{"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/893":{"o":"Ὁ μὲν σκοπὸς εἷς ἐστι τοῦ τε ἡμετέρου λόγου, καὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἡμῶν συλλόγου. Γρηγόριος γὰρ ὁ Μέγας, ὑμῖν τε τῆς συνόδου, κἀμοὶ τῆς διαλέξεως ὑπόθεσις πρόκειται. Ἐγὼ δὲ τῆς αὐτῆς οἶμαι χρῆναι δυνάμεως, ἔργῳ τε κατορθῶσαι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ λόγῳ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν τὰ καλὰ διηγήσασθαι. Ώστε ταύτην ἐπικλητέον ἂν εἴη τὴν συμμαχίαν, δι' ἧς ἐν τῷ βίῳ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐκεῖνος κατώρθωσεν. Ἔστι δὲ αὕτη, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον, ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις, ἡ καὶ πρὸς τὸν βίον καὶ πρὸς τὸν λόγον τοὺς περὶ ἑκάτερον τούτων ἐσπουδακότας δι᾽ ἑαυτῆς ἐνισχύουσα. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ λαμπρὸς ἐκεῖνος καὶ περίβλεπτος βίος τῇ δυνάμει κατωρθώθη τοῦ Πνεύματος· εὐχῆς ἔργον ἐστὶ, τοσαύτην ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον βοήθειαν, ὅση γέγονε παρά τὸν βίον ἐκείνῳ, ὡς μὴ κατόπιν εὑρεθῆναι τῆς ἀξίας τῶν κατορθωμάτων τὸν ἔπαινον, ἀλλὰ τοιοῦτον ἐπιδειχθῆναι τοῖς παροῦσι διὰ τῆς μνήμης τὸν ἄνδρα, οἷος ἦν τοῖς κατ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ὁρώμενος. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀκερδὴς ἦν ἡ μνήμη τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν προεχόντων, καὶ μηδεμία πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐγένετο συνεισφορὰ τοῖς ἀκούουσιν, περιττὸν ἴσως ἂν ἦν καὶ ἀνόνητον ἐπὶ μηδενὶ χρησίμῳ προσάγειν εἰς εὐφημίαν τὸν λόγον, αὐτόν τε διεξιόντα μάτην, καὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀργῶς ἀποκναίοντα ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡ τοιαύτη τοῦ λόγου χάρις, εἰ προσηκόντως γένοιτο, κοινὸν ἔσται τῶν ἀκουόντων τὸ κέρδος, καθάπερ ὁ πυρσὸς τοῖς ἐκ θαλάσσης προσπλέουσιν ἐφ' ἑαυτὸν εὐθύνων τοὺς ἐν τῷ ζόφῳ πλανωμένους κατὰ τὸ πέλαγος· ἴσης οἶμαι δεῖν πρὸς τοῦτο τῆς σπουδῆς ἑκατέροις, ὑμῖν τε πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν λόγον ἐμοί. Δῆλον γὰρ, ὅτι πυρσοῦ δίκην διὰ τῆς μνήμης ἐκλάμψας ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ὁ κατ' ἀρετὴν αὐτοῦ βίος, ὁδὸς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῷ τε διεξιόντι καὶ τοῖς ἀκούουσι γίνεται. Πεφύκαμεν γάρ πως οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς ἅπαν τὸ ἐπαινετόν τε καὶ τίμιον οἰκείως ἐθέλειν ἔχειν, καὶ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς κτήσεως γίνεσθαι. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ὑπόθεσις τῶν λόγων τοσαύτη ἐμοὶ δὲ πανταχόθεν ἀκίνδυνόν ἐστι κατατολμῶντι τῆς ὑποθέσεως, εἴτε συνεπαρθῆναι τῷ μεγέθει τῶν πραγμάτων","t":"The aim of our speech and of our present gathering is one. For Gregory the Great is set before you as the occasion of the assembly, and before me as the subject of the discourse. I think the same power is needed both to achieve virtue in deed and to recount noble things worthily in word. So we ought to call upon that alliance through which he achieved virtue in his life. And this, in my judgment at least, is the grace of the Spirit, which by itself strengthens those who have devoted themselves to either of these, to life and to speech. Since, then, that brilliant and celebrated life was achieved by the power of the Spirit, it is a matter for prayer that as much help may come to the speech as came to him for his life, so that the praise may not be found to fall short of the worth of his achievements, but that the man may be shown through remembrance to those present such as he himself was when he was seen in his deeds by the people of that time. Now if the remembrance of those who excelled in virtue brought no profit, and contributed nothing toward the good for the hearers, it would perhaps be superfluous and useless to bring a speech forward in praise for no useful purpose, the speaker going through it in vain and wearing out the hearing to no effect. But since such a gift of speech, if it is done fittingly, will be a common gain for the hearers, just as a beacon guides toward itself those sailing in from the sea who wander over the open water in the darkness, I think equal zeal is needed from each of us for this, from you for listening and from me for speaking. For it is clear that his virtuous life, shining out like a beacon in our souls through remembrance, becomes a road to the good both for the one who tells it and for those who hear. For we human beings are somehow so made by nature as to wish to make our own everything praiseworthy and honourable, and to come to desire to possess it. Such, then, is the subject of the speech. But for me, venturing on the subject, there is no danger from any side, whether my speech should have the strength to rise together with the greatness of the facts","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 893 (PG 46:893–894; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/893)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/895":{"o":"ὁ λόγος ἰσχύσειεν, εἴτε καὶ μή. Ἴσος γὰρ ἔσται καθ' ἑκάτερον τῷ ἐγκωμιαζομένῳ ὁ ἔπαινος. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐφίκοιτο τῶν θαυμάτων ὁ λόγος, ἐκπλήξει τὴν ἀκοὴν πάντως τοῖς κατορθώμασιν εἰ δὲ κατόπιν τοῦ μεγέθους ἔλθοι, καὶ οὕτως ἡ δόξα τοῦ ἐγκωμιαζομένου λαμπρύνεται. ᾿Αρίστη γὰρ ἀνδρὸς εὐφημία, τὸ ἐπιδειχθῆναι τῆς δυνάμεως τῶν εὐφημούντων ἀμείνονα. Μηδεὶς δὲ τῶν τῇ θείᾳ σοφίᾳ πεπαιδευμένων κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἔξω συνήθειαν ταῖς τεχνικαῖς τῶν ἐγκωμίων ἐφόδοις ἐπαινεῖσθαι ζητείτω τὸν πνευματικῶς ἐπαινούμενον. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων ἡμῖν τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἡ τοῦ καλοῦ κρίσις ἐστίν· οὔτε τὰς αὐτὰς περι τῶν αὐτῶν ὑπολήψεις εὕροι τις ἂν, τοῖς τε κατὰ τὸν κόσμον ζῶσιν, καὶ τοῖς ὑπερανεστηκόσι τοῦ κόσμου. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ μέγα τι δοκεῖ καὶ σπουδῆς ἄξιον εἶναι πλοῦτος, καὶ γένος, καὶ δόξα, καὶ κοσμικαὶ δυναστείαι, καὶ μῦθοι τὰς πατρίδας οἰκίζοντες, καὶ τὰ φευκτὰ τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσι διηγήματα, τρόπαια, καὶ μάχαι, καὶ τὰ ἐκ πολέμων κακά· τῷ δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγῳ μία τετίμηται πατρὶς, ὁ παράδεισος, ἡ πρώτη τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἑστία· μία πόλις, ἡ ἐπουράνιος, ἡ διὰ τῶν ζώντων λίθων συνῳκισμένη, ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ Θεός μία γένους σεμνότης, ἡ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγχιστεία· οὐ κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματόν τινι γινομένη, κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εὐγένειαν, ἢ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς φαύλους πολλάκις διὰ τῆς αὐτομάτου ταύτης ἀκολουθίας ῥέουσα φέρεται, ἀλλ᾽ ἣν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως, ἢ ἐκ προαιρέσεως κτήσασθαι. \"Ὅσοι γὰρ ἔλαβον αὐτὸν, φησὶν ἡ θεία φωνὴ, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι. Τῆς δὲ τοιαύτης εὐγενείας τἱ ἂν σεμνότερον γένοιτο; Πάτρια δὲ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ἅπασι, μῦθοι καὶ πλάσματα, καὶ δαιμόνων ἀπάται συναναμεμιγμέναι τοῖς μυθικοῖς διηγήμασιν· τὰ δὲ ἡμέτερα πάτρια, τῶν διηγουμένων οὐκ ἐπιδέεται. Εἰς γὰρ τὸν οὐρανόν τις ἰδὼν, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ κάλλη, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ κατανοήσας, ὅσαπερἂν ἐν τούτοις θαύματα καταλαβεῖν ἐξισχύση, ταῦτα τῆς ἡμετέρας πατρίδος εὑρήσει τὰ διηγήματα· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ αὐτῆς τῆς πατρίδος, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀποικίας, ἣν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας ζωῆς ἀποικισθέντες τὸν παρόντα κατειλήφαμεν κόσμον. Εἰ δὲ ἡ ἀποικία τοιαύτη, λογίσασθαι χρὴ τίς ἡ τῆς ἀποικίας μητρόπολις, τί τὸ ἐν ἐκείνῃ κάλλος, οἷα ἐν αὐτῇ τὰ βασίλεια, τίς ἡ μακαριότης τῶν ἐκείνην εἰληφότων τὴν οἴκησιν. Εἰ γὰρ τὰ φαινόμενα κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν τοιαῦτα, ὡς ὑπὲρ ἔπαινον εἶναι· τί χρὴ τὸ ὑπὲρ τοῦτο λογίσασθαι, ὃ μήτε ὀφθαλμῷ λαβεῖν δυνατόν ἐστι, μήτε χωρῆσαι τῇ ἀκοῇ, μήτε διανοίᾳ στοχάσασθαι; Διὰ ταύτης τῆς πνευματικῆς εὐφημίας τῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένων ἀποκρίνει τοὺς κάτω λήρους ὁ θεῖος τῶν ἐγκωμίων ἔπαινος, αἰσχρὸν εἶναι κρίνων τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων ἐγνωσμένους διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν γῆν τιμίων σεμνύνε","t":"or not. For the praise will be equal either way for the one praised. If the speech reaches the level of his wonders, it will surely astonish the hearing with his achievements; if it falls short of their greatness, even so the glory of the one praised is made more brilliant. For the best praise of a man is to be shown greater than the power of those who praise him. Let no one of those trained in the divine wisdom seek, after the custom of those outside, to have the one who is praised spiritually praised by the technical methods of encomia. For our judgment of what is noble does not rest on the same things as that of others, nor would one find the same notions about the same things among those who live according to the world and those who have risen above the world. To the former, wealth and family and glory and worldly power seem great and worth pursuing, and myths about the founding of their native cities, and stories that those with sense at least would shun: trophies and battles and the evils that come from wars. But in our reckoning one native land is honoured, paradise, the first hearth of the human race; one city, the heavenly one, built together of living stones, whose craftsman and builder is God; one dignity of family, kinship with God, which does not come to anyone by chance, as with noble birth in the world, which often flows down even to the base through this chance succession, but which cannot be acquired otherwise than by free choice. “For as many as received him,” says the divine voice, “to them he gave power to become children of God.” What could be more dignified than such nobility? The ancestral traditions of all others are myths and fictions, and deceits of demons mixed into the mythical stories; but our ancestral traditions need no storytellers. For if anyone looks at the sky and the beauties in it, and considers the whole creation with the eye of the soul, whatever wonders he is able to grasp in these he will find to be the stories of our native land; or rather not of the native land itself but of the colony, the present world, which we have come to occupy as colonists sent out from the higher life. And if the colony is such, one must reckon what the mother city of the colony is, what beauty is in it, what its royal palaces are like, what the blessedness is of those who have obtained that dwelling. For if the things that appear in creation are such as to be beyond praise, what must one reckon of what is beyond this, which the eye cannot take in, nor the hearing contain, nor the mind conjecture? By this spiritual commendation the divine kind of encomium separates the trifles of this world below from those it praises, judging it shameful that those known for such things should be dignified by","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 895 (PG 46:895–896; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/895)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/897":{"o":"σθαι. Κοσμικὸς μὲν γάρ τις ἀνὴρ πρὸς τὴν ὑλικήν εὐδαιμονίαν ἀποβλέπων, ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐρανιζέτω τὸν ἔπαινον, εἰ πατρίς τινι γέγονεν εὔφορος βοσκημάτων, εἰ γειτνιῶσα θάλασσα πλεονάζει δι᾽ ἑαυτῆς τοῖς λαιμαργοῦσι τὰς ὕλας, εἰ λίθων ἐπάλληλοι θέσεις τὰς κατασκευὰς καλλωπίζουσιν. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἄνω βίον βλέπων, ᾧ κάλλος μέν ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς καθαρότης πλοῦτος δὲ, ἡ ἀκτημοσύνη πατρὶς δὲ, ἡ ἀρετή· πόλις δὲ, αὐτὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ βασίλεια ὄνειδος τὴν ἐν τοῖς γηΐνοις φιλοτιμίαν ποιήσεται. Οὐκοῦν ἀποστάντες καὶ ἡμεῖς τῶν τοιούτων ἐπαίνων, οὔτε τὴν πατρίδα τοῖς ἐπαίνοις τοῦ Μεγάλου Γρηγορίου προσθήσομεν, οὔτε προγόνους εἰς συμμαχίαν τῶν ἐγκωμίων παραληψόμεθα, εἰδότες ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἀληθῆς ἐστιν ἔπαινος, ὃς ἂν μὴ τῶν ἐπαινουμένων ἴδιος ᾖ. Ἴδιον δέ φαμεν, ὃ διαμένει πάντως εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς ἀναφαίρετον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν πάντων χωριζόμενοι, πλούτου, περιφανείας, δόξης, τιμῆς, τρυφῆς, ἀπολαύσεως, συγγενῶν, φίλων, μόνης τῆς κατὰ κακίαν ἢ ἀρετὴν διαθέσεως ἀχώριστοι μένομεν· μόνον κρίνομεν μακαριστὸν τὸν ἐνάρετον. Καί με μηδεὶς οἰέσθω τῷ μηδὲν ἔχειν σεμνὸν περὶ τῆς πατρίδος, ἢ τῶν προγόνων τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διηγήσασθαι, ἐν σχήματι τοῦ δοκεῖν περιορᾷν τῶν τοιούτων ὑπεκκλέπτειν τὸ ὄνειδος. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδε τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν τοῦ πόντου τὴν παρὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων κατ᾿ ἐξαίρετον ἀνατεθεῖσαν τῷ ἔθνει, δι' ἧς τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰληχότων τὸν χῶρον ἡ ἀρετὴ μαρτυρεῖται Μόνος γὰρ ἐξ ἀπάσης γῆς τε καὶ θαλάσσης οὗτος ὁ πόντος Εύξεινος ὀνομάζεται, εἴτε τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιδημοῦντας τῶν ξένων φιλοφροσύνην μαρτυροῦντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ ὀνόματος, εἴτε καὶ ὅτι τοιοῦτος ὁ χῶρός ἐστιν, ὡς μὴ μόνον τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις τε καὶ αὐτόχθοσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἁπανταχόθεν εἰς αὐτὸν φοιτῶσιν, τὰς πρὸς τὸ ζῇν παρασκευὰς ἀφθόνως χαρίζεσθαι. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ φύσις τῆς χώρας, ὡς πάντων τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἀναγκαίων πάμφορος εἶναι, καὶ μηδὲν τῶν παρ' ἑτέροις ἀγαθῶν ἀμοιρεῖν, ὡς καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης αὐτοῖς ἴδια τὰ πανταχόθεν ποιούσης. Τοιούτου δὲ ὄντος τοῦ ἔθνους παντὸς, ὡς ὅπερ ἄν τις αὐτοῦ μέρος ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ κατασκέψηται, τῶν ἄλλων προτερεύειν οἴεσθαι οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον τῇ κοινῇ κρίσει τοῦ ἔθνους, οἷόν τις κορυφὴ πάσης τῆς περιοικίδος τῶν ἄλλων, ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου πόλις ἐστὶν, ἣν βασιλεύς τις ἐπίσημος τῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις κρατυνομένων, Καῖσαρ τὸ ὄνομα, ἔρωτι καὶ πόθῳ τῆς χώρας ἀλοὺς, ἐπὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ ὀνόματι Νεοκαισάρειαν καλεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἠξίωσεν. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲν ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν τὸν ἡμέτερον, ὥστε διὰ τούτων οἴεσθαι σεμνότερον ἀποδεικνύειν τὸν μέγαν ἐν ἁγίοις ἐκεῖνον, εἰ καρποῖς βρίθει ἡ χώρα, εἰ ἡ πόλις κατασκευαῖς κεκαλλώπισται, εἰ τῇ γείτονι θαλάττῃ τὰ πανταχόθεν πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν εἰσάγεται.","t":"the things honoured on earth. For let a worldly man, looking to material prosperity, collect praise for people from such things: whether someone's native land was rich in flocks, whether a neighbouring sea supplies provisions in abundance to gluttons, whether rows of stone upon stone adorn its buildings. But one who looks to the life above, for whom beauty is purity of soul, wealth is poverty, native land is virtue, and city is the very palace of God, will count ambition in earthly things a reproach. So we too, standing aside from such praises, will neither add his native land to the praises of Gregory the Great nor take his ancestors as allies for the encomium, knowing that no praise is true which is not the praised person's own. And we call “one's own” what remains for ever beyond being taken away. Since, then, when we are separated from everything, wealth, distinction, glory, honour, luxury, enjoyment, relatives, friends, we remain inseparable only from our disposition toward vice or virtue, we judge only the virtuous man blessed. And let no one think that, because I have nothing dignified to tell about the man's native land or ancestors, I am stealthily hiding the reproach under the pretence of disdaining such things. For who does not know the name of the sea, given by all people as a special distinction to that nation, by which the virtue of those who first received the region is attested? For of all land and sea this sea alone is named the Euxine, “the hospitable,” whether the name testifies to their kindness toward strangers who visit them, or because the region is such as to supply the means of life abundantly not only to natives and those born in the land but also to those who come to it from everywhere. For such is the nature of the country that it bears everything needed for life and lacks none of the goods found among others, since the sea makes the produce of every place their own. And though the whole nation is such that whatever part of it one examines by itself one would think it surpasses the others, nonetheless, by the common judgment of the nation, the city of the great Gregory is like a summit of the whole surrounding region; an illustrious emperor, one of those who strengthened the rule of the Romans, Caesar by name, seized by love and longing for the country, saw fit that the city be called Neocaesarea after his own name. But these things have nothing to do with our aim, as if we thought to show that great one among the saints more dignified through them: whether the land is heavy with fruit, whether the city is adorned with buildings, whether through the neighbouring sea goods from everywhere are brought in freely for whatever is wanted.","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 897 (PG 46:897–898; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/897)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/899":{"o":"᾿Αλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν προγόνων αὐτοῦ, τῶν προκαθηγησαμένων τῆς κατὰ σάρκα γενέσεως, μνήμην ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου ποιήσομαι, πλοῦτον καὶ φιλοτιμίας καὶ τὰς κοσμικὰς περιφανείας αὐτῶν διηγούμενος. Τί γὰρ ταῦτα συντελέσειε πρὸς ἔπαινον, τάφοι, καὶ στῆλαι, καὶ ἐπιγράμματα, καὶ τὰ νεκρὰ διηγήματα πρὸς τὸν τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ἑαυτὸν ὑπεράραντα; ἄλλως δὲ οὔτε δυνατόν ἐστιν εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς εὐφημίας ἐκείνους ἄγειν, ὧν τὴν συγγένειαν οὗτος τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀγχιστείας ἠρνήσατο; Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ πλάνῃ τῶν εἰδώλων ἐματαιώθησαν· ὁ δὲ, πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀναβλέψας, τῇ ἄνω συγγενείᾳ διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἑαυτὸν εἰσεποίησεν. ᾿Αλλ' ὅπως μὲν, ἢ ἀπὸ τίνων ἐγένετο, ἢ τίνα τὸ κατ᾿ ἀρχὰς ᾤκησε πόλιν, ὡς οὐδὲν ἡμῖν συντελοῦντα πρὸς τὴν προκειμένην σπουδήν, παραλείπομεν άρχὴν δὲ ταύτην τῆς εὐφημίας ληψόμεθα, ἣν ἐκεῖνος τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν βίου πεποίηται. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν κομιδῇ νέῳ τῷ σώματι τῆς φυσικῆς κηδεμονίας ἔρημος ἦν, τῶν γονέων τετελευτηκότων τὸν βίον, ὅτε ἀτελὴς ὑφ᾽ ἡλικίας οὖσα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡ διάνοια τῆς τοῦ καλοῦ κρίσεως ἁμαρτάνει, ἔδειξεν εὐθὺς παρὰ τὴν πρώτην, οἷος ἐν τῷ τελείῳ τῆς ἡλικίας γενήσεται. Καὶ καθάπερ τὰ εὐγενῆ τῶν βλαστημάτων, ὅταν ἐκ πρώτης αὐξήσεως εἰς εὐθυγενεῖς ἀναδράμῃ τοὺς ὄρπηκας, προδείκνυσι τοῖς γηπόνοις διὰ τῆς παρούσης ὥρας τὸ εἰς ὕστερον κάλλος· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖνος, ὅτε τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπ᾿ ἀγνοίας περισφαλής ἐστιν ἡ ψυχὴ, πρὸς τὰ μάταιά τε καὶ ἀνόνητα κατολισθαινούσης προχείρως ὡς τὰ πολλὰ τῆς νεότητος· τότε διὰ τῆς πρώτης τοῦ βίου αἱρέσεως, ἔδειξεν ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν Δαβὶδ ἀληθεύοντα, ὅτι Δίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἐξανθήσει. Μόνον γὰρ δὴ τοῦτο τῶν δένδρων τελείῳ τῷ πάχει τῆς κορυφῆς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀναφύεται· καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸ μῆκος ἐπιδιδούσης αὐξήσεως, οὐδεμίαν ἐπὶ τὸ πλάτος προσθήκην ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου δέχεται. Οὕτω κἀκεῖνος ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἤνθησε βλάστης, εὐθὺς τῇ αἱρέσει τοῦ βίου τέλειος ἀνασχὼν καὶ ὑψίκομος. Πάντων γὰρ ἀποστὰς, περὶ ὰ τὸ νέον τῆς ἡλικίας ἐπτόηται, ἱππικῆς, κυνηγεσίων, καλλωπισμάτων, ἐνδυμάτων, κυβείας, τρυφῆς· εὐθὺς ὅλος τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν κτήσεως ἦν, τὸ πρόσφορον ἀεὶ τῆς παρούσης αὐτῷ ἡλικίας καθεξῆς προαιρούμενος. Γίνεται δὲ αὐτῷ πρώτη τῆς κτήσεως τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἡ περὶ τὴν σοφίαν σπουδή. Ταύτῃ δὲ συνείπετο καθάπερ τις πῶλος συνεζευγμένη ἡ σωφροσύνη· πρὸς ἀμφότερα δὲ σύμμαχος ἦν ἡ ἐγκράτεια τὸ δὲ ἄτυφον αὐτῷ καὶ ἀόργητον, τῇ τῶν χρημάτων ὑπεροψία συγκατωρθώθη. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλη τύφου τε καὶ ὑπερηφανίας γένεσις, μὴ τῆς πλεονεξίας ἑαυτῇ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάθη συνεισαγούσης. Καθάπερ δὲ τὸν πα-","t":"Nor will I make mention in my speech of his ancestors, those who went before him in birth according to the flesh, recounting their wealth and munificence and worldly distinctions. For what would these contribute to the praise of one who raised himself above the whole world: tombs and pillars and inscriptions and dead stories? Besides, it is not possible to bring into a share of the praise those whose kinship he renounced for the sake of the kinship of the soul. For they were made futile in the error of idols; but he, looking up to the truth, adopted himself through faith into the kinship above. So how he was born, or from whom, or what city he lived in at first, we pass over as contributing nothing to our present purpose; and we will take as the beginning of our praise the beginning he himself made of the virtuous life. When, still quite young in body, he was bereft of natural care, his parents having ended their lives, at the age when the mind of most, unfinished through youth, errs in judging the good, he showed at once from the first what he would become at the full maturity of his age. And just as noble plants, when from their first growth they shoot up into straight shoots, show the farmers in their present season their later beauty, so he too, at the time when the soul of others is unsteady through ignorance, since youth for the most part slides readily toward vain and useless things, then by his first choice of life showed in himself that David spoke truly: “The righteous will flower like a palm tree.” For of all trees this alone springs up from the ground with the full thickness of its crown, and while its growth increases in height it receives no addition in breadth from time. So he too flowered from his first sprouting, rising up at once perfect and with a lofty crown by his choice of life. For standing aside from everything that excites youth, horsemanship, hunting, finery, clothes, dicing, luxury, he was at once wholly given to acquiring the virtues, always choosing in turn what suited the age he was at. The first thing in his acquisition of the virtues was his zeal for wisdom. With it, like a colt yoked alongside, followed self-restraint; and self-control was an ally for both; and his freedom from conceit and from anger was achieved together with his contempt of money. For conceit and arrogance have no other origin than greed, which brings such passions in with it. And just as the account holds that the patriarch Abraham,","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 899 (PG 46:899–900; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/899)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/901":{"o":"τριάρχην Ἀβραὰμ ὁ λόγος κατέχει, τῆς Χαλδαϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ γενόμενον, καὶ τὴν ἐναρμόνιόν τε καὶ τεταγμένην τῶν ἄστρων κατανοήσαντα θέσιν καὶ κίνησιν, ὑποβάθρᾳ χρήσασθαι τῇ περὶ ταῦτα γνώσει πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου ἀγαθοῦ θεωρίαν, λογισάμενον, ὡς εἰ τὰ τῇ αἰσθήσει ληπτὰ τοιαῦτα, τί ἂν εἴη τὰ ὑπὲρ αἴσθησιν; καὶ οὕτως τοῦ ζητουμένου τυχεῖν, οἷον ἐπιβάντα τῆς ἔξω σοφίας, καὶ γενόμενον δι' αὐτῆς ὑψηλότερον, ὥστε προσεγγίσαι τρόπον τινὰ δι᾿ αὐτῆς τοῖς ἀλήπτοις· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Μέγας οὗτος, τῇ ἔξω φιλοσοφίᾳ δι᾽ ἐπιμελείας καθομιλήσας, δι' ὧν ὁ Ἑλληνισμὸς τοῖς πολλοῖς βεβαιοῦται, διὰ τούτων ὡδηγήθη πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ κατανόησιν, καὶ καταλιπὼν τὴν πεπλανημένην τῶν πατέρων θρησκείαν, ἐζήτει τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν πεπονημένων τοῖς ἔξωθεν διδαχθεὶς τὸ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν δογμάτων ἀσύστατον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶδεν πρὸς διαφόρους ὑπολήψεις ἐν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ Θείου δόξαις σχιζομένην τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν καὶ τὴν βάρβαρον ὁμοίως φιλοσοφίαν, καὶ τοὺς τῶν δογμάτων προεστηκότας, οὔτε πρὸς ἀλλήλους συμβαίνοντας, καὶ τὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἕκαστον κρατύνειν τῇ περινοίᾳ τῶν λόγων φιλονεικοῦντας· τούτους μὲν ὥσπερ ἐν ἐμφυλίῳ πολέμῳ, ὑπ' ἀλλήλων ἀνατρεπομένους κατέλιπεν· καταλαμβάνει δὲ τὸν ἑστῶτα λόγον τῆς πίστεως, τὸν οὐδεμιᾷ λογικῇ τινι περιεργίᾳ καὶ τεχνικαῖς πλοκαῖς κρατυνόμενον, ἀλλὰ δι᾽ ἁπλότητος ῥημάτων ὁμοτίμως πᾶσι καταγγελλόμενον ὃς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ὑπὲρ τὴν πίστιν εἶναι, τὸ πιστὸν ἔχει. Εἰ γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἦν τὸ λεγόμενον, ὡς τῇ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων λογισμῶν δυνάμει καταλαμβάνεσθαι, οὐδὲν ἂν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς σοφίας διήνεγκε κἀκεῖνοι γὰρ, ὅπερ ἂν καταλαβεῖν ἐξισχύσωσιν, ἐκεῖνο καὶ εἶναι δοξάζουσιν), ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀνεπίβατός ἐστι λογισμοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις τῆς ὑπερκειμένης φύσεως ἡ κατάληψις, τούτου χάριν ἡ πίστις ἀντὶ τῶν λογισμῶν γίνεται, τοῖς ὑπὲρ λόγον τε καὶ κατάληψιν ἑαυτὴν ἐπεκτείνουσα. Διὰ ταῦτα, καθὼς περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως φησὶν ἡ Γραφὴ, ὅτι ἐπαιδεύθη πάσῃ σοφίᾳ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων· οὕτως καὶ ὁ Μέγας οὗτος, διὰ πάσης ἐλθὼν τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων παιδεύσεως, καὶ γνοὺς τῇ πείρᾳ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς δογμάτων τὸ ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀσύστατον, μαθητὴς τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου καθίσταται καὶ πρὶν ἀχθῆναι διὰ τῆς μυστικῆς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου γεννήσεως, οὕτως κατώρθου τὸν βίον, ὡς μηδένα ῥύπον τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ τὸ λουτρὸν εἰσενέγκασθαι. Οὔσης δὲ αὐτῷ τῆς διαγωγῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ ᾿Αλεξάνδρου πόλιν, εἰς ἣν καὶ ἡ πανταχόθεν συνέῤῥει νεότης τῶν περὶ φιλοσοφίαν τε καὶ ἰατρικὴν ἐσπουδακότων· χαλεπὸν ἦν τοῖς ὁμήλιξι θέαμα, νέος ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡλικίαν τῇ σωφροσύνῃ κοσμούμενος. Ὁ γὰρ τοῦ καθαρεύοντος ἔπαινος, τῶν μολυνομένων ὄνειδος ἦν. Ὡς ἂν οὖν ἀπολογία τις εἴη τοῖς ἀκολάστοις, τὸ μὴ μόνους αὐτοὺς εἶναι δοκεῖν τοιούτους, ἐπίνοιά τις ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐπεσκευάσθη, τοῦ μῶμόν τινα τῷ βίῳ τοῦ Μεγάλου προστρίψασθαι. Καὶ προβάλλεται παρ᾿ αὐτῶν, εἰς διαβολὴν ἐκείνου, γύναιον ἑταιρικὸν, ἐξ οἰκήματος ἐπ'","t":"having come to know the philosophy of the Chaldeans and considered the harmonious and ordered position and motion of the stars, used his knowledge of these things as a stepping-stone to the contemplation of the good that lies beyond, reasoning that if the things grasped by the senses are such, what must the things beyond sense be? And so he attained what he sought, mounting as it were upon the outside wisdom and becoming higher through it, so as in a way to draw near through it to the things that cannot be grasped. So too this great man, having diligently studied the outside philosophy, was guided by the very things through which Hellenism is confirmed for most people to an understanding of Christianity; and leaving the errant religion of his fathers, he sought the truth of the things that are, taught by the very labours of the outsiders the incoherence of the Greek doctrines. For when he saw Greek and barbarian philosophy alike split into different notions in their opinions about the Divine, and the leaders of the doctrines not agreeing with one another, and each contending to strengthen his own view by the subtlety of his arguments, he left them, as in a civil war, overthrown by one another; and he lays hold of the steadfast word of faith, which is not strengthened by any logical subtlety or technical intricacies, but is proclaimed to all alike in simple words, and which has its trustworthiness in the very fact that it is beyond belief. For if what is said were such as to be grasped by the power of human reasonings, it would not differ at all from Greek wisdom (for they too hold that whatever they are able to grasp is what exists); but since the comprehension of the transcendent nature is inaccessible to human reasonings, faith takes the place of reasonings, reaching out to what is beyond reason and comprehension. For this reason, as Scripture says of Moses that he was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so too this great man, having gone through all the learning of the Greeks and come to know by experience the weakness and incoherence of their doctrines, becomes a disciple of the Gospel; and even before he was brought through the mystical and incorporeal birth, he so ordered his life that he brought no stain of sin to the washing. While he was spending his time in Egypt, in the great city of Alexander, to which the youth from everywhere who were devoted to philosophy and medicine streamed together, he was a hard sight for his age-mates: a young man adorned with chastity beyond his years. For the praise of the pure man was the reproach of the defiled. So, that the licentious might have some excuse in not seeming to be the only ones of that kind, a scheme was devised by them in a plot to fasten some blemish on the life of the great man. And they put forward, to slander him, a harlot, a woman from a brothel","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 901 (PG 46:901–902; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/901)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/903":{"o":"ἀτιμίᾳ κατεγνωσμένον. Τοῦ δὲ, κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες, τοῖς λογάσι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐν σεμνῷ τῷ σχήματι περί τινος τῶν κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν διασκοπουμένου καὶ συνασκουμένου, πρόσεισι τὸ γύναιον ἀκκιζόμενόν τε καὶ θρυπτόμενον, καὶ διὰ πάντων τὸ εἶναι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν συνηθείᾳ, δι' ὧν ἐφθέγγετό τε καὶ ἐποίει, σχηματιζόμενον· εἶτα ἔλεγε τῶν μισθωμάτων ἀποστερεῖσθαι, προστιθεῖσα καὶ τὰς ἀφορμὰς ὑπ᾿ ἀναιδείας, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἡτιᾶτο τὴν τῶν μισθῶν ἀποστέρησιν. Τῶν δὲ συνεγνωκότων αὐτῷ τὸν καθαρὸν βίον, ἀγανακτούντων τε καὶ ὀργῇ κατὰ τοῦ γυναίου συγκινουμένων, οὔτε συνεταράχθη τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ χαλεπαίνουσιν, οὔτε τι τοιοῦτον εἶπεν συκοφαντούμενος, οἷον εἰκὸς τὸν ἀχθόμενον· οὐ μάρτυρας τοῦ βίου προσεκαλέσατο, οὐχ ὅρκῳ τὸν μῶμον ἀπώσατο, οὐ τὴν κακίαν τῶν ταῦτα κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ συσκευασαμένων διήλεγξεν· ἀλλ' ἐν ἠρεμαίᾳ τε καὶ καθεστώσῃ φωνῇ πρός τινα τῶν συνήθων ἀποστραφεὶς, Ὦ οὗτος, ἔφη, διάλυσον αὐτῇ τὸ ἀργύριον, ὡς ἂν μὴ διὰ πλεῖον διοχλοῦσα, τὴν προκειμένην τοῦ λόγου σπουδὴν ἐπιταράσσοι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ μαθὼν παρὰ τῆς ἑταιρίδος ὁ τοῦτο προστεταγμένος, ὅσον ᾔτει παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀργύριον, ἑτοίμως ἅπαν ἀπηριθμήσατο, καὶ πέρας εἶχεν κατὰ τοῦ σώφρονος ἡ ἐπιβουλὴ τοῖς ἀκολάστοις, καὶ ἦν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ἤδη τῆς ἀτίμου τὸ κέρδος· τότε δὴ γίνεται θεόθεν ή τε μαρτυρία τῆς σωφροσύνης τοῦ νέου, καὶ τῆς τῶν ὁμηλίκων συκοφαντίας ὁ ἔλεγχος. Ὁμοῦ γὰρ τῷ ὑποδέξασθαι τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ἀργύριον, πνεύματι δαιμονίῳ στρεβλωθεῖσα, καὶ βρυχηθμῷ θηριώδει παρὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φωνὴν ἀνοιμώξασα, πίπτει πρηνής κατὰ τὸ μέσον τῶν συνειλεγμένων· θέαμα φρικτόν τε καὶ φοβερὸν τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀθρόως γεγενημένη, τῶν τριχῶν τε διεῤῥιμμένων, καὶ ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ σπαρασσομένων, καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀπεστραμμένων, καὶ τοῦ στόματος τὸν ἀφρὸν παραπτύοντος. Καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἀνῆκεν καταπνίγον αὐτὴν τὸ δαιμόνιον, πρὶν ἢ τὸν Μέγαν ἐκεῖνον ἐπικαλέσασθαι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς ἱλεώσασθαι. Τοιαῦτα τῆς νεότητος τοῦ μεγάλου τὰ διηγήματα, ἄξια ὡς ἀληθῶς τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα βεβιωμένων αὐτῷ τὰ προοίμια. Καίτοι γε τὸ θαῦμα τοσοῦτόν ἐστιν, ὡς εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἦν ἕτερον ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰπεῖν, μηδενὸς αὐτὸν τῶν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ διενεγκόντων, ἐκ τούτου μόνου τὰ δευτερεῖα τῶν ἐπαίνων ἔχειν πλούσιος, νέος, ἐν ὑπερορίοις διάγων, ἐν πολυανδρούσῃ πόλει τὴν διαγωγὴν ἔχων, ἐν ᾗ διὰ τὸ κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς συζῇν τοὺς νέους, ὄνειδος ἦν ἡ καθαρότης τῶν σωφρονούντων τοῖς ἄφροσιν· οὐ μητρὸς πολυ-","t":"condemned to disgrace. While he, as usual, was examining and practising some point of philosophy with the most eminent men in a dignified manner, the woman comes up, simpering and coy, and pretending by everything she said and did to be on familiar terms with him; then she said she was being deprived of her wages, and shamelessly added the occasions for which she claimed the wages were being withheld. Those who knew his pure life were indignant and stirred to anger against the woman; but he was neither disturbed along with those who were angry on his behalf, nor did he say anything of the kind that someone slandered would likely say in his vexation: he did not summon witnesses to his life, he did not repel the charge with an oath, he did not expose the wickedness of those who had contrived this against him; but turning in a calm and settled voice to one of his companions, he said, “Friend, pay her the money, so that she may not trouble us any longer and disturb the study of the discussion before us.” When the man given this instruction had learned from the harlot how much money she was asking of him and had readily counted it all out, and the plot of the licentious against the chaste man had reached its end, and the gain of the disgraceful woman was already in her hands, then indeed there came from God both the testimony to the young man's chastity and the refutation of his age-mates' slander. For at the very moment she received the money in her hand, twisted by a demonic spirit and crying out with a beastlike roar in place of a human voice, she falls headlong in the middle of the assembled company, suddenly become a dreadful and fearful sight to those present, her hair tossed about and torn by her own hands, her eyes rolled back, her mouth spitting foam. And the demon did not stop choking her until that great man called upon God and propitiated him on her behalf. Such are the stories of the great man's youth, preludes truly worthy of the life he lived afterward. And yet the wonder is so great that, even if there were nothing else to tell besides this, from this alone he would yield the second prize of praise to none of those who excelled in virtue: rich, young, living abroad, spending his time in a populous city in which, because the young lived with pleasures at their liberty, the purity of the chaste was a reproach to the senseless; with no mother busying herself","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 903 (PG 46:903–904; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/903)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/905":{"o":"πραγμονούσης τὸν βίον, οὐ πατρὸς παιδαγωγοῦντος τὴν καθ' ἡμέραν ζωήν εἰς τοσοῦτον ἐπῆρεν ἑαυτὸν δι᾽ ἀπαθείας πρὸς ἀρετὴν, ὡς τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ἔφορον, μάρτυρα τῶν βεβιωμένων ποιήσασθαι, τὸν τῇ πονηρᾷ πληγῇ τὴν συκοφαντίαν τῆς γυναικὸς ἀπελέγξαντα. Καὶ τί ἄν τις ἐπινοήσειε μείζον εἰς ἐγκωμίων ὑπόθεσιν; πῶς δὲ ἄν τις κατ᾿ ἀξίαν αὐτὸν θαυμάσειεν; Ὃς τῷ λόγῳ καταπαλαίσας τὴν φύσιν καθάπερ τι τῶν ὑποχειρίων ζώων ὑποζεύξας τῷ λογισμῷ τὴν νεότητα, καὶ πάντων τῶν φυσικῶν ἐπεγειρομένων παθημάτων κρείττων γενόμενος, καὶ τὸν πᾶσι τοῖς καλοῖς ἐπιφυόμενον φθόνον καθ' ἑαυτοῦ κινήσας, καὶ τούτου κρείττων ἐγένετο, μήτε πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῶν ἑταίρων ἑαυτὸν διαναστήσας πρὸς ἄμυναν, καὶ τὴν ὑπηρετησαμένην ἐκείνοις πρὸς τὸν μῶμον εὐεργετήσας, τοῦ κατὰ τὸν δαίμονα πάθους διὰ προσευχῆς ἐξελόμενος. Τοιοῦτον ἔγνωμεν διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας τὸν Ἰωσὴφ, ᾧ προὔκειτο μὲν κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν ἡ περὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ δεσπότου παρανομία, αὐτῆς ἐκείνης ἐπιμανείσης τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ νέου· καὶ μάρτυς τῶν τολμωμένων ἦν ἀνθρώπων οὐδείς· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος πρὸς τὸν θεῖον ὀφθαλμὸν βλέπων, τὸ δόξαι κακός πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι προείλετο, τὰ τῶν κακούργων ὑποστὰς μᾶλλον, ἢ κακοῦργος γενόμενος. ᾿Αλλ' ἔστι τι τάχα τούτῳ, καὶ πλέον τῆς ἱστορίας καυχήσασθαι· οὐ γὰρ ἴσον ἐστὶν εἰς ἀποτροπὴν τοῦ μιάσματος, το τε τῆς μοιχείας ἄγος, καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐν ἐλάττονι πλημμελήματι τὸν μῶμον ἔχειν. Ὁ τοίνυν ἐν ᾧ κίνδυνός τις ἐκ τῶν νόμων οὐκ ἦν φοβερωτέραν μᾶλλον τῆς τιμωρίας αὐτὴν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ἡδονὴν καθ' ἑαυτὴν εἶναι κρίνας, ἢ παρήλασε τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ τοῦ θαύματος, ἢ πάντως οὐκ ἐν δευτέροις κριθήσεται. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν προοίμιον τοῦ βίου, τοιοῦτον. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ βίος τίς; Ἐπειδὴ πᾶσαν παίδευσιν τῆς ἔξω σοφίας ἐπιδραμών, ἐνέτυχε Φιρμιλιανῷ τινι τῶν εὐπατριδῶν Καππαδόκῃ, ὁμοιοτρόπῳ κατὰ τὸ ἦθος, ὡς ἔδειξεν ἐκεῖνος τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα βίῳ, κόσμος τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῶν Καισαρέων γενόμενος, καὶ τὸν τε σκοπὸν τοῦ φρονήματος καὶ ἰδίου βίου φανερὸν τῷ φίλῳ ἐποίησεν, ὡς εἴη πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν βλέπων, καὶ τὴν ἐκείνου σπουδὴν ἔγνω περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐπιθυμίαν συμβαίνουσαν, καταλιπών πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ τῆς ἔξω φιλοσοφίας σπουδήν, προσφοιτᾷ μετ᾿ ἐκείνου τῷ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν φιλοσοφίας καθηγουμένῳ Ωριγένης δὲ οὗτος ἦν, οὗ πολὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς συγγράμμασι λόγος), δεικνὺς καὶ διὰ τούτου, οὐ μόνον τὸ φιλομαθὲς καὶ φιλόπονον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ κατεσταλμένον ἐν τῷ ἤθει καὶ μέτριον· τοσαύτης γὰρ σοφίας ἀνάπλεος ὢν ἑτέρῳ χρήσασθαι διδασκάλῳ πρὸς τὰ θεῖα τῶν μαθημάτων, οὐκ ἀπηξίωσεν, διαγαγὼν παρὰ τῷ διδασκάλῳ χρόνον τοῖς μαθήμασι σύμμετρον, πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν παρακαλούντων καὶ κατεχόντων αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοδαπῆς, καὶ παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀξιούντων μένειν, πάντων προτιμοτέραν τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν αὐτὸν ποιησάμενος, ἐπὶ τὴν πατρίδα πάλιν ἐπάνεισιν, τὸν παντοδαπὸν πλοῦτον τῆς σοφίας τε καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ἐπαγόμενος, ὃν καθάπερ τις ἔμ-","t":"about his life, with no father guiding his daily conduct, he raised himself so far toward virtue through freedom from passion that he made the overseer of all things the witness of how he had lived, the one who exposed the woman's slander by that evil stroke. What could one devise greater as a subject for encomia? How could anyone admire him as he deserves? He wrestled nature down by reason, yoked his youth to reason like a tamed animal, became stronger than all the natural passions that rise up, and when he had stirred against himself the envy that grows up around all good things, he became stronger than this too, neither rousing himself to retaliate against the plot of his companions, and doing good to the woman who had served them for the slander by delivering her through prayer from the demon's affliction. Such we know Joseph to have been from the history: the lawless act with his master's wife lay within his power, she herself being mad for the young man's beauty, and there was no human witness of what might be dared; but he too, looking to the divine eye, chose to seem wicked rather than to become so, undergoing the lot of evildoers rather than becoming an evildoer. But perhaps this man has something to boast of even beyond the history. For, as regards turning away from defilement, the pollution of adultery is not equal to what is thought to carry blame as a lesser fault. He, then, who, in a case where there was no danger from the laws, judged that the pleasure that comes from sin is in itself more fearful than punishment, either surpassed Joseph by the greatness of the wonder, or at any rate will not be judged second to him. Such, then, was the prelude of his life. What was the life itself? When he had run through all the learning of the outside wisdom, he met Firmilian, one of the Cappadocian nobility, of similar character, as Firmilian showed by his later life, when he became the ornament of the church of the Caesareans. Gregory made plain to his friend the aim of his mind and of his own life, that he was looking toward God, and learned that his friend's zeal agreed in the same desire; then, leaving all zeal for the outside philosophy, he attends together with him upon the man who at that time was the leader of the Christians' philosophy (this was Origen, whose writings are much spoken of), showing by this not only his love of learning and of labour but also the restraint and moderation of his character. For though he was full of so much wisdom, he did not disdain to use another teacher for the divine branches of learning. Having spent with the teacher a time proportionate to his studies, though there were many urging him and holding him in the foreign land and asking him to remain among them, he preferred his native land to all of them and returns home again, bringing with him the manifold wealth of wisdom and knowledge which, like a mer-","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 905 (PG 46:905–906; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/905)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/907":{"o":"πορος ἐν ταῖς ἔξω σπουδαῖς πᾶσι καθομιλῶν τοῖς εὐδοκίμοις ἐνεπορεύσατο. Καίτοι γε τῷ δικαίως τὰ πράγματα κρίνοντι οὐδὲ τοῦτο μικρὸν πάντως εἰς εὐφημίαν δόξει, τὸ πόλεως τοσαύτην ἱκετηρίαν ἐκ κοινοῦ γενομένην ὑπεριδεῖν, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ λογάδων τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ καταμεῖναι τὸν ἄνδρα σπουδὴν, τῶν τε ἐπιδημούντων αὐτοῖς ἀρχόντων τὴν εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο προθυμίαν παραδέξασθαι· οἷς πᾶσι σκοπὸς ἦν, μεῖναι παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον, καθάπερ οἰκιστὴν ἀρετῆς, καὶ βίου νομοθέτην ἐσόμενον· ἀλλὰ φεύγων πανταχόθεν τὰς πρὸς τὸν τύφον ὕλας, εἰδὼς ἀρχηγὸν ὡς τὸ πολλὰ τοῦ κατὰ κακίαν βίου τὸ καθ' ὑπερηφανίαν πάθος γινόμενον, ὥσπερ τινὰ λιμένα, τὸν ἡσύχιον ἐπὶ τῆς πατρίδος μέτεισι βίον. Παντὸς δὲ τοῦ ἔθνους πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα βλέποντος, καὶ πάντων προσδεχομένων δημοσιεύειν αὐτὸν ἐν κοινοῖς συλλόγοις τὴν παίδευσιν, ὡς ἄν τινα καρπὸν σχοίη τῶν μακρῶν πόνων τὴν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς εὐδοκίμησιν εἰδὼς ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος ὅθεν προσήκει τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν παρὰ τῶν ἀκριβῶς μετιόντων δημοσιεύεσθαι, ὡς ἂν μήποτε φιλοτιμίᾳ τινὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τρωθείη δεινὸς γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἀκουόντων ὁ ἔπαινος, τύφῳ τινὶ καὶ φιλοδοξίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποχαυνῶσαι τὸ σύντονον), τούτου χάριν ἐπίδειξιν ποιεῖται τὴν σιωπὴν, ἔργῳ δεικνὺς τὸν ἐγκείμενον θησαυρὸν, οὐχὶ ῥήμασι, καὶ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀγορὰν θορύβων, καὶ καθόλου τῆς ἐν ἄστει διαγωγῆς ἑαυτὸν χωρίσας, ἐν ἐσχατιᾷ τινι ἑαυτῷ μόνῳ συνῆν, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τῷ Θεῷ, μικρὸν παντὸς τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ λόγον ποιούμενος, οὐ βασιλείας πολυπραγμονῶν, οὐκ ἀρχὰς ἐξετάζων, οὐ πῶς διοικεῖταί τι τῶν κοινῶν διεξιόντος ἀκούων· ἀλλ᾿ ὅπως ἂν ἡ ψυχὴ δι' ἀρετῆς τελειωθείη, τὴν φροντίδα ποιούμενος, πρὸς τοῦτο τῇ σπουδῇ συνέτεινε τὸν πάντα βίον, καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ πράγματα χαίρειν ἑάσας, ἄλλος τις οὗτος ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνοις Μωϋσῆς ἀτεχνῶς πρὸς τὰ ἐκείνου θαύματα τὴν ἅμιλλαν ἔχων. Ἐξῆλθον ἀμφότεροι τοῦ ταραχώδους τούτου καὶ περιηχημένου βίου, Μωϋσῆς καὶ Γρηγόριος, κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον ἑκάτερος χρόνον ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἰδιάσαντες, ἕως ἐμφανὲς ἀμφοτέροις ἐκ θεοφανείας ἐγένετο τοῦ καθαροῦ βίου τὸ κέρδος· ἀλλὰ Μωϋσεῖ μὲν κατὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ γαμετὴ συνεφείπετο· Γρηγόριος δὲ σύνοικον ἑαυτῷ μόνην τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐποιήσατο. Τοῦ τοίνυν σκοποῦ τὸ ἴσον ἔχοντος ἐν ἀμφοτέροις πέρας γὰρ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ἀναχωρήσεως ἦν, τῷ καθαρῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ κατανοῆσαι τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια), κρίνειν ἔξεστι τῷ πρὸς ἀρετὴν καλῶς βλέπειν ἐπισταμένῳ, ὁποτέρῳ τούτων μᾶλλον ὁ βίος δι' ἀπαθείας γέγονε, τῷ πρὸς τὴν νόμιμον καὶ συγκεχωρημένην καταβάντι τῶν ἡδονῶν μετουσίαν, ἢ τῷ κατ' αὐτῆς ὑπεραρθέντι, καὶ μηδεμίαν δεδωκότι καθ' ἑαυτοῦ πάροδον τῇ ὑλικῇ προσπαθείᾳ. Φαιδίμου δὲ κατὰ τὸν χρόνον ἐκεῖνον τῆς ᾿Αμασαίων Ἐκκλησίας","t":"chant he had acquired in his outside studies by dealing with all men of good repute. Yet to one who judges matters justly it will surely seem no small ground for praise that he disregarded so great a petition made in common by a city, and did not accept the zeal of all its leading men that he should remain, nor the eagerness of the governors residing among them for this very thing. The aim of all of them was that that great man should stay with them as a founder of virtue and a lawgiver of life. But fleeing on every side the fuel of conceit, knowing that the passion of arrogance becomes for the most part the source of a life of vice, he makes for the quiet life in his native land as for a harbour. The whole nation looked to the man, and all expected him to display his learning publicly in common assemblies, so that he might reap good repute for it as some fruit of his long labours. But that great man knew from what source true philosophy ought to be displayed by those who pursue it rigorously, so that the soul might never be wounded by some ambition (for the praise of hearers is apt to slacken the soul's tension with conceit and love of glory); for this reason he makes silence his display, showing the treasure within by deed, not by words. Separating himself from the noise of the marketplace and from city life altogether, he lived in some remote place alone with himself, and through himself with God, taking small account of the whole world and the things in it, not busying himself about kingdoms, not inquiring into offices, not listening to anyone going through how some public matter is managed; but taking thought how his soul might be perfected through virtue, he bent his whole life to this with zeal and, bidding farewell to the affairs of life, he was simply another Moses in our times, rivalling his wonders. Both went out from this turbulent and noisy life, Moses and Gregory, each in his own time withdrawing into himself, until to both the gain of the pure life was made manifest through a theophany. But Moses was accompanied in his philosophy by a wife as well, whereas Gregory made virtue alone his companion. Since the aim was equal in both (for the goal of both men's withdrawal from the many was to contemplate the divine mysteries with the pure eye of the soul), whoever knows how to look rightly at virtue may judge which of the two lived his life more through freedom from passion: the one who came down to the lawful and permitted share in pleasures, or the one who rose above it and gave no access against himself to material attachment. Now Phaedimus at that time","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 907 (PG 46:907–908; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/907)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/909":{"o":"καθηγουμένου· ᾧ θεόθεν ἐξ ἁγίου Πνεύματος προγνωστική τις δύναμις ἦν· καὶ πᾶσαν ποιουμένου σπουδὴν, ὅπως ὑποχείριον λαβὼν τὸν μέγαν Γρηγόριον, εἰς Ἐκκλησίας ἀρχὴν ἀγάγοι, ὡς ἂν μὴ τοσοῦτον άγαθὸν ἀργόν τε καὶ ἀνόνητον παραδράμοι τὸν βίον· τῆς ὁρμῆς οὗτος τοῦ ἱερέως αἰσθόμενος, λανθάνειν ἐμηχανᾶτο, ἄλλο τε πρὸς ἄλλην ἐρημίαν μετανιστάμενος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πᾶσαν καθιεὶς πεῖραν ὁ πολὺς ἐκεῖνος Φαίδιμος, καὶ πάσῃ μηχανῇ τε καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ χρώμενος, οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν προσαγαγεῖν τῇ ἱερωσύνῃ τὸν ἄνδρα, μυρίοις ὄμμασι τὸ μὴ ἁλῶναί ποτε τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ ἱερέως προφυλασσόμενον, καὶ ἦν ἐφάμιλλος σπουδὴ ἀμφοτέροις· τοῦ μὲν ἐλεῖν ἐπιθυμοῦντος, τοῦ δὲ ἀποφυγεῖν τὸν διώκοντα (ὁ μὲν γὰρ ᾔδει τῷ Θεῷ προσάξειν ἱερὸν ἀνάθημα, ὁ δὲ ἐδεδοίκει, μή τι γένηται αὐτῷ πρὸς φιλοσοφίας ἐμπόδιον οἷόν τι φορτίον ἡ τῆς ἱερωσύνης φροντὶς ἐπαχθεῖσα τῷ βίῳ)• τούτου χάριν ὁρμῇ τινι θειοτέρᾳ περὶ τὴν προκειμένην σπουδὴν ἐπαρθεὶς ὁ Φαίδιμος, οὐδὲν προσχών τῷ μεταξὺ διαστήματι, ὑπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ Γρηγορίου διείργετο (τριῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν ἐκείνου ἀπέχοντος), ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀναβλέψας, καὶ εἰπὼν ὁμοίως ἑαυτόν τε κἀκεῖνον ἐπὶ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθορᾶσθαι, ἀντὶ χειρὸς ἐπάγει τῷ Γρηγορίῳ τὸν λόγον, ἀφιερώσας τῷ Θεῷ τὸν σωματικῶς οὐ παρόντα, καὶ ἀποκληρώσας αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν ἐκείνην, ἣν συνέβη μέχρι τῶν τότε χρόνων οὕτω τῇ πλάνῃ τῶν εἰδώλων κατέχεσθαι, ὥστε ἀπείρων ὄντων τῶν οἰκούντων αὐτήν τε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὴν περίοικον, μὴ πλείους εὑρεθῆναι τῶν ἑπτακαίδεκα τοὺς παραδεδεγμένους τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως. Οὕτω τοίνυν ὑπελθὼν τὸν ζυγὸν κατ᾿ ἀνάγκην, πάντων μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν νομίμων ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τελεσθέντων, καὶ βραχὺν χρόνον αἰτησάμενος παρὰ τοῦ τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἐπικηρύξαντος, πρὸς κατανόησιν τῆς κατὰ τὸ μυστήριον ἀκριβείας, οὐκέτι, καθώς φησιν ὁ ᾿Απόστολος, σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι προσανέχειν ᾤετο δεῖν, ἀλλὰ θεόθεν ἥτει γενέσθαι αὐτῷ τὴν τῶν κρυφίων φανέρωσιν· καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἐπεθάρσησε τῷ τοῦ λόγου κηρύγματι, πρὶν διά τινος ἐμφανείας ἐκκαλυφθῆναι αὐτῷ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Σκοπουμένῳ γὰρ αὐτῷ ποτε ἐννύχιον περὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πίστεως, καὶ παντοίους ἀνακινοῦντι λογισμούς (ἦσαν γὰρ δὴ καὶ τότε τινὲς, οἱ τὴν εὐσεβῆ διδασκαλίαν παραχαράττοντες, διὰ τῆς πιθανότητος τῶν ἐπιχειρημάτων, ἀμφίβολον ποιοῦντες πολλάκις καὶ τοῖς συνετοῖς τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ὑπὲρ ἧς τότε διαγρυπνοῦντι αὐτῷ καὶ φροντίζοντι φαίνεταί τις καθ᾽ ὕπαρ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ τῷ σχήματι, γηραλέος τὸ εἶδος, ἱεροπρεπής τῇ καταστολῇ τοῦ ἐνδύματος, πολλὴν ἐπισημαίνων τὴν ἀρετὴν τῇ περὶ τὸ","t":"was presiding over the church of the Amaseans. He had from God, from the Holy Spirit, a certain power of foreknowledge, and he was making every effort to get the great Gregory into his hands and bring him to the leadership of a church, so that so great a good might not pass through life idle and unprofitable. Gregory, perceiving the bishop's purpose, contrived to escape notice, moving from one solitude to another. That great Phaedimus tried every attempt and used every device and contrivance, but he could not bring the man to the priesthood, for he guarded with countless eyes against ever being caught by the bishop's hand; and there was a rival zeal on both sides, the one eager to catch, the other to escape his pursuer (for the one knew that he would bring to God a holy offering, and the other feared that the care of the priesthood, laid upon his life like a burden, might become some hindrance to his philosophy). For this reason Phaedimus, lifted by a more divine impulse in the matter at hand, paid no attention to the distance that separated him from Gregory (he was three days' journey away), but looking up to God and saying that both he himself and the other were equally seen by God at that hour, he applies his word to Gregory in place of a hand, consecrating to God the one not bodily present, and allotting to him that city which up to that time was so held by the error of idols that, though the inhabitants of the city itself and of the surrounding region were countless, no more than seventeen were found who had received the word of faith. So, having come under the yoke by compulsion, and all the customary rites having afterwards been performed for him, he asked of the one who had proclaimed him to the priesthood a short time to understand the exactness of the mystery; and he no longer thought he should, as the apostle says, consult flesh and blood, but asked that the revelation of hidden things be given him from God; and he did not take courage for the preaching of the word until the truth was revealed to him through an appearance. For once, as he was pondering by night about the doctrine of the faith and turning over all sorts of reasonings (for even then there were some who counterfeited the godly teaching and through the plausibility of their arguments often made the truth doubtful even to the intelligent), as he lay awake thinking about it, someone appears to him in a waking vision in human form, aged in appearance, priestly in the style of his clothing, showing great virtue by the grace about his","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 909 (PG 46:909–910; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/909)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/911":{"o":"πρόσωπον χάριτι, καὶ τῇ καταστάσει τοῦ σχήματος. Τὸν δὲ καταπλαγέντα τῇ ὄψει, διαναστῆναι μὲν τῆς εὐνῆς καὶ ὅστις εἴη μαθεῖν ἐδεῖτο, καὶ ὑπὲρ τίνος ἥκοι. Ἐκείνου δὲ καταστείλαντος αὐτοῦ τὴν ταραχὴν τῆς διανοίας ἐν ἠρεμαίᾳ φωνῇ, καὶ εἰπόντος θείῳ προστάγματι πεφηνέναι αὐτῷ τῶν ἀμφισβητουμένων παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ χάριν, ὡς ἂν ἐκκαλυφθείῃ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς πίστεως ἡ ἀλήθεια· θαρσῆσαί τε πρὸς τὸν λόγον, καὶ βλέψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν μετά τινος χαρᾶς καὶ ἐκπλήξεως. Εἶτα ἐκείνου κατ᾿ εὐθὺ τὴν χεῖρα προτείναντος, καὶ οἷον ὑποδεικνύντος αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς τῶν δακτύλων εὐθείας τὸ ἐκ πλαγίου φαινόμενον, συμπεριαγαγεῖν τοῦτον τῇ εὐθείᾳ τῆς χειρὸς τὸ ἴδιον βλέμμα, καὶ ἰδεῖν ἀντιπρόσωπον ἕτερον θέαμα τῷ ὀφθέντι, ἐν γυναικείῳ τῷ σχήματι, κρεῖττον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον· πάλιν δὲ καταπλαγέντα, συγκλιθῆναί τε πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τῷ προσώπῳ, καὶ ἀμηχανεῖν τῷ θεάματι, μὴ φέροντα τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τὴν ἐμφάνειαν (καὶ γὰρ δὴ τὸ παράδοξον τῆς ὀπτασίας ἐν τούτῳ μάλιστα ἦν, ὅτι νυκτὸς οὔσης βαθείας, φῶς τοῖς ὀφθεῖσιν αὐτῷ συνεξέλαμψεν, ὥσπερ τινὸς λαμπρᾶς ἐξαπτομένης λαμπάδος Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν φέρειν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τὴν ἐμφάνειαν, ἤκουσε διὰ λόγου τινὸς τῶν ὀφθέντων αὐτῷ, πρὸς ἀλλήλους τὸν περὶ τοῦ ζητουμένου λόγον διεξιόντων· δι᾽ ὧν οὐ μόνον ἐπαιδεύθη τὴν ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων τοὺς ἐπιφανέντας ἐγνώρισεν, ἑκατέρου αὐτῶν διὰ τῆς οἰκείας προσηγορίας ἀνακαλοῦντος τὸν ἕτερον. Ἀκοῦσαι γὰρ λέγεται παρὰ τῆς ἐν γυναικείῳ φανείσης τῷ σχήματι παρακαλούσης τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν Ἰωάννην, φανερῶσαι τῷ νέῳ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον· ἐκεῖνον δὲ εἰπεῖν, ἑτοίμως ἔχειν καὶ τοῦτο τῇ μητρὶ τοῦ Κυρίου χαρίσασθαι, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο φίλον αὐτῇ καὶ οὕτως εἰπόντα τὸν λόγον σύμμετρόν τε καὶ εὐπερίγραπτον, πάλιν μεταναστῆναι τῶν ὄψεων. Τὸν δὲ παραχρῆμὰ τὴν θείαν ἐκείνην μυσταγωγίαν γράμμασιν ἐνσημήνασθαι, καὶ κατ' ἐκείνην μετὰ ταῦτα κηρύσσειν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τὸν λόγον, καὶ τοῖς ἐφεξῆς, ὥσπερ τινὰ κλῆρον τὴν θεόσδοτον ἐκείνην διδασκαλίαν καταλιπεῖν· δι' ἧς μυσταγωγείται μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ὁ ἐκείνης λαὸς, πάσης αἱρετικῆς κακίας διαμείνας ἀπείρατος. Τὰ δὲ τῆς μυσταγωγίας ῥήματα, ταῦτὰ ἐστιν· Εἰς Θεὸς Πατήρ Λόγου ζῶντος, σοφίας ὑφεστώσης καὶ δυνάμεως, καὶ χαρακτῆρος ἀϊδίου, τέλειος, τελείου γεννήτωρ· Πατὴρ Υἱοῦ μονογενοῦς. Εἰς Κύριος, μόνος ἐκ μόνου, Θεὸς ἐκ Θεοῦ, χαρακτὴρ καὶ εἰκὼν τῆς θεότητος, Λόγος ἐνεργός, σοφία τῆς τῶν ὅλων συστάσεως περιεκτική, καὶ δύναμις τῆς ὅλης κτίσεως ποιητική, Υἱὸς ἀληθινὸς ἀληθινοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀόρατος ἀοράτου, καὶ ἄφθαρτος ἀφθάρτου, καὶ ἀθάνατος ἀθανάτου, καὶ ἀΐδιος ἀϊδίου. Καὶ ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐκ Θεοῦ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχον· καὶ δι' Υἱοῦ πεφηνὸς, δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εἰκὼν τοῦ Υἱοῦ τελείου τελεία, ζωὴ","t":"face and by the composure of his bearing. Gregory, astonished at the sight, rose from his bed and asked who he was and why he had come. The other calmed the disturbance of his mind with a gentle voice and said that he had appeared to him by divine command on account of the questions he was in doubt about, so that the truth of the godly faith might be revealed to him; at this Gregory took courage at his words and looked at him with a mixture of joy and amazement. Then the other stretched his hand straight out and, as it were, pointed out to him with his outstretched fingers something appearing at the side; Gregory turned his gaze along the line of the hand and saw opposite the first figure another sight, in a woman's form, greater than human. Astonished again, he bowed his face and was at a loss before the sight, unable to bear the appearance with his eyes (for the marvel of the vision lay especially in this, that though it was deep night, a light shone out together with those who appeared to him, as if a bright lamp had been kindled). Since he could not bear the appearance with his eyes, he heard a conversation of those who appeared to him, as they went through the question with each other; through it he was not only instructed in the true knowledge of the faith, but also recognized by their names those who had appeared, each of them addressing the other by his own name. For he is said to have heard the one who appeared in a woman's form urging John the Evangelist to make plain to the young man the mystery of godliness; and John said he was ready to grant this too to the mother of the Lord, since it was dear to her; and having spoken the doctrine, well proportioned and clearly defined, they vanished again from his sight. And he at once recorded that divine instruction in writing, and afterwards preached the word in the church in accordance with it, and left that God-given teaching to those after him as an inheritance; by it the people of that church are instructed in the mystery to this day, having remained untouched by every heretical evil. The words of the instruction are these: “One God, Father of the living Word, of subsistent wisdom and power and of the eternal impress, perfect begetter of the perfect, Father of the only-begotten Son. One Lord, alone from the alone, God from God, impress and image of the Godhead, effective Word, wisdom that holds together the constitution of all things, and power that makes the whole creation, true Son of the true Father, invisible of invisible, and incorruptible of incorruptible, and immortal of immortal, and eternal of eternal. And one Holy Spirit, having existence from God and manifested through the Son, that is, to human beings, perfect image of the perfect Son, life,","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 911 (PG 46:911–912; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/911)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/913":{"o":"ζώντων αἰτία, πηγὴ ἀγία, ἁγιότης ἁγιασμοῦ χορηγός· ἐν ᾧ φανεροῦται Θεὸς ὁ Πατήρ, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσι· καὶ Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, ὁ διὰ πάντων· Τριὰς τελεία, δόξῃ καὶ ἀϊδιότητι καὶ βασιλείᾳ μὴ μεριζομένη, μηδὲ ἀπαλλοτριουμένη. Οὔτε οὖν κτιστόν τι, ἢ δοῦλον ἐν τῇ Τριάδι, οὔτε ἐπείσακτόν τι, ὡς πρότερον μὲν οὐχ ὑπάρχον, ὕστερον δὲ ἐπεισελθόν. Οὔτε οὖν ἐνέλιπέ ποτε Υἱὸς Πατρὶ, οὔτε Υἱῷ Πνεῦμα· ἀλλ᾽ ἄτρεπτος καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος ἡ αὐτὴ Τριὰς ἀεί. Ὅτῳ δὲ φίλον περὶ τούτου πεισθῆναι, ἀκουέτω τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ἐν ᾗ τὸν λόγον ἐκήρυττεν, παρ' οἷς αὐτὰ τὰ χαράγματα τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης χειρὸς εἰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διασώζεται. Ταῦτ᾽ οὐχὶ πρὸς τὰς θεοτεύκτους ἐκείνας πλάκας ἁμιλλᾶται τῇ μεγαλοφυΐᾳ τῆς χαρίτος; ἐκείνας δὲ λέγω τὰς πλάκας, ἐν αἷς ἡ τοῦ θείου βουλήματος ἐνετυπώθη νομοθεσία. Ὡς γὰρ τὸν Μωϋσέα φησὶν ὁ λόγος, ἔξω τοῦ φαινομένου γενόμενον, καὶ ἐντὸς τῶν ἀοράτων ἀδύτων τῇ ψυχῇ καταστάντα (τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ γνόφος αἰνίττεται), μαθεῖν τε τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια, καὶ δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τῆς θεογνωσίας παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ καθηγήσασθαι· τὴν αὐτὴν ἔστι καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου τούτου κατιδεῖν οἰκονομίαν· ᾧ ὄρος μὲν ἦν, οὐκ αἰσθητόν τι ἢ γεώλοφον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς τῶν ἀληθινῶν δογμάτων ἐπιθυμίας· γνόφος δὲ τὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀχώρητον θέαμα δέλτος δὲ ἡ ψυχή· τὰ δὲ ἐν ταῖς πλαξὶ γράμματα, ἡ τοῦ ὀφθέντος φωνή· δι᾽ ὧν ἁπάντων αὐτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς παρ᾽ ἐκείνου μυσταγωγουμένοις ἐγένετο ἡ τῶν μυστηρίων φανέρωσις. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν παῤῥησίας τινὸς καὶ θάρσους διὰ τῆς ὄψεως ἐκείνης πλήρης ἐγένετο, καθάπερ τις ἀθλητὴς ἀρκοῦσαν πρὸς τοὺς ἄθλους ἐμπειρίαν τε καὶ δύναμιν ἐκ παιδοτρίβου κτησάμενος, θαρσῶν ἀποδύεται πρὸς τὸ στάδιον, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιπάλους ἀγωνίζεται, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖνος, τῇ τε καθ' ἑαυτὸν μελέτῃ καὶ τῇ συμμαχίᾳ τῆς ἐπιφανείσης αὐτῷ χάριτος, ἱκανῶς τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλειψάμενος, οὕτως ἀντιλαμβάνεται τῶν ἀγώνων. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι χρὴ καλεῖν, ἢ ἀγῶνας καὶ ἄθλους, πάντα τὸν καθ' ἱερωσύνην αὐτοῦ βίον, ἐν ᾧ πᾶσαν διὰ τῆς πίστεως τὴν τοῦ ἀντικειμένου κατηγωνίσατο δύναμιν. Εὐθὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς ἑαυτὸν ἀναστήσας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πόλιν τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχων, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει τῷ Θεῷ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν συστήσασθαι· ἐπειδὴ ἔγνω πάντα τὸν χῶρον τῇ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπάτῃ κατακρατούμενον, καὶ τοῦ μὲν ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ ναὸν οὐδαμοῦ κατεσκευασμένον, πεπληρωμένην δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν περίοικον βωμῶν τε ἱερῶν καὶ ἀφιδρυμάτων· παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους ταύτην ἔχοντος τὴν σπουδὴν, ὅπως ἂν τὰ τεμένη τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ καλλωπίζοιτο, καὶ παραμένοι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ εἰδωλομανία, πομπαῖς τε καὶ τελεταῖς καὶ τοῖς ἐπιβωμίοις μιάσμασι κρατυνομένη· καθάπερ τις στρατιώτης γενναῖος τῷ κρατοῦντι τῆς παρατάξεως συμπλακεὶς, δι᾽ ἐκείνου τὸ ὑποχείριον τρέπεται· οὗτως καὶ ὁ μέγας οὗτος ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν δαιμόνων τῆς ἀριστείας ἄρχεται. Τίς δὲ ὁ τρόπος; Διερχόμενος γὰρ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχατιᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν ὁδὸν, ἑσπέρας καταλαβούσης, καὶ ὄμβρου βιαιοτέρου συνέχοντος,","t":"the cause of the living, holy fountain, holiness, the provider of sanctification; in whom is manifested God the Father, who is over all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all: a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and kingship neither divided nor estranged. There is, then, nothing created or servile in the Trinity, nor anything brought in, as if it did not exist before but entered afterwards. So neither was the Son ever lacking to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but the same Trinity is ever unchangeable and unalterable.” Whoever wishes to be convinced of this, let him hear the church in which he preached the word, among whom the very characters written by that blessed hand are preserved even now. Does this not vie, in the greatness of the grace, with those tablets made by God? I mean those tablets on which the legislation of the divine will was imprinted. For as the account says that Moses, having gone outside what appears and taken his stand in his soul within the invisible sanctuary (for this is what the darkness hints at), learned the divine mysteries and through himself led the whole people in the knowledge of God, the same dispensation can be seen in the case of this great man too. For him the mountain was nothing perceptible or earthly, but the height of his desire for true doctrines; the darkness was the sight that others could not contain; the tablet was his soul; the letters on the tablets were the voice of the one who appeared; and through all these the revelation of the mysteries came to him and to those he instructed. Since, then, he had become full of boldness and courage through that vision, just as an athlete who has acquired from his trainer experience and strength enough for the contests strips confidently for the stadium and contends with his opponents, in the same way he too, having sufficiently anointed his soul by his own practice and by the alliance of the grace that had appeared to him, takes up the contests. For one must call his whole life in the priesthood nothing other than contests and struggles, in which he overcame through faith all the power of the adversary. For he at once raised himself from his remote place and set out for the city in which he was to establish the church for God. He knew that the whole region was dominated by the deceit of demons, that nowhere had a temple of the true God been built, but that the whole city and the region around were filled with altars, sacred precincts and images, the whole nation being zealous that the precincts of the idols and the temples be adorned and that the madness for idols might remain among men, strengthened by processions and rites and the pollutions upon the altars. So, as a brave soldier who has grappled with the commander of the battle line routs his subordinates through him, this great man too begins his deeds of valour with the demons themselves. In what way? As he was travelling the road from his remote place to the city, evening overtook him and a violent downpour held them back,","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 913 (PG 46:913–914; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/913)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/915":{"o":"ἐντὸς ἱεροῦ τινος γίνεται, μετὰ τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ. Τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν ἐκεῖνο τῶν ἐπισήμων ἦν, ᾧ τις φανερά τῶν θεραπευομένων δαιμόνων ἐπιφοίτησις τοῖς νεωκόροις ἐγίνετο, μαντικῆς τινος χρησμῳδίας παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐνεργουμένης. Ὑπελθὼν δὲ τὸ ἱερὸν μετὰ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ, τὰ μὲν δαιμόνια παραχρῆμα τῇ ἐπικλήσει τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατεπτόησεν· τῷ δὲ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὸν μεμολυσμένον ταῖς κνίσσαις ἀέρα καθαγνίσας, διήγαγεν, κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες αὐτῷ, τὴν νύκτα πᾶσαν ἐν προσευχαῖς τε καὶ ὑμνῳδίαις διαγρυπνήσας, ὥστε μετασκευασθῆναι εἰς προσευχῆς οἶκον, τὸν ἐβδελυγμένον τῷ τε ἐπιβωμίῳ λύθρῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀφιδρύμασιν. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον τῆς νυκτὸς αὐτῷ διανυσθείσης, εἴχετο πάλιν κατὰ τὸν ὄρθρον τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσω πορείας. Τοῦ δὲ νεωκόρου κατὰ τὸν ὄρθρον τὴν συνήθη προσάγοντος θεραπείαν τοῖς δαίμοσιν, εἰπεῖν ἐπιφανέντα φασὶν αὐτῷ τὰ δαιμόνια, ἄβατον αὐτοῖς τὸ ἱερὸν εἶναι, διὰ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ καταμείναντα· τὸν δὲ καθαρσίοις τισὶ καὶ θυσίαις χρώμενον ἐπιχειρεῖν διὰ τούτων πάλιν εἰσοικίσαι τῷ ναῷ τὰ δαιμόνια· ὡς δὲ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ πεῖραν προσάγοντος, ἄπρακτος ἦν ἡ σπουδή, οὐδαμοῦ κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ὑπακουόντων αὐτοῦ τῶν δαιμόνων τῇ ἐπικλήσει· τότε θυμῷ καὶ ὀργῇ διαναστὰς καταλαμβάνει τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον ὁ νεωκόρος, πάντα ἀπειλῶν τὰ δεινότατα, καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν εἰσαγγέλλειν, καὶ χειρὶ κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ κεχρῆσθαι, βασιλεῖ καταμηνύειν τὴν τόλμαν, ὅτι δὴ Χριστιανὸς ὧν καὶ θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς, ἐτόλμησεν ἐντὸς τῶν ἀνακτόρων γενέσθαι· οὗ τὴν εἴσοδον ἀπεστράφθαι τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐνεργοῦσαν δύναμιν, καὶ μηκέτι ἐπιχωριάζειν τοῖς τόποις κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες τὴν μαντικὴν τῶν δαιμόνων ἐνέργειαν. Τοῦ δὲ τὸν προπετῆ καὶ ἀπαίδευτον τοῦ νεωκόρου θυμὸν ἐν ὑπερέχοντι φρονήματι καταβάλλοντος, καὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν συμμαχίαν πάσαις ἀντιπροβαλομένου ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς, καὶ λέγοντος τοσοῦτον πεποιθέναι τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ ὑπερμαχοῦντος αὐτοῦ, ὥστε κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἀπελαύνειν τε αὐτοὺς, ὅθεν ἂν βούληται, καὶ εἰσοικίζειν οἷς ἂν ἐθέλῃ τόποις, καὶ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ὧν ἔλεγεν ἤδη παρέξειν ὑπισχνουμένου, θαυμάσαντα τὸν νεωκόρον, καὶ καταπλαγέντα τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐξουσίας, ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν τούτων δεῖξαι τὴν δύναμιν, προσκαλέσασθαι, καὶ πάλιν ἐντὸς ποιῆσαι τοῦ ἱεροῦ τὰ δαιμόνια. ᾿Ακούσαντα δὲ τοῦτο τὸν μέγαν, ἀποῤῥῆξαί τι τοῦ βιβλίου τμῆμα βραχὺ, καὶ δοῦναι τοῦτο τῷ νεωκόρῳ, προστακτικήν τινα φωνὴν κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων χαράξαντα· ἦν δὲ τὰ γράμματα ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς λέξεως ταῦτα· ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ ΤΩΙ ΣΑΤΑΝΑ, ΕΙΣΕΛΘΕ. Λαβόντα δὲ τὸν νεωκόρον ἀναθεῖναι τῷ βωμῷ τὸ βιβλίον, εἶτα προσαγαγόντα τὰς συνήθεις αὐτοῖς","t":"he goes inside a certain temple with those who followed him. That temple was one of the famous ones, in which a manifest visitation of the demons worshipped there came upon the temple-wardens, as oracular prophecy was worked by them. Having entered the temple with his companions, he at once terrified the demons by calling on the name of Christ; and having purified with the sign of the cross the air defiled by the fumes of sacrifice, he spent the whole night, as was his custom, awake in prayers and hymns, so that the place abominable with the gore on the altars and with the images was transformed into a house of prayer. When the night had passed for him in this way, he resumed his journey forward at dawn. When at dawn the temple-warden was offering the customary service to the demons, the demons, they say, appeared to him and said that the temple was inaccessible to them because of the one who had stayed in it; and he tried, using certain purifications and sacrifices, to settle the demons in the temple again by these means. But since, though he applied every attempt, his zeal had no effect, the demons nowhere answering his invocation as usual, the temple-warden, roused with rage and anger, overtakes that great man, threatening all the most terrible things: to denounce him to the magistrates, to lay hands on him, to inform the emperor of his audacity, namely that, being a Christian and an enemy of the gods, he had dared to go inside the shrines; that at his entry the power working in the temples had turned away, and the oracular working of the demons no longer frequented the places as usual. But Gregory put down the temple-warden's rash and uneducated anger with a lofty mind, setting the alliance of the true God against all the threats, and saying that he trusted so much in the power of the one who fought for him that he had authority to drive them out from wherever he wished and to settle them in whatever places he wanted, and he promised to give proofs of what he said at once. The temple-warden, wondering and astonished at the greatness of the authority, called on him to show his power on these very demons and to bring the demons back into the temple. Hearing this, the great man tore off a small piece of a book and gave it to the temple-warden, having written on it a word of command against the demons. The letters, word for word, were these: “Gregory to Satan: Enter.” The temple-warden took it and laid the leaf on the altar; then, having brought the customary","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 915 (PG 46:915–916; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/915)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/917":{"o":"κνίσσας και τὰ μιάσματα, πάλιν ἰδεῖν ἅπερ ἑώρα τὸ πρότερον, πρὶν ἐξοικισθῆναι τοῦ εἰδωλείου τοὺς δαίμονας. Τούτων δὲ γεγονότων, ἔννοιαν αὐτὸν λαβεῖν τοῦ, θείαν εἶναί τινα παρὰ τῷ Γρηγορίῳ τὴν δύναμιν, δι' ἧς ἐφάνη τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπικρατέστερος καταλαβόντα δὲ κατὰ σπουδὴν πάλιν αὐτὸν, πρὶν ἐν τῇ πόλει γενέσθαι, μαθεῖν ἠξίωσε παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸ μυστήριον, καὶ τίς ὁ Θεὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων φύσιν ὑποχειρίαν ἔχων. Εἰπόντος δὲ δι᾽ ὀλίγων τοῦ μεγάλου τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον, παθεῖν τι τὸν νεωκόρον οἷον εἰκὸς τὸν τῶν θείων ἀμύητον καὶ μικρότερον οἰηθῆναι τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ ὑπολήψεως, τὸ πεισθῆναι διὰ σαρκὸς πεφῃνέναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ Θεῖον· τοῦ δὲ μὴ λόγοις εἰπόντος τὴν περὶ τούτου πίστιν κρατύνεσθαι, τοῖς δὲ τῶν γινομένων θαύμασι τὸ πιστὸν ἔχειν, ζητῆσαι ἔτι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ θαῦμα τὸν νεωκόρον ἰδεῖν, ὡς εἶθ' οὕτως προσαχθῆναι διὰ τοῦ γινομένου πρὸς τὴν τῆς πίστεως συγκατάθεσιν. Ἔνθα δὴ τὸ πάντων ἀπιστότατον λέγεται πεποιηκέναι τὸ μέγα θαῦμα τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον. Ἐπιζητοῦντος γὰρ τοῦ νεωκόρου λίθον τινὰ τῶν εὐμεγεθῶν τῶν κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῷ προφαινομένων, δίχα χειρὸς ἀνθρωπίνης κινηθῆναι, διὰ δὲ μόνης τῆς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν δυνάμεως, προστάγματι τοῦ Γρηγορίου πρὸς ἕτερον μετατεθῆναι χῶρον· μηδὲν ἀναβαλλόμενον τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον, εὐθὺς προστάξαι καθάπερ ἐμψύχῳ τῷ λίθῳ μεταβῆναι πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν τόπον, ὃν ὁ νεωκόρος ὑπέδειξεν. Τούτου δὲ γενομένου, παραχρῆμα πιστεῦσαι τῷ λόγῳ τὸν ἄνδρα· καὶ πάντα καταλιπόντα, γένος, οἰκίαν, γαμετὴν, παῖδας, φίλους, ἱερωσύνην, ἑστίαν, κτήματα, ἀντὶ πάντων τῶν προσόντων αὐτῷ ποιήσασθαι, τοῦ συνεῖναι τῷ μεγάλῳ, καὶ συμμετἐχειν τῶν πόνων αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς θείας ἐκείνης φιλοσοφίας τε καὶ παιδεύσεως. Σιγάτω πρὸς ταῦτα πᾶσα τεχνικὴ τῶν λογογράφων περίνοια τὰς ἐπαυξήσεις τῶν θαυμάτων διά τινος ῥητορείας ἐπὶ τὸ μείζον ἐξαίρουσα. Οὐ γὰρ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὸ θαῦμα, ὡς τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λέγοντος ἔλαττον ἂν ἢ μεῖζον ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι. Τί γάρ τις εἰπὼν παρὰ τὰ εἰρημένα, προσθήκην δώσει τῷ θαύματι; Πῶς δ' ἄν τις ἐλαττώσειε τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι τὴν ἔκπληξιν; Λίθος ἀφίστησι τῶν λίθων τοὺς δεδουλωμένους τοῖς λίθοις, λίθος κήρυξ τῆς θείας πίστεως, καὶ ὁδηγὸς τοῖς ἀπίστοις εἰς σωτηρίαν γίνεται, οὐ φωνῇ τινι καὶ λόγῳ τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἀνακηρύσσων, ἀλλ' οἷς ἐποίει δεικνὺς τὸν Θεὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Γρηγορίου καταγγελλόμενον· ᾧ πᾶσα κατὰ τὸ ὁμότιμον ὑποχείριος πείθεται κτίσις, οὐχ ὅσον αἰσθητικὸν μόνον καὶ ἔμπνουν, καὶ ἔμψυχον, ἀλλ᾽ εἴ τι καὶ τούτων ἐστὶν ἐκτὸς, οὕτω δέχεται τὸ τοῦ θεράποντος ἐπίταγμα, ὡς οὐκ ἀμοιροῦντα τῆς αἰσθήσεως. Ποία γὰρ ἀκοὴ τοῦ λίθου; Ποία τῆς τοῦ κελεύοντος ἐξουσίας αἴσθησις; Τίς δύναμις ἐν αὐτῷ μεταβατική; Ποία μελῶν τε καὶ ἄρθρων διασκευή; ᾿Αλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λίθῳ ἡ τοῦ κελεύοντος δύναμις γίνεται, πρὸς ἣν ἰδὼν ὁ νεωκόρος ἐκεῖνος, εὐθὺς τὴν γινομένην ἐπὶ πλάνῃ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἀπάτην τῶν δαιμόνων ἐνόησέ τε καὶ ἐβδελύξατο, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν μετετάξατο, διὰ τῶν παρὰ τοῦ δούλου γεγενη-","t":"fumes and pollutions, he saw again what he used to see before the demons were driven out of the idol-temple. When this had happened, he came to the thought that there was a divine power with Gregory, through which he had proved stronger than the demons; and overtaking him again in haste before he reached the city, he asked to learn the mystery from him, and who that God was who had the nature of the demons under his control. When the great man told him briefly the mystery of godliness, the temple-warden reacted as one uninitiated in divine things would likely react, and thought it too small for the notion of God to be persuaded that the Divine had appeared to human beings through flesh. Gregory said that faith in this is not established by words but has its credibility from the wonders that happen; and the temple-warden asked to see yet another wonder from him, so that he might then be brought through what happened to assent to the faith. Then, they say, that great man performed the great wonder, the most incredible of all. For the temple-warden asked that one of the huge stones that lay before his eyes be moved without a human hand, through the power of faith alone, and be transferred to another place at Gregory's command; that great man, without delay, at once commanded the stone, as if it were alive, to move to the place the temple-warden pointed out. When this happened, the man at once believed the word; and leaving everything, family, house, wife, children, friends, priesthood, hearth, possessions, he made being with the great man, sharing his labours and that divine philosophy and instruction, take the place of all he had. Before these things let all the technical ingenuity of speech-writers fall silent, which magnifies wonders by some rhetoric and exalts them to something greater. For the wonder in what has been told is not such as to become less or greater than itself by the power of the speaker. For what could anyone say beyond what has been said that would add to the wonder? And how could anyone lessen the hearers' amazement at what happened? A stone draws away from stones those enslaved to stones; a stone becomes a herald of divine faith and a guide to salvation for the unbelieving, proclaiming the divine power not by any voice or word, but by what it did showing the God proclaimed by Gregory, whom the whole creation obeys as subject on equal terms; not only what is sentient and breathing and living, but whatever lies outside these also receives the command of his servant as though it did not lack sensation. For what hearing has a stone? What perception of the authority of the one commanding? What power of moving is in it? What arrangement of limbs and joints? But the power of the one commanding becomes all these and such things for the stone. Looking at this, that temple-warden at once understood and loathed the deceit of the demons practised to lead human nature astray, and went over to the true God, reckoning from what was done by the servant","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 917 (PG 46:917–918; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/917)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/919":{"o":"μένων, τὸ ἄφραστον τῆς τοῦ Δεσπότου δυνάμεως λογισάμενος. Εἰ γὰρ τοσαύτη τοῦ δούλου ἡ δύναμις, ὡς ῥήματι κινεῖν τὰ ἀκίνητα, καὶ προστάγματι κεχρῆσθαι κατὰ τῶν ἀναισθήτων, καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις διακελεύεσθαι· πόσην εἰκός ἐστι περιουσίαν δυνάμεως ἐν τῷ Δεσπότῃ τοῦ παντὸς κατανοῆσαι, οὗ τὸ θέλημα, οἷόν τις ὕλη, καὶ κατασκευὴ, καὶ δύναμις αὐτοῦ τε τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ πάντων, καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦτον ὄντων, ἐγένετο! Ἐντεῦθεν ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος τῆς κατὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀριστείας ἀρξάμενος, καὶ οἷόν τι τρόπαιον κατὰ τῶν νικηθέντων τὸν νεωκόρον περιαγόμενος, προκαταπλήξας τε τῇ φήμῃ τὸ ἔθνος, οὕτως ἤδη μετὰ πεποιθήσεώς τε καὶ παρρησίας εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσήλαυνεν, οὐχ ἅρμασι καὶ ἵπποις, καὶ ἡμιόνοις, καὶ τῷ πλήθει τῶν παρεπομένων ἐπικομπάζων, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἐν κύκλῳ δορυφορούμενος, πανδημεὶ δὲ πάντων προχεθέντων τῶν οἰκητόρων τοῦ ἄστεος, ὡς ἐπί τινα καινοῦ θεάματος ἱστορίαν, καὶ πάντων ἰδεῖν προθυμουμένων, τίς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ Γρηγόριος, ὃς ἄνθρωπος ὢν τῶν νομιζομένων παρ' αὐτοῖς εἶναι θεῶν, καθάπερ τις βασιλεὺς ἐξουσίαν ἔχει, προστάγματι φέρων καὶ ἄγων, ὅπουπερ ἂν ἐθέλοι τὰ δαιμόνια, καὶ ὅθεν ἂν βούληται, πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἐξοικίζων τε καὶ ἐνοικίζων, ὥσπερ τὰ ἀνδράποδα, καὶ τὸν θεραπευτὴν ἐκεῖνον φέρει, καθάπερ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ τινὶ δουλωσάμενος, ὑπεριδόντα μὲν τῆς τιμῆς ἐν ᾗ τὸ πρότερον ἦν, τῶν δὲ προσόντων πάντων τὴν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ διαγωγὴν ἀλλαξάμενον. Τοιαύτῃ δὲ γνώμῃ πάντων προσδεχομένων αὐτὸν πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος, ἐπειδὴ κατ᾿ αὐτοὺς ἐγένετο, πάντων εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἀτενῶς ἀποβλεπόντων, καθάπερ ὕλην άψυχον παριὼν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, πρὸς οὐδένα τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων στρεφόμενος, καὶ κατ᾿ εὐθεῖαν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν βαδίζων, πολὺ μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς εἰς ἔκπληξιν ἤγαγεν, ὑπὲρ τὴν φήμην τοῖς ὁρῶσι φαινόμενος. Τὸ γὰρ πρώτως εἰσελαύνοντα πόλει μεγάλῃ, μηδεμιᾶς συνηθείας τοσαύτης προϋπαρχούσης αὐτῷ, ἔπειτα μὴ καταπλαγῆναι δῆμον τοσοῦτον ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνῳ συνειλεγμένον, ἀλλ᾽ οἷον δι' ἐρήμου βαδίζοντα, πρὸς ἑαυτὸν μόνον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὁδὸν ἀποβλέπειν, πρὸς οὐδένα τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἐπιστρεφόμενον ἠθροισμένων, τοῦτο ὑπὲρ τὴν ἐν τῷ λίθῳ θαυματοποιίαν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐδόκει. Τούτου χάριν, ὀλιγοστῶν ὄντων, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται, τῶν πρὸ τῆς ἐπιστασίας αὐτοῦ καταδεξαμένων τὴν πίστιν, ὡς πάσης τῆς πόλεως αὐτοῦ τὴν ἱερωσύνην τιμώσης, οὕτως εἰσῄει στενοχωρούμενος ἁπανταχόθεν τοῖς παραπέμπουσιν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντων ὁ ὁμοῦ εὐθὺς, ὅτε τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἤπτετο, καθάπερ τινὸς ἄχθους ἑαυτὸν ἠλευθέρωσε, καίπερ ἦν αὐτῷ τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἀναγκαίων οὐδὲν, οὐκ ἀγρὸς, οὐ τόπος, οὐκ οἰκία, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἦν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ (μᾶλλον δὲ ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ ἡ πίστις, πατρὶς αὐτῷ ἦν, καὶ ἐστία, καὶ πλοῦτος)· ὡς οὖν τῆς μὲν πόλεως ἐντὸς ἦν, οἶκος δὲ","t":"the inexpressible power of the Master. For if the servant's power is so great as to move by a word what cannot be moved, to give orders to things without sensation, and to command lifeless things, how great an abundance of power is it fitting to recognize in the Master of the universe, whose will became, as it were, the matter, the structure, and the power of the world itself and of everything in it and of the things beyond it! Beginning from this his deeds of valour against the demons, and leading the temple-warden about with him like a trophy over the vanquished, and having first struck the nation with amazement by the report, he now rode into the city with confidence and boldness, not making a show with chariots and horses and mules and a crowd of followers, but escorted all around by the virtues. The whole population of the town had poured out en masse as if to look at some new spectacle, and all were eager to see who this Gregory was who, though a man, has authority like a king over those they held to be gods, carrying and leading the demons by command wherever he wished, and evicting and settling them from wherever he wanted at his pleasure, like slaves, and who brings along that minister, as if he had enslaved him by some authority, a man who had disdained the honour in which he formerly stood and exchanged all he had for life with him. With all of them in this frame of mind and waiting for him before the town, when he came up to them, all gazing intently at him, he passed the people by as if they were lifeless matter, turning to none of those he met, and walking straight to the city, and so brought them into much greater amazement, appearing to those who saw him greater than his report. For that, entering a great city for the first time, with no previous acquaintance with so many, he should not be overawed by so great a people gathered on his account, but should look only to himself and to the road, as if walking through a desert, turning to none of those crowded around him, this seemed to the people beyond the wonder worked on the stone. For this reason, though those who had received the faith before his oversight were very few, as has been said before, he went in hemmed in on all sides by those escorting him, as though the whole city honoured his priesthood. Now from the moment he took up philosophy he had freed himself from all things together as from a burden, and he had none of the necessities of life, no field, no place, no house, but was everything to himself (or rather virtue and faith were his native land and hearth and wealth). So when he was within the city, and there was no house","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 919 (PG 46:919–920; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/919)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/921":{"o":"αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀνάπαυσιν οὐδαμοῦ, οὐ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, οὐκ ἴδιος, θορυβουμένων τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν, καὶ ὅπως ἂν καταχθείη καὶ παρὰ τίνι τὴν σκέπην εὕροι διαπορούντων· Τί ταῦτα, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ διδάσκαλος, ὥσπερ ἔξω τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σκέπης ὄντες, διαπορεῖτε, ὅπου χρὴ διαναπαῦσαι τὰ σώματα; μικρὸς ὑμῖν οἶκος εἶναι ὁ Θεὸς δοκεῖ, εἴπερ ἐν αὐτῷ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν; Ἢ στενοχωρεῖσθε τῇ οὐρανίῳ σκέπῃ, καὶ ζητεῖτε παρὰ τοῦτο καταγώγιον ἄλλο; Εἷς οἶκος ὑμῖν ἔστω διὰ σπουδῆς ὁ ἑκάστου ἴδιος, ὁ διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν οἰκοδομούμενος, καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἀνατεινόμενος. Τοῦτο λυπείτω μόνον, μὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἡμῖν οἰκητήριον ἀπαράσκευον ᾖ· αἱ γὰρ τῶν γηΐνων τοίχων περιβολαὶ τοῖς ἐν ἀρετῇ ζῶσι κέρδος οὐ φέρουσι. Μᾶλλον δ᾽ ἂν εἰκότως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν κακίᾳ μολυνομένων ἡ τῶν τοίχων χρεία σπουδάζεται· διότι προκάλυμμα πολλάκις τῶν κρυπτῶν τῆς αἰσχύνης ὁ οἶκος γίνεται. Οἷς δὲ δι᾽ ἀρετῆς ὁ βίος ἐσπούδασται, οὐκ ἔχουσιν οἱ τοῖχοι, ὅ τι περικαλύψωσιν. Ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς τοὺς συνέντας διεξιόντος, ἐπιστάς τις τῶν ἐπισήμων ἀνὴρ, γένει καὶ πλούτῳ, καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ δυναστείᾳ τοῖς πρώτοις ἐναρίθμιος ὤν· Μουσώνιος ὄνομα τῷ ἀνδρὶ· ὡς εἶδεν πολλοὺς περὶ τὴν αὐτὴν σπουδὴν προθυμουμένους, ὅπως ἂν τοῖς ἰδίοις οἴκοις τὸν ἄνδρα δέξοιντο, φθάσας τοὺς ἄλλους, ὑφαρπάζει τὴν χάριν, ἑαυτῷ παρακαλῶν ἐπιξενωθῆναι τὸν μέγαν, καὶ τιμῆσαι τῇ εἰσόδῳ τὸν οἶκον· ὡς ἂν σεμνότερός τε καὶ ἀοίδιμος τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα γένοιτο βίῳ, τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τοῖς ἐφεξῆς τὴν μνήμην τῆς τοιαύτης τιμῆς παραπέμποντος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι πολλοὶ συνδραμόντες περὶ τῶν ὁμοίων ἱκέτευον, δίκαιον εἶναι κρίνας δοῦναι τὴν χάριν τῷ προκατάρξαντι, τοὺς ἄλλους διὰ τῆς τῶν λόγων φιλοφροσύνης διασπασάμενός τε καὶ ἀντιτιμήσας, παρὰ τῷ προλαβόντι κατάγεται. Εἰ δὲ διηγηματική τίς ἐστι καὶ ἀκατάσκευος τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγων ἡ ἱστορία, τὰς ἐκ περινοίας τινὸς ἐφευρισκομένας τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐπαυξήσεις ἑκουσίως τοῦ ἡμετέρου παραλιπόντος λόγου· γένοιτο ἂν καὶ αὐτὴ τοῖς ὀρθῶς τὰ πράγματα κρίνουσιν οὐ μικρὰ μαρτυρία, τοῦ μηδὲν δι' ἐπινοίας ἐπαύξεσθαι τῷ μνημονευομένῳ τὰ θαύματα, ἀλλ᾽ ἀρκεῖν τὴν μνήμην τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτὸν πραγμάτων πρὸς τελειότατον ἔπαινον· οἷόν τι κάλλος αὐτοφυὲς ἐπὶ προσώπου, οὐδεμιᾷ περιεργίᾳ κομμωτικῆς τέχνης ἐπανθιζόμενον. Ὄντων δὲ τῶν προκατηχουμένων τὸν λόγον ἐν ὀλίγῳ τῷ ἀριθμῷ, πρὶν παρελθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ ἐν δυσμαῖς γενέσθαι τὸν ἥλιον, τοσοῦτοι παρὰ τὴν συντυχίαν προσέθεντο, ὥστε πρὸς σύστημα λαοῦ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἱκανῶς ἔχειν. Ὄρθρος, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ θύραις ὁ δῆμος, αὐτοί τε καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ παῖδες, καὶ τὸ γηραιὸν τῆς ἡλικίας, καὶ οἷς τισιν ἦν ἐκ δαιμόνων, ἢ ἐξ ἄλλης τινὸς ἐπηρείας, ἡ συμφορὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα· καὶ ἐν μέσοις ἐκεῖνος πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν συνειλεγμένων χρείαν ἁρμοδίως τῇ","t":"anywhere for him to rest, neither of the church nor his own, and those around him were troubled and at a loss how he could be lodged and with whom he could find shelter, the teacher says to them: “Why are you at a loss about this, as if you were outside God's shelter, as to where you should rest your bodies? Does God seem a small house to you, if indeed in him we live and move and are? Or are you cramped under the heavenly roof, and seek some other lodging besides it? Let your one zeal be for each person's own house, the one built up by the virtues and raised to the height. Let this alone grieve us, that such a dwelling should not be ready for us; for enclosures of earthly walls bring no gain to those who live in virtue. Rather, it would be fitting for those defiled with vice to be eager for walls, because a house often becomes a covering for hidden shame. But for those whose life has been earnestly spent in virtue, the walls have nothing to conceal.” As he was going through these things with those who were with him, one of the notable men, counted among the first in family and wealth and other power, came up (the man's name was Musonius). When he saw many eager in the same zeal to receive the man in their own houses, he got ahead of the others and seized the favour, begging the great man to be his guest and to honour his house by entering it, so that it might become more dignified and celebrated in its later life, as time passed on the memory of such an honour to later generations as well. And since many others also ran up and begged for the same, Gregory judged it just to grant the favour to the one who had begun first, put the others off and returned their honour with kind words, and lodges with the one who had come first. If the history of the things told about him is a plain narrative without adornment, our speech having willingly left aside the embellishments devised for events by some ingenuity, this itself would be no small testimony, for those who judge matters rightly, that the wonders of the one remembered are in no way magnified by invention, but that the memory of his deeds suffices for the most perfect praise, like a natural beauty in a face, made to bloom by no fussy art of cosmetics. Though those catechized in the word before were few in number, before the day had passed and the sun had set, so many joined at the encounter that the multitude of believers was enough to form a people. Dawn, and again the populace at the doors, men and women and children, and the aged, and those who had some bodily affliction from demons or some other harm; and in their midst he, fittingly for the need of each of those gathered, by the","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 921 (PG 46:921–922; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/921)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/923":{"o":"δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος μεριζόμενος, κηρύσσων, συνεξετάζων, νουθετῶν, διδάσκων, ἰώμενος. Τούτῳ γὰρ δὴ μάλιστα προσήγετο τοὺς πολλοὺς τῷ κηρύγματι, ὅτι συνέβαινεν ἡ ὄψις τῇ ἀκοῇ, καὶ δι᾽ ἀμφοτέρων τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἐπέλαμπεν αὐτῷ τὰ γνωρίσματα. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀκοὴν ὁ λόγος, τὰς δὲ ὄψεις τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας ἐξέπληττε θαύματα. Ὁ πενθῶν παρεκαλεῖτο· ὁ νέος ἐσωφρονίζετο· ὁ γηραιὸς τοῖς καθήκουσι λόγοις ἐθεραπεύετο. Δοῦλοι πρὸς δεσπότας οἰκείως ἔχειν, οἱ κρατοῦντες τοῖς ὑποχειρίοις φιλανθρωπεύεσθαι, ὁ πενόμενος ἕνα πλοῦτον εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐδιδάσκετο, ἥτις πᾶσι πρόκειται κατ' ἐξουσίαν ἡ κτῆσις, ὁ τῷ πλούτῳ κομῶν καταλλήλως ἐνουθετεῖτο, οἰκονόμος εἶναι τῶν προσόντων, οὐ κύριος διδασκόμενος. Γυναιξὶ τὰ πρόσφορα, παισὶ τὰ σύμμετρα, πατράσι τὰ πρέποντα νέμων, καὶ πάντα πᾶσι γενόμενος, τοσοῦτον ἑαυτῷ λαὸν ἀθρόως τῇ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος παρεστήσατο, ὥστε πρὸς ναοῦ κατασκευὴν ὁρμῆσαι, πάντων χρήμασί τε καὶ σώμασι πρὸς τὴν σπουδὴν ὑπουργούντων. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ναὸς, οὗ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐκεῖνος τῆς κατασκευῆς κατεβάλετο· ἐπεκαλλώπισε δε τις τῶν μετ᾿ ἐκεῖνον, ἐκείνου ἀξίως· ὁ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος δεικνύμενος, ὃν ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος εὐθὺς ἐπιστὰς, οἷόν τινα θεμέλιον καὶ κρηπίδα τῆς ἰδίας ἱερωσύνης τῷ περιφανεστάτῳ τῆς πόλεως ἐναπέθετο, θείᾳ τινὶ δυνάμει τελειώσας τὸ ἔργον, ὡς τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα μαρτυρεῖται χρόνῳ. Σεισμοῦ γάρ ποτε βαρυτάτου τῇ πόλει ἐν τοῖς καθ ἡμᾶς χρόνοις γεγενημένου, καὶ πάντων μικροῦ δεῖν ἄρδην ἀπολωλότων, τῶν τε δημοσίων καὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν οἰκοδομημάτων ἁπάντων ἐρειπιωθέντων καὶ ἐρημωθέντων, μόνος ἔμεινεν ὁ ναὸς ἐκεῖνος ἀῤῥαγής τε καὶ ἄσειστος, ὡς καὶ διὰ τούτου φανερὸν εἶναι, καὶ μεθ' οἷας δυνάμεως ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτὸν πραγμάτων ἀντελαμβάνετο. ᾿Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πολλοῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου πίστεως παρὰ τῆς θείας ἀπεδείχθη δυνάμεως. Τότε δὲ τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς θαύμασι τῶν τε κατὰ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν περίοικον ἁπάντων ἐκπεπληγμένων, καὶ πᾶν τὸ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενόν τε καὶ γινόμενον, θείᾳ δυνάμει πράττεσθαί τε καὶ λέγεσθαι πεπιστευκότων, οὐδὲ τῶν βιωτικῶν ἀμφισβητημάτων, ἄλλο τι δικαστήριον ᾤοντο εἶναι αὐτοῖς κυριώτερον, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα κρίσις καὶ πᾶσα δυσδιεξόδευτος πραγμάτων πλοκὴ ταῖς ἐκείνου συμβουλίαις διελύετο. Ὅθεν εὐνομία τε καὶ εἰρήνη κοινῇ τε καὶ πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς καθ᾿ ἕκαστον διὰ τῆς ἐκείνου χαρίτος ἦν, καὶ πολλὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἡ ἐπίδοσις, ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ κοινῇ, μηδεμιᾶς κακίας τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμόνοιαν ἐπικοπτούσης. Οὐκ ἄκαιρον δ᾽ ἂν ἴσως εἴη, μιᾶς αὐτοῦ κρίσεως μνήμην ποιήσασθαι· ὡς ἂν, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, ὅλον ἡμῖν γένηται καταφανὲς ἐκ τοῦ κρασπέδου τὸ ὕφασμα. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ θεία Γραφή, πολλὰς τοῦ Σολομῶντος κρίσεις τοῖς ὑπηκόοις δικάσαν-","t":"power of the Spirit divided himself: preaching, examining together, admonishing, teaching, healing. For he drew the many to the preaching above all by this, that sight agreed with hearing, and through both the signs of the divine power shone out in him. For the word astonished their hearing, and the wonders done for the sick astonished their sight. The mourner was comforted; the young man was brought to self-restraint; the old man was cared for with fitting words. Slaves were taught to be well disposed to their masters, those in power to be kind to their subjects; the poor man was taught that virtue is the one wealth, whose possession lies open to all at will; the man who prided himself on his wealth was admonished as befitted him, being taught that he is the steward of what he has, not its lord. Distributing to women what was suitable, to children what was proportionate, to fathers what was fitting, and becoming all things to all, he soon gained for himself so great a people, by the co-operation of the Spirit, that he set about building a church, all serving the work with their money and their bodies. This is the church whose building he began; one of those after him adorned it worthily of him; it is shown to this day. That great man, as soon as he took office, laid it down in the most conspicuous part of the city as a kind of foundation and base for his own priesthood, and he completed the work by a divine power, as later time bears witness. For once, in our own times, when a very severe earthquake struck the city, and almost everything was utterly destroyed, all the public and private buildings being thrown down and laid waste, that church alone remained unbroken and unshaken, so that through this too it is plain with what power that great man took hold of the affairs of his time. But these things were shown by the divine power many years later as a testimony to the great man's faith. At that time, when everyone in the city and the region around was astonished at his apostolic wonders, and believed that everything he said and did was said and done by divine power, they thought that no other court had more authority for them even in the disputes of daily life, but every case and every tangle of affairs hard to unravel was resolved by his counsels. So good order and peace were present, in common for all and for each individual, through his grace, and there was much increase of good things, privately and publicly, with no vice cutting into their concord with one another. It would perhaps not be out of place to mention one of his judgments, so that, as the proverb says, the whole fabric may become plain to us from its fringe. For the divine Scripture too, though Solomon gave many judgments to his subjects,","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 923 (PG 46:923–924; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/923)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/925":{"o":"τος, ἠρκέσθη διὰ μιᾶς πᾶσαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς παραστῆσαι τὴν σύνεσιν. Ὅτε ταῖς δύο μητράσι δικάζων, ἐπειδὴ ἀνεξέλεγκτον ἦν τὸ ἀδίκημα, κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἑκατέρας αὐτῶν, τὸ μὲν τεθνηκὸς παιδίον οὐ προσιεμένης, τοῦ δὲ περιόντος ἀντεχομένης, ἔγνω δι' ἐπινοίας ἀνιχνεῦσαι τὴν κεκρυμμένην ἀλήθειαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀμάρτυρον ἦν τὸ ἀδίκημα, καὶ ἰσοστάσιος ἐφ᾿ ἑκατέρων ἥ τε τοῦ ψεύδους καὶ ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας ὑπόνοια, τὴν φύσιν εἰς μαρτυρίαν τῆς ἀληθείας ἑαυτῷ παρεστήσατο, διὰ τῆς σεσοφισμένης ἀπειλῆς τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς διανοίας ἐπικρυψάμενος. Προστάξας γὰρ δῆθεν τοῦ τε περιόντος καὶ τοῦ τεθνηκότος τὸ σῶμα κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ξίφει διατμηθέντων ἀμφοτέραις προσνεμηθῆναι τὰ τῶν τέκνων ἡμίτομα, παρέδωκε τῇ φύσει τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ πράγματος. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ μὲν ἀσμένως τὸ προστεταγμένον ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὸν δήμιον ἤπειγεν· ἡ δὲ συγκινηθεῖσα τοῖς μητρώοις σπλάγχνοις, ἡττῆσθαι διωμολόγει, φείσασθαι τοῦ τέκνου παρακαλοῦσα (χάριν γὰρ εἶχεν, εἰ ὁπωσοῦν τὸ νήπιον σώζοιτο), τοῦτο κριτήριον τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ βασιλεὺς ποιησάμενος, τῇ κατὰ τὸ ἑκούσιον τὴν νικῶσαν ψῆφον χαρίζεται, λογισάμενος ὅτι ἡ ἀφειδοῦσα τῆς τοῦ τέκνου σφαγῆς κατηγορεῖται παρὰ τῆς φύσεως, καὶ ὡς οὐκ οὖσα μήτηρ ἐκείνου, οὗ κατεπείγει τὸν θάνατον. Τίνα τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς κρίσιν τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου διηγησόμεθα Δύο τινὲς ἀδελφοὶ, νέοι τὴν ἡλικίαν, ἄρτι τὸν πατρῷον ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διελόμενοι κλῆρον, λίμνης ἀντεποιοῦντο μιᾶς, πᾶσαν ἔχειν φιλονεικοῦντες ἑκάτερος, καὶ οὐ παραδεχόμενος τὸν ἄλλον ὁ ἕτερος εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς κτήσεως. Γίνεται οὖν τῆς δίκης κύριος ὁ διδάσκαλος. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν τόπον γενόμενος, τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτοῦ νόμοις ἐκέχρητο πρὸς τὴν δίαιταν, εἰς καταλλαγὰς ἄγων, καὶ συμβῆναι παρακαλῶν διὰ φιλίας τοὺς νέους, καὶ τὸ τῆς εἰρήνης κέρδος προτιμότερον τῶν ἐκ τῆς προσόδου ποιήσασθαι. Τὴν μὲν γὰρ εἰς ἀεὶ παραμένειν καὶ ζῶσι καὶ τελευτήσασιν· τῶν δὲ πρόσκαιρον μὲν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν, αἰωνίαν δὲ τῇ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀδικίᾳ κατάκρισιν ἔχει, καὶ ὅσα εἰκὸς ἦν ἐκεῖνον λέγειν, καταστέλλοντα τὸ ἀτακτοῦν τῆς νεότητος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄπρακτος ἦν ἡ παράκλησις, καὶ ἡ νεότης ἐφλέγμαινεν, καὶ εἰς θυμὸν ἐξεκαίετο πλείονι τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ κέρδους περιοιδαίνουσα, καὶ στρατὸς έκατέρωθεν ἐκ τῶν ὑποχειρίων παρεσκευάζετο, πολυχειρία φονῶσα θυμῷ καὶ νεότητι στρατηγουμένη, καὶ ὥριστο τῆς συμπλοκῆς ὁ καιρός· μελλούσης δὲ κατὰ τὴν ὑστεραίαν τῆς μάχης ἐξ ἑκατέρων συῤῥήγνυσθαι, παραμείνας ταῖς ὄχθαις τῆς λίμνης ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ διακαρτερήσας ἐν ἀγρυπνίᾳ τὴν νύκτα, Μωσαϊκήν τινα θαυματουργίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἔδειξεν· οὐ πληγῇ ῥάβδου πρὸς δύο τμήματα τὸν βυθὸν διασχίσας, ἀλλ᾽ εὐχῇ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν ἀθρόως άπο-","t":"was content to present the man's whole understanding through one. When he was judging between the two mothers, since the wrong could not be proved, each of them alike refusing the dead child and laying hold of the living one, he resolved to track down the hidden truth by an ingenious device. For since the wrong had no witness, and the suspicion of falsehood and of truth weighed equally on both, he brought in nature as his witness to the truth, concealing the aim of his intent by a clever threat. For by ordering, as it seemed, that the bodies of both the living and the dead child be cut in two equally with a sword and the halves of the children be assigned to both women, he handed over the judgment of the matter to nature, the witness of truth. For when the one gladly accepted the order and urged on the executioner, while the other, moved in her motherly heart, admitted defeat and begged that the child be spared (for she would be grateful if the infant were saved in any way at all), the king made this the test of truth and grants the winning vote to the one who had willingly given way, reasoning that the woman who did not shrink from the slaughter of the child stands accused by nature of not being the mother of the one whose death she was hastening. What judgment of the great Gregory, then, shall we recount? Two brothers, young in years, who had just divided their father's inheritance between themselves, laid claim to one lake, each contending to have all of it, and neither admitting the other to a share in the property. The teacher, then, becomes the arbiter of the case. Going to the place, he used his own laws for the arbitration, leading them to reconciliation, urging the young men to come to terms in friendship and to value the gain of peace above the gains of revenue. For peace, he said, remains for ever, for the living and the dead; but the enjoyment of revenues is temporary, while the condemnation for injustice is eternal; and he said whatever else he was likely to say to calm the disorder of youth. But when the exhortation had no effect, and youth was inflamed and burned up into anger, swelling with greater hope of gain, and an army was being prepared on each side from those under their control, a mass of hands thirsting for blood, led by anger and youth, and the time of the clash had been fixed, the battle being about to break out from both sides on the next day, the man of God remained on the banks of the lake and, persevering through the night in vigil, showed a wonder like that of Moses upon the water: not splitting the depths into two parts with a stroke of a rod, but by prayer drying it all up at once,","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 925 (PG 46:925–926; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/925)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/927":{"o":"χερσώσας, ἤπειρον ἔδειξεν τῷ ὄρθρῳ τὴν λίμνην, ξηράν τε καὶ ἄνικμον, ὡς μηδὲ ἐν τοῖς κοίλοις ἔχειν τι τοῦ ὕδατος λείψανον, τὴν πρὸ τῆς εὐχῆς πελαγίζουσαν. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ταῦτα τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει δικάσας, πάλιν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεχώρει· τοῖς δὲ νέοις ἡ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἀπόφασις τὴν φιλονεικίαν διέλυσεν. Μὴ γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ ὑπὲρ οὗ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων ἐξήρτυον πόλεμον, εἰρήνη τὸν θυμὸν διεδέξατο, καὶ πάλιν ἑαυτὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἡ φύσις ἐγνώρισε. Καὶ νῦν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τῆς θείας ἐκείνης ἀποφάσεως ἐναργῆ τὰ σημεῖα. Κύκλῳ γὰρ τῆς ποτε λίμνης ἴχνη τινὰ τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπικλύσεως εἰς ἔτι καὶ νῦν διασώζεται. Τὸ δ' ὅσον βύθιον ἦν τότε καὶ ἐν τῷ πυθμένι τοῦ ὕδατος, ἅπαν μετεσκευάσθη εἰς ἄλση, καὶ οἴκησιν καὶ λειμῶνας, καὶ ἄροσιν. Ταύτης οἶμαι τῆς δίκης μηδ' ἂν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ὀνομαστὸν Σολομῶντα, τῶν πρωτείων ἀμφισβητῆσαι. Τί γὰρ τοσοῦτον εἰς ἀρετὴν, ἀποσῶσαι τὸ τῶν μητρῴων δύο μαζῶν βρέφος ἐνυπομάζιον, ᾧ τὸ ἴσον ἦν πάντως εἰς σωτηρίαν, εἴτε παρὰ τῆς γεννησαμένης, εἴτε καὶ παρὰ τῆς ἑτέρας ἑαυτῷ τὰ τῆς ἀνατροφῆς ἐσπουδάζετο, ἢ δύο νεανίας βραβεῦσαι τὴν σωτηρίαν; οἳ νῦν ἐπὶ τὰ τοῦ βίου πράγματα παρελθόντες, ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς νεότητος, κατ᾿ αὐτὸ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ ἄνθος τοῦ θυμοῦ πρὸς τὸν κατ' ἀλλήλων φόνον αὐτοῖς παροιστρήσαντος, ἔμελλον θέαμα πικρὸν τοῖς τότε μετ᾿ ὀλίγον ἐπιδειχθήσεσθαι, κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων τὰς χεῖρας ὁπλίσαντες, ἐφ ὧν ἐλπὶς ἦν, ἢ ἀμφοτέρους ὑπ' ἀλλήλων φθαρήσεσθαι, ἢ τὸν ἕνα γενέσθαι πάντως ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀδελφοκτονίας μιάσματι ἵνα παρῶμαι τοὺς ἑκατέροις τούτων συμπαρατασσομένους ἐν τῷ ἴσῳ θυμῷ, οἷς εἷς ὅρος τῆς κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων ὁρμῆς, ὁ τῶν ἀντιτεταγμένων θάνατος ἦν. Ὁ τοίνυν ἤδη κατ᾿ αὐτῶν κυρωθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ πονηροῦ στρατηγίας τὴν τοῦ θανάτου ψῆφον διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς ἀναλύσας, καὶ τὴν φύσιν πάλιν πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καταλλάξας, καὶ μεταβαλὼν εἰς εἰρηνικὰς εὐφροσύνας τὴν περὶ τοὺς φόνους σπουδήν πόσῳ μᾶλλον εἰκότως ἐπὶ τῇ κρίσει θαυμάζοιτο παρὰ τὸν τὴν κακουργίαν τῆς ἑταιρίδος φωράσαντα; Τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῷ ὕδατι θαῦμα, πῶς ἀθρόως εἰς χέρσον μετεσκευάσθη τὸ πλώϊμον, καὶ πεδίον ἐγένετο, καὶ κοῖλον ἡ λίμνη, καὶ πῶς ἡ ἀντὶ θαλάσσης οὖσα τῷ τόπῳ τὸ πρότερον, νῦν πρὸς καρπῶν ἄνεισι φορὰν, τοῦτο σιγᾷν οἶμαι καλῶς ἔχειν μᾶλλον, ἢ διεξιέναι τῷ λόγῳ, μὴ δυναμένῳ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν συνεπαρθῆναι τῷ διηγήματι. Τί γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἐν τοῖς ἀναγράπτοις θαύμασι μεμαθήκαμεν, ὡς δύνασθαι εἰς ἴσον ἐλθεῖν τούτῳ διὰ συγκρίσεως; Ἔστησεν ὁ τοῦ Ναυὴ Ἰησοῦς τὸ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ῥεῖθρον· ἀλλ᾿ ἕως ἡ κιβωτὸς ἦν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι. Περαιωθέντος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τῆς κιβωτοῦ διελθούσης, ἀπέδωκε πάλιν τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὸ σύνηθες. Γυμνοῦται τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν τῷ Ἐρυθραίῳ πελάγει τὸ τοῦ βυθοῦ ὑποκείμενον, ἀπωσθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπὶ τὰ πλάγια τῆς θαλάσσης· ἀλλὰ ὁ χρόνος τοῦ θαύματος ἦν ἡ τοῦ στρατοῦ πάροδος, ἡ διὰ τοῦ ξηροῦ κατὰ τὸν","t":"and at dawn he showed the lake as dry land, dry and without moisture, so that it held no remnant of water even in its hollows, though before the prayer it had been like a sea. Having judged these things by the divine power, he withdrew again to himself; and for the young men the verdict given by deeds dissolved their quarrel. For since the thing over which they were preparing war against each other no longer existed, peace took the place of anger, and nature recognized itself again in the brothers. And even now one can see clear signs of that divine verdict. For around what was once the lake some traces of the flooding of the water are still preserved to this day; but all that was then deep and at the bottom of the water has been changed into groves and dwellings and meadows and ploughland. In this judgment, I think, not even that famous Solomon himself would dispute the first prize. For what is so great in virtue, to save the baby at the breast between two mothers, for whom it was quite the same with respect to survival whether it was nursed by the one who bore it or by the other, as to award safety to two young men? They had just entered on the affairs of life, in the prime of youth; at the very flower of their age their anger had driven them mad toward murdering each other, and they were shortly to present a bitter sight to the people of that time, arming their hands against each other, in a case where the expectation was either that both would be destroyed by each other or that one would certainly come into the pollution of fratricide, to pass over those ranged on each side with equal anger, for whom the only limit to their onslaught against each other was the death of their opponents. He, then, who by his prayer annulled the sentence of death already ratified against them by the generalship of the evil one, and reconciled nature to itself again, and changed their zeal for slaughter into the joys of peace, how much more fittingly would he be admired for his judgment than the one who detected the harlot's wickedness? As for the wonder at the water, how a navigable place was at once changed into dry ground, and the lake became a plain and a hollow, and how what was formerly in place of a sea now yields a harvest of fruits, I think it better to be silent about this than to go through it in a speech unable to rise worthily with the story. For what such thing have we learned among the recorded wonders that could come to equal this by comparison? Joshua the son of Nun stopped the stream of the Jordan, but only while the ark was in the water; when the people had crossed and the ark had passed through, he gave back to the stream its usual course. In the Red Sea the bed of the depths is laid bare of water, the sea being pushed aside by the wind; but the time of the wonder was the passage of the army, made on dry land along the","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 927 (PG 46:927–928; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/927)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/929":{"o":"βυθὸν γενομένη. Μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν μία τοῦ ὕδατος ἡ ἐπιφάνεια γίνεται· καὶ τὸ πρὸς ὀλίγον διαιρεθέν συνεκλύσθη. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸ ἅπαξ γενόμενον ἔμεινεν οἷον ἐγένετο, ὡς μὴ ἀπιστεῖσθαι τῷ χρόνῳ τὸ θαῦμα, διὰ τῶν φαινομένων εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς μαρτυρούμενον. Τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ τὴν λίμνην λεγόμενά τε καὶ δεικνύμενα τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον. Ἕτερον δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο θαῦμα τοιοῦτον παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ δείκνυταί τε καὶ μνημονεύεται. Ποταμός τις παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς διαῤῥεῖ τὸν χῶρον, αὐτῷ τῷ ὀνόματι τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνήμερον ἐπισημαίνων τοῦ ῥεύματος Λύκος γὰρ, διὰ τὸ βλαπτικὸν εἶναι, παρὰ τῶν προσοικούντων ἐπονομάζεται. Οὕτως πολὺς μὲν καὶ ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν καταφέρεται τῆς ᾿Αρμενίας, τῆς χώρας αὐτῷ διὰ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ὁρῶν δαψιλὲς ἐπιχορηγούσης τὸ ῥεῖθρον. Κοῖλος δὲ πανταχοῦ τὰς ὑπωρείας τῶν κρημνῶν ὑποῤῥέων πολὺ μᾶλλον ταῖς χειμερίαις χαράδραις ἀποτραχύνεται, πάσας εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὁρῶν συῤῥοίας ὑπολαμβάνων. Ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑπτίῳ τῆς χώρας, δι' ἧς διεξέρχεται, πολλάκις ταῖς ἐκατέρωθεν κρηπῖσι στενοχωρούμενος, κατά τι μέρος ὑπερχεῖται τῆς ὄχθης, κατὰ τὸ πλάγιον, ἅπαν ἐπικλύζων τῷ ῥείθρῳ τὸ ὑπερκείμενον· ὥστε συνεχεῖς κατὰ τὸ ἀπροσδόκητον τοῖς παροικοῦσι τῷ τόπῳ τοὺς κινδύνους ἐπάγεσθαι, ἀωρὶ τῶν νυκτῶν ἢ καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν πολλάκις τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῖς ἀγροῖς ἐπεμβαίνοντος. Ὅθεν οὐ φυτὰ μόνον καὶ σπέρματα καὶ βοσκήματα τῇ τῶν ὑδάτων φορᾷ διεφθείρετο, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῶν ἤπτετο τῶν οἰκητόρων ὁ κίνδυνος, ἀπροόπτως ἐν τῇ ἐπικλύσει τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν ταῖς οἰκίαις ναυαγούντων. Τῶν τοίνυν προκατορθωθέντων τῷ μεγάλῳ θαυμάτων εἰς ἄπαν διαπεφοιτηκότων τὸ ἔθνος, ἀναστάντες οἱ κατὰ τὸ μέρος ἐκεῖνο τῷ ποταμῷ προσοικοῦντες, ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ παῖδες πανδημεὶ πάντες ἱκέται τοῦ μεγάλου γίνονται, δεόμενοι λύσιν αὐτοῖς τινα τῶν κακῶν ἐξ ἀνελπίστων πορίσασθαι. Ἅπαντα γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν Θεὸν ἔλεγε δύνασθαι, ὅσα ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἐπινοίαις καὶ διανοίαις ἐστὶν ἀμήχανα. Μηδὲν γὰρ τῶν εἰς βουλήν τε καὶ δύναμιν ἀνθρωπίνην ἠκόντων παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐλλειφθῆναι, λίθοις καὶ χώμασι, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τῶν κακῶν εἴωθεν ἐπινοεῖσθαι, πάντα πεποιηκότων, καὶ ἀντισχεῖν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ μὴ δυνηθέντων φοράν. Καὶ ὡς ἂν μάλιστα παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐναχθείη πρὸς ἔλεον, αὐτόπτην ἠξίουν γενέσθαι τῆς συμφορᾶς, καὶ μαθεῖν ὡς οὔτε δυνατῶς εἶχον μεταθεῖναι τὴν οἴκησιν, καὶ ὅτι πάντοτε αὐτοῖς ὁ θάνατος ἐπὶ τῇ ὁρμῇ κεῖται τοῦ ὕδατος. Γενόμενος τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν τόπον (οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὅκνος αὐτῷ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν σπουδὴν διεκώλυεν)· οὔτε ὀχήματος, οὔτε ἵππων, οὔτε ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν διαγαγεῖν αὐτὸν δυναμένων προσδεηθεὶς, ἀλλὰ βακτηρίᾳ τινὶ στηριζόμενος, πᾶσαν διήνυσε τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ ἅμα προσφιλοσοφῶν τοῖς τῆς ὁδοῦ κοινωνοῦσιν αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας ἐλπίδος, ἐν οἷς ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ προηγούμενον διατρίβων, τὰ ἄλλα πάρεργα τῆς προτιμοτέρας ἐποιεῖτο σπουδῆς· ὡς οὖν ὑπεδείχθη παρά τε τῶν προκαθηγησαμένων ἡ τοῦ ῥείθρου παρατροπὴ, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ φαινόμενον τὴν συμφορὰν διεμήνυεν, εἰς βαθείαν χαραδρωθέντος τοῦ τόπου φαράγγα διὰ τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων ἐμπτώσεως ταῦτά φησι πρὸς τοὺς","t":"depths. After that, the surface of the water becomes one again, and what had been divided for a short time flowed together. But here what was once done remained as it was done, so that the wonder is not disbelieved because of time, being attested for ever by what can be seen. Such, then, is what is told and shown about the lake. After this another wonder of the same kind is shown and remembered from him. A river flows through their region, which signals the roughness and wildness of its stream by its very name: it is called the Lycus, the “Wolf,” by those who live near it, because it is destructive. It comes down already large from its springs in Armenia, the country supplying it with an abundant stream from the mountains above. Flowing deep everywhere beneath the foot of the cliffs, it is made much rougher by the winter torrents, taking into itself all the streams that flow together from the mountains. In the flat part of the country through which it passes, often hemmed in by the banks on either side, it overflows the bank at some point on the side and floods everything beyond with its stream, so that it continually brings unexpected dangers upon those who live by the place, the river often invading the fields at dead of night or even by day. As a result, not only plants and seeds and cattle were destroyed by the rush of the waters, but the danger touched the inhabitants themselves, who were shipwrecked in their houses without warning in the flooding of the water. Since the wonders already achieved by the great man had spread through the whole nation, those who lived by the river in that district rose up, men and women and children, the whole population, and became suppliants of the great man, begging him to provide them some deliverance from their troubles beyond hope. For they said that God in him could do all things that are impossible to human devices and thoughts. For they had left out nothing that lay within human counsel and power, having tried everything, stones and embankments and whatever else is usually devised against such evils, and had been unable to hold out against the force of the evil. And so that he might above all be moved by them to pity, they asked him to become an eyewitness of the disaster, and to learn that they were not able to move their dwelling, and that death always lay before them at the onrush of the water. When he came to the place (for no reluctance hindered his zeal for the good), needing neither carriage nor horses nor anything else that could carry him, but leaning on a staff, he travelled the whole road, discoursing at the same time on philosophy with those who shared the road with him about the higher hope, in which he always spent his time as his chief concern, making everything else secondary to the more important pursuit. So when the turning of the stream was pointed out to him by those who had led the way, and the very sight declared the disaster, the place having been gouged into a deep ravine by the onrush of the waters, he says this to","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 929 (PG 46:929–930; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/929)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/931":{"o":"συνειλεγμένους· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπων, ἀδελφοὶ, τὸ διαλαμβάνειν ὄροις τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν μόνης τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἔργον τὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἐντὸς ὅρων κατακλείειν τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων φοράν. Οὕτως γάρ φησι πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὁ Προφήτης ὅτι \"Ὅριον ἔθου, ὃ οὐ παρελεύσεται. Μόνῳ τῷ Δεσπότῃ τῆς κτίσεως Χριστῷ ἡ τῶν στοιχείων φύσις ἐστὶν ὑποχείριος, ἐν οἷς ἂν ταχθῇ τόποις, εἰς τὸ διηνεκές παραμένουσα Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ὁ Θεός ἐστιν ὁ νομοθετῶν τοὺς ὅρους τοῖς ὕδασι, μόνος ἂν ἐκεῖνος τῇ ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ τούτου τὴν ἀταξίαν πεδήσειεν. Εἶπεν, καὶ οἷον ἔνθους ἐξ ἐπινοίας θειοτέρας γενόμενος, καὶ μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ τὸν Χριστὸν αὐτῷ σύμμαχον πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον ἐλθεῖν ἐπευξάμενος, καταπήγνυσι τὴν βακτηρίαν, ἣν διὰ χειρὸς ἔφερεν, κατὰ τὸν διεφθορότα τόπον τῆς ὄχθης. Διάβροχος δὲ οὖσα κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνο ἡ γῆ καὶ σομφώδης, ῥᾳδίως ὑπενόστησε κατὰ τὸ βάθος, τῷ τε βάρει τῆς βακτηρίας ἅμα καὶ τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ πηγνύντος ὑπείξασα. Εἶτα τοῦτο καθάπερ τι κλεῖθρον γενέσθαι καὶ κώλυμα τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀταξίας τῷ Θεῷ ἐπευξάμενος, πάλιν ὑπέστρεφεν, ἔργῳ δείξας ὅτι πᾶν τὸ παρ' ἐκείνου γινόμενον ὑπὸ θείας ἐνηργεῖτο δυνάμεως. Εὐθὺς γὰρ οὐ μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον ἡ μὲν βακτηρία, ταῖς ὄχθαις ἐῤῥιζωθεῖσα, δένδρον ἐγένετο. Τῷ δὲ ῥείθρῳ τὸ φυτὸν ὅρος ἐπάγη, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τοῖς ἐπιχωρίοις θέαμά τε καὶ διήγημα γίνεται τὸ φυτόν. Ὅταν γὰρ ἐξ ἐπομβρίας χειμάῤῥων ὁ Λύκος ἐκεῖνος πλημμυρῶν κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες καὶ τραχυνόμενος φέρηται, φοβερὸς ἐπικαχλάζων τῷ ῥεύματι, τότε περὶ τὸν πυθμένα τοῦ δένδρου κατὰ τὸ ἄκρον ἐπιφαύσας τῷ ὕδατι, πάλιν ὀγκωθεὶς κατὰ τὸ μέσον συστέλλει τὸ ῥεῖθρον, καὶ οἷον φοβούμενος ἐμπελάσαι τῷ δένδρῳ, κυρτῷ τῷ κύματι παραμείβει τὸν χῶρον. Τοιαύτη τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου ἡ δύναμις, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν ἐκείνῳ τὰ θαύματα. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὑποχειρία τις οὖσα τῶν στοιχείων ἡ φύσις ἐδείκνυτο πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἀλλασσομένη τοῖς ἐπιτάγμασιν, ὥστε λίμνην μὲν εἰς πυροφόρον χώραν μετατεθῆναι, τὰς δὲ χαράδρας τοῦ ὕδατος οἰκισθῆναι, τῆς βακτηρίας ᾠκειωμένης τὸ ἀσφαλὲς τοῖς οἰκήτορσιν. Ὄνομα δὲ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἐστι τῷ δένδρῳ, ἡ βακτηρία, μνημόσυνον τῆς Γρηγορίου χάριτος καὶ δυνάμεως τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις ἐν παντὶ τῷ χρόνῳ σωζόμενον. Τί βούλει τούτοις τῶν προφητικῶν θαυμάτων ἀντιπαρατεθῆναι διὰ συγκρίσεως; Εἴπω τὴν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου τομὴν, ἣν τῇ πληγῇ τῆς μηλωτῆς ὁ Ἠλίας πρὸ τῆς ἀνόδου πεποίηται, καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν Ἐλισσαῖος ὁ κληρονόμος τῆς μηλωτῆς καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ᾿Αλλ' ἐπὶ τούτων, μόνοις τοῖς προφήταις ἐπὶ τοῦ καιροῦ τῆς χρείας σχισθέντος τοῦ ὕδατος, διὰ τοῦ","t":"those gathered: “It is not for human beings, brothers, to bound the movement of water with limits; such a thing is the work of the divine power alone, to shut in the rush of the waters within limits. For so the prophet says to God: ‘You set a boundary which it will not pass.’ The nature of the elements is subject to Christ alone, the Master of creation, and remains for ever in whatever places it is assigned. Since, then, God is the one who lays down laws of limits for the waters, he alone by his own power could fetter the disorder of this river too.” He spoke; and as if inspired by a more divine thought, he prayed in a loud voice that Christ would come as his ally for the task before him, and fixed the staff he carried in his hand in the damaged place of the bank. The ground there, being soaked and spongy, easily gave way into the depth, yielding to the weight of the staff and the hand of the one fixing it. Then, having prayed to God that this might become a kind of bar and barrier against the disorder of the waters, he went back again, showing by the deed that everything done by him was worked by divine power. For soon afterwards the staff, having taken root in the banks, became a tree; and the plant was set as a boundary to the stream, and to this day the plant is a sight and a story for the local people. For whenever that Lycus, swollen into a torrent by heavy rain, rushes along flooding and roughened as usual, fearsome as it roars in its current, then, having touched the foot of the tree with the edge of its water, it swells up again in the middle and draws its stream together, and as if afraid to come near the tree it passes the place by with an arched wave. Such was the power of the great Gregory, or rather of God who worked the wonders in him. For the nature of the elements was shown to be like a subject, changing at his commands as he saw fit, so that a lake was changed into wheat-bearing land, and the ravines of the water were inhabited, the staff having secured safety for the inhabitants. To this day the tree is called “the Staff,” a memorial of Gregory's grace and power preserved for the local people for all time. Which of the prophets' wonders do you wish to set beside these by comparison? Shall I mention the dividing of the Jordan, which Elijah made by striking it with his mantle before his ascent, and after him Elisha, the heir of the mantle and the spirit? But in their case the water was split for the prophets alone at the time of need, and through the","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 931 (PG 46:931–932; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/931)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/933":{"o":"ῥεύματος διαβατὸς ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐγένετο, τοσοῦτον διασχὼν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ ῥεῖθρον, ὅσον τοῖς ποσὶ παρασχεῖν τῶν προφητῶν διὰ ξηροῦ τοῦ πυθμένος ἐνδιοδεῦσαι, τῷ δὲ ἐφεξῆς χρόνῳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοιοῦτος ἦν, οἷος καὶ πρόσθεν ἦν. Λύκος ἐκεῖνος ἅπαξ ἀπωσθεὶς τῆς ἀτάκτου φορᾶς, εἰς τὸ ἀεὶ τὸ θαῦμα τοῦ Γρηγορίου ποιεῖ, παντὶ τῷ ἐφεξῆς χρόνῳ τοιοῦτος μένων, οἷον αὐτὸν ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου πίστις ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς θαυματουργίας ἐποίησεν. Ὁ σκοπὸς δὲ τῶν γινομένων οὐχὶ ἡ τῶν ὁρώντων ἔκπληξις ἦν, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ τῶν προσοικούντων τῷ ποταμῷ σωτηρία. Ὥστε τοῦ θαύματος τὸ ἴσον ἔχοντος (ὑποχωρεῖ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς προφήταις καὶ τῷ μιμητῇ τῶν προφητῶν κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἡ τοῦ ὕδατος φύσις), εἰ χρή μετὰ παῤῥησίας εἰπεῖν, πλεονεκτεῖ τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ τὸ παρὰ τούτου γενόμενον, δι' οὗ τῶν προσοικούντων ἡ σωτηρία κατησφαλίσθη, τοῦ ὕδατος πεδηθέντος ἅπαξ κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνο τοῦ ῥεύματος, καὶ ἀκινήτου πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς διαμένοντος. Ἐπειδὴ, πανταχοῦ τῆς χώρας τῶν τοιούτων θαυμάτων διαφοιτώντων, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἐνεργεῖσθαι πεπιστευμένων, καὶ πάντες μετέχειν ἐπεθύμουν ἐκείνης τῆς πίστεως τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν τοιούτων μαρτυρουμένης θαυμάτων, καὶ πανταχοῦ προῄει τὸ κήρυγμα, καὶ ἐνεργὸν ἦν τὸ μυστήριον καὶ ἡ σπουδὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπετείνετο, τῆς ἱερωσύνης παρὰ πᾶσι καθισταμένης, ὡς ἂν διὰ πάντων ἡ πίστις πλεονάζοι καὶ αὔξοιτο· γίνεται οὖν πρεσβεία πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐκ πόλεώς τινος ἀστυγείτονος, ἐλθεῖν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, καὶ τὴν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐκκλησίαν διὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης συστήσασθαι. Κώμανα δὲ τῇ πόλει τοὔνομα, ᾗ ἐπιξενωθῆναι τὸν μέγαν ἠξίουν πανδημεί πάντες τὴν χάριν αἰτούμενοι. Γενόμενος τοίνυν παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ συνδιαγαγὼν ἡμέρας τινὰς, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς τὴν περὶ τὸ μυστήριον ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξάψας οἷς ἐποίει τε καὶ ἐφθέγγετο· ἐπειδὴ καιρὸς ἦν καὶ τὴν πρεσβείαν αὐτῶν εἰς πέρας ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ἀναδειχθῆναί τινα τῆς παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἐκκλησίας ἀρχιερέα τότε τῶν μὲν ἐν τέλει πάντων αἱ γνῶμαι τοὺς προέχειν δοκοῦντας λόγῳ τε καὶ γένει, καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ περιφανείᾳ περιειργάζοντο. Ωοντο γὰρ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν μέγαν Γρηγόριον ἦν, μηδὲ τούτων δεῖν ἄμοιρον εἶναι, τὸν ἐπὶ τὴν χάριν ταύτην ἐρχόμενον. Πολλαχῆ δὲ ταῖς ψήφοις μεριζομένων, καὶ ἄλλων ἄλλον προαιρουμένων, ἀνέμενεν ὁ μέγας θεόθεν αὐτῷ γενέσθαι τινὰ πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον συμβουλήν. Καὶ καθὼς ὁ Σαμουήλ μνημονεύεται, μὴ καταπλαγῆναι κάλλος σωμάτων καὶ μέγεθος ἐν τῇ τῆς βασιλείας κρίσει, ἀλλὰ ψυχὴν ἐπιζητεῖν βασιλικὴν, κἂν ἐν καταφρονουμένῳ σώματι τύχῃ· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖνος, τὰς περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ἐψηφισμένων σπουδὰς παραβλέπων, πρὸς ἓν ἀφεώρα μόνον, εἴ τις καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀνακηρύξεως, δι' ἐπιμελείας βίου καὶ ἀρετῆς, ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τὴν ἱερωσύνην φέροι. Ὡς δὲ οἱ μὲν παρῆγον τοὺς ὑπεψηφισμένους μετ' ἐγκωμίων, ἕκαστος τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ προβαλλόμενος, ὁ δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς εὐτελεστέρους κατὰ τὸ τοῦ βίου σχῆμα βλέπειν ἐκελεύετο (δυνατὸν γὰρ εἶναι καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις","t":"stream the Jordan became passable, opening its stream only so far as to let the prophets' feet walk through on the dry bed; in the time after, for the rest of mankind, it was as it had been before. But that Lycus, once driven back from its disorderly rush, makes Gregory's wonder last for ever, remaining for all later time as the great man's faith made it at the moment of the wonder. And the aim of what was done was not the astonishment of the onlookers but the safety of those who lived by the river. So, though the wonder is equal (for the nature of water gives way equally to the prophets and to the imitator of the prophets), if one may speak boldly, what was done by this man excels in kindness, since through it the safety of those living near was secured, the water being fettered once for all at that point of the stream and remaining immovable thereafter. Now since such wonders spread everywhere through the country, and were believed to be worked by the power of faith in Christ, all desired to share in that faith attested by such wonders; the preaching advanced everywhere, the mystery was effective, and zeal for the good increased, as the priesthood was established among all so that through all the faith might abound and grow. So an embassy comes to him from a neighbouring city, asking him to come to them and establish their church through the priesthood. The name of the city was Comana, and all its people together asked as a favour that the great man be their guest. He came to them and spent some days with them, kindling still more their desire for the mystery by what he did and said. When it was time for their embassy to reach its end, and for someone to be appointed high priest of their church, the opinions of all those in authority busied themselves with those who seemed to excel in eloquence and birth and other distinction. For they thought that, since the great Gregory had these things, the one who came to this grace ought not to lack them either. As the votes were divided in many ways and different people chose different men, the great man waited for some counsel to come to him from God about the matter. And just as Samuel is remembered not to have been overawed by bodily beauty and stature in choosing a king, but to have sought a kingly soul, even if it happened to be in a despised body, in the same way he too disregarded the efforts made on behalf of each of the candidates and looked at one thing only: whether anyone, even before his proclamation, carried the priesthood in his character through the care of his life and his virtue. While the others brought forward their candidates with praises, each promoting his own man, he bade them look also to those of humbler outward condition (for it was possible that even among such","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 933 (PG 46:933–934; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/933)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/935":{"o":"εὑρεθῆναί τινα τῶν περιφανεστέρων τῷ βίῳ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς ὑψηλότερον), ὕβριν ᾠήθη τις τῶν προεστηκότων τῆς ψήφου καὶ χλευασμὸν τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ μεγάλου κρίσιν, εἰ, τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῷ ἀξιώματι καὶ τῇ φαινομένῃ τοῦ βίου μαρτυρίᾳ κεκριμένων τῶν ἄλλων, μηδενὸς ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην παραδεχθέντος, ἐκ τῶν βαναύσων πρὸς τοιαύτην χάριν νομίζοιντό τινες ἀξιώτεροι· καὶ ἅμα κατειρωνευόμενος προσελθὼν πρὸς αὐτὸν, Εἰ ταῦτα κελεύεις, φησὶ, τούτους μὲν τοιούτους ὄντας περιοφθῆναι τοὺς πάσης ἐξειλεγμένους τῆς πόλεως, ἐκ δὲ τῶν συρφετῶν εἰς προστασίαν τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἀναληφθῆναί τινα, ὥρα σοι λοιπὸν τὸν ἀνθρακέα καλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην ᾿Αλέξανδρον· καὶ μεταβάντες ἐπὶ τοῦτον, εἰ δοκεῖ, συμφωνήσωμεν πρὸς ταῦτα ἐφθέγγετο τὴν γνώμην διαβάλλων αὐτοῦ, καὶ διὰ τῆς εἰρωνικῆς ταύτης ψήφου τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν ἀκρίβειαν καταμεμφόμενος. Τῷ δὲ μεγάλῳ γίνεται διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐνθύμιον, μὴ ἀθεεὶ τὸν ᾿Αλέξανδρον ἐν μνήμῃ τῶν ψηφιζομένων καὶ εἰρημένων γενέσθαι. Καὶ τίς οὗτος, φησὶν, ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, οὗ τὴν μνήμην πεποίησθε Εἶτὰ τινος τῶν συμπαρόντων ἐν γέλωτι παραγαγόντος εἰς μέσον τὸν μνημονευθέντα, ῥακίοις πιναροῖς ἡμφιεσμένον, οὐδὲ ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι, καὶ ἅμα δεικνύντα τῷ φαινομένῳ τὴν ἐργασίαν χερσί τε καὶ προσώπῳ, καὶ τῷ λοιπῷ σώματι κατεῤῥυπωμένον τῇ ἐργασίᾳ τῶν ἀνθράκων, τοῖς μὲν λοιποῖς γέλωτος ἦν ὑπόθεσις, ἐν μέσοις τοιοῦτος ἑστὼς ὁ ᾿Αλέξανδρος, τῷ δὲ διορατικῷ ἐκείνῳ ὀφθαλμῷ πολλὴν παρείχεν ἔκπληξιν τὸ γινόμενόν τε καὶ ὁρώμενον· ἀνὴρ ἐν ἐσχάτῃ πενίᾳ, καὶ ἀπημελημένῳ τῷ σώματι πρὸς ἑαυτὸν βλέπων, καὶ οἷον ἐπαγαλλόμενος τούτῳ τῷ σχήματι, ὁ τοῖς ἀπαιδεύτοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἦν ἐπιγέλαστον. Καὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἔχει. Καὶ οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ πενίας ἐπὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐληλύθει βίον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλόσοφός τις ἦν ὁ ἀνὴρ, ὡς ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα βίος ἐγνώρισε, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὑψηλότερος, ὡς καὶ μέχρι μαρτυρίου φθάσαι, διὰ πυρὸς τελειώσας τὸν δρόμον. Τὸ δὲ λανθάνειν ἐπεχείρησεν, ἢ μᾶλλον ἐπετήδευσε, κρείττων ὑπάρχων τῆς ἐσπουδασμένης παρὰ τῶν πολλῶν εὐκληρίας, καὶ ἀντ᾽ οὐδενὸς τὸν βίον ποιούμενος, τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας τε καὶ ἀληθοῦς ζωῆς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχων. Καὶ ὡς ἂν μάλιστα τὸν πρὸς ἀρετὴν σκοπὸν κατορθώσειε, λανθάνειν ἐμηχανᾶτο τοιοῦτος ὢν, τῷ ἀτιμοτέρῳ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων οἷον εἰδεχθεῖ προσωπείῳ ὑποκρυπτόμενος. ῎Ἄλλως δὲ, καὶ ὑπερανθῶν τῇ νεότητι, σφαλερὸν ἡγεῖτο τῷ τῆς σωφροσύνης σκοπῷ, φανερὸν ποιεῖν τὸ κάλλος τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ ἐμπομπεύων τῇ εὐκληρίᾳ τῆς φύσεως ᾔδει γάρ χαλεπῶν καταπτωμάτων ἀφορμὴν τοῖς πολλοῖς τὸ τοιοῦ-","t":"someone might be found loftier in the wealth of the soul than those of more distinguished life), one of those presiding over the vote thought such a judgment of the great man an insult and a mockery, if, when the others had been chosen for eloquence and rank and the visible testimony of their lives, none of them was accepted for the priesthood, while some from among the menial workers were to be thought more worthy of such a grace. And at the same time, coming up to him in mockery, he said: “If you are ordering that these men, of such quality, chosen from the whole city, be passed over, and that someone from the riff-raff be taken up to preside in the priesthood, it is time for you to call Alexander the charcoal-burner to the priesthood; let us go over to him, if you like, and all agree on him.” So he spoke, disparaging Gregory's view and by this ironic vote finding fault with his strictness regarding the earlier candidates. But through what was said the thought came to the great man that it was not without God that Alexander had come up in the mention of those voted for and named. “And who is this Alexander,” he says, “whom you have mentioned?” Then one of those present, laughing, brought the man named into the middle, clothed in filthy rags that did not even cover his whole body, and at the same time showing his trade by his appearance, his hands and face and the rest of his body grimy from the charcoal work; for the others, Alexander standing such in their midst was a subject of laughter, but to that discerning eye what was happening and being seen gave great amazement: a man in extreme poverty and with a neglected body, looking to himself, and as it were exulting in the very appearance that was laughable to uneducated eyes. And so it was. For he had not come to such a life by the necessity of poverty; the man was a philosopher, as his later life made known, and loftier than the rest, so that he even attained martyrdom, finishing his course through fire. He tried, or rather made it his practice, to remain hidden, being superior to the good fortune pursued by the many, and counting this life as nothing, having his desire set on the higher and true life. And so that he might best succeed in his aim of virtue, he contrived to escape notice as such a man, hiding himself under the meanest of occupations as under an ugly mask. Besides, being in the full flower of youth, he thought it dangerous to the aim of chastity to make the beauty of his body visible, as if parading the good fortune of his nature; for he knew that such a thing","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 935 (PG 46:935–936; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/935)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/937":{"o":"Ὡς ἂν οὖν μήτε πάθοι τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων, μήτε πάθους ὑπόθεσις ἀλλοτρίοις ὀφθαλμοῖς κατασταίη, διὰ τοῦτο καθάπερ τι προσωπεῖον εἰδεχθὲς τὴν ἀνθρακοποιίαν ἑκουσίως ἑαυτῷ περιτίθησι, δι' ἧς τὸ σῶμα τοῖς πόνοις πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐγυμνάζετο, καὶ τὸ κάλλος τῷ ῥύπῳ τῶν ἀνθράκων ἐπεκαλύπτετο, καὶ ἅμα τὸ ἐκ τῶν πόνων αὐτῷ προσγινόμενον εἰς ἐντολῶν ὑπηρεσίαν ᾠκονόμητο. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν μεταστήσας αὐτὸν τοῦ συνεδρίου, καὶ πάντα τὰ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἐπύθετο, τὸν μὲν δίδωσι τοῖς περὶ αὐτὸν ἐντειλάμενος ἃ πράττειν ἐχρῆν αὐτὸς δὲ πάλιν καταλαβὼν τὸ συνέδριον, ἐκ τῶν ἐν χερσὶ τοὺς συνειλεγμένους ἐπαίδευε, τοὺς περὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης αὐτοῖς λόγους παρατιθέμενος, καὶ διὰ τούτων τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν ὑπογράφων βίον. Καὶ διῆγεν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις λόγοις παρακατέχων τὸν σύλλογον, ἕως ἐκπληρώσαντες οἱ ὑπηρετοῦντες αὐτῷ τὸ προστεταγμένον ἐπέστησαν, ἔχοντες μεθ᾽ ἑαυτῶν τὸν ᾿Αλέξανδρον, λουτρῷ τε τὴν ἐκ τῶν ἀσβόλων ἀηδίαν ἀποκλυσάμενον, καὶ τοῖς τοῦ μεγάλου ἱματίοις ἐστολισμένον. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς ἐντειλάμενος ποιῆσαι. Πάντων δὲ πρὸς τὸν ᾿Αλέξανδρον ἐπιστραφέντων, καὶ θαυμαστικῶς πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον διακειμένων, Οὐδὲν καινὸν πεπόνθατε, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ διδάσκαλος, ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀπατηθέντες, καὶ τῇ αἰσθήσει μόνῃ τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ κάλλους ἐπιτρέψαντες. Σφαλερὸν γὰρ κριτήριον τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθείας ἡ αἴσθησις, τὴν πρὸς τὸ βάθος τῆς διανοίας εἶσοδον δι᾽ ἑαυτῆς ἀποκλείουσα. \"Αμα δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐχθρῷ δαίμονι τοῦτο φίλον ἦν πάντως ἀργῆσαι τὸ τῆς ἐκλογῆς σκεῦος τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ συγκαλυπτόμενον, μηδὲ παρελθεῖν εἰς μέσον ἄνδρα, τῆς ἐκείνου δυναστείας καθαιρέτην ἐσόμενον. Ταῦτα εἰπὼν προσάγει τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης τὸν ἄνδρα κατά τὸν νενομισμένον τρόπον τελειώσας τῇ χάριτι. Πάντων δὲ πρὸς τὸν νέον ἱερέα ἀποβλεπόντων, προτραπείς τινα πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν λόγον ποιήσασθαι, ἔδειξεν εὐθὺς ἐν προοιμίοις τῆς ἀρχῆς ὁ ᾿Αλέξανδρος ἄψευστον ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου τὴν κρίσιν. Ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ πλήρης διανοίας ὁ λόγος, ἧττον τῷ ἄνθει κεκαλλωπισμένος τῆς λέξεως. Ὅθεν τις τῶν νέων ἀγέρωχος ἐκ τῆς ᾿Ατθίδος αὐτοῖς ἐπιχωριάζων, τὸ ἀκαλλὲς τῆς λέξεως ὑπεγέλασεν, ὅτι μὴ τῇ περιεργίᾳ τῇ Ἀττικῇ κεκαλλώπιστο· ὅν φασιν ἐκ θειοτέρας ὄψεως σωφρονισθῆναι, ἰδόντα περιστερῶν ἀγέλην ἀμηχάνῳ τινὶ διαλάμπουσαν κάλλει, καί τινος ἀκηκοέναι λέγοντος, ᾿Αλεξάνδρου τὰς περιστεράς εἶναι ταύτας, ἃς ἐν γέλωτι ἐκεῖνος πεποίηται. Τί τούτων ἄν τις πρὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου θαυμάσειε; τὸ μὴ δυσωπηθῆναι τὸν ἄνδρα τῶν ἀξιωμάτων τὴν ψῆφον, καὶ μὴ συναρπασθῆναι πρὸς τὰς μαρτυρίας τῶν προεχόντων ἢ μᾶλλον τὸ θαυμάσαι τὸν ἐγκεκρυμμένον τοῖς ἄνθραξι πλοῦτον, ᾧ παραχρῆμα παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τῆς ὀρθῆς κρίσεως μαρτυρία διὰ τῆς τοῦ ῥήτορος ἐπηκολούθησεν ὄψεως; Ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τούτων ἑκάτερον τοιοῦτον εἶναι δοκεῖ, ὡς πρὸς ἄλληλα μὲν ἔχειν τὴν ἅμιλλαν· πάντων δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν τῶν ἐπὶ θαύματι μνημονευομένων πρωτεύειν. Τὸ τε γὰρ ἀντιβῆναι τῇ τῶν προεχόντων ὁρμῇ, τῆς","t":"So that he might neither suffer anything unwanted nor become an occasion of passion to other people's eyes, he therefore willingly put on charcoal-burning like an ugly mask; through it his body was exercised by labours toward virtue and his beauty was covered by the grime of the coals, and at the same time what he gained from his labours was spent in service of the commandments. So Gregory took him aside from the assembly and inquired carefully into everything about him; then he handed him over to those around him, instructing them what they were to do, while he himself returned to the assembly and instructed those gathered from the matter at hand, setting before them discourses about the priesthood and through these sketching the life of virtue. He continued in such discourses, holding the meeting there, until his attendants, having carried out his order, came in, bringing with them Alexander, who had washed off in a bath the unpleasantness of the soot and was dressed in the great man's own clothes. For this is what he had instructed them to do. When all turned toward Alexander and were struck with wonder at what they saw, the teacher says to them: “Nothing strange has happened to you; you were deceived by your eyes and entrusted the judgment of beauty to sense alone. For sense is an unreliable test of the truth of things, since of itself it shuts off the way into the depth of the mind. And at the same time this was surely pleasing to the demon who is the enemy of godliness, that the vessel of election should lie idle, covered by ignorance, and that a man who would be the destroyer of his dominion should not come forward.” Having said this, he brings the man to God through the priesthood, consecrating him by grace in the customary manner. And when all were looking at the new priest and he was urged to address the church, Alexander showed at once, at the very beginning of his office, that the great Gregory's judgment of him did not lie. For his speech was full of meaning, though less adorned with the flower of diction. Hence one of the young men from Attica, an arrogant fellow who was staying among them, sneered at the plainness of his diction because it was not adorned with Attic elaboration; but they say he was corrected by a more divine vision: he saw a flock of doves shining with an extraordinary beauty and heard someone say that these were the doves of Alexander, whom he had made a laughing-stock. Which of these things should one admire more than the other: that the man was not put out of countenance by the vote of the dignitaries, and was not carried away by the testimonies of the prominent; or rather that he marvelled at the wealth hidden in the coals, and that God's testimony to his right judgment followed at once through the rhetorician's vision? To me each of them in itself seems such as to rival the other, and to stand first among almost all things remembered as wonders. For to stand against the impulse of the prominent","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 937 (PG 46:937–938; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/937)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/939":{"o":"ἀτρέπτου καὶ ὑψηλῆς διανοίας ἐναργέστατον ἐγίνετο γνώρισμα· ᾧ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν κόσμον φαινόμενα ἐν τῷ ὁμοίῳ καθεωρᾶτο, εἴτε πρὸς τὸ μεῖζόν τε καὶ περιφανέστερον, εἴτε καὶ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινόν τε καὶ ἀφανὲς οἰκείως εἶχε· μόνῃ δὲ νέμων τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν προτίμησιν, καὶ μόνην τὴν ἐν κακίᾳ ζωὴν κρίνων ἀπόβλητον, ἀντ᾿ οὐδενὸς ἑώρα τὰ πάντα, ὅσα κατὰ τὸν βίον ἢ σπουδῆς τινος, ἢ ἀτιμίας ἄξια κρίνεται. \"Ο δὴ καὶ τότε πεποιηκὼς ἐπιδείκνυται. Ζητῶν γὰρ τὸν τῷ Θεῷ κεχαρισμένον καὶ ἄξιον εὑρεῖν, οὐκ ἀξιόπιστον εἰς μαρτυρίαν ᾠήθη πλοῦτον παραλαβεῖν καὶ ἀξίωμα, καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον περιφανείας. ὧν οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν καταλόγοις ὁ θεῖος ἀπηριθμήσατο λόγος. Οὐ τοῦτο μόνον τοίνυν ἐστὶν ἐπαίνου τε καὶ θαύματος ἄξιον, τὸ μὴ προέσθαι τὰς τῶν δυναστευόντων σπουδάς· ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ὑπερβάλλειν. Ὁ γὰρ μόνον τὴν ἀναξίαν ἀπωσάμενος ψῆφον, μὴ προσθεὶς δὲ τῇ χρείᾳ τὸ λεῖπον, τὸ μὲν κακὸν ἐκώλυσε, τὸ δὲ ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἐποίησεν. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τῷ μὴ συνθέσθαι τῷ χείρονι καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἐξευρών, δι' ἀμφοτέρων ἐτελείωσε τὸ ἀγαθὸν, οὔτε τῷ κακῷ συγχωρήσας τὴν πάροδον, καὶ τὸ καλὸν προσαγαγὼν εἰς ἐνέργειαν ὡς κατὰ ἀμφότερα γενέσθαι τὴν εὐεργεσίαν τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου ἐν τῇ πόλει, τὸ τε κατὰ ἄγνοιαν παρ᾿ αὐτῶν πλημμελούμενον ἐπιστρέψαντος, καὶ τὸ κεκρυμμένον παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀγαθὸν δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ φανερώσαντος. Πάντων δὲ κατὰ γνώμην τοῦ μεγάλου προκεχωρηκότων τῇ συμμαχίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, οὐκ ἄκαιρον ἂν εἴη, καὶ τὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ πάρεργον διηγήσασθαι, ὡς ἂν διὰ πάντων ἡ συμπαροῦσα τῷ ἀνδρὶ χάρις ἐπεδείκνυτο. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἅπασι πρόδηλον ἦν, ὅτι τοῦτο πρὸ πάντων τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐσπούδαστο τὸ πάντα πρὸς τὴν τῶν δεομένων παραμυθίαν βλέπειν· εἴτε πρὸς κέρδος ὁρῶντες ἐκ τῶν Ἑβραίων δύο τινὲς, εἴτε τινὰ μῶμον κατὰ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐπινοοῦντες, ὡς εὐκόλως πρὸς τὸ ἐξαπατᾶσθαι διακειμένου, παραφυλάσσουσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπάνοδον. Καὶ τούτων ὁ μὲν, τεθνάναι δόξας, ἐν ὑπτίῳ τεταμένος τῷ σχήματι, κατὰ τὸ πλάγιον τῆς λεωφόρου προέκειτο· ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ἐπικωκύων δῆθεν τῷ κειμένῳ τὰς τῶν θρηνούντων φωνὰς ὑπεκρίνατο, καὶ παριόντα τὸν μέγαν ἐπεβοᾶτο, λέγων, ἀθρόως συσχεθέντα θανάτῳ τὸν δείλαιον τοῦτον, γυμνὸν κεῖσθαι καὶ πρὸς ταφὴν ἀπαράσκευον. Ἐδεῖτο τοίνυν τοῦ μεγάλου μὴ περιιδεῖν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τὴν ὁσίαν ψυχὴν, ἀλλ' οἶκτόν τινα τῆς πενίας λαβόντα παρασχεῖν ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων τὸν ἔσχατον κόσμον ἐπιβληθῆναι τῷ σώματι. Ὁ μὲν ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγων, ἱκέτευεν ὁ δὲ μελλήσας οὐδὲν, τὴν περικειμένην αὐτῷ διπλοΐδα ἐπιβαλὼν τῷ κειμένῳ, τοῦ πρόσω τῆς ὁδοιπορίας εἴχετο. Ἐπεὶ δὲ διαβάντος ἐκείνου, ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ἦσαν οἱ ταῦτα κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ παίξαντες, μεταβαλὼν ὁ ἀπατεὼν ἐκεῖνος τὸν ἐσχηματισμένον θρῆνον εἰς γέλωτα, διανίστασθαι τῷ κειμένῳ παρεκελεύετο, ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς τῷ ἐκ τῆς ἀπάτης αὐτοῖς προσγενομένῳ κέρδει ἐπι-","t":"became the clearest mark of an unturning and lofty mind, for whom all the things that appear in the world were regarded alike, whether they tended to the greater and more distinguished or to the humble and obscure; assigning preference to virtue alone, and judging only a life in vice to be rejected, he counted as nothing all that in life is judged worthy either of pursuit or of dishonour. This is what he showed by what he did then. For seeking to find the one pleasing and worthy to God, he did not think wealth and rank and the distinctions of this world trustworthy enough to admit as testimony, none of which the divine word counted in its lists of good things. So this alone is not what is worthy of praise and wonder, that he did not give way to the efforts of the powerful, but that he also surpassed himself by what followed. For the one who merely rejects an unworthy vote, without supplying what is lacking to the need, has prevented the evil but has not done the good. But he, besides not agreeing to the worse, also found out the good, and so completed the good through both, neither allowing the evil a way in and bringing the good into action, so that the great Gregory's benefaction to the city was in both respects: he turned back the error they were committing through ignorance and brought to light, by himself, the good hidden among them. Since everything had gone forward according to the great man's mind with the alliance of the Holy Spirit, it would not be out of place to tell also an incident on the road, so that the grace present with the man may be shown through everything. Since it was plain to all that the man's first concern was to look to the comfort of those in need in everything, two of the Hebrews, either looking for gain or devising some ridicule against the man as one easily disposed to be deceived, lay in wait for his return. One of them, pretending to be dead, lay stretched out on his back at the side of the highway; the other, as if wailing over the one lying there, feigned the cries of mourners, and as the great man passed by he called out to him, saying that this wretched man had been suddenly seized by death and lay naked and unprepared for burial. He begged the great man not to neglect the holy rite for him, but, taking some pity on his poverty, to provide from what he had the last adornment to cast over the body. While the one was begging with these and similar words, the other, without delay, threw the cloak he was wearing over the man lying there and continued on his journey. When he had passed by and those who had played this trick on him were by themselves, that deceiver changed his feigned lament into laughter and bade the one lying there get up, cackling with pleasure at the gain the deception had brought them.","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 939 (PG 46:939–940; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/939)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/941":{"o":"καγχάζων. Ὁ δὲ ἦν ἐν ὁμοίῳ τῷ σχήματι μηδενὸς ἀκούων τῶν λεγομένων. Τοῦ δὲ γεγωνοτέρᾳ τῇ φωνῇ κεχρημένου, καὶ ἅμα τῷ ποδὶ διεγείροντος, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ὁ κείμενος, οὔτε τῆς φωνῆς ἐπήκουεν, οὔτε τῆς πληγῆς ἐπῃσθάνετο· ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ὁμοίως ἐκτεταμένος τῷ σχήματι. Νεκρὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁμοῦ τῇ ἐπιβολῇ τοῦ ἱματίου, κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ γενόμενος, ὃν ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπάτῃ τοῦ μεγάλου καθυπεκρίνετο· ὥστε μὴ ψευσθῆναι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' οὗ χάριν ἐδόθη παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἱμάτιον, ἐν τούτῳ τοῖς λαβοῦσι γενέσθαι χρήσιμον. Εἰ δὲ σκυθρωπὸν εἶναι δοκεῖ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔργον τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου πίστεώς τε καὶ δυνάμεως, ξενιζέσθω μηδεὶς, πρὸς τὸν μέγαν Πέτρον ὁρῶν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, οὐ δι᾽ ὧν εὐηργέτει μόνον τὴν προσοῦσαν ἐπεδείκνυτο δύναμιν, τὸν ἐκ γεννητῆς χωλὸν τρέχοντα τῷ λαῷ δεικνύων καὶ διαλλόμενον, ἢ τῇ σκιᾷ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἰατρεύων τῶν ἀῤῥωστούντων τὰ πάθη, οἷς ἂν ἐπήγαγε κατὰ τὴν πάροδον τοῦ ἀποστόλου διὰ πλαγίου τῷ σώματι προσβάλλων ὁ ἥλιος· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ᾿Ανανίου πρὸς τὴν ἐνοικοῦσαν τῷ ἀποστόλῳ δύναμιν καταφρονητικῶς διατεθέντος καταδικάζει τὸν θάνατον· ὡς ἂν, οἶμαι, τῷ κατ' ἐκεῖνον φόβῳ πᾶν τὸ καταφρονοῦν ἐν τῷ λαῷ σωφρονέστερον γένηται τῷ φοβερῷ ὑποδείγματι, πρὸς τὸ μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐγγενέσθαι παιδαγωγούμενον. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ Πέτρου διὰ πολλῶν τῶν κατὰ τὰς εὐεργεσίας θαυμάτων δείξας τὸ τῆς δυνάμεως μέγεθος, καὶ τὸν κατὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος χρήσασθαι τῇ ἀπάτῃ ἐπιχειρήσαντα ἀληθεῦσαι περὶ αὐτοῦ παρεσκεύασεν. Ἔδει γὰρ, οἶμαι, τὸν καθαιρέτην τοῦ ψεύδους, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀπατεῶνι τὸ ψεῦδος μεταλλάττειν εἰς ἀλήθειαν, ὡς ἂν ἅπασι διὰ τοῦτο γένοιτο δῆλον, ὅτι καὶ πᾶν τὸ παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου λεγόμενον ἀληθὲς ἦν, καὶ ὅπερ ἂν ὡς ἀληθὲς παρεδέξατο, ψεῦδος οὐκ ἦν. Οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι κατὰ τὸν ῥηθέντα τρόπον τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου δυνάμεως, ὡς ἐνόμισαν, καταπαίξαντες, παίδευμα τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐγένοντο, μὴ κατατολμᾷν τῆς ἀπάτης, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ὁ Θεὸς γίνεται τῶν τολμηθέντων κατήγορος. Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ συλλόγου τινὸς κατὰ τὸ ὕπαιθρον ἔν τινι τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν τόπων γεγενημένου ποτὲ, καὶ πάντων θαυμαστικῶς διακειμένων πρὸς τὰ διδάγματα, μειράκιόν τι πρὸς τοὺς συνεστῶτας ἐβόα, μὴ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα τὸν διδάσκαλον λέγειν, ἀλλ᾿ ἕτερον αὐτῷ παρεστῶτα διεξιέναι τοὺς λόγους. Προσαχθέντος δὲ τοῦ παιδὸς μετὰ τὸ διαλυθῆναι τὸν σύλλογον, εἰπεῖν λέγεται πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας τὸν μέγαν, μὴ καθαρεύειν ἐκ δαίμονος τὸ μειράκιον· καὶ ἅμα περιελόμενον ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ἐπὶ τὸν ὦμον ὀθόνιον, καὶ παραθέντα τῷ ἄσθματι τοῦ ἰδίου στόματος, οὕτως ἐπιῤῥίψαι τῷ νέῳ. Γενομένου δὲ τούτου, ταράσσεσθαι ἤρξατο καὶ ἀναβοᾷν τὸ μειράκιον, καὶ καταπίπτειν καὶ διαῤῥιπτεῖσθαι, καὶ πάντα πάσχειν τὰ ἐκ δαιμόνων πάθη. Εἶτα ἐπιβαλόντος τοῦ ἁγίου τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ τὴν ταραχὴν κατευνάσαντος, ἀποπτῆναι μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸ δαιμόνιον, τὸν δὲ πάλιν ἐν καταστάσει γενόμενον, μηκέτι λέγειν ὁρᾶν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁγίου τὸν συμφθεγ-","t":"But the other stayed in the same posture, hearing nothing of what was said. When he used a louder voice and at the same time tried to rouse him with his foot, the one lying there no more heard the voice or felt the blow, but lay stretched out in the same posture. For he had died at the moment the cloak was thrown over him, having come in truth into the death he was feigning to deceive the great man; so that the man of God was not deceived, but the cloak became useful to those who received it for the very purpose for which he had given it. If such a work of the great man's faith and power seems grim, let no one be surprised, looking to the great Peter. For he too showed the power that was in him not only by his benefactions, showing the people the man lame from birth running and leaping, or healing the sufferings of the sick by the shadow of his body, cast on those the sun fell upon sideways as the apostle passed by; but when Ananias was contemptuously disposed toward the power that dwelt in the apostle, he condemns him to death, so that, I think, by the fear his case caused, everything contemptuous among the people might be brought to its senses by the fearful example, being taught not to fall into the same things. Fittingly, then, the imitator of Peter, having shown the greatness of his power through many wonders of benefaction, also made the one who tried to use deceit against the Spirit tell the truth about himself. For it was fitting, I think, that the destroyer of falsehood should change falsehood into truth even in the deceiver, so that it might become clear to all through this that everything said by the great man was true, and that whatever he accepted as true was no falsehood. So the Jews who in the way described mocked, as they thought, the great man's power became a lesson to others not to venture on deception against those for whom God becomes the accuser of what has been dared. After this, once, when an open-air gathering was held in one of the places of the country and all were struck with wonder at his teachings, a youth shouted to those standing around that it was not the teacher who was saying these things, but another standing beside him who was going through the words. When the boy was brought to him after the gathering broke up, the great man is said to have told those present that the youth was not free of a demon; and at the same time he took off the linen cloth from his shoulder, held it to the breath of his own mouth, and so threw it over the young man. When this was done, the youth began to be agitated and to shout, to fall down and toss about, and to suffer all the afflictions that come from demons. Then, when the saint laid his hand on him and calmed the agitation, the demon flew out of him, and he, restored to his right state, no longer said he saw beside the saint the one speaking with","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 941 (PG 46:941–942; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/941)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/943":{"o":"γόμενον. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν μεγάλων ἐκείνου θαυμάτων ἐστὶ, τὸ μηδεμιᾷ τινι περιεργίᾳ τὰ κατὰ τὰς ἰάσεις ἐπιτελεῖν θαύματα· ἀλλ᾽ ἀρκεῖν πρός τε τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπαλλαγὴν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἴασιν τῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων τοῦ σώματος τὸ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἆσθμα διὰ τῆς ὀθόνης τῷ κάμνοντι προσαγόμενον. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πᾶσιν ἐφεξῆς τοῖς παρ' ἐκείνου θαύμασιν ἐπεξιέναι, μακρᾶς εἴη συγγραφῆς, καὶ λόγου τὴν παροῦσαν σχολὴν ὑπερβαίνοντος ἑνὸς δὲ ἢ δυοῖν ἔτι τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ λεγομένων ἐπιμνησθεὶς, ἐν τούτοις περιγράψω τὸν λόγον. Πανταχοῦ γὰρ ἤδη διαπεφοιτηκότος τοῦ θείου κηρύγματος, καὶ πάντων κατά τε τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὴν περίοικον, πρὸς τὴν εὐσεβῆ τοῦ δόγματος πίστιν μετατεθέντων, βωμῶν τε καὶ ἱερῶν καὶ εἰδώλων ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνατετραμμένων, καθαρθείσης δὲ ἤδη τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς τῶν περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα μιασμάτων, καὶ τῆς μιαρᾶς τῶν θυσιῶν κνίσσης ἀποσβεσθείσης, καὶ τοῦ ἐπιβωμίου λύθρου καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ζωοθυσίας μολυσμάτων ἀποκλυσθέντων πάντων δὲ κατὰ τόπον πάντα εὐκτηρίους ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ σπουδὴν ναοὺς ἀνεγειρόντων, θυμὸς καὶ φθόνος εἰσέρχεται τῷ τηνικαῦτα τῆς ἀρχῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπιστατοῦντι, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἡμελεῖτο μὲν αὐτοῦ τὰ πάτρια τῆς ἀπάτης σεβάσματα, ηὐξεῖτο δὲ τῶν Χριστιανῶν τὸ μυστήριον, καὶ εἰς πλῆθος ἐπεδίδου πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἡ Ἐκκλησία, διὰ τῶν ἀεὶ προστιθεμένων τῷ λόγῳ, πρὸς μέγεθος αὔξουσα· καὶ νομίσας δυνατὸν εἶναι τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει τὴν ἰδίαν ἀντιστῆσαι πικρίαν, καὶ ἐπισχεῖν μὲν τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸ κήρυγμα, καταλῦσαι δὲ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τὰ συστήματα, μεταστῆσαι δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τοὺς προκεχωρηκότας τῷ λόγῳ· πέμπει τοίνυν πρὸς τοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν καθηγουμένους πρόσταγμα, φοβερὰν κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπειλὴν τῆς τιμωρίας ὁρίζων, εἰ μὴ παντοίοις αἰκισμοῖς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσκυνοῦντας διαλωβήσοιντο, καὶ προσαγάγοιεν πάλιν αὐτοὺς φόβῳ τε καὶ τῇ τῶν αἰκισμῶν ἀνάγκῃ τῇ πατρώᾳ τῶν δαιμόνων λατρείᾳ. Ὡς δὲ περιηγγέλθη τοῖς ἄρχουσι τὰ φοβερὸν τοῦτο καὶ ἄθεον κήρυγμα, πανταχοῦ τῆς ἀρχῆς διαπεφοιτηκότων τῶν εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο παρὰ τῆς τυραννικῆς τεταγμένων ὠμότητος· καί τις ἐπεκράτει τοῦ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἔθνους τοιοῦτος, ὡς μηδὲν τῆς ὑπερκειμένης ἐξουσίας δεηθῆναι, οἴκοθεν ἔχων ἐκ φύσεως τὴν ὠμότητά τε πρὸς τὴν πονηρὰν ὁρμὴν καὶ πικρότητα, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πεπιστευκότας τῷ λόγῳ δυσμένειαν· καὶ γίνεται παρ' αὐτοῦ φοβερὸν ἐν δημοσίοις διατάγμασι, τὸ δεῖν ἐξάμνυσθαι τὴν πίστιν, ἢ τιμωρίαις παντοδαπαῖς καὶ θανάτοις κολάζεσθαι. Καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἕτερον τηνικαῦτα δημόσιόν τε καὶ ἴδιον παρὰ τῶν τὰ κοινὰ διὰ χειρὸς ἐχόντων γινόμενόν τε καὶ σπουδαζόμενον, πλὴν τοῦ πολιορκεῖν τε καὶ τιμωρεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀντεχομένους τῆς πίστεως. Ἦν δὲ οὐκ ἐν ταῖς τῶν λεγομένων ἀπειλαῖς μόνον τὰ φόβητρα, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τούτων ἡ ποικίλη τῶν κολαστηρίων κατασκευὴ πᾶσαν ἐπῆγε κατάπληξιν, καὶ","t":"him. For this too is one of his great wonders, that he performed the wonders of healing with no elaborate means, but that for the expulsion of demons and the healing of bodily illnesses the breath of his mouth, brought to the sufferer through the linen cloth, was enough. But to go through all his wonders in turn would take a long work and a speech beyond the leisure we now have; so I will mention one or two more of the things told about him, and with these I will bring my speech to a close. The divine preaching had by now spread everywhere, and all in the city and the region around had been converted to the godly faith of the doctrine; altars and temples and idols among them had been overturned, human life had already been cleansed of the pollutions surrounding idols, the foul fumes of sacrifices had been quenched, and the gore on the altars and the defilements from animal sacrifice had been washed away; and everywhere, place by place, all were zealously raising houses of prayer in the name of Christ. Then anger and envy entered the man who at that time presided over the rule of the Romans, because the ancestral objects of worship of his deceit were being neglected, while the mystery of the Christians was growing and the church was increasing in number throughout the inhabited world, rising to greatness through those who were constantly being added to the word. Thinking it possible to set his own bitterness against the divine power, and to stop the preaching of the mystery, to dissolve the assemblies of the churches, and to bring back to the idols those who had gone over to the word, he sends an order to the governors of the provinces, fixing a fearful threat of punishment against them unless they maltreated with all kinds of tortures those who worshipped the name of Christ and brought them back again by fear and the compulsion of tortures to the ancestral worship of the demons. When this fearful and godless proclamation had been announced to the governors, those appointed for this very purpose by the tyrant's cruelty having gone everywhere through the empire, there was a man ruling the province of that place who was such that he needed nothing from the higher authority, having cruelty at home by nature for his wicked impulse and bitterness and his hostility to those who believed the word. And he issues a fearful decree in public edicts: that they must abjure the faith or be punished with every kind of punishment and death. At that time nothing else, public or private, was done or pursued by those who had public affairs in hand except besieging and punishing those who held to the faith. Nor did the terrors lie only in the threats of words; along with them the varied array of instruments of punishment brought utter dismay, and","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 943 (PG 46:943–944; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/943)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/945":{"o":"πρὸ τῆς πείρας ἐμποιοῦσα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸν φόβον. Ξίφη τε καὶ πῦρ, καὶ θηρία, καὶ βόθροι καὶ τὰ στρεβλωτικὰ τῶν μελῶν ὄργανα καὶ σιδηραῖ κατὰ πυρὸς καθέδραι, καὶ ξύλα ὄρθια, οἷς ἐντεινόμενα τῶν ἐνισταμένων τὰ σώματα ταῖς τῶν φοβερῶν ὀνύχων προσβολαίς κατεξαίνετο, καὶ ἄλλα μυρία πρὸς τὰς πολυειδεῖς βασάνους τῶν σωμάτων ἐξευρημένα παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπενοεῖτο καὶ σπουδὴ τοῖς τῶν ἐξουσιῶν τούτων ἐπειλημμένοις ἦν μία, τὸ μηδένα τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐν ὑπερβολῇ πικρίας ἐπιδειχθῆναι πραότερον. Καὶ οἱ μὲν εἰσήγγελλον· οἱ δὲ ἐπεδείκνυον· οἱ δὲ ἠρεύνων τοὺς κεκρυμμένους. ῎Ἄλλοι τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἐπετίθεντο· ἄλλοι δὲ πρὸς τὰς κτήσεις τῶν πιστῶν ὁρῶντες, ὡς ἂν ἐγκρατεῖς γένοιντο τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπὶ τῷ προσχήματι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἤλαυνον τοὺς ἀντεχομένους τῆς πίστεως. Σύγχυσις δὲ ἦν πᾶσα κατὰ τὸ ἔθνος καὶ ἀμηχανία πολλή, πάντων ἀλλήλοις δι' ὑποψίας ὄντων, οὐ πατράσι τῆς παρὰ τῶν τέκνων εὐνοίας ἐν τοῖς φοβεροῖς παραμενούσης, οὐ παισὶ τὸ πιστὸν τῆς πατρικῆς κηδεμονίας ἐγγυωμένης τῆς φύσεως. Ἐμερίζετο δὲ κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων τὰ γένη πρὸς τὰς θρησκείας σχιζόμενα. Καὶ παῖς Ἑλληνίζων πιστῶν γονέων προδότης ἐγίνετο· καὶ κατὰ παιδὸς πεπιστευκότος ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ μένων ὁ πατὴρ κατήγορος ἦν. Καὶ ἀδελφὸς ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς αἰτίας ἐπολέμει τῇ φύσει, ὅσιον κρίνων τὸν ὁμογενῆ τιμωρήσασθαι, εἰ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀντέχοιτο. Ἐντεῦθεν πλήρεις μὲν ἦσαν αἱ ἐρημίαι τῶν ἐλαυνομένων, κεναὶ δὲ τῶν οἰκητόρων αἱ οἰκίαι. Πολλὰ δὲ τῶν δημοσίων οἰκημάτων, ταῖς τῶν καθειργνυμένων ἀπετέτακτο χρείαις. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἱκανὰ τὰ δεσμωτήρια χωρεῖν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τῶν διὰ τὴν πίστιν τιμωρουμένων τὸ πλῆθος. ᾿Αγοραί τε πᾶσαι καὶ σύλλογοι, κοινοί τε καὶ ἰδιάζοντες, ἀντὶ τῆς συνήθους φαιδρότητος, τὰς τοιαύτας μετελάμβανον συμφορὰς, τῶν μὲν ἐφελκομένων, τῶν δὲ ἀπαγομένων· ἄλλων ἐπὶ τοῖς γινομένοις ἢ γελώντων ἢ δακρυόντων οὐ νηπίων ἦν ἔλεος, οὐ τιμὴ πολιᾶς, οὐκ ἀρετῆς αἰδὼς εἰσῄει τοῖς δυσμενέσιν· ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ, πᾶσα ἡλικία τοῖς πολεμίοις τῆς πίστεως ἔκδοτος ἦν. Οὐδὲ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἐδίδου ἡ φυσικὴ τοῦ γένους ἀσθένεια, τῶν τοιούτων ἀναγκῶν ἐκτὸς μένειν· ἀλλ' εἷς ἦν κατὰ πάντων ὁ τῆς ὡμότητος νόμος, ἴσῳ τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς τιμωρίας τῶν γινομένων ὑπάγων τὸν τῶν εἰδώλων ἀλλοτριούμενον, μὴ διακρίνων τὴν φύσιν. Τότε οὖν ἰδὼν ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ὡς οὐ δυναμένων τῶν πολλῶν μέχρι τοῦ θανάτου τῆς εὐσεβείας προαγωνίσασθαι, σύμβουλος γίνεται τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ μικρὸν ὑποχωρῆσαι τῇ φοβερᾷ προσβολῇ, κρεῖττον εἶναι ἡγούμενος διὰ φυγῆς τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν περισώσασθαι, ἢ ἑστῶτας ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγώνων παρατάξεως, λιποτάκτους γενέσθαι τῆς πίστεως· καὶ ὡς ἂν μάλιστα πεισθεῖεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, μηδένα κίνδυνον φέρειν τῇ ψυχῇ, τὸ τὴν πίστιν διὰ φυγῆς περισώσασθαι, τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὑποδείγματι, σύμβουλος τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως γίνεται αὐτὸς πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἀναχωρήσας τῇ τοῦ κινδύνου φορᾷ· ἅμα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς κρατοῦσι διὰ σπουδῆς μάλιστα ἦν, τὸ δι᾽ ἐκείνου καθάπερ στρατηγοῦ χειρωθέντος, πᾶσαν διαλῦσαι τῆς πίστεως τὴν παράταξιν, καὶ τούτου","t":"produced fear in people before they had experienced them. Swords and fire and beasts and pits, and instruments for racking the limbs, and iron chairs over fire, and upright stakes on which the bodies of those who resisted were stretched and torn by the strokes of fearful claws, and countless other things devised by them for the many kinds of torture of bodies were contrived; and those who held these offices had one zeal: that none should be shown milder than another in excess of bitterness. Some informed; others pointed out; others searched for those in hiding. Others set upon those who fled; others, eyeing the possessions of the faithful, harried those who held to the faith under the pretext of piety, so as to get control of their property. There was complete confusion throughout the province and great helplessness, all being suspicious of one another: for fathers the goodwill of their children did not last through the terrors, nor did nature guarantee to children the faithfulness of fatherly care. Families were divided against one another, split over their religion. A son who held to Hellenism became the betrayer of his believing parents; and a father who remained in unbelief was the accuser of his son who had believed. And a brother for the same reason made war on nature, judging it a holy act to punish his own kin if he held to godliness. As a result the deserts were full of those driven out, and the houses empty of their inhabitants. Many of the public buildings had been set apart for the needs of those imprisoned; for the prisons were not able to hold the multitude of those punished for the faith. All the marketplaces and gatherings, public and private, instead of their usual cheerfulness, took on such calamities, some people being dragged off and others led away, others laughing or weeping at what was happening. There was no pity for infants, no honour for grey hair, no respect for virtue came over the enemies; but, as in captivity, every age was surrendered to the enemies of the faith. Nor did the natural weakness of their sex allow women to remain outside such compulsions; there was one law of cruelty against all, subjecting the one estranged from the idols to an equal measure of punishment for what was done, without distinguishing nature. Then that great man, seeing the weakness of human nature, that the many were not able to contend for godliness to the point of death, counsels the church to withdraw a little before the fearful attack, thinking it better for them to save their souls by flight than to stand in the battle line of the contests and become deserters of the faith. And so that people might be most fully persuaded that saving the faith by flight brought no danger to the soul, he counsels withdrawal by his own example, himself withdrawing before the others from the onrush of the danger. At the same time this was above all the concern of the rulers, that by subduing him as a general they might break up the whole battle line of the faith; and for this","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 945 (PG 46:945–946; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/945)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/947":{"o":"χάριν ἐκεῖνον ὑπὸ χεῖρα ποιήσασθαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς διεσπούδαστο. Ὁ δὲ ἦν ἔρημόν τινα καταλαβὼν λοφιὰν, ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἐκ νεωκόρου κατ᾿ ἀρχὰς προσαχθέντα τῇ πίστει, ἤδη τῇ χάριτι τῆς διακονίας ὑπηρετούμενον. Τῶν δὲ διωκόντων κατ᾿ ἔχνος ἑπομένων ἐν πλήθει πολλῷ, μηνύσαντος αὐτοῖς τὸν τόπον τινὸς ἐν ᾧ κατεκρύπτετο· οἱ μὲν ἐν κύκλῳ τὴν ὑπώρειαν τῆς λοφιᾶς διαλαβόντες ἐφύλαττον, ὅπως ἂν μηδαμόθεν αὐτῷ γένοιτο διαφυγεῖν, εἴπερ εἰς τοῦτο τραπείη οἱ δὲ προσβάντες τῷ ὄρει, κατὰ πᾶν μέρος διερευνώμενοι, ἤδη καταφανεῖς ἐγίνοντο τῷ μεγάλῳ, κατ᾿ εὐθεῖαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνατρέχοντες. Ἐκεῖνος δὲ διακελευσάμενος τῷ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, στερεᾷ τε καὶ ἀδιστάκτῳ τῇ πεποιθήσει στῆναι πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ καταπιστεῦσαι τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῷ, τὰς χεῖρας εἰς προσευχὴν ἀνατείναντα, καὶ μηδὲ εἰ πλησίον γένοιντο οἱ διώκοντες ἐκκρουσθῆναι τῷ φόβῳ τὴν πίστιν· ὑπόδειγμα δὲ τῆς παραγγελίας ἑαυτὸν ἐποίει τῷ διακόνῳ, βλέπων τε πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀμετατρέπτῳ ὄμματι, καὶ τεταμέναις ταῖς χερσὶν ἐν ὀρθίῳ τῷ σχήματι· καὶ οἱ μὲν ἐν τούτοις ἦσαν. Οἱ δὲ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀναδραμόντες, πανταχῆ τὸν τόπον περισκεψάμενοι, καὶ πᾶσαν ἔνστασιν θάμνου, καὶ πᾶσαν πέτρας προσβολὴν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐκ χαράδρας κοιλότητα μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας διερευνησάμενοι, πάλιν τὴν ὑπώρειαν καταλαμβάνουσιν, ὡς φόβῳ τῶν διερευνωμένων εἰς φυγὴν τραπόντων τοῖς κάτω περιεστοιχισμένοις ὑπὸ χεῖρα γενέσθαι. Ὡς οὖν οὔτε παρὰ τούτων εὑρέθη, καὶ παρ' ἐκείνοις οὐκ ἦν· ὁ δὲ τὸν τόπον τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου διαγωγῆς κατασκεψάμενος σημείοις ὑπέγραφεν, ἐν ᾧ διεβεβαιοῦντο οἱ ζητοῦντες μηδένα ἑωρακέναι, πλὴν εἰ μὴ δύο δένδρα μόνον μικρὸν ἀπ᾿ ἀλλήλων διεστηκότα. ᾿Ανακεχωρηκότων δὲ τῶν ζητούντων, ὑπολειφθεὶς ὁ μηνυτὴς, καὶ καταλαβὼν ἐν προσευχῇ αὐτόν τε τὸν μέγαν καὶ τὸν σὺν αὐτῷ, καὶ γνοὺς τὴν θείαν φρουράν, δι᾿ ἧς ἐκεῖνοι δένδρα τοῖς διώκουσιν ἐνομίσθησαν, προσπίπτει τε αὐτῷ, καὶ πιστεύει τῷ λόγῳ. Καὶ ὁ πρὸ βραχέος διώκτης, εἷς τῶν φευγόντων ἐγένετο. Μενόντων τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον χρόνον πολὺν (ἐπεκράτει γὰρ ὁ κατὰ τῆς πίστεως πόλεμος, χαλεπῶς τοῦ καθηγουμένου κατὰ τῶν προστιθεμένων τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εὐσεβείας λυσσῶντος), καὶ πάντων πρὸς φυγὴν τετραμμένων· ἐπειδὴ τὸ κατὰ τὸν μέγαν αὐτοῖς ἀπ᾿ ἐλπίδος ἦν, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ χεῖρά ποτε γενόμενον τοῖς διώκουσι· τότε κατὰ τῶν ὑπολοίπων τὴν λυσσώδη μανίαν ἑαυτῶν τρέψαντες, πανταχῆ κατὰ τὸ ἔθνος διηρευνῶντο πάντας ὁμοίως ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ παῖδας, ὅσοις τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ σεβάσμιον ἦν· καὶ εἶλκον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ τὰ δεσμωτήρια κατεπλήρουν, ἀντ᾿ ἄλλης τινὸς ἀδικίας ἔγκλημα ποιούμενοι κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ὡς μηδενὶ τότε τῶν κοινῶν προσασχολεῖσθαι τὰ δικαστήρια, ἢ τοῦτο μόνον διὰ σπουδῆς τοῖς κρατοῦσιν εἶναι, τὸ πάντας αἰκισμοὺς καὶ παντοίας στρεβλώσεις δι' ἐπινοίας ἐπάγειν κατὰ τῶν ἀντεχομένων τῆς πίστεως.","t":"reason they were eager to bring him into the hands of the enemies. He had reached a deserted hill, having with him the man who had at first been brought to the faith from being a temple-warden, who was now serving in the grace of the diaconate. The pursuers followed close on his track in a great crowd, someone having informed them of the place where he was hiding. Some surrounded the foot of the hill and kept guard, so that he might have no way of escape from any side if he turned to flight; others climbed the mountain, searching every part, and were already in the great man's sight as they ran straight up toward him. He bade the man with him stand toward God with firm and undoubting confidence and entrust his safety to him, stretching out his hands in prayer, and not let his faith be knocked away by fear even if the pursuers came near. He made himself an example of his instruction to the deacon, looking toward heaven with unmoving eyes and standing upright with hands outstretched; and so they were. The men who ran up toward them looked all around the place, searched with all care every clump of brush, every jutting rock, every hollow of a ravine, and went down again to the foot of the hill, supposing that the men they were looking for had turned to flight in fear and fallen into the hands of those posted around below. Since, then, he was not found by them, and was not with the others either, the man who had spied out the place where the great man was staying described it by its marks, and in it the searchers insisted they had seen no one, only two trees standing a little apart from each other. When the searchers had gone back, the informer stayed behind, and finding the great man himself and the one with him at prayer, and recognizing the divine protection through which they had been taken for trees by the pursuers, he falls down before him and believes the word. And the pursuer of a little before became one of the fugitives. They remained in the desert a long time (for the war against the faith prevailed, as the governor raged fiercely against those who were added to the word of godliness), and everyone had turned to flight. Since, in the great man's case, they had given up hope that he would ever fall into the hands of the pursuers, they turned their furious madness against the rest and searched everywhere through the province all alike, men and women and children, to whom the name of Christ was venerable; and they dragged them to the city and filled the prisons, making godliness the charge against them in place of any other wrong, so that at that time the courts were busy with none of the public business, or this alone was the zeal of the rulers, to devise every kind of maltreatment and every sort of racking against those who held to the faith.","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 947 (PG 46:947–948; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/947)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/949":{"o":"Ἔνθα δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον πᾶσι κατάδηλον γίνεται, τὸ μηδὲν ἀθεεὶ τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον βουλεύεσθαι. Φυλάξας γὰρ ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῆς φυγῆς τῷ λαῷ, κοινὴ συμμαχία τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως ἀγωνιζομένοις ἅπασιν ἦν. Καθάπερ γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἀκούομεν, ὅτι πόρῥωθεν ἀφεστηκὼς τῆς τῶν Ἀμαληκιτῶν παρατάξεως, διὰ προσευχῆς ἐνετίθει τοῖς ὁμοφύλοις κατὰ τῶν ὑπεναντίων τὴν δύναμιν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον κἀκεῖνος, οἷον ἐφορῶν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ γινόμενα, τὴν θείαν ἐπεκαλεῖτο συμμαχίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐναθλούντων τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ τῆς πίστεως. Καί πότε μετὰ τῶν συνόντων κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες τῷ Θεῷ προσευχόμενος, ἀθρόως ἀγῶνός τε καὶ θορύβου καταπλησθεὶς, ἔνδηλος ἦν ἐν τοῖς παροῦσιν οἷον ξενιζόμενος, καὶ ἐναγωνιῶν τῷ θεάματι, καὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐπέχων, καθάπερ ἤχου τινὸς πρὸς αὐτὸν διαβαίνοντος. Καὶ διαγενομένου διαστήματος οὐκ ὀλίγου, μείνας πάντα τὸν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ χρόνον, ἀκλινὴς καὶ ἀκίνητος, εἶθ' ὥσπερ τοῦ προκειμένου θεάματος εἰς ἀγαθὸν καταλήξαντος, πάλιν ἐπανῆλθέ τε πρὸς τὸ σύνηθες, καὶ ἀνευφήμησε τὸν Θεὸν ἐν λαμπροτάτῃ φωνῇ, τὸν ἐπινίκιὸν τε καὶ εὐχαριστήριον ὕμνον ἐπιφθεγξάμενος, ὃν πολλαχή τῆς ψαλμῳδίας τοῦ Δαβὶδ ἀκούομεν λέγοντος, τὸ Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς, ὃς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς εἰς θήραν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν. Τῶν δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν θαυμαστικῶς διατεθέντων, καὶ μαθεῖν ἀξιούντων, ὅ τί ποτε εἴη τὸ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ γενόμενον θέαμα, εἰπεῖν λέγεται, μέγα πτῶμα κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην ἑωρακέναι, καταπαλαισθέντος τοῦ διαβόλου ὑπὸ νεανίου τινὸς ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἀγῶσι. Τῶν δὲ ἀγνοούντων ἔτι τὸ εἰρημένον, σαφέστερον αὐτοῖς διηγεῖται, ὅτι συμμαχίᾳ κρείττονι κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην νεανίας τις τῶν εὐπατριδῶν, τοῖς ἰδρῶσι τῆς πίστεως ἐνηγωνίσατο, προσαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν δημίων τῷ ἄρχοντι. Προσέθηκε δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα, Τρωάδιον αὐτὸν ὀνομάσας· καὶ ὅτι μετὰ πολλὰς βασάνους, αἷς γενναίως ἐνεκαρτέρησε, τὸν διὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας ἀνεδήσατο στέφανον. Ἐκπλαγεὶς δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ὁ διάκονος, καὶ οὔτε ἀπιστεῖν τινι τῶν λεγομένων τολμῶν· καὶ ἅμα κρεῖττον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως εἶναι νομίσας, τὸ πόῤῥωθεν ὄντα τῆς πόλεως, μηδενὸς ἀνθρώπου τὰ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν διαγγείλαντος, ὡς ἐφεστῶτα τοῖς πράγμασι λέγειν πρὸς τοὺς συνόντας περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ γενομένων, ἱκέτης γίνεται τοῦ διδασκάλου ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπιτραπῆναι καὶ γνῶναι τὰ πεπραγμένα καὶ μὴ κωλυθῆναι παρ' αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι μέχρι τῶν τόπων αὐτῶν, ἐν οἷς τὸ θαῦμα ἐγένετο. Τοῦ δὲ φοβερὸν εἶναι λέγοντος, τὸ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν φονευτῶν γενέσθαι, καὶ πολλάκις ἐξ ἐπηρείας τοῦ ἀντικειμένου τι τῶν ἀβουλήτων παθεῖν, ἐπιθαρσεῖν ἔλεγεν ὁ διάκονος τῇ τῶν εὐχῶν αὐτοῦ συμμαχίᾳ, φθεγξάμενος ταύτην πρὸς αὐτὸν τὴν φωνήν· Σύ με παράθου τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ οὐδείς μοι φόβος καὶ τῶν πολεμίων καθάψεται. Τοῦ δὲ καθάπερ συνέμπορον αὐτῷ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ βοήθειαν διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς συνεκπέμψαντος, πεποιθώς τὴν ὁδὸν διῄει, πρὸς οὐδένα τῶν ἀπαντώντων ἐπιστρεφόμενος. Ἑσπέριος δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἐντὸς γεγονὼς, καὶ κοπώδης ἐκ τῆς","t":"Then indeed it became still clearer to all that that great man planned nothing without God. For having kept himself safe for the people by flight, he was a common ally for all who were contending for the faith. For just as we hear of Moses that, standing far off from the battle line of the Amalekites, he put strength into his countrymen against their enemies by prayer, in the same way he too, as if watching events with the eye of the soul, called down divine help on behalf of those contending in the confession of the faith. Once, as he was praying to God with his companions as usual, he was suddenly filled with agitation and disturbance, and it was plain to those present that he was as if struck by something strange, in anguish at a sight, and listening as though some sound were reaching him. After no small interval, during which he remained the whole time unbending and unmoving, then, as if the sight before him had come to a good end, he returned to his usual state and praised God in a very clear voice, uttering the hymn of victory and thanksgiving that we often hear David say in his psalmody: “Blessed be God, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.” When those around him were struck with wonder and asked to learn what the sight before his eyes had been, he is said to have told them that at that hour he had seen a great fall, the devil being thrown down by a young man in the contests for godliness. As they still did not understand what was said, he told them more clearly that at that hour a young man of noble family, with a stronger help, had contended in the sweat of the faith, having been brought by the executioners before the governor. He added the name too, calling him Troadius, and said that after many tortures, which he endured nobly, he had bound on the crown of martyrdom. The deacon was astonished at what he heard; he did not dare to disbelieve any of it, and at the same time he thought it beyond human nature that one who was far from the city, with no one reporting events to him, should speak to his companions about what happened there as if he were present at the events. He becomes a suppliant of his teacher, asking to be allowed to know what had been done with his own eyes, and not to be prevented by him from going to the very places in which the wonder had happened. When Gregory said that it was dangerous to be among murderers, and that one often suffers something unwanted from the malice of the adversary, the deacon said he took courage from the help of his prayers, and spoke to him these words: “You commend me to God, and no fear of the enemies will touch me.” And when Gregory had sent God's help with him by prayer as a fellow traveller, he went his way confidently, turning to none of those he met. Toward evening he came inside the city, and tired from","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 949 (PG 46:949–950; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/949)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/951":{"o":"ὁδοιπορίας γενόμενος, λουτρῷ θεραπεῦσαι τὸν κόπον ἀναγκαῖον ᾠήθη. Ἐπεκράτει δὲ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον δαίμων τις ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἐπιχωριάζων τῷ λουτρῷ, οὗ ἡ φθοροποιὸς δύναμις ἐνεργὸς μετὰ σκότος κατὰ τῶν προσεγγιζόντων ἐγίνετο, καὶ τούτου χάριν ἄβατον τὸ λουτρὸν ἦν ἐκεῖνο μετὰ τὰς ἡλίου δυσμὰς καὶ ἀνενέργητον ᾧ παραστὰς ἡξίου τὸν ἐπιτεταγμένον ἀνοῖξαι τὴν θύραν, δοῦναί τε τὴν εἴσοδον αὐτῷ καὶ μὴ φθονῆσαι τῆς ἐκ τοῦ λουτροῦ θεραπείας. Τοῦ δὲ μαρτυρουμένου μηδένα τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην κατατολμώντων τοῦ ὕδατος ἰδίοις ὑποστρέψαι ποσὶν, ἀλλὰ πάντων μετὰ τὴν ἑσπέραν κατακρατεῖν τὸ δαιμόνιον, καὶ πολλοὺς ὑπ' ἀγνοίας ἤδη παθεῖν τὰ ἀνήκεστα, οὓς ἀντὶ τῆς ἐλπισθείσης ἀνέσεως θρῆνοι καὶ οἰμωγαὶ διεδέξαντο ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα διεξιόντος, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνος ὑφίει τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνέκειτο παντὶ τρόπῳ καταναγκάζων αὐτὸν, εἰς τὰ ἐντὸς παραδέξασθαι. Ὁ δὲ τὸ μὴ συγκινδυνεῦσαι τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ξένου, κέρδος ποιούμενος, τὴν κλεῖν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ ποιησάμενος, πόῤῥω τοῦ λουτροῦ ἀπαλλάσσεται. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ γυμνωθεὶς ἐντὸς ἦν, πολύτροποί τινες φόβων καὶ καταπλήξεων ἀφορμαὶ παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου συνεσκευάζοντο, φάσματα παντοδαπὰ πυρὶ καὶ καπνῷ μεμιγμένην τὴν φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενα, ἐν ἀνθρώπων καὶ θηρίων μορφῇ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐμπίπτοντα, ταῖς ἀκοαῖς ἐνηχοῦντα, τῷ ἄσθματι προσεγγίζοντα, κύκλῳ περὶ τὸ σῶμα χεόμενα. Ὁ δὲ τὴν σφραγίδα ἑαυτοῦ προβαλλόμενος, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνακαλῶν ὅνομα, ἀπαθὴς τὸν πρῶτον διεξῆλθε τὸν οἶκον. Ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ ἐνδότερον χωρήσας, χαλεπωτέροις ἐνέτυχε τοῖς θεάμασιν, εἰς φοβερωτέραν μετασκευασθέντος τοῦ δαιμονίου τὴν ὄψιν καὶ ἅμα σεισμῷ κατακλονεῖσθαι τὸν οἶκον ᾤετο, καὶ τὸ ἔδαφος ὑποῤῥηγνύμενον γυμνὴν ὑποδεικνύειν τὴν κάτω φλόγα, σπινθῆράς τε φλογώδεις ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκπέμπεσθαι, καὶ πάλιν αὐτῷ τὸ ἴσον ὅπλον ἡ σφραγὶς, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὄνομα, καὶ ἡ διὰ τῶν εὐχῶν τοῦ διδασκάλου βοήθεια, τὰ φοβερὰ τῶν φαινομένων τε καὶ γινομένων διέχεεν. ᾿Ανεθεὶς δὲ ἤδη τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον σπεύδων, πάλιν ἐκωλύετο, τοῦ δαιμονίου τῆς θύρας ἀντειλημμένου. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν τὸ κώλυμα διὰ τῆς ἴσης δυνάμεως αὐτομάτως ἐλύετο, τῇ σφραγίδι τῆς θύρας ὑποχωρούσης. Ἐπεὶ δὲ κατὰ νοῦν αὐτῷ προὐκεχωρήκει τὰ πάντα, ἐκβοῆσαι λέγεται πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φωνῇ τὸ δαιμόνιον, μὴ ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὴν δύναμιν ἐκείνην λογίσασθαι, δι' ἧς τὸν ὄλεθρον ἔφυγεν ἡ γὰρ φωνὴ τοῦ παραθεμένου αὐτὸν τῷ φυλάσσοντι τὸ ἀπαθὲς ἐχαρίσατο. Διασωθεὶς τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον, ἔκπληξιν παρείχε τοῖς ἐπιστατοῦσι τοῦ τόπου, οὐδενὸς τῶν πώποτε κατὰ τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην κατατολμησάντων τοῦ ὕδατος ἐν τοῖς ζῶσι φανέντος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τούτοις τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν διηγήσατο, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τῶν μαρτύρων ἀνδραγαθήματα τοῦτον ἔγνω γεγενημένα τὸν τρόπον, ὃν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρημίας ὁ μέγας διάγων προδιηγήσατο, προσθεὶς τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγήμα","t":"the journey, he thought it necessary to relieve his fatigue with a bath. But in that place a murderous demon held sway, haunting the bath, whose destructive power became active after dark against those who came near; for this reason that bath was not to be entered after sunset and stood unused. Standing before it, he asked the attendant to open the door, to give him entry, and not to begrudge him the relief of the bath. The attendant protested that none of those who ventured into the water at that hour had come back on their own feet, but that after evening the demon overpowered everyone, and that many in their ignorance had already suffered fatal harm, and for them lamentations and wailing had taken the place of the relief they had hoped for. While he went through these and similar things, the deacon no more slackened his desire, but pressed him in every way, forcing him to let him inside. The attendant, counting it a gain not to share the danger of the stranger's ignorance, gave him the key and went off far from the bath. When the deacon had undressed and was inside, varied occasions of fear and terror were contrived by the demon: apparitions of every kind, showing a nature mixed of fire and smoke, falling upon his eyes in the form of men and beasts, sounding in his ears, coming close to his breath, swirling around his body. But he, holding out the seal before himself and calling on the name of Christ, passed through the first room unharmed. Going on to the inner room, he met more terrible sights, the demon having changed into a more fearful appearance; and at the same time he thought the building was shaken by an earthquake, and that the floor, breaking open beneath, showed the flame below laid bare, and that fiery sparks were sent out from the waters. And again the same weapon, the seal and the name of Christ and the help that came through his teacher's prayers, dispersed the terrors of what appeared and happened. When he had already relaxed in the water and was hurrying to get out, he was hindered again, the demon having seized the door. But this hindrance too was undone of itself by the same power, the door giving way to the seal. When everything had gone as he wished, the demon is said to have cried out to him in a human voice not to credit to himself the power by which he had escaped destruction; for the voice of the one who had commended him to the One who guards had granted him safety. So, having been saved in the way described, he caused astonishment to those in charge of the place, since none of those who had ever ventured into the water at that hour had been seen among the living. When he had told them what had happened to him, and had learned that the brave deeds of the martyrs in the city had happened in the very way the great man, staying in the desert, had described beforehand, he added to the stories","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 951 (PG 46:951–952; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/951)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/953":{"o":"τε καὶ θαύμασι, δι' ὧν τε εἶδε, καὶ δι' ὧν ἤκουσε, καὶ δι᾽ ὧν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ πείρᾳ τῆς τοῦ μεγάλου πίστεως ἐδιδάχθη τὴν δύναμιν, ᾗ προσεμαρτύρησε τὸ δαιμόνιον, πάλιν ἀνατρέχει πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον· τοῖς τε κατ᾿ αὐτὸν, καὶ τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα κοινὸν ἀφεὶς φυλακτήριον, τὸ διὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἕκαστον ἑαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ παρατίθεσθαι. Καὶ νῦν ἐστι μὲν κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις ἡ τοιαύτη φωνὴ, τῆς τότε γεγενημένης τῷ ἀνδρὶ παρὰ τοῦ Γρηγορίου βοηθείας μνημόσυνον. Τῆς δὲ τυραννίδος ἐκείνης ἤδη κατὰ θείαν συμμαχίαν διαλυθείσης, καὶ πάλιν εἰρήνης τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν διαδεξαμένης, καθ᾽ ἣν ἄνετος ἦν κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν προκειμένη πᾶσιν ἡ περὶ τὸ θεῖον σπουδή, καταβὰς πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν, καὶ πᾶσαν περινοστήσας ἐν κύκλῳ τὴν χώραν, προσθήκην ἐποιεῖτο τοῖς ἁπανταχοῦ λαοῖς τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον σπουδῆς, τὰς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐνηθληκότων τῇ πίστει πανηγύρεις νομοθετήσας. Καὶ διαλαβόντες ἄλλος ἀλλαχῆ τῶν μαρτύρων τὰ σώματα, κατὰ τὴν ἐτήσιον τοῦ ἐνιαυσιαίου κύκλου περίοδον συνιόντες, ἠγάλλοντο τῇ τιμῇ τῶν μαρτύρων πανηγυρίζοντες. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτο τῆς μεγάλης αὐτοῦ σοφίας ἀπόδειξις ἦν, ὅτι πρὸς καινὸν βίον μεταῤῥυθμίζων πᾶσαν ἀθρόως τὴν κατ᾿ αὐτὸν γενεὰν, οἷόν τις ἡνίοχος ἐπιστὰς τῇ φύσει, καὶ τοῖς τῆς πίστεως καὶ θεογνωσίας χαλινοῖς ἀσφαλῶς αὐτοὺς ὑποζεύξας, ἐνεδίδου τι μικρὸν τῷ ζυγῷ τῆς πίστεως δι' εὐφροσύνης ὑποσκιρτᾶν τὸ ὑπήκοον. Συνιδὼν γὰρ ὅτι ταῖς σωματικαῖς θυμηδίαις τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνῃ παραμένει τὸ νηπιῶδες τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον· ὡς ἂν τὸ προηγούμενον τέως ἐν αὐτοῖς μάλιστα κατορθωθείη, τὸ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀντὶ τῶν ματαίων σεβασμάτων βλέπειν, ἐπαφῆκεν αὐτοῖς ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἐμφαιδρύνεσθαι μνήμαις, καὶ εὐπαθεῖν, καὶ ἀγάλλεσθαι, ὡς χρόνῳ ποτὲ κατὰ τὸ αὐτόματον πρὸς σεμνότερόν τε καὶ ἀκριβέστερον μετατεθησομένου τοῦ βίου, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνο καθηγουμένης τῆς πίστεως, ὅπερ δὴ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἤδη κατωρθώθη, πάσης θυμηδίας ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἡδέων πρὸς τὸ πνευματικὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης εἶδος μετατεθείσης. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον ἐμπολιτευόμενος τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ σπουδὴν ἔχων πρὸ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ βίου μεταστάσεως πάντας ἰδεῖν πρὸς τὴν σωτήριον πίστιν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων μεταθέντας· ἐπειδὴ προέγνω ἑαυτοῦ τὴν μετάστασιν, σπουδῇ πᾶσάν τε τὴν περιοικίδα διηρευνήσατο, μαθεῖν θέλων εἴ τινες εἶεν οἱ περιλειφθέντες ἔξω τῆς πίστεως. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔγνω τοὺς παραμεμενηκότας τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ πλάνῃ μὴ πλείους εἶναι τῶν ἑπτακαίδεκα, Σκυθρωπὸν μὲν καὶ τοῦτο, φησὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀποβλέψας, τὸ λιπεῖν τι τῷ τῶν σωζομένων πληρώματι. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ μεγάλης εὐχαριστίας ἄξιον, ὅτι τοσούτους καταλείπει τοὺς εἰδωλολάτρας τῷ μετ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐκδεχομένῳ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν, ὅσους αὐτὸς Χριστιανοὺς ὑπεδέξατο. Ἐπευξάμενος δὲ τοῖς τε πεπιστευκόσιν ἤδη τὴν εἰς τὸ τέλειον αὔξησιν, καὶ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν τοῖς ἀπίστοις, οὕτω τοῦ ἀνθρω-","t":"and wonders about him what he had seen and heard and had learned by his own experience of the power of the great man's faith, to which the demon too bore witness, and he hurried back to his teacher. He left to his contemporaries and to those after them a common safeguard: that each should commend himself to God through the priests. And even now this formula is used throughout the church, but especially among them, as a memorial of the help that came to that man from Gregory. When that tyranny had already been dissolved by divine help, and peace had again taken over human life, a peace in which zeal for the divine lay open and free to all at will, he came down again to the city, and travelling around the whole country he increased the zeal for the divine among the peoples everywhere by instituting festivals in honour of those who had contended for the faith. And people, distributing the bodies of the martyrs among themselves in different places, gathered at the yearly return of the annual cycle and rejoiced, holding festival in honour of the martyrs. This too was a proof of his great wisdom: when he was reshaping the whole generation of his day at once to a new life, like a charioteer set over their nature, having securely yoked them with the bridles of faith and the knowledge of God, he allowed the subject people to frisk a little under the yoke of faith through enjoyment. For he perceived that the childish and uneducated among the many remained in the error of idols because of bodily pleasures; so that the main thing might meanwhile be achieved in them above all, that they should look to God instead of vain objects of worship, he allowed them to make merry at the memorials of the holy martyrs, to enjoy themselves and rejoice, since in time life would of its own accord change to something more dignified and exact, faith leading the way to it. This has in fact already been achieved in most of them, all their delight having been changed from the pleasures of the body to the spiritual kind of joy. Governing the church in this way, and eager before his departure from life to see all converted from idols to the saving faith, when he foresaw his departure he diligently searched through the whole surrounding region, wishing to learn whether any were left outside the faith. When he learned that those who remained in the ancient error were no more than seventeen, he said, looking to God: “This too is grievous, that anything should be lacking to the full number of those being saved. Yet it is worthy of great thanksgiving that he leaves to the one who receives the church after him as many idolaters as he himself received Christians.” Having prayed for growth to perfection for those who had already believed and for conversion for the unbelievers, he thus passes from human","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 953 (PG 46:953–954; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/953)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/955":{"o":"πίνου βίου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν μετανίσταται, ἐπισκηψας τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις, μὴ κτήσασθαι τόπον αὐτῷ πρὸς ταφὴν ἰδιάζοντα. Εἰ γὰρ ζῶν, κύριος κληθῆναι τόπου τινὸς οὐκ ἐδέξατο, ἀλλὰ παροικῶν ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις τὸν βίον διήγαγεν, οὐδὲ μετὰ θάνατον τῇ παροικία πάντως ἐπαισχυνθήσεται Ἀλλ᾽ ἔστω, φησὶ, τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα βίῳ διήγημα, ὅτι Γρηγόριος οὔτε ζῶν ἐπωνομάσθη τόπῳ τινὶ, καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἀλλοτρίων τάφων ἐγένετο πάροικος, πάσης τῆς ἐν τῇ γῇ κτήσεως ἑαυτὸν ἀποστήσας, ὡς μηδὲ ἐνταφῆναι ἰδίῳ καταδέξασθαι τόπῳ· μόνην γὰρ αὐτῷ κτῆσιν τιμίαν εἶναι ἔκρινεν ἐκείνην, ἢ πλεονεξίας ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἴχνος οὐ δέχεται. Τὴν δὲ ἀθρόαν παντὸς τοῦ ἔθνους μετάστασιν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ματαιότητος εἰς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας θαυμαζέτω ἕκαστος τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ μηδεὶς ἀπιστείτω πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν βλέπων, δι' ἧς γέγονεν ἡ τοσαύτη μεταβολὴ τῶν μετατιθεμένων ἀπὸ τοῦ ψεύδους πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις αὐτοῦ τῆς ἱερωσύνης γεγενημένον χρόνοις, ὅπερ πρὸς τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν θαυμάτων ἐπειγόμενος ὁ λόγος παρέδραμε, νῦν ἐπαναλαβὼν διηγήσομαι. Ἑορτή τις ἦν πάνδημος ἐν τῇ πόλει, δαίμονί τινι τῶν ἐγχωρίων κατά τι πάτριον ἀγομένη. Πρὸς ταύτην ἅπαν σχεδόν συνέῤῥει τὸ ἔθνος, τῆς χώρας πάσης συνεορταζούσης τῇ πόλει. Ἐπεπλήρωτο δὲ τῶν συνδεδραμηκότων τὸ θέατρον, καὶ ὑπερεχεῖτο πανταχόθεν ὑπὲρ τὰς καθέδρας τῶν ἐπιῤῥυέντων τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ πάντων περὶ τὰ θεάματά τε καὶ ἀκροάματα πρὸς τὴν ὀρχήστραν ἀποβλέπειν προθυμουμένων, θορύβου πλήρης ἦν ἡ σκηνή, καὶ ἄπρακτος ἐγίνετο τοῖς θαυματοποιοῖς ἡ ἐπίδειξις, τῆς ταραχῆς τῶν στενοχωρουμένων οὐ μόνον τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς μουσικῆς ἐπικοπτούσης, ἀλλ᾿ οὔτε τοῖς θαυματοποιοῖς ἐνδιδούσης καιρὸν τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι. Ἔνθα δὲ κοινὴ παρὰ παντὸς ἐκρήγνυται τοῦ δήμου φωνὴ, τὸν δαίμονα, ᾧ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἦγον, ἀνακαλούντων, καὶ παρ' ἐκείνου τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν αὐτοῖς ἀξιούντων γενέσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πάντων ἀλλήλοις συμφθεγγομένων, εἰς ὕψος ἤρετο ἡ φωνὴ, καὶ πάσης ἐδόκει τῆς πόλεως καθάπερ ἑνός τινος στόματος ὁ λόγος εἶναι, ὁ τὴν εὐχὴν ταύτην προσάγων τῷ δαίμονι (ἦν δὲ ἡ εὐχὴ, ὡς ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς ἀκοῦσαι τῆς λέξεως Ζεῦ, ποίησον ἡμῖν τόπον)· ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος τοῦ ἤχου τῶν ὀνομαστὶ ἐπιβοωμένων τὸν δαίμονα, παρ' οὗ τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν ᾔτουν γενέσθαι τῇ πόλει, φησὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς, πέμψας τινὰ τῶν παρεστηκότων, δοθήσεσθαι αὐτοῖς ὅσον οὐδέπω πλείονα τῆς εὐχῆς τὴν εὐρυχωρίαν. Ταύτης δὲ παρ' αὐτοῦ τῆς φωνῆς οἷόν τινος σκυθρωπῆς ἀποφάσεως ἐξενεχθείσης, λοιμὸς τὴν πάνδημον ἐκείνην ἱερομηνίαν ἐκδέχεται. Καὶ παραχρήμα κατεμίγνυτο ταῖς χοροστασίαις ὁ θρῆνος, ὥστε αὐτοῖς εἰς πένθη καὶ συμφορὰς μεταστραφῆναι τὰς θυμηδίας, ἀντὶ αὐλῶν καὶ κρότων τῆς ἐπαλλήλου θρηνωδίας διαλαβούσης τὴν πόλιν. Ἐνσκῆψαν γὰρ ἅπαξ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ πάθος, θᾶττον ἢ κατ' ἐλπίδας διεξῄει πυρὸς δίκην τοὺς οἴκους ἐπιβοσκόμενον, ὥσ","t":"life to God, having charged his friends not to acquire a place of his own for his burial. For if while living he had not accepted to be called owner of any place, but had passed his life as a sojourner on what belonged to others, neither would he be ashamed of sojourning after death. “But let it be a story for later life,” he said, “that Gregory was not named after any place while he lived, and after death became a sojourner in others' tombs, having withdrawn himself from all possession on earth, so that he did not accept burial in a place of his own.” For he judged that the only possession precious to him was the one that admits in itself no trace of greed. Let each one who comes upon this speech admire the sudden conversion of the whole nation from Greek vanity to the knowledge of the truth, and let no one disbelieve it, looking to the dispensation through which so great a change came about in those who were converted from falsehood to truth. For I will now take up again and recount what happened in the first years of his priesthood, which my speech passed over in its haste toward the rest of his wonders. There was a public festival in the city, celebrated by an ancestral custom in honour of one of the local demons. Almost the whole nation streamed together to it, the whole country joining the city in the feast. The theatre was filled with those who had flocked to it, and the crowd of those streaming in overflowed on every side above the seats; and as all were eager to look toward the orchestra for the spectacles and performances, the stage was full of uproar, and the display of the performers came to nothing, since the commotion of the crowded people not only interrupted the enjoyment of the music but gave the performers no opportunity to show their skills. Then a common cry broke out from the whole populace, calling on the demon in whose honour they were holding the feast and asking that room be made for them by him. When, with all crying out together, the cry rose high, and the words seemed to be those of the whole city as from one mouth, offering this prayer to the demon (the prayer was, word for word, “Zeus, make room for us”), that great man heard the noise of those calling on the demon by name and asking him to make room for the city, and sending one of those standing by, he says to them that they would soon be given more room than they prayed for. When this saying had been uttered by him like a grim sentence, a plague succeeds that public holy season. At once lamentation was mixed with the dances, so that their merriment was turned into mourning and calamity, and in place of pipes and applause continuous dirges filled the city. For once the disease had fallen on the people, it went through the houses faster than one could expect, devouring them like fire, so","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 955 (PG 46:955–956; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/955)."},"gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/957":{"o":"πληροῦσθαι μὲν τῶν τῇ νόσῳ καταφθειρομένων τὰ ἱερὰ τῶν ἐλπίδι θεραπείας προσφευγόντων γέμειν δὲ πηγὰς, καὶ κρουνοὺς, καὶ φρέατα, τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ νοσήματος ἀμηχανίας διακαιομένων ἐν τῇ δίψῃ (ἐφ' ὧν ἡτόνει τὸ ὕδωρ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ πάθους κατασβέσαι φλογμὸν, ὁμοίως ἐχόντων καὶ μετὰ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ὕδατος, τῶν ἅπαξ κατασχεθέντων τῷ πάθει)· πολλοὺς δὲ αὐτομολεῖν πρὸς τοὺς τάφους, καὶ μηκέτι τοὺς περιόντας ἐξαρκεῖν ταῖς τῶν κατοιχομένων ταφαῖς. Γενέσθαι δὲ οὐκ ἀδόκητον τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν προσβολὴν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ἀλλά τινος φάσματος ἐπιγινομένου τῇ μελλούσῃ καταφθείρεσθαι οἰκίᾳ, οὕτως ἐπακολουθεῖν τὴν φθοράν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν πᾶσι καταφανής ἐγένετο ἡ αἰτία τῆς νόσου, ὅτι τὸ ἐπικληθὲν παρ' αὐτῶν δαιμόνιον κακῶς ἐπλήρου τὴν εὐχὴν τῶν ματαίων, τὴν πονηρὰν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ πάθους εὐρυχωρίαν ἐμποιοῦν τῇ πόλει· ἔνθα ἱκέται γίνονται τοῦ μεγάλου, στῆσαι δεόμενοι τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν φορὰν διὰ τοῦ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ γινωσκομένου τε καὶ κηρυττομένου Θεοῦ, ὃν μόνον ὡμολόγουν ἀληθῶς εἶναι Θεὸν, καὶ κατὰ πάντων τὸ κράτος ἔχειν. Τοῦ γὰρ φάσματος ἐκείνου πρὸ τῆς ἐσομένης τῷ οἴκῳ διαφθορᾶς προφαινομένου, καὶ παραχρῆμα τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν τῆς ζωῆς ἐμποιοῦντος, εἷς ἐγίνετο τοῖς κινδυνεύουσι σωτήριος τρόπος, τὸ ἐντὸς ἐκείνου γενέσθαι τοῦ οἴκου τὸν μέγαν Γρηγόριον, καὶ δι᾽ εὐχῆς τὸ ἐνσκῆψαν τῷ οἴκῳ πάθος ἀπώσασθαι. Ταχείας δὲ διὰ τῶν τετυχηκότων ἐν πρώτοις τῆς τοιαύτης σωτηρίας ἐπὶ πάντας τῆς φήμης διαδραμούσης, πάντα ἀργὰ ἦν, ἃ πρότερον ὑπὸ ματαιότητος αὐτοῖς ἐσπουδάζετο, χρηστήριά τε καὶ καθάρσια, καὶ ἡ ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις διατριβή, πάντων πρὸς τὸν μέγαν ἱερέα βλεπόντων, καὶ ἑκάστου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ παντὸς τοῦ γένους ἐφελκομένου. Μισθὸς δὲ ἦν αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν σωζομένων ἡ τῶν ψυχῶν σωτηρία. Τῇ γὰρ τοιαύτῃ πείρᾳ τῆς εὐσεβείας τοῦ ἱερέως φανερουμένης, οὐκέτι ἦν ἀναβολή πρὸς τὴν συγκατάθεσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου, τοῖς διὰ τῶν ἔργων διδασκομένοις τὴν τῆς πίστεως δύναμιν. Οῦτως ἐγένετο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐκείνοις ἰσχυροτέρα τῆς ὑγείας ἡ νόσος. Ὅσον γὰρ ἐν τῇ ὑγιείᾳ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ μυστηρίου παραδοχὴν τοῖς λογισμοῖς ἀσθενοῦντες ἦσαν, τοσοῦτον τῇ σωματικῇ νόσῳ πρὸς τὴν πίστιν ἐῤῥώσθησαν. Καὶ οὕτω τῆς περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνης ἐλεγχθείσης, πάντες πρὸς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ μετετίθεντο, οἱ μὲν διὰ τῆς ἐπιγενομένης νόσου χειραγωγηθέντες πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν· οἱ δὲ καὶ προφυλακὴν τοῦ λοιμοῦ, τὴν πίστιν τὴν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν προβαλλόμενοι. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα τῇ μνήμῃ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο διασωζόμενα τοῦ μεγάλου Γρηγορίου θαύματα, ἅπερ φειδόμενοι τῆς ἀπιστούσης ἀκοῆς, ὡς ἂν μὴ βλαβεῖεν οἱ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐν τῷ μεγέθει τῶν λεγομένων ψεῦδος οἰόμενοι, τοῖς γεγραμμένοις οὐ προσεθήκαμεν. Χριστῷ δὲ τῷ τοιαῦτα διὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ τερατουργοῦντι πρέπει δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώ-","t":"that the temples were filled with those wasted by the disease who fled there in hope of healing, and springs and fountains and wells were crowded with those burning with thirst in the helplessness of the illness (in their case the water was too weak to quench the burning of the disease, since those once seized by it were the same after water as before it); and many went off to the tombs of their own accord, and the survivors were no longer sufficient to bury the dead. The onset of the evil did not come upon people unexpectedly; but an apparition appeared to the house that was about to be destroyed, and so the destruction followed. When the cause of the disease became plain to all, that the demon they had called on was wickedly fulfilling the prayer of the foolish, producing this evil “room” in the city through the disease, they became suppliants of the great man, begging him to stop the course of the evil through the God he knew and preached, whom they confessed alone to be truly God and to have power over all. For when that apparition appeared beforehand, before the destruction that was to come on a house, and at once produced despair of life, there was one way of safety for those in danger: that the great Gregory should come inside that house and drive off by prayer the disease that had fallen upon it. As the report quickly spread to all through those who were the first to obtain such salvation, everything they had formerly pursued in their vanity, oracles and purifications and attendance on the idols, was idle; all looked to the great priest, and each drew his whole family to him for salvation. And his reward from those saved was the salvation of their souls. For when the godliness of the priest had been made manifest by such a proof, there was no more delay in assenting to the mystery for those taught the power of the faith by deeds. So for those people the disease proved stronger than health. For as much as in health they were weak in their reasonings toward receiving the mystery, so much were they strengthened toward faith by bodily disease. And so, the error about idols having been refuted, all went over to the name of Christ, some led by the hand to the truth through the disease that had come upon them, others putting forward faith in Christ as a safeguard against the plague. There are other wonders of the great Gregory still preserved in memory to this day, which we have not added to what has been written, sparing unbelieving ears, so that those who think the truth a falsehood because of the greatness of what is told may not be harmed. To Christ, who works such wonders through his servants, belong glory, honour, and worship, now and always, and to the ages of the ages.","f":"Gregory of Nyssa, <i>Vit. Thaum.</i> 957 (PG 46:957–958; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/gregory-nyssa-vita-thaumaturgi/957)."}}