Gregory of Nazianzus, On Peace III

you pick up our trifles, whether one should call them stumblings, or even childish games; as it is of the utmost misfortune, not to have security in one's own strengths, but in the weaknesses of others.

13. Behold, we give right hands to one another in your sight. Behold the works of the Trinity, who is equally glorified and worshipped by us. This will make you better and more orthodox. O that we might be heard, and that this day might become a chosen day, a holy day, not of contradiction, but of freedom; not a memorial of temptation, but a festival of victory; so that our being of one mind with each other, and with nearly the whole world, of which some parts were sound, some have now recovered their health, and some are beginning to be healthy, may become for you too a cause of salvation, and of restoration. O Holy Trinity, and adorable, and longsuffering! For longsuffering is she who has for so long endured those who divide you. O Trinity, of whom I was counted worthy to be both a servant, and a more than unfeigned preacher! O Trinity, who will one day be known to all, to some by illumination, to others by punishment! Receive these also as worshippers, who are now insolent; and may we be deprived of no one, not even the least, even if it were necessary for me to be deprived of some grace; for I do not dare to utter as much as the Apostle.

14. But are these things not dear to you? But does the tongue writhe, and is it in labor with contradiction? We shall see this one day, or those who have more leisure than we; we shall know your clever offspring, or rather, your abortions, when, having broken or crushed the eggs of asps with a hard and resisting word, we shall prove them to be wind-eggs and barren, and bring into the midst the basilisk of impiety hidden in them; a basilisk indeed, but dead and imperfect, and motionless, having died in the birth-pangs, and, to use your phrase, not existing before it was begotten, that I may grant you some small favor; not more hateful for its conception, than pitiable for its abortion. This, I know, will He grant us, who gave us to tread on asp and basilisk, and to walk upon serpents and scorpions; who also will crush Satan under our feet shortly, whether as lightning fallen from heaven because of his former brightness, or as a fleeing serpent because of his later crookedness, and his transformation into a creeping thing, that we may get some small breathing-space from our evils, 35.1168 pain, and grief, and sighing having completely fled away, both now and hereafter, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

σπερμολογῆτε τὰ μικρὰ ἡμῶν, εἴ τε πταίσματα χρὴ λέγειν, εἴτε καὶ παίγνια· ὡς ἔστι τῆς ἄκρας κακοδαιμονίας, μὴ ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις ἰσχυροῖς τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἔχειν, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ἑτέρων σα θροῖς.

ΙΓʹ. Ἰδοὺ δεξιὰς δίδομεν ἀλλήλοις ἐν ταῖς ὑμετέ ραις ὄψεσιν. Ἰδοὺ τῆς Τριάδος τὰ ἔργα, τῆς ὁμοίως ἡμῖν δοξαζομένης τε καὶ προσκυνουμένης. Τοῦτο ὑμᾶς χρηστοτέρους ποιήσει καὶ ὀρθοδοξοτέρους. Ὡς ὄφελόν γε καὶ ἀκουσθείημεν, καὶ γένοιτο τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην, ἡμέραν γενέσθαι κλητὴν, ἁγίαν, μὴ ἀντιλογίας, ἀλλ' εὐρυχωρίας· μὴ πειρασμοῦ μνημό συνον, ἀλλ' ἑορτὴν ἐπινίκιον· ἵνα τὸ ἡμᾶς συμφρονεῖν ἀλλήλοις, καὶ μικροῦ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἧς τὰ μὲν ὑγιῶς εἶχε, τὰ δὲ νῦν ἀπέλαβε τὴν ὑγίειαν, τὰ δὲ ὑγιαίνειν ἄρχεται, τοῦτο καὶ ὑμῖν αἴτιον γένηται σωτηρίας, καὶ ἀναπλάσεως. Ὦ Τριὰς ἁγία, καὶ προσκυνητὴ, καὶ μακρόθυμε! μακρόθυμος γὰρ ἡ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀνασχομένη τῶν σὲ τεμνόντων. Ὦ Τριὰς, ἧς ἐγὼ κατηξιώθην, καὶ λάτρης εἶναι, καὶ κῆρυξ ἐκ πλείονος ἀνυπόκριτος! Ὦ Τριὰς ἡ πᾶσί ποτε γνωσθησομένη, τοῖς μὲν τῇ ἐλλάμψει, τοῖς δὲ τῇ κο λάσει! ∆έχοιο καὶ τούτους προσκυνητὰς, τοὺς νῦν ὑβριστάς· καὶ μηδένα ζημιωθείημεν, μηδὲν τῶν ἐλαχίστων, κἂν ἐμέ τι ζημιωθῆναι δέοι τῆς χά ριτος· οὐ γὰρ τολμῶ τοσοῦτον ὅσον ὁ Ἀπόστολος φθέγξασθαι.

Ι∆ʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐ ταῦτα φίλα ὑμῖν; σπαράσσεται δὲ ἡ γλῶσσα, καὶ ὠδίνει τὴν ἀντίῤῥησιν; Ὀψόμεθα καὶ ταύτην ποτὲ, ἢ οἷς μᾶλλον ἡμῶν σχολὴ περίεστι· γνωσόμεθα καὶ τὰ κομψὰ ὑμῶν γεννήματα, ἢ ἐξαμβλώματα, ἐπειδὰν τὰ ὠὰ τῶν ἀσπίδων ῥήξαντες ἢ συντρίψαντες λόγῳ σκληρῷ καὶ ἀντιτύπῳ, οὔρια καὶ ἀνεμιαῖα ταῦτα ἐλέγξωμεν, καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσεβείας κρυπτόμενον βασιλίσκον εἰς μέσον ἀγάγωμεν· εἰ καὶ βασιλίσκον, ἀλλὰ νεκρόν τε καὶ ἀτελῆ, καὶ ἀκίνητον, ταῖς ὠδῖσιν ἐναποθανόντα, καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῆναι οὐκ ὄντα, καθ' ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν, ἵνα τι μικρὸν ὑμῖν καὶ χαρίσωμαι· οὐ μᾶλλον μισητὸν τῆς συλλήψεως, ἢ ἐλεεινὸν τῆς ἀμβλώσεως. Τοῦτο δώσει ἡμῖν, οἶδ' ὅτι, ὁ δοὺς ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβαίνειν, καὶ περιπατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων· ὃς καὶ συντρίψει τὸν Σατανᾶν ἐν τάχει ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν, εἴτε ὡς ἀστραπὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσόντα διὰ τὴν παλαιὰν λαμπρότητα, εἴτε ὡς ὄφιν φεύγοντα διὰ τὴν ὕστερον σκολιότητα, καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ χαμερπὲς μεταποίησιν, ἵνα μικρόν τι τῶν κακῶν 35.1168 ἀναπνεύσωμεν, ἀποδρασάσης παντελῶς ὀδύνης, καὶ λύπης, καὶ στεναγμοῦ, νῦν τε καὶ ὕστερον, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.