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In diem luminum

GREGORY BISHOP OF NYSSA ON THE DAY OF THE LIGHTS

Now I recognize my flock, today I see the customary form of the church, when, having hated the business of carnal cares, you have run together in full company to the worship of God. And the people, having come inside the holy sanctuaries, crowd the house, but fill the outer space in the precincts, as many as are not contained by those within, after the image of the bees. For some work inside, while others buzz around the swarm outside. So do this, O children, and never abandon this zeal. For I confess I suffer a pastoral passion and I wish, sitting on this high watchtower, to see the flock gathered in a circle around the foothills of the summit. And if it happens so for me, I am filled with a wondrous readiness and I work at my discourse gladly, like shepherds their pastoral melodies. But when it is otherwise and you are wandering in the outward error, as you have recently done on the past Lord's day, I lament greatly and embrace silence, 9.222 and I consider flight from here and I seek the Carmel of Elijah the prophet or some uninhabited rock. For somehow the unsociable and desert-loving is dear to the disheartened. But now, seeing you with your families all celebrating together, I am reminded of a prophetic oracle, which Isaiah hymned from afar, proclaiming beforehand the fruitful and many-childed church of Christ: Who are these, he says, that fly like clouds and like doves with their young to me? And not only this, but also that: The place is too narrow for me; make me a place, that I may dwell. For these things the power of the Spirit prophesied for the populous church of God, which in later times was destined to fill the whole inhabited world from end to end. So time has come, leading and bringing around the memory of the holy mysteries which purify man, which wash away the hard-to-remove sin of soul and body, and lead back to the original beauty, which God the master craftsman fashioned in us. And for this reason you, the initiated people who have experienced the good things of this day, have been gathered; and you also bring the one who is still uninitiated, like good fathers, guiding the uninitiated through practice and introduction toward the perfect comprehension of piety. But I rejoice with both: with the initiated, because you have been enriched with a great gift; and with the uninitiated, because you hope for a good expectation—release from accounts, loosing of bonds, intimacy with God, freedom of speech, instead of slavish 9.223 humility, an equal honor with the angels. For these things, and whatever follows them, the grace of the font guarantees and gives to us. Therefore, setting aside the other subjects of the scriptures for other times, let us remain with the present purpose, offering as gifts to the feast, according to our ability, things that are fitting and suitable. For to each festival its own is dear.

Thus we welcome a wedding with nuptial songs, and to mourning we contribute the customary things with funereal dirges; in business we speak seriously, at banquets we release the condensed and tense part of the soul, and we keep each occasion untroubled by alien things. Therefore Christ was born a few days ago, he who was begotten before all substance, both perceptible and intelligible. Today he is baptized by John, in order to cleanse the defiled, and to bring the spirit from above and raise man to the heavens, so that the one who fell may be raised up and the one who cast him down may be put to shame (and do not be amazed if our cause became so important to God) so that he might himself work the salvation of man; with care

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In diem luminum

ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΝΥΣΣΗΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΗΜΕΡΑΝ ΤΩΝ ΦΩΤΩΝ

Νῦν γνωρίζω τὴν ἐμὴν ἀγέλην, σήμερον βλέπω σχῆμα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὸ σύνηθες, ἡνίκα καὶ τῶν σαρκικῶν φροντίδων τὴν ἀσχολίαν μισήσαντες ἀκεραίῳ τῷ πληρώματι πρὸς τὴν θεραπείαν τοῦ θεοῦ συνεδράμετε. καὶ στενοχωρεῖ μὲν ὁ λαὸς τὸν οἶκον εἴσω τῶν ἱερῶν ἀδύτων γενόμενος, πληροῖ δὲ τὸν ἔξω χῶρον ἐν τοῖς προτεμενίσμασιν, ὅσος οὐ χωρεῖται παρὰ τῶν ἔνδον κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν μελισσῶν· αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔνδον ἐργάζονται, αἱ δὲ ἔξωθεν περιβομβοῦσι τὸ σμῆνος. οὕτως οὖν ποιεῖτε, ὦ παῖδες, καὶ μή ποτε ταύτην τὴν σπουδὴν ἀπολίπητε· πάθος γὰρ ὁμολογῶ πάσχειν ποιμαντικὸν καὶ βούλομαι ἐπὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ταύτης καθήμενος σκοπιᾶς κύκλῳ περὶ τοὺς πρόποδας τῆς κορυφῆς βλέπειν ἠθροισμένον τὸ ποίμνιον. κἂν οὕτως μοι συμβαίνῃ, προθυμίας τε ἐμπίπλαμαι θαυμαστῆς καὶ κάμνω τὸν λόγον ἡδέως ὡς οἱ ποιμένες τὰ μέλη τὰ νόμια, ὅταν δὲ ἑτέρως ἔχῃ καὶ τὴν ἔξω πλάνην ἦτε πλανώμενοι, ὡς ὑπόγυον ἐπὶ τῆς παρελθούσης κυριακῆς πεποιήκατε, σχετλιάζω πολλὰ καὶ τὴν σιωπὴν ἀσπάζομαι, 9.222 βουλεύομαι δὲ τὴν ἐνθένδε φυγὴν καὶ ζητῶ τὸν Ἠλίου τοῦ προφήτου Κάρμηλον ἤ τινα πέτραν ἀοίκητον· φίλον γάρ πως τοῖς ἀθυμοῦσι τὸ ἄμικτον καὶ φιλέρημον. Νῦν δὲ βλέπων ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτοῖς τοῖς γένεσιν ἀθρόως πανηγυρίζοντας ὑπομι μνήσκομαι λογίου προφητικοῦ, ὃ πόρρωθεν Ἠσαΐας ἀνύμνησε τὴν εὔτεκνον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ πολύπαιδα προαναφωνῶν ἐκκλησίαν· Τίνες, φησίν, οἵδε; ὡς νεφέλαι πέτονται καὶ ὡς περιστεραὶ σὺν νεοσσοῖς ἐπ' ἐμέ. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τούτῳ κἀκεῖνο· Στενός μοι ὁ τόπος, ποίησόν μοι τόπον, ἵνα κατοική σω. ταῦτα γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δύναμις εἰς τὴν πολυάνθρωπον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν ἐθέσπισεν, ἣ χρόνοις ὕστερον ἔμελλεν ἀπ' ἄκρων εἰς ἄκρα πληρώσειν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν. Ἧκε τοίνυν ἄγων καὶ περιφέρων ὁ χρόνος μνήμην ἁγίων μυστηρίων καθαιρόντων τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἃ καὶ τὴν δυσέκνιπτον ἁμαρτίαν ἀπορρύπτει τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος, ἐπανάγει δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς κάλλος, ὅπερ ὁ ἀριστοτέχνης θεὸς ἐφ' ἡμῖν διεπλάσατο. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μύστης λαὸς οἱ πεπειραμένοι τῶν ἀγαθῶν τῆς ἡμέρας ἠθροίσθητε, ἐπάγεσθε δὲ καὶ τὸν ἄπειρον ἔτι οἷα πατέρες χρηστοὶ μελέτῃ καὶ προσαγωγῇ ὁδηγοῦντες τοὺς ἀμυήτους πρὸς τὴν τελείαν τῆς εὐσεβείας κατάληψιν. ἐγὼ δὲ ἀμφοτέροις συνήδομαι, τοῖς μὲν τελεσ θεῖσιν, ὅτι μεγάλην δωρεὰν ἐπλουτήσατε, τοῖς δὲ ἀμυήτοις, ὅτι καλὴν προσδοκίαν ἐλπίζετε ἄφεσιν εὐθυνῶν, λύσιν δεσμῶν, οἰκείωσιν πρὸς θεόν, παρρησίαν ἐλευθέριον, ἀντὶ δουλικῆς 9.223 ταπεινότητος ἰσοτιμίαν τὴν πρὸς ἀγγέλους. ταῦτα γὰρ ἡμῖν καὶ εἴ τι τούτοις ἀκόλουθον ἡ τοῦ λουτροῦ χάρις ἐγγυᾶται καὶ δίδωσιν. διὸ τὰς ἄλλας τῶν γραφῶν ὑποθέσεις ἑτέροις καιροῖς ἀναθέμενοι τῷ προκειμένῳ σκοπῷ παραμείνωμεν τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ πρόσφορα τῇ ἑορτῇ δωροφοροῦντες εἰς δύναμιν· φίλον γὰρ ἑκάστῃ πανηγύρει τὸ ἴδιον.

Οὕτω γάμον μὲν ταῖς ἐπιθαλαμίοις ᾠδαῖς δεξιούμεθα, πένθει δὲ τὰ νενομισμένα τοῖς ἐπικηδείοις θρήνοις εἰσφέρομεν, ἐν πράγμασι σπουδαιο λογούμεθα, ἐν εὐωχίαις λύομεν τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ πεπυκνωμένον καὶ σύντονον, ἕκαστον δὲ καιρὸν τηροῦμεν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀνεπιθόλωτον. Ἐγεννήθη τοίνυν Χριστὸς πρὸ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ὁ πρὸ πάσης οὐσίας αἰσθητῆς τε καὶ νοηθῆς γεννηθείς, βαπτίζεται σήμερον παρὰ Ἰωάννου, ἵνα τὸν ἐρρυπωμένον ἀποκαθάρῃ, πνεῦμα δὲ ἄνωθεν ἀγάγῃ καὶ ἄνθρωπον εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνυψώσῃ, ἵνα ὁ πεσὼν διεγερθῇ καὶ ὁ ῥίψας καταισχυνθῇ (καὶ μὴ θαυμάσῃς, εἰ τοσοῦτον ἐγένετο τῷ θεῷ τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς περισπούδαστον) ἵνα καὶ αὐτουργήσῃ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν σωτηρίαν· μετὰ μερίμνης