Gregory of Nyssa, Eight Orations on the Beatitudes

fallen, bones showing through where the flesh should be. And what is the cause of the disease? That a brother, or kinsman, or neighbor lives in despondency. O new kinds of injustices! To make it a crime that he is not unfortunate, by whose good fortunes he is pained; not judging the injustice from any evil he himself has suffered from him, but from the fact that the other, while doing no wrong, is in a state of good cheer. What have you suffered, O wretched man? I would say to him; for what reason are you wasting away, viewing your neighbor's successes with a bitter eye? What have you to complain of? That he is comely in body? That he is adorned with speech? That he is superior in lineage? That having entered some office, he is seen to be brilliant in his position? That some abundance of wealth has come to him? That he is revered in his words on account of his wisdom? That he is admired by the many because of his beneficence? That he rejoices in his children? That he delights in his wife? That he is resplendent in the revenues of his house? Why do these things fall upon your heart like the points of arrows? You strike your palms together; you intertwine your fingers; you are distressed in your thoughts; you groan something deep and painful; the enjoyment of your own possessions is unpleasant to you; your table is bitter; life is dejected; your ear is ready for slander of the one who is doing well. But if anything favorable should be said, your hearing is stopped up against the word. And being so disposed in your soul, why do you conceal the disease with hypocrisy? How is the mask of friendship fashioned for you through feigned goodwill? Why do you greet him with auspicious words, bidding him to rejoice and be well, 44.1289 while secretly praying for the opposite in your soul? Such was Cain, who was driven to madness by the acceptance of Abel; envy from within was urging on the murder, but the pretext becomes the executioner; for having assumed a friendly and affable guise, he led him far away from the help of his parents to the field; then in this way he uncovered his envy with murder. He, therefore, who casts out such a disease from human life, and with goodwill and peace binds together the kindred race, and leads men into friendly concord, does he not truly perform a work of divine power, circumscribing the evils of human nature, and introducing in their place the fellowship of good things? For this reason he calls the peacemaker a son of God, because he becomes an imitator of the true God, who bestows these things on the life of men. Blessed therefore are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Who are these? The imitators of the divine love for mankind, who show that which is proper to the divine energy in their own life. The benefactor and Lord of all good things utterly destroys and brings to nothing all that is degenerate and alien to the good. He legislates this energy for you also: to cast out hatred, to put an end to war, to destroy envy, to banish strife, to do away with hypocrisy, to extinguish from within the smoldering remembrance of wrongs in the heart; and to bring in, in their place, all that stands in opposition by the removal of their contraries. For just as light appears with the withdrawal of darkness, so also in the place of each of these, the fruit of the spirit enters in: love, joy, peace, kindness, longsuffering, the entire number of good things enumerated by the Apostle. How then is the dispenser of divine gifts not blessed? The imitator of the gifts of God? He who makes his own good deeds like the divine munificence? Perhaps, however, the blessing does not look only to the good of another; but I think one is properly called a peacemaker who brings the sedition within himself of the flesh and the spirit, and the civil war of our nature, into peaceful concord, whenever the law of the body is no longer active, which wars against the law of the mind, but having been yoked to the better kingdom, it becomes a servant of the divine commands. Rather, let us not think that the word counsels this, that the life of those who have been set aright should be conceived of in duality; but whenever the middle wall of partition of wickedness is removed from the barrier within us, the two become one, being fused together by their commingling with the better. Since, therefore, the divine is simple and

πεπτωκυῖα, ὀστέα τῶν σαρκῶν ἐν τόπῳ διαφαινό μενα. Ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς νόσου τίς; Τὸ ἐν ἀθυμίᾳ ζῇν ἀδελφὸν, ἢ οἰκεῖον, ἢ γείτονα. Ὢ καινῶν ἀδικημάτων! Ἔγκλημα ποιεῖσθαι τὸ μὴ δυστυχεῖν ἐκεῖνον, οὗ ταῖς εὐ πραγίαις ἀλγύνεται· οὐκ ἐξ ὧν αὐτός τι πέπονθε παρ' αὐτοῦ κακὸν τὴν ἀδικίαν κρίνων, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν ἐκεῖνος ἀδικῶν οὐδὲν, ἐν τοῖς καταθυμίοις ἐστί. Τί πέπονθας, ὦ δείλαιε; πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴποιμι ἄν· ἀντὶ τίνος ἐκτέ τηκας, πικρῷ τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τὰς εὐπραγίας ὑποβλέ πων τοῦ γείτονος; Τί ἐγκαλεῖν ἔχεις; Εἰ εὐπρεπὴς ἐκεῖνος τῷ σώματι; Εἰ λόγῳ κεκόσμηται; Εἰ τῷ γένει τὸ πλέον ἔχει; Εἴ τινος ἀρχῆς ἐπιβὰς λαμπρὸς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀξίας ὁρᾶται; Εἰ χρημάτων αὐτῷ τις εὐ πορία προσγέγονεν; Εἰ σεμνὸς ἐν λόγοις διὰ τὴν φρό νησιν; Εἰ περίβλεπτος τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐξ εὐεργεσίας ἐστίν; Εἰ παισὶν ἐπαγάλλεται; Εἰ γαμετῇ εὐφραίνε; Εἰ ταῖς τοῦ οἴκου προσόδοις λαμπρύνεται; ∆ιὰ τί σοι ταῦτα καθάπερ ἀκίδες βελῶν κατὰ τῆς καρ δίας ἐμπίπτουσι; Συγκροτεῖς τὰς παλάμας· τοὺς δακτύλους συμπλέκεις· ἀδημονεῖς τοῖς λογισμοῖς· βύθιόν τι καὶ ὀδυνηρὸν ὑποστένεις· ἀηδής σοι ἡ τῶν προσόντων ἀπόλαυσις· πικρὰ ἡ τράπεζα· κατηφὴς ἡ αἰτία· ἕτοιμον τὸ οὖς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ εὐπράττοντος διαβολήν. Εἰ δέ τι τῶν δεξιῶν λέγοιτο, βέβυσται ἡ ἀκοὴ πρὸς τὸν λόγον. Καὶ οὕτω τὴν ψυχὴν διακείμε νος, τί περιστέλλεις τῇ ὑποκρίσει τὴν νόσον; Πῶς σοι τὸ τῆς φιλίας προσωπεῖον διὰ τῆς κατεσχηματισ μένης εὐνοίας ἐπιμορφίζεται; Τί δεξιοῖς ταῖς εὐφή μοις προσηγορίαις, χαίρειν καὶ ὑγιαίνειν ἐγκελευό 44.1289 μενος, τὰ ἐναντία δι' ἀποῤῥήτων κατὰ ψυχὴν ἐπ αρώμενος; Τοιοῦτος ὁ Κάϊν, ὁ τῇ εὐδοκιμήσει τοῦ Ἄβελ ἐπιλυσσήσας· ὁ φθόνος μὲν ἔνδοθεν τὸν φόνον ἐνεκελεύετο, ἡ δὲ ὑπόθεσις δήμιος γίνεται· φίλον γάρ τι καὶ προσήγορον ὑπελθὼν σχῆμα, τῆς τῶν γονέων συμμαχίας πόῤῥωθεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πεδίον προήγα γεν· εἶθ' οὕτως ἐξεκάλυψε τῷ φόνῳ τὸν φθόνον. Ὁ τοίνυν τὴν τοιαύτην νόσον ἐκβάλλων τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, καὶ εὐνοίᾳ τε καὶ εἰρήνῃ, συνδεσμῶν τὸ ὁμό φυλον, καὶ εἰς φιλικὴν ὁμοφωνίαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἄγων, ἆρ' οὐχὶ θείας ὄντως δυνάμεως ἔργον ποιεῖ, τὰ μὲν κακὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως περιορίζων, ἀντ εισάγων δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν κοινωνίαν; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο υἱὸν Θεοῦ τὸν εἰρηνοποιὸν ὀνομάζει, ὅτι μιμητὴς γίνεται τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ταῦτα τῇ ζωῇ τῶν ἀν θρώπων χαριζόμενος. Μακάριοι τοίνυν οἱ εἰρηνοποιοὶ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ κληθήσονται. Τίνες οὗτοι; Οἱ μιμηταὶ τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας, οἱ τὸ ἴδιον τῆς θείας ἐνεργείας ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰδίου δεικνύντες βίου. Ἀναιρεῖ καθόλου καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν περιίστησιν, ὁ τῶν ἀγαθῶν εὐεργέτης καὶ Κύριος, πᾶν ὅσον ἐστὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἔκφυλόν τε καὶ ἀλλότριον. Ταύτην νομοθετεῖ καὶ σοὶ τὴν ἐνέρ γειαν, ἐκβάλλειν τὸ μῖσος, καταλύειν τὸν πόλεμον, ἀφανίζειν τὸν φθόνον, ἐξορίζειν τὴν μάχην, ἀναιρεῖν τὴν ὑπόκρισιν, κατασβεννύειν ἔνδοθεν τὴν ὑποσμύχουσαν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μνησικακίαν· ἀντεισάγειν δὲ ἀντὶ τούτων, ὅσα τῇ ὑπεξαιρέσει τῶν ἐναντίων ἀντικάθηται. Ὡς γὰρ τῇ τοῦ σκότους ὑποχωρήσει τὸ φῶς ἐπιγίνεται, οὕτω καὶ ἀνθ' ἑκάστου τούτων, ὁ τοῦ πνεύματος καρ πὸς ἀντεισέρχεται, ἀγάπη, χαρὰ, εἰρήνη, χρηστότης, μακροθυμία, ἅπας ὁ τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ κατειλεγμένος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀριθμός. Πῶς οὖν οὐ μακάριος ὁ τῶν θείων δωρεῶν διανομεύς; Ὁ μιμητὴς τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ χαρισμάτων; Ὁ τῇ θείᾳ μεγαλοδωρεᾷ τὰς ἰδίας ἐξομοιῶν εὐποιίας; Τάχα δὲ οὐ πρὸς τὸ ἀλλότριον ἀγαθὸν μόνον ὁ μακαρισμὸς βλέπει· ἀλλ' οἶμαι κυ ρίως εἰρηνοποιὸν χρηματίζειν, τὸν τὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ στάσιν τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ τὸν ἐμ φύλιον τῆς φύσεως πόλεμον εἰς εἰρηνικὴν συμφωνίαν ἄγοντα, ὅταν μηκέτι ἐνεργὸς ᾖ ὁ τοῦ σώματος νόμος, ὁ ἀντιστρατευόμενος τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς, ἀλλ' ὑποζευ χθεὶς τῇ κρείττονι βασιλείᾳ ὑπηρέτης γίνεται τῶν θείων ἐπιταγμάτων. Μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ τοῦτο νομίσωμεν συμβουλεύειν τὸν λόγον, τὸ ἐν δυάδι νοεῖσθαι τῶν κατ ωρθωκότων τὸν βίον· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὰν ἐξαιρεθῇ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν φραγμοῦ τὸ μεσότοιχον τῆς κακίας, εἷς οἱ δύο τῇ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀνακρίσει συμφυέντες γίνονται. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἁπλοῦν τὸ θεῖον καὶ