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While the whole nation was looking to the man, and all were expecting him to make public his learning in common assemblies, so that he might have some fruit of his long labors in the good reputation from them; that great man, knowing whence it is fitting that true philosophy be made public by those who pursue it diligently, so that his soul might never be wounded by some ambition (for the praise of the hearers is a terrible thing, to slacken the intentness of the soul with some pride and vainglory), for this reason makes a display of silence, showing the treasure that lay within by deed, not by words, and having separated himself from the noises of the marketplace, and altogether from life in the city, he was with himself alone in a remote place, and through himself with God, taking little account of the whole world and the things in it, not meddling with kingdoms, not examining governments, not listening to someone recounting how some public affair is administered; but making it his concern how the soul might be perfected through virtue, to this he bent his whole life with zeal, and bidding farewell to the affairs in it, this man was another Moses in our times, simply competing with his wonders. Both went out from this turbulent and noisy life, Moses and Gregory, each in his own time having withdrawn unto himself, until the gain of a pure life was made manifest to both from a theophany; but Moses was followed even in his philosophy by a wife; while Gregory made virtue alone his consort. Since, therefore, the goal was the same in both (for the end of the withdrawal of both from the multitude was to comprehend the divine mysteries with the pure eye of the soul), it is possible for one who knows how to look rightly at virtue to judge, for which of these the life was lived more through dispassion, for the one who descended to the lawful and permitted participation in pleasures, or for the one who was raised above it, and gave no passage to material passion against himself. Phaedimus at that time was presiding over the Church of the Amaseians; 46.909 to whom from God through the Holy Spirit was a certain power of foreknowledge; and he was making every effort, so that having gotten the great Gregory in his power, he might lead him to the leadership of a Church, so that so great a good might not pass through life idle and unprofitable; he, sensing the priest's intention, contrived to hide, moving from one wilderness to another. But since that great Phaedimus, having employed every attempt, and using every device and contrivance, was not able to bring the man to the priesthood, who guarded himself with a myriad of eyes so as never to be caught by the hand of the priest, and the zeal was a match for both; the one desiring to capture, the other to escape the pursuer (for the one knew he would offer a sacred dedication to God, but the other feared that the care of the priesthood, imposed upon his life like some burden, might become an obstacle to his philosophy); for this reason Phaedimus, lifted up by some more divine impulse concerning his present endeavor, paid no attention to the intervening distance by which he was separated from Gregory (for he was a three days' journey away), but looking up to God, and saying that both himself and that man were likewise seen by God at that hour, he brings the word to Gregory instead of his hand, dedicating to God the one not physically present, and allotting to him that city, which it happened until those times was so held by the error of idols, that among the countless inhabitants of the city itself and its environs, no more than seventeen were found who had accepted the word of the faith. Thus then, having submitted to the yoke by necessity, after all the lawful rites were performed upon him, and having requested a short time from the one who had proclaimed his priesthood, for the understanding of the exactness of the mystery, no longer, as the Apostle says, did he think it necessary to confer with flesh and blood, but he asked that from God there might come to him the of the hidden things

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Παντὸς δὲ τοῦ ἔθνους πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα βλέποντος, καὶ πάντων προσδεχομέ νων δημοσιεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν κοινοῖς συλλόγοις τὴν παί δευσιν, ὡς ἄν τινα καρπὸν σχοίη τῶν μακρῶν πόνων τὴν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς εὐδοκίμησιν· εἰδὼς ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος ὅθεν προσήκει τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν παρὰ τῶν ἀκρι βῶς μετιόντων δημοσιεύεσθαι, ὡς ἂν μήποτε φιλο τιμίᾳ τινὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τρωθείη (δεινὸς γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἀκουόντων ὁ ἔπαινος, τύφῳ τινὶ καὶ φιλοδοξίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποχαυνῶσαι τὸ σύντονον), τούτου χάριν ἐπί δειξιν ποιεῖται τὴν σιωπὴν, ἔργῳ δεικνὺς τὸν ἐγκεί μενον θησαυρὸν, οὐχὶ ῥήμασι, καὶ τῶν κατ' ἀγορὰν θορύβων, καὶ καθόλου τῆς ἐν ἄστει διαγωγῆς ἑαυτὸν χωρίσας, ἐν ἐσχατιᾷ τινι ἑαυτῷ μόνῳ συνῆν, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ, μικρὸν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ λόγον ποιούμενος, οὐ βασιλείας πολυ πραγμονῶν, οὐκ ἀρχὰς ἐξετάζων, οὐ πῶς διοικεῖταί τι τῶν κοινῶν διεξιόντος ἀκούων· ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν ἡ ψυχὴ δι' ἀρετῆς τελειωθείη, τὴν φροντίδα ποιούμε νος, πρὸς τοῦτο τῇ σπουδῇ συνέτεινε τὸν πάντα βίον, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ πράγματα χαίρειν ἐάσας, ἄλλος τις οὗτος ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνοις Μωϋσῆς ἀτεχνῶς πρὸς τὰ ἐκείνου θαύματα τὴν ἅμιλλαν ἔχων. Ἐξῆλθον ἀμφότεροι τοῦ ταραχώδους τούτου καὶ περιηχη μένου βίου, Μωϋσῆς καὶ Γρηγόριος, κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον ἑκάτερος χρόνον ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν ἰδιάσαντες, ἕως ἐμφα νὲς ἀμφοτέροις ἐκ θεοφανείας ἐγένετο τοῦ καθαροῦ βίου τὸ κέρδος· ἀλλὰ Μωϋσεῖ μὲν κατὰ τῆς φιλοσο φίας καὶ γαμετὴ συνεφείπετο· Γρηγόριος δὲ σύνοικον ἑαυτῷ μόνην τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐποιήσατο. Τοῦ τοίνυν σκο ποῦ τὸ ἴσον ἔχοντος ἐν ἀμφοτέροις (πέρας γὰρ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ἀναχωρήσεως ἦν, τῷ καθαρῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ κατανοῆσαι τὰ θεῖα μυ στήρια), κρίνειν ἔξεστι τῷ πρὸς ἀρετὴν καλῶς βλέπειν ἐπισταμένῳ, ὁποτέρῳ τούτων μᾶλλον ὁ βίος δι' ἀπαθείας γέγονε, τῷ πρὸς τὴν νόμιμον καὶ συγ κεχωρημένην καταβάντι τῶν ἡδονῶν μετουσίαν, ἢ τῷ κατ' αὐτῆς ὑπεραρθέντι, καὶ μηδεμίαν δεδωκότι καθ' ἑαυτοῦ πάροδον τῇ ὑλικῇ προσπαθείᾳ. Φαιδίμου δὲ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον τῆς Ἀμασαίων Ἐκκλησίας 46.909 καθηγουμένου· ᾧ θεόθεν ἐξ ἁγίου Πνεύματος προγνω στική τις δύναμις ἦν· καὶ πᾶσαν ποιουμένου σπου δὴν, ὅπως ὑποχείριον λαβὼν τὸν μέγαν Γρηγόριον, εἰς Ἐκκλησίας ἀρχὴν ἀγάγοι, ὡς ἂν μὴ τοσοῦτον ἀγα θὸν ἀργόν τε καὶ ἀνόνητον παραδράμοι τὸν βίον· τῆς ὁρμῆς οὗτος τοῦ ἱερέως αἰσθόμενος, λανθάνειν ἐμηχανᾶτο, ἄλλο τε πρὸς ἄλλην ἐρημίαν μετανιστά μενος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πᾶσαν καθιεὶς πεῖραν ὁ πολὺς ἐκεῖ νος Φαίδιμος, καὶ πάσῃ μηχανῇ τε καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ χρώ μενος, οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν προσαγαγεῖν τῇ ἱερωσύνῃ τὸν ἄνδρα, μυρίοις ὄμμασι τὸ μὴ ἁλῶναί ποτε τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ ἱερέως προφυλασσόμενον, καὶ ἦν ἐφάμιλλος σπουδὴ ἀμφοτέροις· τοῦ μὲν ἑλεῖν ἐπιθυμοῦντος, τοῦ δὲ ἀποφυγεῖν τὸν διώκοντα (ὁ μὲν γὰρ ᾔδει τῷ Θεῷ προσάξειν ἱερὸν ἀνάθημα, ὁ δὲ ἐδεδοίκει, μή τι γένηται αὐτῷ πρὸς φιλοσοφίας ἐμπόδιον οἷόν τι φορτίον ἡ τῆς ἱερωσύνης φροντὶς ἐπαχθεῖσα τῷ βίῳ)· τούτου χάριν ὁρμῇ τινι θειοτέρᾳ περὶ τὴν προκει μένην σπουδὴν ἐπαρθεὶς ὁ Φαίδιμος, οὐδὲν προσχὼν τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματι, ᾧπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ Γρηγορίου διείργετο (τριῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἐκείνου ἀπέχοντος), ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀναβλέψας, καὶ εἰπὼν ὁμοίως ἑαυτόν τε κἀκεῖνον ἐπὶ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθορᾶσθαι, ἀντὶ χειρὸς ἐπάγει τῷ Γρηγορίῳ τὸν λόγον, ἀφιερώσας τῷ Θεῷ τὸν σωματικῶς οὐ παρόντα, καὶ ἀποκληρώσας αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην, ἣν συνέβη μέχρι τῶν τότε χρόνων οὕτω τῇ πλάνῃ τῶν εἰδώλων κατέχεσθαι, ὥστε ἀπείρων ὄντων τῶν οἰκούντων αὐτήν τε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὴν περίοικον, μὴ πλείους εὑρεθῆναι τῶν ἑπτακαίδεκα τοὺς παραδε δεγμένους τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως. Οὕτω τοίνυν ὑπελθὼν τὸν ζυγὸν κατ' ἀνάγκην, πάντων μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν νομίμων ἐπ' αὐτῷ τελεσθέν των, καὶ βραχὺν χρόνον αἰτησάμενος παρὰ τοῦ τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἐπικηρύξαντος, πρὸς κατανόησιν τῆς κατὰ τὸ μυστήριον ἀκριβείας, οὐκέτι, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι προσανέχειν ᾤετο δεῖν, ἀλλὰ θεόθεν ᾔτει γενέσθαι αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν κρυφίων