Gregory of Nazianzus, On Holy Baptism

licentiousness; but either to suffer this, or to seem to, while delaying purification. Do you have an infant? Let not wickedness get a foothold; let him be sanctified from his infancy, from his very nails let him be consecrated to the Spirit. You fear the seal because of the 36.381 weakness of nature; how faint-hearted the mother, and of little faith! But Hannah, even before Samuel was born, promised him to God, and when he was born, she immediately made him a holy offering, and raised him with the priestly robe, not fearing what is human, but believing in God. You have no need of amulets and incantations, with which the evil one enters in, stealing for himself from God the reverence among the more frivolous. Give him the Trinity, the great and beautiful phylactery.

18. What more? Do you practice virginity? Be sealed with purification; make this the partner of your life, and your companion; let this regulate for you your life, and speech, every limb, every movement, every sense. Honor it, that it may adorn you, that it may give to your head a crown of graces, and with a crown of delight it may protect you. Are you bound in marriage? Be bound also with the seal; take this to dwell with you as a guardian of your temperance; how much safer do you think it is than many eunuchs, many doorkeepers? Are you not yet joined in the flesh? do not fear the perfection. You are pure, even after marriage; mine is the risk, I am the arranger of this, I am the bridgeroom's attendant. For, because virginity is more honorable, marriage is not among the dishonorable things. I will imitate Christ, the pure bridesman and bridegroom, who both works miracles at a marriage, and honors wedlock by His presence. Only let the marriage be pure, and unmixed with sordid desires. I ask one thing only; receive from the gift security, and give to the gift chastity in due season, as long as a time for prayer is set, and it is more honorable than business, and this by common agreement and consent. For we are not legislating, but advising, and we wish to receive something of yours on your behalf, and for the sake of your common safety. And to speak in sum, there is no life, no pursuit, for which this is not more profitable. Receive, you in authority, the bridle; you in servitude, equality of honor; you who are disheartened, comfort; you in good spirits, discipline, the poor, inviolable wealth; the wealthy, the good stewardship of what you have. Devise no sophism, no artifice against your own salvation. For even if we deceive others, 36.384 we shall not be able to deceive ourselves; since to trifle with oneself is very perilous and foolish.

19. But you are involved in the midst of things, and are defiled by public affairs; and is it a terrible thing, if the gift of grace is to be spent on you? The argument is simple: If it is possible, flee even the marketplace with your good company, putting on yourself the wings of an eagle, or of a dove, that I may speak more familiarly (for what have you to do with Caesar, or the things of Caesar?). Until you rest, where there is no sin, nor blackness, nor biting serpent on the path, hindering your steps towards God. Snatch your soul from the world; flee Sodom; flee the conflagration; journey without turning back, lest you be fixed a pillar of salt; save yourself to the mountain, lest you be taken along with them. But if you are preoccupied, and are bound with necessary bonds, say this to yourself, or rather I will say it to you: It is better both to obtain the good, and to preserve the purification; but if both are possible, it is better to be slightly defiled at some time by your public affairs, than to fall away from grace entirely; just as, I think, it is better to be rebuked somewhat by a father and master, than to be cast off; and to be slightly illuminated, than to be completely in darkness. And it is the part of the prudent, just as to choose the greater and more perfect of good things, so also to choose the lesser and lighter of evil things. For this reason do not be overly afraid of the purification. For what is rightly done is always judged along with one's pursuits, by the just and man-loving judge of our affairs. And often the one in the midst of life who has achieved a little, has more than the one in freedom who has not achieved everything; just as, I think, it is more remarkable to advance a little in fetters, than to run

ἀσέλγειαν· ἀλλ' ἢ πάσχειν τοῦτο, ἢ δοκεῖν, διαμέλλοντα πρὸς τὴν κάθαρσιν. Νήπιον ἔστι σοι; Μὴ λαβέτω καιρὸν ἡ κακία· ἐκ βρέφους ἁγιασθήτω, ἐξ ὀνύχων καθιερωθήτω τῷ Πνεύματι. Σὺ δέδοικας τὴν σφραγῖδα διὰ τὸ τῆς 36.381 φύσεως ἀσθενές· ὡς μικρόψυχος ἡ μήτηρ, καὶ ὀλιγόπιστος! Ἡ Ἄννα δὲ, καὶ πρὶν ἢ γεννηθῆναι τὸν Σαμουὴλ, καθυπέσχετο τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ γεννηθέντα, ἱερὸν εὐθὺς ποιεῖ, καὶ τῇ ἱερατικῇ στολῇ συνανέτρεψεν, οὐ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον φοβηθεῖσα, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ πιστεύσασα. Οὐδὲν δεῖ σοι περιαμμάτων καὶ ἐπᾳσμάτων, οἷς ὁ πονηρὸς συνεισέρχεται, κλέπτων εἰς ἑαυ τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ σέβας, ἐν τοῖς κουφοτέροις. ∆ὸς αὐτῷ τὴν Τριάδα, τὸ μέγα καὶ καλὸν φυλακτή ριον.

ΙΗʹ. Τί ἔτι; Παρθενίαν ἀσκεῖς; Τῇ καθάρσει σφραγίσθητι· ταύτην ποίησαι τοῦ βίου κοινωνὸν, καὶ συνόμιλον· αὕτη ῥυθμιζέτω σοι, καὶ βίον, καὶ λόγον, πᾶν μέλος, πᾶν κίνημα, πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν. Τίμησον αὐτὴν, ἵνα σε κοσμήσῃ, ἵνα δῷ τῇ σῇ κεφαλῇ στέφανον χαρίτων, στεφάνῳ δὲ τρυφῆς ὑπερασπίσῃ σου. ∆έδεσαι γάμῳ; Καὶ τῇ σφραγῖδι συνδέθητι· ταύτην συνοίκισον σεαυτῷ τῆς σωφροσύνης φύλακα· πόσων εὐνούχων οἴει, πόσων θυρωρῶν οὖσαν ἀσφαλεστέραν; Οὔπω σαρκὶ συνεζεύχθης; μὴ φοβηθῇς τὴν τελείωσιν. Καθαρὸς εἶ, καὶ μετὰ τὸν γάμον· ἐμὸς ὁ κίνδυνος, ἐγὼ τούτου συναρμοστὴς, ἐγὼ νυμφοστόλος. Οὐ γὰρ, ἐπεὶ ἡ παρθενία τιμιωτέρα, ἐν τοῖς ἀτίμοις ὁ γάμος. Μιμήσομαι Χριστὸν, τὸν καθαρὸν νυμφαγωγὸν, καὶ νυμ φίον, ὃς καὶ θαυματουργεῖ γάμῳ, καὶ τιμᾷ συζυγίαν τῇ παρουσίᾳ. Μόνον ἔστω γάμος καθαρὸς, καὶ πόθοις ῥυπαροῖς ἀνεπίμικτος. Ἓν αἰτῶ μόνον· λάβε παρὰ τοῦ δώρου τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, καὶ δὸς τῷ δώρῳ τὴν ἁγνείαν κατὰ καιρὸν, ἕως εὐχῆς πρόκειται προθεσμία, καὶ ἀσχολίας τιμιωτέρα, καὶ ταύτην ἐκ κοινῆς ὁμολογίας καὶ συναινέσεως. Οὐ γὰρ νομοθετοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ παραινοῦμεν, καὶ τῶν σῶν τι λαβεῖν ὑπὲρ σοῦ βουλόμεθα, καὶ τῆς κοινῆς ὑμῶν ἀσφαλείας ἕνεκεν. Ἐν κεφαλαίῳ δὲ εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐ βίος, οὐκ ἐπιτήδευμα, ᾧ μὴ τοῦτο λυσιτελέστερον. ∆έξαι, ὁ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ, τὸν χαλινόν· ὁ ἐν δουλείᾳ, τὴν ἰσοτιμίαν· ὁ ἀθυμῶν, τὴν παραμυθίαν· ὁ ἐν εὐθυμίᾳ, τὴν παιδαγωγίαν, ὁ πένης, τὸν ἄσυλον πλοῦ τον· ὁ εὐπορῶν, τὴν καλὴν ὧν ἔχεις οἰκονομίαν. Μη δὲν σοφίσῃ, μηδὲν τεχνάσῃ κατὰ τῆς σεαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. Κἂν γὰρ τοὺς ἄλλους παραλογιζώμεθα, 36.384 ἡμᾶς γε αὐτοὺς οὐ δυνησόμεθα· ὡς τό γε καθ' ἑαυ τοῦ παίζειν, λίαν ἐπισφαλὲς καὶ ἀνόητον.

ΙΘʹ. Ἀλλ' ἐν μέσῳ στρέφῃ, καὶ μολύνῃ τοῖς δη μοσίοις· καὶ δεινὸν, εἴ σοι δαπανηθήσεσθαι τὸ φιλάν θρωπον; Ἁπλοῦς ὁ λόγος· Εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε, φύγε καὶ τὴν ἀγορὰν μετὰ τῆς καλῆς συνοδίας, πτέρυγας ἀε τοῦ σεαυτῷ περιθεὶς, ἢ περιστερᾶς, ἵν' οἰκειότερον εἴπω (τί γάρ σοι καὶ Καίσαρι, ἢ τοῖς Καίσαρος;). Ἕως οὗ καταπαύσῃς, οὗ μὴ ἔστιν ἁμαρτία, μη δὲ μελάνωσις, μηδὲ δάκνων ὄφις ἐφ' ὁδοῦ, κωλύων σου τὰ κατὰ Θεὸν διαβήματα. Ἅρπασον τὴν σεαυ τοῦ ψυχὴν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου· φύγε Σόδομα· φύγε τὸν ἐμπρησμόν· ὅδευσον ἀμεταστρεπτὶ, μὴ παγῇς λίθος ἁλός· εἰς τὸ ὄρος σώζου, μὴ συμπαραληφθῇς. Εἰ δὲ προκατέχῃ, καὶ δέδεσαι δεσμοῖς ἀναγ καίοις, ἐκεῖνο σεαυτῷ διαλέχθητι, μᾶλλον δὲ σοὶ αὐ τὸς διαλεχθήσομαι· Κρεῖσσον μὲν καὶ τυχεῖν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, καὶ φυλάσσειν τὴν κάθαρσιν· εἰ δὲ ἀμ φότερα μὲν ἐνδέχεται, κρεῖσσόν ποτε μικρὰ μολυνθῆ ναι τοῖς σοῖς δημοσίοις, ἢ παντάπασιν ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς χάριτος· ὥσπερ, οἶμαι, κρεῖσσον ἐπιτιμηθῆναί τι παρὰ πατρὸς καὶ δεσπότου, ἢ ἀπωσθῆναι· καὶ μικρὸν αὐγάζεσθαι, ἢ παντελῶς σκοτίζεσθαι. Σωφρόνων δὲ, ὥσπερ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὰ μείζω καὶ τελεώτερα, οὕτω καὶ τῶν κακῶν αἱρεῖσθαι τὰ ἐλάττω τε καὶ κουφότερα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μὴ λίαν φοβηθῇς τὴν κάθαρσιν. Κρίνεται γὰρ ἀεὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τὸ κατ ορθούμενον, παρὰ τοῦ δικαίου καὶ φιλανθρώπου τῶν ἡμετέρων κριτοῦ. Καὶ μικρὸν κατορθώσας πολλάκις ὁ ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, πλέον ἔσχε τοῦ ἐν ἐλευθερίᾳ μὴ τὸ πᾶν κατορθώσαντος· ὥσπερ, οἶμαι, παραδοξότερον ἐν πέδαις μικρὰ προβαίνειν, ἢ τρέχειν