|
HOME | GREEK LANGUAGE |
LIBRARIES |
BLOG | HELP | SEARCH | BOOKSTORE | FREEWARE |
|
|
Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.
Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print
|
21 Pages
Page 19
XXV. And if He ascend up into Heaven, [4676] ascend with Him. Be one of those angels who escort Him, or one of those who receive Him. Bid the gates be lifted up, [4677] or be made higher, that they may receive Him, exalted after His Passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because He bears up with Him His body and the tokens of His Passion, which He had not when He came down, and who therefore inquire, "Who is this King of Glory?" that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that He hath done from time to time and does, so now in His battle and triumph for the sake of Mankind. And give to the doubting of the question the twofold answer. And if they marvel and say as in Isaiah's drama Who is this that cometh from Edom and from the things of earth? Or How are the garments red of Him that is without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press? [4678] set forth the beauty of the array of the Body that suffered, adorned by the Passion, and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.
XXVI. [4679] To this what will those cavillers say, those bitter reasoners about Godhead, those detractors of all things that are praiseworthy, those darkeners of Light, uncultured in respect of Wisdom, for whom Christ died in vain, unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One. Do you turn this benefit into a reproach to God? Will you deem Him little on this account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and because to seek for that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who layeth down His life for the sheep, [4680] came upon the mountains and hills upon which you used to sacrifice, [4681] and found the wandering one; and having found it, took it upon His shoulders, [4682] on which He also bore the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and having brought it back, numbered it among those who have never strayed. That He lit a candle, [4683] His own flesh, and swept the house, by cleansing away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the Royal Image that was all covered up with passions, and calls together His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding of the coin, and makes them sharers of His joy, as He had before made them sharers of the secret of His Incarnation? That the Light that is exceeding bright should follow the Candle—Forerunner, [4684] and the Word, the Voice, and the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom's friend, [4685] that prepared for the Lord a peculiar people [4686] and cleansed them by the water [4687] in preparation for the Spirit? Do you Reproach God with this? Do you conceive of Him as less because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples, [4688] and shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation; [4689] because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the ground, [4690] that He may even exalt with Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin? How comes it that you do not also charge it upon Him as a crime that He eateth with Publicans [4691] and at Publicans' tables, and makes disciples of Publicans [4692] that He too may make some gain. And what gain? The salvation of sinners. If so, one must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who leans over the ditch, that he may, according to the Law, save the beast that has fallen into it.
[4676] Luke xxiv. 51.
[4677] Ps. xxiv. 7, 10.
[4678] Isa. lxiii. 1.
[4679] This passage, to nearly the end of c. XXVII., is taken from the Oration on the Nativity, cc. XIII-XIV.
[4680] John x. 11.
[4681] John v. 35.
[4682] Hos. iv. 13.
[4683] Luke xv. 4, 5.
[4684] Ib. xv. 8, 9.
[4685] Ib. i. 23; iii. 9, 29.
[4686] A reminiscence of S. Luke i. 17.
[4687] Matt. iii. 11.
[4688] John xiii. 4, 5.
[4689] Matt. xxiii. 12.
[4690] Luke xiii. 10, etc.
[4691] Mark ii. 15, 16.
[4692] Luke xv. 2.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/easter-2.asp?pg=19
