'  he  had  long  desired,  now  made  ready  for  him. 
We  were  in  the  temple,  mingling  supplications 
(  with  the  sacred  rites,  for,  in  despair  of  all 
j  others,  we  had  betaken  ourselves  to  the  Great 
I  Physician,  to  the  power  of  that  night,  and  to 
I  the  last  succour,  with  the  intention,  shall  I 
say,  of  keeping  a  feast,  or  of  mourning  ;  of 
holding  festival,  or  paying  funeral  honours  to 
one  no  longer  here  ?  O  those  tears  !  which 
were  shed  at  that  time  by  all  the  people.  O 
voices,  and  cries,  and  hymns  blended  with  the 
p.salmody  !  From  the  temple  they  sought  the 
priest,  from  the  sacred  rite  the  celebrant,  from 
God  their  worthy  ruler,  with  my  Miriam"  to 
lead  them  and  strike  the  timbrel'^  not  of  tri- 
umph, but  of  supplication  ;  learning  then  for 
the  first  time  to  be  put  to  shame  by  misfortune, 
and  calling  at  once  upon  the  people  and  upon 
God  ;  upon  the  former  to  sympathize  with  her 
distress,  and  to  be  lavish  of  their  tears,  upon 
the  latter,  to  listen  to  her  petitions,  as,  with 
the  inventive  genius  of  suffering,  she  rehearsed 
before  Him  all  His  wonders  of  old  time. 

29.  What  then  was  the  resjjonse  of  Him  who 
was  the  God  of  that  night  and  of  the  sick 
man  ?  A  shudder  comes  over  me  as  I  proceed 
with  my  story.  And  though  you,  my  hearers, 
may  shudder,  do  not  disbelieve :  for  that 
would  be  impious,  when  I  am  the  speaker, 
and  in  reference  to  him.  The  time  of  the 
mystery  was  come,  and  the  reverend  station 
and  order,  when  silence  is  kept  for  the  solemn 
rites ;  and  then  he  was  raised  up  by  Him  who 
quickeneth  the  dead,  and  by  the  holy  night.  ' 
At  first  he  moved  slightly,  then  more  decid- 
edly ;  then  in  a  feeble  and  indistinct  voice  he 
called  by  name  one  of  the  servants  who  was 
in  attendance  upon  him,  and  bade  him  come, 
and  bring  his  clothes,  and  support  him  with 
his  hand.  He  came  in  alarm,  and  gladly 
waited  upon  him,  while  he,  leaning  upon  his 
hand  as  upon  a  staff,  imitates  Moses  upon  the 
mount,  arranges  his  feeble  hands  in  prayer, 
and  in  union  with,  or  on  behalf  of,'>'  his  people 
eagerly  celebrates  the  mysteries,  in  such  few 
words  as  his  strength  allowed,  but,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  with  a  most  perfect  intention.  What 
a  miracle  !  In  the  sanctuary  without  a  sanc- 
tuary, sacrificing  without  an  altar,  a  priest  far 
from  the  sacred  rites  :  yet  all  these  were  pres- 
ent to  him  in  the  power  of  the  spirit,  recog- 
nised by  him,  though  miseen  by  those  who 
were  there.      Then,  after  adding  the  customary 

a  iVfy  Miriam.     S.  Nonna.  /3  Exod.  xv.  so. 

y  On  behalf  of,  or  perhaps  "at  the  head  of."  The  passage 
does  not  mean  that  he  actually  celebrated  the  Holy  Mysteries, 
but  that  he  used  some  of  the  prayers  of  the  service,  and  united 
himself  in  intention  with  the  service  being  at  the  time  performed 
in  the  church,  and  invoked  the  Divine  blessing  upon  his  people  in 
his  absence. 


264 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


words  of  thanksgiving,  and  after  blessing  the 
people,  he  retired  again  to  his  bed,  and  after 
taking  a  little  food,  and  enjoying  a  sleep,  he 
recalled  his  spirit,  and,  his  health  being  grad- 
ually recovered,  on  the  new  day"  of  the  feast, 
as  we  call  the  first  Sunday  after  the  festival  of 
the  Resurrection,  he  entered  the  temple  and 
inaugurated  his  life  which  had  been  preserved, 
with  the  full  complement  of  clergy,  and  offered 
the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving.  To  me  this 
seems  no  less  remarkable  than  the  miracle  in 
the  case  of  Hezekiah,^  who  was  glorified  by 
God  in  his  sickness  and  prayers  with  an  ex- 
tension of  life,  and  this  was  signified  by  the 
return  of  the  shadow  of  the  degrees, v  accord- 
ing to  the  request  of  the  king  who  was  re- 
stored, whom  God  honoured  at  once  by  the 
favour  and  the  sign,  assuring  him  of  the  ex- 
tension of  his  days  by  the  extension  of  the 
day. 

30.  The  same  miracle  occurred  in  the  case 
of  my  mother  not  long  afterwards.  I  do  not 
think  it  would  be  proper  to  pass  by  this 
either:  for  we  shall  both  pay  the  meed  of 
honour  which  is  due  to  her,  if  to  anyone  at 
all,  and  gratify  him,  by  her  being  associated 
with  him  in  our  recital.  She,  who  had  always 
been  strong  and  vigorous  and  free  from  dis- 
ease all  her  life,  was  herself  attacked  by  sick- 
ness. In  consequence  of  much  distress,  not 
to  prolong  my  story,  caused  above  all  by  in- 
ability to  eat,  her  life  was  for  many  days  in 
danger,  and  no  remedy  for  the  disease  could 
be  found.  How  did  God  sustain  her  ?  Not 
by  raining  down  manna,  as  for  Israel  of  old,^ 
or  opening  the  rock,  in  order  to  give  drink 
to  His  thirsting  people,*  or  feasting  her  by 
means  0/ ravens,  as  Elijah,^  or  feeding  her  by 
a  prophet  carried  through  the  air,  as  He  did 
to  Daniel  when  a-hungered  in  the  den.i  But 
how  ?  She  thought  she  saw  me,  who  was 
her  favourite,  for  not  even  in  her  dreams  did 
she  prefer  any  other  of  us,  coming  up  to  her 
suddenly  at  night,  with  a  basket  of  pure 
white  loaves,  which  I  blessed  and  crossed  as  I 
was  wont  to  do,  and  then  fed  and  strength- 
ened her,  and  she  became  stronger.  The 
nocturnal  vision  w^as  a  real  action.  For,  in 
consequence,  she  became  more  herself  and  of 
better  hope,  as  is  manifest  by  a  clear  and 
evident  token.  Next  morning,  when  I  paid 
her  an  early  visit,  1  saw  at  once  that  she  was 
brighter,  and  when  I  asked,  as  usual,  what 
kind   of  a  night  she  had  passed,   and  if  she 


a  The  netn  day.     On  this  feast  (in  another   year)  Orat     xliv. 
WPS  preached.  ^  2  Kings  xx.  i  et  seq.  y  Isai.  xxxviii.  S. 

6  Kxod.  xvi.  74;  xvii.  6.  «  Ps.  Ixxviii    24,  15. 

i  I  Kings  xvii.  6.  1\  Dan.  xiv.  33  (.sc.  Hist,  of  liel.  v.  33). 


wished  for  anything,  she  replied,  "  My  child, 
you  most  readily  and  kindly  fed  me,  and 
then  you  ask  how  I  am.  I  am  very  well  and 
at  ease. ' '  Her  maids  too  made  signs  to  me  to 
offer  no  resistance,  and  to  accept  her  answer 
at  once,  lest  she  should  be  thrown  back  into 
despondency,  if  the  truth  were  laid  bare.  I 
will  add  one  more  instance  common  to  them 
both. 

31.  I  was  on  a  voyage  from  Alexandria  to 
Greece  over  the  Parthenian  Sea.  The  voyage 
was  quite  unseasonable,  undertaken  in  an 
^ginetan  vessel,  under  the  impulse  of  eager 
desire  ;  for  what  specially  induced  me  was  that 
I  had  fallen  in  with  a  crew  who  were  well 
known  to  me.  After  making  some  way  on 
the  voyage,  a  terrible  storm  c:ame  upon  us,  and 
such  an  one  as  my  shipmates  said  they  had 
but  seldom  seen  before.  While  we  were  all 
in  fear  of  a  common  death,  spiritual  death 
was  what  I  was  most  afraid  of;  for  I  was  in 
danger  of  departing  in  misery,  being  un- 
baptised,  and  I  longed  for  the  spiritual  water 
among  the  waters  of  death.  On  this  account 
I  cried  and  begged  and  besought  a  slight  re- 
spite. My  shipmates,  even  in  their  common 
danger,  joined  in  my  cries,  as  not  even  my 
own  relatives  would  have  done,  kindly  souls 
as  they  were,  having  learned  sympathy  from 
their  dangers.  In  this  my  condition,  my 
parents  felt  for  me,  my  danger  having  been 
communicated  to  them  by  a  nightly  vision, 
and  they  aided  me  from  the  land,  soothing 
the  waves  by  prayer,  as  1  after \yards  learned 
by  calculating  the  time,  after  I  had  landed. 
This  was  also  shown  me  in  a  wholesome  sleep, 
of  which  I  had  experience  during  a  slight 
lull  of  the  tempest.  I  seemed  to  be  holding  a 
Fury,  of  fearful  aspect,  boding  danger  \  for 
the  night  presented  her  clearly  to  my  eyes. 
Another  of  my  shipmates,  a  boy  most  kindly 
disposed  and  dear  to  me,  and  exceedingly 
anxious  on  my  behalf,  in  my  then  present 
condition,  thought  he  .saw  my  motlier  walk 
upon  the  sea,  and  seize  and  drag  the  ship  to 
land  with  no  great  exertion.  We  had  confi- 
dence in  the  vision,  for  the  sea  began  to  grow 
calm,  and  we  soon  reached  Rhodes  after  the 
intervention  of  no  great  discomfort.  We  our- 
selves became  an  offering  in  consequence  of 
that  peril ;  for  we  j^romised  ourselves  if  we  w^ere 
saved,  to  God,  and,  when  we  had  been  saved, 
gave  ourselves  to  Him. 

32.  Such  were  their  common  experiences. 
But  I  imagine  that  some  of  those  who  have 
had  an  accurate  knowledge  of  his  life  must 
have  been  for  a  long  while  wondering  why  we 
have  dwelt  upon  these  ])oints,  as  if  we  thought 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


265 


them  his  only  title  to  renown,  and  postponed 
the  mention  of  the  difficulties  of  his  times, 
against  which  he  conspicuously  arrayed  him- 
self, as  though  we  were  either  ignorant  of 
them,  or  thought  them  to  be  of  no  great  con- 
sequence. Come,  then,  we  will  proceed  to 
speak  upon  this  topic.  The  first,  and  I  think  | 
the  last,  evil  of  our  day,  was  the  Emperor  [ 
who  apostatised  from  God  and  from  reason,  | 
and  thought  it  a  small  matter  to  conquer  the  ; 
Persians,  but  a  great  one  to  subject  to  himself  ; 
the  Christians  ;  and  so,  together  with  the 
demons  who  led  and  prevailed  upon  him,  he 
failed  in  no  form  of  impiety,  but  by  means 
of  persuasions,  threats,  and  sophistries,  strove 
to  draw  men  to  him,  and  even  added  to  his 
various  artifices  the  use  of  force.  His  design, 
however,  w^as  exposed,  wdiether  he  strove  to 
conceal  persecution  tmder  sophistical  devices, 
or  manifestly  made  use  of  his  authority — 
namely  by  one  means  or  the  other — either  by 
cozening  or  by  violence,  to  get  us  into  his 
power.  Who  can  be  found  who  more  utterly 
despised  or  defeated  him  ?  One  sign,  among 
many  others,  of  his  contempt,  is  the  mission 
to  our  sacred  buildings  of  the  police  and  their 
commissary,  with  the  intention  of  taking 
either  voluntary  or  forcible  possession  of  them  : 
he  had  attacked  many  others,  and  came  hither 
with  like  intent,  demanding  the  surrender  of 
the  temple  according  to  the  Imperial  decree, 
but  was  so  far  from  succeeding  in  any  of  his 
wishes  that,  had  he  not  speedily  given  way 
before  my  father,  either  from  his  own  good 
sense  or  according  to  some  advice  given  to 
him,  he  would  have  had  to  retire  with  his 
feet  mangled,,  with  such  wrath  and  zeal  did 
the  priest  boil  against  him  in  defence  of  his 
shrine.  And  who  had  a  manifestly  greater 
share  in  bringing  about  his  end,  both  in  pub- 
lic, by  the  prayers  and  united  supplications 
which  he  directed  against  the  accursed  one, 
without  regard  to  the  [dangers  of]  the  time; 
and  in  private,  arraying  against  him  his 
nightly  armoury,  of  sleeping  on  the  ground, 
by  which  ha  wore  away  his  aged  and  tender 
frame,  and  of  tears,  wdth  whose  fountains  he 
watered  the  ground  for  almost  a  wdiole  year, 
directing  these  practices  to  the  Searcher  of 
hearts  alone,  while  he  tried  to  escape  our  no- 
tice, in  his  retiring  piety  of  which  I  have 
spoken.  And  he  would  have  been  utterly  un- 
observed, had  I  not  once  suddenly  rushed  in- 
to his  room,  and  noticing  the  tokens  of  his 
lying  upon  the  ground,  inquired  of  his  atten- 
dants what  they  meant,  and  so  learned  the 
mystery  of  the  night. 

33.   A  further  story  of  the  same  period  and 


the  same  courage.  The  city  of  Cfesarea  was 
in  an  uproar  about  the  election  of  a  bishop  ; 
for  one "  had  just  departed,  and  another 
must  be  found,  amidst  heated  partisanship 
not  easily  to  be  soothed.  For  the  city  was 
naturally  exposed  to  party  spirit,  owing  to 
the  fervour  of  its  faith,  and  the  rivalry  was 
increased  by  the  illustrious  position  of  the 
see.  Such  was  the  state  of  affairs ;  several 
Bishops  had  arrived  to  consecrate  the  Bishop  ; 
the  populace  was  divided  into  several  par- 
ties, each  with  its  own  candidate,  as  is  usual 
in  such  cases,  owing  to  the  influences  of  pri- 
vate friendship  or  devotion  to  God  ;  but  at 
last  the  whole  people  came  to  an  agreement, 
and,  with  the  aid  of  a  band  of  soldiers  at  that 
time  quartered  there,  seized  one  of  ^  their  lead- 
ing citizens,  a  man  of  excellent  life,  but  not 
yet  sealed  with  the  divine  baptism,  brought 
him  against  his  will  to  the  sanctuary,  and  set- 
ting him  before  the  Bishops,  begged,  with 
entreaties  mingled  with  violence,  that  he  might 
be  consecrated  and  proclaimed,  not  in  the 
best  of  order,  but  with  all  sincerity  and  ar- 
dour. Nor  is  it  possible  to  say  whom  time 
pointed  out  as  more  illustrious  and  religious 
than  he  was.  What  then  took  place,  as  the 
result  of  the  uproar  ?  Their  v  resistance  was 
overcome,  they  purified  him,  they  proclaimed 
him,  they  enthroned  him,  by  external  action, 
rather  than  by  spiritual  judgment  and  dispo- 
sition, as  the  sequel  shows.  They  were  glad 
to  retire  and  regain  freedom  of  judgment,  and 
agreed  upon  a  plan — I  do  not  know  that  it  was 
inspired  by  the  Spirit — to  hold  nothing  which 
had  been  done  to  be  valid,  and  the  institution 
to  have  been  void,  pleading  violence  on  the 
part  of  him  who  had  had  no  less  violence  done 
to  himself,  and  laying  hold  of  certain  words 
which  had  been  uttered  on  the  occasion  with 
greater  vigour  than  wisdom.  But  the  great 
high-priest  and  just  examiner  of  actions  was 
not  carried  away  by  this  plan  of  theirs,  and  did 
not  approve  of  their  judgment,  but  remained 
as  uninfluenced  and  immoved  as  if  no  pressure 
at  all  had  been  put  upon  him.  For  he  saw  that, 
the  violence  having  been  common,  if  they 
brought  any  charge  against  him,  they  were 
themselves  liable  to  a  counter-charge,  or,  if 
they  acquitted  him,  they  themselves  might  be 
acquitted,  or  rather  with  still  more  justice,  they 
were  unable  to  secure  their  own  acquittal,  even 
by  acquitting  him  :  for  if  they  were  deserving 
of  excuse,  so  assuredly  was  he,  and  if  he  was 
not,  much  less  were  they  :  for  it  would  have 
been  far  better  to  have  at  the  time  run  the  risk 

a  One,  i.e.  Dianius.  p  One  of.  etc.,  Eusebius. 

•y  Their,  i.e.,  of  the  Bishops. 


266 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


of  resistance  to  the  last  extremity,  than  after- 
wards to  enter  into  designs  against  him,  espe- 
cially at  such  a  juncture,  when  it  was  better  to 
put  an  end  to  existing  enmities  than  to  devise 
new  ones.  For  the  state  of  affairs  was  as  fol- 
lows. 

34.  The  Emperor "  had  come,  raging 
against  the  Christians;  he  was  angry  at  the 
election  and  threatened  the  elect,  and  the  city 
stood  in  imminent  peril  ^  as  to  whether,  after 
that  day  it  should  cease  to  exist,  or  escape  and 
be  treated  with  some  degree  of  mercy.  The 
innovation  in  regard  to  the  election  was  a  new 
ground  of  exasperation,  in  addition  to  the 
destruction  of  the  temple  of  Fortune  in  a  time 
of  prosperity,  and  was  looked  upon  as  an  in- 
vasion of  his  rights.  The  governor  of  the 
province  also  was  eager  to  turn  the  opportun- 
ity to  his  own  account,  and  was  ill  disposed 
to  the  new  bishop,  with  whom  he  had  never 
had  friendly  relations,  in  consequence  of  their 
different  political  views.  Accordingly  he  sent 
letters  to  summon  the  consecrators  to  invali- 
date the  election,  and  in  no  gentle  terms,  for 
they  were  threatened  as  if  by  command  of  the 
Emperor.  Hereupon,  when  the  letter  reached 
him,  without  fear  or  delay,  he  replied — con- 
sider the  courage  and  spirit  of  his  answer — 
"  Most  excellent  governor,  we  have  one  Cen- 
sor of  all  our  actions,  and  one  Emperor, 
against  whom  his  enemies  are  in  arms.  He 
will  review  the  present  consecration,  which  we 
have  legitimately  performed  according  to  His 
will.  In  regard  to  any  other  matter,  you 
may,  if  you  will,  use  violence  with  the  great- 
est ease  against  us.  But  no  one  can  prevent 
us  from  vindicating  the  legitimacy  and  justice 
of  our  action  in  this  case;  unless  you  should 
make  a  law  on  this  point,  you,  who  have  no 
right  to  interfere  in  our  affairs."  This  let- 
ter excited  the  admiration  of  its  recipient, 
although  he  was  for  a  while  annoyed  at  it,  as 
we  have  been  told  by  many  who  know  the 
facts  well.  It  also  stayed  the  action  of  the 
Emperor,  and  delivered  the  city  from  peril, 
and  ourselves,  it  is  not  amiss  to  add,  from 
disgrace.  This  v,as  the  work  of  the  occupant 
of  an  unimportant  and  suffragan  see.  Is  not 
a  presidency  of  this  kind  far  preferable  to  a 
title  derived  from  a  superior  see,  and  a  power 
which  is  based  upon  action  rather  than  upon 
a  name. 

35.  Who  is  so  distant  from  this  world  of 
ours,  as  to  be  ignorant  of  what  is  last  in  order, 
but  the  first  and  greatest  proof  of  his  power  ? 
The  same  city  Avas  again  in   an  uproar  for  the 

o  The  Etuperof.  Jiiiran. 
P  ///  Ninninent  />e>i/,  lit.  ''or.  a  razor's  edge.''     Homer  II.  x.  173. 


same  reason,  in  consequence  of  the  sudden  re- 
moval of  the  Bi.shop  chosen  with  such  honour- 
able violence,  who  had  now  departed  to  God, 
on  Whose  behalf  he  had  nobly  and  bravely 
contended  in  the  persecutions.  The  heat  of 
the  .disturbance  was  in  proportion  to  its  un- 
reasonableness. The  man  of  eminence  was 
not  unknown,  but  was  more  conspicuous  than 
the  sun  amidst  the  stars,  in  the  eyes  not  only 
of  all  others,  but  especially  of  that  select  and 
most  pure  portion  of  the  people,  whose  busi- 
ness is  in  the  sanctuary,  and  the  Nazarites<» 
amongst  us,  to  whom  such  appointments  should, 
if  not  entirely,  as  much  as  possible  belong, 
and  so  the  church  would  be  free  from  harm, 
instead  of  to  the  most  opulent  and  powerful, 
or  the  violent  and  unreasonable  portion  of  the 
people,  and  especially  the  most  corrupt  of 
them.  Indeed,  I  am  almost  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  civil  government  is  more  orderly  than 
ours,  to  which  divine  grace  is  attributed,  and 
that  such  matters  are  better  regulated  by  fear 
than  by  reason.  For  what  man  in  his  senses 
could  ever  have  approached  another,  to  the 
neglect  of  your  divine^  and  sacred  person, 
who  have  been  beautified  by  the  hands  of  the 
Lord,  the  unwedded,  the  destitute  of  property 
and  almost  of  flesh  and  blood,  who  in  your 
words  come  next  to  the  Word  Himself,  who 
are  wise  among  philosophers,  superior  to  the 
world  among  worldlings,  my  companion  and 
workfellow,  and  to  speak  more  daringly,  the 
sharer  with  me  of  a  common  soul,  the  partaker 
of  my  life  and  education.  Would  that  I  could 
speak  at  liberty  and  describe  you  before  others 
without  being  obliged  by  your  presence,  in 
dwelling  upon  such  topics,  to  pass  over  the 
greater  part  of  them,  lest  I  should  incur  the 
suspicion  of  flattery.  But,  as  I  began  by 
saying,  the  Spirit  must  needs  have  known  him 
as  His  own  ;  yet  he  was  the  mark  of  envy,  at 
the  hands  of  those  whom  I  am  ashamed  to 
mention,  and  would  that  it  were  not  possible 
to  hear  their  names  from  others  who  studiously 
ridicule  our  affairs.  Let  us  pass  this  by  like 
a  rock  in  the  midstream  of  a  river,  and  treat 
with  respectful  silence  a  subject  which  ought 
to  be  forgotten,  as  we  pass  on  to  the  remainder 
of  our  subject. 

36.  The  things  of  the  Spirit  were  exactly 
known  to  the  man  of  the  Spirit,  and  he  felt 
that  he  must  take  up  no  submissive  posi- 
tion, nor  side  with  factions  and  i)rejudices 
which  depend  upon  favour  rather  than  upon 
God,  but  must  make  the  advantage  of  the 
Church  and  the  common  salvation  his  sole  ob- 


a  NnzariteSy  i.e.,,  "  the  monk.s." 

/3  Your  cihiiiie,  etc.,  addressed  to  S.  Basil. 


ON  THE  DEATH  OF  HIS  FATHER. 


267 


ject.  Accordingly  he  wrote,  gave  advice, .strove 
to  unite  the  people  and  the  clergy,  whether 
ministering  in  the  sanctuary  or  not,  gave  his 
testimony,  his  decision  and  his  vote,  even  in 
his  absence,  and  assumed,  in  virtue  of  his  gray 
hairs,  the  exercise  of  authority  among  strangers 
no  less  than  among  his  own  flock.  At  last, 
since  it  was  necessary  that  the  consecration 
should  be  canonical,  and  there  was''  lacking 
one  of  the  proper  number  of  Bishops  for  the 
proclamation,  he  tore  himself  from  his  couch, 
exhausted  as  he  was  by  age  and  disease,  and 
manfully  went  to  the  city,  or  rather  was  borne, 
with  his  body  dead  though  just  breathing,  per- 
suaded that,  if  anything  were  to  happen  to 
him,  this  devotion  would  be  a  noble  winding- 
sheet.  Hereupon  once  more  there  was  a 
prodigy,  not  unworthy  of  credit.  He  re- 
ceived strength  from  his  toil,  new  life  from  his 
zeal,  presided  at  the  function,  took  his  place 
in  the  conflict,  enthroned  the  Bishop,  and 
was  conducted  home,  no  longer  borne  upon  a 
bier,  but  in  a  divine  ark.  His  long-suffering, 
over  whose  praises  I  have  already  lingered, 
was  in  this  case  further  exhibited.  For  his 
colleagues  were  annoyed  at  the  shame  of  being 
overcome,  and  at  the  public  influence  of  the 
old  man,  and  allowed  their  annoyance  to 
show  itself  in  abuse  of  him  ;  but  such  was  the 
strength  of  his  endurance  that  he  was  superior 
even  to  this,  finding  in  modesty  a  most  pow- 
erful ally,  and  refusing  to  bandy  abuse  with 
them.  For  he  felt  that  it  would  be  a  terrible 
thing,  after  really  gaining  the  victory,  to  be 
vanquished  by  the  tongue.  In  consequence, 
he  so  won  upon  them  by  his  long-suffering, 
that,  when  time  had  lent  its  aid  to  his  judg- 
ment, they  exchanged  their  annoyance  for  ad- 
miration, and  knelt  before  him  to  ask  his 
pardon,  in  shame  for  their  previous  conduct, 
and  flinging  away  their  hatred,  submitted  to 
him  as  their  patriarch,  lawgiver,  and  judge. 

37.  From  the  same  zeal  proceeded  his  op- 
position to  the  heretics,  when,  with  the  aid  of 
the  Emperor's  impiety,  they  made  their  expe- 
dition, in  the  hope  of  overpowering  us  also, 
and  adding  us  to  the  number  of  the  others 
whom  they  had,  in  almost  all  cases,  succeeded 
in  enslaving.  For  in  this  he  afforded  us  no 
slight  assistance,  both  in  himself,  and  by 
hounding  us  on  like  well-bred  dogs  against 
these  most  savage  beasts,  through  his  training 
in  piety.  On  one  point  I  blame  you  both, 
and  pray  do  not  take  amiss  my  plainspeak- 
ing,  if  I  .should  annoy  you  by  expressing  the 
cause  of  my  pain.      When  I  was  disgusted  at 

a  There  inas  lacking.     The  Council  of  Nicasa  ordered  that  a 
Bishop  should  be  consecrated  by  at  least  three  Bishops. 


the  evils  of  life,  and  longing,  if  anyone  of  our 
day  has  longed,  for  solitude,  and  eager,  as 
speedily  as  possible,  to  escape  to  some  haven  of 
safety,  from  the  surge  and  dust  of  public  life, 
it  was  you  who,  somehow  or  other  seized  and 
gave  me  up  by  the  nol)le  title  of  the  priest- 
hood to  this  base  and  treacherous  mart  of 
souls.  In  consequence,  evils  have  already  be- 
fallen me,  and  others  are  yet  to  be  antici- 
pated. For  past  experience  renders  a  man 
somewhat  distrustful  of  the  future,  in  spite  of 
the  better  suggestions  of  reason  to  the  con- 
trary. 

38.  Another  of  his  excellences  I  must  not 
leave  unnoticed.  In  general,  he  was  a  man  of 
great  endurance,  and  superior  to  his  robe  of 
flesh  :  but  during  the  pain  of  his  last  sickness,  a 
serious  addition  to  the  risks  and  burdens  of  old 
age,  his  weakness  was  common  to  him  and  all 
other  men ;  but  this  fitting  sequel  to  the  other 
marvels,  so  far  from  being  common,  was  pe- 
culiarly his  own.  He  was  at  no  time  free 
from  the  anguish  of  pain,  but  often  in  the  day, 
sometimes  in  the  hour,  his  only  relief  was  the 
liturgy,  to  which  the  pain  yielded,  as  if  to  an 
edict  of  banishment.  At  last,  after  a  life  of 
almost  a  hundred  years,  exceeding  David's 
limit  of  our  age,"  forty-five  of  these,  the  aver- 
age life  of  man,  having  been  spent  in  the 
priesthood,  he  brought  it  to  a  close  in  a  good 
old  age.  And  in  what  manner?  With  the 
words  and  forms  of  jjrayer,  leaving  behind  no 
trace  of  vice,  and  many  recollections  of  virtue. 
The  reverence  felt  for  him  was  thus  greater 
than  falls  to  the  lot  of  man,  both  on  the  lips 
and  in  the  hearts  of  all.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  find 
anyone  who  recollects  him,  and  does  not,  as 
the  Scripture  says,  lay  his  hand  upon  his 
mouth  ^  and  salute  his  memory.  Such  was  his 
life,  and  such  its  completion  and  perfection. 

39.  And  since  some  living  memorial  of  his 
munificence  ought  to  be  left  behind,  what 
other  is  required  than  this  temple,  which  he 
reared  for  God  and  for  us,  with  very  little  con- 
tribution from  the  people  in  addition  to  the 
expenditure  of  his  private  fortune?  An  ex- 
ploit which  should  not  be  buried  in  silence, 
since  in  size  it  is  superior  to  most  others,  in 
beauty  absolutely  to  all.  It  surrounds  itself 
with  eight  regular  equilaterals,  and  is  raised 
aloft  by  the  beauty  of  two  stories  of  pillars 
and  porticos,  while  the  statues  placed  upon 
them  are  true  to  the  life  ;  its  vault  flashes  down 
upon  us  from  above,  and  it  dazzles  our  eyes 
with  abundant  sources  of  light  on  every  side, 
being  indeed  the  dwelling-place  of  light.      It 


a  P  s.  xc.  10. 


^  Job  xl.  4. 


268 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


is  surrounded  by  excrescent  equiangular  am- 
bulatories of  most  splendid  material,  with  a 
wide  area  in  the  midst,  while  its  doors  and 
vestibules  shed  around  it  the  lustre  of  their 
gracefulness,  and  offer  from  a  distance  their 
welcome  to  those  who  are  drawing  nigh.  I 
have  not  yet  mentioned  the  external  ornament, 
the  beauty  and  size  of  the  squared  and  dove- 
tailed stonework,  whether  it  be  of  marble  in 
the  bases  and  capitals,  which  divide  the  angles, 
or  from  our  own  quarries,  which  are  in  no 
wise  inferior  to  those  abroad  ;  nor  of  the  belts 
of  many  shapes  and  colours,  projecting  or  in- 
laid from  the  foundation  to  the  roof-tree,  which 
robs  the  spectator  by  limiting  his  view.  How 
could  anyone  with  due  brevity  describe  a  work 
which  cost  so  much  time  and  toil  and  skill  : 
or  will  it  suffice  to  say  that  amid  all  the  works, 
private  and  public,  which  adorn  other  cities, 
this  has  of  itself  been  able  to  secure  us  celebrity 
among  the  majority  of  mankind  ?  When  for 
such  a  temple  a  priest  was  needed,  he  also 
at  his  own  expense  provided  one,  whether 
worthy  of  the  temple  or  no,  it  is  not  for  me 
to  say.  And  when  sacrifices  were  required, 
he  supplied  them  also,  in  the  misfortunes  of 
his  son,  and  his  patience  under  trials,  that  God 
miglit  receive  at  his  hands  a  reasonable  whole  ; 
burnt  offering  and  spiritual  priesthood,  to  be 
honourably  consumed,  instead  of  the  sacrifice 
of  the  Law.  ! 

40.   What  sayest  thou,  my  father?     Is  this  ; 
sufficient,  and  dost  thou  find  an  ample  recom-  i 
pense  for  all  thy  toils,  which  thou  didst  under-  1 
go  for  my  learning,  in  this  eulogy  of  farewell 
or  of  entombment  ?     And  dost  thou,  as  of  old,  1 
impose  silence  on  my  tongue,  and  bid  me  stop 
in  due  time,  and  so  avoid  excess  ?     Or  dost 
tliou   require  some   addition?      I   know  thou 
bidst  me  cease,  for  I  have  said  enough.     Yet  : 
suffer  me  to  add   this.      Make   known  to  us 
where  thou  art  in  glory,  and  the  light  which 
encircles  thee,  and  receive  into  the  same  abode 
thy  partner  soon  to  follow  thee,  and  the  chil- 
dren   whom    thou    hadst    laid    to   rest   before 
thee,  and  me  also,  after  no  fiirther,  or  but  a 
slight  addition  to  the  ills  of  this  life:  and  be- 
fore  reaching   that  abode  receive  me  in  this 
sweet  stone,"  which  thou  didst  erect  for  Ijoth 
of  us,  to  the  honour  even  here  of  thy  conse- 
crated namesake,  and  excuse  me  from  the  care 
both  of  the  people  which  I  have  already  re- 
signed,^ and  of  that  which  for  thy  sake  1  have 
since  accepted  :   and  mayest  thou   guide  and 
free    from    peril,    as  I   earnestly  entreat,    the 


a  Stone,  i.e..  the  tomb  in  which  his  father  was  buried. 
^  ll'/tich  I  have  resigned^  i.e.,  Sasima.  Accepted^  i.e.,  Nazian- 
zus. 


whole  flock  and  all  the  clergy,  whose  father' 
thou  art  said  to  be,  but  especially  him   who 
was  overpowered  by  thy  paternal  and  spiritual 
coercion,  so  that  he  may  not  entirely  consider 
that  act  of  tyranny  obnoxious  to  blame. 

41.  And  what  do  you  think  of  us,  O  judge 
of  my  words  and  motions  ?  If  we  have  spoken 
adequately,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  your 
desire,  confirm  it  by  your  decision,  and  we 
accept  it  :  for  your  clecision  is  entirely  the  de- 
cision of  God.  But  if  it  falls  far  short  of  his 
glory  and  of  your  hope,  my  ally  is  not  far  to 
seek.  Let  fall  thy  voice,  which  is  awaited  by 
his  merits  like  a  seasonable  shower.  And  in- 
deed he  has  upon  you  the  highest  claims,  those 
of  a  pastor  upon  a  pastor  and  of  a  father  upon 
his  son  in  grace.  What  wonder  if  he,  who 
has  *  through  your  voice  thundered  throughout 
the  world,  should  himself  have  some  enjoy- 
ment of  it  ?  What  more  is  needed  ?  Only  to 
unite  with  our  spiritual  Sarah,  the  consort  and 
fellow-traveller  through  life  of  our  great  father 
Abraham,  in  the  last  Christian  offices. 

42.  The  nature  of  God,  my  mother,  is  not 
the  same  as  that  of  men ;  indeed,  to  speak  gener- 
ally, the  nature  of  divine  things  is  not  the  same 
as  that  of  earthly  things.  They  possess  un- 
changeableness  and  immortality,  and  absolute 
being  with  its  consequences,  for  sure  are  the 
properties  of  things  sure.  But  how  is  it  with 
what  is  ours  ?  It  is  in  a  state  of  flux  and  cor- 
ruption, constantly  undergoing  some  fresh 
change.  Life  and  death,  as  they  are  called, 
apparently  so  different,  are  in  a  sense  resolved 
into,  and  successive  to,  each  other.  For  the 
one  takes  its  rise  from  the  corruption  which  is 
our  mother,  runs  its  course  through  the  corrup- 
tion Avhich  is  the  displacement  of  all  that  is 
present,  and  comes  to  an  end  in  the  corruption 
which  is  the  dis.solution  of  this  life  ;  while  the 
other,  which  is  able  to  set  us  free  from  the  ills 
of  this  life,  and  oftentimes  translates  us  to  the 
life  above,  is  not  in  my  opinion  accurately 
called  death,  and  is  more  dreadful  in  name 
than  in  reality  ;  so  that  we  are  in  danger  of 
irrationally  being  afraid  of  what  is  not  fearfiil, 
and  courting  as  preierable  what  we  really  ought 
to  fear.  There  is  one  life,  to  look  to  life. 
There  is  one  death,  sin,  for  it  is  tlie  destruc- 
tion of  the  soul.  But  all  else,  of  which  some 
are  proud,  is  a  dream-vision,  making  sport  of 
realities,  and  a  series  of  phantasms  which  lead 
the  soul  astray.  If  this  be  our  condition, 
motlier,  w€  shall  neither  be  proud  of  life,  nor 
greatly  hurt  by  death.  What  grievance  can 
we  find  in  being  transferred  hence  to  the  true 

a  He  i«ho  has.     S.  Oregory  the  elder  was  the  principal  mover 
in  .S.  Hasil's  election  and  consecration. 


ON   THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS. 


269 


life  ?  In  being  freed  from  the  vicissitudes,  the 
agitation,  the  disgust,  and  all  the  vile  tribute 
we  must  pay  to  this  life, ^to  find  ourselves,  amid 
stable  things,  which  know  no  flux,' while  as 
lesser  lights,  we  circle  round  the  great  light  ?  "• 
43.  Does  the  sense  of  separation  cause  you 
pain  ?  Let  hope  cheer  you.  Is  widowhood 
grievous  to  you  ?  Yet  it  is  not  so  to  him. 
And  what  is  the  good  of  love,  if  it  gives  itself 
easy  things,  and  assigns  the  more  difficult  to  its 
neighbour?  And  why  should  it  be  grievous  at 
all,  to  one  who  is  soon  to  pass  away  ?  The  ap- 
pointed day  is  at  hand,  the  pain  will  not  last 
long.  Let  us  not,  by  ignoble  reasonings,  make 
a  burden  of  things  which  are  really  light. 
We  have  endured  a  great  loss — because  the 
privilege  we  enjoyed  was  great.  Loss  is  com- 
mon to  all,  such  a  privilege  to  few.  Let  us 
rise  superior  to  the  one  thought  by  the  con- 
solation of  the  other.  For  it  is  more  rea.son- 
able,  that  that  which  is  better  should  win 
the  day.  You  have  borne,  in  a  most  brave, 
Christian  spirit,  the  loss  of  children,  who  were 
still  in  their  prime  and  qualified  for  life  ;  bear 
also  the  laying  aside  of  his  aged  body  by  one 
who  was  weary  of  life,  although  his  vigor  of 
mind  preserved  for  him  his  senses  unimpaired. 
Do  you  want  some  one  to  care  for  you  ?  Where 
is  your  Isaac,  whom  he  left  behind  for  you,  to 
take  his  place  in  all  respects  ?  Ask  of  him  small 
things,  the  support  of  his  hand  and  service, 
and  requite  him  with  greater  things,  a  mother's 
blessing  and  prayers,  and  the  consequent  free- 
dom. Are  you  vexed  at  being  admonished  ? 
I  praise  you  for  it.  For  you  have  admonished 
many  whom  your  long  life  has  brought  under 
your  notice.  What  I  have  said  can  have  no 
application  to  you,  who  are  so  truly  wise ;  but 
let  it  be  a  general  medicine  of  consolation  for 
mourners,  so  that  they  may  know  that  they 
are  mortals  following  mortals  to  the  grave. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    ORATION   XXI. 

On    the    Great    Athanasius,  Bishop    of 
Alexandria. 

The  reference  in  §  2  2  to  "  the  Council 
which  sat  first  at  Seleucia  .  .  ..  and  afterwards 
at  this  mighty  city,"  leaves  no  room  for  doubt- 
ing that  the  Oration  was  delivered  at  Constan- 
tinople. Further  local  colour  is  found  in  the 
allusions  of  §  5.  We  are  assured  by  the  pane- 
gyric on  S.  Cyprian  (Orat.  xxiv.  i)  that  it 
was  already  the  custom  of  the  Church  of  Con- 
stantinople to  observe  annual  festivals  in  hon- 

a  Gen.  i.  16. 


our  of  the  Saints  :  and  at  present  two  days  are 
kept  by  the  Eastern  Church,  viz.,  Jan.  i8th, 
as  the  day  of  the  actual  death  of  S.  Athana- 
sius, and  May  2d,  in  memory  of  the  translation 
of  his  remains  to  the  church  of  S.  Sophia 
at  Constantinople.  Probably,  therefore,  this 
Oration  was  delivered  on  the  former  day,  on 
which  Assemani  holds  that  S.  Athanasius  died. 
Papebroke  and  (with  some  hesitation)  Dr. 
Bright  pronounce  in  favour  of  May  2d.  Tille- 
mont  supposes  that  a.d.  379  is  the  year  of  its 
delivery  ;  in  which  case  it  must  have  been  very 
shortly  after  S.  Gregory's  arrival  in  the  city. 
Since,  however,  no  allusion  is  made  to  this,  it 
seems,  on  the  whole,  more  likely  that  it  should 
be  assigned  to  a.d.  380.  The  sermon  takes 
high  rank,  even  among  S.  Gregory's  discourses, 
as  the  model  of  an  ecclesiastical  panegyric. 
It  lacks,  however,  the  charm  of  personal  affec- 
tion and  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  inner 
life,  which  is  characteristic  of  the  orations  con- 
cerned with  his  own  relatives  and  friends. 

Oration. 

I.  In  praising  Athanasius,  I  shall  be  prais- 
ing virtue.  To  speak  of  him  and  to  praise 
virtue  are  identical,  because  he  had,  or,  to 
speak  more  truly,  has  embraced  virtue  in  its 
entirety.  For  all  who  have  lived  according 
to  God  still  live  unto  God,  though  they  have 
departed  hence.  For  this  reason,  God  is 
calbd  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob, 
since  He  is  the  God,  not  of  the  dead,  but  of 
the  living.'^  Again,  in  praising  virtue,  I  shall 
be  praising  God,  who  gives  virtue  to  men 
and  lifts  them  up,  or  lifts  them  up  again,  to 
Himself  by  the  enlightenment  ^hich  is  akin  to 
Himself^  For  many  and  great  as  are  our  bless- 
ings— none  can  say  how  many  and  how  great 
— which  we  have  and  shall  have  from  God, 
this  is  the  greatest  and  kindliest  of  all,  our  in- 
clination and  relationship  to  Him.  For  God 
is  to  intelligible  things  what  the  sun  is  to  the 
things  of  sense.  The  one  lightens  the  visible, 
the  other  the  invisible,  world.  The  one  makes 
our  bodily  eyes  to  see  the  sun,  the  other  makes 
our  intellectual  natures  to  see  God.  And,  as 
that,  which  bestows  on  the  things  which  see 
and  are  seen  the  power  of  seeing  and  being 
seen,  is  itself  the  most  beautiful  of  visible 
things  ;  so  God,  who  creates,  for  those  who 
think,  and  that  which  is  thought  of,  the  power 
of  thinking  and  being  thought  of,  is  Him- 
self the  highest  of  the  objects  of  thought,  in 
Whom  every  desire  finds  its  bourne,  beyond 

a  S.  Matt.  xxii.  32.        /3  i  John  i.  5. 


270 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Whom  it  can  no  further  go.  For  not  even 
the  most  philosophic,  the  most  piercing,  the 
most  curious  intellect  has,  or  can  ever  have, 
a  more  exalted  object.  For  this  is  the  utmost 
of  things  desirable,  and  they  who  arrive  at 
it  find  an  entire  rest  from  speculation. 

2.  Whoever  has  been  permitted  to  escape 
by  reason  and  contemplation  from  matter  and 
this  fleshly  cloud  or  veil  (whichever  it  should 
be  called)  and  to  hold  communion  with  God, 
and  be  associated,  as  far  as  man's  nature  can 
attain,  with  the  purest  Light,  blessed  is  he, 
both  from  his  ascent  from  hence,  and  for  his 
deification  there,  which  is  conferred  by  true 
philosophy,  and  by  rising  superior  to  the  dual- 
ism of  matter,  through  the  unity  which  is  per- 
ceived in  the  Trinity.  And  whosoever  has 
been  depraved  by  being  knit  to  the  flesh,  and 
so  far  oppressed  by  the  clay  that  he  cannot 
look  at  the  rays  of  truth,  nor  rise  above  things 
below,  though  he  is  born  from  above,  and 
called  to  things  above,  I  hold  him  to  be  mis- 
erable in  his  blindness,  even  though  he  may 
abound  in  things  of  this  world  ;  and  all  the 
more,  because  he  is  the  sport  of  his  abundance, 
and  is  persuaded  by  it  that  something  else  is 
beautiful  instead  of  that  which  is  really  beauti- 
ful, reaping,  as  the  poor  fruit  of  his  poor  opin- 
ion, the  sentence  of  darkness,  or  the  seeing 
Him  to  be  fire,  Whom  he  did  not  recognize 
as  light. 

3.  Such  has  been  the  philosophy  of  few, 
both  nowadays  and  of  old — for  kw  are  the  men 
of  God,  though  all  are  His  handiwork, — among 
lawgivers,  generals,  priests,  Prophets,  Evange- 
lists, Apostles,  shepherds,  teachers,  and  all  the 
spiritual  host  and  band — and,  among  them  all, 
of  him  whom  now  we  praise.  And  whom  do 
I  mean  by  these  ?  Men  like  Enoch,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  the  twelve  Patriarchs, 
Moses,  Aaron,  Joshua,  the  Judges,  Samuel, 
David,  to  some  extent  Solomon,  Elijah,  Elisha, 
the  Prophets  before  the  captivity,  those  after 
the  captivity,  and,  though  last  in  order,  first 
in  truth,  those  who  were  concerned  with  Christ's 
Incarnation  or  taking  of  our  nature,  the  lamp* 
before  the  Light,  the  voice  before  the  Word, 
the  mediator  before  the  Mediator,  the  mediator 
between  the  old  covenant  and  the  new,  the 
famous  John,  the  disciples  of  Christ,  those  after 
Christ,  who  were  set  over  the  people,  or  illus- 
trious in  word,  or  cons])icuous  for  miracles,  or 
made  perfect  through  their  blood. 

4.  With  some  of  these  Athanasius  vied,  by 
some  he  was  slightly  excelled,  and  others,  if  it  is 
not  bold  to  say  so,  he  surpassed  :  some  he  made 

o  S.  John  I,  23 ;  v.  35. 


his  models  in  mental  power,  others  in  activity, 
others  in  meekness,  others  in  zeal,  others  in 
dangers,  others  in  most  respects,  others  in  all. 
gathering  from  one  and  another  various  forms 
of  beauty  (like  men  who  paint  figures  of  ideal 
excellence),  and  combining  them  in  his  single 
soul,  he  made  one  perfect  form  of  virtue  out  of 
all,  excelling  in  action  men  of  intellectual  ca- 
pacity, in  intellect  men  of  action ;  or,  if  you 
will,  surpassing  in  intellect  men  renowned  for 
intellect,  in  action  those  of  the  greatest  active 
power  ;  outstripping  those  who  had  moderate 
rejKitation  in  both  respects,  by  his  eminence  in 
either,  and  those  who  stood  highest  in  one  or 
other,  by  his  powers  in  both ;  and,  if  it  is  a  great 
thing  for  those  who  have  received  an  example, 
so  to  use  it  as  to  attach  themselves  to  virtue, 
he  has  no  inferior  title  to  fame,  who  for  our 
advantage  has  set  an  example  to  those  who 
come  after  him. 

5.  To  speak  of  and  admire  him  fully,  would 
perhaps  be  too  long  a  task  for  the  present  pur- 
pose of  my  discourse,  and  would  take  the  form 
of  a  history  rather  than  of  a  panegyric :  a  history 
which  it  has  been  the  object  of  my  desires  to 
commit  to  writing  for  the  pleasure  and  instruc- 
tion of  posterity,  as  he  himself  wrote  the  life  of 
the  divine  Antony,"  and  set  forth,  in  the  form 
of  a  narrative,  the  laws  of  the  monastic  life. 
Accordingly,  after  entering  into  a  i'ew  of  the 
many  details  of  his  history,  such  as  memory 
suggests  at  the  moment  as  most  noteworthy,  in 
order  both  to  satisfy  my  own  longing  and  ful- 
fil the  duty  which  befits  the  festival,  we  will 
leave  the  many  others  to  those  who  know  them. 
For  indeed,  it  is  neither  pious  nor  safe,  while 
the  lives  of  the  ungodly  are  honoured  by  recol- 
lection, to  pass  by  in  silence  those  who  have 
lived  piously,  especially  in  a  city  which  could 
hardly  be  saved  by  many  examples  of  virtue, 
making  sport,  as  it  does,  of  Divine  things,  no 
less  than  of  the  horse-race  and  the  theatre. 

6.  He  was  brought  up,  from  the  first,  in  re- 
ligious habits  and  practices,  after  a  brief  study 
of  literature  and  ])hilosophy,  so  that  he  might 
not  be  utterly  unskilled  in  such  subjects,  or  ig- 
norant of  matters  which  he  had  determined  to 
despise.  For  his  generous  and  eager  soul 
could  not  brook  being  occupied  in  vanities, 
like  unskilled  athletes,  who  beat  the  air  in- 
stead of  their  antagonists  and  lose  the  prize. 
From  meditating  on  every  book  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament,  with  a  depth  such  as  none 
else  has  applied  even  to  one  of  them,  he  grew 


a.  Antuny,  "  the  founder  of  asceticism,"  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  monks  and  hermits  of  the  Thebaid  desert.  His  Hfe  by  S. 
Athanasius  is  certainly  genuine,  and  even  if,  as  some  suspect,  in- 
terpolations have  been  inserted,  its  sidistantial  integrity  is  un- 
doubted.   (Newman,  Ch.  of  the  Fathers,  p.  176.) 


ON   THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS 


271 


rich  in  contemplation,  rich  in  splendour  of 
life,  combining  them  in  wondrous  sort  by  that 
golden  bond  which  few  can  weave;  using  life 
as  the  guide  of  contemplation,  contemplation 
as  the  seal  of  life.  For  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is 
.  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and,  so  to  say,  its 
first  swathing  band ;  but,  when  wisdom  has 
burst  the  bonds  of  fear  and  risen  up  to  love,  it 
makes  us  friends  of  God,  and  sons  instead  of 
bondsmen. 

7.  Thus  brought  up  and  trained,  as  even 
now  those  should  be  who  are  to  preside  over 
the  people,  and  take  the  direction  of  the 
mighty  body  of  Christ,"  according  to  the  will 
and  foreknowledge  of  God,  which  lays  long 
before  the  foundations  of  great  deeds,  he  was 
invested  with  this  important  ministry,  and 
made  one  of  those  who  draw  near  to  the  God 
Who  draws  near  to  us,  and  deemed  worthy  of 
the  holy  office  and  rank,  and,  after  passing 
through  the  entii-e  series  of  orders,  he  was  (to 
make  my  story  short)  entrusted  with  the  chief 
rule  over  the  people,  in  other  words,  the  charge 
of  the  whole  world  :  nor  can  I  say  whether  he 
received  the  priesthood  as  the  reward  of  virtue, 
or  to  be  the  fountain  and  life  of  the  Church. 
For  she,  like  Lshmael,^  fainting  from  her  thirst 
for  the  truth,  needed  to  be  given  to  drink,  or, 
like  Elijah, V  to  be  refreshed  from  the  brook, 
when  the  land  was  parched  by  drought ;  and, 
when  but  faintly  breathing,  to  be  restored  to 
life  and  left  as  a  seed  to  Israel,^  that  we  might 
not  become  like  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,* 
whose  destruction  by  the  rain  of  fire  and 
brimstone  is  only  more  notorious  than  their 
wickedness.  Therefore,  when  we  were  cast 
down,  a  horn  of  salvation  was  raised  up  for  us,^ 
and  a  chief  corner  stone,''  knitting  us  to  itself 
and  to  one  another,  was  laid  in  due  sea.son,  or 
a  fire^  to  purify  our  base  and  evil  matter,'  or  a 
farmer's  fan"  to  winnow  the  light  from  the 
weighty  in  doctrine,  or  a  sword  to  cut  out  the 
roots  of  wickedness ;  and  so  the  Word  finds 
him  as  his  own  ally,  and  the  Spirit  takes  pos- 
session of  one  who  will  breathe  on  His  behalf. 

8.  Thus,  and  for  these  reasons,  by  the  vote 
of  the  whole  people,  not  in  the  evil  fashion 
which  has  since  prevailed,  nor  by  means  of 
bloodshed  and  oppression,  but  in  an  apostolic 
and  spiritual  manner,  he  is  led  up  to  the  throne  ^ 
of  Saint  Mark,  to  succeed  him  in  piety,  no 
less  than  in  office  ;  in  the  latter  indeed  at  a 
great  distance  from  him,  in  the  former,  which 


a  Body  nf  Christ,  i.e.,  the  Church,  His  mystical  body. 
^  Gen.  xxi.  19.  y  i  Kings  xvii.  4.  5  Isai.  i.  g. 

6  Gen.  xix.  24.  C,  S.  Ijuke  i.  6g.  rj  Isai.  xxviii.  16. 

0  Mai.  iii.  2,  3.  t  I  Cor.  iii.  13,  15.  k  S.  Matt,  iii    12. 

\  The  throne,  etc.,   as  Patriarch  of  Alexandria.     The  date  of 
his  consecratiDn  is  A.u.  326. 


is  the  genuine  right  of  succession,  following 
him  closely.  For  unity  in  doctrine  deserves 
unity  in  office  ;  and  a  rival  teacher  sets  up  a 
rival  throne  ;  the  one  is  a  successor  in  reality, 
the  other  but  in  name.  For  it  is  not  the  in- 
truder, but  he  whose  rights  are  intruded  upon, 
who  is  the  successor,  not  the  lawbreaker,  but 
the  lawfully  appointed,  not  the  man  of  con- 
trary opinions,  but  the  man  of  the  same  faith  ; 
if  this  is  not  what  we  mean  by  successor,  he 
succeeds  in  the  same  sense  as  disease  to  health', 
darkness  to  light,  storm  to  calm,  and  frenzy 
to  sound  sense. 

9.  The  duties  of  his  office  he  discharged  in 
the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  he  had  been 
preferred  to  it.  For  he  did  not  at  once,  after 
taking  pos.session  of  his  throne,  like  men  who 
have  unexpectedly  seized  upon  some  sovereignty 
or  inheritance,  grow  insolent  from  intoxication. 
This  is  the  conduct  of  illegitimate  and  intru- 
sive priests,  who  are  unworthy  of  their  voca- 
tion ;  whose  preparation  for  the  priesthood 
has  cost  them  nothing,  who  have  endured  no 
inconvenience  for  the  sake  of  virtue,  who  only 
begin  to  study  religion  when  appointed  to 
teach  it,  and  undertake  the  cleansing  of  others 
before  being  cleansed  themselves  ;  yesterday 
sacrilegious,  to-day  sacerdotal ;  yesterday  ex- 
cluded from  the  sanctuary,"^  to-day  its  offici- 
ants ;  proficient  in  vice,  novices  in  piety  ;  the 
product  of  the  favour  of  man,  not  of  the  grace  of 
the  Spirit ;  who,  having  run  through  the  whole 
gamut  of  violence,  at  last  tyrannize  over  even 
piety  ;  who,  instead  of  gaining  credit  for  their 
office  by  their  character,  need  for  their  char- 
acter the  credit  of  their  office,  thus  .subverting 
the  due  relation  between  them  ;  who  ought  to 
offer  more  sacrifices  ^  for  themselves  than  for 
the  ignorances  of  the  people  ;  v  who  inevitably 
fall  into  one  of  two  errors,  either,  from  their 
own  need  of  indulgence,  being  excessively  in- 
dulgent, and  so  even  teaching,  instead  of 
checking,  vice,  or  cloaking  their  own  sins  un- 
der the  harshness  of  their  rule.  Both  these 
extremes  he  avoided  ;  he  was  sublime  in  action, 
lowly  in  mind  ;  inaccessible  in  virtue,  most 
accessible  in  intercourse;  gentle,  free  from 
anger,  sympathetic,  sweet  in  words,  sweeter  in 
disposition  ;  angelic  in  appearance,  more  an- 
gelic in  mind ;  calm  in  rebuke,  persuasive  in 
praise,  without  spoiling  the  good  effect  of 
either  by  excess,  but  rebuking  with  the  tender- 
ness of  a  father,  praising  with  the  dignity  of  a 


a  The  Sanctuary,  or  "  the  Sacraments."     Exod.  xxvi.  33. 

/3  To  offer  more  sacrifices,  i  e..  These  priests  are  not  only  ''  men 
which  have  infirmity."  who  need  to  offer  for  their  own  sins,  as 
well  as  for  those  of  the  people  :  but  because  they  are  even  more 
sinful  than  their  flocks,  they  need  a  greater  and  more  freqi.ent 
atonement.  y  Heb.  vii.  27;  ix.  7. 


2/2 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


ruler,  his  tenderness  was  not  dissipated,  nor 
his  severity  sour;  for  the  one  was  reasonable, 
the  other  prudent,  and  both  truly  wise;  his 
disposition  sufficed  for  the  training  of  his 
spiritual  children,  with  very  little  need  of 
words  ;  his  words  with  very  little  need  of  the 
rod,"  and  his  moderate  use  of  the  rod  with  still 
less  for  the  knife. 

ID.  But  why  should  I  paint  for  you  the  por- 
trait of  the  man  ?  St.  Paul  ^  has  sketched  him 
by  anticipation.  This  he  does,  when  he  sings 
the  praises  of  the  great  High-priest,  who  hath 
passed  through  the  heavens  v  (for  I  will  venture 
to  say  even  this,  since  Scripture  ^  can  call  those 
W'ho  live  according  to  Christ  liy  the  name  of 
Christs)  :  *  and  again  when  by  the  rules  in  his 
letter  to  Timothy,^  he  gives  a  model  for  future 
Bishops  :  for  if  you  will  apply  the  law  as  a  test 
to  him  who  deserves  the.se  praises,  you  will 
clearly  perceive  his  perfect  exactness.  Come 
then  to  aid  me  in  my  panegyric ;  for  I  am 
labouring  heavily  in  my  speech,  and  though  I 
de.sire  to  pa,ss  by  point  after  point,  they  seize 
upon  me  one  after  another,  and  I  can  find  no 
surpassing  excellence  in  a  form  which  is  in  all 
respects  well  proportioned  and  beautiful ;  for 
each  as  it  occurs  to  me  seems  fairer  than  the  rest 
and  so  takes  by  storm  my  speech.  Come  then, 
I  pray,  you  who  have  been  his  admirers  and 
witnesses,  divide  among  yourselves  his  excel- 
lences, contend  bravely  Avith  one  another,  men 
and  women  alike,  young  men  and  maidens, 
old  men  and  children,  priests  and  people, 
solitaries  and  cenobiteSji  men  of  simple  or 
of  exact  life,  contemplatives  or  practically 
minded.  Let  one  praise  him  in  his  fastings 
and  prayers  as  if  he  had  been  disembodied 
and  immaterial,  another  his  unweariedness 
and  zeal  for  vigils  and  psalmody,  another  his 
patronage  of  the  needy,  another  his  daunt- 
lessness  towards  the  powerful,  or  his  conde- 
scension to  the  lowly.  Let  the  virgins  cele- 
brate the  friend  of  the  Bridegroom  ;  ^  those 
under  the  yoke '  their  restrainer,  hermits  him 
who  lent  wings  to  their  course,  cenobites  their 
lawgiver,  simple  folk  their  guide,  contem- 
platives the  divine,  the  joyous  their  bridle, 
the  imfortitnate  their  consolation,  the  hoary- 
headed  their  staff,  youths  their  instructor,  the 
poor  their  resoiu-ce,  the  wealthy  their  steward. 
Kven  the  widows  will,  methinks,  ])raise  their 
protector,  even  the  orphans  their  father,  even 


o  I  Cor.  iv.  21. 

P  .S7.  Pnul.     To  whom  licre  the  Ep.  to  the  Hebrews  is  assigned. 
y  Heb.  iv,  14.  6  I's.  cv.  15. 

f  Christs.     i.e.,    Ps.    cv.    15.     "Touch    not    Mine   anointed." 
(LXX.)  and  Vu!g.  "my  C'hrists."  ^i  'I'im.  iii.  a  et  seq. 

7)  Cenobites  /ixiyaScs.     Cf.  Orat.  ii.  29  ;   -xhii.  62. 
dS.  John  iii.  29. 
i  Under  i It f yoke,  i.e.  "Married."     Cf.  Orat.  xUi.  ii. 


the  poor  their  benefactor,  strangers  their  en- 
tertainer, brethren  the  man  of  brotherly  love, 
the  sick  their  physician,  in  whatever  sickness 
or  treatment  you  will,  the  healthy  the  guard  of 
health,  yea  all  men  him  who  made  himself 
all  things  to  all  men  that  he  might  gain  al- 
most, if  not  quite,  all. 

11.  On  these  grounds,  as  I  have  said,  I 
leave  others,  who  have  leisure  to  admire  the 
minor  details  of  his  character,  to  admire  and 
extol  him.  I  call  them  minor  details  only  in 
comparing  him  and  his  character  with  his  own 
standard,  for  that  which  hath  been  made 
glorious  hath  not  been  made  glorious,  even 
though  it  be  exceeding  sj^lendid  by  reason  of 
the  glory  that  surpasseth,"  as  \\t  are  told  ;  for 
indeed  the  minor  points  of  his  excellence 
would  suffice  to  win  celebrity  for  others.  But 
since  it  would  be  intolerable  for  me  to  leave 
the  word  and  served  less  important  details,  I 
must  turn  to  that  which  is  hi-?  chief  character- 
istic ;  and  God  alone,  on  \\'hose  behalf  I  am 
speaking,  can  enable  me  to  say  anything  worthy 
■of  a  soul  so  noble  and  so  mighty  in  the  word. 

12.  In  the  palmy  days  of  the  Church,  when 
all  was  well,  the  present  elaborate,  far-fetched 
and  artificial  treatment  of  Theology  had  not 
made  its  way  into  the  schools  of  divinity, 
but  playing  with  pebbles  which  deceive  the 
eye  by  the  quickness  of  their  changes,  or 
dancing  before  an  audience  with  varied  and 
effeminate  contortions,  were  looked  upon  as  all 
one  Mith  speaking  or  hearing  of  God  in  a  ANay 
unusual  or  frivolous.  But  since  the  Sex- 
tusesY  and  Pyrrhos,  and  the  antithetic  style, 
like  a  dire  ancl  malignant  disea.se,  have  infected 
our  churches,  and  babbling  is  reputed  cul- 
ture, and,  as  the  book  of  the  Acts*  says  of  the 
Athenians,  we  spend  our  time  in  nothing  else 
but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new  thing. 
O  what  Jeremiah  ^  will  bewail  our  confusion 
and  blind  madness ;  he  alone  could  utter 
lamentations  befitting  our  misfortunes. 

13.  The  beginning  of  this  madness  was 
Arius  (whose  name  is  derived  from  frenzy^), 
who  paid  the  penalty  of  his  imbridled  tongue 
by  his  death  in  a  profane  spot,''  brought 
about  by  prayer  not  by  disease,  when  he  like 
Judas  ^  burst  asunder '  for  his  similar  treachery 


a  2  Cor.  iii.  10.  |5  Acts  vi.  2. 

y  Se.viuses.  Sc.vtns  F.mpiriciis  (cent.  3  A.u. )  a  leader  of  the 
later  Sceptic  school.  Pyrrho  of  Klis  (cent.  4  n.C.)  was  tlic 
foinider  of  the  earlier.  S  Acts  xvii.  21.  e  l.ani.  i.'i. 

^  Frenzy.    Cf.  Orat.  ii.  .S7  ;  xx.\iv.  8. 

■r\  A  firofanc  sfiot.,  lit  "  profane  ])laces"' — plural  as  contrasted 
with  the  iv  Ton-w  ayi'o),  Lev.  vi.  16.  etc.,  etc.  :  in  which  the  priests 
must  eat  of  the  sacrifices.  'J'he  nieaninij  of  the  ijlira-^c  is  '"  Ariiis 
died  excommvinicatcd  ' — indeed  on  the  eve  of  the  day  on  winch 
the  F.mpeior  Constantine  had  ordered  him  to  be  restored  to  com- 
munion. 

9  Like  Judas.  Cf.  Kpiph.  Haer.  68.7  ;  Socr.  i.  38.  Theodoret 
i.  4.  .  t  .Acts  i.  :8. 


ON   THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS. 


^-n 


to  the  Word.  Then  others,  catching  the  in- 
fection, organized  an  art  of  impiety,  and,  con- 
fining Deity  to  the  Unbegotten,  expelled  from 
Deity  not  only  the  Begotten,  but  also  the  Pro- 
ceeding one,  and  honoured  the  Trinity  with 
communion  in  name  °-  alone,  or  even  refused 
to  retain  this  for  it.  Not  so  that  blessed  one, 
who  was  indeed  a  man  of  God  and  a  mighty 


trumpet  of  truth  :  but  being  aware  that  to 
contract  ^  the  Three  Persons  to  a  numerical 
Unity  is  heretical,  and  the  innovation  of 
Sabellius,  who  first  devised  a  contraction  of 
Deity ;  and  that  to  sever  the  Three  Persons  by 
a  distinction  of  nature,  is  an  unnatural  muti- 
lation of  Deity  ;  he  both  happily  preserved  the 
Unity,  which  belongs  to  the  Godhead,  and 
religiously  taught  the  Trinity,  which  refers  > 
to  Personality,  nerther  confounding  the  Three 
Persons  in  the  Unity,  nor  dividing  the  Sub- 
stance among  the  Three  Persons,  but  abiding 
within  the  bounds  of  piety,  by  avoiding  ex- 
cessive inclination  or  opposition  to  either 
side. 

14.  And  therefore,  first  in  the  holy  Synod 
of  Nicaea,^  the  gathering  of  the  three  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  chosen  men,  united  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  as  far  as  in  him  lay,  he  stayed 
the  disease.  Though  not  yet  ranked  among 
the  Bishops,  he  held  the  first  rank  among  the 
members  of  the  Council,  for  preference  was 
given  to  virtue  just  as  much  as  to  office. 
Afterwards,  when  the  flame  had  been  fanned 
by  the  blasts  of  the  evil  one,  and  had  spread 
very  widely  (hence  came  the  tragedies  of 
which  almost  tlie  whole  earth  and  sea  are  full), 
the  fight  raged  fiercely  around  him  who  was 
the  noble  champion  of  the  Word.  For  the 
assault  is  hottest  upon  the  point  qf  resistance, 
while  various  dangers  surround  it  on  every 
side  :  for  impiety  is  skilful  in  designing  evils, 
and  excessively  daring  in  taking  them  in 
hand  :  and  how  would  they  spare  men,  who 
had  not  spared  the  Godhead  ?  Yet  one  of  the 
assaults  was  the  most  dangerous  of  all :  and  I 
myself  contribute  somewhat  to  this  scene ; 
yea,  let  me  plead  for  the  innocence  of  my  dear 
fatherland,  for  the  wickedness  was  not  due  to 
the  land  that  bore  them,  but  to  the  men  who 
undertook  it.  For  holy  indeed  is  that  land, 
and  everywhere  noted  for  its. piety,  but  these 
men  are  unworthy  of  the  Church  which  bore 


a.  In  uiime,  etc..  i.e..  They  used  the  name  Trinity,  although  it 
was  rendered  nieanuigless  by  their  false  doctrine  as  to  the  in- 
oiiuality  of  the  Three  Ble>;sed  Persons. 

3  To  contract,  etc.  On  this  whole  passage  cf.  Orat.  ii.  36,  37, 
notes. 

7  IV/iich  refers,  etc.,  or  "  which  consists  in  personal  relations.'' 
Cf.  on  iSiott;?.   Orat.  xhii.  30.  nole. 

&Xicica,  A.D.  325.  Athanasius  was  present  as  theological 
assistant  to  Alexander  of  Alexandria. 


them,  and  ye  have  heard  of  a  briar  growing 
in  a  vine  ;  "  and  the  traitor^  was  Judas,  one  of 
the  disciples. 

15.  There  are  some  who  do  not  excuse  even 
my  namesake  Y  from  blame;  who,  living  at 
Alexandria  at  the  time  for  the  sake  of  culture, 
although  he  had  been  most  kindly  treated  by 
him,  as  if  the  dearest  of  his  children,  and  re- 
ceived his  special  confidence,  yet  joined  in  the 
revolutionary  plot  against  his  father  and  patron  : 
for,  though  others  took  the  active  part  in  it, 
the  hand  of  Absalom  ^  was  with  them,  as  the 
saying  goes.  If  any  of  you  had  heard  of  the 
hand  which  was  produced  by  fraud  against  the 
Saint,  and  the  corpse  ^  of  the  living  man,  and 
the  unjust  banishment,  he  knows  what  I  mean. 
But  this  I  will  gladly  forget.  For  on  doubtful 
points,  I  am  disposed  to  think  we  ought  to  in- 
cline to  the  charitable  side,  and  acquit  rather 
than  condemn  the  accused.  For  a  bad  man 
would  speedily  condemn  even  a  good  man, 
while  a  good  man  would  not  be  ready  to  con- 
demn even  a  bad  one.  For  one  who  is  not 
ready  to  do  ill,  is  not  inclined  even  to  suspect 
it.  I  come  now  to  what  is  matter  of  fact,  not 
of  report,  what  is  vouched  for  as  truth  instead 
of  unverified  suspicion. 

16.  There  was  a  monster  ^  from  Cappadocia, 
born  on  our  farthest  confines,  of  low  birth, 
and  lower  mind,  whose  blood  was  not  per- 
fectly free,  but  mongrel,  as  we  know  that  of 
mules  to  be  ;  at  first,  dependent  on  the  table  of 
others,  whose  price  was  a  barley-cake,  who  had 
learnt  to  say  and  do  everything  with  an  eye  to 
his  stomach,  and,  at  last,  after  sneaking  into 
public  life,  and  filling  its  lowest  offices,  such 
as  that  of  contractor  for  swine's  flesh,  the  sol- 
diers' rations,  and  then  having  proved  himself 
a  scoundrel  for  the  sake  of  greed  in  this  public 
trust,  and  been  stripped  to  the  skin,  contrived 
to  escape,  and  after  passing,  as  exiles  do,  from 
country  to  country  and  city  to  city,  last  of 
all,  in  an  evil  hour  for  the  Christian  commun- 
ity, like  one  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  he 
reached  Alexandria.  There,  his  wanderings 
being  stayed,  he  began  his  villany.  Good 
for  nothing  in  all  other  respects,  without  cul- 
ture, without  fluency  in  conversation,  without 
even   the  form  and  pretence  of  reverence,  his 


alsai.  V,  2  (LXX.)  ;  vii.  23,  v.  I.  "  in  a  vineyard,"' 
0  S._  Luke  vi.  16. 

7  Xiimesitke.  Gregorv,  a  Cappad"cian,  nominated  to  the  see 
of  Alexandria,  by  the  Arian  Bishops  at  Antioch,  after  the  banish- 
ment of  Athanasius,  A.D.  340. 

h  y\  \iif>'K^t<j(j(xKmtL  '"The  hand  of  Absalom,"  prob.  a  mis- 
quotation of  2  .Sam.  xiv.  19.     ''The  hand  of  Joab."     2  Sam.  xv.  5. 

e  Corpse,  etc.  Athanasius  was  charged  with  having  murdered 
Arsenius.  and  his  enemies  produced  a  hand  which,  they  said,  had 
belonged  to  the  dead  man. 

C,  Monster.  George  of  Cappadocia,  Arian  intruder  into  the  see 
of  Alexandria,  a.d.  356-361. 


274 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


skill  in  working  villany  and  confusion  was  un- 
equalled. 

17.  His  acts  of  insolence  towards  the  saint 
you  all  know  in  full  detail.  Often  were  the 
righteous  given  into  the  hands  of  the  wick- 
ed,* not  that  the  latter  might  be  honoured, 
but  that  the  former  might  be  tested :  and 
though  the  wicked  come,  as  it  is  written, 
to  an  awful  death, ^  nevertheless  for  the  pres- 
ent the  godly  are  a  laughing  stock,  while 
the  goodness  of  God  and  the  great  treas- 
uries of  what  is  in  store  for  each  of  them  here- 
after are  concealed.  Then  indeed  Avord  and 
deed  and  thought  will  be  weighed  in  the  just 
balances  of  God,  as  He  arises  to  judge  the 
earth, V  gathering  together  counsel  and  works, 
and  revealing  what  He  had  kept  sealed  up.^ 
Of  this  let  the  words  and  sufferings  of  Job 
convince  thee,  who  was  a  truthful,  blameless, 
just,  godfearing  man,  with  all  those  other 
qualities  which  are  testified  of  him,  and  yet  was 
smitten  with  such  a  succession  of  remarkable 
visitations,  at  the  hands  of  him  who  begged 
for  power  over  him,  that,  although  many 
have  often  suffered  in  the  whole  course  of 
time,  and  some  even  have,  as  is  probable,  been 
grievously  afflicted,  yet  none  can  be  compared 
with  him  inr  misfortunes.  For  he  not  only 
suffered,  without  being  allowed  space  to  mourn 
for  his  losses  in  their  rapid  succession,  the  loss 
of  his  money,  his  possessions,  his  large  and 
fair  family,  blessings  for  which  all  men  care ; 
but  was  at  last  smitten  with  an  incurable  dis- 
ease horrible  to  look  upon,  and,  to  crown  his 
misfortunes,  had  a  wife  whose  only  comfort 
was  evil  counsel.  For  his  surpassing  troubles 
were  those  of  his  soul  added  to  those  of  the 
body.*  He  had  also  among  his  friends  truly 
miserable  comforters,^  as  he  calls  them,  who 
could  not  help  him.  For  when  they  saw  his 
suffering,  in  ignorance  of  its  hidden  meaning, 
they  supposed  his  disaster  to  be  the  punish- 
ment of  vice  and  not  the  touchstone  of  virtue. 
And  they  not  only  thought  this,  but  were  not 
even  ashamed  to  reproach  him  with  his  lot,'' 
at  a  time  when,  even  if  he  had  been  suffering 
for  vice,  they  ought  to  have  treated  his  grief 
with  words  of  con.solation. 

18.  Such  was  the  lot  of  Job:  such  at  first 
sight  his  history.  In  reality  it  was  a  contest 
between  virtue  and  envy  :  ^  the  one  straining 
every  nerve  to  overcome  the  good,  the  other 
enduring  everything,  that  it  might  abide  un- 

a  Job.  ix.  24.  j5  lb.  ix.  23.  V  Ps.  l.wxii.  S. 

5  Pan.  xii.  9.  e  Job  ii.  7  et  seq.  J  U'    xvi.  2. 

7)  //is  lot,  lit.  "  tbe  dreadful  (thing)  "  i.e.  "reproach  him.  as  hav- 
ing brought  his  sufierinsjs  upon  himself" — or  "  reproach  him  with 
imoiety  ' — the  cause  of  his  sufierines. 

6  Kmy,  i.e.,  of  the  devil.  Wisdom  ii.  24.  Cf.  §  32  of  this  Ora- 
tiiT. 


subdued  ;  the  one  striving  to  smooth  the  way 
for  vice,  by  means  of  the  chastisement  of  the 
upright,  the  other  to  retain  its  hold  upon  the 
good,  even  if  they  do  exceed  others  in  misfor- 
tunes. What  then  of  Him  who  answered  Job 
out  of  the  whirlwind  and  cloud,"  Who  is  slow 
to  chastise  and  swift  to  help.  Who  suffers  not 
utterly  the  rod  of  the  wicked  to  come  into  the 
lot  of  the  righteous,  lest  the  righteous  should 
learn  iniquity  ?  ^  At  the  end  of  the  contests 
He  declares  the  victory  of  the  athlete  in  a 
splendid  proclamation  and  lays  bare  the  secret 
of  his  calamities,  saying:  "  Thinkest  thou 
that  I  have  dealt  with  thee  for  any  other  pur- 
pose than  the  manifestation  of  thy  righteous- 
ness ?  "  V  This  is  the  balm  for  his  wounds,  this 
is  the  crown  of  the  contest,  this  the  reward  for 
his  patience.  For  perhaps  his  subsequent 
prosperity  was  small,  great  as  it  may  seem  to 
some,  and  ordained  for  the  sake  of  small 
minds,  even  though  he  received  again  twice 
as  much  as  he  had  lost. 

19.  In  this  case  then  it  is  not  wonderful,  if 
George  had  the  advantage  of  Athanasius  ;  nay  it 
would  be  more  wonderful,  if  the  righteous  were 
not  tried  in  the  fire  of  contumely ;  nor  is 
this  very  wonderful,  as  it  would  have  been  had 
the  flames  availed  for  more  than  this.  Then 
he  was  in  retirement,  and  arranged  his  exile 
most  excellently,  for  he  betook  himself  to  the 
holy  and  divine  homes  ^  of  contemplation  in 
Egypt,  where,  secluding  themselves  from  the 
world,  and  welcoming  the  desert,  men  live  to 
God  more  than  all  who  exist  in  the  body. 
Some  struggle  on  in  an  utterly  monastic  and 
solitary  life,  speaking  to  themselves  alone  and 
to  God,*  and  all  the  world  they  know  is  what 
meets  their  eyes  in  the  desert.  Others,  cher- 
ishing the  law  of  love  in  community,  are  at 
once  Solitaries  and  Coenobites,  dead  to  all 
other  men  and  to  the  eddies  of  public  affaii^s 
which  whirl  us  and  are  whirled  about  them- 
selves and  make  sport  of  us  in  their  sudden 
changes,  being  the  world  to  one  another  and 
whetting  the  edge  of  their  love  in  emulation. 
During  his  intercourse  with  them,  the  great 
Athanasius,  who  was  always  the  mediator  and 
reconciler  of  all  other  men,  like  Him  Who 
made  peace  through  His  blood  ^  between 
things  which  were  at  variance,  reconciled  the 
solitary  with  the  community  life:  by  showing 
that  the  Priesthood  is  capable  of  contem])la- 
tion,  and  that  contemplation  is  in  need  of  a 
spiritual  guide. 

20.  Thus    he   combined    the    two,  and   so 


a  Job    xxxviii.  i.  /S  Ps.  cxxv.  3.  y  Job  xl.  3  (I,XX.). 

&  /follies,  etc.    The  monasteries  of  lower  Egypt  and  the  Thebaid. 
This  was  a.u.  356.  e  i  Cor.  xiv.  28.  f  Col.  i.  20. 


ON   THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS. 


275 


united  the  partisans  of  both  cahii  action  and 
of  active  cahn,  as  to  convince  them  that  the 
monastic  Hfe  is  characterised  by  steadfastness 
of  disposition  rather  than  by  bodily  retire- 
ment. Accordingly  the  great  David  was  a 
man  of  at  once  the  most  active  and  most  soli- 
tary life,  if  any  one  thinks  the  verse,  I 
am  in  solitude,  till  I  pass  away,"  of  value  and 
authority  in  the  exposition  of  this  subject. 
Therefore,  though  they  surpass  all  others  in 
virtue,  they  fell  further  short  of  his  mind  than 
others  fell  short  of  their  own,  and  while  con- 
tributing little  to  the  perfection  of  his  priest- 
hood, they  gained  in  return  greater  assistance 
in  contemplation.  Whatever  he  thought,  was  a 
law  for  them,  whatever  on  the  contrary  he  dis- 
approved, they  abjured  :  his  decisions  were  to 
them  the  tables  of  Moses, ^  and  they  paid  him 
more  reverence  than  is  due  from  men  to  the 
Saints.  Aye,  and  when  men  came  to  hunt  the 
Saint  like  a  wild  beast,  and,  after  searching 
for  him  everywhere,  failed  to  find  him,  they 
vouchsafed  these  emissaries  not  a  single  word, 
and  offered  their  necks  to  the  sword,  as  risk- 
ing their  lives  for  Christ's  sake,  and  consid- 
ering the  most  cruel  sufferings  on  behalf  of 
Athanasius  to  be  an  important  step  to  contem- 
plation, and  far  more  divine  and  sublime  than 
the  long  fasts  and  hard  lying  and  mortifications 
in  which  they  constantly  revel. 

21.  Such  were  his  surroundings  when  he 
approved  the  wise  counsel  of  Solomon  that 
their  is  a  time  to  every  purpose  :  v  so  he  hid 
himself  for  a  while,  escaping  during  the  time 
of  war,  to  show  himself  when  the  time  of 
peace  came,  as  it  did  soon  afterwards.  Mean- 
while George,  there  being  absolutely  no  one  to 
resist  him,  overran  Egypt,  and  desolated  Syria, 
in  the  might  of  ungodliness.  He  seized  upon 
the  East  also  as  far  as  he  could,  ever  attracting 
the  weak,  as  torrents  roll  down  objects  in  their 
course,  and  assailing  the  unstable  or  faint- 
hearted. He  won  over  also  the  simplicity  of 
the  Emperor,  for  thus  I  must  term  his  instabil- 
ity, though  I  respect  his  pious  motives.  For, 
to  say  the  truth,  he  had  zeal,  but  not  accord- 
ing to  knowledge.^  He  purchased  those  in 
authority  who  were  lovers  of  money  rather  than 
lovers  of  Christ — for  he  was  well  supplied  with 
the  funds  for  the  poor,  which  he  embezzled — 
especially  the  effeminate  and  unmanly  men,^ 
of  doubtful  sex,  but  of  manifest  impiety  ;  to 
whom,  I  know  not  how  or  why,  Emperors 
of  the  Romans  entrusted  authority  over  men, 
though  their  proper  function  was  the  charge  of 

a  Ps.  cxli.  TO  (LXX.).  /3  Exod.  xxxii.  15  ;  xxxiv.  i. 

y  Eccles.  iii.  i.  8  Rom.  x.  2. 

e  Unmanly  men,  the  Eunuchs,  the  chamberlains  of  Constan- 
tius. 


women.  In  this  lay  the  power  of  that  servant " 
of  the  wicked  one,  that  sower  of  tares,  that 
forerunner  of  Antichrist ;  foremost  in  speech 
of  the  orators  of  his  time  among  the  Bishops  ; 
if  any  one  likes  to  call  him  an  orator  who  was 
not  so  much  an  impious,  as  he  was  a  hostile 
and  contentious  reasoner, — his  name  I  will 
gladly  pass  by  :  he  was  the  hand  of  his  party, 
perverting  the  truth  by  the  gold  subscribed 
for  pious  uses,  which  the  wicked  made  an 
instrument  of  their  impiety. 

22.  The  crowning  feat  of  this  faction  was 
the  council  which  sat  first  at  Seleucia,  the  city 
of  the  holy  and  illustrious  virgin  Thekla,  and 
afterwards  at  this  mighty  city,  thus  connecting 
their  names,  no  longer  with  noble  associations, 
but  with  these  of  deepest  disgrace  ;  whether  we 
must  call  that  council,  which  subverted  and 
disturbed  everything,  a  tower  of  Chalane,^ 
which  deservedly  confounded  the  tongues — 
would  that  theirs  had  been  confounded  for 
their  harmony  in  evil ! — or  a  Sanhedrim  of 
Caiaphas  v  where  Christ  was  condemned,  or  some 
other  like  name.  The  ancient  and  pious  doc- 
trine which  defended  the  Trinity  was  abolished, 
by  setting  up  a  ^  palisade  and  battering  down 
the  Consubstantial :  opening  the  door  to  im- 
piety by  means  of  what  is  written,  using  as  their 
pretext,  their  reverence  for  Scripture  and  for  the 
use  of  approved  terms,  but  really  introducing 
unscriptural  Arianism.  For  the  phrase  "  like, 
according  to  the  Scriptures,"  was  a  bait  to  the 
simple,  concealing  the  hook  of  impiety,  a  figure 
seeming  to  look  in  tiie  direction  of  all  who 
passed  by,  a  boot  fitting  either  foot,  a  win- 
nowing with  every  wind,^  gaining  authority 
from  the  newly  written  villany  and  device 
against  the  truth.  For  they  were  wise  to  do 
evil,  but  to  do  good  they  had  no  knowledge.^ 

23.  Hence  came  their  pretended  condemna- 
tion '»  of  the  heretics,  whom  they  renounced  in 
words,  in  order  to  gain  plausibility  for  their  ef- 
forts, but  in  reality  furthered ;  charging  them 
not  with  unbounded  impiety,  but  with  exagger- 
ated language.  Hence  came  the  profane  judges 
of  the  Saints,  and  the  new  combination,  and 
public  view  and  discussion  of  mysterious  ques- 
tions, and  the  illegal  enquiry  into  the  actions 
of  life,  and  the  hired  informers,  and  the  pur- 


o  Servant,  etc.,  probably,  Acacius.  /3  Gen.  xi.  4. 

y  S.  John  xi.  47  ct  set/. 

0  y^apaxa  lit.  '"  a  pale  " — one  of  the  many  which  formed  the  pali- 
sade. Perhap.s  there  is  a  play  on  the  word  xapaKTrjpa  "a  letter"' 
in  reference  to  the  insertion  of  the  letter  iota  in  the  Nicene  formula 
—which  then  became  Homoiousion,  i.e.,  '"Like  in  substance." 
This  action  on  the  part  of  the  .Semi-Arians  (who  formed  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Council  of  Seleuci.a  a.d.  359),  was  the  first  step  to  the 
Homoion  of  the  Acacian  party,  who  prevailed  at  the  council  of 
Constantinople.  A.D.  360,  and  professed  great  devotion  to  the  use 
of  Scriptural  terms.  e  Eccles.  v.  g.  ^  Jer.  iv.  22. 

rj  Cond^tntiaiion,  i.e.,  of  Aetius,  who  was  banished  by  Constan- 
tius  after  the  Council. 


276 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


chased  sentences.  Some  were  unjustly  de- 
posed" from  their  sees,  others  intruded,  and 
among  other  necessary  quahfications,  made  to 
sign  the  bonds  of  iniquity :  tlie  ink  was  ready, 
the  informer  at  hand.  This  the  majority  even 
of  us,  who  were  not  overcome,  had  to  endure, 
not  falling  in  mind,  though  prevailed  upon  to 
sign,-^  and  so  uniting  with  men  who  were  in 
both  respects  wicked,  and  involving  ourselves 
in  the  smoke, v  if  not  in  the  flame.  Over  this 
I  have  often  wept,  when  contemplating  the  con- 
fusion of  impiety  at  that  time,  and  the  perse- 
cution of  the  orthodox  teaching  which  now 
arose  at  the  hands  of  the  patrons  of  the  Word. 
24.  For  in  reality,  as  the  Scripture  says, 
the  shepherds  became  brutish,^  and  many 
shepherds  destroyed  My  vineyard,  and  defiled 
my  pleasant  portion,^  I  mean  the  Church  of 
God,  which  has  been  gathered  together  by 
the  sweat  and  blood  of  many  toilers  and  vic- 
tims both  before  and  after  Christ,  aye,  even 
the  great  sufferings  of  God  for  us.  For  with 
very  few  exceptions,  and  these  either  men  who 
from  their  insignificance  were  disregarded,  or 
from  their  virtue  manfully  resisted,  being  left 
unto  Israel, »  as  was  ordained,  for  a  seed  and 
root,''  to  blossom  and  come  to  life  again  amid 
the  streams  of  the  Spirit,  everyone^  yielded  to 
the  influences  of  the  time,  distinguished  only 
by  the  fact  that  some  did  so  earlier,  some  later, 
that  some  became  the  champions  and  leaders 
of  impiety,  while  such  others  were  assigned  a 
lower  rank,  as  had  been  shaken  by  fear,  en- 
slaved by  need,  fascinated  by  flattery,  or  be- 
guiled in  ignorance ;  the  last  being  the  least 
guilty,  if  indeed  we  can  allow  even  this  to  be 
a  valid  excuse  for  men  entrusted  with  the  lea- 
dership of  the  people.  For  just  as  the  force  of 
lions  and  other  animals,  or  of  men  and  of 
women,  or  of  old  and  of  young  men  is  not  the 
same,  but  there  is  a  considerable  difference 
due  to  age  or  species — so  it  is  also  with  rulers 
and  their  subjects.  For  while  we  might  par- 
don laymen  in  such  a  case,  and  often  they 
escape,  because  not  put  to  the  test,  yet  how  can 
we  excuse  a  teacher,  whose  duty  it  is,  unless 
he  is  falsely  so-called,  to  correct  the  igno- 
rance of  others.  For  is  it  not  absurd,  while 
no  one,  however  great  his  boorishness  and 
want  of  education,  is  allowed  to  be  ignorant 
of  the  Roman  law,  and  while  there  is  no  law 
in  favour  of  sins  of  ignorance,  that  the  teachers 


a  Deposed.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Eustathius  of  Sebaste,  I'asil  of 
Ancyra  and  others. 

/3  To  sign.  etc.     Cf.  (^rat.  xviii.  18. 

y  The  smoke,  etc.     Cf.  Orat.  xvi.  6  :  Ps.  xviii.  9,  cv.  32. 

e  Ter.  x.  21.  e  lb.  ii.  10. 

f  Isai.  i.  g.  rj  lb.  xxxvii.  31  (LXX.). 

0  Eveiyonr.  'J'liis  was  the  time  of  which  .S.  Jerome  wrote 
"  Ingemtiit  totus  orbis,  et  miralus  est  se  Arianum  esse." 


of  the  mysteries  of  salvation  should  be  igno- 
rant of  the  first  principles  of  salvation,  however 
simple  and  shallow  their  minds  may  be  in 
regard  to  other  subjects.  But,  even  granting 
indulgence  to  them  who  erred  in  ignorance, 
what  can  be  said  for  the  rest,  who  lay  claim  to 
subtlety  of  intellect,  and  yet  yielded  to  the 
court-party  for  the  reasons  I  have  mentioned, 
and  alter  playing  the  part  of  piety  for  a  long 
while,  failed  in  the  hour  of  trial. 

25.  "  Yet  once  more, "  "  I  hear  the  Scripture 
say  that  the  heaven  and  the  earth  shall  be 
shaken,  inasmuch  as  this  has  befallen  them 
before,  signifying,  as  I  suppose,  a  manifest  re- 
novation of  all  things.  And  we  must  believe 
S.  Paul  when  he  says  ^  that  this  last  shaking  is 
none  other  than  the  .second  coming  of  Christ, 
and  the  transformation  and  changing  of  the 
universe  to  a  condition  of  stability  which  can- 
not be  shaken.  And  I  imagine  that  this  pres- 
ent shaking,  in  which  v  the  contemplatives  and 
lovers  of  God,  who  before  the  time  exercise 
their  heavenly  citizenship,  are  shaken  from  us,  is 
of  no  le.ss  consequence  than  any  of  former  da}'s. 
For,  however  peaceful  and  moderate  in  other 
respects  these  men  are,  yet  they  cannot  bear  to 
carry  their  reasonableness  so  far  as  to  be  trai- 
tors to  the  cause  of  God  for  quietness'  sake  : 
nay  on  this  point  they  are  excessively  warlike 
and  sturdy  in  fight ;  such  is  the  heat  of  their 
zeal,  that  they  would  sooner  proceed  to  excess 
in  disturbance,  than  fail  to  notice  anything 
that  is  amiss.  And  no  small  portion  of  the 
people  is  breaking  away  with  them,  flying 
away,  as  a  flock  of  birds  does,  with  those  who 
lead  the  flight,  and  even  now  does  not  cease 
to  fly  with  them. 

26.  Such  was  Athanasius  to  us,  Avhen  pres- 
ent, the  pillar  of  the  Church  ;  and  such,  even 
when  he  retired  before  the  insults  of  the 
wicked.  For  those  who  have  plotted  the 
cajiture  of  some  strong  fort,  when  they  see  no 
other  easy  means  of  approaching  or  taking  it, 
betake  themselves  to  arts,  and  then,  after  se- 
ducing the  commander  by  money  or  guile, 
without  any  effort  possess  themselves  of  the 
stronghold,  or,  if  you  will,  as  those  who 
plotted  against  Samson  first  cut  off  his  hair,* 
in  which  his  strength  lay,  and  then  seized 
upon  the  judge,  and  made  sport  of  him  at 
will,  to  requite  him  for  his  former  power  :  so 
did  our  foreign  foes,  after  getting  rid  of  our 
source  of  strength,  and  shearing  off  the  glory 
of  the  Church,  revel  in  like  manner  in  utter^ 
ances  and  deeds  of  impiety.     Then  the  sup- 


o.  Hacg.  ii.  7  ;  Heb.  xii.  26.  /5  Heb.  xii.  27. 

■y  In  '.thkh.  etc.     'I'his  sentence  probably  alludes  to  the  exces- 
sive zeal  of  the  monks  of  Nazianzus.  6  Judges  xvi.  19. 


ON    THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS. 


277 


porter*  and  patron  of  the  hostile  shepherd^ 
died,  crowning  V  his  reign,  which  had  not 
been  evil,  with  an  evil  close,  and  unprofitably 
repenting,  as  they  say,  with  his  last  breath, 
when  each  man.  in  view  of  the  higher  judge- 
ment seat,  is  a  prudent  judge  of  his  own  con- 
duct. For  of  these  three  evils,  which  were 
unworthy  of  his  reign,  he  said  that  he  was 
conscious,  the  murder  of  his  kinsmen,  the 
proclamation  of  the  Apostate,  and  the  inno-  | 
vation  upon  the  faith  ;  and  with  these  words  j 
he  is  said  to  have  departed.  Thus  there  was  j 
once  more  authority  to  teach  the  word  of 
truth,  and  those  who  had  suffered  violence  i 
had  now  undisturbed  freedom  of  speech, 
while  jealousy  was  whetting  the  weapons  of 
its  wrath.  Thus  it  was  with  the  people  of 
Alexandria,  who,  with  their  usual  impatience 
of  the  insolent,  could  not  brook  the  excesses 
of  the  man,  and  therefore  marked  his  wicked- 
ness by  an  unusual  death,  and  his  death  by 
an  unusual  ignominy.  For  you  know  that 
camel, ^  and  its  strange  burden,  and  the  new 
form  of  elevation,  and  the  first  and,  I  think, 
the  only  procession,  with  which  to  this  day 
the  insolent  are  threatened. 

27.   But  when  from  this  hurricane  of  un-  : 
righteousne.ss,  this  corrupter  of  godliness,  this 
precursor  of  the  wicked  one,  such  satisfaction 
had  been  exacted,  in  a  way  I  cannot  praise,  I 
for  we  must   consider  not  what  he  ought  to  i 
have  suffered,   but  what  we  ought  *  to    do : 
exacted  however  it  was,  as  the  result  of  the 
public  anger  and  excitement :   and  thereupon, 
our  champion  was  restored  from  his  illustrious 
banishment,  for  so  I  term  his  exile  on  behalf 
of,    and   under   the   blessing   of,  the   Trinity, 
amid  such  delight  of  the  people  of  the  city 
and"  of  almost  all  Egypt,   that    they  ran   to- 
gether from  every  side,  from  the  furthest  limits 
of  tlie  country,   simply  to  hear  the  voice  of 
Athanasius,  or  feast  their  eyes  upon  the  sight 
of  him,  nay  even,  as  we  are  told  of  the  Apos- 
tles,   that    they    might    be    hallowed    by   the 
shadow^  and  unsubstantial  image  of  his  body  : 
so  that,   many  as  are  the  honours,   and  wel- 
comes bestowed  on  frequent  occasions  in  the 
course  of  time  upon   various  individuals,  not 
only  upon  public  rulers  and   bishops,  but  also 
upon  the  most  illustrious  of  private  citizens. 


o  The  Suf>f>ortey,  Constantuis.  who  died  A.  D.  360. 

^  Th''  kiistile  shef>hertl,  George. 

y  Cr, nulling,  Clemcncet  renders  "Appointing  an  evil  head  over 
an  eTip.ri  which  was  not  evil,"  sc.  Julian  the  ."Apostate. 

6  Camel.  On  the  death  of  Constantlus,  the  p  igans  of  Alexan- 
dria murdered  George,  and  carried  his  mangled  body  through 
the  streets  on  the  back  of  a  camel.  j 

e  Wl'  ought,  etc.  .S.  Gregory  seems  to  imply  that  the  deed  had  | 
been  done  by  Christians.  Historical  writers  anii  Julian's  letter  to  ' 
the  people  make  it  clear  that  this  was  not  really  the  case. 

C  Acts  V.  15.  j 


not  one  has  been  recorded  more  numerously 
attended  or  more  brilliant  than  this.  And 
only  one  honour  can  be  compared  with  it  by 
Athanasius  himself,  which  had  been  conferred 
upon  him  on  his  former  entrance  into  the 
city,  when  returning  from  the  same  exile  for 
the  same  reasons. 

28.  With  reference  to  this  honour  there  was 
also  current  some  such  report  as  the  following ; 
for  I  will  take  leave  to  mention  it,  even  though 
it  be  superfluous,  as  a  kind  of  flavouring  to  my 
speech,  or  a  flower  scattered  in  honour  of  his 
entry.  After  that  entry,  a  certain  officer, 
who  had  been  twice  Consul,  was  riding  into 
the  city ;  he  was  one  of  us,  among  the  most 
noted  of  Cappadocians.  I  am  sure  that  you 
know  that  I  mean  Philagrius,  who  won  upon 
our  affections  far  beyond  any  one  else,  and 
was  honoured  as  much  as  he  was  loved,  if  I 
may  thus  briefly  set  forth  all  his  distinctions  : 
who  had  been  for  a  second  time  entrusted 
with  the  government  of  the  city,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  citizens,  by  the  decision  of  the 
Emperor.  Then  one  of  the  common  people 
present,  thinking  the  crowd  enormous,  like 
an  ocean  whose  bound  no  eye  can  see,  is 
reported  to  have  said  to  one  of  his  comrades 
and  friends — as  often  happens  in  such  a  case — 
"Tell  me,  my  good  fellow,  have  you  ever 
before  seen  the  people  pour  out  in  such  num- 
bers and  so  enthusiastically  to  do  honour  to 
any  one  man?"  "No!"  .said  the  young 
man,  "and  I  fancy  that  not  even  Constantius 
himself  would  be  so  treated  ;  "  indicating,  by 
the  mention  of  the  Emperor,  the  climax  of 
possible  honour.  "Do  you  speak  of  that," 
said  the  other  with  a  sweet  and  merry  laugh, 
"as  something  wonderfully  great?  I  can 
scarcely  believe  that  even  the  great  Athana- 
sius would  be  welcomed  like  this,"  adding  at 
the  same  time  one  of  our  native  oaths  in  con- 
firmation of  his  words.  Now  the  point  of 
what  he  said,  as  I  suppose  you  also  plainly 
see,  is  this,  that  he  set  the  subject  of  our 
eulogy  before  the  Emperor  himself. 

29.  So  great  was  the  reverence  of  all  for 
the  man,  and  so  amazing  even  now  seems  the 
reception  which  I  have  described.  For  if 
divided  according  to  birth,  age  and  profes- 
sion, (and  the  city  is  most  usually  arranged 
in  this  way,  when  a  public  honour  is  bestow^ed 
on  anyone)  how  can  I  set  forth  in  words  that 
mighty  spectacle?  They  formed  one  river, 
and  it  were  indeed  a  poet's  task  to  describe 
that  Nile,  of  really  golden  stream  and  rich 
in  crops,  flowing  back  again  from  the  city  to 
the  Chaereum,  a  day's  journey,  I  take  it,  and 
more.      Permit  me  to  revel  a  while  longer  in 


2/8 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


my  description  :  for  I  am  going  there,  and  it 
is  not  easy  to  bring  back  even  my  words 
from  that  ceremony.  He  rode  upon  a  colt, 
ahnost,  blame  me  not  for  folly,  as  my  Jesus 
did  upon  that  other  colt,*  whether  it  were  the 
people  of  the  Gentiles,  whom  He  mounts,  in 
kindness,  by  setting  it  free  from  the  bonds  of 
ignorance,  or  something  else,  which  the  Scrip- 
ture sets  forth.  He  was  welcomed  with 
branches  of  trees,  and  garments  with  many 
flowers  and  of  varied  hue  were  torn  off  and 
strewn  before  him  and  under  his  feet:  there 
alone  was  all  that  was  glorious  and  costly  and 
peerless  treated  with  dishonour.  Like,  once 
more,  .to  the  entry  of  Christ  were  those  that 
went  before  with  shouts  and  followed  with 
dances ;  only  the  crowd  which  sung  his 
praises  was  not  of  children  only,  but  every 
tongue  was  harmoniou.s,  as  men  contended  only 
to  outdo  one  another.  I  pass  by  the  univer- 
sal cheers,  and  the  pouring  forth  of  unguents, 
and  the  nightlong  festivities,  and  the  whole 
city  gleaming  with  light,  and  the  feasting  in 
public  and  at  home,  and  all  the  means  of 
testifying  to  a  city's  joy,  which  were  then  in 
lavish  and  incredible  profusion  bestowed  ujjon 
him.  Thus  did  this  marvellous  man,  with 
such  a  concourse,  regain  his  own  city. 

30.  He  lived  then  as  becomes  the  rulers  of 
such  a  people,  but  did  he  fail  to  teach  as  he 
lived?  Were  his  contests  out  of  harmony 
with  his  teaching?  Were  his  dangers  less 
than  those  of  men  who  have  contended  for 
any  truth  ?  Were  his  honours  inferior  to  the 
objects  for  which  he  contended  ?  Did  he 
after  his  reception  in  any  way  disgrace  that 
reception  ?  By  no  means.  Everything  was 
harmonious,  as  an  air  upon  a  single  lyre,  and 
in  the  same  key;  his  life,  his  teaching,  his 
struggles,  his  dangers,  his  return,  and  his  con- 
duct after  his  return.  For  immediately  on 
his  restoration  to  his  Church,  he  was  not  like 
tho.se  who  are  blinded  by  unrestrained  passion, 
who,  under  the  dominion  of  their  anger,  thrust 
away  or  strike  at  once  whatever  comes  in  tlieir 
way,  even  though  it  might  well  be  spared. 
But,  thinking  this  to  be  a  special  time  for  him 
to  consult  his  reputation,  since  one  who  is  ill- 
treated  is  usually  restrained,  and  one  who  has 
the  power  to  requite  a  wrong  is  ungoverned, 
he  treated  so  mildly  and  gently  those  who  had 
injured  him,  that  even  they  themselves,  if  I 
may  say  so,  did  not  find  his  restoration  dis- 
tasteful. 

31.  He  cleansed  the  temple  of  those  who 
made  merchandise  of  (lod,  and  trafficked  in 
the  things  of  Christ,  imitating  Christ  ^  in  this 


a  S.  Luke  xi.\.  35. 


^  S.  John  ii.  15. 


also  ;  only  it  was  with  persuasive  words,  not 
with  a  twisted  scourge  that  this  was  wrought. 
He  reconciled  also  those  who  were  at  variance, 
both  with  one  another  and  with  him,  without 
the  aid  of  any  coadjutor.  Those  who  had 
been  wronged  he  set  free  from  oppression, 
making  no  distinction  as  to  whether  they  were 
of  his  own  or  of  the  opposite  party.  He  re- 
stored too  the  teaching  which  had  been  over- 
thrown :  the  Trinity  was  once  more  boldly 
spoken  of,  and  set  upon  the  lampstand,  flash- 
ing with  the  brilliant  light  of  the  One  Godhead 
into  the  souls  of  all.  He  legislated  again  for 
the  whole  world,  and  brought  all  minds  under 
his  influence,  by  letters  to  some,  by  invitations 
to  others,  instructing  some,  who  visited  him 
uninvited,  and  proposing  as  the  single  law  to 
all — Good  will."-  For  this  alone  was  able 
to  conduct  them  to  the  true  issue.  In  brief, 
he  exemplified  the  virtues  of  two  celebrated 
stones — for  to  those  who  assailed  him  he  was 
adamant,  and  to  those  at  variance  a  magnet, 
which  by  some  secret  natural  power  draws  iron 
to  itself,  and  influences  the  hardest  of  sub- 
stances. 

32.  But  yet  it  was  not  likely  that  envy 
could  brook  all  this,  or  see  the  Church  restored 
again  to  the  same  glory  and  health  as  in  former 
days,  by  the  speedy  healing  over,  as  in  the 
body,  of  the  wounds  of  separation.  Therefore 
it  was,  that  he  raised  up  against  Athanasius  the 
Emperor,  a  rebel  like  himself,^  and  his  peer 
in  villany,  inferior  to  him  only  from  lack  of 
time,  the  first  of  Christian  Emperors  to  rage 
against  Christ,  bringing  forth  all  at  once  the 
basilisk  of  impiety  with  which  he  had  long 
been  in  labour,  when  he  obtained  an  oppor- 
tunity, and  shewing  himself,  at  the  time  when 
he  was  proclaimed  Emperor,  to  be  a  traitor  to 
the  Emperor  who  had  entrusted  him  with  the 
empire,  and  a  traitor  double  dyed  to  the  God 
who  had  saved  him.  He  devised  the  most  in- 
human of  all  the  persecutions  by  blending 
speciousness  with  cruelty,  in  his  envy  of  the 
honour  won  by  the  martyrs  in  their  struggles ; 
and  .so  he  called  in  question  their  repute  for 
courage,  by  making  verbal  twists  and  quibbles 
a  part  of  his  character,  or  to  speak  the  real 
truth,  devoting  himself  to  them  with  an  eager- 
ness l)orn  of  his  natural  disposition,  and  imi- 
tating in  varied  craft  the  Flvil  one  who  dwelt 
within  him.  The  subjugation  of  the  whole 
race  of  Christians  he  thought  a  simple  task  ; 
but  found  it  a  great  one   to  overcome  Atha- 


arb  SoiiAccrflai,  lit.  "  to  will  " — i.e.  be  willing  to  listen  to,  and  un- 
derslaiul  the  liiterL'sts  for  which  other.s  were  contending,  in  a  concili- 
atory spirit — for  the  sake  of  truth,  not  of  victory. 

^  He  .  .  .  n  rrhcl  like  himself.  Knvy,  personifying  the  Evil 
one.     Cf.  supra  §18. 


ON   THE   GREAT   ATHANASIUS. 


279 


nasius  and  the  power  of  his  teaching  over  us.  For  he 
saw  that  no  success  could  be  gained  in  the  plot  against 
us,  because  of  this  man's  resistance  and  opposition  ; 
the  places  of  the  Christians  cut  down  being  at  once 
filleil  up,  surprising  though  it  seems,  by  the  accession 
of  Gentiles  and  the  prudence  of  Athanasius.  In  full 
view  therefore  of  this,  the  crafty  perverter  and  perse- 
cutor, clinging  no  longer  to  his  cloak  of  illiberal  sophis- 
try, laid  bare  his  wickedness  and  openly  banished  the 
Bishop  from  the  city.  For  the  illustrious  warrior  must 
needs  conquer  in  three  struggles  "•  and  thus  make  good 
his  perfect  title  to  fame. 

33.  Brief  was  the  interval  before  Justice  pronounced 
sentence,  and  handed  over  the  offender 3  to  the  Per- 
sians :  sending  him  forth  an  ambitious  monarch — and 
bringing  him  back  a  corpse  for  which  no  one  even  felt 
pity  ;  which,  as  I  have  heard,  was  not  allowed  to  rest 
in  the  grave,  but  was  shaken  out  and  thrown  up  by 
the  earth  which  he  had  shaken  :  a  prelude — I  take  it 
— to  his  future  chastisement.  Then  another  king  v 
arose, 5  not  shameless  in  countenance  like  the  former, 
nor  an  oppressor  of  Israel  with  cruel  tasks  and  task- 
masiers,  but  most  pious  and  gentle.  In  order  to  lay 
the  best  of  foundations  for  his  empire,  and  begin,  as 
is  right,  by  an  act  of  justice,  he  recalled  from  exile  all 
the  Bishops,  but  in  the  first  place  him  who  stood  first 
in  virtue  and  had  conspicuously  championed  the  cause 
of  piety.  Further,  he  inquired  into  the  truth  of  our 
faith  which  had  been  torn  asunder,  confused,  and 
parcelled  out  into  various  opinions  and  portions  by 
many  ;  with  the  intention,  if  it  were  possible,  of  re- 
ducing the  whole  world  to  harmony  and  union  by  the 
co-operation  of  the  Spirit :  and,  should  he  fail  in  this, 
of  attaching  himself  to  the  best  party,  so  as  to  aid  and 
be  aided  by  it,  thus  giving  token  of  the  exceeding 
loftiness  and  magnificence  of  his  ideas  on  questions  of 
the  greatest  moment.  Here  too  was  shown  in  a  very 
high  degree  the  simple-mindedness  of  Athanasius,  and 
the  steadfastness  of  his  faith  in  Christ.  For,  wlien  all 
the  rest  who  sympathised  with  us  were  divided  into 
three  parties,  and  many  were  faltering  in  their  concep- 
tion of  the  Son,. and  still  more  in  that  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  (a  point  on  which  to  be  only  slightly  in  error 
was  to  be  orthodox)  and  few  indeed  were  sound  upon 
both  points,  he  was  tlie  first  and  only  one,  or  with  the 
concurrence  of  but  a  few,  to  venture  to  confess  in 
writing,  with  entire  clearness  and  distinctness,  the 
Unity  of  Godhead  and  Essence  of  the  Three  Persons, 
and  thus  to  attain  in  later  days,  under  the  influence  of 
inspiration,  to  the  same  faith  in  regard  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  as  had  been  bestowed  at  an  earlier  time  on 
most  of  the  Fathers  in  regard  to  the  Son.  This  con- 
fession, a  truly  royal  and  magnificent  gift,  he  presented 
to  the  Emperor,  opposing  to  the  unwritten  innovation, 
a  written  account «  of  the  orthodox  faith,  so  that  an 
emperor  might  lie  overcome  by  an  emperor,  reason  by 
reason,  treatise  by  treatise. 

34.  This  confession  was,  it  seems,  greeted  with  re- 
spect by  all,  botJi  in  West  and  East,  who  were  capable 
of  life  ;  some  cherishing  piety  within  their  own  bo- 
soms, if  we  may  credit  what  they  say,  but  advancing 
no  furtlier,  like  a  still-born  child  which  dies  within  its 
mother's  womb  ;  others  kindling  to  some  extent,  as  it 
were,  sparks,  so  far  as  to  escape  the  difficulties  of  the 
time,  arising  either  from  the  more  fervent  of  the  ortho- 
dox, or  the  devotion  of  the  people  ;  while  others  spoke 


a.  1)1  three  struggles.  He  was  thrice  banished,  a.d.  336  by 
Coiistantine,  a.d.  356  under  Constantius,  and  A.o.  362  by  Julian. 

|3  The  offender,  Julian. 

y  Another  king — the  Emperor  Jovian.  6  Exod.  i.  8. 

e  A  ivritten  account.  A  synodal  letter  drawn  up  in  council, 
probably  at  Alexandria,  and  conveyed  and  presented  to  Jovian  at 
Antioch  by  S.  Athanasius. 


the  truth  with  boldness,  on  whose  side  I  would  be,  for 
I  dare  make  no  further  boast ;  no  hmger  consulting 
my  own  fearfulness — in  other  words,  the  views  of  men 
more  unsound  than  myself  (for  this  we  have  done 
enough  and  to  spare,  without  either  gaining  anything 
from  others,  or  guarding  from  injury  that  wliich  was 
our  own,  just  as  bad  stewards  do)  but  bringing  forth 
to  light  my  offspring,  nourishing  it  with  eagerness,  and 
exposing  it,  in  its  constant  growth,  to  the  eyes  of  all. 

35.  This,  however,  is  less  admirable  than  his  con- 
duct. What  wonder  that  he,  who  had  already  made 
actual  ventures  on  behalf  of  the  truth,  should  confess 
it  in  writing?  Yet  this  point  I  will  add  to  what  has 
been  said,  as  it  seems  to  me  especially  wonderful,  and 
cannot  with  impunity  be  passed  over  in  a  time  so  fer- 
tile in  disagreements  as  this.  For  his  action,  if  we 
take  note  of  him,  will  afford  instruction  even  to  the 
men  of  this  day.  For  as,  in  the  case  of  one  and  the 
same  quantity  of  water,  tliere  is  separated  from  it,  not 
only  the  residue  whicli  is  left  behind  by  the  hand  when 
drawing  it,  but  also  those  drops,  once  contained  in  the 
hand,  which  trickle  out  through  the  fingers  ;  so  also 
there  is  a  separation  between  us  and,  not  only  those 
who  hold  aloof  in  their  impiety,  but  also  those  who 
are  most  pious,  and  that  both  in  regard  to  such  doc- 
trines as  are  of  small  consequence  (a  matter  of  less 
moment)  and  also  in  regard  to  expressions  intended  to 
bear  the  same  meaning.  We  use  in  an  orthodox 
sense  the  terms  one  Essence  and  three  Hypostases, 
the  one  to  denote  the  nature  of  the  Godhead,  the 
other  the  properties"  of  the  Three;  the  Italians  ^ 
mean  the  same,  but,  owing  to  the  scantiness  of  their 
vocabulary,  and  its  poverty  of  terms,  they  are  unable 
to  distinguish  between  Essence  and  Hypostases,  and 
therefore  introduce  the  term  Persons,  to  avoid  being 
understood  to  assert  three  Essences.  The  result, 
were  it  not  piteous,  would  be  laughable.  This  slight 
difference  of  sound  was  taken  to  indicate  a  difference 
of  faith.  Then,  Sabellianism  was  susjjected  in  the 
doctrine  of  Three  Persoi:s,  Arianism  in  that  of  Three 
Hypostases,  both  being  the  offspring  of  a  contentious 
spirit.  And  then,  from  the  gradual  but  constant 
growth  of  irritation  (the  unfailing  result  of  contentious- 
ness) there  was  a  danger  of  the  whole  world  being 
torn  asunder  in  the  strife  about  syllables.     Seeing  and 

'hearing  this,  our  blessed  one,  true  man  of  God  and 
great  steward  of  souls  as  he  was,  felt  it  inconsistent 
with  his  duty  to  overlook  so  absurd  and  unreasonable 
a  rending  of  the  word,  and  applied  his  medicine  to 
the  disease.  In  what  manner?  He  conferred  in  his 
gentle  and  sympatlietic  way  with  both  parties,  and 
after  he  had  carefully  weighed  the  meaning  of  their 
expressions,  and  found  that  they  had  the  same  sense, 
and  were  in  nowise  different  in  doctrine,  by  permit- 
ting each  party  to  use  its  bwn  terms,  he  bound  them  v 
together  in  unity  of  action. 

36.  Tliis  in  itself  was  more  profitalde  than  the  long 
course  of  labours  and  teaching  on  which  all  writers  en- 
large, for  in  it  somewhat  of  ambition  mingled,  and 
consequently,  perhaps,  somewhat  of  novelty  in  expres- 
sions. This  again  was  of  more  value  than  Ids  many 
vigils  and  acts  of  discijdiiie,  ^  the  advantage  of  which 
is  limited  to  those  wlio  perform  them.  This  was 
worthy  of  our  hei"o's  famous  banishments  and  flights  ; 
for  the  object,  in  view  of  which  he  chose  to  endure 
such   sufferings,  he  still  pursued  when  the   sufferings 


a  Profiertics.     Cf.  Orat.  xHii.  30.  note. 

3  The  Italians,  etc.  Cf.  Newman's  Arians.  pp.  376-384.  S. 
Athanasius'  Orations  against  the  Arians.  Ed.  Bright,  p.  Ixxxi. 
Pelav.  de  Trin.  iV.  ii.  5-10  and  iv. 

y  Bound  them,  etc.  At  the  Council  of  Ale.vandria,  A.D.  362. 
Newman's  Arians,  pp.  364,  sqq. 

ti  Acts  of  discipline.     xaii.(vvi,i}v,  '•  lying  on  the  ground." 


280 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


were  past.  Nor  did  he  cease  to  cherish  the  same  ar- 
dour in  others,  praising  some,  gently  rebuking  others  ; 
rousing  the  shiggishness  of  these,  restraining  the  pas- 
sion of  those  ;  in  some  cases  eager  to  prevent  a  fall, 
in  others  devising  means  of  recovery  after  a  fall  ;  sim- 
])le  in  disposition,  manifold  in  the  arts  of  government  ; 
clever  in  argument,  more  clever  still  in  mind  ;  conde- 
scending to  the  more  lowly^  outsoaring  the  more  lofty  ; 
hospitaljle,"-  protector  of  sujipliants,  averter  of  evils, 
really  combining  in  himself  alone  the  whole  of  the  at- 
tributes parcelled  out  by  the  sons  of  Greece  among 
their  deities.  Further  he  was  the  patron  of  the 
wedded  and  virgin  state  alike,  both  peaceable  and  a 
peacemaker,  and  attendant  upon  those  who  are  passing 
from  hence.  Oil,  how  many  a  title  dees  his  virtue  af- 
ford me,  if  I  would  detail  its  many-sided  excellence. 

37.  After  such  a  course,  as  tauglU  and  teacher,  that 
his  life  and  habiis  form  the  ideal  of  an  Episcopate, 
and  his  teacliing  the  law  of  orthodoxy,  what  reward 
does  he  win  for  his  piety  ?  It  is  not  indeed  right  to 
pass  this  by.  In  a  good  old  age  he  closed  his  life,  ^ 
and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers,  the  Patriarchs,  and 
Prophets,  and  Apostles,  and  Martyrs,  who  contended 
for  the  truth.  To  be  brief  in  my  ejjitaph,  the  hon- 
ours at  his  departure  surpassed  even  those  of  his  re- 
turn from  exile  ;  the  object  of  many  tears,  his  glory, 
stored  up  in  the  minds  of  all,  outshines  all  its  visible 
tokens.  Yet,  O  thou  dear  and  holy  one,  who  didst 
thyself,  with  all  tliy  fair  renown,  so  especially  illus- 
trate the  due  proportions  of  speech  and  of  silence,  do 
thou  stay  here  my  words,  falling  short  as  they  do  of 
thy  true  meed  of  praise,  though  they  have  claimed  the 
full  exercise  of  all  my  powers.  And  mayest  thou  cast 
upon  us  from  above  a  propitious  glance,  and  conduct 
this  people  in  its  pierfect  worshi]i  of  the  perfect  Trin- 
ity, which,  as  Father,  Son,  Holy  Ghost,  we  contem- 
plate and  adore.  And  mayest  thou,  if  my  lot  be 
])eaceful,  possess  and  aid  me  in  my  pastoral  charge,  or 
if  it  pass  through  struggles,  uphold  me,  or  take  me  to 
thee,  and  set  me  with  thyself  and  those  like  thee 
(though  I  have  asked  a  great  thing)  in  Christ  Himself, 
our  Lord,  to  whom  be  all  glory,  honour,  and  power 
for  evermore.     Amen. 


Introduction    to   the    "Theological" 
Orations. 

"It  has  been  said  with  truth,"  .says  the 
writer  of  the  Article  on  Gregory  of  Nazianzus 
in  the  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography, 
"thatthe.se  discourses  would  lose  their  chief 
charni  in  a  translation.  .  .  .  Critics  have 
rivalled  each  other  in  the  praises  they  have 
heaped  upon  them,  but  no  ])raise  is  so  high  as 
that  of  the  many  Theologians  who  have  found 
in  them  their  own  best  thoughts.  A  Critic 
who  cannot  be  accused  of  partiality  towards 
Gregory  has  given  in  a  few  words  perhaps  the 
truest  estimate  of  them  :  '  A  solidity  of  thought, 
the  concentration  of  all  that  is  S])read  through 
the  writings  of'Hilary,  Basil,  and  Athanasius, 
a  flow  of  softened  eloquence  which  does  not 
halt  or  lose  itself  for  a  moment,  an  argimient 
nervous  without  dryness  on  the  one  hand,  and 

a  Hoapitnble.  etc.,  titles  given  to  Zeus,  and  other  Greek  gods. 
fi  Closed  his  life  a.d.  373. 


without  useless  ornament  on  the  other,  give 
these  five  Discourses  a  place  to  themselves 
among  the  monuments  of  this  fine  Genius, 
who  was  not  always  in  the  same  degree  free 
from  grandiloquence  and  affectation.  In  a 
few  i)ages,  and  in  a  few  hours,  Gregory  has 
summed  up  and  closed  the  controversy  of  a 
whole  Century. '  "  '^  3"hey;  were  preached  in  the 
Church  called- Axiastasi a, ^  at  Constantinople, 
between  379  and  381,  and  have  gained  for 
their  author  the  title  of  The  Theologian, 
which  he  shares  with  S.  John  the  Evangelist 
alone.  It  should  perhaps,  however,  be  noted 
that  the  word  is  not  here  used  in  the  wide  and 
general  sense  in  \\hich  we  employ  it,  but  in  a 
narrower  and  more  specific  way,  denoting  em- 
phatically the  Defender  of  the  Deity  of  the 
Logos.  His  principal  opponents  were  the  fol- 
lowers of  Eimomius  and  Macedonius,  and  it 
is  almost  entirely  against  them  that  these  Ora- 
tions on  Theology,  or  the  Godhead  of  the 
Word  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  directed.  The 
chief  object  of  the  Preacher  in  these  and  most 
other  of  his  public  utterances,  is  to  maintain 
the  Nicene  Faith  of  the  Trinity  or  Tri-unity  of 
God  ;  that  is,  the  Doctrine  that  while  there  is 
but  One  Substance  or  Essence  i*  in  the  God- 
head, and  by  consequence  God  is  in  the  most 


aDe  Kroglie,  "  L'Eglise  et  I'Empire,"  v.  385. — "  Ce  sont  autant 
de  modeles  dans  I'art  d^licat  d'imprimer  la  forme  oratoire  aiix  de- 
veloppements  philosuphiques.  Une  pensee  substantielle,  forniee 
de  tons  les  sues  repandus  dans  les  ecrits  d'Hilaire,  de  Easile  et 
d'Athanase;  un  courant  d'eloquence  tempfree  qui  ne  se  ralentit, 
ni  ne  s'egare  en  aucun  moment:  une  argumenlatii>n  nerveuse  sans 
S'cheresse.  mais  sans  vaine  parnre  d'ornemants.  font  a  ces  cinq 
discours  une  place  a  part  parmi  les  monuments  de  ce  beau  gt'nie, 
auquel  Temphase  et  Taffectation  re  furent  pas  toujours  aussi 
etrangers.  t^n  quelques  pages,  et  en  quelques  heures,  Gregoire 
avait  resume  et  clos  la  controverse  de  tout  un  siecle." 

P  See  Prolegomena  p.  171. 

■y  "  There  is  but  one  divine  Essence  or  Substance  ;  Father,  Son, 
and  Spirit,  are  one  in  essence,  or  consubstantial.  They  are  in  one 
another,  inseparable,  and  cannot  be  conceived  without  each  other. 
In  this  point  the  Nicene  doctrine  is  thoroughly  monotheistic,  or 
nionarchian,  in  distinction  from  tritheism,  which  is  but  a  new  form 
of  the  polytheism  of  the  pagans. 

■•  The  terms  Essence  (oucria)  and  Nature  f<|)U<Tt9\in  the  phi'osoph- 
ical  sense,  denote  not  an  individual,  a  personality,  but  the  Genus 
or  Species;  not  Unum  in  Numero,  but  Ens  Unum  in  Mnltis.  All 
men  are  of  the  same  substance,  partake  of  the  same  himian  nature; 
though  as  persons  and  individuals  they  are  very  different.  'I'he 
term  Homo-ousion,  in  its  strict  grammatical  sense,  differs  from 
Mono-ousion  or  Touto-oiision.  as  well  as  fiom  Helero-ousion,  and 
sisjiu'ties  not  numerical  identity,  but  equality  of  essence  or  com- 
nninity  of  nature  among  several  beings.  It  is  clearly  thus  used  m 
the  Chalcedonian  .Symbol,  where  it  is  said  that  Christ  is  'consub- 
stantial (Homo-oi.sios)  with  the  Eather  as  touching  the  Godhead, 
and  consubstantial  with  us  (and  yet  individually  distinct  from  us) 
as  toiuOiing  the  Manhood.'  Hut  in  the  Divine  Trinity  consub- 
stantiality  denotes  not  only  sameness  of  kind,  but  at  the  same  time 
Xinnerical  unity;  not  merely  the  I'niini  in  Specie,  but  also  ilie 
t'nnm  in  Numero.  The  three  Persons  are  related  to  the  Divine 
Substance  not  as  three  individuals  to  their  species,  as  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  or  Peter,  John,  and  Paul,  to  human  nature;  they 
are  only  one  God.  The  divine  Substance  is  absolutely  indivisit'le 
by  reason  of  its  simplicity,  and  absolutely  inextensible  and  un- 
transferable by  reason  of  its  infinity:  whereas  a  corporeal  suhst.uue 
can  be  divided,  and  the  human  nature  can  be  multiplied  by  gener- 
ation. Three  Divine  substances  wotild  limit  and  cxcliuio  each 
other,  ami  tlierefore  could  not  be  infinite  or  absolute.  'J'he  whole 
fulness  of  the  one  undivided  Essence  of  ( Jod,  with  all  its  attributes, 
is  in  all  the  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  though  in  each  in  His  own  way; 
in  the  Father  as  Original  Principle,  in  the  Son  by  eternal  Gener- 
ation, in  the  .Spirit  liy  eternal  Procession.  The  Church  teaches 
not  One  Divine  Essence  rtH(/Three  Persons,  but  One  Essence  In 
Ihrec  Persons.     Eather,  Son,  and  Spirit   cannot   be  conceived  as 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   "THEOLOGICAL"    ORATIONS.      281 


absolute  sense  One,  yet  God  is  not  Uniper- 
sonal,  but  within  this  Undivided  Unity  there 
are  three  Self-determining  Sul)jects  or  Persons, 
distinguished  from  one  another  by  special 
characteristics  (tStoTTjrcs)  or  personal  proper- 
ties— Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  With 
this  object  he  entered  into  conflict  with  the 
heretics  named  above,  who  denied  either  the 
Consubstantiality  of  the  Son  with  the  Father, 
or  the  perfect  Godhead  and  Personality  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

Eunomius,  whom  Ullmann  calls  one  of  the 
most  interesting  heretics  of  the  Fourth  Cen- 
tury, was  l)y  birth  a  Cappadocian,  and  slightly 
older  than  Gregory.  As  a  young  man  he  was 
a  pupil  and  amanuensis  of  Aetius,  by  whom 
the  Arian  heresy  was  developed  to  its  extreme 
results.  The  disciple  never  shrank  from  draw- 
ing the  furthest  logical  conclusions  from  his 
master's  premises,  or  from  stating  them  with 
a  frankness,  which  to  those  who  regarded  the 
premises  themselves  from  which  he  reasoned 
as  horrible  blasphemies,  seemed  nothing  less 
than  diabolical  in  its  impiety.  So  ])recisely 
did  he  complete  and  formulate  his  teacher's 
heretical  tenets,  that  the  Anomcean  Arians 
were  ever  afterwards  called  Eunomians,  rather 
than  Aetians.  They  asserted  the  absolute 
UjiIlAmess  of  the  Being  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son.  Starting  with  the  conception  of 
God  as^bsolute  Being,  of  Whom  no  Genera- 
tion can  be  predicated,  Unbegotten  and  in- 
capable of  Begetting,  they  went  on  to  say  that 
an  Eternal  Generation  is  inconceivable,  and 
that  the  Generation  of  the  Son  of  God  must 
have  had  a  beginning.  .  Of  course,  therefore, 
the  Arian  conclusion  followed,  namely,  that 
there  was  a  time  when  the  Son  did  not  exist 
(jjv  TTore  ore  ovk  yv),  and  His  Essence  is  alto- 
gether unlike  that  of  the  Unbegotten  Father. 
Equality  of  essence  and  Similarity  of  essence, 
are  alike  untenable,  from  the  mere  fact  that 
the  one  Essence  is  Unbegotten,  and  the  other 
is  Begotten.  The  Son,  they  said,  is  the  First 
Creation  of  the  Divine  Energy,  and  is  the  In- 
strument by  whom  God  created  the  world, 
and  in  thiS  sense,  as  the  Organ  of  creative 
power,  may  be  said  to  be  the  Ex]Dress  Image 
and  Likeness  of  the  Energy  of  the  Father. « 

As  they  viewed  the  Holy  Ghost  as  shar- 
ing the  Divine  Nature  in  an  even  remoter  de- 
gree, as  being  only  the  noblest  production  of 


Three  separate  individuals,  luit  are  in  one  another,  and  form  a 
solidaric  Unity."  (Schaff.  History  of  the  Church,  Nic.  &  Post- 
Nic.   Period,  Div.  ii.  p.  672.) 

a  Two  terms  borrowed  from  Holy  Scripture  (Heb.  i.  3).  Put 
observe,  borrowed  with  a  difference — not  "'  the  Image  of  His  .Sub- 
stance," which  they  would  not  admit,  but  of  His  '■  Energy."  which 
is  a  very  different  conception. 


.the  Only-begotten  Son,  Eunomius  was  the 
first  person  heretically  to  discontinue  the  prac- 
tice of  threefold  immersion  in  Holy  Baptism. 
He  also  corrupted  the  Form  of  that  Sacra- 
ment, by  setting  aside  the  use  of  the  Name  of 
the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  baptiz- 
ing people  "  in  the  name  of  the  Creator,  and 
into  the  death  of  Christ."  Therefore  the 
Council  of  Constantinople  ordered  that  con- 
verts from  Eunomianism  should  be  baptized, 
although  those  from  other  forms  of  Arianism 
were  admitted  into  the  Catholic  Church  by 
simple  imposition  of  hands.  Through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  followers  of  Aetius,  Eunomius 
became,  in  360,  Bishop  of  Cyzicus  in  Mysia, 
but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  occupied  the 
See  very  long.  At  any  rate  when  Gregory 
came,  in  379,  to  Constantinople,  he  was  liv- 
ing in  retirement  near  Chalcedon.  All  parties 
concur  in  representing  him  as  a  consummate 
Dialectician,  but  the  Orthodox  declared  that 
he  had  turned  Theology  into  a  mere  Tech- 
nology. Readiness  of  Dialectic  was  the  great 
characteristic  of  his  Sect,  and  it  was  they  who 
introduced  into  the  Capital  that  bad  sjMrit  of 
theological  disputatiousness  which  Gregory 
deplores  in  the  tirst  of  these  famous  Orations. 
He  also  differed  entirely  from  Gregory,  not 
merely  in  the  conclusions  at  which  he  arrived, 
but  in  the  method  by  which  he  reached  them  ; 
following  the  system  of  Aristotle,  rather  than 
of  Plato,  and  using  an  exclusively  intellectual 
method,  while  Gregory  treated  Religion  as 
belonging  to  the  entire  man.  The  point  at 
issue  between  them,  besides  this  of  the  Interior 
relations  of  the  Three  Blessed  Persons  within 
the  Godhead,  Avas  mainly  the  question  as  to 
the  complete  comprehensibility  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  which  the  Eunomians  maintained,  and 
Gregory  denied.  The  latter  argued  that, 
while  we  have  a  sure  conviction  that  God  is, 
we  have  not  a  full  understanding  of  What  He 
is.  He  would  not,  however,  exclude  us  from 
<?// knowledge  of  God's  Nature,  only  he  limits 
our  capacity  to  so  much  as  God  has  been 
pleased  to  reveal  to  us  of  Himself.  "  In  my 
opinion,"  he  says  (Or.  xxiv.  4),  "it  is  im- 
possilile  to  express  God,  and  yet  more  impos- 
sible to  conceive  Him — seeing  that  the  thick 
covering  of  the  flesh  is  an  obstacle  to  the  full 
understanding  of  the  truth."  Similarly  in 
the  Fourth  of  these  Orations  (Or.  xxx.  17) 
he  says,  "The  Deity  cannot  be  expressed  in 
words.  And  this  is  proved  to  us,  not  only  by 
arguments,  but  by  the  wisest  and  most  ancient 
of  the  Hebrews,  so  far  as  they  have  given  us 
reason  for  conjecture.  For  they  ap]:)ropriated 
certain  characters  to  the  honour  of  the  Deity, 


282 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  would  not  even  allow  the  name  of  any- 
thing inferior  to  God  to  be  written  with  the 
same  letters  as  that  of  God,  because  to  their 
mind  it  was  improper  that  the  Deity  should 
even  to  that  extent  admit  any  of  His  creatures 
to  a  share  with  Himself.  How  then  could 
they  have  admitted  that  the  indivisible  and 
separate  Nature  can  be  explained  by  divisible 
words?" 

In  the  mind  of  Gregory,  the  Orthodox 
doctrine  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  is  the  funda- 
mental dogma  of  Christianity,  in  contrast 
with  all  other  religions,  and  with  all  heretical 
systems.  "Remember  your  confession,"  he 
says  to  his  hearers  in  an  Oration  against  the 
Arians  ;  "  Into  what  were  you  baptized?  The 
Father?  Good,  but  still  Jewish.  The  Son  ? 
Good  ;  no  longer  Jewish,  but  not  yet  perfect. 
The  Holy  Ghost  ?  Very  good  ;  this  is  perfect. 
Was  it  then  simply  into  these,  or  was  there 
some  one  common  Name  of  these  ?  Yes,  there 
was,  and  it  is  God."  And  in  the  same  ora- 
tion he -calls  Arianism  a  new  Judaism,  because 
it  ascribes  full  Deity  only  to  the  Father  ;  and 
bespeaks  of  One  Nature  in  Three  Individual- 
ities, intelligent,  perfect,  self-existent,  distinct 
numerically,  but  one  in  Godhead.  "In 
created  things,"  says  Ullmann,  "the  several 
individuals  are  embraced  in  a  common  con- 
ception, though  in  themselves  only  connected 
together  in  thought,  while  in  fact  they  are  not 
one.  Manhood  is  only  an  intellectual  concep- 
tion ;  in  fact  there  exist  only  Men.  But  in 
the  Godhead  the  Three  Persons  are  not  only 
in  conception,  but  in  fact,  One ;  and  this 
Unity  is  not  only  a  relative  but  an  absolute 
Unity,  because  the  Divine  Being  is  perfect  in 
all  Three  Persons,  and  in  all  in -a  perfect 
equality.  In  this  sense  therefore  Gregory  and 
all  orthodox  Trinitarians  maintain  the  Unity 
of  God.  But  within  this  Unity  there  is  a 
true  Trinity,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  a 
Trinity  of  Persons  in  a  Unity  of  Nature." 
We  worship,  he  says  (Or.  xxxiii.  i6),  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  One  Nature  in 
Three  Individualities.  So  that,  as  he  says 
elsewhere  (Or.  in  laud.  Athanasii,  xxi.  lo), 
the  Trinity  is  a  true  Trinity  ;  not  a  number- 
ing of  unlike  things,  but  a  binding  together  of 
equals.  Each  of  the  Persons  is  God  in  the 
fullest  sense.  The  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
have  their  Source  of  Being  in  the  Father,  but 
in  such  sense  that  They  are  fully  consubstan- 
tial  with  Him,  and  that  neither  of  Them  dif- 
fers from  Him  in  any  particular  of  Essence. 
The  points  of  difference  lie  in  the  Person- 
al Attributes  ;  the  Father  Unoriginate,  and 
Source  of  Deity  ;   the  Son  deriving  His  Being 


eternally  from  the  Father,  and  Himself  the 
Source  of  all  created  existence ;  the  Holy 
Ghost  proceeding  eternally  from  God,  and 
sent  into  the  world. 

In  the  first  of  these  five  discourses  the 
Preacher  sets  himself  to  clear  the  ground  for 
the  fitting  presentation  of  his  great  theme. 
He  endeavours  to  lay  down  the  principles  on 
which  Theologians  should  proceed  in  such 
discussions,  and  very  earnestly  deprecates  the 
habit  of  promiscuous  argument  in  all  sorts  of 
places,  upon  all  sorts  of  occasions,  and  before 
all  sorts  of  hearers,  of  the  deepest  and  most 
sacred  truths  and  mysteries  of  the  Faith. 
They  only  should  be  allowed  to  engage  in  such 
conversation  who  are  fitted  for  it  by  the  prac- 
tice of  Christian  virtue.  For  others  there  are 
many  other  subjects  upon  which  they  can  ex- 
ercise their  dialectical  attainments,  without 
doing  or  incurring  any  injury. 

In  the  second  oration  Gregory  lays  down 
the  position  referred  to  above,  that  it  is  im- 
possible for  even  the  most  exalted  human  reason 
fully  to  grasp  the  Nature  of  God,  though  His 
Existence  is  patent  to  all.  We  can  only,  he 
says,  predicate  negatives  concerning  Him.  He 
gives  three  reasons  for  this  incapacity.  First 
to  enhance  our  estimation  of  this  knowledge, 
when  attained  hereafter  ;  secondly  to  save  xis 
from  the  danger  of  falling  through  pride,  like 
Lucifer,  if  we  attained  it  prematurely ;  and 
thirdly,  to  support  and  sustain  us  in  the  trials 
and  conflicts  of  this  life,  by  the  certainty  that 
its  attainment  hereafter  will  be  the  reward  of 
faithful  service  in  them.  The  cause  of  our 
present  inability  is  the  body  with  which  our 
soul  is  united,  the  grossness  of  whose  present 
condition  hinders  us  from  rising  to  the  com- 
plete apprehension  of  the  invisible  and  im- 
material. God,  out  of  compassion  for  our 
weakness,  has  been  pleased  to  designate  Him- 
self in  Holy  Scripture  by  various  names  taken 
from  material  objects,  or  from  moral  virtues  ; 
but  these  are  only  stepping-stones  to  the  truth, 
and  have  indeed  been  sometimes  perverted, 
and  made  a  basis  for  polytheism.  It  is,  how- 
ever, only  natural  that  the  Divine  Essence 
should  be  shrouded  in  Mystery,  for  the  same 
is  the  case  with  the  created  essences  also. 

In  the  Third  and  Fourth  he  deals  with  the 
question  of  the  Son.  His  position  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows  :  The  Son  is  absolutely 
of  One  Substance  with  the  Father,  and  shares 
with  Him  all  the  Attributes  of  Godhead.  Yet 
He  is  a  distinct  Person,  marked  off  by  the 
fact  that  He  is  begotten  of  the  Father.  But 
we  must  be  careful  not  to  allow  this  term 
"  Begotten "  to   suggest    to   us    any    analogy 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE   "THEOLOGICAL"   ORATIONS.       283 


with  created   things.     It  is  wholly  indepen- 
dent of  time  and  space  and  sense. 

This  position  he  had  to  defend  against  many- 
assailants,  and  especially  against  the  Euno- 
mians.  These  heretics  maintained  that  the 
use  of  this  term  necessarily  implied  a  begin- 
ning of  the  Essence  of  the  Son,  and  they  asked 
the  orthodox  to  tell  them  when  that  begin-  i 
ning  took  place.  Gregory  replies  that  the 
Generation  of  God  the  Son  is  beyond  all 
time ;  pointing  out  that  Paternity  is  an  Es- 
sential attribute  of  God  the  Father,  and  there- 
fore is  as  eternal  as  His  Essence,  so  that  there 
never  was  a  time  when  He  was  not  the  Father, 
and  consequently  never  a  time  when  the  Gen- 
eration of  the  Son  began.  He  admits  that 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  possible  to  say 
that  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  are  not  unorigin- 
ate,  but  then  you  must  be  careful  not  to  use 
the  word  Origin  in  the  sense  of  Beginning, 
but  in  that  of  Cause.  They  derive  Their  Be- 
ing eternally  from  the  Father,  and  all  Three 
Persons  are  coeternal  together.  In  respect 
of  Cause  They  are  not  unoriginate,  but  the 
cause  is  not  necessarily  prior  in  time  to  its 
effect,  just  as  the  Sun  is  not  prior  to  its  own 
light.  In  respect  of  time,  then,  They  may  be 
said  to  be  unoriginate,  for  the  Sources  of  time 
cannot  be  subject  to  time.  "If  the  Father 
has  not  ceased  to  beget,  His  Generation  is 
an  imperfect  one  ;  and  if  He  has  ceased,  He 
must  have  begun,  for  an  end  implies  a  be- 
ginning." "  Not  so,"  says  Gregory,  "  unless 
you  are  prepared  to  admit  that  what  has  no 
end  has  necessarily  no  beginning;  and  in  that 
case  what  will  you  say  about  the  Angels,  or 
the  human  soul  ?  These  will  have  no  end ; 
had  either  of  them  therefore  no  beginning?  " 
By  a  similar  process  of  Rcditctio  ad  absitr- 
dum  he  dissipates  all  the  quibbles  of  Euno- 
mian  sophistry,  and  lays  down  the  orthodox 
Faith  of  the  Church.  Then  in  the  remainder 
of  the  Third  and  Fourth  Orations  he  goes  on 
to  examine  the  Scriptural  testimony  adduced 
by  his  opponents,  and  to  shew  by  a  similar 
catena  on  the  other  side  that  the  overwhelm- 
ing preponderance  of  the  authority  of  the 
Bible  is  clearly  against  them.  In  connection 
with  this  point  he  lays  down  the  canon  that 
in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  in  regard  to 
our  Lord,  all  expressions  savouring  of  humil- 
ity or  weakness  are  to  be  referred  to  that  pure 
Humanity  which  He  assumed  for  our  sake ; 
while  all  that  speaks  of  Majesty  and  Power 
belongs  to  His  Godhead. 

In  the  Fifth  he  deals  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  heresy  of  Arius  was  at 
first  directly  concerned  only  with  the  Person 


of  our  Lord,  though  not  without  a  side-glance 
at  that  also  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Council 
of  Nictea  had  coniined  itself  to  the  first  ques- 
tion, and  its  Creed  ended  with,  "  We  believe 
in  the  Holy  Ghost."  This,  it  was  afterwards 
argued,  was  enough  to  proclaim  His  Divinity, 
and  so  Gregory  argues  in  this  Oration,  "If 
He  be  only  a  creature,  how  do  we  believe  on 
Him,  how  are  we  made  perfect  in  Him,  for 
the  first  of  these  belongs  to-Deity,  the  second 
may  be  said  of  anything  "  (c.  vi.).  The  rea- 
son, however,  that  the  Great  Synod  made  no 
express  definition  on  the  point  seems  to  have 
been  that  the  controversy  had  not  yet  been 
carried  so  far  in  direct  terms  (cf.  S.  Basil,  Epp. 
Ixxviii.  ccclxxxvii.).  But  fifty  years  later  the 
growth  of -the  heresy  rendered  a  definition  of 
the  Church's  faith  on  this  point  needful  \  and 
in  363,  on  his  return  from  his  fourth  period 
of  exile,  S.  Athanasius"  held  a  provincial  Synod 
at  Alexandria,  in  whose  Synodical  Letter  to 
the  Emperor  Jovian  the  Godhead  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  maintained  in  terms  which,  as  Canon 
Bright  says,  partly  anticipate  the  language  of 
the  Creed  of  Constantinople  (Diet.  Biog.  Art. 
Athanasius).  The  new  development  of  the 
heresy  bad  begun  to  appear  at  Constantinople 
as  well  as  in  Thrace  and  Asia  Minor.  Mace- 
donius,  a  Semi-Arian,  had  been  elected  Bishop 
of  Constantinople  in  341,  and  in  spite  of  vio- 
lent opposition,  which  he  met  by  still  more 
violent  measures,  had  maintained  his  position 
till  360,  when  he  was  deposed  and  driven  out 
by  the  Anomoean  Arians.  He  then  in  his 
retirement  became  the  leader  of  the  Semi- 
Arian  party.  Accepting  the  statement  that 
the  Son  was  Like  in  Essence  to  the  Father,  he 
would  not  concede  even  this  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  declared  Him  to  be  a  mere  creat- 
ure (Thdt.  Hist.  Feci.  ii.  6),  and  the  servant 
or  minister  of  the  Son  ;  applying  to  Him  terms 
which  without  error  could  only  be  used  of  the 
Angels  (Sozomen.  H.  E.  iv.  27).  His  follow- 
ers were  known  as  Macedonians,  or  sometimes 
Marathonians,  from  a  certain  Marathonius, 
formerly  a  Paymaster  of  the  Praetorian  Guards, 
who  had  become  a  Deacon  of  Constantinople, 
and,  having  done  much  in  the  way  of  found- 
ing and  maintaining  Monastic  Houses  and 
Houses  of  Charity  in  the  City,  was  conse- 
crated by  Macedonius  as  Bishop  of  Nicomedia. 
They  were  also  known  as  Pneumatomachi, 
from  the  nature  of  their  Heresy.  A  contro- 
versy had  now  begun  to  arise  as  to  the  precise 
position  which  the  true  faith  was  to  assign  to 
the  Holy  Spirit.  There  were  those  who  left 
it  doubtful  whether  He  had  indeed  a  separate 
Personality,  or  whether  He  were  not  rather  a 


284 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


mere  Influence  or  Activity  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son.  Gregory  tells  us  how,  when  he 
came  to  the  Metropolis,  he  found  the  Avildest 
confusion  prevalent.  Some,  he  says,  conceived 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  mere  Energy  of  God, 
others  thought  Him  a  Creature,  others  believed 
Him  to  be  God  ;  while  many  out  of  an  alleged 
reverence  for  Holy  Scripture,  hesitated  to  give 
Him  the  Name  of  God.  To  this  last  class 
belonged,  according  to  Socrates  (H.  E,  ii.  45), 
Eustathius,  who  had  been  ejected  from  the 
Bishopric  of  Sebasteia  in  Pontus.  He  refused 
to  admit  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God,  while 
yet  He  did  not  dare  to  affirm  that  He  is  a 
mere  creature.  When  Gregory  proceeded  to 
preach  the  Deity  of  the  Spirit,  he  was  accused 
of  introducing  a  strange  and  unscriptural  god, 
because,  as  he  acknowledges,  the  letter  of  the 
Bible  is  not  so  clear  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
Spirit  as  it  is  on  that  of  the  Son.  But  he 
points  out  that  it  is  possible  to  be  superstitious 
in  one's  reverence  for  the  letter  of  the  Bible, 
and  that  such  superstition  leads  directly  to 
heresy.  He  explains  the  reticence  of  the  New 
Testament  on  this  point  by  shewing  (in  this 
Oration,  cc.  26,  27)  how  God's  Self- Revela- 
tion to  man  has  always  been  a  gradual  one ;  how 
the  Old  Testament  revealed  the  Father  clearly, 
with  obscure  hints  about  the  Son  ;  and  the 
New  Testament  manifested  the  Son,  but  only 
hinted  at  the  Godhead  of  the  Spirit ;  but  now, 
he  says,  the  Spirit  dwells  among  us,  and  allows 
us  to  recognize  Him  more  clearly.  For  it 
would  not  have  been  advisable,  as  long  as  the 
Godhead  of  the  Father  was  not  acknowledged, 
to  proclaim  that  of  the  Son ;  and  while  the 
Deity  of  the  Son  was  not  yet  accepted,  to  add 
another  burden  in  that  of  the  Holy  .Spirit. 
Recognizing  thus  a  Divine  economy  in  the 
Self- Revelations  of  God,  he  was  not  averse  to 
using  a  similar  caution  in  his  own  dealings 
with  weak  or  ill-instructed  minds.*  But  yet 
when  real  necessity  arose,  he  could  s])eak  out 
with  perfect  plainn&ss  on  this  subject  ;  and  he 
even  incurred  danger  to  life  and  limb  from  the 
violence  of  the  0])posing  party.  He  met  their 
ojjposition  by  the  clearest  statements  of  the 
Catholic  Dogma.  "  Is  the  Sjjirit  God?  "  he 
asks.  ' '  Yes. "  "  But  is  He  consubstantial  ?  ' ' 
"Yes,  if  He  is  God."  (Orat.  xxxi.  10.) 
He  appeals  both  to  the  Bible,  and  to  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Christian  life.  If  the  Spirit  is 
not  to  be  adored,  how  can  He  deify  me  in 
Bayjtism  ?  From  the  Spirit  comes  our  new 
Birth  ;  from  the  new  Birth  our  new  Life  ;  and 


oin  his  Fifty-third  Kpistle.  addressed  to   S.  Pasil,  there  is  an 

amiisinsi  instanrp  nf  )iis  defence  (if  this  tolerant  disposition,  which 
S.  Basil  also  displayed  in  dealing  with  minds  of  this  class. 


from  the  new  Life  our  knowledge  of  the  Dig- 
nity of  Him  from  Whom  it  is  derived  (Ibid, 
c.  29).  He  is,  however,  milder  in  his  treat- 
ment of  these  heretics  than  of  the  strict  Arians, 
both,  as  he  says,  because  they  approached  more 
nearly  to  the  Orthodox  belief  on  the  subject 
of  the  Son,  and  because  their  conspicuous 
piety  of  life  shewed  that  their  error  was  not 
altogether  wilful.  In  this  Oration  he  shews 
that  though  the  Name  of  God  may  not  actu- 
ally be  given  in  the  New  Testament  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  yet  all  the  attributes  of  God  are 
ascribed  to  Him,  and  that  therefore  the  use  of 
the  Name  is  a  matter  of  legitimate  inference. 
He  carries  on  the  argument  in  the  Oration  on 
Pentecost  (No.  XLI.  Seethe  Introduction  to 
that  Oration  in  the  present  A'olume). 

With  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Proces- 
sion, Gregory  gives  us  no  clear  information. 
He  is  silent  as  to  the  Procession  from  the  Son. 
It  is  enough  for  him  that  the  Spirit  is  not  Be- 
gotten but  Proceeding  (in  SS.  Lumina,  c.  12), 
and  that  Procession  is  His  distinctive  Prop- 
erty, Avhich  involves  at  once  His  Personality 
and  His  Essential  Deity. 

At  length  in  381  the  work  of  local  Synods 
and  episcopal  conferences  was  comijleted  and 
clinched  by  the  Ruling  of  a  Second  Ecumeni- 
cal Council.  It  is  true  that  the  Council  which 
Theodosius  summoned  to  meet  at  Constanti- 
nople could  scarcely  have  regarded  itself  as 
possessing  Ecumenical  authority  ;  whilst  in  the 
West  it  certainly. was  not  regarded  in  this  light 
before  the  Sixth  Century.  Nevertheless  the 
honours  of  Ecumenicity  were  ultimately  award- 
ed to  it  by  the  whole  Church,  because  it  com- 
pletes the  series  of  Great  Councils  by  which 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  affirmed  ;  and  in  fact  it  expressed  the  final 
judgment  of  the  Catholic  Church  upon  the 
Macedonian  controversy.  Its  first  Canon 
anathematises  the  Semiarians  or  Pneumato- 
machi  by  name  as  well  as  the  Eunomians  or 
Anomcean  Arians  (cf.  Diet.  Biog.  Art.  Greg- 
ory of  Nazianzus,  by  Dr.  H.  B.  Swete). 


XXVII.     THE     FIRST     THEOLOGICAT, 
ORATION. 

A    Pkf.i.tminary    Discourse    a(;ain.?t    thf. 
Eunomians. 

I.  I  am  to  speak  against  persons  who  pride 
themselves  on  their  eloquence  ;  so,  to  begin 
with  a  text  of  Scrijjture,  "Behold,  I  am 
against  thee,  O  thou  proud  one,"  "  not  only  in 


ajer.  1.  31. 


A   PRELIMINARY   DISCOURSE   AGAINST  THE   EUNOMIANS.     28  = 


thy  system  of  teaching,  but  also  in  thy  hear- 
ing, and  in  thy  tone  of  mind.  For  there  are 
certain  persons  who  have  not  only  their  ears" 
and  their  tongues,  but  even,  as  I  now  perceive, 
their  hands  too,  itching  for  our  words;  who 
delight  in  profane  babblings,  and  oppositions 
of  science  falsely  so  called,^  and  strifes  about 
words,  which  tend  to  no  profit ;  for  so  Paul, 
the  Preacher  and  Establisher  of  the  ' '  Word 
cut  short,"  v  the  disciple  and  teacher  of  the 
Fishermen,^  calls  all  that  is  excessive  or  super- 
fluous in  discourse.  But  as  to  those  to  whom 
•we  refer,  would  that  they,  whose  tongue  is  so 
voluble  and  clever  in  applying  itself  to  noble 
and  approved  language,  would  likewise  pay 
some  attention  to  actions.  For  then  perhaps 
in  a  little  while  they  would  become  less 
sophistical,  and  less  absurd  and  strange  acro- 
bats of  words,  if  I  may  use  a  ridiculous  expres- 
sion about  a  ridiculous  subject. 

II.  But  since  they  neglect  every  path  of 
righteousness,  and  look  only  to  this  one  point, 
namely,  which  of  the  propositions  submitted 
to  them  they  shall  bind  or  loose,  (like  those 
persons  who  in  the  theatres  perform  wrestling 
matches  in  public,  but  not  that  kind  of  wrest- 
ling in  which  the  victory  is  won  according  to 
the  rules  of  the  sport,  but  a  kind  to  deceive 
the  eyes  of  those  who  are  ignorant  in  such 
matters,  and  to  catch  applause),  and  every 
marketplace  must  buzz  with  their  talking ; 
and  every  dinner  party  be  worried  to  death 
with  silly  talk  and  boredom  ;  and  every  fes- 
tival be  made  unfestive  and  full  of  dejection, 
and  every  occasion  of  mourning  be  consoled 
by  a  greater  calamity  ^ — their  questions — and 
all  the  women's  apartments  accustomed  to 
simplicity  be  thrown  into  confusion  and  be 
robbed  of  its  flower  of  modesty  by  the  torrent 
of  their  words  .  .  .  since,  I  say  this  is 
so,  the  evil  is  intolerable  and  not  to  be  borne, 
and  our  Great  Mystery  is  in  danger  of  being 
made  a  thing  of  little  moment.  Well  then, 
let, these  spies  ^  bear  with  us,  moved  as  we  are 
with  fatherly  compassion,  and  as  holy  Jere- 
miah says,  torn  in  our  hearts  ; ''  let  them  bear 
with  us  so  far  as  not  to  give  a  savage  reception 
to  our  discourse  upon  this  subject ;  and  let 
them,  if  indeed  they  can,  restrain  their 
tongues  for  a  short  while  and  lend  us  their 
ears.  However  that  may  be,  you  shall  at  any 
rate  suffer  no  loss.     For  either  we  shall  have 


o  Tim.  iv.  3.  3  lb.  ii.  16.  y  Rom.  ix.  28. 

6  S.  Paul  is  called  a  disciple  of  the  Jiskertiten.  as  having;  been 
in  some  sense  their  follower  (though  in  fact  he  was  never  a  literal 
disciple  of  any  of  them);  and  their  teachrr  as  having  taught  such 
Successors  of  the  Apostles  as  SS.  Timothy  and  Titus. 

e  i.e.  be  thrown  into  the  shade  by  something  more  serious  which 
caused  them  by  comparison  to  be  scarcely  felt  any  longer. 
'  f  KaTd<7(C07roi  quasi  i^ev6e7ri(7(c07roi.  ij  Jer.  iv.  19. 


spoken  in  the  ears  of  them  that  will  hear,"  and 
our  words  will  bear  some  fruit,  namely  an 
advantage  to  you  (since  the  Sower  soweth  the 
Word  ^  upon  every  kind  of  mind ;  and  the 
good  and  fertile  bears  fruit),  or  else  you  will 
depart  despising  this  discourse  of  ours  as  you 
have  despised  others,  and  having  drav.-n  from 
it  further  material  for  gainsaying  and  railing  at 
us,  upon  which  to  feast  yourselves  yet  more. 

And  you  must  not  be  astonished  if  I  speak 
a  language  which  is  strange  to  you  and  con- 
trary to  your  custom,  who  profess  to  know 
everything  and  to  teach  everything  in  a  too 
impetuous  and  generous  manner  .  .  .  not 
to  pain  you  by  saying  ignorant  and  rash. 

III.  Not  to  every  one,  my  friends,  does  it 
belong  to  philosophize  about  God  ;  not  to 
every  one  ;  the  Subject  is  not  so  cheap  and 
low  ;  and  I  will  add,  not  before  every  audi- 
ence, nor  at  all  times,  nor  on  all  points  ;  but 
on  certain  occasions,  and  before  certain  per- 
sons, and  within  certain  limits. 

Not  to  all  men,  because  it  is  permitted  only 
to  those  who  have  been  examined,  and  are 
passed  masters  in  meditation,  and  who  have 
been  previously  purified  in  soul  and  body,  or 
at  the  very  least  are  being  purified.  For  the 
impure  to  touch  the  pure  is,  we  may  safely 
say,  not  safe,  just  as  it  is  unsafe  to  fix  weak 
eyes  upon  the  sun's  rays.  And  what  is  the 
permitted  occasion  ?  It  is  when  we  are  free 
from  all  external  defilement  or  disturbance, 
and  when  that  which  rules  within  us  is  not 
confused  with  vexatious  or  erring  images  ;  like 
persons  mixing  up  good  writing  with  bad,  or 
filth  with  the  sweet  odours  of  unguents.  For 
iJL4S_necessary  to  be  truly  at  leisure  to  know 
XiOd_;  and  when  we  can  get  a  convenient 
season,  to  discern  the  straight  road  of  the 
things  divine.  And  who  are  the  permitted 
persons?  They  to  whom  the  subject  is  of 
real  concern,  and  not  they  who  make  it  a 
matter  of  pleasant  gossip,  like  any  other  thing, 
after  the  races,  or  the  theatre,  or  a  concert, 
or  a  dinner,  or  still  lower  employments.  To 
such  men  as  these,  idle  jests  and  pretty  con- 
tradictions about  these  subjects  are  a  part  of 
their  amusement. 

IV.  Next,  on  what  subjects  and  to  what  ex- 
tent may  we  philosophize  ?  On  matters  within 
our  reach,  and  to  such  an  extent  as  the  mental 
power  and  grasp  of  our  audience  may  extend. 
No  further,  lest,  as  excessively  loud  sounds 
injure  the  hearing,  or  excess  of  food  the  body, 
or,  if  you  will,  as  excessive  burdens  beyond 

a  Ecdus.  XXV.  9. 

P  S.  Mark  iv.  3  and  n.  "He  that  soweth  the  Word  soweth 
upon,"  etc.  So  Billius  and  the  Benedictines,  but  the  rendering  in 
the  text  seems  preferable. 


286 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


the  strength  injure  those  who  bear  them,  or 
excessive  rains  the  earth  ;  so  these  too,  being 
pressed  down  and  overweighted  by  the  stiff- 
ness, if  I  may  use  the  expression,  of  the  argu- 
ments should  suffer  loss  even  in  respect  of  the 
strength  they  originally  possessed.'' 

V.  Now,  I  am  not  saying  that  it  is  not  need- 
ful to  remember  God  at  all  times ;  .  .  .  I 
must  not  be  misui:!derstood,  or  1  shall  behaving 
these  nimble  and  quick  people  down  upon  me 
again.  For  we  ought  to  think  of  God  even 
more  often  than  we  draw  our  breath  ;  and  if 
the  expression  is  permissible,  we  ought  to  do 
nothing  else.  Yea,  I  am  one  of  those  who 
entirely  approve  that  Word  which  bids  us 
meditate  day  and  night, ^  and  tell  at  eventide 
and  morning  and  noon  day.'>'  and  praise  the 
Lord  at  every  time  ;  *  or,  to  use  Moses'  words, 
whether  a  man  lie  down,  or  rise  up,  or  walk 
by  the  way.  or  whatever  else  he  be  doing  * — 
and  by  this  recollection  we  are  to  be  moulded 
to  purity.  So  that  it  is  not  the  continual  re- 
membrance of  God  that  I  would  hinder,  but 
only  the  talking  about  God  ;  nor  even  that  as 
in  itself  wrong,  but  only  when  unseasonable  ; 
nor  all  teaching,  but  only  want  of  moderation. 
As  of  even  honey  repletion  and  satiety,  though 
it  he  of  honey,  produce  vomiting  ;  ^  and,  as 
Solomon  says  and  I  think,  there  is  a  time  for 
every  thing,  '^  and  that  which  is  good  ceases  to 
be  good  if  it  be  not  done  in  a  good  way  ;  just 
as  a  flower  is  quite  out  of  season  in  winter, 
and  just  as  a  man's  dress  does  not  become  a 
woman,  nor  a  woman's  a  man  ;  and  as  geo- 
metry is  out  of  i)lace  in  mourning,  or  tears  at 
a  carousal  ;  shall  we  in  this  instance  alone 
disregard  the  proper  time,  in  a  matter  in 
which  most  of  all  due  season  should  be 
respected  ?  Surely  not,  my  friends  and  breth- 
ren (for  I  will  still  call  you  Brethren,  though 
you  do  not  behave  like  brothers).  Let  us  not 
think  so  nor  yet.  like  hot  tempered  and  hard 
mouthed  horses,  throwing  off  our  rider  Rea- 
son, and  casting  away  Reverence,  that  keeps 
us  within  due  limits,  run  far  away  from  the 
turning  point, ^  but  let  us  philosophize  within 
our  proper  bounds,  and  not  be  carried  away 

a  i.e.  .Should  not  only  fail  to  be  strengthened  therctiv.  but  be 
actually  weakened,  through  their  inability  to  understand  the  argu- 
ment.    A  bad  defence  weakens  a  good  cai;se. 

/3  I's.  i.  2.  y  Ps.  Iv.  17.  8  Ps.  xxxiv.  i. 

e  Pent.  vi.  7.  f  Prov.  xxv.  16.  »)  Kccles.  iii.  i. 

6  The  course  of  the  chariot  races  in  the  Greek  Caines  was  round 
the  HipDodronie  a  certain  number  of  times.  To  facilitate  this 
arrangement,  a  party  wall  was  built  down  the  middle,  and  at  either 
end  ot  it  certain  posts  were  set  up  called  vvacrai,  or  in  T.atin  Metic, 
round  which  the  cars  were  to  turn.  The  object  of  the  charioteers 
was  to  turn  ronnd  these  as  close  as  possible,  to  save  distance  ;  and 
to  do  this  well  it  was  necessary  to  have  the  horses  imder  perfect 
control,  as  well  as  perfectly  trained,  to  make  the  semicircle  at  full 
gallop  almost  on  the  axis  of  the  car.  The  horses  that  got  out  of 
hand  and  galloped  wildly  round  a  large  circle  would  almost  cer- 
tainly lose  distance  enough  to  lose  the  race,  while  the  driver  would 
be  laughed  at  for  his  unskilfulness. 


into  Egypt,  nor  be  swept  down  into  Assyria," 
nor  sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land,  by 
which  1  mean   before  any  kind  of  audience, 
strangers    or    kindred,    hostile    or    friendly, 
kindly  or  the  reverse,  who  watch  what  we  do 
with  over  great  care,  and  would  like  the  spark 
of  what  is  wrong  in  us  to  become  a  flame, 
and  secretly  kindle  and  fan  it  and  raise  it  to 
heaven  with  their  breath  and  make  it  higher 
than   the  Babylonian   flame   which   burnt    up 
every    thing    around    it.        For    since    their 
strength  lies   not  in  their  own  dogmas,  they 
hunt  for  it  in  our  weak  points.      And  there-, 
fore    they    apply   themselves    to   our — shall   I 
say  "  misfortunes  "  or  "  failings  "  ? — like  flies 
to  wounds.     But  let  us  at  least  be  no  longer 
ignorant  of  ourselves,  or  pay  too  little  atten- 
tion to  the  due  order  in  these  matters.      And 
if  it  be  impossible  to  put  an  end  to  the  exist- 
ing hostility,  let  us  at  least  agree  upon   this, 
that  we  will  utter  Mysteries  under  our  breath, 
and    holy   things  in  a  holy  manner,   and  we 
will  not  cast  to  ears  profane  that  which  may 
not  be  uttered,  nor  give  evidence  that  we  I'os- 
sess    less    gravity    than    those    who     worship 
demons,  and  serve  shameful  fables  and  deeds  ; 
for  they  would  sooner  give  their  blood  to  the 
uninitiated   than   certain   words.      But   let  us 
recognize  that  as  in  dress  and  diet  and  laugh- 
ter and  demeanour  there  is  a  certain  decorum, 
so  there  is  also  in  speech  and  silence  ;  since 
among  so  many  titles  and  jiowers  of  God,  we 
pay  the  highest  honour  to  The  Word.      Let 
even    our    disputings    then    be    kept    within 
bounds. 

VL  Why  should  a  man  who  is  a.  hostile 
listener  to  such  words  be  allowed  to  hear  about 
the  Generation  of  God.  or  his  creation,  or  how 
God  was  made  out  of  things  which  had  no 
existence,  or  of  section  and  analysis  and 
division?^  Why  do  we  make  our  accusers 
judges?  Why  do  we  put  swords  into  the 
hands  of  our  enemies?  How,  thinkest  thou, 
or  with  what  temper,  will  the  arguments 
about  such  subjects  be  received  by  one  who 
approves  of  adulteries,  and  corruption  of 
children,  and  who  worships' the  passions  and 
cannot  conceive  of  aught  higher  than  the 
body  .  .  .  who  till  very  lately  set  up 
gods  for  himself,  and  gods  too  who  were  noted 
for  the  vilest  deeds?"  Will  it  not  first  be 
from  a  material  standpoint,  shamefully  and 
I  ignorantly,  and  in  the  sense  to  which  he  lias 
been  accustomed?  Will  he  not  make  thy 
Theology  a  defence  for  his  own  gods  and  pas- 

!        a  Pan.  iii.  12.  .   . 

^  The  allusion  is  to  the  Arian  and  Eunomian  habit  of  gossipmg 
'  about  the  most  sacred  subjects  in  every  sort  of  place  or  company 
i    or  time,  in  order  to  promote  their  heresy.  ' 


A    PRELIMINARY   DISCOURSE   AGAINST  THE    EUNOMIANS.    287 


,sions?  For  if  we  ourselves  wantonly  misuse 
these  words,"  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we 
shall  persuade  them  to  accept  our  philosophy. 
And  if  they  are  in  their  own  persons  inventors 
of  evil  things,  how  should  they  refrain  from 
grasping  at  such  things  when  offered  to  them? 
Such  results  come  to  us  from  mutual  contest. 
Such  results  follow  to  those  who  fight  for  the 
Word  beyond  what  the  Word  approves ;  they 
are  behaving  like  mad  people,  who  set  their 
own  house  on  fire,  or  tear  their  own  children, 
or  disavow  their  own  parents,  taking  them 
for  strangers. 

VII.  But  when  we  have  put  away  from  the 
conversation  those  who  are  strangers  to  it,  and 
sent  the  great  legion  ^  on  its  way  to  the  aby$s 
into  the  herd  of  swine,  the  next  thing  is  to 
look  to  ourselves,  and  polish  our  theological 
self  to  beauty  like  a  statue.  The  first  point  to 
be  considered  is — What  is  this  great  rivalry 
of  speech  and  endless  talking  ?  What  is  this 
new  disease  of  insatiability?  Why  have  we 
tied  our  hands  and  armed  our  tongues  ?  We 
do  not  praise  either  hospitality,  or  brotherly 
love,  or  conjugal  affection,  or  virginity  ;  nor 
do  we  admire  liberality  to  the  poor,  or  the 
chanting  of  Psalms,  or  nightlong  vigils, v  or 
tears.  We  do  not  keep  under  the  body  by 
fasting,  or  go  forth  to  God  by  prayer ;  nor 
do  we  subject  the  worse  to  the  better — I  mean 
the  dust  to  the  spirit — as  they  would  do  who 
form  a  just  judgment  of  our  composite  nature  ; 
we  do  not  make  our  life  a  preparation  for 
death  ;  nor  do  we  make  ourselves  masters  of 
our  passions,  mindful  of  our  heavenly  nobility  ; 
nor  tame  our  anger  when  it  swells  and  rages, 
nor  our  pride  that  bringeth  to  a  fall,  nor  un- 
reasonable grief,  nor  unchastened  pleasure, 
nor  meretricious  laughter,  nor  undisciplined 
eyes,  nor  insatiable  ears,  nor  excessive  talk, 
nor  absurd  thoughts,  nor  aught  of  the  occa- 
sions which  the  Evil  One  gets  against  us  from 
sources  within  ourselves;  bringing  upon  us  the 
death  that  comes  through  the  windows,*  as 
Holy  Scripture  saith ;  that  is,  through  the 
senses.  Nay  we  do  the  very  opposite,  and 
have  given  liberty  to  the  passions  of  others,  as 
kings  give  releases  from  service  in  honour  of  a 
victory,  only  on  condition  that  they  incline  to 
our  side,  and  make  their  assault  upon  God 
more  boldly,  or  more  impiously. 


And  we  give 


a  Such  expressions  as  Generation  and  the  like  would  certainly 
be  understood  in  a  materi.il  sen^^e  by  the  heathen  :  and  so  would 
place  an  unnecessary  stumbling-block  in  ihe  way  of  their  conver- 
sion. 

|3  Luke  viii.  31. 

V  S.  John  Chrysostom,  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Constan- 
tinople in  397,  incurred  much  unpopularity  among  his  clergy  by 
insisting  on  the  revival  of  the  Night  Hours  of  prayer. 

6  Jer.  ix.  21.  » 


them  an  evil  reward   for  a  thing  which  is  not 
good,  license  of  tongue  for  their  impiety. 

VIII.   And  yet,  O  talkative  Dialectician,  I 
will  ask  thee  one  small  question,"  and  answer 
thou  me,   as   He  saith  to  Job,  Who  through 
whirlwind  and  cloud  giveth  Divine  admoni- 
tions.^     Are  there  many  mansions  in  God's 
House,  as  thou  hast  heard,  or  only  one  ?     Of 
course  you  will  admit  that  there  are  many,  and 
not  only  one.     Now,  are  they  all  to  be  filled, 
or  only  some,  and  others  not ;  so  that  some  will 
be  left  empty,  and  will  have  been  prepared  to 
no  purpose?     Of  course  all  will  be  filled,  for 
nothing  can  be   in  vain  which  has   been  done 
by  God.      And  can  you  tell  me  what  you  will 
consider  this  Mansion  to  be?     Is  it   the  rest 
and   glory  which   is   in  store   There   for    the 
Blessed,   or   something    else? — No,   not    any- 
thing  else.      Since   then  we   are   agreed  upon 
this  point,  let  us  further  examine  another  also. 
Is  there   any  thing  that  procures   these  Man- 
sions, as  I  think  there  is ;  or  is  there  nothing? 
— Certainly  there  is — What  is  it  ?     Is  it  not 
that    there    are    various    modes    of   conduct, 
and  various   purposes,  one   leading   one  way, 
another  another  way,  according  to  the  propor- 
tion of  faith,  and  these  we  call  Ways?     Must 
we,   then,   travel   all,  or   some   of  these  ^^'ays 
the  same  individual  along  them  all, 
if  that    be   possible ;    or,    if    not,   along    as 
many  as  may  be  ;  or  else  along  some  of  them  ? 
And  even  if  this  may  not  be,  it  would  still  be 
a  great  thing,  at  least  as  it  appears  to  me,  to 
travel  excellently  along  even  one. — "You  are 
right  in  your  conception." — What  then  when 
you  hear  there   is   but   One  way,  and   that   a 
narrow  one,'*'  does  the  word  seem  to  you  to 
shew  ?     That  there  is  but  one  on  account  of 
its  excellence.     For  it  is  but  one,  even  though 
it  be  split  into  many  parts.      And  narrow  be- 
cause   of  its    difficulties,  and    because    it   is 
trodden  by  (Q\y  in  comparison  with  the  multi- 
tude  of  the    adversaries,   and    of   those    who 
travel  along  the  road  of  wickedness.      "  So  I 
think  too."   Well,  then,  my  good  friend,  since 
this  is  so,  why  do  you,  as  though  condemning 
our  doctrine  for  a  certain  poverty,  rush  head- 
long down  that  one  which  leads  through  what 
you  call  arguments    and   speculations,    but   I 
frivolities  and  quackeries?     Let  Paul  reprove 
you   with   those   bitter    reproaches,  in  which, 
after  his  list  of  the   Gifts   of  Grace,  he  says. 
Are  all  Apostles?  Are  all  Prophets?  etc.* 

IX.  But,  be  it  so.  Lofty  thou  art,  even  be- 
yond the  lofty,  even  above  the  clouds,  if  thou 
wilt,  a  spectator  of  things  invisible,  a  hearer 


a  Job  xxxviii.  3. 
y  Matt.  vii.  14. 


0  Job  xxxviii.  i, 
6  I  Cor.  xii.  29. 


288 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


of  things  unspeakable  ;  one  who  hast  ascended 
after  Elias,  and  who  after  Moses  hast  been 
deemed  worthy  of  the  Vision  of  God,  and 
after  Paul  hast  been  taken  up  into  heaven  ; 
why  dost  thou  mould  the  rest  of  thy  fellows  in 
one  day  into  Saints,  and  ordain  them  Theo- 
logians, and  as  it  were  breathe  into  them 
instruction,  and  make  them  many  councils  of 
ignorant  oracles?  Why  dost  thou  entangle 
those  who  are  weaker  in  thy  spider's  web,  as 
if  it  were  something  great  and  wise  ?  Why 
dost  thou  stir  up  wasps'  nests  against  the 
Faith?  Why  dost  thou  suddenly  spring  a 
flood  of  dialectics  upon  us,  as  the  fables  of  old 
did  the  Giants?  Why  hast  thou  collected  all 
that  is  frivolous  and  unmanly  among  men, 
like  a  rabble,  into  one  torrent,  and  having 
made  them  more  effeminate  by  flattery, 
fashioned  a  new  workshop,  cleverly  making  a 
harvest  for  thyself  out  of  their  want  of  under- 
standing? Dost  thou  deny  that  this  is  so, 
and  are  the  other  matters  of  no  account  to 
^thee?  Must  thy  tongue  rule  at  any  cost,  and 
canst  thou  not  restrain  the  birthpang  of  thy 
speech?  Thou  mayest  find  many  other 
honourable  subjects  for  discussion.  To  these 
turn  this  disease  of  thine  with  some  advantage. 
Attack  the  silence  of  Pythagoras,*  and  the 
Orphic  beans,  and  the  novel  brag  about  "  The 
Master  said."  Attack  the  ideas  of  Plato, ^ 
and  the  transmigrations  and  courses  of  our 
souls,  and  the  reminiscences,  and  the  unlovely 
loves  of  the  soul  for  lovely  bodies.  Attack 
the  atheism  of  Epicurus, v  and  his  atoms,  and 
his  unphilosophic  pleasure ;  or  Aristotle's 
4)etty  Providence^  and  his  artificial  system, 
and  his  discourses  about  the  mortality  of  the 
soul,  and  the  humanitarianism  of  his  doctrine. 
Attack  the  superciliousness  of  the  Stoa,*  or 
the  greed  and  vulgarity  of  the  Cynic* 
Attack  the  "Void    and    Full"   (what    non- 


a  The  disciples  of  Pythagoras  were  made  to  keep  silence  ab- 
sohitely  for  five  years  as  a  qualification  for  initiation  into  the 
mysteries  of  his  order.  Further,  they  were  bidden  to  abstain 
from  eating  beans,  as  these  were  said  to  be  one  receptacle  of 
human  souls  in  the  course  of  their  peregrinations  :  and  when 
asked  for  proof  of  their  peculiar  doctrines,  contented  themselves 
with  the  reply,  •'aurb?  e9a"  "  the  master  said  so," 

fi  Plato  taught  that  all  things  that  exist  are  copies  of  certain 
objective  archetypal  Forms,  emanations  from  the  Mind  of  God, 
which  God  copied  in  creation.  He  also  taught  a  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration of  souls. 

V  Kpicurus,  an  Athenian  philosopher,  of  a  materialistic  type, 
taught  that  God  had  no  existence,  and  that  the  world  was  made 
by  a  fortuitous  concourse  of  innumerable  atoms  of  matter,  which 
are  self-existent ;  and  he  placed  the  highest  good  in  plea.sure, 
which  he  defined  as  the  absence  of  pain. 

S  The  .Stoa,  a  school  of  philosophers  opposed  to  the  Epicu- 
reans, took  their  name  from  a  certain  Colonnade  at  Athens,  in 
which  Zeno,  their  founder,  used  to  teach.  Their  highest  good 
consisted  in  the  complete  subdu.il  of  all  feeling  :  and  so  they  were 
not  unnaturally  characterized  by  a  haughty  affectation  of  indiffer- 
ence. 

€  The  Comics,  so  called  from  their  snarling  way.  were  a  school 
founded  by  Antisthenes.  They  professed  to  despise  everything 
human. 


sense),  and  all  the  details  about  the  gods 
and  the  sacrifices  and  the  idols  and  demons, 
whether  beneficent  or  malignant,  and  all  the 
tricks  that  people  play  with  divination,  evok- 
ing of  gods,  or  of  souls,  and  the  power  of  the 
stars.  And  if  these  things  seem  to  thee  un- 
worthy of  discussion  as  petty  and  already 
often  confuted,  and  thou  wilt  keep  to  thy  line, 
and  seek  the  satisfaction  of  thy  ambition  in 
it ;  then  here  too  I  will  provide  thee  with 
broad  paths.  Philosophize  about  the  world 
or  worlds ;  about  matter ;  about  soul  ;  about 
natures  endowed  with  reason,  good  or  bad  ; 
about  resurrection,  about  judgment,  about 
reward,  or  the  Sufferings  of  Christ.  For  in 
these  subjects  to  hit  the  mark  is  not  useless, 
and  to  miss  it  is  not  dangerous.  But  with 
God  we  .shall  have  converse,  in  this  life  only  in 
a  small  degree;  but  a  little  later,  it  may  be, 
more  perfectly,  in  the  Same,  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  to  Whom   be  glory  for  ever.     Amen. 


ORATION    XXVIII. 

The  Second  Theological  Oration. 

I.  In  the  former  Discourse  we  laid  down 
clearly  with  respect  to  the  Theologian,  both 
what  sort  of  character  he  ought  to  bear,  and  on 
what  kind  of  subject  he  may  philosophize,  and 
when,  and  to  what  extent.  We  saw  that  he 
ought  to  be,  as  far  as  may  be,  pure,  in  order  that 
light  may  be  apprehended  by  light ;  and  that 
he  ought  to  consort  with  .serious  men,  in  order 
that  his  word  be  not  fruitless  through  falling 
on  an  unfruitful  soil;  and  that  the  suitable 
season  is  when  we  have  a  calm  within  from 
the  whirl  of  outward  things ;  so  as  not  like 
madmen  "■  to  lose  our  breath  ;  and  that  the  ex- 
tent to  which  we  may  go  is  that  to  which 
we  have  ourselves  advanced,  or  to  which  we 
are  advancing.  Since  then  these  things  are 
so,  and  we  have  broken  up  for  ourselves  the 
fallows  of  Divinity/  so  as  not  to  sow  upon 
thorns, v  and  have  made  plain  the  face  of  the 
ground,^  being  moulded  and  moulding  others 
by  Holy  Scripture  ...  let  us  now  enter 
upon  Theological  questions,  .setting  at  the  head 
thereof  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  of  Whom  we  are  to  treat ;  that  the 
Father  may  be  well  pleased,  and  the  Son  may 
help  us,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  may  in.spire  us  ; 
or  rather  that  one  illumination  may  come 
upon  us  from  the  One  God,  One  in  diversity, 
diverse  in  Unity,  wherein  is  a  marvel. 


o  A  marginal   reading   noted   by  the   Benedictines  gives  "  so^ 
bittt^"  or  " y>a>itiH^,"  which  is  a  better  sense. 
^  Jerem.  iv   3.         y  Matt.  xiii.  7.         6  Isa.  xxviii.  25. 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL    ORATION. 


289 


n.  Now  when  I  go  up  eagerly  into  the 
Mount" — or,  to  use  a  truer  expression,  when  I 
both  eagerly  long,  and  at  the  same  time  am 
afraid  (the  one  through  my  hope  and  the  other 
through  my  weakness)  to  enter  within  the 
Cloud,  and  hold  converse  with  God,  for  so 
God  commands  ;  if  any  be  an  Aaron,  let  him 
go  up  with  me,  and  let  him  stand  near, 
being  ready,  if  it  must  be  so,  to  remain  out- 
side the  Cloud.  But  if  any  be  a  Nadad  or  an 
Abihu,  or  of  the  Order  of  the  Elders,  let  him 
go  up  indeed,  but  let  him  stand  afar  off,  ac- 
cording to  the  value  of  his  purification.  But 
if  any  be  of  the  multitude,  who  are  unworthy 
of  this  height  of  contemplation,  if  he  be  al- 
together impure  let  him  not  approach  at  all,^ 
for  it  would  be  dangerous  to  him  ;  but  if  he 
be  at  least  temporarily  purified,  let  him  re- 
main below  and  listen  to  the  Voice  alone,  and 
the  trumpet, Y  the  bare  words  of  piety,  and 
let  him  seethe  Mountain  smoking  and  lighten- 
ing, a  terror  at  once  and  a  marvel  to  those 
who  cannot  get  up.  But  if  any  is  an  evil 
and  savage  b^ast,  and  altogether  incapable  of 
taking  in  the  subject  matter  of  Contempla- 
tion and  Theology,  let  him  not  hurtfuUy  and 
malignantly  lurk  in  his  den  among  the  woods, 
to  catch  hold  of  some  dogma  or  saying  by  a 
sudden  spring,  and  to  tear  sound  doctrine  to 
pieces  by  his  misrepresentations,  but  let  him 
stand  yet  afar  off  and  withdraw  from  the 
Mount,  or  he  shall  be  stoned  and  crushed,  and 
shall  perish  miserably  in  his  wickedness.  For 
to  those  who  are  like  wild  beasts  true  and 
sound  discourses  are  stones.  If  he  be  a  leopard 
let  him  die  with  his  spots. ^  If  a  ravening  and 
roaring  lion,  .seeking  what  he  may  devour^  of 
our  souls  or  of  our  words  ;  or  a  wild  boar, 
trampling  under  foot  the  precious  and  trans- 
lucent pearls  of  the  Truth  ;  ^  or  an  Arabian'' 
and  alien  wolf,  or  one  keener  even  than  these 
in  tricks  of  argument;  or  a  fox,  that  is  a 
treacherous  and  faithless  soul,  changing  its 
shape  according  to  circumstances  or  neces- 
sities, feeding  on  dead  or  putrid  bodies,  or  on 
little  vineyards  ^  when  the  large  ones  have 
escaped  them  ;  or  any  other  carnivorous  beast, 
rejected  by  the  Law  as  unclean  for  food  or 
enjoyment ;  our  discourse  must  withdraw  from 
such  and  be  engraved  on  solid  tables  of 
stone,  and  that  on  both  sides  because  the  Law 
is  partly  visible,  and  partly  hidden  ;  the  one 
part  belonging  to  the  mass  who  remain  below, 

a  Exod.  xxiv.  i.  p  lb.  .\ix.  14.  y  lb.  xix.  16-18. 

S  Jer.  xiii.  23.  «  i  Pet.  v.  8.  ^  Matt.  vii.  6. 

riAradirin  :  So  the  LXX.  renders  the  word  which  in  A.  V.  Jer. 
y.  6,  is  tr'mela  ed  "c/i/ttr  evenitii,"  and  in  the  Vitlg.  '''at  eiien- 
ing."     Rl  V.  gives  as  an  alternative,  "  0/ the  deserts." 

0  The  r,XX.  in  Cant  xi.  15,  admits  of  this  translation  as  well  as 
of  that  followed  by  A.  V. 

19 


the  other  to  the  few  who  press  upward  into 
the  Mount. 
[  III.  What  is  this  that  has  happened  to  me, 
;  O  friends,  and  initiates,  and  fellow-lovers  of  the 
I  truth  ?  I  was  running  to  lay  hold  on  God, 
and  thus  I  went  up  into  the  Mount,  and  drew 
aside  the  curtain  of  the  Cloud,  and  entered 
j  away  from  matter  and  material  things,  and  as 
I  far  as  I  could  I  withdrew  within  myself.  And 
then  when  I  looked  up,  I  scarce  saw  the  back 
parts  of  God  ;  "■  although  I  was  sheltered  by 
the  Rock,  the  Word  that  was  made  flesh  for 
us.  And  when  I  looked  a  little  clo.ser,  I  saw, 
not  the  First  and  unmingled  Nature,  known 
to  Itself — to  the  Trinity,  I  mean  ;  not  lliat 
which  abideth  within  the  first ^  veil,  and  is 
hidden  by  the  Cherubim  ;  but  only  that  Nat- 
ure, which  at  last  even  reaches  to  us.  And 
that  is,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  tJhe_Majestj,.  oil 
as  holy  David  calls  it,  the  Glor>'7  which  _is- 
maiiifested  among  the  creatures,  which  It  has 
produced  and  governs.  For  these  are  the 
Back  Parts  of  God,  which  He  leaves  behind 
Him,  as  tokens  of^Hinis,elf  *  JikeJ^lie  shadows 
and  reflection  of  the  sun  in  the  water,  which 
shew  the  sun  to__our  weak  eyes,  because  we 
cannot  look  at  the  sun  himself,  for  by  his  un- 
mixed light  he  is  too  strong  for  our  power  of 
perception.  In  this  way  then  shalt  thou  dis- 
course of  God  ;  even  wert  thou  a  Moses  and 
a  god  to  Pharaoh  ;  *  even  wert  thou  caught  up 
like  Paul  to  the  Third  Heaven, ^  and  hadst 
heard  unspeakable  words ;  even  wert  thou 
raised  above  them  both,  and  exalted  to  Angelic 
or  Archangelic  place  and  dignity.  For  though 
a  thing  be  all  heavenly,  or  above  heaven, 
and  far  higher  in  nature  and  nearer  to  God 
than  we,  yet  it  is  farther  distant  from  God, 
and  from  the  complete  comprehension  of  His 
Nature,  than  it  is  lifted  above  our  complex 
and  lowly  and  earthward-sinking  composition. 
IV.  Therefore  we  must  begin  again  thus. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  God  but  to  define 
Him  in  words  is  an  im])o.ssil)ility,  as  one  of  the 
Greek  teachers  of  Divinity ''  taught,  not  unskil- 
fully, as  it  appears  to  me ;  with  the  intention 
that  he  might  be  thought  to  have  apprehended 
Him  ;  in  that  be  says  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  do  ; 
and  yet  may  escape  being  convicted  of  ignor- 
ance because  of  the  impossibility  of  giving 
expression  to  the  apprehension.  But  in  my 
opinion  it  is  impossible  to  express  Him,  and 


aKxod.  xxxiii.  23. 

3  This  veil  of  the  Mercy  Seat,  spoken  of  in  Exod.  xxvi.  31, 
signifies  in  Gregory's  sense  the  denial  of  contemplation  of  that 
Highest  Nature.  y  Ps.  viii.  i. 

6  The  F"ace  of  God  signifies  His  Essence  and  Deitv.  which  were 
before  all  worlds  :  His  back  parts  are  Creation  and  Providence,  by 
which  He  reveals  Himself. 

e  Exod.  iv.  2.  f  2  Cor.  xii.  2,  ij  Plato,  Tim.,  28  E. 


290 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


yet  more  impossible  to  conceive  Hiiii.  For 
that  which  may  be  conceived  may  perhaps  be 
made  clear  by  language,  if  not  fairly  well,  at 
any  rate  imperfectly,  to  any  one  who  is  not 
quite  deprived  of  his  hearing,  or  slothful  of 
understanding.  But  to  comprehend  the  whole 
of  so  great  a  Subject  as  this  is  cpiite  impossible 
and  impracticable,  not  merely  to  the  utterly 
careless  and  ignorant,  but  even  to  those  who 
are  highly  exalted,  and  who  love  God,  and  in 
like  manner  to  every  created  nature  ;  seeing  j 
that  the  darkness  of  this  world  and  the  thick 
coverins:  of  the  flesh  is  an  obstacle  to  the  full 
understanding  of  the  truth.  I  do  not  know  ' 
whether  it  is  the  same  with  the  higher  natures 
and  purer  Intelligences"  which  because  of  their 
nearness  to  God,  and  because  they  are  illum- 
ined with  all  His  Light,  may  possibly  see,  if 
not  the  whole,  at  any  rate  more  perfectly  and 
distinctly  than  we  do  ;  some  perhajs  more, 
some  less  than  others,  in  proportion  to  their 
rank. 

V.  But  enough  has  been  said  on  this  point. 
As  to  what  concerns  us,  it  is  not  only  the  Peace 
of  God  ^  which  passeth  all  understanding  and 
knowledge,  nor  only  the  things  which  God 
hath  stored  u\)  in  promise  for  the  righteous, 
which  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor 
mind  conceived  "  t  except  in  a  very  small  de- 
gree, nor  the  accurate  knowledge  of  the  Crea- 
tion. For  even  of  this  I  would  have  you 
know  that  you  have  only  a  shadow  when  you 
hear  the  words,  "  I  will -consider  the  heavens, 
the  work  of  Thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the 
stars,"  *  and  the  settled  order  therein  ;  not  as 
if  he  were  considering  them  now,  but  as  des- 
tined to  do  so  hereafter.  But  far  before  them 
is  That  nature  Which  is  above  them,  and  out 
of  which  they  spring,  the  Incomprehensible 
and  Illimitable — not,  I  mean,  as  to  the  fact  of 
His  being,  but  as  to  Its  nature.  For  our 
preaching  is  not  empty,  nor  our  Faith  vain,* 
nor  is  this  the  doctrine  we  proclaim  ;  for  we 
would  not  have  you  take  our  candid  statement 
as  a  starting  point  for  acpiibbling  denial  of 
God,  or  of  arrogance  on  account  of  our  con- 
fession of  ignorance.  For  it  is  one  thing  to 
be  persuaded  of  the  existence  of  a  thing,  and 
quite  another  to  know  what  it  is. 

VI.  Now  our  very  eyes  and  the  Law  of  Nat- 

a  No  one  doubts,  say  the  Henedlctine  Editors,  that  the  Angels 
di)  see  (lod,  and  that  men,  too.  will  see  Him,  when  they  attain  to 
Eternal  Bliss.  S.  Thomas  (Summa  I.  qu.  xii.  4)  argues  that  the 
Angels  have  cognition  of  God's  Essence  not  by  nature  but  by 
grace  :  but  yet  (lb.  qu.  Ivi.  3)  that  they  have  by  nature  a  certain 
cognition  of  Him,  as  represented  and  as  it  were  mirrored  in 
their  own  essence ;  though  not  the  actual  vision  of  His  ICssence. 
'I'he  Angel,  he  says  again  (lb.  qu.  Ixiv.  i)  has  n  higher  cocrniti'^n  of 
(^>ocl  than  man  has,  on  account  of  the  jierfection  of  his  intellect; 
and  this  cognition  remains  even  in  the  fallen  Angels. 

j3  Phil.  iv.  7.  y  Isa.  l.viv.  4  ;   '  Cor.  ii.  9. 

6  I's.  viii.  3.  €  I  Cor.  xv.  19. 


ure  teach  us  that  God  exists  and  that  He  is  the 
Efficient  and  Maintaining  Cause  of  all  things  : 
our  eyes,  because  they  fall  on  visible  objects, 
and  see  them  in   beautiful  stability   and   pro- 
gress,  immovably  moving  and  revolving  if  I 
may  so  say  ;    natural  Law,   because    through 
these  visible  things  and  their  order,  it  reasons 
back  to  their  Author.    For  how  could  this  Uni- 
verse have  come  into  being  or  been  put  to- 
gether, unless  God  had  called  it  into  existence, 
and  held  it  together  ?     For  every  one  :B'ho  sees 
a  beautifully  madejut^,  and  considers  the  skill 
with  which  it  has  been  fitted  together  and  ar- 
ranged, or  \\ho  hears  its  melody,  would  think 
oCnone  but  the-..Iuteinaker,  or  the  luteplayer, 
and  would  recur  to  him  in  mind,  though  he 
might  not  know  him  by  sight.      And  thus  to  us 
also  is  manifested  That  which  made  and  moves 
and  preserves  all  created  things,  even  though 
He  be  not  comprehended  by  the  mind.     And 
very  wanting  in  sense  is  he  who  will  not  will- 
ingly go  tfius  far  in  following  natural  proofs ; 
but  not  even  this  which   we  have  fancied  or 
formed,  or  which  reason  has  sketched  for  us, 
proves  the  existence  of  a  God.      But  if  any 
one  has  got  even  to  some  extent  a  comprehen- 
sion of  this,  how  is  God's  Being  to  bedemon- 
strated  ?     Who  ever  reached  this  extremity  of 
wisdom  ?     Who  was  ever   deemed  worthy   of 
so  great  a  gift  ?     Who  has  opened  the  mouth 
of  his  mind  and  drawn  in  the  Spirit,"  so  as  by 
Him  that  searcheth  all  things,  yea  the   deep 
things   of  God,^    to    take    in   God,    and   no 
longer  to  need  progress,  since  he  already  i)os- 
sesses  the  Extreme  Object  of  desire,  and  I'hat 
to  which  all  the  social  life  and  all  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  best  men  press  forward  ? 

VII.  For  what  will  you  conceive  the  Deity 
to  be,  if  you  rely  upon  all  the  approximations 
of  reason  ?  .  Or  to  what  will  reason  carry  you, 
O  most  philosophic  of  men  and  best  of  Theolo- 
gians, who  boast  of  your  familiarity  with  the 
Unlimited?  J^Jie  a_  body  ?  Hovv  then  is 
He  the  Infinite  and  Limitless,  and  formless, 
"and  intangible,  and  invisible?  or  are  these 
attributes  of  a  body?  What  arrogance  for 
such  is  not  the  nature  of  a  body  !  Or  will 
you  say  that  He  has  a  body,  but  not  these  at- 
tributes? O  stupidity,  that  a  Deity  should 
posse-ss  nothing  more  than  we  do.  For  how 
is  He  an  object  of  worship  if  He  be  circum- 
scribed? Or  how  shall  He  escape  being  made 
of  elements,  and  therefore  subject  to  be  re- 
solved into  them  again,  or  even  altogether  dis- 
solved ?  For  every  compound  is  a  starting 
point  of  strife,   anci  strife  of  separatio^i,  and 


aPs.  cxix.  21. 


P  1  Cor.  ii.  10. 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


291 


separation  of  ^ssokition.  But  dissolution  is 
altogether  foreign  to  God  and  to  the  First  Nat- 
ure. Therefore  there  can  be  no  separation, 
that  there  may  be  no  dissolution,  and  no  strife 
that  there  may  be  no  separation,  and  no  com- 
l)osition  that  there  may  be  no  strife.  Thus 
also  there  must  be  no  body,  that  there  may  be 
no  composition,  and  so-the^jgumenLis  estab- 
lished by  goin^  back  from  last  to  first. 

VIII.  And  how  shall  we  preserve  the  truth 
that  God  pervades  all  things  and  fills  all,  as  it 
is  written  "  Do  not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth? 
saith  the  Lord,"  "  and  '-The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
filleth  the  world,"  ^  if  God  partly  contains  and 
partly  is  contained  ?  For  either  He  will 
occupy  an  empty  Universe,  and  so  all  things 
will  have  vanished  for  us,  with  this  result, 
that  we  shall  have  insulted  God  by  making 
Him  a  body,  and  by  robbing  Him  of  all 
things  which  He  has  made  ;  or  else  He  will 
be  a  body  contained  in  other  bodies,  which  is 
impossible ;  or  He  will  be  enfolded  in  them, 
or  contrasted  with  them,  as  liquids  are  mixed, 
and  one  divides  and  is  divided  by  another ; — 
a  view  which  is  more  absurd  and  anile  than 
even  the  atoms  of  Epicurus  y  and  so  this  argu- 
ment concerning  the  body  will  fall  through, 
and  have  no  body  and  no  solid  basis  at  all. 
But  if  we  are  to  assert  that  He  is  immaterial  (as 
for  example  that  Fifth  Element  which  some  * 
have  imagined),  and  that  He  is  carried  round 
in  the  circular  movement  ...  let  us  assume 
that  He  is  immaterial,  and  that  He  is  the  Fifth 
Element ;  and,  if  they  i)lease,  let  Him  be  also 
bodiless  in  accordance  with  the  independent 

for 


drift  and  arrangement  of  their 


argument ; 


I  will  not  at  present  differ  with  them  on  this 
point ;  in  what  respect  then  will  He  be  one  of 
those  things  which  are  in  movement  and  agi- 
tation, to  say  nothing  of  the  insult  involved  in 
making  the  Creator  subject  to  the  same  move- 
ment as  the  creatures,  and  Him  That  carries 
all  (if  they  will  allow  even  this)  one  ^vith 
those  whom  He  carries.  Again,  what  is  the 
force  that  moves  your  Fifth  Element,  and 
w^hat  is  it  that  moves  all  things,  and  what 
moves  that,  and  what  is  the  force  that  moves 
that  ?  And  so  on  ad  infinitum.  And  how_can 
He  help  being  altogether  contained  m  space 
iTHejDe  subject  to  motion?  But  if  they  as- 
sert that  He  is  something  other  than  this  Fifth 


Element ;  suppose  it  is 


an  angelic 


nature  that 


o  Jer.  xxiil.  24.  |3  Wisd.  i.  7. 

V  Epicurus  taught  that  Matter  is  eternal,  and  consists  of  an  in- 
definite nvimber  of  Atoms  or  indivisible  units,  floating  about  in 
space,  and  mutually  attracting  and  repelling  each  other  ;  and 
that  all  that  exists  is  due  to  some  chance  meeting  and  coalition  of 
these  ntoms. 

5  This  is  a  speculation  of  Aristotle,  who  imagined  a  Fifth  Ele- 
ment, consisting  of  formless  matter. 


they  attribute  to  Him,  how  will  they  shew 
that  Angels  are  corporeal,  or  what  sort  of 
bodies  they  have  ?  And  how  far  in  that  case 
could  God,  to  Whom  the  Angels  minister,  be 
superior  to  the  Angels  ?  And  if  He  is  above 
them,  there  is  again  brought  in  an  irrational 
swarm  of  bodies,  and  a  depth  of  nonsense,  that 
has  no  possible  basis  to  stand  upon. 

IX.  And  thus  we  see  that  God  is  not  a  body. 
For  no  inspired  teacher  has  yet  asserted  or 
admitted  such  a  notion,  nor  has  the  sentence 
of  our  own  Court  allowed  it.  Nothing  then 
remains  but  to  conceive  of  Him  as  incorporeal. 
But  this  term  Incorporeal,  though  granted, 
does  not  yet  set  before  us — or  contain  within 
itself  His  Essence,  any  more  than  Unbegot- 
ten,  or  Unoriginate,  or  Unchanging,  or  Incor- 
ruptible, or  any  other  predicate  which  is  used 
concerning  God  or  in  reference  to  Him.  For 
what  effect  is  produced  upon  Flis  Being  or 
Substance  "  by  His  having  no  beginning,  and 
being  incapable  of  change  or  limitation  ?  Nay, 
the  whole  question  of  His  Being  is  still  left 
for  the  further  consideration  and  exjjosition  of 
him  who  truly  has  the  mind  of  God  and  is 
advanced  in  contemplation.  For  just  as  to  say 
"  It  is  a  body,"  or  "  It  was  begotten,"  is  not 
sufficient  to  present  clearly  to  the  mind  the 
various  objects  of  which  these  predicates  are 
used,  but  you  must  also  express  the  subject  of 
which  you  use  them,  if  you  would  present  the 
object  of  your  thought  clearly  and  adequately 
(for  every  one  of  these  predicates,  corporeal, 
begotten,  niortal,  may  be  used  of  a  man,  or  a 
cow,  or  a  horse).  Just  so  he  who  is  eagerly 
pursuing  the  nature  of  the  Self-existent  will 
not  stop  at  saying  what  He  is  not,  but  must 
go  on  beyond  what  He  is  not,  and  say  what 
He  is  ;  inasmuch  as  it  is  easier  to  take  in  some 
single  point  than  to  go  on  disowning  point 
after  point  in  endless  detail,  in  order,  both  by 
the  elimination  of  negatives  and  the  assertion 
of  positives  to  arrive  at  a  comprehension  of 
this  subject. 

But  a  man  who  states  what  God  is  not  with- 
out going  on  to  say  what  He  is,  acts  much  in 
the  same  way  as  one  would  \\\\o  when  asked 
how  many  twice  five  make,  should  answer, 
"  Not  two,  nor  three,  nor  four,  nor  five,  nor 
twenty,  nor  thirty,  nor  in  short  any  number 
below^  ten,  nor  any  multiple  of  ten;"  but 
would  not  answer  ••'  ten,"  nor  settle  the  mind 
of  his  questioner  upon  the  firm  ground  of  the 
answer.  For  it  is  much  easier,  and  more  con- 
cise to  shew  what  a  thing  is  not  from  what  it 


o  Petavius  (De  Trin.  IV.  ii.  7)  notes  that  iiToo-Tcuris  scms  used 
here  of  the  Essence  and  Nature  common  to  the  Three  Persons  of 


the  Blessed  Trinity. 


292 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


is,  than  to  demonstrate  what  it  is  by  stripping 
it  of  what  it  is  not.  And  tliis  surely  is  evi- 
dent to  every  one. 

X.   Now  since  we  have  ascertained  that  God 
is  incorporeal,  let  us  proceed  a  little  further 
with  our    examination.      Is    He  Nowhere   or 
Somewhere.    For  if  He  is  Nowhere,*^  then  some 
person  of  a  very  inquiring  turn  of  mind  might 
ask,  How  is  it  then  that  He  can  even  exist  ? 
For  if  the  non-existent  is  nowhere,  then  that 
which  is  nowhere  is  also  perhaps  non-existent. 
But  if  He  is  Somewhere,   He  must  be  either 
in    the    Universe,    or    above    the    Universe. 
And  if  He  is  ///  the  Universe,  then  He  must 
be  either  in  some  part  or  in  the  whole.     If  in 
some  part,  then  He  Avill  be  circumscribed  by 
that  part  which  is  less  than   Himself;   but  if 
everywhere,  then  by  one  which  is  further  and 
greater — I   mean  the   Universal,  which  con- 
tains the  Particular  ;  if  the  Universe  is  to  be 
contained  by  the  Universe,  and  no  place  is  to 
be  free  from  circumscription.      This  follows  if 
He  is  contained  in   the  Universe.     And   be- 
sides, where  was  He  before  the  Universe  was 
created,   for  this  is  a  point   of  no  little  diffi- 
culty.    But  if  He  is  above  the  Universe,  is 
there   nothing   to  distinguish   this    from     the 
Universe,   and  where  is  this  above  situated  ? 
And  how  could  this  Transcendence  and  that 
which    is    transcended    be    distinguished    in 
thought,   if  there  is  not  a  limit  to  divide  and 
define  them  ?     Is  it  not  necessary  that  there 
shall   be  some  mean  to  mark  ofr  the   Universe 
from  that  which  is  above  the  Universe  ?    And 
what  coukl  this  be  but  Place,  which  we  have 
already  rejected  ?     For  I  have  not  yet  brought 
forward  the  point  that   God  would   be  alto- 
gether circumscript,  if  He  were  even  compre- 
hensible  in   thought :    for   comprehension    is 
oije^form  of  circumscriptionT 

XI.  ~Now,  why  have  I  gone  into  all  this,  per- 
haps too  minutely  for  most  people  to  listen  to, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  present  manner  of 
discourse,  which  despises  noble  simplicity,  and 
has  introduced  a  crooked  and  intricate ^  style? 
That  the  tree  may  be  known  by  its  fruits  ;  y  I  | 
mean,  that  the  darkness  which  is  at  work  in 
such  teaching  may  be  known  by  the  obscu- 
rity of  the  arguments.  For  my  purpose  in  do- 
ing so  was,  not  to  get  credit  for  myself  for 
astonishing  utterances,  or  excessive  wisdom, 
through  tying  knots  and  solving    difficulties 

■  a  Nowhere  is  in  this  passage  used  in  an  ambiguous  sense.  As 
asserted  of  God.  it  means  th.it  His  Heing  is  in  no  way  limited  by 
place  :  not  that  He  Ins  no  existence  in  place,  for  He  is  everywhere, 
and  He  transcends  all  place.  Hefore  the  creation  of  the  Universe 
He  existed,  and  He  created  Place,  which  therefore  cannot  be  the 
seat  of  His  15cing. 

0  V.  1.  Affected.  The  alhision  is  especially  to  the  ostenlatiniis 
dialectics  and  tedious  arguments  of  Aiitius  .nnd  his  followers,  Ku- 
nomms  and  others.  y  Luke  vi.  44. 


(this  was  the  great  miraculous  gift  of  Daniel), <^ 
but  to  make  clear  the  point  at  which  my  argu- 
ment has  aimed  from  the  first.  And  what 
was  this?  That  tlie  Divine  Nature  cannot  be 
apprehended  by  human  reason,  and  that  we 
cannot  even  represent  to  ourselves  all  its  great- 
ness. And  this  not  out  of  envy,  for  envy  is 
far  from  the  Divine  Nature,  which  is  passion- 
less, and  only  good  and  Lord  of  all  ;  ^  espe- 
cially envy  of  that  which  is  the  most  honoura- 
ble y  of  all  His  creatures.  For  what  does 
tlie  Word  prefer  to  the  rational  and  speaking 
creatures?  Why,  even  their  very  existence  is 
a  proof  of  His  supreme  goodness.  Nor  yet  is 
this  incomprehensibility  for  the  sake  of  His 
own  glory  and  honour.  Who  is  full,^  as  if  His 
possession  of  His  glory  and  majesty  depended 
upon  the  impossibility  of  approaching  Him. 
For  it  is  utterly  sophistical  and  foreign  to  the 
character,  I  will  not  say  of  God,  but  of  any 
moderately  good  man,  who  has  any  right 
ideas  about  himself,  to  seek  his  own  suprem- 
acy by  throwing  a  hindrance  in  the  way  of 
another. 

XII.  But  whether  there  be  other  causes  for 
it  also,  let  them  see  who  are  nearer  God,  and 
are  eyewitnesses  and  spectators  of  His  unsearch- 
able judgments  ;  ^  if  there  are  any  who  are  so 
eminent  in  virtue,  and  who  walk  in  the  paths 
of  the  Infinite,  as  the  saying  is.  As  far,  how- 
ever, as  we  have  attained,  who  measure  with 
our  little  measure  things  hard  to  be  under- 
stood, perhaps  one  reason  is  to  prevent  us  from 
too  readily  throwing  away  the  possession  be- 
cause it  was  so  easily  come  by.  For  peoijle 
cling  tightly  to  that  which  they  acquire  with 
labour  ;  but  that  which  they  acquire  easily 
they  quickly  throw  away,  because  it  can  be 
easily  recovered.  And  so  it  is  turned  into  a 
l)lessing,  at  least  to  all  men  who  are  sensible, 
that  this  blessing  is  not  too  easy.  Or  perhaps 
it  is  in  order  that  we  may  not  share  the  fate 
of  Lucifer,  who  fell,  and  in  consequence  of 
receiving  the  full  light  make  our  necks  stiff 
against  the  Lord  Almighty,  and  suffer  a  fall, 
of  all  things  most  pitiable,  from  the  height  we 
had  attained.  Or  perhaps  it  may  be  to  give  a 
greater  reward  hereafter  for  their  labour  antl 
glorious  life  to  those  who  have  here  been  puri- 
fied, and  have  exercised  long  patience  in  re- 
spect of  that  which  they  desired. 

Therefore  this  darkness  of  the  body  has  been 
placed  l)etween  ns  and  God,  like  the  cloud  of 
old  between  the  Egyptians  and  the  Hebrews  ;  ^ 
and  this  is  perhai)s  what  is  meant  by  'tlie_ 


a  cf.  Dan.  v.  12.  ^  Plato,  Tim.,  10. 

■y  V.  1.     Most  Akin  to  Himself.     Combefis. 
1.  II.  «  Rom.  xi.  33.  i  Exod.  xiv.  20. 


6Isa 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


293 


iiiaci^arknessHia-secret-pIace, ' '  "■  jiamely.-our 
dulnesSj^  tlirough  which  few  can  see  even  a 
httle.  But  as  to  this  point,  let  those  discuss 
it  whose  business  it  is ;  and  let  them  ascend 
as  far  as  possible  in  the  examination.  To  us 
who  are  (as  Jeremiah  saith),  "  prisoners  of  the 
earth,"  ^  and  covered  with  the  denseness  of 
carnal  nature,  this  at  all  events  is  known,  that 
as  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  step  over  his 
own  shadow,  however  fast  he  may  move  (for 
the  shadow  will  always  move  on  as  fast  as  it  is 
being  overtaken)  or,  as  it  is  impossible  for  the 
eye  to  draw  near  to  visible  objects  apart  from 
the  intervening  air  and  light,  or  for  a  fish  to 
glide  about  outside  of  the  waters  ;  so  it  is 
quite  impracticable  for  those  who  are  in  the 
body  to  be  conversant  with  objects  of  pure 
thought  apart  altogether  from  bodily  objects. 
For  something  in  our  own  environment  is 
ever  creeping  in,  even  when  the  mind  has 
most  fully  detached  itself  from  the  visible, 
and  collected  itself,  and  is  attempting  to  apply 
itself  to  those  invisible  things  which  are  akin 
to  itself. 

XIII.  This  will  be  made  clear  to  you  as  fol- 
lows : — Are  not  Spirit,  and  Fire,  and  Light, 
Love,  and  Wisdom,  and  Righteousness,  and 
Mind  and  Reason,  and  the  like,  the  names  of 
the  First  Nature  ?  What  then  ?  Can ,  you 
conceive  of  Spirit  apart  from  motion  and  diffu- 
sion ;  or  of  Fire  without  its  fuel  and  its  up- 
ward motion,  and  its  proper  colour  and  form  ? 
Or  of  Light  unmingled  with  air,  and  loosed 
from  that  which  is  as  it  were  its  father  and 
source?  And  how  do  you  conceive  of  a 
mind  ?  Is  it  not  that  which  is  inherent  in  some 
person  not  itself,  and  are  not  its  movements 
thoughts,  silent  or  uttered  ?  And  Reason 
what  else  can  you  think  it  than  that 
which  is  either  silent  within  ourselves,  or  else 
outpoured  (for  I  shrink  from  saying  loosed)  ? 
And  if  you  conceive  of  Wisdom,  what  is  it 
but  the  habit  of  mind  which  you  know  as  such, 
and  which  is  concerned  with  contemplations 
either  divine  or  human  ?  And  Justice  and 
Love,  are  they  not  praiseworthy  dispositions, 
the  ane  opposed  to  injustice,  the  other  to  hate, 
and  at  one  time  intensifying  themselves,  at 
another  rela.xed,  now  taking  possession  of  us, 
now  leaving  us  alone,  and  in  a  word,  making 
us  what  we  are,  and  changing  us  as  colours  do 
bodies  ?  Or  are  we  rather  to  leave  all  these 
things,  and  to  look  at  the  Deity  absolutely,  as 
best  we  can,  collecting  a  fragmentary  percep- 
tion of  It  from  Its  images?  What  then  is  this 
subtile  thing,  which  is  of  these,  and  yet  is  not 


a  Ps.  xviii.  11. 


/3  Lam.  iii.  34. 


these,  or  how  can  that  Unity  which  is  in  its 
Nature  uncomi)osite  and  incomparable,  still  be 
all  of  these,  and  each  one  of  them  perfectly  ? 
Thus  our  mind  faints  to  transcend  corporeal 
things,  and  to  consort  with  the  Incorporeal, 
stripped  of  all  clothing  of  corporeal  ideas,  as 
long  as  it  has  to  look  with  its  inherent  weak- 
ness at  things  above  its  strength.  For  every 
rational  nature  longs  for  God  and  for  the  First 
Cause,  but  is  unable  to  grasp  Him,  for  the 
reasons  I  have  mentioned.  Faint  therefore 
with  the  desire,  and  as  it  were  restive  and 
impatient  of  the  disability,  it  tries  a  second 
course,  either  to  look  at  visible  things,  and 
out  of  some  of  them  to  make  a  god 
(a  poor  contrivance,  for  in  what  respect  and  to 
what  extent  can  that  which  is  seen  be  higher 
and  more  godlike  than  that  which  sees,  that 
this  should  worship  that  ?)  or  else  through  the 
beauty  and  order  of  visible  things  to  attain  to 
that  which  is  above  sight  ;  but  not  to  suffer 
the  loss  of  God  through  the  magnificence  of 
visible  things. 

XIV.  From  this  cause  some  have  made  a  god 
of  the  Sun,  others  of  the  Moon,  others  of  the 
host  of  Stars,  others  of  heaven  itself  with  all  its 
hosts,  to  which  they  have  attributed  the  guid- 
ing of  the  Universe,  according  to  the  quality 
or  quantity  of  their  movement.  Others  again 
of  the  Elements,  earth,  air,  water,  fire,  be- 
cause of  their  useful  nature,  since  without 
them  human  life  cannot  possibly  exist.  Others 
again  have  worshipped  any  chance  visible  ob- 
jects, setting  up  the  most  beautiful  of  what 
they  saw  as  their  gods.  And  there  are  those 
who  worship  pictures  and  images,  at  first  in- 
deed of  their  own  ancestors — at  least,  this  is 
the  case  with  the  more  affectionate  and  sen- 
sual— and  honour  the  departed  with  memo- 
rials; and  afterwards  even  those  of  strangers 
are  worshipped  by  men  of  a  later  genera- 
tion separated  from  them  by  a  long  interval  ;^ 
through  ignorance  of  the  First  Nature,  and 
following  the  traditional  honour  as  lawful  and 
necessary  ;  for  usage  when  confirmed  by  time 
was  held  to  be  Law.  And  I  think  that  some 
who  were  courtiers  of  arbitrary  power  and 
extolled  bodily  strength  and  admired  beauty, 
made  a  god  in  time  out  of  him  whom  they 
honoured,  perhaps  getting  hold  of  some  fable 
to  help  on  their  imposture. 

XV.  And  those  of  them  who  were  most  sub- 
ject to  passion  deified  their  passions,  or  hon- 
oured them  among  their  gods ;  Anger  and 
Blood-thirstiness.  Lust  and  Drunkenness,  and 
every  similar  wickedness  ;  and  made  out  of  this 
an  ignoble  and  unjust  excuse  for  their  own  sins. 
And  some  they  left  on  earth,  and  some  they 


294 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


hid  beneath  the  earth  (this  being  the  only 
sign  of  wisdom  about  them),  and  some  they 
raised  to  heaven.'*  O  ridiculous  distribution 
of  inheritance  !  Then  they  gave  to  each  of 
these  concepts  the  name  of  some  god  or  de- 
mon, by  the  authority  and  private  judgment  of 
their  error,  and  set  up  statues  whose  costliness 
is  a  snare,  and  thought  to  honour  them  with 
blood  and  the  steam  of  sacrifices,  and  some- 
times even  by  most  shameful  actions,  frenzies 
and  manslaughter.  For  such  honours  were  the 
fitting  due  of  such  gods.  And  before  now 
men  have  insulted  themselves  by  worshipping 
monsters,  and  fourfooted  beasts,  and  creeping 
things,^  and  of  the  very  vilest  and  most  absurd, 
and  have  made  an  offering  to  them  of  the 
glory  of  God ;  so  that  it  is  not  easy  to  decide 
whether  we  ought  most  to  despise  the  worship- 
pers or  the  objects  of  their  worship.  Prob- 
ably the  worshippers  are  far  the  most  con- 
temptible, for  though  they  are  of  a  rational 
nature,  and  have  received  grace  from  God, 
they  have  set  up  the  worse  as  the  better.  And 
this  was  the  trick  of  the  Evil  One,  who  abused 
good  to  an  evil  purpose,  as  in  most  of  his  evil 
deeds.  For  he  laid  hold  of  their  desire  in  its 
wandering  in  search  of  God,  in  order  to  dis- 
tort to  himself "y  the  power,  and  steal  the  de- 
sire, leading  it  by  the  hand,  like  a  blind  man 
asking  a  road  ;  and  he  hurled  down  and  scat- 
tered some  in  one  direction  and  some  in  an- 
other, into  one  pit  of  death  and  destruction. 

XVI.  This  was  their  course.  But  reason  re- 
ceiving us  in  our  desire  for  God,  and  in  our 
sense  of  the  impossibility  of  being  without  a 
leader  and  guide,  and  then  making  us  apply 
ourselves  to  things  visible  and  meeting  with  the 
things  which  have  been  since  the  beginning, 
doth  not  stay  its  course  even  here.  For  it 
was  not  the  part  of  Wisdom  to  grant  the  sov- 
ereignty to  things  which  are,  as  observation 
tells  us,  of  equal  rank.  By  these  then  it  leads 
to  that  which  is  above  these,  and  by  which 
being  is  given  to  these.  For  what  is  it  which 
ordered  things  in  heaven  and  things  in  earth, 
and  those  which  pass  through  air,  and  those 
which  live  in  water;  or  rather  the  things 
which  were  before  these,  heaven  and  earth, 
air  and  water?  Who  mingled  these,  and  who 
distributed  them?  What  is  it  that  each  has 
in  common  with  the  other,  and  their  mutual 
dependence  and  agreement  ?  For  I  commend 
the  man,  though  he  was  a  heathen,  who  said. 


What    gave 


a  Referring  to  the  mythical  partition  of  the  Universe,  which 
gave  heaven  to  Zeus,  the  sea  to  Poseidon,  and  the  infernal  regions 
to  Aidoneus.  P  Rom.  i.  23. 

•y  It  was  a  very  general  helief  in  the  early  Church  that  the  cods 
whom  the  heathen  worsliipped  were  in  reality  .TCtiial  evil  spirits: 
and  this  hclicf  is  certainly  supported  by  S.  Paul's  argument  about 
eiSuKoBvTov  in  i  Cor.  x.  19-21. 


movement  to  these,  and  drives 
their  ceaseless  and  unhindered  motion?  Is  it 
not  the  Artificer  of  them  Who  implanted 
reason  in  them  all,  in  accordance  with  which 
the  Universe  is  moved  and  controlled  ?  Is  it 
not  He^ji'ha.  made  them  and  brought  them 
into  iDeing?  For  we  cannot  attribute  such  a 
power  to  the  Accidental.  For,  suppo.se  that 
its  existence  is  accidental,  to  what  will  you 
let  us  ascribe  its_ order  ?  And  if  you  like  we 
will  idfrant  vou  this:  to  what  then  will  vou 
ascribe  its  jjreservation  and  protection  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  terms  of  its  first  creation. 
Do  these  belong  to  the  Accidental,  or  to  some- 
thing else2_  Surely  _  not,  to  the  Accidental. 
And  what  can  this  Something  Else  be  but 
God?  Thus  reason  that  proceeds  from  God, 
that  ij.^ini]3lanted  in  all  from  the  beginning 
and  is  the  first  law  in  uSj..  and  is  bound  up  in 
all,  leads  us  up  to  God  tluough  visible  things. 
Let  us  besjin  ayain,  and  reason  this  out. 

XVII.  Wjiat  God  is  in  nature  and  essence, 
no  man  ever  yet  has  discovered  or  can  discover. 
Whether  it  will  ever  be  discovered  is  a  ques- 
tion which  he  who  will  may  examine  and  de- 
cide. In  my  opinion  it  will  be  discovered 
when  that  within  us  which  is  godlike  and 
divine,  I  mean  our  mind  and  reasojij  shall 
have  mingled  with  its  Like,  ^id_  the  im_age 
shall  have  ascended  to  the  Archetype,  nf  which 
it  has  now  the  desire.  And  this  I  think  is 
the  solution  of  that  vexed  problem  as  to  "  We 
shall  know  even  as  we  are  knovvm"  "  But  in 
our  present  life  all  that  comes  to  us  is  but  a 
little  effluence,  and  as  it  were  a  small  efful- 
gence from  a  great  Light.  So  that  if  anyone 
has  known  God,  or  has  had  the  testimony  of 
Scripture  to  his  knowledge  of  God,  we  are  to 
understand  such  an  one  to  have  posse.ssed  a 
degree  of  knowledge  which  gave  him  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  more  fully  enlightened  than 
another  who  did  not  enjoy  the  same  degree  of 
illumination  ;  and  this  relative  superiority  is 
spoken  of  as  if  it  were  absolute  knowledge, 
not  because  it  is  really  such,  but  by  compari- 
son with  the  ])ower  of  that  other. 

XVIII.  Thus  Enos  '•  hoi)ed  to  call  upon  the 
Name  of  the  Lord."  ^  Hope  was  that  for 
which  he  is  commended  :  and  that,  not  that 
he  should  Xv/r>7t:'  God.  but  that  he  should  ra// 
upon  him.  And  Enoch  was  translated, y  l)ut  it 
is  not  yet  clear  whether  it  was  because  he  al- 
ready comprehended  the  Divine  Nature,  or  in 
order   that  he   might   comprehend   it.     And 

a  T  Cor.  xiii.  t2,  but  with  a  reading  en-iyi'uJo-ecr^e,  which  is  not  in 
the  New  Testament. 

^  Gen.  iv.  26.  The  verb  has  by  some  been  taken  as  passive, 
and  not  middle,  "hoped  that  the  Name  of  the  Lord  would  be 
called  upon."  y  lb.  v.  24,  Ecclus.  xlix.  14. 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


295 


Noah's  "glory  was  that  he  was  pleasing  to  God  ; 
he  who  was  entrusted  with  the  saving  of  the 
whole  world  from  the  waters,  or  rather  of  the 
Seeds  of  the  world,  escaped  the  Deluge  in 
a  small  Ark.  And  Abraham,  great  Patriarch 
though  he  was,  was  justified  by  faith, ^  and 
offered  a  strange  victim, v  the  type  of  the  Great 
Sacrifice.  Yet  he  saw  not  God  as  God,  but 
gave  Him  food  as  a  man.*  He  was  approved 
because  he  worshipped  as  far  as  he  compre- 
hended.* And  Jacob  dreamed  of  a  lofty  lad- 
der and  stair  of  Angels,  and  in  a  mystery 
anointed  a  pillar^ — perhaps  to  signify  the  Rock 
that  was  anointed  for  our  sake — and  gave  to  a 
place  the  name  of  The  House  of  God''  in 
honour  of  Him  whom  lie  saw  ;  and  wrestled 
with  God  in  human  form;  \\hatever  this 
wrestling  of  God  with  man  may  mean  . 
possibly  it  refers  to  the  comparison  of  man's 
virtue  with  God's ;  and  he  bore  on  his  body 
the  marks  of  the  wrestling,  setting  forth  the 
defeat  of  the  created  nature  ;  and  for  a  reward 
of  his  reverence  he  received  a  change  of  his 
name;  being  named,  instead  of  Jacob,  Israel 
— that  great  and  honourable  name.  Yet 
neither  he  nor  any  one  on  his  behalf,  imto  this 
day,  of  all  the  Twelve  Tribes  who  wliere  his 
children,  could  boast  that  he  comprehended 
the  whole  nature  or  the  pure  sight  of  God. 

XIX.  To  Elias  neither  the  strong  wind,  nor 
the  fire,  nor  the  earthquake,  as  you  learn  from 
the  story,*  but  a  light  breeze  adumbrated  the 
Presence  of  God,  and  not  even  this  His  Nature. 
And  who  was  this  Elias  ?  The  man  whom  a 
chariot  of  fire  took  u])  to  heaven,  signifying 
the  superhuman  excellency  of  the  righteous 
man.  And  are  you  not  amazed  at  Manoah 
the  Judge  of  yore,  and  at  Peter  the  disciple  in 
later  days;  the  one  being  unable  to  endure 
the  siglijt  even  of  one  in  whom  was  a  repres- 
entation of  God;  and  saying,  "We  are  un- 
done, O  wife,  we  have  seen  God  ;  "  *  speaking 
as  though  even  a  vision  of  God  could  not  be 
grasped  by  human  beings,  let  alone  the  Nature 
of  God  ;  and  the  other  unable  to  endure  the 
Presence  of  Christ  in  his  boat  and  therefore 
bidding  Him  depart;  ^   and  this  though  Peter 


a  Gen.  vi.  8.  3  lb.  xviii.  18.  7  lb.  xxvili.  2. 

6  Gen.  xviii.  2.  Elias  Cretensis  sees  in  this  occurrence  .1  fore- 
shadowing of  the  Incarnation  :  and  also  with  many  others,  a  rev- 
elation of  the  Trinity,  in  that  Abraham  saw  Three  and  conversed 
with  One.  e  Gen.  xxxii.  28.  ^  lb.  ver.  28. 

T)  v.  1.  T/ie  Form  0/  God,  which  would  refer  to  the  occasion  cited 
below.  The  reading  is  grammatically  easier,  as  an  accusative  is 
required  :  but  in  that  case  we  might  have  expected  the  wrestling 
with  the  Angel  to  have  been  mentioned  first,  as  the  name  Penuel 
was  given  by  Jacob  on  the  day  following  the  night  in  which  he 
wrestled,  and  received  his  own  change  of  name.  The  Benedic- 
tines, while  retaining  House  in  text  and  version,  express  a  prefer- 
ence for  Form,  because  the  subject  of  the  argument  is  the  Vision  of 
God. 

6  I  Kgs.  xix.  II,  12.     LXX.  has  a  Sound  of  a  Light  breeze. 

K  Judg,  xiii.  22.  \  Luke  v.  8. 


was  more  zealous  than  the  others  for  the 
knowledge  of  Christ,  and  received  a  blessing 
for  this,*  and  was  entrusted  with  the  great- 
est gifts.  What  would  you  say  of  Isaiah  or 
Ezekiel,  who  was  an  eyewitness  of  very 
great  mysteries,  and  of  the  other  Projjhets  ; 
for  one  of  these  saw  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  sit- 
ting on  the  Throne  of  glory, ^  and  encircled 
and  praised  and  hidden  by  the  si.xwinged 
Seraphim,  and  was  himself  purged  by  the  live 
coal,  and  ec^uipped  for  his  prophetic  office. 
And  the  other  describes  the  Cherubic  Chariot  "^ 
of  God,  and  the  Throne  u}Jon  them,  and  the 
Firmament  over  it,  and  Him  that  shewed 
Himself  in  the  Firmament,  and  Voices,  and 
Forces,  and  Deeds.*  And  whether  this  was 
an  appearance  by  day,  only  visible  to  Saints, 
or  an  unerring  vision  of  the  night,  or  an  im- 
pression on  the  mind  holding  converse  with 
the  future  as  if  it  were  the  present ;  or  some 
other  ineffable  form  of  prophecy,  J  cannot 
say  ;  the  God  of  the  Prophets  knoweth,  and 
they  know  who  are  thus  inspired.  But 
neither  these  of  whom  I  am  speaking,  nor  any 
of  their  fellows  ever  stood  before  the  Council  * 
and  Essence  of  God,  as  it  is  written,  or  saw, 
or  proclaimed  the  Nature  of  God. 

XX.  If  it  had  been  permitted  to  Paul  to 
utter  what  the  Third  Heaven^  contained,  and 
his  own  advance,  or  ascension,  or  assumption 
thither,  perhaps  we  should  know  something 
more  about  God's  Nature,  if  this  was  the 
mystery  of  the  rapture.  But  since  it  was  in- 
effable, we  too  will  honour  it  by  silence. 
Thus  much  we  will  hear  Paul  say  about  it, 
that  we  know  in  part  and  we  prophesy  in 
part.''  This  and  the  like  to  this  are  the  con- 
fessions of  one  who  is  not  rude  in  knowledge,  * 
who  threatens  to  give  proof  of  Christ  speaking 
in  him,  the  great  doctor  and  champion  of  the 
truth.  Wherefore  he  estimates  all  knowledge 
on  earth  only  as  through  a  glass  darkly,*  as 
taking  its  stand  upon  little  images  of  the 
truth.  Now,  unless  I  appear  to  anyone  too 
careful,  and  over  anxious  about  the  examina- 
tion of  this  matter,  perhaps  it  was  of  this  and 
nothing  else  that'  the  Word  Himself  intimated 


a  Matt.  xvi.  16,  17.  ^  Isa.  vi.  i  sqq.         7  Ezek.  i.  4-28. 

6  V.  1.  Orders,  i.e.  of  angels. 

e  This  is  a  quotation  from  the  LXX.  of  Jer.  xxiii.  t8,  where 
for  wJToiTTTJuaTi  .Aquila  has  oTropp^Tto,  and  Symmachus  o^iAt'a, 
(according  to  Trommius).  UTrocrTrjua  properly  means  a  Station  of 
troops,  and  such  is  the  meaning  in  the  other  two  places  where  the 
word  occurs  in  the  LXX.,  viz.  : — 2  Sam.  x.xiii.  14,  and  i  Chron.  xi. 
16.  The  Hebrew  word  which  it  represents  in  this  passage  is  one 
of  frequent  use,  and  means  "a  Council."  or,  in  a  sense  derived 
from  this,  Familiar  Intercourse.  In  Job  xv.  8  it  is  rendered  in  A. 
v.  The  Secret  of  God,  where  the  LXX.  has  <jvvTay\i.a.  The 
Vulgate  in  both  cases  has  Concilium  Dei  ;  the  Benedictines 
however  render  it  Substance.  A.  V.  has  Counsel,  and  in  marg. 
Secret :  while  R.  V.  reads  Council,  with  no  marginal  alternative. 

f  2  Cor.  xii.  2.  r)  I  Cor.  .\iii.  g. 

0  2  Cor.  xi.  6.  K  I  Cor.  xiii.  12. 


296 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


that  there  were  things  which  could  not  now  be 
borne,  but  which  should  be  borne  and  cleared 
up  hereafter,"^  and  which  John  the  Forerunner 
of  the  Word  and  great  Voice  of  the  Truth  de- 
clared even  the  whole  world  could  not  contain.^ 

XXI.  The  truth  then,  arid  the  whole  Word 
is  full  of  dil^iculty  and  obscurity  ;  and  as  it  were 
with  a  small  instrument  we  are  undertaking  a 
great  work,  when  with  merely  human  wisdom 
we  pursue  the  knowledge  of  the  Self-existent, 
and  in  company  with,  or  not  apart  from,  the 
senses,  by  which  we  are  borne  hither  and 
thither,  and  led  into  error,  we  apply  ourselves 
to  the  search  after  things  which  are  only  to 
be  grasped  by  the  mind,  and  we  are  unable 
by  meeting  bare  realities  with  bare  intellect 
to  approximate  somewhat  more  closely  to  the 
truth,  and  to  mould  the  mind  by  its  concepts. 

Now  the  subject  of  God  is  more  hard  to 
come  atj'y  in  proportion  as  it  is  more  perfect 
than  any  other,  and  is  open  to  more  objections, 
and  the  solutions  of  them  are  more  laborious. 
For  every  objection,  however  small,  stops  and 
hinders  the  course  of  our  argument,  and  cuts 
off  its  further  advance,  just  like  men  who  sud- 
denly check  with  the  rein  the  horses  in  full 
career,  and  turn  them  right  round  by  the  un- 
'  expected  shock.  Thus  Solomon,  who  was  the 
wisest  of  all  men,^  whether  before  him  or  in 
his  own  time,  to  whom  God  gave  breadth  of 
heart,  and  a  flood  of  contemplation,  more 
abundant  than  the  sand,  even  he,  the  more 
he  entered  into  the  depth,  the  more  dizzy  he 
l)ecame,  and  declared  the  furthest  point  of 
wisdom  to  be  the  discovery  of  how  very  far  off 
she  was  from  him.^  Paul  also  tries  to  arrive 
at,  I  will  not  say  the  nature  of  Ciod,  for  this 
he  knew  was  utterly  imi)ossible,  but  only  the 
judgments  of  God  ;  and  since  he  finds  no  way 
out,  and  no  halting  place  in  the  ascent,  and 
moreover,  since  the  earnest  searching  of  his 
mind  after  knowledge  does  not  end  in  any 
definite  conclusion,  because  some  fresh  unat- 
tained  point  is  being  continually  disclosed  to 
him  (()  marvel,  that  I  have  a  like  experience), 
he  closes  his  discourse  with  astonishment,  and 
calls  this  the  riches  of  God,^  and  the  dei)th, 
and  confesses  the  unsearchableness  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  in  almost  the  very  words  of 
David,  who  at  one  time  calls  God's  judg- 
ments the  great  deep  whose  foundations  can- 
not be  reached  by  measure  or  sense  ;  ^  and  at 
another  .says  that  His  knowledge  of  him  and  of 
his  own  constitution  was  marvellous,^  and  had 


a  John  xvi.   12. 

(3  S.  John  xxi.  25.     By  a  curious  slip  of  the  tonpue  S.  Gregory 
here  nttrilnites  to  the  B.iptist  words  of  the  Kvangelist. 

V  r(.  Pctav.  lie  Deo,  iii.,  c.  7.       Si  Kgs.  iii.  12.       «  Keel.  vii.  23. 
^  Rom.  xi.  23.  7)  Ps.  xxxvi.  7.  0  II).  cxxxix.  6. 


attained  greater  strength  than  was  in  his  own 
power  or  grasp. 

XXII.  For  if,  he  says,  I  leave  everything  else 
alone,  and  consider  myself  and  the  whole  nat- 
ure and  constitution  of  man,  and  how  we  are 
mingled,  and  what  is  our  movement,  and  how 
the  mortal  was  compounded  with  thfe  immortal, 
and  how  it  is  that  I  flow  downwards,  and  yet 
am  borne  upwards,  and  how  the  soul  is  circum- 
scribed ;  *  and  how  it  gives  life  and  shares  in 
feelings  ;  and  how  .the  miiidLis  at  once  circum- 
scribed and  unlimited,  ^  abiding  in  us  and  yet 
travelling  over  the  Universe  in  swift  motion 
and  flow  ;  how  it  is  both  received  and  imparted 
by  word,  and  passes  through  air,  and  enters 
with  all  things  ;  how  it  shares  in  sense,  and  en- 
shrouds itself  away  from  sense.  And  even  before 
these  questions — what  was  our  first  moulding 
and  composition   in  the  workshop  of  nature, 
and  what  is  our  last  formation  and  completion  ? 
What  is  the  desire  for  and  imparting  of  nour- 
ishment,  and   who  brought  us  spontaneously 
to  those  first  springs  and  sources  of  life  ?  How 
is  the  body  nourished  by  food,  and  the  soul 
by  reason  ?     What  is  the  drawing  of  nature, 
and  the  mutual  relation  between  parents  and 
children,  that  it  should  be  held  together  by  a 
spell  of  love  ?     How  is  it  that  species  are  per- 
manent, and  are  different  in  their  characteris- 
tics, although  there  are  so  many  that  their  indi- 
vidual marks  cannot  be  described  ?   How  is  it 
that  the  same  animal  is  both  mortal  and  im- 
mortal,"^   the  one    by  decease,  the   other   by 
coming  into  being  ?     For  one   departs,   and 
another  takes  its  place,  just  like  the  flow  of  a 
river,  which  is  never  still,  yet  ever  constant. 
And  you  might  discuss  many  more  points  con- 
cerning men's  members  and  parts,  and  their 
mutual  adaptation  both  for  use  and  beauty, 
and  how  some  are  connected  and  oth.ers  dis- 
joined,  some  are   more  excellent  and  others 
less    comely,    some    are     united     and     others 
divided,    .some  contain   and   others  are  con- 
tained, according  to   the  law  and  reason    of 
Nature.   Much  too  might  be  said  about  voices 
and  ears.      How  is  it  that  the  voice  is  carried 
by  the  vocal  organs,  and  received  by  the  ears, 
and  both  are  joined   by  the  smiting  and  re- 
sounding of  the  medium  of  the  air?     Much 
too  of  the  eyes,  which  have   an   indescribal)le 
communion  with  visible  objects,   and  which 
are  moved  by   the   will   alone,   and   that  to- 
gether, and  are  affected  exactly  as  is  the  mind. 
For  with  equal  speed  the  mind  is  joined  to 


a  V.   1.     And  how  the  soul  is  carried  round. 

/3  V.   1.      Invisible 

y  Gregory  is  not  here  speaking  of  the  immortality  of  the  in- 
dividual soul,  but  of  that  of  the  Race,  which  it  shares  witli  other 
animals,  and  which  is  effected  by  continual  succession. 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


297 


the  objects  of  thought,  the  eye  to  those  of 
sight.  Much  too  concerning  the  other  senses, 
not  objects  of  the  research  of  reason.  And 
much  concerning  our  rest  in  sleep,  and  the 
figments  of  dreams,  and  of  memory  and  re- 
membrance; of  calculation,  and  anger,  and 
desire  ;  and  in  a  word,  all  by  which  this  little 
world  called  Man  is  swayed. 

XXIII.  Shall  I  reckon  up  for  you  the  differ- 
ences of  the  other  animals,  both  from  us  and 
from  each  other, — differences  of  nature,  and  of 
production,  and  of  nourishment,  and  of  region, 
and  of  temper,  and  as  it  were  of  social  life? 
How  is  it  that  some  are  gregarious  and  others 
solitary,  some  herbivorous  and  others  carnivor- 
ous, some  fierce  and  others  tame,  some  fond  of 
man  and  domesticated,  others  untamable  and 
free?  And  some  we  might  call  bordering  on 
reason  and  power  of  learning,  while  others  are 
altogether  destitute  of  reason,  and  incapable  of 
being  taught.  Some  with  fuller  senses,  others 
with  less  ;  some  immovable,  and  some  with  the 
power  of  walking,  and  some  very  swift,  and 
some  very  slow  ;  some  surpassing  in  size  or 
beauty,  or  in  one  or  other  of  these  respects  ; 
others  very  small  or  very  ugly,  or  both  ;  some 
strong,  others  weak,  some  apt  at  self-defence, 
others  timid  and  crafty"  and  others  again  are 
unguarded.  Some  are  laborious  and  thrifty, 
others  altogether  idle  and  improvident.  And 
before  we  come  to  such  points  as  these,  how  is 
it  that  some  are  crawling  things,  and  others 
upright ;  some  attached  to  one  spot,  some 
amphibious  ;  some  delight  in  beauty  and  others 
are  unadorned  ;  some  are  married  and  some 
single;  seme  temperate  and  others  intemper- 
ate ;  some  have  numerous  offs]3ring  and  others 
not  ;  some  are  long-lived  and  others  have  but 
short  lives  ?  It  would  be  a  weary  discourse  to 
go  through  all  the  details. 

XXIV.  Look  also  at  the  fishy  tribe  gliding 
through  the  waters,  and  as  it  were  flying 
through  the  liquid  element,  and  breathing  its 
own  air,  but  in  danger  when  in  contact  with 
ours,  as  we  are  in  the  waters ;  and  mark  their 
habits  and  dispositions,  their  intercourse  and 
their  births,  their  size  and  their  beauty,  and 
their  affection  for  places,  and  their  wanderings, 
and  their  assemblings  and  departings,  and  their 
properties  which  so  nearly  resemble  those  of  the 
animals  that  dwell  on  land  ;  in  some  cases  com- 
munity, in  others  contrast  of  ])roperties.  both 
in  name  and  shape.  And  consider  the  tribes 
of  birds,  and  their  varieties  of  form  and  colour, 
both  of  those  which  are  voiceless  and  of  song- 
birds.    What  is  the  reason  of  their  melody,  and 

<i  The  Benedictines  here  insert  Some  well  protected;  but  it  is 
their  own  conjecture,  and  is  not  found  in  the  Manuscripts. 


from  whom  came  it  ?  Who  gave  to  the  grass- 
hopper the  lute  in  his  breast,  and  the  songs  and 
chirruping  on  the  branches,  when  they  are 
moved  by  the  sun  to  make  their  midday  music, 
and  sing  among  the  groves,  and  escort  the  way- 
farer with  their  voices?  Who  wove* the  song 
for  the  swan  when  he  sj^reads  his  wings  to  the 
breezes,  and  makes  melody  of  their  rustling? 
For  I  will  not  speak  of  the  forced  voices,  and 
all  the  rest  that  art  contrives  against  the  truth. 
Whence  does  the  peacock,  that  boastfiil  bird 
of  Media,  get  his  love  of  beauty  and  of  praise 
(for  he  is  fully  conscious  of  his  own  beauty), 
so  that  when  he  sees'  any  one  approaching,  or 
when,  as  they  say,  he  would  make  a  show  be- 
fore his  hens,  raising  his  neck  and  spreading 
his  tail  in  circle  around  him,  glittering  like 
gold  and  studded  with  stars,  he  makes  a  spec- 
tacle of  his  beauty  to  his  lovers  with  pompous 
strides  ?  Now  Holy  Scripture  admires  the 
cleverness  in  weaving  even  of  women,  saying, 
Who  gave  to  woman  skill  in  weaving  and 
cleverness  in  the  art  of  embroidery  ?  "■  This  be- 
longeth  to  a  living  creature  that  hath  reason, 
and  exceedeth  in  wisdom  and  maketh  way  even 
as  far  as  the  things  of  heaven. 

XXV.  But  I  would  have  you  marvel  at  the 
natural  knowledge  even  of  irrational  creatures, 
and  if  you  can,  explain  its  cause.  How  is  it 
that  birds  have  for  nests  rocks  and  trees  and 
roofs,  and  adapt  them  both  for  safety  and 
beauty,  and  suitably  for  the  comfort  of  their 
nurslings?  Whence  do  bees  and  spiders  get 
their  love  of  work  and  art,  by  which  the  for- 
mer plan  their  honeycombs,  and  join  them  to- 
gether by  hexagonal  and  co-ordinate  tubes,  and 
construct  the  foundation  by  means  of  a  parti- 
tion and  an  alternation  of  the  angles  with 
straight  lines  ;  and  this,  as  is  the  case,  in  such 
dusky  hives  and  dark  combs ;  and  the  latter 
weave  their  intricate  webs  by  such  light  and 
almost  airy  threads  stretched  in  clivers  ways, 
and  this  from  almost  invisible  beginnings,  to  be 
at  once  a  precious  dwelling,  and  a  trap  for 
weaker  creatures  with  a  view  to  enjoyment  of 
food?  What  Euclid  ever  imitated  these,  while 
pursuing  philosophical  enquiries  with  lines  that 
have  no  real  existence,  and  wearying  himself 
with  demonstrations?  From  what  Palamedes 
came  the  tactics,  and,  as  the  saying  is,  the 
movements  and  configurations  of  cranes,  and 
the  systems  of  their  movement  in  ranks  and 
their  complicated  flight  ?  Who  were  their 
Phidi?e  and  Zeuxides,  and  who  were  the  Par- 
rhasii  and  Aglaophons  who  knew  how  to  draw 
and  mould  excessively  beautiful  things  ?    What 

a  Job  xxxviii.  36.    LXX. 


298 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


harmonious  Gnossian  chorus  of  Daedalus, 
wrought  for  a  girl «  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
beauty  ?  What  Cretan  Labyrinth,  hard  to 
get  through,  hard  to  unravel,  as  the  poets  say, 
and  continually  crossing  itself  through  the 
tricks  of  its  construction?  I  will  not  speak 
of  the  ants'  storehouses  and  storekeepers,  and 
of  their  treasurings  of  wood  in  quantities  cor- 
responding to  the  time  for  which  it  is  wanted, 
and  all  the  other  details  which  we  know  are 
told  of  their  marches  and  leaders  and  their 
good  order  in  their  works. 

XXVI.  If  this  knowledge  has  come  within 
your  reach  and  you  are  familiar  with  these 
branches  of  science,  look  at  the  differences  of 
plants  also,  up  to  the  artistic  fashion  of  the 
leaves,  which  is  adapted  both  to  give  the  utmost 
pleasure  to  the  eye,  and  to  be  of  the  greatest 
advantage  to  the  fruit.  Look  too  at  the  variety 
and  lavish  abundance  of  fruits,  and  most  of  all 
at  the  wondrous  beauty  of  such  as  are  most 
necessary.  And  consider  the  power  of  roots, 
and  juices,  and  flowers,  and  odours,  not  only 
so  very  sweet,  but  also  serviceable  as  medi- 
cines ;  and  the  graces  and  qTialities  of  colours  ; 
and  again  the  costly  value,  and  the  brilliant 
transparency  of  precious  stones.  Since  nature 
has  set  before  you  all  things  as  in  an  abundant 
banquet  free  to  all,  both  the  necessaries  and 
the  luxuries  of  life,  in  order  tjiat,  if  nothing 
else,  you  may  at  any  rate  laio.w._God  by  His 
benefits,  and  by  your  own  sense  of  want  be 
made  wiser  than  you  were.  Next,  I  pray  you, 
traverse  the  length  and  breadth  of  earth,  the 
common  mother  of  all,  and  the  gulfs  of  the 
sea  bound  together  with  one  another  and  with 
the  land,  and  the  beautiful  forests,  and  the 
rivers  and  springs  abundant  and  perennial,  not 
only  of  waters  cold  and  fit  for  drinking,  and 
on  the  surface  of  the  earth  ;  but  also  such  as 
running  beneath  the  earth,  and  flowing  under 
caverns,  are  then  forced  out  by  a  violent  blast, 
and  repelled,  and  then  filled  with  heat  by  this 
violence  of  strife  and  repulsion,  burst  out  by 
little  and  little  wherever  they  get  a  chance, 
and  hence  supply  our  need  of  hot  baths  in 
many  parts  of  the  earth,  and  in  conjunction 
with  the  cold  give  us  a  healing  which  is  with- 
out cost  and  sjjontaneous.  Tell  me  how  and 
whence  are  these  things  ?  What  is  this  great 
web  unwrought  by  art?  These  things  are 
no  less  worthy  of  admiration,  in  res])ect  of 
their  mutual  relations  than  when  considered 
separately. 

How  is  it  that  the  earth  stands  solid  and 

oThe  allusion  is  to  a  group  made  by  Drcilalus  for  Ariadne,  repre- 
senting a  chorus  of  youths  and  maidens,  which  seemed  to  be  mov- 
ing in  iiuisical  rhythm.  It  is  described  by  Homer  (II.,  xviii.,  592 
sqq.). 


unswerving  ?  Oinwhatisjl-Supported  ?  What 
is  it  that  props  it  up,  and  on  what  does  that 
rest  ?  For  indeed  even  reason  has  nothing  to 
lean  upon,  but  only  the  Will  of  God.  And 
how  is  it  that  part  of  it  is  drawn  up  into  moun- 
tain summits,  and  part  laid  down  in  plains, 
and  this  in  various  and  differing  ways?  And 
iJecause  the  variations  are  individually  small,  it 
both  supplies  our  needs  more  liberally,  and  is 
more  beautiful  by  its  variety;  part  being  dis- 
tributed into  habitations,  and  part  left  unin- 
habited, namely  all  the  great  height  of  Moun^ 
tains,  and  the  various  clefts  of  its  coast  line 
cut  off  from  it.  Is  not  this  the  clearest  proof 
of  the  majestic-AMJrking_of  God.? 

XXVIl.  And  with  respect  to  the  Sea  even 
if  I  did  not  marvel  at  its  greatness,  yet  I  should 
have  marvelled  at  its  gentleness,  in  that  al- 
though loose  it  stands  within  its  boundaries  ; 
and  if  not  at  its  gentleness,  yet  surely  at  its 
greatness  ;  but  since  I  marvel  at  both,  1  will 
jiraise  the  Power  that  is  in  botli.  What  col- 
lected it  ?  A\"hat  bounded  it  ?  How  is  it  raised 
and  lulled  to  rest,  as  though  respecting  its  neigh- 
bour earth  ?  How,  moreover,  does  it  receive 
all  the  rivers,  and  yet  remain  the  same,  through 
the  very  superabundance  of  its  immensity,  if 
that  term  be  jjermissible  ?  How  is  the  boun- 
dary of  it,  though  it  be  an  element  of  such 
magnitude,  only  sand  ?  Have  your  natural 
philosophers  with  their  knowledge  of  useless 
details  anything  to  tell  us,  those  men  I  mean 
who  are  really  endeavouring  to  measure  the 
sea  with  a  wineglass,  and  such  mighty  works 
by  their  own  conceptions  ?  Or  shall  I  give 
the  really  scientific  explanation  of  it  from 
Scripture  concisely,  and  yet  more  satisfactorily 
and  truly  than  by  the  longest  arguments  ? 
"  He  hath  fenced  the  face  of  the  water  with 
His  command.""  This  is  the  chain  of  fluid 
nature.  And  how  doth  He  bring  upon  it  the 
Nautilus  that  inhabits  the  dry  land  (i.e.,  man) 
in  a  little  vessel,  and  with  a  little  breeze  (dost 
thou  not  marvel  at  the  sight  of  this, — is  not 
thy  mind  astonished  ?).  that  earth  and  sea  may 
be  bound  together  by  needs  and  commerce, 
and  that  things  so  widely  sejjarated  by  nature 
should  be  thus  brought  together  into  one  for 
man?  ^^'hat  are  the  first  fountains  of  springs? 
Seek,  O  man,  if  you  can  trace  out  or  find  any 
of  these  things.  And  who  was  it  who  cleft 
the  plains  and  the  mountains  for  the  rivers, 
and  gave  them  an  unhindered  course?  And 
how  comes  the  marvel  on  the  other  side,  that 
the  Sea  never  overflows,  nor  the  Rivers  cease 
to  flow  ?     And  what  is  the  nourishing  power 

a  Job  xxvi.  lo.     LXX. 


THE   SECOND   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


299 


of  water,  and  what  the  difference  therein  ;  for 


some    thinsfs   are 


irrigated 


from    above,   and 


others  drink  from  their  roots,  if  I  may  luxuri- 
ate a  Uttle  in  my  language  when  speaking  of 
the  luxuriant  gifts  of  God. 

XXVIII.  And  now,  leaving  the  earth  and 
the  things  of  earth,  soar^  into  the  air  on  the  wings 
of  thought,  that  our  argument  may  advance  in 
due  path  ;.  and  thence  I  will  take  you  up  to 
heavenly  things,  and  to  heaven  itself,  and 
things  which  are  above  heaven  ;  for  to  that 
which  is  beyond  my  discourse  hesitates  to 
ascend,  but  still  it  shall  ascend  as  far  as  may 
be.  Who  poured  forth  the  air,  that  great  and 
abundant__vvealtl"i,  not  measured  to  men  by 
their  rank  or  fortunes  ;  not  restrained  by 
boundaries  ;  not  divided  out  according  to 
people's  ages  ;  but  like  the  distribution  of  the 
Manna,"  received  in  sufficiency,  and  valued 
for  its  equality  of  distribution  ;.jthe  chariot^of 
thgjtinged^. creation  ;  the  seat  of  the  winds  ; 
the  moderator  of  the  seasons  ;•  the  quickener 
of  living  things,  or  rather  the  preserver  of 
natural  life  in  the  body  ;  in  which  bodies 
have  their  being,  and  by  which  we  speak ;  in 
which  is  the  light  and  all  that  it  shines  upon, 
and  the  sight  which  flows  through  it?  And 
mark,  if  you  please,  what  follows.  I  cannot 
give  to  the  air  the  whole  empire  of  all  that  is 
thought  to  belong  to^he  air.  What*  are  the 
storehouses  of  the  winds  ?  ^  What  are  the 
treasuries  of  the  snow  ?  Who,  as  Scripture 
hath  said,  hath  begotten  the  drops  of  dew  ? 
Out  of  Whose  womb  came  the  ice  ?  and  Who 
bindeth  the  waters  in  the  clouds,  and,  fixing 
part  in  the  clouds  (O  marvel !)  held  by  His 
Word  though  its  nature  is  to  flow,  poureth 
out  the  rest  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  scattereth  it  abroad  in  due  season,  and  in 
just  proportions,  and  neither  suffereth  the 
whole  substance  of  moisture  to  go  out  free  and 
uncontrolled  (for  sufficient  was  the  cleansing 
in  the  days  of  Noah  ;  and  He  who  cannot  lie 
is  not  forgetful  of  His  own  covenant)  ;  .  .  . 
nor  yet  restraineth  it  entirely  that  we  should 
not  again  stand  in  need  of  an  Elias  >  to  bring 
the  drought  to  an  end.  If  He  shall  shuT;  up 
heaven,  it  saith,  who  shall  open  it?  If  He 
open  the  floodgates,  who  shall  shut  them  up  ?  ^ 
Who  can  bring  an  excess  or  withhold  a  suffi- 
ciency of  rain,  unless  he  govern  the  Universe 
by  his  own  measures  and  balances  ?  What  sci- 
entific laws,  pray,  can  you  lay  down  concern- 
ing thunder  and  lightning,  O  you  v/ho  thun- 
der from  the  earth,  and  cannot  shine  with  even 
little  sparks  of  truth  ?     To  what  vapours  from 


aExnd.  xvi.  18. 
y  I  Kgs.  xviii.  44. 


P  Job  xxxvii.  9,  10. 
S  Job.  xii.  14 


earth  will  you  attribute  the  creation  of  cloud, 
or  is  it  due  to  some  thickening  of  the  air,  or 
pressure  or  crash  of  clouds  of  excessive  rarity, 
so  as  to  make  you  think  the  pressure  the  cause 
of  the  lightning,  and  the  crash  that  which 
makes  the  thunder  ?  Or  what  compression  of 
wind  having  no  outlet  will  account  to  you 
for  the  lightning  by  its  compression,  and  for 
the  thunder  by  its  bursting  out? 

Now  if  you  have  in  your  thought  passed 
through  the  air  and  all  the  things  of  air,  reach 
with  me  to  heaven  and  the  things  of  heaven. 
And  let  faith  lead  us  rather  than  reason,  if  at 
least  you  have  learnt  the  feebleness  of  tlie 
latter  in  matters  nearer  to  you,  and  have 
known  reason  by  knowing  the  things  that  are 
beyond  reason,  so  as  not  to  be  altogether  on  the 
earth  or  of  the  earth,  because  you  are  ignorant 
even  of  your  ignorance. 

XXIX.  Who  spread  the  sky  around  us,  and 
set  the  stars  in  order  ?  Or  rather,  first,  can  you 
tell  me,  of  your  own  knowledge  of  the  things  in 
heaven,  what  are  the  sky  and  the  stars;  you 
who  know  not  what  lies  at  your  very  feet,  and 
cannot  even  take  the  measure  of  yourself,  and 
yet  must  busy  yourself  about  what  is  above 
your  nature,  and  gape  at  the  illimitable  ? 
For,  granted  that  you  understand  orbits  and 
periods,  and  waxings  and  wanings,  and  set- 
tings and  risings,  and  some  degrees  and  min- 
utes, and  all  the  other  things  which  make  vou 
so  i:»roud  of  your  wonderful  knowledge  ;  you 
have  not  arrived  at  comprehension  of  the 
realities  themselves,  but  only  at  an  observa- 
tion of  some  movement,  which,  when  con- 
firmed by  longer  practice,  and  drawing  the 
observations  of  many  individuals  into  one 
generalization,  and  thence  deducing  a  law, 
has  acquired  the  name  of  Science  (just  as 
the  lunar  ])henomena  have  become  generally 
known  to  our  sight),  being  the  basis  of  this 
knowledge.  But  if  you  are  very  scientific  on 
this  subject,  and  have  a  just  claim  to  admira- 
tion, tell  me  what  is  the  cause  of  this  order 
and  this  movement.  How  came  llie^  sjun  to 
.be  a  bea(:on-fire  to  the  whole  world,  and  to 
all  eyes  like  the  leader  of  some  chorus,  con- 
cealing all  the  rest  of  the  stars  bv  his  bright- 
ness,  more  completely  than  some  of  them 
conceal  others.  The  proof  of  this  is  that 
they  shine  against  him,  but  he  outshines 
them  and  does  not  even  allow  it  to  be  per- 
ceived that  they  rose  simultaneously  with 
him,  fair  as  a  bridegroom,  swift  and  great 
as  a  giant" — for  I  will  not  let  his  praises  be 
sung  from  any    other  source    than    my   own 

a  Ps.  xix.  5. 


300 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Scriptures — ^so  mighty  in  strength  that  from 
one  end  to  the  other  of  the  world  he  embraces 
all  things  in  his  heat,  and  there  is  nothing  hid 
from  the  feeling  thereof,  but  it  fills  both  every 
eye  with  light,  and  every  embodied  creature 
with  heat ;  warming,  yet  not  burning,  by  the 
gentleness  of  its  temper,  and  the  order  of  its 
movement,  present  to  all,  and  equally  embrac- 
ing all. 

"  XXX.  Have  you  considered  the  importance 
of  the  fact  that  a  heathen  writer  *  speaks  of  the 
sun  as  holding  the  same  position  among  material 
objects  as  God  does  among  objects  of  thought  ? 
For  the  one  gives  light  to  the  eyes,  as  the 
Other  does  to  the  mind  ;  and  is  the  most  beau- 
tifi'.l  of  the  objects  of  sight,  as  God  is  of  those 
of  thought.  But  who  gave  him.  motion  at 
first?  And  what  is  it  which  ever  moves  him 
in  his  circuit,  though  in  his  nature  stable  and 
immovable,  truly  unwearied,  and  the  giver 
and  sustainer  of  life,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  titles 
which  the  poets  justly  sing  of  him,  and  never 
restinsf  in  his  course  or  his  benefits  ?  How 
comes  he  to  be  the  creator  of  day  v/hen  above 
the  earth,  and  of  night  when  below  it  ?  or 
whatever  may  be  the  right  expression  when 
one  contemplates  the  sun  ?  What  are  the 
mutual  aggressions  and  concessions  of  day  and 
night,  and  their  regular  irregularities — to  use  a 
somewhat  strange  expression  ?  How  comes  he 
to  be  the  maker  and  divider  of  the  seasons,  that 
come  and  depart  in  regular  orcTer",  and  as  in  a 
dance  interweave  with  each  other,  or  stand 
apart  by  a  law  of  love  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
order  on  the  other,  and  mingle  little  by  little, 
and  steal  on  their  neighbour,  just  as  nights  and 
days  do,  so  as  not  to  give  us  pain  by  their  sud- 
denness.    This  will  be  enough  about  the  sun. 

Do  you  know  the  nature  and  phenomena  of 
the  Moon,  and  the  measures  and  courses  of 
light,  and  how  it  is  that  the  sun  bears  rule  over 
the  day,  and  the  moon  presides  of  er  the  night ; 
and  while  She  gives  confidence  to  wild  beasts. 
He  stirs  Man  up  to  work,  raising  or  lowering 
himself  as  may  be  most  serviceable  ?  Know  you 
the  bond  of  Pleiades,  or  the  fence  of  Orion, ^  as 
He  who  counteth  the  number  of  the  stars  and 
calleth  them  all  by  their  names  ?■>"  Know  you 
the  differences  of  the  glory*  of  each,  and  the 
order  of  their  movement,  tliat  I  should  trust 
you,  when  ])y  them  you  weave  the  web  of  hu- 
man concerns,  and  arm  the  creature  against  the 
Creator  ? 

XXXI.  What  say  you?  Shall  we  pause  here, 
after  discussing  nothing  further  than  matter  and 
visible  things,  or,  since  the  Word  knows  the 


o  Plato. 

y  Ps.  cxlvii. 


P  Job  xxxviii.  qi. 
6  I  Cor.   XV.    41. 


Tabernacle  of  Moses  to  be  a  figure  of  the  whole 
creation — I  mean  the  entire  svstem  of  things 
visible  and  invisible — shall  we  pass  the  first  veil, 
and  stepping  beyond  the  realm  of  sense,  shall 
we  look  into  the  Holy  Place,  the  Intellectual 
and  Celestial  creation  ?  But  not  even  this  can  we 
see  in  an  incorporeal  way,  though  it  is  incorpo- 
real, since  it  is  called — oris — Fire  and  Spirit. 
For  He  is  said  to  make  His  Angels  spirits,  and 
His  Ministers  a  flame  of  fire  *  .  .  .  though 
perhaps  this  "making"  means  preserving  by 
that  Word  by  Avhich  they  came  into  existence. 
The  Angel  then  is  called  spirit  and  fire  ;  Spirit, 
as  being  a  creature  of  the  intellectual  sphere; 
Fire,  as  being  of  a  purifying  nature  ;  for  I  know 
that  the  same  names  belong  to  the  First  Nature. 
But,  relatively  to  us  at  least,  we  must  reckon 
the  Angelic  Nature  incorporeal,  or  at  any  rate 
as  nearly  so  as  possible.  Do  you  see  how  we 
get  dizzy  over  this  subject,  and  cannot  ad- 
vance to  any  point,  unless  it  be  as  far  as  this, 
that  we  know  there  are  Angels  and  Archan- 
gels,  Thrones,  Dominions,  Princedoms,  Pow- 
ers, Splendours,  Ascents,  Intelligent  Powers 
or  Tntelligencies,  pure  natures  and  unalloyed, 
immovable  to  evil,  or  scarcely  movable  ;  ever 
circling  in  chorus  round  the  First  Cause  (or 
how  should  we  sing  their  ])raises  ?)  illuminated 
thence  with  the  purest  Illumination,  or  one  in 
one  degree  and  one  in  another,  proportionally 
to  their  nature  and  rank  ...  so  conformed^tp 
beauty  and  moulded  that  they  become  second- 
ary Lights,  and  caii  enlighten  others  by  the 
qyerflowings  and  largesses  of  the  First  Light? 
Ministrants  of  God's  Will,  strong  with  both 
inborn  and  imparted  strength,  traversing  all 
space,  readily  present  to  all  at  any  place  through 
their  zeal  for  ministry  and  the  agility  of  their 
nature  .  .  .  different  individuals  of  them 
embracing  different  parts  of  the  world,  or  ap- 
jx)inted  over  different  districts  of  the  Universe, 
as  He  Icnoweth  who  ordered  and  distributed  it 
all.  Combining  all  things  in  one,  solely  with 
a  view  to  the  consent  of  the  Creator  of  all 
things;  Hymners  of  the  Majesty  of  the  Godhead, 
eternally  contemplating  the  Eternal  Glory,  not 
that  God  may  thereby  gain  an  increase  of  glory, 
for  nothing  can  be  added  to  that  which  is  full 
— to  Him,  who  supplies  good  to  all  outside 
Himself — but  that  there  may  never  be  a  ces- 
sation of  blessings  to  these  first  natures  after 
Cod.  If  we  have  told  these  things  as  they 
deserve,  it  is  by  the  grace  of  the  Trinity,  and 
of  the  one  Godhead  in  Three  Persons  ;  but  if 
less  perfectly  than  we  have  desired,  yet  even 
so  our  discourse  has  gained  its  purpose.     For 

a  Ps.  civ.  4. 


ON    THE   SON. 


301 


this  is  what  we  were  labouring  to  shew,  that 
even  the  secondary  natures  surpass  the  power 
of  our  intellect  ;  much  more  then  the  First  and 
(for  I  fear  to  say  merely  That  which  is  above 
all),  the  only  Nature. 


XXIX.     THE 


THIRD    THEOLOGICAL 
ORATION. 

On  the  Son. 


I.   This  then  is  what  might  be  said  to  cut 
short  our  opponents'  readiness   to  argue  and 
their  hastiness  with  its  consequent  insecurity  in 
all  matters,  but  above  all  in  those  discussions 
which   relate   to  God.     But  since  to  rebuke 
others  is  a  matter  of  no  difficulty   whatever, 
but   a  very  easy  thing,   which   any  one  who 
likes  can  do  ;  whereas  to  substitute  one's  own 
belief  for  theirs  is  the  part  of  a  pious  and  intel- 
ligent man  ;  let  us,  relying  on  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Who  among  them  is  dishonoured,  but  among 
us  is  adored,  bring  forth  to  the  light  our  own 
conceptions    about    the    Godhead,    whatever 
these   may  be,    like   some  noble  and   timely 
birth.      Not  that  I  have  at  other  times  been 
silent ;  for  on   this  subject  alone  I  am  full  of 
youthful  strength  and  daring  ;   but  the  fact  is 
that  under  present   circumstances  I  am  even 
more  bold  to  declare  the  truth,  that  I  may  not 
(to   use  the  words  of  Scripture)   by  drawing 
back  fall  into  the  condemnation  of  being  dis- 
pleasing to  God.'^    And  since  every  discourse 
is  of  a  twofold  nature,  the  one  part  establish- 
ing one's  own,   and    the   other  overthrowing 
one's  opponents' position  ;  let  us  first  of  all  state 
our  own  position,  and  then  try  to  controvert 
that  of  our  opponents  ; — and  both  as  briefly  as 
possible,  so  that  our  arguments  may, be  taken 
in  at  a  glance  (like  those  of  the  elementary 
treatises  which  they  have  devised  to  deceive 
simple    or     foolish    persons),     and     that    our 
thoughts  may  not  be  scattered  by  reason  of  the 
length  of  the  discourse,  like  water  which  is  not 
contained  in   a  channel,  but   flows  to  waste 
over  the  open  land. 

II.  The  three  most  ancient  opinions  con- 
cerning God  are  Anarchia,  Polyarchia,  and 
Monarchia.  The  first  two  are  the  sport  of  the 
children  of  Hellas,  and  may  they  continue  to 
be  so.  For  Anarchy  is  a  thing  without  order  ; 
and  the  Rule  of  Many  is  factious,  and  thus 
anarchical,  and  thus  disorderly.  For  both 
these  tend  to  the  same  thing,  namely  disorder  ; 
and  this  to  dissolution,  for  disorder  is  the  first 
step  to  dissolution. 

a  Heb.  ii.  4  ;  x.  38. 


But  Monarchy   is   that  which   we  hold  in 
honour.      It  is,  however,  a  Monarchy  that  is 
not  limited  to  one  Person,  for  it  is  possible  for 
Unity  if  at  variance  with  itself  to  come  into  a 
condition  of  plurality  ;  "  but  one  which  is  made 
of  an  equality  of  Nature  and  a  Union  of  mind, 
and  an  identity  of  motion,  and  a  convergence 
of   its   elements  to  unity — a    thing  which   is 
impossible    to    the   created    nature — so    that 
though  numerically  distinct  there  is  no   sever- 
ance  of  Essence.       Therefore  Unity  ^  having 
from  all  eternity  arrived  by  motion  at  Duality, 
found  its   rest   in  Trinity.       This  is   what  we 
mean   by  Father   and    Son   and    Holy  Ghost. 
The  Father  is  the  Begetter  and  the  Emitter  ;  t 
without  passion,  of  course,  and   without  ref- 
erence to  time,  and  not  in  a  corporeal  man- 
ner.     The  Son  is  the  Begotten,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost    the    Emission;    for  I    know    not    how 
this  could  be  expressed  in  terms  altogether  ex- 
cluding visible  things.      For  we  shall  not  ven- 
ture to  speak  of  "  an  overflow  of  goodness," 
as  one  of  the  Greek  Philosophers  dared  to  say, 
as  if  it  were  a  bowl  overflowing,  and   this  in 
plain  words  in  his  Discourse  on   the  First  and 
Second  Causes.^    Let  us  not  ever  look  on  this 
Generation  as  involuntary,  like  some  natural 
overflow,    hard    to    be   retained,    and    by  no 
means    befitting    our   conception    of    Deity. 
Therefore  let  us   confine  ourselves  within   our 
limits,  and  speak  of  the  Unbegotten  and  the 
Begotten  and   That  which  proceeds   from  the 
Father,  as  somewhere  God  the  Word   Himself 
saith. 

III.  When  did  these  come  into  being?  They 
are  above  all  "  When."  But,  if  I  am  to  speak 
witli  something  more  of  boldness, — wdien  the 
Father  did.  And  when  did  the  Father  come 
into  being.  There  never  was  a  time  when  He 
was  not.  And  the  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Ask  me  again,  and 
again  I  will  answer   you,   When  was  the  Son 

a  Billius  and  others  here  read  Authority,  which  is  not  supported 
by  the  best  MS.S.,  or  by  the  context. 

3  Ehas  explains  this  to  mean  that  of  old  men  knew  only  One 
Person  in  the  Godhead  ;  and  until  the  Incarnation  this  knowledge 
was  sufficient ;  but  from  that  time  forward  they  acknowledged  a 
Second  Person,  and  through  Hira  a  Third  also,  the  Holy  Ghost. 
But  this  explanation  falls  far  short  of  Gregory's  meaning,  which 
certainly  is  that  the  movement  of  selfconsciousness  in  God  from  all 
Eternity  made  the  Generation  of  the  Son,  and  the  Procession  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  a  necessity.  All  is  objective  in  God.  of.  Petav. 
de  Deo,  H.,  viii.,  16:  also,  Greg.  Naz.,  Or.  .xxiii.  5. 

y  irpo3oAeus-7rpo)3oAi)  was  a  term  used  by  the  Gnostics  to  describe 
the  Emanations  by  which  the  distance  between  the  Finite  and  the 
Infinite  was  according  to  them  bridged  over  :  and  on  this  account 
it  fell  under  suspicion,  and  was  rejected  by  both  Arius  and  Atha- 
nasius.  TertuUian  used  it  with  an  explanation  which  is  satisfactory 
as  regards  the  jrpo^oAr)  of  the  Son  ;  but  when  he  comes  to  apply  it 
to  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost  he  uses  an  illustration  which  is 
in  almost  the  very  words  rejected  by  Gregory  (c.  Prax.,  7,  8. 
See  Swete,  p.  56).  Origen  did  not  admit  it.  Later  when  this 
danger  was  past,  the  word  came  into  use  again  as  the  equivalent 
of  €K7ropevcris,  at  first  with  reserve  and  explanations  in  the  text,  but 
later  on  as  an  accepted  term.  See  Swete  "  On  The  Doctrme  Of 
The  Holy  Spirit,"  p.  36. 

S  The  expression  is  from  Plato. 


102 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


begotten  ?  Wlien  the  Father  was  not  begotten. 
And  when  did  the  Holy  Ghost  ])roceed  ?  When 
the  Son  was,  not  proceeding  but,  begotten — 
be3'ond  the  sphere  of  time,  and  above  the 
grasp  of  reason  :;  although  we  cannot  set  forth 
that  which  is  above  time,  if  we  avoid  as  we 
desire  any  expression  which  conveys  the  idea 
of  time.  For  such  expre.ssions  as  "when" 
and  "  before  "  and  "  after  "  and  "  from  the 
beginning  "  are  not  timeless,  however  much 
we  may  force  them  ;  unless  indeed  we  were  to 
take  the  Aeon,  that  interval  which  is  coex- 
tensive with  the  eternal  things,  and  is  not 
divided  or  measured  by  any  motion,  or  by 
the  revolution  of  the  sun,  as  time  is  measured. 
How  then  are  They  not  alike  unoriginate, 
if  They  are  coeternal  ?  Because  They  are  from 
Him,  though  not  after  Him.  For  that  whicli 
is  unoriginate  is  eternal,  but  that  which  is 
eternal  is  not  necessarily  unoriginate,  .so  long 
as  it  may  be  referred  to  the  Father  as  its  origin. 
Therefore  in  resjject  of  Cause  They  are  not 
unoriginate;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  Cause 
is  not  necessarily  prior  to  its  effects,  for  the 
sun  is. not  prior  to  its  light.  And  yet  They 
are  in  some  sense  unoriginate,  in  res])ect  of 
time,  even  though  you  would  scare  simple 
minds  with  your  quibbles,  for  the  Sources  of 
Time  are  not  subject  to  time. 

IV.  But  how  can  this  generation  be  passion- 
less ?  In  that  it  is  incorporeal.  For  if  corporeal 
generation  involves  passion,  incorporeal  gen- 
eration exchides  it.  And  I  will  ask  of  you  in 
turn,  How  is  He  God  if  He  is  created  ?  For 
that  which- is  created  is  not  God.  I  refrain 
from  reminding  you  that  here  too  is  passion  if 
we  take  the  creation  in  a  bodily  sense,  as  time, 
desire,  imagination,  thought,  hope,  pain,  risk, 
failure,  success,  all  of  which  and  more  than 
all  fmd  a  place  in  the  creature,  as  is  evident 
to  every  one.  Nay,  I  marvel  that  you  do  not 
venture  so  far  as  to  conceive  of  marriages  and 
times  of  pregnancy,  and  dangers  of  miscar- 
riage, as  if  the  Father  could  not  have  begotten 
at  all  if  He  had  not  begotten  thus  ;  or  again, 
that  you  did  not  count  up  the  modes  of  gen- 
eration of  birds  and  beasts  and  fishes,  and 
bring  under  some  one  of  them  the  Divine  and 
Ineffable  Generation,  or  even  eliminate  the 
Son  out  of  your  new  hyj^othesis.  And  you 
cannot  even  see  this,  that  as  His  CTeneration 
according  to  the  flesh  differs  from  all  others 
(for  where  among  men  do  you  know  of  a 
Virgin  Mother?),  so  does  He  differ  also  in  His 
spiritual  Generation  ;  or  rather  He,  Whose 
Existence  is  not  the  same  as  ours,  differs  from 
us  also  in  His  Generation. 

V.  Who  then  is  that  Father  Who  had  no  be- 


Qne  Whose  very  Existence  had  no 
,   for  one  whose  existence  had  a  be- 


ginning ? 
beginning 

ginning  must  also  have  begun  to  be  a  Father. 
He  did  not  then  become  a  Father  after  He 
began  to  be,  for  Flis  being  had  no  beginning. 
And  He  is  Father  in  the  absolute  sense,  for 
He  is. not  also  Son  ;  just  as  the  Son  is  Son  in 
the  absolute  sense,  because  He  is  not  also 
Father.  These  names  do  not  belong  to  us  in 
the  absolute  sense,  because  we  are  both,  and 
not  one  more  than  the  other  ;  and  we  are  of 
both,  and  not  of  one  only  ;  and  so  we  are 
divided,  and  by  degrees  become  men,  and  per- 
haps not  even  men,  and  such  as  we  did  not 
desire,  leaving  and  being  left,  so  that  only  the 
relations  remain,  without  the  underlying 
facts." 

But,  the  objector  says,  the  very  form  of  the 
expression  "  He  begat"  and  "  He  was  begot- 
ten," brings  in  the  idea  of  a  beginning  of  gen- 
eration. But  what  if  you  do  not  use  this  ex- 
pression, but  say,  "  He  had  been  begotten 
from  the  beginning  "  so  as  readily  to  evade 
your  far-fetched  and  time-loving  objections? 
Will  you  bring  Scripture  against  us,  as  if  we 
were  forging  something  contrary  to  Scripture 
and  to  the  truth  ?  Why,  every  one  knows  that 
in  practice  we  very  often  find  tenses  inter- 
changed when  time  is  spoken  of;  and  especially 
is  this  the  custom  of  Holy  Scripture,  not  only 
in  respect  of  the  past  tense,  and  of  the  ])resent ; 
but  even  of  the  future,  as  for  instance  "  Why 
did  the  heathen  rage  ?  "  ^  when  they  had  not 
yet  raged  ;  and  "  they  shall  cross  over  the 
river  on  foot,"  y  where  the  meaning  is  they  did 
cross  over.  It  would  be  a  long  task  to  reckon 
up  all  the  expressions  of  this  kind  which  stu- 
dents have  noticed. 

VI.  So  much  for  this  point.  What  is  their 
next  objection,  how  full  of  contentiousness  and 
impudence?  He,  they  say,  either  voluntarily 
begat  the  Son,  or  else  involuntarily.  Next, 
as  they  think,  they  bind  us  on  both  sides  with 
cords ;  these  however  are  not  strong,  but 
very  weak.  For,  they  say,  if  it  was  involun- 
tarily He  was  under  the  sway  of  some  one,  and 
who  exercised  this  sway  ?  And  how  is  He,  over 
whom  it  is  exercised.  Cod  ?  But  if  voluntarily, 
the  Son  is  a  Son  of  Will  ;  how  then  is  He  of 
the  Father? — and  they  thus  invent  a  new  .sort 
of  Mother  for  him, — the  Will, — in  place  of  the 
Father.  There  is  one  good  point  which  they 
may  allege  about  this  argument  of  theirs ; 
namely,  that  they  desert  Passion,  and  take  re- 
fuu;e  in  Will.      For  Will  is  not  Passion. 

a  Kli.Ts  explains  tliis  to  refer  to  the   fact  that  children  leave  and 
are  left  by  parents  ;  or  else  to  the  death  of  either  one  or  the  other. 
3  Ps.  ii.  I.  7   Ps.   Ixvi.  6. 


ON   THE   SON. 


303 


Secondly,  let  us  look  at  the  strength  of  their 
argument.  And  it  were  best  to  wrestle  with 
them  at  first  at  close  quarters.  Yon  yourself,  '] 
who  so  recklessly  assert  whatever  takes  your 
fancy  ;  were  you  begotten  voluntarily  or  in- 
voluntarily by  your  father  ?  If  involuntarily, 
then  he  was  under  some  tyrant's  sway  (O  ter- 
rible violence  !)  and  who  was  the  tyrant  ?  You 
will  hardly  say  it  was  nature, — for  nature  is 
tolerant  of  chastity.  If  it  was  voluntarily, 
then  by  a  few  syllables  your  •  father  is  done 
away  with,  for  you  are  shewn  to  be  the  son  of 
Will,  and  not  of  your  father.  But  I  pass  to 
the  relation  between  God  and  the  creature, 
and  I  put  your  own  question  to  your  own  wis- 
dom. Did  God  create  all  things  voluntarily 
or  under  compulsion  ?  If  under  compulsion, 
here  also  is  the  tyranny,  and  one  who  played 
the  tyrant  ;  if  voluntarily,  the  creatures  also 
are  deprived  of  their  God,  and  you  before 
the  rest,  who  invent  such  arguments  and  tricks 
of  logic.  For  a  partition  is  set  up  between 
the  Creator  and  the  creatures  in  the  shape  of 
Will.  And  yet  I  think  that  the  Person  who 
wills  is  distinct  from  the  Act  of  willing  ;  He 
who  begets  from  the  Act  of  begetting;  the 
Speaker  from  the  speech,  or  else  we  are  all 
very  stupid.  On  the  one  side  we  have  the 
mover,  and  on  the  other  that  which  is,  so  to 
.speak,  the  motion.  Thus  the  thing  willed  is 
not  the  child  of  will,  for  it  does  not  always 
result  therefrom  ;  nor  is  that  which  is  begot- 
ten the  child  of  generation,  nor  that  which  is 
heard  the  child  of  speech,  but  of  the  Person 
who  willed,  or  begat,  or  spoke.  But  the 
things  of  God  are  beyond  all  this,  for  with 
Him  perhaps  the  Will  to  beget  is  generation, 
and  there  is  no  intermediate  action  (if  we 
may  accept  this  altogether,  and  not  rather  con- 
sider generation  superior  to  will). 

VII.  Will  you  then  let  me  play  a  little  upon 
this  word  Father,  for  your  example  encourages 
me  to  be  so  bold?  The  Father  is  God  either 
willingly  or  unwillingly  ;  and  hov\^  will  you  es- 
cape from  your  own  excessive  acuteness  ?  If 
willingly,  when  did  He  begin  to  will  ?  It  could 
not  have  been  before  He  began  to  be,  for  there 
was  nothing  prior  to  Him.  Or  is  one  part  of 
Him  Will  and  another  the  object  of  Will  ?  If 
so.  He  is  divisible.  So  the  question  arises,  as 
the  result  of  your  argument,  whether  He 
Himself  is  not  the  Child  of  Will.  And  if  un- 
willinglv,  what  compelled  Him  to  exist,  and 
how  is  He  God  if  He  was  compelled — and  that 
to  nothing  less  than  to  be  God  ?  How  then 
was  He  begotten,  says  my  opponent.  How 
was  He  created,  if  as  you  say.  He  was  created  ? 
For  this  is  a  part  of  the  same  difficulty.     Per- 


haps you  would  say.  By  Will  and  Word.  You 
have  not  yet  solved  the  whole  difficulty ;  for 
it  yet  remains  for  you  to  shew  how  Will  and 
Word  gained  the  power  of  action.  For  man 
was  not  created  in  this  way. 

VIII.  How  then  was 'He  begotten?  This 
Generation  would  have  been  no  great  thing,  if 
you  could  have  comprehended  it  who  have  no 
real  knowledge  even  of  your  own  generation, 
or  at  least  who  comprehend  very  little  of  it, 
and  of  that  little  you  are  ashamed  to  speak  ; 
and  then  do  you  think  you  know  the  whole  ? 
You  will  have  to  undergo  much  labour  before 
you  discover  the  laws  of  composition,  forma- 
tion, manifestation,  and  the  bond  whereby 
soul  is  united  to  body, — mind  to  soul,  and 
reason  to  mind  ;  and  movement,  increase,  as- 
similation of  food,  sense,  memory,  recollec- 
tion, and  all  the  rest  of  the  parts  of  which  you 
are  compounded  ;  and  which  of  them  belongs 
to  the  soul  and  body  together,  and  which  to 
each  independently  of  the  other,  and  which 
is  received  from  each  other.  For  those  parts 
whose  maturity  comes  later,  yet  received  their 
laws  at  the  time  of  conception.  Tell  me 
what  these  laws  are  ?  And  do  not  even  then 
venture  to  speculate  on  the  Generation  of 
God  ;  for  that  would  be  unsafe.  For  even  if 
you  knew  all  about  your  own,  yet  you  do  not 
by  any  means  know  about  God's.  And  if  you 
do  not  understand  your  own,  how  can  you 
know  about  God's  ?  For  in  proportion  as 
God  is  harder  to  trace  out  than  man,  so  is  the 
heavenly  Generation  harder  to  comprehend 
than  your  own.  But  if  you  assert  that  because 
you  cannot  comprehend  it,  therefore  He  can- 
not have  been  begotten,  it  will  be  time  for 
you  to  strike  out  many  existing  things  which 
you  cannot  comprehend  ;  and  first  of  all  God 
Himself.  For  you  cannot  say  what  He  is,  even 
if  you  are  very  reckless,  and  excessively  proud 
of  your  intelligence.  First,  cast  away  your 
notions  of  flow  and  divisions  and  sections,  and 
your  conceptions  of  immaterial  as  if  it  were 
material  birth,  and  then  you  may  perhaps 
worthily  conceive  of  the  Divine  Generation. 
How  was  He  begotten  ? — I  repeat  the  question 
in  indignation.  The  Begetting  of  God  must 
be  honoured  by  silence.  It  is  a  great  thing  for 
you  to  learn  that  He  was  begotten.  But  the 
manner  of  His  generation  we  will  not  admit 
that  even  Angels  can  conceive,  much  less  you. 
Shall  I  tell  you  how  it  was?  It  was  in  a  man- 
ner known  to  the  Father  Who  begat,  and  to 
the  Son  Who  was  begotten.  Anything  more 
than  this  is  hidden  by  a  cloud,  and  escapes 
your  dim  sight. 

IX.  Well,  but  the  Father  begat  a  Son  who 


304 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


either  was  or  was  not  in  existence."     What 
utter  nonsense  !      This  is  a  question  which  ap- 
pHes  to  you  or  me,  who  on  the  one  hand  were 
in  existence,  as  for  instance  Levi  in  the  loins  of 
Abraham ;  ^  and  on  the  other  hand  came  into 
existence ;  and  so  in  some  sense  we  are  partly 
of  what  existed,  and  partly  of  what  was  non- 
existent ;  whereas  the  contrary  is  the  case  with 
the  original  matter,  which  was  certainly  cre- 
ated out  of  what  was  non-existent,  notwith- 
standing that  some  pretend  that  it  is  unbegot- 
ten.     But  in  this  case  "  to  be  begotten,"  even 
from  the  beginning,   is  concurrent  with    "  to 
be."     On  what  then  will  you  base  this  cap- 
tious question?     For  what  is  older  than  that 
which    is    from    the    beginning,    if  we    may 
place  there  the  previous  existence  or  non-exist- 
ence of  the  Son  ?     In  either  case  we  destroy 
its  claim  to  be  the  Beginning.    Or  perhaps  you 
will  say,   if  we  were  to  ask   you  whether  the 
Father  was  of  existent  or   non-existent  sub- 
stance, that  he  is  twofold,  partly  pre-existing, 
partly  existing ;  or  that  His  case  is  the  same 
with  that  of  the  Son  ;  that  is,  that  He  was  cre- 
ated out   of  non-existing  matter,    because  of 
your  ridiculous  questions  and  your  houses  of 
sand,  which  cannot  stand  against  the  merest 
ripple. 

I  do  not  admit  either  solution,  and  I  declare 
that  your  question  contains  an  absurdity,  and 
not  a  difficulty  to  answer.  If  however  you 
think,  in  accordance  with  your  dialectic  as- 
sumptions, that  one  or  other  of  these  alterna- 
tives must  necessarily  be  true  in  every  case,  let 
me  ask  you  one  little  question:  Is  time  in 
time,  or  is  it  not  in  time?  If  it  is  contained 
in  time,  then  in  what  time,  and  what  is  it  but 
that  time,  and  how  does  it  contain  it  ?  But 
if  it  is  not  contained  in  time,  what  is  that  sur- 
passing wisdom  which  can  conceive  of  a  time 
which  is  timeless?  Now,  in  regard  to  this 
expression,  "I  am  now  telling  a  lie,"  admit 
one  of  these  alternatives,  either  that  it  is  true, 
or  that  it  is  a  falsehood,  without  qualification 
(for  we  cannot  admit  that  it  is  both).  But 
this  cannot  be.  For  necessarily  he  either  is 
lying,  and  so  is  telling  the  truth,  or  else  he  is 
telling  the  truth,  and  so  is  lying.  What  won- 
der is  it  then  that,  as  in  this  case  contraries 
are  true,  so  in  that  case  they  should  both  be 
untrue,  and  .so  your  clever  puzzle  prove  mere 
foolishness  ?  Solve  me  one  more  riddle. 
Were  you  present  at  your  own  generation,  and 
are  you  now  present  to  yourself,  or  is  neither 
the  case?  If  you  were  and  are  present,  who 
were  you,  and  with  whom  are  you  present  ? 


o  This  is  the  Arian  dilemma, 
begotten  ?  " 


'  Did  the  .Son  exist  before  he  was 
^  Heb.  vii.  lo. 


And  how  did  your  single  self  become  thus 
both  subject  and  object  ?  But  if  neither  of  the 
above  is  the  case,  how  did  you  get  separated 
from  yourself,  and  what  is  the  cause  of  this 
disjoining?  But,  you  will  say,  it  is  stupid  to 
make  a  fuss  about  the  question  whether  or  no 
a  single  individual  is  i)resent  to  himself;  for 
the  expression  is  not  used  of  oneself  but  of 
others.  Well,  you  may  be  certain  that  it  is 
even  more  stupid  to  discuss  the  question 
whether  That  which  was  begotten  from  the  be- 
ginning existed  before  its  genefation  or  not. 
For  such  a  question  arises  only  as  to  matter  di- 
visible by  time. 

X.   But  they  say.  The  Unbegotten  and  the 
Begotten  are  not  the  same ;  and  if  this  is  so, 
neither  is  the  Son  the  same  as  the  Father.     It 
is  clear,  without  saying  so,  that  this  line  of  ar- 
gument manifestly  excludes  either  the  Son  or 
the  Father  from  the  Godhead.     For  if  to  be 
Unbegotten  is  the  Es.sence  of  God,  to  be  be- 
gotten is  not  that  Essence  ;  if  the  opposite  is 
the  case,  the  Unbegotten  is  excluded.     What 
argument  can  contradict  this?     Choose  then 
whichever  blasphemy  you  prefer,  my  good  in- 
ventor of  a  new  theology,   if  indeed   you  are 
anxious  at  all  costs  to  embrace  a  blasphemy. 
In  the  next  place,  in  what  sense  do  you  assert 
that  the  Unbegotten  and  the  Begot^ten  are  not 
the  same?     If  you  mean   that   the  Uncreated 
and  the  created  are  not  the  same,  I  agree  with 
you;  for  certainly  the  Unoriginate  and   the 
created  are  not  of  the  same  nature.     But  if 
you  say  that  He  That  begat  and  That  which  is 
begotten  are  not  the  same,  the  statement  is  in- 
accurate.     For  it   is  in  fact  a  necessary  truth 
that  they  are  the  same.     For  the  nature  of  the 
relation  of  Father  to  Child  is  this,  that  the  off- 
spring is  of  the  same  nature  with  the  parent. 
Or  we  may  argue  thus  again.     What  do  you 
mean  by  Unbegotten  and  Begotten,  for  if  you 
mean  the  simple  fact  of  being  unbegotten  or 
begotten,  these  are  not  the  same  ;   but  if  you 
mean  Those  to  Whom  these  terms  apply,  how 
are  They  not  the  same  ?     For  exami^le,  Wis- 
dom and  Unwisdom  are  not  the  same  in  them- 
selves, but  yet  both  are  attrilnites  of  man,  who 
is  the  same ;  and  they  mark  not  a  difference 
of  essence,  but  one  external  to  the  essence." 
Are  immortality  and  innocence  and   immuta- 
bility also  the  essence  of  God  ?     If  so  God  has 
many    essences  and  not  one;  or  Deity  is  a 
compotmd   of  these.     For  He  cannot  be  all 
these  without  composition,  if  they  be  es.sences. 
XI.   They  do  not  however  assert  this,   for 
these  qualities  are  common  also  to  other  beings. 

a  cf.  Petavius  De  Trin.,  V.  ii.,  2. 


ON   THE   SON. 


305 


But  God's  Essence  is  that  which  belongs  to 
God  alone,  and  is  proper  to  Him.  But  they, 
who  consider  matter  and  form  to  be  unbegot- 
ten,  would  not  allow  that  to  be  unbegotten  is 
the  property  of  God  alone  (for  we  must  cast 
away  even  further  the  darkness  of  the  Manichae- 
ans."  ^-  But  suppose  that  it  is  the  property  of 
God  alone.  What  of  Adam  ?  Was  he  not 
alone  the  direct  creature  of  God  ?  Yes,  you 
will  say.  Was  he  then  the  only  human  be- 
ing ?  By  no  means.  And  why,  but  because 
humanity  does  not  consist  in  direct  creation  ? 
For  that  which  is  begotten  is  also  human. 
Just  so  neither  is  He  Who  is  Unbegotten 
alone  God,  though  He  alone  is  Father.  But 
grant  that  He  Who  is  Begotten  is  God  ;  for 
He  is  of  God,  as  you  must  allow,  even  though 
you  cling  to  your  Unbegotten.  Then  how  do 
you  describe  the  Essence  of  God  ?  Not  by 
declaring  what  it  is,  but  by  rejecting  what  it  is 
not.  For  your  word  signifies  that  He  is  not 
begotten  ;  it  does  not  j^resent  to  you  what  is 
the  real  nature  or  condition  of  that  which  has  no 
generation.  What  then  is  the  Essence  of  God  ? 
It  is  for  your  infatuation  to  define  this,  since 
you  are  so  anxious  about  His  Generation  too ; 
but  to  us  it  will  be  a  very  great  thing,  if  ever, 
even  in  the  future,  we  learn  this,  when  this 
darkness  and  dulness  is  done  away  for  us,  as 
He  has  promised  Who  cannot  lie.  This  then 
may  be  the  thought  and  hope  of  those  who 
are  purifying  themselves  with  a  view  to  this. 
Thus  much  we  for  our  part  will  be  bold  to  say, 
that  if  it  is  a  great  thing  for  the  Father  to  l3e 
Unoriginate,  it  is  no  less  a  thing  for  the  Son 
to  have  been  Begotten  of  such  a  Father.  For 
not  only  would  He  share  the  glory  of  the  Un- 
originate, since  he  is  of  the  Unoriginate,  but 
he  has  the  added  glory  of  His  Generation,  a 
thing  so  great  and  august  in  the  eyes  of  all 
those  who  are  not  altogether  grovelling  and 
material  in  mind. 

XII.  But,  they  say,  if  the  Son  is  the  Same  as 
the  Father  in  respect  of  Essence,  then  if  the 
Father  is  unbegotten,  the  Son  must  be  so  like- 
wise. Quite  so — if  the  Essence  of  God  con- 
sists in  being  unbegotten  ;  and  so  He  would 
be  a  strange  mixture,  begottenlv  unbegotten. 
If,  however,  the  difference  is  outside  the  Es- 
sence, how  can  you  be  so  certain  in  speaking 
of  this?  Are  you  also  your  father's  father, 
so  as  in  no  respect  to  fall  short  of  your  father, 
since  you  are  the  same  with  him  in  essence? 
Is  it  not  evident  that  our  enquiry  into  the 
Nature  of  the  Essence  of  God,  if  we  make  it. 


a  The  Manichaeans,  who  believed  in  two  eternal  principles  of 
good  and  evil,  light  and  darkness,  held  that  darkness  too  was  un- 
begotten (Elias). 

20 


will  leave  Personality  absolutely  unaffected  ? 
But  that  Unbegotten  is  not  a  synonym  of 
God  is  proved  thus.  If  it  were  so,  it  would 
be  necessary  that  since  God  is  a  relative  term, 
Unbegotten  should  be  so  likewise  ;  or  that 
since  Unbegotten  is  an  absolute  term,  so  must 
God  be.  .  .  .  God  of  no  one.  For  words 
which  are  absolutely  identical  are  similarly 
applied.  But  the  word  Unbegotten  is  not 
used  relatively.  For  to  what  is  it  relative  ? 
And  of  what  things  is  God  the  God  ?  Why, 
of  all  things.  How  then  can  God  and  Unbe- 
gotten be  identical  terms?  And  again,  since 
Begotten  and  Unbegotten  are  contradictories, 
like  possession  and  deprivation,  it  would  fol- 
low that  contradictory  essences  would  co-ex- 
ist, which  is  impossible."  Or  again,  since 
possessions  are  prior  to  deprivations,  and  the 
latter  are  destructive  of  the  former,  not  only 
must  the  Essence  of  the  Son  be  prior  to  that 
of  the  Father,  but  it  must  be  destroyed  by 
the  Father,  on  your  hypothesis. 

XIII.  What  now  remains  of  their  invincible 
arguments  ?  Perhaps  the  last  they  will  take 
refuge  in  is  this.  If  God  has  never  ceased  to 
beget,  the  Generation  is  imperfect  ;  and  when 
will  He  cease  ?  But  if  He  has  ceased,  then  He 
must  have  begun.  Thus  again  these  carnal 
minds  bring  forward  carnal  arguments. 
Whether  He  is  eternally  begotten  or  not,  I 
do  not  yet  say,  until  I  have  looked  into  the 
statement,  "  Before  all  the  hills  He  begetteth 
Me,"  ^  more  accurately.  But  I  cannot  see 
the  necessitv  of  their  conclusion.  For  if,  as 
they  say,  everything  that  is  to  come  to  an  end 
had  also  a  beginning,  then  surely  that  which 
has  no  end  had  no  beginning.  What  then 
will  they  decide  concerning  the  soul,  or  the 
Angelic  nature?  If  it  had  a  beginning,  it 
will  also  have  an  end  ;  and  if  it  has  no  end, 
it  is  evident  that  according  to  them  it  had  no 
beginning.  But  the  truth  is  that  it  had  a  be- 
ginning, and  will  never  have  an  end.  Their  as- 
sertion, then,  that  that  which  will  have  an  end 
had  also  a  beginning,  is  untrue.  Our  position, 
however,  is,  that  as  in  the  case  of  a  horse,  or  an 
ox,  or  a  man,  the  same  definition  applies  to 
all  the  individuals  of  the  same  species,  and 
whatever  shares  the  definition  has  also  a  right 
to  the  Name  ;  so  in  the  very  same  way  there 
is  One  Essence  of  God,  and  One  Nature,  and 
One  Name  ;  although  in  accordance  with  a 
distinction  in  our  thoughts  we  use  distinct 
Names  ;  and  that  whatever  is  properly  called 
by  this  Name  really  is  God  ;  and  what  He  is 
in    Nature,   That  He   is    truly  called — if    at 

a  Because  "Son"  implies  "  begotten."  hint  (ex  hyp.)  "Unbe- 
gotten" is  sjTionymous  with  "  God."  ^  Pro  v.  viii.  25. 


3o6 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


least  we  are  to  hold  that  Truth  is  a  matter  not 
of  names  but  of  realities.  But  our  opponents, 
as  if  they  were  afraid  of  leaving  any  stone  un- 
turned to  subvert  the  Truth,  acknowledge  in- 
deed that  the  Son  is  God  when  they  are  com- 
pelled to  do  so  by  arguments'^  and  evidences  ; 
but  they  only  mean  that  He  is  God  in  an 
ambiguous  sense,  and  that  He  only  shares  the 
Name. 

XIV.  And  when  we  advance  this  objection 
against  them,  "What  do  you  mean  to  say 
then  ?  That  the  Son  is  not  properly  God, 
just  as  a  picture  of  an  animal  is  not  properly  an 
animal?  And  if  not  properly  God,  in  what 
sense  is  He  God  at  all  ?  "  They  reply.  Why 
should  not  these  terms  be  ambiguous,  and  in 
both  cases  be  used  in  a  proper  sense  ?  And  they 
will  give  us  such  instances  as  the  land-dog 
and  the  dogfish  ;  where  the  word  Dog  is  am- 
biguous, and  yet  in  both  cases  is  properly 
used,  for  there  is  such  a  species  among  the 
ambiguously  named,  or  any  other  case  in 
which  the  same  appellative  is  used  for  two 
things  of  different  nature.  But,  my  good 
friend,  in  this  case,  when  you  include  two 
natures  under  the  same  name,  you  do  not  as- 
sert that  either  is  better  than  the  other,  or 
that  the  one  is  prior  and  the  other  posterior, 
or  that  one  is  in  a  greater  degree  and  the 
other  in  a  lesser  that  which  is  predicated  of 
them  both,  for  there  is  no  connecting  link 
which  forces  this  necessity  upon  them.  One 
is  not  a  dog  more  than  the  other,  and  one  less 
so  ;  either  the  dogfish  more  than  the  land-dog, 
or  the  land-dog  than  the  dogfish.  Why  should 
they  be,  or  on  what  principle?  But  the  com- 
munity of  name  is  here  between  things  of 
equal  value,  though  of  different  nature.  But 
in  the  case  of  which  we  are  speaking,  you 
couple  the  Name  of  God  with  adorable  Ma- 
jesty, and  make  It  suri:)ass  every  essence  and 
nature  (an  attribute  of  God  alone),  and  then 
you  ascribe  this  Name  to  the  Father,  while 
you  deprive  the  Son  of  it,  and  make  Him  sub- 
ject to  the  Father,  and  give  Him  only  a  sec- 
ondary honour  and  worship ;  and  even  if  in 
words  you  bestow  on  Him  one  which  is 
Equal,  yet  in  practice  you' cut  off  His  Deity, 
and  pass  malignantly  from  a  use  of  the  same 
Name  implying  an  exact  equality,  to  one 
which  connects  things  which  are  not  equal. 
And  so  the  pictured  and  the  living  man  are 
in  your  mouth  an  a])ter  illustration  of  the  re- 
lations of  Deity  than  the  dogs  which  I  in- 
stanced.    Or  else  you  must  concede  to  both 


aTlie  I!enedlctines  here  translate  Aoyw  by  "Scripture,"  on 
the  ground  that  Reason  is  not  competent  to  assert  the  Divinity  of 
the  Word. 


an  equal  dignity  of  nature  as  well  as  a  common 
name — even  though  you  introduced  these  nat- 
ures into  your  argument  as  different ;  and 
thus  you  destroy  the  analogy  of  your  dogs, 
which  you  invented  as  an  instance  of  inequal- 
ity. For  what  is  the  force  of  your  instance 
of  ambiguity,  if  those  whom  you  distinguish 
are  not  equal  in  honour  ?  For  it  was  not  to 
prove  an  equality  but  an  inequality  that  you 
took  refuge  in  your  dogs.  How  could  any- 
body be  more  clearly  convicted  of  fighting 
both  against  his  own  argume;its,  and  against 
the  Deity  ? 

XV.  And  if,  when  we  admit  that  in  respect 
of  being  the  Cause  the  Father  is  greater  than  the 
Son,  they  should  assume  the  premiss  that  He 
is  the  Cause  by  Nature,  and  then  deduce  the 
conclusion  that  He  is  greater  by  Nature  also, 
it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  they  mislead  most 
themselves  or  those  with  whom  they  are  argu- 
ing. For  it  does  not  absolutely  follow  that 
all  that  is  jjredicated  of  a  class  can  also  be 
predicated  of  all  the  individuals  composing  it ; 
for  the  different  particulars  may  belong  to  dif- 
ferent individuals.  For  what  hinders  me,  if 
I  assume  the  same  i)remiss,  namely,  that  the 
Father  is  greater  by  Nature,  and  then  add  this 
other.  Yet  not  by  nature  in  every  respect 
greater  nor  yet  Father  —  from  concluding, 
Therefore  the  Greater  is  not  in  every  respect 
greater,  nor  the  Father  in  every  respect  Father? 
Or,  if  you  prefer  it,  let  us  put  it  in  this  way  : 
God  is  an  Essence  :  But  an  Essence  is  not  in 
every  case  God  ;  and  draw  the  conclusion  for 
yourself — Therefore  God  is  not  in  every  case 
God.  I  think  the  fallacy  here  is  the  arguing 
from  a  conditioned  to  an  unconditioned  use 
of  a  term,"  to  use  the  technical  expression  of 
the  logicians.  For  while  we  assign  this  word 
Greater  to  His  Nature  viewed  as  a  Cause,  they 
infer  it  of  His  Nature  viewed  in  itself.  It  is 
just  as  if  when  we  said  that  such  a  one  was  a 
dead  man  they  were  to  infer  simply  that  he 
was  a  Man. 

XVI.  .How  shall  we  pa.ss  over  the  following 
point,  which  is  no  less  amazing  than  the  rest? 
Father,  they  .say,  is  a  name  either  of  an  essence 
or  of  an  Action,  thinking  to  bind  us  down  on 
both  sides.  If  we  say  that  it  is  a  name  of 
an  e.ssence,  they  will  say  that  we  agree  with 
them  that  the  Son  is  of  another  Essence, 
since  there  is  but  one  Essence  of  God,  and 
this,  according  to  them,  is  preoccupied  by 
the  Father.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  say 
that  it  is  the  name  of  an  Action,  we  shall  be 

a  Or  as  the  schoolmen  say  the  fallacy  is,  A  dicto  secundum  quid 
ad    dictum   simpliritcr,   one   of   the  many  forms   of  Undistrihuicfl 
]    Middle  'I'erm.       Pcla\'ius,   however  (I)e  Trin..   ![.,    v.,    12),   pro- 
I    nounces  the  argument  of  this  section  unsatisfactory. 


ON    THE   SON. 


307 


supposed  to  acknowledge  plainly  that  the  Son 
is  created  and  not  begotten.  For  where  there 
is  an  Agent  there  must  also  be  an  Effect.  And 
they  will  say  they  wonder  how  that  which  is 
made  can  be  identical  with  That  which  made 
it.  I  should  myself  have  been  frightened  with 
your  distinction,  if  it  had  been  necessary 
to  accept  one  or  other  of  the  alternatives, 
and  not  rather  put  both  aside,  and  state  a 
third  and  truer  one,  namely,  that  Father  is 
notji^name  either  of  an  essence  or  of  an  action, 
most  clever  sirs.  But,  it  is  the  name  of  the 
Relation  nL_whip^  the  Father  stands  to  the 
Son,  and  the  Son  to  the  Father.  For  as  with 
us  these  names  make  known  a  genuine  and 
intimate  relation,  so,  in  the  case  before  us  too, 
they  denote  an  identity  of  nature  between 
Him  ThaTTs' begotten  and  Him  That  begets. 
But  let  us  concede  to  you  that  Father  is  a 
name  of  essence,  it  will  still  bring  in  the  idea' 
of  Son,  and  will  not  make  it  of  a  different 
nature,  according  to  common  ideas  and  the 
force  of  these  names.  Let  it  be,  if  it  so  please 
you,  the  name  of  an  action  ;  you  will  not  de- 
feat us  in  this  way  either.  The  Homoousion 
would  be  indeed  the  result  of  this  action,  or 
otherwise  the  conception  of  an  action  in  this 
matter  would  be  absurd.  You  see  then  how, 
even  though  you  try  to  fight  unfairly,  we 
avoid  your  sophistries.  But  now,  since  we 
have  ascertained  how  invincible  you  are  in 
your  arguments  and  sophistries,  let  us  look  at 
your  strength  in  the  Oracles  of  God,  if  per- 
chance you  may  choose  to  persuade  us  out  of 
them . 

XVII.  For  we  have  learnt  to  believe  in  and 
to  teach  the  Deity  of  the  Son  from  their  great 
and  lofty  utterances.  And  what  utterances 
are  these?  These:  God — The  Word — He 
That  Was  In  The  Beginning  and  With  The 
Beginning,  and  The  Beginning.  "  In  the 
Beginning  was  The  Word,  and  the  Word  was 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God,"<*  and 
"  With  Thee  is  the  Beginning,"  ^  and  "  He 
who  calleth  her  The  Beginning  from  genera- 
tions." v  Then  the  Son  is  Only-begotten: 
The  only  "begotten  Son  which  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  it  says.  He  hath  de- 
clared Him. ' ' «  The  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life, 
the  Light.  "I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life;"  and  "I  am  the  Light  of  the 
World."  ^  Wisdom  and  Power,  "  Christ,  the 
Wisdom  of  God,  and  the  Power  of  God."  f 
The  Effulgence,  the  Impress,  the  Image,  the 
Seal;    "Who    being    the    Effulgence   of  His 


ojohn  i.  I.  pPs.  ex.  3.  ylsa.  xli.  4.  5  John  i.  i£ 

€  John  vii.  12  ;  ix.  5  ;  xiv.  6.  ^i  Cor.  i.  24. 


glory  and  the  Impress  of  His  Essence, ' '  '^  and 
"  the  Image  of  His  Goodness,"  ^  and  "  Him 
hath  God  the  Father  sealed."  v  Lord,  King, 
He  That  Is,  The  Almighty.  "  The  Lord 
rained  down  fu-e  from  the  Lord  ;  "  *  and  "  A 
sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of  Thy 
Kingdom  ;"  ^  and  "  Which  is  and  was  and  is 
to  come,  the  Almighty  "  ^  —  all  which  are 
clearly  spoken  of  the  Son,  with  all  the  other 
passages  of  the  same  force,  none  .of  which  is 
an  afterthought,  or  added  later  to  the  Son  or 
the  Spirit,  any  more  than  to  the  Father  Him- 
self. For  Their  Perfection  is  not  affected  by 
additions.  There  never  was  a  time  when  He 
was  without  the  Word,  or  \\hen  He  was  not 
the  Father,  or  when  He  was  not  true,  or  not 
wise,  or  not  powerful,  or  devoid  of  life,  or  of 
splendour,  or  of  goodness. 

But  in  opposition  to  all  these,  do  you 
reckon  up  for  me  the  expressions  which  make 
for  your  ignorant  arrogance,  such  as  "  My 
God  and  your  God,"  ''  or  greater,  or  created, 
or  made,  or  sanctified  ;  ^  Add,  i(you  like,  Ser- 
vant" and  Obedient^  and  Gave'\  and  Learnt," 
and  was  commanded,^  was  sent,"  qxn  do  noth- 
ing of  Himself,  either  say,  or  jud^e,  or  give, 
or  will.'^  And  further  these, — His  ignorance,'' 
subjection,""  prayer,'^  asking,"  increase\^  being 
made  perfect. x  And  if  you  like  even  more 
humble  than  these  ;  such  as  speak  of  His  sleep- 
ing,"^ hungering,"  being  in  an  agony,"*  and 
fearing ;  ^^  or  jjerhaps  you  would  make  even 
His  Cross  and  Death  a  matter  of  reproach  iq 
Him.  His  Resurrection  and  Ascension  I  fane/ 
you  will  leave  to  me>  for  in  these  is  found  some -^ 
thing  to  support  a/r  position.  A  good  many'' 
other  things  too  you  might  pick  up,  if  yoi^ 
desire  to  put  together  that  equivocal  and  in-\ 
truded  god  of  yours.  Who  to  us  is  True  God, 
and  equal  to  the  Father.  For  every  one  of 
these  points,  taken  separately,  may  very  easily, 
if  we  go  through  them  one  by  one,  be  ex- 
plained to  you  in  the  most  reverent  sense,  and 
the  stumbling-block  of  the  letter  be  cleansed 
away — that  is,  if  your  stumbling  at  it  be  honest, 
and  not  wilfully  mahcious.  To  give  you  the 
explanation  in  one  sentence.  What  is  lofty 
you  are  to  apply  to  the  Godhead,  and  to  that 
Nature  in  Him  which  is  superior  to  sufferings 
and  incorporeal ;  but  all  that  is  lowly  to  the 
composite  condition  vy  of  Him  who  for  your 


/3  Wisd.  vii.  26.  Y  John  vi.  27. 

6  Ps.  xlv.  6  ^Rev.  i.  8. 

6  Prov.  viii.  22  ;  John  x.  36  ;  Acts  ii.  36. 
f-  John  i.  12. 
o  lb.  iv.  34  ;  V.  23,  sq. 
cr  I  Cor.  XV.  28. 
<f>  Luke  ii.  52. 
Mark  iv.  38. 


a  Heb.  i.  3  R.  V. 

S  Gen.  xix.  24. 

i)  John  XX.  »7,  28. 

K  Phil.  ii.  7.  A  Phil.  n.  S. 

V  Heb.  V.  8.         $  John  x.  18  ;  xiv.  31. 

n  lb.  V.  19,  30.  p  Mark  xiii.  32. 

rLukevi.  12.  v  John  xiv.  16. 

X  Heb.  V.  9,  etc.  ij<  Matt.  viii.  24  ; 

CO  Matt.  iv.  2  ;   I.nke  iv.  2.         aa  Luke  xxii.  44.         /3/3  Heb.  v.  7. 

77  S.  Gregory  often  speaks  of  Human  Jsia.ture  a.s  our  coa/osite 


3o8 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


/ 


sakes  made  Himself  of  no  reputation  and  was 
Incarnate — yes,  for  it  is  no  worse  thing  to  say, 
was  made  Man,  and  afterwards  was  also  exalted. 
The  residt  will  be  that  you  will  abandon  these 
carnal  and  grovelling  doctrines,  and  learn  to  be 
more  sublime,  and  to  ascend  with  His  God- 
head, and  you  will  not  remain  permanently 
among  the  things  of  sight,  but  will  rise  up 
with  Him  into  the  world  of  thought,  and 
come  to  know  which  passages  refer  to  His 
Nature,  and  which  to  His  assumption  of  Hu- 
man Nature.* 

XIX.  For  He  Whom  you  now  treat  with 
contempt  was  once  above  you.  lie  Who  is 
now  Man  was  once  the  Uncompounded.  Wliat 
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  cause  w^as  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,  y  While  His  inferior  Nature, 
^_  Humanity,  became  _God,  because  it  was 
united  to  God,  and  became  One  Person  *  be- 
cause the  Higher  Nature  prevailed  .  .  . 
in  ordev  that  I  too  might  be  made  God  so  far 
as  He  Is  made  INIan.^      He  was  born — but  He 

beins;;  and  here  he  means  the  Sacred  Humanity  exclusively ; 
there  is  no  shadow  of  suspicion  of  Nestorianism  or  Eutychianism 
attaching  to  his  name. 

a  The  word  olKovofiia  is  used  in  four  principal  senses  :  (a)  The 
ministry  of  the  Gospel,  cf  Ephes.  iii.  2.  Col.  i  25.  etc..  and  S. 
."yril  Hieros.,  has  the  expression  '"Economy  of  the  Mystery" 
5Cat..xxv.).  It  is  also  used  absolutely  by  S.  Chrysostom  and 
others,  (b)  The  Providence  of  God,  as  by  Epiphanuis,  Greg. 
Nyss.,  and  others,  (c)  The  Incarnation,  as  in  the  text,  without 
anv  epithet— in  which  use  it  is  opposed  to  ^  ^eonj?.  Sometimes 
however  epithets  are  added,  (d)  'i  he  whole  Mystery  of  Redemp- 
tion, including  the  Passion. 

/3  cf.  S.  Leo,  Serm.  xxi.,  De  Nativ.  Dei,  c.  ii.  "  Remaining 
what  He  was,  and  putting  on  what  He  was  not,  He  united  the  true 
form  of  a  servant  to  that  form  in  which  He  was  equal  to  God  the 
Father,  and  combined  both  natures  in  a  luiion  so  close  that  the 
loAcr  was  not  consimied  by  receiving  glory,  nor  the  higher  lessened 
by  assuming  lowliness. 

y  "  Mediante  anima."  cf.  Orat.  xxxviii.,  13.  S.  T.  Aq.,  Summa, 
III.,  vi.  Jungmann.  de  Verbo  Incarn.,  c.  68.  Forbes,  On  Nicene 
Creed,  p.  188.     Petav.  de  Incarn.,  IV.,xiii.,  2. 

6  yevoficvo^  avBpiairo^  6  KaTco  0€O5.  'i*he  passas^e  is  one  of 
gre^t  difticulty.  Elias  Cretensis  renders  the  words  as  follows  ; — 
"  becoming  Man,  the  inferior  God,  because  humanity  was"  etc.  ; 
hut  his  rendering  is  rejected  as  impossible  by  Petavius  (de  Incarn., 
IV..  ix.,  2.  3).  (i.)  It  is  grammatically  possilile  (Madvig,  Gk.  Syn- 
tax, 9  a.  rem.  3  I  foro  koto),  standing  as  it  does,  to  qualify  a>'9p<o7ros. 
(ii  )  But  the  /cat  yevoixevoi:  .  .  .  Seds  may  be  taken  as  a  nom. 
absolute,  which  would  have  been  expressed  by  a  gen.  if  ai-Spwiro? 
had  not  been  the  same  Person  as  6/iitA)jaas. 

e  As  by  the  Incarnation  He  who  w:is  God  was  made  perfect 
Man,  so  Man  was  made  perfect  God,  and  each  nature  retained  its 
own  qualuies.  Or  it  may  mean  that  God  Incarnate  was  made 
M.ui  in  respect  of  bodv.  soul,  and  mind  :  that  Is,  in  all  points:  and 
the  Humanity  which  He  assumed  was  in  all  these  points  Deified  : 
and  theretnre  they  who  are  His  kindred  and  imitators  share  to  that 
extent  the  Deification  (Klias).  In  the  First  ICpistle  to  Cledonius 
(v.  infr.i)  the  Priest,  against  Apollinarius,  which  is  sometimes 
reckoned  as  the  51st  Oration,  S.  Gregory  says.  "The  (>odhead 
and  the  Manhood  are  two  natures  just  as  soul  and  body  are. 
But  there  are  not  two  Sons  or  two  Gods  ;  although  Paul  did  thus 
entitle  the  outward  man  and  the  inward.  And.  to  speak  succinctly, 
the  N.atures  which  make  our  Saviour  arc  distinct,  for  the  Invisible 
is  not  the  same  as  the  visible,  nor  the  'I'imeless  as  that  which  is 
subject  to  time  ;  but  He  is  not  two  Persons,  CJod  forbid,  for  both 
these  are  one  in  the  union.  God  being  made  Man,  and  Man  bjing 
made  God,  or  however  else  you  may  express  it."     And  upon  this 


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  Nat- 
ure no  Mother."  Both  these ^  belong  to 
Godhead.  He  dwelt  in  the  womb — but  He 
was  recognized  by  the  Prophet,v  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  th(j  grave  by  His 
rising  again.  He  was  laid  in  a  manger — but 
He  was  glorified  by  Angels,  and  proclaimed 
by  a  star,  and  worshipped  by  the  Magi.  Why 
are  you  offended  by  that  which  is  presented 
to  your  sight,  because  you  will  not  look  at 
that  which  is  presented  to  your  mind  ?  He 
was  driven  into  exile  into  Egypt — but  He 
drove  away  the  Egyptian  idols.  ^  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. 

XX.  He  was  baptized  as  Man — but  He  re- 
mitted sins  as  God' — not  because  He  needed 
purificatory  rites  Himself,  but  that  He  might 
sanctify  the  element  of  water.  He  was  tempted 
as  Man,  but  He  conquered  as  God  ;  yea,  He 
bids  us  be  of  good  cheer,  for  He  has  overcome 
the  world."  He  hungered — but  He  fed  thou- 
sands ;^  yea.  He  is  the  Bread  that  giveth  life, 
and  That  is  of  heaven.  He  thirsted — but  He 
cried.  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto 
Me  and  drink. >*     Yea,  He  promised  that  foun- 

S,  Thomas  Aquinas  remarks  that  it  is  true,  if  by  Man  you  under- 
stand simply  Human  Nature,  and  not  a  Human  Person  ;  in  this 
sense  it  was  brought  to  pass  that  Man  was  God  :  or  in  other 
words  Human  Nature  was  made  that  of  the  Son  of  God,  (Summa, 
III.,  -xvi.,  7.) 

tt  "  If  any  does  not  admit  Mary  to  be  the  Mother  of  God 
{BeoToKou) ,  lie  is  separated  Irom  (Jod.  If  any  say  ^hat  He  passed 
through  the  Virgin  as  through  a  conduit,  and  that  He  was  not 
formed  in  her  both  divinely  and  humanly  (divinely,  because  with- 
out a  human  father  ;  humanly,  because  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  gestation),  he  is  in  like  manner  atheistic.  U  any  assert 
that  the  Humanity  was  thus  formed,  and  the  Deity  subsequently 
added,  he  is  condemned  ;  for  this  is  not  a  generation  of  God,  but 
an  evasion  of  generation"  (.S,  G.  N.  ad  Cled.,  Ep.  i.)  S.  Thomas 
Aquinas  explains  the  fitness  of  the  title  thus  :  The  Hles>ed  Virgin 
could  be  denied  to  be  the  Mother  of  G"d  only  if  either  His  Hu- 
miniiy  had  been  conceived  and  lorn  before  That  Man  was  the 
.'^ouofGod: — which  was  the  position  taken  up  by  I'hotinus  :  or 
else  if  the  Humanity  had  not  been  assumed  into  the  unity  of  the 
Person  for  Hypostasis)  of  the  Son  of  God  ; — which  was  the  posi- 
tion of  Nestoriiis.  I'.oth  these  positions  are  erroneous.  Therefore 
to  deny  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  the  Jlother  of  God  is  heretical 
(Summa,  HI,,  xxxv.,  4).  In  the  text  S,  Gregory  merely  me.Tns  that 
the  Godnead  of  our  Lord  was  not  derived  from  His  HIessed 
Mother,  just  as  his  Manhood  was  not  derived  from  any  man  :  but, 
as  the  extract  at  the  beginning  of  this  Note  shews,  he  would  be 
the  last  10  take  up  the  Nestoiian  notion,  which  was  afterwards 
condemned  at  the  Council  of  Kphesus. 

P  P.oth  Tlie.se.  i  e.,  the  being  without  Father,  and  without  Mother 
is  a  condition  which  behmgs  only  to  the  Godhead. 

y  S.  John  the  liaptist  (S.  Luke  i.),  S  Luke  ii.  41, 

e  Referring,  perhaps,  to  the  tradition  that  at  the  coming  of 
Christ  into  Egypt  all  the  Idols  in  the  land  fell  down  and  were 
broken,  4  Isa,  liii,  2,  ij  Ps,  xlv,  2.  6  Matt,  xvii.  2, 

I  Malt,  iii,  13  ;  ix,  6,      k  John  xvi.  33,     X  Ib,vi.  10,     fx  lb,  vii,  37. 


THE   FOURTH   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


309 


tains  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.v  He  pays  tribute,  but  it  is  out 
of  a  fish  ;  ^  yea.  He  is  tlie  King  of  those  who 
demanded  it.« 

He  is  called  a  Samaritan  and  a  demoniac ;  ^ — 
but  He  saves  him  that  came  down  from  Jeru- 
salem and  fell  among  thieves  ; ''  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  is  stoned,  but  is  not  taken. 
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. f*  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  healeth  every 
disease  and  every  infirmity."  He  is  lifted  up 
and  nailed  to  the  Tree,  but  by  the  Tree  of 
Life  He  restoreth  us ;  yea,  He  saveth  even 
the  Robber  crucified  with  Him  ;  '"  yea.  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  mysteri- 
ous 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  Hell,  but  He  brings  up  the  souls ;  He 
ascends  to  Heaven,  and  shall  come  again  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  to  put  to 
the  test  such  words  as  yours.  If  the  one  give 
you  a  starting  point  for  your  error,  let  the 
others  put  an  end  to  it. 

XXI.  This,  then,  is  our  reply  to  those  who 
would  puzzle  us ;  not  given  willingly  indeed  (for 
light  talk  and  contradictions  of  words  are  not 
agreeable  to  the  faithfiil,  and  one  Adversary  is 


o  Matt.  xi.  28. 

S  [b.  xvii.  24. 

7)  Luke  X,  30,  etc. 

K  John  xi.  43. 

V  Isa.  liii.  7. 

ff  r.uke  xxiii.  43. 

T  John  X.  18. 


P  lb.  viii,  24. 
e  John  xix.  ig. 
8  l.uke  viii.  28-33. 
A  Matt.  xxvi.  15. 
f  John  i.  23. 
p  John  ii.  i-ii. 
V  Matt,  xxvii.  51. 


7  lb.  xiv.  25,  30. 
^Ib.  viii.  4>i. 
t  lb.  X.  iS. 
M  I  Pet.  i.  19. 
o  Isa.  liii.  23.' 
a  Cant.  v.  16. 


enough  for  us),  but  of  necessity,  for  the  sake 
of  our  assailants  (for  medicines  exist  because 
of  diseases),  that  they  may  be  led  to  see  that 
they  are  not  all- wise  nor  invincible  in  those 
superfluous  arguments  which  make  void  the 
Gospel.  For  when  we  leave  off  believing, 
and  protect  ourselves  by  mere  strength  of 
argument,  and  destroy  the  claim  which  the 
Spirit  has  upon  our  faith  by  questionings,  and 
then  our  argument  is  not  strong  enough  for 
the  importance  of  the  subject  (and  this  must 
necessarily  be  the  case,  since  it  is  put  in 
motion  by  an  organ  of  so  little  power  as  is  our 
mind),  what  is  the  result?  The  weakness  of 
the  argument  appears  to  belong  to  the  mystery, 
and  thus  elegance  of  language  makes  void  the 
Cross,  as  Paul  also  thought."  For  faith  is  that 
which  completes  our  argument.  But  may  He 
who  proclaimeth  unions  and  looseth  those  that 
are  bound,  and  who  putteth  into  our  minds  to 
solve  the  knots  of  their  unnatural  dogmas,  if 
it  may  be,  change  these  men  and  make  them 
faithful  instead  of  rhetoricians.  Christians  in- 
stead of  that  which  they  now  are  called. 
This  indeed  we  entreat  and  beg  for  Christ's 
sake.  Be  ye  reconciled  to  God,'^  and  quench 
not  the  Spirit ;  y  or  rather,  may  Christ  be  rec- 
onciled to  you,  and  may  the  Spirit  enlighten 
you,  though  so  late.  But  if  you  are  too  fond 
of  your  c[uarrel,  we  at  any  rate  will  hold 
fast  to  the  Trinity,  and  by  the  Trinity  may 
we  be  saved,  remaining  pure  and  without 
offence,  until  the  more  perfect  shewing  forth 
of  that  which  we  desire,  in  Him,  Christ  our 
Lord,  to  Whom  be  the  glory  for  ever. 
Amen. 


THE  FOURTH  THEOLOGICAL  ORA- 
TION, WHICH  IS  THE  SECOND 
CONCERNING    THE   SON. 

I.  Since  I  have  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
sufficiently  overthrown  the  subtleties  and  intri- 
cacies of  the  arguments,  and  already  solved  in 
the  mass  the  objections  and  oppositions  drawn 
from  Holy  Scripture,  with  which  these  sacri- 
legious robbers  of  the  Bible  and  thieves  of  the 
sense  of  its  contents  draw  over  the  multitude 
to  their  side,  and  confuse  the  way  of  truth  ; 
and  that  not  without  clearness,  as  I  believe  all 
candid  persons  will  say ;  attributing  to  the 
Deity  the  higher  and  diviner  expressions,  and 
the  lower  and  more  human  to  Him  Who  for 
us  men  was  the  Second  Adam,  and  was  God 
made  capable  of  suffering  to  strive  against  sin  ; 


a  I  Cor.  i.  17. 


^  2  Cor.  V.  20. 


y  I  Thess.  v.  19. 


310 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


yet  we  have  not  yet  gone  through  the  passages 
in  detail,  because  of  the  haste  of  our  argu- 
ment. But  since  you  demand  of  us  a  brief 
explanation  of  each  of  them,  that  you  may  not 
be  carried  away  by  the  plausibilities  of  their 
arguments,  we  will  therefore  state  the  explana- 
tions summarily,  dividing  them  into  numbers 
for  the  sake  of  carrying  them  more  easily  in 
mind. 

II.  In  their  eyes  the  following  is  only  too 
ready  to  hand  "  The  Lord  created  me  at  the 
beginning  of  His  ways  with  a  view  to  His 
works."  °-  How  shall  we  meet  this?  Shall 
we  bring  an  accusation  against  Solomon,  or 
reject  his  former  words  because  of  his  fall  in 
after-life  ?  Shall  we  say  that  the  words  are 
those  of  Wisdom  herself,  as  it  were  of  Knowl- 
edge and  the  Creator-word,  in  accordance 
with  which  all  things  were  made?  For 
Scripture  often  personifies  many  even  lifeless 
objects ;  as  for  instance,  "  The  Sea  said  "  ^  so 
and  so  ;  and,  "  The  Depth  saith,  It  is  not  in 
me  :"  Y  and  "  The  Heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God  ;"  ^  and  again  a  command  is  given  to 
the  Sword  ;  *  and  the  Mountains  and  Hills  are 
asked  the  reason  of  their  skipping.^  We  do 
not  allege  any  of  these,  though  some  of  our 
predecessors  used  them  as  ];)Owerful  arguments. 
But  let  us  grant  that  the  expression  is  used  of 
our  Saviour  Himself,  the  true  Wisdom.  Let 
us  consider  one  small  point  together.  What 
among  all  things  that  exist  is  unoriginate  ? 
The  Godhead.  For  no  one  can  tell  the  origin 
of  God,  that  otherwise  would  be  older  than 
God.  But  what  is  the  cause  of  the  Manhood, 
which  for  our  sake  God  assumed  ?  It  was 
surely  our  Salvation.  What  else  could  it  be? 
Since  then  we  find  here  clearly  both  the 
Created  and  the  Begetteth  Me,  the  argmnent 
is  simple.  Whatever  we  find  joined  with  a 
cause  we  are  to  refer  to  the  Manhood,  but  all 
that  is  absolute  and  unoriginate  we  are  to 
reckon  to  the  account  of  His  Godhead.  Well, 
then,  is  not  this  "  Created  "  said  in  connection 
with  a  cause?     He  created   Me,  it  so  says, 


a  Prov.  viii.  22.  The  A.  V.  has  in  this  place  Possessed,  and  this 
has  very  high  amhorily  :  but  the  Hebrew  word  in  almost  every  case 
signifies  to  Acquire.  It  is  used,  says  Up.  Wordsworth  (ad  h.  1.). 
about  eulity  times  in  the  O.  T.,  and  in  only  five  places  is  it  ren- 
dered in  our  Translation  by  Possess  ; — in  two  of  which  (Gen.  xiv. 
10,  22,  and  Ps.  cxxxix.  13)  it  might  well  have  the  sense  of  Creating, 
and  in  two  ( Jer.  xxxii.  15.  and  Zcch.  xi.  5)  of  (letting.  In  sonic  an- 
cient Versions  (LXX.  and  .Syr.)  it  is  rendered. by  Create.  S.  Je- 
rome in  his  l-'.p.  ad  Cypr.  (ii.  697)  says  tliat  the  word  may  here  be 
understood  of  possession,  but  in  his  Comm.  on  Ephes.  ii,  (  p.  342) 
he  adopts  the  rendermij  Create,  which  he  ajiplies  to  the  Incarna- 
tion, as  in  several  places  does  S,  Athanasius.  l^ut  Wordsworth 
thinks  it  better  to  apply  the  words  to  the  Internal  (iencration,  as 
S.  Hilary  expounds  it  (c.  Ari.mos,  who  argued  from  it  that  Christ 
was  a  creature);  "quia  Kilius  Dei  non  corporalis  parluritionis  est 
penitus  exemplo,  sed  ex  perfecto  Deo  perfcctus  Deus  natus ;  et 
ideo  ait  creatam  se  esse  Sapientia  :  omnem  in  generationc  sua 
notionem  passionis  corporalis  e.vcludens."  /3  Is.  xxiii.  4. 

y  Job  xxviii.  14.      6  Ps.  xix.  i.      e  Zech.  xiii.  7.       5  Ps.  cxiv.  6. 


as  the  beginning  of  His  ways,  with  a  view 
to  his  works.  Now,  the  Works  of  His  Hands 
are  verity  and  judgment;*  for  whose  sake 
He  was  anointed  with  Godhead  ;  ^  for  this 
anointing  is  of  the  Manhood;  but  the  "  He 
begetteth  Me  "  is  not  connected  with  a  cause  ; 
or  it  is  for  you  to  shew  the  adjunct.  ^Vhat 
argument  then  will  disprove  that  Wisdom  is 
called  a  creature,  in  connection  with  the  lower 
generation,  but  Begotten  in  re.spect  of  the  first 
and  more  incomprehensible? 

III.  Next  is  the  fact  of  His  being  called 
Servant  "y  and  serving  many  well,  and  that  it  is 
a  great  thing  for  Him  to  be  called  the  Child  of 
God.  For  in  truth  He  was  in  servitude  to  flesh 
and  to  birth  and  to  the  conditions  of  our  life 
with  a  view  to  our  liberation,  and  to  that  of  all 
those  whom  He  has  saved,  who  were  in  bond- 
age under  sin.  What  greater  destiny  can  be-_ 
fall  man's  humility  than  that  he  should  be  inter- 
mingled with  (rod,  and  by  this  intermingling^ 
should  be  deified,*  and  that  we  should  be  so 
visited  by  the  Dayspring  from  on  high,*  that 
even  that  Holy  Thing  that  should  be  born 
should  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest,^  and 
that  there  should  be  bestowed  upon  Him  a 
Name  which  is  above  every  name?  And  what 
else  can  this  be  than  God? — and  that  every 
knee  should  bow  to  Him  That  was  made  of  no 
reputation  for  us,  and  That  mingled  the  Form 
of  God  with  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  that 
all  the  House  of  Israel  should  know  that  God 
hath  made  Him  both  Lord  and  Christ?''  For 
all  this  was  done  by  the  action  of  the  Begot- 
ten, and  by  the  good  ])leasure  of  Him  That 
begat  Him. 

IV.  Well,  what  is  the  second  of  their  great 
irresistible  passages  ?  "  He  must  reign,"  ^  till 
such  and  such  a  time  .  .  .  and  "  be  received 
by  heaven  until  the  time  of  restitution,"  '  and 
"  have  the  seat  at  the  Right  Hand  until  the 
overthrow  of  His  enemies."  "  But  after  this? 
Must  He  cease  to  be  King,  or  be  removed 
from  Heaven?  Why,  who  shall  make  Him 
cease,  or  for  what  cause?  What  a  bold  and 
very  anarchical  interpreter  you  are  ;  and  yet 
you  have  heard  that  Of  His  Kingdom  /here 
shall  be  no  end.^  Your  mistake  arises  from  not 
understanding  that  Until  is  not  always  exclu- 
sive of  that  which  comes  after,  but  asserts  /// 
to  that    time,  without    denying  what    comes 


o  Ps.  cxi.  7.  p  Ps.  xlv.  7. 

•y  Isa.  xlix.  6  ;  liii.  11.  TheI>XX.  here  mistranslates;  the  Hebrew 
and  the  Latin  have  the  same  word  in  all  the  passages  quoted  bcjow, 
while  the  l,XX.  varies,  as  follows  :  Isa.  xhi.  i.  Trois.  ig.  TroiSfS, 
60CA01.  xliv.  2.  Trai?.  21.  wai?.  xlviii.  29.  hovXnv.  xlix.  3.  ioCAot. 
5.  SoiJAov.    6.  ■nolho..    7.  SoCAov.    lii.  13.  ttoij.    liii.  it.  SoDAeuoi'To. 

6  .See  Prolegomena,  sec.  ii.  and  2  Pet.  i.  4.  e  Luke  i.  78 

C,  Phil.  ii.  9  r\  Acts  ii.  36.  6  i  Cor.  xv.  35.  i  Acts  iii.  21. 
K  Ps.  ex.  I.  A  Luke  i.  33.  Cf.    Nic.  Creed. 


THE   FOURTH   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


311 


after  it.  To  take  a  single  instance — how  else 
would  you  understand,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world?"" 
Does  it  mean  that  He  will  no  longer  be  so 
afterwards.  And  for  what  reason  ?  But  this  is 
not  the  only  cause  of  your  error  ;  you  also  fail 
to  distinguish  between  the  things  that  are  signi- 
fied. He  is  said  to  reign  in  one  sense  as  the 
Almighty  King,  both  of  the  willing  and  the 
unwilling  ;  but  in  another  as  producing  in  us 
submission,  and  placing  us  under  His  Kingship 
as  willingly  acknowledging  His  Sovereignty. 
Of  His  Kingdom,  considered  in  the  former 
sense,  there  shall  be  no  end.  But  in  the  second 
sense,  what  end  will  there  be  ?  His  taking  us 
as  His  servants,  on  our  entrance  into  a  state 
of  salvation.  For  what  need  is  there  to  Work 
Submission  in  us  when  we  have  already  sub- 
mitted ?  After  which  He  arises  to  judge  the 
earth,  and  to  separate  the  saved  from  the  lost. 
After  that  He  is  to  stand  as  God  in  the  midst 
of  gods,^  that  is,  of  the  saved,  distinguishing 
and  deciding  of  what  honour  and  of  what 
mansion  each  is  worthy. 

V.  Take,  in  the  next  place,  the  subjection  by 
which  you  subject  the  Son  to  the  Father.  What, 
you  say,  is  He  not  now  subject,  or  must  He,  if 
He  is  God,  be  subject  to  God  ?  1  You  are  fash- 
ioning your  argument  as  if  it  concerned  some 
robber,  or  some  hostile  deity.  But  look  at  it 
in  this  manner  :  that  as  for  my  sake  He  was 
called  a  curse, ^  Who  destroyed  my  curse  ;  and 
sin,*  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world ; 
and  became  a  new  Adam  ^  to  take  the  place  of 
the  old,  just  so  He  makes  my  disobedience 
His  own  as  Head  of  the  whole  body.  As  long 
then  as  I  am  disobedient  and  rebellious,  both 
by  denial  of  God  and  by  my  passions,  so  long 
Christ  also  is  called  disobedient  on  ■  my  ac- 
count. But  when  all  things  shall  be  subdued 
unto  Him  on  the  one  hand  by  acknowledg- 
ment of  Him,  and  on  the  other  by  a  reforma- 
tion, then  He  Himself  also  will  have  fulfilled 
His  submission,  bringing  me  whom  He  has 
saved  to  God.  For  this,  according  to  my 
view,  is  the  subjection  of  Christ ;  namely,  the 
fulfilling  of  the  Father's  Will.  But  as  the 
Son  subjects  all  to  the  Father,  so  does  the 
Father  to  the  Son;  the  One  by  His  Work, 
the  Other  by  His  good  pleasure,  as  we  have 
already  said.  And  thus  He  Who  subjects 
presents  to  God  that  which  he  has  subjected, 
making  our  condition  His  own.     Of  the  same 


a.  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  |3  Ps.  Ixxxii.  t. 

7  S,  Gregory  would  here  shew  that  the  subjection  of  Christ  of 
which  S.  Paul  speaks  in  the  passage  quoted,  is  that  of  the  Head 
of  the  Church,  representing  the  members  of  His  body.  Cf.  S.  Am- 
brose, de  Fide  V.  vi.,  quoted  by  Petavius,  de  Trin.  III.  v.  2. 

6  Gal-  iii.  13.  f  2  Cor.  v.  21.  e  i  Cor.  xv.  45. 


kind,  it  appears  to  me,  is  the  expression,  "  My 
God,  My  God,  whyjiast  Thou  forsaken  Me.?"  » 
It  was  not  He  who  was  forsaken  either  by  the 
Father,  or  by  His  own  Godhead,  as  some  have 
thought,  as  if  It  were  afraid  of  the  Passion, 
and  therefore  withdrew  Itself  from  Him  in 
His  Sufferings  (for  who  compelled  Him  either 
to  be  born  on  earth  at  all,  or  to  be  lifted  up 
on  the  Cross  ?)  But  as  I  said,  He  was  in  His 
own  Person  representing  us.  For  _vve  were 
the  forsaken  and  despised  before,  ,but  now  by 
the  Sufferings  of  Him  Who  could  not  suffer, 
we  were  taken  up  and  saved.  Similarly,  He 
makes  His  own  our  folly  and  our  transgres- 
sions ;  and  says  what  follows  in  the  Psalm, 
for  it  is  very  evident  that  the  Twenty-first  ^ 
Psalm  refers  to  Christ. 

VI.  The  same  consideration  applies  to  an- 
other passage,  "He  learnt  obedience  by  the 
things  which  He  suffered,"  v  and  to  His 
"  strong  crying  and  tears,"  and  His  "  Entrea- 
ties," and  His  "  being  heard,"  and  His  "  Re- 
verence," all  of  which  He  wonderfully  wrought 
out,  like  a  drama  whose  plot  was  devised  on 
our  behalf.  For  in  His  character  of  the  Word 
He  was  neither  obedient  nor  disobedient.  For 
such  expressions  belong  to  servants,  and  in- 
feriors, and  the  one  applies  to  the  better  sort 
of  them,  while  the  other  belongs  to  those  who 
deserve  punishment.  But,  in_tlie  character  of 
the  Form  of  a  Servant,  He  condescends  to 
His  fellow  servants,  nay,  to  His  servants,  and 
takes  upon  Him  a  strange  form,  bearing  all 
me  and  mine  in  Himself,  that  in  Himself  He 
may  exhaust  the  bad,  as  fire  does  wax,  or  as 
the  sun  does  the  mists  of  earth  ;  and  that  I_ 
may  partake  of  His  nature  by  tlie  blending. 
Thus  He  honours  obedience  by  His  action,  . 
and  proves  it  experimentally  by  His  Passion. 
For  to  possess  the  disposition  is  not  enough, 
just  as  it  would  not  be  enough  for  us,  unless 
we  also  proved  it  by  our  acts  ;  for  action  is 
the  proof  of  disposition. 

And  perhaps  it  would  not  be  wrong  to 
assume  this  also,  that  by  the  art^  of  His  love 
for  man  He  gauges  our  obedience,  and  measures 
all  by  comparison  with  His  own  Sufferings,  so 
that  He  may  know  our  condition  by  His  own, 
and  how  much  is  demanded  of  us,  and  how 
much  we  yield,  taking  into  the  account,  along 
with  our  environment,  our  weakness  also.  For 
if  the  Light  shining  through  the  veil  *  upon 
the  darkness,  that  is  upon  this  life,  was  perse- 
cuted by  the  other  darkness  (I  mean,  the  Evil 

o  Ps.  xxii.  I.  /3  I.e.  Ps.  xxii.  A.  V.  y  Heb.  v.  8,  etc. 

5  I.euvenclavius   translates   "The   art    of   this   lovingkindness 
gaiiees,"'  etc. 

6  The  15enedicitnes  render,  "  In   darkness,  that  is,   in  this  life, 
because  of  the  veil  of  the  body." 


312 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


One  and  the  Tempter),  how  much  more  will  the 
darkness  be  persecuted,  as  being  weaker  than  it? 
And  what  marvel  is  it,  that  though  He  entirely 
(escaped,  we  have  been,  at  any  rate  in  part, 
overtaken  ?  For  it  is  a  more  wonderful  thing 
that  He  should  have  been  chased  than  that  we 
should  have  been  captured  ; — at  least  to  the 
minds  of  all  who  reason  aright  on  the  subject. 
I  will  add  yet  another  passage  to  those  I  have 
mentioned,  because  I  think  that  it  clearly 
tends  to  the  same  sense.  I  mean  "In  that 
He  hath  suffered  being  tempted.  He  is  able 
to  succour  them  that  are  tempted.""  But 
God  will  be  all  in  all  in  the  time  of  restitution  ; 
not  in  the  sense  that  the  Father  alone  will  Be  ; 
and  the  Son  be  wholly  resolved  into  Him,  like 
a  torch  into  a  great  pyre,  from  which  it  was 
reft  away  for  a  little  space,  and  then  put  back 
(for  I  would  not  have  even  the  Sabellians  in- 
jured ^  by  such  an  expression)  ;  but  the  entire 
Godhead  .  .  .  when  we  shall  be  no  longer 
divided  (as  we  now  are  by  movements  and 
passions),  and  containing  nothing  at  all  of 
God,  or  very  little,  but  shall  be  entirely  like. 

VII.  As  your  third  point  you  count  the  Word 
Greater  ;  t  and  as  your  fourth.  To  My  God  and 
your  God.*  And  indeed,  if  He  had  been 
called  greater,  and  the  word  equal  had  not 
occurred,  this  might  perhaps  have  been  a 
point  in  their  favour.  But  if  we  find  both 
words  clearly  used  what  will  these  gentlemen 
have  to  say?  How  will  it  strengthen  their 
argument  ?  How  will  they  reconcile  the 
irreconcilable?  For  that  the  same  thing 
should  be  at  once  greater  than  and  equal 
to  the  same  thing  is  an  impossibility;  and 
the  evident  solution  is  that  the  Greater  refers 
to  origination,  while  the  Equal  belongs  to  the 
Nature  ;  and  this  we  acknowledge  with  much 
good  will.  But  perhaps  some  one  else  will 
back  up  our  attack  on  your  argument,  and 
assert,  that  That  which  is  from  such  a  Cause  is 
not  inferior  to  that  which  has  no  Cause  ;  for  it 
would  share  the  glory  of  the  Unoriginate, 
because  it  is  from  the  Unoriginate.  And 
there  is,  besides,  the  Generation,  which  is  to 
all  men  a  matter  so  marvellous  and  of  such 
Majesty.  For  to  say  that  he  is  greater  than 
the  Son  considered  as  man,  is  true  indeed,  but 
is  no  great  thing.  For  what  marvel  is  it  if 
God  is  greater  than  man  ?  Surely  that  is 
enough  to  say  in  answer  to  their  talk  about 
Greater. 

VIII.   As  to  the  other  pa.ssages,  My  God 
would  be  used  in  respect,  not  of  the  Word,  but 

o  Heb.  ii.  :8. 

|3  I'he  Benedictines  take  irapa  ^9eip4cr(>ia<Tav  in  an  active  sense  : 
"  I  woiild  not  let  even  the  Sabelli:nis  wrest  such  an  expression." 
7  John  xiv.  28  5  lb.,  xx.  17. 


of  the  Visible  Word.  For  how  could  there  be 
a  God  of  Him  Who  is  properly  God  ?  In  the 
same  way  He  is  Father,  not  of  the  Visible, 
but  of  the  Word  ;  for  our  Lord  was  of  two 
Natures  ;  so  that  one  expression  is  used  i)ro- 
perly,  the  other  improperly  in  each  of  the 
two  cases ;  but  exactly  the  opposite  way  to 
their  use  in  respect  of  us.  For  with  respect 
to  us  God  is  properly  our  God,  but  not  pro- 
perly our  Father.  And  this  is  the  cause  of 
the  error  of  the  Heretics,  namely  the  joining 
of  these  two  Names,  which  are  interchanged 
because  of  the  Union  of  the  Natures.  And  an 
indication  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
wherever  the  Natures  are  distinguished  in  our 
thoughts  from  one  another,  the  Names  are  also 
distinguished  ;  as  you  hear  in  Paul's  words, 
"  The  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father 
of  Glory."  "■  The  God  of  Christ,  but  the  Father 
of  glory.  For  although  these  two  terms  express 
but  one  Person,  yet  this  is  not  by  a  Unity  of 
Nature,  but  by  a  Union  of  the  two.  What 
could  be  clearer  ? 

IX.  Fifthly,  let  it  be  alleged  that  it  is  said  of 
Him  that  He  receives  life,^  judgment, v  inheri- 
tance of  the  Gentiles,*  or  power  over  all  flesh,* 
or  glory, ^  or  disciples,  or  whatever  else  is  men- 
tioned. This  also  belongs  to  the  Manhood  ; 
and  yet  if  you  were' to  ascribe  it  to  the  God- 
head, it  would  be  no  absurdity.  For  you 
would  not  so  ascribe  it  as  if  it  were  newly  ac- 
quired, but  as  belonging  to  Him  from  the 
beginning  by  reason  of  nature,  and  not  as  an 
act  of  favour. 

X.  Sixthly,  let  it  be  asserted  that  it  is  writ- 
ten. The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself,  but 
what  He  seeth  the  Father  do.''  The  solu- 
tion of  this  is  as  follows  : — Can  and  Cannot  are 
not  words  with  only  one  meaning,  but  have 
many  meanings.  On  the  one  hand  they  are 
used  sometimes  in  respect  of  deficiency  of 
strength,  sometimes  in  respect  of  time,  and 
sometimes  relatively  to  a  certain  object ;  as 
for  instance,  A  Child  cannot  be  an  Athlete, 
or,  A  Puppy  cannot  see,  or  fight  with  so  and 
so.  Perhaps  some  day  the  child  will  be  an 
athlete,  the  puppy  will  see,  will  fight  with  that 
other,  though  it  may  still  be  unable  to  fight 
with  Any  other.  Or  again,  they  may  be  used 
of  that  which  is  Generally  true.  For  instance, 
— :\  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  cannot  be 
hid  ;  ^  while  yet  it  might  possibly  be  hidden 
by  another  higher  hill  being  in  a  line  with  it. 
Or  in  another  sense  they  are  used  of  a  thing 
which  is  not  reasonable  ;  as,  Can  the  Child- 
ren   of    the    Bridechamber    fast    while    the 


a  Kphes.  i.  17. 
«  John  xvii.  2. 


P  John  viii.  54. 
f  2  Pet.  i.  17,  etc. 


y  John  V.  22.       S  Ps.  ii.  8. 
ij  John  V.  19.     6  Matt.  v.  14. 


THE   FOURTH   THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


313 


Bridegroom  is  with  them  ;  "  whether  He  be 
considered  as  visible  in  bodily  form  (for  the 
time  of  His  sojourning  among  us  was  not  one 
of  mourning,  but  of  gladness),  or,  as  the 
Word.  For  why  should  they  keep  a  bodily 
fast  who  are  cleansed  by  the  Word?^  Or, 
again,  they  are  used  of  that  which  is  contrary 
to  the  will ;  as  in.  He  could  do  no  mighty 
works  there  because  of  their  unbelief, t — i.e. 
of  those  who  should  receive  them.  For 
since  in  order  to  healing  there  is  need  of  both 
faith  in  the  patient  and  power  in  the  Healer,^ 
when  one  of  the  two  failed  the  other  was  im- 
possible. But  probably  this  sense  also  is  to 
be  referred  to  the  head  of  the  unreasonable. 
For  healing  is  not  reasonable  in  the  case  of 
those  who  would  afterwards  be  injured  by 
unbelief.  The  sentence  The  world  cannot 
hate  you,^  comes  under  the  same  head,  as 
does  also  How  can  ye,  being  evil,  speak 
good  things  ?  ^  For  in  what  sense  is  either 
impossible,  except  that  it  is  contrary  to  the 
will?  There  is  a  somewhat  similar  meanino: 
in  the  expressions  which  imply  that  a  thing 
impossible  by  nature  is  possible  to  God  if  He 
so  wills  ;  *»  as  that  a  man  cannot  be  born  a  sec- 
ond time,^  or  that  a  needle  will  not  let  a  camel 
through  it.''  For  what  could  prevent  either  of 
these  things  happening,  if  God  so  willed? 
'  XI.  And  besides  all  this,  there  is  the  abso- 
lutely impossible  and  inadmissible,  as  that 
which  we  are  now  examining.  For  as  we  as- 
sert that  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  be  evil,  or 
not  to  exist — for  this  would  be  indicative  of 
weakness  in  God  rather  than  of  strength — or  for 
the  non-existent  to  exist,  or  for  two  and  two 
to  make  both  four  and  ten,^  so  it  is  impossi- 
ble and  inconceivable  that  the  Son  should  do 
anything  that  the  Father  doeth  not.'^  For  all 
things  that  the  Father  hath  are  the  Son's ;  " 
and  on  the  other  hand,  all  that  belongs  to  the 
Son  is  the  Father's.  Nothing  then  is  peculiar, 
because  all  things  are  in  common.  For  Their 
Being  itself  is  common  and  equal,  even  though 
the  Son  receive  it  from  the  Father.  It  is  in 
respect  of  this  that  it  is  said  I  live  by  the 
Father  ;  ^  not  as  though  His  Life  and  Being 
were  kei)t  together  by  the  Father,  but  because 
He  has  His  Being  from  Him  beyond  all  time, 
and  beyond  all  cause.  But  how  does  He  see 
the  Father  doing,  and  do  likewise?  Is  it  like 
those  who  copy  pictures  and  letters,  because 
they  cannot  attain  the  truth  unless  by  looking 

a  Rlark  ii.  10.  |3  John  xv.  3.  y  Mark  vi.  5. 

S  Note  with  the  Benedictines  that  S.  Gregory  is  here  speaking 
of  our  Lord  alone,  not  of  ordinary  Physicians  :  hence  he  uses  the 
singular.  ejohn  vii.  7.  ^  Matt.  xii.  34. 

T)  Matt.  .\ix.  26.  0  John  iii.  4.  k  Matt.  xix.  24. 

A  One  MS.  reads  "  to  be  fourteen." 

fi  John  V.  19.  V  lb.  xvi.  15.  f  lb.  vi.  57. 


at  the  original,  and  being  led  by  the  hand  by 
it  ?  But  how  shall  Wisdom  stand  in  need  of 
a  teacher,  or  be  incapable  of  acting  unless 
taught  ?  And  in  what  sense  does  the  Father 
"Do"  in  the  present  or  in  the  past?  Did 
He  make  another  world  before  this  one,  or  is 
He  going  to  make  a  world  to  come  ?  And  did 
the  Son  look  at  that  and  make  this?  Or  will 
He  look  at  the  other,  and  make  one  like  it? 
According  to  this  argument  there  must  be 
Four  worlds,  two  made  by  the  Father,  and 
two  by  the  Son.  What  an  absurdity  !  He 
cleanses  lepers,  and  delivers  men  from  evil 
spirits,  and  diseases,  and  giiickens  the  dead, 
and  walks  upon  the  sea,  and  does  all  His 
"other  works ;  but  in  what  case,  or  when  did 
the  Father  do  the.se  acts  before  Him  ?  Is  it 
not  clear  that  the  Father  impressed  the  ideas 
of,  these  same  actions,  and  the  Word  brings 
them  to  pass,  yet  not  in  slavish  or  unskilful 
fashion,  but  with  full  knowledge  and  in  a 
masterly  way,  or,  to  speak  more  properly,  like 
the  Father?  For  in  this  sense  I  understand 
the  words  that  whatsoever  is  done  by  the 
Father,  these  things  doeth  the  Son  likewise ; 
not,  that  is,  because  of  the  likeness  of  the 
things  done,  but  in  respect_of  the  Authority. 
This  might  well  also  be  the  meaning  of  the 
passage  which  says  that  jthe_ Father  worketh 
hitherto  and  the  Son  also  ; "  and  not  only  so  but 
it  refers  also  to  the  government  and  preserva- 
tion of  the  things  which  He  has  made  ;  as  is 
shewn  by  the  pas.sage  ^\hich  says  that  He 
maketh  His  Angels  Spirits,^  and  that  the 
earth  is  founded  upon  its  steadfastness  (though 
once  for  all  these  things  were  fixed  and  made) 
and  that  the^lhunder  is  made  firm  and  the 
wjnd  created.')'  Of  all  these  t^hings  the  Word 
was  given  once,  but  the  Action  is  continuous 
even  now.  ~ 

XII.  Let  them  quote  in  the  seventh  place 
that  The  Son  came  down  from  Heaven,  not 
to  do  His  own  Will,  but  the  Will  of  Him 
That  sent  Him.^  Well,  if  this  had  not  been 
said  by  Himself  Who  came  down,  we  should 
say  that  the  phrase  was  modelled  as  issuing 
from  the  Human  Nature,  not  from  Him  who 
is  conceived  of  in  His  character  as  the  Saviour, 
for  His  Human  Will  cannot  be  opposed  to 
God,  seeing  it  is  altogether  taken  into  God  ; 
but  conceived  of  simply  as  in  our  nature, 
inasmuch  as  the  human  will  does  not  com- 
pletely follow  the  Divine,  but  for  the  most  part 
struggles  against  and  resists  it.  For  we  under- 
stand in   the  same  way  the  words,   Father,  if 

o  John  V.  17.  P  Ps.  civ.  4,  5,  LXX. 

y  cf.   Amos  iv.  13,  where  A.  V.  reads,   He  That   formed   the 
mountains  and  created  the  wind. 
S  John  vi.  38. 


314 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  Me ; 
Nevertheless  let  not  what  I  will  but  Thy 
Will  prevail.*  For  it  is  not  likely  that  He 
did  not  know  whether  it  was  possible  or  not, 
or  that  He  would  oppose  will  to  will.  But 
since,  as  this  is  the  language  of  Him  Who 
assumed  our  Nature  (for  He  it  was  Who  came 
down),  and  not  of  the  Nature  which  He 
assumed,  we  must  meet  the  objection  in  this 
way,  that  the  passage  does  not  mean  that  the 
Son  has  a  special  will  of  His  own,  besides  that 
of  the  Father,  but  that  He  has  not ;  so  that 
the  meaning  would  be,  "  not  to  do  Mine  own 
Will,  for  there  is  none  of  Mine  apart  from, 
but  that  which  is  conrmon  to.  Me  and  Thee; 
for  as  We  have  oiie  Godjiead,  so  We  have  one 
WILL."  ^  For  many  such  expressions  are  used 
in  relation  to  this  Community,  and  are  ex- 
pressed not  positively  but  negatively  ;  as,  e.g., 
God  giveth  not  the  Spirit  by  measure, v  for 
as  a  matter  of  fact  He  does  not  give  the  Spirit 
to  the  Son,  nor  does  He  measui'e  It,  for  God 
is  not  measured  by  God  ;  or  again.  Not  my 
transgression  nor  my  sin.^  The  words  are 
not  used  ■  because  He  has  these  things,  but 
because  He  has  them  not.  And  again.  Not 
for  our  righteousness  which  we  have  done,* 
for  we  have  not  done  any.  And  this  mean- 
ing is  evident  also  in  the  clauses  which  fol- 
low. For  what,  says  He,  is  the  Will  of 
My  Father  ?  That  everyone  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  should  be  saved, ^  and  obtain  the 
final  Resurrection.'^  Now  is  this  the  Will  of 
the  Father,  but  not  of  the  Son  ?  Or  does  He 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  receive  men's  faith 
against  His  will?  Who  could  believe  that? 
Moreover,  that  passage,  too,  which  says  that 
the  Word  which  is  heard  is  not  the  Son's*  but 
the  Father's  has  the  same  force.  For  I  cannot 
see  how  that  which  is  common  to  two  can  be 
said  to  belong  to  one  alone,  however  much  I 
consider  it,  and  I  do  not  think  any  one  else 
can.  If  then  you  hold  this  oi)inion  con- 
cerning the  Will,  )^ou  will  be  right  and  rev- 
erent in  your  opinion,  as  I  think,  and  as  every 
right-minded  person  thinks. 

XIII.  The  eighth  passage  is,  That  they  may 
know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  Whom  Thou  hast  sent ;  "  and  There  is 
none  good  save  one,  that  is,  God.*  The 
solution  of  this  appears  to  me  very  easy.     For 


a  M.itt.  xxvi.  39. 

3  Oljscrvc  th.it  S.  Gregory  expressly  limits  this  paraphrase  to 
the  Divine  Nature  of  our  Lord,  and  is  not  in  any  way  denying 
to  Him  a  Human  Will  also: — indeed  in  the  preceding  sentence 
he  distinctly  asserts  it.  The  wliole  passage  makes  very  strongly 
against  the  heresy  of  ApoUinarius,  which  adopted  the  Arian  tenet 
that  in  our  Lord  the  Divine  Logos  supplied  the  place  of  the  human 
soul.  y  John  iii.  34.  6  Fs.  lix.  3. 

e  Dan.  ix.  18.  ^Johnvi.  40.  •>;  V.  I.    Restoration. 

6  John  xiv.  24.  #c  lb.  xvii.  3.  A  Luke  xviLi.  19. 


if  you  attribute  this  only  to  the  Father,  where 
will  you  place  the  Very  Truth?  For  if  you 
conceive  in  this  manner  of  the  meaning  of 
To  the  only  wise  God,"  or  Who  only  hath 
Immortality,  Dwelling  in  the  light  which 
no  man  can  aijproach  unto,^  or  of  to  the 
king  of  the  Ages,  immortal,  invisible,  and 
only  wise  God,>'  then  the  Son  has  vanished 
under  sentence  of  death,  or  of  darkness,  or  at 
any  rate  condemned  to  be  neither  wise  nor 
king,  nor  invisible,  nor  God  at  all,  which  sums 
u])  all  these  points.  And  how  will  you  prevent 
His  Goodness,  which  especially  belongs  to 
God  alone,  from  ]jerishing  with  the  rest?  I, 
however,  think  that  the  passage  That  they 
may  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  was 
said  to  overthrow  those  gods  which  are  falsely 
so  called,  for  He  would  not  have  added  and 
Jesus  Christ  Whom  Thou  hast  sent,  if  The 
Only  True  God  were  contrasted  with  Him, 
and  the  sentence  did  not  proceed  upon  the 
basis  of  a  common  Godhead.  The  "  None  is 
Good  ' '  meets  the  tempting  Lawyer,  who  was 
testifying  to  His  Goodness  viewed  as  Man. 
For  perfect  goodness.  Fie  says,  is  God's  alone, 
even  if  a  man  is  called  perfectly  good.  As 
for  instance,  A  good  man  out  of  the  good 
treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth  forth  good 
things.^  And,  I  will  give  the  kingdom  to 
one  who  is  good  above  Thee.*  .  .  .  Words 
of  God,  speaking  to  Saul  about  David.  Or 
again,  Do  good,  O  Lord,  unto  the  good^ 
.  .  .  and  all  other  like  expressions  concern- 
ing those  of  us  who  are  praised,  upon  whom 
it  is  a  kind  of  effluence  from  the  Supreme 
Good,  and  has  come  to  them  in  a  secondary 
degree.  It  will  be  best  of  all  if  we  can  per- 
suade you  of  this.  But  if  not,  what  will  you 
say  to  the  suggestion  on  the  other  side,  that  on 
your  hypothesis  the  Son  has  been  called  the 
only  God.  •  In  what  passage  ?  Why,  in  this  : 
— 'rhis  is  your  God  ;  no  other  shall  be  ac- 
counted of  in  comparison  with  Him,  and  a 
little  further  on,  after  this  did  He  shew 
Himself  upon  earth,  and  conversed  with 
men.^  This  addition  proves  clearly  that  the 
words  are  not  used  of  the  Father,  but  of  the 
Son  ;  for  it  was  ?Ie  Who  in  bodily  form  com- 
panied  with  us,  and  was  in  this  lower  world. 
Now,  if  we  should  determine  to  take  these 
words  as  said  in  contrast  with  the  Father,  and 
not  .with  the  imaginary  gods,  we  lose  the 
Father  by  the  very  terms  which  we  were  press- 
ing against  the  vSon.  And  what  could  be  more 
disastrous  than  such  a  victory  ? 

XIV.   Ninthly,  they  allege,  seeing  He  ever 

o  I  Tim.  i.  17.         /3  lb.  vi.  16.         y  lb.  i.  17.  S  Mat.  xii.  35. 

e  1  Sam.  xv.  28.  C,  Ps.  cxxv.  4.  tj  Baruch  iii.  35,  37. 


THE   FOURTH    THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


15 


liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us.*  O,  how 
beautiful  and  mystical  and  kind.  For  to 
intercede  does  not  imply  to  seek  for  ven- 
geance, as  is  most  men's  way  (for  in  that  there 
would  be  something  of  humiliation),  but  it  is 
to  plead  for  us  by  reason  of  His  Mediatorship, 
just  as  the  Spirit  also  is  said  to  make  interces- 
sion for  us.'^  For  there  is  One  God,  and  One 
Mediator  between  God  and  Man,  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus. Y  For  He  still  pleads  even  now 
as  Man  for  my  salvation;  for^He  continues 
tojvear  the  Body^  which  He  assumed,  until  He 
iijake-me.  God  by  the  power  of  His  Incarna- 
tigLQ  ;  although  He  is  no  longer  known  after 
the  flesh  ^ — I  mean,  the  passions  of  the  flesh, 
the  same,  except  sin,  as  ours.  Tlius  too,  we 
have  an  Advocate/  Jesus  Christ,  not  indeed 
prostrating  Himself  for  us  before  the  Father, 
and  falling  down  before  Him  in  slavish  fash- 
Away  with  a  suspicion  so  truly 


ion 


slavish  and  unworthy  of  the  Spirit  !  For 
neither  is  it  seemly  for  the  Father  to  require 
this,  nor  for  the  Son  to  submit  to  it :  nor  is  it 
just  to  think  it  of  God.  But  by  what  He  suf- 
fered as  Man,  He  as  the  Word  and  the  Coun- 
sellor persuades  Him  to  be  patient.  I  think 
this  is  the  meaning  of  His  Advocacy. 

XV.  Their  tenth  objection  is  the  ignorance, 
and  the  statement  that  Of  the  last  day  and  hour 
knoweth  no  man,  not  even  the  Son  Himself, 
but  the  Father.^  And  yet  how  can  Wisdom  be 
ignorant  of  anything  —  that  is,  Wisdom  Who 
made  the  worlds,  Who  perfects  them.  Who  re- 
models them,  Who  is  the  Limit  of  all  things 
that  were  made,  Who  knoweth  the  things  of 
God  as  the  spirit  of  a  man  knows  the  things 
that  are  in  him  ?  1  For  what  can  be  more  per- 
fect than  this  knowledge?  How  then  can 
you  say  that  all  things  before  that  hour  He 
knows  accurately,  and  all  things  that  are  to 
happen  about  the  time  of  the  end,  but  of  the 
hour  itself  He  is  ignorant?  For  such  a  thing 
would  be  like  a  riddle  ;  as  if  one  were  to  say 
that  he  knew  accurately  all  that  was  in  front 
of  the  wall,  but  did  not  know  the  wall  itself; 
or  that,  knowing  the  end  of  the  day,  he  did 
not  know  the  beginning  of  the  night  —  where 
knowledge  of  the  one  necessarily  brings  in  the 
other.  Thus  everyone  must  see  that  He 
knows  as  God,  and  knows  not  as  Man  ; — if 
one  may  separate  the  visible  from  that  which 
is  discerned  by  thought  alone.  For  the  ab- 
solute and  imconditioned  use  of  the  Name 
"  The  Son  "  in  this  passage,  without  the  addi- 
tion of  whose  Son,  gives  us  this  thought,  that 


we  are  to  understand  the  ignorance  in  the  most 
reverent  sense,  by  attributing  it  to  the  Man- 
hood, and  not  to  the  Godhead. 

XVI.  If  then  this  argument  is  sufficient,  let 
us  stop  here,  and  not  enquire  further.  But  if 
not,  our  second  argument  is  as  follows : — Just  as 
we  do  in  all  other  instances,  so  let  us  refer  His 
knowledge  of  the  greatest  events,  in  honour 
of  the  Father,  to  The  Cause.  And  I  think 
that  anyone,  even  if  he  did  not  read  it  in  the 
way  that  one  of  our  own  Students'^  did, 
would  soon  perceive  that  not  even  the  Son 
knows  the  day  or  hour  otherwise  than  as  the 
Father  does.  For  what  do  we  conclude  from 
this?  That  since  the  Father  knows,  therefore 
also  does  the  Son,  as  it  is  evident  that  this 
cannot  be  known  or  comprehended  by  any 
but  the  First  Nature.  There  remains  for  us  to 
interpret  the  passage  about  His  receiving  com- 
mandment,'^ and  having  kept  His  Command- 
ments, and  done  always  those  things  that 
please  Him  ;  and  further  concerning  His  being 
made  perfect, t  and  His  exaltation,^  and  His 
learning  obedience  by  the  things  which  He 
sufl'ered  ;  and  also  His  High  Priesthood,  and 
His  Oblation,  and  His  Betrayal,  and  His 
prayer  to  Him  That  was  able  to  save  Him 
from  death,  and  His  Agony  and  Bloody  Sweat 
and  Prayer,*  and  such  like  things  ;  if  it  were 
not  evident  to  every  one  that  such  words  are 
concerned,  not  with  That  Nature  Which  is 
unchangeable  and  above  all  capacity  of  suffer- 
ing, but  with  the  passible  Humanity.  This, 
then,  is  the  argument  concerning  these  objec- 
tions, so  far  as  to  be  a  sort  of  foundation  and 
memorandum  for  the  use  of  those  who  are 
better  able  to  conduct  the  enquiry  to  a  more 
complete  working  out.  It  may,  however,  be 
worth  while,  and  will  be  consistent  with  what 
has  been  already  said,  instead  of  passing  over 
without  remark  the  actual  Titles  of  the  Son 
(there  are  many  of  them,  and  they  are  con- 
cerned with  many  of  His  Attributes),  to  set 
before  you  the  meaning  of  each  of  them,  and 
to  point  out  the  mystical  meaning  of  the 
names. 

XVII.  We  willbegin  thus.  The  Deity  can- 
not be  expressed  in  words.  And  this  is  proved 
to  us,  not  only  by  argument,  but  by  the  wisest 
and  most  ancient  of  the  Hebrews,  so  far  as 
they  have  given  us  reason  for  conjecture. 
For  they  appropriated  certain  characters  to 
the  honour  of  the  Deity,  and  would  not  even 
allow  the  name  of  anything  inferior  to  God  to 
be  written  with  the  same  letters  as  that   of 


a  Heb.  vii.  25. 
6  2  Cor.  V.  16. 
f  Mark  xiii.  32. 


^  Rom.  viii.  26. 


Y  I  Tim.  ii.  5. 
£  I  John  ii.  I. 
Jj  I  Cor.  ii.  II. 


a  Elias  thinks  th.it  the  ereat  S.  Basil  Is  here  referred  to.   Petavius 
thinks  the  first  argument  of  c.  xvi.  forced  ^nd  unsatisfactory. 
j3  John  x'u.  49.      y  Heb.  v.  7,  etc.      S  Phil.  ii.  9.      £  Luke  xii.  44. 


3i6 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


God,  because  to  their  minds  it  was  improper 
that  the  Deity  should  even  to  that  extent  ad- 
mit any  of  His  creatures  to  a  share  with  Him- 
self. How  then  could  they  have  admitted 
that  the  invisible  and  separate  Nature  can  be 
explained  by  divisible  words?  For  neither 
has  any  one  yet  breathed  the  whole  air,  nor 
has  any  mind  entirely  comprehended,  or 
speech  exhaustively  contained  the  Being  of 
God.  But  we  sketch  Him  by  His  Attributes, 
and  so  obtain  a  certain  faint  and  feeble  and 
partial  idea  concerning  Him,  and  our  best 
Theologian  is  he  who  has,  not  indeed  discov- 
ered the  whole,  for  our  present  chain  does  not 
allow  of  our  seeing  the  whole,  but  conceived 
of  Him  to  a  greater  extent  than  another,  and 
gathered  in  himself  more  of  the  Likeness  or 
adumbration  of  the  Truth,  or  whatever  we 
may  call  it. 

XVni.  As  far  then  as  we  can  reach,  He 
Who  Is,  and  God,  are  the  special  names  of  His 
Essence ;  and  of  these  especially  He  Who  Is, 
not  only  because  when  He  spake  to  Moses  in 
the  mount,  and  Moses  asked  Avhat  His  Name 
was,  this  was  what  He  called  Himself,  bidding 
him  say  to  the  people  "  I  Am  hath  sent  me,"  » 
but  also  because  we  find  that  this  Name  is  the 
more  strictly  appropriate.  For  the  Name  0£os 
(God),  even  if,  as  those  who  are  skilful  in  these 
matters  say,  it  were  derived  from  ©e'eiv  ^  (to 
run)  or  from  AWetv  (to  blaze),  from  continual 
motion,  and  because  He  consumes  evil  condi- 
tions of  things  (from  which  fact  He  is  also 
called  A  Consuming  Fire),v  would  still  be  one 
of  the  Relative  Names,  and  not  an  Absolute 
one;  as  again  is  the  case  with  Lord,^  which 
also  is  called  a  name  of  God.  I  am  the 
Lord  Thy  God,  He  says,  that  is  My  name;* 
and,  The  Lord  is  His  name.^  But  we  are  en- 
quiring into  a  Nature  Whose  Being  is  absolute 
and  not  into  Being  bound  up  with  something 
else.  But  Being  is  in  its  proper  sense  pecu- 
liar to  God,  and  belongs  to  Him  entirely,  and 
is  not  limited  or  cut  short  by  any  Before  or 
After,  for  indeed  in  him  there  is  no  past  or 
future. 

XIX.   Of  the  other  titles,  some  are  evidently 


a  Exod.  iii.  I4-  •         •  ,. 

/STlie  derivation  of  0eds  from  ©e'eiv  (to  run)  is  given  by 
Pl.ito  (Crat.,  397c).  That  from  .\tSeii' (to  blaze)  is  found  also  in 
S.John  Damascene  (l)e  Fide  Orth..  I.,  12),  who  however  may 
have  borrowed  it  from  .S.  Gregory,  or  from  the  source  whence  the 
latter  took  it.  S.  Alhanasius  also  admits  it  (De  l)efin.,  it).  Other 
definitions  are,  according  to  Suicer.  (i)  ©eoo-flat  (to  see),  e.g. 
Ore:;.  Nyss.  in  Cant.  Horn.,  V.  (2)  ©ewpeii/  (to  conterriijlate), 
Athan.  (/uaest  Misc.Qu.  \  L.Qebs  Af-yerai  <i7rb  to  fletupeii'Ta  n-afra, 
oioi'ti  Beutpoi  KoX  0605,  fiyovv  fledrrjir  jrarTtoi'.  (^)  TiOerat  (^to 
place).  Clem.,  Al.  Strom.,  I.  s.  fin.,  Sees  irapa  rriv  Biaiv  eip>)Tai. 

y  Deut.  iv.  24. 

6  Lord  (Kiiptosl  is  simply  the  LXX.  rendering  of  the  word 
which  in  reading  Hebrew  is  substituted  for  the  Ineffable  Name. 
Thus  in  the  passages  quoted,  had  the  original  language  been 
used,  the  Four-Lettered  Name  would  have  appeared. 

e  Isa.  xlii.  8.  (  Amos,  ix.  6. 


names  of  His  Authority,  others  of  His  Gov- 
ernment of  the  world,  and  of  this  viewed  un- 
der a  twofold  aspect,  the  one  before  the  other 
in    the    Incarnation.      For    instance    the    A1-. 
mighty,  the  King  of  Glory,  or  of  The  Ages,  or 
of  The  I'owers,   or   of  The    Beloved,    or    of 
Kings.      Or  again  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth,  that 
is  of  Hosts,  or  of  Powers,  or  of  Lords ;  these 
are   clearly  titles    belonging  to  His   Author- 
ity.     But  the  God  either  of  Salvation  or  of 
Vengeance,  or  of  Peace,  or  of  Righteousness  ; 
or  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  of  all  the 
spiritual  Israel  that  seeth  God, — these  belong 
to  His  Government.     For  since  we  are  gov- 
erned by  these  three  things,  the  fear  of  pun- 
ishment, the  hope  of  salvation  and  of  glory 
besides,    and  the   practice  of  the   virtues  by 
which  these  are  attained,  the  Name  of  the  God 
of  Vengeance  governs  fear,  and  that  of  the 
God  of  Salvation  our  hope,  and  that  of  the 
God  of  Virtues  our  practice  ;   that  whoever  at- 
tains to  any  of  these  may,  as  carrying  God  in 
himself,   press  on  yet  more  unto  perfection, 
and  to  that  affinity  which  arises  out  of  virtues. 
Now  these  are  Names  common  to  the  God- 
head, but  the  Proper  Name  of  the  Unoriginate 
is  Father,  and  that  of  the  unorigmately  Be- 
gotten is  Son,   and   that  of  the   unbegottenly 
Proceeding  or  going  forth  is  The  Holy  Ghost. 
Let  us  proceed  then  to  the  Names  of  the  Son, 
which  were  our  starting  point  in   this  part   of 
our  argument. 

XX.  In  my  opinion  He  is  called  Son  because 
He  is  identical  with  the  Father  in  Essence  ;  and 
not  only  for  this  reason,  but  also  because  He 
is  Of  Him.  And  He  is  called  Only-Begotten, 
not  because  He  is  the  only  Son  and  of  the 
Father  alone,  and  only  a  Son  ;  but  also  be- 
cause the  manner  of  His  Sonship  is  peculiar  to 
Himself  and  not  shared  by  bodies.  And  He 
is  called  the  Word,  because  He  is  related  to 
the  Father  as  Word  to  Mind  ;  not  only  on 
account  of  His  passionless  Generation,  but  al- 
so because  of  the  Union,  and  of  His  declara- 
tory function.  Perhaps  too  this  relation 
might  be  compared  to  that  between  the  Defini- 
tion and  the  Thing  defined*  since  this  also  is 
called  Aoyos.^  For,  it  says,  he  that  hath  mental 
perception  of  the  Son  (for  this  is  the  meaning 
of  Hath  Seen)  hath  also  i)erceived  the  Father ;  y 
and  the  Son  is  a  conci.se  demonstration  and 
easy  setting  forth  of  the  Father's  Nature.  For 
every  thing  that  is  begotten  is  a  silent  word 
of  him  that  begat  it.  And  if  any  one  should 
say  that  this  Name  was  given   Him  because 

a  Of  the  oration  on  Christmas  Day,  where  He  is  called  o  row 
Tlarphi  bpo?  koX  A070S,  and  sc-e  Note  tliere. 

ft  Ratio  (relation  :  sometimes  reason)  Sermo  (discourse)  and 
Verbum  (Word)  are  all  renderings  of  Ad-yos.  V  John  xiv.  9. 


THE   FOURTH    THEOLOGICAL   ORATION. 


317 


He  existsin  all  things  that  are,  he  would  not 
what 


For 

the  word  ? 


is  there   that  consists 
He  is  also  called  Wisdom, 


aTtheTCnowledge  of  things  divine  and  human. 
"For  how  is  it  possible  that  He  Who  made  all 
things  should  be  ignorant  of  the  reasons  of 
what  He  has  made  ?  And  Power,  as  the  Sus- 
_taiiier_oiLalJL created  things,  and  the  Furnisher 
to  them,  of  powerjojieep  themselves J;ogether. 
.-Thd  Truth,  as  being  in  nature  One  and  not 
many  (for  truth  is  one  and  falsehood  is  mani- 
fold), and  as  the  pure  Seal  of  the  Father  and 
His  most  unerring  Impress.  And  the  Image 
as  of  one  substance  with  Him,  and  because  He 
is  of  the  Father,  and  not  the  Father  of  Him. 
For  this  is  of  the  Nature  of  an  jmage,  to  be 
the  reproduction  of  its^rchetype,  and  of  that 
whoie  name  it  bears  ;  only  that  there  is  more 
here.     For  in  ordinary  language  an 


image 


IS 


a  motionless  representation  of  that  which  has 
motion  ;  but  in  this  case  it  is  the  living  repro- 
duction of  the  Living  One,  and  is  more  exact- 
ly like  than  was  Seth  to  Adam,*  or  any  son  to 
his  father.  For  such  is  the  nature  of  simple 
Existences,  that  it  is  not  correct  to  say  of  them 
that  they  are  Like  in  one  particular  and  Unlike 
in  another  ;  but  they  are  a  complete  resem- 
blance, and  should  rather ,be  called  Identical 
thanHike.  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  H£is  called  Life,  because  He  is 
Light,  and  is  tjie  constituting  and  creating  Pow- 
erjof^very  reasonable  soul.  For  in  Him  we 
Uve  and  move  and  have  our  being, ^_accordiiig_ 
to  the  douljle  power  of  that  Breathing  into  us  ; 
for  \ye--wereaJi  inspired  by  Him  with  breath, v 
aniLas  many  of  us  as  were  capable  of  it,  and 
in  soiaiLiS_we  open  the  mouth  of  oiir  mind, 
with  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  is  Righteous- 
ness,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  rebel- 
lion against  the  better.  He  is  Sanctification, 
as  being  Purity,  that  the  Pure  may  be  con- 
tained by  Purity.  And  Redemption,  because 
He  sets  us  free,  who  were  held  captive  under 
sin,  giving  Himself  a  Ransom  for  us,  the  Sacri- 
fice to  make  expiation  for  the  world.  And  Re- 
surrection, because  He  raises  up  from  hence, 
and  brings  to  life  again  us,who  were  slain  bysin. 


a  Gen.  v.  3. 


/3  Acts  xvii.  ?8. 


V  (ien. 


11.  7. 


XXI.  These  names  however  are  still  com- 
mon to  Him  Who  is  above  us,  and  to  Him  Who 
came  for  our  sake.  But  others  are  peculiarly 
our  own,  and  belong  to  that  nature  which  He 
assumed.  So  He  is  called  Man,  not  only  that 
through  His  Body  He  may  be  apprehended 
by  embodied  creatures,  whereas  otherwise  this 
would  be  impossible  because  of  His  incom- 
prehensible nature  ;  but  also  that  by  Himself 
He  may  sanctify  humanity,  and  be  as  it  were 
a  leaven  to  the  whole  lump ;  and  by  uniting 
to  Himself  that  which  was  condemned  may 
release  it  from  all  condemnation,  becoming 
for  all  men  all  things  that  we  are,  except  sin  ; 
— body,  soul,  mind  and  all  through  which 
death  reaches — and  thus  He  became  Man, 
who  is  the  combination  of  all  these ;  God  in 
visible  form,  because  He  retained  that  which 
is  perceived  by  mind  alone.  He  is  Son  of 
Man,  both  on  account  of  Adam,  and  of  the 
Virgin  from  Whom  He  came  ;  from  the  one 
as  a  forefather,  from  the  other  as  His  Mother, 
both  in 'accordance  with  the  law  of  generation, 
and  apart  from  it.  He  is  Christ,  because  of 
His  Godhead.  For  this  is  the  Anointing  of 
His  Manhood,  and  does  not,  as  is  the  case' 
with  all  other  x'Vnointed  Ones,  sanctify  by  its. 
action,  but  by  the  Presence  in  His  Fulness  ofi 
the  Anointing  One  ;  the  effect  of  which  is 
that  That  which  anoints  is  called  Man,  and 
makes  that  which  is  anointed  God.  He  is 
The  Way,  because  He  leads  us  through  Him- 
self; The  Door,  as  letting  us  in  ;  the  Shepherd, 
as  making  us  dwell  in  a  place  of  green  pas- 
tures,"^ and  bringing  us  up  by  waters  of  rest, 
and  leading  us  there,  and  protecting  us  from 
wild  beasts,  converting  the  erring,  bringing 
back  that  which  was  lost,  binding  up  that 
which  was  broken,  guarding  the  strong,  and 
bringing  them  together  in  the  Fold  beyond, 
Avith  words  of  pastoral  knowledge.  The  Sheep, 
as  the  Victim  :  The  Lamb,  as  being  perfect  : 
the  Highpriest,  as  the  Offerer ;  Melchisedec, 
as  without  Mother  in  that  Nature  which  is 
above  us,  and  without  Father  in  ours  ;  and 
without  genealogy  above  (for  who,  it  says, 
shall  declare  His  generation  ?)  and  moreover, 
as  King  of  Salem,  which  means  Peace,  and 
King  of  Righteousness,  and  as  receiving  tithes 
from  Patriarchs,  when  they  prevail  over 
powers  of  evil.  They  are  the  titles  of  the 
Son.  Walk  through  them,  those  that  are 
lofty  in  a  godlike  manner  ;  those  that  belong 
to  the  body  in  a  manner  suitable  to  them  ;  or 
rather,  altogether  in  a  godlike  manner,  that 
thou  mayest  become  a  god,  ascending  from 


a  Ps.  xxiii.  2. 


3i8 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


below,  for  His  sake  Who  came  down  from  on 
high  for  ours.  In  all  and  above  all  keep  to 
this,  and  thou  shalt  never  err,  either  in  the 
loftier  or  the  lowlier  names  ;  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Same  yesterday  and  to-day  in  the  Incar- 
nation, and  in  the  Spirit  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


THE     FIFTH 


THEOLOGICAL 
TION. 


ORA- 


On  The  Holy  Spirit. 

I.  Such  then  is  the  account  of  the  Son,  and 
in  this  manner  He  has  escaped  those  who  would 
stone  Him,  passing  through  the  midst  of  them.* 
For  the  Word  is  not  stoned,  but  casts  stones 
when  He  pleases  ;  and  uses  a  sling  against 
wild  beasts — that  is,  words — approaching  the 
Mount ^  in  an  unholy  way.  But,  they  go  on, 
what  have  you  to  say  about  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
From  whence  are  you  bringing  in  upon  us  this 
strange  God,  of  Whom  Scripture  is  silent  ? 
And  even  they  who  keep  within  bounds  as  to 
the  Son  speak  thus.  And  just  as  we  find  in 
the  case  of  roads  and  rivers,  that  they  split  off 
from  one  another  and  join  again,  so  it  hap- 
pens also  in  this  case,  through  the  superabund- 
ance of  impiety,  that  people  who  differ  in  all 
other  respects  have  here  some  points  of  agree- 
ment, so  that  you  never  can  tell  for  certain 
either  where  they  are  of  one  mind,  or  where 
they  are  in  conflict. 

II.  Now  the  subject  of  the  Holy  Spirit  pre- 
sents a  special  difficulty,  not  only  because  when 
these  men  have  become  weary  in  their  dispu- 
tations concerning  the  Son,  they  struggle  with 
greater  heat  against  the  Spirit  (for  it  seems  to 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  them  to  have  some 
object  on  which  to  give  expression  to  their 
impiety,  or  life  would  appear  to  them  no 
longer  worth  living),  but  further  because  we 
ourselves  also,  being  worn  out  by  the  multi- 
tude of  their  questions,  are  in  something  of  the 
same  condition  with  men  who  have  lost  their 
appetite  ;  who  having  taken  a  dislike  to  some 
particular  kind  of  food,  shrink  from  all  food; 
so  we  in  like  manner  have  an  aversion  from 
all  discussions.  Yet  may  the  Spirit  grant  it 
to  us,  and  then  the  discourse  will  ])roceed, 
and  God  will  be  glorified.  Well  then,  we 
will  leave  to  others  "y  who  have  worked  upon 
this  subject  for  us  as  well  as  for  themselves,  as 
we  have  worked  upon  it  for  tliem,  the  task  of 
examining  carefully  and  distinguishing  in  how 

a  Luke  iv.  2q.  30.  /3  Exod.  xix.  13. 

■y  E.g.  S.  Basil  and  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa. 


many  senses  the  word  Spirit  or  the  word  Holy 
is  used  and  understood  in  Holy  Scripture, 
with  the  evidence  suitable  to  such  an  enquiry  ; 
and  of  shewing  how  besides  these  the  com- 
bination of  the  two  words — I  mean.  Holy 
Spirit — is  used  in  a  peculiar  sense  ;  but  we 
will  apply  ourselves  to  the  remainder  of  the 
subject. 

III.  They  then  who  are  angry  with  us  on 
the  ground  that  we  are  bringing  in  a  strange 
or  interpolated  God,  viz.  : — the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  who  fight  so  very  hard  for  the  letter, 
should  kriow  that  they  are  afraid  where  no 
fear  is  ;  '^  and  I  would  have  them  clearly  under- 
stand that  their  love  for  the  letter  is  but  a 
cloak  for  their  impiety,  as  shall  be  shewn  later 
on,  when  we  refute  their  objections  to  the  ut- 
most of  our  power.  But  we  have  so  much 
confidence  in  the  Deity  of  the  Spirit  Whom 
we  adore, ^  that  we  will  begin  our  teaching 
concerning  His  Godhead  by  fitting  to  Him 
the  Names  which  belong  to  the  Trinity,  even 
though  some  persons  may  think  us  too  bold. 
The  Father  was  the  True  Light  which  light- 
eneth  every  man  coming  into  the  world. 
The  Son  was  the  True  Light  which  lighten- 
eth  every  man  coming  into  the  world.  The 
Other  Comforter  was  the  True  Light  which 
lighteneth  every  man  coming  into  the  world. v 
Was  and  Was  and  Was,  but  Was  One  Thing. 
Light  thrice  repeated  ;  but  One  Liglit  aiid 
One  God.  This  was  what  David  represented 
to  himself  long  before  when  he  said.  In  Thy 
Light  shall  we  see  Light. ^  And  now  we  have 
both  seen  and  proclaim  concisely  and  simply 
the  doctrine^  of  God  the  Trinity,  compre- 
hending out  of  Light  (the  Father),  Light  (the 
Son),  in  Light  (the  JHoly  Ghost).  He  that 
rejects  it,  let  him  reject  it;^  and  he  that 
doeth  iniquity,  let  him  do  iniquity  ;  we  pro- 
claim that  which  we  have  understood.  We 
will  get  us  up  into  a  high  mountain,'^  and 
will  shout,  if  Ave  be  not  heard,  below ;  we 
will  exalt  the  Spirit ;  we  will  not  be  afraid  ; 
or  if  we  are  afraid,  it  shall  be  of  keeping 
silence,  not  of  ])roclaiming. 

IV.  If  ever  there  was  a  time  when  the  Father 
was  not,  then  there  was  a  time  when  the  Son 
was  not.  If  ever  there  was  a  time  when  the 
Son  was  not,  then  there  was  a  time  when  the 
Spirit  was  not.  If  the  One  was  from  the  lie- 
ginning,  then  the  Three  were  so  too.     If  you 


a  Ps.  liii.  5. 

P  TTpeaPevfiy  is  not  commonly  used  in  this  sense,  but  there  are 
classical  instances  of  it  (e.p.  /V.sch.  Choeph.,  488;  Soph.,  Trach.. 
lo'^S,  and  it  occurs  also  in  Plato),  and  this  is  the  sense  in  which 
it  is  here  rendered  by  Hillius  :  but  n  V.  1^.  of  some  MSS.  gives  the 
meaning,  whose  cause  we  are  pleading,  which  is  a  more  frequent 
use  of  the  word.  y  John  i.  o.  S  I's.  xvxvi.  9. 

«  Al.  The  Confession.  f  Isa.  xxi.  2.  rj  lb.  xl.  9. 


ON    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 


319 


throw  down  the  One,  I  am  bold  to  assert  that 
you  do  not  set  up  the  other  Two.  For  what 
profit  is  there  in  an  imperfect  Godhead?  Or 
rather,  what  Godhead  can  there  be  if  It  is  not 
J2gliect;.?  And  how  can  that  be  perfect  which 
lacks  something  of  perfection  ?  And  surely 
there  is  something  lacking  if  it  hath  not  the 
Holy,  and  how  would  it  have  this  if  it  were 
without  the  Spirit?  For  either  holiness  is 
something  different  from  Him,  and  if  so  let 
some  one  tell  me  what  it  is  conceived  to  be ; 
or  if  it  is  the  same,  how  is  it  not  from  the  be- 
ginning, as  if  it  were  better  for  God  to  be  at 
one  time  imperfect  and  apart  from  the  Spirit? 
If  He  is  not  from  the  beginning,  He  is  in  the 
same  rank  with  myself,  even  though  a  little 
before  me  ;  for  we  are  both  parted  from  God- 
head by  time.  If  He  is  in  the  same  rank 
with  myself,  how  can  He  make  me  God,  or 
join  me  with  Godhead? 

V.  Or  rather,  let  me  reason  with  you  about 
Him  from  a  somewhat  earlier  point,  for  we 
have  already  discussed  the  Trinity.  The  Sad- 
ducees  altogether  denied  the  existence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  just  as  they  did  that  of  Angels 
and  the  Resurrection  ;  rejecting,  I  know  not 
upon  what  ground,  the  important  testimonies 
concerning  Him  in  the  Old  Testament.  And 
of  the  Greeks  those  who  are  more  inclined  to 
speak  of  God,  and  who  approach  nearest  to  us, 
have  formed  some  conception  of  Him,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  though  they  have  differed  as  to 
His  Name,  and  have  addressed  Him  as  the 
Mind  of  the  World,  or  the  External  Mind,  and 
the  like.  But  of  the  wise  nien  amongst  our- 
selves, some  have  conceived  of  him  as  an  Ac- 
tivity, some  as  a  Creature,  some  as  God;  and 
some  have  been  uncertain  which  to  call  Him, 
out  of  reverence  for  Scripture,  they  say,  as 
though  it  did  not  make  the  matter  clear  either 
way.  And  therefore  they  neither  worship 
Him  nor  treat  Him  with  dishonour,  but  take 
up  a  neutral  position,  or  rather  a  very  misera- 
ble one,  with  respect  to  Him.  And  of  those 
who  consider  Him  to  be  God,  some  are  or- 
thodox in  mind  only,  while  others  venture 
to  be  so  with  the  lips  also.  And  I  have 
heard  of  some  who  are  even  more  clever,  and 
measure  Deity  ;  and  these  agree  with  us  that 
there  are  Three  Conceptions  ;  but  they  have 
separated  these  from  one  another  so  com- 
pletely as  to  make  one  of  them  infinite  both 
in  essence  and  power,  and  the  second  in 
power  but  not  in  essence,  and  the  third  cir- 
cumscribed in  both  ;  thus  imitating  in  another 
way  those  who  call  them  the  Creator,  the 
Co-operator,  and  the  Minister,  and  consider 
that  the  same  order  and  dignity  which  be- 


longs to  these  names  is  also  a  sequence  in  the 
facts. 

VI.  But  we  cannot  enter  into  any  discussion 
with  those  who  do  not  even  believe  in  His 
existence,  nor  with  the  Greek  babblers  (for 
we  would  not  be  enriched  in  our  argument 
with  the  oil  of  sinners)."  With  the  others, 
however,  we  will  argue  thus.  The  Holy 
Ghost  must  certainly  be  conceived  of  either 
as  in  the  category  of  the  Self-existent,  or  as  in 
that  of  the  things  which  are  contemplated  in 
another ;  of  which  classes  those  who  are 
skilled  in  such  matters  call  the  one  Substance 
and  the  other  Accident.  Now  if  He  were  an 
Accident,  He  would  be  an  Activity  of  God, 
for  what  else,  or  of  whom  else,  could  He  be, 
for  surely  this  is  what  most  avoids  composition  ? 
And  if  He  is  an  Activity,  He  will  be  effected, 
but  Avill  not  effect  and  will  cease  to  exist 
as  soon  as  He  has  been  effected,  for  this  is  the 
nature  of  an  Activity.  How  is  it  then  that 
He  acts  and  says  such  and  such  things,  and 
defines,  and  is  grieved,  and  is  angered,  and 
has  all  the  qualities  which  belong  clearly  to 
one-  that  moves,  and  not  to  movement  ?  But 
if  He  is  a  Substance  and  not  an  attribute 
of  Substance,  He  will  be  conceived  of 
either  as  a  Creature  of  God,  or  as  God.  For 
anything  between  these  two,  whether  having 
nothing  in  common  with  either,  or  a  com- 
pound of  both,  not  even  they  who  invented 
the  goat-stag  could  imagine.  Now,  if  He  is 
a  creature,  how  do  we  believe  in  Him,  how 
are  we  made  perfect  in  Him  ?  For  it  is  not  the 
same  thing  to  believe  in  a  thing  and  to  be- 
lieve ABOUT  it.  The  one  belongs  to  Deity, 
the  other  to  —  any  thing.  But  if  He  is 
God,  then  He  is  neither  a  creature,  nor  a 
thing  made,  nor  a  fellow  servant,  nor  any  of 
these  lowly  appellations. 

VII.  There — the  word  is  with  you.  I-et  the 
sHngs  be  let  go ;  let  the  syllogism  be  woven. 
Either  He  is  altogether  Unbegotten,  or  else  He 
is  Begotten.  If  He  is  Unbegotten,  there  are 
two  Unoriginates.  If  he  is  Begotten,  you  must 
make  a  further  subdivision.  He  is  so  either 
by  the  Father  or  by  the  Son.  And  if  by  the 
Father,  there  are  two  Sons,  and  they  are 
Brothers.  And  you  may  make  them  twins  if 
you  like,  or  the  one  older  and  the  other 
younger,  since  you  are  so  very  fond  of  the 
bodily  conceptions.  But  if  by  the  Son,  then 
such  a  one  will  say,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  a 
Grandson  God,  than  which  nothing  could 
be  more  absurd.  For  my  part  however,  if  I 
saw  the  necessity  of  the  distinction,  I  should 

a  Ps.  cxii.  5. 


320 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


have 

the  names. 


acknowledged 
For  it 


the  facts 
does  not 


without  fear  of 
follow  that  be- 


cause the  Son  is  the  Son  in  some  higher  rela- 
tion (inasmuch  as  we  could  not  in  any  other 
way  than  this  point  out  that  He  is  of  God  and 
Consubstantial),  it  would  also  be  necessary  to 
think  that  all  the  names  of  this  lower  world 
and  of  our  kindred  should  be  transferred  to 
the  Godhead.  Or  may  be  you  would  con- 
sider our  God  to  be  a  male,  according  to  the 
same  arguments,  because  he  is  called  God 
and  Father,  and  that  Deity  is  feminine,  from 
the  gender  of  the  word,  and  Spirit  neuter,  be- 
cause It  has  nothing  to  do  with  generation  ; 
But  if  you  would  be  silly  enough  to  say,  with 
the  old  myths  and  fables,  that  God  begat  the 
Son  by  a  marriage  with  His  own  Will,  we 
should  be  introduced**  to  the  Hermaphrodite 
god  of  Marcion  and  Valentinus^  who  imag- 
ined these  newfangled  ^ons. 

VIII.  But  since  we  do  not  admit  your  first 
division,  which  declares  that  there  is  no  mean 
between  Begotten  and  Unbegotten,  at  once, 
along  with  your  magnificent  division,  away 
go  your  Brothers  and  your  Grandsons,  as 
when  the  first  link  of  an  intricate  chain  is 
broken  they  are  broken  with  it,  and  disap- 
pear from  your  system  of  divinity.  For,  tell 
me,  what  position  will  you  assign  to  that 
which  Proceeds,  which  has  started  up  between 
the  two  terms  of  your  division,  and  is  intro- 
duced by  a  better  Theologian  than  you,  our 
Saviour  Himself?  Or  perhaps  you  have  taken 
that  word  out  of  your  Gospels  for  the  sake  of 
your  Third  Testament,  The  Holy  Ghost, 
which  proceedeth  from  the  Father ;  t  \\n-io, 
inasmuch  as  He  proceedeth  from  That  Source, 
is  no  Creature  ;  and  inasmuch  as  He  is  not  Be- 
gotten is  no  Son  ;  and  inasmuch  as  He  is  be- 
tween the  Unbegotten  and  the  Begotten  is  God. 
And  thus  escaping  the  toils  of  your  syllogisms, 
He  has  manifested  himself  as  God,  stronger 
than  your  divisions.  What  then  is  Procession  ? 
Do  you  tell  me  what  is  the  Unbegottenness  of 
the  Father,  and  I  will  explain  to  you  the 
physiology  of  the  Generation  of  the  Son  and 


a  Irenaeus.  I..  6. 

3  It  would  seem  that  S.  Gregory  commonly  confused  Marcion 
with  Marcus,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Gnostic  School  of  Valentinus. 
In  another  place  he  speaks  nf  the  /Eons  of  Marcion  and  Valen- 
tinus, evidently  meannig  Marcus  ;  for  the  system  of  Marcion  is 
characterized  by  an  entire  absence  of  any  theory  of  Emanations 
(/Eons).  Similarly  there  is  no  trace  in  Marcion  of  this  notion 
of  a  hermaphrodite  Deity,  but  there  is  something  very  like  it  in 
the  account  of  Marcus  given  by  S.  Ircnxiis. 

7  John  XV.  26.  "  It  did  not  fall  within  thi>.  Father's  (Greg.  Naz.) 
province  to  develop  the  doctrine  of  the  Procession.  He  is  content 
to  shew  that  the  Spirit  was  not  Gienfrated,  sreini;  that  according  to 
(,'lirist's  own  teaching  He  Proceeds  from  the  Father.  The  question 
of  His  relation  to  the  Sou  is  alien  to  S.  Gregory  Nazianzen's  pur- 
pose ;  nor  does  it  seem  to  have  once  been  raised  in  the  great  battle 
between  Arianism  and  Catholicity  which  was  fought  out  at  Con- 
stantinople during  Gregory's  Episcopate  "  (Swete  on  the  Proces- 
sion, p.  107). 


the  Procession  of  the  Spirit,  and  we  shall  both 
of  us  be  frenzy-stricken  for  prying  into  the 
mystery  of  God."  And  who  are  we  to  do  these 
things,  we  who  cannot  even  see  what  lies  at 
our  feet,  or  number  the  sand  of  the  sea,  or  the 
drops  of  rain,  or  the  clays  of  Eternity,  much 
less  enter  into  the  Depths  of  God,  and  supply 
an  account  of  that  Nature  which  is  so  un- 
speakable and  transcending  all  words? 

IX.  What  then,  say  they,  is  there  lacking  to 
the  Spirit  which  prevents  His  being  a  Son,  for 
if  there  were  not  something  lacking  He  would 
be  a  Son  ?  We  assert  that  there  is  nothing 
lacking — for  God  has  no  deficiency.  But  the 
difference  of  manifestation,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  or  rather  of  their  mutual  relations 
one  to  another,  has  caused  the  difference  of 
their  Names.  For  indeed  it  is  not  some  de- 
ficiency in  the  Son  which  prevents  His  being 
Father  (for  Sonship  is  not  a  deficiency),  and 
yet  He  is  not  Father.  According  to  this  line 
of  argument  there  must  be  some  deficiency  in 
the  Father,  in  respect  of  His  not  being  Son. 
For  the  Father  is  not  Son,  and  yet  this  is  not 
due  to  either  deficiency  or  subjection  of  Es- 
sence ;  but  the  very  fact  of  being  Unbegotten 
or  Begotten,  or  Proceeding  has  given  the 
name  of  Father  to  the  First,' of  the  Son  to  the 
Second,  and  of  the  Third,  Him  of  Whom  we 
are  speaking,  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  the  dis- 
tinction of  the  Three  Persons  may  be  pre- 
served in  the  one  nature  and  dignity  of  the 
Godhead.  For  neither  is  the  Son  Father,  for 
the  Father  is  One,  but  He  is  what  the  Father 
is ;  nor  is  the  Spirit  Son  because  He  is  of 
God,  for  the  Only-begotten  is  One,  but  He  is 
what  the  Son  is.  The  Three  are  One  in  God- 
head, and  the  One  Three  in  properties  ;  so 
that  neither  is  the  Unity  a  Sabellian  one, ^  nor 

a  Ecclus  i.  2. 

/3  Sabellius,  who  taught  at  Rome  during  the  Pontificate  of  Cal- 
listus,  was  by  far  the  most  important  heresiarch  cf  his  period,  and 
his  opinions  by  far  the  most  dangerous.  While  .strongly  empha- 
sizing the  fundamental  doctrine  ot  the  Divine  Unity,  he  also 
admitted  in  terms  a  Trinity,  but  his  Trinity  was  not  ihut  of  the 
Catnolic  dogma,  for  he  represented  it  as  only  a.  threefold  manifes- 
tation of  the  one  Divine  Essence.  'J'he  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
(ihost  are  in  his  view  only  temporary  phasnomena,  which  fulfil 
their  mission,  and  then  return  into  the  abstract  Monad.  Dr  .Schaff 
(Hist,  of  the  Church,  Ante-Nicene  Period,  p.  582)  gives  the  follow- 
ing concise  account  of  his  teachnig  : 

'"The  unity  of  God.  without  distinction  in  itself,  unfolds  or 
extends  itself  in  the  course  of  the  word's  development,  in  three 
different  forms  and  periods  of  levelation,  and  after  the  completion 
of  redemption  returns  into  Ihiily.  The  Father  reveals  Himself  in 
the  giving  of  the  Law  or  the  Old  Testament  Economy  (not  in  the 
creation  also,  which  in  his  view  precedes  the  Trinitarian  revela- 
tion); the  Son  in  the  Incarnation  :  the  Holy  Ghost  in  inspiration  ; 
the  revelation  of  the  .Son  ends  with  the  Ascension  :  that  of  the 
.Spirit  goes  on  in  generation  and  sanclification.  He  illustrates  the 
Trinitarian  revelation  by  comparing  the  Father  to  the  disc  of  the 
sun,  the  Son  to  its  enlightening  power,  the  Spirit  to  its  warming 
influence.  He  is  also  said  to  have  likened  the  Father  to  the  body, 
the  Son  to  the  soul,  the  Holy  (Ihost  to  the  spirit  of  man  :  but  this 
is  unworthy  of  his  evident  speculative  discrinr'nation.  His  view 
of  the  Logos  too  is  peculiar.  The  Logos  is  not  identical  with 
the  .Son,  but  is  the  Mnnnd  itself  in  its  transition  to  Triad  :  that  is, 
God  conceived  as  vital  mitiou  and  creating  principle  :  the  Speak- 
ing (jod,  as  distinguished  from  the  Silent  God.     Each  Person  (or 


ON    THE    HOLY   SPIRIT. 


321 


does  the  Trinity  countenance  the  present  evil 
distinction. 

X.  What  then  ?  Is  the  Spirit  God  ?  Most 
certainly.  Well  then,  is  He  Consubstantial  ? 
Yes,  if  He  is  God.  Grant  me,  says  my  op- 
ponent, that  there  spring  from  the  same 
Source  One  who  is  a  Son,  and  One  who  is 
not  a  Son,  and  these  of  One  Substance  with 
the  Source,  and  I  admit  a  God  and  a  God. 
Nay,  if  you  will  grant  me  that  there  is  another 
God  and  another  nature  of  God  I  will  give 
you  the  same  Trinity  with  the  same  name  and 
facts.  But  since  God  is  One  and  the  Supreme 
Nature  is  One,  how  can  I  present  to  you  the 
Likeness  ?  Or  will  you  seek  it  again  in  lower 
regions  and  in  your  own  surroundings?  It  is 
very  shameful,  and  not  only  shameful,  but 
very  foolish,  to  take  from  things  below  a 
guess  at  things  above,  and  from  a  fluctuat- 
ing nature  at  the  things  that  are  unchanging, 
and  as  Isaiah  says,  to  seek  the  Living  among 
the  dead."  But  yet  I  will  try,  for  your  sake, 
to  give  you  some  assistance  for  your  argument, 
even  from  that  source.  I  think  I  will  pass 
over  other  points,  though  I  might  bring  for- 
ward many  from  animal  history,  some  gener- 
ally known,  others  only  known  to  a  few,  of 
what  nature  has  contrived  with  wonderful 
art  in  connection  with  the  generation  of  ani- 
mals. For  not  only  are  likes  said  to  beget 
likes,  and  things  diverse  to  beget  things  di- 
verse, but  also  likes  to  be  begotten  by  things 
diverse,  and  things  diverse  by  likes.  And  if 
we  may  believe  the  story,  there  is  yet  another 
mode  of  generation,  when  an  animal  is  self- 
consumed  and  self- begotten.^  There  are  also 
creatures  which  depart  in  some  sort  from  their 
true  natures,  and  undergo  change  and  trans- 
formation from  one  creature  into  another,  by 
a  magnificence  of  nature.  And  indeed  some- 
times in  the  same  species  part  may  be  gener- 
ated and  part  not ;  and  yet  all  of  one  sub- 
stance ;  which  is  more  like  our  present  subject. 
I  will  just  mention  one  fact  of  our  own  nature 
which  every  one  knows,  and  then  I  will  pass 
on  to  another  part  of  the  subject. 

XI.  What  was  Adam  ?  A  creature  of  God. 
What  then  Avas  Eye_?  A  fragment  of  the  creat- 
ure. And  whaTwas  Seth  ?  The  begotten  of 
both.  Does  it  then  seem  to  you  that  Creature 
and  Fragment  and  Begotten  are  the  same 
thing?  Of  course  it  does  not.  But  were  not 
these  persons  consubstantial  ?     Of  course  they 


Aspect— the  word  is  ambiguous)  is  another  Uttering  ;  and  the 
Three  Persons  together  are  only  successive  evoUitions  of  the 
Logos,  or  world-ward  aspect  of  the  Divine  Nature.  As  the  Logos 
proceeded  from  God.  so  He  at  last  returns  into  Him,  and  the  pro- 
cess of  Trinitarian  development  closes." 

a  Isa.  viii.  19.  ^  i.e.  the  Phoeni.x.     Hdt.,  ii.  37. 

21 


were.  Well  then,  here  it  is  an  acknowledged 
fact  that  different  persons  may  have  the  same 
substance.  I  say  this,  not  that  I  would  attri- 
bute creation  or  fraction  or  any  property  of 
body  to  the  Godhead  (let  none  of  your  con- 
tenders for  a  word  be  down  upon  me  again), 
but  that  I  may  contemplate  in  these,  as  on  a 
stage,  things  which  are  objects  of  thought 
alone.  For  it  is  not  possible  to  trace  out  any 
image  exactly  to  the  whole  extent  of  the  truth. 
But,  they  say,  what  is  the  meaning  of  all  this? 
For  is  not  the  one  an  offspring,  and  the  other 
a  something  else  of  the  One  ?  Did  not  both 
Eve  and  Seth  come  from  the  one  Adam  ? 
And  were  they  both  begotten  by  him  ?  No  ; 
but  the  one  was  a  fragment  of  him,  and  the 
other  was  begotten  by  him.  And  yet  the  two 
were  one  and  the  same  thing ;  both  were  hu- 
man beings  ;  no  one  will  deny  that.  Will  you 
then  give  up  your  contention  against  the 
Spirit,  that  He  must  be  either  altogether  be- 
gotten, or  else  cannot  be  consubstantial,  or  be 
God  ;  and  admit  from  human  examples  the 
possibility  of  our  position  ?  I  think  it  will  be 
well  for  you,  unless  you  are  determined  to  be 
very  quarrelsome,  and  to  fight  against  what  is 
proved  to  demonstration. 

XII.  But,  he  says,  who  in  ancient  or  modern 
times  ever  worshipped  the  Spirit  ?  Who  ever 
prayed  to  Him  ?  Where  is  it  written  that  we 
ought  to  worship  Him.  or  to  pray  to  Him, 
and  whence  have  you  derived  this  tenet  of 
yours?  We  will  give  the  more  perfect  reason 
hereafter,  when  we  discuss  the  question  of  the 
unwritten  ;  for  the  present  it  will  suffice  to  say 
that  jtjsihe  Spirit  in  Whom  we  worship,  and 
in  Whom  we  pray.  For  Scripture  says,  God 
is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must 
worship  Him  in  Spirit  and  in  truth."  And 
again, — We  know  not  what  we  should  pray 
for  as  we  ought ;  but  the  Spirit  Itself  maketh 
intercession  for  us  with  groanings  which  can- 
not be  uttered  ;  ^  and  I  will  pray  with  the 
Spirit  and  I  will  pray  with  the  understanding 
also  ;  T — that  is,  in  the  mind  and  in  the  Spirit. 
Therefore  to  adore  or  to  pray  to  the  Spirit 
seems  to  me  to  be  simply  Himself  offering 
prayer  or  adoration  to  Himself.  And  what 
godly  or  learned  man  would  disapprove  of  this, 
because  in  fact  the  adoration  of  One  is  the 
adoration  of  the  Three,  because  of  the  equality 
of  honour  and  Deity  between  the  Three  ?  So 
I  will  not  be  frightened  by  the  argument  that 
all  things  are  said  to  have  been  made  by  the 
Son  ;  ^  as  if  the  Holy  Spirit  also  were  one  of 
these  things.     For  it  says  all  things  that  were 


a  John  iv.  24. 
y  I  Cor.  .\iv.  15. 


j3  Rom.  viii.  26. 
S  John  i.  2. 


322 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


made,  and  not  simply  all  things.  For  the 
Father  was  not,  nor  were  any  of  the  things  that 
were  not  made.  Prove  that  He  was  made, 
and  then  give  Him  to  the  Son,  and  number  Him 
among  the  creatures  ;  but  until  you  can  prove 
this  you  will  gain  nothing  for  your  impiety  from 
this  comprehensive  phrase.  For  if  He  was 
made,  it  was  certainly  through  Christ ;  I  my- 
self would  not  deny  that.  But  if  He  was  not 
made,  how  can  He  be  either  one  of  the  All, 
or  through  Christ  ?  Cease  then  to  dishonour 
the  Father  in  your  opposition  to  the  Only-be- 
gotten (for  it  is  no  real  honour,  by  presenting 
to  Him  a  creature  to  rob  Him  of  what  is  more 
valuable,  a  Son),  and  to  dishonour  the  Son  in 
your  opposition  to  the  Spirit.  For  He  is  not 
the  Maker  of  a  Fellow  servant,  but  He  is  glori- 
fied with  One  of  co-equal  honour.  Rank  no 
part  of  the  Trinity  with  thyself,  lest  thou  fall 
away  from  the  Trinity  ;  cut  not  off  from  Either 
the  One  and  equally  august  Nature ;  because 
if  thou  overthrow  any  of  the  Three  thou  wilt 
have  overthrown  the  whole.  Better  to  take  a 
meagre  view  of  the  Unity  than  to  venture  on 
a  complete  impiety. 

XHL  Our  argument  has  now  come  to  its 
principal  point ;  and  I  am  grieved  that  a  prob- 
lem that  was  long  dead,  and  that  had  given  way 
to  faith,  is  now  stirred  up  afresh  ;  yet  it  is  neces- 
sary to  stand  against  these  praters,  and  not  to 
let  judgment  go  by  default,  when  we  have  the 
Word  on  our  side,  and  are  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  Spirit.  If,  say  they,  there  is  God  and 
God  and  God,  how  is  it  that  there  are  not 
Three  Gods,  or  how  is  it  that  what  is  glori- 
fied is  not  a  plurality  of  Principles  ?  Who  is 
it  who  say  this?  Those  who  have  reached  a 
more  complete  ungodliness,  or  even  those  who 
have  taken  the  secondary  part ;  I  mean  who 
are  moderate  in  a  sense  in  res]:)ect  of  the  Son. 
For  my  argument  is  partly  against  both  in 
common,  partly  against  these  latter  in  particu- 
lar. What  I  have  to  say  in  answer  to  these  is 
as  follows  : — What  right  have  you  who  wor- 
ship the  Son,  even  though  you  have  revolted 
from  the  Spirit,  to  call  us  Tritheists?  Are  not 
you  Ditheists?  For  if  you  deny  also  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Only  Begotten,  you  have  clearly 
ranged  yourself  among  our  adversaries.  And 
why  should  we  deal  kindly  with  you  as  not 
quite  dead  ?  But  if  you  do  worship  Him, 
and  are  so  far  in  the  way  of  salvation,  we  will 
ask  you  what  reasons  you  have  to  give  for  your 
ditheism,  if  you  are  charged  with  it  ?  If  there 
is  in  you  a  word  of  wisdom  answer,  and  o])en 
to  us  also  a  way  to  an  answer.  For  the  very 
same  reason  with  which  you  will  repel  a 
charge  of  Ditheism  will  prove  sufficient  for  us 


against  one  of  Tritheism.  And  thus  we  shall 
win  the  day  by  making  use  of  you  our  accus- 
ers as  our  Advocates,  than  which  nothing  can 
be  more  generous. 

XIV.  What  is  our  quarrel  and  dispute  with 
both  ?  To  us  there  is  One  God,  for  the  Godhead 
is  One,  and  all  that  proceedeth  Irom  Him  is 
referred  to  One,  though  we  believe  in  Three 
Persons.  For  one  is  not  more  and  another 
less  God  ;  nor  is  One  before  and  another  after  ; 
nor  are  They  divided  in  will  or  parted  in 
power  ;  nor  can  you  find  here  any  of  the  qual- 
ities of  divisible  things  ;  but  the  Godhead  is, 
to  speak  concisely,  undivided  in  separate  Per- 
sons ;  and  there  is  one  mingling  of  Light,  as 
ii_3v:ere  of  three  suns  joined,  to  each  other. 
When  then  we  look  at  the  Godhead,  or  the 
First  Cause,  or  the  Monarchia,  that  which  we 
conceive  is  One  ;  but  when  we  look  at  the 
Persons  in  Whom  the  Godhead  dwells,  and  at 
Those  Who  timele.ssly  and  with  equal  glory 
have  their  Being  from  the  First  Cause — there 
are  Three  Whom  we  worship. 

XV.  What  of  that,  they  will  say  perhaps  ;  do 
not  the  Greeks  also  believe  in  one  Godhead, 
as  their  more  advanced  philosophers  declare? 
And  with  us  Humanity  is  one,  namely  the 
entire  race  ;  but  yet  they  have  many  gods, 
not  One,  just  as  there  are  many  men.  But  in 
this  case  the  common  nature  has  a  unity  which 
is  only  conceivable  in  thought ;  and  the  indi- 
viduals are  parted  from  one  another  very  far 
indeed,  both  by  time  and  by  dispositions  and 
by  power.  For  we  are  not  only  compound 
beings,  but  also  contested  beings,  both  with 
one  another  and  with  ourselves  ;  nor  do  we 
remain  entirely  the  same  for  a  single  day,  to 
say  nothing  of  a  whole  lifetime,  but  both  in 
body  and  in  soul  are  in  a  perpetual  state  of 
flow  and  change.  And  perhaps  the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  Angels  °-  and  the  whole  of  that 
superior  nature  which  is  second  to  the  Trinity 
alone;  although  they  are  simple  in  some 
measure  and  more  fixed  in  good,  owing  to 
their  nearness  to  the  highest  Good. 

XVI.  Nor  do  those  whom  the  Greeks  wor- 
ship as  gods,  and  (to  use  their  own  expression) 
daemons,  need  us  in  any  respect  for  their  accus- 
ers, but  are  convicted  upon  the  testimony  of 
their  own  theologians,  some  as  subject  to  pas- 
sion, some  as  given  to  faction,  and  full  of  in- 
numerable evils  and  changes,  and  in  a  state  of 
opposition,  not  only  to  one  another,  but  even 
to  their  first  causes,  whom  they  call  Oceani 

a  "  Similarly  it  is  clear  concerning  the  Angels,  that  they  have  a 
being  incapable  of  change,  so  far  as  pertain-;  to  their  nature,  with 
a  capacity  of  change  as  to  choice,  and  of  intelligence  and  affections 
and  places,  in  their  own  manner  "  (S.  Thomas  Aq.,  Summa,  I., 
X.,  5)- 


ON   THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 


323 


and  Tethyes  and  Phanetes,  and  by  several 
other  names  ;  and  last  of  all  a  certain  god  who 
hated  his  children  through  his  lust  of  rule,  and 
swallowed  up  all  the  rest  through  his  greedi- 
ness that  he  might  become  the  father  of  all 
men  and  gods  whom  he  miserably  devoured, 
and  then  vomited  forth  again.  And  if  these 
are  but  myths  and  fables,  as  they  say  in  order 
to  escape  the  shamefulness  of  the  story,  what 
will  they  say  in  reference  to  the  dictum  that 
all  rhings  are  divided  into  three  parts,'' 
and  that  each  god  presides  over  a  different 
part  of  the  Universe,  having  a  distinct  pro- 
vince as  well  as  a  distinct  rank  ?  But  our  faith 
is  not  like  this,  nor  is  this  the  portion  of 
Jacob,  says  my  Theologian.^  But  each  of 
these  Persons  possesses  Unity,  not  less  with 
that  which  is  United  to  it  than  with  itself,  by 
reason  of  the  identity  of  Essence  and  Power. y 
And  this  is  the  account  of  the  Unity,  so  far 
as  we  have  apprehended  it.  If  then  this  ac- 
count is  the  true  one,  let  us  thank  God  for  the 
glimpse  He  has  granted  us ;  if  it  is  not  let  us 
seek  for  a  better. 

XVII.  As  for  the  arguments  with  which  you 
would  overthrow  the  Union  which  we  support, 
I  know  not  whether  we  should  say  you  are  jest- 
ing or  in  earnest.  For  what  is  this  argument? 
"  Things  of  one  essence,  you  say,  are  counted 
together,"  and  by  this  "  counted  together," 
you  mean  that  they  are  collected  into  one 
number.^  But  things  which  are  not  of  one 
essence  are  not  thus  counted  ...  so 
that  you  cannot  avoid  speaking  of  three  gods, 
according  to  this  account,  while  we  do  not 
run  any  risk  at  all  of  it,  inasmuch  as  we 
assert  that  they  are  not  consubstantial.  And 
so  by  a  single  word  you  have  freed  yourselves 
from  trouble,  and  have  gained  a  pernicious 
victory,  for  in  fact  you  have  done  something 
like  what  men  do  when  they  hang  themselves 
for  fear  of  death.  For  to  save  yourselves 
trouble  in  your  championship  of  the  Mon- 
archia  you  have  denied  the  Godhead,  and 
abandoned  the  question  to  your  opponents. 
But  for  my  part,  even  if  labor  should  be 
necessary,  I  will  not  abandon  the  Object  of 
my  adoration.  And  yet  on  this  point  I  can- 
not see  where  the  difficulty  is. 

XVIII.  You  say.  Things  of  one  essence  are 
counted  together,  but  those  which  are  not  con- 
substantial  are  reckoned  one  by  one.  Where 
did  you  get  this  from  ?  From  what  teachers  of 


a  Homer,  II.,  .\iv.,  189.  P  Jer.  x.  16. 

7  Petavius  praises  this  dictum,  De  Trin.,  IV.,  xiii.,  g. 

S  (Tui/aptOiuLetTai,  as  when  you  say  Three  Gods,  or  Three  Men. 
and  the  like,  as  you  do  when  you  reckon  up  things  of  the  same 
sort.  On  the  other  hand,  you  must  use  the  plural  number  in 
reckoning  up  things  which  differ  in  kind. 


dogma  or  mythology  ?  Do  you  not  know  that 
every  number  expresses  the  quantity  of  what 
is  included  under  it,  and  not  the  nature  of 
the  things?  But  I  am  so  oldfashioned,  or 
perhaps  I  should  say  so  unlearned,  as  to  use 
the  word  Three  of  that  number  of  things, 
even  if  they  are  of  a  different  nature,  and  to 
use  One  and  One  and  One  in  a  different  way 
of  so  many  units,  even  if  they  are  united  in 
essence,  looking  not  so  much  at  the  things 
themselves  as  at  the  quantity  of  the  things  in 
respect  of  which  the  enumeration  is  made. 
But  since  you  hold  so  very  close  to  the  letter 
(although  you  are  contending  against  the  let- 
ter), pray  take  your  demonstrations  from  this 
source.  There  are  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs 
three  things  which  go  well,  a  lion,  a  goat, 
and  a  cock ;  and  to  these  is  added  a  fourth  ; 
— a  King  making  a  speech  before  the  people," 
to  pass  over  the  other  sets  of  four  which  are 
there  counted  up,  although  things  of  various 
natures.  And  I  find  in  Moses  two  Cherubim  ^ 
counted  singly.  But  now,  in  your  techno- 
logy, could  either  the  former  things  be  called 
three,  when  they  differ  so  greatly  in  their 
nature,  or  the  latter  be  treated  as  units  when 
they  are  so  closely  connected  and  of  one 
nature  ?  For  if  I  were  to  speak  of  God  and 
Mammon,  as  two  masters,  reckoned  under  one 
head,  when  they  are  so  very  different  from 
each  other,  I  should  probably  be  still  more 
laughed  at  for  such  a  connumeration. 

XIX.  But  to  my  mind,  he  says,  those  things 
are  said  to  be  connumerated  and  of  the  same 
essence  of  which  the  names  also  correspond, 
as  Three  Men,  or  Three  gods,  but  not  Three 
this  and  that.  What  does  this  concession 
amount  to  ?  It  is  suitable  to  one  laying  down 
the  law  as  to  names,  not  to  one  who  is  as- 
serting the  truth.  For  I  also  will  assert  that 
Peter  and  James  and  John  are  not  three  or 
consubstantial,  so  long  as  I  cannot  say  Three 
Peters,  or  Three  Jameses,  or  Three  Johns  ;  for 
what  you  have  reserved  for  common  names 
we  demand  also  for  proper  names,  in  accord- 
ance with  your  arrangement ;  or  else  you  will 
be  unfair  in  not  conceding  to  otliers  what  you 
assume  for  vourself.  What  about  John  then, 
when  in  his  Catholic  Epistle  he  says  that 
there  are  Three  that  bear  witness,')'  the  Spirit 

a  Prov.  XXX.  29,  30,  31.  p  Exod.  xxxvii.  7. 

y  This  is  the  famous  passage  of  the  Witnesses  in  i  John  v.  8. 
In  some  few  later  codices  of  the  Vulgate  are  found  the  words  which 
form  verse  7  of  our  A.  V.  I'ut  neither  verse  7  nor  these  words  are 
to  be  found  in  any  Greek  M.S.  earlier  than  the  Fifteenth  Century  ; 
nor  are  they  quoted  by  any  Greek  Father,  and  by  \ery  few  and 
late  Latin  ones.  They  have  been  thought  to  be  cited  by  .S.  Cyp- 
rian in  his  work  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church  ;  and  this  citation,  'fa 
fact,  would  be  a  most  importnnt  one.  as  it  would  throw  back  their 
reception  to  an  early  date.  Hut 't'ischendorf  (Gk.  Test..  Ed  viii,. 
ad.  loc. )  gives  reasons  for  believing  that  the  quotation  is  only  ap- 
parent, and  is  really  of  the  last  clause  of  verse  8. 


324 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


and  the  Water  and  the  Blood  ?  Do  you  think 
he  is  talking  nonsense?  First,  because  he  has 
ventured  to  reckon  under  one  numeral  things 
which  are  not  consubstantial,  though  you  say 
this  ought  to  be  done  only  in  the  case  of 
things  which  are  consubstantial.  For  who 
would  assert  that  these  are  consubstantial  ? 
Secondly,  because  he  has  not  been  consistent 
in  the  way  he  has  happened  upon  his  terms  ; 
for  after  using  Three  in  the  masculine  gender 
he  adds  three  words  which  are  neuter,  con- 
trary to  the  definitions  and  laws  which  you 
and  your  grammarians  have  laid  down.  For 
what  is  the  difference  between  putting  a  mas- 
culine Three  first,  and  then  adding  One  and 
One  and  One  in  the  neuter,  or  after  a  mascu- 
line One  and  One  and  One  to  use  the  Three 
not  in  the  masculine  but  in  the  neuter,  which 
you  yourself  disclaim  in  the  case  of  Deity? 
What  have  you  to  say  about  the  Crab,  which 
may  mean  either  an  animal,  or  an  instrument, 
or  a  constellation  ?  And  what  about  the 
Dog,  now  terrestrial,  now  aquatic,  now  celes- 
tial ?  Do  you  not  see  that  three  crabs  or  dogs 
are  spoken  of?  Why  of  course  it  is  so.  Well 
then,,  are  they  therefore  of  one  substance? 
None  but  a  fool  would  say  that.  So  you  see 
how  completely  your  argument  from  con- 
numeration  has  broken  down,  and  is  refuted 
by  all  these  instances.  For  if  things  that  are 
of  one  substance  are  not  always  counted  under 
one  numeral,  and  things  not  of  one  substance 
are  thus  counted,  and  the  pronunciation  of 
the  name"  once  for  all  is  used  in  both  cases, 
what  advantage  do  you  gain  towards  your 
doctrine? 

XX.  I  will  look  also  at  this  further  point, 
which  is  not  without  its  bearing  on  the  subject. 
One  and  One  added  together  make  Two ; 
and  Two  resolved  again  becomes  One  and 
One,  as  is  perfectly  evident.  If,  however, 
elements  which  are  added  together  must,  as 
your  theory  requires,  be  consubstantial,  and 
those  which  are  separate  be  heterogeneous, 
then  it  will  follow  that  the  same  things  must 
be  both  consubstantial  and  heterogeneous. 
No:  I  laugh  at  your  Counting  Before  and 
your  Counting  After,  of  which  you  are  so 
proud,  as  if  the  facts  themselves  depended 
upon  the  order  of  their  names.  If  this  were 
so,  according  to  the  same  law,  since  the  same 
things  are  in  consequence  of  tlie  eciuality  of 
their  nature  counted  in  Holy  Scripture,  some- 
times in  an  earlier,  sometimes  in  a  later  place, 
what  prevents  them  from  being  at  once  more 


a  i.e.  'X'houch  the  things  referred  to  may  differ  essentially,  yet 
if  the  nnnT;  by  which  they  wre  kniiwn  is  the  same,  one  utterance  of 
it  with  one  numeral  is  enough  to  express  a  collection  of  them  all. 


honourable  and  less  honourable  than  them- 
selves ?  I  say  the  same  of  the  names  God  and 
Lord,  and  of  the  prepositions  Of  Whom,  and 
By  Whom,  and  In  Whom,  by  which  you 
describe  the  Deity  according  to  the  rules  of 
art  for  us,  attributing  the  first  to  the  Father, 
the  second  to  the  Son,  and  the  third  to  the 
Holy  Ghost.  For  what  would  you  have 
done,  if  each  of  these  expressions  were  con- 
stantly allotted  to  Each  Person,  when,  the  fact 
being  that  they  are  used  of  all  the  Persons, 
as  is  evident  to  those  who  have  studied  the 
question,  you  even  so  make  them  the  ground 
of  such  inequality  both  of  nature  and  dignity. 
This  is  sufficient  for  all  who  are  not  altogether 
wanting  in  sense.  But  since  it  is  a  matter  of 
difficulty  for  you  after  you  have  once  made  an 
assault  upon  the  Spirit,  to  check  your  rush, 
and  not  rather  like  a  furious  boar  to  push 
your  quarrel  to  the  bitter  end,  and  to  thrust 
yourself  upon  the  knife  until  you  have  received 
the  whole  wound  in  your  own  breast ;  let  us 
go  on  to  see  what  further  argument  remains 
to  you. 

XXI.  Over  and  over  again  you  turn  upon 
us  the  silence  of  Scripture.  But  that  it  is  not 
a  strange  doctrine,  nor  an  afterthought,  but 
acknowledged  and  jjlainly  set  forth  both  by 
the  ancients  and  many  of  our  own  day,  is 
already  demonstrated  by  many  persons  who 
have  treated  of  this  subject,  and  who  have 
handled  the  Holy  Scriptures,  not  with  in- 
difference or  as  a  mere  pastime,  but  have 
gone  beneath  the  letter  and  looked  into  the 
inner  rneaning,  and  have  been  deemed  worthy 
to  see  the  hidden  beauty,  and  have  been 
ijradiated  by  the  light  of  knowledge.  We, 
however  in  our  turn  will  briefly  prove  it  as 
far  as  may  be,  in  order  not  to  seem  to  be  over- 
curious  or  improperly  ambitious,  building  on 
another's  foundation.  But  since  the  fact,  that 
Scripture  does  not  very  clearly  or  very  often 
write  Him  God  in  ex])ress  words  (as  it  does 
first  the  Father  and  afterwards  the  Son),  be- 
comes to  you  an  occasion  of  blasphemy  and 
of  this  excessive  wordiness  and  impiety,  we 
will  release  you  from  this  inconvenience  by  a 
short  discussion  of  things  and  names,  and 
esi)ecially  of  their  use  in  Holy  Scripture. 

XXII.  Some  things  have  no  existence,  but 
are  spoken  of;  otliers  which  do  exist  are  not 
spoken  of ;  some  neither  exist  nor  are  spoken 
of,  and  some  both  exist  and  are  spoken  of 
Do  you  ask  me  for  proof  of  this  ?  I  am  ready 
to  give  it.  According  to  Scripture  God  sleeps 
and  is  awake,  is  angry,  walks,  has  the  Cheru- 
bim for  His  Throne.  And  yet  when  did  He 
become  liable  to  passion,  and  have  you  ever 


ON   THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 


325 


heard  that  God  has  a  body  ?  This  then  is, 
though  not  really  fact,  a  figure  of  speech. 
For  we  have  given  names  according  to  our 
own  comjjrehension  from  our  own  attributes 
to  those  of  God.  His  remaining  silent  apart 
from  us,  and  as  it  were  not  caring  for  us,  for 
reasons  known  to  Himself,  is  what  we  call  His 
sleeping  ;  for  our  own  sleep  is  such  a  state  of 
inactivity.  And  again.  His  sudden  turning 
to  do  us  good  is  the  waking  up  ;  for  waking 
is  the  dissolution  of  sleep,  as  visitation  is  of 
turning  away.  And  when  He  punishes,  we 
say  He  is  angry  ;  for  so  it  is  with  us,  punish- 
ment is  the  result  of  anger.  And  His  work- 
ing, now  here  now  there,  we  call  walking  ;  for 
walking  is  change  from  one  place  to  another. 
His  resting  among  the  Holy  Hosts,  and  as  it 
were  loving  to  dwell  among  them,  is  His  sit- 
ting and  being  enthroned  ;  this,  too,  from 
ourselves,  for  God  resteth  nowhere  as  He  doth 
upon  the  Saints.  His  swiftness  of  moving  is 
called  flying,  and  His  watchful  care  is  called 
His_Face,  and  his  giving  and  bestowing*  is 
His  hand  ;  and,  in  a  word,  every  other  of  the 
powers  or  activities  of  God  has  depicted  for 
us  some  other  cori:)oreal  one. 

XXIII.  Again,  where  do  you  get  your  XJiv^ 
begotten  and  Unoriginate,  those  two  citadels  of 
your  i)osition,  or  we  our  Immortal  ?  Show  me 
these  in  so  many  words,  or  we  shall  either  set 
them  aside,  or  erase  them  as  not  contained  in 
Scripture;  and  you  are  slain  by  your  own 
principle,  the  names  you  rely  on  being  over- 
thrown, and  therewith  the  wall  of  refuge  in 
which  you  trusted.  Is  it  not  evident  that 
they  are  due  to  o^ssages  which  imply  them, 
though  the  words  do  not  actually  .occur  ? 
What  are  these  ])assages?— J  am  the.  first, 
and  I  am  the  last ^1  and.  before  Me  there 
wasjio.^  God,  neither  shall  there  be  after 
Me. v..  For  all  that  depends  on  that  Am  makes 
for  my  side,  for  it  Jias  neither  beginning  nor 
ending.  When  you  accq5't  this,  that  nothing 
is  before  Him,  and  that  He  has  not  an  older 
Cause,  you  have  implici^tly  given  Him  the 
titles  Unbegotten  and  Unoriginate.  And  to 
say  tharHe  has  no  end  of  Being  is  to  call  Him 
Immortal  and  Indestructible.  The  first  pairs, 
then,  that  I  referred  to  are  accounted  for  thus. 
But  what  are  the  things  which  neither  exist  in 
fact  nor  are  said  ?  I'hat  God  is  evil ;  that  a 
sphere  is  stjuare  ;  that  the  past  is  present ;  that 
man  is  not  a  compound  being.  Have  you 
ever  known  a  man  of  such  stupidity  as  to 
venture  either  to  think  or  to  assert  any  such 
"It    remains    to   shew    what   are    the 


thing  ? 


o  var.  lect.,  receiving.        j3  Isa.  xli.  4.         y  lb.  xliii.  10. 


things  which  exist,  both  in  fact  and  in  lan- 
guage. God,  Man,  Angel,  Judgment,  Vanity 
(viz.,  such  arguments  as  yours),  and  the  sub- 
version of  faith  and  emptying  of  the  mystery. 

XXIV.  Since,  then,  there  is  so  much  differ- 
ence in  terms  and  things,  why  are  you  such  a 
slave  to  the  letter,  and  a  partisan  of  the  Jewish 
wisdom,  and  a  follower  of  syllables  at  the  ex- 
pense of  facts  ?  But  if,  when  you  said  twice 
five  or  twice  seven,  I  concluded  from  your 
words  that  you  meant  Ten  or  Fourteen  ;  or  if, 
when  you  spoke  of  a  rational  and  mortal  animal, 
that  you  meant  Man,  should  you  think  me  to 
be  talking  nonsense?  Surely  not,  because  I 
should  be  merely  repeating  your  own  mean- 
ing ;  for  words  do  not  belong  more  to  the 
speaker  of  them  than  to  him  who  called  them 
forth.  As,  then,  in  this  case,  I  should  have 
been  looking,  not  so  much  at  the  terms  used, 
as  at  the  thoughts  they  were  meant  to  convey  ; 
so  neither,  if  I  found  something  else  either  not 
at  all  or  not  clearly  expressed  in  the  Words  of 
Scripture  to  be  included  in  the  meaning, 
should  I  avoid  giving  it  utterance,  out  of  fear 
of  your  sophistical  trick  about  terms.  In  this 
way,  then,  we  shall  hold  our  own  against  the 
.semi-orthodox — among  whom  I  may  not  count 
you.  For  since  you  deny  the  Titles  of  the 
Son,  which  are  so  many  and  so  clear,  it  is 
quite  evident  that  even  if  you  learnt  a  great 
many  more  and  clearer  ones  you  would  not 
be  moved  to  reverence.  But  now  I  will  take 
up  the  argument  again  a  little  way  further 
back,  and  shew  you,  though  you  are  so  clever, 
the  reason  for  this  entire  system  of  secresy. 

XXV.  There  have  been  in  the  whole  period 
of  the  duration  of  the  world  two  conspicuous 
changes  of  men's  lives,  which  are  also  called 
two  Testaments,  "  or,  on  account  of  the  wide 
fame  of  the  matter,  two  Earthquakes  ;  the  one 
from  idols  to  the  Law,  the  other  .from  the  Law 
to  the  Gospel.  And  we  are  taught  in  the  Gospel 
of  a^Jhird.  earthquake,  namely,  from  tliis  Earth 
to  that  which  cannot  be  shaken  ofnioved.^  Kow 
tlie  two  Testaments  are  alike  in  this  respect, 
that  the  change  was  not  made  on  a  sudden, 
nor  at  the  first  movement  of  the  endeavour. 
Why  not  (for  this  is  a  point  on  which  we 
must  have  information)  ?  That  no  violence 
might  be  done  to  us,  but  that  we  might  be 
moved  by  persuasion.  For  nothing  that  is 
involuntary  is  durable ;  like  streams  or  trees 
which  are  kept  back  by  force.  But  that 
which  is  voluntary  is  more  durable  and  safe. 


a  Heb.  xii.  26. 

P  Referring  to  the  earthquake  at  the  giving  of  the  Law  on  Mt. 
Sinai  (Heb.  xiii.).  and  to  the  prophesy  of  Haggai  (ii.  6),  with 
reference  to  the  Incarnation.  The  third  great  earthquake  is  that 
of  the  end  of  the  world  (Heb.  xii.  26). 


126 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


The  former  is  due  to  one  who  uses  force,  the 
latter  is  ours  ;  the  one  is  due  to  the  gentleness 
of  God,  the  other  to  a  tyrannical  authori.ty. 
Wherefore  God  did  not  think  it  behoved  Him 
to  benefit  the  unwilling,  but  to  do  good  to  the 
willing.  And  therefore  like  a  Tutor  or  Phy- 
sician He  partly  removes  and  partly  condones 
ancestral  habits,  conceding  some  little  of  what 
tended  to  pleasure,  just  as  medical  men  do 
with  their  patients,  that  their  medicine  may 
be  taken,  being  artfully  blended  with  what  is 
nice.  For  it  is  no  very  easy  matter  to  change 
from  those  habits  which  custom  and  use  have 
made  honourable.  For  instance,  theiirst  cut 
off  the  idol,  but  left  the  sacrifices  ;  the  second, 
while  it  destroyed  the  sacrifices  did  not  forbid 
circumcision."'  Then,  when  once  men  had 
submitted  to  the  curtailment,  they  also  yielded 
that  which  had  been  conceded  to  them  ;  ^  in 
the  first  instance  the  sacrifices,  in  the  second 
circumcision  ;  and  became  instead  of  Gentiles, 
Jews,  and  instead  of  Jews,  Christians,  being 
beguiled  into  the  Gospel  by  gradual  changes. 
Paul  is  a  proof  of  this  ;  for  having  at  one  time 
administered  circumcision,  and  submitted  to 
legal  purification,  he  advanced  till  he  could 
say,  and  I,  brethren,  if  I  yet  preach  cir- 
cumcision, why  do  I  yet  suffer  persecution? v 
His  former  conduct  belonged  to  the  temporary 
dispensation,  his  latter  to  maturity. 

XXVI.  To  this  I  may  compare  the  case  of 
TTheology*  except  that  it  proceeds  the  reverse 
way.  For  in  the  case  by  which  I  have  illus- 
trated it  the  change  is  made  by  successive  sub- 
tractions ;  whereas  here  perfection  is  reached 
.  by  additions.  For  the  matter  stands  thus.  The 
Old  Testament  proclaimed  the  Father  openly, 
and  the  Son  more  obscurely.  The  New  mani- 
fested the  Son,  and  suggested  the  Deity  of  the 
Spirit.  Now  the  Spirit  Himself  dwells  among 
us,  and  supplies  us  with  a  clearer  demonstra- 
tion of  Himself.  For  it  was  not  safe,  when 
the  Godhead  of  the  Father  was  not  yet  ac- 
knowledged, plainly  to  proclaim  the  Son  ;  nor 
when  that  of  the  Son  was  not  yet  received  to 
burden  us  further  (if  I  may  use  so  bold  an 
expression)  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;  lest  per- 
haps peoi)le  might,  like  men  loaded  with  food 
beyond  their  strength,  and  presenting  eyes  as  , 
yet  too  weak  to  bear  it  to  the  sun's  light,  risk 
the  loss  even  of  that  which  was  within  the 
reach  of    their  powers ;  but  that  by  gradual 


a  Acts  xvi.  3.  /3  lb.  xxi.  26.  7  Galat.  vii.  7-17. 

6  Theology  is  here  used  in  .1  restricted  sense,  as  denoting  sim- 
ply the  doctrine  of  the  Deity  of  the  Son  or  Logos.  It  is  verj- 
frequently  used  in  this  limited  .sense  ;  examples  of  which  may 
readily  be  found  in  Gregory  of  Nyssa.  Basil.  Chrj'sostom,  and 
others.  A  similar  use  occwrs  in  Orat.  XXXVIII..  c.  8,  in  which 
passage  Seofi.oyia  is  contrasted  with  o'lKovoixia,  the  doctrine  of  our 
Lord's  Divinity  with  that  of  the  Incarnation. 


additions,  and,  as  Payid  says.  Goings  up,  and  , 
advances  and  i)rogress  from  glory  to^lory,"  the 
tight  of  the  Trinity  might  shine  upoli~the 
more  illuminated.  For  this  reason  it  was,  I 
think,  that  \lt  gradually  came  to  dwell  in  the 
Disciples,  measuring  Himself  out  to  them 
according  to  their  capacity  to  receive  Him,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Gospel,  after  the  Pas- 
sion, after  the  Ascension,  making  perfect  their 
powers,  being  breathed  upon  them,  and  ap- 
pearing in  fiery  tongues.  And  indeed  it  is 
by  httle  and  little  that  He  is  declared  by 
Jesus,  as  you  will  learn  for  yourself  if  you  will 
read  more  carefully.  I  will  ask  the  Father,  He 
says,  and  He  will  send  you  another  Com- 
forter, even  the  spirit  of  Truth. ^  This  He 
said  that  He  might  not  seem  to  be  a  rival 
God,  or  to  make  His  discourses  to  them  by 
another  authority.  Again,  He  shall  send 
Him,  but  it  is  in  My  Name.  He  leaves  out 
the  I  will  ask,  but  He  keeps  the  Shall  sendjV 
then  again,  I  will  send, — His  own  dignity. 
Then  shall  come,^  the  authority  of  the  Spirit. 

XXVII.  You  see  lights  breaking  upon  us, 
gradually  ;  and  the  order  of  Theology,  which 
it  is  better  for  us  to  keep,  neither  proclaiming 
things  too  suddenly,  nor  yet  keeping  them  hid- 
den to  the  end.  For  the  former  course  would  be 
unscientific,  the  latter  atheistical ;  and  the  for- 
mer would  be  calculated  to  startle  outsiders,  the 
latter  to  alienate  our  own  people.  1  will  add 
another  point  to  what  I  have  said  ;  one  which 
may  readily  have  come  into  the  mind  of  some 
others,  but  which  I  think  a  fruit  of  my  own 
thought.  Our  Savjour  had  some  things  which. 
He  said,  could  not  be  borne  at  that  time  by 
His  disciples*  (though  they  were  filled  with 
many  teachings),  perhaps  for  the  reasons  I 
have  mentioned ;  and  therefore  they  were 
hidden.  And  again  He  said  that  all  things 
should  be  taught  us  by  the  Spirit  when  He 
should  come  to  dwell  amongst  usl^V  Qi  these 
things  one,-T  take  it,  was  the  Deity  of  the 
Spirit  Himself,  made  clear  later  on  when  such 
knowledge  should  be  seasonable  and  capable 
of  being  received  after  our  Saviour's  restora- 
tion, when  it  would  no  longer  be  received 
with  incredulity  because  of  its  marvellous 
character.  For  what  greater  thing  than  this 
did  either  He  promise,  or  the  Spirit  teach?  If 
indeed  anything  is  to  be  considered  great  and 
worthy  of  the  Majesty  of  God,  which  was 
either  promised  or  taught. 

XXVI II.  This,  then,  is  my  position  with  re- 
gard to  these  things,  and  I  hope  it  may  be  al- 
ways my  position,  and  that  of  whosoever  is  dear 

o  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7,  and  2  Cor.  iii.  18.  P  John  xiv.  16.  17. 

V  John  xvi.  7.         6  lb.  xvi.  8        e  lb.  xvi.  iz.         f  lb.  xiv.  26. 


ON   THE   HOLY   SPIRIT. 


327 


to  me ;  to  worship  God  the  Father,  God  the 
Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  Three  Persons, 
One  Godhead,  undivided  in  honour  and  glory 
and  substance  and  kingdom,  as  one  of  our 
own  inspired  philosophers*  not  long  departed 
shewed.  Let  him  not  see  the  rising  of  the 
Morning  Star,  as  Scripture saith,^  nor  the  glory 
of  its  brightness,  who  is  otherwise  minded,  or 
who  follows  the  temper  of  the  times,  at  one 
time  being  of  one  mind  and  of  another  at  an- 
other time,  and  thinking  unsoundly  in  the 
highest  matters.  For  jf  He  is  not  to  be  wor^ 
slji4Jpedj_hmv  can  He  deify  me  by  Baptisni? 
but  if  He  is  to  be  worshipped,  surely  He  is  an 
Object  of  adoration,  and  if  an  Object  of  adora- 
tion He  must  be  God  ;  the  one  is  linked  to  the 
other,  a  truly  golden  and  saving  chain.  And 
indeed  from  the  Spirit  comes  our  New  Birth, 
and  from  the  New  Birth  our  new  creation,  and 
from  the  new  creation  our  deeper  knowledge 
of  the  dignity  of  Him  from  Whom  it  is  de- 
rived. 

XXIX.  This,  then,  is  what  may  be  said  by 
one  who  admits  the  silence  of  Scripture.  But 
iio\v  the  swarm  of  testimonies  shall  burst  upon 
you  from  which  the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghostv 
shall  be  shewn  to  all  who  are  not  excessively 
stupid,  or  else  altogether  enemies  to  the  Spirit, 
to  be  most  clearly  recognized  in  Scripture. 
Look  at  these  facts  : — Christ  is  born  ;  the  Spirit 
is  His  Forerunner.  He  is  baptized  ;  the  Spir- 
it bears  witness.  He  is  tempted  ;  the  Spir- 
it leads  Him  up.*  He  works  miracles;  the 
Spirit  accompanies  them.  He  ascends  ;  the 
Spirit  takes  His  place.  What  great  things 
are  there  in  the  idea  of  God  which  are  not  in 
His  power?*  What  titles  which  belong  to 
God  are  not  applied  to  Him,  except  only 
Unbegotten  and  Begotten?  For  it  was  need- 
ful that  the  distinctive  properties  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son  should  remain  peculiar  to  Them, 
lest  there  should  be  confusion  in  the  Godhead 
Which  brings  all  things,  even  disorder^  itself, 
into  due  arrangement  and  good  order.  Indeed 
I  tremble  when  I  think  of  the  abundance  of 
the  titles,  and  how  many  Names  they  outrage 
who  fall  foul  of  the  Spirit.  H^is  called  tli^ 
Spirit  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  tike  Mind^ 
of  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  The  Lord,  and  Himself 

a  Perhaps  S.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  is  meant.  He  was  born 
about  A.D.  210.  'I'he  date  of  liis  death  is  uncertain,  but  was 
probably  not  before  270.  He  was  Bishop  of  Neocaesarea  in  Pontus. 
Amongst  his  works  was  an  Kxposiiion  of  the  Faith,  which  he  is 
said  to  have  received  by  direct  revelation,  and  in  it  the  words  in 
the  text  were  contained.  S.  Gregory  in  another  Oration  refers  to 
the  closing  sentences  as  the  substance  of  the  Formula  itself : 
"There  is  nothing  created  or  servile  in  the  Trinity,  nor  anything 
superinduced,  as  though  previously  non-existing  and  introduced 
afterwards.  Never,  therefore,  was  the  Son  wantmg  to  ihe  Father, 
r.or  the  Spirit  to  the  Son  ;  but  there  is  ever  the  same  Trinity,  un- 
changeable and  unalterable  (Reynolds,  in  Diet.  Uiog.). 

3  Job  iii.  9.  y  Luke  i.  35  ;   iii.  22  ;   iv.  i,  6  Luke  iv.  i,  18. 

e  Acts  ii.  4.  ^v,  1.  Yea,  even  disorder. 


The  Lord,  the  Spirit  of  Adoption,  of  Truth,  of_ 
Liberty;  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom,  of  Under- 
staiidihg',  of  Counsel,  of  Might,  of  Knowledge, 
of  Godliness,  of  the  Fear  of  God.  For  He  is  the 
Maker  of  all  these,  filling  all  with  His  Essence, 
containing  all  things,  jjlhjig^jhe  world  in  His 
Essence,  yet  incapable  of  being  comprehended 
fn  His  power  by  the  world  ;  good,  upright, 
[)ri_ncely_,  by  nature  not  by  adoption  ;  sanctify- 
ing, not  sanctified  ;  measuring,  not  measured  ; 
shared,  not  sharing ;  filling,  not  filled  ;  con- 
taining, not  contained  ;  inherited,  glorified, 
reckoned  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  held 
out  as  a  threat ; «  the  Finger  of  God  ;  fire  like 
God  ;  to  manifest,  as  I  take  it,  His  consub- 
stantialityj  ;  tlie..Creator-Spirit,  Who  by  Bap- 
tism, .aiid,  by  Resurrection  creates  anew  ;  the 
Spirit  That  knoWeth  all  things,  That  teacheth, 
That  bloweth  where  and  to  what  extent  He 
listeth  ;  That  guideth,  talketh,  sendeth  forth, 
separateth,  is  angry  or  tempted  ;  That  reveal- 
eth,  illumineth,  quickeneth,  or  rather  is  the 
very  Light  and  Life  ;  That  maketh  Temples  ; 
That  deifieth  ;  That  perfecteth  so  as  even  to 
anticipate  Baptism,^  yet  after  Baptism  to  be 
sought  as  a  separate  gift;'*'  That  doeth  all 
things  that  God  doeth ;  divided  into  fiery 
tongues ;  dividing  gifts ;  making  Apostles, 
Prophets,  Evangelists,  Pastors,  and  Teachers ; 
understanding  manifold,  clear,  piercing,  un- 
defiled,  unhindered,  which  is  the  same  thing 
as  Most  wise  and  varied  in  His  actions  ;  and 
making  all  things  clear  and  plain  ;  and  of  in- 
dependent power,  unchangeable,  Almighty, 
all-seeing,  penetrating  all  spirits  that  are  intel- 
ligent, pure,  most  subtle  (the  Angel  Hosts  I 
think)  ;  and  also  all  prophetic  spirits  and 
apostolic  in  the  same  manner  and  not  in  the 
same  places  ;  for  they  lived  in  different  ])laces  ; 
thus  showing  that  He  is  uncircumscript. 

XXX.  They  who  say  and  teach  these  things, 
and  moreover  call  Him  another  Paraclete  in 
the  sense  of  another  God,  who  know  that  blas- 
phemy against  Him  alone  cannot  be  forgiven,* 
and  who  branded  with  such  fearful  infamy  An- 
anias and  Sapphira  for  having  lied  to  the  Holy 
Ghost,  what  do  you  think  of  these  men  ?*  Dc 
they  proclaim  the  Spirit  God,  or  something 
else?  Now  really,  you  must  be  extraordinarily 
dull  and  far  from  the  Spirit  if  you  have  any 
doubt  about  this  and  need  some  one  to  teach 
you.  So  important  then,  and  so  vivid  are 
His  Names.  Why  is  it  necessary  to  lay  before 
you    the    testimony    contained    in    the    very 


a  Viz.  :— where  we  are  told  that  Blasphemy  against  Him  hath 
never  forgiveness. 

3  As  in  the  case  of  the  Centurion  Cornelius,  Acts  x.  9. 

y  i.  e.  in  Confirmation.         6  Matt.  xii.  31.         «  Acts  v.  3,  etc. 


528 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


words?  And  whatever  in  this  case  also"  is 
said  in  more  lowly  fashion,  as  that  He  is 
Given,  Sent,  Divided  ;  that  He  is  the  Gift^ 
the  Bounty,  the  Inspiration,  the  PromiseTThe 
Intercession  for  'us,  and,  not  to  go  into  any 
further  detail,  any  other  expressions  of  the 
sort,  is  to  be  referred  to  the  First  Cause,  that  it 
may  be  shewn  from  Whom  He  is,  and  that 
men  may  not  in  heathen  fashion  admit  Three 
Principles.  For  it  is  equally  impious  to  con- 
fuse the  Persons  with  the  Sabellians,  or  to 
divide  the  Natures  with  the  Arians. 

XXXI.  I  have  very  carefully  considered  this 
matter  in  my  own  mind,  and  have  looked  at  it 
in  every  point  of  view,  in  order  to  find  some 
illustration  of  this  most  important  subject, 
but  I  have  been  unable  to  discover  any  thing 
on  earth  with  which  to  compare  the  nature  of 
the  Godhead.  For  even  if  I  did  happen  upon 
some  tiny  likeness  it  escaped  me  for  the  most 
part,  and  left  me  down  below  with  my  exam- 
ple. I  picture  to  myself  an  eye,^  a  fountain, 
a  river,  as  others  have  done  before,  to  see  if 
the  first  might  be  analogous  to  the  Father,  the 
second  to  the  Son,  and  the  third  to  the  Holy 
Ghost.  For  in  these  there  is  no  distinction 
in  time,  nor  are  they  torn  away  from  their 
connexion  with  each  other,  though  they  seem 
to  be  parted  by  three  personalities.  But  I 
was  afraid  in  the  first  place  that  I  should  pre- 
sent a  flow  in  the  Godhead,  incapable  of 
standing  still ;  and  secondly  that  by  this  fig- 
ure a  numerical  unity  would  be  introduced. 
For  the  eye  and  the  spring  and  the  river  are 
numerically  one,  though  in  different  forms. 

XXXII.  Again  I  thought  of  the  sun  and  a  ray 
and  light.  But  here  again  there  was  a  fear  lest 
])eople  should  get  an  idea  of  composition  in 
the  Uncompounded  Nature,  such  as  there  is 
in  the  Sun  and  the  things  that  are  in  the  Sun. 
And  in  the  .second  place  lest  we  should  give 
Essence  to  the  Father  but  deny  Personality  to 
the  Others,  and  make  Them  only  Powers  of 
God,  existing  in  Him  and  not  Personal.  For 
neither  the  ray  nor  the  light  is  another  sun, 
but  they  are  only  effulgences  from  the  Sun, 
and  qualities  of  His  essence.  And  lest  we 
should  thus,  as  far  as  the  illustration  goes,  at- 
tribute l)oth  Being  and  Not-being  to  God, 
which  is  even  more  monstrous.  I  have  also 
heard  that  some  one  has  suggested  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  following  kind.  A  ray  of  the  Sun 
flashing  upon  a  wall  and  trembling  with  the 
movement  of  the  moisture  which  the  beam  has 
taken  uj)  in  mid  air,  and  then,  being  checked 


o  A<;  before  in  the  case  of  the  Son.      See  above,  Theol.,  iii.  i8. 

(3  Klias  Cretensis  says  that  the  Eye  in  this  passage  is  not  to  be 
understood  of  the  member  of  the  body  so  railed,  but  as  the  Kye  or 
the  centre  of  a  spring,  the  point  from  which  the  water  tlows. 


by  the  hard  body,  has  set  up  a  strange  quiver- 
ing. For  it  quivers  with  many  rapid  move- 
ments, and  is  not  one  rather  than  it  is  many, 
nor  yet  many  rather  than  one  ;  because  by 
the  swiftness  of  its  union  and  separating  it  es- 
capes before  the  eye  can  see  it. 

XXXIII.   But  it  is  not  possible  for  mc  to 
make  use  of  even  this  ;  because  it  is  very  evident 
what  gives  the  ray  its  motion  ;  but  there  is  noth- 
ing prior  to  God  which  could  set  Him  in  mo- 
tion ;  for  He  is  Himself  the  Cause  of  all  things, 
and  He  has  no  prior  Cause.     And  secondly  be- 
cause in  this  case  also  there  is  a  suggestion  of 
such  things  as  composition,  diffusion,  and  an 
unsettled  and  unstable  nature     .      .      .      none 
of  which  we  can  suppose  in  the  Godhead.    In 
a  word,   there   is   nothing  which  i)resents    a 
standing  point  to  my  mind  in   these  illustra- 
tions   from   which    to    consider    the    Object 
which  I  am  trying  to  represent  to  myself,  un- 
less one  may  indulgently  accept  one  point  of 
the  image  while  rejecting  the  rest.      Finally, 
then,  it  seems  best  to  me  to  let  the  images 
and   the  shadows  go,  as  being  deceitful  and 
very  far  short  of  the  truth  ;   and  clinging  my- 
self to  the  more  reverent  conception,  and  rest- 
ing upon   few  words,  using  the  guidance  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  keeping  to  the  end   as  my 
genuine  comrade  and  companion  the  enlight- 
enment which  I  have  received  from  Him,  and 
passing  through   this  world   to    persuade   all 
others  also  to  the  best  of  my  power  to  worship 
Father,   Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  the  One  God- 
head and  Power.     To  Him  belongs  all  glory 
and  honour  and    might    for    ever  and    ever. 
Amen. 


ORATION   XXXIII. 

Against    the    Arians,    and    Concerning 
Himself. 

Delivered  at  Constantinople  about  the  niitldle  of  the 
year  3S0. 

I.  Where  are  they  who  reproach  us  with 
our  poverty,  and  boast  theiiiselves  of  their  own 
Riches  ;  who  define  the  Church  by  mmibers,* 
and  scorn  the  little  flock  ;  and  w^ho  measure 
Godhead,^  and  weigh  the  people  in  the  bal- 
ance, who  honour  the  sand,  and  despise  the 
luminaries  of  heaven  ;  who  treasure  jiebbles 
and  overlook  pearls  ;  for  they  know  not  that 
sand  is  not  in  a  greater  degree  more  abundant 
than  stars,  and  pebbles  than  lustrous  stones — 


a  Shewing  the  absurdity  of  defining  the  Church  by  counting 

heads. 
I        ^  This  refers  to  the  distinction  drawn  by  the  Ar.ans  in  degree  as 

to  the  Godhead,  asserting  the  Spirit  to  be  great,  the  Son  greater, 
I    and  the  t'atlier  greatest  (cf.  Or.  xlii.,  16). 


AGAINST   THE   ARIANS. 


329 


that  the  former  are  purer  and  more  precious 
than  the  latter  ?  Are  .you  again  indignant  ? 
Do  you  again  arm  yourselves?  Do  you  again 
insult  us  ?  "  Is  this  a  new  faith  ?  Restrain 
your  threats  a  little  while  that  I  may  speak. 
We  will  not  insult  you,  but  we  will  convict 
you  ;  we  will  not  threaten,  but  we  will  re- 
proach you  ;  we  will  not  strike,  but  we  will 
heal.  This  too  appears  an  insult  !  What 
pride  !  Do  you  here  also  regard  your  equal 
as  your  slave?  If  not,  permit  me  to  speak 
openly  ;  for  even  a  brother  chides  his  brother 
if  he  has  been  defrauded  by  him. 

II.  Would  you  like  me  to  utter  to  you  the 
words  of  God  to  Israel,  stiff-necked  and  hard- 
ened ?  "  O  my  people  what  have  I  done  unto 
thee,  or  wdierein  have  I  injured  thee,  or  where- 
in have  I  wearied  thee  ?  "  ^  This  language  in- 
deed is  fitter  from  me  to  you  who  insult  me. 
It  is  a  sad  thing  that  we  watch  for  opportun- 
ities against  each  other,  and  having  destroyed 
our  fellowship  of  spirit  by  diversities  of  opin-  : 
ion  have  become  almost  more  inhuman  and 
savage  to  one  another  than  even  the  barbarians 
who  are  now  engaged  in  war  against  us,  band- 
ed together  against  us  by  the  Trinity  whom 
we  have  separated  ;  with  this  difference  that 
we  are  not  foreigners  making  forays  and  raids 
upon  foreigners,  nor  nations  of  different  lan- 
guage, which  is  some  little  consolation  in  the 
calamity,  but  are  making  war  upon  one  an- 
other, and  almost  upon  those  of  the  same 
household  ;  or  if  you  will,  we  the  members 
of  the  same  body  are  consuming  and  being 
consumed  by  one  another.  Nor  is  this,  bad  \ 
though  it  be,  the  extent  of  our  calamity,  for  we 
even  regard  our  diminution  as  a  gain.  But 
since  we  are  in  such  a  condition,  and  regulate 
our  faith  by  the  times,  let  us  compare  the 
times  with  one  another  ;  you  your  Emperor,  v 
and  I  my  Sovereigns  ;  ^  you  Ahab  and  I  Josias. 
Tell  me  of  your  moderation,  and  I  will  pro- 
claim my  violence.  But  indeed  yours  is  pro- 
claimed by  many  books  and  tongues,  w^hich  I 
think  future  ages  will  accept  as  an  immortal 
pillory  for  your  actions  and  I  will  declare  my 
own. 

III.  What  tumultuous  mob  have  I  led  against 
you  ?  What  soldiers  have  I  armed  ?  What 
general  boiling  with  rage,  and  more  savage 
than  his  employers,  and  not  even  a  Christian, 
but  one  who  offers  his  impiety  against  us  as 
his  private  worship  to  his  own  gods  ?  ^    Whom 

a  The  beginning  of  the  Oration  was  apparently  disturbed  by 
hostile  demonstrations  on  the  part  of  Arian  hearers. 

3  Mic.  vi.  3.  y  Valens.  S  Theodosius  and  Gratian. 

f  Dr.  Ullmann  makes  this  passage  refer  to  outrages  perpetrated 
in  Constantinople  itself  on  Gregory,  by  his  Arian  opponents.  On 
one  occasion,  he  says,  in  the  night  time  the  meetingpiace  of  the 
Orthodox   was   assailed  ;    a    mob   of   Arians,  and    in   particular 


I  besieged  while  engaged 


in  prayer  and 
When  have  I 


have 

lifting  up  their  hands  to  God  ? 
put  a  stop  to  psalmody  with  trumpets?  or 
mingled  the  Sacramental  Blood  with  blood  of 
massacre?  What  spiritual  sighs  have  I  put  an 
end  to  by  cries  of  death,  or  tears  of  penitence- 
by  tears  of  tragedy  ?  What  House  of  prayer 
have  I  made  a  burialplace  ?  What  liturgical 
vessels  which  the  multitude  may  not  touch 
have  I  given  over  to  the  hands  of  the  wicked, 
of  a  Nebuzaradan, "  chief  of  the  cooks,  or  of 
a  Belshazzar,  who  wickedly  used  the  sacred 
vessels  for  his  revels,^  and  then  paid  a  worthy 
penalty  for  his  madness  ?  "  Altars  beloved  ' '  as 
Holy  Scripture  saith,  but  "  now  defiled,  "v  And 
what  licentious  youth  has  insulted  you  for  our 
sake  with  shameful  writhings  and  contortions? 

0  precious  Throne,  seat  and  rest  of  precious 
men,  which  hast  been  occupied  by  a  succes- 
sion of  pious  Priests,  who  from  ancient  times 
have  taught  the  divine  Mysteries,  what  hea- 
then popular  speaker  and  evil  tongue  hath 
mounted  thee  to  inveigh  against  the  Christian's 
faith?  O  modesty  and  majesty  of  Virgins, 
that  cannot  endure  the  looks  of  even  virtuous 
men,  which  of  us  hath  shamed  thee,  and  out- 
raged thee  by  the  exposure  of  what  may  not 
be  seen,  and  showed  to  the  eyes  of  the  impious 
a  pitiable  sight,  worthy  of  the  fires  of  Sodom  ? 

1  say  nothing  of  deaths,  which  were  more 
endurable  than  this  shame. 

IV.  Wliat  wild  beasts  have  we  let  loose  upon 
the  bodies  of  Saints, — like  some  who  have 
prostituted  human  nature, — on  one  single  ac- 
cusation, that  of  not  consenting  to  their  im- 
piety ;  or  defiled  ourselves  by  communion 
with  them,  which  we  avoid  like  the  poison 
of  a  snake,  not  because  it  injures  the  body, 
but  because  it  blackens  the  depths  of  the  soul  ? 
Against  whom  have  w^e  made  it  a  matter  of 
criminal  accusation  that  they  buried  the  dead, 
whom  the  very  beasts  reverenced  ?  And 
what  a  charge,  worthy  of  another  theatre  and 
of  other  beasts  !  What  Bishop's  aged  flesh 
have  we  carded  with  hooks  in  the  presence  of 
their  disciples,  impotent  to  help  them  save  by 
tears,  hung  up  with  Christ,  conquering  by 
suffering,  and  sprinkling  the  people  with  their 


women  of  the  lowest  stamp,  set  on  by  monks,  armed  themselves 
with  sticks  and  stones,  and  forced  an  entrance  into  the  peaceful 
place  of  holy  worship.  The  champion  of  orthodoxy  well  nigh  be- 
came a  martyr  lo  his  convictions  ;  the  Altar  was  profaned,  the  con- 
secrated wine  was  mixed  with  blood  ;  the  house  of  prayer  was  made 
a  scene  of  outrage  and  unbridled  licentiousness.  The  Kenedictine 
Editors,  however,  whom  ISenoit  follows,  think  the  reference  is  to 
the  disturbances  in  Alexandria  when  the  Arian  Lucius  was  forcibly 
intruded  into  the  Chair  of  Athanasius  by  the  Prefect  Palladius.  A 
full  account  of  the  atrocities  by  which  his  installation  was  marked 
is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  of  Peter,  the  expelled  or  orthodox  Patri- 
arch, preserved  in  Tneodoret(H.  E.  IV.  22).  This  Lucius  was 
living  in  Constantinople  and  abetting  the  Arian  party  there  at  the 
time  when  Gregory  pronounced  this  Oration. 

a  2  Kings  xxv.  11.         ^  Dan.  v.  3.        y  Hos.  viii.  11  (LXX.). 


330 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


precious  blood,  and  at  last  carried  away  to 
death,  to  be  both  crucified  and  buried  and 
glorified  with  Christ ;  with  Christ  Who  con- 
quered the  world  by  such  victims  and  sacri- 
fices ?  What  priests  have  those  contrary 
elements  fire  and  water  divided,  raising  a 
strange  beacon  over  the  sea,  and  set  on  fire  to- 
gether with  the  ship  in  which  they  put  to 
sea?**  Who  (to  cover  the  more  numerous 
part  of  our  woes  with  a  veil  of  silence)  have 
been  accused  of  inhumanity  by  the  very  mag- 
istrates who  conferred  such  favour  on  them  ? 
For  even  if  they  did  obey  the  lusts  of  those 
men,  yet  at  any  rate  they  hated  the  cruelty  of 
their  purpose.  The  one  was  opportunism,  the 
other  calculation  ;  the  one  came  of  the  law- 
lessness of  the  Emperor,  the  other  of  a  con- 
sciousness of  the  laws  by  which  they  had  to 
judge. 

V.  And  to  speak  of  older  things,  for  they  too 
belong  to  the  same  fraternity  ;  whose  hands  liv- 
ing or  dead  have  I  cut  off — to  bring  a  lying 
accusation  against  Saints,^  and  to  triumph  over 
the  faith  by  bluster?  Whose  exiles  have  I 
numbered  as  benefits,  and  failed  to  reverence 
even  the  sacred  colleges  of  sacred  philosophers, 
whence  I  sought  their  suppliants  ?  Nay  the 
very  contrary  is  the  case ;  I  have  reckoned 
as  Martyrs  those  who  incurred  anger  for  the 
truth.  Upon  whom  have  I,  whom  you  accuse 
'  of  licentiousness  of  language,  brought  harlots 
when  they  were  almost  fleshless  and  bloodless  ? 
Which  of  the  faithful  have  I  exiled  from  their 
country  and  given  over  to  the  hands  of  lawless 
men,  that  they  might  be  kept  like  wild  beasts 
in  rooms  without  light,  and  (for  this  is  the  sad- 
dest part  of  the  tragedy)  left  separated  from 
each  other  to  endure  the  hardships  of  hunger 
and  thirst,  with  food  measured  out  to  them, 
which  they  had  to  receive  through  narrow 
openings,  so  that  they  might  not  be  permitted 
even  to  see  their  companions  in  misery.  And 
what  were  they  who  suffered  thus?  Men  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy. "i"  Is  it  thus 
that  you  honour  faith?  Is  this  your  kind 
treatment  of  it  ?  Ye  know  not  the  greater  part 
of  these  things,  and  that  reasonably,  because 
of  the  number  of  thc^e  facts  and  the  pleasure  of 


a  Socrates  (H.  K.  IV.  i6")  cives  an  acrnnnt  of  the  murder  of 
eighty  Priests  by  order  of  Valens  The  Prefect  of  Nicomedia, 
being  afraid  to  execute  the  Kmperor's  conimainls  by  a  public  ac- 
tion, put  these  men  on  board  a  ship,  as  if  to  send  them  into  exile, 
but  gave  orders  to  the  crew  to  set  the  vessel  on  fire  on  the  high 
seas,  and  leave  the  prisoners  to  their  fate. 

P.illius.  however,  thinks  that  the  reference  is  to  the  martyrdom  of 
a  sinjle  Priest,  whose  death  in  this  way  is  described  by  S.  Gre- 
gory in  his  panegyric  on  Maxiinus  (Or.  xxv    lo.  p.  461,  462). 

fi  .S.  Athanasitis  was  accused  by  the  Arians  of  bavins;  murdered 
.a  Melctian  I'lshop  named  Arsenius,  and  cut  off  his  hand  to  use  for 
magical  purposes  ;  and  at  .a  Synod  held  at  'I'yre  in  334  they  pro- 
duced the  alleged  hand  in  a  box.  Athanasius,  however,  was  able  to 
produce  Arsenius  alive  and  unmutilated  ;  but  even  so  his  accusers 
were  not  satisfied.  y  Heb.  xi.  38. 


the  action.  But  he  wlio  suffers  has  a  better 
memory.  There  have  been  even  some  more 
cruel  than  the  times  themselves,  like  wild  boars 
hurled  against  a  fence.  I  demand  your  victim 
of  yesterday*  the  old  man,  the  Abraham-like 
Father,  whom  on  his  return  from  exile  you 
greeted  with  stones  in  the  middle  of  the  day 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  city.  But  we, 
if  it  is  not  invidious  to  say  so,  begged  off 
even  our  murderers  from  their  danger.  God 
says  somewhere  in  Scripture,  How  shall  I 
pardon  thee  for  this  ?  ^  Which  of  these  things 
sha,ll  I  jjraise  ;  or  rather  for  which  shall  I  bind 
a  Avreath  upon  you  ? 

VI.  Now  since  your  antecedents  are  such,  I 
should  be  glad  if  you  too  will  tell  me  of  my 
crimes,  that  I  may  either  amend  my  life  or  be 
put  to  shame.  My  greatest  wish  is  that  I  may 
be  found  free  from  wTong  altogether  ;  but  if 
this  may  not  be,  at  least  to  be  converted  from 
my  crime ;  for  this  is  the  second  best  portion 
of  the  prudent.  For  if  like  the  just  man  I  do 
not  become  my  own  accuser  in  the  first  in- 
stance,^  yet  at  any  rate  I  gladly  receive  healing 
from  another.  "  Your  City,  you  say  to  me,  is 
a  little  one,  or  rather  is  no  city  at  all,  but  only 
a  village,  arid,  without  beauty,  and  with  few- 
inhabitants."  But,  my  good  friend,  this  is 
my  misfortune,  rather  than  my  fault; — if  in- 
deed it  be  a  misfortune  ;  and  if  it  is  against  my 
will,  I  am  to  be  pitied  for  my  bad  luck,  if  I 
may  put  it  so  ;  but  if  it  be  willingly,  I  am  a 
philosojjher.  Which  of  these  is  a  crime  ? 
Would  anyone  abuse  a  dolphin  for  not  being  a 
land  animal,  or  an  ox  because  it  is  not  aquatic, 
or  a  lamprey  because  it  is  amphibious  ?  But 
we,  you  go  on,  have  walls  and  theatres  and 
racecourses  and  palaces,  and  beautiful  great 
Porticoes,  and  that  marvellous  work  the  un- 
derground and  overhead  river,*  and  the 
splendid  and  admired  column,*  and  the 
crowded  marketplace  and  a  restless  people,  and 
a  famous  senate  of  highborn  men. 

VII.  Why  do  you  not  also  mention  the  con- 
venience of  the  site,  and  what  I  may  call  the 
contest  between  land  and  sea  as  to  which  owns 
the  City,  and  Avhich  adorns  our  Royal  City 
with  all  their  good  things  ?  This  then  is  our 
crime,  that  while  you  are  great  and  splendid, 
we  are  small  and  come  from  a  small  place  ? 
Many  others  do  you  this  v/rong,  indeed  all 
those  whom  you  excel  ;  and  must  we  die  be- 


a  The  reference  is  perhaps  to  Eusebius  of  Samosata.  who  was 
killed  by  a  tile  thrown  at  him  by  an  Arian  woman.  In  dying  he 
bound  his  friends  by  an  oath  not  to  allow  the  murderess  to  be  pun- 
ished. 3  Jer.  V.   7.  V  Pniv.  xviii.  17. 

5  Valens  had  constructed  an  Aqueduct,  partly  subterranean, 
partly  raised  on  arches,  for  the  supply  of  water  to  the  C'apital. 

e  A  masnificent  column  on  which  stood  an  equestrian  statue  of 
Cunstantine  the  Great. 


AGAINST  THE   ARIANS. 


331 


cause  we  have  not  reared  a  city,"  nor  built  walls 
around  it,  nor  can  boast  of  our  racecourse,  or 
our  stadia,  and  pack  of  hounds,  and  all  the 
follies  that  are  connected  with  these  things ; 
nor  have  to  boast  of  the  beauty  and  splendour 
of  our  baths,  and  the  costliness  of  their  mar- 
bles and  pictures  and  golden  embroideries  of  all 
sorts  of  species,  almost  rivalling  nature  ?  Nor 
h:'  2  we  yet  rounded  off  the  sea  for  ourselves, 
or  mingled  the  seasons,  as  of  course  you,  the 
new  Creators,  have  done,  that  we  may  live  in 
what  is  at  once  the  pleasantest  and  the  safest 
way.  Add  if  you  like  other  charges,  you  who 
say,  The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine," 
those  words  of  God.  We  neither  think  much 
of  riches,  on  which,  if  they  increase,  our  Law 
forbids  us  to  set  our  hearts,  nor  do  we  count 
up  yearly  and  daily  revenues  ;  nor  do  we  rival 
one  another  in  loading  our  tables  with  enchant- 
ments for  our  senseless  belly.  For  neither  do 
we  highly  esteem  those  things  which  after  we 
have  swallowed  them  are  all  of  the  same  worth, 
or  rather  I  should  say  worthlessness,  and  are 
rejected.  But  we  live  so  simply  and  from 
hand  to  mouth,  as  to  differ  but  little  from 
beasts  whose  sustenance  is  without  apparatus 
and  inartificial. 

VIII.  Do  you  also  find  fault  with  the  rag- 
gedness  of  my  dress,  and  the  want  of  elegance 
in  the  disposition  of  my  face  ?  for  these  are 
the  points  upon  which  I  see  that  some  persons 
who  are  very  insignificant  pride  themselves. 
Will  you  leave  my  head  alone,  and  not  jeer  at 
it,  as  the  children  did  at  Elissasus  ?  What  fol- 
lowed I  will  not  mention.  And  will  you 
leave  out  of  vour  allegations  mv  want  of  educa- 
tion,  and  what  seems  to  you  the  roughness 
and  rusticity  of  my  elocution?  And  where 
will  you  put  the  fact  that  I  am  not  full  of 
small  talk,  nor  a  jester  popular  with  company, 
nor  great  hunter  of  the  marketplace,  nor 
given  to  chatter  and  gossip  with  any  chance 
people  upon  all  sorts  of  subjects,  so  as  to  make 
even  conversation  grievous  ;  nor  a  frequenter 
of  Zeuxippus,  that  new  Jerusalem  ;  ^  nor  one 
who  strolls  from  house  to  house  flattering  and 
stuffing  himself;  but  for  the  most  part^taying 
at  home,  of  low  spirits  and  with  a  melancholy 
cast  of  countenance,  quietly  associating  with 
myself,  the  genuine  critic  of  my  actions  ;  and 
])erhaps  worthy  of  imprisonment  for  my  use- 
lessness?  How  is  it  that  you  pardon  me  for 
all  this,  and  do  not  blame  me  for  it  ?  How 
sweet  and  kind  you  are. 


a  Hagg.  ii.  8 

P  It  is  not  certain  what  is  the  alkision  here.  Some  think  a 
great  Circus  or  Hippodrome  for  chariot  races ;  others  say  an  in- 
stitution in  which  were  heretical  schools  ;  others  again,  the  great 
baths  of  Zeuxippus. 


IX.  But  I  am  so  old  fashioned  and  such  a 
philosopher  as  to  believe  that  one  heaven  is 
common  to  all ;  and  that  so  is  the  revolution 
of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  the  order  and  ar- 
rangement of  the  stars  ;  and  that  all  have  in 
common  an  equal  share  and  profit  in  day  and 
night,  and  also  change  of  seasons,  rains,  fruits, 
and  quickening  power  of  the  air  ;  and  that  the 
flowing  rivers  are  a  common  and  abundant 
wealth  to  all ;  and  that  one  and  the  same  is  the 
Earth,  the  mother  and  the  tomb,  from  which 
we  were  taken,  and  to  which  we  shall  return, 
none  having  a  greater  share  than  another.  And 
further,  above  this,  we  have  in  common  reason, 
the  Law,  the  Prophets,  the  very  Sufferings  of 
Christ,  by  which  we  were  all  without  excep- 
tion created  anew,  who  partake  of  the  same 
Adam,  and  were  led  astray  by  the  serpent  and 
slain  by  sin,  and  are  saved  by  the  heavenly 
Adam  and  brought  back  by  the  tree  of  shame 
to  the  tree  of  life  from  whence  we  had  fallen. 

X.  I  was  deceived  too  by  the  Ramah  of 
Samuel,  that  little  fatherland  of  the  great  man  ; 
which  was  no  dishonour  to  the  Prophet,  for  it 
drew  its  honour  not  so  much  from  itself  as  irom 
him  ;  nor  was  he  hindered  on  its  account  from 
being  given  to  God  before  his  birth,  or  from 
uttering  oracles,  and  foreseeing  the  future ;  nor 
only  so,  but  also  anointing  Kings  and  Priests, 
and  judging  the  men  of  illustrious  cities.  I 
heard  also  of  Saul,  how  while  seeking  his  fath- 
er's asses  he  found  a  kingdom.  And  even 
David  himself  was  taken  from  the  sheepfolds 
to  be  the  shepherd  of  Israel.  What  of  Amos  ? 
Was  he  not,  while  a  goatherd  and  scraper  of 
sycamore  fruit  entrusted  with  the  gifts  of  pro- 
phecy ?  How  is  it  that  I  have  passed  over 
Joseph,  who  was  both  a  slave  and  the  giver  of 
corn  to  Egypt,  and  the  father  of  many  myriads 
who  were  promised  before  to  Abraham  ?  Aye 
and  I  was  deceived  by  the  Carmel  of  Elias, 
who  received  the  car  of  fire  ;  and  by  the  sheep- 
skin of  Elissseus  that  had  more  power  than  a 
silken  web  or  than  gold  forced  into  garments. 

:  I  was  deceived  by  the  desert  of  John,  which 
held  the  greatest  among  them  that  are  born  of 
women,  with  that  clothing,  that  food,  that 
girdle,  which  we  know.  And  I  ventured  even 
beyond  these,  and  found  God  Himself  the 
Patron  of  my  rusticity.  I  will  range  my.self 
with  Bethlehem,  and  will  share  the  ignominy 
of  the  Manger  ;  for  since  you  refuse  on  this  ac- 
count honour  to  God,  it  is  no  wonder  that  on 
the  same  account  you  despise  His  herald  also. 
And  I  will  bring  up  to  you  the  Fishermen,  and 
the  poor  to  whom  the  Gospel  is  preached,  as 

:  preferred  before  many  rich.  Will  you  ever 
leave  off  priding  yourselves  upon  your  cities  ? 


332 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN, 


^\'ill  you  ever  revere  that  wilderness  which  you 
abominate  and  despise  ?  I  do  not  yet  say 
that  gold  has  its  birthplace  in  sand  ;  nor  that 
translucent  stones  are  the  product  and  gifts 
of  rocks  ;  for  if  to  these  I  should  oppose  all 
that  is  dishonourable  in  cities  perhaps  it  would 
be  to  no  good  end  that  I  should  use  my  free- 
dom of  speech. 

XL  But  perhaps  some  one  who  is  very  cir- 
cumscribed and  carnally  minded  will  say, 
' '  But  our  herald  is  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner. ' ' 
What  of  the  Apostles  ?  Were  not  they  strangers 
to  the  many  nations  and  cities  among  whom 
they  were  divided,  that  the  Gospel  might  have 
free  course  everywhere,  that  nothing  might 
miss  the  illumination  of  the  Threefold  Light, 
or  be  unenlightened  by  the  Truth  ;  but  that 
the  night  of  ignorance  might  be  dissolved  for 
those  who  sat  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death?  You  have  heard  the  words  of  Paul, 
"that  we  might  go  the  Gentiles,  and  they 
to  the  Circumcision."  "^  Be  it  that  Judaea  is 
Peter's  home;  what  has  Paul  in  common  with 
the  Gentiles,  Luke  with  Achaia,  Andrew  with 
Epirus,  John  with  Ephesus,  Thomas  with  In- 
dia, Marc  with  Italy,  or  the  rest,  not  to  go 
into  particulars,  with  those  to  whom  they  went  ? 
So  that  you  must  either  blame  them  or  excuse 
me,  or  else  prove  that  you,  the  ambassadors  of 
the  true  Gospel,  are  being  insulted  by  trifling. 
But  since  I  have  argued  with  you  in  a  petty 
way  about  these  matters,  I  will  now  proceed 
to  take  a  larger  and  more  philosophic  view  of 
them. 

XII.  My  friend,  every  one  that  is  of  high 
mind  has  one  Country,  the  Heavenly  Jerusa- 
lem, in  which  we  store  up  our  Citizenship.  All 
have  one  family — if  you  look  at  what  is  here 
below  the  dust — or  if  you  look  higher,  that  In- 
breathing of  which  we  are  partakers,  and  which 
we  were  bidden  to  keep,  and  with  which  I  must 
stand  before  my  Judge  to  give  an  account  of 
my  heavenly  nobility,  and  of  the  Divine  Image. 
Everyone  then  is  noble  who  has  guarded  this 
through  virtue  and  consent  to  his  Archetype. 
On  the  other  hand,  everyone  is  ignoble  who 
has  mingled  with  evil,  and  put  upon  himself 
another  form,  that  of  the  serpent.  And  these 
earthly  countries  and  families  are  the  play- 
things of  this  our  temporary  life  and  scene. 
For  our  country  is  whatever  each  may  have 
first  occupied,  either  as  tyrant,  or  in  misfortune  ; 
and  in  this  we  are  all  alike  strangers  and  pil- 
grims, however  much  we  may  play  with  names. 
And  the  family  is  accounted  noble  which  is 
either  rich  from  old  days,  or  is  recently  raised ; 


and  of  ignoble  birth  that  which  is  of  poor  par- 
ents, either  owing  to  misfortune  or  to  want  ot 
ambition.  For  how  can  a  nobility  be  given 
from  above  which  is  at  one  time  beginning 
and  at  another  coming  to  an  end  ;  and  which 
is  not  given  to  some,  but  is  bestowed  on  others 
by  letters  patent  ?  Such  is  my  mind  on  this 
matter.  Therefore  I  leave  it  to  you  to  pride 
yourself  on  tombs  or  in  myths,  and  I  enci^av- 
our  as  far  as  I  can,  to  purify  myself  from  de- 
ceits, that  I  may  keep  if  possible  my  nobility, 
or  else  may  recover  it. 

XIII.  It  is  thus  then  and  for  these  reasons 
that  I,  who  am  small  and  of  a  country  without 
repute,  have  come  upon  you,  and  that  not  of 
my  own  accord,  nor  self-sent,  like  many  of 
those  who  now  seize  upon  the  chief  places  ; 
but  because  I  was  invited,  and  compelled,  and 
have  followed  the  scruples  of  my  conscience 
and  the  Call  of  the  Spirit.  If  it  be  otherwise, 
may  I  continue  to  fight  here  to  no  purpose, 
and  deliver  no  one  from  his  error,  but  may 
they  obtain  their  desire  who  seek  the  barren- 
ness of  my  soul,  if  I  lie.  But  since  I  am 
come,  and  perchance  with  no  contemptible 
power  (if  I  may  boast  myself  a  little  of  my 
folly),  which  of  those  who  are  insatiable  have  I 
copied,  what  have  I  emulated  of  opportunism, 
although  I  have  such  examples,  even  apart 
from  w'hich  it  is  hard  and  rare  not  to  be  bad  ? 
Concerning  ^^•hat  churches  or  proj^erty  have  I 
disputed  with  you  ;  though  you  have  more 
than  enough  of  both,  and  the  others  too 
little  ?  What  imperial  edict  have  we  re- 
jected and  emulated  ?  What  rulers  have  we 
fawned  upon  against  you?  Whose  boldness 
have  we  denounced?  And  what  has  been 
done  on  the  other  side  against  me  ?  "  Lord, 
lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge,"  even  then  I 
said,  for  I  remembered  in  season  the  words  of 
Stephen,"  and  so  I  pray  now.  Being  reviled, 
we  bless  :   being  blasphemed  we  retreat.^ 

XIV.  And  if  I  am  doing  wrong  in  this,  that 
when  tyrannized  over  I  endure  it,  forgive  me 
this  wrong  ;  I  have  borne  to  be  t}Tannized 
over  by  others  too  ;  and  I  am  thankful  that 
my  m(jderation  has  brought  upon  me  the 
charge  of  folly.  For  I  reckon  thus,  using 
considerations  altogether  higher  than  any  of 
yours  ;  what  a  mere  fraction  are  these  trials  of 
the  spittings  and  blows  which  Christ,  for  Wliom 
and  by  Whose  aid  we  encounter  these  dan- 
gers, endured.  I  do  not  count  them,  taken 
altogether,  worth  the  one  crown  of  thorns  which 
robbed  our  concpieror  of  his  crown,  for  whose 

;  sake  also  I  learn   that  I  am  crowned  for  the 


o  Galat.  ii.  9. 


o  Acts  vii.  59. 


|8  I  Cor.  iv.  12. 


AGAINST   THE   ARIANS. 


hardness  of  life.  I  do  not  reckon  them  worth 
the  one  reed  by  which  the  rotten  empire  was 
destroyed  ;  of  the  gall  alone,  the  vinegar 
alone,  by  which  we  were  cured  of  the  bitter 
taste  ;  of  the  gentleness  alone  which  He  shewed 
in  His  Passion,  ^^'as  He  betrayed  with  a  kiss  ? 
He  reproves  with  a  kiss,  but  smites  not.  Is 
he  suddenly  arrested  ?  He  reproaches  indeed, 
but  follows  ;  and  if  through  zeal  thou  cuttest 
off  the  ear  of  Malchus  with  the  sword.  He  will 
be  angry,  and  will  restore  it.  And  if  one  flee 
in  a  linen  sheet,"  he  will  defend  him.  And  if 
vou  ask  for  the  fire  of  Sodom  upon  his  cap- 
tors, he  will  not  pour  it  forth  ;  and  if  he  take 
a  thief  hanging  upon  the  cross  for  his  crime, 
him  into  Paradise  through  His 
Let  all  the  acts  of  one  that  loves 


he  will  bring 
Goodness. 


men  be  loving,  as  were  all  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  to  which  we  could  add  nothing 
greater  than,  when  God  even  died  for  us,  to 
refuse  on  our  part  to  forgive  even  the  smallest 
wrongs  of  our  fellow-men. 

XV.  Moreover  this  also  I  reckoned  and  still 
reckon  with  myself;  and  do  you  see  if  it  is 
not  quite  correct.  I  have  often  discussed  it 
with  you  before.  These  men  have  the 
houses,  but  we  the  Dweller  in  the  house  ;  they 
the  Temples,  we  the  God  ;  and  besides  it  is 
ours  to  be  living  temples  of  the  Living  God, 
lively  sacrifices,  reasonable  burnt-offerings, 
perfect  sacrifices,  yea,  gods  through  the  ado- 
ration of  the  Trinity.  They  have  the  people, 
we  the  Angels  ;  they  rash  boldness,  we  faith; 
they  threatenings,  we  prayer  ;  they  smiting,  j 
we  endurance  ;  they  gold  and  silver,  Ave 
the  pure  word.  "  Thou  hast  built  for  thyself  | 
a  wide  house  and  large  chambers  (recognize  ! 
the  words  of  Scripture),  a  house  ceiled  and  ! 
pierced  with  windows."  ^  But  not  yet  is  this 
loftier  than  my  faith,  and  than  the  heavens  to 
which  I  am  being  borne  onwards.  Is  mine  a 
little  flock?  But  it  is  not  being  carried  over 
a  precipice.  Is  mine  a  narrow  fold  ?  But  it 
is  unapproachable  by  wolves  ;  it  cannot  be  en- 
tered by  a  robber,  nor  climbed  by  thieves  and 
strangers.  I  shall  yet  see  it,  I  know  well, 
wider.  And  many  of  those  who  are  now 
wolves,  I  must  reckon  among  my  sheep,  and 
perhaps  even  amongst  the  shepherds.  This  is 
the  glad  tidings  brought  me  by  the  Good  Shep- 
herd, for  Whose  sake  I  lay  down  my  life  for 
the  sheep.  I  fear  not  for  the  little  flock,  for 
it  is  seen  at  a  glance.  I  know  my  sheep  and 
am  known  of  mine.  Such  are  they  that  know 
God  and  are  known  of  God.  My  sheep  hear 
my  voice,  which  I  have  heard  from  the  ora- 


a  Mark  xiv.  51. 


/3  Jer.  xxii.  14. 


cles  of  God,  which  I  have  been  taught  by  the 
Holy  Fathers,  which  I  have  taught  alike  on  all 
occasions,  not  conform.ing  myself  to  the  op- 
portune, and  which  I  will  never  cease  to 
teach ;  in  which  I  was  born,  and  in  which  I 
will  depart. 

XVI.  These  I  call  by  name  (for  they  are  not 
nameless  like  the  stars  which  are  numbered 
and  have  names), '^  and  they  follow  me,  for  I 
rear  them  up  beside  the  waters  of  rest ;  and 
they  follow  every  such  shepherd,  whose  voice 
they  love  to  hear,  as  you  see ;  but  a  stranger 
they  will  not  follow,  but  will  flee  from  him, 
because  they  have  a  habit  of  distinguishing  the 
voice  of  their  own  from  that  of  strangers. 
They  will  flee  from  Valentinus^  with  his  di- 
vision of  one  into  two,  refusing  to  believe  that 
the  Creator  is  other  than  the  Good.  They  will 
flee  from  Depth  and  Silence,  and  the  mythical 
JEons,  that  are  verily  worthy  of  Depth  and  Si- 
lence. They  will  flee  from  Marcion's  >  god, 
compounded  of  elements  and  numbers  ;  from 
Montanus'^  evil  and  feminine  spirit ;  from  the 
matter  and  darkness  of  Manes  ;  *  from  Nov- 
atus'^  boasting  and  wordy  assumption  of 
purity ;  from  the  analysis  and  confusion  of 
Sabellius,''  and  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 


a  Ps.  cxlvii.  4. 

3  Valentinus,  a  celebrated  Gnostic  leader  of  the  Second  Cen- 
tury, was  one  of  the  first  Gnostics  who  taught  in  Rome.  He  was 
probal-ly  of  /Egypto-Jewish  descent,  and  was  educated  at  Alex- 
andria. He  died  in  Cyprus  about  ifo.  His  system  is  a  very 
curious  onr,  giving  the  reins  to  the  wildest  vagnries  of  the  imagin- 
ation. The  origin.al  eternal  Being,  or  Absolute  Existence,  he  called 
Kythos  or  Depth  ;  and  to  this  he  assigned  as  a  wife  Sige  or  Silence. 
From  this  union  there  sprang  thirty  y%^ons  or  Emanations,  who  un- 
folded the  Attributes  of  the  Deit^'  and  created  the  wurld. 

■y  M^'RCION  was  a  contemporary  of  Valentinus.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Sinope  in  Pontus.  of  which  cirj'  his  father  was  Kishop.  He 
supposed  Three  Principles,  the  Good  God,  Who  was  first  revealed 
by  Christ ;  the  Just  Creator,  Who  is  the  "  hot  tempered  and  imper- 
fect" God  of  the  Jews  :  and  the  intrinsically  evil  Hyle  or  Matter, 
which  is  ruled  by  the  Devil  He  also  distingui>hed  two  Messiahs  ; 
one  a  mere  warrior  prince  sent  by  the  Jewish  God  to  lestore 
Israel ;  the  other  sent  by  the  Good  God  for  the  delivery  of  the 
whole  human  race. 

S  MONTANUP,  a  Phrygian  enthusiast  of  the  middle  of  the  Second 
Century,  imagined  himself  the  inspired  Organ  of  the  Paraclete. 
C  'nnected  with  him  were  two  Piophettsses,  Prisclla  .".nd  Max- 
imlla,  who  left  their  husbands  to  follow  him-  His  heresy,  or 
rather  his  schism,  spread  to  Rome  and  Nortliern  Africa,  and 
threw  the  whole  Church  into  confusion.  He  was  very  early  an- 
athematized by  I'ishops  and  Synods  of  .Asia,  but  he  carried  the 
great  African.  Te'tullian,  away  by  his  frenzy. 

e  Manes  or  Mani,  a  Persia  philosopher,  astronomer,  and 
pamter  of  theThird  Century,  who  iut  oduced  into  Christianity  some 
elements  drawn  from  the  leligion  of  Zoroaster,  especially  its 
npui-ov  i//eii5oj.  Dmlism.  ihe  co-eternitj'  of  two  contradictory  prin- 
ciples. Light  and  Darkness,  Spirit  and  Matter,  Good  and  Evil. 
This  heresy  flourished  till  the  Sixth  Ceniurj',  S.  Augiisiine  himself 
having  been  for  nine  years  led  away  by  it.  It  is  bel  eved  not  to 
be  wholly  extinct  even  now  in  .some  parts  of  Eastern  Ct  ri*tendom. 

fNovATis  was  a  C'arthajinian  Priest,  who  at  first  rebelled 
against  his  Bishop,  S.  Cyp'ian.  on  account  of  his  severity  in  the 
treatment  of  persons  who  had  lap.sed  in  the  Decian  persecution. 
At  Rome,  however,  this  same  Novatus,  either  out  of  simple  antag- 
onism to  constituted  authority,  or  because  he  had  re.illy  changed 
his  views,  adopted  the  extremest  rigori'^m.  and  became  one  of 
the  most  violent  partisans  of  the  Pr  est  Novatian.  whom  his  fol- 
lowers contrived  to  get  consecrated  as  a  rival  Bishop  of  Rome,  in 
opposition  to  Cornelius,  the  reigning  Pope.  They  set  up  a  new 
'•church,"  and  arogated  to  themselves  an  exclusive  claim  to  the 
title  of  Cathari.  the  Pure. 

7)  .S^BELLars.  a  native  of  the  Libyan  Pentapolis,  rejected  the 
Catholic  Faith  of  the  Trinity  of  Persons  in  God,  and  would  only 
allow  a  Trinity  of  manifestations. 


JJ 


34 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


his  absorption,  contracting  the  Three  into  One, 
instead  of  defining  the  One  in  Three  Personal- 
ities ;  from  the  difference  of  natures  taught  by 
Arius"  and  his  followers,  and  their  new 
Judaism,  confining  the  Godhead  to  the  Unbe- 
gotten  ;  from  Photinus'  ^  earthly  Christ,  who 
took  his  beginning  from  Mary.  But  they 
worship  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  One  Godhead  ;  God  the  Father,  God 
the  Son  and  (do  not  be  angry)  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  One  Nature  in  Three  Personalities,  in- 
tellectual, perfect,  Self-existent,  numerically 
separate,  but  not  separate  in  Godhead. 

XVn.  These  words  let  everyone  who  threat- 
ens nie  to-day  concede  to  me  ;  the  rest  let  who- 
ever will  claim.  The  Father  will  not  endure  to 
be  deprived  of  the  Son,  nor  the  Son  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Yet  that  must  happen  if  They  are  con- 
fined to  time',  and  are  created  Beings  . 
for  that  which  is  created  is  not  God.  Nei- 
ther will  I  bear  to  be  deprived  of  my  con- 
secration ;  One  Lord,  One  Faith,  One  Bap- 
tism. If  this  be  cancelled,  from  whom  shall  I 
get  a  second  ?  ^^'hat  say  you,  you  who  des- 
troy Baptism  or  repeat  it?  Can  a  man  be 
spiritual  without  the  Spirit?  Has  he  a  share 
in  the  Spirit  who  does  not  honour  the  Spirit? 
Can  he  honour  Him  who  is  bajjtized  into  a 
creature  and  a  fellow-servant?  It  is  not  so  ; 
it  is  not  so  ;  for  all  your  talk.  I  will  not  play 
Thee  false,  O  Unoriginate  Father,  or  Thee  O 
Only-begotten  Word,  or  Thee  O  Holy  Ghost. 
I  know  Whom  I  have  confessed,  and  whom  I 
have  renounced,  and  to  Whom  I  have  joined 
myself.  I  will  not  allow  myself,  after  having 
been  taught  the  words  of  the  faithful,  to  learn 
also  those  of  the  unfaithful ;  to  confess  the 
truth,  and  then  range  myself  with  falsehood  ; 
to  come  down  for  consecration  and  to  go  back 
even  less  hallowed  ;  having  been  l)ai)tised  that 
I  might  live,  to  be  killed  by  the  water,  like 
infants  who  die  in  the  very  birthpangs,  and 
receive  death  simultaneously  with  birth.  Why 
make  me  at  once  blessed  and  wretched,  newly 
enlightened  and  unenlightened,  Divine  and 
godless,  that  I  may  make  shipwreck  even 
of  the  hope  of  regeneration  ?  A  few  words 
will  sufifice.  Remember  your  confession.  In- 
to what  Avere  you  baptised  ?  The  Father  ? 
Good  but  Jewish  still.  The  Son  ?  .  .  . 
good     .      .      .     but    not    yet    perfect.       The 


a  It  is  hardly  necessary  here  to  dwell  on  the  Arian  tenets  :  cf. 
Pn  legomena  to  the  The' 'logical  Oration. 

6  PiioTiNrs  was  a  Galatiaii  by  birth,  and  flonrished  in  the  fourth 
cenlury,  a  little  earlier  than  S.  CJregoiy.  He  seems  ti  ha\e 
taught  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  a  mc^e  man,  and  had  n  > 
existence  previous  to  His  I'.irth  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  He  made 
Jesus  rise  on  the  basis  of  His  human  nature,  by  a  course  <  f  moral 
improvement,  to  the  divine  dicnity.  so  that  the  Divine  in  Him  is  a 
thing  of  growth  :  cf.  Schaff,  H.  E.  Nicene  Period,  vol.  ii.  p.  653. 


Holy  Ghost  ?  .  .  .  Very  good 
this  is  perfect.  Now  was  it  into  these  simply, 
•or  some  common  name  of  Them  ?  The  latter. 
And  what  was  the  common  Name  ?  ^^'hy, 
God.  In  this  common  Name  believe,  and 
ride  on  prosperously  and  reign,''  and  pass  on 
from  hence  into  the  Bliss  of  Heaven.  And 
that  is,  as  I  think,  the  more  distinct  apprehen- 
sion of  These  ;  to  which  may  we  all  come,  in 
the  same  Christ  our  God,  to  Whom  be  the 
glory  and  the  might,  with  the  Unoriginate 
Father,  and  the  Lifegiving  Spirit,  now  and 
for  ever  and  to  ages  of  ages.     Amen. 

ORATION   XXXIV. 

On  the  Arrival  of.  the  Egyptians. 

This  Oration  was  preached  at  Constantinople  in 
380,  under  the  following  circumstances  : 

Peter,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  had  sent  a  mission 
of  five  of  his  Suffragans  to  consecrate  the  mipostor 
Maximus  to  the  Throne  occupied  by  Gregory.  This 
had  led  to  much  troulile,  but  in  the  end  the  intruder 
had  been  expelled  and  banished.  Shortly  afterwards 
an  Egyptian  fleet,  probably  the  regular  corn  ships,  had 
arrived  at  Constantinople,  apparently  on  the  day  be- 
fore a  Festival.  The  crews  of  the  ships,  landing  next 
day  to  go  to  Church,  passed  by  the  numerous  Cliurclies 
held  by  the  Arians,  and  betook  themselves  to  the  little 
Anastasia.  S.  Gregory  felt  himself  moved  to  congrat- 
ulate them  specially  on  such  an  act,  after  what  had  re- 
cently passed,  and  accordingly  pronounced  the  follow- 
ing discourse. 

I,  I  WILL  address  myself  as  is  right  to  those      1 
who  have  come  from   Egypt ;  for  they  have 
come   here  eagerly,   having  overcome  illwill 

by  zeal,  from  that  Egypt  which  is  enriched  by 
the  River,  raining  out  of  the  earth,  and  like 
the  sea  in  its  season, — if  I  too  may  follow  in  my 
small  measure  those  who  have  so  eloquently 
sj)oken  of  these  matters ;  and  which  is  also 
enriched  by  Christ  my  Lord,  Who  once  was  a 
fugitive  into  Egypt,  and  now  is  supplied  by 
Egypt  ;  the  first,  when  He  fled  from  Herod's 
massacre  of  the  children  ;  ^  and  now  by  the  love 
of  the  fathers  for  their  children,  by  Christ  the 
new  Food  of  those  who  hunger  after  good  ;  y 
the  greatest  alms  of  corn  of  which  history 
si^eaks  and  men  believe ;  the  Bread  which 
came  down  from  heaven  and  giveth  life  to  the 
world,  that  life  which  is  indestructible  and  in- 
di.s.solul)le,  concerning  Whom  I  now  .seem  to 
hear  the  Father  saying,  Out  of  Egypt  have  I 
called  My  Son.* 

II.  For  from  yon  hath  sounded  forth  the 
Word  to  all  men  ;  healthfully  believed  and 
preached  ;  and  you  are  the  best  bringers  of  fruit 
of  all  men,  specially  of  those  who  now  hold  the 

a  Ps.  xlv.  4.     ^  Matt.  ii.  13.        y  John  vi.  33.       S  Hos.  xi.  i. 


OxN    THE    ARRIVAL   OF   THE   EGYPTIANS. 


335 


right  faith,  as  far  as  I  know,  who  am  not  only 
a  lover  of  such  food,  but  also  its  distributor, 
and  not  at  home  only  but  also  abroad.  For 
you  indeed  supply  bodily  food  to  peoples  and 
cities  so  far  as  your  lovingkindness  reaches  ; 
and  you  supply  spiritual  food  also,  not  to  a 
particular  people,  nor  to  this  or  that  city,  cir- 
cumscribed by  narrow  boundaries,  though  its 
people  may  think  it  very  illustrious,  but  to 
almost  the  whole  world.  And  you  bring  the 
remedy  not  for  famine  of  bread  or  thirst  of 
water,"  which  is  no  very  terrible  famine — and 
to  avoid  it  is  easy ;  but  to  a  famine  of  hearing 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  which  it  is  most  miser- 
able to  suffer,  and  a  most  laborious  matter  to 
cure  at  the  present  time,  because  iniquity 
hath  abounded,'^  and  scarce  anywhere  do  I 
find  its  genuine  healers. 

III.  Such  was  Joseph  your  Superintendent 
of  corn  measures,  whom  I  may  call  ours  also ; 
who  by  his  surpassing  wisdom  was  able  both  to 
foresee  the  famine  and  to  cure  it  by  decrees  of 
government,  healing  the  ill-favoured  and  starv- 
ing kine  by  means  of  the  fair  and  fat.Y  And 
indeed  you  may  understand  by  Joseph  which 
you  will,  either  the  great  lover  and  creator 
and  namesake  of  immortality  or  his  successor 
in  throne  and  word  and  hoary  hair,  our  new 
Peter, ^  not  inferior  in  virtue  or  fame  to  him 
by  whom  the  middle  course  was  destroyed  and 
crushed,  though  it  still  wriggles  a  little  weak- 
ly, like  the  tail  of  a  snake  after  it  is  cut  off; 
the  one  of  whom,  after  having  departed  this 
life  in  a  good  old  age  after  many  conflicts 
and  wrestlings,  looks  upon  us  from  above,  I 
well  know,  and  reaches  a  hand  to  those  who 
are  labouring  for  the  right  ;  and  this  the  more, 
in  proportion  as  he  is  freed  from  his  bonds  ;  and 
the  other  is  hastening  to  the  same  end  or  dis- 
solution of  life,  and  is  already  drawing  near 
the  dwellers  in  heaven,  but  is  still  so  far  in 
the  flesh  as  is  needed  to  give  the  last  aids  to 
the  Word,  and  to  take  his  journey  with  richer 
provision. 

IV.  Of  these  great  men  and  doctors  and 
soldiers  of  the  truth  and  victors,  you  are  the 
nurslings  and  offspring  ;  of  these  neither  times 
nor  tyrants,  reason  nor  envy,  nor  fear,  nor  ac- 
cuser, nor  slanderer,  whether  waging  open  war 
against  them,  or  plotting  secretly  ;  nor  any  who 
appeared  to  be  of  our  side,  nor  any  stranger,  nor 
gold — that  hidden  tyrant,  through  which  now 
almost  everything  is  turned  u]«ide  down  and 
made  to  depend  on  the  hazard  of  a  die ;  nor 
flatteries  nor  threats,  nor  long  and  distant  ex- 
iles (for  they  only  could  not  be  affected  by  con- 


a  Amos  viii.  ti. 
y  Gen.  xli.  29  sq. 


0  Matt.  xxiv.  12. 
£  Athanasius. 


fiscation,  because  of  their  great  riches,  which 
were — to  possess  nothing)  nor  anything  else, 
whether  absent  or  present  or  expected,  could  in- 
duce to  take  the  worse  part,  and  to  be  anywise 
traitor  to  the  Trinity,  or  to  suffer  loss  of  the 
Godhead.  On  the  contrary  indeed,  they  grew 
strong  by  dangers,  and  became  more  zealous 
for  true  religion.  For  to  suffer  thus  for  Christ 
adds  to  one's  love,  and  is  as  it  were  an  earnest  to 
high-souled  men  of  further  conflicts.  These,  O 
Egypt,  are  thy  present  tales  and  w'onders. 

V.  Once  thou  didst  praise  me  thy  Mendesian 
Goats,  and  thy  Memphite  Apis,  a  fatted  and 
fleshy  calf,  and  the  rites  of  Isis,  and  the  muti- 
lations of  Osiris,  and  thy  venerable  Serapis,  a 
log  that  was  honoured  by  mytlis  and  ages 
and  the  madness  of  its  worshippers,  as  some 
unknown  and  heavenly  matter,  however 
it  may  have  been  aided  by  falsehood  ;  and 
things  yet  more  shameful  than  these,  multiform 
images  of  monstrous  beasts  g^d  creeping  things, 
all  of  which  Christ  and  the  heralds  of  Christ 
have  conquered,  both  the  others  who  have  been 
illustrious  in  their  own  times,  and  also  the 
Fathers  whom  I  have  named  just  now ;  by 
whom,  O  admirable  country,  thou  art  more 
famous  today  than  all  others  put  together, 
whether  in  ancient  or  modern  history. 

VI.  Wherefore  I  embrace  and  salute  thee,  O 
noblest  of  peoples  and  most  Christian,  and  of 
warmest  piety,  and  worthy  of  thy  leaders  ;  for 
I  can  find  nothing  greater  to  say  of  thee  than 
this,  nor  anything  by  which  better  to  welcome 
thee.  And  I  greet  thee,  to  a  small  extent  with 
my  tongue,  but  very  heartily  with  the  move- 
ments of  my  affections.*  O  my  people,  fori  call 
you  mine,  as  of  one  mind  and  one  faith,  in- 
structed by  the  same  Fathers,  and  adoring  the 
same  Trinity.  My  people,  for  mine  thou  art, 
though  it  seem  not  so  to  those  who  envy  me. 
And  that  they  who  are  in  this  case  may  be  the 
deeper  wounded,  see,  I  give  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  before  so  many  witnesses,  seen  and 
unseen.  And  I  put  away  the  old  calumny  by 
this  new  act  of  kindness.  O  my  people,  for 
mine  thou  art,  though  in  saying  so  I,  who  am 
least  of  all  men,  am  claiming  for  myself  that 
which  is  greatest.  For  such  is  the  grace  of  the 
Spirit  that  it  makes  of  equal  honour  those  who 
are  of  one  mind.  O  my  people,  for  mine  thou 
art,  though  it  be  afar,  because  we  are  divinely 
joined  together,^  and  in  a  manner  wholly  differ- 
ent to  the  unions  of  carnal  people  ;  for  bodies 
are  united  in  place,  but  souls  are  fitted  together 
by  the  Spirit.  O  my  people,  who  didst  for- 
merly study  how  to  suffer  for  Christ,  but  now 


a  Galat.  ii.  9. 


^  Isa.  Ixii.  4. 


336 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


if  thou  wilt  hearken  unto  me,  wilt  study  not 
to  do  aught,  but  to  consider  the  power  of  do- 
ing to  be  a  sufficient  gain,  and  to  deem  that 
thou  art  offering  a  sacrifice  to  Christ,  as  in 
those  days  of  thy  endurance  so  in  these  of  meek- 
ness. O  people  to  whom  the  Lord  hath  pre- 
pared Himself  to  do  good,  as  to  do  evil  to  thine 
enemies.*  O  people,  whom  the  Lord  hath  cho- 
sen to  Himself  out  of  all  peoples  ;  O  people  who 
art  graven  upon  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  to  whom 
saith  the  Lord,  Thou  art  My  Will ;  and,  Thy 
gates  are  carved  work,  and  all  the  rest  that  is 
said  to  them  that  are  being  saved.  O  people ; 
— nay,  marvel  not  at  my  insatiability  that  I 
repeat  your  name  so  often  ;  for  I  delight  in 
this  continual  naming  of  you,  like  those  who 
can  never  have  enough  of  their  enjoyment  of 
certain  spectacles  or  sounds. 

VIL  But,  O  people  of  God  and  mine,  beau- 
tiful also  was  your  yesterday's  assembly,  which 
you  held  upon  the  sea,  and  pleasant,  if  any 
sight  ever  was,  to  the  eyes,  when  I  saw  the 
sea  like  a  forest,  and  hidden  by  a  cloud  made 
with  hands,  and  the  beauty  and  speed  of  your 
ships,  as  though  ordered  for  a  j^rocession,  and 
the  slight  breeze  astern,  as  though  purposely 
escorting  you,  and  wafting  to  the  City  your 
city  of  the  Sea.  Yet  the  present  assembly 
which  we  now  behold  is  more  beautiful  and 
more  magnificent.  For  you  have  not  ha.st- 
ened  to  mingle  with  the  larger  number,  nor 
have  you  reckoned  religion  by  numbers,  nor 
endured  to  be  a  mere  unorganized  rabble, 
rather  than  a  people  purified  by  the  Word  of 
God  ;  but  having,  as  is  right,  rendered  to 
C?esar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  ye  have 
offered  besides  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's  ;  to  the  former  Custom,  to  the  latter 
Fear  ;  and  after  feeding  the  people  with  your 
cargoes,  you  yourselves  have  come  to  be  fed  by 
us.  For  we  also  distribute  corn,  and  our  dis- 
tribution is  perhaps  not  worth  less  than  yours. 
Come  eat  of  my  Bread  and  drink  of  the  Wine 
which  I  have  mingled  for  you.^  I  join  with 
Wisdom  in  bidding  you  to  my  table.  For  I 
commend  your  good  feeling,  and  I  hasten  to 
meet  your  ready  mind,  because  ye  came  to  us 
as  to  your  own  harbour,  running  to  your  like  ; 
and  ye  valued  the  kindred  Faith,  and  thought 
it  monstrous  that,  while  they  who  insult  high- 
er things  are  in  harmony  with  each  other  and 
think  alike,  and  think  to  make  good  each 
man's  individual  falsehood  by  their  common 
conspiracy,  like  ropes  which  get  strength 
from  being  twisted  together ;  yet  you  should 
not  meet  nor  combine  with  those  who  are  of  the 


a  Isai.  Ixiv.  i  j,  etc. 


^  Prov.  ix.  s. 


same  mind,  with  whom  it  is  more  reasonable 
that  you  should  associate,  for  we  gather  in  the 
Godhead  also.  And  that  you  may  see  that 
not  in  vain  have  you  come  to  us,  and  that  you 
have  not  brought  up  in  a  port  among  stran- 
gers and  foreigners,  but  amongst  your  own 
people,  and  have  been  well  guided  by  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  we  will  discourse  to  you  briefly 
concerning  God  ;  and  do  you  recognize  your 
own,  like  those  who  distinguish  their  kindred 
by  the  ensigns  of  their  arms. 

VIIL  I  find  two  highest  differences  in  things 
that  exist,  viz.: — Rule,  and  Service  ;  not  such 
as  among  us  either  tyranny  has  cut  or  poverty 
has  severed,  but  which  nature  has  distin- 
guished, if  any  like  to  use  this  word.  For 
That  which  is  Plrst  is  also  above  nature.  Of 
these  the  former  is  creative,  and  originating, 
and  unchangeable  ;  but  the  other  is  created, 
and  subject  and  changing  ;  or  to  speak  yet 
more  plainly,  the  one  is  above  time,  and  the 
other  subject  to  time.  The  Former  is  called 
God,  and  subsists  in  Three  Greatest,  namely, 
the  Cause,  the  Creator,  and  the  Perfecter  ;  I 
mean  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Gho.st,  who  are  neither  so  separated  from  one 
another  as  to  be  divided  in  nature,  nor  so 
contracted  as  to  be  circumscribed  by  a  single 
person  ;  the  one  alternative  being  that  of  the 
Arian  madness,  the  other  that  of  the  Sabellian 
heresy  ;  but  they  are  on  the  one  hand  more 
single  than  what  is  altogether  divided,  and  on 
the  other  more  abundant  than  what  is  alto- 
gether singular.  The  other  division  is  with 
us,  and  is  called  Creation,  though  one  may  be 
exalted  above  another  according  to  the  pro- 
portion of  their  nearness  to  God. 

IX.  This  being  so,  if  any  be  on  the  Lord's 
side  let  him  come  with  us,"  and  let  us  adore  the 
One  Godhead  in  the  Three  ;  not  ascril)ing  any 
name  of  humiliation  to  the  unajiproachable 
Glory,  but  having  the  exaltations  of  the  Triune 
God  continually  in  our  mouth. ^  For  since  we 
cannot  properly  describe  even  the  greatne.ss  of 
Its  Nature,  on  account  of  Its  infinity  and  unde- 
finableness,  how  can  we  as.sert  of  It  humilia- 
tion ?  But  if  any  one  be  estranged  from  God, 
and  therefore  divideth  the  One  Supreme  Sub- 
stance into  an  inequality  of  Natures,  it  were 
marvellous  if  such  an  one  were  not  cut  in  sun- 
der by  the  sword,  and  his  portion  apjwinted 
with  the  unbelievers, v  reaping  any  evil  fruk  of 
his  evil  thought  both  now  and  hereafter. 

X.  What  must  we  say  of  the  Father,  Whom 
by  common  consent  all  who  have  been  j)reoccu- 
pied  with  natural  conceptions  share,  although 


a  Kxod.  xxxii.  26. 


fi  Ps.  cxlix.  6. 


■y  I,iike  xii.  46. 


ON   THE   ARRIVAL    OF    THE   EGYPTIANS. 


337 


He  hath  endured  the  beginnings  of  dishonour, 
having  been  first  divided  by  ancient  innova- 
tion into  the  Good  and  the  Creator.  And  of 
the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  see  how  sim- 
}Dly  and  concisely  we  shall  discourse.  If  any 
one  could  say  of  Either  that  He  was  mutable 
or  subject  to  change ;  or  that  either  in  dme, 
or  place,  or  power,  or  energy  He  could  be 
measured  ;  or  that  He  was  not  naturally  good, 
or  not  Self-moved,  or  not  a  free  agent,  or  a 
Minister,  or  a  Hymnsinger ;  or  that  He 
feared,  or  was  a  recipient  of  freedom,  or  was 
not  counted  with  God  ;  let  him  prove  this 
and  we  will  acquiesce,  and  will  be  glorified 
by  the  Majesty  of  our  Fellow  Servants,  though 
we  lose  our  God.  But  if  all  that  the  Father 
has  belongs  likewise  to  the  Son,  except  Caus- 
ality ;  and  all  that  is  the  Son's  belongs  also 
to  the  Spirit,  except  His  Sonship,  and  what- 
soever is  spoken  of  Him  as  to  Incarnation  for 
me  a  man,  and  for  my  salvation,  that,  taking 
of  mine.  He  may  impart  His  own  by  this  new 
commingling ;  then  cease  your  babbling, 
though  so  late,  O  ye  sophists  of  vain  talk  that 
falls  at  once  to  the  ground  ;  for  why  will  ye 
die  O  House  of  Israel  ?  » — if  I  may  mourn  for 
you  in  the  words  of  Scripture. 

XI.  For  my  part  I  revere  also  the  Titles  of 
the  Word,  which  are  so  many,  and  so  high  and 
great,  which  even  the  demons  respect.  And 
I  revere  also  the  Equal  Rank  of  the  Holy 
Cihost ;  and  I  fear  the  threat  pronounced 
against  those  who  blaspheme  Him.  And 
blasphemy  is  not  the  reckoning  Him  God,  but 
the  severing  Him  from  the  Godhead.  And 
here  you  must  remark  that  That  which  is  blas- 
phemed is  Lord,  and  That  which  is  avenged  is 
the  Holy  Ghost,  evidently  as  Lord.  I  cannot 
bear  to  be  unenlightened  after  my  Enlighten- 
ment, by  marking  with  a  different  stamp  any 
of  the  I'hree  into  Whom  I  was  baptized  ;  and 
thus  to  be  indeed  buried  in  the  water,  and  in- 
itiated not  into  Regeneration,  but  into  death. 

XII.  I  dare  to  utter  something,  O  Trinity  ; 
and  may  pardon  be  granted  to  my  folly,  for 
the  risk  is  to  my  soul.  I  too  am  an  Image  of 
God,  of  the  Heavenly  Glory,  though  I  be 
placed  on  earth.  I  cannot  believe  that  I  am 
saved  by  one  who  is  my  equal.  If  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  not  God,  let  Him  first  be  made  God, 
and  then  let  Him  deify  me  His  equal.  But 
now  what  deceit  this  is  on  the  part  of  grace, 
or  rather  of  the  givers  of  grace,  to  believe  in 
God  and  to  come  away  godless  ;  by  one  set  of 
questions  and  confessions  leading  to  another 
set  of  conclusions.      Alas  for   this  fair  fame,  if 


a  Ezek.  xviii.  31. 


after  the  Laver  I  am  blackened,  if  I  am  to  see 
those  who  are  not  yet  cleansed  brighter  than 
myself;  if  I  am  cheated  by  the  heresy  of  my 
Baptizer  ;  if  I  seek  for  the  stronger  Spirit  and 
find  Him  not.  Give  me  a  second  Font  before 
you  think  evil  of  the  first.  Why  do  you 
grudge  me  a  complete  regeneration  ?  Why 
do  you  make  me,  who  am  the  Temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  of  God,  the  habitation  of  a 
creature  ?  Why  do  you  honour  part  of  what 
belongs  to  me,  and  dishonour  part,  judging 
falsely  of  the  Godhead,  to  cut  me  off  from  the 
Gift,  or  rather  to  cut  me  in  two  by  the  gift  ? 
Either  honour  the  Whole,  or  dishonour  the 
Whole,  O  new  Theologian,  that,  if  you  are  wick- 
ed, you  may  at  any  rate  be  consistent  with  your- 
self, and  not  judge  unequally  of  an  equal  nature. 

XIII.  To  sum  up,  my  discourse  : — Glorify 
Him  with  the  Cherubim,  who  unite  the  Three 
Holies  into  One  Lord,*  and  so  far  indicate  the 
Primal  Substance  as  their  wings  open  to  the 
diligent.  With  David  be  enlightened,  who  said 
to  the  Light,  In  Thy  Light  shall  we  see  Light,^ 
that  is,  in  the  Spirit  we  shall  see  the  Son ;  and 
what  can  be  of  further  reaching  ray?  With 
John  thunder,  sounding  forth  nothing  that  is 
low  or  earthly  concerning  God,  but  what  is 
high  and  heavenly,  Who  is  in  the  beginning, 
and  is  with  God,  and  is  God  the  Word,v  and 
true  God  of  the  true  Father,  and  not  a  good 
fellow-servant  honoured  only  with  the  title  of 
Son  ;  and  the  Other  Comforter  (other,  that  is, 
from  the  Speaker,  Who  was  the  Word  of  God). 
And  when  you  read,  I  and  the  Father  are 
One,*  keep  before  your  eyes  the  Unity  of  Sub- 
stance ;  but  when  you  see,  "  We  will  come  to 
him,  and  make  Our  abode  with  him,"  ^  remem- 
ber the  distinction  of  Persons  ;  and  when  you 
see  the  Names,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
think  of  the  Three  Personalities. 

XIV.  With  Luke  be  inspired  as  you  study 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Why  do  you  range 
yourself  with  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  those 
vain  embezzlers  (if  indeed  the  theft  of  one's 
own  property  be  a  vain  thing)  and  that  by 
appropriadng,  not  silver  nor  any  other  cheap 
and  worthless  thing,  like  a  wedge  of  gold,^  or 
a  didrachma,  as  did  of  old  a  rapacious  soldier  ; 
but  stealing  the  Godhead  Itself,  and  lying, 
not  to  men  but  to  God,  as  you  have  heard. 
What  ?  Will  you  not  reverence  even  the  au- 
thority of  the  Spirit  Who  breathes  upon 
whom,  and  when,  and  as  He  wills  ?  He 
comes  upon  Cornelius  and  his  companions 
before  Baptism,  to  others  after  Baptism,  by 
the  hands  of  the  Apostles  ;  so  that  from  both 


a  Isai.  vi.  3. 
S  lb.  X.  30. 


^  Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 
€  John  xiv.  23. 


y  John  i.  i. 
^  Josh.  vii.  21. 


22 


338 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


sides,  both   from   the   fact   that   He  comes  in  ! 
the  guise  of  a  Master   and  not  of  a  Servant,  [ 
and  from  the  fact  of  His  being  sought  to  make 
perfect,  the  Godhead  of  the  Spirit  is  testified,  j 

XV.  Speak  of  God  with  Paul,  who  was 
caught  up  to  the  third  Heaven,"^  and  who  some- 
times counts  up  the  Three  Persons,  and  that  in 
varied  order,  not  keeping  the  same  order,  but 
reckoning  one  and  the  same  Person  now  first, 
now  second,  now  third  ;  and  for  what  pur- 
pose ?  Why,  to  shew  the  equahty  of  the 
Nature.  And  sometimes  he  mentions  Three, 
sometimes  Two  or  One,  because  That  which 
is  not  mentioned  is  inchided.  And  some- 
times he  attributes  the  operation  of  God  to 
the  Spirit,  as  in  no  respect  different  from  Him, 
and  sometimes  instead  of  the  Spirit  he  brings 
in  Christ ;  and  at  times  he  separates  the  Per- 
sons saying,  "One  God,  of  whom  are  all 
things,  and  we  in  Him  ;  and  one  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  by 
Him  ;  "  ^  at  other  times  he  brings  together  the 
one  Godhead,  "  For  of  Him  and  through  Him 
and  in  Him  are  all  things  ;  "  t  that  is,  through 
the  Holy  Ghost,  as  is  shown  by  many  places  in 
Scripture.  To  Him  be  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 

ORATION   XXXVn. 

On  the  Words  of  the  Gospel,  "When 
Jesus  had  Finished  these  Sayings," 
ETC. — S.  Matt.  xix.  i. 

I.  Jesus  Who  Chose  The  Fishermen,  Him- 
self also  useth  a  net,  and  changeth  place  for 
place.  Why?  Not  only  that  He  may  gain 
more  of  those  who  love  God  by  His  visitation  ; 
but  also,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  He  may  hal- 
low more  places.  To  the  Jews  He  becomes 
as  a  Jew  that  He  may  gain  the  Jews ;  to 
them  that  are  under  the  Law  as  under  the 
Law,  that  He  may  redeem  them  that  are 
xnider  the  Law ;  to  the  weak  as  weak,  that 
He  may  save  the  weak.  He  is  made  all  things 
to  all  men  that  He  may  gain  all.  Why  do  I 
say,  All  things  to  all  men?  For  even  that 
which  Paul  could  not  endure  to  .say  of  himself 
I  find  that  the  Saviour  suffered.  For  He  is 
made  not  only  a  Jew,  and  not  only  doth  He 
take  to  Himself  all  monstrous  and  vile  names, 
but  even  that  which  is  most  monstrous  of  all, 
even  very  sin  and  very  curse ;  not  that  He 
it  such,  but  He  is  called  so.  For  how  can  He 
be  sin,  Who  setteth  us  free  from  sin  ;  and  how 
can  He  be  a  curse,  Who  redeemeth  us  from  the 
curse  of  the  Law  ?  *  But  it  is  in  order  that  He 
may  carry  His  display  of  humility  even  to  this 


a  2  Cor.  xii.  2. 
y  Rom.  xi.  36. 


/3  I  Cor.  viii.  6. 
S  Gal.  iii.  10,  13. 


extent,  and  form  us  to  that  humility  which  is 
the  producer  of  exaltation.  As  I  said  then. 
He  is  made  a  Fisherman  ;  He  condescendeth  to 
all ;  He  casteth  the  net ;  He  endureth  all  things, 
that  He  may  draw  up  the  fish  from  the  dej^ths, 
that  is,  Man  who  is  swimming  in  the  unsettled 
and  bitter  waves  of  life. 

n.   Therefore  now  also,  when  He  had  fin- 
ished these  sayings  He  dejjarted  from  Galilee 
and   came  into   the  coasts  of  Judea  beyond 
Jordan  ;  He  dwelleth  well  in  Galilee,  in  order 
that  the  people  which  sat  in  darkness  may  see 
great  Light."     He  removeth  to  Judea  in  order 
that  He  may  persuade  peoi)le  to  rise  up  from 
the  Letter  and  to  follow  the  Spirit.     He  teach- 
eth,  now  on  a  mountain  ;   now  He  discourseth 
on  a  plain  ;    now  He  passeth  over  into  a  ship  ; 
now  He  rebuketh  the  surges.     And  perhaps  He 
goes  to  sleep,  in  order  that  He  may  bless  sleep 
also  ;  perhaps  He  is  tired  that  He  may  hallow 
weariness   also  ;    perhaps  He  weeps   that   He 
may  make  tears  blessed.      He  removeth  from 
place  to  place.   Who  is  not  contained  in  any 
place ;   the  timeless,   the  bodiless,   the  uncir- 
cumscript,    the  same  Who  was  and  is ;   Who 
was  both  above  time,  and  came   under  time, 
and  was  invisible  and  is  seen.      He  was  in  the 
beginning  and  was  with  God,  and  was  God.^ 
The  word  Was  occurs  the  third  time  to  be 
confirmed    by    number.      What    He    w-as   He 
laid    aside  ;    what    He  was  not  He   assumed  ; 
not  that  He  became   two,  but   He  deigned  to 
be  One  made  out  of  the  two.      For  both  are 
God,   that   which    assumed,   and    that   which 
was  assumed  ;  two    Natures   meeting   in  One, 
not  two  Sons  (let  us  not  give  a  false  account 
of  the  blending).      He  who   is  such  and  so 
great — but   what   has   befallen  me?     I    have 
fallen  into  human  language.      For  how  can  So 
Great  be  said   of  the  Absolute,  and  how  can 
That  which  is  without  quantity  be  called  Such  ? 
But  pardon  the  word,  fori  am  speaking  of  the 
greatest    things    with    a   limited    instrument. 
And  That  great  and   long-suffering  and  form- 
less and  bodiless  Nature  will  endure  this,  name- 
ly, my  words  as  if  of  a  body,  and  weaker  than 
the  truth.      For  if  He  condescended  to  Hesh, 
He  will  also  endure  such  language. 

III.  And  great  multitudes  followed  Him, 
and  He  healed  them  there,  where  the  multitude 
was  greater.  If  He  had  abode  upon  His  own 
eminence,  if  He  had  not  condescended  to  in- 
firmity, if  He  had  remained  what  He  was, 
keeping  Himself  unapiiroachable  and  incom- 
prehensible, a  few  i)erhaps  would  have  fol- 
lowed Him — perhaps  not  even  a  kw,  i)Ossibly 


Isa. 


P  John  i.  I. 


ON   THE   WORDS   OF   THE   GOSPEL. 


339 


only  Moses — and  He  only  so  far  as  to  see 
with  difficulty  the  Back  Parts  of  God.*  For 
He  penetrated  the  cloud,  either  being  placed 
outside  the  weight  of  the  body  or  being 
withdrawn  from  his  senses ;  for  how  could 
he  have  gazed  upon  the  subtlety,  or  the  in- 
corporeity,  or  I  know  not  how  one  should  call 
it,  of  God,  being  incorporate  and  using  mate- 
rial eyes  ?  But  inasmuch  as  He  strips  Himself 
for  us,  inasmuch  as  He  comes  down  (and  I 
speak  of  an  exinanition,  as  it  were,  a  laying 
aside  and  a  diminution  of  His  glory).  He  be- 
comes by  this  comprehensible. 

IV.  And  pardon  me  meanwhile  that  I  again 
suffer  a  human  affection.  I  am  filled  with 
indignation  and  grief  for  my  Christ  (and  I 
would  that  you  might  sympathize  with  me) 
when  I  see  my  Christ  dishonoured  on  this  ac- 
count on  which  He  most  merited  honour.  Is 
He  on  this  account  to  be  dishonoured,  tell  me, 
that  for  you  He  was  humble  ?  Is  He  therefore 
a  Creature,  because  He  careth  for  the  creature  ? 
Is  He  therefore  subject  to  time,  because  He 
watches  over  those  who  are  subject  to  time? 
Nay,  He  beareth  all  things.  He  endureth  all 
things.^  And  what  marvel?  He  put  up  with 
blows.  He  bore  spittings.  He  tasted  gall  for 
my  taste.  And  even  now  He  bears  to  be 
stoned,  not  only  by  those  who  deal  despite- 
fully  with  Him,  but  also  by  ourselves  who 
seem  to  reverence  Him.  For  to  use  corpo- 
real names  when  discoursing  of  the  incor- 
poreal is  perhaps  the  part  of  those  who  deal 
despitefully  and  stone  Him  ;  but  pardon,  I 
say  again  to  our  infirmity,  for  I  do  not  will- 
ingly stone  Him  ;  but  having  no  other  words 
to  use,  we  use  what  we  have.  Thou  art 
called  the  Word,  and  Thou  art  above  Word ; 
Thou  art  above  Light,  yet  art  named  Light  ; 
Thou  art  called  Fire  not  as  perceptible  to 
sense,  but  because  Thou  purgest  light  and 
worthless  matter;  a  Sword,  because  Thou 
severest  the  worse  from  the  better  ;  a  Fan, 
because  Thou  purgest  the  threshing-floor,  and 
blowest  away  all  that  is  light  and  windy,  and 
layest .  up  in  the  garner  above  all  that  is 
weighty  and  full ;  an  Axe,  because  Thou  cut- 
test  down  the  worthless  fig-tree,  after  long 
patience,  because  Thou  cuttest  away  the  roots 
of  wickedness  ;  the  Door,  because  Thou  bring- 
est  in  ;  the  Way,  because  we  go  straight  ;  the 
Sheep,  because  Thou  art  the  Sacrifice  ;  the 
High  Priest,  because  Thou  ofiferest  the  Body ; 
the  Son,  because  Thou  art  of  the  Father. 
Again  I  stir  men's  tongues  ;  again  some  men 
rave  against  Christ,  or  rather  against  me,  who 


o  Exod.  XX.  21  ;  xxxiii.  20,  23. 


P  I  Cor.  xiii.  7. 


have  been  deemed  worthy  to  be  a  herald  of 
the  Word.    I  am  like  John,  The  Voice  of  one 
crying  in   the  wilderness" — a  wilderness  that 
once  was  dry,  but  now  is  only  too  populous. 
V.   But,  as  I  was  saying,  to  return  to  my 
j  argument ;    for  this    reason    great    multitudes 
;  followed  Him,   because  He  condescended  to 
our  infirmities.      What  next  ?     The  Pharisees 
also,  it  says,  came  unto  Him,  tempting  Him, 
and  saying  unto  Him,  is  it  lawful  for  a  man 
to  put  away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ?     Again 
the   Pharisees  tempt    Him  ;    again  they  who 
read  the  Law  do  not  know  the  Law  ;   again 
they  who   are  exjjounders   of  the  Law   need 
others  to  teach  them.     It  was  not  enough  that 
Sadducees  should  tempt  Him  concerning  the 
Resurrection,  and  Lawyers  question  Him  about 
perfection,  and  the  Herodians  about  the  poll- 
tax,  and  others  about  authority  ;  but  some  one 
must  also  ask  about  Marriage  at  Him  who  can- 
not be  tempted,  the  Creator  of  wedlock.  Him 
who  from  the  First  Cause  made  this  whole  race 
of  mankind.      And  He  answered  and  said  unto 
them.  Have  ye  not  read  that  He  which  made 
them  at  the  beginning  made  them  male  and 
female?     He  knovveth  how  to  solve  some  of 
their  questions  and  to  bridle  others.      When 
He  is  asked.   By   what    authority  doest   thou 
i  these  things  ?     He    Himself,   because   of  the 
utter  ignorance  of  those  who  asked  Him,  re- 
plies with  another  question  ;   The  baptism  of 
John,  was  it  from  Heaven  or  of  men  ?     He 
on   both   sides   entangles   His   questioners,  so 
that  we  also  are  able,  following  the   example 
of  Christ,  sometimes  to  check  those  who  argue 
with  us  over-officiously,  and  with  still  more 
absurd  questions   to    solve    the    absurdity    of 
their    questions.       For    we    too    are    wise    in 
vanity  at  times,  if  I  may  boast  of  the  things 
of  folly.      But  when  He  sees  a  question  that 
calls  for   reasoning,  then   He   does  not   deem 
His  questioners  unworthy  of  prudent  answers. 
VI.   The    question    which    you     have    put 
seems  to  me  to  do  honour  to  chastity,  and  to 
demand  a  kind  reply.      Chastity,  in  respect  of 
which  I  see  that  the  majority  of  men  are  ill- 
disposed,  and  that  their  laws  are  unequal  and 
irregular.      For  what  was  the  reason  why  they 
restrained  the  woman,  but  indulged  the  man, 
and  that  a  woman  who  practises  evil  against 
her  husband's  bed   is  an   adulteress,  and    the 
penalties  of  the  law  for  this  are  very  severe  : 
but  if  the  husband  commits  fornication  against 
his  wife,  he  has  no  account  to  give?    I  do  not 
accept  this  legislation  ;    I  do  not  approve  this 
custom.     They  who  made  the  Law  were  men, 

a  Matt.  iii.  3. 


340 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  therefore  their  legislation  is  hard  on 
women,  since  they  have  placed  children  also 
under  the  authority  of  their  fathers,  while 
leaving  the  weaker  sex  uncared  for.  God 
doth  not  so  ;  but  saith  Honour  thy  father  and 
thy  mother,  which  is  the  first  commandment 
with  promise  ;  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee; 
and,  He  that  curseth  father  or  mother,  let  him 
die  the  death.  Similarly  He  gave  honour  to 
good  and  punishment  to  evil.  And,  The  bless- 
ing of  a  father  strengtheneth  the  houses  of 
children,  but  the  curse  of  a  mother  uprooteth 
tlie  foundations."^  See  the  e(|uality  of  the 
legislation.  There  is  one  Maker  of  man  and 
woman  ;  one  debt  is  owed  by  children  to 
both  their  parents. 

Vn.  How  then  dost  thou  demand  Chastiry, 
while  thou  dost  not  thyself  observe  it?  How 
dost  thou  demand  that  which  thou  dost  not 
give?  How,  though  thou  art  equally  a  body, 
dost  thou  legislate  unequally  ?  If  thou  en- 
quire into  the  worse — The  Woman  Sinned, 
and  so  did  Adam.^  The  serpent  deceived  them 
both  ;  and  one  was  not  found  to  be  the 
stronger  and  the  other  the  weaker.  But  dost 
thou  consider  the  better?  Christ  saves  both 
by  His  Passion.  Was  He  made  flesh  for  the 
Man  ?  So  He  was  also  for  the  woman.  Did 
He  die  for  the  Man  ?  The  Woman  also  is 
saved  by  His  death.  He  is  called  of  the 
seed  of  David  ;  y  and  so  perhaps  you  think  the 
Man  is  honoured;  but  He  is  born  of  a  Virgin, 
and  this  is  on  the  Woman's  side.  They  two, 
He  says,  shall  be  one  Flesh ;  so  let  the  one 
flesh  have  equal  honour."  And  Paul  legislates 
for  chastity  by  His  example.  How,  and  in 
what  way?  This  Sacrament  is  great,  he  says. 
But  I  speak  concerning  ("hrist  and  the  Church.* 
It  is  well  for  the  wife  to  reverence  Christ 
through  her  husband  :  and  it  is  well  for  the 
husband  not  to  dishonor  the  Church  through 
his  wife.  Let  the  wife,  he  says,  see  that  she 
reverence  her  husband,  for  so  she  does  Christ ; 
but  also  he  bids  the  husband  cherish  his  wife, 
for  so  Christ  does  the  Church.*  Let  us,  then, 
give  further  consideration  to  this  saying. 

VHL  Churn  milk  and  it  will  be  butter  ;  ^ 
examine  this  and  perhaps  you  may  find  some- 
thing more  nourishing  in  it.  For  I  think 
that  the  Word  here  seems  to  deprecate  second 
marriage.  For,  if  there  were  two  Christs, 
there  may  be  two  husbands  or  two  wives  ;  but 
if  Christ  is  One,  one  Head  of  the  Church,  let 
there  be  also  one  flesh,  and  let  a  second  be 
rejected  ;  and  if  it  hinder  the  second  what  is 
to  be  said  for  a  third  ?     The  first  is  law,  the 


second  is  indulgence,  the  third  is  transgres- 
sion, and  anything  beyond  this  is  swinish, 
such  as  has  not  even  many  examples  of  its 
wickedness.  Now  the  Law  grants  divorce  for 
every  cause  ;  but  Christ  not  for  every  cause  ; 
but  He  allows  only  separation  from  the  whore  ; 
and  in  all  other  things  He  commands  patience. 
He  allows  to  put  away  the  fornicatress,  be- 
cause she  corrupts  the  offspring ;  but  in  all 
other  matters  let  us  be  patient  and  endure  ;  or 
rather  be  ye  *  enduring  and  patient,  as  many 
as  have  received  the  yoke  of  matrimony.  If 
you  see  lines  or  marks  upon  her,  take  away 
her  ornaments  ;  if  a  hasty  tongue,  restrain 
it ;  if  a  meretricious  laugh,  make  it  modest ; 
if  immoderate  expenditure  or  drink,  reduce 
it;  if  unseasonable  going  out,  shackle  it ;  if 
a  lofty  eye,  chastise  it.  It  is  uncertain 
which  is  in  danger,  the  separator  or  the  se- 
parated. Let  thy  fountain  of  water,  it  says, 
be  only  thine  own,  and  let  no  stranger  share 
it  with  thee  ;  ^  and,  let  the  colt  of  thy  favours 
and  the  stag  of  thy  love  company  with  thee  ; 
do  thou  then  take  care  not  to  be  a  strange 
river,  nor  to  ])lease  othei-s  better  than  thine 
own  wife.  But  if  thou  be  carried  elsewhere, 
then  thou  makest  a  law  of  lewdness  for  thy 
partner  also.      Thus  saith  the  Saviour. 

IX.  But  what  of  the  Pharisees?  To  them 
this  word  seems  harsh.  Yes,  for  they  are  also 
displeased  at  other  noble  words — both  the 
older  Pharisees,  and  the  Pharisees  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  For  it  is  not  only  race,  but  dispo- 
sition also  that  makes  a  Pharisee.  Thus  also 
I  reckon  as  an  Assyrian  or  an  Egyi)tian  him 
who  is  ranged  among  these  by  his  character. 
What  then  say  the  Pharisees  ?  If  the  case 
of  the  man  be  so  with  his  wife,  it  is  not 
good  to  marry.  Is  it  only  now,  O  Pharisee, 
that  thou  understandest  this,  It  is  not  good 
to  marry ?v  Didst  thou  not  know  it  before 
when  thou  sawest  widowhoods,  and  orphan- 
hoods, and  untimely  deaths,  and  mourning 
succeeding  to  shouting,  and  fimerals  coming 
upon  weddings,  and  childlessness,  and  all  the 
comedy  or  tragedy  that  is  connected  with 
this?  Either  is  most  appropriate  language. 
It  is  good  to  marry  ;  1  too  admit  it,  for 
marriage  is  honourable  in  all,  and  the  bed 
undefiled.*  It  is  good  for  the  temperate, 
not  for  those  who  are  insatiable,  and  who 
desire  to  give  more  than  due  honour  to  the 
flesh.  When  marriage  is  only  marriage  and 
conjunction  and  the  desire  for  a  succession  of 
children,  marriage  is  honourable,  for  it  brings 
into    the  world    more    to    please    God.     But 


a  Kcclu«.  iii.  ii. 
6  Ephes.  V.  32. 


j3  Oen.  iii.  6. 
€  Ib.v.  22  seq. 


y  Rom.  !.  3. 
5  Prov.  XXX.  33. 


a  An  indication  that  S.  Gregory  was  himself  unmarried. 
^  Prov.  V.  17.  y  Matt.  xix.  10.  S  Heb.  xiii.  4. 


ON    THE   WORDS    OF   THE    GOSPEL. 


34  T 


when  it  kindles  matter,  and  surrounds  us  with 
thorns,  and  as  it  were  discovers  the  way  of 
vice,  then  I  too  say,  It  is  not  good  to  marry. 

X.  Marriage  is  honourable ;  but  I  cannot 
say  that  it  is  more  lofty  than  virginity ;  for 
virginity  were  no  great  thing  if  it  were  not 
better  than  a  good  thing.  Do  not  however 
be  angry,  ye  women  that  are  subject  to  the 
yoke.  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  man. 
But  be  ye  bound  together,  both  virgins  and 
wives,  and  be  one  in  the  Lord,  and  each 
others'  adornment.  There  would  be  no  celi- 
bate if  there  were  no  marriage.  For  whence 
would  the  virgin  have  passed  into  this  life? 
Marriage  would  not  have  been  venerable  un- 
less it  had  borne  virgin  fruit  to  God  and  to 
life.  Honour  thou  also  thy  mother,  of  whom 
thou  wast  born.  Honour  thou  also  her  who 
is  of  a  mother  and  is  a  mother.''  A  mother 
she  is  not,' but  a  Bride  of  Christ  she  is.  The 
visible  beauty  is  not  hidden,  but  that  which 
is  unseen  is  visible  to  God.  All  the  glory  of 
the  King's  Daughter  is  within,^  clothed  with 
golden  fringes,  embroidered  whether  by  ac- 
tions or  by  contemplation.  And  she  who 
is  under  the  yoke,  let  her  also  in  some  de- 
gree be  Christ's  ;  and  the  virgin  altogether 
Christ's.  Let  the  one  be  not  entirely  chained 
to  the  world, ■>'  and  let  the  other  not  belong  to 
the  world  at  all.  For  that  which  is  a  part  to 
the  yoked,  is  to  the  virgin  all  in  all.  Hast 
thou  chosen  the  life  of  Angels  ?  Art  thou 
ranked  among  the  unyoked?  Sink  not  down 
to  the  flesh  ;  sink  not  down  to  matter ;  be 
not  wedded  to  matter,  while  otherwise  thou 
remainest  unwedded.  A  lascivious  eye  guard- 
eth  not  virginity ;  a  meretricious  tongue 
mingles  with  the  Evil  One  ;  feet  that  walk 
disorderly  accuse  of  disease  or  danger.  Let 
the  mind  also  be  virgin  ;  let  it  not  rove 
about ;  let  it  not  wander  ;  let  it  not  carry  in 
itself  forms  of  evil  things  (for  the  form  is  a 
part  of  harlotry)  ;  let  it  not  make  idols  in  its 
soul  of  hateful  things. 

XL  But  He  said  unto  them,  All  men  can- 
not receive  this  saying,  save  they  to  whom 
it  is  given.  Do  you  see  the  sublimity  of  the 
matter?  It  is  found  to  be  nearly  incompre- 
hensible. For  surely  it  is  more  than  carnal 
that  that  which  is  born  of  flesh  should  not 
beget  to  the  flesh.  Surely  it  is  Angelic  that 
she  who  is  bound  to  flesh  should  live  not  ac- 
cording to  flesh,  but  be  loftier  than  her  na- 
ture. The  flesh  bound  her  to  the  world,  but 
reason  led  her  up  to  God.     The  flesh  weighed 


a  The  passage  is  obscure.     Combefis  reads,  "Though  she  be 
not  a  mother"  but  the  MSS  are  against  him. 

P  Ps.  xlv.  14.  y  Luke  viii.  14. 


her  down,  but  reason  gave  her  wings  ;  the 
flesh  bound  her,  but  desire  loosed  her.  With 
thy  whole  soul,  O  Virgin,  be  intent  upon  God 
(I  give  this  same  injunction  to  men  and  to 
women)  ;  and  do  not  take  the  same  view  in 
other  respects  of  what  is  honourable. as  the 
mass  of  men  do  ;  of  family,  of  wealth,  of  throne, 
of  dynasty,  of  that  beauty  which  shews  itself 
in  complexion  and  composition  of  members, 
the  plaything  of  time  and  disease.  If  thou 
hast  poured  out  upon  God  the  whole  of  thy 
love  ;  if  thou  hast  not  two  objects  of  desire, 
both  the  ]jassing  and  the  abiding,  both  the 
visible  and  the  invisible,  then  thou  hast  been 
so  pierced  by  the  arrow  of  election,  and  hast 
so  learned  the  beauty  of  the  Bridegroom,  that 
thou  too  canst  say  with  the  bridal  drama  and 
song,  thou  art  sweetness  and  altogether  love- 
liness. 

XII.  You  see  how  streams  confined  in 
lead  pipes,  through  being  much  compressed 
and  carried  to  one  point,  often  so  far  depart 
from  the  nature  of  water  that  that  which  is 
pushed  from  behind  will  often  flow  constantly 
upwards.  So  if  thou  confine  thy  desire,  and 
be  wholly  joined  to  God,  thou  wilt  not  fall 
downward  ;  thou  wilt  not  be  dissipated  ;  thou 
wilt  remain  entirely  Christ's,  until  thou  see 
Christ  thy  Bridegroom.  Keep  thyself  unap- 
proachable, both  in  word  and  work  and  life, 
and  thought  and  action.  From  all  sides  the 
Evil  One  interferes  with  thee  ;  he  spies  thee 
everywhere,  where  he  may  strike,  where 
wound  thee  ;  let  him  not  find  anything  bared 
and  ready  to  his  stroke.  The  purer  he  sees 
thee,  the  more  he  strives  to  stain  thee,  for  the 
stains  on  a  shining  garment  are  more  conspic- 
uous. Let  not  eye  draw  eye,  nor  laughter 
laughter,  nor  familiarity  night,  lest  night 
bring  destruction.  For  that  which  is  grad- 
ually drawn  away  and  stolen,  works  a  mischief 
which  is  unperceived  at  the  time,  but  yet  at- 
tains to  the  consummation  of  wickedness. 

XIII.  All  men,  He  saith,  cannot  receive 
this  saying,  but  they  to  whom  it  is  given. 
When  you  hear  this,  It  is  given,  do  not  un- 
derstand it  in  a  heretical  fashion,  and  bring 
in  differences  of  nature,  the  earthly  and  the 
spiritual  and  the  mixed.  For  there  are 
people  so  evilly  disposed  as  to  think  that  some 
men  are  of  an  utterly  ruined  nature,  and  some 
of  a  nature  which  is  saved,  and  that  others 
are  of  such  a  disposition  as  their  will  may  lead 
them  to,  either  to  the  better,  or  to  the  worse. 
For  that  men  may  have  a  certain  aptitude, 
one  more,  another  less,  I  too  admit  ;  but  not 
that  this  aptitude  alone  suffices  for  perfection, 
but  that  it  is  reason  which  calls  this  out,  that 


342 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


nature  may  proceed  to  action,  just  as  fire  is 
produced  when  a  flint  is  struck  with  iron. 
When  you  hear  To  whom  it  is  given,  add. 
And  it  is  given  to  those  who  are  called  and 
to  those  who  incline  that  way.  For  when 
you  hear.  Not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of 
him  that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  shew- 
eth  mere)',*  I  counsel  you  to  think  the  same. 
For  since  there  are  some  who  are  so  proud  of 
their  successes  that  they  attribute  all  to  them- 
selves and  nothing  to  Him  that  made  them 
and  gave  them  wisdom  and  supplied  them 
with  good  ;  such  are  taught  by  this  word  that 
even  to  wish  well  needs  help  from  God  ;  or 
rather  that  even  to  choose  what  is  right  is 
divine  and  a  gift  of  the  mercy  of  God.  For 
it  is  necessary  both  that  we  should  be  our  own 
masters  and  also  that  our  salvation  should  be 
of  God.  This  is  why  He  saith  not  of  him 
that  willeth  ;  that  is,  not  of  him  that  willeth 
only,  nor  of  him  that  runneth  only,  but  also 
of  God.  That  sheweth  mercy.  Next  ;  since 
to  will  also  is  from  God,  he  has  attributed  the 
whole  to  God  with  reason.  However  much 
you  may  run,  however  much  you  may  wrestle, 
yet  you  need  one  to  give  the  crown.  Except 
the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  laboured  in 
vain  that  built  it :  Except  the  Ford  keep  the 
city,  in  vain  they  watched  that  keep  it.^  I 
know,  He  says,  that  the  race  is  not  to  the 
swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong, y  nor  the  vic- 
tory to  the  fighters,  nor  the  harbours  to  the 
good  sailors ;  but  to  God  it  belongs  both  to 
work  victory,  and  to  bring  the  barque  safe 
to  port. 

XIV.  In  another  place  it  is  also  said  and 
understood,  and  perhaps  it  is  necessary  that  I 
should  add  it  as  follows  to  what  has  already 
been  said,  in  order  that  I  may  impart  to  you 
also  my  wealth.  The  Mother  of  the  Sons  of  Ze- 
bedee,  in  an  impulse  of  parental  affection,  asked 
a  thing  in  ignorance  of  the  measure  of  what  she 
was  asking,*  but  pardonably,  through  the  excess 
of  her  love  and  of  the  kindness  due  to  her  chil- 
dren. For  there  is  nothing  more  affectionate 
than  a  Mother, — and  I  speak  of  this  that  I 


may  lay  down  a  law  for  honouring  Mothers. 
Their  mother,  then,  asked  Jesus  that  they 
might  sit,  the  one  on  His  right  hand,  the 
other  on  his  left.  But  what  saith  the  Saviour  ? 
He  first  asks  if  they  can  drink  the  Cup  which 
He  Himself  was  about  to  drink;  and  when 
this  was  profe.ssed,  and  the  Saviour  accepted 
the  profession  (for  He  knew  that  they  were 
being  perfected  by  the  same,  or  rather  that 
they  would  be  perfected  thereby)  ;  what  saith 


a  Rom.  ix.  i6. 
y  Eccles.  ix.,  ii. 


p  Ps.  cxxvii.  1. 
S  Matt.  XX.  20,  etc. 


He?  "  They  shall  drink  the  cup;  but  to  sit 
on  My  right  hand  and  on  My  left — it  is  not 
Mine,  He  saith,  to  give  this,  but  to  whom  it 
hath  been  given."  Is  then  the  ruling  mind 
nothing?  Nothing  the  labour ?  Nothing  the 
reasoning?  Nothing  the  philosophy  ?  Nothing 
the  fasting?  Nothing  the  vigils,  the  sleeping 
on  the  ground,  the  shedding  floods  of  tears  ? 
Is  it  for  nothing  of  these,  but  in  accordance 
with  some  election  by  lot,  that  a  Jeremias  is 
sanctified,  and  others  are  estranged  from  the 
womb  ? 

XV.  I  fear  lest  some  monstrous  reasoning 
may  come  in,  as  of  the  soul  having  lived  else- 
where, and  then  having  been  bound  to  this 
body,  and  that  it  is  from  that  other  lile  that 
some  receive  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  others 
are  condemned,  namely,  those  who  lived 
badly.  But  since  such  a  conception  is  too 
absurd,  and  contrary  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Church  (others  if  they  like  may  play  with 
such  doctrines,  but  it  is  unsafe  for  us  to  play 
with  them)  ;  we  must  in  this  place  too  add  to 
the  words  "To  whom  it  hath  been  given," 
this,  "  who  are  worthy ;  "  who  have  not  only 
received  this  character  from  the  Father,  but 
have  given  it  to  themselves. 

XVI.  For  there  are  eunuchs  which  Avere 
made  eunuchs  from  their  mother's  womb,  etc. 
I  should  very  much  like  to  be  able  to  say  some- 
thing bold  about  eunuchs.  Be  not  proud,  ye 
who  are  eunuchs  by  nature.  For,  in  point  of 
self-restraint,  this  is  perhaps  unwilling.  For  it 
has  not  come  to  the  test,  nor  has  your  self- 
restraint  been  proved  by  trial.  For  the  good 
which  is  by  nature  is  not  a  subject  of  merit  ; 
that  which  is  the  result  of  purpose  is  laudable. 
What  merit  has  fire  for  burning,  for  it  is  its 
nature  to  burn  ?  What  merit  has  water  for 
falling,  a  property  given  to  it  by  its  Maker? 
What  thanks  does  the  snow  get  for  its  cold- 
ness, or  the  sun  for  its  shining? — It  shines 
even  if  it  does  not  wish.  Claim  merit  if  you 
please  by  willing  the  better  things.  You  will 
claim  it  if,  being  carnal,  you  make  yourself 
yourself  spiritual  ;  if,  while  drawn  down  by 
the  leaden  flesh,  you  receive  wings  from  rea- 
son ;  if  though  lowly  born,  you  are  found 
to  be  heavenly  ;  if  while  chained  down  to 
the  flesh,  you  shew  yourself  superior  to  the 
flesh. 

XVII.  Since  then,  natural  chastity  is  not 
meritorious,  I  demand  something  else  from 
the  eunuchs.  Do  not  go  a  whoring  in  re- 
spect of  the  Godhead.  Having  been  wedded 
to  Christ,  do  not  dishonour  Christ.  Being  per- 
fected by  the  spirit,  do  not  make  the  Spirit 
your  own  equal.     If  I  }'et  pleased  men,  says 


ON   THE   WORDS   OF   THE   GOSPEL. 


343 


Paul,  I  should  not  be  the  servant  of  Christ."  If 
I  worshipped  a  creature,  I  should  not  be  called 
a  Christian.  For  why  is  Christianity  jn-e- 
cious  ?  Is  it  not  that  Christ  is  God,  unless 
my  mingling  with  Him  in  love  is  a  mere  hu- 
man passion  ?  And  yet  I  honour  Peter,  but  I 
am  not  called  a  Petrine ;  and  Paul,  but  have 
never  been  called  a  Pauline.  I  cannot  allow 
myself  to  be  named  after  a  man,  who  am  born 
of  God.  So  then,  if  it  is  because  you  believe 
Him  to  be  God  that  you  are  called  a  Chris- 
tian, may  you  ever  be  so  called,  and  may  you 
remain  in  both  the  name  and  the  thing  ;  but 
if  you  are  called  from  Christ  only  because  you 
have  an  affection  for  Him.  you  attribute  no 
more  to  him  than  other  names  which  are 
given  from  some  practice  or  fact. 

XVIII.  Consider  those  men  who  are  de- 
voted to  horse  racing.  They  are  named  after 
the  colours  and  the  sides  on  which  they  have 
placed  themselves.  You  know  the  names 
without  my  mentioning  them.  If  it  is  thus 
that  you  have  got  the  name  of  Christian,  the 
mere  title  is  a  very  small  thing  even  though 
you  pride  yourself  upon  it.  But  if  it  is  be- 
cause you  believe  Him  to  be  God,  shew  your 
faith  by  your  works.  If  the  Son  is  a  creature, 
even  now  also  you  are  worshipping  the  crea- 
ture instead  of  the  Creator.  If  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  a  creature,  you  are  baptized  in  vain, 
and  are  only  sound  on  two  sides,  or  rather 
not  even  on  them  ;  but  on  one  you  are  alto- 
gether in  danger.  Imagine  the  Trinity  to  be 
a  single  pearl,  alike  on  all  sides  and  equally  glis- 
tening. If  any  part  of  the  pearl  be  injured, 
the  whole  beauty  of  the  stone  is  gone.  So 
when  you  dishonour  the  Son  in  order  to  hon- 
our the  Father,  He  does  not  accept  your  hon- 
our. The  Father  doth  not  glory  in  the  dis- 
honour of  the  Son.  If  a  wise  Son  maketh  a 
glad  Father,'^  how  much  more  doth  the  hon- 
our of  the  Son  become  that  of  the  Father  ! 
And  if  you  also  accept  this  saying,  My  Son, 
glory  not  in  the  dishonour  of  thy  Father, v 
similarly  the  Father  doth  not  glory  in  the 
Son's  dishonour.  If  you  dishonour  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Son  receiveth  not  your  honour.  For 
though  He  be  not  of  the  Father  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Son,  yet  He  is  of  the  same  Father. 
Either  honour  the  whole  or  dishonour  the 
whole,  so  as  to  have  a  consistent  mind.  I  can- 
not accept  your  half  piety.  I  would  have 
you  altogether  pious,  but  in  the  way  that  I 
desire.  Pardon  my  affection  :  I  am  grieved 
even  for  those  who  hate  me.  You  were  one 
of  my  members,  even  though  you  are  now  cut 


a  Galat.  i.  lo. 


/3  Prov.  X.  I 


7  Ecclus.  iii.  lo. 


off:  perhaps  you  will  again  become  a  mem- 
ber ;  and  therefore  I  speak  kindly.  Thus 
much  for  the  sake  of  the  Eunuchs,  that  they 
may  be  chaste  in  respect  of  the  Godhead. 

XIX.  For  it  is  not  only  bodily  sin  which  is 
called  fornication  and  adultery,  but  any  sin 
you  have  committed,  and  especially  trans- 
gression against  that  which  is  divine.  Per- 
haps you  ask  how  we  can  prove  this  : — They 
went  a  whoring,  it  says,  with  their  own  in- 
ventions." Do  you  see  an  impudent  act 
of  fornication  ?  And  again.  They  committed 
adultery  in  the  wood.^  See  you  a  kind  of 
adulterous  religion  ?  Do  not  then  commit 
spiritual  adultery,  while  keeping  your  bodies 
chaste.  Do  not  shew  that  it  is  unwiUingly 
you  are  chaste  in  body,  by  not  being  chaste 
where  you  can  commit  fornication.  Why 
have  you  done  your  impiety  ?  Why  are  you 
hurried  to  vice,  so  that  it  is  all  one  to  call  a 
man  a  Eunuch  or  a  villain  ?  Place  yourselves 
on  the  side  of  men,  and,  even  though  so  late, 
have  some  manly  thoughts.  Avoid  the  wo- 
men's apartments  ;  do  not  let  the  disgrace  of 
proclamation  be  added  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
name.  Would  you  have  us  persevere  a  little 
longer  in  this  discourse,  or  are  you  tired  with 
what  we  have  said  ?  Nay,  by  what  follows  let 
even  the  eunuchs  be  honoured.  For  the  word 
is  one  of  praise. 

XX.  There  are,  He  says,  some  eunuchs 
which  were  .so  born  from  their  mother's 
womb  ;  and  there  are  some  eunuchs  which 
were  made  eunuchs  of  men  ;  and  there  be 
eunuchs  which  have  made  themselves  eunuchs 
for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake.  He  that 
is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it.  I 
think  that  the  discourse  would  sever  itself 
from  the  body,  and  represent  higher  things  by 
bodily  figures  ;  for  to  stop  the  meaning  at 
bodily  eunuchs  would  be  small  and  very  weak, 
and  unworthy  of  the  Word  ;  and  we  must  un- 
derstand in  addition  something  worthy  of  the 
Spirit.  Some,  then,  seem  by  nature  to  incline 
to  good.  And  when  I  speak  of  nature,  I  am 
not  slighting  free  will,  but  supposing  both — 
an  aptitude  for  good,  and  that  which  brings 
the  natural  aptitude  to  effect.  And  there  are 
others  whom  reason  cleanses,  by  cutting  them 
off  from  the  passions.  These  I  imagine  to  be 
meant  by  those  whom  men  have  made  Eunuchs, 
when  the  word  of  teaching  distinguishing  the 
better  from  the  worse  and  rejecting  the  one 
and  commanding  the  other  (like  the  verse. 
Depart  from  evil  and  do  good),Y  works  spiritual 
chastity.     This  sort  of  making  eunuchs  I  ap- 


a  Ps.  cvi. 


39- 


P  Jer.  iii.  g  (Libere).        y  Ps.  xxxvii.  27. 


344 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


prove  ',  and  I  highly  praise  both  teachers  and 
taught,  that  the  one  have  nobly  effected,  and 
the  other  still  more  nobly  endured,  the  cut- 
ting off. 

XXI.  And  there  be  eunuchs  which  have 
made  themselves  eunuchs  for  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven's  sake.  Others,  too,  who  have  not 
met  with  teachers,  have  been  laudable  teach- 
ers to  themselves.  No  father  nor  mother, 
no  Priest  or  Bishop,  nor  any  of  those  com- 
missioned to  teach,  taught  you  your  duty ; 
but  by  moving  reason  in  yourself  and  by 
kindling  the  spark  of  good  by  your  free  will, 
you  made  yourself  a  eunuch,  and  acquired 
such  a  habit  of  virtue  that  impulse  to  vice  be- 
came almost  an  impossibility  to  you.  There- 
fore I  praise  this  kind  of  Eunuch-making  also, 
and  perhaps  even  above  the  others.  He 
that  is  able  to  receive  it  let  him  receive  it. 
Choose  which  part  you  will  ;  either  follow  the 
Teacher  or  be  your  own  teacher.  One  thing 
alone  is  shameful — that  the  passions  be  not 
extirpated.  It  matters  not  how  they  are  ex- 
tirpated. The  teacher  is  God's  creature  ;  and 
you  also  have  the  same  origin  ;  and  whether 
the  teacher  grasp  this  grace,  or  the  good  be 
your  own — it  is  equally  good. 

XXn.  Only  let  us  cut  ourselves  off  from 
passion,  lest  any  root  of  bitterness  springing 
up  trouble  us  ;  "  only  let  us  follow  the  image  ; 
only  let  us  reverence  our  Archetype.  Cut  off 
the  bodily  passions  ;  cut  off  also  the  spiritual. 
For  by  how  much  the  soul  is  more  precious 
than  the  body,  by  sg  much  more  precious  is  it 
to  cleanse  the  soul  than  the  body.  And  if 
cleansing  of  the  body  be  a  i)raisevvorthy  act, 
see,  I  pray  you,  how  much  greater  and  higher 
is  that  of  the  soul.  Cut  away  the  Arian  im- 
piety ;  cut  away  the  false  opinion  of  Sabellius  ; 
do  not  join  more  than  is  right,  or  wrongly 
sever  ;  do  not  either  confuse  the  Three  Persons 
into  One,  or  make  Three  diversities  of  Nature. 
The  One  is  praiseworthy  if  rightly  understood  ; 
and  the  Three  when  rightly  divided,  when  the 
division  is  of  Persons,  not  of  Godhead. 

XXIII.  I  enact  this  for  Laymen  too,  and  I 
enjoin  it  also  upon  all  Priests,  and  upon  those 
commissioned  to  rule.  Come  to  the  aid  of  the 
Word,  all  of  you  to  whom  God  has  given  power 
to  aid.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  check  murder, 
to  punish  adultery,  to  chastise  theft ;  much 
more  to  establish  jjiety  by  law,  and  to  bestow 
sound  doctrine.  My  word  will  not  be  able  to 
do  as  much  in  fighting  for  the  Holy  Trinity  as 
your  Edict,  if  you  will  bridle  the  ill  disi)osed, 
if  you   will  help   the  persecuted,  if  yon  will 

aHeb.  xii.  15. 


check  the  slayers^  and  prevent  people  from 
being  slain.  I  am  speaking  not  merely  of 
bodily  but  of  spiritual  slaughter.  For  all  sin 
is  the  death  of  the  soul.  .  .  ,  Here  let 
my  discourse  end. 

XXiV.  But  it  remains  that  I  speak  a  prayer 
for  those  who  are  assembled.  Husbands  alike 
and  wives,  rulers  and  ruled,  old  men,  and 
young  men,  and  maidens,  every  sort  of  age, 
bear  ye  every  loss  whether  of  money  or  of 
body,  but  one  thing  alone  do  not  endure — to 
lose  the  Godhead.  I  adore  the  Father,  I 
adore  the  Son,  I  adore  the  Holy  Ghost ;  or 
rather  We  adore  them  ;  I,  who  am  speaking, 
before  all  and  after  all  and  with  all,  in  the 
same  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom  be  the  glory 
and  the  might  for  ever.     Amen. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  ORATION 
ON  THE  THEOPHANY. 

The  Title  of  this  Oration  has  given  rise 
to  a  doubt  whether  it  was  preached  on  Dec. 
25,  380,  or  on  Jan.  6,  381.  The  word 
Theophania  is  well  known  as  a  name  for  the 
Epiphany ;  which,  however,  according  to 
Schaff,**  was  originally  a  celebration  both 
of  the  Nativity  and  the  Baptism  of  our  Lord. 
The  two  words  seem  both  to  have  been  used 
in  the  simplest  sense  of  the  Manifestation 
of  God,  and  certainly  were  applied  to  Christ- 
mas Day.  Thus  Suidas,  "The  Epiphany  is 
the  Incarnation  of  the  Saviour;"  and  Epi- 
phanius  (Hcer.,  53),  "The  Day  of  the  Epi- 
phany is  the  day  on  which  Christ  was  born 
according  to  the  flesh."  But  S.  Jerome  ap- 
plies the  word  to  the  Baptism  of  Christ ; 
"  The  day  of  the  Epiphany  is  still  venerable  ; 
not,  as  some  think,  on  account  of  His  Birth  in 
the  flesh;  for  then  He  was  hidden,  not  mani- 
fested ;  but  it  agrees  with  the  time  at  which 
it  was  said.  This  is  My  beloved  Son  (In 
Ezech.  I.).  There  is  aLso  a  Sermon,  attri- 
buted to  S.  Chrysostom,  "  On  the  Bai)tism  of 
Christ,"  in  which  it  is  expressly  denied  that 
the  name  Theophany  ap])lies  to  Christmas. 
The  Oration  itself,  however,  contains  evidence 
to  shew  that  the  Festival  of  our  Lord's  Birth 
was  kept  at  the  earlier  date;  for  in  c.  16 
the  Preacher  says,  "  A  little  later  you  shall  see 
Jesus  submitting  to  be  jjurified  in  the  river 
Jordan  for  my  purification."  And  another 
piece  of  evidence  occurs  in  the  oration  In 
Sancta  Lumina,  c.  14,  "At  His  Birth  we  duly 
kept  festival,  both  I  the  leader  of  the  feast, 

oH.  E.,  Nic  Per.,  p.  399. 


ON   THE   THEOPHANY,  OR   BIRTHDAY   OF   CHRIST. 


345 


and    you.      Now    we   are  come   to    another 
action  of  Christ  and  another  Mystery." 

The   Oration   is   thus    analysed    by   Abbe 
Benoit : 

"  After  an  exordium  which  is  full  of  the  en- 
thusiasm and  joy  which  such  a  subject  natur- 
ally inspires  the  Orator  recommends  his 
hearers  to  celebrate  the  Festival  by  a  pious 
gladness,  and  by  hearing  the  Word  of  God ; 
and  not  as  the  heathen  celebrated  their  feasts, 
by  profane  amusements  and  all  kinds  of  ex- 
cess. He  will  try  to  satisfy  their  desires  by 
speaking  to  them  of  God.  God  is  infinite, 
ineffable,  eternal,  the  Sovereign  Good.  He 
created  the  Angels  in  the  beginning  out  of 
goodness.  The  fall  of  the  Angels  was  followed 
by  the  creation  of  the  material  world.  Man 
too  fell,  and  God  shewed  His  mercy  even  in 
the  punishment.  He  used  various  means  to 
raise  him  again ;  and  at  length  He  came 
Himself.  Then  the  speaker  forcibly  argues 
against  those  who  misuse  the  infinite  conde- 
scension of  the  Word  to  contest  His  Godhead  ; 
he  rapidly  traces  the  principal  features  of  His 
Life — at  once  human  and  Divine  ;  and  ends 
with  a  recommendation  to  his  hearers  to  imit- 
ate in  all  things  the  Life  of  Christ,  so  that 
they  may  have  a  share  in  His  Kingdom  in 
Heaven." 

It  is  considered  one  of  the  best  of  Gregory's 
discourses.  '*  By  the  grandeur  of  the  plan," 
says  Benoit,  "the  elevation  of  the  ideas,  and 
the  rich  fund  of  doctrine,  this  discourse  is  in- 
contestably  one  of  S.  Gregory's  most  remark- 
able efforts." 


ORATION   XXXVIII. 

On  the  Theophany,  or  Birthday  of 
Christ. 

I.  Christ  is  born,  glorify  ye  Him.  Christ 
from  heaven,  go  ye  out  to  meet  Him.  Christ 
on  earth  ;  be  ye  exalted.  Sing  unto  tjie  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  ;  O  ye  Matrons  live 
as  Virgins,  that  ye  may  be  Mothers  of  Christ. 
Who  doth  not  worship  Him  That  is  from  the 
beginning?  Who  doth  not  glorify  Him  That 
is  the  Last  ? 


o  Ps.  xcvi.  I,  II. 


II.  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.v  The  letter  gives  way,  the 
Spirit  comes  to  the  front.  The  shadows  flee 
away,  the  Truth  comes  in  upon  them.  Mel- 
chisedec  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  com- 
mands it,  let  us  not  set  ourselves  against  Him. 
O  clap  your  hands  together  all  ye  people, «  be- 
cause 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  ye  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  yes- 
terday, and  to-day,  and  for  ever.^  Let  the 
Jews  be  offended,  let  the  Greeks  deride;''  let 
heretics  talk  till  their  tongues  ache.  Then 
shall  they  believe,  when  they  see  Him  ascend- 
ing up  into  heaven  ;  and  if  not  then,  yet  when 
they  see  Him  coming  out  of  heaven  and  sit- 
ting as  Judge. 

III.  Of  these  on  a  future  occasion  ;  for  the 
present  the  Festival  is  the  Theophany  or 
Birth-day,  for  it  is  called  both,  two  titles  being 
given  to  the  one  thing.  For  God  was  mani- 
fested to  man  by  birth.  On  the  one  hand 
Being,  and  eternally  Being,  of  the  Eternal 
Being,  above  cause  and  word,  for  there  was  no 
word  before  The  Word  ;  and  on  the  other  hand 
for  our  sakes  also  Becoming,  that  He  Who 
gives  us  our  being  might  also  give  us  our  Well- 
being,  or  rather  might  restore  us  by  His  In- 
carnation, when  we  had  by  wickedness  fallen 
from  wellbeing.  The  name  Theophany  is 
given  to  it  in  reference  to  the  Manifestation, 
and  that  of  Birthday  in  respect  of  His  Birth. 

IV.  This  is  our  present  Festival ;  it  is  this 
Avhich  we  are  celebrating  to-day,  the  Coming 
of  God  to  Man,  that  we  might  go  forth, '^  or 

a  Exod.  xiv.  20.  (3  Isa.  ix.  6.  y  i  Cor.  v.  17. 

8  The  meanins  clearly  is  that  the  type  presented  by  IMelchisedec 
(Heb.  vii.  3)  is  fulfilled  in  Christ.  The  explanation  here  given  by 
S.  Gregory  is  the  ordinary  one  found  in  the  Fathers.  Thus,  e.g., 
Theodoret  says,  "Christ  our  Lord  is  without  Mother  as  God,  for 
He  was  begotten  of  the  Father  alone  ;  and  without  Father  as  Man, 
for  He  was  born  of  a  pure  Virgin."  Oecumenius  has  almost  the 
exact  words  of  Gregory.  So  also  S.  Augustine  (Tract  in  Joann, 
8),  "Christ  was  singularly  born  of  a  Father  without  a  Mother,  of  a 
Mother  without  a  Father  :  without  Mother  as  God,  without  Father 
as  Man."  e  Ps.  xlvii.  i.         f  Isa.  ix.  6.        r\  Matt.  iii.  3. 

6  Heb.  xiii.  8.  k  i  Cor.  i.  23.  A  Ephes.  iv.  22,  24. 


346 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


rather  (for  this  is  the  more  proper  expression) 
that  we  might  go  back  to  God — that  putting 
off  the  old  man,  we  might  put  on  the  New ; 
and  that  as  we  died  in  Adam,  so  we  might 
Uve  in  Christ,"  being  born  with  Christ  and 
crucified  with  Him  and  buried  with  Him  and 
rising  with  Him.^  For  I  must  undergo  the 
beautiful  conversion,  and  as  the  painful  suc- 
ceeded the  more  blissful,  so  must  the  more 
blissful  come  out  of  the  painful.  For  where 
sin  abounded  Grace  did  much  more  abound  ;  t 
and  if  a  taste  condemned  us,  how  much  more 
doth  the  Passion  of  Christ  justify  us?  There- 
fore let  us  keep  the  Feast,  not  after  the  man- 
ner of  a  heathen  festival,  but  after  a  godly 
sort  ;  not  after  the  way  of  the  world,  but  in 
a  fashion  above  the  world  ;  not  as  our  own, 
but  as  belonging  to  Him  Who  is  ours,  or 
rather  as  our  Master's ;  not  as  of  weakness, 
but  as  of  healing ;  not  as  of  creation,  but  of 
re-creation. 

V.  And  how  shall  this  be  ?  Let  us  not  adorn 
our  porches,  nor  arrange  dances,  nor  decorate 
the  streets ;  let  us  not  feast  the  eye,  nor  en- 
chant the  ear  with  music,  nor  enervate  the 
nostrils  with  perfume,  nor  prostitute  the  taste, 
nor  indulge  the  touch,  those  roads  that  are  so 
prone  to  evil  and  entrances  for  sin  ;  let  us  not 
be  effeminate  in  clothing  soft  and  flowing, 
whose  beauty  consists  in  its  uselessness,  nor 
with  the  glittering  of  gems  or  the  sheen  of 
gold^  or  the  tricks  of  colour,  belying  the 
beauty  of  nature,  and  invented  to  do  despite 
unto  the  image  of  God  ;  Not  in  rioting  and 
drunkenness,  with  w-hich  are  mingled,  I  know 
well,  chambering  and  wantonness,  since  the 
lessons  which  evil  teachers  give  are  evil ; 
or  rather  the  harvests  of  worthless  seeds  are 
worthless.  Let  us  not  set  up  high  beds  of 
leaves,  making  tabernacles  for  the  belly  of 
what'  belongs  to  debauchery.  Let  us  not  ap- 
praise the  bouquet  of  wines,  the  kickshav/s  of 
cooks,  the  great  expense  of  unguents.  Let 
not  sea  and  land  bring  us  as  a  gift  their  prec- 
ious dung,  for  it  is  thus  that  I  have  learnt  to 
estimate  luxury  ;  and  let  us  not  strive  to  out- 
do each  other  in  intemperance  (for  to  my 
mind  every  superfluity  is  intemperance,  and 
all  which  is  beyond  absolute  need), — and  this 
while  others  are  hungry  and  in  want,  who  are 
made  of  the  same  clay  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner. 

VL  Let  us  leave  all  these  to  the  Greeks  and 
to  the  pomps  and  festivals  of  the  Greeks,  who 
call  l)y  the  name  of  gods  beings  who  rejoice 
in  the  reek  of  sacrifices,  and  who  consistently 

o  I  Cor.  ,\v.  22.     i8  Col.  ii.  ii.     y  Rom.  v.  20.      S  Rom.  xiii.  13. 


worship  with  their  belly;  evil  inventors  and 
worshippers  of  evil  demons.  But  we,  the  Ob- 
ject of  whose  adoration  is  the  Word,  if  we 
must  in  some  way  have  luxury,  let  us  seek  it 
in  word,  and  in  the  Divine  Law,  and  in  his- 
tories ;  especially  such  as  are  the  origin  of  this 
Feast ;  that  our  luxury  may  be  akin  to  and 
not  far  removed  from  Him  Who  hath  called 
us  together.  Or  do  you  desire  (for  to-day  I 
am  your  entertainer)  that  I  should  set  before 
you,  my  good  Guests,  the  story  of  these 
things  as  abundantly  and  as  nobly  as  I  can, 
that  ye  may  know  how  a  foreigner  can  feed  " 
the  natives  of  the  land,  and  a  rustic  the  peo- 
ple of  the  town,  and  one  who  cares  not  for 
luxury  those  who  delight  in  it,  and  one  who 
is  poor  and  homeless  those  who  are  eminent 
for  wealth  ? 

We  will  begin  from  this  point ;  and  let  me 
ask  of  you  who  delight  in  such  matters  to 
cleanse  you  mind  and  your  ears  and  your 
thoughts,  since  our  discourse  is  to  be  of  God 
and  Divine  ;  that  when  you  depart,  you  may 
have  had  the  enjoyment  of  delights  that  really 
fade  not  away.  And  this  same  discourse  shall 
be  at  once  both  very  full  and  very  concise, 
that  you  may  neither  be  displeased  at  its  de- 
ficiencies, nor  find  it  unpleasant  through  sa- 
tiety. 

Vn.  God  always  was, ^  and  always  is,  and 
always  will  be.  Or  rather,  God  always  Is.  For 
Was  and  Will  be  are  fragments  of  our  time, 
and  of  changeable  nature,  but  He  is  Eternal 
Being.  And  this  is  the  Name  that  He  gives 
to  Himself  when  giving  the  Oracle  to  Moses 
in  the  Mount.  For  in  Himself  He  sums  up 
and  contains  all  Being,  having  neither  begin- 
ning in  the  past  nor  end  in  the  future  ;  like 
some  great  Sea  of  Being,  limitless  and  un- 
bounded, transcending  all  conception  of  time 
and  nature,  only  adumbrated  by  the  mind, 
and  that  very  dimly  and  scantily  . 
not  by  His  Essentials,  but  by  His  Environ- 
ment ;  one  image  being  got  from  one  source 
and  another  from  another,  and  combined  into 
some  sort  of  presentation  of  the  truth,  which 
escapes  us  before  we  have  caught  it,  and  takes 
to  flight  before  w^e  have  conceived  it,  blaz- 
ing forth  upon  our  Master-part,  even  when 
that  is  cleansed,  as  the  lightning  flash  which 
will  not  stay  its  course,  does  upon  our  sight 
in  order  as  I  conceive  by  that  part 
of  it  which  we  can  comprehend  to  draw 
us  to  itself  (for  that  which  is  altogether  incom- 


a  Alluding  to  his  own  recent  .irriv.nl  at  Constantinople,  after  a 
life  spent  in  tlie  distant  country  of  Cai>padocia,  and  in  ministering 
in  small  and  insignificant  places  like  Na^ianzus. 

j3  The  whole  of  this  passage  occurs  again  verbatim  in  the  second 
Oration  for  Easter  Day,  cc.  iii.-ix. 


ON   THE   THEOPHANY,  OR    BIRTHDAY    OF    CHRIST. 


347 


prehensible  is  outside  tlie  bounds  of  hope, 
and  not  within  the  compass  of  endeavour), 
and  by  that  part  of  It  which  we  cannot  com- 
prehend to  move  our  wonder,  and  as  an  object 
of  wonder  to  become  more  an  object  of  de- 
sire, and  being  desired  to  purify,  and  by  puri- 
fying to  make  us  hke  God  ;  "  so  that  when  we 
have  thus  become  Hke  Himself,  God  may,  to 
use  a  bold  expression,  hold  converse  with  us 
as  Gods,  being  united  to  us,  and  that  perhaps 
to  the  same  extent  as  He  already  knows  those 
who  are  known  to  Him.  The  Divine  Nature 
then  is  boundless  and  hard  to  understand  ;  and 
all  that  we  can  comprehend  of  Him  is  His 
boundlessness  ;  even  though  one  may  conceive 
that  because  He  is  of  a  simple  nature  He  is 
therefore  either  wholly  incomprehensible,  or 
perfectly  comprehensible.  For  let  us  further 
enquire  what  is  implied  by  "is  of  a  simple 
nature."  For  it  is  quite  certain  that  this 
simplicity  is  not  itself  its  nature,  just  as  com- 
position is  not  by  itself  the  essence  of  com- 
pound beings. 

VIII.  And  when  Infinity  is  considered  from 
two  points  of  view,  beginning  and  end  (for 
that  which  is  beyond  these  and  not  limited  by 
them  is  Infinity),  when  the  mind  looks  to  the 
depth  above,  not  having  where  to  stand,  and 
leans  upon  phenomena  to  form  an  idea  of  God, 
it  calls  the  Infinite  and  Unapproachable  which 
it  finds  there  by  the  name  of  Unoriginate. 
And  when  it  looks  into  the  depths  below,  and 
at  the  future,  it  calls  Him  Undying  and  Im- 
perishable. And  when  it  draws  a  conclusion 
from  the  whole  it  calls  Him  Eternal  (aiwvtoq). 
For  Eternity  (alW)  is  neither  time  nor  part 
of  time  ;  for  it  cannot  be  measured.  But 
what  time,  measured  by  the  course  of  the  sun, 
is  to  us,  that  Eternity  is  to  the  Everlasting, 
namely,  a  sort  of  time-like  movement  and  in- 
terval co-extensive  with  their  existence.  This, 
however,  is  all  I  must  now  say  about  God  ; 
for  the  present  is  not  a  suitable  time,  as  my 
present  subject  is  not  the  doctrine  of  God, 
but  that  of  the  Incarnation.  But  when  I  say 
God,  I  mean  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
For  Godhead  is  neither  diffused  beyond  these, 
so  as  to  bring  in  a  mob  of  gods  ;  nor  yet  is  it 
bounded  by  a  smaller  compass  than  these,  so 
as  to  condemn  us  for  a  poverty-stricken  con- 
ception of  Deity  ;  either  Judaizing  to  save  the 
Monarchia,  or  falling  into  heathenism  by  the 
multitude  of  our  gods.  For  the  evil  on  either 
side  is  the  same,  though  found  in  contrary  di- 
rections. This  then  is  the  Holy  of  Holies,^ 
which  is  hidden  even  from  the  Seraphim,  and 


a  John  X.    15. 

/3  The  Holy  of  Holies  here  means  the  Holy  Trinity. 


is  glorified  with  a  thrice  repeated  Holy,« 
meeting  in  one  ascription  of  the  Title  Lord 
and  God,  as  one  of  our  predecessors  has  most 
beautifully  and  loftily  pointed  out. 

IX.  But  since  this  movement  of  self-contem- 
plation alone  could  not  satisfy  Goodness,  but 
Good  must  be  poured  out  and  go  forth  be- 
yond Itself  to  multiply  the  objects  of  Its  be- 
neficence, for  this  was  essential  to  the  highest 
Goodness,  He  first  conceived  the  Heavenly 
and  Angelic  Powers.  And  this  conception 
was  a  work  fulfilled  by  His  Word,  and  per- 
fected by  His  Spirit.  And  so  the  secondary 
Splendours  came  into  being,  as  the  Ministers 
of  the  Primary  Splendour  ;  whether  we  are 
to  conceive  of  them  as  intelligent  Spirits,  or 
as  Fire  of  an  immaterial  and  incorruptible 
kind,  or  as  some  other  nature  approaching 
this  as  near  as  may  be.  I  should  .like  to  say 
that  they  were  incapable  of  movement  in  the 
direction  of  evil,  and  susceptible  only  of  the 
movement  of  good,  as  being  about  God,  and 
illumined  with  the  first  rays  from  God — for 
earthly  beings  have  but  the  second  illumina- 
tion ;  but  I  am  obliged  to  stop  short  of  saying 
that,  and  to  conceive  and  speak  of  them  only 
as  difficult  to  move  because  of  him,'^  who  for 
his  splendour  was  called  Lucifer,  but  became 
and  is  called  Darkness  through  his  pride  ;  and 
the  apostate  hosts  who  are  subject  to  him, 
creators  of  evilv  by  their  revolt  against  good 
and  our  inciters. 

X.  Thus,  then,  and  for  these  reasons,  He 
gave  being  to  the  world  of  thought,  as  far  as  I 
can  reason  upon  these  matters,  and  estimate 
great  things  in  my  own  poor  language.  I'hen 
when  His  first  creation  was  in  good  order.  He 
conceives  a  second  world,  material  and  visible  ; 
and  this  a  system  and  compound  of  earth  and 
sky,  and  all  that  is  in  the  midst  of  them — an  ad- 
mirable creation  indeed,  when  we  look  at  the 
fair  form  of  every  part,  but  yet  more  worthy 
of  admiration  when  we  consider  the  harmony 
and  the  unison  of  the  whole,  and  how  each 


a  The  reference  is  to  the  Ter  Sanctus  or  Triumphal  Hymn, 
which  is  found  in  every  Liturgy.  The  previous  writer  referred  to  is 
thought  by  some  to  be  S.  Alhanasius,  but  by  others  .S.  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite,  who  has  some  words  on  this  point  in  his  treatise 
De  Ccelest.  Hier.,  c.  7.  But  the  most  competent  scholars  deny  the 
authenticity  of  the  works  attributed  to  S.  Dionysius,  and  place 
them  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  than 
S.  Gregory's  time. 

^  S.  Thomas  Aquinas  (Summa  I.,  qu.  63,  art.  7)  gives  reasons 
for  thinking  that  Satan  was  orieinallv  the  highest  of  nil  the  angelic 
hosts.  This,  however,  is  an  opinion  in  which  many  high  authori- 
ties differ  from  him.  At  any  rate,  Satan  as  Lucifer  must  have  held 
a  very  high  place. 

y  Evil,  says  Nicetas  here,  has  no  positive  existence,  but  is  the 
negation  of  good.  "The  faculties  of  mind  and  body  which  are 
used  in  a  sinful  action  are  indeed  things,  and  are  the  creatures  of 
God  ;  but  the  sin  itself  is  not  a  thing,  and  consequently  not  a 
creature.  God  is  indeed  the  Author  of  all  that  is.  of  every  sub- 
stance :  but  sin  is  not  a  substance,  and  is  not.  It  is  a  declination 
from  substance  and  from  being,  and  not  a  part  of  it.  (Mozley, 
Treatise  on  the  Augustinian  doctrine  of  predestination.) 


348 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


part  fits  in  with  every  other,  in  fair  order,  and 
all  with  the  whole,  tending  to  the  perfect 
completion  of  the  world  as  a  Unit.  This  was 
to  shew  that  He  could  call  into  being,  not 
only  a  Nature  akin  to  Himself,  but  also  one 
altogether  alien  to  Himself.  For  akin  to 
Deity  are  those  natures  which  are  intellectual, 
and  only  to  be  comprehended  by  mind ;  but 
all  of  which  sense  can  take  cognisance  are  ut- 
terly alien  to  It ;  and  of  these  the  furthest 
removed  are  all  those  which  are  entirely  des- 
titute of  soul  and  of  power  of  motion.  But 
perhaps  some  one  of  those  who  are  too  festive 
and  impetuous  may  say,  What  has  all  this  to 
do  with  us?  Spur  your  horse  to  the  goal. 
Talk  to  us  about  the  Festival,  and  the  reasons 
for  our  being  here  to-day.  Yes,  this  is 
what  I  am  about  to  do,  although  I  have  be- 
gun at  a  somewhat  previous  point,  being  com- 
pelled to  do  so  by  love,  and  by  the  needs 
of  my  argument. 

XI.  Mind,  then,  and  sense,  thus  distin- 
guished from  each  other,  had  remained  within 
their  own  boundaries,  and  bore  in  themselves 
the  magnificence  of  the  Creator-Word,  silent 
praisers  "  and  thrilling  heralds  of  His  mighty 
work.  Not  yet  was  there  any  mingling  of  both, 
nor  any  mixtures  of  "these  opposites,  tokens 
of  a  greater  Wisdom  and  Generosity  in  the 
creation  of  natures  ;  nor  as  yet  were  the  whole 
riches  of  Goodness  made  known.  Now  the 
Creator-Word,  determining  to  exhibit  this, 
and  to  produce  a  single  living  being  out  of 
both — the  visible  and  the  invisible  creations, 
I  mean — fashions  Man  ;  and  taking  a  body 
from  already  existing  matter,  and  placing  in 
it  a  Breath  taken  from  Himself^  which  the 
Word  knew  to  be  an  intelligent  soul  and  the 
Image  of  God,  as  a  sort  of  second  world.  He 
placed  him,  great  in  littleness "i*  on  the  earth; 
a  new  Angel,  a  mingled  worshipper,  fully 
initiated  into  the  visible  creation,  but  only 
partially  into  the  intellectual ;  King  of  all 
upon  earth,  but  subject  to  the  King  above  ; 
earthly  and  heavenly  ;  temporal  and  yet  im- 
mortal ;  visible  and  yet  intellectual  ;  half-way 
between  greatness  and  lowliness;  in  one  per- 
son combining  spirit  and  flesh  ;  spirit,  because 
of  the  favour  bestowed  on  him  ;  flesh,  be- 
cause of  the  height  to  which  he  had  been 
raised ;  the  one  that  he  might  continue  to 
live  and  praise  his  Benefactor,  the  other  that 
he  might  suffer,  and  by  suffering  be  put  in 
remembrance,  and  corrected  if  he  became 
jiroud  of  his  greatness.  A  living  creature 
trained  here,  and  then  moved  elsewhere ;  and, 
to  complete  the  mystery,  deified  by  its  inch- 


o  Ps.  xix.  I,  3. 


j3  Gen.  ii.  7. 


y  Sc.  a  microco.sm. 


nation  to  God.  For  to  this,  I  think,  tends 
that  Light  of  Truth  which  we  here  possess  but 
in  measure,  that  we  should  both  see  and  ex- 
perience the  Splendour  of  God,  which  is  wor- 
thy of  Him  Who  made  us,  and  will  remake 
us  again  after  a  loftier  fashion. 

XII.  This  being  He  placed  in  Paradise, 
whatever  the  Paradise  may  have  been,  having 
honoured  him  with  the  gift  of  Free  Will  (in 
order  that  God  might  belong  to  him  as  the  re- 
sult of  his  choice,  no  less  than  to  Him  who 
had  implanted  the  seeds  of  it),  to  till  the  im- 
mortal plants,  by  which  is  meant  perhaps  the 
Divine  Conceptions,  both  the  simpler  and  the 
more  jjcrfect  ;  naked  in  his  simplicity  and  in- 
artificial life,  and  without  any  covering  or 
screen  ;  for  it  was  fitting  that  he  who  was 
from  the  beginning  should  be  such.  Also  He 
gave  him  a  Law,  as  a  material  for  his  Free 
Will  to  act  upon.  This  Law  was  a  Com- 
mandment as  to  what  plants  he  might  partake 
of,  and  which  one  he  might  not  touch.  This 
latter  was  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  ;  not,  how- 
ever, because  it  was  evil  from  the  beginning 
when  planted  ;  nor  was  it  forbidden  because 
God  grudged  it  to  us  .  .  Let  not  the  ene- 
mies of  God  wag  their  tongues  in  that  direc- 
tion, or  imitate  the  Serpent  .  .  .  But  it 
would  have  been  good  if  partaken  of  at  the 
proper  time,  for  the  tree  was,  according  to  my 
theory.  Contemplation,  upon  which  it  is  only 
safe  for  those  who  have  reached  maturity  of 
habit  to  enter ;  but  which  is  not  good  for 
those  who  are  still  somewhat  simj^le  and 
greedy  in  their  habit  ;  just  as  solid  food 
is  not  good  for  those  who  are  yet  tender,  and 
have  need  of  milk.''  But  when  through  the 
Devil's  malice  and  the  woman's  caprice,  to 
which  she  succumbed  as  the  more  tender,  and 
which  she  brought  to  bear  upon  the  man,  as 
she  was  the  more  apt  to  persuade,  alas  for  my 
weakness  !  (for  that  of  my  first  father  was 
mine),  he  forgot  the  Commandment  which 
had  been  given  to  him  ;  ^  he  yielded  to  the 
baleful  fruit ;  and  for  his  sin  he  was  banished, 
at  once  from  the  Tree  of  Life,  and  from  Para- 
dise, and  from  God  ;  and  put  on  the  coats  of 
skins  .  .  that  is,  perhajs,  the  coarser  flesh, 
both  mortal  and  contradictory.  This  was  the 
first  thing  that  he  learnt — his  own  shame  ;  y  and 
he  hid  himself  from  God.  Yet  here  too  he 
makes  a  gain,  namely  death,  and  the  cutting 
off  of  sin,  in  order  that  evil  may  not  be  im- 
mortal. Thus  his  punishment  is  changed  into 
a  mercy  ;  for  it  is  in  mercy,  I  am  persuaded, 
that  God  inflicts  punishment. 

XIII.  And  having  been  first  chastened  by 


o  Heb.  V.  12. 


)3  Gen.  iii.  5. 


y  Rom.  i.  22-31. 


ON   THE   THEOPHANY,  OR   BIRTHDAY    OF    CHRIST. 


349 


many  means  (because  his  sins  were  many, 
whose  root  of  evil  sprang  up  through  divers 
causes  and  at  sundry  times),  by  word,  by  law, 
by  prophets,  by  benefits,  by  threats,  by  plagues, 
by  waters,  by  fires,  by  wars,  by  victories,  by 
defeats,  by  signs  in  heaven  and  signs  in  the 
air  and  in  the  earth  and  in  the  sea,  by  unex- 
pected changes  of  men,  of  cities,  of  nations 
(the  object  of  which  was  the  destruction  of 
wickedness),  at  last  he  needed  a  stronger  rem- 
edy, for  his  diseases  were  growing  worse  ; 
mutual  slaughters,  adulteries,  perjuries,  unnat- 
ural crimes,  and  that  first  and  last  of  all  evils, 
idolatry  and  the  transfer  of  worship  from  the  | 
Creator  to  the  Creatures.  As  these  required  a 
greater  aid,  so  also  they  obtained  a  greater. 
And  that  was  that  the  Word  of  God  Himself 
— Who  is  before  all  worlds,  the  Invisible,  the 
Incomprehensible,  the  Bodiless,  Beginning  of 
Beginning,"  the  Light  of  Light,  the  Source  of 
Life  and  Immortality,  the  Image  of  the  Ar- 
chetypal Beauty,  the  immovable  Seal,  the  un- 
changeable Image,  the  Father's  Definition  ^ 
and  Word,  came  to  His  own  Image,  and  took 
on  Him  flesh  for  the  sake  of  our  flesh,  and  j 
mingled  Himself  with  an  intelligent  soul  for  ' 
my  soul's  sake,  purifying  like  by  like  ;  and  in 
all  points  except  sin  was  made  man.  Con- 
ceived by  the  Virgin, v  who  first  in  body  and 
soul  was  purified  by  the  Holy  Ghost  ^  (for  ; 
it  was  needful  both  that  Childbearing  should 
be  honoured,  and  that  Virginity  should  receive 
a  higher  honour).  He  came  forth  then  as  God 
with  that  which  He  had  assumed,  One  Person 
in  two  Natures,  Flesh  and  Spirit,  of  which  the 
latter  deified  the  former.*  O  new  comming- 
ling ;  O  strange  conjunction  ;  the  Self-Exis- 
tent comes  into  being,  the  Uncreate  is  crea- 
ted. That  which  cannot  be  contained  is  con- 
tained, by  the  intervention  of  an  intellectual 
soul,  mediating  between  the  Deity  and  the 
corporeity  of  the  flesh.  And  He  W'ho  gives 
riches  becomes  poor,  for  He  assumes  the  pov- 
erty of  my  flesh,  that  I  may  assume  the  rich- 
ness of  His  Godhead.  He  that  is  full  empties 
Himself,  for  He  empties  Himself  of  His  glory 


o  Cf.  Light  of  Light  Begotten.  Christ  our  Lord  is  called  "  The 
Besinning  of  the  Creation  of  God,  because  by  Him  all  thinss 
were  made  ;  and  He  is  of  the  Beginning,  inasmuch  as  God  the 
Father  is  the  Unoriginate  Principle  of  all,  and  the  Origin  and 
Fount  of  Godhead.  The  Scholiast  here  refers  to  Ps.  ex.  3,  which 
in  the  Vulgate  and  LXX.  runs  "With  Thee  is  the  Beginning  in  the 
day  of  Thy  Power." 

3  Cf.  Theol.:  IV.  xx. ,  where  S.  Gregory  says  "  Perhaps  this  Re- 
lation might  be  compared  to  that  between  the  Definition  and  the 
thing  defined  "  Nicetas  remarks  that,  just  as  the  definition  de- 
clares the  nature  of  the  defined,  so  the  Personal  Word  shows  forth 
the  Nature  of  the  Father.  Suidas  (in  voce  opos  )  says  that  the 
phrase  is  used  to  show  the  Lenity  of  Nature  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son.     It  is  not,  however,  of  frequent  occurrence. 

y  Luke  i.  35. 

0  S.  Gregory  does  not  seem  to  have  been  aware  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  "Immaculate  Conception." 

c  See  note  on  In  Sancta  Lutnina,  c.  xiv. 


for  a  short  while,  that  I  may  have  a  share  in 
His  Fulness.  What  is  the  riches  of  His 
Goodness  ?  What  is  this  mystery  that  is 
around  me  ?  I  had  a  share  in  the  image  ;  I 
did  not  keep  it ;  He  partakes  of  my  flesh  that 
He  may  both  save  the  image  and  make  the 
flesh  immortal.  He  communicates  a  second 
Communion  far  more  marvellous  than  the 
first,  inasmuch  as  then  He  imparted  the  better 
Nature,  whereas  now  Himself  partakes  of  the 
worse.  This  is  more  godlike  than  the  former 
action,  this  is  loftier  in  the  eyes  of  all  men  of 
understanding. 

XIV.  To  this  what  have  those  cavillers  to 
say,  those  bitter  reasoners  about  Godhead, 
those  detractors  of  all  that  is  praiseworthy, 
those  darkeners  of  light,  uncultured  in  respect 
of  wisdom,  for  whom  Christ  died  in  vain,  those 
unthankful  creatures,  the  work  of  the  Evil 
One  ?  Do  you  turn  this  benefit  into  a  re- 
proach to  God?  Wilt  thou  deem  Him  little 
on  this  account,  that  He  humbled  Himself  for 
thee  ;  because  the  Good  Shepherd, "^  He  who 
lays  down  His  life  for  His  sheep,  came  to  seek 
for  that  which  had  strayed  upon  the  moun- 
tains and  the  hills,  on  which  thou  wast  then 
sacrificing,  and  found  the  wanderer  ;  and  hav- 
ing found  it,P  took  it  upon  His  shoulders — on 
which  He  also  took  the  W^ood  of  the  Cross  ; 
and  having  taken  it,  brought  it  back  to  the 
higher  life ;  and  having  carried  it  back,  num- 
bered it  amongst  those  who  had  never  strayed. 
Because  He  lighted  a  candle — His  own  Flesh 
— and  swept  the  house,  cleansing  the  world 
from  sin  ;  and  sought  the  piece  of  money,  the 
Royal  Image  that  was  covered  up  by  passions. 
And  He  calls  together  His  Angel  friends  on 
the  finding  of  the  coin,  and  makes  them 
sharers  in  His  joy,'>'  whom  He  had  made  to 
share  also  the  secret  of  the  Incarnation  ?  Be- 
cause on  the  candle  of  the  Forerunner  there 
follows  the  light  that  exceeds  in  brightness  ; 
and  to  the  Voice  the  Word  succeeds  ;  and  to 
the  Bridegroom's  friend  the  Bridegroom  ;  to 
him  that  prepared  for  the  Lord  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, cleansing  them  by  water  in  preparation 
for  the  Spirit?  Dost  thou  reproach  God 
with  all  this  ?  Dost  thou  on  this  account 
deem  Him  lessened,  because  He  girds  Himself 
with  a  towel  and  washes  His  disciples'  feet, 
and  shows  that  humiliation  is  the  best  road  to 
exaltation  ?  Because  for  the  soul  that  was 
bent  to  the  ground  He  humbles  Himself,  that 
He  may  raise  up  with  Himself  the  soul  that 
was  tottering  to  a  fall  under  a  weight  of  sin  ? 
Why  dost  thou  not  also  charge  upon  Him  as  a 


o  John  X.  II. 


^  Luke  XV.  4,  sq. 


7  lb.  XV.  8,  10. 


ISO 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


crime  the  fact  that  He  eats  with  Publicans  and 
at  Publicans'  tables,"  and  that  He  makes  disci- 
ples of  Publicans,  that  He  too  may  gain  some- 
what .  .  .  and  what  ?  .  .  .  the  salvation 
of  sinners.  If  so,  we  must  blame  the  physi- 
cian for  stooping  over  sufterings,  and  enduring 
evil  odours  that  he  may  give  health  to  the 
sick ;  or  one  Avho  as  the  Law  commands  bent 
down  into  a  ditch  to  save  a  beast  that  had 
fallen  into  it.^ 

XV.  He  was  sent,  but  as  man,  for  He  was 
of  a  twofold  Nature  ;  for  He  was  wearied,  and 
hungered,  and  was  thirsty,  and  was  in  an 
agony,  and  shed  tears,  according  to  the  nature 
of  a  corporeal  being.  And  if  the  expression 
be  also  used  of  Him  as  God,  the  meaning  is 
that  the  Father's  good  pleasure  is  to  be  con- 
sidered a  Mission,  for  to  this  He  refers  all  that 
concerns  Himself;  both  that  He  may  honour 
the  Eternal  Principle,  and  because  He  will 
not  be  taken  to  be  an  antagonistic  God.  And 
whereas  it  is  written  both  that  He  was  be- 
trayed, and  also  that  He  gave  Himself  up  y 
and  that  He  was  raised  up  by  the  Father,  and 
taken  up  into  heaven  ;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
that  He  raised  Himself  and  went  up  ;  the  for- 
mer statement  of  each  pair  refers  to  the  good 
])leasure  of  the  Father,  the  latter  to  His  own 
Power.  Are  you  then  to  be  allowed  to  dwell 
upqn  all  that  humiliates  Him,  while  passing 
over  all  that  exalts  Him,  and  to  count  on  your 
side  the  fact  that  He  suffered,  but  to  leave 
out  of  the  account  the  fact  that  it  was  of  His 
own  will  ?  See  what  even  now  the  Word  has 
to  suffer.  By  one  set  He  is  honoured  as  God, 
but  is  confused  with  the  Father,^  by  another 


o  I.uke  V.  29. 

3  S.  Gregory'  is  referring  to  the  provision  of  the  Law,  which  or- 
ders a  man,  if  he  see  his  friend's  or  his  enemy's  ox  or  ass  fallen 
under  a  burden  or  g"ino;  astray,  to  lend  assistance  ;  but  the  terms 
of  his  reference  are  rather  to  the  reasoning  of  our  Lord  with  the 
Pharisees  about  the  Sabbath.     T,uke  xiii.  15  and  xiv.  5. 

y  Cf.  iv  Trj  wktX  if  fj  TrapeSiSoro,  liaWov  Se  eauToe  wapeSiSov. 
Canon  of  Liturgy  of  S.  Mark  (.Swainson  p.  517).  Ea  nocte  qua 
iradidit  seipsum.  Lit.  Copt.  S.  Hasil  (lb.).  Cum  statuisset  se 
tradere.  Coptic  S.  Basil  (Hammond,  p.  200)  Rot.  Vatic,  and 
Cod.  Ross,  of  S.  Mark,  has  only  t.  v.  tj  iavr.  jropeS.  (Swainson, 
50)  :  so  too  S.  Hasil  (lb.,  81)  in'Cod.  H.  ^L.  2274Q  and  Harberini 
of  S.  Chrys.  (lb.,  ^')  :  but  the  whole  expression  is  in  Chr>s.  (cenL 
xi.,  ib.,  129)  and  ni  Greek  S.  James  (78.  272-3),  but  Syriac  S. 
James  has  "  in  qua  nocte  tradendus  erat."  (Canon.  Univ., 
-Kthiop.  Hammond,  258).  Pridie  quiittt  patercturxi,  the  form  in 
the  Canon  of  the  Roman,  .\mbrosian,  and  .Sarum  Missals  ;  but 
the  Mozarabic,  which  is  largely  of  an  Eastern  char.acter,  has  in 
gun  nocte  trndebatur.  (Hammond,  333). 

8  The  Sabcllian  heresy  may  be  briefly  described  as  the  doctrine 
of  One  God  exercising  three  offices,  as  opposed  to  the  Catholic 
Kaith  of  One  God  in  three  Persons.  Sabellius  himself  was  a  Priest 
of  the  Libyan  Pentapolis.  who  at  Rome  in  the  time  of  PopeZephyr- 
inus  embraced  the  heresy  of  Notiis,  which  maintained  that  God 
the  Father  suffered  for  us  on  the  cross  in  the  form  of  Christ.  His 
followers,  who  openlv  declared  themselves  first  about  A.n.  357, 
thought  that  God,  to  Whom  as  the  Source  of  all  thinsjs  the  name 
of  Father  is  given,  is  called  the  Son  when  He  united  Himself  to 
the  hum.inity  of  Jesus  for  the  work  of  our  redemption  ;  and  in 
like  manner  He  is  the  Holy  Spirit  when  manifested  for  the  work 
of  sanctification.  Sabellius  was  condemned  by  a  Council  held 
at  Rome,  probably  in  258  :  again  at  Nicea,  and  again  at  Constan- 
tinople, where  Sabellian  Baptism  was  pronounced  invalid. 


He  is  dishonoured  as  mere  flesh  "  and  severed 
from  the  Godhead.  With  which  of  them  will 
He  be  most  angry,  or  rather,  which  shall 
He  forgive,  those  who  injuriously  confound 
Him  or  those  who  divide  Him  ?  For  the  for- 
mer ought  to  have  distinguished,  and  the  lat- 
ter to  have  united  Him  ;  the  one  in  number, 
the  other  in  Godhead.  Stumblest  Thou  at 
His  flesh  ?  So  did  the  Jews.  Or  dost  thou 
call  Him  a  Samaritan,  and  ...  I  will 
not  say  the  rest.  "  Dost  thou  disbeheve  in  His 
Godhead?  This  did  not  even  the  demons, 
O  thou  who  art  less  believing  than  demons 
and  more  stupid  than  Jews.  Those  did  per- 
ceive that  the  name  of  Son  implies  equality  of 
rank ;  these  did  know  that  He  who  drove 
them  out  was  God,  for  they  were  convinced  of 
it  by  their  own  experience.  But  you  will  ad- 
mit neither  the  equality  nor  the  Godhead.  It 
would  have  been  better  for  you  to  have  been 
either  a  Jew  or  a  demoniac  (if  I  may  utter 
an  absurdity),  than  in  uncircumcision  and  m 
sound  health  to  be  so  wicked  and  ungodly  in 
your  attitude  of  mind. 

XVI.  A  little  later  on  you  will  see  Jesus 
submitting  to  be  purified  in  the  River  Jordan 
for  my  Purification,  or  rather,  sanctifying  the 
v/aters  by  His  Purification  (for  indeed  He 
had  no  need  of  purification  Who  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world)   and  the  heavens  cleft 


a  Arianism  was  the  result  of  a  strong  opposition  to  Sabellian- 
ism.  couv'led  with  a  misunderstanding  of  the  argument  against 
if.  There  was,  no  doubt,  a  danger  of  falling  into  the  opposite 
error  of  Tritheism,  to  avoid  which  Arianism  "  divided  the  Sub- 
stance" and  virtually — and  in  the  end  explicitly— denied  the 
Godhead  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Arius  was  a  Priest  of  .Alex- 
andria, and  it  was  there  that  he  began  to  publish  his  opinions,  in 
the  early  years  of  the  Fourth  Century  (318)  ;  but  Newman  traces 
the  origin  of  the  heresy  to  Antioch  and  its  Judaizing  tendency.  -At 
a  meeting  of  the  clergy  in  Alexandria  the  Bishop,  S.  Alexander, 
gave  an  address  on  the  coeternity,  and  coequality  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  and  used  the  ex'pression  ttjv  a.\iTi\v  ovaiav  exciv.  that 
They  had  the  same  Substance.  Arius  protested  against  this  as 
a  .Sabellian  statement,  and  used  the  words  KTiay-a  (creature  1  and 
noiiffjLo.  (a  thuig  made)  of  the  Son,  adding  the  sentence  which 
became  so  famous,  Jjv  oTf  ovk  Jjv. — there  was  a  time  when  the  Son 
did  not  exist.  Having  ineffectually  tried  private  remonstrance. 
S.  Alexander  brought  the  matter  in  321  before  'his  Provincial 
Synod,  in  which  were  present  about  100  Egyptian  and  Pentapol- 
itan  Bishops,  who  after  giving  the  matter  a  patient  hearing,  ex- 
communicated Arius  and  his  principal  adherents.  But  it  was  too 
late  to  undo  the  mischief  The  heresy  spread  widely,  and  the 
whole  Eastern  Church  was  stirred  by  the  controversy.  At  last  a 
great  Council  of  the  whole  Church  met  at  Nicsea  in  3:5.  sum- 
moned by  the  Emperor  ;  and  there  the  heresy  was  unequivocally 
condemned,  and  the  great  Creed  propounded  with  its  watchword, 
the  Homoousion.  The  false  teaching  had  however  struck  its 
roots  deep  and  wide  :  and  though  now  banned  by  the  anathema 
of  the  Church,  it  was  long  in  dying  ;  and  indeed  at  one  time  it 
seemed  as  if^humanly  speaking — itnnist  swamp  the  whole  Catholic 
Church.  Under  various  forms  the  Semi-Arians  wlio  claimed  to 
diffi-r  from  the  faith  of  Nicaea  only  by  a  single  letter,  the  .Aetians 
and  F.unomians,  who  went  to  the  furthest  extreme  of  the  falsehood 
(.\nnmoeans),  and  many  others,  the  heresy  spread  far  and  wide  : 
am!  when  S.  Gregory  came  to  Constantinople  there  was  not  one 
Catholic  Church  or  Priest  to  be  found  in  the  place,  and  only  a  few 
scattered  folk  who  still  held  to  the  Faith  of  the  Consubsiantial. 
Gregory's  wonderful  discourses  however  came  to  their  aid,  and 
partly  under  his  presidency  was  held  the  Second  Oecumenical 
Synod,  which  condemned  the  heresy  of  Macedonius,  a  still  further 
development  of  .Arianism,  which  denied  also  the  Deity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Arianism  survived  for  another  two  centuries  among 
the  Goths  and  Vandals,  the  Burgundians  and  Lombards  ;  but 
it  never  rose  again  as  a  power  in  the  Church. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  ORATION  ON  THE  HOLY  LIGHTS.    35 r 


asunder,  and  witness  borne  to  him  by  the 
Spirit  That  is  of  one  nature  with  Him  ;  «  you 
shall  see  Him  tempted  and  conquering  and 
served  by  Angels,^  and  healing  every  sicknessv 
and  every  disease,^  and  giving  life  to  the  dead 
(O  that  He  would  give  life  to  you  who  are 
dead  because  of  your  heresy),  and  driving  out 
demons,^  sometimes  Himself,  sometimes  by  his 
disciples  ;  and  feeding  vast  multitudes  with  a 
few  loaves  ;  ^  and  walking  dryshod  upon  seas  ;  ^ 
and  being  betrayed  and  crucified,  and  cruci- 
fying with  Himself  my  sin  ;  offered  as  a  Lamb, 
and  offering  as  a  Priest ;  as  a  Man  buried  in 
the  grave,  and  as  God  rising  again  ;  and  then 
ascending,  and  to  come  again  in  His  own 
glory.  Why  what  a  multitude  of  high  festi- 
vals there  are  in  each  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
Christ ;  all  of  which  have  one  completion, 
namely,  my  perfection  and  return  to  the  first 
condition  of  Adam. 

XVn.  Now  then  I  pray  you  accept  His  Con- 
ception, and  leap  before  Him;  if  not  like  John 
from  the  womb,^  yet  like  David,  because  of 
the  resting  of  the  Ark.'  Revere  the  enrol- 
ment on  account  of  which  thou  wast  written 
in  heaven,  and  adore  the  Birth  by  which  thou 
wast  loosed  from  the  chains  of  thy  birth,"  and 
honour  little  Bethlehem,  which  hath  led  thee 
back  to  Paradise ;  and  worship  the  manger 
through  which  thou,  being  w^ithout  sense, 
wast  fed  by  the  Word.  Know  as  Isaiah  bids 
thee,  thine  Owner,  like  the  ox,  and  like  the 
ass  thy  Master's  crib  ;  ^  if  thou  be  one  of  those 
who  are  pure  and  lawful  food,  and  who  chew 
the  cud  of  the  word  and  are  fit  for  sacrifice. 
Or  if  thou  art  one  of  those  who  are  as  yet 
unclean  and  uneatable  and  unfit  for  sacrifice, 
and  of  the  gentile  portion,  run  with  the  Star, 
and  bear  thy  Gifts  with  the  Magi,  gold  and 
frankincense  and  myrrh, '^  as  to  a  King,  and 
to  God,  and  to  One  Who  is  dead  for  thee. 
With  Shepherds  glorify  Him;"  Avith  Angels 
join  in  chorus ;  with  Archangels  sing  hymns. 
Let  this  Festival  be  common  to  the  ffowers 
in  heaven  and  to  the  powers  upon  earth. ^ 
For  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Heavenly  Hosts 
join  in  our  exultation  and  keep  high  Festi- 
val with  us  to-dav  °  .  .  .  because  thev  love 
men,  and  they  love  God  .  .  .  just  like 
those  whom  David  introduces  after  the  Pas- 
sion ascending  with  Christ "  and  coming  to  meet 


a  MatL  iii.  13,  17. 


/3  lb.  iv.  i-Ti. 


.-  .   -    .  y  I^'  'v.  23. 

8  Nicetas  distinguishes  between  Nd<70s  and  MoAoucto,  saying 
that  the  first  is  actual  disease,  and  the  second  the  premonitory 
faihng  of  health  which  prognosticates  a  disease.  And,  so.  he  says, 
in  reference  to  the  soul,  Nocros  is  actual  sin,  while  MoAa/cia  is  the 
relaxation  of  the  will  which  leads  and  assents  to  actual  sin. 

e  lb.  ix.  33.  ^Ib.  ix.  14.  7)  lb.  ix.  25. 

9  Luke  i.  41.  i  2  Sam.  vi.  14.  k  Luke  ii.  1-5. 
A  I.  e.,  origmal  sin  (Ps.  li.  5).  ^  Isa.  i.  3. 

V  Matt.  ii.        S  Luke  ii.  14,  15.        o  The  Liturgy.        v  Ps.  xxiv. 


Him,  and  bidding  one  another  to  hft  up  the 
gates. 

XVIII.  One  thing  connected  with  the  Birth 
of  Christ  I  would  have  you  hate  .  .  .  the 
murder  of  the  infants  by  Herod."  Or  rather 
you  must  venerate  this  too,  the  Sacrifice  of 
the  same  age  as  Christ,  slain  before  the  Offer- 
ing of  the  New  Victim.  If  He  flees  into  Egypt/ 
joyfully  become  a  companion  of  His  exile.  It 
is  a  grand  thing  to  share  the  exile  of  the  per- 
secuted Christ.  If  He  tarry  long  in  Egypt, 
call  Him  out  of  Egypt  by  a  reverent  worship 
of  Him  there.  Travel  without  fault  through 
every  stage  and  faculty  of  the  Life  of  Christ. 
Be  purified ;  be  circumcised ;  strip  off  the 
veil  which  has  covered  thee  from  thy  birth. 
After  this  teach  in  the  Temple,  and  drive  out 
the  sacrilegious  traders. y  Submit  to  be  stoned 
if  need  be,  for  well  I  wot  thou  shalt  be  hidden 
from  those  who  cast  the  stones ;  thou  shalt 
escape  even  through  the  midst  of  them,  like 
God.*  If  thou  be  brought  before  Herod,  an- 
swer not  for  the  most  part.'  He  will  respect 
thy  silence  more  than  most  people's  long 
speeches.  If  thou  be  scourged,^  ask  for  what 
they  leave  out.  Taste  gall  for  the  taste's  sake ;  ^ 
drinkvinegar;^  seek  for  spittings ;  accepfblows, 
be  crowned  with  thorns,'  that  is,  with  the 
hardness  of  the  godly  life ;  put  on  the  purple 
robe,  take  the  reed  in  hand,  and  receive  mock 
worship  from  those  who  mock  at  the  truth ; 
lastly,  be  crucified  with  Him,  and  share  His 
Death  and  Burial  gladly,  that  thou  mayest 
rise  with  Him.  and  be  glorified  with  Him  and 
reign  with  Him.  Look  at  and  be  looked  at 
i  by  the  Great  God,  Who  in  Trinity  is  wor- 
j  shipped  and  glorified,  and  Whom  we  declare 
to  be  now  set  forth  as  clearly  before  you  as 
the  chains  of  our  flesh  allow,  in  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  to  Whom  be  the  glory  for  ever. 
Amen.  . 


INTRODUCTION  TO   THE    ORATIONS 

ON  THE  HOLY    LIGHTS  AND  ON 

HOLY  BAPTISM. 

The  Oration  on  the  Holy  Lights  was  preached 
on  the  Festival  of  the  Epiphany  38 1,  and  was 
followed  the  next  day  by  that  on  Baptism.  In 
the  Eastern  Church  this  Festival  is  regarded 
as  more  particularly  the  commemoration  of  our 
Lord's  Baptism,  and  is  accordingly  one  of  the 
great  days  for  the  solemn  ministration  of  the 
Sacrament.     It  is  generally  called  Theophania, 


o  Matt.  ii.  16.       |8  lb.  v.  13.       y  John  ii.  15.       S  lb.  viii.  59. 

6  Luke  xxiii.  9.  f  John  xix.  i.  rj  Matt,  xxvii.  34. 

B  John  xix.  29.  i  Matt.  xxvi.  67,  and  xxvii.  28. 


352 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  the  Gospel  in  the  Liturgy  is  S.  Matthew 
iii.  13-17.  The  Sunday  in  the  Octave  is 
called  ixerd  TO.  (jiioTa  (After  The  Lights),  point- 
ing to  a  time  when  the  Feast  was  known  as  the 
"  Holy  Lights,"  as  seems  to  have  been  the 
case  in  S.  Gregory's  day.  This  name  is  de- 
rived from  Baptism,  which  was  often  in  an- 
cient days  called  Illumination,  in  reference  to 
which  name  (derived  from  the  spiritual  grace 
of  the  Sacrament)  lighted  torches  or  candles 
were  carried  by  the  neophytes.  It  would  ap- 
pear that  the  solemnites  of  the  Festival  lasted 
two  days,  of  which  the  second  was  devoted  to 
the  solemn  conferring  of  the  Sacrament.  Ac- 
cordingly we  find  two  Orations  belonging  to 
the  Festival.  In  the  first,  delivered  on  the 
Day  itself  he  dwells  more  especially  on  the 
Feast  and  the  Mystery  of  our  Lord's  Baptism 
therein  commemorated  ;  and  proceeds  to  speak 
of  the  different  kinds  of  Baptism,  of  which  he 
enumerates  Five,  viz.  : — 

1.  The  figurative  Baptism  of  Israel  by  Moses 
in  the  cloud  and  in  the  Sea. 

2.  The  preparatory  Baptism  of  repentance 
ministered  by  S.  John  the  Baptist. 

3.  The  spiritual  Baptism  of  water  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  given  us  by  our  Lord. 

4.  The  glorious  Baptism  of  Martyrdom. 

5.  The  painfiil  Baptism  of  Penance. 

In  speaking  of  this  last  he  takes  occasion  to 
refute  the  extreme  rigorism  of  the  followers  of 
Novatus,  who  denied  absolution  to  certain 
classes  of  sins  committed  after  Baptism. 

In  the  second  Oration,  delivered  next  day, 
he  dwells  on  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  and  its 
spiritual  effects  ;  and  takes  occasion  to  reprove 
the  then  still  prevalent  practice  of  deferring 
Baptism  till  the  near  approach  of  death.  He 
likewise  dwells  on  the  truth  that  the  validi- 
ty and  spiritual  effect  of  the  Sacrament  is 
wholly  independent  of  the  rank  or  worthiness 
of  the  Priest  who  may  minister  it;  and  he 
concludes  with  a  sketch  of  the  obligations 
which  its  reception  involves,  with  a  very  val- 
uable exposition  of  the  Creed,  and  of  the  Cere- 
monies which  accompanied  the  administration 
of  the  Sacrament. 


ORATION    XXXIX. 

Oration  on  the  Holy  Lights. 

I.  Again  My  Jesus,  and  again  a  mystery  ;  not 
deceitful  nor  disorderly,  nor  belonging  to 
Greek  error  or  drunkenness  (for  so  I  call  their 
solemnities,  and  so  I  think  will  every  man  of 
sound  sense)  ;  but  a  mystery  lofty  and  divine, 


and  allied  to  the  Glory  above.  For  the  Holy 
Day  of  the  Lights,  to  which  we  have  come, 
and  which  we  are  celebrating"  to-day,  has  for 
its  origin  the  Baptism  of  my  Christ,  the  True 
Light  That  lighteneth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world, "■  and  effecteth  my  purification, 
and  assists  that  light  which  we  received  from 
the  beginning  from  Him  from  above,  but 
which  we  darkened  and  confused  by  sin. 

II.  Therefore  listen  to  the  Voice  of  God, 
which  sounds  so  exceeding  clearly  to  me,  who 
am  both  disciple  and  master  of  these  mysteries, 
as  would  to  God  it  may  sound  to  you  ;  I  Am 
The  Light  Of  The  World. ^  Therefore  ap- 
proach ye  to  Him  and  be  enlightened,  and  let 
not  your  faces  be  ashamed, y  being  signed  with 
the  true  Light.  It  is  a  season  of  new  birth,*  let 
us  be  born  again.  It  is  a  time  of  reformation, 
let  us  receive  again  the  first  Adam.*  Let  us 
not  remain  what  we  are,  but  let  lis  become 
what  we  once  were.  The  Lic^ht  Shineth  In 
Darkness,^  in  this  life  and  in  the  flesh,  and  is 
chased  by  the  darkness,  but  is  not  overtaken 
by  it : — I  mean  the  adverse  power  leaping  up 
in  its  shamelessness  against  the  visible  Adam, 
but  encountering  God  and  being  defeated  ; — 
in  order  that  we,  putting  away  the  darkness, 
may  draw  near  to  the  Light,  and  may  then 
become  perfect  Light,  the  children  of  perfect 
Light.  See  the  grace  of  this  Day  ;  see  the 
power  of  this  mystery.  Are  you  not  lifted  up 
from  the  earth  ?  Are  you  not  clearly  placed 
on  high,  being  exalted  by  our  voice  and 
meditation  ?  and  you  will  be  placed  much 
higher  when  the  Word  shall  have  prospered 
the  course  of  my  words. 

III.  Is  there  any  such  among  the  shadowy 
purifications  of  the  Law,  aiding  as  it  did  with 
temporary  sprinklings,  and  the  ashes  of  an 
heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean;''  or  do  the 
gentiles  celebrate  any  such  thing  in  their 
mysteries,  every  ceremony  and  mystery  of 
which  to  me  is  nonsense,  and  a  dark  inven- 
tion of  demons,  and  a  figment  of  an  unhappy 
mind,  aided  by  time,  and  hidden  by  fable? 
For  what  they  worship  as  true,  they  veil  as 
mythical..  But  if  these  things  are  true,  they 
ought  not  to  be  called  myths,  but  to  be  proved 
not  to  be  shamcfiil ;  ^  and  if  they  are  false,  they 
ought  not  to  be  objects  of  wonder  ;  nor  ought 
people  so  inconsiderately  to  hold  the  most 
contrary  opinions  about  the  same  thing,  as  if 
they  were  playing  in  the  market-place  with 
boys  or  really  ill-disposed  men,  not  engaged 


a  John  i.  9.         ^  John  viii.  12.       7  I's.  xxxiv.  5.       5  John  iii.  3. 
e  I.e.,  the  condition  of  nun  before  the  fall.  f  Ih.  i.  5. 

T)  This  is  the  same  word  which  in  .S.  John  i.  5,  is  rendered  by 
"comprehend."  0  Heb.  vii.  13. 


ORATION    ON   THE   HOLY   LIGHTS. 


35 


05J 


in  discussion  with  men  of  sense,  and  worship- 
pers of  the  Word,  though  despisers  of  this  ar- 
tificial plausibihty. 

IV.  We  are  not  concerned  in  these  mysteries 
with  birtlis  of  Zeus  and  thefts  of  the  Cretan 
Tyrant"  (though  the  Greeks  may  be  displeased 
at  such  a  title  for  him),  nor  with  the  name  of 
Curetes,  and  the  armed  dances,  which  were  to 
hide  the  wailings  of  a  weeping  god,  that  he 
might  escape  from  his  father's  hate.  For  indeed 
it  would  be  a  strange  thing  that  he  who  was 
swallowed  as  a  stone  should  be  made  to  weep 
as  a  child. ^  Nor  are  we  concerned  with  Phry- 
gian mutilations  and  flutes  and  CorybanteSjY 
and  all  the  ravings  of  men  concerning  Rhea, 
consecrating  people  to  the  mother  of  the  gods, 
and  being  initiated  into  such  ceremonies  as 
bent  the  mother  of  such  gods  as  these.  Nor 
have  we  any  carrying  away  of  the  Maiden,* 
nor  wandering  of  Demeter,  nor  her  intimacy 
with  Celei  and  Triptolemi  and  Dragons  ;  nor 
her  doings  and  sufferings  .  .  for  I  am  ashamed 
to  bring  into  daylight  that  ceremony  of  the 
night,  and  to  make  a  sacred  mystery  of  obscen- 
ity. Eleusis  knows  these  things,  and  so  do 
those  who  are  eyewitnesses  of  what  is  there 
guarded  by  silence,  and  well  worthy  of  it. 
Nor  is  our  commemoration  one  of  Dionysus, 
and  the  thigh  that  travailed  with  an  incom- 
plete birth,  as  before  a  head  had  travailed  with 
another  ;  ^  nor  of  the  hermaphrodite  god,  nor 
a  chorus  of  the  drunken  and  enervated  host  ; 
nor  of  the  folly  of  the  Thebans  which  honours 
him  ;  nor  the  thunderbolt  of  Semele  which 
they  adore.  Nor  is  it  the  harlot  mysteries 
of  Aphrodite,  who,  as  they  themselves  admit, 
was  basely  born  and  basely  honoured ;  nor 
have  we  here  Phalli  and  Ithyphalli,^  shameful 


a  I.e.,  Zeus,  who  was  said  by  some  to  be  a  deified  man,  once 
tyrant  of  Crete,  where  his  tomb  was  shown. 

3  The  allusion  is  to  the  birth  of  Zeus.  Kronos  the  Titan,  father  of 
the  gods,  was  the  husband  of  Rhea,  who  bore  him  children.  But 
an  oracle  having  declared  that  Kronos  should  be  dethroned  by  his 
children,  he  swallowed  them  immediately  after  they  were  bom. 
Rhea,  however,  on  the  birth  of  Zeus,  aided  by  the  Curetes.  a  wild 
band  of  Cretan  Priests,  concealed  the  child,  and  substituted  a 
sioiie,  which  Kronos  swallowed  in  his  haste  without  perceiving  the 
difference.  The  stone  made  him  very  sick,  and  he  vomited  forth 
the  children  whom  he  had  previously  swallowed  ;  and  by  them 
and  Zeus  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  Kronos  was  deposed  and 
imprisoned  in  Tartarus. 

y  There  was  a  temple  of  Rhea  in  Phrygia,  in  which  at  her 
festivals  people  mutilated  themselves  to  do  her  honour.  The  flutes 
alluded  to  served  to  turn  the  thoughts  of  the  sufferers  from  the  pain 
of  the  operation.  The  Corybantes  were  the  ministers  of  the  god- 
dess, who  led  the  wild  orgies  of  her  wor.ship.  It  is  believed  that 
there  is  an  allusion  to  this  practice  of  self-mutilation  in  Galat.  v.  12. 
So  at  least  S.  Jerome,  S.  Ambrose,  and  all  the  Greek  Fathers  take 
the  passage.  S  Thomas  Aquinas,  understanding  the  word  in  the 
same  sense,  applies  it  mystically  ;  and  Estius,  who  here  follows  Eras- 
mus, refers  the  ""cutting  off"  merely  to  excommunication,  a  sense 
which  he  calls  "  Apostohco  sensu  dignior,"  though  why  "'  eii'g'm'or" 
it  is  not  easy  10  see.  Yet  he  acknowledges  that  those  who  interpret 
it  literally  do  so  "  rion  zm/uertia." 

5  The  mythus  of  tne  Rape  of  Persephone  and  its  consequences. 

6  Dionysus  was  said  to  have  been  born  from  the  thigh  of  Zeus, 
as  Athene  to  have  sprung  full-grown  and  armed  at  all  points  from 
his  head. 

f  These  myths  and  practices  are  too  shameful  to  be  described. 
23 


both  in  form  and  action  ;  nor  Taurian  mas- 
sacres of  strangers  ;  '^  nor  blood  of  Laconian 
youths  shed  upon  the  altars,  as  they  scourged 
themselves  with  the  whips ;  ^  and  in  this  case 
alone  use  their  courage  badly,  who  honour  a 
goddess,  and  her  a  virgin.  For  these  same 
people  both  honour  effeminacy,  and  worship 
boldness. 

V.  And  where  will  you  place  the  butchery 
of  Pelops,"*"  which  feasted  hungry  gods,  that 
bitter  and  inhuman  hospitality  ?  Where  the 
horrible  and  dark  spectres  of  Hecate,  and  the 
underground  puerilities  and  sorceries  of  Tro- 
phonius,  or  the  babblings  of  the  Dodonaean 
Oak,  or  the  trickeries  of  the  Delphian  tri- 
pod, or  the  prophetic  draught  of  Castalia, 
which  could  prophesy  anything,  except  their 
own  being  brought  to  silence  ?*  Nor  is  it  the 
sacrificial  art  of  Magi,  and  their  en  trail  fore- 
bodings, nor  the  Chaldsean  astronomy  and 
horoscopes,  comparing  our  lives  with  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which 
cannot  know  even  what  they  are  themselves, 
or  shall  be.  Nor  are  these  Thracian  orgies, 
from  which  the  word  Worship  (Spqa-Keia)  is 
said  to  be  derived ;  nor  rites  and  mysteries 
of  Orpheus,  whom  the  Greeks  admired  so 
much  for  his  wisdom  that  they  devised  for  him 
a  lyre  which  draws  all  things  by  its  music. 
Nor  the  tortures  of  Mithras  ^  which  it  is  just 
that  those  who  can  endure  to  be  initiated  into 
such  things  should  suffer ;  nor  the  manglings 
of  Osiris,^  another  calamity  honoured  by  the 
Egyptians;  nor  the  ill-fortunes  of  Isis''  and 
the  goats  more  venerable  than  the  Mendesians, 
and  the  stall  of  Apis,^  the  calf  that  luxuri- 
ated in  the  folly  of  the  Memphites,  nor  all 
those  honours  with  which  they  outrage  the 
Nile,  while  themselves  proclaiming  it  in  song 
to  be  the  Giver  of  fruits  and  corn,  and  the 
measurer  of  happiness  by  its  cubits.' 

VI.  I  pass  over  the  honours  they  pay  to  rep- 

a  See  the  Iphigenia  In  Taiiris  of  Euripides. 

P  It  was  a  custom  of  the  Spartans  that  at  their  great  festival  of 
Artemis  the  youths  who  were  just  coming  of  age  (Ephebi)  should 
scourge  themselves  cruelly  on  her  altar  in  honour  of  the  goddess, 
and  to  prove  their  manhood. 

y  The  gods  came  to  dine  with  Tantalus,  and  he,  to  do  them 
honour,  boiled  his  son  Pelops  for  their  food.  They,  however, 
found  it  out,  and  restored  him  to  life  ;  not,  however,  before  Dem- 
eter had  unwiitingly  eaten  his  shoulder,  in  the  place  of  which  they 
substituted  one  of  ivory. 

6  S.  Jerome,  commenting  on  Isaiah  xli.  22,  says  :  "Why  could 
they  never  predict  anythmg  concerning  Christ  and  His  .Apostles, 
or  the  ruin  and  destruction  of  their  own  temples  ?  If  then  they 
could  not  foretell  their  own  destruction,  how  can  they  foretell  any- 
thing good  or  bad  ?  " 

e  These  Mysteries  were  of  Persian  origin,  connected  it  is  said 
with  the  worship  of  the  Sun.  The  neophytes  were  made  to 
undergo  twelve  different  kinds  of  torture. 

^The  Eg^'ptian  Mysteries. 

r;  Zeus  fell  in  love  with  Isis,  and  carried  her  off  in  the  form  of  a 
heifer.  Here,  discovering  the  fraud,  sent  a  gadfly,  which  drove 
Isis  mad. 

6  Apis,  the  sacred  bull,  worshipped  at  Memphis. 

I  i.e.,  that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  was  proportionate  to 
the  annual  rise  of  the  River. 


354 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


tiles,  and  their  worship  of  vile  things,  each  of 
which  has  its  peculiar  cultus  and  festival,  and 
all  share  in  a  common  devilishness ;  so  that,  if 
they  were  absolutely  bound  to  be  ungodly, 
and  to  fall  away  from  honouring  God,  and  to 
be  led  astray  to  idols  and  works  of  art  and 
things  made  with  hands,  men  of  sense  could 
not  imprecate  anything  worse  upon  them- 
selves than  that  they  might  worship  just  such 
things,  and  honour  them  in  just  such  a  way  ; 
that,  as  Paul  says,  they  might  receive  in  them- 
selves that  recompense  of  their  error  which  was 
meet,"  in  the  very  objects  of  their  worhip  ; 
not  so  much  honouring  them  as  suffering  dis- 
honour by  them  ;  abominable  because  of  their 
error,  and  yet  more  abominable  from  the  vile- 
ness  of  the  objects  of  their  adoration  and 
worship ;  so  that  they  should  be  even  more 
without  understanding  than  the  objects  of 
their  worship ;  being  as  excessively  foolish  as 
the  latter  are  vile. 

VII.  Well,  let  these  things  be  the  amusement 
of  the  children  of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  demons 
to  whom  their  folly  is  due,  who  turn  aside 
the  honour  of  God  to  themselves,  and  divide 
men  in  various  ways  in  pursuit  of  shameful 
thoughts  and  fancies,  ever  since  they  drove  us 
away  from  the  Tree  of  Life,  by  means  of  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge  unseasonably^  and  im- 
properly imparted  to  us,  and  then  assailed  us  as 
now  weaker  than  before ;  carrying  clean  away 
the  mind,  which  is  the  ruling  power  in  us, 
and  opening  a  door  to  the  passions.  For, 
being  of  a  nature  envious  and  man-hating,  or 
rather  having  become  so  by  their  own 
wickedness,  they  could  neither  endure  that  we 
who  were  below  should  attain  to  that  which  is 
above,  having  themselves  fallen  from  above 
upon  the  earth  ;  nor  that  such  a  change  in 
their  glory  and  their  first  natures  should  have 
taken  place.  This  is  the  meaning  of  their 
persecution  of  the  creature.  For  this  God's 
Image  was  outraged  ;  and  as  we  did  not  like 
to  keep  the  Commandments, >"  we  were  given 
over  to  the  independence  of  our  error.  And 
as  we  erred  we  were  disgraced  by  the  objects 
of  our  worship.  For  there  was  not  only  this 
calamity,  that  we  who  were  made  for  good 
works  ^  to  the  glory  and  praise  of  our  Maker, 
and  to  imitate  God  as  far  as  might  be,  were 


a  Rom.  i.  27. 

3  cf.  ( )r.it.  in  Theoph.  c.  12.  The  explanation  seems  to  be,  that 
the  "  Knowledge  of  good  and  evil  "  was  a  necessary  part  of  the 
development  of  man's  intellect,  bnt  that  a  prematnre  attempt 
to  attain  it  per  saltunt  instead  of  by  a  gradual  progress  would 
prove  fatal.  Had  human  nature  gimc  through  its  originally 
intendeil  e(hicational  stages,  it  might  have  reached  to  the  know- 
ledge of  evil  without  having  that  kuowle  ge  alloyed  and  deterior- 
ated by  the  experience  of  evil,  but  might  have  known  it,  as  God 
does,  without  taint,      (lilount,  Ann.  Hiblc  on  Gen.  ii.  7.) 

•y  Ibid.  i.  28.  6  Eph.  ii.  10  ;  Phil.  i.  1 1. 


turned  into  a  den  of  all  sorts  of  passions, 
which  cruelly  devour  and  consume  the  inner 
man  ;  but  there  was  this  further  evil,  that  man 
actually  made  gods  the  advocates  of  his  pas- 
sions, so  that  sin  might  be  reckoned  not  only 
irresponsible,  but  even  divine,  taking  refuge 
in  the  objects  of  his  worship  as  his  apology. 

VIII.  But  since  to  us  grace  has  been  given 
to  flee  from  superstitious  error  and  to  be  joined 
to  the  truth  and  to  serve  the  living  and  true 
God,  and  to  rise  above  creation,  passing  by 
all  that  is  subject  to  time  and  to  first  motion  ; 
let  us  look  at  and  reason  upon  God  and  things 
divine  in  a  manner  corresponding  to  this  Grace 
given  us.  But  let  us  begin  our  discussion  of 
them  from  the  most  fitting  point.  And  the 
most  fitting  is,  as  Solomon  laid  down  for  us ; 
us;  The  beginning  of  wisdom,  he  says,  is  to 
get  wisdom. «  And  what  this  is  he  tells  us  ; 
the  beginning  of  wisdom  is  fear.^  For  we 
must  not  begin  with  contemplation  and  leave 
off  with  fear  (for  an  unbridled  contemplation 
would  perhaps  push  us  over  a  precipice),  but 
we  must  be  grounded  and  purified  and  so  to 
say  made  light  by  fear,  and  thus  be  raised  to 
the  height.  For  where  fear  is  there  is  keep- 
ing of  commandments ;  and  where  there  is 
keeping  of  commandments  there  is  ]3urifying  of 
the  flesh,  that  cloud  which  covers  the  soul  and 
suffers  it  not  to  see  the  Divine  Ray.  And 
where  there  is  purifying  there  is  Illumination  ; 
and  Illumination  is  the  satisfying  of  desire  to 
those  who  long  for  the  greatest  things,  or  the 
Greatest  Thing,  or  That  Which  surpasses  all 
greatness. 

IX.  Wherefore  we  must  purify  ourselves 
first,  and  then  approach  this  converse  with  the 
Pure  ;  unless  we  would  have  the  same  experi- 
ence as  Israel, V  who  could  not  endure  the  glory 
of  the  face  of  Moses,  and  therefore  asked  for  a 
veil ;  *  or  else  would  feel  and  .say  with  Manoah 
"  We  are  undone  O  wife,  we  have  seen  God,"* 
although  it  was  God  only  in  his  fancy  ;  or 
like  Peter  would  send  Jesus  out  of  the  boat,^ 
as  being  ourselves  unworthy  of  such  a  visit  ; 
and  when  I  say  Peter,  I  am  speaking  of  the 
man  who  walked  upon  the  waves  ;''  or  like  Paul 
would  be  stricken  in  eyes, ^  as  he  was  before  he 
was  cleansed  from  the  guilt  of  his  persecution, 
when  he  conversed  with  Him  Whom  he  was 
persecuting — or  rather  with  a  short  flash  of 
That  great  Light ;  or  like  the  Centurion'  would 
seek  for  healing,  but  would  not,  through  a 
])raiseworthy  fear,  receive  the  Healer  into  his 
house.     Let  each  one  of  us  also  speak  so,  as 


a  Prov.  iv.  7. 
6  2  Cor.  iii.  7. 
r\  Matt.  xiv.  29. 


P  lb.  i.  7  .sq. 
e  Judg.  xiii.  23. 
d  Acts  ix.  3-8. 


7  Kxod.  xxxiv.  30. 
^I.uke  v.  8. 
t  Matt.  viii.  8. 


ORATION    ON    THE    HOLY   LIGHTS. 


355 


long  as  he  is  still  uncleansed,  and  is  a  Centu- 
rion still,  commanding  many  in  wickedness, 
and  serving  in  the  army  of  Cresar,  the  World- 
ruler  of  those  who  are  being  dragged  down ; 
' '  1  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come 
under  my  roof."  But  when  he  shall  have 
looked  upon  Jesus,  though  he  be  little  of 
stature  like  Zaccheus*  of  old,  and  climb  up  on 
the  top  of  the  sycamore  tree  by  mortifying  his 
members  which  are  upon  the  earth, ^  and  hav- 
ing risen  above  the  body  of  humiliation,  then 
he  shall  receive  the  Word,  and  it  shall  be  said 
to  him,  This  day  is  salvation  come  to  this 
house. y  Then  let  him  lay  hold  on  the  salva- 
tion, and  bring  forth  fruit  more  perfectly, 
scattering  and  pouring  forth  rightly  that  which 
as  a  publican  he  wrongly  gathered. 

X.  For  the  same  Word  is  on  the  one  hand 
terrible  through  its  nature  to  those  who  are 
unworthy,  and  on  the  other  through  its  loving 
kindness  can  be  receiv'ed  by  those  who  are 
thus  prepared,  who  have  driven  out  the  un- 
clean and  worldly  spirit  from  their  souls,  and 
have  swept  and  adorned  their  own  souls  by 
self-examination,  and  have  not  left  them  idle 
or  without  employment,  so  as  again  to  be  oc- 
cupied with  greater  armament  by  the  seven 
spirits  of  wickedness  .  .  .  the  same  number 
as  are  reckoned  of  virtue  (for  that  which  is 
hardest  to  fight  against  calls  for  the  sternest 
efforts)  .  .  .  but  besides  fleeing  from  evil, 
practise  virtue,  making  Christ  entirely,  or  at 
any  rate  to  the  greatest  extent  possible,  to 
dwell  within  them,  so  that  the  power  of  evil 
cannot  meet  with  any  empty  place  to  fill  it 
again  with  himself,  and  make  the  last  state  of 
that  man  worse  than  the  first,  by  the  greater 
energy  of  his  assault,  and  the  greater  strength 
and  impregnability  of  the  fortress.  But  when, 
having  guarded  our  soul  with  every  care,  and 
having  appointed  goings  up  in  our  heart, ^  and 
broken  up  our  fallow  ground,^  and  sown  unto 
righteousness,^  as  David  and  Solomon  and  Jere- 
miah bid  us,  let  us  enlighten  ourselves  with 
the  light  of  knowledge,  and  then  let  us  speak 
of  the  Wisdom  of  God  that  hath  been  hid  in 
a  mystery,''  and  enlighten  others.  Meanwhile 
let  us  purify  ourselves,  and  receive  the  ele- 
mentary initiation  of  the  Word,  that  we  may 
do  ourselves  the  utmost  good,  making  our- 
selves godlike,  and  receiving  the  Word  at  His 
coming ;  and  not  only  so,  but  holding  Him 
fast  and  shewing  Him  to  others. 

XI.  And  now,  having  purified  the  theatre 
by  what  has  been  said,  let  us  discourse  a  little 
about    the    Festival,   and   join  in  celebrating 

a  Luke  xix.  3.      /S  Col.  iii.  5.      y  Luke  xix.  9.      S  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  5. 
6  Jer.  iv.  3.  f  Prov.  xi.  18.  t)  2  Cor.  ii.  6. 


this  Feast  with  festal  and  pious  souls.  And, 
since  the  chief  point  of  the  Festival  is  the  re- 
membrance of  God,  let  us  call  God  to  mind. 
For  I  think  that  the  sound  of  those  who  keep 
Festival  There,  where  is  the  dwelling  of  all 
the  Blissful,  is  nothing  else  than  this,  the 
hymns  and  praises  of  God,  sung  by  all  who 
are  counted  worthy  of  that  City.  Let  none 
be  astonished  if  what  I  have  to  say  contains 
some  things  that  I  have  said  before ;  for  not 
only  will  I  utter  the  same  words,  but  I  shall 
speak  of  the  same  subjects,  trembling  both  in 
tongue  and  mind  and  thought  when  I  speak  of 
God  for  you  too,  that  you  may  share  this 
laudable  and  blessed  feeling.  And  when  1 
speak  of  God  you  must  be  illumined  at  once 
by  one  flash  of  light  and  by  three.  Three 
in  Individualities  or  Hypostases,  if  any  prefer 
so  to  call  them,  or  persons, '^  for  we  will  not 
quarrel  about  names  so  long  as  the  syllables 
amount  to  the  same  meaning  ;  but  One  in  re- 
spect of  the  Substance — that  is,  the  Godhead. 
For  they  are  divided  without  division,  if  I 
may  so  say  ;  and  they  are  united  in  division. 
For  the  Godhead  is  one   in    three,  and    the 


a  The  sense  of  Person   (here   Trpotrun-ov).   which  is  the  usual 
post-Nicene  equivalent  of  lurdcrTacris.  was  by  no  means  generally 
attached  to  that  word  during  the  first  P'our  Centuries,  though  here 
and  there  there  are  traces  of  such  a  use.     Throughout  the  Arian 
controversy  a  great  deal   of  trouble   and    misumlerstanduij;    was 
caused   by    the    want   of  a   precise    definition    of  the  meaning   of 
irTTocrTacris.     It   seems  to  have   been    at   first   understood    by    the 
Eastern  Church  to  mean  Real  Personal  Existence — Reality   being 
the   fundamental   idea.       In  this  fundamental  sense  it  was  used  in 
Theology  as  expres-ing  the  distinct  individuality  and  relative  bear- 
ing of  the  Three  "Persons"  of  the  Klessed  Trinity  to  each  other 
(to  l&iov  TTapa  to  kolvov,  Suidas).     But  Arius  gave  it  a  heretical 
twist,  and  said  that  there  are  Three  Hypostases,  m  the  sense  of 
Natures  or  Substances :  and  this  doctrine  was  anathematized  by 
the    Nicene     Council,    which,     apparently     regardini;     the     term 
inroo-Tacris  as  exactly  equivalent  to  ovaia    (as  Arius  tried  to  make 
it)  condemned  the  propositon  that  the  Son  is  i^  ere'pa?  un-oo-TacreaJS 
fi  ovtrias  (Symb.  Nic. ).     Similar  is  the  use  of  the  word  in  S.  Atha- 
nasius.      As   against  Sabelllus,   however,   who  taught  that  in  the 
Godhead  there  are  rpCa  vpotriona  (using  this  word  in  the  sense  of 
Aspects  only)  but  would  not  allow  Tpeis  i'TrocrTao'ets  (i.  e.,  Self-exis- 
tent   Personalities),  the  post-Nicene   Church  regarded  V7rd(TTa<7is 
as  designating  the  Person,  and  spoke  freely  of  Tpei?  V7ro<rTaa-eis. 
The  Western  Church  increased  the  confusion  by  continuing  to  re- 
gard UTrocTTacns  as  equivalent  lo  ovcrCa,  and  translating  it  by  -Sub- 
stantia or  Subslstentia.     It  was  not   till   the   word    Essentia   came 
into  use  to  express  owi'a  that  the  Western  Church  grasped  the  dif- 
ference, so  long  accepted  in  the  East,  so  as  to  use  the  words  accu- 
rately.    Meantime,  however,  there  would  seem  to  have  grown  up  a 
difference    m    the   use  of  the  two    words    supposed    to   represent 
lurdo'Tao'is,  of  the  same  kind  as  that  between  u7rdTTa<ris  and  oucria; 
Substantia    being  appropriated   to   the   Essence   of  a   thing,    ihat 
which    is  the   foundation   of  its    being  ;  while   Subsistentia   came 
rather  to  connote  a  limitation,    i.e..   Personality-.     Thus  the  West 
also  became  confused,   and   Substantia  was   held    to  be   the   true 
equivalent   of  uwd<TTacris.     Hence    the   condemnation    at    Sardica 
(■v.D.  347)  by  the  Western  Pishops  of  the  doctrine  of  Three  Hypo- 
stases as  Arian.     The  confusion  lasted  long,  but  in  362  a  Council 
was  held  at  Alexandria,  when  this  difference  was  seen  to  be  a  mere 
logomachy,    and    it   was   pronounced   orthodox  to  confess    either 
Tpeis  wTroaTacreis  in  the  sense  of  "  Persons,"  or  fiiav  VTrocTTacrLv  in 
that  of  ■■  Substance."     Our  author  in  his  Oration  to  the  Fathers 
of  the  Council  of  Constantinople  fullv  acknowledges  this.      •' Wh.^t 
do  you  mean,"  he  says.    "'  by  vnotTTacreLq  or  npoaunva  ?     You  mean 
that  the   Three  are  distinct,   not   in   Naiure,   but  in   Personah'ty  " 
And  in  the  Panegyric  on  S.  .Athanasius  (Or.  xxi.  c    35),  he  remarks 
on  the  orthodoxy  of  the  phrase  fiia  ovaCa,   rpei?  vnoardcrei.';,    that 
the  first  e.xpression  refers  to  the  Nature  of  the  Godhead,  the  second 
to   the  special   properties  of  the  Persons.     With  this,  he  says,  the 
Italians  agree,  but  the  poverty  of  their  lanaiiage  is   such   that  it 
does  not  admit  of  the  distinction   between    ovcria   and   i)7Td<rTa(7i?, 
and  therefore  has  to  call  in  the  word  Trpdo'aiTroi',  which  if  misunder- 
stood is  liable  to  be  charged  with  Sabellianism. 


356 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


three  are  one,  in  whom  the  Godhead  is, 
or  to  speak  more  accurately,  Who  are  the 
Godhead.  Excesses  and  defects  we  will  omit, 
neither  making  the  Unity  a  confusion,  nor  the 
division  a  separation.  We  would  keep  equally 
far  from  the  confusion  of  Sabellius  and  from 
the  division  of  Arius,  which  are  evils  diametri- 
cally opposed,  yet  equal  in  their  wickedness. 
For  what  need  is  there  heretically  to  fuse  God 
together,  or  to  cut  Him  up  into  inequality  ? 

XII.  For  to  us  there  is  but  One  God,  the 
Father,  of  Whom  are  all  things,  and  One  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  Whom  are  all  things  ;  and  One 
Holy  Ghost,  in  Whom  are  all  things;"  yet 
these  words,  of,  by,  in,  whom,  do  not  de- 
note a  difference  of  nature  (for  if  this  were  the 
case,  the  three  prepositions,  or  the  order  of 
the  three  names  would  never  be  altered),  but 
they  characterize  the  personalities  of  a  nature 
which  is  one  and  unconfused.  And  this  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  They  are  again  col- 
lected into  one,  if  you  will  read — not  care- 
lessly— this  other  passage  of  the  same  Apostle, 
"  Of  Him  and  through  Him  and  to  Him  are 
all  things  ;  to  Him  be  glory  forever,  Amen. ' '  ^ 
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  v);  for  neither  did  the  Father 
cease  to  be  Un begotten  because  of  His  beget- 
ting 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  be- 
lieve it.  For  Personality  is  unchangeable; 
else  how  could  Personality  remain,  if  it  were 
changeable,  and  could  be  removed  from  one 
to  another?  But  they  who  make  "  Unbe- 
gotten"  and  "Begotten"  natures  of  equivo- 
cal gods  would  perhaps  make  Adam  and  Seth 

a  2  Cor.  viii.  6.  (3  Rom.  xi.  36. 

■y  The  Coining  is  simply  of  the  adverbial  form  ;  the  Subst.intive 
is  found  in  earlier  writings.  .S.  Gregory  himself  uses  it  Oral. 
Theol.  V.  He  uses  other  words  also,  as  e/cTre/ii/zis,  npooSo's,  and 
the  verbs  Trpoep^f  (rf^ai,  npoievai. 

As  to  the  cjuestion  of  the  Double  Procession  (Filioquc)  see 
Introd.  toOrat.  Throl.  V.  Dr.  Swete  (Doctr.  of  U.  S.  p.  118) 
says,  "  It  is  insirnctive  to  notice  how  at  this  period  the  two  great 
Sees  of  Rome  and  Constantinople  seem  to  have  agreed  in  abstain- 
ing from  a  minuter  definition  of  the  Procession.  Both  in  Kast  and 
West  the  relations  of  the  Spirit  to  the  .Son  were  being  examined  by 
individual  theologians  but  .S.  Gregory  and  S.  Damasus  appear 
to  have  alike  refrained  from  entering  upon  a  question  which  did 
not  touch  the  essentials  of  the  Faith."  He  adds  in  a  note  '"This 
is  the  more  remarkable  because  Damasus  was  of  Spanish  origui." 


differ  in  nature,  since  the  former  was  not 
born  of  flesh  (for  he  was  created),  but  the 
latter  was  born  of  Adam  and  Eve.  There  is 
then  One  God  in  Three,  and  These  Three 
are  One,  as  we  have  said. 

XIII.  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  worshippers  on  earth, 
that  all  things  may  be  filled  with  the  glory 
of  God  (forasmuch  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  u]Jon 
nature,  and  God  is  made  Man.  "He  that 
rideth  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  unchange- 
able) ;  but  assuming  what  He  was  not  (for 
He  is  full  of  love  to  man),  that  the  Incom- 
prehensible v  might  be  comprehended,  con- 
versing with  us  through  the  mediation  of  the 
Flesh  as  through  a  veil ;  since  it  was  not  pos- 
sible 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  ; 


o  "The  rest   of  the  Creation  was  made  by  the  command  of 

God,  but  Man  was  formed  by  the  hand  of  God."  (Wordsworth 
in  Gen    u.  7.) 

"'I'here  was  a  peculiar  glory  in  the  creation  of  Man,  distin- 
guishing him  from  the  re^t  of  the  creatures.  The  creatures  in- 
ferior to  man  were  called  into  being  by  a  simple  act  of  the  Divine 
Will  :  but  in  the  case  of  man,  bearing  as  he  does  the  nature  and 
the  form  which  God  was  about  to  assume  as  His  own,  and  which, 
once  assumed,  was  never  again  to  be  laid  aside,  the  process  of 
creation  was  markedly  different.  'Ihen  fir  the  first  time  the  Most 
Holy  Persons  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  appear  upon  the  scene.  They 
are  manifested  as  in  mutual  consultation  and  common  action  per- 
sonally engaged.  .  .  .  'Let  Us  make  Man  in  Our  Image 
after  Our  Likeness  '  .  .  .  Then  followed  the  exercise  of  crea- 
tive power  as  a  personal  act,  the  putting  forth  the  Hand  of  God 
to  fashion  the  body  of  Man;  ' 'I  he  Lord  God  formed  Man  of 
the  dust  of  tile  earth.'  Afterwards  came  the  yet  higher  work  in 
the  infusion  of  the  immaterial  invisible  life  enshrined  in  the  body, 
perfecting  tlie  work  of  God  ;  '  He  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life  anrl  Man  became  a  living  soul.'"  ( 1".  T.  Carter,  The 
Divine  Dispensations,  p.  44.)  P  Ps.   Ixviii.  4. 

7  fllhnann  comments  on  this  passage  as  follows  :  There  is  in  it, 
as  follows  especially  from  what  comes  after,  the  doulile  sense  that 
the  Infinite  Godhead  entered  in  Christ  into  the  hmitntions  of  a 
finite  human  life  ;  and  in  consequence  of  this,  since  otherwise  as 
an  infinite  I'.eing  it  was  not  fully  cognisable  by  the  finite  human 
soul,  became  in  this  limitation  cognisable  in  some  degree  to  it,  as 
it  was  not  bef  )re  this  special  manifestation  in  Christ. 

&  "  In  this  and  several  other  places  ni'ivfia  .and  vovv  evidently 
denote  the  Divine  the  Spiritual,  taken  in  the  highest  and  purest 
sense,  in  which  it  is  lifted  above  the  ffapf,  and  generally  above  all 
that  is  material;  in  which  sense  S.  John  says,  n-yei/yaa  6  Seds." 
Ullmann. 


ORATION   ON   THE   HOLY   LIGHTS. 


357 


but  also  Generation  with  Virginity,  and  dis- 
honour with  Him  who  is  higher  than  all 
honour  ;  He  who  is  impassible  with  Suffering," 
and  the  Immortal  with  the  corruptible.  For 
since  that  Deceiver  thought  that  he  was  uncon- 
querable 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  abol- 
ished, death  being  slain  by  flesh. 

XIV.  At  His  birth  we  duly  kept  Festival, 
both  I,  the  leader  of  the  Feast,  and  you,  and  all 
that  is  in  the  world  and  above  the  world.  With 
the  Star  we  ran,  and  with  the  Magi  vve  wor- 
shipped, and  with  the  Shepherds  v\^e  were 
illuminated,  and  with  the  Angels  we  glorified 
Him,  and  with  Simeon  we  took  Him  up  in 
our  arms,  and  with  Anna  the  aged  and  chaste 
we  made  our  responsive  confession.  And 
thanks  be  to  Him  who  came  to  His  own  in 
the  guise  of  a  stranger,  because  He  glorified 
the  stranger.  1^  Now,  we  come  to  another 
action  of  Christ,  and  another  mystery.  I 
cannot  restrain  my  pleasure  ;  I  am  rapt  into 
God.  Almost  like  John  I  proclaim  good  tid- 
ings ;  for  though  I  be  not  a  Forerunner,  yet 
am  I  from  the  desert. v  Christ  is  illumined, 
let  us  shin^  forth  with  Him.  Christ  is 
baptized,  let  us  descend  with  Him  that  we 
may  also  ascend  with  Him.  Jesus  is  baptized  ; 
but  we  must  attentively  consider  not  only  this 
but  also  some  other  points.  Who  is  He,  and 
by  whom  is  He  baptized,  and  at  what  time? 
He  is  the  All-pure ;  and  He  is  baptized  by 
John  ;  and  the  time  is  the  beginning  of  His 
miracles.  What  are  we  to  learn  and  to  be 
taught  by  this  ?  To  purify  ourselves  first ; 
to  be  lowly  minded  ;  and  to  preach  only  in 
maturity  both  of  spiritual  and  bodily  stature. 
The  first  ^  has  a  word  especially  for  those 
who  rush  to  Baptism  off  hand,  and  without 
due  preparation,  or  providing  for  the  stabil- 
ity of  the  Baptismal  Grace  by  the  disposition 
of  their  minds  to  good.  For  since  Grace  con- 
tains remission  of  the  past  (for  it  is  di  grace), 
it  is  on  that  account  more  worthy  of  reverence, 


a  "  In  a  double  sense: — either  that  the  Godhead  is.  in  union 
with  the  Man  Jesus,  subjected  to  suffering  (cf.  Or.  XXI.  24),  or 
that  the  Divine  Substance,  which  is  unapproachable  by  any  pas- 
sion or  suffering,  combined  itself  with  a  Maa,  whose  nature  cannot 
be  free  from  such  emotions."     Ullmann. 

3  i.e.,  human  nature,  which  was  severed  from  and  made  hostile 
to  Cod  by  sin.  y  i.e.,  Sasima. 

6  That  the  All-pure  was  baptized  is  to  remind  us  of  our  need 
Df  preparation.  That  He  was  baptized  by  John  is  to  teach  us 
humility  towards  the  Priesthood,  even  if  the  Priest  be  socially  our 
mferior.  That  He  was  baptized  at  thirty  years  of  age  shews  that 
the  Teachers  and  Rulers  of  the  Church  ought  not  to  be  very  young 
men.     Scholiast. 


that  we  return  not  to  the  same  vomit  again. 
The  second  speaks  to  those  who  rebel  against 
the  Stewards  of  this  Mystery,  if  they  are  their 
superiors  in  rank.  The  third  is  for  those  who 
are  confident  in  their  youth,  and  think  that 
any  time  is  the  right  one  to  teach  or  to  pre- 
side. Jesus  is  purified,  and  dost  thou  despise 
purification  ?  .  .  .  and  by  John,  and  dost 
thou  rise  up  against  thy  herald  ?  . 
and  at  thirty  years  of  age,  and  dost  thou  be- 
fore thy  beard  has  grown  presume  to  teach 
the  aged,  or  believe  that  thou  teachest  them, 
though  thou  be  not  reverend  on  account  of 
thine  age,  or  even  perhaps  for  thy  character  ? 
But  here  it  may  be  said,  Daniel,  and  this  or 
that  other,  were  judges  in  their  youth,  and 
examples  are  on  your  tongues ;  for  every 
wrongdoer  is  prepared  to  defend  himself. 
But  I  reply  that  that  which  is  rare  is  not  the 
law  of  the  Church.  For  one  swallow  does 
not  make  a  summer,  nor  one  line  a  geome- 
trician, nor  one  voyage  a  sailor. 

XV.  But  John  baptizes,  Jesus  comes  to  Him" 
perhaps  to  sanctify  the  Baptist  him- 
self, but  certainly  to  bury  the  whole  of  the 
old  Adam  in  the  water ;  and  before  this  and 
for  the  sake  of  this,  to  sanctify  Jordan  ;  for 
as  He  is  Spirit  and  Flesh,  so  He  consecrates 
us  by  Spirit  and  water. ^  John  will  not  re- 
ceive Him;  Jesus  contends.  "I  have  need 
to  be  baptized  of  Thee  "  v  says  the  Voice  to 
the  Word,  the  Friend  to  the  Bridegroom  ;  ^  he 
that  is  above  all  among  them  that  are  born 
of  women, ^  to  Him  Who  is  the  Firstborn  of 
every  creature  ;  ^  he  that  leaped  in  the  womb,'' 
to  Him  AVho  was  adored  in  the  womb  ;  he 
who  was  and  is  to  be  the  Forerunner  ^  to  Him 
Who  was  and  is  to  be  manifested.  "  I  have 
need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee;  "  add  to  this 
' '  and  for  Thee  ;  "  for  he  knew  that  he  would 
be  baptized  by  Martyrdom,  or,  like  Peter, 
that  he  would  be  cleansed  not  only  as  to  his 
feet.'  "And  comest  Thou  to  me?"  This 
also  was  prophetic  ;  for  he  knew  that  after 
Herod  would  come  the  madness  of  Pilate, 
and  so  that  when  he  had  gone  before  Christ 
would  follow  him.  But  what  saith  Jesus? 
"  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now,"  for  this  is  the 
time  of  His  Incarnation  ;  for  He  knew  that 
yet  a  little  while  and  He  should  baptize  the 
Baptist.  And  what  is  the  "Fan?"  The 
Purification.  And  what  is  the  "Fire?" 
The    consuming    of  the  chaff,  and  the  heat 

0  Matt.  iii.  14.  ^  John  v.  35.  v  Matt.  iii.  17. 
6  John  iii.  39.                 «  Matt.  .\i.  11.  6  Col.  i.  5. 

r)  Luke  i.  41. 

Q  "  He  who  was  the  forerunner  on  earth,  and  was  to  be  the 
forerunner  in  Hades  of  Christ,  Who  manifested  Himself  on 
earth,  and  manifested  Himself  also  in  Hades."     Elias  Cretensis. 

1  John  xiii.  9. 


158 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


of  the  Spirit.  And  what  the  "  Axe  ?  "  The 
excision  of  the  soul  which  is  incurable  even 
after  the  dung."  And  what  the  Sword?  The 
cutting  of  the  Word,  which  separates  the 
worse  from  the  better,^  and  makes  a  division 
between  the  faithful  and  the  unbeliever  ;  v  and 
stirs  up  the  son  and  the  daughter  and  the 
bride  against  the  father  and  the  mother  and 
the  mother  in  law,^  the  young  and  fresh  against 
the  old  and  shadowy.  And  what  is  the 
Latchet  of  the  shoe,  which  thou  John  who 
baptizest  Jesus  mayst  not  loose  ?  ^  thou  who 
art  of  the  desert,  and  hast  no  food,  the  new 
Elias,^  the  more  than  Proi)het,  inasmuch  as 
thou  sawest  Him  of  Whom  thou  didst  pro- 
phesy, thou  Mediator  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  What  is  this  ?  Perhaps  the 
Message  of  the  Advent,  and  the  Incarnation, 
of  which  not  the  least  point  may  be  loosed, 
I  say  not  by  those  'J  who  are  yet  carnal  and 
babes  in  Christ,  but  not  even  by  those  who 
are  like  John  in  spirit. 

XVI.  But  further — Jesus  goeth  up  out  of 
the  water  ...  for  with  Himself  He  car- 
ries up  the  world  .  .  .  and  sees  the 
heaven  opened  which  Adam  had  shut  against 
himself  and  all  his  posterity,^  as  the  gates 
of  Paradise  by  the  flaming  sword.  And 
the  Spirit  bears  witness  to  His  Godhead, 
for  he  descends  upon  One  that  is  like  Him, 
as  does  the  Voice  from  Hea\en  (for  He  to 
Whom  the  witness  is  borne  came  from  thence), 
and  like  a  Dove,  for  He  honours  the  Body 
(for  this  also  was  God,  through  its  union  with 
God)  by  being  seen  in  a  bodily  form  ;  and 
moreover,  the  Dove  has  from  distant  ages 
been  wont  to  proclaim  the  end  of  the  Deluge.' 
But  if  you  are  to  judge  of  Godhead  by  bulk 
and  weight,  and  the  Spirit  seems  to  you  a 
small  thing  because  He  came  in  the  form  of  a 
Dove,  O  man  of  contemptible  littleness  of 
thought  concerning  the  greatest  of  things,  you 
must  also  to  be  consistent  despise  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven,  because  it  is  compared  to  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed  ;  "  and  you  must  exalt 
the  adversary  above  the  Majesty  of  Jesus,  be- 
cause he  is  called  a  great  Mountain,^  and 
Leviathan  f*  and  King  of  that  which  lives  in  the 
water,  whereas  Christ  is  called  the  Lamb,"  and 
the  Pearl, f  and  the  Drop°   and  similar  names. 

XVII.  Now,  since  our  Festival  is  of  Bap- 
tism, and  we  must  endure  a  little  hardness  with 


i  Luke  vii.  26. 
K  Matt.  xiii.   31. 


a  T.iikc  xiii.  8.  fi  Heb.  iv.  12. 

5  Micah  vii.  6.  ejohn  i.  27. 
T)  One  important  MS.  reads  "Us  Who." 

6  Gen.  iii.  24.  i  lb.  viii.  11. 
^  Zech.  iv.  7 
/ii  The  word  Leviathan  does  not  occur  in  the  LXX.,  though  it  is 

found  twice  in  other  Greek  Versions  of  the  I'.ook  of  Job,  viz.: — iii. 
8  and  xl.  20.  V  Isa.  liii.  7. 

{  Matt.  xiii.  46.  o  Ps.  Ixxii.  6. 


Him  Who  for  our  sake  took  form,  and  was  bap- 
tized, and  was  crucified  ;  let  us  speak  about 
the  different  kinds  of  Baptism,  that  we  may 
come  out  thence  purified.  Moses  baptized  " 
but  it  was  in  water,  and  before  that  in  the 
cloud  and  in  the  sea.^  This  was  typical  as 
Paul  saith  ;  the  Sea  of  the  water,  and  the 
Cloud  of  the  Spirit ;  the  Manna,  of  the  Bread 
of  Life  ;  the  Drink,  of  the  Divine  Drink.  John 
also  baptized  ;  but  this  was  not  like  the  baptism 
of  the  Jews,  for  it  was  not  only  in  water,  but 
also  "  unto  repentance."  Still  it  was  not 
wholly  spiritual,  for  he  does  not  add  "  And 
in  the'  Spirit."  Jesus  also  baptized,  but  in 
the  Spirit.  This  is  the  perfect  Baptism. 
And  how  is  He  not  God,  if  I  may  digress  a 
little,  by  whom  you  too  are  made  God  ?  I 
know  also  a  Fourth  Baptism — that  by  Mar- 
tyrdom and  blood,  which  also  Christ  himself 
underwent ; — and  this  one  is  far  more  august 
than  all  the  others,  inasmuch  as  it  cannot  be 
defiled  by  after-stains.  Yes,  and  I  know  of  a 
Fifth  also,  which  is  that  of  tears,  and  is  much 
more  laborious,  received  by  him  who  washes 
his  bed  every  night  and  his  couch  with  tears  ;'>' 
whose  bruises  stink  through  his  wickedness  ;* 
and  who  goeth  mourning  and  of  a  sad  counte- 
nance ;  who  imitates  the  repentance  of  Manas- 
seh^and  the  humiliation  of  the  Ninevites^  upon 
which  God  had  mercy  ;  who  utters  the  words 
of  the  Publican  in  the  Temple,  and  is  justified 
rather  than  the  stiff-necked  Pharisee ; ''  who 
like  the  Canaanite  woman  bends  down  and 
asks  for  mercy  and  crumbs,  the  food  of  a  dog 
that  is  very  hungry.^ 

XVIII.  I,  however,  for  I  confess  myself  to  be 
a  man, — that  is  to  say,  an  animal  shifty  and  of  a 
changeable  nature, — both  eagerly  receive  this 
Baptism,  and  worship  Him  Who  has  given  it 
me,  and  impart  it  to  others  ;  and  by  shewing 
mercy  make  provision  for  mercy.  For  1 
know  that  I  too  am  comjiassed  with  infirmity,' 
and  that  with  what  measure  I  mete  it  shall  be 
measured  to  me  again."  But  what  sayest  thou, 
O  new  Pharisee  pure^  in  title  but  not  in  in- 
tention, who  dischargest  upon  us  the  senti- 
ments of  Novatus,''  though  thou  sharest  the 

a  Lev.  xi.         p  i  Cor.  x.  2.         y  Ps.  vi.  6.         S  lb.  xxxviii.  5. 

e  2  Cliron.  xxxviii.  12.         ?  Jon.  iii.  7-10.         ij  Luke  xvni.  13. 

6  Matt.  XV.  27.  I  Heb.  v.  2.  k  Matt.  vii.  2. 

K  The  Novatians  were  known  as  Cathari  or  Puritans. 

It  In  A.D.  251  Novatus,  a  Presbyter  of  the  Church  of  Carthage, 
who  with  others  had  foimed  a  party  against  .S.  Cyprian,  their 
Bishop,  came  to  Rome,  and  excited  Novatian  tc  become  leader  in 
a  similar  schism  against  Cornelius,  the  recently  elected  Bishop  of 
the  Apostolic  .See.  'I'he  plea  urged  on  behalf  of  the  schism  w.as 
that  Cornelius,  who  was  of  one  accord  with  Cyprian,  had  lajised  in 
the  time  of  the  persecution  under  Decius.  A.D.  250.  and  that  he 
had  relaxed  the  discipline  of  the  Chinch  by  admitting  to  Com- 
munion on  too  easy  terms  those  who  h.id  been  guiltv  of  a  similar 
offence  ;  and  that  therefore  he  o\ight  not  to  be  recognized  as  a  true 
Bishop  of  the  Church,  but  a  faithful  Paslor  should  be  chosen  in  his 
place.  Consequently  Novatinn  was  elected  by  some  who  held  these 
views,   and  was  consecrated  by   three  Bishops.     'J'here   seem  to 


ORATIONS    ON    THE    HOLY   LIGHTS. 


359 


full  of  sores  you 
Will   you   not 


same  infirmities?  Wilt  thou  not  give  any 
place  to  weeping?  Wilt  thou  shed  no  tear  ? 
Mayest  thou  not  meet  with  a  Judge  like  thy- 
self? Art  thou  not  ashamed  by  the  mercy 
of  Jesus,  Who  took  our  infirmities  and  bare 
our  sicknesses ;  *  Who  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance  ;  ^  Who 
will  have  mercy  rather  than  sacrifice  ;  who 
forgiveth  sins  till  seventy  times  seven. v  How 
blessed  would  your  exaltation  be  if  it  really 
were  purity,  not  pride,  making  laws  above 
the  reach  of  men,  and  destroying  improve- 
ment by  despair.  For  both  are  alike  evil, 
indulgence  not  regulated  by  prudence,  and 
condemnation  that  will  never  forgive ;  the  one 
because  it  relaxes  all  reins,  the  other  because 
it  strangles  by  its  severity.  Shew  me  your 
purity,  and  I  will  approve  your  boldness. 
But  as  it  is,  I  fear  that  being 
will  render  them  incurable, 
admit  even  David's  repentance,  to  whom  his 
penitence  preserved  even  the  gift  of  i)rophecy  ? 
nor  the  great  Peter  himself,  who  fell  into  hum- 
an weakness  at  the  Passion  of  our  Saviour  ? 
Yet  Jesus  received  him,  and  by  the  threefold 
question  and  confession  healed  the  threefold 
denial.^  Or  will  you  even  refuse  to  admit 
that  he  was  made  ]jerfect  by  blood  (for  your 
folly  goes  even  as  far  as  that)  ?  Or  the  trans- 
gressor at  Corinth  ?  But  Paul  confirmed  love 
towards  him  when  he  saw  his  amendment, 
and  gives  the  reason,  "  that  such  an  one  be 
not  swallowed  up  by  overmuch  sorrow,"^ 
being  overwhelmed  by  the  excess  of  the  pun- 
ishment.^ And  will  you  refuse  to  grant 
liberty  of  marriage  to  young  widows  on  ac- 
count of  the  liability  of  their  age  to  fall  ? 
Paul  ventured  to  do  so  ;  but  of  course  you 
can  teach  him  ;  for  you  have  been  caught 
up  to  the  Fourth  heaven,  and  to  another 
Paradise,  and  have  heard  words  more  un- 
speakable, and  comprehend  a  larger  circle  in 
your  Gospel. 

XIX.  But  these  sins  were  not  after  Baptism, 
you  will  say.  Where  is  your  proof?  Either 
prove  it — or  refrain  from  condemning  ;  and  if 


have  been  a  good  many  of  his  followers  in  Constantinople  at  this 
lime.  There  had  been  at  one  time  a  disposition  among  them  to 
reunite  themselves  to  the  Catholic  Church,  for  they  were  orthodox 
in  taith;  but  it  had  been  hindered  by  the  malevolence  of  their 
party  leaders  ;  so  that  the  schism  continued,  and  the  Novalians 
must  be  added  to  the  opponents  with  whom  S.  Gregory  had  to 
deal.  a  Matt.  viii.  17.  (3  lb.  ix.  13. 

Y  lb.  xviii.  22.  6  John  xxi.  15  sq.  e  2  Cor.  ii.  7. 

S  '"This  too  often  ignored  page  gives  a  solemn  contradiction  to 
those  who,  falsifying  history  as  well  as  theology,  pretended  two 
c-nturies  ago  to  revive  by  their  extravagant  rigour  the  spirit  of  the 
primitive  church.  The  spirit  of  the  Church  never  changes.  In- 
flexible against  error,  it  is  full  of  gentleness  and  kindliness  for 
repentant  sinners.  The  spirit  of  the  Church  is  that  of  the  Saints 
of  all  times  ;  or  rather  it  is  that  of  the  Divine  Shepherd,  Who 
made  Himself  known  above  all  by  His  unspeakable  tenderness  and 
His  inexhaustible  mercy  to  lost  sheep."     (Uenoit  S.  G.  de  N.) 


there  be  any  doubt,  let  charity  prevail.  But  No- 
vatus,  you  say,  would  not  receive  those  who 
lapsed    in    the    persecution.       What    do    you 
mean    by   this?       If  they   were    unrepentant 
he  was  right ;    I  too  would  refuse  to  receive 
those  who  either  would  not  stoop  at  all  or  not 
sufficiently,  and   who    would   refuse  to  make 
their  amendment    counterbalance    their   sin  ; 
and  when  I  do  receive  them,  I  will  assign  them 
their  proper  place ; "  but  if  he  refused  those 
who  wore    themselves   away  with  weejjing,  I 
will  not  imitate  him.      And  why  should  No- 
vatus's  want  of  charity  be  a  rule  for  me  ?    He 
never  punished  covetousness,  which  is  a  sec- 
ond idolatry  ;   but  he  condemned  fornication 
as  though  he  himself  were  not  flesh  and  body. 
What  say  you  ?     Are  we  convincing  you  by 
these  words  ?     Come  and  stand  here  on  our 
I  side,  that  is,  on  the  side  of  humanity.      Let 
I  us  magnify  the  Lord  together.     Let  none  of 
I  you,  even  though  he  has  much  confidence  in 
i  himself,  dare  to  say.  Touch  me  not  for  I  am 
I  pure,  and  who  is  so  pure  as  I?     Give  us  too 
j  a  share  in  your  brightness.     But  perhaps  we 
j  are  not  con\incing  you  ?     Then  we  will  weep 
'  for    you.     Let  these  men   then  if  they  will, 
'  follow  our  way,  which  is   Christ's  way ;   but 
j  if  they  will  not,  let  them  go  their  own.      Per- 
!  haps  in  it  they  will  be  baptized  with  Fire,  in 
j  that  last  Baptism  which  is  more  painful  and 
I  longer,  which  devours  wood  like  grass, ^  and 
consumes  the  stubble  of  every  evil. 

XX.  But  let  us  venerate  to-day  the  Baptism 
of  Christ ;  and  let  us  keep  the  feast  well,  not  in 
pampering  the  belly,  but  rejoicing  in  spirit. 
And  how  shall  we  luxuriate?  "Wash  you, 
make  you  clean."  y  If  ye  be  scarlet  with  sin 
and  less  bloody,  be  made  white  as  snow  ;  if 
ye  be  red,  and  men  Ijathed  in  blood,  yet  be 
ye  brought  to  the  whiteness  of  wool.  Any- 
how be  purified,  and  you  shall  be  clean  (for 
God  rejoices  in  nothing  so  much  as  in  the 
amendment  and  salvation  of  man,  on  whose 
behalf  is  every  discourse  and  every  Sacra- 
ment), that  you  may  be  like  lights  in  the 
world,  a  quickening  force  to  all  other  men  ; 
that  you  may  stand  as  perfect  lights  beside 
That  great  Light,  and  may  learn  the  mys- 
tery of  the  illumination  of  Heaven,  enlight- 
ened by  the  Trinity  more  purely  and  clearly, 
of  Which  even  now  you  are  receiving  in  a 
measure  the  One  Ray  from  the  One  God- 
head in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord ;  to  Whom 
be  the  glory  and  the  might  for  ever  and 
ever.     Amen. 


a  i.e.,  their  proper  class  among  the  Penitents. 
/3  1  Cor.  iii.  12-19.  y  I^a.  i.  17,  18. 


36o 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


ORATION  XL. 

The  Oration  on  Holy   Baptism. 

Preached  at  Constantinopk  Jan.  6,  381,  being  the  day 
following  the  delivery  of  that  on  the  Holy  Lights. 

I.  Yesterday  we  kept  high  Festival  on  the 
ilkistrious  Day  of  the  Holy  Lights  ;  for  it  was 
fitting  that  rejoicings  should  be  kept  for  our 
Salvation,  and  that  far  more  than  for  wed- 
dings and  birthdays,  and  namedays,  and 
house-warmings,  and  registrations  of  children, 
and  anniversaries,  and  all  the  other  festivities 
that  men  observe  for  their  earthly  friends. 
And  now  to-day  let  us  discourse  briefly  con- 
concerning  Baptism,  and  the  benefits  which 
accrue  to  us  therefrom,  even  though  our  dis- 
course yesterday  spoke  of  it  cursorily  ;  partly 
becatise  the  time  pressed  us  hard,  and  partly 
because  the  sermon  had  to  avoid  tediousness. 
For  too  great  length  in  a  sermon  is  as  much 
an  enemy  to  people's  ears,  as  too  much  food 
is  to  their  bodies.  ...  It  will  be  worth 
your  while  to  apply  your  minds  to  what  we 
say,  and  to  receive  our  discourse  on  so  im- 
portant a  subject  not  perfunctorily,  but  with 
ready  mind,  since  to  know  the  power  of  this 
Sacrament  is  itself  Enlightenment." 

II.  The  Word  recognizes  three  Births  for 
us  ;  namely,  the  natural  birth,  that  of  Baptism, 
and  that  of  the  Resurrection.  Of  these  the 
first  is  by  night,  and  is  servile,  and  involves 
passion ;  but  the  second  is  by  day,  and  is 
destructive  of  passion,  cutting  off  all  the  veil  ^ 
that  is  derived  from  birth,  and  leading  on  to 
the  higher  life ;  and  the  third  is  more  terrible 
and  shorter,  bringing  together  in  a  moment 
all  mankind, Y  to  stand  before  its  Creator,  and 
to  give  an  account  of  its  service  and  con- 
versation here ;  whether  it  has  followed  the 
flesh,  or  whether  it  has  mounted  up  with  the 
spirit,  and  worshipped  the  grace  of  its  new 
creation.  My  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  showed 
that  He  honoured  all  these  births  in  His  own 
Person  ;  the  first,  by  that  first  and  quickening 
Inl)rcathing  ;  *  the  second  by  His  Incarnation 
and  the  Baptism  wherewith  He  Himself  was 
baptized  ;  and  the  third  by  the  Resurrection 
of  which  He  was  the  Firstfruits  ;   condescend- 

a  Enlightenment  (({xoTio-ftds)  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  names 
for  Huly  l'apti>rn  ;  tlie  name,  in  fact,  which  S.  Gregory  uses 
tiiroughout  this  Oraiion,  and  which  his  Latin  translator  almost 
invariably  renders  by  Haplismus. 

/3  This  Veil  is  Original  Sin,  by  which  the  soul  is  darkened  and 
as  it  were  covered. 

7  All  Mankind  {nav  to  nKdaixa).  TrAatr/ua  would  not  be  cor- 
rectly rendered  by  Creation.  It  is  a  word  belonging  solely  to 
Man,  who  was  formed  by  the  Hand  of  Ood.  and  who,  alone 
among  creatures,  has  to  give  an  account  of  his  past  life  to  his 
Creator  at  the  Last  Day.     (Edd.  Hened.)  &  Gen.  ii.  7. 


ing,  as  He  became  the  Firstborn"  among  many 
brethren,  so  also  to  become  the  Firstborn  from 
the  dead.^ 

III.  Concerniitg  two  of  these  births,  the  first 
and  the  last,  we  have  not  to  speak  on  the 
present  occasion.  Let  us  discourse  upon  the 
second,  which  is  now  necessary  for  us,  and 
which  gives  its  name  to  the  Feast  of  the 
Lights.  Illumination  is  the  splendour  of 
souls,  the  conversion  of  the  life,  the  question 
put  to  the  Godward  conscience. v  It  is  the  aid 
to  our  weakness,  the  renunciation  of  the  flesh, 
the  following  of  the  Spirit,  the  fellowship  of 
the  Word,  the  improvement  of  the  creature, 
the  overwhelming  of  sin,  the  participation  of 
liirht,  the  dissolution  of  darkness.  It  is  the 
carriage  to  God,  the  dying  with  Christ,  the 
perfecting  of  the  mind,  the  bulwark  of  Faith, 
the  key  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven,  the  change 
of  life,  the  removal  of  slavery,  the  loosing  of 
chains,  the  remodelling  of  the  whole  man. 
Why  should  I  go  into  further  detail?  Il- 
lumination is  the  greatest  and  most  magnifi- 
cent of  the  Gifts  of  God.  For  just  as  we 
speak  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  the  Song  of 
Songs,  as  more  comprehensive  and  more  ex- 
cellent than  others,  so  is  this  called  Illumina- 
tion, as  being  more  holy  than  any  other 
illumination  which  we  possess. 

IV.  And  as  Christ  the  Giver  of  it  is  called 
by  many  various  names,  so  too  is  this  Gift, 
whether  it  is  from  the  exceeding  gladness  of 
its  nature  (as  those  who  are  very  fond  of  a 
thing  take  pleasure  in  using  its  name),  or  that 
the  great  variety  of  its  benefits  has  reacted  for 
us  upon  its  names.  We  call  it,  the  Gift,  the 
Grace,  Bai)tism,  LTnction,  Illumination,  the 
Clothing  of  Immortality,  the  Laver  of  Re- 
generation, the  Seal,  and  everything  that  is 
honourable.  We  call  it  the  Gift,  because  it  is 
given  to  us  in  return  for  nothing  on  our  part ; 
Grace,  because  it  is  conferred  even  on  debtors  ; 
Baptism,  because  sin  is  buried  with  it  in  the 
water ;  Unction,  as  Priestly  and  Royal,  for 
such  were  they  who  were  anointed  ;  Illumina- 
tion, because  of  its  splendour;  Clothing,  be- 
cause it  hides  our  shame  ;  the  Laver,  because 
it  washes  us  ;  the  Seal  because  it  ])reserves  us, 
and  is  moreover  the  indication  of  Dominion. 
In  it  the  heavens  rejoice;  it  is  glorified  by 
Angels,  because  of  its  kindred  splendour.  It 
is  the  image  of  the  heavenly  bliss.     We  long 


o  Rom.  viii.  29.  iS  Col.  i.  18. 

y  This  is  the  literal  version  of  the  passage,  which  is  somewhat 
loosely  quoted  from  j  S.  Peter  iii.  21,  w^here  the  A.  V.  renders 
"  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  towards  God,"  and  the  R.  V., 
"The  interrogation  (Marg.  inquiry)  of  a  good  conscience,  etc." 
The  passage  is  usually  explained  as  referring  to  the  Interroga- 
tories in  Holy  Baptism,  answered  by  the  threefold  Vow  which  en- 
lists us  '■  under  Christ's  b.anner  against  sin.  the  world,  and  the 
Devil,"  professes  the  Faith,  and  promises  obedience. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


36r 


indeed  to  sing  out  its  praises,  but  we  cannot 
worthily  do  so. 

V.  God  is  Light : «  the  highest,  the  unap- 
proachable, the  ineffable,  That  can  neither  be 
conceived  in  the  mind  nor  uttered  with  the 
lips,'^  That  giveth  life  to  every  reasoning  creat- 
ure, v  He  is  in  the  world  of  thought,  what  the 
sun  is  in  the  world  of  sense  ;  presenting  Himself 
to  our  minds  in  proportion  as  we  are  cleansed  ; 
and  loved  in  proportion  as  He  is  presented  to 
our  mind  ;  and  again,  conceived  in  proportion 
as  we  love  Him;  Himself  contemplating  and 
comprehending  Himself,  and  j^ouring  Himself 
out  upon  what  is  external  to  Him.  That  Light, 
I  mean,  which  is  contemplated  in  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  Whose 
riches  is  Their  unity  of  nature,  and  the  one 
outleaping  of  Their  brightness.  A  second 
Light  is  the  Angel,  a  kind  of  outflow  or  com- 
munication of  that  first  Light,  drawing  its 
illumination  from  its  inclination  and  obedi- 
ence 'thereto  ;  and  I  know  not  whether  its  il- 
lumination is  distributed  according  to  the 
order  of  its  state,  or  whether  its  order  is  due 
to  the  respective  measures  of  its  illumination.^ 
A  third  Light  is  man  ;  a  light  which  is  visible 
to  external  objects.  For  they  call  man  light  ^ 
because  of  the  faculty  of  speech  in  us.  And 
the  name  is  applied  again  to  those  of  us  who 
are  more  like  God,  and  who  approach  God 
more  nearly  than  others.  I  also  acknowledge 
another  Light,  by  which  the  primeval  dark- 
ness was  driven  away  or  pierced.  It  was  the 
first  of  all  the  visible  creation  to  be  called  into 
existence ;  and  it  irradiates  the  whole  uni- 
verse, the  circling  orbit  of  the  stars,  and  all 
the  heavenly  beacon  fires. 

VI.  Light  was  also  the  firstborn  command- 
ment given  to  the  firstborn  man  (for  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Law  is  a  lamp  and  a  light ;  ^ 
and  again.  Because  Thy  judgments  are  a  light 
upon  the  earth)  ;  'i  although  the  envious  dark- 
ness crept  in  and  wrought  wickedness.  And 
a  Light  typical  and  proportionate  to  those 
who  were  its  subjects  was  the  written  law, 
adumbrating  the  truth  and  the  sacrament  of 
the  great  Light,  for  Moses'  face  was  made 
glorious  by  it.^  And,  to  mention  more  Lights 
— it  was  Light  that  appeared  out  of  Fire  to 
Moses,  when  it  burned  the  bush  indeed,  but 
did  not  consume  it,'  to  shew  its  nature  and  to 
declare  the  power  that  was  in  it.  And  it  was 
Light  that  was  in  the  pillar  of  fire  that  led 

o  I  John  1.5.  ^  I  Tim.  vi.  16.  y  John  i.  9. 

6  S.  Thomas  Aquinas  (Summa  I  qii.  IDS')  seems  to  solve  this 
question  in  accordance  with  the  second  of  these  alternatives. 

e  <|)ui9  (masc)  is  a  common  poetical  word  for  Man.  It  is  prob- 
ably derived  from  the  root  (Indo-F.ur.  Bha)  of  4>aco,  which  also 
appears  in  <J>T)/iii',  and  modified  in  (j>aCvio.  f  Prov.  yi.  23, 

T)  Ps.  cxix.  105.  0  Exod.  xxxiv.  30.  i  lb.  iii.  2. 


Israel  and  tamed  the  wilderness."  It  was 
Light  that  carried  up  Elias  in  the  car  of  fire,^ 
and  yet  did  not  burn  him  as  it  carried  him. 
It  was  Light  that  shone  round  the  Shepherds  y 
when  the  Eternal  Light  was  mingled  with  the 
temporal.  It  was  Light  that  was  the  beauty 
of  the  Star  that  went  before  to  Bethlehem  to 
guide  the  Wise  Men's  way,^  and  to  be  the 
escort  of  the  Light  That  is  above  us,  when  He 
came  amongst  us.  Light  was  That  Godhead 
Which  was  shewn  upon  the  Mount  to  the  dis- 
ciples— and  a  little  too  strong  for  their  eyes.* 
Light  was  That  Vision  which  blazed  out  upon 
Paul,^  and  by  wounding  his  eyes  healed  the 
darkness  of  his  soul.  Light  is  also  the  bril- 
liancy of  heaven  to  those  who  have  been  puri- 
fied here,  when  the  righteous  shall  shine  forth 
as  the  Sun,i  and  God  shall  stand  in  the  midst 
of  them,^  gods  and  kings,  deciding  and  dis- 
tinguishing the  ranks  of  the  Blessedness  of 
heaven.  Light  beside  these  in  a  special  sense 
is  the  illumination  of  Baptism  of  which  we  are 
now  speaking  ;  for  it  contains  a  great  and  mar- 
vellous sacrament  of  our  salvation. 

VII.  For  since  to  be  utterly  sinless  belongs 
to  God,  and  to  the  first  and  uncompounded 
nature  (for  simplicity  is  peaceful,  and  not 
subject  to  dissension),  and  I  venture  to  say 
also  that  it  belongs  to  the  Angelic  nature  too; 
or  at  least,  I  would  affirm  that  nature  to  be 
very  nearly  sinless,  because  of  its  nearness  to 
God  ;  but  to  sin  is  human  and  belongs  to  the 
Compound  on  earth  (for  composition  is  the 
beginning  of  separation);  therefore  the  master 
did  not  think  it  right  to  leave  His  creature 
unaided,  or  to  neglect  its  danger  of  separation 
from  Himself;  but  on  the  contrary,  just  as 
He  gave  existence  to  that  which  did  not  exist, 
so  He  gave  new  creation  to  that  which  did 
exist,  a  diviner  creation  and  a  loftier  than  the 
first,  which  is  to  those  who  are  beginning  life 
a  Seal,  and  to  those  who  are  more  mature  in 
age  both  a  gift  and  a  restoration  of  the  image 
which  had  fallen  through  sin,  that  we  may 
not,  by  becoming  worse  through  despair,  and 
ever  being  borne  downward  to  that  which  is 
more  evil,  fall  altogether  from  good  and  from 
virtue,  through  despondency ;  and  having 
fallen  into  a  depth  of  evil  (as  it  is  said)  despise 
Him  ; '  but  that  like  those  who  in  the  course 
j  of  a  long  journey  make  a  brief  rest  from  labour 
at  an  inn,  we  should  be  enabled  to  accomplish 
the  rest  of  the  road  fresh  and  full  of  courage. 
Such  is  the  grace  and  power  of  baptism  ;  not 
an  overwhelming  of  the  world  as  of  old,  but  a 


a  Ex.  xiii.  21.  P  2  Kings  ii,  11.  7  Luke  ii.  9. 

6  Matt.  ii.  9.  6  Luke  ix.  32,  34.  ^  Acts  ix.  3. 

1}  Matt.  xiii.  43.         0  Wisd.  iii.  7.         t  Prov.  xviii.  3  (LXX.). 


Z62 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


purification  of  the  sins  of  each  individual,  and 
a  complete  cleansing  from  all  the  bruises  and 
stains  of  sin. 

VIII.  And  since  we  are  double-made,  I  mean 
of  body  and  soul,  and  the  one  part  is  visible,  the 
other  invisible,  so  the  cleansing  also  is  twofold, 
by  water  and  the  spirit;  the  one  received  visibly 
in  the  body,  the  other  concurring  with  it  in- 
visibly and  apart  from  the  body  ;  the  one  typ- 
ical, the  other  real  and  cleansing  the  depths. 
And  this  which  comes  to  the  aid  of  our  first 
birth,  makes  us  new  instead  of  old,  and  like 
God  instead  of  what  we  now  are  ;  recasting  us 
without  fire,  and  creating  us  anew  without 
breaking  us  up,  For,  to  say  it  all  in  one 
word,  the  virtue  of  Baptism  is  to  be  under- 
stood as  a  covenant  with  God  for  a  second 
life  and  a  purer  conversation.  And  indeed 
all  need  to  fear  this  very  much,  and  to  watch 
our  own  souls,  each  one  of  us,  with  all  care, 
that  we  do  not  become  liars  in  respect  of  this 
])rofes3ion.  For  if  God  is  called  upon  as  a 
Mediator  to  ratify  human  professions,  how 
great  is  the  danger  if  we  be  found  transgressors 
of  the  covenant  which  we  have  made  with 
God  Himself;  and  if  we  be  found  guilty  be- 
fore the  Truth  Himself  of  that  lie,  besides  our 
other  transgressions  .  .  .  and  that  when  there 
is  no  second  regeneration,  or  recreation,  or  re- 
storation to  our  former  state,  even  though  we 
seek  it  with  all  our  might,  and  with  many 
sighs  and  tears,  by  which  it  is  cicatrized  over 
(with  great  difficulty  in  my  opinion,  though 
we  all  believe  that  it  may  be  cicatrized).  Yet 
if  we  might  wipe  away  even  the  scars  I  should 
be  glad,  since  I  too  have  need  of  mercy.  But 
it  is  better  not  to  stand  in  need  of  a  second 
cleansing,  but  to  stop  at  the  first,  which  is,  I 
know,  common  to  all,  and  involves  no  labour, 
and  is  of  equal  price  to  slaves,  to  masters,  to 
poor,  to  rich,  to  humble,  to  exalted,  to  gentle, 
to  simple,  to  debtors,  to  those  who  are  free 
from  debt ;  like  the  breathing  of  the  air,  and 
the  pouring  forth  of  the  light,  and  the  changes 
of  the  seasons,  and  the  sight  of  creation,  that 
great  delight  which  we  all  share  alike,  and 
the  equal  distribution  of  the  faith. 

IX.  For  it  is  a  strange  thing  to  substitute  for 
a  painless  remedy  one  which  is  more  painful ; 
to  cast  away  the  grace  of  mercy,  and  owe  a 
debt  of  punishment  ;  and  to  measure  our 
amendment  against  sin.  For  how  many  tears 
must  we  contrilnite  before  they  can  equal  the 
fount  of  bajitism  ;  and  who  will  be  surety  for 
us  that  death  shall  wait  for  our  cure,  and  that 
the  judgment  seat  shall  not  summon  us  while 
still  debtors,  and  needing  the  fire  of  the  other 
world  ?     You   perhaps,   as  a  good  and  pitiful 


husbandman,  will  entreat  the  Master  still  to 
spare  the  figtree,"  and  not  yet  to  cut  it  down, 
though  accused  of  unfruitfulness  ;  but  to  allow 
you  to  put  dung  about  it  in  the  shape  of  tears, 
sighs,  invocations,  sleejjings  on  the  ground, 
vigils,  mortifications  of  soul  and  body,  and 
correction  by  confession  and  a  life  of  humili- 
ation. But  it  is  uncertain  if  the  Master  will 
spare  it,  inasmuch  as  it  cumbers  the  ground  of 
another  asking  for  mercy,  and  becoming  de- 
teriorated by  the  longsuffering  shewn  to  this 
one.  Let  us  then  be  buried  with  Christ  by 
Baptism,^  that  we  may  also  rise  with  Him  ;  let 
us  descend  with  Him,  that  we  may  also  be 
exalted  with  Him  ;  let  us  ascend  with  Him, 
that  we  may  also  be  glorified  together. 

X.  If  after  baptism  the  persecutor  and 
tempter  of  the  light  assail  you  (for  he  assailed 
even  the  Word  my  God  through  the  veil,Y  the 
hidden  Light  through  that  which  was  mani- 
fested), you  have  the  means  to  conquer  him. 
Fear  not  the  conflict;  defend  yourself  with 
the  Water  ;  defend  yourself  with  the  Spirit,  by 
Which  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  shall 
be  quenched.^  It  is  Spirit,  but  That  Spirit 
which  rent  the  Mountains.^  It  is  Water,  but 
that  which  quenches  fire.  If  he  assail  you 
by  your  want  (as  he  dared  to  assail 
Christ),  and  asks  that  stones  should  be  made 
bread,  do  not  be  ignorant  of  his  devices.^ 
Teach  him  what  he  has  not  learnt.  Defend 
yourself  with  the  Word  of  life.  Who  is  the 
Bread  sent  down  from  heaven,  and  giving  life 
to  the  world.''  If  he  plot  against  you  with 
vain  glory  (as  he  did  against  Christ  when  he 
led  Him  up  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  and 
said  to  Him,  Cast  Thyself  down  ^  as  a  proof 
of  Thy  Godhead),  be  not  overborne  by  ela- 
tion. If  you  be  taken  by  this  he  will  not 
stop  here.  For  he  is  insatiable,  he  grasps  at 
every  thing.  He  fawns  upon  you  with  fair 
pretences,  but  he  ends  in  evil  ;  this  is  the 
manner  of  his  fighting.  Yes,  and  the  robber 
is  skilled  in  Scripture.  On  the  one  side  was 
that  It  is  written  about  the  Bread,  and  on 
the  other  that  it  Is  written  about  the  Angels. 
It  is  written,  quoth  he,  He  shall  give  His 
Angels  charge  concerning  thee,  and  they 
shall  bear  thee  in  their  hands.'  O  vile 
sojjhist  !  how  was  it  that  thou  didst  suppress 
the  words  that  follow,  for  I  know  it  well, 
even  if  thou  passest  it  by  in  silence?  I  will 
make  thee  to  go  upon  the  asp  and  basil- 
isk, and  I  will  tread  upon  serpents  and 
scorpions,     being     fenced     by    the    Trinity. 


a  I,ul;e  \iii.  8.  /3  Rom.  vi.  4  ;  Col.  li.  12. 

y  i.e.,  the  Sacred  Manhood.      &  l'.|)hcs.  vi.  16.       e  i  Ki.  xix.  11. 

<2Cor.  ii.  II.       7)  John  vi.  33.       6  Matt.  iv.  6.       t  Ps.  xci.  14. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY  BAPTISM. 


36s 


If  he  wrestle  against  thee  to  a  fall  through 
avarice,  shewing  thee  all  the  Kingdoms  at 
one  instant  and  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  as 
belonging  to  himself,  and  demand  thy  worship, 
despise  him  as  a  beggar.  Say  to  him  relying 
on  the  Seal,  "  I  am  myself  the  Image  of  God  ; 
I  have  not  yet  been  cast  down  from  the 
heavenly  Glory,  as  thou  wast  through  thy 
pride  ;  I  have  put  on  Christ ;  I  have  been 
transformed  into  Christ  by  Baptism  ;  worship 
thou  me. ' '  Well  do  I  know  that  he  will  depart, 
defeated  and  put  to  shame  by  this ;  as  he  did 
from  Christ  the  lirst  Light,  so  he  will  froili 
those  who  are  illuminec}  by  Christ.  Such 
blessings  does  the  laver  bestow  on  those  who 
apprehend  it ;  such  is  the  rich  feast  which  it 
provides  for  those  who  hunger  aright. 

XI.  Let  us  then  be  baptized  that  we  may 
win  the  victory ;  let  us  partake  of  the  cleans- 
ing waters,  more  purifying  than  hyssop,  purer 
than  the  legal  blood,  more  sacred  than  the 
a.shes  of  the  heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean,"  and 
providing  a  temporary  cleansing  of  the  body, 
but  not  a  complete  taking  away  of  sin  ; 
for  if  once  purged,  why  should  they  need 
further  purification  ?  Let  us  be  baptized  to- 
day, that  we  suffer  not  violence  ^  to-morrow  ] 
and  let  us  not  put  off  the  blessing  as  if  it  were 
an  injury,  nor  wait  till  we  get  more  wicked 
that  more  may  be  forgiven  us ;  and  let  us  not 
become  sellers  and  traffickers  of  Christ,  lest 
we  become  more  heavily  burdened  than  we 
are  able  to  bear,  that  we  be  not  sunk  with  all 
handstand  make  shipwreck  of  the  Gift,  and 
lose  all  because  we  expected  too  much.  While 
thou  art  still  master  of  thy  thoughts  run  to  the 
Gift.  While  thou  art  not  yet  sick  in  body  op 
in  mind,  nor  seeniest  so  to  those  who  are  with 
thee  (though  thou  art  really  of  sound  mind) ; 
while  thy  good  is  not  yet  in  the  power  of  others, 
but  thou  thyself  art  still  master  of  it  ;  while  thy 
tongue  is  not  stammering  or  parched,  or  (to  say 
no  more)  deprived  of  the  power  of  pronouncing 
the  sacramental  words  ;  while  thou  canst  still 
be  made  one  of  the  faithful,  not  conjecturally 

a  Heb.  x.  4. 
;8  There  is  here  an  untranslateable  play  upon  words. 
y  Again  a  phiy  upon  words.  Bairri^eo-eai  is  sometimes  used  in 
the  sense  of  to  be  drowned.  The  word  primarily  means  to  Im- 
merse, and  this  of  course,  when  apphed  to  a  ship,  is  to  sinlc  her. 
The  practice  of  immersion  in  Holy  Baptism  was  undoubtedly 
universal  in  the  primitive  ages,  except  where  in  cases  of  necessity 
persons  were  baptized  in  sickness,  or  in  prison  under  sentence  of 
death;  and  in  such  cases  this  "Clinic"  Baptism,  though  recog- 
nized as  valid,  and  therefore  not  to  be  repeated,  was  viewed  as  ir- 
regular, and  disijualilied  its  recipient  from  subsequently  receiving 
Holy  Orders.  Affusion  was  gradually  allowed,  probably  for  ch'm- 
atic  reasons,  to  become  the  prevailing  practice  of  the  West, 
though  immersion  predominated  as  late  as  the  Twelfth  Century. 
It  is,  however,  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Didache.  a  Manual  of 
instruction  which  some  date  within  the  lifetime  of  the  Apostles, 
and  nearly  all  are  agreed  in  placing  not  later  than  the  early  years 
of  the  Second  Century,  expressly  permits  affusion,  without  any 
hint  of  irregularity,  or  mention  of  any  circumstance  of  necessity 
except  scarcity  of  water. 


but  confessedly  ;  and  canst  still  receive  not 
pity  but  congratulation  ;  while  the  Gift  is 
still  clear  to  thee,  and  there  is  no  doubt  about 
it  ;  while  the  grace  can  reach  the  depth  of 
thy  soul,  and  it  is  not  merely  thy  body  that 
is  washed  for  burial ;  and  before  tears  sur- 
round thee  announcing  thy  decease — and  even 
these  restrained  perhaps  for  thy  sake — and  thy 
wife  and  children  would  delay  thy  departure, 
and  are  listening  for  thy  dying  words  ;  before 
the  physician  is  powerless  to  help  thee,  and  is 
giving  thee  but  hours  to  live — hours  which 
are  not  his  to  give — and  is  balancing  thy  salv- 
ation with  the  nod  of  his  head,  and  discours- 
ing learnedly  on  thy  disease  after  thou  art 
dead,  or  making  his  charges  heavier  by  with- 
drawals, or  hinting  at  despair  ;  before  there 
is  a  struggle  between  the  man  who  would 
baptize  thee  and  the  man  who  seeks  thy 
money,  the  one  striving  that  thou  mayest  re- 
ceive thy  Viaticum,  the  other  that  he  may  be 
inscribed  in  thy  Will  as  heir — and  there  is  no 
time  for  both. 

XII.  Why  wait  for  a  fever  to  bring  you  this 
blessing,  and  refuse  it  from  God?  Why  will 
you  have  it  through  lapse  of  time,  and  not 
through  reason  ?  Why  will  you  owe  it  to  a 
plotting  friend,  and  not  to  a  saving  desire  ? 
Why  will  you  receive  it  of  force  and  not  of 
free  will;  of  necessity  rather  than  of  liberty? 
Why  must  you  hear  of  your  death  from 
another,  rather  than  think  of  it  as  even  now 
present?  \\'hy  do  you  seek  for  drugs  which 
will  do  no  good,  or  the  sweat  of  the  crisis, 
when  the  sweat  of  death  is  perhaps  upon  you  ? 
Heal  yourself  before  your  extremity  ;  have 
pity  upon  yourself  the  only  true  healer  of 
your  disease ;  apply  to  yourself  the  really 
saving  medicine  ;  while  you  are  still  sailing 
with  a  favouring  breeze  fear  shipwreck,  and 
you  will  be  in  less  danger  of  it,  if  you  make 
use  of  your  terror  as  a  helper.  Give  yourself 
occasion  to  celebrate  the  Gift  with  feasting, 
not  with  mourning  ;  let  the  talent  be  cultiv- 
ated, not  buried  in  the  ground  ;  let  some 
time  intervene  between  the  grace  and  death, 
that  not  only  may  the  account  of  sins  be 
wiped  out,  but  something  better  may  be 
written  in  its  place  ;  that  you  may  have  not 
only  the  Gift,  but  also  the  Reward  ;  that  you 
may  not  only  escape  the  fire,  but  may  also  in- 
herit the  glory,  which  is  bestowed  by  cultiva- 
tion of  the  Gift.  For  to  men  of  little  soul 
it  is  a  great  thing  to  escape  torment  ;  but 
men  of  great  soul  aim  also  at  attaining  re- 
ward. 

XIII.  I  know  of   three   classes  among  the 
saved  ;  the  slaves,  the  hired  servants,  the  sons. 


3^4 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


If  you  are  a  slave,  be  afraid  of  the  whip  ;  if  you 
are  a  hired  servant,  look  only  to  receive  your 
hire  ;  if  you  are  more  than  this,  a  son,  revere 
Him  as  a  Father,  and  work  that  which  is  good, 
because  it  is  good  to  obey  a  Father  ;  and  even  \ 
though  no  reward  should  come  of  it  for  you,  ! 
this  is  itself  a  reward,  that  you  please  your  { 
Father.  Let  us  then  take  care  not  to  despise  ! 
these  things.  How  absurd  it  would  be  to  ' 
grasp  at  money  and  throw  away  health  ;  and 
to  be  lavish  of  the  cleansing  of  the  body,  but 
economical  over  the  cleansing  of  the  soul ; 
and  to  seek  for  freedom  from  earthly  slavery, 
but  not  to  care  about  heavenly  freedom  ;  and  to 
make  every  effort  to  be  splendidly  housed  and 
dressed,  but  to  have  never  a  thouglit  how  you 
yourself  may  become  really  very  precious ; 
and  to  be  zealous  to  do  good  to  others,  with- 
out any  desire  to  do  good  to  yourself  And 
if  good  could  be  bought,  you  would  spare  no 
money ;  but  if  mercy  is  freely  at  your  feet, 
you  despise  it  for  its  cheapness.  Every  time 
is  suitable  for  your  ablution,  since  any  time 
may  be  your  death.  With  Paul  I  shout  to 
you  with  that  loud  voice,  "Behold  now  is 
the  accepted  time  ;  behold  Now  is  the  day  of 
salvation ;  ""  and  that  Now  does  not  point  to 
any  one  time,  but  is  every  present  moment. 
And  again  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light,"  ^  dispelling  the 
darkness  of  sin.  For  as  Isaiah  says,!*  In  the 
night  hope  is  evil,  and  it  is  more  profitable  to 
be  received  in  the  morning. 

XIV.  Sow  in  good  season,  and  gather  to- 
gether, and  open  thy  barns  when  it  is  the  time 
to  do  so  ;  and  plant  in  season,  and  let  the  clus- 
ters be  cut  when  they  are  ripe,  and  launch 
boldly  in  spring,  and  draw  thy  ship  on  shore 
again  at  the  beginning  of  winter,  when  the  sea 
begins  to  rage.  And  let  there  be  to  thee  also 
a  time  for  war  and  a  time  for  peace  ;  a  time  to 
marry,  and  a  time  to  abstain  from  marrying  ; 
a  time  for  friendship,  and  a  time  for  discord, 
if  this  be  needed  ;  and  in  short  a  time  for 
everything,  if  you  will  follow  Solomon's  ad- 
vice.* And  it  is  best  to  do  so,  for  the  advice 
is  profitable.  But  the  work  of  your  salvation 
is  one  upon  which  you  should  be  engaged  at 
all  times;  and  let  every  time  be  to  you  the 
definite  one  for  Baptism.  If  you  are  always 
passing  over  to-day  and  waiting  for  to-mor- 
row, by  your  little  procrastinations  you  will  be 
cheated  without  knowing  it  by  the  Evil  One, 
as  his  manner  is.  Give  to  me,  he  says,  the 
present,  and  to  God  the  future  ;  to  me  your 
youth,  and  to  God  old  age ;  to  me  your  pleas- 


a  2  Cor.  vi.  2. 
■y  Isa.  xxviii.  19,  T,XX. 


^  Kphes.  V.  14. 
5  Ecci.  iii.  I  sq. 


ures,  and  to  Him  your  usele.ssness.  How 
great  is  the  danger  that  surrounds  you.  How 
many  the  unexpected  mischances.  War  has 
expended  you  ;  or  an  earthquake  overwhelmed 
you ;  or  the  sea  swallowed  you  up  ;  or  a  wild 
beast  carried  you  off;  or  a  sickness  killed  you  ; 
or  a  crumb  going  the  wrong  way  (a  most 
insignificant  thing,  but  what  is  easier  than  for 
a  man  to  die,  though  you  are  so  proud  of  the 
divine  image)  ;  or  a  too  freely  indulged  drink- 
ing bout ;  "  or  a  wind  knocked  you  down  ; 
or  a  horse  ran  away  with  you ;  or  a  drug  mali- 
ciously scheming  against  you,  or  perhaps  found 
to  be  deleterious  when  meant  to  be  whole- 
some ;  or  an  inhuman  judge  ;  or  an  inexorable 
executioner ;  or  any  of  the  things  which  make 
the  change  swiftest  and  beyond  the  power  of 
human  aid. 

XV.  But  if  you  would  fortify  yourself  before- 
hand with  the  Seal,  and  secure  yourself  for  the 
future  with  the  best  and  strongest  of  all  aids, 
being  signed  both  in  body  and  in  soul  with 
the  unction,  as  Israel  was  of  old  with  that 
blood  and  unction  of  the  firstborn  at  night 
that  guarded  him,^  what  then  can  happen  to 
you,  and  what  has  been  wrought  out  for  you? 
Listen  to  the  Proverbs.  "  If  thou  sittest,  he 
says,  thou  shalt  be  without  fear;  and  if  thou 
sleepest,  thy  sleep  shall  be  sweet. '  'v  And  listen 
to  David  giving  thee  the  good  news,  "Thou 
shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night,  for 
mischance  or  noonday  demon."*  This,  even 
while  you  live,  will  greatly  contribute  to  your 
sense  of  safety  (for  a  sheep  that  is  sealed  is 
not  easily  snared,  but  that  which  is  unmarked 
is  an  easy  prey  to  thieves),  and  at  your  death 

•a  fortunate  shroud,  more  precious  than  gold, 
more  magnificent  than  a  sepulchre,  more  re- 
verent than  fruitless  libations,*  more  season- 
able than  ripe  firstfruits,  which  the  dead  bestow 
on  the  dead,  making  a  law  out  of  custom. 
Nay,  if  all  things  forsake  thee,^  or  be  taken 
violently  away  from  thee  ;  money,  possessions, 
thrones,  distinctions,  and  everything  that  be- 
longs to  this  early  turmoil,  yet  you  will  be 
able  to  lay  down  your  life  in  safety,  having 
suffered  no  loss  of  the  helps  whicli  God  gave 
you  unto  salvation. 

XVI.  But  are  you  afraid  lest  you  should  de- 
stroy the  Gift,  and  do  you  therefore  i)ut  off  your 
cleansing,  because  you  cannot  have  it  a  sec- 
ond time  ?  What  ?  Would  you  not  be  afraid 
of  danger  in  time  of  persecution,  and  of  losing 


a  Some  MSS.  read  "A  flooded  river." 

P  Kxod.  xii.  22.  7  I'lov.  iii.  24.  S  Ps.  xci.  5. 

e  liillius  suggests,  though  without  adopting  it  in  his  text,  a 
slight  conjectural  alteration,  which  would  read  '•'J'han  funeral 
games  and  libations;"  but  this,  though  it  gives  a  very  good 
sense,  is  a  needless  departure  from  the  MS.S.  f  Luke  i.\.  60, 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


365 


the  most  precious  Thing  you  have — Christ  ? 
Would  you  then  on  this  account  avoid  be- 
coming a  Christian  ?  Perish  the  thought. 
Such  a  fear  is  not  for  a  sane  man  ;  such  an 
argument  argues  insanity.  O  incautious  cau- 
tion, if  I  may  so.  O  trick  of  the  Evil  One  ! 
Truly  he  is  darkness  and  pretends  to  be  light ; 
and  when  he  can  no  longer  prevail  in  open 
war,  he  lays  snares  in  secret,  and  gives  ad- 
vice, apparently  good,  really  evil,  if  by  some 
trick  at  least  he  may  prevail,  and  we  find  no 
escape  from  his  plotting.  And  this  is  clearly 
what  he  is  aiming  at  in  this  instance.  For, 
being  unable  to  persuade  you  to  despise  Bap- 
tism, he  inflicts  loss  upon  you  through  a  fic- 
titious security  ;  that  in  consequence  of  your 
fear  you  may  suffer  unconsciously  the  .very 
thing  you  are  afraid  of;  and  because  you  fear 
to  destroy  the  Gift,  you  may  for  this  very 
reason  fail  of  the  Gift  altogether.  This  is  his 
character  ;  and  he  will  never  cease  his  duplic- 
ity as  long  as  he  sees  us  pressing  onwards  to- 
wards heaven  from  which  he  has  fallen.  Where- 
fore, O  man  of  God,  do  thou  recognize  the 
plots  of  thine  adversary  ;  for  the  battle  is 
against  him  that  hath,  and  it  is  concerned 
with  the  most  important  interests.  Take  not 
thine  enemy  to  be  thy  counsellor  ;  despise  not 
to  be  and  to  be  called  Faithful.  As  long  as  you 
are  a  Catechumen  you  are  but  in  the  porch  of 
Religion  ;  you  must  cqme  inside,  and  cross 
the  court,  and  observe  the  Holy  Things,  and 
look  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  be  in  com- 
pany with  the  Trinity.  Great  are  the  inter- 
ests for  which  you  are  fighting,  great  too  the 
stability  which  you  need.  Protect  yourself 
with  the  shield  of  faith.  He  fears  you,  if  you 
fight  armed  with  this  weapon,  and  therefore 
he  would  strip  you  of  the  Gift,  that  he  may 
the  more  easily  overcome  you  unarmed  and 
defenceless.  He  assails  every  age,  and  every 
form  of  life  ;  he  must  be  repelled  by  all. 

XVII.  Art  thou  young  ?  stand  against  thy 
passions  ;  be  numbered  with  the  alliance  in  the 
army  of  God  :  "  do  valiantly  against  Goliath.^ 
Take  your  thousands  or  your  myriads  ;  v  thus 
enjoy  your  manhood  ;  but  do  not  allow  your 
youth  to  be  withered,  being  killed  by  the  im- 
perfection of  your  faith.  Are  you  old  and 
near  the  predestined  necessity  ?  Aid  your 
few  remaining  days.  Entrust  the  purification 
to  your  old  age.  Why  do  you  fear  youthful 
passion    in   deep   old    age  and    at    your  last 

a  The  Benedictine  Editors  punctuate  dilTerently,  and  render 
"Stand  against  passions  with  the  assistance  {of  Baptism),  he 
numbered  in  the  army  of  God,"  remarking  that  David  fought  Go- 
liath without  aUies.  leaning  on  God's  assistance :  and  that  S. 
Gregory  here  certainly  means  that  a  Christian  who  relies  011  the 
aid  of  his  Baptism  is  to  stand  firm  in  the  battle  against  the  Devil. 

fi  I  Sam.  xvii.  32.  y  lb.  xviii.  7. 


breath?  Or  will  you  wait  to  be  washed  till 
you  are  dead,  and  not  so  much  the  ob- 
ject of  pity  as  of  dislike  ?  Are  you  re- 
gretting the  dregs  of  pleasure,  being  your- 
self in  the  dregs  of  life?  It  is  a  shame- 
ful thing  to  be  past  indeed  the  flower  of 
your  age,  but  not  past  your  wickedness  ;  but 
either  to  be  involved  in  it  still,  or  at  least  to 
seem  so  by  delaying  your  purification.  Have 
you  an  infant  child  ?  Do  not  let  sin  get  any 
opportunity,  but  let  him  be  sanctified  from 
his  childhood  ;  from  his  very  tenderest  age  let 
him  be  consecrated  by  the  Spirit.  Fearest 
thou  the  Seal  on  account  of  the  weakness  of 
nature?  O  what  a  small-souled  mother,  and 
of  how  little  faith  !  Why,  Anna  even  before 
Samuel  was  born"  promised  him  to  God,  and 
after  his  birth  consecrated  him  at  once,  and 
brought  him  up  in  the  priestly  habit,  not 
fearing  anything  in  human  nature,  but  trust- 
ing in  God.  You  have  no  need  of  amulets  or 
incantations,  with  which  the  Devil  also  comes 
in,  stealing  worship  from  God  for  himself  in 
the  minds  of  vainer  men.  Give  your  child 
the  Trinity,  that  great  and  noble  Guard. 

XVIII.  What  more  ?  Are  you  living  in  Vir- 
ginity? Be  sealed  by  this  purification  ;  make 
this  the  sharer  and  companion  of  your  life.  Let 
this  direct  your  life,  your  words,  every  member, 
every  movement,  every  sense.  Honour  it,  that 
it  may  honour  you ;  that  it  may  give  to  your 
head  a  crown  of  graces,  and  with  a  crown  of 
delights  may  shield  you.*^  Art  thou  bound  by 
wedlock  ?  Be  bound  also  by  the  Seal ;  make 
it  dwell  with  you  as  a  guardian  of  your  con- 
tinence, safer  than  any  number  of  eunuchs  or 
of  doorkeepers.  Art  thou  not  yet  wedded  to 
flesh?  Fear  not  this  consecration;  thou  art 
pure  even  after  marriage.  I  will  take  the  risk 
of  that.  I  will  join  you  in  wedlock.  I  will 
dress  the  bride.  We  do  not  dishonour  mar- 
riage because  we  give  a  higher  honour  to  vir- 
ginity. I  will  imitate  Christ,  the  pure  Grooms- 
man and  Bridegroom,  as  He  both  wrought  a 
miracle  at  a  wedding,  and  honours  wedlock 
with  His  Presence. T  Only  let  marriage  be 
pure  and  unmingled  with  filthy  lusts.  This 
only  I  ask  ;  receive  safety  from  the  Gift,  and 
give  to  the  Gift  the  oblation  of  chastity  in  its 
due  season,  when  the  fixed  time  of  prayer 
comes  round,  and  that  which  is  more  precious 
than  business.  And  do  this  by  common  con- 
sent and  approval.  For  we  do  not  command, 
we  exhort  ;  and  we  would  receive  something 
of  you  for  your  own  profit,  and  the  common 
security  of  you   both.      And   in   one  word. 


a  I  .Sam.  i.  10.  j3  Ecclus.  xxxii.  3. 


7  John  ii.  i-ii. 


366 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


there  is  no  state  of  life  and  no  occupation  to 
which  Baptism  is  not  profitable.  You  who 
are  a  free  man,"  be  curbed  by  it  ;  you  who 
are  in  slavery,  be  made  of  equal  rank ;  you 
who  are  in  grief,  receive  comfort ;  let  the 
gladsome  be  disciplined ;  the  poor  receive 
riches  that  cannot  be  taken  away  ;  the  rich 
be  made  capable  of  being  good  stewards  of 
their  possessions.  Do  not  play  tricks  or  lay 
plots  against  your  own  salvation.  For  even 
if  we  can  delude  others  we  cannot  delude 
ourselves.  And  so  to  play  against  oneself  is 
very  dangerous  and  foolish. 

XIX.  But  you  have  to  live  in  the  midst  of 
public  affairs,  and  are  stained  by  them  ;  and  it 
would  be  a  terrible  thing  to  waste  this  mercy. 
The  answer  is  sim])le.  Flee,  if  you  can,  even 
from  the  forum,  along  with  the  good  company, 
making  yourself  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  or,  to 
speak  more  suitably,  of  a  dove  ...  for 
what  have  you  to  do  with  Ccesar  or  the  things 
of  Caesar  ?  .  .  .  until  you  can  rest  where 
there  is  no  sin,  and  no  blackening,  and  no 
biting  snake  in  the  way  to  hinder  your  godly 
steps.  Snatch  your  soul  away  from  the  world  ; 
flee  from  Sodom  ;  flee  from  the  burning ; 
travel  on  without  turning  back,  lest  )'ou 
should  be  fixed  as  a  pillar  of  salt. ^  Escape  to 
the  Mountain  lest  you  be  destroyed  with  the 
plain.  But  if  you  are  already  bound  and 
constrained  by  the  chain  of  necessity,  reason 
thus  with  yourself;  or  rather  let  me  reason 
thus  wdth  you.  It  is  better  both  to  attain  the 
good  and  to  keep  the  purification.  But  if  it 
be  impossible  to  do  both  it  is  surely  better  to 
be  a  little  stained  with  your  public  affairs  than 
to  fall  altogether  short  of  grace  ;  just  as  I  think 
it  better  to  undergo  a  slight  punishment  from 
father  or  master  than  to  be  put  out  of  doors  ; 
and  to  be  a  little  beamed  upon  than  to  be  left 
in  total  darkness.  And  it  is  the  part  of  wise 
men  to  choose,  as  in  good  things  the  greater 
and  more  perfect,  so  in  evils  the  lesser  and 
lighter.  Wherefore  do  not  overmuch  dread 
the  purification.  For  our  success  is  always 
judged  by  comj^arison  with  our  place  in  life 
by  our  just  and  merciful  Judge  ;  and  often  one 
who  is  in  public  life  and  has  had  small  success 
has  had  a  greater  reward  than  one  who  in  the 
enjoyment  of  liberty  has  not  completely  suc- 
ceeded ;  as  I  think  it  more  marvellous  for  a 
man  to  advance  a  little  in  fetters,  than  for  one 
to  run  who  is  not  carrying  any  weight  ;  or  to 
be  only  a  little  spattered  in  walking  through 
mud,  than  to  be  perfectly  clean  when  the  road 
is  clean.     To  give  you  a  proof  of  what  I  have 

o  ev  efoucria  cs'idently  means  Tui  juris — your  own  master. 
^  Gen.  xix.  r6. 


said  : — Rahab  the  harlot  was  justified  by  one 
thing  alone,  her  hospitahty,"  though  she  re- 
ceives no  praise  for  the  rest  of  her  conduct ; 
and  the  Publican  was  exalted  by  one  thing, 
his  humility,^  though  he  received  no  testimony 
for  anything  else  ;  so  that  you  may  learn  not 
easily  to  despair  concerning  yourself. 

XX.  But  some  will  say,  What  shall  I  gain, 
if,  when  I  am  jjreoccupied  by  baptism,  and  have 
cut  off  myself  by  my  haste  from  the  pleasures 
of  life,  when  it  was  in  my  power  to  give  the 
reins  to  pleasure,  and  then  to  obtain  grace? 
For  the  labourers  in  the  vineyard  who  had 
worked  the  longest  time  gained  nothing  there- 
by, for  equal  Avages  were  given  to  the  very 
last.v  You  have  delivered  me  from  some 
trouble,  whoever  you  are  who  sa}^  this,  be- 
cause you  have  at  last  Avith  much  difficulty 
told  the  secret  of  your  delay ;  and  though  I 
cannot  applaud  your  shiftiness,  I  do  applaud 
your  confession.  But  come  hither  and  listen 
to  the  interpretation  of  the  parable,  that  you 
may  not  be  injured  by  Scripture  for  want  of 
information.  First  of  all,  there  is  no  question 
here  of  baptism,  but  of  those  who  believe  at 
different  times  and  enter  the  good  vineyard 
of  the  Church.  For  from  the  day  and  hour 
at  which  each  believed,  from  that  day  and 
hour  he  is  required  to  work.  And  then,  al- 
though they  who  entered  first  contributed 
more  to  the  measure  of  the  labour  yet  they 
did  not  contribute  more  to  the  measure  of  the 
purpose  ;  nay  perhaps  even  more  was  due  to 
the  last  in  respect  of  this,  though  the  statement 
may  seem  paradoxical.  For  the  cause  of  their 
later  entrance  was  their  later  call  to  the  work 
of  the  vineyard.  In  all  other  respects  let  us 
see  how  different  they  are.  The  first  did  not 
believe  or  enter  till  they  had  agreed  on  their 
hire ;  but  the  others  came  forward  to  do  the 
work  without  an  agreement,  which  is  a  proof 
of  greater  faith.  And  the  first  were  found  to 
be  of  an  envious  and  murmuring  nature,  but 
no  such  charge  is  brought  against  the  others. 
And  to  the  first,  that  which  was  given  was 
wages,  though  they  were  worthless  fellows  ;  to 
the  last  it  was  the  free  gift.  So  that  tlie  first 
were  convicted  of  folly,  and  with  reason  de- 
prived of  the  greater  reward.  Let  us  see  what 
would  have  hapjiened  to  them  if  they  had  been 
late.  Why,  the  ccpial  pay,  evidently.  How 
then  can  they  blame  the  employer  as  unjust 
because  of  their  equality  ?  For  all  these  things 
take  away  the  merit  of  their  labour  from  the 
first,  although  they  were  at  work  first ;  and 
therefore  it  turns  out  that  the  distribution  of 


o  Jo=h.  vi.  25  ;  James  ii.  25. 
7  Matt.  XX.  I  sq. 


/3  Luke  xviii.  14. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


367 


equal  pay  was  just,  if  you  measure  the  good  I 
will  against  the  labour.  j 

XXI.   But  supposing  that  the  Parable  does  | 
sketch  the  power  of  the  font  according  to  your  | 
interpretation,  what  would  prevent  you,  if  you 
entered  lirst,  and  bore  the  heat,  from  avoiding 
envy  of  the  last,  that  by  this  very  lovingkind- 
ness  you  might  obtain  more,  and  receive  the  ; 
reward,  not  as  of  grace  but  as  of  debt?     And  | 
next,  the  workmen  who  receive  the  wages  are 
those  who  have  entered,  not  those  who  have 
missed,  the  vineyard ;   which  last  is  like  to  be 
your  case.     So  that  if  it  were  certain  that  you 
would  obtain  the  Gift,  though  you  are  of  such 
a  mind,  and  maliciously  keep  back  some  of 
the  labour,  you  might  be  forgiven  for  taking 
refuge   in   such   arguments,    and   desiring  to 
make  unlawful  gain  out  of  the  kindness  of  the 
master  ;  though  I  might  assure  you  that  the 
very  fact  of  being  able  to  labour  is  a  greater 
reward  to  any  who  is  not  altogether  of  a  huck- 
stering  mind.      But  since  there   is   a  risk  of 
your  being  altogether  shut  out  of  the  vineyard 
through  your  bargaining,  and  losing  the  capit- 
al through  stopping  to    pick  up  little  gains, 
do  let  yourselves  be  persuaded  by  my  words 
to  forsake  the  false  interpretations  and  contra- 
dictions, and  to  come  forward  without  arguing 
to  receive  the  Gift,  lest  you  should  be  snatched 
away    before    you    realize    your    hopes,    and 
should  find  out  that  it  was  to  your  own  loss 
that  you  devised  these  sophistries. 

XXII.  But  then,  you  say,  is  not  God  merci- 
ful, and  since  He  knows  our  thoughts  and 
searches  out  our  desires,  will  He  not  take  the 
desire  of  Baptism  instead  of  Baptism  ?  You  are 
speaking  in  riddles,  if  what  you  mean  is  that 
because  of  God's  mercy  the  unenlightened  is 
enlightened  in  His  sight ;  and  he  is  within  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  who  merely  desires  to  at- 
tain to  it,  but  refrains  from  doing  that  which 
pertains  to  the  kingdom.  I  will,  however, 
speak  out  boldly  my  opinion  on  these  matters  ; 
and  I  think  that  all  other  sensible  men  will 
range  themselves  on  my  side.  Of  those  who 
have  received  the  gift,  some  were  altogether 
alien  from  God  and  from  salvation,  both  ad- 
dicted to  all  manner  of  sin,  and  desirous  to  be 
bad  ;  others  were  semivicious,  and  in  a  kind 
of  mean  state  between  good  and  bad  ;  others 
again,  while  they  did  that  which  was  evil,  yet 
did  not  approve  their  own  action,  just  as  men 
in  a  fever  are  not  pleased  with  their  own  sick- 
ness. And  others  even  before  they  were  il- 
luminated were  worthy  of  praise  ;  partly  by 
nature,  and  partly  by  the  care  with  which 
they  prepared  themselves  for  Baptism.  These 
after  their  initiation  became  evidently  better. 


and  less  liable  to  fall ;  in  the  one  case  with  a 
view  to  procuring  good,  and  in  the  other  in 
order  to  preserve  it.  And  amongst  these, 
those  who  gave  in  to  some  evil  are  better 
than  those  who  were  altogether  bad ;  and 
better  still  than  those  who  yielded  a  little,  are 
those  who  were  more  zealous,  and  broke  up 
their  fallow  ground  before  Baptism  ;  they 
have  the  advantage  over  the  others  of  having 
already  laboured ;  for  the  font  does  not  do 
away  with  good  deeds  as  it  does  with  sins. 
But  better  even  than  these  are  they  who  are 
also  cultivating  the  Gift,  and  are  polishing 
themselves  to  the  utmost  possible  beauty. 

XXIII.  And  so  also  in  those  who  fail  to  re- 
ceive the  Gift,  some  are  altogether  animal  or 
bestial,  according  as  they  are  either  foolish  or 
wicked  ;  and  this,  I  think,  has  to  be  added  to 
their  other  sins,  that  they  have  no  reverence  at 
all  for  this  Gift,  but  look  upon  it  as  a  mere  gift 
— to  be  acquiesced  in  if  given  them,  and  if 
not  given  them,  then  to  be  neglected.  Others 
know  and  honour  the  Gift,  but  put  it  off; 
some  through  laziness,  some  through  greedi- 
ness. Others  are  not  in  a  position  to  receive 
it,  perhaps  on  account  of  infancy,"  or  some 
perfectly  involuntary  circumstance  through 
which  they  are  prevented  from  receiving  it, 
even  if  they  wish.  As  then  in  the  former  case 
we  found  much  difference,  so  too  in  this. 
They  who  altogether  despise  it  are  worse  than 
they  who  neglect  it  through  greed  or  care- 
lessness. These  are  worse  than  they  who 
have  lost  the  Gift  through  ignorance  or  tyran- 
ny, for  tyranny  is  nothing  but  an  involuntary 
error. ^  And  I  think  that  the  first  will  have 
to  suffer  punishment,  as  for  all  their  sins,  so 
for  their  contem[)t  of  baptism  ;  and  that  the 
second  will  also  have  to  suffer,  but  less,  be- 
cause it  was  not  so  much  through  wickedness 
as  through  folly  that  they  wrought  their  fail- 
ure ;  and  that  the  third  will  be  neither  glori- 
fied nor  punished  by  the  righteous  Judge,  as 
unsealed  and  yet  not  wicked,  but  persons  who 
have  suffered  rather  than  done  wrong.  For 
not  every  one  who  is  not  bad  enough  to  be 
punished  is  good  enough  to  be  honoured  ; 
just  as  not  every  one  who  is  not  good  enough 
to  be  honoured  is  bad  enough  to  be  punished. 
And  I  look  upon  it  as  well  from  another 
point  of  view.  If  you  judge  the  murderously 
disposed  man  by  his  Avill  alone,  apart  from  the 

a  That  S.  Gregory  did  not  reject  infant  Kaptism  is  clear,  from 
the  directions  given  later  on  in  this  Oration  (c.  xxviii  :  and  cf.  c. 
xvii.  s.  fin.).  He  is  here  referring  simply  to  the  inability  of  infants 
to  brin^  themselves  to  the  font  whereby  throngh  the  mistaken 
scruples  of  parents  many  must  have  died  unbaptized. 

P  i.e.,  The  sins  which  are  due  altogether  to  external  tyranny 
do  not  involve  giiilt,  inasmuch  as  they  are  involuntary,  whereas 
the  guilt  of  sin  is  in  the  will. 


S68 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


act  of  murder,  then  you  may  reckon  as  bap- 
tized him  who  desired  baptism  ajjart  from  the 
reception  of  baptism.  But  if  you  cannot  do 
the  one  how  can  you  do  the  other  ?  I  cannot 
see  it.  Or,  if  you  hke,  we  will  put  it  thus  : — 
If  desire  in  your  opinion  has  equal  power 
with  actual  baptism,  then  judge  in  the  same 
way  in  regard  to  glory,  and  you  may  be  con- 
tent with  longing  for  it,  as  if  that  were  itself 
glory.  And  what  harm  is  done  you  by  your 
not  attaining  the  actual  glory,  as  long  as  you 
have  the  desire  for  it  ? 

XXIV.  Therefore  since  you  have  heard  these 
words,  come  forward  to  it,  and  be  enlightened, 
and  your  faces  shall  not  be  ashamed  "■  through 
missing  the  Grace.  Receive  then  the  En- 
lightenment in  due  season,  that  darkness  pur- 
sue you  not,  and  catch  you,  and  sever  you 
from  the  Illumining.  The  night  cometh 
when  no  man  can  work  ^  after  our  departure 
hence.  The  one  is  the  voice  of  David,  the 
other  of  the  True  Light  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. t  And 
consider  how  Solomon  reproves  you  who  are 
too  idle  or  lethargic,  saying,  How  long  wilt 
thou  sleep,  O  sluggard,^  and  when  wilt  thou 
arise  out  of  thy  sleep  ?  You  rely  upon  this  or 
that,  and  "•  pretend  pretences  in  sins ;"  «  I  am 
waiting  for  Epiphany  ;  I  prefer  Easter  ;  I  will 
wait  for  Pentecost.^  It  is  better  to  be  bap- 
tized with  Christ,  to  rise  with  Christ  on  the 
Day  of  His  Resurrection,''  to  honour  the  Man- 
ifestation of  the  Spirit.  And  what  then  ? 
The  end  will  come  suddenly  in  a  day  for 
which  thou  lookest  not,  and  in  an  hour  that 
thou  art  not  aware  of;  and  then  you  will  have 
for  a  companion  lack  of  grace ;  and  you  will 
be  famished  in  the  midst  of  all  those  riches  of 
goodness,  though  you  ought  to  reap  the  oppos- 
ite fruit  from  the  opjwsite  course,  a  harv- 
est by  diligence,  and  refreshment  from  the 
font,  like  the  thirsty  hart^  that  runs  in  haste 
to  the  spring,  and  quenches  the  labour  of  his 
race  by   water ;  and  not   to   be  in   Islimael's 


a  Ps.  xxxiv.  ^.  |3  John  xii  35.  y  lb.  i.  4.  S  Prov.  vi.  9.  e  Ps.  cxii.  4. 

^■|"hc  Festivals  of  Easter  and  Pentecost  were  set  apart  as 
early  as  the  .Sec<5nd  Century  for  the  solemn  administration  of  Holy 
Baptism  :  and  S.  Siriciiis  I'ishop  of  Rome  about  the  time  of 
S.  r.regory  of  Nazianzus,  states  that  all  the  Churches  aecreed  in 
keeping  these  exclusively.  P.nt  this  is  a  mistake  (though  Van  F.s- 
pen  says  {II.,  c.  i..  tit.  2,  c.  4)  that  S.  Siricius  acknowledges  the 
existence  of  the  different  custom,  but  condemns  it,  and  gives  refer- 
ence to  ad.  Himerum  Tarraconenscm,  c.  2),  for  there  is  evidence 
that  in  manv  Churches  the  Kpiphany  also  was  thus  observed,  and 
m  some  Christmas  also.  But  TeriulHnn  (De  Bapt.)  says  that  no 
time  is  unsuitable.  In  the  Western  Church,  however.  Papal  de- 
crees, Conriliar  Canons,  and  Imperial  Capitularies  from  the  Vlth 
to  the  Xlllth.  Centuries  abound,  limiting  the  administration,  ex- 
cept in  cases  of  sickness,  to  the  two  seasons  of  Easter  and  Pente- 
cost, on  the  Vigils  of  which  it  is  still  provided  for  in  the  Missals. 
No  doubt  it  was  felt  to  he  a  very  useful  limitation,  wlien  most  per- 
sons who  were  presented  for  Baptism  were  adults,  and  required 
preparation.  When  this  ceased  to  be  the  case  the  rule  gradually 
became  obsolete,  and  has  long  ceased  to  be  observed. 
jj  Matt.  xxiv.  50.  6  Ps.  xlii   i. 


case,  dried  up  for  want  of  water, "^  or  as  the 
fable  has  it,  punished  by  thirst  in  the  midst 
of  a  spring.^  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  let  the 
market  day  go  by  and  then  to  seek  for 
work.  It  is  a  sad  thing  to  let  the  Manna 
pass  and  then  to  long  for  food.  It  is  a  sad 
thing  to  take  a  counsel  too  late,  and  to  be- 
come sensible  of  the  loss  only  when  it  is  im- 
possible to  repair  it ;  that  is,  after  our  depart- 
ure hence,  and  the  bitter  closing  of  the  acts 
of  each  man's  life,  and  the  punishment  of  sin- 
ners, and  the  glory  of  the  purified.  There- 
fore do  not  delay  in  coming  to  grace,  but 
hasten,  lest  the  robber  outstrip  you,  lest  the 
adulterer  pass  you  by,  lest  the  insatiate  be  sat- 
isfied before  you,  lest  the  murderer  seize  the 
blessing  first,  or  the  publican  or  the  fornicator, 
or  any  of  these  violent  ones  who  take  the  King- 
dom of  heaven  by  force. v  For  it  suiTers  vio- 
lence willingly,  and  is  tyrannized  over  through 
goodness. 

XXV.  Take  my  advice,  my  friend,  and  be 
slow  to  do  evil,  but  swift  to  your  salvation  ; 
for  readiness  to  evil  and  tardiness  to  good  are 
equally  bad.  If  you  are  invited  to  a  revel,  be 
not  swift  to  go  ;  if  to  apostasy,  leap  away  ;  if 
a  company  of  evildoers  say  to  you,  "  Come 
with  us,  share  our  bloodguiltiness,  let  us  hide 
in  the  earth  a  righteous  man  unjustly,"  *  do 
not  lend  them  even  your  ears.  Thus  you  w  ill 
make  two  very  great  gains  ;  you  will  make 
known  to  the  other  his  sin,  and  you  will 
deliver  yourself  from  evil  company.  But 
if  David  the  Great  say  unto  you,  Come 
and  let  us  rejoice  in  the  Lord  ;  *  or  another 
Prophet,  Come  and  let  us  ascend  into  the 
Mountain  of  the  Lord  ;  ^  or  our  Saviour  Him- 
self, Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labour  and 
are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest;'' 
or.  Arise,  let  us  go  hence,  shining  brightly, 
glittering  above  snow,  whiter  than  milk," 
shining  above  the  sapphire  stone;  let  us 
not  resist  or  delay.  Let  us  be  like  Peter  and 
John,  and  let  us  hasten  ,"  as  they  did  to  the 
Sepulchre  and  the  Resurrection,  so  we  to  the 
Font ;  running  together,  racing  against  each 

obtain  this  Bless- 
say   not,   "  Go  away,   and   come 
tomorrow  I  will  be  baptized,"^ 
when  you  may  have  the  blessing  today.      "  1 


other,  stri-ving  to  be  first  to 
ing.     And 
again,  and 


a  Gen    xix.  15.  sqq 

0  The  allusion  is  to  the  well  known  story  of  Tantalus,  whose 
punishment  in  hell  was  said  to  be  that,  being  tormented  with  hus- 
ger  and  thirst,  he  was  condemned  to  stand  for  ever  in  water  up  to 
his  lips,  but  to  be  unable  to  drink,  and  to  have  a  tree  laden  with, 
luscious  fruit  within  easy  roach,  but  to  be  unable  to  gather  of  it. 

V  Matt.  xi.  12.  '  &  Prov.  i.  it.  c  Ps.  xcv.  i. 

^Mic.  iv.  2.  rj  Matt.  xi.  28. 

0  The  A.  v.  is  here  used,  as  more  accurate  than  the  LXX. 
The  passage  is  quoted  freely  from  Lam.  iv.  7. 

K  John  XX.  3.  A  Prov.  iii.  28. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


369 


will  have  with  me  father,  mother,  brothers, 
wife,  children,  friends,  and  all  whom  I  value, 
and  then  1  will  be  saved ;  but  it  is  not  yet 
the  fitting  time  for  me  to  be  made  bright ;" 
for  if  you  say  so,  there  is  reason  to  fear  lest 
you  should  have  as  sharers  of  your  sorrow 
those  whom  you  hoped  to  have  as  sharers  of 
your  joy.  If  they  will  be  with  you,  well; — 
but  do  not  wait  for  them.  For  it  is  base 
to  say,  "  But  where  is  my  offering  for  my 
baptism,  and  where  is  my  baptismal  robe,  in 
which  I  shall  be  made  bright,  and  where 
is  what  is  wanted  for  the  entertainment  of  my 
baptizers,  that  in  these  too  I  may  become 
worthy  of  notice?  For,  as  you  see,  all  these 
things  are  necessary,  and  on  account  of  this 
the  Grace  will  be  lessened."  Do  not  thus 
trifle  with  great  things,  or  allow  yourself 
to  think  so  basely.  The  Sacrament  is  greater 
than  the  visible  environment.  Offer  your- 
self ;  clothe  yourself  with  Christ,  feast  me 
with  your  conduct  ;  I  rejoice  to  be  thus 
affectionately  treated,  and  God  Who  gives 
these  great  gifts  rejoices  thus.  Nothing  is 
great  in  the  sight  of  God,  but  what  the  poor 
may  give,  so  that  the  poor  may  not  here  also 
be  outrun,  for  they  cannot  contend  with 
the  rich.  In  other  matters  there  is  a  dis- 
tinction between  poor  and  rich,  but  here  the 
more  willing  is  the  richer. 

XXVI.  Let  nothing  hinder  you  from  going 
on,  nor  draw  you  away  from  your  readiness. 
While  your  desire  is  still  vehement,  seize  upon 
that  which  you  desire.  While  the  iron  is  hot, 
let  it  be  tempered  by  the  cold  water,  lest  any- 
thing should  happen  in  the  interval,  and  put 
an  end  to  your  desire.  I  am  Philip ;  do  you 
be  Candace's  Eunuch."  Do  you  also  say, 
"  See,  here  is  water,  what  doth  hinder  me 
to  be  baptized?"  Seize  the  opportunity; 
rejoice  greatly  in  the  blessing;  and  having 
spoken  be  baptized  ;  and  having  been  bap- 
tized be  .saved  ;  and  though  you  be  an  Ethi- 
opian body,  be  made  white  in  soul.  Do  not 
say,  "A  Bishop  shall  baptize  me, — and  he 
a  Metropolitan, — and  he  of  Jerusalem  (for  the 
Grace  does  not  come  of  a  place,  but  of  the 
Spirit), — and  he  of  noble  birth,  for  it  would 
be  a  sad  thing  for  my  nobility  to  be  insulted 
by  being  baptized  by  a  man  of  no  family." 
Do  not  say,  "  I  do  not  mind  a  mere  Priest,  if 
he  is  a  celibate,  and  a  religious,  and  of  an- 
gelic life  ;  for  it  would  be  a  sad  thing  for  me 
to  be  defiled  even  in  the  moment  of  my  cleans- 
ing."  Do  not  ask  for  credentials  of  the 
preacher  or  the  baptizer.     For  another  is  his 


I 


a  Acts  viii.  36. 


judge,"*  and  the  examiner  of  what  thou  canst 
not  see.  For  man  looketh  on  the  outward 
appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart. 
But  to  thee  let  every  one  be  trustworthy  for 
.purification,  so  only  he  is  one  of  those  who 
have  been  approved,  not  of  those  who  are 
openly  condemned,  and  not  a  stranger  to  the 
Church.  Do  not  judge  your  judges,  you  who 
need  healing ;  and  do  not  make  nice  distinc- 
tions about  the  rank  of  those  who  shall  cleanse 
you,  or  be  critical  about  your  spiritual  fathers. 
One  may  be  higher  or  lower  than  another,  but 
all  are  higher  than  you.  Look  at  it  this  Avay. 
One  may  be  golden,  another  iron,  but  both 
are  rings  and  have  engraved  on  them  the 
same  royal  image ;  and  thus  when  they  im- 
press the  wax,  what  difference  is  there  be- 
tween the  seal  of  the  one  and  that  of  the 
other  ?  None.  Detect  the  material  in  the 
wax,  if  you  are  so  very  clever.  Tell  me 
which  is  the  impression  of  the  iron  ring, 
and  which  of  the  golden.  And  how  do  they 
come  to  be  one?  The  difference  is  in  the 
material  and  not  in  the  seal.  And  so  anyone 
can  be  your  baptizer  ;  for  though  one  may 
excel  another  in  his  Hfe,  yet  the  grace  of 
baptism  is  the  same,  and  any  one  may  be 
your  consecrator  who  is  formed  in  the  same 
faith. 

XXVII.  Do  not  disdain  to  be  baptized  with 
a  poor  man,  if  you  are  rich  ;  or  if  you  are  noble, 
with  one  who  is  lowborn  ;  or  if  you  are  a  mas- 
ter, with  one  who  is  up  to  the  present  time  your 
slave.  Not  even  so  will  you  be  humbling  your- 
self as  Christ,  unto  Whom  you  are  baptized  to- 
day. Who  for  your  sake  took  upon  Himself  even 
the  form  of  a  slave.  From  the  day  of  your 
new  birth  all  the  old  marks  were  effaced,  and 
Christ  was  put  upon  all  in  one  form.  Do  not 
disdain  to  confess  your  sins,  knowing  how 
John  baptized,  that  by  present  shame  you  may 
escape  from  future  shame  (for  this  too  is  a 
part  of  the  future  punishment)  ;  and  prove 
that  you  really  hate  sin  by  making  a  shew  of 
it  openly,  and  triumphing  over  it  as  worthy 
of  contempt.  Do  not  reject  the  medicine  of 
exorcism,  nor  refuse  it  because  of  its  length. 
This  too  is  a  touchstone  of  your  right  disposi- 
tion for  grace.  What  labour  have  you  to  do 
compared  with  that  of  the  Queen  of  Ethiopia,^ 
who  arose  and  came  from  the  utmost  part  of 
the  earth  to  see  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  ?  And 
behold  a  Greater  than  Solomon  is  herev  in  the 
judgment  of  those  who  reason  maturely.  Do 
not  hesitate  either  at  length  of  journey,  or 
distance  by  sea ;  or  fire,  if  this  too  lies  before 


24 


o  I  Sam.  xvi.  7. 


^  I  Kgs.  X.  I. 


7  Matt.  xii.  42. 


370 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


you  ;  or  of  any  other,  small  or  great,  of  the 
hindrances  that  you  may  attain  to  the  gift. 
But  if  without  any  labour  and  trouble  at  all 
you  may  obtain  that  which  you  desire,  what 
folly  it  is  to  put  off  the  gift :  "  Ho,  every  one 
that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,"  «  Esaias 
invites  you,  "and  he  that  hath  no  money, 
come  buy  wine  and  milk,  without  money  and 
without  price."  O  swiftness  of  His  mercy: 
O  easiness  of  the  Covenant :  This  blessing 
may  be  bought  by  you  merely  for  willing  it ; 
He  accepts  the  very  desire  as  a  great  price ; 
He  thirsts  to  be  thirsted  for ;  He  gives  to 
drink  to  all  who  desire  to  drink ;  He  takes  it 
as  a  kindness  to  be  asked  for  the  kindness  ;  He 
is  ready  and  liberal ;  He  gives  with  more  plea- 
sure than  others  receive.^  Only  let  us  not  be 
condemned  for  frivolity  by  asking  for  little, 
and  for  what  is  unworthy  of  the  Giver. 
Blessed  is  he  from  whom  Jesus  asks  drink,  as 
He  did  from  that  Samaritan  woman,  and 
gives  a  well  of  water  springing  up  imto  eter- 
nal life.v  Blessed  is  he  that  soweth  beside  all 
waters,  and  upon  every  soul,  tomorrow  to  be 
ploughed  and  watered,  which  today  the  ox 
and  the  ass  tread,  while  it  is  dry  and  without 
water, ^  and  oppressed  with  unreason.  And 
blessed  is  he  who,  though  he  be  a  "  valley  of 
rushes,"  ^  is  watered  out  of  the  House  of  the 
Lord  ;  for  he  is  made  fruitbearing  instead  of 
rushbearing,  and  produces  that  which  is  for 
the  food  of  man,  not  that  which  is  rough  and 
unprofitable.  And  for  the  sake  of  this  we 
must  be  very  careful  not  to  miss  the  Grace. 

XXVIII.  Be  it  so,  some  will  say,  in  the  case 
of  those  who  ask  for  Baptism  ;  what  have  you 
to  say  about  those  who  are  still  children,  and 
conscious  neither  of  the  loss  nor  of  the  grace  ? 
Are  we  to  baptize  them  too?  Certainly,  if 
any  danger  presses.  For  it  is  better  that  they 
should  be  unconsciously  sanctified  than  that 
they  should  depart  unsealed  and  uninitiated. 

A  proof  of  this  is  found  in  the  Circumcision 
on  the  eighth  day,  which  was  a  sort  of  typical 
seal,  and  was  conferred  on  children  before 
they  had  the  use  of  reason.  And  so  is  the 
anointing  of  the  doorposts,^  which  preserved 
the  firstborn,  though  applied  to  things  which 
had  no  consciousness.  But  in  respect  of 
others''  I  give  my  advice  to  wait  till  the  end 
of  the  third  year,  or  a  little  more  or  less,  when 
they  may  be  able  to  listen  and  to  answer  some- 
thing about  the  Sacrament ;  that,  even  though 
they  do  not  perfectly  understand  it,  yet  at  any 


a  Isa.  Iv.  I.       /3  Acts  xx.  35.       y  John  iv.  7.        6  Is.i.  xxxii.  20. 
e  Joel  iii.  18;    The    Hebrow   word   rendered    "rushes"    by  the 
LXX.  is  in  our  Hebrew  text  Shittim — acacia  trees. 

i  Exod.  xii.  22.  7)  i.e.  when  there  is  ni.>  danger. 


rate  they  may  know  the  outlines  ;  and  then  to 
sanctify  them  in  soul  and  body  with  the  gieat 
sacrament  of  our  consecration.  For  this  is 
how  the  matter  stands ;  at  that  time  they  be- 
gin to  be  responsible  for  their  lives,  when  rea- 
son is  matured,  and  they  learn  the  mystery  of 
life  (for  of  sins  of  ignorance  owing  to  their 
tender  years  they  have  no  account  to  give), 
and  it  is  far  more  profitable  on  all  accounts  to 
be  fortified  by  the  Font,  because  of  the  sud- 
den assaults  of  danger  that  befall  us,  stronger 
than  our  helpers. 

XXIX.  But,  one  says,  Christ  was  thirty 
years  old  when  He  was  baptized,"  and  that  al- 
though He  was  God  ;  and  do  you  bid  us  hurry 
our  Baptism  ? — You  have  solved  the  difficulty 
when  you  say  He  was  God.  For  He  was  abso- 
lute cleansing  ;  He  had  no  need  of  cleansing  ; 
but  it  was  for  you  that  He  was  purified,  just  as  it 
was  for  you  that,  though  He  had  not  llesh,  yet 
He  is  clothed  with  flesh.  Nor  was  there  any 
danger  to  Him  from  putting  off  Baptism,  for 
He  had  the  ordering  of  His  own  Passion  as  of 
Hrs  own  Birth.  But  in  your  case  the  danger 
is  to  no  small  interests,  if  you  were  to  depart 
after  a  birth  to  corruption  alone,  and  without 
being  clothed  with  incorruption.  And  there  is 
this  further  point  for  me  to  consider,  that  that 
particular  time  of  baptism  was  a  necessity  for 
Him,  but  your  case  is  not  the  same.  He 
manifested  Himself  in  the  thirtieth  year  after 
His  birth  and  not  before  ;  first,  in  order  that 
He  might  not  appear  ostentatious,  which  is 
a  condition  belonging  to  vulgar  minds  ;  and 
next,  because  that  age  tests  virtue  thoroughly, 
and  is  the  right  time  to  teach.  And  since  it 
was  needful  for  Him  to  undergo  the  passion 
which  saves  the  world,  it  was  needful  also 
that  all  things  which  belong  to  the  passion 
should  fit  into  the  passion  ;  the  Manifestation, 
the  Baptism,  the  Witness  from  Heaven,  the 
Proclamation,  the  concourse  of  the  multitude, 
the  Miracles ;  and  that  they  should  be  as  it 
were  one  body,  not  torn  asunder,  nor  broken 
apart  by  intervals.  For  out  of  the  Baptism 
and  Proclamation  arose  that  earthquake  of 
people  coming  together,^  for  so  Scripture 
calls  that  time  ;">'  and  out  of  the  multitude  arose 
the  shewing  of  the  signs  and  tlie  miracles  that 
lead  u])  to  the  Gospel.  And  out  of  these  came 
the  jealousy,  and  from  this  the  hatred,  and  out 
of  the  hatred  the  circumstance  of  the  plot 
against  Him,  and  the  betrayal ;  and  out  of 
these  the  Cross,  and  tlie  other  events  by  which 
our  Salvation  has  been  effected.     Such  are  the 


a  I. like  iii.  23. 

P  "  All  the  City  was  moved."    A.  V.,  lit.  "shaken  as  by  earth- 
quake." y  Matt.  xxi.  to. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


371 


reasons  in  the  case  of  Christ "  so  far  as  we  can 
attain  to  them.  And  perhaps  another  more 
secret  reason  might  be  found. 

XXX.  But  for  you,  what  necessity  is  there 
that  by  following  the  examples  which  are  far 
above  you,  you  should  do  a  thing  so  ill-advised 
for  yourself?  For  there  are  many  other  details 
of  the  Gospel  History  which  are  quite  differ- 
ent to  what  happens  nowadays,  and  the  seasons 
of  which  do  not  correspond.  For  instance 
Christ  fasted  a  little  before  His  temptation, 
we  before  Easter.  As  far  as  the  fasting  days 
are  concerned  it  is  the  same,*^  but  the  differ- 
ence in  the  seasons  is  no  little  one.  He 
armed  Himself  with  them  against  temptation  ; 
but  to  us  this  fast  is  symbolical  of  dying  with 
Christ,  and  it  is  a  purification  in  preparation 
for  the  festival.  And  He  fasted  absolutely 
for  forty  days,  for  He  was  God-;  but  we 
measure  our  fasting  by  our  power,  even  though 
some  are  led  by  zeal  to  rush  beyond  their 
strength.  Again,  He  gave  the  Sacrament  of 
the  Passover  to  His  Disciples  in  an  upper 
chamber,  and  after  supper,  and  one  day 
before  He  suffered ;  but  we  celebrate  it  in 
Houses  of  Prayer,  and  before  food,!*  and  after 
His  resurrection.  He  rose  again  the  third 
day  ;  our  resurrection  is  not  till  after  a  long 
time.  But  matters  which  have  to  do  with 
Him  are  neither  abruptly  separated  from  us, 
nor  yet  yoked  together  with  those  which  con- 
cern us  in  point  of  time  ;  but  they  were  handed 
down  to  us  just  so  far  as  to  be  patterns  of  what 
we  should  do,  and  then  they  carefully  avoided 
an  entire  and  exact  resemblance. 

XXXI.  If  then  you  will  listen  to  me,  you 
will  bid  a  long  farewell  to  all  such  arguments, 
and  you  will  jump  at  this  Blessing,  and  begin 
to  struggle  in  a  twofold  conflict ;  first,  to  pre- 
pare yourself  for  baptism  by  purifying  your- 
self; and  next,  to  preserve  the  baptismal  gift ; 
for  it  is  a  matter  of  equal  difficulty  to  obtain  a 
blessing  which  we  have  not,  and  to  keep  it 
when  we  have  gained  it.  For  often  what  zeal 
has  acquired  sloth  has  destroyed ;  and  what 
hesitation  has  lost  diligence  has  regained.  A 
great  assistance  to  the  attainment  of  what  you 
desire  are  vigils,  fasts,  sleeping  on  the  ground, 
prayers,  tears,  pity  of  and  almsgiving  to  those 
who  are  in  need.  And  let  these  be  your 
thanksgiving  for  what  you  have  received,  and 


a  i.e.,  the  reasons  why  He  was  not  baptized  till  He  was  thirty. 

3  Here  is  an  indication  that  the  Forty  Days  of  Lent  were  a 
well  known  observance  in  S.  Gregory's  time.  At  the  Council  of 
Nicaea  this  period  was  taken  for  granted,  'i'he  Great  Fast  of  the 
Eastern  Church  begins  on  the  Monday  after  the  Sunday  cor- 
responding to  our  (^ninquagesima,  and  the  Fast  is  kept  to  some 
extent  even  on  Siuiday. 

•y  Note  the  rule  of  Fasting  Communion  here  recognized  as 
universal. 


at  the  same  time  your  safeguard  of  them. 
You  have  the  benefit  to  remind  you  of  many 
commandments ;  so  do  not  transgress  them. 
Does  a  poor  man  approach  you  ?  Remember 
how  poor  you  once  were,  and  how  rich  you 
were  made.  One  in  want  of  bread  or  of 
!  drink,  perhaps  another  Lazarus,"  is  cast  at 
your  gate ;  respect  the  Sacramental  Table  to 
which  you  have  approached,  the  Bread  of 
Which  you  have  partaken,  the  Cup  in  Which 
you  have  communicated,^  being  consecrated 
by  the  Sufferings  of  Christ.  If  a  stranger 
fall  at  your  feet,  homeless  and  a  foreigner, 
welcome  in  him  Him  who  for  your  sake  was 
a  stranger,  and  that  among  His  own,v  and 
who  came  to  dwell  in  you  by  His  grace,  and 
who  drew  you  towards  the  heavenly  dwelling 
place.  Be  a  Zaccheus,  *  who  yesterday  was  a 
Publican,  and  is  to-day  of  liberal  soul ;  offer 
all  to  the  coming  in  of  Christ,  that  though 
small  in  bodily  stature  you  may  show  yourself 
great,  nobly  contemplating  Christ.  A  sick 
or  a  wounded  man  lies  before  yo.u ;  respect 
your  own  health,  and  the  wounds  from  which 
Christ  delivered  you.  If  you  see  one  naked 
clothe  him,  in  honour  of  your  own  garment 
of  incorruption,  which  is  Christ,  for  as  many 
as  Avere  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on 
Christ.*  If  you  find  a  debtor  falling  at  your 
feet,^  tear  up  every  document,  whether  just  or 
unjust.  Remember  the  ten  thousand  talents 
which  Christ  forgave  you,  and  be  not  a  harsh 
exactor  of  a  smaller  debt — and  that  from 
whom  ?  From  your  fellow  servant,  you  who 
were  forgiven  so  much  more  by  the  Master. 
Otherwise  you  will  have  to  give  satisfaction 
to  His  mercy,  which  you  would  not  imitate 
and  take  as  your  copy. 

XXXII.  Let  the  laver  be  not  for  your  body 
only,  but  also  for  the  image  of  God  in  you  ;  not 
merely  a  washing  away  of  sins  in  you,  but 
also  a  correction  of  your  temper ;  let  it  not 
only  wash  away  the  old  filth,  but  let  it  purify 
the  fountainhead.  Let  it  not  only  move  you 
to  honourable  acquisition,  but  let  it  teach  you 
also  honourably  to  lose  possession ;  or,  which 
is  more  easy,  to  make  restitution  of  what  you 
have  wrongfully  acquired.  For  what  profit 
is  it  that  your  sin  should  have  been  forgiven 
you,  but  the  loss  which  you  have  inflicted 
should  not  be  repaired  to  him  whom  you  have 
injured  ?  Two  sins  are  on  your  conscience, 
the  one  that  you  made  a  dishonest  gain,  the 


a  I.uke  xvi.  19  sq. 

3  Note  that  this  allusion  implies  that  Communion  in  both  Kinds 
was  given  separately,  as  in  the  Anglican  Church,  not  by  intinction, 
as  in  the  present  Orthodox  Eastern  Church. 

y  John  i.  11.  S  Luke  xix.  i  sq. 

e  Galat.  iii.  27.  ^  Matt,  xviii.  23,  &c. 


572 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


other  that  you  retained  the  gains ;  you  re- 
ceived forgiveness  for  the  one,  but  in  respect 
of  the  other  you  are  still  in  sin,  for  you  have 
still  possession  of  what  belongs  to  another  ; 
and  your  sin  has  not  been  put  to  an  end,  but 
only  divided  by  the  time  which  has  elapsed. 
Part  of  it  was  perpetrated  before  your  Bap- 
tism, but  part  remains  after  your  Baptism  ; 
for  Baptism  carries  forgiveness  of  Past,  not  of 
Present  sins  ;  and  its  purification  must  not  be 
played  with,  but  be  genuinely  impressed  upon 
you ;  you  must  be  made  perfectly  bright,  and 
not  be  merely  coloured  ;  you  must  receive  the 
gift,  not  of  a  mere  covering  of  your  sins,  but 
of  a  taking  them  clean  away.  Blessed  are 
they  whose  iniquities  are  forgiven*  . 
this  is  done  by  the  complete  cleansing  .  ,  . 
and  v.'hose  sins  are  hidden  .  .  .  this 
belongs  to  those  who  are  not  yet  healed  in 
their  deepest  soul.  Blessed  is  the  man  to 
whom  the  Lord  will  not  impute  sin. 
This  is  a  third  class  of  sinners,  whose  actions 
are  not  praiseworthy,  but  who  are  innocent 
of  intention. 

XXXIII.  What  say  I  then,  and  what  is  my 
argument?  Yesterday  you  were  a  Canaanite 
soul  bent  together^  l3y  sin  ;  today  you  have 
been  made  straight  by  the  Word.  Do  not  be 
bent  again,  and  condemned  to  the  earth,  as  if 
weighed  down  by  the  Devil  with  a  wooden 
collar,  nor  get  an  incurable  curvature.  Yes- 
terday you  were  being  dried  upv  by  an  abun- 
dant haemorrhage,  for  you  were  pouring  out 
crimson  sin  ;  today  stanched  and  flourishing 
again,  for  you  have  touched  the  hem  of  Christ 
and  your  issue  has  been  stayed.  Guard,  I 
pray  you,  the  cleansing  lest  you  should  again 
have  a  haemorrhage,  and  not  be  able  to  lay 
hold  of  Christ  to  steal  salvation  ;  for  Christ 
does  not  like  to  be  stolen  from  often,  though 
He  is  very  merciful.  Yesterday  you  were 
flung  upon  a  bed,  exhausted  and  paralyzed, 
and  you  had  no  one  when  the  Avater  should 
be  troubled  to  i)ut  you  into  the  i^ool.*  To- 
day you  have  Him  Who  is  in  one  Person  Man 
and  God,  or  rather  God  and  Man.  You 
were  raised  up  from  your  bed,  or  rather  you 
took  up  your  bed,  and  publicly  acknowledged 
the  benefit.  Do  not  again  be  thrown  upon 
your  bed  by  sinning,  in  the  evil  rest  of  a 
body  paralyzed  by  its  i)leasures.  But  as  you 
now  are,  so  walk,  mindfiil  of  the  command,* 
Behold  thou  art  made  whole ;  sin  no  more 
lest  a  worse  thing  happen  unto  thee  if  thou 
prove  thyself  bad  after  the  blessing  thou  hast 

a  Ps.  xxxii.  i. 

P  I^uke  xiii.  it,  which  S.  Gregory  has  apparently  mixed  with  a 
recollpction  of  Matt.  xv.  21. 

V  Matt.  ix.  20.  S  John  v.  i.  &c.  t  lb.  v.  14. 


received.  You  have  heard  the  loud  voice, 
Lazarus,  come  forth, «  as  you  lay  in  the  tomb  ; 
not,  however,  after  four  days,  but  after  many 
days;  and  you  Avere  loosed  from  the  bonds 
of  your  graveclothes.  Do  not  again  become 
dead,  nor  live  with  those  who  dwell  in  the 
tombs ;  ^  nor  bind  yourself  with  the  bonds  of 
your  own  sins  ;  v  for  it  is  uncertain  whether 
you  will  rise  again  from  the  tomb  till  the  last 
and  universal  resurrection,  which  will  bring 
every  work  into  judgment,*  not  to  be  healed, 
but  to  be  judged,  and  to  give  account  of  all 
which  for  good  or  evil  it  has  treasured  up. 

XXXIV.  If  you  were  full  of  leprosy,  that 
shapeless  evil,  yet  you  scraped  off"  the  evil  mat- 
ter, and  received  again  the  Image  whole. 
Shew  your  cleansing  to  me  your  Priest,  that  I 
may  recognize  how  much  more  precious  it  is 
than  the  legal  one.  Do  not  range  yourself  with 
the  nine  unthankful  men,  but  imitate  the  tenth.* 
For  although  he  was  a  Samaritan,  yet  he  was 
of  better  mind  than  the  others.  Make  cer- 
tain that  you  will  not  break  out  again  with 
evil  ulcers,  and  find  the  indisposition  of  your 
body  hard  to  heal.  Yesterday  meanness  and 
avarice  were  withering  your  hand  ;  to-day  let 
liberality  and  kindne.ss  stretch  it  out.^  It  is' a 
noble  cure  for  a  weak  hand  to  disperse  abroad, 
to  give  to  the  poor,''  to  pour  out  the  things 
which  we  possess  abundantly,  till  ^ye  reach 
the  very  bottom  ;  and  perhaps  this  will  gush 
forth  food  for  you,  as  for  the  woman  of  Sa- 
repta,^  and  especially  if  you  happen  to  be  feed- 
ing an  Eli  as,  to  recognize  that  it  is  a  good 
abundance  to  be  needy  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
Who  for  our  sakes  became  poor.  If  you  were 
deaf  and  dumb,  let  the  Word  sound"  in  your 
ears,  or  rather  keep  there  Him  Who  hath 
sounded.  Do  not  shut  your  ears  to  the  In- 
struction of  the  Lord,  and  to  His  Counsel, 
like  the  adder  to  charms.'^  If  vou  are  blind 
and  unenlightened,  lighten  your  eyes  that 
you  sleep  not  in  death. **  In  God's  Light  see 
light,"  and  in  the  Spirit  of  God  be  enlightened 
by  the  Son,  That  Threefold  and  Undivided 
Light.  If  you  receive  all  the  Word,  you  will 
bring  therewith  ui)on  your  own  soul  all  the 
healing  i)Owers  of  Christ,  with  which  separate- 
ly these  individuals  were  healed.  Only  be  not 
ignorant  of  the  measure  of  grace  ;  only  let  not 
the  enemy,  while  you  sleep,  maliciously  sow 
tares. ^  Only  take  care  that  as  by  your  cleans- 
ing you  have  become  an  object  of  enmity  to 
the  Evil  One,  you  do  not  again  make  yourself 


o  John  xi.  4^.       /3  Mark  v.  3.      y  P.s.  Ixviii.  9        S  Kccles.  xii.  14. 

6  I.uke  xvii.  12,  (S:c.  fib.  vi.  6.  v  Ps.  cxii.  g. 

fli  Kg.s.  xvii.  8,  &c.  (cMark  vii.  32.  A  P.s,  Ivni.  4,  5. 

|ii  lb.  xiii.  3.  V  lb.  xxxvi.  9.  f  Matt.  xiii.  25. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY    BAPTISM. 


2>73 


an  object  of  pity  by  sin.  Only  be  careful 
lest,  while  rejoicing  and  lifted  up  above  meas- 
ure by  the  blessing,  you  fall  again  through 
pride.  Only  be  diligent  as  to  your  cleansing, 
"  setting  ascensions  in  your  heart,""  and  keep 
with  all  diligence  the  remission  which  you 
have  received  as  a  gift,  in  order  that,  while 
the  remission  comes  from  God,  the  preserva- 
tion of  it  may  come  from  yourself  also. 

XXXV.  How  shall  this  be  ?  Remember  al- 
ways the  parable,*^  and  so  will  you  best  and  most 
perfectly  help  yourself.  The  unclean  and 
malignant  spirit  is  gone  out  of  you,  being 
chased  by  baptism.  He  will  not  submit  to  the 
expulsion,  he  will  not  resign  himself  to  be 
houseless  and  homeless :  He  goes  through 
waterless  places,  dry  of  the  Divine  Stream,  and 
there  he  desires  to  abide.  He  wanders,  seeking 
rest  ;  he  finds  none.  He  lights  on  baptized 
souls,  whose  sins  the  font  has  washed  away. 
He  fears  the  water  ;  he  is  choked  with  the 
cleansing,  as  the  Legion  were  in  the  sea.v 
Again  he  returns  to  the  house  whence  he 
came  out.  He  is  shamele.ss,  he  is  contentious, 
he  makes  a  fresh  assault  upon  it,  he  makes  a 
new  attempt.  If  he  finds  that  Christ  has 
taken  up  His  abode  there,  and  has  tilled  the 
place  which  he  had  vacated,  he  is  driven  back 
again,  and  goes  off  without  success  and  is 
become  an  object  of  pity  in  his  wandering 
state.  But  if  he  finds  in  you  a  place,  swept 
and  garnished  indeed,  but  empty  and  idle, 
equally  ready  to  take  in  this  or  that  which 
shall  first  occupy  it,  he  makes  a  leap  into  it, 
he  takes  up  his  abode  there  with  a  larger 
train  ;  and  the  last  state  is  worse  than  the 
first,  inasmuch  as  then  there  was  a  hope  of 
amendment  and  safety,  but  now  the  evil  is 
rampant,  and  drags  in  sin  by  its  flight  from 
good,  and  therefore  the  possession  is  more  se- 
cure to  him  who  dwells  there. 

XXXVI.  I  will  remind  you  again  about  Il- 
luminations, and  that  often,  and  will  reckon 
them  up  from  Holy  Scripture.  For  I  myself 
shall  be  happier  for  remembering  them  (for 
what  is  sweeter  than  light  to  those  who  have 
tasted  light?)  and  I  will  dazzle  you  with  my 
words.  There  is  sprung  up  a  light  for  the  right- 
eous, and  its  partner  joyful  gladness.^  And, 
The  light  of  the  righteous  is  everlasting  ;  *  and 
Thou  art  shining  wondrously  from  the  everlast- 


a  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  6.  So  LXX.  and  Vulgate.  Various  interpreta- 
tions are  given  of  these  Steps,  but  they  differ  only  by  indicating 
different  virtues  and  good  works  as  especially  intended,  and  may 
well  be  summed  up  under  the  three  heads  of  the  purgative,  il- 
luminative, aud  unitive  ways  of  salvation.  A  man  can  set  in  his 
heart  such  a '' going  up"  by  the  co-operation  of  grace  and  free 
will.— Nkale    &   I-ITTLED^LE  in  Pss.  ,8  [,uke  xi.  24. 

y  Mark  v.  13.  6  Ps.  xcvii.  11.  e  Prov.  xiii.  9. 


ing  mountains,  is  said  to  God,  I  think  of  the 
Angelic  powers  which  aid  our  efforts  after  good. 
And  you  have  heard  David  s  words ;  The 
Lord  is  my  Light  and  my  Salvation,  whom 
then  shall  I  fear  ?  "  And  now  he  asks  that  the 
Light  and  the  Truth  may  be  sent  forth  for 
him,^  now  giving  thanks  that  he  has  a  share 
in  it,  in  that  the  Light  of  God  is  marked  upon 
him  ;  v  that  is,  that  the  signs  of  the  illumina- 
tion given  are  impressed  upon  him  and  recog- 
nized. One  light  alone  let  us  shun — that 
which  is  the  offspring  of  the  baleful  fire  ;  let 
us  not  walk  in  the  light  of  our  fire,^  and  in  the 
flame  which  we  have  kindled.  For  I  know  a 
cleansing  fire  which  Christ  came  to  send  upon 
the  earth, ^  and  He  Himself  is  anagogically  ^ 
called  a  Fire.  This  Fire  takes  away  whatso- 
ever is  material  and  of  evil  habit ;  and  this 
He  desires  to  kindle  with  all  speed,  for  He 
longs  for  speed  in  doing  us  good,  since  He 
gives  us  even  coals  of  fire  to  help  us.''  I  know 
also  a  fire  which  is  not  cleansing,  but  aveng- 
ing ;  either  that  fire  of  Sodom  ^  Avhich  He  pours 
down  on  all  sinners,"  mingled  with  brimstone 
and  storms,  or  that  which  is  prepared  for  the 
Devil  and  his  Angels  ^  or  that  which  proceeds 
from  the  face  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  burn  up 
his  enemies  round  about ;  >^  and  one  even  more 
fearful  still  than  these,  the  unquenchable  fire " 
which  is  ranged  with  the  worm  that  dieth  not 
but  is  eternal  for  the  wicked.  For  all  these 
belong  to  the  destroying  power ;  though  some 
may  prefer  even  in  this  place  to  take  a  more 
merciful  view  ^  of  this  fire,  worthily  of  Him 
That  chastises. 

XXXVII.  And  as  I  know  of  two  kinds  of 
fire,  so  also  do  I  of  light.  The  one  is  the  light 
of  our  ruling  power  directing  our  steps  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God  ;  the  other  is  a  deceitful 
and  meddhng  one,  quite  contrary  to  the  true 
light,  though  pretending  to  be  that  light, 
that  it  may  cheat  us  by  its  appearance.  This 
really  is  darkne.ss,  yet  has-  the  appearance  of 
noonday,  the  high  perfection  of  light.  And 
so  I  read  that  passage  of  those  who  continually 
flee  in  darkness  at  noonday  ;  °  for  this  is  really 
night,  and  yet  is  thought  to  be  bright  light 
by  those  who  have  been  ruined  by  luxury. 
For  what  saith  David?  "  Night  was  around 
me  and  I  knew  it  not,  for  I  thought  that  my 

o  Ps.  Ixxvi.  4.  /3  lb.  xliii.  3.  y  lb.  iv.  7. 

6Isa.  1.  u.  <  Luke  xii.  49. 

^Anagoge  is  one  of  the  three  methods  of  mystical  interpreta- 
tion, according  to  the  distich, 

I>ittera  scripta  docet  :  Quid  credas  allegoria  : 
Quid  speres  anagoge:  (Juid  agas  tropologia. 

17  cf.  Isa.  xlvii.  14.  LXX.         fl  Gen.  xix.  24.         k  Ps.  xi.  6. 

A  Matt.  XXV.  41.         M  Ps.  xcvii.  3.         vMark  ix.  44,  &c. 

f  I.e.  To  view  the  Kire  there  spoken  of  as  Temporal  punish- 
ment, with  a  purpose  of  correcting  and  reforming  the  sinner.  This 
is  not  S.  Gregory's  own  view  of  the  meaning  of  the  passage,  though 
he  admits  it  to  be  tenable.  o  Isa.  xvi.  3. 


)74 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


luxury  was  enlightenment."*  But  such  are 
they,  and  in  this  condition  ;  but  let  us  kindle 
for  ourselves  the  light  of  knowledge.^  This 
will  be  done  by  sowing  unto  righteousness, 
and  reaping  the  fruit  of  life,  for  action  is  the 
patron  of  contemplation,  that  amongst  other 
things  we  may  learn  also  what  is  the  true  light, 
and  what  the  false,  and  be  saved  from  falling 
unawares  into  evil  wearing  the  guise  of  good. 
Let  us  be  made  light,  as  it  was  said  to  the 
disciples  by  the  Great  Light,  ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world. V  Let  us  be  made  lights 
in  the  world,  holding  forth  the  Word  of  Life  ;  ^ 
that  is,  let  us  be  made  a  quickening  power  to 
others.  Let  us  lay  hold  of  the  Godhead  ;  let 
us  lay  hold  of  the  First  and  Brightest  Light. 
Let  us  walk  towards  Him  shining,  before  our 
feet  stumble  upon  dark  and  hostile  mountains. « 
While  it  is  day  let  us  walk  honestly  as  in  the 
day,  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in 
chambering  and  wantonness,^  which  are  the 
dishonesties  of  the  night. 

XXXVIIL  Let  us  cleanse  every  member. 
Brethren,  let  us  purify  every  sense  ;  let  nothing 
in  us  be  imperfect  or  of  our  first  birth  ;  let  us 
leave  nothing  unilluminated.  Let  us  enlighten 
our  eyes,''  that  we  may  look  straight  on,  and  not 
bear  in  ourselves  any  harlot  idol  through  cu- 
rious and  busy  sight ;  for  even  though  we 
might  not  worship  lust,  yet  our  soul  would  be 
defiled.  If  the're  be  beam  or  mote,^  let  us 
purge  it  away,  that  we  may  be  able  to  see 
those  of  others  also.  Let  us  be  enlightened 
in  our  ears;  let  us  be  enlightened  in  our 
tongue,  that  we  may  hearken  what  the  Lord 
God  will  speak,"  and  that  He  may  cause  ^ 
us  to  hear  His  lovingkindness  in  the  morning, 
and  that  we  may  be  made  to  hear  of  joy  and 
gladness,**  spoken  into  godly  ears,  that  we  may 
not  be  a  sharp  sword,  nor  a  whetted  razor,"  nor 
turn  under  our  tongue  labour  and  toil,^  but 
that  we  may  speak  the  Wisdom  of  (iod  in  a 
mystery,  even  the  hidden  Wisdom,"  reverenc- 
ing the  fiery  tongues.'^  Let  us  be  healed  also 
in  the  smell,  that  we  be  not  effeminate  ;  and 
be  si)rinkled  with  dust  instead  of  sweet  per- 
fumes,f*  but  may  smell  the  Ointment  that  was 
poured  out  for  us,*  spiritually  receiving  it ;  and 
so  formed  and  transformed  by  it,  that  from  us 
too  a  sweet  odour  may  be  smelled.  Let  us 
cleanse   our  touch,  our  taste,  our  throat,  not 


o  A  strange  paraphrase  of  the  last  clause  of  Ps.  cxxxix.  n,  in 
the  LXX.,  "  And  I  said,  then  the  darkness  shall  swallow  me,  and 
night  is  enlightenment  in  my  luxury." 

(3  Thus  LXX..  in  Hosea  x.  i2,  where  wc  read  "  Break  up  your 
7  Matt.  V.  14.  &  Phil.  ii.  15,  16. 

^Kum.  xiii.  13.  >}  Prov.  iv.  25. 

Ps.  Ixxxv.  8.        A  lb.  cxliii.  8.       ix.  lb.  li.  8. 
2.  f  lb.  x.  7.  01  Cor.  li.  7. 

p  Isa.  iii,  34.  s  Cant.  i.  3. 


fallow  ground." 
e  Jer.  xlii.  16. 
d  Matt.  vii.  2. 
V  lb.  Ivii.  4;  Hi. 
n  Acts  ii.  3. 


touching  them  over  gently,  nor  delighting  in 
smooth  things,  but  handling  them  as  is  worthy 
of  Him,  the  Word  That  was  made  flesh  for 
us ;  and  so  far  following  the  example  of 
Thomas,*  not  pampering  them  with  dainties 
and  sauces,  those  brethren  of  a  more  baleful 
pampering,^  but  tasting  and  learning  that  the 
Lord  is  good,v  with  the  better  and  abiding 
taste ;  and  not  for  a  short  while  refreshing 
that  baneful  and  thankless  dust,  which  lets 
pass  and  does  not  hold  that  which  is  given  to 
it ;  but  delighting  it  with  the  words  which 
are  sweeter  than  honey.*    ' 

XXXIX.  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  which  the  whole  body  is  fitly  joined  to- 
gether and  compacted  ;  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 
one  that  they  may  in  every  place  be  lifted  tip 
holy  ;  ^  and  that  they  may  lay  hold  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  Christ,  lest  the  Lord  at  any  time  be 
angered  ;  and  that  the  Word  may  gain  ere-- 
dence  by  action,  as  was  the  case  with  that 
which  was  given  in  the  hand  of  a  prophet ;  ^ 
the  other,  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  Prized  of  the  high 
Calling,  and  to  receive  Christ  Who  washes 
and  cleanses  them.  And  if  there  be  also  a 
cleansing  of  that  belly  which  receiveth  and 
digesteth  the  food  of  the  Word,  it  were  good 
also  ;  not  to  make  it  a  god  by  luxury  and  the 
meat  that  perisheth,f*  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  honourably 
over  the  sins  of  Israel."  I  find  also  the  heart 
and  inward  parts  deemed  worthy  of  honour. 
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. 

XL.  And  what  of  the  loins,  or  reins,  for  we 
must  not  pass  these  over?  Let  the  purifica- 
tion take  hold  of  the.se  also.  Let  our  loins  be 
girded   about  and   kept    in   check   by   conti- 

a  John  x.\.  28.     ^  Quia  gula  est  parens  immunditiae  et  luxuria;. 

■y  Ps.  xxxiv.  8.  S  Ps.  cxix.  103. 

c  Kphes   iv.  16.       ^  i  Tim.  ii.  8.       jj  Ps.  ii.  12.       0  Hag.  i.  i. 

K  Mai.  i.  I  sq.  ;  Prov.  i.  16.  A  Phil.  iii.  14. 

IJ.  John  vi.  27.  V  Jer.  iv.  19.  f  Ps.  li.  10. 


ORATION    ON  HOLY   BAPTISM. 


375 


nence,  as  the  Law  bade  Israel  of  old  when  par- 
taking of  the  Passover."  For  none  comes  out 
of  Egypt  purely,  or  escapes  the  Destroyer, 
except  he  who  has  disciplined  these.  And 
let  the  reins  be  changed  by  that  good  conver- 
sion by  which  they  transfer  all  the  affections 
to  God,  so  that  they  can  say,  Lord,  all  my 
desire  is  before  Thee,^  and  the  day  of  man 
have  I  not  desired  ;  y  for  you  must  be  a  man  of 
desires,*  but  they  must  be  those  of  the  spirit. 
For  thus  you  would  destroy  the  dragon  that 
carries  the  greater  part  of  his  strength  upon 
his  navel  and  his  loins,*  by  slaying  the  power 
that  comes  to  him  from  these.  Do  not  be 
surprised  at  my  giving  a  more  abundant  hon- 
our to  our  uncomely  parts, ^  mortifying  them 
and  making  them  chaste  by  my  speech,  and 
standing  up  against  the  flesh.  Let  us  give 
to  God  all  our  members  which  are  upon  the 
earth  ; ''  let  us  consecrate  them  all ;  not  the 
lobe  of  the  liver®  or  the  kidneys  with  the 
fat,  nor  some  part  of  our  bodies  now  this  now 
that  (why  should  we  despise  the  rest?);  but 
let  us  bring  ourselves  entire,  let  us  be  reason- 
able holocausts,"  perfect  sacrifices  ;  and  let  us 
not  make  only  the  shoulder  or  the  breast  a 
portion  for  the  Priest  to  take  away,^  for  that 
would  be  a  small  thing,  but  let  us  give  our- 
selves entire,  that  we  may  receive  back  our- 
.selves  entire  ;  for  this  is  to  receive  entirely, 
when  we  give  ourselves  to  God  and  offer  as  a 
sacrifice  our  own  salvation. 

XLI.  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  com- 
panion of  my  departure  ;  with  which  I  en- 
dure all  that  is  so  distressful,  and  despise  all 
delights  ;  the  confession  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  I  commit 
luito  you  to-day ;  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 

a  Exod.  xii.  ii.  P  Ps.  xxxviii.  9.  y  Job  xvii.  i6. 

5  Dari.  X.  II.      6  Job  xxxix.  t6.       f  i  Cor.  xii.  23.      *)  Col.  iii-  5. 

6  Levit.  iii.  4.  The  Mosaic  Law  ordered  that  the  upper  part  of 
the  liver  and  the  kidneys,  together  with  the  fat,  should  in  certain 
sacrifices  be  consecrated  to  Goi  ;  signifyins  that  anger  (which 
was  intimited  by  the  liver,  which  produces  bile),  and  lust  fsicni- 
fied  by  the  kidneys  and  the  fat  I  should  especially  be  sacrificed  to 
God.  Again  Moses  assigned  the  shoulder  and  the  breast  of  some 
sacrifices  to  the  Priests,  hintine;  obscurely  at  this,  that  we  ought  to 
take  care  to  offer  our  hearts  to  the  Priests  by  confession  (for  the 
heart  is  signified  by  the  breast  which  protects  it)  and  also  our  ac- 
tions, which  are  intended  by  the  shoulder,  that  Ijy  the  Priest  they 
may  be  presented  to  God.  But  the  Apostle  bids  us  mortify  all  our 
members  which  are  upon  the  earth,  and  offer  ourselves  entire  as  a 
sacrifice  to  God,  destroying  with  the  sword  of  the  Word  of  God  all 
our  evil  and  corrupt  affections. — Nicetas. 

K  Rora.  xii.  i.  A  Levit.  vii.  34. 


respect  the  same  ;  just  as  the  beauty  and  the 
greatness  of  the  heavens  is  one  ;  the  infinite 
conjunction  ofThree  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  v.hen  contemplated  together ; 
Eacli  God  because  Consubstantial ;  One  God 
because  of  the  Monarchia.  No  sooner  do  I 
conceive  of  the  One  than  I  am  illumined  by 
the  Splendour  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  con- 
template the  Three  together,  I  see  but  one 
torch,  and  cannot  divide  or  measure  out  the 
Undivided  Light. 

XLII.  Do  you  fear  to  speak  of  Generation 
lest  you  should  attribute  aught  of  passion  to  the 
impassible  God?  I  on  the  other  hand  fear  to 
speak  of  Creation,  lest  I  should  destroy  God 
by  the  insult  and  the  untrue  division,  either 
cutting  the  Son  away  from  the  Father,  or 
from  the  Son  the  Substance  of  the  Spirit. 
For  this  paradox  is  involved,  that  not  only  is 
a  created  Life  foisted  into  the  Godhead  by 
those  who  measure  Godiiead  badly ;  but  even 
this  created  life  is  divided  against  itself.  For 
as  these  low  earthly  minds  make  the  Son  sub- 
ject to  the  Father,  so  again  is  the  rank  of  the 
Spirit  made  inferior  to  that  of  the  Son,  until 
both  God  and  created  life  are  insulted  by  the 
new  Theology.  No,  my  friends,  there  is 
nothing  servile  in  the  Trinity,  nothing  cre- 
ated, nothing  accidental,  as  I  have  heard  one 
of  the  wise  ^  say.  If  I  yet  pleased  men  I 
should  not  be  the  servant  of  Christ,  says  the 
Apostle  ;  v  and  if  I  yet  worshipped  a  creature, 
or  were  baptized  into  a  creature,  I  should  not 
be  made  divine,  nor  have  changed  my  first 
birth.  What  shall  I  say  to  those  who  wor- 
ship Astarte  or  Chemosh,  the  abomination  of 
the  Sidonians,  or  the  likeness  of  a  star,*  a  god 
a  little  above  them  to  these  idolaters,  but 
yet  a  creature  and  a  piece  of  workmanship, 
when  I  myself  either  do  not  worship  Two  of 
Those  into  Whose  united  Name  I  am  bap- 
tized, or  else  worship  my  fellow-servants,  for 
they  are  fellow -servants,  even  if  a  little  higher 
in  the  scale  ;  for  differences  must  exist  among 
fellow-servants. 

XLIII.   I  should  like  to  call  the  Father  the 


a  i.e.     If  I  think  of  One  Hlessed  Pirson,  the  other   Two  are  not 
in  my  mind,  and  so  the  greater  part  of  God  escapes  me. 

P  S.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus.        y  Galat.  i.  xo.       S  Amos  v.  26. 


3/6 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


greater,  because  from  him  flows  both  the  Equal- 
ity and  the  Being  of  the  Equals  (this  will  be 
granted  on  all  hands),  but  I  am  afraid  to  use  the 
word  Origin,  lest  I  should  make  Him  the  Ori- 
gin of  Inferiors,  and  thus  insult  Him  by  prece- 
dencies of  honour.  For  the  lowering  of  those 
Who  are  from  Him  is  no  glory  to  the  Source. 
Moreover,  I  look  wnth  suspicion  at  your  in- 
satiate desire,  for  fear  you  should  take  hold  of 
this  w'ord  Greater,  and  divide  the  Nature,  us- 
ing the  w'ord  Greater  in  ^//senses,  whereas  it 
does  not  apply  to  the  Nature,  but  only  to  Orig- 
ination. For  in  the  Consubstantial  Persons 
there  is  nothing  greater  or  less  in  i)oint  of  Sub- 
stance. I  would  honour  the  Son  as  Son  be- 
fore the  Spirit,  but  Baptism  consecrating  me 
through  the  Spirit  does  not  allow  of  this. 
But  are  you  afraid  of  being  reproached  wath 
Tritheism?  Do  you  take  possession  of  this 
good  thing,  the  Unity  in  the  Three,  and  leave 
me  to  fight  the  battle.  Let  me  be  the  ship- 
builder, and  do  you  use  the  ship;  or  if  another 
is  the  builder  of  the  ship,  take  me  for  the 
architect  of  the  house,  and  do  you  live  in  it 
with  safety,  though  you  spent  no  labour  upon 
it.  You  shall  not  have  a  less  prosperous  voy- 
age, or  a  less  safe  habitation  than  I  who  built 
them,  because  you  have  not  laboured  upon 
them.  See  how  great  is  my  indulgence  ;  see  | 
the  goodness  of  the  Spirit ;  the  war  shall  be 
mine,  yours  the  achievement ;  I  will  be  un- 
der fire,  and  you  shall  live  in  peace ;  but 
join  with  your  defender  in  prayer,  and  give 
me  your  hand  by  the  Faith.  I  have  three 
stones  which  I  will  .sling  at  the  Philistine  ;  "■  I 
have  three  inspirations  against  the  son  of  the 
Sareptan,^  with  which  I  will  quicken  the  .slain  ; 
I  have  three  floods  against  the  faggots  with 
which  I  will  consecrate  the  Sacrifice  with 
water,  raising  the  most  unexpected  fire  ;y  and  I 
will  throw  down  the  prophets  of  shame  by  the  j 
power  of  the  Sacrament. 

XLIV.  What  need  have  I  any  more  of 
si)eech?  It  is  the  time  for  teaching,  not  for  con- 
troversy. I  protest  before  God  and  the  elect 
Angels,*  be  thou  bai>ti/.ed  in  this  faith.  If  thy 
heart  is  written  upon  in  some  other  way  than 
as  my  teaching  demands,  come  and  have  the 
writing  changed  ;  I  am  no  unskilled  caligra- 
pher  of  these  truths.  I  write  that  which  is  writ- 
ten upon  my  own  heart ;  and  I  teach  that  which 
I  have  been  taught,  and  have  kept  from  the 
beginning  up  to  these  hoar  hairs.*       Mine  is 


a  I  Sam.  xvii.  dg.  fi  i  Kgs.  xvii.  zi. 

7  lb.  xviii    33.  6  i  Tun.  v.  21. 

e  Supposing  .S.  Gregory's  V)irtli  to  have  been  in  323,  the  earliest 
ilate  which  seems  at  all  probable,  he  would  be  under  60  in  381,  when 
this  Oration  was  delivered  :  so  that  the  expression  on  the  text  must 
be  held  to  be  a  rhetorical  exaggeration.     Suidas,  however,  pushes 


the  risk  ;  be  mine  also  the  reward  of  being 
the  Director  of  your  soul,  and  consecrating 
you  by  Baptism.  But  if  you  are  already  right- 
ly disposed,  and  marked  with  the  good  in- 
scription, see  that  you  keep  what  is  written, 
and  remain  unchanged  in  a  changing  time 
concerning  an  unchanging  Thing.  Follow 
Pilate's  example  in  the  better  sense;  you  who 
are  rightly  written  on,  imitate  him  who  wrote 
wrongfully.  Say  to  those  who  would  persuade 
you  differently,  what  I  have  written,  I  have 
written."  For  indeed  I  should  be  ashamed  if, 
while  that  which  was  wrong  remained  in- 
flexible, that  which  is  right  should  be  so  easily 
bent  aside  ;  whereas  we  ought  to  be  easily  bent 
to  that  which  is  better  from  that  which  is 
worse,  but  immovable  from  the  better  to  the 
worse.  If  it  be  thus,  and  according  to  this 
teaching  that  you  come  to  Baptism,  lo  I  will, 
not  refrain  my  lips,^  lo  I  lend  my  hands  to  the 
Spirit ;  let  us  hasten  your  salvation.  The 
Spirit  is  eager,  the  Consecrator  is  ready,  the 
Gift  is  prepared.  But  if  you  still  halt  and 
will  not  receive  the  perfectness  of  the  God- 
head, go  and  look  for  someone  else  to  baptize 
— or  rather  to  drown  you  :  I  have  no  time  to 
cut  the  Godhead,  and  to  make  you  dead  in  the 
moment  of  your  regeneration,  that  you  should 
have  neither  the  Gift  nor  the  Hope  of  Grace, 
but  should  in  so  short  a  time  make  shipwreck 
of  your  salvation.  For  whatever  you  may 
subtract  from  the  Deity  of  the  Three,  you  will 
have  overthrown  the  whole,  and  destroyed 
your  own  being  made  perfect. 

XLV.  But  not  yet  perhaps  is  there  formed 
upon  your  soul  any  writing  good  or  bad  ;  and 
you  want  to  be  written  upon  today,  and  formed 
by  us  unto  ])erfection.  Let  us  go  within  the 
cloud.  Give  me  the  tables  of  your  heart :  I 
will  be  your  Moses,  though  this  be  a  bold 
thing  to  say  ;  I  will  write  on  them  with  the 
finger  of  God  a  new  Decalogue. t  I  will  write 
on  them  a  shorter  method  of  salvation.  And 
if  there  be  any  heretical  or  unreasoning  beast, 
let  him  remain  below,  or  he  will  run  the  risk 
of  being  stoned  by  the  Word  of  truth.  I  will 
baptize  you  and  make  you  a  disciple  in  the 
Name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  *  and  These  Three  have  One 
common  name,  the  Godhead.  And  you  shall 
know,  both  by  appearances*  and  by  words 
that  you  reject  all  ungodliness,  and  are  united 
to  all  the  Godhead.  Believe  that  all  that  is 
in  the  world,  both  all  that  is  seen  and  all  that 


back  the  date  of  his  birth  as  far  as  299  or  300  ;  which  does  not  fit 
in  well  with  the  chronology  of  his  life,  as  given  by  himself. 

o  John  xix.  22.  ^  Ps.  xl.  9.  Y  Kxod.  xxxviii.  28. 

6  lb.  xix.  13.  eMatt.  xxviii.  iQ. 


ORATION    ON    HOLY   BAPTISM. 


m 


is  unseen,  was  made  out  of  nothing  by  God, 
and  is  governed  by  the  Providence  of  its 
Creator,  and  will  receive  a  change  to  a  better 
state.  BeUeve  that  evil  has  no  substance  or 
kingdom,  either  unoriginate  or  self-existent  or 
created  by  God  ;  but  that  it  is  our  work,  and 
the  evil  one's,  and  came  upon  us  through  our 
heedlessness,  but  not  from  our  Creator.  Be- 
lieve that  the  Son  of  God,  the  Eternal  Word, 
Who  was  begotten  of  the  Father  before  all 
time  and  without  body,  was  in  these  latter 
days  for  your  sake  made  also  Son  of  Man,  born 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  ineffably  and  stainlessly 
(for  nothing  can  be  stained  where  God  is, 
and- by  which  salvation  comes),  in  His  own 
Person  at  once  entire  Man  and  perfect  God, 
for  the  sake  of  the  entire  sufferer,  that  He 
may  bestow  salvation  on  your  whole  being, 
having  destroyed  the  whole  condemnation  of 
your  sins:  impassible  in  His  Godhead,  pas- 
sible in  that  which  He  assumed  ;  as  much  Man 
for  your  sake  as  you  are  made  God  for  His. 
Believe  that  for  us  sinners  He  was  led  to 
death  ;  was  crucified  and  buried,  so  far  as  to 
taste  of  death  ;  and  that  He  rose  again  the 
third  day,  and  ascended  into  heaven,  that  He 
might  take  you  with  Him  who  were  lying 
low  ;  and  that  He  will  come  again  with  His 
glorious  Presence  to  judge  the  cpiick  and  the 
dead  ;  no  longer  flesh,  nor  yet  without  a  body, 
according  to  the  laws  which  He  alone  knows 
of  a  more  godlike  body,  that  He  may  be  seen 
by  those  who  pierced  Him,"  and  on  the  other 
hand  may  remain  as  God  without  carnality. 
Receive  besides  this  the  Resurrection,  the 
Judgment  and  the  Reward  according  to  the 
righteous  scales  of  God  ;  and  believe  that  this 
will  be  Light  to  those  whose  mind  is  purified 
(that  is,  God — seen  and  known)  proportionate 
to  their  degree  of  purity,  which  we  call  the 
Kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  to  those  who  suffer 
from  bhndness  of  their  ruling  faculty,  dark- 
ness, that  is  estrangement  from  God,  propor- 
tionate to  their  blindness  here.  Then,  in  the 
tenth  place,  work  that  which  is  good  upon 
this  foundation  of  dogma;  for  faith  without 
works  is  dead,^  even  as  are  works  apart  from 
faith.  This  is  all  that  may  be  divulged  of 
the  Sacrament,  and  that  is  not  forbidden  to 
the  ear  of  the  many.  The  rest  you  shall  learn 
within  the  Church  by  the  grace  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  ;  and  those  matters  you  shall  conceal 
within  yourself,  sealed  and  secure. 

XLVI.  But  one  thing  more  I  preach  unto 
you.  The  Station  in  whicli  you  shall  presently 
stand    after    your   Baptism    before   the  Great 


Sanctuary  "  is  a  foretype  of  the  future  glo- 
ry. The  Psalmody  with  which  you  will 
be  received  is  a  prelude  to  the  Psalmody  of 
Heaven  ;  the  lamps  which  you  will  kindle  are 
a  Sacrament  of  the  illumination  there  with 
which  we  shall  meet  the  Bridegroom,  shining 
and  virgin  souls,  with  the  lamps  of  our  faith 
shining,  not  sleeping  through  our  carelessness, 
that  we  may  not  miss  Him  that  we  look  for  if 
He  come  unexpectedly;  nor  yet  unfed,  and 
without  oil,  and  destitute  of  good  works,  that 
we  be  not  cast  out  of  the  Bridechamber.  For 
I  see  how  pitiable  is  such  a  case.  He  will 
come  when  the  cry  demands  the  meeting,  and 
they  who  are  prudent  shall  meet  Him,  with 
their  light  shining  and  its  food  abundant,  but 
the  others  seeking  for  oil  too  late  from  those 
who  possess  it.  And  He  will  come  with 
speed,  and  the  former  shall  go  in  with  Him, 
but  the  latter  shall  be  shut  out,  having  wasted 
in  preparations  the  time  of  en  trance;  and  they 
shall  weej)  sore  when  all  too  late  they  learn  the 
penalty  of  their  slothfulness,  when  the  Bride- 
chamber  can  no  longer  be  entered  by  them  for 
all  their  entreaties,  for  they  have  shut  it  against 
themselves  by  their  sin,  following  in  another 
fashion  the  example  of  tliose  who  missed  the 
Wedding  feast ^  with  which  the  good  Father 
feasts  the  good  Bridegroom  ;  one  on  account  of 
a  newly  wedded  wife  ;  another  of  a  newly  pur- 
chased field  ;  another  of  a  yoke  of  oxen  :  which 
he  and  they  acquired  to  their  misfortune, 
since  for  the  sake  of  the  little  they  lose  the 
great.  For  none  are  there  of  the  disdainful, 
nor  of  the  slothful,  nor  of  those  who  are  clothed 
in  filthy  rags  and  not  in  the  Wedding  gar- 
ment e\en  though  here  they  may  have  thought 
themselves  worthy  of  wearing  the  bright  robe 
there,  and  secretly  intruded  themselves,  de- 
ceiving themselves  with  vain  hopes.  And 
then.  What?  When  we  have  entered,  then 
the  Bridegroom  knows  what  He  will  teach  us, 
and  how  He  will  converse  with  the  souls  that 
have  come  in  with  Him.  He  will  converse 
with  them,  I  think  in  teaching  things  more 
perfect  and  more  pure.  Of  which  may  we 
all,  both  Teachers  and  Taught,  have  share,  in 
the  Same  Christ  our  Lord,  to  Whom  be  the 
Glory  and  the  Empire,  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


o  Rev.  i.  7. 


3  James  ii.  17. 


a  The  word  liere  used  is  Bema,  which  properly  means  a 
Platform.  In  an  Oriental  Church  the  East  end  of  the  buiWing  is 
raised  by  one  or  more  steps  above  the  choir.  A  little  distance 
Kast  of  these  steps  is  a  ?reat  Screen  called  the  Iconostasis.  from 
the  pictures  (Icons)  with  which  it  is  covered.  It  has  three  doors, 
one  in  the  centre,  called  the  Royal  Tiates,  leadinj  to  the  Altar  : 
one  on  the  left  hand,  leading  to  the  Prothesis.  or  Credence  :  and 
one  on  the  right  to  the  Sacristy.  The  whole  raised  portion  is 
called  the  Hema.  or  sometimes  the  Altar,  the  Altar  proper  being 
known  as  the  Throne. 
^  Luke  xiv.  16,  &c. 


3/8 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    ORATION 
ON  PENTECOST. 

It  is  uncertain  to  what  year  the  following 
Oration  belongs.  It  was,  however,  certainly 
delivered  at  Constantinople  ;  the  Benedictine 
Editors  think  in  the  year  3S1,  in  which  case 
the  day  would  be  May  16.  An  indication 
tending  to  establish  this  date  is  found  in  c.  14, 
in  the  expression  of  apprehension  of  personal 
danger  to  himself  for  his  boldness  in  setting 
forth  the  true  faith.  In  fact,  in  the  earlier 
part  of  this  year,  after  the  Emperor  Theodos- 
ius  had  put  him  in  possession  of  the  Patri- 
archal Throne,  vacant  by  the  expulsion  and 
deposition  of  the  Arian  Demophilus,  he  had 
narrowly  escaped  assassination  at  the  hands  of 
the  Arians. 

The  Oration  deals  again  with  the  subject  of 
the  Fifth  Theological  Oration,  the  question  of 
the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  proceeds  to 
establish  the  point  by  quite  a  different  set  of 
arguments  from  those  adopted  in  the  former 
discourse,  none  of  whose  points  are  here  re- 
peated. 

The  Preacher  begins  by  commenting  on  the 
various  ways  in  which  Festivals  are  kept  by 
Jews,  by  Heathen  and  by  Christians.  Then 
he  remarked  on  the  mystical  significance  of 
the  number  Seven,  which  he  illustrates  by 
several  instances;  and  next  proceeds  with  his 
principal  Subject. 

God  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  says,  completes 
the  work  of  Christ.  Those  who  regard  Him 
as  a  Created  Being,  as  did  the  followers  of 
Macedonius,  are  thereby  guilty  of  blasj^hemy 
and  impiety.  The  true  Faith  recognizes  Him 
as  God  ;  and  this  belief  is  necessary  to  salva- 
tion ;  yet  some  reserve  must  be  employed  in 
applying  that  Name  to  Him.  We  must  in- 
deed insist  on  the  recognition  of  His  posses- 
sion of  all  the  attributes  of  Godhead  ;  and  we 
must  at  any  rate  bear  with  those  who.  like  the 
Orator  himself,  also  give  Him  tlie  Name  of 
God,  which  he  hopes  all  his  hearers  will  re- 
ceive from  the  Holy  Ghost  grace  to  do.  Then 
he  jiroceeds  to  shew  from  Holy  Scripture  that 
in  fact  all  the  Attributes  of  Deity  do  belong 
to  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  that  His  distinctive 
Personal  Mark  is  that  He  is  neither  Unbe- 
gotten  like  the  Father,  nor  Begotten  like  the 
Son.  He  does  not  touch  on  the  cjuestion  of 
the  double  Procession. 

It  would  seem  from  some  expressions  in  c.  8 
that  this  Discourse  was  not  delivered  to  his 
usual  audience,  but  to  an  Assembly  of  "  Re- 
ligious." 

The  Title  of  the  Oration  varies  in   different 


MSS.  Thus  some  have  it  "Of  The  Same 
On  Pentecost,"  to  which  one  adds  "  And  On 
The  Holy  Spirit;"  and  another  jjuts  it  "Of 
The  Same,  a  Homily  on  Pentecost."  The 
printed  Editions  before  the  Benedictine  have 
"  On  The  Holy  Pentecost." 


ORATION  XLI. 
On  Pentecost. 

I.  Let  us  reason  a  little  about  the  Festival, 
that  we  may  keep  it  spiritually.  For  dif- 
ferent persons  have  different  ways  of  keeping 
Festival ;  but  to  the  worshipper  of  the  Word 
a  discourse  seems  best ;  and  of  discourses, 
that  which  is  best  adapted  to  the  occasion. 
And  of  all  beautiful  things  none  gives  so  much 
joy  to  the  lover  of  the  beautiful,  as  that  the 
lover  of  festivals  should  keep  them  spiritu- 
ally. Let  us  look  into  the  matter  thus.  The 
Jew  keeps  festival  as  well  as  we,  but  only  in 
the  letter.  For  while  following  after  the 
bodily  Law,  he  has  not  attained  to  the  spirit- 
ual Law.  The  Greek  too  keeps  festival,  but 
only  in  the  body,  and  in  honour  of  his  own 
gods  and  demons,  some  of  whom  are  creators 
of  passion  by  their  own  admission,  and  others 
were  honoured  out  of  passion.  Therefore 
even  their  manner  of  keeping  festival  is 
passionate,  as  though  their  very  sin  were 
an  honour  to  God,  in  Whom  their  passion 
takes  refuge  as  a  thing  to  be  proud  of.''  We 
too  keep  festival,  but  we  keep  it  as  is  ])leasing 
to  the  Spirit.  And  it  is  jileasing  to  Him  that 
we  should  keep  it  by  discharging  some  duty, 
either  of  action  or  speech.  This  then  is  our 
manner  of  keeping  festival,  to  treasure  up 
in  our  soul  some  of  those  things  which  are 
permanent  and  will  cleave  to  it,  not  of  those 
which  will  forsake  us  and  be  destroyed, 
and  which  only  tickle  our  senses  for  a  little 
while  ;  whereas  they  are  for  the  most  part, 
in  my  judgment  at  least,  harmful  and  ruinous. 
For  sufficient  unto  the  body  is  the  evil 
thereof.  What  need  has  that  fire  of  further 
fuel,  or  that  l)east  of  more  plentiful  food, 
to  make  it  more  uncontrollable,  and  too  vio- 
lent for  reason  ? 

II.  Wherefore  we  must  keep  the  feast  spiritu- 
ally. And  this  is  the  beginning  of  our  dis- 
course ;  for  we  must  sjjeak,  even  if  our  speech 
do  seem  a  little  too  discursive  ;  and  we  must 
be  diligent    for    the  sake  of  those  who  love 

a  They  deify  b.td  passions,  and  then  act  as  if  the  gratification  of 
them  were  an  honour  to  the  gods  in  whom  they  lave  personified 
tlicm. 


ON    PENTECOST. 


379 


learning,  that  we  may  as  it  were  mix  up  some 
seasoning  with  our  solemn  festival.  The 
children  of  the  Hebrews  do  honour  to  the 
number  Seven,  according  to  the  legislation  of 
Moses  (as  did  the  Pythagoreans  in  later  days 
to  the  number  Four,  by  which  indeed  they 
were  in  the  habit  of  swearing'*  as  the  Simon- 
ians  and  Marcionites^  do  by  the  number 
Eight  and  the  number  Thirty,  inasmuch  as 
they  have  given  names  to  and  reverence  a 
system  of  ^ons  of  these  numbers)  ;  I  can- 
not say  by  what  rules  of  analogy,  or  in  conse- 
quence of  what  power  of  this  number ;  any- 
how they  do  honour  to  it.  One  thing  indeed 
is  evident,  that  God,  having  in  six  days 
created  matter,  and  given  it  form,  and  having 
arranged  it  in  all  kinds  of  shapes  and  mix- 
tures, and  having  made  tliis  present  visible 
world,  on  the  seventh  day  rested  from  all  His 
works,  as  is  shewn  by  the  very  name  of  the 
Sabbath,  which  in  Hebrew  means  Rest.  If 
there  be,  however,  any  more  lofty  reason  than 
this,  let  others  discuss  it.  But  this  honour 
which  they  pay  to  it  is  not  confined  to  days 
alone,  but  also  extends  to  years.  That  be- 
longing to  days  the  Sabbath  proves,  because  it 
is  continually  observed  among  them ;  and 
in  accordance  with  this  the  removal  of  leaven 
is  for  that  number  of  days.v  And  that  belong- 
ing to  years  is  shewn  by  the  seventh  year,  the 
year  of  Relea.se ;  ^  and  it  consists  not  only  of 
Hebdomads,  but  of  Hebdomads  of  Heb- 
domads, alike  in  days  and  years.  The  Heb- 
domads of  days  give  birth  to  Pentecost,  a 
day  called  holy  among  them  ;  and  those 
of  years  to  what  they  call  the  Jubilee,  which 
also  has  a  release  of  land,  and  a  manumission 
of  slaves,  and  a  release  of  possessions  bought. 
For  this  nation  consecrates  to  God,  not  only 


oThe  followers  of  Pythagoras  swore  by  their  master,  wlio 
tans;ht  tliem  the  mystic  properties  of  the  number  Four,  which  he 
called  the  Fountain  of  the  Universe,  because  all  things  were  made 
of  four  elements. 

3  'I'he  Simonians  and  Marcionites  were  two  Gnostic  sects,  the 
one  deriving  its  name  from  Simon  Magus,  the  other  from  Marcion 
of  Sinope.  Simon,  of  whom  we  read  in  the  Acts  c.  viii.,  is  gen- 
erally regarded  by  the  Fathers  as  the  precursor  of  the  Gnostic 
Hf-resies.  He  maintained  a  system  of  Emanations  from  God,  of 
which  he  claimed  to  be  himself  the  chief.  In  his  teaching  the  first 
cause  of  all  things  was  an  Ineffable  Existence  or  Non-existence, 
which  he  sometimes  called  Silence  and  sometimes  Fire,  from  which 
the  Universe  was  generated  by  a  series  of  six  Emanations  called 
Roots,  which  he  arranged  in  pairs,  male  and  female  :  and  these 
six  contained  among  them  the  whole  Essence  of  his  first  Principle 
Silence.  The^e  Roots  with  Simon  himself  and  his  consort  Helena, 
made  up  the  Ogdoad  referred  to  in  the  text. 

Marcion  was  a  native  of  .Smope  in  Pontus,  and  flourished  about 
the  middle  of  the  Second  Century.  His  system  of  teaching  was 
-mainly  rationalistic,  and  did  not  recognize  (Dr.  Mansel  tells  us, 
"  Gnostic  Heresies,"  p.  203)  any  theory  of  Emanations  as  connect- 
ing links  between  God  and  the  world  :  for  from  liis  point  of  view  the 
Supreme  God  was  not,  even  indirectly,  the  Author  of  the  world. 
It  would  seem  that  .S.  Gregory  is  confusing  Marcion  with  Valen- 
tinus.  an  Egyptian  hereslnrch  who  flourished  about  the  same  time. 
In  his  theory  we  first  find  a  system  of  "  .^"ons,"  divided  into  an 
Ogdoad,  a  I)ecad,  and  a  Dodecad.  Or  he  may  mean  Marcus,  a 
follower  of  Valentinus,  and  founder  of  the  subordinate  sect  of  the 
Marcosians.  7  Exod.  xii.  15.  6  lb.  xxi.  2. 


the  firstfruits  of  offspring,  or  of  firstborn,  but 
also  those  of  days  and  years.  Thus  the  ven- 
eration paid  to  the  number  Seven  gave  rise 
also  to  the  veneration  of  Pentecost.  For  seven 
being  multiplied  by  seven  generates  fifty 
all  but  one  day,  which  we  borrow  from 
the  world  to  come,  at  once  the  Eighth  and 
the  first,  or  rather  one  and  indestructible. 
For  the  present  sabbatism  of  our  souls  can 
find  its  cessation  there,  that  a  portion  may  be 
given  to  seven  and  also  to  eight"  (so  some 
of  our  predecessors  have  interpreted  this  pas- 
sage of  Solomon). 

III.  As  to  the  honour  paid  to  Seven  there  are 
many  testimonies,  but  we  will  be  content  with 
a  few  out  of  the  many.  For  instance,  seven 
precious  spirits  are  named  ;  for  I  think  Isaiah  ^ 
loves  to  call  the  activities  of  the  Spirit  spirits  ; 
and  the  Oracles  of  the  Lord  are  purified  seven 
times  according  to  David, v  and  the  just  is  de- 
livered from  six  troubles  and  in  the  seventh  is 
not  smitten.^  But  the  sinner  is  pardoned  not 
seven  times,  but  seventy  times  seven.*  And 
we  may  see  it  by  the  contrary  also  (for  the 
punishment  of  Avickedness  is  to  be  praised), 
Cain  being  avenged  seven  times,  that  is, 
punishment  being  exacted  from  him  for  his 
fratricide,  and  Lamech  seventy  times  seven, ^ 
because  he  was  a  murderer  after  the  law  and 
the  condemnation.'^     And  wicked  neighbours 


aEccles.  xi.  2.  S.  Gregory  himself  (Or.  xviii.  "'in  laudem 
Patris,"  c.  20)  comments  upon  this  passage  as  enjoining  liberal 
almsgiving.  S.  Ambrose  (in  Luc.  vi.)  has  a  mystical  interpreta- 
tion somewhat  resembling  that  here  referred  to  :  but  I  cannot  find 
a  predecessor  of  Gregory  on  the  verse.  Some  later  commentators, 
according  to  Cornelius  and  Lapide,  take  the  Seven  of  the  poor  in 
this  life,  and  the  Eight  of  the  souls  in  Purgatory,  following  a  com- 
mon interpretation  of  these  numbers.       /3  Isa.  xi.  2.       7  Ps.  xix.  6. 

S  Job  v.  19.  e  Matt,  xviii.  22.  ^  Gen.  iv.  24. 

7)  It  will  be  worth  while,  says  Nicetas,  to  add  S.  John  Chrysos- 
tom's  account  of  the  sevenfold  punishment  which  was  inflicted  on 
Cain.  The  number  Seven  he  says  (Hom.  in  Gen.  xix.  5,  p.  168  c.) 
is  often  used  in  Holy  .Scripture  in  the  sense  of  multitude,  as  e.g., 
in  such  places  as,  "The  barren  hath  borne  seven,"  and  the  like. 
So  here  ;  the  greatness  of  the  crime  is  implied,  and  that  it  is  not  a 
simple  and  single  crime,  but  seven  sins  ;  and  those  of  such  a  sort 
that  every  one  of  them  must  be  avenged  by  a  very  severe  punish- 
ment. First,  that  he  envied  his  brother  when  he  saw  that  God 
loved  him,  a  sin  which  without  any  other  added  to  it  was  suffi- 
cient to  be  deadly.  The  next  was  that  this  sin  was  against  a 
brother.  The  third  that  he  compassed  a  deceit.  The  fourth  that 
he  perpetrated  a  murder.  The  fifth  that  it  was  his  brother  that  he 
slew.  The  sixth  that  he  was  the  first  man  to  commit  a  murder. 
The  seventh  that  he  lied  to  God.  You  have  followed  these  steps 
with  your  mind,  or  do  you  desire  that  I  should  repeat  the  enumera- 
tion in  a  fuller  way,  to  make  you  understand  how  each  of  these 
sins  would  be  visited  with  a  ver-y  severe  penalty,  even  if  it  stood 
alone.  Who  would  judge  a  man  worthy  of  pardon  who  envies 
another  simply  because  he  enjoys  the  favour  and  love  of  God  ? 
Here  then  is  one  very  great  and  ine.xpiable  sin.  .^nd  this  is  shewn 
to  be  even  more  atrocious  when  he  who  is  envied  is  a  brother,  and 
has  done  him  no  wrong.  Further,  he  contrived  a  deceit,  bringing 
his  brother  out  by  a  trick  into  the  field,  without  reverence  fol' 
nature  herself.  The  fourth  crime  is  the  murder  which  he  com- 
mitted. The  fifth  is  that  it  was  his-brother  whom  he  put  to  death  : 
his  brother,  I  say.  that  came  out  of  the  snme  womb.  .Sixthly,  he 
was  the  first  inventor  of  murder.  .Seventhly,  when  questioned  by 
God  he  did  not  hesitate  to  lie.  And  therefore  because  he  dared 
to  lay  hands  on  his  brother,  he  draws  upon  himself  severe  punish- 
ments. He  then  proceeds  to  shew  how  Lamech's  crime  was  worse 
than  Cain's,  and  is  therefore  said  to  be  punished  seventy  limes  : 
that  is,  in  manifold  ways.  Lamech  slew  a  man  and  a  young  man, 
and  this,  after  the  law  against  murder  had  been  given  ;  that  is, 
after  God   had  punished  Cain.     Cain's  punishment  he  says  was 


380 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


receive  sevenfold  into  their  bosom  :  "^  and  the 
House  of  Wisdom  rests  on  seven  pillars,^  and 
the  Stone  of  Zerubbabel  is  adorned  with  seven 
eyes ;  v  and  God  is  praised  seven  times  a  day.^ 
And  again  the  barren  beareth  seven,*  the  per- 
fect number,  she  who  is  contrasted  with  her 
who  is  imperfect  in  her  children."  ^ 

IV.  And  if  we  must  also  look  at  ancient  his- 
tory, I  perceive  that  Enoch, "J  the  seventh  among 
our  ancestors,  was  honoured  by  translation.  I 
perceive  also  that  the  twenty-first,  Abraham,^ 
was  given  the  glory  of  the  Patriarchate,  by 
the  addition  of  a  greater  mystery.  For  the 
Hebdomad  thrice  repeated  brings  out  this 
number.  And  one  who  is  very  bold  might 
venture  even  to  come  to  the  New  Adam,  my 
God  and  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Who  is  counted 
the  Seventy-seventh  from  the  old  Adam  who 
fell  under  sin,  in  the  backward  genealogy 
according  to  Luke."  And  I  think  of  the  seven 
trumpets  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Nave,  and  the 
same  number  of  circuits  and  days  and  priests, 
by -which  the  walls  of  Jericho  were  shaken 
down.''^  And  so  too  the  seven  compassings  of 
the  City  ;  in  the  same  way  as  there  is  a  mys- 
tery in  the  threefold  breathings  of  Elias,  the 
Prophet,  by  which  he  breathed  life  into  the 
son  of  the  Sareptan  widow, **  and  the  same 
number  of  his  floodings  of  the  wood,"  when 
he  consumed  the  sacrifice  with  fire  sent  from 
God,  and  condemned  the  prophets  of  shame, 
who  could  not  do  the  like  at  his  challenge. 
And  the  se'venfold  looking  for  the  cloud 
imposed  upon  the  young  servant ;  and  Elis- 
s?eus  stretching  himself  that  number  of  times 
upon  the  child  of  the  Shunammite,  by  which 
stretching    the   breath    of  life  was  restored. ^ 


sevenfold,  corresponding  to  his  seven  sins  : — i.  Cursed  is  the 
ground  for  thv  sake.  2.  Thou  shall  till  the  ground  :  i.e.,  thou 
shalt  never  rest  from  the  toils  of  husbandry.  3.  It  shall  not  yield 
unto  thee  its  strength;  4.  thy  labours  shall  be  barren,  and  s-"  sighing 
and  trembling  "  shalt  thou  be.  And  the  sixth  is  from  the  lips  of 
Cain  himself  :—'•  If  Thou  easiest  me  out  from  the  earth,"  i.e., 
from  all  earthly  conveniences,  "from  Thy  face  shall  I  be  hid." 
And  (lod  put  a  mark  upon  Cain  ;  this  is  the  seventh  punishment 
— a  mark  of  infamy  declaring  his  guilt  and  shame  to  all  that  should 
see  him.  Others  according  to  the  same  authority  (and  Bishop 
Wordsworth  adopts  the  explanation)  explains  it  thus.  From 
Cain  to  the  Deluge  are  seven  generations,  and  then  the  world  was 
punished  because  sin  had  spread  far  and  wide.  I'.ut  Lamech's 
sin  could  not  be  cured  by  the  Deluge,  but  only  by  Him  Who 
takcth  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  Then  count  all  the  generations 
from  Adam  to  Christ,  and  according  to  the  Genealogy  in  Luke, 
you  will  find  that  our  Lord  was  born  in  the  seventieth  generation. 
This  is  S.  Jerome's  explanation.  a  Ps.  Ixxix.  12. 

3  Prov.  IX.  i.       y  Zech.  iii.  9.      S  Ps.  cxix.  164.       e  i  Sam.  ii.  5. 

f  Peninnah  who  had  "many"  children  is  called  Imperfect  in 
her  children,  because  Many  is  an  indefinite  word  :  whereas  Han- 
nah's one  child  .Samuel  was  so  perfect  a  man  that  he  was  as  it 
were  seven  to  his  mother.  For  .Seven  is  mystically,  as  Six  or  Ten 
is  arithmetically,  the  perfect  number.  TSix  because  it  is  the  sum  of 
its  own  factors  i,  z,  ^  :  Ten.  because  it  is  the  basis  of  numera- 
tion :  Seven  because  it  is  the  number  of  Creation  ;  for  God  rested 
on  the  Sabbath  Day.) 

T)  Jude  14.  0  Gen.  v.  22.  k  Luke  iii.  34. 

A   Tosh.  vi.  4.  Szc.        n  I  Kes.  xvii.  21.         v  lb.  xviii.  33. 

f  2  Kgs.  iv.  2^,  where  the  LXX.  has  "he  contracted  himself 
upon  the  child  until  seven  times,  and  the  child  opened  his  eyes  ;  " 
saying  nothing  about  the  sneezing  of  the  child,  which  the  Hebrew 
and  Vulgate  mention,  while  they  omit  the  number  in  the  case  of 


To  the  same  doctrine  belongs,  I  think  (if  I 
may  omit  the  seven -stemmed  and  seven-lamped 
candlestick  of  the  Temple")  that  the  ceremony 
of  the  Priests'  consecration  lasted  seven  days  ;  ^ 
and  seven  that  of  the  purifying  of  a  leper, t  and 
that  of  the  Dedication  of  the  Temple  *  the 
same  number,  and  that  in  the  seventieth  vear 
tlie  people  returned  from  the  Captivity  ;  *  that 
whatever  is  in  Units  may  appear  also  in 
Decads,  and  the  mystery  of  the  Hebdomad 
be  re\erenced  in  a  more  perfect  number.  But 
why  do  I  speak  of  the  distant  past  ?  Jesus 
Himself  who  is  pure  perfection,  could  in  the 
desert  and  with  five  loaves  feed  five  thousand, 
and  again  with  seven  loaves  four  thousand. 
And  the  leavings  after  they  were  satisfied  were 
in  the  first  case  twelve  baskets  full,  and  in  the 
other  seven  baskets ;  ^  neither,  I  imagine, 
without  a  reason  or  unworthy  of  the  Spirit. 
And  if  you  read  for  yourself  you  may  take 
note  of  many  numbers  which  contain  a  mean- 
ing deeper  than  appears  on  the  surface.  But 
to  come  to  an  instance  which  is  most  u.sefiil 
to  us  on  the  present  occasion,  not  that  for 
these  reasons  or  others  very  similar  or  yet 
more  divine,  the  Hel)rews  honour  the  Day  of 
Pentecost,  and  we  also  honour  it ;  just  as  there 
are  other  rites  of  the  Hebrews  which  we  observe 
they  were  typically  observed  by 
them,  and  by  us  they  are  sacramentally  re- 
instated. And  now  having  said  so  much  by 
way  of  preface  about  the  Day,  let  us  proceed 
to  what  we  have  to  say  further. 

V.  We  are  kee])ing  the  feast  of  Pentecost  and 
of  the  Coming  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  appointed 
time  of  the  Promise,  and  the  fulfilment  of  our 
hope.  And  how  great,  how  august,  is  the 
Mystery.  The  dispensations  of  the  Body  of 
Christ  are  ended  ;  or  rather,  what  belongs  to 
His  Bodily  Advent  (for  I  hesitate  to  say  the 
Dispensation  of  His  Body,  as  long  as  no  dis- 
course i^ersuades  me  that  it  is  better  to  have 
l)ut  off  the  body  ''),  and  that  of  the  Spirit  is 
beginning.  And  what  were  the  things  per- 
taining to  the  Christ?  The  Virgin,  tlie 
Birth,  the  Manger,  the  Swaddling,  the  Angels 
glorifying  Him,  the  Shepherds  running  to 
Him,  the  course  of  the  Star,  the  Magi  wor- 
shii)ping   Him   and    bringing   Gifts,   Herod's 


Klisha's  similar  action.  S.  Bernard  has  a  curious  explanation  of 
the  seven  sneezes  of  the  child  (in  Cant.  xvil. 

aKx.  XXV.  32.37.  /3  Lcvit.  viii.  33.  y  lb.  xiv,  8. 

S  t  Kings  viii.  6.  e  2  Chron.  xxxvi.  32. 

f  Different  words  are  used  here  as  in  the  New  'J'estamcnt  for 
Baskets.  The  second  implies  a  larger  .size  :  it  is  the  word  used 
for  the  "basket  "  in  which  St.  Paul  was  let  down  from  the  wall  of 
Damascus,  Acts  ix.  25. 

T)  .S.  Gregory  makes  this  explanation  because  there  were  certam 
heretics  who  taught  that  our  Lord  at  His  Ascension  laid  aside  His 
Humanity.  It  is  said  that  this  was  held  by  certain  Manicha-ans. 
who  based  their  idea  on  Ps.  xlx.  4,  where  the  LXX.  and  Vulgalc 
read,  '•  He  hath  set  His  Tabernacle  in  the  Sun." 


ON    PENTECOST. 


381 


murder  of  the  children,  the  FUght  of  Jesus 
into  Egypt,  the  Return  from  Egypt,  the  Cir- 
cumcision, the  Baptism,  the  Witness  from 
Heaven,  the  Temi)tation,  the  Stoning  for  our 
sake  (because  He  had  to  be  given  as  an  Ex- 
ample to  us  of  enduring  affliction  for  the 
Word),  the  Betrayal,  the  Nailing,  the  Burial, 
the  Resurrection,  the  Ascension ;  and  of 
these  even  now  He  suffers  many  dishonours 
at  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  Christ ;  and 
He  bears  them,  for  He  is  longsuffering.  But 
from  those  who  love  Him  He  receives  all  that 
is  honourable.  And  He  defers,  as  in  the  for- 
mer case  His  wrath,  so  in  ours  Hit>  kindness  ; 
in  their  case  perhaps  to  give  them  the  grace 
of  repentance,  and  in  ours  to  test  our  love ; 
whether  we  do  not  faint  in  our  tribulations" 
and  conflicts  for  the  true  Religion,  as  was 
from  of  old  the  order  of  His  Divine  Economy, 
and  of  his  unsearchable  judgments,  with  which 
He  orders  wisely  all  that  concerns  us.  Such 
are  the  mysteries  of  Christ.  And  what  fol- 
lows we  shall  see  to  be  more  glorious  ;  and 
may  we  too  be  seen.  As  to  the  things  of  the 
Spirit,  may  the  Spirit  be  with  me,  and  grant 
me  speech  as  much  as  I  desire  ;  or  if  not  that, 
yet  as  is  in  dife  proportion  to  the  season. 
Anyhow  He  will  be  with  me  as  my  Lord  ; 
not  in  servile  guise,  nor  awaiting  a  command, 
as  some  think. ^  For  He  bloweth  where  He 
wills  and  on  whom  He  wills,  and  to  what  ex- 
tent He  wills. Y  Thus  we  are  inspired  both  to 
think  and  to  speak  of  the  Spirit. 

VI.  They  who  reduce  the  Holy  Spirit  to  the 
rank  of  a  creature  are  blasphemers  and  wicked 
servants,  and  worst  of  the  wicked.  For  it  is 
the  part  of  wicked  servants  to  despise  Lord- 
ship, and  to  rebel  against  dominion,  and  to 
make  That  which  is  free  their  fellow-servant. 
But  they  who  deem  Him  God  are  inspired  by 
God  ^  and  are  illustrious  in  their  mind  ;  and 
they  who  go  further  and  call  Him  so,  if  to 
well  disposed  hearers  are  exalted  ;  if  to  the 
low,  are  not  reserved  enough,  for  they  com- 
mit pearls  to  clay,  and   the  noise  of  thunder 

a.  Ephes.  iii.  13. 

^  The  reference  is  to  the  Macedonians  or  Pneumatomachi,  fol- 
lowers of  Macedonius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who  had 
passed  from  extreme  or  Anomcean  Arianism  to  Semi-Arianism, 
and  was  forcibly  intruded  on  the  See  by  order  of  Constantius  in 
343,  but  was  afterwards  deposed.  After  his  deposition  he 
broached  the  heresy  known  by  his  name,  denying  the  Deity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  ;  some  of  its  adherents,  with  Macedonius  himself, 
maintaining  Him  to  be  a  mere  creature ;  others  stopping  short  of 
this  ;  and  others  calling  Him  a  creature  and  servant  of  the  -Son. 
The  heresy  was  formally  condemned  in  the  Ecumenical  Council 
of  Constantinople  in  381.  y  John  iii.  8. 

6  S.  Grea:ory  here  commends  the  practice  of  reserve  in  respect 
of  the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  To  bflieve  it  is  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, he  would  say  ;  but  in  view  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  it  is 
well  to  be  careful  before  whom  we  give  Him  the  Na'me  of  God. 
But  he  demands  that  his  hearers  should  give  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
all  the  Attributes  of  Godhead,  and  should  bear  with  those  who, 
like  himself,  gave  Him  also  the  Name,  as  he  prays  that  they  all 
may  have  grace  to  do  (Benott). 


to  weak  ears,  and  the  sun  to  feeble  eyes,  and 
solid  food  to  those  who  are  still  using  milk  ;  °- 
whereas  they  ought  to  lead  them  little  by  little 
up  to  what  lies  beyond  them,  and  to  bring 
them  up  to  the  higher  truths ;  adding  light  to 
.light,  and  supplying  truth  upon  truth.  There- 
fore we  will  leave  the  more  mature  discourse, 
for  which  the  time  has  not  yet  come,  and 
will  speak  with  them  as  follows. 

Vn.  If,  my  friends,  you  will  not  acknowl- 
edge the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  uncreated,  nor  yet 
eternal ;  clearly  such  a  state  of  mind  is  due  to 
the  contrary  spirit — forgive  me,  if  in  my  zeal  I 
speak  somewhat  over  boldly.  If,  however, 
you  are  sound  enough  to  escape  this  evident 
impiety,  and  to  place  outside  of  slavery  Him 
Who  gives  freedom  to  yourselves,  then  see  for 
yourselves  with  the  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  us  what  follows.  For  I  am  persuaded 
that  you  are  to  some  extent  partakers  of  Him, 
so  that  I  will  go  into  the  question  with  you  as 
kindred  souls.  Either  shew  me  some  mean 
between  lordship  and  servitude,  that  I  may 
there  place  the  rank  of  the  Spirit  ;  or,  if  you 
shrink  from  imputing  servitude  to  Him,  there 
is  no  doubt  of  the  rank  in  which  you  must 
place  the  object  of  your  search.  But  you  are 
dissatisfied  with  the  syllables,  and  you  stumble 
at  the  word,  and  it  is  to  you  a  stone  of  stum- 
bling and  a  rock  of  offence  ;  ^  for  so  is  Christ 
to  some  minds.  It  is  only  human  after  all. 
Let  us  meet  one  another  in  a  spiritual  man- 
ner ;  let  us  be  full  rather  of  brotherly  than  of 
self  love.  Grant  us  the  Power  of  the  God- 
head, and  we  will  give  up  to  you  the  use  of 
the  Name.  Confess  the  Nature  in  other  words 
for  which  you  have  greater  reverence,  and  we 
will  heal  you  as  infirm  people,  filching  from 
you  some  matters  in  which  you  delight.  For 
it  is  shameful,  yes,  shameful  and  utterly  illogi- 
cal, when  you  are  sound  in  soul,  to  draw  petty 
distinctions  about  the  sound,  and  to  hide  the 
Treasure,  as  if  you  envied  it  to  others,  or  were 
afraid  lest  you  should  sanctify  your  own  tongue 
too.  But  it  is  even  more  shameful  for  us  to 
be  in  the  state  of  which  we  accuse  you,  and, 
while  condemning  your  petty  distinctions  of 
words  to  make  petty  distinctions  of  letters. 

VIII.  Confess,  my  friends,  the  Trinity  to  be 
of  One  Godhead  ;  or  if  you  will,  of  One  Nature  ; 
and  we  will  pray  the  Spirit  to  give  you  this 
word  God.  He  will  give  it  to  you,  I  well  know, 
inasmuch  as  He  has  already  granted  you  the 
first  portion  and  the  second  ;  y  and  especially 


a  Heb.  v.  12.  /3  Isa.  viii.  14  ;  Rom.  ix.  33  :  i  Pet.  ii.  8. 

V  i.e.,  inasmuch  as  He  has  granted  you  a  right  faith  in  the 
Consubstantiality  and  Unity  of  the  Trinity,  I  am  sure  He  will  in 
time  grant  you  the  grace  also  to  call  Him  by  the  Name  of  God. 


382 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


if  that  about  which  we  are  contending  is 
some  spiritual  cowardice,  and  not  the  devil's 
objection.  Yet  more  clearly  and  concisely, 
let  me  say,  do  not  you  call  us  to  account  for 
our  loftier  word  (for  envy  has  nothing  to  do 
with  this  ascent),  and  we  will  not  find  fault 
with  what  you  have  been  able  to  attain,  until 
by  another  road  you  are  brought  up  to  the 
same  resting  place.  For  we  are  not  seeking 
victory,  but  to  gain  brethren,  by  whose  separ- 
ation from  us  we  are  torn.  This  we  concede 
to  you  in  whom  we  do  find  something  of  vital 
truth,  who  are  sound  as  to  the  Son.  We  ad- 
mire your  life,  but  we  do  not  altogether  ap- 
prove your  doctrine.  Ye  who  have  the  things 
of  the  Spirit,  receive  Himself  in  addition,  that 
ye  may  not  only  strive,  but  strive  lawfully, « 
which  is  the  condition  of  your  crown.  May 
this  reward  of  your  conversation  be  granted 
you,  that  you  may  confess  the  Spirit  perfectly 
and  proclaim  with  us,  aye  and  before  us,  all 
that  is  His  due.  Yes,  and  I  will  venture  even 
more  on  your  behalf;  I  will  even  utter  the 
Apostle's  wish.  So  much  do  I  cling  to  you, 
and  so  much  do  I  revere  your  array,  and  the 
colour  of  your  continence,  and  those  sacred 
assemblies,  and  the  august  Virginity,  and 
purification,  and  the  Psalmody  that  lasts  all 
night  ^  and  your  love  of  the  poor,  and  of  the 
brethren,  and  of  strangers,  that  I  could  con- 
sent to  be  Anathema  from  Christ,  and  even 
to  suffer  something  as  one  condemned,  if  only 
you  might  stand  beside  us,  and  we  might 
glorify  the  Trinity  together.  For  of  the 
others  why  should  I  speak,  seeing  they  are 
clearly  dead  (and  it  is  the  part  of  Christ  alone 
to  raise  them.  Who  quickeneth  the  dead  by 
His  own  Power),  and  are  unhappily  separated 
in  place  as  they  are  bound  together  by  their 
doctrine ;  and  who  quarrel  among  them- 
selves as  much  as  a  pair  of  squinting  eyes  in 
looking  at  the  same  object,  and  differ  with 
one  another,  not  in  sight  Init  in  position — if 
indeed  we  may  charge  them  only  with  squint- 
ing, and  not  with  utter  blindness.  And  now 
that  I  have  to  some  extent  laid  down  your 
])osition,  come,  let  us  return  again  to  the 
subject  of  the  Spirit,  and  1  think  you  Avill  fol- 
low me  now. 

IX.  The  Holy  Ghost,  then,  always  existed, 
and  exists,  and  always  will  exist.  He  neither 
had  a  beginning,  nor  will  He  have  an  end  ;  but 
He  was  everlastingly  ranged  with  and  num- 
bered with  the  Father  and  the  Son.    For  it  was 


a  2  Tim.  ii.  5. 

P  The  Constantinopolitan  followers  of  Macedoniiis  at  the  period 
were  noted  for  their  strict  asceticism.  The  attempt  to  revive  the 
Night  Office  among  the  secular  Clcrey  of  the  Diocese  brought 
great  odium  on  S.  John  Chrysostoin  a  few  years  later. 


not  ever  fitting  that  either  the  Son  should  be 
wanting  to  the  Father,  or  the  Spirit  to  the 
Son.  For  then  Deity  would  be  shorn  of  Its 
Glory  in  its  greatest  respect,  for  It  would  seem 
to  have  arrived  at  the  consummation  of  jjer- 
fection  as  if  by  an  afterthought.  Therefore 
He  was  ever  being  partaken,  but  not  partak- 
ing; perfecting,  not  being  perfected  ;  sancti- 
fying, not  being  sanctified  ;  deifying,  not 
being  deified;  Himself  ever  the  same  with 
Himself,  and  with  Those  with  Whom  He  is 
ranged  ;  invisible,  eternal,  incomprehensible, 
unchangeable,  without  quality,  without  quan- 
tity, without  form,  impaljiable,  self-moving, 
eternally  moving,  with  free-will,  self-power- 
ful, All-powerful  (even  though  all  that  is  of 
the  Spirit  is  referable  to  the  Urst  Cause,  just 
as  is  all  that  is  of  the  Only -begotten);  Life 
and  Lifegiver  ;  Light  and  Lightgiver  ;  absol- 
ute Good,  and  Spring  of  Goodness  ;  the  Right, 
the  Princely  Spirit  ;  the  Lord,  the  Sender, 
the  Separator  ;  Builder  of  His  own  Temple  ; 
leading,  working  as  He  wills  ;  distributing 
His  own  Gifts  ;  the  Spirit  of  Adoption,  of 
Truth,  of  Wisdom,  of  Understanding,  of 
Knowledge,  of  Godliness,  of  Counsel,  of  Fear 
(which  are  ascribed  to  Him  ")  by  Whom  the 
Father  is  known  and  the  Son  is  glorified  ;  and 
by  Whom  alone  He  is  known  ;  one  class,  one 
service,  worship,  power,  perfection,  sanctifi- 
cation.  Wliy  make  a  long  discourse  of  it  ? 
All  that  the  Father  hath  the  Son  hath  also, 
except  the  being  Unbegotten  ;  and  all  that 
the  Son  hath  the  Spirit  hath  also,  except  the 
Generation.  And  these  two  matters  do  not 
divide  the  Substance,  as  1  understand  it,  but 
rather  are  divisions  within  the  Substance.^ 

X.  Are  you  labouring  to  bring  forth  objec- 
tions? Well,  so  am  I  to  get  on  with  my  dis- 
course. Honour  the  Day  of  the  Spirit;  re- 
strain your  tongue  if  you  can  a  little.  It  is 
the  time  to  speak  of  other  tongues — reverence 
them  or  fear  them,  when  you  see  that  they  are 
of  fire.  To-day  let  us  teach  dogmatically  ; 
to-morrow  we  may  discuss.  To-day  let  us 
keep  the  feast ;  to-morrow  will  be  time  enough 
to  behave  ourselves  unseemly — the  first  mysti- 
cally, the  second  theatrically;  the  one  in  the 
Churches,  the  other  in  the  marketplace  ;  the 
one  among  the  sober,  the  other  among  the 
drunken  ;  the  one  as  befits  those  who  vehe- 
mently desire,  the  other,  as  among  those  who 


o  i.e.,  by  Isaiah. 

(3  Job  xxxvni.  4,  Ps.  v.  10.  xxxvi.,  cxxxix.  7-15,  cxiii.,  Isa.  xi.  i- 
3,  xlviii.  16,  Mai.  iii.  6,  Wisd.  i.  2,  John  i.  14,  iii.  24,  xv.  26, 
xvi.  14.  15,  Acts  xiii.  2,  Rom.  iv.  17,  .vv.  16,  19,  1  Cor.  li.  10,  vi. 
19,  viii.  2,  2  Cor.  iii.  i,  6,  xiii.  4,  2  Thess.  iii.  5,  i  Tim.  vi.  10,  Heb. 
ix.  14. 


ON    PENTECOST. 


383 


make  a  joke  of  the  Spirit.  Having  then  put 
an  end  to  the  element  that  is  foreign  to  us, 
let  us  now  thoroughly  furnish  our  own  friends. 
XI.  He  wrought  first  in  the  heavenly  and 
^ngehc  powers,  and  such  as  are  first  after  God 
and  around  God.  For  from  no  other  source 
fla»:s  their  perfection  and  their  brightness,  and 
the  difficulty  or  impossibility  of  moving  them 
to  sin,  but  from  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  next, 
in  the  Patriarchs  and  Prophets,  of  whom  the 
former  saw  Visions  of  God,  or  knew  Him, 
and  the  latter  also  foreknew  the  future,  having 
their  master  part  moulded  by  the  Spirit,  and 
being  associated  with  events  that  were  yet  fut- 
ure as  if  present,  for  such  is  the  power  of  the 
Spirit.  And  next  in  the  Disciples  of  Christ 
(for  I  omit  to  mention  Christ  Himself,  in 
Whom  He  dwelt,  not  as  energizing,  but  as 
accompanying  His  Equal),  and  that  in  three 
ways,  as  they  were  able  to  receive  Him,  and 
on  three  occasions;  before  Christ  was  glori- 
fied by  the  Passion,  and  after  He  was  glorified 
by  the  Resurrection  ;  and  after  His  Ascen- 
sion, or  Restoration,  or  whatever  we  ought  to 
call  it,  to  Heaven.  Now  the  first  of  these 
manifests  Him — the  healing  of  the  sick  and 
casting  out  of  evil  spirits,  which  could  not 
be  apart  from  the  Spirit ;  and  so  does  that 
breathing  ui)on  them  after  the  Resurrection, 
which  was  clearly  a  divine  inspiration  ;  and 
so  too  the  present  distribution  of  the  fiery 
tongues,  which  we  are  now  commemorating. 
But  the  first  manifested  Him  indistinctly,  the 
second  more  expressly,  this  present  one  more 
perfectly,  since  He  is  no  longer  present  only 
in  energy,  but  as  we  may  say,  substantially, 
associating  with  us,  and  dwelling  in  us.  For 
it  was  fitting  that  as  the  Son  had  lived  with 
us  iii^bodily  form — so  the  Spirit  too  shoukl 
appear—Ln  bodily  form  ;  and  that  after  Christ 
had  returned  to  His  own  place.  He  should 
have  come  down  to  us — Qojniug  because  He 
is  the  Lord ;  Sent^  because  He  is  not  a  rival 
GocL  For  s.uch  \yords  no  less  nianifest  the 
Unanimity  than  they  mark  the  separate  Indi- 

^aduaIi.t}^ 

Xn.  And  therefore  He  came  after  Christ, 
that  a  Comforter  should  not  be  lacking  unto 
us  ;  but  Another  Comforter,  that  you  might 
acknowledge  His  co-equality.  For  this  word 
Another  marks  an  Alter  Ego,  a  name  of  equal 
Lordship,  not  of  inequality.  For  Another  is 
not  said,  I  know,  of  different  kinds,  but  of 
things  consubstantial.  And  He  came  jn_  the 
form  of  Tongues  because  of  His  close  relation 
io^the  Word.  And  they  were  of  Fire,  per- 
haps because  of  His  purifying  Power  (for  our 
Scripture  knows  of  a  purifying  fire,  as  any  one 


who  wishes  can  find  out),  or  else  because  of 
His  Substance.  For  our  God  is  a  consuming 
Fire,  and  a.^Fire*  burning  up  the  ungodly  ;^ 
though  you  may  again  pick  a  quarrel  over 
these  words,  being  brought  into  difficulty  by 
the  Consubstantiality.  And  the  tongues  were 
cloven,  because  of  the  diversity  of  Gifts  ; 
and  they  sat  to  signify  His  Royalty  and  Rest 
among  the  Saints,  and  because  the  Cherubim 
are  the  Throne  of  God.  And  it  took  place 
in  an  LTpper  Chamber  (I  hope  I  am  not  seem- 
ing to  any  one  over  tedious),  because  those 
who  should  receive  it  were  to  ascend  and  be 
raised  above  the  earth ;  for  also  certain  upper 
chambers^  are  covered  with  Divine  Waters,*  by 
which  the  praise  of  God  are  sung.  And  Jesus 
Himself  in  an  Upper  Chamber  gave  the  Com- 
munion of  the  Sacrament  to  those  who  were 
being  initiated  into  the  higher  Mysteries,  that 
thereby  might  be  shewn  on  the  one  hand  that 
God  must  come  down  to  us,  as  I  know  He 
did  of  old  to  Moses  ;  and  on  the  other  that 
we  must  go  up  to  Him,  and  that  so  there 
should  come  to  pass  a  Communion  of  God 
with  men,  by  a  coalescing  of  the  dignity. 
For  as  long  as  either  remains  on  its  own  foot- 
ing, the  One  in  His  Glory  «  the  other  in  his 
lowliness,  so  long  the  Goodness  of  God  can- 
not mingle  Avith  us,  and  His  lovingkindness 
is  incommunicable,  and  there  is  a  great  gulf 
between,  which  cannot  be  crossed ;  and 
which  separates  not  only  the  Rich  Man  from 
Lazarus  and  Abraham's  Bosom  which  he  longs 
for,  but  also  the  created  and  changing  natures 
from  that  which  is  eternal  and  immutable. 

XHL  This  was  proclaimed  by  the  Prophets 
in  such  passages  as  the  following  : — The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is  upon  me  ;  ^  and,  There  shall  rest 
upon  Him  Seven  Spirits  ;  and  The  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  descended  and  led  them  ;  'i  and  The  spirit 
of  Knowledge  filling  Bezaleel,^  the  Master- 
builder  of  the  Tabernacle;  and,  The  Spirit 
provoking  to  anger  ; "  and  the  Spirit  carrying 
away  Elias  in  a  chariot,'^  and  sought  in  double 
measure  by  Elissjeus ;  and  David  led  and 
strengthened  by  the  Good  and  Princely  Spirit.*^ 
And  He  was  promised  by  the  mouth  of  Joel 
first,  who  said,  And  it  shall  be  in  the  last  days 
that  I  will  pour  out  of  My  Spirit  upon  all 
flesh  (that  is,  upon  all  that  believe),  and 
upon  your  sons  and  upon  your  daughters,"  and 

a  Heb.  xii.  20.       ^  Deut.  iv.  24      y  Ps.  civ.  3.      h  Ps.  cxlviii.  4. 

e  i-n\  Trepton-r)?  ;  Ijillius  renders  "In  specula  sua,"  "On  His 
watch  tower,"  and  the  meaning  is  admissible,  but  the  context  seems 
rather  to  point  to  the  passive  sense  of  Majesty  or  Glory.  The 
word  is  not  in  the  Lexicon,  and  Suicer  does  not  notice  it  :  but  the 
corresponding  adjective  has  o'lly  the  passive  sense.  Specula, 
however,  is  used  in  the  sense  of  Eminence,  but  apparently  only 
geographically.  f  Isa.  Ixi.  i. 

ij  lb.  xi.  2  ;  Ixiii.  14.         9  Kxod.  xxxi.  3.         k  Isa.  Ixiii.  10. 

A  2  Kgs.  ii.  II.  (A  Ps.  li.  12  ;  cxliii.  10.  v  Joel  ii.  28. 


384 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


the  rest  ;  and  then  afterwards  by  Jesus,  being 
glorified  by  Him,  and  giving  back  glory  to 
Him,  as  He  was  glorified  by  and  glorified  the 
Father."  And  how  abundant  was  this  Promise. 
He  shall  abide  for  ever,  and  shall  remain  with 
you,  whether  now  with  those  who  in  the  sjihere 
of  time  are  worthy,  or  hereafter  with  those 
who  are  counted  worthy  of  that  world,  when 
we  have  kept  Him  altogether  by  our  life  here, 
and  not  rejected  Him  in  so  far  as  we  sin. 

XIV.  This  Spirit  shares  with  the  Son  in 
working  both  the  Creation  and  the  Resurrec- 
tion, as  you  may  be  shewn  by  this  Scripture  ; 
By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens 
made,  and  all  the  power  of  them  by  the  breath 
of  His  jNlouth  ;  ^  and  this,  The  Spirit  of  God 
that  made  me,  and  the  Breath  of  the  Almighty 
that  teacheth  me  ;  y  and  again.  Thou  shalt  send 
forth  Thy  Spirit  and  they  shall  be  created,  and 
Thou  shalt  renew  the  face  of  the  earth. ^  And 
He  is  the  Author  of  spiritual  regeneration. 
Here  is  your  proof: — None  can  see  or  enter 
into  the  Kingdom,  except  he  be  born  again 
of  the  Spirit,^  and  be  cleansed  from  the  first 
birth,  which  is  a  mystery  of  the  night,  by  a 
remoulding  of  the  day  and  of  the  Light,  by 
which  every  one  singly  is  created  anew.  This 
Spirit,  for  He  is  most  wise  and  most  loving, f 
if  He  takes  possession  of  a  shepherd  makes, 
him  a  Psalmist,  subduing  evil  spirits  by  his 
song."?  and  proclaims  him  King  ;  if  he  possess 
a  goatherd  and  .scraper^  of  sycamore  fruit,"  He 
makes  him  a  Prophet.  Call  to  mind  David 
and  Amos.  If  He  possess  a  goodly  youth,  He 
makes  him  a  Judge  of  Elders,*  even  beyond  his 
years,  as  Daniel  testifies,  who  concpiered  the 
lions  in  their  den.**  If  He  takes  possession  of 
Fishermen,  He  makes  them  catch  the  whole 
world  in  .the  nets  of  Christ,  taking  them  up 
in  the  meshes  of  the  Word.  Look  at  Peter 
and  Andrew  and  the  Sons  of  Thunder,  thund- 
ering the  things  of  the  Spirit.  If  of  Public- 
ans, He  makes  gain  of  them  for  discipleship, 
and  makes  them  merchants  of  souls  ;  witness 
Matthew,  yesterday  a  Publican,  today  an 
Evangelist.  If  of  zealous  persecutors,  He 
changes  the  current  of  their  zeal,  and  makes 
them  Pauls  instead  of  Sauls,  and  as  full  of 
piety  as  He  found  them  of  wickedness.  And 
He  is  the  Spirit  of  Meekne.ss,  and  yet  is  pro- 
voked  by  those   who  sin.     Let   us    therefore 


a  John  xiv.  i6.  ^  Ps.  xxxiii   6.  y  Job  xxxiii.  4. 

8  Ps.  civ.  30.       e  John  Hi.  3.       f  Wisd.  i.  6.       1)  i  Sam.  xvi.  23. 

0  'l"lie  Hebrew  word  means  "  a  cuhivator  of  sycamores."  The 
LXX.  rcndL-rinc;  is  due  to  the  process  of  niatnrinpr  the  fruit,  which 
grows  on  the  stem  of  the  trunk,  and  is  made  to  mature  by  punctur- 
ing it  with  an  iron  instrument,  when  after  three  days  the  fruit  is 
fit  to  eat.  'I'hc  Hebrew  word  occurs  only  this  once  in  the  Bible; 
Aquila  renders  it  bv  "Looking  fur;"  Symmachus  by  "propping 
with  stakes."        k  Amos  vii.  14.         A  Susannah.         /i  Dan.  vi.  22. 


make  proof  of  Him  as  gentle,  not  as  wrathful, 
by  confessing  His  Dignity ;  and  let  us  not 
desire  to  see  Him  implacably  wrathful.  He 
too  it  is  who  has  made  me  today  a  bold  her- 
ald to  you  ; — if  without  rest  to  myself,  God 
be  thanked  ;  but  if  with  risk,  thanks  to  Him 
nevertheless ;  in  the  one  case,  that  He  may 
spare  those  that  hate  us ;  in  the  other,  that 
He  may  consecrate  us,  in  receiving  this  reward 
of  our  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  to  be  made 
perfect  by  blood. 

XV.  They  spoke  with  strange  tongues,  and 
not  those  of  their  native  land  ;  and  the  wonder 
was  great,  a  language  spoken  by  those  who 
had  not  learnt  it.  And  the  sign  is  to  them 
that  believe  not,"^  and  not  to  them  that  believe, 
that  it  may  be  an  accusation  of  the  unbeliev- 
ers, as  it  is  written.  With  other  tongues  and 
other  lips  will  I  speak  unto  this  people,  and 
not  even  so  will  they  listen  to  Me^saith  the 
Lord.  But  they  heard.  Here  stop  a  little 
and  raise  a  question,  how  you  are  to  divide 
the  words.  For  the  expression  has  an  am- 
biguity, which  is  to  be  determined  by  the 
punctuation.  Did  they  each  hear  in  their 
own  dialect  V  so  that  if  I  may  so  say,  one 
sound  was  uttered,  but  many  were  heard  ;  the 
air  being  thus  beaten  and,  so  to  speak,  sounds 
being  produced  more  clear  than  the  original 
sound  ;  or  are  we  to  put  the  stop  after  "  they 
Heard,"  and  then  to  add  "them  speaking  in 
their  own  languages  "  to  what  follows,  so  that 
it  would  be  sjieaking  in  languages  their 
own  to  the  hearers,  which  would  be  foreign 
to  the  speakers  ?  I  prefer  to  put  it  this  latter 
way  ;  for  on  the  other  plan  the  miracle  would 
be  rather  of  the  hearers  than  of  the  speakers  ; 
whereas  in  this  it  would  be  on  the  speakers' 
side  ;  and  it  was  they  who  were  reproached 
for  drunkenness,  evidently  because  they  by 
the  Spirit  wrought  a  miracle  in  the  matter  of 
the  tongues. 

XVI.  But  as  the  old  Confusion  of  tongues 
was  laudable,  when  men  who  were  of  one  lan- 
guage in  wickedness  and  impiety,  even  as 
some  now  venture  to  be,  were  building  the 
Tower  ;  *  for  by  the  confiision  of  their  language 
the  unity  of  their  intention  was  broken  up, 
and  their  undertaking  destroyed ;  so  much 
more  worthy  of  praise  is  the  ])resent  miracu- 
lous one.  For  being  poured  from  One  Spirit 
upon  many  men,  it  brings  them  again  into 
harmony.  And  there  is  a  diversity  of  Gifts, 
which  stands  in  need  of  yet  another  Gift  to 

01  Cor.  xiv.  22.  /3  Isa.  xxviii.  11. 

7  The  actual  order  of  the  words  in  the   Greek  of  Acts  ii.  6  is, 
They  heard    each    individual    in    his    own    dialect    them    speak- 
ing ;  so  that  the  position  of  the  comma  affects  the  meaning. 
5  Gea.  xi.  7. 


THE   LAST    FAREWELL. 


385 


discern  which  is  the  best,  where  all  are  praise- 
worthy. And  that  division  also  might  be 
called  noble  of  which  David  says,  Drown  O 
Lord  and  divide  their  tongues."  Why?  Be- 
cause they  loved  all  words  of  drowning,  the 
deceitful  tongue. ^  Where  he  all  but  expressly 
arraigns  the  tongues  of  the  present  day  f 
which  sever  the  Godhead.  Thus  much  upon 
this  point. 

XVII.  Next,  since  it  was  to  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem,  most  devout  Jews,  Parthians,  Medes, 
and  Elamites,  Egyptians,  and  Libyans,  Cret- 
ans too,  and  Arabians,  and  Mesopotamians, 
and  my  own  Cappadocians,  that  the  tongues 
spake,  and  to  Jews  (if  any  one  prefer  so  to 
understand  it),  out  of  every  nation  under 
heaven  thither  collected  ;  it  is  worth  while  to 
see  who  these  were  and  of  what  captivity. 
For  the  captivity  in  Egypt  and  Babylon  was 
circumscribed,  and  moreover  had  long  since 
been  brought  to  an  end  by  the  Return  ;  and 
that  under  the  Romans,  which  was  exacted 
for  their  audacity  against  our  Saviour,  was 
not  yet  come  to  pass,  though  it  was  in  the 
near  future.  It  remains  then  to  understand  it 
of  the  captivity  under  Antiochus,  which  hap- 
pened not  so  very  long  before  this  time. 
But  if  any  does  not  accept  this  explanation, 
as  being  too  elaborate,  seeing  that  this  cap- 
tivity was  neither  ancient  nor  widespread 
over  the  world,  and  is  looking  for  a  more 
reliable — perhaps  the  best  way  to  take  it 
would  be  as  follows.  The  nation  was  re- 
moved many  times,  as  Esdras  related  ;  and 
some  of  the  Tribes  were  recovered,  and  some 
were  left  behind ;  of  whom  probably  (di- 
spersed as  they  were  among  the  nations)  some 
would  have  been  present  and  shared  the 
miracle. 

XVIII.  These  questions  have  been  examined 
before  by  the  studious,  and  perhaps  not  with- 
out occasion  ;  and  whatever  else  any  one  may 
contribute  at  the  present  day,  he  will  be 
joined  with  us.  But  now  it  is  our  duty  to 
dissolve  this  Assembly,  for  enough  has  been 
said.  But  the  Festival  is  never  to  be  put  an 
end  to  ;  but  kept  now  indeed  with  our  bodies  ; 
but  a  little  later  on  altogether  spiritually 
there,  where  we  shall  see  the  reasons  of  these 
things  more  purely  and  clearly,  in  the  Word 
Himself,  and  God,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  True  Festival  and  Rejoicing  of  the  Saved 
— to  Whom  be  the  glory  and  the  worship, 
with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  now  and 
for  ever.      Amen. 


aPs.  Iv.  9.  /3Ib.  lii   4. 

y  Arians,  Macedonians,  and  kindred  sects. 

25 


INTRODUCTION   TO    ORATION    XLII. 

"  The  Last  Farewell." 

Thls  Oration  was  delivered  during  the  Second 
Oecumenical  Council,  held  at  Constantinople 
A.D.  381.  Historical  as  well  as  personal  mo- 
tives render  the  occasion  of  the  deepest  inter- 
est. The  audience  consisted  of  the  one  hundred 
and  fifty  Bishops  of  the  Eastern  Church  who 
took  part  in  the  Council,  and  of  the  speaker's 
own  flock,  the  orthodox  Christians  of  Constan- 
tinople. He  had  by  his  own  exertions  gathered 
that  flock  together,  after  it  had  been  ravaged 
by  heretical  teachers.  He  had  won  the  admi- 
ration and  affection  of  its  members,  by  his 
courageous  championship  of  the  Faith,  his 
lucid  teaching,  and  his  fatherly  care  for  their 
spiritual  needs.  He  had  been,  against  his 
will,  enthroned  with  acclamation  in  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  position  in  the  Eastern  Church, 
and  called  to  preside  over  the  Synod  of  its 
assembled  Bishops.  Finding  himself  unable 
to  guide  the  deliberations  of  the  Council  in  re- 
gard to  a  question  of  the  highest  importance, 
and  perceiving  that  he  himself  and  his  posi- 
tion were  made  by  some  of  the  Bishops  a  fresh 
cause  of  dissension,  he  felt  bound  to  resign 
his  high  office,  and  endeavour  by  this  personal 
sacrifice  to  restore  peace  to  the  Church.  His 
language  is  worthy  of  the  occasion.  Obliged 
to  deal  with  the  topics  which  had  caused  dis- 
sension, he  handles  them  with  gentle  and  dis- 
criminating tact ;  he  speaks  with  great  self- 
restraint  in  his  own  defence  \  he  sets  forth 
with  tenderest  feeling  the  common  experiences 
of  himself  and  his  flock  :  he  gives  with  dig- 
nity and  clearness  his  last  public  exposition 
of  the  Faith ;  and  finally,  in  language  of 
exquisite  beauty,  spoken  with  the  quivering 
tones  of  an  aged  man,  he  bids  a  tender  fare- 
well to  his  flock,  his  cathedral,  and  his  throne, 
with  all  their  affecting  associations.  It  was 
an  occasion  whose  pathos  is  unsurpassed  in 
history.  Orator  and  audience  were  alike 
deeply  moved,  and  the  emotion  has  been  re- 
newed in  all  those  who  have  read  his  words, 
and  realised  the  scene  of  their  delivery. 


"The  Last  Farewell"  in  the  Presence 
OF  THE  One  hundred  and  fifty 
Bishops. 

I.  What  think  ye  of  our  affairs,  dear  shep- 
herds and  fellow-shepherds  :  whose  feet  are 
beautiful,  for  you  bring  glad  tidings  of  peace 


;86 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


and  of  the  good  things"  with  which  ye  have 
come  ;  beautiful  again  in  our  eyes,  to  whom 
ye  have  come  in  season,  not  to  convert  a 
wandering  sheep, ^  but  to  converse  with  a  pil- 
grim shepherd  ?  What  think  ye  of  this  our 
pilgrimage?  And  of  its  fruit,  or  rather  of 
that  of  the  Spirit  v  within  us,^  by  Whom  we 
are  ever  moved, ^  and  specially  have  now 
been  moved,  desiring  to  have,  and  perhaps 
having,  nothing  of  our  own  ?  Do  you  of 
yourselves  understand  and  perceive — and  are 
you  kindly  critics  of  our  actions?  Or  must 
we,  like  those  from  whom  a  reckoning  is  de- 
manded as  to  their  military  command,  or  civil 
government,  or  administration  of  the  excheq- 
uer, publicly  and  in  person  submit  to  you 
the  accounts  of  our  administration  ?  Not  in- 
deed that  we  are  ashamed  of  being  judged, 
for  we  are  ourselves  judges  in  turn,  and  both 
with  the  same  charity.  But  the  law  is  an 
ancient  one :  for  even  Paul  communicated  to 
the  Apostles  his  Gospel  :  ^  not  for  the  sake  of 
ostentation,  for  the  Spirit  is  far  removed  from 
all  ostentation,  but  in  order  to  establish  his 
success  and  correct  his  failure,  if  indeed  there 
were  any  such  in  his  words  or  actions,  as  he 
declares  when  writing  of  himself  Since  even 
the  Spirits  of  the  Prophets  are  subject  to  the 
prophets, "»  according  to  the  order  of  the  Spirit 
who  regulates  and  divides  all  things  well. 
And  do  not  wonder  that,  while  he  rendered 
his  account  privately  and  to  some,  I  do  so 
publicly,  and  to  all.  For  my  need  is  greater 
than  his,  of  being  aided  by  the  freedom  of  my 
censors,  if  I  am  proved  to  have  failed  in  my 
duty,  lest  I  should  run,  or  have  run,  in  vain.^ 
And  the  only  possible  mode  of  self-defence  is 
speech  in  the  presence  of  men  who  know  the 
facts. 

2.  What  then  is  my  defence?'  If  it  be 
false,  you  must  convict  me,  but  if  true,  you  on 
behalf  of  whom "  and  in  whose  presence  I 
speak,  must  bear  witness  to  it.  For  you  are 
my  defence,  iny  witnesses,  and  my  crown  of 
rejoicing,^  if  I  also  may  venture  to  boast  my- 
self a  little  in  the  Apostle's  language.  This 
flock  was,  when  it  was  small  and  poor,  as  far 
as  appearances  went,  nay,  not  even  a  flock, 
but  a  slight  trace  and  relic  of  a  flock,  without 
order,  or  shepherd,  or  bounds,  with  neither 
right  to  pasturage,  nor  the  defence  of  a  fold, 
wandering  upon  the  mountains  and  in  caves 
and  dens  of  the  earth,**  scattered  and  dispersed 


a  Isai.  lii.  7  ;  Rom.  x.  15.       /3  S.  Matt,  xviii.  12.      y  Gal.  v.  22. 
S  2  Tim.  i.  14.  e  Acts  xvii.  28.  f  Gal.  ii.  2. 

I)  I  Cor.  xiv.  32.  9  (Jal.  ii.  2.  11  Cor.  ix.  3. 

K  On  behalf  of,  i.e.,   the    Christians  of  Constantinople,   whose 
Pastor  he  had  been,  who  were  present  at  the  time  in  the  church. 
A  I  Thess.  ii.  19.  it.  Heb.  xi.  38. 


hither  and  thither  as  each  one  could  find 
shelter  or  pasture,  or  could  gratefully  secure 
its  own  safety  ;  like  that  flock  which  was  har- 
assed by  lions,  dispersed  by  tempest,  or  scat- 
tered in  darkness,  the  lamentation  of  prophets 
wlio  compared  it  to  the  misfortunes  of  Israel," 
given  up  to  the  Gentiles  ;  over  which  we  also 
lamented,  so  long  as  our  lot  was  worthy  of 
lamentation.  For  in  very  deed  we  also  were 
thrust  out  and  cast  off,  and  scattered  upon 
every  mountain  and  hill,  from  the  need  of  a 
shepherd  :  ^  and  a  dreadful  storm  fell  upon  the 
Church,  and  fearful  beasts  assailed  her,  who  do 
not  even  now,  after  the  calm,  spare. us,  but  with- 
out being  ashamed  of  themselves,  wield  a  greater 
power  than  the  time  should  allow  ;  while  a 
gloomy  darkness,  far  more  oppressive  than  the 
ninth  plague  of  Egypt,  the  darkness  which 
might  be  felt,i'  enveloped  and  concealed  every- 
thing, so  that  we  could  scarcely  even  see  one 
another. 

3.  To  speak  in  a  more  feeling  strain,  trust- 
ing in  Him  Who  then  forsook  me,  as  in  a 
Father,  ' '  Abraham  has  been  ignorant  of  us, 
Israel  has  acknowledged  us  not,  but  Thou  art 
our  Father,  and  unto  Thee  do  we  look  ;  ^  be- 
side Thee  we  know  none  else,  we  make  mention 
of  Thy  name.  "^  Therefore,  says  Jeremiah, 
I  will  plead  with  Thee,  I  will  reason  the  cause 
with  Thee.^  We  are  become  as  at  the  begin- 
ning, when  Thou  barest  not  rule''  over  us,  and 
Thou  hast  forgotten  Thy  holy  covenant,  and 
shut  up  Thy  mercies  from  us.  Therefore  we, 
the  worshippers  of  the  Trinity,  the  perfect  sup- 
pliants of  the  perfect  Deity,  became  a  reproach 
to  Thy  Beloved,  neither  daring  to  bring  down 
to  our  own  level  any  of  the  things  above  us, 
nor  in  such  wise  to  rise  up  against  the  godless 
tongues  which  fought  against  God,  as  to  make 
His  Majesty  a  fellow  servant  with  ourselves  ; 
but,  as  is  plain,  we  were  delivered  up  on  ac- 
count of  our  other  sins,  and  because  our  conduct 
had  been  unworthy  of  Thy  commandments, 
and  we  had  walked  after  our  own  evil  mind. 
For  what  other  reason  can  there  be  for  our 
being  delivered  up  to  the  most  unrighteous 
and  wicked  men  of  all  the  dwellers  upon  the 
earth?  First  Nebuchadnezzar^  afflicted  us,' 
possessed  during  the  Christian  era  with  an 
anti-Christian  rage,  hating  Christ  just  becau.se 
he  had  through  Him  gained  salvation,  and 
having  bartered  the  sacred  books  for  sacrifices 
to  those  who  are  no  gods.  He  devoured  me, 
he  tore  me  in  pieces,  a  slight  darkness  envel- 
oped me,"  if  I  may  even  in  my  lamentation 

a  Ezek.  xxxi.  ii.  0  lb.  xxxiv.  6.  y  Exod.  x.  21. 

8  Isai.  Ixiii.  16.  «  lb.  xxvi.  13  (LXX.).  f  Jer.  xii.  i. 

r\  Isai.  Ixiii.  19.  Q  Nebuchadnezzar,  i.e.,  Julian. 

ijer.  !i.  34.  k  Ps.  Iv.  6  (LXX.). 


THE   LAST   FAREWELL. 


387 


keep  to  the  language  of  Scripture.  If  the  Lord 
had  not  helped  me,"  and  righteously  delivered 
him  to  the  hands  of  the  lawless,  by  casting 
him  off  (such  are  the  judgments  of  God)  to 
the  Persians,  by  whom  his  blood  was  right- 
eously shed  for  his  unholy  sheddings  of  blood, 
since  in  this  case  alone  justice  could  not  afford 
even  to  be  longsuffering,  my  soul  had  shortly 
dwelt  in  the  grave.  ^  The  second  -1  no  more 
kindly,  if  he  were  not  even  more  grievous 
still,  for  while  he  bore  the  name  of  Christ,  he 
was  a  false  Christ,  and  at  once  a  burden  and 
a  reproach  to  the  Christians,  for,  while  to  obey 
him  was  ungodly,  to  suffer  at  his  hands  was 
inglorious,  since  they  did  not  even  seem  to  be 
wronged,  nor  to  gain  by  their  sufferings  the 
glorious  title  of  martyr,  inasmuch  as  the  truth 
was  in  this  case  perverted,  for  while  they  suf- 
fered as  Christians,  they  were  supposed  to  be 
punished  as  heretics.  Alas  !  how  rich  we 
were  in  misfortunes,  for  the  fire  consumed  the 
beauties  of  the  world.  ^  That  which  the  palmer- 
worm  left  did  the  locust  eat,  and  that  which 
the  locust  left  did  the  caterpillar  eat :  then 
came  the  cankerworm,*  then,  what  next  I  know 
not,  one  evil  springing  up  after  another.  But 
for  what  purpose  should  I  give  a  tragic  de- 
scription of  the  evils  of  the  time,  and  of  the 
penalty  exacted  from  us,  or,  if  I  must  rather 
call  it  so,  the  testing  and  refining  we  endured  ? 
At  any  rate,  we  went  through  fire  and  water,^ 
and  have  attained  a  place  of  refreshment  by 
the  good  pleasure  of  God  our  Saviour. 

4.  To  return  to  my  original  startingpoint. 
This  was  my  field,  when  it  was  small  and  poor, 
unworthy  not  only  of  God,  Who  has  been,  and 
is  cultivating  the  whole  world  with  the  fair 
seeds  and  doctrines  of  piety,  but,  apparently, 
even  of  any  poor  and  needy  man  of  slender 
means.  Nay  it  did  not  deserve  to  be  called 
a  field,  requiring  neither  barn  nor  threshing- 
floor,  and  not  even  worthy  of  the  sickle  ; 
with  neither  heap  nor  sheaves,  or  small  and 
untimely  sheaves,  like  those  on  the  housetop, 
which  do  not  fill  the  hand  of  the  reaper,  nor 
call  forth  a  blessing  from  them  which  go  by.'' 
Such  was  my  field,  such  my  harvest ;  great 
and  well-eared  and  fat  in  the  eyes  of  Him 
Who  beholdeth  hidden  things,  and  becoming 
such  a  husbandman,  its  abundance  springing 
from  the  valleys  of  souls  well  tilled  with  the 
Word  :  unrecognized  however  in  public,  and 
not  collected  together,  but  gathered  in  frag- 
ments, as  an  ear  gleaned  in  the  stubble,^  as 
gleaning-grapes  in   the  vintage,   where  there 


a  Ps.  xclv.  17.         ^  lb. 
6  Joel  i.  19. 
1}  lb.  cxxix.  6  sqq. 


xciv.  17.         y  The  second,  i.e.,  Valens, 
€  lb.  i.  4.  C,  Ps.  Ixvi.  12. 

e  Mic.  vii.  I  (LXX.). 


is  no  cluster  left.  I  think  I  may  add,  only 
too  appropriately,  I  found  Israel  like  a  figtree 
in  the  wilderness,"  and  like  one  or  two  ripe 
grapes  in  an  iinripe  cluster,  preserved  as  a 
blessing  from  the  Lord,^  and  a  consecrated 
firstfruit,  though  small  as  yet  and  scanty, 
and  not  filling  the  mouth  of  the  eater  :  and  as 
an  ensign  on  a  hill,'*'  and  as  a  beacon  on  a 
mountain,  or  any  other  solitary  thing  visible 
only  to  few.  Such  was  its  former  poverty 
and  dejection. 

5.  But  since  God,  Who  maketh  poor  and 
rnaketh  rich.  Who  killeth  and  maketh  alive  ;  * 
Who  maketh  and  transformeth  all  things ; 
Who  turneth  night  into  day,^  winter  into 
spring,  storm  into  calm,  drought  into  abun- 
dance of  rain  ;  and  often  for  the  sake  of  the 
prayers  ^  of  one  righteous  man  ''  sorely  perse- 
cuted ;  Who  lifteth  up  the  meek  on  high,  and 
bringeth  the  ungodly  down  to  the  ground  ;  ^ 
since  God  said  to  Himself,  I  have  surely  seen 
the  affliction  of  Israel ; '  and  they  shall  no 
longer  be  further  vexed  with  clay  and  brick- 
making  ;  and  when  He  spake  He  visited,  and 
in  His  visitation  He  saved,  and  led  forth  His 
people  with  a  mighty  hand  and  outstretched 
arm,"  by  the  hand  of  Moses  and  Aaron, ^  His 
chosen — what  is  the  result,  and  what  wondei-s 
have  been  wrought?  Those  which  books 
and  monuments  contain.  For  besides  all  the 
wonders  by  the  way,  and  that  mighty  roar, 
to  speak  most  concisely,  Joseph  came  into 
Egypt  alone, '^  and  soon  after  six  hundred 
thousand  depart  from  Egypt."  What  more 
marvellous  than  this  ?  What  greater  proof 
of  the  generosity  of  God,  when  from  men 
without  means  He  wills  to  supply  the  means 
for  public  affairs  ?  And  the  land  of  promise 
is  distributed  through  one  who  was  hated, 
and  he  who  was  sold  ^  dispossesses  nations, 
and  is  himself  made  a  great  nation,  and  that 
small  off'shoot  becomes  a  luxuriant  vine," 
so  great  that  it  reaches  to  the  river,  and 
is  stretched  out  to  the  sea,''  and  spreads  from 
border  to  border,  and  hides  the  mountains 
with  the  height  of  its  glory  and  is  exalted 
above  the  cedars,  even  the  cedars  of  God, 
whatever  we  are  to  take  these  mountains  and 
cedars  to  be. 

6.  Such  then  was  once  this  flock,  and  such 
it  is  now,  so  healthy  and  well  grown,  and  if 
it  be  not  yet  in  perfection,  it  is  advancing 
towards  it   by  constant  increase,  and  I  pro- 


a.  Hos.  hi.  10  (LXX.). 
8  I  Sam.  ii.  6  sqq. 
r)  S.  James  v.  i6,  17. 
K  Ps.  cxxxvi.  12. 

V  Exod.  xii.  37. 

o  Hos.  X.  I. 


/3  Isai.  Lxv.  8.  7  lb.  xxx.  17. 

e  Amos  v.  f-'.  ^  i  Kings  xviii.  42. 

9  Ps.  cxlvii.  6.  I  Exod.  iix.  7. 

A  lb.  Ixxvii.  20.        ju  Gen.  xxxvii.  28. 

f  Gen.  xlix.  22. 

V  Ps.  Ixxx.  8  at  seq. 


l88 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


phesy  that  it  will  advance.  This  is  foretold 
me  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  if  I  have  any  prophetic 
instinct  and  insight  into  the  future.  And 
from  what  has  preceded  I  am  able  to  be  con- 
fident, and  recognize  this  by  reasoning,  being 
the  nursling  of  reason  For  it  was  much  more 
improbable  that,  from  that  condition,  it  should 
reach  its  present  development,  than  that,  as 
it  now  is,  it  should  attain  to  the  height  of  re- 
nown. For  ever  since  it  began  to  be  gathered 
together,  by  Him  Who  quickeneth  the  dead," 
bone  to  its  bone,  joint  to  joint,  and  the  Spirit 
of  life  and  regeneration  was  given  to  it  in 
their  dryness,^  its  entire  resurrection  has  been, 
I  know  well,  sure  to  be  fulfilled  :  so  that  the 
rebellious  should  not  e.xalt  themselves,^  and 
that  those  who  grasp  at  a  shadow,  or  at  a 
dream  when  one  awaketh,^  or  at  the  dispers- 
ing breezes,  or  at  the  traces  of  a  ship  in  the 
water,*  should  not  think  that  they  have  any- 
thing. Howl,  firtree,  for  the  cedar  is  fallen  !  ^ 
Let  them  be  instructed  by  the  misfortunes  of 
others,  and  learn  that  the  poor  shall  not  al- 
way  be  forgotten,''  and  that  the  Deity  will  not 
refrain,  as  Habakkuk  says,  from  striking 
through  the  heads  of  the  mighty  ones^  in  His 
fiiry — the  Deity,  Who  has  been  struck  through 
and  impiously  divided  into  Ruler  and  Ruled, 
in  order  to  insult  the  Deity  in  the  highest  de- 
gree by  degrading  It,  and  oppress  a  creature 
by  equality  with  Deity. 

7.  I  seem  indeed  to  hear  that  voice,  from 
Him  Who  gathers  together  those  who  are 
broken,  and  welcomes  the  oppressed  :  En- 
large thy  cords,  break  forth  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left,  drive  in  thy  stakes,  spare 
not  thy  curtains.*  I  have  given  thee  up,  and 
I  will  help  thee.  In  a  little  wrath  I  smote 
thee,  but  with  everlasting  mercy  I  will 
glorify  thee."  The  measure  of  His  kindness 
exceeds  the  measure  of  His  discipline.  The 
former  things  were  owing  to  our  wicked- 
ness, the  present  things  to  the  adorable  Trin- 
ity :  the  former  for  our  cleansing,  the  present 
for  My  glory.  Who  will  glorify  them  that 
glorify  Me,^  and  I  will  move  to  jealousy 
them  that  move  Me  to  jealousy.  Behold 
this  is  sealed  up  with  Me,'^  and  this  is 
the  indissoluble  law  of  recompense.  But 
thou  didst  surround  thyself  with  walls  and 
tablets  and  richly  set  stones,  and  long  por- 
ticos and  galleries,  and  didst  shine  and 
sparkle  with  gold,  which  thou  didst,  in  part 
pour  forth  like  water,  in  part  treasure  up  like 
sand ;  not  knowing  that  better  is  faith,  with 


a  Rom.  iv.  17. 
S  Ps.  Ixxiii.  20. 

ri  Ps.  ix.  18. 
K  lb.  liv.  8. 


P  Kzek.  xxxvii.  7,  10.        y  Ps.  Ixvi.  7. 
e  Wisd.  V.  9  sqq.  f  Zoch.  xi.  2. 

8  Hah.  iii.  13.  t  Is.->i.  liv.  2. 

A  I  Sam.  ii.  30.  /x  Deut.  xxxii.  21,  34. 


no  Other  roof  but  the  sky  to  cover  it,  than 
impiety  rolling  in  wealth,  and  that  three 
gathered  together  in  the  Name  of  the  Lord  <* 
count  for  more  with  God  than  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  those  who  deny  the  Godhead. 
Would  you  prefer  the  whole  of  the  Canaanites 
to  Abraham  alone  P^^  or  the  men  of  Sodom  to 
Lot  ?  Y  or  the  Midianites  to  Moses, ^  when  each 
of  these  was  a  i)i  Igrim  and  a  stranger  ?  How 
do  the  three  hundred  men  with  Gideon,  who 
bravely  lapped,^  compare  with  the  thousands 
who  were  put  to  flight  ?  Or  the  servants  of 
Abraham,  who  scarcely  exceeded  them  in 
number,  with  the  many  kings  and  the  army 
of  tens  of  thousands  whom,  few  as  they  were, 
they  overtook  and  defeated  ?  ^  Or  how  do  you 
understand  the  passage  that  though  the  num- 
ber of  the  children  of  Israel  be  as  the  sand  of 
the  sea,  a  remnant  shall  be  .saved?''  And 
again,  I  have  left  me  seven  thousand  men, 
who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal?^ 
This  is  not  the  case  ;  it  is  not  ?  God  has  not 
taken  pleasure  in  numbers. 

8.  Thou  countest  tens  of  thousands,  God 
counts  those  who  are  in  a  state  of  salvation  ; 
thou  countest  the  dust  which  is  without  num- 
ber, I  the  vessels  of  election.  For  nothing  is 
so  magnificent  in  God's  sight  as  pure  doctrine, 
and  a  soul  perfect  in  all  the  dogmas  of  the 
truth. — For  there  is  nothing  worthy  of  Him 
Who  made  all  things,  of  Him  by  Whom  are 
all  things,  and  for  Whom  are  all  things,*  so 
that  it  can  be  given  or  offered  to  God  :  not 
merely  the  handiwork  or  means  of  any  indi- 
vidual, but  even  if  we  wished  to  honour  Him, 
by  uniting  together  all  the  property  and  handi- 
work of  all  mankind.  Do  not  I  fill  heaven 
and  earth?"  saith  the  Lord  !  and  what  house 
will  ye  build  Me?  or  what  is  the  place  of  My 
rest  ?  ^  But,  since  man  must  needs  fall  short  of 
what  is  worthy,  I  ask  of  you,  asa])proaching  it 
most  nearly,  piety,  the  wealth  which  is  com- 
mon to  all  and  equal  in  My  eyes,  wherein  the 
poorest  may,  if  he  be  nobleminded,  surpass 
the  most  illustrious.  For  this  kind  of  glory 
depends  upon  purpose,  not  upon  affluence. 
These  things  be  well  assured,  I  will  accept  at 
your  hands.'*  To  tread "  My  courts  ye  .shall 
not  proceed,  but  the  feet  of  the  meek^  shall 
tread  them,  who  have  duly  and  sincerely 
acknowledged  Me,  and  My  only-begotten 
Word,  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  How  long  will 
ye  inherit  My  holy  Mountain  ? "    How  long 

a  S.  Matt,  xviii.  20.         ;8  Gen.  xii.  6  ;  xili.  12.        y  lb.  xix.  i. 

6  Exod.  ii.  15.  «  Judg.  vii.  5.  ^  Gen.  xiv.  14. 

T)  Is.ii.  X.  22  :  Rom.  ix.  27.  6  i  Kings  xix.  iR;  Rom.  xi.  4. 

t  I  Cor.  viii.  6.       »c  |er.  xxiii.  24.       A  Isai.  Ix\i.  i.       fi.  lb.  i.  12. 
V  To  trend,  etc.     The  Ari.ins  lor  a  time  had  been  in  possession 
of  the  churches  of  Constantinople. 
f  Isai.  xxvi.  6  (LXX.J.  o  lb.  Ivii.  13  ;  Ixv.  9. 


THE   LAST   FAREWELL. 


389 


shall  My  ark  be  among  the  heathen  ?  »  Now 
for  a  little  longer  ye  indulge  yourselves  in 
that  which  belongs  to  others,  and  gratify  your 
desires.  For  as  ye  have  devised  to  reject  Me, 
so  will  I  also  reject  you/  saith  the  Lord 
Almighty. 

9.  This  I  seemed  to  hear  Him  say,  and  to 
see  Him  do,  and  besides,  to  hear  Him  shouting 
to  His  people,  which  once  were  few  and 
scattered  and  miserable,  and  have  now  become 
many,  and  compact  enough  and  enviable,  Go 
through  V  My  gates  ^  and  be  ye  enlarged.  Must 
you  always  be  in  trouble  and  dwell  in  tents, 
while  those  who  vex  you  rejoice  exceedingly? 
And  to  the  presiding  Angels,  lor  1  believe,  as 
John  teaches  me  in  his  Revelation,  that  each 
Church  has  its  guardian,*  Prepare  ye  the  way 
of  My  people,  and  cast  away  the  stones  from 
the  way,^  that  there  may  be  no  stumblingblock 
or  hindrance  for  the  people ''  in  the  divine  road 
and  entrance,  now,  to  the  temples  made  with 
hands, ^  but  soon  after,  to  Jerusalem  above,'  and 
the  Holy  of  holies  there,"  which  will.  I  know, 
be  the  end  of  suffering  and  struggle  to  those 
who  here  bravely  travel  on  the  way.  Among 
whom  are  ye  also  called  to  be  Saints,^  a  people 
of  possession,  a  royal  priesthood,'^  the  most  ex- 
cellent portion  of  the  Lord,  a  whole  river  from 
a  drop,  a  heavenly  lamp  from  a  spark,  a  tree 
from  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,*'  on  which  the 
birds  come  and  lodge. 

10.  These  we  present  to  you,  dear  shep- 
herds, these  we  offer  to  you,  with  these  we 
welcome  our  friends,  and  guests,  and  fellow 
pilgrims.  We  have  nothing  fairer  or  more 
splendid  to  offer  to  you,  for  we  have  selected 
the  greatest  of  all  our  possessions,  that  you  may 
see  that,  strangers  as  we  are,  we  are  not  in 
want,  but  though  poor  are  making  many  rich.^ 
If  these  things  are  small  and  unworthy  of 
notice,  I  would  fain  learn  what  is  greater  and 
of  more  account.  For,  if  it  be  no  great  thing 
to  have  established  and  strengthened  with 
wholesome  doctrines  a  city  which  is  the  eye 
of  the  universe,  in  its  exceeding  strength  by 
sea  and  land,  which  is,  as  it  were,  the  link  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western  shores,  in 
which  the  extremities  of  the  world  from  every 
side  meet  together,  and  from  which,  as  the 
common  mart  of  the  faith,  they  take  their 
rise,  a  city  borne  hither  and  thither  on  the 
eddying  currents  of  so  many  tongues,  it  will 
be  long  ere  anything  be  considered  great  or 

o  I  Sam.  vi.  I.  /3  Hos.  iv.  6. 

Y  Go  through,  etc.     This  passage  refers  to  the  restoration  of  the 
churches  to  the  orthodox  by  Theodosius,  Jan.  lo,  yv.n.  381. 
6  Isai.  Ixii    10.  e  Rev.  ii.  i.  ^Isai.  Ixii.  10. 

1)  lb.  Ivii.  14.  S  Acts  vii.  48.  t  Gal.  iv.  26. 

K  Heb.  ix.  3,  24.  A  Rom.  i.  6. 

It,  1  Pet.  ii.  9.  V  S.  Matt.  xiii.  21.  f  2  Cor.  vi.  10. 


worthy  of  esteem.  But  if  it  be  indeed  a  sub- 
ject for  praise,  allow  to  us  some  glory  on  this 
account,  since  we  have  contributed  in  some 
portion  to  these  results  which  ye  see. 

11.  Lift  up  thine  eyes  round  about,  and  see," 
thou  critic  of  my  words !  See  the  crown 
which  has  been  platted  in  return  for  the 
hirelings  of  Ephraim^  and  the  crown  of  inso- 
lence ;  see  the  assembly  of  the  presbyters, 
honoured  for  years  and  wisdom,  the  fair  order 
of  the  deacons,  who  are  not  far  from  the 
same  Spirit,  the  good  conduct  of  the  readers, 
the  people's  eagerness  for  teaching,  both  of 
men  and  women,  who  are  equally  renowned 
for  virtue  :  the  men,  whether  philosophers  or 
simple  folk,  being  alike  wise  in  divine  things, 
whether  rulers  or  ruled,  being  all  in  this  re- 
spect duly  under  rule  ;  whether  soldiers  or 
nobles,  students  or  men  of  letters,  being  all 
soldiers  V  of  God,  though  in  all  other  respects 
meek,  ready  to  fight  for  the  Spirit,  all  rever- 
encing the  assembly  above,  to  which  we  ob- 
tain an  entrance,  not  by  the  mere  letter,  but 
by  the  quickening  Spirit,  all  in  very  deed 
being  men  of  reason,  and  worshippers  of  Him 
Who  is  in  truth  the  ^^'ord  :  the  women,  if 
married,  being  united  by  a  Divine  rather  than 
by  a  carnal  bond  ;  if  unwedded  and  free, 
being  entirely  dedicated  to  God ;  whether 
young  or  old,  some  honourably  advancing 
towards  old  age,  others  eagerly  striving  to  re- 
main immortal,  being  renewed  by  the  best  of 
hopes. 

12.  To  those  who  platted  this  crown — that 
which  I  speak,  I  speak  it  not  after  the  Lord,* 
nevertheless  I  will  say  it — I  also  have  given 
assistance.  Some  of  them  are  the  result  of 
my  wordsi,  not  of  those  which  we  have  ut- 
tered at  random,  but  of  those  which  we  have 
loved — nor  again  of  those  which  are  mere- 
tricious, though  the  language  and  manners  of 
the  harlot  have  been  slanderously  attributed  to 
me,  but  of  those  which  are  most  grave.  Some 
of  them  are  the  offspring  and  fruit  of  my 
Spirit,  as  the  Spirit  can  beget  those  who  rise 
superior  to  the  body.  To  this  I  have  no 
doubt  that  those  who  are  kindly  among  you, 
nay  all  of  you,  will  testify,  since  I  have  been 
the  husbandman  of  all  :  and  my  sole  reward  is 
your  confession.  For  we  neither  have,  nor 
have  had,  any  other  object.  For  virtue,  that 
it  may  remain  virtue,  is  without  reward,  its 
eyes  fixed  alone  on  that  which  is  good. 

13.  Would  you  have  me  say  something 
still  more  venturesome  ?  Do  you  see  the 
tongues  of  the  enemy  made  gentle,  and  those 


a.  Isai.  Ix.  4. 
y  2  Tim.  ii.  3. 


3  lb.  xx-viii.  I  (LXX.). 
&  2  Cor.  xi,  17. 


390 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


who  made  war  upon  the  Godhead  against  me 
tranquillised  ?  This  also  is  the  result  of  our 
Spirit,  of  our  husbandry.  For  we  are  not  un- 
disciplined in  our  exercise  of  discipline,  nor 
do  we  hurl  insults,  as  many  do,  who  assail  not 
the  argument  but  the  speaker,  and  sometimes 
strive  by  their  invective  to  hide  the  weakness 
of  their  reasoning ;  as  the  cuttlefish  are  said 
to  cast  forth  ink  before  them,  in  order  to 
escape  from  their  pursuers,  or  themselves 
to  hunt  others  when  unperceived.  But  we 
show,  that  our  warfare  is  in  behalf  of  Christ 
by  fighting  as  Christ,  the  peaceable  and 
meek,"  Who  has  borne  our  infirmities,  fought.^ 
Though  peaceable,  we  do  not  injure  the  word 
of  truth,  by  yielding  a  jot,  to  gain  a  reputa- 
tion for  reasonableness  ;  for  we  do  not  pursue 
that  which  is  good  by  means  of  ill :  and  we 
are  peaceable  by  the  legitimate  character  of 
our  warfare,  confined  as  it  is  to  our  own 
limits,  and  the  rules  of  the  Spirit.  Upon 
these  points,  this  is  my  decision,  and  I  lay 
down  the  law  for  all  stewards  of  souls  and  dis- 
pensers of  the  Word  :  neither  to  exasperate 
others  by  their  harshness,  nor  to  render  them 
arrogant  by  submissiveness  :  but  to  be  of 
good  words  in  treating  of  the  Word,  and  in 
neither  direction  to  overstep  the  mean. 

14.  But  you  are  perhaps  longing  for  me  to 
give  an  exposition  of  the  faith,  in  so  far  as  I 
am  able.  For  I  shall  myself  be  sanctified  by 
the  effort  of  memory,  and  the  people  also  will 
be  benefited,  by  its  special  delight  in  such 
discussions,  and  you  will  fully  acknowledge 
it — unless  we  are  the  objects  of  groundless 
envy,  as  the  rivals,  in  the  manifestation  of  the 
truth,  of  those  whom  we  do  not  excel.  For 
as,  of  deep  waters,  some  in  the  depths  are 
utterly  hidden,  some  foam  against  any  ob- 
struction, and  hesitate  a  while  before  breaking 
(as  they  promise  to  our  ears),  some  do  actu- 
ally break  ;  so  also,  of  those  who  are  profess- 
ors of  the  Divine  philosophy — setting  aside 
the  utterly  misguided — some  keep  their  piety 
entirely  secret  and  hidden  within  themselves, 
some  are  not  far  from  the  birth  i)angs,  avoid- 
ing impiety,  yet  not  speaking  out  their  piety, 
either  from  cautious  reserve  in  their  teach- 
ing, or  under  pressure  of  fear,  being  themselves 
sound,  as  they  say,  in  mind,  but  not  making 
sound  their  people,  as  if  they  had  been  en- 
trusted with  the  government  of  their  own 
souls,  but  not  of  those  of  others  ;  while  there 
are  some  who  make  public  their  treasure,  un- 
able to  restrain  themselves  from  giving  birth 
10  their  piety,  and  not  considering  that  to  be 


a  S.  Matt.  xi.  29. 


^  lb.  viii.  17;  Isai.  liii.  4. 


salvation  which  saves  themselves  alone,  with- 
out bestowing  upon  others  the  overflow  of 
their  blessings.  Among  these  would  I  range 
myself,  and  all  who  by  my  side  have  nobly 
dared  to  confess  the  truth. 

15.  One  concise  proclamation  of  our  teach- 
ing, an  inscription  intelligible  to  all,  is  this 
people,  which  so  sincerely  worships  the  Trin- 
ity, that  it  would  sooner  sever  anyone  from 
this  life,  than  sever  one  of  the  three  from  the 
Godhead  :  of  one  mind,  of  equal  zeal,  and 
united  to  one  another,  to  us  and  to  the  Trin- 
ity by  unity  of  doctrine.  Briefly  to  run  over 
its  details:  That  which  is  without  beginning, 
and  is  the  beginning,  and  is  with  the  begin- 
ing,  is  one  God.  For  the  nature  of  that 
which  is  without  beginning  does  not  consist 
in  being  without  beginning  or  being  unbe- 
gotten,  for  the  nature  of  anything  lies,  not  in 
what  it  is  not  but  in  what  it  is.  It  is  the 
assertion  of  what  is,  not  the  denial  of  what  is 
not.  And  the  Beginning  is  not,  because  it  is 
a  beginning,  separated  from  that  which  has 
no  beginning.  For  its  beginning  is  not  its 
nature,  any  more  than  the  being  without  be- 
ginning is  the  nature  of  the  other.  For  these 
are  the  accomj)animents  of  the  nature,  not 
the  nature  itself.  That  again  which  is  with 
that  which  has  no  beginning,  and  with  the 
beginning,  is  not  anything  else  than  what  they 
are.  Now,  the  name  of  that  which  has  no 
beginning  is  the  leather,  and  of  the  Beginning 
the  Son,  and  of  that  which  is  with  the  Begin- 
ning, the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  three  have 
one  Nature — God.  And  the  union  is  the 
Father  from  Whom  and  to  Whom  the  order 
of  Persons  runs  its  course,  not  so  as  to  be 
confounded,  but  so  as  to  be  possessed,  with- 
out distinction  of  time,  of  will,  or  of  power. 
For  these  things  in  our  case  produce  a  plural- 
ity of  individuals,  since  each  of  them  is  separ- 
ate both  from  every  other  quality,  and  from 
every  other  individual  possession  of  the  same 
quality.  But  to  Those  who  have  a  simple 
nature,  and  whose  essence  is  the  same,  the 
term  One  belongs  in  its  highest  sense. 

16.  Let  us  then  bid  farewell  to  all  con- 
tentious shiftings  and  balancings  of  the  truth 
on  either  side,  neither,  like  the  Sabellians, 
assailing  the  Trinity  in  the  interest  of  the 
Unity,  and  so  destroying  the  distinction  by 
a  wicked  confusion  ;  nor,  like  the  Arians, 
assailing  the  Unity  in  the  interest  of  the 
Trinity,  and  by  an  impious  distinction  over- 
throwing the  Onene-ss.  For  our  object  is  not 
to  exchange  one  evil  for  another,  but  to  en- 
sure our  attainment  of  that  which  is  good. 
These  are  the  playthings  of  the  Wicked  One, 


THE   LAST   FAREWELL. 


391 


who  is  ever  swaying  our  fortunes  towards  the 
evil.  But  we,  walking  along  the  royal  road 
which  lies  between  the  two  extremes,  which 
is  the  seat  of  the  virtues,  as  the  authorities 
say,  believe  in  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  of  one  Substance  and  glory ;  in 
Whom  also  baptism  has  its  perfection,  both 
nominally  and  really  (thou  knowest  who  hast 
been  initiated !  )  ;  being  a  denial  of  atheism 
and  a  confession  of  Godhead  ;  and  thus  we  are 
regenerated,  acknowledging  the  Unity  in  the 
Essence  and  in  the  undivided  worship,  and  j 
the  Trinity  in  the  Hypostases  or  Persons 
(which  term  some  prefer.)  And  let  not  those  1 
who  are  contentious  on  these  points  utter 
their  scandalous  taunts,  as  if  our  faith  de- 
pended on  terms  and  not  on  realities.  For 
what  do  you  mean  who  assert  the  three  Hypo- 
stases? Do  you  imply  three  Essences  by  the 
term  ?  I  am  assured  that  you  would  loudly 
shout  against  those  who  do  so.  For  you  teach 
that  the  Essence  of  the  Three  is  One  and 
the  same.  What  do  you  mean,  who  assert  the 
Three  Persons  ?  Do  you  imagine  a  single 
compound  sort  of  being,  with  three  faces," 
or  of  an  entirely  human  form?  Perish  the 
thought  !  You  too  will  loudly  reply  that  he 
who  thinks  thus,  will  never  see  the  face  of 
God,  whatever  it  may  be.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  Hypostases  of  the  one  party, 
of  the  Persons  of  the  other,  to  ask  this  fur- 
ther question?  That  They  are  three.  Who  are 
distinguished  not  by  natures,  but  by  proper- 
ties.^ Excellent.  How  could  men  agree 
and  harmonize  better  than  you  do,  even  if 
there  be  a  difference  between  the  syllables 
you  use?  You  see  what  a  reconciler  I  am, 
bringing  you  back  from  the  letter  to  the  sense, 
as  we  do  with  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

17.  But,  to  resume:  let  us  speak  of  the 
Unbegotten,  the  Begotten,  and  the  Proceed- 
ing, if  anyone  likes  to  create  names :  for  we 
shall  have  no  fear  of  bodily  conceptions  at- 
taching to  Those  who  are  not  embodied,  as 
the  calumniators  of  the  Godhead  think.  For 
the  creature  must  be  called  God's,  and  this  is 
for  us  a  great  thing,  but  God  never.  Other- 
wise I  shall  admit  that  God  is  a  creature,  if  I 
become  God,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term. 
For  this  is  the  truth.  If  God,  He  is  not  a 
creature ;  for  the  creature  ranks  with  us  who 
are  not  Gods.  And  if  a  creature,  he  is  not 
God,  for  he  had  a  beginning  in  time.  And 
there  was  a  time  when  he  who  had  a  begin- 
ning was  not.     And  that  of  which  non-exist- 


a  With   three  faces    (or    masks).      A    play    upon    the   word 
TrpdcrtoTToi'  which  is  used  in  theology  in  the  sense  of  Person. 
fi  Properties.     Cf.  xliii.  30,  note. 


ence  was  its  prior  condition,  has  not  being  in 
the  strict  sense  of  the  term.  And  how  can 
that,  which  strictly  has  not  being,  be  God  ? 
Not  one  single  one,  then,  of  the  Three  is 
a  creature,  nor,  what  is  worse,  came  into  being 
for  my  sake ;  for  in  that  case  he  would  be  not 
only  a  creature,  but  inferior  in  honour  to  us. 
For,  if  I  am  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  he  is 
for  my  sake,  as  the  tongs  for  the  waggon,  the 
saw  for  the  door,  I  am  his  superior  in  causal- 
ity. For  in  whatever  degree  God  is  superior 
to  creatures,  in  the  same  degree  is  he,  who 
came  into  being  for  my  sake,  inferior  to  me 
who  exist  for  God's  sake. 

18.  Moreover,  the  Moabites  and  Ammonites 
must  not  even  be  allowed  to  enter"  into  the 
Church  of  God,  I  mean  those  sophistical, 
mischievous  arguments  which  enc;[uire  curi- 
ously into  the  generation  and  inexpressible 
procession  of  God,  and  rashly  set  themselves 
in  array  against  the  Godhead  :  as  if  it  were 
necessary  that  those  things  which  it  is  beyond 
the  power  of  language  to  set  forth,  must  either 
be  accessible  to  them  alone,  or  else  have  no 
existence  because  they  have  not  compre- 
hended them.  We  however,  following  the 
Divine  Scriptures,  and  removing  out  of  the 
way  of  the  blind  the  stumbling  blocks  con- 
tained in  them,  will  cling  to  salvation,  daring 
any  and  every  thing  rather  than  arrogance 
against  God.  As  for  the  evidences,  we  leave 
them  to  others,  since  they  have  been  set  forth 
by  many,  and  by  ourselves  also  with  no  little 
care.  And  indeed,  it  would  be  a  very  shame- 
ful thing  for  me  at  this  time  to  be  gathering 
together  proofs  for  what  has  all  Along  been 
beheved.  For  it  is  not  the  best  order  of 
things,  first  to  teach  and  then  to  learn,  even  in 
matters  which  are  small  and  of  no  conse- 
quence, and  much  more  in  those  which  are 
Divine  and  of  such  great  importance.  Nor, 
again,  is  it  proper  to  the  present  occasion  to 
explain  and  disentangle  the  difficulties  of 
Scripture,  a  task  requiring  fuller  and  more 
careful  consideration  than  our  present  purpose 
will  allow.  Such  then,  to  sum  up,  is  our 
teaching.  I  have  entered  into  these  details, 
with  no  intention  of  contending  against  the 
adversaries  :  for  I  have  already  often,  even  if  it 
be  imperfectly,  fought  out  the  question  with 
them  :  but  in  order  that  I  might  exhibit  to 
you  the  character  of  my  teaching,  that  you 
misfht  see  whether  I  have  not  a  share  in  the 
defence  of  your  own,  and  do  not  take  my 
stand  on  the  same  side,  and  opposed  to  the 
same  enemies  as  yourselves. 

a  Deut.  xxiii.  3. 


392 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


19.  You  have  now,  my  friends,  heard  the 
defence  of  my  presence  here  :  if  it  be  deserv- 
ing of  praise,  thanks  are  due  for  it  to  God, 
and  to  you  who  called  me  ;  if  it  has  fallen 
below  your  expectation,  I  give  thanks  even  on 
this  behalf.  For  I  am  assured  that  it  has  not 
been  altogether  deserving  of  censure,  and  am 
confident  that  you  also  admit  this.  Have  we 
at  all  made  a  gain*  of  this  people?  Have  we 
consulted  at  all  our  own  interests,  as  I  see  is 
most  often  the  case  ?  Have  we  caused  any 
vexation  to  the  Church?  To  others  possibly, 
with  whose  idea  that  they  had  gained  judg- 
ment against  us  by  default,  we  have  joined 
issue  in  our  argument  ;  but  in  no  wise,  as  far 
as  I  am  aware,  to  you.  I  have  taken  no  ox 
of  yours, ^  says  the  great  Samuel,  in  his  conten- 
tion against  Israel  on  the  subject  of  the  king, 
nor  any  propitiation  for  your  souls,  the  Lord 
is  witness  among  you,  nor  this,  nor  that,  pro- 
ceeding at  greater  length,  that  I  may  not 
count  up  every  particular  ;  but  I  have  kept  the 
priesthood  pure  and  unalloyed.  And  if  I 
have  loved  power,  or  the  height  of  a  throne, 
or  to  tread  Kings'  courts,  may  I  never  possess 
any  distinction,  or  if  I  gain  it,  may  I  be 
hurled  from  it. 

20.  What  then  do  I  mean?  I  am  no  pro- 
ficient in  virtue  without  reward,  having  not 
attained  to  so  high  a  degree  of  virtue.  Give 
me  the  reward  of  my  labours.  What  reward  ? 
Not  that  which  some,  prone  to  any  suspicion 
would  suppose,  but  that  which  it  is  safe  for  me 
to  seek.  Give  me  a  respite  from  my  long 
labours  ;  give  honour  to  my  foreign  service ; 
elect  another  in  my  place,  the  one  who  is  be- 
ing eagerly  sought  on  your  behalf,  someone 
who  is  clean  of  hands,  someone  who  is  not 
unskilled  in  voice,  someone  who  is  able  to 
gratify  you  on  all  points,  and  share  with  you 
the  ecclesiastical  cares ;  for  this  is  especially 
the  time  for  such.  But  behold,  I  pray  you, 
the  condition  of  this  body,  so  drained  by  time, 
by  disease,  by  toil.  What  need  have  you  of  a 
timid  and  unmanly  old  man,  who  is,  so  to 
sjjeak,  dying  day  by  day,  not  only  in  body, 
but  even  in  powers  of  mind,  who  finds  it 
difficult  to  enter  into  these  details  before  you? 
Disobey  not  the  voice  of  your  teacher:  for 
indeed  you  have  never  yet  disobeyed  it.  I 
am  weary  of  being  charged  with  my  gentle- 
ness. I  am  weary  of  being  assailed  in  words 
and  in  envy  by  enemies,  and  by  our  own. 
Some  aim  at  my  breast,  and  are  less  success- 
ful in  their  effort,  for  an  open  enemy  can  be 
guarded  against.     Others  lie  in  wait  for  my 


o  2  Cor.  xii.  17. 


|3  I  Kings  xii.  2. 


back,   and  give  greater  pain,   for   the   unsus- 
j  pected  blow  is  the  more  fatal.     If  again  I  have 
been  a  pilot,    I   have   been  one  of  the  most 
skilful ;  the  sea  has  been  boisterous  around  us, 
boiling  about  the  ship,  and  there  has  been  con- 
siderable uproar  among  the  passengers,   who 
I  have  always  been  fighting  about  something  or 
another,  and  roaring  against  one  another  and 
the    waves.     What   a   struggle   I    have   had, 
':  seated  at  the  helm,  contending  alike  with  the 
'  sea  and  the  passengers,  to  bring  the  vessel  safe 
'  to  land  through  this  double  storm  ?     Had  they 
j  in  every  way  supported  me,  safety  would  have 
i  been  hardly  won,  and  when  they  were  opposed 
I  to  me,  how  has  it  been  possible  to  avoid  mak- 
ing shipwreck  ? 

2 1 .  What  more  need  be  said  ?  But  how 
can  I  bear  this  holy  war  ?  For  there  has 
been  said  to  be  a  holy,  as  well  as  a  Persian, 
war.**  How  shall  I  unite  and  join  together 
the  hostile  occupants  of  sees,  and  hostile  pas- 
tors, and  the  people  broken  up  along  with, 
and  opposed  to  them,  as  if  by  some  chasms 
caused  by  earthquakes  between  neighbour- 
ing and  adjoining  places ;  or  as,  in  pesti- 
lential diseases,  befalls  servants  and  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  when  the  sickness  readily 
attacks  in  succession  one  after  another ;  and 
besides  the  very  quarters  of  the  globe  are  af- 
fected by  the  spirit  of  faction,  so  that  East 
and  West  are  arrayed  on  opposite  sides,  and 
bid  fair  to  be  severed  in  opinion  no  less  than 
in  position.  How  long  are  parties  to  be  mine 
and  yours,  the  old  and  the  new,  the  more 
rational  and  the  more  spiritual,  the  more 
noble  and  the  more  ignoble,  the  more  and  the 
less  numerous  ?  I  am  ashamed  of  my  old  age, 
when,  after  being  saved  by  Christ,  I  am  called 
by  the  name  of  others. 

22.^  I  cannot  bear  your  horse  races  and 
theatres,  and  this  rage  for  rivalry  in  expense 
and  party  spirit.  We  unharness,  and  harness 
ourselves  on  the  other  side,  we  neigh  against 
each  other,  we  almost  beat  the  air,  as  they  do, 
and  fling  the  dust  towards  heaven,  like  those 
which  are  excited  ;  and  under  other  masks 
satisfy  our  own  rivalry,  and  become  evil  ar- 
biters of  emulation,  and  senseless  judges  of 
affairs.  To-day  sharing  the  same  thrones  and 
opinions,  if  our  leaders  thus  carry  us  along  ; 
to-morrow  hostile  alike  in  position  and  opin- 
ion, if  the  wind  blows  in  the  contrary  direc- 
tion. Amid  the  variations  of  friendshiji  and 
hatred,  our  names  also  vary  :  and  what  is  most 

o  A  Holy  War.  That  against  the  Phocians  to  avenge  their  sac- 
rilege at  Delphi. 

j3  §  22  is  a  comparison  of  Ecclesiastical  partisanship  to  the  emu- 
lation and  party  spirit  connected  with  the  horse  races  in  the  amphi- 
theatre. 


THE   LAST   FAREWELL. 


393 


terrible,  we  are  not  ashamed  to  set  forth  con- 
trary doctrines  to  the  same  audience ;  nor  are 
we  constant  to  the  same  objects,  being  ren- 
dered different  at  different  times  by  our  con- 
tentiousness. They  are  Hke  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  some  narrow  strait. <*  For  as  when  the 
children  are  at  play  in  the  midst  of  the  mar- 
ket place,  it  would  be  most  disgraceful  and 
unbecoming  for  us  to  leave  our  household 
business,  and  join  them  ;  for  children's  toys 
are  not  "becoming  for  old  age  :  so,  when  others 
are  contending,  even  if  I  am  better  informed 
than  the  majority,  I  could  not  allow  my- 
self to  be  one  of  them,  rather  than,  as  I  now 
do,  enjoy  the  freedom  of  obscurity.  For,  be- 
sides all  this,  my  feeling  is  that  I  do  not,  on 
most  points,  agree  with  the  majority,  and  can- 
not bear  to  walk  in  the  same  way.  Rash  and 
stupid  though  it  may  be,  such  is  my  feeling. 
That  which  is  pleasant  to  others  causes  pain 
to  me,  and  I  am  pleased  with  what  is  painful 
to  others.  So  that  I  should  not  be  surprised 
if  I  were  even  imprisoned  as  a  disagreeable 
man,  and  thought  by  most  men  to  be  out  of  my 
senses,  as  is  said  to  have  been  the  case  with 
one.of  the  Greek  philosophers,  whose  modera- 
tion exposed  him  to  the  charge  of  madness, 
because  he  laughed  at  everything,  since  he  saw 
that  the  objects  of  the  eager  pursuit  of  the  ma- 
jority were  ridiculous  ;  or  even  be  thought  full 
of  new  wine  as  were  in  later  days  the  disciples 
of  Christ,  because  they  spoke  with  tongues,'^ 
since  men  knew  not  that  it  was  the  power  of 
the  Spirit,  and  not  a  distraction  of  mind. 

23.  Now,  consider  the  charges  laid  against 
us.  You  have  been  ruler  of  the  church,  it  is 
said,  for  so  long,  and  favoured  by  the  course 
of  time,  and  the  influence  of  the  sovereign,  a 
most  important  matter.  What  change  have 
we  been  able  to  notice  ?  How  many  men 
have  in  days  gone  by  used  us  outrageously  ? 
What  sufferings  have  we  failed  to  undergo  ? 
Ill-usage?  Threats?  Banishment?  Plunder? 
Confiscation  ?  The  burning  v  of  priests  at  sea  ? 
The  desecration  of  temples  by  the  blood  of 
the  saints,  till,  instead  of  temples,  they  became 
charnel-houses  ?  The  public  slaughter  of  aged 
Bisho])s,  to  speak  more  accurately,  of  Patri- 
archs ?  The  denial  of  access  to  every  place 
in  the  case  of  the  godly  alone  ?  In  fact 
any  kind  of  suffering  which  could  be  men- 
tioned ?  And  for  which  of  these  have  we  re- 
quited the  wrongdoers  ?  For  the  wheel  of 
fortune  gave  us  the  power  of  rightly  treating 
those  who  so  treated  us,  and  our  persecutors 
ought  to  have  received  a  lesson.     Apart  from 

a  Narrotv  strait,  lit.  Euripus.  ^  Acts  ii.  4. 

7  The  burning,  etc.,  cf.     This  was  by  order  of  Valens. 


all  other  things,  speaking  only  of  our  experi- 
ences, not  to  mention  your  own,  have  we 
not  been  persecuted,  maltreated,  driven  from 
churches,  houses,  and,  most  terrible  of  all, 
even  from  the  deserts  ?  Have  we  not  had  to 
endure  an  enraged  people,  insolent  governors, 
the  disregard  of  Emperors  and  their  decrees  ? 
What  was  the  result  ?  We  became  stronger,  and 
our  persecutors  took  to  flight.  That  was  actually 
the  case.  The  power  to  requite  them  seemed 
to  me  a  sufficient  vengeance  on  those  who 
had  wronged  us.  These  men  thought  other- 
wise ;  for  they  are  exceedingly  exact  and  just 
in  requiting  :  and  accordingly  they  demand  <* 
what  the  state  of  things  permits.  What  gov- 
ernor, they  say,  has  been  fined  ?  What  popu- 
lace chastised  ?  What  ringleaders  of  the  pop- 
ulace ?  What  fear  of  ourselves  have  we  been 
able  to  inspire  for  the  future  ? 

24.  Perhaps*^  we  may  be  reproached,  as  we 
have  been  before,  with  the  exquisite  character 
of  our  table,  the  splendour  of  our  apparel,  the 
officers  who  precede  us,  our  haughtiness  to 
those  who  meet  us.  I  was  not  aware  that  we 
ought  to  rival  the  consuls,  the  governors,  the 
most  illustrious  generals,  who  have  no  oppor- 
tunity of  lavishing  their  incomes;  or  that  our 
belly  ought  to  hunger  for  the  enjoyment  of 
the  goods  of  the  poor,  and  to  expend  their 
necessaries  on  superfluities,  and  belch  forth 
over  the  altars.  I  did  not  know  that  we  ought 
to  ride  on  splendid  horses,  and  drive  in  mag- 
nificent carriages,  and  be  preceded  by  a  pro- 
cession and  surrounded  by  applause,  and  have 
everyone  make  way  for  us,  as  if  we  were  wild 
beasts,  and  open  out  a  passage  so  that  our  ap- 
proach might  be  seen  afar.  If  these  sufferings 
have  been  endured,  they  have  now  passed 
away  :  Forgive  me  this  wrong.v  Elect  an- 
other who  will  please  the  majority  :  and 
give  me  my  desert,  my  country  life,  and  my 
God,  Whom  alone  I  may  have  to  please,  and 
shall  please  by  my  simple  life.  It  is  a  painful 
thing  to  be  deprived  of  speeches  and  confer- 
ences, and  public  gatherings,  and  applause 
like  that  which  now  lends  wings  to  my 
thoughts,  and  relatives,  and  friends  and  hon- 
ours, and  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  city, 
and  its  brilliancy  which  dazzles  those  who 
look  at  the  surface  without  investigating  the 
inner  nature  of  things  ;  but  yet  not  so  pain- 
ful as  being  clamoured  against  and  besmirched 
amid  public  disturbances  and  agitations,  which 
trim  their  sails  to  the  popular  breeze.  For 
they  seek  not  for  priests,  but  for  orators,  not 


a  Demand.  After  all  these  persecutions,  some  thought  S. 
Gregory  ought  to  have  used  his  influerce  with  Theodosms  to  re- 
quite or  punish  the  former  persecutors  of  the  orthodox. 

3  Perhaps,  an  ironical  passage.  y  2  Cor.  xii.  13. 


394 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


for  stewards  of  souls,  but  for  treasurers  of 
money,  not  for  pure  offerers  of  the  sacrifice, 
but  for  powerful  patrons.  I  will  say  a  word 
in  their  defence  :  we  have  thus  trained  them, 
by  becoming  all  things  to  all  men,*  whether  to 
save  or  destroy  all,  1  know  not. 

25.  What  say  you?  Are  you  persuaded, 
have  you  been  overcome  by  my  words  ?  Or 
must  I  use  stronger  terms  in  order  to  persuade 
you  ?  Yea  by  the  Trinity  Itself,  Whom  you 
and  I  alike  worship,  by  our  common  hope, 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  unity  of  this  people, 
grant  me  this  favour ;  dismiss  me  with  your 
prayers  ;  let  this  be  the  proclamation  of  my 
contest ;  give  me  my  certificate  of  retirement, 
as  sovereigns  do  to  their  soldiers  ;  and,  if  you 
v^'ill,  with  a  favouraljle  testimony,  that  I  may 
enjoy  the  honour  of  it ;  if  not,  just  as  you 
please  ;  this  will  make  no  difference  to  me,  un- 
til God  sees  what  my  case  really  is.  WHiat  suc- 
cessor then  shall  we  elect?  God  will  pro- 
vide Himself^  a  shepherd  for  the  office,  as  He 
once  provided  a  lamb  for  a  burnt-offering.  I 
only  make  this  further  request, — let  him  be 
one  who  is  the  object  of  envy,  not  the  object 
of  pity  ;  not  one  who  yields  everything  to  all, 
but  one  who  can  on  some  points  offer  resist- 
ance for  the  sake  of  what  is  best  :  for  though 
the  one  is  most  pleasant,  the  other  is  most 
profitable.  So  do  you  prepare  for  me  your 
addresses  of  dismissal :  I  will  now  bid  you 
farewell. 

26.  Farewell  my  Anastasia.v  whose  name 
is  redolent  of  piety  :  for  thou  hast  raised  up 
for  us  the  doctrine  which  was  in  contempt : 
farewell,  scene  of  our  common  victory, 
modern  Shiloh,*  where  the  tabernacle  was 
first  fixed,  after  being  carried  about  in  its 
wanderings  for  forty  years  in  the  wilderness. 
Farewell  likewise,  grand  and  renowned  tem- 
ple, our  new  inheritance,  whose  greatness  is 
now  due  to  the  Word,  which  once  wast  a 
Jebus,^  and  hast  now  been  made  l)y  us  a  Jeru- 
.salem.  Farewell,  all  ye  others,  inferior  only  to 
this  in  beauty,  scattered  through  the  various 
parts  of  the  city,  like  so  many  links,  uniting 
together  each  your  own  neighbourhood,  which 
have  been  filled  with  worshii)pers  of  w-hose 
existence  we  had  despaired,  not  by  me,  in 
my  weakness,  but  by  the  grace  which  was 
with  me.f  Farewell,  ye  Apostles,''  noble  set- 
tlers here,  my  masters  in  the  strife;  if  I  have 


o  I  Cor.  ix.  22.  /3  Gen.  xxii.  8. 

y  A'lastasia.  The  little  church  "of  the  Resurrection"  in 
which  tlie  orthodox  Christians  worshipped  with  S.  Gregory  at 
first  on  his  arrival,  while  the  churches  of  the  city  were  held  by  the 
heretics. 

6  Josh,  xviii.  t.  e  i  Chron.  xi.  4.  f  i  Cor.  xv.  10. 

T)  A/>ostlcs.  The  Church  ofihe  Holy  Apostles,  to  which  Con- 
stantius  translated  tlie  rehcs  of  SS.  Andrew,  Luke  and  Timothy. 


not  often  kept  festival  with  you,  it  has  been 
possibly  due  to  the  Satan"  which  I,  like  S. 
Paul,^  who  was  one  of  you,  carry  about  in  my 
body  for  my  own  profit,  and  which  is  the 
car:se  of  my  now  leaving  you.  Farewell,  my 
throne,  envied  and  perilous  height ;  farewell 
assembly  of  high  priests,  honoured  by  the 
dignity  and  age  of  its  priests,  and  all  ye 
others  ministers  of  God  round  the  holy  table, 
drawing  nigh  to  the  God  Who  draws  nigh 
to  you.v  Farewell,  choirs  of  Nazarifes,  har- 
monies of  the  Psalter,  night-long  stations,  ven- 
erable virgins,  decorous  matrons,  gatherings 
of  widows  and  orphans,  and  ye  eyes  of  the 
poor,  turned  towards  God  and  towards  me. 
Farewell,  hospitable  and  Christ-loved  dwell- 
ings, helpers  of  my  infirmity.  Farewell,  ye 
lovers  of  my  discourses,  in  your  eagerness 
and  concourse,  ye  pencils  seen  and  unseen, 
and  thou  balustrade,  pressed  upon  by  those  who 
thrust  themselves  forward  to  hear  the  word. 
Farewell,  Emperors,  and  palace,  and  minis- 
ters and  household  of  the  Emperor,  whether 
faithful  or  not  to  him,  I  know  not,  but 
for  the  most  part,  unfaithful  to  God.  Clap 
your  hands,  shout  aloud,  extol  your  orator 
to  the  skies.  This  pestilent  and  garrulous 
tongue  has  ceased  to  speak  to  you.  Though 
it  will  not  utterly  cease  to  speak  :  for  it  will 
fight  with  hand  and  ink :  but  for  the  present 
we  have  ceased  to  speak. 

27.  Farewell,  mighty  Christ -loving  city.' 
I  will  testify  to  the  truth,  though  thy  zeal  be 
not  according  to  knowledge.^  Our  separation 
renders  us  more  kindly.  Approach  the  truth  : 
be  converted  at  this  late  hour.  Honour  God 
more  than  you  have  been  wont  to  do.  It  is 
no  disgrace  to  change,  while  it  is  fatal  to 
cling  to  evil.  Farewell,  East  and  West,  for 
whom  and  against  whom  I  have  had  to  fight ; 
He  is  witness.  Who  will  give  you  peace,  if 
but  a  few  would  imitate  my  retirement.  For 
those  who  resign  their  thrones  will  not  also 
lose  God,  but  will  have  the  seat  on  high, 
which  is  far  more  exalted  and  secure.  Last 
of  all,  and  most  of  all,  I  will  cry, — farewell 
ye  Angels,  guardians  of  this  church,  and  of 
my  presence  and  pilgrimage,  since  our  affairs 
are  in  the  hands  of  God.  Farewell,  O  Trin- 
ity, my  meditation,  and  my  glory.  Mayest 
Thou  be  preserved  by  those  who  are  here, 
and  preserve  them,  my  people  :  for  they  are 
mine,  even  if  I  have  my  place  assigned  else- 
where ;  and  may  I  learn  that  Thou  art  ever 
extolled  and  glorified  in  word  and  conduct. 


aSalnn,  i.e.,  "Thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  .Satan" — in 
S.  Gregory's  case  serious  ill  health. 
i8  Cor.  xvii.  7.  y  S.  James  iv.  8.  6  Rom.  x.  2. 


THE   PANEGYRIC   ON   S.   BASIL. 


395 


My  children,  keep,  I  pray  you,  that  which 
is  committed  to  your  trust.*  Remember  my 
stonings.^  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
be  with  you  all.      Amen. 

INTRODUCTION  TO  ORATION   XLIII. 

The  Panegyric  on  S.  Basil. 

S.  Basil  died  January  i,  a.d.  379.  A  se- 
rious illness,  in  addition  to  other  causes,  pre- 
vented S.  Gregory  from  being  present  at  his 
funeral  (Epist.  79).  Benoit  holds  that  an 
expression  (Epitaph,  cxix.  38)  in  which  S. 
Gregory  says  that  his  "  hps  are  fettered" 
proves  that  he  was  still  in  retirement  at  Seleu- 
cia.  This  is  an  unwarranted  deduction.  In 
this  Oration,  §  2,  the  Saint,  alluding  to  his 
illness  in  disparaging  terms,  alleges  his  la- 
bours at  Constantinople  as  a  more  pressing 
reason  for  his  absence  :  and  says  that  he  un- 
dertook the  task  according  to  the  judgment 
of  S.  Basil.  This  implies  that  S.  Gregory 
went  to  Constantinople  before  the  death  of 
S.  Basil,  or  that  he  had  then  been  influenced 
by  his  friend's  advice  and  was  on  the  point  of 
setting  out — more  probably  the  former,  as  we 
may  be  sure  that,  if  S.  Gregory  had  been  still 
at  Seleucia,  no  reason  but  physical  incapacity 
would  have  kept  him  from  his  friend's  side. 
His  pressing  duties  at  Constantinople  and  the 
difficulties  of  the  long  journey  were  the  ' '  other 
causes  "  of  his  letter  to  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa  : 
and  we  know  that  he  suffered  from  serious  ill- 
ness at  Constantinople  (Carm.  xi.  88 7.  Orat. 
xxiii.  i).  S.  Gregory  left  Constantinople  in 
June,  A.D.  381,  and  Tillemont  places  the  date 
of  this  Oration  soon  after  his  return  to  Nazi- 
anzus.  Benoit  thinks  that  it  v.  as  probably 
delivered  on  the  anniversary  of  S.  Basil's 
death.  The  Oration,  as  all  critics  are  agreed, 
is  one  of  great  power  and  beauty.  Its  length 
(62  pages  folio),  the  physical  weakness  of  the 
speaker,  and  the  limits  of  the  endurance  of 
even  an  interested  audience,  incline  us  to  sup- 
pose that  it  was  not  spoken  in  its  present 
form.  We  cannot  well  set  aside  expressions 
which  clearly  point  to  actual  delivery,  but  it 
may  have  been  amplified  later. 

Funeral  Oration  on  the  Great  S.  Basil, 
Bishop  of  C.esarea  in  Cappadocia. 

I.  It  has  then  been  ordained  that  the  great 
Basil,  who  used  so  constantly  to  furnish  me  with 
subjects  for  my  discourses,   of  which  he  was 


o  I  Tim.  vi.  20. 


^  Col.  iv.  18. 


quite  as  proud  as  any  other  man  of  his  own, 
should  himself  now  furnish  me  with  the  grand- 
est subject  which  has  ever  fallen  to  the  lot  of 
an  orator.  For  I  think  that  if  anyone  de- 
sired, in  making  trial  of  his  powers  of  elo- 
quence, to  test  them  by  the  standard  of  that 
one  of  all  his  subjects  which  he  preferred  (as 
painters  do  with  epoch-making  pictures),  he 
would  choose  that  which  stood  first  of  all 
others,  but  would  set  aside  this  as  beyond  the 
powers  of  human  eloquence.  So  great  a  ta.sk 
is  the  praise  of  such  a  man,  not  only  to  me, 
who  have  long  ago  laid  aside  all  thought  of 
emulation,  but  even  to  those  who  live  for  elo- 
quence, and  whose  sole  object  is  the  gaining 
of  glory  by  subjects  like  this.  Such  is  my 
opinion,  and,  as  I  persuade  myself,  with  perfect 
justice.  But  I  know  not  what  subject  I  can 
treat  with  eloquence,  if  not  this  ;  or  what  great- 
er favour  I  can  do  to  myself,  to  the  admirers 
of  virtue,  or  to  eloquence  itself,  than  express 
our  admiration  for  this  man.  To  me  it  is 
the  discharge  of  a  most  sacred  debt.  And 
our  speech  is  a  debt  beyond  all  others  due  to 
those  who  have  been  gifted,  in  particular, 
with  powers  of  speech.  To  the  admirers  of 
virtue  a  discourse  is  at  once  a  pleasure  and  an 
incentive  to  virtue.  For  when  "  I  have  learned 
the  praises  of  men,  I  have  a  distinct  idea  of 
their  progress  :  now,  there  is  none  of  us  all, 
within  whose  power  it  is  not  to  attain  to  any 
point  whatsoever  in  that  progress.  As  for 
eloquence  itself,  in  either  case,  all  must  go 
well  with  it.  For,  if  the  discourse  be  almost 
worthy  of  its  subject — eloquence  will  have 
given  an  exhibition  of  its  power:  if  it  fall  far 
short  of  it,  as  must  be  the  case  when  the 
praises  of  Basil  are  being  set  forth,  by  an 
actual  demonstration  of  its  incapacity,  it  will 
have  declared  the  superiority  of  the  excel- 
lences of  its  subject  to  all  expression  in 
words. 

2.  These  are  the  reasons  which  have  urged 
me  to  speak,  and  to  address  myself  to  this  con- 
test. And  at  my  late  appearance,  long  after 
his  praises  have  been  set  forth  by  so  many, 
who  have  publicly  and  privately  done  him 
honour,  let  no  one  be  surprised.  Yea,  may 
I  be  pardoned  by  that  divine  soul,  the  object 
of  my  constant  reverence  !  And  as,  when  he 
was  amongst  us,  he  constantly  corrected  me 
in  many  points,  according  to  the  rights  of  a 
friend  and  the  still  higher  law  ;  for  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  say  this,  for  he  was  a  standard  of 
virtue  to  us  all  ;  so  now,  looking  down  uj^on 
me  from  above,  he  will  treat  me  with  indul- 

a  For  7iiheit.  etc.     This  seems  to  be  the  sense  of  an  admittedly 
difficult  sentence. 


39^ 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


gence.  I  ask  pardon  too  of  any  here  who  are 
among  his  warmest  admirers,  if  indeed  any- 
one can  be  warmer  than  another,  and  we 
are  not  all  abreast  in  our  zeal  for  his  good 
fame.  For  it  is  not  contempt  which  has 
caused  me  to  fall  short  of  what  might  have 
been  expected  of  me  :  nor  have  I  been  so  re- 
gardless of  the  claims  of  virtue  or  of  friend- 
ship;  nor  have  I  thought  that  to  praise  him 
befitted  any  other  more  than  me.  No  !  my 
first  reason  was,  that  I  shrunk  from  this  task, 
for  I  will  say  the  truth,  as  priests  "  do,  who 
approach  their  sacred  duties  before  being 
cleansed  both  in  voice  and  mind.  In  the 
second  place,  I  remind  you,  though  you  know 
it  well,  of  the  task  ^  in  which  I  was  engaged 
on  behalf  of  the  true  doctrine,  which  had 
been  properly  forced  upon  me,  and  had  carried 
me  from  home,  according,  as  I  suppose,  to  the 
will  of  God,  and  certainly  according  to  the 
judgment  of  our  noble  champion  of  the  truth, 
the  breath  of  whose  life  was  pious  doctrine 
alone,  such  as  promotes  the  salvation  of  the 
whole  world.  As  for  my  bodily  health,  I 
ought  not,  perhaps,  to  dare  to  mention  it, 
when  my  subject  is  a  man  so  doughty  in  his 
conquest  of  the  body,  even  before  his  removal 
hence,  and  who  maintained  that  no  powers  of 
the  soul  should  suffer  hindrance  from  this  our 
fetter. Y  So  much  for  my  defence.  I  do  not 
think  I  need  labour  it  further,  in  speaking  of 
him  to  you  who  know  so  clearly  my  affairs. 
I  must  now  proceed  with  my  eulogy,  com- 
mending myself  to  his  God,  in  order  that  my 
commendations  may  not  prove  an  insult  to 
the  man,  and  that  I  may  not  lag  far  behind  all 
others  ;  even  though  we  all  equally  fall  as  far 
short  of  his  due,  as  those  who  look' upon  the 
heavens  or  the  rays  of  the  Sun. 

3.  Had  I  seen  him  to  be  proud  of  his 
birth,  and  the  rights  of  birth,  or  any  of  those 
infinitely  little  objects  of  those  whose  eyes  are 
on  the  ground,  we  should  have  had  to  inspect 
a  new  catalogue  of  the  Heroes.  What  details 
as  to  his  ancestors  might  1  not  have  laid  under 
contribution  !  Nor  would  even  history  have 
had  any  advantage  over  me,  since  I  claim 
this  advantage,  that  his  celebrity  depends,  not 
ui)on  fiction  or  legend,  but  upon  actual  facts 
attested  by  many  witnesses.  On  his  father's 
side  Pontus  offers  to  me  many  details,  in  no 
wise  inferior  to  its  wonders  of  old  time,  of 
which  all  history  and  poesy  are  full ;  *  there 


o  As  ^rifsfs,  or,  more  generally,  "  as  those  who  approach  our 
temples,"  In  the  K.  there  were  layers  at  the  entrance  to  the 
churches  for  the  ablutions  of  intending  worshippers. 

/3  0/  the  task,  i.e.,  of  restoring  the  orthodox  faith  in  Constanti- 
nople, y  Fetter,  i.e.,  the  body. 

fi  History  and J>oesy,  e.g.,  Xenophon,  Polybnis,  and  Apollonius. 


are  many  others  concerned  with  this  my  na- 
tive land,  of  illustrious  men  of  Cappadocia, 
renowned  for  its  youthful  progeny,"  no  less 
than  for  its  horses.  Accordingly  we  match 
with  his  father's  family  that  of  his  mother. 
What  family  owns  more  numerous,  or  more 
illustrious  generals  and  governors,  or  court 
ofiiciaLs,  or  again,  men  of  wealth,  and  lofty 
thrones,  and  public  honours,  and  oratori- 
cal renown?  If  it  were  permitted  me  to 
wish  to  mention  them,  I  would  make  noth- 
ing of  the  Pelopidae  and  Cecropidce,  the 
Alcmseonids,  the  /Eacidae,  and  Heracleidte, 
and  other  most  noble  families :  inasmuch  as 
they,  in  default  of  public  merit  in  their  house, 
betake  themselves  to  the  region  of  uncertainty, 
claiming  demigods  and  divinities,  merely 
mythical  personages,  as  the  glory  of  their 
ancestors,  whose  most  vaunted  details  are  in- 
credible, and  those  which  we  can  believe  are 
an  infamy. 

4.  But  since  our  subject  is  a  man  who  has 
maintained  that  each  man's  nobility  is  to  be 
judged  of  according  to  his  own  worth,  and 
that,  as  forms  and  colours,  and  likewise  our 
most  celebrated  and  most  infamous  horses, 
are  tested  by  their  own  properties,  so  we  too 
ought  not  to  be  depicted  in  borrowed  plumes  ; 
after  mentioning  one  or  two  traits,  which, 
though  inherited  from  his  ancestors,  he  made 
his  own  by  his  life,  and  which  are  specially 
likely  to  give  pleasure  to  my  hearers,  I  will 
then  proceed  to  deal  with  the  man  himself. 
Different  families  and  individuals  have  differ- 
ent points  of  distinction  and  interest,  great 
or  small,  which,  like  a  patrimony  of  longer  or 
shorter  descent,  come  down  to  posterity  :  the 
distinction  of  his  family  on  either  side  was 
piety,  which  I  now  proceed  to  display. 

5.  There  was  a  persecution,  the  most  fright- 
ful and  severe  of  all ;  I  mean,  as  you  know, 
the  persecution  of  Maximinus,  which,  follow- 
ing closely  upon  those  which  immediately 
preceded  it,  made  them  all  seem  gentle,  by 
its  excessive  audacity,  and  by  its  eagerness  to 
win  the  crown  of  violence  in  impiety.  It 
was  overcome  by  many  of  our  champions, 
who  wrestled  with  it  to  the  death,  or  well- 
nigh  to  the  death,  with  only  life  enough  left 
in  them  to  survive  their  victory,  and  not 
pa.ss  away  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle ; 
remaining  to  be  trainers^  in  virtue,  living 
witnesses,  breathing  trophies,  silent  exhor- 
tations, amonc:  whose  numerous  ranks  were 
found  Basil's  paternal  ancestors,  upon  whom, 


a  I\etioii<nedy  etc.     Cf.  Homer,  Od.  ix.  27. 

^  Trainers,    lit.   "  anointcrs  "—those   who  physically    and   by 
their  advice  prepared  athletes  for  their  exercises. 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


397 


in  their  practice  of  every  form  of  piety,  that 
period  bestowed  many  a  fair  garland.  So 
prepared  and  determined  were  they  to  bear 
readily  all  those  things  on  account  of  which 
Christ  crowns  those  who  have  imitated  His 
struggle  on  our  behalf. 

6.  But  since  their  strife  must  needs  be  law- 
ful, and  the  law  of  martyrdom  alike  forbids 
us  voluntarily  to  go  to  meet  it  (in  considera- 
tion for  the  persecutors,  and  for  the  weak)  or 
to  shrink  from  it  if  it  comes  upon  us  ;  for  the 
former  shows  foolhardiness,  the  latter  coward- 
ice ;  in  this  respect  they  jDaid  due  honour  to 
the  Lawgiver ;  but  what  was  their  device,  or 
rather,  to  what  were  they  led  by  the  Provi- 
dence which  guided  them  in  all  things? 
They  betook  themselves  to  a  thicket  on  the 
mountains  of  Pontus,  of  which  there  are  many 
deep  ones  of  considerable  extent,  with  very 
few  comrades  of  their  flight,  or  attendants 
upon  their  needs.  Let  others  marvel  at  the 
length  of  time,  for  their  flight  was  exceed- 
ingly prolonged,  to  about  seven  years,  or  a 
little  more,  and  their  mode  of  life,  delicately 
nurtured  as  they  were,  was  straitened  and 
unusual,  as  may  be  imagined,  with  the  dis- 
comfort of  its  exposure  to  frost  and  heat  and 
rain  :  and  the  wilderness  allowed  no  fellow- 
ship or  converse  with  friends :  a  great  trial 
to  men  accustomed  to  the  attendance  and 
honour  of  a  numerous  retinue.  But  I  will 
proceed  to  speak  of  what  is  still  greater  and 
more  extraordinary :  nor  will  an3'one  fail  to 
credit  it,  save  those  who,  in  their  feeble  and 
dangerous  judgment,  think  little  of  perse- 
cutions and  dangers  for  Christ's  sake. 

7.  These  noble  men,  suffering  from  the 
lapse  of  time,  and  feeling  a  distaste  for  ordin- 
ary food,  felt  a  longing  for  something  more 
appetising.  They  did  not  indeed  speak  as 
Israel  did,"  for  they  were  not  murmurers^  like 
them,  in  their  afflictions  in  the  desert,  after 
the  escape  from  Egypt — that  Egypt  would 
have  been  better  for  them  than  the  wilderness, 
in  the  bountiful  supply  of  its  flesh-pots,  and 
other  dainties  which  they  had  left  behind 
them  there,  for  the  brickmaking  and  the  clay 
seemed  nothing  to  them  then  in  their  folly — 
but  in  a  more  pious  and  faithful  manner.  For 
why,  said  they,  is  it  incredible  that  the  God 
of  wonders,  who  bountifully  fedv  in  the  wilder- 
ness his  homeless  and  fugitive  people,  raining 
bread  upon  them,  and  abounding  in  quails, 
nourishing  them  not  only  with  necessaries, 
but  even  with  luxuries:  that  He,  Who  di- 
vided the  sea,^  and  stayed  the  sun,*  and  parted 


a  Exod.  xvi.  2  et  seq. 
S  lb.  xiv.  21. 


P  I  Cor.  X.  10.  7  Exod.  xvi.  13. 

€  Josh.  iii.  16  ;  x.  12. 


the  river,  with  all  the  other  things  that  He 
has  done ;  for  under  such  circumstances  the 
mind  is  wont  to  recur  to  history,  and  sing  the 
praises  of  God's  many  wonders :  that  He, 
they  went  on,  should  feed  us  champions  of 
piety  Avith  dainties  to-day?  Many  animals 
which  have  escaped  the  tables  of  the  rich, 
have  their  lairs  in  these  mountains,  and  many 
eatable  birds  fly  over  our  longing  heads,  any 
of  which  can  surely  be  caught  at  the  mere  fiat 
of  Thy  will  !  At  these  words,  their  quarry 
lay  before  them,  with  food  come  of  its  own 
accord,  a  complete  banquet  prepared  without 
effort,  stags  appearing  all  at  once  from  some 
place  in  the  hills.  How  splendid  they  were  ! 
how  fat  !  how  ready  for  the  slaughter  !  It 
might  almost  be  imagined  that  they  were  an- 
noyed at  not  having  been  summoned  earlier. 
Some  of  them  made  signs  to  draw  others  after 
them,  the  rest  followed  their  lead.  Who  pur^ 
sued  and  drove  them  ?  No  one.  What  riders  ? 
What  kind  of  dogs,  what  barking,  or  cry, 
or  young  men  who  had  occupied  the  exits 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  chase?  They 
were  the  prisoners  of  prayer  and  righteous 
petition.  "Who  has  known  such  a  hunt  among 
men  of  this,  or  any  day? 

8.  O  what  a  wonder  !  They  were  themselves 
stewards  of  the  chase  ;  what  they  would,  was 
caught  by  the  mere  will  to  do  so  ;  what  was 
left,  they  sent  away  to  the  thickets,  for  another 
meal.  The  cooks  were  extemporised,  the 
dinner  exquisite,  the  guests  were  grateful  for 
this  wonderful  foretaste  of  their  hopes.  And 
hence  they  grew  more  earnest  in  their  struggle, 
in  return  for  which  they  had  received  this  bless- 
ing. Such  is  my  history.  And  do  thou,  my 
persecutor,  in  thy  admiratien  for  legends,  tell 

j  of  thy  huntre.sses,"  and  Orions,  and  Actasons, 
those  ill-fated  hunters,  and  the  hind  .substituted 
for  the  maiden,'^  if  any  such  thing  rouses  thee 
to  emulation,  and  if  we  grant  that  this  story 
is  no  legend.  The  sequel  of  the  tale  is  too 
disgraceful.  For  what  is  the  benefit  of  the 
exchange,  if  a  maiden  is  saved  to  be  taught  to 
murder  her  guests,  and  learn  to  requite  hu- 
manity with  inhumanity  ?  Let  this  one  in- 
stance, such  as  it  is,  chosen  out  of  many,  repre- 
sent the  rest,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  I 
have  not  related  it  to  contribute  to  his  repu- 
tation :  for  neither  does  the  sea  stand  in  need 
of  the  rivers   which  flow   into  it,   many  and 

'  great  though  they  be,  nor  does  the  present 
subject  of  my  praises  need  any  contributions 
to  his  fair  fame.     No  !  my  object  is  to  exhibit 


a  Huntresses,  esp.   Artemis,  a  passion  for  whom   was  fatal  to 
Orion  and  Actoeon. 
3  The  maiden,  Iphigenia,  daughter  of  Agamemnon. 


398 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


the  character  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  exam- 
ple before  his  eyes,  which  he  so  far  excelled. 
For  if  other  men  find  it  a  great  additional  ad- 
vantaare  to  receive  somewhat  of  their  honour 
from  their  forefathers,  it  is  a  greater  thing  for 
him  to  have  made  such  an  addition  to  the 
original  stock  that  the  stream  seems  to  have 
run  uphill. 

9.  The  union  of  his  parents,  cemented  as  it 
was  by  a  community  of  virtue,  no  less  than 
by  cohabitation,  was  notable  for  many  rea- 
sons, especially  .for  generosity  to  the  poor,  for 
hospitality,  for  purity  of  soul  as  the  result  of 
self-discipline,  for  the  dedication  to  God  of  a 
portion  of  their  property,  a  matter  not  as  yet 
so  much  cared  for  by  most  men,  as  it  now 
has  grown  to  be,  in  consequence  of  such  pre- 
vious examples,  as  have  given  distinction  to 
it,  and  for  all  those  other  points,  which  have 
been  published  throughout  Pontus  and  Cap- 
padocia,  to  the  satisfaction  of  many  ;  in  my 
opinion,  however,  their  greatest  claim  to  dis- 
tinction is  the  excellence  of  their  children. 
Legend  indeed  has  its  instances  of  men  whose 
children  were  many  and  beautiful,  but  it  is 
practical  experience  which  has  presented  to  us 
these  parents,  whose  own  character,  apart  from 
that  of  their  children,  was  sufficient  for  their 
fair  fame,  while  the  character  of  their  children 
would  have  made  them,  even  without  their 
own  eminence  in  virtue,  to  surpass  all  men 
by  the  excellence  of  their  children.  For  the 
attainment  of  distinction  by  one  or  two  of 
their  offspring  might  be  ascribed  to  their 
nature ;  but  when  all  are  eminent,  the  honour 
is  clearly  due  to  those  who  l^rought  them  up. 
This  is  proved  by  the  blessed  roll  of  priests 
and  virgins,  and  of.  those  who,  when  married, 
have  allowed  nothing  in  their  union  to  hinder 
them  from  attaining  an  equal  repute,  and  so 
have  made  the  distinction  between  them  to 
consist  in  the  condition,  rather  than  in  the 
mode  of  their  life. 

Who  has  not  known  Basil,  our  arch- 
a  great  name  to  everyone, 
father's  prayer,  if  anyone,  1 
no  one,  ever  did  ?  For  he 
surpassed  all  in  virtue,  and  was  only  prevented 
by  his  son  from  gaining  the  first  prize.  Who 
has  not  known  Emmelia,  whose  name  was  a 
forecast  of  what  she  became,  orel.se  who.se  life 
was  an  exemplification  of  her  name  ?  For  she 
had  a  right  to  the  name  which  implies  grace- 
fulness, and  occupied,  to  speak  concisely,  the 
same  place  among  women,  as  her  husband 
among  men.  So  that,  when  it  was  decided  that 
he,  in  whose  honour  we  are  met,  should  be  given 
to  men  to  submit  to  the  bondage  of  nature,  as 


10. 

bishop's  father, 
who  attained  a 
will   not  say  as 


anyone  of  old  has  been  given  by  God  for  the 
common  advantage,  it  was  neither  fitting  that 
he  should  be  born  of  other  parents,  nor  that  they 
should  possess  another  son :  and  so  the  two 
things  suitably  concurred.  1  have  now,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  Divine  law  which  bids  us  to  pay 
all  honour  to  parents,  bestowed  the  firstfruits  of 
my  praises  upon  those  whom  I  have  commem- 
orated, and  proceed  to  treat  of  Basil  himself, 
premising  this,  which  I  think  will  seem  true 
to  all  who  knew  him,  that  we  only  need  his 
own  voice  to  pronounce  his  eulogium.  For 
he  is  at  once  a  brilliant  subject  for  praise,  and 
the  only  one  whose  powers  of  speech  make 
him  worthy  of  treating  it.  Beauty  indeed  and 
strength  and  size,  in  which  I  see  that  most 
men  rejoice,  I  concede  to  anyone  Avho  will — 
not  that  even  in  these  points  he  was  inferior 
to  any  of  those  men  of  small  minds  who  busy 
themselves  about  the  body,  while  he  was  still 
young,  and  had  not  yet  reduced  the  flesh  by 
austerity — but  that  I  may  avoid  the  fate  of 
unskilful  athletes,  who  waste  their  strength  in 
vain  efforts  after  minor  objects,  and  so  are 
worsted  in  the  crucial  struggle,  whose  results 
are  victory  and  the  distinction  of  the  crown. 
The  praise,  then,  which  I  shall  claim  for  him  is 
based  upon  grounds  which  no  one,  I  think, 
will  consider  superfluous,  or  beyond  the  scope 
of  my  oration. 

II.  I  take  it  as  admitted  by  men  of  sense, 
that  the  first  of  our  advantages  is  education  ; 
and  not  only  this  our  more  noble  form  of  it, 
which  disregards  rhetorical  ornaments  and 
glory,  and  holds  to  salvation,  and  beauty  in 
the  objects  of  our  contemplation  :  but  even 
that  external  culture  which  many  Christians 
ill-judgingly  abhor,  as  treacherous  and  dan- 
gerous, and  keeping  us  afar  from  God.  For 
as  we  ought  not  to  neglect  the  heavens,  and 
earth,  and  air,  and  all  such  things,  becau.se 
some  have  wrongly  seized  upon  them,  and 
honour  God's  works  instead  of  God  :  but  to 
reap  what  advantage  we  can  from  them  for  our 
life  and  enjoyment,  while  we  avoid  their  dan- 
gers; not  raising  creation,  as  foolish  men  do, 
in  revolt  against  the  Creator,  but  from  the 
works  of  nature  a]:iprehending  the  Worker,* 
and,  as  the  divine  apostle  says,  bringing  into 
captivity  every  thought  to  Christ :  ^  and  again, 
as-  we  know  that  neither  fire,  nor  food,  nor 
iron,  nor  any  other  of  the  elements,  is  of  itself 
most  u.seful,  or  most  harmful,  excei)t  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  those  who  use  it ;  and  as  we 
have  comi)oimded  healthfiil  drugs  from  certain 
of  the  reptiles  ;  so  from  secular  literature  we 


a  Rom.  i.  ao,  2; 


|3  2  Cor.  X.  5. 


THE    PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


399 


have  received  principles  of  enquiry  and  specu- 
lation, while  we  have  rejected  their  idolatry, 
terror,  and  pit  of  destruction.  Nay,  even 
these  have  aided  us  in  our  religion,  by  our 
perception  of  the  contrast  between  what  is 
worse  and  what  is  better,  and  by  gaining 
strength  for  our  doctrine  from  the  weakness 
of  theirs.  We  must  not  then  dishonour  educa- 
tion, because  some  men  are  pleased  to  do  so, 
but  rather  suppose  such  men  to  be  boorish 
and  uneducated,  desiring  all  men  to  be  as 
they  themselves  are,  in  order  to  hide  them- 
.selves  in  the  general,  and  escape  the  detection 
of  their  want  of  culture.  But  come  now, 
and,  after  this  sketch  of  our  subject  and  these 
admissions,  let  us  contemplate  the  life  of 
Basil. 

12.  In  his  earliest  years  he  was  swathed 
and  fashioned,  in  that  best  and  purest  fashion- 
ing which  the  Divine  David  speaks  of  as  pro- 
ceeding day  by  day,"  in  contrast  with  that  of 
the  night,  under  his  great  father,  acknow- 
ledged in  those  days  by  Pontus,  as  its  common 
teacher  of  virtue.  Under  him  then,  as  life 
and  reason  grew  and  rose  together,  our  illus- 
trious friend  was  educated  :  not  boasting  of  a 
Thessalian  mountain  cave,  as  the  workshop  of 
his  virtue,  nor  of  some  braggart  Centaur,^  the 
tutor  of  the  heroes  of  his  day  :  nor  was  he 
taught  under  such  tuition  to  shoot  hares,  and 
run  down  fawns,  or  hunt  stags,  or  excel  in 
war,  or  in  breaking  colts,  using  the  same  per- 
son as  teacher  and  horse  at  once ;  nor  nour- 
ished on  the  fabulous  marrows  of  stags  and 
lions,  but  he  was  trained  in  general  education, 
and  practised  in  the  worship  of  God,  and,  to 
si)eak  concisely,  led  on  by  elementary  instruc- 
tions to  his  future  perfection.  For  those  who 
are  successful  in  life  or  in  letters  only,  while 
deficient  in  the  other,  seem  to  me  to  differ  in 
nothing  from  one-eyed  men,  whose  loss  is 
great,  but  their  deformity  greater,  both  in 
their  own  eyes,  and  in  those  of  others. 
While  those  who  attain  eminence  in  both 
alike,  and  are  ambidextrous,  both  possess  per- 
fection, and  pass  their  life  with  the  blessedness 
of  heaven.  This  is  what  befell  him,  who  had 
at  home  a  model  of  virtue  in  well-doing,  the 
very  sight  of  which  made  him  excellent  from 
the  first.  As  we  see  foals  and  calves  skipping 
beside  their  mothers  from  their  birth,  so  he 
too,  running  close  beside  his  father  in  foal- 
like wantonness,  without  being  left  far  behind 
in  his  lofty  impulses  toward  virtue,  or,  if  you 
will,  sketching  out  and  showing  traces  of  the 
future  beauty  of  his  virtue,  and  drawing  the 

a  Ps.  cxxxix.  i6. 

fi  Centaur.     Alluding  to  Chiron,  the  tutor  of  Achilles. 


outlines  of  perfection  before  the  time  of  per- 
fection arrived. 

13.  When  sufficiently  trained. at  home,  as 
he  ought  to  fall  short  in  no  form  of  excellence, 
and  not  be  surpassed  by  the  busy  bee,  which 
gathers  what  is  most  useful  from  every  flower, 
he  set  out  for  the  city  of  Caesarea,"  to  take  his 
place  in  the  schools  there,  I  mean  this  illus- 
trious city  of  ours,  for  it  was  the  guide  and 
mistress  of  my  studies,  the  metropolis  of  let- 
ters, no  less  than  of  the  cities  which  she  excels 
and  reigns  over  :  and  if  any  one  were  to  de- 
prive her  of  her  literary  power,  he  would 
rob  her  of  her  fairest  and  special  distinction. 
Other  cities  take  pride  in  other  ornaments,  of 
ancient  or  of  recent  date,  that  they  may  have 
something  to  be  described  or  to  be  seen. 
Letters  form  our  distinction  here,  and  are  our 
badge,  as  if  upon  the  field  of  arms  or  on  the 
stage.  His  subsequent  life  let  those  detail 
who  trained  him,  or  enjoyed  his  training,  as 
to  what  he  was  to  his  masters,  what  he  was  to 
his  classmates,  equalling  the  former,  surpass- 
ing the  latter  in  every  form  of  culture,  what 
renown  he  won  in  a. short  time  from  all,  both 
of  the  common  people,  and  of  the  leaders  of 
the  state  ;  by  showing  both  a  culture  beyond 
his  years,  and  a  steadfastness  of  character  be- 
yond his  culture.  An  orator  among  orators, 
even  before  the  chair  of  the  rhetoricians,^  a 
philosopher  among  philosophers,  even  before 
the  doctrines  of  philosophers  :  highest  of  all  a 
priest  among  Christians  even  before  the  priest- 
hood. So  much  deference  was  paid  to  him 
in  every  respect  by  all.  Eloquence  was  his 
by-work,  from  which  he  culled  enough  to 
make  it  an  assistance  to  him  in  Christian 
philosophy,  since  power  of  this  kind  is  needed 
to  set  forth  the  objects  of  our  contemplation. 
For  a  mind  which  cannot  express  itself  is  like 
the  motion  of  a  man  in  a  lethargy.  His  pur- 
suit was  philosophy,  and  breaking  from  the 
world,  and  fellowship  with  God,  by  concern- 
ing himself,  amid  things  below,  with  things 
above,  and  winning,  where  all  is  unstable  and 
fluctuating,  the  things  which  are  stable  and 
remain. 

14.  Thence  to  Byzantium,  the  imperial  city 
of  the  East,  for  it  was  distinguished  by  the  emi- 
nence of  its  rhetorical  and  philosophic  teach- 
ers, whose  most  valuable  lessons  he  soon  assimi- 
lated by  the  quickness  and  force  of  his  powers  : 
thence  he  was  sent  by  God,  and  by  his  gener- 
ous craving  for  culture,  to  Athens  the  home  of 
letters.     Athens,  which  has  been  to  me,  if  to 

a  Ceesarea.  the  Cappariocian  city,  as  seems  plain  from  the  con- 
text. Vet  Tillemont  and  Killius  incline  to  think  Csesarea  in  Pales- 
tine is  meant. 

|3  Chair,  etc.,  Before  he  had  studied  rhetoric  and  philosophy. 


400 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


any  one,  a  city  truly  of  gold,  and  the  pa- 
troness of  all  that  is  good.  For  it  brought  me 
to  know  Basil  more  perfectly,  though  he  had 
not  been  unknown  to  me  before ;  and  in  my 
pursuit  of  letters,  I  attained  to  happiness ; 
and  in  another  fashion  had  the  same  experi- 
ence as  Saul,"-  who,  seeking  his  father's  asses, 
found  a  kingdom,  and  gained  incidentally 
what  was  of  more  importance  than  the  object 
which  he  had  in  view.  Hitherto  my  course 
has  been  clear,  leading  me  in  my  encomiums 
along  a  level  and  easy,  in  fact,  a  king's  high- 
way :  henceforth  I  know  not  how  to  speak  or 
whither  to  turn  :  for  my  task  is  becoming  ar- 
duous. For  here  I  am  anxious,  and  seize 
this  opportunity  to  add  from  my  own  experi- 
ence somewhat  to  my  speech,  and  to  dwell  a 
little  upon  the  recital  of  the  causes  and  cir- 
cumstances which  originated  our  friendship, 
or  to  speak  more  strictly,  our  unity  of  life  and 
nature.  For  as  our  eyes  are  not  ready  to 
turn  from  attractive  objects,  and,  if  we  violent- 
ly tear  them  away,  are  wont  to  return  to 
them  again  ;  so  do  we  linger  in  our  descrip- 
tion of  what  is  most  sweet  to  us.  I  am  afraid 
of  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking.  I  will 
try,  however,  to  use  all  possible  moderation. 
And  if  I  am  at  all  overpowered  by  my  regret, 
pardon  this  most  righteous  of  all  feelings,  the 
absence  of  which  would  be  a  great  loss,  in  the 
eyes  of  men  of  feeling. 

15.  We  were  contained  by  Athens,  like  two 
branches  of  some  river-stream,  for  after  leaving 
the  common  fountain  of  our  fatherland,  we  had 
b2en  separated  in  our  varying  pursuit  of  cul- 
ture, and  were  now  again  united  by  the  im- 
pulsion of  God  no  less  than  by  our  own 
agreement.  I  preceded  him  by  a  little,  but 
he  soon  followed  me,  to  be  welcomed  with 
great  and  brilliant  hope.  For  he  was  versed 
in  many  languages,  before  his  arrival,  and  it 
was  a  great  thing  for  either  of  us  to  outstrip 
the  other  in  the  attainment  of  some  ol)ject  of 
our  study.  And  I  may  well  add,  as  a  seasoning 
to  my  speech,  a  short  narrative,  which  will  be 
a  reminder  to  those  who  know  it,  a  source  of 
information  to  those  who  do  not.  Most  of  the 
young  men  at  Athens  in  their  folly  are  mad 
after  rhetorical  skill — not  only  those  who  are 
ignobly  born  and  unknown,  but  even  the  noble 
and  illustrious,  in  the  general  mass  of  young 
men  difficult  to  keep  under  control.  They 
are  just  like  men  devoted  to  horses  and  exhi- 
bitions, as  we  see,  at  the  horse-races  ;  they 
leap,^  they  shout,  raise  clouds  of  dust,  they 

a  I  Sam.  ix.  3. 

|3  T/iey  lea/t,  etc.  This  passage  refers  to  the  spectators  who 
unite  in  sympathy  with,  and  imitate  as  far  as  possiljje,  in  their  ex- 
citement, the  actions  of,  those  who  drive  the  chariots  in  the  races. 


drive  in  their  seats,  they  beat  the  air,  (instead 
of  the  horses)  with  their  fingers  as  whips,  they 
yoke  and  unyoke  the  horses,  though  they  are 
none  of  theirs :  they  readily  exchange  with 
one  another  drivers,  horses,  positions,  leaders : 
and  who  are  they  who  do  this  ?  Often  poor 
and  needy  fellows,  without  the  means  of  sup- 
port for  a  single  day.  This  is  just  how  the 
students  feel  in  regard  to  their  own  tutors, 
and  their  rivals,  in  their  eagerness  to  increase 
their  own  numbers  and  thereby  enrich  them. 
The  matter  is  absolutely  absurd  and  silly. 
Cities,  roads,  harbours,  mountain  tops,  coast- 
lines, are  seized  upon — in  short,  every  part  of 
Attica,  or  of  the  rest  of  Greece,  with  most  of 
the  inhabitants ;  for  even  these  they  have 
divided  between  the  rival  parties. 

16.  Whenever  any  newcomer  arrives,  and 
falls  into  the  hands  of  those  who  seize  upon 
him,  either  by  force  or  willingly,  they  ob- 
serve this  Attic  law,  of  combined  jest  and 
earnest.  He  is  first  conducted  to  the  house 
of  one  of  those  who  were  the  first  to  receive 
him,  or  of  his  friends,  or  kinsmen,  or  country- 
men, or  of  those  who  are  eminent  in  debating 
power,  and  purveyors  of  arguments,  and  there- 
fore especially  honoured  among  them ;  and  their 
reward  consists  in  the  gain  of  adherents.  He  is 
next  subjected  to  the  raillery  of  any  one  who 
will,  with  the  intention  I  suppose,  of  check- 
ing the  conceit  of  the  newcomers,  and  reduc- 
ing them  to  subjection  at  once.  The  raillery 
is  of  a  more  insolent  or  argumentative  kind, 
according  to  the  boorishness  or  refinement  of 
the  railer :  and  the  performance,  which  seems 
very  fearfiil  and  brutal  to  those  who  do  not 
know  it,  is  to  those  who  have  experienced  it 
very  pleasant  and  humane:  for  its  threats  are 
feigned  rather  than  real.  Next,  he  is  con- 
ducted in  procession  through  the  market  place 
to  the  bath.  The  procession  is  formed  by 
those  who  are  charged  with  it  in  the  young 
man's  honour,  who  arrange  themselves  in  two 
ranks  separated  by  an  interval,  and  jn-ecede 
him  to  the  bath.  But  when  they  have  ap- 
proached it,  they  shout  and  leap  wildly,  as  if 
])ossessed,  shouting  that  they  must  not  ad- 
vance, but  stay,  since  the  bath  will  not  admit 
them ;  and  at  the  same  time  frighten  the 
youth  by  furiously  knocking  at  the  doors : 
then  allowing  him  to  enter,  they  now  present 
him  with  his  freedom,  and  receive  him  after 
the  bath  as  an  equal,  and  one  of  themselves. 
This  they  consider  the  most  pleasant  j^art  of 
the  ceremony,  as  being  a  speedy  exchange 
and  relief  from  annoyances.  On  this  occasion 
I  not  only  refiised  to  put  to  shame  my  friend 
the  great  Basil,  out  of  respect  for  the  gravity  of 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.   BASIL. 


401 


his  character,  and  the  ripeness  of  his  reasoning 
powers,  but  also  persuaded  all  the  rest  of  the 
students  to  treat  him  likewise,  who  happened 
not  to  know  him.  For  he  was  from  the  first 
respected  by  most  of  them,  his  reputation 
having  preceded  him.  The  result  was  that 
he  was  the  only  one  to  escape  the  general 
rule,  and  be  accorded  a  greater  honour  than 
belongs  to  a  freshman's  position. 

17.  This  was  the  prelude  of  our  friendship. 
This  was  the  kindling  spark  of  our  union  : 
thus  we  felt  the  wound  of  mutual  love.  Then 
something  of  this  kind  hai)pened,  for  I  think 
it  right  not  to  omit  even  this.  I  find  the 
Armenians  to  be  not  a  simple  race,  but  very 
crafty  and  cunning.  At  this  time  some  of 
his  special  comrades  and  friends,  who  had 
been  intimate  with  him  even  in  the  early 
days  of  his  father's  instruction,  for  they  were 
members  of  his  school,  came  up  to  him  under 
the  guise  of  friendship,  but  with  envious,  and 
not  kindly  intent,  and  put  to  him  questions 
of  a  disputatious  rather  than  rational  kind, 
trying  to  overwhelm  him  at  the  first  onset, 
having  known  his  original  natural  endow- 
ments, and  unable  to  brook  the  honour  he 
had  then  received.  For  they  thought  it  a 
strange  thing  that  they  who  had  put  on  their 
gowns,  and  been  exercised  in  shouting,  should 
not  get  the  better  of  one  who  was  a  stranger 
and  a  novice.  I  also,  in  my  vain  love  for 
Athens,  and  trusting  to  their  professions  with- 
out perceiving  their  envy,  wdien  they  were 
giving  way,  and  turning  their  backg,  since  I 
was  indignant  that  in  their  persons  the  repu- 
tation of  Athens  should  be  destroyed,  and  so 
speedily  put  to  shame,  supported  the  young 
men,  and  restored  the  argument;  and  by  the 
aid  of  my  additional  weight,  for  in  such  cases 
a  small  addition  makes  all  the  difference,  and, 
as  the  poet  says,  "  made  equal  their  heads  in 
the  fray."  "  But,  when  I  perceived  the  secret 
motive  of  the  dispute,  which  could  no  longer 
be  kept  under,  and  was  at  last  clearly  exposed, 
I  at  once  drew  back,  and  retired  from  their 
ranks,  to  range  myself  on  his  side,  and  made 
the  victory  decisive.  He  was  at  once  de- 
lighted at  what  had  happened,  for  his  sagacity 
was  remarkable,  and  being  filled  with  zeal,  to 
describe  him  fully  in  Homer's  language,  he 
pursued  in  confusion^  with  argument  those 
valiant  youths,  and,  smiting  them  with  syllo- 
gisms, only  ceased  when  they  were  utterly 
routed,  and  he  had  distinctly  won  the  hon- 
ours due  to  his  power.  Thus  was  kindled 
again,  no  longer  a  spark,  but  a  manifest  and 
'conspicuous  blaze  of  friendship. 


a  Homer  II.  xi.  72. 
26 


^  lb.  xi.  496. 


18.  Their  efforts  having  thus  proved  fruit- 
less, while  they  severely  blamed  their  own 
rashness,  they  cherished  such  annoyance 
against  me  that  it  broke  out  into  open  hos- 
tility, and  a  charge  of  treachery,  not  only 
to  them,  but  to  Athens  herself:  inasmuch 
as  they  had  been  confuted  and  put  to  shame 
at  the  first  onset,  by  a  single  student,  who 
had  not  even  had  time  to  gain  confidence. 
He  moreover,  according  to  that  human  feel- 
ing, which  makes  us,  when  we  have  all  at 
once  attained  to  the  high  hopes  which  we 
have  cherished,  look  upon  their  results  as  in- 
ferior to  our  expectation,  he,  I  say,  was  dis- 
pleased and  annoyed,  and  could  take  no  de- 
light in  his  arrival.  He  was  seeking  for  what 
he  had  expected,  and  called  Athens  an  empty 
happiness.  I  however  tried  to  remove  his  an- 
noyance, both  by  argumentative  encounter, 
and  by  the  enchantments  of  reasoning  ;  alleg- 
ing, as  is  true,  that  the  disposition  of  a  man 
cannot  at  once  be  detected,  without  a  long 
time  and  more  constant  association,  and  that 
culture  likewise  is  not  made  known  to  those 
who  make  trial  of  her,  after  a  few  efforts  and 
in  a  short  time.  In  this  way  I  restored  his 
cheerfulness,  and  by  this  mutual  experience, 
he  w^as  the  more  closely  united  to  me. 

19.  And  when,  as  time  went  on,  we 
acknowledged  our  mutual  affection,  and  that 
philosophy*  was  our  aim,  we  were  all  in  all 
to  one  another,  housemates,  messmates,  inti- 
mates, with  one  object  in  life,  or  an  affection 
for  each  other  ever  growing  warmer  and 
stronger.  Love  for  bodily  attractions,  since 
its  objects  are  fleeting,  is  as  fleeting  as  the 
flowers  of  spring.  For  the  flame  cannot  sur- 
vive, when  the  fuel  is  exhausted,  and  departs 
along  with  that  which  kindles  it,  nor  does  de- 
sire abide,  when  its  incentive  wastes  away. 
But  love  which  is  godly  and  under  restraint, 
since  its  object  is  stable,  not  only  is  more 
lasting,  but,  the  fuller  its  vision  of  beauty 
grows,  the  more  closely  does  it  bind  to  itself 
and  to  one  another  the  hearts  of  those  whose 
love  has  one  and  the  same  object.  This  is  the 
law  of  our  superhuman  love.  I  feel  that  I  am 
being  unduly  borne  away,  and  I  know  not 
how  to  enter  upon  this  point,  yet  I  cannot 
restrain  myself  from  describing  it.  For  if  I 
have  omitted  anything,  it  seems,  immediately 
afterwards,  of  pressing  importance,  and  of 
more  consequence  than  what  I  had  preferred 
to  mention.  And  if  any  one  would  carry  me 
tyrannically  forward,  I  become  like  the  polyps, 
which  when  they  are  being  dragged  from  their 
holes,  cling  with  their  suckers  to  the  rocks, 

a  Philosophy,  here,  a  truly  Christian  life. 


402 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN, 


and  cannot  be  detached,  until  the  last  of  these 
has  had  exerted  upon  it  its  necessary  share  of 
force.  If  then  you  give  me  leave,  I  have  my 
request,  if  not  I  must  take  it  from  myself. 

20.  Such  were  our  feelings  for  each  other, 
when  we  had  thus  supported,  as  Pindar"^  has 
it,  our  "well-built  chamber  with  pillars  of 
gold,"  as  we  advanced  under  the  united  in- 
fluences of  God's  grace  and  our  own  affec- 
tion. Oh  !  how  can  I  mention  these  things 
without  tears. 

We  were  impelled  by  equal  hopes,  in  a  pur- 
suit especially  obno.xious  to  envy,  that  of  let- 
ters. Yet  envy  we  knew  not,  and  emulation 
was  of  service  to  us.  We  struggled,  not  each 
to  gain  the  first  place  for  himself,  but  to  yield 
it  to  the  other ;  for  we  made  each  other's 
reputation  to  be  our  own.  We  seemed  to 
have  one  soul,  inliabiting  two  bodies.  And 
if  we  must  not  believe  these  whose  doctrine  is 
"All  things^  are  in  all;  "  yet  in  our  case  it 
was  worthy  of  belief,  so  did  we  live  in  and 
with  each  other.  The  sole  business  of  both 
of  us  was  virtue,  and  living  for  the  hopes  to 
come,  having  retired  from  this  world,  before 
our  actual  departure  hence.  With  a  view  to 
this,  were  directed  all  our  life  and  actions,  un- 
der the  guidance  of  the  commandment,  as  we 
sharpened  upon  each  other  our  weapons  of 
virtue ;  and  if  this  is  not  a  great  thing  for  me 
to  say,  being  a  rule  and  standard  to  each 
other,  for  the  distinction  between  what  was 
right  and  what  was  not.  Our  associates  were 
not  the  most  dissolute,  but  the  most  sober  of 
our  comrades  ;  not  the  most  pugnacious,  but 
the  most  peaceable,  whose  intimacy  was  most 
profitable  :  knowing  that  it  is  more  easy  to  be 
tainted  with  vice,  than  to  impart  virtue  ;  just 
as  we  can  more  readily  be  infected  with  a 
disease,  than  bestow  health.  Our  most  cher- 
ished studies  were  not  the  most  pleasant,  but 
the  most  excellent;  this  being  one  means  of 
forming  young  minds  in  a  virtuous  or  vicious 
mould. 

21.  Two  ways  were  known  to  us,  the  first 
of  greater  value,  the  second  of  smaller  conse- 
quence:  the  one  leading  to  our  sacred  build- 
ings and  the  teachers  there,  the  other  to  secu- 
lar instructors.  All  others  we  left  to  those 
who  would  pursue  them — to  feasts,  theatres, 
meetings,  banquets.  For  nothing  is  in  my 
opinion  of  value,  save  that  which  leads  to  vir- 
tue and  to  the  improvement  of  its  devotees. 
Different  men  have  different  names,  derived 
from  their  fathers,  their  families,  their  pur- 
suits,  their  exploits:   we  had   but  one  great 

a  Olymp.  Od.  vi.  i. 

P  Ail  things,  etc.,  i.e.  Empedocles  and  Anaxagoras. 


business  and  name — to  be  and  to  be  called 
Christians — of  which  we  thought  more  than 
Gyges*  of  the  turning  of  his  ring,  if  this  is  not 
a  legend,  on  which  depended  his  Lydian  sov- 
ereignty :  or  than  Midas  ^  did  of  the  gold 
through  which  he  perished,  in  answer  to  his 
prayer  that  all  he  had  might  turn  to  gold — 
another  Phrygian  legend.  For  why  should 
I  speak  of  the  arrow  of  the  Hyperborean 
AbarisjV  or  of  the  Argive  Pegasus,^  to  whom 
flight  through  the  air  was  not  of  such  conse- 
quence as  was  to  us  our  rising  to  God,  through 
the  help  of,  and  with  each  other?  Hurtful  as 
Athens  was  to  others  in  spiritual  things,  and 
this  is  of  no  slight  consequence  to  the  pious, 
for  the  city  is  richer  in  those  evil  riches — idols 
— than  the  rest  of  Greece,  and  it  is  hard  to 
avoid  being  carried  along  with  their  devotees 
and  adherents,  yet  we,  our  minds  being  closed 
up  and  fortified  against  this,  suftered  no  in- 
jury. On  the  contrary,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  we  were  thus  the  more  confirmed  in  the 
faith,  from  our  perception  of  their  trickery 
and  unreality,  which  led  us  to  despise  these 
divinities  in  the  very  home  of  their  worship. 
And  if  there  is,  or  is  believed  to  be,  a  river  ^ 
flowing  with  fresh  water  through  the  sea,  or 
an  animal  5  which  can  dance  in  fire,  the  con- 
sumer of  all  things,  such  were  we  among  all 
our  comrades. 

22.  And,  best  of  all,  we  were  surrounded 
by  a  far  from  ignoble  band,  under  his  instruc- 
tion and  guidance,  and  delighting  in  the  same 
objects,  .as  we  ran  on  foot  beside  that  Lydian 
car,''  his  own  course  and  disposition :  and 
so  we  became  famous,  not  only  among  our 
own  teachers  and  comrades,  but  even  through- 
out Greece,  and  especially  in  the  eyes  of  its 
most  distinguished  men.  We  even  i^assed  be- 
yond its  boundaries,  as  was  made  clear  by  the 
evidence  of  many.  For  our  instructors  were 
known  to  all  who  knew  Athens,  and  all  who 
knew  them,  knew  us,  as  the  subject  of  conver- 
sation, being  actually  looked  upon,  or  heard 
of  by  report,  as  an  illustrious  pair.  Orestes 
and  Pylades^  were  in  their  eyes  nothing  to 


a  Gyses  is  said  to  have  had  a  ring  by  means  of  which  he  could 
make  himself  invisible,  and  by  thus  using  it  was  able  to  seize  on 
the  Kingdom  of  Lydia. 

fi  Midas,  said  10  have  had  the  power  granted  of  turnnie  every- 
thing he  touched  to  gold.  Accordingly,  as  this  power  took  eflfect  on 
his  food,  he  died  ot  hunger. 

y  Alxiris,  a  Hyperborean  priest  of  .\polln.  who  was  said  to  have 
given  hun  an  arrow,  on  which  he  rode  tfirough  the  air. 

5  Pfg,isiis.  called  Argive,  because  caught  near  to  Argos,  the 
winged  horse,  liy  the  aid  of  which  Hellerophon  was  said  to  have 
destroyed  the  Chimafra. 

€  A  riiier.  etc.     1'he  Alpheus.  a  river  of  Arcadia. 

i  Animal.  'I'he  s.alamnnder,  a  lizard  said  to  be  impervious  to 
the  action  of  fire.     Plin.  N.  H.  x.  67. 

J)  Lydian  car,  proverbial  expression  for  anything  whose  speed, 
distances  all  competitors. 

6  Orestes  and  Pylades,  types  of  close  comradeship  in  Greek, 
tragedies. 


THE   PANEGYRIC   ON    S.   BASIL. 


403 


us,  or  the  sons  of  Molione,*  the  wonders  of 
the  Homeric  scroll,  celebrated  for  their  union 
in  misfortune,  and  their  splendid  driving,  as 
they  shared  in  reins  and  whip  alike.  But  I 
have  been  unawares  betrayed  into  praising 
myself,  in  a  manner  I  would  not  have  allowed 
in  another.  And  it  is  no  wonder  that  I 
gained  here  in  some  advantage  from  his  friend- 
ship, and  that,  as  in  life  he  aided  me  in  virtue, 
so  since  his  departure  he  has  contributed  to 
my  renown.  But  I  must  return  to  my  proper 
course. 

23.  Who  possessed  such  a  degree  of  the 
prudence  of  old  age,  even  before  his  hair  was 
gray  ?  Since  it  is  by  this  that  Solomon  de- 
fines old  age.*^  Who  was  so  respectful  to  both 
old  and  young,  not  only  of  our  contempo- 
raries, but  even  of  those  who  long  preceded 
him  ?  Who,  owing  to  his  character,  was 
less  in  need  of  education  ?  Yet  who,  even 
with  his  character,  was  so  imbued  with  learn- 
ing? What  branch  of  learning  did  he  not 
traverse  ;  and  that  with  unexampled  success, 
passing  through  all,  as  no  one  else  passed 
through  any  one  of  them  :  and  attaining  such 
eminence  in  each,  as  if  it  had  been  his  sole 
study  ?  The  two  great  sources  of  power  in 
the  arts  and  sciences,  abihty  and  application, 
were  in  liim  equally  combined.  For,  because 
of  the  pains  he  took,  he  had  but  little  need 
of  natural  quickness,  and  his  natural  quickness 
made  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  take  pains ; 
and  such  was  the  cooperation  and  unity  of 
both,  that  it  was  hard  to  see  for  which  of  the 
two  he  was  more  remarkable.  Who  had  such 
power  in  Rhetoric,  which  breathes  v  with  the 
might  of  fire,  different  as  his  disposition  was 
from  that  of  rhetoricians  ?  Who  in  Gram- 
mar, which  perfects  our  tongues  in  Greek  and 
compiles  history,  and  presides  over  metres 
and  legislates  for  poems  ?  Who  in  Philos- 
ophy, that  really  lofty  and  high  reaching 
science,  whether  practical  and  speculative,  or 
in  that  part  of  it  whose  oppositions  and 
struggles  are  concerned  with  logical  demon- 
strations ;  which  is  called  Dialectic,  and  in 
which  it  was  more  difficult  to  elude  his  verbal 
toils,  if  need  required,  than  to  escape  from 
the  Labyrinths?^  Of  Astronomy,  Geome- 
try, and  numerical  proportion  he  had  such  a 
grasp,  that  he  could  not  be  baffled  by  those 
who  are  clever  in  such  sciences  :  excessive 
application  to  them  he  despised,  as  useless  to 


a.S"<7«j  oy"7If(j//o«c,  Eurytus  and  Cteatus.  Horn.  II.  ii.  621.  Their 
father  was  Actor.  fi  Wisd.  iv.  8. 

Y  Whicli  breathes,  a  phrase  used  Horn.  11.  vi.  182  of  the 
ChiniEera. 

8  Labyrinths,  the  mythical  mazes  of  Crete,  the  home  of  the 
Minotaur. 


tho.se  whose  desire  is  godliness  :  so  that  it  is 
possible  to  admire  what  he  chose  more  than 
what  he  neglected,  or  what  he  neglected  more 
than  what  he  chose.  Medicine,  the  result  of 
philosophy  and  laboriousness,  was  rendered 
necessary  for  him  by  his  physical  delicacy, 
and  his  care  of  the  sick.  From  these  begin- 
nings he  attained  to  a  mastery  of  the  art,  not 
only  in  its  empirical  and  practical  branches, 
but  also  in  its  theory  and  principles.  But 
what  are  these,  illustrious  though  they  be, 
compared  with  the  moral  discipline  of  the 
man  ?  To  those  who  have  had  experience  of 
him,  Minos  and  Rhadamanthus "  were  mere 
trifles,  whom  the  Greeks  thought  worthy  of 
the  meadows  of  Asphodel  and  the  Elysian 
plains,  which  are  their  representations  of  our 
Paradise,  derived  from  those  books  of  Moses 
which  are  also  ours,  for  though  their  terms 
are  different,  this  is  what  they  refer  to  under 
other  names. 

24.  Such  was  the  case,  and  his  galleon 
was  laden  with  all  the  learning  attainable  by 
the  nature  of  man  ;  for  beyond  Cadiz  ^  there 
is  no  passage.  There  was  left  no  other  need 
but  that  of  rising  to  a  more  perfect  life,  and 
grasping  those  hopes  upon  which  we  were 
agreed.  The  day  of  our  departure  was  at 
hand,  with  its  attendant  speeches  of  farewell, 
and  of  escort,  its  invitations  to  return,  its 
lamentations,  embraces  and  tears.  For  there 
is  nothing  so  painful  to  any  one,  as  is  separa- 
tion from  Athens  and  one  another,  to  those 
who  have  been  comrades  there.  On  that  oc- 
casion was  seen  a  piteous  spectacle,  worthy 
of  record.  Around  us  were  grouped  our  fel- 
low students  and  classmates  and  some  of  our 
teachers,  protesting  amid  entreaties,  violence, 
and  persuasion,  that,  whatever  happened,  they 
would  not  let  us  go  ;  saying  and  doing  every- 
thing that  men  in  distress  could^  do.  And 
here  1  will  bring  an  accusation  against  my- 
self, and  also,  daring  though  it  be,  against  that 
divine  and  irreproachable  soul.  For  he,  by 
detailing  the  reasons  of  his  anxiety  to  return 
home,  was  able  to  prevail  over  their  desire  to 
retain  him,  and  they  were  compelled,  though 
with  reluctance,  to  agree  to  his  departure. 
But  I  was  left  behind  at  Athens,  partly,  to 
say  the  truth,  because  I  had  been  prevailed 
on — partly  because  he  had  betrayed  me,  hav- 
ing been  persuaded  to  forsake  and  hand  over 
to  his  captors  one  who  refused  to  forsake  him. 
A  thing  incredible,  before  it  happened.      For 

a  Hh'tios  and  RhadainantJius,  Kings  of  Crete  and  Lycia, 
fabled  to  hnve  been  made  judges  in  the  lower  world  because  of 
their  justice  when  on  enrth. 

fj  Heyond  Cadiz.  The  Atlantic  Ocean  beyond  Cadiz  was  re- 
puted impassable  by  the  ancients. 


404 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


philosophy, 
since  envy- 
united    by 


it  was  hke  cutting  one  body  into  two,  to  the 
destruction  of  either  part,  or  the  severance  of 
two  bullocks  who  have  shared  the  same  man- 
ger and  the  same  yoke,  amid  pitiable  bel- 
lowings  after  one  another  in  protest  against 
the  separation.  However,  my  loss  was  not  of 
long  duration,  for  I  could  not  long  bear  to  be 
seen  in  piteous  plight,  nor  to  have  to  account 
to  every  one  for  our  separation  :  so,  after  a 
brief  stay  at  Athens,  my  longing  desire  made 
me,  like  the  horse  in  Homer,  to  burst  the 
bonds  of  those  who  restrained  me,  and  pranc- 
ing o'er  the  plains,  rush  to  my  mate. 

25.  Upon  our  return,  after  a  slight  indul- 
gence to  the  world  and  the  stage,  sufficient  to 
gratify  the  general  desire,  not  from  any  in- 
clination to  theatrical  display,  we  soon  be- 
came independent,  and,  after  being  promoted 
from  the  rank  of  beardless  boys  to  that  of 
men,  made  bold  advances  along  the  road  'of 

for  though  no  longer  together, 
would  not  allow  this,  we  were 
our  eager  desire.  The  city  of 
Cassarea  took  possession  of  him,  as  a  second 
founder  and  patron,  but  in  course  of  time  he 
was  occasionally  absent,  as  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity due  to  our  separation,  and  with  a  view  to 
our  determined  course  of  philosophy.  Duti- 
ful attendance  on  my  aged  parents,  and  a  suc- 
cession of  misfortunes  kept  me  apart  from  him, 
perhaps  without  right  or  justice,  but  so  it  was. 
And  to  this  cause  I  am  inclined  to  ascribe  all 
the  inconsistency  and  difficulty  which  have  be- 
fallen my  life,  and  the  hindrances  in  the  way 
of  philosophy,  which  have  been  unworthy  of 
my  desire  and  purpose.  But  as  for  my  fate, 
let  it  lead  whither  God  pleases,  only  may  its 
course  be  the  better  for  his  intercessions.  As 
regards  himself,  the  manifold  love  of  God  to- 
ward man,"  and  His  providential  care  for  our 
race  did,  after  shewing  forth  his  merits  under 
many  intervening  circumstances  with  ever 
greater  brilliancy,  set  him  up  as  a  conspicu- 
ous and  celebrated  light  for  the  Church,  by 
advancing  him  to  the  holy  thrones  of  the 
priesthood,  to  blaze  forth,  through  the  single 
city  of  Cfesarea,  to  the  whole  world.  And  in 
what  manner  ?  Not  by  precipitate  advance- 
ment, nor  by  at  once  cleansing  and  making 
him  wise,  as  is  the  wont  of  many  ])resent  can- 
didates for  preferment :  but  bestowing  upon 
him  the  honour  in  the  due  order  of  spiritual 
advancement. 

26.  For  I  do  not  praise  the  disorder  and 
irregularity  which  sometimes  exist  among  us, 
even  in  those  who  preside  over  the  sanctuary. 

a  Tit.  iii.  4. 


I  do  not  venture,  nor  is  it  just,  to  accuse  them 
all.  I  approve  the  nautical  custom,  which 
first  gives  the  oar  to  the  future  steersman,  and 
afterward  leads  him  to  the  stern,  and  entrusts 
him  with  the  command,  and  seats  him  at  the 
helm,  only  after  a  long  course  of  striking  the 
sea  and  observing  the  winds.  As  is  the  case 
again  in  military  affairs  :  private,  captain, 
general.  This  order  is  the  best  and  most  ad- 
vantageous for  their  subordinates.  And  if  it 
were  so  in  our  case,  it  would  be  of  great  ser- 
vice. But,  as  it  is,  there  is  a  danger  of  the 
holiest  of  all  offices  being  the  most  ridiculous 
among  us.  For  promotion  depends  not  upon 
virtue,  but  upon  villany  ;  and  the  sacred 
thrones  fall  not  to  the  most  worthy,  but  to  the 
most  powerful.  Samuel,  the  seer  into  futu- 
rity, is  among  the  prophets  :  but  Saul,  the  re- 
jected one,  is  also  there.  Rehoboam,  the 
son  of  Solomon,  is  among  the  kings,  but  so 
also  is  Jeroboam,  the  slave  and  apostate. 
And  there  is  not  a  physician,  or  a  painter  who 
has  not  first  studied  the  nature  of  diseases,  or 
mixed  many  colours,  or  practised  drawing  : 
but  a  prelate  is  easily  found,  without  laborious 
training,  with  a  reputation  of  recent  date, 
being  sown  and  springing  up  in  a  moment,  as 
the  legend  "■  of  the  giants  goes.  We  manu- 
facture those  who  are  holy  in  a  day,  and  bid 
those  to  be  wise,  who  have  had  no  instruction, 
and  have  contributed  nothing  before  to  their 
dignity,  except  the  will.  So  one  man  is  con- 
tent with  an  inferior  position,  and  abides  in 
his  low  estate,  who  is  worthy  of  a  lofty  one, 
and  has  meditated  much  on  the  inspired 
words,  and  has  reduced  the  flesh  by  many 
laws  into  subjection  to  the  spirit :  while  the 
other  haughtily  takes  precedence,  and  raises 
his  eyebrow  over  his  betters,  and  does  not 
tremble  at  his  position,  nor  is  he  appalled  at 
the  sight,  seeing  the  disciplined  man  beneath 
him  ;  and  wrongly  supposes  himself  to  be  his 
su])erior  in  wisdom  as  well  as  in  rank,  having 
lost  his  senses  under  the  influence  of  his  posi- 
tion. 

27.  Not  so  our  great  and  illustrious  Basil. 
In  this  grace,  as  in  all  others,  he  was  a  public 
example.  For  he  first  read  to  the  people  the 
sacred  books,  while  already  able  to  expound 
them,  nor  did  he  deem  himself  worthy  of  this 
rank^  in  the  sanctuary,  and  thus  proceeded  to 
praise  the  Lord  in  the  seat  of  the  Presbyters,  y 
and  next  in  that  of  the  Bishops,  attaining  the 
office  neither  by  stealth  nor  by  violence,  in- 
stead of  seeking  for  the  honour,  being  sought 


a  T/ie   Ugenrf,    i.e.,    of   Cadmu«   who    sowed    at   Thebes    the 
dragon's  teeth  from  which  sprung  giants. 
P  riiis  rank,  i.e.,  the  office  of  Lector,  or  Reader.       y  Ps.  cvii.  32. 


THE    PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


405 


for  by  it,  and  receiving  it  not  as  a  human 
favour,  but  as  from  God  and  divine.  The  ac- 
count of  his  bishopric  must  be  deferred  :  over 
his  subordinate  ministry  let  us  Hnger  a  while, 
for  indeed  it  had  almost  escaped  me,  in  the 
midst  of  my  discourse. 

28.  There  arose  a  disagreement  between 
him  and  his  predecessor  °-  in  the  rule  over  this 
Church  :  its  source  and  character  it  is  best  to 
pass  over  in  silence,  yet  it  arose.  He  was  a 
man  in  other  respects  far  from  ignoble,  and 
admirable  for  his  piety,  as  was  proved  by  the 
persecution  of  that  time,  and  the  opposition 
to  him,  yet  his  feeling  against  Basil  was  one 
to  which  men  are  liable.  For  Momus  seizes 
not  only  upon  the  common  herd,  but  on  the 
best  of  men,  so  that  it  belongs  to  God  alone 
to  be  utterly  uninfluenced  by  and  i)roof  against 
such  feelings.  All  the  more  eminent  and  wise 
portion  of  the  Church  was  roused  against  him, 
if  those  are  wiser  than  the  majority  who  have 
separated  themselves  from  the  world  and  con- 
secrated their  life  to  God.  I  mean  the  Naza- 
rites^  of  our  day,  and  those  who  devote  them- 
selves to  such  pursuits.  They  were  annoyed 
that  their  chief  v  should  be  neglected,  in- 
sulted, and  rejected,  and  they  ventured  upon  a 
most  dangerous  proceeding.  They  determined 
to  revolt  and  break  off  from  the  body  of  the 
Church,  which  admits  of  no  faction,  severing 
along  with  themselves  no  small  fraction  of  the 
people,  both  of  the  lower  ranks,  and  of  those 
of  position.  This  was  most  easy,  owing  to 
three  very  strong  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
the  man  was  held  in  repute,  beyond  any  other, 
I  think,  of  the  philosophers  of  our  time,  and 
able,  if  he  wished,  to  inspire  with  courage  the 
conspirators.  Next,  his  opponent  ^  was  sus- 
pected by  the  city,  in  consequence  of  the  tu- 
mult which  accompanied  his  institution,  of 
having  obtained  his  preferment  in  an  arbitrary 
manner,  not  according  to  the  laws  and  canons. 
Also  there  were  present  some  of  the  bishops  * 
of  the  West,  drawing  to  themselves  all  the 
orthodox  members  of  the  Church. 

29.  What  then  did  our  noble  friend,  the  dis- 
ciple of  the  Peaceable  One  ?  It  was  not  his 
habit  to  resist  his  traducers  or  partisans,  nor 
was  it  his  part  to  fight,  or  rend  the  body  of 
the  Church,  which  was  from  other  reasons  the 
subject  of  attack,  and  hardly  bestead,   from 


a  His  predecessor,  Eusebius,  Archbishop  of  Csesarea. 

f3  Snzarites,  i.e..  the  monks.         7  Their  chi^f.  i.e  .  I'asil. 

6  His  opjyojient,  lit.  '■  the  man  who  was  vexing  him,"  i.e.,  Euse- 
bius. 

e  Bisltofts.  It  is  uncertain  who  these  bishops  were.  Clemencet 
thinks  they  were  Lucifer  and  Eusebius  of  Vercellse.  But  a  sepa- 
ration had  ere  this  taken  place  between  them  in  consequence  of 
Lucifer's  rash  action  at  Antioch.  Nor  is  it  certain  that  Eusebius 
had  not  already  returned  to  Italy. 


the  great  power  of  the  heretics.  With  my  ad- 
vice and  earnest  encouragement  on  the  point, 
he  set  out  from  the  place  with  me  into  Pontus, 
and  presided  over  the  abodes  of  contemplation 
there.  He  himself  too  founded  one  °-  worthy 
of  mention,  as  he  welcomed  the  desert  to- 
gether with  Elijah  and  John,^  those  professors 
of  austerity  ;  thinking  this  to  be  more  profit- 
able for  him  than  to  form  any  design  in  refer- 
ence to  the  present  juncture  unworthy  of  his 
philosophy,  and  to  ruin  in  a  time  of  storm  the 
straight  course  \\hich  he  was  making,  where 
the  surges  of  disputation  were  lulled  to  a  calm. 
Yet  wonderfully  philosophic  though  his  re- 
tirement was,  we  shall  find  his  return  still 
more  wonderful.     For  thus  it  was. 

30.  While  we  were  thus  engaged,  there  sud- 
denly arose  a  cloud  full  of  hail,  with  destruc- 
tive roar,  overwhelming  every  Church  upon 
which  it  burst  and  seized  :  an  Emperor, v  most 
fond  of  gold  and  most  hostile  to  Christ,  in- 
fected with  these  two  most  serious  diseases, 
insatiate  avarice  and  blasphemy  ;  a  persecu- 
tor in  succession  to  the  persecutor,  and,  in 
succession  to  the  apostate,  not  indeed  an  apos- 
tate, though  no  better  to  Christians,  or  rather, 
to  the  more  devout  and  pure  party  of  Chris- 
tians, who  worship  the  Trinity,  which  I  call 
the  only  true  devotion  and  saving  doctrine. 
For  we  do  not  measure  out  the  Godhead  into 
portions,  nor  banish  from  Itself  by  unnatural 
estrangements  the  one  and  unapproachable 
Nature ;  nor  cure  one  evil  by  another,  de- 
stroying the  godless  confusion  of  Sabellius  by 
a  more  impious  severance  and  division  ;  which 
was  the  error  of  Arius,  whose  name  declares 
his  madness,*  the  disturber  and  destroyer  of 
a  great  part  of  the  Church.  For  he  did  not 
honour  the  Father,  by  dishonouring  His  off- 
spring with  his  unequal  degrees  of  Godhead. 
But  we  recognize  one  glory  *  of  the  Father, 
the  equality  of  the  Only-begotten  ;  and  one 
glory  of  the  Son,  that  of  the  Spirit.  And  we 
hold  that,  to  subordinate  any  of  the  Three,  is 
to  destroy  the  whole.  For  we  worship  and 
acknowledge  Them  as  Three  in  their  proper- 
ties,^ but  One  in  their  Godhead.  He  how- 
ever had  no  such   idea,  being  unable  to  look 


a.  One,  a  monastery.  The  rule  of  S.  Basil  is  widely  observed  to 
this  day  in  Eastern  monasteries.  Cf.  §  34. 

/3  John,  Saint  John  Baptist.  7  An  Emperor,  Valens. 

S  Madness,  cf.  ii.  37.  Note. 

c  Glory.     The  word  Sofa  meansboth  "  docirine  "  and  "glory." 

C,  Properties.  i6idTi)Tes.  Petav.  de  Trin.  iv.  Proem.  §2  gives 
other  Greek  equivalent  terms.  The  Latin  terms  are  "  notiones"  (S. 
Thom.  K(\.  Summa.  I.  xxxii.  qu.  2),  '■  proprieiates"  or  relationes. 
They  denote  those  relative  "attributes  ad  intra  "  which  distinguish 
the  Persons,  if  thev  do  not  actually  constitute  the  Personality  of 
each  of  the  Three  Divine  Persons.  They  are  five  in  number,  Un- 
begottenness.  Paternity,  Filiation,  active  and  passive  Spiration. 
Perhaps  the  neaiest  English  equivalent  is  "  characteristic  (or  dis- 
tinctive) relations." — Cf.  Orat.  xlii.  15. 


4o6 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN, 


up,  but  being  debased  by  those  who  led  him, 
he  dared  to  debase  along  with  himself  even 
the  Nature  of  the  Godhead,  and  became  a 
wicked  creature  reducing  Majesty  to  bondage, 
and  aligning  with  creation  the  uncreated  and 
timeless  Nature. 

31.  Such  was  his  mind,  and  with  such  im- 
piety he  took  the  field  against  us.  For  we 
must  consider  it  to  be  nothing  else  than  a  bar- 
baric inroad  which,  instead  of  destroying  walls, 
cities  and  houses,  and  other  things  of  little 
worth,  made  with  hands  and  capable  of  res- 
toration, spent  its  ravages  upon  men's  souls. 
A  worthy  army  joined  in  his  assault,  the  evil 
rulers  of  the  Churches,  the  bitter  governors 
of  his  world-wide  Empire.  Some  of  the 
Churches  they  now  held,  some  they  were  as- 
saulting, others  they  hoped  to  gain  by  the 
already  exercised  influence  of  the  Emperor, 
and  the  violence  which  he  threatened.  But 
in  their  purpose  of  perverting  our  own,  their 
confidence  was  specially  based  on  the  small- 
ness  of  mind  of  those  whom  I  have  mentioned, 
the  inexperience  of  our  prelate,  and  the  in- 
firmities which  prevailed  among  us.  The 
struggle  would  be  fierce :  the  zeal  of  numer- 
ous troops  was  far  from  ignoble,  but  their 
array  was  weak,  from  the  want  of  a  leader  and 
strategist  to  contend  for  them  with  the  might 
of  the  AVord  and  of  the  Spirit.  What  then 
did  this  noble  and  magnanimous  and  truly 
Christ-loving  soul  ?  No  need  of  many  words 
to  urge  his  presence  and  aid.  At  once  when 
he  saw  me  on  my  mission,  for  the  struggle  on 
l)ehalf  of  the  faith  was  common  to  us  both,  he 
yielded  to  my  entreaty  ;  and  decided  by  a 
most  excellent  distinction,  based  on  spiritual 
reasons,  that  the  time  for  punctiliousness  (if 
indeed  we  may  give  way  to  such  feelings  at 
all)  is  a  time  of  security,  but  that  forbearance 
is  recpiired  in  the  hour  of  necessity.  He 
immediately  returned  with  me  from  Pontus, 
and  as  a  zealous  volunteer  took  his  place  in 
the  fight  for  the  endangered  truth,  and  de- 
voted himself  to  the  service  of  his  mother,  the 
Church. 

32.  Did  then  his  actual  efforts  fall  short  of 
his  preliminary  zeal  ?  Were  they  directed  by 
courage,  but  not  by  i)rudence,  or  by  skill, 
while  he  shrank  from  danger?  Or,  in  spite 
of  their  unexampled  perfection  on  all  these 
points,  was  there  left  in  him  some  trace  of  ir- 
ritation ?  Far  from  it.  He  was  at  once  com- 
pletely reconciled,  and  took  part  in  every 
plan  and  effort.  He  removed  all  the  thorns 
and  stuml)ling  blocks  whic:h  were  in  our  way, 
upon  which  the  enemy  relied  in  their  attack 
upon  us.     He  took  hold  of  one,  grasped  an- 


other, thrust  away  a  third.  He  became  to 
some  a  stout  wall  and  rampart,''  to  others  an 
axe  breaking  the  rock  in  pieces,^  or  a  fire 
among  the  thorns,')'  as  the  divine  Scripture 
says,  easily  destroying  those  fagots  who  were 
insulting  the  Godhead.  And  if  his  Barnabas, 
who  speaks  and  records  these  things,  was  of 
service  to  Paul  in  the  struggle,  it  is  to  Paul 
that  thanks  are  due,  for  choosing  and  making 
him  his  comrade  in  the  strife. 

;^^.  Thus  the  enemy  failed,  and,  base  men 
as  they  were,  for  the  first  time  were  then 
basely  put  to  shame  and  worsted,  learning  not 
to  be  ready  to  despise  the  Cappadocians,  of  all 
men  in  the  world,  whose  special  qualities  are 
firmness  in  the  faith,  and  loyal  devotion  to 
the  Trinity  ;  to  Whom  is  due  their  unity  and 
strength,  and  from  AMiom  they  receive  an 
even  greater  and  stronger  assistance  than  they 
are  able  to  give.  Basil's  next  business  and 
purpose  was  to  conciliate  the  prelate,  to  allay 
suspicion,  to  persuade  all  men  that  the  irri- 
tation which  had  been  felt  was  due  to  the 
temptation  and  effort  of  the  Evil  one,  in  his 
envy  of  virtuous  concord  ;  carefully  comply- 
ing with  the  laws  of  obedience  and  spiritual 
order.  Accordingly  he  visited  him,  with  in- 
struction and  advice.  While  obedient  to  his 
wishes,  he  was  everything  to  him,  a  good 
counsellor,  a  skilfiil  assistant,  an  expounder  of 
the  Divine  ^Vill,  a  guide  of  conduct,  a  staff 
for  his  old  age,  a  support  of  the  faith,  most 
trusty  of  those  within,  most  practical  of  those 
without,  in  a  word,  as  much  inclined  to  good- 
will, as  he  had  been  thought  to  hostility. 
And  so  the  pouer  of  the  Church  came  into 
his  hands  almost,  if  not  quite,  to  an  equal  de- 
gree with  the  occupant  of  the  see.  For  in 
return  for  his  good-will,  he  was  requited  with 
authority.  And  their  harmony  and  combina- 
tion of  power  was  wonderful.  The  one  was 
the  leader  of  the  people,  the  other  of  their 
leader,  like  a  lion-keeper,  skilfully  soothing 
the  possessor  of  power.  For,  having  been  re- 
cently installed  in  the  see,  and  still  somewhat 
under  the  influence  of  the  world,  and  not  yet 
fiirnished  with  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  in  the 
midst  of  the  eddying  tide  of  enemies  assault- 
ing the  Church,  he  was  in  need  of  some  one 
to  take  him  l)y  the  hand  and  support  him. 
Accordingly  he  accepted  the  alliance,  and 
imagined  himself  the  conqueror  of  one  who 
had  cont[uered  him. 

34.  Of  his  care ,  for  and  protection  of  the 
Chtn-ch,  there'  are  many  other  tokens  ;  his 
boldness    towards    the   governors   and    other 


a  Jer.  i.  i8. 


|3  lb.  xxiii.  29. 


y  Ps.  cxviii.  12. 


I 


THE    PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


407 


^most  powerful  men  in  the  city  :  the  decisions 
of  disputes,  accepted  without  hesitation,  and 
made  effective  by  his  simple  word,  his  in- 
clination being  held  to  be  decisive:  his  sup- 
P'ort  of  the  needy,  most  of  them  in  spiritual, 
not  a  few  also  in  physical  distress  :  for  this 
also  often  influences  the  soul  and  reduces  it  to 
subjection  by  its  kindness  ;  the  support  of  the 
poor,  the  entertainment  of  strangers,  the  care 
of  maidens  ;  legislation*  written  and  unwrit- 
ten for  the  monastic  life :  arrangements  of 
prayers,^  adornments  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
other  ways  in  which  the  true  man  of  God, 
working  for  God,  would  benefit  the  people  : 
one  being  especially  important  and  note- 
worthy. There  was  a  famine,  the  most 
severe  one  ever  recorded.  The  city  was  in 
distress,  and  there  was  no  source  of  assistance, 
or  relief  for  the  calamity.  For  marithne 
cities  are  able  to  bear  such  times  of  need 
without  difficulty,  by  an  exchange  of  their 
own  products  for  what  is  imported  :  but  an 
inland  city  like  ours  can  neither  turn  its 
superfluity  to  profit,  nor  supply  its  need,  by 
either  disposing  of  what  we  have,  or  import- 
ing what  we  have  not :  but  the  hardest  part 
of  all  such  distress  is,  the  insensibility  and  in- 
satiability of  those  who  possess  supplies.  For 
they  watch  their  opportunities,  and  turn  the 
distress  to  profit,  and  thrive  upon  misfortune  : 
heeding  not  that  he  who  shows  mercy  to  the 
poor,  lendeth  to  the  Lord,"**  nor  that  he  that 
withholdeth  corn,  the  people  shall  cur.se 
him  :  ^  nor  any  other  of  the  promises  to  the 
philanthropic,  and  threats  against  the  inhu- 
man. But  they  are  too  insatiate,  in  their  ill- 
judged  policy  ;  for  while  they  shut  up  their 
bowels  against  their  fellows,  they  shut  up 
those  of  God  against  themselves,  forgetting 
that  their  need  of  Him  is  greater  than  others' 
need  of  them.  Such  are  the  buyers  and 
sellers  of  corn,  who  neither  respect  their  fel- 
lows, nor  are  thankful  to  God,  from  Whom 
comes  what  they  have,  while  others  are 
straitened. 

35.  He  indeed  could  neither  rain  bread 
from  heaven  by  prayer, «  to  nourish  an  es- 
caped people  in  the  wilderness,^  nor  supply 
fountains  of  food  without  cost  from  the  depth 
of  vessels  which  are  filled  by  being  emiJtied,'' 
and  so,  by  an  amazing  return  for  her  hospital- 
ity, support  one  who  supported  him  ;  nor 
feed  thousands  of  men  with  five  loaves  whose 
very  fragments  were  a  further  supply  for  many 

a  Legislation.     Cf.  §30. 

(3  Prayers.  The  liturgy  of  S.  Basil  together  with  that  of  S. 
Chrysnstoin  are  still  the  authorized  liturgies  of  the  Eastern 
Church.  7  Prov.  xix,  17.  6  lb.  xi.  26. 

£  Exod.  xvi.  15.  f  Ps,  Ixxviii.  24.  tj  i  Kings  xvii.  14. 


tables."  These  were  the  works  of  Moses  and 
Elijah,  and  my  God,  from  Whom  they  too  de- 
rived their  power.  Perhaps  also  they  were 
characteristic  of  their  time  and  its  circum- 
stances :  since  signs  are  for  unbelievers  not  for 
those  who  believe.^  But  he  did  devise  and  exe- 
cute with  the  same  faith  things  which  corre- 
spond to  them,  and  tend  in  the  same  direction. 
For  by  his  word  and  advice  he  opened  the 
stores  of  those  who  possessed  them,  and  so, 
according  to  the  Scripture  dealt  food  to  the 
hungry, Y  and  satisfied  the  poor  with  bread, ^ 
and  fed  them  in  the  time  of  dearth,*  and  filled 
the  hungry  souls  with  good  things.^  And  in 
what  way  ?  for  this  is  no  slight  addition  to 
his  prai.s'e.  He  gathered  together  the  victims 
of  the  famine  with  some  who  were  but  slightly 
recovering  from  it,  men  and  women,  infants, 
old  men,  every  age  which  was  in  distress,  and 
obtaining  contributions  of  all  sorts  of  food 
which  can  relieve  famine,  set  before  them 
basins  of  soup  and  such  meat  as  was  found 
preserved  among  us,  on  which  the  poor  live. 
Then,  imitating  the  ministry  of  Christ,  Who, 
girded  with  a  towel,  did  not  disdain  to  wash 
the  disciples'  feet,  using  for  this  ]nirpose  the 
aid  of  his  own  servants,  and  also  of  his  lellow 
servants,  he  attended  to  the  bodies  and  souls 
of  those  who  needed  it,  combining  personal 
respect  with  the  supply  of  their  necessity,  and 
so  giving  them  a  double  relief. 

36.  Such  was  our  young  furnisher  of  corn, 
■and  second  Joseph  :  though  of  him  we  can 
say  somewhat  more.  For  the  one  made  a 
gain  from  the  famine,  and  bought  up  Egypt '' 
in  his  philanthropy,  by  managing  the  time 
of  plenty  with  a  view  to  the  time  of  famine, 
turning  to  account  the  dreams  of  others  for 
that  purpo.se.  But  the  other's  services  were 
gratuitous,  and  his  succour  of  the  famine 
gained  no  i)rofit,  having  only  one  object,  to 
win  kindly  feelings  by  kindly  treatment,  and 
to  gain  by  his  rations  of  corn  the  heavenly 
blessings.  Further  he  provided  the  nourish- 
mont  of  the  Word,  and  that  more  perfect 
bounty  and  distribution,  which  is  really  heav- 
enly and  from  on  high — if  the  word  be  that 
bread  of  angels,^  wherewith  souls  are  fed  and 
given  to  drink,  who  are  a  hungered  for  God,' 
and  seek  for  a  food  which  does  not  pass  away 
or  fail,  but  abides  ibrever.  This  Ibod  he, 
who  was  the  poorest  and  most  needy  man 
whom  I  have  known,  supplied  in  rich  abun- 
dance to  the  relief  not  of  a  famine  of  bread. 


o  S.  Matt.  xiv.  iq. 

6  Ps.  cxNxii.  15. 
f  lb.  cvii.  9  ;  -S.  I^uke  i.  53. 
6  Ps.  Ixxviii.  25. 


/3  I  Cor.  xiv.  22. 


7  Isai.  Iviii.  7. 


6  lb.  .\xxni.  lu. 
T)  Gen.  xli.  i  et  seq. 
I  lb.  Ixiii.  I  ;  S.  Matt.  v.  6. 


4o8 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


nor  of  a  thirst  for  water,  but  a  longing  for  that 
Word  "  which  is  really  lifegiving  and  nourish- 
ing, and  causes  to  grow  to  spiritual  manhood 
him  who  is  duly  fed  thereon. 

37.  After  these  and  similar  actions — why 
need  I  stay  to  mention  them  all  ? — when  the 
prelate  whose  name  ^  betokened  his  godliness 
had  passed  away,  having  sweetly  breathed  his 
last  in  Basil's  arms,  he  was  raised  to  the  lofty 
throne  of  a  Bishop,  not  without  difficulty  or 
without  the  envious  struggles  of  the  prelates  of 
his  native  land,  on  whose  side  were  found  the 
greatest  scoundrels  of  the  city.  But  the  Holy 
Spirit  must  needs  win  the  day — and  indeed 
the  victory  was  decisive.  For  He  brought 
from  a  distance,  to  anoint  him,  menv  illus- 
trious and  zealous  for  godliness,  and  with 
them  the  new  Abraham,  our  Patriarch,  I 
mean  my  father,  in  regard  to  whom  an  extra- 
ordinary thing  happened.  For,  failing  as  he 
was  from  the  number  of  his  years,  and  worn 
away  almost  to  his  last  breath  by  disease,  he 
ventured  on  the  journey  to  give  assistance  by 
his  vote,  relying  on  the  aid  of  the  Spirit.  In 
brief,  he  was  placed  in  his  litter,  as  a  corpse 
is  laid  in  its  tomb,  to  return  in  the  freshness 
and  strength  of  youth,  with  head  erect,  hav- 
ing been  strengthened  by  the  imposition  of 
hands  and  unction,  and,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  by  the  head  of  him  who  was  anointed. 
This  must  be  added  to  the  instances  of  old 
time,  which  prove  that  labour  bestows  health, 
zealous  purpose  raises  the  dead,  and  old  age 
leaps  up  when  anointed  by  the  Spirit. 

38.  Having  thus  been  deemed  worthy  of 
the  office  of  prelate,  as  it  is  seemly  that  men 
should  who  have  lived  such  a  life,  and  won 
such  favour  and  consideration,  he  did  not 
disgrace,  by  his  subsequent  conduct,  either 
his  own  philosophy,  or  the  hopes  of  those 
who  had  trusted  him.  But  he  ever  so  far 
surpassed  himself  as  he  has  been  shown  hither- 
to to  have  surpassed  others,  his  ideas  on  this 
point  being  most  excellent  and  philosophic. 
For  he  held  that,  while  it  is  virtuous  in  a 
private  individual  to  avoid  vice,  and  be  to 
some  extent  good,  it  is  a  vice  in  a  chief  and 
ruler,  especially  in  such  an  office,  to  fail  to 
surpass  by  far  the  majority  of  men,  and  by 
constant  progress  to  make  his  virtue  corre- 
spond to  his  dignity  and  throne  :  for  it  is 
difficult  for  one  in  high  position  to  attain  the 
mean,  and  by  his  eminence  in  virtue  raise  up 
his  peoi)le  to  the  golden  mean.  Or  rather 
to  treat  this  question  more  satisfactorily,  I 
think  that  the  result  is  the  same  as   I  see  in 

ttAmos  viii.  11.       ^A'njnf,  Eusebius.  i.e.,  "pious"  "godly." 
7  Men.     Kusebius  of  Saniosaba  and  S.  Gregory  the  Elder. 


the  case  of  our  Saviour,  and  of  every  specially* 
wise  man,  I  fancy,  when  He  was  with  us  in 
that  form  which  surpassed  us  and  yet  is  ours. 
For  He  also,  the  gospel  says,  increased  m 
wisdom  and  favour,  as  well  as  in  stature,"  not 
that  these  qualities  in  Him  were  capable  of 
growth  :  for  how  could  that  which  was  per- 
fect from  the  first  become  more  perfect,  but 
that  they  were  gradually  disclosed  and  dis- 
played ?  So  I  think  that  the  virtue  of  Basil, 
without  being  itself  increased,  obtained  at 
this  time  a  wider  exercise,  since  his  power 
provided  him  with  more  abundant  material. 

39.  He  first  of  all  made  it  plain  that  his 
office  had  been  bestowed  ui)on  him,  not  by 
human  favour,  but  by  the  gift  of  God.  This 
will  also  be  shown  by  my  conduct.  For  in 
what  philosophic  research  did  he  not,  about 
that  time,  join  with  me?  So  every  one 
thought  that  I  should  run  to  meet  him  after 
what  had  happened,  and  show  my  delight  at 
it  (as  would,  perhaps,  have  been  the  case 
with  any  one  else)  and  claim  a  share  in  his 
authority,  rather  than  rule  beside  him,  ac- 
cording to  the  inferences  they  drew  from  our 
friendship.  But,  in  my  exceeding  anxiety  to 
avoid  the  annoyance  and  jealousy  of  the  time, 
and  specially  since  his  position  was  still  a 
painful  and  troubled  one,  I  remained  at 
home,  and  forcibly  restrained  my  eager  de- 
sire, while,  though  he  blamed  me,  Basil  ac- 
cepted my  excuse.  And  when,  on  my  subse- 
quent arrival,  I  refused,  for  the  same  reason 
the  honour  of  this  chair,  and  a  dignified 
position  ^  among  the  Presbyters,  he  kindly 
refrained  from  blaming,  nay  he  i)raised  me, 
preferring  to  be  charged  with  pride  by  a 
small  clique,  in  their  ignorance  of  our  policy, 
rather  than  do  anything  contrary  to  reason 
and  his  own  resolutions.  And  indeed,  how 
could  a  man  have  better  shown  his  soul  to  be 
superior  to  all  fawning  and  flattery,  and  his 
single  object  to  be  the  law  of  right,  than  by 
thus  treating  me,  whom  he  acknowledged  as 
among  the  first  of  his  friends  and  associates? 

40.  His  next  task  was  to  appease,  and  allay 
by  magnanimous  treatment,  the  o])position  to 
himself:  and  that  without  any  trace  of  flattery 
or  servility,  but  in  a  most  chivalrous  and 
magnanimous  way  ;  with  a  view,  not  merely 
to  present  exigencies,  but  also  to  the  fostering 
of  fiiture  obedience.  For,  seeing  that,  while 
tenderness  leads  to  laxity  and  slackness,  sever- 
ity gives  rise  to  stubbornness  and  self-will,  he 
was  able  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  each  course 


o  S.  Luke  ii.  52. 

/3  Di,^nified  position,  known  later  as   that  of  Vicar  General. 
Thomassni.     Disc.  Eccl.  I.  ii.  7,  §  3. 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.   BASIL. 


409 


by  a  combination  of  both,  blending  his  cor- 
rection with  consideration,  and  gentleness 
with  firmness,  influencing  men  in  most  cases 
principally  by  his  conduct  rather  than  by 
argument  :  not  enslaving  them  by  art,  but 
winning  them  by  good  nature,  and  attracting 
them  by  the  sparing  use,  rather  than  by  the 
constant  exercise,  of  his  power.  And,  most 
important  of  all,  they  were  brought  to  recog- 
nize the  superiority  of  his  intellect  and  the 
inaccessibility  of  his  virtue,  to  consider  their 
only  safety  to  consist  in  being  on  his  side  and 
under  his  command,  their  sole  danger  to  be  in 
opposition  to  him,  and  to  think  that  to  differ 
from  him  involved  estrangement  from  God. 
Thus  they  willingly  yielded  and  surrendered, 
submitting  themselves,  as  if  in  a  thunder-clap, 
and  hastening  to  anticipate  each  other  with 
their  excuses,  and  exchange  the  intensity  of 
their  hostility  for  an  equal  intensity  of  good- 
will, and  advance  in  virtue,  which  they  found 
to  be  the  one  really  effective  defence.  The 
few  exceptions  to  this  conduct  were  passed  by 
and  neglected,  because  their  ill-nature,  was 
incurable,  and  they  expended  their  powers  in 
wearing  out  themselves,  as  rust  consumes  itself 
together  with  the  iron  on  which  it  feeds. 

41.  Affairs  at  home  being  now  settled  to 
his  mind,  in  a  way  that  faithless  men  who  did 
not  know  him  would  have  thought  imjjos 
sible,  his  designs  became  greater  and  took  a 
loftier  range.  For,  while  all  others  had  their 
eyes  on  the  ground  before  them,  and  directed 
attention  to  their  own  immediate  concerns, 
and,  if  these  were  safe,  troubled  themselves  no 
further,  being  incapable  of  any  great  and 
chivalrous  design  or  undertaking  ;  he,  moder- 
ate as  he  was  in  all  other  respects,  could  not 
be  moderate  in  this,  but  with  head  erect,  cast- 
ing his  mental  eye  about  him,  took  in  the 
whole  world  over  which  the  word  of  salvation 
has  made  its  way.  And  when  he  saw  the 
great  heritage  of  God,  purchased  by  His  own 
words  and  laws  and  sufferings,  the  holy  na- 
tion, the  royal  priesthood,*  in  such  evil  plight 
that  it  was  torn  asunder  into  ten  thousand 
opinions  and  errors  :  and  the  vine  brought 
out  of  Egjpt  and  transplanted,^  the  Egypt  of 
impious  and  dark  ignorance,  which  had 
grown  to  such  beauty  and  boundless  size  that 
the  whole  earth  was  covered  with  the  shadow 
of  it,  while  it  overtopped  mountains  and 
cedars,  now  being  ravaged  by  that  wicked 
wild  boar,  the  devil,  he  could  not  content 
himself  with  quietly  lamenting  the  misfortune, 
and  merely  lifting  up  his  hands  to  God,  and 


a  I  Pet.  ii.  9- 


fi  Ps.  Ixxx.  9. 


seeking  from  Him  the  dispersion  of  the  press- 
ing misfortunes,  while  he  himself  was  asleep, 
but  felt  bound  to  come  to  her  aid  at  some 
expense  to  himself. 

42.  For  what  could  be  more  distressing 
than  this  calamity,  or  call  more  loudly  on  one 
whose  eyes  were  raised  aloft  for  exertions  on 
behalf  of  the  common  weal  ?  The  good  or 
ill  success  of  an  individual  is  of  no  conse- 
quence to  the  community,  but  that  of  the 
community  involves  of  necessity  the  like  con- 
dition of  the  individual.  With  this  idea  and 
purpose,  he  w'ho  was  the  guardian  and  patron 
of  the  community  (and,  as  Solomon  says 
with  truth,  a  perceptive  heart  is  a  moth  to 
the  bones,"  unsensitiveness  is  cheerily  confi- 
dent, while  a  sympathetic  disposition  is  a 
source  of  pain,  and  constant  consideration 
wastes  away  the  heart),  he,  I  say,  was  conse- 
quently in  agony  and  distress  from  many 
wounds  ;  like  Jonah  and  David,  he  wished 
in  himself  to  die  ^  and  gave  not  sleep  to  his 
eyes,  nor  slumber  to  his  eyelids, t  he  expend- 
ed what  was  left  of  his  flesh  upon  his  reflec- 
tions, until  he  discovered  a  remedy  for  the 
evil:  and  sought  for  aid  from  God  and  man, 
to  stay  the  general  conflagration,  and  dissipate 
the  gloom  which  was  lowering  over  us. 

43.  One  of  his  devices  was  of  the  greatest 
service.  After  a  period  of  such  recollection  as 
was  possible,  and  private  spiritual  conference, 
in  which,  after  considering  all  human  argu- 
ments, and  penetrating  into  all  the  deep  things 
of  the  Scriptures,  he  drew  up  a  sketch  of  pious 
doctrine,  and  by  wrestling  with  and  attacking 
their  opposition  he  beat  off  the  daring  assaults 
of  the  heretics :  overthrowing  in  hand  to 
hand  struggles  by  word  of  mouth  those  who 
came  to  close  quarters,  and  striking  those  at  a 
distance  by  arrows  winged  with  ink,  which  is 
in  no  wise  inferior  to  inscriptions  on  tablets  ; 
not  giving  directions  for  one  small  nation  only 
like  that  of  the  Jews,  concerning  meats  and 
drinks,  temporary  sacrifices,  and  purifications 
of  the  flesh  ;  *  but  for  every  nation  and  part  of 
the  world,  concerning  the  Word  of  truth,  the 
source  of  our  salvation.  Again,  since  unrea- 
soning action  and  unj^ractical  reasoning  are 
alike  ineffectual,  he  added  to  his  reasoning 
the  succour  which  comes  from  action  ;  he  paid 
visits,  sent  messages,  gave  interviews,  in- 
structed, reproved,  rebuked,^  threatened,  re- 
proached, undertook  the  defence  of  nations, 
cities  and  individuals,  devising  every  kind  of 
succour,  and  procuring  from  every  source 
specifics  for  disease:    a  second   Bezaleel,  an 


a  Prov.  xiv.  30  (LXX). 
y  Ps.  cxxxii.  4.  S  Heb.  ix.  10. 


P  Jonah  iv.  8. 
€  2  Time  iv.  2. 


410 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


architect  of  the  Divine  tabernacle,"*  applying 
every  material  and  art  to  the  work,  and  com- 
bining all  in  a  harmonious  and  surpassing 
beauty. 

44.  Why  need  I  enter  into  further  detail  ? 
We  were  assailed  again  by  the  Anti-Christian 
Emperor,^  that  tyrant  of  the  faith,  with  more 
abundant  impiety  and  a  hotter  onset,  inas- 
much as  the  dispute  must  be  with  a  stronger 
antagonist,  like  that  unclean  and  evil  spirit, 
who  when  sent  forth  upon  his  wanderings  from 
man,  returns  to  take  up  his  abode  in  him 
again  with  a  greater  number  of  spirits,  as  we 
have  heard  in  the  Gospels. v  This  spirit  he 
imitated,  both  in  renewing  the  contest  in 
which  he  had  formerly  been  worsted,  and  in 
adding  to  his  original  efforts.  He  thought 
that  it  was  a  strange  and  insufferable  thing 
that  he,  who  ruled  over  so  many  nations  and 
had  won  so  much  renown,  and  reduced  under 
the  power  of  impiety  all  those  round  about 
him,  and  overcome  every  adversary,  should  be 
publicly  worsted  by  a  single  man,  and  a  single 
city,  and  so  incur  the  ridicule  not  only  of 
those  patrons  of  ungodliness  by  whom  he  was 
led,  but  also,  as  he  supposed,  of  all  men. 

45.  It  is  said  that  the  King^  of  Persia,  on 
his  expedition  into  Greece,  was  not  only 
urged  to  immoderate  threats,  by  elation  at 
the  numbers  of  every  race  of  men  which  in 
his  wrath  and  pride  he  was  leading  against 
them:  but  thought  to  terrify  them  the  more, 
by  making  them  afraid  of  him,  in  consequence 
of  his  novel  treatment  of  the  elements.  A 
strancre  land  and  sea  were  heard  of,  the  work 
of  the  new  creator  ;  and  an  army  which  sailed 
over  the  dry  land,  and  marched  over  the 
ocean,  while  islands  were  carried  off,  and  the 
sea  was  scourged,  and  all  the  other  mad  pro- 
ceedings of  that  army  and  expedition,  which, 
though  they  struck  terror  into  the  ignoble, 
were  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  men  of  brave 
and  steadfast  hearts.  There  was  no  need 
of  anything  of  this  kind  in  the  expedition 
against  us,  but  what  was  still  worse  and  more 
harmful,  this  was  what  the  Emperor  was  re- 
ported to  say  and  do.  He  stretched  forth 
his  mouth  unto  heaven,  speaking  blasphemy 
against  the  most  High,  and  his  tongue  went 
through  the  world.*  Excellently  did  the  in- 
spired David  before  our  days  thus  describe 
him  who  made  heaven  to  stoop  to  earth,  and 
reckoned  with  the  creation  that  sui)ermun- 
dane  nature,  which  the  creation  cannot  even 
contain,  even  though  in  kindness  to  man  it 
did  to  some  extent  come  among  us,  in  order 

a  Exod.  xvxi.  2.        /3  F.mperor.    Valens.       y  S.  Luke  xi.  24. 
6  King.     Xerxes.  e  Ps.  Ixxiii.  9. 


to  draw  to  itself  us  who  were  lying  upon  the 
ground. 

46.  Furious  indeed  were  his  first  acts  of 
wantonness,  more  furious  still  his  final  efforts 
against  us.  What  shall  I  speak  of  first  ? 
Exiles,  banishments,  confiscations,  open  and 
secret  plots,  persuasion,  w-here  time  allowed, 
violence,  wdiere  persuasion  was  impossible. 
Those  who  clung  to  the  orthodox  faith,  as 
we  did,  were  extruded  from  their  churches  ; 
others  were  intruded,  who  agreed  with  the 
Imperial  soul-destroying  doctrines,  and  begged 
for  testimonials  of  impiety,  and  subscribed  to 
statements  still  harder  than  these.  Burnings  " 
of  Presb}'ters  at  sea,  impious  generals,  not 
those  who  conquered  the  Persians,  or  sub- 
dued the  Scythians,  or  reduced  any  other  bar- 
baric nation,  but  those  who  assailed  churches, 
and  danced  in  triumph  upon  altars,  and  de- 
filed the  unbloody  sacrifices  with  the  blood  of 
man  and  victims,  and  offered  insult  to  the 
modesty  of  virgins.  With  what  object?  The 
extrusion  of  the  Patriarch  Jacob, ^  and  the  in- 
trusion in  his  place  of  Esau,  who  was  hated, y 
even  before  his  birth.  This  is  the  description 
of  his  first  acts  of  wantonness,  the  mere  re- 
collection and  mention  of  which  even  now, 
rouses  the  tears  of  most  of  us. 

47.  Accordingly,  when,  after  passing  through 
all  quarters,  he  made  his  attack  in  order  to  en- 
slave this  impregnable  and  formidable  mother 
of  the  Churches,  the  only  still  remaining  un- 
quenched  spark  of  the  truth,  he  discovered 
that  he  had  been  for  the  first  time  ill  advised. 
For  he  was  driven  back  like  a  missile  wdiich 
strikes  upon  some  stronger  body,  and  recoiled 
like  a  broken  hawser.  Such  was  the  prelate 
of  the  Church  that  he  met  with,  such  was  the 
bulwark  by  which  his  efforts  were  broken  and 
dissipated.  Other  particulars  may  be  heard 
from  those  who  tell  and  recount  them,  from 
their  own  experience — and  none  of  those  who 
recount  them  is  destitute  of  this  full  experi- 
ence. But  all  must  be  filled  with  admiration 
who  are  aware  of  the  struggles  of  that  time, 
the  assaults,  the  ]:)romises,  the  threats,  the 
commissioners  sent  before  him  to  try  to  pre- 
vail upon  us,  men  of  judicial  and  military 
rank,  men-  from  the  harem,  who '  are  men 
among  w-omen,  women  among  men,  whose 
only  manliness  consisted  in  their  impiety, 
and  being  incapable  of  natural  licentiousness, 
commit  fornication  in  the  only  way  they 
can,    with    their    tongues  ;     the    chief    cook 


a  Bunting.'!,  a.d.  370.  Ei:;lity  ecclesiastics,  sent  on  a  mission  to 
\'alens  at  Nicome<lia.  were  by  his  orders  sent  to  sea  off  the  coast 
of  liltliynia.  and.  ihe  vcsiiel  beins;  set  on  fire,  were  burnt  to  death. 

3  Ja'col;  i.e.,  Athanasius.     Esau  =  George.       y  Rom.  ix.  11. 


THE   PANEGYRIC   ON   S.   BASIL. 


411 


Nebuzaradan,*  who  threatened  us  with  the 
weapons  of  his  art,  and  was  despatched  by  his 
own  fire.  But  what  especially  excites  my 
wonder,  and  what  I  could  not,  even  if  I 
would,  pass  by,  I  will  describe  as  concisely  as 
possible. 

48.   Who  has  not  heard  of  the  prefect^  of 
those  days,  who,  for  his  own  part,  treated  us 
with  such  excessive  arrogance,  having  himself 
been  admitted,  or  perhaps  committed,  to  bap- 
tism by  the  other  party  ;  and  strove  by  ex- 
ceeding  the    letter   of  his   instructions,    and 
gratifying  his  master  in  every  particular,   to 
guarantee  and  preserve  his  own  possession  of 
power.      Though  he  raged  against  the  Church, 
and  assumed  a  lion-like  aspect,  and  roared  like 
a  lion  till  most  men  dared  not  approach  him, 
yet  our   noble  prelate  was  brought    into  or 
rather  entered   his  court,   as  if   bidden   to  a 
feast,  instead  of  to  a  trial.     How  can  I  fitly  de- 
scribe, either  the  arrogance  of  the  prefect  or 
the  prudence  with  which  it  was  met  by  the  \ 
Saint.      "What  is  the  meaning.  Sir  Basil," 
he  said,  addressing  him  by  name,  and  not  as 
yet  deigning  to  term  him  Bishop,  "  of  your 
daring,  as  no  other  dares,  to  resist  and  oppose 
so  great  a  potentate  ?  "      "In  what  respect  ?  " 
said  our  noble  champion,  "  and  in  what  does 
my  rashness  consist  ?     For  this  I  have  yet  to 
learn."      "  In  refusing  to  respect  the  religion 
of  your    Sovereign,    when    all    others    have 
yielded  and  submitted  themselves?"      "Be- 
cause," said   he,  "  this  is  not  the  will  of  my 
real  Sovereign  ;  nor  can  I,  who  am  the  creature 
of  (jod,  and  bidden  myself  to  be  God,  submit 
to  worship  any  creature."      "  And  what  do 
we,"  said   the  prefect,  "seem  to  you  to  be? 
Are  we,  who  give  you  this  injunction,  nothing 
at  all?     What  do  you  say  to  this  ?     Is  it  not 
a  great  thing  to  be  ranged  with  us  as  your 
associates?"       "You    are,  I  will    not   deny 
it,"   said  he,   "a  prefect,   and  an    illustrious 
one,  yet  not  of  more  honour  than  God.     And 
to   be  associated  with  you   is   a  great  thing, 
certainly  ;  for  you  are  yourself  the  creature  of 
God  ;  but  so  it  is  to  be  associated  with  any 
other  of  my  subjects.     For  faith,  and  not  per- 
sonal importance,  is  the  distinctive  mark  of 
Christianity." 

49.  Then  indeed  the  prefect  became  ex- 
cited, and  rose  from  his  .seat,  boiling  with 
rage,  and  making  use  of  harsher  language. 
"  What?  "  said  he,  "  have  you  no  fear  of  my 
authority?"  "Fear  of  what  ?  "  said  Basil, 
"  How  could  it  affect  me  ?  "     "Of  what?     Of 


a  IVi-buznradan.    Demosthenes,  a  creature  of  Valens,  sent  to 
persuade  Basil  to  yield  to  the  Emperor. 
jS  Prefect.     Modestus. 


any   one    of   the   resources   of   my    power." 
"  What  are  these?  "  said  Basil,  "  pray,  inform 
me."      "  Confiscation,    banishment,    torture, 
death."      "  Have  you  no  other  threat  ?  "  said 
he,     "  for    none    of    these    can    reach    me." 
"How    indeed    is    that?"  said    the    prefect. 
"Because,"    he   replied,    "a   man   who   has 
nothing,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  confi.scation  ; 
unless  you  demand  my  tattered  rags,  and  the 
few    books,   which    are  my    only  possessions. 
Banishment  is  impossible  for  me,  who  am  con- 
fined by  no  limit  of  place,  counting  my  own 
neither  the  land  where  I  now  dwell,  nor  all  of 
that  into  which  I  may  be  hurled  ;   or,  rather, 
counting  it  all  God's,  whose  guest  and  depend- 
ent   I    am.      As  for  tortures,   what    hold  can 
they  have  upon  one  whose  body  has  ceased  to 
be  ?     Unless  you  mean   the   first  stroke,    for 
this    alone  is  in    your  power.     Death    is  my 
benefactor,  for  it   will  send  me  the  sooner  to 
God,  for  Whom  I  live,  and  exist,  and  have  all 
but  died,  and  to  Whom  I  have  long  been  has- 
tening." 

50.  Amazed  at  this  language,  the  prefect 
said,  "  No  one  has  ever  yet  spoken  thus,  and 
with  such  boldness,  to  Modestus."  "Why, 
perhaps,"  said  Basil,  "  you  have  not  met  with 
a  Bishop,  or  in  his  defence  of  such  interests 
he  would  have  used  precisely  the  same  lan- 
guage. For  we  are  modest  in  general,  and 
submissive  to  every  one,  according  to  the  pre- 
cept of  our  law.  We  may  not  treat  with 
haughtiness  even  any  ordinary  person,  to  say 
nothing  of  .so  great  a  potentate.  But  where 
the  interests  of  God  are  at  stake,  we  care  for 
nothing  else,  and  make  these  our  sole  object. 
Fire  and  sword  and  wild  beasts,  and  rakes 
which  tear  the  flesh,  we  revel  in,  and  fear 
them  not.  You  may  further  insult  and  threat- 
en us,  and  do  whatever  you  will,  to  the  full 
extent  of  your  power.  The  Emperor  him- 
self may  hear  this — that  neither  by  violence 
nor  persuasion  will  you  bring  us  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  impiety,  not  even  though 
your  threats  become  still  more  terrible." 

51.  At  the  close  of  this  colloquy,  the  pre- 
fect, having  been  convinced  by  the  attitude  of 
Basil,  that  he  was-  absolutely  impervious  to 
threats  and  influence,  dismissed  him  from  the 
court,  his  former  threatening  manner  being  re- 
placed by  somewhat  of  respect  and  deference. 
He  himself  with  all  speed  obtained  an  audi- 
ence of  the  Emperor,  and  said:  "We  have 
been  worsted.  Sire,  by  the  prelate  of  this 
Church.  He  is  superior  to  threats,  invincible 
in  argument,  uninfluenced  by  persuasion.  We 
must  make  trial  of  some  more  feeble  charac- 
ter ;  and  in  this  case  resort  to   open  violence, 


412 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN, 


or  submit  to  the  disregard  of  our  threaten- 
ings. "  Hereupon  the  Emperor,  forced  by 
the  praises  of  Basil  to  condemn  liis  own  con- 
duct (for  even  an  enemy  can  admire  a  man's 
excellence),  would  not  allow  violence  to  be 
used  against  him :  and,  like  iron,  which  is 
softened  by  fire,  yet  still  remains  iron,  though 
turned  from  threatening  to  admiration,  would 
not  enter  into  communion  with  him,  being 
prevented  by  shame  from  changing  his  course, 
but  sought  to  justify  his  conduct  by  the  most 
plausible  excuse  he  could,  as  the  sequel  will 
show. 

52.  For  he  entered  the  Church  attended  by 
the  whole  of  his  train  ;  it  was  the  festival  of  the 
Epiphany,  and  the  Church  was  crowded,  and, 
by  taking  his  place  among  the  people,  he  made 
a  profession  of  unity.  The  occurrence  is  not 
to  be  lightly  passed  over.  Upon  his  entrance 
he  was  struck  by  the  thundering  roll  of  the 
Psalms,  by  the  sea  of  heads  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  by  the  angelic  rather  than  human 
order  which  pervaded  the  sanctuary  and  its 
precincts  :  while  Basil  presided  over  his  peo- 
])le,  standing  erect,  as  the  Scripture  says  of 
Samuel,"  with  body  and  eyes  and  mind  undis- 
turbed, as  if  nothing  new  had  happened,  but 
fixed  upon  God  and  the  sanctuary,  as  if,  so  to 
say,  he  had  been  a  statue,  while  his  ministers 
stood  around  him  in  iear  and  reverence.  At 
this  sight,  and  it  was  indeed  a  sight  unparal- 
leled, overcome  by  human  weakness,  his  eyes 
were  affected  with  dimness  and  giddiness,  his 
mind  with  dread.  This  was  as  yet  unnoticed 
by  most  people.  But  when  he  had  to  offer 
the  gifts  at  the  Table  of  God,  which  he  must 
needs  do  himself,  since  no  one  would,  as  usual, 
assist  him,  because  it  was  uncertain  whether 
Basil  would  admit  him,  his  feelings  were  re- 
vealed. For  he  was  staggering,  and  had  not 
some  one  in  the  sanctuary  reached  out  a  hand 
to  steady  his  tottering  steps,  he  would  have 
sunk  to  the  ground  in  a  lamentable  fall.  So 
much  for  this. 

53.  As  for  the  wisdom  of  his  conference 
with  the  Emperor,  who,  in  his  quasi -commu- 
nion with  us  entered  within  the  veil  to  see 
and  speak  to  him,  as  he  had  long  de.^ired  to 
do,  what  else  can  I  say  but  that  they  were  in- 
spired words,  which  were  heard  by  the  cour- 
tiers and  by  us  who  had  entered  with  them? 
This  was  the  beginning  and  first  establishment 
of  the  Emperor's  kindly  feeling  towards  us  ; 
the  impression  produced  by  this  reception  put 
an  end  to  the  greater  part  of  the  persecution 
which  assailed  us  like  a  river. 


o  I  Sam.  xix.  20. 


54.  Another  incident  is  not  of  less  impor- 
tance than  those  I  have  mentioned.  The 
wicked  were  victorious,  and  the  decree  for  his 
banishment  was  signed,  to  the  full  satisfaction 
of  those  who  furthered  it.  The  night  had 
come,  the  chariot  was  ready,  our  haters  were 
exultant,  the  pious  in  despair,  we  surrounded 
the  zealous  traveller,  to  whose  honourable  dis- 
grace nothing  was  wanting.  What  next  ?  It 
was  undone  by  God.  For  He  Who  smote  the 
first-born  of  Egypt,''  for  its  harshness  towards 
Israel,  also  struck  the  son  of  the  Emperor 
with  di.sease.  How  great  was  the  speed ! 
There  was  the  sentence  of  banishment,  here 
the  decree  of  sickness  :  the  hand  of  the  wick- 
ed scribe  was  restrained,  and  the  saint  was  pre- 
served, and  the  man  of  piety  presented  to  us, 
by  the  fever  which  brought  to  reason  the  arro- 
gance of  the  Emperor.  What  could  be  more 
just  or  more  speedy  than  this  ?  This  was  the 
series  of  events  :  the  Emperor's  child  was  sick 
and  in  bodily  pain.  The  father  was  pained 
for  it,  for  what  can  the  father  do  ?  On  all  sides 
he  sought  for  aid  in  his  distress,  he  summoned 
the  best  physicians,  he  betook  himself  to  inter- 
cessions with  the  greatest  fervour,  and  flung 
himself  upon  the  ground.  Affliction  humbles 
even  emperors,  and  no  wonder,  for  the  like 
sufferings  of  David  in  the  case  of  his  child  are 
recorded  for  us.'^  But  as  no  cure  for  the  evil 
could  anywhere  be  found,  he  applied  to  the 
faith  of  Basil,  not  personally  summoning  him, 
in  shame  for  his  recent  ill  treatment,  but  en- 
trusting the  mission  to  others  of  his  nearest 
and  dearest  friends.  On  his  arrival,  without 
the  delay  or  reluctance  which  any  one  else 
might  have  shown,  at  once  the  disease  relaxed, 
and  the  father  cherished  better  hoi^es  ;  and 
had  he  not  blended  salt  water  with  the  fresh, 
by  trusting  to  the  heterodox  at  the  same  time 
that  he  summoned  Basil,  the  child  would  have 
recovered  his  health  and  been  preserved  for 
his  father's  arms.  This  indeed  was  the  con- 
viction of  those  who  were  present  at  the  time, 
and  shared  in  the  distress. 

55.  The  same  mischance  is  said  to  have  be- 
fallen the  prefect.  He  also  was  obliged  by 
sickness  to  bow  beneath  the  hands  of  the 
Saint,  and,  in  reality,  to  men  of  sense  a  visita- 
tion brings  instruction,  and  affliction  is  often 
better  than  prosperity.  He  fell  sick,  was  in 
tears,  and  in  i)ain,  he  sent  for  Basil,  and  en- 
treated him,  crying  out,  "  I  own  that  you 
were  in  the  right  ;  only  save  me  !  "  His 
retjuest  was  granted,  as  he  himself  acknow- 
ledged, and  convinced  many  who  had  known 


o  Exod.  xii.  29. 


ji  2  Sum    .\ii.  16. 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


413 


nothing  of  it ;  for  he  never  ceased  to  wonder 
at  and  describe  the  powers  of  the  prelate. 
Such  was  his  conduct  in  these  cases,  such  its 
result.  Did  he  then  treat  others  in  a  different 
way,  and  engage  in  petty  disputes  about  trifles, 
or  fail  to  rise  to  the  heights  of  philosophy  in 
a  course  of  action  which  merits  no  praise  and 
is  best  passed  over  in  silence  ?  By  no  means. 
He  who  once  stirred  up  the  wicked  Hadad 
against  Israel,"  stirred  up  against  him  the  pre- 
fect ^  of  the  province  of  Pontus  ;  nominally, 
from  annoyance  connected  with  some  poor 
creature  of  a  woman,  but  in  reality  as  a  part 
of  the  struggle  of  impiety  against  the  truth. 
1  pass  by  all  his  other  insults  against  Basil, 
or,  for  it  is  the  same  thing,  against  God ; 
for  it  is  against  Him  and  on  His  behalf 
that  the  contest  was  waged.  One  instance 
of  it,  however,  which  brought  special  dis- 
grace upon  the  assailant,  and  .exalted  his  ad- 
versary, if  philosophy  and  eminence  for  it 
be  a  great  and  lofty  thing,  I  will  describe  at 
length. 

56.  The  assessor  of  a  judge  was  attempting 
to  force  into  a  distasteful  marriage  a  lady  of 
high  birth  whose  husband  was  but  recently 
dead.  At  a  loss  to  escape  from  this  high- 
handed treatment,  she  resorted  to  a  device  no 
less  prudent  than  daring.  She  fled  to  the 
holy  table,  and  placed  herself  under  the  pro- 
tection of  God  against  outrage.  What,  in 
the  Name  of  the  Trinity  Itself,  if  I  may  in- 
troduce into  my  panegyric  somewhat  of  the 
forensic  style,  ought  to  have  been  done,  I  do 
not  say,  by  the  great  Basil,  who  laid  down  the 
law  for  us  all  in  such  matters,  but  by  any  one 
who,  though  far  inferior  to  him,  was  a  priest? 
Ought  he  not  to  have  allowed  her  claim,  to 
have  taken  charge  of,  and  cared  for,  her ;  to 
have  raised  his  hand  in  defence  of  the  kind- 
ness of  God  and  the  law  which  gives  honour 
to  the  altar  ?  Ought  he  not  to  have  been  will- 
ing to  do  and  suffer  anything,  rather  than  take 
j)art  in  any  inhuman  design  against  her,  and 
outrage  at  once  the  holy  table,  and  the  faith 
in  which  she  had  taken  sanctuary  ?  No  !  said 
the  baffled  judge,  all  ought  to  yield  to  my 
authority,  and  Christians  should  betray  their 
own  laws.  The  suppliant  whom  he  demand- 
ed, was  at  all  hazards  retained.  Accordingly, 
in  his  rage,  he  at  last  sent  some  of  the  magis- 
trates to  search  the  saint's  bedchamber,  with 
the  purpose  of  dishonouring  him,  rather  than 
from  any  necessity.  What !  Search  the 
nouse  of  a  man  so  free  from  passion,  whom 
the  angels  revere,  at  whom   women  do   not 


o  I  Kings  xi.  14. 


P  Tlic prefect.      Kiisebiiis. 


venture  even  to  look  ?  And,  not  content 
with  this,  he  summoned  him,  and  put  him  on 
his  defence ;  and  that,  in  no  gentle  or  kindly 
manner,  but  as  if  he  were  a  convict.  Upon 
Basil's  appearance,  standing,  like  my  Jesus, 
before  the  judgment  seat  of  Pilate,  he  pre- 
sided at  the  trial,  full  of  wrath  and  pride. 
Yet  the  thunderbolts  did  not  fall,  and  the 
sword  of  God  still  glittered,  and  waited, 
while  His  bow,  though  bent,  was  restrained. 
Such  indeed  is  the  custom  of  God. 

57.  Consider  another  struggle  between  our 
champion  and  his  persecutor.  His  ragged 
pallium  having  been  ordered  to  be  torn  away, 
"  I  will  also,  if  you  wish  it,  strip  off  my  coat," 
said  he.  His  fleshless  form  was  threatened 
with  blows,  and  he  ofTered  to  submit  to  be 
torn  with  combs,  and  he  said,  "  By  such 
laceration  you  will  cure  my  liver,  which,  as 
you  see,  is  wearing  me  away."  Such  was 
their  argument.  But  when  the  city  perceived 
the  outrage  and  the  common  danger  of  all — 
for  each  one  considered  this  insolence  a  dan- 
ger to  himself,  it  became  all  on  fire  with  rage  ; 
and,  like  a  hive  roused  by  smoke,  one  after 
another  was  stirred  and  arose,  every  race' 
and  every  age,  but  especially  the  men  from  the 
small-arms  factory  and  from  the  imperial  weav- 
ing-sheds. For  men  at  work  in  these  trades 
are  specially  hot-tempeied  and  daring,  be- 
cause of  the  liberty  allowed  them.  Each  man 
was  armed  with  the  tool  he  was  using,  or 
with  whatever  else  came  to  hand  at  the 
moment.  Torch  in  hand,  amid  showers  of 
stones,  with  cudgels  ready,  all  ran  and 
shouted  together  in  their  united  zeal.  Anger 
makes  a  terrible  soldier  or  general.  Nor  were 
the  women  weaponless,  when  roused  by  such 
an  occasion.  Their  pins  were  their  spears, 
and  no  longer  remaining  women,  they  were 
by  the  strength  of  their  eagerness  endowed 
Avith  masculine  courage.  It  is  a  short  story. 
They  thought  that  they  would  share  among 
themselves  the  piety  of  destroying  him,  and 
held  him  to  be  most  pious  who  first  laid 
hands  on  one  who  had  dared  such  deeds. 
What  then  was  the  conduct  of  this  haughty 
and  daring  judge  ?  He  begged  for  mercy 
in  a  pitiable  state  of  distress,  cringing  before 
them  to  an  unparalleled  extent,  until  the  ar- 
rival of  the  martyr  without  bloodshed,  who 
had  won  his  crown  without  blows,  and  now 
restrained  the  people  by  the  force  of  his  per- 
sonal influence,  and  delivered  the  man  who  had 
insulted  him  and  now  sought  his  protection. 
This  was  the  doing  of  the  God  of  Saints,  Who 
worketh  and  changeth  all  things  for  the  best, 
who  resisteth  the  proud,  but  giveth  grace  to 


414 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


the  humble. «  And  why  should  not  He,  Who 
divided  the  sea  and  stayed  'the  river,  and 
ruled  the  elements,  and  by  stretching  out  set 
up  a  trophy,  to  save  His  exiled  people,  why 
should  not  He  have  also  rescued  this  man 
from  his  perils  ? 

58.  This  was  the  end  and  fortunate  close,  in 
the  Providence  of  God,  of  the  war  with  the 
world,  a  close  worthy  of  his  faith.  But  here 
at  once  is  the  beginning  of  the  war  with  the 
Bishops,  and  their  allies,  which  involved  great 
disgrace,  and  still  greater  injury  to  their  sub- 
jects. For  w'ho  could  persuade  others  to  be 
temperate,  when  such  was  the  conduct  of 
their  prelates?  For  a  long  time  they  had 
been  unkindly  disposed  towards  him,  on  three 
grounds.  They  neither  agreed  wuth  him  in 
the  matter  of  the  faith,  except  in  so  far  as 
they  were  absolutely  obliged  to  yield  to  the 
majority  of  the  faithful.  Nor  had  they  al- 
together laid  aside  the  grudge  they  owed  him 
for  his  election.  And,  what  was  most  griev- 
ous of  all  to  them,  though  they  would  have 
been  most  ashamed  to  own  it — he  so  far  out- 
shone them  in  reputation.  There  was  also  a 
further  cause  of  dissension  which  stirred  up 
again  the  others.  When  our  country  had 
been  divided  into  two  provinces  and  metro- 
political  sees,  and  a  great  part  of  the  former 
was  being  added  to  the  new  one,  this  again 
roused  their  factious  spirit.  The  one  ^ 
thought  it  right  that  the  ecclesiastical  boun- 
daries should  be  settled  by  the  civil  ones  :  and 
therefore  claimed  those  newly  added,  as  be- 
longing to  him,  and  severed  from  their  former 
metropolitan.  The  others  clung  to  the  an- 
cient custom,  and  to  the  division  which  had 
come  down  from  our  fathers.  Many  painful 
results  either  actually  followed,  or  were  strug- 
gling in  the  womb  of  the  future.  Synods 
were  wrongfully  gathered  by  the  new  metro- 
i:)olitan,  and  revenues  seized  upon.  Some 
of  the  presbyters  of  the  churches  refused  obe- 
dience, others  w^ere  won  over.  In  conse- 
quence the  affairs  of  the  churches  fell  into  a 
sad  state  of  dissension  and  division.  Novelty 
indeed  has  a  certain  charm  for  men,  and  they 
readily  turn  events  to  their  own  advantage, 
and  it  is  easier  to  overthrow  something  which 
is  already  established,  than  to  restore  it  when 
overthrown.  What  however  enraged  him 
most  was,  that  the  revenues  *  of  the  Taurus, 
which  passed  along  before  his  eyes,  accrued  to 
his  rival,  as  also  the  offerings  at  Saint  Ores- 

o  S.  James  iv.  6. 

fi  The  oiu\  i.e.,  Anthimus,  Bishop  of  Tyana. 
•y  The  other,  i.e.,  Basil. 

fi  Revenues.    The  dues  and  offerings  of  the  people  of  the  dio- 
cese. 


tes',*  of  which  he  was  greatly  desirous  to 
reap  the  fruits.  He  even  went  so  far  as,  on 
one  occasion  when  Basil  was  riding  along  his 
own  road,  to  seize  his  mules  by  the  bridle 
and  bar  the  passage  with  a  robber  band.  And 
with  how  specious  a  pretext,  the  care  of  his 
spiritual  children  and  of  the  souls  entrusted  to 
him,  and  the  defence  of  the  faith — pretexts 
which  veiled  that  most  common  vice,  insati- 
able avarice — and  further,  the  wrongfulness  of 
paying  dues  to  heretics,  a  heretic  being  any 
one  who  had  displeased  him. 

59.  The  holy  man  of  God  however,  metro- 
politan as  he  was  of  the  true  Jerusalem  above, 
was  neither  carried  away  with  the  failure  of 
those  who  fell,  nor  allowed  himself  to  over- 
look this  conduct,  nor  did  he  desire  any  in- 
adequate remedy  for  the  evil.  Let  us  see  how 
great  and  wonderful  it  was,  or,  I  would  say, 
how  worthy  of  his  soul.  He  made  of  the  dis- 
sension a  cause  of  increase  to  the  Church,  and 
the  disaster,  under  his  most  able  management, 
resulted  in  the  multiplication  of  the  Bishops 
of  the  country.  From  this  ensued  three  most 
desirable  consequences ;  a  greater  care  for 
souls,  the  management  by  each  city  of  its  own 
affairs,  and  the  cessation  of  the  v,-ar  in  this 
quarter.  I  am  afraid  that  I  myself  was  treated 
as  an  appendage  to  this  scheme.  By  no  other 
term  can  I  readily  describe  the  position. 
Greatly  as  I  admire  his  whole  conduct,  to  an 
extent  indeed  beyond  my  powers  of  expres- 
sion, of  this  single  particular  I  find  it  impos- 
sible to  approve,  for  I  will  acknowledge  my 
feelings  in  regard  to  it,  though  these  are  from 
other  sources  not  unknown  to  most  of  you.  I 
mean  the  change  and  faithlessness  of  his  treat- 
ment of  myself,  a  cause  of  pain  which  even 
time  has  not  obliterated.  For  this  is  the 
source  of  all  the  inconsistency  and  tangle  of  my 
life  ;  it  has  robbed  me  of  the  practice,  or  at 
least  the  reputation,  of  philosophy  ;  of  small 
moment  though  the  latter  be.  The  defence, 
which  you  will  perhaps  allow  me  to  make  for 
him,  is  this  ;  his  ideas  were  superhuman,  and 
having,  before  his  death,  become  superior  to 
worldly  influences,  his  only  interests  were 
those  of  the  Spirit  :•  while  his  regard  for 
friendship  was  in  no  wise  lessened  by  his 
readiness  then,  and  then  only,  to  disregard 
its  claims,  when  they  were  in  conflict  witli  his 
paramount  duty  to  God,  and  when  the  end 
he  had  in  view  was  of  greater  importance  than 
the  interests  he  was  compelled  to  set  aside. 

60.  I  am  afraid  that,  in  avoiding  the  impu- 
tation of  indifference  at  the  hands  of  those 

o  Ores/ex.     A  chapel  dedicated  to  .S.  Orestes  at  the  foot  of  Mt. 
Taurus,  where  the  offerings  were  collected. 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


415 


who  desire  to  know  all  that  can  be  said  about 
him,  I  shall  incur  a  charge  of  prolixity  from 
those  whose  ideal  is  the  golden  mean.  For 
the  latter  Basil  himself  had  the  greatest  re- 
spect, being  specially  devoted  to  the  adage 
"In  all  things  the  mean  "^  is  the  best,"  and 
acting  upon  it  throughout  his  life.  Neverthe- 
less, disregarding  alike  those  who  desire  un- 
due conciseness  or  excessive  prolixity,  I  pro- 
ceed thus  with  my  speech.  Different  men 
attain  success  in  different  ways,  some  applying 
themselves  to  one  alone  of  the  many  forms  of 
excellence,  but  no  one,  of  those  hitherto  known 
to  me,  arriving  at  the  highest  eminence  in  all 


respects  ;  he 


being 


in  my  opinion  the  best. 


who  has  won  his  laurels  on  the  widest  field, 
or  gained  the  highest  possible  renown  in  some 
single  particular.  Such  however  was  the 
height  of  Biisil's  fame,  that  he  became  the 
pride  of  human  kind.  Let  us  consider  the 
matter  thus.  Is  any  one  devoted  to  poverty 
and  a  life  devoid  of  property,  and  free  from 
superfluity  ?  What  did  he  possess  besides  his 
body,  and  the  necessary  coverings  of  the  flesh  ? 
His  wealth  was  the  having  nothing,  and  he 
thought  the  cross,  with  which  he  lived,  miOre 
precious  than  great  riches.  For  no  one,  how- 
ever much  he  may  wish,  can  obtain  possession 
of  all  things,  but  any  one  can  learn  to  despise, 
and  so  prove  himself  superior  to,  all  things. 
Such  being  his  mind,  and  such  his  life,  he 
had  no  need  of  an  altar  and  of  vainglory,  nor 
of  such  a  public  announcement  as  "  Crates^ 
sets  Crates  the  Theban  free."  For  his  aim 
was  ever  to  be,  not  to  seem,  most  excellent. 
Nor  did  he  dwell  in  a  tub.v  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  market-place,  and  so  by  luxuriating  in 
publicity  turn  his  poverty  into  riches  :  but 
was  poor  and  unkempt,  }et  without  ostenta- 
tion :  and  taking  cheerfully  the  casting  over- 
board of  all  that  he  ever  had,  sailed  lightly 
across  the  sea  of  life. 

61.  A  wondrous  thing  is  temperance,  and 
fewness  of  wants,  and  freedom  from  tlie  domin- 
ion of  pleasures,  and  from  the  bondage  of  that 
cruel  and  degrading  mistress,  the  belly.  Who 
was  so  independent  of  food,  and,  without  exag- 
geration, more  free  from  the  flesh  ?  For  he  flung 
away  all  satiety  and  surfeit  to  creatures  desti- 
tute of  reason,  whose  life  is  slavish  and  debas- 
ing. He  paid  little  attention  to  such  things 
as,  next  to  the  appetite,  are  of  equal  rank,  but, 
as  far  as  possible,  lived  on  the  merest  necessa- 
ries, his  only  luxury  being  to  prove  himself  not 

a  T'le   meajt,  etc.      A   saying   of  CleobuUis,  one  of  the  seven 
Sages. 

j3  Crates.     He  made   this  proclamation  when  he  had  stripped 
himself  of  all  his  possessions, 
7  III  a  tub,  like  Diogenes,  the  Cynic. 


luxurious,  and  not,  in  consequence,  to  have 
greater  needs  :  but  he  looked  to  the  lilies  and 
the  birds,"  whose  beauty  is  artless,  and  their 
food  casual,  according  to  the  important  advice 
of  my  Christ,  who  made  Himself  poor  ^  in  the 
flesh  for  our  sakes,  that  we  might  enjoy  the 
riches  of  His  Godhead.  Hence  came  his  single 
coat  and  well  worn  cloak,  and  his  bed  on  the 
bare  ground,  his  vigils,  his  unwashedness  (such 
were  his  decorations)  and  his  most  sweet  food 
and  relish,  bread,  and  salt,  his  new  dainty, 
and  the  sober  and  plentiful  drink,  with  which 
fountains  supply  those  who  are  free  from 
trouble.  The  result,  or  the  accompaniment, 
of  these  things  were  the  attendance  on  the  sick 
and  practice  of  medicine,  our  common  intel- 
lectual pursuit.  For,  though  inferior  to  him  in 
all  other  respects,  I  must  needs  be  his  equal  in 
distress. 

62.  A  great  thing  is  virginity,  and  celibacy, 
and  being  ranked  with  the  angels,  and  with 
the  single  nature  ;  for  I  shrink  from  calling  it 
Christ's,  Who,  though  He  willed  to  be  born  for 
our  sakes  who  are  born,  by  being  born  of  a 
Virgin,  enacted 'y  the  law^  of  virginity,  to  lead 
us  away  from  this  life,  and  cut  short  the  power 
of  the  world,  or  rather,  to  transmit  one  world 
to  another,  the  present  to  the  future.  Who 
then  paid  more  honour  to  virginity,  or  had 
more  control  of  the  flesh,  not  only  by  his  per- 
sonal example,  but  in  those  under  his  care? 
Whose  are  the  convents,  and  the  written  reg- 
ulations, by  which  he  subdued  every  sense, 
and  regulated  every  member,  and  won  to  the 
real  practice  of  virginity,  turning  inward  the 
view  of  beauty,  from  the  visible  to  the  invis- 
ible ;  and  by  wasting  away  the  external,  and 
withdrawing  fuel  from  the  flame,  and  revealing 
the  secrets  of  the  heart  to  God,  Who  is  the 
only  bridegroom  of  pure  souls,  and  takes  in 
with  himself  the  watchful  souls,  if  they  go  to 
meet  him  with  lamps  burning  and  a  plentiful 
supply  of  oil  ?  *  Moreover  he  reconciled  most 
excellently  and  united  the  solitary  and  the 
community  life.  These  had  been  in  many  re- 
spects at  variance  and  dissension,  while  neither 
of  them  was  in  absolute  and  unalloyed  pos- 
session of  good  or  evil :  the  one  being  more 
calm  and  settled,  tending  to  union  with  God, 
yet  not  free  from  pride,  inasmuch  as  its  virtue 
lies  beyond  the  means  of  testing  or  compari- 
son ;  the  other,  which  is  of  more  practical 
service,  being  not  free  from  the  tendency  to 
turbulence.     He   founded  cells  ^  for    ascetics 


a  S.  Matt.  vi.  26.  P  2  Cor.  viii.  9. 

y  Enacted  by  his  religious  rule,  or  as  some  say  by  a  treatise  on 
Virginity.  5  .S.  Matt.  xxv.  2. 

€  Cells,  etc.  This  passage  strongly  favours  the  view  of  Clemen- 
cet  that  S.  Gregory  uses  novaoriipia  in  the  literal  sense  of  "  the 


4i6 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  hermits,  but  at  no  great  distance  from  his 
cenobitic  communities,  and,  instead  of  distin- 
guishing and  separating  the  one  from  the 
other,  as  if  by  some  intervening  wall,  he 
brought  them  together  and  united  them,  in 
order  that  the  contemplative  spirit  might  not 
be  cut  off  from  society,  nor  the  active  life  be 
uninfluenced  by  the  contemplative,  but  that, 
like  sea  and  land,  by  an  interchange  of  their 
several  gifts,  they  might  unite  in  promoting 
the  one  object,  the  glory  of  God. 

63.  What  more  ?  A  noble  thing  is  philan- 
thropy, and  the  support  of  the  poor,  and  the 
assistance  of  human  weakness.  Go  forth  a  lit- 
tle way  from  the  city,  and  behold  the  new 
city,*  the  storehouse  of  piety,  the  common 
treasury  of  the  wealthy,  in  which  the  superflui- 
ties of  their  wealth,  aye,  and  even  their  neces- 
saries, are  stored,  in  consequence  of  his  exhor- 
tations, freed  from  the  power  of  the  moth,^  no 
longer  gladdening  the  eyes  of  the  thief,  and 
escaping  both  the  emulation  of  envy,  and  the 
corruption  of  time  :  where  disease  is  regarded 
in  a  religious  light,  and  disaster  is  thought  a 
blessing,  and  sympathy  is  put  to  the  test. 
Why  should  I  compare  with  this  work  Thebes  y 
of  the  seven  portals,  and  the  Egyptian  Thebes, 
and  the  walls  of  Babylon,  and  the  Carian 
tomb  of  Mausolus,  and  the  Pyramids,  and  the 
bronze  without  weight  of  the  Colossus,  or  the 
size  and  beauty  of  shrines  that  are  no  more, 
and  all  the  other  objects  of  men's  wonder, 
and  historic  record,  from  which  their  found- 
ers gained  no  advantage,  except  a  slight  meed 
of  fame.  My  subject  is  the  most  wonderful 
of  all,  the  short  road  to  salvation,  the  easiest 
ascent  to  heaven.  There  is  no  longer  before 
our  eyes  that  terrible  and  piteous  spectacle  of 
men  who  are  living  corpses,  the  greater  part 
of  whose  limbs  have  mortified,  driven  away 
from  their  cities  and  homes  and  public  places 
and  fountains,  aye,  and  from  their  own  dear- 
est ones,  recognizable  by  their  names  rather 
than  by  their  features :  they  are  no  longer 
brought  before  us  at  our  gatherings  and  meet- 
ings, in  our  common  intercourse  and  union, 
no  longer  the  objects  of  hatred,  instead  of 
pity  on  account  of  their  disease ;  composers 
of  piteous  .songs,  if  any  of  them  have  their 
voice  still  left  to  them.  Why  should  I  try 
to  express  in  tragic  style  all  our  experiences, 
when  no  language  can  be  adequate  to  tlieir 
hard  lot  ?  He  however  it  was,  who  took  the 
lead  in  pressing  upon  those  who  were  men, 
that  they  ought  not  to  despise  their  fellow- 
abodes  of  solitaries."  and  that  there  is  no  great  distinction  be- 
tween KOivioyiKoi  and  fiiyaSc; .  Cf.  ii.  29.  xxi.  lo-iQ. 

a  /V>7(i  ct'ij' — a  hospital  for  the  sick.  |8  S.  Matt.  \  i.  19. 

y  Thebes,  etc.     The  "  seven  wonders  of  the  world." 


men,  nor  to  dishonour  Christ,  the  one  Head 
of  all,  by  their  inhuman  treatment  of  them  ; 
but  to  use  the  misfortunes  of  others  as  an  op- 
portunity of  firmly  establishing  their  own  lot, 
and  to  lend  to  God  that  mercy  of  which  they 
stand  in  need  at  His  hands.  He  did  not 
therefore  disdain  to  honour  with  his  lips  this 
disease,  noble  and  of  noble  ancestry  and  brill- 
iant reputation  though  he  was,  but  saluted 
them  as  brethren,  not,  as  some  might  suppose, 
from  vainglory,  (for  who  was  so  far  removed 
from  this  feeling  ?)  but  taking  the  lead  in 
approaching  to  tend  them,  as  a  consequence 
of  his  philosophy,  and  so  giving  not  only  a 
speaking,  but  also  a  silent,  instruction.  The 
effect  produced  is  to  be  seen  not  only  in  the 
city,  but  in  the  country  and  beyond,  and 
even  the  leaders  of  society  have  vied  with  one 
another  in  their  philanthropy  and  magnanim- 
ity towards  them.  Others  have  had  their 
cooks,  and  splendid  tables,  and  the  devices 
and  dainties  of  confectioners,  and  exquisite 
carriages,  and  soft,  flowing  robes ;  Basil's 
care  was  for  the  sick,  and  the  relief  of  their 
wounds,  and  the  imitation  of  Christ,  by 
cleansing  leprosy,  not  by  a  word,  but  in  deed. 
64.  As  to  all  this,  what  will  be  said  by 
those  who  charge  him  with  pride  and  haughti- 
ness? Severe  critics  they  are  of  such  con- 
duct, applying  to  him,  whose  life  was  a  stan- 
dard, those  who  were  not  standards  at  all.  Is 
it  possible  that  he  who  kissed  the  lepers,  and 
humiliated  himself  to  such  a  degree,  could 
treat  haughtily  those  who  were  in  health : 
and,  while  wasting  his  flesh  by  abstinence, 
puff  out  his  soul  with  empty  arrogance  ?  Is 
it  possible  to  condemn  the  Pharisee,  and  ex- 
pound the  debasing  effect  of  haughtiness,  to 
know  Christ,  Who  condescended  to  the  form 
of  a  slave,  and  ate  with  publicans,  and  washed 
the  discii)les'  feet,  and  did  not  disdain  the  cross, 
in  order  to  nail  my  sin  to  it:  and,  more  in- 
credible still,  to  see  God  crucified,  aye,  along 
with  robbers  also,  and  derided  by  the  passers 
by,  impassible,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  suf- 
fering as  He  is  ;  and  yet,  as  his  slanderers 
imagine,  soar  himself  above  the  clouds,  and 
think  that  nothing  can  be  on  an  equality  with 
him.  Nay,  what  they  term  pride  is,  I  fancy, 
the  firmness  and  steadfastness  and  stability  of 
his  character.  Such  persons  would  readily, 
it  seems  to  mc,  call  bravery  rashness,  and  the 
circumspect  a  coward,  and  the  temperate  mis- 
anthropic, and  the  just  illiberal.  For  indeed 
this  jihilosojihic  axiom  is  excellent,  which 
says  that  the  vices"  are  settled  close  to  the 

a  The  vices.     This  was  the  doctrine  of  Menander  and  .Aristotle. 


THE   PANEGYRIC   ON    S.   BASIL. 


417 


virtues,  and  are,  in  some  se;ise,  their  next- 
door  neighbours  :  and  it  is  most  easy,  for 
those  whose  training  in  such  subjects  has  been 
defective,  to  mistal^e  a  man  for  what  he  is 
not.  For  who  honoured  virtue  and  castigated 
vice  more  than  he,  or  showed  himself  more 
kind  to  tlie  upright,  ,.more  severe  to  the 
wrong  doers?  His  very  smile  often  afnounted 
to  praise,  his  silence  to  rebuke,  racking  the 
evil  in  the  secret  conscience.  And  if  a  man 
have  not  been  a  chatterer,  and  jester,  and 
gossip,  nor  a  general  favourite,  because  of 
having  pleased  others  by  becoming  all  things 
to  all  men,"  what  of  that?  Is  he  not  in  the 
eyes  of  sensible  men  worthy  of  praise  rather 
than  of  blame?  Unless  it  is  a  fault  in  *the 
lion  that  he  is  terrible  and  royal,  and  does 
not  look  like  an  ape,  and  that  his  spring  is 
noble,  and  is  valued  for  its  wonderfulness  : 
while  stage-players  ought  to  win  our  admira- 
tion for  their  pleasant  and  philanthropic  char- 
acters, because  they  please  the  vulgar,  and 
raise  a  laugh  by  their  sounding  slaps  in  the 
face.  And  if  this  indeed  be  our  object,  who 
was  so  pleasant  when  you  met  him,  as  I  know, 
who  have  had  the  longest  experience  ?  Who 
was  more  kindly  in  his  stories,  more  refined 
in  his  wit,  more  tender  in  his  rebukes?  His 
reproofs  gave  rise  to  no  arrogance,  his  relaxa- 
tion to  no  dissipation,  but  avoiding  excess  in 
either,  he  made  use  of  both  in  reason  and 
season,  according  to  the  rules  of  Solomon, 
who  assigns  to  every  business  a  season.^ 

65.  But  what  are  these  to  his  renown  for 
eloquence,  and  his  powers  of  instruction, 
which  have  won  the  favour  of  the  ends  of  the 
world  ?  As  yet  we  have  been  compassing  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  to  the  neglect  of  its 
summit,  as  yet  we  have  been  crossing  a  strait, 
paying  no  heed  to  the  mighty  and  deep  ocean. 
For  I  think  that  if  any  one  ever  has  become, 
or  can  become,  a  trumpet,  in  his  far  sounding 
resonance,  or  a  voice  of  God,  embracing  the 
universe,  or  an  earthquake  of  the  world,  by 
some  unheard  of  miracle,  it  is  his  voice  and 
intellect  which  deserve  these  titles,  for  sur- 
passing and  excelling  all  men  as  much  as  we 
surpass  the  irrational  creatures.  Who,  more 
than  he.  cleansed  himself  by  the  Spirit,  and 
made  himself  worthy  to  set  forth  divine 
things?  Who  was  more  enlightened  by  the 
light  of  knowledge,  and  had  a  closer  in- 
sight into  the  depths  of  the  Spirit,  and  by  the 
aid  of  God  beheld  the  things  of  God  ?  Whose 
language  could  better  express  intellectual 
truth,  without,  as  most   men  do,  limping  on 


o  I  Cor.  Ix-  22. 
27 


P  Eccles.  iii.  i. 


one  foot,  by  either  failing  to  express  his  ideas, 
or  allowing  his  eloquence  to  outstrip  his  rea- 
soning powers?  In  both  respects  he  won  a 
like  distinction,  and  showed  himself  to  be  his 
own  equal,  and  absolutely  perfect.  To  search 
all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things  of  God  "  is, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  S.  Paul,  the 
office  of  the  Spirit,  not  because  He  is  ignorant 
of  them,  but  because  He  takes  delight  in  their 
contemplation.  Now  all  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  Basil  had  fully  investigated,  and  hence 
he  drew  his  instructions  for  every  kind  of 
character,  his  lessons  in  the  sublime,  and  his 
exhortations  to  quit  things  present,  and  adapt 
ourselves  to  things  to  come. 

66.  The  sun  is  extolled  by  David  for  its 
beauty,  its  greatness,  its  swift  course,  and  its 
power,  splendid  as  a  bridegroom,  majestic  as 
a  giant ;  ^  while,  from  the  extent  of  its  circuit, 
it  has  such  power  that  it  equally  sheds  its 
light  from  one  end. of  heaven  to  the  other,  and 
the  heat  thereof  is  in  no  wise  lessened  by  dis- 
tance. Basil's  beauty  was  virtue,  his  great- 
ness theology,  his  course  the  perpetual  mo- 
tion reaching  even  to  God  by  its  ascents,  and 
his  power  the  sowing  and  distribution  of  the 
Word.  So  that  I  will  not  hesitate  to  say  even 
this,  his  utterance  went  out  into  all  lands, v  and 
the  power  of  his  words  to  the  ends  of  the 
world  :  as  S.  Paul  says  of  the  Apostles,^  bor- 
rowing the  words  from  David.  What  other 
charm  is  there  in  any  gathering  to-day  ?  What 
pleasure  in  banquets,  in  the  courts,  in  the 
churches  ?  What  delight  in  those  in  author- 
ity, and  those  beneath  them  ?  What  in  the 
hermits,  or  the  cenobites?  What  in  the  lei- 
sured classes,  or  those  busied  in  affairs?  What 
in  profane  schools  of  philosophy  or  in  our 
own  ?  There  is  one,  which  runs  through  all, 
and  is  the  greatest — his  writings  and  labours. 
Nor  do  writers  require  any  supply  of  matter 
besides  his  teaching  or  writings.  All  the 
laborious  studies  of  old  days  in  the  Divine 
oracles  are  silent,  while  the  new  ones  are  in 
everybody's  mouth,  and  he  is  the  best  teacher 
among  us  who  has  the  deepest  acquaintance 
with  his  works,  and  speaks  of  them  and  ex- 
plains them  in  our  ears.  For  he  alone  more 
than  supplies  the  place  of  all  others  to  those 
who  are  specially  eager  for  instruction. 

67.  I  will  only  say  this  of  him.  Whenever 
I  handle  his  Hexaemeron,  and  take  its  words 
on  my  lips,  I  am  brought  into  the  presence  of 
the  Creator,  and  understand  the  words  of  cre- 
ation, and  admire  the  Creator  more  than  be- 
fore, using   my  teacher  as   my  only  means  of 


a  I  Cor.  ii.  10. 
y  Ps.  xix.  5. 


|3  Ps.  xix.  6. 
6  Rom.  X.  18. 


4i8 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


sight.  Whenever  I  take  up  his  polemical 
works,  I  see  the  fire  of  Sodom,"  by  which  the 
wicked  and  rebellious  tongues  are  reduced  to 
ashes,  or  the  tower  of  Chalane,^  impiously 
built, V  and  righteously  destroyed.  Whenever 
I  read  his  writings  on  the  Spirit,  I  find  the 
God  Whom  I  possess,  and  grow  bold  in  my 
utterance  of  the  truth,  from  the  support  of  his 
theology  and  contemplation.  His  other  trea- 
tises, in  which  he  gives  explanations  for  those 
who  are  shortsighted,  by  a  threefold  inscrip- 
tion on  the  solid  tablets  of  his  heart,  lead  me 
on  from  a  mere  literal  or  symbolical  interpre- 
tation to  a  still  wider  view,  as  I  proceed  from 
one  depth  to  another,  calling  upon  deep  ^  after 
deep,  and  finding  light  after  light,  until  I  at- 
tain the  highest  pinnacle.  When  I  study  his 
panegyrics  on  our  athletes,  I  despise  the  body, 
and  enjoy  the  society  of  those  whom  he  is 
praising,  and  rouse  myself  to  the  struggle. 
His  moral  and  practical  discourses  purify  soul 
and  body,  making  me  a  temple  fit  for  God, 
and  an  instrument  struck  by  the  Spirit,  to 
celebrate  by  its  strains  the  glory  and  power  of 
God.  In  fact,  he  reduces  me  to  harmony  and 
order,  and  changes  me  by  a  Divine  transfor- 
mation. 

68.  Since  I  have  mentioned  theology,  and 
his  most  sublime  treatises  in  this  science,  I 
Avill  make  this  addition  to  what  I  have  already 
said.  For  it  is  of  great  service  to  the  com- 
munity, to  save  them  from  being  injured  by 
an  unjustifiably  low  opinion  of  him.  My  re- 
marks are  directed  against  those  evil  disposed 
l^ersons  who  shelter  their  own  vices  under 
cover  of  their  calumnies  against  others.  In 
his  defence  of  orthodox  teaching,  and  of  the 
union  and  coequal  divinity  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  to  use  terms  which  are,  I  think,  as 
exact  and  clear  as  possible,  he  would  have 
eagerly  welcomed  as  a  gain,  and  not  a  danger, 
not  only  expulsion  from  his  see,  in  which  he 
had  originally  no  desire  to  be  enthroned,  but 
even  exile,  and  death,  and  its  preliminary 
tortures.  This  is  manifest  from  his  actual 
conduct  and  sufferings.  For  when  he  had 
been  sentenced  to  banishment  on  behalf  of  the 
truth,  the  only  notice  which  he  took  of  it  was, 
to  bid  one  of  his  .servants  to  take  his  writing 
tablet  and  follow  him.  He  held  it  necessary, 
according  to  the  divine  David's  advice,  to 
guide  his  words  with  discretion,*  and  to  en- 
dure for  a  while  the  time  of  war,  and  the  as- 
cendency of  the  heretics,  until  it  should  be 
succeeded  by  a  time  of  freedom  and  calm, 
which   would   admit   of  freedom  of  speech. 


a  Gen.  xix.  24. 
V  Gen.  xi.  4. 


JS  Chnlane. 
S  Ps.  xlii.  8. 


LXX.  forHabel. 

€  lb.  cxii.  5. 


The  enemy  were  on  the  watch  for  the  unquali- 
fied statement  "'the  Spirit  is  God;"  which, 
although  it  is  true,  Ihey  and  the  wicked  pa- 
tron of  their  impiety  imagined  to  be  impious  ; 
so  that  they  might  banish  him  and  his  j^ower 
of  theological  instruction  from  the  city,  and 
themselves  be  able  to  seize  upon  the  church, 
and  make  it  the  starting  point  and  citadel, 
from  which  they  could  overrun  with  their  evil 
doctrine  the  rest  of  the  world.  Accordingly, 
by  the  use  of  other  terms,  and  by  statements 
which  unmistakably  had  the  same  meaning, 
and  by  arguments  necessarily  leading  to  this 
conclusion,  he  so  overpowered  his  antagonists, 
that  they  were  left  without  reply,  and  in- 
voH'ed  in  their  own  admissions, — the  greatest 
proof  possible  of  dialectical  power  and  skill. 
His  treatise  on  this  subject  makes  it  further 
manifest,  being  evidently  written  by  a  pen 
borrowed  from  the  Spirit's  store.  He  post- 
poned for  the  time  the  use  of  the  exact  term, 
begging  as  a  favour  from  the  Spirit  Himself 
and  his  earnest  champions,  that  they  would 
not  be  annoyed  at  his  economy,"^  nor,  by 
clinging  to  a  single  expression,  ruin  the  whole 
cause,  from  an  uncompromising  temper,  at  a 
crisis  when  religion  was  in  peril.  He  assured 
them  that  they  would  suffer  no  injury  from  a 
slight  change  in  their  expressions,  and  from 
teaching  the  same  truth  in  other  terms.  For 
our  salvation  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  words 
as  of  actions  ;  for  we  would  not  reject  the 
Jews,  if  they  desired  to  unite  with  us,  and  yet 
for  a  while  sought  to  use  the  term  "  Anoint- 
ed" instead  of  "Christ:  "  while  the  com- 
munity would  suffer  a  very  serious  injury,  if 
the  church  w^ere  seized  upon  by  the  heretics. 

69.  That  he,  no  less  than  any  other,  ac- 
knowledged that  the  Spirit  is  God,  is  plain 
from  his  often  having  publicly  preached  this 
truth,  whenever  opportunity  offered,  and 
eagerly  confessed  it  when  (questioned  in  pri- 
vate. But  he  made  it  more  clear  in  his  con- 
versations with  me,  from  whom  he  concealed 
nothing  during  our  conferences  upon  this  sub- 
ject. Not  content  with  simjjly  asserting  it,  he 
proceeded,  as  he  had  but  very  seldom  done 
before,  to  imprecate  u])on  himself  that  most 
terrible  fate  of  separation  from  the  Spirit,  if 
he  did  not  adore  the  Spirit  as  consubstantial 
and  coequal  with  the  Father  and  the  Son. 
And  if  any  one  would  accept  me  as  having 
been  bis  fellow  labourer  in  this  cause,  I  will 
set  forth  one  point  hitherto  unknown  to  most 
men.     Under  the  pressure  of  the  difficulties 


a  Economy.  In  refraining  from  the  express  assertion  "The  Holy 
Ghost  is  God  "  — some  have  blamed  S.  Basil  for  this  ;  b\it  his  con- 
duct has  the  approval  of  S.  Athanasius.    Ep.  ad  Palladium. 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


419 


of  the  period,  he  himself  undertook  the 
economy,  while  allowing  freedom  of  speech 
to  me,  whom  no  one  was  likely  to  drag  from 
obscurity  to  trial  or  banishment,  in  order  that 
by  our  united  efforts  -our  Gospel  might  be 
firmly  established.  I  mention  this,  not  to 
defend  his  reputation,  for  the  man  is  stronger 
than  his  assailants,  if  there  are  any  such ;  but 
to  prevent  men  from  thinking  that  the  terms 
found  in  his  writings  are  the  utmost  limit 
of  the  truth,  and  so  have  their  faith  weak- 
ened, and  consider  that  their  own  error  is 
supported  by  his  theology,  which  was  the 
joint  result  of  the  influences  of  the  time  and 
of  the  Spirit,  instead  of  considering  the  sense 
of  his  writings,  and  the  object  with  whifch 
they  were  written,  so  as  to  be  brought  closer 
to  the  truth,  and  enabled  to  silence  the  parti- 
sans of  impiety.  At  any  rate  let  his  theology 
be  mine,  and  that  df  all  dear  to  me  !  And 
so  confident  am  I  of  his  spotlessness  in  this 
respect,  that  I  take  him  for  my  partner  in 
this,  as  in  all  else  :  and  may  what  is  mine  be 
attributed  to  him,  what  is  his  to  me,  both  at 
the  hands  of  God,  and  of  the  wisest  of  men  ! 
For  we  would  not  say  that  the  Evangelists  are 
at  variance  w^ith  one  another,  because  some 
are  more  occupied  with  the  human  side  of 
the  Christ,  and  others  pay  attention  to  His 
Divinity  ;  some  having  commenced  their  his- 
tory with  what  is  within  our  own  experience, 
others  with  what  is  above  us ;  and  by  thus 
sharing  the  substance  of  their  message,  they 
have  procured  the  advantage  of  those  who 
receive  it,  and  followed  the  impressions  of 
the  Spirit  Who  was  within  them. 

70.  Come  then,  there  have  been  many  men 
of  old  days  illustrious  for  piety,  as  lawgivers, 
generals,  prophets,  teachers,  and  men  brave 
to  the  shedding  of  blood.  Let  us  compare 
our  prelate  with  them,  and  thus  recognize  his 
merit.  Adam  was  honoured  by  the  hand  of 
God,"  and  the  delights  of  Paradise,^  and  the 
first  legislation :  v  but,  unless  I  slander  the 
reputation  of  our  first  parent,  he  kept  not  the 
command.  Now  Basil  both  received  and 
observed  it,  and  received  no  injury  from  the 
tree  of  knowledge,  and  escaped  the  flaming 
sword,  and,  as  I  am  well  assured,  has  attained 
to  Paradise.  Enos  first  ventured  to  call  upon 
the  Lord.^  Basil  both  called  upon  Him 
himself,  and,  what  is  far  more  excellent, 
preached  Him  to  others.  Enoch  was  trans- 
lated,* attaining  to  his  translation  as  the  reward 
of  a  little  piety  (for  the  faith  was  still  in 
shadow)  and  escaped  the  peril  of  the  reraain- 


a  Gen.  i.  27. 
6  lb.  iv.  26. 


/3  lb.  ii.  8. 


y  lb.  ii.  16. 
«  lb.  V.  21. 


der  of  life,  but  Basil's  whole  life  was  a  trans- 
lation, and  he  was  completely  tested  in  a 
complete  life.  Noah  was  entrusted  with  the 
ark,*  and  the  seeds  of  a  new  world  committed 
to  a  small  house  of  wood,  in  their  preserva- 
tion from  the  waters.  Basil  escaped  the  del- 
uge of  impiety  and  made  of  his  own  city  an 
ark  of  safety,  which  sailed  lightly  over  the 
heretics,  and  afterwards  recovered  the  whole 
world. 

71.  Abraham  was  a  great  man,  a  patriarch, 
the  offerer  of  the  new  sacrifice,i^  by  presenting 
to  Him  who  had  given  it  the  promised  seed, 
as  a  ready  offering,  eager  for  slaughter.  But 
Basil's  offering  was  no  slight  one,  when  he 
offered  himself  to  God,  without  any  ec|uiva- 
lent  being  given  in  his  stead,  (for  how  could 
that  have  been  possible?)  so  that  his  sacrifice 
was  consummated.  Isaac  was  promised  even 
before  his  birth, v  Basil  promised  himself,  and 
took  for  his  spouse  Rebekah,  I  mean  the 
Church,  not  fetched  from  a  distance  by  the 
mission  of  a  servant,^  but  bestowed  upon  and 
entrusted  to  him  by  God  close  at  home :  nor 
was  he  outwitted  in  the  preference  of  his 
children,  but  bestowed  upon  each  what  was 
due  to  him,  without  any  deception,  according 
to  the  judgment  of  the  Spirit.  I  extol  the 
ladder  of  Jacob,*  and  the  pillar  which  he 
anointed  to  God,  and  his  wrestling  with  Him, 
whatever  it  was ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  it  was 
the  contrast  and  opposition  of  the  human 
stature  to  the  height  of  God,  resulting  in  the 
tokens  of  the  defeat  ^  of  his  race.  I  ex- 
tol also  his  clever  devices  and  success  in  cat- 
tle-breeding, and  his  children,  the  twelve 
Patriarchs,  and  the  distribution  of  his  bless- 
ings, with  their  glorious  prophecy  of  the  fu- 
ture. But  I  still  more  extol  Basil  for  the  lad-  • 
der  which  he  did  not  merely  see,  but  which 
he  ascended  by  successive  steps  towards  ex- 
cellence, and  the  pillar  which  he  did  not 
anoint,  but  which  he  erected  to  God,  by  pil- 
lorying the  teaching  of  the  ungodly  ;  and  the 
wrestling  with  which  he  wrestled,  not  with 
God,  but,  on  behalf  of  God,  to  the  overthrow 
of  the  heretics  ;  and  his  pastoral  care,  where- 
by he  grew  rich,  through  gaining  for  himself 
a  number  of  marked  sheep  greater  than  that 
of  the  unmarked,  and  his  illustrious  fruitful- 
ness  in  spiritual  children,  and  the  blessing 
with  which  he  established  many. 

72.  Joseph  was  a  provider  of  corn,''  but  in 
Egypt  only,  and  not  frequently,  and  of  bodily 
food.     Basil  did  so  for  all  men,   and  at  all 


a  Gen.  vi.  13.  P  lb.  xxii.  i.  v  lb-  xviii.  10. 

S  lb.  xxiv.  3.  e  lb.  xxviii.  12. 

^  Defeat  or  "loss  of  generative  power."  jj  Gen.  xli.  40. 


420 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


times,  and  in  spiritual  food,  and  therefore,  in 
my  opinion,  his  was  the  more  honourable 
function.  Like  Job,  the  man  of  Uz,"  he  was 
both  tempted,  and  overcame,  and  at  the 
close  of  his  struggles  gained  splendid  honour, 
having  been  shaken  by  none  of  his  many  as- 
sailants, and  having  gained  a  decisive  victory 
over  the  efforts  of  the  tempter,  and  put  to 
silence  the  unreason  of  his  friends,  who  knew 
not  the  mysterious  character  of  his  affliction. 
"Moses  and  Aaron  among  His  priests."'^  ' 
Truly  was  Moses  great,  who  inflicted  the 
plagues  upon  Egypt, ^  and  delivered  the  people 
among  many  signs  and  wonders,  and  entered 
within  the  cloud,  and  sanctioned  the  double 
law,  outward  in  the  letter,  and  inward  in  the  ; 
Spirit.  Aaron  was  Moses'  brother,*  both  natur- 
ally and  spiritually,  and  offered  sacrifices  and 
prayers  for  the  people,  as  the  hierophant  of 
the  great  and  holy  tabernacle,  which  the 
Lord  pitched,  and  not  man.^  Of  both  of 
them  Basil  was  a  rival,  for  he  tortured,  not 
with  bodily  but  with  spiritual  and  mental 
plagues,  the  Egyptian  race  of  heretics,  and 
led  to  the  land  of  promise  ^  the  people  of  pos- 
session, zealous  of  good  works  ; ''  he  inscribed 
laws,  which  are  no  longer  obscure,  but  en- 
tirely spiritual,  on  tables  ^  which  are  not  broken 
but  are  preserved ;  he  entered  the  Holy  of 
holies,'  not  once  a  year,  but  often,  I  may  say 
every  day,  and  thence  he  revealed  to  us  the 
Holy  Trinity  ;  and  cleansed  the  people,  not 
with  temporary  sprinklings,  but  with  eternal 
purifications.  What  is  the  special  excellence 
of  Joshua?"  His  generalship,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  the  inheritance,  and  the  taking  pos- 
session of  the  Holy  Land.  And  was  not  Basil 
an  Exarch?  ^  Was  he  not  a  general  of  tho.se 
who  are  saved  by  faith  ?'^  Did  he  not  assign 
the  different  inheritances  and  abodes,  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God,  among  his  followers? 
So  that  he  too  could  use  the  words,  "  The 
lot  is  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places  ;  "  "  and 
"my  fortunes  are  in  Thy  hands,"  ^  fortunes 
more  precious  than  those  which  come  to  us  on 
earth,  and  can  be  snatched  away. 

73.  Further,  to  run  over  the  Judges,  or 
the  most  illustrious  of  the  Judges,  there  is 
"Samuel  among  those  that  call  upon  His 
Name,"  °  who  was  given  to  God  before  his 
birth,"  and  sanctified  immediately  after  his 
birth,  and  the  anointer  with  his  horn  of  kings 
and  priests. P     But  was  not  Basil  as  an  infant 


a  Job  i-  I.  P  Ps.  xcix.  6.  y  Exod.  vii.  8  et  seq. 

6  lb.  xxix.  4.  «  Heb.  viii.  2.  ^  lb.  xi.  9. 

riTit.  li.  14.         0  2  Cor.  iii.  3.         c  Exod.  xxiv.  8  ;   Heb.  ix.  19. 

K  Tosh.  i.  2.  A  Rxarch  or  Metropolitan. 

fi.  Eph.  ii.  8.  V  Ps.  xvi.  6.  f  Ui.  xxxi.  16. 

o  lb.  cxix.  6.  Tt  \  Sam.  i.  20.  p  lb.  xvi.  13. 


consecrated  to  God  from  the  womb,  and 
offered  with  a  coat"  at  the  altar,  and  was  he 
not  a  seer  of  heavenly  things,  and  anointed  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  anointer  of  those  who  are 
perfected  by  the  Spirit?  Among  the  kings, 
David  is  celebrated,  whose  victories  and 
trophies^  gained  from  the  enemy  are  on 
record,  but  his  most  characteristic  trait  was 
his  gentleness, Y  and,  before  his  kingly  office, 
his  power  with  the  harp,  able  to  soothe  even 
the  evil  spirit.  Solomon  asked  of  God  and 
obtained  breadth  of  heart, ^  making  the  furth- 
est possible  progress  in  wisdom  and  contem- 
plation, so  that  he  became  the  most  famous 
man  of  his  time.  Basil,  in  my  opinion,  was 
in  no  wise,  or  but  little  inferior,  to  the  one  in 
gentleness,  to  the  other  in  wisdom,  so  that  he 
soothed  the  arrogance  of  infuriated  sovereigns  ; 
and  did  not  merely  bring  the  queen  of  the 
south  from  the  ends  o*f  the  earth,  or  any 
other  individual,  to  visit  him  because  of  his 
renown  for  wisdom,  but  made  his  wisdom 
known  in  all  the  ends  of  the  world.  I  pass 
over  the  rest  of  Solomon's  life.  Even  if  we 
spare  it,  it  is  evident  to  all. 

74.  Do  you  praise  the  courage  of  Elijah  ^  in 
the  presence  of  tyrants,  and  his  fiery  transla- 
tion ?f  Or  the  fair  inheritance  of  Elisha,  the 
sheepskin  mantle,  accompanied  by  the  spirit 
of  Elijah?''  You  must  also  i)raise  the  life  of 
Basil,  spent  in  the  fire.  I  mean  in  the  multi- 
tude of  temptations,  and  his  escape  through 
fire,  which  burnt,  but  did  not  consume,  the 
mystery  of  "  the  bush,"  ^  and  the  fair  cloak  of 
skin  from  on  high,  his  indifference  to  the 
flesh.  I  pass  by  the  rest,  the  three  young  men 
bedewed  in  the  fire,'  the  fiigitive  prophet  pray- 
ing in  the  whale's  belly,"  and  coming  forth 
from  the  creature,  as  from  a  chamber  ;  the 
just  man  in  the  den,  restraining  the  lions'  rage,^ 
and  the  struggle  of  the  se\-en  Maccabees,'' 
who  were  perfected  with  their  father  and  mo- 
ther in  blood,  and  in  all  kinds  of  tortures. 
Their  endurance  he  rivalled,  and  won  their 
glory. 

75.  I  now  turn  to  the  New  Testament,  and 
comparing  his  life  with  those  who  are  here 
illustrious,  I  shall  find  in  the  teachers  a  source 
of  honour  for  their  disciple.  Who  was  the 
forerunner  of  Jesus?"  John,  the  voice  of  the 
Word,^  the  lamp  of  the  Light,"  before  Whom 
he  even  lea]:)ed  in  the  womb,''  and  Whom  he 
preceded  to  Hades,  whither  he  was  despatched 
by  the  rage  of  Herod, p  to  herald  even  there 

a  Cf.  I  Sam.  ii.  19.         P  2  Sam.  v.  i.  7  Ps.  cxxxii.  i  (LXX.). 

I  I  Kings  iv.  29.     e  2  Kings  i.  i.     fib.  ii.  11.     i;  lb.  ii.  13,  15. 
6  Exod.  iii.  i.  t  Dan.  iii.  5.         ic  Jonah  ii.  i.         A  \)\w.  vi.  22. 

M2  Mace.  vii.  t.  v  S.  I.uke  i.  76.  f  lb.  iii.  4. 

o  S.  John  V.  35  ;  i.  8.  it  S.  Luke  ii.  41.  p  b.  Matt,  xiv,  10. 


i 


THE   PANEGYRIC    ON    S.    BASIL. 


421 


Him  who  was  coming.  And,  if  my  language 
seems  audacious  to  anyone,  let  me  assure  him 
beforehand,  that  in  making  this  comparison, 
I  neither  prefer  Basil,  nor  imply  that  he  is 
equal  to  him  who  surpasses  all  who  are  born 
of  women,"  but  only  show  that  he  was  stirred 
to  emulation,  and  possessed  to  some  extent  liis 
striking  features.  For  it  is  no  slight  thing  for 
the  earnest  to  imitate  the  greatest  of  men, 
even  in  a  slight  degree.  Is  it  not  indeed 
manifest  that  Basil  was  a  copy  of  John's  asce- 
ticism ?  He  also  lived  in  the  wilderness,  and 
wore  in  nightly  watchings  a  ragged  garb,  dur- 
ing his  shrinking  retirement ;  he  also  loved  a 
similar  food,  purifying  himself  for  God  by 
abstinence ;  he  also  was  thought  worthy  to  be 
a  herald,  if  not  a  forerunner,  of  Christ,  and 
there  went  out  to  him  not  only  all  the  region 
round  about, ^  but  also  that  which  was  beyond 
its  borders  ;  he  also  stood  between  the  two 
covenants,  abolishing  the  letter  of  the  one  by 
administering  the  spirit  of  the  other,  and 
bringing  about  the  fulfilment  of  the  hidden 
law  through  the  dissolution  of  that  which 
was  apparent. 

76.  He  emulated  the  zeal  of  Peter, v  the  in- 
tensity of  Paul,  the  faith  of  both  these  men  of 
name  and  of  surname,  the  lofty  utterance  of 
the  sons  of  Zebedee,  the  frugality  and  sim- 
plicity of  all  the  disciples.  Therefore  he  was 
also  entrusted  with  the  keys  of  the  heavens,^ 
and  not  only  from  Jerusalem  and  round  about 
unto  lUyricum,^  but  he  embraces  a  wider  circle 
in  the  Gospel;  he  is  not  named,  but  becomes, 
a  Son  of  thunder  ;  and  lying  upon  the  breast 
of  Jesus,  he  draws  thence  the  power  of  his 
word,  and  the  depth  of  his  thoughts.  He  was 
prevented  from  becoming  a  Stephen,^  eager 
though  he  was,  since  reverence  stayed  the 
hands  of  those  who  would  have  stoned  him.  I 
am  able  to  sum  up  still  more  concisely,  to 
avoid  treating  in  detail  on  these  points  of  each 
individual.  In  some  respects  he  discovered, 
in  some  he  emulated,  in  others  he  surjjassed 
the  good.  In  his  many-sided  virtues  he  ex- 
celled all  men  of  this  day.  I  have  but  one 
thing  left  to  say,  and  in  few  words. 

77.  So  great  was  his  virtue,  and  the  emi- 
nence of  his  fame,  that  many  of  his  minor  char- 
acteristics, nay,  even  his  physical  defects,  have 
been  assumed  by  others  with  a  view  to  no- 
toriety. For  instance  his  paleness,  his  beard, 
his  gait,  his  thoughtful,  and  generally  medita- 
tive, hesitation  in  speaking,  which,  in  the  ill- 
judged,  inconsiderate  imitation  of  many,  took 
the   form  of  melancholy.      And    besides,   the 


a  S.  Matt.  xi.  ii. 
6  S.  Matt.  xvi.  i. 


3  lb.  iii.  5. 
e  Rom.  XV.  i. 


V  Acts  iv.  8. 
i  Acts  vii.  58. 


style  of  his  dress,  the  shape  of  his  bed,  and 
his  manner  of  eating,  none  of  which  was  to 
him  a  matter  of  consequence,  but  simply  the 
result  of  accident  and  chance.  So  you  might 
see  many  Basils  in  outward  semblance,  among 
these  statues  in  outline,  for  it  would  be  too 
much  to  call  them  his  distant  echo.  For  an 
echo,  though  it  is  the  dying  away  of  a  sound, 
at  any  rate  represents  it  with  great  clearness, 
while  these  men  fall  too  far  short  of  him  to 
satisfy  even  their  desire  to  approach  him. 
Nor  was  it  a  slight  thing,  but  a  matter  with 
good  reason  held  in  the  highest  estimation,  to 
chance  to  have  met  him  or  done  him  some 
service,  or  to  carry  away  the  souvenir  of  some- 
thing which  he  had  said  or  done  in  jest  or  in 
earnest :  as  I  know  that  I  have  myself  often 
taken  pride  in  doing  ;  for  his  improvisations 
were  much  more  precious  and  brilliant  than 
the  laboured  efforts  of  other  men. 

78.  But  when,  after  he  had  finished  his 
course,  and  kept  the  faith,"  he  longed  to  de- 
part, and  the  time  for  his  crown  was  ap- 
proaching,^ he  did  not  hear  the  summons : 
"Get  thee  up  into  the  mountain  and  die, "  y  but 
"Die,  and  come  up  to  us."  And  here  again  he 
wrought  a  wonder  in  no  wise  inferior  to  those  mentioned 
before.  For  when  he  was  ahnost  dead,  and  Ineathless, 
and  had  lost  the  greater  part  of  his  powers,  he  grew 
stronger  in  his  last  words,  so  as  to  depart  witli  the 
utterances  of  religion,  and,  hy  ordaining  the  most  ex- 
cellent of  his  attendants,  bestowed  upon  them  both  his 
hand  and  the  Spirit  :  so  that  his  disciples,  who  had 
aided  him  in  his  priestly  office,  might  not  be  defrauded 
of  the  priesthood.  Tlie  remainder  of  my  task  I  ap- 
pi-oach,  but  with  reluctance,  as  it  would  fall  more  fitly 
from  the  mouths  of  others  than  from  my  own.  I'or  I 
cannot  philosophise  over  my  misfortune,  even  if  I 
greatly  longed  to  do  so,  when  I  recollect  that  the  loss 
is  common  to  us  all,  and  that  the  misfortune  has  be- 
fallen the  whole  world. 

79.  He  lay,  drawing  his  last  breath,  and  awaited  by 
the  choir  on  high,  towards  which  he  had  long  directed 
his  gaze.  Around  him  poured  the  whole  city,  unable 
to  bear  his  loss,  inveighing  against  his  departure,  as  if 
it  had  been  an  oppression,  and  clinging  to  his  soul,  as 
though  it  had  been  capable  of  restraint  or  compulsion 
at  their  hands  or  their  prayers.  Their  suffering  had 
driven  them  distracted,  all  were  eager,  were  it  possible, 
to  add  to  his  life  a  portion  of  their  own.  And  when 
they  failed,  for  it  must  needs  be  proved  that  he  was  a 
man,  and,  with  his  last  words  "Into  thy  Hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit,"  S  he  had  joyfully  resigned  his  soul  to 
the  care  of  the  angels  who  carried  him  away  ;  not  with- 
out having  some  religious  instructions  and  injunctions 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were  present — then  oc- 
curred a  wonder  more  remarkable  than  any  which  had 
happened  before. 

80.  The  saint  was  being  carried  out,  lifted  high  by 
the  hands  of  holy  men,  and  everyone  was  eager,  some 
to  seize  the  hem  of  his  garment,^  others  only  just  to 
touch  the  shadow,?  or  the  bier  which  bore  his  holy  re- 
mains (for  what  could  be  more  holy  or  pure  than  that 
body),  others  to  draw  near  to  those  who  were  carrying 


a  2  Tim.  iv.  7. 
S  Ps.  xxxi.  6. 


/3  Phil.  i.  73. 

e  S.  Luke  viii.  44. 


y  Deut.  xxxii.  49. 

^Acts  V.  15. 


422 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


It,  otliers  only  to  enjoy  the  sight,  as  if  even  this  were 
beneficial.  Market  places,  porticos,  houses  of  two  or 
three  stories  were  filled  with  people  escorting,  preced- 
ing, following,  accompanying  liim,  and  trampling  upon 
each  other ;  tens  of  thousands  of  every  race  and  age, 
beyond  all  previous  experience.  The  psalmody  was 
overborne  by  the  lamentations,  philosophic  resignation 
sank  beneatii  the  misfortune.  Our  own  people  vied 
with  strangers,  Jews,  Greeks,  and  foreigners,  and  they 
with  us.  for  a  greater  sliare  in  the  benefit,  by  means 
of  a  more  abundant  lamentation.  To  close  my  story, 
the  calamity  ended  in  danger  ;  many  souls  departed 
along  with  him,  from  the  violence  of  the  pushing  and 
confusion,  who  have  been  thought  happy  ui  their  end, 
departing  together  with  him,  "  funeral  victims,"  per- 
haps some  fervid  orator  might  call  them.  The  body 
having  at  last  escaped  from  those  who  would  seize  it, 
and  made  its  way  through  those  who  went  before  it, 
was  consigned  to  the  tomb  of  his  fathers,  the  high 
priest  being  added  to  the  priests,  tlije  mighty  voice 
which  rings  in  my  ears  to  tlie  heralds,  the  martyr  to 
the  martyrs.  And  now  he  is  in  heaven,  where,  if  I 
mistake  not,  he  is  offering  sacrifices  for  us,  and  pray- 
ing for  the  people,  for  though  he  has  left  us,  he  has 
not  entirely  left  us.  While  I,  Gregory,  who  am  half 
dead,  and,  cleft  in  twain,  torn  away  from  our  great 
union,  and  dragging  along  a  life  of  pain  which  runs 
not  easily,  as  may  be  supposed,  after  separation  from 
him,  know  not  what  is  to  be  my  end  now  that  I  have 
lost  my  guidance.  And  even  now  I  am  admonished 
and  instructed  in  nightly  visions,  if  ever  I  fall  short  of 
my  duty.  And  my  present  object  is  not  so  much  to 
mingle  lamentations  with  my  praises,  or  to  portray  the 
public  life  of  the  man,  or  publislr  a  picture  of  virtue 
common  to  all  time,  and  an  example  salutary  to  all 
churches,  and  to  all  souls,  which  we  may  keep  in  view, 
as  a  living  law,  and  so  rightly  direct  our  lives  as  to 
counsel  you,  who  have  been  completely  initiated  into 
his  doctrine,  to  fix  your  eyes  ujion  him,  as  one  who 
sees  you  and  is  seen  by  you,  and  thus  to  be  perfected 
by  the  Spirit. 

8i.  Come  hitlier  then,  and  surround  me,  all  ye 
members  of  his  choir,  both  of  the  clergy  and  the 
laity,  both  of  our  own  country  and  from  abroad  ;  aid 
me  in  my  eulogy,  by  each  supplying  or  demanding  the 
account  of  some  of  his  excellences.  Regard,  ye  occu- 
pants of  the  bench,  the  lawgiver  ;  ye  politicians,  the 
statesman  ;  ye  men  of  the  people,  his  orderliness  ;  ye 
men  of  letters,  the  instructor  ;  ye  virgins,  the  leader 
of  the  bride  ;  ye  who  are  yoked  in  marriage,  the  re- 
strainer  ;  ye  hermits,  him  who  gave  you  wings  ;  ye 
cenobites,  the  judge  ;  ye  simple  men,  the  guide  ;  ye 
contemplatives,  the  divine  ;  ye  cheerful  ones,  the 
bridle ;  ye  unfortunate  men,  the  consoler,  the  staff  of 
lioar  hairs,  the  guide  of  youth,  the  relief  of  poverty, 
the  steward  of  abundance.  Widows  also  will,  I  imag- 
ine, praise  their  protector,  orphans  their  father,  poor 
men  their  friend,  strangers  their  entertainer,  brothers 
tiie  man  of  brotherly  love,  the  sick  their  physician, 
whatever  be  their  sickness  and  the  healing  they  need, 
the  healthy  the  preserver  of  health,  and  all  men 
him  who  made  himself  all  things  to  all  that  he  might 
gain  the  majority,  if  not  all. 

82.  This  is  my  offering  to  thee,  Basil,  uttered  by 
the  tongue  which  once  was  the  sweetest  of  all  to  tliee, 
of  him  wiio  was  thy  fellow  in  age  and  rank.  If  it  have 
approached  tiiy  deserts,  thanks  are  due  to  thee,  for  it 
was  from  confidence  in  thee  that  I  undertook  to  speak 
of  thee.  But  if  it  fall  far  short  of  thy  expectations, 
wliat  must  be  our  feelings,  who  arc  worn  out  with  age 
and  disease  and  regret  for  thee  ?  Yet  God  is  pleased, 
when  we  do  what  we  can.  Yet  mayest  thou  gaze  upon 
us  from  above,  thou  divine  and  sacred  person  ;  either 


stay  by  thy  entreaties  our  thorn  in  the  flesh, »  given  to 
us  by  God  for  our  disci]iline,  or  prevail  upon  us  to 
bear  it  boldly,  and  guide  all  our  life  towards  that 
which  is  most  for  our  profit.  And  if  we  be  translated, 
do  thou  receive  us  there  also  in  thine  own  tabernacle, 
that,  as  we  dwell  together,  and  gaze  together  more 
clearly  and  more  perfectly  upon  the  holy  and  blessed 
Trinity,  of  Which  we  have  now  in  some  degree  received 
the  image,  our  longing  may  at  last  be  satisfied,  by 
gaining  tliis  recompense  for  all  the  battles  we  have 
fought  and  the  assaults  we  have  endured.  Such  are 
our  words  on  thy  behalf  :  who  will  there  be  to  praise 
us,  since  we  leave  this  life  after  thee,  even  if  we  of- 
fer any  topic  worthy  of  words  or  praise  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord,  to  W'hom  be  glory  forever  ?     Amen. 


INTRODUCTION 
ORATION 


TO    THE     SECOND 
ON   EASTER. 


This  Oration  was  not,  as  its  title  would  perhaps 
lead  us  to  suppose,  delivered  immediately  after  the 
first  ;  but  an  interval  of  many  years  elapsed  between 
them,  and  the  two  have  no  connection  with  each  oth- 
er. Chronologically  they  are  the  first  and  last  of  S. 
Gregory's  Sermons.  The  Second  was  delivered  in 
tlie  Church  of  Arianzus,  a  village  near  Nazianzus, 
where  he  had  inherited  some  property,  to  which  he 
withdrew  after  resigning  the  Archbishopric  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  then,  finding  the  administration  even 
of  the  little  Bishopric  of  Nazianzus  too  much  for 
his  advancing  years  and  declining  strength,  he  re- 
tired to  Arianzus  about  the  end  of  A.D.  383,  dying 
there  in  3S9  or  393.  "The  exordium  of  this  discourse 
is  quite  in  the  style  of  the  Bible  ;  the  Orator  here  de- 
scribes and  puts  words  into  the  mouth  of  the  Angel  of 
the  Resurrection.  His  object  is  to  show  the  impor- 
t.ance  of  the  day's  solemnities,  and  to  explain  allegor- 
ically  all  the  circumstances  of  the  ancient  Passover, 
applying  them  to  Christ  and  tlie  Christian  life.  Two 
passages  are  borrowed  verbatim  from  the  discourse  on 
the  Nativity,  preached  at  Constantinople"  (Benoit). 

The  Benedictine  Editors  profess  themselves  unable 
to  determine  whether  this  repetition  is  due  to  S. 
Gregory  himself — or  to  the  carelessness  of  some  aman- 
uensis. 

ORATION   XLV. 

The  Second  Oration  on  Easter. 

I.  I  will  stand  upon  my  watch, ^  saith  the 
venerable  Habakkiik  ;  and  I  will  take  my  post 
beside  him  today  on  the  authority  and  ob- 
servation which  was  given  me  of  the  Spirit ; 
and  I  will  look  fortli,  and  will  observe  what 
shall  be  said  to  me.  Well,  I  have  taken  my 
stand,  and  looked  forth  ;  and  behold  a  man 
riding  on  the  clouds  and  he  is  very  high,  and 
his  countenance  is  as  the  countenance  of  an 
Angel, Y  and  his  vesture  as  the  brightness  of 
piercing  lightning;  and  he  lifts  his  hand  to- 
ward the  East,  and  cries  with  a  loud  voice. 
His  voice  is  like  the  voice  of  a  trumpet ;  and 
round  about  Him  is  as  it  were  a  multitude  of 
the  Heavenly  Host ;  and  he  saith,  Today  is 
salvation  come  unto  the  world,  to  that  which 


a  2  Cor.  xii.  7. 


p  Hab.  ii.  i. 


•f  Jud.  xiii.  6. 


THE   SECOND    ORATION    ON    EASTER. 


423 


And  would  that  I  might 


rank 


through 


with 
all 


the 
the 


is  visible,  and  to  that  which  is  invisible. 
Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead,  rise  ye  with 
Him.  Christ  is  returned  again  to  Himself, 
return  ye.  Christ  is  freed  from  the  tomb,  be 
ye  freed  from  the  bond  of  sin.  The  gates  of 
hell  are  opened,  and  death  is  destroyed,  and 
the  old  Adam  is  put  aside,  and  the  New  is 
fulfilled  ;  if  any  man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new 
creature  ;  *  bfe  ye  renewed.  Thus  he  speaks  ; 
and  the  rest  sing  out,  as  they  did  before 
when  Christ  was  manifested  to  us  by  His 
birth  on  earth,  their  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  on  earth,  peace,  goodwill  among 
men.^  And  with  them  I  also  utter  the  same 
words  among  you. 
receive  a  voice  that  should 
Angel's,  and  should  sound 
ends  of  the  earth. 

n.  The  Lord's  Passover,  the  Passover,  and 
again  I  say  the  Passover  to  the  honour  of  the 
Trinity.  This  is  to  us  a  Feast  of  feasts  and  a 
Solemnity  of  solemnities  y  as  far  exalted  above 
all  others  (not  only  those  which  are  merely 
human  and  creep  on  the  ground,  but  even 
those  which  are  of  Christ  Himself,  and  are 
celebrated  in  His  honour)  as  the  Sun  is  above 
the  stars.  Beautiful  indeed  yesterday  was  our 
splendid  array,  and  our  illumination,  in  which 
both  in  public  and  private  we  associated  our- 
selves, every  kind  of  men,  and  almost  every 
rank,  illuminating  the  night  with  our  crowded 
fires,  formed  after  the  fashion  of  that  great 
light,  both  that  with  which  the  heaven  above 
us  lights  its  beacon  fires,  and  that  which  is 
above  the  heavens,  amid  the  angels  (the  first 
luminous  nature,  next  to  the  first  nature  of 
all,  because  springing  directly  from  it),  and 
that  which  is  in  tjie_  Trinity,  from  which  all 
light  derives  its  being,  parted  from  the  un- 
divided light  and  honoured.  But  today's 
is  more  beautiful  and  more  illustrious  ;  inas- 
much as  yesterday's  light  was  a  forerunner 
of  the  rising  of  the  Great  Light,  and  as  it 
were  a  kind  of  rejoicing  in  preparation  for 
the  Festival ;  but  today  we  are  celebrating 
the  Resurrection  itself,  no  longer  as  an  object 


a  2  Cor.  V.  17. 

fi  The  reading;  eiSoKia  of  the  Received  Text  is  pronounced  by 
Tischendorf  to  have  less  .luthority  than  evSoxia^,  which  he  adopts 
on  the  testimony  of  important  MSS.,  b\it  chiefly  on  the  strength 
of  a  citation  anil  comment  three  times  in  Origeii,  and  because  all 
the  Latin  Fathers  read  /'y«a'  ziotuniati!:.  Lachmann.  'I'resjelles, 
We-tcott,  and  with  s  ime  hesitation  Alford  follow  him;  though 
Tregelles  and  Westcott  allow  euSoKi'a?  a  place  in  the  margin. 
Wordsworth  (giving  no  reason)  ;  and  Scrivener  because  he  thinks 
it  makes  better  sense,  read  evSoKia,  and  scout  eMoKi'as  :  which, 
however,  is  found  in  four  of  the  five  oldest  MSS.,  and  in  all  the 
Latin  versions  and  Fathers.  The  Cxreek  Fathers,  however,  all  but 
unanimously  support  the  Received  Text. 

y  eopr!)  eopToii',  koX  Travrjyupi?  ■na.vrf^vpiov.  ioprrj  says  Nice- 
tas,  is  one  thing,  Travriyvp{.<;  another.  eopT)j  is  tlie  Commemora- 
tion of  a  .Saint  :  Trav^yupts  is  Faster,  or  Ascension,  or  some  other 
mystical  festival.  Thus  Synesius  calls  the  Paschal  Letters  of  the 
Alexandrian  Patriarch  navrtyvpiKa  yp6.jj.na.ro.. 


of  expectation,  but  as  having  already 


come  to 

pass,  and  gathering  the  Avhole  world  unto  it- 
self. Let  then  different  persons  bring  forth 
different  fruits  and  offer  different  offerings 
at  this  season,  smaller  or  greater  .  .  such 
spiritual  offerings  as  are  dear  to  God 
as  each  may  have  power.  For  scarcely  An- 
gels themselves  could  offer  gifts  worthy  of  its 
rank,  those  first  and  intellectual  and  pure  be- 
ings, who  are  also  eye-witnesses  of  the  Glory 
That  is  on  high  ;  if  even  these  can  attain  the 
full  strain  of  jjraise.  We  will  for  our  part  of- 
fer a  discourse,  the  best  and  most  precious 
thing  we  have — especially  as  we  are  praising 
the  Word  for  the  blessing  which  He  hath 
bestowed  on  the  reasoning  creation.  I  will 
begin  from  this  point.  For  I  cannot  endure, 
when  I  am  engaged  in  offering  the  sacrifice  of 
the  lips  concerning  the  Great  Sacrifice  and 
the  greatest  of  days,  to  fail  to  recur  to  God, 
and  to  take  my  beginning  from  Him.  There- 
fore I  pray  you,  cleanse  your  mind  and  ears 
and  thoughts,  all  you  who  delight  in  such  sub- 
jects, since  the  discourse  will  be  concerning 
God,  and  will  be  divine  ;  that  you  may  de- 
part filled  with  delights  of  a  sort  that  do  not 
pass  away  into  nothingness.  And  it  shall  be 
at  once  very  full  and  very  concise,  so  as  nei- 
ther to  distress  you  by  its  deficiencies,  nor  to 
displease  you  by  satiety. 

HL  God"  always  was  and  always  is,  and  al- 
ways will  be  ;  or  rather,  God  always  Is  ^  For 
Was  and  Will  Be  are  fragments  of  our  time, 

But  Fie  is  Eternal 
and  this  is  the  Name  He  gives  Him- 
self when  giving  the  Oracles  tp  Moses  in  the 
Mount.  For  in  Himself  He  sums  up  and 
contains  all  Being,  having  neither  begiilning 
in  the  past  nor  end  in  the  future  .  .  like  some 
great  Sea  of  Being,  limitless  and  unbounded,  ■ 
transcending  all  conception  of  time  and  nature, 
only  adumbrated  by  the  mind,  and  that  very 
dimly  and  scantily  .  .  not  by  His  Essentials 
but  by  His  Environment,^  one  image  being 
got  from  one  source  and  another  from  another, 
and  combined  into  some  sort  of  presentation 
of  the  truth,  which  escapes  us  before  we  have 
caught  it,  and  which  takes  to  flight  before  we 
have  conceived  it,  blazing  forth  upon  our 
master-part,  even  when  that  is  cleansed,  as 
the   lightning  flash   which  will   not   stay   its 


aThis  passage  to  the  end  of  c.  ix.  occurs  verbatim  in  the  oration 
on  the  Theophany,  cc.vii.-xiii. 

^  "There  is  no  Past  in  Eternity,  and  no  Future  ;  for  that  which 
is  past  has  ceased  to  be,  ami  that  which  is  future  has  not  \et 
come  into  existence  :  but  Kternity  is  only  Present  :  it  has  no  Past 
which  does  not  still  exist  nor  any  Future  which  does  not  yet 
exist"  (S.  Augustine  de  Vei-a  Rel.,  c.  49). 

y  I'he  Environment  here  spoken  of  seems  to  mean  those 
created  Existences  of  which  God  is  the  Self- Existent  Cause. 


and  of  changeable  nature 


Being  ; 


424 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


course  does. upon -Qiir  sight  .  .  in  order,  as  I 
conceive,  by  that  part  of  it  which  we  can 
comprehend  t9,-drau'  us  to  itself  (for  that 
which  is  altogether  incomprehensible  is  out- 
side the  bounds  of  hope,  and  not  within  the 
compass  of  endeavour)  ;  and  by  that  part  of  It 
which  we  cannot  comprehend  to  move  our 
wonder ;  and  as  an  object  of  wondeFTo  be- 
come more  an  object  of  desire  ;  and  being 
desired,  to  purify  ;  and  purifying  to  make  us 
like  God  ;  so.that,  when  we  have  become  like 
Himself,  God  _may_,  to  use  a  bold  expression, 
hfiJiL  converse  with  us  as  God  ;  Jbeing  uiiited 
jtO-USj.  and.  known  by  us  ;  and  that  perhaps  to 
the  same  extent  as  He  already  knows  those 
who  are  known  to  Him.'^  The  Divine  Nature, 
then,  is  boundless  and  hard  to  understand,  and 
all  that  we  can  comprehend  of  Him  is  His 
boundlessness  ;  even  though  one  may  conceive 
that  because  He  is  of  a  simple  Nature  He  is 
therefore  either  wholly  incomprehensible  or 
perfectly  comprehensible.  For  let  us  further 
enquire  what  is  implied  by  "is  of  a  simple 
Nature?"  For  it  is  quite  certain  that  this 
sim])licity  is  not  itself  its  nature,  just  as  com- 
position is  not  by  itself  the  essence  of  com- 
pound beings. 

IV.  And  when  Infinity  is  considered  from 
two  points  of  view,  beginning  and  end  (for 
that  which  is  beyond  these  and  not  limited 
by  them  is  Infinity),  when  the  mind  looks 
into  the  depths  above,  not  having  where  to 
stand,  and  leans  upon  ])hcenomena  to  form 
an  idea  of  God  it  calls  the  Infinite  and  Un- 
approachable which  it  finds  there  by  the 
name  of  Unoriginate.  And  when  it  looks 
into  the  depth  below  and  at  the  future,  it 
calls  Him  Undying  and  Imperishable.  And 
when  it  draws  a  conclusion  from  the  whole,  it 
calls  Him  Eternal.  For  Eternity  is  neither 
time  nor  part  of  time  ;  for  it  cannot  be 
measured.  But  what  time  measured  by  the 
course  of  the  sun  is  to  us,  that  Eternity  is  to 
the  Everlasting  ;  namely  a  sort  of  timelike 
mov^ement  and  interval,  coextensive  with 
Their  Existence.  This  however  is  all  that  I 
must  now  say  of  God  ;  for  the  present  is  not 
a  suitable  time,  as  my  present  subject  is  not 
the  doctrine  of  God,  but  that  of  the  Incarn- 
ation. And  when  I  say  God,  I  mean  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ;  for  Godhead  is  neither 
diffused  beyond  These,  so  as  to  introduce  a 
mob  of  gods,  nor  yet  bounded  by  a  smaller 
compass  than  These,  so  as  to  condemn  us  for 
a  poverty  stricken  conceiition  of  Deity,  either 
Judaizing   to  save   the   Monarchia,  or  falling 

a  John  X.  15  ;  I  Cor.  xiii.  13. 


into  heathenism  by  the  multitude  of  our  gods. 
For  the  evil  on  either  side  is  the  same,  though 
found  in  contrary  directions.  Thus  then  is 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  Which  is  hidden  even 
from  the  Serai^him,  and  is  glorified  with  a 
thrice-repeated  Holy  meeting  in  one  ascription 
of  the  title  Lord  and  God,  as  one  of  our 
predecessors  has  most  beautifully  and  loftily 
reasoned  out. 

V.  But  sijice  this  movement  of  Self-contem- 
plation^ alone  c^ld  not  sa.tisfy  Goodness,  .but 
G^ocT  must_be^  poured  out  and  go  Torth  be- 
yond Itself,  to  multiijly  _the  objects  of  Its 
beneficence  (for  this  was  essential  to  the  high- 
est Goodness),  He  firs^oiice[ved  the  Angelic 
and  Heavenly  Bowers,  And  this  conception 
was  a  Avork  fulfilled  by  His  Word  and  per- 
fected by  His  Spirit.  And  so  the  Secondary 
Splendours  came  into  being,  as  the  miiiisters 
of  tlie  Frimary  Splendour  (whether  we  are  to 
conceive  of  them  as  intelligent  Spirits,  or  as 
Fire  of  an  immaterial  and  incorporeal  kind, 
or  as  some  other  nature  approaching  this  as 
near  as  may  be).  I  should  like  to  say  that 
they  are  incapable  of  movement  in  the  direc- 
tion of  evil,  and  susceptible  only  of  the  move- 
ment of  good,  as  being  about  God  and  jUum^ 
inated  with  the  first  Rays_  from  God  (for 
earthly  Feings  have  but  the  secoiid  Illumina- 
tion), but  I  am  obliged  to  stop  short  of  saying 
that  they  are  immovable,  and  to  conceive  and 
speak  of  them  as  only  difficult  to  move,  be- 
cause of  him  who  for  His  Splendour  was  called 
Lucifer,  but  became  and  is  called  Darkness 
through  his  pride ;  and  the  Apostate  Hosts 
who  are  subject  to  him,  creators  of  evil  by 
their  revolt  against  good,  and  our  inciters. 

VI.  Thus_then  and  for  these  reasons,  He  gave 
be.LiigJx?jhe_workl_of  thought,  as  far  as  I  can 
reason  on  these  matters,  and  estimate  great 
things  in  my  own  poor  language.  Then,  when 
His  first  Creation  was  in  good  order,  He  con- 
ceives_a^econd  worldj  material  and  visible; 
and  this  a  system  of  earth  and  sky  and  all  that 
is  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  an  admirable  crea- 
tion indeed  when  we  look  at  the  fair  form  of 
every  part,  but  yet  more  worthy  of  admiration 
when  we  consider  the  harmony  and  unison  of 
the  whole,  and  how  each  part  fits  in  with 
e\;erv  other  in  fair  order,  and  all  with  the 
whole,  tending  to  the  perfect  completion  of 
the. world  as  a  Unit.  This  was  to  shew  that 
He  could  call  into  being  not  only  a  nature 
akin  to  Himself,  but  also  one  altogether  alien 
to  Him.  For  akin  to  Deity  are  those  natures 
which  are  intellectual,  and  only  to  be  com- 
prehended by  mind;  but  all  of  which  sense 
can  take  cognizance  are  utterly  alien  to  It  ■ 


THE   SECOND    ORATION    ON   EASTER. 


425 


and  of  these  the  furthest  removed  from  It  are 
all  those  which  are  entirely  destitute  of  soul 
and  power  of  motion. 

VII.  Mind  then  and  sense,  thus  distin- 
guished from  each  other,  had  remained  within 
their  own  boundaries,  and  bore, in  themselves 
the_magnificence  of  the~Creator-^Yord,  silent 
praisers  and  thrilling  heralds  of  His  mighty 
work.  Npt  jet  was  there  any  mingling  of 
"Both,  noi-  any  mixture  of  these  opposites, 
tiikens  of  a  greater  wisdom  and  generosity  in 
the  creation  of  natures ;  nor  as  yet  were  the 
wdiole  riches  of  goodness  made  known.  Now 
the,-  Creator-Word,  determining  to  exhibit 
this,._and  to  produce  a  single  living  being  out 
pX-both  (the  invisible  and  the  visible  creation, 
I  mean)  fashions  Man ;  and  taking  a  body 
from  already  existing  matter,  and  placing  in 
it  a  Breath  taken  from  Himself  (which  the 
Word  knew  to  be  an  intelligent  soul,  and  the 
image  of  God),  as  a  sort  of  second  world, 
great  iji  littleness,  He  placed  him  on  the 
earthj^  a  new  Angel,  a  mingled  worshipper, 
fully  initiated  into  the  visible  creation,  but 
only  partially  into  the  intellectual ;  king  of  all 
ujxm' earth,  but  subject  to  the  King  above  ; 
earthly  and  heavenly  ;  tem])oral  and  yet  im- 
mortal;  visible  and  yet  intellectual;  half-way 
Ijetween  greatness  and  lowliness ;  in  one  per- 
son combining  spirit  and  flesh  ;  spirit  because 
of  the  favour  bestowed  on  him,  flesh  on  ac- 
count of  the  height  to  which  he  had  been 
raised  ;  the  one  that  he  might  continue  to  live 
and  glorify Jiis  benefactor,  the  other  that  he 
might  suffer,  and  by  suffering  be  put  in  re- 
membrance, and  be  corrected  if  he  became 
proud    in    his   greatness ;    a   living    creature, 

TraiTied  here  and  then  moved  elsewhere ;  and 
to  complete  the  mystery,  deified  by  its  inclin- 
ation tq_,God  ...  for  to  this,  I  think, 
tendrThat  light  of  Truth  which  here  we  pos- 
sess but  in  measure  ;  that  we  should  both  see 
and  experience  the  Splendour  of  God,  which 
is  worthy  of  Him  Who  made  us,  and  will  dis- 
solve us,  and  remake  us  after  a  loftier  fashion. 

VIII.  TJiis—being  He  placed  in  paradise — 
whatever  that  paradise  may  have  been  (having 
honoured  him  with  the  gift  of  free  will,  in 
order  that  good   might  belong  to  him  as  the 

'result  of  his  choice,  no  less  than  to  Him  Who 
had  implanted  the  seeds  of  it) — ta_liJij:he  im- 
iTiortaL4ilants^_by  which  is  perhaijs  meant  the 
Di_\;]ne  conceptions,  both  the  simpler  and  the 
more  peffecty  naked  in  his  simplicity  and  in- 
artificial life  ;  and  without  any  covering  or 
screen  ;  for  it  was  fitting  that  he  who  was  from 
the  beginning  should  be  such.  And  He  gave 
Him  a  Law,  as  material  for  his  free  will  to 


act  u|)on.  This  Law  was  a  commandment  as 
to  what  plants  he  might  partake  of,  and  which 
one  he  might  not  touch.  This  latter  was  the 
Treejofjvnpwledge ;  not,  however,  because  it_ 
was^^vil  from  the  beginning  when  planted  ; 
nor  was  it  forbidden  because  God  grudged  it 
to  men — let  not  the  enemies  of  God  wag  their 
tongues  in  that  direction,  or  imitate  the  ser- 
pent. £iU_it_would  have  been  good  if  partaken 
o£  at  the  proper  time  ;  for  the  Tree  w;as,  ac- 
cording to  my  theory,  Contemplation, which 
it  is  only  safe  for  those  who  have  reached  ma- 
turity of  habit  to  enter  upon  ;  but  which  is 
not  good  for  those  who  are  still  somewhat 
simple  and  greedy ;  just  as  neither  is  solid 
food  good  for  those  who  are  yet  tender  and 
have  need  of  milk.  But  Avhen  through  the 
devil's  malice  and  the  woman's  caprice, <^  to 
which  she  succumbed  as  the  more  tender,  and 
which  she  brought  to  bear  upon  the  man,  as 
she  was  the  more  apt  to  persuade — alas  for  my 
weakne.ss,  for  that  of  my  first  fatiier  was  mine  ; 
he  forgot  the  commandment  which  had  been 
given  him,  and  yielded  to  the  baleful  fruit ; 
and  for  his  sin  was  banished  at  once  from  the 
tree  of  life,  and  from  paradise,  and  from  God  ; 
and  put  on  the  coats  of  .skins,  that  is,  perhajs, 
the  coarser  flesh,  both  mortal  and  contradict- 
ory. And  this  was  the  first  thing  which  he 
learnt — his  own  shame — and  he  hid  himselt 
from  God.  Yet  here  too  he  makes  a  gain, 
namely  death  and  the  cutting  off  of 
order  that  evil  may  not  be  immortal, 
his  punishment  is  changed  into  a  mercy,  for 
it  is  in  mercy,  I  am  persuaded,  that  God  in- 
flicts punishment. 

IX.  And  having  first  been  chastened  by 
many  means  because  his  sins  were  many,  whose 
root  of  evil  sprang  up  through  divers  causes  and 
sundry  times,  by  word,  by  law,  by  prophets, 
by  benefits,  by  threats,  by  plagues,  by  waters, 
by  fires,  by  wars,  by  victories,  by  defeats,  by 
signs  in  heaven,  and  signs  in  the  air,  and  in 
the  earth,  and  in  the  sea ;  by  unexpected 
changes  of  men,  of  cities,  of  nations  (the  'ob- 
ject of  which  was  the  destruction  of  wicked- 
ness) at  last  he  needed  a  stronger  remedy,  for 
his  diseases  were  growing  worse ;  mutual 
slaughters,  adulteries,  perjuries,  unnatural 
crimes,  and  that  first  and  last  of  all  evils,  idol- 
atry, and  the  transfer  of  worship  from  the 
Creator  to  the  creatures.  As  these  required  a 
greater  aid,  so  they  also  obtained  a  greater. 
And  that  was  that  the_Word_ of  God  Himself, 
Who  is  before  all  worlds,  the  Invisible,  the 
Incomprehensible,   the    Bodiless,   the    Begin- 

o  Wisd.  ii.  24. 


sni,   in 
Thus, 


426 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


ning  of  beginning,  the  Light  of  Light,  the 
Source  of  Life  and  ImmortaUty,  tlie_Iniage  of 
Jihe-Archetype,  the  Liimovable  Seal,  the  Un- 
changeable Liiage,  the  Father's  Definition  and 
AVord,  came  to  His  own  Image,  and  took  on 
Llinj  Flesh  for  the  sake  of  our  fiesh,  and  min- 
gled Himself Avith  an  intelligent  soul  fprmy 
soul's  sake,  purifying  like  by  like ;  and  in  all 
points  except  sin  was  made  Man;  conceived 
by  the  Virgin,  who  first  in  body  and  soul  was 
purified  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  it  was  needful 
both  That  Child-bearing  should  be  honoured 
and  that  Virginity  should  receive  a  higher 
honour.  He  came  forth  then,  as  God,  with 
That  which  He  had  assumed ;  one  Person 
ill  two  natures,  flesh  and  Spirit,  of  which 
,the  latter  deified  the  former.  O  new  com- 
mingling ;  O  strange  conjunction  !  the  Self- 
existent  comes  into  Being,  the  Uncreated  is 
created,  That  which  cannot  be  contained  is 
contained  iJy  the  intervention  of  an  intellect- 
uaTsbul  mediating  between  the  Deity-.and.  the 
corporeity  of  the  flesh.  And  He  who  gives 
riches  becomes  poor ;  for  He  assumes  the  pov- 
erty of  my  flesh,  that  I  may  assume  the  riches 
of  His  Godhead.  He  that  is  full  empties 
Himself;  for  He  empties  Himself  of  His 
Glory  for  a  short  while,  that  I  may  have  a 
share  in  His  Fuhiess.  What  is  the  riches  of 
His  Goodness  ?  What  is  this  mystery  that  is 
around  me?  I  had  a  share  in  the  Image  and 
I  did  not  keep  it ;  He  partakes  of  my  flesh 
that  He  may  both  save  the  Image  and  make 
the  flesh"  immortal.  He  communicates  a  Sec- 
ond Communion,  far  more  marvellous  than 
the  first,  j^nasmuch  as  then  He  imparted  the 
fetter  nature,  but  now  He  Himself  assumes 
the  worse.  This  is  more  godlike  than  the 
former  action  ;  this  is  loftier  in  the  eyes  of  all 
men  of  understanding. 

X.  But  perhaps  some  one  of  those  who  are 
too  impetuous  and  festive  may  say,  "  What  has 
all  this  to  do'  with  us  ?  Spur  on  your  horse 
to  the  goal ;  talk  to  us  about  the  Festival  and 
the  reasons  for  our  being  here  to-day."  Yes, 
this  is  what  I  am  about  to  do,  although  I  have 
begun  at  a  somewhat  previous  point,  being 
compelled  to  do  so  by  the  needs  of  my  argu- 
ment. There  will  be  no  harm  in  the  eyes  of 
scholars  and  lovers  of  the  beautiful  if  we  say 
a  few  words  about  the  word  Pascha  itself,  for 
such  an  addition  will  not  be  useless  in  their 
ears.  This  great  and  venerable  Pascha  is 
called  Phaska  by  the  Hebrews  in  their  own 
language  ;  and  the  word  means  Passing  Over. 
Historically,  from  their  flight  and  migration 
jroni  Egypt  into  the  Land  of  Canaan  ;  spirit- 
ually,   from    the    progress    and    ascent    from 


things  below_ta  tilings  above  and  to  the  Land 
of  Promise.  And  we  observe  that  a  thing 
which  we  often  find  to  have  happened  in 
Scripture,  the  change  of  certain  nouns  from 
an  uncertain  to  a  clearer  sense,  or  from  a 
coarser  to  a  more  refined,  has  taken  place  in 
this  instance.  For  some  people,  supposing 
this  to  be  a  name  of  the  Sacred  Pa.ssion,  and 
in  consequence  Grecizing  the  word  by  chang- 
ing Phi  and  Kappa  into  Pi  and  Chi,  called 
the  Day  Pascha."  And  custom  took  it  up  and 
confirmed  the  word,  with  the  help  of  the  ears 
of  most  people,  to  whom  it  had  a  more  pious 
sound. 

XL  But  before  our  time  the  Holy  Apostle 
declared  that  the_Law  jwas^  but  a  shadow  of 
thhigs  to  come,^  which  are  conceived  by 
thaught  And  God  too,  who  in  still  older 
times  gave  oracles  to  Moses,  said  when  giving 
laws  concerning  these  things, ^See  thou  make 
all_thin^s  according  to_  the  pattern  shewed 
thee  in  the  Mount, v  \vhen  He  shewed  him  the 
YJsible  things  as  an  adumbration  of  and  de- 
sign for  the  things  that  are  invisible.  And 
I  am  persuaded  that  none  of  these  things 
has  been  ordered  in  vain,  none  without  a  rea- 
son, none  in  a  grovelling  manner  or  unwor- 
thy of  the  legislation  of  God  and  the  ministry 
of  Moses,  even  though  it  be  difficult  in  each 
type  to  find  a  theory  descending  to  the  most 
delicate  details,  to  every  point  about  the 
Tabernacle  itself,  and  its  measures  and  mate- 
rials, and  the  Levites  and  Priests  who  carried 
them,  and  all  the  particulars  which  were  en- 
acted about  the  Sacrifices  and  the  purifica- 
tions and  the  Offerings  ;  *  and  though  these 
are  only  to  be  understood  by  those  who  rank 
with  Moses  in  virtue,  or  have  made  the  near- 
est approach  to  his  learning.  For  in  that 
Mount  itself  God  is  seen  by  men  ;  on  the  one 
hand  through  His  own  descent  from  His  lofty 
abode,  on  the  other  through  His  drawing  us 
up  from  our  abasement  on  earth,  that  the  In- 
com])rehensible  may  be  in  some  degree,  and 
as  far  as  is  safe,  comprehended  by  a  mortal 
nature.  For  in  no  other  way  is  it  possible 
for  the  denseness  of  a  material  body  and  an 


o  P.ischa  represents  the  Hebrew  PHSKH.  Throughout  2  Chron. 
the  I.XX.  represents  the  word  by  Phasek,  which  like  Pasch.i  is  a 
transliter.ition  of  the  Hebrew  wonl.  The  form  wliich  the  tr.inslit- 
er.ition  takes  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Greek  language  does  not 
tolerate  these  two  aspirates  in  juxtaposition.  S.  (Jregory  is_  cor- 
rect in  remarking  that  P.TScha  has  no  real  connection  with  7ra<rx<<) 
(to  suffer),  though  it  might  appear  to  unlearned  cars  that  it  has. 

j3  Hcl).  X.  I.  y  Kxod.  xxv.  40. 

5  aifiaipefta  is  given  by  the  Lexicons  as  the  Heave-Offenng,  and 
it  is  certainly  used  in  that  sense  among  others  (jU  sacrificial)  in 
tlie  I,XX.  Suiccr,  however,  follows  Suiilas  in  regarding  the  word 
as  quite  general  ;  he  also  quotes  Zonaras' definition  .  "Quod  offer- 
tur  a({>aipeiJ.a  dicitur.  quod  a  toto  mactal.x  animantis  corpore  ab- 
stractmn  sit."  Palsamon,  according  to  the  same  authority,  makes  it 
the  portion  which  was  severed  from  the  carcase  of  the  victim  and 
set  apart  for  the  Priest  (;'.<•.,  the  heave-offering,  Lev.  vii.  14,  32). 


THE   SECOND    ORATION    ON    EASTER. 


427 


imprisoned  mind  to  come  into  consciousness 
of  God,  except  by  His  assistance.  Then 
therefore  all  men  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
deemed  worthy  of  the  same  rank  and  posi- 
tion ;  but  one  of  one  place  and  one  of  an- 
other, each,  I  think,  according  to  the  measure 
of  his  own  purification.  Some  have  even 
been  altogether  driven  away,  and  only  per- 
mitted to  hear  the  Voice  from  on  high,  name- 
ly those  whose  dispositions  are  altogether  like 
wild  beasts,  and  who  are  unworthy  of  divine 
mysteries. 

XII.  But  we,  standing  midway  between 
those  whose  minds  are  utterly  dense  on  the 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  those  who  are  very 
contemplative  and  exalted,  that  we  may 
neither  remain  quite  idle  and  immovable,  nor 
yet  be  more  busy  than  we  ought,  and  fall 
short  of  and  be  estranged  from  our  purpose — 
for  the  former  course  is  Jewish  and  very  low, 
and  the  latter  is  only  fit  for  the  dream-sooth- 
sayer, and  both  alike  are  to  be  condemned — 
let  us  say  our  say  upon  these  matters,  so  far 
as  is  within  our  reach,  and  not  very  absurd, 
or  exposed  to  the  ridicule  of  the  multitude. 
Our  belief  is  that  since  it  was  needful  that  we, 
who  had  fallen  in  consequence  of  the  original 
sin,  and  had  been  led  away  by  pleasure,  even 
as  far  as  idolatry  and  unlawful  bloodshed, 
should  be  recalled  and  raised  up  again  to  our 
original  position  through  the  tender  mercy  of 
God  our  Father,  Who  could  not  endure  that 
such  a  noble  work  of  His  own  hands  as  Man 
should  be  lost  to  Him  ;  the  method  of  our 
new  creation,  and  of  what  should  be  done, 
was  this  : — that  all  violent  remedies  were  dis- 
approved, as  not  likely  to  persuade  us,  and 
as  quite  possibly  tending  to  add  to  the  plague, 
through  our  chronic  pride ;  but  that  God  dis- 
posed things  to  our  restoration  by  a  gentle 
and  kindly  method  of  cure.  For  a  crooked 
sapling  will  not  bear  a  sudden  bending  the 
other  way,  or  violence  from  the  hand  that 
would  straighten  it,  but  will  be  more  quickly 
broken  than  straightened  ;  and  a  horse  of  a 
hot  temper  and  above  a  certain  age  will  not 
endure  the  tyranny  of  the  bit   without  some 


coaxing 
Law 


and  encouragement.     Therefore  the 
is  given   to  us  as  an  assistance,  like  a 


boundary  wall  between  God  and  idols,  draw- 
ing us  away  from  one  and  to  the  Other.  And 
it  concedes  a  little  at  first,  that  it  may  receive 
thaTvvhIch  is  greater.  It  concedes  the  Sacri- 
fices^ for  a  time,  that  it  may  establish  God  in 
us,  ajiiJhen  when  the  fitting  time  shall  come 
may  abolish  the  Sacrifices  also ;  thus  wisely 
chaiiging  our  minds  by  gradual  removals, 
and  bringing  us  over  to  the  Gospel  when  we 


have  already  been  trained  to  a  prompt  obedi- 
ence. 

XIII.   Thus  then  and  for  this  cause  the  writ- 
ten Law  came  in,  gathering  us  into  Christ ;  and 
this  is  the  account  of  the  Sacrifices  as  I  ac- 
count  for  them.      And  that  you  may  not  be 
ignorant  of  the  depth  of  His  Wisdom  and  the 
riches  of  His  unsearchable  judgments,*  He  did 
not  leave  even  these  unhallowed  altogether, 
or  useless,  or  with  nothing  in  them  but  mere 
blood. ^     But  that  great,  and  if  I  may  say  so, 
in   Its  first  nature  unsacrificeable  Victinij  was 
intermingled  with  the  Sacrifices  of  the  Law, 
and  was  a  purification,  not  for  a  part  of  the 
world,  nor  for  a  short  time,  but  for  the  whole 
world  and   for  all  time.     For  this  reason  a 
Lamb  was  chosen  for  its  innocence,  and  its 
clothing  of  the  original  nakedness.      For  such 
is   the  Victim,  That  was  offered  for  us,  Who 
is  both  in  Name  and  fact  the  Garment  of  in- 
corruption.      And   He   was  a  perfect   A^ctim 
not   only  on   account  of  His   Godhead,  than 
which  nothing  is  more  perfect ;   but  also  on 
account   of   that  which   He   assumed    having 
been  anointed  with  Deity,  and  having  become 
ojie  w-jth  That  which  anointed  It,  and  I  am 
bold  to  say,  made  equal  with  God.     A  Male, 
because   offered    for   Adam ;    or    rather    the 
Stronger  for  the  strong,  when  the  first  Man 
had    fallen   under   sin ;    and    chiefly    because 
there   is  in    Him    nothing   feminine,  nothing 
unmanly  ;   but  He  burst  from   the  bonds  of 
the  Virgin-Mother's  womb  with  much  power, 
and  a  Male  was  brought  forth  by  the   Proph- 
etess,t   as    Isaiah   declares   the  good  tidings. 
And  of  a  year  old,  because  He  is  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  ^  setting  out  from  heaven,  and 
circumscribed  by  His  visible  Nature,  and  re- 
turning unto   Himself.*     And   "The  blessed 
crown  of  Goodness," — being  on  every  side 
equal  to  Himself  and  alike  ;  and  not  only  this, 
but  also  as  giving  hfe  to  all  the  circle  of  the 
virtues,   gently    commingled  and   intermixed 
with  each  other,   according   to    the  Law   of 
Love   and    Order. ^      And    Immaculate    and 


a  Rom.  xi.  33. 

j3  The  Je%vish  Sacrifices  had  a  deep  inner  meaning  and  mystery. 
In  a  limited  sense  they  may  be  called  Sacraments  of  the  future 
Atonement,  which  they  prefigured  and  appealed  to.  Hut  only  in 
a  limited  sense  can  they  be  so  called,  because  they  did  not  convey 
grace  to  the  soul,  but  only  appealed  to  the  grace  to  come  ;  and  so 
the  Sin-offerings  of  the  Law  are  only  said  to  ro7'i-r,  not  to  take 
a'liuxy  sin.  'I'hey  removed  the  spiritual  disqualification  for  wor- 
'  ship  ;  but  they  did  not  restore  full  Spiritual  Communion  with  God. 
Still  they  were  not  altogether  unhallowed  oruseUss  like  those  of 
the  heathen,  inasmuch  as  they  did  point  forward  and  plead  the 
merits  of  the  One  true  Sacrifice. 

7  Isa.  xiii.  3.  S  Mai.  iv.  2. 

6  The  Greek  here  is  very  obscure.  The  meaning  seems  to  be 
that  which  Nicetas  suggests,  viz.: — that  ocir  Tord  in  coming  to 
earth  and  becoming  Incarn.Tte  did  not  in  His  Divine  Nature  leave 
Heaven,  but  was,  while  still  here  on  earth  in  His  own  words, 
"  The  Son  of  Man  Which  is  in  Heaven." 

^Christ  is  "a  blessed   crown  of  goodness"  according   to  the 


428 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


guileless,  as  being  the  Healer  of  faults,  and  of 
the  defects  and  taints  that  come  from  sin. 
For  though  He  both  took  on  Him  our  sins 
and  bare  our  diseases,"  yet  He  did  not  Him- 
self suffer  aught  that  needed  healing.  For 
He  was  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are 
yet  without  sin.^  For  he  that  persecuted  the 
Light  that  shineth  in  darkness  could  not  over- 
take Him. 

XIV.  What  more?  The  First  Month  is 
introduced,  or  rather  the  beginning  of  months, 
whether  it  was  so  among  the  Hebrews  from  the 
beginning,  or  was  made  so  later  on  this  account, 
and  became  the  first  in  consequence  of  the 
Mystery  ;  and  the  tenth  of  the  Month,  for  this 
is  the  most  complete  number,  of  units  the  lirst 
perfect  unit,  and  the  parent  of  perfection.  And 
it  is  kept  until  the  fifth  day,  perhaps  because 
the  Victim,  of  Whom  lam  speaking,  purifies  the 
five  senses,  from  which  comes  falling  into  sin, 
and  around  which  the  war  rages,  inasmuch  as 
they  are  open  to  tlie  incitements  to  sin.  And 
it  was  chosen,  not  only  out  of  the  lambs,  but  also 
out  of  the  inferior  species,  which  are  placed  on 
the  left  hand  t — the  kids  ;  because  He  is  sacri- 
ficed not  only  for  the  righteous,  but  also  for 
sinners ;  and  perhaps  even  more  for  these,  in- 
asmuch as  we  have  greater  need  of  His  mercy. 
And  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  a  lamb 
for  a  house  should  be  required  as  the  best 
course,  but  if  that  could  not  be,  then  one 
might  be  obtained  by  contributions  (owing  to 
poverty)  for  the  houses  of  a  family  ;  because  it 
is  clearly  best  that  each  individual  should  suf- 
fice for  his  own  perfecting,  and  should  offer  his 
own  living  .sacrifice  holy  imto  God  Who  called 
him,  being  consecrated  at  all  times  and  in 
every  respect.  But  if  that  cannot  be,  then  that 
those  who  are  akin  in  virtue  and  of  like  dispos- 
ition should  be  made  use  of  as  helpers.  For 
I  think  this  provision  means  that  we  should 
communicate  of  the  Sacrifice  to  those  who  are 
nearest,  if  tliere  be  need. 

XV.  Then  comes  the  Sacred  Night,  the  An- 
niversary of  the  confused  darkne.ss  of  the  pres- 

saying  ofPavid,  Thou  shalt  bless  the  crown  of  the  year  with  Thy 
goodness  ( Ps.  Ixv.  1 1 ).  'J'he  idea  of  a  year  is  taken  from  the  Sun  ; 
that  of  tlie  crown  from  the  year  (for  the  year  is  a  circle  guarded 
with  four  seasons),  and  from  the  circle  again  equality.  'J'herefore 
the  crown  is  Christ,  as  adorninsr  and  beaiuifying  the  minds  of  be- 
lievers. Milt  the  year  of  Cloodness  was  that  time  when  Christ 
moved  by  goodness  was  declaring  the  (lospel,  as  Isaiah  saitli  of 
Him,  "  He  haili  sent  Me  to  preach  the  Ciospel  to  the  poor,  to  pro- 
claim the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  "  (Isa.  Ixi.  i,  2).  'I'hus  the 
Crown  is  on  every  side  equal.  For  if  one  draw  a  line  from  the 
upper  side  to  ihe  lower,  and  the  same  in  a  transverse  direction,  all 
the  intervals  will  be  equal.  And  the  Crown  is  like  itself,  because 
its  figure  is  seen  alike  on  every  side,  for  on  every  side  it  is  seen  as 
a  round.  Therefore  Chtist  as'to  Hi-i  Humanity  is  called  a  Crown 
of  Righteousness,  as  composed  of  all  the  virtues,  and  having  no 
end  of  His  eoodiiess  and  righteousness  ;  and  of  tliat  righteousne-is 
one  quality  is  eiiuality,  that  Is,  it  allows  neither  excess  nor  defect. 
For  excess  and  defect  do  not  arise  from  virtue  and  righteousness, 
but  from  fault  and  unrighteousness  (i^Jicetas). 

a  Isa.  liii.  4.  ^  Heb.  iv.  15.  y  Matt.  xxv.  ^3. 


ent  life,  into  which  the  primceval  darkness  is 
dis.solved,  and  all  things  come  into  life  and 
rank  and  form,  and  that  which  was  chaos  is 
reduced  to  order.  Then  we  flee  from  Egypt, 
that  is  from  sullen  persecuting  sin  ;  and  from 
Pharaoh  the  unseen  t}rant,  and  the  bitter 
taskmasters,  changing  our  cjuarters  to  the  world 
above ;  and  are  delivered  from  the  clay  and 
the  brickmaking,  and  from  the  husks  and  dan- 
gers of  this  fleshly  condition,  which  for  most 
men  is  only  not  overpowered  by  mere  husklike 
calculations.  Then  die  Lamb  js  slain,  and  act 
and^word  are  sealed  with  the~ Precious  BlpodX 
thaMs,  habit  and  action,  the  sideposts  of  our 
doors  ;  I  mean,  of  course,  of  the  movements  of 
mind  and  opinion,  which  are  rightly  opened 
an^  closed  by  contemplation,  since  thereTT^a 
liiTiit  even  to  thoughts.  Then  the  last  and 
gravest  plague  upon  the  persecutors,  truly  wor- 
thy of  the  night ;  ancLEgypt^mourns  the  first- 
born of  her  own  reasonings  and  actions  which 
are  also  called  in  the  Scripture  the  Seed  of  the 
Chaldeans"  removed,  and  the  children  of  Baby- 
lon dashed  against  the  rocks  and  destro)'ed  ;  ^ 
and  the  whole  air  is  full  of  the  cry  and  clamour 
of  the  Egyptians  ;  and  then  the  Destroyer  of 
them  shall  withdraw  from  us  in  reverence  of 
the  UiTction.  Then  the  removal  of  leaven  ; 
that  is,  of  the  old  and  sour  wickedness,  not  of 
that  which  is  quickening  and  makes  bread  ; 
for  seven  clays,  a  number  which  is  of  all  the 
most  mystical,v  and  is  co-ordinate  with  this 
present  world,  that  we  may  not  lay  in  provis- 
ion of  any  Egyptian  dough,  or  relic  of  Pharisaic 
or  ungodly  teaching. 

XVL  Well,  let  them  lament ;  we  will  feed 
on  the  Lamb  toward  e\-ening — for  Christ's 
Passion  was  in  the  completion  of  the  ages  ;  be- 
cause too  He  communicated  His  Disciples  in 
the  evening  with  His  Sacrament,  destroying 
the  darkness  of  sin  ;  and  not  sodden,  but  roast 
— that  our  word  may  have  in  it  nothing  that  is 
unconsidered  or  water}-,  or  easily  made  awa}- 
with  ;  but  may  be  entirely  consistent  and  solid, 
and  free  from  all  that  is  impure  and  from  all 
vanity.  And  let  us  be  aided  by  the  good  coals, ^ 
kindling  and  purifying  our  minds  from  Him 


a  Judith  v.  6.  p  Ps.  cxxxviii.  9. 

y  We  arc  to  part  with  leaven  for  seven  days(Exod.  vii.  15), 
that  is,  with  sin  for  the  whole  week  of  this  life.  The  number  Seven 
Days  siguiliLs  the  passing  of  time  which  re\'olvcs  in  weeks.  ;\nd 
this  number  is  mystical,  because  it  is  virgin  and  signifies  virginity 
and  the  anjelic  life;  for  it  alone,  as  arithmeticians  teach,  of  all 
the  numbers  within  the  decade,  is  neither  a  multiple  nor  a  measure, 
and  also  contains  in  itself  the  Four  and  the  Three.  For  there  are 
four  elements  of  the  world,  and  the  Trinity  is  their  Creator.  He 
calls  it  co-ordinate  with  the  world,  because  the  world  was  made  in 
seven  days,  and  again  because  when  seven  thousand  years  are 
completed  the  end  c^f  the  world  is  to  onne  (Nicetas).  .S.  Augustine 
(Civ.  Dei.  c.  ii.  31/  says  that  the  numl)er  .Seven  often  stands  for 
the  ITniversc,  because  it  is  made  up  of  Four  which  is  altogether 
even  (2  and  2  the  sum  of  two  even  luiinbers)  and  Three  which  is 
altogether  uneven  (1  and  i  and  1).  S  Isa.  vi.  6. 


THE   SECOND    ORATION    ON    EASTER. 


429 


That  cometh  to  send  fire  on  the  earth,"  that 
shall  destroy  all  evil  habits,  and  to  hasten  its 
kindling.     \ViiatsQever^  then  there  be,  of  solid 
and  nourishing  in  the  Word,  shall  be  eaten  with 
the  inward   parts   and    hidden    things  of  the 
iTiind^  and  shall  be  consumed  and  given  up  to 
sjjintual  digestion  ;    aye,   from  head    to  foot, 
that  is,  from  the  first  contemplations  of  God- 
head to  the  very  last  thoughts  about  the  Incar- 
jiation.   Neither  let  us  carry  aught  of  it  abroad, 
nor  leave  it  till  the  morning ;  because  most  of 
our  Mysteries  may  not  be  carried  out  to  them 
that  are  outside,  nor  is  there  beyond  this  night 
any  further  purification  ;  and  procrastination  is 
not  creditable  to  those  who  have  a  share  in  the 
Word.    For  just  as  it  is  good  and  well-pleasing 
to  God  not  to  let  anger  last  through  the  day,^ 
but  to  get  rid  of  it  before  sunset,  whether  you 
take  this  of  time  or  in  a  mystical  sense,  for  it  is 
not  safe  for  us  that  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
should  go  down  upon  our  wrath  ;  so  too  we 
ought  not  to  let  such  Food  remain  all  night, 
nor  to  put  it  off  till  to-morrow.     But  whatever 
is   of  bony  nature  and  not  fit  for  food  and 
hard  for  us  even  to  understand,  this  must  not 
be  broken  ;  that  is,  badly  divined  and  miscon- 
ceived (I  need  not  say  that  in  the  history  not 
a  bone  of  Jesus  was  broken,  even  though  His 
death  was  hastened  by  His  crucifiers  on  account 
of  the  Sabbath)  ;  v  nor  must  it  be  stripped  off 
and  thrown  away,  lest  that  which  is  holy  should 
be  given  to  the  dogs,^  that  is,  to  the  evil  hearers 
of  the  Word  ;  just  as  the  glorious  pearl  of  the 
Word  is  not  to  be  cast  before  swine ;  but  it 
shall  be  consumed  with  the  fire  with  which  the 
burnt  offerings  also  are  consumed,  being  re- 
fined and  preserved  by  the  Spirit  That  search- 
eth  and  knoweth  all  things,  not  destroyed  in 
the  waters,  nor  scattered   abroad  as  the  calf's 
head  which  was  hastily  made  by  Israel  was  by 
Moses,  ^  for  a  reproach  for  their  hardness  of  heart. 
XVII.   Nor  would  it  be  right  for  us  to  pass 
over  the  manner  of  this  eating  either,  for  the 
Law  does  not  do  so,  but  carries  its  mystical 
labour  even  to  this  point  in  the  literal  enact- 
ment.    Let  us  consume  the  Victim  in  haste, 
eating  It   with  unleavened  bread,  with  bitter 
herbs,  and  with  our  loins  girded,  and  our  shoes 
on  our  feet,  and  leaning  on  staves   like  old 
men  ;   with   haste,  that  we  fall    not   into  that 
fault  which  was  forbidden  to  Lot  ^  by  the  com- 


o  TAil<e  xii.  49.  P  Ephes.  iv.  26. 

y  S.  Gregory  does  not  mean  to  say  that  our  Lord's  death  was 
actually  hastened  by  violent  actions  on  the  part  of  the  Jews,  which 
we  know  was  not  the  case  ;  but  that  they  were  anxious  that  it 
should  take  place  before  the  Sabbath  began.  The  two  thieves,  who 
were  still  living,  received  the  roi//i  de  ,s:race  from  the  Roman  sol- 
diers, who  broke  their  legs:  but  our  Lord,  much  to  their  .astonish- 
ment, was  dead  already,  so  this  course  was  not  taken  with  Him, 
but  His  side  was  pierced  with  a  spear. 

5  Matt.  vii.  6.  e  Exod.  xxxii.  20.  f  Gen.  xix.  17. 


mandment,  that  we  look  not  around,'  nor  stay 
in  all  that  neighbourhood,  but  that  we  escape 
to  the  mountain,  that  we  be  not  overtaken  by 
the  strange  fire  of  Sodom,  nor  be  congealed 
into  a  pillar  of  salt  in  consequence  of  our  turn- 
ing back  to  wickedness ;   for  this  is  the  result 
of  delay.       With  hitter  herbs,  for  a  life  accord- 
ing to  the  Will  of  God  is  bitter  and  arduous, 
especially  to  beginners,  and  higher  than  pleas- 
ures.    For  although  the  new  yoke  is  easy  and 
the  burden  light,"  as  you  are  told,  yet  this  is 
on  account  of  the  hope  and  the  reward,  wiiich 
is  far  more  abundant  than  the  hardships  of  this 
life.    If  it  were  not  so,  who  would  not  say  that 
the  Gospel  is  more  full  of  toil  and  trouble  than 
the  enactments  of  the  Law?     For,  while  the 
Law  prohibits  only  the  completed  acts  of  sin, 
we  are  condemned  for  the  causes  also,  almost 
as  if  they  were  acts.     The  Law  says.  Thou  shalt 
not  coinmit  adultery ;    but  _>•<?//  may  not   even 
desire,  kindling  passion  by  curious    and  ear- 
nest looks.     Thou  shalt  not  kill,  says  the  Law  ; 
but  you  are  not  even  to  return  a  blow,   but 
on   the  contrary  are  to  offer  yourself  to  the 
smiter.     How  much  more  ascetic  is  the  Gos- 
pel than  the  Law  !      Thou  shalt  not  forswear 
thyself  is  the  Law  ;  but  you  are  not  to  swear 
at  all,  either  a  greater  or  a  lesser  oath,  for  an 
oath  is  the  parent  of  perjury.      Thou  shalt  not 
join  house  to  house,  nor  field  to  field,  oppress- 
ing the  poor  ;  ^  but  you  are  to  set  aside  willingly 
even  your  just  possessions,  and  to  be  stripped 
for  the  poor,   that  without  encumbrance    you 
may  take  up  the  Cross  t  and  be  enriched  with 
the  unseen  riches. 

XVIII.  And  let  the  loins  of  the  unrea.son- 
ing  animals  be  unbound  and  loose,  for  they 
have  not  the  gift  of  reason  which  can  overcome 
pleasure  (it  is  not  needful  to  say  that  even 
they  know  the  limit  of  natural  movement). 
But  let  that  part  of  your  being  which  is  the 
seat  of  passion,  and  which  neighs,^  as  Holy 
Scripture  calls  it,  when  sweeping  away  this 
shameful  passion,  be  restrained  b)'  a  girdle  of 
continence,  so  tliat  you  may  eat  the  Passover 
purely,  having  mortified  your  members  which 
are  upon  the  earth, ^  and  copying  the  girdle  ^  of 
John,  the  Hermit  and  Forerunner  and  great 
Herald  of  the  Truth.  Another  girdle  I  know. 
the  soldierly  and  manly  one,  I  mean,  from 
which  the  Euzoni  of  Syria  and  certain  Mono- 
zoni  "I  take  their  name.  And  it  is  in  re- 
spect of  this  too  that  God  saith  in  an  oracle 
to  Job,   "  Nay,   but  gird  up  thy  loins  like  a 


a  Matt.  xi.  20.  ^  Isa.  v.  8.  -y  Mark  x.  21. 

h  Jar.  V.  8.  e  Col.  iii.  5.  f  Matt.  iii.  4. 

t)  The    expression   is   often   used    in   the    LXX.    to   represent 
the  word  Tn3?  translated  A  Band,  especially  in  2  Kings. 


430 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


man,  and  give  a  manly  answer. ' '  "  With  this 
also  holy  David  boasts  that  he  is  girded  with 
strength  from  God,^  and  speaks  of  God  Him- 
self as  clothed  with  strength  y  and  girded  about 
with  power — ^against  the  ungodly  of  course — 
though  perhaps  some  may  prefer  to  see  in  this 
a  declaration  of  the  abundance  of  His  power, 
and,  as  it  were,  its  restraint,  just  as  also  He 
clothes  Himself  with  Light  as  with  a  garment.* 
For  who  shall  endure  His  unrestrained  power 
and  light  ?  Do  I  enquire  what  there  is  com- 
mon to  the  loins  and  to  truth  ?  What  then  is 
the  meaning  to  S.  Paul  of  the  expression, 
"Stand,  therefore,  having  your  loins  girt 
about  with  truth  ?  "  "^  Is  it  perhaps  that  con- 
templation is  to  restrain  concupiscence,  and 
not  to  allow  it  to  be  carried  in  another  direc- 
tion ?  P"or  that  which  is  disposed  to  love  in  a 
particular  direction  will  not  have  the  same 
power  towards  other  pleasures. 

XIX.  And  as  to  shoes,  let  him  who  is  about 
to  touch  the  Holy  Land  which  the  feet  of  God 
have  trodden,  put  them  off,  as  Moses  did  upon 
the  Mount, ^  that  he  may  bring  there  nothing 
dead  ;  nothing  to  come  between  Man  and  God. 
So  too  if  any  disciple  is  sent  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  let  him  go  in  a  spirit  of  i)hilosophy 
and  without  excess,  inasmuch  as  he  must,  be- 
sides being  without  money  and  without  staff 
and  with  but  one  coat,  also  be  barefooted,''  that 
the  feet  of  those  who  preach  the  Gospel  of 
Peace  and  every  other  good  may  appear  beau- 
tiful.^ But  he  who  would  flee  from  Egypt  and 
the  things  of  Egypt  must  put  on  shoes  for 
safety's  sake,  especially  in  regard  to  the  scor- 
pions and  snakes  in  which  Egypt  so  abounds, 
.so  as  not  to  be  injured  by  those  which  watch 
the  heel,*  which  also  we  are  bidden  to  tread 
under  foot.'^  And  concerning  the  staff  and 
the  signification  of  it,  my  belief  is  as  follows. 
There  is  one  I  know  to  lean  upon,  and  another 
which  belongs  to  Pastors  and  Teachers,  and 
which  corrects  human  sheep.  Now  the  Law 
prescribes  to  you  the  staff  to  lean  upon,  that 
you  may  not  break  down  in  your  mind  when 
you  hear  of  God's  Blood,  and  His  Passion, 
and  His  death  ;  and  that  you  may  not  be  car- 
ried away  to  heresy  in  your  defence  of  God  ; 
but  without  shame  and  without  doubt  may  eat 
the  Flesh  and  drink  the  Blood,  if  you  are  de- 
sirous of  true  life,  neither  disbelieving  His 
words  about  His  Flesh,  nor  offended  at  those 
about  His  Passion.  Lean  upon  this,  and  stand 
firm  and  strong,  in  nothing  shaken  by  the  ad- 
versaries nor  carried  away  by  the  plausibility 


a  Jqbxxxvjii.3.  /3  Ps.  xviii.  32. 

i  lb.  civ.  2.         eKph.  V.  14.         fKxod.   iii. 
01sa.  Iii.  7.  K  Gen.  iii.  15. 


y  lb.  xciii.  i. 
5.         >j  Matt.  X.  Q. 
A  I.uke  X.   ig. 


of  their  arguments.  Stand  upon  thy  High 
Place ;  in  the  Courts  of  Jerusalem  "  place  thy 
feet ;  lean  upon  the  Rock,  that  thy  steps  in 
God  be  not  shaken. 

XX.  What  sayest  thou?  Thus  it  hath 
pleased  Him  that  thou  shouldest  come  forth  ^ 
out  of  Egypt,  the  iron  furnace;  that  thou 
shouldest  leave  behind  the  idolatry  of  that 
country,  and  be  led  by  Moses  and  his  lawgiv- 
ing and  martial  rule.  I  give  thee  a  piece  of 
advice  which  is  not  my  own,  or  rather  which 
is  very  much  my  own,  if  thou  consider  the 
matter  spiritually.  Borrow  from  the  Egyptians 
vessels  of  gold  and  silver  ;  v  with  these  take  thy 
journey ;  supply  thyself  for  the  road  with  the 
goods  of  strangers,  or  rather  with  thine  own. 
There  is  money  owing  to  thee,  the  wages  of  thy 
bondage  and  of  thy  brickmaking  ;  be  clever  on 
thy  side  too  in  asking  retribution  ;  be  an  hon- 
est robber.  Thou  didst  suffer  wrong  there 
whilst  thou  wast  fighting  with  the  clay  (that  is, 
this  troublesome  and  filthy  body)  and  wast 
building  cities  foreign  and  unsafe,  whose  me- 
morial perishes  with  a  cry.*  What  then?  Dost 
thou  come  out  for  nothing  and  without  wages  ? 
But  why  wilt  thou  leave  to  the  Egyptians  and 
to  the  powers  of  thine  adversaries  that  which 
they  have  gained  by  wickedness,  and  will 
spend  with  yet  greater  wickedne.ss?  It  does 
not  belong  to  them  :  they  have  ravished  it, 
and  have  sacrilegiously  taken  it  as  plunder  from 
Him  who  saith.  The  silver  is  Mine  and  the 
gold  is  Mine,*  and  I  give  it  to  whom  I  will. 
Yesterday  it  was  theirs,  for  it  was  permitted  to 
be  so  ;  to-day  the  Master  takes  it  and  gives  it 
to  thee,^  that  thou  mayest  make  a  good  and 
saving  use  of  it.  Let  us  make  to  ourselves 
friends  of  the  Mammon  of  unrighteousness,'' 
that  when  we  fail,  they  may  receive  us  in  the 
time  of  judgment. 

XXI.  If  you  are  a  Rachel  or  a  Leah,  a  pa- 
triarchal and  great  soul,  steal  whatever  idols  of 
your  father  you  can  find  ;  *  not,  however,  that 
you  may  keep  them,  but  that  you  may  ^destroy 
them ;  and  if  you  are  a  wise  Israelite  remove 
them  tQ  the  Land  of  the  Promise,  and  let  the 
persecutor  grieve  over  the  loss  of  them,  and 
learn  through  being  outwitted  that  it  was  vain 
for  him  to  tyrannize  over  and  keep  in  bondage 
better  men  than  himself.  If  thou  doest  this, 
and  cbmest  out  of  Egypt  thus,  I  know  well 
that  tliou  shalt  be  guided  by  the  pillar  of  fire 
and  cloud  by  night  and  day.*  The  wilderness 
shall  be  tamed  for  thee,  and  the  Sea  divided  ;  * 


a  Ps.  cxxii.  2. 

P  e'feAfJtii'  c.    acc.  loci  :  a  very  rare   use,  but  found   in  classi- 
cal aiuhors.         y  Kxod.  xi.  2.         5  Ps.  ix.  6.  t  Hag.  ii.  8. 
f  Man.  XX.  14..             7)  Luke  xvi.  9.              0  Gen.  xxxi.  19. 
K  Kxud.  xiii.  20.                            A  lb.  xiv.  2i. 


{ 


I 


THE   SECOND    ORATION    ON    EASTER. 


431 


Pharaoh  shall  be  drowned  ;  *  bread  shall  be 
rained  down  ;  ^  the  rock  shall  become  a  fount- 
ain ;  y  Amalek  shall  be  conquered,  not  with 
arms  alone,  but  with  the  hostile  hand  of  the 
righteous  forming  both  prayers  and  the  invin- 
cible trophy  of  the  Cross  ;  ^  the  River  shall  be 
cut  off ;  the  sun  shall  stand  still ;  and  the  moon 
be  restrained  ;  *  walls  shall  be  overthrown  even 
without  engines ;  ^  swarms  of  hornets  shall  go 
before  thee  to  make  a  way  for  Israel,  and  to  hold 
the  Gentiles  in  check  ; ''  and  all  the  other  events 
which  are  told  in  the  history  after  these  and 
with  these  (not  to  make  a  long  story)  shall  be 
given  thee  of  God.  Such  is  the  feast  thou  art 
keeping  to-day ;  and  in  this  manner  I  would 
have  thee  celebrate  both  the  Birthday  and 
the  Burial  of  Him  Who  was  born  for  thee  and 
suffered  for  thee.  Such  is  the  Mystery  of  the 
Passover ;  such  are  the  mysteries  sketched  by 
the  Law  and  fulfilled  by  Chri.st,  the  Abolisher 
of  the  letter,  the  Perfecter  of  the  Spirit,  who  by 
His  Passion  taught  us  how  to  suffer,  and  by 
His  glorification  grants  us  to  be  glorified  with 
Him. 

XXII. ^  Now  we  are  to  examine  another  fact 
and  dogma,  neglected  by  most  people,  but  in 
my  judgment  well  w-orth  enquiring  into.  To 
Whom  was  that  Blood  offered  that  was  shed  for 
us,  and  why  was  It  shed  ?  I  mean  the  precious 
and  famous  Blood  of  our  God  and  Highpriest 
and  Sacrifice.  We  were  detained  in  bondage 
by  the  Evil  One,  sold  under  sin,  and  receiving 
pleasure  in  exchange  for  wickedness.  Now, 
since  a  raasom  belongs  only  to  him  who  holds 
in  bondage,  I  ask  to  whom  was  this  offered, 
and  for  what  cause  ?  If  to  the  Evil  One,  fie 
upon  the  outrage  !  If  the  robber  receives  ran- 
som, not  only  from  God,  but  a  ransom  which 
consists  of  God  Himself,  and  has  such  an  illus- 
trious payment  for  his  tyranny,  a  payment  for 
whose  sake  it  would  have  been  right  for  him 
to  have  left  us  alone  altogether.  But  if  to  the 
Father,  I  a.sk  first,  how?  For  it  was  not  by 
Him  that  we  were  being  oppressed ;  and  next, 
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  vic- 
tim ?  *  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^ofGod,'^  that  He  might  deliver  us 


a.  Kxod.  xiv.  28.  ^  lb.  xvi.  15.  y  Ih.  xvii.  6. 

5  lb.  xvii.  10,  II.  e  Josh.  iii.  15,  16.  ^  lb.  x.  13. 

Tj  lb.  vi.  20.  0  lb.  .x.\iv.  12.  K  Gen.  xxii.  11,  &c. 

A  Have  we  not  here  the  germ  of  the  ide.i,  afterwards  known 

as  the  Scotist,  that  the  Incarnation  was  the  purpose  of  God  in- 


Himself,  and  overcome  the  tyrant,  and  draw 
us  to  Himself  by  the  mediation  of  His  Son, 
Who_alsg_an;anged  this  to  the  honour  of  the 
Father,  Whom  it  is  manifest  that  He  obe)s 
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  sa\ed 
those  that  looked  upon  it,  not  because  they  be- 
lieved 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 
i  is  the  fitting  epitaph  for  it  from  us?  "O 
death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is 
:  thy  victory  ?  "  ^  Thou  art  overthrown  by  the 
Cross ;  thou  art  slain  by  Him  who  is  the  Giver 
of  life ;  thou  art  without  breath,  dead,  without 
motion,  even  though  thou  keepest  the  form  of 
a  serpent  lifted  up  on  high  on  a  pole. 
!  XXIII.  Now  we  will  partake  of  a  Passovei- 
i  which  is  still  typical,  though  it  is  plainer  than 
the  old  one.  For  that  is  ever  new  which  is  now 
,  becoming  known.  It  is  ours  to  learn  what  is 
I  th^t  drinking  and  that  enjoyment,  and  His  to 
teach  and  communicate  the  Word  to  His  dis- 
ciples. For  teaching  is  food,  even  to  the  Giver 
of  food.  Come  hither  then,  and  let  us  partake 
of  the  Law,  but  in  a  Gospel  manner,  not  a  lit- 
eral one  ;  perfectly,  not  imperfectly  ;  eternally, 
not  temporarily.  Let  us  make  our  Head,  not 
the  earthly  Jerusalem,  but  the  heavenly  City ;  ■>• 
not  that  which  is  now  trodden  under  foot  by 
armies,^  but  that  which  is  glorified  by  Angels. 
Let  us  sacrifice  not  young  calves,  nor  lambs 
that  put  forth  horns  and  hoofs,*  in  which  many 
parts  are  destitute  of  life  and  feeling ;  but  let  us 
sacrifice  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  praise  upon  the 
heavenly  Altar,  with  the  heavenly  dances  ;  let 
us  hold  aside  the  first  veil ;  let  us  approach  the 
second,  and  look  into  the  Holy  of  Holies.^ 
Shall  I  say  that  which  is  a  greater  thing  yet  ? 
Letus  sacrifice  ourselves  to  God  ;  or  rather  let 
us  go  on  sacrificing  throughout  every  day  and  at 
every  moment.  Let  us  accept  anything  for  the 
Word's  sake.  By  sufferings  let  us  imitate  His 
Passion :  by  our  blood  let  us  reverence  His 
Blood  :  let  us  gladly  mount  upon  the  Cross. 
Sweet  are  the  nails,  though  they  be  very  pain- 
ful. For  to  suffer  with  Christ  and  for  Christ 
is  better  than  a  life  of  ease  with  others. 

XXIV.   If  you  are  a  Simon  of  Cyrene,''  take 


dependently  of  the  Fall,  for  the  perfectinc;  of  Humanity;  but  that 
the  Passion  and  death  of  Incarnate  God  were  the  direct  result 
of  the  sin  of  man?  a  Num.   xxi.  g. 

^  Hos.  xiii.  14  and  i  Cor.  xv.  55.  yHeb.   xii.  22. 

6  Luke  xui.  20-24.  «  Ps.  Ixiv.  32. 

f  Heb.  xiii.  15  and  x.  20.  tj  Mark  xv.  21. 


432 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


up  the  Cross  and  follow.  If  you  are  crucified 
with  Him  as  a  robber,"  acknowledge  God  as  a 
petiiteut  robber.  If  even  He  was  numbered 
among  the  transgressors^  for  you  and  your  sin, 
do  you  become  law-abiding  for  His  sake.  Wor- 
ship HjmWho-\Eas  hanged  for  you,  even  if^'ou 
yourself  are- hanging;  make  some  gain  even 
from  your  wickedness ;  purchase  salvation  by 
your  death  ;  enter  with  Jesus  into  Paradise, ^  so 
that  you  may  learn  from  what  you  have  fallen.* 
Contemplate  the  glories  that  are  there ;  let  the 
murderer  die  outside  with  his  blasphemies  ;  and 
if  you  be  a  Joseph  of  Arimathaea,*  beg  the  Body 
from  him  that  crucified  Him,  make  thine  own 
that  which  cleanses  the  world. ^  If  you  be  a 
Nicodemus,  the  worshipper  of  God  by  night, 
bury  Him  with  spices.''  If  you  be  a  Mary,  or 
another  Mary,  or  a  Salome,  or  a  Joanna,  weep 
in  the  early  morning.  Be  first  to  see  the  stone 
taken  away,^  and  perhaps  you  will  see  the  Angels 
and  Jesus  Himself.  Say  something  ;  hear  His 
Voice.  If  He  say  to  you,  Touch  Me  not,"  stand 
afar  off:  reverence  the  Word,  but  grieve  not ; 
for  He  knoweth  those  to  whom  He  appeareth 
first.  Keep  the  feast  of  the  Resurrection ; 
come  to  the  aid  of  Eve  who  was  first  to  fall,  of 
Her  who  first  embraced  the  Christ,  and  made 
Hioi  known  to  the  disciples.  Be  a  Peter  or  a 
John;  hasten  to  the  Sepulchre, running  together, 
running  against  one  another,  vying  in  the  noble 
race."^  And  even  if  you  be  beaten  in  speed,  win 
the  victory  of  zeal ;  not  Looking  into  the  tomb, 
but  Going  in.  And  if,  like  a  Thomas,  you 
■were  left  out  when  the  disciples  were  assembled 
to  whom  Christ  shews  Himself,  when  you  do 
see  Him  be  not  faithless  ;  >^  and  if  you  do  not 
believe,  then  believe  those  who  tell  you ;  and 
if  you  cannot  believe  them  either,  then  have 
confidence  in  the  print  of  the  nails.  If  He 
de.scend  into  Hell,''  descend  with  Him.  Learn 
to  know  the  mysteries  of  Christ  there  also,  what 
is  the  providential  purpose  of  the  twofold  de- 
.scent,  to  save  all  men  absolutely  by  His  man- 
ifestation, or  there  too  only  them  that  believe. 
XXV.  And  if  He  ascend  up  into  Heaven,^ 
a.scend  with  Him.  Be  one  of  those  angels 
who  escort  Him,  or  one  of  those  who  receive 
Him.  Bid  the  gates  be  lifted  up,°  or  be  made 
higher,  that  they  may  receive  Him,  exalted 
after  His  F'assion.  Answer  to  those  who  are  in 
doubt  because  He  bears  up  with  Him  His 
body  and  the  tokens  of  His  Passion,  which  He 
had  not  when  He  came  down,  and  who  there- 
fore inciuire,  "  Who  is  this  King  of  Glory?" 


o  I.iike  xxiii.  42.  ^  Isa.  liii.  12.            y  I-u1<e  xxiii.  43. 

t  Kev.   ii.  5.  e  Luke  xxiii.  52.                  f  i  John  i.  7. 

I)  John  xix.  39.  6  lb.  xx.  11,  etc.             k  lb.  xxi.  17. 

A  lb.  .\x.  3,  4.  \).  lb.  x.v.  25.                V  I  Pet.  iii.  19. 

{  Luke  xxiv.  51.                          o  Ps.  xxiv.  7,  10. 


that  it  is  the  Lord  strong  and  mighty,  as  in  all 
things  that  He  hath  done  from  time  to  time 
and  does,  so  now  in  His  battle  and  triumph  for 
the  sake  of  Mankind.  And  give  to  the  doubt- 
ing of  the  question  the  twofold  answer.  And 
if  they  marvel  and  say  as  in  Isaiah's  drama 
Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom  and 
from  the  things  of  earth?  Or  How  are  the 
garments  red  of  Him  that  is  without  blood  or 
body,  as  of  one  that  treads  in  the  full  wine- 
press ?  "  Set  forth  the  beauty  of  the  array  of 
the  Body  that  suffered,  adorned  by  the  Passion, 
and  made  splendid  by  the  Godhead,  than 
which  nothing  can  be  more  lovely  or  more 
beautiful. 

XXVI.^  To  this  what  will  those  cavillers 
say,  those  bitter  reasoners  about  Godhead, 
those  detractors  of  all  things  that  are  praise- 
worthy, those  darkeners  of  Light,  uncultured  in 
respect  of  Wisdom,  for  whom  Christ  died  in 
vain,  unthankful  creatures,  the  work  of  the 
Evil  One.  Do  you  turn  this  benefit  into  a  re- 
proach to  God  ?  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 
layeth  down  His  life  for  the  sheep, v  came  upon 
the  mountains  and  hills  upon  which  you  used 
to  sacrifice,*  and  found  the  wandering  one ;  and 
having  found  it,  took  it  upon  His  shoulders.* 
on  which  He  also  bore  the  A\'ood;  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.^  His  own  flesh,  and  swept  the 
housej_by  cleansing  away  the  sin  of  the  world, 
and  sought  for  the  coin,  the^^oyal  Image  that 
was  all  covered  up  with  passions,  and  calls,  to- 
getjier  His  friends,  the  Angelic  Powers,  at  the 
finding_Qf  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,''  and  the  Word,  the 
Voice,  and  the  Bridegroom,  the  Bridegroom's 
friend.^  that  prepared  for  the  Lord  a  peculiar 
people*  and  cleansed  them  by  the  water ^  in 
preparation  for  the  Spirit  ?  Do  you  Reproach 
God  with  this?  Do  vou  conceive  of  Him  as 
less  because  He  girds  Himself  with  a  towel  and 
washes  His  di-sciples,**  and  shows  that  humilia- 
tion is  the  best  road  to  exaltation  ; ''  because  He 
humbles  Himself  for  the  sake  of  the  soul  that 


o  Isa.  Ixiii.   I. 

/3  This  passage,  to  nearly  the  end  of  c.  XXVII.,  is  taken  from 
the  Oration  on  the  Nativity,  cc.  XIII. -XIV.  7  John  x.   11. 

6  John  V.  35.  <  Hos.  iv.  ij.  C,  I.nke  xv.  4,  5. 

7)  lb.  XV.  8,9.  9  lb.  1.  23  :  iii.  9,  29. 

K  A  reminiscence  of  S.  Luke  i.  17.  A  Matt.  iii.  11. 

It.  John  xiii.  4,  5.  v  Matt,  xxiii.   12. 


THE    SECOND    ORATION    ON    EASTER. 


433 


is  bent  down  to  the  ground,"  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  eateth  with  Publicans^  and  at  Publicans' 
tables,  and  makes  disciples  of  Publicans  y  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. 
XXVn.  He  was  sent,  but  sent  according  to 
His  jNIanhood  (for  He  was  of  two  Natures), 
since  He  was  hungry  and  thirsty  and  weary, 
and  was  distressed  and  wept,  according  to  the 
Laws  of  human  nature.  But  even  if  He  were 
sent  also  as  God,  what  of  that  ?  Consider  the 
Mission  to  be  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Father, 
to  which  He  refers  all  that  concerns  Himself, 
both  that  He  may  honour  the  Eternal  Principle, 
and  that  He  may  avoid  the  appearance  of  being 
a  rival  God.  For  He  is  said  on  the  one  hand 
to  have  been  betrayed,  and  on  the  other  it  is 
written  that  He  gave  Himself  up;  and  so  too 
that  He  was  raised  and  taken  up  by  the  Father, 
and  also  that  of  His  own  power  He  rose  and 
ascended.  The  former  belongs  to  the  Good 
Pleasure,  the  latter  to  His  own  Authority ;  but 
you  d^^'ell  upon  all  that  diminishes  Him,  while 
you  ignore  all  that  exalts  Him.  For  instance, 
you  score  that  He  suffered,  but  you  do  not  add 
"  of  His  own  Will."  Ah,  what  things  has  the 
Word  even  now  to  suffer  !  By  some  He  is  hon- 
oured as  God  but  confused  with  the  Father  ;  by 
others  He  is  dishonoured  as  Flesh,  and  is  sev- 
ered from  God.  With  whom  shall  He  be  most 
angry — or  rather  which  shall  He  forgive — those 
who  falsely  contract  Him,  or  those  who  divide 
Him?  For  the  former  ought  to  have  made  a 
distinction,  and  the  latter  to  have  made  a 
Union,  the  one  in  number,  the  other  in  God- 
head. Do  3'ou  stumble  at  His  Flesh  ?  So  did 
the  Jews.  Do  you  call  Him  a  Samaritan,*  and 
the  rest  which  I  will  not  utter?  This  did  not 
even  the  demons,  O  man  more  unbelieving 
than  demons,  and  more  stupid  than  Jews.  The 
Jews  recognized  the  title  Son  as  expressing 
equal  rank;  and  the  demons  knew  that  He 
who  drove  them  out  was  God,  for  they  were 
persuaded  by  their  own  experience.  But  you 
will  not  either  admit  the  equality  or  confess  the 
Godhead.  It  would  have  been  better  for  you 
to  have  been  circumcised  and  a  demoniac — to 
reduce  the  matter  to  an  absurdity — than  in 


a  Luke  xiii.   lo,  etc. 
y  I.uke  XV.  2. 

28 


^  Mark  ii.  15,  16. 
S  John  viii.  48. 


uncircumcision  and  robust  health  to  be  thus  ill 
and  ungodly  disposed.  But  for  our  war  with 
.such  men,  let  it  be  brought  to  an  end  by  their 
returning,  however  late,  to  a  sound  mind,  if 
they  will ;  or  else  if  they  will  not,  let  it  be 
postponed  to  another  occasion,  if  they  continue 
as  they  are.  Anyhow,  we  will  have  no  fear 
when  contending  for  the  Trinity  with  the  help 
of  the  Trinity. 

XXVIII.  It  is  now  needful  for  us  to  sum  up 
our  discourse  as  follows :  We_\vere  created 
that  we  might  be  made  happy.  \Ve.w.ere  made." 
happy  when  we  were  created.  We_were  en- 
trusted with  Paradise  that  we  might  enjoy  life. 
We  received  a  Commandment  that  we  might 
obtain  a  good  repute  by  keeping  it ;  not  that 
God  did  not  know  what  would  take  place,  but 
because  He  had  laid  down  the  law  of  Free 
Will.  We  were  deceived  because  we  were  the 
objects  of  envy.  We  were  cast  out  because  we 
transgressed.  We  fasted  because  we  refused  to 
fast,  being  overpowered  by  the  Tree  of  Know- 
ledge. For  the  Commandment  was  ancient, 
coeval  with  ourselves,  and  was  a  kind  of  educa- 
tion of  our  souls  and  curb  of  luxury,  to  which  we 
were  reasonably  made  subject,  in  order  that  we 
might  recover  by  keeping  it  that  which  we  had 
lost  by  not  keeping  it.  We_needed  an  Incarn- 
ate God,  a  God  put  to  death,  that  we  might 
live.  We_.  were  put  to  death  together  with 
lHim,  that  we  might  be  cleansed ;  we  rose 
again  with  Him  because  we  were  put  to  death 
with  Him ;  we  were  glorified  with  Him, 
because  we  rose  again  with  Him. 

XXIX.  Many  indeed  are  the  miracles  of 
that  time :  God  crucified  ;  the  sun  darkened 
and  again  rekindled  ;  for  it  was  fitting  that  the 
creatures  should  suffer  with  their  Creator  ;  the 
veil  rent;  the  Blood  and  Water  shed  from 
His  Side  ;  the  one  as  from  a  man,  the  other 
as  above  man ;  the  rocks  rent  for  the  Rock's 
sake ;  the  dead  raised  for  a  pledge  of  the  final 
Resurrection  of  all  men  ;  the  Signs  at  the 
Sepulchre  and  after  the  Sepulchre,  which  none 
can  worthily  celebrate  ;  and  yet  none  of  these 
equal  to  the  Miracle  of  my  salvation.  A  few 
drops  of  Blood  recreate  the  whole  A\orld,  and 
become  to  all  men  what  rennet  is  to  milk,  draw- 
ing us  together  and  compressing  us  into  unity. 

XXX.  But,  O^Pascha^  great  and  holy  and 
purifier  of  all  the  world — for  I  will  speak  to 
thee  as  to  a  living  person — O  Word  of  God 
and  Light  and  Life  and  Wisdom  and  Might — 
for  I  rejoice  in  all  Thy  names — O  Offspring 
and  Expression  and  Signet  of  the  Great  Mind  ; 
O  Word  conceived  and   Man  contemplated, 

_Who  bearest  all   things,   binding  them  by  the 
Word  of  Thy  power;  receive   this  discourse, 


434 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


not  now  as  firstfruits,  but  perhaps  as  the  com- 
pletion of  my  offerings,  a  thanksgiving,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  suppHcation,  that  we  may  suf- 
fer no  evil  beyond  those  necessary  and  sacred 
cares  in  which  our  life  has  been  passed ;  and 
stay  the  tyranny  of  the  body  over  us;  (Thou 
seest,  O  Lord,  how  great  it  is  and  how  it  bows 
me  down)  or  Thine  own  sentence,  if  we  are  to 


be  condemned  by  Thee.  But  if  we  are  to  be 
released,  in  accordance  with  our  desire,  and  be 
received  into  the  Heavenly  Tabernacle,  there 
too  it  may  be  we  shall  offer  Thee  acceptable 
Sacrifices  upon  Thine  Altar,  to  Father  and 
Word  and  Holy  Ghost ;  for  to  Thee  belongeth 
all  glory  and  honour  and  might,  world  without 
end.    Amen. 


i 


i 


SELECT  LETTERS 


OF 


SAINT   GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


ARCHBISHOP   OF    CONSTANTINOPLE. 


A  SELECTION  FROM  THE  LETTERS  OF  SAINT  GREG- 
ORY NAZIANZEN,  SOMETIME  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CON- 
STANTINOPLE. 


DIVISION    I. 
LETTERS   ON  THE   APOLLINARIAN   CONTROVERSY. 


Introduction. 

The  circumstances  which  called  forth  the  two 
letters  to  Cledonius  have  already  been  described 
in  the  first  section  of  the  General  Prolegomena, 
and  it  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  add  much 
to  what  was  there  said.  In  the  letter  to  Nec- 
tarius,  his  own  successor  on  the  throne  of  Con- 
stantinople, written  about  A. D.  383,  and  some- 
times reckoned  as  Orat.  XLVI. ,  S.  Gregory  gives 
extracts  from  a  work  of  Apollinarius  himself, 
but  without  mentioning  the  title  of  the  book. 
In  this  treatise  the  fundamental  errors  of  the 
heresy  (see  Proleg.  c.  i,  p.  172)  are  laid  down. 
ApolHnarius,  according  to  S.  Gregory,  declares 
that  the  Son  of  God  was  from  all  eternity 
clothed  with  a  human  body,  and  not  from  the 
time  of  His  conception  only  by  the  Blessed  Vir- 
.  gin;  but  that  this  humanity  of  God  is  without 
human  mind,  the  place  of  which  was  supplied 
by  the  Godhead  of  the  Only-begotten.  And 
he  goes  even  further  and  ascribes  passibility. 
and  mortality  to  the  very  Godhead  of  Christ. 
Therefore  S.  Gregory  earnestly  protests  against 
any  toleration  being  granted  to  these  heretics, 
or  even  permission  to  hold  their  assemblies; 
for,  he  says,  toleration  or  permission  would  cer- 
tainly be  regarded  by  them  as  a  condonation 
of  their  doctrinal  position,  and  a  condemnation 
of  that  of  the  Church.  Dr.  Ullman,  however, 
thinks  that  while  S.  Gregory  was  certainly 
speaking  the  truth  in  saying  that  he  had  in  his 
hands  a  pamphlet  by  Apollinarius,  yet  that  he, 
perhaps  unconsciously,  exaggerated  the  heret- 
ical character  of  its  contents,  pushing  its  state- 
ments to  consequences  which  Apollinarius 
would  have  repudiated.  The  one  purpose  of 
the  latter  was,  in  Dr.  Ullman' s  view,  to  safe- 


guard the  doctrine  of  the  Unity  of  Christ;  and 
he  thought  that  the  orthodox  expression  of  Two 
Whole  and  Perfect  Natures  tended  to  a  Nestor- 
ian  division  of  the  Person  of  Christ;  and  so  he 
used  language  which  certainly  seemed  to  con- 
found the  natures,  or  at  any  rate  to  make  the 
Incarnation  imperfect,  inasmuch  as  a  Christ  in 
Whom  the  human  mind  is  absent,  and  its  place 
filled  up  by  the  Godhead  of  the  Son,  cannot 
be  said  to  be  perfect  Man.  But  while  Epi- 
phanius  mentions  these  extravagances  of  the 
heresy,  and  does  so  with  a  lingering  feeling  of 
regret  for  the  lapse  of  so  good  a  man  whose 
services  in  the  past  had  been  of  so  much  value 
to  the  Church,  yet,  in  the  spirit  common  to 
Ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the  time,  he  would 
rather  ascribe  them  to  an  expansion  of  Apol- 
linarius' teaching  by  his  younger  disciples  who 
did  not  really  understand  what  Apollinarius 
himself  meant. 

Olympius,  to  whom  the  last  of  this  series  is 
addressed,  was  Governor  of  Cappadocia  Se- 
cunda  in  a.d.  3S2.  He  was  a  man  for  whom  S, 
Gregory  had  a  very  high  esteem,  and  with  whom 
he  was  upon  terms  of  close  friendship,  as  will 
be  seen  from  other  letters  of  Gregory  to  him  in 
another  division  of  this  Selection.  The  occa- 
sion of  the  present  letter  was  the  necessity  to 
appeal  to  the  secular  power  for  aid  to  punish 
a  sect  of  Apollinarians  at  Nazianzus,  who  had 
ventured  to  take  advantage  of  S.  Gregory's  ab- 
sence at  the  Baths  of  Xanxaris  to  procure  the 
consecration  of  a  Bishop  of  their  own  way  of 
thinking.  Technically  the  See  was  vacant, 
but  the  administration  had  been  committed  to 
Gregory  by  the  Bishops  of  the  Province,  and 
though  he,  foreseeing  some  such  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  heretics,  had  been  very  earnest  in 


438 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


pressing  upon  the  Metropolitan  and  his  Com- 
provincials  the  necessity  of  fiUing  this  throne 
by  a  canonical  election,  yet  he  was  by  no  means 
prepared  to  hand  over  the  authority,  with  which 
he  had  been  invested,  to  an  irregularly  elected 
and  uncanonically  consecrated  heretic. 

To  Nectarius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople. 

(Ep.  ecu.) 

The  Care  of  God,  which  throughout  the 
time  before  us  guarded  the  Churches,  seems  to 
have  utterly  forsaken  this  present  life.  And 
my  soul  is  immersed  to  such  a  degree  by  cal- 
amities that  the  private  sufferings  of  my  own 
life  hardly  seem  to  be  worth  reckoning  among 
evils  (though  they  are  so  numerous  and  great, 
that  if  they  befel  anyone  else  I  should  think 
them  unbearable)  ;  but  I  can  only  look  at  the 
common  sufferings  of  the  Churches;  for  if  at 
the  present  crisis  some  pains  be  not  taken  to 
find  a  remedy  for  them,  things  will  gradually 
get  into  an  altogether  desperate  condition. 
Those  who  follow  the  heresy  of  Arius  or  Eu- 
doxius  (I  cannot  say  who  stirred  them  up  to 
this  folly)  are  making  a  display  of  their  dis- 
ease, as  if  they  had  attained  some  degree  of 
confidence  by  collecting  congregations  as  if  by 
permission.  And  they  of  the  Macedonian 
party  have  reached  such  a  pitch  of  folly  that 
they  are  arrogating  to  themselves  the  name  of 
Bishops,  and  are  wandering  about  our  districts 
babbling  of  Eleusius"  as  to  their  ordina- 
tions. Our  bosom  evil,  Eunomius,  is  no 
longer  content  with  merely  existing  ;  but  unless 
he  can  draw  away  everyone  with  him  to  his 
ruinous  heresy,  he  thinks  himself  an  injured 
man.  All  this,  however,  is  endurable.  The 
most  grievous  item  of  all  in  the  woes  of  the 
Church  is  the  boldness  of  the  Apollinarians, 
whom  your  Holiness  has  overlooked,  I  know 
not  how,  when  providing  themselves  with 
authority  to  hold  meetings  on  an  equality  with 
my.self.  However,  you  being,  as  you  are, 
thoroughly  instructed  by  the  grace  of  God  in 
the  Divine  Mysteries  on  all  points,  are  well 
informed,  not  only  as  to  the  advocacy  of  the 
true  faith,  but  also  as  to  all  those  arguments  ; 
which  have  been  devised  by  the  heretics 
against  the  sound  faith  ;  and  yet  perhaps  it  will  ' 
not  be  unseasonable  that  your  Excellency 
should  hear  from  my  littleness  that  a  pamphlet  ! 
by  Apollinarius  has  come  into  my  hands,  the  ; 

a  F.leusius  was  Bishop  of  Cyzicus.  a  prominent  leader  of  the 
Senii-Arian  party.  He  bore  a  very  high  character  for  personal 
holiness,  and  approached  more  nearly  to  nrtliodoxy  than  most  of 
his  associates,  men  like  Basil  of  Ancyra,  Eustathiiis  of  Sebaste. 
etc.  He  obstinately  maintained,  however,  Macedonian  views  on 
the  Deity  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  even  after  their  condemnation  by  the  i 
Council  of  Constantinople.  I 


contents  of  which  surpass  all  heretical  pravity. 
For  he  asserts  that  the  Flesh  which  the  Only- 
begotten  Son  assumed  in  the  Incarnation  for 
the  remodelling  of  our  nature  was  no  new  ac- 
quisition, but  that  that  carnal  nature  was  in  the 
Son  from  the  beginning.  And  he  puts  for- 
ward as  a  witness  to  this  monstrous  assertion  a 
garbled  quotation  from  the  Gospels,  namely. 
No  man  hath  Ascended  up  into  Heaven  save 
He  which  came  down  from  Heaven,  even  the 
Son  of  Man  which  is  in  Heaven.*  As  though 
even  before  He  came  down  He  was  the  Son  of 
Man,  and  when  He  came  down  He  brought 
with  Him  that  Flesh,  which  it  appears  He  had 
in  Heaven,  as  though  it  had  existed  before  the 
ages,  and  been  joined  with  His  Essence.  For 
he  alleges  another  saying  of  an  Apostle,  which 
he  cuts  off  from  the  whole  body  of  its  context, 
that  The  Second  Man  is  the  Lord  from  Heaven.^ 
Then  he  assumes  that  that  Man  who  came 
down  from  above  is  without  a  mind,  but  that 
the  Godhead  of  the  Only-begotten  fulfils  the 
function  of  mind,  and  is  the  third  part  of  this 
human  composite,  inasmuch  as  soul  and  body 
are  in  it  on  its  human  side,  but  not  mind,  the 
place  of  which  is  taken  by  God  the  Word. 
This  is  not  yet  the  most  serious  part  of  it ;  that 
which  is  most  terrible  of  all  is  that  he  declares 
that  the  Only-begotten  God,  the  Judge  of  all, 
the  Prince  of  Life,  the  Destroyer  of  Death,  is 
mortal,  and  underwent  the  Passion  in  His 
proper  Godhead ;  and  that  in  the  three  days' 
death  of  His  body.  His  Godhead  also  was  put  to 
death  with  His  body,  and  thus  was  raised  again 
from  the  dead  by  the  Father.  It  would  be 
tedious  to  go  through  all  tlie  other  propositions 
which  he  adds  to  these  monstrous  absurdities. 
Now,  if  they  who  hold  such  views  have  author- 
ity to  meet,  your  Wisdom  approved  in  Christ 
must  see  that,  inasmuch  as  we  do  not  approve 
their  views,  any  permission  of  assembly  granted 
to  them  is  nothing  less  than  a  declaration  that 
their  view  is  thought  more  true  than  ours.  For 
if  they  are  permitted  to  teach  their  view  as 
godly  men,  and  with  all  confidence  to  preach 
their  doctrine,  it  is  manifest  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  Church  has  been  condemned,  as  though 
the  truth  were  on  their  side.  For  nature  does 
not  admit  of  two  contrary  doctrines  on  the 
same  subject  being  both  true.  How  then  could 
your  noble  and  lofty  mind  submit  to  suspend 
your  usual  courage  in  regard  to  the  correction 
of  so  great  an  evil  ?  But  even  though  there  is 
no  precedent  for  .such  a  course,  let  your  inim- 
itable perfection  in  virtue  stand  up  at  a  crisis 
like   the    present,    and    teach  our  most   pious 


a  John  iii.  13. 


|3  Cor.  XV.  47. 


LETTERS   OF   SAINT   GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


439 


[ 


Emperor,  that  no  gain  will  come  from  his  zeal 
for  the  Church  on  other  points  if  he  allows  such 
an  evil  to  gain  strength  from  freedom  of  speech 
for  the  subversion  of  sound  faith. 


To  Cledonius  the  Priest  Against 
Apollinarius.     (Ep.  CI.) 

TO  OUR  MOST  reverend  AND  GOD-BELOVED 
BROTHER  AND  FELLOW-PRIEST  CLEDONIUS, 
GREGORY,   GREETING  IN  THE  LORD. 

I  desire  to  learn  what  is  this  fashion  of  in- 
novation in  things  concerning  the  Church, 
which  allows  anyone  who  likes,  or  the  passer- 
by," as  the  Bible  says,  to  tear  asunder  the  flock 
that  has  been  well  led,  and  to  plunder  it  by 
larcenous  attacks,  or  rather  by  piratical  and 
fallacious  teachings.  For  if  our  present  as- 
sailants had  any  ground  for  condemning  us  in 
regard  of  the  faith,  it  would  not  have  been 
right  for  them,  even  in  that  case,  to  have  ven- 
tured on  such  a  course  without  giving  us  notice. 
They  ought  rather  to  have  first  persuaded  us, 
or  to  have  been  willing  to  be  persuaded  by  us 
(if  at  least  any  account  is  to  be  taken  of  us  as 
fearing  God,  labouring  for  the  faith,  and  help- 
ing the  Church),  and  then,  if  at  all,  to  innov- 
ate; but  then  perhaps  there  would  be  an  ex- 
cuse for  their  outrageous  conduct.  But  since 
our  faith  has  been  proclaimed,  both  in  writing 


and  without  writing,  here  and  in  distant  parts, 
in  times  of  danger  and  of  safety,  how  comes  it 
that  some  make  such  attempts,  and  that  others 
keep  silence  ? 

The  most  grievous  part  of  it  is  not  (though 
this  too  is  shocking)  that  the  men  instil  their 
own  heresy  into  simpler  souls  by  means  of 
those  who  are  worse ;  but  that  they  also  tell 
lies  about  us  and  say  that  we  share  their  opin- 
ions and  sentiments ;  thus  baiting  their  hooks, 
and  by  this  cloak  villainously  fulfilling  their 
will,  and  making  our  simplicity,  which  looked 
upon  them  as  brothers  and  not  as  foes,  into  a 
support  of  their  wickedness.  And  not  only  so, 
but  they  also  assert,  as  I  am  told,  that  they 
have  been  received  by  the  Western  Synod,  by 
which  they  were  formerly  condemned,  as  is 
well  known  to  everyone.  If,  however,  those 
who  hold  the  views  of  Apollinarius  have  either 
now  or  formerly  been  received,  let  them  prove 
it, and  we  will  be  content.  For  it  is  evident 
that  they  can  only  have  been  so  received  as 
assenting  to  the  Orthodox  Faith,  for  this  were 
an  impossibility  on  any  other  terms.      And 

a  Ps.    IXXX.    T2. 


they  can  surely  prove  it,  either  by  the  minutes 
of  the  Synod,  or  by  Letters  of  Communion, 
for  this  is  the  regular  custom'  of  Synods.  But 
if  it  is  mere  words,  and  an  invention  of  their 
own,  devised  for  the  sake  of  appearances  and 
to  give  them  weight  with  the  multitude  through 
the  credit  of  the  persons,  teach  them  to  hold 
their  tongues,  and  confute  them  ;  for  we  belie\-e 
that  such  a  task  is  well  suited  to  your  manner 
of  life  and  orthodoxy.  Do  not  let  the  men 
deceive  themselves  and  others  with  the  asser- 
tion that  the  "  Man  of  the  Lord,"  as  they  call 
Him,  Who  is  rather  our  Lord  and  God,  is 
without  human  mind.  For  we  do  not  sever  the 
Man  from  the  Godhead,  but  we  lay  down  as  a 
dogma  the  Unity  and  Identity  of  Person,  Who 
of  old  was  not  Man  but  God,  and  the  Only 
Son  before  all  ages,  unmingled  with  body  or 
anything  corppreal  ;  but  Who  in  these  last 
days  has  assumed  Manhood  also  for  our  salva- 
tion ;  passible  in  His  Flesh,  impassible  in  His 
Godhead ;  circumscript  in  the  body,  uncir- 
cumscript  in  the  Spirit ;  at  once  earthly  and 
heavenly,  tangible  and  intangible,  comprehen- 
sible and  incomprehensible ;  that  by  One  and 
the  Same  Person,  Who  was  perfect  Man  and 
also  God,  the  entire  humanity  fallen  through 
sin  might  be  created  anew. 

If  anyone  does  not  believe  that  Holy  Mary 
is  the  Mother  of  God,  he  is  severed  from  the 
Godhead.  If  anyone  should  assert  that  He 
passed  through  the  Virgin  as  through  a  chan- 
nel, and  was  not  at  once  divinely  and  humanly 
formed  in  her  (divinely,  because  without  the 
intervention  of  a  man ;  humanly,  because  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  gestation),  he  is 
in  like  manner  godless.  If  any  assert  that  the 
Manhood  was  formed  and  afterward  was 
clothed  with  the  Godhead,  he  too  is  to  be  con- 
demned. For  this  were  not  a  Generation  of 
God,  but  a  shirking  of  generation.  If  any  in- 
troduce the  notion  of  Two  Sons,  one  of  God 
the  Father,  the  other  of  the  Mother,  and  dis- 
credits the  Unity  and  Identity,  may  he  lose 
his  part  in  the  adoption  promised  to  those  who 
believe  aright.  For  God  and  Man  are  two 
natures,  as  also  soul  and  body  are ;  but  there 
are  not  two  Sons  or  two  Gods.  For  neither 
in  this  life  are  there  two  manhoods ;  though 
Paul  speaks  in  some  such  language  of  the  inner 
and  outer  man.  And  (if  I  am  to  speak  con- 
cisel}')  the  Saviour  is  made  of  elements  which 
are  distinct  from  one  another  (for  the  invisible 
is  not  the  same  with  the  visible,  nor  the  time- 
less with  that  which  is  subject  to  time),  yet 
He  is  not  two  Persons.  God  forbid  !  For 
both  natures  are  one  by  the  combination,  the 
Deity  being  made  Man,   and   the   Manhood 


440 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


deified  or  howexer  one  should  express  it.  And 
I  say  different  Elements,  because  it  is  the  re- 
verse of  what  is  the  case  in  the  Trinity ;  for 
There  we  acknowledge  different  Persons  so  as 
not  to  conlbund  the  persons  ;  but  not  different 
Elements,  for  the  Three  are  One  and  the  same 
in  Godhead. 

If  any  should  say  that  it  wrought  in  Him  by 
grace  as  in  a  Prophet,  but  was  not  and  is  not 
united  with  Him' in  Essence — let  him  be  emp- 
ty of  the  Higher  Energy,  or  rather  full  of  the 
opposite.  If  any  worship  not  the  Crucified, 
let  him  be  Anathema  and  be  numbered  among 
the  Deicides.  If  any  assert  that  He  was  made 
perfect  by  works,  or  that  after  His  Baptism, 
or  after  His  Resurrection  from  the  dead,  He 
was  counted  worthy  of  an  adoptive  Sonship, 
like  those  whom  the  Greeks  interpolate  as  add- 
ed to  the  ranks  of  the  gods,  let  him  be 
anathema.  For  that  which  has  a  beginning  or 
a  progress  or  is  made  perfect,  is  not  God,  al- 
though the  expressions  may  be  used  of  His 
gradual  manifestation.  If  any  assert  that  He 
has  now  put  off  His  holy  flesh,  and  that  His 
Godhead  is  stripped  of  the  body,  and  deny 
that  He  is  now  with  His  body  and  will  come 
again  with  it,  let  him  not  see  the  glory  of  His 
Coming.  For  where  is  His  body  now,  if  not 
with  Him  Who  assumed  it?  For  it  is  not  laid 
by  in  the  sun,  according  to  the  babble  of  the 
Manichaeans,  that  it  should  be  honoured  by  a 
dishonour ;  nor  was  it  poured  forth  into  the  air 
and  dissolved,  as  is  the  nature  of  a  voice  or 
the  flow  of  an  odour,  or  the  course  of  a  light- 
ning flash  that  never  stands.  Where  in  that 
^^e  were  His  being  handled  after  the  Resurrec- 
tion, or  His  being  seen  hereafter  by  them  that 
pierced  Him,  for  Godhead  is  in  its  nature  in- 
visible. Nay;  He  will  come  with  His  body — 
so  I  have  learnt — such  as  He  was  seen  by  His 
Disciples  in  the  Mount,  or  as  he  shewed  Him- 
self for  a  moment,  when  his  Godhead  over- 
powered the  carnality.  And  as  we  say  this  to 
disarm  suspicion,  so  we  write  the  other  to  cor- 
rect the  novel  teaching.  If  anyone  assert  that 
His  flesh  came  down  from  heaven,  and  is  not 
from  hence,  nor  of  us  though  above  us,  let  him 
be  anathema.  For  the  words,  The  Second 
Man  is  the  Lord  from  Heaven  ;  °-  and.  As  is  the 
Heavenly,  such  are  they  that  are  Heavenly ; 
and,  No  man  hath  ascended  up  into  Heaven 
save  He  which  came  down  from  Heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  Heaven  ;  ^  and  the 
like,  are  to  be  understood  as  said  on  account  of 
the  Union  with  the  heavenly ;  just  as  that  All 
Things  were  made  by  Christ, y  and  that  .Christ 


a  Cor.  XV.  47. 


/3  John  iii.  13. 


y  John  i.  3. 


dwelleth  in  your  hearts'*  is  said,  not  of  the  visi- 
ble nature  which  belongs  to  God,  but  of  what 
is  perceived  by  the  mind,  the  names  being 
mingled  like  the  natures,  and  flowing  into  one 
another,  according  to  the  law  of  their  intimate 
union. 

If  anyone  has  put  his  trust  in  Him  as  a  Man 
without  a  human  mind,  he  is  really  bereft  of 
mind,  and  quite  unworthy  of  salvation.  For 
that  which  He  has  not  assumed  He  has  not 
healed  ;  but  that  which  is  united  to  His  God- 
head is  also  saved.  If  only  half  Adam  fell, 
then  that  which  Christ  assumes  and  saves  may 
be  half  also  ;  but  if  the  whole  of  his  nature 
fell,  it  must  be  united  to  the  whole  nature  of 
Him  that  was  begotten,  and  so  be  saved  as  a 
whole.  Let  them  not,  then,  begrudge  us  our 
complete  salvation,  or  clothe  the  Saviour  only 
with  bones  and  nerves  and  the  portraiture  of 
humanity.  For  if  His  Manhood  is  without 
soul,  even  the  Arians  admit  this,  that  they 
may  attribute  His  Passion  to  the  Godhead,  as 
that  which  gives  motion  to  the  body  is  also 
that  which  suffers.  But  if  He  has  a  soul,  and 
yet  is  without  a  mind,  how  is  He  man,  for 
man  is  not  a  mindless  animal  ?  And  this 
would  necessarily  in\'olve  that  while  His  form 
and  tabernacle  was  human,  His  soul  should  be 
that  of  a  horse  or  an  ox,  or  some  other  of  the 
brute  creation.  This,  then,  would  be  what  He 
saves  ;  and  I  have  been  deceived  by  the  Truth, 
and  led  to  boast  of  an  honour  which  had  been 
bestowed  upon  another.  But.  if  His  Man- 
hood is  intellectual  and  not  without  mind,  let 
them  cease  to  be  thus  really  mindless.  But, 
says  such  an  one,  the  Godhead  took  the  place 
of  the  human  intellect.  How  does  this  touch 
me  ?  For  Godhead  joined  to  flesh  alone  is 
not  man,  nor  to  soul  alone,  nor  to  both  apart 
from  intellect,  which  is  the  most  essential  part, 
of  man.  Keep  then  the  whole  man,  and  min- 
gle Godhead  therewith,  that  you  may  benefit 
me  in  my  completeness.  But,  he  asserts,  He 
could  not  contain  Two  i)erfect  Natures.  Not 
if  you  only  look  at  Him  in  a  bodily  fashion. 
For  a  bushel  measure  will  not  hold  two  bush- 
els, nor  will  the  space  of  one  body  hold  two 
or  more  bodies.  But  if  you  will  look  at  what 
is  mental  and  incorporeal,  remember  that  I  in 
my  one  i)ersonality  can  contain  soul  and  rea- 
son and  mind  and  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  and  before 
me  th's  world,  by  which  I  mean  the  system  of 
things  visible  and  invisible,  contained  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  For  such  is  the  na- 
ture of  intellectual  Existences,  ihat  they  can 
mingle  with  one  another  and  with  bodies,  in- 

a  Ephes.  iii.  17. 


LETTERS    OF    SAINT    GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


441 


corporeally  and  invisibly.  For  many  sounds 
are  comprehended  by  one  ear  ;  and  the  eyes  of 
many  are  occupied  by  die  same  visible  ob- 
jects, and  the  smell  by  odours  ;  nor  are  the 
senses  narrowed  by  each  other,  or  crowded' 
out,  nor  the  objects  of  s^nse  diminished  by  the 
multitude  of  the  perceptions.  But  where  is 
there  mind  of  man  or  angel  so  perfect  in  com- 
];arison  of  the  Godhead  that  the  presence  of 
the  greater  must  crowd  out  the  other  ?  The 
light  is  nothing  compared  with  the  sun,  nor  a 
little  damp  compared  with  a  river,  that  we  must 
first  do  away  with  the  lesser,  and  take  the 
light  from  a  house,  or  the  moisture  from 
the  earth,  to  enable  it  to  contain  the  greater 
and  more  perfect.  For  how  shall  one  thing 
contain  two  completenesses,  either  the  house, 
the  sunbeam  and  the  sun,  or  the  earth,  the 
moisture  and  the  river?  Here  is  matter  for 
inquiry ;  for  indeed  the  question  is  worthy  of 
much  consideration.  Do  they  not  know,  then, 
that  what  is  perfect  by  comparison  with  one 
thing  may  be  imperfect  by  comparison  with  an- 
other, as  a  hill  compared  with  a  mountain,  or 
a  grain  of  mustard  seed  with  a  bean  or  any  oth- 
er of  the  larger  seeds,  although  it  may  be  called 
larger  than  any  of  the  same  kind?  Or,  if  you 
like,  an  Angel  compared  with  God,  or  a  man 
with  an  Angel.  So  our  mind  is  perfect  and 
commanding,  but  only  in  respect  of  soul  and 
1jody  ;  not  absolutely  perfect  ;  and  a  servant 
and  a  subject  of  God,  not  a  sharer  of  His 
Princedom  and  honour.  So  Moses  was  a  God 
to  Plmraoh,"  but  a  servant  of  God,^  as  it  is 
written  ;  and  the  stars  which  illumine  the  night 
are  hidden  by  the  Sun,  so  much  that  you  could 
not  even  know  of  their  existence  by  daylight ; 
and  a  little  torch  brought  near  a  great  blaze  is 
neither  destroyed,  nor  seen,  nor  extinguished  ; 
but  is  all  one  blaze,  the  bigger  one  prevailing 
over  the  other. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  our  mind  is  subject  to 
condemnation.  What  then  of  our  flesh?  Is 
that  not  subject  to  condemnation  ?  You  must 
therefore  either  set  aside  the  latter  on  account 
of  sin,  or  admit  the  former  on  account  of 
salvation.  If  He  assumed  the  worse  that  He 
might  sanctify  it  by  His  incarnation,  may  He 
not  assume  the  better  that  it  may  be  sanctified 
by  His  becoming  Man?  If  the  clay  was 
leavened  and  has  become  a  new  lump,  O  ye 
wise  men,  shall  not  the  Image  be  leavened  and 
mingled  with  God,  being  deified  by  His  God- 
head ?  And  I  will  add  this  also  :  If  the  mind 
was  utterly  rejected,  as  prone  to  sin  and  sulj- 
ject   to  damnation,    and   for    this    reason   He 


Exod.  vii.  I. 


/3  Num.  xii.  7. 


assumed  a  body  but  left  out  the  mind,  then 
there  is  an  excuse  for  them  who  sin  with  the 
mind  ;  for  the  witness  of  God — according  to 
you — has  shewn  the  impossibility  of  healing  it. 
Let  me  state  the  greater  results.  You,  my 
good  sir,  dishonour  my  mind  (you  a  Sarco- 
later,  if  I  am  an  Anthropolater  °-  that  you 
may  tie  God  down  to  the  Flesh,  since  He  can- 
not be  otherwise  tied  ;  and  tlierefore  you  take 
away  the  wall  of  partition.  liut  what  is  my 
theory,  who  am  but  an  ignorant  man,  and  no 
Philosopher.  Mind  is  mingled  with  mind, 
as  nearer  and  more  closely  related,  and 
through  it  with  flesh,  being  a  Mediator  be- 
tween God  and  carnality. 

Further  let  us  see  what  is  their  account  of 
the  assumption  of  Manhood,  or  the  assumption 
of  Flesh,  as  they  call  it.  If  it  was  in  order 
that  God,  otherwise  incomprehensible,  might 
be  comprehended,  and  might  converse  with 
men  through  His  Flesh  as  through  a  veil,  their 
mask  and  the  drama  which  they  represent  is  a 
pretty  one,  not  to  say  that  it  was  open  to  Him 
to  converse  with  us  in  other  ways,  as  of  old,  in 
the  burning  bush  ^  and  in  the  appearance  of  a 
man.v  But  if  it  was  that  He  might  destroy  the 
condemnation  by  sanctifying  like  by  like,  then 
as  He  needed  flesh  for  the  sake  of  the  flesh 
which  had  incurred  condemnation,  and  soul 
for  the  sake  of  our  soul,  so,  too,  He  needed 
mind  for  the  sake  of  mind,  which  not  only 
fell  in  Adam,  but  was  the  first  to  be  affected, 
as  the  doctors  say  of  illnesses.  For  that  which 
received  the  command  was  that  which  failed  to 
keep  the  command,  and  that  which  failed  to 
keep  it  was  that  also  ,which  dared  to  trans- 
gress ;  and  that  which  transgressed  ^^■as  that 
which  stood  most  in  need  of  salvation  ;  and 
that  which  needed  salvation  was  that  which 
also  He  took  upon  Him.  Therefore,  Mind 
was  taken  upon  Him.  This  has  now  been  de- 
monstrated, whether  they  like  it  or  no,  by,  to 
use  their  own  expression,  geometrical  and 
necessary  proofs.  But  you  are  acting  as  if, 
when  a  man's  eye  had  been  injured  and  his 
foot  had  been  injured  in  consequence,  you 
were  to  attend  to  the  foot  and  leave  the  eye 
uncared  for ;  or  as  if,  when  a  painter  had 
drawn  something  badly,  you  were  to  alter  the 
picture,  but  to  pass  over  the  artist  as  if  he  had 
succeeded.  But  if  they,  overwhelmed  by  these 
arguments,  take  refuge  in  the  proposition  that 
it  is  possible  for  God  to  save  man  even  apart 


a  The  Apollinarians  seem  to  h.ive  charged  the  Orthodox  with 
being  Anthropolaters,  or  worshippers  of  a  mere  Man.  S.  Greg- 
ory retorts  upon  them  that  if  so,  they  arc  worse  themselves,  being 
actually  Sarcolaters,  or  worshippers  of  mere  flesh,  denying  Mind 
to  Him  whom  they  adore  as  Lord  and  Saviour. 

P  Exod.  iii.  2.  y  Gen.  xviii.  5. 


442 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


from  mind,  why,  I  suppose  that  it  would  be 
possible  for  Him  to  do  so  also  apart  from  flesh 
by  a  mere  act  of  will,  just  as  He  works  all 
other  things,  and  has  wrought  them  without 
body.  Take  away,  then,  the  flesh  as  well  as 
the  mind,  that  your  monstrous  folly  may  be 
complete.  But  they  are  deceived  by  the  lat- 
ter, and,  therefore,  they  run  to  the  flesh,  be- 
cause they  do  not  know  the  custom  of  Script- 
ure. We  will  teach  them  this  also.  For 
what  nee4  is  there  even  to  mention  to  those 
who  know  it,  the  fact  that  everywhere  in 
Scripture  he  is  called  Man,  and  the  Son  of 
Man  ? 

If,  however,  they  rely  on  the  passage,  The 
Word  was  made  Flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,<* 
and  because  of  this  erase  the  noblest  part  of 
Man  (as  cobblers  do  the  thicker  part  of 
skins)  that  they  may  join  together  God  and 
Flesh,  it  is  time  for  them  to  say  that  God  is 
God  only  of  flesh,  and  not  of  souls,  because  it 
is  written,  "As  Thou  hast  given  Him  power 
over  all  Flesh,"  ^  and  "  Unto  Thee  shall  all 
Flesh  come ;  "  y  and  ' '  Let  all  Flesh  bless  His 
holy  Name,"  ^  meaning  every  Man.  Or, 
again,  they  must  suppose  that  our  fathers  went 
down  into  Egypt  without  bodies  and  invisi- 
ble, and  that  only  the  Soul  of  Joseph  was  im- 
prisoned by  Pharaoh,  because  it  is  written, 
"  They  went  down  into  Egypt  with  threescore 
and  fifteen  Souls,"*  and  "The  iron  entered 
into  his  Soul,"  ^  a  thing  which  could  not  be 
bound.  They  who  argue  thus  do  not  know 
that  such  expressions  are  used  by  Synecdoche, 
declaring  the  whole  by  the  part,  as  when 
Scripture  says  that  the  young  ravens  call  upon 
God, "I  to  indicate  the  whole  feathered  race  ;  or 
Pleiades,  Hesperus,  and  Arcturus  ^  are  men- 
tioned, instead  of  all  the  Stars  and  His  Provid- 
ence over  them. 

Moreover,  in  no  other  way  was  it  possible 
for  the  Love  of  God  toward  us  to  be  mani- 
fested than  by  making  mention  of  our  flesh, 
and  that  for  our  sake  He  descended  even  to 
our  lower  part;  For  that  flesh  is  less  precious 
than  .soul,  everyone  who  has  a  spark  of  sense  will 
acknowledge.  And  so  the  passage.  The  Word 
was  made  Flesh,  seems  to  me  to  be  equivalent 
to  that  in  which  it  is  said  that  He  was  made 
sin,"  or  a  curse  ^  for  us  ;  not  that  the  Lord  was 
transformed  into  either  of  these,  how  could  He 
be?  But  because  by  taking  them  upon  Him 
He  took  away  our  sins  and  bore  our  iniquities.'* 
This,  then,  is  sufficient  to  say  at  the  present 
time  for  the  sake  of  clearness  and   of  being 


ojohn  i.  14.  /Sib.  xvii.  2.  y  Ps.  Ixv.  2.  i  lb.  cxlv.  21. 
c  Acts  vii.  14.  iPs.  cv.  18.  T)  Ps.  cxlvii.  8.  0  Job  ix.  g. 
K  2  Cor.  V.  21.  X  Gal.  iii.  13.  ju.  Isa.  liii.  7  LXX. 


understood  by  the  many.  And  I  write  it, 
not  with  any  desire  to  compose  a  treatise,  but 
only  to  check  the  progress  of  deceit  ;  and  if 
it  is  thought  well,  I  will  give  a  fuller  account 
of  these  matters  at  greater  length. 

But  there  is  a  matter  which  is  graver  than 
these,  a  special  point  which  it  is  necessary  that 
I  should  not  pass  over.  I  would  they  were  even 
cut  off  that  trouble  you,"  and  would  reintroduce 
a  second  Judaism,  and  a  second  circumcision, 
and  a  second  system  of  sacrifices.  For  if 
this  be  done,  what  hinders  Christ  also  being 
born  again  to  set  them  aside,  and  again  being 
betrayed  by  Judas,  and  crucified  and  buried, 
and  rising  again,  that  all  may  be  fulfilled  in  the 
same  order,  like  the  Greek  system  of  cycles, 
in  which  the  same  revolutions  of  the  stars  bring 
round  the  same  events  ?  For  what  the  method 
of  selection  is,  in  accordance  with  which  some 
of  the  events  are  to  occur  and  others  to  be 
omitted,  let  these  wise  men  who  glory  in  the 
multitude  of  their  books  shew  us. 

But  since,  puffed  up  by  their  theory  of  the 
Trinity,  they  falsely  accuse  us  of  being  un- 
sound in  the  Faith  and  entice  the  multitude, 
it  is  necessary  that  people  should  know  that 
Apollinarius,  while  granting  the  Name  of  God- 
head to  the  Holy  Ghost,  did  not  preserve  the 
Power  of  the  Godhead.  For  to  make  the 
Trinity  consist  of  Great,  Greater,  and  Greatest, 
as  of  Light,  Ray,  and  Sun,  the  Spirit  and  the 
Son  and  the  Father  (as  is  clearly  stated  in 
his  writings),  is  a  ladder  of  Godhead  not  lead- 
ing to  Heaven,  but  down  from  Heaven.  But 
we  recognize  God  the  Father  and  the  Son  and 
the  Lloly  Ghost,  and  these  not  as  bare  titles, 
dividing  inequalities  of  ranks  or  of  power,  but" 
as  there  is  one  and  the  same  title,  so  there  is 
one  nature  and  one  substance  in  the  Godhead. 

But  if  anyone  who  thinks  we  have  spoken 
rightly  on  this  subject  reproaches  us  with  hold- 
ing communion  with  heretics,  let  him  prove 
that  we  are  open  to  this  charge,  and  we  will 
either  convince  him  or  retire.  But  it  is  not 
safe  to  make  any  innovation  before  judgment 
is  given,  especially  in  a  matter  of  such  import- 
ance, and  connected  with  so  great  issues.  We 
have  protested  and  continue  to  protest  this  be- 
fore (iod  and  men.  And  not  even  now,  be 
well  assured,  .should  we  have  written  this,  if  we 
had  not  seen  that  the  Church  was  being  torn 
asunder  and  divided,  among  their  other  tricks, 
by  their  present  synagogue  of  vanity.'^  But  if 
anyone  when  we  say  and  protest  this,  either 
from  some  advantage  they  will  thus  gain,  or 
through  fear  of  men,  or  monstrous  littleness  of 


a  Galat.  v.  12. 


^   Ps.  xxvi.  4  LXX. 


LETTERS    OF   SAINT   GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


443 


mind,  or  through  some  neglect  of  pastors  and 
governors,  or  through  love  of  novelty  and 
proneness  to  innovations,  rejects  us  as  miwor- 
thy  of  credit,  and  attaches  himself  to  such 
men,  and  divides  the  noble  body  of  the  Church, 
he  shall  bear  his  judgment,  whoever  he  may 
be,*  and  shall  give  account  to  God  in  the  day  of 
judgment.^  But  if  their  long  books,  and  their 
new  Psalters,  contrary  to  that  of  David,  and 
the  grace  of  their  metres,  are  taken  for  a  third 
Testament,  we  too  will  compose  Psalms,  and 
will  write  much  in  metre.  For  we  also  think 
we  have  the  spirit  of  God,'>'  if  indeed  this  is  a 
gift  of  the  Spirit,  and  not  a  human  novelty. 
This  I  will  that  thou  declare  publicly,  that  we 
may  not  be  held  responsible,  as  overlooking 
such  an  evil,  and  as  though  this  wicked  doc- 
trine received  food  and  strength  from  our  in- 
difference. 

AGAINST   APOLLINARIUS  ;    THE  SEC- 
OND LETTER  TO  CLEDONIUS. 
(Ep.  CII.) 

Forasmuch  as  many  persons  have  come  to 
your  Reverence  seeking  confirmation  of  their 
faith,  and  therefore  you  have  affectionately 
asked  me  to  put  forth  a  brief  definition  and 
rule  of  my  opinion,  I  therefore  write  to  your 
Reverence,  what  indeed  you  knew  before,  that 
I  never  have  and  never  can  honour  anything 
above  the  Nicene  Faith,  that  of  the  Holy 
Fathers  who  met  there  to  destroy  the  Arian 
heresy  ;  but  am,  and  by  God's  help  ever  will 
be,  of  that  faith  ;  completing  in  detail  that 
which  was  incompletely  said  by  them  concern- 
ing the  Holy  Ghost ;  for  that  question  had 
not  then  been  mooted,  namely,  that  we  are  to 
believe  that  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost 
are  of  one  Godhead,  thus  confessing  the  Spirit 
also  to  be  God.  Receive  then  to  communion 
those  who  think  and  teach  thus,  as  I  also  do ; 
but  those  who  are  otherwise  minded  refuse,  and 
hold  them  as  strangers  to  God  and  the  Cathol- 
ic Church.  And  since  a  question  has  also 
been  mooted  concerning  the  Divine  Assump- 
tion of  humanity,  or  Incarnation,  state  this 
also  clearly  to  all  concerning  me,  that  I  join 
in  One  the  Son,  Avho  was  begotten  of  the 
Father,  and  afterward  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  that  I  do  not  call  Him  two  Sons,  but  wor- 
ship Him  as  One  and  the  same  in  undivided 
Godhead  and  honour.  But  if  anyone  does 
not  assent  to  this  statement,  either  now  or 
hereafter,  he  shall  give  account  to  God  at  the 
day  of  judgment. 


a  Galat,  v.  lo. 


/3  Matt.  xii.  36.         y  i  Cor.  vii.  40. 


Now,  what  we  object  and  oppose  to  their 
mindless  opinion  about  His  Mind  is  this,  to 
put  it  shortly  ;  for  they  are  almost  alone  in  the 
condition  which  they  lay  down,  as  it  is 
through  want  of  mind  that  they  mutilate  His 
mind.  But,  that  they  may  not  accuse  us  of 
having  once  accepted  but  of  now  repudiat- 
ing the  faith  of  their  beloved  Vitalius  »  which 
he  handed  in  in  writing  at  the  request  of  the 
blessed  Bishop  Damasus  of  Rome,  I  will  give 
a  short  explanation  on  this  point  also.  For 
these  men,  when  they  are  theologizing  among 
their  genuine  disciples,  and  those  who  are  in- 
itiated into  their  secrets,  like  the  Manichaeans 
among  those  whom  they  call  the  "  Elect,"  e.x.- 
pose  the  full  extent  of  their  disease,  and  scarce- 
ly allow  flesh  at  all  to  the  Saviour.  But  when 
they  are  refuted  and  pressed  with  the  common 
answers  about  the  Incarnation  which  the  Scrip- 
ture presents,  they  confess  indeed  the  ortho- 
dox words,  but  they  do  violence  to  the  sense ; 
for  they  acknowledge  the  Manhood  to  be 
neither  without  soul  nor  without  reason  nor 
without  mind,  nor  imperfect,  but  they  bring 
in  the  Godhead  to  supply  the  soul  and  reason 
and  mind,  as  though  It  had  mingled  Itself  only 
with  His  flesh,  and  not  with  the  other  proper- 
ties belonging  to  us  men ;  although  His  sin- 
lessness  was  far  above  us,  and  was  the  cleans- 
ing of  our  passions. 

Thus,  then,  they  interpret  wrongly  the 
words.  But  we  have  the  Mind  of  Christ,^  and 
very  absurdly,  Avhen  they  say  that  His  God- 
head is  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  not  under- 
standing the  passage  as  we  do,  namely,  that 
they  who  have  purified  their  mind  by  the  imi- 
tation of  the  mind  which  the  Saviour  took  of 
us,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  have  attained  con- 
formity with  it,  are  said  to  have  the  mind  of 
Christ ;  just  as  they  might  be  testified  to  have 
the  flesh  of  Christ  who  have  trained  their  flesh, 
and  in  this  respect  have  become  of  the  same 
body  and  partakers  of  Christ ;  and  so  he  says 
"As  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earth y 
we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly." 
And  so  they  declare  that  the  Perfect  Man  is  not 


a  Vitalius  or  Vitalis  was  one  of  the  principal  followers  of 
Apollinarius,  and  by  him  was  consecrated  schismatical  Bishop  of 
Antioch,  where,  while  yet  orthodox,  he  had  been  ordained  a 
priest  by  Meletius.  But  he  quarrelled  with  his  Bishop  through 
jealousy  of  another  priest,  and  then  fell  under  the  influence  "of 
Apollinarius.  He  was  summoned  to  Rome  to  clear  himself  of  the 
charge  of  heresy;  and  by  a  clever  manipulation  of  language  he 
produced  a  confession  which  the  Pope,  Damasus.  accepted  as 
orthodox  ;  but  the  Pope  remitted  the  whole  case  to  Paulinus,  who 
was  at  that  time  recognized  by  the  Western  Church  as  rightful 
Bishop.  Vitalius,  however,  was  unable  to  accept  the  test  re- 
quired, and  seceded.  On  his  return  from  Rome  he  had  visited 
Nazianzus,  where  S.  Gregory  received  him  as  a  brother  in  the 
faith,  though  further  acquaintance  compelled  him  to  withdraw 
from  this  position.  Vitalius,  while  admitting  that  our  Lord  had 
both  a  human  body  and  a  human  soul,  denied  Him  a  human 
mind  ;  whose  place,  according  to  his  teaching,  wis  supplied  by 
the  Divinity.  J3  i  Cor.  ii.  16.  7  i  Cor.  xv.  49. 


444 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


He  who  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are 
yet  without  sin  ;  "  but  the  mixture  of  God  and 
Flesh.  For  what,  say  they,  can  be  more  per- 
fect than  this? 

They  play  the  same  trick  with  the  word  that 
describes  the  Incarnation,  viz.  :  He  was  made 
Man,  explaining  it  to  mean,  not.  He  was  in  the 
human  nature  with  which  He  surrounded  Him- 
self, according  to  the  Scripture,  He  knew  what 
was  in  man  ;  ^  but  teaching  that  it  means,  He 
consorted  and  conversed  \\  ith  men,  and  taking 
refuge  in  the  expression  which  says  that  He 
was  seen  on  Earth  and  conversed  with  Men.v 
And  what  can  anyone  contend  further  ?  They 
who  take  away  the  Humanity  and  the  Interior 
Image  cleanse  by  their  newly  invented  mask 
only  our  outside,^  and  that  which  is  seen ;  so 
far  in  conflict  with  themselves  that  at  one  time, 
for  the  sake  of  the  flesh,  they  explain  all  the 
rest  in  a  gross  and  carnal  manner  (for  it  is 
from  hence  that  they  have  derived  their  second 
Judaism  and  their  silly  thousand  years  delight 
in  paradise,  and  almost  the  idea  that  we  shall 
resume  again  the  same  conditions  after  these 
same  thousand  years)  ;  and  at  another  time  they 
bring  in  His  flesh  as  a  phantom  rather  than  a 
reality,  as  not  having  been  subjected  to  any  of 
our  experiences,  not  even  such  as  are  free  from 
sin ;  and  use  for  this  purpose  the  apostolic  ex- 
pression, understood  and  spoken  in  a  .sense 
which  is  not  apostolic,  that  our  Saviour  was 
made  in  the  likeness  of  Men  and  found  in 
fashion  as  a  Man,^  as  though  by  these  words 
was  expressed,  not  the  human  form,  but  some 
delusive  phantom  and  appearance. 

Since  then  these  expressions,  rightly  under- 
stood, make  for  orthodoxy,  but  wrongly  inter- 
preted are  heretical,  what  is  there  to  be  sur- 
prised at  if  we  received  the  words  of  A^italius  in 
the  more  orthodox  sense  ;  our  desire  that  they 
should  be  so  meant  persuading  us,  though 
others  are  angrv  at  the  intention  of  his  writ- 
ings?  This  is,  I  think,  the  reason  why 
Damasus  himself,  having  been  subsequently 
better  informed,  and  at  the  same  time  learning 
that  they  hold  by  their  former  explanations, 
excommunicated  them  and  overturned  their 
written  confession  of  faith  with  an  Anathema  ; 
as  well  as  because  he  was  vexed  at  the  deceit 
which  he  had  suffered  from 
plicity. 

Since,  then,  they  have  been  openly  con- 
victed of  this,  let  them  not  be  angry,  but  let 
them  be  ashamed  of  themselves ;  and  let  them 
not  slander  us,  but  abase  themselves  and  wipe 
off  from  their  portals  that  great  and  marvellous 


them  through  sim- 


proclamation  and  boast  of  their  orthodoxy, 
meeting  all  who  go  in  at  once  with  the  ques- 
tion and  distinction  that  we  must  worship,  not 
a  God-bearing  Man,  but  a  flesh-bearing  God. 
What  could  be  more  unreasonable  than  this, 
though  these  new  heralds  of  truth  think  a  great 
deal  of  the  title  ?  For  though  it  has  a  certain 
sophistical  grace  through  the  quickness  of  its 
antithesis,  and  a  sort  of  juggling  quackery 
grateful  to  the  uninstructed,  yet  it  is  the  most 
absurd  of  absurdities  and  the  most  foolish  of 
follies.  For  if  one  were  to  change  the  word 
Man  or  Flesh  into  God  (the  first  would  please 
us,  the  second  them),  and  then  were  to  use  this 
wonderful  antithesis,  so  divinely  recognized, 
what  conclusion  should  we  arrive  at  ?  That 
we  must  worship,  not  a  God-bearing  Flesh,  but 
a  Man-bearing  God.  O  monstrous  absurdity  ! 
They  proclaim  to  us  to-day  a  ^\•isdom  hidden 
ever  since  the  time  of  Christ — a  thing  Avorthy 
of  our  tears.  For  if  the  faith  began  thirty 
years  ago,  when  nearly  four  hundred  years  had 
passed  since  Christ  was  manifested,  vain  all 
that  time  will  have  been  our  Gospel,  and  vain 
our  faith  ;  in  vain  will  the  Martyrs  have  borne 
their  witness,  and  in  vain  have  so  many  and  so 
great  Prelates  presided  over  the  people ;  and 
Grace  is  a  matter  of  metres  and  not  of  the  faith. 
And  who  will  not  marvel  at  their  learning, 
in  that  on  their  own  authority  they  divide  the 
things  of  Christ,  and  assign  to  His  Manhood 
such  sayings  as  He  was  born,  He  Avas  tempted, 
He  was  hungry,  He  was  thirsty.  He  was 
wearied,  He  was  asleep ;  but  reckon  to  His 
Divinity  such  as  these :  He  was  glorified  by 
Angels,  He  overcame  the  Tempter,  He  fed  the 
people  in  the  wilderness,  and  He  fed  them  in 
such  a  manner,  and  He  walked  upon  the  sea ; 
and  say  on  the  one  hand  that  the  ' '  Where 
have  ye  laid  Lazarus?"  °-  belongs  to  us,  but  the 
loud  voice  "  Lazarus,  Come  Forth  "  ^  and  the 
raising  him  that  had  been  four  days  dead,  is 
above  our  nature ;  and  that  while  the  ' '  He  was 
in  an  Agony,  He  was  crucified,  He  was  buried," 
l)elongs  to  the  Veil,  on  the  other  hand,  "  He 
was  confident,  He  rose  again.  He  ascended," 
belong  to  the  Inner  Treasure  ;  and  then  they 
accuse  us  of  introducing  two  natures,  separate 
or  conflicting,  and  of  dividing  the  supernatural 
and  wondrous  Union.  They  ought,  either  not 
to  do  that  of  which  they  accuse  us,  or  not  to 
accuse  us  of  that  A\hich  they  do  ;  so  at  least  if 
they  are  resolved  to  be  consistent  and  not  to 
propound  at  once  their  own  and  their  oppon- 
ents' 'princi])les.  Such  is  their  want  of  rea- 
son ;   it  conflicts  both  with  itself  and  with  the 


a  Heb.  iv.  15.  j3  John  ii.  25. 

£  Matt,  xxiii.  25,  26. 


y  KanicTi  iii.  37. 
e  Phil.  ii.  7. 


a  John  xi.  34. 


/S  lb.  xi.  43. 


LETTERS    OF    SAINT    GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


445 


truth  to  such  an  extent  that  they  are  neither 
conscious  nor  ashamed  of  it  when  they  fall  out 
with  themselves.  Now,  if  anyone  thinks  that 
we  write  all  this  willingly  and  not  upon  com- 
pulsion, and  that  we  are  dissuading  from  unity, 
and  not  doing  our  utmost  to  promote  it,  let 
him  know  that  he  is  very  much  mistaken,  and 
has  not  made  at  all  a  good  guess  at  our  desires, 
for  nothing  is  or  ever  has  been  more  valuable 
in  our  eyes  than  peace,  as  the  facts  themselves 
prove;  though  their  actions  and  brawlings 
against  us  altogether  exclude  unanimity. 


Ep.  CXXV. 

To  Olympius. 

Even  hoar  hairs  have  something  to  learn  ; 
and  old  age,  it  would  seem,  cannot  in  all 
respects  be  trusted  for  wisdom.  I  at  any 
rate,  knowing  better  than  anyone,  as  I  did, 
the  thoughts  and  the  heresy  of  the  Apollin- 
arians,  and  seeing  that  their  folly  was  intoler- 
able ;  yet  thinking  that  I  could  tame  them  by 
patience  and  soften  them  by  degrees,  I  let  my 
hopes  make  me  eager  to  attain  this  object. 
But,  as  it  seems,  I  overlooked  the  fact  that  I 
was   making   them   worse,    and    injuring   the 


Church  by  my  untimely  philosophy.  For 
gentleness  does  not  put  bad  men  out  of  coun- 
tenance. And  now  if  it  had  been  possible 
for  me  to  teach  you  this  myself,  I  should  not 
have  hesitated,  you  may  be  sure,  even  to  un- 
dertake a  journey  beyond  my  strength  to  throw 
myself  at  the  feet  of  your  Excellency.  But 
since  my  illness  has  brought  me  too  far,  and 
it  has  become  necessary  for  me  to  try  the  hot 
baths  of  Xanxaris  at  the  advice  of  my  medical 
men,  I  send  a  letter  to  represent  me.  These 
wicked  and  utterly  abandoned  men  have  dared, 
in  addition  to  all  their  other  misdeeds,  either 
to  summon,  or  to  make  a  bad  use  of  the  pas- 
sage (I  am  not  prepared  to  say  precisely  which) 
of  certain  Bishops,  deprived  by  the  whole 
Synod  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Church  ; 
and,  in  violation  of  all  Imperial  Ordinances, 
and  of  your  commands,  to  confer  the  name  of 
Bishop  on  a  certain  individual  of  their  own 
misbelieving  and  deceitful  crew  ;  encouraged 
to  do  so,  as  I  believe,  by  nothing  so  much  as 
my  great  infirmity  ;  for  I  must  mention  this. 
If  this  is  to  be  tolerated,  your  Excellency  will 
tolerate  it,  and  I  too  will  bear  it,  as  I  have 
often  before.  But  if  it  is  serious,  and  not  to 
be  endured  by  our  most  august  Emperors,  pray 
punish  what  has  been  done — though  more 
mildly  than  such  madness  merits. 


DIVISION    II. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   SAINT   BASIL   THE   GREAT,  ARCHBISHOP   OF 

CAESAREA. 


Ep.   I. 

(Perhaps  about  a. d.  357  or  358  ;   in  answer 
to  a  letter  which  is  not  now  extant.) 


To  Basil  his  Comrade. 

I  have  failed,  I  confess,  to  keep  my  pro- 
mise. I  had  engaged  even  at  Athens,  at  the 
time  of  our  friendship  and  intimate  connection 
there  (for  I  can  find  no  better  word  for  it), 
to  join  you  in  a  life  of  philosophy.  But  I 
failed  to  keep  my  promise,  not  of  my  own  will, 
but  becau.se  one  law  prevailed  against  another ; 
I  mean  the  law  which  bids  us  honour  our  par- 
ents overpowered  the  law  of  our  friendship  and 
intercourse.  Yet  I  will  not  fail  you  altogether, 
if  you  will  accept  this  offer.  I  shall  be  with 
you  half  the  time,  and  half  of  it  you  will  be 
with  me,  that  we  may  have  the  whole  in  com- 
mon, and  that  our  friendship  may  be  on  ecjual 
terms ;  and  so  it  will  be  arranged  in  such  a 
way  that  my  parents  will  not  be  grieved,  and 
yet  I  shall  gain  you. 


Ep.  II. 

(Written  about  the  same  time,  in  reply  to 
another  letter  now  lost.) 

I  do  not  like  being  joked  about  Tiberina 
and  its  mud  and  its  winters,  O  my  friend,  who 
are  so  free  from  mud,  and  who  walk  on  tiptoe, 
and  trample  on  the  plains.  You  who  have 
wings  and  are  borne  aloft,  and  fly  like  the  ar- 
rows of  Abaris,  in  order  that,  Cappadocian 
though  you  are,  you  may  flee  from  Cappado- 
cia.  Have  we  done  you  an  injury,  because 
while  you  are  pale  and  breathing  hard  and 
measuring  the  sun,  we  are  sleek  and  well  fed 


and  not  pressed  for  room?  Yet  this  is  your 
condition.  You  are  luxurious  and  rich,  and 
go  to  market.  I  do  not  approve  of  this. 
Either  then  cease  to  reproach  us  with  our  mud 
(for  you  did  not  build  your  city,  nor  we  make 
our  winter),  or  else  for  our  mud  we  will  bring 
against  you  your  hucksters,  and  the  rest  of 
the  crop  of  nuisances  which  infest  cities. 


Ep.   IV. 

(In  answer  to  Ep.   XIV.,  of  Basil,   about 
361.) 

You  may  mock  and  pull  to  pieces  my  af- 
fairs, whether  in  jest  or  in  earnest.  This  is  a 
matter  of  no  consequence ;  only  laugh,  and 
take  your  fill  of  culture,  and  enjoy  my  friend- 
ship. Everything  that  comes  from  you  is 
pleasant  to  me,  no  matter  what  it  may  be,  and 
how  it  may  look.  For  I  think  you  are  chaf- 
fing about  things  here,  not  for  the  .sake  of 
chaffing,  but  that  you  may  draw  me  to  your- 
self, if  I  understand  you  at 
pie  who  block  up  streams 
them  into  another  channel, 
sayings  always  seem  to  me. 

For  my  part  1  will  admire  your  Pontus  and 
your  Pontic  darkness,  and  your  dwelling  place 
so  worthy  of  exile,  and  the  hills  over  your 
head,  and  the  wild  beasts  which  test  your  faith, 
and  your  secjuestered  spot  that  lies  under  them 
.  or  as  I  should  say  your  mousehole  with 
the  stately  names  of  Abode  of  Thought,  Monas- 
tery, School ;  and  your  thickets  of  wild  bushes, 
and  crown  of  precipitous  mountains,  by  which 
may  you  be,  not  crowned  but,  cloistered  ;  and 
your  limited  air ;  and  the  sun,  for  which  you 
long,  and  can  only  see  as  through  a  chimney, 
O  sunless  Cimmerians  of  Pontus,  who  are  con- 
demned  not  only  to  a  .six  months'  night,  as 


all ;  just  like  peo- 

in   order    to  draw 

That  is  how  your 


LETTERS   OF   SAINT   GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


447 


some  are  said  to  be,  but  who  have  not  even  a 
part  of  your  life  out  of  the  shadow,   but  all 
your  life  is  one  long  night,  and  a  real  shadow 
of  death,    to  use  a  Scripture  phrase.     And  1 
admire  your  strait  and  narrow  road,   leadmg  j 
...     I  know  not  if  it  be  to  the  Kingdom,  i 
or  to  Hades,  but  for  your  sake  I  hope  it  is  the  j 
Kingdom.      .      .      And  as  for   the   interven-  j 
ing ''country,    what    is    your    wish?     Am    I  1 
falsely  to  call  it  Eden,  and  the  fountam  divided  ! 
into  four  heads,  by  which    the  world  is  wa- 
tered,    or    the   dry   and   waterless   wilderness 
(only  what  Moses  will  come  to   tame  it,  bring- 
ing water  out  of  the  rock  with  his  staff)  ?    For 
air  of  it  which  has  escaped  the  rocks  is  full  of 
gullies;  and   that    which  is   not  a  gully  is  a 
thicket  of  thorns  ;  and  whatever  is  above  the 
thorns  is  a  precipice ;  and  the  road  above  that 
is  precipitous,  and  slopes  both  ways,  exercising 
the  mind  of  travellers,  and  calling  for  gymnas- 
tic exercises  for  safety.     And  the  river  rushes 
roaring  down,  which  to  you  is  a  Strymon  ot 
Amphipolis  for  quietness,   and    there  are  not 
so  many  fishes  in  it  as  stones,  nor  does  it  flow 
into  a  lake,  but  it  dashes  into  abysses,  O  my 
grandiloquent    friend    and    inventor    of   new 
names.     For  it  is  great  and  terrible,  and  over- 
whelms the  psalmody  of  those  who  live  above 
it ;    like  the  Cataracts   and   Catadoupa  of  the 
Nile,  so  does  it  roar  you  down  day  and  night. 
It  is  rough  and  fordless ;  and  it  has  only  this 
morsel  of  kindness  about  it,  that  it  does  not 
sweep  away  your  dwelling  when  the  torrents 
and  winter  storms  make  it  mad.      This  then  is 
what  I  think  of  those  Fortunate  Islands  and  of 
you  happy  people.     And  you  are  not  to  ad- 
mire the  crescent-shaped  curves  which  strangle 
rather  than  cut  off  the  accessible  parts  of  your 
Highlands,  and    the   strip  of  mountain  ridge 
tha^t  hangs  over  your  heads,  and  makes  your 
life  like    that  of  Tantalus  ;  and  the  draughty 
breezes,  and  the  vent-holes  of  the  earth,  which 
refresh   your  courage  when   it   fails ;   and  your 
musical  birds  that  sing  (but  only  of  famine), 
and  fly  about  (but  only  about  the  desert).     No 
one  visits  it,  you  say,  except  for  hunting ;  you 
might  add,  and  except  to  look  upon  your  dead 
bodies.      This  is  perhaps  too  long  for  a  letter, 
but  it  is   too  sliort  for  a  comedy.      If  you  can 
take  my  jokes  kindly  you  will  do  well,  but  if 
not,  I  will  send  you  some  more. 

Ep.  V. 
(Circa  a.d.  361.) 


"  Come  now  and  change  thy  theme, 
And  sing  of  the  inner  adornment." 

— Ou.  viii.  492. 

Your  roofless  and   doorless  hut,    your  fireless 
and  smokeless  hearth,  your  walls  dried  by  fire, 
that  we  may  not  be  hit  by  the  drops  of  the  mud, 
condemned  like  Tantahis  thirsting  in  the  midst 
of  waters,  and  that  pitiable  feast  with  nothing 
to  eat,  to  which  we  were  invited  from  Cappa- 
docia,  not  as  to  a  Lotus-eater's  poverty,  but  to 
a  table   of  Alcinous — we  young  and  miserable 
survivors  of  a  wreck.     For  I  remember  those 
loaves  and   the  broth  (so  it  was  called),  yes, 
and  I  shall  remember  them  too,  and  my  poor 
teeth  that  slipped  on  your  hunks  of  bread,  and 
then  braced  themselves  up,  and  pulled  them- 
selves as  it  were  out  of  mud.     You  yourself  will 
raise  these  things  to  a  higher  strain  of  tragedy, 
having  learnt  to  talk  big  through  your  own  suf- 
ferings.    .     .     for  if  we  had  not  been  quickly 
delivered  by  that  great  supporter  of  the  poor 
I  mean  your  mother — who  appeared  oppor- 
tunely like  a  harbour  to  men  tossed  by  a  storm, 
we  should  long  ago   have  been  dead,  rather 
pitied  than  admired  for  our  faith  in  Pontus. 
How  shall  I  pass  over  that  garden  which  was 
no  garden  and  had   no    vegetables,    and  the 
Augean  dunghill  which  we  cleared  out  of  the 
house,   and  with  which   we  filled  it   up  (sc. 
the  garden),  when  we  drew  that  mountainous 
Avagon,   I  the  vintager,  and   you  the  valiant, 
with  our  necks  and  hands,  which  still  bear  the 
traces  of  our  labours.     "  O  earth  and  sun,  O  air 
and   virtue"    (for    I    will  indulge  a  little  in 
tragic  tones),   not  that  we  might  bridge    the 
Hellespont,    but   that   we  might  level  a  preci- 
pice.    If  you  are  not  put  out  by  the  mention 
of  the  circumstances,   no  more  am  I ;   but  if 
you  are,  how  much  more  was  I  by  the  reality. 
I    pass   by    the  rest,   through  respect  for  the 
others  from  whom  I  received  much  enjoyment. 

Ep.  VI. 

(Written  about  the  same  time,  in  a  more 
serious  vein.) 

What  I  wrote  before  about  our  stay  in 
Pontus  was  in  joke,  not  in  earnest ;  what  I 
write  now  is  very  much  in  earnest.  O  that 
one  would  place  me  as  in  the  month  of 
those  former  days,''  in  which  I  luxuriated  with 
you  in  hard  liVing ;  since  voluntary  pain  is 
more  valuable  than  involuntary  delight.  O 
that  one  would  give  me  back  those  psalmodies 


Since  you 
you  the  rest. 


do  take  my  jokes  kindly,  I  send 
My  prelude  is  from  Homer. 


a  Job  xxix.  2. 


448 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  vigils  and  those  sojournings  with  God  in 
prayer,  and  that  immaterial,  so  to  speak,  and 
unbodied  life.  O  for  the  intimacy  and  one- 
souledness  of  the  brethren  who  were  by  you 
divinized  and  exalted :  O  for  the  contest  and 
incitement  of  virtue  which  we  secured  by  writ- 
ten Rules  and  Canons  ;  O  for  the  loving  labour 
in  the  Divine  Oracles,  and  the  light  we  found 
in  them  by  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Or,  if  I  may  speak  of  lesser  and  slighter  mat- 
ters, O  for  the  daily  courses  and  experiences  ; 
O  for  the  gatherings  of  \\ood,  and  the  cutting 
of  stone ;  O  for  the  golden  plane-tree,  more 
precious  than  that  of  Xerxes,  under  which  sat, 
not  a  King  enfeebled  by  luxury,  but  a  Monk 
worn  out  by  hard  life,  which  I  planted  and 
Apollos  (I  mean  your  honourable  self)  watered ; " 
but  God  gave  tlie  increase  to  our  honour,  that 


a  memorial  mioht  remain 


among 


you  of  my 


diligence,  as  in  the  Ark  we  read  and  believe, 
did  Aaron's  rod  that  budded.'^  To  long  for  all 
this  is  very  easy,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  attain  it. 
But  do  you  come  to  me,  and  conspire  with  me 
in  virtue,  and  co-operate  with  me,  and  aid  me 
by  your  prayers  to  keep  the  profit  which  we  used 
to  get  together,  that  I  may  not  perish  by  little 
and  little,  like  a  shadow  as  the  day  draws  to  its 
close.  I  would  rather  breathe  you  than  the 
air,  and  only  live  while  I  am  with  you,  either 
actually  in  your  presence,  or  virtually  by  your 
likeness  in  your  absence. 

Ep.  VIII. 

(Written  to  S.  Basil  shortly  after  his  Ordina- 
tion as  Priest,  probably  toward  the  end  of 
A.D.  362.) 

I  approve  the  beginning  of  your  letter ;  but 
what  is  there  of  yours  tliat  I  do  not  approve  ? 
And  you  are  convicted  of  having  written  just 
like  me;^  for  I,  too,  was  forced  into  the  rank 
of  the  Priesthood,  for  indeed  I  never  was  eager 
for  it.  We  are  to  one  another,  if  ever  any 
men  were,  trustworthy  witnesses  of  our  love  for 
a  humble  and  lowly  philosophy.  But  perhaps 
it  would  have  been  better  that  this  had  not 
happened,  or  I  know  not  what  to  sa)',  as  long 
as  I  am  in  ignorance  of  the  purpose  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  But  since  it  has  come  about,  we 
must  bear  it,  at  least  so  it  seems  clear  to  me  ;  and 
especially  when  we  take  the  times  into  con- 
sideration, which  are  bringing  in  upon  us  so 
many  heretical  tongues,  and  must  not  put  to 
shame  either  the  hopes  of  those  who  have 
trusted  us  thus,  or  our  own  lives. 


a  I  Cor.  iii.  6.  fi  Num.  xvii.  8,  10. 

y  The  Editors  render  ".And  you  were  criptured  just  as  I  .tIso  w.is 
Circumscribed,"  etc.,    but  the  Greek  hardly  bears  this  reudering. 


Ep.  XIX. 

(This  Epistle  should  be  read  in  connection 
with  the  three  addressed  to  Eusebius  of  Ccesa- 
rea,  to  which  it  refers.  For  the  circumstances 
see  General  Prolegomena,  §  i,  p.  194.) 

It  is  a  time  for  prudence  and  endurance,  and 
that  we  should  not  let  anyone  appear  to  be  of 
higher  courage  than  ourselves,  or  let  all  our 
labours  and  toils  be  in  an  instant  brought  to 
nothing.  Why  do  I  write  this,  and  wherefore  ? 
Our  Bishop  Eusebius,  very  dear  to  God  (for  so 
we  must  for  the  future  both  think  and  write  of 
him),  is  very  much  disposed  to  agreement  and 
friendship  with  us  ;  and  as  fire  softens  iron,  so 
has  time  softened  him  ;  and  I  think  a  letter  of 
appeal  and  invitation  will  come  to  you  from 
him,  as  he  intimated  to  me,  and  as  many  per- 
sons who  are  well  acquainted  with  his  affairs 
assure  me.  Let  us  be  beforehand  with  him  then, 
either  by  going  to  him,  or  by  writing  to  him  ; 
or  rather  by  first  writing  and  then  going;  in 
order  that  we  may  not  by  and  by  be  put  to 
shame  by  being  defeated  when  it  was  in  our 
power  to  secure  a  victory  by  being  honourably 
and  i)hilosophically  beaten,  which  so  many  are 
asking  from  us.  Be  persuaded  by  me  then,  and 
come  ;  both  on  this  account  and  on  account  of 
the  bad  times ;  for  a  conspiracy  of  heretics  is 
assailing  the  Church  ;  some  of  them  are  here 
now,  and  are  troubling  us  ;  and  others,  rumour 
says,  are  coming  :  and  there  is  reason  to  fear 
lest  the  Word  of  Truth  should  be  swept  awa}', 
unless  there  be  stirred  up  very  soon  the  spirit  of 
a  Bezaleel,  the  wise  Master  builder  of  such  ar- 
guments and  dogmas.  If  you  think  I  ought  to 
go  too,  to  stay  with  you  and  travel  with  you, 
I  will  not  refuse  to  do  even  this. 

(We  insert  here  the  three  letters  to  Eusebius, 
\\hich  ai-e  so  closely  connected  with  the  above 
as  not  to  seem  out  of  place.) 


Ep.  XVI. 

To  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  C.«s.\re.\. 

Since  I  am  addressing  a  man  who  does  not 
love  falsehood,  and  who  is  the  keenest  man  I 
know  at  detecting  it  in  another,  however  it  may 
be  twined  in  skilful  and  varied  labyrinths  ; 
and,  moreover,  on  my  own  part  I  will  say  it, 
though  against  the  grain  I  do  not  like  artifice, 
either,  both  from  my  natural  constitution,  and 
because  God's  Word  has  formed  me  so.   There- 


LETTERS    OF    SAINT    GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


449 


fore  I  write  what  presents  itself  to  my  mind  ; 
and  I  beg  you  to  excuse  my  plain  speaking,  or 
you  will  wrong  the  truth  by  depriving  me  of  my 
liberty,  and  forcing  me  to  restrain  within  my- 
self the  pain  of  my  grief,  like  some  secret  and 
malignant  disease.  I  rejoice  that  I  have  your 
respect  (for  I  am  a  man,  as  some  one  has  said 
before),  and  that  I  am  summoned  to  Synods  and 
spiritual  conferences.  But  I  am  troubled  at  the 
slight  which  has  been  inflicted  on  my  most 
Reverend  brother  Basil,  and  is  still  inflicted  on 
him  by  Your  Reverence  ;  for  I  chose  him  as 
the  companion  of  my  life  and  words  and  high- 
est philosophy,  and  he  is  so  still  ;  and  I  never 
had  reason  to  regret  my  judgment  of  him.  It 
is  more  temperate  to  speak  thus  of  him,  that  I 
may  not  seem  to  be  praising  myself  in  admiring 
him.  You,  however,  I  think,  by  honouring  me 
and  dishonouring  him,  seem  to  be  acting  like  a 
man  who  should  with  one  hand  stroke  a  man's 
head,  and  with  the  other  hand  strike  him  on  the 
face  ;  or  while  tearing  up  the  foundations  of  a 
house  should  paint  the  walls  and  decorate  the 
exterior.  If  then  you  will  listen  to  me,  this  is 
what  you  will  do,  and  I  claim  to  be  listened 
to,  for  this  is  justice.  If  you  will  pay  due  at- 
tention to  him,  he  will  do  the  like  by  you. 
And  I  will  follow  him  as  a  shadow  does  the 
body,  being  of  little  worth  and  inclined  to 
peace.  For  I  am  not  so  mean  as  to  be  willing 
in  other  respects  to  philosophize,  and  to  be  of 
the  better  part,  but  to  overlook  a  matter  which 
is  the  end  of  all  our  teaching,  namely  love  ; 
especially  in  regard  to  a  Priest,  and  one  of 
so  high  a  character,  and  one  whom  I  kno\Y  of 
all  my  acquaintances  to  be  the  best  both  in  life 
and  doctrine  and  conduct.  For  my  pain  shall 
not  obscure  the  truth. 


Ep.  XVII. 

To  EusEBius,  Archbishop  of  C^^sarea. 

I  did  not  write  in  an  insolent  spirit,  as  you 
complain  of  my  letter,  but  rather  in  a  spiritual 
and  philosophical  one,  and  as  was  fitting,  un- 
less this  too  wrongs  "  your  most  eloquent  Greg- 
ory. ' '  For  though  you  are  my  Superior  in  rank, 
yet  you  will  grant  me  something  of  liberty  and 
just  freedom  of  speech.  Therefore  be  kinder  to 
me.  But  if  you  regard  my  letter  as  coming 
from  a  .servant,  and  from  one  who  has  not  the 
right  even  to  look  you  in  the  face,  I  will  in 
this  instance  accept  your  stripes  and  not  even 
shed  a  tear.  Will  you  blame  me  for  this  also  ? 
That  would  befit  anyone  rather  than  your  Re- 
verence. For  it  is  the  part  of  a  high-souled  man 
29 


to  accept  more  readily  the  freedom  of  a  friend 
than  the  flattery  of  an  enemy. 


Ep.  XVIII. 

To    EUSEBIUS    OF    C^SAREA. 

I  was  never  meanly  disposed  towards  your 
Reverence  ;  do  not  find  me  guilty.  But  after 
allowing  myself  a  little  liberty  and  boldness, 
just  to  relieve  and  heal  my  grief,  I  at  once 
bowed  and  submitted,  and  willingly  subjected 
myself  to  the  Canon.  What  else  could  I  have 
done,  knowing  both  you  and  the  Law  of  the 
Spirit?  But  if  I  had  been  ever  so  mean  and 
ignoble  in  my  sentiments,  yet  the  present  time 
would  not  allow  such  feelings,  nor  the  wild 
beasts  which  are  rushing  on  the  Church,  nor 
your  own  courage  and  manliness,  so  purely  and 
genuinely  fighting  for  the  Church.  I  will 
come  then,  if  you  wish  it,  and  take  part  with 
you  in  prayers  and  in  conflict,  and  will  serve 
you,  and  like  cheering  boys  will  stir  up  the 
noble  athlete  by  my  exhortations. 

Ep.  XL. 
To  THE  Great  Basil. 

(About  the  middle  of  the  year  370.  On  the 
death  of  Eusebius  Basil  seems  to  have  formed  a 
desire  that  his  friend  Gregory  should  succeed  to 
the  vacant  Metropolitanate ;  and  so  he  wrote 
to  him,  without  mentioning  the  death  of  the 
Archbishop,  to  come  to  him  at  Cfesarea,  repre- 
senting himself  as  dangerously  ill.  Gregory, 
deeply  grieved  at  the  news,  set  off  at  once,  but 
had  not  proceeded  far  on  his  way  when  he 
learned  that  Basil  was  in  his  usual  health,  and 
that  the  Bishops  of  the  Province  were  assem- 
bling at  Ccesarea  for  the  Election  of  a  Metro- 
politan. He  saw  through  the  artifice  at  once; 
and  thinking  that  Basil  had  wished  to  secure 
his  presence  at  the  Metropolis  in  order  that  his 
influence  might  bring  about  his  own  (Basil's) 
Election,  he  wrote  him  the  following  indignant 
letter.  Nevertheless  both  he  and  his  father  felt 
that  no  one  was  so  well  fitted  to  succeed  to  the 
vacant  throne  ;  and  so  Gregory  wrote  in  his 
father's  name  the  three  letters  which  we  have 
placed  next,  addressed  respectively  to  the 
people  of  Cgesarea,  to  the  Bishops  attending 
the  Synod,  and  to  Eusebius  Bishop  of  Samo- 
sata. ) 

Do  not  be  surprized  if  I  say  something  strange, 
which  has  not  been  said  before  by  anyone. 
I  think  you  have  the  reputation  of  being  a  steady 


450 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


safe  and  strong-minded  man,  but  also  of  being 
more  simple  than  safe  in  much  that  you  plan 
and  do.  For  that  which  is  free  from  evil  is 
also  in  proportion  slow  to  suspect  evil,  as  is 
shewn  by  what  has  just  occurred.  You  have 
summoned  me  to  the  Metropolis  at  the  moment 
when  a  council  has  been  called  for  the  election 
of  a  Bishop,  and  your  pretext  is  very  seemly 
and  plausible.  You  pretend  to  be  very  ill,  in- 
deed at  your  la-st  breath,  and  to  long  to  see  me 
and  to  bid  me  a  last  farewell ;  I  do  not  know 
with  what  object,  even  what  my  presence  can 
effect  in  the  matter.  I  started  in  great  grief  at 
what  had  happened ;  for  what  could  be  of 
higher  value  to  me  than  your  life,  or  more  dis- 
tressing than  your  departure?  And  I  shed  a 
fountain  of  tears ;  and  I  wailed  aloud  ;  and  I 
felt  myself  now  for  the  first  time  unphilosoph- 
ically  disposed.  What  did  I  leave  unperformed 
of  all  that  befits  a  funeral  ?  But  as  soon  as  I 
found  that  the  Bishops  were  assembling  at  the 
City,  at  once  I  stopped  short  in  my  course ; 
and  I  wondered  first  that  you  had  not  per- 
ceived what  was  proper,  or  guarded  against 
people's  tongues,  which  are  so  given  to  slander 
the  guileless ;  and  secondly  that  you  did  not 
think  the  same  course  to  be  fitting  for  me  as  for 
yourself,  though  our  life  and  our  rule  and  every- 
thing is  common  to  us  both,  who  have  been 
so  closely  associated  by  God  from  the  first. 
Thirdly,  for  I  must  say  this  also,  I  wondered 
whether  you  remembered  that  such  nominations 
are  worthy  of  the  more  religious,  not  of  the 
more  powerful,  norof  those  most  in  favour  with 
the  multitude.  For  these  reasons  then  I  backed 
water,  and  held  back.  Now,  if  you  think  as  I 
do,  come  to  this  determination,  to  avoid  these 
public  turmoils  and  evil  suspicions.  I  shall  see 
your  Reverence  when  the  matters  are  .settled 
and  time  allows,  and  I  shall  have  more  and 
graver  reproaches  to  address  to  you. 

Ep.  XLI. 

To    THE     People     of    Gesarea,    in    his 
Father's  naiIie. 

T  am  a  little  shepherd,  and  pre.side  over  a  tiny 
fiock,  and  I  am  among  the  least  of  the  servants 
of  the  Spirit.  But  Grace  is  not  narrow,  or 
circumscribed  by  place.  Wherefore  let  free- 
dom of  speech  be  given  even  to  the  small, — 
especially  when  the  subject  matter  is  of  such 
great  importance,  and  one  in  which  all  are 
interested — even  to  deliberate  with  men  of 
hoary  hairs,  who  speak  with  perhaps  greater 
wisdom  than  the  ordinary  run  of  men.  You 
are  deliberating  on  no  ordinary  or  unimpor- 


tant matter,  but  on  one  by  which  the  common 
interest  must  necessarily  be  promoted  or  injured 
according  to  the  decision  at  which  you  arrive. 
For  our  subject  matter  is  the  Church,  for  which 
Christ  died,  and  the  guide  who  is  to  present  it 
and  lead  it  to  God.  For  the  light  of  the  body 
is  the  eye,"  as  we  have  heard ;  not  only 
the  bodily  eye  which  sees  and  is  seen,  but 
that  which  contemplates  and  is  contemplated 
spiritually.  But  the  light  of  the  Church  is  the 
Bishop,  as  is  evident  to  you  even  without  our 
writing  it.  As  then  the  straightness  or  crook- 
edness of  the  course  of  the  body  depends  upon 
the  clearness  or  dulness  of  the  eye,  so  must  the 
Church  necessarily  share  the  peril  or  safety  in- 
curred by  the  conduct  of  its  Chief.  You  must 
then  take  thought  for  the  whole  Church  as  the 
Body  of  Christ,  but  more  especially  for  your 
own,  which  .was  from  the  beginning  and  is  now 
the  Mother  of  almost  all  the  Churches,  to  which 
all  the  Commonwealth  looks,  like  a  circle  de- 
scribed round  a  centre,  not  only  because  of  its 
orthodoxy  proclaimed  of  old  to  all,  but  also 
because  of  the  grace  of  unanimity  so  evidently 
bestowed  upon  it  by  God.  You  then  have  sum- 
moned us  also  to  your  discussion  of  this  matter, 
and  so  are  acting  rightly  and  canonicall3^  But 
we  are  oppressed  by  age  and  infirmity,  and  if 
we  by  the  strength  given  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
could  be  present  (nothing  is  incredible  to  them 
that  believe),  this  would  be  best  for  the  com- 
mon wellare  and  most  pleasant  to  ourselves, 
that  we  might  confer  something  on  you,  and 
ourselves  have  a  part  of  the  blessing ;  but  if  I 
should  be  kept  away  through  weakness,  I  will 
give  at  any  rate  whatever  can  be  given  by  one 
who  is  absent. 

I  believe  that  there  are  others  among  you 
worthy  of  the  Primacy,  both  because  of  the 
greatness  of  your  city,  and  because  it  has  been 
governed  in  times  past  so  excellently  and  by 
such  great  men  ;  but  there  is  one  man  among 
you  to  whom  I  cannot  prefer  any,  our  son 
well  beloved  of  God,  Basil  the  Priest  (I 
speak  before  God  as  my  witness) ;  a  man 
of  ])ure  life  and  word,  and  alone,  or  almost 
alone,  of  all  ([ualified  in  both  respects  to  stand 
against  the  present  times,  and  the  prevail- 
ing wordiness  of  the  heretics.  I  write  this 
to  men  of  the  priestly  and  monastic  Orders,  and 
also  to  the  dignitaries  and  councillors,  and  to 
the  whole  people.  If  you  should  approve  it, 
and  my  vote  should  prevail,  being  so  just  and 
right,  and  given  with  God's  aid,  I  am  and  will 
be  with  you  in  spirit ;  or  rather  I  have  already 
set  my  hand  to  the  work — and  am   bold   in 

a  Matt,  vi,  22. 


LETTERS    OF    SAINT   GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


451 


the  Spirit.  But  if  you  should  not  agree  with 
me,  but  determine  something  else,  and  if  the 
matter  is  to  be  settled  by  cliciue;  and  relation- 
ships, and  if  the  hand  of  the  mob  is  again 
to  disturb  the  sincerity  of  your  vote,  do  what 
pleases  you — I  shall  stay  at  home. 

Ep.    XLIII. 

(The  comprovincial  Bishops  had  notified  the 
elder  Gregorv  of  their  Svnod,  but  without  men- 
tioning  its  date  or  purpose  or  inviting  him  to 
take  part  in  it — probably  because  they  knew 
how  strongly  he  would  support  the  election  of 
Basil,  to  which  they  were  unfavourable.  S. 
Gregory  therefore  wrote  the  following  letter 
in  his  father's  name.) 


To  The  Bishops. 

How  sweet  and  kind  you  are,  and  how  full  of 
love.  You  have  invited  me  to  the  Metropolis, 
because,  as  I  imagine,  you  are  going  to  take 
some  counsel  about  a  Bishop.  So  much  I 
learn  from  you,  though  you  have  not  told  me 
either  that  I  am  to  be  present,  or  why,  or 
when,  but  have  merely  announced  to  me  sud- 
denly that  you  were  setting  out,  as  though  re- 
solved not  to  respect  me,  and  as  not  desirous 
that  I  should  share  your  counsels,  but  rather 
putting  a  hindrance  in  the  way  of  my  coming, 
that  you  may  not  meet  me  even  against  my  will. 
This  is  your  way  of  action,  and  I  will  put 
up  with  the  insult,  but  I  will  set  before  you 
my  view  and  how  I  feel.  Various  people  will 
put  forward  various  candidates,  each  accord- 
ing to  his  own  inclinations  and  interests,  as  is 
usually  the  case  at  such  times.  But  I  cannot 
prefer  anyone,  for  my  conscience  would  not 
allow  it,  to  my  dear  son  and  fellow  priest 
Basil.  For  whom  of  all  my  acquaintance  do  I 
find  more  approved  in  his  life,  or  more  powerful 
in  his  word,  or  more  furnished  altogether  with 
the  beauty  of  virtue  ?  But  if  you  allege  weak 
health  against  him,  I  reply  that  we  are  choos- 
ing not  an  athlete  but  a  teacher.  And  at  the 
same  time  is  seen  in  this  case  the  power  of  Him 
that  strengthens  and  supports  the  weak,  if  such 
they  be.  If  you  accept  this  vote  I  will  come 
and  take  part,  either  in  spirit  or  in  body.  But 
if  you  are  marching  to  a  foregone  conclusion, 
and  faction  is  to  overrule  justice,  I  shall  rejoice 
to  have  been  overlooked.  The  work  must  be 
yours ;  but  pray  for  me." 

o  There  is  here  a  various  reading  (the  difference  being  merely 
the  result  of  itacism)  which  seems  to  give  a  better  sense  ;  "  Ours 
is  to  pray  for  you." 


Ep.  XLII. 

(There  still  seemed  a  probability  that  in- 
trigues and  party  spirit  would  carry  the  day, 
and  so  the  two  Gregories  determined  to  call 
in  the  aid  of  Eusebius  of  Samo.sata,  though 
he  did  not  belong  to  the  Province.  He  had 
been  a  conspicuous  champion  of  orthodoxy 
against  the  Arian  Emperor  \"alens,  and  the 
Gregories  hoped  much  from  his  presence  at  the 
Synod.  He  responded  to  their  appeal,  and 
undertook  the  three  hundred  miles  of  very  diffic- 
ult travelling  to  throw  in  his  influence  with  the 
cause  which  they  had  at  heart.  He  saw,  how- 
ever, that  it  was  necessary  that  the  aged  Bishop 
of  Nazianzus,  notwithstanding  his  years  and 
infirmities,  should  make  the  effort,  and  he  per- 
suaded him  to  go.  The  result  was  all  that 
could  be  desired  ;  for  Basil  was  elected  by  a 
unanimous  vote.  The  letter,  which  8.  Gregory 
wrote  in  his  own  name  to  thank  him,  will  be 
found  later  on.) 


To  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Samosata. 

O  that  I  had  the  wings  of  a  dove,  or  that 
my  old  age  could  be  renewed,  that  I  might  be 
able  to  go  to  your  charity,  and  to  satisfy  the 
longings  that  I  have  to  see  you,  and  to  tell  you 
the  troubles  of  my  soul,  and  in  you  to  find 
some  comfort  for  my  afflictions.  For  since 
the  death  of  the  blessed  Bishop  Eusebius  I  am 
not  a  little  afraid  lest  they  who  on  a  former 
occasion  set  traps  for  our  Metropolis,  and 
wanted  to  fill  it  with  heretical  tares,  should 
now  seize  the  opportunity,  and  uproot  by  their 
evil  teaching  the  piety  which  has  with  so  much 
labour  been  sown  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and 
should  tear  asunder  its  unity,  as  they  have  done 
in  many  Churches.  As  soon  as  I  received  let- 
ters from  the  Clergy  asking  me  not  to  forget 
them  in  their  present  circumstances,  I  looked 
round  about  me,  and  remembered  your  love 
and  your  right  faith  and  the  zeal  with  which 
you  are  ever  possessed  for  the  Churches  of  God  ; 
and  therefore  I  sent  my  beloved  Eustathius, 
my  Deacon  and  helper,  to  warn  your  Rever- 
ence, and  to  entreat  you,  in  addition  to  all 
your  toils  for  the  Churches,  to  meet  me,  and 
both  to  refresh  my  old  age  by  your  coming, 
and  to  establish  in  the  Orthodox  Church  that 
piety  which  is  so  famous,  by  giving  her  with 
us  (if  we  may  be  deemed  worthy  to  have  a 
share  with  you  in  the  good  work)  a  Shepherd 
according  to  the  will  of  the  Lord,  who  shall 
be  able  to  rule  His  people.     For  we  have  a 


452 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


man  before  our  eyes,  and  you  are  not  unac- 
quainted with  him  ;  and  if  we  are  permitted  to 
obtain  him  I  know  that  we  shall  acquire  great 
boldness  towards  God,  and  shall  confer  a  very 
great  benefit  upon  the  people  who  have  called 
upon  our  aid.  I  beg  you  again  and  again  to 
put  away  all  delay,  and  to  come  to  us  be- 
fore the  bad  weather  of  the  winter  sets  in. 


Ep.  XLV. 

(After  the  Consecration  every  one  thought 
that  Gregory  would  at  once  join  his  friend  ; 
and  Basil  himself  much  wished  for  his  assist- 
ance. But  Gregory  thought  it  better  to  re- 
strain his  desire  to  see  his  friend  until  jealousies 
had  had  time  to  calm  down.  So  he  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  explain  the  reasons  for  his 
staying  away  at  this  juncture.) 

To  Basil. 

When  I  learnt  that  you  had  been  placed  on 
the  lofty  throne,  and  that  the  Spirit  had  pre- 
vailed to  publish  the  candle  upon  the  candle- 
stick, which  even  before  shone  with  no  dim 
light,  I  was  glad,  I  confess.  Why  should  I 
not  be,  seeing  as  I  did  that  the  commonwealth 
of  the  Church  was  in  sorry  plight,  and  needed 
such  a  guiding  hand  ?  Yet  I  did  not  run  to 
you  off  hand,  nor  shall  I  run  to  you,  not  even 
if  you  ask  me  yourself.  First,  in  order  that  I 
may  be  carel'ul  of  your  dignity,  and  that  you 
may  not  seem  to  be  collecting  partisans  under 
the  influence  of  bad  taste  and  hot  temper,  as 
your  calumniators  would  say  ;  and  secondly 
that  I  may  make  for  myself  a  reputation  for 
stability,  and  above  illwill.  When  then  will 
you  come,  perhaps  you  will  ask,  and  how  long 
will  you  put  it  off?  As  long  as  God  shall  bid 
me,  and  until  the  shadow  of  the  present  enmity 
and  slander  shall  have  passed  away.  For  the 
lepers,  I  well  know,  will  not  hold  out  very 
long  to  keep  our  David  out  of  Jerusalem. 


Ep.  XLVL 

(The  new  Archbishop  seems  not  to  have  been 
satisfied  with  the  reasons  given  in  Gregory's 
last  letter;  so  the  latter  writes  again.) 

To  Basil. 

How  can  any  affairs  of  yours  be  mere  grape- 
gleanings  to  me,  O  dear  and  sacred   friend  ? 


"  What  a  word  has  escaped  the  fence  of  your 
teeth,"  or  how  could  you  dare  to  say  such  a 
thing,  if  I    too    may    be   somewhat   daring? 
How  could  your  mind  set  it  going,  or  your 
ink  write  it,  or  your  paper  receive  it,  O  lec- 
tures   and   Athens   and    virtues   and    literary 
labours  !     You  almost  make  me  write  a  tragedy 
by  what  you  have  written.     Do  you  not  know 
me   or  yourself,  you   eye  of  the  world,  and 
great  voice  and  trumpet  and  palace  of  learn- 
ing ?     Your  affairs  trifles   to  Gregory  ?     What 
then  on  earth  could  any  one  admire,  if  Gregory 
admire  not  you  ?     There  is  one  spring  among 
the  seasons,  one  sun  among  the  stars,  and  one 
heaven  that  embraces  all  things  ;  and  so  your 
voice  is  unique  among  all  things,  if  I  am  capa- 
ble of  judging  such  things,  and  not  deceived  by 
my  affection — and  this  I  do  not  think  to  be  the 
case.     But  if  it  is  because  I  do  not  value  you 
according  to  your  worth  that  you  blame  me, 
you  must  also  blame  all  mankind  ;  for  no  one 
else  has  or  will  sufficiently  admire  you,  unless  it 
be  yourself,  and  your  own  eloquence,  at  least  if 
it  were  possible  to  praise  oneself,  and  if  such 
were  the  custom  of  our  speech.     But  if  you  are 
accusing  me  of  despising  you,  why  not  rather 
of  being  mad  ?     Or  are  you  vexed  because  I  am 
acting  like  a  philosopher  ?     Give  me  leave  to 
say  that  this  and  this  alone  is  higher  than  even 
your  conversation. 


Ep.   XLVII. 

(The  division  of  the  civil  Province  of  Cap- 
padocia  into  two  Provinces  in  the  year  372  was 
followed  by  ecclesiastical  troubles.  Anthimus, 
the  Bishop  of  Tyana,  the  civil  metropolis  of  the 
new  division  of  Cappadocia  Secunda,  main- 
tained that  the  Ecclesiastical  divisions  must  ne- 
ces^sarily  follow  the  civil,  and  by  consequence 
claimed  for  himself  that  the  purely  civil  action 
of  the  State  had  ipso  facto  elevated  him  to  the 
dignity  of  Metropolitan  of  the  new  Province  ; 
and  this  pretension  was  supported  by  the  Bish- 
ops of  that  district,  who  were  as  a  rule  not  well 
disposed  towards  the  great  Archbishop.  The 
next  three  letters  are  connected  with  this  dis- 
pute. ) 

To  Basil. 

I  hear  that  you  are  being  troubled  by  this 
fresh  innovation,  and  are  being  worried  by 
some  sophistical  and  not  unusual  officiousness 
on  the  part  of  those  in  power ;  and  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.  For  I  was  not  ignorant  of 
their  envy,  or  of  the  fact  that  many  of  those 


LETTERS  OF  SAINT  GREGORY  NAZIANZEN. 


453 


around  you  are  making  use  of  you  to  further 
their  own  interests,  and  are  kindling  the  spark 
of  meanness.  I  have  no  fear  of  seeing  you  un- 
philosophically  affected  by  your  troubles,  or  in 
any  way  unworthy  of  yourself  and  me.  Nay,  I 
think  that  it  is  now  above  all  that  my  Basil  will 
be  known,  and  that  the  philosophy  which  all 
your  life  you  have  been  collecting  will  shew  it- 
self, and  will  overcome  the  abuse  as  with  a 
high  wave  ;  and  that  you  will  remain  unshaken 
while  others  are  being  troubled.  If  you  think 
it  well,  I  will  come  myself  and  perhaps  shall  be 
able  to  give  you  some  assistance  by  my  counsel 
(if  the  sea  needs  water,  you  do  counsel !  )  ;  but 
in  any  case  I  shall  derive  benefit,  and  shall  learn 
philosophy  by  bearing  my  part  of  the  abuse.  » 


Ep.  XLVIII. 

(Shortly  after  the  events  described  above,  Ba- 
sil determined  to  strengthen  his  own  hands  by 
creating  a  number  of  new  Bishoprics  in  the 
disputed  Province,  to  one  of  which,  Sasima,  he 
consecrated  Gregory,  very  much  against  the 
will  of  the  latter,  who  felt  that  he  had  been 
hardly  used,  and  did  not  attempt  to  disguise 
his  reluctance.     See  Gen.  Prolegg.  p.  195.) 


To  Basil, 

Do  leave  off  speaking  of  me  as  an  ill-educ- 
ated and  uncouth  and  unfriendly  man,  not  even 
worthy  to  live,  because  I  have  ventured  to  be 
conscious  of  the  way  in  which  I  have  been 
treated.  You  yourself  would  admit  that  I  have 
not  done  wrong  in  any  other  respect,  and  my 
own  conscience  does  not  reproach  me  with  hav- 
ing been  unkind  to  you  in  either  great  or  small 
matters ;  and  I  hope  it  never  may.  I  only 
know  that  I  saw  that  I  had  been  deceived — 
too  late  indeed,  but  I  saw  it  —  and  I  throw 
the  blame  on  your  throne,  as  having  on  a  sud- 
den lifted  you  above  yourself;  and  I  am  weary 
of  being  blamed  for  faults  of  yours,  and  of  hav- 
ing to  make  excuses  for  them  to  people  who 
know  both  our  former  and  our  present  relations. 
For  of  all  that  I  have  to  endure  this  is  the  most 
ridiculous  or  most  pitiable  thing,  that  the  same 
person  should  have  both  to  suffer  the  wrong 
and  to  bear  the  blame,  and  this  is  my  present 
case.  Different  people  blame  me  for  different 
things  according  to  the  tastes  of  each,  or  each 
man's  disposition,  or  the  measure  of  their  ill 
feeling  on  my  account ;  but  the  kindest  re- 
proach me  with  contempt  and  disdain,  and 
they  throw  me  on  one  side  after  making  use 


of  me,  like  the  most  valueless  vessels,  or  those 
frames  upon  which  arches  are  built,  which  after 
the  building  is  complete  are  taken  down  and 
cast  aside.  We  will  let  them  be  and  say  what 
they  please ;  no  one  shall  curb  their  freedom 
of  speech.  And  do  you,  as  my  reward,  pay  off 
those  blessed  and  empty  hopes,  which  you  de- 
vised against  the  evil  speakers,  who  accused  you 
of  insulting  me  on  pretence  of  honouring  me,  as 
though  I  w^ere  lightminded  and  easily  taken  in 
by  such  treatment.  Now  I  will  plainly  speak 
out  the  state  of  my  mind,  and  you  must  not 
be  angry  with  me.  For  I  will  tell  you  just  what 
I  said  at  the  moment  of  the  suffering,  not 
in  a  fit  of  anger  or  so  much  in  the  sense  of  as- 
tonishment at  what  had  happened  as  to  lose 
my  reason  or  not  to  know  what  I  said.  I  will 
not  take  up  arms,  nor  will  I  learn  tactics  which 
I  did  not  learn  in  former  times,  when  the  oc- 
casion seemed  more  suitable,  as  every  one  was 
arming  and  in  frenzy  (you  know  the  illness  of 
the  weak),  nor  will  I  face  the  martial  Anthimus, 
though  he  be  an  untimely  warrior,  being  my- 
self unarmed  and  unwarlike,  and  thus  the 
more  exposed  to  wounds.  Fight  with  him 
yourself  if  you  wish  (for  necessity  often  makes 
warriors  even  of  the  weak),  or  look  out  for 
some  one  to  fight  when  he  seizes  your  mules, 
keeping  guard  over  a  defile,  and  like  Amalek 
of  old,  barring  the  way  against  Israel.  Give 
me  before  all  things  quiet.  Why  should  I  fight 
for  sucking  pigs  and  fowls,  and  those  not  my 
own,  as  though  for  souls  and  canons  ?  Why 
should  I  deprive  the  Metropolis  of  the  cele- 
brated Sasima,  or  lay  bare  and  unveil  the 
secret  of  your  mind,  when  I  ought  to  join  in 
concealing  it?  Do  you  then  play  the  man 
and  be  strong  and  draw  all  parties  to  your 
own  conclusion,  as  the  rivers  do  the  winter 
torrents,  without  regard  for  friendship  or  inti- 
macy in  good,  or  for  the  reputation  which  such 
a  course  will  bring  you.  Give  yourself  up 
to  the  Spirit  alone.  I  shall  gain  this  only 
from  your  friendship,  that  I  shall  learn  not  to 
trust  in  friends,  or  to  esteem  anything  more 
valuable  than  God. 


Ep.  XLIX. 
(The  Praises  of  Quiet.) 


To  Basil. 

You  accuse  me  of  laziness  and  idleness,  be- 
cause I  did  not  accept  your  Sasima,  and  be- 
cause I  have  not  bestirred  myself  like  a  Bishop, 


454 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


and  do  not  arm  you  against  each  other  like  a 
bone  thrown  into  the  midst  of  dogs.  My  great- 
est business  always  is  to  keep  free  from  busi- 
ness. And  to  give  you  an  idea  of  one  of  my 
good  points,  so  much  do  I  value  freedom  from 
business,  that  I  think  I  might  even  be  a  stand- 
ard to  all  men  of  this  kind  of  magnanimity, 
and  if  only  all  men  would  imitate  me  the 
Churches  would  have  no  troubles  ;  nor  would 
the  faith,  which  every  one  uses  as  a  weapon  in 
his  private  quarrels,  be  pulled  ifi  pieces. 


Ep.   L. 

(At  the  request  of  Anthimus  it  would  appear 
that  S.  Gregory  wrote  to  S.  Basil  a  letter,  not 
now  extant,  proposing  a  conference  between 
the  rival  Metropolitans.  Basil  took  umbrage 
at  the  well-meant  proposal,  and  wrote  a  stiff 
letter  to  S.  Gregory,  to  which  the  following  is 
the  reply.) 

To  Basil. 

How  hotly  and  like  a  colt  you  skip  in  your 
letters.  Nor  do  I  wonder  that  when  you  have 
just  become  the  property  of  glory  you  should 
wish  to  shew  me  what  you  find  glory  to  be,  so 
that  you  may  make  yourself  more  majestic,  like 
those  painters  who  picture  the  seasons.  But, 
to  explain  the  whole  matter  about  the  Bishops, 
and  the  letter  by  which  you  were  annoyed  ; 


what 


was  my 


startmg 


point,  and   how   far    I 


went,  and  where  I  stopped,  appears  to  me  to 
be  too  long  a  matter  for  a  letter,  and  to  be  a 
subject  not  so  much  for  an  apology  as  for  a 
history.  To  explain  it  to  you  concisely: — the 
most  noble  Anthimus  came  to  us  with  certain 
Bishops,  whether  to  visit  my  Father  (this  at 
least  was  the  pretext),  or  to  act  as  he  did  act. 
He  sounded  me  in  many  ways  and  on  many 
subjects ;  dioceses,  the  marshes  of  Sasima,  my  or- 
dination, .  .  .  flattering,  questioning,  threat- 
ening, pleading,  blaming,  praising,  drawing 
circles  round  himself,  as  though  I  ought  only 
to  look  at  him  and  his  new  Metropolis,  as  being 
the  greater.  Why,  I  said,  do  you  draw  your 
line  to  include  our  city,  for  we  too  deem  our 
Church  to  be  really  a  Mother  of  Churches,  and 
that  too  from  ancient  times  ?  In  the  end  he 
went  away  without  having  gained  his  object, 
much  out  of  breath,  and  reproaching  me  with 
Basilism,  as  if  it  were  a  kind  of  Philipism.  Do 
you  think  I  did  you  wrong  in  this?  And  now 
look  at  the  letter  from  me,  who,  you  say,  in- 
sulted you.     They  fashioned  a  Synodal  sum- 


mons to  me  ;  and  when  I  declined  it  and  said 
that  the  thing  was  an  insult,  they  then  asked  as 
an  alternative  that  through  me  you  should  be 
invited  to  deliberate  upon  these  matters.  This 
I  promised,  in  order  to  prevent  their  first  plan 
being  carried  out ;  placing  the  whole  matter  in 
your  hands,  if  you  choose  to  call  them  together, 
and  where  and  when.  And  if  I  have  not  in- 
jured you  in  this,  tell  me  where  there  is  room 
for  injury.  If  you  have  to  learn  this  from  me, 
I  will  read  you  the  letter  which  Anthimus  sent 
me,  after  invading  the  marshes,  notwithstand- 
ing my  prohibitions  and  threats,  insulting  and 
reviling  me,  and  as  it  were  singing  a  song  of 
triumph  over  my  defeat.  And  what  reason  is 
there  that  I  should  offend  him  for  your  sake 
and  at  the  same  time  displease  you,  as  though 
I  were  currying  favour  with  him  ?  You  ought 
to  have  learnt  this  first,  my  dear  friend  ;  and 
even  if  it  had  been  so,  you  should  not  have 
insulted  me, — if -only  because  I  am  a  Priest. 
But  if  you  are  very  much  disposed  to  ostenta- 
tion and  quarrelsomeness,  and  speak  as  my  Su- 
perior— as  the  Metropolitan  to  an  insignificant 
Suffragan,  or  even  as  to  a  Bishop  without  a 
See — I  too  have  a  little  pride  to  set  against 
yours.  That  is  very  easy  to  anybody,  and  is 
perhaps  the  most  suitable  course. 


Ep.  LVIII. 

(An  attack  had  been  made  in  Gregory's 
presence  on  the  orthodoxy  of  Basil  in  respect 
of  the  Deity  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  in 
this  letter  he  gives  his  friend  an  account  of  the 
way  in  which  he  had  defended  him.  Unfor- 
tunately Basil  was  not  pleased  with  the  letter, 
taking  it  as  intended  to  convey  reproach  under 
the  guise  of  friendly  sympathy. ) 


To  Basil. 

From  the  first  I  have  taken  you,  and  I  take 
you  still,  for  my  guide  of  life  and  my  teacher 
of  the  faith,  and  for  every  thing  honourable  that 
can  be  said  ;  and  if  any  one  else  praises  your 
merits,  he  is  altogether  with  me,  or  even  be- 
hind me,  so  far  am  I  surpassed  by  your  piety, 
and  so  thoroughly  am  I  yours.  And  no  won- 
der ;  for  the  longer  the  intimacy  the  greater  the 
experience  ;  and  where  the  experience  is  more 
abundant  the  testimony  is  more  perfect.  And 
if  I  get  any  profit  in  life  it  is  from  your  friend- 
ship and  company.  This  is  my  disposition  in 
regard  to  these  matters,  and  I  hope  always  will 


LETTERS  OF  SAINT  GREGORY  NAZIANZEN. 


455 


be.  What  I  now  write  I  write  unwillingly, 
but  still  I  write  it.  Do  not  be  angry  with 
me,  or  I  shall  be  very  angry  myself,  if  you  do 
not  give  me  credit  for  both  saying  and  writ- 
ing it  out  of  goodwill  to  you. 

Many  people  have  condemned  us  as  not  firm 
in  our  faith  ;  those,  I  mean,  who  think  and 
think  rightly  that  we  thoroughly  agree.  Some 
openly  charge  us  with  heresy,  others  with  cow- 
ardice ;  with  heresy,  those  Avho  believe  that 
our  language  is  not  sound ;  with  cowardice, 
they  who  blame  our  reserve.  I  need  not  re- 
port what  other  people  say ;  I  will  tell  you 
what  has  recently  happened. 

There  was  a  party  here  at  which  a  great 
many  distinguished  friends  of  ours  were  present, 
and  amongst  them  was  a  man  who  wore  the 
name  and  dress  which  betoken  piety  (i.e.  a 
Monk).  They  had  not  yet  begun  to  drink, 
but  were  talking  about  us,  as  often  happens  at 
such  parties,  and  made  us  rather  than  anything 
else  the  subject  of  their  conversation.  They 
admired  everything  connected  with  you,  and 
they  brought  me  in  as  professing  the  same 
philosophy  ;  and  they  spoke  of  our  friendship, 
and  of  Athens,  and  of  our  conformity  of  views 
and  feelings  on  all  points.  Our  Philosopher 
was  annoyed  by  this.  '*  What  is  this,  gen- 
tlemen ?  "  he  said,  with  a  very  mighty  shout, 
"  what  liars  and  flatterers  you  are.  You  may 
praise  these  men  for  other  reasons  if  you 
like,  and  I  will  not  contradict  you  ;  but  I  can- 
not concede  to  you  the  most  important  point, 
their  orthodoxy.  Basil  and  Gregory  are  falsely 
praised  ;  the  former,  because  his  words  are  a 
betrayal  of  the  faith,  the  latter,  because  his 
toleration  aids  the  treason." 

What  is  this,  said  I,  O  vain  man  and  new 
Dathan  and  Abiram  in  folly  ?  Where  do  you 
come  from  to  lay  down  the  law  for  us  ?  How 
do  you  set  yourself  up  as  a  judge  of  such  great 
matters?  "I  have  just  come,"  he  replied, 
"  from  the  festival  of  the  Martyr  Eupsychius*, 
(and  so  it  really  was),  and  there  I  heard  the 
great  Basil  speak  most  beautifully  and  perfectly 
upon  the  Godhead  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
as  hardly  anyone  else  could  speak  ;  but  he 
slurred  over  the  Spirit."  And  he  added  a 
sort  of  illustration  from  rivers,  which  pass 
by  rocks  and  hollow  out  sand.  "As  for  you 
my  good  sir,"  he  said,  looking  at  me,  "  you 
do  now  express  yourself  openly  on  the  God- 
head of  the  Spirit,"  and  he  referred  to  some 
remarks  of  mine  in  speaking  of  God  at  a 
largely  attended   Synod,  as   having  added  in 


o  He  suffered  under  the  Emperor  Hadrian. 
Sept.  7. 


The  Festival  was 


respect  of  the  Spirit  that  expression  which  has 
made  a  noise,  (how  long  shall  we  hide  the 
candle  under  the  bushel?)  "but  the  other 
man  hints  obscurely,  and  as  it  were,  merely  sug- 
gests the  doctrine,  but  does  not  openly  speak 
out  the  truth  ;  flooding  people's  ears  with  more 
policy  than  piety,  and  hiding  his  duplicity  by 
the  power  of  his  eloquence. ' ' 

"It  is,"  I  said,  "  because  I  (living  as  I  do 
in  a  corner,  and  unknown  to  most  men  who 
do  not  know  what  I  say,  and  hardly  that  I 
speak  at  all)  can  philosophize  without  danger ; 
but  his  word  is  of  greater  weight,  because  he 
is  better  known,  both  on  his  own  account  and 
on  that  of  his  Church.  And  everything  that 
he  says  is  public,  and  the  war  around  him  is 
great,  as  the  heretics  try  to  snatch  every  naked 
word  from  Basil's  lips,  to  get  him  expelled 
from  the  Church  ;  because  he  is  almost  the  only 
spark  of  truth  left  and  the  vital  force,  all  else 
around  having  been  destroyed  ;  so  that  evil 
may  be  rooted  in  the  city,  and  may  spread 
over  the  whole  world  as  from  a  centre  in  that 
Church.  Surely  then  it  is  better  to  use  some 
reserve  in  the  truth,  and  ourselves  to  give 
way  a  little  to  circumstances  as  to  a  cloud, 
rather  than  by  the  openness  of  the  proclama- 
tion to  risk  its  destruction.  For  no  harm  will 
come  to  us  if  we  recognize  the  Spirit  as  God 
from  other  phrases  which  lead  to  this  conclu- 
sion (for  the  truth  consists  not  so  much  in 
sound  as  in  sense),  but  a  very  great  injury 
would  be  done  to  the  Church  if  the  truth  were 
driven  away  in  the  person  of  one  man."  The 
company  present  would  not  receive  my  econ- 
omy, as  out  of  date  and  mocking  them  ;  but 
they  shouted  me  down  as  practising  it  rather 
from  cowardice  than  for  reason.  It  would  be 
much  better,  they  said,  to  protect  our  own 
people  by  the  truth,  than  by  your  so-called 
Economy  to  weaken  them  while  failing  to  win 
over  the  others.  It  would  be  a  long  business 
and  perhaps  unnecessary  to  tell  you  all  the  de- 
tails of  what  I  said,  and  of  what  I  heard,  and 
how  vexed  I  was  with  the  opponents,  perhaps 
immoderately  and  contrary  to  my  own  usual 
temper.  But,  in  fine,  I  sent  them  away  in  the 
same  fashion.  But  do  you  O  divine  and 
sacred  head,  instruct  me  how  far  I  ought  to  go 
in  setting  forth  the  Deity  of  the  Spirit ;  and 
what  words  I  ought  to  use,  and  how  far  to  use 
reserve  ;  that  I  may  be  furnished  against  oppo- 
nents. For  if  I,  who  more  than  any  one  else 
know  both  you  and  your  opinions,  and  have 
often  both  given  and  received  assurance  on 
this  point,  still  need  to  be  taught  the  truth 
of  this  matter,  I  shall  be  of  all  men  the  most 
ignorant  and  miserable. 


456 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


Ep.  LIX. 

(The  reply  to  Basil's  somewhat  angry  answer 
to  the  last.) 

To  Basil. 

This  was  a  case  which  any  wiser  man  would 
have  foreseen  ;  but  I  who  am  very  simple  and 
foolish  did  not  fear  it  in  writing  to  you.  My 
letter  grieved  you ;  but  in  my  opinion  neither 
rightly  nor  justly,  but  quite  unreasonably.  And 
whilst  you  did  not  acknowledge  that  you  were 
hurt,  neither  did  you  conceal  it,  or  if  you  did 
it  was  with  great  skill,  as  with  a  mask,  hiding 
your  vexation  under  an  appearance  of  respect. 
But  as  to  myself  if  I  acted  in  this  deceitfully 
or  maliciously,  I  shall  be  punished  not  more  by 
your  vexation  than  by  the  truth  itself;  but  if 
in  simplicity  and  with  my  accustomed  good- 
will, I  will  lay  the  blame  on  my  own  sins 
rather  than  on  your  temper.  But  it  would 
have  been  better  to  have  set  this  matter 
straight,  rather  than  to  be  angry  with  those 
who  offer  you  counsel.  But  you  must  see  to 
your  own  affairs,  inasmuch  as  you  are  quite 
capable  of  giving  the  same  advice  to  others. 
You  may  look  upon  me  as  very  ready,  if  God 
will,  both  to  come  to  you,  and  to  join  you  in 
the  conflict,  and  to  contribute  all  that  I  can. 


For  who  would  flinch,  who  would  not  rather 
take  courage  in  speaking  and  contending  for 
the  truth  under  you  and  by  your  side  ? 


Ep.  LX. 

(Gregory  was  not  able,  owing  to  the  serious 
illness  of  his  Mother,  to  carry  out  the  promise 
at  the  end  of  Ep.  LIX.  ;  so  he  writes  to  explain 
and  excuse  himself.) 


To  Basil. 

The  Carrying  Out  of  your  bidding  depends 
partly  on  me ;  but  partly,  and  I  venture  to 
think  principally,  on  your  Reverence.  What 
depends  on  me  is  the  good  will  and  eagerness, 
for  I  never  yet  avoided  meeting  you,  but  have 
always  sought  opportunities,  and  at  the  present 
moment  am  even  more  desirous  of  doing  so. 
What  depends  on  your  Holiness  is  that  my  af- 
fairs be  set  straight.  For  I  am  .sitting  by  my 
lady  Mother,  who  has  for  a  long  time  been 
suffering  from  illness.  And  if  I  could  leave 
her  out  of  danger  you  might  be  well  assured 
that  I  would  not  deprive  myself  of  the  pleasure 
of  going  to  you.  So  give  me  the  help  of  your 
prayers  for  her  restoration  to  health,  and  for  my 
journey  to  .you. 


i 


DIVISION    III. 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


§  I.     Letters  to  His  Brother  C.-esarius. 

Ep.  VIL 

(On  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Constantius 
the  undisputed  succession  devolved  on  his 
cousin  Julian  the  Apostate,  who  at  once  be-, 
gan  to  employ  all  the  power  of  the  Empire  to 
discourage,  while  not  absolutely  persecuting, 
Christianity,  and  to  restore  the  supremacy  of 
the  ancient  Paganism.  One  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  dismiss  all  the  men  who  had  held  high 
dignities  under  his  predecessor.  S.  C^sarius, 
Gregory's  brother,  was  however  to  be  except- 
ed ;  Julian,  who  had  perhaps  known  and  es- 
teemed him  at  Athens,  did  all  that  he  could  to 
keep  him  at  Court,  and  to  attach  him  to  him- 
self. This  caused  much  anxiety  to  Gregory 
and  other  friends  of  Csesarius,  who  foresaw  that 
Julian  would  do  his  utmost  to  shake  the  young 
man's  faith,  and  could  not  feel  sure  that  he 
would  have  courage  to  resist  such  assaults.  In 
his  trouble  Gregory  wrote  him  the  following 
letter.  Shortly  afterwards  the  expected  at- 
tempt was  made.  S.  Caesarius  bravely  held 
his  ground  against  the  Emperor,  and  after  de- 
claring his  unalterable  determination  to  hold 
firm  to  his  faith,  resigned  his  office  at  Court  and 
withdrew  to  Nazianzus.) 

I  have  had  enough  to  blush  for  in  you  ;  that 
I  was  grieved,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  to 
him  who  of  all  men   knows  me  best.     But, 
not  to  speak  of  my  own  feelings,  or  of  the  dis- 
tress with  which  the  rumour  about   you  filled 
me  (and   let  me  say  also   the  fear),  I  should 
have  liked  you,  had   it  been  possible,  to  have  | 
heard  what  was  said  by  others,  both  relations  \ 
and  outsiders,   who  are  any  way  acquainted  | 
with  us  (Christians  I  mean,  of  course,)  about  | 
you  and  me;  and  not  only  some  of  them,  but 
everyone  in  turn  alike  ;  for  men  are  always 
more    ready    to   philosophize   about   strangers 
than  about  their  own  relations.     Such  speech- 


es as  the  following  have  become  a  sort  of 
exercise  among  them  :  Now  a  Bishop's  son 
takes  service  in  the  army ;  now  he  covets  ex- 
terior power  and  fame ;  now  he  is  a  slave  of 
money,  when  the  fire  is  being  rekindled  for 
all,  and  men  are  running  the  race  for  life ; 
and  he  does  not  deem  the  one  only  glory  and 
safety  and  wealth  to  be  to  stand  nobly  against 
the  times,  and  to  place  himself  as  far  as  pos- 
sible out  of  reach  of  every  abomination  and 
defilement.  How  then'  can  the  Bishop  ex- 
hort others  not  to  be  carried  along  with  the 
times,  or  to  be  mixed  up  with  idols  ?  How 
can  he  rebuke  those  wdio  do  wrong  in  other 
ways,  seeing  his  own  home  takes  away  his 
right  to  speak  freely  ?  We  have  every  day  to 
hear  this,  and  even  more  severe  things,  some 
of  the  speakers  perhaps  saying  them  from  a 
motive  of  friendship,  and  others  with  unfriend- 
ly feelings.  How  do  you  think  we  feel,  and 
what  is  the  state  of  mind  with  which  we,  men 
professing  to  serve  God,  and  to  deem  the  only 
good  to  be  to  look  forward  to  the  hopes  of  the 
future,  hear  such  things  as  these?  Our  vener- 
able Father  is  very  much  distressed  by  all  that 
he  hears,  which  even  disgusts  him  with  life. 
I  console  and  comfort  him  as  best  I  can,  by 
making  myself  surety  for  your  mind,  and  as- 
suring him  that  you  will  not  continue  thus 
to  grieve  us.  But  if  our  dear  Mother  were 
to  hear  about  you  (so  far  we  have  kept  her 
in  the  dark  by  various  devices),  I  think 
she  would  be  altogether  inconsolable  ;^  being, 
as  a  woman,  of  a  weak  mind,  and  besides 
unable,  through  her  great  piety,  to  control  her 
feelings  on  such  matters.  If  then  you  care 
at  all  for  yourself  and  us,  try  some  better 
and  safer  course.  Our  means  are  certainly 
enough  for  an  independent  life,  at  least  for  a 
man  of  moderate  desires,  who  is  not  insatia- 
ble in  his  lust  for  more.  Moreover,  I  do  not 
see  what  occasion  for  your  settling  down  w-e 
are  to  wait  for,  if  we  let  this  one  pass.  But 
if  you  cling  to  the  same  opinion,  and  every 


458 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


thing  seems  to  you  of  small  account  in  com- 
parison with  your  own  desires,  I  do  not  wish 
to  say  anything  else  that  may  vex  you,  but 
this  I  foretell  and  protest,  that  one  of  two 
things  must  happen;  either  you,  remaining  a 
genuine  Christian,  will  be  ranked  among  the 
lowest,  and  will  be  in  a  position  unworthy  of 
yourself  and  your  hopes ;  or  in  grasping  at 
honours  you  will  injure  yourself  in  what  is 
more  important,  and  will  have  a  share  in  the 
smoke,  if  not  actually  in  the  fire. 


Ep.     XIV.   AND    XXIII. 

(Under  the  Emperor  Valens  Csesarius  re- 
turned to  public  life  and  was  made  Qusestor  of 
Bithynia.  While  he  was  in  this  office  the  fol- 
lowing letters  were  written  to  him  by  his  brother 
on  behalf  of  two  cousins,  Eulalius,  who  after- 
wards succeeded  Gregory  in  the  Bishopric  of 
Nazianzus,  and  Avith  whom  Gregory  was  on 
terms  of  intimate  friendship,  and  Amphilochius, 
who,  through  the  roguery  of  a  partner,  had 
got  into  some  trouble'  at  Constantinople  about 
money  matters,  and  for  whom  he  asks  aid  and 
advice.  Some  however  think  that  this  letter  is 
not  addressed  to  his  brother  (who  may  have 
been  at  Constantinople  at  the  time),  but  to 
some  other  officer  of  high  rank  at  the  Imperial 
Court.  Amphilochius  soon  aftef  retired  from 
the  world,  and  by  a.d.  347  was  already  bishop 
of  the  important  See  of  Iconium.  Gregory's 
letters  to  him  are  given  later  in  this  division.) 

Do  a  kindness  to  yourself  and  to  me,  of  a 
kind  that  you  will  not  often  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  doing,  because  opportunities  for  such 
kindnesses  do  not  often  occur.  Undertake  a 
most  righteous  protection  of  my  dear  cousins, 
who  are  worried  more  than  enough  about  a 
property  which  they  bought  as  suitable  for  re- 
tirement, and  capable  of  providing  them  with 
some  means  of  living  ;  but  after  having  com- 
pleted the  purchase  they  have  fallen  into 
many  troubles,  partly  through  finding  the 
vendors  dishonest,  and  partly  through  being 
plundered  and  robbed  by  their  neighbours,  so 
that  it  would  be  a  gain  to  them  to  get  rid  of 
their  acquisition  for  the  price  they  gave  for  it, 
plus  the  not  small  sum  they  have  spent  on  it 
besides.  If,  then,  you  would  like  to  transfer 
the  business  to  yourself,  after  examining  the 
contract  to  see  how  it  may  be  best  and  most 
securely  done,  this  course  would  be  most  ac- 
ceptable both  to  them  and  me ;  but  if  you 
would  rather  not,  the  next  best  course  would  be 
to  oppose  yourself  to  the  officiousness  and  dis- 


honesty of  the  man,  that  he  may  not  succeed 
in  gaining  one  advantage  over  their  want  of 
business  habits,  either  by  wronging  them  if 
they  retain  their  property,  or  by  inflicting  loss 
upon  them  if  they  part  with  it.  I  am  really 
ashamed  to  write  to  you  on  such  a  subject. 
All  the  same,  since  we  owe  it  to  them,  on 
account  both  of  their  relationship  and  of 
their  profession  (for  of  whom  would  one  rather 
take  care  than  of  such,  or  what  would  one  be 
more  ashamed  of  than  of  being  unwilling  to 
confer  such  a  benefit  ?)  do  you  either  for  your 
own  sake,  or  for  mine,  or  for  the  sake  of  the 
men  themselves,  or  for  all  these  sakes  put  to- 
gether, by  all  means  do  them  this  kindness. 


Ep.  XXIII. 

Do  not  be  surprized  if  I  ask  of  you  a  great 
favour ;  for  it  is  from  a  great  man  that  I  am 
asking  it,  and  the  request  must  be  measured  by 
him  of  whom  it  is  made  ;  for  it  is  equally  absurd 
to  ask  great  things  from  a  small  man,  and  small 
things  from  a  great  man,  the  one  being  unsea- 
sonable, and  the  other  mean.  I  therefore  pre- 
sent to  you  with  my  own  hand  my  most  precious 
son  Amphilochius,  a  man  so  famous  (even  be- 
yond his  years)  for  his  gentlemanly  bearing,  that 
I  myself,  though  an  old  man,  and  a  Priest,  and 
your  friend,  would  be  quite  content  to  be  as 
much  esteemed.  What  wonder  is  it  if  he  was 
cheated  by  a  man's  pretended  friendship,  and 
did  not  suspect  the  swindle?  For  not  being 
himself  a  rogue,  he  did  not  suspect  roguery, 
but  thought  that  correction  of  language  rather 
than  of  character  was  what  was  wanted,  and 
therefore  entered  into  partnership  with  him 
in  business.  What  blame  can  attach  to 
him  for  this  with  honest  men  ?  Do  not  then 
allow  wickedness  to  get  the  better  of  virtue  ; 
and  do  not  dishonour  my  grey  hairs,  but  do 
honour  to  my  testimony,  and  add  your  kind- 
ness to  my  benedictions,  which  are  i:)erhaps 
of  some  account  with  God  before  \Vhom  we 
stand. 

Ep.  XX. 

(In  A.D.  368  the  City  of  Nicaea  in  Bithynia 
was  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  a  terrible 
earthquake.  Cossarius  lost  his  house,  and  his 
personal  escape  was  almost  miraculous.  Gre- 
gory writes  (as  also  did  Basil)  to  congratulate 
him  on  his  escape,  and  profits  by  the  occasion  to 
urge  upon  him  retirement  from  his  secular  avo- 
cations. Cffisarius  soon  resolved  to  follow  this 
advice,  and  was  taking  steps  to  carry  this  reso- 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


459 


lution  into  effect,  when  he  died  suddenly,  early 
in  A.v.  369,  aged  only  40.  He  left  the  whole 
of  his  large  property  to  the  poor,  but  it  fell  for 
a  time  into  the  hands  of  designing  persons,  and 
Gregory,  who  was  his  brother's  executor,  had 
much  difficulty  in  recovering  it  for  the  purpose 
for  which  it  had  been  intended.  (See  the  let- 
ter to  Sophronius,  Prefect  of  Constantinople 
on  this  subject.)  He  was  buried  at  Nazian- 
zus  in  the  Church  of  the  Martyrs,  in  a  vault 
which  his  parents  had  prepared  for  themselves. 
Gregory  preached  the  funeral  sermon,  which  is 
given  in  the  former  part  of  this  volume.  These 
four  are  the  only  letters  known  to  have  passed 
between  the  brothers.) 

Even  frights  are  not  without  use  to  the  wise  ; 
or,  as  I  should  say,  they  are  very  valuable  and 
salutary.  For,  although  we  pray  that  they 
may  not  happen,  yet  when  they  do  they  in- 
struct us.  For  the  afflicted  soul,  as  Peter* 
somewhere  admirably  says,  is  near  to  God  ;  and 
every  man  who  escapes  a  danger  is  brought  into 
nearer  relation  to  Him  Who  preserved  him. 
Let  us  not  then  be  vexed  that  we  had  a  share 
in  the  calamity,  but  let  us  give  thanks  that  we 
were  delivered.  And  let  us  not  shew  our- 
selves one  thing  to  God  in  the  time  of  peril, 
and  another  when  the  danger  is  over,  but  let 
us  resolve,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  whether 
in  private  life  or  in  public  office  (for  I  must 
say  this  and  may  not  omit  it),  to  follow  Him 
Who  has  preserved  us,  and  to  attach  ourselves 
to  His  side,  thinking  little  of  the  little  con- 
cerns of  earth  ;  and  let  us  furnish  a  tale  to  those 
who  come  after  us,  great  for  our  glory  and  the 
benefit  of  our  soul,  and  at  the  same  time  a  very 
useful  lesson  to  all,  that  danger  is  better  than 
security,  and  tihat  misfortune  is  preferable  to 
success,  at  least  if  before  our  fears  we  belonged 
to  the  world,  but  after  them  we  belong  to  God. 
Perhaps  I  seem  to  you  somewhat  of  a  bore,  by 
writing  to  you  so  often  on  the  same  subject, 
and  you  will  think  my  letter  a  piece  not  of  ex- 
hortation but  of  ostentation,  so  enough  of  this. 
You  will  know  that  I  desire  and  wish  especially 
that  I  might  be  with  you  and  share  your  joy 
at  your  preservation,  and  to  talk  over  these 
matters  later  on.  But  since  that  cannot  be,  I 
hope  to  receive  you  here  as  soon  as  may  be, 
and  to  celebrate  our  thanksgiving  together. 


§ 


2.  To  S.  Gregory  of  Nyssa. 


(Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nyssa,  was  a  younger 
brother    of    Basil    the    Great.       Ordained    a 


a  Source  of  the  quotation  unknown. 


Reader  at  an  early  age  he  grew  tired  of  his 
vocation,  and  became  a  professor  of  Rhetoric. 
This  gave  scandal  in  the  Church  and  occa- 
sioned much  grief  to  his  iViends.  Gregory 
of  Nazianzus,  wrote  him  the  following  letter  of 
remonstrance,  which  was  not  without  effect, 
for  shortly  afterwards  he  gave  up  his  secular 
avocation,  and  retired  to  the  Monastery  which 
his  brother  Basil  had  founded  in  Pontus.  Here 
he  spent  several  years  in  the  study  of  Holy 
Scripture  and  the  best  Commentators.) 


Ep.  I. 

There  is  one  good  point  in  my  char- 
acter, and  I  will  boast  mj'self  of  one  point 
out  of  many.  1  am  equally  vexed  with  my- 
self and  my  friends  over  a  bad  plan.  -Since, 
then,  all  are  friends  and  kinsfolk  ^\■ho  live  ac- 
cording to  God,  and  walk  by  the  same  Gospel, 
why  should  you  not  hear  from  me  in  plain 
words  what  all  men  are  saying  in  whispers? 
They  do  not  approve  your  inglorious  glory  (to 
borrow  a  phrase  from  your  own  art),  and  your 
gradual  descent  to  the  lower  life,  and  your 
ambition,  the  worst  of  demons,  according  to 
Euripides."  For  what  has  happened  to  you, 
O  wisest  of  men,  and  for  what  do  you  con- 
demn 'yourself,  that  you  have  cast  away  the 
sacred  and  delightful  books  which  you  used 
once  to  read  to  the  people  (do  not  be  ashamed 
to  hear  this) ,  or  have  hung  them  up  over  the 
chimney,  as  men  do  in  winter  with  rudders  and 
hoes,  and  have  applied  yourself  to  salt  and 
bitter  ones,  and  preferred  to  be  called  a  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric  rather  than  of  Christianity? 
I,  thank  God,  would  rather  be  the  latter  than 
the  former.  Do  not,  my  dear  friend,  do  not 
let  this  l.)e  longer  the  case,  but,  though  it  is  full 
late,  become  sober  again,  and  come  to  your- 
self once  more,  and  make  your  apology  to  the 
faithful,  and  to  God,  and  to  His  Altars  and 
Sacraments,  from  which  you  have  withdrawn 
yourself.  And  do  not  say  to  me  in  proud 
rhetorical  style.  What,  was  I  not  a  Christian 
when  I  practised  rhetoric?  Was  I  not  a 
believer  when  I  was  engaged  among  the  boys  ? 
And  perhaps  you  will  call  God  to  witness.  No, 
my  friend,  not  as  thoroughly  as  you  ought  to 
have  been,  even  if  I  grant  it  you  in  part. 
What  of  the  offence  to  others  given  by  your 
present  employment — to  others  who  are  prone 
naturally  to  evil — and  of  the  opportunity  af- 
forded them  both  to  think  and  to  speak  the 
worst    of  you?     Falsely,   I  grant,  but    where 

aPhoen.,  534. 


46o 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


was  the  necessity?  For  a  man  lives  not  for 
himself  alone  but  also  for  his  neighbour ;  nor  is 
it  enough  to  persuade  yourself,  you  must  per- 
suade others  also.  If  you  were  to  practise 
boxing  in  public,  or  to  give  and  receive  blows 
in  the  theatre,  or  to  Avrithe  and  twist  yourself 
shamefully,  would  you  speak  of  yourself  as 
having  a  temperate  soul  ?  Such  an  argument 
does  not  befit  a  wise  man ;  it  is  frivolous  to 
accept  it.  If  you  make  a  change  I  shall  re- 
joice even  now,  said  one  of  the  Pythagorean 
philosophers,  lamenting  the  fall  of  a  friend  ;  but, 
he  wrote,  if  not  yoii  are  dead  to  me.  But 
I  will  not  yet  say  this  for  your  sake.  Being  a 
friend,  he  became  an  enemy,  yet  still  a 
friend,  as  the  Tragedy  says.  But  I  shall  be 
grieved  (to  speak  gently),  if  you  do  neither 
yourself  see  what  is  right,  which  is  the  highest 
method  of  all,  nor  will  follow  the  advice  of 
others,  which  is  the  next.  Thus  far  my  coun- 
sel. Forgive  me  that  my  friendship  for  you 
makes  me  grieve,  and  kindles  me  both  on  your 
behalf  and  on  behalf  of  the  whole  priestly 
Order,  and  I  may  add  on  that  of  all  Chris- 
tians. And  if  I  may  pray  with  you  or  for  you, 
may  God  who  quickeneth  the  dead  aid  your 
weakness. 

Ep.  LXXII. 

(When  S.  Gregory  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  Nyssa  the  Imperial  Throne  was  occupied  by 
Valens,  an  ardent  Arian,  whose  mind  was  bent 
on  the  destruction  of  the  Nicene  Faith.  He  ap- 
pointed, with  this  object,  one  Demosthenes,  a 
former  clerk  of  the  Imperial  Kitchen,  to  be 
Vicar  of  the  civil  Diocese  of  Pontus.  An  old 
quarrel  with  Basil  had  made  this  man  unfriendly 
to  Gregory,  and  after  persecuting  him  in  various 
small  ways  for  some  time  he  procured,  a.d.  275, 
the  summoning  of  a  Synod  to  enquire  into  some 
allegations  of  irregularity  in  his  consecration, 
and  to  try  Gregory  on  some  frivolous  charges 
of  malversation  of  Church  funds.  Gregory  was 
unable  to  attend  this  Synod,  which  met  at 
Ancyra,  on  account  of  an  attack  of  pleurisy ; 
and  another  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Nyssa 
itself  Gregory  however  refused  to  appear, 
and  was  deposed  as  contumacious.  Thereupon 
Valens  banished  him,  and  he  seems  to  have 
fallen  into  very  low  spirits,  almost  into  de- 
spondency at  the  apparent  triumph  of  the 
heretical  party.  The  three  letters  which  follow 
throw  some  light  upon  his  state  at  this  time. 
They  were  written  in  answer  to  letters  of  his 
now  lost,  and  their  object  was  to  comfort  him 
in  his  trouble  and  to  encourage  him  to  take 
heart  again  in  the  hope  of  a  good  day  coming. 


This  more  cheerful  tone  was  justified  by  the 
event,  for  on  the  death  of  Valens,  a.d.  378,  the 
exiled  Bishops  were  restored  by  Gratian,  and 
Gregory  was  replaced  in  his  Episcopal  Throne, 
to  the  great  joy  of  the  faithful  of  his  Diocese.) 

Do  not  let  your  troubles  distress  you  too 
much.  For  the  less  we  grieve  over  things,  the 
less  grievous  they  are.  It  is  nothing  strange 
that  the  heretics  have  thawed,  and  are  taking 
courage  from  the  springtime,  and  creeping  out 
of  their  holes,  as  you  write.  They  A\ill  hiss 
for  a  short  time,  I  know,  and  then  will  hide 
themselves  again,  overcome  both  by  the  truth 
and  the  times,  and  all  the  more  so  the  more 
we  commit  the  whole  matter  to  God. 


Ep.  LXXIII. 

As  to  the  subject  of  your  letter,  these  are 
my  sentiments.  I  am  not  angry  at  being  over- 
looked, but  I  am  glad  when  I  am  honoured. 
The  one  is  my  own  desert,  the  other  is  a  proof 
of  your  respect.  Pray  for  me.  Excuse  this 
short  letter,  for  anyhow,  though  it  is  short,  it 
is  longer  than  silence. 


Ep.  LXXIV. 

Although  I  am  at  home,  my  love  is  expatri- 
ated with  you,  for  affection  makes  us  have  all 
things  common.  Trusting  in  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  in  your  prayers,  I  have  great  hopes 
that  all  will  turn  out  according  to  your  mind, 
and  that  the  hurricane  will  be  turned  into  a  gen- 
tle breeze,  and  that  God  will  give  you  this  re- 
ward for  your  orthodoxy,  that  ^'ou  will  over- 
come your  opponents.  Most  of  all  I  long  to  see 
you  shortly,  and  to  have  a  good  time  with  you, 
as  I  pray.  But  if  you  delay  owing  to  the  pres- 
sure of  affairs,  at  any  rate  cheer  me  by  a  letter, 
and  do  not  disdain  to  tell  me  all  about  your 
circumstances,  and  to  pray  for  me,  as  you  are 
accustomed  to  do.  May  God  grant  you  health 
and  good  spirits  in  all  circumstances, — you  who 
are  the  common  prop  of  the  whole  Church. 

Ep.  LXXVI. 

(Basil  the  Great  died  Jan.  i,  a.d.  379. 
Gregory  of  Nazianzus  was  prevented  by  very 
serious  illness  from  attending  his  funeral, 
and  therefore  wrote  as  follows  to  Gregory  of 
Nyssa.) 

This,  then,  was  also  reserved  for  my  sad  life, 
to  hear  of  the  death  of  Basil,  and  the  departure 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


461 


of  that  holy  soul,  which  has  gone  from  us  that 
it  may  be  with  the  Lord,  for  which  he  had  been 
preparing  himself  all  his  life.  And  among  all 
the  other  losses  I  have  had  to  endure  this  is 
the  greatest,  that  by  reason  of  the  bodily  sick- 
ness from  which  I  am  still  suffering  and  in 
great  danger,  I  cannot  kiss  that  holy  dust,  or 
be  with  you  to  enjoy  the  consolations  of  a  just 
philosophy,  and  to  comfort  our  common 
friends.  But  to  see  the  desolation  of  the 
Church,  shorn  of  such  a  glory,  and  bereft  of 
such  a  crown,  is  what  no  one,  at  least  no  one 
of  any  feeling,  can  bear  to  let  his  eyes  look 
upon,  or  his  ear  hearken  to.  But  you,  I  think, 
though  you  have  many  friends  and  will  receive 
many  words  of  condolence,  yet  will  not  derive 
comfort  so  much  from  any  as  from  yousrelf  and 
your  memory  of  him  ;  for  you  two  were  a  pat- 
tern to  all  of  philosophy,  a  kind  of  spiritual 
standard,  both  of  discipline  in  prosperity,  and 
of  endurance  in  adversity  ;  for  philosophy  bears 
prosperity  with  moderation  and  adversity  with 
dignity.  This  is  what  I  have  to  say  to  Your 
Excellency.  But  for  myself  who  write  so, 
what  time  or  what  words  shall  comfort  me, 
except  your  company  and  conversation,  which 
our  blessed  one  has  left  me  in  place  of  all,  that 
seeing  his  character  in  you  as  in  a  bright  and 
shining  mirror,  I  may  think  myself  to  possess 
him  also  ! 

Ep.  LXXXI. 

You  are  distressed  by  your  travels,  and  think 
yourself  unsteady,  like  a  stick  carried  along 
by  a  stream.  But,  my  dear  friend,  you  must 
not  let  yourself  feel  so  at  all.  For  the  travels 
of  the  stick  ate  involuntary,  but  your  course 
is  ordained  by  God,  and  your  stability  is  in 
doing  good  to  others,  even  though  you  are 
not  fixed  to  a  place  ;  unless  indeed  one  ought 
to  find  fault  with  the  sun,  for  going  about  the 
world  scattering  his  rays,  and  giving  life  to  all 
things  on  which  he  shines ;  or,  while  praising 
the  fixed  stars,  one  should  revile  the  planets, 
whose  very  wandering  is  harmonious. 


Ep.    CLXXXII. 

(Gregory  after  his  resignation  of  the  Patri- 
archal See  of  Constantinople  had  retired  to 
Nazianzus,  and  had  been  persuaded  to  under- 
take the  administration  of  the  diocese  then 
vacant,  until  the  vacancy  should  be  filled. 
The  Bishops  of  the  Province  wished  him  to 
retain  it  altogether,  and  therefore  were  in  no 
hurry    to    proceed    to    election.     At    length 


however  they  yielded  to  the  continually  ex- 
pressed wishes  of  Gregory  and  chose  his 
cousin  Eulalius.  Soon  however  Gregory's 
enemies  spread  abroad  a  report  that  this  elec- 
tion had  been  made  against  his  wishes,  and 
with  the  intention  of  unfairly  ousting  him  from 
the  administration  of  that  Church.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  was  written  in  consequence  of 
this  slander.) 

Woe  is  me  that  my  sojourning  is  prolonged, 
and,  which  is  the  greatest  of  my  misfortunes, 
that  war  and  dissensions  are  among  us,  and 
that  we  have  not  kept  the  peace  which  we  re- 
ceived from  our  holy  fathers.  This  I  doubt 
not  you  will  restore,  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
who  upholds  you  and  yours.  But  let  no  one, 
I  beg,  spread  false  reports  about  me  and  my 
lords  the  bishops,  as  though  they  had  pro- 
claimed another  bishop  in  my  place  against 
my  will.  But  being  in  great  need,  owing  to 
my  feeble  health,  and  fearing  the  responsibility 
of  a  Church  neglected,  I  asked  this  favour  of 
them,  which  was  not  opposed  to  the  Canon 
Law,  and  was  a  relief  to  me,  that  they  would 
give  a  Pastor  to  the  Church.  He  has  been 
given  to  your  prayers,  a  man  worthy  of  your 
piety,  and  I  now  place  him  in  your  hands,  the 
most  reverend  Eulalius,  a  bishop  very  dear  to 
God,  in  whose  arms  I  should  like  to  die.  If 
any  be  of  opinion  that  it  is  not  right  to  ordain 
another  in  the  lifetime  of  a  Bishop,  let  him 
know  that  he  will  not  in  this  matter  gain  any 
hold  upon  us.  For  it  is  well  known  that  I 
was  appointed,  not  to  Nazianzus,  but  to  Sa- 
sima,  although  for  a  short  time  out  of  reverence 
for  my  father,  I  as  a  stranger  undertook  the 
government. 

Ep.   CXCVII. 

A  Letter  of  Condolence  on  the  Death 
OF  His  Sister  Theosebia. 

(The  writer  of  the  article  on  Gregory  Nyssen 
in  the  Diet.  Biogr.  supposes  her  to  have  been 
his  wife,  but  produces  no  evidence  of  this  be- 
yond the  ambiguous  expression  in  this  letter 
which  speaks  of  her  as  ' '  the  true  consort  of  a 
priest,"  but  on  the  other  hand  she  is  expressly 
called  his  Sister  in  the  same  letter.  Some 
writers  have  imagined  that  she  was  the  wife  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen  himself,  but  there  is  no 
evidence  to  show  that  he  was  ever  married. 
The  date  of  her  death  is  uncertain,  but  it  was 
probably  subsequent  to  a.d.  381.  It  would 
seem  that  the  term  Consort  might  have  a 
general  application  to  those  who  shared  in  the 


462 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


same  work,  and  consequently  the  Benedictine 
Editors  regard  Theosebia  as  a  Deaconess  of  the 
Church  of  Nyssa.) 

I  had  started  in  ail  haste  to  go  to  you,  and 
had  got  as  far  as  Euphemias,  when  I  was  de- 
layed by  the  festival  which  you  are  celebrat- 
ing in  honour  of  the  Holy  Martyrs  ;  partly  be- 
cause I  could  not  take  part  in  it,  owing  to  ray 
bad  health,  partly  because  my  coming  at  so 
unsuitable  a  time  might  be  inconvenient  to 
you.  I  had  started  partly  for  the  sake  of  see- 
ing you  after  so  long,  and  partly  that  I  might 
admire  your  patience  and  philosophy  (for  I 
had  heard  of  it)  at  the  departure  of  your  holy 
and  blessed  sister,  as  a  good  and  perfect  man, 
a  minister  of  God,  who  knows  better  than  any 
the  things  both  of  God  and  man  ;  and  who  re- 
gards as  a  very  light  thing  that  which  to  others 
would  be  most  heavy,  namely  to  have  lived 
with  such  a  soul,  and  to  send  her  away  and 
store  her  up  in  the  safe  garners,  like  a  shock 
of  the  threshingfloor  gathered  in  due  season," 
to  use  the  words  of  Holy  Scripture ;  and  that 
in  such  time  that  she,  having  tasted  the  joys  of 
life,  escaped  its  sorrows  through  the  shortness 
of  her  life  ;  and  before  she  had  to  wear  mourn- 
ing for  you,  was  honoured  by  you  with  that  fair 
funeral  honour  which  is  due  to  such  as  she.  I 
too,  believe  me,  long  to  depart,  if  not  as  you 
do,  which  were  much  to  say,  yet  only  less  than 
you.  But  what  must  we  feel  in  presence  of 
a  long  prevailing  law  of  God  which  has  now 
taken  my  Theosebia  (for  I  call  her  mine  be- 
cause she  lived  a  godly  life  ;  for  spiritual  kin- 
dred is  better  than  bodily),  Theosebia,  the 
glory  of  the  church,  the  adornment  of  Christ, 
the  helper  of  our  generation,  the  hope  of 
woman ;  Theosebia,  the  most  beautiful  and 
glorious  among  all  the  beauty  of  the  Brethren  ; 
Theosebia,  truly  .sacred,  truly  consort  of  a 
priest,  and  of  equal  honour  and  worthy  of  the 
Great  Sacraments,^  Theosebia,  whom  all  future 
time  shall  receive,  resting  on  immortal  pillars, 
that  is,  on  the  souls  of  all  who  have  known  her 
now,  and  of  all  who  shall  be  hereafter.  And 
do  not  wonder  that  I  often  invoke  her  name. 
For  I  rejoice  even  in  the  remembrance  of  the 
blessed  one.  Let  this,  a  great  deal  in  few 
words,  l)e  her  epitaph  from  me,  and  my  \\ord 
of  condolence  for  you,  though  you  yourself  are 
quite  able  to  console  others  in  this  way  through 
your  philosophy  in  all  things.  Our  meeting 
(which  I  greatly  long  for)  is  prevented  by  the 
reason  I  mentioned.  But  we  pray  with  one 
another  as  long  as  we  are  in  the  world,  until 


a  Job.  V.  26. 


j3  Referring  to  her  office  as  a  Deaconess. 


the  common  end,  to  which  we  are  drawino- 
nigh,  overtake  us.  Wherefore  we  must  bear 
all  things,  since  we  shall  not  for  long  have 
either  to  rejoice  or  to  suffer. 

§  3.  To  EusEBius   Bishop   of  Samosata. 
Ep.  XLII. 

(This  letter,  urging  his  friend  to  attend  at 
Csesarea  for  the  election  of  a  Metropolitan  in 
succession  to  Eusebius,  has  been  already  given 
in  the.  second  division  of  this  Selection.) 

.      Ep.  XLIV. 

(Eusebius,  having  in  response  to  the  ap- 
peal referred  to  above,  betaken  himself  to 
Csesarea,  the  Elder  Gregory,  though  in  very 
feeble  health,  resolved  to  attend  the  Synod  in 
person,  that  Basil's  Election  might  be  secured 
by  their  joint  exertions,  Gregory  the  Younger 
sent  the  following  letter  by  his  father  to  ex- 
plain to  his  friend  the  reason  why  he  had  not 
come  too.  The  date  is  about  September  of 
the  year  379.) 

Whence  shall  I  begin  your  praises,  and  by 
what  name  shall  I  give  you  your  right  appella- 
tion ?  The  pillar  and  ground  of  the  church, 
or  a  light  in  the  world,  using  tlje  very  words 
of  the  apostle,  or  a  crown  of  glory  to  the  re- 
maining portion  of  Christendom  ;  '^  or  a  gift  of 
God,  or  the  bulwark  of  your  country,  or  the 
standard  of  faith,  or  the  ambassador  of  truth, 
or  all  these  at  once,  and  more  than  all  ?  And 
these  excessive  praises  I  will  prove  by  what  we 
shall  see.  What  rain  ever  came  so  seasonably 
to  a  thirsty  land,  Avhat  water  flowing  out  of 
the  rock  to  those  in  the  wilderness  ?  What 
such  Bread  of  Angels  did  ever  man  eat  ? 
When  did  Jesus  the  common  Lord  ever  so  sea- 
sonably present  Himself  to  His  drowning  dis- 
ciples, and  tame  the  sea,  and  save  the  perish- 
ing, as  you  have  shewn  yourself  to  us  in  our 
weariness  and  distress,  and  in  our  immediate 
danger  as  it  were  of  shipwreck  ?  I  need  not 
speak  of  other  points,  with  what  courage  and 
joy  you  filled  the  souls  of  the  orthodox,  and 
how  many  you  delivered  from  despair. 

But  our  mother  church,  Cresarea  I  mean, 
is  now  really  putting  off  the  garments  of  her 
widowhood  at  the  sight  of  you,  and  putting  on 
again  her  robe  of  cheerfulness,  and  will  be  yet 
more  resplendent  when   she  receives  a  pastor 

o  Alluding  to  his  work  in  opposing  the  prevalence  of  Arianism. 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


46: 


worthy  of  herself  and  of  her  former  Bishops 
and  of  your  hands.  For  you  yourself  see 
what  is  the  state  of  our  affairs,  and  what  a 
miracle  your  zeal  has  wrought,  and  your  toil, 
and  your  godly  plainness  of  speech.  .\ge  is 
renewed,  disease  is  conquered,"  they  leap  who 
were  in  their  beds,  and  the  weak  are  girded 
with  power.  By  all  this  I  guess  that  our  mat- 
ters too  will  turn  out  as  we  desire.  You  have 
my  father,  moreover,  representing  both  him- 
self and  me,  to  put  a  glorious  close  to  his 
whole  life  and  to  his  venerable  age  by  this 
present  struggle  on  behalf  of  the  Church,  And 
1  shall  receive  him  back,  I  am  well  assured, 
strengthened  by  your  prayers,  apd  with  youth 
renewed,  for  one  must  confidently  commit 
all  in  faith  to  them.  But  if  he  should  end 
his  life  in  this  anxiety,  it  would  be  no  calamity 
to  attain  to  such  an  end  in  such  a  cause.  Par- 
don me,  I  beg  of  you,  if  I  give  way  a  little  to 
the  tongues  of  evil  men,  and  delay  a  little  to 
come  and  embrace  you,  and  to  complete  in 
person  what  I  now  pass  over  of  the  praises  due 
to  you. 

Ep.  LXIV. 

(In  the  year  374  Eusebius  and  other  ortho- 
dox Bishops  of  the  East  were  banished  by 
Valens  and  their  thrones  filled  with  Arian 
intruders.  Eusebius  was  ordered  to  retire  to 
Thrace,  and  his  journey  lay  through  Cappado- 
cia,  where  he  saw  Basil,  but  Gregory  to  his 
great  grief  was  too  unwell  to  leave  his  house 
and  go  to  meet  him.  Instead  he  sent  the  fol- 
lowing letter.) 

When  Your  Reverence  was  passing  through 
our  country  I  was  so  ill  as  not  to  be  able  even 
to  /oc>/^  out  of  my  house.  And  I  was  grieved 
not  so  much  on  account  of  the  illness,  though 
it  brought  about  the  fear  of  the  worst,  as  by  the 
inability  to  meet  your  holineas  and  goodness. 
My  longing  to  see  your  venerable  face  was 
like  that  which  a  man  would  naturally  feel 
who  needed  healing  of  spiritual  wounds,  and 
expected  to  receive  it  from  you.  But  though 
at  that  time  the  effect  of  my  sins  was  that  I 
missed  the  meeting  with  you,  it  is  now  by 
your  goodness  possible  for  me  to  find  a  remedy 
for  my  trouble,  for  if  you  will  deign  to  remem- 
ber me  in  your  acceptable  prayers,  this  will 
be  to  me  a  store  of  every  blessing  from  God, 
both  in  this  my  life  and  in  the  age  to  come. 
For  that  such  a  man,  such  a  combatant  for 
the  Faith  of  the  Gospel,  one  who  has  endured 
* 

a  Alluding  to  the  effort  made  by  his  father. 


such  persecutions,  and  won  for  himself  such 
confidence  before  the  all-righteous  God  by  his 
patience  in  tribulation — that  such  a  man 
should  deign  to  be  my  patron  also  in  his  prayers 
will  gain  ibr  me,  I  am  persuaded,  as  much 
strength  as  I  should  have  gained  through  one 
of  the  holy  martyrs.  Therefore  let  me  en- 
treat you  to  remember  your  Gregory  without 
ceasing  in  all  the  matters  in  which  I  desire  to 
be  worthy  of  your  remembrance. 


Ep,  LXV. 

(Eusebius  having  replied  to  the  former  letter 
Gregory  wrote  again,  having  an  opportunity  of 
communicating  with  his  friend  through  one 
Eupraxius,  a  discii)le  of  Eusebius,  who  passed 
through  Cappadocia  on  his  way  to  visit  his 
master.  This  letter  is  sometimes  attributed  to 
Basil.) 

Our  reverend  brother  Eupraxius  has  al- 
ways been  dear  to  me  and  a  true  friend,  but 
he  has  shewn  himself  dearer  and  truer  through 
his  affections  for  you,  inasmuch  as  even  at 
the  present  time  he  has  hurried  to  your  rev- 
erence, like,  to  use  David's  words,  a  hart 
to  quench  his  great  and  unendurable  thirst" 
with  a  sweet  and  pure  spring  at  your  pa- 
tience in  tribulations.  Deign  then  to  be  his 
patron  and  mine. 

Happy  indeed  are  they  who  are  permitted 
to  come  near  you,  and  happier  still  is  he  who 
can  place  upon  his  sufferings  for  Christ's  sake 
and  upon  his  labours  for  the  truth,  a  crown 
such  as  few  of  those  who  fear  God  have  ob- 
tained. For  it  is  not  an  untested  virtue  that 
you  have  shown,  nor  is  it  only  in  a  time  of 
calm  that  you  have  sailed  aright  and  steered 
the  souls  of  others,  but  you  have  shone  in  the 
difficulties  of  temptations,  and  have  been 
greater  than  your  persecutors,  having  nobly  de- 
parted from  the  land  of  your  birth.  Others 
possess  the  threshold  of  their  fathers, — we  the 
heavenly  City  ;  others  perhaps  hold  our  throne, 
but  we  Christ.  O  what  a  profitable  exchange  ! 
How  little  we  give  up,  to  receive  how  much  ! 
We  went  through  fire  and  water,  and  I  believe 
that  we  shall  also  come  out  into  a  place  of  re- 
freshment. For  God  will  not  forsake  us  for 
ever,  or  abandon  the  true  faith  to  persecution, 
but  according  to  the  multitude  of  our  pains 
His  comfprts  shall  make  us  glad.  This  at 
any  rate  we  believe  and  desire.  But  do  you, 
I  beg,  pray  for  our  humility.     And  as   often 

a  Ps.  xliii.  i. 


464 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


as  occasion  shall  present  itself  bless  us  with- 
out hesitation  by  a  letter,  and  cheer  us  up  by 
news  of  yourself,  as  you  have  just  been  good 
enough  to  do. 

Ep.  LXVI. 

(The  following  letter  is  sometimes  attributed 
to  Basil,  and  is  found  in  his  works  as  well  as 
in  those  of  Gregory.  The  MSS.  however, 
with  only  a  single  exception,  give  it  to  the 
latter.) 

You  give  me  pleasure  both  by  writing  and 
remembering  me,  and  a  much  greater  pleas- 
ure by  sending  me  your  blessing  in  your  letter. 
But  if  I  were  worthy  of  your  sufferings  and  of 
your  conflicts  for  Christ  and  through  Christ  I 
should  have  been  counted  worthy  also  to  come 
to  you,  to  embrace  Your  Piety,  and  to  take 
example  by  your  patience  in  your  sufferings. 
But  since  I  am  not  worthy  of  this,  being  troub- 
led with  many  afflictions  and  hindrances  I  do 
what  is  next  best.  I  address  Your  Perfection, 
and  I  beg  you  not  to  be  weary  of  remember- 
ing me.  For  to  be  deemed  worthy  of  your 
letters  is  not  only  profitable  to  me,  but  is  also 
a  matter  to  boast  of  to  many  people,  and  is  an 
honour,  because  I  am  considered  by  a  man  of 
so  great  virtue,  and  such  near  relations  with 
God,  that  he  can  bring  others  also  by  word 
and  example  into  relation  to  Him. 

§  4.  To    SoPHRONius,    Prefect    of     Con- 
stantinople. 

(Sophronius,  a  native  of  the  Cappadocian 
Coesarea,  was  an  early  friend  and  fellow-student 
of  Gregory  and  Basil.  He  entered  the  Civil 
Service,  and  soon  rose  to  high  office.  In  a.d. 
365  he  was  appointed  Prefect  of  Constantinople, 
as  a  reward  for  timely  intimation  which  he  gave 
to  the  Emperor  Valens  of  the  usurpation  at- 
tempted by  Procopius.  He  is  chiefly  known 
to  us  by  the  letters  of  Gregory  and  Basil,  in- 
voking his  good  offices  for  various  persons. 
Ep.  21  was  written  in  a.d.  369  to  commend  to 
him  Nicobulus,  Gregory's  nephew  by  mar- 
riage, the  husband  of  Alypiana,  daughter  of  his 
sister  Gorgonia.  This  Nicoliulus  was  a  man  of 
great  wealth  and  ability,  but  much  disinclined 
for  public  life.  Gregory  constantly  writes  to 
one  and  another  high  official  to  get  him  excused 
from  appointments  which  had  been  thrust  upon 
him.) 

Ep.  XXI. 

Gold  is  changed  and  transformed  into 
various   forms   at  various   times,    being   fash- 


ioned into  many  ornaments,  and  used  by  art 
for  many  purposes  ;  yet  it  remains  what  it  is — 
gold ;  and  it  is  not  the  substance  but  the  form 
which  admits  of  change.  So  also,  believing 
that  your  kindness  will  remain  unchanged  for 
your  friends,  although  you  are  ever  climbing 
higher,  I  have  ventured  to  send  you  this  re- 
quest, because  I  do  not  more  reverence  your 
high  rank  than  I  trust  your  kind  disposition. 
I  entreat  you  to  be  favourable  to  my  most  re- 
spectable son  Nicobulus,  who  is  in  all  respects 
allied  with  me,  both  by  kindred  and  by  inti- 
macy, and,  which  is  more  important,  by  dis- 
position. In  what  matters,  and  to  what  extent  ? 
In  whatever  h,e  may  ask  your  aid,  and  as  far  as 
may  seem  to  you  to  befit  your  Magnanimity. 
I  on  my  part  will  repay  you  the  best  I  have. 
I  have  the  power  of  speech,  and  of  proclaim- 
ing your  goodness,  if  not  nearly  according  to 
its  worth,  at  any  rate  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

Ep.   XXII. 

(Is  for  Amphilochius,  written  at  the  same 
time  and  in  consequence  of  the  same  trouble 
as  that  which  we  have  placed  second  of  the 
letters  to  Caesarius.) 

As  we  know  gold  and  stones  by  their  look, 
so  too  we  may  distinguish  good  men  from 
bad  in  the  same  way,  and  do  not  need  a  very 
long  trial.  For  I  should  not  have  needed  many 
words  in  pleading  for  my  most  honourable  son 
Amphilochius  with  Your  Magnanimity.  I 
should  rather  have  expected  some  strange  and 
incredible  thing  to  happen  than  that  he  would 
do  anything  dishonourable,  or  think  of  such  a 
thing,  in  a  matter  of  money  ;  such  a  universal 
reputation  has  he  as  a  gentleman,  and  as  wiser 
than  his  years.  But  what  must  he  suffer? 
Nothing  escapes  envy,  for  some  word  of  blame 
has  touched  even  him,  a  man  who  has  fallen 
under  accusation  of  crime  through  simplicity 
rather  than  depravity  of  disposition.  But  do 
not  allow  it  to  be  tolerable  to  you  to  overlook 
him  in  his  vexations  and  trouble.  Not  so,  I 
entreat  your  sacred  and  great  mind,  but  hon- 
our your  country"  and  aid  his  virtue,  and 
have  a  respect  for  me  who  have  attained  to 
glory  by  and  through  you  ;  and  be  everything 
to  this  man,  adding  the  will  to  the  power,  for 
I  know  that  there  is  nothing  of  equal  power 
with  Your  Excellency. 

Ep.  XXIX. 

(Of  the  same  year.  Here  Caesarius  had 
bequeathed  all  his  property  to  the  poor;,  but 

a  Sophronius  and  Amphilocliius  were  natives  of  Caesarea. 


MISCELLANEOUS   LETTERS. 


465 


his  house  had  been  looted  by  his  servants,  and 
his  friends  could  only  find  a  comparatively 
small  sum.  Besides  this  a  number  of  persons, 
shortly  afterwards,  presented  themselves  as  cred- 
itors of  his  estate,  and  their  claims,  though  in- 
capable of  proof,  were  paid.  Then  others  kept 
coming  forward,  until  at  last  the  family  refused 
to  admit  any  more.  Then  a  lawsuit  was  threat- 
ened. Gregory  intensely  disliking  all  this,  and 
dreading  moreover  the  scandal  which  might 
be  caused  by  legal  proceedings,  \\Tites  as  fol- 
lows to  the  Prefect.) 

You  see  how  matters  stand  with  me,  and 
how  the  circle  of  human  affairs  goes  round, 
now  some  now  others  flourishing  or  the  re- 
verse, and  neither  prosperity  nor  adversity  re- 
maining constant  with  us,  as  the  saying  is,  but 
ever  changing  and  altering,  so  that  one  might 
trust  the  breezes,  or  letters  written  in  the 
waters,  rather  than  human  prosperity.  For 
what  reason  is  this  ?  I  think  it  is  in  order  that 
by  the  contemplation  of  the  uncertainty  and 
anomaly  of  all  these  things  we  may  learn  the 
rather  to  have  recourse  to  God  and  to  the  fu- 
ture, giving  scanty  thoughts  to  shadows  and 
dreams.  But  what  has  produced  this  talk, 
for  it  is  not  without  a  cause  that  I  thus  philo- 
sophize, and  I  am  not  idly  boasting  ? 

Caesarius  was  once  one  of  your  not  least 
distinguished  friends ;  indeed,  unless  my  broth- 
erly affection  deceives  me,  he  was  one  of  your 
most  distinguished,  for  he  was  remarkably  well 
informed,  and  for  gentlemanly  conduct  was 
above  the  average,  and  was  celebrated  for  the 
number  of  his  friends  ;  among  the  very  first  df 
these,  as  he  ahvays  thought  and  as  he  persuad- 
ed me.  Your  Excellency  held  the  first  place. 
These  are  old  stories,  and  you  will  add  to 
them  of  your  own  accord  in  rendering  hon- 
ours to  his  memory ;  for  it  is  human  nature  to 
add  something  to  the  praises  of  the  departed. 
But  now  (that  you  may  not  pass  over  this 
story  without  a  tear,  or  that  you  may  weep  to 
some  good  and  useful  purpose),  he  lies  dead, 
friendless,  solitary,  pitiable,  deemed  worthy 
of  a  little  myrrh  (if  even  of  so  much),  and 
of  the  last  small  coverings,  and  it  is  much  that 
he  has  found  even  thus  much  compassion. 
But  his  enemies,  as  I  hear,  have  fallen  upon 
his  estate,  and  from  all  quarters  with  great 
violence  are  plundering  it,  or  are  about  to  do 
so.  O  cruelty  !  O  savagery  !  And  there  is  no 
one  to  hinder  them  ;  but  even  the  kindest  of 
his  friends  only  calls  upon  the  laws  as  his 
utmost  favour.  If  I  may  put  it  concisely,  I 
am  become  a  mere  drama,  who  once  was  wont 
to  be  happy.  Do  not  let  this  seem  to  you  to 
30 


be  tolerable,  but  help  me  by  sympathy  and 
by  sharing  my  indignation,  and  do  right  by 
the  dead  Ca^sarius.  Yes,  in  the  name  of  friend- 
ship herself;  yes,  by  all  that  you  hold  dearest ; 
by  your  hope  (which  may  you  make  secure  by 
shewing  yourself  faithful  and  true  to  the  de- 
parted), I  pray  you  do  this  kindness  to  the 
living,  and  make  them  of  good  hope.  Do  you 
think  that  I  am  grieved  about  the  money  ?  It 
would  have  been  a  more  intolerable  disgrace 
to  me  if  Cresarius  alone,  who  thought  he  had 
so  many  friends,  turned  out  to  have  none. 
Such  is  my  request,  and  from  such  a  cause  does 
it  arise,  for  perhaps  my  affairs  are  not  alto- 
gether matters  of  indifference  to  you.  In  what 
you  will  assist  me,  and  by  what  means,  and 
how,  the  matter  itself  will  suggest  and  your 
wisdom  will  consider. 


Ep.  XXXVII. 

(A  letter  of  recommendation  for  Eudoxius 
a  Rhetorician  for  whom  Gregory  had  a  warm 
regard.) 

To  honour  a  mother  is  a  religious  duty. 
Now,  different  individuals  have  different  mo- 
thers ;  but  the  common  mother  of  all  is  our 
country.  This  mother  you  have  honoured  by 
the  splendour  of  your  whole  life ;  and  you  will 
honour  her  again  now  by  obtaining  for  me  that 
which  I  entreat.  And  what  is  my  request? 
You  certainly  know  Eudoxius  the  Rhetorician, 
the  most  learned  of  her  sons.  His  son,  to 
speak  concisely,  another  Eudoxius  both  in  life 
and  learning,  now^  approaches  you  through  me. 
In  order  then  to  get  yourself  a  yet  better 
name,  be  helpful  to  him  in  the  matters  for 
which  he  asks  your  assistance.  For  it  were  a 
shame  were  you,  who  are  the  universal  Patron 
of  our  Country,  and  who  have  done  good  to 
so  many,  and  I  will  add,  who  will  yet  con- 
tinue to  do  so,  should  not  honour  above  all  him 
who  is  most  excellent  in  learning  and  in  his 
eloquence,  which  you  ought  to  honour,  if  for 
no  other  reason,  because  he  uses  it  to  praise 
your  goodness. 

Ep.  XXXIX. 

(About  the  same  date.  A  recommendation 
of  one  Amazonius,  whose  learning  was  much 
respected  by  Gregory.) 

I  wish  well  to  all  my  friends.  And  when  I 
speak  of  friends,  I  mean  honourable  and  good 
men,  linked  with  me  in  virtue,  if  indeed  I 
mj^elf  have    any  claim   to  it.     Therefore   at 


466 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


the  present  time  when  seeking  how  I  might 
do  a  kindness  to  my  excellent  brother  Ama- 
zonius  (for  I  was  very  much  pleased  with  the 
man  in  some  intercourse  which  has  lately 
taken  place  between  us),  I  thought  I  might  re- 
turn him  one  favour  for  all, — in  your  friend- 
ship and  protection.  For  in  a  short  time  he 
shewed  proof  of  an  extensive  education,  both  | 
of  the  kind  which  I  used  once  to  be  very  j 
zealous  for,  when  I  was  shortsighted,  and  of 
that  for  which  I  am  zealous  in  its  place  since 
I  have  been  able  to  contemplate  the  summit  of  ; 
virtue.  Whether  I  in  my  turn  have  appeared 
to  him  to  be  worth  anything  in  respect  of 
virtue  is  his  affair.  At  any  rate  I  shewed  him 
the  best  things  I  have,  namely,  my  friends  to 
him  as  my  friend.  Of  these  I  reckon  you  as 
the  first  and  truest,  and  want  you  to  shew 
yourself  so  to  him — as  your  common  Country 
demands,  and  my  desire  and  promise  begs ;  for 
I  promised  him  your  patronage  in  return  for 
all  his  kindness. 


Ep.  XCIII. 

(Written  soon  after  Gregory's  resignation 
of  the  Archbishopric.) 

Our  retreat  and  leisure  and  quiet  have  about 
them  something  very  agreeable  to  me  ;  but  the 
fact  that  they  cut  me  off  from  your  friendship 
and  society  is  not  so  advantageous  but  rather 
the  other  way.  Others  enjoy  your  Perfection, 
to  me  it  would  be  really  a  great  boon  if  I 
might  have  just  that  shadow  of  conversation 
which  comes  in  a  letter.  Shall  I  see  you 
again  ?  Shall  1  embrace  again  him  of  whom 
I  am  so  proud,  and  shall  this  be  granted  to 
the  remnant  of  my  life?  If  so,  all  thanks  to 
God  :  if  not,  the  best  part  of  my  life  is  over. 
Pray  remember  your  friend  Gregory  and  pray 
for  him. 

Ep.  CXXXV. 

(About  the  middle  of  a.d.  382  Theodosius, 
on  the  recommendation  of  S.  Damasus, 
summoned  a  new  Synod  of  Eastern  Bish- 
ops to  meet  at  Constantinople,  to  try  and  heal 
the  schism  which  had  been  embittered  by  the 
election  of  Flavian  at  Antioch.  As  soon  as 
Gregory  heard  of  the  convocation  of  this 
Synod  he  wrote  to  several  of  his  inlluential 
friends  at  Court,  to  beg  them  to  do  their  ut- 
most for  the  i^romotion  of  i)eace.) 

I  am  philoso]jhizing  at  leisure.  That  is  the 
injury  my  enemies  have  done  me,  and  I  should 


be  glad  if  they  would  do  more  of  the  same  sort, 
that  I  might  look  upon  them  still  more  as 
benefactors.  For  it  often  happens  that  those 
who  are  wronged  get  a  benefit,  while  they, 
whom  we  would  treat  well,  suffer  injury.  That 
is  the  state  of  my  affairs.  But  if  I  cannot 
make  every  one  believe  this,  I  am  very  anxious, 
that  at  all  events  you,  for  them  all,  to  whom  I 
most  willingly  give  an  account  of  my  affairs, 
should  know,  or  rather  I  feel  certain  that  you 
do  know  it,  and  can  persuade  those  who  do 
not.  You,  however,  I  beg  to  give  all  diligence, 
now  at  any  rate,  if  you  have  not  done  so  before, 
to  bring  together  to  one  voice  and  mind  the 
sections  of  the  world  that  are  so  unhappily 
divided  ;  and  above  all  if  you  should  perceive, 
as  I  have  observed,  that  they  are  divided  not  on 
account  of  the  Faith,  but  by  petty  private  in- 
terests. To  succeed  in  doing  this  would  earn 
you  a  reward  ;  and  my  retirement  would  have 
less  to  grieve  over  if  I  could  see  that  I  did  not 
grasp  at  it  to  no  purpose,  but  was  like  a  Jonas, 
willingly  casting  myself  into  the  sea,  that  the 
storm  might  cease  and  the  sailors  be  saved. 
If,  however,  they  are  still  as  storm-tost  as  ever, 
I  at  all  events  have  done  what  I  could. 


§  q.  To  Amphilochius  The  Younger. 


§5 


Ep.  IX. 


(Constantine  and  Constantius  had  granted 
exemption  from  the  military  tax  to  all 
clerics.  This  privilege  was,  however,  abolished 
by  Julian,  and  was  restored  by  Yalentinian  and 
Valens :  but  the  collectors  of  revenue  often 
tried  to  levy  it  on  them  in  spite  of  the  exemp- 
tion. The  collector  at  Nazianzus  tried  to  do 
this  in  the  case  of  a  Deacon  named  Euthalius, 
in  whose  behalf  Gregory  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Amjihilochius,  who  was  at  the  time 
one  of  the  princii)al  magistrates  of  the  province. 
The  date  of  the  letter  is  given  as  a.d.  372,  the 
year  of  Gregory's  Ordination  to  the  Priesthood. 
For  further  jjarticulars  about  this  Amphilochius, 
see  introd.  to  letters  II.  and  III.  to  CcTsarius 
Epp.  22,  23.) 

Support  a  wellbuilt  chamber  with  columns  of 
gold,  as  Pindar"  says,  and  make  yourself  irom 
the  beginning  known  to  us  on  the  right  side  in 
our  present  anxiety,  that  you  may  build  yourself 
a  notable  palace,  and  shew  yourself  in  it  with  a 
good  fame.  But  how  will  you  do  this?  By 
honouring  God  and  the  things  of  Ciod.  than 
Whom  there  can  be  nothing  greater  in  your 

oOlymp.,  Od.  vi.,  i. 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


467 


eyes.  But  how,  and  by  what  act  can  you 
honour  Him  ?  By  this  one  act,  by  protecting  the 
servants  of  God  and  ministers  of  the  ahar. 
One  of  these  is  our  fellow  deacon  Euthalius,  on 
whom,  I  know  not  how,  the  officers  of  the 
Prefecture  are  trying  to  impose  a  payment  of 
gold  after  his  promotion  to  the  higher  rank. 
Pray  do  not  allow  this.  Reach  a  hand  to  this 
deacon  and  to  the  whole  clergy,  and  above  all 
to  me,  for  whom  you  care ;  for  otherwise  he 
would  have  to  endure  a  grievous  wrong,  alone 
of  men  deprived  of  the  kindness  of  the  time 
and  the  privilege  granted  by  the  Emperor  to 
the  Clergy,  and  would  even  be  insulted  and 
fined,  possibly  on  account  of  my  weakness.  It 
would  be  well  for  you  to  prevent  this  even  if 
others  are  not  well  disposed. 

Ep.  XIII. 

(See  the  first  letter  to  Sophronius.  The 
nature  of  the  trouble  here  alluded  to  is 
unknown.  There  are  several  letters  to  various 
persons  in  reference  to  his  troubles  and  diffi- 
culties, many  of  them  coming  from  his  reluc- 
tance to  undertake  the  duties  of  any  public 
office.  He  died  at  an  early  age,  leaving  his 
widow,  Alypiana,  with  a  large  family  to  bring 
up  in  very  reduced  circumstances.  Her  troub- 
les and  the  education  of  her  children  were 
matters  of  much  concern  to  Gregory,  whose  fre- 
quent letters  on  the  subject  will  be  found  below.) 

I  approve  the  statement  of  Theognis,  who, 
while  not  praising  the  friendship  which  goes 
no  further  than  cups  and  pleasures,  praises  that 
which  extends  to  actions  in  these  words. 

Beside  a  full  wine  cup  a  man  has  many  friends  : 
But  they  are  fewer  when  grave  troubles  press. 

We,  however,  have  not  shared  winecups  with 
each  other,  nor  indeed  have  we  often  met 
(though  we  ought  to  have  been  very  careful  to 
do  so,  both  for  our  own  sake,  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  friendship  which  we  inherited  from  our 
fathers),  but  we  do  ask  for  the  goodwill  which 
shews  itself  in  acts.  A  struggle  is  at  hand,  and 
a  very  serious  struggle.  My  son  Nicobulus 
has  got  into  unexpected  troubles,  from  a  quarter 
from  which  troubles  would  least  be  looked  for. 
Therefore  I  beg  you  to  come  and  help  us  as 
soon  as  you  can,  both  to  take  part  in  trying  the 
case,  and  to  plead  our  cause,  if  you  find  that  a 
wrong  is  being  done  us.  But  if  you  cannot 
come,  at  any  rate  do  not  let  yourself  be  pre- 
viously retained  by  the  other  side,  or  sell  for  a 
small  gain  the  freedom  which  we  know  from 
everybody's  testimony  has  always  characterized 
you. 


Ep.  XXV. 

(Amphilochius  was  acquitted  of  the  charges 
made  against  him,'  referred  to  in  former  let- 
ters ;  but  the  result  of  the  accusation  on  his 
own  mind  was  such  that  he  resigned  his  office, 
and  retired  to  a  sort  of  hermitage  at  a  place 
called  Ozizala,  not  far  from  Nazianzus,  where 
he  devoted  his  hours  of  labour  to  the  cultivation 
of  vegetables.  The  four  letters  which  tbllow 
are  of  no  special  importance,  and  are  only 
given  as  specimens  of  the  lighter  style  which 
Gregory  could  use  with  his  intimate  friends.) 

I  did  not  ask  you  for  bread,  just  as  I  would 
not  ask  for  water  from  the  inhabitants  of  Ostra- 
cine.  But  if  I  were  to  ask  for  vegetables  from 
a  man  of  Ozizala  it  were  no  strange  thing,  nor 
too  great  a  strain  on  friendship  ;  for  you  have 
plenty  of  them,  and  we  a  great  dearth.  I  beg 
you  then  to  send  me  some  vegetables,  and 
plenty  of  them,  and  the  best  quality,  or  as 
many  as  you  can  (for  even  small  things  are 
great  to  the  poor)  ;  for  I  am  going  to  receive 
the  great  Basil,  and  you,  who  have  had  experi- 
ence of  him  full  and  philosophical,  would  not 
like  to  know  him  hungry  and  irritated. 

Ep.   XXVI. 

What  a  very  small  quantity  of  vegetables 
you  have  sent  me  !  They  must  surely  be  golden 
vegetables !  And  yet  your  whole  wealth 
consists  of  orchards  and  rivers  and  groves  and 
gardens,  and  your  country  is  productive  of 
vegetables  as  other  lands  are  of  gold,  and 

You  dwell  among  meadowy  leafage. 

But  corn  is  for  you  a  fabulous  happiness,  and 
your  bread  is  the  bread  of  angels,  as  the  saying 
is,  so  welcome  is  it,  and  so  little  can  you  reckon 
upon  it.  Either,  then,  send  me  your  vege- 
tables less  grudgingly,  or — I  won't  threaten 
you  with  anything  else,  but  I  won't  send  you 
any  corn,  and  will  see  whether  there  is  any 
truth  in  the  saying  that  grasshoppers  live  on 
dew  ! 

Ep.   XXVII. 

You  make  a  joke  of  it ;  but  I  know  the 
danger  of  an  Ozizalean  starving  when  he  has 
taken  most  pains  with  his  husbandry.  There 
is  only  this  praise  to  be  given  them,  that  even 
if  they  die  of  hunger  they  smell  sweet,  and 
have  a  gorgeous  funeral.  How  so  ?  Because 
they  are  covered  with  plenty  of  all  sorts  of 
flowers. 


468 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Ep.  XXVIII. 

In  visiting  the  mountain  cities  which  bor- 
der on  Pamphylia  I  fished  up  in  the  Mountains 
a  sea  Glaucus ;  I  did  not  drag  the  fish  out  of 
the  depths  with  a  net  of  flax,  but  I  snared  my 
game  with  the  love  of  a  friend.  And  having 
once  taught  my  Glaucus  to  travel  by  land,  I 
sent  him  as  the  bearer  of  a  letter  to  Your 
Goodness.  Please  receive  him  kindly,  and 
honour  him  with  the  hospitality  commended  in 
the  Bible,  not  forgetting  the  vegetables. 

Ep.    LXII. 

(The  Armenian  referred  to  is  probably 
Eustathius  Bishop  of  Sebaste,  the  capital 
of  Armenia  Minor.  He  had  been  a  disciple 
of  Arius,  but  naore  than  once  professed  the 
Nicene  Faith,  changing  his  opinions  with  his 
company.  His  personal  character  however 
stood  very  high,  and  for  a  long  time  S.  Basil  re- 
garded him  with  affectionate  esteem.  Indeed  S. 
Basil's  Rule  for  Monks  is  based  on  one  drawn 
up  by  him.  But  after  Basil's  elevation  to  the 
Episcopate  Eustathius  began  to  oppose  him 
and  to  calumniate  him  on  all  sides,  and  even 
entered  openly  into  communion  with  the 
Arians.  It  would  seem  that  this  man  tried  to 
get  Amphilochius  round  to  his  side,  and 
through  him  Gregory.) 

The  Injunction  of  your  inimitable  Honour 
is  not  barbaric,  but  Greek,  or  rather  christian  ; 
but  as  for  the  Armenian  on  Avhom  you  pride 
yourself  so,  he  is  a  downright  barbarian,  and 
far  from  our  honour. 


Ep.  LXIIL 

To  Amphilochius  the  Elder. 

(In  A.D.  374  Amphilochius  was  made  Bishop 
of  Iconium  ;  and  his  father,  a  man  of  the  same 
name,  was  deeply  aggrieved  at  being  thus  de- 
prived of  his  son,  to  whom  he  had  looked  to 
supi^jDrt  him  in  his  old  age,  and  accused  Gre- 
gory of  being  the  cause.  Gregory,  who  had  just 
lost  his  own  father,  writes  to  undeceive  him, 
and  to  convince  him  how  much  he  dreads  the 
burden  of  the  responsibilities  of  the  episcopate 
for  his  friend  as  well  as  for  himself) 

Are  you  grieving?  I,  of  course,  am  full  of 
joy!  Are  you  weeping?  I,  as  you  see,  am 
keeping  festival  and  glorying  in  the  present 


state  of  things  !  Are  you  grieved  because  your 
son  is  taken  from  you  and  promoted  to  honour 
on  account  of  his  virtue,  and  do  you  think 
it  a  terrible  misfortune  that  he  is  no.  longer 
with  you  to  tend  your  old  age,  and,  as  his 
custom  is,  to  bestow  on  you  all  due  care  and 
service?  But  it  is  no  grief  to  me  that  my 
father  has  left  me  for  the  last  journey,  from 
which  he  will  return  to  me  no  more,  and  I 
shall  never  see  him  again  !  Then  I  for  my 
part  do  not  blame  you,  nor  do  I  ask  you  for 
due  condolence,  knowing  as  I  do  that  private 
troubles  allow  no  leisure  for  those  of  strangers  ; 
for  no  man  is  so  friendly  and  so  philosophical 
as  to  be  above  his  own  suffering  and  to  com- 
fort another  when  needing  comfort  himself. 
But  you  on  the  contrary  heap  blow  on  blow, 
when  you  blame  me,  as  I  hear  you  do,  and 
think  that  your  son  and  my  brother  is  neglected 
by  us,  or  even  betrayed  by  us,  which  is  a  still 
heavier  charge ;  or  that  we  do  not  recognize 
the  loss  which  all  his  friends  and  relatives 
have  suffered,  and  I  more  than  all,  because  I 
had  placed  in  him  my  hopes  of  life,  and  looked 
upon  him  as  the  only  bulwark,  the  only  good 
counsellor,  and  the  only  sharer  of  my  piety. 
And  yet,  on  what  grounds  do  you  form  this 
opinion  ?  If  on  the  first,  be  assured  that  I 
came  over  to  you  on  purpose,  and  because  I 
was  troubled  by  the  rumour,  and  I  was  repdy  to 
share  your  deliberations  while  it  was  still  time 
for  consultation  about  the  matter;  and  you 
imparted  anything  to  me  rather  than  this, 
whether  because  you  were  in  the  same  distress, 
or  with  some  other  purpose,  I  know  not  what. 
But  if  the  last,  I  was  prevented  from  meeting 
you  again  by  my  grief,  and  the  honour  I  owed 
my  father,  and  his  funeral,  over  which  I  could 
not  give  anything  precedence,  and  that  when 
my  sorrow  was  fresh,  and  it  would  not  only 
have  been  wrong  but  also  quite  improper  to  be 
unseasonably  philosophical,  and  above  human 
nature.  Moreover,  I  thought  that  I  was  pre- 
viously engaged  by  the  circumstances,  espec- 
ially as  his  had  come  to  such  a  conclusion  as 
seemed  good  to  Him  who  governs  all  our 
affairs.  So  much  concerning  this  matter. 
Now  I  beg  you  to  put  aside  your  grief,  which 
is  most  unreasonable  I  am  sure ;  and  if  you 
have  any  further  grievance,  bring  it  forward 
that  you  may  not  grieve  both  me  in  part  and 
yourself,  and  put  yourself  in  a  position  un- 
worthy of  your  nobility,  blaming  me  instead 
of  others,  though  I  have  done  you  no  wrong, 
but,  if  I  must  say  the  truth,  have  been  equally 
tyrannized  over  by  our  common  friend,  al- 
though you  used  to  think  me  your  only  bene- 
factor. 


MISCELLANEOUS   LETTERS. 


469 


Ep.  CLXXL 

To  Amphilochius,  Bishop  of  Iconium. 

Scarcely  yet  delivered  from  the  pains  of 
my  illness,  I  hasten  to  you,  the  guardian  of  my 
cure.  For  the  tongue  of  a  priest  meditating 
of  the  Lord  raises  the  sick.  Do  then  the 
greater  thing  in  your  priestly  ministration, 
and  loose  the  great  mass  of  my  sins  when 
you  lay  hold  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Resurrection. 
For  your  affairs  are  a  care  to  me  waking  or 
sleeping,  and  you  are  to  me  a  good  plectrun*, 
and  have  made  a  welltuned  lyre  to  dwell 
within  my  soul,  because  by  your  numerous 
letters  you  have  trained  my  soul  to  science. 
But,  most  reverend  friend,  cease  not  both  to 
pray  and  to  plead  for  me  when  you  draw  down 
the  Word  by  your  word,  when  with  a  blood- 
less cutting  you  sever  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
the  Lord,  using  your  voice  for  the  glaive." 

Ep.  CLXXXIV. 

(Bosporius,  Bishop  of  Colonia  in  Cappadocia 
Secunda,  who  had  apparently  taken  a  prominent 
part  in  the  election  and  consecration  of  Eulalius 
to  the  See  of  Nazianzus,  was  accused  of  heresy 
by  Helladius  Archbishop  of  Ctesarea,  and  a 
Council  met  at  Parnassus  to  try  him,  a.d.  383. 
Gregory,  not  being  able  personally  to  attend 
this  Synod,  writes  to  Amphilochius,  to  beg  him 
to  undertake  the  defence  of  the  accused.  The 
letter  I's  lost,  but  Gregory's  friend  carried  out 
his  mission  with  success,  and  the  following 
letter  is  to  thank  him  for  his  kindness.) 

The  Lord  fulfil  all  thy  petitions  (do  not 
despise  a  father's  prayer),  for  you  have 
abundantly  refreshed  my  age,  both  by  having 
gone  to  Parnassus,  as  you  were  invited  to 
do,  and  by  having  refuted  the  calumny  against 
the  most  Reverend  and  God-beloved  Bishop. 
For  evil  men  love  to  set  down  their  own  faults 
to  those  who  convict  them.  For  the  age  of 
this  man  is  stronger  than  all  the  accusations, , 
and  so  is  his  life,  and  we  too  who  have  often 
heard  from  him  and  taught  others,  and  those 
whom  he  has  recovered  from  error  and  added 
to  the  common  body  of  the  church ;  but  yet 
the  present  evil  times  called  for  more  accurate 
proof  on  account  of  the  slanderers  and  evil- 
disposed  ;  and  this  you  have  supplied  us  with, 
or  rather  you  have  supplied  it  to  those  who 
are  of  fickler  mind  and  easily  led  away  by 
such  men.  But  if  you  will  undertake  a  longer 
journey,    and  will   personally  give  testimony, 

a  A  very  clear  assertion  of  the  Real  Presence. 


and  settle  the  matter  with  the  other  bishops, 
you  will  be  doing  a  spiritual  work  worthy  of 
your  Perfection.  I  and  those  with  me  salute 
your  Fraternity. 

§  6.  To   Nectarius   Archbishop    of    Con- 
stantinople. 

(Gregory,  having  failed  to  persuade  the 
Council  of  A.  D.  38 1  to  end  the  schism  at  Antioch 
by  recognizing  Paulinus  as  successor  to  Mele- 
tius,  thought  it  best  for  the  sake  of  peace  to 
resign  the  Archbishopric.  The  Council  elected 
in  his  place  Nectarius,  a  catechumen  at  the 
time,  who  was  Praetor  of  Constantinople,  and 
he  was  consecrated  and  enthroned  June  9,  a.d. 
381.  Gregory  always  maintained  cordial  rela- 
tions with  him ;  and  the  following  letter  was 
written  in  answer  to  the  formal  announcement 
of  his  election.) 

Ep.  LXXXVIII. 

It  was  needful  that  the  Royal  Image  should 
adorn  the  Royal  City.  For  this  reason 
it  wears  you  upon  its  bosom,  as  was  fitting, 
with  the  virtues  and  the  eloquence,  and  the 
other  beauties  with  which  the  Divine  Favour 
has  conspicuously  enriched  you.  L^s  it  has 
treated  with  utter  contempt,  and  has  cast  away 
like  refuse  and  chaff  or  a  wave  of  the  sea.  But 
since  friends  have  a  common  interest  in  each 
other's  affairs,  I  claim  a  share  in  your  welfare, 
and  feel  myself  a  partaker  in  your  glory  and 
the  rest  of  your  prosperity.  Do  you  also,  as  is 
fitting,  partake  of  the  anxieties  and  reverses  of 
your  exiles,  and  not  only  (as  the  tragedians 
say)  hold  and  stick  to  happy  circumstances, 
but  also  take  your  part  with  your  friend  in 
troubles  ;  that  you  may  be  perfectly  just,  living 
justly  and  equally  in  respect  of  friendship  and 
of  your  friends.  May  good  fortune  abide  with 
you  long,  that  you  may  do  yet  more  good ; 
yes,  may  it  be  with  you  irrevocably  and  eter- 
nally, after  your  prosperity  here,  unto  the  pas- 
sage to  that  other  world. 

Ep.  XCI. 

(A  letter  of  no  great  importance,  except  as 
shewing  the  friendly  feelings  which  Gregory 
continued  to  maintain  towards  his  successor.) 

Affairs  with  us  go  on  as  usual :  we  are  quiet 
without  strifes  and  disputes,  valuing  as  we  do  the 
reward  (which  has  no  risk  attaching  to  it)  of 
silence,  beyond  everything.  And  we  have  de- 
rived some  profit  from  this  rest,  having  by  God's 
mercy  fairly  recovered  from  our  illness.     Do 


470 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


you  ride  on  and  reign,  as  holy  David  says," 
and  may  (led.  Who  has  honoured  you  with 
Priesthood,  accompany  you  throughout,  and  set 
it  for  you  above  all  slander.  And  that  we  may  : 
give  each  other  a  proof  of  our  courage,  and  may 
not  suffer  any  human  calamity  as  we  stand  be- 
fore God,  I  send  this  message  to  you,  and  do 
you  promptly  assent  to  it.  There  are  many 
reasons  which  make  me  very  anxious  about 
our  very  dear  Pancratius.  Be  good  enough  to 
receive  him  kindly,  and  to  commend  him  to 
the  best  of  your  friends,  that  he  may  attain  his 
object.  His  object  is  through  some  kind  of 
military  service  to  obtain  relief  from  public 
office,  though  there  is  no  single  kind  of  life 
that  is  unexposed  to  the  slanders  of  worthless 
men,  as  you  very  well  know. 

Ep.  CLI. 

(Written  about  a.d.  382,  commending  his 
friend  George,  a  deacon  of  Nazianzus,  to  the 
good  offices  of  the  Archbishop  and  the  Count 
of  the  Domestics,  or  Master  of  the  Imperial 
Household,  on  account  of  his  private  troubles 
and  anxieties.) 

People  in  general  make  a  very  good  guess  at 
your  disposition — or  rather,  they  do  not  con- 
jecture, but  they  do  not  refuse  to  believe  me 
when  I  pride  myself  on  the  fact  that  you  deem 
me  worthy  of  no  small  respect  and  honour. 
One  of  these  peoi)le  is  my  very  precious  son 
George,  who  having  fallen  into  many  losses, 
and  being  very  much  overwhelmed  by  his 
troubles,  can  find  only  one  harbour  of  safety, 
namely,  to  be  introduced  to  you  by  us,  and  to 
obtain  some  favour  at  the  hands  of  the  Most 
Illustrious  the  Count  of  the  Domestics.  Grant 
them  this  favour,  either  to  him  and  his  need, 
or  else,  if  you  prefer  it,  to  me,  to  whom  I  know 
you  have  resolved  to  grant  all  favours ;  and 
facts  also  persuade  me  that  this  is  true  of  you. 

Ep.   CLXXXV. 

(See  Introduction  to  Ep.  CLXXXIV.  above, 
p.  469.  Bosporius  was  to  be  sent  to  Constantin- 
ople that  his  cause  might  there  be  tried  in  the 
Civil  Courts.  Gregory  therefore  writes  to  the 
Archbishop  to  point  out  what  a  serious  infringe- 
ment of  the  rights  of  the  Church  this  would  be. 
Probably  the  attitude  which  Nectarius  took  up 
at  the  suggestion  of  Gregory  was  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Edict  which  Theodosius  addressed  in 
February,  a.d.  384  or  5,  to  the  Augustal  Prefect, 
withdrawing  all  clerics  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  civil  tribunals,  and  placing  them  imder 
the  exclusive  control  of  the  episcopal  courts.) 

a  Ps.  xlv.  4. 


Whenever  different  people  praise  different 
points  in  you,  and  all  are  pushing  forward  your 
good  fame,  as  in  a  marketplace,  I  contribute 
whatever  I  can,  and  not  less  than  any  of  them, 
because  you  deign  also  to  honour  me,  to  cheer 
my  old  age,  as  a  well-beloved  son  does  that  of 
his  father.  For  this  reason  I  now  also  venture 
to  offer  to  you  this  appeal  on  behalf  of  the 
Most  Reverend  and  God-beloved  Bishop  Bos- 
porius ;  though  ashamed  on  the  one  hand  that 
such  a  man  should  need  any  letter  from  me, 
since  his  venerable  character  is  assured  both  by 
l:fis  daily  life  and  by  his  age ;  and  on  the  other 
hand  not  less  ashamed  to  keep  silence  and  not 
to  say  a  word  for  him,  while  I  have  a  voice, 
and  honour  faith,  and  know  the  man  most  in- 
timately. The  controversy  about  the  dioceses 
you  will  no  doubt  yourself  resolve  according 
to  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  which  is  in  you,  and 
to  the  order  of  the  canons.  But  I  hoi)e  Your 
Reverence  will  see  that  it  is  not  to  be  endured 
that  our  affairs  are  to  be  posted  up  in  the  sec- 
ular courts.  For  even  if  they  who  are  judges 
of  such  courts  are  Christians,  as  by  the  mercy 
of  God  they  are,  what  is  there  in  common  be- 
tween the  Sword  and  the  Si)irit  ?  And  even 
if  we  yield  this  point,  how  or  where  can  it  be 
just  that  a  dispute  concerning  the  faith  should 
be  interwoven  with  the  other  questions?  Is 
our  God-beloved  Bishop  Bosporius  to-day  a 
heretic  ?  Is  it  to-day  that  his  hoar  hair  is  set 
in  the  balance,  who  has  brought  back  so 
many  from  their  error,  and  has  given  so  great 
proof  of  his  orthodoxy,  and  is  a  teacher  of  us 
all?  No,  I  entreat  you,  do  not  give  place  to 
such  slanders  ;  but  if  j^ossible  reconcile  the  op- 
posing ])arties  and  add  this  to  your  praises ; 
but  if  this  may  not  be,  at  all  events  do  not  al- 
low us  all,  (with  whom  he  has  lived,  and  with 
whom  he  has  grown  old,)  to  be  outraged  by 
such  insolence, — us  whom  you  know  to  l)e  accu- 
rate preachers  of  the  Gospel,  both  when  to  be  so 
was  dangeroiis,  and  when  it  is  free  from  risk ; 
and  to  be  unable  to  endure  any  detraction 
from  the  One  Unapproachable  Godhead.  And 
I  beg  you  to  pray  for  me  who  am  suffering 
from  serious  illness.  I  and  all  who  are  with  me 
salute  the  brethren  who  surround  you.  May 
you,  strong  and  of  good  courage  and  of  good 
fame  in  the  Lord,  grant  to  us  and  the  Churches 
the  support  which  all  in  common  demand. 

Ep.    CLXXXVI. 

(A  letter  of  introduction  for  a  relative.) 

What  would  you  have  done  if  I  had  come 
in  person  and  taken  up  your  time  ?  I  am  quite 
certain  you  would  have  undertaken  with  all 


MISCELLANEOUS   LETTERS. 


471 


zeal  to  deliver  me  from  the  slander,  if  I  may 
take  as  a  token  what  has  happened  before. 
Do  me  this  favour,  then,  through  my  most  dis- 
creet kinswoman  wlio  approaches  you  through 
me,  reverencing  first  the  age  of  your  petitioner, 
and  next  her  disposition  and  piety,  whicli  is 
more  than  is  ordinarily  found  in  a  woman  ; 
and  besides  tliis,  her  ignorance  in  business- 
matters,  and  the  troubles  now  brought  upon 
her  by  her  own  relations  ;  and  above  all,  my 
entreaty.  The  greatest  favour  you  can  do  me 
is  speed  in  the  benefit  for  which  I  am  asking. 
For  even  the  unjust  judge  in  the  Gospel  °-  shewed 
kindness  to  the  widow,  though  only  after  long 
beseeching  and  importunity.  But  from  you  I 
ask  for  speed,  that  she  may  not  be  overwhelmed 
by  being  long  burdened  with  anxieties  and 
miseries  in  a  foreign  land  ;  though  I  know  quite 
well  that  Your  Piety  will  make  that  alien  land 
to  be  a  fatherland  to  her. 

ep.  ecu. 

(An  important  letter  on  the  Apollinarian 
controversy  has  already  been  given  above.) 

§  7.  To  Theodore,  Bishop  of  Tyana. 

(Theodore,  a  native  of  Arianzus,  and  an  in- 
timate friend  of  Gregory,  accompanied  him 
to  Constantinople  a.d.  379,  and  shared  his  per- 
secution by  the  Arians,  who  broke  into  their 
church  during  the  celebration  of  the  divine 
liturgy,  and  pelted  the  clergy  with  stones. 
Theodore  could  not  bring  himself  to  put  up 
with  this,  and  declared  his  intention  of  prose- 
cuting the  aggressors.  Gregory  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  dissuade  him  from  this  course, 
by  shewing  him  how  much  more  noble  it  is  to 
forgive  than  to  revenge.) 

Ep.   LXXVII. 

I  hear  that  you  are  indignant  at  the  out- 
rages which  have  been  committed  on  us  by 
the  Monks  and  the  Mendicants.  And  it  is 
no  wonder,  seeing  that  you  never  yet  had  felt 
a  blow,  and  were  Avithout  experience  of  the 
evils  we  have  to  endure,  that  you  did  feel 
angry  at  such  a  thing.  But  we  as  experienced 
in  many  sorts  of  evil,  and  as  having  had  our 
share  of  insult,  may  be  considered  worthy  of 
belief  when  we  exhort  Your  Reverence,  as  old 
age  teaches  and  as  reason  suggests.  Certainly 
what  has  happened  was  dreadful,  and  more  than 
dreadful, — no  one  will  deny  it :  that  our  altars 
were   insulted,    our   mysteries   disturbed,  and 


that  we  ourselves  had  to  stand  between  the 
communicants  and  those  who  would  stone 
them,  and  to  make  our  intercessions  a  cure  for 
stonings ;  that  the  reverence  due  to  virgins  was 
forgotten,  and  the  good  order  of  monks,  and 
the  calamity  of  the  poor,  who  lost  even  their 
pity  through  ferocity.  But  perhaps  it  would 
be  better  to  be  patient,  and  to  give  an  example 
of  patience  to  many  by  our  sufferings.  For 
argument  is  not  so  persuasive  of  the  world  in 
general   as  is  practice,  that  silent  exhortation. 

We  think  it  an  important  matter  to  obtain 
penalties  from  those  who  have  wronged  us :  an 
important  matter,  I  say,  (for  even  this  is  some- 
times useful  for  the  correction  of  others) — but 
it  is  far  greater  and  more  Godlike,  to  bear  with 
injuries.  For  the  former  course  curbs  wicked- 
ness, but  the  latter  makes  men  good,  which  is 
much  better  and  more  periect  than  merely 
being  not  wicked.  Let  us  consider  that  the 
great  pursuit  of  mercifulness  is  set  before  us, 
and  let  us  forgive  the  wrongs  done  to  us  that 
we  also  may  obtain  forgiveness,  and  let  us  by 
kindness  lay  up  a  store  of  kindness. 

Phineas  was  called  Zelotes  because  he  ran 
through  the  Midianitish  woman  with  the  man 
who  was  committing  fornication  with  her,''  and 
because  he  took  away  the  reproach  from  the 
children  of  Israel :  but  he  was  more  praised  be- 
cause he  prayed  for  the  people  when  they  had 
transgressed.^  Let  us  then  also  stand  and  make 
propitiation,  and  let  the  plague  be  stayed,  and 
let  this  be  counted  unto  us  for  righteousness. 
Moses  also  was  praised  because  he  slew  the 
Egyptian  that  oppressed  the  Israelite  ;  y  but  he 
was  more  admirable  because  he  healed  by  his 
prayer  his  sister  Miriam  when  she  was  made 
leprous  for  her  murmuring.*  Look  also  at 
what  follows.  The  people  of  Nineve  are 
threatened  with  an  overthrow,  but  by  their 
tears  they  redeem  their  sin.  ^  Manasses  was  the 
most  lawless  of  Kings,^  but  is  the  most  conspic- 
uous among  those  who  have  attained  salvation 
through  mourning. 

O  Ephraim  what  shall  I  do  unto  thee,*) 
saith  God.  What  anger  is  here  expressed — and 
yet  protection  is  added.  What  is  swifter  than 
Mercy  ?  The  Disciples  ask  for  flames  of  Sod- 
om upon  those  who  drive  Jesus  away,  but  He 
deprecates  revenge.^  Peter  cuts  off  the  ear  of 
Malchus,  one  of  those  who  outraged  Him,  but 
Jesus  restores  it."  And  what  of  him  who  asks 
whether  he  must  seven  times  forgive  a  brother 
if  he  has  trespassed,  is  he  not  condemned  for 


a  S.  Luke  xviii.  i,  etc. 


a  Num.  xxiv.  7.  ^  Ps.  c\i.  30   31.  y  Exod.  ii.  iz. 

S  Num.  xii.  40.         «  Jon.  iii.  10.  ^2  Chroii.  xxxiii.  12,  13. 

I)  Hos.  vi.  4.  e  S.  Luke  ix.  54.  k  lb.  xxii.  50. 


472 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


his  niggardliness,  for  to  the  seven  is  added  sev- 
enty times  seven  ?  <*  What  of  the  debtor  in  the 
Gospel  who  will  not  forgive  as  he  has  been  for- 
given ?  ^  Is  it  not  more  bitterly  exacted  of  him 
for  this?  And  what  saith  the  pattern  of 
prayer?  Does  it  not  desire  that  forgiveness 
may  be  earned  by  forgiveness  ? 

Having  so  many  examples  let  us  imitate  the 
mercy  of  God,  and  not  desire  to  learn  from 
ourselves  how  great  an  evil  is  requital  of  sin. 
You  see  the  sequence  of  goodness.  First 
it  makes  laws,  then  it  commands,  threatens, 
reproaches,  holds  out  warnings,  restrains, 
threatens  again,  and  only  when  forced  to  do  so 
strikes  the  blow,  but  this  little  by  little,  open- 
ing the  way  to  amendment.  Let  us  then  not 
strike  suddenly  (for  it  is  not  safe  to  do  so),  but 
being  selfrestrained  in  our  fear  let  us  conquer 
by  mercy,  and  make  them  our  debtors  by  our 
kindness,  tormenting  them  by  their  conscience 
rather  than  by  anger.  Let  us  not  dry  up  a  fig 
tree  which  may  yet  bear  fruit, v  nor  condemn  it 
as  useless  and  cumbering  the  ground,  when 
possibly  the  care  and  diligence  of  a  skilful  gar- 
dener may  yet  heal  it.  And  do  not  let  us  so 
quickly  destroy  so  great  and  glorious  a  work 
through  what  is  perhaps  the  spite  and  malice  of 
the  devil ;  but  let  us  choose  to  shew  ourselves 
merciful  rather  than  severe,  and  lovers  of  the 
poor  rather  than  of  abstract  justice  ;  and  let  us 
not  make  more  account  of  those  who  would 
enkindle  us  to  this  than  of  those  who  would 
restrain  us,  considering,  if  nothing  else,  the  dis- 
grace of  appearing  to  contend  against  mendi- 
cants who  have  this  great  advantage  that  even 
if  they  are  in  tlie  wrong  they  are  pitied  for  their 
misfortune.  But  as  things  are,  consider  that  all 
the  poor  and"  those  who  support  them,  and  all 
the  Monks  and  Virgins  are  falling  at  your  feet 
and  praying  you  on  their  behalf.  Grant  to  all 
these  for  them  this  favour  (since  they  have  suf- 
ferred  enough  as  is  clear  by  what  they  have 
asked  of  us)  and  above  all  to  me  who  am  their 
representative.  And  if  it  appear  to  you  mon- 
strous that  we  should  have  been  dishonoured  by 
them,  remember  that  it  is  far  worse  that  we 
should  not  be  listened  to  by  you  when  we  make 
this  request  of  you.  May  God  forgive  the  no- 
ble Paulus  his  outrages  upon  us. 

Ep.  CXV. 

(Sent  about  Easter  a.d.  382  with  a  copy  of 
the  Philocalia,  or  Chrestomathy  of  Origen's 
works  edited  by  himself  and  S.  Basil.) 

You  anticipate  the  Festival,  and  the  letters, 
and,   which  is  better  still,   the   time  by  your 

a  S.  Matt,  xviii.  21.        ,3  lb.  xviii.  28  sq.        y  S.  Luke  xiii.  7. 


eagerness,  and  you  bestow  on  us  a  preliminary 
festival.  Such  is  what  Your  Reverence  gives 
us.  And  we  in  return  give  you  the  greatest 
thing  we  have,  our  prayers.  But  that  you  may 
have  some  small  thing  to  remember  us  by,  we 
send  you  the  volume  of  the  Philocalia  of  Origen, 
containing  a  selection  of  passages  useful  to 
students  of  literature.  Deign  to  accept  this, 
and  give  us  a  proof  of  its  usefulness,  being 
aided  by  diligence  and  the  Spirit. 

Ep.  CXXL 

(Written  a  little  later,  as  a  letter  of  thanks 
for  an  Easter  Gift.  Theodore  had  quite  re- 
cently been  made  Archbishop  of  Tyana. ) 

We  rejoice  in  the  tokens  of  love,  and  especi- 
ally at  such  a  season,  and  from  one  at  once  so 
young  a  man,  and  so  perfect ;  and,  to  greet  you 
with  the  words  of  Scripture,  stablished  in  your 
youth,"  for  so  it  calls  him  who  is  more  advanced 
in  wisdom  than  his  years  lead  us  to  expect. 
The  old  Fathers  prayed  for  the  dew  of  heaven 
and  fatness  of  the  earth  ^  and  other  such  things 
for  their  children,  though  perhaps  some  may  un- 
derstand these  things  in  a  higher  sense  ;  but  we 
will  give  you  back  all  in  a  spiritual  sense.  The 
Lord  fulfil  all  thy  requests, ^  and  mayest  thou 
be  the  father  of  such  children  ^  (if  I  may  pray 
for  you  concisely  and  intimately)  as  you  your- 
self have  shewn  yourself  to  your  own  parents, 
so  that  we,  as  well  as  every  one  else,  may  be 
glorified  concerning  you. 

Ep.  CXXIL 

You  owe  me,  even  as  a  sick  man,  tend- 
ing, for  one  of  the  commandments  is  the 
visitation  of  the  sick.  And  you  also  owe  to  the 
Holy  Martyrs  their  annual  honour,  which  we 
celebrate  in  your  own  Arianzus  on  the  23rd  of 
the  month  which  we  call  Dathusa.*  And  at 
the  same  time  there  are  ecclesiastical  affairs  not 
a  few  which  need  our  common  examination. 
For  all  these  reasons  then,  I  beg  you  to  come 
at  once  :  for  though  the  labour  is  great,  the 
reward  is  equivalent. 

Ep.  CXXIIL 

(To  excuse  himself  for  postponing  his  ac- 
ceptance of  an  invitation.) 

I  reverence  your  presence,  and  I  delight  in 
your  company ;  although  otherwise  I  counsel- 


o  Ps.  cxliv.  2.  S  Gen.  xxvii.  28.  7  Ps.  xx.  7. 

5  It  seems  clear,  as  Benoit  remarks,  that  this  expression  refers  to 
.Spiritual  fatherhood.  Theodore  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
married.  e  Probably  July. 


MISCELLANEOUS   LETTERS. 


473 


led  myself  to  remain  at  home  and  philosophize 
in  quiet,  for  I  found  this  of  all  courses  the  most 
profitable  for  myself  And  since  the  winds  are 
still  somewhat  rough,  and  my  infirmity  has  not 
yet  left  me,  I  beg  you  to  bear  with  me  patient- 
ly for  a  little  while,  and  to  join  me  in  my 
prayers  for  health  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  fit  season 
comes  I  will  attend  upon  your  requests. 

Ep.  CXXIV. 

(A  little  later  on,  when  the  weather  was  more 
settled,  Gregory  accepts  the  invitation  and 
proposes  to  come  at  once,  but  declines  to  at- 
tend the  Provincial  Synod.) 

You  call  me  ?  And  I  hasten,  and  that  for 
a  private  visit.  Synods  and  Conventions  I  sa- 
lute from  afar,  since  I  have  experienced  that 
most  of  them  (to  speak  moderately)  are  but 
sorry  affairs.  What  then  remains  ?  Help  with 
your  prayers  my  just  desires  that  I  may  obtain 
that  for  which  I  am  anxious. 

Ep.  CLII. 

(On  his  retirement  from  Constantinople 
Gregory  had  at  the  request  of  the  Bishops  of 
the  Province,  and  especially  of  Theodore  of 
Tyana  the  Metropolitan,  and  Bosporius  Bishop 
of  Colonia  (see  letters  above)  and  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  people,  undertaken  the  charge 
of  the  Diocese  of  Nazianzus  ;  but  he  very  soon 
found  that  his  health  was  not  equal  to  so  great 
a  task,  and  that  he  could  not  fulfil  its  calls 
upon  him.  He  struggled  on  for  some  time, 
but  at  length,  finding  himself  quite  unequal  to 
it,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  the  Metropolitan:) 

It  is  time  for  me  to  use  these  words  of 
Scripture,  To  whom  shall  I  cry  when  I  am 
wronged  ? "  Who  will  stretch  out  a  hand 
to  me  when  I  am  oppre.ssed?  To  whom 
shall  the  burden  of  this  Church  pass,  in  its 
present  evil  and  paralysed  condition  ?  I  pro- 
test before  God  and  the  Elect  Angels  that 
the  Flock  of  God  is  being  unrighteously  dealt 
with  in  being  left  without  a  Shepherd  or  a 
Bishop,  through  my  being  laid  on  the  shelf 
For  I  am  a  prisoner  to  my  ill  health  and  have 
been  very  quickly  removed  thereby  from  the 
Church,  and  made  quite  useless  to  everybody, 
every  day  breathing  my  last,  and  getting  more 
and  more  crushed  by  my  duties.  If  the  Pro- 
vince had  any  other  head,  it  would  have  been 
my  duty  to  cry  out  and  protest  to  it  contin- 
ually. But  since  Your  Reverence  is  the  Su- 
perior, it  is  to  you  I  mast  look.  For,  to  leave 
out  everything  else,  you  shall  learn  from  my 

a  Hab.  ii.  i. 


fellow  -  priests,  Eulalius  the  Chorepiscopus  * 
and  Celeusius,  whom  I  have  specially  sent  to 
Your  Reverence,  what  these  robbers  ^  who  have 
now  got  the  upper  hand,  are  both  doing  and 
threatening.  To  repress  them  is  not  in  the 
power  of  my  weakness,  but  belongs  to  your 
skill  and  strength ;  since  to  you,  with  His 
other  gifts  God  has  given  that  of  strength  also 
for  the  protection  of  His  Church.  If  in  saying 
and  writing  this  I  cannot  get  a  hearing,  I  shall 
take  the  only  course  remaining  to  me,  that  of 
publicly  proclaiming  and  making  known  that 
this  Church  needs  a  Bishop,  in  order  that  it 
may  not  be  injured  by  my  feeble  health. 
What  is  to  follow  is  matter  for  your  consider- 
ation. 

Ep.  CLIII. 

(S.  Gregory  had  to  carry  out  his  threat. 
He  resigned  the  care  of  Nazianzus,  and 
nothing  would  induce  him  to  withdraw 
his  resignation.  Bosporius  wrote  him  an  ur- 
gent letter  with  this  object,  but  he  replied  as 
follows  :) 

To  Bosporius,  Bishop  of  Colonia. 

Twice  I  have  been  tripped  up  by  you,  and 
have  been  deceived  (you  know  what  I  mean), 
and  if  it  was  justly,  may  the  Lord  smell  from 
you  an  odour  of  sweet  savour ;  v  if  unjustly,  may 
the  Lord  pardon  it.  For  so  it  is  reasonable 
for  me  to  speak  of  you,  seeing  we  are  com- 
manded to  be  patient  when  injuries  are  in- 
flicted on  us.  But  as  you  are  master  of  your 
own  opinions,  so  am  I  of  mine.  That  trouble- 
some Gregory  will  no  longer  be  troublesome 
to  you.  I  will  withdraw  myself  to  God, 
Who  alone  is  pure  and  guileless.  I  will  retire 
into  myself  This  I  have  determined  ;  for  to 
stumble  twice  on  the  same  stone  is  attributed 
by  the  proverb  to  fools  alone. 

To  Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Tyana. 

Ep.  CLVII. 

(S.  Gregory  succeeded  at  the  end  of  a.d. 
382  in  convincing  the  Metropolitan  and  his 
Comprovincials  of  his  sincerity  in  desiring  to 
retire  ;  and  so  they  began  to  cast  about  for  a  Suc- 
cessor.    Gregory  desired  that  his  cousin  the 

a  Chorepi«copi :— a  grade  of  clergy  called  into  existence  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  Third  Century,  first  in  Asia  Minor,  to  meet  the 
difficulty  of  providing  Episcopal  supervisi  m  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts of  large  Dioceses.  They  seemed  to  have  been  allowed  to 
confer  the  Minor,  but  not  the  Holy  Orders,  unless  by  special  com- 
mission from  the  Diocesan,  on  the  ground  of  their  lack  of  original 
Jurisdiction.  That  they  were  originally  possessed  of  full  Episcopal 
Orders  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  eventiially  the  position  was 
allowed  to  be  held  by  Priests,  and  in  the  West  the  office  became 
practically  merged  in  that  of  the  Archdeacon. 

^Thc  Apollinarians.  y  Gen.  viii.  21. 


474 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Chorepiscopiis  Eulaliiis  should  be  nominated, 
but  the  Bishops  felt  some  jealousy  at  what  they 
took  to  be  an  attempt  on  his  part  to  dictate  to 
them,  and  refused  to  allow  him  to  take  any 
part  in  the  election,  on  the  ground  that  he 
either  never  had  been,  or  at  any  rate  had 
ceased  to  be  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the  Pro- 
vince. He  protested,  but  finding  that  he 
could  not  convince  them  he  withdrew  his 
claim  to  a  vote  and  wrote  to  Theodore,  as  fol- 
lows : — ) 

Our  spiritual  affairs  have  reached  their 
limit :  I  will  not  trouble  you  any  further. 
Join  together :  take  your  precautions :  take 
counsel  against  us  :  let  our  enemies  have  the 
victory  :  let  the  canons  be  accurately  observed, 
beginning  with  us,  the  most  ignorant  of  men. 
There  is  no  ill-will  in  accuracy ;  only  do  not 
let  the  rights  of  friendship  be  impeded.  The 
children  of  my  very  honoured  son  Nicobulus 
have  come  to  the  city  to  learn  shorthand. 
Be  kind  enough  to  look  upon  them  with  a 
fatherly  and  kindly  eye  (for  the  canons  do  not 
forbid  this),  but  especially  take  care  that  they 
live  near  the  Church.  For  I  desire  that  they 
should  be  moulded  in  character  to  virtue  by 
continual  association  with  Your  Perfectness. 

Ep.  CLXIII. 

(George  a  layman  of  Paspasus,  was  sent 
by  Theodore  of  Tyana  to  Saint  Gregory 
that  the  latter  might  convince  him  of  his 
error  and  sin  in  repudiating  an  oath  which 
he  had  taken,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  tak- 
en in  ^\Titing  and  not  viva  voce.  Gregory 
seems  to  have  brought  him  to  a  better  mind, 
and  sent  him  back  to  the  Metropolitan  with 
the  following  'letter,  requesting  that  due  pen- 
ance be  imposed  upon  him,  and  have  its  length 
regulated  by  his  contrition.  This  letter  was 
read  to  Ihe  Second  Council  of  Constanti- 
noy)le  in  553,  by  Euphrantes,  a  successor  of 
Theodore  in  the  See  of  Tyana,  and  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Fathers,  wherefore  it  is  regarded 
as  having  almost  the  force  of  a  Canon  of  the 
Church  Universal.) 

God  grant  you  to  the  Churches,  both  for 
our  glory,  and  for  the  benefit  of  many,  being 
as  you  are  so  circumspect  and  cautious  in 
spiritual  matters  as  to  make  us  also  more  cau- 
tious who  are  considered  to  have  some  advan- 
tage over  you  in  years.  Since,  however,  you 
have  wished  to  take  us  as  partners  in  your 
spiritual  inquiry  (I  mean  about  the  oath  which 
George  of  Paspasus  appears  to  have  sworn), 
we  will  declare  to   Your   Reverence  what  pre- 


sents itself  to  our  mind.  Very  many  people, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  delude  themselves  by  con- 
sidering oaths  which  are  taken  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  spoken  imprecations  to  be  real  oaths, 
but  those  which  are  written  and  not  verbally 
uttered,  to  be  mere  matter  of  form,  and 
no  oaths  at  all.  For  how  can  we  suppose 
that  while  a  A\Titten  schedule  of  debts  is 
more  binding  than  a  verbal  acknowledgment, 
yet  a  written  oath  is  something  other  than 
an  oath  ?  Or  to  speak  concisely,  we  hold  an 
oath  to  be  the  assurance  given  to  one  who 
asked  for  and  obtained  it.  Nor  is  it  sufficient 
to  say  that  he  suffered  violence  (for  the  vio- 
lence was  the  Law  by  which  he  bound  himself), 
nor  that  afterwards  he  won  the  cause  in  the 
Law  Court — for  the  very  fact  that  he  went  to 
law  was  a  breach  of  his  oath.  I  have  per- 
suaded our  brother  George  of  this,  not  to  pre- 
tend excuses  for  his  sin,  and  not  to  seek  out 
arguments  to  defend  his  transgression,  but  to 
recognize  the  writing  as  an  oath,  and  to  be- 
wail his  sin  before  God  and  Your  Reverence, 
even  though  he  formerly  deceived  himself  and 
took  a  different  view  of  it.  This  is  what  we 
have  personally  argued  with  him  ;  and  it  is 
evident  that  if  you  will  discourse  with  him 
more  carefully,  you  will  deepen  his  contrition, 
since  you  are  a  great  healer  of  souls,  and  hav- 
ing treated  him  according  to  the  Canon  for 
as  long  a  time  as  shall  seem  right,  you  will 
afterwards  be  able  to  confer  indulgence  upon 
him  in  the  matter  of  time.  And  the  meas- 
ure of  the  time  must  be  the  measure  of  his 
compunction. 

Ep.    CLXXXIIL 

(Helladius,  Archbishop  of  C^esarea,  contested 
the  validity  of  the  election  of  Eulalius  to  the 
Bishopric  of  Nazianzus,  and  accused  Bosporius 
of  heresy.  S.  Gregory  here  throws  the  whole 
weight  of  his  authority  into  the  other  scale.  It 
is  however  manifest  from  the  very  tenns  of  the 
letter  that  the  person  addressed  is  not  Theodore 
of  Tyana.  It  was  conjectured  by  Clemencet 
that  perhaps  he  was  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia.) 

Envy,  which  no  one  easily  escapes,  has  got 
some  foothold  amongst  us.  See,  even  we  Cap- 
padocians  are  in  a  state  of  faction,  so  to  speak — 
a  calamity  never  heard  of  before,  and  not  to 
be  believed — so  that  no  flesh  may  glory"  in  the 
sight  of  God,  but  that  we  may  be  carefiil,  since 
we  are  all  human,  not  to  condemn  each  other 
rashly.  For  myself,  there  is  some  gain  even 
from  the  misfortune  (if  I  may  speak  somewhat 

a  I  Cor.  i.  29. 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


475 


paradoxically),  and  I  really  gather  a  rose  out 
of  thorns,  as  the  proverb  has  it.  Hitherto  I 
have  never  met  Your  Reverence  face  to  face, 
nor  conversed  with  you  by  letter,  but  have 
only  been  illuminated  by  your  reputation  ;  but 
now  I  am  of  necessity  compelled  to  approach 
you  by  letter,  and  I  am  very  grateful  to  him 
who  has  procured  me  this  privilege.  I  omit  to 
write  to  the  other  Bishops  about  whom  you  wrote 
to  me,  as  the  opportunity  has  not  yet  arisen. 
Moreover  my  weak  health  makes  me  less 
active  in  this  matter ;  but  what  I  write  to  you 
I  write  to  them  also  through  you.  My  Lord 
the  God-beloved  Bishop  Helladius  °-  must 
cease  to  waste  his  labour  on  our  concerns.  For 
it  is  not  through  spiritual  earnestness,  but 
through  party  zeal,  that  he  is  seeking  this;  and 
not  for  the  sake  of  accurate  compliance  with 
the  canons,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  anger, 
as  is  evident  by  the  time  he  has  chosen,  and 
because  many  have  moved  with  him  unreason- 
ably, for  I  must  say  this,  and  not  trouble  my- 
r.elf  about  it.  If  I  were  physically  in  a 
condition  to  govern  the  Church  of  Nazianzus, 
to  which  I  was  originally  appointed,  and  not 
to  Sasima  as  some  would  falsely  persuade  you, 
1  should  not  have  been  so  cowardly  or  so  ignor- 
ant of  the  Divine  Constitutions  as  either  to 
despise  that  Church,  or  to  seek  for  an  easy  life 
in  preference  to  the  prizes  which  are  in  store 
for  those  who  lal)our  according  to  God's  will, 
and  Avork  with  the  talent  committed  to  their 
care.  For  what  profit  should  I  have  from  my 
many  labours  and  my  great  hopes,  if  I  were  ill 
advised  in  the  most  important  matters?  But 
since  my  bodily  health  is  bad,  as  everyone  can 
plainly  see,  and  I  have  not  any  responsibility 
to  fear  on  account  of  this  withdrawal,  for  the 
reason  I  have  mentioned,  and  I  saw  that  the 
Church  through  cleaving  to  me  was  suffering 
in  its  best  interests  and  almost  being  destroyed 
through  my  illness,  I  prayed  both  before  and 
now  again  my  Lords  the  God -beloved  Bishops 
(I  mean  those  of  our  own  Province)  to  give 
the  Church  a  head,  which  they  have  done  by 
God's  Grace,  worthy  both  of  my  desire  and  of 
your  prayers.  This  I  would  have  you  both 
know  yourself,  most  honourable  Lord,  and  also 
inform  the  rest  of  the  Bishops,  that  they  may 
receive  him  and  support  him  by  their  votes, 
and  not  bear  heavily  on  my  old  age  by  believ- 
ing the  slander.  Let  me  add  this  to  my  letter. 
If  your  examination  finds  my  Lord  the  God- 
beloved  Priest  Bosporius  guilty  concerning  the 
faith — a  thing  which  it  is  not  lawful  even  to  sug- 
gest— (I   pass  over  his  age  and  my  personal 

a  Basil's  successor. 


testimony)  judge  him  so  yourselves.  But  if 
the  discussion  about  the  dioceses  is  the  cause 
of  this  evil  report  and  this  novel  accusation, 
do -not  be  led  away  by  the  slander,  and  do  not 
give  to  falsehoods  a  greater  strength  than  to 
the  truth,  I  beg  you,  lest  you  should  cast  into 
despair  those  who  desire  to  do  what  is  right. 
May  you  be  granted  good  health  and  spirits 
and  courage  and  continual  progress  in  the 
things  of  God  to  us  and  to  the  Church,  whose 
common  boast  you  are. 

Ep.    CXXXIX. 

(This  letter  is  written  at  a  somewhat  earlier 
date  in  reference  to  the  consent  he  had  been 
induced  to  give  to  remaining  for  some  time 
longer  as  administrator  of  the  See  of  Nazianzus. 
It  is  certainly  not  addressed  to  Theodore  of 
Tyana,  and  it  is  not  known  who  this  Theo- 
dore is.) 

He  Who  raised  David  His  servant  from  the 
Shepherd's  work  to  the  Throne,  and  Your 
Reverence  from  the  flock  to  the  Work  of  the 
She])herd  :  He  that  orders  our  affairs  and  those 
of  all  who  hope  in  Him  according  to  His  own 
Will :  may  He  now  put  it  into  the  mind  of 
Your  Reverence  to  know  the  dishonour  which 
I  have  suffered  at  the  hands  of  my  Lords  the 
Bishops  in  the  matter  of  their  votes,  in  that 
they  have  agreed  to  the  Election, <"  but  have  ex- 
cluded us.  I  will  not  lay  the  blame  on  Your 
Reverence,  because  you  have  but  recently 
come  to  preside  over  our  affairs,  and  are,  as  is 
to  be  expected,  for  the  most  part  unacquainted 
with  our  history.  This  is  quite  enough  :  for  I 
have  no  mind  to  trouble  you  further,  that  I 
may  not  seem  burdensome  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  our  friendship.  But  I  will  tell  you 
what  suggests  itself  to  me  in  taking  counsel 
with  God.  I  retired  from  the  Church  at  Nazi- 
anzus, not  as  either  despising  God,  or  looking 
down  on  the  littleness  of  the  flock  (God  for- 
bid that  a  philosophic  ^  soul  should  be  so 
disposed  )  ;  but  first  because  I  am  not  bound 
by  any  such  appointment :  and  secondly  be- 
cause I  am  broken  down  by  my  ill  health,  and 
do  not  think  myself  equal  to  such  anxieties. 
And  since  you  too  have  been  heavy  on  me,  in 
reproaching  me  with  my  resignation,  and  I 
myself  could  not  endure  the  clamours  against 
me,  and  since  the  times  are  hard,  threatening 
us  with  an  inroad  of  enemies  to  the  injury  of 
the  commonwealth  of  the  whole  Church,  I  fi- 
nally made  up  my  mind  to  suffer  a  defeat 
which  is  painful  to  my  body,  but  perhaps  not 

a  See  Introd.   to    Ep.  157. 

p  Probably  equivalent  to  A  Monk. 


476 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


bad  for  my  soul.  I  make  over  this  miserable 
body  to  tJie  Church  for  as  long  as  it  may  be 
possible,  thinking  it  better  to  suffer  any  dis- 
tress to  the  flesh  rather  than  to  incur  a  spiritual 
injury  myself  or  to  inflict  it  upon  others,  who 
have  thought  the  worst  of  us,  judging  from 
their  own  experience.  Knowing  this,  do  pray 
for  me,  and  approve  my  resolution  :  and  per- 
haps it  is  not  out  of  place  to  say,  mould  your- 
self to  piety. 

§  8.    To    NiCOBULUS. 

(See  the  introduction  to  the  first  letter  to  So- 
phronius  above.) 

Ep.   XII.  (about  A.D.  365). 

You  joke  me  about  Alypiana  as  being  little 
and  unworthy  of  your  size,  you  tall  and  im- 
mense and  monstrous  fellow  both  in  form  and 
strength.  For  now  I  understand  that  soul  is  a 
matter  of  measure,  and  virtue  of  weight,  and 
that  rocks  are  more  valuable  than  pearls,  and 
crows  more  respectable  than  nightingales. 
Well,  Avell !  rejoice  in  your  bigness  and  your 
cubits,  and  be  in  no  respect  inferior  to  the 
famed  sons  of  Aloeus."  You  ride  a  horse,  and 
shake  a  spear,  and  concern  yourself  with  wild 
beasts.  But  she  has  no  such  work;  and  no 
great  strength  is  needed  to  carry  a  comb,^  or 
to  handle  a  distaff,  or  to  sit  by  a  loom,  "  For 
such  is  the  glory  of  woman.  "  y  And  if  you 
add  this,  that  she  has  become  fixed  to  the 
ground  on  account  of  prayer,  and  by  the  great 
movement  of  her  mind  has  constant  com- 
munion with  God,  what  is  there  here  to  boast 
of  in  your  bigness  or  the  stature  of  your  body  ? 
Take  heed  to  seasonable  silence  :  listen  to  her 
voice :  mark  her  unadornment,  her  wom- 
anly virility,  her  usefulness  at  home,  her  love 
of  her  husband.  Then  you  will  say  with  the 
Laconian,  that  verily  soul  is  not  a  subject  for 
measure,  and  the  outer  must  look  to  the  inner 
man.  If  you  look  at  the  things  in  this  way 
you  will  leave  off  joking  and  deriding  her  as 
little,  and  you  will  congratulate  yourself  on 
your  marriage. 

Ep.   LI. 

(An  answer  to  a  request  made  by  Nicobulus 
for  a  treatise   on    the   art  of  writing   letters. 


a  Otiis  and  F.phialtes,  the  two  Homeric  Giants,  who  piled  Pclion 
on  Ossa  and  Olympus  on  Pelion  in  the  vain  endeavour  to  reach 
heaven  and  dethrone  Zeus,  but  were  slain  by  Apollo.  (See  Horn., 
Odyss.,  xi.,  305-320.) 

P  An  instrument  used  in  weaving  to  make  the  web  firm  and  close. 

V  From  his  own  Poem  against  women  who  take  too  much  pains 
about  adorning  themselves  (i.,  267). 


Benoit  thinks  this  and  the  following  ones  were 
written  to  the  Younger  Nicobulus.) 

Of  those  who  write  letters,  since  this  is  what 
you  ask,  some  write  at  too  great  a  length,  and 
others  err  on  the  side  of  deficiency ;  and  both 
miss  the  mean,  like  archers  shooting  at  a  mark 
and  sending  some  shafts  short  of  it  and  others 
beyond  it ;  for  the  missing  is  the  same  though 
on  opposite  sides.  Now  the  measure  of  letters 
is  their  usefulness  :  and  we  must  neither  write 
at  very  great  length  when  there  is  little  to  say, 
nor  very  briefly  when  there  is  a  great  deal. 
What ?  Are  we  to  measure  our  A\isdom  by  the 
Persian  Schoene,  or  by  the  cubits  of  a  child, 
and  to  wxite  so  imperfectly  as  not  to  write  at 
all  but  to  copy  the  midday  shadows,  or  lines 
which  meet  right  in  front  of  you,  whose  lengths 
are  foreshortened  and  which  show  themselves 
in  glimpses  rather  than  plainly,  being  recog- 
nized only  by  certain  of  their  extremities  ?  We 
must  in  both  respects  avoid  the  want  of  mod- 
eration and  hit  off  the  moderate.  This  is  my 
opinion  as  to  brevity ;  as  to  perspicuity  it  is 
clear  that  one  should  avoid  the  oratorical  form 
as  much  as  possible  and  lean  rather  to  the 
chatty :  and,  to  speak  concisely,  that  is  the 
best  and  most  beautiful  letter  which  can  con- 
vince either  an  unlearned  or  an  educated 
reader ;  the  one,  as  being  within  the  reach  of 
the  many  ;  the  other,  as  above  the  many  ;  and 
it  should  be  intelligible  in  itself.  It  is  equally 
disagreeable  to  think  out  a  riddle  and  to  have 
to  interpret  a  letter.  The  third  point  about  a 
letter  is  grace :  and  this  we  shall  safeguard  if 
we  do  not  write  in  any  way  that  is  dry  and 
unpleasing  or  unadorned  and  badly  arranged 
and  untrimmed,  as  they  call  it ;  as  for  instance 
a  style  destitute  of  maxims  and  proverbs  and 
pithy  sayings,  or  even  jokes  and  enigmas,  by 
which  language  is  sweetened.  Yet  we  must  not 
seem  to  abuse  these  things  by  an  excessive  em- 
ployment of  them.  Their  entire  omission 
shews  rusticity,  but  the  abuse  of  them  shews 
insatiability.  We  may  use  them  about  as  much 
as  purple  is  used  in  woven  stuffs.  Figures  of 
speech  we  shall  admit,  but  few  and  modest. 
Antitheses  and  balanced  clauses  and  nicely  di- 
vided sentences,  we  shall  leave  to  the  sophists, 
or  if  we  do  sometimes  admit  them,  we  shall  do 
so  rather  in  play  than  in  earnest.  My  final 
remark  shall  be  one  which  I  heard  a  clever 
man  make  about  the  eagle,  that  when  the  birds 
were  electing  a  king,  and  came  with  various 
adornment,  the  most  beautifiil  ])oint  about  him 
was  that  he  did  not  think  himself  beautiful. 
This  point  is  to  be  especially  attended  to  in 
letter-writing,  to  be  without  adventitious  orna- 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


477 


ment  and  as  natural  as  possible.  So  much 
about  letters  I  send  you  by  a  letter ;  but  per- 
haps you  had  better  not  apply  it  to  myself,  who 
am  busied  about  more  important  matters.  The 
rest  you  will  work  out  for  yourself,  as  you  are 
quick  at  learning,  and  those  who  are  clever  in 
these  matters  will  teach  you. 

Ep.   lit 

(Nicobulus  asked  Gregory  to  publish  a  col- 
lection of  his  letters.    Gregory  forwards  a  copy. ) 

You  are  asking  flowers  from  an  autumn 
meadow,  and  arming  Nestor  in  his  old  age,  in 
demanding  from  me  now  something  clever  in 
the  way  of  language,  after  I  have  long  neglected 
all  that  is  enjoyable  in  language  and  in  life. 
But  yet  (since  it  is  not  an  Eurysthean  or  Her- 
culean labour  that  you  are  imposing  on  me, 
but  rather  one  which  is  very  agreeable  and 
quiet,  to  collect  for  you  as  many  of  my  own 
letters  as  I  can),  do  you  place  this  volume  among 
your  books — a  work  not  amatory  but  oratori- 
cal, and  not  for  display  so  much  as  for  use,  and 
that  for  our  own  home."  For  different  authors 
have  different  characteristics,  greater  or  small- 
er. Mine  is  a  tendency  to  instruct  by  maxims 
and  positive  statements  wherever  opportunity 
occurs.  And  as  in  a  legitimate  child,  so  also  in 
language,  the  father  is  always  visible,  not  less 
than  parents  are  shewn  by  bodily  characteristics. 
Mine  are  such  as  I  have  mentioned.  You  may 
repay  me  both  by  writing  and  by  deriving  profit 
from  what  I  have  written.  I  cannot  ask  for  or 
request  any  better  reward  than  this,  either  more 
profitable  to  the  asker,  or  more  becoming  him 
who  gives  it. 

Ep.   LIII. 

(Gregory  put  a  collection  of  Basil's  letters 
with  his  own,  and  gave  them  the  first  place. 
Nicobulus  seems  to  have  been  surprised  at  this, 
and  asked  the  reason.  Gregory  explains  as 
follows.) 

I  have  always  preferred  the  Great  Basil  to 
myself,  though  he  was  of  the  contrary  opinion  ; 
and  so  I  do  now,  not  less  for  truth's  sake  than 
for  friendship's.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  have 
given  his  letters  the  first  place  and  my  own  the 
second.  For  I  hope  we  two  will  always  be 
coupled  together;  and  also  I  would  supply 
others  with  an  example  of  modesty  and  .submis- 
sion. 

Ep.  LIV. 

On  Laconicism.  To  be  laconic  is  not 
merely,  as  you  suppose,  to  write  few  words. 


I.e.  as  a  model  of  Christian  style. 


but  to  say  a  great  deal  in  few  words.  Thus  I 
call  Homer  very  brief  and  Antimachus  lengthy. 
Why?  Because  I  measure  the  length  by  the 
matter  and  not  by  the  letters. 

Ep.  LV. 

An  Invitation.  You  flee  when  I  pursue  you : 
perhaps  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  love, 
to  make  yourself  more  valuable.  Come  then, 
and  fill  up  at  last  the  loss  I  have  sitffered  by 
your  long  delay.  And  if  any  home  affairs 
detain  you,  you  shall  leave  us  again,  and  so 
make  yourself  more  precious  as  an  object  of 
desire. 

§  9.  To  Olympius. 

(Olympius  was  Prefect  of  Cappadocia  Secun- 
da  in  382.  One  letter  to  him  against  the 
Apollinarians,  has  already  been  given  ;  the  rest, 
which  are  to  follow  are  mainly  recommenda- 
tions of  various  persons  to  his  patronage.) 

Ep.   civ. 

All  The  Other  favours  which  I  have  re- 
ceived I  know  to  be  due  to  your  kindness ; 
and  may  God  reward  you  for  them  with  His 
own  mercies ;  and  may  one  of  these  be,  that 
you  may  discharge  your  oihce  of  prefect  with 
good  fame  and  splendour  from  beginning  to 
end.  In  what  I  now  ask  I  come  rather  to  give 
than  to  receive,  if  it  is  not  arrogant  to  say  so. 
I  personally  introduce  poor  Philumena  to  you, 
to  entreat  your  justice,  and  to  move  you  to 
the  tears  with  which  she  afflicts  my  soul.  She 
herself  will  explain  to  you  in  what  and  by 
whom  she  has  been  wronged,  for  it  would  not 
be  right  for  me  to  bring  accusations  against 
any  one.  But  this  much  it  is  necessary  for 
me  to  say,  that  widowhood  and  orphanhood 
have  a  right  to  the  assistance  of  all  right- 
minded  men,  and  especially  of  those  who  have 
wife  and  children,  those  great  pledges  of  pity, 
since  we — ourselves  only  men — are  set  to 
judge  men.  Pardon  me  that  I  plead  with  you 
for  these  by  letter,  since  it  is  by  ill  health  that 
I  am  deprived  of  seeing  a  ruler  so  kind  and  so 
conspicuoiK  for  virtue  that  even  the  prelude 
of  your  administration  is  more  precious  than 
the  good  fame  of  others  even  at  the  end  of 
their  term. 

Ep.   CV. 

The  time  is  swift,  the  struggle  great,  and 
my  sickness  severer,  reducing  me  almost  to 
immovability.  What  is  left  but  to  pray  to  God, 
and  to  supplicate  your  kindness,  the  one,  that 


478- 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


He  will  incline  your  mind  to  gentler  counsels, 
the  other  that  you  will  not  roughly  dismiss  our 
intercession,  but  will  receive  kindly  the  wretched 
Paulus,  whom  justice  has  brought  under  your 
hands,  perhaps  in  order  that  it  may  make  you 
more  illustrious  by  the  greatness  of  your  kind- 
ness, and  may  commend  our  prayers  (such  as 
they  are)  to  your  mercy. 

Ep.   CVl. 

Here  is  another  laying  before  you  a  let- 
ter, of  which,  if  the  truth  may  be  said,  you 
are  the  cause  yourself,  for  you  provoke  them  by 
the  honour  you  do  them.  Here  too  is  another 
petitioner  for  you,  a  prisoner  of  fear,  our  kins- 
man Eustratius,  who  with  us  and  by  us  en- 
treats your  goodness,  inasmuch  as  he  cannot 
endure  to  be  in  perpetual  rebellion  against  your 
government,  even  though  a  just  terror  has 
frightened  him,  nor  does  he  choose  to  entreat 
you- by  anyone  else  than  me,  that  he  may  make 
your  mercy  to  him  more  conspicuous  through 
his  use  of  such  intercessors,  whom  at  all  events 
you  yourself  make  great  by  thus  accepting  their 
appeal.  I  will  say  one  thing,  and  that  briefly. 
All  the  other  favours  you  conferred  upon  me ; 
but  this  you  will  confer  upon  your  own  judg- 
ment, since  once  you  purposed  to  comfort  our 
age  and  infirmity  with  such  honours.  And  I 
will  add  that  you  are  continually  rendering 
(iod  more  propitious  to  you. 

Ep.   (^XXV. 
(Given  above,  §  i.) 

Ep.   CXXVI. 

(While  Gregory  was  at  Xantharis  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  for  .seeing  Olympius,  but 
a  return  of  illness  prevented  him  from  taking  ad- 
vantage of  it.  He  writes  to  express  his  regret, 
and  takes  the  opportunity  also  to  request  that 
Nicobulus  may  be  exempted  from  the  charge 
of  the  Imperial  Posts.) 

I  was  happy  in  a  dream.  For  having  been 
brought  as  far  as  the  Monastery  to  obtain  .some 
comfort  from  the  bath,  and  then  hoping  to 
meet  you,  and  having  this  good  fortune  almost 
in  my  hands,  and  having  delayed  a  few  days, 
I  was  suddenly  carried  away  by  my  illness, 
which  was  already  painful  in  some  respects  and 
threatening  in  others.  And,  if  one  must  find 
.some  conjecture  to  account  for  the  misfortune, 
I  suffered  in  the  same  way  as  the  polypods  do, 
which  if  torn  by  force  from  the  rocks  risk  the 
loss  of  the  suckers  by  which  the}'  attach  them- 


selves to  the  rocks,  or  carry  off  some  portion 
of  the  latter.     Something  of  this  kind  is  my 
case.      And  what  I  should  have   asked  Your 
Excellency  for  had  I  seen  j'ou,  I  now  venture 
to  ask  for  though  I  am  absent.     I  found  my 
son  Nicobulus  much  worried  by  the  care  of 
the  Post,  and  by  close  attention  to  the  Monas- 
tery.    He  is  not  a  strong  man,  and  has  great 
distaste  for  solitude.     Make  use  of  him  for  any- 
thing else  you  please,  for  he  is  eager  to  serve 
your  authority  in.  all  things ;  but  if  it  be  pos- 
;  sible  set  him  free  from  this  charge,  if  for  no 
'.  other  reason,  at  any  rate  to  do  him  honour  as 
my  Hospitaller.      Since  I  have  asked   many 
I  favours  from  you  for  many  people,  and  have 
I  obtained  them,  I  need  also  your  kindness  for 
myself. 

Ep.   CXXXI. 

1       (In  382  Gregory  was  summoned  to  a  Synod 
at  Constantinople ;  he  wrote  to  Procopius,  the 
Prefectus  Urbi,   and   declined  to  go,   on  the 
'  ground  of  his  great  dislike  to  Episcopal  Synods, 
;  from  which,  he  said,  he  had  never  known  any 
I  good  to  result.     However  he  seems  to  have  re- 
ceived a  more  urgent  summons  through  Icarius 
and  Olympius.     His  reply  to  Icarius  has  been 
I  lost;  that  to  Olympius  is  as  follows.) 

It  is  more  serious  to  me  than  my  illness, 
that  no  one  will  believe  that  I  am  ill,  but  that 
so  long  a  journey  is  enjoined  upon  me,  and  I 
am  pushed  into  the  midst  of  troubles  from 
which  I  rejoiced  to  have  withdraAvn,  and  al- 
most thought  that  I  ought  to  be  grateful  for 
this  to  my  bodily  affliction.  For  quiet  and 
freedom  from  affairs  is  more  precious  than  the 
splendour  of  a  busy  life.  I  wrote  this  yesterday 
to  the  Most  Illustrious  Icarius,  from  whom  1 
received  the  same  summons :  and  I  now  beg 
your  Magnanimity  also  to  write  this  for  me,  for 
you  are  a  very  trustworthy  witness  of  my  ill 
health.  Another  proof  of  my  inability  is  the 
loss  which  I  have  now  suffered  in  having  been 
unable  even  to  come  and  enjoy  your  society, 
who  are  so  kind  a  Governor,  and  so  admirable 
for  virtue  that  even  the  preludes  of  your  term 
of  office  are  more  honourable  than  the  good 
fame  which  others  can  earn  by  the  end  of 
theirs. 

Ep.  CXL. 

Again  I  write  when  I  ought  to  come :  but 
I  gain  confidence  to  do  so  from  yourself,  O 
Umpire  of  .spiritual  matters  (to  put  the  first 
thing  first),  and  Corrector  of  the  Common- 
weal— and  both  by  Divine  Providence :  who 
have  also  received  as  the  reward  of  your  piety 
that  your  affairs  would  prosper  to  your  mind, 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


479 


and  that  you  alone  should  find  attainable 
what  to  every  one  else  is  out  of  reach.  For 
wisdom  and  courage  conduct  your  govern- 
ment, the  one  discovering  what  is  to  be  done, 
and  the  other  easily  carrying  out  what  has 
been  discovered.  And  the  greatest  of  all  is  the 
l^urity  of  your  hands  with  which  all  is  direct- 
ed. Where  is  your  ill-gotten  gold  ?  There 
never  was  any ;  it  was  the  first  thing  you 
condemned  to  exile  as  an  invisible  tyrant. 
Where  is  illwill  ?  It  is  condemned.  Where 
is  favour  ?  Here  you  do  bend  somewhat  (for  I 
will  accuse  you  a  little),  but  it  is  in  imitating  the 
Divine  Mercy,  which  at  the  present  time  your 
soldier  Aurelius  entreats  of  you  by  me.  I  call 
him  a  foolish  fugitive,  because  he  has  placed 
himself  in  our  hands,  and  through  ours  in  yours, 
sheltering  himself  under  our  gray  hair  and  our 
Priesthood  (for  which  you  have  often  professed 
your  veneration)  as  if  it  were  under  some  Im- 
jjerial  Image.  See,  this  sacrificing  and  im- 
bloodstained  hand  leads  this  man  to  you  ;  a 
hand  which  has  written  often  in  your  praise, 
and  will  I  am  sure  write  yet  more,  if  God  con- 
tinue your  term  of  government — yours,  I  mean, 
and  that  of  your  colleague  Themis. 


Ep.    CXLI. 

(The  people  of  Nazianzus  had  in  some  way 
incurred  the  loss  of  civic  rights ;  and  the 
Order  for  the  forfeiture  of  the  title  of  City 
had  been  signed  by  Olympius.  This  led  to 
something  like  a  revolt  on  the  part  of  a  cer- 
tain number  of  the  younger  citizens  :  and  this 
Olympius  determined  to  punish  by  the  total 
destruction  of  the  place.  S.  Gregory  was 
again  prevented  by  sickness  from  appearing  in 
person  before  the  Governor :  but  he  pleaded 
the  cause  of  his  native  city  (using  its  official 
Latin  name  of  Dioc?esarea)  in  the  following 
letters  so  successfully  as  to  induce  Olympius  to 
pardon  the  outbreak.) 

Again  an  opportunity  for  kindness :  and 
again  I  am  bold  enough  to  commit  to  a  letter 
my  entreaty  about  so  important  a  matter. 
iMy  illness  makes  me  thus  bold,  for  it  does  not 
even  allow  me  to  go  out,  and  it  does  not  per- 
mit me  to  make  a  fitting  entrance  to  you. 
What  then  is  my  Embassy  ?  Pray  receive  it 
from  me  gently  and  kindly.  The  death  of  a 
single  man.  who  to-day  is  and  to-morrow  will 
not  be  and  will  not  return  to  us  is  of  course 
a  dreadful  thing.  But  it  is  much  more  dread- 
ful for  a  City  to  die,  which  Kings  founded, 
and  time  compacted,  and  a  long  series  of  years 
has  preserved.     I  speak  of  Dioc?esarea,  once  a 


It 


City,  a  City  no  longer,  unless  you  grant 
mercy.  Think  that  this  place  now  falls  at 
your  feet  by  me  :  let  it  have  a  voice,  and  be 
clothed  in  mourning  and  cut  off  its  hair  as  in 
a  tragedy,  and  let  it  speak  to  you  in  such 
words  as  these : 

Give  a  hand  to  me  that  lie  in  the  dust  : 
help  the  strengthless  :  do  not  add  the  weight 
of  your  hand  to  time,  nor  destroy  what  the 
Persians  have  left  me.  It  is  more  honourable 
to  you  to  raise  up  cities  than  to  destroy  those 
that  are  distre.ssed.  Be  my  founder,  either  by 
adding  to  what  I  posse.ss,  or  by  i)reserving  me 
as  I  am.  Do  not  suffer  that  up  to  the  time  of 
your  administration  I  should  be  a  City,  and 
after  you  should  be  so  no  longer :  do  not 
give  occasion  to  after  times  to  speak  evil  of 
you,  that  you  received  me  numbered  among 
cities,  and  left  me  an  uninhabited  spot,  which 
was  once  a  city,  only  recognizable  by  moun- 
tains and  precipices  and  woods. 

This  let  the  City  of  my  imagination  do  and 
say  to  your  mercy.  But  deign  to  receive  an 
exhortation  from  me  as  your  friend  :  certainly 
chastise  those  who  have  rebelled  against  the 
Edict  of  your  authority.  On  this  behalf  I  am 
not  bold  to  say  anything,  although  this  piece  of 
audacity  was  not,  they  say,  of  universal  design, 
but  was  only  the  unreasoning  anger  of  a  few 
young  men.  But  dismiss  the  greater  part  of 
your  anger,  and  use  a  larger  reasoning.  They 
were  grieved  for  their  Mother's  being  put 
to  death  ;  they  could  not  endure  to  be  called 
citizens,  and  yet  to  be  without  political 
rights  :  they  were  mad  :  they  committed  an  of- 
fence against  the  law :  they  threw  away  their 
own  safety :  the  unexpectedness  of  the  calam- 
ity deprived  them  of  reason.  Is  it  really 
necessary  that  ibr  this  the  city  should  cease  to 
be  a  city?  Surely  not.  Most  excellent,  do 
not  write  the  order  for  this  to  be  done. 
Rather  respect  the  supplication  of  all  citizens 
and  statesmen  and  men  of  rank — for  remem- 
ber the  calamity  will  touch  all  alike — even  if 
the  greatness  of  your  authority  keeps  them 
silent,  sighing  as  it  were  in  secret.  Re- 
spect also  my  gray  hair :  for  it  would  be 
dreadful  to  me,  after  having  had  a  great  city, 
now  to  have  none  at  all,  and  that  after  your 
government  the  Temple  which  we  have  raised 
to  God,  and  our  love  for  its  adornment,  is  to 
become  a  dwelling  for  beasts.  It  is  not  a  ter- 
rible thing  if  some  statues  were  thrown  down 
— though  in  itself  it  would  be  so — but  I  would 
not  have  you  think  that  I  am  speaking  of  this, 
when  all  my  care  is  for  more  important 
things:  but  it  is  dreadful  if  an  ancient  city 
is  to  be  destroyed  with  them — one  which  has 


48o 


GREGORY    NAZIANZEN. 


splendidly  endured,  as  I,  who  am  honoured  by 
}'ou,  and  am  supposed  to  have  some  influence, 
have  lived  to  see.  But  this  is  enough  upon 
such  a  subject,  for  I  shall  not,  if  I  speak  at 
greater  length,  find  anything  stronger  than 
your  own  reasons,  by  which  this  nation  is  gov- 
erned— and  may  more  and  greater  ones  be 
governed  by  them  too,  and  that  in  greater 
commands.  This  however  it  was  needful 
that  Your  Magnanimity  should  know  about 
those  who  have  fallen  before  your  feet,  that 
they  are  altogether  wretched  and  despairing, 
and  have  not  shared  in  any  disorder  with 
those  who  have  broken  the  law,  as  I  am  certi- 
fied by  many  who  were  then  present.  There- 
fore deliberate  what  you  may  think  expe- 
dient, both  for  your  own  reputation  in  this 
world,  and  your  hopes  in  the  next.  We  will 
bear  what  you  determine — not  indeed  with- 
out grief — but  we  will  bear  it :  for  what  else 
can  we  do  ?  If  the  worse  determination  pre- 
vail, we  shall  be  indignant,  and  shall  shed  a 
tear  over  our  City  that  has  ceased  to  be. 

Ep.   CXLII. 

Though  my  desire  to  meet  you  is  warm, 
and  the  need  of  your  petitioners  is  great, 
yet  my  illness  is  invincible.  Therefore  I  am 
bold  to  commit  my  intercession  to  writing. 
Have  respect  to  our  gray  hair,  which  you  have 
already  often  reverenced  by  good  actions. 
Have  respect  also  to  my  iniirmity,  to  which 
my  labours  for  God  have  in  part  contributed, 
if  I  may  swagger  a  little.  For  this  cause  spare 
the  citizens  who  look  to  me  because  I  use  some 
freedom  of  speech  with  you.  And  spare  also 
the  others  who  are  under  my  care.  For  public 
affairs  will  suffer  no  damage  through  mercy, 
since  you  can  do  more  by  fear  than  others  by 
])unishment.  May  you,  as  your  reward  for  this, 
obtain  such  a  Judge  as  you  shew  yourself  to 
your  petitioners  and  to  me  their  intercessor. 

Ep.   CXLIII. 

What  does  much  experience,  and  experi- 
ence of  good  do  for  men  ?  It  teaches  kind- 
ness, and  inclines  them  to  those  who  en- 
treat them.  There  is  no  such  education  in 
pity  as  the  previous  reception  of  goodness. 
This  has  happened  to  myself  among  others.  I 
have  learned  compassion  by  the  things  which 
I  have  suffered.  And  do  you  see  my  great- 
ness of  soul  when  I  myself  need  your  gentle- 
ness in  my  own  affairs  ?  I  intercede  for  otliers, 
and  do  not  fear  lest  I  should  exhaust  all  your 
kindness  on  other  men's  concerns.     I  am  writ- 


ing thus  on  behalf  of  the  Presbyter  Leontius — 
or,  if  I  may  so  describe  him,  the  ex -Presbyter. 
If  he  has  suffered  sufficiently  for  what  he  has 
done,  let  us  stop  there,  lest  excess  become  in- 
justice. And  if  there  is  still  any  balance  of 
punishment  due,  and  the  consequences  of  his 
crime  have  not  yet  equalled  his  offence,  yet  re- 
mit it  for  our  sake  and  God's,  and  that  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  general  assembly  of  the 
priests,  among  whom  he  was  once  numbered, 
e\en  though  he  has  now  shewn  himself  im- 
worthy  of  them,  both  by  what  he  has  done 
and  by  what  he  has  suffered.  If  I  can  prevail 
with  you  it  will  be  best ;  but  if  not,  1  will  bring 
to  you  a  more  powerful  intercessor,  her  who  is 
the  partner  both  of  )'our  rule  and  of  your  good 
fame. 

Ep.  CXLIV. 

(Verianus,  a  citizen  of  Nazianzus,  had  been 
offended  by  his  son-in-law,  and  on  this  ac- 
count wished  his  daughter  to  sue  fox  a  divorce. 
Olympius  referred  the  matter  to  the  Episcopal 
arbitration  of  S.  Gregory,  who  refused  to 
countenance  the  proceeding,  and  writes  the 
two  following  letters,  the  first  to  the  Prefect, 
the  second  to  Verianus  himself.) 

Haste  is  not  always  praiseworthy.  For  this 
reason  I  have  deferred  my  answer  until  now 
about  the  daughter  of  the  most  honourable  Ve- 


tmie  setting 


matters 


rianus,  both  to  allow  for 
right,  and  also  because  I  conjecture  that  Your 
Goodne-ss  does  not  approve  of  the  divorce,  in- 
asmuch as  you  entrusted  the  enquiry  to  me, 
whom  you  knew  to  be  neither  hasty  nor  un- 
circumspect  in  such  matters.  Therefore  I  have 
refrained  myself  till  now,  and,  I  venture  to 
think,  not  without  reason.  But  since  we  have 
come  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  allotted  time, 
and  it  is  neces.sary  that  you  should  be  informed 
of  the  result  of  the  examination  I  will  inform 
you.  The  young  lady  seems  to  me  to  be  of 
two  minds,  divided  between  reverence  for  her 
parents  and  affection  for  her  husband.  Her 
words  are  on  their  side,  but  her  mind,  I  rather 
think,  is  with  her  husband,  as  is  shewn  by  her 
tears.  You  will  do  what  commends  itself  to 
your  justice,  and  to  God  who  directs  you  in 
all  things.  I  should  most  willingly  have  given 
my  opinion  to  my  son  Verianus  that  he  should 
pass  over  much  of  what  is  in  question,  with  a 
view  not  to  confirm  the  divorce,  which  is  en- 
tirely contrary  to  our  law,"^  though  the  Roman 
law  may  determine  otherwise.  For  it  is  neces- 
sary that  justice  beob.served — which  I  pray  you 
may  ever  both  say  and  do. 

a  The  law  of  the  Church. 


MISCELLANEOUS    LETTERS. 


4S1 


To  Verianus. 

Ep.   CXLV. 

Public  executioners   commit   no   crime,    for 
they  are  the  servants  of  the  laws :   nor  is  the 
sword   unlawful  with   which   we   punish  crim- 
inals.    But  nevertheless,  the  public  executioner 
is  not  a  laudable  character,  nor  is  the  death- 
bearing    sword     received    joyfully.       Just    so 
neither   can    I    endure  to    become   hated    by 
confirming    the   divorce    by    my    hand    and 
tongue.     It  is  far  better  to  be  the  means  of 
union  and  of  friendship  than  of  division  and 
parting  of  life.     I  suppose  it  was  with  this  in 
his  mind  that  our  admirable  Governor  entrust- 
ed me  with  the  enquiry  about  your  daughter, 
as   one   who    could    not    proceed    to    divorce 
abruptly  or  unfeelingly.     For  he  proposed  me 
not  as  Judge,  but  as  Bishop,  and  placed  me  as 
a  mediator  in  your  unhappy  circumstances.      I 
beg  you  therefore,  to  make  some  allowance  for 
my  timidity,  and  if  the  better  prevail,  to  use 
me  as  a  servant  of  your  desire  :  I  rejoice  in  re- 
ceiving  such   commands.     But   if  the   worse 
and  more  cruel  course  is  to  be  taken,  seek  for 
some  one  more  suitable  to  your  purpose.     I 
have  not  time,  for  the  sake  of  favouring  your 
friendship  (though  in  all  respects  I  have  the 
highest  regard  for  you),  to  offend  against  God, 
to  Whom  I  have  to  give  account  of  every  ac- 
tion and  thought.      I  will  believe  your  daugh- 
ter (for  the  truth  shall  be  told)   when  she  can 
lay  aside  her  awe  of  you,  and  boldly  declare 
the  truth.      At  present  her  condition  is  pitiable 
— for  she  assigns  her  words  to  you,  and  her 
tears  to  her  husband. 


To  Olympius. 

Ep.  CXLVI. 

This  is  what  I  said  as  if  by  a  sort  of  proph- 
ecy, when  I  found  you  favourable  to  every 
request,  and  was  making  insatiable  use  of  your 
gentleness,  that  I  fear  I  shall  exhaust  your  kind- 
ness upon  the  affairs  of  others.  For  see,  a 
contest  of  my  own  has  come  (if  that  is  mine 
which  concerns  my  own  relations),  and  I  can- 
not speak  with  the  same  freedom.  First,  be- 
cause it  is  my  own.  For  to  entreat  for  myself, 
though  it  may  be  more  useful,  is  more  humil- 
iating. And  next,  I  am  afraid  of  excess  as 
destroying  pleasure,  and  opposing  all  that  is 
good.  So  matters  stand,  and  I  conjecture  only 
too  rightly.  Nevertheless  with  confidence  in 
God  before  Whom  I  stand,  and  in  your  mag- 

31 


nanimity  in  doing  good,  I  am  bold  to  present 
this  petition. 

Suppose  Nicobulus  to  be  the  worst  of  men  : 
— though  his  only  crime  is  that  through  me  he 
is  an  object  of  envy,  and  more  free  than  he 
ought  to  be.     And  suppose  that  my  present 
opponent  is  the  most  just  of  men.      For  I  am 
ashamed    to  accuse  before  Your  Uprightness 
one  whom  yesterday  I  was  supporting :    but   I 
do  not  know  if  it  will  seem  to  you  just  that 
punishment  should  be  demanded  for  one  man's 
crimes  from  another,  though  these  were  quite 
strange  to  him,  and  had  not  even  his  consent ; 
from  the  man  who  has  so  stirred  his  household 
and  been  so  upset  as  to  have  surrendered  to  his 
accuser  more  readily  than  the  latter  wished. 
Must  Nicobulus  or  his  children  be  reduced  to 
slavery  as  his  persecutors  desire  ?    I  am  ashamed 
both   of  the   ground    of  the  persecution  and 
of  the  time,  if  this  is  to  be  done  while  both 
you  are  in  power  and  I  have  influence  with  you. 
Not  so,  most  admirable  friend,  let  not  this  be 
suggested  to  Your  Integrity.     But  recognizing 
by  the  winged   swiftness   of  your   mind    the 
malice  from  which  this  proceeds,  and  having 
respect  to  me  your  admirer,  shew  yourself  a 
merciful  judge  to  those  \vho  are  being  disturbed 
— for  to-day  you  are  not  merely  judging  be- 
tween man  and  man,  but  between  virtue  and 
vice ;  and  to  this  more  consideration  than  by 
an  ordinary  man  must  be  given  by  those  who 
are  like  you  in  virtue  and  are  skilful  governors. 
And  in  return  for  this  you  shall  have  from  me 
not  only  the  matter  of  my  prayers,  w^hich  I 
know  you  do  not,  like  so  many  men,  despise ; 
but  also   that  I   will  make  your  government 
famous  with  all  to  whom  I  am  known. 


Ep.  CLIV. 

To  me  you  are  Prefect  even  after  the  ex- 
piry of  your  term  of  office — for  I  judge  thuigs 
differently  from  the  run  of  men — because  you 
embrace  in  yourself  every  prefectoral  virtue. 
For  many  of  those  who  sit  on  lofty  thrones  are 
to  me  base,  all  those  whose  hand  makes  them 
base  and  slaves  of  their  subjects."  But  many 
are  high  and  lofty  though  they  stand  low,  whom 
virtue  places  on  high  and  makes  worthy  of 
greater  government.  But  what  have  I  to  do 
with  this  ?  No  longer  is  the  great  Olympius 
with  us,  nor  does  he  bear  our  rudder-lines.  We 
are  undone,  we  are  betrayed,  we  have  become 
again  the  Second  Cappadocia,  after  having 
been  made  the  First  by  you.      Of  other  men's 


I.  e.  who  are  accessible  to  bribery. 


482 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


matters  why  should  I  speak?  but  who  will 
cherish  the  old  age  of  your  Gregory,  and  ad- 
minister to  his  weakness  the  enchantment  of 
honours,  and  make  him  more  honourable  be- 
cause he  obtains  kindness  for  many  from  you  ? 
Now  then  depart  on  your  journey  with  escort 
and  greater  pomp,  leaving  behind  for  us  many 


tears,  and  carrying  with  you  much  wealth,  and 
that  of  a  kind  which  few  Prefects  do,  good 
fame,  and  the  being  inscribed  on  all  hearts, 
l)i liars  not  easily  moved.  If  you  preside  over 
us  again  with  greater  and  more  illustrious  rule, 
(this  is  what  our  longing  augurs),  we  shall  offer 
to  God  more  perfect  thanks. 


INDICES. 


S.  GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


[Including  the  Introduction  and  Notes.] 


Abaris,  tale  of,  402. 

Adam,  old  and  new,  compared,  2IO. 

Acacius,  heretic,  275. 

yEschylus,  318. 

Aetians,  heretical  body,  281,  292. 

Aetius,  heretic,  professedly  con- 
demned at  Seleucia,  275  ;  mas- 
ter of  Eunomius  in  heresy,  2S0. 

Aged,  addressed  and  comforted,  235. 

Alexander,  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
273  ;  opposed  by  Arius,  350. 

Alexandria,  the  throne  of  S.  Mark, 
271  ;  council  at,  under  Atha- 
nasius,  283. 

Altar,  approached  by  Gorgon  ia,  243; 
venerable  table,  257  ;  table  of 
God  for  the  offerings  to  God, 
412  ;  where  Christ  is  honoured, 
243  ;  God's  altars  and  sacra- 
ments, 459  ;  profaned  by  the 
violent  Arians,  329. 

Alypiana,  niece  of  Gregory  Nazi- 
enzen,  464,  476. 

Amazonius,  admired  by  Gregory 
Nazienzen  for  learning,  465. 

Ambrose,  311,  379. 

Ammianus  IMarc,  234. 

Amphilochius,  Bishop  of  Iconium, 
458,  468  ;  defends  Eulalius  at 
Parnassus,  469  ;  Gregory's  let- 
ters to,  458,  464,  468,  469. 

Amphilochius  (the  Younger),  466, 
467  ;  Gregory's  letter  to,  467. 

Anagoge,  a  method  of  interpreta- 
tion, 373. 

Anarchia,  as  applied  to  God,  301. 

Anastasia,  a  church  in  Constanti- 
nople, 334,  394. 

Anaxagoras,  236. 

Animals,  so  wonderful  in  their  in- 
stincts, 297. 

Antitypes  of  the  Precious  Body  and 
Blood,  243. 

Anomoean  Avians,  281,  284. 

Anthimus,  Bisiiop  of  Tyana,  195, 
245,  414,  452  ;  opposes  Gregory 
at  Sasima,  195  ;  yet  favors 
Gregory,  454  ;  opposes  Basil, 
145,  245,  412,  452  sq. 

Anthropolaters,  name  given  to  the 
Orthodox,  441. 

Antioch,  church  troubled  with 
schism,  198,  466. 

Antony,  founder  of  monasticism, 
270. 

Argument,  its  conditions  stated,30i. 


Apollinarian  heresy,  196,  197,  199, 
308,  438  ;  Gregory's  letters 
against,  437  sq. 

ApoUinarians,  at  Constantinople, 
197,  198  ;  at  Nazianzus,  437  ; 
conditions  of  their  reception  in 
the  Church,  459. 

Apollinarius,  or  Apollinaris,  Bisho]) 
of  Laodicea,  198 ;  teacher  of 
S.  Jerome,  198 ;  his  own  teach- 
ing, 198,  308,  437,  438;  pos- 
sible meaning  and  purpose  of 
his  teaching,  437  ;  once  mucli 
favoured,  198;  his  error  regard- 
ing Christ's  humanity,  198,  199, 
314;  excommunicated  by  a 
Roman   Synod,  199. 

Arianism,  the  motlier  of  heresies, 
196;  called  a  madness,  212, 
236,  405  ;  traced  to  a  Jewisli 
source,  350  ;  revolt  from  Sabel- 
lianism,  350  ;  how  suspected  in 
the  Three  Hypostases,  279  ;  its 
history  and  development,  350  ; 
its  teaching  on  tlie  Trinity,  260, 
272,  273,  275,  350  ;  condemned 
at  the  Council  of  Nic?sa,  350. 

Arians,  their  misuse  of  Origen's 
writings,  192  ;  were  supported 
by  the  emperors,  196,  197 ; 
persecuted  Gregory  at  Constan- 
tinople, 197,  471  ;  boasted  of 
their  numbers,  328,  42S  ;  were 
troublesome  and  tumultuous, 
328,  329,  406  ;  perverted  doc- 
trine of  the  use  of  words,  275  ; 
were  deprived  by  Theodosius, 
198  ;  their  mobs  were  violent 
and  profane,  329, 406,471;  they 
introduced  bishops,  463  ;  Greg- 
ory's oration  against,  328  sq. 

Ariminum  Council  issued  an  Arian 
Creed,  192. 

Aristophanes,  256. 

Aristotle,  236. 

Arius,  heretic,  212,  272,  301,  350; 
accused  of  madness  in  doctrine, 
212,  258,  272,  405  ;  his  name 
"  a  profane  spot,"  272  ;  priest 
of  Alexandria,  350;  his  errors 
on  the  Trinity,  272,  273  ;  con- 
demned at  Alexandridn  Coun- 
cil and  Nicsea,  350  ;  his  ex- 
communication and  death,  272. 

Arsenius,  Meletian  Bishop,  said  to 
have  been  murdered  by  Atha- 


nasius,  273,  330 ;  produced 
alive,  330. 

Athanasius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria, 
189,  271  ;  his  festivals  in  the 
East,  269  ;  compared  with  the 
patriarchs  and  prophets,  270  ; 
his  habits  and  character,  270 
sq.;  his  early  training,  270, 
271  ;  passed  through  the  en- 
tire series  of  orders,  271  ;  was 
led  in  an  orderly  fashion  to  the 
throne  of  S.  Mark,  271,  272  ; 
opposed  George  of  Cappado- 
cia,  273,  274 ;  present  at  the 
Council  of  Nica;a  with  his  bish- 
op, 273  ;  accused  of  murdering 
Arsenius,  273,  330  ;  his  exiles, 
189,  263,  275,  276,  279,  410  ; 
retired  to  the  Egyptian  monks, 
274 ;  his  constancy  in  aid  of 
the  Church,  276  sq.;  popularly 
eulogized  beyond  even  the  em- 
peror, 277  ;  great  writer  and 
controversialist,  199,  270  ;  his 
theme  the  Holy  Trinity,  278, 
279  ;  reverence  shown  to  him, 
277,  278 ;  harmonious  in  his 
.teaching,  277  ;  banished  by 
Constantius,  278,  279  ;  exiled 
by  Julian  and  recalled  by  Jo- 
vian, 279  ;  his  death,  269,  280; 
wrote  the  Life  of  S.  Antony, 
370  ;  Gregory's  oration  upon, 
269  sq. 

Atheism  as  related  to  theology, 
212  ;  of  Sabellius,  212. 

Athens,  its  condition  in  the  fourth 
century.  190. 

Atoms,  ancient  theories  of,  188, 
291. 

Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  for  a 
lime  Manichean,  333  ;  referred 
to,  345.  42S. 

Austerities  of  Gorgonia,  242. 

Balsamon,  referred  to,  426. 

Baptism,  names,  360  sq.  ;  our  illu- 
mination, 212,  258,  352,  359, 
360  sq.,  368,  373  ;  source  of  pur- 
ity. 242,  376  ;  the  Seal,  364  ;  the 
Gift,  364,  376  ;  for  the  image 
of  God  renewed,  371  ;  type  of 
future  glory,  397  ;  its  three  im- 
mersions, 281  ;  its  ceremonial, 
258,  259,  281  ;  different  kinds 
of,  352  ;  prepared  for,  357,  365. 


486 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


374;  sin  after,' 359,  362,  365, 
372,  373  ;  pleas  for  delay  to, 
363  sq.  ;  affusion  and  immer- 
sion, 363  ;  desire  for,  1S9,  367  ; 
ambitions  sliown  in,  369  ;  our 
benefits  in  the  sacrament,  360 
sq.,  366  sq.,  375  sq. ;  of  Christ, 
351  sq.,  360  sq.;  infant,  367, 
370  ;  times  of  administration 
become  limited,  368  ;  Gregory's 
oration  on,  351  sq. 

Basil,  Bishop  of  Ancyra,  Semi- 
Arian  deposed,  276,  438. 

Basil,  Bishop  of  Cresarea,  a  Cappado- 
cian,  son  of  Basil  and  Emmelia, 
187,  398  ;  educated  at  Csesarea, 
Constantinople,  and  Athens, 
189,  399;  his  friendship  witli 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  188  sq.,  266, 
395  sq.,  protected  by  Gregory  at 
the  University  in  Athens,  190, 
400,  401  ;  visited  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre, 191,  404  ;  a  solitary  in 
Pontus,  191,  404;  formed  his 
monastic  rule,  191,  415,  468  ; 
studies  history  with  Gregoiy, 
192  ;  was  made  a  Reader,  404  ; 
unwillingly  ordained  by  Eu- 
sebius,  194,  404.;  probable  mo- 
tive for  the  ordination,  194  ;  re- 
tires to  Pontus,  194  ;  reconciled 
to  Eusebius,  195,  405,  408 ; 
elected  to  succeed  him,  195, 
265,  408  ;  asserted  his  rights 
as  Metropolitan,  195  ;  erected 
Sasinia  into  a  See  and  conse- 
crated Gregory  for  it,  195,  245, 
453  ;  himself  consecrated  by 
Gregory  (Elder),  Eusebius  of 
Samosata,  and  another,  408  ; 
resisted  Valens  dividing  Cap- 
padocia,  195,  410,  414 ;  con- 
duct as  bishop,  408  sq.  ;  awes 
even  the  emperor,  412  ;  fights 
with  the  bishops,  412  ;  en- 
counters the  civil,  413  ;  victory 
over  Valens'  Prefect,  41 1;  has 
sentence  of  e.\ile  cancelled,  412  ; 
fed  the  people  in  famine,  407  ; 
supported  by  the  monks,  405  ; 
his  prudence,  learning,  etc., 
403,  415  sq.  ;  scene  at  his  death 
and  burial,  196,  395,  460,  421, 
422  ;  dates,  395,  460;  compared 
with  patriarchs,  etc.,  418  sq.  ; 
thought  unsound  on  the  Deity 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  454  ;  his 
panegyric  by  Gregory,  395  sq.  ; 
present  at  the  funeral  oration 
on  Gregory  (I'llder)  ;  Gregory's 
letters  to,  446  .sq.  ;  quoted,  226, 
236,  284. 

Bees  and  spiders'  instinctive  skill, 
297. 

Begotten  and  Unbegotten  in  the 
Godhead,  212,  272,  273,  301 
sq.  [God]. 

Benoit,  Abbe,  193,  245,  260,  345, 
359,  381,  422. 

Bernard,  208. 

Bethlehem,  little,  metropolis  of  the 
world,  260 ;  on  the  road  to 
Paradise,  351. 


Billius,  206,  233,  364,  383. 

Births,  three,  360. 

Bishops,      their     rule,     219 ;    their 

election    in    tumult,  265,    266  ; 

consecration,  265,  266. 
Blood  of  Christ,  to  whom  offered, 

431- 

Blount,  354. 

Body,  Gregory's  synonyms  for,  214, 
242  ;  and  soul,  now  and  here- 
after, 236,  255. 

Bosporius,  Bishop  of  Colonia, 
friend  of  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
469,  470,  473  ;  assisted  at  Eu- 
lalius'  consecration,  469  ;  ac- 
cused and  acquitted,  469,  474  ; 
called   before   the   civil  courts, 

470. 
Bright,   opinion   on   fourth   century 
documents,    199 ;    quoted,  199, 
213,  279. 

Corsarea,  wrath  of  Julian  against, 
265,  266  ;  saved  by  the  bold- 
ness of  Gregory  (Elder). 

Csesarius,  brother  of  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen, 188,  204,  229  ;  educated 
at  Csesarea  and  Alexandria, 
188,  229,  231  ;  inherited  true 
training,  230,  231  ;  renowned  as 
a  student,  189,  231  ;  court  phy- 
sician at  Constantinople,  191  ; 
229,  232  ;  returned  with  Greg- 
ory to  Nazianzus,  191,  229, 
232  ;  went  back  to  court  and 
was   tempted    by    Julian,     191, 

194,  2or,  229,  232,  233,  457  ; 
retires  from  the  court,  194,  229, 
233.    234,   457  ;    his    baptism, 

195,  229,  234,  458,  459  ;  has 
preferment    in    Bithynia,     195, 

229,  234,  458  ;  offered  appoint- 
ment by  Constantius,  229,  233; 
defeats  Julian  in  argument, 
229  ;  is  to  be  tried  on  Julian's 
return,    234 ;    dies,     195,    229, 

230,  234  ;  leaves  his  property 
to  the  poor,  195,  236,  464,  465; 
is  buried  at  Nazianzus,  195, 
234  ;  honoured  in  Constanti- 
nople, 232  ;  on  the  roll  of  the 
Saints,  254  ;  panegyric  by  Greg- 
ory, 230  sq.  ;  Gregory's  letters 

to,  457  sq. 
Cain,    his    sevenfold    punishment, 

379- 
Cappadocia,  the  province  divided, 

187,  195,  245,  452. 

Carterius,  teacher  of  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen in  Cresarea,   188. 

Casuistry  rules  cases,  208  sq.,  226, 
265,  474,  480-482. 

Catechumens,  258. 

Chance,  as  a  ruler,  248. 

Chanting  the  Psalter,  242. 

Chariot-racing  descrilied,  286. 

Chastity,  for  men  as  well  as  for 
women,  239  sq.,  343. 

Chorepiscopi,  473. 

Christ,   truly    divine,    198,  199,  301 

sq-,  343'  353  sq.,  4-5  5  truly 
human,    198,    199,  307  sq.,  345 

sq.,   350.    425,    426,   437   sq.; 


a  true  sacrifice,  203,  223,  351, 
429  ;  to  whom  was  he  offered, 
431  ;  how  truly  incarnate,  209, 
210,  437  sq.;  born  of  a  Virgin 
mother,    210,    301,    308,    334, 

345,  349,  357,  360,  377;  tlie 
Only  Begotten  Son  of  the 
Father,  316  ;  his  Sacrifice  com- 
memorated as  Antitype,  223  ; 
still  present  with  His  people, 
255,  256 ;  has  more  effectual 
intercession,  256,  314,  315  ; 
worshipped  by  theArians,  239  ; 
His  title  and  power,  224  ;  the 
mediator,  270  ;  the  Second 
Adam,  309  ;  as  a  King  and  a 
Servant,  310  ;  suffering  in  obe- 
dience, 311,312,  339;  suffered 
being  tempted,  312  ;  His  Can 
and  Cannot,  312,  313,  316,  317; 
came  to  do  His  Father's  will, 
3'3>  339  ;  h'^s  a  human  will, 
314  ;  His  Ignorance,  315,  317  ; 
His  names  considered,  317  ; 
how  like  Melchisedec,  317  ; 
subject  of  antinomies,  338  ;  to 
be  honoured  in  his  humility, 
339  ;  was  betrayed  and  gave 
Himself  up,  350  ;  an  Example 
and  aid,  351  ;  honoured  all 
states  by  taking  them,  360 ; 
the  true  Paschal  Lamb,  428 sq.; 
typefied  under  the  Law,  352  ; 
true  man  in  his  Ascension,  380 ; 
orations  on    his    Baptism,  352 

Christian,  teaching  so  varied,  212  ; 
priest's  office  and  work,  223  ; 
union  with  Christ,  228  ;  trials 
and  difiiculties,  233,  262  ;  con- 
stancy not  obstinacy  or  coward- 
ice, 234 ;  reverence  for  holy 
things,  257  ;  persecutions  in 
various  forms,  262  ;  life  for 
eternity,  237,  255  ;  our  high- 
est title,  233. 

Christians,  often  rude  and  un- 
worthy, 206,  221  ;  in  hypocrisy, 
206  ;  objects  of  contempt,  221, 
222  ;  live  for  the  future,  237, 
255  ;  have  one  heaven,  hoi^e, 
and  citizenship,  232. 

Christmas  called  Theophany, 

Chrysostom  borrowed  ideas  from 
Gregory  Nazienzen,  194,  200  ; 
unpopular  at  Constantinople, 
287  ;  quoted,  231,  344. 

Church  must  have  order  and  au- 
thority, 205  ;  arrangements  in, 
226,  377,  404,  407  ;  spiritual 
status  in,  226,  377  ;  the  mighty 
Body  of  Christ,  271  ;  not  de- 
fined by  numbers,  328 ;  its 
teaching,  how  corrupted,  272  ; 
likened  to  a  collection  of 
beasts,  214. 

Church   buildings    described,    267, 

377-  .     ^ 

Church  of  Anastasia  m  Constanti- 
nople, 336,  397  ;  of  the  Holy 
Apostles,  397  ;  of  S.  Orestes 
at  Mt.  Taurus,  414 ;  of  the 
martyrs  at  Nazianzus,  459. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


487 


Cleanthes,  236. 

Cledonius,  iniest  of  Nazianzus, 
199  ;  two    letters  to,  201,  439, 

443- 
Clemencet,  211,  226,  233,  252,  256, 

260,  415. 

Clericus,  239. 

Ccenobites  in  communities,  yet  re- 
lated to  hermits,  211,  274. 

Combefis,   225. 

Confession,  as  part  of  repentance, 
252  ;  its  excellence,  253,  375  ; 
self-conviction,  253  ;  for  heal- 
ing, 208,  209,  252,  375. 

Confusion  of  tongues  reversed  at 
Pentecost,  384,  385. 

Consecration  of  Bishops,  265,  266, 
267  ;  by  three  Bishops,  267. 

Conslaniine,  the  Emperor,  212  ; 
his  equestrian  statue,  330. 

Constantinople,  its  religious  condi- 
tion in  the  fourth  century,  196, 
286,  387  sq.;  its  court  influ- 
ences, 191  sq.,  232  ;  harassed 
by  the  Arians,  196  ;  the  second 
General  Council,  275,  281,  284, 
387  ;  the  council's  anathemas, 
284. 

Consubstanlial,  belonging  to  the 
Son,  192,  280,  281  ;  and  to  the 
Holy  Spirit,  381. 

Cornelius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  ban- 
ished, 358. 

Corybantes    in   Greek    Mythology, 

353- 
Council    of    Nicsea,    25b,    275  ;    of 

Constantinople,   275,  281,  284. 

Creation  of  the  world  by  God,  290, 

303'   347i   356,    3^0.    424;    of 

angels  and  men,  360    sq.,  383 

sq.   424    sq. ;  of    plasma,  360  ; 

man's  purpose  in,  433. 
Creed  (Arian),  issued  at  Ariminum, 

492  ;  at  Seleucia,  192  ;  at  An- 

tioch,  260. 
Cross  represented  by  Moses,  245. 
Cynics,  their  teaching,  288. 
Cyprian.  269,  323. 
Cyril,  Alex.,  213. 
Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  deposed 

by    Constantius,    276  ;  quoted, 

213,  308. 


Dccdalus,  Gnossian  choirs  of,  298. 

Damianus,  Bishop  of  Rome,  199, 
356,  443  ;  excommunicates 
Apollinarius,  199,  443. 

Dead,  their  obsequies  and  treat- 
ment, 234,  235,  421,  422  ;  an- 
nual memorials,  235  ;  prayer 
for  their  entry  into  bliss,  235, 
244,  422  ;  in  unknown  light, 
225  ;  not  to  be  mourned  for, 
236  ;  happier  out  of  the  world, 
236  ;  enter  on  a  sense  of  hap- 
piness, 236  ;  have  anticipations 
of  happiness  and  receive  new 
visions,  236,  244  ;  precede  the 
living,  269,  280  -  their  cultus 
commenced  in  rhetoric,  268, 
280,  422. 

Death  as   regarded    by    Christians, 


I  234  sq.,  255,   268;    not    to    be 

1  feared  in  Christ,  268. 

Degrees  as  applicable  to  Godhead, 
260,  328 ;  in  the  priesthood, 
404,  459. 

Delphian  tripod  silent  on  its  own 
fate,  353. 

Democrilus,  236. 

Demophilus,  Arian  bishop,  ex- 
pelled from  the  see  of  Constan- 
tinople, 378. 

Demosthenes,  Prefect  of  Valens. 
411-413  ;  Vicar  of  Pontus  and 
enemy  of  Gregory  Nyssa,  460. 

Dianius,  Bishop  of  Ccesarea,  265. 

Dioca'sarea,  Roman  name  of  Naz- 
ianzus, 187. 

Direction  of  souls  so  difficult,  208 
sq.,  221. 

Disciplina,  penitential,  209  ;  of  the 
secret,  221,  258. 

Divine  nature  eternal,  235  ;  studies 
for  the  Christian,  205,  266  ; 
judgments  on  disobedience, 
248  sq.;  are  averted  by  re- 
pentance, 2!;o  sq.;  for  the  sake 
of  mercy,  252  ;  judgments  are 
to  be  considered,  253  ;  divine 
things  unchangeable  and  eter- 
nal, 268. 

Earthquakes,     mystically     applied, 

325- 
Easter,  the  day  of  the  Resurrection, 

203,  422,  423  ;    great   festival, 

203,    368,  422,  423  ;    queen  of 

days,  263  ;  the  Lord's  Passover, 

423  ;  oration  on,  422  sq. 

Eclectics,  213. 

Economy,  a  certain  reserve  in 
teaching,  247,  258,  287,  326, 
381  ;  its  different  theological 
senses,  308. 

Egypt,  fertility  and  favour,  334  sq. 

Egyptian  idols  destroyed,  308  ; 
sailors  addressed  by  Gregory, 
334  sq. 

Eleusius,  Bishop  of  Cyzicus,  428  ; 
Semi- Arian,  Macedonian,  and 
yet  much  respected,  438. 

Elias  Cretensis,  213,  215,  226,  295, 
301,  302,  315,  328,  357. 

Emanation,  as  a  theological  term, 
301,  379  ;  Gnostic,  379. 

Emmelia,  mother  of  S.  Basil,   398. 

Enoch  desired  to  know  God,    394, 

395- 

Epiphanius  apologises  for  Apolli- 
narius, 437  ;  quoted,  292,  308. 

Ephesus,  council  of,  308. 

Epicurus,  Athenian  philosopher,  236, 
288  ;  his  teaching,  288,  291. 

Epiphany,  different  uses  of  the 
word,  344. 

Episcopal  elections,  265,  266,  271  ; 
consecration  by  three  bishops, 
267  ;  office  parental  and  spirit- 
ual. 268. 

Error,  sources  of,  213. 

Essence,  how  predicated  of  the 
Godhead,  279  sq.,  301  sq., 
355  ;  how  different  from  Hy- 
postasis, 279,  355. 


Eternity  of  God,  347,  423,  424. 

Eucharist,  how  honoured  by  the 
faithful,  257  ;  lime  and  place 
of  mystery  and  intercession, 
263 ;  how  celebrated  by  Greg- 
ory the  Elder,  263  ;  action  in 
consecrating,  264 ;  grief  mod- 
erated in  the  presence  of,  257. 

Euclides,  236. 

Eudoxius,  rhetorician  and  friend  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  465. 

Eulalius,  succeeded  Gregory  at  Na- 
zianzus, 198,  201,  458,  461, 
473,  474  ;  cousin  of  Gregory 
and  Caesarius,  458 ;  election 
contested,  469,  474. 

Eulogy,  rules  and  conditions  of, 
230,  238  sq.,  254,  268,  272. 

Eunomian  heresy,  196,  197,  280 
sq. ;  opposed  by  Gregory,  280 
sq. ;  whence  and  how  devel- 
oped, 282,  286. 

Eunomians  favoured  in  Constanti- 
nople, 197  ;  to  be  rebaptised, 
281  ;  anathematised  by  the 
council  of  Constantinople,  284  ; 
Gregory's  oration  against,  284 
sq. 

Eunomius,  Cappadocian  Bishop  of 
Cyzicus,  281  ;  some  of  his 
arguments,  281,  292;  retired 
to  Chalcedon,  281. 

Eunuchs,  their  influence,  275,  342, 
343  ;  bribed  against  the 
Church,  275  ;  not  meritorious 
in  their  chastity,  242,  243  ; 
Chamberlains  of  Constantius, 
275  ;    represent  higher    truths, 

343.  344- 

Euphrantes,  Bishop  of  Tyana,  474, 

Eupraxius,  disciple  of  Eusebius  Sam- 
osata,  463. 

Euripides,  353,  459. 

Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  194, 
448  ;  his  character  sketched, 
405  ;  made  bishop  though  un- 
baptised  layman,  265  ;  ordains 
S.  Basil,  194 ;  quarrels  with  S. 
Basil,  194,  405  ;  succeeded  by 
S.  Basil,  266,  408,  449  ;  dies, 
195,  408,  449  ;  Gregory's  letters 
to,  448  sq. 

Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Samosata,  330  ; 
champion  of  orthodoxy,  451  ; 
assisted  at  S.  Basil's  conse- 
cration, 330,  451  ;  banished  by 
Valens,  463  ;  appealed  to  by 
the  two  Gregories  on  behalf  of 
S.  Basil,  451  ;  Gregory's  let- 
ters to,  451,  462. 

Eustathius  of  Sebaste,  deposed,  276, 
284,  468  ;  his  heretical  teach- 
ing, 284,  438  ;  shifting  in  opin- 
ion and  policy,  468. 

Eutyches,  his  heretical  teaching, 
210. 

Euzoius,  fellow-student  of  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  189. 

Evil,  its  definition,  347. 

Exorcism,  medicine  of,  369,  373. 

Experience  teaches  caution,  267. 

Ezekiel  teaches  warning  to  the 
priests,  218,  219. 


488 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Faith,  a  gift  of  baptism,  259. 

J"amiiie  and  pestilence,  divine  judg- 
ments, 248  sq. 

Fatlieihood,  in  relation  to  the  son, 
306  ;  in  relation  to  the  Trinity, 
193,  212,  2S8,  301  sq.,  336  sq. 

Fasting  before  Easter,  371. 

Faustinas,  Bishop  of  Iconium,  238, 
243  ;  witness  to  Gorgonia's  cure, 

243- 

Female  modesty,  prudence,  orna- 
ments, etc.,  241,  257,  26T. 

Festivals    for   the    remembrance    of 
God,  355  ;  annual  for  the  saints 
235,    269  ;    of   different    kinds, 

423- 
Fire  of  eternal  punishment,  373. 

Fifth  element  suggested,  291. 

Flavian,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  466. 

Forbes,  Bishop,  308. 

Foretaste  of  glory  felt  now,  244 ;  of 
bliss  in  the  place  of  wailing, 
236. 

Forgiving  spirit,  its  power  and  bless- 
ing, 262. 

Fortune,  Temple  of,  at  Csesarea,  de- 
stroyed, 266. 

Friends  should  have  justice  done 
them,  238,  243  ;  have  one  soul 
in  two  bodies,  402. 

Gabriel,  209. 

Generation  of  the  Son,  2S3,  286, 
301  sq.,  310,  375  ;  fear  in  using 
the  term,  375. 

George  of  Cappadocia,  Arian  in- 
truder, 273  sq.,  410  ;  his  con- 
duct at  Ale.xandria,  410  ;  his  in- 
solence toward  Athanasius,  274, 
275,  410  ;  deceived  the  emper- 
or and  was  supported  by  him, 
275  ;  bribed  heavily,  275  ;  over- 
ran Egypt  and  the  East,  275, 
410  ;  was  murdered  at  the  death 
of  Constantius,  yet  not  liy  Chris- 
tians, 277. 

George,  deacon  of  Nazianzus,  470. 

George,  layman  of  Paspasus,  sent  to 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  474. 

God,    Trinity   in   Unity,    193,    259, 

272,  273,  279.  280  sq.,  288  sq., 
301  sq.,  336,  347,  351  sq.,  375, 
442  ;  Three  in  Properties,  405  ; 
immeasurable,  260,  272,  273, 
290,423  ;  incorporeal,  291,  292; 
infinite  in  all  perfections,  345, 
347,  423  ;  in  heaven  and  earth, 
252,  388  ;  cannot  be  Three,  322, 
347,  405  ;  rules  the  world  in 
His  Providence,  248  sq.;  can- 
not be  defined,  2S9,  290,  294, 
296,  315,  423  ;  the  names  of 
riis  essence,  316  ;  is  beyond 
reason,  290,  294  ;  fills  all  things, 
291  ;  whether  in  place  or  out  of 
place,  etc.,  292;  the  form,  what, 
295  ;  the  council  and  essence, 
295  ;  the  unbegotten,  begotten 
and  Proceeding    One    in,    272, 

273,  301  sq.,  316,  320  ;  whether 
anarchia,  motiarchia,  or  poly- 
arcliia,  301  ;  beyond  the  idea  of 
time,  301,  346,  347  ;  cannot  do 


evil,  313  ;  not  measured  by 
numbers,  326  ;  not  grasped  by 
human  speech  or  thought,  324, 
325,  367;  conclusions  regard mg, 
281  sq.,  288  sq.;  different  terms 
defined  as  belonging  to,  280 ; 
philosophisings  upon,  285  sq.; 
conceived  by  the  Greek  mind, 
319;  loves  purity  and  truth, 
405  ;  glory  unapproachable, 
223. 

God,  crucified,  433. 

God's  house  of  many  mansions  dis- 
cussed, 283. 

Gods  in  heathendom,  whence  de- 
rived and  how,  293  sq. 

Gorgonia,  sister  of  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen, 188,  201,  204  ;  her  husband 
Alypius,  two  sons  bishops  and 
three  daughters,  238,  464  ; 
Faustinus,  Bishop  of  Iconium, 
her  spiritual  father,  238,  243  ; 
trained  in  virtue  at  home,  239  ; 
guide  to  her  husband  and  ac- 
tive in  acts  of  piety,  240  sq.; 
miracles  related  of  her,  242, 
243  ;  obtains  baptism  for  her 
husband,  244  ;  death  at  Iconi- 
um and  its  scenes,  244  ;  on  the 
roll  of  the  saints,  254. 

Greeks  formed  a  conception  of  God, 
319;  believe  in  one  godhead, 
322 ;  worship  demons,  322, 
354)  37^  i  deify  bad  passions, 
378;  their  mythologies,  353; 
their  mythical  tales,  402. 

Gregory  (the  Elder),  Bishop  of  Nazi- 
anzus, 187  ;  belonged  to  the 
sect  of  Ilypsistarians  or  Hypsis- 
tians,  187,  239,  254,  256  ;  con- 
verted through  Nonna,  his  wife, 
187,  239.  254,  256,  260  ;  had 
Gregory  in  his  priesthood,  188  ; 
in  his  baptism  was  also  or- 
dained, 258,  259  ;  always  just 
and  liberal,  256,  260  sq.;  liis 
pastoral  fidelity  in  a  woodland 
rustic  church,  259  sq.  ;  thought 
wortliy  of  miracles,  263  ;  night- 
ly austerities,  265  ;  built  the 
Church  of  Nazianzus,  267  ;  sub- 
scribed an  Arian  creed,  but 
apologised  and  drew  back,  192, 
260;  had  need  of  Gregory's  re- 
turn from  Constantinople,  192, 
204,  225  sq.  ;  has  Gregory  his 
coadjutor  at  Nazianzus,  195, 
204,  225,  245  sq.  ;  referred  to 
in  Gregory's  writings,  204,  230  ; 
much  revered  by  his  son  Greg- 
ory, 204,  229  sq.,  245  sq.,  255 
sq. ;  resisted  Julian,  265,  266; 
saved  Cycsarea  from  Julian, 
266  ;  promoted  the  election  of 
S.  Basil  to  Cassarea,  45  r  ;  died, 
195,  248,  254,  267,  376  ;  was 
forty-five  years  in  the  priest- 
hood, 267  ;  funeral  oration  pro- 
nounced upon,  255  sq. 

Gregory  (the  Younger)  Bishop  of 
Nazianzus,  his  life,  187  sq,  ; 
father  Gregory,  mother  Nonna, 
sister  Gorgonia,  brother  Ca;sa- 


rius,  187  sq.,  229  sq.,  238  ;  ded- 
icated to  the  priesthood  before 
his  birth,  188,  258  ;  first  edu- 
cated at  CcEsarea,  under  Carte- 
rius,  1S8,  231  ;  his  friendship 
commenced  with  S.  Basil,  i88, 
255  sq.,  395  sq.  ;  went  to 
Alexandria  and  Athens,  189  ; 
dedicated  himself  in  a  storm  to 
baptism,  189,  264;  date  of 
baptism  uncertain,  189 ;  pro- 
tected S.  Basil  at  the  Univer- 
sity in  Athens,  189,  400;  un- 
popular among  the  students, 
196  ;  his  opinion  of  young  Ju- 
lian, 190,  227,  387  ;  went  to 
Constantinople,  191,  232  ;  had 
a  desire  for  solitude,  191,  206, 
245,  267,  453  ;  studied  Script- 
ure witli  S.  Basil,  192,  402, 
472  ;  sent  a  copy  of  Origen's 
Philocalia  to  Theodore,  Bishop 
of  Tyana,  192,  472  ;  was  in 
Basil's  monastery,  192,  194 ; 
returned  to  Nazianzus,  192, 
200,  204,  225  sq.  ;  guided  his 
fallicr  from  Arianism,  192,  193, 
260  ;  was  unwillingly  ordained 
to  the  priesthood,  193,  194, 
204,  268 ;  considered  it  an  act 
of  tyranny,  207,  222  ;  escaped' 
to  Pontus,  but  returned  to 
Nazianzus,  193,  204  sq.,  his 
first  sermon  there,  193,  204  sq., 
227  sq.  ;  writes  on  the  priestly 
oftice,  194,  200,  204,  208  sq.  ; 
aids  Ills  father  against  Julian, 
194  ;  \'icar-General  under  his 
father.  226,  245,  406  ;  recon- 
ciled Basil  and  Eusebius  Cre- 
sarea,  195,  405,  408  ;  promoted 
Basil's  election  at  Csesarea, 
195,  268,  449  sq.,  462  ;  unwill- 
ingly consecrated  to  Sasima  by 
Basil,  195,  268,  453  ;  feeling 
against  Basil,  195,  453  ;  re- 
sisted by  Anthimus,  195,  245, 
454 ;  made  coadjutor  to  his 
father  at  Nazianzus,  195,  225, 
245  sq.,  set  free  at  his  father's 
death,  195  ;  preached  his 
father's  funeral  oration,  195, 
254  sq.  ;  withdrew  to  Seleucia, 
196  ;  called  to  Constantinople, 
and  his  work  there,  196,  197, 
385  sq. ,  471  ;  was  unpojnilar, 
198,  329,  471  ;  proposed  to 
leave,  198,  3S5  ;  enthroned  by 
Theodosius  the  Emperor,  198, 
37^>  3^5  '  president  of  the 
Second     Ecumenical    Council, 

198,  385  ;  resigned  the  presi- 
dency, 198,  385,  469  ;  retired 
to  Nazianzus,  198,  268,  461, 
469,  473,  475  ;  then  to  Arian- 
zus,  198,   422,  473  ;  his  death, 

199,  422  ;  his  dates,  188,  192, 
193,  196,  204,  281,  376,  422  ; 
was  opjiosed  to  Episcopal  sy- 
nods, 478  ;  wrote  against  tl*e 
military  tax,  466;  his  usual 
titles,  1S7,  280  ;  his  appear- 
ance   and    character,   199    sq.  ; 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


489 


felt  himself  unfit  to  rule,  207, 
222  ;  bequeatlied  his  property 
to  the  poor,  200  ;  had  charge 
of  Csesarius'  property  for  th'e 
same,  464,  465  ;  his  writings 
and  its  literature,  200,  201  ;  as 
a  teaclier  on  the  Incarnation, 
193.  197.  199.  279  sq..  390; 
as  a  teacher  on  the  Trinity, 
197  sq.,  280  sq.  ;  opposed  to 
the  Eunomians  and  Macedo- 
nians, 280  ;  persecuted  by  the 
Arians,  329  sq.,  460  ;  early 
collections  of  letters  from  him 
and  Basil,  477  ;  Theological 
Orations,  2S0  sq.  ;  Funeral 
orations  on  his  father,  195, 
254  sq.  ;  on  Gorgonia,  238  sq.  ; 
on  Ctesarius,  195,  230  sq.  ; 
Orations  on  the  Theophany, 
344  sq.  ;  on  the  Holy  Liglits 
and  Baptism,  352  sq.  ;  on  Pen- 
tecost, 378  sq.  ;  on  returning  to 
Nazianzus  from  Pontus,  193, 
204  sq  ,  227  sq.  ;  on  leaving 
Constantinople,  385  sq.  ;  sy- 
nopsis of  the  Theological  ora- 
tions, 282,  284. 

Gregory,  Bishop  of  Nyssa,  Cappa- 
docian,  187,  459  ;  induced 
Gregory  to  go  to  Sasima,  245  ; 
professor  of  rhetoric,  459  ;  was 
in  Basil's  monastery,  then  con- 
secrated to  Nyssa,  459,  460  ; 
Gregory  Nazienzen,  letters  to, 
459  ;  quoted,  239,  254,  308. 

Gregory  the  Great,  borrowed  from 
Gregory  Nazienzen  for  his  work 
on  the  priesthood,  194,  200, 208. 

Gregory,  deacon,  friend  of  Gregory, 
200. 

Gregory,  Arian,  nominated  for  Alex- 
andria, 273. 

Grief  moderated  before  the  Eucha- 
rist. 257. 

Gyges,  King  of  Lydia,  402. 

Habakkuk  denouncing  wickedness, 
217. 

Harvest,  picture  of  an  unseasonable, 
249. 

Heavenly  glory  and  blessedness, 
239,  240  ;  One  to  all,  331. 

Helladius,  Bishop  of  Cresarea,  ac- 
cuses Eulalius  of  heresy,   469, 

474,  475- 
Heraclitus,  236. 

Heretics  oppressed  the  Catholics, 
406  sq. 

Hermaphrodite  god  of  Marcion, 
320. 

Hermits,  and  how  related  to  Cceno- 
bites,  211. 

Heron,  philosopher,  236. 

Hesiod,  256. 

Hippocrates,  210. 

History  a-guide  to  conduct,  227. 

Holy  Ghost,  in  relation  to  the  Trin- 
ity, 193'  301  sq.,  381  ;  is  God, 
247,  318,  321,  382  ;  His  ema- 
nation and  emission,  301  ;  by 
procession,  301,320;  the  Para- 
clete, 327  ;  as  related  to  Christ 


and  no  strange  god  interpo- 
lated, 318,  327,  384;  reserve 
in  teaching  His  divinity,  247, 
381,  382  ;  an  object  of  direct 
worship,  318,  321,  382  ;  as  an- 
other comforter,  383  ;  not  a 
creature,  319,  321,  381  sq.  ; 
blasplicmy  against,  327  ;  a  gift 
in  confirmation,  327  ;  the  guide 
of  life,  245  ;  as  taught  by  Greg- 
ory, 283,  284,  380  sq.  ;  shares 
with  the  Son  in  creation  and 
resurrection,  384  ;  beyond  the 
idea  of  time,  301,  318  ;  theo- 
logical oration  upon,  318  sq. 

Holy  Lights,  oration  upon,  and  its 
date,  351  sq. 

Homceon,  Acacian,  275. 

Homoeousion,  Arian,  275. 

Homo-ousion,  Catholic,  275,  2S0. 

Hope  greater  than  our  deserts,  237  ; 
one  for  all,  331,  332. 

Horse-racing,  343,  392,  400. 

Hosea,  teaching  on  false  teachers, 
217. 

Hospitality  a  Christian  duty,  241. 

Human  nature,  how  related  to  evil 
and  good,  207. 

Humanity  of  Christ,  false  teaching 
upon,  198. 

Hypostatis,  theological  term  de- 
fined,   279,   280,    301   sq.,   355, 

391- 
Hypsistarians  or  Hypsistians,  187, 
254  ;  were  they  idolaters,  239, 
256  ;  tenets  professed  once  by 
Gregory  the  Elder,  187,  239, 
254,  256  ;  their  tenets,  256. 

Idolaters  of  Egypt,  335,  353  ;  of 
Grecian  mythologies,  353  ;  how 
they  developed  their  ideas, 
293  ;  fled  from  Gregory  the 
Elder,  239. 

Illumination  of  baptism,  212. 

Illustrations,  imperfect  and  danger- 
ous, 328. 

Immaculate  conception  of  Mary  un- 
known, 349. 

Immortality,  296,  297. 

Impossibilities  in  Ciod,  312,  313. 

Incarnation  of  Christ  true  and  com- 
plete, 198,  199,  308,  338,  349.  : 
439  ^1-  >  ^'^^  ^  mere  grace,  440  ; 
depraved  by  heresies,  210  ;  for 
wliat  purpose  to  humanity,  210, 
440,  441  ;  for  the  second  Adam, 
309  sq.,  348,  425  ;  through 
the  human  soul,  210,  440,  441  ; 
Apollinarian,  against,  198. 

Infinity  as  seen  in  God,  347. 

Instinct,  so  powerful  in  brutes,  297. 

Instruction  easy  on  the  pure  mind, 
213  ;  difficult  on  the  impure 
and  on  false  teaching,  213,  214. 

Intercession,  pulilic,  243,  254,  263  ; 
parental,  230-232,  240,  254  ; 
allowed  to  the  deceased,  253- 
256,  268 ;  mingling  with  the 
sacred  rites,  263. 

Jerome  at  Constantinople,  198 ; 
quoted,  344,  353. 


Jerusalem,  the  heavenly,  239,  240. 
Jew  did  not  pronounce  God's  name, 

.315- 

Jewisii  sacrifices  and  offerings,  426, 

427. 

Job,  an  example  of  suffering,  275. 

Joel,  on  penitence, 

John  the  Baptist  as  Christ's  fore- 
runner, 270,  357. 

John  Chrysostom,  379. 

Jonah,  as  messenger  to  Nineveh, 
225,  226. 

Jovian,  the  Emperor,  197,  223,  279, 
283  ;  pious  and  gentle,  279  ; 
recalls  Athanasius  and  receives 
a  synodal  letter,  278,  279. 

Judaism,  its  poverty  in  theology, 
212. 

Judgments,  divine,  248,  249  ;  their 
causes  to  be  considered,  253, 
.  254. 

Julian,  Emperor,  contemporary  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  188,  457  ; 
his  character  and  aims,  190, 
200,  233,  265  ;  Gregory's  opin- 
ion of  him,  190,  277,  3S7  ;  the 
apostate,  265  ;  made  Emperor, 
194,  265,  457 ;  undermined 
Christianity,  194,  233,  265,  277, 
457  5  apparently  impartial,  197, 
233,  265  ;  of  unhappy  memory, 
233  ;  tried  to  seduce  Ca;sarius, 
194,  233,  457  ;  threatened  Nazi- 
anzus, 194,  265  ;  threatened  all 
opposing  him,  194,  233,  265  ; 
perstiaded  by  cruelty,  233,  265  ; 
incensed  at  the  Cassarea  elec- 
tion, 266 ;  was  cruel  to  the 
Catliolics,  267,  386,  3S7  ;  re- 
newed the  military  tax,  466  ; 
was  defeated  and  slain,  194, 
279,  387  ;  incidents  of  his 
death,  200. 

Kiss  of  peace,  how  guarded,  257. 
Knowledge,  man's  advance  in,  348, 

354- 
Kronos  in  Greek  mythology,  353. 

Labyrinth  of  Crete,  403. 
Lavers    at    church  doors    for   ablu- 
tions,  396. 
Law,  the,  its  spiritual  purpose,  427, 

433- 

Leaven,  why  cast  out,  428. 

Legal  prefiguring  the  Christian,  352, 

375- 
Lent,  the  fast  of  forty  days,  371. 

Leo,  30S. 

Leontius,  Bishop  of  Csesarea,  258, 

259- 

Leuenclavius,  311, 

Liddon,  213. 

Light  is  in  God  and  in  other  beings, 
361  ;  as  related  to  baptism,  212, 
258.  352,  359  sq.,  368,  373  sq. 

"Like"  in  godhead,  a  term  of 
semi-Arianism,  275. 

Life,  short,  sometimes  a  blessing, 
210 ;  short  always  compared 
with  eternity,  235,  255  ;  and 
death  in  succession,  268. 


490 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


Little  things  made  Iionourable,  330 

sq. 
Liturgical  forms,  257,  267,  407. 
Liturgy,  267,  407  ;  of  St.  Basil  and 

of  St.  Chrysostom,  407. 
Loaves,      basket     of    pure     white, 

crossed  in  blessing,  264. 
Logos  in  relation  to  God,  316,  320. 
Low    Sunday,    how   named    in    the 

fourth  century,  264. 
Lucius  intruded  at  Alexandria,  329. 


Mansel,  379. 

Marriage,    good   one   is   God's  gift, 

256  ;  forms  the  closest    union, 

258. 
Martyrdom  not  to  be  sought,  397  ; 

nearly    attained    by    S.    Basil, 

413- 
Martyrs  in  Pontus,  397. 

Matter  not  eternal,  291. 

Melchisedec,  a  type  made  good  in 
Christ,  317,  345  ;  patristic  in- 
terpretation, 345. 

Meletius,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  pre- 
sided at  Second  Ecumenical 
Council,  and  died,  ig8. 

Men,  different  classes  to  be  differ- 
ently dealt  with,  211. 

iVIethodius,  225. 

Micah's  argument  against  false 
teachers,  217. 

Midas,  tale  of,  402. 

Ministry  required  in  the  Church, 
205. 

Minos,  King  of  Crete,  403. 

Miracles  in  God's  Providence,  242  ; 
connected  with  Gregory  the 
Elder,  263,  267  ;  connected 
witli  Gorgnnia,  242  sq. 

Mixing  wine  and  water,  214. 

Models  by  examples,  207,  240  sq., 
256  sq. ;  difficulty  of  being 
such,  208. 

Molione,  sons  of,  403. 

Monarchia  as  related  to  God,  301, 

322,  347- 

Monasteries  of  Egypt  and  the  The- 
baid,  274. 

Monastic  communities  in  Egypt, 
274  ;  rule  of  S.  Antony,  270  ; 
rule  of  S.  Basil,  191,  405,  415, 
468. 

Money  applied  by  S.  Nonna,  25i. 

Monks  as  related  to  Cccnobites  and 
hermits,  211,  270;  the  over- 
zealous  part  of  Gregory's 
church,  260,  276 ;  their  influ- 
ence, 455  ;  their  sliare  in  Epis- 
copal elections,  266  ;  called 
Nazarites,  266,  394,  405  ;  at 
Nazianzus  opposed  their  Bish- 
op's Arianism,  192  ;  received 
Athannsius  in  exile,  274,  275  ; 
were  received  by  Basil  into 
cells,  415,  459. 

Mono-ousion,  280. 

Montant,  211. 

Montanus,  Phrygian  enthusiast  and 
heretic,   333. 

Mother  of  God,  its  legitimate  mean- 
ing, 199. 


Mourners,  comfort  to  Christian, 
235  sq.,  255,  267  sq, 

Mozley,  347. 

Mysteries,  the  great,  related  to 
Christ's  sacrifice,  223  ;  how 
performed  in  the  fourtir  cen- 
tury, 263 ;  celebrated  by  the 
priest,  263  ;  Grecian  and  Egyp- 
tian, 353. 

Mystery,  christian  use  of  the  word, 
203;  "  time  of  the  mystery," 
263  ;  of  human  life,  240. 

Mystic  numbers,  379,  428. 

Name  of  Christ,  its  power,  222. 

Nature,  used  as  to  God,  28 ;  the 
first  nature,  293  ;  two  natures 
in  one  Person  by  the  Incarna- 
tion, 338 ;  Manichsean  differ- 
ences of,  341. 

Nazianzus,  called  Diocsesarea  by 
the  Romans,  187  ;  maintained 
the  faith,  194  ;  suffered  from  a 
plague  of  hail,  247  ;  was  a 
small  poor  place,  330,  346  ; 
Irad  church  built  by  Gregory, 
267  ;  v^fas  to  lose  its  civil  rights, 

479- 
Neale  and  Littledale,  373. 

Nectarius,  catechumen,  elected 
Bishop  of  Constantinople,  198, 
469  ;  Gregory's  letters  to,  201, 
438,  469  sq. 

Nestorius'  teaching,  210,  308. 

Newman,  270,   279. 

Niccea,  shaken  by  earthquake,  229, 
234,  458  ;  Council  of,  258,  275  ; 
council  of  men  united  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  273. 

Nicetas,  203,  204,  347,  349,  379, 
423,  427. 

Nicobulus,  Gregory's  nephew,  464, 
476,  477  ;  published  a  collec- 
tion of  Basil  and  Gregory's  let- 
ters, 477. 

Night  hours  of  prayer  at  Constan- 
tinople, 287,  3S2. 

Nonna,  wife  of  Gregory  the  Elder, 
and  mother  of  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  Csesarius  and  Gorgonia, 
187,  195,  204,  230,  239  ;  charac- 
ter sketched  by  Gregory,  230 
sq.,  239,  256  sq. ,  261 ;  had  J^ay- 
erful  care  of  her  ciiildren,  230- 
232,  264 ;  aided  in  her  hus- 
band's conversion,  187,  239, 
254,  258 ;  survived  her  hus- 
band, 254  ;  received  Ca:sarius' 
honoured  remains,  234  ;  a  good 
jiartner  to  Gregory  the  Elder, 
256,  257,  260  ;  sought  piety  for 
ornament,  257  ;  her  reverence 
for  holy  things,  257,  261  ;  liber- 
ality to  tlie  j)oor,  261  ;  interced- 
ing for  her  husband's  recovery, 
263  ;  miraculous  feeding  in  a 
vision,  264  ;  dies,  195. 

Notus,  author  of  Sabelliaiiism.  350. 

Novatian,  a  priest,  friend  of  Nova- 
tus,    intruded  at    Rome,    333, 

358. 
Novatian  heresy,  196,  197,  333,  358, 

359- 


Novatians  at  Constantinople,    197, 

359  ;    violent    at  Rome,    333  ; 

called    themselves    Cathari    or 

Puritans,  333,  358. 
Novatus,      heretic,      first     rebelled 

against  his  Bishop  S.  Cyprian, 

333.  358. 
Numbers,  honours  to,  379  sq.,  42S. 

Oecumenius,  345. 

Olynipius,  governor  of  Cappadocia 
Secunda,  437  ;  correspondent 
of  Gregory,  437  sq.  ;  letters  to, 

445.  477.  478.  479)  480,  481. 
Orders,  minor,  271. 
Ordination,  how  a  mystery,  203. 
Orestes  and  Pylades,  402. 
Origen,  as  a  Commentator,  192  ;  his 

Philocalia,  192,  472  ;  not  Arian, 

192  ;  quoted,  215,  225. 
Ornaments,  female,    241,  257,  261, 

476. 
Orthodox    persecuted  by  Constan- 

tius,  274,  275  ;  by  Julian,  267, 

386,  387. 

Painters  by  words,  207,  272. 

Painting  the  human  face,  241,  257, 
261. 

Paradise  of  Eden  interpreted,  348. 

Parties  in  teaching,  215,  279. 

Pascha  explained,  426. 

Passover  explained  for  Christians, 
426  sq. 

Pastoral  care  requires  good  judg- 
ment, 210-212. 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  his  life  and  teach- 
ing, 215-217  ;  in  the  Third 
Heaven,  295,  338. 

Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Antioch,  443, 
469. 

Pegasus,  tale  of,  402. 

Pelops  in  Greek  mythology,  353. 

Pentecost,  festival  of,  368  ;  oration 
on,  378  sq.  ;  the  coming  of  the 
Spirit,  380  sq. 

People,  uneducated,  should  leave 
deep  questions,  229. 

Person, defined  in  theologv,  355,  391 ; 
three  in  one  Godhead,  272,  273, 
353  ;  their  relations,  288,  355. 

Petavius,  208,  210,  212,  279,  301, 
306,  30S,  311,  315.  405. 

Peter,  Bishop,  expelled  from  Alex- 
andria, 329  ;  sent  Bishop  to 
place  Maximus  at  Constanti- 
nople.  334. 

Philos()]>hizings  about  God,  the 
world,  etc.,  285-2S8. 

Philosophy  as  understood  by  the 
fathers,  205. 

Philagrius,  Ca]>padocian  consul  in 
Alexandria,  277. 

Pholinus  and  his  heresy,  334. 

Physicians  of  soul  and  body  com- 
pared, 208-210. 

Pindar,  262,  402. 

Pious  are  sensitive  as  to  truth,  213. 

Plato  and  his  archetypal  forms,  236, 
288  ;  quoted,  205,  225,  289, 
292. 

Pliny,  402. 

Pneumatomachi,  283,  284,  381. 


INDEX   OF   SUBJECTS. 


491 


Polyarchia  as  to  God,  301. 

Prayer    for    Ccesarius    after    death, 

235  ;  and    for  Gorgonia,  244  ; 

the  time  and  place  for  prayer 

set,   257,   371  ;  houses  of,   371 

sq. 
Priest,    set    apart    from  the  people, 

221. 

Priestly  office,  how  so  important, 
208-210  ;  its  duties  and  diffi- 
culties, 20S  sq.,  255,  404  ;  its 
responsibility,  220  ;  reproached 
in  the  had,  221,  271,  357  ; 
either  authority  or  service,  229, 
271  ;  respected  in  the  worthy, 
257.  223,  357,  413  ;  prepara- 
tions for,  259,  261,  271,  404; 
reached  by  training,  404. 

Priests,  Jewish,  reproved,  219  ; 
Christian,  their  rules,  219  ; 
made  a  living  sacrifice,  223, 
271  ;  consecrated,  223  ;  in- 
truded priests  unworthy  and 
insolent,  271  ;  bad,  have  more 
need  to  offer  for  themselves, 
271. 

Procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  273, 
284  ;  from  the  Son,  284  ;  dou- 
ble procession,  356. 

Proclus,  213. 

Procopius,  Prefectus  urbi  at  Con- 
stantinople, 478. 

Properties  of  Godhead,  405. 

Prophecy,  none  of  itself  from  an 
oracle,  353. 

Prophets,  their  teaching  applied, 
217  sq. 

Providence  directs  all,  248  sq. 

Psalter  chanted,  242,  394,  412  ;  on 
Gorgonia's  dying  lips,  244; 
thundering  roll  of,  412. 

Ptolemx'us,  236. 

Punishment  of  the  ungodly,  244. 

Purity  necessary  for  conceiving  di- 
vine truths,  213,    2S5   sq.,  288, 

354.  355- 

Pyrrho,  236,  272. 

Pythagoras  and  his  discipline  for  ini- 
tiation, 2S8 ;  taught  mystic 
numbers,  379. 

Rank  gained  by  good  service,  205. 

Reformation,  a  part  of  repentance, 
250  sq. 

Regeneration,  a  gift  of  cleansing 
and  perfection,  244,  258  ;  from 
the  Holy  Spirit,  244  ;  a  seal  or 
a  gift  of  grace,  244 ;  by  the 
water  and  the  spirit,  258. 

Repentance,  to  meet  God's  judg- 
ments, 250  ;  joined  with  refor- 
mation of  life,  250,  254  ;  as  a 
public  act  and  its  philosophy, 
252. 

Reserved  sacrament,  243. 

Responsive  service,  257. 

Resurrection,  celebrated  on  Easter, 
203  ;  great  moral  and  spiritual 
power,  203,  235  sq.;  given  to 
the  dead.  236  ;  completion  to 
the  Blessed,  236.  237  ;  pictured 
by  Gregory,  236  sq. 


Retirement,    its    purpose    to    Basil, 

191. 
Reynolds,  327. 

Rhadamanthus,  King  of  Lycia,  403. 
Rhea  in  Cireek  mythology,  353. 
Rich   and  people  equal  in  baptism, 

etc.,  369. 
Rule    difficult    but    necessary,   207, 
.  214  ;   rule    and    service    unite, 

336. 


Sabellianism,    197,    212,   259,  273, 

279.  312,   32o>   336,  350,  355  ; 
atheistic,  212  ;  how  suspected, 
279  ;  condemned  at  Rome,  Ni- 
ccea,  and  Constantinojde,  350. 
Sabellius,    heretic,   212,    320,    333, 

350.  355- 
Sacrament,  reserved,  243  ;  anti- 
types of  the  Lord's  B  .dy  and 
Blood,  243  ;  change  in  cus- 
toms from  Christ's,  371  ;  how 
celebrated    in    Giegory's  time, 

371- 
Sacramental  Ulood  mixed  with  blood 

of  massacre,  329. 

Sacrifice  of  Christ,  203,  223  ;  of 
self,  203,  223  ;  of  a  contrite 
heart,  247  ;  of  praise,  247. 

Sadducees  denied  the  spiritual 
world,  319. 

Salamander,  tale  of,  402. 

Salt,  pledge  of  fidelity,  239,  257. 

Sanctuary,  equivalent  to  sacrament, 
271  ;  profaned  by  Christians, 
206,  271  ;  for  different  orders 
of  clergy,  404,  412  ;  its  order 
and  dignity,  412. 

Sarcolaters,  441. 

Sasima,  described,  Gregory's  dio- 
cese, 195  ;  resigned  by  Greg- 
ory, 268  ;  filled  by  tulalius, 
199,  201. 

Satan,  as  l^ucifer,  fell,  347  ;  how  to 
be  defeated,  362,  363. 

Schaff,  281,  320,  334,  344. 

Schism,  threatened  at  Nazianzusand 
healed  liy  Gregory,  192  ;  as 
seen  in  Constantinople,  197. 

Schools  of  philosophy,  etc.,  236. 

Scripture,  its  silence,  324,  327. 

See,  suffragan,  266. 

Seleucia,  Council  at,  Arian,  192, 
269,  275. 

Self-examination,  for  amendment 
and  forgiveness,  253,  254. 

Semi-Arian  party,  192,  197  ;  allied 
with  Macedonians,  197  ;  their 
terms  for  covering  heresy,  275. 

Severity,  unchurchlike,  359. 

Sextus  Empiricus,  sceptical  teacher, 
272. 

Simonians,  Gnostic  sect,  379. 

Sin,  confessed  for  removal,  209 ; 
the  destruction  of  tlie  soul,  268  ; 
actual  and  potential,  351,  425. 

Sinlessness  is  divine  alone,  252. 

Siricius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  368. 

Socrates,  history,  192,  234,  272, 
284,  330. 

Solitary  life,  its  benefit  to  S.  Basil, 
191,  192,  206. 


Son  in  relation  to  Trinity,  193,  212. 
301  sq.,  343,  349  ;  the  Only 
Begotten,  212,  301  sq.,  316  ; 
how  named  in  Scripture,  307, 
•  349  ;  as  Incarnate,  301  sq., 
309  sq.,  349;  subject  to  the 
Father,  311;  the  second  Adam, 
309,  349  ;  His  oliedience,  311  ; 
Logos,  Ratio,  Sermo,  Vcrbum, 
316  ;  in  relation  to  the  Father, 

306,  343- 

Sophocles,  318. 

Sophronius,  Cappadocian  Prefect  of 
Constantinople,  464  ;  letters  to, 
464,  467,  477. 

Soul,  its  quality  as  from  God  and 
united  to  the  body,  208  ;  of 
great  value,  210  ;  responsiljility 
of  guiding,  208  sq.,  221  ;  dif- 
ferent from  spirit,  356  ;  at 
death  has  sense  of  hajjpiness, 
236  ;  may  tlien  have  fuller 
knowledge,  244,  245. 

Souls,  the  direction  of,  the  art  of 
arts,  208  ;  laid  bare  for  cure, 
208,  209 ;  one  soul  in  two 
bodies,  402. 

Sozomen,  234. 

Spiritual  pride  and  worldliness,  221. 

State  of  life  no  barrier  to  godliness, 
240. 

Statues  in  church,  267. 

Stoics,  their  teaching,  288. 

Studies  of  Basil  and  Gregory,  192, 
231  ;  ancient  course  of,  231. 

Suicer,  206,  426. 

Suidas,  344,  349,  426. 

Sun  as  in  image  of  God,  30O. 

Supreme  Being,  God,  213. 

Swainson,  350. 

Swete,  301,  356. 

Sycamore  culture,  384. 

Symmachus,  3S4. 

Sxnesius,  425. 

Synods,  the  age  of,  under  Constan- 
tius,  192. 

Table,  the  venerable,  257  ;  the  pro- 
fane or  unholy,  257  ;  the  holy, 
261,  413  ;  table  of  God  for  the 
offerings  to  God,  412  ;  holy 
table  a  place  of  sanctuary,  413. 

Taming  of  animals,  214. 

Tantalus,  the  Greek  myth  of,  368. 

Teacher  must  be])ure,  207  sq.,  214  ; 
not  self-appointed,  215. 

Teaching  religious  truth  by  degrees, 
215  ;  not  by  the  unfit,  215. 

Temple,  man  a  living,  241. 

Terms  used  once  and  disused,  210. 

Ter-sanctus,  347,  351. 

Tliekla,    virgin    saint    of    Seleucia, 

275- 
Theocritus,  205. 

Theodore,    Bishop    of    Mopsuestia, 

474- 
Theodore,    Bishop  of  Tyana,   192, 

474  ;  native  of  Arianzus,  47 1  ; 

friend    of   Gregory    Nazianzen, 

192,471,  473,  474. 
Theodoret,  234,  272,  329,  345. 
Theodosius.  Catholic  emperor,  196  ; 

deprived  the  Arians,  198  ;  sum- 


492 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


moned  the  Second  Ecumenical 
Council,  2S4 ;  made  Gregory 
archl)ishop,  378 ;  restored  the 
churches  to  the  orthodox,  389  ; 
was  for  peace,  466  ;  by  edict, 
A.D.  384-3S5,  withdrew  all 
clerics  from  the  civil  courts,  470. 

Theology,  various  meanings  of  the 
word,  326 ;  necessary  study, 
212  ;  depraved  by  Atheism, 
Judaism,  Polytheism,  212. 

Theophany,  name  for  Epiphany, 
344  ;  applied  to  Christmas, 
344,  345  ;  also  to  Christ's  bap- 
tism, 351  ;  oration  en,  when 
delivered,  344. 

Theos  {deos),  its  radical  meaning, 
316. 

Theosebia,  sister  of  Gregory  Nyssus, 
461  ;  letter  of  condolence  on 
her  death,  461,  462. 

Thomas    Aquinas,    290,   308,    322, 

347>  405- 

Tillemonl,  215. 

Tischendorf,  323. 

Touto-ousion,  280. 

Trees,  the  two  in  Eden,  348,  354, 
425. 

Truth,  Christian,  taught  by  de- 
grees, 215. 

Tyana,  capital  of  Cappadocia  Se- 
cunda,  187,  195. 

Ullman,  192,  193,  239,  281,  356, 
357.  437- 


Unbegotten  One,  the,  212,  272,  273, 

304,  305.  316,  325,  391. 
Uninitiated,  the,  206. 
Unity,  in   the   Godhead,    193,   212, 

270,  322,  323  ;  in  doctrine  and 

office,  271. 
University    life  pictured,  igo,    400, 

402. 
Unmarried,    a     higher    state     than 

married,  240. 

Valens,  "Emperor,  an  Arian,  195, 
197,  387,  405,  460  ;  oppressed 
the  Catholics,  197,  387,  410, 
460,  462  ;  divided  Cappadocia, 
195,  245,  410;  ordered  eighty 
priests  to  be  murdered,  330, 
410 ;  had  a  form  of  Christian- 
ity, 387,410;  opposed  and  other 
Catholics,  410  sq. ;  was  awed 
by  Basil  in  Church,  412  ; 
favoured  Ceesarius,  458 ;  abol- 
ished the  military  tax,  466  ;  his 
dates,  233. 

Valentinus,    Egyptian   heretic,  320, 

333i  379- 

Vanity  of  human  life  and  its  con- 
ditions, 235,  236. 

Ventriloquists,  214. 

Verianus,  citizen  of  Nazianzus,  480; 
letters  to,  481. 

Virginity,  compared  with  marriage, 
341.  349.  365  ;  favoured  by 
Basil,  415  ;  honoured  even  in 
baptism,  365,  394. 


Virgins,  outraged  at  Alexandria  by 
the  Arians,  329. 

Vitalius  or  Vitalis,  Apollinarian 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  443 ;  de- 
ceived Damasus  at  Rome,  vis- 
ited Nazianzus,  was  convicted 
by  Paulinus,  443. 

Wealth,  the  best,  is  good  example, 

241. 
Wine  and  water  mixed,  214. 
Witnesses,  the  passage  in  i  John  v., 

7,  8,  discussed,  323. 
Wizards,  214. 
Woman,    not  always   a   help-meet, 

257- 
Word  of  God,  355  ;    the   name  re- 
vered, 337,  355. 
Wordsworth,  310. 

Worlds,  visible  and  invisible,  212  ; 
when  created,  212,  345,  347 ; 
created  by  God,  290,  303,  347  ; 
filled  with  created  life,  296  sq.; 
adapted  by  divine  wisdom,  347, 

395  sq. 
Wrongs  done    and  punished,   253, 

254- 

Zechariah    denounces    the    priests, 

218. 
Zeus  in  Greek  mythology,  353. 
Zeuxippus,  an  uncertain  allusion  to, 

331- 

Zonaras,  426, 


S.  GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


INDEX  OF  TiiXTS 

• 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Gen.  i.  2  .     . 

, 

221 

Gen.  xii.  39    .     .     .     254 

Ex.  xxi.  2 

•     379 

Deut.  xxxii.  21   .     .     388 

i.   i6.     .     . 

• 

269 

xii.  40 

.    .    419 

xxiv.  I     . 

.     286 

xxxii.  25 

251 

i.   26  .     .     . 

209, 

250 

xlix.  22  . 

.  .  387 

xxiv.  I,  2 

223,  230 

xxxii.  34 

222 

i.  27  .      . 

229, 

419 

Ex.  i.  8     . 

.   .   279 

xxiv.  8    . 

.     420 

xxxii.  49 

421 

ii.  7    .     .     . 

. 

ii.  12  . 

.   .   471 

xxiv.  15,  18 

.     223 

Josh.  i.  2        .     . 

420 

210,  317, 

348,  360 

ii.  15  , 

.    .    388 

XXV.  32,  37  . 

.     280 

iii.  15,  16     . 

431 

ii.  8    .     .     . 

. 

419 

iii.  I   .     . 

.    .    420 

XXV.  40    .     . 

.     426 

iii.  16      .     . 

597 

ii.  16 .     . 

. 

419 

iii.  2  . 

361,  441 

xxvi.  33  .     . 

.     471 

V.  14        . 

222 

ii.  18.      .     . 

256 

iii.  4  . 

.      •     259 

xxix.  4     . 

.     420 

vi.  4  sq.  . 

380 

iii.  3  .      . 

210, 

317 

iii.  5  .     . 

.      •     430 

XXX.  33,  38  . 

.     223 

vi.  20 

"^11 

iii.  5   .     . 

• 

348 

iii.  7  . 

•      .     387 

xxxi.  2 

.     410 

vi.  23 

366 

iii.  6  . 

. 

340 

iii.  14 

.     .     316 

xxxi.  3     . 

•     383 

vii.  21     . 

337 

iii.  6-23  . 

. 

210 

iv.  2  .     . 

.      .     289 

xxxii.  II  . 

.     254 

X.  12 

397 

iii.  15       .     . 

. 

430 

iv.  10 

•      •     203 

xxxii.  15  . 

•     .     275 

X.  13 

431 

iii.  19 

. 

208 

iv.  10,  11 

„  27    .     227 

xxxii.  20  . 

•     429 

xiv.  6 

25s 

iii.  24 

, 

358 

iv.  27 

.      .     203 

xxxii.  26 

.     336 

xviii.  I 

394 

iv.  24      .     . 

. 

379 

v.  6    . 

.     .     248 

xxxiii.   19     . 

.     220 

xxiv.  12  . 

•     431 

iv.  26 

294,  419 

vii.  I  . 

255.  441 

xxxiii.  20,  2 

3    •     339 

Jud.  vii.  5 

388 

V.  21  .      .     . 

• 

419 

vii.  8  sq. 

.     .     420 

xxxiii.  23 

.     .     289 

xiii.  6 

422 

V.  22  .      . 

. 

380 

vii.  19 

•     •     2^0 

xxxiv.  I  .     . 

•     275 

xiii.  22 

•    295 

V.  24  .     . 

• 

294 

vii.  22 

.     .     248 

xxxiv.  30 

354,  361 

xiii.  23 

•     354 

vi.  8  .     .     . 

. 

295 

ix.  10 

■     ■     •     251 

xxxvii.  7 

•     323 

xvi.  19    . 

.     276 

vi.  13      .     . 

. 

419 

X.  21  . 

.      .     386 

xxxviii.  28 

•     376 

I  Sam.  i.  10 

.     365 

viii.  11     . 

• 

358 

xi.  2  . 

.     .     .     430 

Lev.  iii.  4 

•  .  375 

i.  20  . 

.     420 

viii.  21     . 

473 

xii.  7  . 

.     .     203 

vi.  16  sq. 

.     .     272 

ii.  5    . 

•     300 

xi.  4  .     . 

275, 

418 

xii.  II 

.     •     •     375 

vii.  14,  32 

.     426 

ii.  6  sq. 

.     387 

xi.  7  .     . 

. 

384 

xii.  15 

■     •     •     379 

vii.  34     . 

.     375 

ii.  8    . 

.     227 

xii.  I  .     . 

. 

239 

xii.  22     . 

364.  370 

viii.  2 

.     245 

ii.  II  . 

.     215 

xii.  6  . 

. 

388 

xii.  29 

.     .     .     412 

viii.  31     . 

•     223 

ii.  12,  15 

,  2 

3 

223 

xiii.  12    . 

• 

388 

xii.  37 

.     .     .     3S7 

viii.  33    . 

•     380 

ii.  19 

.     420 

xiv.  14     . 

. 

388 

xiii,  20 

,     .     .    430 

X.    I      .       . 

223,  245 

ii.  30 

.     388 

XV.  16      . 

• 

249 

xiii.  21 

•     .    •     361 

xi.  44,  45 

•     358 

vi.  I   • 

.    389 

xviii.  2    . 

• 

295 

xiv.  15 

.     .     248 

xii.  40     . 

•    471 

vii.  5 

.     222 

xviii,  5     . 

. 

441 

xiv.  20 

292,  345 

xiv.  8       . 

.     .     380 

ix.  3  . 

.    400 

xviii.  10  . 

. 

419 

xiv.  21 

397.  430 

xvi.  34    . 

.     223 

ix.  9  . 

.     262 

xviii.  18  . 

. 

295 

xiv.  22 

•     •     259 

xxi.  17    . 

•    .     223 

X.    II 

.     206 

xix.   I 

• 

388 

xiv.  28 

•     .     •     431 

xxii.  19  . 

•     223 

X.   22 

.     226 

xix.  15  sq. 

. 

368 

XV.  20 

.     .     263 

xxiv.  I  LX> 

:.  .    251 

XV.  26 

.     227 

xix.  17     . 

. 

429 

xvi.  2  sq 

•     •     •     397 

xxvi.  27,  28 

•    251 

XV.  28 

.     314 

xix.  17,  23 

252 

xvi.  4 

•     •     259 

Num.  i.  3 

.    224 

xvi.  7 

•     369 

xix.  24    . 

. 

xvi.  13 

■■  •     •     397 

xi.  29 

.    206 

xvi.  13 

.     420 

271, 

373 

418 

xvi.  14 

.     .     264 

xii.  3 

.    262 

xvi.  16 

.     222 

xix.  26    , 

. 

366 

xvi.  15 

407>  431 

xii.    7 

.255,441 

xvi.  23 

•     384 

xxi.  19    . 

. 

271 

xvi.  18 

•     •     299 

xvii.  8,  10 

.    .   448 

xvii.  14 

.     227 

xxii.   I     . 

• 

419 

xvii.  6 

> 

XX.  17 

,    .   212 

xvii.  32 

•     365 

xxii.  8 

• 

394 

259,  264,  431 

xxi.  9 

■    .   431 

xvii.  49 

.  2: 

J2,  376 

xxii.  II    . 

• 

431 

xvii.  10,  II  .      .     431 

xxi.  22     . 

.    .    229 

xviii.  7 

•       365 

xxiv.  3     . 

. 

419 

xvii.  II   .      .     .     222 

xxiv.  7     . 

.   .    471 

xix.  20 

.       412 

xxvii.  2T    sq 

. 

225 

xvii.  12    .     .     .     245 

XXXV.  7    , 

.    .    262 

xix.  24 

.       206 

xxvii.  28 

. 

245 

xix.  10,  15    .      .     258 

Deut.  iv.  24  . 

316,  383 

xxiii.  23 

.       228 

xxviii.  2  . 

. 

295 

xix.  13     .        318,  376 

V.  27 

•    •    230 

2  Sam.  i,  21 

•       253 

xxviii.  12 

. 

419 

xix.  14    .      .      .     289 

vi.  7 

.   286 

V.   I      . 

.       420 

xxxi.  19  . 

. 

430 

xix.  16     .     .      .     223 

xxiii.  3    . 

•    •    391 

vi.  6  . 

.       223 

xxxii.  28 

■ 

295 

xix.  16-18    .     .     289 

xxvii.  5    . 

•    •   257 

vi.  14 

•       351 

xxxvii.  28 

3S7 

472 

xix.  24     .     .     .     307 

xxviii.  39 

•    •    253 

xii.  16 

.       412 

xii.  I  sq. 

. 

407 

XX.  19      .      .      .     230 

xxxii.  5    . 

•   •    250 

XV.  5 

.       273 

xii.  29  sq. 

• 

335 

XX.  21 

•     •     •     339 

xxxii.  15 

.    222 

I  Kings  iii.  i 

2 

.       296 

494 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

I  Kings  iv.  29 

.        .        420 

Ps.    vi.  5  LXX.       .     249 

Ps.    xlv.  4       .       334,  470 

Ps.    Ixxxv.  8  .     .     . 

374 

viii.  6 

-        .        380 

vi.  6  .     .     .     .     358 

xlv.  6      .     . 

•        307 

Ixxxv.  13 

254 

X.    I      .       . 

•        .        369 

viii.   I 

.      .      289 

xlv.  7 

•        310 

Ixxxvii.  7  LXX. 

227 

xi.  14 

.        .        413 

viii.  3      . 

.     .      290 

xlv.  14    .      . 

•        341 

xc.  10      .      .      . 

267 

xi.  33      • 

.        .         254 

viii.  5      . 

•      •     237 

xlvii.  I     .     . 

•     345 

xci.  5       .     .     . 

364 

xii.  2 

•        •        392 

ix.  6  .     . 

•     •      430 

1.  14  .      .      . 

•   223 

xci.  14    .     .      . 

362 

xvii.  4 

.         .        271 

ix.  18 

.      .      388 

1.  21    .       .       . 

.  250 

xcii.  13    .      .     . 

256 

xvii.   6     . 

.        .        264 

X.  7    .     . 

221,  374 

1.  23    .       .       . 

•  247 

xciii.  I     .     .      . 

430 

xvii.  8  sq. 

•        •        372 

xi.  6  . 

•     .     373 

Ii.  5   •     •     . 

•  351 

xciv.   I    .      .     . 

262 

xvii.  14    . 

-        .        407 

xii.  I  .     , 

.     .     217 

Ii.  8    .     .     . 

•     374 

xciv.  17  .     . 

387 

xvii.  21    . 

.         .        380 

xii.  7 

.     .•  224 

Ii.  10       .       2 

47,  374 

xcv.  2  LXX.     . 

252 

xviii.  33 

■        •        380 

xiii.  3 

•     •     372 

Ii.  12        .     . 

.     383 

xcv.  3      .     .     . 

373 

xviii.  42 

•        .         387 

xiv.  3      . 

.     .     251 

Hi.  2  .     .     . 

•     374 

xcv.  6      .     ,     . 

252 

xviii.  44 

•         ■        299 

xvi.  6 

228,  420 

Iii.  4  .      .     . 

•     385 

xcv.  II     .     . 

368 

xix.   II     . 

.        .        362 

xviii.  8    . 

•     •     249 

liii.  5       .     . 

.     318 

xcvi.  I,  II    .      . 

345 

xix.  II,  12 

•        •        295 

xviii.  9    . 

.     .     276 

Iv.  6  LXX. 

•     386 

xcvii.  II        .     . 

373 

xix.  18     . 

•         •        388 

xviii.  11  . 

-     •     293 

Iv.  7  .      .     . 

•     205 

xcix.  6     .     .     . 

420 

2  Kings  i.  I    . 

.        .        420 

xviii.  12  . 

.     .     220 

Iv.  9    .      . 

•     385 

ci.  I   .     .      .      . 

227 

ii.    II 

xviii.  32  . 

•     •     430 

Iv.   17       .      . 

.     286 

ci.  6  .     .     .     . 

261 

36 

I,    383,    420 

xviii.  33 

.     .     224 

Ivii.  4 

•     374 

ciii.  15    .     .     . 

235 

ii-  13.  15 

.        .        420 

xviii.  39 

.     .     220 

Ivii.  9      .     .. 

.     224 

civ.  2       .     .     . 

430 

iv.  25  LX 

K.    .     380 

xviii.  46       .      .      250 

Iviii.  4  LXX. 

.     262 

civ.  3       .     .     . 

383 

xvii.  21    . 

•     •     376 

xix.  I       .      .     .      310 

Iviii.  4,  5 

•     372 

civ.  4      .     .     . 

300 

xviii.  33 

•     .     376 

xix.  I,  3       .     .      348 

Iviii.  5.  6  LX 

X. 

civ.  4,  5  LXX. 

313 

XX.  I  sq. 

.     .     264 

xix.  4  LXX.     .     380 

• 

209 

civ.  6      .     .     . 

220 

XXV,    II     . 

•     •     329 

xix.  5      .     .299,  417 

lix.  3       .     . 

.     314 

civ.  15     .     .     . 

214 

I  Chron.   xi.  4 

•     •     394 

xix.  6      .      .      .     417 

Ix.  2,  3    .     . 

•     250 

civ.  30    .     .      . 

384 

2  Chron.  xxxii 

i.    12, 

xix.  10    .     .      .      220 

Ixi.   10 

222 

cv,  15      .     .     . 

272 

13    •     • 

.     .     471 

XX.  7  .     '.     .      .     472 

Ixiii.  I     . 

•     407 

cv.  18      .     .     . 

442 

xxxvi.  32 

■     •     380 

xxii.  I     .      .     .      311 

Ixiii.  8  LXX. 

•     213 

cv.  32      .       249 

,  276 

xx.Kviii.  12 

•     .     358 

xxii.  II    .     .           220 

Ixiv.  32   . 

•     431 

cvi.  23,  30  .     . 

254 

Job  i.  3      .     . 

.     .     240 

xxiii.  2     .      .     . 

Ixv.  2       .      . 

.     442 

cvi.  30,  31  .     . 

471 

i.  21    .     . 

.     .     262 

204,  255,  317 

Ixv.  9 

•     253 

cvi.  39     .        221 

,  343 

ii.  7  sq.   . 

.     .     274 

xxiii.  5    .     .      .     261 

Ixvi.  6     .     . 

•     302 

cvii.  9      .     .      . 

407 

iii.  8  .     . 

•     .     358 

xxiv.  3    .        220,  351 

Ixvi.  7     .       1 

151,  388 

cvii.  32    .       227 

404 

iii.  9  .      . 

•     •     327 

xxiv.  7,  10  .      .     432 

Ixvi.  12   . 

•     387 

cvii.  40   .     .      . 

221 

iv.  7  .     . 

•     •     373 

xxvi.  4  LXX.   .     442 

Ixvii.  6    . 

•     254 

ex.  I         ... 

310 

iv.  8  .     . 

•     •     244 

xxvi.  7  LXX.    .     220 

Ixviii.  4  . 

•     356 

ex.  3        ... 

307 

V.  19 

•     •     379 

xxvii.  4  .     .     .     224 

Ixviii.  9  . 

•   .372 

ex.  3  LXX.      . 

227 

V.  26 

.     .     462 

xxix.  9    .     .      .     227 

Ixviii.  II 

.     227 

cxi.  7       .     .     , 

310 

ix.  9   .     . 

.     .     442 

xxxi.  6    .     .      .     421 

Ixviii.  35 

.     227 

cxi.  10     .     .     . 

248 

ix.  23  LX 

X.     .     274 

xxxi.  16 .      .      .      420 

Ixix.  2      .       2 

J22,   237 

cxii.  5      .     .     . 

418 

ix.  24 

•     ■     274 

xxxii.  I   .      .     .     372 

Ixxii.  6    .     . 

•       358 

cxii.  9      .       241 

,372 

xii.  14     . 

•     •     299 

xxxii.  6  .     .      .      238 

Ixxii.  6,    7    . 

•       237 

cxiii.  7    .     .      . 

227 

xvi.  2 

•     •     274 

xxxiii.  6  .     . 

Ixxiii.  2  . 

.       224 

cxiv.  6     .     .     . 

310 

xvii.  16    . 

•     •     375 

220,  238,  384 

Ixxiii.  9  .      . 

.       410 

cxvii.  12       .     . 

406 

xix.  6 

•     •     379 

xxxiii.  19     .      .     407 

Ixxiii.  20  .    . 

.       388 

cxviii.  19 

221 

XX.  8 

•     •     235 

xxxiv.  I  .     .      .     286 

Ixxiii.  23,  24 

.       227 

cxix.  6     .      .     . 

420 

xxi.  18     . 

.     .     207 

xxxiv.  5  .        352,  368 

Ixxv.  8    .      . 

.       262 

cxix.  21  . 

290 

xxvi.   10 

LXX.     298 

xxxiv.  8  .      .     .     374 

Ixxv.  9    . 

.       248 

cxix.  60  LXX. 

238 

xxviii.  14 

•     •     310 

xxxiv.  16      .     .     252 

Ixxv.  10  . 

.       248 

cxix.  81   .     .     . 

237 

xxix.  2     . 

•     •     447 

xxxvi.      .     .     .     3S2 

Ixxvi.  4  . 

•     373 

cxix.  103      .  220 

.  374 

xxix.  15   . 

.     .     241 

xxxvi.  6  .      .      .     248 

Ixxvii.  20     . 

•     387 

cxix.  105 

361 

xxxi.  32  . 

.     .     241 

xxxvi.  7  .     .      .     296 

Ixxviii.  15,  21 

.     264 

cxix.  131       .  223 

,  245 

xxxiii.  4  . 

•     .     384 

xxxvi.  9  .      .     . 

Ixxviii.  24 

•     407 

cxix.  164 

380 

xxxvii.    9, 

10     .     299 

318,  337.  372 

Ixxviii.  25     . 

•     407 

cxx.  4      .     .      . 

237 
258 

xxxviii.  I 

•  274,  2S7 

xxxvii.  4       .     .     242 

Ixxviii.  50    . 

•     249 

cxxii.  I    .     .     . 

xxxviii.  3 

•  2S7,  430 

xxxvii.  7       .     .     205 

Ixxviii.  70    . 

.     227 

cxxii.  2    .      .     . 

430 

xxxviii.  4 

•     •     382 

xx.xvii.  27       308,  343 

Ixxix.  4  . 

•     251 

cxxv.  3    .      •      • 

274 

xxxviii.  3 

I    .     .     300 

xxxviii.  5      .      .     358 

Ixxix.  6,  13  . 

■     251 

exxv.  4    .     .     . 

314 

xxxviii.  3 

6  LXX. 

xxxviii.  9      .     .     375 

Ixxix.  12  .     ; 

249,  380 

cxxvi.  5   .       242 

,252 

297 

xxxix.  4,  5   .      .     236 

Ixxx.  8  sq.    . 

•     387 

cxxvii.  I       .     . 

342 

xxxix.  16 

•     •     375 

xl.  2    .       .        .       .       222 

Ixxx.  9    . 

■     409 

cxxvii.  2 

344 

xl.  3  Lx; 

^.       .     274 

xl.3  • 

224,  267 

Ixxx.  12  . 

•     439 

cxxix.  3  LXX. 

222 

xl.  20 

•     •     358 

xl.  9  . 

•     •     •     376 

Ixxxi.  10 

.     223 

cxxix.  6  .'q.  . 

387 

xliii,  3 

•     •     373 

xii.  2 

.     .     .     368 

Ixxxi.  II 

•     247 

cxxix.  7  .      .     . 

249 

Ps.  i.  2      .     . 

.     .     286 

xlii.  4 

.     .     .     244 

Ixxxii.  I  . 

■     311 

cxxxii.   I  LXX. 

ii.  I    . 

210,  302 

xlii.  8 

.     .     .     418 

Ixxxii.  8  . 

•     274 

262 

,420 

ii.  8    . 

•     .     312 

xliii.  I 

•     •     •     463 

Ixxxii  i.  13    . 

.     207 

cxxxii.  4       .     . 

409 

ii.  12 

•     •     •     374 

xliv.  19 

LXX.  .     237 

Ixxxiv.  5 

•     355 

cxxxii.  13,  14   . 

227 

iv.  3  . 

•     •     237 

xliv.  20 

•     .     •     237 

Ixxxiv.  6 

•     373 

cxxxii.  15     . 

407 

V.  10  . 

.     .     382 

xlv.  2 

.     .     .     308 

Ixxxiv.  7 

■     326 

cxxxiii.  2      .     . 

245 

INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


495 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Ps.    cxxxvi.  12    . 

387 

Eccles.  i.  14  . 

236 

Isa.  xxvi.    13   LXX.     386 

Isa.  Ixiv.   4     . 

.     .     290 

cxxxvii.  6     .     . 

224 

i.  18  .     . 

220 

xxvi.  18  .      .      .     248 

Ixiv.    5      . 

•    •   251 

cxxxviii.  9    . 

428 

iii.  I   .      . 

xxvi.  20  .      .      .     227 

Ixiv.  12  sq 

. .  .  336 

cxxxix.  6 

296 

...  "5.  275. 

'286 

417 

xxviii.  I    LXX. 

Ixv.  2 

.   .   251 

cxxxix.  7,  8 

''  ^2 

iii.  I  sq. 

364 

389 

Ixv.  8       . 

.  •  387 

cxxxix.  7-15 

382 

V.  9     .      . 

275 

x.xviii.  II      .     .     384 

Ixv.  9 

•  •  388 

cxxxix.  8  sq.     . 

226 

:         vii.  23    . 

296 

xxviii.  16      .     .     271 

Ixvi.    I     . 

220,  3S8 

cxxxix.  II  LXX 

1           vii.  24     . 

220 

xxviii.  17  LXX.     248 

Ixvi.    5     . 

.   .   203 

374 

1           ix.  II 

342 

xxviii.  19  LXX.     364 

Jer.  i.   5     .     . 

.    .    219 

cxxxix.  16     .      . 

399 

x.  5     .      . 

215 

xxviii.  25      .      .     288 

i.  6     .     . 

203,  227 

c.xl.  3       .     .      . 

221 

X.  16 

220 

xxix.  9     .      .      .     250 

i.    10  .      . 

■    ■   259 

cxli.  3     .     .     . 

245 

xi.  I    . 

261 

xxix.  10  .      .      .     250 

i.    II  .     . 

.     .     292 

cxli.   4     .      .      . 

368 

xi.  2    .      . 

260, 

379 

xxix.  21   .      .      .     253 

i.  18   .     . 

.     .     406 

cxli.  4  LXX.     . 

209 

xi.  28       . 

248 

XXX.  17     .      .      .      387 

ii.  8    .     . 

.     .     219 

cxli.  5     .      .      . 

319 

xii.  8 

236 

xxxii.  20                   370 

ii.  10 

.     .     276 

cxli.    10  LXX. 

275 

xii.    13     . 

236 

xxxvii.  31   LXX. 

ii.  21 

.   .   232 

cxlii.        .      .     . 

382 

xii.    14     . 

372 

276 

iii.  9   . 

•    •    343 

cxliii.  5  .     .      . 

225 

Song  of  Sol.  i.  3 

374 

xxxviii.  8      .      .     264 

iii.  14 

.       .       222 

cxliii.  8  .      .     . 

374 

V.  16  .      . 

309 

xl.  2    .      .       217,  249 

iii.  15 

.   .   227 

cxliii.  10 

383 

xi.  15 

289 

xl.  3    .      .      .      .      229 

iv.  3  .      . 

288,  355 

cxliv.  I   .     .      . 

222 

Isa.   i.  3     .      . 

351 

xl.  9    .      .      .      .      318 

IV.  19 

285,  374 

cxliv.  2   .     .     , 

472 

i.  5  LXX. 

253 

xl.    12          .       .       .       220 

iv.  22 

•      ■     275 

cxlv.  19  .     .     ^ 

244 

i.  6     .     .       203 

253 

xl.  18,   25     .      .     220 

iv.  24 

.      .     251 

cxlv.  21  . 

442 

i.  9     .     .        271 

276 

xii.  4  .      .       307,  325 

V.  3     .      . 

•      •     252 

cxlvi.  8  LXX.' 

242 

i.  10    .     .      .     . 

252 

xlii.  I       ...     310 

V.  7    .     . 

•     •     330 

cxlvii.  4.      .  ^00 

,  333 

i.  12   .     . 

388 

xlii.  8       ...     316 

V.  8    .      . 

.     •     429 

cxlvii.  6  . 

387 

i.  14  .     . 

228 

xlii.  14    .      .      .     227 

vi.  29 

.      .     251 

cxlvii.  8  .      .     . 

442 

i.  17,  18 

359 

xliii.    10  .      .      .      325 

viii.  5 

.     .     252 

cxlviii.  4, 

383 

i.  22  . 

. 

214 

xliv.   2     ...      310 

ix.  I   .     . 

.     .     219 

cxlix.   6  .     .     . 

336 

i.  23    .      . 

217 

xiv.  3       .      .      .     224 

x.  16  .      . 

222,  323 

Prov.  i.   7  sq.     .     . 

354 

iii.  4  . 

. 

217 

xlvii.  14  LXX.       373 

X.  21       21 

9,  276,  287 

i.  II  .     .     . 

368 

iii.  7  .     . 

217 

xlviii.  4   .      .      .     250 

xii.  i  . 

.       .       386 

i.  16  .     .     . 

374 

iii.  12 

217 

xlviii.  16            .     382 

xii.   10     . 

.       .       219 

ii.  3   •     .     .     . 

220 

iii.  34      . 

374 

xlviii.  29       .      .     310 

xiii.  23    . 

.       .       289 

iii-  12      .      .      . 

252 

V.  2  sq.    . 

273 

xlix.  3  sq.     .      .     310 

XV.  10      . 

.       .       236 

iii-  24      .     .     . 

364 

V.  8     .      . 

253> 

429 

xlix.   6     .      .      .     310 

xviii.  12  L 

XX.     250 

iii.  28      .      .      ' 

368 

V.   10   .      . 

253 

xlix.  18    .     .      .     248 

xxii.  14   . 

•     •     333 

iv.  7  .      .      .     . 

354 

V.  24   .       . 

207 

1.  4 223 

xxiii.  24  . 

. 

iv.  25       .      .      . 

374 

vi.  I  sq.    . 

259. 

295 

1.   6     ....     327 

25 

2,  291,  388 

iv.  27       .      .      . 

212 

vi.  3    .      . 

337 

1.  II    .     .      .      .     373 

xxiii.  29  . 

.     .     406 

V.  17  .     .     .      . 

340 

vi.  6    .      . 

428 

li.  17  LXX.      .     248 

XXV.  34    . 

.     .     219 

vi.  9  . 

368 

vi.  6,    7    . 

217 

Iii.  5    .     .     .     .     222 

xlii.  16    . 

•     •     374 

vi.  23       .      .      . 

361 

vi.   8  .      . 

227 

Iii.  7    .     .       38"6,  430 

1.  25   .      . 

.     .     249 

viii.  22    .        307, 

310 

vi.  10 

223 

Hi.  13       ...     310 

1.  31   •      • 

.     .     284 

■viii.  25    .      .      . 

305 

vii.  23      . 

273 

liii.  2        ...     308 

h.  34  .     . 

.     .     386 

ix.  I   .     .     . 

380 

viii.  14 

381 

Hi).  4        .       390,  428 

Lam.  i.  I  . 

.     .     272 

ix.  5   .     ■     .     . 

viii.  19 

214, 

321 

liii.  7  LXX.      . 

iii.  19 

.     .     222 

X.    I      . 

380 

viii.  21     . 

217 

227,  309,  442 

iii.  28 

.     .     222 

X.  7  LXX.  .     . 

230 

ix.  I   .      .      . 

. 

338 

liii.  II     .      .      .      310 

iii.  34      . 

•     •     293 

xi.  18      .     .     . 

355 

ix.  6  (his) 

345 

liii.    12     .     .      .     432 

iv.  7  .     . 

.     .     368 

xi.  26      .     .     . 

407 

ix.    13      . 

252 

liii.  23     .      .      .      309 

Ezek.  i.  4-28 

•     •     295 

xiii.  9      .     .      . 

373 

ix.  15 

217 

liv.  2  ....     388 

iii.  18      . 

.     .     226 

xiv.  30    .      .      . 

217 

ix.  16 

217 

liv.  8  ....     388 

iii.  20 

.     .     214 

xiv.  30  LXX.   . 

409 

x.  3     .      . 

250 

liv.    13     .      .      .      206 

vii.  26 

.       .       2l8 

XV.  7  LXX.       . 

223 

X.  22  .      . 

388 

Iv.   I   .      .      .      .      370 

xiii.  14    . 

.     .     218 

xvi.  3t     .      248, 

255 

X.  22,  23,  LXX. 

Ivii.  13     .      .      .      388 

xiv.  5 

.     .     219 

xviii.  3  LXX.    . 

361 

248 

Ivii.  14    .      .      .     389 

xiv.  14-20 

.     .     222 

xviii.  17  .     .     . 

330 

xi.  1-3     ..      . 

382 

Iviii.  5     .      .      .     217 

xviii.  31  . 

■     •     337 

xix.  17     .      .     . 

407 

xi.   2    .      .       379, 

383 

Iviii.  7     .        254,  407 

xxi.  9 

■     .     249 

XX.  10      .      .      . 

254 

xin.  3       .     .      • 

427 

Iviii.  9  LXX.    .     260 

xxiii.  24  sc 

.      .     218 

xxii.  20  LXX. 

224 

xiii.  14     . 

253 

Ix.  4   .     .      .     .     389 

xxiii.  26  . 

.     .     218 

XXV.  3       .       .       . 

220 

xvi.  3       . 

373 

1x1.  I  ....     383 

xxiii.  42  . 

.     .     222 

XXV.    12     .       .       . 

223 

xix.  II 

217 

Ixii.  3       .      .     .     222 

xxviii.  12 

.     .     222 

XXV.  16    .      .      . 

286 

XX.  12 

244 

I-^ii-  4      •     •     ■     335 

xxxi.  II  . 

•     •     386 

xxvi.  12  .      .      . 

215 

xxi.  2 

318 

Ixii.  4  LXX.     .     255 

xxxiii.  2  . 

.       .       2l8 

xxvii.  I   .      .      . 

248 

xxi.  2  LXX 

250 

Ixii.  6      .      .      .     253 

xxxiii.  3  . 

•     ■     253 

xxix.  20  .      .      . 

220 

xxi.  6 

253 

Ixii.  10  (bis)     .     389 

xxxiii.  8  . 

.     .     214 

XXX.  15    .       254, 

261 

xxiii.  4    . 

310 

Ixiii.  I     .      .      .     432 

xxxiv.  2  sq 

219 

XXX.  29,  30,  31 

323 

xxiv.  2     . 

221 

Ixiii.  10  .      .     .     3S3 

xxxiv.  6   . 

204.  386 

XXX.  33    .      .      . 

340 

xxiv.  18  . 

248 

Ixiii.  14  .     .      .     383 

xxxiv.  8  . 

.     .     219 

XXXI.  7,  10    . 

256 

xxvi.  6  LXX.    . 

388 

Ixiii.  16  .      .      .      386 

xxxiv.  12 

.     .     227 

xxxi.  10  .      .      . 

240 

xxvi.    1 1    L> 

ex. 

249 

Ixiii.  19  .     .     .     386 

xxxiv.  14 

•     •     255 

496 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Ezek.  xxxvii.  3  sq.   .     237 

Nahum  ii.  10 

•        •        249 

Matt.  iii.  13,  17 

.  2IO>  351 

Matt.  XX.  I  s 

1-      •        .        366 

xxxvii.  7,  10      .     388 

Hab.  i.  2  sq. 

.        .        217 

iii.  14 

.     •     357 

XX.  14 

•        •         •        430 

xxxix.  17      .     .     219 

i.  5         . 

.         .        250 

iii.  17      . 

•     •     357 

XX.  20  sc 

.       .        .        342 

Dan.  iii.  5      .     .     .     420 

i.  16  .     . 

•         •        253 

iv.  i-ii   . 

■     •     351 

xxi.  10 

.        .        .        370 

iii.  12      .      .      .     286 

ii.  I    .    25 

3,    422,   473 

iv.  2 

210,  307 

xxii.  10 

.        .         .        227 

V.  3    .      .      .      .     329 

ii.  IS       . 

.        .        217 

iv.  6 

•     .     362 

xxii.  13 

.         .        .        220 

V.  12  .     .     ,     .     292 

ii.  16 

•        •        ^^°o 

V.  6    .     . 

.     .     407 

xxii.  32 

.        .        .        269 

vi.  22       .       384,  420 

iii.  13      . 

.        .        388 

V.  13  .     . 

•     •     351 

xxiii.  7 

.        .        .        215 

vii.  9       ...     250 

Hagg.  1.  I 

•        •        374 

V.  14  .      . 

312,  374 

xxiii.   12 

•         •        432 

ix.  5   .     .     .     .     251 

i.  9     .     . 

•        .       253 

V.   15  .      . 

219,  247 

xxiii.  23 

sq.       .     219 

ix.  9  .     .     .     .     274 

ii.  6   .     . 

•        •        325 

V.  18  .      . 

.     .     225 

xxiii.  25, 

26      .     444 

ix.  18       .     .      .     314 

ii.  7   .     . 

.        .        276 

vi.  19 

131.  416 

xxiii.  27 

.      .     248 

ix.  23  LXX.     .     255 

ii.  8   .     . 

33 1  >  430 

vi.  22 

•     •     450 

xxiv.  12 

•     •     •     335 

X.  11  .     .     .     .     375 

ii.   12  sq. 

.     .     207 

vi.  26 

■     •„  "^'5 

xxiv.  50 

.     .     .     368 

xiv.  33     .     .     .     264 

Zecli.  iii.  i  sq. 

.       .       2X8 

vii.  2 

358,  374 

XXV.  2 

.     .     .     415 

Hos.  iii.  4      .     .     .     205 

iii.  9  .     . 

.    .    380 

vii.  6 

XXV.  8 

•     .     250 

iv.  6  .     .       227,  389 

iv.  7  .     . 

•  •  358 

213,  221 

289,  429 

XXV.  15 

.     .     .     219 

iv.  9  .     .     .     .     221 

V.  I  LXX. 

.   .   218 

vii.  13     . 

•     •     237 

XXV.  26 

•     •     •     253 

iv.  13      .     .     .     432 

V.  8    .     . 

.  .  254 

vii.   14     . 

.     .     287 

XXV.  33 

.     .     .     428 

V.  I,  2     .     .     .     243 

vii.  II,  13 

.     .     227 

vii.  36 

.     .     219 

XXV.  41 

•     ■     373 

VI.  I,  2    .     ,      .      243 

X.  3  .       . 

.    .    218 

viii.  8      . 

•     •     354 

xxvi.   15 

•     •     309 

VI.  4  .     .     .     .     471 

xi.  2  .     . 

254, 388 

viii.  17    . 

xxvi.  39 

.     •     314 

vi.  5  .      .      .     .      217 

xi.  3  .     . 

.    .    218 

216, 

359.  390 

xxvi.  67 

■     •     351 

vi.  6  ,     .     .     .     249 

XI.  5   .      . 

•  .  253 

viii.  24    . 

307.  309 

xxvii.  28 

•     •     351 

vii.  7       ...     217 

XI.  5,  6    . 

.    .    218 

viii.  32    . 

•     •     213 

xxvii.  34 

•     •     351 

viii.  3      ...     249 

xi.  15       . 

.     .     227 

ix.  6  .     . 

•     •     308 

xxvii.  35 

.     .     210 

viii.  4      .     .      .     217 

xiii.  7 

218,  310 

i.x.  13      . 

•     •     359 

xxvii.  51 

•     •     309 

viii.  II  LXX.    .     329 

Mai.  i.  I  sq. 

.     •     374 

ix.  14 

•     •     351 

xxviii.  If 

)    •     •     376 

ix.  10  LXX.     .      387 

i.  6     .     . 

.     .     218 

ix.  20 

243.  372 

xxviii.  2C 

)    .     .     311 

X.  I       .      .     222,  387 

i.  13  .     . 

.     .     218 

ix.  25 

•     •     351 

Mark  ii.  15,  i 

[6  .     .     433 

X.  12  LXX  .     .     374 

ii.  5,  7    . 

.     .     218 

ix.  33      • 

•     •     351 

ii.  19 

•     •     313 

xi.  I  .     .     .     .     334 

ii.  13       . 

.     .     218 

X.  7.  8     . 

.     .     210 

iii.  17 

.     .     262 

xiii.  7,  8       .     .     249 

in.  2,  3  . 

.     .     271 

x.  9    .     . 

219,  420 

iii.  29 

•     •     327 

xiii.  14    .     .     .     431 

iii.  6  . 

..     .     382 

X.  23  .     . 

•     .     234 

iv.  3.  14 

.     .     285 

Joel  i.  4    ....     387 

iii.  8  .     . 

•     •     253 

X.  35        • 

•     •     358 

iv.  38 

•     •     307 

i.  10  .      .      .      .     249 

iv.  2  .      . 

.     .     427 

xi.  II 

357,  421 

V.  3    . 

•     •     372 

i.  13  sq.        .      .     217 

Judith  v.  6     . 

.     .     428 

xi.  12 

.     .     368 

V.  13 

•     •     373 

i.  19  .     .     .     .     387 

Wisdom  i.  2  . 

.     .     382 

xi.  20 

.     429 

vi.  5   . 

•     •     •     313 

11.  3    .     .     .     .     249 

i.  6     .     . 

.     .     384 

xi.  28      . 

309,  368 

vii.  5  . 

.     .     .     206 

li.  5    .     .     .     .     207 

i.  7     .     . 

.     .     291 

xi.  29 

•     390 

vii.  32 

■     •     •     372 

ii.  14       ...     252 

ii.  24 

274,  425 

xii.  31     . 

•     327 

ix.  44  sq 

•     •     373 

ii.  15       .     .     .     251 

iii.  7  •     • 

.     .     361 

xii.  34     . 

•     313 

X.   21  . 

.     •     429 

ii.  17       .       222,  251 

iii.  15 

•     ■     234 

xii.  35     • 

•     314 

xiii.  32 

307,  315 

ii.  23       ...     254 

iv.  8  .      . 

•     •     403 

xii.  36     . 

•    443 

xiv.  51 

•     •     333 

ii.  28       .     .     .     383 

V.  9  sq. 

.     •     388 

xii.  42     . 

•     369 

XV.  21 

.     .     431 

111.  18      .     .     .     370 

V.  10  sq. 

•     •     235 

xiii.  5 

.     220 

Luke  i.  17 

.     .     432 

Amos  ii.  7      .     .     .     253 

vii.  26     . 

•     •     307 

xiii.  7 

.     288 

i.  23  . 

•     .     432 

iv.  7  .     .     .     .     250 

ix.  15 

•     .     252 

xiii.  21    . 

•     389 

i.  33  • 

.     •     310 

iv.  9  .     .     .     .     251 

Eccliis.  i.  2    . 

•     •     320 

xiii.  25    . 

•     372 

i-35  • 

327,  349 

iv.  13      .     .     .     313 

iii.  9 

.     .     227 

xiii.  31    . 

■     358 

1.  41  .     • 

308.  351 

V.  8  LXX.   .  238,  387 

iii.  10 

•     •     343 

xiii.  43    . 

.     361 

i.  53  •     • 

.     .     407 

V.  10       ...     253 

iii.  II 

■     .     340 

xiii.  46    . 

.     358 

1.  69  . 

.     .     271 

V.  26       ...     375 

XXV.  9       . 

215,  285 

xiv.  10    . 

.     420 

i.  76  .     . 

.     .     420 

vi.  4-6    .     .     .     244 

xxxii.  3    . 

•     •     365 

xiv.  19    . 

.     407 

i.  78  .      . 

.     .     310 

vii.  14     •     •     •     384 

xxxviii.  16 

■     •     230 

xiv.  25,  30 

•     309 

ii.  1-5     • 

•     •     351 

vui.  5      ...     254 

xlix.  14   . 

.     .     294 

xiv.  29    . 

•     354 

ii.  7    .     . 

.     .     210 

vui.  II     .       335,  408 

Barucli  iii.  35, 

37    ■     314 

XV.  21     .      . 

•     372 

11.  9    . 

.     .     361 

ix.  6  .     .     .     .     316 

iii.  37      . 

.     •     444 

XV.  27     . 

•     358 

ii.  14  . 

210,  423 

Jonah  i.  3  (bis)  .     .     225 

Susanna,  verse 

5     •     218 

xvi.  I 

.     421 

ii.  14,  15 

•     ■     351 

ii.  I    .     .     .     .     420 

Bel,  verse  33 

.     .     264 

xvi.  16,    17  . 

•     295 

ii.  41  .     . 

308,  420 

iii.  5  ....     252 

2  Mace.  vii.  i 

.     .     420 

xvii.  2     .     . 

.     308 

ii.  52  .     . 

307,  408 

.       iii.  7-10  ...     358 

Matt.  ii.  9 

•     ■     3^1 

xvii.  24  .     . 

•     309 

iii.  4  .     . 

.     .     420 

iii.  10      .     .     .     471 

ii.  9,  10  . 

.     .     210 

xviii.  6    .      . 

.     205 

iii.  9,  29 

.     •     432 

iv.  8  .     .     .     .     409 

ii.   II 

•     •     351 

xviii.  12 .     . 

.     386 

iii.  22      . 

•     •     327 

Micah  ii.  3     .      .      .     222 

ii.  13        . 

•     ■     334 

xviii.  20 .     . 

.     388 

iii.  23      . 

•     •     370 

iii.  10-12     .      .     217 

ii.  16 

•     •     351 

xviii.  21  . 

.     472 

iii.  34      . 

.     .     380 

v.  2    .      .       228,  368 

iii.  3  .     . 

339.  345 

xviii.  22  . 

359.  379 

iv.  I    .     . 

•     •     327 

vi.  3  .     .     .     .     329 

iii.  4  .     • 

•     •     429 

xviii.  23  sq. 

•     371 

iv.  I,  18 

•     •     327 

vii.  I  LXX.      .     387 

iii.  5  .     . 

.     .     421 

xviii.  28  sq. 

.     472 

iv.  2   .      . 

•     •     307 

vii.  1-4  .     .     .     217 

iii.  II 

.     .     432 

xix.  10    . 

•     340 

iv.  23       . 

.     .     207 

vii.  6       ...     358 

iii.  12 

.     .     271 

xix.  24    . 

•     313 

iv.  29,  30 

.     .     318 

Nahum  i.  i,  2     .     .     252 

iii.  13 

.     .     308 

xix.  26    . 

•     313 

V.  8    .     . 

295.  354 

INDEX   OF    TEXTS. 


497 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

Luke  V.  29 

■        350 

John  i.  27  .     . 

.        .        358 

John  xvi.  15 

•        •        •        313 

Rom.  ix.  33   . 

.      .     381 

vi.  6  . 

•        372 

il.    i-ii  . 

309.     365 

xvi.  26 

.         .         .        326 

X.  2    .     . 

275.  394 

vi.  12      .     . 

•        307 

ii.  IS  .      . 

278,    351 

xvi.  33 

233,    408 

X.  15  .     . 

.     .     386 

vi.  16      .     . 

•        273 

ii.  25  .     . 

.     .     444 

xvii.  2 

312,   442 

X.  18  .      . 

.     .     417 

vi.  44      .     . 

.        292 

iii.  3   .     . 

352.  384 

xvii.  3 

.         .        .        314 

xi.  4  .      . 

.     388 

vii.  26     . 

•        358 

iii.  4  . 

•     •     313 

xix.  I 

•         .        .        351 

xi.  16 

.     230 

vii.  38     .      . 

•        243 

iii.  8  .     . 

•     ■     380 

xix.  17 

.       .       .       2IO 

xi.  23       . 

296 

viii.  6 

215,    220 

iii.  13       . 

.     .     438 

xix.  19 

.       .       .       309 

xi.  33      • 

viii.  14 

•        341 

iii.  18      . 

2  so,  440 

xix.  22 

.       .       .       376 

225, 

292,  427 

viii.  28-33   • 

■        309 

iii.  24 

.     .     382 

xix.  29 

•       •       •       351 

xi.  3S      . 

.     208 

viii.  31     .      . 

.        287 

iii.  29 

.     .     272 

xix.  39 

.       .       .       432 

xi.  36 

viii.  44    . 

•        421 

iii.  34 

.     '    314 

XX.  3    . 

.       .       .       368 

237. 

338,  356 

ix.  32,  34     . 

.        361 

iii.  39      . 

.     •     357 

XX.  3,  4 

•       .       •       432 

xii.  I 

ix.  54      .     . 

•        471 

iv.  7    .     . 

.     .     370 

XX.  II  sq 

•       •       •       432 

223, 

254,  375 

ix.  60 

•        364 

iv.   24 

.     ■     321 

XX.  17 

.312 

xii.  4  .     . 

.     .     205 

X.  18.      .      . 

•        309 

iv.   34      . 

•     .     307 

XX.  17,  2 

8    .     .     307 

xiii.  1-3  . 

.     .     216 

X.  19.      .      . 

•        430 

V.  I  sq.    . 

.     •     372 

XX.   25 

•     •     432 

xiii.  13    . 

346,  374 

X.  30  sq. 

•        309 

V.  14  .      . 

•     372 

XX.  28 

•     •     374 

xiv.  2 

.     214 

xi.  3  .      .      . 

.        219 

V.  17  .      . 

•     313 

xxi.  15  sc 

I.    •     .     359 

xiv.  3,  6 

.     216 

XI.  24 

573.  410 

V.  19  .      . 

3'2,  313 

xxi.  17 

•     •     432 

XV.    I   . 

.     .     421 

xii.   18     .     .' 

■     253 

V.   19,  30 

•     307 

xxi.  25 

.     .     296 

XV.  16,  19 

.     382 

xii.  46     .     . 

•     336 

V.  22  . 

.     312 

Acts  i.  18  . 

.     .     272 

XV.  19 

.     217 

xii.  42     .     . 

.     212 

V.  23  sq. 

•     307 

ii.  3    . 

•     •     374 

I  Cor.  i.  17    . 

.     309 

xii.  44     .     . 

•     315 

V.  29  (bis) 

250 

ii.  4    . 

327.  393 

i.  23  .     . 

■     345 

xii.  47     .     . 

•     213 

V.  35  ■     • 

ii.  6    . 

.     .     384 

i.  24  .     . 

•     307 

xii.  49     .       ; 

73.  429 

270. 357. 

420,  432 

ii.  36  . 

307.  310 

i.  27  .     . 

.     216 

xiii.  7 

.     472 

vi.  10 

■     308 

iii.  21 

.     .     310 

ii.  6    .    214, 

248,  355 

xiii.  8      .       ^ 

58,  362 

vi.  27 

307.  374 

iv.  8 

.     .     421 

ii.  7    .     . 

216,  374 

xiii.  10  sq.    . 

•     433 

vi.  33       • 

334,  362 

v.  3  sq. 

■     •     327 

ii.  9    .     . 

237,  290 

xiii.  II     . 

•     372 

vi.  38      . 

.     313 

V.    IS           . 

277,  421 

ii.  ID 

xiv.  16    . 

.     228 

vi.  40 

•     314 

VI.  2    . 

.     .     272 

221,  290, 

382,  417 

xiv.  16  sq.    . 

•     377 

vi.  45      • 

.     206 

vii.  14     . 

•     •     442 

ii.  II  .     . 

■     315 

xiv.  28    .      . 

.     224 

vi.  57      • 

•     313 

vii.  43     . 

.     .     389 

ii.  13  .     . 

.     224 

XV.  2  . 

•     433 

vii.  7 

•     313 

vii.  58     . 

.     .     421 

ii.  16  .      . 

224,  443 

XV.  4,  5  .      . 

.     432 

vii.    12     . 

•     307 

vii.  59     . 

262,  332 

ii.  17  .     . 

.     224 

XV.  4  sq. 

•     349 

vii.    17     . 

.     2s6 

viii.  36    . 

•     .     369 

iii.  1,2. 

.     214 

XV.  8,  9  .     . 

•     432 

vii.  37     . 

.     308 

ix.  3  .     . 

259.  361 

iii.  2  .     . 

216,  224 

XV.  8,  10 

■     349 

viii.  12     . 

•     352 

ix.3-8     . 

•     •     354 

iii.  6  .     . 

.     .     448 

XV.  9  .      .      . 

.     237 

viii.  48    . 

309.  433 

ix.  25 

.     .     380 

iii.  7  .     . 

•     •     354 

xvi.  9      .     . 

•     430 

viii.  54    . 

.     312 

X.  9    .      . 

•.   •     327 

iii.  9  . 

.     .     210 

xvi.  19  sq.    . 

•     371 

viii.  59    . 

•     351 

xiii.  2 

.     .     382 

iii.  12      . 

207,  229 

xvi.  24    .      . 

.     250 

ix.  5    .      . 

•     307 

xiii.  41     . 

.     .     250 

iii.  12-19 

•     .     359 

xvii.  12  . 

•     372 

X.  I      .      . 

.     231 

xvi.  3      . 

.     .     326 

iii.  13-15 

.     .     271 

xviii.  I  sq.   . 

.     471 

X.  II  .    255, 

349.  432 

xvii.  21    . 

.     .     272 

iii.  18      . 

.     .     216 

xviii.  13  . 

•     3g 

X.    14  .       .       . 

.     204 

xvii.  28 

317.  386 

iv.  I   .     . 

210,  2SS 

xviii.  14  .      . 

.     366 

X.    IS  .       . 

347.  424 

XX.  3S      . 

•     .     370 

iv.  9  . 

2X6,  222 

xviii.  19  . 

•     314 

X.   18  .      . 

307.  409 

xxi.  26    . 

.     .     326 

iv.  12 

216,  332 

xix.  I  sq. 

•     371 

x.  30  .      .      . 

.     337 

Rom.  i.  3 

•     •     340 

iv.  15     216, 

229,   248 

xix.  3       .     . 

•     355 

x.  36  .      .      . 

.     307 

i.  6     .     . 

•     •     389 

iv.  21 

216,   272 

xix.  9 

■     355 

xi.  34       .      . 

•     444 

i.  20,  2S 

.     .     398 

V.  S    •     . 

.       2l6 

xix.  35     .      . 

.     278 

xi.  43     309. 

372,  444 

i.  22-31  . 

.     -     348 

V.  8    .     . 

•       203 

xxi.  20-24    . 

*   431 

xi.  47  sq. 

•     ^J5 

i.  23  .     . 

•     •     294 

v.  17        . 

•     345 

xxii.  44    . 

■     307, 

xii.  35     . 

.     368 

?■  ^z  •  • 

•     -     354 

vi.  I,  7    • 

.     221 

xxii.  50   .      . 

•    471 

xii.  48     . 

.       2SO 

i.  28  .     . 

•     •     354 

vi.  19 

.     382 

xxiii.  9    . 

•     351 

xii.  49     . 

•       315 

ii.  24 

.     .     222 

vii.  3,  8,  25, 

ji  .     216 

xxiii.  42  . 

•     432 

xm.  4,  s  . 

.       432 

ii.  2S,  29 

.     .     216 

vii.  40 

.     443 

xxiii.  43  .       3 

09,  432 

xiii.  9 

•     357 

iv.  17 

382,  388 

viii.  2 

.     382 

xxiii.  52  . 

•     432 

xiv.  6      .     . 

•     307 

iv.  18 

•     •     339 

viii.  3 

•     23s 

xxiv.  32  . 

.     224 

xiv.  9 

.     3'6 

V.  3    .      . 

.     .     216 

viii.  6 

338,  388 

xxiv.  51  .      . 

•     432 

xiv.  16    . 

307.  384 

v.  20  .     . 

•     •     346 

ix.  3   .      . 

••     386 

John  i.  I       307,  3 

37.  338 

xiv.  16,  17  . 

.     326 

vi.  4   .      . 

.     .     362 

ix.  7  .     . 

•     23s 

i.  2     .     .     . 

•     321 

xiv.  23     .      . 

■     337 

vi.  13       . 

.     .     224 

ix.  18      .     . 

.     216 

i.  3     .     .     . 

•     440 

xiv.  24     .      . 

•     314 

vii.  23     . 

.     .     222 

ix.  22 

394,  417 

i.  4     .     .     . 

•     368 

xiv.  28    .      . 

•     312 

viii.  II    . 

•     .     237 

ix.  27 

.     216 

i-  5    •    269, 3 

52,  361 

xiv.  30    .      . 

.     231 

viii.  26 

315.  321 

X.  2     .      . 

•     358 

i.  8     .     .     . 

420 

xiv.  31     .      . 

•     307 

viii.  29    . 

•     .     360 

X.  10  .      . 

•     397 

i.  9     ■    318,  3 

52,  361 

XV.     3 

•     313 

ix.  3  .     . 

.     .     216 

X.  33  •     •     ■ 

.       2X6 

i.  II    .     .     . 

•     371 

XV.   26     . 

.     382 

ix.  II 

.     .     410 

xii.   12     . 

•   205 

i.  12  .     .     . 

•     307 

xvi.  7 

.     326 

ix.  16 

•     .     342 

xii.  20     . 

.   20s 

i.  14  .     .       3 

82,  442 

xvi.  8 

326 

ix.  17 

.     .     248 

xii.  23     . 

•     375 

i.  18  .     .     . 

■     307 

xvi.  12 

296,  326 

ix.  27      . 

•     .     388 

xii.  29     . 

.     287 

i.  23   .     .      2 

70.  309 

xvi.  14,  15 

.     382 

ix.  28      . 

248,  285 

xiii.  7 

237.  339 

498 


GREGORY   NAZIANZEN. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGfe 

1  Cor.  xiii.  9   .   .  295 

2  Cor.  xii.  17 

•    •   392 

Phil.  iii.  8   . 

.    .    217 

Heb.  vii.  3 

■  •  -  345 

xiii.  12  .  216,  246, 

xiii.  3   . 

.    .    216 

iii.  14 

•  •  374 

vii.  10 

■  ■  304 

294,  295,  424 

xiii.  4 

.    .    382 

iii.  21 

222,  248 

vii.  13 

■  •  352 

xiv.  2   .  .  .  223 

Gal.  i.  10  .   . 

343,-  375 

iv.  X  .  . 

.  .  216 

vii.  23 

.  .  2x8 

xiv.  8   .  .  .  247 

ii.  2  (bis) 

•  .  386 

iv.  7  .  . 

.  .  290 

vii.  25 

•  •  315 

xiv.  15  .  .  .  321 

ii.  7  •  ■ 

,  .  262 

Col.  i.  5  .   . 

•  ■  357 

vii.  27 

.  .  271 

xiv.  19  .  .  .  247 

u.  8,  9  . 

.  .  2x6 

i.  IX  .  . 

.  .  214 

viii.  2 

.  .  .  420 

xiv.  22  .   .  . 

ii.  9  .  . 

332,  335 

i.  18  .   . 

.  .  360 

ix.  3,  24 

•  •  •  389 

384,  386,  407 

iii.  10,  1 1 

■  •  338 

i.  20  .  . 

•  •  274 

ix.  7  . 

223,  271 

xiv.  24  .   .  .  206 

iii.  X3   . 

ii.  II 

•  .  346 

ix.  10 

.  .  409 

xiv.  28  .   206,  274 

21( 

5,  3".  442 

ii.  12 

•  •  362 

ix.  14 

.  .  382 

XV.  9  .   .   .   .   2l6 

iii.  24 

.  .  209 

ii.  19  .  . 

.  .  214 

ix.  19 

.  .  420 

XV.  10  .  .  .  394 

iii.  27   . 

•  •  371 

111.  3  .  . 

250 

x.  1  . 

.  .  426 

XV.  19   .  .   .  290 

iii.  28   . 

•  •  237 

iii.  5  .  . 

x.  4  . 

■  .  363 

XV.  22   .   .   .   346 

iv.  26 

•  •  389 

237,  355. 

375.  429 

x.  20  . 

.  .  431 

XV.  28   .   237,  307 

V.  xo 

•  •  443 

iii.  10 

.  237 

X.  31  . 

•  •  252 

XV.  35   .  .  .  310 

V.  X2 

.  -  442 

iii.  II 

•  237 

x.  38  . 

.  .  301 

XV.  41   .  .  .  300 

V.  16 

.  .  2x6 

iv.  x8 

■  395 

xi.  9  . 

.  .  420 

XV.  45   .   .   .  311 

V.  22 

.  .  386 

X  Thess.  ii.  19 

.  386 

xi.  38 

330.  386 

XV.  47  .   438,  440 

vi.  14 

•  •'  217 

iv.  16 

■  237 

xii.  2 

209,  246 

XV.  49  .  .  . 

vii.  7-X7 

.  .  326 

V.  18 

•  237 

""']]■  ^5 

■  ■  344 

210,  237,  443 

Eph.  i.  17 

■  312 

v.  19 

■  309 

xii.  18 

.  .  223 

XV.  52  .   .  .  237 

i.  23    . 

205,  224 

2  Thess.  iii.  5 

.  382 

xii,  22,  2 

3  239,  431 

XV.  55  .  .  .  431 

ii.  8  .  . 

.  .  420 

I  Tim.  i.  17  (bis 

)  ■  314 

xii.  23 

.  .  227 

2  Cor.  ii.  7  .  .  .  359 

ii.  10 

•  •  354 

ii.  5  .   . 

•  315 

xii.  26 

276,  325 

ii.  8  .  .  .  .  216 

ii.  X4 

.  .  227 

ii.  7  .  . 

■  259 

xii.  27 

236,  276 

ii.  II   ...  362 

ii.  22 

.  .  224 

ii.  8  .  . 

•  374 

xii.  29 

.  .  383 

ii.  16,  17   .  .  214 

iii.  X  .  . 

.  .  216 

iii.  2,  3  . 

.  219 

xiii.  4 

•  •  340 

iii.  I,  6  .   .   .  382 

iii.  13   . 

.  .  381 

iii.  2  sq. 

272 

xiii.  8 

■  ■  345 

iii.  3  .   .  .   .  420 

iii.  17 

.  .  209 

iii.  16 

■  247 

xiii.  15 

.  .  431 

iii.  6,  7  .  .  .  223 

iv.  II 

.  -  205 

V.  21 

•  376 

xiii.  20  . 

.  .  227 

iii.  10   .  .  .  272 

iv.  13   • 

.  .  214 

vi.  10 

.  382 

James  ii.  17 

•  •  377 

iii.  18   .   .  .  236 

iv.  14 

.  -  213 

vi.  15 

■  255 

ii.  19 

.  .  222 

iv.  10   .   .  .  216 

iv.  15 

•  •  205 

vi.  16  220, 

3H>  361 

ii.  25 

.  .  366 

iv.  18   .  .   .  236 

iv.  16 

205,  374 

vi.  19 

.  231 

iv.  6  . 

.  .  414 

V.  I,  6  .  .  .  237 

iv.  22  sq. 

•  •  345 

vi.  20 

•  395 

iv.  8  .  . 

•  ■  394 

v.  4  .  .  .  .  224 

iv.  24 

.  .  247 

2  Tim.  i.  II  . 

216,  259 

V.  16,  17 

.  ■  387 

V.  16  .  .  .  .  315 

iv.  26 

•  •  429 

i.  14 

.  386 

I  Pet.  i.  7 

.  .  208 

V.  17  .  .   247,  423 

V.  6  .  . 

•  •  253 

ii.  3 

•  389 

i.  19  .  . 

•  ■  309 

V.  20  .  .   .   .  309 

V.  14 

364.  430 

ii.  5 

•  382 

ii.  5  . 

.  .  254 

V.  21  .   .    311,  442 

v.  22  sq. 

.  •  340 

ii.  16   .   . 

•  285 

ii.  8  . 

•  •  381 

vi.  I  .  .   .  .  210 

v.  22,  25 

.  .  216 

iii.  8   .  . 

•  213 

ii.  9  .  2 

46,  389,  409 

vi.  2  .  ,  .   .  364 

V.  27 

.  .  227 

iv.  2    .  . 

■  409 

ii.  21 

■  •  360 

vi.  6  .  .  .  .  224 

V.  32   . 

.  •  340 

iv.  3    .   . 

.  285 

iii.  4  . 

.  .  209 

vi.  10   .  .  .  389 

vi.  1-4  . 

.  .  216 

iv.  7  .  .   . 

.  421 

iii.  19 

.  .  432 

vi.  16   .  .  .  224 

vi.  5,  9  . 

.  .  2x6 

Tit.  i.  7  .  . 

.  219 

iv.  19 

•  ■  ^37 

vii.  6   .  .  .  224 

vi.  XI 

.  .  222 

ii.  14 

216,  420. 

V.  2  . 

.  .  208 

viii.  6   .  .  .  356 

vi.  12 

208,  222 

iii.  4  . 

.  404 

V.  4  . 

.  .  227 

viii.  9   .   .   . 

vi.  16 

.  .  362 

Heb.  i.  3  .  . 

281,  307 

V.  6  . 

227,  249 

203,  237,  415 

Phil.  i.  XX 

■  •  354 

ii.  4  .  . 

•  301 

V.  8  . 

.  .  289 

ix.  22   .  .  .  216 

i.  23  .  . 

ii.  14 

209,  246 

2  Pet.  i.  4 

228,  310 

X.  5  ....  398 

2x6,  23; 

,  243,  421 

ii.  18   . 

•  312 

i.'i7sq. 

.  .  312 

xi.  6  .  .   2x6,  295 

ii.  4  •  ■ 

.  .  246 

iv.  12 

■  358 

iii.  10 

•  •  237 

xi.  16   .  .  .  205 

ii.  7  .  . 

iv.  14 

•  372 

*  I  John  i.  7 

.  .  432 

xi.  17   .  .  .  389 

209,  246 

».  307,  444 

iv.  15 

428,  444 

ii.  I  . 

•  •  315 

xi.  23   ...  221 

ii.  8  .  . 

•  .  307 

V.  2   .   . 

•  358 

V.  7,  8 

•  •  323 

xi.  23  sq.   .   .  216 

ii.  9  .  . 

310,  315 

V.  7  .   . 

•  307 

Jude  14 

■  •  380 

xi.  28,  29  .  .  2x6 

ii.  15  .  . 

.   .  229 

V.  7  sq.  . 

•  315 

Kev.  i.  7  . 

•  ■  377 

xii.  2   ... 

ii.  15,  16 

•  •  374 

V.  8  .  . 

307,  3" 

i.  8  . 

•  •  3°7 

•  217,  289,  295,  338 

ii.  x6  .  . 

■  •  255 

V.  9  sq.  . 

•   c  ^^V 

ii.  I  . 

•  •  389 

xii.  7      394,  422 

ii.  17  .  . 

.  .  2x6 

V.  12  .   . 

348, 381 

ii.  5  . 

.  •  432 

xii.  9,  xo   .  .  216 

iii.  3  .  . 

.  .  222 

V.  12-14 

.    .    214 

ii.  7  . 

.  .  .  210 

xii.  13  .  .  .  293 

iii.  4  .  . 

.  .  216 

V.  14  .   . 

214,  215 

xix.  14 

.  .  210 

BR  60  .S42  1890 
V.7  SMC 


A  Se  lect  1  ibrary  of 

Nicene  and  post-Nicene 
AKA-9416  (mcsk)