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Ad cives Nazianzenos

ORATION 17.

To the magistrates of Nazianzus who are in distress, and the angry governor.

1. My bowels, my bowels! I am pained, 35.965 and the senses of my heart are troubled, says Jeremiah somewhere in his words, the most compassionate of the prophets, bewailing the disobedience of Israel, and its alienation from the loving-kindness of God, calling his soul bowels, according to the laws of trope. For so I find in many places of Scripture, whether as hidden and unseen (for being hidden is a property of both soul and stomach), or as receptive and, so to speak, digestive of the food which comes from the word; for what food is in the body, the word is in the soul. The senses are perhaps the movements and thoughts of the soul, and especially those which arise from sensation, by which the righteous man is torn, and inflamed, and moved with passion, and cannot be restrained because of the fervor of the Spirit; for this is to be troubled, a kind of eagerness mingled with passion. But if one were to take some of the bodily senses, one would not be far from the mark; both eyes and ears, not only being vexed by the worse sights and sounds, but also through compassion longing to see and hear what is better. Yet in whatever way these things are understood, the righteous man is pained and troubled, and does not bear moderately the sufferings of Israel, in whichever way you wish to understand them; whether the bodily ones, and of what is bodily seen, or the spiritual ones, and of what is spiritually understood. Since the same prophet also seeks for a fountain of tears, and longs for a final lodging, and embraces the wilderness, that he may empty out the great mass of his sorrow, and be somehow lightened of his inward wound, by mourning for Israel in quiet.

2. And the same thing also the divine David, not a little before distressed at his own circumstances, Who will give me, he says, wings like a dove, and I will fly away and be at rest? He seeks the wings of a dove, either as being lighter and swifter; for such is every righteous man; or as prefiguring the Spirit, by Whom alone we flee from dreadful things, that he might be as far as possible from present evils. Then the remedy in troubles, hope: I waited, he says, for the God who saves me from faint-heartedness and from the tempest. Which he is seen to do elsewhere also, very quickly applying the cure to his grief, and giving us a good lesson both in word and deed of fortitude against dreadful things: My soul, he says, refused to be comforted. Do you see the words of 35.968 despondency and despair? Did you not fear for David as incurable? What do you say? You do not accept comfort? You despair of consolation? Will no one heal you? Not a word, not a friend, not a relative, not one who advises, not one who grieves with you, not one who recounts his own experiences, not one who speaks of ancient things, not one who adduces present things, of all those who have been saved even from more grievous evils? Is all cast away? gone? cut off? Is all hope lost? Must one only lie down, awaiting the end? This is the great David, who in tribulations is enlarged; who even when the shadow of death surrounds him rises up against it with God. What then shall I suffer, I who am small, who am weak, who am earthly, who am not so great in spirit? David is dizzy, and who is saved? What help might I find in my suffering, or what consolation? To whom shall I flee when I am in distress? David the great healer answers you,

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Ad cives Nazianzenos

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΙΖʹ.

Πρὸς τοὺς πολιτευομένους Ναζιανζοῦ ἀγωνιῶντας, καὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα ὀργιζόμενον.

Αʹ. Τὴν κοιλίαν μου, τὴν κοιλίαν μου ἀλγῶ, 35.965 καὶ τὰ αἰσθητήρια τῆς

καρδίας μου μαιμάσ σει, φησί που τῶν ἑαυτοῦ λόγων Ἱερεμίας, ὁ τῶν προφητῶν συμπαθέστατος, ἀποκλαιόμενος τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἀπειθοῦντα, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρω πίας ἀλλοτριούμενον, κοιλίαν μὲν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὀνομάζων, κατὰ τοὺς τῆς τροπῆς νόμους. Οὕ τω γὰρ εὑρίσκω πολλαχοῦ τῆς Γραφῆς, εἴτε ὡς ἀπόκρυφον καὶ ἀόρατον (τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ γαστρὸς τὸ κρύπτεσθαι), εἴτε ὡς χωρητικὴν καὶ ἀνα δοτικὴν, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, τῶν ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τροφῶν· ὃ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν σώματι τροφὴ, τοῦτο ἐν ψυχῇ λό γος. Αἰσθητήρια δὲ τάχα μὲν τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς κινήματα καὶ διανοήματα, καὶ τούτων μάλιστα, ὅσα ἐκ τῆς αἰ σθήσεως, οἷς ὁ δίκαιος σπαράσσεται, καὶ θερμαίνε ται, καὶ ὁρμητικῶς ἔχει, καὶ οὐδὲ καθεκτός ἐστι διὰ τὴν ζέσιν τοῦ Πνεύματος· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ μαιμάσσειν, οἷον προθυμία τις θυμῷ σύγκρατος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἔστιν ἃ λαμβάνοι τις αἰσθητηρίων, οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ λήψεται· καὶ ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ ὤτων, οὐ μόνον ἀχθομένων τοῖς χείροσι καὶ θεάμασι καὶ ἀκούσμασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ βελτίω ποθούντων καὶ ἰδεῖν καὶ ἀκοῦσαι διὰ τὸ εὔσπλαγχνον. Πλὴν ὅπως ἂν νοῆ ται ταῦτα, ὁ δίκαιος ἀλγεῖ καὶ μαιμάσσει, καὶ οὐ με τρίως φέρει τὰ πάθη τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ὁποτέρως βούλει ταῦτα νοεῖν· εἴτε τὰ σωματικὰ, καὶ τοῦ σωματικῶς ὁρωμένου, εἴτε τὰ πνευματικὰ, καὶ τοῦ νοουμέ νου πνευματικῶς. Ἐπεὶ καὶ πηγὴν δακρύων ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης ἐπιζητεῖ, καὶ σταθμὸν ἔσχατον ἐπι ποθεῖ, καὶ ἐρημίαν ἀσπάζεται, ἵνα κενώσῃ τὸ πολὺ τῆς λύπης, καὶ κουφισθῇ πως τῆς ἔνδον πληγῆς, καθ' ἡσυχίαν θρηνήσας τὸν Ἰσραήλ.

Βʹ. Τὸ δ' αὐτὸ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ∆αβὶδ, οὐ μικρὸν ἔμπρο σθεν ἐπὶ τοῖς καθ' ἑαυτὸν δυσχεραίνων, Τίς δώσει μοι, φησὶ, πτέρυγας ὡσεὶ περιστερᾶς, καὶ πετα σθήσομαι, καὶ καταπαύσω; Περιστερᾶς ἐπιζητεῖ πτέρυγας, εἴτε ὡς κουφοτέρας καὶ ταχυτέρας· τοι οῦτος γὰρ ἅπας δίκαιος· εἴτε ὡς τὸ Πνεῦμα σκιαγρα φούσας, ᾧ μόνῳ τὰ δεινὰ φεύγομεν, ἵν' ὡς ποῤ ῥωτάτω γένηται ἀπὸ παρόντων κακῶν. Εἶτα τὸ ἐν τοῖς στενοῖς φάρμακον, ἡ ἐλπίς· Προσεδεχόμην, φησὶ, τὸν Θεὸν τὸν σώζοντά με ἀπὸ ὀλιγοψυχίας καὶ ἀπὸ καταιγίδος. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ποιῶν φαίνεται, τάχιστα τῷ λυποῦντι τὸ ἴαμα προστιθεὶς, καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἡμῖν παρέχων παίδευμα καὶ λόγῳ καὶ ἔρ γῳ τῆς πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ μεγαλοψυχίας· Ἀπηνήνατο, φησὶ, παρακληθῆναι ἡ ψυχή μου. Ὁρᾷς ἀκη 35.968 δίας ῥήματα καὶ ἀπογνώσεως; Ἆρ' οὐκ ἔδεισας ὡς περὶ ἀθεραπεύτου τοῦ ∆αβίδ; Τί λέγεις; Οὐ δέχῃ παράκλησιν; ἀπελπίζεις παραμυθίαν; οὐδεὶς θερα πεύσει σε; οὐ λόγος, οὐ φίλος, οὐ συγγενὴς, οὐ συμβουλεύων, οὐ συναλγῶν, οὐ τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν δι ηγούμενος, οὐ τὰ ἀρχαῖα λέγων, οὐ τὰ νῦν παρατι θεὶς, ὅσοι καὶ ἀπὸ χαλεπωτέρων κακῶν διεσώθησαν; Ἔῤῥιπται πάντα; οἴχεται; περικέκοπται; ἀπόλωλε πᾶσα ἐλπίς; κεῖσθαι δεῖ μόνον, τὸ τέλος ἐκδεχομέ νους; Ταῦτα ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ, ὁ ἐν θλίψεσι πλατυνόμε νος· ὁ καὶ σκιᾶς θανάτου κυκλούσης μετὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατεξανιστάμενος. Τί οὖν ἐγὼ πάθω, ὁ μικρὸς, ὁ ἀσθενὴς, ὁ γήϊνος, ὁ μὴ τοσοῦτος τῷ πνεύματι; ∆α βὶδ ἰλιγγιᾷ, καὶ τίς σώζεται; Τίνα βοήθειαν εὕροι μι κακοπαθῶν, ἢ τίνα παράκλησιν; πρὸς τίνα καταφύγω στενοχωρούμενος; Ἀποκρίνεταί σοι ∆α βὶδ ὁ μέγας θεραπευτὴς,