1

Apologia in hexaemeron

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, AN APOLOGETIC TO HIS BROTHER PETER, CONCERNING THE

SIX DAYS' WORK.

PREFACE. This you do, O man of God: commanding us to dare what is beyond daring, and to attempt such things, of which not only to succeed is impossible, but even to attempt, at least in my judgment, is not without blame? For of the things philosophized by the great Moses in the cosmogony by divine inspiration, those things that seem to have a contrary sense, according to the literal meaning of what is written, you have ordered us to bring into a coherent train of thought by some consistent reasoning, and to show Holy Scripture to be in agreement with itself; and this after that divinely inspired contemplation of our father on the subject, which all who have known it marvel at no less than the things philosophized by Moses himself; and rightly and reasonably, I think, they do so. For whatever relation the ear of grain has to the seed, both being from it and not being it, but rather being it in potentiality, but changed in size, beauty, variety and form; the same relation one might say the thoughts, elaborated 64 by the great Basil through more diligent contemplation, hold to the voice of the great Moses; for what he said in a few and concise words, these our teacher, having magnified through lofty philosophy, made not an ear of grain, but a tree like the grain of mustard seed to which the kingdom was compared, which becomes a tree in the heart of the husbandman, so that it has become on all sides abundant in its thoughts, and spread out with doctrines instead of branches, and reaching up to the height with the aim of piety, so that even the lofty and soaring souls, which the Gospel calls birds of the air, are able to nest in the greatness of such branches. For assent to the matter sought is a kind of nest for the soul, giving rest upon itself to the unstable busy-ness of the mind, like some far-wandering flight. How then is it possible to plant against such and so great a tree of words the small slip of our intellect? Or indeed, neither do you command this, nor would I ever accept, that our labor should be set in opposition to the diligent work of our father and teacher? But just as farmers work wonders, contriving a difference of fruits in one plant; and the method of cultivation is this: Having torn away some small leaf from another tree with the bark underlying its base, they fit the bark to another, larger plant, in one particular part of an incision, so that what has been inserted, being nourished by the natural sap of the greater, may grow into a branch. So I too, having grafted my own thought, like some small shoot, into the sap of the great tree, that is, the wisdom of our teacher, will try to become a branch of it, being implanted as is possible for me in its thoughts, and being watered by the supply of the starting-point given to us from there.

For I think that some have not properly understood the purpose of his labours on the Hexaemeron, for which reason they find fault that no clear knowledge has been given to them concerning the sun, how after three days the luminary is made along with the other stars, since it is impossible for the daily measure to be determined by morning and evening, unless in any case the sun by setting in the evening, and in the morning

1

Apologia in hexaemeron

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ, ΑΠΟΛΟΓΗΤΙΚΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΠΕΤΡΟΝ ΤΟΝ Α∆ΕΛΦΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ, ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ

ΕΞΑΗΜΕΡΟΥ.

ΠΡΟΟΙΜΙΟΝ. Ταῦτα ποιεῖς. ὦ ἄνθρωπε τοῦ Θεοῦ· κατατολμᾷν ἡμᾶς τῶν ἀτολμήτων ἐγκελευόμενος, καὶ πράγμασιν ἐγχειρεῖν τοιούτοις, ὧν οὐ τὸ τυχεῖν μόνον ἐστὶν ἀμήχανον, ἀλλὰ οὐδὲ τὸ ἐγχειρῆσαι, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον. ἀνέγκλητον; Τῶν γὰρ κατὰ θείαν ἐπί πνοιαν ἐν τῇ κοσμογονίᾳ φιλοσοφηθέντων τῷ μεγάλῳ Μωϋσῇ, τὰ δοκοῦντα κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον τῶν γεγραμμένων σημασίαν. ὑπεναντίως ἔχειν, ἐπέταξας ἡμῖν διά τινος ἀκολούθου διανοίας εἰς εἱρμὸν ἀγα γεῖν, καὶ συμφωνοῦσαν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἀποδεῖξαι τὴν ἁγίαν Γραφήν· καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν θεόπνευστον ἐκείνην τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ προκείμενον θεω ρίαν, ἣν οἱ ἐγνωκότες πάντες, οὐδὲν ἔλαττον τῶν αὐτῷ Μωϋσῇ πεφιλοσοφημένων θαυμάζουσιν· εὖ καὶ εἰκότως, οἶμαι, τοῦτο ποιοῦντες. Ὃν γὰρ ἔχει λόγον πρὸς τὸν κόκκον ὁ ἄσταχυς, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου ὢν, κἀκεῖνο μὴ ὢν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκεῖνο μὲν ὢν τῇ δυνάμει, παρηλλαγμένος δὲ μεγέθει, καὶ κάλλει καὶ ποικιλίᾳ καὶ σχήματι· τὸν αὐτὸν εἴποι τις ἂν ἐπέχειν λόγον, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου Μωϋσέως φωνὴν, τὰ παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου διὰ φιλοπονωτέρας θεωρίας ἐξ 64 εργασθέντα νοήματα· ἃ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν ἐν ὀλίγοις τε καὶ εὐπεριγράπτοις τοῖς ῥήμασι, ταῦτα διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς φιλοσοφίας ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν αὐξήσας, οὐχὶ ἄστα χυν, ἀλλὰ δένδρον ἐποίησε κατὰ τὸν ὁμοιωθέντα τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ σινάπεως κόκκον, τὸν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ γεωργοῦντος ἀποδενδρούμενον, ὥστε γενέσθαι παντα χόθεν αὐτὸν ἀμφιλαφῆ τοῖς νοήμασι, καὶ διηπλωμένον ἀντὶ κλάδων τοῖς δόγμασι, καὶ τῷ σκοπῷ τῆς εὐσε βείας εἰς ὕψος ἀνατεινόμενον, ὡς καὶ τὰς ὑψηλάς τε καὶ μετεωροπόρους ψυχὰς, ἃς πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ὀνομάζει, δύνασθαι τῷ μεγέθει τῶν τοιούτων κλάδων ἐννοσσεύειν. Καλιὰ γάρ τις οἷόν ἐστι ψυχῆς, ἡ περὶ τὸ ζητούμενον συγκατάθεσις, τὴν ἄστατον τοῦ νοῦ πολυπραγμοσύνην, καθάπερ τινὰ πολυπλανῆ πτῆσιν, ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς ἀναπαύουσα. Πῶς οὖν ἔστι τῷ τοιούτῳ καὶ τηλικούτῳ δένδρῳ τῶν λόγων, ἀντιφυτεῦσαι τὴν βραχεῖαν τῆς διανοίας ἡμῶν ἀπο σπάδα; Ἢ τοῦτο μὲν οὔτε σὺ κελεύεις, οὔτ' ἂν ἐγὼ δεξαίμην ποτὲ, τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου τῇ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ διδασκάλου φιλοπονίᾳ τὸν ἡμέτερον ἀντιτεθῆναι πόνον; Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἱ γεωργοὶ θαυματοποιοῦσιν, καρπῶν διαφορὰν ἐν ἑνὶ φυτῷ σοφιζόμενοι· ὁ δὲ τρό πος τῆς φυτοκομίας οὗτός ἐστιν· Βραχύ τι φύλλον ἐξ ἑτέρου δένδρου μετὰ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου τῇ βάσει φλοιοῦ ἀποσύραντες, ἄλλῳ φυτῷ μείζονι, κατά τι μέρος ἓν, τομῆς τὸν φλοιὸν ἐναρμόζουσιν, ἵνα τῇ φυσικῇ τοῦ μείζονος ἰκμάδι τὸ ἐντεθὲν ἐκεῖνο πιαινόμενον, εἰς κλάδον ἀναφύηται. Οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν ἐμὴν διάνοιαν, οἷόν τινα βραχὺν μόσχον τῇ ἰκμάδι τοῦ μεγάλου δένδρου τῇ τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡμῶν σοφίᾳ ἐνείρας, κλάδος ἐκείνου γενέσθαι πειράσομαι, ἐμφυόμενος ὡς ἔστι μοι δυνατὸν τοῖς νοήμασι, καὶ τῇ χορηγίᾳ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἐνδιδομένης ἡμῖν ἀφορμῆς ἐπαρδόμενος.

Οἶμαι γὰρ ἐγὼ μὴ καλῶς τινας τὸν σκοπὸν τῶν εἰς τὴν Ἑξαήμερον αὐτῷ πεπονημένων ἐπεγνωκέναι, οὗ χάριν αἰτιῶνται τὸ μήτε περὶ τοῦ ἡλίου σαφῆ παρα δεδόσθαι τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτοῖς, πῶς μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ὁ φωστὴρ, οὔτ' ἂν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀστέρων κατασκευάζεται, ὡς ἀδύνατον ὃν ὄρθρῳ καὶ ἑσπέρᾳ διο ρισθῆναι τὸ ἡμερήσιον μέτρον, εἰ μὴ πάντως ὁ ἥλιος ἐσπέραν μὲν δυόμενος, ὄρθρον δὲ