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On the Christian Profession, to Harmonius

OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, TO HARMONIUS, CONCERNING WHAT THE PROFESSION OF A CHRISTIAN IS

Just as those who are subject to daily taxes do with regard to the authorities, if the debt should be in arrears for several days, paying off the debt in a lump sum from their individual obligations when they come into some abundance, this I will also do in the case of your reverence. For since I owe it to you to write continually (because for Christians a promise is a debt), I now wish to make up for the lack of letters in the past, which I have unintentionally caused, by extending the length of this letter so much that, if divided into the usual lengths of letters, it might be considered as many. But lest I chatter idly in the length of the letter, I think it well to imitate our face-to-face conversation by means of this epistolary voice. For you surely remember that the starting points of our conversations with each other were always exercises in virtue and training in piety, with you always attentively raising objections to what was said and accepting nothing without examination, and we, due to our more advanced age, resolving the questions which arose each time from the sequence of the argument. If, then, it were possible for it to happen this way now as well, so that the starting point for the discussion might be given by your intelligence, that would have been entirely better; for the gain for both of us would have been twofold: both from seeing one another (than which what is sweeter in life for me?), and from having our aged lyre stirred by your wisdom as if by a plectrum. But since the necessity of life makes us be apart in body, though we may always be joined in our souls, it would be necessary for me to assume your person as well, if any objection to the argument should consequently appear to us. And it would be well first to set forth some topic profitable to the soul as the aim of this letter, and then so to engage the argument upon the subject proposed.

Therefore, let this be investigated by us as a problem: What is the profession of a Christian? For perhaps the inquiry concerning this will not be without profit. For if what is signified by this name were accurately discovered, we would receive much assistance toward a life of virtue, striving through a sublime way of life to be in truth that which we are called. For just as if someone should desire to be called a physician or an orator or a geometer, he would not accept the title to be refuted by his lack of training, not being found in practice what he is called, but one who wishes in truth to be addressed as one of these, so that the name may not be proven to be falsely applied, will make his title credible by his very practice; in the same way we also, if by examining we should find the true aim of the Christian profession, would not choose not to be that which the name professes on our behalf, so that the story about the ape, which is circulated among outsiders, might not apply to us also. For they say that one of the wonder-workers in the city of Alexander trained an ape through some dexterity to posture itself as a dancer, and he put on it both a dancer's mask and a costume suitable to the profession, and having placed a chorus around it, took delight in the ape as it contorted itself to the rhythm of the melody and concealed its nature in all that it did and appeared to be. And while the theatre was captivated by the novelty of the spectacle, one of the wittier men present, by some prank, showed to those gaping at the spectacle that the ape was an ape. as they were shouting out

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De professione Christiana ad Harmonium

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΑΠΜΟΝΙΟΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΤΙ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΥ ΕΠΑΓΓΕΛΜΑ

Ὅπερ ποιοῦσι πρὸς τοὺς κρατοῦντας οἱ τοῖς ἡμερινοῖς ὑποκείμενοι φόροις, εἰ

πλειόνων ἡμερῶν ἐλλειφθείη τὸ χρέος, ἀθρόως τῶν κατὰ μέρος ὀφλημάτων ἀποτιννύντες ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τὸ ὄφλημα, εἴ τινος ἐπιτύχοιεν εὐπορίας, τοῦτο ποιήσω καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τῆς σεμνότητός σου. χρεωστῶν γάρ σοι τὸ συνεχῶς ἐπιστέλλειν (διότι τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς ἡ ἐπαγγελία χρέος ἐστί), τὴν ἐν τῷ παρελθόντι χρόνῳ τῶν γραμμάτων ἔλλειψιν, ἣν ἀκουσίως πεποίημαι, νῦν ἀναπληρῶσαι βούλομαι, τοσοῦτον ἐκτείνας τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τὸ μέτρον, ὥστε πρὸς τὰ συνήθη μέτρα τῶν γραμμάτων διαιρουμένην ἀντὶ πολλῶν νομισθῆναι. ὡς δ' ἂν μὴ μάτην ἀδολεσχοίην τῷ μήκει τοῦ γράμματος, καλῶς ἔχειν ἡγοῦμαι διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολιμαίου ταύτης φωνῆς τὴν κατὰ πρόσωπον ἡμῶν συνουσίαν μιμήσασθαι. μέμνησαι γὰρ πάντως, ὅτι τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους πάντοτε ἡμῖν λόγων αἱ ἀφορμαὶ μελέται πρὸς ἀρετὴν καὶ γυμνάσιον πρὸς θεοσέ 8,1.130 βειαν ἦσαν, σοῦ μὲν ἐπιστατικῶς ἀεὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις ἀνθυποφέροντος καὶ οὐδὲν ἀνεξετάστως παραδεχομένου τῶν λεγομένων, ἡμῶν δὲ διὰ τὸ προήκειν τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ ἑκά στοτε παρὰ τῆς τοῦ λόγου ἀκολουθίας ἐπιζητούμενα δια λυόντων. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἦν δυνατὸν καὶ νῦν γίνεσθαι οὕτως, ὥστε παρὰ τῆς σῆς συνέσεως δίδοσθαι τῷ λόγῳ τὴν ἀφορμήν, τῷ παντὶ κρεῖττον ἂν ἦν τὸ τοιοῦτον· διχόθεν γὰρ ἂν ὑπῆρχεν ἀμφοτέροις τὸ κέρδος ἔκ τε τοῦ προσορᾶν ἀλλήλους (οὗ τί γλύκιον τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐμοί;) καὶ ἐκ τοῦ παρὰ τῆς σῆς φρονήσεως πλήκτρου δίκην τὴν γηραιὰν ἡμῶν ἀνακινεῖσθαι κιθάραν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἡ τοῦ βίου ἀνάγκη διεστάναι ἡμᾶς παρασκευάζει τῷ σώματι, κἂν ἀεὶ τὰς ψυχὰς συναπτώμεθα, ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εἴη καὶ τὸ σὸν πρόσωπον ὑποδύεσθαι, εἴ πού τις ἀντίρρησις πρὸς τὸν λόγον κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἡμῖν ἀναφανείη. καλῶς δ' ἂν ἔχοι πρῶτον ὑπόθεσίν τινα τῶν ψυχωφελῶν προθεῖναι τῷ τῶν γραμμάτων σκοπῷ, εἶθ' οὕτω πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον ἀσχοληθῆναι τῷ λόγῳ.

οὐκοῦν ὡς ἐν προβλήματι ζητείσθω παρ' ἡμῶν Τί τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα; τάχα γὰρ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ λυσιτελοῦντος ἡ περὶ τούτου σκέψις γενήσεται. εἰ γὰρ ἀκριβῶς εὑρεθείη τὸ διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου δηλούμενον, πολλὴν ἂν λάβοιμεν πρὸς τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον συνεργίαν, ἀληθῶς ὅπερ ὀνομαζόμεθα 8,1.131 τοῦτο καὶ εἶναι διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς πολιτείας σπουδάζοντες. ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις ἰατρὸς ἢ ῥήτωρ ἢ γεωμέτρης καλεῖσθαι ποθήσειεν, οὐκ ἂν δέξαιτο τῇ ἀπαιδευσίᾳ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἐλέγχεσθαι, μὴ εὑρισκόμενος ἐπὶ τῆς πείρας ὃ ὀνομάζεται, ἀλλ' ὁ κατὰ ἀλήθειάν τι τούτων προσαγορεύεσθαι θέλων, ὡς ἂν μὴ ψευδώνυμος ἡ κλῆσις ἐλέγχοιτο, αὐτῷ τῷ ἐπιτη δεύματι τὴν προσηγορίαν πιστώσεται· τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ ἡμεῖς τρόπον, εἴπερ τὸν ἀληθῆ σκοπὸν τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ ἐπαγγέλματος ἐξετάζοντες εὕροιμεν, οὐκ ἂν ἑλοίμεθα μὴ εἶναι τοῦτο, ὅπερ τὸ ὄνομα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπαγγέλλεται, ὡς ἂν μὴ τὸ περὶ τοῦ πιθήκου διήγημα τὸ παρὰ τοῖς ἔξω περιφερόμενον καὶ ἡμῖν ἐφαρμόσειε. φασὶ γάρ τινα τῶν 8,1.132 θαυματοποιῶν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου πόλεως ἀσκήσαντα πίθηκον διά τινος εὐστροφίας ὀρχηστικῶς σχηματίζεσθαι, περιθεῖναι δὲ αὐτῷ πρόσωπόν τε ὀρχηστικὸν καὶ ἐσθῆτα τῷ ἐπιτηδεύματι πρόσφορον καὶ χορὸν αὐτῷ περιστή σαντα ἐνευδοκιμεῖν τῷ πιθήκῳ πρὸς τὸν τοῦ μέλους ῥυθμὸν ἑαυτὸν ἐκλυγίζοντι καὶ διὰ πάντων ἐπικρυπτομένῳ τὴν φύσιν, οἷς ἐποίει τε καὶ ἐφαίνετο. κατεχομένου δὲ τοῦ θεάτρου πρὸς τὸ καινοπρεπὲς τοῦ θεάματος παρόντα τινὰ τῶν ἀστειοτέρων παιδιᾷ τινι δεῖξαι τοῖς προσκε χηνόσι τῷ θεάματι πίθηκον ὄντα τὸν πίθηκον. ἐπιβοώντων