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Encomium in sanctum Stephanum protomartyrem

ENCOMIUM OF GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, ON THE HOLY PROTOMARTYR STEPHEN

How good is the sequence of good things, how sweet is the succession of joy.

For behold, we receive feast from feast from feast and grace for grace. Yesterday the Lord of all feasted us, today the imitator of the Lord. How this one, or how that one? That one, putting on the man for our sake, this one, putting off the man for His sake. That one, entering the cave of life for us, this one, departing from the cave for His sake. That one, wrapped in swaddling clothes for our sake, this one, being stoned for His sake. That one, destroying death, this one, treading upon death laid low. But let us also, brothers, run with our discourse to the spectacle, as the great athlete strips himself for the contest to contend in the stadium of confession against the evil adversary of human life. For truly, according to the saying of Paul, Stephen became a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men, 6 first to bind on the crown of martyrdom, first to make a way of entry for the choir of martyrs, first to resist sin unto blood. And it seems to me that the whole supercelestial host and all the myriads of angels, both ministering and standing by, and whatever we hear among the honored orders above in principalities and powers and thrones and dominions and lordships, and the whole heavenly assembly were then making a spectacle of the athlete wrestling with his antagonist.

For human life had been spread out like a certain stadium for the contestants, and both were lying in wait for each other; both the evil adversary of human life, who from the fall of the first-formed until the times of Stephen had trained himself in victory over men, and the great champion of the faith, who judged the adversary's assault as nothing. And for both, the weapons against each other were, for the inventor of death, the threat of death, but for the disciple of life, the confession of the faith. For who would not have admired this new kind of contest, when the truth was being decided by life and death, and death became the proof of the truth? For the herald of the life hitherto hidden and unknown was announcing the message to men by deed; for to readily 8 leave this life was proof to those judging rightly of having exchanged the more precious life for the one being left behind. But it would be good to depict the contest precisely in words, as on a tablet, so that along the way the order of the wonders might be shown to us through the sequence of events. Just now, then, the violent breath from above, having scattered all the aerial and deceitful power of the demons, filled the house of the apostles, and the Spirit, having been divided in the form of fire into tongues according to the number of those who received the grace, was in each one. And already, at the paradox of the miracle concerning voice and tongue, both astonishment and confusion had seized those from every nation sojourning in Jerusalem, since all of them who had been divided into various and different forms of tongues had suddenly become of one tongue with the disciples, when not from any prior learning and practice, but from the inspiration of the Spirit, this grace having been suddenly improvised for the apostles, the power of speaking was added. For it was necessary for those who at the building of the earthly tower had destroyed the unity of speech, to come again to a unity of speech at the spiritual building of the church. and for this reason well 10 from this point of the saint

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Encomium in sanctum Stephanum protomartyrem

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΓΚΩΜΙΟΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΝ ΠΡΩΤΟΜΑΡΤΥΡΑ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΝ

Ὡς καλὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἀκολουθία, ὡς γλυκεῖα ἡ τῆς εὐφροσύνης διαδοχή.

ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἑορτὴν ἐξ ἑορτὴν ἐξ ἑορτῆς καὶ χάριν ἀντιλαμβάνομεν χάριτος. χθὲς ἡμᾶς ὁ τοῦ παντὸς δεσπότης εἱστίασε, σήμερον ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ δεσπότου. πῶς οὗτος ἢ πῶς ἐκεῖνος; ἐκεῖνος τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐνδυόμενος, οὗτος τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου ἀποδυόμενος. ἐκεῖνος τὸ τοῦ βίου σπήλαιον δι' ἡμᾶς ὑπερχόμενος, οὗτος τοῦ σπηλαίου δι' ἐκεῖνον ὑπεξερχόμενος. ἐκεῖνος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σπαργανούμενος, οὗτος ὑπὲρ ἐκείνου καταλιθούμενος. ἐκεῖνος ἀναιρῶν τὸν θάνατον, οὗτος ἐπεμβαίνων τῷ θανάτῳ κειμένῳ. Ἀλλὰ συνδράμωμεν, ἀδελφοί, τῷ λόγῳ καὶ ἡμεῖς πρὸς τὸ θέατρον, ὡς ὁ ἀθλητὴς ὁ μέγας ἐναγωνίζεται πρὸς τὸν πονηρὸν ἀντίπαλον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ τῆς ὁμολογίας ἀποδυόμενος. ἀληθῶς γὰρ κατὰ τὴν Παύλου φωνὴν θέατρον ἐγενήθη τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις ὁ Στέφανος, 6 πρῶτος τὸν στέφανον τῆς μαρτυρίας ἀναδησάμενος, πρῶτος τῷ χορῷ τῶν μαρτύρων ὁδοποιήσας τὴν εἴσοδον, πρῶτος ἀντικαταστὰς πρὸς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μέχρι τοῦ αἵματος. καί μοι δοκεῖ πᾶσα τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων ἡ στρατιὰ καὶ πᾶσαι τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ μυριάδες τῶν τε λειτουργούντων καὶ τῶν παρεστη κότων καί, εἴ τι κατὰ τὴν ἄνω λῆξιν τῶν τιμίων ἀκούομεν ἐν ἀρχαῖς τε καὶ δυνάμεσι καὶ θρόνοις καὶ ἐξουσίαις καὶ κυριό τησι, καὶ πᾶσα ἡ οὐρανία πανήγυρις θέαμα ποιεῖσθαι τότε τὸν ἀθλητὴν τῷ ἀνταγωνιστῇ συμπλεκόμενον.

Ὑφήπλωτο μὲν γὰρ οἷόν τι στάδιον τοῖς ἀγωνιζομένοις ὁ ἀνθρώπινος βίος, ἀντεφώρμων δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἀμφότεροι· ὅ τε πονηρὸς ἀντίπαλος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, ἀπὸ τοῦ πτώματος τῶν πρωτοπλάστων μέχρι τῶν κατὰ Στέφανον χρόνων τῇ κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐγγυμνασάμενος νίκῃ, καὶ ὁ μέγας τῆς πίστεως ἀγωνιστής, ἀντ' οὐδενὸς κρίνων τοῦ ἀντιπάλου τὴν ἔφοδον. ὅπλα δὲ κατ' ἀλλήλων ἀμφοτέροις ἦν, τῷ μὲν εὑρετῇ τοῦ θανάτου ἡ πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἀπειλή, τῷ δὲ μαθητῇ τῆς ζωῆς ἡ ὁμολογία τῆς πίστεως. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἠγάσθη τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο τῆς ἀγωνίας εἶδος, ὅτε ζωῇ καὶ θανάτῳ ἡ ἀλήθεια διεκρίνετο καὶ ἀπόδειξις ἐγίνετο τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ θάνατος; ὁ γὰρ κῆρυξ τῆς κεκρυμμένης τέως καὶ ἀγνοουμένης ζωῆς ἔργῳ διήγγελλε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ κήρυγμα· τὸ γὰρ ἑτοίμως 8 τοῦτον καταλιπεῖν τὸν βίον ἀπόδειξις τοῖς ὀρθῶς κρίνουσιν ἦν τοῦ τὴν προτιμοτέραν ζωὴν ἀντὶ τῆς καταλειπομένης ἀλλά ξασθαι. Ἀλλὰ καλὸν ἂν εἴη καθάπερ ἐπὶ πίνακος ἀκριβῶς τῷ λόγῳ διαζωγραφῆσαι τὴν ἄθλησιν, ὡς ἂν καθ' ὁδὸν ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων ἀκολουθίας ἡ τῶν θαυμάτων τάξις ἐπι δεικνύοιτο. ἄρτι μὲν ἡ ἄνωθεν βιαία πνοὴ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐναέριον καὶ ἀπατηλὴν τῶν δαιμόνων διασκεδάσασα δύναμιν ἐπλήρωσε τῶν ἀποστόλων τὸν οἶκον, καὶ πυροειδῶς εἰς γλώσσας κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν δεξαμένων τὴν χάριν τὸ πνεῦμα διαμερισθὲν ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἐγίνετο. ἤδη δὲ πρὸς τὸ παράδοξον τοῦ κατὰ τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν θαύματος τοὺς ἐκ παντὸς ἔθνους Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐπιδημοῦντας ἔκπληξίς τε κατειλήφει καὶ σύγ χυσις, τῶν εἰς ποικίλας τε καὶ διαφόρους γλωσσῶν ἰδέας διεσχισμένων πάντων ἀθρόως ὁμογλώσσων τοῖς μαθηταῖς γεγενημένων, ὅτε οὐκ ἐκ προπαιδεύσεως καὶ μελέτης τινός, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας τοῦ πνεύματος ἀθρόως τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ταύτης ἐνσχεδιασθείσης τῆς χάριτος ἡ τοῦ φθέγγεσθαι δύναμις προσεγένετο. ἔδει γὰρ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ γηίνῃ πυργοποιίᾳ τὴν ὁμοφωνίαν λύσαντας ἐπὶ τῇ πνευματικῇ τῆς ἐκκλησίας οἰκοδομῇ πάλιν εἰς ὁμοφωνίαν ἐλθεῖν. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καλῶς 10 ἐντεῦθεν ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου