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In sanctum pascha

A SERMON OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, ON THE HOLY PASCHA The poor among men, who love festivals and embrace celebrations with a willing soul and proud demeanor, even if they do not have enough from their own homes for the desired splendor, by collecting all manner of finery from their own kin and acquaintances, they prepare themselves to be without want for the present need. And this is what I seem to myself to be experiencing in regard to the present day; for having nothing magnificent of my own to contribute to the proposed praises, I will take refuge in the sacred ode which we just now sang. And using the starting points from there, I will pay the debt, weaving my own words into the scriptural text, if indeed any encomiums of thanksgiving to the master are to be found with this poor servant. For David just now said, and we with him: Praise the Lord, all you nations; praise him, all you peoples. He calls all mankind from Adam to the hymn, leaving no one 9.246 outside the call, but those of the west, those of the east, those on either side, if one is a neighbor of the north and an inhabitant of the south, he gathers them all together with the psalm. And elsewhere he addresses a portion of mankind, either calling the saints or rousing the children to a hymn, but in the present case he gathers nations and peoples with the psaltery. For when, according to the apostle, the form of this world passes away, and Christ the king and God appears to all, convincing every unbelieving soul and bridling every blasphemous tongue, and he puts a stop to the vanity of the Greeks and the error of the Jews and the untamable contentiousness of the heresies, then, indeed, then all the nations and the peoples from the beginning of time, having submitted, will send up unchallengeable worship, and there will be a marvelous symphony of doxology, with the saints singing as is their custom and the impious supplicating out of necessity; and then truly the victory hymn will be sung in harmony by all, both the conquered and the conquerors. Then also the cause of the disturbance, the runaway servant who imagined for himself the master's dignity, will be seen by all being dragged by angels to punishment, and all the servants and collaborators of his wickedness will be subjected to fitting and just punishments, and one will appear as king and judge, the common master confessed by all, and there will be a settled quiet, just as when a ruler is seated on the tribunal, the herald signals for silence, and the people, straining both sight and hearing, await the hearing of the speech 9.247. For this reason: Praise the Lord, all you nations; praise him, all you peoples. Praise him as powerful, praise him as loving mankind, because when we had fallen and were dead he made us alive again, and he renewed the suffering vessel, and the foulness of the remains in the tombs he lovingly fashioned into an incorruptible living being, and the soul that had left the body [four] thousand years before, as if from a long journey abroad, he led back to <its> own house, in no way estranged from its own instrument by time and forgetfulness, but moving towards it more quickly than a bird alights upon its own nest. For let us speak of things proper to the feast, so that we may celebrate in a way that is consequent and fitting to the events; for what is improper and alien, besides being of no benefit, is disorderly and strange, not only in discourses about religion and piety, but also in external matters and the wisdom of the world.

For who is so foolish and utterly ridiculous an orator as, when invited to the splendor of a wedding, to abstain from fitting and elegant words sympathizing with the

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In sanctum pascha

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΠΑΣΧΑ Οἱ πένητες τῶν ἀνθρώπων φιλέορτοι δὲ καὶ προθύμῳ τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ γαύρῳ τῷ σχήματι τὰς πανηγύρεις κατασπαζόμενοι, κἂν οἴκοθεν ἑαυτοῖς μὴ ἐπαρκῶσιν εἰς τὴν σπουδαζομένην φαιδρότητα, παρὰ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ γνωρίμων πᾶσαν πολυτέ λειαν συνερανιζόμενοι ἀνενδεεῖς ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὴν προκειμένην χρείαν παρασκευάζουσιν. ὅπερ δοκῶ μοι πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν ἡμέραν πάσχειν ἐγώ· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔχων μεγαλοπρεπὲς ἐν ταῖς προκειμέναις εὐφημίαις παρ' ἐμαυτοῦ συντελεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἱερὰν ᾠδήν, ἣν ἀρτίως ᾔσαμεν, καταφεύξομαι. ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ταῖς ἀφορμαῖς χρησάμενος ἀποτίσω τὸ χρέος τῇ γραφικῇ λέξει προσυφήνας καὶ τὰ ἐμά, εἴ τινα ἄρα καὶ τυγχάνει παρὰ τῷ πένητι δούλῳ τῆς εἰς τὸν δεσπότην εὐχαριστίας ἐγκώμια. ἔλεγε τοίνυν ἀρτίως ὁ ∆αβὶδ καὶ ἡμεῖς μετ' ἐκείνου· Αἰνεῖτε τὸν κύριον πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐπαινέσατε αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ λαοί. πάντα τὸν ἐξ Ἀδὰμ ἄνθρωπον πρὸς τὸν ὕμνον καλεῖ μηδένα 9.246 καταλιμπάνων ἔξω τῆς κλήσεως, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἑσπερίους, τοὺς ἑῴους, τοὺς παρ' ἑκάτερα, εἴ τις τῆς ἄρκτου γείτων καὶ τῆς μεσημβρίας ἔνοικος, ὁμοῦ πάντας δημαγωγεῖ τῷ ψαλμῷ. καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ μὲν ἀπὸ μέρους τισὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσδιαλέγε ται ἢ τοὺς ὁσίους καλῶν ἢ τοὺς παῖδας πρὸς ὕμνον ἐγείρων, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος ἔθνη καὶ λαοὺς τῷ ψαλτηρίῳ συνάγει. ὅταν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον παρέλθῃ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, βασιλεὺς δὲ καὶ θεὸς ἐπιφανῇ πᾶσιν Χριστὸς πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἄπιστον πληροφορήσας καὶ γλῶσσαν βλάσφημον χαλινώσας, στήσῃ δὲ Ἑλλήνων τὴν ματαιότητα καὶ Ἰουδαίων τὴν πλάνην καὶ τῶν αἱρέσεων τὴν ἀδάμαστον γλωσσαλγίαν, τότε δὴ, τότε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αἰῶνος λαοὶ ὑποκύψαν τες ἄμαχον τὴν προσκύνησιν ἀναπέμψουσι καὶ θαυμαστή τις ἔσται συμφωνία δοξολογίας τῶν μὲν ὁσίων συνήθως ὑμνούντων τῶν δὲ ἀσεβῶν ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἱκετευόντων· καὶ τότε ἀληθῶς ὁ ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος συμφώνως παρὰ πάντων ᾀσθήσεται καὶ τῶν κρατηθέντων καὶ τῶν νικησάντων· τότε καὶ ὁ τῆς ταραχῆς ὑπαίτιος, ὁ τὴν τοῦ δεσπότου φαντασθεὶς ἀξίαν μαστιγίας οἰκέτης ὀφθήσεται πᾶσι παρ' ἀγγέλων πρὸς τὴν τιμωρίαν συρόμενος καὶ πάντες οἱ τῆς ἐκείνου κακίας ὑπηρέται καὶ συνεργοὶ ταῖς πρεπούσαις κολάσεσι καὶ δικαίαις ὑποβληθήσονται, εἷς δὲ φανήσεται βασιλεὺς καὶ κριτὴς κοινὸς δεσπότης παρὰ πάντων ὁμολογούμενος, ἡσυχία δὲ ἔσται κατεσταλμένη, ὥσπερ ὅταν ἄρχοντος ἐπὶ βήματος καθημένου ὁ μὲν κήρυξ ὑποσημαίνῃ τὴν σιωπήν, οἱ λαοὶ δὲ καὶ ὄψιν καὶ ἀκοὴν συντείναντες τὴν τῆς δημηγορίας ἀκρόασιν 9.247 ἀναμένωσιν. διὰ τοῦτο Αἰνεῖτε τὸν κύριον πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ἐπαινέσατε αὐτὸν πάντες οἱ λαοί. αἰνέσατε ὡς δυνατόν, ἐπαινέσατε ὡς φιλάνθρωπον, ὅτι πεσόντας καὶ νεκροὺς ὄντας αὖθις ἐζωοποίησε καὶ τὸ πονέσαν σκεῦος ἀνενεώσατο πάλιν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς τάφοις τῶν λειψάνων ἀηδίαν εἰς ζῷον ἄφθαρτον φιλανθρώπως ἐμόρφωσε καὶ ψυχὴν τὴν πρὸ [τεσσάρων] χιλιάδων ἐτῶν καταλιποῦσαν τὸ σῶμα ὡς ἐκ μακρᾶς ἀποδη μίας εἰς <τὴν> ἰδίαν οἰκίαν ἐπανήγαγεν οὐδὲν ἀπὸ χρόνου καὶ λήθης ξενιζομένην πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον ὄργανον, ἀλλὰ θᾶττον ἐπ' αὐτὸ χωροῦσαν ἢ ὄρνις ἐπὶ τὴν καλιὰν τὴν οἰκείαν καθίπταται. Εἴπωμεν γὰρ τὰ οἰκεῖα τῆς ἑορτῆς, ἵνα ἀκολούθως καὶ προσφυῶς τοῖς πράγμασιν ἑορτάσωμεν· τὸ γὰρ ἀνοίκειον καὶ ἀλλότριον πρὸς τῷ μηδὲν ὠφελεῖν ἄτακτόν ἐστι καὶ ἀλλόκοτον οὐκ ἐν τοῖς περὶ θρησκείας καὶ εὐσεβείας λόγοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔξωθεν καὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας.

Tίς γὰρ οὕτως ἀνόητος καὶ ὑπεργέλοιος ῥήτωρ, ὡς κληθεὶς εἰς φαιδρότητα γάμου ἀποστῆναι μὲν τῶν ἁρμοδίων λόγων καὶ γλαφυρῶν συνευπαθούντων ταῖς