Gregory of Nazianzus, To Gregory of Nyssa

abandoning the blame? I will speak to you 35.836 some of the words of Job, myself also in pain, and to a friend, even if not such a one, nor in similar sufferings. To which one do you incline? Or whom are you going to help? Is it not the one who has great strength? Not the one who has great wisdom and knowledge? For I see many of the judges of today experiencing this, who would more easily concede the greatest things to the lofty than the smallest things to the humble. You yourself, then, would know this; for it is not right for me to declare anything not noble concerning you, I who set you as the measure and standard of everything noble; and at the same time I have been admonished by Scripture not to be quick to judge. But I am ready to give an account, both to you, and to anyone who wishes it for friendship's sake, of my, whether disobedience, as some might call it, or providence, as I persuade myself, and caution, so that you may know you are not dealing with a friend who is altogether strange and ignorant; but one able to perceive some things better than the many, and confident in what is worthy of confidence, but fearing where there is fear, and what is more fearful for those who have sense not even to fear.

4. What then seems best, and what is better? Shall we now give our account to you—is this what you command, and you do not disapprove of the occasion? (Which is a festival, but not a court of law.) Or shall we put this off to another time and assembly? For the discourse is longer than is suitable for the present occasion. But what shall we say to you worthy of the festival, so that we ourselves, being the hosts, may not send you away fasting? Let us purify ourselves, brethren, for the martyrs; or rather, for him for whom they too were purified through blood and the truth. Let us be freed from every defilement of flesh and spirit; let us wash, let us become clean; let us also present our bodies and our souls, a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, this our rational worship and intercession. For nothing is so precious to the pure as purity or purification. Let us contend for the sake of the contenders; let us conquer for the sake of the conquerors; let us bear witness to the truth for the sake of the martyrs. Let us grant this to their struggles, that we too may become crowned, and heirs of the same glory, both that which 35.837 comes to them from us and that which is laid up in heaven, of which the visible things are certain small reminders and marks. Let us wrestle against the principalities, against the powers, against the unseen persecutors and tyrants, against the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, and concerning the heavenly things against the war within and in ourselves among the passions, against the daily rebellions of things that happen from without.

5. Let us endure anger like a wild beast, and a tongue like a sharp sword, and let us quench pleasure like a fire. Let us set doors for our ears, well-opened and well-closed; and let us chasten the eye; let us discipline the raging touch, and the rending taste, lest death come up through our windows; for so I think the senses are called; and let us laugh at immoderate laughter. Let us not bend the knee to Baal for the sake of need, nor let us worship the golden image out of fear. Let us fear one thing only, to fear something more than God, and to dishonor the image through wickedness. In all things let us take up the shield of faith, and let us escape all the darts of the evil one. And this is a terrible war, and this is a great battle-line, and this is a great trophy. If we have thus come together, or run together, truly the festival is according to Christ, truly we have honored, or will honor, the martyrs, truly we dance the victory-dance. But if indulging the pleasures of the belly, and delighting for a season, and bringing in what is emptied, and considering these places of drunkenness, not of sobriety, and occasions for business and affairs, but not of ascent or of deification, so I may dare to speak, for which the martyrs mediate,

ἀφιεὶς τῆς μέμψεως; Φθέγξομαί τι πρὸς σὲ 35.836 τῶν τοῦ Ἰὼβ ῥημάτων, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀλγῶν, καὶ πρὸς φίλον, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοιοῦτον, μηδὲ ἐφ' ὁμοίοις τοῖς πά θεσιν. Ποτέρῳ πρόσκεισαι; Ἢ τίνι μέλλεις βοηθεῖν; Ἆρ' οὐχ ᾧ πολλὴ ἰσχύς; Οὐχ ᾧ πολλὴ σοφία καὶ ἐπιστήμη; Τοῦτο γὰρ ὁρῶ πολλοὺς τῶν νῦν κριτῶν πάσχοντας, οἳ ῥᾷον ἂν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς τὰ μέγιστα συγχωρήσαιεν ἢ τοῖς ταπεινοῖς τὰ ἐλάχιστα. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν αὐτὸς ἂν εἰδείης· οὐ γὰρ ἐμοί τι θέμις περὶ σοῦ τῶν οὐ καλῶν ἀποφαίνεσθαι, ὅς σε καλοῦ παντὸς ὅρον καὶ κανόνα τίθεμαι· καὶ ἅμα μὴ ταχὺς εἶναι εἰς κρίσιν, ὑπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς νενουτέθημαι. Ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν λόγον ὑποσχεῖν ἕτοιμος, καί σοι, καὶ παντὶ τῷ βουλομένῳ διὰ φιλίαν, τῆς ἐμῆς, εἴτε ἀπειθείας, ὡς ἄν τινες ὀνομάσαιεν, εἴτε προμηθείας, ὡς ἐμαυτὸν πείθω, καὶ ἀσφαλείας, ὡς ἂν εἰδείης μὴ πάντη ἀτόπῳ φίλῳ χρώμενος καὶ ἀμαθεῖ· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἃ καὶ συνορᾷν δυναμένῳ τῶν πολλῶν ἄμεινον, καὶ θαῤῥοῦντι μὲν ἃ θαῤῥεῖν ἄξιον, φοβουμένῳ δὲ οὗ ἐστι φόβος, καὶ ἃ μηδὲ φοβεῖσθαι τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι φοβερώτερον.

∆ʹ. Τί οὖν δοκεῖ, καὶ τί βέλτιον; Νῦν ὑπόσχωμεν τὰς εὐθύνας ὑμῖν, τοῦτο κελεύετε, καὶ οὐκ ἀποδοκι μάζετε τὸν καιρόν; (Ὃ δέ ἐστι πανήγυρις, ἀλλ' οὐ δικαστήριον.) Ἢ τοῦτο μὲν εἰς ἄλλον καιρὸν καὶ σύλ λογον ἀποθώμεθα; Καὶ γάρ ἐστι μακρότερος, ἢ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν ὁ λόγος. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τί φθεγξόμεθα πρὸς ὑμᾶς τῆς πανηγύρεως ἄξιον, ἵνα μὴ νήστεις ὑμᾶς ἀπολύσωμεν αὐτοὶ, καὶ ταῦτα ὄντες οἱ ἑστιάτορες; Ἁγνίσωμεν ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς, ἀδελφοὶ, τοῖς μάρτυσι· μᾶλλον δὲ, ᾧ κἀκεῖνοι δι' αἵματος καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἡγνίσθησαν. Ἐλευθερωθῶμεν παν τὸς μολυσμοῦ σαρκὸς καὶ πνεύματος· νιψώμεθα, κα θαροὶ γενώμεθα· παραστήσωμεν καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ σώματα ἡμῶν καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς, θυσίαν ζῶσαν, ἁγίαν, εὐάρεστον τῷ Θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ταύτην ἡμῶν καὶ ἔντευξιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω τῷ καθαρῷ τίμιον, ὡς καθαρότης ἢ κάθαρσις. Ἀθλήσωμεν διὰ τοὺς ἀθλη τάς· νικήσωμεν διὰ τοὺς νικητάς· μαρτυρήσωμεν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τοὺς μάρτυρας. Τοῦτο τοῖς ἄθλοις αὐ τῶν χαρισώμεθα, τὸ καὶ αὐτοὶ στεφανῖται γενέσθαι, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς κληρονόμοι δόξης, τῆς τε παρ' 35.837 ἡμῶν ὑπαρχούσης αὐτοῖς καὶ τῆς ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἀποκειμένης, ἧς ὑπομνήματα καὶ χαρακτῆρες μικροί τινες τὰ ὁρώμενα. Πρὸς τὰς ἀρχὰς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξου σίας ἀγωνισώμεθα, πρὸς τοὺς ἀφανεῖς διώκτας τε καὶ τυράννους, πρὸς τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πο νηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, καὶ περὶ τὰ οὐράνια πρὸς τὸν ἔνδον καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τὸν ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι πόλε μον, πρὸς τὰς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν τῶν ἔξωθεν συμ πιπτόντων ἐπαναστάσεις.

Εʹ. Ἐνέγκωμεν θυμὸν ὡς θηρίον, καὶ γλῶσσαν ὡς τομὸν ξίφος, καὶ ἡδονὴν ὡς πῦρ κατασβέσω μεν. Θώμεθα ταῖς ἀκοαῖς θύρας, καλῶς ἀνοιγομένας καὶ κλειομένας· καὶ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν σωφρονίσωμεν· παιδαγωγήσωμεν ἁφὴν λυσσῶσαν, καὶ γεῦσιν σπα ράττουσαν, μὴ θάνατος ἀναβῇ διὰ τῶν θυρίδων ἡμῶν· οὕτω γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι καλεῖσθαι τὰ αἰσθητήρια· καὶ γέλωτος ἀμετρίας καταγελάσωμεν. Μὴ κάμψω μεν γόνυ τῇ Βαὰλ διὰ τὴν χρείαν, μηδὲ διὰ φόβον τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ χρυσῇ προσκυνήσωμεν. Ἓν φοβηθῶμεν μόνον, τὸ φοβηθῆναί τι Θεοῦ πλέον, καὶ καθυβρίσαι τὴν εἰκόνα διὰ κακίας. Ἐν πᾶσι τὸν θυρεὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀναλάβωμεν, καὶ πάντα τὰ βέλη τοῦ πονη ροῦ διαφύγωμεν. Καὶ οὗτος δεινὸς ὁ πόλε μος, καὶ αὕτη παράταξις μεγάλη, καὶ τοῦτο μέγα τρόπαιον. Εἰ οὕτως συνεληλύθαμεν, ἢ συντρέχομεν, ὄντως κατὰ Χριστὸν ἡ πανήγυρις, ὄντως τοὺς μάρτυρας τετιμήκαμεν, ἢ τιμήσομεν, ὄντως χορεύομεν ἐπινίκια. Εἰ δὲ γαστρὸς ἡδοναῖς χαριούμενοι, καὶ τρυφήσοντες πρόσκαιρα, καὶ εἰσοί σοντες τὰ κενούμενα, καὶ κραιπάλης χωρία ταῦτα, οὐ σωφροσύνης ὑπολαμβάνοντες, καὶ πρα γματειῶν καιροὺς καὶ πραγμάτων, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀναβά σεως ἢ θεώσεως, ἵν' οὕτως εἰπεῖν τολμήσω, ἧς οἱ μάρτυρες μεσιτεύουσι,