Gregory of Nyssa, On Beneficence

On Beneficence

OF GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA ON BENEFICENCE

The president of this church and the teachers of unerring piety and of the virtuous life have a great similarity to the elementary teachers and the instructors of the first elements. For just as they, having received from their fathers infants and children still lisping, do not immediately lead them to the more advanced lessons, but first, having traced the alpha and the rest of the letters in the wax, they teach them both to know their names and to practice their hand with the written forms, and after this they advance them to the syllables and then teach them the pronunciation of words; so also the leaders of the church, by first introducing the hearer to the elementary lessons, provide knowledge of the more advanced things according to their progress. Since, therefore, in the two preceding days we have chastened the love of pleasure of the throat and the belly, do not think that today I will say the usual things, such as that it is good to disdain meats and to abstain from wine that provokes laughter and Bacchic frenzy, and to hold back the cooks and 9.94 to stay the wearying hand of the wine-pourer. For these things have been said sufficiently by me, and you by your actions have shown the counsel to be effective. But since you have practiced the first lesson, it is good to impart to you in due course from the greater and more mature teachings henceforth.

There is, therefore, also an incorporeal fast and an immaterial continence, the abstinence from evils which concerns the soul, and for the sake of that, this abstinence from foods was also legislated for us.

Fast, therefore, from evil; be continent from the desire for what belongs to others; abstain from unjust gain; starve the avarice of mammon; let there be no treasure in the house from violence and plunder. For what is the benefit, if you do not bring meat to your mouth but you bite your brother with malice? Or what is the profit, if you do not eat what is yours but you take unjustly what belongs to the poor? And what piety is this, if drinking water you devise deceit and thirst for blood out of wickedness? Judas certainly fasted with the eleven, but not having conquered his avaricious disposition, he was not at all helped toward salvation by his abstinence from food. And the devil does not eat (for he is an incorporeal spirit), but through wickedness he fell from the height. Likewise also each of the demons neither partakes of cooked food nor receives the accusation of heavy drinking or drunkenness (for their nature has separated them from partaking of foods), but nevertheless, wandering day and night in the air, they are both makers and ministers of wickedness and they diligently work their plots against us. 9.95 And they are consumed with envy and malice, if we humans are about to have a kinship with God, since they have fallen from their affinity for the good. Let a philosophical way, therefore, guide the life of Christians, and let the soul flee the harm of wickedness. For if, abstaining from wine and meat, we are liable for deliberate sins, I foretell and forewarn that water and vegetables and a bloodless table will not benefit us at all, if we have an inner disposition dissimilar to our outward appearance. Fasting was legislated for the purity of the soul. But if the soul is polluted by its choice and its other activities, why do we waste the water we drink on what is unwashed and produces much filth? What is the profit of the bodily fast, if the mind is not pure? For there is no benefit, if the chariot is strong and the four-horse team is well-ordered while the charioteer is mad. And what is the benefit of a well-fitted ship, if the pilot is drunk? Fasting is the foundation of virtue. And just as the foundation of a house and the keel of a ship

De beneficentia

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΥΠΟΙΙΑΣ

Ὁ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ταύτης πρόεδρος καὶ οἱ τῆς ἀπλανοῦς εὐσεβείας καὶ τῆς κατ' ἀρετὴν πολιτείας διδάσκαλοι πολλὴν ἔχουσι πρὸς τοὺς γραμματιστὰς καὶ τοὺς παιδευτὰς τῶν πρώτων στοιχείων τὴν ὁμοιότητα. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς νηπίους καὶ ψελλιζομένους ἔτι παῖδας παρὰ τῶν πατέρων ὑποδεξάμενοι οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὰ τελειότερα τῶν μαθημάτων ἄγουσιν, ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ἐν τῷ κηρῷ τὸ ἄλφα χαράξαντες καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τῶν στοιχείων τά τε ὀνόματα αὐτῶν εἰδέναι διδά σκουσι καὶ τοῖς τύποις τοῖς γραφεῖσιν ἐνασκοῦσι τὴν χεῖρα, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ταῖς συλλαβαῖς προσβιβάζουσι καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑξῆς παιδεύουσι τὴν ἐκφώνησιν· οὕτως καὶ οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας καθηγεμόνες τοῖς στοιχειώδεσι πρῶτον τῶν μαθημάτων προσάγοντες τὸν ἀκροατὴν κατὰ προκοπὴν παρέχουσι τῶν τελειοτέρων τὴν γνῶσιν. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐν δύο ταῖς προλαβούσαις ἡμέραις τῆς φάρυγγος καὶ τῆς γαστρὸς τὴν φιληδονίαν ἐσωφρονίσαμεν, μή με οἰηθῆτε καὶ σήμερον τὰ συνήθη λέξειν, ὡς καλὸν καταφρονῆσαι κρεῶν καὶ ἀποσχέσθαι τοῦ φιλογέλωτος οἴνου καὶ βακχευτοῦ, ἐπισχεῖν δὲ τοὺς μαγείρους καὶ 9.94 παῦσαι τοῦ οἰνοχόου τὴν χεῖρα κάμνουσαν. ταῦτα γὰρ ἐμοί τε ἱκανῶς εἴρηται καὶ ὑμεῖς διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐνεργὸν τὴν συμβουλὴν ἐπεδείξατε. τὸ δὲ πρῶτον μάθημα ἀσκηθεῖσιν ὑμῖν καλὸν ἐκ προαγωγῆς μεταδοῦναι τῶν μειζόνων καὶ ἀνδρικωτέρων λοιπὸν διδαγμάτων.

Ἔστι τοίνυν καὶ ἀσώματος νηστεία καὶ ἄϋλος ἐγκράτεια, ἡ περὶ ψυχὴν στρεφομένη ἀποχὴ τῶν κακῶν καὶ δι' ἐκείνην ἡμῖν καὶ αὕτη ἐνομοθετήθη ἡ ἀποχὴ τῶν βρωμάτων. νηστεύσατε τοίνυν ἀπὸ κακίας· ἐγκρατεύσασθε ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμίας· ἀπόσχεσθε κέρδους ἀδίκου· λιμο κτονήσατε τοῦ μαμωνᾶ τὴν φιλαργυρίαν· μηδὲν ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας ἔστω κειμήλιον ἐκ βίας καὶ ἁρπαγῆς. τί γὰρ ὄφελος, ἂν κρέα μὴ προσενέγκῃς τῷ στόματι καὶ δάκνῃς τῇ κακίᾳ τὸν ἀδελφόν; ἢ τίς ὄνησις, ἂν τὰ σὰ μὴ φάγῃς καὶ λάβῃς τὰ τοῦ πένητος ἀδίκως; τίς δὲ αὕτη εὐσέβεια, ἂν ὕδωρ πίνων ῥάψῃς δόλον καὶ αἵματος διψήσῃς ἐκ πονηρίας; ἐνήστευσε πάντως μετὰ τῶν ἕνδεκα καὶ Ἰούδας, ἀλλὰ τὸν φιλάργυρον μὴ δαμάσας τρόπον οὐδὲν εἰς τὴν σωτηρίαν ὠφελήθη παρὰ τῆς ἀσιτίας. καὶ ὁ διάβολος οὐκ ἐσθίει (πνεῦμα γάρ ἐστιν ἀσώματον), ἀλλὰ διὰ κακίαν τοῦ ὕψους ἀπέπεσεν. ὁμοίως καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων ἕκαστος οὔτε ὄψα προσφέρεται οὔτε πολυποσίας ἢ μέθης δέχεται κατηγόρημα (φύσις γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῆς τῶν βρωμάτων μετουσίας ἐχώρισεν), ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐμπλανώμενοι τῷ ἀέρι κακίας εἰσὶ ποιηταί τε καὶ ὑπηρέται καὶ τὰς καθ' ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλὰς ἐνεργοῦσι σπουδαίως. 9.95 φθόνῳ δὲ καὶ βασκανίᾳ τήκονται, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν συγγενῶς ἔχειν, ἐκείνων ἐκπεσόντων τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν οἰκειότητος. Παιδαγωγείτω τοίνυν τὸν βίον τῶν Χριστιανῶν τρόπος φιλόσοφος, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ φευγέτω τῆς κακίας τὴν βλάβην. ἂν γὰρ οἴνου καὶ κρεῶν ἀπεχόμενοι τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν ἁμαρτήμασιν ὦμεν ὑπεύθυνοι, προλέγω καὶ προμαρτύρομαι, ὡς οὐδὲν ἡμᾶς ὀνήσει ὕδωρ καὶ λάχανα καὶ ἀναίμακτος τράπεζα, ἀνόμοιον τῆς ἔξωθεν ἐπιφανείας τὴν ἔνδοθεν διάθεσιν ἔχοντας. διὰ καθαρότητα ψυχῆς ἐνομοθετήθη νηστεία. εἰ δὲ ἐκείνη τῇ προαιρέσει καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐνερ γείαις μολύνεται, τί μάτην προσδαπανῶμεν τὸ πινόμενον ὕδωρ τῇ ἀνέκπλυτον καὶ πολὺν γεωργούσῃ τὸν βόρβορον; τίς ὄνησις τῆς σωματικῆς νηστείας, ἂν μὴ καθαρεύῃ ὁ νοῦς; οὐδὲ γὰρ ὄφελος, ἐὰν τὸ ἅρμα ἰσχυρὸν ὑπάρχῃ καὶ τὸ τέθριπ πον εὔτακτον μαινομένου τοῦ ἡνιόχου. τί δὲ ὄφελος τῆς εὖ ἡρμοσμένης νηός, ἐὰν μεθύῃ ὁ κυβερνήτης; νηστεία θεμέλιος ἀρετῆς. ὥσπερ δὲ θεμέλιος οἰκίας καὶ τρόπις πλοίου