80.  The saint was being carried out, lifted high by the hands of holy men, and everyone was eager, some to seize the hem of his garment,188    S. Luke viii. 44. others only just to touch the shadow,189    Acts v. 15. or the bier which bore his holy remains (for what could be more holy or pure than that body), others to draw near to those who were carrying it, others only to enjoy the sight, as if even this were beneficial.  Market places, porticos, houses of two or three stories were filled with people escorting, preceding, following, accompanying him, and trampling upon each other; tens of thousands of every race and age, beyond all previous experience.  The psalmody was overborne by the lamentations, philosophic resignation sank beneath the misfortune.  Our own people vied with strangers, Jews, Greeks, and foreigners, and they with us, for a greater share in the benefit, by means of a more abundant lamentation.  To close my story, the calamity ended in danger; many souls departed along with him, from the violence of the pushing and confusion, who have been thought happy in their end, departing together with him, “funeral victims,” perhaps some fervid orator might call them.  The body having at last escaped from those who would seize it, and made its way through those who went before it, was consigned to the tomb of his fathers, the high priest being added to the priests, the mighty voice which rings in my ears to the heralds, the martyr to the martyrs.  And now he is in heaven, where, if I mistake not, he is offering sacrifices for us, and praying for the people, for though, he has left us, he has not entirely left us.  While I, Gregory, who am half dead, and, cleft in twain, torn away from our great union, and dragging along a life of pain which runs not easily, as may be supposed, after separation from him, know not what is to be my end now that I have lost my guidance.  And even now I am admonished and instructed in nightly visions, if ever I fall short of my duty.  And my present object is not so much to mingle lamentations with my praises, or to portray the public life of the man, or publish a picture of virtue common to all time, and an example salutary to all churches, and to all souls, which we may keep in view, as a living law, and so rightly direct our lives as to counsel you, who have been completely initiated into his doctrine, to fix your eyes upon him, as one who sees you and is seen by you, and thus to be perfected by the Spirit.

Προεκομίζετο μὲν ὁ ἅγιος, χερσὶν ἁγίων ὑψούμενος: σπουδὴ δ' ἦν ἑκάστῳ τῷ μὲν κρασπέδου λαβέσθαι, τῷ δὲ σκιᾶς, τῷ δὲ τοῦ ἱεροφόρου σκίμποδος, καὶ ψαῦσαι μόνον! τί γὰρ ἐκείνου τοῦ σώματος ἱερώτερόν τε καὶ καθαρώτερον; τῷ δὲ τῶν ἀγόντων ἐλθεῖν πλησίον, τῷ δὲ τῆς θέας ἀπολαῦσαι μόνης, ὥς τι κἀκείνης πεμπούσης ὄφελος. Πλήρεις ἀγοραί, στοαί, διώροφοι, τριώροφοι, τῶν ἐκεῖνον παραπεμπόντων, προηγουμένων, ἑπομένων, παρεπομένων, ἀλλήλοις ἐπεμβαινόντων, μυριάδες γένους παντὸς καὶ ἡλικίας ἁπάσης, οὐ πρότερον γινωσκόμεναι: ψαλμῳδίαι θρήνοις ὑπερνικώμεναι, καὶ τὸ φιλόσοφον τῷ πάθει καταλυόμενον: ἀγὼν δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις πρὸς τοὺς ἐκτός, Ἕλληνας, Ἰουδαίους, ἐπήλυδας: ἐκείνοις πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὅστις πλέον ἀποκλαυσάμενος πλείονος μετάσχῃ τῆς ὠφελείας. Πέρας τοῦ λόγου, καὶ εἰς κίνδυνον τελευτᾷ τὸ πάθος: συναπελθουσῶν αὐτῷ ψυχῶν οὐκ ὀλίγων, ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ὠθισμοῦ βίας καὶ συγκλονήσεως: αἳ καὶ τοῦ τέλους ἐμακαρίσθησαν, ὡς ἐκείνῳ συνέκδημοι, καὶ θύματα ἐπιτάφια, τάχα ἄν τις εἴποι τῶν θερμοτέρων. Μόλις δὲ τὸ σῶμα διαφυγὸν τοὺς ἁρπάζοντας καὶ νικῆσαν τοὺς προπομπεύοντας, οὕτω τῷ τάφῳ τῶν πατέρων δίδοται, καὶ προστίθεται τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ὁ ἀρχιερεύς, τοῖς κήρυξιν ἡ μεγάλη φωνὴ καὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ὠσὶν ἔνηχος, ὁ μάρτυς τοῖς μάρτυσι. Καὶ νῦν, ὁ μέν ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανοῖς, κἀκεῖ τὰς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ὡς οἶμαι, προσφέρων θυσίας καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ προευχόμενος: οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπολιπὼν ἡμᾶς παντάπασιν ἀπολέλοιπεν: ἡμιθνὴς δὲ Γρηγόριος καὶ ἡμίτομος, τῆς μεγάλης ἀπερρωγὼς συζυγίας, καὶ βίον ἕλκων ὀδυνηρὸν καὶ οὐκ εὔδρομον, οἷον εἰκὸς τὸν ἐκείνου κεχωρισμένον, οὐκ οἶδα εἰς ὃ τελευτήσων μετὰ τὴν ἐκείνου παιδαγωγίαν: ᾧ καὶ νῦν ἔτι νουθετοῦμαι, καὶ σωφρονίζομαι διὰ νυκτερινῶν ὄψεων, εἴ ποτε τοῦ δέοντος ἔξω πέσοιμι. Καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ μὲν οὕτω θρήνους ἀναμίγνυμι τοῖς ἐπαίνοις, καὶ λογογραφῶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πολιτείαν, καὶ προτίθημι τῷ χρόνῳ κοινὸν ἀρετῆς πίνακα καὶ πρόγραμμα σωτήριον πάσαις ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, ψυχαῖς ἁπάσαις: πρὸς ὃν βλέποντες, ἀπευθυνοῦμεν τὸν βίον, ὡς νόμον ἔμψυχον: ὑμῖν δὲ συμβουλεύσαιμ' ἂν ἄλλο τι, τοῖς τὰ ἐκείνου τετελεσμένοις, ἢ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀεὶ βλέπειν, καὶ ὡς ὁρῶντος καὶ ὁρωμένου, τῷ Πνεύματι καταρτίζεσθαι.