that if he had weighed each word, if I may say so, and if he had more studiously noted what Gregory wrote in his *Poem on his Own Life*, he would certainly never have brought forward such an opinion.
To refute this, it will suffice to relate what the most learned Pagi has noted on this matter. "Baronius," says that learned master of critical art, "says that Peter of Alexandria sent seven bishops of Egypt to carry out the ordination of Maximus; and he cites this oration of Gregory *On the Arrival of the Egyptians*. But those who are mentioned in it were not bishops, but sailors, or rather, captains of the Alexandrian fleet who had brought grain from Egypt to Constantinople. This is the strongest argument to prove that they were not bishops, for the transport of grain is hardly consistent with episcopal dignity. Furthermore, in that entire oration, the Nazianzen never calls them bishops, but always laymen, when he speaks so often, 'My people, the people of God,' etc." Finally, these words of Gregory (n. 7): "After you have rendered to Caesar what is Caesar's, as was right, you have also rendered to God what is God's—to the one, tribute, to the other, fear; and after you have nourished the people with your provisions, you yourselves also come here to be nourished by us"—these, I say, clearly designate laymen and sailors who had brought grain, or the state requisition, to the city of Constantinople. "This observation," the critic adds, "is Valesius's in his notes to book v of Theodoret, c. 8."
[III.] Using the same arguments, Hermant and Tillemont impugn Baronius's opinion; nor does it seem possible to them to accommodate it to Gregory's oration. And rightly indeed they object to both Baronius and the Bollandists that they have recognized only one group of Egyptians, when Gregory himself recognizes and distinguishes a double group. For first, as is read in the *Poem on his Own Life* (lines 834 et seqq.), there were sent Ammon, Apamon, etc., whom the Theologian calls "wretched sailors" and "spies," that is, "scouts," who came to observe the affairs of the Constantinopolitan Church. Then, "not long after came those who had sent them first," that is, the bishops delegated by Peter of Alexandria to consecrate Maximus as bishop. They are designated by Gregory with the name of "pastors"; and although certainly, as the instigators and leaders of the crime, they were much more guilty than the former, the Theologian nevertheless professes to spare them, out of the reverence rightfully due to the episcopal dignity. Since, therefore, the times are distinguished so precisely by Gregory himself, it can be doubtful to no one that a double troupe of Egyptians must necessarily be distinguished, which had arrived at Constantinople at different times, not to transport grain (for Gregory makes no mention of the transport of grain), but to carry out the ordination of Maximus.
Nor should we be moved by what is brought forward by the Bollandists, namely, that Hermant recognizes 618 (49) that "no trace of a distinction is found in Gregory's words." For this, as Tillemont observes, and as is clear to anyone who reads for himself, is a mistake of the copyists who without doubt wrote "Gregory" where Hermant had written "Baronius." From this it can be rightly conjectured that the first troupe of Egyptians arrived at Constantinople at the end of the year 379 or the beginning of 380, and the second in the month of February of that same year 380, so that Maximus could be consecrated in the month of March or April of 380. For it is agreed, as we have seen in the *Monitum* to the twenty-sixth oration, that Maximus was ejected from Constantinople around the middle of the year 380. From which nothing prevents us from assigning the month of August or September of the year 380, in which the Alexandrian fleet, bringing grain, had arrived at Constantinople, and consequently, in which this oration had been delivered. The time of transport of the grain, which must certainly not have preceded the harvest and the summer, favors this opinion.
[IV.] It remains for us even now to resolve another difficulty of the Bollandists. For thus they pronounce on this oration (50): "It is oration xxiv, entitled: *On the Arrival of the Egyptians*: for which there appears no reason why some should want it to have been spoken after the ordination of Maximus; since it is most absurd even to think that such a lengthy eulogy of Peter could have proceeded from the mouth of the Nazianzen, after such a signal injury brought by him upon himself and the Church." Is this how the praise due to Gregory's charity is paid? Is this how the reward for Peter's repentance—which, as the adversaries admit, seems probable—is rendered? How very far from us are those who speak such things! For even if it were doubtful whether Peter of Alexandria had returned to favor with Gregory by a public reconciliation, still it is so far from the truth that the "lengthy eulogy of Peter," which moves the adversaries especially, implies a time that preceded the ordination of Maximus, that, on the contrary, we conclude from it that a subsequent time is designated. For it is established that Maximus, having been cast down from his hope for the Constantinopolitan see, had presumed to disturb and cast Peter himself from the Alexandrian throne. It is not, therefore, "absurd," as the Bollandists would have it; rather it is more likely, and worthy of the piety of both prelates, that, once Maximus was expelled by the prefect from Alexandria, Peter acknowledged his error and returned to favor with Gregory. This is rightly conjectured from the religious manner of acting of those who had brought the grain. Furthermore, even if the matter were uncertain, it would not follow from that that Peter could not be praised by Gregory. For Peter, even if he sinned against Gregory in favor of Maximus, had nevertheless always adhered to the teaching of the great Athanasius, had always opposed the parties of the Arians, had always kept whole and inviolate the deposit of faith concerning the Trinity, and therefore could and should have been praised by right. And granting that his reconciliation with Gregory was unknown or null, the aforementioned...
[The Monitum section concludes:] A candor is Gregory himself, who first opens a way to peace and friendship in this oration. "My people," he says (n. 6); "for you are mine, even if it seems otherwise to those who are suffering from envy; and so that those who are so affected may be struck the more, behold I offer the right hand of fellowship before so many witnesses, visible and invisible alike, and I drive away the old calumny with new kindness." Who could fail to see, especially in the final words, that a perfect reconciliation is expressed here, B "with the old injury repelled by new kindness"? For it was not necessary that the Theologian declare his mind more explicitly. There stood in the way, indeed, both the immense charity of Gregory and the reverence due to Peter of Alexandria, and finally, the days of solemnity and joy, which it was in no way appropriate to disturb with the mournful memory of the past. Many other things could also be gathered to confirm this, as much from the circumstances as from Gregory's poems and the writings of scholars; but so that this admonition is not prolonged further than is fitting, we put an end here. Let anyone who desires more consult the cited passages.
ORATION XXXIV. ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE EGYPTIANS
A 1. I shall greet those who have come from Egypt, and for good reason; for since they have arrived so eagerly, having conquered envy with zeal, B from this Egypt—which the river enriches as it flows from the earth and overflows in due season (so that I too might imitate slightly those who are clever and charming in such matters)—but which is also enriched by my Christ, who was previously a fugitive into Egypt, but is now provided for by Egypt; then indeed, on account of the child-slaughter of Herod, but now, on account of the affection of the parents toward their children: Christ, I say, the new food of those who hunger aright, that provision which is greater than any recorded or believed in history; the bread that descends from heaven and gives life to the world, the imperishable and indissoluble life, concerning whom I now seem to myself to hear the Father saying: "Out of Egypt I called my Son."
II. For from you the word has gone out to all men, sincerely believed and preached; and you are the best dispensers B of all things, especially to those who now possess the right faith, as far as I myself know—I who am not only a lover of such food, but also a provider, and not only in my native land, but even abroad. For you feed, indeed, bodies of peoples and cities, wherever your kindness extends; but you feed them spiritually, not some particular populace, nor this or that city circumscribed by narrow boundaries—even if they think themselves most illustrious—but almost the entire inhabited world. And you heal, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water—though it is not a great thing to hunger for these, and it is easy not to hunger—but a famine of...
hearing the word of the Lord, which is most piteous to suffer, and in this time most difficult and arduous to cure; since iniquity has abounded, and I find few who are genuine healers of this famine.
III. For such, indeed, was Joseph, your steward, and consequently ours, who, by his exceptional wisdom, knew how to foresee famine, and by counsel and prudence to cure it—healing, in truth, the deformed and emaciated cattle by means of the beautiful and fat ones. And whether you wish to understand either Joseph as the lover and author of immortality, and the one who bears the name, or his successor in the throne, in doctrine, and in grey hairs—our new Peter, I say, no less in virtue than in name—from these men that which was in between was cut off and shattered, even if it still twitches a little and is sluggish, like the tail of a serpent that has been cut off. Of these two, the one, having concluded his life in a good old age after many struggles and contests, now surveys our affairs from heaven, I am persuaded, and reaches out a hand to those who labor for the sake of virtue, and all the more so, because he is liberated from the bonds of the body. The other, however, hastens to the same end or dissolution of life, after the same contests, and is already drawing near to the heavenly beings, yet currently still moves about in the flesh, so as to bring the final aid to the doctrine of the faith, and to set out on the journey with more ample and abundant provisions.
IV. You are the foster-children and offspring of those excellent teachers, defenders, and victors of the truth; whom neither time, nor ruler, nor speech, nor envy, nor fear, nor accuser, nor slanderer, nor one waging open war, nor one plotting clandestine ambushes, nor one in appearance our own, nor a stranger, nor gold—that hidden tyrant, by whom now many things are tossed up and down, as in a game of dice—nor flatteries, nor threats, nor many and long-lasting exiles (for as for the proscription of their goods, since that great wealth of theirs—that is, their poverty—rendered them inaccessible to this, nothing was able to be accomplished), nor anything else of things absent, present, or expected, could lift up or induce to become worse, and to betray something of the Trinity, and suffer the loss of the Godhead. On the contrary, rather, they drew strength from the very dangers, and became more zealous for piety. For such is the experience of suffering for Christ: it adds to one’s affection, and becomes a kind of pledge of the next contests to the great-minded.
Such are the things, O Egypt, that are now told of you as miracles. A
V. But formerly you used to praise the he-goats of Mendes, and the Memphite Apis, a certain fatted and fleshy bull-calf, and the rites of Isis, and the lacerations of Osiris, and your venerable Serapis—wood, and myth, and time, and the madness of those who worship it, as if it were some unknown and heavenly substance, yet it is substance, even if it is aided by falsehood. And what is more shameful than these, the manifold representations of certain animals and reptiles, all of which Christ and the preachers of Christ have overcome. There are others who flourished in their own times in various ways, and indeed also these Fathers who have now been mentioned, from whom, O marvelous region, you are known better today than all of them together, and all the tales both ancient and new are known. B
VI. For this reason I embrace and greet you, best of peoples, and most Christ-loving, and most fervent in piety, and worthy of those who lead you; for I have nothing greater than this to say, nor with what I might better honor you; and I give you the right hand of fellowship, with a few words indeed, but with many movements of the mind. My people—for I call him "my own" who is of the same mind and the same doctrine, and a worshiper of the same Fathers and of the same Trinity. My people—for he is mine, even if the envious do not think so; and so that those who suffer this may be stung all the more, behold, I offer the right hand of fellowship before so many witnesses, both visible and invisible; and I thrust aside old slander with new kindness. My people—for he is mine, even if I, being the least, lay claim to the greatest. For such is the grace of the Spirit; it makes those who are of one mind equal in honor. My people—for he is mine, even if he be far away; for we are joined divinely, and in another way than those joined by grosser weights. For bodies are joined by place, but souls are joined by the Spirit. My people, he who formerly practiced the philosophy of suffering for Christ, but now—if you will listen to me—does not; for it is sufficient gain to consider the authority to act, and to believe that one is offering service to Christ, just as then with endurance, so now with gentleness. A people against whom the Lord is arrayed to do good, just as He is against the enemy to do evil. A people whom the Lord has chosen for Himself out of all that He has called. A people who are inscribed upon the hands of the Lord. For "You are my will," says the Lord; and, "Your gates are a carving," and all that is for those who are being saved. O people—and do not marvel at my greed if D
A I repeatedly call upon you; for I derive an incredible joy from you in this constant appeal, not unlike those who feast insatiably upon certain spectacles or hearings.
VII. But, O people of God, and our own, beautiful indeed was that recent celebration of yours which you held upon the sea, and if there is any other delight for the eyes—when I saw the sea made like a forest, and covered by a man-made cloud, and the beauty of the ships, and their speed, as if equipped for a festive procession, and a moderate wind standing at the stern, as if escorting it on purpose and conveying the sea back to the city B—yet more beautiful and more magnificent is that which we now behold. For you have not merged yourselves with the masses, nor have you defined piety by numbers, nor have you endured to be an unruly rabble rather than a people purified by the word of God; but, as is fitting, having rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, you have offered to God the things that are God’s [Matt. xxii, 21]; to the former, the tribute; to the latter, the fear [Rom. xiii, 7]; and after having fed the people with your own rations, you yourselves have come hither to be fed by us. For we also distribute grain, and grain perhaps no worse than your own. "Come, eat of my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you" [Prov. ix, 5]; I invite you with Wisdom to my table. For C I praise your sincerity, and I run to meet your readiness, since you have come down to us as to your own port, running to one like yourselves, and have honored the kinship of faith, and judged it absurd that, while those who insult higher things agree and harmonize with one another, and think that the individual’s weakness is bolstered by common consensus and conspiracy—just like those ropes which are strengthened by their mutual tying—you, however, should not come together, nor be bound with those who are of the same mind, with whom it is much more equitable that we should join even the Godhead. And that you may know that you have not come to us in vain, nor as to strangers and foreigners, but have arrived at your own ports, and that the Holy Spirit is the glorious leader of your journey, we shall discourse a little to you regarding God. And recognize your own, as those who recognize their own [people] by the emblems on their armor.
VIII
I recognize two primary differences in the things that exist: dominion and servitude. These are not such as tyranny has severed or poverty divided among us, but such as nature has distinguished, if one wishes to use that word. For the first is even above nature. Of these, one is creative, and ruling, and unmoved; the other is created, and under the hand, and changeable. And further, in summary...to speak, the one is above time, the other is subject to time. A The former is called God, and consists in three greatest things: in the cause, and in the maker, and in the perfecter; I mean in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. These are neither so separated from one another, that they are divided by nature; nor yet so narrowed, as to be circumscribed into one person—for the former is of the Arian madness, and the latter of the Sabellian impiety—but it is more unified than those things which fall entirely into division, and yet more abundant than those things which are strictly singular. The latter, however, is with us, and is called creation, even though among created things some excel others in dignity, according as each attains more closely to God.
B IX. Since these things are as they are, whoever has his heart toward the Lord, let him go with us, and let us worship the one Godhead in three; bringing no names of lowliness to the inaccessible glory, but always carrying the exaltations of the one God in three upon our lips. For since one cannot even properly speak of a magnitude of nature for Him, because of His infinite and unlimited power, how then shall we introduce lowliness into it? But whoever is alienated and turned away from God, and for that reason divides the one essence, which is above all beings, into an inequality of natures, it would be a marvel if he were not himself divided by the sword, and his portion placed with the unbelievers, reaping the evil fruit of an evil opinion, both now and hereafter.
C X. And as for the Father, what need is there to speak, whom all with one consent, taught and imbued by natural mental notions, spare? Although He did indeed bear the first of the dishonor, being the first to be divided into a "Good" and a "Maker" by the ancient innovators. But as for the Son and the Holy Spirit, observe how simply and briefly we shall discuss them. If anyone can say of either of these that he is subject to change or alteration, or falling into the measure of time, or place, or power, or operation, or that he is not good by nature, or not self-moved, or lacking in free will, or a minister, or a chanter of praise, or one who fears, or one who is being freed, or not D numbered together; let him show this, and we shall acquiesce, honored by the dignity of fellow-servants, even if we are deprived of God.
And yet, all things that the Father has are the Son’s, except for the cause; and all things that are the Son’s are the Spirit’s, except for the sonship, and as many things as are spoken of in a bodily way concerning Him A on account of my human nature and my salvation, so that, by taking what is mine, He might grant me what is His through the new mixture. Cease, therefore, to talk nonsense, though late, O you sophists of empty and instantly-falling words. And why do you die, O house of Israel, that I might lament you from the Scripture?
XI.
For my own part, I truly revere the appellations of the Word, so many and so great and sublime, at which even the demons have been put to shame. I revere also the equal honor of the Spirit; and I fear the threat ordained for those who blaspheme against Him. Blasphemy, moreover, is not theology, but the alienating of Him from divinity. And it must be observed here that He who was being blasphemed was the Lord, and He who was being vindicated was the Holy Spirit, clearly as Lord. I cannot bear to be without the light after having received illumination, by misrepresenting any one of the Three in whom I have been baptized, B and to be truly buried in the water, not initiated into regeneration, but into death.XII.
I will speak somewhat boldly, O Trinity; and may pardon be granted to my rashness, for the danger concerns the salvation of my soul. I too am an image of God, of the glory above, even if I am placed on the earth. I am not persuaded to be saved by one of equal honor. If the Holy Spirit is not God, let Him first be made God, and then in the end let Him make me, His equal in honor, a god. But now, what is this imposture of grace—or rather, of those who grant the grace—that I should believe as if in God, and depart bereft of God? To profess one thing and to be taught another? What C furtive frauds of words, leading by one mode of questioning and confession to another! Woe is me for the sake of this splendor, if after the laver I am blackened, if I see those who are not yet purified to be more brilliant, if I am gambled away by the false teaching of my initiator, if I seek a better Spirit and do not find Him! Give me a second laver, and then think ill of the first. Why do you begrudge me perfect regeneration? Why do you make me, being a temple of the Spirit as of God, D a dwelling-place of a creature? Why do you treat what is mine partly with honor and partly with ignominy, dividing it by divinity, so that you cut off the grace from me, or rather, myself from the grace? Or honor the whole, O new theologian,or reject the whole, so that, even if you are impious, you may at least be consistent with yourself, not weighing a nature of equal honor in unequal measure.
XIII.
Let this be the head of your discourse: proclaim the divine glory with the seraphim, who contract the B three holinesses into one lordship, and indicate the first essence as far as their wings reveal it to the studious. Be enlightened along with David, who speaks to the Light: *In thy light we shall see light* (Ps. xxxv, 10), which is, in the Spirit, the Son: what could be more radiant than this? Thunder along with John, the son of thunder, sounding nothing abject or earthly concerning God, but high and lofty (recognizing the Word which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God; and [recognizing] God truly from the true Father, but not a fellow-servant, a good person merely honored by the name of Son; and [recognizing] the other Paraclete—another, I say, from Him who was speaking, for the Word of God was speaking). And when you read, *I and the Father are one* (John x, 30), contemplate the connection of the essence; but when you read, *We will come to him, and make our abode with him* (John xiv, 23), consider the distinction of the persons; but when [you read] the *name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit* (Matt. xxviii, 19), look to the three properties.XIV.
Be inspired along with Luke, while conversing with the Acts of the Apostles. Why do you range yourself with Ananias and Sapphira, those new embezzlers (if, indeed, the theft of one's own things is truly new), and in doing so, are you embezzling not money, nor anything else light and of small value—such as a golden tongue, or a robe, or a didrachm, as once did the greedy soldier—but are you stealing the very divinity, and lying not to men, but to God, as you have heard? What? Do you not even revere the power of the Spirit, who C breathes whenever and wherever and as much as He wills? (John iii, 8). He visits those with Cornelius before baptism, and others after baptism through the apostles. So, from both sides—both from the fact that He visits in a lordly, and not a servile, manner, and from the fact that He is required for the completion of baptism in all its respects—the divinity of the Holy Spirit is left attested.XV.
Discourse on divine things with Paul, he who was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. xii, 2); who sometimes counts together the three persons, and does so interchangeably, not keeping to the order of their names, but [sometimes] placing one D before another, [sometimes] including them—now enumerating, now counting together, now subordinating. Why this? Surely to show the equality of nature: sometimes he makes mention of the three, sometimes of two, or of one, as if the remaining persons follow together; and sometimes he attributes the operation of God to the Spirit, A so that in nothing is he different; and sometimes, instead of the Spirit, he brings in Christ; and when he distinguishes the persons, he uses these words: *One God, from whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.* But when he gathers them into one Deity, he speaks thus: *Because from him, and through him, and in him are all things*, certainly through the Holy Spirit, as it is shown in many places of Scripture. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. B
ADMONITION ON ORATION XXXV
I. Theodosius the Great, having set out from Macedonia, came to Constantinople on the seventh day before the Kalends of December in the year 380. Two days later, having ejected the heretics, he restored every single church of the royal city to the Catholics. Moved by such a benefit, the citizens of Constantinople, exulting with religious joy, extol the emperor’s piety and glory to the very heavens. Gregory himself, as was fitting, showing himself also a participant in the public joy, gave evidence of his grateful mind toward God in this short oration. On this day, a certain festival of the martyrs was being celebrated. Hence Gregory gives thanks to God and congratulates his hearers, because they had come together, prompt and eager, not to stir up arms, but to hold a festival. He ascribes this unexpected miracle to the patronage of the martyrs. "O martyrs," he says (Or. XXXV, n. 1), "this struggle is yours. You have finished a huge war, I know well. Your sweats have accomplished this," etc. Then he brings forth the heretics, like nocturnal birds which, fleeing the serenity of light, betake themselves into the hiding-places of darkness. Then the orator moves on to the calamities which they had suffered at the hands of those very heretics in the preceding year. He expresses that mournful time with colors of eloquence that are natural, indeed, but dark and shadowy, so to speak. But he immediately withdraws his eyes from so unpleasant a picture, lest the day of such a great festival be contaminated by this tearful and gloomy image; and he calls the hearers back again to the movements of an exulting mind.
II. Leuvenklaius thought that this oration had been delivered at the beginning of the reign of Theodosius, at the time when the Theologian had not long before arrived in Constantinople. But the learned man errs. The beginning and end of the oration, and indeed the whole oration itself, is against him. We believe, with Tillemont (16), that it was spoken on the seventh day before the Kalends of December of the year 380, or shortly after, at which time the churches were restored to the Catholics. It is also the case that this is the oration which was delivered first in the greater and most sacred church of St. Sophia. Leuvenklaius was the first to translate this and publish it in Latin only, in the year 1571. He notes that it was excerpted from a very ancient book, which had been written by the hand of the historian Choniates Acuminatus. The Latin edition of Gregory, which appeared in the year 1583 under the care of Chatardus and Genebrardus, was supplemented with this oration, not from the translation of Leuvenklaius, but from that of Billius. Montacutius, however, was the first who, having transcribed it from the library of the most illustrious Count Palatine Elector, and compared it with another copy in the same place by Georgius Lingleshemius, published it in Greek alone in the year 1610. Montacutius thinks that this is not so much an oration as a fragment of an oration. Which opinion perhaps cannot be held to be entirely contemptible. Far be it, however, for us to consider it, with some, as a certain fragment culled from some oration of St. Chrysostom. For, as Leuvenklaius says (17), "no one will doubt that this is the genuine offspring of our Theologian, if one looks at the character of the diction." Thus also thinks the most learned Tillemontius. And certainly, as the learned observe, the things which are treated in this oration in no way harmonize with the times of Chrysostom, but highly with those of Gregory. For the Theologian describes here the same things which are read in his *Poem on his own Life* and elsewhere passim.