# Catechetical Oration - Author: [Gregory of Nyssa](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/gregory-of-nyssa/) - Latin title: *Oratio catechetica magna* - Date: ca. 385–390 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 45 (Paris: Migne, 1863), cols. 9–106 (reprinting the edition of F. Morel and J. Krabinger) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Ekkehard Mühlenberg, ed., Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. 3.4, Oratio catechetica (Leiden: Brill, 1996) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/ - Passages: 41 ## Catechetical Oration 0 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-0 - Source: PG 45:9a–12b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Gregory explains that instruction in the faith must be adapted to each hearer's errors, and begins with the pagan: perfect divinity admits no distinction, so there can be only one God. ### Greek text Ὁ τῆς κατηχήσεως λόγος, ἀναγκαῖος μέν ἐστι τοῖς προεστηκόσι τοῦ βίου τῆς εὐσεβείας, ὡς ἂν πληθύνοιτο τῇ προσθήκῃ τῶν σωζομένων ἠ Ἐκκλησία, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν διδαχὴν πιστοῦ λόγου τῇ ἀκοῇ τῶν ἀπίστων προσαγομένου· οὐ μὴν ὁ αὐτὸς τῆς διδασκαλίας τρόπος ἐπὶ πάντων ἁρμόσει τῶν προσιόντων τῷ λόγῳ. Ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὰς τῶν Θρησκειῶν διαφορὰς μεθαρμόζειν προσήκει τὴν κατήχησιν, πρὸς τὸν αὺτδν μὲν ὁρῶντας τοῦ λόγου σκοπὸν, οὐχ ὁμοιοτρόπως δὲ ταῖςκατασκευαίς χρωμένους. ’Λλλαις γὰρ ὑπολήψεσιν ό Ἰουδαῒζων προείληπται, καὶ τῷ Ἑλληνισμῷ συζῶν ἑτέραις · ὃ τε ’Λνόμοιος καὶ ὁ Μανιχαῖος, κα) οἱ κατὰ Μαρκίωνα, καὶ Οὑαλεντίνον, καὶ Βασιλίδην, καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς κατάλογος τῶν κατὰ τὰς αἱρέσεις πλανωμένων, ἰδίαις ἕκαστος ὑπολήψεσι προειλημμένοί, ἀναγκαίαν ποιοῦσι τὴν πρὸς τὰς ἐκείνων ὑπονοίας μάχην. Κατὰ γὰρ τὺ εἶδος τῆς νόσου καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς θεραπείας προσαρμοστέον. Οὐ τοῖς αὐτοῖς θεραπεύσεις τοῦ ’Ἕλληνος τὴν πολυθεῖαν, καὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαίου τὴν περὶ τὸν μονογενῆ Θεὸν ἀπιστίαν · οὐδὲ ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν τοῖς κατὰ τὰς αίρέσεις πεπλανημένοις ἀνατρέψεις τὰς ἦπατημένας περὶ τῶν δογμάτων μυθοποιίας. Οὐ γὰρ διʼ ὧν ἂν τις ὲπανορθὼσαιτο τὸν Σαβέλλιον, διὰ τῶν αὑτῶν ὠφελήσει καὶ τὸν Ἀνόμοιον. Οὐδὲ ὴ πρὸς τὸν Μανιχαῖον μάχηκαὶ τον ’ίουδαῑον ὀνίνησιν ἀλλὰ χρὴ, καθὼς εἴρηται, πρὸς τὰς ὑπολήψεις τῶν ἀνθρώπων βλέπειν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐγκειμένην ἑκάστῳ πλάνην ποιεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον, ἀρχάς τινας καὶ προτάσεις εὐλόγους ἐφʼ ἑκάστης διαλέξεως προβαλλόμενον, ὡς ἂν διὰ τῶν παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ὁμολογουμένων ὲκκαλυφθείη κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ηδιάνοια. Οὐκοῦν ὅταν πρός τινα τῶν Ἐλληνιζόντων ἡ διάλεξις ᾖ, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι ταύτην ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ λόγου τὴν ἀρχὴν, πότερον εἶναι τὸ Θεῖον ὑπείληφε, ἧ τῷ τῶν ἀθέων συμφέρεται δόγματι. El μὲν οὖν μὴ εἶναι λέγει, ἐκ τῶν τεχνικῶς καὶ σοφῶς κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομουμένων προσαχθήσεται, πρὸς τὸ διὰ τούτων εἷναί τινα δύναμιν τὴν ὲν τούτοις διαδεικνυο μένην τοῦ παντὸς ὑπερκειμένην ὁμολογῆσαι. Εἰ δὲ τὸ μὲν εἶναι μὴ ἀμφιβάλλοι, είς πλῆθος δὲ θεοτήτων ταῖς ὑπονοίαις ὲκφέροιτο, τοιαύτῃ χρησόμεθα πρὸς αὑτὸν τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ, πότερον τέλειον ἢ ὲλλειπὲς ἡγεῖται τδ Θείον. Τοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς τὴν τελειότητα προσμαρτυροῦντος τῇ θείᾳ φύσει, τὸ διὰ πάντων αύτὸν τῶν ὲνθεωρουμένων τῇ θεότητι τέλειον ἀπαιτήσομαι, ὡς ἂν μὴ σύμμικτον ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων θεωροῖτο τὸ Θεϊον, ἐξ ὲλλειποῦς καὶ τελείου. Ἀλλʼ εἴτε κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν, εἴτε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἔννοιαν, εἴτε κατᾶ τὸ σοφόν τε καὶ ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀΐδιον, καὶ εί τι ἄλλο θεοπρεπὲς νόημα τῇ θεωρίᾳ προσκείμενον τύχοι, ἐν παντὶ τὴν τελειότητα θεωρεῖσθαι περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον τῆς ἀκολουθίας ταύτης συγκαταθὴσεται. Τούτου δὲ δοθέντος ἡμῖν, ούκέτι ἂν εἴη χαλεπὸν τὸ ἐσκεδασμένον τῆς διανοίας είς πλῆθος θεῶν πρὸς μιᾶς θεότητος περιαγαγεῖν ὁμολογίαν. El γὰρ τὸ τέλειον ὲν παντὶ δοίη περὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον ὁμολογεῖσθαι, πολλὰ δὲ εἶναι τὰ τέλεια διὰ τῶν αὑτῶν χαρακτηριζόμενα λέγοι · ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἐπὶ τῶν μηδεμιᾷ παραλλαγῇ διακρινομένων, ἀλλʼ ὲν τοῖς αὑτοῖς θεωρουμένων, ἢ ἐπιδεῖξαι τὸ ἴδιον, ἢ εἰ μηδὲν ἰδιαζόντως καταλάβοι ἡ ἔννοια, ἐφʼ ὧν τὸ διακρῖνον οὑκ ἐστι μὴ ὑπονοεῖν τὴν διάκρισιν. Εἰ γάρ μήτε παρὰ τὸ πλέον καὶ ἔλαττον τὴν διαφορὰν ὲξευρίσκοι, διότι τὴν ἐλάττωσιν ὁ τῆς τελειότητος οὑ παραδέχεται λόγος · μήτε τὴν παρὰ τὸ χεῖρον καὶ προτιμότερον ” ού γὰρ ἂν ἔτι θεότητός τις σχοίη ὑπόληψιν, οὗ ἡ τοῦ χείρονος οὑκ ἄπεστι προσηγορίαο μήτε κατὰ τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ πρόσφατον τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἀεὶ δν, ἔξω τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖόν ἐστιν ὑπολήψεως · ἀλλʼ εἷς καὶ ὁ αὑτὸς τῆς θεότητος λόγος, οὐδεμιᾶς ἰδιότητος ὲν οὐδενὶ κατὰ τὸ εὑλογον εὑρισκομένηςʼ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα πρὸς μιᾶς θεότητος ὁμολογίαν συνθλιβἧναι τὴν πεπλανημένην περὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν θεῶν φαντασίαν. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ δίκαιον, τό τε σοφὸν καὶ τὸ δυο νατὸν ὡσαύτως λέγοιτο, ἦ τε ἀφθαρσία καὶ ἀῖδιότης, καὶ πᾶσα εὐσεβὴς διάνοια, κατὰ τὸν αὑτὸν ὁμολο γοῖτο τρόπον· πάσης κατὰ πάντα λόγον διαφορᾶς ὑφαιρουμένης, συναφαιρεῖται κατʼ ἀνάγκην τὺ τῶν θεῶν πλῆθος ἀπὸ τοῦ δόγματος, τῆς διὰ πάντων ταυτότητος, εἰς τὸ ἓν τὸ δόγμα τὴν πίστιν περιαγούσης, ### English translation (Claude) The discourse of catechesis is necessary for those who have charge of the life of godliness, so that the Church may be multiplied by the addition of those who are being saved, as the faithful word that accords with the teaching is brought to the hearing of unbelievers. Yet the same method of instruction will not suit all who come to the word. Rather, catechesis must be adapted to the differences of religions: aiming at the same goal of the discourse, but not using the same arguments in the same way. For the one who follows Judaism is preoccupied by certain assumptions, and the one who lives in Hellenism by others; and the Anomoean and the Manichaean, and the followers of Marcion, Valentinus, and Basilides, and the rest of the catalogue of those who wander astray in the heresies, each preoccupied by his own assumptions, make it necessary to do battle with their particular notions. For the method of treatment must be fitted to the form of the disease. You will not cure the polytheism of the Greek and the unbelief of the Jew concerning the only-begotten God by the same means; nor will you overturn, from the same starting points, the deluded myth-making about the doctrines among those who have wandered astray in the heresies. For the arguments by which one might set Sabellius right will not also help the Anomoean; nor does the battle against the Manichaean benefit the Jew. Rather, as has been said, one must look to the assumptions of the people and frame the discourse according to the error present in each, putting forward in each discussion certain principles and reasonable premises, so that by means of what is agreed on both sides the truth may be uncovered by logical sequence. So when the discussion is with one of those who follow Hellenism, it would be well to make this the beginning of the discourse: does he suppose that the divine exists, or does he agree with the doctrine of the atheists? If he says that it does not exist, he will be led by the things ordered with art and wisdom throughout the world to acknowledge that through them there is shown a certain power, displayed in them, that transcends the universe. But if he does not doubt that it exists, but is carried away in his notions to a plurality of deities, we will use the following line of reasoning with him: does he consider the divine perfect or deficient? And when, as is likely, he bears witness to the perfection of the divine nature, I will require of him perfection in everything that is observed in the Godhead, so that the divine may not be viewed as a mixture of opposites, of deficient and perfect. But whether in power, or in the notion of goodness, or in wisdom, incorruption, and eternity, or in whatever other conception befitting God may belong to our contemplation, he will agree, by the reasonableness of this sequence, that perfection is to be seen in the divine nature in every respect. Once this is granted us, it would no longer be hard to bring the mind that is scattered among a plurality of gods round to the confession of one Godhead. For if he grants that perfection in every respect is to be acknowledged of the subject, but says that there are many perfect beings marked by the same characteristics, then of necessity, in the case of beings distinguished by no variation but observed in the same attributes, he must either show what is peculiar to each, or, if the mind grasps nothing peculiar, not suppose a distinction where there is nothing that distinguishes. For if he can find the difference neither in more and less, since the very definition of perfection does not admit of diminution; nor in worse and more honourable (for one could no longer hold a notion of deity about that from which the name of the worse is not absent); nor in ancient and recent (for what does not always exist lies outside the notion of the divine); but the definition of the Godhead is one and the same, no peculiarity being reasonably found in anything, then of necessity the deluded fancy of a plurality of gods is forced into the confession of one Godhead. For if goodness and justice, wisdom and power are predicated alike, and incorruption and eternity and every pious conception are acknowledged in the same way, then, when every difference in every respect is removed, the plurality of gods is necessarily removed from the doctrine along with it, since identity in all things brings belief round to the one. ### Scripture references - Acts 2:47: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “The addition of those who are being saved” echoes Acts 2:47. After “in anything” the digitized text has a line of OCR debris (removed by correction); the sentence reads continuously, but a few words may have been lost there. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. pref. (PG 45:9a–12b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-0). ## Catechetical Oration 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-1 - Source: PG 45:13a–16d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Since God is not without reason (logos), he has a Word, which, unlike ours, is eternal, living, all-powerful, and creative, distinct from the Father yet one with him in nature. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ καὶ 6 τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγος οῗδὲ τινα διάκρισιν ύποστάσεων ὲν τῇ ὲνὸτητι τῆς φύσεως βλέπειν, ὡς ἂν μὴ τῇ πρὸς τοὺς ’Έλληνας μάχῃ, πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖσμὸν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ύπενεχθείη, πάλιν προσ· ήκει διαστολῇ τινι τεχνικῇ, καὶ τὴν περὶ τοῦτο πλάνην ἐπανορθώσασθαι. Οὐδὲ γάρ τοῖς ἔξω τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς δόγματος ἄλογον εἶναι τὸ Θεῖον ύπείληπταιʼ τοῦτο δὲ παρʼ ἐκείνων ὁμολογούμενον ἱκανῶς διαρθρώσει τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον. '0 γὰρ ὁμολογῶν μὴ ἄλογον εἶναι τὸν Θεὸν, πάντως λόγον ἔχειν τὸν ἄλογον συγκαταθήσεται. Ἀλλά μὴν ἀνθρώπινος ὁμωνύμως λέγεται λόγος. Οὐκοῦν εί λέγοι καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν καὶ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπονοεῖν, οὕτω μεταχθήσεται πρὸς τὴν ὑψηλοτέραν ὑπόληψιν. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ πᾶσα κατάλληλον εἶναι πιστεύειν τῇ φύσει τὸν λόγον, ὡς καὶ τὰ ἀλλα πάντα. Καὶ γὰρ δύναμίς τις καὶ ζωὴ, καὶ σοφία, περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον βλέπεται· ἀλλά ούκ ἀν τις ὲκ τῆς ὁμωνυμίας τοιαύτην καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ζωὴν, ἢ τὴν δύναμιν, ἦ τὴν σοφίαν ὑπονοήσειεν ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἡμεο τέρας μέτρον, συνταπεινοῦνται αἱ τῶν τοιούτων ὀνομάτων ἐμφάσεις. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ φθαρτὴ καὶ ἀσθενὴς ἡμῶν ἡ φύσις, διὰ τοῦτο ὠκύμορος ὴ ζωὴ, ἀνυπόστατος ἡ δύναμις, ἀπαγὴς ὁ λόγος. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ὑπερο κειμένης φύσεως τῷ μεγαλείῳ τοῦ θεωρουμένου πᾶν τὸ περὶ αὐτὴν λεγόμενον συνεπαίρεται. Οὐκοῦν κᾶν Λόγος Θεοῦ λέγηται, ούκ ἐν τῇ ὁρμῇ τοῦ φθεγγομένου καὶ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχειν νομισθήσεται, καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἡμετέρου μεταχωριῖΝ εἰς ἀνύπαρκτον. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὴ ἡμετέρα φύσις ἐπίκηρος οὖσα, καὶ ἐπίκηρον τὸν λόγον ἔχει· οὓτως ὴ ἄφθαρτος καὶ ἀεὶ ἑστῶσα φύσις, ἀΐδιον ἔχει καὶ ὑφεστῶτα τὸν λόγον. Et δὴ τοῦτο κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ὁμολογηθείη τὸ ύφο εστάναι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀϊδίως, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἐν ζωῇ τοῦ Λόγου τὴν ὑπόστασιν εἶναι ὁμολογεῖν. Ού γὰρ καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῶν λίθων ἀψύχως ὑφεστάναι τὸν Λόγον, εὐαγές ἐστιν οἴεσθαι. Ἀλλʼ εί ὑφέστηκε νοερόν τι χρῆμα καὶ ἀσώματον ὃν, ζῇ πάντως. Et δὲ τοῦ ζῇν κεχώρισται, οὐδὲ ὲν ὑποστάσει πάντως ἐστίν. ’Δλλά μὴν ἀσεβὲς ἀπεδείχθη τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀνυπόστατον εἶναι. Οὐκοῦν συναπεδείχθη κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τὸ ὲν τῇ ζωῇ τοῦτον θεωρεῖσθαι τὸν Λόγον. ’Δπλῆς δὲ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου φύσεως κατὰ τὸ sine; εἶναι πεπιστευμένης, καὶ οὐδεμίαν διπλόην κα) σύνθεσιν ἐν ἑαυτῇ δεικνυούσης, οὐκέτι ἄν τις κατὰ μετουσίαν ζωῆς ὲν ζωῇ θεωροίη τὸν Λόγον. Ού γὰρ ἂν ἐκτὸς εἴη συνθέσεως ἡ τοιαύτη ὑπόληψις, τὸ ἕτερον ὲν ἑτέρῳ λέγειν εἶναιʼ ἀλλά ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τῆς ἁπλότητος ὁμολογουμένης, αύτοζωὴν εἶναι τὸν Λόγον οἴεσθαι, ού ζωῆς μετουσίαν. Et οὖν ζῇ 6 Λόγος, 6 ζωὴ ὢν, καὶ προαιρετικὴν δύναμιν ἕχει πάντως. υύδὲν γὰρ ἀπροαίρετον τῶν ζώντων ἐστί. Τὴν δὲ προσ αίρεσιν ταύτην καὶ δυνατὴν εἶναι κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον, εύσεσές ἐστι λογίζεσθαι. Et γὰρ μή τις τὸ δυνατὸν ὁμολογοίη, τὸ ἀδύνατον πάντως κατασκευάσει. Ἀλλά μὴν πόρρω τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον ὑπολήψεως ἐστι τὸ ὶδύνατον. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀπμφαῖνον τῶν περὶ τὴν θείαν θεωρεῖται φύσινο ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τοσαύτην εἶναι ὁμολογεῖν τοῦ Λόγου τὴν δύναμιν, ὅση ἐστὶ καὶ ὴ πρόςθεσις, ἵνα μή τις μίξις τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ συνδρομὴ περὶ τὸ ἁπλοῦν θεωροίτο, ἀδυναμίας τε καὶ-δυνάμεως ἐν τῇ αὑτῇ προθέσει θεωρουμένων, είπερ τδ μέν τοι δύναιτο, πρὸςδέ τι ἀδυνάτως. Πάντα δὲ δυναμένην τὴν τοῦ Λόγου προαίρεσιν πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν τὴν ῥοπὴν ἔχειν ’ ἀλλοτρία γὰρ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἡ πρὸς κακίαν ὁρμήο ἀλλά πᾶν ὅ τί πέρ ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν, τοῦτο καὶ βούλεσθαι. Βουλομένην δὲ πάντως καὶ δύνασθαι. Δυναμένην δὲ μὴ ἀνενέργητον εἶναι, ἀλλά πᾶσαν ἀγαθοῦ προαίρεσιν εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἄγειν. Ἀγαθὸν δὲ ὁ κόσμος, καὶτὰ ὲν αὑτῷ πάντα σοφῶς τε καὶ τεχνικῶς θεωρούμενα. "Aput τοῦ Λόγου ἔργα τὰ πάντα τοῦ ζῶντος μὲν καὶ ὑφεστῶτος, ὅτι Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐστὶ, προαιρουμένου δὲ ὅτι ζῇ· δυναμένου δὲ πάντα ὅ τί περ ἂν ἕληται, αἱρουμένου δὲ τὸ ἀγαθόν τε καὶ σοςδν πάντως, καὶ εἴτι τῆς κρείττονος σημασίας ἐστίν. Ἐπεὶ οῦν ἀγαθόν τι ό κόσμος ὁμολογεῖ·ται, ἀπεδείχθη δὲ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων τοῦ Λόγου ἔργον τὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ αἱρουμένου, καὶ δυναμένου · ὁ δὲ Λόγος οὗτος ἕτερός ἐστι παρὰ τὸν οὑ ἐστι Λόγος. Τρόπον γάρ τινα τῶν πρός τι λεγομένων καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν. Ἐπειδὴ χρὴ πάντως τῷ Λόγῳ καὶ τὸν Πατέρα τοῦ Λόγου συνυπακούεσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ* ἂν εἴη Λόγος, μή τινος ὢν Λόγος. El οῦν διακρίνῃ τῷ σχετικῷ τῆς σημασίαςή τῶν ἀκουόντων διάνοια, αὑ·τόν τε τὸν Λόγον, καὶ τὸν ὅθεν ἐστὶν, οὐκέτʼ ἂν ἡμῖν κινδυνεύει τὸ μυστήριον ταῖς Ἑλληνικαῖς μαχόμενον ὑπολήψεσι τοῖς τε Ἰουδαίων πρεσβεύουσι συνενεχθῆναι · ἀλλʼ ἐπίσης ἑκατέρων τὴν ἀτοπίαν ἐκφεύξεται, τό τε ζῶντα τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, καὶ ἐνεργὸν καὶ ποιητικὸν ὁμολογῶν· ὅπερ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος οὑ δέχεταιο καὶ τὸ μὴ διαφθείρειν κατά τὴν φύσιν αὑτόν τε τὸν Λόγον, καὶ τὸν ὅθεν ἐστίν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν φαμεν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, οὑτε διʼ ὅλου τὸν αὑτὸν εἶναι τῷ νῷ, οὕτε παντάπασιν ἕτερον ο τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ὲκείνου εἶναι, ἄλλο τι καὶ οὑκ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιʼ τὸ αὑτὸν τὸν νοῦν είς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγειν, οὐκέτʼ ἂν ἕτερον παρʼ ἐκεῖνο ὑπονοοῖτο, ἀλλὰ κατά τὴν φύσιν ἓν ὃν, ἕτερον τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ ἐστίν · οὕτως καὶ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τῷ μὲν ὑφεστάναι καθʼ ἑαυτὸν διῄρηται πρὸς ἐκεῖνον παρʼ οῦ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει ο τῷ δὲ ταῦτα δεικνύειν ὲν ἑαυτῷ, ἃ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν καθορᾶται, ὁ αὑτός ἐστι κατά τὴν φύσιν ἐκείνῳ τῷ διὰ τῶν αὑτῶν γνωρισμάτων εὑρισκομένῳ. Εἴτε γὰρ ἀγαθότης, εἴτε δύναμις, είτε σοφία. εἴτε τὸ ἀϊδίως εἶναι, εἴτε τὸ κακίας καὶ θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον, εἴτε τὸ ἐν ’παντὶ τέλειον, εἴτε τι τοιοῦτον ὅλως σημεῖον ποιοῖτο τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς καταλήψεως, διά τῶν αὑτῶν εὑρήσεις σημείων καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἐκείνου ὑφεστῶτα Λόγον. ### English translation (Claude) But since the doctrine of godliness knows how to see a certain distinction of hypostases in the unity of the nature, so that in our battle with the Greeks our argument may not slide over into Judaism, it is fitting again to correct the error on this point too by a careful distinction. For not even those outside our doctrine suppose the divine to be without reason; and this, being admitted by them, will sufficiently articulate our argument. For whoever admits that God is not without reason will certainly agree that he who is not without reason has reason, that is, a word. But the human word is called by the same name. So if he says that he understands the Word of God, too, on the analogy of ours, he will thus be brought to a higher conception. For it is altogether necessary to believe that the word corresponds to the nature, like everything else. For a certain power and life and wisdom are seen in the human being; yet no one, from the sameness of the names, would suppose such life or power or wisdom in God as well; rather, the connotations of such names are lowered to match the measure of our nature. Because our nature is perishable and weak, our life is short-lived, our power without substance, our word unstable. But in the case of the transcendent nature, everything said about it is elevated along with the greatness of what is contemplated. So even if the Word of God is spoken of, he will not be thought to have his subsistence in the impulse of the speaker, and then to pass away into non-existence like our word. Rather, just as our nature, being perishable, has a perishable word, so the incorruptible and ever-abiding nature has an eternal and subsistent Word. If, then, it is admitted as a consequence that the Word of God subsists eternally, it is altogether necessary to admit that the subsistence of the Word is in life. For it is not reverent to think that the Word subsists lifelessly, like stones. But if he subsists, being something intellectual and incorporeal, he certainly lives; and if he is separated from life, he certainly does not subsist at all. But it has been shown to be impious that the Word of God should be without subsistence. Therefore it has been shown along with this, as a consequence, that this Word is seen in life. And since the nature of the Word is believed to be simple, showing no doubleness or composition in itself, one could no longer see the Word as being in life by participation in life; for such a conception, which says that one thing is in another, would not be free of composition. Rather, since simplicity is admitted, one must necessarily think that the Word is life itself, not a participation in life. If, then, the Word lives, being life, he certainly also has the power of choice; for no living being is without choice. And it is reverent to conclude that this choice is also powerful. For if one does not admit that it is powerful, he will certainly establish that it is powerless. But powerlessness is far from the notion of the divine; for nothing incongruous is seen in the divine nature. It is altogether necessary to admit that the power of the Word is as great as his purpose, so that no mixture and concurrence of opposites may be seen in what is simple, powerlessness and power being seen in the same purpose, as would be the case if he were able to do one thing but unable to do another. And the will of the Word, being able to do all things, has no inclination toward anything evil (for the impulse toward evil is foreign to the divine nature); but whatever is good, this it also wills; and willing, it is certainly also able; and being able, it is not inactive, but brings every choice of the good into act. Now the world is good, and all the things in it are seen to be ordered wisely and skilfully. All things, then, are works of the Word, who lives and subsists, since he is the Word of God; who chooses, since he lives; who is able to do whatever he chooses; and who chooses what is altogether good and wise and whatever is of the better sort. Since, then, the world is admitted to be something good, and it has been shown by what has been said that the world is the work of the Word, who both chooses and is able to do the good, this Word is other than the one whose Word he is. For this too is in a way one of the relative terms, since the Father of the Word must by all means be understood together with the Word; for he would not be a Word if he were not someone's Word. If, then, the mind of the hearers distinguishes, by the relation implied in the term, both the Word himself and the one from whom he is, the mystery will no longer run the risk, in fighting the Greek notions, of coinciding with those who champion the views of the Jews; rather, it will escape the absurdity of both alike, by confessing both that the Word of God is living, active, and creative, which the Jew does not accept, and that the Word himself and the one from whom he is are not divided in nature. For just as with us we say that the word comes from the mind, being neither wholly the same as the mind nor altogether other (for in that it is from it, it is something else and not that; but in that it brings the mind itself to manifestation, it could no longer be supposed other than it, but, being one with it in nature, it is other as a subject), so also the Word of God, by subsisting in himself, is distinguished from him from whom he has his subsistence; but by showing in himself the things that are seen in God, he is the same in nature as the one who is recognized by the same marks. For whether goodness, or power, or wisdom, or eternal existence, or being incapable of evil, death, and corruption, or being perfect in all things, or anything of that kind whatever should serve as a mark by which to apprehend the Father, you will find by the same marks the Word who subsists from him. ### Translation notes - ὑπόστασις is rendered “hypostasis” where it names the distinct persons of the Trinity; the verb ὑφίστημι and ὑπόστασις in its general sense are rendered “subsist” and “subsistence.” Gregory plays on λόγος as both “reason” and “word”: God is not ἄλογος (“without reason”), so he has a λόγος; the divine Word is capitalized. The phrase “κατὰ τὸ sine; εἶναι” contains OCR debris; it is translated by sense (“believed to be simple”). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 1 (PG 45:13a–16d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-1). ## Catechetical Oration 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-2 - Source: PG 45:17a–17c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: By the same analogy God has a Spirit, not a passing breath but a substantial, self-moving power existing in its own hypostasis, inseparable from God and his Word. ### Greek text Ὠσπερ δὲ τὸν Λόγον ὲκ τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς ἀναλογικῶς ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπερκειμένης ἔγνωμεν φύσεως, κατά τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον, καὶ τῇ περὶ τοῦ Πνεῦματος ἐννοίᾳ προσαχθησόμεθα, σκιάς τινας καὶ μιμήματα τῆς ἀφράστου δυνάμεως ὲν τῇ καθʼ ἡμᾶς Θεωροῦντες φύσει. Ἀλλʼ ἐφʼἡμῶν μὲν τὸ ’πνεῦμα,ή τοῦ ἀέρος ἐστὶν ὁλκὴ, ἀλλοτρίου πράγματος, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σώματος σύστασιν ἀναγκαίως είσελκομένου τε καὶ προχεομένου, ὅπερ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ὲκφωνήσεως τοῦ λόγου, φωνὴ γίνεται,τὴν τοῦ λόγου δύναμιν ἐν ἑαυτῇ φανεροῦσα. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς θείας φύσεως τὸ μὲν εῖναι Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ, εὑέ σεβὲς ἐνομίσθη, καθὼς ἐδόθη καὶ Λόγος εἶναι Θεοῦ, διὰ τὸ μὴ δεῖν ὲλλειπέστερον τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εῖναι Λόγον θ εἴπερ τούτου μετά τοῦ πνεύματος θεωρουμένου, ἐκεῖνος δίχα πνεύματος εἶναι πιστεύοιτο. υὺ μὴν ἀλλότριον καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἡμετέρου πνεύματος ἔξωθεν ὲπεισρεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ὲν αὑτῷ γίνεσθαι τὸ Πνεῦμα, θεοπρεπές ἐστιν οἴεσθαι. Ἀλλʼ ὡς Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀκούσαντες, οὑκ ἀνυπόστατόν τι πρᾶγμα τὸν Λόγον ᾠήθημεν, οὐδὲ ἐκ μαθήσεως ὲγο γιγνόμενον, οὑδὲ διὰ φωνῆς προφερόμενον, οὐδὲ μετά τὸ προενεχθῆναι διαλυόμενον, οὑδὲ ἄλλο τι πάσχοντα τοιοῦτον, οἷα περὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον θεωρεῖται πάθη, ἀλλʼ οὑσιωδῶς ὑφεστῶτα, προαιρετικὸν τε καὶ ἐνεργὸν καὶ παντοδῦναμον · οὕτω καὶ Πνεῦμα μεμαθηκότες Θεοῦ, τὸ συμπαρομαρτοῦν τῷ Λόγῳ, κάλʼφανέροῦν αὑτοῦ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, οὑ πνοὴν ἄσθματος ἐννοοῦμεν. Ἦ γὰρ ἂν καθαιροῖτο πρὸς ταπεινότητα τὸ με· γαλεῖον τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, εἰ καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ἡμετέρου, καὶ τὸ ὲν αὐτῷ Πνεῦμα ὑπονοοῖτό ' ἀλλά δύναμιν οὑσιώδη αὑτὴν ἐφʼ ἑαυτῆς ἐν ἰδιαζούσῃ ὑποστάσει θεωρουμένην, οὔτε χωρισθῆναι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὲν ᾧ ἐστιν, ἢ τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ ᾧ παρομαρτεῖ δυναμένην, οὔτε πρὸς τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον ἀναχεομένην, ἀλλὰ καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου καθʼ ὑπόστασιν ὀὖσαν προαιρετικὴν, αὐτοκίνητον, ἐνεργὸν, πάντοτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν αἱρουμένην, καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν πρόθεσιν σύνδρομον ἔχουσαν τῇ βουλήσει τὴν δύναμινς ’ ### English translation (Claude) And just as we came to know the Word in the transcendent nature by analogy from things in us, in the same way we shall also be led to the notion of the Spirit, contemplating in our own nature certain shadows and imitations of the ineffable power. With us, breath is the drawing in of air, a thing foreign to us, necessarily drawn in and poured out for the maintenance of the body; at the moment of uttering a word it becomes voice, which makes manifest in itself the power of the word. But in the case of the divine nature it has been thought reverent that there is a Spirit of God, just as it was granted that there is a Word of God, because the Word of God must not be more deficient than our word, as it would be if, while ours is observed together with breath, that one were believed to be without spirit. Yet it is not fitting for God to think that, like our breath, something foreign flows into God from outside and becomes the Spirit in him. Rather, just as, hearing of the Word of God, we did not think the Word to be something without subsistence, nor produced by learning, nor uttered by voice, nor dissolved after being uttered, nor suffering anything else of the kind such as the affections observed in our word, but subsisting substantially, endowed with choice, active, and almighty, so too, having learned of the Spirit of God, which accompanies the Word and makes manifest his activity, we do not conceive of it as an exhalation of breath. For the greatness of the divine power would be brought down to lowliness if the Spirit in it were supposed to be like ours. Rather, we conceive it as a substantial power, contemplated by itself in its own peculiar hypostasis, unable either to be separated from God in whom it is, or from the Word of God whom it accompanies, nor dissolving into non-existence, but, like the Word of God, existing as a hypostasis, endowed with choice, self-moving, active, always choosing the good, and having for every purpose a power that runs together with its will. ### Translation notes - πνεῦμα means both “breath” and “spirit”; Gregory's analogy depends on the double sense. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 2 (PG 45:17a–17c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-2). ## Catechetical Oration 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-3 - Source: PG 45:17c–20a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Trinity is a mystery that steers between Jewish and pagan errors, keeping the unity of the nature from the one and the distinction of hypostases from the other. ### Greek text Ὥστε τὸν ἀκριβῶς τὰ βάθη τοῦ μυστηρίου διασκοπούμενον, ἐν μὲν τῇ ψυχῇ κατὰ τὸ ἀπόρρητον με· τρίαν τινὰ κατανόησιν τῆς κατά τὴν θεογνωσίαν δίδασκαλίας λαβεῖν, μὴ μέντοι δύνασθαι λόγῳ διασαφῆσαι τὴν ἀνέκφραστον ταύτην τοῦ μυστηρίου βαθύτητα ο πῶς τὸ αὑτὸ καὶ ἀριθμητόν ἐστι, καὶ διαφεύγει. τὴν ἐξαρίθμησιν, καὶ διῃρημένως ὁρᾶται, καὶγ ὲν- μονάδι καταλαμβάνεται, καὶ διακέκριται τῇ ὑποστάσει, καὶ οὐ μεμέρισται τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ, καὶ ἄλλο πάλιν έκεῖνο,οὑ καὶὸ Λόγος ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα. Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὰν τὸ διακεκριμένον ὲν τούτοις κατανοήσῃς, πάλιν ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἑνότης τὸν διαμερισμὸν οὑ προσίεται μήτε τὺ τῆς μοναρχίας σχίζεσθαι κράτος είς θεότητας διαφόρους κατατεμνόμενον, μήτε τῷ Ἰουδαῖκῷδόίγματι συμβαίνειν τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ διὰ μέσον τῶν δύο ὑπολήψεων χωρεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἑκατέραν τε τῶν αἱρέσεων καθαιροῦσαν, καὶ ἀφʼ ἑκατέρας παραδεχομένην τὸ χρήσιμον. Τοῦ μὲν γὰρ Ἰουδαίου καθαιρεῖται τὸ δόγμα, τῇ τε τοῦ Λόγου παραὼχῇ, καὶ τῇ πέστει τοῦ Πνεύματοςʼ τῶν δὲ Ἐλληνιζόντων ἠ πολύθεος ὲξαφανίζεται πλάνη, τῆς κατά φύσιν ἑνότητος παραγραφομένης τὴν πληθυντικὴν φαντασίαν. Πάλιν δὲ ἂν ὲκ τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς ὑπολήψεως ἠ τῆς φύσεως ἑνός της παραμενέτω ο ὲκ δὲ τοῦ Ἑλληνισμοῦ, η κατὰ τὰς ὑποστάσεις διάκρισις μόνη, θεραπευθεξσης ἑκατέρωθεν καταλλήλως τῆς ἀσεβοῦς ὑπονοίας. Ἐστι γὰρ ὥσπερ τις Θεραπεία τῶν μὲν περὶ τὸ ἓν πλανωμένων ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῆς Τριάδος· τῶν δὲ είς πλῆθος ἐσκεδασμένων, ὁ τῆς ἑνότητός λόγος. ### English translation (Claude) So the one who examines precisely the depths of the mystery receives in his soul, in an ineffable way, a moderate comprehension of the teaching about the knowledge of God, but cannot explain in words this inexpressible depth of the mystery: how the same thing is both numerable and escapes enumeration, is seen as divided and is apprehended in unity, is distinguished in hypostasis and is not parted in the underlying subject; and again that one is other, whose the Word and the Spirit are. But when you have perceived what is distinct in these, the unity of the nature in turn does not admit division, so that neither is the might of the monarchy split, being cut up into different deities, nor does our account coincide with the Jewish doctrine; but the truth passes between the two conceptions, overthrowing each of the heresies and accepting from each what is useful. For the doctrine of the Jew is overthrown by the acceptance of the Word and by faith in the Spirit; and the polytheistic error of the Hellenizers is abolished, since the unity of nature cancels the fancy of plurality. On the other hand, from the Jewish conception let the unity of the nature remain, and from Hellenism only the distinction according to hypostases, the impious notion being cured on each side in the appropriate way. For the number of the Trinity is, as it were, a cure for those who err concerning the one, and the doctrine of unity for those who are scattered into plurality. ### Translation notes - Before “and again that one is other” words seem to have been lost in the scan (“again” presupposes a statement that the Spirit and the Word are each other in hypostasis, which NPNF's text has); nothing is supplied here. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 3 (PG 45:17c–20a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-3). ## Catechetical Oration 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-4 - Source: PG 45:20a–20d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Against the Jew, Gregory argues from Psalm 33:6 that Scripture itself teaches a substantial Word and a Spirit existing in hypostasis. ### Greek text Εἰ δὲ ἀντιλέγει τούτοις 6 Ἰουδαῖος, οὐκέτʼ ἂν ἡμῖν ὲκ τοῦ ἰδίου δύσκολος 6 πρὸς ἐκεῖνον γενήσεται λόγος. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν συντρόφων αὐτῷ διδαγμάτων ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας ἔσται φανέρωσις. Τὸ γάρ εἶναι Λόγον Θεοῦ, καὶ Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ ούσιωδῶς ὑφεστώσας δυνάμεις, ποιητικάς τε τῶν γεγενημένων, καὶ περιεκτικάς τῶν ὄντων, ὲκ τῶν θεοπνεύστων Γραφῶν ἐναργέστερον δείκνυται. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ μιᾶς μαρτυρίας ὲπιμνησθέντας, τοῖς φιλοπονωτέροις καταλιπεῖν τῶν πλειόνων τὴν εὕρεσιν. Τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Κυρίου, φησὶν, ol οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν. Ποίῳ Λόγῳ καὶ ποίῳ Πνεύματις Οὔτε γὰρ ῥῆμα 6 Λόγος, οὔτε ἆσθμα τὸ Πνεῦμα. Ἦ γὰρ ἂν καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως καὶ τὸ Θεῖον ὲξανθρωπίζοιτο, καὶ τοιούτῳ κεχρῆσθαι λόγῳ καὶ τοιούτῳ πνεύματι, τὸν τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴν δογματίζοιεν. Τίς δʼ οἴχεται δύναμις ἀπὸ ῥημάτων καὶ ἄσθματος τηλικαύτη, ὡς ἐξαρκεῖν πρὸς ούρανοῦ σύστασιν καὶτῶν ὲν τούτοις δυνάμεων; Ei γὰρ ὅμοιος τῷ ἡμετέρῳ ῥήματι καὶ 6 τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τῷ πνεύματι, ὁμοία πάντως ἐκ τῶν ὁμοίων ἠ δύναμιςʼ καὶ ὅσην 6 ἡμέτερος, τοσαύτην καὶ 6 τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχει. Ἀλλά μὴν ἀνενέργητά τε καὶ ἀνυπόστατα τά τοῖς ῥήμασι συνδιεξερχόμενα πνεύματα. Ἀπρακτα πάντως καὶ ἀνυπόστατα κάκεῖνα κατασκευάζουσιν, οἱ πρὸς τὴν ὁμοιότητα τοῦ παρʼ ἡμῖν λόγου τὸ θεῖον κατάγοντες. Εί δὲ, καθὼς λέγει Δαὸὶδ, ἐστερεώθησαν τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Κυρίου oi ούρανοῖ, καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν ὲν τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν σύστασιν ἔσχον ’ ἄρα συνέστηκε τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας μυστήριον, Λόγον ὲν ούσίᾳ, καὶ Πνεῦιια ὲν ὑποστάσει λέγειν ὑφηγούμενον. ### English translation (Claude) If the Jew objects to this, our argument with him will no longer be difficult, since it starts from his own ground; for the truth will be made manifest from the teachings he was brought up on. That the Word of God and the Spirit of God are powers subsisting substantially, creative of what has come into being and embracing all that exists, is shown quite plainly from the divinely inspired Scriptures. It is enough to mention one testimony and leave the discovery of more to the more diligent. “By the Word of the Lord,” it says, “the heavens were made firm, and all their power by the Spirit of his mouth.” By what Word and what Spirit? For the Word is not a spoken utterance, nor the Spirit a breath. Otherwise the divine would be made human on the analogy of our nature, and they would be teaching that the maker of the universe used such a word and such a breath. And what power could come from utterances and breath great enough to suffice for the construction of heaven and the powers in it? For if the Word of God is like our utterance, and the Spirit like our breath, then from like things the power is certainly like; and as much strength as our word has, so much has the Word of God. But the breaths that pass out along with utterances are inactive and without subsistence. Those who bring the divine down to the likeness of the word with us make those too altogether ineffective and without subsistence. But if, as David says, the heavens were made firm by the Word of the Lord, and their powers had their constitution in the Spirit of God, then the mystery of the truth stands established, which instructs us to speak of a Word in substance and a Spirit in hypostasis. ### Scripture references - Ps 33:6 (32:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Ps 33:6 (LXX 32:6). οὐσία is rendered “substance” throughout. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 4 (PG 45:20a–20d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-4). ## Catechetical Oration 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-5 - Source: PG 45:20d–25a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God, who is Word, Wisdom, and Power, made man out of love in his image, good and free; evil is not from God but is the absence of good, arising when the free will turns away from it. ### Greek text Ἀλλά τὸ μὲν εἶναι Λόγον Θεοῦ καὶ Πνεῦμα, διά τε τῶν κοινῶν ἐννοιῶν ὁ Ἕλλην, καὶ διὰ τῶν Γραφικῶν 6 Ἰουδαῖος, ἴσως οῦκ ἀντιλέξει· τὴν δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἄν· θρωπον οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ἑκάτερος αὐτῶν ἀποδοκιμάσει, ὡς ἀπίθανόν τε καὶ ἀπρεπῆ περὶ Θεοῦ λέγεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν ἐξ ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς. καὶ εἰς τὴν περὶ τούτου πίστιν τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας προσαξόμεθα. Λόγῳ τὰ πάντα γεγενῆσθαι καὶ σοφίᾳ παρά τοῦ τὸ πᾶν συστησαμένου πιστεύουσιν, ἣ καὶ πρὸς ταύτην δυσπειθῶς ἔχουσι τὴν omnem Ἀλλʼ εἰ μὴ δοῖεν Λόγον καθηγεῖσθαι καὶ σοφίαν τῆς τῶν ὄντων συστάσεως, ἀλογίαν τε καὶ ἀτεχνίαν τῇ ἀρχῇ τλῦ παντὸς ἐπιστήσουσιν. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο ἄτοπόν τε καὶ ἀσεβὲς, ὁμολογεῖται πάντως ὅτι Λόγον τε καὶ σοφίαν ἡγεμονεύειν τῶν ὅντων ὁμολογήσουσιν. Ἄλλά μὴν ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν ἀποδέδεικται, μὴ αὑτὸ τοῦτο ῥῆμα ῶν 6 τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος,ἦ ἐξ ἐπιστήμης τινὸς ἢ σοφίας · ἀλλὰ κατʼ οὐσίαν τις ὑφεστῶσα δύναμις, προαιρετική τε παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ, καὶ ἐν ἰσχύϊ πᾶν τὸ κατά προαίρεσιν ἔχουσα. Ἀγαθοῦ δὲ ὄντος τοῦ κόσμου, τήν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὀρεκτήν τε καί ποιητικὴν δύναμιν αἰτίαν εἶναι. Εἰ δέ τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ή ὑπόστασις τῆς τοῦ Λόγου δυνάμεως ἐξῆπται, καθὼς ἡ ἀκολουθία παρἔδειξενο ἀνάγκη πᾶσακαὶ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου μερῶν μή ἄλλην ἐπινοεῖν αἰτίαν τινά τῆς συστάσεως, ἀλλʼ ἢ τὸν Λόγον αὑτὸν, διʼ οὗ τά πάντα τὴν είς τὸ γενέσθαι ,πάροδον ἔσχε. Τοῦτο δὲ εἴτε Λόγον, είτε σοφίαν, εἴτε δύναμιν, εῐτε Θεὸν, εἴτε ἄλλο τι τῶν ὑψηὶῶν τε καὶ τιμίων ὀνομάζειν τις ἐθέλοι, οὐ διοισόμεθα. ’Ὀ τι γὰρ ἂν εὑρεθῇ δεικτικὸν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου ρἦαῆ ὄνομα, ἓν ἐστι τὸ διὰ τῶν φωνῶν σημαινόμενον, ἡ ἀΐδιος τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμις,ή ποιητικὴ τῶν ὄντων,.ή εὑρετικὴ τῶν μὴ όντων, ή συνεκτικὴ τῶν γεγονότων,ή προορατικὴ τῶν μελλόντων. Οὗτος τοίνυν 6 Θεὸς, 6 Λόγος, ὴ σῡφία. ἡ δύναμις, ἀπεδείχθη κατά τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ποιητής, οὐκ ἀνάγκῃ τινὶ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευὴν ἐναχθεὶς, ἀλλʼ ἀγάπης περιουσίᾳ τοῦ τοιούτου ζὼου δημιουργήσας τὴν γένεσιν. Ἔδει γὰρ μήτε τὸ φῶς ἀθέατον, μήτε τὴν δόξαν ἀμάρτυρον, μήτε ἀναπόλαυστον αὐτοῦ εἶναι τὴν ἀγαθότητα, μήτε τά ἀλλα πάντα ὅσα περὶ τὴν θείαν καθορᾶται φύσιν, ἀργά κεῖσθαι, μὴ ὗντος τοῦ μετέχοντός τε καὶ ἀπολαύοντος.Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπὶ τούτοις 6 ἄνθρωπος εἰς γένεσιν ἔρχεται, ἐφʼ τε μέτοχος τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν γενέσθαι, ἀναγκαίως τοιοῦτος κατασκευάζεται, ὡς ἐπιτηδείως πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν μετουσίαν ἐχειν. Καθάπερ γάρ 6 ὀφθαλμὸς διὰ τῆς ἐγκειμένης αὑτῷ φυσικῶς αὐγῆς ἐν κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ φωτὸς γίνεται,ἆά τῆς ἐμφύτου δυνάμεως τὸ συγγενὲς ἐφελκόμενος οὕτως ἀναγκαῖον ἧν ἐγκραθῆναί τι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει συγγενὲς πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον, ὡς ἂν διὰ τοῦ καταλλήλω πρὸς τὺ οἰκεῖον τὴν ἔφεσιν ἔχοι. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀλόγων φύσει, ὅσα τὸν ἔνυδρον καὶ ἐναέριον ἔλαχε βίον, καταλλήλως ἕκαστον τῷ τῆς ζωῆς εἴδει κατεσκευάσθη, ὡς οἰκεῖον ἐκατέρου καὶ ὁμόφυλον, διὰ τῆς ποιᾶς τοῦ σώματος διαπλάσεως, τῷ μὲν τὸν ἀέρα, τῷ δέ τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι. Οὖτως οὖν καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσει γενόμενον, ἔδει τι συγγενὲς ἐν τῇ φύσει πρὸς τὸ μετεχό· μενον ἔχειν. Διά τοῦτο καὶ ζωῇ, καὶ λόγῳ, καί. σοφίᾳ, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς θεοπρεπέσιν ἀγαθοῖς, κατεκοσμήθη,ὡς ἂν διʼ ἑκάστου τούτων πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔχοι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἓν τῶν περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν ἀγαθῶν καὶ ή ἀῖδιότης ἐστὶν, ἔδει πάντως μηδέ τούτου τὴν κατασκευὴν εἶναι τῆς φύσεως ήμῶν ἀπόκληρον, ἀλλʼ ἔχειν ἐν ἐαυτῇ τὸ ἀθάνατον, ὡς ἂν διά τῆς ἐγκειμένης δυνάμεως γνωρίζοιτο τὸ ὑπερκείμενον, καὶ ἐν ἐπιθυμία τῆς θείας ἀῖδιότητος εῐη. Ταῦτα τῇ περιληπτικῇ φωνῇ διʼ ἐνὸς ῥήματος ὀ τῆς κοσμογονίας ἐνεδείξατο λόγος, κατʼ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγενῆσθαι λέγων. Ἐν γάρτῇ ὁμοιώσει τῇ κατά τὴν εἰκόνα πάντως ἐπὶ τὸ Θεῖον χαρακτηριζόντων ή ἀπαρίθμησις, καὶ ὅσα περὶ τούτων ἱστορικώτερον ό Μωσῆς διεξέρχεται, ἐν διηγήσεως εῖδει δόγματα ἡμῖν παρατιθέμενος, τῆς τοιαύτης ἔχεται διδασκαλίας. Ὀ γὰρ παράδεισος ἐκεῖνος, καὶ ή τῶν καρπῶν ἰδιότης, ὧν ή βρῶσις ού γαστρὸς πλησμονὴν, ἀλλά γνῶσιν καὶ ἀῖδιότητα ζωῆς τοῖς γευσαμένοις δίδωσι· πάντα ταῦτα συνᾴδει τοῖς προτεθεωρημένοις περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὡς ἀγαθῆς τε καὶ ἐν ἀγαθοῖς οὔσης καταρχὰς ἡμῖν τῆς φύσεως. Ἀλλʼ ἀντιλέγει τυχὸν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ό πρὸς τά παρόντα βλέπων, καὶ οἴεται διελέγχειν τὸν λόγον οὐκ ἀληθεύοντα, τῷ μὴ ἐν ἐκείνοις νῦν, ἀλλʼ ὲν πᾶσι σχεδὸν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις ὁρᾶσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ποῦ γὰρ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ θεοειδέςς ποῦ δὲ ή ἀπάθεια τοῦ σώματος; Ποῦ τῆς ζωῆς τὸ ἀΐδιονς Ὠκύμορον, ἐμπαθὲς, ἐπίκηρον, πρὸς πᾶσαν παθημά- .των ἰδέαν κατά τε ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἐπιτήδειον. Ταῦτα καὶ τά τοιαῦτα. λέγων καὶ κατατρέχων τῆς φύσεως, ἀνατρέπειν τὸν ἀποδοθέντα περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου λόγον οἰήσεται. Ἀλλʼ ὡς ἂν μηδαμοῦ τοῦ ἀκολούθου ὁ λόγος παρατραπείη, καὶ πε pl. τούτων ἐν ὀλίγοις διαληψόμεθα. Τὸ νῦν ἐν ἀτόποις εἶναι τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν, οὐχ ἱκανός ἐστιν ἐλεγχος, τοῦ μηδέποτε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐν ἀγαθοῖς γεγενῆσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Θεοῦ ἔργον ὁ ἀνθρωπος,τοῦ διʼ ἀγαθότητατὸ ζῶον τοῦτο παραγαγόντος εἰς γένεσιν, οὐκ ἀν τις εὐλόγως οῦὴ αἰτία τῆς συστάσεως ἀγαθότης ἐστὶ καθυποπτεύσειεν. Ἀλλʼ ἕτερόν ἐστιν αἴτιον, τοῦ ταῦτά τε νῦν περὶ ἡμᾶς εἶναι, καὶ τῶν προτιμοτέρων ἐρημωθῆναι. Ἀρχὴδέ πάλιν καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον ήμῐν τὸν λόγον, οὐκ ἔξωθεν τῆς τῶν ἀντιλεγόντων ἐστὶ συγκαταθέσεως. 'O γὰρ ἐπὶ μετουσία τῶν ἰδίων ἀγαθῶν ποιήσας τὸν ἀνθ ρωπον, καὶ πάντων αύτῷ τῶν καλῶν τάς ἀφορμὰς ἐγκατασκευάσας τῇ φύσει, ὡς ἂν διʼἐκάστου πρὸς τὸ ὄμοιονή ὄρεξις φέροιτο, οὐκ ἂν τοῦ καλλίστου καὶ τιμιωτάτου τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστέρησε, λέγω δὴ τῆς κατά τὸ ἀδέσποτον καὶ αὐτ· εξούσιον χάριτος. Εἰ γάρ τις ἀνάγκη τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ἐπεστάτει ζωῇ, διεψεύσθη ἂν ή εἰκὼν κατʼ ἐκεῖνο τὸʼ μέρος, ἀλλοτριωθείσα τῷ ἀνομοίῳ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον. Τῆς γὰρ βασιλευούσης φύσεωςή ἀνάγκαις τισὶ ὑπεζευγμένη τε καὶ δουλεύουσα, πῶς ἂν εἰκὼν ὀνομάξοιτο; Οὐκοῦν τὺ διὰ πάντων πρὸς τὸ Θείον ὡμοιωμένον ἔδει πάντως ἔχειν ἐν τῇ φύσει τὸ αὐτοκρατὲς καὶ ἀδέσποτον, ὥστε ἆθλον ἀρετῆς εἶναι τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν μετουσίαν. Πόθεν οὖν, ἐρεῖς, ὁ διὰ πάντων τοῖς καλλίστοις τετιμημένος, τά χείρω τῶν ἀγαθῶν mmmam; Σαφὴς δὲ καὶ ό πε pl. τούτου λόγος. Οὐδεμία κακοῦ γένεσις ἐκ θείου βουλήματος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν · ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἔξω μέμψεως ἧν ὴ κακία, Θεὸν ἐαυτῆς ἐπιγραφομένῃ ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα · ἀλλʼ ἐμφύεταί πως τὸ κακὸν ἔνδοθεν, τῇ προαιρέσει τότε συνιστάμενον, ὅταν τις ἀπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ γένηται τῆς ψυχῆς ἀναχώρησις. Καθάπερ γὰρ ή ὅρασις φύσεώς ἐστιν ἐνέργειαν ή δὲ πήρωσις, στέρησίς ἐστι τῆς φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας ὀὕτως καὶ ή ἀρετὴ πρὸς τὴν κακίαν ἀνθέστηκεν. Ού γὰρ ἔστιν ἄλλην κακίας γένεσιν ἐν. νοῆσαι, ἧ ἀρετῆς ἀπουσίαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦ φωτὸς ύφαιρεθέντος ὁ ζόφος ἐπηκολούθησε, παρόντος δέ ούκ ἐστιν ’ οὕτως ἓως ἂν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐν τῇ φύσει, ἀνύπαρκτόν ἐστι καθʼ ἐαυτὺ ὴ κακία ο ἡ δὲ τοῦ κρείττονος ἀναχώρησις γίνεται τοῦ ἐναντίου γένεσις. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοῦτο τῆς αὐτεξουσιότητός ἐστι τὸ ίδίωμα,τδ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν ἀναιρεῖσθαι τὸ καταθύμιον, οὐχ ό Θεός σοι τῶν παρόντων ἐστὶν αἴτιος κακῶν, ἀδέσποτόν τε καὶ ἄνετόν σοι κατασκευάσας τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλʼ ἡ ἀβουλία τὸ χεῖρον ἀντὶ τοῦ κρείττονος προελομένη. ### English translation (Claude) That there is a Word of God and a Spirit, the Greek from common notions and the Jew from the Scriptures will perhaps not dispute; but the economy of the Word of God in becoming man both of them will equally reject, as unconvincing and unfitting to be said of God. So we shall bring the objectors to faith on this point from another starting point. They believe that all things came into being by reason and wisdom from him who constituted the universe; or are they reluctant to accept even this belief? But if they do not grant that reason and wisdom preside over the constitution of things, they will set unreason and lack of skill at the origin of the universe. And if this is absurd and impious, it is fully agreed that they will admit that reason and wisdom govern the things that exist. Now it has been shown earlier that the Word of God is not this very utterance, nor the possession of some knowledge or wisdom, but a power subsisting according to substance, choosing every good and having the strength to do all that it chooses. And since the world is good, the power that desires and makes good things is its cause. If the subsistence of the whole world depends on the power of the Word, as the sequence of reasoning has shown, it is altogether necessary also not to conceive of any other cause of the constitution of the parts of the world than the Word himself, through whom all things had their passage into being. Whether one wishes to call this Word, or Wisdom, or Power, or God, or anything else lofty and honourable, we shall not quarrel. For whatever word or name is found to indicate the subject, what is signified by the terms is one: the eternal power of God, creative of the things that exist, inventive of things that do not exist, sustaining what has come into being, foreseeing what is to come. This God, then, the Word, the Wisdom, the Power, has been shown by logical sequence to be the maker of human nature, not driven by any necessity to the construction of man, but creating the existence of such a living being out of the abundance of his love. For his light was not to be unseen, nor his glory unwitnessed, nor his goodness unenjoyed, nor all the other things observed in the divine nature to lie idle, with no one to share and enjoy them. If, then, man comes into being for these purposes, to become a sharer in the divine goods, he is necessarily so constructed as to be suited to the participation of those goods. For just as the eye comes into communion with the light through the radiance naturally lodged in it, drawing to itself by its innate power what is akin to it, so it was necessary that something akin to the divine be blended into human nature, so that through this correspondence it might have a longing for what is its own. For even in the nature of irrational creatures, those that have been allotted life in the water or in the air are each constructed to correspond to their form of life, so that, through the particular fashioning of the body, the air is proper and congenial to the one and the water to the other. So too man, who came into being for the enjoyment of the divine goods, had to have something in his nature akin to what he participates in. For this reason he was adorned with life and reason and wisdom and all the goods that befit God, so that through each of these he might have a desire for what is his own. Since, then, eternity too is one of the goods belonging to the divine nature, it was altogether necessary that the construction of our nature should not be without a share in this either, but should have immortality in itself, so that through the power lodged in it it might recognize what transcends it and be in desire of the divine eternity. The account of the creation of the world indicated this by a comprehensive term in a single phrase, saying that man came into being according to the image of God. For in the likeness according to the image is the enumeration of all that characterizes the divine; and all that Moses relates about these things more in the manner of history, setting doctrines before us in the form of narrative, holds to the same teaching. For that paradise, and the peculiar character of the fruits, whose eating gives those who taste them not fullness of stomach but knowledge and eternity of life: all this agrees with what we have already considered about man, that our nature was in the beginning good and set among good things. But perhaps one who looks at present conditions will object to what has been said and think that he refutes our account as untrue, because man is now seen not in those conditions but in almost all their opposites. “For where is the godlike quality of the soul? Where is the body's freedom from suffering? Where is the eternity of life? Man is short-lived, subject to passion, perishable, liable in soul and body to every form of suffering.” Saying these and similar things and running down nature, he will think he overturns the account given of man. But so that our argument may nowhere be diverted from its sequence, we will treat these matters too in a few words. That human life is now in a sorry condition is not a sufficient proof that man never came into being among good things. For since man is the work of God, who brought this living being into existence through goodness, no one could reasonably suspect him whose constitution has goodness as its cause … Rather, there is another cause of our being in this condition now and of being stripped of better things. And again, the starting point for this argument too is not outside what our opponents agree to. For he who made man for the participation of his own goods, and built into his nature the beginnings of all things fair, so that by each of them desire might be carried toward its like, would not have deprived him of the fairest and most precious of goods: I mean the gift of being without a master and self-determining. For if some necessity presided over human life, the image would have been falsified in that respect, being estranged from the archetype by unlikeness. For how could a nature yoked and enslaved to certain necessities be called the image of the sovereign nature? So what has been made like the divine in every respect had by all means to have in its nature self-rule and freedom from a master, so that the participation of the goods might be the prize of virtue. Whence then, you will say, did he who was honoured in every respect with the fairest things take the worse in exchange for the good? The account of this too is clear. No origin of evil had its beginning from the divine will; for then evil would be beyond blame, inscribing God as its maker and father. Rather, evil somehow grows from within, coming into existence in the will at the moment when the soul withdraws from the good. For as sight is an activity of nature and blindness is the privation of the natural activity, so virtue stands opposed to vice. For one cannot conceive any other origin of vice than the absence of virtue. For as darkness follows when light is removed but does not exist while it is present, so while the good is in the nature, vice has no existence by itself; but the withdrawal of the better becomes the origin of the opposite. Since, then, this is the property of self-determination, to choose freely what one pleases, it is not God who is the cause of your present evils, since he made your nature masterless and free, but thoughtlessness, which chose the worse instead of the better. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:27: allusion, high confidence - John 1:3: echo, medium confidence - 1 Cor 1:24: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - “According to the image of God” is Gen 1:27; “through whom all things” echoes John 1:3; Word, Wisdom, and Power echo 1 Cor 1:24. Several places in the scan are damaged and are translated by sense: “this belief” (the noun is OCR debris, “omnem”); “word or name” (a garbled word before “name”); after “goodness as its cause” the words saying what could not be suspected (NPNF: that he was created in evil) seem lost, and nothing is supplied; “take the worse in exchange” renders a word destroyed in the scan. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 5 (PG 45:20d–25a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/0/#p-5). ## Catechetical Oration 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-6 - Source: PG 45:25b–29d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Gregory explains the fall: an angelic power set over the earth grew envious of man, who joined the intelligible and the sensible, and by deceit mixed vice into man's will, so that death, curse, and shame replaced life, blessing, and freedom. ### Greek text Ζητεῖς δέ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τυχὸν τῆς κατα την βουλὴν διαμαρτίας· είς τοῦτο γὰρ ὴ ἀκολουθία τῶν λόογων φέρει. Οὐκοῦν πάλιν ἀρχή τις ἡ μίν κατὰ τὸ εύλογον εὑρεθήσεται, ἢ καὶ τοῦτο σαφηνίσει τὸ ζήτημα. Τοιοῦτόν τινα λόγον παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων διεδεξάμεθα· ἔστι δὲ ό λόγος, ού μυθώδης διήγησις, ἀλλʼ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν τὸ πιστὸν ἐπαγόμενος· Διπλῆ τίς ἐστιν ὲν τοῖς οὖσι κατανόησις, είς τὸ νοητόν τε καὶ αἰσθητὸν τῆς θεωρίας διῃρημένης. Καὶ οὐδὲν ἂν παρὰ ταῦτα καταληφθείη ἐν τῇ τῶν ὄντων φύσει, τῆς διαιρέσεως ταύτης ἔξω φερόμενον. Διῄρηται δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς ἄλληλα πολλῷ τῷ μέσῳ, ὡς μήτε τὴν αἰσθητὴν ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς εἶναι γνωρίσμασι, μήτε ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἐκείνην, ἀλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἑκατέραν χαρακτηρίζεσθαι. Ἥ μὲν γὰρ νοητὴ φύσις ἀσώματόν τι χρῆμά ἐστι καὶ ἀναφὲς καὶ ἀνείδεον. Ἦ δὲ αίσθητὴ κατʼ αύτὸ τὸ ὄνομα, ἐντός ἐστι τῆς διὰ τῶν αίσθητηρίων κατανοήσεως. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν αὑτῷ τῷ αἰσθητῷ κόσμῳ πολλῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν στοιχείων οὔσης ἐναντιώσεως, ἐπινενόηταί τις ἁρμονία διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀρμοζομένη παρὰ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιστατούσης σοφίας · καὶ οὕτως πάσης γίνεται πρὸς ἐαυτὴν συμφωνία τῆς κτίσεως, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐναντιότητος τὸν τῆς συμπνοίας εἱρμὸν διαλυούσης, κατὰ τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον καὶ τοῦ αίσθητοῦ πρὸς τὸ νοητὸν γίνεταί τις κατὰ θείαν σοφίαν μίξις τε καὶ ἁνάκρασις,ὼς ἂν πάντα τοῦ καλοῦ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον μετ· ἐχοι, καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἁμοιροίη τῆς κρείττονος φύσεως. Διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μὲν κατάλληλον τῇ νοητῇ φύσει χωρίον,ἡ λεπτὴ, λογικὴ καὶ εὐκίνητός ἐστιν οὐσία, κατὰ τὴν ύπερκὸσμιον λῆξιν πολλὴν ἔχουσα τῷ ἰδιάζοντι τῆς φύσεως πρὸς τὸ νοητὸν τὴν συγγένειαν. Προμηθείᾳ δὲ κρείττονι πρὸς τὴν αἰσθητὴν φύσιν γίνεταί τις τοῦ νοητοῦ συνανὰκρασις, ὡς ἂν μηδὲν ἀπόβλητον εἴη τῆς κτίσεως, καθώς φησιν ὁ ’Λπόστολος, μηδὲ τῆς θείας κοινωνίας ἀπόκληρον. Τούτου χάριν ἐκ νοητοῦ τε καὶ αίσθητοῦ, τὸ κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον μίγμα παρὰ τῆς θείας ἀναδείκνυται φύσεως, καθὼς διδάσκει τῆς κοσμογενείας ό λόγος. Λαβὼν γὰρ, φησὶν,ὀ Θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς τῆς, τόν ἶνθρωπον ἔπλασεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ίδίας ἐμπνεύσεως τῷ πλάσματι τὴν ζωὴν ἐνεφύσησεν· ὡς ἂν συνεπαρθείη τῷ θείῳ τὸ γήϊνον, καὶ μία τις κατὰ τὸ ὁμότιμον διά πάσης τῆς κτίσεως ἡ χάρις διήκοι, τῆς κάτω φύσεως πρὸς τὴν ὑπερκόσμιον συγκιρναμένης. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τῆς νοητῆς κτίσεως προῦποστάσης, καὶ ἑκάστης τῶν ὰγγελικῶν δυνάμεων πρὸς τὴν τοῦ παντὸς σύστασιν ἐνεργείας τινὸς παρὰ τῆς τῶν πάντων ἐπιστατούσης ἐξουσίας προσνεμηθείσης, ἦν τις δύναμις ἡ τὸν περίγειον τόπον συνέχειν τε καὶ περικρατεῖν τεταγμένη, είς αὐτὸ τοῦτο δυναμωθείσα παρὰ τῆς τὸ πᾶν οίκονο μούσης δυνάμεως εἶτα κατεσκευάσθη τὸ γήϊνον πλάσμα τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως ἁπεικόνισμα · τοῦτο δὲ τὺ ζῶον ὁ ἄνθρωπος ’ καὶ ἦν ἐν αὑτῷ τὺ θεοειδὲς τῆς νοητῆς φύσεως κάλλος, ἀρρήτῳ τινὶ Ξυνάμει συγκεκραμένονʼ δεινὸν ποιεῖται καὶ οὑκ Ξινεκτὸν ὁ τὴν περίγειον οἰκονομίαν λαχὼν, εἰ ἐκ τῆς ὑποχειρίου αὑτῷ φύσεως ἀναδειχθήσεταί τις οὐσία πρὸς τὴν ὑπερέχουσαν ἀξίαν ὠμοιωμένη. Τὸ δʼ ὅπερ ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος κατερρύη τοῦ φθόνου, ὁ ἐπὶ μηδενὶ κακῷ κτισθε“ις παρὰ τοῦ τὸ πᾶν ὲν ἀγαθότητι συστησαμένου, τὸ μὲν διʼ ἀκριβείας διεξιέναι, οὑ τῆς παρούσης πραγματείας ὲστί · δυνατὸν δʼ ἂν είη καὶ διʼ ὀλίγου τοῖς ἁπειθεστέροις παραθέσθαι τὸν λόγον Τῆς γὰρ ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς κακίας οὑχ ὡς δύο τινῶν καθʼ ὑπόστασιν φαινομένων, ἡ ἁντιδιαστολὴ θεωρεῖται· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἀντιδιαιρεῖται τῷ ὄντι τὸ μὴ ὃν, καὶ οὑκ ἔστι καθʼ ὑπόστασιν εἰπεῖν τὸ μὴ ὃν ἀντιδιαστέλο λεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ὃν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀνυπαρξίαν ἁντιδιαιρεῖσθαι λέγομεν πρὸς τὴν ὓπαρξιν · κατὰ τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἠ κακία τῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἁντικαθέστηκε λόγῳ, οὑ καθʼ ἑαυτήν τις οὖσα, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀπουσίᾳ νοουμένη τοῦ κρείττονος · καὶ ὥσπερ φαμὲν ἀντιδιαιρεῖσθαι τῇ ὁράσει τὴν πήρωσιν, οὐ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν οὖσαν ὲν τῇ φύσει τὴν πήρωσιν, ἀλλὰ προλαὸούσης ἕξεως στέρησιν - οὕτω καὶ τὴν κακίαν ὲν τῇ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ στερήσει θεωρεῖσθαι λέγομεν, οἷόν τινα σκιὰν τῇ διαχωρήσει τῆς ἀκτῖνος ὲπισυμβαίνουσαν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυνὴ ἄκτιστος φύσις, τῆς κινήσεως τῆς κατὰ τρο· πὴν καὶ μεταβολὴν καὶ ἀλλοίωσίν ἐστιν άνεπίδεκτος · πᾶν δὲ τὸ διὰ κτίσεως ὑποστὰν, συγγενῶς πρὸς τὴν ἀλλοίωσιν ἔχει· διότι καὶ αὑτὴ τῆς κτίσεως ἡ ὑπόστασις, ἀπὸ ἀλλοιώσεως ἤρξατο, τοῦ μὴ ὄντος είς τὸ εἶναι θείᾳ. δυνάμει μετατεθέντος κτιστὴ δὲ ἦν καὶ ἡ μνημονευθεῖσα δύναμις, αὑτεξουσίῳ κινήματι τὸ δοκοῦν αἱρουμένη, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθόν τε καὶ ἄφθονον ἐπέμυσε νόημα, ὥσπερ ὁ ὲν ἡλίῳ τοῖς βλεφάροις ἐπιβαλὼν τὰς ὄψεις σκότος ὁρᾷ, οὕτω κάκεῖνος αὑτῷ τῷ μὴ θελῆσαι τὸ ἀγαθὸν νοῆσαι, τὸ ἐναντίον τῷ ἁγαθῷ κατενόησε, τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ὁ φθόνος. ὀμολογεῖ δὲ παντὸς πράγματος ἀρχὴν τῶν μεθʼ ἑαυτὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ὲπισυμβαινόντων αἰτίαν εἶναι ’ οἷον τῇ ὑγεία, τὺ εὑεκτεῖν, τὸ ἐργάζεσθαι, τὸ καθʼ ἡδονὴν βιοτεύεινο τῇ δὲ νόσῳ, τὸ ἀσθενεῖν, τὸ ἀνενέργητον εἶναι, τὸ ὲν ἀηδίᾳ τὴν ζωὴν ἔχειν ο οὕτω καὶ τά ἄλλα πάντα ταῖς οἰκείαις ἀρχαῖς κατά τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἕπεται. Ὠσπερ οὖν ἡ ἀπάθεια τῆς κατʼ ἀρετὴν ζωῆς ἀρχὴ καὶ ὑπόθεσις γίνεται, οὕτως ὴ διά τοῦ φθόνου γινομένη πρὸς κακίαν ῥοπὴ, τῶν μεθʼ ἑαυτὴν πάντων ἀναδειχθέντων κακῶν ὁδὸς κατέστη. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπαξ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν τὴν ῥοπὴν ἔσχεν ὁ τῇ ἀποστροφῇ τῆς ἀγαθὸτητος ἐν ἐαυτῷ γεννήσας τὸν φθόνον, ὥσπερ λίθος ἀκρωρείας ἀποῤῥαγεὶς ὐπὸ τοῦ ίδίου βάρους πρὸς τὸ πρανὲς συνελαύνεται, οὕτω κάκεῖνος τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν συμφυΐας ἀποσπασθεὶς, καὶ πρὸς κακίαν βαρήσας καὶ κατανεύσας, αὐτομάτως οἷόν τινι βάρει πρὸς τὸν ἔσχατον τῆς πονηρίας ὅρον συνωσθεὶς ἀπηνέχθη, καὶ τὴν διανοητίκὴν δύναμιν ἢν είς τὴν συνέργειαν τῆς τοῦ κρείττονος μετουσίας ἔσχε παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος, ταύτην εἰς εὕρεσιν τῶν κατὰ κακίαν ἐπινοουμένων συνεργὸν ποιησάμενος, εὐμηχάνως διέρχεται διʼ ἀπάτης τὸν ἄνθρωπον, αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ πείσας γενέσθαι φονέα τε xal. αὐτόχειρα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διὰ τῆς θείας εὐλογίας δυναμωθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὑψηλὸς μὲν ἦν τῷ ἀξιώματι ο βασιλεύειν γάρ ἐτάχθη τῆς γῆς τε καὶ τῶν ἐπʼ αὐτῆς πάντων · καλὸς δὲ τὸ εἶδος, ἀπεικόνισμα γὰρ τοῦ ἀρχετύπου ἐγεγόνει κάλλουςο ἀπαθὴς δὲ τὴν φύσιν, τοῦ γάρ ἀπαθοῦς μίμημα ἦν · ἀνάπλεως δὲ παρα ρησίας, αὐτῆς κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς θείας ἐμφανείας κατατρυφῶν · ταῦτα δὲ τῷ Ἀντικειμένῳ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν φθόνον πάθους ὑπεκκαύματα ἦν· ἰσχύϊ δέ τινι καὶ βίᾳ δυνάμεως κατεργάσασθαι τὸ κατά γνώμην οὐχ οἷός τε ἦν · ὐπερίσχυε γὰρ ἡ τῆς εὐλογίας τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμις τῆς τούτου βίας διὰ τοῦτο ἀποστῆσαι τῆς ἐνισχυούσης αὐτὸν δυνάμεως μηχανᾶται, ὡς ἂν εὐάλωτος αὐτῷ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν κατασταίη. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ λύχνου τοῦ πυρὸς τῆς θρυαλλίδος περιδεδραγμένου, ετ τις ἀδυνατῶν τῷ φυσήματι σβέσαι τὴν φλόγα ὕδωρ ἐμμίξει ὲν τῷ ἐλαίῳ, κα) διὰ τῆς ἐπινοίας ταύτης ἀμαυρώσει τὴν φλόγα οὕτως διʼ ἀπάτης τῇ προαιρέσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὴν κακίαν ἐμέ μίξας ὁ Ἀντικείμενος, σβέσιν τινὰ καὶ ἀμαύρωσιν τῆς εὐλογίας ἐποίησεν. Ἧς ἐπιλειπούσης, ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὸ ἀντικείμενον ἀντεισέρχεται. Ἀντίκειται δὲ τῇ ζωῇ μὲν ὁ θάνατος, ἡ ἀσθένεια δὲ τῇ δυνάμει, τῇ εὐλογίᾳ δὲ ή κατάρα, τῇ παρρησίᾳ δὲ ήαίσχύνη. καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τά κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον νοούμενα. Διά τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς παροῦσι κακοῖς ἐστι νῦν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐκείνης τοιούτου τέλους τάς ἀφορμὰς παρασχούσης. ### English translation (Claude) Perhaps you ask also for the cause of the failure of the will; for the sequence of the argument leads to this. So again a reasonable starting point will be found for us, which will also clarify this question. We have received from the Fathers an account of this kind; and the account is not a mythical tale but draws its credibility from our very nature. There is a twofold apprehension of the things that exist, contemplation being divided into the intelligible and the sensible; and nothing can be found in the nature of things apart from these that falls outside this division. These are separated from each other by a wide interval, so that the sensible is not among the marks of the intelligible, nor that among the marks of the sensible, but each is characterized by opposite marks. For the intelligible nature is something incorporeal, intangible, and without form; the sensible, as its very name says, falls within perception through the senses. But just as in the sensible world itself, though the elements are greatly opposed to one another, a certain harmony has been devised, fitted together out of opposites by the wisdom that presides over the universe, and so the whole creation comes into concord with itself, the natural opposition nowhere dissolving the chain of agreement, in the same way there comes about, by divine wisdom, a mixing and blending of the sensible with the intelligible, so that all things may share equally in the good and nothing that exists be without a portion of the better nature. For this reason the region corresponding to the intelligible nature is the fine, rational, and mobile substance, which, in the supramundane region, has by the peculiarity of its nature great kinship with the intelligible. But by a higher providence a certain blending of the intelligible with the sensible nature takes place, so that nothing in creation may be rejected, as the Apostle says, nor be without a share in the divine fellowship. For this reason the mixture that is man, composed of intelligible and sensible, is brought forth by the divine nature, as the account of the creation of the world teaches. For God, it says, taking dust from the earth, formed man, and by his own inbreathing breathed life into what he had formed, so that the earthly might be raised up together with the divine, and one grace, equal in honour, might pervade the whole creation, the lower nature being blended with the supramundane. Now the intelligible creation had come into existence first, and to each of the angelic powers a certain activity for the maintenance of the universe had been assigned by the authority that presides over all things; and there was a certain power appointed to hold together and govern the region around the earth, empowered for this very purpose by the power that orders the universe. Then the earthly formation was constructed, an image of the power above; and this living being is man. And in him was the godlike beauty of the intelligible nature, blended with a certain ineffable power. The one who had been allotted the government of the earthly region thinks it terrible and intolerable that from the nature subject to him there should be brought forth a substance made like the transcendent dignity. How he who had been created for no evil by him who constituted the universe in goodness slid down into the passion of envy, it is not the task of the present treatise to relate in detail; but it would be possible to set out the account briefly for those who are harder to persuade. The contrast of virtue and vice is not seen as between two things appearing in hypostasis; but just as non-being is contrasted with being, and one cannot say that non-being is contrasted with being as a hypostasis, but we say that non-existence is contrasted with existence, in the same way vice is set against the idea of virtue, not being something in itself, but conceived by the absence of the better. And just as we say that blindness is contrasted with sight, not that blindness exists in nature by itself, but as the privation of a prior condition, so we say that vice is seen in the privation of the good, like a shadow that follows upon the withdrawal of the ray. Since, then, the uncreated nature does not admit movement by way of turning, change, and alteration, while everything that subsists through creation has a kinship with alteration, because the very subsistence of creation began from alteration, non-being being transferred into being by divine power; and since the power mentioned above was also created, choosing what seemed good to it by a self-determining movement: when it shut its eyes to the good and ungrudging thought, just as one who lowers his eyelids in sunlight sees darkness, so he too, by the very fact of not willing to perceive the good, perceived the opposite of the good; and this is envy. Now it is agreed that the beginning of any matter is the cause of what follows upon it in sequence: for instance, health brings well-being, activity, a pleasant life; sickness brings weakness, inactivity, a life of discomfort; and so everything else follows in sequence from its own beginnings. Just as, then, freedom from passion becomes the beginning and foundation of the life of virtue, so the inclination toward vice that came about through envy became the road for all the evils that appeared after it. For once he who had begotten envy in himself by turning away from goodness had taken the inclination toward evil, just as a stone broken off from a ridge is driven downhill by its own weight, so he too, torn from his natural union with the good and weighed down and sinking toward vice, was carried away of himself, as by a weight, pushed to the uttermost limit of wickedness; and making the power of thought, which he had received from the Creator to cooperate in the participation of the better, his accomplice in devising the schemes of vice, he cunningly circumvents man by deceit, persuading him to become his own murderer and slayer. For man, empowered by the divine blessing, was lofty in dignity (for he was appointed to rule over the earth and all that is on it), beautiful in form (for he had come into being as an image of the archetypal beauty), free from passion in nature (for he was an imitation of the passionless), and full of freedom of speech, delighting in the divine manifestation itself face to face. These things were fuel for the Adversary's passion of envy. But he could not accomplish his purpose by strength and force of power, for the power of God's blessing prevailed over his force. Therefore he contrives to separate man from the power that strengthened him, so that he might become easy to capture for his plot. And just as, when the fire of a lamp has taken hold of the wick, someone who cannot put out the flame by blowing mixes water into the oil and by this device dims the flame, so the Adversary, by deceit mixing vice into man's will, brought about a certain quenching and dimming of the blessing. When that failed, its opposite necessarily entered in its place. Death is opposed to life, weakness to power, curse to blessing, shame to freedom of speech, and to all the goods the things conceived as their opposites. For this reason the human race is now in its present evils, since that beginning provided the starting points for such an end. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 4:4: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The creation of man quotes Gen 2:7 in Gregory's wording; “nothing … rejected” refers to 1 Tim 4:4. Vice as the privation of the good, like blindness or shadow, is Gregory's own argument. “Rational” (λογική) in the description of the substance of the supramundane region is as printed; NPNF's text reads only “fine and mobile.” ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 6 (PG 45:25b–29d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-6). ## Catechetical Oration 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-7 - Source: PG 45:29d–32d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Against the Manichaeans, Gregory argues that God is not the cause of evil: evil is the privation of good and arises from the will, and bodily pain is wrongly judged evil by those who measure good by pleasure. ### Greek text Καὶ μηδεὶς ἐρωτάτω, εί προειδὼς τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην συμφορὰν ὁ θεὸς τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀβουλίας αὐτῷ συμβησομένην, ἦλθεν είς τὸ κτίσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ᾧ τὸ , μὴ γενέσθαι μᾶλλον ἴσως, ἦ τὸ ἐν κακοῖς εἶναι, λυσιτελέστερον ἦν. Ταῦτα γὰρ oi τοῖς Μανιχαῖκοῖς δόγμασι διʼ ἀπάτης παρασυρέντες εἰς σύστασιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν πλάνης προβάλλουσιν, ὡς διά τοῦτο πονηρὸν εἶναι τὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως κτίστην ἀποδεικνύοντες, Et γὰρ ἀγνοεί μὲν τῶν ὄντων ό Θεὸς οὑδὲν, ὲν κακοῖς δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὐκέτʼ ἂν ό τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ Θεοῦ διασώζοιτο λόγος, εἴπερ ἐν κακοῖς μέλλοντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον ζήσεσθαι πρὸς τὸν βίον παρήγαγε. Ei γὰρ ἀγαθῆς φύσεως ή κατά ἀγαθὸν ἐνέργεια πάντως ἐστὶν, ό λυπηρὸς οὗτος καὶ ὲπίκηρος βίος οὐκέτʼ ἂν, φησὶν, είς τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ δημιουργίαν ἀνάγοιτο· ἀλλʼ ἓτερον χρὴ τῆς τοιαύτης ζωῆς αἴτιον οἴεσθαι, ᾧ πρὸς πονηρίαν ἡ φύσις ἐπιρρεπῶς ἔχει. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, τοῖς μὲν ἐν βάθει, καθάπερ τινὰ ψευδοποιδν βαφὴν τὴν αἱρετικὴν παραδεδεγμένοις ἀπάτην, ἰσχύν τινα διὰ τῆς ἐπιπολαίου πιθανότητος ἔχειν δοκεῖʼ τοῖς δὲ διορατικωτέροις τῆς ἀληθείας σαθρὰ ὄντα, καὶ πρόχειρον τὴν τῆς ἀπάτης ἀπόδειξιν ἔχοντα, σαφῶς καθορᾶται. Καί μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν τδν Ἀπόστολον ὲν τούτοις συνήγορον τῆς κατʼ αὑτὸν παρηγορίας προστήσασθαι. Διαιρεῖ γὰρ ἐν τῷ πρὸς Κορινθίους λόγῳ τάς τε σαρκώδεις, καὶτὰς πνευματικὰς τῶν ψυχῶν καταστάσεις ο δεικνὺς, οἶμαι, διὰ τῶν λεγομένων, ὅτι οὐ διʼ αἰσθήσεως τὺ καλὸν ἦ τὸ κακὶν προσήκει κρίνειν, ἀλλʼ ἔξω τῶν κατά τὸ σῶμα φαινομένων τὺν νοῦν ἀποστήσαντα, αὑτὴν ἐφʼ ἑαυτῆς τοῦ καλοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ ἐναντίου διακρίνειν τὴν φύσιν. Ὃ γὰρ πνευματικὸς, φησὶν, ἀνακρίνει τὰ πάντα, Ταύτην οἶμαι τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς τῶν δογμάτων τούτων μυθοποιίας, τοῖς τά τοιαῦτα προφέρουσιν ἂν γεγενῆσθαι, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ ἡδὺ τῆς σωματικῆς ἀπολαύσεως τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁριζόμενοι, διὰ τὸ πάθεσι καὶ ἀρρωστήμασιν ὑποκεῖσθαι κατʼ ἀνάγκην τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν σύνθετον οὖσαν καὶ είς διάλυσιν ῥέουσαν, ἐπακολου- Θεῖν δέ πως τοῖς τοιούτοις παθήμασιν ἀλγεινὴν τινα αἴσθησιν, πονηροῦ τὴν ἀνθρωποποιίαν ἔργον εἶναι νομίζουσιν. Ὠς εἴγε πρὸς τὸ ὑψηλότερον ἔβλεπεν αὑτοῖς ή διάνοια, καὶ τῆς περί τὰς ἡδονὰς διαθέσεως τὸν νοῦν ἀποικίσαντες, ἀπαθῶς ἐπεσκόπουν τὴν τῶν ὄντων φύσιν, οὑκ ἂν ἄλλο τι κακὸν εἶναι παρά τὴν πονηρίαν ᾠήθησαν. Πονηρία δὲ πᾶσα ὲν τῇ τοῦ ἁγαθοῦ στερήσει χαρακτηρίζεται, οὑ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν οὖσα, οὑδὲ καθʼ ὑπόστασιν θεωρουμένη. Κακὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔξω προαιρέσεως ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ κεῖται, ἀλλά τῷ μὴ εἶναι τὸ ἀγαθὸν οὕτω κατονομάζεται. Τὸ δὲ μὴ ὂν, οὐχ ὑφέστηκεʼ τοῦ δὲ μὴ ὑφεστῶτος δημιουργὸς ὁ τῶν ὑφεστώτων δημιουργὸς οὑκ ἔστιν. Οὐκοῦν ἔξω τῆς τῶν κακῶν αἰτίας ὁ Θεὸς, ό τῶν όντων, οὑχ ό τῶν μὴ ὄντων ποιητὴς ὢν, ὁ τὴν ὅρασιν,οὑ τὴν πήρωσιν δημιουργήσας, ό τὴν ἀρετὴν, οὑ τὴν στέρησιν αὐτῆς ἀναδείξας ἆθλον τῆς προαιρέσεως, τὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν πέρας τοῖς κατʼ ἀρετὴν πολιτευομένοις προθεὶς, οὑκ ἀνάγκῃ τινὶ βιαίᾳ. πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτῷ δοκοῦν ὑποζεύξας τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν, καθάπερ τι σκεῦος ἔμψυχον ἀκουσίως πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐφελκόμενος. Εἰ δὲ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐξ αἰθρίας καθαρῶς περιλάμποντος, ἑκουσίως τις ὲπιβἀλλοι τοῖς βλεφάροις τὴν ὅρασιν, ἔξω τῆς τοῦ μὴ βλέποντος αἰτίας ό ἥλιος. ### English translation (Claude) And let no one ask why God, foreseeing the misfortune that would befall man from his thoughtlessness, came to create man, for whom not to have come into being would perhaps have been more profitable than to be in evils. For those who have been swept away by deceit into the Manichaean doctrines put this forward to establish their error, as proving on this ground that the creator of human nature is evil. For if God is ignorant of nothing that exists, and man is in evils, the account of God's goodness could no longer be maintained, if he brought man into life knowing that he would live in evils. “For if activity in accordance with the good belongs altogether to a good nature,” he says, “this painful and perishable life could no longer be referred to the workmanship of the good; one must think that there is another cause of such a life, owing to which our nature is inclined toward wickedness.” All these and similar arguments seem to have some strength, through their superficial plausibility, to those who have absorbed the heretical deceit deeply, like a falsifying dye; but to those who see more keenly into the truth they are clearly seen to be unsound and to offer ready proof of their deceit. And I think it well to set up the Apostle in this matter as advocate of the plea that accords with him. For in his discourse to the Corinthians he distinguishes the fleshly and the spiritual states of souls, showing, I think, by what he says, that one should not judge good or evil by sense perception, but, withdrawing the mind from bodily appearances, discern the nature of good and its opposite by itself. For “the spiritual person,” he says, “judges all things.” This, I think, was the cause of the myth-making of these doctrines for those who put such things forward: they define the good by the pleasure of bodily enjoyment; and since the nature of the body, being composite and flowing toward dissolution, is necessarily subject to sufferings and sicknesses, and some painful sensation somehow follows upon such sufferings, they suppose the making of man to be the work of an evil being. Whereas if their mind looked to what is higher, and, removing their thought from its attachment to pleasures, they examined the nature of things dispassionately, they would not have thought anything evil except wickedness. And all wickedness is characterized by the privation of the good, not existing by itself nor seen as a hypostasis. For nothing evil lies by itself outside the will; but it is so named from the absence of the good. And what does not exist does not subsist; and the maker of what subsists is not the maker of what does not subsist. So God is outside the cause of evils, being the maker of the things that exist, not of those that do not; he created sight, not blindness; he manifested virtue, not its privation, as the prize of the will, setting before those who live according to virtue the goal of the goods, not yoking human nature by any violent necessity to what seemed good to himself, drawing it unwillingly to the good like some animate tool. But if, when the light shines clear from a cloudless sky, someone of his own will closes his eyelids over his sight, the sun is outside the cause of his not seeing. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 2:15: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 3:1: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “The spiritual person judges all things” is 1 Cor 2:15; the fleshly and spiritual states refer to 1 Cor 2:14–3:3. “The plea that accords with him” renders the printed παρηγορίας; NPNF's rendering (“for their condemnation”) implies the reading κατηγορίας (“accusation”). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 7 (PG 45:29d–32d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-7). ## Catechetical Oration 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-8 - Source: PG 45:33a–40c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Death is a mercy: like a potter breaking and remoulding a vessel, God dissolves the body to refashion it free of evil in the resurrection, and the judgment heals the soul; only the Creator could restore fallen man. ### Greek text Περὶ τῶν ἀγανακτούντων, διὰ τί ἀποθνήσκει ὁ ᾷνρρωπος, τούτου μᾶλλον,ἐπὶ,εὐεργεσίᾳ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τυγχάνον-τος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ θάνατος. Ἀλλʼ ἀγανακτεῖ πάντως 6 πρὸς τὴν ἀνάλυσιν βλέπων τοῦ σώματος, καὶ χαλεπὸν ποιεῖται τῷ θανάτῳ τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν διαλύεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν ἐπισκεψάσθω διὰ τοῦ σκυθρωποῦ τούτου τὴν ὑπερὸολὴν τῆς θείας εὐεργεσίας. Τάχα γάρ ἂν μᾶλλον διὰ τούο του προσαχθείη θαυμάσαι τὴν χάριν τῆς περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ Θεοῦ κηδεμονίας. Τὸ ζῇν διὰ τὴν καταθυμίων ἀπόλαυσιν αἱρετόν ἐστι τοῖς τοῦ βίου μετέχουσιν. Ὧς εἴ γέ τις ὲν ὀδύναις διαβιῴη, παρά πολὺ τῷ τοιούτῳ τὸ μὴ εἷναι τοῦ ἀλγεινῶς εῖναι προτιεμότερον κρίνεται; Οὐκοῦν ἐξετάσωμενήεἰ 6 τῆς ξωῆς χορηγὸς πρὸς ἄλλο τι βλέπῃ, καὶ οὐχ ὅπως ἂν ὲν τοῖς καλλίστοις βιῴημεν. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ κινήματι τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν κοινωνίαν ὲξεσπασάμεθα, διά τινος ἡδονῆς οἷόν τι δηλητήριον μέλιτι παραρτυθὲν τῇ φύσει τὸ κακὸν καταμίξαντες, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς κατὰ τὸ ἀπαθὲς νοουμένης μακαριότητος ἐκπεσόντες, πρὸς τὴν κακίαν μετεμορφώθημεν· τούτου ἕνεκεν οἷόν τι σκεῦος ὀστράκινον, πάλιν 6 ἄνθρωπος εἰς γῆν ἀναλύεται· ὅπως ἂν τῆς νῦν ἐναπειλημμένης αὑτῷ ῥυπαρίας ἀποκριθείσης, είς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς σχῆμα διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀναπλασθείη. Τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον δόγμα ίστορικώτερον μέν, καὶ διʼ αίνιγμάτων ὁ Μωσῆς ὑμῖν ἐκτίθεται. Πλὴν ἔκδηλον καὶ τά αἰνίγματα τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἔχει. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ, φησιν, ὲνχ τοῖς ἀπηγορευμένοις ἐγένοντο οἱ πρῶτοι ἄνθρωποι, καὶ τῆς μακαριότητος ἐκείνης ἀπεγυμνὼθησαν, δερματίνους ὲπιῦάλλει χιτῶνας τοῖς πρωτοπλάστοις 6 Κύριος· οὔ μοι δοκεῖ πρὸς τά τοιαῦτα δέρματα τοῦ λόγου τὴν διάνοιαν φέρωνο ποίων γὰρ ἀποσφαγέντων καὶ δαρέντων ζώων ὲπινοεῖται αὐτοῖς ἡ πε ριβολή ; ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ πᾶν δέρμα χωρισθὲν τοῦ ξὼου, νεκρόν ἐστι· πάντως οἶμαι τὴν πρὸς τὸ νεκροῦσθαι δύναμιν, ἢ τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως ἐξαίρετος ἦν ἐκ προμηθείας, μετά ταῦτα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιβεβληκέναι τὸν τὴν κακίαν ἡμῶν ἰατρεύοντα, οὐχ ὡς εἰς ἀεὶ παραμένειν. '0 γὰρ χιτὼν, τῶν ἔξωθεν ἡμῖν ἐπιβαλλομένων ἐστὶ, πρὸς καιρὸν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χρῆσιν παρέχων τοῦ σώματος, οὐ συμπεφυκὼς τῇ φύσει. Οὐκοῦν ὲκ τῆς τῶν ἀλόγων φύσεως ὴ νε·κρότης οἰκονομικῶς περιετέθη τῇ εἰς ἀθανασίαν κτισθείσῃ φύσει, τὸ ἔξωθεν αὐτῆς περικαλύπτουσα, οὐ τὸ ἔσωθεν, καὶ τὸ αἰσθητὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μέρος διαλαμβάνουσα, αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς θείας εἰκόνος οὐ προσαπτομένη. Λύεται δὲ τὸ αίσθητὺν, οὐκ ἀφανίζεται. Ἀφανισμδς μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ή εἰς τὸ μὴ ὃν μεταχώρησις λύσις δὲ ἡ εἰς τά τοῦ κόσμου στοιχεῖα πάλιν, ἀφʼ ὧν τὴν σύστασιν ἔσχεν, διάλυσις. Τὸ δὲ ἐν τούτοις γενόμενον οὐκ ἀπόλωλε, κᾶν ὲκφεύγῃ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς ἡμετέρας αἰσθήσεως. 'H δὲ αἰτία τῆς λύσεως δήλη διά τοῦ ῥηθέντος ἡμῖν ὑποδείγματος, Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ αἴσθησις πρὸς τὸ παχύ τε καὶ γήϊνον οἰκείως ἔχει· κρείττονος δὲ καὶ ὑψηλοτέρας τῶν περί τὸ καλὸν κρίσεως, ἐν τῇ δοκιμασίᾳ τῶν αἰσθήσεων, ἀμαρτηθείσης, τῆς δὲ τοῦ καλοῦ διαμαρτίας τὴν τῆς ἐναντίας ἐξεως ὑπόστασιν ἐνεργησάσης · τὸ ἀχρειωθὲν ἡμῶν μέρος, τῇ παραδοχῇ τοῦ ἐναντίου λύεταιʼ ὁ δέ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος λόγος τοιοῦτός ἐστι· Δεδόσθω τι σκεῦος ἐκ πηλοῦ συνεστηκέναιτοῦτο δὲ πλῆρες ἐκ τινος ἐπιβουλῆς γεγενῆσθαι τε· τηκότος μολίὸδου. Τὸν δέ μόλιβδον ἐκχυθέντα παο γῆναι καὶ μένειν ἀπρὸσχυτον· ἀντιποιεῖσθαι δέ τοῦ σκεύους τὸν κεκτημένονο ἔχοντα δέ τοῦ κεραμεύειν τὴν ἐπιστήμην, περιθρύψαι τε τῷ μολίβδῳ τὸ δστρακον, εἶθʼ οὕτως πάλιν κατὰ τὸ πρότερον σχῆμα πρὶς τὴν ἰδίαν ἐαυτοῦ χρῆσιν ἀναπλάσαι τὸ σκεῦος, κενὸν τῆς ἐμμιχθείσης ὕλης γενόμενον. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἑ τοῦ ἡμετέρου σκεύους πλάστης, τῷ αἰσθητῶ μέρει, τὸ κατά τὸ σῶμά φημι, τῆς κακίας καταμιχθείσης, διαλύσας τὴν παραδεξαμένην τὸ κακὸν ὓλην, πάλιν ἀμιγὲς τοῦ ἐναντίου διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀναπλάσας, πρὸς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς κάλλος ἀναστοιχειώσει τὸ σκεῦος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ σύνδεσίς τις καὶ κοινωνία τῶν κατὰ ἁμαρτίαν παθημάτων γίνεταί, τῇ τε ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι· καί τις ἀναλογία τοῦ σωματικοῦ θανάτου πρὸς τὸν ψυχικόν ἐστι θάνατον · ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ τδ τῆς αἰσθητῆς χωρισθῆναι ζωῆς προσαγορεύομεν θάνατον, οὑτως καί ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ζωῆς χωρισμὸν θάνατον ὀνομάζομεν. Ἐπεὶ οῦν μία τίς ἐστι τοῦ κακοῦ κοινωνία, καθὼς προείρηται, ἐν ψυχῇ τε θεωρουμένη καὶ σώματιο διʼ ἀμφοτέρων γὰρ πρόεισιν εἰς ἐνέργειαν τὸ πονηρόνο διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μὲν τῆς διαλύσεως θάνατος, ἐκ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν δερμάτων ἐπιβολῆς, τῆς ψυχῆς οὑχ ἅπτεται. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν διαλυθείη τὸ μὴ συγκείμενον; Ἐπειδὴ χρεία τοῦ κάκείνης τὰς ἐμφυείσας ἐξ ἁμαρτιῶν κηλίδας διά τινος ἰατρείας ἐξαιρεθῆναι, τούτου ἕνεκεν, ἐν μὲν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ, τὺ τῆς ἀρετῆς φάρμακον εἰς θεραπείαν τῶν τοιούτων προσετέθη τραυμάτων. Εἰ δὲ ἀθεράπεὺτος μένει. ἐν τῷ μετά ταῦτα βίῳ ταμιεύεται ἡ θεραπεία. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ εἰσί τινες κατά τὸ σῶμα τῶν παθημάτων διαφοραὶ, ὧν αἱ μὲν ῥᾷον, αἰ δὲ δυσκολώτερον τὴν θεραπείαν προσίενται, ἐφʼ ὧν καὶ τομαὶ καὶ καυτήρια, καὶ πικραὶ φαρμακοποιίαι πρὸς τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ ἐνσκήψαντος πάθους τῷ σώματι παραλαμβάνονταιο τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἡ μετά ταῦτα κρίσις εἰς θεραπείαν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρρωστημάτων κατεπαγγέλλεται. ὃ τοῖς μὲν χαυνοτέροις ἀπειλὴ, καὶ σκυθρωπῶν ἐστιν ἐπανάστασις, ὡς ἂν φόβῳ τῆς τῶν ἀλγεινῶν ἀντιδόσεως, πρὸς τὴν φυγὴν τῆς κακίας σωφρονισθείημεν· τοῖς δὲ συνετωτέροις ἰατρεία καὶ θεραπεία παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ῐδιον πλάσμα πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπανάγοντος χάριν εἶναι πιστεύεται. Ὠς γάρ οἰ τοὺς ἥλους καὶ τοὺς ἀκροχορδόνας παρά φύσιν ἐπιγενομένους τῷ σώματι, διὰ τομῆς ἢ καύσεως ἀποξύοντες, οὐκ ἁνὡδυνον ἐπάγουσι τῷ εὑεργετουμένῳ τὴν ἴασιν, πλὴν οὑκ ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τοῦ ὑπομένοντος τὴν τομὴν ἄγουσιν ο οὑτως καὶ ὅσα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν, διὰ τῆς τῶν παθημάτων κοινωνίας ἀποσαρκωθείσαις, ὑλώδη πεβιττώματα ὲπιπωροῦται, ὲν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς κρίσεως τέμνεται καὶ ἀποξύεται τῇ ἀπορρήτῳ ἐκείνῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει, καθὼς λέγει τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας ἰατρεύοντοςο Οὐ χρείαν γάρ ἔχουσι, φησὶν, οἱ Ισχύοντες ἰατροῦ, ἀλλʼ οἱ κακῶς ἕχοντες. Διά δὲ τὸ πολλὴν γεγενῆσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν συμφυΐαν, ὥσπερ ἡ τῆς μυρμηκίας τομὴ δριμύσσει τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν · τὸ γὰρ παρά φύσιν ἐμφυὲς τῇ φύσει, διά τινος συμπαθείας τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ προσίσχεται, καί τις γίνεται τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον παράλογος συνανάχρασις, ὡς λυπεῖσθαι καὶ δάκνεσθαι τοῦ παρά φύσιν χωριζομένην τὴν αἴσθησιν· οὕτω καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπολεπτυνομένης τε καὶ ὲκτηκομένης ὲν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐλέγχοις, καθώς πού φησιν ἡ προφητεία, διὰ τὴν ἐν βάθει γενομένην πρὸς τὸ κακὸν νοίκειότητα, κατʼ ἀνάγκην ἐπακολουθοῦσιν ἀρῥητοί τινες καὶ ἀνέκφραστοι ἀλγηδόνες, ὧν ἡ διήγησις ὲκ τοῦ ίσου τὸ ἄφραστον ἔχει, τῇ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ἀγαθῶν φύσει. Οὔτε γάρ ταῦτα, οὔτε ἐκεῖνα τῇ δυνάμει τῶν λόγων, ἢ τὸν στοχασμὸν τῆς διανοίας ὑπάγεται. Οὐκοῦν πρὸς τὸ πέρας τις ἀποσκοπῶν τῆς σοφίας τοῦ τὸ πᾶν οἰκονομοῦντος, οὐκέτʼ ἂν εὐλόγως κακῶν αίτιον τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων δημιουργὸν ὑπὸ μικροψυχίας κατονομάξοι, ἢ ἀγνοεῖν αὐτὸν τὸ ἐσόμενον λέγων, ἢ εἰδότα καὶ πεποιηκότα μὴ ἔξω τῆς πρὸς τὸ πονηρὸν ὁρμῆς εἶναι. Καὶ γὰρ ᾔδει τὸ ἐσόμενον, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ γινόμενον ὁρμὴν οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν. ’Ότι γὰρ ὲκτραπήσεται τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, οὐκ ἠγνόησεν ό πάντα ὲμπερικρατῶν τῇ προορατικῇ δυνάμει, καὶ τὸ ἑφεξῆς τῷ παρ· ῳχηκότι βλέπων κατά τὸ ἴσον. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ τὴν παρατροπὴν ἐθεάσατο, οὕτω καὶ τὴν ἀνάκλησιν αὑτοῦ πάλιν τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν κατενόησε. Τί οὖν ἄμεινον ἦν ; καθόλου μὴ ἀγαγεῖν τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν εἰς γένεσιν, ἐπειδὴ τοῦ καλοῦ διαμαρτήσεσθαι προεώρα τὸ γενησόμενον, ἢ ἀγαγόντα καὶ νενοσηκότα πάλιν πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς χάριν ἀνακαλέσασθαις Τὸ δὲ διὰ τάς σωματικὰς ἀλγηδόνας, αἳ τῷ ρευστῷ τῆς φύσεως κατʼ ἀνάγκην ἐπισυμδαίνουσι, κακῶν ποιητὴν τὸν Θεὸν ὀνομάζειν, ἢ μηδὲ ὅλως ἀνθρώπου κτίστην αὑτὸν οἴεσθαι, ὼς ἂν μὴ καὶ τῶν ἀλγυνόντων ἡμᾶς αἴτιος ὑπονοοῖτο, τοῦτο τῆς ἐσχάτης μικροψυχίας ἐστὶ τῶν τῇ αἰσθήσει τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ κακὸν διακρινόντων, οἳ οὑκ ἴσασιν, ὅτι ἐκεῖνο τῇ φύσει μόνον ἐστὶν ἀγαθὸν, οὗ ἡ αἴσθησις οὐκ ὲφάπτεται ο καὶ μόνον ἐκεῖνο κακὸν, ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἀλλοτρίωσις. Πόνοις δὲ καὶ ἡδοναῖς τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ κακὸν κρίνειν τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως ἴδιόν ἐστιν, ἐφʼ ὧν τοῦ ἀληθῶς καλοῦ ἡ κατανόησις, διὰ τὸ μὴ μετέχειν αὐτὰ νοῦ κα) διανοίας, χώραν οὐκ ἔχει. ἀνθρώπου ποιητὴν ὀνομάσαντες, οὒκ ἐπιλελήσμεθα τῶν ὲν τῷ προοιμίῳ πρὸς τοὺς ’Έλληνας ήμῖν διευκρινηθέντων, ἐν οἷς ἀπεδείκνυτο ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ούσιώδης τις καὶ ὲνυπόστατος ῶν, αὐτὸς εἶναι καὶ Θεὸς καὶ Λόγος, πᾶσαν δύναμιν ποιητικὴν ὲμπς ριειληφὼς, μᾶλλον δὲ αύτοδύναμις ῶν, καὶ πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ὁρμὴν ἔχων, καὶ πᾶν ὃ τί περ ἂν θελήσῃ κατεργαζόμενος, τῷ σύνδρομον ἔχειν τῇ βουλήσει τὴν δύναμιν, οὗ καὶ θέλημα καὶ ἔργον ἐστὶν ή τῶν ὄντων ζωὴ, παρʼ οὗ καὶ ό ἄνθρωπος εἰς τὸ ζῇν παρήχθη, πᾶσι τοῖς καλλίστοις θεοειδῶς κεκοσμημένος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ μόνον ἁναλλοίωτόν ἐστι κατά τὴν φύσιν τὸ μὴ διά κτίσεως ἕχον τὴν γένεσιν, τὰ δὲ ὅσα παρά τῆς ἀκτίστου φύσεως ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὑπέστη, εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τροπῆς εἶναι ἀρξάμενα, πάντοτε διʼ ἀλλοιώσεως πρόεισινο καὶ εί μὲν κατά φύσιν πράττοι, πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀλλοιώσεως εἰσαεὶ γινομένης ο εί δὲ παρατραπείη τῆς εὐθείας, τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον αὐτά διαδεχομένης κινήσεως. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τούτοις καὶ ό ἄνθρωπος ἦν, ᾧ τὸ τρεπτὸν τῆς φύσεως πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον παρώλισθεν · ἅπαξ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀναχωρήσεως διʼ ἀκολούθου πᾶσαν ἰδέαν κακῶν ἅντεισαγούσης, ὡς τῇ μὲν ἀποστροφῇ τῆς ζωῆς άντεισαχθῆναι τὸν θάνατον, τῇ δὲ στερήσει τοῦ φωτὸς, ἐπιγενέσθαι τὸ σκότος, τῇδὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπουσίᾳ, τὴν κακίαν ἀντεισαχθῆναι, καὶ πάσῃ τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸν τῶν ἐναντίων καταριθμηθῆναι κατάλογον· τὸν ὲν τούτοις καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐξ ἀβουλίας ἐμπεπτωκότα (οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν δυνατὸν ὲν φρονήσει εἶναι τὸν ἀπεστραμμένον τὴν φρόνησιν, καὶ σοφόν τι βουλεύσασθαι τὸν τῆς σοφίας ἀναχωρήσαντα) διὰ τίνος ἔδει πάλιν πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς χάριν ἀνακληθῆναι; Τίνι δὲ ἔπρεπεν ἠ τοῦ πεπτωκότος ἀνόρθωσις, ή τοῦ ἀπολωλότος ἀνάκλησις, ἡ τοῦ πεπλανημένου χειραγωγία; Τίνι ἄλλῳ, ἦ τῷ Κυρίῳ πάντως τῆς φύσεως ; Τῷ γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὴν ζωὴν δεδωκότι μόνῳ δυνατὸν ἦν, καὶ πρέπον ἆμα, καί ἀπολλυμένην ἀνακαλέσασθαι. Ὃ παρά τοῦ μυστηρίου τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκούομεν, Θεὸν πεποιηκέναι ὲξ ἀρχῆς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ σεσωκένσέ διαπεπτωκότα μανθάνοντες. ### English translation (Claude) [Heading: On those who are indignant, asking why man dies, when this is rather for man's benefit, and that this is why there is death.] But one who looks at the dissolution of the body is certainly indignant, and considers it hard that our life is dissolved by death. Let him, then, consider through this gloomy thing the surpassing greatness of the divine beneficence. For perhaps by this he may rather be led to wonder at the grace of God's care for man. To live is desirable to those who share in life because of the enjoyment of things to their liking; so that if someone should live in pains, for such a person not to exist is judged far preferable to existing in pain. Let us examine, then, whether the giver of life looks to anything else than how we may live among the fairest things. Since by the self-determining movement we drew fellowship with evil to ourselves, mixing evil into our nature through some pleasure, like a poison seasoned with honey, and thereby falling from the blessedness conceived as freedom from passion, we were transformed toward vice; for this reason man, like an earthen vessel, is dissolved again into earth, so that, the filth now caught in him being separated off, he may be refashioned through the resurrection into his original form. Moses sets out such a doctrine for you more in the manner of history and through riddles; yet the riddles too contain plain teaching. For when, he says, the first human beings came to be among forbidden things and were stripped of that blessedness, the Lord put garments of skin on the first-formed. I do not think the account carries its meaning to such skins; for from what animals slaughtered and flayed is the covering devised for them? But since every skin separated from the animal is dead, I certainly think that the power of mortality, which had been reserved by providence for the irrational nature, was afterwards put upon human beings by him who heals our vice, not so as to remain forever. For a garment is one of the things put on us from outside, giving its use to the body for a time, not grown together with its nature. So mortality, taken from the nature of irrational creatures, was by dispensation wrapped around the nature created for immortality, covering its outside, not its inside, and taking hold of the sensible part of man, but not touching the divine image itself. And the sensible part is dissolved, not annihilated. For annihilation is passing into non-existence; dissolution is the scattering back into the elements of the world from which it had its composition. And what has come to be in these has not perished, even though it escapes the grasp of our perception. The cause of the dissolution is clear from the illustration we mentioned. For since perception is akin to what is gross and earthy, and the better and higher judgment about the good went astray in the testing done by the senses, and the failure to attain the good produced the existence of the opposite condition, the part of us that was made useless is dissolved by its reception of the opposite. The point of the illustration is this. Suppose a vessel made of clay, and that through some malice it has been filled with molten lead; the lead, poured in, has hardened and remains unpourable; the owner claims the vessel, and, having the potter's skill, breaks the earthenware off around the lead, and then remoulds the vessel again in its former shape for his own use, emptied of the material mixed into it. So too the fashioner of our vessel, since vice has been mixed into the sensible part (I mean the bodily), will dissolve the matter that received the evil, and, refashioning it through the resurrection unmixed with the opposite, will recompose the vessel into its original beauty. And there is a certain bond and fellowship between soul and body in the passions that belong to sin, and a certain analogy of bodily death to the death of the soul: for as in the flesh we call separation from sensible life death, so in the soul we name separation from true life death. Since, then, there is one fellowship in evil, as has been said, seen in soul and body (for wickedness proceeds into act through both), for this reason the death of dissolution, which comes from the putting on of the dead skins, does not touch the soul. For how could what is not composite be dissolved? But since there is need that the stains grown into it from sins should also be removed by some treatment, for this reason in the present life the medicine of virtue has been applied for the healing of such wounds. But if it remains unhealed, the healing is reserved in the life after this. And just as there are differences among bodily sufferings, some admitting treatment more easily, others with more difficulty, for which incisions, cauteries, and bitter medicines are employed to remove the disease that has struck the body, so the judgment to come also announces something of this kind for the healing of the sicknesses of the soul. To the more careless this is a threat and a stirring of gloomy things, so that by fear of a painful requital we may be brought to our senses to flee vice; but by the more intelligent it is believed to be a treatment and healing from God, bringing his own creature back to its original grace. For just as those who remove by cutting or burning the calluses and warts that have grown unnaturally on the body do not bring the cure without pain to the one they benefit, yet do not apply the cutting to harm the one who undergoes it, so too whatever material excrescences harden on our souls, made fleshly by fellowship with the passions, are cut and scraped away at the time of the judgment by that ineffable wisdom and power of him who, as the Gospel says, heals those who are ill. “For those who are strong,” he says, “have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.” And because the soul has grown into great natural union with evil, just as the cutting of a wart stings the surface (for what has grown into the nature against nature clings to the subject through a certain sympathy, and there comes about an unnatural blending of the foreign with what is ours, so that the sensation is pained and stung when separated from what is against nature), so too, when the soul is wasted and melted away in the reproofs for sin, as the prophecy says somewhere, there necessarily follow, because of its deep-rooted familiarity with evil, certain unspeakable and inexpressible pains, the description of which is as ineffable as the nature of the goods hoped for. For neither these nor those fall under the power of words or the conjecture of thought. So whoever looks to the end of the wisdom of him who orders the universe would no longer reasonably, from pettiness of mind, call the creator of human beings the cause of evils, saying either that he did not know what would be, or that, knowing and having made him, he is not free from the impulse toward wickedness. For he knew what would be, and did not prevent the impulse toward what happened. For he who comprehends all things by his power of foresight, and sees what follows equally with what is past, was not ignorant that humanity would turn aside from the good. But just as he beheld the deviation, so he also planned its recall back to the good. Which, then, was better: not to bring our nature into existence at all, since he foresaw that what would come to be would fail of the good; or, having brought it into being, when it had fallen sick, to recall it to its original grace? But to call God the maker of evils because of the bodily pains that necessarily befall our fluid nature, or to think him not the creator of man at all, so that he may not be suspected of being the cause of what pains us, belongs to the extreme pettiness of those who judge good and evil by sense perception, who do not know that that alone is good by nature which perception does not touch, and that alone evil which is estrangement from the good. To judge good and evil by pains and pleasures is proper to the irrational nature, in whose case the apprehension of what is truly good has no place, because they have no share in mind and understanding. … naming him the maker of man, we have not forgotten what we established in the introduction against the Greeks, where it was shown that the Word of God, being substantial and subsisting as a hypostasis, is himself both God and Word, embracing all creative power, or rather being power itself, having an impulse toward every good work and accomplishing whatever he wills, because his power runs together with his will; whose will and work is the life of the things that exist; by whom man too was brought into life, adorned in godlike fashion with all the fairest things. But only that which does not have its origin through creation is unchangeable by nature, while all the things that came into subsistence from non-being by the uncreated nature, having begun to exist straight away from a change, always proceed through alteration: if they act according to nature, the alteration is always toward the better for them; but if they are turned aside from the straight path, movement toward the opposite takes them over. Since, then, man too was among these, and the changeableness of his nature slipped toward the opposite; and since, once the withdrawal from the goods had brought in in sequence every form of evil, so that death was brought in by turning from life, darkness came upon the privation of light, vice was brought in by the absence of virtue, and the list of opposites was counted against every good: through whom was he who had fallen by thoughtlessness into these and similar things (for it was not possible for one who had turned away from prudence to be prudent, or for one who had withdrawn from wisdom to plan something wise) to be recalled again to his original grace? To whom did the raising up of the fallen belong, the recall of the lost, the guiding of the wanderer by the hand? To whom else, surely, than to the Lord of the nature? For only to him who had given life in the beginning was it possible, and fitting as well, to recall it when it was perishing. This is what we hear from the mystery of the truth, learning that God made man in the beginning and saved him when he had fallen. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:21: allusion, high confidence - Gen 3:19: echo, medium confidence - Matt 9:12: quotation, high confidence - Ps 39:11 (38:12 LXX): allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The opening words are the chapter title printed in the edition. The “garments of skin” are Gen 3:21, read as mortality put on man; the Gospel saying is Matt 9:12 (compare Luke 5:31); the soul “melted away” recalls Ps 39:11 (LXX 38:12). Judgment as painful healing of the soul is Gregory's view, translated as written. Before “naming him the maker of man” the scan seems to have lost words (NPNF's text has a sentence that man is God's work, with many proofs omitted); nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 8 (PG 45:33a–40c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-8). ## Catechetical Oration 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-9 - Source: PG 45:40c–41b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The human experiences of Christ, from birth to death and burial, are not shameful, since only vice is shameful, and so they are not unworthy of God. ### Greek text Ἂλλὰ μέχρι μὲν τούτων συνθήσεται τυχὸν τῷ λόγῳ. πρὸς τὺ ἀκόλουθον βλέπων, διὰ τὸ μὴ δοκεῖν ἔξω τι τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἑννοίας τῶν εἰρημένων εἶναι· πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἐφεξῆς, οὐχ ὁμοίως ἕξει, διʼ ὧν μάλιστα τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἀληθείας κρατύνεταιο γένεσις ἀνθρωπίνη, καὶ ὲκ νηπίου πρὸς τελείωσιν αὔξησις· βρῶσίς τε καὶ* πόσις, καὶ κόπος, καὶ ὕπνος, καὶ λύπη, καὶ δάκρυον, συκοφαντία τε καὶ δικαστήριον, καὶ σταυρὸς. καὶ θάνατος, καὶ ή ὲν μνημείῳ θέσις. Ταῦτα γὰρ συμπαραλαμβανόμενα τῷ μυστηρίῳ, ἀμβλύνει πως τῶν μικροψυχοτέρων τὴν πίστιν, ὡς μηδὲ τὸ ἐφεξῆς τῶν λεγομένων διά τὰ προειρημένα συμπαραδέχεσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ θεοπρεπὲς τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως, διὰ τὸ περὶ τὸν θάνατον ἀπρεπὲς ού προσίεται. Ἐγὼ δὲ πρότερον οἶμαι δεῖν μικρὸν τῆς σαρκικῆς παχύτητος τὸν λογισμὸν άποστήσαντας, αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν ἐφʼ ἐαυτοῦ καὶ τὸ μή τοιοῦτον κατανοῆσαι, ποίοις γνωρίσμασιν ἑκάτερον τούτων καταλαμβάνεται. Οὐδένα γάρ ἀντερεῖν οἶμαι τῶν λελογισμένων, ὅτι ἓν κατὰ φύσιν μόνον των πάντων ἐστὶν αἰσχρὸν, τὸ κατὰ κακίαν πάθος· τὸ δέ κακίας ἐκτὸς, natio; αἷσχους ἐστὶν ἀλλότριον.ῼ δὲ μηδὲν ἐναντίου μέμικται, τοῦτο πάντως ἐν τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ μοίρᾳ καταλαμβάνεται. Τὸ δέ ἀληθῶς καλὸν, ἀμιγές ἐστι τοῦ ἐναντίου. Πρέπει δὲ τῷ Θεῷ πᾶν ὅ τί περ ἐν τῇ τοῦ καλοῦ θεωρεῖται χώρᾳ. Ἦ τοίνυν δειξάτωσαν κακίαν εἶναι τὴν γέννησιν, τὴν ἀνατροφὴν. τὴν αὔξησιν, τὴν πρδς τὸ τέλειον τῆς φύσεως πρόοδον, τὴν θανάτου πεῖραν, τὴν,ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου ἐπάνοδον· ἢ εί ἔξω κακίας εἶναι τὰ εἰρημένα συντίθενται, οὐδὲν αἰσχρὸν εἶναι τὺ κακίας ἅλλότριον ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμολογήσουσι. Καλοῦ δὲ πάντως ἀναδεικνυμένου, πῶς οὐκ ἐλεεινοὶ τῆς ἀλογίας, οἱ τὸ καλὸν μὴ ’πρέπειν ἐπὶ Θεοῦ δογματίζοντεςξ ### English translation (Claude) Up to this point perhaps one who looks to the sequence will agree with the argument, since nothing said seems to be outside the conception fitting for God; but toward what follows he will not be similarly disposed, the things by which above all the mystery of the truth is established: human birth, and growth from infancy to maturity; eating and drinking, weariness and sleep, grief and tears, false accusation and court, cross and death, and the laying in the tomb. For these, being included in the mystery, somewhat blunt the faith of the more small-minded, so that because of what was said before they do not accept what follows either. For they do not admit what is fitting to God in the resurrection from the dead because of what is unfitting in the death. But I think one must first withdraw reasoning a little from the grossness of the flesh and consider the good itself by itself and what is not such, and by what marks each of these is apprehended. For I think no one who has reasoned will dispute that in the nature of things one thing only is shameful: the passion of vice; and what is outside vice is foreign to all shame. And that in which nothing of the opposite is mixed is certainly apprehended in the portion of the good; and what is truly good is unmixed with its opposite. And everything seen in the domain of the good befits God. So either let them show that birth, upbringing, growth, progress to the maturity of nature, the experience of death, the return from death are vice; or, if they agree that the things mentioned are outside vice, they will necessarily admit that what is foreign to vice is nothing shameful. And since it is shown to be altogether good, how are those not pitiable in their unreason who teach that the good is not fitting in the case of God? ### Translation notes - “All shame” translates by sense a phrase partly destroyed in the scan (OCR “natio;”). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 9 (PG 45:40c–41b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-9). ## Catechetical Oration 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-10 - Source: PG 45:41b–44a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The infinite Godhead is not confined by the flesh, just as the soul is not confined by the body and a flame is united to its fuel without being shut up in it. ### Greek text Ἀλλά μικρὸν, φησι, καί περιγραπτδν ή ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις· ἄπειρον δὲ ἡ Θεότηςο καὶ πῶς ἂν περιελήφθη τῷ ἀτόμῳ τὸ ἄπειρονς Καὶ τίς τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι τῇ περιγραφῇ τῆς σαρκὸς καθάπερ ἀγγείῳ τινὶ ἡ ἀπειρία τῆς Θεότητος περιελήφθη; Οὐδέ γάρ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας, ζωῆς ἐντὸς κατακλείεται τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς ὅρων ἡ νοε ρὰ φύσις. Ἀλλʼ ό μὲν ὄγκος τοῦ σώματος τοῖς οἰκείοις μέρεσι περιγράφεταιο ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ τοῖς τῆς διανοίας κινήμασι πάσῃ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν ἐφαπλοῦται τῇ κτίσει, καὶ μέχρις οὐρανῶν ἀνιοῦσα, καὶ τῶν ἀβύσσων ἐπιβατεύουσα, καὶ τῷ πλάτει τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐπερχομένη, καὶ πρὸς τὰ καταχθόνια διὰ τῆς πολυπραγμοσύνης είσδύνουσα, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τῶν οὐρανίων θαυμάτων ἐν περινοίᾳ γίνεται, οὐδὲν βαρυνομένη τῷ ἐφολκίῳ τοῦ σώματος. Εἰ δὲ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴ κατὰ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἀνάγκην συγκεκραμένη τῷ σώματι πανταχοῦ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν γίγνεται· τίς ἡ ἀνάγκη τῇ φύσει τῆς σαρκὸς τήν Θεότητα λέγειν ἐμπεριείργεσθαι, καὶ μὴ διὰ τῶν χωρητῶν ἡμῖν ὐποδειγμάτων στοχασμὸν ἡμῖν τινα πρέποντα περὶ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας λαβεῖν; Ὠς γάρ τὸ πῦρ ἐπὶ τῆς λαμπάδος ὁρᾶται τῆς ὑποκειμένης περιδεδραγμένον ῦλης, καὶ λόγος μὲν διακρίνει τό τε ἐπὶ τῆς ὕλης πῦρ, καὶ τὴν τὸ πῦρ ἐξάπτουσαν ὓλην, ἔργῳ δέ οὐκ ἐστιν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων ταῦτα διατεμόντας, ἐφʼ ἑαυτὴν δεῖξαι τὴν φλόγα διεζευγμένην τῆς ὕλης, ἁλλʼ ἓν τὰ συναμφότερα γίνεται (οὕτω καὶ μηδεὶς τὸ φθαρτικὸν τοῦ πυρὸς συμπαραλαμβανέτω τῷ ὑποδείγματι, ἀλλʼ ὅσον εὐπρεπές ἐστι μόνον ὲν τῇ εἰκόνι δεξάμενος, τὸ ἀνοίκειον καὶ ἀπεμιραῖνον ἀποποιείσθω) · τὸν αὐτὸν οῦν τρόπον, ὼς ὁρῶμεν καὶ ἐξημμένην τοῦ ὑποκειμένου τὴν φλόγα, καὶ οὐκ ἐναποκλειομένην τῇ ὕλῃ · τί κωλύει θείας φύσεως ἓνωσίν τινα καί προσεγγισμδν κατανοήσαντας, πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τήν θεοπρεπῆ διάνοιαν καὶ ἐν τῷ προσεγγισμῷ διασώζεσθαι, κᾶν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ ἧν; ### English translation (Claude) “But human nature,” he says, “is small and circumscribed, while the Godhead is infinite; how could the infinite be contained by the atom?” And who says that the infinity of the Godhead was contained by the circumscription of the flesh as in a vessel? Not even in our own life is the intellectual nature shut up within the boundaries of the flesh. The bulk of the body is circumscribed by its own parts, but the soul by the movements of thought spreads freely over the whole creation: it ascends to the heavens, treads the depths, traverses the breadth of the inhabited world, and penetrates by its curiosity to the regions below the earth; and often it is in contemplation of the heavenly wonders, not weighed down at all by the burden of the body. If the soul of a man, blended with the body by the necessity of nature, is present everywhere at will, what necessity is there to say that the Godhead is enclosed by the nature of the flesh, and not rather to form, through examples we can grasp, some fitting conjecture about the divine economy? For fire is seen on a torch taking hold of the underlying material; reason distinguishes the fire on the material from the material that kindles the fire, but in fact it is not possible to cut these apart and show the flame by itself, disjoined from the material, but the two together become one (and let no one take along with the illustration the destructiveness of fire, but, accepting only what is fitting in the image, let him reject what is inappropriate and incongruous). In the same way, then, as we see the flame both attached to its subject and not shut up in the material, what prevents us, perceiving a certain union and drawing near of the divine nature to the human, from preserving even in this drawing near the conception fitting to God … even though he was in man? ### Translation notes - A running head of the edition is removed at the end; with it some words seem to have been lost (NPNF's text: believing that the Godhead is beyond all circumscription even though in man). Nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 10 (PG 45:41b–44a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-10). ## Catechetical Oration 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-11 - Source: PG 45:44a–44b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: How God is united with human nature cannot be explained, any more than the union of soul and body, but the miracles show that it happened. ### Greek text Εἰ δὲ ζητεῖς πῶς κατακιρνᾶται θεότης πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ὥρα σοι ζητεῖν πρὸ τούτου, τίς πρὸς τὴν σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ συ μηφυῖα. Εἰ δὲ τῆς σῆς ἀγνοεῖται ψυχῆς ὁ τρόπος, καθʼ ὃν ἑνοῦται τῷ σώματι, μηδὲ ἐκεῖνο πάντως οἵου δεῖν ἐντὸς γενέσθαι τῆς σῆς καταλήψεως. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἕτερον εἷναί τι παρά τὸ σῶμα τὴν ψυχὴν πεπιστεύκαμεν, ἐκ τοῦ μονωθεῖσαν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν σάρκα νεκράν τε καὶ άνενέργητον γενέσθαι, καὶ τὸν τῆς ἐνώσεως οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκομεν τρόπον οὕτω κάκεῖ διαφέρειν μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ μεγαλοπρεπέστερον τὴν Θείαν φύσιν πρὸς τὴν θνητὴν καὶ ἐπίκηρον ὁμολογοῦμεν, τὸν δέ τῆς ἀνακράσεως τρόπον τοῦ θείου πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον συν. ιδεῖν οὐ χωροῦμεν · ἀλλά τὸ μὲν γεγενῆσθαι Θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου φύσει, διά τῶν ἱστορουμένων θαυμάτων οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλομεν · τὸ δέ πῶς, ὡς μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ λς,γισμῶν ἔφοδον διερευνᾷν παραιτούμεθα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ πᾶσαν τὴν σωματικήν τε καὶ νοητὴν γέννησιν παρά τῆς ἀσωμάτου τε καὶ ἀκτίστου φύσεως ὑποστῆναι πιστεύοντες, τὸ πόθεν ἢ τὸ ὅπως τῇ περὶ τούτων πίστει συνεξετάζομεν. Ἀλλὰ τὸ γεγενῆσθαι παραδεχόμενοι, ἀπολυπραγμόνητον τρόπον τῆς τοῦ παντὸς συστάσεως καταλείπομεν, ὡς ἄρρητον παντάπασιν ὂντα καὶ ἀνερμήνευτον. ### English translation (Claude) If you ask how the Godhead is blended with the human, it is time for you to ask first what the coalescence of the soul with the flesh is. And if the manner in which your own soul is united to the body is unknown, do not think that that other matter must by all means come within your comprehension. But just as here we believe that the soul is something other than the body, because the flesh, left alone without the soul, becomes dead and inactive, and yet we do not know the manner of the union, so there too we confess that the divine nature differs from the mortal and perishable in being more majestic, but we are not able to perceive the manner of the blending of the divine with the human. That God came to be in human nature we do not doubt, because of the miracles recorded; but how, we decline to investigate, as being beyond the approach of reasoning. For although we believe that all corporeal and intelligible creation came into subsistence from the incorporeal and uncreated nature, we do not examine the whence or the how along with our faith about these things; but, accepting that it came into being, we leave the manner of the constitution of the universe uninvestigated, as being altogether ineffable and inexplicable. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 11 (PG 45:44a–44b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/6/#p-11). ## Catechetical Oration 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-12 - Source: PG 45:44c–45a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ's works, giving life, feeding, healing, ruling nature, and conquering death, prove that God was manifested in the flesh. ### Greek text Τοῦ δὲ Θεὸν ἐν σαρκὶ πεφανερῶσθαι ἡμῖν δ τὰς ἀποδείξεις ἐπιζητῶν, πρὸς τὰς ἐνεργείας βλεπέτω. Καὶ γάρ τοῦ ὅλως εἶναι Θεὸν, οὐκ ἄν τις ἑτέραν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχοι, διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐνεργειῶν μαρτυρίας. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν είς τὸ πᾶν ἀφορῶντες, καὶ τὰς κατὰ τὸν κόσμον οἰκονομίας ἐπισκοποῦντες, καὶ τὰς εὐεργεσίας τὰς θεόθεν κατά τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν ἐνεργουμένας, ὕπερκεῖσθαί τινα δύναμιν ποιητικὴν τῶν γιγνομένων, καὶ συντηρητικὴν τῶν ὄντων καταλαμβάνομεν οὕτως και ἐπὶ τοῦ διὰ σαρκὸς ἡμῖν φανερωθέντος Θεοῦ ἱκανὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἐπιφανείας τῆς θεότητος τὰ κατά τὰς ἐνεργείας θαύματα πεποιήμεθα, πάντα τοῖς ἱστορηθεῖσιν ἔργοις, διʼ ὧν ἡ θεία χαρακτηρίζεται φύσις, κατανοήσαντες. Θεοῦ τὸ ζωοποιεῖν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Θεοῦ τὸ συντηρεῖν διὰ προνοίας τὰ ὅντα. Θεοῦ τὸ βρῶσιν καὶ πόσιν τοῖς σαρκὸς τὴν ζωὴν είληχόσι χαρίζεσθαι. Θεοῦ εὐεργετεῖν τὸν δεόμενον. Θεοῦ τὸ παρατραπεῖσαν ἐξ ἀσθενείας τὴν φύσιν, πάλιν διʼ ὑγείας πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπανάγειν. Θεοῦ τὸ πάσης ἐπικρατεύειν ὁμοιοτρόπως τῆς κτίσεως, γῆς, θαλάσσης, ἀέρος, τῶν ὑπὲρ τὸν ἀέρα τόπων. Θεοῦ τὸ πρὸς πάντα διαρκῆ τὴν δύναμιν ἔχειν, καὶ πρό γε πάντων τὸ θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς εἶναι κρείττονα. Εἰ μὲν οὗν τινος τούτων ἐλλιπὴς ἦν ἡ περὶ αὐτὸν ἱστορία, είκόα τως τὸ μυστήριον ἡμῶν οἱ ἔξω τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν παοετοάέροντυ · εί δέ διʼ ὧν νοεῖται Θεὸς, πάντα ἐν τοῖς περὶ αὑτοῦ διηγήμασι καθορᾶται, τί τὸ ἐμποδίζον τῇ πίστει ; ### English translation (Claude) Let him who seeks proofs that God has been manifested to us in the flesh look to the activities. For even of God's existence at all one could have no other proof than the testimony of his activities. So just as, looking at the universe, observing the dispositions throughout the world and the benefits worked by God in our life, we apprehend that there is a transcendent power, creative of what comes into being and preserving what exists, so also in the case of God manifested to us through flesh we have taken the miracles in his activities as sufficient proof of the appearing of the Godhead, observing in the recorded works all those things by which the divine nature is characterized. It is God's to give life to human beings; God's to preserve by providence the things that exist; God's to grant food and drink to those who have been allotted life in the flesh; God's to benefit the needy; God's to bring back to itself through health the nature turned aside by sickness; God's to rule alike over the whole creation, earth, sea, air, and the regions above the air; God's to have power sufficient for all things, and above all to be stronger than death and corruption. If, then, the record of him had been lacking in any of these, those outside our faith would reasonably reject our mystery; but if all the things by which God is known are seen in the narratives about him, what hinders faith? ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:16: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Manifested in the flesh” recalls 1 Tim 3:16. “Would reasonably reject” translates by sense a verb damaged in the scan. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 12 (PG 45:44c–45a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-12). ## Catechetical Oration 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-13 - Source: PG 45:45a–45d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ's birth from a virgin without pleasure and his death without corruption are beyond nature, and so prove that he is God. ### Greek text Ἀλλὰ, φησὶ,γέννησίς τε καὶ θάνατος ἴδιον τῆς σαρκικῆς ἐστι φύσεως φημὶ κάγώ.Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ πρὸ τῆς γεννήσεως καὶ τὸ μετά τὸν θάνατον τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἐκφεύγει κοινότητα. Εἰς γὰρ ἑκάτερα τῆς ἀν·θρωπίνης ζωῆς τὰ πέρατα βλέποντες, ἴσμεν καὶ ὅθεν ἀρχόμεθα, καὶ είς τί καταλήγομεν. Ἐκ πάθους γὰρ ἀρξάμενος τοῦ εἶναι 6 ἄνθρωπος, πάθει συναπαρτίζεται. Ἐκεῖ δὲ οὔτε ἡ γέννησις ἀπὸ πάθους ήρξατο, οὔτε 6 θάνατος εἰς πάθος κατέληξεν. Οῠτε γὰρ τῆς γεννήσεως ἡδονὴ καθηγήσατο, οὔτε τὸν θάνατον φθορὰ διεδέξατο. Ἀπιστεῖς τῷ θαύματι; Χαίρω τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ. Ὀμολογεῖς γὰρ πάντως διʼ ὧν ὑπὲρ πίστιν ἡγῇ τὸ λεγόμενον, ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν εῖναι τὰ θαύματα. Αὐτὸ οὖν τοῦτο τῆς θεότητος ἔστω σοι τοῦ φανέντος ἀπόδειξις, τὸ μὴ διὰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν προϊέναι τὸ κήρυγμα. Ei γὰρ ἐντὸς ἦν τῶν τῆς φύσεως ὅρων τὰ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διηγήματα, ποῦ τὸ θεῖον ; Ei δὲ ὑπερβαίνει τὴν φύσιν 6 λόγος, ὲν οἷς ἀπιστεῖς, ὲν τούτοις ἐστὶν ή ἀπόδειξις τοῦ Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν κηρυσσόμενον. Ἀνθρωπος μὲν γὰρ ὲκ συνδυασμοῦ τίκτεται, καὶ μετά θάνατον ὲν διαφθορᾷ γίνεται. El ταῦτα περιεῖχε τὸ κήρυγμα, οὐκ ἂν Θεὸν εἶναι πάντως ᾠήθης τὸν ὲν τοῖς ίδιώμασι τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν μαρτυρούμενον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ γεγεννῆσθαι μὲν ἀκούεις αὑτὸν, ἐκβεβηκέναι δὲ τῆς φύσεως ήμῶν τὴν κοινότητα, τῷ τε τῆς γενέσεως τρόπῳ, καὶ τῷ ἀνεπιδέκτῳ τῆς εἰς φθορὰν ἀλλοιώσεως, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον, ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ χρήσασθαι, είς τὸ μὴ ἄνθρωπον αὐτὸν ἕνα τῶν ἐν τῇ φύσει δεικνυμένων οἴεσθαι. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ πᾶσα τὸν μή πιστεύοντα τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπον εἶναι, είς τὴν περὶ τὸ Θεὸν αὑτὸν εἶναι πίστιν ὲναχθῆναι. Ὁ γὰρ γεγεννῆσθαι αὑτὸν ἱστορήσας, καὶ τὸ οὕτως γεγεννῆσθαι συνδιηγήσατο. Εἰ οὖν πιστόν ἐστι διὰ τῶν είρημένων τὸ γεγεννῆσθαι αὐτὸν, διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν τούτων πάντως οὐδὲ τὸ οὕτως αὐτὸν γεγεννῆσθαι ἀπίὗανον. '0 γὰρ τήν γέννησιν εἰπὼν, καὶ τὸ, ὲκ παρ·θένου, προσέθηκε. Καὶ 6 τοῦ θανάτου μνησθεὶς, καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῷ θανάτῳ προσεμαρτύρησεν. Ei οὖν ἀφʼ ὧν ἀκούεις καὶ τὸ γεγεννῆσθαι καὶτὸ τεθνᾶνα δίδως, ὲκ τῶν αὐτῶν δώσεις πάντως καὶ τὸ ἔξω πάθους εἶναι καὶ τὴν γέννησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν θάνατον. Ἀλλά μὴν ταῦτα μείζω τῆς φύσεως ο οὐκοῦν οὐδ ἐκεῖνος πάντως ἐντὸς τῆς φύσεως, ὁ ὲν τοῖς ὑπὲρ φύσιν γεγεννῆσθαι ἀποδεικνύμενος. ### English translation (Claude) “But,” he says, “birth and death are proper to the fleshly nature.” I say so too. But what preceded the birth and what followed the death escape what is common to our nature. For looking at the two limits of human life, we know both from what we begin and in what we end. Man, beginning to exist from passion, is completed in passion. But there, neither did the birth begin from passion, nor did the death end in passion; for neither did pleasure lead the way to the birth, nor did corruption succeed the death. Do you disbelieve the miracle? I rejoice in your disbelief. For by thinking what is said to be beyond belief, you certainly confess that the miracles are beyond nature. Let this very thing, then, be your proof of the Godhead of him who appeared: that the proclamation does not proceed through what is according to nature. For if the narratives about Christ were within the limits of nature, where is the divine? But if the account surpasses nature, then in the very things you disbelieve lies the proof that the one proclaimed is God. For a man is born from the union of two, and after death comes into corruption. If the proclamation contained these things, you would certainly not have thought him God who was attested by the properties of our nature. But since you hear that he was born, yet went beyond what is common to our nature both in the manner of his birth and in his not admitting alteration into corruption, it would be well, by consequence, to turn your disbelief to the other side, so as not to think him a man like one of those shown in nature. For whoever does not believe that such a one is a man must necessarily be led to the belief that he is God. For he who recorded that he was born also narrated that he was born in this way. If, then, from what was said it is credible that he was born, by these same things it is certainly not incredible that he was born in this way. For he who told of the birth added also “from a virgin”; and he who mentioned the death also bore witness to the resurrection after the death. If, then, from what you hear you grant that he was born and died, from the same you will certainly grant that both his birth and his death were outside passion. But these things are greater than nature; therefore neither is he at all within nature who is shown to have been born in ways beyond nature. ### Scripture references - Matt 1:18: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 1:27: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - πάθος is rendered “passion” here and in chapter 16; it covers passion, affection, and suffering. The virgin birth refers to the Gospel accounts (Matt 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–35). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 13 (PG 45:45a–45d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-13). ## Catechetical Oration 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-14 - Source: PG 45:45d–48a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The objector asks why God would stoop so low as to be mixed with the cheap covering of human nature. ### Greek text Τίς οὖν αἰτία, φησι. τοῦ πρὸς τὴν ταπεινότητα ταύτην καταβῆναι τὸ Θεῖον, ὡς ἀμφίβολον εἶναι τὴν πίστιν, εί Θεὸς τὸ ἀχώρητον κα) ἀκατανόητον καὶ ἀνεκλάλητον πρᾶγμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν δόξαν καὶ πᾶσαν μεγαλειότητα τῷ εὐτελεῖ ὲλύτρῳ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως καταμίγνυται, ὡς καὶ τὰς ὑψηλᾲς ἐνερζεσθαι ; ### English translation (Claude) “What, then,” he says, “is the cause of the divine descending to this lowliness, so that faith is in doubt whether God, the uncontainable, incomprehensible, and ineffable reality, which is above all glory and all majesty, is mixed with the cheap covering of human nature, so that even his lofty activities …?” ### Translation notes - The end of the sentence is damaged in the scan and part of it seems lost (NPNF's text: his lofty activities are debased by admixture with what is low); nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 14 (PG 45:45d–48a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-14). ## Catechetical Oration 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-15 - Source: PG 45:48a–49a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God became man out of love for humankind, to heal, raise, and free fallen man; since only vice is opposed to virtue, taking human nature is not unworthy of God. ### Greek text Οὐκ ἀποροῦμεν πρὸς τοῦτο θεοπρεποῦς ἀποκρίσεως. Ζητείς τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ γεγεννῆσθαι Θεὸν ὲν ἀνθρώποις; Ἐἀν ἀφέλῃς τοῦ βίου τάς θεόθεν ἀπογενομένας εὐεργεσίας, ὲκ ποίων ὲπιγνώσῃ τὺ Θεῖον, ούκ ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοις. Ἀφʼ ὧν γὰρ πάσχομεν, ἀπὸ τούτων τὸν εὐεργέτην ὲπιγινώσκομεν. Πρὸς γὰρ τὰ γιγνόμενα βλέποντες, διὰ τούτων τὴν τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἀναλογιζόμεθα φύσιν. Εἰ οὖν ἴδιον γνώρισμα τῆς θείας φύσεως ἡ φιλανθρωπία, ἔχεις ὃν ὲπεζήτησας λόγον, ἔχεις τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ὲν ἀνθρώποις τοῦ Θεοῦ παρουσίας. Ἐδείτο γὰρ τοῦ ἰατρεύοντος ἠ φύσις ἡμῶν ἀσθενήσασα. Ἐδείτο τοῦ ἀνορθοῦντος, ό ἑν τῷ πτώματι ἄνθρωπος. Ἐδείτο τοῦ ζωοποιοῦντος, ὁ ὲφαμαρτὼν τῆς ζωῆς. Ἐδεῖτο τοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὲπανάγοντος, ὁ ἀπορρυεὶς τῆς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μετουο σίας. ’Έχρῃξε τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς παρουσίας, ὁ καθειργμένος τῷ σκότει. Ἐςὴτει τὸν λυτρωτὴν ὁ αἰχμάλωτος, τὸν συναγωνιστὴν ό δεσμώτης, τὸν ἐλευθερωτὴν ὁ τῷ ζυγῷ τῆς δουλείας κατεχόμενος. Ἀρα μικρά ταῦτα καὶ ἀνάξια τὸν Θεὸν δυσωπῆσαι πρὸς ἐπίσκεψιν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως καταβῆναι, οῦτως ἐλεεινῶς καὶ ἀθλίως τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος διακειμένης; Ἀλλʼ ἐξῆν, φησὶ, καὶ εὐεργετηθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ὲν ἀπαθείᾳ τὸν Θεὸν διαμεῖναι. ’0 γάρ τῷ βουλήματι τὸ πᾶν συστησάμενος, καὶ τὸ μὴ ὃν ὑποστήσας ὲν μόνῃ τῇ ὁρμῇ τοῦ θελήματος, τί οὐχὶ καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον διʼ αὑθεντικῆς τινος καὶ θεῖκῆς ἐξουσίας τῆς ἐναντίας δυνάμεως ἀποσπάσας, πρδς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄγει κατάστασιν, εί τοῦτο φίλον αὐτῷʼ ἀλλὰ μακρὰς περιέρχεται περιόδους σώματος, ὑπερχόμενος φύσιν, καὶ διὰ γεννήσεως παριὼν εἰς τὸν βίον, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀκολούθως ἠλικίαν διεξιὼν,εῑτα θανάτου γευόμενος, καὶ οὕτως διὰ τῆς τοῦ ίδίου σώματος ἀναστάσεως τὸν σκοπὸν ἀνύων· ὡς οὐκ ἐξὸν αὐτῷ μένοντι ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕψουςτῆς δόξης διά προστάγματος σῶσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὰς δὲ τοιαύτας περιόδους χαίρειν ὲὰσαι; Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη καὶ ταῖς τοιαύταις τῶν ἀντιθέσεων ἀντικαταστῆναι παρʼ ἡμῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὡς ἂν διὰ μηδενὸς ἡ πίστις κωλύοιτο. τῶν ἐξεταστικῶς ζητούντων τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸν λόγον. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν ἤδη μετρίως ἐξήτασται, τί τῇ ἀρετῇ κατὰ τὸ ἐναντίον καθέστηκεν, ἐπισκεψώμεθα. Ὠς φωτὶ σκότος καὶ θά· νατος τῇ ζωῇ, οὓτω καὶ τῇ κακίᾳ ή ἀρετὴ δηλονότι, καὶ οὐδὲν παρά ταύτην ἕτερον. Καθάπερ γὰρ πολλῶν ὄντων τῶν ὲν τῇ κτίσει θεωρουμένων, οὐδὲν ἄλλο πρὶς τὸ φῶςῆ τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἀντιδιαίρεσιν ἔχει, ού λίθος, οὐ ξύλον, οὐχ ὓδωρ, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὄντων οὐδὲν, πλὴν ίδίως τά κατά τὸ ἐναντίον νοούμενα, οἷον σκότος καὶ θάνατος· οῦτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς οὐκ ἄν τις κτίσιν τινὰ κατά τὸ ἐναντίον αὐτῇ νοεῖσθαι λέγοι, πλὴν τὸ κατά κακίαν νόημα. Οὐκοῦν εί μὲν ἐν κακίᾳ γεγενῆσθαι τὸ Θεῖον ὁ ἡμέτερος ἐπρέσβευε λόγος, καιρὸν ἂν εἶχεν ὁ ἀντιλέγων κατατρέχειν ἡμῶν τῆς πίστεως, ὼς ἀνάρμοστά τε καὶ ἀπεμφαίνοντα περὶ τῆς Θείας φύσεως δοξαζόντων. Ού γὰρ δὴ θεμιτὸν ῆν τὴν αὐτοσοφίαν καλ ἀγαθότητα καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ εἴ τι ὑψηλόν ἐστι νόημά τε καὶ ὄνομα, πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον μεταπεπτωκέναι λέγειν. Εἰ οὖν Θεὸς μὲν ὴ ἀληθὴς ἀρετή· φύσις δέ τις οὐκ ἀντιδιαιρείται τῇ ἀρετῇ, ἀλλά κακία· Θεὸς δὲ οὐκ ἐν κακίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἀνθρώπου γίνεται φύσει ο μόνον δὲ ἀπρεπὲς καὶ αἰο σχρὸν τὸ κατά κακίαν πάθος, ἐν ᾧ οὔτε γέγονε Θεὸς, οὔτε τοῦ γενέσθαι φύσιν ἔχει · τί ἐπαισχύνονται τὴν ὁμολογίαν τοῦ Θεὸν ἀνθρωπίνης ἅψασθαι φύσεως, οὐδεμιᾶς ἐναντιότητος ὼς πρὸς τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγον ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου θεωρουμένης; Ούτε γάρ τὸ λογικὸν, οὔτε τὸ διανοητικὸν, οὗτε τὸ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικὸν, οὔτε ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, ὃ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἴδιον οὐσίας ἐστὶ, τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἡναντίωται. ### English translation (Claude) We are not at a loss for an answer to this befitting God. You ask the cause of God's being born among men? If you take away from life the benefits that have come from God, you could not say from what you would recognize the divine. For from what we experience we recognize the benefactor; looking at what happens, we infer from it the nature of the one at work. If, then, love for humankind is a proper mark of the divine nature, you have the reason you sought, you have the cause of God's presence among men. For our nature, having fallen sick, needed one to heal it; man in his fall needed one to raise him up; he who had lost life needed one to give life; he who had slipped away from participation in the good needed one to lead him back to the good; he who was shut up in darkness needed the presence of light; the captive sought the ransomer, the prisoner the helper, the one held under the yoke of slavery the liberator. Were these things small and unworthy to move God to come down to visit human nature, when humanity was in so pitiable and wretched a state? “But it was possible,” he says, “both for man to be benefited and for God to remain in impassibility. For he who constituted the universe by his will and brought non-being into subsistence by the mere impulse of his will, why does he not, by some sovereign and divine authority, tear man away from the opposing power and bring him to his original state, if this was pleasing to him? Instead, he goes round long circuits, submitting to a bodily nature, entering life through birth, passing through every age in turn, then tasting death, and so accomplishing his aim through the resurrection of his own body, as if he could not, remaining on the height of his glory, save man by a command and dismiss such circuits.” So against such objections too we must set up the truth, so that faith may be hindered in nothing for those who seek the reason of the mystery by examination. First, then, let us consider, as has already been moderately examined earlier, what stands opposed to virtue. As darkness to light and death to life, so plainly vice to virtue, and nothing else besides. For just as, of the many things seen in creation, nothing else is set in opposition to light or life, not stone, not wood, not water, not man, not anything else that exists, except properly the things conceived as their opposites, such as darkness and death, so also in the case of virtue one could not say that any creature is conceived as its opposite, except the notion of vice. If, then, our doctrine proclaimed that the divine had come to be in vice, the objector would have occasion to run down our faith as holding unfitting and incongruous opinions about the divine nature. For it would not be right to say that wisdom itself and goodness and incorruption, and whatever lofty notion and name there is, had fallen into the opposite. If, then, God is true virtue, and no nature is set in opposition to virtue but vice; and God comes to be not in vice but in human nature; and only the passion of vice is unfitting and shameful, in which God neither came to be nor has a nature to come to be: why are they ashamed to confess that God touched human nature, when no opposition to the idea of virtue is seen in the constitution of man? For neither the rational, nor the intellectual, nor the capacity for knowledge, nor anything else of the kind that is proper to human substance, is opposed to the idea of virtue. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 15 (PG 45:48a–49a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-15). ## Catechetical Oration 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-16 - Source: PG 45:49b–52b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Birth and death are natural movements, not the passion of vice; Christ shared them, and by reuniting his own soul and body in the resurrection he began the resurrection of all humanity. ### Greek text Ἀλλ αὑτὴ, φησὶν, ἡ τροπὴ τοῦ ἡμετέρου σώματος πάθος ἐστίν. Ὀ δὲ ἐν τούτῳ γεγονὼς, ἐν πάθει γίνεται· ἀπαθὲς δὲ τὸ Θείον. Οὐκοῦν ἀλλοτρία περὶ Θεοῦ ἡ ὑπόληψις, εἴπερ τὸν ἀπαθῆ κατά τὴν φύσιν πρὸς κοινωνίαν πάθους ἐλθεῖν διορίζονται. Ἀλλά καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα πάλιν τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ χρησώμεθα, ὅτι τὸ πάθος τὸ μὲν κυρίως, τὸ δὲ ἐκ καταχρήσεως λέγεται. Τὸ μὲν οὖν προαιρέσεως ἁπτόμενον, καὶ πρὸς κακίαν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς μεταστρέφον, ἀληθῶς πάθος ἐστί · τὸ δʼ ὅσον ἐν τῇ φύσει κατά τὸν ἴδιον εἱρμὸν πορευομένῃ διεξοδικῶς θεωρεῖται, τοῦτο κυριώτερον ἔργον ἂν μᾶλλον. ἢ πάθος προσαγορεύοιτο, οἷον ἠ γέννησις, ἠ αὔξησις, ἡ διὰ τῆς ἐπιρρύτου τε καὶ ἀπορρύτου τῆς τροφῆς τοῦ ὑποκειμένου διαμονὴ, ἡ τῶν στοιχείων περὶ τὸ σῶμα συνδρομὴ, ἡ τοῦ συντεθέντος πάλιν διάλυσίς τε καὶ πρὸς τὰ συγγενῆ μεταχώρησις. Τίνος οὖν λέγει τὸ μυστήριον ἡμῶν ἧφθαι τὸ Θεῖον; τοῦ κυρίως λεγομένου πάθους, ὅπερ κακία ἐστὶν, ἢ τοῦ κατά φύσιν κινήματος ; Et μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἁπηγορευμένοις γεγενῆσθαι τὸ Θεῖον ὁ λόγος διισχυρίζετο, φεύγειν ἔδει τὴν ἀτοπίαν τοῦ δόγματος, ὡς οὐδὲν ὑγιὲς περὶ τῆς θείας φύσεως διεξιόντος. Ei δὲ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν αὑτὸν ἐφῆφθαι λέγει, ἧς καὶ ἡ πρώτη γένεσίς τε καὶ ὑπόστασις παρʼ αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχε, ποῦ τῆς Θεῷ πρεπούσης ἐννοίας διαμαρτάνει τὸ κήρυγμα, μηδεμιᾶς παθητικῆς διαθέσεως ἐν ταῖς περὶ Θεοῦ ὑπολήψεσι τῇ πίστει είσιούσης; Ούὸὲ γάρ τὸν ἰατρὸν ἐν πάθει γίνεσθαι λέγομεν, ὅταν θεραπεύῃ τὸν ἐν πάθει γενόμενον. Ἀλλά κᾶν προσάψηται τοῦ ἁρῤωστή ματος, ἔξω πάθους ὁ θεραπευτὴς διαμένει. Εἰ ἡ γένεσις αὐτὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν πάθος οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδʼ ἂν τῇ ζωῇ τις πάθος προσαγορεύσειεν. Ἀλλά τὸ καθʼ ἡδονὴν πάθος τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης καθηγεῖται γενέσεως, καὶ ἡ πρὸς κακίαν ὁρμὴ τῶν ζώντων, τοῦτο τῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν ἀρρώστημα. Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἀμφοτέρων αὐτῶν καθαρεύειν φησι τὸ μυστήριον. Et οὖν ἡδονῆς μὲν ἡ γένεσις ἠλλοτρίωται, κακίας δὲ ἡ ζωὴ, ποῖον ὑπολείπεται πάθος, οὗ τὸν Θεὸν κεκοινωνηκέναι ᾳησὶ τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μυστήριον; Ei δὲ τὴν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τις διάζευξιν πάθος προσαγορεύοι, πολὺ πρότερον δικαίως ἂν είη, τὴν συνδρομὴν ἀμφοτέρων οὕτω κατονομάσαι. Ei γάρ ὁ χωρισμὸς τῶν συνημμένων πάθος ἐστὶ, καὶ ὴσυνάφεια τῶν διεστώτων πάθος ἂν εἴη, Κίνησις γάρ τίς ἐστιν ἔν τε τῇ συγκρίσει τῶν διεστώτων, καὶ ἐν τῇ διακρίσει τῶν συμπεπλεγμένων ἡνωμένη. Ὅπερ τοίνυν τελευταία κίνησις ὀνομάζεται, τοῦτο προσήκει καλεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν προάγουσαν ° εί δὲ ἡ πρώτη κίνησις ῆν γένεσιν ὀνομάζομεν, πάθος ἂν κατά τὸ ἀκόλουθον λέγοιτο, καθʼ ἣν ὴ συνδρομὴ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς διακρίνεται. Τὸν δὲ Θεόν φαμεν ἐν ἑκάτερᾳ γεγενῆσθαι τῇ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν κινήσει, διʼ ἧς ἦ τε ψυχὴ πρὸς τὸ σῶμα συντρέχει, τό τε σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς διακρίνεται. Κατα μιχθέντος δὲ πρὶς ἑκάτερον τούτων, πρός τε τὸ αἰσθητόν φημι καὶ τὸ νοερὸν, τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου συγκρίματος διὰ τῆς ἀρρήτου ἐκείνης καὶ άνεκφράστου συνανακράσεως, τοῦτο οίκονομήσασθαι τὸ τῶν ἅπαξ ἑνωθέντων, ψυχῆς λέγω καὶ σώματος, καὶ εἰσαεὶ διαμεῖναι τὴν ἕνωσιν. Τῆς γάρ φύσεως ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ἀκολουθίας, καὶ ὲν ἐκείνῳ πρὸς διάκρισιν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς κινηθείσης, πάλιν συνῆψε τὰ διακριθέντα καθάπερ τινὶ κόλλῃ, τῇ θείᾳ λέγω δυνάμει, πρὸς τὴν ἄρρηκτον ἕνωσιν τὸ διασχισθὲν συναρμόσας. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ ἁνάστασις,ἡ τῶν συνεζευγμένων μετά τὴν διάλυσιν ἐπάνοδος είς ἀδιάλυτον ’ένωσιν ἀλλήλοις συμφυομένων, ὡς ἂν ή πρώτη περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον χάρις ἀνακληθείη, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀΐδιον ἐπανέλθοιμεν ζωὴν, τῆς ὲμμιχθείσης τῇ φύσει κακίας διά τῆς διαλύσεως ἡμῶν ἐκρυείσηςο οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ ὑγροῦ συμβαίνει, περιθρυφθέντος αὐτῴ τοῦ ἀγγείου, σκεδαννυμένου τε καὶ ἀφανιζομένου, μηδενὸς ὄντος τοῦ περιστέγοντος. Καθάπερ δὲ ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ θανάτου ἐν ἐνὶ γενομένη πάσῃ συνδιεξῆλθε τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ή ἀρχὴ τῆς ἀναστάσεως διʼ ἑνὸς ἐπὶ πᾶσαν διατείνει τὴν ἀνθρωπὸτητα. Ὁ γάρ τὴν ἀναληφθεῖσαν παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν πάλιν ένώσας τῷ οἰκείῳ σώματι διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως αὑτοῦ τῆς ἐκατέρῳ τούτων παρά τὴν πρώτην σύστασιν ἐμμιχθείσης, οὗτος γενικωτέρῳ τινὶ τρόπῳ νοερὰν οὐσίαν τῇ αἰσθητῇ συγκατέμιξε, τῆς ἀρχῆς κατά τὸ ἀκόλουθον επὶ τὸ πέρας εὐοδουμένης, Ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἀναληφθέντι παρʼ αὑτοῦ ἀνθρωπίνῳ συγκρίματι, πάλιν μετά τὴν διάλυσιν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπανελθούσης, οἷον ἀπό τινος ἀρχῆς είς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν τῇ δυνάμει κατὰ τὸ ἴσον ὴ τοῦ διακριθέντος ἒνωσις διαβαίνει. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ μυστήριον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας καὶτῆς ὲκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως, τὸ διαλυθῆναι μὲν τῷ θανάτῳ τοῦ σώματος τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τῆς φύσεως ἀκολουθίαν μὴ κωλῦσαι · είς ἄλληλα δὲ πάλιν ἐπαναγαγεῖν διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, ὡς ἂν αὐτοῖς γένοιτο μεθόριον ἀμφοτέρων θανάτου τε καὶ ζωῆς, έν ἑαυτῷ μὲν στήσας διαιρουμένην τῷ θανάτῳ τὴν φύσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ γενόμενος ἁρχὴ τῆς τῶν διῃρημένων ὲνὼσεως. ### English translation (Claude) “But the very change of our body,” he says, “is a passion. And he who came to be in this comes to be in passion; but the divine is impassible. So the notion is foreign to God, if they declare that the one impassible by nature came into fellowship with passion.” But to this again let us use the same argument: that “passion” is said partly in the proper sense, partly by extension. What touches the will and turns it from virtue to vice is truly passion; but whatever is seen in nature proceeding step by step in its own sequence would more properly be called a work than a passion: such as birth, growth, the persistence of the subject through the inflow and outflow of nourishment, the concourse of the elements in the body, and again the dissolution of what was compounded and its passing back to its kindred elements. Which, then, does our mystery say the divine touched: the passion properly so called, which is vice, or the movement according to nature? If our account insisted that the divine had come to be in forbidden things, we ought to flee the absurdity of the doctrine, as saying nothing sound about the divine nature. But if it says that he took hold of our nature, whose first origin and subsistence also had their beginning from him, where does the proclamation fall short of the conception fitting to God, since no disposition of passion enters with faith into our notions about God? For we do not say that the physician comes to be in passion when he treats one who is in passion; but even if he touches the sickness, the healer remains outside passion. If birth in itself is not passion, neither would one call life passion. But the passion of pleasure precedes human birth, and the impulse of the living toward vice: this is the sickness of nature. But the mystery says that he was pure of both. If, then, the birth was estranged from pleasure and the life from vice, what passion is left in which the mystery of godliness says God shared? If someone calls the separation of body and soul a passion, it would be much more just first to name the concourse of both so. For if the separation of things joined is a passion, the joining of things apart would also be a passion. For there is a kind of movement, one and the same, both in the combining of things apart and in the separating of things interwoven. So whatever the last movement is named, it is fitting that the one that precedes it be called too. If the first movement, which we call birth, … would by consequence be called a passion, the one by which the concourse of body and soul is separated. But we say that God came to be in each movement of our nature, that by which the soul runs together with the body and that by which the body is separated from the soul. And since he was blended with each of these in the human compound, I mean with the sensible and the intellectual, through that ineffable and inexpressible blending, he arranged this: that the union of the things once united, I mean soul and body, should remain forever. For when our nature, following its own sequence, had been moved in him too to the separation of body and soul, he joined again what had been separated, as with a kind of glue, I mean the divine power, fitting together what had been split into an unbreakable union. And this is the resurrection: the return, after dissolution, of things that had been yoked together into an indissoluble union, growing together with each other, so that the first grace concerning humanity might be recalled, and we might return again to eternal life, the vice mixed into our nature having flowed out through our dissolution, as happens with a liquid when the vessel around it is broken: it is scattered and disappears, there being nothing to hold it. And just as the beginning of death, arising in one, passed through the whole of human nature, in the same way the beginning of the resurrection also extends through one to all humanity. For he who united again to its own body the soul he had assumed, by his power which had been mingled with each of them at their first constitution, in a more general way blended the intellectual substance with the sensible, the beginning proceeding by consequence to the end. For in the human compound he assumed, when the soul returned to the body after the dissolution, the union of what was separated passes, as from a beginning, to the whole of human nature, equally in power. And this is the mystery of God's economy concerning man and of the resurrection from the dead: that he did not prevent the soul from being separated from the body by death, according to the necessary sequence of nature, but brought them back to each other through the resurrection, so that he might become in himself the boundary of both, of death and of life, halting in himself the nature divided by death and himself becoming the beginning of the union of what was divided. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 3:16: echo, medium confidence - Rom 5:12: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:21: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Mystery of godliness” recalls 1 Tim 3:16; death and resurrection through one echo Rom 5:12 and 1 Cor 15:21–22. In “If the first movement, which we call birth, …” words seem lost in the scan; the sense required (as in NPNF) is that if birth is not a passion, neither is death. Nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 16 (PG 45:49b–52b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-16). ## Catechetical Oration 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-17 - Source: PG 45:53a–53c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: To the question why God saved man by birth and death rather than by a mere command, Gregory replies that patients do not dictate treatment to physicians, but promises a reasoned answer. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ οὔπω φήσει τις λελύσθαι τὴν ὑπενεχθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἀντίθεσιν, ἰσχυροποιεῖσθαι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων τὸ παρὰ τῶν ἀπίστων ήμῖν προφερόμενον. Εἰ γὰρ τοσαύτη δύναμίς ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ, ὅσην ὁ λόγος ἀπέδειξεν, ὡς θανάτου τε καθαίρεσιν καὶ ζωῆς εἷσοδον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ εἶναι, τί οὐχὶ θελήματι μόνῳ τὸ κατά γνώμην ποιεῖ, ἀλλʼ ἐκ περιόδου τὴν σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν κατεργάζεται, τικτόμενός τε καὶ τρεφόμενος, καὶ τῇ τοῦ θανάτου πείρα σώζων τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐξὸν μήτε ἐν τούτῳ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἡμᾶς περισώσασθαι; Πρὸς δὲ τὸν τοιοῦτον λόγον ἱκανὸν μὲν ἦν πρὸς τοὺς εὐγνώμονας τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν, ὅτι καὶ τοῖς ἰατροῖς ού νομοθετοῦσι τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἐπιμελείας οί κάμνοντες · οὐδὲ περὶ τοῦ τῆς θεραπείας εἴδους πρὸς τοῦς εὐεργέτας ἀμφισβητοῦσι, ’διὰ τί προσήψατο τοῦ πονοῦντος μέρους ὁ θεραπεύων, καὶ τόδε τι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ λύσιν ἐνενόησεν, ἕτερον δέον ° ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ πέρας ὁρῶντες τῆς εὐεργεσίας, ἐν εὐχαριστίᾳ τὴν εὐποιίαν ἐδέξαντο. Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, τὸ πλῆθος τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ Θεοῦ κεκρυμμένην ἔχει τὴν ὠφέλειαν, κα) οὔπω διὰ τοῦ παρόντος βίου τηλαυγῶς καθορᾶται (ἦ γάρ ἂν περιῄρητο πᾶσα τῶν ἀπίστων ἀντίρρησις, εί τὸ προσδοκώμενον ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἦν ο νῦν δὲ ἀναμένει τοὺς ἐπερχομένους αἰῶνας, ὥστε ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀποκα· λειφθῆναι τὰ νῦν διὰ τῆς πίστεως μόνης ὁρώμενα) · ἀναγκαῖον ἂν ετη λογισμοῖς τισι κατὰ τὸ ἐγχωροῦν καὶ τῶν ἐπιζητουμένων ἐξευρεῖν τὴν λύσιν τοῖς προλαμβάνουσι συμβαίνουσαν. ### English translation (Claude) But someone will say that the objection raised against us has not yet been resolved, and that what unbelievers bring against us is rather strengthened by what has been said. For if there is in him so great a power as the argument has shown, so that both the destruction of death and the entry of life depend on him, why does he not do what he intends by will alone, instead of working our salvation by a roundabout way, being born and nurtured, and saving man by experiencing death, when it was possible both not to come into this condition and to save us? To such an argument it would be enough, for fair-minded people, to say this much: that the sick do not lay down laws for physicians about the method of care, nor dispute with their benefactors about the form of treatment, asking why the healer touched the painful part and devised this particular remedy for the removal of the evil when another was needed; but, looking to the end of the benefit, they receive the kindness with thanksgiving. But since, as the prophet says, the abundance of God's kindness keeps its benefit hidden, and it is not yet seen plainly through the present life (for every objection of unbelievers would have been removed if what is expected were before our eyes; but now it awaits the coming ages, so that in them what is now seen by faith alone may be revealed), it would be necessary, by such reasonings as are possible, to find a solution to the questions raised that agrees with what has gone before. ### Scripture references - Ps 31:19 (30:20 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The prophet's saying on God's hidden kindness recalls Ps 31:19 (LXX 30:20). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 17 (PG 45:53a–53c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-17). ## Catechetical Oration 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-18 - Source: PG 45:53c–56c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The end of idolatry, the spread of churches and of martyrs' contempt for death, and the ruin of the Jerusalem temple are offered as present proofs that God has come. ### Greek text Καίτοι περιττὸν ἴσως ἐστὶ Θεὸν ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τῷ βίῳ πιστεύσαντας διαβάλλειν τὴν παρουσίαν, ὼς οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ τινὶ καὶ λόγῳ γεγενημένην τῷ κρείττονι. Τοῖς γὰρ μὴ λίαν ἀντιμαχομένοις πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οὐ μικρὰ τῆς θείας ἐπιδημίας ἀπόδειξις, ή καὶ πρὸ τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ φανερωθεῖσα, ἠ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὑτῶν, φημὶ, μαρτυρία. Τίς γὰρ οὑκ οἶδεν ὅπως πεπλήρωτο κατά πᾶν μέρος τῆς οἰκουμένης ή τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπάτη, διὰ τῆς είδωλομανίας τῆς ζωῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατακρατήσασας Ὅπως τοῦτο νόμιμον πᾶσι τοῖς κατᾶ τὸν κόσμον ἔθνεσιν ἦν, τὸ θεραπεύειν διὰ τῶν εἰδώλων τοὺς δαίμονας ἐν ταῖς ζωοθυσίαις, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιβωμίοις μιάσμασιν; Ἀφόὖ δὲ, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, Ἐπεφάνη ἠ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ σωτήριος πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, διὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιδημήσασα φύσεως, πάντα καπνοῦ δίκην εἰς τὸ μὴ ὃν μετεχώρησεν· ὥστε παύσασθαι μὲν τάς τῶν χρηστηρίων τε καὶ μαντειῶν μανίας, ἀναιρεθῆναι δὲ τὰς ἐτησίους πομπὰς, καὶ τὰ διʼ αἱμάτων ἐν ταῖς ἑκατόμβαις μολύσματα ο ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀφανισθῆναι καθόλου βωμούς τε καὶ προπύλαια, καὶ τε· μένη, καὶ ἀφιδρύματα, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοῖς θεραπευταῖς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπὶ ἀπάτης σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ἐπιτετήδευτο · ὼς ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν τόπων μηδέ εί γέγονε ταῦτά ποτε μνημονεύεσθαι, άντεγερθῆναι δὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπὶ τῷ Χριστοῦ ὀνόματι, ναούς τε καὶ θυσιαστήρια, καὶ τὴν σεμνήν τε καὶ ἀναίμακτον ἱερωσύνην, καὶ τὴν ὑψηλὴν φιλοσοφίαν, ἔργῳ μᾶλλον ἢ λόγῳ κατορθουμένην, καὶ τῆς σωματικῆς ζωῆς τὴν ὑπεροψίαν, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν καταφρόνησιν, ἢν οἱ μεταστῆναι τῆς πίστεως παρὰ τῶν τυράννων ἀναγκαζόμενοι φανερῶς ἐπεδείξαντο, ἀντʼ οὐδενὸς δεξάμενοι τὰς τοῦ σώματος αἰκίας, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ψῆφον· οὑκ ἂν ὑποστάντες δηλαδὴ ταῦτα, μὴ σαφῆ τε καὶ ἀναμφίβολον τῆς θείας ἐπιδημίας ἔχοντες τὴν ἀπόδειξιν. Τὸ δέ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ίκανὸν σημεῖον είπεῖν, τοῦ παρεῖναι τὸν παρʼ αὐτῶν ἀπιστούμενον. Μέχρι μὲν γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ θεοφανείας λαμπρὰ παρʼ αὑτοῖς ἦν τά ἐν Ἰεροσολύμοις βασίλεια, ὁ διώνυμος ἐκεῖνος ναὸς, ai νενομισμέναι διʼ ἔτους θυσίαι, πάντα ὅσα παρὰ τοῦ νόμου διʼ αἰνιγμάτων τοῖς μυστικοῖς ἐπαΐειν δυναμένοις διῄρηται, μέχρις τότε κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς νομισθεῖσαν αὑτοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας θρησκείαν ἀκώλυτα ἦν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶδον τὸν προσδοκώμενον, καὶ ὃν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν τε καὶ τοῦ νόμου προεδιδάχθησαν, καὶ προτιμοτέραν ἐποιήσαντο τῆς εἰς τὸν φανέντα πίστεως τὴν ἐσφαλμένην ἐκείνην δεισιδαιμονίαν, ἢν κακῶς ἐκβαλόντες, τὰ τοῦ νόμου ῥήματα διεφύλασσον, συνηθείᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ διανοίᾳ δουλεύοντες, οὔτε τὴν ἐπιφανεῖσαν ἐδέξαντο χάριν, καὶ τὰ σεμνά τῆς παρʼ αὑτοῖς θρησκείας, ἐν διηγήμασι ψιλοίς ὑπολέλειπται· τοῦ ναοῦ μέν οὑδέ ἐξ ίχνῶν ἐπιγινωσκομένου, τῆς δὲ λαμπρᾶς ἐκείνης πόλεως ἐν ἐρειπίοις ὑπολειφθείσης, μεῖναί τε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις των κατὰ τὸ ἀρχαῖον νενομισμένων μηδέψ ἀλλὰ καὶ αὑτὸν τὸν σεβάσμιον αὐτοῖς ἐν Ἰεροσολύμοις τόπον, ἄβατον προστάγματι τῶν δυναστευόντων γενέσθαι. ### English translation (Claude) And yet it is perhaps superfluous for those who believe that God has sojourned in our life to find fault with his coming as not having taken place with some wisdom and a higher reason. For to those who do not fight too hard against the truth there is no small proof of the divine sojourn, made manifest even before the life to come, in the present life: I mean the testimony of the facts themselves. For who does not know how the deceit of demons had filled every part of the inhabited world, prevailing over human life through the madness for idols? How this was the custom for all the nations in the world, to serve the demons through idols with animal sacrifices and the defilements on the altars? But from the time when, as the Apostle says, “the saving grace of God appeared to all people,” sojourning through human nature, all these things passed like smoke into non-existence, so that the madness of oracles and divinations ceased, the annual processions and the bloody defilements of the hecatombs were abolished, and among many of the nations altars and gateways, precincts and cult images, and all else that the servants of demons had practised to deceive themselves and those who came upon them, disappeared entirely, so that in many places it is not even remembered whether these things ever existed; and in their place, throughout the whole inhabited world, there were raised up in the name of Christ churches and altars, and the holy and bloodless priesthood, and the lofty philosophy practised in deed rather than in word, and the disdain of bodily life and the contempt of death, which those forced by tyrants to depart from the faith plainly showed, counting as nothing the tortures of the body and the sentence of death; they would clearly not have endured these things if they did not have a clear and indisputable proof of the divine sojourn. And this same thing is a sufficient sign to point out to the Jews too, that he whom they disbelieve has come. For until the divine manifestation of Christ, the royal palaces in Jerusalem were splendid among them, that famous temple, the sacrifices customary throughout the year; all that the law had set out in riddles for those able to understand mystically remained unhindered until then, according to the worship of piety established for them from the beginning. But when they saw the one expected, of whom they had been taught beforehand through the prophets and the law, and preferred to faith in him who had appeared that mistaken superstition, which, interpreting wrongly, they kept as the words of the law, serving custom rather than understanding, they did not receive the grace that appeared; and the sacred things of their worship are left only in bare narratives: the temple is not recognized even by traces, that splendid city is left in ruins, nothing of what was customary of old remains to the Jews, and even the place in Jerusalem that they venerated has become forbidden ground by command of those in power. ### Scripture references - Titus 2:11: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is Titus 2:11. The argument from the fall of the temple and the ban on Jews entering Jerusalem is Gregory's own polemic, translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 18 (PG 45:53c–56c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-18). ## Catechetical Oration 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-19 - Source: PG 45:56c–56d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Gregory turns to explain why God saved humanity by uniting himself with it rather than by command, starting from what is rightly believed about God. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐπειδὴ μήτε τοῖς Ἐλληνίςουσι, μήτε τοῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων προεστῶσι δογμάτων, δοκεί ταῦτα θείας παρουσίας ποιεῖσθαι τεκμήρια, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι περὶ τῶν ἀνθυπενεχθέντων ἰδία τὸν λόγον διαλαβεῖν, ὅτου χάριν ἡ θεία φύσις πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν συμπλέκεται, διʼ ἐαυτῆς σώζουσα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, οὑ διὶ προστάγματος κατεργαζομένη τὸ κατὰ πρόθεσιν. Ti; οῦν ἂν γένοιτο ἡμῖν ἀρχὴ, πρὸς τὸν προκείμενον σκοπὸν ἀκολούθως χειραγωγοῦσα τὸν λόγον; Τίς ἄλλη, ἢ τὸ τὰς εὐσεβεῖς περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπολήψεις ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων διεξελθεῖν ; ### English translation (Claude) Nevertheless, since neither those who follow Hellenism nor the leaders of the Jewish doctrines think these things evidence of the divine presence, it would be well to treat separately the objections raised: why the divine nature is intertwined with ours, saving humanity through itself, and not accomplishing its purpose by a command. What, then, would be our starting point, guiding the argument in sequence to the aim set before us? What else than to go through, in summary, the pious conceptions of God? ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 19 (PG 45:56c–56d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-19). ## Catechetical Oration 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-20 - Source: PG 45:56d–57c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's goodness, wisdom, justice, and power must all be present together in the incarnation; goodness moved him to save us, and wisdom made that love effective. ### Greek text Οὑκοῦν ὁμολογεῖται παρὰ πᾶσι, μὴ μόνον δυνατὸν εἶναι δεῖν πιστεύειν τὸ Θεῖον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίκαιον, καὶ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ σοφὸν, καὶ πᾶν ὃ τι πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἠ διάνοια φέρει. Ἀκόλουθον τοίνυν ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης οἰκονομίας, μὴ τὸ μέν τι βούλεσθαι τῶν τῷ Θεῷ πρεπόντων ἐπιφαίνεσθαι τοῖς γεγενημένοις, τὸ δέ μὴ παρεῖναι. Καθόλου γὰρ οὑδέν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ τῶν ὑψηλῶν τούτων ὀνομάτων διεζευγμένον τῶν ἄλλων, ἁρετὴ καταμόνας ἐστίν. Οὔτε τὸ ἀγαθὸν άληθῶς ἐστιν ἀγαθὸν, μὴ μετά τοῦ δικαίου τε καὶ σοφοῦ καὶ τοῦ δυνατοῦ τεταγμένον· τὸ γὰρ ἄδικον, ἢ ἄσοφον, ἢ ἀδύνατον, ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἔστιν. Οὔτε ἡ δύναμις, τοῦ δικαίου τε καὶ σοφοῦ κεχωρισμένη, ἐν ἀρετῇ θεωρεῖται· θηριῶδες γάρ ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον καὶ τυραννικὸν τῆς δυνάμεως εἶδος. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ, εἰ ἔξω τοῦ δικαίου τὸ σοφὸν φέροιτο, ἢ τὸ δίκαιον εἰ μὴ μετὰ δυνατοῦ τε καὶ ἁγαθοῦ θεωροῖτο, κακίαν ἄν τις μᾶλλον τὰ τοιαῦτα κυρίως κατονομάσειε. Τὸ γάρ ἐλλιπὲς τοῦ κρείττονος, πῶς ἄν τις ὲν ἀγαθοῖς ἀριθμήσειεν; Εἰ δὲ πάντα προσήκει συνδραμεῖν ὲν ταῖς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξαις, σκοπήσωμεν εί ἡ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκονομία λείπεταί τι τῶν θεοπρεπῶν ὑπολήξεων. Ζητοῦμεν πάντως ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἀγαθότητος τά σημεῖα. Καὶ τίς ἂν γὲνοιτο φανερωτέρα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μαρτυρία, ἢ τὸ μεταποιηθῆναι αὐτὸν τοί πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον αὐτομολήσαντος, μηδὲ συνδιατεθῆναι τῷ εὐμεταὸλήτιμ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης προαιρέσεως τὴν παγίαν ἐν τῷ ἁγαθῴ καὶ ἀμετάβλητον φύσιν; Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἦλθεν είς τὸ σῶσαι ἡμᾶς, καθώς φησιν ὁ Δαόὶδ, μὴ ἁγαθότητος τὴν τοιαύτην πρόθεσιν ἐμποιούσης. Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἂν ὢνησε τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῆς προθέσεως, μὴ σοφίας ἐνεργὸν τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ποιούσης. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρρώστως διακειμένων, πολλοὶ μὲν ἴσως οἱ βουλόμενοι μὴ ὲν κακοῖς εἶναι τὸη κείμενονο μόνοι δὲ τὴν ἀγαθὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν καμνόντων προαίρεσιν είς πέρας ἄγουσιν, οἷς τεχνική τις δύναμις συνεργεί πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κάμνοντος ἴασιν. Οὐκοῦκ τὴν σοφίαν δεῖ συνεζεῦχθαι πάντως τῇ ὰγαθότητι Πῶς τοίνυν ὲν τοῖς γεγενημένοις τὸ σοφὸν τῷ ἀγαθᾷ συνθεωρείται; ’Ότι οὐ γυμνὸν τὸ κατὰ πρόθεσιν ἀγαθόν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν. Πῶς γάρ ἂν φανείη ἡ πρόθεσις μ διὰ τῶν γινομένων φανερουμένη; Τὰ δὲ πεπραγμένε εἱρμῷ τινι καὶ τάξει διʼ ἀκολούθου προῖόντας τδ σοφὼ τε καὶ τεχνικὸν τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ Θεοῦ διαδείκνυσιν Ἐπεὶ δὲ, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται, πάντως τῷ δικαίῳ τὸ σοφὸν συνεζευγμένον ἁρετὴ γίγνεται· ε δὲ χωρισθεὶη, μὴ ἂν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ καταμένῃ ἁγαθὸι εἷναιο καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι κα) ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου τῆς κατά ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας, τὰ δύο μετʼ ἀλλήλων κατανοῆσαι, τὸ σοφόν φημι καὶ τὸ δίκαιον. ### English translation (Claude) It is agreed by all that one must believe the divine to be not only powerful but also just, good, wise, and everything that leads the mind to the better. It follows, then, in the present economy, that it is not the case that one of the things befitting God wills to appear in what has happened while another is absent. For, in general, none of these lofty names, separated by itself from the others, is a virtue alone. Neither is the good truly good unless ranked with the just, the wise, and the powerful; for what is unjust, unwise, or powerless is not good. Nor is power, separated from the just and wise, seen as virtue; for such a form of power is brutish and tyrannical. So too with the rest: if the wise is carried outside the just, or the just is not seen with the powerful and good, one would more properly call such things vice. For how could one count among goods what falls short of the better? And if all must run together in our opinions about God, let us consider whether God's economy as man lacks any of the conceptions befitting God. We certainly seek in God the signs of goodness. And what testimony to goodness could be clearer than that he reclaimed the one who had deserted to the opposite side, and that his nature, firm and unchangeable in the good, was not affected along with the changeableness of the human will? For he would not have come to save us, as David says, if goodness had not produced such a purpose. But the goodness of the purpose would have helped nothing if wisdom had not made the love for humankind effective. For in the case of those who are sick, many perhaps wish the one lying there not to be in evils, but only those bring their good will for the sufferers to completion whom some skilled power assists toward the healing of the sufferer. So wisdom must by all means be joined to goodness. How, then, is the wise seen together with the good in what happened? In that the good of the purpose cannot be seen bare. For how could the purpose appear unless it were made manifest through what happens? And the things done, proceeding in sequence with a certain order and arrangement, display the wisdom and skill of God's economy. And since, as was said earlier, the wise joined with the just becomes virtue, but if separated would not by itself remain good, it would be well, in the account of the economy as man, to consider the two together, I mean the wise and the just. ### Scripture references - Ps 80:2 (79:3 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “He would not have come to save us” recalls Ps 80:2 (LXX 79:3), “come to save us.” ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 20 (PG 45:56d–57c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-20). ## Catechetical Oration 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-21 - Source: PG 45:57c–60b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Man, created from nothing and an image rather than the archetype, is changeable; his will always moves either toward the true good or, deceived by appearances, toward its opposite. ### Greek text Τίς οὖν ἡ δικαιοσύνη; Μεμνὴμεθα πάντως τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον ὲν τοῖς. πρώτοις τοῦ λόγου είρη μένων, ὃτι μίμημα τῆς θείας φύσεως κατεσκευάσθη ί ἄνθρωπος, τοῖς τε λοιποῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ τῷ αὑτεξουσίῳ τῆς προαιρέσεως, τὴν πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον διασώ· ζων ὁμοίωσιν. ίΤρεπτῆς δὲ φύσεως ὢν κατʼ ἀνάγκην οὐ γὰρ ἐνεδέχετο τὸν ἐξ ἀλλοιώσεως τὴν ἀρχὴν τοί εἷναι ἔχοντα, μὴ τρεπτὸν εἶναι πάντως. Ἡ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εῖναι πάροδος, ἁλλοίωσίς τίς ἐστι τῆς ἀνυπαρξίας κατὰ θείαν δύναμιν εἰς οὐσίαν μεθrarapévqg. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ τῆς τροπῆς ἀναγκαίως ἐκ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ θεωρουμένης, ἐπειδῆ μίμημα τῆς θείαε coaetus ό ἄνθρωπος ἦν. Τὸ δὲ μιμούμενον, εἰ μὴ ὲ· ἑτερότητι τύχοι τινὶ, ταύτὸν ἂν- είη πάντως ἐκείνω ε, ἁφωμοίωται. Ἐν τούτῳ τοίνυν τῆς ἑτερότητος τοὶ κατʼ εἰκόνα γενομένου πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον οὔσης, ἐν τῷ τὸ μὲν ἄτρεπτον εἶναι τῇ φύσει, τὸ δὲ μὴ οὕτως ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ διʼ ἀλλοιώσεως μὲν ὑποστῆναι κατὰ τὸν ἀποδοθέντα λόγον · ἀλλοιούμενον δὲ πάντως. ἐν τῷ εἶναι μίμημα, ή δὲ ἀλλοίωσις κίνησίς ἐστιν εἰς ἓτερον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν ἐστιν εἰσαεὶ προϊοῦσα · δύο λέγει τῆς τοιαύτης εἴδη κινήσεως ο τὸ μὲν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀεὶ γιγνόμενον, ἐν ᾧ πρόοδος στάσιν οὑκ ἔχει, διότι πέρας οὑδὲ τοῦ διεξοδευομένου καταλαμβάνεται. Τὸ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἐναντίον, οὗ ὑπόστασις ἐν τῷ μὴ ὑφεστάναι ἐστίν. Ἦ γάρ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐναντίωσις, καθὼς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, τοιοῦτόν τινα νοῦν κατὰ τὴν διαστολὴν ἐχει, καθάπερ φαμὲν τῷ μὴ ὄντι τὸ ὃν ἀντιδιαιρεῖσθαι, καὶ τῇ ἀνυπαρξίᾳ τὴν ὓπαρξιν; Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν κατὰ τὴν τρεπτὴν τε καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν ὁρμήν τε καὶ κίνησιν, οὑκ ἐνδέχεται τὴν φύσιν ἀφʼ ἐαυτῆςν μένειν ἀκίνητον, ἀλλʼ ἐπί τι πάντωςή προαίρεσις ἵεται, τῆς πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐπιθυμίας αὑτὴν ἐφελκομένης φυσικῶς είς κίνησιν. Καλὸν δὲ τὸ μέν τι ἀληθῶς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἐστι· quae οὑ τοιοῦτον, ἀλλʼ ἐπηνθισμένον τινὶ καλοῦ φαντασίᾳ. Κριτήριον δὲ τούτων ἐστὶν ό νοῦς ἔνδοθεν ἡμῖν ἐνιδρυμένος. Ἐν κινδυνεύεται, ἢ τὸ ἐπιτυχεῖν τοῦ ὄντος καλοῦ, ἢ τὶ παρατραπέντας αὑτοῦ, διά τινος τῆς κατά τὸ φαινόμενον ἀπάτης ἐπὶ τὸ ἐναντίον ἡμᾶς ἀπορρυῆναι · οἷόν τι παθεῖν ό ἔξω μὲν μῦθός φησιν, ἀπ Ιοδ] ιδοῦσαν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι τὴν κύνα πρὸς τὴν σκιάν οὑ διὰ στόματος ἔφερε, μεθεῖναι μὲν τὴν ἀληθῆ τροφὴν, περιχανοῦσαν δὲ τὸ τῆς τροφῆς εἴδωλον ἐν λιμῷ γενέσθαι. ### English translation (Claude) What, then, is justice? We certainly remember what was said in sequence at the beginning of the discourse: that man was constructed as an imitation of the divine nature, preserving the likeness to the divine both in the other goods and in the self-determination of the will, yet being necessarily of a changeable nature. For it was not possible that one who had the beginning of his existence from alteration should not be altogether changeable. For the passage from non-being into being is a kind of alteration of non-existence, changed by divine power into substance. And in another way, too, change is necessarily seen in man, since man was an imitation of the divine nature. And what imitates, unless it has some otherness, would be altogether the same as that to which it has been likened. The otherness, then, of what came into being according to the image from the archetype lies in this: that the one is unchangeable by nature, while the other is not so, but came into subsistence through alteration, as the account given has said; and, being an imitation, it is in any case subject to alteration in its being. And alteration is a movement ever proceeding from what it is into something else. We speak of two forms of such movement: one always toward the good, in which progress has no halt, because no limit of the course traversed is found; the other toward the opposite, whose subsistence consists in not subsisting. For the opposition to the good, as was said before, has some such meaning in its distinction, as when we say that being is set against non-being, and existence against non-existence. Since, then, by the changeable and alterable impulse and movement, the nature cannot remain unmoved of itself, but the will is always tending toward something, the desire for the beautiful naturally drawing it to movement; and the beautiful is in one case truly so by nature, in another not such but decked with some appearance of beauty; and the judge of these is the mind established within us: in this there is risk, either of attaining the real beauty, or of being turned aside from it through some deception of appearance and drifting away to the opposite; as the pagan fable says happened to the dog, which, looking at the reflection in the water of what it was carrying in its mouth, let go the real food and, gaping at the image of the food, went hungry. ### Extrabiblical texts - Aesop (Aesop, Fables): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The fable of the dog and its reflection is Aesop's. Several words are damaged in the scan and translated by sense: “changed … into substance” (OCR “μεθrarapévqg”), “the divine nature” (OCR “θείαε coaetus”), “in another not such” (OCR “quae”), and “looking at” (garbled). “Being an imitation, it is in any case subject to alteration in its being” renders a phrase that may be corrupt; NPNF's text reads that it does not always remain in its present state. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 21 (PG 45:57c–60b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-21). ## Catechetical Oration 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-22 - Source: PG 45:60c–61a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Deceived by a bait of apparent good, man sold himself to the enemy; justice required that God not seize him by force but buy him back, as one may lawfully ransom a slave. ### Greek text Ἐπεὶ οῦν τῆς πρὸς τὸ ὅντως ἀγαθὸν ἐπιθυμίας διαψευσθεὶς ό νοῦς, πρὸς τὸ μὴ ὃν παρηνέχθη, διʼ ἀπάτης τοῦ τῆς κακίας συμβούλου τε καὶ εὑρετοῦ, καλὸν ἀναπεισθεὶς εἶναι τὸ τῷ καλῷ ἐναντίον. Οὑ γάρ ἂν ἐνήργησεν ὴ ἀπάτη, μὴ δελέατος δίκην τῷ τῆς κακίας ἀγκίστρῳ τῆς τοῦ καλοῦ φαντασίας περιπλασθείσης. Ἐν ταύτῃ τοίνυν γεγονότος ἑκουσίως τῇ συμφορᾷ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἑαυτὸν διʼ ἡδονῆς τῷ ἐχθρῷ τῆς ζωῆς ὑποζεύξαντος, πάντα μοι κατά τὸν αὑτὸν ἀναζήτει τά ταῖς θείαις ὑπολήψεσι πρέποντα, ’τὸ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ δίκαιον, καὶ δυνατὸν, τὸ ἄφθαρτον καὶ εἴ τι τῆς κρείττονος σημασίας ἐστίν. Οὑκοῦν ὡς ἀγαθὸς οἶκτον λαμβάνει τοῦ διαπεπτωκότος. καὶ ὡς σοφὸς οὑκ ἀγνοεῖ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἀνακλήσεως. Σοφίας δʼ ἂν εἴη καὶ ἠ τοῦ δικαίου κρίσις. Οὑ γάρ ἄν τις ἀφροσύνῃ τὴν ἀληθῆ δικαιοσύνην προσάψειεν. Τί οὖν ἐν τούτοις τὸ δίκαιον; Τὸ μὴ τυραννικῇ τινι χρήσασθαι κατά τοῦ κατέχοντος ἡμᾶς αὑθεντίᾳ μηδὲ τῷ περιόντι τῆς δυνάμεως ἀποσπάσαντα τοῦ κρατοῦντος καταλιπεῖν τινα δικαιολογίας ἀφορμὴν, τῷ διʼ ἡδονῆς καταδουλωσαμένῳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Καθάπερ γάρ oi χρημάτων τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποδόμενοι, δοῦλοι τῶν ὠνησαμένων είσὶν, αὐτοὶ πρατῆρες ἑαυ. τῶν καταστάντες ο καὶ οὔτε αὑτοῖς, οὔτε ἄλλῳ τινὶ, ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων ἔξεστι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐπιβοήσασθαι, κᾶν εὑπάτριδες ὦσιν oi πρὸς τὴν συμφορὰν ταύτην αὐτομολήσαντες · εξ δέ τις κηδόμενος τοῦ ἀπεμποληθέντος βίᾳ κατὰ τοὺ ὠνησαμένου χρῷτο, ἄδικος εἶναι δόξει τῷ. νόμῳ κτηθέντα τυραννικῶς ἐξαιρούμενοςο ἐξωνεῖσθαι δὲ πάλιν εἰ βούλοιτο τῶν τοιούτων οὐδεὶς ό κωλύων νόμος ἐστί ’ ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, the mind, disappointed of its desire for the truly good, was carried off to what is not, through the deceit of the counsellor and inventor of vice, persuaded that the opposite of the beautiful was beautiful (for the deceit would not have worked had not the appearance of the beautiful been moulded around the hook of vice like a bait); now that man had come into this misfortune willingly, having yoked himself through pleasure to the enemy of life, look for me, in the same way, for all the things befitting the conceptions of God: goodness, justice, power, incorruption, and whatever is of the better meaning. As good, then, he takes pity on the one who has fallen; and as wise he is not ignorant of the manner of recall. And the judgment of what is just would also belong to wisdom; for one would not attribute true justice to folly. What, then, is the just thing in these circumstances? Not to use a tyrannical authority against the one who holds us, nor, tearing us from the ruler by superior power, to leave any ground for a plea of justice to the one who enslaved man through pleasure. For just as those who have sold their freedom for money are slaves of those who bought them, having made themselves their own sellers, and neither for themselves nor for anyone else on their behalf is it lawful to cry out for freedom, even if those who deserted to this misfortune are well born; and if someone, caring for the one who was sold, should use force against the buyer, he will seem unjust, tyrannically taking away one acquired by law; but if he wishes to buy him back, no law prevents it. ### Translation notes - Migne's chapter 22 begins inside NPNF's chapter 21. Here begins Gregory's account of the ransom paid to the one who held humanity captive (chapters 22–26); it is translated as written. The comparison continues in chapter 23. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 22 (PG 45:60c–61a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/12/#p-22). ## Catechetical Oration 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-23 - Source: PG 45:61a–64b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The captor, proud and seeing Christ's miracles, accepted him as ransom for those held in death; the Godhead was veiled in flesh so that he would approach, showing God's goodness, justice, and wisdom together. ### Greek text Κατὰ τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον ἑκουσίως ήμῶν ἑαυτοὺς ἀπεμπολησάντων, ἔδει παρά τοῦ διʼ ἀγαθότητα πάλιν ἡμᾶς είς ἐλευθερίαν ἐξαιρουμένου, μὴ τὸν τυραννικὸν, ἀλλάν τὸν δίκαιον τρόπον ἐπινοηθῆναι τῆς ἀνακλήσεως. Οὗτος δέ ἐστί τις τῷ ἐπικρατοῦντι ποιήσασθαι πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν ἐθέλοι λύτρον ἀντὶ τοῦ κατεχομένου λαβεῖν. Τί τοίνυν εἰκὸς ἦν μᾶλλον τὸν κρατοῦντα λαβεῖν ἑλέσθαι ; Δυνατόν ἐστι διʼ ἀκολούθου στοχασμόν τινα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν. Εἶτα πρόδηλα γένοιτο ἡμῖν τῶν ζητουμένων τεκμήρια. Ὁ τοίνυν κατά τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος προαποο δοθέντα λόγον, τῷ πρὸς τὸν εὐημεροῦντα φθόνῳ πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπιμύσας, τὸν δὲ τῆς κακίας ζόφον ἐν ἐαυτῷ γεννήσας · ἀρχὴν δε τῆς πρὸς τὰ χείρω ῥοπῆς καὶ ὑπόθεσιν καὶ οίονεὶ μητέρα τῆς λοιπῆς κακίας τὴν φιλαρχίαν νοσήσας, τίνος ἂν ἀντηλλάξατο τὸν κατεχόμενον, εί μὴ δηλαδὴ τοῦ ὑψηλοτέρου καὶ μείζονος ἀνταλλάγματος, ὡς ἂν μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῦ τὸ κατά τὸν τῦφον θρέψειε πάθος, τά μείζω τῶν ἐλαττόνων διαμειβόμενοςς Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐν τοῖς ἀπʼ αἰῶνος ίστο ρουμένοις, ὲν οὐδενὶ συνεγνὼκει τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν, οἷα καθεώρα περὶ τὴν τότε φαινομένην κυοφορίαν ἀσυντρίαστον, καὶ γέννησιν ἄφθορον, καὶ θήλην ἐκ παρθενίας, καὶ ἄνωθεν ἐπιμαρτυρούσας τῷ ὑπερφυεῖ τῆς ἀξίας ἐκ τῶν ἀοράτων φωνάς · καὶ τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἀρρωστημάτων διόρθωσιν, éfipaYMtEU‘L'é‘J'fl‘Va καί ψιλὴν ἐν ῥήματι μόνῳ καὶ ὁρμῇ τοῦ θελήματος παρʼ αὑτοῦ γινομένην, τήν τε τῶν τεθνηκότων ἐπὶ τὸν βίον ἀνάλυσιν, καὶ τὸν κατά τῶν δαιμόνων φόβον, καὶ τῶν κατά τὸν ἀέρα παθῶν τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ τὴν διά θαλάσσης πορείαν, οὑ διαχωροῦντος ἐφʼ ἑκάτερα τοῦ πελάγους, καὶ τὸν πυθμένα γυμνοῦντος τοῖς παροδεύουσι κατά τὴν Μωσέως θαυματουργίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀνω τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ ὓδατος ὑποχερσουμένης τῇ βάσει, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀσφαλοῦς ἀντιτυπίας ὑπερειδούσης τὸ ἴχνος, τήν τε τῆς τροφῆς ὑπεροψίαν ἐφʼ ὅσον βούλοιτο, κα) τάς ἐν ἐρημία δαψιλεῖς ἑστιάσεις τῶν ἐν πολλαῖς χιλιάσιν εὐωχουμένων ’ οἷς οὕτε οὑρανὸς ἐπέρρει τὸ μάννα, οὔτε ἡ γῆ κατὰ τὴν ἰδίαν αὑτῆς φύσιν σιτοποιοὖσα τὴν χρείαν ἐπλήρου · ἀλλʼ ἐκ τῶν ἀρρήτων ταμείων τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ὴ φιλοτιμία προῄει, ἕτοιμος ἄρτος ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν διακονούντων ἐνγεωργούμενος, καὶ διὰ τοῦ κόρου τῶν ἐσθιόντων πλείων γιγνόμενος, ἦ τε διὰ τῶν ἰχθύων ὀψοφαγία, οὑ θαλάσσης αὐτοῖς πρὸς τὴν χρείαν συνεισφερούσης, ἀλλὰ τοῦ καὶ τῇ θαλάσσῃ τὺ γένος τῶν ἰχθύων κατασπείραντος. Καὶ πῶς ἄν τις τὸ καθʼ ἕκαστον τῶν εὑαγγελικῶν διεξίοι θαυμάτων; ’Ταύτην τοίνυν τὴν δύναμιν καθορῶν ὀ ἐχθρὸς ἐν ἐκείνῳ, πλεῖον τοῦ κατεχομένου τὸ προκείμενον εἶδεν ἐν τῷ συναλλάγματι · τούτου χάριν αὑτὸν αἱρεῖται λύτρον τῶν ἐν τῇ τοῦ θανάτου φρουρᾷ καθειργμένων γενέσθαι. Ἀλλά μὴν ἀμήχανον ἦν γυμνῇ προσβλέψαι τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ φαντασίᾳ, μὴ σαρκός τινα μοῖραν ἐν αὐτῷ ὶεωρὴσαντα, ἦν ἤδη διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κεχείρωτο. Διὰ τοῦτο περικεκὰλυπται τῇ σαρκὶ ὴ θεότης, ὡς ἂν πρὸς τὸ σύντροφόν τε καὶ συγγενὲς αὑτῷ βλέπων, μὴ πτοηθείη τὸν προσεγγισμὸν τῆς ὑπερεχούσης δυνά· μεως.· καὶ τὴν ἡρέμα δια τῶν θαυμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον διαλάμπουσαν δύναμιν κατανοήσας, ἐπιθυμητὸν μᾶλλον ἢ φοβερὸν τὺ φανὲν εἶναι νομίσῃ. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῷ δικαίῳ συνέζευκται, καὶ τὸ σοφὸν τούτων οὑκ ἀποκέκριται. Τὸ γὰρ διὰ τῆς τοῦ σώματος περιβολῆς χωρητὴν τὴν θείαν δύναμιν ἐπινοῆσαι γενέσθαι, ὡς ἂν ή ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν οἰκονομία. μὴ παραποδισθείη τῷ φόβῳ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἐμφανείας, παντως κατὰ ταύτὸν τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει, τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, τοῦ σοφοῦ, τοῦ δικαίου. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐθέλεσθαι σῶσαι, τῆς ἀγαθὸτητός ἐστι μαρτυρία ο τὸ δὲ συναλλαγματικὴν ποιήσασθαι τὴν τοῦ κρατουμένου λύτρωσιν, τὸ δίκαιον δείκνυσι· τὸ δέ χωρητὸν διʼ ἐπινοίας ποιῆσαι τῷ ἐχθρῷ τὸ ἀχώρητον, τῆς ἀνωτάτω σοφίας τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει. ### English translation (Claude) In the same way, since we had willingly sold ourselves, it was necessary that he who through goodness was taking us back into freedom should devise not the tyrannical but the just manner of recall. And this is, in a way, to give the one in power whatever he might wish to take as ransom for the one held. What, then, was it likely that the ruler would choose to take? It is possible by inference to form some conjecture of his desire, if the evidence of what we are seeking becomes plain to us. He, then, who, as the account given at the beginning of this treatise said, shut his eyes to the good through envy of the one who prospered, and begot in himself the darkness of vice, and fell sick with the love of rule, the beginning and foundation of the inclination to the worse and, as it were, the mother of the rest of vice: for what would he exchange the one he held, if not clearly for something higher and greater in exchange, so that by trading lesser things for greater he might feed the more his passion of pride? Now in all that had been recorded from the beginning of the ages he had known nothing such as he beheld in the one who then appeared: a conception without union, a birth without corruption, nursing from virginity, and voices from the invisible world bearing witness from above to his surpassing worth; the correction of the sicknesses of nature …, accomplished by him simply by a word alone and the impulse of his will; the return of the dead to life; the fear of the demons; authority over the disturbances of the air; the journey through the sea, not with the sea parting on either side and baring its bottom for those passing through, as in the miracle of Moses, but with the surface of the water becoming like dry land under his feet and supporting his step with firm resistance; the disregard of food for as long as he wished; and the abundant feasts in the wilderness of those who were feasted by many thousands, for whom neither did heaven rain down manna, nor did the earth, making grain by its own nature, supply the need, but the munificence came from the ineffable storehouses of the divine power: bread ready, springing up in the hands of those serving as though harvested, and increasing through the fullness of those eating; and the meal of fish, not with the sea contributing to their need, but he who had also sown the race of fishes in the sea. And how could one go through each of the Gospel miracles one by one? Seeing, then, this power in him, the enemy saw in the exchange that what was offered was more than what he held; for this reason he chooses him to be the ransom for those shut up in the prison of death. But it was impossible for him to look at the bare appearance of God without seeing in him some portion of the flesh which he had already subdued through sin. For this reason the Godhead was veiled in the flesh, so that, looking at what was familiar and akin to him, he might not be terrified by the approach of the transcendent power, and, perceiving the power gradually shining out more and more through the miracles, he might think what appeared to be desirable rather than fearful. You see how the good has been joined to the just, and the wise has not been separated from them. For to devise that the divine power should become containable through the covering of the body, so that the economy on our behalf might not be hindered by fear of the lofty manifestation, gives proof at once of the good, the wise, and the just. For to will to save is testimony of goodness; to make the redemption of the one held a matter of exchange shows justice; and by a device to make the uncontainable containable for the enemy gives proof of the highest wisdom. ### Scripture references - Matt 3:17: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 14:25: allusion, high confidence - Matt 14:19: allusion, high confidence - Exod 14:21: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 16:4: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Gregory's teaching that a ransom was paid to the one who held humanity captive, and that the Godhead was veiled in flesh so that he would accept it, is translated as written. The miracles recall the baptismal voice (Matt 3:17), Christ's walking on the sea (Matt 14:25), the feedings in the wilderness (Matt 14:13–21), and, by contrast, the parting of the sea (Exod 14:21–22) and the manna (Exod 16). After “the sicknesses of nature” a word is garbled in the scan (NPNF: without means, extraordinary); it is left untranslated. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 23 (PG 45:61a–64b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-23). ## Catechetical Oration 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-24 - Source: PG 45:64b–65c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's power is shown most in his descent to our lowliness: hidden in flesh like a hook in bait, the Godhead entered death so that life and light might destroy death and darkness. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ ἐπιζητεῖν εἰκὸς τὸν τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῶν εἰρημένων προσέχοντα, ποῦ τὸ δυνατὸν τῆς Θεότητος, ποῦ ἡ ἀφθαρσία τῆς Θείας δυνάμεως ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁρᾶται. ’Ὶνα τοίνυν καὶταῦτα γένηται καταφανῆ, τὰ ἐφεξῆς τοῦ μυστηρίου διασκοπήσωμεν, ἐν οἷς μάλιστα δείκνυται συγκεκραμένη τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ὴ δύναμις. Πρῶτον μὲν οῦν τὸ τὴν παντοδύναμον φύσιν πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καταβῆναι ἰσχύσαι, πλείονα τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς δυνάμεως ἔχει, ἢ τὰ με· γάλα τε καὶ ὑπερφυῆ τῶν θαυμάτων.Τδ μὲν γὰρ μέγα τι καὶ ὑψηλὸν ἐξεργασθῆναι παρὰ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, κατὰ φύσιν πώς ἐστι καὶ ἀκόλουθον. Καὶ οὑκ ἄν τινα ξενισμὸν ἐπάγοι τῇ ἀκοῇ τὸ λέγειν πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ κτίσιν, καὶ πᾶν ὅ τί περ ἂν ἔξω τῶν φαινομένων καταλαμβάνεται ἐν τῇ Θεοῦ δυνάμει συστῆναι, αὑτοῦ τοῦ θελήματος πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν οῦσιωθέντος. Ἠ δὲ πρὸς ταπεινὸν κάθοδος, περιουσία τίς ἐστι τῆς δυνάμεως, οὐδὲν ἐν τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν κωλυομένης. Ὠς γὰρ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς οὐσίας ὴ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄνω φορὰ, καὶ οὑκ ἄν τις θαύματος ἄξιονέπὶ τῆς φλογὸς ἠγεῖτο τὸ φυσικῶς ἐνεργούμενον· εί δὲ ῥέουσαν ἐπὶ τὺ κάτω καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἐμβριθῶν σωμάτων ῐδοι τὴν φλόγα, τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐν θαύματι ποιεῖται, πῶς τὸ πῦρ διαμένει πῦρ ὃν, καὶ ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς κινήσεως ἐκβαίνει τὴν φύσιν, ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω φερόμενον· οὑτως καὶ τὴν θείαν τε καὶ ὑπερέχουσαν δύναμιν, οὑκ οὐρανῶν μεγέθη καὶ φωστήρων αὐγαὶ. καὶ ἡ τοῦ παντὸς διακόσμησις, καὶ ἡ διηνεκὴς τῶν ὄντων οἰκονομία τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἠ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς φύσεως ἡ μῶν συγκατὰὄασις δείκνυσι· πῶς τὸ ὑψηλὸν ἐν τῷ ταπεινῷ καθορᾶται, καὶ οὑ καταβαίνει τὸ ὑψος· πῶς Θεότης ἀνθρωπίνῃ συ μπλακεῖσα φύ σει, καὶτοῦτο γίνεται καὶ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, καθὼς ὲν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, φύσιν οὐκ εἶχεν ἡ ἐναντία δύναμις, ἀκράτῳ προσμῖξαι τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ παρουσία, καὶ γυμνὴν ὑποστῆναι αὑτοῦ τὴν ἐμφάνειανο ὡς ἂν εῦληπτον γένοιτο τῷ ἐπιζητοῦντι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τὸ ἀνταλξθη τὸ Θεῖον, ἵνα κατά τοὺς λίχνους τῶν ἰχθύων τῷ δε· λέατι τῆς σαρκὸς συναποσπασθῇ τὸ ἄγκιστρον τῆς Θεότητος· καὶ οὕτω τῆς ζωῆς τῷ θανάτῳ εἰσοικισθείσης, καὶ τῷ σκότει τοῦ φωτὸς ἐμφανέντος, ἐξαφανισθ[ήτω] τῷ φωτὶ καὶ τῇ ζωῇ τὸ κα.τά τὸ ἐναντίον νοούμενον. υῦ γὰρ ἔχει φύσιν, οὔτε σκότος διαμένειν ἐν φωτὸς παρουσίᾳ, οὔτε θάνατον εἶναι ζωῆς ὲνεργούσης.ούκοὖν ἐπὶ κεφαλαίῳ τοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν ἀκολουθίαν ἀναλαὸὀντες, ἐντελῆ ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἀπολογίαν πρὸς τοὺς κατηγοροῦντας τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας, ὅτου χάριν διʼ εαυτῆς ἡ Θεότης τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην οὐ κατεργάζεται σωτηρίαν. Δεῖ γὰρ διὰ πάντων τδ Θεῖον ἐν ταῖς πρεπούσαις ὑπολήψεσιν εἶναι· μὴ τὸ μὲν ὑψηλῶς ἐπʼ αὑτοῦ νοεῖσθαι, τὸ δὲ τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἀξίας ἐκβάλλεσθαι · ἀλλὰ πᾶν ὑψηλὸν καὶ εὐσεβὲς νόημα δεῖ πάντως ἐπὶ Θεοῦ πιστεύεσθαι, καί συνηρτῆσθαι διʼ ἀκολουθίας τῷ ἑτέρῳ τὸ ἐτε ρον. Δέδεικται τοίνυν τὸ ἀγαθὸν, τὸ σοφὸν, τὸ δίκαιον, τὸ δυνατὸν, τὸ φθορᾶς ἀνεπίδεκτον, πάντα τῷ λόγῳ τῆς καθʼ ἡμᾶς οἰκονομίας ἐπιδεικνύμενα. Ἡ ἀγαθότής ἐν τῷ προελέσθαι σῶσαι τὸν ἀπολωλότα καταλαμβάνεται. 'H σοφία καὶ ὴ δικαιοσύνη ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς σωτηρίας ὴ μῶν διεδείχθη. Ἦ δύναμις ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι μὲν αὑτὸν ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπου καὶ σχήματι κατά τὸ ταπεινὸν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, καὶ ἐλπισθῆναι δύνασθαι αὐτὸν καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀνθ ρώπων τῷ θανάτῳ ἐγκρατηθῆναι· γενόμενον δὲ, τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐαυτῷ κατά φύσιν ἐργάσασθαι. υἰκεῖον δὲ φωτὶ μὲν 6 ἀφανισμὸς τοῦ σκότους, ζωῇ δὲ ἡ τοῦ θανάτου καθαίρεσις. Ἐπεὶ οὖν τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ κατἐνεχθέντες τὸ κατʼ ἀρχὰς τῆςςωῆς ἐξετράπημεν, καί τῷ θανάτῳ ἐγκατηνὲχθημενο τί τοῦ εἰκότος ἔξω παρά τοῦ μυστηρίου μανθάνομεν, εἰ ἡ καθαρότης τῶν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας μολυνθὲντων ἐφάπτεται, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ τῶν τεθνηκότων, καὶ ἡ όδηγία τῶν πεπλανημένων, ὡς ἂν ὂ τε μολυσμὸς καθαρθείη, καὶ ἡ πλάνη θεραπευθείη, καὶ εἰς τὴν ζωὴν τὸ τεθνηκὸς ἐπανέλθοις ### English translation (Claude) But it is likely that one who attends to the sequence of what has been said will ask where the power of the Godhead, where the incorruption of the divine power, is seen in what has been said. So that these too may become clear, let us examine what follows in the mystery, in which power is shown above all blended with love for humankind. First, then, that the almighty nature was able to descend to the lowliness of humanity gives greater proof of power than the great and supernatural miracles. For that something great and lofty should be accomplished by the divine power is somehow natural and consistent; and it would bring no strangeness to the ear to say that all creation in the world, and whatever is apprehended beyond things visible, was constituted by the power of God, his will itself giving substance to what he pleased. But the descent to lowliness is a kind of superabundance of power, hindered in nothing even in what is against nature. For upward motion is proper to the substance of fire, and no one would think what is naturally done by the flame worth wondering at; but if one should see the flame flowing downward like heavy bodies, one would count it a wonder how the fire remains fire and yet in the manner of its motion goes beyond its nature, being carried downward. So too the divine and transcendent power is shown not so much by the greatness of the heavens, the radiance of the luminaries, the ordering of the universe, and the continual governance of things that exist, as by the condescension to the weakness of our nature: how the lofty is seen in the lowly, and the height does not come down; how the Godhead, intertwined with human nature, both becomes this and is that. For since, as was said before, it was not in the nature of the opposing power to come into contact with the undiluted presence of God and to endure his unveiled manifestation, so that what is given in exchange for us might be easily taken by the one seeking it, the divine …, so that, as with greedy fish, the hook of the Godhead might be swallowed together with the bait of the flesh; and so, life taking up dwelling in death and light appearing in darkness, what is conceived as their opposite might vanish before the light and the life. For it is not in the nature of darkness to remain in the presence of light, nor of death to exist when life is at work. So, taking up the sequence of the mystery in summary, we shall make our defence complete against those who accuse the divine economy, asking why the Godhead works human salvation through itself. For the divine must in all things be held in fitting conceptions: one thing must not be thought loftily of him while another is cast out of the dignity befitting God; rather, every lofty and pious thought must by all means be believed of God, and each must be bound to the other in sequence. It has been shown, then, that the good, the wise, the just, the powerful, and the incapable of corruption are all displayed in the account of the economy concerning us. Goodness is apprehended in his choosing to save the lost; wisdom and justice were shown in the manner of our salvation; power in his coming to be in the likeness and form of man, according to the lowliness of our nature, and in his being able to be expected, like human beings, to be overcome by death, and yet, having come to be so, doing what was proper to him by nature. And it is proper to light to make darkness vanish, and to life to destroy death. Since, then, having been carried away from the straight road, we turned aside from the life that was ours at the beginning and were brought down into death, what do we learn from the mystery that is beyond reason, if purity touches those defiled by sin, and life the dead, and guidance the wanderers, so that the defilement may be cleansed, the error healed, and what was dead return to life? ### Scripture references - Phil 2:7: allusion, high confidence - John 1:5: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The image of the Godhead as a hook hidden in the bait of the flesh is Gregory's, translated as written. After “by the one seeking it” words are lost in the scan (the printed text runs “τὸ ἀνταλξθη τὸ Θεῖον”; NPNF's text: the Godhead was hidden under the veil of our nature); nothing is supplied. “In the likeness and form of man” recalls Phil 2:7; light in darkness echoes John 1:5. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 24 (PG 45:64b–65c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-24). ## Catechetical Oration 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-25 - Source: PG 45:65c–68a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God is present in all things; in the incarnation he mingled with our nature so that it might become divine, freed from death and from the adversary. ### Greek text Τὸ δέ ὲν τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν γενέσθαι τὴν Θεότητα, τοῖς μὴ λίαν μικροψύχοις κατανοοῦσι τὰ ὄντα, οὐδένα ἂν ἐκ τοῦ εὐλόγου ξενισμὸν ἐπαγάγοι. Τίς γὰρ οὕτω νήπιος τὴν ψυχὴν, ὼς εἰς τὸ πᾶν ἀποβλέπων μὴ ἐν παντὶ πιστεύειν εἶναι τὸ Θεῖον, καὶ ἐνδύον μὲν καὶ περιέχον καὶ ἐγκαθήμενον; Τοῦ γὰρ ὄντος ἐξῆπται τὰ. πάντα, καὶ οὐκ ἔνεστιν εἷναί τι, μὴ ἐν τῷ δντι τὸ εἶναι ἔχον. Εἰ οὖν ὲν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἐκεῖνο· τί ἐπαισχύνονται ἐν τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν Θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώποις γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκοντος, τὸν οὐδὲ νῦν ἔξω τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι πεπιστευμέvov; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ 6 τρόπος τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ παρουσίας, οὐκ αὐτὸς οὗτος· ἐκείνῳ · ἀλλʼ οὖν τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι, καὶ νῦν καὶ τότε κατά τὸ ἶσον διωμολόγηται. Νὖν μέν οὖν ἐγκέκραται ἡμῖν 6 συνέχων ἐν τῷ εἶναι τὴν φύσιν ° τότε δὲ κατεμίχθη πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον, ἵνα τῇ πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον ἐπιμιξίᾳ γίνηται θεῖον, ἐξαιρεθὲν τοῦ θανάτου, καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου τυ ραννῖδος ἔξω οδος, ἀρχὴ τῷ θνητῷ γένει τῆς είς τὴν ἀθάνατον ζωὴν ἐπανόδου γίγνεται. ### English translation (Claude) That the Godhead came to be in our nature would reasonably bring no strangeness to those who consider things without too much pettiness of mind. For who is so childish in soul as, looking at the universe, not to believe that the divine is in everything, clothing itself in it, embracing it, and dwelling in it? For all things depend on him who is, and it is not possible for anything to exist that does not have its being in him who is. If, then, all things are in him and he in all things, why are they ashamed of the economy of the mystery, which teaches that God came to be among men, when he is believed not to be outside human beings even now? For even if the manner of God's presence in us is not the same as that one, still his being in us is equally acknowledged both now and then. Now he who holds nature together in being is blended with us; but then he was mingled with what is ours, so that by the mingling with the divine it might become divine, rescued from death and set outside the tyranny of the adversary; … becomes for the mortal race the beginning of the return to immortal life. ### Scripture references - Acts 17:28: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Being in him who is echoes Acts 17:28. At the end the subject of the last clause is damaged in the scan (NPNF's text: his return from death); nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 25 (PG 45:65c–68a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-25). ## Catechetical Oration 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-26 - Source: PG 45:68a–69c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The deceiver was justly deceived in turn, but for his good as well as ours: like gold refined by fire, all creation, even the adversary, will be purified and will join in thanksgiving at the final restoration. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ ἴσως τις ἐν τῇ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐξετάσει καὶ σοφίας τῆς κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν ταύτην θεωρουμένης, ἐνάγεται πρὸς τὸ νομίσαι ἀπάτην τινὰ τοιαύτην μέθοδον ἐπινενοῆσθαι ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Τὸ γὰρ οὐ γυμνῇ τῇ θεότητι, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως κεκαλυμμένη, ἀγνοηθέντα παρά τοῦ Ἐχθροῦ τὸν Θεὸν, ἐντὸς τοῦ κρατοῦντος γενέσθαι, ἀπάτη τίς ἐστι τρόπον τινὰ καὶ παραλογισμὸς, ἐπείπερ ίδιον τῶν ἀπατὼντων ἐστὶ, τὸ πρὸς ἕτερον τὰς τῶν ἐπιβουλευομένων ἐλπίδας τρέπειν, καὶ ἀλλο παρά 16 ἐλπισθέν κατεργάζεσθαι· ἀλλʼ 6 πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν βλέπων, πάντων μάλιστα καὶ τοῦτο τῆς δικαιοσύνης τε καὶ τῆς σοφίας εἶναι συνθήσεται. Δικαίου μὲν γάρ ἐστι, 16 κατʼ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ νέμεινο σοφοῦ δὲ τὸ μήτε παρατρέπειν 16 δίκαιον, μήτε τὸν ἀγαθὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας σκοπὸν ἀποχωρίζειν τῆς κατά τὸ δίκαιον κρίσεως, ἀλλά συνάπτειν ἀλλήλοις εὐμηχάνως ἀμφότερα, τῇ μὲν δικαιοσύνῃ, τὸ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἀντιδιδόντατῇ δέ ἀγαθότητι, τοῦ σκοποῦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας οὐκ ἐξιστάμενον. Σκοπήσωμεν τοίνυν εί μὴ τά δύο ταῦτα τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἐνθεωρεῖται. 'H μὲν γὰρ τοῦ κατʼ ἀξίαν ἀντίδοσις, διʼ ἧς 6 ἀπατεὼν ἀνταπατᾶται, 16 δίκαιον δείκνυσιν · 6 δὲ σκοπὸς τοῦ γιγνομένου, μαρτυρία τῆς τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος ἀγαθότητος γίγνεται. Ἴδιον μὲν γάρ τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τὸ ἐκεῖνα νέμειν ἑκάστῳ, ὧν τις τὰς ἀρχάς καὶ τὰς αίτίας προκατεβἀλετο· ὥσπερ η γῆ κατά τὰ. γένη τῶν καταβληθέντων σπερμάτων, κα). τοὺς καρποὺς ἀναδίδωσι. Σοφίας δὲτὸ ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς τῶν ὁμοίων ἀντιδόσεως μὴ ἐκπεσεῖν τοῦ βελτίονος. Ὥσπερ γάρ τῷ ἐδέσματι ὁμοίως παραμίγνυσι τὸ φάρμακον, καὶ 6 ἐπιβουλεύων, καὶ 6 16v ἐπιβουλευθέντα ἰώμενος· ἀλλʼ 6 μὲν 16 δηλητήριον, 6 δὲ 16 τοῦ δηλητηρίου ἀλεξιτήριον· καὶ οὐδὲν 6 τρόπος τῆς θεραπείας, τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς εύεργεσίας διελυμήνατο· εί γὰρ καὶ παρʼ ἀμφοτέρων φαρμάκου μίξις ἐν τροφῇ γίγνεται, ἀλλά πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν ἀποβλέψαντες, τὸν μὲν ἐπαινοῦμεν, τὸν δέ χαλεπαίνομενο οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, τῷ μέν κατά 16 δίκαιον λόγῳ, ἐκεῖνα 6 ἀπατεὼν ἀντιλαμβάνει, ὧν τὰ σπέρματα διά τῆς ἰδίας προαιρέσεως κατεβάλετο. Ἀπατᾶται γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου προβλήματι, 6 προαπατήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῷ τῆς ἡδονῆς δελεάσματι. Ὀ δὲ σκοπὸς τῶν γιγνομένων ἐπὶ 16 κρεῖττον τὴν παραλλαγὴν ἔχει. Ὀ μὲν γάρ ἐπὶ διαφθορᾷ τῆς φύσεως τὴν ἀπάτην ἐνήργησεν 6 δὲ δίκαιος ἅμα, καὶ ἀγαθὸς, καὶ σοφὸς. ἐπὶ σωτηρία τοῦ καταφθαε ρέντος τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ τῆς ἀπάτης ἐχρήσατο, οὐ μόνον τὸν ἀπολωλότα διὰ τούτων εὐεργετῶν, ἀλλά καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀπώλειαν καθʼ ἡμῶν ἐνεργήσαντα. Ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ προσεγγίσαι τῇ ζωῇ μὲν τὸν θάνατον, τῷ φωτὶ δὲ τὸ σκότος, τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ δέ τὴν φθοράν* ἀφανισμός μὲν τοῦ χείρονος γίγνεται, καὶ είς τὸ μὴ ὃν μεταχώρησις ο ὠφέλεια δὲ τοῦ ἀπὸ τούτων καθαιρομένου. Καχθείσης, τῇ διά τοῦ πυρὸς δαπάνῃ τὸ ἀλλότριόν τε καὶ ἀπόβλητον οἱ θεραπευταὶ τοῦ χρυσίου καταναλώσαντες, πάλιν ἐπανάγουσι πρὸς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ’λαμπηδόνα τὴν προτιμοτέραν ὓληνο οὐκ ἄπονος μέντοι γίνεται ή διάκρισις, χρόνῳ τοῦ πυρὸς τῇ ἁναλωτικῇ _ δύναμει τὸ νόθον ἐξαφανίξοντος, πλὴν ἀλλὰ θεραπεία τίς ἐστι τοῦ χρυσίου, τὸ ἐκτακῆναι παρʼ αὐτῷ, τὸ ἐπὶ λύμῃ τοῦ καλοῦ ἐγκείμενον κατά τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον θανάτου καὶ φθορᾶς, καὶ σκότους, καὶ εἴ τι κακίας ἔκγονον, τῷ εὐρετῇ τοῦ κακοῦ περιφυέντων, ό προσεγγισμὸς τῆς θείας δυνάμεως πυρὸς δίκην ἀφανισμὸν τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν κατεργασάμενος, εὐεργετεῖ τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ τὴν φύσιν, κᾶν ἐπίπονος ἡ διάκρισις Οὐκοῦν οὐδʼ ἂν παρʼ αὑτοῦ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου μὴ εἶναι δίκαιόν τε καὶ σωτήριον τὸ γεγονὸς ἀμφιβάλλοιτο,εῐπερ είς αἴσθησιν τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἔλθοι. Νυνὶ γὰρ καθάπερ οἱ ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ τεμνόμενοί τε καὶ καιόμενοι χαλεπαίνουσι τοῖς θεραπεύουσι, τῇ ὀδύνῃ τῆς τομῆς δριμυσσόμενοι · εί δὲ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν διὰ τούτου προσγένοιτο, καὶ ἡ τῆς καύσεως ἀλγηδὼν παρέλθοι, χάριν εἴσονται τοῖς τὴν θεραπείαν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐνεργήσασι · κατὰ τὸν αὐτοι τρόπον ταῖς μακραῖς περιόδοις ἐξαιρεθέντος τοῦ κακοῦ τῆς φύσεως, τοῦ νῦν αὐτοῖς καταμιχθέντος καὶ συμφυέντος, ἐπειδὰν ή είς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀποκατάστασις τῶν νῦν ἐν κακία κειμένων γένηται, ὁμόφωνος εὐχαριστία παρὰ πάσης ἔσται τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ καθάρσει κεκολασμένων, καὶτῶν μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὲπιδεηθέντων καθάρσεως. Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα παραδίδωσι τὸ μέγα μυστήριον τῆς θείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως. Διʼ ὧν γάρ κατεμίχθη τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι, διὰ πάντων τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἰδιωμάτων γενόμενος, γενέσεώς τε καὶ ἀνατροφῆς καὶ αὐξήσεως, καὶ μέχρι τῆς τοῦ θανάτου πείρας διεξελθὼν, τά προειρημένα πάντα κατείργασται, τόν τε ἄνθρωπον τῆς κακίας ἐλευθερῶν, καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν τῆς κακίας εὑρετὴν ἰώμενος. Ἴασιςγάρ ἐστιν ἀρρωστίας ἡ τοῦ νοσήματος κάθαρσις, κᾶν ἐπίπονος ### English translation (Claude) But perhaps someone, examining the justice and wisdom seen in this economy, is led to think that God devised some deceit of this kind on our behalf. For that God, unrecognized by the enemy, came within the grasp of the one who held power, not in bare Godhead but veiled by human nature, is in a way a deceit and a trick, since it is the mark of deceivers to turn the hopes of those they plot against in another direction and to accomplish something other than what was expected. But one who looks to the truth will agree that this above all belongs to justice and wisdom. For it belongs to the just to assign to each according to desert, and to the wise neither to pervert the just nor to separate the good aim of love for humankind from the judgment of justice, but skilfully to join both together, rendering to justice what is deserved, and, for goodness, not departing from the aim of love for humankind. Let us consider, then, whether these two are not seen in what took place. The repayment according to desert, by which the deceiver is deceived in turn, shows the just; the aim of what was done becomes testimony to the goodness of the one at work. For it is proper to justice to assign to each those things whose beginnings and causes he has laid down, as the earth too yields fruits according to the kinds of seeds sown. It belongs to wisdom, in the manner of repaying like with like, not to fall away from the better. For both the one who plots and the one who heals the victim mix a drug into the food alike, but the one the poison, the other the antidote to the poison, and the manner of treatment in no way spoils the aim of the benefit (for even if a drug is mixed into food by both, yet looking to the aim we praise the one and are angry with the other); so here too, by the principle of justice, the deceiver receives in return those things whose seeds he sowed by his own will. For he who first deceived man by the bait of pleasure is himself deceived by the screen of the man. But the aim of what took place changes things for the better. For he worked the deceit for the corruption of the nature; but he who is at once just, good, and wise used the device of the deceit for the salvation of the one who had been corrupted, benefiting by these means not only the one who had perished but also the very one who had worked destruction against us. For from the approach of death to life, of darkness to light, of corruption to incorruption, there comes the annihilation of the worse and its passing into non-existence, and benefit to the one cleansed from these. … the refiners of gold, consuming by the expenditure of fire what is foreign and to be rejected, bring the more precious material back to its natural lustre; the separation is not without pain, since in time the fire by its consuming power makes the base matter vanish; but still, the melting out of what lay in it to the ruin of its beauty is a kind of healing of the gold. In the same way, since death, corruption, darkness, and whatever is the offspring of vice had grown upon the inventor of evil, the approach of the divine power, working like fire the annihilation of what is against nature, benefits the nature with incorruption, even if the separation is painful. So not even the adversary himself could doubt that what was done was just and saving, if he should come to perceive the benefit. For now, just as those who are cut and burned for treatment are angry with those treating them, stung by the pain of the incision, but if health comes through this and the pain of the burning passes, they will be grateful to those who worked the treatment on them, in the same way, when over long periods evil has been removed from the nature, which is now mixed and grown together with them, when the restoration to their ancient state of those now lying in vice takes place, there will be a thanksgiving with one voice from all creation, both from those who have been punished in the purification and from those who had no need of purification at all. These and such things the great mystery of the divine becoming human hands down. For through the ways by which he was mingled with humanity, passing through all the properties of nature, birth, upbringing, and growth, and going as far as the experience of death, he accomplished all that has been said, freeing man from vice and healing the very inventor of vice. For the cleansing of the disease is the healing of sickness, even if painful … ### Translation notes - The “deception” of the deceiver and the final restoration (ἀποκατάστασις) of all creation, including those punished in the purification and the inventor of evil himself, are Gregory's teaching, translated as written. Before “the refiners of gold” the beginning of the comparison is lost in the scan (only the end of a participle, “Καχθείσης,” remains; NPNF: as when worthless material has been mixed with gold); nothing is supplied. The section ends mid-sentence as printed. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 26 (PG 45:68a–69c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-26). ## Catechetical Oration 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-27 - Source: PG 45:69c–72d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ had to pass through every stage of human life, from birth to death, to cleanse it all, and he came as a man on earth because the sickness was on earth; no creature is nearer to God than another. ### Greek text Ἀκόλουθον δὲ πάντως. τὸν πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν ἀνακιρνάμενον, διὰ πάντων δέξασθαι τῶν ἰδιωμάτων αὐτῆς τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς συνανάκρασιν. Καθάπερ γὰρ οί τὸν ῥύπον τῶν ἱματίων ἐκπλύνοντες, οὐ τά μὲν ἐῶσι τῶν μολυσμάτων, τά δὲ ἀπορρίπτουσιν ἀλλʼ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἄχρι τέλους ἐκκαθαίρουσι τῶν κηλίδων ἅπαν τὸ ὕφασμα, ὡς ἂν ὁμότιμον ἐαυτῷ διʼ ὅλου τὸ ἱμάτιον γένοιτο, τὸ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον λαμπρυνθὲν ἐκ τῆς πλύσεως · οὕτως μολυνθείσης τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, ἐν ἀρχῇ τε καὶ τελευτῇ καὶ τοῖς διά μέσου πᾶσιν, ἔδει διὰ πάντων γενέσθαι τὴν ὲκπλύνουσαν δύναμιν, καὶ μὴ τὸ μέν τι θεραπεῦσαι τῷ καθαρσίῳ, τὺ δὲ περιιδεῖν ἀθεράπευτον τούτου χάριν τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν δύο πέρασιν ἑκατέρωθεν διειλημμένης, τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν φημι καὶ τὸ τέλος, καθʼ ἑκάτερον εὑρίσκεται πέρας ὴ διορθωτικὴ τῆς φύσεως δύναμις, καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἁψαμένη, καὶ μέχρι τοῦ τέλους ἑαυτὴν ἐπεκτείνασα, καὶ τὰ διὰ μέσου τούτων πάντα διαλαδοῦσα. Mra; δέ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τῆς είς τὴν ζωὴν ῦσης παρόδου, πόθεν ἔδει τὸν εἰσιόντα πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἰκισθῆναι τῷ life); Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, φησὶ τυχὴν ὁ διαπτύωνώς αἰσχρόν τε καὶ ἄδοξον τὸ εἶδος τῆς ἀνθρω· πίνης γενέσεως. Ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἦν ἐν οὐρανῷ τὸ ἀνθρώπια νον· οὐδέ τις ἑν τῇ ὑπερκοσμίῳ ζωῇ κακίας νόσος ἐπεχωρίασεν. ’0 δὲ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ καταμιγνύμενος, τῷ σκοπῷ τῆς ὠφελείας ἐποιεῖτο τὴν συνανάκρασιν. Ἔνθα τοίνυν τὸ κακὸν οὐκ ἦν, οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπινος ἐπολιτεύετο βίος, πῶς ἐπιζητεί τις ἐκεῖθεν τῷ Θεῷ περιπλακῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχὶ ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώπου τι εἴδωλον καὶ ὁμοίωαα ; Τίς δʼ ἄν ἐγένετο τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶνὴ διόρθωσις, εί τοῦ ἐπιγείου ζὼου νενοσηκότος, ἕτερόν τι τῶν οὐρα· νίων τὴν θείαν ἐπιδημίαν ἐδέξατο; Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ θεραπευθῆναι τὸν κάμνοντα, μὴ τοῦ πονοῦντος μέρους ἰδιαζόντως δεξαμένου τὴν ἴασιν. Ei οὖν τὸ μὲν κάμνον ἐπὶ γῆς ἦν, ἡ δὲ θεία δύναμις τοῦ κάμνοντος μὴ ἐφήψατο, πρὸς τὸ εαυτῆς βλέπουσα πρέπον, ἀχρηστος ἦν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἡ περὶ τὰ μηδὲν ἡμῖν ἐπικοινωνοῦντα τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀσχολία. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀπρεπὲς, ἐπὶ τῆς Θεότητος ἴσον, εἴπερ ὅλως θεμιτόν ἐστιν ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὴν κακίαν ἀπρεπὲς ἐννοεῖν, πλὴν τῷ μικροψύχως ἐν τούτῳ κρίνοντι τὴν θείαν μεγαλειότητα, ἐν τῷ μὴ δέξασθαι τῶν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἰδιωμάτων τὴν κοινωνίαν, οὐδὲν μᾶλλον παραμυθεῖται τὸ ἄδοξον οὐρανίῳ σώματι, ἢ ἐπιγείῳ συσχηματισθῆναι τὸ Θεῖον. Τοῦ γὰρ {id/ictae καὶ ἀπροσίτου κατά τὸ ὕψος τῆς φύσεως, ἡ κτίσις πᾶσα κατά τὸ ἴσον ἐπὶ τὺ κάτω ἀιξέστηκε, καὶ ὁμοτίμως αὐτῷ τὸ πᾶν ὑποβέβηκε. Τὸ γὰρ καθόλου ἀπρόσιτον, οὐ τινὶ μέν ἐστι προσιτὸν, τῷ δὲ ἀπροσπέλαστον, ἀλλʼ ἐπίσης πάντων τῶν ὄντων ὑπερανέστηκεν. Οῦτε οῦν ἡ γῆ πορρωτέρω τῆς ἀξίας ἐστὶ, οὕτε οὐρανὸς πλησιέστερος, οὔτε τὰ ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῶν στοιχείων ἐνδιαιτώμενα, διαφέρει τι ἀλλήλων ἐν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ, ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐφάπτεσθαι τῆς ἀπροσίτου φύσεως, τά δέ ἀποκρίνεσθαι, ἢ οὔτε γʼ ἂν μήτε διὰ πάντων ἐπίσης διήκειν τὴν τὸ πᾶν ἐπικρατοῦσαν δύναμιν ὑπονοήσαιμεν, ἀλλʼ ἓν τισι πλεονάζουσαν, ἐν ἑτέροις ἐνδεεστέραν εἷναι, καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸ ἔλαττόν τε καὶ πλέον καὶ ἦττον διαφορᾷ σύνθετον ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου τὸ Θεῖον ἀναφανήσεται, αὐτὸ πρὸς ἑαυτὸ μὴ συμβαῖνον, εἴπερ ἡμῶν πόρρωθεν ὑπονοοῖτο εἶναι τῷ λόγῳ τῆς σεως · ἑτέρῳ δέ τινι γειτνιῶν, καὶ εῦληπτος ὲκ τοῦ σύνεγγυς γίγνοιτο. Ἀλλʼ ὁ ἀληθὴς λόγος ἐπὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἀξίας, οῦτε κάτω βλέπει διὰ συγκρίσεως, οὕτε ἄνω. Πάντα γὰρ κατὰ τὸ ἶσον τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιστατοῦσαν δύναμιν ὑποβέβηκεν. ’Ὥστε εί τὴν ἐπίγειον φυσιν ἀναξίαν τῆς πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον οἰήσονται συμπλοκῆς, οὐδʼ ἂν άλλη τις εὑρεθείη τι ἀξιον ἔχουσα. Ei δὲ ἐπίσης πάντα τῆς ἀξίας ἀπολιμπάνεται, ἐμπρέπον ἐστὶ τῷ Θεῷ τὸ εὐεργετεῖν τὸν δεόμενον· ὅπου τοίνυν ἦν ή νόσος, ἐκεῖ φοιτῆσαι τὴν ἰωμένην δύναμιν ὁμολογοῦντες, τί ἔξω τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ὑπολήψεως πεπιστεύκαμεν ς ### English translation (Claude) It follows altogether that he who blended himself with our nature should receive the blending with us through all its properties. For just as those who wash the dirt out of garments do not leave some of the stains and remove others, but cleanse the whole fabric of its spots from beginning to end, so that the garment may be of equal worth throughout, brightened equally by the washing, so, since human life had been defiled by sin in its beginning and end and in everything between, the cleansing power had to pass through all of it, and not to treat one part with the purgative while overlooking another as untreated. For this reason, since our life is bounded on either side by two limits, I mean that of the beginning and that of the end, the power that corrects our nature is found at each limit, taking hold of the beginning, extending itself to the end, and taking in everything between. And since there is one entry into life for all human beings, from where was he who was entering among us to be settled into life? “From heaven,” perhaps says one who spurns the form of human birth as shameful and inglorious. But there was nothing human in heaven, nor had any disease of vice become native in the supramundane life. And he who mingled himself with man made the blending with a view to benefit. Where, then, there was no evil and no human life was lived, how does anyone seek that man should be intertwined with God there, or rather not man, but some phantom and likeness of man? And what correction of our nature would there have been if, while the earthly creature was sick, some other of the heavenly beings had received the divine sojourn? For the sick person cannot be healed unless the suffering part receives the cure itself. If, then, the sick part was on earth, and the divine power, looking to what befitted itself, did not touch the sick part, the occupation of the divine power with things that have nothing in common with us would have been useless to man. For in the case of the Godhead the unfitting is equal everywhere (if indeed it is right to conceive anything unfitting at all besides vice); but for one who pettily judges the divine majesty to consist in not accepting fellowship with the properties of our nature, the indignity is in no way relieved by the divine being conformed to a heavenly rather than an earthly body. For from the one who is lofty and unapproachable in the height of his nature the whole creation stands equally distant below, and the universe is equally beneath him. For what is altogether unapproachable is not approachable to one thing and inaccessible to another, but rises equally above all things that exist. So neither is the earth further from his dignity nor heaven nearer, nor do the creatures living in each of the elements differ from one another in this respect, so that some touch the unapproachable nature and others are separated from it. Otherwise we would suppose that the power that governs the universe does not pass equally through all things, but abounds in some and is more deficient in others; and by the difference of less and more the divine will appear, by consequence, composite and inconsistent with itself, if it were supposed to be far from us in the principle of its nature, but neighbour to some other creature and easily grasped from close by. But the true account of the lofty dignity looks neither downward nor upward by comparison; for all things lie equally beneath the power that presides over the universe. So if they think the earthly nature unworthy of union with the divine, no other would be found to have any worthiness. But if all things equally fall short of the dignity, it befits God to benefit the one in need. When, then, we confess that the healing power went where the disease was, what have we believed that is outside the conception fitting to God? ### Translation notes - Some words are garbled in the scan and translated by sense: “into life” (OCR “τῷ life)”), “lofty” (OCR “{id/ictae”), and “in the principle of its nature” (a damaged noun). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 27 (PG 45:69c–72d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-27). ## Catechetical Oration 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-28 - Source: PG 45:73d–73b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Human birth is not shameful, for only vice is; the organs of generation serve the preservation of the race against death, so God's entering life by birth is not unfitting. ### Greek text Ἀλλά κωμῳδοῦσι τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν, καὶτὸν τῆς γεννήσεως ἡμῶν τρόπον διαθρυλλοῦσι, καὶ οἴονται διὰ τούτων ὲπιγέλαστον ποιεῖν τὸ μυττή ριον ο ὡς ἀπρεπὲς ὃν τῷ Θεῷ, διὰ τοιαύτης εἰσόδου τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίον κοινωνίας ἐφάψασθαι. Ἀλλʼ ἢδη περὶ τούτου καὶ ὲν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται λόγοις, ὅτι μόνον αἰσχρὸν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει τὸ κακόν ἐστι, κᾶν εἴ τι πρὸς τὴν κακίανόίκείως ἔχῃ. Ἡ δὲ τῆς φύσεως ἀκολουθία, θείῳ βουλήματι καὶ νόμῳ διαταχθεῖσα, πόρρω τῆς κατά κακίαν ἐστὶ διαβολῆς. Ἢ οὕτω γʼ ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν δημιουργὸν ἡ κατηγορία τῆς φύσεως ἐπανίοι, ετ τι τῶν περὶ αὐτὴν ὡς αἰσχρὸν καὶ ἀπρεπὲς διαβὰλλοιτο. Ei οὖν μόνης κακίας τὺΘεῐον κεχώρισται, φύσις δὲ κακίας οὐκ ἐστι, τὸ δὲ μυστήριον ὲν ἀνθρώπῳ γενέσθαι τὸν Θεὸν οὐκ ὲν κακίᾳ λέγει· εί δὲ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τὸν βίον electing μία ἐστὶ, διʼ ἧς παραγίνεται ἐπὶ τὴν ζωὴν τὺ γεννώμενον· νόμον μὲν· τίνα νομοθετοῦσιν ἕτερον τρόπον τῷ Θεῷ τῆς είς τὸν βίον παρόδου, οἱ ἑπισκεφθῇναι μὲν παρά τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀσθενήσασαν ὲν κακίᾳ τὴν φύσιν εὔλογον κρίνοντες ; πρὸς δὲ τὸν τῆς ἐπισκέψεως τρόπον δυσαρεστούμενοι, οὐκ εἰδότες ὃτι πᾶσα πρὸς ἑαυ τὴν ἠ κατασκευὴ τοῦ σώματος ὁμοτίμως ἔχει, καὶ ataui ὲν ταύτῃ τῶνπρὸς τὴν σύστασιν τῆς ζωῆς συντελούντων ὡς ἄτιμόν τι ἢ πονηρὸν διαβάλλεται. Πρὸς ἕνα γάρ σκοπὸν ἡ τῶν ὀργανικῶν μελῶν διασκευὴ πᾶσα συντέτακται. Ὀ δὲ σκοπόξ ἐστι, διαμένειν ὲν τῇ ζωῇ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Td: μὲν οὖν λοιπὰ τῶν ὀργάνων τὴν παροῦσαν συνέχει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ζωὴν, c ἄλλα πρὸς ἀλλην ἐνέργειαν μεμερισμένα, διʼ ὧν ἡ αἰσθητικὴ τε καὶ ἠ ὲνεργητικὴ δύναμις οἰκονομεῖται· τὰ δὲ γεννητικὰ τοῦ μέλλοντος εχει τὴν πρόνοιαν, διʼ ἑαυτῶν φύσει τὴν διαδοχὴν ἀντεισάγοντα. El οὖν πρὸς τὸ χρειῶδες βλέποις, τίνος ἂν εἴη τῶν τιμίων εῖναι νομιζομένων ἐκεῖνα δεύτερα; Τίνος δὲ οὐκ ἀν προτιμότερα κατά τὸ εὔλογον κρίνοιτο ; Ού γὰρ ὀφθαλμῷ καὶ ἀκοῇ, καὶ γλώσσῃ. ἦ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς τὸ γένος ἡμῶν διεξάγεται. Ταῦτα γὰρ, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῆς παρούσης ὲστὶν ἀπολαύσεως ἀλλʼ ἐν ἐκείνοις ή ἀθανασία συντηρετται τῇ ἀνθρωπάτητι · ὡς ἀεὶ καθʼ ἡμῶν ἐνεργοῦντα τὸν θάνατον, ἄπρακτον εἶναι τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ἀνήνυτον, πάντοτε πρὸς τὸ λεῖπον διʼ αὐτῶν ἐπιγινομένων ἑαυτὴν ἀντεισαγαγούσης τῆς φύσεως. Τί οὖν ἀπρεπὲς περιέχει ἡμῶν τὸ μυστήριον, εί διά τούτων κατεμίχθη ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ βίῳ διʼ ὧν ἡ φύσις πρὸς τὸν θάνατον uixerat; ### English translation (Claude) But they mock our nature and harp on the manner of our birth, and think by this to make the mystery ridiculous, as if it were unfitting for God to take hold of fellowship with human life through such an entrance. But this was already spoken of in the earlier discussions: that only evil is shameful by its own nature, or whatever is akin to vice; but the sequence of nature, arranged by divine will and law, is far from the reproach of vice. Otherwise the accusation against nature would rise up to the Creator, if anything about it were reproached as shameful and unfitting. If, then, the divine is separated from vice alone, and nature is not vice, and the mystery says that God came to be in man, not in vice; and if the entry of man into life is one, through which what is begotten comes into life: what other manner of entry into life do they lay down as law for God, those who judge it reasonable that the nature weakened in vice should be visited by the divine power, but are displeased with the manner of the visitation, not knowing that the whole construction of the body is of equal honour throughout, and that nothing among the things in it that contribute to the maintenance of life is reproached as dishonourable or wicked? For the whole arrangement of the organic members has been ordered toward one aim; and the aim is that man should remain in life. The other organs maintain man's present life, divided among various activities, by which the powers of sense and action are managed; but the generative organs have forethought for the future, bringing in succession by themselves through nature. If, then, you look to usefulness, to which of the things thought honourable would these be second? And than which would they not reasonably be judged more honourable? For not by eye and ear and tongue or any other of the senses is our race carried on continuously; these, as has been said, belong to present enjoyment; but by those, immortality is preserved for humanity, so that death, always at work against us, is in a way ineffective and unaccomplished, since nature always brings itself in again through those who are born to fill what is lacking. What unfitting thing, then, does our mystery contain, if God was mingled with human life through those means by which nature fights against death? ### Translation notes - “Entry” and “fights” render words garbled in the scan (OCR “electing” and “uixerat”). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 28 (PG 45:73d–73b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-28). ## Catechetical Oration 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-29 - Source: PG 45:73b–76c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God delayed the incarnation, like a physician waiting for a disease to come to the surface, until every form of human wickedness had shown itself. ### Greek text Ἀλλά μεταβάντες ἀπὸ τούτου, διʼ ἐτέρων πάλιν κακίζειν ἐπιχειροῦσι τὺν λόγον. Καί φασιν Εἰ καλὸν καὶ πρέπον τῷ Θεῷ τὸ γενόμενον, τί ἀνεὸἀλετο τὴν susp-{satam Τί δὲ ούκ ἐν ἀρχαῖς οὔσης τῆς κακίας, τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖον αὐτῆς πρόοδον dicerem/ero; Πρὸς δὲ τοῦτο ’σύντομος ὁ παρʼ ἡμῶν ἐστι λόγος, ὅτι σοφίᾳ γέγονε, καὶ τοῦ λυσιτελοῦντος τῇ τρύσει προμηθείᾳ πρὸς τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ἡμῶν ἀναβολή. Καὶ γὰρ En τῶν σωματικῶν νοσημάτων. ὅταν τις διεφθορὼς χυ μὸς ὐφέρπῃ πόρους, πρὶν ἆπαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμφάνεια ὲκκαλυφθῆναι παρὰ φύσιν ἐγκείμενον, οὐ καταφαρμο κεὺεται τοῖς πνκνοῦσι τὸ σῶμα παρὰ τῶν τεχνικῶ μεθοδευόντων τὶ πάθη ’ ἀλλὰ μένουσι τὸ ὲνδομυχοῦ ἅπαν ἔξω γενέσθαι, καὶ οὕτω γυμνῷτῷ πάθει τὴ ίατρείαν προσάγουσιν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν amas évéoxrd τῇ φύσει τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἡ τῆς κακίας νόσος, ἀνέ μενεν ὁ τοῦ παντὸς θεραπευτὴς, μηδὲν ὑπολειᾳθί ναι τῆς πονηρίας εἶδος ἐγκεκρυμμένον τῇ φῦσε Διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εὐθὺς μετὰ τὸν φθόνον, καὶ τὴν ἀδελᾳε κτονίαν τοῦ Κάῖν προσάγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν θερε πείαν· οὔπω γὰρ τῶν ἐπὶ Νῶε καταφθαρέντων ἡ κε κία ἐξέλαμψεν, οὐδὲ τῆς Σοδομιτικῆς παρανομίας χαλεπὴ νόσος ἀνεκαλύφθη · ἢ οὐδὲ ἡ τῶν Αἰγυπτίαν θεομαχία, esset) τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ὑπερηφανία, οὐδὲ τοῦ Ἡρώδου παράνομος παιδοφονία, οὐδὲ τὰ ἄλ) πάντα ὅσα τε μνημονεύεται, καὶ ὅσα ἔξω τῆς ἐστι pia; ἐν ταῖς καθεξῆς γενεαῖς κατεπράχθη · πολυτρ πως τῆς τοῦ κακοῦ ῥίζης ὲν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρ αιρέσεσι βλαστανούσης. Ἐπεὶ οὖν προς τὸ ἀκρότατ ἕςιοκσε μέτρον ἡ κακία, καὶ οὐδὲν ἔτι πονηρίας eis ὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀτόλμητον ἦν, ὡς ἂν διὰ “nia τῆς ἀρρωστίας προχωρήσειεν ἡ Θεραπεία, τούτου χ ριν οὐκ ἀρχομένην, ἀλλὰ τελειωθεῖπαν θεραέύει τ νοσον. ### English translation (Claude) But passing from this, they try again to disparage the doctrine by other means. And they say: “If what took place was good and fitting for God, why did he postpone the benefit? Why, when vice was in its beginnings, did he not cut off its advance to greater extent?” To this our answer is brief: that the delay came about by wisdom and by forethought for what is profitable to our nature, for our benefit. For in bodily diseases too, when some corrupt humour creeps under the pores, before all of what lies there against nature has been uncovered to the surface, those who treat diseases by art do not medicate with things that make the body dense, but wait for all that lurks within to come out, and so apply the treatment to the disease laid bare. Since, then, the disease of vice had lodged in the nature of humanity, the healer of the universe waited until no form of wickedness was left hidden in the nature. For this reason he did not bring the treatment to man immediately after the envy and fratricide of Cain; for the vice of those destroyed in Noah's time had not yet blazed out, nor had the grievous disease of Sodomite lawlessness been uncovered, nor the Egyptians' fighting against God, nor the pride of the Assyrians, nor Herod's lawless murder of children, nor all the other things that are recorded, and those outside history, that were done in the following generations, the root of evil sprouting in many ways in the choices of human beings. When, then, vice had reached its utmost measure, and no wickedness was left undared among men, so that the treatment might proceed through the whole of the sickness, for this reason he treats the disease not when it is beginning, but when it has been completed. ### Scripture references - Gen 4:8: allusion, high confidence - Gen 6:5: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 19:4: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 5:2: allusion, low confidence - Matt 2:16: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The line ends of this chapter are damaged in the scan, and several words (“the benefit,” “cut off,” “nor”) are translated by sense; NPNF's text also lists the persecution of the saints, which is not in this edition's text. The examples are Cain (Gen 4:8), the generation of the flood (Gen 6:5), Sodom (Gen 19), Pharaoh (Exod 5:2), and Herod (Matt 2:16). ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 29 (PG 45:73b–76c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-29). ## Catechetical Oration 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-30 - Source: PG 45:76c–77b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Sin lingers like the tail of a snake whose head is crushed; faith has not reached all because God calls all equally but leaves each person's will free. ### Greek text Εἰ δέ τις ἐλέγχειν οἴεται τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον. ξ καὶ μετά τὸ προσαχθῆναι τὴν θεραπείαν ἔτι πλη μελείται διὰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὁ ἀνθρώπινος βίη ὑποδείγματι τινι τῶν γνωρίμων ὀδηγηθήτω πρὸ; τ ἀλήθειαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄφεως εί κατὰ xz; λῆς τὴν καιρίαν λάβοι, οὐκ εὐθὺς συννεκροῦται κεφαλῇ καὶ ὁ κατόπιν ὁλκὸς, ἀλλʼ ἡ μὲν τέθνηκε, δὲ οὐρέον ἐτι ὲψύχωται τῷ ίδὶῳ ου μῷ, καὶ τῆς ξω· κῆς δυνάμεως οὐκ ἐστέρηται* οὕτως ἐστι καὶ τ κακίαν ἰδεῖν τῷ μὲν καιρίῳ πληγεῖσαν, ὲν δὲ τ‹ λειψάνοις ἑαυτῆς ἔτι διοχλοῦσαν τῷ βίῳ. Ἀἰ ἀφέντες καὶ τὸν περὶ τούτων τὸν λόγον τοῦ μυστηρὲ μέμφεσθαι, τὸ μὴ διὰ πάντων διήκειν τῶν ἁνθρώπ τὴν πίστιν ἐν αἰτίᾳ ποιοῦνται. Καὶ τί δήποτε, ᾳ ι σὶν, οὐκ ἐπὶ πάντας ἦλθεν ὴ χάρις, ἀλλά τινων πρ( θεμένων τῷ λόγῳ, οὺ μικρόν ἐστι τὸ ὑπολειπόμει μέρης,ἣ μὴ βουληθέντος τοῦ Θεοῦ πᾶσαν ἀτξθόν τὴν εὐεργεσίαν εἶναι, ἥ μὴ δυνηθέντος navews; τ οὐθʼ ἓτερον καθαρεύει τῆς μέμψεως· οὒτε γὰρ ἀ6ι λητον εἶναιτὸ ἀγαθὸν προσήκει τῷ θεῷ, οὔτε ἁὲ νατον. Εἰ οὖν ἀγαθόν τι ἡ πίστις, διὰ τί, φασὶν, c ἐπὶ πάντας ἡχάρις; Εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα καὶ mp‘ ἡμ ὲν τῷ λόγῳ κατεσκευάζετο, παρὰ τοῦ θείου βουλή(τος ἀποκληροῦσθαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν πίστιν, τ δὲ μὲν καλουμένων τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν ἁμοιρούντων 1 κλήσεως, καιρὸν εἶχε τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔγκλημα κατὰ 1 μυστηρίου προφέρεσθαι. Εἰ δὲ ὁμότιμος ἐπὶ τεάνι ἡ κλῆσις, οὒτε ἀξίας, οὗτε ἡλικίας, οὔτε τὰς κα τὴν πρώτην ἀρχὴν κηρύγματος, ὁμόγλωσσοι πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν οἱ διακονοῦντες τὸν λόγον ἐκ θείας ἐπιπνοίας ἀθρόως ἐγένοντο, ὡς ἂν μηδεὶς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁμοιρήσειεʼ πῶς ἂν κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον ἔτι τὸν Θεὸν αἰτιῷντο, τοῦ μὴ πάντων ἐπικρατῆσαι τὸν Λόγονς ’0 γὰρ τοῦ παντὸς τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχων. διʼ ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εἰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον τιμῆς, ἀφῆκέ τι καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν ἡμιτὲραν ἐξουσίαν εἶναι, οῦ μόνος ἕκαστός ἐστι κύριος. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ἡ προαίρεσις, ἀδούλωτόν τι χρῆμα καὶ αὐτεξούσιον ἐν τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ τῆς διανοίας κείμενον. Οὐκοῦν ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ προσαχθέντας τῇ πίστει δικαιότερον ἂν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἔγκλημα μετατεθείη, οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν κεκληκότα πρὸς τὴν κατάθεσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πέτρου κατʼ ἀρχὰς τὸν λόγον ἐν πολυανθρώπῳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων Ἐκκλησία κηρύξαντος, τρισχιλίων κατὰ ταύτὸν παραδεξαμένων τὴν πίστιν, πλείους δντες τῶν πεπιστευκότων οἱ ἀπειθήσαντες, ἐμέμψαντο τδν Ἀπόστολον ἐφʼ οἷς ἐπείσθησαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν εἰκὸς. ἐν κοινῷ προταθείσης τῆς χάριτος, τὸν ἐκουσίως ἀποφοιτήσαντα, μὴ ἑαυτὸν, ἀλλʼ ἕτερον τῆς δυσκληρίας ἐπαιτιᾶσθαι. ### English translation (Claude) If someone thinks he refutes our account because, even after the treatment was applied, human life still goes wrong through sins, let him be led to the truth by a familiar example. For as with a snake, if it receives the fatal blow on the head, the coil behind does not die at once along with the head, but while the head is dead the tail is still animated by its own spirit and is not deprived of its vital power, so one can see vice, struck by the fatal blow, still troubling life with its remnants. But giving up finding fault with the doctrine of the mystery on these points, they make it a charge that faith does not reach all people. “And why,” they say, “did the grace not come to all, but, while some have joined themselves to the word, the part left over is not small? Either God did not wish the benefit to be granted to all ungrudgingly, or he was not able at all. Neither of these is free of blame; for it befits God neither to be unwilling nor unable to do good. If, then, faith is something good, why,” they say, “is the grace not upon all?” If, then, we too had maintained in our account that faith is allotted to human beings by the divine will, some being called while the rest had no share in the calling, there would be occasion to bring such a charge against the mystery. But if the call is of equal honour for all, making no distinction of worth, or age, or … at the first beginning of the proclamation those who served the word were suddenly, by divine inspiration, made to speak the language of all the nations, so that no one might be without a share in the goods, how could they still reasonably blame God that the Word did not prevail over all? For he who has authority over the universe, through the excess of his honour toward man, left something to be under our authority too, of which each alone is master. And this is the will, a thing unenslaved and self-determining, lying in the freedom of the mind. So such a charge would more justly be transferred to those who were not brought to faith, not to him who called them to assent. For not even when Peter at the beginning preached the word in a crowded assembly of the Jews, and three thousand received the faith at once, did those who disobeyed, though more numerous than those who believed, blame the Apostle for what they were persuaded of. For it was not reasonable, when the grace had been set before all in common, for one who had willingly gone away to blame not himself but another for his ill fortune. ### Scripture references - Acts 2:4: allusion, high confidence - Acts 2:41: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The line ends of this chapter are damaged in the scan and many words are read by sense; after “or age, or” words are lost (NPNF's text: national differences, for which reason …); nothing is supplied. The gift of tongues and the three thousand are Acts 2:4–11 and 2:41. “For what they were persuaded of” renders the printed ἐπείσθησαν; the sense (as in NPNF) seems to require “for their unbelief.” ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 30 (PG 45:76c–77b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-30). ## Catechetical Oration 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-31 - Source: PG 45:77b–77d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God does not force belief, for compulsion would destroy free will, virtue, and moral judgment; unbelief is the fault of those who refuse. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀποροῦσιν οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς ἐριστικῆς ἀντιλογίας. Λέγουσι γὰρ δύνασθαι τὸν Θεὸν, εἰπερ ἐβούλετο, καὶ τοὺς ἀντιτύπως ἔχοντας ἀναγκαπικῶς ὲφελκύσασθαι πρὸς τὴν παραδοχὴν τοῦ κηρῦγματος. Ποῦ τοίνυν ἐν τούτοις τὸ αὐτεξούσιον; Ποῦ δὲ τῶν κατορθούντων ὀ ἓπαινος; Μὸνων γὰρ τῶν addχων ἦ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐστὶ τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ βουλήματι πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν περιάγεσθαι. Ἠ δὲ λογική τε καὶ νοερᾶ φύσις, ἐὰν τὸ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν ἀπόθηται, καὶ τὴν χάριν τοῦ νοεροῦ συναπώλεσεν. Εἰς τί γὰρ χρήσεται τῇ δια· vei; τῆς τοῦ προαιρεῖσθαι τι τῶν κατὰ γνώμην ἐξουσίαςνέςν ἑτέρῳ κειμένης; Εἰ δὲ ἄπρακτος ἡ προαίρεσις μένοι, ἠφάνισται κατʼ ἀνάγκην ή ἀρετὴ. τῇ ἀκινησία τῆς προαιρέσεως ἐμπώισθεῖσα· ἀρετῆς δέ μὴ οὔσης, ὁ βίος ἠτίμωται, καὶ καθʼ εἱμαρμένην χωρεῖ ὁ λόγος, ἀφῄρηται τῶν κατορθούντων ὁ ἐπαινοςο ἀνίκητος ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἄκριτος ἡ κατὰ τὸν βίον διαφορά. Τίς γὰρ ἂν ἔτι κατὰ τὺ εὔλογον ἢ διαβάλλοι τὸν ἀκόλαστον, ἦ ἐπαινοίη τὸν σώφρονα; Ταύτης κατά τὸ πρόχειρον. οὔσης ἐκᾶστῳ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως, τὸ μηδὲν ἐφʼ ἡμῖν τῶν κατὰ γνώμην εἶναι, δυναστεία δὲ κρείττονι τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας προαιρέσεις πρὸς τὸ τῷ κρατοῦντι δοκοῦν περιάγεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν οὐ τῆς ἁγαθὸἒ τητος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἔγκλημα, τὸ μὴ πᾶσιν ἐγγενέσθαι τὴν πίστιν, ἀλλὰ τῆς διαθέσεως τῶν δεχομένων τὸ κηρυγμα- ### English translation (Claude) But they are not at a loss for a contentious rejoinder even to this. For they say that God could, if he wished, draw even those who resist by force to the acceptance of the proclamation. Where, then, in this is self-determination? Where is the praise of those who do right? For it belongs only to inanimate or irrational things to be led about by another's will to what seems good to him. But the rational and intellectual nature, if it lays aside what is in its power, loses along with it the gift of intellect. For to what will it use its thought, if the power of choosing anything according to its inclination lies in another? And if the will remains inactive, virtue necessarily vanishes, fettered by the immobility of the will; and if there is no virtue, life is dishonoured, reason goes the way of fate, the praise of those who do right is taken away, sin is unconquerable, and the difference between lives cannot be judged. For who could still reasonably either reproach the licentious or praise the self-controlled, when everyone has this answer ready: that none of our inclinations is in our power, but human wills are led about by a stronger dominion to what seems good to the one who rules? So the charge that faith has not come to be in all does not fall on the goodness of God, but on the disposition of those who receive the proclamation. ### Translation notes - A few words damaged in the scan (“inanimate,” “thought”) are translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 31 (PG 45:77b–77d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/23/#p-31). ## Catechetical Oration 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-32 - Source: PG 45:77d–84a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ was born in order to die and so raise our whole nature with his own body; the four arms of the cross show that he holds all creation together; the resurrection appearances need no defence. ### Greek text Τί πρὸς τούτοις ἔτι παρὰ τῶν ἀντιλεγόντων προφέρεται; Τὸ μάλιστα μὲν μὴ ὅλως δεῖν είς θανάτου πεῖραν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ὑπερέχουσαν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δὶχο τούτου τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῆς δυνάμεως δύνασθαι ἂν μετὰ ῥᾳστώνης τὸ δοκοῦν κατεργάσασθαι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πάνμὴ τῷ ἀτίμῳ τρόπῳ τοῦ θανάτου καθυβρισθῆναι. Τίς γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο, φησι, τοῦ διὰ σταυροῦ θάνατος ἀτιμότερος; Τί οὖν καὶ πρὶς ταῦτά φαμενς Ὀτι τὸν θάνατον μὲν ἀναγκαῖον ἠ γένεσις κατεργάζεται. Τὸν γάρ ἅπαξ μετασχεῖν ἐγνωκότα τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, διὰ πάντων ἔδει γενέσθαι τῶν ἰδιωμάτων τῆς φύσεως, Εἰ τοίνυν δύο πέρασι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς διειλημμένης, ἐν τῷ ἐνὶ γενόμενος τοῦ ἑφεξῆς μὴ προσήψατο, ἡμιτελὴς ἂν ἡ πρόθεσις ἔμεινε, τοῦ ἐτέρου τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἰδιώματος οὐχ ἁψαμένου · τάχα δʼ ἂν τις διʼ ἀκριβείας καταμαθὼν τὸ μυστήριον, εὐλογώτερον εἴποι, μὴ διά τὴν γένεσιν συμβεβηκέναι τὸν θάο νατονο ὰ).λά τὸ ἔμπαλιν τοῦ Θανάτου χάριν παραληφθῆναι τὴν γένεσιν οὔ γὰρ τοῦ ζῆσαιδεόμενος. ὁ ἀεὶ ζῶν τὴν σωματικὴν ὑποδύεται γέννησιν, ἀλλʼ ἡμᾶς ὲπὶ τὴν ζωὴν ὲκ τοῦ θανάτου ἀνακαλούμενος, Ἐπεὶ οὗν ἔδει γενέσθαι ὅλης τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ὲκ τοῦ θανάτου πάλιν ἐπάνοδον, οἱονεὶ χεῖρα τῷ κειμένῳ ὀρέγων, καὶ διά τοῦτο πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον ἐπικύψας πτῶμα, τοσοῦτον τῷ θανάτῳ προσήγγισεν, ὅσον τῆς νεκρότητος ἅψασθαι ο καὶ ἀρχὴν δοῦναι τὴν φύσιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματιξ ὅλον συναναστήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῇ δυνάμει. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος ἡ θεοδόχος σάρξ ἦν, ἡ διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως συνεπαρθεῗσα τῇ θεότητι, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς σώματος ή τοῦ ἑνὸς τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἐνέργεια πρὸς ἀπαν τὴν συναίσθησιν ἄγει τδ ἡνωμένον τῷ μέρει · οὕτως καθάπερ τινὸς ὄντος ζώου πάσης τῆς φύσεως, ἡ τοῦ μέρους ἀνάστασις ἐπὶ τδ πᾶν διεξέρχεται, κατὰ τὸ συνεχές τε καὶ ἡνωμένον τῆς φύσεως, ὲκ τοῦ μέρους ἐπὶ τὸ ὅλον συνδιδομένη. Τί οὖν ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ὲν τῷ μυστηρίῳ μανθάνομεν, εἰ κύπτει πρὸς τὸν πεπτωκότα ὁ ἑστὼς, ἦ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀναστῆσαι τὸν κείμενονς ὁ δὲ σταυρὸς εἰ μή τινα ἕτερον περιέχει λόγον βαθύτερον, εἰδοῖεν ἂν οἱ τῶν κρυπτομένων ὲπὶστπρες. ὐ δʼ οὖν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐκ παραδόσεως ἦκει, τοιοῦτον ἐστιν· Ἐπειδὴ πάντα κατά τὸν ὑψηλάτε ρόν τε καὶ θειότερον βίον ἐν τῷ Εὑαγγελίῳ εἴρηται καὶ γεγένηται · καὶ οῦδὲν τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ οὐχὶ πάντως μῖξις-τις ἐμφαίνεται τοῦ θείου πρὸς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, τῆς μὲν φωνῆς ἢ τῆς πράξεως άνθρωπικῶς διεξαγομένης, τοῦ δὲ κατὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν νοουμένου τὸ θεῖον ἐμφαίνοντος· ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη καὶ ὲν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ, μὴ τὸ μὲν βλέπειν, παρορᾷν δὲ τὸ ἕτερον · ἀλλʼ ὲν μὲν τῷ ἀθανάτῳ καθορᾷν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὸ θειότερον. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς θειότητος τὸ διὰ πάντων ήκειν, καὶ τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων κατὰ πᾶν μέρος συμπαρεκτείνεσθαι· οὐ γάρ ἄν τι διαμένοι ἐν τῷ εἶναι, μὴ ἐν τῷ ὄντι μένον. Τὸ δὲ κυρίως καὶ πρώτως ὃν, ἡ θεία φύσις ἐστὶν, ἢν ἐξ ἀνάγκης πιστεύειν ὲν πᾶσιν εἶναι τοῖς οὖσιν, ή διαμονὴ τῶν δντων καταναγκάζει· τοῦτο διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ διδασκόμεθα, τετραχῆ τοῦ κατʼ αὑτὸν σχήματος διῃρημένου · ὡς ὲκ τοῦ μέσου, καθὸ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν συνάπτεται, τέσσαρας ἀριθμεῖσθαι τὰς προβολάς· ὅτι ὁ ἐπὶ τούτου ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς κατὰ τὸν θάνατον οἰκονομίας διατεθεὶς. ὁ τὸ πᾶν προς ἐαυτῷ συνδέων τε καὶ συναρμόζων, τὰς διαφόρους τῶν ὄντων φύσεκ πρὸς μίαν σύμπνοιάν τε καὶ ἁρμονίαν διʼ ἑαυτοῦ συνάγων. Ἐν γὰρ τοῖς οὖσιν ἣ ἄνω τι νοεῖται, ἤ κάτω, ἢ πρὸς τὰ κατὰ τὰ πλάγια πέρατα διαβαίνει ή ἔννοια. Ἂν τοίνυν λογίσῃτῶν ἐπουρανίων, ἤ τῶν ὑποχθονίων, ἢ τῷν καθʼ ἑκάτερον τοῦ παντὸς περάτων τὴν σύστασιν, πανταχοῦ τῷ λογισμῷ σου προαπαντᾷ ἡ θεότης, μόνη κατὰ πᾶν μέρος τοῖς οὖσιν ἐνθεωρουμένη, καὶ ὲν τῷ εἶναι τὰ πάντα συνέχουσα. Εἴτε θεότητα τὴν φύσιν ταύτην ὀνομάζεσθαι χρὴ, εἶτε λόγον. εἴτε δύναμιν, είτε σοφίαν, εἶτε ἄλλο τι τῶν ὑψηλῶν τε καὶ μᾶλλον ὲνδείῂισθξει δυναμένων τὸν ὑπερκείμενον, οὐδὲν ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν περὶ φωνῆς ἢ ὀνόματος ἢ τύπου ῥημάτων διαφέρεται. Ἐπεὶ,οὖν πρὸς αὑτὸν πᾶσαὴ κτίσις βλέπει, καὶ περὶ αὐτόν ἐστι, καὶ διʼ,ὲκείνου πρὸς ἑαυτὴν συμφυὴς γίνεται, τῶν ἄνω τοίς κάτω, καὶ τῶν πλαγίων πρὸς stth διʼ ἐκείνου συμφυομένων, ἔδει μὴ μόνον διʼ ἀκοῆς ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν τῇς θεότητος κατανόησιν χειραγωγεῖσθαι · ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ὕψιν γενέσθαι τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων νοημάτων διδάσκαλον, ὅθεν. καὶ ὁ μέγας ὁρμηθεὶς Παῦλος μυσταγωγεῖ τὸν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ λαὸν, δύναμιν αὑtoi; ἐντιθεὶς διὰ τῆς, διδασκαλίας πρὸς τὸ γνῶναι τι ἐστι τὸ βάθος καὶ te ὕψος, τότε πλάτος καὶ τὸ μῆκος. Ἐκάστην γὰρ τοῦ σταυροῦ συμπροβολὴν ἰδίῳ ῥήματι καῖονομάζει. ’Ὕψος μὲν τὺ ὑπερέχον. βάθος δὲ τὸ ὑποκείμενον, πλάτος τε καὶ. μῆκος, τὰς πλαγίας ἐκτάσεις λέγων. Καὶ σαφέστερον ἑτέρωθισιιὺ τοιοῦτον νόημα πρὸς Φιλιππησίους, οἶμαι, ποιεῖ, οἷς φησιν ’ ὅτι Ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι. Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει, ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων. Ἐνταῦοα τὴν μέσην καὶ γαῖαν* μιᾷ προσηγορία καταλαμὸάνει, πᾶν τὸ διὰ μέσου τῶν ὲπουο ρανίων καὶ ὑποχθονίων ὀνομάσας ἐπίγειον. Τοῦτο μεμαθήκαμεν περὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὸ μυστήριον. Τὰ δὲ ,ἀπὸ τούτου τοιαῦτα κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον περιέχει ὁ λόγος, ὡς ὁμολογεῖσθαι καὶ παρά τῶν ἀπίστων, μηδὲν ἀλλότριον εἶναι,τῆς Θεοπρεποῦς ὑπολήψεως τὸ γὰρ μὴ ἐμμεῖναι τῷ θανάτῳ, καὶ τὰς διὰ τοῦ σιδήρου κατὰ τοῦ σώματος γενομένας πληγὰς, μηδὲν spiusδιον πρὸς τὸ ἀναστῆναι ποιήσασθαι, κατʼ ἐξουσίαν τε φαίνεσθαι τοῖς μαθηταῖς μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὅτε βούα λοιτο, παρεῖναί τε αὐτοῖς δρώμενον, καὶ ὲν μέσῳ γίγνεσθαι,,μηδὲ τῆς είσιῦδου τῆς διὰ τῶν προσδεόμενον, ἐνισχύειντε τοὺς μαθητὰς τῇ προσφνσήσει τοῦ Πνεύματος, ιωγγέλλισθαι τε καὶ τὸ μετʼ αὐτῶν εἶναι, καὶ, μηδενὶ μέσῳ διατειχίζεσθαι, καὶ τῷ μὲν φαινομένῳ πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνιέναι, τῷ δὲ νοουμένῳ πανταχῆ εἶναι, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα περιέχει ή ἱστορία, οὐδὲν τῆς ix. τῶν λογισμῶν συμμαχίας προσδέεται πρὸς τὸ Θείά τε εἶναι, καὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς καὶ ὑπερεχούσης δυνάμεως ο περὶ ὧν οὐδὲν οἶμαι. δεῖν καθʼ ικαστον διεξιέναι, αὐτόθεν τοῦ λόγου τὸ ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν ὲκφαίνοντος. Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ μέρος τι τῶν μυστικῶν διδαγμάτων καὶὴ περὶ τὸ λουτρόν ἐστιν oiκονομία ο ὃ εἴτε βάπτισμα, εἴτε φώτισμα, εἴτε παλιγγενεσίαν βούλοιτό τις ὀνομάζειν, οὐδὲν πρὸς τὴν όνομασίαν διαφερόμεθα, καλῶς ἃν ἔχοι καὶ περὶ τούτου ### English translation (Claude) What further do the objectors bring forward besides these things? That, above all, the transcendent nature ought not to have come to the experience of death at all, but even without this could have accomplished what it wished with ease by the superabundance of its power; and if it had to …, it ought not to have been outraged by the dishonourable manner of death. “For what death,” he says, “could be more dishonourable than death by the cross?” What, then, do we say to this too? That birth makes death necessary. For he who had once decided to share in humanity had to pass through all the properties of the nature. If, then, human life being bounded by two limits, he had come to be in the one and not touched the next, the purpose would have remained half-accomplished, the other property of our nature not having been touched. But perhaps one who has learned the mystery precisely would say more reasonably that death did not follow because of birth, but, on the contrary, birth was taken on for the sake of death. For he who lives forever does not enter bodily birth because he needs to live, but to call us back from death to life. Since, then, there had to be a return of our whole nature from death, stretching out a hand, as it were, to the one lying down, and for this reason bending down to our fallen corpse, he came so near to death as to touch deadness, and to give our nature the beginning of the resurrection by his own body, raising up the whole man together with himself by his power. For since the flesh that received God, which was raised up together with the Godhead through the resurrection, came from nowhere else but from our lump, just as in our body the activity of one of the senses brings the whole that is united with the part into shared perception, so, as if the whole nature were one living being, the resurrection of the part passes through to the whole, communicated from the part to the whole according to the continuity and unity of the nature. What, then, do we learn in the mystery that is beyond reason, if he who stands bends down to the one who has fallen, so as to raise up the one lying down? As for the cross, whether it contains some other, deeper meaning, those who have knowledge of hidden things would know; but what has come down to us by tradition is this. Since everything in the Gospel was said and done according to the loftier and more divine life, and there is nothing in it in which a certain mingling of the divine with the human does not appear, the voice or the act being carried out in human fashion while what is understood in secret shows the divine, it would follow in this matter too not to see the one and overlook the other, but in the deathless one to observe the human, and in the man to search out the more divine. For it is proper to the Godhead to pass through all things and to extend along with the nature of existing things in every part (for nothing would remain in being unless it remained in him who is; and what is properly and primarily is the divine nature, which the persistence of existing things compels us to believe is in all that exists): this we are taught through the cross, whose shape is divided four ways, so that from the middle, where it joins with itself, four projections are counted; because he who was stretched on it at the time of his economy in death is the one who binds and fits together the universe to himself, bringing the different natures of existing things together through himself into one agreement and harmony. For among existing things something is thought of either above or below, or the thought passes to the lateral limits. If, then, you consider the constitution of things in heaven or things under the earth, or of the limits of the universe on either side, everywhere the Godhead meets your reasoning first, alone seen in every part of existing things and holding all things together in being. Whether this nature should be named Godhead, or Word, or Power, or Wisdom, or anything else of the lofty terms that can better indicate the one who transcends all, our account has no quarrel about a sound or name or form of words. Since, then, all creation looks to him and is around him, and through him becomes coherent with itself, things above growing together with things below and the lateral with each other through him, it was necessary that we be led by the hand to the understanding of the Godhead not only through hearing, but that sight too should become a teacher of the loftier thoughts. Starting from this, the great Paul initiates the people in Ephesus, instilling in them through his teaching the power to know what is the depth and height, the breadth and length. For he names each projection of the cross by its own word: calling the height what is above, the depth what lies below, and breadth and length the lateral extensions. And elsewhere, I think, he makes such a thought clearer to the Philippians, to whom he says that “in the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.” Here he takes the middle and the arms together in one term, naming “earthly” all that is between things in heaven and things under the earth. This is what we have learned about the mystery of the cross. And what follows from this the account contains in sequence, such that even unbelievers admit that it is nothing foreign to the conception fitting to God: that he did not remain in death; that the wounds made in his body by the iron made no hindrance to his rising; that after the resurrection he appeared to the disciples at will whenever he wished, and was present with them unseen, and came to be in their midst, not needing entry through …; that he strengthened the disciples by breathing the Spirit on them; that he promised to be with them and to be walled off from them by nothing in between; that in what is seen he ascended to heaven, but in what is understood he is everywhere; and whatever else of the kind the history contains: none of these needs the support of reasonings to show that they are divine and belong to the lofty and transcendent power. I think there is no need to go through them one by one, since the account itself shows what is beyond nature. But since the economy concerning the washing is also a part of the mystical teachings (whether one wishes to call it baptism, or illumination, or regeneration, we have no quarrel about the name), it would be well about this too … ### Scripture references - Eph 3:18: quotation, high confidence - Phil 2:10: quotation, high confidence - John 20:19: allusion, high confidence - John 20:22: allusion, high confidence - Matt 28:20: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The quotations are Eph 3:18 and Phil 2:10; the appearances recall John 20:19–22, and the promise Matt 28:20. Several places are damaged in the scan: words are lost after “if it had to” (NPNF: if for some reason it was necessary, at least) and after “entry through” (NPNF: doors); “in the deathless one … in the man” is as printed, where NPNF's text reads “in the death … in the manner of it”; the section breaks off mid-sentence (NPNF: to discuss it briefly). Nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 32 (PG 45:77d–84a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-32). ## Catechetical Oration 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-33 - Source: PG 45:84a–84d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Baptism is a second birth into immortal life, accomplished by prayer, invocation of grace, water, and faith; as divine power makes a man from seed, so it can make the baptized incorruptible. ### Greek text Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ παρʼ ἡμῶν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀκούσωσιν, τι τοῦ θνητοῦ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν μεταβαίνοντος, ἀκόλουθον ἦν τῆς πρώτης γενέσεως ἐπὶ τὸν θνητὸν παραγούσης βίον, ἑτέραν γέννησιν ἐξευρεθῆναι, μήτε ἀπὸ φθορᾶς ἀρχομένην, μήτε εἰς φθοράν καταλήγουο σαν ο ἀλλʼ εἰς ἀθάνατον ζωὴν τὸν γεγεννημένον παράγουσαν. Ὠσπερ γὰρ ὲκ θνητῆς γεννήσεως θνητόν ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὸ γεγεννημένον ὑπέστη ο οὕτως ὲκ τῆς μὴ παραδεχομένης φθορὰν γεννήσεως τὸν γεννώμενον, κρεῖττον γένηται τῆς ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου φθορᾶς· ἐπειδάν τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἀκούσωσι, καὶ προδιδαχθῶσι τὸν τρόπον, ὅτι εὐχὴ πρὸς Θεὸν, καὶ χάριτος οὐρανίας ἐπίκλησις, καὶ ὕδωρ, καὶ πίστις ιστὶ, διʼ ὧν τὸ τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως πληροῦται μυστήριον, δυσπειθῶς ἔχουσι, πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον eisποντες, ὡς οὑ συμβαῖνον τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τὸ σωματικῶς ὲνεργούμενον. Πῶς γὰρ, φησὶν, εὐχὴ καὶ δυνάμεως θείας ἐπίκλησις ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος γιγνομένη, ζωῆς ἀρχηγὸς τοῖς μυουμένοις γίνεται; Πρὸς οὓς, εἴπερ λίαν ἔχοιεν ἀντιτύπως, ἁπλοῦς ἐξαρκεῖ λόγος, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ δόγματος ἀγαγεῖν συγκατάθεσιν. Ἀντςρωτήσω μὲν γάρ, τοῦ τρόπου τῆς κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως πᾶσιν ὄντος προδήλου, πῶς ἅνθρωπος έκεῖνο *ἐξερέορᾲὴῶ τῆς συστάσεως τοῦ ζώου καταβαλλόμενονς Ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδεὶς ἐπʼ ἐκείνου λόγος ἐστὶν, ὁ λογισμῷ τινι τὸ πιθανὸν ἐξευρίσκων. Τί γὰρ κοινὸν σπέρματι ἀνθρώπου πρὸς τὴν ὲν ἐκείνῳ θεωρουμένην ποιότητα; Συγκρινόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος λογικόν τι χρῆμα καὶ διανοητικόν ὲστι, νοῦ καὶ ὲπυστήμης δεκτικόν· ὲκεῖνο δὲ ὑγρᾷ τινι ὲνθεωρεῖται ποιότητι, καὶ πλεῖον οὐδὲν τοῦ κατʼ αἴσθησιν ὁρωμένου καταλαμβάνει ἔννοια. ’Ἢν τοίνυν εἰκός ἐστιν ἀπόκρισιν γενέσθαι ἡμῖν παρά τῶν ἐρωτηθέντων, ὅτι Πῶς ἐστι πιστὸν ἐξ ἐκείνου συστῆναι άνθρωπονς τοῦτο καὶ περὶ τῆς διὰ τοῦ ὓδατος γινομένης ἁναγεννήσεως ἐρωτηθέντες ἀποκρινούμεθα. Ἐκεῖ τε γάρ πρότερόν ἐστιν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὴρωτημένων εἰπεῖν, ὃτι θείᾳ δυνάμει ἐκεῖνος ἄνθρωπος γίγνεται, ἧς μὴπαρούσης, ἀκίνητόν ἐστι καί ἀνενέργητον. Et οὖν ἐκεῖ οὑ τὸ ὑποκείμενον ποιεί τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλʼ ἡ θεία δύναμις είς ἀνθρώπου φύσιν μεταποιεῖ τὸ φαινόμενον, τῆς ἐσχάτης ἂν εἴη ἀγνωμοσύνης, ἐκεῖ τοσαύτην τῷ Θεῷ προσμαρτυροῦντας δύναμιν, ἀτονιῖν ἑν τῷ μέρει τούτῳ τὸ Θιίον οἴεσθαι πρὸς τὴν ἐκπλήρωσιν τοῦ θελήματος. Τί κοινὸν, φασὶν, ὑδατι καὶ Coifi; Τί δὲ κοινὸν, πρὸς αὑτδν ἐροῦμεν, ὑγρότητι καὶ είκόνι Θεοῦ ; Ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν ἐκεῖ τὸ παράδοξον, εἰ Θεοῦ βουλομένου πρὸς τὸ τιμιώτατον ζῶον τὸ ὑγρὸν μισ ra6aivst. Τὸ ἴσον καὶ ἐπὶ τούτου φαμὲν, μηδὲν εἶναι θαυμαστὸν, εί θείας δυνάμεως παρουσία πρὸς ὶφθαρσέαν μετασκευάζει τὸ ἐν τῇ φθαρτῇ φύσει γε·- ### English translation (Claude) For when they hear such a thing from us (that, since the mortal passes over to life, it followed, the first birth leading to mortal life, that another birth should be found, neither beginning from corruption nor ending in corruption, but leading the one born into immortal life; for just as from a mortal birth what is born necessarily came into existence mortal, so from a birth that does not admit corruption the one born may become stronger than the corruption that comes from death); when they hear these and such things, and are taught beforehand the manner, that it is prayer to God and the invocation of heavenly grace, and water, and faith, through which the mystery of regeneration is fulfilled, they are hard to persuade, looking at what appears, as if what is done bodily did not agree with the promise. “For how,” he says, “does prayer and the invocation of divine power over the water become the source of life for those who are initiated?” To them, unless they are very obstinate, a simple argument suffices to bring them to assent to the doctrine. For I will ask in return, since the manner of fleshly birth is plain to all, how that which is laid down for the constitution of the living being becomes a man. There is no account in that case that finds the probable by any reasoning. For what has a man's seed in common with the quality seen in man? Man, when constituted, is a rational and intelligent thing, capable of mind and knowledge; but that is seen in a moist quality, and the mind grasps nothing more in it than what is seen by the senses. The answer, then, that we can expect from those asked how it is credible that a man is constituted from that, we shall give when asked about the regeneration that comes about through water. For there, each one asked has the answer ready, that that becomes a man by divine power, without whose presence it is motionless and inactive. If, then, there the subject does not make the man, but the divine power changes what appears into the nature of man, it would be the height of unfairness, while bearing witness to such power in God there, to think that the divine is weak in this matter for the fulfilment of his will. “What has water in common with life?” they say. “And what,” we shall say to him, “has moisture in common with the image of God?” But there is nothing strange there, if, God willing, the moist passes into the most honourable living being. We say the same in this case too: there is nothing wonderful if the presence of divine power transforms what is born in the corruptible nature into incorruption. ### Scripture references - John 3:5: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Gregory's account of baptism as a regeneration accomplished through prayer, invocation, water, and faith is translated as written; compare John 3:5. Two words damaged in the scan (“becomes,” “life”) are translated by sense, and the section breaks off in the middle of the last word as printed. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 33 (PG 45:84a–84d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-33). ## Catechetical Oration 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-34 - Source: PG 45:85a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ, shown to be God by his miracles, keeps his promise to be present when invoked, so the divine is surely present in baptism, and the prayer that precedes it confirms this. ### Greek text Ἀλλά ζητοῦσιν ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ παρεῖναι τὸ Θεῖον ἐπὶ άγιασμῶν τῶν γινομένων καλούμενον. Ὀ δὲ τοῦτο ζητῶν, ἀναγνώτω πάλιν τὰ κατόπιν ἐξητασμένα. Ἡ γὰρ κατασκευὴ τοῦ τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς ἡμῖν ἐπιφανεῖσαν δύναμιν, άληθῶς θείαν εἶναι, τοῦ παρόντος λόγου συνηγορία γίνεται. Δειχθέντος γὰρ τοῦ θεὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐν σαρκὶ φανερωθέντα, τοϊς διὰ τῶν γινομένων θαύμασι τὴν φύσιν ἑαυτοῦ δείξαντα, συναπεδείχθη τὸ παρεῖναι τοῖς γινομένοις αὐτὸν κατὰ πάντα καιρὸν ἐπικλήσεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων ἐστί τις ἰδιότης ἡ τὴν φύσιν γνωρίζουσα · οὕτως ἴδιόν ἐστι τῆς θείας φύσεως ἠ ἀλήθεια. Ἀλλά μὴν ἀεὶ παρέσεσθαι τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις ἐπήγγελται, καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν πιστευόντων εἶναι, καὶ ἐν πᾶσι μένειν-καὶ ἐκάστῳ συνεῖναι, καὶ οὐκέτʼ ἂν ἐτέρας είς τὸ παρεῖναι τὸ Θεῖον τοῖς γινομένοις ἀποδείξεως προσδεοίμεθα ο τὸν μὲν Θεὸν εἶναι διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων αὐτῶν πεπιστευκότες, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἀψευδεί τῆς ὑποσχέσεως παρεῖναι τὸ ἐπηγγελμένον οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλοντες. Τὸ δὲ προηγεῖσθαι τὴν διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς κλῆσιν τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας, περιουσία τίς ἐστι τῆς ἀποδείξεως τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τὸ ὲνεργούμενον. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐτέρου τῆς ἅνθρωποποιῖας εἴδους, αἱ τῶν γεννώντων ὁρμαὶ, κᾶν μὴ ἐῗτικληθῇ παρʼ αὐτῶν διʼ εὐχῆς τὸ Θείον, τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμει, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, διαπλάσσουσι τὸ γεννώμενον · ἦς χωρισθεὶσης ἄπρακτός ἐστιν ἡ σπουδὴ καὶ ἀνόνητος· πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἐν τῷ πνευματικῷ τῆς γεννήσεως τρόπῳ, καὶ Θεοῦ παρέσεσθαι τοῖς γενομένοις ὲπηγγελμένου, καὶ τὴν παρʼ ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ὲντεθεικότος τῷ ἔργῳ, καθὼς πεπιστεύκαμεν · καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας προαιρέσεως πρὸς τὸ σπουδαζόμενον τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐχούσης ο εί συμπαραληφθείη καθηκόντως ἡ διὰ τῆς εὐχῆς συμμαχία, μαλλον ἐπιτελὲς ἔσται τὸ σπουδαζόμενονς Καθάπερ δὲ οἱ ἐπιφᾶναι τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῖς εὐχόμενοι τῷ Θεῷ, οὐδὲν ἀμβλύνουσι τὸ πάντως γινόμενον· οὐδὲ μὴν ἄχρηστον εἶναί τις φήσει τὴν τῶν προσευχομένων σπουδὴν, εἰ περὶ τοῦ πάντως ἐσομένου τὸν Θεὸν ἱκετεύουσιν οὕτως οἱ πεπιστευμένοι, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδῆ τοῦ ἐπαγγειλαμένου ὑπόσχεσιν πάντως ’παρεῖναι τὴν χάριν τοῖς διὰ τῆς μυστικῆς ταύτης οἰκονομίας ἀναγεννωμένοις, ἢ προσθήκην τινὰ ποιοῦνται τῆς χάριτος, ἢ τὴν οὗ σαν οὐκ άποστρέφουσιν. Τὸ γάρ πάντως συνεῖναι διὰ τὸ Θεὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐπαγγειλάμενον πεπί· στευται. Ἦ δὲ τῆς Θεότητος μαρτυρία διὰ τῆς θαυ· μάτων ἐστίν. Ὥστε διὰ πάντων τὸ παρεῖναι τὸ Θεῖον, οὐδεμίαν ἀμφιβολίαν ἔχει. ‘ ### English translation (Claude) But they seek proof that the divine, being called upon, is present at the sanctifications that take place. Let one who seeks this read again what was examined earlier. For the demonstration that the power manifested to us through flesh is truly divine becomes the defence of the present argument. For once it has been shown that he who was manifested in the flesh is God, having shown his nature by the miracles that took place, it has been shown along with it that he is present in what is done at every time of invocation. For just as each existing thing has some peculiarity that makes its nature known, so truth is proper to the divine nature. And he has promised always to be present with those who call on him, to be in the midst of those who believe, to remain in all and to be with each; and we should need no other proof of the divine being present in what is done, since we have believed him to be God through the miracles themselves, and do not doubt that what was promised is present by the truthfulness of the promise. And that the calling by prayer precedes the divine economy is a superabundance of proof that what is worked is accomplished by God. For if in the other form of the making of man the impulses of those who beget, even if the divine is not invoked by them in prayer, form what is begotten by the power of God, as was said earlier, and when this is withdrawn their effort is ineffective and useless, how much more, in the spiritual manner of birth, when God has promised to be present at what is done and has put his own power into the work, as we have believed, and our will has its impulse toward what is sought, will what is sought be accomplished all the more, if the help that comes through prayer is duly taken along with it? And just as those who pray God that the sun may shine on them in no way blunt what will happen in any case, nor will anyone say that the zeal of those who pray is useless if they entreat God about what will certainly be, so those who have believed, according to the truthful promise of the one who promised, that grace is certainly present to those regenerated through this mystical economy, either make some addition to the grace or at least do not turn away what is present. For that he is certainly present is believed because the one who promised is God; and the testimony to the Godhead is through the miracles. So that the divine is present through all this admits no doubt. ### Scripture references - Matt 18:20: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 28:20: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The promises recall Matt 18:20 and 28:20. Gregory's teaching on the divine presence in baptism is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 34 (PG 45:85a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-34). ## Catechetical Oration 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-35 - Source: PG 45:85a–92b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Triple immersion imitates Christ's three days in the tomb and begins the destruction of evil; the baptized pass to blessedness in the resurrection, while the unpurified must be purified by fire over long ages until their nature is restored pure to God. ### Greek text 'H δὲ εἰς τὸ ὓδωρ κάθοδος, καὶ τὸ τρὶς ἐν αὐτῴ γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἕτερον ἐμπεριέχει μυστήο ριον.. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ό τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν τρόπος οι τοσοῦτον ἐκ τῆς κατὰ διαδοχὴν ὐφηγήσεως ἐνεργὸς γὲγονεν, ὅσον διʼ αὐτῶν ὧν ἐποίησεν ό τὴν πρὸς τὸε ἄνθρωπον ὑποστὰς κοινωνίαν, ἔργῳ τὴν ζωὴν ὲνερ γήσας. ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἀναληφθείσης παρʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ συναποθεωθείσης σαρκὸς ἅπαν συνδιασωθῆναι τὺ συγγενὲς αὐτῇ καὶ ὁμόφυλον, ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἐπινοηθῆναί τινα τρόπον, ἓν ᾧ τις ἦν συγγένειά τε καὶ ὁμοιότης έν τοῖς ’γινομένοις παρὰ τοῦ ἑπομένου πρὸς τὸν ἡγούμενον. Χρὴ τοίνυν ἰδεῖν ὲν τίσιν ό τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν καθηγησάμενος ἐθεωρήθη οἴνα, καθώς φησιν ὁ ῘΑπόστολος, κατὰ τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν κατορθωθῇ τοῖς ἑπομένοις ἦ μίμησις. ’Ὥσπερ γὰρ παρὰ τῶν πεπαιδευμένων τὰ τακτικᾶ πρὸς τὴν ὁπλιτικὴν ἐμπειρίαν ἀνάγονται, διʼ ὧν βλέπουσιν οἱ πρὸς τὴν εὔρυθμόν τε καὶ ὲνόπλιον κίνησιν παιδευόμενοι. 0 δὲ μὴ πράττων τὸ προδεικνύμενον, ἀμέτοχος τῆς τοιαύτης ἐμπειρίας μένει. Κατὰ τόν αὐτὸν τρόπον τῷ πρὸς τὴν σωτήριαν ἡμῶν ’ἐξηγουμένῳ πάντως οἷς ἴση πρὸς τό ἀγαθόν ἐστιν ἡ σπουδὴ, ὁμοίως ὲπάναγκες διὰ μιμῆσεως ἕπεσθαι, τὸ παρʼ αὑτοῦ προδειχθὲν εἰς ἔργον ἀγαγόντας. Οὔ γὰρ ἔστι πρὸς τὸ ίσον καταρτίσαι πέρας, μὴ διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων ὁδεύσαντας. Καθάπερ γάρ οἱ τὰς τῶν λαβυρίνθων πλάνας διεξελθεῖν ἀμηχανοῦντες, εί τινος ἐμπείρως ἔχοντος ἐπιτύχοιεν, κατόπιν ἑπόμενοι τὰς ποικίλας τε καὶ ditat-niti; τῶν οἴκων ἀναστροφὰς διεξέρχονται, οὐκ ἂν διεξελθόντες, εἰ μὴ κατʼ ἴχνος ἑπόμενοι τῷ προἀγοντν οὕτω μοι νόησον καὶ τδν τοῦ βίου τούτου λαβύρινθον ἀδιεξίτητον εἶναι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, εί μή τις τῆς αὐτῆς 6δοῦ λάβοιτο, διʼ ἧς ὲν αὐτῷ γενόμενος ἔξω κατέστη τοῦ περιέχοντος. Λαβύρινθον δέ φημι τροπικῶς, τὴν ’ἀδιέξοδον ’τοῦ θανάτου φθοε ρὰν, τὸ δείλαιον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γένος περιεσχέθηε Τί οὖν περὶ τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς σωτηρίας ἐθεασάμεθα; τριήμερόν νέκρωσιν, καὶ πάλιν ζωήν. Οὐκοῦν χρή τε τοιοῦτον καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἐπινοηθῆναι ὁμοίωμα. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἡ ἐπίνοια, διὸ ἧς καὶ ὲν ἠμῖν πληροῦται τοῦ παρʼ ἐκείνου γεγονότος ἡ μίμησις; ἅπαν τὸ νεκρωθὲν οἰκεῖόν τινα καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχει χῶρον, τὴν γῆν ὲν ᾗ κλίνεται καὶ κατακρύπτεται. Πολλὴν δὲ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὴν συγγένειαν ἔχει γῆ τε καὶ ὕδωρ,”μόνα ,τῶν στοιχείων βαρέα τε ὄντα, καὶ κατωφερῆ, καὶ ὲν ἀλλήλοις μένοντα, καὶ διʼ ἀλλήλων κρατούμενα. Ἐπεὶ-οὗν τοῦ καθηγουμένου τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ό θάνατος ὑπόγειος, καὶκατὰ τὴν κοινὴν γέγονε φύσιν, ,ὴ τοῦ θανάτου μίμησιςή παρʼ ἡμῶν γινομένη, ὲν τῷ γείτονι ἀποτυποῦται στοιχείῳ. Καὶ ὼς ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἀνωθεν ἅνθρωπος,,ἀναλαὸὼν τὴν νεκρότητα μετὰ τὴν ὑπόγειον θέσιν, τριταῖος ἐπὶ τὴν ζωὴν πάλιν ἀνέδραμεν· οὕτω πᾶς ό συνημμένος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν ἐκείνῳ, πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ κατόρθωμα βλέπων, τὸ κατά τὴν ζωὴν λέγω πέρας, ἀντὶ γῆς τὺ ὕδωρ ὲπιχεάμενος, καὶ ὑποδὺς τὸ- στοιχεῖον, ὲν τρισὶ περιόδοις τὴν τριήμερον τῆς ἀναστάσεως χάριν ἀπεμιμήσατο. Εἴρηται δὲ τοιοῦτον καὶ ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν, ὅτι κατʼ οἰκονομίαν ἐπῆκται τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει παρά τῆς θείας προνοίας ό θάνατοςʼ ὡς τῆς κακίας ὲν τῇ διαλύσει τοῦ σῴματος καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ὲκρυείσης, πάλιν διὰ τῆη ἀναστάσεως σῶον, καὶ ἀπαθῆ, καὶ ἀκέραιον, κα stata κακίαν ἐπιμιξίας ἀλλότριον ἀναστοι χειωθῆναι τὸν ἀνθ ρωπον. Ἀλλʼ ὲπὶ μὲν τοῦ καθηγουο μένου τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, τὸ τέλειον ἡκατά τὸν θάνατον ἔσχεν οἰκονομία, κατά τὸν ἴδιον σκοπὸν ἐντεσλῶςπληρωθεῖσα. Διεστάλη τε γὰρ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τά ἡνωμένα καὶ πάλιν συνήχθη τὰ διακεκριμένα · ὡς ἂν καθαρθείσης τῆς φύσεως ἐν τῇ τῶν συμφυῶν διαλύσει, ψυχῆς τε λέγω καὶ σώματος, πάλιν ἡ τῶν κεχωρισμένων ἐπάνοδος τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἐπιμιξίας γένοιτο καθαρεύουσα. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀκολουθούντων τῷ καθηγουμένῳ, οὐ χωρεῖ τὴν ἀκριβῆ μίμησιν διʼ ὅλων ἡ φύσις ο ἀλλʼ ὅσον δυνατῶς ἔχει, τοσοῦτον νῦν παραδεξαμένη, τὸ λεῖπον ἐν τῷ μετά ταῦτα ταμιεύεταε χρόνῳ. ᾈΤί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ μιμεῖται; Τὸ τῆς ὲμμίιχθείσης κακίας ὲν τῇ τῆς νεκρώσεως είκόνι τῇ γενομένῃ διὰ ’ἰοῦ ὓδατος τὸν ἀφανισμὸν ἐμποιῆσαι, οὐ μὴν τελείως ἀφανισμὸν, ἀλλά τινα διακοπὴν τῆς τοῦ κακοῦ συν· εχείας, συνδραμόντων δυοῖν πρὸς τὴν τῆς κακίας ἀναίρεσιν, τῆς τε τοῦ πλημμελήσαντος μεταμελείας, καὶ τῆς τοῦ θανάτου μιμήσεως, διʼ ὧν ὲκλύεταί πως δ ἄνθ ρωπος τῆς πρὸς τὸ κακὸν συμφυΐας, τῇ μεταμελε ίᾳ μὲν είς μῖσός τε καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσιν τῆς κακίας χωρῶν, τῷ δὲ Θανάτῳ τοῦ κακοῦ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν ἐργαζόμενος. Ἀλλʼ εί μὲν ἦν δυνατὸν, ὲν τελείῳ τῷ θανάτῳ γενέσθαι τὸν μιμούμενον, οὐδʼ ἂν μίμησις, ἀλλά ταύτότης τὸ γινόμενον ἦν, καὶ είς τὸ παντελὲς τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν τὸ κακὸν ἠφανίζετο· ὣστε, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐφʼ ἅπαξ ἀποθάνῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ, καθὼς εἴρηται, τοσοῦτον μιμούμεθα τῆς ύπερεχούσης δυνάμεως, ὅσον χωρεῖ ἡμῶν ἡ πτωχεία τῆς φύσεως τὸ ὕδωρ τρὶς ὲπιχεάμενοι, καὶ πάλιν ἀναεᾶντες ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος, τὴν σωτήριον ταφὴν καὶ ἀνάστασιν τὴν ὲν τριημέρῳ γενομένην τῷ χρόνῳ ἀποκρινόμεθα, τοῦτο λαβόντες κατά διάνοιαν, ὅτι ὡς ἡμῖν τὸ ὕδωρ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐν αύτῷ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἐξ αὑτοῦ πάλιν ἀναδῦναι, κατά τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον ἐπʼ ἐξουσίας ἦν ὁ τοῦ παντὸς ἔχων τὴν δεσποτείαν, ὼς ἡμεῖς ἐν τῷ ὖδατι, οὕτως ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ καταεδυεὶς, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν ίδίαν ἀναλύειν μακαριότητα. Εἰ οὖν τις πρὸς τὸ εἰκὸς βλέποι, καὶ κατά τὴν ἑκατέρου δύναμιν τὰ γινόμενα κρίνοι, οὐδεμίαν ἐν τοῖς γινομένοις εὑρήσει διαφωνίαν ἐκατέρου, κατά τὸ τῆς φύσεως μέτρον ἐξεργασαμένου τὰ κατά δύναμιν)- Ὢς γάρ ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ ὕδωρ, πρὸς τὸ ἀκινδύνως λεπιθιγγάνειν, εἱ βούλοιτο, ἀπειροπλασίως τῇ θείᾳ δυνάμει κατʼ εὐκολίαν θάνατος πρόκειται, καὶ ἐν αύτῷ γενέσθαι, καὶ μὴ τραπῆναι πρὸς πάθος. Διά τοῦτο τοίνυν ἀναγκαῖον ἡμῖν τὸ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι προμελετῆσαι τὴν τῆς ἀναστάσεως χάριν, ὡς ἂν εἰδείημεν, ὅτιτὸ ἴσον ἡμῖν εἰς εὐκολίαν ἐστὶν, ὕδατί τε βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου πάλιν ἀναδῦναι. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὲν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον γενομένοις τινά τινών εστιν ἀρχηγικὼτερα, ὧν ἀνευ κᾶν τὸ γινόμενον κατορθοιθείη, καίτοι εί πρὸς τό πέραςή ἀρχὴ κρίνοιτο, ἀντʼ οὐδενὸς εἶναι δόξει τοῦ πράγματος ἡάρχὴ συγκρινομένη τῷ τέλει. Τί γὰρ ἴσον ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τδ πρὸς τὴν σύστασιν τοῦ ζώου καταβαλλόμενον ; Ἀλλʼ ὅμως εί μὴ ἐκεῖνο εἴη, οὐδʼ ἂν τοῦτο γένοιτο. Οὕτως καὶ τὸ κατά τὴν μεγάλην ἀνάστασιν μεῖζον ὃν τῇ φύσει, τὰς ἀρχάς ἐντεῦθεν καὶτὰς αἰτίας ἔχει. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν ἐκεῖνο γενέσθαι, εἰ μὴ τοῦτο προκαθηγήσαιτο. Μὴ δύνασθαι δέ φημι δίχα τῆς κατά τὸ λουτρὸν ἀναγεννήσεως ἐν ἀναστάσει γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ού πρὸς τὴν τοῦ συγκρίματος ἡμῶν ἁνάπλασίν τε καὶ ἀναστοιχείωσιν ἀναβλέποντες. Πρὸς τοῦτο γὰρ δεῖ πάντως πορευθῆναι τὴν φύσιν οἰκείαις ἀνάγκαις κατὰ τὴν τοῦ τάξαντος οἰκονομίαν συνωθουμένην, κᾶν προσλάβῃ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λουτροῦ χάριν, κᾶν ἄμοιρος μείνῃ τῆς τοιαύτης μυήσεως, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ μακάριόν τε καὶ θεῖον καὶ πάσης κατηφείας κεχωρισμένον ἀποκατάστασιν. Οὐ γὰρ ὅσα διʼ ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ εἶναι πάλιν ἐπάνοδον δέχεται, πρὸς τὸν αὑτὸν ἐπάνεισι βίον. Ἀλλὰ πολὺ τὸ μέσον τῶν τε κεκαθαρμένων, καὶ τῶν τοῦ καθαρσίου προσδεομένων ἐστίν. Ἐφʼ ὧν γὰρ κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον ή διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ προκαθηγήσατο κάθαρσις, πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς τούτοις ἀναχώρησις ἔσται. Τῷ δὲ καθαρῷ τὸ ἀπαθὲς προσῳκείωται. Ἐν δέ τῇ ἀπαθείᾳ τὸ μακάριον εἶναι οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλεται. Οἷς δὲ προσεπωρώθη τά πάθη, καὶ οὐδὲν προήχθη τῆς κηλίδος καθάρσιον · οὐχ ὕδωρ μυστικὸν, οὐκ ἐπίκλησις θείας δυνάμεως, οὐχ ή ὲκ μεταμελείας ὅρθωσις · ἀνάγκη πᾶσα, καὶ τούτους ἐν τῷ καταλλήλῳ γενέσθαι. Κατάλληλον δέ τῷ κεκιΰδηλευμένῳ χρυσίῳ τὸ χωνευτήριον, ὡς τῆς ἐμμιχθείσης αὐτοῖς κακίας ἀποτακείσης, μακροῖς ὕστερον αἰῶσι καθαρὰν ἀποσωθῆναι τῷ Θεῷ τὴν φύσιν. Ἐπεὶ οῦν ρυπτική τίς ἐστι δύναμις ἐν τῷ πυρὶ καὶ τῷ ῦδατι, οἱ διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ μυστικοῦ τὸν τῆς κακίας ῥύπον ἀποκλυσάμενοι, τοῦ ἐτέρου τῶν καθαρσίων εἴδους ούκ ἐπιδέονται. Ol δέ ταύτης ἀμύητοι τῆς καθάρσεως ἀναγκαίως τῷ πυ ρὶ καθαρίζονται. ### English translation (Claude) The descent into the water, and the person's being in it three times, contains another mystery. For since the manner of our salvation became effective not so much from instruction handed down as through the very things done by him who entered into fellowship with man, working life in deed, so that through the flesh assumed by him and deified along with him all that is akin and of the same race might be saved together with it, it was necessary to devise some manner in which there would be a kinship and likeness, in what is done, between the follower and the leader. We must see, then, in what things the leader of our life was seen, so that, as the Apostle says, the imitation may be accomplished by those who follow according to the pioneer of our salvation. For just as drill is brought by trained men to skill in arms through what is seen by those who are learning rhythmic armed movement, while he who does not do what is shown remains without share in such skill, in the same way all who have equal zeal for the good must necessarily follow by imitation the one who leads the way to our salvation, bringing into act what he has shown beforehand. For it is not possible to arrive at the same end without travelling by the same ways. For as those who cannot find their way through the wanderings of labyrinths, if they come upon someone experienced, pass through the various and bewildering turnings of the chambers by following behind, which they could not have passed through unless they followed step by step the one who leads, so, I pray you, consider the labyrinth of this life to be impassable to human nature, unless one takes the same road by which he, having been in it, came to be outside what enclosed him. By labyrinth I mean figuratively the inescapable prison of death, in which the wretched race of man was enclosed. What, then, did we behold in the pioneer of salvation? A three-day deadness, and life again. So some such likeness must be devised in us too. What, then, is the device by which the imitation of what happened in him is fulfilled in us too? Everything that has died has a proper and natural place, the earth, in which it is laid and hidden. And earth and water have great kinship with one another, being the only elements that are heavy and tend downward, remaining in one another and held by one another. Since, then, the death of the leader of our life was beneath the earth and according to our common nature, the imitation of death made by us is expressed in the neighbouring element. And as that man from above, having taken on deadness, after being placed beneath the earth, ran back to life on the third day, so everyone joined with him by the nature of the body, looking to the same success (I mean the goal of life), having water poured on him instead of earth and going down into the element, imitates in three rounds the three-day grace of the resurrection. Something of this kind was also said earlier: that death was brought upon human nature by divine providence as a dispensation, so that, vice having flowed out at the dissolution of body and soul, man might be recomposed again through the resurrection sound, impassible, pure, and foreign to any admixture of vice. In the case of the leader of our salvation, the economy of death had its completion, fulfilled perfectly according to its own aim. For through death what was united was separated, and what was separated was brought together again, so that, the nature having been purified in the dissolution of the things grown together, I mean soul and body, the return of what was separated might be pure of foreign admixture. But in the case of those who follow the leader, nature does not admit exact imitation in everything; receiving now as much as it is able, it reserves what is lacking for the time after. What, then, does it imitate? It brings about the annihilation of the mixed-in vice in the image of deadness made through the water; not indeed a complete annihilation, but a certain interruption of the continuity of evil, two things running together for the removal of vice: the repentance of the one who has done wrong and the imitation of death. Through these man is somehow released from his natural union with evil, advancing by repentance to hatred of vice and estrangement from it, and by death working the annihilation of evil. But if it were possible for the imitator to come to be in complete death, what happened would not be imitation but identity, and evil would be annihilated from our nature entirely, so that, as the Apostle says, he “died to sin once for all.” But since, as has been said, we imitate the transcendent power as far as the poverty of our nature admits, by having water poured on us three times and coming up again from the water we represent the saving burial and resurrection that took place in the space of three days, keeping this in mind: that as water is in our power, both to be in it and to come up from it again, in the same way it was in the power of him who holds dominion over the universe, having plunged into death as we into the water, to return again to his own blessedness. If, then, one looks to what is reasonable and judges what happens by the power of each, he will find no discord in what happens, each accomplishing what is within his power according to the measure of his nature. For as water is available to man to touch without danger if he wishes, infinitely more easily is death available to the divine power, both to be in it and not to be changed by suffering. For this reason, then, it is necessary for us to rehearse beforehand in the water the grace of the resurrection, so that we may know that it is equally easy for us to be baptized in water and to rise again from death. But just as among the things that happen in life some are more fundamental than others, without which what happens could not be achieved (although, if the beginning were judged against the end, the beginning of the matter would seem to be nothing compared with the end; for what equality is there between a man and what is laid down for the constitution of the living being? Yet if that were not, neither would this come to be), so too what belongs to the great resurrection, though greater in nature, has its beginnings and causes here. For that cannot happen unless this goes before. I say that man cannot come to be in the resurrection without the regeneration of the washing, not looking to the refashioning and recomposition of our compound. For to this nature must by all means proceed, compelled by its own necessities according to the economy of the one who ordered it, whether it receives the grace of the washing or remains without share in such initiation; but I mean the restoration to what is blessed and divine and separated from all dejection. For not all that receives the return to being through resurrection returns to the same life; great is the interval between those who have been purified and those who still need purification. For those in whom the purification through the washing has gone before in this life, the departure will be to what is akin to them. And impassibility is akin to the pure; and that blessedness lies in impassibility is not doubted. But those in whom the passions have hardened, and to whom no purification of the stain has been applied, no mystical water, no invocation of divine power, no correction from repentance, must necessarily also come to be in what is fitting for them. And the fitting thing for adulterated gold is the smelting furnace, so that, the vice mixed into them having been melted out, after long ages their nature may be restored pure to God. Since, then, there is a cleansing power in fire and in water, those who have washed away the filth of vice through the mystical water do not need the other form of purification; but those uninitiated in this purification are necessarily purified by fire. ### Scripture references - Heb 2:10: allusion, high confidence - Rom 6:10: quotation, high confidence - Rom 6:4: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “Pioneer of our salvation” is Heb 2:10; “died to sin once for all” is Rom 6:10; burial with Christ in baptism recalls Rom 6:4. Gregory's teaching on triple immersion, and on the purifying fire by which the unbaptized are after long ages restored (ἀποκατάστασις) pure to God, is translated as written. A few words damaged in the scan (“bewildering,” “any admixture”) are translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 35 (PG 45:85a–92b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-35). ## Catechetical Oration 36 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-36 - Source: PG 45:92b–93a - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Baptism, requiring only faith and water, is a small and easy beginning that brings the baptized into participation in God's purity. ### Greek text Μὴ γὰρ εἶναι δυνατὸν ὃ τε κοινὸς δείκνυσι λόγος, καὶ ὴ τῶν Γραφῶν διδασκαλία, ἐντὸς τοῦ θείου γενέσθαι χοροῦ τὸν μὴ καθαρῶς πάντας τοὺς ἐκ κακίας σπίλους ἀποῤῥυψάμενον. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ μικρὸν ὃν καθʼ ἑαυτὸ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν ἀρχή τε καὶ ὑπόθεσις γίνεται. Μικρὸν δέ φημι τῇ εὐκολίᾳ τοῦ κατορθώματος. Τίς γὰρ πάρεστι πόνος τῷ πράγματι, πιστεῦσαι πανταχοῦ τὸν Θεὸν εἶναι ἐν πᾶσι δὲ ὄντα, παρεῖναι καὶ τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις τὴν ζωτικὴν αὐτοῦ δύναμιν, παρόντα δὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον madv; Ἴδιον δὲ τῆς θείας ἐνεργείας ἡ τῶν δεομένων ἐστὶ σωτηρία. Αὕτη δὲ διὰ τῆς ἐν ὓδατι καθάρσεως ἐνεργὸς γίνεται. '0 δὲ καθαρισθεὶς ἐν μετουσίᾳ τῆς καθαρότητος ἔσται. τὸ δὲ ἀληθῶς καθαρὸν ὴ θεότης ἐστίν. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως μικρόν τι τὸ κατά τὴν ἀρχήν ἐστι καὶ εὐκατόρθωτον, πίστις καὶ ὕδωρ · ἡ μὲν ἐντὸς τῆς προαιρέσεως ἡμῶν ἀποκειμένη· τὸ δὲ σύντροςον τῇ ἀνθρωπίνη ζωῇ. ’Λλλά τὸ ἐκ τούτων ἀναφυόμενον ἀγαθὸν ὅσον καὶ οἷον, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ Gaio» ἔχειν τὴν οἰκειότητας ### English translation (Claude) For both common reason and the teaching of the Scriptures show that it is not possible for one who has not purely washed away all the stains of vice to come within the divine choir. This is what, though small in itself, becomes the beginning and foundation of great goods. I call it small by the ease of the achievement. For what labour is there in the matter, to believe that God is everywhere, and, being in all, is present also to those who call upon his life-giving power, and, being present, does what is proper to him? And the salvation of those in need is proper to the divine activity; and this becomes effective through the purification in water. And he who is purified will be in participation of purity; and what is truly pure is the Godhead. You see how small and easily accomplished the beginning is: faith and water, the one lying within our will, the other the familiar companion of human life. But the good that springs from these, how great and of what kind, so as to have kinship with the divine itself! ### Scripture references - Heb 12:14: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The need for purity to enter the divine company recalls Heb 12:14. “Does what is proper to him” and “the divine itself” translate words damaged in the scan. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 36 (PG 45:92b–93a; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/32/#p-36). ## Catechetical Oration 37 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-37 - Source: PG 45:93a–97c - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: As the soul is united to Christ by faith, the body is united to him by the Eucharist: as bread became Christ's body by nourishment, the bread sanctified by the Word and prayer is changed into his body, making believers sharers in incorruption. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ διπλοῦν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ψυχῇ τε καὶ σώματι συγκεκραμένον, ἀνάγκη τῷ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν καθηγουμένῳ, διʼ ἀμφοτέρων τοὺς σωζομένους ὲφέπεσθαι. Οὐκοῦν ἠ ψυχὴ μὲν διὰ πίστεως πρὸς αύτὺν ἀνακραθείσα τὰς ἀφορμάς ἐντεῦθεν τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχει · ή γάρ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἓνωσις τὴν τῆς ζωῆς κοινωνίαν ἔχει. Τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἕτερον τρόπον ὲν μετουσίᾳ τε καὶ ἀνακράσει τοῦ σώζοντος γίνεται. Ὠσπερ γάρ οί δηλητήριον διʼ ἔπιβουλῆς λαβόντες, ἄλλῳ φαρμάκῳ τὴν φθοροποιὸν δύναμιν ἔσβεσαν · χρὴ δὲ καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τοῦ ὀλεθρίου καὶ τὺ ἀλεξιτήριον ἐντὸς τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων γενέσθαι σπλάγχνων, ὼς ἂν διʼ ἐκείνων ἐφʼ ᾶπαν καταμερισθείη τὸ σῶμα ἡ τοῦ βοηθοῦντος δύναμις· οὕτω τοῦ διαλύοντος τὴν φύσινἡμῶν άπογευσάμενοι, πάλιν ἀναγκαῖον ὡς καὶ τοῦ συνάγοντος τὸ διαλελυμένον ὲπεδεήθημεν ὡς ἂν ὲν ἡμῖν γενόμενον τὸ τοιοῦτον ἁλεξιτήριον τὴν προεντεθεῖσαν τῷ σώματι τοῦ δηλητηρίου βλάβην διὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀντιπαθείας ἀπώσοιτο. Τί οὗν ἐστι τοῦτο; Οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἦ ἐκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα, ὃ τοῦ τε θανάτου κρεῖττον ἐδείχθη, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν κατήρξατο. Καθάπερ γάρ μικρὰ ζύμη, καθώς φησιν ὁ ’Δπόστολος, ὅλον τὸ φύραμα πρὸς ἑαυτὴν συνεξομοιοῖ, οὕτως τὸ ἀθανατισθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ σῶμα ὲν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ γενόμενον, ὅλον πρὸς ἑαυτὸ μεταποιεῖ καὶ μετατίθησιν. Ὠς γὰρ τοῦ φθοροποιοῦ πρὸς τὸ ὑγιαῖνον ἁναμιχθέντος, ἅπαν τὸ ἀιακραθὲν συνηχρείωταιο οὕτως καὶ τὸ ἀθάνατον σῶμα ἐντῷ ἀναλαβόντι αὐτὸ γενόμενον, πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν καὶ τὸ πᾶν μετεποίησεν. Ἀλλά μὴν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ἐντός τι γίγνεσθαι τοῦ σώματος, μὴ διὰ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως τοῖς σπλάγχνοις καταμιγνύμενον. Ούκοῦν ἐπάναγκες κατά τὸν δυνατὸν τῇ φύσει τρόπον τὴν ζωοποιὸν δύναμιν τοῦ Πνεύ ματος δέξασθαι. Μόνον δὴ τοῦ Θεοδόχου σώματος ἐκείνου ταύτην δεξαμένου τὴν χάριν, ἄλλως δὲ δειχθέντος μὴ εἶναι δυνατὸν ὲν ἀθανασία γενέσθαι τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα, εί μὴ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀθάνατον κοινωνίας ὲν μετουσίᾳ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας γενόμενον ο σκοπῆσαι προσήκει, πῶς ὲγέο νετο δυνατὸν τὸ ἓν ἐκεῖνο σῶμα ταῖς τοσαύταις τῶν πιστῶν μυριάσι κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην εἰσαεὶ καταμεριζόμενον, ὅλον ὲν ἑκάστῳ διὰ τοῦ μέρους γενέσθαι, καὶΙ αὐτὸ μένειν ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ ὅλον. Οὐκοῦν ὡς ἂν πρὸς τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἡμῖν ἡ πίστις βλέπουσα, μηδεμίαν ἀμφιβολίαν περὶ τοῦ προκειμένου νοήματος ἔχοι, μικρόν τι προσήκει παρασῃλῆσαι τὸν λόγον είς τὴν φυσιολογίαν τοῦ σώματος, Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι ή τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν φύσις αὐτὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν ἐν ἰδίᾳ τινὶ ὑποστάσει ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχειʼ ἀλλά διὰ τῆς ἐπιρο ῥεούσης αὐτῇ δυνάμεως συνέχει τε ἑαυτὴν καὶ ἐν τῷ sint μένει, ἀπαύστῳ κινήσει τὸ ἐλλεῖπον πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐφελκομένη, καὶ τὸ περιττεῦον ἀπωθουμὲνη;Κα“ι ὥσπερ τις ἀσκὸς ύγροῦ τινος πλήρης ὢν, εἰ κατὰ τὸν πυθμένα τὸ ἐγκείμενον ὑπεξίοι, οὐκ ἂν φυλάσσοι τὺ περὶ τὸν ὄγκον ἑαυτοῦ σχῆμα, μὴ ἀντειπόντος ἄνωθεν ἐτέρου πρὸς τὸ κενούμενονο ὥστε τὸν ὁρῶντα τὴν ὀγκώδη τοῦ ἀγγείου τούτου περιοχὴν, εἰδέναι μὴ ἰδίαν εἶναι τοῦ φαινομένου · ἀλλά τὸ εἰσρέον ἐν αὑτῷ γινόο μενον σχηματίζειν τὸ περιέχον τὸν ὄγκον· οὕτω καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν κατασκευὴ ἴδιον μὲν πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῆς σύστασιν οὐδὲν ἡμῖν γνώριμον ἔχει, διὰ δὲ τῆς ὲπεισαγομένης δυνάμεως, ὲν τῷ εἷναι μένει. Ἡ δὲ δύναμις αῦτη τροφὴ καὶ ἔστι καὶ λέγεται. Ἔτι δὲ οὐχ ὴ αὑτὴ πᾶσι τοῖς τρεφομένοις σώμασι, ἀλλά τις ἑκά· στῳ κατάλληλος παρὰ τοῦ τὴν φύσιν οἰκονομοῦντος ἀποκεκλήρωται. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῶν ζώων ριζωρυχοῦντα τρέφεται ' ἑτέροις ἐστὶν ἡ πόα τρόφιμος · τινῶν δὲ ή τροφὴ σάρκες εἰσίν. Ἀνθρώπῳ δὲ κατά τὸ προηιιγούμενον ἄρτος, καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὑγροῦ διαμονὴν καὶ συντήρησιν ποτὸν γίνεται, οὐκ αὐτὸ μόνον τὸ ὕδωρ, ἀλλʼ οἴνῳ πολλάκις ὲφηδυνόμενον, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Οερμοῦ τοῦ ὲν ἡμῖν συμμαχίαν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ πρὸς ταῦτα βλέπων, δυνάμει πρὸς τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ ἡμετέρου σώματος βλέπει. Ἐν ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα γενόμενα αἷμα καὶ σῶμα γίνεται καταλλήλως, διὰ τῆς ἀλλοιωτικῆς δυνάμεως πρὸς τὸ τοῦ σώματος εἶδος τῆς τροφῆς καθισταμένης. Τούτων ἡμῖν τοῦτον διευκρινηθέντων τδν τρόπον, ἐπανακτέον πάλιν πρὸς τὰ προκείμενα τὴν διάνοιαν. Ἐξητεῖτο γὰρ, πῶς τὸ ἐν ἐκείνῳ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πᾶσαν ζωοποιεί τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν, ἐν ὅσοις ἠ πίστις ἐστὶ, πρὸς πάντας μεριζόμενον, καὶ αὐτὸ οὐ μειούμενον. Τάχα τοίνυν ἐγγὺς τοῦ εἰκότος λόγου γινόμεθα. Εἰ γὰρ παντὸς σώματος ἡ ὑπόστασις ὲκ τῆς τροφῆς γίνεται, αὕτη δὲ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις ἐστίνʼ ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ βρώσει ἄρτος, ὲν δὲ τῇ πόσει τὸ ὕδωρ ἒφηδυσμένον τῷ οἴνῳ · ό δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, καθὼς ὲν τοῖς πρώτοις διῄρηται, ό καὶ Θεὸς ὢν καὶ Λόγος, τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ συνεκράθη φύσει, καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡμετέρῳ γενόμενος, οὐκ ἄλλην τινὰ παρεκαινοτόμησε τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τὴν σύστασιν θ ἀλλά διὰ τῶν συν·ήθων τε καὶ καταλλήλων ἔδωκε τῷ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν σώματι τὴν διαμονὴν, βρώσει καὶ πόσει περικρατῶν τὴν ὑπόστασιν. Ἦ δὲ βρῶσις ἄρτος ἦν. Ὠσπερ τοίνυν ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, καθὼς ἤδη πολλάκις εἴρηται, ό τὸν ἄρτον ἰδὼν, τρόπον τινὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον βλέπει σῶμα, ὅτι ὲν τούτῳ ἐκεῖνο γενόμενον, τοῦτο γίνεται ’ οὓτω κάκεῖ τὸ θεοδόχον σῶμα τὴν τροφὴν ἄρτου παραδεξάμενον, λόγῳ τινὶ ταύτὸν ἦν ἐκείνῳ, τῆς τροφῆς, καθὼς εἴρηται, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σώματος φύσιν μεθισταμένης. Τὸ γὰρ πάντων ἴδιον, καὶ ἐπʼ ἐκείνης τῆς σαρκὸς ὡμολογήθη, ὃτι ἄρτῳ κάκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα διεκρατεῖτο. Τὸ δὲ σῶμα τῇ ἐνοικήσει τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου πρὸς τὴν Οεῐκὴν ἀξίαν μετεποιήθη. Καλῶς οὖν καὶ νῦν τὸν τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγιαζόμενον ἄρτον εἰς σῶμα τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου μεταποιεῖσθαι πιστεύομαι. Καὶ γάρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ σῶμα, ἄρτος τῇ δυνάμει ἦν. Ἡγιάσθη δὲ τῇ ὲπισκνηνώσει τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ σκηνώσαντος ὲν τῇ σαρκί. Οὐκοῦν ὅθεν ὁ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ σώματι μεταποιηοεὶς ἄρτος, εἰς θείαν {alliam δύναμιν, διὰ τοῦ αὑτοῦ καὶ ἄγων ἐποιεῖτο σῶμα, ᾧ ἐκ τοῦ ἄρτου ἡ σύστασις ἧν1 καὶ τρόπον τινὰ καὶ αὐτὸ ἄρτος ἦν· ἐνταῦθα τε ὠσί αύτως ό ἄρτος, καθώς φησιν ό Ἀπόστολος, ἁγιάζεται διὰ Λόγου Θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως, οὐ διὰ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως προϊὼν εις τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Λόγου, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Λόγου μεταποιούμενος, καθὼς εἴρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου, ὅτι Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ σῶμα μου. Πάσης δὲ σαρκὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τρεφομέ· μένης δ οὐ γὰρ ἂν δίχα τῆς πρὸς τοῦτο συζυγίας τι ἐν ἡμῖν γεῶδες ὲν τῷ ζῆν διαμένοι. Ὥσπερ διὰ τῆς στερρᾶς καὶ ἀντιτύπου τροφῆς τὸ στερρὸν τοῦ σὼ· ματος ὑποστηρίζομενο τὸν αὑτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῷ ὑγρῷ τὴν προσθήκην ἐκ τῆς όμογενοῦς ποιούμεθα φύσεως. Ὅπερ ὲν ἡμῖν γενόμενον, διὰ τῆς ὰλλοιω τικῆς δυνάμεως ὲξαινματοῦται, καὶ μάλιστα γε εἰ διὰ τοῦ οἴνου λάβοι τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν είς τὸ Θερμὸι μεταποίησιν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο μέρος ἡ θεοδόχος ὲκείνου σὰρξ πρὸς τὴν σύστασιν ἑαυτῆς παρεδέξατοε ό δὲ φανερωθεὶς Λόγος διὰ τοῦτο κατέμιξεν ἑαυτὸν τῇ ὲπικήρῳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσει, ἵνα τῇ τῆς θεότητος κοινωνίᾳ συναποθεωθῇ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον · τούτοι χάριν πᾶσι τοῖς πεπιστευκόσι τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ τῆς χά· ριτος ἑαυτὸν ὲνσπείρει διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, ἧς ἡ σύστασις ἐξ οἴνου τε καὶ ἄρτου ἐστὶ, τοῖς σώμασι τῶν πεπιστευκότων κατακιρνὰμενος, ὡς ἂν τῇ πρὸς τι ἀθάνατον ὲνὼσει, καὶ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀφθαρσίας μέτο χος γένοιτο. Ταῦτα δὲ δίδωσι,·τῇ τῆς εὐλογίας δυνά· μει πρὸς ἐκεῖνο μεταστοιχειώσας τῶν ’φαινομένων τὴν φύσιν. · ### English translation (Claude) But since the human being is twofold, compounded of soul and body, those who are saved must follow the leader to life through both. The soul, then, blended with him through faith, has from this the beginnings of salvation; for union with the life has fellowship with the life. But the body comes into participation and blending with the Saviour in another way. For just as those who have taken poison through treachery quench its destructive power with another drug (and the antidote, like the deadly thing, must enter the human vitals, so that through them the power of the remedy may be distributed through the whole body), so, having tasted what dissolves our nature, we necessarily needed in turn what brings together what was dissolved, so that such an antidote, coming to be in us, might drive out by its own counteracting power the harm of the poison previously put into the body. What, then, is this? Nothing else than that body which was shown to be stronger than death and became the beginning of our life. For just as a little leaven, as the Apostle says, makes the whole lump like itself, so the body made immortal by God, coming to be in ours, changes and transposes the whole to itself. For as, when something destructive is mixed with what is healthy, the whole mixture is made useless, so too the immortal body, coming to be in the one who received it, changed the whole also to its own nature. But nothing can come to be inside the body except by being mixed with the vitals through eating and drinking. So the body must receive the life-giving power of the Spirit in the manner possible to its nature. And since only that body which received God received this grace, and it has been shown that our body cannot come to be in immortality otherwise than by coming into participation of incorruption through fellowship with the immortal, we must consider how it was possible that that one body, being distributed forever to so many myriads of believers throughout the whole world, comes to be whole in each through the portion, and itself remains whole in itself. So that our faith, looking to the sequence, may have no doubt about the thought before us, it is fitting to turn the discussion aside a little to the physiology of the body. For who does not know that the nature of our body has no life by itself in its own subsistence, but holds itself together and remains in being through the power that flows into it, drawing to itself by unceasing movement what is lacking and pushing away what is superfluous? And just as a skin full of some liquid, if what is in it escapes at the bottom, would not keep the shape of its bulk unless something else came in from above to replace what is emptied, so that one who sees the bulky outline of this vessel knows that it does not belong to what he sees, but that what flows in, coming to be in it, shapes what contains the bulk, so too the construction of our body has nothing of its own known to us for its maintenance, but remains in being through the power brought into it. And this power both is and is called nourishment. And it is not the same for all bodies that are nourished, but a suitable one has been allotted to each by the one who orders nature. Some animals are nourished by digging up roots; for others grass is food; for some the food is flesh. For man, principally, bread; and for the persistence and preservation of the moist element there is drink, not water alone, but often sweetened with wine to support the heat within us. So he who looks at these potentially looks at the bulk of our body. For those things, coming to be in me, become blood and body correspondingly, the nourishment being changed into the form of the body by the power of alteration. These things having been distinguished in this way, we must bring the mind back to the matter before us. For the question was how that body of Christ gives life to the whole nature of human beings, in as many as have faith, being distributed to all and not itself diminished. Perhaps, then, we are coming near a probable account. If the subsistence of every body comes from nourishment, and this is eating and drinking; and in eating there is bread, and in drinking water sweetened with wine; and the Word of God, as was distinguished at the beginning, being both God and Word, was blended with human nature, and, coming to be in our body, did not innovate another constitution for human nature, but gave his own body persistence through customary and suitable means, maintaining its subsistence by eating and drinking, and the food was bread: then, just as with us, as has already been said many times, one who sees bread in a way sees a human body, because that, coming to be in this, becomes this, so there too the body that received God, taking the nourishment of bread, was in a sense the same as it, the nourishment, as has been said, being changed into the nature of the body. For what is proper to all was acknowledged of that flesh too: that that body too was sustained by bread. And the body, by the indwelling of God the Word, was changed to divine dignity. Rightly, then, do I believe that now too the bread sanctified by the Word of God is changed into the body of God the Word. For that body too was potentially bread; and it was sanctified by the tabernacling of the Word who tabernacled in the flesh. So from the same cause from which the bread changed in that body into divine power … made a holy body, whose constitution was from bread, and which was in a way itself bread; and here likewise the bread, as the Apostle says, is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer, not passing into the body of the Word by eating and drinking, but changed immediately into the body of the Word, as was said by the Word: “This is my body.” And all flesh is nourished also by the moist (for without being joined to this nothing earthy in us would remain alive); just as we support the solid part of the body through solid and firm food, in the same way we make the addition to the moist from the kindred nature; and this, coming to be in us, is turned into blood by the power of alteration, especially if it receives through the wine the power to be changed into heat. Since, then, the flesh that received God also received this part for its constitution, and the Word who was manifested mingled himself with the perishable nature of human beings for this reason, that by fellowship with the Godhead humanity might be deified together with him, for this reason he sows himself, by the economy of grace, in all who have believed, through the flesh whose constitution is from wine and bread, blending himself with the bodies of those who have believed, so that by union with the immortal man too may become a sharer in incorruption. And he gives these things by the power of the blessing, transelementing the nature of the things that appear into that. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 5:6: allusion, high confidence - 1 Tim 4:5: quotation, high confidence - Matt 26:26: quotation, high confidence - John 1:14: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The leaven is 1 Cor 5:6 (compare Gal 5:9); “sanctified through the Word of God and prayer” is 1 Tim 4:5; “This is my body” is Matt 26:26; the tabernacling Word recalls John 1:14. Gregory's teaching that the consecrated bread and wine are changed (“transelemented”) into the body of the Word is translated as written. “Made immortal” and “deified together” correct clear OCR slips (see corrections). After “into divine power” words are lost in the scan (NPNF's text: a similar result takes place now; for there the grace of the Word …); nothing is supplied. The comparison “the whole mixture is made useless” is as printed. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 37 (PG 45:93a–97c; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-37). ## Catechetical Oration 38 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-38 - Source: PG 45:97c–97d - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Gregory turns briefly to faith, referring to his fuller works: the one reborn in baptism must know from whom he is born and what he becomes. ### Greek text οὐδὲν οἶμαι τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐνδεῖν τῶν περὶ τοῦ μυστηρίου ζητουμένων, πλὴν τοῦ κατὰ τὴν πίστιι λόγου, ὃν διʼ ὀλίγου μὲν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης ἐκθη σόμεθα πραγματείας. Tol“; δὲ τὸν τελειότερον ὲπιζηι τοῦσι λόγον, ἤδη πφεξεθέμεθα ἐν ἑτέροις πόνοις, δι τῆς δυνατῆς ἡμῖν σπουδῆς ὲν ἀκρισείᾳ τὸν λόγο ἁπλώσαντες. Ἐν οἷς πρός τε τοὺς ἐναντίους ἀγωνι στικῶς συνεπλάκημεν, καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς περὶ τῶς προσφερομένων ἡμῖν ζητημάτων ἐπεσκεψάμεθα. τι ὂὲ παρόντι λόγῳ τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν περὶ τῆς πίστεωη καλῶς ἔχειν ᾠήθημεν, ὅσον ἠ τοῦ Εὑαγγελίου περι ἔχει φωνὴ, καὶ τον γεννώμενον κατὰ τὴν πνευματι χὴν ἁναγέννησιν, εἰδέναι ποιρά τίνος γεννᾶται, κα ποῖον γίνεται ζῶον. Μόνον γὰρ τοῦτο τῆς γεννήσεως τὸ εἶδος κατʼ ἐξουσίαν ἔχει, ὅτιπερ ἂν· ἕληται τοῦτα γενέ σθαι. ‘ ### English translation (Claude) I think nothing of what is sought concerning the mystery is lacking in what has been said, except the account of faith, which we shall set out briefly in the present treatise too. For those who seek the fuller account, we have already set it out in other works, unfolding the account with precision with all the diligence possible to us; in them we both grappled combatively with our opponents and examined by ourselves the questions brought against us. In the present discourse we thought it well to say only as much about faith as the words of the Gospel contain: that the one born by the spiritual regeneration should know from whom he is born and what kind of living being he becomes. For only this form of birth has it in its power to become whatever it chooses. ### Translation notes - The “other works” are Gregory's longer doctrinal treatises (probably Against Eunomius); the identification is uncertain. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 38 (PG 45:97c–97d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-38). ## Catechetical Oration 39 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-39 - Source: PG 45:97d–101b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: In baptism one chooses one's own parentage: whoever confesses the Trinity uncreated is born into unchangeable life, but whoever thinks the Son or Spirit a creature is born only into changeable creation. ### Greek text τὰ μὲν γὰρ λοιπὰ τῶν τικτομένων τῇ ὁρμῇ τῶν ἁπογεννὼντων ὑφίσταται. Ὀ δὲ πνευματικὸς τῆ ἐξουσίας ἤρτηται τοῦ τικτομένου. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ὲν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ὁ κίνδυνος, ὲν τῷ μὴ διαμαρτεῖν τολ συμφέροντος, κατʼ ἐξουσίαν προκειμένης παντὶ τῆ αἱρέσεως, καλῶς ἔχειν φημὶ τὸν πρὸς ’τὴν γέννησιε τὴν ἰδίαν ὁρμῶντα προδιαγνῶναι τῷ λογισμῷ, τίς αὖτῷ λυσιτελήσει πατὴρ, καὶ ἐκ τίνος αὐτοῦ ἄμεινοι συστῆναι τὴν φύσιν. Εἴρηται γὰρ ὅτι κατʼ ἐξουσίαι νυν τῶν όντων μεμερισμένων, εἰς τὸ κτιστδν καὶ τὸ ἇκτιστον, καὶ τῆς μὶν ἀκτίστου φύσεως τὸ ἀτρεο πτὸν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον ὲν ἑαυτῇ κεκτημένης· τῆς Ξὲ κτίσεως πρὸς τροπὴν ἀλλοιουμένης· ὁ κατὰ λοο γισμὺν τὸ λυσιτελοῦν προαιρούμενος, τίνος αἱρήσεται μᾶλλον γενέσθαι τέκνον, τῆς ὲν τροπῇ θεωρουμένης, ἡ τῆς ἀμετάστατόν τε καὶ παγίαν καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν ὲν τῷ ἀγαθῷ κεκτημένης τὴν eam; Ἐπεὶ οῦν ὲν τῷ Εύαγγελίῳ τὰ τρία παραδέδοται πρόσωπά τε καὶ ὀνόματα, διʼ ὧν ἡ γένεσις τοῖς πιστεύουςι γίνεται, γεννᾶται δὲ κατά τὸ ἴσον ὁ ὲν τῇ Τριάδι γεννώμενος παρά τοῦ Πατρός τε κειιί τοῦ Υἰοῦ καὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀγίου. Οῦτω γάρ φησι περί τοῦ Πνεύματος Εὐαγγέλιον, ὅτι Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστι, καὶ ὁ Παῦλός ὲν Χριστῷ {ev}, καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ πάντων ἐστὶ πατήρ. ” Ἐνταῦθά μοι. νηφὲτω τοῦ ἀκροατοῦ ἡ διάνοια, μὴ τῆς ἀστατούσης φύσεως ἑαυτὴν ἔκγονον ποιήσῃ, ἐξὸν τὴν ἀτρεπτὸν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον ἀρχηγὸν ποιήσασθαι τῆς ἰδίας. Κατὰ γὰρ τὴν διάθεσιν τῆς καρδίας τοῦ προσιόντος τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ, καὶτὸ γινόμενον τὴν δύναμιν ἔχει. Ὥστε τὸν μὲν ἀκτιστον ὁμολογοῦντα τὴν ἁγίαν Τριὰδα, εἰς τὴν ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶοάναλλοίωτον εἰσελθεῖν ζωὴν, τὴν δὲ κτιστὴν φύσιν ἐν τῇ Τριάδι διά τῆς ἠπατημένης ὑπολήψεως βλέποντα, ἔπειτα ὲν αὐτῇ βαπτιζόμενον, πάλιν τῷ τρεπτῷ τε καὶ ἀλλοιοιι μένῳ ἐγγεννηθῆναιβίῳ.Τῇ γὰρ τῶν γεννώντων φύσει κατʼ ἀνάγκην ὁμογενὲς ἐστι καὶ τὸ τικτόμενον. Τί οὗν ἂν εἴη λυσιτελέστερον, εἰς τὴν ἄτρεπτον ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν,ἢ πάλιν τῷ ἀστατοῦντι καί ἀλλοιουμένῳ ὲγκυματοῦσθαι βίῳς Ἐπεὶ οῦν παντὶ δῆλόν ἐστι, τῷ καὶ ὁπωσοῦν διανοίας μετέχοντι, ὅτι τὸ ἑστὼς τοῦ μὴ ἑστῶτος πολὺ τιμιώτερον, καὶ τοῦ ὲλλειποῦς τὸ τέλειον, καὶτοῦ δεομένου τὸ μὴ δεόμενον, καὶ τοῦ διὰ προκοπῆς ἀνιόντος τὸ μὴ ἕχον εἰς ὅ τι προέλθῃ, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ τῆς τελειότητος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μένον ἀεὶ, ὲπάναγ- ς κες ἂν εἴη ἓν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων αἱρεῖσθαι τόν γε νοῦν ἐχοντα,ἢ τῆς ἀκτίστου φύσεως εἶναι πιστεύειν τὴν ἁγίαν Τριάδα, καὶ οὕτως ἀρχηγὸν διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς γενέσεως ποιεῖσθαι τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆςοή εἰ ἔξω τῆς τοῦ πρώτου καὶ ἀληθινοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ Θεοῦ φύσεως, τῆς τοῦ Πατρδς λέγω, νομίζοι εἶναι τὸν Υίὸν ἢ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἆγιον, μὴ συμπαραλαμβἀνων τήν εἰς ταῦτα πίστιν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς γενέσεως. μήποτε λάοῃ τῇ ἐλλειπεῖ φύσει καὶ δεομένῃ τοῦ ἀγαθύνοντος ἑαυατὺν εἰσποιῶν, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ πάλιν εἰς τὸ ὁμογενὲς ἑαυτὸν εἰσαγάγῃ, τῆς ὑπερεχούσης φύσεως ἀποστήσας τὴν πίστιν. ’0 γάρ τινι τῶν κτιστῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑποζεύξας, λέληθεν ἐαυτὺν οὐκ είς τὸ Θεῖον τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας ἔχων. Πᾶσα γάρ ἡ κτίσις, τῷ κατά τὺ ἴσον ὲκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι προήκειν, οἰκείως πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἔχει · καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων κατασκευῆς πάντα τὰ μέλη πρὸς ἑαυτὰ σύμφυσις ἔχε ι, κᾶν τὰ μὲν ύποὸεΰηκότα. τά δὲ ὑπερανεστῶτα τύχῃ · οῦτως ἡ κτιστὴ φύσις ἥνωται πρὸς ἑαυτήν κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς κτίσεως, καὶ οὐδὲνή κατὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον κα ὲνὶιὲον ὲν ήμῖν διαφορὰ διίστησιν αὐτὴν τῆς πρὸς ὲαυυ τήν συμφυΐας. Ὧν γάρ ἐπίσης προεπινοεῖται ή ἁνυπαρξία, κᾶν ev τοῖς ἄλλοις τὸ διάφορον ᾗ, οὐδεμίαν κατὰ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο τῆς φύσεως παραλλαγὴν ὲξευρίσκομεν. Εἰ οὖν κτιστὸς μὲν ὢν ό ἄνθρωπος, κτιστὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶτὸν μονογενῆ Θεὸν εἶναι νομίζοι, μάταιος ἂν εἴη ἀνελπίδι τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταστάσεως πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλύων. Ὅμοιον γάρ ταῖς τοῦ Νικοδήμου ὑπολήψεσίν ἐστι τὺ γινόμενον, ὃς περὶ τοῦ δεῖν ἄνωθεν γεννηθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου μαθὼν, διὰ τὸ μήπω χωρῆσαι τοῦ μυστηρίου τὸν λόγον, ἐπὶ τὸν μητρῷον κόλπον τοῖς λογισμοῖς κατεσύρετο. Ὥστε εί μὴ πρὸς ἂκτιστον φύσιν, ἀλλά πρὸς τὴν συγγενῆ καὶ ὁμόδουλον κτίσιν ἑαυτὸν ἀπάγοι, τῆς κάτωθεν, οὺ τῆς ἄνωθένʼ ἐστι γεννήσεως. Φησὶ δὲ τὸ Εὑαγγέλιον, ἀνωθεν εἶναι τῶν σωζομένων τὴν γέννησιν. ### English translation (Claude) For the other things that are born come into existence by the impulse of those who beget them; but the spiritual birth depends on the power of the one who is born. Since, then, the danger lies in this, in not missing what is profitable, the choice being freely open to everyone, I say it is well for one who is moving toward his own birth to discern beforehand by reasoning what father will profit him, and from whom it is better for his nature to be constituted. For it has been said that by free power … Existing things being divided into the created and the uncreated, and the uncreated nature possessing in itself unchangeableness and immutability, while creation is altered toward change, which will one who chooses the profitable by reasoning prefer to become the child of: of the nature seen in change, or of that which possesses a nature unchanging, firm, and ever the same in the good? Now in the Gospel the three persons and names have been handed down through which birth comes to believers, and the one born in the Trinity is born equally from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (for thus the Gospel says about the Spirit, that “what is born of the Spirit is spirit”; and Paul begets in Christ; and the Father is the father of all): here, I pray, let the mind of the hearer be sober, lest it make itself the offspring of the unstable nature, when it may make the unchangeable and unalterable nature the founder of its own. For according to the disposition of the heart of the one who comes to the economy, what happens also has its power: so that one who confesses the Holy Trinity to be uncreated enters the unchangeable and unalterable life, but one who, through a deceived conception, sees the created nature in the Trinity and then is baptized in it, is born again into the changeable and altering life. For what is born is necessarily of the same kind as the nature of those who beget it. What, then, would be more profitable: to enter the unchangeable life, or again to be tossed in the waves of the unstable and altering life? Since, then, it is clear to everyone who has any share of understanding that what stands is far more honourable than what does not stand, the perfect than the deficient, what does not need than what needs, and what has nowhere to advance but always remains in the perfection of the good than what climbs up by progress, it would be necessary for one who has sense to choose one of the two: either to believe that the Holy Trinity is of the uncreated nature, and so to make it the founder of his own life through the spiritual birth; or, if he thinks the Son or the Holy Spirit to be outside the nature of the first, true, and good God, I mean of the Father, not to take belief in them along with him at the time of the birth, lest he unwittingly adopt himself into the deficient nature that needs one to make it good, and in a way bring himself back into what is of the same kind as himself, having removed his faith from the transcendent nature. For whoever has yoked himself to one of the creatures has unwittingly not placed his hope of salvation in the divine. For all creation, by coming equally from non-being into being, is akin to itself; and just as in the construction of bodies all the members have a natural union with one another, even if some happen to be placed below and others above, so the created nature is united with itself by the principle of creation, and no difference in us of superiority or inferiority separates it from its natural union with itself. For in things of which non-existence is equally conceived beforehand, even if there is difference in other respects, we find no variation of nature in this respect. If, then, man, being created, thinks the Spirit, and the only-begotten God too, to be created, he would be foolish, returning to himself with no hope of change to the better. For what happens is like the notions of Nicodemus, who, learning from the Lord that one must be born from above, because he did not yet grasp the meaning of the mystery, was dragged in his reasonings to his mother's womb. So if he brings himself not to the uncreated nature but to the kindred creation, his fellow slave, he is of the birth from below, not from above. And the Gospel says that the birth of those who are saved is from above. ### Scripture references - Matt 28:19: allusion, high confidence - John 3:6: quotation, high confidence - John 3:3: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 4:15: allusion, high confidence - Eph 4:6: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Baptism in the three names recalls Matt 28:19; “what is born of the Spirit is spirit” is John 3:6; Nicodemus is John 3:3–4; Paul begetting in Christ is 1 Cor 4:15; the Father of all is Eph 4:6. Gregory's argument against those who hold the Son or Spirit to be created is translated as written. After “by free power” words are lost in the scan (NPNF's text: such a child chooses its parents); nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 39 (PG 45:97d–101b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-39). ## Catechetical Oration 40 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-40 - Source: PG 45:101b–105b - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Baptism without a changed life is only water: the baptized must show the character of God who begot them, restoring what they have taken, since the goods and punishments to come, the unquenchable fire and undying worm, are beyond description. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ οὗ μοι δοκεῖ μέχρι τῶν εἰρημένων αὐτάρκη τήν διδασκαλίαν ἡ κατήχησις ἔχειν. Δεῖ γὰρ, οἶμαι, καὶ τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο σκοπεῖν, ὃ πολλοὶ τῶν προσιόντων τῇ τοῦ βαπτίσματος χάριτι παρορῶσι, διʼ ἀπάτης ἑαυτοὺς παράγοντες, καὶ τῷ δοκεῖν μόνον, οὐχὶ τῷ ὄντι γεννώμενοι. Ἦ γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως γινομένη τῆς ζωῆς ήμῶν μεταποίησις, οὐκ ἂν εἴη μεταποίησις, εί ἐν ᾧ ἐσμεν διαμένοιμεν. Τὸν γὰρ ὲν τοῖς αυτοῖς ὄντα, οὐκ οῐόα πῶς ἔστιν ἄλλον τινὰγεγενῆσθαι νο- c μίσαι, ἐφʼ οὗ μηδὲν τῶν γνωρισμάτων μετεποιήθη. Τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ ἀνακαινισμῷ καὶ τῇ μεταβολῇ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν τήν σωτήριον παραλαμβάνεσθαι γέννησιν, παντὶ δῆλόν ἐστιν. ’Ᾱλλά μὴν ήάνθρωπότης αὑτὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν μεταβολὴν ὲκ τοῦ βαπτίσματος οὐ προσίεται, οὔτε τὸ λογικὸν, οὔτε τὸ διανοητικὸν, οὔτε τὸ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικὸν, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν χαρακτηριζὸντων ἰδίως τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ὲν μεταποιήσει γίνεται. Καὶ γὰρ ἂν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ή μεταποίησις εῖη, εἰ τι τούτων ὑπαμειφθείη τῶν ίδίων τῆς φύσεως. El οὗνὴ ἀνωθεν γέννησις ἀναστοιχείωσίς τε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γίνεται, ταῦτα δὲ τὴν μεταβολὴν οὐ προσίεται, σκεπτέον τίνος μεταωιηθέντος, ἐντελὴς τῆς ἁναγεννήσεως ἡ χάρις ἐστί. Δηλονότι τῶν πονηρῶν γνωρισμάτων ὲξαλειφθέντων τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ή πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μετάστασις γίνεται. Οὐκοῦν εί, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, λουσάμενοι τῷ μυστικῷ τούτῳ λουτρῷ, καθαροὶ τὰς προαιρέσεις γινοίμεθα, τὰς πονηρίας τῶν ψυχῶν ἀποκλύσαντες, κρείττους γεγόναμεν, καὶ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταπεποιή μεθα. El δὲ τὸ λουτρὸν μὲν ὲπαχθείη τῷ σώματι, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς κηλίδας μὴ ἀπορῤίψοιτο· ἀλλʼ ὁ μετά τὴν μύησιν βίος συμβαίνει τῷ ἀμυήτῳ βίῳ, κᾶν τολμηρὸν είπεῖν ᾖ, λέξω, καὶ οὐκ ἀποτραπήσομαι, ὅτι ἐπὶ τούτων τὸ ὕδωρ, ὕδωρ ἐστὶν, οὐδαμοῦ τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφανείσης τῷ γινομένῳ, ὅταν μὴ μόνον τὸ κατὰ τὸν θυμὸν αἶσχος ὑβρίζῃ τὴν θείαν στος καὶ ἡ ἀσχήμων διάνοια, καὶ τύφος, καὶ φδόνος, καὶ ὑπερηφανία ἀλλὰ καὶ τά ἒξ ἀδικίας κέρδη παραμένῃ αὐτῷ καὶ ἠ ὲκ μοιχεῆις αὐτῷ κτηθείσα γυνὴ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ὑπηρετείνται. Ἐὰν ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα ὁμοίως πρότερον τε καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν βίον τοῦ βαπτισθέντος ᾗ, τί μεταπεποίηται ίδεϊν οὐκ ἔνι ’τὸν αὐτὸν βλέπων, ὅνπερ καὶ πρότερον, 6 ἠδικημένος, 6 σεσυκοφαντημένος, 6 τῶν ἰδίων ἀπωσθεὶς, οὐδεμίαν ὁρῶσιν ἐφʼ ἑαυτῶν τὴν τοῦ λεγομένου μεταβολήν. Οὐκ ἤκουσαν καὶ παρὰ τούτου τὴν Ζακχαίου φωνήν, ὅτι El τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα, ἀποδίδωμι rapiendae-lora. Ἀ πρὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔλεγον, τὰ αὐτά καὶ νῦν περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ διεξέρχονται,ὲκ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀνομάτων κατονομάζουσι, πλεονέκτην, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμητὴν, ἀπὸ συμξορῶν ἀνθρωπίνων τρυφῶντα. '0 τοίνυν ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὣν, ἔπειτα ὲπιθρυλλῶν ἑαυτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τὴν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολὴν, ἀκουσάτω τῆς Παύλου φωνῆς· ὅτι Et τις δοκεῖ εἶναι μηδὲν ὢν, φρεναπατᾷ ἑαυτόν. Ὃ γὰρ μὴ γέγονας οὐκ εἴ. Ὅσοι ἔλαβον αὑτὸν. φησὶ περὶ τῶν ἀναγεννηθέντων τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι. Τὸ δὲ τέκνον γενόμενόν τινος, ὁμογενὲς πάντως ἐστὶ τῷ γεννήσαντι El οὖν ἔλαβες τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ τέκνον ἐγένου Θεοῦ, δεῖξον διὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως καὶ τὸν ἐν σοὶ ὄντα Θεὸν. Δεῖξον ἐν σεαυτῷ τὸν γεννήσαντα. Ἐξ ὧν τὸν Θεὸν γνωρίζομεν, διʼ ἐκείνων προσήκει δειχθῆναι τοῦ γενομένου υἱοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν οἰκειότητα. ’ἐκεῖνος ἀνοίγει τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ ὲμπιπλᾷ πᾶν ζῶον εὐδοκίας, ὑπερβαίνει ἀνομίας, μετανοεῖ ἐπὶ κακίας. Χρηστὸς Κύριος τοῖς σύμπασι, μὴ ὁρτὴν ἐπάγων καθʼ ἐκάστηνήμέραν· εὐθὺς Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἐστιν ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα σποράδην παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς διδασκόμεθα. Ἐὰν ὲν τούτοις ἧς, ἀληθῶς ἐγένου τέκνον Θεοῦ. El δὲ τοῖς τῆς κακίας ὲπιμένεις γνωρίσμασι, μάτην ἑπιθρυλλεῖς σεαυτῷ τὴν ἀνωθεν γέννησιν. Ἐρεί πρὸς σὲὴ προφητεία, ὅτιΥἱὸς ἀνθρώπου εἶ,οὐχὶ υίὸς Ὑψίστου. Ἀγαπᾷς ματαιότητα, ζητεῖς ψεῦδος. Οὐκ ἔγνως ὅτι ἄν· θρωπος οὐκ ἄλλως υίὸς Θεοῦ γίνεται, εἱ μὴ ὅσιος γένηται; Ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εἴη τούτοις προσθεῖναι καὶ τὸ λειτῇμενον, ὄτι οὕτε τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ ὲν ἐπαγγελίαις τοῖς εὖ βεβιωκόσι προκείμενα τοιαῦτα ἐστιν, ὡς εἰς ὑπογραφὴν λὸγου ἐλθεῖν. Πῶς γὰρ, ἃ. οὔτε ὁφθαλμδςεῖδεν, οὒτε οὖς ἤκουσεν, οὔτε ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου ἀνέβη ; Οὔτε μὴν ἡὰλγεινὴ τῶν πεπλημμεληκὸτων ζωὴ πρός τι τῶν τῇδε λυπούντων τὴν αἴσθησιν ὁμοτίμως ἔχει. Ἀλλὰ κᾶν ἐπονομασθῇ τι τῶν ἐκεῖ κολαστηρίων τοῖς ὧδε γνωριζομένοις ὀνόμασιν, οὐκ ὲν ὀλίγῳ τὴν παραλλαγὴν ἔχει. Πῦρ γὰρ ἀκούων, ἄλλο τι παρὰ τοῦτο νοεῖν ἐδιδάχθης, ὲκ τοῦ προκεῖσθαί τι τῷ πυρὶ ἐκείνῳ ὃ ἐν τούτῳ οὐκ ἔστι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ οὐ σβέννυται· τοὺmu δὲ πολλὰ παρὰ τῆς πείρας ἐξεύρηται τὰ σβεστήρια · πολλὴ δὲ τοῦ σβεννυμένου πρὸς τὸ μὴ παραδεχόμενον σβέσιν ἡ διαφορά. Οὐκοῦν ἄλλο τι, καὶ οὐχ). τοῦτο ἐστι. Πάλιν σκώληκά τις ἀκούσας, μὴ διὰ τῆς ὁμωνυμίας πρὸς τὸ ἐπίγειον τοῦτο θηρίον ἀποφερέσθω τῇ διανοίᾳ. Ἦ γὰρ προσθήκη τοῦ ἀτελεύτητον εἶναι, ἄλλην τινὰ φύσιν παρηὶς τὴν γινωσκομένην νοεῖν ὑποτίθεται. Ἐπεὶ οῦν ταῦτα πρόκειται τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ μετά ταῦτα βίου, καταλλήλως ὲκ τῆς ἐκάστου προαιρέσεως, κατά τὴν δικαίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσιν ἀναφυόμενα τῷ βίῳ, σωφρονούντων ἂν εἴη, μὴ πρὸς τὸ παρὸν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ μετά τοῦτο βλέπειν, καὶ τῆς ἀφράστου μακαριότητος ὲν τῇ ὀλίγῃ ταύτῃ καὶ προσκαίρῳ ζωῇ τὰς ἀφορμὰς καταβάλλεσθαι, καὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν πείρας διʼ ἀγαθῆς προαιρέσεως ἀλλο· τριοῦσοαι ο νῦν μὲν κατὰ τὸν βίον, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ κατά τὴν αἰωνίαν ἀντίδοσιν ὁ Χριστὸς βούλεται ### English translation (Claude) But it seems to me that the catechesis does not yet have sufficient teaching with what has been said. For I think we must also consider what follows, which many of those who come to the grace of baptism overlook, leading themselves astray by deceit and being born only in appearance, not in reality. For the change of our life that comes about through regeneration would not be a change if we remained in what we are. For I do not know how one who is in the same state can be thought to have become someone else, when none of his distinguishing marks has been changed. For it is clear to all that the saving birth is received for the renewal and change of our nature. Yet humanity in itself does not admit change from baptism: neither the rational, nor the intellectual, nor the capacity for knowledge, nor anything else that properly characterizes human nature undergoes change. For the change would be for the worse if any of these properties of the nature were exchanged. If, then, the birth from above becomes a recomposition of the man, and these things do not admit change, we must consider by the change of what the grace of regeneration is complete. Clearly, when the evil marks of our nature have been wiped out, the change to the better takes place. So if, as the prophet says, having washed in this mystical washing, we become clean in our wills, having washed away the wickedness of our souls, we have become better and have been changed for the better. But if the washing is applied to the body, but the soul does not cast off the stains of passion, and the life after initiation matches the uninitiated life, then, even if it is bold to say, I will say it and not turn back: in their case the water is water, the gift of the Holy Spirit nowhere appearing in what is done, when not only the shame of anger outrages the divine … and the indecent mind, and conceit, and envy, and pride, but also the gains from injustice remain with him, and the woman acquired by him through adultery serves his pleasures even after this. If these and such things surround the life of the baptized alike before and after, it is not possible to see what has been changed, since one sees the same man as before. The one who was wronged, the one who was falsely accused, the one who was driven from his property see no change of what is spoken of in their own case. They have not heard from this man too the voice of Zacchaeus: “If I have falsely accused anyone of anything, I give it back fourfold.” What they said before the baptism, the same they now relate about him, calling him by the same names: greedy, coveter of others' goods, living in luxury on human misfortunes. Let, then, the one who is in the same state, and then prates to himself of the change to the better through baptism, hear the voice of Paul: “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” For what you have not become, you are not. “As many as received him,” the Gospel says of those who were born again, “he gave them power to become children of God.” And the child of someone is altogether of the same kind as the one who begot him. If, then, you have received God and become a child of God, show also by your will the God who is in you; show in yourself the one who begot you. By the things by which we know God, the kinship with God of one who has become a son of God must be shown. “He opens his hand and fills every living thing with good pleasure”; “he passes over iniquities”; “he relents over evils”; “the Lord is kind to all,” “not bringing on wrath every day”; “the Lord God is upright, and there is no injustice in him”; and whatever such things we are taught here and there by the Scripture. If you are in these, you have truly become a child of God. But if you remain in the marks of vice, in vain do you prate to yourself of the birth from above. The prophecy will say to you: “You are a son of man, not a son of the Most High. You love vanity, you seek falsehood.” Do you not know that man becomes a son of God in no other way than by becoming holy? It would be necessary to add to this what remains: that the goods set forth in the promises for those who have lived well are not such as to come under description in words. For how could the things “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of man”? Nor is the painful life of those who have sinned equal to any of the things that pain the senses here. But even if one of the punishments there is named with names known here, the difference is not small. For hearing “fire,” you have been taught to think of something other than this fire, from something being attached to that fire that is not in this one: for that is not quenched, while for this experience has found many means of quenching; and great is the difference between what is quenched and what does not admit quenching. So it is something else, and not this. Again, one who hears “worm,” let him not be carried in thought by the sameness of name to this earthly creature. For the addition of its being endless suggests thinking of another nature besides the known one. Since, then, these things are set before the hope of the life to come, growing up in life correspondingly from each one's will according to the just judgment of God, it would belong to the prudent to look not to the present but to what comes after, and in this short and temporary life to lay down the beginnings of the ineffable blessedness, and by a good will to estrange themselves from the experience of evils, now in life, and afterwards in the eternal recompense … Christ wills … ### Scripture references - Isa 1:16: allusion, high confidence - Luke 19:8: quotation, high confidence - Gal 6:3: quotation, high confidence - John 1:12: quotation, high confidence - Ps 145:16 (144:16 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Mic 7:18: quotation, medium confidence - Joel 2:13: quotation, medium confidence - Ps 145:9 (144:9 LXX): quotation, medium confidence - Ps 7:11 (7:12 LXX): quotation, medium confidence - Ps 92:15 (91:16 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 4:2 (4:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 4:3 (4:4 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Ps 82:6: allusion, low confidence - 1 Cor 2:9: quotation, high confidence - Mark 9:48: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The prophet's washing is Isa 1:16; Zacchaeus is Luke 19:8; Paul is Gal 6:3; “as many as received him” is John 1:12. The marks of God are from Ps 145:16 (LXX 144:16), Mic 7:18, Joel 2:13, Ps 145:9 (LXX 144:9), Ps 7:11 (LXX 7:12), and Ps 92:15 (LXX 91:16); “you love vanity, you seek falsehood” is Ps 4:2 (LXX 4:3), and becoming holy recalls Ps 4:3 (LXX 4:4); “son of man, not a son of the Most High” recalls Ps 82:6; “eye has not seen” is 1 Cor 2:9; the fire and worm are Mark 9:48. “In their case the water is water” is Gregory's own statement, translated as written. After “outrages the divine” words are lost in the scan (NPNF's text: image, and the passion of greed); the text breaks off at the end (“Christ wills”), where NPNF's text has no such words; nothing is supplied. ### Citation (SBL) Gregory of Nyssa, Or. cat. 40 (PG 45:101b–105b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-catechetical-oration/37/#p-40).