6. Gregory's doctrine of perpetual progress
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
case is surely not life. . . . Thus it is that Moses' desire is filled by the very fact that it remains un fulfilled. .. . And this is the real meaning of seeing
God: never to have this desire satisfied.144
These passages, then, bring us to the very heart of Greg ory's thought. As we have seen, the Darkness is not merely a negative thing, not merely the negation of all knowledge of God. Indeed, He is truly known insofar as the soul partici pates in Him. To know God "in the mirror of the soul" and to know Him in the Darkness are not two different experi ences, but two aspects of the same phenomenon. This aware ness of God always falls short of the divine reality, and hence it is always oriented towards a more and more perfect knowledge. Mystical knowledge is thus always a mixture of knowledge and ignorance, possession and quest, immanence and Transcendence—it is a "luminous Darkness." This im perfect awareness is the only authentic knowledge of God, inasmuch as it retains within the finite area of knowledge the infinite realm of ignorance.
6. Gregory's doctrine of perpetual progress (epectasis) Thus far we have seen how change can be an essential constituent of the created spirit by the rigorous affirmation of the principles of participation and transcendence. For the Platonist, on the other hand, change can only be deteriora tion; for the spiritual and the divine are identical, and the divine is unchangeable. But once we establish the transcend ence of the divine with respect to the created spirit, another sort of change becomes possible, the movement of perpetual
INTRODUCTION 57
ascent. This movement tends towards the Immovable, and under this aspect it is at the opposite pole to the meaningless motion of the material world: it is a process of unification and concentration. But the ultimate unity and stability are never achieved; the soul is conceived as a spiritual universe in eternal expansion towards the infinite Darkness.
To describe this perpetual growth of the soul Gregory uses the Greek term epectasis ("tension," "expansion"):
All heavy bodies that receive a downward motion ... are rapidly carried downwards of themselves, provided that any surface on which they are moving is graded and sloping, and that they meet no obstacle to interrupt their motion. So too, the soul moves in the opposite direction, lightly and swiftly moving upwards once it is released from sensuous and earthly attachments, soaring from the world below up towards the heavens. And if nothing comes from above to intercept its flight, seeing that it is of the nature of Goodness to attract those who raise their eyes towards it, the soul keeps rising ever higher and higher, stretching with its desire for heavenly things to those that are before, as the Apostle tells us, and thus it will always con tinue to soar ever higher. For because of what it has already attained, the soul does not wish to abandon the heights that lie beyond it. And thus the soul moves ceaselessly upwards, always reviving its ten sion for its onward flight by means of the progress it has already realized. Indeed, it is only spiritual activity that nourishes its force by exercise; it does not slacken its tension by action but rather increases it. This is the reason why we say that the great
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
Moses, moving ever forwards, did not stop in his upward climb. He set no limit to his rise to the stars. But once he had put his foot upon the ladder on which the Lord had leaned, as Jacob tells us, he constantly kept moving to the next step; and he continued to go ever higher because he always found another step that lay beyond the highest one that he had reached.145
We may note here the use of the word epectasis, which Greg ory has borrowed from St. Paul (Phil. 3.13). It is an especially apt word to express the soul's constant motion forward, as it constantly forgets what is past, continually open to new graces. The term is thus explained by Gregory:
The great Apostle told the Corinthians of the won derful visions he enjoyed during the time of his mystical initiation in Paradise . . . and he testifies:
/ do not count myself to have apprehended. But forgetting the things that are behind, I stretch my self forth to those that are before. And clearly this is meant to include even that third heaven which Paul alone saw; for even Moses told us nothing of it in his cosmogony. Yet even after listening in secret to the mysteries of heaven, Paul does not let the graces he has obtained become the limit of his desire, but he continues to go on and on, never ceasing his ascent. Thus he teaches us, I think, that in our constant participation in the blessed nature of the Good, the graces that we receive at every point are indeed great, but the path that lies beyond our immediate grasp is infinite. This will con stantly happen to those who thus share in the di-
INTRODUCTION
vine Goodness, and they will always enjoy a greater and greater participation in grace throughout all eternity.146
It is clear that the Greek word epectasis is very suitable to express the double aspect of the soul's progress. On the one hand, there is a certain contact with God, a real participation, a divinization (Greek epi: "at" or "towards"). The soul is, in a true sense, transformed into the divine; it truly partici pates in the Spirit, the pneuma. But God at the same time remains constantly beyond, and the soul must always go out of itself (Greek e\\ "out of")—or, rather, it must continually go beyond the stage it has reached to make a further discov ery. Thus Gregory says of Abraham:
Relying on what he had already found he stretched himself forth to the things that were before. . . .
And as he disposed all these things in his heart, he kept constantly transcending what he had grasped by his own power, for this was far inferior to what he sought.147
Thus each stage is important: it is, as Gregory says, a "glory"; but the brilliance of each stage is always being obscured by the new "glory" that is constantly rising. So too the sun of the new creation, the New Testament, obscures the brightness of that first sun, the Old Law. And the laws of the soul's growth are parallel with those of man's collective history.
And yet this is by no means to depreciate the value of each particular stage—all are good, all are stages of perfection. But the mistake would be to try to hold on to any one of them, to
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
put a stop to the movement of the soul. For sin is ultimately a refusal to grow.
Gregory has also expressed this idea in his symbol of the succession of garments:
After removing her old tunic and divesting herself of all further clothing, [the spouse of the Canticle] became much purer than she was. And yet, in com parison with this newly acquired purity, she does not seem to have removed her headcovering. Even after that complete stripping of herself she still finds something further to remove. So it is with our ascent towards God: each stage that we reach always reveals something heavy weighing on the soul. Thus in comparison with her new found purity, that very stripping of her tunic now becomes a kind of garment which those who find her must once again remove.148
The soul was indeed stripped; but this very nakedness be comes a kind of covering in comparison with the ever greater purity which is growing within it. The soul could not have known this before; it had every reason to think it was com pletely stripped; it could not then have known the possibility of a greater purity.
It would seem, then, that human nature is, as it were, made up of a series of spheres or layers of reality, each one inside the other. The successive removal of the "tunics" or the outer layers allows a gradual penetration into man's interior life.
And all these successive deaths and resurrections bring the soul in intimate contact with God Who dwells at its center, though ever inaccessible; the spheres or levels of intensity are
INTRODUCTION
infinite, and thus perfection consists in this perpetual pene tration into the interior, a perpetual discovery of God.
This is essentially what Gregory is describing. Men always have the tendency to stabilize, to fix, the various stages of perfection which they have attained, and to see in the timeprocess a threat to their very transitory moments of happiness.
They want to recover their past ecstasies, to go, like Marcel Proust, in search of Time Past. For Gregory, on the contrary, the future is always better than the past. But to overcome this natural tendency of the soul, Gregory offers the support of faith, which is an adherence to a promise. Here we have the transition from poetry to prophecy, from the anthropology of the Platonists to that of the Bible. Paradise—and creation— is yet to come. We must no longer try to recall it, but to hope for its accomplishment. And thus forgetfulness, a sin to the Platonist, here becomes a virtue. We must leave the known to go towards the unknown, to go out, as Rainer Maria Rilke would say, into the Open. This is indeed the journey of Abraham, ventured during the Night. As Jean Hering has written: "The model of the Christian is not the princess who has come down from heaven and longs to return; it is Abra ham that starts on his way towards an unknown country which God will point out to him."
But a difficulty still arises: is not this progress rather a state of suffering, if indeed the soul is never to find consolation?
Gregory does take this objection into account, as he discusses on various occasions the despair of the soul and its constant disappointment at seeing itself deprived of what it is seeking.
He speaks thus of Moses,149 and, in another passage, of the bride of the Canticle of Canticles:
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
The soul, having gone out at the word of her Be loved, looks for Him but does not find Him. She calls on Him, though He cannot be reached by any verbal symbol, and she is told by the watchmen
(the angels) that she is in love with the unattain able, and that the object of her longing cannot be apprehended. In this way she is, in a certain sense, wounded and beaten because of the frustration of what she desires, now that she thinks that her yearn ing for the Other cannot be fulfilled or satisfied.
But the veil of her grief is removed when she learns that the true satisfaction of her desire consists in constantly going on with her quest and never ceas ing in her ascent, seeing that every fulfilment of her desire continually generates a further desire for the Transcendent. Thus the veil of despair is torn away and the bride realizes that she will always discover more and more of the incomprehensible and unhoped for beauty of her Spouse throughout all eternity. Then she is torn by an even more urgent longing.150
The important point to note in this text is that the soul's de sire is at each moment fulfilled. The soul is a potency; and this potency is fulfilled by its participation in God, and in this way it attains some perfection, some completion, as we have pointed out earlier. But this participation expands the soul further and makes it capable of a still higher degree of par ticipation :
Participation in the divine good is such that, where it occurs, it makes the participant ever greater and more spacious than before, bringing to it an in-
INTRODUCTION
crease in size and strength, in such wise that the par ticipant, nourished in this way, never stops growing and keeps getting larger and larger. Indeed, as the Source of good keeps flowing and welling up with out end, so too the participant, as it becomes larger, grows more and more in desire, by the fact that nothing that it receives is lost or left unused, and everything that flows in produces an increase in capacity. Thus the two are functions of each other: the potency that is nourished grows by the reception of the good, and the nourishing Source keeps over flowing as the increased store of goods becomes ever greater. It is clear, then, how large it can become, since there is no limit to stop its growth.151
The expressions used here are very much like those one would use of ordinary nourishment. Bodily nourishment, however, would, for Gregory, come under the heading of "cyclic motion;" it is like the brick-mason's mould that fills up and empties again, and its capacity never increases; there is simply a constant passing through. Spiritual nourishment, on the other hand, increases the capacity of the soul that re ceives it;152 all of it can be assimilated, and nothing lost.
Hence in the spiritual order the soul can grow perpetually; always filled to capacity, it can always receive more. In this way, then, perpetual growth implies no sense of dissatisfac tion. As Charles du Bos, in an essay on Wordsworth,153 has defined the spiritual, it is "the presence of more where there had been no awareness of less." This is the essence of the gratuitous gift, the gift of pure liberality, that it creates where there had been nothing. And it is true of the gift as well as
64 FROM GLORY TO GLORY
the recipient: grace endlessly creates ever new eyes to look upon ever new suns.
Thus Gregory, in commenting on the text of the Canticle, Thy eyes are of those of doves (Cant. 1.14), explains:
Thus the beauty of the bride's eyes is praised be cause of the image of the Dove which appears in her pupils. For we receive within ourselves a like ness of whatever we look upon. Now the man who no longer looks toward flesh and blood, gazes rather on the life of the spirit; as the Apostle says, he lives and walks in the spirit, and by killing the deeds of the flesh by means of the spirit, he becomes neither natural nor carnal but wholly spiritual. This is the reason why the Bridegroom praises the soul that has been freed of all carnal passions by saying that the image of the Dove is in its eyes; for this means that the impression of the spiritual life shines within the clarity of the soul. And when the puri fied eye of the soul has received the impression of the Dove, it turns to contemplate the Bridegroom's beauty. For no man can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost.154
Now this idea of the appearance of being where there had been nothing corresponds precisely with the Biblical notion of creation (ktisis); it designates an absolute beginning, that which is totally new. Gregory uses this terminology, too, in this connection:
What is spiritual and immaterial ... is free of all such determinations, it evades all terms and has no
INTRODUCTION
limits. Spiritual substances are further divided as follows: first there is the uncreated substance, itself the Creator of all things, that remains eternally what it is. Remaining ever unchangeable, it tran scends all addition or diminution; it cannot receive any further perfection. The other class of spiritual substance has been brought into being by crea tion; thus it constantly looks towards the first
Cause, and is preserved in existence by a continual participation in transcendent Being. Thus, in a cer tain sense, it is constantly being created, ever chang ing for the better in its growth in perfection; along these lines no limit can be envisaged, nor can its progressive growth in perfection be limited by any term. In this way, its present state of perfection, no matter how great and perfect it may be, is merely the beginning of a greater and superior stage. Thus the words of the Apostle are verified: the stretching forth to the things that are before involves the for getting of what has already been attained.155
Thus each stage of spiritual growth is the development of a reality that is entirely new, and hence can be compared with the first creation:
Now the voice of the Word is ever a voice of power.
At the creation, light shone forth at His command, and again at His order, the firmament arose. . . .
So too now, when the Word calls a soul that has advanced to come unto Him, it is immediately em powered at His command and becomes what the Bridegroom wishes. It is transformed into some thing divine, and it is transformed from the glory
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
in which it exists to a higher glory by a perfect kind of alteration.156
Thus every stage of growth in the soul is an absolute begin ning; as he has said:
[The created spiritual substance] is constantly being created, ever changing for the better by its growth in perfection. ... In this way, its present state of perfection, no matter how great and perfect it may be, is merely the beginning of a greater and su perior stage. Thus the words of the Apostle are veri fied: the stretching forth to the things that are before involves the forgetting of what has already been attained.157
Thus the notion of epectasis as a perpetual creation sets Gregory's theology of man directly in the line of Biblical thought and the history of salvation. Indeed, it shows how the history of salvation is made up of a series of divine acts which are continually new achievements. The origin of the world was the first creation; the Resurrection of the Word is the new creation:
There are two creations: the first, by which we were made, and the second one, by which we were re deemed. . . . Because that old creation had been ruined and blotted out by sin, there had to be a new creation in Christ.... For this new creation Christ led the way, being called the first-born, for indeed
He was the first-fruits of all men, of those who are begotten unto life, and those who, though dead, were given life through His resurrection.158
INTRODUCTION
Thus Baptism, too, is a new creation, raised up by the Holy Spirit out of the baptismal water, just as the same Spirit had brought the first creation into being. Finally, every stage of spiritual growth is another creation accomplished by the Spirit. For God, as Paul wrote, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts (2 Cor. 4.6).
Thus Gregory further explains:
You were buried with Me in Baptism unto death; but you rose again and ascended in communion with my divinity. This is what is meant by the word
Libanus. So rise up now from here and go on towards other peaks, advancing and ever rising by operative knowledge. . . . For no one can live with Me as My bride unless by the myrrh of death she is transformed into the incense of Libanus. Since you have reached this height, do not stop climbing as though you had already attained. This Libanus is the beginning of your faith, in which you shared by the resurrection, and it is the beginning of your progress towards the highest graces. From this be ginning, then, which is faith, thou shalt pass and come: that is, you will now arrive and at the same time not cease to pass on perpetually by continuing to rise. 159
This passage introduces us to another theme which is char acteristic of Biblical theology: the notion of end as be ginning, that is, that every perfection is a principle of a higher good.
We see the Word, then, leading the bride up a ris ing staircase, as it were, up to the heights by the
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
ascent of perfection. . . . He bids the bride draw near to the light and then to become beautiful by being changed, in the light, into the form of the Dove. And then, even though she has enjoyed her share of good things as far as was in her power,
He nonetheless continues to draw her on to a par ticipation in transcendent Beauty as though she had not yet tasted of it. In this way her desire grows in proportion with her progress to each new stage of development; and because of the transcendence of the graces which she finds ever beyond her, she always seems to be beginning anew. For this rea son the Word says once again to His awakened bride: Arise; and, when she has come, Come. For he who is rising can always rise further; and for him who runs to the Lord the open field of the di vine course is never exhausted. We must therefore constantly arouse ourselves and never stop drawing closer and closer in our course. For as often as He says Arise, and Come, He gives us the power to rise and make progress.160
Now the soul is not simply transformed into the Dove, but it is transformed "from Dove to Dove." For the Spirit ac complishes within the soul ever new creations in His image:
In bidding the bride to become beautiful even though she is beautiful, He reminds us of the words of the Apostle who bids the same image to be trans formed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3.18). This means that though what we find and grasp is al ways glory, no matter how great or sublime it may be, we always believe it to be less than what we
INTRODUCTION
hope for. Similarly, though the bride is a dove be cause of her previous perfection, she is ordered to become a dove once more by way of being trans formed into what is more perfect. And when she has achieved this, the Word will show her what is even beyond that.161
I need not emphasize here the fundamental unity we find in all these texts in which Gregory develops in various ways the theme of transformation into the Dove. One might also consider the allusion to the Pauline notion of transformation from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3.18). But I wish merely to stress the very important idea that every ending is but a beginning, and every arrival but a new departure. Everything seems as though it has always been known—and yet it is ever new.
This notion of a perpetual beginning, that is not merely a repetition but something always new and fresh, is one of Gregory's most germinal ideas.162 I shall quote just one passage:
Thou, indeed, art the most High, abiding forever, and canst never seem smaller to those who approach
Thee, for Thou art always to the same degree higher and loftier than the faculties of those who are rising to Thee. ... Thus the new grace we may obtain is greater than what we had before, it does not put a limit on our final goal; rather, for those who are rising in perfection, the limit of the good that is attained becomes the beginning of the dis covery of higher goods. Thus they never stop rising, moving from one beginning to the next, and the beginning of ever greater graces is never limited.163
70 FROM GLORY TO GLORY
In this way Gregory answers the Origenist objection, which would suggest that change and motion are ultimately due to satiety and tedium. This difficulty would imply that the good can produce a certain weariness, and hence that a relapse and a fall from good are always possible. But Gregory shows us
—and this, as E. von Ivanka has pointed out,164 is one of his greatest contributions—that it is characteristic of this spiritual movement not to produce any satiety, precisely because it is a continual discovery of what is new. Here it is not a question of instability, but of growth. Only the flesh can know satiety; the Spirit never wearies:
The soul that looks up towards God, and conceives that good desire for His eternal beauty, constantly experiences an ever new yearning for that which lies ahead, and her desire is never given its full satis faction. Hence she never ceases to stretch herself forth to those things that are before, ever leaving the stage in which she is to enter more deeply into the interior, into the stage which lies ahead.165
Such spiritual activity develops by being exercised. As Greg ory explains, A greedy appetite for food is terminated by satiety, and the pleasure of drinking ends when our thirst is quenched. And so it is with the other things. .. .
But the possession of virtue, once it is solidly achieved, cannot be measured by time nor limited by satiety. Rather, to those who are its disciples it always appears as something ever new and fresh.166
Here again Gregory resumes the Biblical theme of the end as a beginning. It is, however, completely different from that
INTRODUCTION 71
of the Alpha-Omega, for it stresses the close articulation, the intimate sequence of the various stages in the process of growth. It applies, as well, to the history of salvation, in which each era marks an end. Thus Justin had shown how Noah marked the end of the ancient world and the beginning of the new one. Cyril of Jerusalem had seen in the Baptism of Christ, and in the Jordan itself, the boundary between the Old and the New Testament. Christ is essentially the End and the Beginning, destroying by His death the old world and inaugurating the new. Baptism, too, is an end and a be ginning.167 So too, every stage in the spiritual life is an ever new beginning. And that which had seemed to be a limita tion, each perfection, which is, at every point, precisely pro portioned to the soul's capacity, becomes a new point of departure. Each peak we strive for fills our entire horizon, and, when we reach it, another rises up beyond.
Such is the eternal process of man's discovery of the divine glory. And each stage is as nothing before the rest that still remains—"a drop of the night dew that dampens the locks of the Beloved."168 Indeed it is but a drop of dew in the ocean of infinite Darkness. Dove will give place to Dove, and Dark ness to Darkness. There will always be the Dove and always the Darkness, forever obscure and yet forever bright. Such is the spiritual message of Gregory of Nyssa.
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
1 See J.-P. Migne, Patrologia graeca (=PG) vol. 37.41B-44B.
2 Epistle 13, PG 46.1049A.
3 PG 32.276A-B.
4 PG 46-325A=W. Jaeger, Gregorii Nysseni opera ascetica VIII. 1 (Leiden, Brill:
1952), 256.4 ff. (ed. J. P. Cavarnos).
5 Cf. Epistles 10-12, PG 46.1040C-1045C.
6 PG 32.410B-C, 505A-D.
7 Epistle 6, PG 46.1033A-1036B.
8 See J. Danielou, "Akpluthia chez Gregoire de Nysse," Revue de sciences religieuses, 1953, 2x9 fl.
9 Life of St. Macrina, PG 46.973D-976A=W. Jaeger, op. cit., 386.22 ff. (ed..
Virginia W. Callahan).
10 Epistle 19, PG 46.1076B-C.
11 In the sermon, Against Those Who Are Impatient in Suffering, PG 46.308316.
12 Epistle 19, PG 46.1076C.
13 Epistle 19, PG 46.1076D-1077A. See also F. Diekamp, "Die Wahl Gregors von Nyssa zum Metropoliten von Sebaste," Theologische Quartalschrift, 1908,
384 ff.
14 Epistle 19, PG 46.1077A-B.
15 Gregory's Fourth Sermon on Easter, PG 46.681-684.
16 Sermon on the Ascension, PG 46.689-693.
17 Sermon on the Holy Spirit, PG 46.696-701.
18 Epistle to Peter, PG 45.237A. [Gregory's work against Eunomius falls into four parts: the first work which is our present book 1; the second which is the second part of our present book 12; the third and longest section comprising books 3-12a, and finally the critique of Eunomius' profession of faith, which is our present book 2. For the best edition, see now W. Jaeger, Contra Eunomium
(2 vols. Berlin 1921-22); cf. B. Altaner, Patrologie (2 ed., Freiburg, Herder:
1950), pp. 261-2, and see our notes to the translation, n. 15, below.]
19 PG 46.544-553.
20 For example, the references to discussions on the Holy Spirit, the mention of the expected arrival of delegates from Egypt (553A). Again, Meletius of Antioch died during the Council, and it was Gregory who gave the funeral panegyric (PG 46.852B-863A). Now the panegyric clearly refers to the discourse
On His Ordination: cf. 852C-853A. This is a decisive proof of its date.
21 The "Antidico-marianites" denied the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary.
INTRODUCTION 73
See E. von Ivanka, Hellenistisches und Christliches in frtihbyzantinischen Zeitalter
(Vienna 1952), p. 100.
22 Epistle 3, PG 46.1016B-C.
23 Epistle 3, PG 46.1016-1024.
24 See n. 18, above.
28 PG 45.1129D.
26 PG 46.553-576-
27 PG 46.560A.
28 Epistle 17, PG 46.1057!!.
29 See n. 18, above.
80 Against Apollinaris, to Theophilus of Alexandria, PG 45.1269-1277. See J.
Liebaert, La doctrine christologique de Saint Cyrille d'Alexandrie avant la querelle nesiorienne (Paris 1951), p. 153.
31 On His Ordination, PG 46.544B.
32 See Epistle 1, PG 46.1000D-1004B.
33 Two Rediscovered Wor\s of Ancient Christian Literature: Gregory of Nyssa and Macarius (Leiden, Brill: 1954), pp. 133-142.
34 Life of Moses, PG 44.300B, ed. J. Danielou (Sources chretiennes, 1 bis, Paris:
I955)» t.2, with the note.
35 On the Creation of Man, PG 44.137A-C.
36 Great Catechetical Discourse 5, PG 45.24B.
37 On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46.148C-149A.
38 On the Creation of Man, PG 44.184B. It is thus clear that Gregory's ultimate idea is based on the Biblical opposition between flesh and spirit, sarx and pneuma, that is, between man vivified by the divine activity—which is in accord with his nature—and man deprived of it, in a state of misery.
39 On the Creation of Man, PG 44.184C-D.
40 Great Catechetical Discourse 6, PG 45.28C-29D.
41 Ibid., PG 45.29C.
42 See J. Danielou, Origene (Paris 1948), pp. 272 ff.
43 On the Dead, PG 46.522D-524A.
44 Ibid., PG 46.524B.
45 Great Catechetical Discourse 9, PG 45.36B.
46 Ibid., PG 45.36C-D.
47 On the Creation of Man, PG 44.188C.
48 Ibid., PG 44.185A.
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
i9Ibid., PG 44.189C-D.
60 Ibid., PG.44.I85B.
51 On the entire question, see Hans Urs von Balthasar, Presence et Pensee (Paris 1952), pp. 25-29, and J. Danielou, Platonisme et theologie mystique (Paris
1944), PP52-55-
82 Gregory always treats the Incarnation in terms of the Atonement, and I am not aware of a passage devoted exclusively to the Incarnation as such. It should be noted, however, that in the Treatise Against Apollinaris he shows that it was essential for the complete meaning of the Incarnation that the Word should have assumed an integral human nature.
53 Great Catechetical Discourse 24, PG 45.64D-65A.
54 Ibid. 26, PG 45.68D.
65 This point was completely missed by Jean Riviere in his work, Le dogme de la Redemption: Etudes critiques et documents (Paris 1931); Be takes the com parison literally.
56 Great Catechetical Discourse 22, PG 45.60D.
57 Ibid. 16, PG 45.52B-C.
88 Ibid. 32, PG 45.80A-B.
59 Ibid. 16, PG 45.52C.
60 On the Creation of Man, PG 44.185C.
61 Treatise Against Apollinaris, PG 45.1153A; see also Against Eunomius 2,
PG 45.545C.
62 Treatise Against Apollinaris, PG 45.1260A-C. On Gregory's doctrine of the solidarity of all men in Christ, see Louis Malevez, "L'Eglise dans le Christ,"
Recherches de sciences religieuses (1935), pp. 260-280; S. Gonzalez, "El realismo platonico de S. Gregorio de Nisa," Gregorianum (1939), pp. 189-206.
63 Against Eunomius 11, PG 45.880B-C.
64 See PG 46.577-600.
65 See PG 46.416-432; see also J. Danielou, "Le mystere du culte dans les homelies liturgiques du S. Gregoire de Nysse," Festgabe Casel (1950), pp. 25 ff.
66 Great Catechetical Discourse 35, PG 45.88B-D.
67 Ibid. 35, PG 45.89A-B.
68 On the Baptism of Christ, PG 46.589D, and see J. Danielou, Sacramentum Futuri (Paris 1950), pp. 152-176.
69 Against Those Who Put Off Baptism, PG 46.420C-D; cf. also On the Baptism of Christ, PG 46.600A-B. See Danielou, Sacramentum Futuri, pp. 13-20.
70 On the Baptism of Christ, PG 46.600A-B.
71 Against Those Who Put Off Baptism, PG 46.420C.
INTRODUCTION
72 On the Baptism of Christ, PG 46.592C-D.
73 Against Those Who Put Off Baptism, PG 46.421A.
74 Ibid.., PG 46.420C. See also F. J. Dolger, "Der Durchzug durch das Rote Meer als Sinnbild der christlichen Taufe," Anti\e und Christentum 2 (1930), pp.
63 ff., esp. pp. 76-79.
76 See J. Danielou, "Les repas de la Bible et leur signification," La Maison-Dieu, xviii, pp. 8 ff.
76 See the Commentary on the Canticle of Canticles, PG 44.989A and following.
77 PG 46.692A-B.
78 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.989C. See Selection 66 below.
79 Great Catechetical Discourse 37, PG 45.93B-C.
80 Ignatius, Epistle to the Ephesians 20.2.
81Irenaeus, Against the Heresies, 4.18.5.
82 On Christ's Resurrection, sermon 1, PG 46.611C-D.
33 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1092C-D.
84 For a fuller treatment, see J. Danielou, Platonisme et theologie mystique (Paris 1944).
85 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1000C. See Selection 70 below.
86 For a discussion, see Danielou, Platonisme et theologie mystique, pp. 38-110.
87 Cf. Erik Peterson, "Zur Bedeutungsgeschichte von parrhesia," Festschrift fur Reinhold Seeberg (1929).
88 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1000C. See Selection 70 below.
89 See E. von Ivanka, "Vom Platonismus zur Theorie der Mystik," Scholastic (1936), pp. 185 ff., esp. 192-193. On the soul's knowledge of God as in a mirror, see Danielou, Platonisme et theologie mystique, pp. 221—274; A. Lieske,
"Die Theologie der Christusmystik Gregors von Nyssa," Zeitschrift fur \atholische
Theologie (1940), pp. 12-16.
90 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.824B-C. See Selection 29 below. Cf. also Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.821A-B.
91 Life of Moses, PG 44.377A; ed. Danielou (Sources chretiennes 1 bis: Paris 1955), ii. 163. See Selection 15 below.
82 On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46.97A. Cf. J. Marechal, Essai sur la psychologie des mystiques (2 vols., Brussels-Paris 1937-38), ii, pp. 105-m.
83 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1037C. See Selection 75 below.
94 On the Lord's Prayer, PG 44.1137A-B.
85 On the Creation of the World (=In Hexaemeron), PG 44.68B.
96 Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus, PG 46.913C.
76 FROM GLORY TO GLORY
97 On His Brother Basil, PG 46.812C.
98 On the Psalms 7, PG 44.457A.
"Marechal, op. cit., ii, p. ill.
100 Life of Moses, PG 44.376C-377A; ed. Danielou, 11.162-163. Set Selfectiot 15 below.
101 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.892C-D. See Selection 47 below.
102 Ibid., PG 44.892C-893C. See Selection 47 below.
103 Ibid., PG 44.893B. See Selection 47 below.
104 Ibid., PG 44.1004A. See Selection 70 below.
1051. Hausherr, "Ignorance infinie," Orientalia Christiana periodica (1936), p.
356.
106 On Virginity, PG 46.361B. See Selection 12 below. Cf. the text by J.
Cavarnos (W. Jaeger, Gregorii opera ascetica, VIII. 1) 289.27-290.11.
107 Against Eunomius 12, PG 45.940A-941B. See Selection 16 below.
108 See Hans Lewy, Sobria ebrietas (Zeitschrift fur neutestamentliche Wissensc haft, Beiheft 9, Giessen 1929).
109 See the Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.989B and following (Selection 66 below), On Christ's Ascension, PG 46.692B-C, and elsewhere.
110 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.989C-D. See Selection 66 below.
111 See On the Psalms 6, PG 44.509C; On Christ's Ascension, PG 46.693A.
112 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.989D. See Selection 66 below.
113 Ps. 67.28, discussed by Gregory in On the Psalms 14, PG 44.577B.
114 On the Psalms 14, PG 44.577B.
115 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.989C (Selection 66 below); and cf. 992A (Se lection 67 below).
116 Ibid., PG 44.996A-D. See Selection 68 below.
117 Ibid., PG 44.992C. See Selection 67 below.
118 Ibid., PG 44.993A-C. See Selection 67 below.
119 On Ecclesiastes, sermon 7, PG 44.729C. See Selection 17 below.
120 Ibid., PG 44.729D-732A. See Selection 17 below.
121 On the Beatitudes, sermon 6, PG 44.1264C.
122 And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live (Ex. 33.20).
123 Anders Nygren, Eros et Agape: La notion chretienne de l'amour et ses transformations (Paris 1944): Eng. transl. by P. S. Watson (Philadelphia 1953).
124 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1048C. See Selection 76 below.
INTRODUCTION
125 Ibid., PG 44.773C-D.
128 Ibid., PG 44.772A.
127 Ibid., PG 44.1037C. See Selection 75 below.
128 On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46.96D.
129 Ibid., PG 44.113B.
130 Great Catechetical Discourse 21, PG 45.57D.
131 Life of Moses, PG 44.328A-B; ed. Danielou, ii.2-3.
132 On Ecclesiastes, sermon 1, PG 44.624D-625A. See Selection 3 below.
133 On Ecclesiastes, sermon 3, PG 44.648D.
134 Lift? of Moses, PG 44.344A; ed. Danielou, ii.60-61. See Seletion 4 below.
135 Funeral Oration for Placilla, PG 46.888D.
138 On Ecclesiastes, sermon 1, PG 44.628C-D.
137 Life of Moses, PG. 44.405C—D; ed. Danielou, ii.244 (Selection 22 below); cf. also On the Dead, PG 46.500D-501D.
138 On Perfection, PG 46.285B-C (Selection 2 below); see the edition by W. Jaeger, op. cit., 213.14-214.6.
139 On the Psalms 3, PG 44.460B-C; ibid. 4, PG 44.500B.
140 Life of Moses, PG 44.407C-D; ed. Danielou, ii.243—244. See Selection 22 below.
141 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.977C. See Selection 64 below.
142 Great Catechetical Discourse 21, PG 45.57D-60A.
143 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.873D-876A. See Selection 43 below.
144 Life of Moses, PG 44.404A-D; ed. Danielou, ii.233-235, 239. See Selection 21 below.
145 Ibid., PG 44.400D-401B; ed. Danielou, ii.224-227. See Selection 21 below.
148 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.940D-941A. See Selection 50 below.
147 Against Eunomius 12, PG 45.940D-941D. See Selection 16 below.
148 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1029B-C. See Selection 75 below.
149 Life of Moses, PG 44.399A; ed. Danielou, ii.220. See Selection 21 below.
150 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1037B-C. See Selection 75 below.
151 On the Soul and Resurrection, PG 46.105B-C.
152 Cf. On the Beatitudes, sermon 4, PG 44.1244A-1248C.
163 See "Du spirituel dans l'ordre litteraire," Vigile 3 (4® Cahier, 1931), p. 200.
154 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.833D-836A. See Selection 33 below.
165 Ibid., PG 44.885D-888A. See Selection 46 below.
78 FROM GLORY TO GLORY
156 Ibid., PG 44.945D-948A. See Selection 53 below.
157 Cf. Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.885D-888A and see note 155 above.
158 Against Eunomius 4, PG 45.636D-637A; and cf. also the Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1049B-C, and 1016D-1017A.
159 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.944B—C. See Selection 51 below.
160 Ibid., PG 44.876B-C. See Selection 43 below.
161 Ibid., PG 44.876C-D. See Selection 43 below.
162 Ibid., PG 44.889B-C; cf. also 892B, 941B-C, 997D.
163 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.941B-C. See Selection 50 below.
164 Hellenistisches und Christliches im jriihbyzantinischen Geistesleben (Vienna
1952), PP49-53-
165 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1033D-1036A. See Selection 75 below.
166 On the Beatitudes, sermon 4, PG 44.1244D—1245A. Cf. also the Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1084C-D.
167 See Danielou, Sacramentum Vuturi, pp. 61-77.
168 Comm, on the Cant., PG 44.1004A.
fuom gYony to glouy
TEXTS FROM
gnegoutf of. nyssa's
MYSTICAL WRITINGS
i. The Meaning of Perfection (The Life of Moses, PG 44.300
B-301C; ed. Danielou, i.3-10)1 You earnestly requested, my dear friend, that I should set down for you some account of the life of perfection; and your aim was clearly that, if you found in my discussion what you sought, you would take the grace revealed in my words and apply it to your own life. Yet in both of these points I find difficulty: for I feel that either to describe perfection or to realize it in my life is beyond my powers. Nor am I perhaps alone in this view. Many great men, even among those who excel in virtue, would admit that such a goal is impossible.
But as I do not wish to give the impression, as the Psalmist says, of having fear, where there was no fear (Ps. 13.5), I am going to set forth more clearly what I mean.
Now in all things which can be measured in the order of sensual things, perfection is always bounded by certain defi nite limits, as, for example, in the case of extension, whether it be continuous or discrete. Every quantitative measurement presupposes its own proper limits. Anyone who considers, for example, the cubit, or the number ten, will see that their per fection consists in their having a beginning and an end. But with regard to virtue we know from the Apostle that the one determination of perfection is its not having any limit. For the divine Apostle, a man who was vast and profound in spirit, in his course on the path of virtue constantly stretched forward to the things that lay ahead (Phil. 3.13). To stop in his course, he felt, was unsafe. Why ? Because every good is by its very nature unlimited, and is bounded only by the presence of its contrary—as life is bounded by death, and light by darkness. Thus everything that is wholly good ceases
82 GREGORY OF NYSSA
only at the point where its opposite begins. Thus, just as the end of life is the beginning of death, so too, to stop on the path of virtue is to begin on the path of evil. Hence my state ment was not incorrect when I said that it was impossible to define perfection. For we have shown that what can be contained within limits is not virtue.
Now my saying that it is impossible for those who pursue a life of virtue ever to attain perfection I shall also explain in the following way. The sovereign and highest Good, whose nature is goodness, this is divine nature itself; and whatever perfection can be conceived in such a nature, this He is called and is. Now since we have shown that the only limitation of virtue is vice, and since the divine nature excludes anything that is contrary to it, then it follows that the divine nature is conceived without bound or limit. But the soul that pursues true virtue actually participates in God Himself, because He is infinite virtue. Now since those who have come to know the highest good, desire completely to share in it, and since this good is limitless, it follows that their desire must neces sarily be coextensive with the limitless, and therefore have no limit. Thus it is absolutely impossible to attain perfection; for, as I have said, it cannot be confined within limits, and the only determination of virtue is that it is boundless. How then can a man reach the boundary he is looking for if it does not exist?
But though my argument has shown that we cannot attain our goal, we must not, for all that, neglect the divine com mand, Be you perfect, as your heavenly Bather is perfect
(Matth. 5.48). For though it may not be possible completely to attain the ultimate and sovereign good, it is most desirable for those who are wise to have at least a share in it. We should
FROM GLORY TO GLORY 83
then make every effort not to fall short utterly of the perfec tion that is possible for us, and to try to come as close to it and possess as much of it as possible. For it may be that hu man perfection consists precisely in this constant growth in the good.
2. Perfection and Progress (On Perfection, PG 46.285A-D)2 The perfection of the Christian life—and I mean that life which is the only one the name of Christ is used to designate
—is that in which we participate not only by our mind and soul but in all the actions of our lives, so that our holiness may be complete, in accordance with the blessing pronounced by Paul, in our whole body and soul and spirit (1 Thess. 5.23), constantly guarded from all admixture with evil.
Now it may be objected that such a good is hard to achieve, seeing that only the Lord of creation is constant and that human nature is mutable and prone to change. How then is it possible to establish in our changeable nature this perma nence and immutability in good? To this then we answer: there can be no crown unless the contest is fair, and the con test is fair only if there is an adversary to fight with. Thus, if there is no adversary, there is no crown. There is no victory unless there is conquest. Let us then struggle against this very mutability of our nature, coming to grips as it were with our adversary in spirit; and we become victors not by holding our adversary down but rather by not allowing him to fall. For man does not merely have an inclination to evil; were this so, it would be impossible for him to grow in good, if his nature possessed only an inclination towards the contrary. But in