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God does these things through one another, it seems to me, so that neither what grieves may be without remedy, nor what rejoices without discipline, and so that, observing the unstable and uneven nature in these things, we might look to him alone. We therefore apply these things as a rule and standard to your suffering. 165.6 And if you knew of anyone who was praised for yielding too much to painful things or who achieved anything by grieving, then make use of what grieves you and enjoy your mourning (there is no envy, when a misfortune is being lamented); 165.7 but if you knew of someone reviled and blamed for it, the proverb says: “The one who wounds will heal,” but now it is well to say: “The one who has been wounded.” But for us it is in other ways shameful and contrary to our law to imitate the many in such things; 165.8 since reason makes us higher than present things, and persuades us to pass these by as shadows and riddles, and to consider neither what grieves nor what rejoices to be truth, but to live elsewhere and to look thither, and to know only vice as grievous, and only virtue and intimacy with God as pleasant. 165.9 Chant these things over yourself and you will be more at ease; rather, I know that you have already chanted and will continue to chant them, even if we do not write. 166.T TO THE SAME 166.1 I have some benefit from the letter, O wonderful one, and perhaps not a small one, as a clever healer of such things. The rebuke drove out your grief, and a blush for your passion has taken its place, and you rise up to contradict me very sophistically and nobly. 166.2 And you seem to me, just like the horses of Achilles in Homer, having lifted your head and shaken off the dust (since it was time to mourn Patroclus), to desire again the plains and arms and displays; so is your letter to us brilliant and ambitious and even a bit striking, if I understand you at all. 166.3 Only be a man and philosophize against your passion, and we will accept that it is not a great thing to judge sailors from the land, and that it is greater to contend than to anoint others for misfortunes, unless someone were to say this, that for you there was no necessity either to contend or to set sail (if indeed philosophy is something better than the things in which it is now engaged), 166.4 and for us the battle-line is drawn up against many things, many times, and for our whole life, I think; in which, if we anoint or contend not too ignorantly nor unmanly, many approve. 167.t TO HELLADIUS 167.1 Behold, for you a reminder also of our friendship, our sweetest son Nicobulus, the first for us among those held in honor in our family; you will do us a favor both by introducing him to the more serious teachers, and you will do us a greater favor by also shaping his character toward virtue. 167.2 And this will happen, if he is encouraged to approach you often, and most of all, if he knows he is not being overlooked; since even the eye of an instructor is a silent teaching. 167.3 And you owe us, if it is not burdensome to say so, spiritual things as well, as a high priest to high priests, and literary things, as a man of letters to lovers of letters. 168.t TO PHOTIUS 168.1 20All that you have is mine20 (for I will make the voice of God my preface), and I say mine not only according to the communion of the spirit, but also because to the present state of the Church we have perhaps contributed no small part, while we were still engaged in its affairs and presided over the community. For now only one thing is our concern, our departure, for which we are preparing and packing up. 168.2 Let my things then also be yours, being made common by love; and the most beautiful of my things is our most honorable brother and fellow presbyter Sacerdos, through whom we both address you and consider that we see you. 169.T TO STRATEGIUS 169.1 Oh, how much have we been walled off from each other, with God thus directing our affairs. Oh, for the sacred hearth and fellowship and the common harbor of all those who fear the Lord. Others are enjoying our good things; but for me only the memory is left, and to be jealous of those who partake. 169.2 So that you yourself may also partake of our good things, I introduce to you our most honorable brother and fellow presbyter Sacerdos, whom I know that when you see him you will say: “Truly Gregory is a lover of everything beautiful.” 170.T TO PALLADIUS 170.1 To dare to write often is not of the

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ταῦτα δι' ἀλλήλων ὁ Θεός, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν, ἵνα μήτε τὸ λυποῦν ἀθεράπευτον ᾖ, μήτε τὸ εὐφραῖνον ἀπαιδαγώγητον καὶ ἵνα τὸ ἐν τούτοις ἄστατον καὶ ἀνώμαλον θεωροῦντες πρὸς αὐτὸν μόνον βλέπωμεν. Ταῦτα οὖν ὥσπερ κανόνα καὶ γνώμονα προσάγομεν τῷ σῷ πάθει. 165.6 Καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐπαινούμενόν τινα ἔγνως τῶν λίαν ὑποπεσόντων τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς ἤ τι τῷ ἀλγεῖν κατορ θώσαντα, χρῶ τῷ λυποῦντι καὶ τοῦ πένθους ἀπόλαυε (οὐδεὶς φθόνος, συμφορᾶς θρηνουμένης)· 165.7 εἰ δὲ κακιζόμενον καὶ ψεγόμενον, ἡ μὲν παροιμία φησίν· «Ὁ τρώσας ἰάσεται», νῦν δὲ καλῶς ἔχει λέγειν· «Ὁ τετρωμένος.» Ἡμῖν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως αἰσχρὸν καὶ παρὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον νόμον μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις· 165.8 ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῶν παρόντων ἡμᾶς ὑψηλοτέρους ὁ λόγος ποιεῖ, καὶ πείθει ταῦτα μὲν παρατρέχειν ὡς σκιὰς καὶ αἰνίγματα, καὶ μήτε τὸ λυποῦν μήτε τὸ εὐφραῖνον νομίζειν ἀλήθειαν, ζῆν δὲ ἀλλαχοῦ κἀκεῖσε ὁρᾶν, καὶ μόνον μὲν λυπηρὸν εἰδέναι κακίαν, μόνον δὲ ἡδὺ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκείωσιν. 165.9 Ταῦτα κατέπᾳδε σεαυτοῦ καὶ ῥᾴων ἔσῃ· μᾶλλον δὲ οἶδ' ὅτι κατέπῃσάς τε ἤδη καὶ κατεπᾴσεις, κἂν αὐτοὶ μὴ γράφωμεν. 166.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 166.1 Ἔχω τι τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ὄφελος, καὶ οὐ μικρὸν ἴσως, ὡς δεινὸς τῶν τοιούτων θεραπευτής. Ἐξέ κρουσέ σοι τὴν λύπην ἡ ἐπιτίμησις καὶ τοῦ πάθους τὸ ἐρυθριᾶν ἀντεισῆλθε καὶ πρὸς ἀντίρρησιν διανίστασαι μάλα σοφιστικῶς καὶ γενναίως. 166.2 Καί μοι δοκεῖς, καθάπερ οἱ Ἀχιλλέως ἵπποι παρ' Ὁμήρῳ, τὴν κεφαλὴν διάρας καὶ τὴν κόνιν ἀποσεισάμενος (ἐπειδὴ τοῦ ἀποπεν θεῖν Πάτροκλον καιρὸς ἦν), αὖθις πεδίων ἐπιθυμεῖν καὶ ὅπλων καὶ ἐπιδείξεων· οὕτω σοι τὸ γράμμα τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς λαμπρὸν καὶ φιλότιμον καί τι καὶ πληκτικόν, εἴ τι ἐγώ σου συνίημι. 166.3 Ἀνδρίζου μόνον καὶ φιλοσόφει κατὰ τοῦ πάθους, καὶ ἡμεῖς δεξόμεθα μὴ μέγα εἶναι τὸ ἀπὸ γῆς κρίνειν τοὺς πλέοντας καὶ μεῖζον εἶναι τὸ ἀγωνί ζεσθαι ἢ ἀλείφειν πρὸς συμφοράς, εἰ μή τις ἐκεῖνο λέγοι, ὅτι οὔτε σοι τοῦ ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἢ ἀνάγεσθαι ἀνάγκη τις ἦν (εἴπερ κρεῖττόν τι φιλοσοφία τῶν ἐν οἷς ἐστι νῦν), 166.4 ἡμῖν τε πρὸς πολλὰ καὶ πολλάκις καὶ ὅλον, οἶμαι, τὸν βίον ἡ παράταξις· ἐν οἷς εἰ μὴ λίαν ἀμαθῶς μηδὲ ἀνάνδρως ἀλείφομεν ἢ ἀγωνιζόμεθα, πολλοὶ δοκιμάζουσιν. 167.t ΕΛΛΑ∆ΙΩΙ 167.1 Ἰδού σοι καὶ ὑπόμνημα τῆς ἡμετέρας φιλίας, ὁ γλυκύτατος υἱὸς ἡμῶν Νικόβουλος, τὸ πρῶτον ἡμῖν τῶν ἐν τῷ γένει σπουδαζομένων· ὃν χαριῇ μὲν ἡμῖν καὶ διδασκάλων συστήσας τοῖς σπουδαιοτέροις· χαριῇ δὲ πλέον καὶ τὸ ἦθος πρὸς ἀρετὴν ῥυθμίσας. 167.2 Ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο, εἰ προτραπείη συχνὰ πλησιάζειν σοι, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, εἰ γινώσκοι μὴ παρορώμενος· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς παιδευτοῦ σιωπῶσα διδασκαλία. 167.3 Χρεωστεῖς δὲ ἡμῖν, εἰ μὴ φορτικὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ τὰ πνευματικά, ὡς ἀρχιερεὺς ἀρχιε ρεῦσι, καὶ τὰ λογικά, ὡς λόγιος φιλολόγοις. 168.t ΦΩΤΙΩΙ 168.1 20Πάντα ὅσα ἔχεις ἐμά ἐστι20 (Θεοῦ γὰρ φωνὴν ποιήσομαι τὸ προοίμιον), ἐμὰ δὲ λέγω οὐ κατὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν μόνην τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ τῇ παρούσῃ καταστάσει τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἴσως οὐκ ὀλίγην μοῖραν συνεισηνέγκαμεν, ἕως ἦμεν ἔτι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι καὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ προειστήκειμεν. Νῦν γὰρ ἓν φροντίζεται μόνον ἡμῖν, ἡ ἐκδημία, πρὸς ἣν συστελλόμεθα καὶ συσκευα ζόμεθα. 168.2 Ἔστω δὴ καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ σά, τῇ ἀγάπῃ κοινο ποιούμενα· κάλλιστον δὲ τῶν ἐμῶν ὁ τιμιώτατος ἀδελφὸς καὶ συμπρεσβύτερος ἡμῶν Σακερδώς, δι' οὗ σὲ καὶ προσ φθεγγόμεθα καὶ ὁρᾶν νομίζομεν. 169.Τ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΩΙ 169.1 Ὢ πόσον ἀλλήλων διετειχίσθημεν, οὕτω τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ἡμέτερα φέροντος. Ὢ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἑστίας καὶ συζυγίας καὶ τοῦ κοινοῦ λιμένος πάντων τῶν φοβουμένων τὸν Κύριον. Ἄλλοι τῶν ἡμετέρων καλῶν ἀπολαύουσιν· ἐμοὶ δὲ ὑπελείφθη μόνον ἡ μνήμη καὶ τὸ ζηλοτυπεῖν τοὺς μετέχοντας. 169.2 Ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν ἡμετέρων μετέχῃς καλῶν, γνωρίζω σοι τὸν τιμιώτατον ἀδελφὸν καὶ συμπρεσ βύτερον ἡμῶν Σακερδῶτα, ὃν οἶδα ὅτι θεασάμενος ἐρεῖς· «Ὄντως καλοῦ παντὸς ἐραστὴς ὁ Γρηγόριος.» 170.Τ ΠΑΛΛΑ∆ΙΩΙ 170.1 Τὸ πολλάκις θαρρεῖν ἐπιστέλλειν οὐ τῆς