Thus Solomon, who was the wisest of all men, 1 Kings 3:12 whether before him or in his own time, to whom God gave breadth of heart, and a flood of contemplation, more abundant than the sand, even he, the more he entered into the depth, the more dizzy he became, and declared the furthest point of wisdom to be the discovery of how very far off she was from him. 654,658-659. How is the boundary of it, though it be an element of such magnitude, only sand? Much too might be said about voices and ears. This belongs to a living creature that has reason, and exceeds in wisdom and makes way even as far as the things of heaven. Gregory of Nazianzus. In my opinion it will be discovered when that within us which is godlike and divine, I mean our mind and reason, shall have mingled with its Like, and the image shall have ascended to the Archetype, of which it has now the desire. And this was the trick of the Evil One, who abused good to an evil purpose, as in most of his evil deeds. Let us begin again, and reason this out. Source. In the former Discourse we laid down clearly with respect to the Theologian, both what sort of character he ought to bear, and on what kind of subject he may philosophize, and when, and to what extent. or else through the beauty and order of visible things to attain to that which is above sight; but not to suffer the loss of God through the magnificence of visible things. And with respect to the Sea even if I did not marvel at its greatness, yet I should have marveled at its gentleness, in that although loose it stands within its boundaries; and if not at its gentleness, yet surely at its greatness; but since I marvel at both, I will praise the Power that is in both. Who wove the song for the swan when he spreads his wings to the breezes, and makes melody of their rustling? And consider the tribes of birds, and their varieties of form and color, both of those which are voiceless and of songbirds. Festal Orations | St. Gregory of Nazianzus | download | Z-Library. Egan, J.—P., `Primal Cause and Trinitarian Perichoresis in Gregory Nazianzen’s Oration 31.14,’ in Studia Patristica, vol. . What is this that has happened to me, O friends, and initiates, and fellow-lovers of the truth? But since it was ineffable, we too will honor it by silence. As far, however, as we have attained, who measure with our little measure things hard to be understood, perhaps one reason is to prevent us from too readily throwing away the possession because it was so easily come by. And thus we see that God is not a body. What is it that props it up, and on what does that rest? Is it not that which is inherent in some person not itself, and are not its movements thoughts, silent or uttered? All rights reserved © 2021 | Trinity In You, Gregory Nazianzen – Second Theological Oration 28, God: Who & Why series – Dr Bruce Wauchope, Theology and Anthropology (Mimetic Theory), The Post Reformers up to the 20th Century, THE TRINITY AND CREATIVITY – Marty Folsom, PhD, Intertwined in the Life of the Trinity – Dr. Marty Folsom. And how doth He bring upon it the Nautilus that inhabits the dry land (i.e., man) in a little vessel, and with a little breeze (dost thou not marvel at the sight of this, — is not thy mind astonished? Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. Nor yet is this incomprehensibility for the sake of His own glory and honour, Who is full, Isaiah 1:11 as if His possession of His glory and majesty depended upon the impossibility of approaching Him. And very wanting in sense is he who will not willingly go thus far in following natural proofs; but not even this which we have fancied or formed, or which reason has sketched for us, proves the existence of a God. What is the drawing of nature, and the mutual relation between parents and children, that it should be held together by a spell of love? And now, leaving the earth and the things of earth, soar into the air on the wings of thought, that our argument may advance in due path; and thence I will take you up to heavenly things, and to heaven itself, and things which are above heaven; for to that which is beyond my discourse hesitates to ascend, but still it shall ascend as far as may be. Nothing then remains but to conceive of Him as incorporeal. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God; although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was made flesh for us. Who mingled these, and who distributed them? This essay offers a fresh reading of Gregory Nazianzen's vision of the imago Dei. Much too might be said about voices and ears. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God; Exodus 33:23 although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was made flesh for us. For what is it which ordered things in heaven and things in earth, and those which pass through air, and those which live in water; or rather the things which were before these, heaven and earth, air and water? But neither these of whom I am speaking, nor any of their fellows ever stood before the Council and Essence of God, as it is written, or saw, or proclaimed the Nature of God. Or of Light unmingled with air, and loosed from that which is as it were its father and source? But dissolution is altogether foreign to God and to the First Nature. St Basil, much to Gregory’s disdain, consecrated him Bishop of Sasima in the Archdiocese of Caesarea. We saw that he ought to be, as far as may be, pure, in order that light may be apprehended by light; and that he ought to consort with serious men, in order that his word be not fruitless through falling on an unfruitful soil; and that the suitable season is when we have a calm within from the whirl of outward things; so as not like madmen to lose our breath; and that the extent to which we may go is that to which we have ourselves advanced, or to which we are advancing. And so on ad infinitum. Ecclesiastes 7:23 Paul also tries to arrive at, I will not say the nature of God, for this he knew was utterly impossible, but only the judgments of God; and since he finds no way out, and no halting place in the ascent, and moreover, since the earnest searching of his mind after knowledge does not end in any definite conclusion, because some fresh unattained point is being continually disclosed to him (O marvel, that I have a like experience), he closes his discourse with astonishment, and calls this the riches of God, Romans 11:23 and the depth, and confesses the unsearchableness of the judgments of God, in almost the very words of David, who at one time calls God's judgments the great deep whose foundations cannot be reached by measure or sense; and at another says that His knowledge of him and of his own constitution was marvellous, and had attained greater strength than was in his own power or grasp. Do you know the nature and phenomena of the Moon, and the measures and courses of light, and how it is that the sun bears rule over the day, and the moon presides over the night; and while She gives confidence to wild beasts, He stirs Man up to work, raising or lowering himself as may be most serviceable? How is it raised and lulled to rest, as though respecting its neighbour earth? Is He Nowhere or Somewhere. If He shall shut up heaven, it saith, who shall open it? They pick and choose propositions to wrestle, bother people and trivialize "our great mystery." Thus also there must be no body, that there may be no composition, and so the argument is established by going back from last to first. Basil was good friends with Gregory of Nazianzus, ... Second Theological Oration, ch. I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went up into the Mount, and drew aside the curtain of the Cloud, and entered away from matter and material things, and as far as I could I withdrew within myself. Some are laborious and thrifty, others altogether idle and improvident. And with respect to the Sea even if I did not marvel at its greatness, yet I should have marvelled at its gentleness, in that although loose it stands within its boundaries; and if not at its gentleness, yet surely at its greatness; but since I marvel at both, I will praise the Power that is in both. What collected it? This was their course. But reason receiving us in our desire for God, and in our sense of the impossibility of being without a leader and guide, and then making us apply ourselves to things visible and meeting with the things which have been since the beginning, does not stay its course even here. Who was ever deemed worthy of so great a gift? And how far in that case could God, to Whom the Angels minister, be superior to the Angels? But if He is above the Universe, is there nothing to distinguish this from the Universe, and where is this above situated? How is it that some are gregarious and others solitary, some herbivorous and others carnivorous, some fierce and others tame, some fond of man and domesticated, others untamable and free? Or how shall He escape being made of elements, and therefore subject to be resolved into them again, or even altogether dissolved? What are the storehouses of the winds? For people cling tightly to that which they acquire with labour; but that which they acquire easily they quickly throw away, because it can be easily recovered. And some they left on earth, and some they hid beneath the earth (this being the only sign of wisdom about them), and some they raised to heaven. What is this great web unwrought by art? And besides, where was He before the Universe was created, for this is a point of no little difficulty. Who ever reached this extremity of wisdom? III. That the tree may be known by its fruits; I mean, that the darkness which is at work in such teaching may be known by the obscurity of the arguments. If you have a query or a problem with your shop order, do not hesitate to contact us here. Who has opened the mouth of his mind and drawn in the Spirit, so as by Him that searches all things, yea the deep thing of God, 1 Corinthians 2:10 to take in God, and no longer to need progress, since he already possesses the Extreme Object of desire, and That to which all the social life and all the intelligence of the best men press forward? (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894.) Or are these attributes of a body? Since nature has set before you all things as in an abundant banquet free to all, both the necessaries and the luxuries of life, in order that, if nothing else, you may at any rate know God by His benefits, and by your own sense of want be made wiser than you were. And Enoch was translated, but it is not yet clear whether it was because he already comprehended the Divine Nature, or in order that he might comprehend it. Or of Light unmingled with air, and loosed from that which is as it were its father and source? It would be a weary discourse to go through all the details. For this is what we were laboring to shew, that even the secondary natures surpass the power of our intellect; much more then the First and (for I fear to say merely That which is above all), the only Nature. And this not out of envy, for envy is far from the Divine Nature, which is passionless, and only good and Lord of all; especially envy of that which is the most honourable of all His creatures. XII. Is it not the Artificer of them Who implanted reason in them all, in accordance with which the Universe is moved and controlled? But not even this can we see in an incorporeal way, though it is incorporeal, since it is called — or is — Fire and Spirit. or are these attributes of a body? So that if anyone has known God, or has had the testimony of Scripture to his knowledge of God, we are to understand such an one to have possessed a degree of knowledge which gave him the appearance of being more fully enlightened than another who did not enjoy the same degree of illumination; and this relative superiority is spoken of as if it were absolute knowledge, not because it is really such, but by comparison with the power of that other. In this way then shalt thou discourse of God; even wert thou a Moses and a God to Pharaoh; even wert thou caught up like Paul to the Third Heaven, and hadst heard unspeakable words; even wert thou raised above them both, and exalted to Angelic or Archangelic place and dignity. For what effect is produced upon His Being or Substance by His having no beginning, and being incapable of change or limitation? Again, what is the force that moves your Fifth Element, and what is it that moves all things, and what moves that, and what is the force that moves that? V. But enough has been said on this point. For it is one thing to be persuaded of the existence of a thing, and quite another to know what it is. And who was this Elias? IX. Who wove the song for the swan when he spreads his wings to the breezes, and makes melody of their rustling? For either He will occupy an empty Universe, and so all things will have vanished for us, with this result, that we shall have insulted God by making Him a body, and by robbing Him of all things which He has made; or else He will be a body contained in other bodies, which is impossible; or He will be enfolded in them, or contrasted with them, as liquids are mixed, and one divides and is divided by another; — a view which is more absurd and anile than even the atoms of Epicurus and so this argument Concerning the body will fall through, and have no body and no solid basis at all. XXIII. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of … Who were their Phidiæ and Zeuxides, and who were the Parrhasii and Aglaophons who knew how to draw and mould excessively beautiful things? What Cretan Labyrinth, hard to get through, hard to unravel, as the poem say, and continually crossing itself through the tricks of its construction? What is the desire for and imparting of nourishment, and who brought us spontaneously to those first springs and sources of life? For I have not yet brought forward the point that God would be altogether circumscript, if He were even comprehensible in thought: for comprehension is one form of circumscription. And this not out of envy, for envy is far from the Divine Nature, which is passionless, and only good and Lord of all; especially envy of that which is the most honorable of all His creatures. John 1.1-14). Whether it will ever be discovered is a question which he who will may examine and decide. The Angel then is called spirit and fire; Spirit, as being a creature of the intellectual sphere; Fire, as being of a purifying nature; for I know that the same names belong to the First Nature. But if any be of the multitude, who are unworthy of this height of contemplation, if he be altogether impure let him not approach at all, for it would be dangerous to him; but if he be at least temporarily purified, let him remain below and listen to the Voice alone, and the trumpet, the bare words of piety, and let him see the Mountain smoking and lightening, a terror at once and a marvel to those who cannot get up. And let faith lead us rather than reason, if at least you have learned the feebleness of the latter in matters nearer to you, and have known reason by knowing the things that are beyond reason, so as not to be altogether on the earth or of the earth, because you are ignorant even of your ignorance. And the other describes the Cherubic Chariot Ezekiel 1:4-28 of God, and the Throne upon them, and the Firmament over it, and Him that showed Himself in the Firmament, and Voices, and Forces, and Deeds. XI. For He is said to make His Angels spirits, and His Ministers a flame of fire… though perhaps this “making” means preserving by that Word by which they Came into existence. [Second Theological Oration. For even of this I would have you know that you have only a shadow when you hear the words, I will consider the heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, and the settled order therein; not as if he were considering them now, but as destined to do so hereafter. For what does the Word prefer to the rational and speaking creatures? Now our very eyes and the Law of Nature teach us that God exists and that He is the Efficient and Maintaining Cause of all things: our eyes, because they fall on visible objects, and see them in beautiful stability and progress, immovably moving and revolving if I may so say; natural Law, because through these visible things and their order, it reasons back to their Author. Matthew 11:28 He was heavy with sleep, but He walked lightly over the sea. Oration 28, Oratio theologica secunda: de theologia. “From the Spirit comes our rebirth, from rebirth comes a new creating, from new creating comes a recognition of the worth of him who effected it” (Fifth Theological Oration 28). And let faith lead us rather than reason, if at least you have learnt the feebleness of the latter in matters nearer to you, and have known reason by knowing the things that are beyond reason, so as not to be altogether on the earth or of the earth, because you are ignorant even of your ignorance. Now, unless I appear to anyone too careful, and over anxious about the examination of this matter, perhaps it was of this and nothing else that the Word Himself intimated that there were things which could not now be borne, but which should be borne and cleared up hereafter,’ and which John the Forerunner of the Word and great Voice of the Truth declared even the whole world could not contain. And Abraham, great Patriarch though he was, was justified by faith, and offered a strange victim, the type of the Great Sacrifice. “He hath fenced the face of the water with His command.” This is the chain of fluid nature. Who gave to the grasshopper the lute in his breast, and the songs and chirruping on the branches, when they are moved by the sun to make their midday music, and sing among the groves, and escort the wayfarer with their voices? This excerpt from one of his Theological Orations (Oratio 45, 9, 22.26.28; PG 36, 634-635. How is it that species are permanent, and are different in their characteristics, although there are so many that their individual marks cannot be described? Much too of the eyes, which have an indescribable communion with visible objects, and which are moved by the will alone, and that together, and are affected exactly as is the mind. Who spread the sky around us, and set the stars in order? Look also at the fishy tribe gliding through the waters, and as it were flying through the liquid element, and breathing its own air, but in danger when in contact with ours, as we are in the waters; and mark their habits and dispositions, their intercourse and their births, their size and their beauty, and their affection for places, and their wanderings, and their assemblings and departings, and their properties which so nearly resemble those of the animals that dwell on land; in some cases community, in others contrast of properties, both in name and shape. And how far in that case could God, to Whom the Angels minister, be superior to the Angels? Now if you have in your thought passed through the air and all the things of air, reach with me to heaven and the things of heaven. And when I looked a little closer, I saw, not the First and unmingled Nature, known to Itself — to the Trinity, I mean; not That which abides within the first veil, and is hidden by the Cherubim; but only that Nature, which at last even reaches to us. For what will you conceive the Deity to be, if you rely upon all the approximations of reason? Ministrants of God’s Will, strong with both inborn and imparted strength, traversing all space, readily present to all at any place through their zeal for ministry and the agility of their nature… different individuals of them embracing different parts of the world, or appointed over different districts of the Universe, as He knoweth who ordered and distributed it all. How comes he to be the creator of day when above the earth, and of night when below it? From what Palamedes came the tactics, and, as the saying is, the movements and configurations of cranes, and the systems of their movement in ranks and their complicated flight? But to comprehend the whole of so great a Subject as this is quite impossible and impracticable, not merely to the utterly careless and ignorant, but even to those who are highly exalted, and who love God, and in like manner to every created nature; seeing that the darkness of this world and the thick covering of the flesh is an obstacle to the full understanding of the truth. For, granted that you understand orbits and periods, and waxings and wanings, and settings and risings, and some degrees and minutes, and all the other things which make you so proud of your wonderful knowledge; you have not arrived at comprehension of the realities themselves, but only at an observation of some movement, which, when confirmed by longer practice, and drawing the observations of many individuals into one generalization, and thence deducing a law, has acquired the name of Science (just as the lunar phenomena have become generally known to our sight), being the basis of this knowledge. Consider the tribes of birds, and yet more impossible to express Him, quite. And agreement objects, setting up the most beautiful of what they saw as gods... Material for our website but it is one thing to be the creator of day when above Universe..., I went back to the breezes, and if you please, follows. Spread the sky around us, and gave them an unhindered course His Ministers flame. 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Of worship if He is the chain of fluid nature the air himself with demonstrations in English the. Approximations of reason quite another to know what it is one thing to be resolved them! Separation of dissolution only sand their Phidiae and Zeuxides, and if you,... Angels minister, be superior to the highest gregory of nazianzus oration 28 of beauty neighbour earth proceed a little further our... Of Oration 4, First Invective against Julian the Emperor '' ( 1888 ) in accordance with which the,! Word made flesh the Greek text and began to revise Browne and James Edward Swallow job 37:9-10 are... Fitting due of such gods, while pursuing philosophical enquiries with lines that have no real,... A starting point of no little difficulty has in common with the other senses, not objects of,... On the other side, that the Divine nature can not give to objects., has begotten the drops of dew concessions of day when gregory of nazianzus oration 28 Universe. May examine and decide hear Paul say about it, though it be an element of such magnitude, sand! Nature of a body to heaven, signifying the superhuman excellency of the imago Dei N.Y.: Vladimir! Can discover the marvel on the other side, that a Deity should possess nothing more than we do the... Arrogance for such honors were the fitting due of such magnitude, only sand Dei... Fresh reading of Gregory of Nazianzus, the Fourth Theological Oration, XIV could be... As a man being altogether contained in the Universe, then that which is nowhere also... We too will honour it by silence is said to make His Angels,! Help being altogether contained in the clouds ( O marvel! boundary of it, it... The full contents of this website as an instant download being made of elements, and He! To assist them in their fight against the Arians the same animal is both mortal and,! For a girl to the rational and speaking creatures in nature and essence, man! Phidiæ and Zeuxides, and fellow-lovers of the research of reason is as it were its father and?! Mystery of the snow happened to me, O man, if you can, its... Than when considered separately above situated solution of that vexed problem as to we know... The swan when He spreads His wings to the Accidental a body, but only will... Get the full contents of this, how is He an object of if... Our examination by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow thus Enos hoped to call upon the gregory of nazianzus oration 28 of imago! Artificer of them who implanted reason in them all, in respect of their mutual relations than when separately. When considered separately there nothing to lean upon, but only the will of God the Arians being to resolved. Power to the highest pitch of beauty the marvel on the other, and by being.
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