By Nicetas David

NICETAS DAVIDIS PARAPHRASE OF THE ARCANE POEMS OF ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

EDITED BY ERNEST DRONKE FROM THE CUSAN CODEX

(Göttingen 1840, 4º.)

PREFACE

The reason for the publication of this book was provided to me by the manuscript from the Cusan Library, which, because it contains the entire commentary by Nicetas David on all those poems of St. Gregory Nazianzen that he chose to interpret, is so arranged that it seems capable of settling the controversy concerning its author and his work. To be sure, among the large number of writers who bear the name Nicetas (see their catalog in Fabricius, *Bibliotheca Graeca*, vol. VII, p. 747, ed. Harles), there are two who wrote interpretations of some of the works of Gregory Nazianzen: one is Nicetas David, the other is Nicetas surnamed Serron or the Serrarian. Regarding Nicetas David, who is called a philosopher, historian, and rhetorician, Martin Hankius treated him in his book *On the Writers of Byzantine Affairs*, ch. 16, pp. 258 ff., from whom Fabricius derives his account (loc. cit.). He was Bishop of Dadybra (a), a city which was situated in Paphlagonia, whence he is called by the surname Dadybrenus or Paphlago. He lived in the ninth century, but in what year he was born or died, we do not know. This much is certain, that he died after the year 880, for he himself narrates the incursion made by the Saracens into Sicily in those times and the destruction of Syracuse in the *Life of Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople*. Besides the *Lives* of SS. Hyacinth and Eustathius published by Fr. Combefis, and besides the *Life of St. Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople*, which was inserted into the acts of the Fourth Council of Constantinople, which is called the Eighth Ecumenical, he wrote an interpretation or paraphrase ^A of the *Arcane Songs* (τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἐπῶν) of Gregory Nazianzen. But Nicetas the Serrarian, who, from being Bishop of Serrae in Macedonia Prima, was made Metropolitan of Heraclea Ponti in Thrace toward the end of the eleventh century (see Fabricius, *Bibl. Gr.*, VIII, 431, and Creuzer, *Meletemata e disciplina antiquitatis*, I, 14), wrote a commentary on sixteen orations of the same theologian. But since they are called by the same name, it happened that even that paraphrase which is David's was attributed to the Serrarian (see Creuzer, loc. cit., p. 59, n. 1, and Schöll, *History of Greek Literature*, German edition edited by Schwartzius and Pindarus, III, 176, n. 1); at which we do not marvel, for neither the first editors nor anyone else, so far as I know, has investigated this matter more diligently. Perhaps this question (ζήτημα) has already been resolved by the monks of the Order of St. Benedict, the most recent editors of the works of Gregory Nazianzen; but because their edition was interrupted, the entire apparatus for the second and third parts lies hidden in the archives of I know not whose library (b).

First, under the name of Nicetas David, an exegesis on the *Tetrasticha* and *Monosticha* was published at Venice by Franciscus Zanettus in 1563; but I shall demonstrate below that this interpretation is not Nicetas's. Then Jacobus Billius, the Michaeline archimandrite, published in Latin part of the commentary from the manuscript of Cardinal Sirletus at Paris in 1575; but he names the author now Cyrus Dadybrenus, now Cyrus Nicetas Dadybrenus, which he did wrongly; for *kyros* (κῦρος) is not a proper name but a title of honor for *kyrios* (κύριος); see Barthius, *Adversus*, p. 1393, whom Fabricius cited as a witness (VIII, 451), and Villoison, *Notices des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale*, VII, 422, praised by Jacobsius in the index of the *Anthologia Palatina*, and Creuzer, *Melet.*, I, 14. Furthermore, I conjecture that that manuscript, from which Billius published the commentary on the *Tetrasticha* and which appears to be different from the Sirletian one, had been interpolated, based on those things which are read in the *Tetrasticha* at 8, 11, 37, 47. ^B

While Billius was preparing a new edition of the works of Gregory Nazianzen in Gaul, Joannes Leuvenclaius undertook the same labor in Germany, and he had already translated the commentary on the *Tetrasticha* (τετραστίχους) before Billius, but by some chance he had lost the interpretation nor did he have the Greek exemplar at hand from which the delay could be rectified, as he himself confesses in the prologue of the third volume of the Latin edition, which was published at Basel from the workshop

(a) The destruction of the city is narrated in Nicetas Choniates' *History of the Empire of Alexius Comnenus, Brother of Isaac Angelus*, I, 7, p. 624, ed. Imm. Bekker. (b) The Benedictine editors considered both Nicetases to be one and the same. See the previous volume, col. 17. EDIT.

^A Hervagiana by Eusebius Episcopius in the year 1571: but what is the head of the matter is that he rightly names the writer Nicetas David. Not long after, from a manuscript book of the Augustan library, Dav. Hoeschelius published at Leiden in 1591 a Greek paraphrase of six *Arcana* poems or 482 verses (though there are in fact 485), which edition was reprinted by Joan. Hornschuch at Leipzig in 1645; since I have not yet had the chance to see these books, I can state nothing concerning the metaphrase they contain. And from that time the matter remained untouched, until that codex which I am about to describe impelled me to solve the question.

On the most pleasant banks of the Moselle, near the village of Cues, there is a house for the support of aged priests, constructed in very learned fashion by that Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa; in whose library a good portion of the books, which Nicholas had either written himself or collected during his travels, is still preserved, although it has often been plundered. The number of the books is indeed small, but among them are found even some that are good and worthy of being known, though not such as Andr. Guil. Cramer had hoped to find there, whose witty account of this matter exists in his own *Domestic Chronicles*, p. 145 sqq. For regarding the books that pertain to jurisprudence, we have been better informed by Eduard Böcking, J.U.D. of Bonn, cf. Frid. Car. von Savigny's book *Geschichte des römischen Rechts*, etc., III, 8, second edition.

Moreover, among the Greek manuscript books, of which a supply was recently made available to me through Martinius, the learned prefect of that house, there was also a codex which contains the entire metaphrase of Nicetas David on all the poems of Gregory of Nazianzus that he translated. It is parchment and consists of 138 leaves of square format; it is written, if I am not mistaken, in the 11th or 12th century, calligraphically—not in what they call tachygraphy—with the greatest elegance of letters and the greatest diligence. The scribe used no ligatures; only a few words were written by abbreviation, such as *Iēsous*, *Christos*, *theos*, *pneuma*, *patēr*, *mētēr*, *anthrōpos*, *sōtēria* and those derived from them. The system of accents is almost the same as that which is observed today; regarding the breathings, two rhos placed in succession never carry them, just as it is written in other codices and now; ^B see Bast., *Comment. palaeogr.*, 733. The iota which we call subscript is never placed below the line, and rarely is it even set beside it; it is mostly omitted, but there are words which now lack the iota subscript that have it in this codex, such as *zōion* for *zōon*; regarding this method of writing, see Bast. l.l. 719. Certain particles composed of parts are written separately, e.g., *et' an*, *ep' ēn*, *epeid' an*; conversely, the preposition *kata* with certain substantives is often joined into one word, e.g., *kataphusin*. A few traces of itacism are found.

The first leaf begins in red ink: "Exposition by Nicetas, servant of Christ, the philosopher, of the 'Secrets' of the great Gregory the Theologian, Poems, Book I. Proem. Those who among the Greeks seem to be most philosophical and learned, whenever [they engage] in contemplations beyond what is seen and sensation, etc." Page 4: "On First Principles. Those who are eager to grasp the zenith of worldly wisdom, and refer all things that are and come to pass to three most sovereign and primary causes and principles, are brought to a head; these, calling them Mind, Matter, and Form, they propose as co-principles and co-causes of all things, etc." Page 16: "Exposition of the 'Secrets' of the great Gregory the Theologian, Poems; Book II, On the Son. Having set forth concerning principles or the Principle—or, to say the same thing, concerning the Trinitarian Monarchy—the admirable one discoursed very concisely, and having completely abandoned the disputatious to their syllogisms, etc." Page 50: "Book III, On the Holy Spirit. The God-inspired one, having theologized concerning the Father and the Son as much as it was permitted to him to discuss with unspeakable quickness and brevity through the previously prepared heroic verses, now indeed consequently, etc." Page 45: "On the World, Book IV." Page 61: "On Providence, Book V."

Thus from this codex we learn for the first time how many poems Nicetas translated; there are fifteen, in addition to the tetrastichs; furthermore, the number of poems which he termed *aporrēta* (secrets) is somewhat larger than Billius' number. For he inscribed only eight poems as such and offered no comment on this matter, although he seems to have had the entire Nicetas commentary in his hands, whether in one codex—I mean the codex of Cardinal Sirleto—or found in several, for in his annotation he refers to the commentary not only on those eight poems but also on the remaining seven, and translated the entire commentary on the Tetrastichs. Indeed, that Nicetas himself called these poems *aporrēta* seems to me to be taught by what he writes about his intention in the proem on fol. 2 v. of the codex: "For which reason we also, the last and least of all, pressing our mind toward Gregory the Theologian, who is honored by us above all elders and teachers, as the guide of our soul, and being more abundantly built up from his theologies, have put forward for our own exposition a few [selections] from his difficult-to-understand and difficult-to-contemplate discourses, or rather his God-dictated verses, the most 'secret' ones and those unexamined by the multitude." Compare with this what is read on page 152 (col. 743) of this book. Furthermore, Charles Benoît Hase testified that even those poems which Billius dubbed by the name of *tōn aporrhētōn* are not so inscribed in all codices; he, a most illustrious and learned man, at my request—since I was mindful of what I had read in the preface to *Leo the Deacon*, p. xxix, ed. Bonn.—with his characteristic kindness placed all the codices of the Royal Parisian Library at my disposal. Nor does the Bodleian codex of Gregory's poems, which Gaisford described in the *Catalogue or Notice of the Manuscripts which were acquired by E. D. Clarke and are preserved in the Bodleian Library*, p. 1, p. 23 sqq., have that inscription. But however that may be, Nicetas himself affirms in his commentary on the Tetrastichs that he translated no other poems besides these; see p. 431 (col. 757). From those words it had long seemed probable to me that the interpretation of the monostichs and

[The page begins with the Prefatory Preface to the Carmina Arcana of Gregory of Nazianzus]

concerning the epigrams in praise of Basil the Great, which is attributed to Niceta David in the Venetian edition, that it cannot be his own work; and that Niceta in reality is neither the author of this nor of the interpretation of the Tetrastichs, which still circulates in the same book under his name (yet both belong to the same writer), I learned later from the book itself, which the Göttingen library, through the mediation of E. L. von Leutsch, supplied to me (a). Zonaras, in fact, composed those commentaries, as he himself confesses in his preface, fol. 3, yet in such a way that, while adopting the interpretation of Niceta, he often augmented and amplified it by using a longer circumlocution of words and even by adducing passages from Sacred Scripture, and indeed interweaving entire periods of Niceta into his own paraphrase. Sometimes two interpretations exist, of which one, inscribed [ἄλλως], is part of Niceta's interpretation; sometimes Zonaras also notes variant readings and acts entirely more the part of a grammarian than an interpreter; for individual words are explained using almost the same terms that are read in his own and other lexicons. In the dissertation praised above, I have exhibited such passages, which can be compared not without profit by those who concern themselves with Greek lexicons. Zonaras composed this small work in his old age during his leisure time, which he enjoyed as a monk and which he used to write other books, concerning which see the prolegomena of Tittmann to the Lexicon of Zonaras, p. LXV. But I return to the commentary of Niceta David.

Since it is truly useful for revealing the mind of Gregory, which is often obscure, and since Billius, on the other hand, used it only in individual passages when translating into the Latin language, except for the interpretation of the Tetrastichs which he translated in its entirety: for my part, also because Niceta’s discourse is sufficiently elegant and refined, and so that nothing might be detracted from a proper interpretation of the poems, I arranged for the Greek commentary to be printed from the Cusanus codex, omitting that portion which Dav. Hoeschel had edited. I provided the text of the codex entire; for there are passages that need emendation, but which cannot be corrected without the aid of another book. Nevertheless, I have placed those six poems, seeing as they cohere with the rest, revised according to the same codex, after the book of Niceta without commentary (b). To these I have added certain select poems which are found in the Greek Cod. Gudianus 97. For Schömann, the prefect of that library, sent me this codex, concerning which see the book of Fr. Ad. Ebert on the Greek codices of the Guelferbytan library, p. 84, when it contained one poem which Niceta interpreted as being among the "arcana." With this opportunity given, I also collated the remaining poems. The paraphrase which the same codex provides is established in such a way that individual verses are explained by synonymous words.

The other resources which I have used in establishing the text of the poems are these: The edition of Aldus, who first published the greater part of the poems in the year 1504. The paraphrase of Niceta (Gr.) published at Venice in the year 1563, concerning which book see above. The edition of the Tetrastichs under the care of Erhard Hedenecus at Basel in the year 1577; finally, the works of Gregory Naz. with the commentary of Jacob Billius, Cologne, at the expense of Weidmann, 1690. Although Billius had many codices, for the most part he nevertheless follows Aldus, so that he sometimes repeated errors which Aldus had corrected; and in that Cologne or Leipzig edition, the typesetters often wandered again from the true reading. Written at Coblenz, Ides of July, the year 1840.

(a) I described the book, which is extremely rare in these regions, in the dissertation on Niceta David and Zonaras, page 9. (b) These things were to be omitted by us, the editors of the complete works of Gregory. From these verses also which Niceta takes upon himself to explain, we have retained only the first, since the Reader has the rest at hand in our edition. Furthermore, the annotations of Ernest Dronke, V. D., which pertain only to the edition of Billius, whose defects have been corrected with the care that was appropriate in the new Maurine recension, we omit for the most part, since they now have little or no utility. Edit.

Nicetas David

PARAPHRASE OF THE ARCANE POEMS OF ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

Niceta who is also David, servant of Jesus Christ, philosopher, ^A commentary on the arcana of S. Gregory Theologus in poems. Concerning [(1)] the soul, Discourse 7.

Consequently, having proceeded in order after the contemplation of the celestial and rational and incorporeal ^B natures, to the more humble and more material substance of the human soul, the Theologian,

^A having first set forth the opinions of those who are outside regarding it, and having refuted them as trifles, thus purely expounded the true doctrine according to the Church and the Scriptures. Moreover, discussing at the beginning with very simple and truly God-inspired reasoning, he says:

Anima flatus est Dei, mistionemque cœlestis Pertulit cum terrestri, etc.

Just as the Theologian, in discoursing of God in other places, affirms that God took the body from matter, but infused the breath from Himself, and declares that God created man a composite being; so now, in the verses before us, he also discourses that the soul is a breath of God, and a spirit (thereby manifesting it as heavenly), and that it endured or sustained the mixture or blending of the earthly body; and that, like some intelligent light, it was hidden and united in the flesh as in a cavern. But nevertheless, since it is of divine nature, it is truly immortal and incorruptible. For, he says, it was not worthy of the great God that it, being His image, should die and foully dissolve together with the creeping things and irrational beasts, even if sin forces it to undergo death and corruption.

^B Neque ignis fervidi natura est, etc.

Of those philosophers who are called exoteric, some contended that the substance of the soul is fire, others air, and others a fountain of blood running through the whole flesh; but none of these appeared to be true. For how could fire, which devours, be the soul of the body that is devoured by it—that which consumes and destroys, be the soul of that which is destroyed by it? But no one will say that air is the soul of man, which is always being breathed in and out and never finds rest; and to suppose that the fountain of blood running into every limb of the body is the soul, he deems it best to refute as something most absurd and stupid.

« Sed non harmonia », and what follows. But it is not itself, he says, the harmony of the elements of which the body is constructed; for the blending of the elements is not a certain substance subsisting by itself, but being an accident and a quality, it would not in this case be a soul. Otherwise: the nature of the flesh and of an immortal form is not one. ^C For what of those things that are often divided from one another in substance? And what more would there be for good men above the lot of those notorious for malice, if the structure—that is, the soul—being one, made some men the best and others the worst? Furthermore, would not the rational beings be similar to the irrational ones according to nature? For harmony is seen in the bodies of men just as it is in the bodies of beasts; and according to this reasoning, all who had obtained a more excellent and better coagulation and harmony of body would be better. These, indeed, reasoned in vain about the soul; ^D others, however, defined as the soul of man those causes of life, in the absence of which the body abandons the soul as dead. « Φορβή δ' ούποτ

^A Food, in no way, to you, et seq. If those things being absent, man expires, these are for him the soul; it is time for you to call your daily food your soul; for being mortal, it is impossible for you to live without food; for the daily sustenance is a preservative power for every animal.

22 I know also another opinion, etc. ^B I know, he says, also another ancient doctrine, and one babbled by those of old who thought highly of their own wisdom; which I would not teach, being indeed thoughtless and utterly frigid. For they say that the soul of man pre-exists in general, and that this is common, just as each of the bodily elements is distributed to all men at birth, and that it wanders throughout the entire air above our heads, and is eager for its binding with bodies. But if this were granted, every soul would be of the same character, so that one would not be better and another worse, nor would one be acknowledged as upright and another as stubborn and perverse, since the nature of the air is established as the same for all mortals for inhaling and exhaling; and all would be in all, and while still living in the body, and even when breathing out, all would be supposed to lie in all, by the belief that there exists only one soul for all things; and the same nature of air, he says, exists, now diffused in some places, now in others. But if you were to say that the soul is not diffused like the air, but remains in one and the same place, I would ask you hereafter: what is it that remains within itself, and what is that which is animated or conceived in the maternal womb? For if the soul were to claim to be outside, released and free from the body, and the mother, dividing it, brought it forth or was forced to bring it forth, what did it keep remaining within itself, and what is that which lives in her bosom and is coming into this painful and laborious life? And if you should suppose it to be the mother of many children as well, you have honored it with a dishonorable honor, showing it to be the cause of many souls being bitten and punished by the difficulties and miseries of life. ^C

32 Vain trifles of books, etc. ^D This, he says, is a discourse that distributes one soul to all men in common, as has been said, full of folly and madness; and vain and useless and childish trifles of books are compiled by as many as have also thought that one and the same soul inhabits many bodies according to the lives of men of old, both good and bad, whether for the reward of virtue or for the punishment of sin. For just as those who wrap a man in garments, and again unsuitably strip him, and transfer the soul from one body to another, not only of man, but also of an irrational animal and again of a plant, and thus speaking vanity and babbling foolish things, they do not understand. And just as the myths depict that ancient Ixion, having sinned against a god, being fastened to a wheel, and eternally

^A being punished while revolved in a circle; and just as Tantalus, having sinned in another way, pays another divinely-ordained penalty in a different manner; so too do these, by casting the wretched soul ^B now from man into man, and at other times into a wild beast, or a dog, or a serpent, or a bird, and then into the body of a fish or a tree, according to their own arbitrary and impatient mind, bring it back again into a man. And they do not introduce this same soul into each of the aforementioned animals only once, but many times, for as long as the cycle of metempsychosis commands. How long will you babble and utter trifles? How long will you judge and condemn the soul, casting it into wild beasts and trees and birds and fish? But I, says the truthful Word, have never seen a wise beast uttering speech, nor have I heard a tree speaking; I have seen a chattering crow croaking, but not philosophizing; and we always see fish, mute, swimming across the water.

44 *But if this is the final punishment of the soul, etc.* ^C

If, in addition to the absurdities already mentioned concerning the soul, it is also added that a punishment awaits those who live impiously hereafter, as those men say, then their reproof and judgment are both empty and unjust. For if the judgment were to run against the soul as being incorporeal, that would indeed be a marvel: how can the soul, which acted impiously together with the body, pay the penalty while naked? And if it is with flesh, with what kind? A human one? A wild beast’s? A brute animal’s? A serpent’s, or a bird’s, or a fish’s? Or will it be handed over to be punished by fire in the skin of a tree or wood? O vanity! And he cites another thing in their words that is most worthy of wonder: namely, that the soul, tied as it is by many fates, says: "You have bound me, O one who has formed me, from human bodies into others, whether of men or women, and again from the bodies of women into others, and from there into the bodies of various animals and plants, so that you have involved me in a series of many changes and chains, making me knowledgeable and experienced in such things." I am greatly astonished, he says, how it is that this alone has escaped my mind: to know from what skin or body I have come into that in which I now lie? ^D I desire to learn in what bodies I first died, and what I shall become after these. For as it seems—if I may say this even jokingly—my binder and maker is not rich in souls as he is in bags, and therefore, on account of the shortage of various bodies, I am poured over into the forms of animals. Madness! Alas! A long wandering, not to know one’s own life! Truly it is an incredible abyss of forgetfulness that, concerning the first dwelling which the soul had in the world, not even the slightest trace of memory is left in it.

*Do you understand ours*, and what follows. Having refuted the foolishness of those false sages, says the divine wise man, as you approach an excellent teaching concerning the soul, receive ours, which is true, into your ears, and I will mix a little charm and sweetness into the present poem. And concerning [index: entries preserved]

the hymn or theology of the soul, we shall set it forth, not unpleasantly to those who wish to understand it wisely. ^A

"At one time, there was a time when the Word of the Most High established the world [deeply, etc.

From the beginning, the divine revealer of sacred matters, taking up the discourse concerning the soul from the very start of the creation of the world, says: "At one time, there was a time when the Word of the Mind of the Most High, according to the Father's will, caused this whole world to spring forth into existence from nothingness; for He spoke, and as many things and of such a kind as He willed were brought into being." Since, therefore, all things—heaven, earth, sea, and what is within them—had first been combined into one world, it was sought what sort of second world there might be, one skilled in the wisdom of the Mother of all things, and one that is a godlike king of all visible and earthly things, according to the image of the Creator; wherefore He says: "Already, indeed, pure [angels], and so forth." ^B For the pure and immortal ranks of the good angels, having obtained the heavenly space, eternally sing and celebrate my glory; but the earth and this entire visible world rejoices and prides itself in the brute animals and in the natural graces of visible things. Out of both kinds, however—of immortals, that is, and mortals, of rational and irrational—it pleased me to fashion a participant of the intelligible and sensible world, intelligent. And this was to be man, a medium between the magnitude of celestial things and the lowliness of earthly things, who by his vision reaches out to visible things, but by his mind to intelligible things, and who, being initiated and delighted by intellectual contemplations, an angel of another sort, was pleased to be fashioned from the earth, a mystic and glorifier of my works and counsels. ^C

"Thus He spake," etc.

These things the creating Word spoke—not in lowly and divided words, but in thoughts that were unified and worthy of God—and at once He conceived to create in this way, and the thought became a work. And from the newly created matter, taking a portion of clay with His immortal fingers, as He alone knows, He molded my form, and in it He secretly placed a portion of His own life (for this is what "He shared" means); for He breathed in a spirit, which is a certain emanation of the bodiless and invisible Divinity. ^D Therefore, from the clay of my flesh having been fashioned and my soul having been formed for me by the omnipotent breath, I was composed, He says, into one man, having become an image of the immortal God through a self-governing and princely mind. For in these things is seen the likeness to the Creator, and the mind in man rules over both soul and body, for which reason it is also proclaimed as the sovereign of the passions within us. From this, toward both lives, earthly and heavenly, I naturally feel myself inclining, loving the one because of the body and the other because of the spirit, and being drawn in both directions by my desires.

^A *Talis fuit primogeniti hominis colligatio, etc.*

In the beginning, the coagmentation or formation and animation of the first father were brought about according to the stated method; and from that origin even to the end, flesh arises from flesh, and soul from soul. The body is formed visibly from a corporeal emanation, but the soul falls into the molding of the body in an unknown and invisible manner. How this or that? As He alone knows, who first fixed the figure of the earth and gave spirit to the flesh. Unless, however, one says, in agreement with my words, confidently adding this statement, following many who so teach, namely: Therefore, the body also, which was first fashioned from the earth, being mixed through all mortals in order, becomes a human melting pot; and just as from that first fashioned root one man does not cease to have another from man. Similarly, the soul inspired by God, created in the bodies of men, being newly made, falls into and is infused and, as if from the root of this first creation, is multiplied into many and new [souls] and is divided into mortal bodies of similar aspect according to the will and efficacy of Him who blesses and commands them to grow and be multiplied and fill the whole face of the earth.

^B *Propterea principatum intellectilem nacta est, etc.*

Since all human bodies in order, from the creature fashioned in the beginning by the hand of God, draw their origin from a common germ and nature, and since all souls of mortals draw their origin in a similar way by analogy from the soul of the first parent that was first made and begotten, consequently all of them obtain the intelligent excellence of the mind. After the divine writer saw the objection laid bare under these propositions, namely concerning the irrational and inept movements of nursing infants and children, he explains this in a victorious manner by an instance brought forward. For just as in tiny and very narrow pipes, a strong breath remaining sends forth a meager sound, and one that is not fully clear, however much skill the flute-player may possess; but when wide and harmoniously bored pipes are delivered into the hands of a skilled man, then they give forth a perfect and melodious voice. So also, the soul of man in infantile and weak limbs falls short in intellect, but let them become perfect, and it itself is illuminated, being fully powerful in energy and by its own innate natural ability.

^C *Postquam autem suum condidit hominem immortalis Filius, etc.*

Then the divine Word, the immortal Only-begotten of the Father, when He created man in His own image, why did He create him? So that, he says, He might have him in the last days as a source of His own glory, by a new and sublime invention: namely, the Creator becomes man.

^A Since he has become a new Adam, the old Adam, having through faith exchanged everything earthly and having been joined to the heavenly God, will accompany God Himself in the ascent to heaven. While explaining this in his discourse as the reason for the creation, he goes on to say: "Nor did He leave him entirely free," and so forth. That is to say: just as He did not leave man entirely free and his own master (for how would it have been appropriate to stand outside the dominion of the Almighty?), nor did He bind him entirely in the manner of irrational creatures with the yokes of necessity; but having inscribed the natural law and good intentions upon his heart, He placed him in the midst of the ever-flourishing paradise, in a location balanced for both directions, and as it were inclined toward both, that he might be master of his affections and of his own will; and He placed him naked, in that he was simple and without malice, free from all duplicity and hypocrisy. For to me, as judge, the divinely-spoken voice has declared: this paradise is termed a heavenly state and the life of holy spirits, of which the Creator appointed man in the beginning to be a cultivator, busily observing divine thoughts and words.

^B 107 "Nor did He forbid him from a more perfect tree," etc. The Creator forbade the taste of one fruit alone. Now, if any should say that there was some beautiful thing in that tree forbidden to the first-created man, I would not argue against them; yet I would heartily agree with the teacher in understanding that "fruit" through a better allegory than the literal sense. For this allegory, he says, has within itself a perfect discernment of good and evil, when taken at its own proper time; wherefore it is not beneficial for those beginning the journey toward God—that is, for infants and the imperfect in Christ—but for those of mature intellectual age, and for those who have arrived at a higher measure of the spirit in the contemplation and works of Christ. This, indeed, weighs upon the imperfect just as solid food does upon those who are still in need of milk. But since, having been overcome by the intrigues of the envious demon and the persuasions of the woman, he tasted the forbidden fruit before the proper time and contrary to the command, he clothed his death-bearing form—having become a bearer of a corpse—in skin tunics, that is, the heavy and mortal flesh, in place of a most diaphanous and subtle body. And because he became mortal, sin is cut off by death, so that the evil might not exist forever; and this is a work of the goodness of God. But he himself...

117 "He came forth from the grove onto the earth, from which [his race was]," etc. This was the profit of the transgression, and this was the reward that man received from his trespassing: to fall out of paradise, and to be turned back to the earth from which he was taken, and to be condemned to a life full of pain and toil. And with respect to the most precious tree of life which is understood to be in the midst of paradise—which indeed may be the most pure contemplation of God and the highest knowledge of the incomprehensible God—concerning this tree, He placed His fiery zeal, which the divine Scripture calls a flaming sword, and terms "Cherubim" (10), that is, the angelic powers...

which ^A keep the unworthy at a distance and exclude them, God ordered, so that no forward Adam, anticipating the hour suitable for the spirit, nor any profane and wicked person, before having first cast away the tastes of the tree of carnal desire which are worthy of punishment, might dare to approach the tree of life. ^B "And as by stormy winds," etc. Just as a man sailing the sea under wintry and violent winds, and struck back from his forward progress and tossed by the waves, is turned back in disgrace, then later, either by letting the sails of the boat unfold to milder winds or by using skilled rowers, completes his voyage with much labor; so too, he says, we also, having fallen away from God through transgression, and being crushed by the assaults of evil spirits and by sin and death, but again being directed by Christ Jesus, and having the good angels of His as assistants and fellow-helpers, we barely—and with our efforts for piety joined by no mean endeavors—direct our voyage upward to the paradise of God. Such was the sin, sown from the first parent into the human race, which has sprouted; not existing in the beginning, but having, in order, yielded from a seed-plot its abundant, death-bearing fruits. From these, O Christ God, having fully purified us, fill us with Thy blessing, Thy righteousness, and peace and grace, for Thou alone art blessed and glorified unto the ages. Amen.

Commentary on the Arcanum poems of the Great Gregory the Theologian; concerning the Testaments and the Manifestation of Christ, discourse eight

Having completed the seven dogmatic discourses concerning the soul, Gregory, who is most contemplative, passes ^C from thence to the two Testaments, the Old and the New, or rather to the law of God. For both the law in the letter, given first through Moses, and the grace and truth of the Gospel, which came second through Jesus Christ, are one law of the Spirit of life, which in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Two Testaments are spoken of because the law has been declared at two times, once and now, and to two "Israels," the ancient and the new, and because for the former it was outlined in parables and shadows, as they were of a slower spirit and imperfect; whereas to the new people it was preached more clearly and more worthily of God—as if possessing a more learned and perfect eye—the splendors of the kingdom of heaven in Christ Jesus. Let us see to it that our discourse is not base, and the arduous nature of the heroic verses and of the Greek elegance, ^D which is difficult for many, we shall, according to our ability, clarify, as far as we can, in a manner not unworthy of the theology of the divine speaker.

1. "Come, go, and investigate the reason of the twofold law," etc.

"Come then," he says, as if someone divine, addressing himself, "investigate the discourse concerning the twofold law," he says to his own soul; for this is twofold, the old and the new, manifest

and adumbrating His power while Moses ministered, but more brilliantly revealing His glory through Jesus Christ. ^A And since in the beginning the Hebrews, through Abraham and the Fathers, were the first to know the King of all as God, in like manner they were also the first to receive the law; but at the opportune time it is evangelized through the Only-Begotten even to the ends of the earth. That this law is one, as is also the Legislator, in both the Old and the New Testament, it is worth knowing, so that God does not lead man to the knowledge of truths by doctrines that are repugnant or varying among themselves, nor by other and different institutions, like a man whose intellect is unstable and does not embrace all things, who fights against himself or thinks up new things on top of prior ones. Far be this groveling assumption from Him who knows all things firmly and immutably before their creation. For to do or suffer such things is shameful for humans.

^B "But this is my discourse," etc. The meaning is: This is my discourse, and this is the instruction and judgment from me concerning the zeal and help of the Lover of men, and the goal of the discourse is to state that from the beginning the law of the letter was introduced to destroy idolatry, and that since under the law no one among the ancient Israel was able to raise himself to his Legislator, the Man-God Himself, coming, revealed the law of the Spirit, (which was) in the Scripture obscured as a rose is enclosed in a calyx, and by His dwelling in us, the Man-God changed the carnal Israel into the spiritual. Therefore, he says, my discourse from beginning to end is about the Incarnation of the divine Word, which I shall attempt to delineate as accurately as possible in these verses.

^C "After the raging enemy first cast Adam out of paradise," etc. Since from the beginning the raging and man-killing serpent, by the forbidden tasting of the death-bringing fruit, had deceived the first man and thrust him out of paradise, just as, he says, in the ranks of war, when the commander who had been ordered to lead has fallen, the enemy, striking the army deprived of its leader with pikes and javelins and all kinds of weapons, struggles to gain mastery over the defeated, in a similar fashion Satan himself, having routed the first Adam and brought him into sin and into all the generations that have sprouted from him throughout all time, working with every device to bring about sin, condemns him to the equal penalty of death. For by his own ^D crafty and evil schemes, he cut him off from the Highest, first turning his eyes, which were gazing intently toward the beauties of heaven and the most shining splendors of the stars, to bring the reverence due to the Creator to these; then he impelled him to look toward the countenances of the dead and the images which the longing of relatives had elegantly fashioned in gold or silver or other materials. And a myth and a discourse—false, indeed, yet unrefuted and always growing in the succeeding years with false assertions—added insane adoration. Thus from the beginning idolatry [entered] into life

And not only were those from other nations perverted in the ways mentioned, but even the holy nation of the Hebrews, which was thought whole on account of Abraham ^A or had lost the counsel [of God], did not submit to the divine prophets who were lamenting and appeasing the anger of God on their behalf—prophets whom they had often, as Moses and Elijah did, provoked before because of their idolatries.

22 Neither did the princes fear God, etc.

Not only the common crowd of Israel, the vulgar and unregulated, were defiled by the stated impieties; but not even the kings themselves, he says, and the princes, held in reverence the God of their fathers. Most of them, being exceedingly wicked, did not renounce the groves and the shady places in gardens, nor the peaks of the mountains and the amenities of the fields. ^B Gathering there, and erecting altars to the demons worshipped by them, they sacrificed their own sons and daughters; and being defiled by these things, they kindled the indignation of the great God against themselves and His wrath. Therefore, being delivered to diverse misfortunes of servitude and abduction, and being led captive many times and cast out, they were again and again given over to absolute extermination from their own cities and to the calamity of many days. Therefore, the old Israel, even after the flesh, those who abandoned the aforementioned path leading back to God—namely, the death of Christ—were broken by their incredulity and thrust from the way.

26 In their place I have entered, etc.

By these verses, the theology leads us into the Apostolic understanding. For just as at first, by the disbelief of the nations, Israel obtained mercy by trusting in God, so again, by the incredulity of Israel, the nations who believe are saved in Christ. But when ^C the fullness of the nations has entered, then again all Israel, becoming jealous, will believe and be saved. For thus, the two peoples, having a good jealousy for one another and believing in the wisdom of God, will at the end be concluded in the same mercy. The teacher says, therefore, in the person of the nations: how, Israel having been broken off like a branch on account of disbelief, I have entered into the way of faith—which way is the direction of zeal and rectitude, opening a path through saving faith to Christ, to whom they also, believing at long last, will turn back. And according to the divine oracles ^D they will seek Him, after they have been filled with the fruits of disbelief and of the heat and malice of the persecutions against the nations, through which a change occurred—they themselves indeed having been cast out on account of disbelief, and the others having entered in their stead through faith.

^A

The things which have been related, the lamp of theosophy says, whether it be the entry of all the nations into Christ, or the salvation of the remnant of Israel through zeal and conversion toward God, these things will be revealed in later times. Yet, in the first times of the manifestation of the incarnate Savior, when on one side the nations were strictly and thoroughly loathsome because of their lawless idolatries, and on the other, those from Israel were dishonoring God by the various transgressions of the Law—then, at that time, so that the superabundance of infinite goodness might be revealed, human nature was granted such honors: according to the good pleasure of the eternal Father, and with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, the Word, the only-begotten Son of God—having created man from the beginning with that spark of divine intelligence placed within his body—seeing him emptied by soul-destroying sins, and seeing the apostate dragon tyrannizing all mortals, was moved with pity and no longer allowed others to help in such infirmity. For a small remedy is not sufficient for the healing of great ills; and so, in order that the Son, who is from the Father without a mother, might raise up from among men a heritage for Himself, and redeem His own image from that tyrannical possession, the Son of God emptied Himself. Being born as Son of man without a father, in a way new and strange to us precisely because it was without a man, yet not altogether strange because it was from me—He, having been fashioned through a virginal and holy mother, took into Himself the whole of the total Adam who had fallen through sin, so that He might procure salvation for the whole. For this reason, according to laws of the human race and yet alien to the human race, from chaste and virginal bowels (O miracle unbelievable to profane mortals!) the immortal God came forth made mortal, both God and man, bringing two natures into one Person, the one hidden and invisible, the other seen clearly by men; of which the one was God, consubstantial with the One begetting without beginning, and the other was man, created of her who bore Him in time, and of the same nature as us.

^B (21) One God on both sides, since He was mingled with the Godhead. 52 And the King, a mortal from the Godhead, and Christ came into being, etc.

One God is acknowledged, Christ who came into being from two natures; for the mortal nature in Him, being united to the Godhead according to hypostasis, and the Godhead wondrously mingled with the humanity, He is believed to be the same King and God and another new Adam healing the old; and He was hidden as under a veil by the human manifestation, first because it was impossible to bear His pure Godhead, nor could it be contained by those subject to passions to approach the Godhead unveiled; and second, so that the archetypal-evil serpent—who was deemed the most cunning of all living creatures endowed with intelligence—might be deceived by the appearance, and by His own Godhead be pierced as if by a hook, and that having pounced upon Him as upon Adam, yet encountering Him with entreaties as God, he might be conquered by Him and plucked from his rule. “By Him there is strength,” etc.

^A For the all-destructive dragon, having been overcome by the God-man Christ, was about to be brought down and cast away by His power and tyranny, just as the sea, when casting its wave against a rough, strong, and unyielding rock, is shattered and broken to pieces. 60; “When He appeared, earth and heaven moved around His birth,” etc. 61.

The only-begotten Word of the most high God, having become man in the manner aforementioned, and having become the new Adam from a chaste and unwedded Virgin, being God and man, manifested Himself to us, self-existent and self-subsistent; and that the same One was both perfect God and perfect man, He provided these most worthy and primary testimonies. For as soon as He appeared through His birth, the heaven and the earth were immediately shaken; the heaven sent forth the multitude of the heavenly host to the glory and praise of the One being born, ^B and the earth was moved when the star arose from the East, leading the Magi, those kings of the Persians, bearing gifts into the land of Judea and into Bethlehem, for the honor and adoration of the newly born King. This, therefore, is the account of the new and second birth of my Christ, so pure, so brilliant, and so befitting God. There is nothing in it shameful or unbecoming, or which is not fitting to His holiness. For to sin alone does shame and disgrace adhere; but when the Word of God became mortal, it was not an infusion of a human body, but rather, having sanctified through the Spirit the flesh of the holy and virgin mother, He assumed a body endowed with a rational and intellectual soul, and went forth from her. For what reproach or shame was there for Him to be born according to the flesh by the law of nature, of which He was Himself the Creator, and to endure ^C for my sake the expiatory penalties according to the law of which He was Himself the Legislator? For just as He was honoring all things pertaining to nature, having assumed our nature without sin, so too did He accept all the statutes ordained by the law, whether as a pedagogue Himself paying the debts of those sanctified by Him, or as one withdrawing due to the imperfections of the grace of the Gospel, in accordance with the perfection of the divine, as the inspired writer says, to pay the last duties.

72. “After the shining of the great light, [with the lamp, etc.]”

Since, says the most theological one, the friend of the bridegroom had run before the most luminous lamp of the sun, who is the voice of the Word, running before in time of birth, running before in the evangelical teaching and the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, and in the middle of the desert crying out that my God and Christ is drawing near to the peoples gathering to Him—whom, by baptizing in the Jordan, he purified for the reception ^D of Him—and then the One Himself, being preached and witnessed to, immediately stood by the one baptizing and, having been baptized by him, received a greater testimony from the Father through the Spirit than that of John; He Himself walked in the middle of the two peoples, of the one nearby from Israel and the one coming from afar from the Gentiles. For a common and cornerstone, chosen and precious, Jesus Christ is

^A in Sion set, uniting both peoples in himself. And just as he himself was Spirit and flesh, so he provides a twofold purification for men: one of the Spirit of life, which the baptismal water from the earth follows, and the other of the blood of Christ poured out for us upon the cross. This blood is the seal of the New Testament, and it is a price and ransom poured out for the purification of the whole world’s original stains of the first father.

82 Indeed, if I were not an inconstant man, but immutable, etc. ^B If, in truth, I were not versatile, but immutable and unswerving toward the worse—having been fashioned, as the theologian’s tongue says, as a human being—I would have needed only the commandment concerning the crucified God; a commandment which, surrounding and saving me, would have exalted and led me to the highest point of glory and honor. But now, since He who created me did not create me as an immutable God, but as a living soul subject to change—prone and inclined to both sides, and capable, such as my lot might be, of being drawn toward virtue just as much as toward vice, and being swayed toward either—for this reason, as one good-loving, He sustains me with many aids. And among these aids, the most beautiful is the grace through the laver and baptism. ^C For just as the children of the Hebrews once, by anointing the doorposts of their houses with the blood of an irrational lamb at the command of the Lord, when all that was firstborn in Egypt from man unto beast was destroyed in a single night, escaped the plague of the destroyer by that figurative anointing; so also to me, the Spirit and blood of Christ—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—which is a seal offered by God and a medicine correcting evils, is smeared over the mind and body as if upon the doorposts of a spiritual house; it is highly proficient and becomes a protection against all sorts of evils. To those, therefore, as to the imperfect and as to infants, that anointing received there typologically or in shadow offered a figurative and temporary, and therefore bodily, salvation to those being anointed. ^D With us, however, the grace of the Spirit given through the laver of regeneration and the blood of Jesus, the Giver of light, becomes the best seal and a mystical protection of mind and soul and body, a kind of pledge of eternal life and of a kingdom that is desolated by no affliction nor end, awarded to those who are worthy of receiving it. For as soon as the blood of the Lamb of God flows over us, we lift ourselves up from the depths of anguish and despair, and especially from the burden of sin, and we raise up the rudder of the soul and direct the steps of our spirit toward the heavenly life. For truly, just as a traveler, having found a convenient inn, rests from his weariness and immediately arises with new ardor, more eager for the remaining journey; so too, he who is deemed worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Christ, and who understands with his heart and is firm in faith, is recreated and renewed from the oppression of all things that afflict and burden him, whether spiritually or visibly, and also from the swelling of despondency; he eagerly and laboriously, like a deer, longs for the beloved mansions near the Father of lights. And lest anyone should murmur

that it is impossible to obtain these divine gifts—as if the approach to this twofold sanctification and to the magnificence of Christ were not open to all—a voice on high immediately precedes, answering:

^A “Common to all is the air, common also the earth.”

Since by the consensus of all, the air is common to all living creatures of the earth and the birds for vital use, spread out for aspiration and breath according to nature; and the earth is common, providing a way and life to all inhabitants, whom it deigns to favor equally with its fruits, just as the sea is open to those who swim in it, even if native ambition strives to possess more; and common besides to other elements and things is the heaven stretched over all, the sun and moon and all that is suitable, as well as the seasons of the year and the hours which, by revolving, are always equally at the disposal of human life; and common, furthermore, is provided the saving bath of baptismal water, which is poured out upon all, and even infants almost all have a share in the place of the mystery. But the Spirit and the blood—which is less appreciated and perceived more confusedly by those who approach with imperfect faith and a sluggish heart—shine and glow all the more, on the contrary, for the pure and the firm; the Spirit and the blood, I say, will be present in them in Christ Jesus for a perfect end, a work purely perfect and divine. Amen.

Commentary on the Secret Poems of St. Gregory the Theologian: On Human Virtue. Sermon 9.

A highly contemplative and philosophical discourse, worthy of the divine inspiration of Gregory, the holy writer arranges through the proposed poems concerning human virtue, in which he chastises all elation of spirit and confidence of the soul in itself, as well as the anxiety for pleasing men, while on the contrary he commends humility and modesty of thoughts to those who love the truth. And he speaks thus:

1. I desire virtue, but this it has not taught me, 2. What it is and from whence it has come to me, etc.

All beings tend toward the perfection of their own good: in conformity with their essence or nature, beings that simply exist crave to be, living things crave to live, germinating things to germinate, self-moving things to be moved, sensory things to feel, and rational things to reason, and finally intelligent things crave to understand according to those things that pertain to their progress. Among these, man, being a participant in all of them, if indeed he should reach further and long for the more perfect image and likeness of God, is kindled—beyond other things—with the desire for virtue, through which he hopes to attain the highest of goods. Virtue, therefore, is the most excellent of goods; for what better, or more worthy of love, can be conceived than that through which the initiate is cemented ^{B C D}

^A to God, and according to the Apostle, becomes one spirit with Him? Since, therefore, virtue is believed to be something so exalted, so intellectual, and the procurer of the first beatitude, it likewise presents many things that are steep and difficult for the attainment of it. For, to pass over the envy of the Adversary who is always watching to try the intention of one who is ascending toward it, this very life which indulges the senses, and the soul’s inherent temper and desire—unless they be instructed and ordered by the spiritual law, so that they might be submissive and teachable to reason—the Enemy will in no way be put to flight, nor will the elect virtue in any way govern man. Wherefore, burning with the love of it, he philosophically transforms the discourse toward himself: I desire virtue, he says, and I will not deny it; for this is true of all who are truly lovers of the good. But it has not taught me what in the world it is, and whence it might be added to me who have such a vehement desire for it—things by which I also suffer, being pained by its imperfection. For every desire that is unfulfilled produces pain in the one who possesses it.

^B If, indeed, [it be] pure, etc. True virtue, which is truly pure, being entirely rid of all malice and pollution of flesh and spirit, is like the purest water and a stream of living water gushing forth, which is not clouded in the least by the admixture of winter floodwaters, that is, torrents. If, then, anyone is so pure as to have kept his own soul and mind unstained, free from every taint of malice and sin, and his flesh and body unclouded and undefiled, I ask, who could this be? For if the stars are not pure before Him, according to the divine scripture, what of those who dwell in houses of clay? For, from his own heart, a man brings forth the mire of off-color reasonings; this is one cause of malice. Then, dragging along a heavy and muddy flesh, which inclines toward earthly thoughts, he is defiled; and, besides, being goaded from without by the prince of darkness, who is the enemy of our salvation, and being inflamed toward sin, how could I possess virtue in its purity?

Since, therefore, I am a nature that has been frozen. Or, "Hast thou not milked me like milk," says Job, "and curdled me like cheese," flowing through a life that is fleeting and changeable? It was not fitting ^C—that is, suitable—to live a life toward God that is not fluid and [is] altogether sinless. But if the mind is not entirely silver, but is mixed—if this, he says, is true, and the stream, or life, which has been spoken of metaphorically is not silver, nor altogether tested and pure, but is clouded and defiled by the admixture of malice and is stained in a disorderly way, how could this be virtue? Tell me, I pray, says the most wise one, if it is worthy to call a habit that is in such a state virtue? For indeed I, too, turning the matter over in my mind, since I cannot see a pure and most sincere life in man, am at a loss as to how I might name that which is mixed with malice "virtue."

Cold indeed is the nature of snow, and white, etc. ^D I know, says the divine interpreter of the works of God,

nature of fire is rubicund and burning, whose opposite qualities are so completely impossible to mix that anyone who might attempt to refrigerate fire with snow, or to heat snow with fire, would destroy these things before he could mix them. How, then, did baseness penetrate into the supreme good? How did malice grow upon virtue? How did base sin, falling upon the image of the great God, dishonor and shame it, if indeed I truly pray to be God by means of virtue, and to be your portion and inheritance, O God?

I seek and hear those who discuss this at length: that Alpheus, the river from Arcadia that flows into Sicily, passes through the bitter waves of the sea while keeping its own fresh waters ^B unmixed with the brine of the sea in its passage; and this, he says, is a great wonder and astonishment, that it conveys its sweetness without being altered or corrupted. But that which the taste of salt is to fresh waters, that which the mist rising from the earth is to the air, that which disease is to bodies, this the darkness of sin is to virtue; it is, in short, disgrace and ignominy. Oftentimes I stretched forth my hands in prayer, or lifted up the movements of my soul to heaven and to the Most High, but the intervening thought of human affairs drew me back and cast me to the ground. At another time again, the very beholder of the super-effulgent Divinity, seeing a pure spark illuminating for me, he said, a cloud that came from elsewhere, and most base darkness, rejected the shining light, and the contemplation of the good fled from my eyes; ^C thus, suddenly flying away from that which was coming against me, it caused me to fail and to be crushed—for this is what "it tore asunder" signifies. What is this emulation, what is the cause of this contrary outcome and departure of the good? "Or to be desired always by me," etc.

Inquiring what is the cause of the departure of the good and of the difficulty of attaining its concept, he first introduced the thought that, on account of supreme utility, the Divine always desires to be desired, thirsting to provoke thirst and offering drink to those who run to drink. And that word "by me," instead of "according to my judgment," explains it. This, he says, is also the law for man: for just as a father desires and longs to be always beloved and sought after by his own children, so also does God, who is preeminently ^D a lover of mankind; nay, also it is more expedient and better for us that the incomprehensible vision should not be easily or lightly come by. For thus, if it were too easily obtained by those who have not been properly trained through many trials in the pursuit of virtue, it would be treated as contemptible grace, as if coming from an unworthy source.

33 For this is stable, in which the mind has labored much, etc.

Having said that it is better for a man to arrive at the contemplation of the good through much labor, and to preserve it through much labor, he immediately explained the cause, saying:

firm and steadfast and permanent is that which has been acquired by the mind with labor and toil and has been preserved, just as everything that is easily taken becomes worthy of contempt and easily thrown away.

^A *Sæpe iterum boni*, etc. (28) They say that the lion, when walking in winter and fleeing the attacks of hunters, covers the tracks of its own feet with its tail in the snow. The teacher says that the devil does something like this here; for often, when the discernment of good and evil has appeared in the mind of a pious man, the Enemy, by craftily casting tracks upon tracks, obscures it, and by covering up spiritual things with carnal reasonings and malice, leads astray the spectator of the good. And the flesh indeed, according to its own nature, desires the things of the flesh, but the commandment, being spiritual, dictates the things of the spirit and urges the will of God. But envy suggests another thing from the Evil One, and yet another thing, beside the three aforementioned laws, does the age and the preoccupation ^B of human reasoning suggest. "I do that which I hate," as the Apostle says: "For I do not do that which I will, but that which I hate, this I often do;" and that which I detest as forbidden or unjust, I perform, being stolen away by the love of pleasure or by the envy of the Evil One, and I delight in evils and laugh at my own doom lodged within my members; I laugh a laughter filled with evil joy, and such as the proverb calls Sardinian; for sin is indeed a sweet death. They, therefore, who turn away from the narrow and for a short time afflicted path and choose the broad and spacious way of pleasure, having slipped away from true life and deserting toward their own destruction, laugh a joyless laughter and, taking pleasure ^C in their own death, are insensible.

*Nunc humi abjectus*, etc. Through these words he more clearly reproves the instability and inconstancy of hypocrites. "Now," he says, "I play the part of one cast down upon the ground and humble, but now again I am lofty and high; today I am dishonoring and mocking insolence and the insolent, but tomorrow I am shown to be myself an insolent man and a braggart, and appearing as one thing at one time and another at another, like the nature of the octopus, which, by changing its color to match the rock to which it clings, deceives the one who is hunting it."

*Calidæ fluunt ex oculis lacrymæ*, etc. Even more through these proposed verses does he refute the unstable and restless nature of ^D hypocrites. For at one time I poured forth a tear from my eyes, but the sin did not flow forth together with it; rather, through other transgressions that are continually being committed, I collect other tears within; for since I do not desist from the habitual preoccupation with evils, I have poured out the medicines of healing in vain. Again: "I seem to myself to live as a virgin in the flesh, abstaining from the intercourse of women, but not at all, he says, do I know if I do so in my very mind." Again: "Modesty running forward piously sometimes persuaded my sight to close, but my mind, looking up, after a little while looked up shamelessly; and toward the sins of others..."

^A I am sharp-sighted and keen of hearing, but toward the examination of my own, I am sightless and forgetful. And again: I am heavenly in discourses and grand words, but in mind and thoughts I am crawling and earthly. ^B 'I am calm and serene;' I am serene when I appear moderate and agreeable to men; but if ever a breath of anger—even a small one from a small cause—blows in opposition, like the sea surging with waves and billows, I desire to inflict pain back upon the one who grieves me, or even contend with my hands; and I am not calmed from these movements until the anger has been settled and has ceased, for when the swelling which had been boiling over is consumed, it is no wonder if the inflammation is extinguished.

56 Often also [one] running straight with the best hopes 57 And already reaching beyond the middle and common virtue, 58 Suddenly the pestilential enemy casts [him] headlong to the depths.

Often, says the divine interpreter, when a man is running straight with good hopes, and is making good progress toward God, and is extending himself in the midst of virtue and approaching toward the perfection of it, suddenly malice creeps in, and overturning him and driving him back, casts him down to the lowest degrees of virtue and to the state of beginners; for even as those who ascend against the heaps of sea sand, as soon as they place their foot upon the shifting and retreating sands, ^C their footsteps waver with an uncertain tread, and if they have attempted to crawl and overcome, they have achieved nothing more than that they have spent their labors and fatigues in vain: so, he says, our deadly Enemy, whenever our mind is carried against the sand of the inconstancy of our thoughts, and desires to fly toward the attainment of the good, and attempts to gird itself in the way of virtue, shows that there is no progression and that the ardor is vain. Whence he says: Hence I ascend, trusting that I have happily attained one degree of piety, from which, however, retreating again, I have fallen further from perfection than I was the day before; wherefore it remains for me to groan, seized and afflicted by desperation and sadness, and pitying myself as unhappy and succumbing to calamity, I say: I who always trust that I am running in the ways of virtue, and yet never reach its goal, always surrounded by great fear lest I do not attain the good; through attempts and long labors, although with difficulty, yet I thought I would finally attain the intended goal, but I fell headlong into malice most easily. Again, often the life that is a lover of virtue is prolonged for me, he says, and I do not wish for release from life, through hope of conversion, desiring the healing of sin; yet in the many days of a long life, I am no less abounding in malice, nor do I find conversion and healing from evil. Such is the virtue of men who exercise themselves according to their own sense and zeal, and not in the help of Jesus Christ. ^D 'Therefore to our generation,' and what follows. Since, he says, it is thus unstable and lacking a foundation, thus corrupted and imperfect...

labor to acquire virtue without God’s help is exercised by men; therefore to our miserable race let that dogma be fixed in the mind and imprinted before all others.

^A 68 Prima quidem Trinitatis pura natura, etc. It is truly worthy of a theological mind to know that dogma, namely, that the first pure nature and the fontal source of all virtue is the tri-hypostatic God; and immediately after Him follows the angelic and celestial [nature]; the third nature, a participant in the good and in virtue, is man, who was created from the beginning suspended between two ^B and inclined toward both: standing in the middle between the life of virtue and the death of sin, and having as a magnificent end of his life lived virtuously, namely, to become a son of God, though it is a toilsome and laborious journey, if he should open the gates of wickedness even for a moment; for the Highest provides this as the prize for my intellect, if it lives virtuously.

'Iste est optimus,' et seq. That man is best, that man is a perfect worker of virtue, who in the midst of a crooked and evil generation displays only slight traces of wickedness, but yearns toward heaven with a fervent love for the Highest; he runs with intensity and, pursuing wickedness along his back, casts it out, just as a river ^C might drive away and reject some other rough, wild, and muddy current; and if at any time some evil is intermingled, just as when a pure river passes its clear waves through the waters of another that is turbid, then that which was muddy is purged, and it reveals the previously unknown defilements of the soul. Let this be understood as the perfect virtue of the composite man; let him [however] trust more in the celestial spirits. But if anyone living here among men has been deemed worthy to see God, like Moses and Isaiah, or, having become lighter than his heavy flesh, has flown up to God in heaven like Enoch and Elijah (32), this is clearly the glory and honor of God; and it is established that for humans, simplicity in virtue and the highest exaltation is most profitable and salutary.

85 'Age vero et hunc ego sermonem tuae menti apponam, 86 Quomodo ad summae virtutis culmen pervenias', etc.

Come now, I will also set before your mind this discourse, the theological voice sounds forth: what is this discourse? How might you arrive at the perfection of the great virtue, which alone exists as a pure sacrifice to the One who is pure by nature? But I do not think, he says, that I have comprehended its peak as long as I am in this present life; for there is much smoke, much darkness, which is spread before the eyes of the mind by the mists of the body; but it would be desirable for me, if, after the dissipation ^D of the overshadowing cloud, having wiped away all tearful evils, I might be brought into God and into proven virtue. But what is the cause of achieving this? For it is not the gift of God alone, [God] who glorifies His own image: it was present in all men according to nature, just as the faculty of reason and susceptibility to death; otherwise, by this word, the voluntary and free will would be destroyed; nor

is ^A it a work of our intention alone—that is, of our free will—but it must be acknowledged that there is a necessity for both: my own purpose and the stronger right hand of God. For just as sight, however it may be according to its own natural state, sees things visible without the sun illuminating them (for the sun itself illuminates the sight and is the first thing seen by it), so the rational soul, even though it is self-moving, yet being strengthened by God, rises up of itself toward the practice of virtue.

*Two parts from the great God, etc.* Two parts—a first and a second—are to be understood as proceeding from God toward the attainment of virtue, while one is to be understood as being contributed by us.

*He makes me capable of good and supplies the strength.* ^B God, having made man capable of virtue and of the good, provided the seeds of the good; this is the first part. The second part provided by Him is that He bestows the power and strength to labor and the perseverance right up to the end; it is our own part to choose the good eagerly. And so, like some athlete—not altogether stripped for the race, but weighed down by the shackles of the body—I run toward the goal through the middle of the stadium, not lacking in prize or crown, and I consume my bodily limbs in efforts and struggles. And these are not the work of my own strength or intellect; rather, Christ is my breath and life, Christ is my strength and glory and riches and wondrous blessedness.

*Who [beholds] me considering and running well.* That is, he explains the consideration and the exercise; as many, therefore, as obtain the spirit and strength to be their own Christ, these are directed to the work of virtue. But as many as attempt to act by themselves without Him, these foolish men are all weak and corrupt toys, stinking as if dead by disbelief and sins, and imagining that they live in vain. If by chance, says the Theosopher, you have seen a bird flying without air, or a dolphin crawling and rolling on the ground without water, then you will also see a man running without Christ toward virtue and Christ.

*Therefore do not boast too much before me, etc.* Since, he says, without the power and cooperation of Jesus Christ you can do nothing, do not speak with pride, nor behave with haughtiness in your thoughts as if you were most prudent and most wise, nor, seeing another who is inferior in virtue, should you boastfully consider yourself to be superior to all, as if you were drawing nearer to the height of virtue. For as for the supreme peak of virtue (for this is what "goal" signifies), there is no one who can successfully attain it, no one who can step into perfection, who has not viewed the end of the struggle and the path according to Christ. Still living in the flesh, therefore, remaining within the goal, and not yet having finished the course, do not boast in proud words that you have truly attained to the life.

*Neither fear too much, nor trust too much, etc.* To fear and revere the living God is of great worth. ^C

^A for the one who struggles; for thus he will abstain from every base deed. But to be excessively elated and to stand outside oneself with regard to the contemplation of God without reverence is not safe. For this is indeed the act of one exalting himself as though he had drawn near to God; from which source not a few have turned aside into absurd heresies, because haughtiness is the cause of falls, just as hope with humility exalts; but the Lord always opposes and is angered at great pride. *Take hold of this, etc.* What he reveals through these things, I believe to be this: Take hold of one of the divine gifts of the Spirit with intellectual hands, and await another, placing it in your hope as you manage those things which are inaccessible and transcend your merit; but while fearing, withdraw from that which exceeds your worth; for this belongs to a sound mind and prudence, to know accurately the measures of one’s own life. For it is an equal evil and similarly dangerous both to despair of good things (for this is hopelessness), and to be overly bold, as if it were easy to become excellent and perfect (for this is rashness); for in both respects, missing the good, you will confirm the establishment of evil for yourself. *May the arrow always be with you, etc.* The skilled archer ^B always strives to shoot the arrow at the mark; likewise, it behooves the wrestler of virtue to always direct his pious reasoning toward its practice with good aim, so that he neither exceeds the saving commandment (for that is vainglorious), nor seems to perform it deficiently (for that is slothful). For excess and deficiency are altogether to be avoided, falling away into asymmetry; just as the arrow, whether it shoots beyond the mark of the archer, or falls within it, similarly misses what is required; thus it is in contemplation, thus it is in practice. *If you are proud ^C (36), remember from whence you came into life, etc.* Since man is a great and precious possession because of the Image and virtue, but is testified to be vain and nothing because of the body and wickedness, if—says our illustrious teacher after Christ—forgetting the earthly and fleeting nature, you are proud because of the Image, I will remind you of the earth, from whence you passed into life, and what you were before being born—that you were nothing—and what you were while still being conceived in the maternal regions; for it was a flux gradually thickening into flesh. I will also remind you what you shall be after these things; for you are altogether dust and the food of worms, having nothing more than the most wretched of the dead. But if, he says, ceasing to contemplate the loftiness (which is not yours, but belongs to your Maker), you despise yourself as one born earthly and humble yourself, I will proclaim you to be the workmanship of God; from Him you were brought forth, heavenly because of the Spirit, but earthly because of the flesh; a god not uncreated, but created; a work always memorable and irreproachable, being made incorruptible by the sufferings of Christ, and arriving at eternal glory and life. *Therefore do not indulge the flesh, etc.* Since you have been born such, at once heavenly and earthly, I do not wish, O man, for you to grant everything to the flesh; but to grant the greater portion, as to the superior part, to the spirit ^D

and do not cherish the superfluous things of life and heap up vain treasures on earth, but cleanse the temple with spiritual exercises and seek to improve it with every virtue.

156 ^A *For man is the temple of the great God, etc.* Saying that it is necessary to adorn the temple and always make it better, he immediately brings forward who this temple of God is, which the Lord has made: it is the human being who, beginning from the earth and from earthly thinking to move towards God and heaven, is raised on high through the Spirit. This, says the holy Theologian, I exhort you to keep fragrant with the sweet odor of every good work and word, and to preserve it acceptable and approved before God forever; and to always have Christ established in your mind, and to be always pure—not in appearance merely, but in reality ^B and truth—so that an onlooker might not judge you to be such merely by outward things. And take care lest, like a ship distinguished by red lead and colors or decorated with other outward beauties, which thus crosses the swelling seas; lest, I say, you also, staining yourself with the colors of virtue in such a way, and being honored and praised by the admiration of those who see you, might spend your life in hypocrisy and lie concealed. Fashion, rather, a good and sturdy ship, which you may bind together, as if with nails, using the most excellent and steadfast laws of the Spirit and the precepts and dogmas of Christ Jesus, the shipwright, so that, fleeing the waves of those who tempt you with speed and great effort, you may be able to reach the serene harbors and the safest dwellings of the Father.

145 *Let everyone strive to advance, etc.* Regarding excellence or the first rank, no statement will be issued by me, says the commentator on humility; let everyone run ahead of me and let him be preferred before God, as it may seem pleasing to Him. For it is not my desire to be first; only, let all of you in the world be subject to God, whether you be wise, whether you be powerful, whether you be rich or poor. What remains for all is that their thoughts, rising up from the earth and from the hearts of men, ^C should be fastened to Christ, the unlying and unshaken rock or foundation of truth. Especially, he told me that this is greatly to be esteemed: namely, that for one sitting on a glorious throne and leading holy peoples from earth to heaven in sacrifices, it is as perilous and dangerous to dishonor Christ with dark thoughts or works as it will be a source of good renown and glory to me when I approach God blamelessly.

*For by the measures of God, etc.* What he says seems to me to be this: namely, that according to the measure of the gift of Christ which from the beginning He distributed to those who believe, life will follow for them. And conversely: according to the measure of their life and labors, rewards will come to them from God. ^D Thus, thinking in this way and living according to this rule in the virtues, you will pass through the life in the body in a safe and pleasing manner; and not only this, but also afterwards, when this shadow-like and corruptible life of yours has been dissolved on the day of your departure, with the best preparation and guidance accompanying

you to the resting places of the blessed, to dwell forever with them in the Spirit, in Christ Jesus, for whom is the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^B

On Human Virtue, Sermon IX. Commentary on the Arcanum of the great Gregory the Theologian in distichs (40). On the Human Nature. Sermon X.

The most divinely wise one, having philosophized concerning human virtue—as much as the all-perfect wisdom, the Artificer of all things (41), has bestowed—discourses through these present verses concerning this very nature of men, mocking its corruptibility, its insignificance, and its mutability, and thus speaks:

1 *Heri mei erumnis confectus*, etc.

Yesterday and the day before, says the divinely inspired hierophant, afflicted by the sorrows, anxieties, and pains of my own soul, and isolated from everyone, I lay in a certain shady grove, my senses pained and consumed. For this is always welcome to me, as a healing remedy, when I am suffering from harsh passions, to speak quietly to myself. Light breezes, murmuring gently through the air, along with the musical birds, were singing a beautiful and pleasant song from the topmost branches; and although it was exhaling upon my soul, nevertheless, they produced a most sweet and soft sleep for me. There, he says, the cicadas too, the friends of the sun, emitting from their chests a shrill and sharp sound, resounded and filled that whole grove with their voice; cold water, flowing gently through the entire grove, bathed my feet. But my soul, nonetheless, remained inconsolable. For I was being powerfully held fast by grief, no less than before I arrived there; for there was no concern in me for those things that were charming me and seeming to soothe me. For the mind of man, burdened by many and bitter pains, no longer wishes to be comforted, nor does it hold to any human delight. And revolving and swirling within my heart with the motions of my intellect and the struggles of contrary thoughts, I reflected.

17 *Quis fuerim, quis sim, quid futurus sim, non clare perspicio*, etc.

Who, he says, have I become, having come from non-being into being? And who am I now, since I say I have been born? And what shall I become, void of purpose, after these things? For I myself do not even know clearly what the entrance to life is at the beginning, or what the path that runs from there until the end. And when I have been dissolved, what shall I become? Tell me! For I do not even know myself exactly; nor does that man who boasts that he is wiser than I. But I am covered in mind by the obstructing body and by ignorance, as if by a thick cloud, and I wander here and there, ^C cast about by foolish thoughts and having nothing firm in my understanding regarding the soul and the reflections that are being tossed about—and I remained collected.

^A

It is for me a craving to know God, but there is no one who can comprehend God. I said, “I will become wise,” and wisdom receded from me much further than it was before; and all those who contemplate these things are ever wandering in heart, to whom the deep and dark mist of this flesh settles or lies over them.

*“But he is mine,” etc.*

I know clearly, he says, that I do not know accurately any of the things that exist or are coming into being, as I ought to know; and this is my wisdom, to know that it is not possible to know anything with certainty. But anyone who thinks himself wiser than I is deceived by the lie of his soul more than others, which is the conceit of the mind, rashly and thoughtlessly belching forth fine words ^B about things it neither knows nor understands, while asserting them. He considers it thus:

*“I am. Say what this is,” etc.*

The whole purpose of the God-inspired author here is to clarify the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, saying “vanity of vanities and a pursuit of spirit are all things”; and indeed, to explain that of David, who sings that every man is vanity, and that his substance is as nothing when viewed in the presence of the One who formed him. Philosophizing with the same confidence, this one also asks: “You say that I am; add also what this 'I' is, if you can.” For all things are seen in three parts of time: in the present, clearly, and in the future, and in the past. ^C But what is past no longer exists, since it has passed by; the future is not yet present; and as for the present, it is a moment of thought and suddenly flees before the mind can contemplate it, having flown away more rapidly than a word. As time itself is, so am I, to whom one lot is attached along with time. For the order of time is the same as that of things which exist in time; as it runs, they are involved in the same course. Thus, one part of my existence has vanished with time, and another I think I possess now, and another I have assumed I shall have, if indeed I shall even exist; for I have nothing certain, nothing stable, nothing remaining, nor is it possible to see anything standing in the same state in that which is not established, nor standing, but ^D endlessly and continuously being hurried along like a turbulent river, and characterized by constant flowing.

*“Why then will you speak of me as one of these?” etc.*

Having said that human nature is associated with the present part of time, and with the past, and with the future, as having a nature innate to it and continuously flowing along with it, he says: “Why will you say that I am one of these three? As having been born? But that which is done has passed away. Or as about to come into being? But this also does not yet exist. Or as existing now? But even this does not exist; it flows by and passes on, as has been said, faster than thought. Will you then say, 'What then am I remaining?' Teach me, if the word of wisdom is in you; or learn that every man is altogether vanity, and nothing more; and now attend to me, remaining here as I speak these words, lest I escape you by slipping away in a moment of time. The example of the river will sufficiently prove the account to you. As

^A it is impossible for one crossing a river to bathe his feet twice in the same water, so neither can you see the same man, whom you first beheld, remaining unchanged when you look at him again. For, whether in his mind, changing constantly in his intentions and thoughts—like an unstable man he is observed in these—unless perhaps God, who is always, and the Word of the Lord remaining in him, manifests what is standing and permanent; or in his soul, in words and sensations, in fantasies and appetites, he is seen to be unstable and unsteady, being transformed by ceaseless motion in these things; or again, in his body, changing through movements in space, in states and habits and vitality, and always being altered, he possesses a restless changeability. Thus, in the continuity and the ever-flowing nature of time, human nature is shown to be vain; but consider it as it is viewed in its entirety or in its grosser parts in this way.

"I was formerly in the flesh," etc.

As it is written that Levi was in the loins of his father Abraham, so every man, before he is born, being conceived in the nature of his father, then passing through the intercourse into the mother who receives him, becomes the common flesh of both parents, fashioned in the maternal womb. At the beginning of this fashioning, the little mass of flesh being indistinct and unformed, it cannot be called either mortal or a human being; it is something shameful, without features or beauty, lacking both speech and mind. For where would these be in the embryo being held as in a tomb in the maternal womb? For it is contained in this as in a grave; wherefore he adds: ^B "Twice-buried, living toward corruption," saying this in a tone of lamentation and pitying. For as if coming out of a tomb from the maternal recesses, though we are alive, we travel toward corruption, which is our second tomb and the dissolution of the coagulated body. And the path we have run, he says, the life we have seemed to live in the world with the body, is considered by me as nothing but a squandering of years and a draining—or passing away—of time; and this brings upon me an aging filled with sorrow and toil. Such is this fragile life, starting from a tomb and ending at a tomb. But if another age, and a life incorruptible and indissoluble, as it is written, receives me there when I am released from the body, consider, O man, the divine herald says, lest perhaps this which appears to be life should have as its end passing and death, and the end of the present life should become for you a way and a cause of immortal life, far differently than you think. For you indeed suspect that he who is dying is utterly lost, but he who is to be released from this life, having lived most excellently, shall pass over to the true life.

"I am nothing," etc.

Having demonstrated the nature of man to be vain and of no value, and his substance to be as if it were nothing, he henceforth frets over the pains and calamities coming upon man, saying: "I am nothing,"

^A and why am I oppressed, being abundantly worn down by so many evils, as if I were a well-constructed, valid, and robust entity? For just as with God and the celestial beings, that which concerns essence, power, the glory on high, and blessedness is indissoluble and immutable, so too for human nature it is indissoluble, inherent, and immutable to be wretched and to be perpetually pressed by one life-calamity after another, and by toils. From the moment when I first issued from the womb of my mother and fell upon the earth, I shed tears from my eyes; for this to me is truly a manifest sign and a testimony of how many and how great are the lamentable things and evils I am to encounter, in that I shed tears from my eyes before I have even tasted life.

*“A certain land, free...”* and so forth. He says there is a land and an island in which the race of wild beasts does not live, and there is a scorched place to which cold night does not approach; yet no one will boast that he has escaped hence unscathed and untamed by the hardships and toils of life. But he enumerates certain hardships of the wretched life of men and says: There is debility and poverty, various bodily infirmities and a lack of the necessities of life, childbirth and sad fate, or the pains of those giving birth and of those consuming themselves in the upbringing of their offspring, ^B hatred and envy toward one’s neighbor, and unjust and wicked men who seize the means of living from the needy, and in the manner of wild beasts in the sea and upon the land consume the miserable, and bring upon men all this life, full of toil and overflowing with sorrows.

*“Pains indeed, and altogether...”* and so forth. What he says is this: Of the evils and hardships spoken of among men, I have observed many that are altogether joyless and sorrowful, and possess no accompanying consolation; and of the goods named in life, I have beheld none that is entirely free from pain, since the time when the deadly tasting from the tree and the envy of the man-slayer brought upon me the bitter and harsh punishment of the transgression.

*“To thee, then, O flesh, things difficult to heal...”* and so forth. Unto thee, O flesh, who art difficult to heal and perhaps incurable, these things are said by us: for I use thee as a pleasant enemy who is always warring; an enemy who is always a hostile, pleasing flesh—sometimes cooperating with me for good, but ordinarily prone to the abyss of evils. ^C Thou seemest to me like a wild beast fawning upon me flatteringly, yet sometimes biting bitterly; and I will liken thee to a fire that warms, but at the same time cools vehemently; which is unusual, and therefore all the more astonishing if, perchance, in the end thou shouldst become entirely favorable to me and grant peace. To thee, therefore, O flesh, let these things be said, but unto thy soul, too, the appropriate things shall be spoken.

*“Who? whence? or what art thou?”* and so forth. Who and whence and what art thou according to nature, say if thou canst; who fashioned thee as one carrying a corpse, or carrying a body? Who bound thee, burdened on every side and tied to the earth with strong chains ^D of life? How art thou commingled? How

art thou joined, being a spirit, to the weight of the body? How, being a mind, didst thou submit to be joined to flesh? And being light, how dost thou bear such a load? For these things, being opposites, struggle against one another like enemies.

69 *Quod si cum carnibus sata in vitam venisti, etc.* Having addressed the flesh first, and then the soul, as the man inspired by God ought to address them, he converses again with the soul about its own generation and its commingling with the body, being himself inspired by God. "If," he says, "at the same time as the body, thou too, O soul, wast interwoven and cast together into the maternal womb, and thus didst pass into this life, alas for our union, which has perished through long time! For while thinking and boasting that I am an image of God, I am rendered a son of shameful and ignoble procreation. I am ashamed, therefore, to call or suspect the mother of honor—I mean the image—of having the unbridled desire of the flesh; yet with pious affection and trembling, I fear to mention the infusion of the soul’s mother, because it is sown with corruption, coagulated into the body of a mortal, who is now seen as a mortal being created, but afterwards is no longer mortal, but dust, destined to be the end. If, therefore, O soul, thou wert sown together in the flesh, beware lest thou also perish together with it."

*Si vero caelestis tu… et seq.* "If, however," he says, "thou art indeed heavenly, O soul, thou hast not been sown in common with the body, just as thou art not of the same nature (for how couldst thou be? Since the one is clay and was fashioned out of clay, whereas thou boastest of being of a heavenly and incorruptible nature), then unfold to us from whence thou didst spring. If thou art a breath or spirit of God, and a lot, or rather a portion and share, as thou thinkest, then cast away all wickedness of injustice and evil, and I will agree. For it is not permitted for a portion or emanation of the good and the pure to be evil by nature, or to exist, even in the slightest way, in the participation of filth. For neither is darkness a work of the sun, nor did a light-bearing spirit or a good-working spirit go forth from an evil and dark spirit; for like things naturally beget like. How then, O soul, dost thou, by the evil assaults of the Wicked one, so far turn aside and depart from right reason and the good, even though, as thou sayest, thou art commingled with a heavenly and good spirit? For if, having such an assistant, thou art so weighed down toward the earth and thus incline toward that which is worse, what wouldst thou be if deprived of help? Alas for this utterly destructive wickedness, which is disposed in a way that admits no fellowship with the good!"

*Si non a Deo tu mihi, et seq.* "If thy nature and substance, O soul, be not heavenly and from the God who is above the heavens, then a very great fear, and agony, and terror steals over me, lest I be puffed up by empty illusions, and be lifted up by pride, boasting in vain that I am a creature and image of God."

87 *Figmentum Dei paradisus, Eden, etc.* Having said that the soul is heavenly, as a creature of the God who is above the heavens, and therefore helped by Him, he says certain things among

the greatest of His aids which He performed for it. ^A First, therefore, He planted the paradise in Eden for the soul of man; and first He poured upon it glory and splendor, having fashioned it according to His own image and likeness; then He gave it a commandment as an aid, by the observance of which the hope of immortality and deification was promised. But when transgression had been committed, and the one who had transgressed had slipped thence into this restless, sin-abounding, and mortal life, even then the lover of mankind did not overlook him without aid, but by different ways of instruction, both more general and more specific, He pursued the impieties and the acts done unworthily against Him by the impious according to justice, and thus little by little He guided them toward the knowledge of Himself; and He flooded the world with water and surrendered it to destruction, and with lightning-bearing fire-bolts He reduced to ashes the licentiousness of the Sodomites. Then, after these things, another remedy—that is to say, help—for those who sin, the written law, was introduced through Moses. ^B The strongest of all, most worthy of the Lord, and breathing piety toward humanity, He Himself in the fullness of time, the only-begotten Son of God, the Word, not leaving the bosom of the Father, joined the divine nature to the human, enclosing Himself entirely according to the hypostasis in the whole human nature ineffably, so that remaining God impassible, yet suffering in my passions according to His human part, He might provide me with strength and power, and might make me, a mortal, a god, having perfected me. Therefore, says the soul illuminated by God and revealing divine things, although I have such benefits provided to me by the best lover of the good, and although I have a soul that is most powerful and illustrious, yet, after the manner of those who are as if raging to kill themselves, rushing with willing heart onto the iron, we hasten headlong to the death that threatens us on account of sin.

What life-good is the light of God? etc.

What is it that is testified as good in this life? ^C You will unanimously answer: the light. For, he says, God saw the light, that it was good; and what else could be better or more pleasant among those things that are in life? But the envious and hateful darkness deprives the greater part of me from participating in or enjoying it, obscuring the sharpness of my vision, nor does more of this light remain for me, even if I am considered to live piously. Rather, indeed, a greater light seems to be seen among the impious, whence it prays that I, dull of sight, might attain the same success of vision as them, even though on the other side I struggle and am burdened by infirmity and am sickly and lying down and faint-hearted: but the fear of God bows me down, being consumed and troubled day and night by thoughts.

He, proud and arrogant, thrust me backward, etc.

^D That proud, lofty, soft, and cruel life, languid in pleasures, treading upon everything and checking my propensity for progress, thrusts me backward. I said, he says, both the fears and the terrors and the tremblings by which you are tormented, the dark Tartarus,

and the place of Hades, ^A devoid of light, it prepares to abound with phantasms; the fiery rivers, too, which the Greeks record, and which the divine oracles call Gehenna and unquenchable fire, and the scourges besides them — I mean the punishments, and the retributions, and the demons, which I consider to be punishing powers, the executioners of our souls, which have cooperated with us recently in sin, but in the time of judgment justly punish those which have followed their suggestions; and they themselves shall be punished twice over along with those who are liable, ^B as they have both advised things hateful to God and participated in them, which is why they are called the executioners of our souls. All these things, he says, are termed a myth and are set down as a subject for laughter by the impious; for they love and cling solely to what is present, considering it sweet and desirable, and they take no account of the torment indicated in their hopes.

«Melius erat sontibus,» etc. I think that by this verse the god-bearing man signifies that it were better and more advantageous for sinners to be unpunished in the life to come, and not to have experience of the torment there, if only I, in the present life, were not vexed and grieved by the difficulties of wickedness. ^C Or thus: It is advantageous for the guilty who have been released from sin to pass on immune from torments, rather than for me to be left miserable in the evils of life.

109 Sed quid mihi, quid tantopere necesse est mortalium ærumnas canere? etc. Meditating consolations amidst the adversities and the pains of the body, the most holy priest says: Why, he says, should I lament the sad things of men with such great words and recount the miseries that oppress them? 109 «Omnibus adest afflictio:» for all living creatures and all things that are contained in the world, affliction and opposition occur, and not only to these, but also to incorporeal beings. ^D Even against the incorporeal and transcendent Trinity itself, there rises up that which is contrary and opposing: for if I pass over the corruption of other living things, the earth itself in its elements does not remain unshaken or entirely without agitation and rest; but spirits secretly invade it, and whenever it receives the gift from above, they agitate it, and, as if it pleases the One who permits it, they set it in motion; and the seasons of the year, swiftly withdrawing and departing from one another, are in a certain way overturned by one another, winter being dissolved by summer through the mediation of spring, and summer again disappearing through the autumn in between; just as day is ended by night, and night is destroyed by the rising dawn; again: Winter, coming on, darkens the air and casts shadows, the sun shining causes the stars to grow dim, and a cloud coming upon the sun breaks its radiance; the moon, waning and inclining toward full old age, again its life grows, and like one newly born it contemplates light; and

indeed, this starry heaven itself is never seen in its entirety, but is always observed half-visible, and is hidden by the hemisphere. And the visible elements of the world are transformed in this manner; and you yourself, he says, you bewitching dragon, O father of envy and root and fountain of sin, and you, O Satan, murderer of men, in the angelic choirs, just as among the stars appearing as a morning star, shining most brightly, then because of pride becoming darkness, you slipped away from the heavenly dwellings as a disgrace, as an abomination. And let these things concerning the created nature stand thus; but what of the uncreated and unbegotten Trinity, and in regard to its own nature, unchangeable and immovable; has it, too, entirely precluded every contradiction? But be propitious to me, be propitious, O holy or most holy Trinity, says your most holy and pious one, calling upon divine things, for not even you have entirely escaped the babbling of foolish men. For some reckless ones, wrongly conceited, say: In the beginning was the Father, then he begot the great Son, then the Spirit of the great God, as if there were an inequality of degrees, according to a change of substance. Thus is it diversely blasphemed by the heretics. ^A *Where will you take me, or to where will you carry me?* and so forth. O most evilly speaking tongue, you who employ your leisure for impiety and blasphemy—to where will you take me, or where will you stand away from these things badly spoken? Where anxiety and great perplexity of thoughts shall stand; stop and restrain your irrational impulses, place a guard upon your mouth and see how much God surpasses all things by the firmness of His essence; and set all lower things before His majesty, acknowledging yourself unworthy of the Word of Truth; and beware lest in any way you liken the Creator to creatures, or suspect that man was created in vain: for chanting a palinode and the earlier songs, in these words I firmly persist, arguing that I by no means was fashioned by God in vain. For the word and ratiocination is one of human pusillanimity and baseness. For now, indeed, he says, the darkness of ignorance and the cloud of the anxieties of life that has spread about does not allow the truth and the cause of the change and mutation of things to be clearly contemplated: but after these things, the word of knowledge, like light, arises for those desiring the truth, by whose light, he says, you will clearly understand how beautifully and wisely all things are governed by the Governor and Provider of all. Either by seeing God as light, having in Him the notions of things illuminated for yourself, or by being consumed and touched by this fire, you will know that all things are done by Him, and are just and true and useful and faithful. ^B *While my spirit was chanting these things to me,* and so forth. While my spirit, chanting such ratiocinations in that aforementioned grove, was soothing me—prostrate and afflicted—and was refreshing my tranquil body, I, he says, rising late after an hour from the garden, was returning into the house: and sometimes it chanced that I laughed if anyone should think otherwise than I said above: for anyone thinking otherwise does not follow the ratiocinations of the one and primary Truth, nor has he stability and security in them. Now, therefore, pitying the blindness of such men

yet at the same time I was burning in my soul with grief; for my laughter was not an unmixed laughter after the manner of Democritus, but after the manner of Jesus, the Lover of mankind and the Author of true philosophy. Thus, I returned, my mind being valiantly engaged and divided between the laughter and the grief in the ratiocinations of my thoughts. By this philosophy do Thou, Christ Jesus, vouchsafe to us also, through Thy Theologian, and having bound us with the same ratiocinations, discourses, and dogmas, and having perfected us, make us partakers of Thy truth and divine wisdom unto the ages. Amen.

Discourse V on Human Nature. Exposition of the Arcana, or poems, of the great Gregory the Theologian: On the vileness of the exterior man and the vanity of present things, Discourse XI.

Since our most philosophical author has already discoursed ^C upon human nature according to the things previously set forth, he now, by thinking lightly of the miseries, vilenesses, and calamities that accompany it, humbles the swelling pride of those who are high-minded, and thus emphatically deplores their nothingness, saying: *What was I born? Who am I? etc.*

The most perspicacious poet, having pondered upon human nature—which is always passing, mutable, and subject to change—and groaning over its own most vile and feeble lot, takes it ill and says: "O me! Who was I in the beginning? And who am I now? And what shall I be after no long time? And where will it finish, and where will this great work of Thine, O Master, stand—if indeed it is great?" For, as the teacher says, it seems to me that we men are nothing, and that we are puffed up in vain, if we are only that which is visible to the many, and have nothing more than a life that is flowing and hastening to corruption.

*The calf, indeed, etc.*

By many examples, he shows the life of men to be more miserable than that of beasts, wild animals, and even birds. He says: The calf, indeed, when it has emerged from the womb of the one that bore it, at once leaps upon the earth, and at once sucks and presses the sweet teat of its mother; and when it has reached its third year, it takes up the yoke, and dragging a heavy and unbearable burden, it has joined to its own sturdy neck—that is, its throat—a great carriage, I mean the yoke placed upon it: and thus it fares. But a dappled fawn, when it has slipped out from the mother’s womb, immediately places its own foot beside the foot of its mother, and when hunters appear from somewhere, the newborn creature immediately flees with its mother, avoiding savage dogs and the swiftest course of horses, and hides itself in the hollows of a thicket. Likewise, bears, wild boars, lions, panthers, and ^D tigers—creatures comparable in the swiftness of their feet to the winds—as soon as they are born, have scarcely seen iron, when their hair bristles and their manes rise along their whole neck, and suddenly they rush upon those who wish to hunt them. And these, indeed...

from infancy thus leap upon powerful hunters.

The bird without feathers, etc.

But what of birds? Have they not obtained a life much lighter and freer from hardships than men? For as soon as they have broken the eggs, while still featherless, after no long time they put on wings and fly high aloft into the air from their dwelling. And the very bee, celebrated for its yellow color, leaves the rock in which it had stayed; it flits about the open fields among the flowers, gathers what is suitable, prepares a home adapted for itself, and with ineffable wisdom joins and fits together hexagonal tubes with wax—weaving them into the combs—and fills its house with most sweet fruit. All these things, he says, are the work of a single spring. And for all animals, food is provided automatically and without labor from the earth, and it is abundant; and beasts do not weary themselves with journeys across the sea for the sake of food, as men do, nor do they till the earth, nor are they provided with overseers of their sustenance to transport or store up provisions, nor do cupbearers mix wine in goblets. The wing by which the bird flies here and there brings to the winged creature suitable, abundant, and appropriate food without labor. But even as regards the beasts themselves, the recesses of the woods, the slopes of the mountains, and the thickets provide daily sustenance to those that labor but a little. They say even of the lion, the great beast, that if it has immediately devoured a large prey, it disdains to eat what was left over for the morrow; though sometimes it happens that it voraciously devours what was stored from the day before and avidly gulps down drink, thus bringing temperance to its belly. Indeed, the life of animals is less ^A arduous than that of men, because for them their house—whether a rock or a branch—is always at hand and easy of access, and these are good and healthy, solid and safe, beautiful and pleasant houses; and when a disease happens to overcome them, they depart life placidly and without lamentation. For others do not stand around them mourning with tearful and sorrowful dirges, nor do they cut off their hair, as is the custom for men at the death of friends; and, what can scarcely be expressed, beasts depart from life without trembling and without fear, dreading no threats of judgment or punishment.

Look upon the miserable race of men, etc.

Since, he says, the habits mentioned have been observed in irrational animals, it remains for us to consider with what evils the deplorable figure of humanity is afflicted, so that before the sight of the creator you yourself might say that the earth sustains nothing weaker, nothing more miserable than man. The first demonstration of this baseness, therefore, is that in the beginning it exists as a coagulation of conception, and is brought forth and nourished by its mother subject to many sorrows; then the mother carries it about ^B held in her arms while it is being suckled, as though it were a sweet burden clinging to the infant; soon, when it is placed on a bed, it is bowed down with groans, pressed by pains; then, like quadrupeds, upon its hands...

and crawl upon the ground with my feet; rising again from there and attempting to step with trembling feet, through fear of falling, I stretch out my hands and grope. Furthermore, the traces of a human spirit are shown in the babblings of a faltering, ill-articulated tongue; afterward, speech is corrected in the child, not without tears—the tears of his very guardians—as he passes through the first and second years of his tender age, beginning to be clearly manifested. ^B

*Vicesimum attingens annum fortitudinem collegi, etc.* Scarcely, he says, having reached my twentieth year, I gathered the strength befitting a man; and just as an athlete appearing in the theater of life, I encountered many, and as great as possible, labors and hardships rushing to meet me. One affliction, while it crushes you in the present, is placed upon you; another, indeed, flees away along with time; and as for others, O soul, know for certain that as you pass through life, you will meet with hardships yet to come. For you pass through life as if through the course of a river that forcefully carries you away. And again, you either consent to the one dragging you along, or, as a certain wave of the sea, constrained, it thus snatches and tears away—a wave that is again and again troubled and swollen by the gusts of winds. ^C Much, therefore, says the teacher, are we tempted by following our own foolishness and mindlessness, when, clearly, we are consumed by serving senseless and harmful desires; and the Adversary, out of envy and malice, devises the greatest number of difficulties for our turning toward God and for our life according to Christ.

*Etenim si omnia bona omniaque vitæ mala* *Appenderis, etc.* If, therefore, says the orator according to the truth, you were to weigh the good things of this life against the sorrowful as if in a balance, the scale of evils, pressed down by their weight, would be carried to the earth, while the scale of good and pleasant things, lightened, would be carried up aloft toward heaven. Thus speaking, he calculates by species, first the sorrowful: strife and battles for those of a warlike manner; the sea and dangers for those sailing; plowing and fatigue for farmers; and for merchants and those desiring to be rich, treacherous men and robbers attend them. And for those who delight in loud shouting and many possessions, tax-collectors and those imposing duties and levying tribute-taxes appear, whom you can in no way bend. ^D He subjoins also that for those who apply themselves to books and studies of eloquence, it happens that they are to be feared, and there are calumniators; there is also an unjust judge and a ruler who does not pronounce causes rightly. And these are indeed the wretched playthings of a miserable life, by which foolish men are kept occupied in this age. It is worth considering also what the pleasant things are: gluttony and the filling of the belly—and this is also heavy and difficult to tolerate; songs and laughter—another plaything; glittering structures of tombs—they themselves are seen to be full of the stenches of the dead; little gifts offered for amorous pursuits, and nuptial presents, and dowry, and marriage, and—often—a second one, once the first has been severed by...

^A death. These are followed by adulteries and hunters of adulteresses. For children are a suspicious anxiety to their parents; for parents are always suspecting and agonizing lest any evil should befall their children; and beauty, while lovable, is ^B untrustworthy, for it is always suspect to its possessor. Disgrace, on the other hand, is indeed unsuspected and free from fear, yet it is hateful. Furthermore, parents are always full of cares and anxieties regarding their children's upbringing, wondering how they might live well, while griefs and pains follow upon misfortune. Wealth and poverty, moreover, are two evils by nature: wealth becomes an insolence to one who uses it ill, while poverty is tribulation and constant labor. These things, and indeed all human affairs, are like a ball, he says, that is tossed back and forth by the hands of youths, sent from one to another and rolling away.

75 Therefore, looking upon these things, I am tortured in my mind, if anyone 76 Deems that there is more good than evil.

These things all, says the admirable Theologian, ^C contemplating in his mind, and that there are far more sad things in human life than pleasant, because even those things which seem most delightful have more cause for pain than of those things which are vainly called good: seeing these things, I am consumed in my mind concerning those who believe that those things are best in which evil outweighs good, and the painful outweighs the pleasant. You, then, whoever you are, Gregory argues with you, do you not weep hearing how many ^D painful things have befallen the ancients? For I do not know, he says, whether you will weep or laugh when hearing those things which the two ancient men, philosophers and learned, were pleased to do and act—of whom one always wept, Heraclitus that is, while the other, Democritus, incessantly laughed—inasmuch as they judged those things which most people pursue with zeal worthy, in truth, of tears and laughter. And indeed, how could they not have groaned over or judged worthy of lamentation or laughter things which were actually done and suffered? The Achaeans and Trojans marching against one another, and for a long time slaughtering one another for the sake of one harlot, Helen; the Curetes and Aetolians fighting over a head and pig's bristles and undoing one another; and there the great glory of the Aeacidae, I mean Ajax and Achilles, but even those famous men, of whom one, in the midst of his enemies, killed himself with his own maddened hand, and the other perished, having been brought low by lechery. What, then, of the famous son of Amphitryon, Hercules, the all-subduer, who surpassed both beasts and men in strength? Even he, as they say, having put on a poisoned tunic, was vanquished, consumed from within. And what of the Cyrus and Croesus kings, I say, of the Persians and Lydians? But not only these, but also those who, just yesterday and the day before, were kings of the Romans and our own—who has escaped the hateful fate?

^A But even thee, he says, O Alexander, who boastest to be the son of a dragon, because thou art considered invincible and insuperable in strength, even thee, after thou hadst traversed almost the whole earth, did wine, when drunk without measure, overwhelm! And what more do dead kings have than the poor? To all there is one dust, to all a similar and equal skeleton; the bones are bare alike to the hero son of Atreus, and to Irus, who lived by scanty and begged bread. Even the great Constantine himself, he says, and the servant who waits upon me, and whoever is poor or whoever is rich and possesses great wealth, all of them when they die have nothing else, nor anything more, than the tomb. 97 And these things indeed are so in this life; but as for those in the other, who could ^B declare them?

"How many things in life in this world, while we are with the body, are painful and pleasant—such they are, to speak generally, and thus do they exist. But who, he says, could declare the things reserved in the other world for the unjust, which the final day, when it is revealed, will display? For there is a fire that consumes, that is to say, one that is fearful, and a Gehenna is threatened, and outer darkness for those who are removed and who fall far from the light; there also is the sleepless worm, a reminder of our wickedness and the prick and accusing bite of the conscience."

"Better if life," etc. ^C It would have been better for thee, and more profitable, O thou who art liable to that punishment, if thou hadst not entered upon the ways that lead to this life. It would have been good for thee not to have been born at the beginning, or having been born and having finished one's life, to be dissolved and die just like wild beasts or cattle, rather than to be afflicted in this life with such great evils and afterwards, in turn, to receive even worse things than these here, in that the former are expected to have an end, but the latter bring an unending penalty to those being punished. Where, for me, again says the divinely-inspired one, is the great glory of the first-created man, that he was fashioned by the hand of God and according to His image and likeness, and that this perished through the single tasting of a forbidden tree? And where is the wisdom of Solomon and the glory of his prudence? Even he has been ^D subdued and disgraced by women. And where is Judas, who once completed the number of the twelve Apostles? But even he, for the sake of a little gain, exchanged it for eternal darkness.

"Christ the King," etc. I beseech thee, says the divinely-inspired one, O blessed Christ and King of all, straightway now raise up or deliver me from the calamities of life, and grant healing to thy servant; for this alone is the good that is truly such, and is firm for men, subsisting from thee—the hope of the heavenly kingdom, in which cause me, even if breathing but a little, to live, by granting that which is hoped for. But as for the other desirable and lovely things of life, of which there is much surfeit, much superabundance, and overflow, all that is tossed about on earth among men and is desired and sought after, being cast and shifting from one to another—all these I desire to leave behind, all these I pray to relinquish, such as that which is called fatherland upon earth, and that same strange and foreign region, and the thrones [about which...]]

and the honor that comes from being away from the throne, that is to say, the boast and glory in their abdication; likewise those who are near by kindred and those who are strangers, those who are reputed pious and the impious, those who are simple and guileless in mind and manifest, and those who are hidden and treacherously working evil—I pray to become superior to them all, both to those who cast an unenvious and kindly eye upon us, and to those who waste away with envy, with malice destructive to themselves even unto death, harboring inward sentiments against us.

For others, the pleasant things of life, etc.

Weariness of these; another life for me, etc.

What life? etc.

^C It seems to be like a river flowing perpetually and always returning from what is behind, constantly agitated and having nothing stable, showing no part of itself as solid. My whole life is to be reckoned as dust, blinding my eyes and casting darkness upon my intelligence, so that I fall far from the splendors of God, and like the blind, I grope along walls, and thus wandering here and there in my reasonings, I fail of the great life in Christ.

I will venture a certain allegory, and so forth.

It occurs to me to utter a certain daring account—true, however—and for this reason I venture to declare that man is God’s plaything ^D; and such as was practiced among some in the cities of old. For they used to prepare masks of rich and poor, kings and generals, philosophers and commoners, men and women alike; and coming forth in theaters and scenes, those who had rehearsed these things would put them on, and acting out before all the performance as they had previously practiced it, and carefully, as far as possible, according to the history of the ancients, demonstrating sufficient mimicry in their drama, thus, when the attire was removed from them, they would appear as each of them really was, and depart home. In the same way, then, in life, each practices a different pursuit, to which their nature is inclined, and like one on a stage or in a theater displays through mimicry the action of virtue or vice that pertains to them; but when the form of this world is removed by death, suddenly all appear as they are by nature, and thus, naked of all concealment, they depart from here and go to their destined place. Such is the life of miserable mortals; and those to whom the hope of this vain and dreamlike world is lovely and much coveted—those who for a short time of life take their fill of what are called riches, pleasures, delicacies, and glories—let them play and be played with.

But I, having embraced Christ, etc.

Those who indeed mind earthly things, and tenaciously pursue fleeting things, let them travel the path that pleases them in the manner described. But I—the Christ-bearing soul says—having embraced the love of Christ, I will never cease, adding bond to bond, until, being loosed from this fleshly life, I am completely fastened to the highest of objects of desire. For being twofold in nature, earthly and at once heavenly, I have a body fashioned from the earth from here, and therefore, because of this its own kinship, it longs and inclines toward the earth; but the soul, being an emanation of the Spirit of God and a more excellent part, holds the desires of divine things as if they were its own, and always burns with the longing for spiritual and heavenly goods.

As a stream of a fountain, and so forth.

As a stream of water leaping from a fountain runs naturally downward to the slope, and fire burning...

^A immutably knows its own way as it surges upward, so too does the great man who thinks more of the things of God than of the things of the body; he would even be an angel if, like a serpent, casting off as it were the spotted skin of old age—that is, the filth of his passions—along the narrow and constrained way, and well scraping it off and renewing his spiritual youth, he might thus complete his ascent to the heavens without in any way looking back.

O priests, be astonished, etc.

Who am I? Whence have I come into life? etc.

^A *Riches are faithless, and the throne is the summit of dreams.* ^B Faithless indeed are riches, because they are not permanent, nor always at hand for those who possess them, but frequently, having unexpectedly abandoned those who trust in them, they flow off to others; and the throne and petty glory are like a dream’s summit. For empty opinion and vain conceit are proclaimed by subjects, mocking the mind of the ruler up to a point and making him proud; and it turns him away from right reason. Then, as if awakened from the dreams of slumber and the fantasies of rule, he finds nothing, according to Scripture, in his hands. This, then, is ruling according to the worldly deviation; but to be ruled is, in turn, toil, fatigue, and labor. And as for poverty, who does not know it to be a bitter servitude, a prison, and an agonizing bond? What, then, is the beauty of the body? A small and slight grace, this is a flash of lightning, passing by and fleeing the eyes of the beholder faster than a word. What is youth? What is old age? Is not the former a ferment of time, shining forth on the young like a flower that easily fades, while old age is the setting of life, or rather the withering of the blossom of youth? ^C But even words, he says, are winged, in the manner of wings because they flow and fly away most quickly; and for what reason does the air exist as glory to them? For this, nature being transparent and permeable to odors, transmits light and all colors to the sight, and all odors to the organ of smell; so also, the air, being resonant to the hearing, transmits discourse and every voice and sound. And those who are called noble, and what is nobility other than old blood that has been honored as stale and temporal? ^D And the strength and power of the flesh, this has become the boast of a wild boar; and authority, when it is insulting, becomes an occasion of warring against God for those who use it unskillfully. Marriage is a bond and an alienation from natural freedom; and excellent offspring is a necessary and unavoidable concern, while wretched offspring is sadness and a disease of the soul not to be relieved by comfort. And again, the marketplaces are exercises and anxieties of malice, while pursuits in quiet and solitude are weaknesses and want. Again, the crafts consist of those who are overly humble and groveling, food begged from a neighbor is narrow, just as it is very shameful to play the parasite; and plowing the earth and farming abound in fatigue and sweat, while seafaring is most dangerous, and the life of those who sail is mostly close to Hades. ^A *Patria is a pit, and a foreign land is a reproach.* What more to these things said? What is sweeter or more lovable to men than their fatherland? But even it, he says, becomes a specific pit, or trench, in which is trampled and held in contempt even he who appears very zealous toward it, betrayed by the rivalry and envy of neighbors; but also, let one live in a strange and foreign land, he has not escaped reproach. Thus all things, to speak once, which are considered lovable and desirable among men, result in vanity and evil occupation, according to Ecclesiastes. For as if

^A dissolved, they are mocked as corruptible; and as a phantom, because of their deceitful and illusory nature; and as dew, because of their being easily dried up or short-lived; a breath, for appearing to refresh for but a little while; a wing, for their flight and sudden escape; a vapor, for appearing for a short time and then vanishing all the more quickly; and in addition to these, a dream, because the boastings of men are unstable, without substance, and empty. In the Scriptures, these things are mocked and held in low esteem, and are compared to the waves of the sea, the currents of rivers, the tracks of a ship sailing across the sea, the gusts of winds, and dust, because of their ever-flowing, unsteady, untrustworthy, and unstable nature, in the judgment of true wisdom. For life is a circle, ever-moving and ever-turning, rolling all things together and in like manner, standing still and yet running, just as some philosophize that the heaven above us moves—being loose and yet solid, inasmuch as it stands firm in its revolving course. For in this they stand and are bound together, in that they are dissolved and moved through the seasons of the year, which bring some things at one time and others at another, in the same way consuming and ever bringing to fruition, and in the days and nights changing or renewing each thing through labors and toils, through diseases and deaths, through falls and prosperous journeys, through humiliations and sorrows, through exaltations and joys.

^B *And this, O Generator of your wisdom, O Word, etc.*

And this, O Father and Word, was worthy of your wisdom and providence: that all things of the body which are objects of desire in this world be unstable, easily overturned, and insecure, so that, recognizing this and looking upon those things, we might in spirit embrace the longing for the good things that are steady and remain firmly with You. Everything, says the inspired writer, I have examined with the wings of the mind according to its kind, as many things as have been philosophized upon by those of old and those more recent; and I have seen nothing more miserable than the miseries of men—that is, nothing more wretched or more laborious than human life. In these matters, the one who is truly spiritual, despising and holding in low regard the carnal mind, the Theologian magnifies and exalts the thoughts of the Spirit, which are worthy of God: the signs of which are to take up the cross of Christ and to follow behind Him in tribulations and toils; to be melted by hope in God with tears and groanings, and to trust in the splendors of the heavenly Trinity; and to be released from the earthly mind through the purity and incorruption of the image, and to live a life estranged from human life, exchanging human things for heavenly things. This is that which is stable for the good man, and true and firm in Christ Jesus, the Author of all good things. Amen.

^C *Concerning the worthlessness and vanity of present things, Discourse XI.*

*Explanation of the Arcanorum (Secret Hymns) of the Great Gregory the Theologian (68). Beatitudes and definitions of the spiritual life. Discourse XII.*

Having lamented and looked down upon human affairs, and having devalued all the delights of this age as unstable and easily overturned, in which the mind of the ^D

^A one struggling against God proudly contends, the most blessed preacher of the evangelical law, through these poems now set before us, illuminates the chapters of the truth and the glory of the Spirit that abides forever, and [his] strength. In truth, with thoughts and voice in harmony with the most sovereign Jesus, he blesses those living or about to live in truth (whom Christ himself, at the beginning of the Gospel, also blessed), while establishing for himself, in these days of the world and of the body, the standards of a truly spiritual and perfect life, that he might show himself both a doer and a teacher of the Lord’s commandments. By these things, he who is called the Great is clearly characterized in the kingdom of heaven. Let us then look, with elegant language, at this evangelical theology.

Blessed is he who lives in solitude, etc.

^B This man, to me, appears first blessed; this Gregory, who is most blessed by God, declares in God-inspired verses. Having withdrawn from the vain life of men, and leading a life unmixed and uncommuned with the impious and sinners, he deified his own mind with pure longings and conversations toward God. Blessed, too, is he who, while moving among men in body and place, has, by the constancy of his mind, achieved the solitary life, and, having become estranged from foul practices, has joined his whole heart to God through prayer. Blessed is he who, in exchange for all the possessions or wealth he once ^C had, acquired Christ, and left for himself as his only possession the cross, by which he also lives, and taking it up upon his shoulders on high, follows the Crucified without looking back. Blessed also is he who, being lord of goods that have come to him cleanly and justly, imitates the philanthropic hand of God, being a cheerful and generous giver to the needy, and proving himself faithful in what belongs to another, and is praised as a prudent steward. In addition to these, blessed is he who has imitated the virginal and celibate manner of the most blessed ones; who, having cast off every passion and luxury of the flesh, have, through the mortification of its passions, come near to the holy Divinity in spirit. ^D Blessed also is this man, who, after those others, while yielding for a short while to the customs and laws of marriage, and having fulfilled the duty of procreation, has sacrificed the greater part of his love to Christ. Blessed is he who, having received the authority and power of the people through the guidance of the divine hierarchy, reconciles men to Christ through most holy and sacred rituals and renders the Savior propitious. Blessed also is he who, while not holding the office of shepherd or father, yet as a child of the Church and most noble of the flock, as having obtained the place of rank and being a guide to those beneath him, is a most perfect alumnus of Christ. Furthermore, in addition to the things mentioned, truly blessed and to be envied is he who, with the ardors and impulses of a most pure and chaste mind—that is, with intellectual contemplations—is illuminated by the beauties and splendors of the supercelestial and ineffable things of the Trinity.

^A and is illuminated. Blessed, moreover, is he who, through virtuous action and the active keeping of the commandments, labors decisively with his hands and honors the King of all, Christ himself, by his deeds, and is set up as a standard and example of the spiritual life for many.

21. *All these are the fullness of the celestial winepresses, etc.*

All the kinds of souls that are called blessed, says the divine Pedagogue, are destined to fill those celestial cellars and storehouses—that is, the mansions with God which the Father has prepared for the reception of the fruits of our souls—with a virtue that leads from one to another mansion and rest; for there are many prepared mansions for the many ways of living worthy of God.

*Blessed is he whom poor, etc.*

From there, he briefly runs through the beatitudes according to the Gospel, saying that he is blessed whom the Holy Spirit has shown to be poor in passions—that is, free from passions—for theirs, assuredly, is the kingdom of heaven. Second, the discourse calls him blessed who spends his whole present life mourning with praiseworthy tears, and walks about abject and humbled; for he shall be deemed worthy to obtain consolation from above. Besides these, blessed is he who hungers insatiably for celestial food, or righteousness, because he shall be filled with it. Furthermore, whoever trains himself to live in gentleness, mildness, and sweetness according to the meekness of Jesus and the humility of his heart is blessed, as one who is an heir to the great goods of the celestial and incorruptible land. Moreover, blessed is he who, in his own inward parts, nourishes the great mercy of God through imitation and philanthropy toward his neighbor; and blessed is he who purifies his heart from every defilement of flesh and spirit, for he shall be deemed worthy to see God, as it is permitted for a man to see Him; for it is as in a mirror that he shall behold the Invisible through the purity of his mind. After these, blessed is he who seeks the true peace of Jesus through works of truth, and who pursues this unerringly, and as far as he was able, has embraced it, and reconciles as many as he can into it, and makes those at war peaceful through it; he shall be counted worthy of the highest divine adoption and deification. To speak summarily, blessed, according to the divine oracles of the Word of God, are all who suffer persecution for the sake of piety and righteousness; all who are hated and treated contumeliously and insulted without cause; and all who have sustained every kind of harassment, pains, tortures, and deaths for the love, faith, and truth of Jesus Christ, and have endured with thanksgiving unto the end; for theirs is the kingdom, and their reward is truly great and ineffable in the heavens.

*Of these, whichever you wish, etc.*

Just as many mansions are believed to exist with the celestial Father, so also are there many differences in ways of living that lead those who recite the beatitudes to them. To which path, then, he says, that which invites the blessed one, may you happily approach. ^B

If you are able to traverse them all, this is the most excellent and the most perfect of all. If you can traverse a few, this is the second, though it falls short of the first. If it is possible to go by only one of the ways, this too would be pleasing and acceptable to God. For all who proceed correctly along the paths of piety—both the stronger and the more perfect, and the weaker and the less perfect—scales, and worthy measures, and rewards for their progress have been appropriately prepared by the Judge of all.

37. *Rahab lived a less than respectable life*, etc. That God knows how to justify those who walk uprightly through a single one of the paths that lead up to the upper mansions of the Father, Rahab, he says, the harlot and the publican are witnesses. For the one, though in other respects disorderly, was shown to be famous and illustrious by her supreme hospitality; and the publican, for his part, through his irreproachable humility, excelled the Pharisee who declared himself righteous.

*Better is celibacy*, etc. Having said that it is possible even through one path, if properly traversed, to attain one of the heavenly tabernacles, in order that no one might think that virtue can be secretly mingled with vice, as is the case in comedies, as if God’s justice could act in such a way, the teacher, judging in the Spirit, clarifies these matters in accordance with the Gospel. For the law of the Spirit and the Lawgiver wills that there be those who are the best, but not those who merely seem to be; therefore he says: Celibacy is good, and I would say it is better than marriage; but true celibacy, or virginity, if it becomes mingled with the world and associated with foreign or earthly thoughts, is worse than the union of marriage. For it displays a semblance of temperance to men in public, but not the truth in the hidden heart to Christ. ^B Again: The life of monks who are without possessions and who dwell in the mountains is prudent and sublime and worthy of a philosopher, and yet presumption has often brought even them, when they have become puffed up with virtue, to a fall. For they are not humbled by comparing their own virtue with those who are better and more perfect; rather, it happens that by comparing their conduct with those who are lower and worse, and becoming proud, they are plunged into sin. Often, too, those who are carried along by a fervent zeal of spirit, like unbroken and unbridled colts, by means of immoderate fasts, or untimely vigils, or certain other exercises by which they laud themselves beyond measure and beyond what is fitting, not practicing virtue according to the ascetic law, have perished far from the goal and the prize of victory. Because of this, that admirable counselor says: Either rise up from the earth and from earthly anxieties and desires on light wings through perfect poverty and supreme humility and the highest absence of passions, or, remaining in the lowest place, and making yourself as nothing and humbling yourself, and judging or condemning no one else, run safely, lest perhaps by foolish desires, or irrational angers, or arrogant thoughts, you may [have your mind's wings...]

weighed down; and, falling to the earth, be swept away in a wretched fall, worthy of many tears.

53 A small vessel, fastened with many nails, 54 Carries a heavier burden than a great one whose seams are slack.

Having said that it is better to walk upon the ground and, being humbled, to run safely, rather than to undertake works beyond one's strength and, becoming puffed up, to fall headlong, he confirmed his word with an example. You may see, he says, a small and narrow vessel, which, having been rightly consolidated by abundant nails, carries more cargo than a large and ill-joined ship. So too, a solitary man, small and of little account, and who seems to rule over few, and whose name is by no means great—even he, being secured by the thick nails of the Spirit’s counsels and carrying within the riches of the virtues, escapes the spiritual pirates and traverses his life without danger, bearing fruits worthy of his Master. But another, who thinks highly of his own holiness and presumes to save many, yet is not thoroughly exercised in the counsels of the Spirit—lacking these, as it were, bonds, and despising them—is perhaps puffed up by adventitious praises and arrogates much to himself; suddenly, with the spiritual agitation of attacking demons and the storm arising from foolish counsels, he is endangered and perishes, and the riches he trusted he was carrying are easily lost and cast away. The divine documents teach us of the narrow gate which leads to eternal life; and this thunder-voiced divine proclamation announces that there are many paths which lead to [that] entrance, inviting some to walk by this way, and others by that, according as each person judges himself naturally suited and fit—only let them not hold to the wide and broad [path] which leads to destruction, but rather to the narrow and constricted one.

Neque una omnibus, etc.

As, he says, one and the same food is not pleasing and suitable to the natural conditions of all men, but some desire one nourishment and others another, so too there is not one and the same life suitable and agreeable to all Christians. For some attempt to imitate the apostolic way of life as much as they are able; others desire the lot of the martyrs; while the majority, taking up the ascetic and spiritual life, study to follow it in diverse habits and rules. But tears, in like manner, are for all, as is the true sadness of compunction according to God, vigils, praises, and perseverance and fervor in prayers, by which means the madness of impure desires is mastered and repressed. Furthermore, disgust must also be tamed and overcome, and we must fight against passions; and furthermore, in every work and word that we do or say, we must humble ourselves under the powerful hand of Christ with piety and constant fear of the day of His coming judgment. All these things, says the divine Word, are not good for some and not for others,

^B but remain optimal, useful, and equally suitable for all Christians. If, however, you perfectly keep to the excellent path—that is, if according to divine meditation and practice you lead the highest and most perfect life, which I call the way of Christ—you would no longer be as one of the mortals, but a certain heavenly man, fashioned according to the laws of Gregory.

Rule of Life

1. I swore by the Word Himself, etc.

Since the spiritual law is not transmitted to the perfect through base and fruitless words of teaching, just as Jesus Himself, the Perfecter and Lawgiver of the Spirit, having first acted in deeds, so taught by words, so too do His genuine disciples act; thus also does this most priestly mystic and guide into divine things—having written out the lives of the blessed as if in summaries, and lastly bringing forward the most perfect one (I mean this: to detest all the paths of wickedness and to be corrected according to all the commandments of the Lord)—deliver his own life as a subsequent limit and law. Indeed, he brings forward to us the prayers which he prayed to the Lord ^D as a seal of his own teaching and a confirmation of the evangelical life, crying out these things to all, as it were: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1); “for I have sworn and I have established,” according to the psalmist David, “to keep the judgments of the righteousness of Christ” (Ps. 118:106). I swore by His Word, first calling to witness the Son, who is also my greatest God, being from an immortal Father as a principle from a principle, and the most true image of the archetype, who, being in the same and equal nature with the Father, descended from heaven into the life of man without change. Having sworn to this Word, he says, and having established the oath in my mind, never to think evil things against God, so as to either reject the great Mind and Father or dishonor Him by saying that He did not beget One equal and consubstantial to Himself, or to reject the Word Himself by making Him alien to the Father through an alien word. Regarding, therefore, this first word, I swore this oath concerning the faith that is in me, if I should destroy the one and supremely united divinity of the most luminous Trinity, following the impulses of evil times and the inclinations of the impious rulers. Regarding the second word, I shall swear concerning ambition, if my mind should ever rush toward a great cathedra and the precedence of the royal throne, desiring it inconsiderately and holding onto the first seats, or if I should allow my hand to be drawn in to the desires of others who are struggling for these things by every effort and work; furthermore, I had sworn a third time concerning trusting in men, if before God and His Christ, the firm and safe rock, while bringing [to Him] the confidence and counsels of the heart, I should have held a man as an assistant and helper, afterwards I swore again concerning arro-

arrogance or coldness of soul, if ever, when someone was doing or saying good things, I should have felt supercilious in my proud reasoning, or, conversely, when meeting with evil and impious men, if I showed myself ^A sluggish and retreating from their presence, leaving their wickedness unrebuked. I also swore concerning justice and the absence of partiality, if ever in passing judgment I should turn aside from the rectitude according to the law, or deviate at all from the equality according to justice, or if—on account of my status—an overbearing look should be honored in judgment over the holy and the poor. Thereafter I added also this condition to my oaths ^B concerning a zeal that is neither praiseworthy nor holy, if I [envied] evil men, inhuman and pestilent, who are the reefs and precipices of the good, whom they try to entice and drag into the abyss of impiety in which they themselves rejoice. If, therefore, I have envied such men while they are tranquil and prosperous in their vain pursuits, and, seeing the peace of sinners, I have suffered almost the same as David, so that the joints of my spirit were loosed within me, as I bore it ill and, rising from the right way, was agitated. Then I also swear this: if envy ever pricked or ^C wasted my mind as I grieved at the good fortunes of a neighbor, or if I should laugh at the fall of a peer, as if I myself had a foot that was stable and firmly planted in what is good, when in fact even these men were not holy and were not acting justly. And let these conditions also be added to my oaths and rules: if my mind, stifled and frantic, is carried away unseemly by the anger boiling and surging within. And if my tongue, borne away by the folly of anger, unrestrainedly and rashly ^D should utter what it ought not—vile words; and if my heart, not chastening its secret desire concerning fleeting beauties, flickers and burns for the comeliness of bodies, fixing an eye that is wanton, shameless, and desirous of lewdness secretly and voluptuously upon such things. And if I have hated someone in vain, and not according to the Master’s command and divine precept, as if he were among the enemies of God and those openly sinning unto death; or if I should punish my enemy secretly and deceitfully or openly. Further, in addition to all the oaths and rules already set forth by which I swore and resolved to live upon earth evangelically and worthily of Christ: if I have sent an empty hand of a needy and poor person from my house, or one needing alms and bodily assistance, if I have not contributed what was fitting according to the strength I have; or if I have not, as is right, abundantly filled a soul parched with a thirst for heavenly and saving discourse—may Christ be gracious and merciful to others rather than to me! This is what the most theological Gregory, imposing the most terrible curse upon himself, declares: that if I have transgressed and neglected anything of these sworn conditions that I have set forth before—if, he says, I have violated any of these, let Christ love others as being His imitators, upright and truly good; but as for me, let all my labors and toils up to this old age be snatched away by the winds and destroyed, and sunk into the abysses of forgetfulness. Having pronounced these things, he concluded his oaths in a brief epilogue, saying, "By these laws I have defined my life. And if I have reached the end of my desire, immortal [life], to thee the grace." I indeed, he says, by these laws and rules of the spirit

I have secured my life; and if the end should turn out to be worthy of my desire, to Thee be the glory and the grace and the praise unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Commentary on the Sententious Poem, or Gnomology of the great Gregory the Theologian, whose acrostic is this:

In addition to our other commentaries which, in the preceding pages, through the intercession and grace of the Theologian, we have set forth concerning his more mysterious poems, this sententious poem also must be explained by us in the power of the Spirit. A "gnome," therefore, according to the ancients, is a compendious utterance, dissuasive or persuasive. Now the best among the philosophers and rhetoricians and those accounted lawmakers from outside, in accordance with their own wisdom and virtue, similarly speak many things to their own kin and provide advice; but that best and most hierophantic of the theologians among us, Gregory, having sufficiently harvested every benefit from the outside wise men, poets, and technicians—having attained perfection in all their arts and sciences, and having profoundly meditated upon every nerve of discourse and every height of human intellect—thus brought and cast them under the feet of the evangelical wisdom which is from God. And whatever he understood to be in accord with the divinely inspired Scripture and the truth of the Gospel, and in harmony with theory and practice, he admitted into his own compositions and sanctioned with judgments as an advocate of the truth; but whatever he discerned to be leading to fables and errors and onto the abysses of destruction, he rejected and cast away to the crows. Therefore, in addition to his other most saving divine discourses, he adds this present gnomic work under an acrostic, which he says is a good diversion to hand over to the young: good because of the beneficial and saving nature of its counsel, and a diversion because of the elegance of its poetic, that is, metrical, diction and phrasing, in which he knows the young take no little pleasure and pride. This he therefore called a concluding grace, *exodion*, as a final and, as it were, intimate aphorism, bestowing it upon his own friends and initiates.

1. *Bare of all life, traverse the sea*, etc.

He calls the life of this world the sea, figuratively, as Scripture also does, because of its instability, its tendency to change, and its turbulence, and because of the salty and bitter nature of sin and of the death that comes through it. The wise pilot of our souls therefore commands that we traverse this sea "bare"—that is, destitute and unencumbered by business, knowing how to swim through it, light and agile, by the intellect...

^A and by a soul and body that is sober and unburdened—so that, like a ship overloaded with too much debris of the world and with the weight of base passions, it might not readily sink and be swallowed up in death through its sins. This is the first advisory precept. The second ^B is an exhortation that we should always keep death before our eyes and, as though it were present, remember it in all things. For in this way, he says, when it is kept in memory, its very power is absorbed, and you will not encounter it as something horrible, fearsome, or troublesome, but as something overcome, mild, and sweet. The third, he says, is: always prepare your spirit, which is the ship of God; and both body and soul through a faith that is not feigned and through deeds worthy of that faith; for thus you will have God within your inmost breast as a bulwark, a strength, and a great refuge. Furthermore, ^C know yourself, O good man, and do not put aside the memory of your condition—that you were fashioned by God and in His image—and recognize who you have become, that you are made man and not God, taken from the earth; for you are flesh, yet you have truly received the breath from God, for you are spirit. Knowing this, you will honor the Creator for the grace, and you will flee pride on account of the earth; thus, while humbling yourself as is just, yet exalting the Benefactor, you will easily reach the good prototype, humbling yourself in action, but in meditation exalting and contemplating the Creator.

Day to day transmits you, etc.

to serve a master and profane things. Therefore, he says, it is an insult and a disgrace to God for a man who is accustomed to leading an impure life, and who is detestable, to be brought near to divine things and to perform sacred rites; but it is even more horrifying for the same man to bring himself to the relics of the dead out of piety: that is, for an innocent man to prostrate himself for the sake of piety together with profane persons and heretics, and to communicate with those who are as good as dead, is more horrifying and more absurd than what was criticized above. ^B

17. *Never subsist in the way of virtue, etc.*

The most holy and perfect man passes to other sentiments, recommending that one should not cease to progress in the way of good works, but that everyone should always be active in those things which are pleasing to God; but calling it an evil to creep toward the depths, that is, to be dragged along with sinners and to perish together with those who perform iniquity. But lest you say: "How is it that while he exhorts one not to stand still in the way, he does not again decree that one should be unstable and restless?" he adds immediately: *Thy constancy, whoever thou art that movest, etc.*

This constancy is praiseworthy, this stability in the good and abiding, if one having become a stranger to malice is strengthened, and once strengthened, in no way ceases or relaxes from doing good. *A blind man seeing.* He believes he sees from the fact that he supposes he has eyes, but he is truly ^C blind who is not able to understand the ruin of his own malice and his own sin; and how would such a one be able to consider this death of the soul, unless he first knows how to penetrate and investigate the thoughts of the spiritual beast, or the devil, and with spiritual eyes—that is, with secret meditations—to anticipate his ambushes and guards according to the Scripture, and thus avoid his temptations? You, therefore, who have need of a physician for the ailments of your soul, if you hide these things—hiding them because you are ashamed to confess them to God—you will in no way dispel the stench of sin from your heart.

*Thy word, the work from me, etc.*

This we must hear, as it charges us with the ways of salvation according to the divine Word. "Thine, therefore, O Lord, is to exhort and prescribe the things of salvation, but mine is to perform these things in deed." He who, he says, lacks good works, let him have sweetness of speech, a good word of apology, of humility, of repentance, of contrition, a word provoking divine mercy, fighting with us in our defense, ^D aiding us from this side and that—that is, opportune in both respects, both through the turning away of the indignation stirred up by sin, and through the return of the entirely excellent mercies.

25. *Arrogance is satiety, etc.*

Satiety, whether of foods or riches or all things which the body desires, is an insult, and haughtiness, and vanity. This is the affliction of whoever burns insatiably to grow rich. But I, O best of those initiated into the mysteries (the holy mystagogue indicates), desire that you have an irreprehensible and unceasing work: the care of the soul that is always nourished; for it is always nourished by the word of the Lord for its own constitution and spiritual building and perfection, [I desire that you] also [have] riches...

the single divinity, just as one who looks with a sincere spirit into a mirror and gazes into it, while despising all else—both this corruptible world and the things in it which many deem great—as being like the fragile and flimsy webs of spiders; for all the goods of human life entirely appear extraneous and foreign, and only human virtue is, and this alone is the support of the present life and the utility of the soul. This is what the incorruptible and immortal Word of God himself also cries out to all peoples, and he calls them together: Come, all of you, come, awaken ^B to the knowledge of the Trinity exalted above the heavens, and passing by the whole world and the things in it as foreign, seek out your good through the Word and contemplation.

33 Set your mind to this, you whom a holy [conjugal bond has tied, 34 That you may bring a more abundant fruit [to the heavenly wine-presses.

I wish to deposit this word into your spirit and to make this will heard in your hearts. As regards all those whom chaste and legitimate marriage has bound together in life, since it is not easy to be released from the bonds, you ought to bring back to God ^C so much the more fruit for the heavenly storehouses and the Churches of God, in proportion to how many more of the world’s goods come to you; for it is absolutely necessary to offer and render the best of the offspring that arises from you, and of the possessions on earth, and of the variety of all fruits, to Him who gave all things. But as many as are souls choosing to live in celibacy and virginity, and have elected to embrace the great Word of God as chaste, spiritual, and pure brides, it is necessary to bring everything to God and to render all the fruits to Christ, reserving nothing for yourselves, and the danger of setting anything aside is demonstrated by Ananias and ^D Sapphira.

A shining, solitary splendor. Every soul that has vowed to the Lord a solitary, virginal, and yoked-free life, and has chosen to live thus, ought to appear as a certain kind of splendor and burning light to those who see it; but they ought to separate their life from the world and from worldly and carnal men, standing as if far off and declining their associations and usually their harlot-like intimacies; for as he says, just as the deceptive beauty of the body and the insulting kind which is painted in colors, with which harlots smear their faces, deceives their lovers, so it is a disgrace and hateful to God not to have one’s heart tending toward God, but only to affect solitary virtue and faith by means of dyed colors, black garments, and emaciated faces; for these things, easily adorning and polishing those who simulate, expose the turpitude lurking within. To me, says the groomsman of the spiritual bridegroom, the beauty of the heart from within and the grace of the spirit according to nature is pleasing, just as virtue is to God.

^A Let one have neither inflexible justice nor ^B crafty prudence. It is fitting to weigh all things—both the customs and the passions of the soul—by measure and by balance, and to set in order and decorate the virtues achieved within them. For although justice and prudence are good (indeed, they are celebrated as the most beautiful of virtues), if someone were to pursue justice excessively and more than is necessary, they fall into an inflexible and merciless disposition and err against equity; and since they are not pursuing justice justly, they shall not be praiseworthy. Again: Prudence always seeks what is useful and helpful, but if it does not do so with simplicity and right reason, but rather with crookedness and by discovering personal gain through the detriment of others, would this be a virtue? It is worthy not of praise, but rather of blame and accusation. Furthermore, boldness itself, he says, should be governed and possess proportion and be well-distributed; for thus it would become courage and a praiseworthy virtue. But if it should fall short or veer beyond what is due, it will no longer be courage and strength, but rather rashness, and it will be blameworthy. So too, temperance does not consist in being always grave and severe and using the appetitive faculty in that way toward all, but there is a time to be mild and gentle toward some of the objects of desire, and this is temperance. And these things should be measured relative to the appropriate time. To open the mind to the words of God and to exercise it always in divine meditations is testified by all the God-inspired sacred utterances to be most beautiful and most perfect; for thus one might become instructed in the heavenly laws of the Spirit. It is, therefore, best, most beautiful, and most glorious to be eager, but not to please everyone; for it is not possible to please the wicked, but only those whom it is worthy to please, namely, the good; for to delight the wicked is a glory that is disreputable and hateful to God.

^B It is shameful for one who is excellent to be a patron of the wicked. It is at once shameful, unjust, and troublesome if a good and just man is seen as an advocate for the base and the evil. For it is consistent, he says, and equivalent to joining friendships with the wicked and defending their causes for one who is inwardly similar to them in malice and walks in their same ways. ^C Again: We have learned that gold is refined and tested by fire and a crucible, but that a good man is humbled by sufferings and afflictions. Do not, therefore, O you who often fear tribulations, be inclined toward impiety and be seen defending the wicked. For I know, he says, that suffering for the sake of piety is lighter than the prosperity of the impious, and to suffer with Christ is more to be chosen and sweeter for the pious person than to feast with the enemies of Christ. Again: It would be easy and a great matter to deny God for anyone who is prepared to deny their own father. But it is necessary to recognize and honor him not only as the progenitor of nature, but also of piety, unless perhaps he forces one to manifesty fight against God; for thus you would avoid him as one wishing to live piously, not as a progenitor of piety, but as a patron of impiety.

^A

Worms devour all things, etc.

All things are food for worms, all things are fodder for moths; but do not leave your own things even in the tombs, not only by refusing magnificent funeral rites, but even by drying up your flesh through temperance and bringing your bare bones into the sepulcher, so that not even in the tomb itself might the worms rejoice over you; but let your own honor at the end be a good name; for that remains with you, and it is better, according to the Scripture, than ten thousand treasures of gold.

Spare your household guests.

He calls those "household guests" who are our friends, kinsmen, and neighbors, whom you should spare—even though, as is the custom of neighbors, they are always envious, plotting, and causing trouble—and you should refrain by generous piety from sharply rebuking their wickedness, lest they be incensed with greater hatred, depart further, and be estranged from you; and especially keep from rebuking the departed dead, for they have left all things behind here. Come then, O man of God, you who are a hearer of all my words, come, leave behind here all this unordered and evil world, and all things that appear in it, whether most delightful or most miserable, lovable or detestable and wretched; and spread the sail of your mind and the rectitude of your intelligence toward the heavenly life. As for other matters, O god-nurtured man, you who are nourished by divine meditations, let your works and pursuits always be accomplished and performed sweetly and placidly according to God and according to your strength. And may the super-eminent and all-transcending Holy Trinity appear before your eyes, being present to your many thoughts as is worthy, so that you may take pleasure in the land of the living, and, beholding in the light of the Father of lights the splendor of the same nature and glory, you may sing together the trisagion with the supernal intelligences in heaven, while the Theologian thunders at the same time, and you yourself, rejoicing, may sing in chorus unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Thirteenth work on the arcane poems of the great Gregory the Theologian.

Interpretation by the same Nicetas, who is also David, servant of Jesus Christ and philosopher, of the Tetrastichs of Saint Gregory the Theologian, which he inscribed thus:

I am the work of Gregory, and I preserve the tetrastich method, A memorial of wisdom in spiritual opinions.

I wished to extend longer works of discourse, and to arrange a worthy commentary for each of the themes of the Theologian's metrical epigrams, partly to gratify myself, as I take pride in the contemplations and theological doctrines of his great mind, and partly to provide utility for those who come after, against the empty questions about these matters. But I remembered another royal and paternal precept: "My son, beware of making many books," ^B and he explains the cause of this, namely, that there is no conclusion or perfection of works concerning the infinite wisdom of God, and he says that frequent meditation is weariness of the spirit and the flesh.

^A And it is possible for one who has gathered together the profit from this [meditation] and the power of all divinely inspired Scripture to receive it unto the fear of God and the keeping of the commandment. Therefore, having heard this instruction, I took heed not to go further in my commentary after looking into these hidden things, and, explaining the final sentiment of these present quatrains, which builds us up sufficiently for both contemplation and action, I shall cease.

Will you prefer action or contemplation?

^B The blessed one, contemplating both the practice of virtue and the exaltation of contemplation—the former having the power of purifying and illuminating bodies and souls, and the latter having the power to perfect and deify the hearts and minds—and having marveled at the necessity of both for our adoption as children of God and for our salvation, cried out: "Which of these, then, would you prefer, action or contemplation?" For as we regard them as the two eyes of the one who ascends toward God by the spiritual ladder with strength and equal honor, both striving toward the one who is truly the Good, it is not possible to readily prefer the one or to consider the other of lesser account and honor; for both equally require the help and cooperation of the other. Thus, action becomes a guide to contemplation, and contemplation becomes a seal and a security for action, so that it is impossible for ever to be perfect if one is deprived of either of these. ^C But since it is not possible for all who are holy to be equally successful in both, the vision and pure contemplation are the work of the perfect, insofar as those who have purified themselves more through action are counted worthy to contemplate God himself and divine things more clearly; action, however, is the state of the many and of those who have fallen short of extreme perfection, as it is more corporeal and more humble, and corresponds less to contemplation. Both, therefore, are right hand and dear to God, carrying one toward the Trinity itself and toward the state on high; but since not all are counted worthy of the same grace of the gifts and the same operation, but one in this way, and another in that, "You," says the divine teacher of perfection, "toward whichever you see yourself to be naturally better disposed and to perform more easily—whether toward the practice of virtue or toward the contemplation of the word of the holy faith—toward that, apply the greater part of your zeal, extend yourself, and reach your goal."

^D A certain one proposed to me a problem concerning those from the Spirit.

Following the first quatrain, the second follows; for it shows that the practice of virtue is necessary for the attainment of contemplation, because it is necessary that one be purified first so as to hit the mark of the truth; and if the mind, through every practice pleasing to God, has not wiped away every defilement of flesh and spirit, it—

^A can never become a participant in true wisdom and spiritual vision. Therefore he says: "Let someone inquire of me about a spiritual matter and one concerning mystical contemplation"; but I, knowing him not to be living purely, but rather stained by shameful things, said: "It is not fitting for the matter inquired of to be spoken, unless you are first purified." And he again: "If I was stained at one time, I am not so now"; for these things are understood to follow in the context of the discourse. And I to him: "Even if you say yourself to be wise now, yet unless you are cleansed of your former stains, it is not lawful for you to share in the mysteries of the Spirit; for you must now, through practice, cleanse away all reproach and every spot of mind and soul, and thus become a lofty participant in divine contemplation." And the example is fitting and altogether appropriate: for into a vessel reeking of stench, and defiled and rotten, no one would entrust the most precious fragrance of ointment.

9 Do not resist nor yield to every argument; 10 But to those whom you acknowledge, and to what extent, and when; 11 And to be bound to God rather than to preside. 12 Every argument wrestles with an argument, but who with a life?

Having taught that both practice and theory are necessary in equal measure for perfection, he proceeds to treat of general and universal philosophy and virtue, which is distinguished into the types of theory and practice. How then these are to be brought to success, or how one who acts ought to offer his consideration to God, he displays through the proposed maxims, warning one not to resist all arguments, as a lover of wrangling, for that is irreverent; nor yet to lend an ear to all alike, for that is indiscriminate; but to know ^B against which of the theoretical and practical matters one should resist and stand, namely against those which you know to be foreign to the evangelical wisdom and legislation, and to follow and walk according to those things that are worthily spoken to you by the Holy Spirit, and to resist these ^C in measure and as much as is necessary, and to be a companion as much as it is fitting to follow, and at the time when it is opportune for both, whether to resist or to consent. He prescribes being subject to God rather than to dominate; that is to say, it is good to cling to God through faith, having all confidence in Him, rather than to dominate ^D Him with many words and to appear as one who resists. For what reason? Because there will not be lacking sin in one who speaks much and is confident in superfluous talk, and every argument will produce in response a resistance against him, and this is troublesome; but to one living a quiet and spiritual life, abundant in deeds, but less concerned with words, who is there to wrestle or to stand in opposition? Certainly either no one, or if there is anyone, he will be of those who are condemned.

Either do not teach, or teach by your conduct.

^A "Silence is good," says the divine Teacher, clearly for those who are beginning to practice virtue and are not yet called to teach it. Yet even if such people do have a desire to teach, let them demonstrate their instruction more through their manner of life and the state of their conduct. For since there are two hands, life and word, it would be neither just nor pious to draw disciples with one hand while pushing them away with the other, by offering a blameless life, but a blameworthy word, or by using a straight and correct rule of speech while being defiled by an unclean and wicked life. For it is indeed best to excel in both; but if it is impossible to excel in both, one must pay more attention to the dignity of life and practice, and with this compensate for what is lacking in speech. For just as the painter does not assist those learning the art under him so much by words as by the example of his archetypes, so those who accomplish the eremitic life through blameless action edify those who approach them all the more by this, and have less need of teaching by words.

^B

I say to you most of all, who preside, “Do not be an eye full of darkness.”

You who struggle to insinuate yourselves into and advance to the cathedra and the holy table out of pride and love of power, listen to the words of the great High Priest. To you, the bishops of the holy peoples, I proclaim this exhortation: do not be eyes filled with darkness, but become full of light. Do not become archetypes of injustice, ignorance, or impiety, but of justice, knowledge, and piety. For of necessity, the peoples under your hand, looking toward you, become assimilated to you in their imitation, whether you be good or the opposite; for you are the lamp of the body of the Church. Just as, therefore, when you are sincere, luminous, and wholly pure, the body walks in the light and directs its path, so conversely, when you lie in the shame of the darkness of ignorance and sin, the whole Church suffers and fares badly. "If, therefore," he says, "he who is thought to be the light and the eye of all those under his hand walks in darkness, how much more will the people, who are always occupied with evils, be mastered by wickedness?"

A silent work is better than a word without action.

"It is most beautiful," says the most priestly of seers, "for one who desires to preside worthily over the Church to be preeminent first in both word and life; but if he lacks one of these, it would be better and more useful to excel in the practice of virtue and life, even with ignorance and incapacity for speech, than to use an elegant, fruitless, and ineffective word to speak great things and undertake to teach others what that teacher has not done himself." Why? Because without a life that is in accordance with the practice of the commandments and of virtue, no one from the beginning of time has been great, no one has been glorified as being near to the Lord and sanctified, while without a magnificent word...

^A sounding sweetly and melodiously, infinite thousands of saints are celebrated and will be celebrated. For grace is not confirmed by those who speak well and are commended for polished elocution, but by those who live holily and piously.

The best gift to God is one’s character.

Since some lead an impure and wanton life, yet being rich, and having obtained the substance of this world, they believe that by the cheerful donation of their wealth they are buying the kingdom of God; the sacred Word speaks to this presumption of theirs, declaring that the best, most pleasing, and acceptable gift to God is one’s character—that is, the rectitude and purity of the mind—and not the contribution of material goods and earthly, corruptible things. For these are small and unworthy of the majesty of the Most High; for even if you were, by hypothesis, to bring to the Lord all that the earth produces, you would offer nothing worthy of His magnificence. For all things are His and are clearly reckoned as nothing before Him. Therefore, it is worthy to bring as fruit that which even the pauper, having nothing of this world, is able to give: this is faith working through love, which God seeks to be offered even by the rich. ^B And what does this mean: "The chaste man does not share in the hire of a harlot"? Every soul that gives itself over to the devil and the world through carnal and indomitable lusts, and then offers to the chaste Christ the gifts of its own prostitution—the wages of its own whoredom—sacrifices things that are abominable and hateful to God.

Never vow anything to God, not even the smallest thing: for it is God's before you receive it.

"Vow" and "to have vowed" is said not only of prayer and praying, but also of a promise and the promising of something to God or man. Therefore, do not promise that you will give anything base and corruptible to God, such as are all things on earth. For all these things, which we appear to possess before we receive them from Him or He receives them from us, are admittedly God’s, as He is the Creator and Ruler of all. Why, then, do you promise to give to the Lord ^C His own works or goods? And what is worse, having vowed, you have not paid, neglecting to hear Ecclesiastes saying, "It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay." What, then, are you doing by vowing and not paying? You are either stealing what is your own—if we grant that what is yours is indeed yours—or you are sacrilegiously seizing what is God’s, just as Ananias and Sapphira, who kept back part of the price and lied not to men, but to God. And in his discourse, the Theologian marvelled at the folly of this debt. ^D For nothing belongs to oneself, or else you are sacrilegiously taking what is God’s; for all things are nothing before God, and the greatest things appearing to the many—where even all of man’s righteousness is as a filthy rag before Him—are, according to our wise man, as if they were nothing.

Consider this life to be a fair.

^B

The course set before you is great.

^C

Do not be overconfident nor despair excessively.

^A towards a good goal, restrain your activity unceasingly, being capable, and do not remain imperfect through sloth.

« Then neither envy. » And if some great thing, as if above nature according to God, is set before you for action, you judge that you should not therefore be stunned and draw back; for there is no envy with God, such that He would send away in vain and repel someone who by piety and faith chooses to do legitimate good.

« Nor let him render the remaining labor of the way useless. » What he says seems to me to be this: For those in the world who undertake journeys, if the traveler does not reach the goal of the journey, the labor previously spent is useless and the fatigue is considered fruitless. But he who arranges ascents towards God through action and contemplation, partly, as has been said, has already put things right, and partly is putting things right now, and partly anticipates by his hope. Although he may not have arrived at the highest perfection of the ascent to God, he should not despair; for his labor is not useless to him as it is to one who deviates from the way. Insofar as he has progressed and is tending towards perfection and approaching the judge of the heavenly calling, he has obtained salvation through hope.

^B 45 Do not leap in too hotly.

Again, the holy legislator of virtue exhorts one not to leap in too hotly, nor petulantly to be exalted by works or sublime contemplations that are beyond one's strength. But in those matters which, through discernment and prudent reflection and confidence, one has noted and recognized to be in every way irreproachable, in these it is fitting that one should remain securely and without change, until something more divine may be revealed from above. For it is more profitable to choose that which is considered by the many to be more humble, and to progress in it little by little, than to seek high things out of season—whether in sacred degrees or in other matters—out of ambition, and soon after to diminish these progresses, to fall away, and to become less in what is good. For those are properly called bad who have been allotted the lowest and most humble place among men, but rather those who, out of pride, exalt themselves with an irrational fervor and fall to the ground out of arrogance.

49 A light spark kindles a huge flame.

Just as every seed, though it be most minute, when it has fallen into the earth and found suitable nourishment and has swollen, grows gradually in height and multiplies according to its kind just as it gives forth in size and quantity; even so a spark, being the smallest, struck out from the flint stone by the blow of the iron, is fanned into a great flame. So too the seed of the viper, like some tiny drop, secretly penetrating the human body, has often brought death to the one bitten. In the same way, sin also, first attacking as something small and being disregarded, then gradually progressing and growing, brings a great evil and the ruin of the soul to those who commit it. For this reason, the admirable counselor gives advice to fear even that which appears to be the smallest fault, and while it is small and light,

to guard oneself against the harm flowing from it, and to root it out with repentance, lest it linger and, having grown stronger, result in an incurable evil. ^A

55 Search yourself rather than the affairs of others.

Since it is always ready to hand and very pleasant for men to scrutinize the affairs of others, whether they be good or bad, but for the most part to neglect their own, the divine teacher of those who desire to live piously encourages them to investigate their own matters rather than to busy themselves with the affairs of others. For by the investigation of one's own transgressions, the one who examines himself is benefited, as he exposes the serpent creeping secretly into his heart and removes his iniquity by confession. But he who scrutinizes and examines the affairs of his neighbor provides gain for the other—if indeed he is keeping himself secure by way of the rebuke and perhaps ceasing from sinning—while he himself suffers loss, at least if he is investigating the neighbor’s affairs not out of concern for his welfare, but out of envy and malice. ^B Therefore he says that the examination and scrutiny of deeds is better than that of riches. For these, however much you count their abundance, and however much you may seem to increase them by meticulous calculation, are transitory; they flow away to others and, being unstable, do not remain with you. But the investigation of deeds, and the discernment and purification of the thoughts of the soul, which lead to freedom from passion, stands firm and remains for eternity.

57 Let your mind always be molded 58 By divine thoughts and salutary precepts.

Let us, who have chosen to live an ascetic and virtuous life, listen to what the lawgiver of virtue suggests we do. He teaches that our mind ^C should be constantly occupied, meditating on holy and divine thoughts and practicing the oracles of grace, and that our life should be molded and regulated by these, with a view to succeeding both in practice and in contemplation. He commands us to spare the tongue and to curb its incontinence, so that it might not rashly or forwardly show off in teaching or dogmatizing. For when it is unbridled and stirs toward all sorts of chatter, it knows how to drag those who are not on their guard against the harm it causes into deadly heresies, and easily exposes the soul to dangers. But if it is moved rightly and utters the word of piety well, the life is not blameworthy, yet the profit from such eloquence is less, and not much benefit is afforded to the hearers. ^D

61 The sight swept me away, but yet I was restrained.

Having disciplined his mind and tongue, the godlike one henceforth arranges each of the psychic senses. "Sight," he says, "suddenly swept me away with the beauty of a body, having flashed upon those wonderful things that fall before greedy eyes." This sight is the most authoritative and honorable of all the senses, as it is also the recipient of light, which is the most beautiful of all things perceptible. This, therefore, having suddenly caught sight of a body radiant or very beautiful, swept me away, rendered me beside

^A myself, and wholly ignited the view of what was seen. But it was repressed, it was checked by the fear of God and the remembrance of the commandments; thus it was overturned and destroyed, so that there might remain in the soul not even an image, or a trace, or a phantom of evil desire. This is the first degree, and is without sin because it remains a mere image. If, however, the image stands, and the form or beauty of that which was seen is inscribed upon the intellect with passion, this is the second degree and is called a semi-perfect sin—if, that is to say, one manages to avoid the complete sin through the experience of the act. These, therefore, are the three degrees of the spiritual struggle, presented to our souls by the common enemy: image, pleasure, and experience. It is the part of the strongest to resist at the first sound, so that they may remain untouched by those that follow; but if we should be drawn into the second, it would be second-best, by employing great temperance and a prudent mind, to avoid the total ruin of experience.

65 Stop your ears with wax against depraved discourses. ^B Just as those who attempt, through the window of sight, to enter the soul with desires that entice to fornication, are met by the man who uses prudent counsel—who closes his eyes and turns away from them—so also, when the impudent one attempts to entice through the hearing, "stop your ears with wax," proclaims the divine Father. For the hearing, which wishes to render the spirit—which is flowing out and effeminated by every means—susceptible to amorous, indecent, and shameful words, and indeed even to pornographic ditties that seduce the soul, and to diabolical songs attuned wholly for pleasure, and to those that soften and enervate the mind, you must altogether restrain. Just as those who, traveling near the dwelling-places of the Sirens who were singing, stopped their ears with wax, according to the poets, so also you, he says, like a deaf man not hearing the symphonies of those singing for fornication, turn away; but by always applying the ear of your heart only to the beautiful and good oracles of the ^C Spirit, occupy yourself in speaking to God a word of praise and prayer, and in hearing from Him often those things which it is necessary to hear; and meanwhile, between those things which you would say to God and those which you hear from Him, do at least some small thing that is clearly worthy of the commandment and of virtue.

69 Let not effeminate scents excessively dissolve you. Having cleansed the stains which fall into the soul through sight and hearing, he cleanses the defilements and impurities that follow from the other senses, urging us not to become excessively weakened and effeminated by them—neither being dissolved in the sweetnesses of scents, nor softened by the varieties of foods, nor tickled and stolen away by the contacts of touch, by which intemperance and incontinence, giving themselves as a companion, ^D alienate one from the fear of God and the commandments. For one who ignobly succumbs to these pleasures and is enervated, says the discourse free from desire, in what will he show the gain of the soul and the firmness of the mind? For the sense of smell is excited by odors, the sense of taste rejoices in and serves flavors beyond what is fitting, and smooth things recreate the touch. Whence, therefore, will you conceive what is manly and holy? For all these things are characteristic of a soul not manly, but effeminate and of sinful nations upon the earth.

^A

73 "Give," says the belly. Having chastised the intemperance and love of pleasure that adheres to the soul through the senses—reproaching gluttony in these matters as being a most active cause of fornication—the most philosophical man says: "Give," says the belly, "whatever sweet things from the earth, from the sea, from the air, whatever foods the munificent hand of God, showering down, bestowed for enjoyment." "Give," the belly said, "both to have tasted fully and to be insatiably filled with these." But I [say] to it: "If you know how to use what is given temperately and to the glory of God, I will willingly give as much as is just; but if you do not use them temperately nor in due proportion, but leaning toward the inferior and sub-abdominal passions, you take for yourself an incitement to licentiousness and an insult to the Creator—how shall I give? Shall you receive only the offal, that is, the necessary food without which one cannot live, but sparse and not abundant, lest through satiety and fattening you grow insolent? But if, perchance," he says, "having been brought to sobriety by want, you restrain yourself, and by drawing back and curbing the irrational appetites of the body you become humble, we shall not begrudge you, even if you should provide for yourself food sufficient in greater abundance." ^B

77 Laughter is worthy of laughter to those who think rightly. Consequently, the teacher of youths in divine matters, after having reproached gluttony and voracity at the tables, reproaches the luxurious laughter joined to them, and shows that all laughter is worthy of laughter—not only as befitting uneducated and foolish children, to whom the whole of life is ridiculous, and who live lives unchaste, intemperate, in buffoonery, foul language, and pleasures; but he also declares the luxurious [laughter] no less worthy of contempt, hateful to God, and detestable, as indeed being worthy of the woe [pronounced] in the Gospels, and as providing cause for the wailing and gnashing of teeth in Gehenna. ^C And it is a manifest prelude to the tears in the age to come and at the judgment to see in that very disorderly outpouring of unbridled laughter—from the excessive and violent distension of limbs and the pressure of the eyes—that a tear sometimes drips from many. This laughter, then, is ridiculous to the wise, as it seems to exist only in the act [of laughing], and is rather *not* than *is*, and is sought by the foolish with ardent pursuit. And this same [laughter] is most pitiable, as it is the author of eternal wailing; for which reason the holy word says that it is better and more advantageous to have a manner that is downcast than one that is dissolute and diffused in immodest laughter. ^D

81 Consider the adornment of the mind to be beauty. You who are enamored of the beauties of bodies and stir up the affections of the soul toward them, be wise and understand, and perceive the vain and falsely-named beauty; for beauty truly and properly both is and is called...

the seemliness of the mind, the comeliness of the heart, and the beauty of the intellect. But that which the hands of men delineate or fashion would not properly be named beauty, for it is corruptible; nor even that which nature has formed or shaped, for it is mortal and fading, dissolving in time and disappearing into dust. Nor yet is that which the eye, being earth-born, discerns as beautiful when it looks upon external things, [to be so judged], but rather that which the contemplation of the prudent mind, illumined by the divine Spirit, perceives and recognizes; this is called beautiful and beauty, this is rightly named both worthy of being loved and desirable. Just as, therefore, beauty is not to be estimated by the symmetry of the limbs with a fair complexion, as it is seen by those who look only at bodily things, but is to be beheld in the institution of the soul’s morals and its symmetry, with all excess and deficiency removed, while the grace of the Spirit of God shines upon that which is beautiful more than any color; so also is ugliness to be judged, not by the disorder and inequality of the limbs of the body, but by the instability of the thoughts and the foolishness of the mind.

85 Griefs have approached, pleasures, confidences, fears, 86 riches, poverty, glory, disgrace, thrones: 87 Let them flow as they will; nothing touches 88 a man who stands well, of those things which do not remain.

Griefs are wont to happen upon the loss of things that are loved, and upon the adverse outcome of things that are hoped for and desired; pleasures, conversely, when we attain things according to our prayer, or when we encounter what we love. Confidence approaches when life glides along according to our intent and affairs fall out according to our purpose; but fears, on the contrary, [arise] when hardships happen beyond our hope, and those who hate us prevail against us; and riches come when what we possess suddenly abounds, while poverty [comes] when the things that are necessary are diminished and lacking; and glory is the good fame from outsiders, and the applause of men regarding honors and thrones, while disgrace is the rejection of these, and compunction and condemnation over indignities. All these things, being the mockeries of life, and for a little while pleasant or troublesome, vexing or pleasing, exalting or humiliating, let us pass by as things that vanish like a fleeting dream, and as they wish to come or go, let us be indifferent to them, not taking upon ourselves the pursuit of these things when this or that happens; for they perish as quickly as can be, these things which have no firmness or stability. It is the mark of a man who is truly a philosopher and wisely grave, and firmly established in the discourses of truth, neither to be exalted and grow proud ^B because of things on the right, nor because of the appearance of things on the left to be constrained and fall in spirit.

89 Exalt yourself by your life rather than by your thought, etc.

He is exalted in life who, through the diligent observance of the commandments, has mortified the pride of the flesh and almost subdued the body by humility; but he is exalted in thought who has not purely cleansed himself from presumption, but is puffed up by the empty glory of men and sets himself among the hypocrites, ^C

^A or those greedy for glory. For the life that is a mimicry of Christ is indeed of God, but self-conceit is followed by a great fall, according to divine testimonies. How, then, will you attain to that humility which exalts or deifies? By not measuring yourself against the lowly and, by comparing yourself with those of humble estate, rashly becoming arrogant and high-minded. For comparing and weighing oneself against those who are lesser in every way makes the mind and intellect swell as if we were superior to many. ^B But you, he says, looking to the commandment and to Him who enjoins salvation, even if you are raised far above those living in a pagan manner, and even if you are in truth found to be like many who live well, you shall see yourself lying on the ground and far removed from ultimate perfection.

93 Pursue glory not entirely, nor vehemently: 94 For it is better to be than to seem.

There is a glory and a reputation that is good and widely spread through a great part of the world, flowing for a time and abounding in men in a vain and empty way, which the enemy knows how to magnify to the destruction of many; and there is the glory ^C of those who live holily, which prevails upon the earth, and which is gathered and exalted for the edification of those who praise it before God. But do you neither consider all glory worthy of being sought after—asking for it to grow for yourself after the manner of hypocrites and those who hunt for glory—nor, therefore, too greedily chase after that which is applauded for virtue, running to meet it. For what does public opinion matter to you, when it is a great thing just to be? For it is better without doubt to be than to seem. What then concerns you, if you are diligent in being, whether you seem to be? Being rich and abounding in all goods, what does it matter to you if men, ignorant of this, suppose you to be poor and indigent? So too, being a friend of God, what care is yours if many do not know this? But if you are immoderate, wishing to have many who praise you, so that by this means you may build up more for virtue, you must not hunt for that vain glory, ^D involving yourself in the error of men who rashly call you blessed, nor for that new glory derived from human titles, thrones, and honors. For what gain is it to an ape if it is thought to be a lion? So there is no advantage in being, while passionate and imperfect, thought by men to be passionless and perfect; there is no benefit in an unworthy person being deemed equal to royal or priestly dignity, just as it is no gain to a poor man in need of bread to be reputed to possess many hoards of gold.

97 Praise another, but be not proud when praised.

To praise another, says the blessed one, for piety and virtue I would not forbid, but I would even encourage it; but I urge you, when you are praised by others, not to be high-minded, nor to be rashly puffed up and arrogant because of the praises. For it is worthy of fear and caution, lest by the praises celebrated you be proven to be lesser; but furthermore, the word of holy judgment prescribes that you should not be easy or prompt to accept the commendation of others: for just as an estimate...

of ^A one who is being glorified must be feared, lest you appear unworthy of the praises and the glory, so too, you yourself should not, when praising another, be unassured and hasty, before you have discerned more accurately through experience whether you should engage in such praises, lest, this worker of iniquity having been revealed through the passage of time, you yourself incur shame for bearing witness, untimely and unwisely, to things you did not know.

101 It is better to hear evil than to speak evil. It is more profitable, said the holy man, and more advantageous to hear evil and to be insulted and reproached, than to inflict such things on others by our own hand. Why? Because if we are slandered by the ungodly for the sake of virtue and piety entirely in vain and without cause, we are surely deemed worthy of the Lordly beatitudes and the heavenly rewards; but if, when we stumble, people rightly reproach us for the things we do, we benefit even then, as our stains are wiped away and washed clean by ^B the insults. But to speak evil and to insult our neighbors—if we labor in envy or hatred of those who cultivate virtue, we shall be judged as miserable and condemned, as if we were causing one of the least of those who believe in Jesus to stumble. But if we censure those who act wickedly and rightly rebuke them, the motive will in any case be tested by God. For if we have given to those people a path of correction and compunction through our rebukes, and if we have blocked for those who are with us the company of evil and participation with them, we would be judged irreproachable and beyond all condemnation; but if, on the contrary, we follow bitter zeal and judgmental hatred and speak evil, how could we escape the accusation of slander or of judging our neighbor? What, then, must be done? When someone, he says, brings forward a neighbor in order to provide a comedy and to insult him, so as to feast and gladden your hearing, then you, imagining the brother's face as if it were your own subjected to ridicule, will provide a service both to yourself and to him by showing displeasure at the word of the detractor.

105 Do not boast while sailing prosperously ^C before you reach the harbor. Just as for one sailing the sea happily, even if his ship is steered straight on its journey, it is not safe to boast, since the outcome is uncertain, and it is not right to speak magnificently before the hawser—by which I mean the rope by which the ship is moored to a harbor—so too, it is not expedient for the one who is wealthy according to the flesh to rely on the uncertainty of riches, forgetting the one who says, "Consider the end of a long life"; so too, it is not fitting for one who is prospering in virtues, and is advancing and growing strongly in spiritual gifts, to use a louder voice before he has arrived at the rest of the heavenly harbor. For many, having been saved through the swells and storms of the sea, suddenly had their ship submerged into the depths just as they were approaching the harbors. And many who seemed to be struggling or exercising ^D themselves in an irreproachable manner of life, having been betrayed by some slight or manifest cause, have been exposed to danger and have fallen short of the heavenly beatitude.

to fall away. There is a safety that is one and the same for both sorts—those who traverse this sensible sea and those who traverse the intellectual one—namely, always to keep watch and be attentive to themselves, so that they neither reproach those who are in danger according to the flesh, nor, when those who have sinned and fallen according to the Spirit of God are concerned, behave in an insulting way or pass judgment on them with malicious glee, but rather, trembling and shuddering at the misfortunes and calamities of their neighbors, secure themselves in safety. ^A

It is better for one living well, etc.

"I have heard of those who live well and conduct their lives worthy of God—prophets and many saints—who, on account of their own poverty and hardship, and on account of the oppression and tribulation of the poor which they suffer at the hands of the unjust, are exceedingly distressed, and are dispirited, and murmur against the long-suffering of God. And I have seen others who abound in all the goods of life and are smothered in blessings, yet do nothing worthy of virtue or of what is well-pleasing to God, except that, whenever they are prosperous, they give thanks in all things and confess [their thanks] to the Lord." It is better, therefore—as that beacon of discernment has declared—for one who is living well and in a manner worthy of holy things, and who is walking in a blameless life, to be bold in a small degree because of the burning heat of their tribulations, and to murmur with some moderation against the judgments of God, than to be free of all such things while flourishing in works of intemperance, avarice, and every form of licentiousness, and then to pay the penalty on the day of judgment, even if they might think they have done nothing irrational. ^B

Cast away all things, and possess God alone.

The admirable Gregory displays three classes of those who are tested in the matter of bodily wealth and the management of riches. The first [class], which is perfect and appropriate for the perfect, is to cast away and send ahead to God all that one possesses for the sake of Christ and His commandment, so as to acquire Him and live purely for Him alone. For money and possessions are things alien, as they are outside of us and not ours, as the body is, but rather things that circulate around us, of which we have been appointed stewards and distributors. It is truly most beautiful, most pleasing to God, and perfect, then, to cast all these things away and be rich in God alone, living without distraction. The second class is to give away the greater and more beautiful part, and to reserve the lesser and poorer part for one's own needs; this, too, is praiseworthy. It is pious, but less humane, to act piously even with one’s abundance, and to perform kindness, and to show magnanimity in these matters; but to be parsimonious, miserly, and small-minded regarding one’s surplus—such as changing them into gold and burying them away—he [Gregory] passed over in silence, as being exceedingly impious, contrary to humanity, and a work of idolatry, according to the Apostle, and most effective in alienating one from the kingdom of God. ^C

It is a noble thing to snatch something from the worms and from envy.

This is noble, and the most noble of noble things: to snatch wealth away from the worms and from envy, by which it is naturally prone to be corrupted and destroyed. It is corrupted ^D

^A by worms, insofar as things are edible, prone to rotting, and perishable; but by envy, gold and silver are snatched away and perish, along with all things that are by nature scarcely corruptible. It is good, therefore, to have anticipated by lending to Christ, and it is more profitable to have Him as a debtor than to appear to possess all the riches of the world. For Christ knows how to remunerate His creditors so magnificently that He bestows even the kingdom of heaven upon those who feed Him with a morsel of bread in faith; and let the widow, who was praised for the offering of two mites which she cast into the treasury, persuade you that not even a drink of cold water goes without a reward before Him. How, then, he asks, shall we lend to Christ, who is God, who is in need of nothing, and who sits at the right hand of the Father in the heavens? Christ (the one who theologizes about Him in this text replies to you) is clothed by you, and fed, and given to drink, and granted every kindness, when you approach the poor and the needy, and treat them in this manner. ^B Pauper accessit, deinde abiit spe frustratus. "A poor man approached, then went away frustrated in his hope."

These words indeed have a plain interpretation; yet I do not deem it superfluous to converse a little about them; for to speak at length about these matters will be of service even to those who hear with the least faith; for one must be persuaded that we prepare our own judgment for ourselves. How, and in what way? When a poor man arrives at me, says the Master, and is in need of alms, and is immediately sent away without alms, fear and dread are immediately present, lest I also, arriving in need of your compassion, O Christ, might be sent away empty according to the laws of my own hardness of heart, having indeed the need to find benevolence, but not attaining it. Why? Because if I am able to distribute a pittance to the needy and do not, how shall I myself, being in need, receive anything in my turn? For do I receive from Christ, or from elsewhere? For what do you have that you have not received, and clearly from Him? Since I have therefore received, and am tested by the poor man for the sake of experience, and out of iniquity do not distribute, how shall I receive again? For he who is stingy about giving to the one who gives all things, let him hope to receive nothing; on the contrary, let him expect that even what he seems to have will be taken away from him. ^C

Paupere ad me veniente, nihil securius. "There is nothing safer than a poor man."

Since many consider poverty something to be avoided and quite evil and detestable—and for this reason, especially, they do not wish to help those in need, holding poverty in suspicion—very wisely does the divinely-inspired one comfort their indigence and heal the pettiness of the rich, saying that there is nothing safer, nothing more free from fear and danger, than a poor man; for he does not look to the accumulation of money, or possessions, or herds of cattle, or multitudes of slaves—things which flow away and pass by like a dream and perish—but he looks only to God, who is, who abides, and who provides providence by nature; towards Him he is always inclined, truly ^D and he shall be understood in this way: to whom, that is, to Christ, one has not given alms, let him not hope to attain this from Him—that is, to be shown mercy by Him—so that the text may be written with the omega (ᾧ) as the long vowel.

^A He looks ahead to Him from whom he hoped to be provided with a little life in the body, and from whom he expects to live eternally in the Spirit. But you, who abound in riches, who are well-supplied with all the goods of the world, and who are considered by the multitude of men to be great and important in this life, take into your arms this little one, this beggar and poor man; feed him, clothe him, and share with him every form of hospitality and care, as if you were receiving Christ Himself. And through the poor man who is seen, receive and lodge in the secret storehouses of your mind through faith the Jesus who is hidden within him. And just as the eagle, according to the holy word, arranges its own nest and yearns for its fledglings, so too, being great in your possessions, nurture and shelter the poor man like a frail bird, and you will find Christ in him.

^B Poverty is better than unjust possession.

Again, through what follows, he encourages the poor man, while he suppresses the arrogance of the rich, saying that poverty is a better thing than wealth consisting of injustice—just as bodily sickness is better for the one suffering and being disciplined by the judgments of God than an evil state of well-being and health. For what could be thought of as an evil state of bodily well-being, if not that which is followed by those who rejoice in debauchery, murders, or injustices? For no one falls into the death of the soul on account of the hunger for bread or a lack of things, and indeed only a few fall into the death of the body; but for sinners and for one who is truly wicked, sin produces death.

^C 133. Who is master or slave—that base division?

Having given counsel in accordance with the Gospel concerning poverty and wealth, as was fitting and divinely wise, the most philosophical author then proceeds to distinguish, according to the spiritual law, matters of lordship and slavery. Who is a master, he says, and who is a slave by nature? No master was created, nor was any slave created from the beginning; this is a base division, this is a tyrannical separation. For just as there is one Creator for all alike, one law for all, one judgment, and one and the same nature for all men, so too are all slaves equally human, ordered under one Maker and Master, God. You, therefore, he says—O lover of the best philosophy and of the words of truth—being served by the attendants surrounding you, do not arrogate lordship to yourself while assigning slavery to them, daring to think more highly than you ought, and becoming demented against the common Master of all. But, thinking in order to be sober-minded and to know yourself, and seeing all those who serve you as fellow-servants and as equal in honor by nature, use them as co-workers and fellow-servants toward the fulfillment of the Master’s will. Do not, therefore, while showing yourself to be high-minded, honorable, and noble in conduct or contemplation, before the dissolution from the body and before you have conquered the world, puffed up in a way that is untimely, turn yourself away toward arrogance; but when [you are] of bodily . . .

obstacles and spiritual oppositions of malice a victor, [and] having been released, then you shall enter unto God adorned with great glory. ^B

137 But what of servants, and especially those who are servants of God?

Having set down the law for those called masters to be humble-minded and to use their servants as fellow-servants, knowing that they themselves have a Lord in the heavens, so that they, hearing such things, might not rise up against their masters as if they were of equal honor—what then of the servants? For the spiritual legislator directs his speech to you; what then of you, and especially those who wish to be servants of God? Do not think it unworthy to serve masters. And how is this so? Not by eye-service as men-pleasers, but from the soul with good will and faith, according to the apostolic command, as to the Lord and not to men, so render the due honor and service to your masters, and do not be ashamed at the exhibition of service. For the law directs both the free and the slave. He who, by the disposition of his soul which is fitting for Christ, and by a judgment that is godly, meditates on good things before God and men, he in reality is free; but he who lives his life with deceit and malice, being a sinner against God and men and a contemner, he is truly a slave who is to be chastised. Therefore, to be a slave is not an evil, but to sin is an evil, since Christ himself was a true servant of men, but He frees those who believe in Him, as God, from the truly evil slavery of sin. ^C

141 If you are called evil, be ashamed; but not if you are of lowly birth.

Proceeding with the same thesis, the divinely inspired interpreter counsels not to be ashamed when you hear yourself called a slave or a man of obscure lineage, nor to be indignant at this, turning against the one who seems to be casting the insult. For what is birth, and who is he who is celebrated for noble lineage? Is it not those who died long ago and have rotted in the grave, and those whose bones, according to the Scriptures, have been scattered by the mouth of Hades? Why then do you think such great things about that which is decay and stench? But if you hear yourself called evil, or unjust, or impious, be ashamed, and by repentance, becoming changed, be made good in Christ; and thus, being yourself honored and having become famous through virtue, you will provide a beginning for your lineage and will be a boast for those coming into life after you. This is much better and more expedient for you than to be the last of a line and, through excessive malice, to be a disgrace and a corruption. Therefore, if you are upright and good, conspicuous in all piety and virtue, it will be much better and more honorable than being born of good and excellent people while you yourself are not such. ^D

145 Be insatiable for God alone and divine things.

There is also a laudable greed and an insatiable desire with which one ought to burn, which the divine word urges us not to reject. What is this? To desire God alone and divine things insatiably; this is a noble covetousness, to always desire and

to seek the face of the God of Jacob in Christ Jesus, ^A who gives himself even more to those who receive him. For he is so far from turning away or averting those who draw near to him, that he more than anything thirsts to be thirsted for—which is to say, he desires to be desired, and loves to be loved, and always bestows himself abundantly upon his lovers. For such is the supreme-good Origin of goodness, entering in through its own all-good and spiritual gifts to those who insatiably yearn for it. In these things alone is insatiability and ambition most excellent, most holy, and perfect; but in bodily things and in the coveted wealth and glories and all the flowing and passing goods of the present age, it is worthy to be overcome and to hold the lesser part, patiently enduring and giving thanks to the good and all-working Providence.

^B 149. Do not seek to conquer in all things, nor always. Just as there is a way to be overcome rightly and wrongly, so too is there a way to conquer lawfully and unlawfully. He is "rightly overcome" who, with the finest philosophy and evangelical humility, yields to all who act unjustly and does not exact vengeance upon those who spitefully use him. But he is overcome "wrongly and miserably" who is tyrannized by anger or irrational desire, and who is ignobly led astray and besieged by sin. Likewise, he "conquers lawfully and securely" who is fixed immovably until the end in the good and pleasing and perfect will of God; but he "conquers unlawfully and dangerously" who prevails through the power of injustice and tyranny, and who suppresses and destroys the innocent. You, therefore, O athlete of Christ the judge, instructor of virtue, do not strive to conquer in all things that are thought to be good, but only in those things that are truly good—namely, the divine and spiritual—and in these, do not strive always and unseasonably, but when the acceptable time is come. For it is better to be humbled and to be overcome and surpassed, following the example of Jesus and his disciples, than to conquer and surpass while being puffed up and, according to the fashion of the impious, to lord it over the pious and humble. It is possible, he says, to see those who struggle in the world not entirely conquered because they have fallen to the ground; for it happens that those who have seemed to their opponents to have succumbed and fallen to the dust, then suddenly leaping with their feet upon their adversaries and rising up, appear superior to them. Thus, those who for the sake of Christ and his commandments submit to those accustomed to exercise tyranny, conquer in their humility.

153. Suffer some loss; for this is often gain. Just as it is not praiseworthy to conquer in everything or always, so neither is it to be overcome; for we are exhorted to conquer evil with good, not to be overcome by evil. So too, it is not always good to make gain, nor evil to suffer loss; on the contrary, it is observed that the opposite occurs. For just as a bad victory is an evident defeat, and a good defeat is a true victory, so there is gain which brings great loss to the gainer from bodily things, and conversely, a loss which turns into gain for the one who suffers it. For...

by cutting away the superfluous growth of plants, we obtain a greater profit of fruit; just so, by often choosing to suffer loss in bodily things, we abound in spiritual things. And conversely, if we gain not well and abound in material things, we lose the immaterial and abiding ones. For by that which we acquire—whether unjustly or even justly, if it be not well but always unjustly added—we increase wealth and abound in vain things, storing up material for the fire of divine wrath and procuring bodily sickness here through intemperance in these things.

157 If you owe no penalty to God, 158 Do not yourself be unmerciful to your debtors; 159 But if you are conscious of your own debt, first show clemency. 160 For mercy also is repaid by mercy before God.

^B Regarding patience and evangelical meekness, the God-implanted and God-inspired grace admonishes us in these matters. If you know, He says, that being pure and altogether blameless you owe no penalty to God, then you might reasonably perhaps act without mercy toward your own debtors. But if you acknowledge yourself to be a debtor in countless thoughts, words, and deeds, you surely must also lend your patience to God toward your fellow servant, and by your meekness appease the intolerable wrath of the Master, and by mercy toward your neighbor divert the punishment, thus drawing down benevolence toward yourself by your own benevolence toward others. For by mercy and kindness we draw to ourselves divine mercy and kindness, with the same abundance with which we have given it being bestowed upon us, and with the same measure with which we have measured being measured back to us.

161 Whensoever insult inflames your mind, 162 Remember Christ and His wounds.

When from one of your neighbors an insult has boiled up, and having risen to a great height and being greatly puffed up, it has, as is to be expected, kindled a great flame of malice and burned your mind toward vengeance, remember forthwith Christ. Visualize through an active memory those insults, mockeries, scourges, and wounds which He suffered on the cross for you, and weigh in your mind with what measure your pains fall short of the pains of the Lord. Consider not only the difference of the pains—how, when compared, yours appear to be merely a very small fraction of His—but also remember the person of the sufferer: that He is God and Master, who never once sinned, not even in the slightest, either in thought or word, whereas you are both human and a servant, and subject to ^C many thousands of negligences, stumbling daily. And thus, by such reflections, as if with waters, charming and irrigating your soul, extinguish the heat of affliction and wrath.

165 Love, drunkenness, jealousy, and the demon, are equals.

These four things, to speak summarily, are to be recognized as productive of folly, of a departure of the mind toward the worse, and of perversion: unbridled, immoderate, and ardent love of bodies, drunkenness and...

^A vinolentia, furthermore, an envious spirit meditating death, which is the incentive and rage of anger; these things, being far removed from the good, assign to each of them a demon as an instigator and zealous attendant, who, secretly attacking those who allow themselves to be marked by these things, obscures their intelligence and takes away their right reason. What, then, is the medicine and cure for these? The wasting of the body through intense fasting and vigils, prayer that is continuous and stretched out toward the Lord, and tears trickling from the eyes through holy and sincere contrition and repentance: these are the salutary remedies for my diseases and the healers of the infirmities of the heart.

169 "Flee every oath" (8-9). ^B Assuredly, both the holy Gospels and this most evangelical Theologian declare that swearing is to be avoided and is detestable, admonishing us to flee every oath as being the father of perjury; for who, having once abstained from an oath, has ever perjured himself? But whoever swears, whether through ignorance, or by some involuntary violence, or moved by contempt and a lack of fear of God, is generally led into perjury, and thus an oath becomes the father of perjury. Now, the old law, speaking to those who were less perfect, and who were accustomed to swear by the gods and demons whom they worshipped—just as it likened the slaughter of animals to itself, suppressing idolatry—so too, because it did not have the opportune time to remove oaths entirely, by turning them toward God, it restored the oath to a religious one. But gracefully, the grace of Jesus Christ, arising like the sun, and by the superabundant light of truth surpassing the lamp of the law, both in the divine Gospels and in the evangelical teachers, just as it forbids every animal sacrifice entirely, so too does it prescribe in one rule that every oath be avoided. How then, he says, shall we persuade those with whom we are speaking if they are doubtful? ^C It is clear that by the word, if we are consistent, and by the manner of our living according to virtue and our truthful habit, proving the accuracy of our discourse, we shall readily induce them to agreement. For who, hearing a word from a man who is always telling and doing the truth, would have reason to oppose or doubt? Indeed, for him whose character is habitually mendacious and whose entire life is prone to sin, even though he swears, one would not easily trust him; such a person is both a denier and a mocker of God and a despiser, and the proof of his denial is the false oath. For why should you take God and that terrible name, feared and revered by all the heavenly intelligences, in vain? If your speech concerns things necessary for salvation, a manner of living set forth in the midst will suffice for the wicked person to believe. "I know and am persuaded in Christ Jesus"; and again, "I speak the truth in Christ Jesus, I do not lie," says the Apostle of truth (1 Tim. II, 7); and by this manner, rendering his speech worthy of faith, he turns away from every common oath.

175 What precept of kindness is more brief? The discourses concerning philanthropy and love, which the holy ^D

theologians have delivered in parts, are many and beyond number; but to speak of kindness generally and in summary, this is the most concise doctrine. ^A Such, he says, be to thy friends and neighbors as thou wouldst have them be to thee; and this is equal to the evangelical precept which says: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matt. VII, 12). ^B And it is logical to add to this Dominical precept also that which follows: "And whatsoever ye would *not* have done to you by your neighbor, do ye not to them." Furthermore, a more concise doctrine of kindness than this is the very passions of Christ, which He endured for us while we were yet ungodly, and what reproaches and wounds He suffered when He was upon the cross; he who keeps these things always in memory, and sets them before his eyes, becomes meek and prepared to tolerate evils, and is similarly stirred to charity and brotherly love toward his neighbor. Think nothing equal to a faithful friend. ^C A friend of the table and of pleasure is venal, and this one is unfaithful; for when the pleasure of the banquet and the delightful enjoyment fails, he also fails. There is a friend whom need draws and invites to sit nearby, and this one is also unfaithful; for as soon as the need has passed, he also immediately departs. Having passed over these, there is a friend who is found because of virtue and the Word of God; this one is faithful, whom neither the table nor the enticement of banquets (this is the cup) reveals, who does not sit nearby or fawn for the sake of need, nor converse with those who love him about things that serve only for charm and the empty flattering of the ears, but gives counsel on whatever is useful, whatever is seemly, and whatever is profitable before God. This is a faithful friend, whom storm and temptation or persecution for the sake of piety reveals. The sacred Word worthily testifies that for such a one there is nothing on earth worth equating, nothing more honorable among honorable things, nothing more lovable among lovable things. ^D Therefore, when enmity often arises from various chances, it is worthy to know the rules of friendship, and to discern discords by measure and at an opportune time, but one must by no means know the limits of friendship; for it is the very love in Christ that never fails.

Seeing other things, the eye does not see itself.

The eye of the body is by nature unable to see itself, but it grasps with the power of sight the things that are outside and around it, as many as lie directly before it. If, however, some rheum or film should spread over it and harm its health, it is not able to see other things as it ought. In the same way, the human spirit without labor sees the things that lie before it by the contemplation of truth; it observes or investigates the defects or sins of its neighbor—and often not justly, being overshadowed by its own cupidities—but it does not reach the point of knowing its own, by as much as it is more dulled by being thickened with its own passions. Therefore, to one who is such as this, there is need in all things for a counselor who may teach what is useful and lead one to the remembrance of what ought to be done; for the wisdom and providence that created the body...

^A has given hand to hand, and foot to foot, and eye to eye, and other things likewise, two and two, one over against the other, according to the Scripture, for help and cooperation.

185 If you follow the good while being admonished, 186 You will not be put to shame by being mocked by the evil.

The divinely wise man suggests this very fine and most useful counsel, saying: “O best of men, if you should incline your ear and follow the good and noble teachers who admonish you, you would never swerve from what is proper, nor, having strayed from the true word, would you later be put to shame by being mocked by the evil.” What then, you might perhaps say, “O teacher, should I do, so that none of what you have spoken may befall me?” When at any time you conceive of something shameful, and consider performing any of those things forbidden by the law of the Spirit, do not say: “It is night, and who sees me? I sit in the desert and in solitude, and he who would reprove me is absent.” Do not think thus, nor dare to commit an improper act; for there are many standing by you. For all the angels are standing by, and the King of the angels Himself; and by calculating thus in your mind with faith, and by feeling ashamed yourself, you will refrain from the enterprise, and afterward, as one who has been benefited, you will give thanks.

189 Always prefer the good to those who are not good.

Life always has both good men and evil, always the diligent and the scornful, the faithful to God and the faithless, the just and the unjust, the truthful and the lying. Therefore, according to your generation, prefer the elect to the crooked, the pious to the impious, and the truthful to the hypocrites; for by associating with the evil, and feasting and living with them, you will be defiled, just as he who touches pitch, and, according to the Scripture, he who shares with the arrogant will become like him, and so you too, by being glued to the evil, will be evil. But you might perhaps say: “This man is my benefactor, and he has often done me good, and how shall I cast off his company?” Hear the thunder of the divine word: “Never receive a benefit from an evil man.”

Do not desire to receive any good thing from a man who acts insolently toward God; from a man who lies to God, and who honors Him by hypocrisy alone and not in truth, do not covet gifts; from one who blesses God only with his tongue and lips, do not seek blessings. For they will not be profitable to you; because he seeks that pardon should be given to him for the things in which he acts lawlessly. He seeks to be praised in the desires of his own soul, while unjustly harming himself first and many others, and he exacts, as due for his own works of injustice, that blessing and protection be bestowed upon him by those around him and by those to whom he has openly shown benefits and toward whom he has acted hospitably regarding fleeting and perishing affairs, and he demands it as a necessary debt which must in no way be dismissed. He asks for pardon for many and heavy debts, while by the most vile, minimal, and small gifts he tests the infinite goodness of God and His incomprehensible justice, and, being vain, he thinks to buy the kingdom of heaven with vain things, offering none of those things that are required.

and he bargains with things of no value ^A in His sight; and with these he does not suffice to appease God, Who gives all things, but even drags others along as partners in his own sin.

193 *I gather some gain from an adversary.* There is gratitude even among enemies, says the proverb. The theology says something similar to this: "I take profit even from one who is ill-disposed, and I share this gain with you." What, then, is this gain? By anticipating the charges and censures of those who hate me, and by avoiding their criticisms, I myself arrange my own life more accurately, and I urge this same thing upon you: that you may live more securely, and that you may not despise even the slightest deviation from the good. We must take heed with all diligence, not only because of the commandment, but also because of the boldness of those who speak evil. The injury of enemies is a remedy; it is a remedy that cleanses the perverted affections of the heart, bitter indeed, just like the purgatives of the body; ^B and so, fearing this, I am kept from committing many sins; and again, I refute and reject pleasure, as it is the cause and bringer of bitter censure to me.

197 *Reward the good, despise the bad.* I think this quatrain is similar to that apostolic command: "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom. XII, 18). It is just to make a fitting return to those who are good, gentle, and well-disposed towards us, whether by words, or by gifts, or otherwise, rendering the favor deemed worthy by a good conscience. But as for the wicked, those who act perversely and slander us, we ought to despise them, to make nothing of them—that is, to overlook them. Yet, we should also show them favor, ^C because we suffer no evil from them, even if they have intended to cause us pain; and for this reason, one must be peaceful and mild toward them, so that in time, and through long-suffering, you may persuade them to become good, being overcome by your virtue. For by rendering to no one evil for evil, but bestowing goodness and gentleness upon them as the best gift, thus little by little you will improve them, and you will make the wicked and troublesome into good and upright men for yourself.

201 *Be kind to all, if you have the power.* If such grace and strength has been granted to you from on high, so that you imitate God, Whom we celebrate as the best of all, be yourself good and useful to all; for what is truly better than the imitation of God? ^D But being human, how is it possible for you to become like unto that very Goodness, and to extend mercy and kindness to all flesh alike? We are able to have mercy and love with a simple heart, and to feel a concern for the salvation of all men through the love of Christ for us; but to do good to all men is altogether impossible for a human being. Therefore, he says that those who desire to do so should become useful to all men, loving them; and especially to those near to us, with a good heart and with words and works of...

^A power, the sacred word exhorts. It considers those nearest to us to be those who are neighbors in the manner of living according to God, or by kinship of nature, or by proximity of dwelling. Toward such people, therefore, one ought rather to demonstrate kindness. For what reason? For how, he says, could you be trusted by strangers and those disposed otherwise toward you to be good or philanthropic, if you appear unjust to your own kin? For to those who are strangers, you might perhaps say that you are under no obligation to be good, but to those who are near to you in any of the aforementioned ways, you are entirely obligated to be prudent. If, therefore, you are not found to be just to these, how much less to those who are strangers and far away?

205 Why do we blame the wretched Enemy in all things?

206 Because one ought not by any means accuse the sinister Satan as if he were the cause of all sin within us; for in this way, counting ourselves as blameless, ^B and giving ourselves license to live in an unrestrained and unbridled manner for the sake of pleasure, we succumb to every lawlessness. What then must we do, or how should we think? It is proper to blame and condemn oneself for everything, or at least for the greater part, as we are driven towards wickedness by the private choice of our soul, and not by any external force; and by thus humbling and utterly despising ourselves, we are shown mercy. But if we blame ourselves for the greater part, though not for the whole, we are less humbled, yet we obtain forgiveness and mercy all the same. It is worthy to know that the fire of anger and desire rests within us and our nature, ^C which lies in the sovereign reason to steer and direct toward whatever it wills—I speak of virtue and vice—and when we slacken our will and allow the fire to be kindled, the Enemy, who is present, fans it and often stokes it into a great flame; but when we hold it back with philosophy and diligence, and with the innate flow of tears quenching it, and indeed extinguishing it with the soul’s aspirations toward the heavenly fire, the malignant one himself, by kindling it, is destroyed, and we are set free.

209 Do not be overly concerned with the mockeries of dreams.

The difference in dreams is great and ineffable. ^D There is a dream wrought by the Spirit of truth, not only in prophets and saints, but sometimes even in kings and rulers of the earth, portraying some vision through an enigma and obscurely revealing the future to the one who sees it; but this does not happen much or often, nor to just anyone, but is seen occurring to the worthy. There are dreams, or rather an ineffable, infinite, and inexhaustible abyss of dreams, which befall men as they sleep, which anyone could rightly call vanity of vanities. For all human things are in reality vanity, and their dreams either take their occasion from the nourishing part of the soul, or proceed from the sensory part and the variety of sensible things, the fictions of which the soul, waking up, sees itself to have fashioned in many ways.

^B These things, which the soul, while awake, has fashioned in various ways from every sense, are the remnants of what appeared to it, which, during sleep, it tosses about in the memory confusedly and obscurely. And as it fashions dim dreams, it is deluded and wanders, indulging in the vanities of vanities. Therefore, either from these things, or from daily labors, toils, and cares, the creative and rational power of the soul, being ever-moving and dreaming even in the stillness of the senses, prattles and trifles in various ways during sleep. And, in proportion to the ways of life and the pursuits of men, the angels—good or evil, truth-loving or falsehood-loving—who accompany their life, represent dreams in many ways and forms, molding the fantasies in one way for those who in cities have busied themselves with discourses and studies, and in another way for those in the deserts who follow the ascetic and solitary manner. Having taken their cues from the things in which they are absorbed, they test and, in manifold ways, lead the soul astray during the rest of the body. To speak altogether, in proportion to the sciences and arts practiced by men in every place—among the wise and the ignorant, the rulers and the ruled, the rich and the poor—the demon that has been allotted to each from infancy until death does not allow the rational soul to be relaxed even during sleep, nor to indulge in leisure or any lessening of discipline. Instead, it drags the soul to wander, now with natural enticements, absurd trifles, and images lighter than snow, and now it stirs and strikes it with troubles, terrors, unspeakable agitations, tremblings, and humiliations. For this reason the sublime theologian exhorts us not to be excessively alarmed by the trifles of dreams, nor to fear or be stunned by them as though they revealed something truly great—whether evil or good—nor, again, to be puffed up or to deceive the mind with vain hopes. For these are often prepared by the Enemy as a snare for many. ^C

Let hope shine forth for every praiseworthy end.

Every action, energy, and motion of a man who possesses sense has a proper goal and an adjacent hope, toward which anyone who acts, in tending toward it, directs his effort. Thus it is regarding bodily and worldly things, and thus it must also be considered regarding spiritual and intellectual things. If, therefore, in the works of this world and life it is necessary for hope and the goal to precede the proposed work, then how much more should hope indeed precede, and the end of the performed works be foreseen, regarding spiritual works and those of right virtue, toward which the agent aims and is directed. Thus the apostles, foreseeing the goal of their course—namely, to magnify Christ among the nations—ran and were directed; thus the prize-winners, looking toward the witness of the truth of Jesus and setting before themselves as their end even to die for it, and overcoming, are crowned. All the choirs of ascetics also approach, as many as have legitimately desired Christ, wishing through a more humble manner of life to be freed from desires and running toward Him, and who were contending for the goal of what they hoped for, thirsting. For if carnally

-minded things and those which are corruptible—wealth, I say, and pleasure and glory—are set forth as a hope for those who think upon earthly things, and move their lovers to action and imprint upon them a direction, how much more justly will the hope in God be an incentive for the laborers of that which is good and of virtue, and cause them to strive toward the prize of the upper calling according to the goal? For an unbearable and painful grief weights upon me, no less so when I am overcome by that which is good. For if the blameworthy works of sinners and their evil deeds are promoted and succeed, while those on the right and the good deeds fall away from those who practice them and miss the mark, how shall I endure, he says, the defeat of the good? ^A

217

Esteem prudence safer than fortune.

Fortune is indeed defined as that which happens spontaneously and without reason, while prudence is that which occurs with right reason and understanding, by which, just as a ship at sea is steered by the helm and puts into the harbor, so the mind, governing and piloting the ways of the soul with prudence, directs it toward the upper harbor. Since, therefore, true salvation is brought about for those being saved through prudence, do not pay heed to irrational fortune, nor be carried about and tossed by the vain and thoughtless inanity of words and reasonings, held fast and enticed by the gambling of men—for it is dangerous—but rather deem that there is nothing better than the instruction found in letters, and even more so the instruction of the Lord through the commandments and virtue, through which true prudence and safe salvation is obtained by those who are being saved. ^B For as to other things, whatever one might imagine he possesses—whether property, or wealth, or, if you will, expensive clothing, the construction of temples, treasures, monasteries, and, in a word, all things upon the earth—they are prepared for others, and that at a different time, and not for those who seem to possess them; whereas education alone is the property of those alone who possess it, and it exists together with them as they live in this world until the end, and follows them as they depart from life. ^C

221

Show your power, not by doing evil, but by doing good.

There are men most ardent in their works and active and most energetic; and being used to the sharpness of their nature and their greatness of soul, they are celebrated by many; among whom are those who, excelling greatly in the world in royal power, and command of armies, and governance, claim to be honored by their subordinates as gods. Toward such men as these, the God-inspired mind, directing its speech, said: Do not show your great and active and energetic power by doing evil and trampling upon the weak and the poor, but by doing good and, in imitation of the God of all, by doing that which is good and right. This shows you to be both a god and a son of God by way of likeness; this is the work of a man who knows what is natural to man; this is the work of one who has known human misery and is not puffed up after the manner of the arrogant and the insolent, but in the manner of Christ lowers himself to them and bears with their weaknesses. For to kill and to impoverish and to cause misery is not worthy of the benevolence of God, but is proper to venomous beasts.

^A It is a shameful thing for a young man to be weaker than an old man, ^B or for an old man to be more foolish than a young man. Just as it would be considered shameful and unfitting for one flourishing in the vigor of youth to be more infirm than a decrepit elder, so, he says, for one who has reached the very end of old age to appear more foolish than someone younger in time is entirely unfitting and indecent. Nevertheless, let the elder, arriving at the proper time and age of seniority, be all-wise and full of understanding; this is both good and becoming. But for the younger person, before maturity and in the course of an age not yet advanced, to show himself wise and to possess the prudence of elders, this would be most excellent and of all things most suitable.

^C *Always work out your salvation.* At every time and at every age of man, it is good for a person to work out his salvation, which is to turn away from evil and do good, especially when the dissolution from life is drawing near. What else could be of greater concern to a pious man who has sense than to cleanse with tears and confessions the filth and stains of past sins, and to send to Christ, through the moderation of just gain, those things which have been acquired from injustice—to those who have suffered the injustice—and thus, with fruitful and solicitous repentance, to appease the Judge? The end of life is present; the herald proclaims the goal. The Apostles and prophets and every divine teacher cry out with a great voice: "Repent." Whoever has ears to hear, prepare your works for the end; for the judgment is near, and at the doors stands the Judge.

^D *End of the sermon.* To the many good and wise words proclaimed by the holy and theological tongue for the edification and salvation of the soul, he has appended this summary, straightforward, and concise end to his discourse, with its own sentiments and testimonies, saying that there is a twofold manner of apostatizing from God: the one in deed, the other in word. By deed, then, do those apostatize from divine things who, according to that foolish hypocrite, say in their heart, if not with their tongue, "There is no God"; for which reason they have become corrupt and have become abominable in their iniquities: this is to apostatize from God by deed. By word, on the other hand, do those deny the apostolic teaching and the theology of the divine Fathers who are carried away either into Jewish unbelief, or who lean toward Gentile polytheism and impiety, or who fall into heretical perdition and impious aberration. Do you, therefore, looking around yourself on every side, lest you be stolen away invisibly by the Adversary, who lies in wait and pursues with constant, furtive attacks, and who strives to hunt you down and destroy you in the abyss of the aforementioned apostasies—these things the most excellent Father admonishes. Beware, therefore, lest in any way you be entangled and implicated in either of the two apostasies, and do not mingle yourself with the unclean, lest perhaps from...

to be polluted by intercourse with the impious, and to have need of final purifications and the fiery baptism and the punishment of sinners. Having in a short space gone through such an exposition of the tetrastich maxims of the theological mind and its understanding, through his intercessions and illuminations, let us give glory and praise and thanksgiving to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Spirit, to the ages of ages. Amen.

Thou indeed didst give, O Father, a summary of practical contemplation, Thundering in tetrastichs the sublime; But we, unfolding thy power in thee, Have multiplied the grace and knowledge of this work.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: POEM ON THE CANONICAL BOOKS

^AOf our Father among the saints, Gregory the Theologian, From his rhythmical poems, Concerning the question, Which books of the Old and New Testament must be read.

But that you may not have your mind stolen by foreign books, (For many are the counterfeited evils, Many indeed are the falsely written wickednesses,) Accept this chosen count from me, O friend; (Accept this, O friend, from me—the approved, or examined, or authorized count.) The historical books are twelve in all, (The books containing history are twelve in all,) Of the older Hebrew wisdom, (That is to say, of the Old Scripture.) First is Genesis, then Exodus, and Leviticus, Next Numbers, then Deuteronomy, Then Joshua and Judges, and Ruth the eighth. The ninth and the tenth are the books of the Acts of the Kings; For even if there are four books of Kings, they are taken and counted as two. And the Chronicles, and last thou hast Ezra. (And the two books of Chronicles are reckoned as one book.) The poetic books are five, of which the first is Job, Then David, then the three of Solomon: Ecclesiastes, the Song, and Proverbs. And likewise five of the prophetic Spirit. The twelve are in one writing: Hosea, and Amos, and Micah the third, Then Joel, then Jonah and Obadiah, Nahum too, and Habakkuk and Zephaniah, Haggai, then Zechariah and Malachi. One is this; the second is Isaiah, Then the one called Jeremiah from his infancy,

ANONYMOUS PARAPHRASE OF THE SAME POEM

^A Then Ezekiel, and the grace of Daniel. The twelve books of the prophets enumerated above are, he says, reckoned as one. And those of the other four [evangelists] are four books, one being reckoned for each. I have set down twenty-two original books, set against the letters of the Hebrews. “Original,” he says, that is, of the Old Scripture, I have written twenty-two books, set against the letters of the Hebrews, that is to say, equal in position and equal in number. For the preposition “anti” is taken also to mean “equal,” just as we say “antitechnon” (rival artisan) and “homotechnon” (fellow artisan). For the elements of the Hebrews are said to be twenty-two.

Now he also enumerates those of the new mystery— Matthew indeed wrote the miracles of Christ for the Hebrews; Mark for Italy; Luke for Achaia. For all, John, a great herald, heaven-traveler; Then the Acts of the wise apostles; And ten, with four, Epistles of Paul; Seven Catholic, of which one is James; Two of Peter, and three of John again; Judas is the seventh. You have them all. And if anything is outside these, it is not numbered among the genuine.

Having enumerated also the books of the New Scripture, the Saint added that if anything is outside these enumerated ones, it is not reckoned as genuine, but as spurious.

^B It is good to be occupied with spiritual discourses, and to enjoy them in mind and tongue, and to attend constantly to the law of the Lord. For while three things are offered, it is necessary that one be of benefit. For either we receive from God a reward for our labors, the revelation of hidden things; or—what is indeed very useful—we are urged toward virtue by divine precepts; or by a third account, we are drawn away from earthly things by the care and meditation of spiritual things. But since, just as tares grow up together with the wheat, and thorns sprout along with roses, so also spurious books appear alongside the genuine ones of the holy Books; so that you may not have your mind led astray, and cling to the alien ones as if they were our own, learn from me, my friend, the accepted number, and receiving this and cherishing it as your own, reject the others.

The historical books of the ancient wisdom of the Hebrews are twelve in all. The first is Genesis. Exodus follows, after which is Leviticus, and then Numbers. Then the complement of the Law, or Deuteronomy. Joshua after these, then Judges, and the history of Ruth is the eighth. Two books of Kings complete the ninth and tenth number; then Chronicles, and Ezra is the last. And there are five called poetical, of which the first is the labors of Job; the second, the psalter of David; and three of Solomon: Ecclesiastes, which is wise in the nature of things, the divine Canticle, and the moral Proverbs. Then there are five others that are prophetic: the twelve are gathered together into one book, namely Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Jonah, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah the ninth, Haggai, Zechariah, and finally Malachi: which book is indeed one prophetic [book]. But the second is the great Isaiah, then follows Jeremiah, called by his early age, after whom ^C

Ezekiel, and Daniel last. I have set forth for you these twenty-two books of the Old [Covenant], equal in number to the letters of the Hebrews.

Now receive from me also those of the New Testament. First, the holy Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Hebrews. Second, the divine Mark in Italy. Third, the all-wise Luke in Achaia. And John, who thundered the heavenly things, preached the Gospel to all in common. After whom are the divine signs and the Acts of the wise apostles, and the fourteen Epistles of Paul the herald of God. And [the] seven Catholic ones, of which one is of James, brother of God, two of Peter the Chief, and again three of John the evangelist. The seventh is of Judas the Zealot. You have all that are approved and accepted. But if any should be found outside these, it is not to be reckoned among the genuine [writings].