Gregory of Nyssa, On the Creation of Man

De creatione hominis sermo alter (recensio C) [Sp.]

41a The wise Solomon, having been made wise not in persuasive words of wisdom but in the teachings of the Holy Spirit, in the things just now read to us, glorifying man, cried out, saying: Man is a great thing, and a merciful man is precious. But I, then, was considering in vain by myself, both what I had in my own mind and what I had been taught from the scripture about man. For I was reasoning how man is great, the mortal creature subject to countless sufferings, who from birth to old age endures a swarm of countless evils, about whom it has also been said in scripture: Lord, what is man, that you take knowledge of him? And so the psalmist despises this one as a worthless creature, but the proverb glorifies man as something great. But for me, this perplexity was solved when the story of the creation of 42a man was read. For we hear now that God took dust from the earth and formed man. Therefore I found from this saying both things, both that man is nothing and that man is great. For if you look only at the nature from which he has come into being, he will seem to you as nothing and worthy of nothing, but if to the honor with which you were honored, man is great. What is this? Compare the creation of man with that of all other things: God said, Let there be light, and there was light; Let there be a firmament, and the great heaven is stretched out above us, brought forth by a word alone. stars and sun and moon and all things, which we both see with the eye and grasp with the mind, received their being by a word. sea and earth and the arrangement in them, all kinds of animals, different varieties of plants, all came into being by a command. But man not so. For it was not said: let there be man, 43a but something more is seen in this; beyond light, beyond heaven, beyond the luminaries, beyond all things is the creation of man.

For God, it says, took dust from the earth and formed man. With his own hand he deigns to form our body. no angel served in the forming, the earth did not spontaneously cast us forth like the cicadas, he did not use any ministers or servants for the creation, but with his own hand he artfully fashions, Taking dust from the earth. Therefore, when you look at what was taken, you will rightly say: What is man? But when you consider the one who formed him and his direct handiwork, changing again, you will declare from the heart that Man is great, on the one hand, on account of the matter from which he was constructed, reckoning him as nothing according to his own nature, but on the other hand, on account of the honor with which he has been honored, as truly great, being judged by the 'According to the image' and the 'According to the likeness'. And God took. But how is it that there, in what follows: And God made man, while here, the creation of man is recounted again from the beginning, as if we had perhaps not yet been taught anything about man? For it says: And God took dust from the earth and formed man. Some have already said that 'formed' was said concerning the body, while 'made' was said concerning the 44a soul, and perhaps the argument is not outside the truth. For where the making of the complete man is spoken of and that He made him in the image of God, 'made' is written; but where, then, it recounts our bodily substance and its formation, 'formed' is said. And the difference between making and forming the psalmist also taught, saying: Your hands have made me and formed me. They made the inner man, they formed the outer. For 'forming' is fitting for clay, while 'making' is for 'According to the image'; so that the flesh was formed, but the soul was made. Having first spoken about the substance of the soul, now it discusses with us the formation of the body. Hold also to this argument. And what is the other? That some things are said in summary, while others are handed down to us according to the manner in which they came to be. Therefore, above, it says that 45a He made, but here, also how He made. For if it had simply said that He made, and did not linger on the manner of the making, man would have been considered as the beasts,

De creatione hominis sermo alter (recensio C) [Sp.]

41a Ὁ μὲν σοφὸς Σολομὼν οὐκ ἐν πειθοῖς σοφίας λόγοις ἀλλ' ἐν διδα κτοῖς πνεύματος ἁγίου σοφισθείς, ἐν τοῖς ἀρτίως ἡμῖν ἀνεγνωσμένοις ἀποσεμνύνων τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐβόα λέγων· Μέγα ἄνθρωπος καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων. ἐγὼ δὲ ματαίως ἄρα κατ' ἐμαυτὸν ἐσκόπουν, ἅ τε εἶχον ἐν τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ διανοίᾳ καὶ ἃ παρὰ τῆς γραφῆς δεδιδαγμένος ἤμην περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. ἐλογιζόμην γὰρ ὅτι πῶς μέγα ἄνθρωπος, τὸ ἐπίκηρον ζῷον τὸ μυρίοις πάθεσιν ὑποκείμενον, τὸ ἐκ γενετῆς εἰς γῆρας μυρίων κακῶν ἑσμὸν ἐξαντλοῦν, περὶ οὗ καὶ τῇ γραφῇ λέλεκται· Κύριε, τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι ἐγνώσθης αὐτῷ; καὶ ὁ μὲν ψαλμῳδὸς καταφρονεῖ τούτου ὡς εὐτελοῦς ζῴου, ἡ δὲ παροιμία ἀποσεμνύνει ὡς μέγα τι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἀλλά μοι τὴν τοιαύτην διαπόρησιν ἔλυσεν ἡ ἱστορία τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ 42a ἀνθρώπου ἀναγνωσθεῖσα. ἠκούομεν γὰρ νῦν ὅτι Ὁ θεὸς ἔλαβε χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. εὗρον τοίνυν ἐγὼ ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥήματος τούτου ἀμφότερα, καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὅτι μέγα ἄνθρωπος. εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν μόνην ἀποβλέψεις ἐξ ἧς γεγένηται, τὸ μηδέν σοι φανεῖται καὶ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἄξιος, εἰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν τιμὴν ἣν ἐτιμήθης, μέγα ἄνθρωπος. ποίαν ταύτην; σύγκρινον ἀνθρώπου γένεσιν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων· Εἶπεν ὁ θεός Γενηθήτω φῶς, καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς· Γενηθήτω στερέωμα, καὶ ὁ μέγας οὐρανὸς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν ὑπερτέταται λόγῳ μόνῳ παραχθείς. ἀστέρες καὶ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ὀφθαλμῷ τε θεωροῦμεν καὶ νῷ καταλαμβάνομεν, ῥήματι ἔσχε τὸ εἶναι. θάλασσα καὶ γῆ καὶ ἡ ἐν αὐτοῖς διακόσμησις, ζῴων γένη παντοδαπά, φυτῶν διάφοροι ποικιλίαι, πάντα προστάγματι γέγονεν. ἄνθρωπος δὲ οὐχ οὕτως. οὐ γὰρ ἐλέχθη· γενηθήτω ἄνθρωπος, 43a ἀλλὰ πλεῖόν τι ἐν τούτῳ καθορᾶται· ὑπὲρ φῶς, ὑπὲρ οὐρανόν, ὑπὲρ φωστῆρας, ὑπὲρ πάντα ἡ ἀνθρώπου γένεσις.

Ἔλαβε, γάρ φησιν, ὁ θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ καταξιοῖ διαπλάσαι τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα. οὐκ ἄγγελος ὑπηρετήσατο εἰς τὴν πλάσιν, οὐχ ἡ γῆ αὐτομάτως ἡμᾶς ἐξέβρασεν ὡς τοὺς τέττιγας, οὐ λειτουργοῖς τισι καὶ διακονηταῖς ἐχρήσατο πρὸς τὸ ποιήμα, ἀλλ' ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ φιλοτεχνεῖ Χοῦν λαβὼν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. ὅταν μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὸ ληφθὲν ἀπίδῃς, εἰκότως ἐρεῖς· Τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος; ὅταν δὲ τὸν πλάσαντα καὶ τὴν τούτου αὐτουργίαν κατανοήσῃς, πάλιν μεταβαλὼν ἀποφανῇ ἐνδιαθέτως ὅτι Μέγα ἄνθρωπος, τὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν ὕλην, ἐξ ἧς κατεσκεύασται, ὡς οὐδέν τι κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν λογιζόμενος, τὸ δὲ διὰ τὴν τιμήν, ἣν τετίμηται, ὡς μέγα ἐν ἀληθείᾳ διὰ τὸ Κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ τὸ Καθ' ὁμοίωσιν κρινόμενος. Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ θεός. ἀλλὰ πῶς ἐκεῖ μὲν ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν· Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἄνωθεν πάλιν ἀνθρώπου γένεσις ἱστορεῖται, ὡς μήπω μηδὲν περὶ ἀνθρώπου δεδιδαγμένων τάχα ἡμῶν; λέγει γάρ· Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἤδη τινὲς ἔφασαν τὸ μὲν Ἔπλασεν ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος εἰρῆσθαι, τὸ δὲ Ἐποίησεν ἐπὶ τῆς 44aψυχῆς, καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος. ὅπου μὲν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ τελείου ἀνθρώπου ποίησις εἴρηται καὶ ὅτι Κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν, τὸ Ἐποίησε γέγραπται· ὅπου δὲ λοιπὸν περὶ τῆς σωματικῆς ἡμῶν ὑποστάσεως καὶ τῆς πλάσεως διηγεῖται, τὸ Ἔπλασεν εἴρηται. διαφορὰν δὲ ποιήσεως καὶ πλάσεως καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς ἐδίδαξεν εἰπών· Αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με. ἐποίησαν τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, ἔπλασαν τὸν ἔξω. καὶ γὰρ πρέπει ἡ μὲν πλάσις πηλῷ, ἡ δὲ ποίησις τῷ Κατ' εἰκόνα· ὥστε ἐπλάσθη μὲν ἡ σάρξ, ἐποιήθη δὲ ἡ ψυχή. πρῶτον μὲν εἰπὼν περὶ ψυχῆς ὑποστά σεως νῦν περὶ τῆς τοῦ σώματος διαπλάσεως ἡμῖν διαλέγεται. ἔχε καὶ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον. τίς δὲ ἕτερος; ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἐν κεφαλαίῳ λέγεται, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν τρόπον ὃν γέγονεν ἡμῖν παραδίδοται. ἄνωθεν μὲν οὖν ὅτι 45aἐποίησεν, ὧδε δὲ καὶ πῶς ἐποίησεν. εἰ γὰρ ἁπλῶς εἶπεν ὅτι ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἐνδιέτριψε δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ποιήσεως, ἐλογίζετο ἂν <ἄνθρωπος> ὡς τὰ κτήνη,