Sermon on all saints

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS GREGORY THE WONDERWORKER, A DISCOURSE ON ALL THE SAINTS

Bless, Lord. I wished to be still, and not to make public my rustic tongue; for silence is a great thing, when speech is paltry; and stillness is admirable, when lack of education is present; and the consummate philosopher is one who by silence covers his ignorance. This I also chose to do, knowing the weak 10.1200 ness of my own tongue; but the sight of what is seen draws me to speak.

Since, then, the festival is splendid and the assembly continuous, and our congregation is fervent in faith, I will turn boldly to the beginning of the discourse; especially as the Father prays, the Church struggles alongside, and the holy martyrs strengthen my weakness for this. For these persuaded even old men to complete a long journey with much sweat, and compelled them to support their faltering steps with the staff of the word; and they urged women to journey with young men; and the martyrs brought here the crawling age of infancy, they who leap against death, laugh at swords, plunder the tyrant's rage, seize upon death as the agent of immortality, making the victory their own in their own fall, through the body 10.1201 leaping up to heaven. Scattering their limbs that they might bind fast their souls, having broken the bars of life that they might open the keys of the heavens. He who disbelieves that death has been abolished, that Hades has been trampled, that its bonds have been broken, that the tyrant is bound; let him behold the martyrs tumbling against death and proclaiming the victory of Christ. O the wonder! Since Christ plundered Hades, men have danced over death. O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Hades has been plundered, and the devil; and he has been stripped of his ancient panoply; and he has been cast out of his own dominion; and just as Goliath had his head cut off with his own sword, so also the devil, having begotten death, is routed by death; and the easy method of his own deceit he finds a powerful instrument of his own destruction; like one who is pierced by the fishhook of the Godhead, and swallowing the usual bait is clearly caught while thinking to catch; and seizing God instead of man. For this reason the martyrs trample on the head of the dragon, and despise every form of torment. For since the second Adam brought up the first Adam from the depth of Hades, as Jonah from the whale, and showed the one deceived to be a citizen of heaven, to the shame of the deceiver; from that time the gates of Hades were closed, and the gates of heaven were opened; granting unhindered entrance to those who ascend with faith. Long ago Jacob saw a ladder set up to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending; but now the Lover of mankind, having become man for the sake of man, kicking the inhuman one with the foot of his divinity, and supporting man with the hand of his Christhood, prepared the impassable ether to be traversed by human feet. Then the angels ascended and descended; but now the Angel of great counsel does not ascend and descend; for from where and to where will He move who is everywhere present, and fills all things, and holds in his hand the ends of the [world]?

For once He descended and once He ascended; not 10.1204 using a change of nature, but a condescension of a man-loving Christhood; the Word sitting with the Father, and the Word lodging in the womb, and the Word everywhere

Sermo in omnes sanctos

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΑΥΜΑΤΟΥΡΓΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΓΙΟΥΣ ΠΑΝΤΑΣ

Εὐλόγησον, ∆έσποτα. Ἡρεμεῖν ἐβουλόμην, καὶ μὴ δημοσιεύειν ἀγροικίζουσαν γλῶσσαν· μέγα γὰρ σιωπὴ, ὅτ' ἂν ὁ λόγος εὐτελής· καὶ θαυμαστὸν ἡσυχία, ἀπαιδευσίας παρούσης· φιλόσοφός τε ἄκρος διὰ σιγῆς καλύπτων ἀμαθίαν. Τοῦτο κἀγὼ πράττειν προῃρούμην τὸ ἀσθε 10.1200 νὲς τῆς οἰκείας ἐπιστάμενος γλώσσης· ἀλλ' ἕλκει με πρὸς τὸ λέγειν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἡ ὄψις.

Ἐπεὶ οὗν ἡ πανήγυρις λαμπρὰ καὶ τὸ θέατρον συνεχὲς, καὶ ζέων ἐστὶ τῇ πίστει ὁ ἡμέτερος σύλλογος· ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ λόγου θαῤῥοῦντος τραπήσομαι· μάλιστα τοῦ Πατρὸς εὐχομένου, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας συναγωνιζο μένης, μαρτύρων ἁγίων πρὸς τοῦτο ῥωννύντων τὸ ἀσθενές. Οὗτοι γὰρ καὶ γέροντας ἔπεισαν σὺν ἱδρῶτι πολλῷ μακρὰν ἐξανύσαι πορείαν, καὶ τὰ σφαλλόμενα βήματα τῇ βακτηρίᾳ τοῦ λόγου στηρίζειν κατηνάγκα ζον· καὶ τὸ θῆλυ προέτρεψαν συνοδοιπορεῖν νεανί σκοις· καὶ τὴν νηπιάζουσαν ἡλικίαν ἕρπουσαν ἐν ταῦθα παρήγαγον μάρτυρες κατὰ θανάτου σκιρτῶν τες, ξίφεσιν ἐγγελῶντες, θυμὸν τυραννικὸν διαρπά ζοντες, θάνατον ἀθανασίας πρόξενον ἀνθαρπάζοντες, ἐν ἰδίῳ πτώματι τὴν νίκην οἰκειούμενοι, διὰ σώμα 10.1201 τος ἀναπηδῶντες πρὸς οὐρανόν. Τὰ μέλη διασκορπί ζοντες ἵνα σφίγξωσι τὰς ψυχὰς, τὰ κλῇθρα τῆς ζωῆς διαῤῥήξαντες ἵνα τὰς κλεῖς ἀνοίξωσι τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ὁ ἀπιστῶν ὅτι θάνατος καταλέλυται, ᾅδης πεπάτη ται, ὅτι τούτου τὰ δεσμὰ διεῤῥάγη· ὅτι τύραννος δέδεται· βλεπέτω μάρτυρας κυβιστῶντας κατὰ θα νάτου, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ νίκην ἀνευφημοῦντας. Ὢ τοῦ θαύματος. Ἀφ' οὗπερ Χριστὸς τὸν ᾅδην ἐσκύλευσεν, ἄνθρωποι κατωρχήσαντο τοῦ θανάτου. Ποῦ σου, θάνατε, τὸ κέντρον; ποῦ σου, ᾅδη, τὸ νῖκος; Ἐσκύλευται ὁ ᾅδης καὶ ὁ διάβολος; καὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀφῄρηται πανοπλίας· καὶ τοῦ οἰκείου κράτους ἐκβέβληται· καὶ καθάπερ ὁ Γολιὰθ τῷ οἰκείῳ ξίφει τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπετμήθη, οὔτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος θάνατον γεννήσας, διὰ θανάτου τροποῦται· καὶ τὴν εὐχερῆ μέθοδον τῆς οἰκείας ἀπάτης, ὄργανον ἰσχυρὸν τῆς ἰδίας ἀπωλείας εὑρίσκει· καθάπερ ἄγκιστρον περιπαρεὶς τῇ Θεότητι, καὶ τὸ σύνηθες δέλεαρ καταπιὼν ἀγρεύεται σαφῶς ὁ ἀγρεύειν οἰόμενος· καὶ Θεὸν ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπου κρατήσας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μάρτυρες σκιρτῶσιν τὴν τοῦ δράκοντος κεφαλήν· καὶ πᾶν εἶδος βασάνων ὑπερορῶσιν. Ἀφ' οὗ γὰρ ὁ δεύτερος τὸν πρῶτον Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ πυθμένος τοῦ ᾅδου ὡς τὸν Ἰωνᾶν ἐκ τοῦ κήτους ἀνήγαγεν, καὶ τὸν ἀπατηθέντα, εἰς ἐντροπὴν τοῦ ἀπατήσαντος, οὐρανοπολίτην ἀνέδειξεν· ἐξ ἐκείνου πύλαι ᾅδου ἐκλείσθησαν· καὶ πύλαι οὐρανοῦ ἀνεῴχθησαν· ἀκώλυτον τοῖς μετὰ πίστεως ἀνιοῦσιν παραχωροῦσαι τὴν εἴσοδον. Πάλαι μὲν Ἰακὼβ κλίμακα ἐστηριγμένην ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐθεάσατο, καὶ τοὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀναβαίνοντας καὶ καταβαίνοντας· νυνὶ δὲ διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τὸν ἀπάνθρωπον λακτίσας τῷ ποδὶ τῆς θεότητος, καὶ τὸν ἅνθρωπον βαστάσας τῇ χειρὶ τῆς χριστότητος, τὸν ἄβατον αἰθέρα ποσὶν ἀνθρωπίνοις πεζεύσασθαι παρεσκεύασεν. Τότε οἱ ἄγγελοι ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον· νυνὶ δὲ ὁ τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς Ἄγγελος οὐκ ἀναβαίνει καὶ καταβαίνει· καὶ πόθεν γὰρ ποῦ μεταστήσεται ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν, καὶ τὰ πάντα πληρῶν, καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ συνέχων τὰ [κόσμου] πέρατα;

Ἅπαξ γὰρ κατέβη καὶ ἅπαξ ἀνέβη· οὐ 10.1204 μεταβάσει χρησάμενος φύσεως, ἀλλὰ συγκαταβάσει φιλανθρώπου χριστότητος· ὁ Λόγος τῷ Πατρὶ συγκαθήμενος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ αὐλιζόμενος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος πανταχοῦ