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Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.
Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print
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30 Pages
Page 20
XXXII. Let the laver be not for your body only, but also for the image of God in you; not merely a washing away of sins in you, but also a correction of your temper; let it not only wash away the old filth, but let it purify the fountainhead. Let it not only move you to honourable acquisition, but let it teach you also honourably to lose possession; or, which is more easy, to make restitution of what you have wrongfully acquired. For what profit is it that your sin should have been forgiven you, but the loss which you have inflicted should not be repaired to him whom you have injured? Two sins are on your conscience, the one that you made a dishonest gain, the other that you retained the gains; you received forgiveness for the one, but in respect of the other you are still in sin, for you have still possession of what belongs to another; and your sin has not been put to an end, but only divided by the time which has elapsed. Part of it was perpetrated before your Baptism, but part remains after your Baptism; for Baptism carries forgiveness of Past, not of Present sins; and its purification must not be played with, but be genuinely impressed upon you; you must be made perfectly bright, and not be merely coloured; you must receive the gift, not of a mere covering of your sins, but of a taking them clean away. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven [4110] ...this is done by the complete cleansing...and whose sins are hidden...this belongs to those who are not yet healed in their deepest soul. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin....This is a third class of sinners, whose actions are not praiseworthy, but who are innocent of intention.
XXXIII. What say I then, and what is my argument? Yesterday you were a Canaanite soul bent together [4111] by sin; today you have been made straight by the Word. Do not be bent gain, and condemned to the earth, as if weighed down by the Devil with a wooden collar, nor get an incurable curvature. Yesterday you were being dried up [4112] by an abundant haemorrhage, for you were pouring out crimson sin; today stanched and flourishing again, for you have touched the hem of Christ and your issue has been stayed. Guard, I pray you, the cleansing lest you should again have a haemorrhage, and not be able to lay hold of Christ to steal salvation; for Christ does not like to be stolen from often, though He is very merciful. Yesterday you were flung upon a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no one when the water should be troubled to put you into the pool. [4113] Today you have Him Who is in one Person Man and God, or rather God and Man. You were raised up from your bed, or rather you took up your bed, and publicly acknowledged the benefit. Do not again be thrown upon your bed by sinning, in the evil rest of a body paralyzed by its pleasures. But as you now are, so walk, mindful of the command, [4114] Behold thou art made whole; sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto thee if thou prove thyself bad after the blessing thou hast received. You have heard the loud voice, Lazarus, come forth, [4115] as you lay in the tomb; not, however, after four days, but after many days; and you were loosed from the bonds of your graveclothes. Do not again become dead, nor live with those who dwell in the tombs; [4116] nor bind yourself with the bonds of your own sins; [4117] for it is uncertain whether you will rise again from the tomb till the last and universal resurrection, which will bring every work into judgment, [4118] not to be healed, but to be judged, and to give account of all which for good or evil it has treasured up.
[4110] Ps. xxxii. 1.
[4111] Luke xiii. 11, which S. Gregory has apparently mixed with a recollection of Matt. xv. 21.
[4112] Matt. ix. 20.
[4113] John v. 1, &c.
[4114] Ib. v. 14.
[4115] John xi. 43.
[4116] Mark v. 3.
[4117] Ps. lxviii. 9.
[4118] Eccles. xii. 14.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/holy-baptism.asp?pg=20
