On Peace I

perturbation having been induced, how is it possible that the affairs of the Romans are not all in a bad state, just as they are also seen to have been?

XLII. ^A This is the pillar from us, loftier and more conspicuous than the pillars of Hercules. For those are fixed in only one place, and can be seen only by those who travel there; but this one, being in motion, cannot but be known and manifest everywhere and to all: a pillar which, believe me, future time will also take up, exposing you and your crimes, and instructing and admonishing all the rest not to dare any such rebellion against God, lest, by doing the same things, they also receive the same recompense.

ADMONITION REGARDING ORATION VI

I. Gregory, the father of our Theologian, a man otherwise most excellent and a very diligent defender of the true Catholic religion, not perceiving the frauds of the Arians owing to his simplicity, had benevolently received certain individuals infected with this poison and had subscribed to a certain impious opinion of theirs. This matter stirred the minds of the monks with such indignation that they immediately withdrew from his communion, and by their example drew a great part of the people with them. From this, a very wide path was opened for the Arians to oppose the Catholics; and the evil would have crept much further, had not the care of our Theologian withstood it, and had not the father, Gregory himself, openly professed his faith and requested that whatever he had committed in that matter through imprudence be pardoned. Then the monks easily returned to favor with their bishop. Peace having therefore been established, our Gregory delivered this oration, in which he first renders the reasons for his duty, and, opportunity being given, very elegantly describes the form of monastic life; then, for the benefit received, he gives thanks to God; and, to inflame the Nazianzen people with a greater desire for concord, he sets forth the praises and advantages of peace, and by comparing them with the inconveniences of discord, he amplifies them in a wonderful manner. Afterward, he exhorts them not to separate themselves so easily hereafter from the society of their erring brethren, but rather to correct them with human and fraternal charity. Finally, congratulating his father on the return of the monks, he concludes the oration with the Catholic confession of the Trinity.

II. But Gregory begins this oration thus: "I loosen my tongue, and for the sake of the Spirit’s law, I ignore human law; and the sermon, which I have not yet yielded to anyone, I offer as a gift to peace." These last words: "which I have not yet yielded to anyone," have led a man who is not otherwise unlearned 43 into error, so that he believed this to be the first of all of Gregory’s orations, although it is certain that the twin invectives *Against Julian* were written at the time of the Nazianzen schism 44. Furthermore, we have demonstrated by invincible arguments, if we are not mistaken, that the oration *On Pascha* and the *Oration on the departure into Pontus* had been delivered even then, and the orations themselves speak to this effect. Therefore, when Gregory says that he "had not yet yielded a sermon to anyone," he is speaking of nothing other than the time in which "the tunic of Christ was torn," to use his words, or rather, "the body was lacerated," and pain, like a cloud, obscured the rays of his speech; hence, the serenity of peace having been restored, he cast aside his silence and delivered the oration before the people.

III. The most learned Tillemont thinks a little differently, though he himself also places the oration in question in this same order. For, fearful of relegating the Nazianzen schism to after Gregory’s priesthood, he leans almost to the point of believing that the "sermon not yet yielded to anyone" was a sermon "yielded" by Gregory prior to that one. To us, however, there seems to be no difficulty here, since in the *Life of Gregory*, we have proved by most valid arguments that the schism of the Nazianzen Church did not arise until after the Theologian had been ordained a presbyter. But it is not easy to define at what time the beginning of this mournful schism occurred. It is certain, however, that there was no discord in the Nazianzen Church when Gregory delivered his first three orations. For the happy and most loving gift of peace and concord was still flourishing in the year 362, and all were joined by the bond of mutual charity. Therefore, the monks’ schism emerged within the end of the year 363 45. For upon the conclusion of this same year, it had already broken out when Gregory was writing his first invective in the Pontic solitude, and it seems to have persisted until the beginnings of the following year, 364. It lasted for a short and brief time, or, to speak with Gregory, "in order that through the dissension, those dissenting might understand the good of peace."

NOTICE ON ORATION VI

ORATIO VI

First on Peace, for the reconciliation of the monks, after silence, in the presence of his father.

^A I. Alacrity loosens my tongue, and for the sake of the law of the Spirit I despise human law; and to Peace I offer the speech which I have not yet allowed to any. For when before this, our members were at variance, and that great and precious Body of Christ was divided and rent asunder, so that our bones were nearly scattered even more than by the nether world, just as the depths of the earth are cut by the plow and cast about upon the ground; and when that seamless and indivisible garment, woven from the top throughout, had already been torn into many pieces, and that wicked one had wholly claimed it for himself—having succeeded through us ^B in what he could by no means achieve through those who crucified Christ—then indeed I set a guard upon my lips, and not otherwise, being eager concerning speech, because I deemed it the sequence of the spiritual order first to purify myself by the philosophy of action, then, having opened the mouth of my mind, to draw in the Spirit, and then at last to belch forth a good word, and to speak the perfect wisdom of God among the perfect; and just as for every thing, both small and great, there is a time—for that saying of Solomon ^C is excellent and most carefully considered—so I knew that there is a time for speech and a time for silence, if any other did.

^B II. For this reason I was deaf and humbled, having become far removed from all good; and as a certain cloud, entering my heart, covered the ray of speech, and my pain was renewed night and day. And all things were to me fuel and reminders of the separation of the brethren: vigils, fasts, prayers, tears, ^D calloused knees, beatings of the breast,

^A a sigh rising from the depths, a night-long standing, the soul’s departure toward God, a delicate lament in prayer, a medicine of compunction for those who hear, those chanting, those glorifying, those meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, those who bear the exaltations of God in their throats: and these are indeed the beautiful marks and indications of the life according to God, the silent heralds—the unkempt and filthy hair, feet bare and following the apostolic path, carrying nothing dead, a measured haircut, a garment chastening pride, a girdle elegant in its simplicity, drawing the tunic up a little, yet so as not to seem to be drawing it up, a steady gait, an eye that does not wander, a gentle smile, or rather a movement of the mouth that checks the petulance of laughter, discourse proceeding from reason, silence more precious than speech, praise seasoned with salt, not directed toward flattery but toward the guidance of the better, ^B a rebuke more desirable than praise, a measure of mourning and relaxation, and the blending and temperament of both; softness tempered by fortitude, severity tempered by modesty, so that neither is harmed by its opposite, but each attains praise through the working of the other; the measure of both going forth into the common life and withdrawing, the former to instruct others, the latter so that they themselves might be imbued with the mysteries of the Spirit; and thus both, so as to keep solitude in the common life, and brotherly benevolence and charity in solitude; and things greater and more sublime than these still: wealth in poverty, possession in pilgrimage, glory in contempt, power in infirmity, fruitfulness in celibacy (if indeed the births according to God are better than those that take their rise from the flesh): those who do not study delights but hold them as delights, who are humble for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, ^C who have nothing in the world and exist above the world, who live outside the flesh even while in the flesh, to whom the Lord is a portion, who labor in destitution for the sake of the kingdom, and who reign on account of their destitution.

III. These men, I say, my splendid and preeminent delights, both rendered me brilliant and illustrious when present, and contracted me with sorrow when absent. These things weighed upon my soul and troubled it. Hence I was walking along mourning and sorrowful. For this reason, along with other pleasant things, I also cast aside speech: since my beloved have kicked against me, ^D and have turned their backs to me and not their faces, and have become a flock[...]

^A more savage than their shepherd, not to say more wanton; for the true vine and that most beautifully pruned by the good husbandman, and which used to bring forth a beautiful vintage into the divine wine-presses, has been turned for me into bitterness; for my friends and my neighbors have drawn near ^B and stood over against me, and those who were close to me stood afar off; for we, who greatly loved God and were lovers of Christ, have divided Christ, and for the sake of the truth we have mutually slandered one another, and for the sake of love we have practiced hatred, and for the sake of the cornerstone we have been dissolved, and for the sake of the rock we have been shaken; for we have fought for peace more than was fitting, and for the sake of him who was lifted up on the wood we have been brought low, and for the sake of him who was buried and rose again we have been put to death.

IV. ^C But these things belong to an earlier time; and what need is there for anyone in a time of gladness to stir up unpleasantness, dwelling upon sorrowful things, of which the experience is to be detested, but the memory itself is to be avoided? Silence is better than speech, covering over that which has befallen us in the depths of oblivion; unless someone should think it right to stir up the memory of bitter things for this one reason alone, that we may be instructed by the example, and as in cases of illness avoid the causes from which we were led into these things. But now, since pain and grief and groaning have fled; since we who are of the One have become one, and those who are of the Trinity ^D are conjoined, and of one soul, and equal in honor; those who are of the Word are free from unreason; those who are of the Spirit are not boiling against one another, but are fervent together with one another; those who are of the Truth are of the same mind and speech; those who are of Wisdom are sensible; those who are of the Light are behaving themselves honestly as in the day; those who are of the Way are all walking straight; those who are of the Door are all within; those who are of the Sheep and of the Shepherd are meek, and of the same fold, and of one shepherd; not a shepherd who feeds the flock in vessels of infinite greed, nor one who destroys the sheep of the pasture, nor one who delivers them to the wolves and to the precipices, but one who is exceedingly watchful and knowing; since we have become compassionate like him who suffered for us, and are lifting one another's burdens; we who are of the Head, are a body ^A fitted together and compacted by every connection which is in the Spirit; since he who does all things and changes them for the better has turned our mourning into joy, and has given us gladness instead of sackcloth, I strip away these things along with the past

^A and I offer to the present occasion and to you—or rather to God—a testimony of a grateful spirit, a sacrifice most appropriate, a gift purer than gold, more precious than costly stones, more magnificent than woven fabrics, holier than the legal sacrifice, more sacred than the firstfruits of the firstborn, pleasing to God more than a young bull, imperfect in its horns and hoofs and lacking sense, more than incense, more than a burnt offering, more than many thousands of fat rams, by which the rudimentary Law held Israel, while still a child, foreshadowing the future through blood-stained sacrifices.

V. This I offer to God, this I dedicate and consecrate, the one thing that remains for me, the one thing by which I am rich. For I have left other things behind for the commandment and for the Spirit; I have exchanged the precious pearl for all those things I once had, and I have become a great merchant—or rather, I pray to become one—who for small and entirely perishable things has bought great and eternal ones. I embrace only the Word, as a minister of the Word, and I would never willingly neglect this possession; nay, I hold it in high esteem, I cherish it, and I take greater pleasure in it than in all ^B other things combined in which the many take delight. And I adopt it as the companion of my whole life, a good counselor and table-companion, a guide on the path leading to heaven, and a ready fellow-soldier. And because I despise every joy that is set upon the earth, all my love after God is poured out into this; or rather, into this as well, because it leads with understanding toward God, by whom alone God is truly perceived, preserved, and grows within us. I said to Wisdom: "You are my sister," and I honored her, and embraced her as far as I was able; and I seek for my head the crown of graces and delights, that is, the gifts of wisdom and of the reason implanted in us, that part which holds the sovereignty within us, and illuminates our steps according to God. ^C

VI. With this I curb the onset of anger, with this I quiet the envy that wastes the heart, with this I soothe sorrow, that bond of the heart, with this I restrain the excess of pleasure, with this I measure hatred, but not friendship; for the former must be measured, but one should recognize no limit to the latter. This makes me, when abounding in wealth, modest, and when poor, brave and magnanimous; ^D this persuades me, when running well, to keep running, and

when falling, to reach out a hand, and to suffer with the weak, and to rejoice with the strong. ^A With this, both my own country and a foreign land are the same to me, and the change of place is a change of things foreign, but not of my own. This divides the worlds for me, moving me away from one and adding me to another. This leads me through the armor of righteousness on the right hand, so that I am not puffed up; and even in the left and harsher things, it philosophizes with me, yoking to me the hope that does not put to shame, and lightening the present by the future. With this, I now greet my friends and brothers, and I propose a rational table ^B and a spiritual, perpetual chalice—not those with which the table below flatters the belly that is being destroyed and cannot be cured.

VII. I have kept silence; shall I also be silent forever? I have endured like a woman in labor; shall I endure forever? For John, when born, loosened the silence for Zechariah; for it was not fitting for the father of the Voice to be silent when that Voice had come forth. But just as, when he lacked faith, it bound his tongue, so when he was revealed, it was equitable that it give back liberty to the father to whom it had been announced; and he was born as a voice and a lamp, the forerunner of the Word and the Light. But for me, this present benefit loosens the tongue and raises the voice like a trumpet, and this most beautiful theater—the children of God who were once dispersed, now gathered into one, and resting under the same wings, ^C and walking into the house of God with consenting minds, and tuned to one harmony of the good and of the Spirit. For we no longer fight against one another in word or deed, having been so deceived or constrained by the evil one, and transfixed in that darkness which he himself stirred up in our minds; and I know not what word to use, but that we even rejoiced in each other’s evils, and did not consider the destruction of one another to be the loss of the whole; when Judas and Israel set for themselves one beginning, and Jerusalem and Samaria are gathered toward the one Jerusalem above, and we are no longer of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas, ^D for whom and against whom pride was felt, but we have all become of Christ.

^A VIII. But since you have me, and the word, and have constrained me—though not against my will, yet through love—I shall speak, albeit with difficulty, since you command it; and I shall speak words of thanksgiving and admonition. The thanksgiving is of this kind: "Who shall declare the mighty acts of the Lord? And who shall show forth all praise in the hearing of all?" For he has made both one, and the middle wall of the partition has been broken down; because you have caused us to be no longer a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples; because you have afflicted us just so much as to enable us to perceive the good of peace through division, and by inflicting pain, you have restored us to our former state. O the miraculous nature of the healing! Having schooled us toward peace through the very hatred that was loathed ^B as quickly as possible, and having ordered the contrary by the contrary, and having separated us only so far that we might run toward one another with more fervent spirits; much like plants that, if they are pulled in different directions by the force of hands and are then released, run back again toward themselves and their primary nature, and show what is proper to them, that they are bent by force, but rise up again of their own accord; because now the hand does not despise the eye, nor the eye the hand; because the head no longer rises up against the feet, nor are the feet alienated from the head—not so much inflicting as suffering detriment from the perturbation of order and authority, which confuses and overturns the whole body—but by the order and law of nature, which has bound and preserved all things in mutual connection, the members have the same care one for another ^C in the order and rule of nature, by which he has bound and preserved all things in union. And we have appeared as one body and one spirit, even as we have been called in one hope of our calling.

IX. Therefore, the poor people shall praise you, having become rich from being in want; because you have made your mercies wonderful toward us, and something has been added to the ancient tellings. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; because, having sown a seed, I have gathered sheaves; because, mourning for sheep, I have acquired shepherds; and I shall join—I know well—the most precious of shepherds.

^A Since—although he defers the pastoral office for certain spiritual reasons—having been entrusted with the Spirit and the administration of the talents and the care of the flock, and having been anointed with the oil of priesthood and perfection, he still delays the oversight out of wisdom, and keeps the lamp under a bushel (which he will soon place ^B upon the lampstand, to illuminate the entire soul of the Church and to be a light to our paths), and continues to survey the wooded valleys, and mountains, and springs, and to devise snares for the wolves that ravage souls, in order that at the appropriate time he may also receive the staff and shepherd this rational flock together with the true Shepherd, dwelling in a place of pasture—that is, in the eternally flourishing words of God—and rearing them with the water of repose, that is, the Spirit; this we both hope and pray for. But for me, it is ^C already time to add an exhortation to this thanksgiving; and I shall make this, too, as brief as possible, since you have already anticipated the better part of the admonition by your own deeds, and those whom experience itself has taught have no need of longer speeches.

X.

X.

nature and of human frailty, which touches everyone, even those who are most robust in body and mind; but that we have been healed and restored to one another is the work of reason and divine grace, which settled our case beautifully and justly, and better than we ourselves had wished or others had hoped.

XI. For we ourselves received with joy the articles given to the party, as though they were innovations for the sake of piety and designed to assist the right doctrine which was struggling, and we did not turn away from them as enemies, but embraced them as brothers who had struggled fraternally—though not maliciously—for a paternal inheritance, yet not with evil intent. While we by no means praised their dissension, we did commend their zeal; for a disagreement that arises for the sake of piety is better than an unhealthy concord. ^B And therefore we made our own addition an abatement, stealing away by love the suspicion against us, and changing the order only so far as to ensure that grace followed not by, but rather after, the election, and that the election followed grace; and by using other hands for this matter, we were briefly anticipated by the Spirit. You, on the other hand, having cast aside that dark suspicion which that document could have provoked, ran to the Spirit; and while you did not approve of our simplicity in the sense that the words offered on the surface, you never charged us with impiety. Rather, you had perceived that the Trinity remained firm and immovable among us, no less than in its own nature, and that to us it was one and the same thing to cut off or alienate any one of these three as it was to remove the whole, and ^C to attack the Divinity with a bare head. And these things we proclaimed about ourselves—even while the dispute itself was raging—sometimes even before other men, which was indeed the greatest proof of the truth: that it was not conquered even by time, nor did enmity entirely extinguish the spark of charity that was in us. For even while we were in disagreement, that which was greatest remained with us, namely, a sameness of belief, and the awareness that we were not unequally yoked regarding the truth, nor were we disposed in opposition to one another, but were fashioned by the same character of faith and of our original hope.

^B XII. For nothing so strongly disposes those who worship God with a sincere heart to harmony among themselves as a consensus of doctrine concerning God; just as, on the contrary, nothing is so ready and prepared for discord as a difference of opinion in this matter. For even he who in other respects is most equitable and easy-going becomes most fervent in this, and the truly gentle man becomes a combatant when he sees that he is suffering loss in his reverence for God, or rather—to speak more correctly—when he sees that by his own downfall he is causing damage to God, who makes us both rich and possesses the riches. Thus, therefore, as I have said, we have behaved ourselves more moderately even in the very midst of contention; so much so that our harmony has become clearer by this very separation, and what occurred in the middle has been almost caught and obscured by the things that have turned out favorable and happy on both sides. But since the speed of peace is not sufficient for stability, unless some discourse that may hold this [peace] also appears, and God, from whom every good thing takes its beginning and is brought to its end, comes to assist the discourse, come, let us confirm it with all our strength, both by prayers and by reasoning: considering, first, that God is the most beautiful and most sublime of all things that exist, unless one prefers to place Him above all essence, or to place in Him—whatever that may be—all things, as it is from Him that other things also have received their being; and then, that all those things which are first from God and around God—I mean the angelic and heavenly powers, which, as the first to draw from the first Light and illuminated by the word of truth, are themselves light and rays of that perfect Light. To these, moreover, nothing is so proper as the ignorance of fights and discords. For neither is there discord in the Deity, just as there is no resolution: for resolution is the offspring of discord; but He is so concordant and peaceful both with Himself and with things inferior to Him, that besides other names—or rather before other names—by which God rejoices to be called, He is invoked with this prerogative also. For He is called Peace and Charity ^C and names of that kind, in order that He might remind us through those very words to strive to acquire those virtues which are proper to God.

XIII. But among the angels, he who dared to stir up sedition, and to exalt himself beyond his worth against the Lord Almighty, and to stiffen his neck, and to devise for himself a seat above the clouds, as the word of the prophet ^D testifies, paid a penalty worthy of his arrogance, being condemned to darkness instead of light, or, to speak more truly, under...

^A a mist created by his own self. The rest, however, remain in their own dignity, the first element of which is that they are at peace and free from discord, inasmuch as they have received this from the praiseworthy and holy Trinity, from whom they have also received illumination. For even That is one God and is believed to be so, not less on account of Its concord than on account of the identity of Its essence. Therefore, all those who embrace the good of peace, and intensely hate its opposite, discord and sedition, draw near to God and to the divine minds; but those who are warlike in their ways, and who grasp at fame through novelty, and glory in their own ignominy, embrace the opposing side. For he also both fights with himself, and works this same thing in others, both by a manifold appearance and by vicious passions (being, as he is, a murderer from the beginning and an enemy of the good), so that he may secretly pierce the common body of the Church ^B, hiding himself under the mist of sedition; just as, if I am not mistaken, he approaches each one of us for the most part captiously and craftily, and as it were stealingly opening a place for himself, so that he may break in completely, just like some energetic and strong warrior into an army, through a broken part of a wall or a hostile battle line.

XIV. And this is one thing, and indeed such a thing, that it ought necessarily to lead us to the pursuit of benevolence and concord, namely, the imitation of God and of the beings above; towards which it is safe for the soul, created in the image of God, to look, so that it may, as much as possible, keep its nobility intact through its inclination toward them, and as far as is attainable, their imitation. ^C But the second is this: that, obeying the divine voice, we should look upward to heaven and downward to the earth, and study the laws of created things. For the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and this whole universe—this great and famous element of God, by which God is also declared and is proclaimed by a silent voice—as long as it is at peace and tranquil within itself, and keeps itself within the bounds of its own nature, and nothing rises up against another, nor departs from those bonds of benevolence by which the Word as Craftsman has bound the whole together, it is truly a world, as it is called, and an incomparable beauty, nor will anyone ever imagine any work, at least of those things which consist of matter, more brilliant ^D or more magnificent. But as soon as it ceases to be at peace, it also ceases to be a world. For does it not seem to you that the heaven is orderlily joined with the air and the earth,

^A the one granting light, the other rain, held fast by the law of benevolence? And does not the earth and the air—the one providing food, the other the ability to breathe, granting life to all living things—seem to imitate the affection of parents toward their children?

XV. Is it not manifest that the parts of the year, when they mingle gently and gradually make way for one another, and tame the asperity of the extremes by their moderation, are governed conveniently and peaceably for the utility and pleasure of men? And what of day and night, to which it has fallen by lot to have equal parts with one another and a measured rotation, the one rousing us to work, the other refreshing and restoring us with rest? What of the sun and the moon, and the beauty and multitude of the stars, appearing and departing in order? And the sea and the earth, gently mingling with one another, and bestowing their bounties in kindness, and receiving them in turn, feeding man in his humanity, and supplying him with what they have, ^B richly and generously? What of the rivers, drawn through mountains and plains, and not overflowing, unless it serves a useful purpose, nor turning back to cover the earth? What of the mixtures and blends of the elements, and the symmetries and harmonies of the limbs? What of the food, the births, and the separate dwellings of animals? And of those things that rule and those that are ruled, and those things that are subject to us, and those that are free? Since all these things are thus, and are directed and managed according to the primary causes of the harmony—or rather, current and sympathy—what else should one deem them to be but heralds of friendship and concord, legislating for men by their own example that consensus of soul?

XVI. But when matter dissents with itself, ^C and cannot be contained, meditating its destruction through sedition, or God loosens some part of this harmony to strike fear into sinners or to punish them—whether by the sea receding, or the earth quaking, or strange rains being sent down, or the sun being obscured, or a season exceeding its measure, or fire pouring forth—then disorder arises, and fear concerning the whole universe, and the good of peace is demonstrated by the discord. And to pass over the peoples, and cities, and kingdoms, further...

to pass over the assemblies, the armies, the families, the ships full of passengers, the marriages, and the clubs—all of which, as they are preserved by peace, so are they utterly overturned by discord—I will turn my discourse to the Israelites. And after I have set before you their calamities and the dispersion by which they are now driven from their own homes to lead a wandering and miserable life—and which, as the prophecies concerning them handed down to me make me believe, will pursue them for a very long time—then at last I will inquire of you, who perfectly know what is the cause of these calamities, so that we may learn concord from the misfortunes of others.

^B XVII. So long, therefore, as they had peace both with one another and with God—having been oppressed, that is to say, by the Egyptian tyranny, the "iron furnace," and united and gathered together through their common affliction (for sometimes affliction itself is a beneficial remedy for salvation)—they were called a holy people, a portion of the Lord, and a royal priesthood. Nor can it be said that these names were indeed great and magnificent, but that the realities by no means corresponded to the names. For they were led by leaders guided by God, and were led by day and by night by a pillar of fire and a cloud; the sea divided for them as they fled, the heavens provided food for those suffering from hunger, the rock provided the use of a fountain for those who were thirsty, and the stretching out of hands for those who were fighting was equivalent to countless hosts, as it raised trophies through the work of prayer and opened a path forward. Rivers also, imitating their kindred sea, gave way; the elements stood still, and walls were shaken down by trumpets. And what need is there to recount the plagues of the Egyptians inflicted for their benefit, the voices of God heard from the mountain, the double law—the one literal, the other spiritual—and the other honors which Israel formerly obtained, far greater than their merits? But after they began to sicken, and to rage against one another, and to divide into many parts (the cross, of course, driving them to their final ruin, along with the madness they displayed against God and our Savior, failing to acknowledge his divinity in his humanity), and they drew upon themselves the iron rod—that is, the principality and empire which now holds the supremacy and was proclaimed to them long before—what happened? And what have they suffered? ^D XVIII. Jeremiah does indeed lament them for their earlier calamities and deplores the Babylonian captivity; for those things were indeed worthy of tears and groans. But what is not worthy of the greatest lamentations: walls razed, a city leveled to the ground, a sanctuary overthrown, votive offerings plundered, profane feet and hands—feet indeed rushing into places that could not be trodden, and

hands luxuriating in things that it was impious to touch—prophets silenced, priests carried away, elders denied mercy, virgins outraged, youth falling, fire alien and hostile, rivers of blood instead of the holy fire and blood, Nazarenes dragged away, lamentations substituted for hymns! And that I may produce something from the Lamentations of Jeremiah themselves: those illustrious children of Sion, worthy to be weighed against gold—I mean those delicate ones, immune to evil, treading an unaccustomed path—and the ways of Sion mourning because there are none who celebrate the feast days; and a little before this: the hands of compassionate women, in the rising of the siege, not offering food to their children, but rather tearing them apart to prepare food for themselves, and seeking medicine for the prevailing famine from their own dearest pledges. Are these things not grievous, and more than grievous, not only to those who then endured them, but also to those who now hear of them? For my part, as often as I take up this book and join myself to the Lamentations—which I do as often as I desire to discipline by reading a prosperous state of affairs—I feel my voice falter, I am overwhelmed with tears, the tragedy appears to come before my eyes, and I join in the lament of him who lamented. But who is there, among those who know how to write lamentations and to make their speech equal to the tragedy, who will sufficiently and worthily lament their final stroke, their displacement from their homes, the yoke of slavery now pressing upon their heads, and that famous humiliation under the Romans, for which nothing is so much the cause as sedition? What books will contain these things? ^B One column, assuredly, for this calamity of theirs is the whole world, throughout which they have been variously scattered and dispersed, and through which the divine worship has been compressed and extinguished, and the soil of Jerusalem itself—which is now scarcely recognized, and is revealed to them only to this extent, and they enjoy only so much of their former glory and magnitude—that they may be seen for a day to lament the desolation. ^C

XIX. Furthermore, since to labor under dissensions is so grievous and brings about so many evils, as the things mentioned show, and as it is possible to learn from many examples, then it is truly much more grievous that, once enmities have been laid aside and the goods of peace have been tasted, one should fall back into the same disease and return to one's own vomit, as the saying goes, and not be corrected even by experience itself, which is the schoolmistress of fools. For, indeed, that they incur the reputation of fickleness and folly... ^D

I find, not in those who persist in some wrong, but in those who are easily carried both ways and flow back and forth, like shifting breezes, or the changes and tides of the Euripus, or the unstable waves of the sea. I consider also this, that for those who are struggling with dissensions, the hope of concord, at least, brings consolation and, for the most part, relieves their calamities. For the hope of a change and a better state of affairs set before one's eyes is wont to bring the greatest aid to afflicted men. But those who have often returned to concord, yet always relapsed into vice, have, along with other things, been deprived of a better hope as well; so that they fear peace no less than dissension, and, because of the levity and inconstancy of both, put no confidence in either.

^B XX. Nor, indeed, let anyone suspect that these things are said by me to mean that every peace is to be loved and embraced; for I know that, as there is a certain very excellent dissension, so too there is a most pernicious concord; but only that which is good, and is entered into for the sake of what is good, and unites us to God. And that these may be explained by a brief distinction, this is my opinion: it is not good that anyone should be more sluggish or more fervent than is proper, such that, either through levity he acquiesces to everyone, or through rashness and insolence he removes himself from everyone. For both sluggishness is ineffective, and mobility and inconstancy are alien to social life and communion. But where impiety openly reveals itself, then indeed we must act so that we might be carried against fire and sword, and times, and princes, and, in short, against all other things at once, before we become participants in the evil leaven and give assent to those who are evilly affected: nor is anything to be feared as much as that we should fear anything more than God, and that, for this reason, we should perfidiously abandon the discourse of the faith ^C and of the truth, while serving the truth. But where it is mere suspicion that troubles our spirit, and a fear that is not sufficiently examined, then indeed it is better to employ mildness rather than haste, and indulgence rather than arrogance and stubbornness; and it is much better and more advantageous, while remaining in the common body, that we should correct and be corrected by one another, as members of one another, than that, by a prejudice made through secession, and by authority lost through separation, we should afterwards, as tyrants and not as brothers, dictate correction by edict.

XXI. Which things, when we have known and ^D explored them, brothers, let us embrace one another, let us kiss one another, let us truly be made one, and let us imitate Him who destroyed the middle wall of the partition, and through His own blood gathered all things together, and...

^A reconciled and pacified. Let us imitate Him. Let us say to this common Father, to this venerable gray hair, to this meek and gentle Pastor: Do you see the rewards of your reasonableness? Lift up your eyes round about, and see your gathered children, in the way you desired, and which you prayed for by night and by day alone, that you might conclude the days of your pilgrimage in a good old age. Behold, all have come to you, and rest beneath your wings, and surround their own altar, having departed with tears, indeed, but returning with joy. Rejoice and take delight, best of fathers and most loving of children, since you are clothed and wrapped in all of them, just as a bride [is adorned] with her ornaments. Speak you also to us: "Behold I and the children whom God has given me." Add also another voice of the Master, one very fitting: "Those whom Thou hast given me I have kept, and I have not lost one of them." ^B

XXII. And would that no one perish, but that we might all remain in one spirit, struggling together with one soul for the faith of the Gospel, like-minded, thinking the same thing, armed with the shield of faith, having girded our loins in truth, knowing only this one war, which is waged against that wicked one, and those who fight under his leadership and auspices: not fearing those who have the power to kill the body, but cannot take hold of the soul; but fearing Him who has right and authority over both body and soul; keeping the good deposit which we have received from the Fathers, worshipping the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; knowing the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Spirit, into which we have been baptized, in which we have believed, to which we have pledged allegiance—not dividing them before we unite them, and not confounding them ^C (as if they were) without subsistence, or according to one subsistence, so that our wealth would be in names for us, and not in realities—and believing the three to be one. For they are one, not in subsistence, but in divinity; a Monad worshipped in Trinity, and a Trinity gathered into a Monad; all worshipful, all royal, co-throned, co-glorious, above the world, above time, uncreated, invisible, intangible, incomprehensible; having the order of its relations known to Itself alone, yet ^D equally venerable and worthy of adoration by us, and the only one entering into the Holy of Holies, while leaving all creation outside.

void of touch and comprehension, but according to the order which exists within itself—known only to itself, yet for us equally worthy of veneration and adoration—it is that which alone penetrates even into the Holy of Holies, while leaving all created things outside, separated and divided by a first and then a second veil: by the first, indeed, the celestial and angelic orders are set apart from the Deity; and by the second, our nature is separated from the celestial. Let us act in this way, brothers, and let us be of this mind; and those who think otherwise, as being a taint and corruption of the truth, let us, as far as it is permitted, take in and heal; but those who are suffering from an incurable disease, let us turn away from, lest we contract their sickness before we impart our own health to them. And the God of peace, that peace, I say, which surpasses all understanding, shall be with us, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

MONITUM ON ORATION Oration VII

I. Caesarius, whose untimely death is the principal scope of this oration, was the youngest brother of Gregory the Theologian. Having set out from his father's house along with Gregory for the sake of his studies, he left his brother in the schools of Palestine and went to Alexandria (n. 6). There, in a short time, he acquired such skill in the mathematical arts and in medicine (n. 8) that the “royal city,” Constantinople, later admired it and wished to honor him with the public ornaments of dignity and the senatorial rank itself. But Caesarius, having spurned all these titles of honor, joined himself as a companion on the journey to his brother Gregory, who had departed from Athens and had come to that city, and returned to his homeland.

II. But when he had stayed there for some time, he returned again to Constantinople, where he “straightway obtained the first rank among physicians, and being held in the number of friends to the Emperor Constantius, was showered with the greatest honors (n. 10).” Nor was he held in less esteem by Julian, who, although he had ordered most of the administrators of his predecessor Constantius to be dismissed, did not in any way cast out Caesarius, who freely and publicly professed the faith of Christ in the presence of the Apostate. He became even more illustrious under the emperors Jovian and, subsequently, Valentinian and Valens. His prefecture, which he performed in Bithynia, was as it were a prelude to greater dignities, when the city of Nicaea was overturned by an earthquake. In this calamity, Caesarius himself was almost overwhelmed. But he escaped almost entirely unharmed, “protected,” I would more rightly say, by divine power from the ruin itself (n. 15).

III. Meanwhile, his parents and friends, who were saddened that he was involved in the affairs of the world, seized the occasion of this earthquake and began to urge him more vehemently to say farewell to the court and its dignities. Caesarius yielded to their wishes and signified by letter to his brother Gregory that he would abandon the court. But, alas! too swift a death encountered him from the opposite direction, and he who “had been superior to the earthquake was not so to the disease,” as Gregory writes (ibid.); from which scholars (Bar. ad an. 368; Bolland. ad diem 25 Febr.; Tillemontius) conclude that only a very brief space of time intervened between the earthquake and the death of Caesarius.

IV. These are the things by which Gregory, having amplified them oratorically, softens and relieves his own grief and that of his pious parents. Jerome counts this oration especially among the Gregorian orations (37). It is likely that it was delivered immediately after the death of Caesarius—that is, when his remains had been brought to Nazianzus and were interred in the tomb which his long-lived parents had opportunely prepared for themselves. For Caesarius did not die in his own country, as Baronius contends. Moreover, that is nowhere read. Therefore, this funeral oration seems to be placed at the end of the year 368, or rather the beginning of 369. For the earthquake, after which we said Caesarius died, is the very same one which Socrates narrates (38) occurred in Bithynia on the Ides of October, in the consulship of Valentinian and Valens; which falls in the vulgar year 368.

V. ON THE ORATION IN PRAISE OF CAESARIUS THE BROTHER

^A 196 V. There are some points in this oration related by the Theologian that cause no small trouble for the learned. For speaking of Caesarius, Gregory says: "He was living in Bithynia, administering a prefecture for the emperor that was by no means the lowest. But it consisted in collecting moneys for the emperor and managing the treasuries (ibid.)." The learned are at a loss here, and doubt what these words mean by "prefecture"; whether it is the "office of quaestor," as Billius interprets; or "comitiva of the sacred largesses," or, as Gothofredus contends (39), one of the "private affairs"; or finally, a "simple" prefecture in that province, or "count of the treasuries" who would be under the illustrious man, the count of the sacred largesses, as the Bollandists (40) and Tillemont would have it.

VI. We certainly shall not delay to refute this interpretation of Billius: "He held the office of quaestor." For, as Gothofredus observes, "in this age the Greek word *tamievs* [treasurer] is wrongly expressed by the term 'quaestor,' for the quaestor was not, as of old, the one who presided over the public treasury; but rather he whom today we almost call the chancellor, in whose power was the right of declaring laws for the prince and of writing answers to the petitions of suppliants, as is evident from Claudian and the *Notitia Imperii*." We shall also say almost nothing about the opinion of Gothofredus, the Bollandists, and Tillemont. Every man strives to confirm his own opinion with various arguments. Truly, the weight and firmness of the reasons on either side are not great. The most illustrious Tillemont himself admits that each of these dignities can be signified by Gregory's words; and he even agrees, in a marvelous manner, with Gothofredus's opinion, in that Gregory says: "The province, indeed, entrusted to Caesarius did not hold the lowest place among the dignities of the empire." However, the learned man doubts whether such a comitiva can be called a "prelude" to higher grades, or whether Caesarius ought to have remained in that dignity from the year 364 to the year 369 without being promoted to greater things in the meantime. But, with the permission of that most learned man, it may be said that no doubt can arise regarding the first point. For Gregory himself calls this prefecture a "prelude." As for the second point, granted that which Tillemont contends, "that Caesarius was never promoted to higher honors," if anything follows from this, it is certainly nothing other than that the dignity of Caesarius was not of the least, but one of the more distinguished ones, in which the emperor, who was most desirous of promoting him, permitted him to remain for several years. Nor does Gothofredus grant this, who affirms that Caesarius was later raised by Valens to the prefecture of the city of Constantinople, and that Ammianus Marcellinus makes mention of him in the deeds of the year 365, as does Zosimus in book IV, which Leuvenklaius also noted in Zosimus.

VII. In such a variety of opinions, it is not easy to discern which path should be followed. It will therefore be safer to adhere to the footsteps of Gregory; and since he himself makes no mention of any prefecture held by Caesarius higher than that which he administered in Bithynia—and was still administering when he was taken away by death—we are not permitted to assert that the prefecture of the city of Constantinople was committed to him; indeed, we can hardly allow that he was a "count of private affairs." For he lived for a long time in the province, in each of which, as Pancirolus notes, there were prefects of the treasuries. Furthermore, the *comitiva* of private affairs was one of the three primary dignities of the empire, and therefore should not—and in fact did not—serve as a grade to 197 greater things or a "prelude." For it contradicts Gregory's words that his brother Caesarius was first designated "count of private affairs and the treasuries," then "prefect," or even "quaestor." If it were so, he would truly have descended a long way from greater to lesser things, let alone having served as a prelude to greater ones. But perhaps that which led most learned men into error is that they did not pay sufficient attention to the fact that there was not only one Caesarius at that time. For there was another Caesarius, distinct from the brother of Gregory, a powerful man to whom Gregory inscribed two letters that are found among his (Gregorian) works. Perhaps he was the "count of private affairs" in the year 364, and subsequently "master of offices," "prefect of the praetorium," and even "consul," unless you prefer to divide these duties between two Caesariuses.

VIII. It is worth observing that Gregory, in this funeral oration for Caesarius, does not say a single word about the writings that are circulated under his name. This silence seems enough for us to consider the four dialogues which bear the name of Caesarius to have been falsely attributed to him. For the author of the dialogues praises Maximus, who flourished long after Caesarius, namely in the seventh century, and is therefore much more recent. Leuvenklaius, who prefers to believe that the testimonies which occur everywhere in the dialogues regarding Maximus were rashly stitched on by someone, rather than to strip the dialogues from Caesarius, is certainly more deserving of ridicule than of serious refutation.

IX. Furthermore, the dialogues bear an epigraph which itself declares that they cannot be the progeny of Caesarius; for it is of such a kind, both in the edition of Leuvenklaius and in the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, that it signifies both the questions proposed and the fact that Caesarius was "a secretis" and "for twenty whole years was staying in Constantinople teaching." These things can by no means be said of Caesarius. For he is never read to have been "teaching" or "a secretis," and much less could he have "taught for twenty whole years" in Constantinople, for he did not spend even ten or eight years in that city. And certainly the Theologian indicates clearly enough that nothing was published to the public by his brother Caesarius regarding the art of oratory, medicine, mathematics, philosophy, etc. He could certainly have discoursed on these arts with praise, but not on theology, in which, as a merely catechumen man, he had not labored in the arena. Hence, it may deservedly be doubted whether these dia-