9. At the Foot of Mount Sinai (The Life of Moses, 373 A-D;
GREGORY OF NYSSA
and thus be ready to receive within ourselves with pure soul the bread that descends from heaven. This bread grew by no seed or by any working of the soil; it was fully formed without planting or harvesting, descending from heaven and found on earth. Surely through the symbol given to us in this text you can recognize our true food; for the bread which comes down from heaven is nothing incorporeal. How could something incorporeal become nourishment for the body? Now what is not incorporeal is surely a body. Yet the material substance of which this bread was made was not produced by ploughing or planting, but the earth, with out undergoing any change, was found to be covered with this heavenly food of which all of us who hunger partake.
This miracle serves to instruct us by foreshadowing the mystery of the Virgin: for this bread that does not come from earth is the Word, Who with varying degrees of per fection adapts His effects to the dispositions of those who receive Him.9 Indeed, He can become not only bread but also meat and greens—anything that is most suitable, accordto the taste of those who receive Him. This too is what the divine apostle Paul teaches as he spreads such a fine table for us: he tells us that his message is solid flesh-meat for those who are perfect, greens for those who are weaker, and milk for those who are still infants (Rom. 14.2, Hebr. 5.12).
9. At the Foot of Mount Sinai (The Life of Moses, 373 A-D; ed. Danielou, ii.153-157) The soul has followed Moses and the cloud, both of these serving as guides for those who would advance in virtue;
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Moses here represents the commandments of the Law; and the cloud that leads the way, its spiritual meaning. The soul has been purified by crossing the Sea; it has removed from itself and destroyed the enemy army. It has tasted of the waters of Mara, that is, of life deprived of all sinful pleasure; and this at first had seemed bitter and unpleasant to the taste but offered a sensation of sweetness to those who ac cepted the wood. Next it enjoyed the beauty of the palmtrees of the gospel and the springs; it filled itself with the living water, that is, the rock. It took within itself the bread of heaven. It overwhelmed the foreign host—a victory due to the extended arms of the Lawgiver, which thus fore shadowed the mystery of the Cross. Only then can the soul go on to the contemplation of transcendent Being.
The way that leads to this knowledge is purity—a purity that is not merely bodily, achieved by ritual washings, but one that touches all our clothing, for they must be rinsed of every stain in the water. And this means that the man who would approach the contemplation of truth must cleanse himself and remove all impurity from both soul and body, so as to be completely stainless and pure in both. Our exterior behavior must correspond to the inner state of our soul, that we might be pure for Him Who sees the interior. Hence by the divine command, before climbing the mountain we must wash our garments; and here clothing is a symbol for the external virtuousness of our lives. No one would hold that a visible spot on our clothing would be an obstacle in our ascent towards God; rather I think that the clothing here aptly refers to the external actions of our lives.
When this has been done, and when the herd of animals has been driven as far away from the mountain as possible,