Sermon I. On Easter and idleness

Introduction

Alongside several letters addressed to Saint Basil the Great, Sermon I forms part of the group of early texts written by Saint Gregory the Theologian in his youth; it is also his first public address, marking the inauguration of his priestly ministry at the church in Nazianzus. The chronology accepted by the majority of scholars places this Sermon in the year 362, at a delicate time for the community led by the father of Saint Gregory the Theologian. He had wished to bring his son into the ministry; the young man had completed a brilliant course of study in Athens, where he had also become friends with Saint Basil the Great, and who had, it seems, been tempted by a career in rhetoric. Meanwhile, together with Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory was planning a life of seclusion, prayer and meditation on the Word of God, upholding Nicene Orthodoxy from the very beginning. However, the context of his call to ministry was marked by various attempts to reach an agreement with the Arians. Gregory the Elder had signed a heterodox confession of faith, which soon caused unrest within his community and, above all, a schism amongst the monks. It is highly likely that the young Gregory distanced himself from his father’s action and withdrew. From this perspective, as is evident from a detailed analysis of all the textual evidence, as well as the broader historical context (see Francis Gautier, La retraite et le sacerdoce chez Grégoire de Nazianze, Brepols, 2002), Saint Gregory’s flight is not merely a hesitation to accept the holy grace of the priesthood, but a withdrawal from the exercise of ministry in circumstances where the Nicene faith was not professed. Paradoxically, Emperor Julian’s (361–363) policy of granting amnesty to those condemned for their loyalty to the Council of Nicaea (his intention being precisely to bring about the internal destruction of Christianity) appears to have been the external catalyst for the young Gregory’s return to the community, on condition that he profess the true faith and undertake the diplomatic mission of reconciling the monks and dissidents with their bishop, Gregory the Elder. The Feast of Easter is thus the most appropriate moment, a ‘favourable beginning’, as he was to say in his Homily, for reconciliation through a return to the true profession of faith within the baptismal rite. Convinced to take this step by Saint Basil, with whom he had withdrawn, Saint Gregory the Theologian returned to Nazianzus as the guarantor of his father’s orthodoxy and, through this first Homily, effected a symbolic restoration of authority. It is by no means impossible that this mission was also one of the intentions of Gregory the Elder, who subjected his son to his paternal ‘tyranny’ by compelling him to accept ordination, thereby integrating him into the order of the Church and compelling him to adopt a mediating role vis-à-vis the radical forms of monasticism existing in the region (see J. A. McGuckin, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. An Intellectual Biography, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 2001). Saint Gregory the Theologian’s return was, first and foremost, an act of obedience to the grace he had received—an attitude he had cultivated alongside Saint Basil in Pontus—but it was also an effort to preserve his father’s authority over the local church.

1. It is the Day of the Resurrection 1 and it is a fitting start: let us be enlightened by the feast and embrace one another! Let us call even those who hate us ‘brothers’ 2 – not just those who have caused us harm or whom we have harmed out of love 3. Let us forgive everything for the Resurrection! Let us grant one another forgiveness: even the one oppressed under beautiful ‘oppression’4 – for that is what I now call it 5 – and you, who have so graciously oppressed me, if you have in any way blamed me for my delay 6, which may well be better and more precious to God than the haste of others 7. For it is good to withdraw <at times> from before God, as the great Moses once did 8 and, later, Jeremiah 9, but also to run, ready at His call, like Aaron 10 and like Isaiah 11, provided that both are done with piety – the former because of our weakness, the latter because of the power of the One who calls us.

2. A mystery has anointed me; in the face of a mystery I have drawn back somewhat, just enough to examine myself; through a mystery I press on once more 12, taking this beautiful day as a support for my spiritual and bodily weakness, so that He Who rose from the dead today may renew me too in <His> Spirit 13 and, ‘clothing the new man’, may He grant ‘the new creation’14—those conceived according to God’s <will> 15—a good form-giver and teacher, ready in heart to die with Christ and rise with Him 16.

3. Yesterday, the lamb was laid upon the slaughtering block and the lintels of the gates were anointed, and Egypt mourned its firstborn, but the Destroyer passed <only> by us: the seal of <blood> <instilled> fear and reverence in him, so that the precious blood stood as a bulwark for us. Today, we have escaped once and for all from Egypt, from Pharaoh, the harsh despot, and from his cruel overseers, and we have been delivered from the clay and brick-making 17: there is no one left to prevent us from celebrating the Feast of the Exodus to the Lord our God, and to celebrate it ‘not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of purity and truth’18, taking nothing with us of Egypt’s godless leaven 19.

…there is no one left to prevent us from celebrating the Feast of the Exodus to the Lord our God, and to celebrate it ‘not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth’

4. Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him: yesterday I died with Him; today I am raised with Him. Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him20. Let us bring gifts to Him who suffered and rose again for us! Perhaps you think I am speaking of gold and silver, of fine fabrics and precious, translucent gems – fleeting human things that remain here, here below, and of which the greater part is held by the wicked, slaves of those below and of the ruler of this world 21. But let us offer ourselves as a gift – the most precious and God-like of all; let us restore to the <divine> image that which is in the image 22, let us bear in mind our dignity 23 and honour the archetype 24, let us recognise the power of the mystery and for whom Christ died.

5. Let us become like Christ, since Christ <became> like us: let us become, for His sake, gods 25, since He became man for our sake. He took upon Himself the worst so that He might give us the best: He humbled Himself like a beggar, so that, through His humility, we might be enriched 26. He took the form of a servant 27 so that we might gain freedom 28. He humbled Himself so that we might be exalted. He allowed Himself to be tempted so that we might triumph. He allowed Himself to be humiliated so that we might be exalted in glory. He died to deliver us. He was exalted so that He might lift up with Him those who lay low in the abyss of sin. Let each one give his all, offering every gift to Him who gave Himself as a ransom and redemption for us 29! There is no gift greater than the self-surrender of the one who has penetrated the mystery, thereby becoming, for Him, all that He became for us 30.

6. The Good Shepherd 31, who lays down his life for his flock 32, bestows upon you, as you see, a shepherd – for this is his hope and desire, and this is what he asks of you, those under his care: he is given to you not just once, but twice over, transforming the staff of <his> old age into the staff of the Spirit and adding to the lifeless temple 33 a living one; to the most beautiful and heavenly one <he adds another> – of unknown goodness and greatness – but of great value in His eyes, as one that was built with much sweat and toil (if it were fitting to say that it is even worthy of such toil!) He places everything that is his at your disposal. Oh, what generosity, or – to put it more truly – what fatherly love! And the aged, and the young, and the temple and its high priest, and the forefather, and the descendant, as well as the words for which you long – and these are not mere random utterances, fluttering through the air and merely striking the ear, but written by the Spirit and carved upon tablets of stone, nay, even of flesh 34; not merely scratched on the surface and easily erased, but engraved deep within, yet not with ink 35, but with grace 36.

7. Thus, therefore, this most honoured Abraham, the patriarch of this place 37, is to you an image worthy of honour and reverence, a dwelling-place of all that is beautiful, a measure of virtue, the fulfilment of the priesthood, he who today offers to God, as a sacrifice of his own free will, his only-begotten son, the fruit of the promise 38. And you, bring Him the fruit of God, <but> also to us, <allowing yourselves to be> well shepherded, resting in a place of greenery and drinking from the water of rest 39, knowing your shepherd well and being well known by him, following him when he calls you to the gate, as a shepherd and a free man, and not following in the footsteps of any stranger 40, who leaps <inside> and prowls about the enclosure, like a robber and a schemer – paying no heed to the stranger’s voice 41 which seeks to steal you away from there and lead you astray from the truth, through mountains and deserts and chasms, as well as to places over which the Lord does not watch 42. <That is the voice> which leads you away from sound faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one God and Power (To whom my flock has always given heed, and, oh, if only they would always give <the same>!), and it seeks to gain its prey through false and corrupting words and to tear you away from the first and true Shepherd. Let us all, shepherd and flock alike, keep far away from these words, as from grass that spreads pestilence and death, both when we shepherd and when we are shepherded, so that we may all be one 43 in Christ Jesus, now and in the rest to come. <For> to Him <belong> glory and power, for ever and ever! Amen.

• 1

  Note: The translation, carried out in 2007 by the late Professor Dan Slușanschi (1943–2008), forms part of the forthcoming volume: St Gregory the Theologian, Sermons (I–XVII), translation coordinated by Dan Slușanschi, edited by Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban and Octavian Gordon. The working version of Homily I, as part of the project, was prepared by Dan Batovici. The project was launched in 2004, when Professor Dan Slușanschi accepted the proposal to coordinate the complete translation of the works of St Gregory the Theologian, forming a team of young philologists. The first version of the texts was thoroughly revised by the coordinator; in the second phase, Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban and Octavian Gordon were brought in to oversee the Romanian edition. The translation followed the editions: GRÉGOIRE DE NAZIANZE, Discours 1–3, introduction, critical text, translation and notes by Jean BERNANDI, Sources Chrétiennes series, no. 247, Cerf, Paris, 1978 and GREGORIO DI NAZIANZO, Tutte le Orazioni, edited by Claudio MORESCHINI, Italian translation with parallel text and notes by Chiara SANI and Maria VINCELLI, introduction by Claudio MORESCHINI, prefaces by Carmelo CRIMI and Chiara SANI, Bompiani, Milan, 2000.

  Saint Gregory the Theologian’s first homily was addressed in 362 to the community of Nazianzus, led by his father, Bishop Gregory the Elder (cf. P. GALLAY, La vie de saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Lyon–Paris, 1943). See also J. BERNARDI, Saint Grégoire de Nazianze. Le théologien et son temps (330–390), Cerf, Paris, 1995 (Gregory of Nazianzus. The Theologian and His Age, trans. by Cristian Pop, Deisis, Sibiu, 2002, p. 97 ff.), and his edition: Discourses 1–3, ‘Sources Chrétiennes’ series (hereafter SC) 247, Cerf, Paris, 1978. Also, J. A. McGUCKIN, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. An Intellectual Biography, St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 2001, pp. 107–110 (Romanian trans. by Adrian Podaru, Editura Renașterea, 2013; our references are to the original edition). The theme is reconciliation as a Paschal restoration: between the young priest and the community from which he came, which had been upset by his ‘flight’; between the local bishop and those who regarded him as a heretic; the dawning of a new era and a new relationship, founded on forgiveness and on the new priest’s acceptance of self-sacrifice for the sake of others.

• 2

  See Isa. 66:5.

• 3

  The wording will be repeated in Proverbs (hereinafter Prov.) 22:16.

• 4

  The Greek term used would be more accurately translated as ‘tyranny’: this is how Saint Gregory defines the attitude of his father, who wanted him to become a priest, as indeed of all those who were to exert emotional pressure on him to accept the priestly and, later, the episcopal office; see Word 2, 6; 2, 72; 3, 1.

• 5

  According to J. BERNARDI (SC 247, p. 73, n. 5), the parenthetical remark highlights the public nature of Saint Gregory’s resistance to ordination.

• 6

  A reference to his initial refusal of ordination, but above all to his flight following his ordination (Ch. 2, 72; 3, 1). Eventually, at his father’s insistent pleas, he returned to assume his new role within the Church on the occasion of Easter. Saint Gregory asks for forgiveness from those he had upset by his resistance to ordination, just as he himself forgives those who compelled him to accept the priesthood.

• 7

  The young priest Gregory’s suggestion is that his flight and his delay (‘hesitation’) in assuming his priestly role did not stem from a lack of appreciation for the new position being offered to him, but, on the contrary, from an awareness of the great responsibility that was to fall upon him. His ‘hesitation’ is contrasted with the ‘haste’ of those who saw the priesthood as a career within the empire. The phenomenon of people gaining access to positions of authority within the Church in the absence of a genuine vocation or spiritual and theological preparation was already a cause for concern (see Homily 2, 8. See also B. GAIN, L’Église de Cappadoce au IVe siècle d’après la correspondance de Basile de Césarée (330–379), Pontificium Institutum Orientale, Rome, 1985, col. ‘Orientalia Christiana Analecta’ 225, p. 121) and J. BERNARDI, Gregory of Nazianzus, pp. 222–223.

• 8

  See Exodus 4:13.

• 9

  See Jer. 1:16.

• 10

  See Exodus 4:27.

• 11

  See Isa. 6:8.

• 12

  P. GALLAY (The Life of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, p. 73, n. 3) interprets the three references to the ‘mystery’ as three distinct allusions to feasts (‘a mystery anointed me’ would refer to his ordination on the Nativity of the Lord in 361; his retreat took place on the day of a great mystery, the Epiphany, in 362; his return to the community on the occasion of Easter, also in 362), but J. BERNARDI, although he had accepted P. GALLAY’s reasoning in La prédication des Pères cappadociens (1968) the reasoning of P. GALLAY, returns in the edition SC 247 (1978), pp. 15–17, to argue that the meaning of the word ‘mystery’ is not that of a feast day, but of the priesthood. The only biographical clue would be that the ordination did not take place long before the sermon.

• 13

  See Eph. 6:23.

• 14

  2 Corinthians 5:17.

• 15

  See John 1:13.

• 16

  See Rom. 6:8.

• 17

  On forced labour in Egypt.

• 18

  1 Corinthians 5:8.

• 19

  See Exodus 12:34 and 39.

• 20

  The significance of Christian Easter. The rhythm conveyed by the prefix ‘syn-’ expresses the Christ-centred nature of Christian existence.

• 21

  See John 14:30.

• 22

  St Gregory’s first reference to the theology of the image, foreshadowed by Clement of Alexandria (Protrepticus X, 98-4, SC 2, p. 166) and extensively developed by Origen (see H. Crozel, La théologie de l'image de Dieu chez Origène, Paris, 1956). Christ is the perfect Image of the Father (the term used is ‘aparallaktos’, which means exactly, entirely alike, without any difference; cf. Word 38, 13, SC 358, p. 133), whilst man is created ‘in the image’, and is thus in a constitutive relationship with the Image of God, who will be called, for this reason, archetypos, the model of humanity (cf. Ph. MOLAC, Douleur et transfiguration. Une lecture du cheminement spirituel de saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Cerf, Paris, 2006, pp. 24–30). For a more general theological perspective: Vl. LOSSKY, ‘The Theology of the Image’, in In the Image and Likeness of God, trans. by Anca Manolache, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1998, 2006, pp. 125–141.

• 23

  Human dignity lies in the fact that man was created ‘in the image’ of God, endowed with free will (Word 38, 12) and as the steward of creation (Word 44, 4).

• 24

  The Archetype, Chapter 24, verse 15; Chapter 27, verse 17.

• 25

  Irenaeus of Lyon had already written that the Son ‘became what we are, so that He might make us what He is’ (Adv. haer., 5, SC 153, p. 14). The meaning of the Incarnation – the deification of man – will also be set out in the following Homily (2, 22). See also Homily 29, 19, 9–10 (SC 250, p. 218, where St Athanasius the Great’s formulation is defended against the heresy of Apollinarius; Saint Maximus the Confessor will comment on the passage in Ambigua 91, 1040 AD) and Homily 30, 14, 8–11 (SC 250, p. 256: ‘as a human being, the “Word” is the mediator of my salvation … and makes me a god through the power of his Incarnation’, without the distinction between the created and the uncreated being obscured.). On deification in St Gregory the Theologian, see D.F. WINSLOW, The Dynamics of Salvation. A Study in Gregory of Nazianzus, 1979; for a broader perspective: N. RUSSELL, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 213–225. According to RUSSELL, WINSLOW’s interpretation is essentially correct (the vision of deification comprises six dimensions: spatial – the ascent of the soul; visual – the illumination of the intellect and the vision of God; epistemological – knowing God and being known by Him; ethical – ascetic endeavour; progressive union with God; communal – the sharing of divine light), with the caveat that not all aspects of deification are given equal emphasis in Saint Gregory’s thought; his specific contribution, in comparison with that of Saint Athanasius the Great, lies in the consistent application of the terminology of deification to the realm of moral life and, at the same time, in the emphasis, through Platonic-inspired rhetoric, on the role of the intellect in the process of deification (p. 225).

• 26

  See 2 Cor. 8:9.

• 27

  See Philippians 2:7.

• 28

  See Rom. 8:21.

• 29

  See Matt. 20:28; see also 16:26.

• 30

  It is a summary of the vision of deification as the human response to the Incarnation of the Son of God.

• 31

  Through the Christian image of the Good Shepherd, the author is referring to his father, the local bishop.

• 32

  See John 10:15.

• 33

  Gregory the Elder had built a church for the community he shepherded; his son would describe it in Word 18, 39 and refer to it in Letter 141 (dated 382, cf. Lettres, ed. P. GALLAY, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, vol. II, p. 31).

• 34

  See Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 3:2–3.

• 35

  See 2 Cor. 3:3.

• 36

  The elderly bishop’s most precious gift is his son, whilst the latter’s most significant gift to the community is his word, which expresses not merely rhetorical skill, but true teaching, inspired by the Holy Spirit. According to Francis Gautier (La retraite et le sacerdoce chez Grégoire de Nazianze, Brepols, 2002, p. 307), the passage refers to the Nicene Creed which those due to be baptised at Easter were to recite: this is the word written ‘by grace’, as opposed to the word written ‘in ink’, that is, the creed which Gregory the Elder had signed and which had caused a schism at Nazianzus. The presence of Saint Gregory the Theologian at Easter, within his community, alongside his father, is a guarantee of his father’s orthodoxy (who had the word of Truth inscribed upon the tablets of his heart), despite an outward concession to a heterodox creed.

• 37

  Gregory the Elder.

• 38

  See Gen. 21:1–2 and 22:2; Gal. 3:16.

• 39

  See Psalm 22:2.

• 40

  John 10:14–15.

• 41

  According to J.A. McGUCKIN, op. cit., pp. 107–108, the passage refers to those who had already broken away from the community led by Gregory the Elder, following his signing of a heretical creed (Sermons 3 and 6 are equally linked to this initial crisis, to which Saint Gregory had to find a solution), and to whom the young Gregory, by professing the Nicene Creed and, as we shall see in Chapter 3, his commitment to the monastic life, wished to restore unity. J. BERNARDI (La prédication…, pp. 102–103), however, dates the dissidence of the group of monks to 363, during Saint Gregory’s visit to Saint Basil the Great.

• 42

  Ezekiel 34:5–6.

• 43

  See John 17:21.