Gregory of Nazianzus, Letters

of such a great friendship and company. 93.2 Others enjoy your perfection; but for us it would be a great thing if we might have even this, the shadow of your company in your letters. 93.3 Shall we see you again? Shall we embrace our object of veneration, and will this be granted to the remainder of our life? 93.4 If it should be granted, all thanks be to God; but if not, we are already for the most part dead. But you, remember your Gregory and tell our story. 94.TO AMAZONIUS 94.1 If any of our common friends asks you (and I am persuaded there are many of them): “Where now is our Gregory? What is he doing?”, say with confidence that he is living a life of philosophy in quiet, caring as much for those who wrong him as for those of whom it is not even known whether they exist; so unconquerable is he. 94.2 But if the same person should ask you again: “How does he bear separation from his friends?”, no longer say with confidence that he is living a life of philosophy, but rather that he bears it very ignobly. 94.3 For one person is overcome by one thing, another by another, but we by friendship and friends. Of these, the admirable Amazonius is one. Perhaps you could cure us by one thing alone and make us feel easier about you, if you would remember us and persuade us by your letters that you are doing so. 95.TO LEONTIUS 95.1 O propitious sickness and insolence of enemies, through which we have become free, outside the fire of Sodom and the episcopal dissolution. But how are things between you and God? Let these things be well, and as for the rest, however they may be, let us bid them farewell. A little while longer and I will see those who insult me, when our affairs are judged by fire. We greet you and through you our common friends. Remember my stonings. 96.TO HYPATIUS 96.1 We have been deprived for a long time, since the first of cities did not have the first among men. For it was necessary, I think, for the good to be poured out and the benefit of all to become common, so that you might sow good order from on high, just like the seeds of those who cultivated our foods, as at least it seems in myths and stories. 96.2 But it remains for me to grieve even more, because after enjoying so much only, as little as a flash of lightning illuminating my sight, I was then overcome by envy and shrank into myself, having yielded the power of the Church and its more seemly stage to others (if I may say so on account of those who lightly make sport of things not worthy of sport). 96.3 But you, O best of all, preserve the same disposition toward us, which like the lodestone draws iron to itself. 97.TO HERACLEIANUS 97.1 You are always with us, the good Heracleianus, both saying something of learning and hearing it; and the beautiful Constantinople is with us on your account, even if for a short time, as envy willed it so. And if Gregory is also with you, it would be better for both. You will make this known through the letters you send, which is the only thing possible. 98.TO THE MAGISTRATES 98.1 You seem to me as if you would not even keep your hands off Diogenes of Sinope's wallet, if it were up to you, but would lay hands even on that, calling his worn cloak and staff a trade, and the very fact of possessing nothing from philosophy, and his going from one door to another at random, living on whatever he could get, when you are trying to impose a tax from the trades on brother Theotecnus. 98.2 What first or what greatest of just claims shall I say on his behalf? That he is a deacon, or that he is poor, or that he is a stranger and belongs more to others than to us, or that he is venerable in his life and a priest and sojourner of the martyrs? 98.3 Know also that he offers hospitality to strangers beyond his means. And perhaps he errs in this alone, that he alone of those there forces himself to be good. 98.4 Of these things, you yourselves judge which is the greatest; but for the man's sake, forgive him everything, lest you should seem, while benefiting the community in small ways, to be greatly injuring yourselves, not clothing the naked, as the saying is, but stripping him. 99.TO SACERDOS 99.1 I hear that you have a disposition for the solitary life, and would that you might become for us a John the Baptist or even an Elijah of Carmel, and that those who hate us might wrong us in this alone, to bring us together to God and give us genuinely to the things above, being delivered from affairs and disturbances, so that they might at least unwillingly do us good

φιλίας καὶ συνουσίας τοσούτου πράγμα τος. 93.2 Ἄλλοι τῆς σῆς τελειότητος ἀπολαύουσιν· ἡμῖν δὲ μέγα κἂν εἰ τοῦτο ἔχοιμεν, σκιὰν ὁμιλίας τὴν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν. 93.3 Ἆρά σε ὀψόμεθα πάλιν; Ἆρα περιπτυ-ξόμεθα τὸ ἡμέτερον σεμνολόγημα, καὶ τοῦτο δοθήσεται τῷ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν λειψάνῳ; 93.4 Εἰ μὲν δοθείη, πᾶσα τῷ Θεῷ χάρις· εἰ δὲ μή, τεθνήκαμεν ἤδη τῷ πλείστῳ μέρει. Σὺ δὲ μέμνησο τοῦ σοῦ Γρηγορίου καὶ διηγοῦ τὰ ἡμέτερα. 94.Τ ΑΜΑΖΟΝΙΩΙ 94.1 Ἄν τις ἔρηταί σε τῶν κοινῶν φίλων (πολλοὺς δὲ εἶναι πείθομαι τούτους)· «Ποῦ δὲ νῦν ὁ Γρηγόριος ἡμῖν; πράττει δὲ τί;», θαρρῶν φαθὶ ὅτι ἐφ' ἡσυχίας φιλοσοφεῖ, τοσαῦτα τῶν ἀδικούντων φροντίζων ὅσα τῶν οὐδὲ εἰ γεγόνασι γινωσκομένων· οὕτως ἐστὶν ἀήττητος. 94.2 Ἂν δέ σε πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς ἐπανέρηται· «Πῶς δὲ τὴν διάζευξιν φέρει τῶν φίλων;», μηκέτι θαρρῶν εἴπῃς ὅτι φιλοσοφεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν ἀγεννῶς ἔχει. 94.3 Ἄλλου μὲν γὰρ ἄλλος ἥττων ἐστίν, ἡμεῖς δὲ φιλίας καὶ φίλων. Τούτων εἷς ἐστι καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἀμαζόνιος. Τάχα ἂν ἑνὶ μόνῳ θεραπεύσαις ἡμᾶς καὶ ῥᾴους ἐπὶ σοὶ ποιήσαις, εἰ μνημο νεύοις ἡμῶν καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο ποιεῖς πείθοις τοῖς γράμμασιν. 95.Τ ΛΕΟΝΤΙΩΙ 95.1 Ὢ τῆς δεξιᾶς νόσου καὶ τῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπηρείας, δι' ἣν ἡμεῖς ἐλεύθεροι γεγόναμεν ἔξω τοῦ Σοδομιτικοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τῆς ἐπισκοπικῆς ἐκλύσεως. Ὑμῖν δὲ πῶς ἔχει τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν; Ταῦτα ἐχέτω καλῶς, τἄλλα δέ, ὅπως ἂν ἔχῃ, χαίρειν ἐάσωμεν. Μικρὸν ἔτι καὶ ὄψομαι τοὺς ἐμοὺς ὑβριστάς, ἡνίκα ἂν πυρὶ κρίνηται τὰ ἡμέτερα. Προσαγο ρεύομεν ὑμᾶς καὶ δι' ὑμῶν τοὺς κοινοὺς φίλους. Μέμνησθέ μου τῶν λιθασμῶν. 96.Τ ΥΠΑΤΙΩΙ 96.1 Πολὺν ἐζημιώμεθα χρόνον, οὐκ ἐχούσης τὸν πρῶτον ἐν ἀνδράσι τῆς πρώτης ἐν πόλεσιν. Ἔδει γάρ, οἶμαι, χεθῆναι τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ κοινὸν γενέσθαι τὸ πάντων ὄφελος, ὡς ἂν σπείραις τὴν εὐνομίαν ἐξ ὕψους, καθάπερ τὰ σπέρ ματα οἱ τὰς τροφὰς ἡμερώσαντες, ὡς γοῦν τοῖς μύθοις δοκεῖ καὶ τοῖς πλάσμασιν. 96.2 Ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ πλέον ἀλγεῖν περίεστιν, ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀπολαύσας μόνον, ὅσα καὶ ἀστραπῆς ὀλίγα τὴν ὄψιν περιλαμπούσης, ἔπειτα ἡττήθην τοῦ φθόνου καὶ εἰς ἐμαυτὸν συνεστάλην, ἄλλοις τοῦ κράτους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παραχωρήσας καὶ τῆς εὐπρεπεστέρας σκηνῆς (ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω διὰ τοὺς παίζοντας εὐκόλως τὰ μὴ παιδιᾶς ἄξια). 96.3 Σὺ δέ, ὦ πάντων ἄριστε, τὴν αὐτὴν σῷζε πρὸς ἡμᾶς διάθεσιν, ἥτις κατὰ τὴν μαγνῆτιν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἕλκει τὰ σιδήρια. 97.Τ ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΑΝΩΙ 97.1 Ἀεὶ σὺ παρ' ἡμῖν ὁ καλὸς Ἡρακλειανὸς καὶ λέγων τι παιδεύσεως καὶ ἀκούων· καὶ Κωνσταντινούπολις μεθ' ἡμῶν ἡ καλὴ δι' ὑμᾶς, εἰ καὶ πρόσκαιρος, οὕτω τοῦ φθόνου θελήσαντος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ παρὰ σοὶ Γρηγόριος, ἄμεινον ἂν ἀμφοτέροις ἔχοι. ∆ηλώσεις δὲ τοῦτο δι' ἐπιστολῶν ἃς ἐπιστελεῖς, ὃ μόνον ἐνδέχεται. 98.Τ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΥΣ 98.1 Ὑμεῖς μοι δοκεῖτε μηδ' ἂν τῆς ∆ιογένους πήρας, εἰ καθ' ὑμᾶς, ἀποσχέσθαι τοῦ Σινοπέως, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνῳ ἂν τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιβαλεῖν, τέχνην ἐπικαλοῦντες αὐτῷ τὸν τρίβωνα καὶ τὴν βακτηρίαν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ κεκτῆσθαι μηδὲν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας, ἄλλοτε δὲ ἄλλῃ θύρᾳ προσφοιτᾶν εἰκῇ διαζῶντα καὶ ὅθεν ἔτυχεν, ὁπότε καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Θεοτέκνῳ ζημίαν ἐπιβαλεῖν ἐπιχειρεῖτε τὴν ἐκ τῶν τεχνῶν. 98.2 Τί πρῶτον ἢ τί μέγιστον εἴπω τῶν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ δικαίων; ὡς διάκονός ἐστιν, ἢ ὡς ἄπορος, ἢ ὡς ξένος καὶ ἄλλοις μᾶλλον ἡμῶν προσήκων, ἢ ὅτι τὸν βίον αἰδέσιμος καὶ τῶν μαρτύρων ἱερεὺς καὶ πάροικος; 98.3 Ἴστε δὲ ὅτι καὶ ξενοτροφεῖ παρὰ δύναμιν. Καὶ τοῦτο ἴσως ἀδικεῖ μόνον ὅτι μόνος τῶν αὐτόθι βιάζεται εἶναι χρηστούς. 98.4 Τούτων ὅ τι μὲν μέγιστόν ἐστιν αὐτοὶ κρίνατε· τῷ δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ διὰ πάντα συγχωρήσατε, μὴ δόξητε μικρὰ τὸ κοινὸν ὠφελοῦντες μεγάλα ζημιοῦσθαι αὐτοί, γυμνόν, ὃ δὴ λέγεται, μὴ ἀμφιεννύντες, ἀλλ' ἀποδύοντες. 99.Τ ΣΑΚΕΡ∆ΩΤΙ 99.1 Πυνθάνομαί σε ἀναχωρητικῶς ἔχειν, καὶ εἴθε γένοιο ἡμῖν Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστὴς ἢ καὶ Ἠλίας ὁ τοῦ Καρμήλου, καὶ τοῦτο μόνον ἀδικήσαιεν ἡμᾶς οἱ μισοῦντες, τὸ πρὸς Θεὸν συναγαγεῖν καὶ δοῦναι γνησίως τοῖς ἄνω, πραγμάτων καὶ θορύβων ἀπαλλαγέντας, ἵν' ἄκοντες γοῦν εὖ ποιῶσιν ἡμᾶς