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| To the Church at Nicomedia.
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Letter XIII.—To the Church at Nicomedia2207
| 2207 Euphrasius, mentioned in this Letter, had subscribed to the
first Council of Constantinople, as Bishop of Nicomedia. On his
death, clergy and laity proceeded to a joint election of a successor.
The date of this is uncertain; Zacagni and Page think that the dispute
here mentioned is to be identified with that which Sozomen records, and
which is placed by Baronius and Basnage in 400, 401. But we have no
evidence that Gregory’s life was prolonged so far. | .
May the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, Who disposeth all things
in wisdom for the best, visit you by His own grace, and comfort you by
Himself, working in you that which is well-pleasing to Him, and may the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ come upon you, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit, that ye may have healing of all tribulation and
affliction, and advance towards all good, for the perfecting of the
Church, for the edification of your souls, and to the praise of the
glory of His name. But in making here a defence of ourselves before
your charity, we would say that we were not neglectful to render an
account of the charge entrusted to us, either in time past, or since
the departure hence of Patricius of blessed memory; but we insist that
there were many troubles in our Church, and the decay of our bodily
powers was great, increasing, as was natural, with advancing years; and
great also was the remissness of your Excellency towards us, inasmuch
as no word ever came by letter to induce us to undertake the task, nor
was any connection kept up between your Church and ourselves, although
Euphrasius, your Bishop of blessed memory, had in all holiness bound
together our Humility to himself and to you with love, as with chains.
But even though the debt of love has not been satisfied before, either
by our taking charge of you, or your Piety’s encouragement of us,
now at any rate we pray to God, taking your prayer to God as an ally to
our own desire, that we may with all speed possible visit you, and be
comforted along with you, and along with you show diligence, as the
Lord may direct us; so as to discover a means of rectifying the
disorders which have already found place, and of securing safety for
the future, so that you may no longer be distracted by this discord,
one withdrawing himself from the Church in one direction, another in
another, and be thereby exposed as a laughing-stock to the Devil, whose
desire and business it is (in direct contrariety to the Divine will)
that no one should be saved, or come to the knowledge of the truth. For
how do you think, brethren, that we were afflicted upon hearing from
those who reported to us your state, that there was no return to better
things2208
| 2208 οὐδεμία
γέγονε τῶν
ἐφεστώτων
ἐπιστροφὴ, literally, “no return from existing (or besetting)
evils.” The words might possibly mean something very different;
“no concern shown on the part of those set over you” (H. C.
O.). | ; but that the resolution of those who had once
swerved aside is ever carried along in the same course; and—as
water from a conduit often overflows the neighbouring bank, and
streaming off sideways, flows away, and unless the leak is stopped, it
is almost impossible to recall it to its channel, when the submerged
ground has been hollowed out in accordance with the course of the
stream,—even so the course of those who have left the Church,
when it has once through personal motives deflected from the straight
and right faith, has sunk deep in the rut of habit, and does not easily
return to the grace it once had. For which cause your affairs demand a
wise and strong administrator, who is skilled to guide such wayward
tempers aright, so as to be able to recall to its pristine beauty the
disorderly circuit of this stream, that the corn-fields of your piety
may once again flourish abundantly, watered by the irrigating stream of
peace. For this reason great diligence and fervent desire on the part
of you all is needed for this matter, that such an one may be appointed
your President by the Holy Spirit, who will have a single eye to the
things of God alone, not turning his glance this way or that to any of
those things that men strive after. For for this cause I think that the
ancient law gave the Levite no share in the general inheritance of the
land; that he might have God alone for the portion of his possession,
and might always be engaged about the possession in himself, with no
eye to any material object.
[What follows is unintelligible,
and something has probably been lost.]
For it is not lawful that the
simple should meddle with that with which they have no concern, but
which properly belongs to others. For you should each mind your own
business, that so that which is most expedient may come about [and that
your Church may again prosper], when those who have been dispersed have
returned again to the unit of the one body, and spiritual peace is
established by those who devoutly glorify God. To this end it is well,
I think, to look out for high qualifications in your election, that he
who is appointed to the Presidency may be suitable for the post. Now
the Apostolic injunctions do not direct us to look to high birth,
wealth, and distinction in the eyes of the world among the virtues of a
Bishop; but if all this should, unsought, accompany your spiritual
chiefs, we do not reject it, but consider it merely as a shadow
accidentally2209
| 2209 The
shadow may be considered as an accidental appendage to the body,
inasmuch as it does not always appear, but only when there is some
light, e.g. of the sun, to cast it (H. C. O.). | following the body; and none the less
shall we welcome the more precious endowments, even though they happen
to be apart from those boons of fortune. The prophet Amos was a
goat-herd; Peter was a fisherman, and his brother Andrew followed the
same employment; so too was the sublime John; Paul was a tent-maker,
Matthew a publican, and the rest of the Apostles in the same
way—not consuls, generals, prefects, or distinguished in rhetoric
and philosophy, but poor, and of none of the learned professions, but
starting from the more humble occupations of life: and yet for all that
their voice went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends
of the world. “Consider your calling, brethren, that not many
wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world2210
.” Perhaps even now it is thought
something foolish, as things appear to men, when one is not able to do
much from poverty, or is slighted because of meanness of extraction2211
| 2211 σώματος
δυσγένειαν, might possibly mean “bodily deformity;” but
less probably (H. C. O.). | , not of character. But who knows whether the
horn of anointing is not poured out by grace upon such an one, even
though he be less than the lofty and more illustrious? Which was more
to the interest of the Church at Rome, that it should at its
commencement be presided over by some high-born and pompous senator, or
by the fisherman Peter, who had none of this world’s advantages
to attract men to him2212
| 2212 Reading ἐφολκόν: if ἐφόλκιον, “a boat taken in tow,” perhaps still regarding S.
Peter as the master of a ship: or “an appendage;” Gregory
so uses it in his De Animâ. Some suggest ἐφόδιον,
meaning “resource,” but ἐφολκόν is
simpler. | ? What house had he,
what slaves, what property ministering luxury, by wealth constantly
flowing in? But that stranger, without a table, without a roof over his
head, was richer than those who have all things, because through having
nothing he had God wholly. So too the people of Mesopotamia, though
they had among them wealthy satraps, preferred Thomas above them all to
the presidency of their Church; the Cretans preferred Titus, the
dwellers at Jerusalem James, and we Cappadocians the centurion, who at
the Cross acknowledged the Godhead of the Lord, though there were many
at that time of splendid lineage, whose fortunes enabled them to
maintain a stud, and who prided themselves upon having the first place
in the Senate. And in all the Church one may see those who are great
according to God’s standard preferred above worldly magnificence.
You too, I think, ought to have an eye to these spiritual
qualifications at this time present, if you really mean to revive the
ancient glory of your Church. For nothing is better known to you than
your own history, that anciently, before the city near you2213
| 2213 i.e.Nicæa. “The whirligig
of time has brought about its revenge,” and Nicomedia (Ismid) is
now more important than Nicæa (Isnik). Nicomedia had, in fact,
been the residence of the Kings of Bithynia; and Diocletian had
intended to make it the rival of Rome (cf. Lactantius, De Mort.
Persec. c. 7). But it had been destroyed by an earthquake in the
year 368: Socrates, ii. 39. | flourished, the seat of government was
with you, and among Bithynian cities there was nothing preeminent above
yours. And now, it is true, the public buildings that once graced it
have disappeared, but the city that consists in men—whether we
look to numbers or to quality—is rapidly rising to a level with
its former splendour. Accordingly it would well become you to entertain
thoughts that shall not fall below the height of the blessings that now
are yours, but to raise your enthusiasm in the work before you to the
height of the magnificence of your city, that you may find such a one
to preside over the laity as will prove himself not unworthy of you2214
| 2214 Reading ὑμῶν for ὑμῖν. | . For it is disgraceful, brethren, and
utterly monstrous, that while no one ever becomes a pilot unless he is
skilled in navigation, he who sits at the helm of the Church should not
know how to bring the souls of those who sail with him safe into the
haven of God. How many wrecks of Churches, men and all, have ere now
taken place by the inexperience of their heads! Who can reckon what
disasters might not have been avoided, had there been aught of the
pilot’s skill in those who had command? Nay, we entrust iron, to
make vessels with, not to those who know nothing about the matter, but
to those who are acquainted with the art of the smith; ought we not
therefore to trust souls to him who is well-skilled to soften them by
the fervent heat of the Holy Spirit, and who by the impress of rational
implements may fashion each one of you to be a chosen and useful
vessel? It is thus that the inspired Apostle bids us to take thought,
in his Epistle to Timothy2215
, laying injunction
upon all who hear, when he says that a Bishop must be without reproach.
Is this all that the Apostle cares for, that he who is advanced to the
priesthood should be irreproachable? and what is so great an advantage
as that all possible qualifications should be included in one? But he
knows full well that the subject is moulded by the character of his
superior, and that the upright walk of the guide becomes that of his
followers too. For what the Master is, such does he make the disciple
to be. For it is impossible that he who has been apprenticed to the art
of the smith should practise that of the weaver, or that one who has
only been taught to work at the loom should turn out an orator or a
mathematician: but on the contrary that which the disciple sees in his
master he adopts and transfers to himself. For this reason it is that
the Scripture says, “Every disciple that is perfect shall be as
his master2216
.” What then, brethren? Is it
possible to be lowly and subdued in character, moderate, superior to
the love of lucre, wise in things divine, and trained to virtue and
considerateness in works and ways, without seeing those qualities in
one’s master? Nay, I do not know how a man can become spiritual,
if he has been a disciple in a worldly school. For how can they who are
striving to resemble their master fail to be like him? What advantage
is the magnificence of the aqueduct to the thirsty, if there is no
water in it, even though the symmetrical disposition of columns2217
| 2217 ἡ τῶν
κιόνων
ἐπάλληλος
θέσις. | variously shaped rear aloft the pediment2218
? Which would the thirsty man rather choose
for the supply of his own need, to see marbles beautifully disposed or
to find good spring water, even if it flowed through a wooden pipe, as
long as the stream which it poured forth was clear and drinkable? Even
so, brethren, those who look to godliness should neglect the trappings
of outward show, and whether a man exults in powerful friends, or
plumes himself on the long list of his dignities, or boasts that he
receives large annual revenues, or is puffed up with the thought of his
noble ancestry, or has his mind on all sides clouded2219
with the fumes of self-esteem, should have
nothing to do with such an one, any more than with a dry aqueduct, if
he display not in his life the primary and essential qualities for high
office. But, employing the lamp of the Spirit for the search2220
| 2220 For
humility and spirituality required in prelates, cf. Origen, c.
Cels. viii. 75. “We summon to the magistracies of these
churches men of ability and good life: but instead of selecting the
ambitious amongst these we put compulsion upon those whose deep
humility makes them backward in accepting this general charge of the
Church. Our best rulers then, are like consuls compelled to rule by a
mighty Emperor: no other, we are persuaded, than the Son of God, Who is
the Word of God. If, then, these magistrates in the assembly of
God’s nation rule well, or at all events strictly in accordance
with the Divine enactment, they are not because of that to meddle with
the secular law-making. It is not that the Christians wish to escape
all public responsibility, that they keep themselves away from such
things; but they wish to reserve themselves for the higher and more
urgent responsibilities (ἀναγκαιοτέρᾳ
λειτουργί&
139·) of God’s
Church.” | , you should, as far as is possible, seek for
“a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed2221
,” that, by your election the garden of
delight having been opened and the water of the fountain having been
unstopped, there may be a common acquisition to the Catholic Church.
May God grant that there may soon be found among you such an one, who
shall be a chosen vessel, a pillar of the Church. But we trust in the
Lord that so it will be, if you are minded by the grace of concord with
one mind to see that which is good, preferring to your own wills the
will of the Lord, and that which is approved of Him, and perfect, and
well-pleasing in His eyes; that there may be such a happy issue among
you, that therein we may rejoice, and you triumph, and the God of all be
glorified, Whom glory becometh for ever and ever.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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