Letter 72 To Gregory of Nyssa
prelude 2: st gregory nazianzen
Letter 72 To Gregory of Nyssa10 This letter appears to have been written in the spring of 376, in which case it may be written during Nazianzen's retreat at the monastery of St Thecla in Seleucia of Isauria. The context seems to be Gregory of Nyssa's deposition from his see just lately, at the end of 375, in the circumstances recounted by Basil in letters 225, 231, 232, 237. Gregory of Nyssa, with his vulnerable sensibility, has written to the older Gregory, expressing his despondency at the apparent triumph of the heretics' machinations. This letter, and the following letters 73 and 74, written to console him in answers to letters now lost, all throw some light on the younger Gregory's state at this time. Nazianzen's patient but sure expectation of a reversal of circumstances was remarkably prescient. Even before Valens' death in August
378, the exiled bishops were recalled, at which Gregory returned to his see, to the great joy of the faithful—see Gregory of Nyssa, letter 6.
To Gregory of Nyssa11 Do not be too distressed at your troubles. For the less we grieve over things, the less grievous they become. It is nothing strange that the heretics have thawed and are taking heart from the springtime and are creeping out of their holes, as you write. They will hiss for a little while, that I know well, and then they will hide themselves again when confronted by the truth and the times, and this all the more so the more we commit the whole affair to God.
Letter 73 To the same12 For the background of this letter, see the note prefacing the preceding letter. Again this letter replies to a letter from the younger Gregory who seems to have commented on some slight or disregard shown to Gregory Nazianzen.
It is curious that in this letter, as all the mss. confirm, Gregory Nazianzen uses the somewhat more formal first and second person plural throughout, unlike the preceding letter. He may be gently correcting what the younger
Gregory has said about being overlooked, by communicating his own disposition. Gregory Nazianzen seems to be currently in a period of commitment to the discipline of silence, which was reflected in brevity in necessary communication.
10 Mss.: YM, LA, PR, P, LF, BJ, ed.: Gallay I, 91, tr.: NPNF 2nd ser. 7, 460.
11 All mss. ascribe the Letter to Gregory of Nyssa, except BJ, where the title to the same refers back to a title to Gregory in a preceding letter.
12 Mss.: YM, LA, PR, P, LF, BJ, ed.: Gallay I, 92, tr.: NPNF 2nd ser. 7, 460.