|
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
|
13 Pages
Page 5
V. We are keeping the feast of Pentecost and of the Coming of the Spirit, and the appointed time of the Promise, and the fulfilment of our hope. And how great, how august, is the Mystery. The dispensations of the Body of Christ are ended; or rather, what belongs to His Bodily Advent (for I hesitate to say the Dispensation of His Body, as long as no discourse persuades me that it is better to have put off the body [4236] ), and that of the Spirit is beginning. And what were the things pertaining to the Christ? The Virgin, the Birth, the Manger, the Swaddling, the Angels glorifying Him, the Shepherds running to Him, the course of the Star, the Magi worshipping Him and bringing Gifts, Herod's murder of the children, the Flight of Jesus into Egypt, the Return from Egypt, the Circumcision, the Baptism, the Witness from Heaven, the Temptation, the Stoning for our sake (because He had to be given as an Example to us of enduring affliction for the Word), the Betrayal, the Nailing, the Burial, the Resurrection, the Ascension; and of these even now He suffers many dishonours at the hands of the enemies of Christ; and He bears them, for He is longsuffering. But from those who love Him He receives all that is honourable. And He defers, as in the former case His wrath, so in ours His kindness; in their case perhaps to give them the grace of repentance, and in ours to test our love; whether we do not faint in our tribulations [4237] and conflicts for the true Religion, as was from of old the order of His Divine Economy, and of his unsearchable judgments, with which He orders wisely all that concerns us. Such are the mysteries of Christ. And what follows we shall see to be more glorious; and may we too be seen. As to the things of the Spirit, may the Spirit be with me, and grant me speech as much as I desire; or if not that, yet as is in due proportion to the season. Anyhow He will be with me as my Lord; not in servile guise, nor awaiting a command, as some think. [4238] For He bloweth where He wills and on whom He wills, and to what extent He wills. [4239] Thus we are inspired both to think and to speak of the Spirit.
[4236] S. Gregory makes this explanation because there were certain heretics who taught that our Lord at His Ascension laid aside His Humanity. It is said that this was held by certain Manichaeans, who based their idea on Ps. xix. 4, where the LXX. and Vulgate read, "He hath set His Tabernacle in the Sun."
[4237] Ephes. iii. 13.
[4238] The reference is to the Macedonians or Pneumatomachi, followers of Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had passed from extreme or Anomoean Arianism to Semi-Arianism, and was forcibly intruded on the See by order of Constantius in 343, but was afterwards deposed. After his deposition he broached the heresy known by his name, denying the Deity of the Holy Ghost; some of its adherents, with Macedonius himself, maintaining Him to be a mere creature; others stopping short of this; and others calling Him a creature and servant of the Son. The heresy was formally condemned in the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381.
[4239] John iii. 8.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/pentecost.asp?pg=5
