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| To His Father, When He Had Entrusted to Him the Care of the Church of Nazianzus.
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Oration
XII.
To His Father, When He Had Entrusted to
Him the Care of the Church of Nazianzus.
ThisOration was
delivered a.d. 372. Two years earlier
Valens had divided Cappadocia into two provinces. Anthimus,
Bishop of Tyana, asserting that the ecclesiastical provinces were
regulated by those of the empire, claimed metropolitical rights over
the churches of Cappadocia Secunda, in opposition to S. Basil, who had
hitherto been metropolitan of the undivided province. S. Basil,
with the intention of vindicating the permanence of his former rights,
created a new see at Sasima, on the borders of the two provinces, and
with great difficulty prevailed upon S. Gregory to receive consecration
as its first Bishop. S. Gregory, who had “bent his neck,
but not his will,”3027
| 3027 Carmina Hist., xi.,
487. | was for a
long time reluctant to enter upon his Episcopal duties, and at last was
prevailed upon by S. Gregory of Nyssa, S. Basil’s brother, to
make an attempt to do so. When, however, he found that Anthimus
was prepared to bar his entrance by force of arms, he returned home,
definitely resigned his see, and once more betook himself to the life
of solitude which he so dearly loved. Recalled hence, he
consented,3028
at his
father’s earnest entreaty, to undertake provisionally the duties
of Bishop-coadjutor of Nazianzus: and pronounced this short
discourse on the occasion of his installation.
1. I opened my
mouth, and drew in the Spirit,3029
and I give myself
and my all to the Spirit, my action and speech, my inaction and
silence, only let Him hold me and guide me, and move both hand and mind
and tongue whither it is right, and He wills: and restrain them
as it is right and expedient. I am an instrument of God, a
rational instrument, an instrument tuned and struck by that skilful
artist, the Spirit. Yesterday His work in me was silence. I
mused on abstinence from speech. Does He strike upon my mind
today? My speech shall be heard, and I will muse on
utterance. I am neither so talkative, as to desire to speak, when
He is bent on silence; nor so reserved and ignorant as to set a watch
before my lips3030
when it is the time
to speak: but I open and close my door at the will of that Mind
and Word and Spirit, Who is One kindred Deity.
2. I will speak then, since I am so
bidden. And I will speak both to the good shepherd here, and to
you, his holy flock, as I think is best both for me to speak, and for
you to hear to-day. Why is it that you have begged for one to
share your shepherd’s toil? For my speech shall begin with
you, O dear and honoured head, worthy of that of Aaron, down which runs
that spiritual and priestly ointment upon his beard and
clothing.3031
Why is it
that, while yet able to stablish and guide many, and actually guiding
them in the power of the Spirit, you support yourself with a staff and
prop in your spiritual works? Is it because you have heard and
know that even with the illustrious Aaron were anointed Eleazar and
Ithamar, the sons of Aaron?3032
For I pass
over Nadab and Abihu,3033
lest the allusion
be ill-omened: and Moses during his lifetime appoints Joshua in
his stead, as lawgiver and general over those who were pressing on to
the land of promise? The office of Aaron and Hur, supporting the
hands of Moses on the mount where Amalek was warred down3034
by the Cross,3035
prefigured and typified long before, I feel willing to pass by, as not
very suitable or applicable to us: for Moses did not choose them
to share his work as lawgiver, but as helpers in his prayer and
supports for the weariness of his hands.
3. What is it then that ails you? What
is your weakness? Is it physical? I am ready to sustain
you, yea I have sustained, and been sustained, like Jacob of old, by
your fatherly blessings.3036
Is it
spiritual? Who is stronger, and more fervent, especially now,
when the powers of the
flesh are ebbing and fading, like so many barriers which interfere
with, and dim the brilliancy of a light? For these powers are
wont, for the most part, to wage war upon and oppose one another, while
the body’s health is purchased by the sickness of the soul, and
the soul flourishes and looks upward when pleasures are stilled and
fade away along with the body. But, wonderful as your simplicity
and nobility have seemed to me before, how is it that you have no fear,
especially in times like these, that your spirit will be considered a
pretext, and that most men will suppose, in spite of our spiritual
professions, that we are undertaking this from carnal motives.
For most men have made3037
| 3037 Made, by the
manner in which they have sought for and exercised it. | the office to be
looked upon as great and princely, and accompanied with considerable
enjoyment, even though a man have the charge and rule over a more
slender flock than this, and one which affords more troubles than
pleasures. Thus far of your simplicity, or parental preference,
if it be so, which makes you neither admit yourself, nor readily
suspect in others anything disgraceful; for a mind hardly roused to
evil, is slow to suspect evil. My second duty is briefly to
address this people of yours, or now even of mine.
4. I have been overpowered, my friends and
brethren, for I will now, though I did not at the time, ask for your
aid. I have been overpowered by the old age of my father, and, to
use moderate terms, the kindliness of my friend. So, help me,
each of you who can, and stretch out a hand to me who am pressed down
and torn asunder by regret and enthusiasm. The one suggests
flights, mountains and deserts, and calm of soul and body, and that the
mind should retire into itself, and recall its powers from sensible
things, in order to hold pure communion with God, and be clearly
illumined by the flashing rays of the Spirit, with no admixture or
disturbance of the divine light by anything earthly or clouded, until
we come to the source of the effulgence which we enjoy here, and regret
and desire are alike stayed, when our mirrors3038
pass away in the light of truth. The other wills that I should
come forward, and bear fruit for the common good, and be helped by
helping others; and publish the Divine light, and bring to God a people
for His own possession, a holy nation, a royal priesthood,3039
and His image cleansed in many souls.
And this, because, as a park is better than and preferable to a tree,
the whole heaven with its ornaments to a single star, and the body to a
limb, so also, in the sight of God, is the reformation of a whole
church preferable to the progress of a single soul: and
therefore, I ought not to look only on my own interest, but also on
that of others.3040
For Christ
also likewise, when it was possible for him to abide in His own honour
and deity, not only so far emptied Himself as to take the form of a
slave,3041
but also endured
the cross, despising the shame,3042
that he might
by His own sufferings destroy sin, and by death slay death.3043
The former are the imaginings of
desire, the latter the teachings of the Spirit. And I, standing
midway between the desire and the Spirit, and not knowing to which of
the two I should rather yield, will impart to you what seems to me the
best and safest course, that you may test it with me and take part in
my design.
5. It seemed to me to be best and least dangerous
to take a middle course between desire and fear, and to yield in part
to desire, in part to the Spirit: and that this would be the
case, if I neither altogether evaded the office, and so refused the
grace, which would be dangerous, nor yet assumed a burden beyond my
powers, for it is a heavy one. The former indeed is suited to the
person of another, the latter to another’s power, or rather to
undertake both would be madness. But piety and safety would alike
advise me to proportion the office to my power, and as is the case with
food, to accept that which is within my power and refuse what is beyond
it, for health is gained for the body, and tranquillity for the soul,
by such a course of moderation. Therefore I now consent to share
in the cares of my excellent father, like an eaglet, not quite vainly
flying close to a mighty and high soaring eagle. But hereafter I
will offer my wing to the Spirit to be borne whither, and as, He
wills: no one shall force or drag me in any direction, contrary
to His counsel. For sweet it is to inherit a father’s
toils, and this flock is more familiar than a strange and foreign one;
I would even add, more precious in the sight of God, unless the spell
of affection deceives me, and the force of habit robs me of
perception: nor is there any more useful or safer course than
that willing rulers should rule willing subjects: since it is our
practice not to lead by force, or by compulsion, but by good
will. For this would not hold together even another form of
government, since that which is held in by force is wont, when
opportunity offers, to strike for freedom: but freedom of will
more than anything else it
is, which holds together our—I will not call it rule,
but—tutorship. For the mystery of godliness3044
belongs to those who are willing, not to
those who are overpowered.
6. This is my speech to you, my good men,
uttered in simplicity and with all good will, and this is the secret of
my mind. And may the victory rest with that which will be for the
profit of both you and me, under the Spirit’s guidance of our
affairs, (for our discourse comes back again to the same
point,)3045
| 3045 The same point,
i.e. from which it started, § 1. | to Whom we have
given ourselves, and the head anointed with the oil of perfection, in
the Almighty Father, and the Only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Who is God. For how long shall we hide3046
| 3046 Hide,
etc. S. Gregory here alludes to the “economy” which
refrained from distinctly declaring the Divinity of the Holy
Ghost. Cf. Or. xliii., 68. This declaration of his was
afterwards commented on by his audience and others, cf. Epist. 58, in
which his mode of teaching is contrasted with that of S. Basil. |
the lamp under the bushel,3047
and withhold from
others the full knowledge of the Godhead, when it ought to be now put
upon the lampstand and give light to all churches and souls and to the
whole fulness of the world, no longer by means of metaphors, or
intellectual sketches, but by distinct declaration? And this
indeed is a most perfect setting forth of Theology to those Who have
been deemed worthy of this grace in Christ Jesus Himself, our Lord, to
Whom be glory, honour, and power for ever.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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