1

Dogmatic Poems

POEMS OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

BOOK 1. THEOLOGICAL POEMS. SECTION 1. DOGMATIC POEMS.

I. Concerning the Father. I know that on rafts we are crossing a long voyage, Or on tiny wings toward the starry heaven 398 We hasten, whose mind is stirred to reveal the Godhead, Which not even the heavenly ones have strength to worship, as is fitting, Or the bounds of the great Godhead, and the rudder of all. 399 But nevertheless (for often a gift has not pleased God 399 from a richer hand as much as one from little love), For this reason I will boldly break forth in speech. But far away Flee, whoever is a sinner; my word, either to the pure, Or to those being purified this comes; but the profane, Like beasts, from Christ's steep mountain Shining, while writing the law for Moses on tablets, May they be subdued at once under shattering rocks. Let those then suffer such things; and as the Word pushed away the worst From our choir who have a god-fighting heart. But I will place this voice as a preface in my pages, Which god-minded men of old uttered, Bringing awe to the people with a stern witness of their words, 400 Moses, and Isaiah (and I will speak to those who know), The one giving the new-made law, the other when it was broken, Let heaven hear, O earth receive my words. Spirit of God, may You rouse my mind and tongue A loud-sounding trumpet of truth, so that all May be delighted in their soul, united with the whole Godhead. There is one God, without beginning, without cause, not circumscribed Either by anything existing before, or that will be hereafter, Encompassing eternity, and boundless, of the noble Son The only-begotten great Father, not having suffered anything In relation to the Son, of the things of the flesh, since He is mind. One God, another, Not another in Godhead, the Word of God, this one of that One The moving paternal seal, the Son of the Unbegun 401 Alone, and most alone from the Alone, equal, So that the one might remain wholly begetter, while the other, the Son, Is creator and ruler of the world, the Father's power and mind. One Spirit from the good God, God. Begone, all you, Whom the Spirit has not formed to reveal His divinity, But who either have a wicked depth, or an impure tongue, Half-enlightened, and envious, self-taught thinkers, A hidden spring, a lamp in dark bosoms. II. Concerning the Son. But first we shall sing of the Son, revering the blood The purification of our sufferings. For it is necessary 402 For a mortal also to aid the heavenly ones, on account of a tongue That wars with the Godhead, ill-sounding, self-slaying. Nothing was before the great Father. For He who holds all things Within, and there is nothing higher than the Father; of the Father The Word has sprung from the great God; a timeless Son, The image of the archetype, a nature equal to the begetter. For the great son is the glory of the Father, and He was brought to light, As only the Father knows and He who was brought to light from the Father, For nothing was near the Godhead; but this nevertheless Is very clear to all mortals alike, as it is to me, It is not right to bring anything of my generation to the Godhead, Not an emission, nor a shameful cutting. For if I 403 Am not an impassible begetter; for I am also bound; He is in no way passible, Who is altogether uncompounded, incorporeal. For of those whose natures are far apart What wonder is it if their begettings are also different? If time is before me, time is not before the Word, Whose begetter is timeless. When the Father was without beginning, Having left nothing higher than the Godhead, Then also was the Son of the Father, having the Father as His timeless beginning, As light from the sun's great and most beautiful orb; Even if all images are beneath the great God,

1

Carmina dogmatica

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ ΕΠΗ.

ΒΙΒΛΟΣ Αʹ. ΕΠΗ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΑ. ΤΟΜΗ Αʹ. ΕΠΗ ∆ΟΓΜΑΤΙΚΑ.

Αʹ. Περὶ τοῦ Πατρός. Οἶδα μὲν ὡς σχεδίῃσι μακρὸν πλόον ἐκπερόωμεν, Ἢ τυτθαῖς πτερύγεσσι πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀστερόεντα 398 Σπεύδομεν, οἷσιν ὄρωρε νόος Θεότητ' ἀναφαίνειν, Ἣν οὐδ' οὐρανίοισι σέβειν σθένος, ὅσσον ἐοικὸς, Ἢ μεγάλης Θεότητος ὅρους, καὶ οἴακα παντός. 399 Ἔμπης δ' (οὐδὲ Θεὸν γὰρ ἀρέσσατο πολλάκι δῶρον 399 Πλειοτέρης ἀπὸ χειρὸς ὅσον φιλίης ὀλίγης τε), Τοὔνεκα θαρσαλέως ῥήξω λόγον. Ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆλε Φεύγετε, ὅστις ἀλιτρός· ἐμὸς λόγος, ἢ καθαροῖσιν, Ἠὲ καθαιρομένοισιν ὅδ' ἔρχεται· οἱ δὲ βέβηλοι, Ὡς θῆρες, Χριστοῖο κατ' οὔρεος ἀκροτόμοιο Λαμπομένου, Μωσῆϊ νόμον τ' ἐνὶ πλαξὶ γράφοντος, Αὐτίκα ῥηγνυμένοισιν ὑπὸ σκοπέλοισι δαμεῖεν. Κεῖνοι μὲν δὴ τοῖα· καὶ ὡς Λόγος ὦσε κακίστους Ἡμετέροιο χοροῖο θεημάχον ἦτορ ἔχοντας. Αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ὄπα τήνδε προοίμιον ἐν σελίδεσσι Θήσομαι, ἣν τὸ πάροιθε θεόφρονες ἄνδρες ἕηκαν, Λαῷ τάρβος ἄγοντες ἀπηνέϊ μάρτυρε μύθων, 400 Μωσῆς, Ἡσαΐας τε (ἐπισταμένοις δ' ἀγορεύσω), Ἤτοι ὁ μὲν νεόπηγα διδοὺς νόμον, ὃς δὲ λυθέντος, Οὐρανὸς εἰσαΐοι, χθὼν δέχνυσο ῥήματ' ἐμοῖο. Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ, σὺ δ' ἔμοιγε νόον καὶ γλῶσσαν ἐγείροις Ἀτρεκίης σάλπιγγα ἐρίβρομον, ὥς κεν ἅπαντες Τέρπωνται κατὰ θυμὸν ὅλῃ Θεότητι μιγέντες. Εἷς Θεός ἐστιν ἄναρχος, ἀναίτιος, οὐ περίγραπτος Ἤ τινι πρόσθεν ἐόντι, ἢ ἐσσομένῳ μετέπειτα, Αἰῶν' ἀμφὶς ἔχων, καὶ ἀπείριτος, Υἱέος ἐσθλοῦ Μουνογενοῦς μεγάλοιο Πατὴρ μέγας, οὔ τι πεπονθὼς Υἱέϊ, τῶν ὅσα σαρκὸς, ἐπεὶ νόος. Εἷς Θεὸς ἄλλος, Οὐκ ἄλλος θεότητι, Θεοῦ Λόγος, οὗτος ἐκείνου Σφρηγὶς κιννυμένη πατρώϊος, Υἱὸς ἀνάρχου 401 Οἶος, καὶ μούνοιο μονώτατος, ἰσοφέριστος, Ὥς κεν ὁ μὲν μίμνῃ γενέτης ὅλος, αὐτὰρ ὅγ' Υἱὸς Κοσμοθέτης νωμεύς τε, Πατρὸς σθένος ἠδὲ νόημα. Ἓν Πνεῦμ' ἐξ ἀγαθοῖο Θεοῦ Θεός. Ἔῤῥετε πάντες, Οὒς μὴ Πνεῦμ' ἐτύπωσεν ἑὴν θεότητ' ἀναφαίνειν, Ἀλλ' ἢ βένθος ἔχουσι κακῶς, ἢ γλῶσσαν ἄναγνον, Ἡμιφαεῖς, φθονεροί τε, νοήμονες αὐτοδίδακτοι, Πηγὴ κευθομένη, λύχνος σκοτίοις ἐνὶ κόλποις. Βʹ. Περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Υἱέα δὲ πρώτιστον ἀείσομεν, αἷμα σέβοντες Ἡμετέρων παθέων τὸ καθάρσιον. Ἦ γὰρ ἀνάγκη 402 Καὶ βροτὸν οὐρανίοισιν ἀρηγέμεν εἴνεκα γλώσσης Μαρναμένης θεότητι, κακόφρονος, αὐτοφόνοιο. Οὐδὲν ἔην μεγάλοιο Πατρὸς πάρος. Ὃς γὰρ ἅπαντα Ἐντὸς ἔχει, καὶ Πατρὸς ὑπέρτερον οὐδέν· ὁ Πατρὸς Ἐκπεφυὼς μεγάλοιο Θεοῦ Λόγος· ἄχρονος Υἱὸς, Εἰκὼν ἀρχετύποιο, φύσις γεννήτορος ἴση. Πατρὸς γὰρ κλέος ἐστὶ πάϊς μέγας, ἐκ δὲ φαάνθη, Ὡς μόνος οἶδε Πατήρ τε καὶ ὃς Πατρὸς ἐξεφαάνθη, Οὐδὲν γὰρ θεότητος ἔην πέλας· ἀλλὰ τόδ' ἔμπης Πᾶσιν ὁμῶς μερόπεσσιν ἀριφραδὲς, ὥσπερ ἔμοι γε, Οὐδὲν ἐμῆς θέμις ἐστὶ φέρειν θεότητι γενέθλης, Οὐ ῥύσιν, οὐδὲ τομὴν κακοαισχέα. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγωγε 403 Οὐκ ἀπαθὴς γενέτωρ· καὶ γὰρ δετός· οὔτι παθητὸς, Ὅς τις πάμπαν ἄπηκτος, ἀσώματος. Ὧν γὰρ ἄπωθεν Εἰσὶ φύσεις, τί τὸ θαῦμα καὶ εἰ γεννήσιες ἄλλαι; Εἰ χρόνος ἐστὶν ἐμεῖο παροίτερος, οὐ πρὸ Λόγοιο Ὁ χρόνος, οὗ γενέτης ἔστ' ἄχρονος. Ἦμος ἄναρχος Ἦε Πατὴρ θεότητος ὑπέρτερον οὔτι λελοιπὼς, Τῆμος καὶ Πατρὸς Υἱὸς, ἔχων Πατέρ' ἄχρονον ἀρχὴν, Ὡς φάος ἠελίοιο μέγαν περικαλλέα κύκλον· Εἰ καὶ εἴδεα πάντα κάτω μεγάλοιο Θεοῖο,