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Ad Simplicium de fide

OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, TO SIMPLICIUS, CONCERNING FAITH To Simplicius the Tribune, Gregory concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy

Spirit

God commands through the prophet to consider no god to be recent, nor to worship a foreign god. It is therefore clear that what is not from eternity is called recent. And conversely again, what is not recent is called eternal. Therefore, he who does not believe the only-begotten God to be from the Father from eternity does not deny that He is recent; for what is not eternal is certainly recent. But everything recent is not God, as Scripture said that There shall be in you no recent god. Therefore, he who says that the Son once was not denies His divinity. Again, He forbids worshipping a foreign god, saying Nor shall you worship a foreign god. But the foreign is considered in contrast to our own God. Who then is our own God? Clearly, the true God. And who is the foreign? Certainly, he who is foreign to the nature of the true 3,1.62 God. If, therefore, our own God is the true God, if the only-begotten God is not of the true nature, as the heretics say, He is foreign and not ours. But the Gospel says that the sheep will not obey a stranger. He who says He is created makes Him foreign to the nature of the true God. What then will they do who say that He is created? Do they worship their created God or not? For if they do not worship, they Judaize, denying the worship of Christ; but if they do worship, they commit idolatry; for they worship one who is foreign to the true God. But indeed it is equally impious both not to worship the Son and to worship a foreign god. It is necessary therefore to say that the Son of the true Father is true, so that we may both worship Him and not be condemned as worshipping a foreign god.

But to those who quote from the proverb that The Lord created me and because of this think they are saying something strong about the creator and maker of all things being created, it is fitting to say these things: that the only-begotten God became many things for our sake; for being Word He became flesh, and being God He became man, and being incorporeal He became a body, and in addition to these also sin and a curse and a stone and an axe and bread and a sheep and the way and the door and a rock and many such things He became, being none of these by nature, 3,1.63 but becoming them for our sake according to the economy. As, therefore, being Word He became flesh for us, and being God He became man, so also being creator He became creation for us; for the flesh is created. As, then, He said through the prophet that Thus says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be His servant, so He also said through Solomon, The Lord created me as the beginning of His ways for His works; for all creation serves, as the apostle says. Therefore, the one formed in the womb of the virgin according to the word of the prophet is the servant, not the Lord, that is, the man according to the flesh, in whom God was revealed, and here the one created as the beginning of His ways is not God but the man, in whom God was revealed to us in order to renew again the corrupted way of human salvation. So since we know two things concerning Christ, the divine and the human (the divine in nature, and the human in the economy), we accordingly attest the eternal to the divinity, but we reckon the created to the human nature. For as according to the prophet a servant was formed in the womb, so also according to Solomon He was revealed in the flesh through this servile creation. But when they say that if he was,

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Ad Simplicium de fide

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΣΙΜΠΛΙΚΙΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ Σιμπλικίῳ τριβούνῳ Γρηγόριος περὶ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου

πνεύματος

Κελεύει ὁ θεὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου μηδένα πρόσφατον θεὸν εἶναι νομίζειν μηδὲ προσκυνεῖν θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ. οὐκοῦν δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι πρόσφατον λέγεται ὃ μὴ ἐξ ἀϊδίου ἐστίν. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου πάλιν ἀΐδιον λέγεται ὃ μὴ πρόσ φατόν ἐστιν. ὁ τοίνυν μὴ ἐξ ἀϊδίου τὸν μονογενῆ θεὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι πιστεύων πρόσφατον εἶναι αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀρνεῖται· τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀΐδιον πρόσφατον πάντως. πᾶν δὲ τὸ πρόσφατον θεὸς οὐκ ἔστιν, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφὴ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔσται ἐν σοὶ θεὸς πρόσφατος. ἄρα ὁ λέγων ὅτι ποτὲ οὐκ ἦν ὁ υἱὸς ἀρνεῖται αὐτοῦ τὴν θεότητα. πάλιν ἀλλότριον θεὸν προσκυ νεῖν κωλύει ὁ λέγων Οὐδὲ προσκυνήσεις θεῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ. ὁ δὲ ἀλλότριος τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον ἡμῶν θεὸν ἀντιδιαστολῇ θεωρεῖται. τίς οὖν ὁ ἴδιος ἡμῶν ἐστι θεός; δῆλον ὅτι ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεός. τίς δὲ ὁ ἀλλότριος; πάντως ὁ τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ 3,1.62 θεοῦ φύσεως ἀλλοτρίως ἔχων. εἰ οὖν ἴδιος ἡμῶν θεὸς ὁ ἀληθινός ἐστι θεός, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φύσεως ὁ μονογενὴς θεός, καθὼς λέγουσιν οἱ αἱρετικοί, ἀλλότριός ἐστι καὶ οὐχ ἡμέτερος. λέγει δὲ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὅτι τὰ πρόβατα ἀλλοτρίῳ οὐ μὴ ὑπακούσῃ. ὁ λέγων κτιστὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἀλλότριον τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ φύσεως εἶναι κατασκευάζει. τί οὖν ποιήσουσιν οἱ λέγοντες ὅτι κτιστός ἐστιν; προσκυνοῦσι τὸν κτιστὸν αὐτῶν θεὸν ἢ οὐχί; εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐ προσκυνοῦσιν, ἰουδαΐζουσιν ἀρνούμενοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν προσκύνησιν· εἰ δὲ προσκυνοῦσιν, εἰδωλολατροῦσι· τὸν γὰρ ἀλλότριον τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ προσκυνοῦσιν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐπίσης ἀσεβὲς καὶ μὴ προσκυνεῖν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ προσκυνεῖν τὸν ἀλλότριον θεόν. χρὴ ἄρα τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ πατρὸς ἀληθινὸν τὸν υἱὸν λέγειν, ἵνα καὶ προσκυνῶμεν αὐτὸν καὶ μὴ κατακριθῶμεν ὡς ἀλ λότριον προσκυνοῦντες θεόν.

Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας τὸ ἐκ τῆς παροιμίας ὅτι Κύριος ἔκτισέ με καὶ διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντας ἰσχυρόν τι λέγειν περὶ τοῦ κτιστὸν εἶναι τὸν πάντων κτίστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ταῦτα προσήκει λέγειν ὅτι πολλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο ὁ μονο γενὴς θεός· καὶ γὰρ καὶ λόγος ὢν σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο καὶ ἀσώματος ὢν σῶμα ἐγένετο καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ἁμαρτία καὶ κατάρα καὶ λίθος καὶ ἀξίνη καὶ ἄρτος καὶ πρόβατον καὶ ὁδὸς καὶ θύρα καὶ πέτρα καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἐγένετο οὐδὲν τούτων τῇ φύσει ὤν, 3,1.63 ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς κατ' οἰκονομίαν γενόμενος. ὥςπερ οὖν λόγος ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐγένετο σὰρξ καὶ θεὸς ὢν ἄνθρωπος ἐγένετο, οὕτω καὶ κτίστης ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς κτίσις ἐγένετο· κτιστὴ γὰρ ἡ σάρξ. ὡς οὖν εἶπε διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὅτι Οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ πλάσας με ἐκ κοιλίας δοῦλον αὐτοῦ, οὕτως εἶπε καὶ διὰ τοῦ Σολομῶντος τὸ Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ κτίσις δουλεύει, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. οὐκοῦν καὶ ὁ ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τῆς παρθένου πλασθεὶς κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ προφήτου ὁ δοῦλός ἐστιν, οὐχ ὁ κύριος, τουτέστιν ὁ κατὰ σάρκα ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὁ κτισθεὶς εἰς ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ οὐχ ὁ θεός ἐστιν ἀλλ' ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἐν ᾧ ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς ἐφανερώθη ἐπὶ τῷ τὴν καταφθαρεῖσαν ὁδὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σωτηρίας πάλιν ἀνανεώσασθαι. ὥστε ἐπειδὴ δύο περὶ Χριστοῦ γινώ σκομεν, τὸ μὲν θεῖον τὸ δὲ ἀνθρώπινον (ἐν μὲν τῇ φύσει τὸ θεῖον, ἐν δὲ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τὸ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον), ἀκολούθως τὸ μὲν ἀΐδιον τῇ θεότητι προσμαρτυροῦμεν, τὸ δὲ κτιστὸν τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ λογιζόμεθα φύσει. ὡς γὰρ κατὰ τὸν προ φήτην ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ ἐπλάσθη δοῦλος, οὕτως καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα διὰ τῆς δουλικῆς ταύτης κτίσεως ἐν σαρκὶ ἐφανερώθη. Ὅταν δὲ λέγωσιν ὅτι εἰ ἦν,