Gregory of Nazianzus, On the New Sabbath 1

of a pretty-boy, poorly-clad; instead of proud and boastful, humble in appearance; instead of a golden roof, a narrow space; bowing down, instead of with a lofty neck. If you think this way, and act this way, for you the heaven will be new, and the earth new, and the other things and of these

10. But let us now depart, and celebrate together what is fitting for the season. For all things run together and rejoice together in the festival for good; for see what things are seen. The queen of the seasons makes a procession for the queen of days, and brings as a gift from herself everything most beautiful and most delightful. Now the sky is more transparent; now the sun is higher and more golden; now the circle of the moon is brighter, and the chorus of the stars purer. Now waves are poured out as a libation upon the shores, and a cloud for the sun, and winds for the air, and for the earth plants, and plants for the eyes. Now springs flow more clearly; now rivers flow more abundantly, having been loosed from their winter bonds. And the meadow is fragrant, and the plant shoots forth, and the grass is cropped, and lambs skip upon the green fields. Now a ship puts to sea from the harbors with commands, and these for the most part God-loving, and is winged with its sail; and the dolphin leaps about, snorting up and sending forth most sweetly, and escorts the sailors with good cheer. Now the farmer fixes his plow, looking upward, and calling upon the fruit-giver, and brings the ploughing ox under the yoke, and cuts a sweet furrow, and rejoices in his hopes. Now the shepherd and the herdsman 36.620 fit together their pipes, and breathe a pastoral tune, and make spring among the plants and rocks. Now the gardener tends his plant, and the fowler builds his lime-twigs, and looks up at the branches, and studies the wing of a bird. And the fisherman looks down into the depths, and cleans his net, and sits upon the rocks.

11. Now the industrious bee, spreading her wing, and rising up from the hives, displays her own wisdom, and flies over the meadows, and gathers the flowers; and one builds the honeycombs, weaving the hexagonal and opposing pipes, and alternating the straight lines with the angles, a work at once of beauty and of security; while another lays up the honey in the storehouses, and cultivates for her host a sweet and unploughed fruit. Oh that we too, the bee-garden of Christ, having received such an example of wisdom and industry! Now the bird builds its nest, and one returns, another settles in, another flies about, and sings down upon the grove, and chatters around man. All things hymn and glorify God with unutterable voices; for in all things God is thanked through me; and thus their hymn becomes ours, from whom I take up the hymning. Now every kind of animal laughs, and we feast every sense. Now the high-necked and proud horse, impatient with its stable, and having broken its bonds by force, stamps upon the plain, and beautifies itself in the rivers.

12. What else? Now the martyrs are in the open air, and they lead processions, and with bright steps they call together the Christ-loving people. and they make public their contests. One of these is also my crowned one (for he is mine, even if not with me, let envy fall away, I speak to those who know), Mamas the renowned, both shepherd and martyr; who formerly milked the does as they hurried to one another, so that the just man might be fed with strange milk; but now shepherding the people of a metropolis, and inaugurating the spring today with the many thousands of those hurrying from all sides, distinguished by the beauties of virtue, and worthy of shepherds, and of victory-songs. And to speak more concisely, now is the cosmic spring 36.621, a spiritual spring, a spring for souls, a spring for bodies, a visible spring, an invisible spring; of which may we partake there also, having been well changed here, and may we be sent forth new to the new life, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be all glory, honor, and power with the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

καλλωπιστοῦ, δυσείμων· ἀντὶ γαύρου καὶ ἀλα ζόνος, εὐτελὴς τὸ φαινόμενον· ἀντὶ χρυσορόφου, στενόχωρος· κάτω νεύων, ἀντὶ ὑψαύχενος. Ἐὰν οὕτω διανοῇ, καὶ οὕτω ποιῇς, ἔσται σοι ὁ οὐρανὸς καινὸς, καὶ ἡ γῆ καινὴ, τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὸν τούτων

Ιʹ. Ἀλλ' ἀπίωμεν ἤδη, καὶ τῷ καιρῷ τὰ εἰκότα συν εορτάσοντες. Πάντα γὰρ εἰς καλὸν τῇ πανηγύρει συν τρέχει καὶ συναγάλλεται· ἴδε γὰρ οἷα τὰ ὁρώμενα. Ἡ βασίλισσα τῶν ὡρῶν τῇ βασιλίδι τῶν ἡμερῶν πομ πεύει, καὶ δωροφορεῖ παρ' ἑαυτῆς πᾶν ὅ τι κάλλι στον καὶ τερπνότατον. Νῦν οὐρανὸς διαυγέστερος· νῦν ἥλιος ὑψηλότερος καὶ χρυσοειδέστερος· νῦν σελήνης κύκλος φανότερος, καὶ ἀστέρων χορὸς καθαρώτερος. Νῦν αἰγιαλοῖς μὲν κύματα σπένδεται, ἡλίῳ δὲ νέφος, ἀέρι δὲ ἄνεμοι, γῆ δὲ φυτοῖς, φυτὰ δὲ ὄψεσι. Νῦν πηγαὶ διαυγέστερον νάουσι· νῦν δὲ ποταμοὶ δαψιλέστερον, τῶν χειμερίων δεσμῶν λυθέντες. Καὶ λειμὼν εὐωδεῖ, καὶ φυτὸν βρύει, καὶ κείρεται πόα, καὶ ἄρνες ἐπισκιρτῶσι χλοεραῖς ταῖς ἀρούραις. Ἄρτι μὲν ναῦς ἐκ λιμένων ἀνάγεται σὺν κελεύσμασι, καὶ τούτοις ὡς τὰ πολλὰ φιλοθέοις, καὶ τῷ ἰστίῳ πτεροῦται· καὶ περισκιρτᾷ δελφὶς, ἀναφυσῶν ὡς ἥδιστον καὶ ἀναπεμπόμενος, καὶ παραπέμπει πλωτῆρας σὺν εὐθυμίᾳ. Ἄρτι δὲ γεωργὸς ἄροτρον πήγνυται, ἄνω βλέπων, καὶ τὸν καρποδότην ἐπικαλούμενος, καὶ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ἄγει βοῦν ἀρότην, καὶ τέμνει γλυκεῖαν αὔλακα, καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν εὐφραίνεται. Ἄρτι δὲ ποιμὴν καὶ βου 36.620 κόλος ἀρμόζονται σύριγγας, καὶ νόμιον ἐμπνέουσι μέλος, καὶ φυτοῖς καὶ πέτραις ἐνεαρίζουσιν. Ἄρτι δὲ φυτὸν φυτουργὸς θεραπεύει, καὶ ἰξευτὴς καλάμους οἰκοδομεῖ, καὶ ὑποβλέπει πτόρθους, καὶ περιεργάζεται πτερὸν ὄρνιθος. Καὶ ἀλιεὺς βυθοὺς διορᾷ, καὶ δίκτυον ἀνακαθαίρει, καὶ πέτρας ὑπερκαθέζεται.

ΙΑʹ. Ἄρτι μὲν ἡ φιλεργὸς μέλισσα, τὸ πτερὸν ἐκλύσασα, καὶ τῶν σίμβλων ἀπαναστᾶσα, τὴν ἑαυτῆς σοφίαν ἐπιδείκνυται, καὶ λειμῶνας ἐφίπταται, καὶ συλᾷ τὰ ἄνθη· καὶ ἡ μὲν φονεῖ τὰ κηρία, τὰς ἐξαγώνους καὶ ἀντιθέτους σύριγγας ἐξυφαίνουσα, καὶ τὰς εὐθείας ταῖς γωνίαις ἐπαλλάττουσα, ἔργον ὁμοῦ κάλλους καὶ ἀσφαλείας· ἡ δὲ τὸ μέλι ταῖς ἀποθήκαις ἐναποτίθεται, καὶ γεωργεῖ τῷ ξενίζοντι καρπὸν γλυκὺν καὶ ἀνήροτον. Ὡς ὄφελόν γε καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὁ Χριστοῦ μελισσὼν, καὶ τοιοῦτο λαβόντες σοφίας καὶ φιλοπονίας ὑπόδειγμα! Ἄρτι δὲ καλιὰν ὄρνις πήγνυται, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐπανέρχεται, ὁ δὲ εἰσοικίζεται, ὁ δὲ περιίπταται, καὶ καταφωνεῖ τὸ ἄλσος, καὶ περιλαλεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Πάντα Θεὸν ὑμνεῖ καὶ δοξάζει φωναῖς ἀλαλήτοις· ἐπὶ πᾶσι γὰρ εὐχαριστεῖται δι' ἐμοῦ Θεός· καὶ οὕτως ὁ ἀκείνων ὕμνος, ἡμέτερος γίνεται, παρ' ὧν ἐγὼ τὸ ὑμνεῖν λαμβάνω. Νῦν μὲν γελᾷ πᾶν ζώων γένος, καὶ πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν ἐστιώμεθα. Νῦν δὲ ὑψαύχην ἵππος καὶ ἀγέρωχος, τοῖς οἴκοις δυσχεραίνων, καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ τυραννήσας, κροαίνει κατὰ πεδίον, καὶ ποταμοῖς ὡραΐζεται.

ΙΒʹ Τί τἄλλα; Νῦν μάρτυρες αἰθριάζουσι, καὶ πομπεύουσι, καὶ λαμπροῖς τοῖς βήμασι συγκαλοῦσι λαὸν φιλόχριστον. καὶ τοὺς ἄθλους δημοσιεύουσι. Τούτων εἷς ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἐμὸς στεφανίτης (ἐμὸς γὰρ, εἰ καὶ μὴ παρ' ἐμοὶ, πιπτέτω φθόνος, εἰδόσι λέγω), Μάμας ὁ περιβόητος, καὶ ποιμὴν, καὶ μάρτυς· ὁ πρότερον μὲν τὰς ἐλάφους ἀμέλγων κατεπειγομένας ἀλλήλων, ἵνα ξένῳ γάλακτι τραφῇ δίκαιος· νῦν δὲ ποιμαίνων λαὸν μητροπόλεως, καὶ τὸ ἔαρ ἐγκαινίζων σήμερον ταῖς πολλαῖς χιλιάσι τῶν πανταχόθεν ἐπειγομένων, διάφορόν τε ἀρετῆς κάλλεσι, καὶ ποιμέσιν ἄξιον, καὶ λόγοις ἐπινικίοις. Ἔτι δὲ συντομώτερον εἰπεῖν, νῦν ἔαρ 36.621 κοσμικὸν, ἔαρ πνευματικὸν, ἔαρ ψυχαῖς, ἔαρ σώμασιν, ἕαρ ὁρώμενον, ἔαρ ἀόρατον· οὗ κἀκεῖθεν μεταλάβοιμεν ἐνταῦθα καλῶς ἀμειφθέντες, καὶ καινοὶ πρὸς τὸν καινὸν βίον παραπεμφθείημεν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ, καὶ κράτος σὺν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἀμήν.